Author: Cocooned Cow
Date: 2020-04-14T22:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Action; Adventure; Drama; Fantasy; Martial Arts; Mature; Mystery; Xuanhuan

True Martial World

In this day of age, Yi Yun deeply understood the fact that life isn’t easy, but never once did it occur to him that he would die in his prime..

This morning, Yi Yun had gone mountain climbing with two good friends. Among them was a pretty babe, so this was naturally a splendid event.

Young people tend to like thrills; Yi Yun was no exception. Being a goody two-shoes and climbing mountain paths already cleared by others was meaningless: they chose an isolated barren mountain.

Reaching the halfway mark on the mountain, they discovered a cave.

The babe that came with them spontaneously got excited, and insisted on entering. However, the moment they entered something unexpected happened.

Yi Yun found a rectangular purple crystal in the cave; it looked like a crystal card from a science-fiction movie. As soon as he discovered, and, out of curiosity, touched the purple crystal, the walls started to rumble and the cave collapsed!

It was hard to describe what emotions were going through Yi Yun as he saw several tons of rock smashing downwards. If one had to use a phrase to describe it, it’d be, “Only when dying does one truly know what dying is.”

He was still young, healthy and good-looking. And he was still a virgin…

His was supposed to have a tremendously bright life ahead of him, but it was all about to disappear.

The sadness and hopelessness from knowing this was stifling.

The boulders did not smash into Yi Yun, but had instead sealed off the exit.

The situation of being buried alive in such a tight space in the mountains, without food, water, and with limited air made it crystal clear to Yi Yun that this place would probably be his grave.

Yi Yun stared blankly at the thick mountain wall. Under his phone’s flashlight illumination, that thick rock wall resembled the faces of devils. It was cold to the touch and the coldness seeped into Yi Yun’s heart bit by bit, weighing it down.

He didn’t have the slightest clue where his climbing partners disappeared to. They were all grouped closely upon entering the cave. Yet once the cave collapsed, the two of them who should have been trapped with him, had mysteriously…disappeared.

It was as if they had never entered together with Yi Yun. Yi Yun still remembered clearly that half a minute before the cave collapsed, he had heard behind him the babe that was with them say how she was afraid that there would be snakes in the cave.

How could two breathing people just disappear suddenly?

How did a perfectly good cave just collapse?

It really was a hopeless situation here in the cave. There was no signal on his phone, and the fate of his two friends was uncertain. Yi Yun didn’t want to sit idly by while waiting for death. He even thought about digging a way out–if the blockage was small, there would be a glimmer of hope by digging.

When a person confronts Death, he can exhibit extremely strong motivation and fighting spirit; everything, even something with the tiniest sliver of hope, would be tested.

Yi Yun acted immediately, but digging with his bare hands wouldn’t do. He had not brought any tools, like a dagger, with him. But, at this moment, Yi Yun had a stroke of brilliance, he remembered the crystal card.

It looked like a small shovel, so, although it was small, and didn’t have a handle, digging with it was much better than digging with his bare hands.

Turning his head to the mysterious crystal card, Yi Yun suddenly had a thought; upon careful recollection, the cave had collapsed the moment he touched that card.

How could it be this coincidental?

And the biggest mystery was that both his friends had vanished into thin air.

A series of inexplicable phenomena combined together filled Yi Yun’s head with questions, that is, could everything that happened today be due to this crystal card?

He looked at the purple crystal card, it was slightly bulging. On an extremely stable piece of rock, it sat there nicely, while emitting a faint glow.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before switching off his phone’s flashlight. He realized that despite the pitch black darkness of the cave, he could still see by the purple card’s faint glow.

In this moment he understood that this crystal card wasn’t made of amethyst because crystals do not glow. However, in the natural world, there are some minerals that were able glow due to traces of radioactive elements.

But in his current situation Yi Yun couldn’t care less about the possibility of radioactivity harming his body and picked up the purple crystal card to examine it. If the collapse was due to this crystal card, could it possibly be his ticket to survival?

Yi Yun knew that there wasn’t much hope, but at Death’s door, he had to try everything as a last resort.

The crystal card was cool to the touch, with a coldness that seemed to meander through the blood vessels in his arm, all the way to his heart. The card itself was purple throughout and slightly larger than an adult’s hand, but no thicker than one’s palm. On one side of the card, there appeared to be mysterious engravings. They seemed unnatural, as if carved by human hand..

Who could have carved it? Could these engravings be some ancient symbol, or a mysterious language?

Or could it be extraterrestrial, something from the stars?

With such strange happenings, Yi Yun’s brain started filling with questions. He was sure the cave collapse had something to do with the crystal card. There was no earthquake, how could the cave just suddenly collapse?

With the crystal card in hand, Yi Yun realized that the crystal card’s edges were as sharp as a blade, this ignited hope within him; he could conserve energy by digging with this.

Yi Yun stopped hesitating, and with the crystal card in hand, walked towards the rock wall of unknown thickness.

Gripping the edge of the crystal card with both his hands, he shoved it down with strength, and something inconceivable happened. The originally firm and stout rock was sliced apart like tofu by this palm-sized crystal card. Yi Yun, who had used too much strength on the rock that showed no resistance, hit his head onto the wall.

Yi Yun was dumbfounded, he couldn’t care less that he had scraped his forehead while he stared blankly at the purple crystal card in his hand. After the initial shock passed he experienced jubilation.

This was pretty much a light saber from a science fiction movie.

At this moment, he didn’t have the mood to examine how this card could be that sharp, but focused on digging his way out.

Grabbing the crystal card firmly with both hands, Yi Yun started digging a hole like a mole. The crystal card moved without resistance, and could even easily cut through granite.

Yi Yun felt excited, he had picked up a treasure!

If he could make it out alive, this card could change his life, and it could even have alien technology embedded within it!

Yi Yun didn’t know how long he had been digging, and wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but whenever he felt exhausted, the crystal card in his hands would emit a coolness, rejuvenating a tiny bit of strength within him, allowing him to continue digging without rest.

It was not possible to know the time in the cave, but Yi Yun was motivated by his thirst for survival to keep moving forward without rest.

His cell phone was already out of battery, and he had totally lost his sense of time, three days? Five days? Seven days?

Yi Yun didn’t realize that even without a single morsel of food or water, he had miraculously not died; it was as if the crystal card’s energy had prolonged his life.

If he were to look back at the path he had dug, Yi Yun would have discovered how long it was, but Yi Yun did not pay attention to that as his sight was already blurred.

Unable to see clearly ahead, unable to see the rock, he could only feel the crystal card emitting a refreshing coolness in his hands.

He was slowly losing his senses, but kept digging with perseverance and tenacity. Finally, at a certain moment, he realized a glimmer in front of his eyes, as if he had seen a light passing through a crack in the soil, illuminating his face.

Just like when a pail of water was splashed on an unconscious person, Yi Yun was suddenly wide awake!

Light!

There’s light!

Yi Yun had never ever appreciated that light could be so beautiful; he couldn’t control his tears as all the energy he previously lost flooded back into his body. He gritted his teeth and dug crazily.

Finally!

Yi Yun was blinded by the bright rays that shone down on him, as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

He had managed to climb out!

“I’ve succeeded!”

“I survived!”

Yi Yun wanted to shout out loud for without experiencing the darkness, or knowing how to appreciate the light or knowing what Death is about, it was hard to understand the sanguinity of life.

Yi Yun laid on the ground, taking huge gasps of air, as he looked at the blue skies and white clouds, he had never felt that the blue sky was any prettier.

Although his body was extremely tired, hungry and thirsty, Yi Yun didn’t rest for long as he gritted his teeth and got up, trying to contact his two friends.

Yi Yun may have escaped Death, but he didn’t know what had happened to his friends.

But…his cell phone was out of battery.

Yi Yun glanced around, hoping to see signs of life, but with just a glance, Yi Yun was dumbfounded.

How…How could this be?

Yi Yun clearly remembered that while climbing a mountain, he was buried alive in a cave, and climbed out of the mountainside alone.

But, Yi Yun was located in a vast expanse, and although there were mountains around, the distance to them would have ran a horse to its death; Yi Yun could not believe he had dug such a long tunnel.

Surrounding him were several mounds, and a wooden stick stuck out on each mound. On the wooden sticks were gruff words of an unknown origin written using charcoal…

Could this be a…graveyard?

Yi Yun was dumbfounded, how did he appear among so many tombstones?! Having escaped Death once, Yi Yun’s mental strength was now much stronger, so although he was faced with an illogical situation, he could still calm down and examine the tombstones carefully.

These tombstones totally didn’t look like they came from a modern cemetery. In a modern city’s cemetery, all of the tombstones were either made of marble or granite and ordered neatly.

But the tombstone in front of him…even a rural tombstone would be much better than this.

Wait…

Yi Yun suddenly discovered something, as he lowered his head to take a look, the “tunnel” he had just climbed out was still there, and was situated in front of a mound. And by the side of the mound, a wooden plank was used as a tombstone.

On the wooden plank were weird words, but for some unknown reason, Yi Yun had a spark in his mind, and could read all the words.

It wrote–”Beloved brother, Grave of Yi Yun”.

And on the side wrote five words–”Elder Sister Jiang Xiaorou”.

Yi…Yi Yun’s…grave!?

Yi Yun was totally stupefied, he had clearly been buried alive in a cave on a barren mountain, but now he had dug his way out of a tomb, and it was even his!

What sort of worldly joke is this!

Also the words were not Chinese, nor were they English, how did he know all these weird words?

This must be a dream, right…

Yes, it must be a dream. This dream sure feels real…as if…Yi Yun looked at his surroundings, and felt diffident, it’s too real!

He pinched himself hard, and the result was…pain.

Another pinch, it still hurt!

“It’s not a dream?” “This shit really isn’t a dream?”

Yi Yun felt lost, could someone tell him what was happening?

Yi Yun was cursing in his heart.

Could he have already died when he was buried alive in the cave, and when he dug himself out, all the digging was just an illusion before his death?

But…the two words “beloved brother”, what did it mean? He didn’t have an elder sister. If a person had to be pointed out, it was someone who lived in another city whom he had infrequent interactions, nor did he meet his cousin much, why would she erect a tombstone for him!

If the tombstone’s “Yi Yun” was someone else with the same first and last name as himself, it was still impossible. How could such a coincidence happen, climbing out of a grave of someone with the same first and last name “Yi Yun”?

Yi Yun felt extremely confused. At this moment, he looked on in a daze as a girl dressed in rags while carrying a basket walked towards him along a tiny village path…

1 - : Grave of Yi Yun

Yi Yun had trouble describing his first impression of the girl. It was a strange sense of familiarity.

She looked to be approximately fifteen years old, wearing a patched up green blouse with colored trousers that were too dark to tell the color of. The trousers legs were rolled up high, betraying her white legs. Her ankles were dotted with fresh mud splashes.

With a slender body and a slim waistline, she had a radiant face with rosy red cheeks.

As she walked down the village path, she was like fresh mountain dew rejuvenating Yi Yun.

Who is this girl?

Yi Yun exchanged glances with the young girl. She stood there, dazed for a moment before she loosened her grip on the rope holding the basket up on her shoulder.

Yi Yun suddenly got a weird feeling. The girl in front of him was clearly approximately fifteen years old like a flower bud, and yet, why did she… look taller than him? She was probably taller than him by more than half a head. If they were closer, he would have to tilt his head up to look at the young girl!

It must be an illusion caused by fatigue…

Yi Yun still did not understand, but at this moment he heard the girl’s clear voice like a mountain lake.

“Yun’er!”

The girl threw her basket down as she ran towards Yi Yun with her mouth agape.

Her beautiful eyes already brimming with tears.

“Wait… Wait…”

Yi Yun was in a daze, he looked around and found out that he was the only person within a mile radius, so the girl was running towards him!

The Yun’er she was calling… could it be himself?

Yi Yun had the single character Yun as his name, but no one had ever called him Yun’er. No one in modern day society would do so, so it was no surprise his reaction was slow.

In actuality, he was unable to react at all as the girl rushed towards him like the wind and embraced him!

The girl’s fresh scent filled his nostrils as her soft body overwhelmed Yi Yun. He had no reaction as he was dumbfounded. He had been buried alive while mountain climbing and when he finally managed to dig himself out, it was from within a grave. And after he did so, with great effort, he was embraced by a little loli without him knowing who she was!

Yi Yun did not anticipate that, as a young adult, he would be hugged so tightly by a loli. What’s the meaning of this?

“Yun’er, you worried your sister sick. As long as you are alright, as long as you are alright…”

The little loli was tightly hugging Yun Yi, her sharp chin lodged into Yi Yun’s shoulders while she sobbed uncontrollably. Her grip was strong, as if she was using all of her strength to merge Yi Yun’s body into her own. She was afraid that this was all a dream, that the moment she released him, Yi Yun would disappear again.

Yi Yun stood there, petrified like a gargoyle, with a myriad of expressions on his face as the little loli hugged him.

Sister?

At this moment, Yi Yun, who had been barraged with numerous baffling events, finally understood something. This little loli is the elder sister from “his” tombstone!

The words “Beloved brother, Grave of Yi Yun” was clearly written by this little loli!

Considering that this little loli was treating him as her younger brother, maybe she missed her brother so much that she mistook him for her brother…

Yi Yun tried to rationalize it, but the more he thought about it, the more something seemed off. This little loli should be attending middle school? Her younger brother is at most twelve or thirteen years old, how could she mistake an adult like himself for her younger brother?

Wait a moment…

An adult like himself?

Yi Yun suddenly realized something. He compared his height with the girl, seeing how his mouth only reached to her shoulders, he had an ominous feeling.

He stretched out his arms from beneath the little loli’s arms and looked at his own hands. What he saw were the soft and tender hands of a child…

Are these my hands?

Have I become young again?

I…

Yi Yun was utterly confused.

Becoming young, suddenly having a sister, a baffling identity. This together with the ancient looking tombs, the unfamiliar plains, the foreign words and language that he could read, listen and understand…

Everything only pointed to one conclusion, but Yi Yun refused to believe what his gut was now telling him.

The girl’s body kept shivering. It could be excitement, it could be fear… Yi Yun could not recall anything about this girl, but he could appreciate the girl’s feelings and warmth. It was a magical feeling.

The girl wiped her tears as she held Yi Yun’s hand. She went to pick up the basket, intending to head home.

But this jolt made Yi Yun stagger as he felt nauseous.

Yi Yun felt his stomach and all he could feel was… hunger. He was suddenly overcome with hunger.

Ever since he was buried alive, he had not even had a single morsel of food or water. If it was not for that weird purple crystal card, he would have died much sooner.

Naturally, it was normal for him to feel so hungry.

The girl noticed Yi Yun’s frailty and bent down with her back facing Yi Yun. A soft and warm back with streaks of perspiration appeared in front of Yi Yun’s eyes.

“Yun’er, Sis will carry you. Let’s go home, never to be separated again.”

Yi Yun didn’t know how to describe his feelings, a little loli was going to carry him!

“Yun’er, get on! Your body may have recovered but it is still weak…”

As she said that, she glanced towards the tunnel Yi Yun crawled out of and felt pain, her younger brother had never died.

Thankfully, they were too poor to afford a coffin, or he would have been buried alive! If that was to happen, she would feel worse than having to bear a thousand lashes on her body.

Luckily, her brother had woken up, and luckily he was not buried too deeply.

This time, she would never separate from her younger brother again.

The girl noticed that Yi Yun stubbornly did not get on her back and decided that he was probably feeling embarrassed. She shifted the basket forward and firmly held Yi Yun’s thighs close to her waist.

Yi Yun was befuddled, he had no idea how he ended up on the girl’s back. All he felt was his body being lightly lifted up onto the girl’s soft shoulders and that all his weight was now supported by a pair of slim legs.

The girl’s pair of tiny hands held Yi Yun’s legs and with a heave, adjusted his position as she headed down the small path.

Yi Yun could smell the young girl’s body fragrance as he laid on her back; it was different from the aromas that came from perfumes or body lotions city people used, it was a fresh smell, made up of wildflowers and soil. It was refreshing.

He started to confirm more of what was now happening…

He did not want the girl to piggyback him, but he didn’t know how to voice it out.

Using his own language to talk to someone who wasn’t his sister, it would be too awkward.

At this moment, Yi Yun heard a rumble from afar. He couldn’t resist looking back towards the sound. The girl also looked back.

All they saw was a dust storm forming in the distance.

The girl flinched and hurriedly ran to hide behind a big tree while carrying Yi Yun.

The dust storm approached at a dazzling speed. Yi Yun looked carefully and suddenly saw a huge beast running on the field!

He gasped when he carefully looked at the beast.

Heavens! Is that a wild beast?

It was seven to eight meters tall and over ten meters long. It had long sharp fangs and limbs as thick as steel beams. Its razor sharp claws were like blades that formed horrific deep trenches.

Compared to this monster, the beasts on Earth, like the lion or tiger, were more like kittens.

What startled Yi Yun even more, was that a middle aged man was riding on the weird beast. With a commanding aura, he sat cross legged on top of it with a sword slung across his back. Because of the angle, Yi Yun could not see his face, but his blood had frozen over as the person sitting on top of the wild beast, was over ten times more terrifying than the wild beast.

With this Yi Yun knew without a doubt that the place he had crawled into, was no longer Earth.

He had arrived in a mysterious world. His name was Yi Yun and he had been resurrected from the dead. He had a cute and beautiful elder sister who adored him. Her name was probably Jiang Xiaorou.

The “Elder sister Jiang Xiaorou” written on that tombstone wasn’t a signature inscription, it was common practice to list the loved ones of the deceased.

It seemed like Yi Yun only had his elder sister, Jiang Xiaorou, in his entire family.

All of this wasn’t a dream. It was actually happening…

He had tunneled through space-time.

Heaven, are you fucking kidding me!?

Yi Yun wanted to cry. What sort of bad luck was this? Climbing a mountain resulted in him tunneling through space time!

Although it was better than death, but… to reach a totally unfamiliar world. There were beasts the size of hills, with crazily strong people. From the sword that the strong man had, this was probably an era where cold metal reigned.

With his small and weak stature of not more than twelve years of age, he would not even be sufficient to fill the gaps in a wild beast’s teeth!

Yi Yun was adamant that this was related to him touching the mysterious purple crystal card. It could even be that from the moment the cave collapsed, he was no longer on Earth. He might even have been transformed into the Yi Yun of this different world. And due to the darkness of the cave, he was unable to realize this…

So if he had come to this world due to the crystal card, was it possible to return with the crystal card?

This was Yi Yun’s first thought. As a person living a peaceful life in the modern world, it was hard for him to accept this medieval era. It was not a world that he understood. The only thing he gained after losing everything he once had, was a multitude of questions.

Recalling the crystal card, Yi Yun paused, where is the crystal card?

As the question flashed in his mind, Yi Yun felt a coolness at his chest. Touching it with his hands, he felt the crystal card securely resting on his chest. This puzzled Yi Yun, he did not recall placing the crystal card there, and yet it was there.

What in the world is this thing…?

Yi Yun did not understand, but undoubtedly, it was not simple!

If he examined its capabilities, it would undoubtedly play a huge role, be it him staying in this world or returning to Earth.

He had to grab every opportunity to examine and understand that card.

Out of nowhere, a name flashed in Yi Yun’s mind, Purple Crystal Origins.

Purple Crystal… Purple Crystal Origins…

Why did those words appear in my head? Why did such a name flash in my mind? Yi Yun was puzzled, the name Purple Crystal Origins appeared in his mind the moment he wanted to name the purple crystal card.

Purple Crystal Origins… let’s just call it Purple Crystal, but could its… original name be Purple Crystal Origins?

2 - : Elder Sister

Before following Jiang Xiaorou, Yi Yun never expected that “home” would look like this. When Yi Yun originally saw the sword bearer riding that huge beast, he guessed that this world was one filled with flying martial arts experts, with elites from all sorts of large clans.

Having tunneled through mysteriously, if he could be involved in a huge clan or sect, he could even learn martial arts one day. Even if he lacked talent, he would still be able to survive without worry.

But, seeing the ramshackled house in front of him, Yi Yun nearly collapsed.

In the past, Yi Yun had gone to rural villages, the houses he saw there were many times better than the house in front of him now.

This spartan house was made of mud and rocks. Besides a table, two stools, two old beds and a stove, there was nothing else.

Jiang Xiaorou piggybacked Yi Yun into the house. Yi Yun was not accustomed to being piggybacked by a young girl. He had struggled to get down a few times, but his body was just too weak. Just a couple of steps tired him out and then Jiang Xiaorou had to piggyback him again.

Yi Yun felt embarrassed that a man like him had to be given a piggyback by such a young girl.

“Yun’er, you must be hungry…” Jiang Xiaorou said as she placed Yi Yun on one of the wooden beds. Although she was sweating profusely, her face was energetic. She was naturally happy that her younger brother had come back from the dead.

Yi Yun looked at Jiang Xiaorou’s sweaty clothes. Although his body was thin and light, the journey had been at least three or four miles. Jiang Xiaorou, who was about fifteen years old, had to piggyback him sporadically and she did not have it easy.

If it had been a fifteen-year-old girl from Earth, simply walking empty-handed for three to five miles would have tired her out completely, not to mention giving someone a piggyback ride.

“Yea… A… A bit.” Yi Yun moved his parched lips. These were the first words that came out of his mouth ever since he had been transported to this world. He originally thought that using a language that wasn’t his would be difficult, if not impossible. But surprisingly, it was just as easy as using his native language.

“I’ll prepare the meal,” Jiang Xiaorou said with a smile. She delicately wiped the mud from Yi Yun’s face before pulling over a pillow for Yi Yun to rest against and covered him with a thin blanket. She covered Yi Yun in a deft and gentle manner, leaving Yi Yun in a trance.

This girl was clearly not his sister, but due to her giving him a piggyback as well as the meticulous care she gave him, he slowly began to develop tender feelings for her.

Yi Yun wanted to help Jiang Xiaorou light the fire for the stove, but she insisted that he stayed in bed.

“You’ve just recovered from a serious illness, take care to not catch a cold. Lie down here, Sis will be back soon.” Jiang Xiaorou said as she lifted a nearly empty bag of grain.

Fifteen minutes later, Jiang Xiaorou placed the broken wooden table in front of the bed. On the table was a big bowl of rice porridge, two unknown wild fruits and a bowl of boiled wild vegetables.

Yi Yun had been starving for days so his stomach started rumbling the moment he saw the food.

Yi Yun was craving for pork or some roasted chicken, or duck and fish. Just the thought of it churned Yi Yun’s stomach.

How can I satiate my extreme hunger with this?

He wolfed down a large mouthful of porridge. His empty stomach reacted by making him even hungrier.

He ate a few mouths of porridge and some of the boiled oil-less vegetables. The vegetables were so bitter that he even had trouble swallowing more of the food despite his extreme hunger.

As Yi Yun had trouble swallowing such an unpalatable meal, he noticed that Xiaorou was looking at him without eating; he curiously asked, “Why aren’t you eating?”

“I ate just before I found you,” Jiang Xiaorou stammered as she turned white.

Yi Yun paused; he recalled that Jiang Xiaorou was at the graveyard at around three in the afternoon, how could she have eaten by then?

It suddenly dawned on him that even food like this was probably not easily obtainable.

What sort of world is this, with strong experts riding wild beasts, yet there were poor people that starved?

Yi Yun pushed the bowl of porridge forward and stood up to go check the grain bag in the corner of the house. As expected, the grain bag was already empty.

Yi Yun realized that the porridge Xiaorou usually prepared was even smaller in quantity. Because of his resurrection, Xiaorou had purposely cooked more porridge for a weakened him to “nurse him up”.

“I’m full. You have some,” Yi Yun said as he pushed the bowl to Jiang Xiaorou. On one hand, he had lost his appetite, while on the other hand; he couldn’t accept that a girl had to abstain from eating just to feed him.

He lamented in his heart if it was still possible to return to his world from this alternate world. If he really couldn’t, he wanted to find an opportunity to train and become a soaring expert.

But from the looks of it, survival was an issue. He might even starve to death before he researched anything.

“I’m not hungry,” Jiang Xiaorou stubbornly said. “Tomorrow is the day that they hand out rations, we can get a piece of meat then. I’ll prepare it for you.”

Jiang Xiaorou’s face blushed the moment she mentioned the handing out of rations. It was clear that she highly anticipated it.

Yi Yun stayed silent. On Earth, he felt that life was tough. But compared to this alternate world, that sort of life was incomparable. With insufficient food and the constant danger of starvation, life was really tough. It was really torturous to endure hunger.

In the middle of the night, a night breeze slowly blew as frogs hidden within the pond grass croaked. Yi Yun was still awake. He leaned on the bed, immersed in moonlight. He tossed and turned while holding the mysterious Purple Crystal. It was all because of the Purple Crystal that resulted in him climbing out of the collapsed mountain body. This small crystal card was unquestionably a treasure. If he studied it, it could potentially be beneficial in some way.

This alternate world was filled with dangers for normal people. But in recollection, the middle-aged man riding the huge beast in the wilderness had a commanding aura. Compared to the suffering people folk, the differences were like Heaven and Earth.

“If I were to become an expert, I could be free. At the very least, I wouldn’t starve…”

Yi Yun touched his stomach as he recalled how he eventually managed to give some of his dinner to Jiang Xiaorou. As he was still a growing child, the porridge had long since been digested, he was already hungry again.

As he felt the emptiness of his stomach, the smooth and cold Purple Crystal in his hand started to spread a faint coolness, as if…

Oh?

Yi Yun suddenly noticed something. He bolted up from bed as he stared at the Purple Crystal. An ecstatic smile crept upon his face.

Upon careful examination, Yi Yun noticed that tiny, faint purple dots of light surrounded the Purple Crystal.

These light dots appeared out of nowhere and slowly floated into the Purple Crystal before they disappeared, as if the Purple Crystal absorbed them. This process carried on indefinitely as the Purple Crystal’s glow became a bit more intense.

What is the meaning of this?

This discovery caused Yi Yun’s breathing to speed up.

As the Purple Crystal’s glow became brighter, Yi Yun felt the Purple Crystal turn colder. This unique coolness traversed up both his arms, into all his limbs, as if the miraculous light cleansed his body. It absolutely refreshed him.

Yi Yun remembered this feeling. While he was digging his way out of the cave, he felt this coolness whenever he was out of breath. It rejuvenated him with strength whenever his body was failing him.

Yi Yun knew that, for a person to live and to move, it was due to energy that was provided to the body, allowing it to renew itself.

Without eating, there would be no nutrition. Naturally there would not be energy either, and will in the end result in starvation.

Completing such a long tunnel without eating or drinking for days, with intense labor conditions requires an energy source. This coolness must be the Purple Crystal providing him with life-giving energy.

Thinking carefully, when he originally discovered the Purple Crystal in the cave, the Purple Crystal was emitting a faint glow like a night pearl.

However after tunnelling into this strange world, the Purple Crystal’s glow had weakened. This could have been a result of energy depletion.

But now, the Purple Crystal’s glow was beginning to recharge and grow stronger. What could be the energy source that was recharging the Purple Crystal?

Yi Yun carefully observed and realized that these vague tiny dots formed a surface leading out the window. It seemed like it… came from starlight.

Starlight was the energy source recharging the Purple Crystal?

Yi Yun thought for a while and jumped out of bed. He went to the stove and dug out some burning coal. He lit a handful of grass and watched as the yellow flames danced.

Yi Yun carefully placed the Purple Crystal in the burning fire.

Yi Yun’s theory was simple, if the Purple Crystal could absorb the energy from starlight, it could perhaps absorb the energy from its surroundings?

Fire, which is a form of energy in Yi Yun’s understanding was likely stronger than starlight. If the Purple Crystal absorbed the energy in the flames, it could be faster?

Yi Yun did not once consider the possibility that the flames could destroy the Purple Crystal.

But, no matter how much Yi Yun burned the Purple Crystal, the Purple Crystal showed no change, nor could he feel the Purple Crystal gain any heat.

The Purple Crystal was like a block of ice which couldn’t melt. It was cold to the touch even after the coal fire died down.

Yi Yun shook his head as he abandoned the experiment.

He decided to venture outside the house. The starlight outside would be denser and could provide the Purple Crystal with more energy.

If the Purple Crystal was filled to the brim with energy, what sort of changes could it bring?

Yi Yun eagerly anticipated the thought!

Yi Yun opened the house door and the courtyard door before carefully closing them behind him. He was afraid to wake the sister up in the adjacent room. But when Yi Yun walked into the courtyard, he was slightly startled.

He saw a girl in green, sitting under a tree not far from him. She was carefully polishing an arrowhead.

The cold arrowhead reflected the chilly moonlight onto the girl’s delicate face, as if veiling her in a layer of silver yarn. By the girl’s side flew dozens of fireflies, as if they were surrounding a goddess.

Jiang Xiaorou?

Yi Yun saw a shiny stack of arrows by Jiang Xiaorou’s side. Each arrow was well manufactured with a sharp arrowhead.

“This is…”

Although Yi Yun didn’t know anything about weapons, he could appreciate the elegance of these arrows.

“Yun’er, why did you get up? It’s very moist at night and your body just recovered. Go back to bed quickly,” Jiang Xiaorou immediately stood up with the intention of sending Yi Yun back into the house.

“Sis, why are there so many arrows?” a curious Yi Yun asked. Jiang Xiaorou didn’t seem like she could string a bow.

“This is for the exchange of tomorrow’s rations. It has always been this way…”

Jiang Xiaorou looked at Yi Yun weirdly.

“Oh…” Yi Yun was obviously unaware of this. Mysteriously, he had tunneled into this world, he understood the words and language, but he did not have a single clue about the life of “Yi Yun”. All of his memories were his own.

It resembled people who suffered amnesia after a head injury. Although an amnesiac would lose his memory about events, he would not lose his language skills.

Yi Yun had long thought of a perfect excuse, explaining, “Sis, I died once, so there are some things I can’t remember…”

“You can’t remember?” a startled Jiang Xiaorou asked. Yi Yun had fallen down from a mountain wall while picking herbs and broke his bones. He had then laid bedridden for a while before he succumbed to his injuries. He might have hurt his head back then.

Thinking of that, Jiang Xiaorou’s heart ached and worried. “Yun’er, you…”

“I’m fine,” Yi Yun quickly stopped Jiang Xiaorou. He wanted to stop her worries. “Sis, tell me about this world, and about the middle-aged man who rode that huge beast. What’s happening, there are so many things I do not remember…”

3 - : If I were to become an expert

Jiang Xiaorou did not suspect anything and explained the various aspects of the world to him.

Yi Yun originally imagined that this was a world where martial arts was respected, but after listening to Jiang Xiaorou’s description, Yi Yun realized that he had underestimated the importance of martial arts in this world.

More precisely, this was a world where martial arts was life. In this world, humans had their own cities and campgrounds while the wilderness belonged to the wild beasts and desolate beasts. Humans risked the threat of being attacked by wild beasts or desolate beasts when out farming or hunting. Because of these monstrous huge beasts, it had limited the range of human activities. So among the commoners, there was a supply deficit.

For a campground or a city, high-level warriors were a lifeline! Without the protection of the high level warriors, desolate beasts could destroy the residents of campgrounds and cities in a night.

Unfortunately for Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou, their tribe was a small tribe without a single high-level warrior. The entire tribe was in a precarious state, one that could be destroyed anytime. Because of the lack of strength, these small tribes had a lot of troubles cultivating or collecting food. They were unable to survive on their own, but relied on the manufacturing of weapons such as arrows and armor for the big tribes cities in exchange for some rations and beasts to survive.

The raw materials for the arrows Jiang Xiaorou made came from a bigger tribe. She was only in charge of manufacturing them.

“Yun’er, go back in. Tomorrow I can exchange quite a bit of rations with these arrows. I can even exchange a piece of desolate beast meat. Do you still remember desolate beasts?” Those were the strongest beasts, and only very large tribes were able to hunt them. Eating a piece gave a lot of strength!

“If one ate for prolonged periods, one could become a warrior very quickly!” Jiang Xiaorou said it dreamingly, for if her brother could become a warrior, it would be absolutely splendid.

It was a pity that they only had a chance to eat a desolate beast every few months. The hopes of becoming a warrior were destined to be an extravagant wish.

However, in large tribes, the young had desolate beasts for their meals, and it was actually not considered valuable among the big tribes. Although desolate beasts were hard to hunt, a desolate beast was over ten meters high and weighed a few tons. It was sufficient to feed ten people for years.

To the proud elites in the big tribes, the meat of the desolate beasts was for the commoners. What they ate was the desolate beasts’ bones, or desolate bones.

All the essence in the desolate beasts was in their desolate bones. A huge set of desolate beast skeleton could be refined through a special method to obtain a bean-sized desolate bone essence.

This desolate bone essence was used to help warriors break their limits by opening up their meridians, stimulating blood pulses and various beneficial effects. It was something all martial artists yearned for.

Of course, a desolate bone essence was simply a legend to the poor families in a lowly tribe like Jiang Xiaorou and Yi Yun’s.

Forgetting a desolate bone essence, even refining a piece of desolate bone would require many steps and secret methods. It was impossible for a normal person to refine it successfully.

“Desolate beast, desolate bone essence…” Yi Yun mumbled to himself. The terms he heard from Jiang Xiaorou’s mouth surprised him, as she was so knowledgeable.

After a silent night, Yi Yun woke up early the next morning due to hunger.

Without eating for a few days, and only eating a tiny bit of porridge, Yi Yun’s level of hunger was understandably high.

“Sis Xiaorou!”

Now, Yi Yun was accustomed to calling Jiang Xiaorou sister. He had learned from the chat yesterday with Jiang Xiaorou that he used to call Jiang Xiaorou “Sis Xiaorou”.

“Oh…Sis Xiaorou, why are you…”

Yi Yun suddenly realized that Jiang Xiaorou’s clothes were soaked with a lot of dew, and her originally bright eyes were now speckled with red blood vessels. She looked extremely tired.

Looking at the two bundles of arrows that Jiang Xiaorou was hugging, it was clear to Yi Yun that Jiang Xiaorou had not slept once throughout the night to finish the arrows!

They were so poor that they could not afford to light a lamp. Jiang Xiaorou had used the faint glow from the fireflies and the moonlight to arduously finish the arrows overnight.

Jiang Xiaorou smiled saying, “Yun’er, previously when you fell and hurt yourself, I kept taking care of you. In the past two days, I was busy with your burial and rites, so I didn’t have time to make the arrows. Today is the day we exchange them for rations, so if I had not rushed to finish them, the two of us would starve. I’m even going to get you desolate beast meat to nurse you up!”

As she said that, Jiang Xiaorou looked lovingly at Yi Yun’s forehead.

Yi Yun was dumbfounded as he saw Jiang Xiaorou use linoleum to wrap the two bundles of arrows carefully. Her expression was that of glee and satisfaction.

Yi Yun exhaled deeply and tightened his fists. He was determined to give the sister who cared for him a much better life.

“Let’s go, it’s time to collect our rations!”

Jiang Xiaorou held on to Yi Yun while carrying the two bundles of heavy arrows. She came full of anticipation to the Sun Valley field where the ration exchange was taking place.

There were already many people gathered there.

The thing that caught people’s attention was the man in a robe on stage.

He looked approximately twenty-five and sat majestically on a beast hide covered chair. A well-made sword hung by his waist.

The man in the robe was lazily glancing at the suffering crowd as they busied themselves below the stage.

These people were moving the bundles of arrows and the sets of exquisite leather armor. A person who looked like a treasurer recorded down every item that was moved.

Standing beside the robed man was an elderly man dressed in yellow. He was all smiles, with a fawning look on his face.

“Are the weapons and armor satisfactory, Lord Tao?” The elderly man bowed before him as his face wrinkled up. The robed man took a glance at the elderly man before snorting as a response.

Although the robed man was full of disdain, the elderly man didn’t betray any of his thoughts and carried on smiling.

Lord Tao was an ambassador from a large tribe, and was in charge of collecting the weapons. It was because Lord Tao was not considered special in his tribe was he sent here on the errand, but to the yellow-robed elder, he was someone of utmost importance.

Jiang Xiaorou handed over the two bundles of arrows she made in exchange for two small wooden tablets. With the two wooden tablets in hand, Jiang Xiaorou’s face reddened as she gripped it tightly in her clammy palms for this was for her and her brother’s ration.

After fifteen minutes, all the weapons and armor were stored in the large cart that was pulled away by two big horned horses.

Lord Tao lazily scanned the books as he threw a large wooden chest at the yellow-robed elder before leaving with his subordinates.

The yellow-robed elder politely sent Lord Tao away with smiles before finally wiping them off his face to exude a face of dignity.

All the tribal folks were burning with anticipating saying, “Patriarch, please distribute the rations.”

“Right! We haven’t seen it in months!” A couple of people had started shouting for they were all waiting to collect the rations to fill their stomachs back home.

“Silence!” as the yellow-robed elder quelled the masses with a gesture. Yi Yun never expected that this spineless old freak was the Patriarch.

“Since everyone is so impatient, let’s distribute the rations!” The moment he finished saying, a few strong men walked up hurriedly and brought out bags of rations from a warehouse and stacked them into a small mound.

“That’s not right, Patriarch. Why is there so little this time?”

“Yeah! There used to be a lot more!” “Also why don’t we see any beasts?”

Many people started rabbling for they had handed more weapons than previous years, yet the amount received was pathetically lesser. Not only were the rations halved, but, even the beasts had disappeared.

“The Fire Cloud tribe has gone too far, how can they dismiss us with this tiny amount?””

“Patriarch, what’s the meaning of this!”

Seeing that the mob was getting more disorderly, the yellow-robed elder snorted and said, “Shut your mouths!” You will understand in a while. Distribute the rations now! Hand over your wooden tablets, and whatever you receive is all you will get!

The yellow-robed elder said it with force resulting in many of the dissatisfied to zip up their mouths immediately. This yellow-robed elder was a warrior. Although he was a low-classed Mortal Blood warrior, he was definitely the tribe’s pillar, so few dared defy him.

“Those from the warrior preparation camp are the first to receive the rations!” The moment the yellow-robed elder waved his hand, a group of men wearing animal leather walked forward. Their age ranged from fifteen to forty years old. Without exception, all of them were stout and muscular from their training. These people were members of the warrior preparation camp, and were the hope of the tribe. As young adults with good physical attributes, they were chosen from young for training. Besides hunting occasionally, they did not farm or manufacture arrows or armor.

Besides, anything beneficial like food was first distributed to the warrior preparation camp. Because, if any of them were to become a high-class warrior, they would bring lots of riches to the tribe. Besides being able to protect, high-level warriors’ output capabilities were extremely high as they were strong enough to go out into the wilderness to hunt. Just a few large wild beasts would be enough to feed the entire tribe for days. Without exaggeration, a single high-level warrior could sustain a small tribe!

There were dozens of people in the warrior preparation camp, and because they never participated in the manufacturing, they naturally didn’t have any wooden tablets; but each of them still took away a big bag of rations.

The small amount of rations was further reduced by a fifth, but there were tens of times more people who haven’t received the rations compared to the warrior preparation camp.

From this, it was fated that many would starve.

Jiang Xiaorou, who was by Yi Yun’s side, grasped the wooden tablet tightly. Her face was pale for their days were numbered if they didn’t manage to obtain any rations.

The people were solemn as the warrior preparation camp members took their usual share, which definitely meant there wasn’t enough to distribute.

“Household with Tier one males, come collect your rations!” The yellow-robed elder gave another order. In this world where martial arts was life, those males not from the warrior preparation camp received distributions proportional to their abilities.

A simple test was that of strength; being able to lift 300 lbs was a Tier one male!

The lesser they lifted, the lower their tier.

Those households with Tier one males heaved a sigh of relief and rushed forward to collect their rations. The wooden tablets were just for show. These households received much lesser rations than normal, but at least they received something.

These households were originally wealthier, and would have surplus food. So even though their days ahead required them to be frugal, it wasn’t a desperate situation.

“Household with Tier two males, come collect your rations!” The yellow-robed elder opened his mouth again. Compared to the person who was bowing to “Lord Tao”, this yellow-robed elder was a totally different person with his cold demeanor.

A Tier two male could lift about 250 lbs. of stone. The rations they received were reduced greatly.

The ration bags depleted rapidly. With every disappearing bag, Jiang Xiaorou’s face turned paler. Her clammy hands griped the wooden tablet tightly.

The problem wasn’t about having fewer bags of rations; this was a matter of life and death. Without the rations, they would starve to death!

She was originally full of hope for this round’s ration distribution. Besides getting the rations, she was hoping to receive a piece of beast meat to nurse Yi Yun. However, there weren’t even any normal rations left.

“Household with Tier three males, come collect your rations!”

With the depleting rations, Jiang Xiaorou held her breath.

The yellow-robed elder frowned, as the amount of rations was too little. Many still had not received it. In the months to come, many would be fated to starve to death.

But for the tribe’s benefit, to catch that golden opportunity, the yellow-robed elder could only harden his heart and sacrifice the weak.

It was common for people to die of hunger or sickness in the tribe. The adverse living conditions resulted in the average life expectancy to be frightening short.

“The rest, come collect your rations.”

With those words, a large group of people rushed forward. Jiang Xiaorou screamed as the mob pushed her down.

She was bruised from her fall, but she held on to her wooden tablet closely, as if it was her freedom giving her hope.

“Sis Xiaorou.” Seeing Jiang Xiaorou fall, Yi Yun rushed through the mob and pulled her up.

“Are you alright, Sis Xiaorou?” Yi Yun was anxious as being trampled by this mob would result in death. Jiang Xiaorou held on helplessly to Yi Yun’s hand.

“Stop squeezing. All of you be orderly!” The yellow-robed elder shouted. His voice seemed to be imbued with a special energy, causing the mob that was squeezing forward to quiet down.

“Line up, one by one!” The yellow-robed elder was authoritative. No one dared to defy him for they all knew he had the power. He was in charge of the tribe, and he would execute whoever disobeyed on the spot.

The people lined up for the rations, even if it was a pathetic amount. But in a while, the rations were gone, leaving many without any.

Jiang Xiaorou’s heart sank. Without the rations, they could not survive.

“Wang Long, bring out a few stored rations out,” said the yellow-robed elder to a stout man. Wang Long was one of the yellow-robed elder’s family members.

“Yes, Patriarch.” Wang Long left and returned in a short while with a small cart of rations. These were the stored rations containing only grain.

On Earth, eating grain was a source of vitamins resulting in healthiness. However in this alternate world, it was a totally different matter. Grain was the remnants after processing. It was mixed with wheat bran as food. The taste was horrible and hard to swallow.

Also grain was low in nutrients, and difficult to digest. In fact, it provided very little energy, about half of the rations. Although it was grain, it was better than nothing. The crowd could only resign to fate and collected the extremely tiny amount of grain. Jiang Xiaorou was right at the back, and by her turn, there was almost no grain left.

She passed the two sweat sodden wooden tablets and received two palm-sized bags of grain. Even if she and Yi Yun ate the grains as porridge, it wouldn’t last them more than ten days.

Jiang Xiaorou was stunned as she held the light bags of grain, unwilling to accept her fate.

Her brother had just come back from the dead, are they going to starve together?

“What are you staying there for, stop blocking the way!” The man in charge of distributing the grain said impatiently, wanting Jiang Xiaorou to leave as soon as possible.

Jiang Xiaorou felt anger. She had worked hard overnight to make those arrows, and all she got was this tiny amount. Although she was a weak girl, she daringly faced the group of men who held the tribe’s authority. “Why is there so little? I handed over two bundles of arrows. Not only did I not get the rations, but all I got was grain that is far from the normal amount!”

The man in charge of distributing the grain was stunned. He never expected the young girl to have the courage to question him.

“Do you even know the rules? You are just a kid, and a young girl at that. Without any males at home, what’s the point of having so much food? It would be a waste!”

In this world, the smaller tribes favored males. In the big tribes, there were various kinds of desolate beasts, and even desolate bones. So the differences between the two sexes didn’t matter as much.

But in a small tribe, a male’s strength was an advantage gap that couldn’t be closed. Few girls had the strength comparable to men.

Being looked down upon, Jiang Xiaorou shouted angrily, “Who said I didn’t have any males in my house? There is one right here!” Saying that, Jiang Xiaorou grabbed Yi Yun’s hand and stood beside him.

4 - : Who said I didn’t have any males in my house

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s thin and frail body was even shorter than Jiang Xiaorou’s. Although he looked like a kid, in Jiang Xiaorou’s heart, Yi Yun was the man of the house, a man who would support the family in the future!

While holding Jiang Xiaorou’s hands, Yi Yun felt her agitation as her palm heated up with a slight tremble in her fingers. Facing their impending deaths, and the unfairness of the tribe, Jiang Xiaorou did not expect anyone to stand up for her. She could only do it herself, as a fifteen-year-old girl, against a bunch of stout men.

The atmosphere went silent for a moment as everyone dazedly looked at Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou. After a short silence, a few of the men in charge of distributing the grain roared with laughter.

“He is your household’s man? Hahahaha!”

“Young lass, have you not seen a man before? Do you want me to show you what it means to be a man?” said one of the men lewdly

“A kid who doesn’t even need to shave, and is as thin as a monkey at that. I wonder kid, how many days ago did you stop using diapers?

A few of the men guffawed, Jiang Xiaorou turned red from embarrassment as she clenched her fists tightly. Not a single person behind her was willing to stand up for her.

The ruling class of the tribe was filled with all the strong and laborious warriors. As the weak could not defeat the strong, no one bothered to help them as they had their own meals to worry about.

“Eh, I recall something. Didn’t this brat die a few days ago?”

In a small tribe, deaths weren’t uncommon. And because of Yi Yun’s lack of any standing, his death wasn’t very widely known.

“That’s right. I know him. He’s full of illnesses. His body is so weak that the wind can blow him over,” another person agreed.

“Who said my brother died!?” Jiang Xiaorou stared at the man like a leopardess. Their bodies were so disproportionate in size, like a sparrow against a vulture. Even so, Jiang Xiaorou gritted her teeth and stood her ground. There was a hint of killing intent in her eyes, one that could be seen in a beast.

It was hard to believe that a weak, young girl like her could exhibit such a stare. Jiang Xiaorou held on tightly to a long and thin pole-like item she had hidden behind her. She had secretly kept one of the arrows for defensive purposes!

Facing Jiang Xiaorou’s glare, the man frowned because she had angered him. As a deacon in the tribe, and a member of the warrior preparation camp, his position in the tribe was very high. This situation was like a tiger being pinned down by a kitten.

“You foolish lass, what are you staring at!? I’ll dig out your eyes if you keep staring!” The man said angrily, but Jiang Xiaorou continued starting at him while gritting her teeth. She did not stand down because they would not survive if they didn’t receive any additional rations today. The arrow in her hand was gripped even tighter, almost to the point of her drawing it out!

“This lass is interesting!” Situated in a clean and high house, a smirking lad in silver armor had been monitoring the conflict between Jiang Xiaorou and the man through the window.

This silver-armored lad had an overpowering presence. His bright armor only served to enhance the difference between him and the suffering commoners.

“She is still hiding an arrow. All the arrow-making materials have been accounted for, but even a defective arrow must be collected. I don’t know how this lass managed to hide the arrow, but from the looks of it, she might have the courage to use the arrow offensively.”

“If she were to go on the offensive, she would definitely end up in a sorry state,” an elder standing beside the silver-armored lad politely said.

“That’s right. However, if she were to not to go on the offensive, she will probably starve to death,” the silver-armored lad nonchalantly said. “Tell me more about this girl.”

The elder bowed responding, “Yes my lord, her name is Jiang Xiaorou, a girl from the lower castes in our Lian tribal clan. She and her brother were originally not from the Lian tribal clan. She was a refugee who managed to find a foothold in the Lian tribal clan. A few years ago, her brother, Yi Yun’s mother passed away. The siblings became orphans. It was expected that the two children, without their mother, would surely die, but this Jiang Xiaorou, though young, surprisingly managed to take care of both herself and her brother and have lasted for a few years.”

The elder was extremely polite. The Lian tribal clan numbered a thousand, and he knew everything about everyone.

A typical large tribe usually did not take in refugees, only smaller tribes did. In fact, this was one of the ways for a small tribe to sustain their population, however the refugees were always of a much lower status than the natives.

“She’s actually a girl from elsewhere.” The lad mumbled to himself as he slowly smirked.

From the situation before, he realized that Jiang Xiaorou had a different air that he couldn’t describe, for it wasn’t one a poor family’s child would have. Furthermore, Jiang Xiaorou had elegant and refined looks. In a small tribe that endured suffering, such a beautiful girl was a rarity. Such a beautiful and charming girl with a defiant attitude, with an unknown past, kindled the interest in Lian Chengyu.

“Young Master, has she caught your eye?” the elder couldn’t resist asking. Young Master Lian Chengyu had extremely high prestige in the tribe!

The Lian tribal clan had a few warriors, but for an honest count of experts, there were only three. One was the Patriarch who was the yellow-robed elder, the warrior preparation camp’s coach, Yao Yuan was another, and lastly it was Lian Chengyu. He was the grandnephew of the yellow-robed elder. The Patriarch was already in his 60s, but Lian Chengyu was only seventeen, so he had a bright path ahead. Lian Chengyu was undoubtedly going to become the next Patriarch. He was also the person with the highest chance of becoming a “Purple Blood Warrior”.

With Lian Chengyu’s birth stature, he wasn’t supposed to marry a woman from outside, because of her low stature.

“So what if I’m interested? Soon this small Lian tribe will not bog me down. I’ll go out and have a great adventure in the vast wilderness! Are you trying to use the Lian tribal clan rules to stifle me?”

Although Lian Chengyu had said it calmly, the cold words made the elder shudder as he hastily said, “I was joking, Young Master. I was just asking. I spoke too much, please do not take it to heart!”

The elder was about to slap himself as he said that, for although the Lian tribal clan was small, the clan rules were very strict!

In the wilderness, where the strong ruled over the weak, many countries imposed military law. In the tribes however, the warriors held power, so be it the laws or the tribal clan rules, they were all extremely strict!

The strong held the weak people’s lives in their hands. Lian Chengyu, who was a powerhouse in his tribe, had absolute authority to decide over a person’s fate.

Besides, Lian Chengyu showed no mercy. Since he was young, he had gone through numerous tribulations, and had experienced cruel in-fighting, even in the tribe.

Seeing that the elder was about to slap himself, Lian Chengyu coolly said, “Alright. Stop acting in front of me. This girl is still young. I only want her as a maid, or a concubine, so you don’t have to worry. This should not violate the tribe’s rules.”

“Yes… thank you for your forgiveness, Young Master,” the elder nodded hurriedly.

“Well… Let me ask you. This Jiang Xiaorou, why does she have a different surname than her brother?” Lian Chengyu narrowed his eyes as he looked at what was happening on the field. He realized that Jiang Xiaorou was extremely protective of her brother, while her brother was a illness-riddled weakling, Jiang Xiaorou still seemed proud of him.

“This… I heard that when Jiang Xiaorou was in difficulty, she was adopted by Yi Yun’s mother. It is probably for this reason that Jiang Xiaorou is very grateful to Yi Yun’s mother, so she also treats Yi Yun well.”

“Ah, is that so…” Lian Chengyu frowned as he stood up.

“Get lost now!” Seeing Jiang Xiaorou’s legs rooted to the ground, the man was angered. He stepped forward in front of Jiang Xiaorou and was about to slap her!

A weak girl like Jiang Xiaorou could not compare to the man’s large body. This slap if landed would have thrown Jiang Xiaorou into the air!

Jiang Xiaorou was about to draw the arrow when she felt her hand being pressed down. Yi Yun quickly whispered into her ear saying, “Do not be rash!”

With that said, in one fluid move, Yi Yun was standing in front of Jiang Xiaorou.

“Hold on!” said Yi Yun with his hands raised.

“What do you think you are doing?” The man was angered; it was actually this weak skinny monkey. He would send him flying too!

Yi Yun was itching to kick the man in his groin, but he knew that a wise man does not fight when the odds are against him. Having lived two lives, he was calmer, and knew that being rash in this situation would be disastrous.

“A real man doesn’t fight with women. Furthermore, aren’t you from the warrior preparation camp? You must be very strong, so how can you lay your finger on a young lady? Wouldn’t that be a joke to people?” Wary of the man’s violent actions, Yi Yun said it quickly but clearly. Everyone present heard it.

The man hesitated as he looked strangely at the lad in front of him.

Wouldn’t a twelve-year-old kid jump out to lambaste him? Or would he stupidly take the slap in his sister’s stead and be sent flying?

But, him jumping out and saying those words, it was a simple taunt that was extremely effective. He left his hand in mid-air as he hesitated in swiping his hand down.

This man felt like he was punching the air. Indeed, as a member of the warrior preparation camp, and in the eyes of many, to hit two kids would not be something to be proud of. Furthermore there was some conflict of interests between the warrior preparation camp and the ordinary citizens, so it was easy for him to be brought down with words.

The man may be brash, but he did not want to be talked about behind his back.

“Well, at least you know your place!” said the man as he lowered his hand while staring at the siblings. “I’m in a good mood today, so I’ll not bother argue with you. Get lost now!”

“Yun-er!” Jiang Xiaorou said as she pulled Yi Yun’s hand. She felt helpless for she knew that she had nothing to gain by entering into a conflict with the man. But to leave would mean their starvation.

“Sis Xiaorou… do not worry,” as Yi Yun held on to Jiang Xiaorou’s hand, gesturing for her to calm down. “So, I’ll be leaving now, but before that, little me has something to consult you on…”

5 - : Lian Chengyu

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What? Spit it out!” the man said impatiently.

“Oh, it’s this. My sister handed over two bundles of arrows and in accordance with the clan rules, more rations than this should be obtained…”

Yi Yun dangled the light bag of grain in the air as he asked with an earnest look, without any hints of interrogating.

The man hissed, “What clan rules? Being strong is the rule! What I say becomes the rules!”

The man aggressively said. Yi Yun sneered in his heart. What an idiot, the man’s arrogance had led him straight into his trap.

Yi Yun gave him a look of injustice, saying, “Brother, you may set the rules, but you should let us have something to live by.”

By saying this, Yi Yun had included that everyone was on board when the man said, “being strong is the rule! What I say are the rules!” as it most likely ruffled the feathers of many of them.

Immediately after, many people behind Yi Yun could not help but echoed him by saying, “Right, Bro, I handed over six pieces of armor, yet all I got was a tiny amount of rations. I want an explanation as well.”

“Why are there so few rations this time? We want to know too.”

“I’m an old person with a family to feed. This amount of rations isn’t enough!”

The people of the Lian tribal clan had endured misery all this time. They had the intention to revolt against the tribal clan leadership, but due to the differences in strength and them being without a leader, none of them stood forward. But with Yi Yun’s provocation, they could no longer sit idle.

The man’s countenance fell. He did not expect that a kid’s words would cause such a disturbance amongst the crowd. Seeing the situation escalate, he was beginning to lose control over it.

“All of you shut the fuck up!” the man roared.

But his roar was severely limited.

“Give us an explanation. We want an explanation!”

“Why are there so few rations!?”

Laws fail when violators are legion. Usually, the first person who jumps forward would receive “special care”, but with the situation escalating, everyone gained courage.

Just as the situation was about to go out of control, a clear voice rang out, “You want an explanation, I’ll give you one!”

This sound contained an amorphous energy, instantly silencing the chaotic situation.

Everyone traced the source of the sound, only to see a silver-armored lad with a long sword in hand, walking over.

“It’s Young Master Lian Chengyu!”

“Lian Chengyu!”

Seeing this lad, everyone was surprised. Lian Chengyu was the person in the tribe who was most likely to become a Purple Blood Warrior. Lian Chengyu’s talent was apparently comparable to a large tribe’s genius.

If the Lian tribal clan produced a Purple Blood Warrior, everything would be different! The day that happened, Lian Chengyu could support the entire tribal clan!

If Lian Chengyu went one step further and impressed a powerful tribe, he definitely would have the means to bring the entire Lian tribe into the city.

To many in the tribe, being able to live in a city would be heavenly. To be able to build a city in the wilderness was too difficult as it would be an easy target, filled with humans, for big and strong desolate beasts to attack! Without human experts backing the city, the desolate beasts would easily trample it!

Many experts were located in every human city. With a thick high wall and a long heritage, the city was protected, leaving humans to survive safely within the city walls. With sufficient food sources, they did not need to fear starvation nor the threats of the beasts. Who didn’t want to live such a pleasant life?

Lian Chengyu was the Lian tribal clan’s hope. His position within the tribe had already exceeded the Patriarch’s!

When Lian Chengyu came forward, everyone fell silent.

“Grandpa.” Lian Chengyu first acknowledged the tribal Patriarch, who was the yellow-robed elder.

“Ah, Chengyu, since you have stepped forward I will leave it to you.”

In the tribe, many men married at the age of 16. So a 17-year-old Lian Chengyu was well qualified to take charge.

Lian Chengyu didn’t say a word to the tribe at first. Instead, he faced Yi Yun with a meaningful smile. “You are Yi Yun, right?”

Yi Yun’s eyebrows jumped. The first thing Lian Chengyu said to the tribe was towards him, and although it was one of smiles, Yi Yun could sense the danger behind it.

Yi Yun instigated the unrest of the people, and he had tried his best to made it appear unintentional. Whether intentional or not, as the tribe leadership’s representative, Lian Chengyu was highly likely to attack him.

“Not bad for a twelve-year-old. You don’t seem like a child, you might one day amount to something big!” Lian Chengyu chuckled as he patted Yi Yun on the shoulder nonchalantly. Many in the crowd were surprised that a person of Lian Chengyu’s stature had taken the initiative to pat the shoulder of a commoner.

Also, this praise was extremely noteworthy! Lian Chengyu actually said that this poor kid could amount to something big! Was that possible?

Although they were in disagreement, they had nothing better to say since those were words from Lian Chengyu’s mouth. To them, this young man must have lucked out for him to be appreciated by Young Master Lian. He might even be given some henchman position of Young Master Lian in the future. That was a position many dreamed of!

“Young Master has thought too highly of me.” Yi Yun smiled stiffly, but he felt tightness in his heart. He was constantly on high alert ever since the moment he met Lian Chengyu. He had felt a numbness on his shoulder, followed by a warmth that spread through his shoulder before almost instantly disappearing when Lian Chengyu patted him.

If Yi Yun wasn’t sharp and on high alert, he would have thought that the feeling was an illusion, or thought that it was due to nervousness when Lian Chengyu patted him on the shoulder.

What did this Lian guy want? Could there be some trick…?

Yi Yun didn’t believe that Lian Chengyu would pat him on the shoulder in front of everyone, or compliment him for nothing. To him, Lian Chengyu’s gaze was full of enmity.

“Give them some rations.” Lian Chengyu turned to the man in charge of handing out the food and spoke. Even though Jiang Xiaorou was still young, she should be taken care of for another two years, not starved to death.

“Yes, Young Master!” the man answered. Although he was unwilling after having been tricked by Yi Yun, he had to obey Lian Chengyu’s orders.

The man hesitated for a moment before handing over a twenty-five-kilogram sack of grain to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun became even more vigilant but displayed a look of gratefulness. He accepted the bags and disingenuously said, “Thank you, young master.”

Although he was verbally grateful, Yi Yun was raring to beat Lian Chengyu up. The food that belonged to Jiang Xiaorou as a result of her hard work of making arrows could have been exchanged for a piece of meat, but all they got was a bag of grain. They even had to be thankful! It was preposterous!

Being inferior in capability resulted in being inferior in everything. In this world, strength was the truth!

“I so want to give him two panda eyes…” Yi Yun thought but displayed a flawless poker face.

Seeing Yi Yun collect two to three months worth of food, the others were all full of envy and jealousy. But since it was awarded by Lian Chengyu, they did not dare say anything except, “Young Master Lian, can you explain to us why there are so few rations today?”

“Yeah, Young Master Lian should stand up for us!”

Lian Chengyu already stood on the stage, smiling at everyone. It was as if the compliment he gave to Yi Yun was nothing, and he was no longer interested.

With a smile, he said, “My fellow tribe members, you have worked hard for all these years!”

Lian Chengyu did not go straight to the point with his first sentence, but used it to quell the masses. To Yi Yun, this was a clumsy tactic, but with Lian Chengyu’s stature, those words had already made the poor flattered.

“You want an explanation, I’ll give you an explanation. Bring it up!” Lian Chengyu waved his hands and six men behind him lifted up a large wooden box up with wooden poles. Yi Yun remembered that, that “Lord Tao” left behind this box after receiving the weapons and armors. This must be something from the large tribe!

“Open it!” Lian Chengyu ordered. It was impossible to conceal the item inside the box. To refine it, a lot of labor would be required.

Two big men pried the box open in front of everyone. When the box opened, gorgeous light with beautiful patterns emitted from it.

The crowd exclaimed in disbelief. They had never seen such a scene before.

Lian Chengyu went forward and, using a red rock, waved it along the glowing light streams. The light streams rippled in reaction before slowly disappearing.

In an instant, chilly air poured out…

6 - : Purple Blood Warrior

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It’s so cold.” The onlookers couldn’t help but shiver. All they saw was a white mist being emitted from the box and when the mist eventually dissipated, they saw a large, shiny piece of bone inside the box.

The biting cold came from the bone!

“What is that?” They were all shocked, for they had never seen anything rare. Although they did not know what it was, they could guess that it was likely some immense treasure.

“This is a desolate bone!” Lian Chengyu said with a sense of satisfaction. “The light patterns you saw previously were there to seal the chill of the bone.”

“Desolate bone? This is a desolate bone?” Most people in the crowd had never heard of desolate bones, but Yi Yun had already heard about them from Jiang Xiaorou’s description.

In this world’s wilderness, there existed strong desolate beasts. Every desolate beast had the ability to easily destroy a small tribe like the Lian tribe.

Desolate beasts may be frightening, but their body was full of treasures.

Desolate meat were excellent supplements. However, as a person’s appetite was limited, how much of a hill sized desolate beast could a person eat?

Fortunately, most of the essence was gathered within their bones, and through a special method, it was refined into a tiny piece.

The distilled outcome was considered the most precious item in a desolate beast’s body.

Looking at the desolate bone inside the box, although it was only a tiny portion of a desolate beast’s rib, it was still considered precious!

“The reason why we have fewer rations today is because besides exchanging for rations, a lot of the weapons and armors were used to exchange for this piece of desolate bone! In fact, to obtain it, the arrows and armor you manufactured were insufficient. Due to my experience outside in my youth where I obtained some mental cultivation methods, only by exchanging those did we finally have enough to exchange for this piece of desolate bone!” In between Lian Chengyu’s speech, the elder beside him had explained the usefulness and preciousness of the desolate bone to everyone.

Although the elder said it vicariously, many in the audience could not accept it.

The desolate bone may be good, but what did that have to do with them?

No matter how stupid they were, they knew that they would have no stake in the results of refining the essence from the desolate bone.

“I know your thoughts; you are worried about your future life. You are worried about starving to death. I understand everyone’s situation. But think about it, is there an end to those days!? In the wilderness, there are as many small tribes as there’s sand in a desert. They do not have the power to protect themselves and can be destroyed at any time!”

“Our Lian tribal clan is also one of them!”

“Do you really want to lead such a precarious life forever? Worrying when the next meal is, worrying if you will be killed by beasts while sleeping at night!?”

“Do you really want such a life?” Lian Chengyu’s words were full of incitement. Many in the tribe clenched their fists! Such a life was debilitating. If there was a hell, it was this!

“I’ve endured enough!” shouted someone in the crowd.

“Good! I too do not want to lead such a life! There’s a chance now. In three months’ time, the human empire, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom will be having a mass recruitment of experts within its territory! If one were to pass the multiple rounds of selection by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, one can become a warrior of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

“This is an extreme glory, and also a great opportunity!” Saying this, Lian Chengyu’s eyes looked like they were burning with flames!

Yi Yun understood these eyes; they were one of extreme desire and ambition!

Lian Chengyu was a man with ambition. He didn’t want to be trapped in such a small tribal clan. He wanted to go out into the wilderness and make a name for himself!

“No wonder he was willing to sacrifice so many of the tribe just for that piece of desolate bone… he wants to take the test of the Kingdom in three months!” Yi Yun was suddenly enlightened. He originally thought that Lian Chengyu might have slowly accumulated the rations over time to exchange for the desolate bones.

For him to kill the golden goose probably meant that he was going to use the desolate bones to make a quantum leap in strength!

Lian Chengyu’s words quickly confirmed Yi Yun’s hypothesis.

“I, Lian Chengyu, was born and bred in the Lian tribal clan. I am a son of the Lian tribe. I will give my all for the entire Lian tribe! Thankfully, with this piece of desolate bone, I can break through into the realm of a Purple Blood Warrior within three months! Once I become a Purple Blood Warrior, I can easily pass the exams arranged by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, becoming a warrior of the kingdom!”

“When that happens, I can personally protect the entire Lian tribe. And as a warrior of the Divine Kingdom, I can even bring the Lian tribe into the cities of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. If I were to make any contributions in the future, I can even own a part of a city that I can call my own! When that happens, everyone can enter my city and live a comfortable life!”

“In three months! That’s right; just endure for three months. The day the exam is over, I promise you a life of no worries! Today, for the tribe to tighten their belts to provide for me, I will return it a hundred times, no, a thousand times!” Lian Chengyun’s words were bewitching, and the normal suffering people could not see through to his ambition. They were all immersed in the promise of a better future and began anticipating it.

Three months, just another three months and they could move into the city?

Is this real?

“This fellow could be a politician on Earth.”

Yi Yun began to ruminate as he clearly knew that no one would question the scarcity of rations distributed anymore. Lian Chengyu’s promise of a castle in the air had silenced everyone. Any further questions would be dealt with, not by Lian Chengyu but by the surrounding people.

The poor were helpless. A person’s life was cheap. A bag of rations was worth several lives, so for the curated promise by Lian Chengyu, it was normal for there to be more deaths.

People had led tough lives and were too depressed. They needed hope, a pillar of support for them to carry on living. They believed in even a sliver of hope. Anyone who professed against it would be dealt with severely by the desperate.

Noticing that people were still confused, a henchman jumped up loudly yelling, “Long live Young Master Lian Chengyu!”

Suffering people who were starving were easily incited. To them, they were willing to sacrifice their lives to ensure a better life for their offspring.

“Long live Young Master Lian Chengyu…” A few people shouted weakly.

But the moment people started shouting, the shouting increased. Even those that were worried about their next meal had to go with the crowd.

This was the sorrow of the weak; they had no choice.

Seeing the people’s reactions, Lian Chengyu was very satisfied. As long as he wanted it, the entire Lian tribe would be his stepping-stone. He wanted to step on this stone and create his own legend!

“Chengyu, well done.” The yellow robed elder said after walking up behind Lian Chengyu.

“Grandpa, you don’t have to praise me. It’s nothing. If I didn’t ignite the emotions of these people, it would be hard to carry on. Refining the bones will kill many.”

“Yes…” sighed the yellow robed elder. He knew that refining the bones would kill many. But regardless of the number of deaths, this opportunity must not be lost.

“One success is formed from a thousand bones. Grandpa, why do you sigh. The tribe will remember them for their deaths. Furthermore… with a few dead, there will be more food left. Holding out for another three months wouldn’t be a problem,” Lian Chengyu said casually. He was not worried over the sacrifices. How many people died a day in the wilderness?

A few ants dying could make a hero. It was definitely worth it, because a hero could save many more ants.

What more, the hero was himself!

Lian Chengyu’s words were not heard by anyone other than the yellow robed elder.

“Yun’er, what’s wrong?” Jiang Xiaorou had noticed that Yi Yun was not paying attention and jolted him. “What are you thinking?”

“Nothing…” Yi Yun shook his head. He was in a trance, not because of Lian Chengyu’s speech, nor was it for the insufferable fate of the Lian tribe, but he had noticed that a few faint dots of light had flown over, like fireflies in the night sky.

The lights flew into his mouth and disappeared.

Shortly thereafter, the coolness of the Purple Crystal permeated, becoming even clearer.

Obviously, the Purple Crystal was absorbing the lights. Just like the Purple Crystal absorbed starlight at night!

And looking for the source of the lights, it actually was…

Yi Yun heart skipped a beat, it can’t be…

7 - : Desolate Bones

CKtalon  CKtalon

The light source was within the wooden box, which meant it was from the desolate bone!

Yi Yun broke into a cold sweat at this unexpected turn of events.

The desolate bone emitted bits of light which flew towards him. How could Lian Chengyu not investigate this phenomenon?

With more and more light dots coming towards him, it was getting too obvious. He was sure that he would be discovered!

The moment it was investigated, he could only explain it with his life!

“Yun’er, what is wrong with you? Why is your forehead full of sweat?”

“Sis Xiaorou, you…” Yi Yun saw many light dots flying, but Jiang Xiaorou didn’t seem to notice them. “Sis Xiaorou, don’t you see anything?” Yi Yun asked with a guilty conscience. He realized that besides Jiang Xiaorou, the surrounding people did not seem to notice the light dots either.

“See what? Yun’er, are you sick?” Jiang Xiaorou asked with concern. Yi Yun’s body was weak and he had just resurrected the previous day. It would be terrible if he were to fall sick again.

“Eh…” Yi Yun paused for a while before heaving a sigh of relief. It seemed like he was the only one who could see the light dots.

Could it be that only the owner of the Purple Crystal was able to see the strange happenings of the Purple Crystal?

He furtively glanced at Lian Chengyu, who still had a calm smile on his face. Lian Chengyu would occasionally look at the box containing the desolate bone with a manic look in his eyes!

“That guy hasn’t noticed the light dots…”

With that, Yi Yun relaxed. If even Lian Chengyu couldn’t see it, then no one beside himself could.

Yi Yun was now further convinced that the Purple Crystal was a wonderful treasure!

At that moment, Lian Chengyu turned his gaze towards Yi Yun with a meaningful smile.

He walked forward and stood in front of Jiang Xiaorou.

“This food is a reward for you. Take it and don’t starve yourself. If it’s insufficient, come look for me.” Lian Chengyu said those words softly. His voice was congenial, but his expressions and tone were one of superiority. For whatever he gave away, he could also take back.

Jiang Xiaorou stayed silent. Lian Chengyu did not mind that as he admired her for her stubbornness when the rations were distributed. It didn’t mean that he liked her stubborn attitude towards him, he was determined to slowly rub it off her until she became as obedient as a kitten.

What he wanted was an obedient servant girl, not a lady that needed coaxing.

With a brother by her side, she had something to cling on to and stay determined for. This was not what Lian Chengyu wanted. Besides, Yi Yun’s mother had adopted her and they had no blood relations. Lian Chengyu did not like the fact that the non-blood siblings were living together.

Furthermore, Yi Yun had stirred the masses and almost caused a commotion. He took it to heart that a twelve-year-old kid could be so scheming. He would definitely be a threat when he grew up.

What Lian Chengyu wanted was obedient people, to be his stepping-stones, not scheming people like Yi Yun who were hard to control.

As the desolate bone was about to be refined, it was a big deal for Lian Chengyu. He was willing to pay any price for it to succeed.

He didn’t want any uncertainty, because he was about to isolate himself for training. Besides, the desolate bone had a problem, refining it would end in deaths!

With a food shortage and people dying, it was easy to incite public rage. He was afraid of a mutiny happening while trained in isolation. They could flip the cauldron where the desolate bone was being refined. If his plans were destroyed, killing all of them was pointless.

From Lian Chengyu’s point of view, Yi Yun hated him and didn’t have a trace of fear or respect towards him.

Yi Yun already had a record of inciting chaos. If Yi Yun sought revenge while inciting people due to the starvation and deaths while he was in isolation, Yi Yun could be the spark that spelled disaster.

Thinking of this, Lian Chengyu smiled again and patted Yi Yun’s shoulder gently once again.

Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat, but before he had time to react, Lian Chengyu’s hand was already on his shoulder.

Fuck! Yi Yun wished that he could chop off Lian Chengyu’s hand. He felt that Lian Chengyu was as sinister as a venomous snake!

Lian Chengyu coolly said, “What are you nervous about, are you afraid of me? You and your sister don’t have it easy. Take care of your sister.”

With that said, Lian Chengyu withdrew his hand as Yi Yun felt that numbness again.

Lian Chengyu had patted his shoulders twice, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

“If there are any problems, look for me,” Lian Chengyu said to Jiang Xiaorou. He was always smiling. Yi Yun frowned, for he sensed that Lian Chengyu had the hots for his sister.

That must be it. It was no wonder that he gave them so much food, if not for his coveting of Jiang Xiaorou he probably wouldn’t have cared at all. There was no other reason for him to hand out the precious food.

The thing about approaching him if there were any troubles shed light on his thoughts. If Jiang Xiaorou were to go to him, indescribable things would definitely happen to her.

With a wave of Lian Chengyu’s hand, the warriors from the warrior preparation camp sealed the box containing the desolate bone.

The moment it was sealed, Yi Yun felt the connection between the Purple Crystal he had and the desolate bones vanish. The floating dots of light also disappeared shortly thereafter.

“This…” Something cropped up in Yi Yun’s mind as he saw the warrior preparation camp members carry the desolate bone away.

“Yun’er, what’s on your mind?” On the way home, Jiang Xiaorou sensed that Yi Yun wasn’t paying attention and was now frowning.

Yi Yun couldn’t be carefree, for a venomous snake like Lian Chengyu had patted him on his shoulders twice. It was unknown what had been done. Yi Yun didn’t tell Jiang Xiaorou as he didn’t want her to worry. Also, she was still young and wouldn’t be able to see through Lian Chengyu’s wolf in sheep’s clothing act.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Xiaorou suddenly said, “Yun’er, that Lian Chengyu, you must be careful of him. Try to avoid him if possible.”

Jiang Xiaorou’s words stunned Yi Yun for a while. He didn’t expect her to have such a keen intuition.

In fact, Lian Chengyu’s behavior could not be faulted on the surface. He was a Young Master who was concerned about his people, an amiable and respected tribal clan leader.

Yi Yun was able to sense Lian Chengyu’s underlying motives as he had seen the acts of several politicians on Earth. People like Lian Chengyu could be found in historical books and international news. Yi Yun could only sense hypocrisy when he heard Lian Chengyu’s words. This insight wasn’t something the suffering poor could attain.

To Yi Yun, the two pats from Lian Chengyu on his shoulders clearly spelled out his hostility.

Yi Yun was stumped over the fact that Jiang Xiaorou was able to sense it too.

“Anyway, just avoid him.” Hearing Jiang Xiaorou’s determined words, Yi Yun realized that he did not fully understand this sister of his.

Be it the desolate bones, desolate monsters and her intuition, including her extreme beauty compared to to the other tribal girls made her stand out in the poor tribal clan…

As expected by Yi Yun, dinner consisted of wild vegetables and porridge.

In this world, people only ate two meals. A typical day began at 5 am before they ate breakfast at 9 am. Of course, breakfast was just Yi Yun’s way of calling it; they had a different name for it here. Finally, dinner was eaten at 4 pm.

Yi Yun understood that in ancient China, people only ate two meals, just like in this strange world. In a situation with scarce resources, having two meals a day was probably the most scientific and optimal way for surviving.

While eating, Jiang Xiaorou felt somewhat guilty that she didn’t manage to get meat for her brother.

Yi Yun wasn’t taking it to heart as he was busy thinking about the two pats on his shoulder. It was all speculation and suspicion on his part; he had no clues about how serious it would be.

After finishing a bowl of grain porridge, just as Yi Yun was about to eat a few mouthfuls of wild vegetables, he felt his arm go numb and dropped his chopsticks.

“Yun’er, you…”

Yi Yun grunted, for his left hand could no longer move. Both his arms were hurting, as if someone was breaking them!

“Yun’er!” Jiang Xiaorou’s face went pale, she didn’t know what was happening to Yi Yun and quickly helped him onto the bed.

Damn it!

Yi Yun’s arm was full of pain as he gritted his teeth. Without question, this was the work of Lian Chengyu. Yi Yun had not guessed wrong!

It was unknown what method Lian Chengyu had used, but with the disparity in power, even if Yi Yun had sensed Lian Chengyu’s enmity, he had no way of avoiding it.

This was the law of the jungle where the strong determined the fate of the weak.

“Yun’er, how are you? Is this an after effect of your fall while picking herbs?”

“I…” As Yi Yun opened his mouth, he realized his tongue had gone numb. He was experiencing a gradual increase of paralysis in his entire body.

He began to come to the realization that the moment he lost all feeling in his body was the moment of his death!

Lian Chengyu wanted his life?

Yi Yun was both shocked and angry. If he didn’t guess wrongly, Lian Chengyu had transmitted some form of energy like “Qi” that was destroying his meridians!

A normal twelve-year-old child would not have been able to figure it out. Even Yi Yun himself would have thought that it was just an after effect from his old injuries.

After his death, besides Jiang Xiaorou, no one would grieve for him. In fact, many would think he was fated to be–how could a dead person suddenly revive?

By mysteriously killing Yi Yun, Lian Chengyu would not only take revenge for the incitement of the crowd, he would also receive the good will of the people.

Jiang Xiaorou would be in a grievous situation and suffer subsequent difficulties in life. She might even approach Lian Chengyu, who could then gain her easily by using conciliation tactics!

Killing Yi Yun and obtaining Jiang Xiaorou, what a venomous plan!

Yi Yun gained a deeper understanding of this world. This was not the lawful society of Earth. This was a brutal and primitive place where power determined everything. It was like an apocryphal world, like in novels, where killing someone was nothing…

8 - : Killed Secretly

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the stiffness grew more intense, Yi Yun’s limbs became immobile as he felt the numbness spread to his abdomen and his head. He was unable to speak, hear or see properly.

He only felt his face getting wet with tears, Jiang Xiaorou’s tears.

She was shouting with all her life, but Yi Yun could only vaguely see her mouth move. The voices were stretched and unclear!

Yi Yun couldn’t take this lying down. With all his determination, he managed to move his stiff tongue to say, “Lian… Lian Chengyu…”

Although Yi Yun’s voice was not clear, Jiang Xiaorou was able to decipher it, “Lian Chengyu? Lian Chengyu harmed you?”

Yi Yun was already completely unable to speak. He felt a cold corpse-like stiffness spreading towards his heart.

If his heart were to stiffen and stop beating, then his life would be over!

Yi Yun felt like a fish left out to dry; neither could he move nor could he breathe. All he could do was wait for death. Unexpectedly, just as the stiffness spread to his heart, he sensed a cold feeling starting to develop.

This cold feeling was exquisite and familiar. It was like pure spring water cleansing his body!

The Purple Crystal! Yi Yun rejoiced! It was the feeling from the purple crystal. In the worst of times, he would always feel the Purple Crystal!

The stiffness had already permeated throughout his body, but when it reached his heart it met its nemesis. He had always kept the purple crystal close to his heart inside his clothes.

Just as the purple crystal activated, Yi Yun felt a small whirlpool in his heart.

The tiny eddies may not amount to anything, but… “Swish!”

A light sound rang. Without struggle or suspense, Yi Yun felt his body go light; the purple crystal had absorbed all of the energy permeating inside his meridians. The stiffness in his body had disappeared.

Yi Yun knew he had now completely recovered. He moved his four limbs and realized nothing was amiss. He was only covered in sweat due to his nervousness.

Completely fine already? Yi Yun could not believe it. He was fine again in less than a second once the purple crystal activated!

This…

The purple crystal by Yi Yun’s heart made him speechless. What exactly was this purple crystal?

“Yun’er, how are you? Don’t scare Sis like this!” Jiang Xiaorou saw the originally stiff and immobile body of Yi Yun moving again, but there was a silly look on his face. She was extremely worried.

“I’m fine, Sis Xiaorou. I’m… completely fine…” Yi Yun said just as he felt something amiss. As he finished his last word, he felt something brew in his stomach.

“Eugh!” Without warning, extreme nausea overwhelmed Yi Yun, making him vomit.

Previously, Yi Yun only vomited gastric juices as his stomach was empty, but this time, it was different. He had vomited out black blood clots which held a rancid smell!

This horrified Jiang Xiaorou. In this strange world, vomiting was equivalent to declaring a death sentence.

Yi Yun kept vomiting without stop. Besides vomiting he also perspired out smelly, sticky sweat, it resembled black mud.

Seeing Yi Yun break out into sweat and vomiting, Jiang Xiaorou was unfazed by the stench that filled the house and scrambled to wipe Yi Yun’s mouth and pat his back.

“Yun’er, Yun’er, don’t scare Sis. What happened to you? What happened?” Jiang Xiaorou’s voice trembled as she spoke.

Yi Yun did not have a chance to respond until he finished vomiting out all the black blood. But weirdly enough, he didn’t feel weakened afterwards. Instead, he felt even better. Besides having an empty stomach and being extremely hungry, he felt like he was rejuvenated.

Yi Yun felt like he could eat an entire roasted lamb and pig if they were placed in front of him.

“Sis, I’m fine. I’m just hungry, and… I need a bath.”

The sticky sweat had adhered to his body like a sticky mud shell, it was indescribably uncomfortable.

“Yun’er, you are hungry?” Hearing Yi Yun’s words, Jiang Xiaorou was delighted. Since ancient times, a measure of healthiness was the ability to eat.

No matter if it was the saying, “Lian Bo is old, is his appetite the same as before?” or Zhuge Liang’s goal to deter the enemy by pretending to eat a lot, both made the point that appetite was a mark of health.

This criterion was worthy of being taken as a reference.

Jiang Xiaorou wiped her tears and rushed to prepare food. While boiling the grain porridge, she also prepared Yi Yun’s bath water and cleaned up Yi Yun’s vomit.

Yi Yun comfortably took a bath. He had never felt better.

The strange thing was that after his bath, Yi Yun felt like his eyesight had become even better. He could clearly see the water droplets on trees about eight meters away.

Oh?

Yi Yun was slightly stunned, but before he could think more about it, he heard Jiang Xiaorou shout, “The porridge is ready, Yun’er, come have your meal!”

“Alright!” Yi Yun could also smell the aroma of the grain porridge.

Weirdly, the grain porridge Yi Yun had trouble swallowing in the past now tasted sweet and delicious.

Yi Yun finished two big bowls of grain porridge, he even felt like the porridge got digested the moment it entered his stomach. He was still hungry after finishing these two bowls of grain porridge, but he now felt more rejuvenated and energetic.

“Yun’er, are you feeling better?” Next to Yi Yun, Jiang Xiaorou was watching him without eating. She had gained hope that maybe, Yun’er was actually better!

Jiang Xiaorou may not be a doctor, but she knew that treatment was about ventilating the blood vessels.

Thinking carefully, Yi Yun vomiting blood may have been a horrible scene, but he didn’t vomit fresh blood but black blood.

That might have been the congested blood in Yi Yun’s stomach. It might have been a good thing that he vomited the congested blood.

Also, the layer of sweat on Yi Yun’s body was very dirty. Vomiting congested blood and dirty sweat, was this a blessing in disguise for Yun’er?

“Sis, I am fine. Actually, I have never felt any better…” Before Yi Yun could finish his sentence, he felt a soft body embracing him

“It’s great you are fine. You scared Sis…” Jiang Xiaorou softly said. In this wilderness, rife with killings, abuse and death, this brother-sister duo only had each other as kin.

She tightly hugged Yi Yun, afraid that the moment she released him, she would lose him again.

After hugging him for a long time, Jiang Xiaorou wiped her tears away and carefully examined Yi Yun. After she was satisfied with him looking alright, she said, “You previously mentioned Lian Chengyu’s name. Was Lian Chengyu the one who harmed you?”

Yi Yun hesitated for a while before nodding his head, “Sis Xiaorou, I think Lian Chengyu has the hots for you!”

Yi Yun’s words made Jiang Xiaorou blush. “You are still a child, don’t speak nonsense.”

It was indeed weird for a twelve-year-old to say such words.

“Lian Chengyu, he’s too evil!” Jiang Xiaorou said while gnashing her teeth. She resented that Lian Chengyu had harmed her brother, but she was powerless against him for he was too strong. He had control over the entire warrior preparation camp.

“Peng!” Suddenly there was a loud sound. Jiang Xiaorou jumped while turning around and saw the yard door kicked open. A burly man had burst in…

9 - : Peculiar Body Transformation

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing the unwelcomed guest, Yi Yun frowned. This intruder was the person who they had previously got into a conflict with during the ration distribution.

Yi Yun also knew his name, Zhao Tiezhu.

“What do you want?” Seeing Zhao Tiezhu barge in, Jiang Xiaorou tensed up. Her hands surged under the blankets and secretly grabbed the arrow hidden underneath them.

“Hey, little girl, what are you nervous about. I’m here on business today. Young Master Lian has already isolated himself for training. He will be isolated for three months, preparing to attain the level of Purple Blood Warrior in preparation for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warrior selection. The Patriarch has ordered that the entire tribe head to the mountain to pick herbs, which will be used by Young Master Lian to soak in! Each person has to hand over up to 8 oz of herbs daily!”

“Pick herbs? Soak?” Yi Yun recalled that his past self had fallen off a cliff, to his “death”, while picking herbs.

So it seems the picked herbs are for the warriors to soak in.

It was pathetic, to pick herbs at an early age for others and fall to his death while doing so, without any compensation. Even their rations were withheld.

“8 oz of herbs per person a day? How is that even possible?” Jiang Xiaorou thought furiously. “Besides, if they were to pick herbs, where would they find the time to make arrows? Without the weapons, how were they going to exchange for rations with the big tribes? Won’t we starve to death then!”

“Hahahaha! You are still thinking about exchanging for rations? When Young Master Lian reaches the level of Purple Blood Warrior and gets chosen by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, you don’t even need to exchange for rations anymore. We will all move into the city, and I guarantee you that you will have enough to eat and drink!”

The man said sarcastically while looking covetously at Jiang Xiaorou. This little chick is a beauty; in time to come, with better nutrition, she will definitely become even prettier.

“My brother hurt himself previously while picking herbs. His feet aren’t nimble yet, yet you insist he has to pick herbs, do you really want his life?” Jiang Xiaorou said with a trembling voice. Yi Yun had originally fallen to his death, but having just come back to life, his body was still weak. Sending him back to pick herbs was the same as sending him to his death!

Furthermore, picking herbs gave them no benefits. All the herbs were given to the tribe without compensation!

The man listened to Jiang Xiaorou’s words and disdainfully laughed, “How can a person’s life compare to the entire clan’s glory!” As long as Young Master Lian reaches the level of Purple Blood Warrior and gets chosen by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, he will benefit generations to come and protect our clan for hundreds of years. The clan’s history books will record all of your meritorious deeds!”

“Such a blessing for generations to come, yet you are haggling, you sure don’t appreciate it!”

“Besides, the Patriarch has ordered it. To strengthen your body and to make you more energetic, all the herbs remnants will be given back to you after they have been brewed. You can then use it to soak in. In the past, these remnants were only reserved for the warrior preparation camp.”

As the man said this, Jiang Xiaorou only gripped the arrow in her hand more tightly, till her fingers went white. “What if we can’t make the quota?”

“Can’t make it?” the man face turned cold. “Humph! The tribe doesn’t rear trash; if you can’t pick herbs, what rights do you have to eat? If you can’t make the quota, your rations will be confiscated. Many others are still waiting for that food!”

The man said and glanced over at Yi Yun who was lying in bed. He recalled Yi Yun causing him trouble in front of the crowd. Lian Chengyu had later reprimanded him for being incompetent during the distribution of rations.

Zhao Tiezhu’s heart immediately burned with rage, “Kid, stop pretending to be dead. I heard that you were injured, let me see exactly where you are injured!”

The man thrust out his hand to grab Yi Yun!

He was deliberately trying to make Yi Yun suffer, so his thrust was extremely strong.

Yi Yun wanted to dodge the man’s sudden attack, but Yi Yun suddenly felt as if the world slowed down in front of his eyes. The fierce look of that man and his actions were all clearly reflected in Yi Yun’s eyes.

Including Jiang Xiaorou’s worried face, Yi Yun saw the arrow in her hand under the blanket.

It felt like time had frozen. Sounds and the air itself seemed to have become a part of his own body, everything was clearly perceived by Yi Yun.

With everything slowed down, a cool and clear feeling was felt coming from the Purple Crystal.

Purple Crystal?

The cool feeling from the Purple Crystal shook Yi Yun’s body!

Yi Yun felt that in that instant, he could dodge the man’s grab, snatch Jiang Xiaorou’s arrow, raise his body and thrust the arrow into the man’s throat, killing him!

The feeling was extremely intense and the images of his body doing the movements perfectly played out in his mind, giving him the urge to give it a try.

But in the end Yi Yun decided against it, it wasn’t yet the time for him to turn the Lian tribal clan against him.

Just stirring the crowd led to the Lian Chengyu’s killing intent. If he were to kill or beat up a tribal warrior, the consequences would be more severe. How could a kid, who originally was weak as a fly, kill a member of the warrior preparation camp? Wouldn’t this gain the attention of the upper echelons of the tribe? There was no way he could explain the source of his power!

He looked as Zhao Tiezhu grab approached him, and retreated without a trace. Zhao Tiezhu only managed to scrape his skin and seize his clothes.

Zhao Tiezhu originally wanted to beat Yi Yun up, but he didn’t expect to miss when Yi Yun shrank backward!

If he were to grab another time, Zhao Tiezhu would lose face, so with a grunt; he lifted Yi Yun up before throwing him back down onto the bed.

“Looks like this monkey isn’t hurt! Tomorrow at sunset, hand over the herbs. For every ounce missing, ten pounds of rations will be confiscated!” Finishing his sentence, Zhao Tiezhu walked out and left.

“Yun’er, are you alright?” Jiang Xiaorou asked worriedly. But Yi Yun did not say a word.

What was that feeling a moment ago?

A well-trained Zhao Tiezhu had moved as slow as a tortoise in front of him, making him vulnerable to Yi Yun’s killing intent.

If it wasn’t because Zhao Tiezhu suddenly got Alzheimer’s… could it be that my speed had increased?

Could it be… my body?

“Sis Xiaorou, what male tier am I again?” Yi Yun seemed to have realized something and impatiently asked Jiang Xiaorou.

“Why are you asking about this suddenly? Yun’er, in the past you weren’t even at a tier. Even the weakest tier five male can lift fifty kilograms. Yun’er, you could only lift fifteen kilograms…”

“Fifteen kilograms huh…”  Yi Yun was speechless, but in the Lian tribe, they had to lift a rock over their heads. Fifteen kilograms was similar to a bag of rice; a weak child would have trouble lifting that.

“Where are the tribe’s rock weights stored?” Yi Yun asked.

“Behind the village, at the training grounds. Why do you ask this Yun’er?”

“Nothing,” Yi Yun said with a smile. “Sis, sleep early tonight. We still have to pick herbs tomorrow.”

In the middle of the night, the dark sky was filled with numerous bright constellations.

This era didn’t have any streetlights and the poor were unwilling to use their oil lamps. So the entire Lian tribe village was pitch black.

The training grounds behind the village was a wide field. The members of the warrior preparation camp normally trained there. A dark shadow sneaked into the training grounds, looking around him tonight.

“Found it!” Yi Yun was delighted. As Jiang Xiaorou described, there were rows of rock weights arranged on the training grounds.

From 10 kilograms to 150 kilograms, there were even 250-kilogram millstones and a 500-kilogram stoneroller.

Yi Yun was here today to test his strength! He wanted to know what changes his body had experienced…

10 - : The Peculiar Body’s Sensation

CKtalon  CKtalon

The training grounds were empty. Due to the moisture at night and because of the cold weather, a layer of dew had covered the rock weights, speckling them white.

All of these rock weights were made out of azure steel. They were not worn down by the elements bearing down on them for centuries.

In this wilderness, people used catties, picul and cauldrons as measurements of a martial artist’s strength.

The measurement of catties was similar to that of Earth, which was half a kilogram. A picul was a hundred catties. A cauldron weighed ten piculs, so it weighed a thousand catties, or five hundred kilograms.

Seeing that the place was empty, he went and stood in front of the row of rock weights and chose a fifty catty rock weight, or twenty-five kilograms. He wiped the dew off the rock weight and lowered his body. Rise!

The rock was lighter than Yi Yun expected. He could lift it using one hand!

Yi Yun was delighted; it was as he guessed!

Following that, Yi Yun chose a fifty-kilogram rock weight.

This time, it was a bit tougher to lift it with one hand. With both hands however, it was easy once again.

Taking a deep breath, Yi Yun stood in front of a hundred-kilogram rock weight. He squatted down and placed both of his hands under the rock weight, he then tightened his muscles as strength arose from his hip to his feet.

“Rise!” Yi Yun gritted his teeth and lifted the hundred-kilogram rock weight above his head!

“I’ve raised it!” Yi Yun was delighted. He held it up for about three minutes before he threw the rock weight on the floor.

To be able to lift a hundred-kilogram rock weight, which was about three times the weight of a twelve year old boy, it would be something mind-blowing on Earth.

His strength had increased exponentially overnight!

And strength wasn’t the only thing; the increase in his speed was even greater!

As a child, strength was his main weakness, and it was much worse than adults. However, his speed was comparable. Previously when he faced Zhao Tiezhu’s attack, Yi Yun was convinced that his speed was at least twice that of his opponent’s!

His body had undergone a tremendous change!

Thinking back about when he vomited black blood and the dirty sweat, that was probably the legendary marrow cleansing.

His body, which had a terribly poor foundation, had undergone a tremendous increase in both strength and speed after the marrow cleansing!

The transformation was without question a result of the Purple Crystal. However, why did the Purple Crystal bring about such a change to his body?

Yi Yun tried touching the Purple Crystal by his chest but found nothing but emptiness.

“Huh!?” Yi Yun was alarmed and hurriedly unwrapped his clothes.

The Purple Crystal had disappeared…

However, the cool feeling by his chest had never decreased one bit.

What is this?!

Yi Yun lowered his head and lightly touched his chest where his heart would be. He had a strange feeling that the Purple Crystal was there all along and had never left him.

With every heartbeat, the Purple Crystal vibrated, as if the Purple Crystal and his heart had merged into one.

That faint coolness also spread throughout Yi Yun’s body with every vibration by meandering through his veins.

Yi Yun raised his head and saw the tiny dots of starlight in the sky fly towards him, or more accurately, to the Purple Crystal.

The starlight entered his body and disappeared.

Yi Yun had a couple of hypotheses for the various phenomena the Purple Crystal had exhibited.

The Purple Crystal could absorb energy!

In this world, in this Universe, energy was the building blocks of everything!

From the large spinning galaxies, star formation and supernovae, to the small ants building nests or the wilting of grass, nothing could escape the need for energy.

From the physics Yi Yun learned on Earth, the entire Universe began from a particular point comprising of infinite energy.

Energy could convert into matter, turning into life, turning into everything.

And in this strange world, the Qi cultivation of experts was naturally also a form of energy.

The Purple Crystal had a natural affinity with energy.

It could absorb starlight as well as other forms of energy. The two attacks by Lian Chengyu were also a form of energy. That form of energy must be a form of “Qi” that Lian Chengyu cultivated.

The Qi had hidden in his body, causing his whole body to go numb. However, when that energy reached his heart and touched the Purple Crystal, the Purple Crystal absorbed it!

It was also obvious where the energy the Purple Crystal absorbed went.

That coolness that flowed within his veins was a manifestation of energy. The energy the Purple Crystal absorbed spread throughout his blood flow and nourished his body. With every heartbeat, Yi Yun could feel his body grow a little stronger.

Thinking back to his body’s marrow cleansing, it must have been a result of energy entering his veins.

Energy could change the composition of every element; it could give life to people, giving them power and strength!

His strength had grown from being able to lift fifteen kilograms to a hundred kilograms. This change could be considered a complete metamorphosis.

What energy could have caused this?

Just the tiny bit of starlight, or the energy Lian Chengyu left in his body couldn’t have been enough to cause such a fate-defying change.

The answer was undoubtedly the piece of desolate bone!

When the rations were being distributed, Lian Chengyu had opened the wooden box holding the desolate bone. Yi Yun then saw many light dots fly from the desolate bones and into the Purple Crystal. The Purple Crystal had then absorbed them all.

Desolate bones were the most precious part of a desolate beast. All of its essence was in its bones, and they were worth a lot more than desolate beast meat!

The essence refined from the desolate bones could cause a warrior to make a breakthrough, it would allow a genius like Lian Chengyu to breakthrough to the Purple Blood Warrior level.

The value of desolate bones was unbelievable!

A weak child like Yi Yun, without any foundation and a weak body to boot, had no reason not to metamorphosize after taking in the tiny amount of energy from the desolate bones.

After figuring this out, Yi Yun felt enlightened.

He breathed in deeply and calmed himself down. The Purple Crystal was no doubt a great treasure. It had combined with his body, and with every heartbeat, the Purple Crystal would inject energy into his body through his veins, raising his power!

For his power to increase with every heartbeat and for him to cultivate himself with every heartbeat, the Purple Crystal’s effectiveness was fate defying.

Even with such a treasure, Yi Yun’s expression did not betray his tremendous joy.

Conversely, Yi Yun’s face grew serious. Having lived through two lives, even though his first life was limited in experience, Yi Yun had already undergone several mental changes thanks to his reincarnation.

When he first entered this strange world, Yi Yun was confused. However, after acclimatizing, he turned calm.

With such a treasure, he couldn’t be too greedy, nor be without any desires. He knew that if he got carried away and flaunted his treasure, it was very possible that it would be seen through, and that would lead to trouble!

Yi Yun knew that he could not reveal the secret of the Purple Crystal to anyone.

In this strange world, Yi Yun could only trust his sister, Jiang Xiaorou. However, if one less person knew about it, there would be less danger.

The treasure had no owner. If Jiang Xiaorou, a weak and easily hurt girl knew too much, it could cause her harm.

11 - : The Reason for the Change

CKtalon  CKtalon

The next morning, Yi Yun woke up early to pick herbs.

Passing by the training grounds, Yi Yun saw that the members of the warrior preparation camp had gathered on the grounds. There was a huge pot centered amongst them. In it cooked something that smelled delicious!

It was the smell of meat!

Yi Yun recognized the smell immediately as he had been hungry for days.

After the marrow cleansing, Yi Yun realized that his appetite was tremendous. All the coarse rice porridge was cleanly digested the moment it entered his stomach.

Yi Yun understood that as his body got better, its appetite for energy would also grow larger.

Being a person in the early beginnings of martial training, he didn’t have the ability to absorb “Heaven Earth Yuan Qi”. He could only rely on food as his source of energy.

However, the pathetic amounts of rice porridge he ate daily was utterly inadequate to replenish his energy!

Without food, how could he grow stronger?

All the elites in the tribe ate desolate beast meat daily. It gave them large amounts of high quality energy and it was worlds apart from the whole grain porridge he ate!

Yi Yun knew that if he starved himself for prolonged periods, it would cause adverse harm to his body. He was still in his growing years and he only had a tremendous improvement in his body due to having been rejuvenated through the marrow cleansing.

Just like when a bamboo reaches the jointing stage, if too little water is provided, it would lead to the inability of harvesting it. It would cause tremendous trouble!

In fact, Yi Yun’s current capabilities could easily allow him admission into the warrior preparation camp, where he could enjoy better treatment. However, if he wanted to obtain everything as a young fledging, the secret of the Purple Crystal might be revealed. His rejuvenation overnight could never be explained.

Besides, Yi Yun was not amiable with the warrior preparation camp, or Lian Chengyu, so he had no plans to enter the warrior preparation camp.

“It must be wild beast meat. They obtained it by hunting.” Jiang Xiaorou said jealously.

Based on this world’s customs, a normal person ate two meals a day. They wouldn’t eat breakfast upon waking up at 5am, but would instead eat at 9am.

Only the warriors and the warrior trainees could have three meals a day. They could eat the moment they woke up as they needed the energy for training.

Because the members of the warrior preparation camp needed to train, they didn’t need to participate in the manufacturing process. They would occasionally go hunting.

Due to the dangers of the wilderness, these warrior trainees obtained very little from their hunts. With the small amounts obtained, the food was eaten by themselves and none would be given the people. The reason being that they needed to eat meat for training and to grow strength. For the poor plebeians, all they did was handiwork, which didn’t exhaust much energy, so grain would suffice for them.

When Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou passed by, the men from the warrior preparation camp saw them. Zhao Tiezhu whistled as he took a piece of meat, with the bone attached, and munched on it in front of Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou.

“This roe deer meat is so fragrant, hahaha!” Zhao Tiezhu laughed with a triumphant expression.

The meat was flame roasted with salt and spices, the juices oozed out with a fragrance!

Zhao Tiezhu ate messily while licking his lips and fingers, as if he was about to swallow his own tongue.

Besides doing that, he sporadically took out a goat hide container and sparingly drank from it.

It was alcohol!

In the Lian tribe, alcohol was an absolute luxury. With food being scarce, how was it possible to get grains to make alcohol?

The members of the warrior preparation camp could obtain a lot more rations, allowing them to use a small portion of their rations to make alcohol. They used the alcohol to warm their bodies during the winter mornings.

Even the remnants from the brewing were not wasted as they would distribute them to the poor. Although the remnants would have turned sour, it was still better than starving to death, so the remnants were never wasted.

As such, the tribal elders had never objected to the warrior preparation camp’s secret brewing.

“Hahaha, drinking alcohol and eating meat are great joys in life.”

Zhao Tiezhu laughed loudly without a care in life.

It was only during such times that Zhao Tiezhu enjoyed the joys of life and the benefits of being a member of the warrior preparation camp bestowed upon him.

“These two beggars are really pitiful. Let’s give them some of the leftover broth later.”

The doe deer was roasted, so there was no broth. Jiang Xiaorou knew Zhao Tiezhu was deliberately teasing them. With a grunt, she grabbed Yi Yun’s hand, ready to leave. However, at that moment, her stomach betrayed her by growling.

Because Zhao Tiezhu was further away, he did not hear it, but Yi Yun heard it clearly. Jiang Xiaorou blushed red from embarrassment.

Yi Yun watched by the sidelines, amused at her cuteness. To Jiang Xiaorou, having her stomach growl was beneath her status as an elder sister.

“Sis Xiaorou, in the future I will get you all sorts of delicacies, letting you eat the most delicious foods in the world!” Yi Yun said seriously while looking into Jiang Xiaorou’s eyes.

Jiang Xiaorou was shocked to hear her brother say such words. She brushed it off as child speak, but was happy that Yi Yun was so thoughtful of her.

She tenderly touched Yi Yun on the head and, with a baby voice, said to him, “Sis is waiting!”

Being teased and touched on the head by a young girl, Yi Yun was speechless. Though, what could he do when he was shorter than her? “Sis Xiaorou, do you know about the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?

Based on what Lian Chengyu had said, there would be a Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior selection in three months. Once chosen, the person will undergo a drastic change in status. That was why Lian Chengyu was so desperate on cultivating himself, and obtained a piece of desolate bone at any cost.

“Tai Ah Divine Kingdom…” Xiaorou’s expression wandered into her memories. “The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s is an ancient human kingdom. It has jurisdiction over 108 states and 24 wild lands!”

“Our present location is amongst the 24 wild lands, named Cloud Wilderness.”

“The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom is very powerful and it has many experts in the capital. The kingdom’s warriors mostly come from the 108 states. It’s not that the wild lands’ warriors are weak, but because of the low population in the 24 wild lands it requires a lot of logistics and manpower to organize a warrior selection, so the assessment costs are high.”

For the warrior selection process, the preliminaries will be done by people from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom to select people from the tribes, or those young warriors would be going to their deaths by crossing the wilderness.

“However, this time, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s choice of doing the warrior selection in the Cloud Wilderness is extremely odd. Regardless, it is a great opportunity for the numerous small tribes in the Cloud Wilderness. Lian Chengyu has eyed this opportunity and wants to soar to the top in one go, escaping this poor small village.”

Jiang Xiaorou slowly explained to a surprised Yi Yun, “Sis, how do you know so much?”

Jiang Xiaorou’s voice may still sound juvenile, but her insight and verbal ability was nothing like a child’s.

“I heard all of this from my birth mother. I also read quite a lot about strange phenomena when I was young, so I know quite a bit. Yun’er, it looks like you do not remember a lot of things. I taught you how to read too.”

“Oh…” Yi Yun rubbed his head and smiled sheepishly. Indeed, how could a kid from a poor family read?

It was all thanks to Jiang Xiaorou that he could read.

To be able to read since she was young, Jiang Xiaorou must have been born with a silver spoon.

“Sis Xiaorou, Lian Chengyu said that if he were to become a kingdom warrior of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, he would bring the entire tribe into the city, is that true?”

“Extremely difficult…” Jiang Xiaorou shook her head. “The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warrior selection has many rounds. There are things like the preliminaries and semi-finals. Many are eliminated each round. Those with exceptional results are bestowed with the title ‘Kingdom Knight. That is an extremely prestigious title. The best amongst the Kingdom Knight will be able to enter the kingdom’s capital and enjoy the kingdom’s resources as well as learn the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique!”

“To bring the entire tribe into the city, not only does one have to pass the semi-finals, one has to have good results. Lian Chengyu might not reach that standard yet. Even if he were to reach that standard in the future, from his personality, it is unlikely that he will care about us.”

“Yun’er, why do you ask? You cannot be hoping that Lian Chengyu will become a kingdom warrior and lead us to a good life, right?”

“I was just asking.” Yi Yun said while touching his nose. He would be better off wishing that pigs could fly rather than count on Lian Chengyu.”

If that guy was to come out of isolation and see him alive, he might kill Yi Yun at the first opportunity!

Yi Yun was banking on that he would already have obtained the ability to protect himself by then. The identity of the destroyer was still up in the air!

“It seems like I could participate in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warrior selection. That is definitely a quick way to ensure that the both of us can lead a good life!”

“For the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, it has to be some kind of cultivation manual. To practice martial arts in this world, manuals are a must. The Purple Crystal may be magical, but it can only rejuvenate myself. If I do not enter the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, where would I get a cultivation manual from?” Yi Yun made the decision while mumbling to himself.

He couldn’t leave the Lian tribe just yet, for even though his strength had increased it was still foolhardy to cross the wilderness. He had to enhance himself while in the Lian tribe and pass the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warrior selection. That was the best choice he had under his circumstances!

12 - : Do you know about the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although the Lian tribe was located in the wilderness where living conditions were tough, the tribe owned a herb producing area, and that was the Lian Clan Herb Mountain!

The Lian Clan Herb Mountain was an area with a higher density of Yuan Qi, which was conducive for the growing of herbs. It could barely be considered a shrine.

Although said to be a shrine, it was only regarded as one by the poor Lian tribal clan. In the eyes of a large tribe, the Lian Clan Herb Mountain would be nothing. After all, in the vast wilderness, there were plenty of places with dense Yuan Qi.

A typical large tribe would choose to settle down next to rich wonderlands. Only such places were rich in production and beneficial for the cultivation of warriors.

The most important factor was that the strong desolate and wild beasts avoided these “shrines” for some unknown reason. This was most important as it ensured the safety of the tribes.

Of course there would be the rare occurrence of an injured or provoked desolate beast that would charge through and destroy a small tribe.

Everything had both advantages and disadvantages. While keeping out a large number of desolate beasts, the shrine also caused the number of animals in its vicinity to dwindle. Hunting was not an easy task as the rabbits or deer in its vicinity had been hunted clean early on.

As such, only Purple Blood Warriors had the ability to go into the vast wilderness to hunt.

The shrines in the vast wilderness were a highly sought after resource. The Lian tribe’s herb mountain was considered to be of an extremely low grade, if not, how was the Lian tribe able to hold onto it?

Although the herb mountain was of a low grade, to the Lian tribe it was still highly treasured for it was the reason why the tribe was formed.

Every time the villagers were sent up the mountain to pick herbs, they would have to undergo a rigorous body search to prevent anyone from secretly hoarding herbs.

Yi Yun carried the herb basket and walked alongside Jiang Xiaorou, asking about the martial world’s levels.

The lowest level of martial arts was called Mortal Blood, and warriors of the Mortal Blood level were called Mortal Blood Warriors.

Mortal Blood did not have a clear boundary for its levels, it was just a general term used by the martial arts community.

Mortal Blood came from the fact that they were mortals with normal blood.

Mortal Blood Warriors were in truth just normal warriors. Although they practiced martial arts, they were not able to distinguish themselves from other mortals. They could not escape the fact that they were still mortals.

However, Mortal Blood Warrior were much stronger than normal people. They could tear a tiger apart and run as fast as horses.

The realm of Mortal Blood was split into five levels, first level – Valiant, second level – Vigor, third level – Thunderous, fourth level – Meridians, fifth level – Qi Gatherer.

The first level of Valiant was obtained through continuous weight lifting, running, piling, wrestling and nourishing one’s body through ginseng, antlers, meat and various treasured food. By slowly improving their body’s constitution, their strength and speed would greatly improve!

Yi Yun’s current level was considered Valiant. His strength had increased to about 300 catties and his speed was twice that of Zhao Tiezhu.

Yi Yun could be considered to be much stronger than most Valiant warriors as he was only twelve years old and his physical fitness was comparable to a fit male.

Strictly speaking, Valiant could not even be considered to be the first step into martial arts.

For Mortal Blood level two, Vigor would refer to a martial artist with greatly improved fitness, with extremely long breaths. A well trained Vigor could form an air arrow with one breath. This was known as “Breathes in like a Snake, Out like an Arrow”. It was visually obvious in winter, and an air arrow could shoot as far as 5 feet away while piercing through paper!

A person at the level of Vigor would have a third of the heartbeat rate of a normal person. However, every deliverance of blood had lingering effects. Such a warrior could run as fast as a horse for an hour without panting or have his heartbeats increase.

Third level Thunderous referred to the body’s perfection of circulation, muscle, fascia, and bones. Every part of the body could be perfectly coordinated. One could stay perfectly still and attack like a lion.

A Thunderous warrior, having perfected his body, would emit thunder-like sounds from his joints when he exerted strength, giving the level its name.

Fourth level Meridians referred to the clearing of the twelve meridians, as well as the conception and governor vessels, resulting in the perfect circulation of the meridians. Upon reaching this level, a martial artist could feel the world’s Yuan Qi.

Fifth level Qi Gatherer supplemented the fourth level’s Meridians. A martial artist could feel the world’s Yuan Qi, and also absorb it into his body.

At the peak of Qi Gatherer, the world’s Yuan Qi would transform the body, rejuvenating a person and result in him reaching a brand new state, Purple Blood.

Strictly speaking, the Purple Blood realm was the true beginning of martial arts training.

When a warrior cultivated his body to a certain stage, his body would undergo changes. The moment he breaks through into the Purple Blood realm, all of his blood will become as heavy as mercury. This blood will appear as being golden purple in the sun.

This gave the realm its name!

Warriors entering the realm of Purple Blood were very strong, and could, single-handedly, support a small tribe. Hence, a Purple Blood Warrior enjoyed an extremely high status in the wilderness.

A Purple Blood Warrior would be treated as an emperor in any small or medium tribe. Every member of the tribe would obey his instructions for he had vast control and he determined the life and death of the tribe. All the pretty women in the tribe were up to the Purple Blood Warrior’s choice. All the women with the Purple Blood Warrior would also be honored, so even if she was the daughter of the Patriarch, she would gladly climb into his bed.

This was unavoidable. Which girl, leading a precarious life eating tiny amounts of porridge, would not embrace the appearance of a hero who could lead her to a better life?

In this age, people exalted the strong, especially females!

“Yun’er, I will climb up to pick the herbs. I will throw them down for you to pick up.” Jiang Xiaorou said as she tried climbing up a vine. The Lian Clan Herb Mountain covered a vast area but it was an extremely dangerous mountain!

Most of the previous herbs grew on the cliffs, so they were not easy to pick.

Climbing the cliffs to pick herbs was an extremely dangerous task. It led to many deaths. Yi Yun had previously fallen to his death.

With Yi Yun revived, Jiang Xiaorou was adamant not to let Yi Yun climb the cliff again.

Yi Yun insisted on not letting Jiang Xiaorou take the risk. He said, “Sis, you pick the herbs at the bottom. Leave the top to me!”

“Yun’er, stop fooling around! You just recovered. How could you have the energy to climb…” Jiang Xiaorou said as she suddenly saw Yi Yun grab onto the vine and climb up nimbly like a monkey.

“Yun…Yun’er…” Jiang Xiaorou stared as she saw Yi Yun climbing up. He was climbing the vertical cliff as though it was flat ground. When did Yun’er become so agile?

Picking herbs off a cliff wasn’t just about climbing high. It also required experience and to be familiar with the herbs and where they most likely grew.

For example, some herbs preferred the shade, while others preferred to be in the sun. Some herbs preferred it dry, while others preferred it moist.

Yi Yun had caught up on his herbal knowledge the day before, but his knowledge was still limited.

He was planning on using his agility to make up for his lack of knowledge, but he quickly learned that it wasn’t required.

Just as Yi Yun reached a height of 8 meters, he saw light dots rise up from a boulder a short distance away.

The light dots remained in the air for a few seconds before they flew straight into Yi Yun’s chest.

Following that, the Purple Crystal’s faint coolness became more vivid, and energy flowed through his veins, making him feel extremely comfortable.

Without question, the Purple Crystal was absorbing energy.

“Could it be…”

Yi Yun easily climbed over and looked under the boulder and saw fiery red fruits the size of his fists!

Dan Guo was a low quality Purple Blood realm herb. Looking at its color, it was likely more than twenty years old.

Yi Yun was delighted. Just as he wanted to pick it, a light dot flew out from the Dan Guo and right into his chest!

A few seconds later, a third light dot, followed by a fourth.

The number of light dots increased. The Dan Guo’s surface had a slight sheen, so without careful examination, it would have been missed.

The Purple Crystal could absorb the essence of the Dan Guo!

13 - : The Unexpected Outcome of picking Herbs

CKtalon  CKtalon

“This Purple Crystal can even absorb the energy of herbs? Yes! The herbs must contain some ‘herbal essence’ and it itself must be a form of energy.”

“A warrior will become stronger after eating herbs. This is because their bodies will absorb the herbal essence, transforming it into energy.”

Yi Yun felt enlightened. He had been doing numerous experiments for the past few days. He had used fire, hot water, static electricity from rubbing clothes, objects that Yi Yun felt “contained energy”. However, the Purple Crystal could not absorb these “energies”.

The known energies the Purple Crystal could absorb were starlight, desolate bones, herbal essence, and the Yuan Qi from Lian Chengyu’s attack.

Thinking carefully, these energies, besides the weak starlight, were all highly relevant to this world’s cultivation of martial artists.

Maybe even starlight was related to cultivation. This world might even have a cultivation technique that absorbed starlight.

As for the desolate bones and herbs, it was needless saying that they were good items that enhanced a martial artist’s body.

It appeared that the Purple Crystal could only absorb energies that aided in martial practice.

However, after the Purple Crystal absorbed the herbal essence in the Dan Guo, would the Dan Guo still be useful?

It’s probably useless!

The Dan Guo still looked perfect, but it was in fact worse than herbal dreg.

Yi Yun knew that items like Dan Guo could not be eaten directly. A special procedure had to be done to brew it.

And the brewing procedure was only known by the upper echelons of the tribe.

Besides the Dan Guo, all the other herbs in the Lian Clan Herb Mountain would be poisonous when directly eaten. Not only did they lack any benefit, they would also be hard to digest, causing a person to bleed to death!

If not for that, the Lian tribal clan would not have so easily let the poor pick herbs from the mountain. If they had eaten the herbs for themselves, how would anyone ever know?

However, after the Purple Crystal absorbed the herbal essence of the Dan Guo, it nourished Yi Yun’s body without causing any toxic effects.

This was the magical property of the Purple Crystal.

It converted chaotic energies into energies ordinary people could absorb. It allowed Yi Yun to absorb all the herbs on the mountain without anyone knowing!

It was totally undetectable!

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun could not help but laugh.

“Yun’er what are you laughing about?” Jiang Xiaorou shouted. She was anxious over Yi Yun, worried that he would fall again. It would be a terrible outcome if he were to fall onto the rocks from such a high height.

“Sis Xiaorou, see what this is?”

Yi Yun plucked and threw the Dan Guo, which had lost all its essence, down.

“Dan Guo? It’s huge!”

Jiang Xiaorou was pleased, but felt a sense of sadness. A twenty-year-old Dan Guo may be good, but her brother had no opportunity to use it. It would only be brewed by the old men in the tribe before letting Lian Chengyu soak in it.

With mixed emotions, Jiang Xiaorou stored the Dan Guo in the herb basket.

Their mission was to pick 8 ozs of herbs per person. The required weight was based on the lowest graded herbs. This twenty-year-old Dan Guo would be considered more. With the good luck they had today, they could keep their rations.

It was such a pathetic state. Risking her and her brother’s life just to pick herbs, even if they had fate defying luck that allowed them to pick up all sorts of rare herbs, all of their hard work would be handed over to others for nothing.

“Yun’er, just do it adequately. Do not climb up any further.”

Jiang Xiaorou shouted worriedly when she saw Yi Yun climbing more than ten meters high. The herbs won’t be for themselves, so it was pointless to risk their lives.

Yi Yun pretended not to hear her because he had seen a light float above a tall pine tree nearby. There were herbs there!

Yi Yun easily climbed over, with one hand on the branch, he plucked off an umbrella shaped herb from the pine tree’s roots.

“Black Fungus is more valuable than Dan Guo.”

Yi Yun was delighted as he absorbed all the energy without reservation from the Black Fungus. That hearty feeling was felt once again. Yi Yun knew that the energy from the Black Fungus had entered his heart and traveled to every part of his body, nourishing his muscles. This feeling was so comfortable for Yi Yun.

After all, Yi Yun had been in a constant state of hunger for the past few days.

After his marrow cleansing, Yi Yun felt hungrier than ever before. Yi Yun’s body was in rapid growth and it was desperate for energy, but he was not capable enough to hunt alone.

Eating large amounts of food could provide the energy he needed, but how could normal food compare to herbs? This Dan Guo and Black Fungus were timely assistance to Yi Yun!

Yi Yun noticed that, after absorbing the Black Fungus and a few rounds of blood circulation, the herbal properties of the Black Fungus had given him plenty of strength and improving his eyesight. He could see the head and the six legs of an ant about ten meters away.

Black Fungus could improve one’s eyesight. Yi Yun wasn’t well versed in pharmacology but he understood that low grade herbs such as these did not have such amazing results. The old fogies in the tribe would have to use large quantities of herbs when brewing medicine for it to have any effect.

Using the Purple Crystal however, the results were immediate and very notable.

This Purple Crystal might have increased the effectiveness of the herbs!

Yi Yun threw the “high grade herbal dreg” Black Fungus down to Jiang Xiaorou.

“Black Fungus! Yun’er, how could you have such good luck?!”

Jiang Xiaorou felt incredulous. Such a high grade herb might be picked once in the entire day, but Yi Yun actually managed to pick two. He was too lucky!

Yi Yun laughed without responding. With the Purple Crystal, as long as he neared the herbs, he would see light dots rise up, like a lighthouse, leading him to them. How could he not pick valuable herbs?

At this point, Yi Yun had already climbed more than ten meters high, After perfectly absorbing the herbal essence of the two herbs, he felt more energetic than usual, climbing more than ten meters was an easy task.

However, Yi Yun didn’t want his actions to be too alarming, so he climbed back down again.

He changed locations and carried on picking herbs!

Yi Yun strategy of absorbing, picking and finishing the herbs was like a hurricane sweeping through. He discovered that this Lian Clan Herb Mountain was like his own treasure ground.

He had been starving for days, and had been worried that he wouldn’t have the strength to cultivate himself. However, this Lian Clan Herb Mountain had solved this big problem of his.

Yi Yun climbed up a cliff which was extremely high. Few could get up there and from Jiang Xiaorou’s angle, she couldn’t see what Yi Yun was doing.

“Yun’er, be careful!”

Jiang Xiaorou’s voice came from the bottom of the cliff but it was distorted by the mountain winds.

“Sis Xiaorou, don’t worry, I know myself.”

Yi Yun was jumping up the rocks easily, even a four meter wall was overcome by Yi Yun with a single kick.

In his field of view, he noticed that a baby-fist sized light emitted from a boulder’s cracks.

This light was ten times brighter than any of the light dots Yi Yun had previously seen!

“Oh? This is?!”

Yi Yun was shocked. To be able to emit such a bright light, the herb within the boulder must be extremely valuable.

Yi Yun pushed the boulder away and found a crooked Purple Jade Ginseng. It was well hidden at the top of a cliff few could climb. So it had grown for years without being discovered.

This was too good for Yi Yun.

Yi Yun made no reservations in sucking out the Purple Jade Ginseng’s energy with the Purple Crystal.

The Purple Crystal was filled with purple light which gathered within Yi Yun’s body. Yi Yun felt a surge of warmness spreading through his meridians, heating up his limbs before rising to his head. It made Yi Yun’s five senses more keen and made his limbs feel like they were floating.

This feeling was the same as being drunk. Yet, his body was extremely warm. Yi Yun felt like he had infinite energy that now needed venting!

Yi Yun’s body was itchy and uncomfortable. He looked up and saw a boulder that seemed to weigh 300 catties. Yi Yun felt as if there were millions of ants crawling on him, so he had to vent the overflowing strength.

He came to the boulder and lifted it up.

Once! Twice! Thrice!

After lifting the boulder more than ten times, his body broke out into warm sweat, but it now felt extremely content.

He didn’t find it thrilling enough and started carrying the rock to do deep squat jumps. After jumping for twenty times, his feet grew numb. The sweat on him had all evaporated.

It felt great!

Yi Yun moved his body and all his joints cracked!

When a martial artist practiced, he would consume desolate bones, soak his body in herbs to strengthen his mind and body!

After strengthening, by supplementing it with daily training, without the resources or willpower, it would be impossible to amount to anything.

Yi Yun didn’t touch the Purple Jade Ginseng. Such a high grade herb would cause a commotion. Furthermore, he had already absorbed all of its medicinal properties and didn’t want to cause trouble for himself by picking it.

A normal person, without rest, might not be able to pick 8 ozs of herbs, but with the Purple Crystal leading him, and his keen senses, he could see the herbs from afar. So in two hours, he had picked the required 16 ozs of herbs for both Jiang Xiaorou and himself.

Of course, all the herbs had been sucked dry by the Purple Crystal. Although they looked fine on the surface, they had already become herbal dregs.

Yi Yun passed the herb basket to Jiang Xiaorou, ordering her not to hand over the herbs too early to prevent suspicion.

“Yun’er…how did you do it so fast…?” Jiang Xiaorou felt that, regardless of anything, her brother had finished picking the herbs at an astonishing speed. ”

“My luck was great. Sis Xiaorou, I will go down for something now. You just need to be here to act busy. I am leaving!”

With that said, Yi Yun tore down the mountain.

14 - : Sucking it all dry

CKtalon  CKtalon

Lian Tribal Clan’s training grounds.

Thirty strongmen were training in the middle of the ground, causing a tiny sandstorm.

They were the members of the Lian tribe’s warrior preparation camp. Instructing them was the Lian tribal clan’s Instructor, Yao Yuan. He was one of the three warriors besides the Patriarch and Lian Chengyu who had reached the fifth level of Mortal Blood.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The punches roared into the sky. Each of these members of the warrior preparation camp had been groomed arduously by the tribe.

It was near winter; it was cold and windy in the vast wilderness, but each and every member of the warrior preparation camp was sweating bullets from their practice!

Up on a platform, Instructor Yao Yuan, who was overseeing them, frowned and shouted “Stop!”

Yao Yuan’s roar was as loud as thunder!

The practicing warriors immediately stopped.

“Let me teach you the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. It is one of the basic skills handed down by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom! This ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ may only consist of eighteen stances, but each stance is filled with deep knowledge! You idiotic pigs have only learned the moves, but you do not understand the deep underlying knowledge. It’s showy but of no use!”

Yao Yuan’s words negated all of the hard work the men had spent cultivating themselves!

However, no one dared said anything because Yao Yuan had extreme prestige in the warrior preparation camp.

Lian Chenyu had high prestige because of his future. He could become a Purple Blood Warrior, or a level even higher than Purple Blood.

As for Yao Yuan, he had high prestige because of his past.

Yao Yuan was not a member of the Lian tribe. He was an outsider who had previously reached the level of Purple Blood. However he had been wounded while being chased by his enemies and fell back into the realm of a normal warrior. He entered the vast wilderness to seek refuge and found it in the Lian tribe where he then stayed for several years.

Although he had lost his powers, Yao Yuan still had his experience. No one was unconvinced of his ability to train the warrior preparation camp.

That was because Lian Chengyu was trained by Yao Yuan!

A youth like Lian Chengyu, having grown up in a small tribe like the Lian tribe, would he have been able to attained so much without a master expert’s guidance?

“Do not look down on this ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the most precious skill would be the “Tai Ah Sacred Skill”, but you can only gain access to it after reaching a very high level. It’s of no use for those below Purple Blood! For those below Purple Blood, you have to practice the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’! Even the royal family members of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom do so!”

“‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ is a top skill for training your body. If you want to measure its value, an entire city might not be enough! The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom wanted to strengthen the kingdom’s strength by giving the poor an opportunity to learn martial arts and face the dangers plaguing the vast wilderness. As a result, they deliberately made ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ a public skill. Being able to learn this set of skills is your good fortune!”

“To reach Mortal Blood’s Qi Gatherer stage, you must go through the stages of Valiant, Vigor, Thunderous and Meridians! And to cultivate those, you will need to cultivate your strength, refine your muscles, your bones and your organs! The eighteen stances in the set of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ refine your muscles, organs and bones!”

“If you can truly understand the first six stances of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, you will be able to lift a 500-kilogram cauldron. With one cauldron’s strength, you can draw a nine-picul bow, and with an extended pull, the arrow shot out will be able to travel a thousand paces, and still be able to pierce through chain mail!” Yao Yuan instructed loudly and not a single word was missed by Yi Yun.

“Lifting a 500-kilogram cauldron, drawing a nine-picul bow…”

Yi Yun was fascinated. In this world, nine piculs was 450 kilograms!

“Listening to what Yao Yuan said, this ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ is indeed a very good fist technique. To think that in order to strengthen the kingdom, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom opened up this basic fist skill to the public. The monarch of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has some qualities of a sage.”

Without blinking, Yi Yun stared at the training grounds while holding his breath. He was here to secretly learn martial arts!

The fist stances Yi Yun had learned prior to tunneling through space-time were military boxing while he was doing his mandatory military education. It could only be considered street brawling and would not do in this strange world. Although his fitness had improved tremendously, he would be at a disadvantage against a real enemy without martial arts or techniques!

Without techniques, his cultivation would be much slower in the future.

The problem would be magnified the higher he went. If not, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ wouldn’t be so treasured!

“I’ll do a demonstration for you first. Look carefully!” Yao Yuan’s voice roared as Yi Yun paid close attention.

“This move is called ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’. It’s good for training the tendons!”

Yao Yuan stood in front of a wooden stake, and stretched his left foot forward. He grabbed his left ankle with his left hand before bending his right knee. With his body curved, his back was bent like a bow, emitting faint sounds.

This posture looked very weird, but it gave the impression of a bow being pulled. Yao Yuan’s right fist, by his waist, was just like the arrow on the bow!

Suddenly, Yao Yuan moved!

His body straightened suddenly.

“Bam––”

Yi Yun heard a very clear loud sound from Yao Yuan’s body.

Yao Yuan’s right fist had moved like lightning, hitting the wooden stake!

“Boom!”

The wooden stake split apart!

The surrounding warrior preparation camp members let out a gasp.

“Instructor Yao is amazing!”

“Damn, it was such a thick stake, and he split it with a fist. Instructor Yao is teaching the way of the metal fist!”

The bunch of men started to suck up to Yao Yuan, but they were all truly in admiration. In the vast wilderness, the strong was always worshiped.

Yao Yuan’s face was furious despite all the fawning he received from the men.

“All you saw was my fist?”

“Hmph! I said previously, this ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’ is a move to train your tendons! The reason my fist destroyed the stake was not because my fist was strong, but because I used the strength in my tendons!”

“Everyone’s body is a treasure! Do you know that in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there’s a treasured bow named the Star Shooting Bow. Do you know what its bowstring is made of?”

The men were clueless when Yao Yuan asked. Having never heard of the Star Shooting Bow, how would they know what the bowstring was made of?

“Is it made of silk?”

“Is it the legendary ribs of a dragon?”

Yao Yuan shook his head saying, “The Star Shooting Bow bowstring is made of the tendons of the founding emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom after he died!”

Yao Yuan’s words left the men dumbfounded.

Human tendons as bowstrings!?

“That’s right! The move I just used, ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’ was to stretch my entire body out. Using the bones as a bow and tendons as the bowstring, I ‘shot’ out my fist! Being able to perfectly exert one’s tendon’s strength is the crux of ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’! So ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’ is a move used to train one’s tendons, not fist!”

“Did you not hear the sounds my body made when I threw out the punch?””

There was a very clear sound when Yao Yuan punched. Yi Yun had heard it very clearly and it was exactly the sound a bowstring produced when an arrow was shot.

“Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain“ is a skill that pulls your tendons, making them stronger and more elastic! At the peak of ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’, just the sound the tendons produce is enough to scare a goose flying in the sky! This is known as ‘Surprise Bow Drops Flock’!”

“‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ has another move, ‘Dragon Rising to Nine Skies’, which is a move that trains one’s bones. When this is punched out, the whole skeleton will crack loudly like a lightning-less thunder from a distance!”

“Thunder Occurring in the Nine Clouds, Surprise Bow Drops Flock. If you reach this realm, you can be considered to have mastered ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’!”

After hearing Yao Yuan’s words, the men stared agape. It had to be an exaggeration!

Could a person reach such a realm?

Seeing the men’s expressions, Yao Yuan knew it was hopeless.

He carried on, “The realm of Thunder Occurring in the Nine Clouds, Surprise Bow Drops Flock can be quite a challenge for all of you. I do not expect that you will reach that realm, but if you were to cultivate your tendons to sound out like a bowstring, no matter how tiny; to cultivate your bones to create the skeleton cracking sounds, I would be satisfied!”

“In that case, you will have at least reached the third level, Thunderous.”

As Yao Yuan was teaching the men, Yi Yun’s blood was sent pulsing through his veins as he heard this.

Thunder Occurring in the Nine Clouds, Surprise Bow Drops Flock!

Could he reach such a state?

Yao Yuan described the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ as something so valuable that “an entire city might not be enough”. A city in this strange world was worth more than the cities on Earth. Each city in the vast wilderness had to withstand the test of the desolate beasts. Without many experts, it would not be possible to hold it down. To build a city, a staggering amount of blood had to spill!

It was obvious considering how many of the poor people supported Lian Chengyu’s cultivation just from his simple promise of the city.

“I must observe this set of fist techniques well. If I were to learn it well, it would be a breeze during the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior selection. I might even be able to get the title of ‘Kingdom Knight’. When that happens, Sis Xiaorou will bask in glory together with me!”

Having come to this world, Yi Yun decided to make the best of it.

15 - : Thunder Occurring in the Nine Clouds, Surprise Bow Drops Flock

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Hand in your herbs! Hand in your herbs!”

As it grew dark, Zhao Tiezhu started shouting at the village entrance.

Five members from the warrior preparation camp had set up a long table. On the table sat five circular pans.

These pans were woven from bamboo, and they were usually used for sunning dates or herbs.

Three of the five pans were already filled.

People lined up to hand in the herbs they picked. A long-bearded elder identified each herb’s age and rarity. He used a small scale to weigh the herbs before recording it down.

When it was Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou’s turn, Yi Yun slowly handed his harvest over.

The bearded old man took a look and his eyes lit up, “Dan Guo! Black Fungus! Liquorice root! Wild Ginseng! These are good herbs!”

The elder looked at these expensive herbs as if they were his babies, and started stroking them the moment they entered his hands.

Yi Yun stood by the side and heaved a sigh of relief. This old man may be a herb expert, but he was unable to tell that the herbal essence had long been sucked dry by the Purple Crystal.

This was understandable. The herbs that were sucked dry by the Purple Crystal did not look any different from a recently picked herb.

“Hehe, kid you sure got lucky. You can keep your rations today!”

Zhao Tiezhu was very pleased seeing the herbs.

They were in charge of collecting the herbs, and they would received rewards from Lian Chengyu if the quality was high!

When Lian Chengyu began his meteoric rise in the future, his lackeys would have something to gain. He could enter the big city, and might even get a job in the city!

“I acknowledge the fact that you are a suitable medicine boy who possesses the natural talent to pick herbs. For me to send you picking herbs was due to my foresight, matching you to your best potential!”

“Surviving your previous accident has improved your herb picking skills. According to this standard, hand in another ounce of herbs tomorrow!” said Zhao Tiezhu as he smiled casually.

“What!?”

Jiang Xiaorou was enraged. Picking 16 oz of herbs was already extremely difficult, yet Zhao Tiezhu added more!

Jiang Xiaorou knew Yi Yun’s herb picking speed was fast, and a tiny bit more would not matter to him. But knowing Zhao Tiezhu, it would be him “taking a yard when they gave him an inch”. An accident would eventually happen!

“Warrior Zhao, you must be joking. These herbs were picked extremely arduously from my hard work all day. It’s my all.”

Yi Yun’s intonation was extremely slow. As he moved his lips, his eyes were glancing at the three pans filled with herbs.

A layer of light dots had begun floating on the surface of the three pans.

These light dots were obviously drawn out by the Purple Crystal. They were like fireflies in the night, and floated slowly to Yi Yun.

An unnoticeable smile suffused on Yi Yun’s face. The Purple Crystal needed some time to absorb the herbal essence. Zhao Tiezhu’s bullshit was to Yi Yun’s delight.

“Damn it You think I’m negotiating with you!?” Zhao Tiezhu slammed the table, giving the bearded old man a shock.

“You cheap folk only know how to eat. It’s rare that there’s something you trash could be used for, and here you are coming up with all sorts of excuses! The Lian tribe doesn’t rear freeloaders. The people either be warriors, or do honest labor work! Hand over one more ounce of herbs tomorrow. Scram!”

Being scolded in the face by Zhao Tiezhu, Yi Yun’s face scrunched up and his body froze.

The people around him understood that for a twelve year old child to be scolded so harshly in public, it would be an extreme blow for Yi Yun.

Zhao Tiezhu saw Yi Yun’s face turn white. He wanted to tease further.

Jiang Xiaorou could not bear it anymore before pulling Yi Yun away. However, Yi Yun’s feet were rooted in the ground and was immovable. It was as if he had turned to stone from Zhao Tiezhu’s harsh words.

“I’m almost done absorbing…If I were to absorb anymore, Lian Chengyu will be suspicious.”

Yi Yun was unfazed by Zhao Tiezhu. He was treating his words as a mad dog’s barking. He was only concentrating on how much herbal essence he should absorb.

“Absorbing about 80% would do. I need to leave some soup for Lian Chengyu. Even a fool would be able to spot something amiss if such a large amount of herbs lacked any herbal essence.”

Yi Yun could not go into conflict with the upper echelons of the Lian tribal clan. He may be able to get rid of Zhao Tiezhu, but he was still no match for people like the Patriarch or Lian Chengyu.

The herbal essence absorbed by the Purple Crystal quickly entered his bloodstream, circulating through Yi Yun’s body, warming his channels. His body grew warmer and his face turned a hearty pink.

Yi Yun felt his body light with euphoria.

Yi Yun’s appearance looked pathetic to the crowd. His face was red, and his limbs were limp. It must have been a result of Zhao Tiezhu’s reprimanding.

“Poor kid. He’s so young. He’s being singled out because he opposed Zhao Tiezhu on the day of the ration distributions”

“This kid sure has a bitter life. His mother died shortly after they arrived in the Lian tribe. He’s weak and prone to illnesses. He has no strength, he won’t be able to resist Zhao Tiezhu.”

“What’s up with the people from the warrior preparation camp using the village. You guys think Young Master Lian Chengyu will really bring us into the city?”

“Shh, don’t speak nonsense. If the people from the warrior preparation camp hear it, you’ll be in shit luck!”

“I think this kid will get fixed to death sooner or later…”

It was common for people to fall to their deaths when picking herbs up in the mountains. The more expensive a herb, the higher it was. Yi Yun must have climbed up high, risking his life to hand over such high grade herbs. He was doomed to fall to his death going forward.

But so what if someone died in the Lian tribal clan? The lives of the people here were worthless.

…

Late at night, the moon hung in the sky like a silver hook.

In the Lian Patriarch’s drug room, a few men were fanning the flames made from a large pile of timber under a big pot.

A few old men from the drug room were carefully arranging the herbs. They began brewing the herbal medicine made of several combinations of herbs and supplementary drugs.

The supplement drugs and heat were passed down confidentially in the Lian tribal clan. It was not to be known to the commoners. For if they knew how, they could secretly pick herbs and brew it for themselves.

The upper echelons of the Lian tribal clan felt that using herbs on the commoners was the same as using good grain to feed the pigs. It was useless.

Even the members of the warrior preparation camp did not have a chance to soak their body in herbs.

The herbal stew that was meticulously brewed was meant for Lian Chengyu.

“Good! Good! You did well this time. There were several good herbs collected!”

The Patriarch was very satisfied after looking at the herb roster.

“This is expected of little me,” said Zhao Tiezhu nodded with a fawning smile. “It was ordered by the Patriarch and it concerns the future of Young Master Lian, little me would never dare to fail to comply. The moment I left the training grounds, little me ran to the herb mountain to supervise the picking of herbs. Even the cowardly ones had to climb up the cliffs. As such we had good luck finding the Black Fungus and Dan Guo.”

Zhao Tiezhu took all the credit from Yi Yun.

“Not bad! You worked hard. Go to the warehouse and collect a catty of meat,” the Patriarch patted Zhao Tiezhu on his shoulders.

“Thank you Patriarch!” said Zhao Tiezhu happily.

“Yes, do well. When Chengyu becomes a kingdom warrior, he will be in need of errand runners. If you are wise, you can get the appreciation of Chengyu. If you can be by his side, when Chengyu soars, you will definitely reap some of the benefits.”

“Patriarch, thank you for your kind words!” Zhao Tiezhu knelt down kowtowing. He was inexplicably excited.

That kid Yi Yun was his lucky star. He didn’t expect that little minion to be that good at picking herbs. In the future, he’d give him benefits like a tiny bit of herbal dreg and some rations. That poor kid would be so thankful receiving that tiny amount and would do everything as his slave horse!

Zhao Tiezhu walked off as he dreamed of his bright future in which he commanded the masses in the big city.

16 - : Leave some soup for Lian Chengyu

CKtalon  CKtalon

While the Lian tribal clan was brewing the herbal medicine, Yi Yun had secretly come to the back of the Lian Clan Herb Mountain.

Facing the moonlight, Yi Yun stood on a boulder like a pine tree.

Yi Yun had previously used the opportunity to absorb large amounts of herbal essence using the Purple Crystal when Zhao Tiezhu was collecting the herbs.

Now the herbal essence was surging through his body like a firestorm!

The best way to absorb the herbal essence was to cultivate. During the cultivation process, he would digest the herbal essence and train up his body!

Yi Yun slowly straightened his left foot, with his left hand grabbing his left ankle. With his right knee bent, his body bent like a bow.

This was the ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’ stance. Yi Yun had secretly learned the first six stances of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ and he was able to gesture it accurately.

‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’ crux was to tighten the body’s tendons. Yi Yun kept pulling his body till it hurt before punching with a roar!

“Ka-cha!”

Yi Yun had punched through a small tree in front of him!

However such a result was not satisfactory for Yi Yun. He didn’t want the power from the fist, but to be able to push his tendons to their maximum.

In the five levels of Mortal Blood, the first three levels, Valiant, Vigor and Thunderous were simply a measure of the martial artist’s body conditions. Through continuous training of the flesh, organs and bones, the body’s hidden potential will be revealed, resulting in the realm of Vigor and Thunderous. It was all a natural process and not something one could aim for.

Yi Yun understood that by mastering ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, he would have no problems reaching the fifth level of Mortal Blood. Because based on what Yao Yuan said, ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was a basic technique that even a Purple Blood realm person could employ to great effect.

“Ka-cha!”

A clear snap. Yi Yun broke a thin pinetree with the thickness of a fully grown leg. His fists were bruised, but it didn’t matter. The herbal essence that the Purple Crystal absorbed were gathering in Yi Yun’s body, slowly spreading, becoming part of Yi Yun’s strength.

Yi Yun loosened his fists before clenching his fists again!

Yi Yun practiced “The Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain” stance for the umpteenth time. Yi Yun’s muscles was like a young tree sprout being watered, growing and thriving.

Yi Yun had trained from midnight to daybreak!

Despite the intense training, the Purple Crystal which had absorbed large amounts of herbal essence supplemented Yi Yun with the energy, causing him to be radiant and awake.

Yi Yun gave his all for every ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’ stance. His tendons were pulled to their extremes every time!

Such intense training was also demanding on Yi Yun.

His body was sore. Besides the soreness, his body had already expended all the herbal essence he had previously absorbed. The essence had blended into Yi Yun’s flesh and blood. Yi Yun’s tendons were repeatedly pulled, slowly making them more resilient.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Yi Yun did not know how many punches he had thrown. Because it was physically demanding, Yi Yun’s eyesight became blurry. His perception deteriorated but the pain from his punches and the pulsing feeling from the pull of tendons were extremely clear!

Yi Yun entered a wonderful state. It was without distractions, a state of semi-consciousness.

He had forgotten everything. The only thing he could remember was his body’s tendons. Imperceptibly, Yi Yun had formed a mind map of his tendons and muscles. It was a magical feeling.

In this state of selfless training, Yi Yun could ‘see’ his meridians.

Sweat rained down and his fists bled.

The sweat had misted his eyes while he heard the faint whistling of the wind. Yi Yun only felt an intense pressure in front of him.

In that second, Yi Yun managed to conjure a strength of unknown origins. He roared as his tendons were pulled to their extremes before shooting out a punch!

“Peng!”

Yi Yun’s practice had uprooted the pine tree, scattering the wood!

Amidst the flying sawdust, Yi Yun’s body had clearly made a soft ‘Peng!’ sound.

Although it wasn’t loud, it was extremely crisp. Just like the twang of a bowstring, it was especially clear in the wide open night sky.

Tendons like bowstrings. So this is tendons like bowstrings…

Yi Yun fell onto the ground staring at the sky with his arms wide open.

That last punch had used up all of his energy!

Yi Yun breathed in deeply. His right fist was mangled red with blood, but the pain made him even more excited!

He knew that he had made small progress towards his ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’!

This night was the first time he had practiced martial arts in his life. He was practicing the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s top technique–’Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. The twang of a bowstring using his tendons from ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’ move was something only a person with Mortal Blood level three, Thunderous, could produce.

But Yi Yun had managed to do it. Although it was soft, he was after all still in the realm of Valiant. He was also only twelve, his bones and muscles were incomparable to an adult’s.

The results were not something any member of the warrior preparation camp could match. He had even exceeded Lian Chengyu’s Valiant level from the past.

…

Yi Yun did not have a night’s sleep, but so did the old man responsible for brewing the herbs in the Lian tribe drug room!

It took an entire night to brew the pot of herbs. Even the stones propping the pot up were red hot.

At dawn, a few strongmen came to pour out a large amount of black liquid from the pot.

This was the entire pot’s essence.

“Hmm…these herbs are the best this time. We could still brew it another three times or so. Although it will be less effective, it’s still extremely precious. You guys can use it to shower. The herbal dregs will be left for the commoners. It will be needed when the desolate bones are refined!”

The Lian tribal clan’s imperfect brewing techniques could only obtain 20% of the herbs’ essence. This was their limit.

And Lian Chengyu could only absorb half of the herbal essence obtained by the tribe through soaking.

Which was to say, Lian Chengyu could only absorb 10% of the herbal essence.

The ratio may sound low, but it was understandable. A normal person was unable to absorb a large percentage of the food they ate, not to mention herbs that were a hundred times harder to absorb.

The bucket of black herbal liquid was sent into Lian Chengyu’s isolation chamber.

Lian Chengyu had already heard that valuable herbs like Dan Guo, wild ginseng, Black Fungus and licorice were in that pot of herbs!

Lian Chengyu’s cultivation had reached to the point of breakthrough. He was most in need of the herbs to enrich himself.

“Good! Good! It came just in time!”

Lian Chengyu looked at the black herbal liquid with a face full of excitement.

He disrobed and jumped into the hot liquid naked.

The temperature was above ninety degree celsius, sufficient to cook any meat. Even a Mortal Blood fifth level like Lian Chengyu felt pain all over his body.

But this temperature was the optimal temperature for absorbing the herbal essence. Such hot water could open up the pores and let the herbal liquid enter the warrior’s body through his pores.

17 - : Tendons like bowstrings

CKtalon  CKtalon

Soaking in the herbal liquid was excruciating and to protect his body, Lian Chengyu circulated his Yuan Qi through his body. Yet it was extremely painful, but thinking that he could one day enter the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ and become someone who lorded over the people, Lian Chengyu endured it further!

Lian Chengyu’s willpower to become stronger was matchless.

A person with weaker willpower would have taken advantage of his status as a young master of the tribe to eat well and partake in debauchery. At best, he would be a distinguished young master, but he would have never match the stature Lian Chengyu enjoyed.

“Young Master Lian has great will!”

“Young Master Lian is like an iron man!”

“It’s not possible for a normal person to soak in this boiling herbal liquid! Young Master Lian is a dragon amongst people!”

Seeing Lian Chengyu being boiled red like a lobster in the herbal liquid, the surrounding lackeys including Zhao Tiezhu started sucking up.

The way they spoke was unlike them for they usually used foul language. However, to suck up, they purposely chose to use big adjectives.

“Make the fire bigger!” Lian Chengyu shouted while gritting his teeth. It was extremely painful immersed in ninety degree Celsius liquid. Veins protruded on Lian Chengyu’s forehead, while his skin turned red while they stretched and curled.

Under such a condition, if one were to label Lian Chengyu as a “dragon amongst people”, he was at best be related to a lobster (lobster in Chinese is literally dragon shrimp).

He was indeed at his limits, but the effects of the herbal liquid were weaker than he expected! How could that be?

“Make the fire bigger?” The lackeys looked each other in the eye, full of admiration of Lian Chengyu.

“Fuck! Young Master Lian said to make the fire bigger, what are you idling for? Why? Do you think Young Master Lian cannot bear it? Young Master Lian’s willpower and ability is not something you can fathom!”

Zhao Tiezhu was more senior, so he gave his subordinates a lesson.

After reprimanding them, he moved the large pile of timber into the stove himself. The fire cracked as the flames grew bigger.

Seeing Lian Chengyu reaching a key moment in his cultivation progress, Zhao Tiezhu purposely took a large fan to fan at the flames.

The fire was so large that the flames were about to burn Lian Chengyu’s hair.

“Young Master Lian, do you feel good?” smiled Zhao Tiezhu excitedly.

Lian Chengyu could no longer say a word. He had gritted his teeth so tight to the point of his teeth chipping. Besides his tightly clenched fists, his skin was boiled to the point of cracking. Yet, he did not obtain the desired effect.

“What happened?” Lian Chengyu thought angrily. Under Zhao Tiezhu’s special treatment, his body was about to melt.

Human skin would shrink under high heat to the point of cracking. This phenomenon was appearing on Lian Chengyu’s body!

But Lian Chengyu couldn’t care less. He was considering the scary possibility in the deep recesses of his mind. It was a fear that choked him.

Having reached such a high level of training and being one step away from the Purple Blood realm, Lian Chengyu was very sensitive to every development in his body.

He knew that he was immersed in a pot of high-grade herbs but his heartbeat rate had not increased. His body had been polished, but the results were not evident.

He could not absorb much from a tank filled with good herbs!

Lian Chengyu had realized that he might have reached the point of a “bottleneck”!

Lian Chengyu had heard from his master, Yao Yuan that when martial artists practiced martial arts, they were prone to hit bottlenecks, especially when they were about to break through to a new level. Some people could be stuck with their bottlenecks for life!

The martial way was without end. In the long path of practicing the arts, one had to continuously break through to new realms. A bottleneck would eventually happen, but Lian Chengyu could never believe that he faced his first bottleneck when breaking through to the Purple Blood realm.

He could not accept it!

He was a favored child of the Heavens, a golden dragon trapped in shallow waters. He just needed a tiny amount of stimulus to soar into the sky!

How could a mere Purple Blood realm be his bottleneck! !

He couldn’t believe it!

“More fire!” Lian Chengyu was struggling with all his might as he shouted angrily.

“More…even more fire?” Zhao Tiezhu began to feel something was amiss. He saw the skin on Lian Chengyu’s arms and legs split apart. There was no need for him to be cooked to such a state.

“Young…Young Master, if you cook any further…it will be overcooked…” the bunch of lackeys said hesitantly.

“I want more fire!” Lian Chengyu roared as loud as an angered lion.

Zhao Tiezhu could only obey by fanning the flames with his subordinates.

The flames grew stronger. The herbs in the liquid bubbled. The pot of herbs had boiled!

Even Lian Chengyu had trouble staying within the boiling water. Besides, his body had not been able to absorb much of the herbal essence. He finally roared with his Yuan Qi exploding out of his body.

“Boom!” The herb tank exploded, scattering the burning hot liquid!

“Ouch!”

The surround lackeys immediately yelled in pain from the scalding.

Thankfully they were all clothed. Although it was scalding hot, the temperature had already decreased tremendously after landing on their clothes. Besides, they had thick skin to endure the burns.

It was too fucking hot.

However, these lackeys were masters at sucking up. They knew that Lian Chengyu would become a warrior of the kingdom, and could be a Tai Ah Divine Kingdom Knight one day. If they sucked up to Lian Chengyu, they would have a thriving future.

Hence, including Zhao Tiezhu, several lackeys ignored their burns and prostrated on the ground shouting, “Congratulations to Young Master Lian for his mastery!”

The scene of Lian Chengyu exploding the herb tank was impressive. Zhao Tiezhu and the others misunderstood it as Lian Chengyu having broken through. They didn’t waste time sucking up!

But…the jolly laughter of Lian Chengyu and him awarding them did not happen. On the contrary, Lian Chengyu’s body was all red. His flesh had already cracked, making him look extremely ferocious.

“Scram!” An extremely angry Lian Chengyu kicked Zhao Tiezhu and the other lackeys, sending them tumbling.

Zhao Tiezhu was dumbfounded from the kick. He did not dare make a sound even though his butt hurt tremendously. He had no clue what had happened.

“All of you scram!” Lian Chengyu shouted loudly. The lackeys were scared stiff and hurriedly ran off.

Suddenly Lian Chengyu raised his hand, “Come back!”

Lian Chengyu’s gaze was cold, “Show me the herbal dregs!”

“Yes, yes!”

The lackeys did not mutter a word. They scrambled away and brought back the herbal dregs without a word.

Lian Chengyu rummaged through the herb dregs, and questioned the brewing process. His face turned increasingly ugly.

There was no problem with the herbal dregs. There were plenty of good herbs used in it. In fact, even a physician from a large tribe would not be able to tell. Who could have thought that someone had the ability to absorb all of the herbal essence without the secret process of brewing?

After seeing the herbal dregs, Lian Chengyu confirmed that he had met his bottleneck!

“Damn it!” Lian Chengyu smashed his fist into the wall!

He had shown talent in martial arts since young. Yao Yuan had previously said that he would be among the best even in a large tribe.

The problem wasn’t because of his body; it was because of this Lian tribal clan!

“The herbs the tribe gave me were too weak! The talented young in the large tribal clans soak in herbs from young. They eat desolate bones for meals. How could I compare with them!”

Lian Chengyu gripped his fists. He hated his circumstances. He hated that he was not born in a rich family, but in this desolate place.

“This poor Lian tribal clan has obstructed and delayed me seventeen years of my time! If I were born in the royal family of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, I would have longed reached the Purple Blood realm, or an even higher realm…and might even vie for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal throne!”

Having thought this, he could no longer stand by the Lian tribal clan. He hated the Lian tribal clan; all of the resources of the Lian tribal clan were not enough for his grooming!

Why couldn’t I be born in the imperial family?

Why couldn’t I enjoy all of that!

Their starting point was somewhere my Lian clan could not even see! Yet, I am climbing up like a dog! I hate it!

“Come!” Lian Chengyu shouted. Zhao Tiezhu didn’t dare to be any slower and ran towards Lian Chengyu without a sound.

“Pass my order. Set up the cauldron, and gather the fit men in the village to begin refining the desolate bones!”

Zhao Tiezhu’s heart jumped. It was finally beginning. It was supposed to be a couple days later. “About the herbs…”

“Keep picking!” Lian Chengyu’s voice was indifferent. The Lian Clan Herb Mountain was the most valuable possession of the Lian tribal clan, and the picking of herbs was always regulated to prevent over-harvesting.

But now, Lian Chengyu was prepared to leave the Lian tribal clan in a few months. The Lian Clan Herb Mountain was no longer of value to him, so he was willing to squeeze everything from it.

Being stifled by the bottleneck, the herbs did little for him, but it was better than nothing.

As for the desolate bones…now was the time for the desolate bones to aid him in breaking through the bottleneck…

18 - : If you cook any further, it will be overcooked

CKtalon  CKtalon

A human sized cauldron was set up on the Lian tribal clan grain-sunning ground. The large cauldron was filled with Li Fire water.

This Li Fire water was also bought from the big tribes and contained the power of fire within itself. It could reach a temperature of 500 degrees Celsius without boiling, so it was specially used for refining desolate bones.

The firewood that was stacked under the large cauldron was special. It was purple firewood. Its appearance was curvy; each log was like a dried old snake.

Although the purple firewood didn’t look impressive, they were considered expensive. The purple firewood contained a special fire in it. Lit purple firewood could burn an entire day, boiling several big pots throughout the day.

The Lian tribal clan had prepared a long time for this day. Even so, they were reluctant to use the purple firewood. They only used one log a day.

With that, the fire began burning.

The purple firewood spewed deep purple flames, but remained very silent. The temperature of the flames were extremely high, enough to melt rock!

Under the purple flames, the cauldron of Li Fire water started boiling!

Presiding over the refinement of the desolate bones was the Lian tribal clan’s Patriarch, who was Lian Chengyu’s grandfather. Since it was a matter of great importance, he decided to do it personally.

“Lower the desolate bone!” The Patriarch ordered when the water reached a suitable temperature.

A few stout villagers carried a large wooden box, raised the desolate bone before dropping it into the large cauldron!

The Patriarch looked at the bubbles in the cauldron with a heavy expression.

Normally, the refinement of desolate bones was not something normal people could do.

People who specialized in refining desolate bones were known as Desolate Heaven Masters! A Desolate Heaven Master’s standing was of the highest honors!

They had the ability to purify the essence in the desolate bones, refining what many martial artists dreamed and vied for–desolate bone relic.

A common skeletal piece of desolate bone was thousands of kilograms. So although it was known that tremendous energy were stored in the bones, humans were still unable to consume the large amount of bones. Even if they did, it was hard to digest!

The energy within the desolate bones was not easily absorbed. Even consuming a large amount of desolate bones would have less than ten per cent efficiency.

But after the refinement from a Desolate Heaven Master into a desolate bone relic, it would be as small as a longan, or even as small as a bean. A rich person could easily eat seven to eight of those a day.

After being refined by a Desolate Heaven Master, the essence was easily absorbed. As long as a martial artist had reached a certain level, which would prevent his body from exploding from an overflow, then he would be able to digest a desolate bone relic eventually.

A Desolate Heaven Master who could refine high-level desolate beasts was a huge asset major powers scrambled to vie for!

Rumors said that the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Imperial Preceptor was a Desolate Heaven Master. The status and prestige he enjoyed was nothing an ordinary person could imagine.

In this world, there were several levels of desolate beasts. Some desolate beasts could turn over the seven seas and cut through mountains. These desolate beasts’ bones were even harder to refine, impossible for a normal person!

It was rumored that a Desolate Heaven Master who had reached an unimaginable realm had set up a huge array to refine the bones of an ancient desolate beast–Purple Gold Chimera that took him twelve years!

To refine a piece of desolate bone for twelve years, coupled with the mysterious identity of the person made the legend even more charming.

It was said that the refinement caused a region with radius of a five hundred kilometers to turn into a desert. Even the Desolate Heaven Master had paid a price to refine the desolate bone relic.

It was unknown what the Purple Gold Chimera’s relic was used for. Rumors were abound; some said it was used for saving someone.

As for whom it was used for, there were dozens of versions. Each version had its own speculations, such as the Desolate Heaven Master’s daughter, his lover, his disciple, etc.

Such rumors only solidified the status of a Desolate Heaven Master in their minds. It was the reason why the legends were passed down with embellished details.

It was understandable since it was extremely difficult for the people to survive in the vast wilderness. To be able to worship such experts, even if they didn’t know them, was extremely exciting just from the legends.

As for the Lian tribal clan, a small ant-like tribe could never hire a Desolate Heaven Master. Even the lowest level Desolate Heaven Master was someone they didn’t dare to look at.

As such they could only use primitive methods to refine the desolate bone.

Thankfully, the price of the desolate bone they were refining was low. Even primitive methods could gather about 50-60% of the desolate bone essence.

That was enough for Lian Chengyu.

The refinement of the desolate bone proceeded day and night without stopping.

Especially at night, one could see the mysterious bright purple light from the purple firewood from an unobstructed spot in the village.

While the Lian tribal clan was busy refining the desolate bone, Yi Yun was not sitting idle. He was training day and night.

Few people visited the back mountain of the Lian tribal clan, so it was the ideal place for Yi Yun to cultivate himself.

It was already the fifth day Yi Yun practiced the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

“Peng!”

“Peng!”

Yi Yun’s served out punches after punches. Each punch was accompanied by a bowstring twang, like a pulse.

Yi Yun destroyed tree after tree. Yi Yun’s blood was circulating fast as he breathed in deeply. The blood vessels on his arms and fists protruded out.

“Ha!” Yi Yun roared and sent a punch to a boulder in front of him.

“Ka-cha!”

The boulder disintegrated. Yi Yun’s tendons had reached its peak performance!

“Su Su Su!”

The birds in the forest scattered into the sky from the commotion.

As they flew off in a hurry, leaves that were loosened by the birds swayed down onto Yi Yun’s face.

Yi Yun had a hearty feel. It was as if all the energy in his body had moved through his body. It was inexplicably refreshing!

Although he had not reached the stage of Surprise Bow Drops Flock with the Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’s eighteen stances, but to scare the birds from the trees was considerable progress.

Yi Yun’s strength was still insufficient. He could only do about three hundred kilograms. If he were to reach the strength of several cauldrons, or even five thousand kilograms, then surprising the geese flock in the sky would not be impossible!

Although he only had 300 kilograms of strength, Yi Yun’s Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain when hit out was much more than 300 kilograms!

The main crux of Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain, with the tendons as bowstring, was to store the potential energy before shooting out a punch. Such a punch would be five hundred kilograms in strength, more than capable of splitting a tiger’s head.

Yi Yun closed his eyes satisfactory. He felt the energy that moved through his body, giving him that immense comfort.

Unknowingly, Yi Yun’s breathing started to become extremely long and gentle. The speed of the blood flow in his body also began to exhibit changes.

Oh, this is…

Yi Yun looked at both his hands. The protruded blood vessels had disappeared, while his breathing had become calm, his heart beat rate was much slower.

Yi Yun realized something and leaping onto his feet, he took a deep breath before spitting it out.

“Whew!”

A white gas flew forward like an arrow for a distance of six meters. A falling leaf was pierced before it spun out flying.

“Vigor realm! I’ve finally entered the realm of Vigor!”

A Vigor warrior took long breaths, had slow but strong heartbeats. The big difference from a Valiant warrior was a Vigor warrior’s endurance He could carry on battling for a long time and could do long distance strikes.

For example, a squadron of Vigor warriors could travel a few hundreds of kilometers a day on the battlefield, completing a surprise attack from five hundred kilometers.

It was a natural breakthrough to the Vigor realm as Yi Yun’s body had reached a certain level of training.

“Having come to this world, I’ve only really practiced martial arts for five days. I reached the second level of Mortal Blood in five days. This Mortal Blood realm is after all a martial artist’s basic stage. The future levels are unknown. Also the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s experts, what levels are they?”

With the Purple Card, the energy required for cultivating himself was not a problem. The problem lied in the need for a cultivation technique.

If he didn’t have a technique to guide his cultivation, he would be like a chef with a bunch of good ingredients, but without any cooking skills. He would still not be able to cook up a good meal.

“Since I’ve entered the Vigor realm, let’s try the third stance of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.”

Yi Yun said to himself as he saw eastern sky turn white. Seeing that, he raced down the hill.

On the way, he passed by the grain-sunning ground. He slowed down his footsteps.

Under the five-hundred-kilogram cauldron burned the purple fire violently. In a twenty meter radius stood a tall wooden fence, preventing any unrelated persons from closing in.

Because of the wooden fence, Yi Yun was not sure of the situation inside. However, he could feel the extreme heat of the fire from afar.

However despite the layers of heat, Yi Yun felt a vague chill residing in it.

Although the chill was not obvious, it was excruciating…

19 - : Vigor

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the past two days, Yi Yun had been dedicating himself to practicing. Because of his injuries, both his hands were bandaged.

Yi Yun frequently sneaked out in the middle of the night, and this did not escape Jiang Xiaorou.

“Yun-er, what have you been doing these past few days? Also, what’s wrong with your hands?”

Ever since Yi Yun’s mother passed away, Jiang Xiaorou had taken up the responsibility of being Yi Yun’s mother, taking care of him in every possible way.

Even when Yi Yun made a mistake, Jiang Xiaorou would not blame him, but stare at him till Yi Yun confessed his wrongdoings.

It was the same today.

Yi Yun had wanted to make the excuse of hurting himself when picking herbs, but under Jiang Xiaorou’s watchful gaze, he hesitated before speaking the truth, “Sis Xiaorou, I’ve been practicing martial arts at night. The injuries on my hand were caused by my training.”

Jiang Xiaorou was stunned. Practicing martial arts?

“Yun-er, who did you learn martial arts from?”

“I secretly learned it,’ said Yi Yun honestly.

Jiang Xiaorou’s expression changed. Secretly learning the tribe’s martial arts would be a crime. Also learning martial arts was no easy task. Even without herbs and meat, one needed to have a good meal. Yi Yun only ate gruel and wild vegetables daily. Where did he have the strength to train?

This could be a matter of life and death.

“Sis Xiaorou, do you believe me?” Yi Yun grabbed Jiang Xiaorou’s hand while looking into her eyes seriously.

Jiang Xiaorou paused before nodding her head subconsciously.

“Well, if you believe me, don’t ask any further. Sis Xiaorou, I’ll lead you to a better life in the future!” Yi Yun said seriously. Jiang Xiaorou was the first person he met in this strange world, and she was the person who had cared for him with her life ever since.

He felt a sense of gratitude towards her. He wanted not only to change his own fate, but to also change Jiang Xiaorou’s fate.

Jiang Xiaorou looked at Yi Yun in a daze while a thought rose in her mind–her brother has grown up.

He was no longer the child of old. The words he said were not to be treated as infant speak. He was working hard to match his objectives…

Yi Yun was slowly growing accustomed to the plain meals he had. Or it could be said; he had no choice but to do so.

Although the grain porridge tasted bad, Yi Yun would digest it immediately after having an increase in appetite. Without the Lian Clan Herb Mountain to support him, Yi Yun would have starved to death, not to mention breakthrough into the Vigor realm.

However, although the herbs could supplement the body’s nutritional and energetic requirements, it was not enough to replace meals. The taste of the herbs was worse than grain porridge.

As the days passed, for a glutton like Yi Yun, it was a torture for him.

The only thing good in his life was Jiang Xiaorou’s pickled vegetables.

It was sad to say that although Yi Yun was not considered rich on Earth, he had the opportunity to eat anything he wanted. But ever since he came to the strange world, he had not had a taste of meat. Pickled vegetables were now a delicacy.

However, Jiang Xiaorou’s pickled vegetables were considered very delicious. For Jiang Xiaorou’s family, pickled vegetables were considered an extravagance, as the village did not have any salt. All the salt had to be bought from the bigger tribes.

Much of the salt was provided to the warrior preparation camp. They used the salt to cure the meat, so only tiny amounts of salt were distributed to the commoners. It was mostly used to boil vegetable soup. Using it to make pickled vegetables was obviously an extravagant way of eating.

After a couple of days, all the herbs on the Lian Clan Herb Mountain were picked dry. Even with the Purple Crystal’s guidance, even decent herbs couldn’t be found. To hand over the herbs, the villagers even uprooted the sprouts of the herbs.

“Having picked the entire herb mountain dry like that, without any consideration of the future. It seems the Lian tribal clan has gambled their all, and have given up on the land they stayed. All hope rested on Lian Chengyu. However, even if Lian Chengyu passes the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warrior selection, only a few people from the warrior preparation camp would benefit. It is likely that all the commoners would be abandoned…”

Yi Yun had mixed feelings. This was the way of living in the vast wilderness. There were limited resources; the strong obtained more resources while the weak were eliminated.

With the value of the herb mountain’s value getting lower and lower, the Lian tribal clan’s upper echelons stopped focusing on the herb mountain. All their attention and energies were placed on the refinement of the desolate bone.

This piece of desolate bone was of the highest importance. For this piece of desolate bone, the Lian tribal clan had placed all their bets on it

All their hopes were pinned on it.

Even Lian Chengyu had put in his all, his ambition, his hopes; his everything was now bet on this!

The refinement of the desolate bone required sixty days!

On the tenth day of the refinement process, something weird happened.

A few villagers in charge of the refinement of the desolate bone fell sick. It began with a cough and fever, but it soon broke out into diarrhoea, skin rashes and depression. The symptoms resembled typhoid.

In a small tribe in the vast wilderness, a common warrior with good physical fitness and strong physical resistance would be fine, but for the poor villagers, once ill, there was no such thing as a minor illness.

Because of their weak bodies and poor resistance, with the tribe only having one doctor who served the upper echelons, the poor was doomed to die from the cold ailment.

Yi Yun felt something was amiss when he heard the news.

Typhoid sounded like the cold, but it was actually a bacterial infection. Yi Yun wasn’t sure if the typhoid in this strange world was the same as on Earth. But with so many ill, it had to be some type of communicable disease.

What Yi Yun couldn’t figure out was that common infectious diseases usually spread through water or air. However the villagers who were refining the desolate bone were confined to the cauldron where the temperatures were extremely high!

Under sustained high temperatures and low humidity, most common bacteria would find it hard to survive. If there was an outbreak, it would be from others, not from the people refining the desolate bone?

Could it be a bacteria that spread easily under dry conditions?

Thinking of this, Yi Yun’s heart sank. The matter of the villagers falling sick was not so simple!

With five people ill, the people of the Lian tribal clan and especially the rest of the people refining the desolate bones began to panic.

With them being there, they could contract the disease anytime.

Although life was tough, no one wanted to die.

Thankfully, the upper echelons of the Lian tribal clan did not brush the matter aside. The Patriarch came forward to calm the masses, and gave each of the ill a red pill.

The pill was the size of a longan, red like blood. According to the Patriarch, it was an extremely expensive herb obtained from refinement. Each pill was worth a fortune.

The Patriarch instructed the ill to swallow it down with warm water and that their illnesses would be cured after having the medicine. And the ill that ate the pill felt better on the first day. They felt energetic after a night’s sleep. By the evening of the second day, they were no different from normal people.

On the third day, the ill were even livelier, better than before they fell ill.

Besides that, the Patriarch distributed a palm-sized piece of bacon to all the villagers who fell ill. This was meat, something these villagers had not seen for months. It was a great gift to them.

The poor cherished this piece of bacon and ate tiny amounts of it. Some of them gave it to their children, some to their wives.

The news that the Lian tribal clan distributed pills and bacon to the ill, spread like wildfire.

The people in suffering did it for the tribunal good, and worked even harder for the refinement of the desolate bones. Some even wished to fall ill themselves, for they would receive a pill that made them feel even more energetic, and obtain that piece of bacon.

Yi Yun frowned when the news reached him.

A pill that could cure the illness, and make them feel even better?

Although Yi Yun had no medical training, he knew that having such great effects after eating a pill must be something that stimulated the people, which would have strong side effects.

Examples were stimulants such as drugs and other prohibited drugs that could ignite a person’s potential.

Yi Yun was especially sceptical about the higher echelons of the Lian tribal clan spreading the news of them handing out pills made of extremely precious herbs.

The Lian tribal clan could never be this generous. Besides, to be able to be generous, they had to have the precious herbs, and from Yi Yun’s perspective, even the upper echelons of the Lian tribal clan were poor too. It was a situation of pot calling the kettle black between the upper echelons and plebeians. Also they had limited resources, and they had used it all on Lian Chengyu, how could they hand out herbs to the poor?

Yet another day, the Lian tribal clan distributed the herbal dregs. These herbal dregs were the remnants of what Lian Chengyu had finished using. It was for those who had refined the desolate bones with the goal of strengthening their bodies. Those who received the herbal dregs were naturally grateful.

20 - : Yi Yun’s suspicions

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Lian tribal clan’s elders’ compound late at night.

“Peng!” The door to the compound was pushed opened. A young man with a complexion as clear as jade walked out.

“Chengyu, why did you come out?” The Patriarch stood up the moment he saw the young man. Lian Chengyu had previously announced that he wanted to isolate himself till the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warrior selection began.

Yet it had been less than a month before Lian Chengyu came out of isolation.

“My cultivation encountered some problems…” Lian Chengyu’s expression didn’t look good. He had planned to use two months to accumulate a strong base before using the desolate bone essence to break through to the Purple Blood realm!

By doing so, his fundamentals would be strong, and having accumulated sufficient strength, he would reach the peak of the beginning stages of the Purple Blood realm when he broke through into the Purple Blood realm. Among the others in the beginning stages of the Purple Blood realm, he would be able to keep his head up, and it would aid him in breaking through to an even higher realm in the future. It would be very beneficial!

Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warrior selection was particular about a warrior’s fundamentals and cumulative progress. If Lian Chengyu could meet all those requirements, he could get the recognition of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s officers during the warrior selection, and obtain excellent results.

However, the circumstances did not permit so. After picking the Lian Clan Herb Mountain dry, Lian Chengyu’s cultivation had a slow development despite all the good herbs!

Lian Chengyu believed that he had met his bottleneck.

In fact, the attitude towards martial arts mattered most when in isolation. With a good attitude, strong confidence and perseverance, it would be easy to break though.

When in self-doubt, thinking that something was wrong with the cultivation process, such as hitting a bottleneck, would inevitably cause a loss in momentum and make breaking through even tougher.

The psychological effect usually did not have significant effects, but Lian Chengyu had originally lacked the resources for his cultivation. Matters were made worse, causing Lian Chengyu’s progress to be even slower. In the end, he chose to end his isolation prematurely.

By clearing his mind and taking a break before obtaining the desolate bone essence, he could then re-isolate himself to break through into the Purple Blood realm.

This was Lian Chengyu’s plan. It was a reasonable plan. Sometimes it happened that a breakthrough was not possible, but taking a break might result in miraculous insight, allowing him to make a breakthrough unknowingly.

“How has the refinement process of the desolate bone been?” Lian Chengyu asked the question that concerned him the most. This piece of desolate bone was his entire fortune and life!

“Yes, it’s still going as planned, but… A few of the poor villagers involved in the refining were poisoned a few days ago. I was originally planning on letting them hang on a few days, but seeing that they were doing badly, I gave them some Blood Thinning Pills. They have all recovered by now and the refinement will not be affected.”

Lian Chengyu knitted his eyebrows upon hearing it as he said, “Those soulless trash are really useless. It’s just been a few days and they can’t take the toxicity from the Frost Python desolate bone! After eating the Blood Thinning Pills, it will overdraw on their vitality. Under such circumstances, they will die before the refinement of the desolate bone is done!”

Lian Chengyu’s words were cold and inhumane. The Patriarch felt he was going overboard and said, “Chengyu…You are asking for too much. These people seldom eat a proper meal or wear proper clothes. How would they be able to endure the toxin from the Frost Python? They have already sacrificed themselves for the Lian tribe. In the future when you make your meteoric rise, you must take care of their families.”

“Got it,” said Lian Chengyu with a straight face. “I’m only worried about the refinement process and fear it will be delayed unnecessarily. If these people end up dying too early, it would affect the refinement process. Grandpa, please send the order down to the tribe to gather more help. The more the merrier. With more people, they can all share in the toxicity of the Frost Python and last longer. Although the Blood Thinning Pill isn’t a very expensive drug, with most of our money gone, we have to save every penny.”

Lian Chengyu had said those words lightly. The Patriarch sighed hearing this. He knew that for every person recruited, another life was lost.

The pitiful poor even scrambled to join in the refining of the desolate bone for the bacon.

“For the Lian tribe, I guess it has to be so…” exclaimed the Patriarch “It’s such a pity. If we had a piece of desolate bone without any toxicity, there wouldn’t be so many deaths due to the refinement.”

“A piece of desolate bone without toxin?“ Lian Chengyu scoffed. “With the finances of our tribe and that incomplete technique manual, would we have been able to exchange for a piece of desolate bone without toxicity?”

“Besides, the Frost Python desolate bone does not have toxin, it just has a hard to dissipate frost Qi. Once it enters the body, it freezes the organs, causing a person to lose his life. With a Desolate Heaven Master he could easily dissipate the Frost Python’s frost Qi. But why would a Desolate Heaven Master be willing to help clear such a low-grade desolate bone’s toxicity? There is no chance for them to come to our Lian tribal clan!”

“The only reason I could get my hands on this desolate bone was because of its cheap price: the young masters of big tribes weren’t willing to use something of this quality! Just like how a rich family will give the remaining bones to feed the dogs, to the big tribes, I’m like a wild dog waiting to eat their scraps!”

Lian Chengyu self-deprecating last words were said with his lips twitching and fists clenched tightly. His nails were piercing into his flesh.

He hated his circumstances!

The young masters and mistresses of the large tribes could pick from a spread of desolate bones. They would choose not to us those with side effects or low efficacy!

But for him, he had to go through all the trouble and sacrificing his wealth just to obtain a rejected piece of Frost Python desolate bone!

Putting all his hope on a piece of desolate bone, which had immense side effects, and risking his life to consume it was pathetic!

“Chengyu, it has been hard on you all these years. But you have to know even the bright onew in the big tribes are few in number. There are even plenty without the talent in the big tribes, they too don’t get much of the desolate beast meat…” The Patriarch felt guilty. He knew Lian Chengyu had great talent, but due to the Lian tribal clan’s poverty, they were unable to nurture him. All these years, the Patriarch had known that Lian Chengyu had a grudge towards the tribe despite him never uttering a word.

It was hard for Lian Chengyu to listen to what the Patriarch had to say. He answered, “Grandpa, don’t console me. Heaven is heartless, treating all things as worthless. Since the world is unfair, I will use my own strength to gain that fairness! Sooner or later, I will take control of my life, and will take control of the lives of others! In the future, I will have all the children of the big tribes at my feet!”

“I understand,” said the Patriarch with a sigh. “Tomorrow I will pass the order to gather more people to refine the desolate bones. I will not care about the number of deaths. With more people, they can absorb more of the frost Qi…making it safer for you when you consume the desolate bone.”

The Patriarch knew that Lian Chengyu would not feel any remorse for the poor who died for him.

Lian Chengyu hated the unfairness of the world. He felt he was extremely unlucky, so how could he be bothered with the unluckiness of others?

To Lian Chengyu, the poor were like ants. Even Lian Chengyu saw himself as a slightly bigger ant.

The survival of the fittest, this was a notion ingrained deep in Lian Chengyu’s heart. Only by eating the smaller ants could he keep growing till the point where he could, as a top expert, control his own fate and the fate of others.

21 - : Lian Chengyu exits Isolation

CKtalon  CKtalon

Early in the morning as the sun shined and mist rose from the woods…

The ancient vast wilderness welcomed a brand new day.

With the herb picking halted, Jiang Xiaorou was preparing breakfast while Yi Yun was chopping wood in the yard.

He did not use a hatchet, but was chopping them with his bare hands!

“Pa!” A clear loud snap rang. A clean cut separated the firewood into two.

Yi Yun looked at the two pieces of firewood and said to himself, “‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ when mastered can break a tree trunk into thin chopstick like pieces with bare hands in less than a minute. I wonder if I’ll reach that point if I were to practice for another three months.”

Yi Yun was deep in thought when he heard a noisy commotion from far.

Listening attentively, Yi Yun heard Zhao Tiezhu’s voice: “People of the Lian tribal clan! Listen carefully! The Patriarch has issued an order to recruit ten strong men to refine the desolate bone. Those who are interested can sign up for it. They will be accepted on the basis of merit!”

Oh? Recruiting ten strong men to refine the desolate bone?

Yi Yun thought to himself. He had been thinking about the illness the villagers had contracted from refining the desolate bone for the past few days.

A large number of the sick were healed by a “miracle drug”.

Something had to be amiss for them to recruit new strong men for the refinement.

With that thought, Yi Yun threw down his firewood and headed to the grain-sunning ground in the village.

From afar, Yi Yun could see Zhao Tiezhu shouting from an elevated height.

Many villagers were astonishe. The villagers who were responsible for the refinement of the desolate bone had received numerous benefits. Besides the miracle drug and the bacon, they were also given food subsidies.

Because of the desolate bone, there was extremely little food left in the Lian tribal clan. Being able to collect more food was what the villagers dreamed of.

“I’ll sign up!”

“I’ll sign up too!”

The people rushed towards Zhao Tiezhu to sign up, afraid that they were too late to be in line.

“I, Wang Dahu, is willing to refine the desolate bone! I’m a second tier male!”

A stout but sallow-skinned man due to malnutrition stood in front of Zhao Tiezhu. He looked at Zhao Tiezhu with hope in his eyes

“Second tier male…that would barely do…” Zhao Tiezhu scrutinized Wang Dahu with a picky glare.

Zhao Tiezhu did not know that the refinement process was fatal. It was a top secret in the Lian tribal clan, so to prevent the secret from leaking, only very few members of the upper echelon of the Lian tribal clan knew.

The other members of the warrior preparation camp did not know that the set of desolate bones contained a fatal frost Qi that would seep into their bodies and erode their lives away. Their fates would be eventually sealed when they died from organ failure.

So Zhao Tiezhu thought of the refinement process as a wondrous job.

Being given the authority to pick people to do such a wondrous job made Zhao Tiezhu complacent. The authority vested in him made many people look at him with a fawning look. Compliments rained on him.

Zhao Tiezhu was extremely picky with the people, “Wang Dahu, you stand by the side. You will be considered a substitute; it will be you if there’s no one else more suited.”

Hearing Zhao Tiezhu’s words, Wang Dahu was delighted. He thanked Zhao Tiezhu incessantly before standing aside obediently.

“Oh? Liu Er, you’re here to sign up too? For a person with weak legs, a gust of wind would blow you away! You have to know, that the refinement of the desolate bone requires you to chop firewood, man the fire, fan it daily from morning to night. Also the temperature around the cauldron is extremely high. Without sufficient fitness, you will faint straight away!”

Zhao Tiezhu impatiently waved his hand to chase away the scrawny Liu Er.

Lian Chengyu had handed down a mission of picking strong men. Picking weaklings was definitely not wanted.

One by one, the villagers rushed forward to sign up; however, more were chased away than those that remained.

Yi Yun monitored the situation nearby. He felt that there was something wrong with the desolate bone!

But, even if there was a problem, he still had to investigate it thoroughly.

It was because the desolate bone was very important to Yi Yun.

With the Lian Clan Herb Mountain picked dry, he needed plenty of energy and nourishment for his training. The grain porridge was insufficient.

“Oh? It’s you!” Just as Yi Yun was thinking about his next step, he suddenly heard a familiar voice behind him.

The voice was deep and gentle, but Yi Yun’s face changed the moment he heard it!

It was Lian Chengyu!

Wasn’t Lian Chengyu in isolation? Based on Zhao Tiezhu’s words, he was to be isolated for three months. Why was he out so early?

Yi Yun’s original plan was to surpass Lian Chengyu by the time he left isolation three months later. At that point, it was unlikely that he needed to fear Lian Chengyu anymore. But now, Yi Yun had just begun practicing martial arts for seven days, and even if the Purple Crystal could defy fate, Yi Yun would not be able to defeat a Mortal Blood level five Lian Chengyu who had been practicing martial arts for ten years.

Yi Yun thought carefully of the circumstances. They didn’t share any deep-seated hatred for each other. Lian Chengyu’s attempted murder might have just been a matter of convenience. It was analogous to a person seeing a rat in the house. The person would kill it, but if he missed, he would not tear down his walls to chase it to death.

Yi Yun turned around having calmed his expression before meeting Lian Chengyu’s eyes.

But upon seeing Lian Chengyu, he immediately showed fear, unsure of what he had to do.

“Young…Young Master Lian?”

Yi Yun retreated a few steps, as if he had been shocked by Lian Chengyu’s sudden appearance.

Lian Chengyu frowned; this kid did not die?

His original attempted murder was indeed a matter of convenience. The main reason was the hatred he felt Yi Yun had for him. Lian Chengyu was afraid that the combination of the lack of food and the increased mortality during the critical stages of the refinement process would increase resentment in the villagers. He had the impression that Yi Yun, who could easily incite the villagers, would cause a riot due to Yi Yun’s hatred for himself.

Lian Chengyu was pursuing the highest standards of martial arts, so as to be someone who could lord over millions. With this goal, he had the mentality of an emperor. A person of Yi Yun’s stature was negligible. In order to prevent any potential danger; having Yi Yun dead was no big deal. Lian Chengyu had killed numerous after all. Besides, the desolate bone refinement alone would cause many deaths.

Since killing Yi Yun was a small matter, Lian Chengyu did not take it to heart. He had previously not verified Yi Yun’s fate. It was only after he left his isolation that he was left puzzled when he discovered Yi Yun alive.

For a lowly poor person to not die under his attack, what could have happened? Were his own skills not enough?

“What are you doing here?” Lian Chengyu asked.

“Young Master, I heard that Lord Zhao was recruiting strong men to refine the desolate bones. I also heard that we could get bacon, so I was thinking of trying.”

“Oh?” After hearing Yi Yun’s words, Lian Chengyu’s eyes burned with contempt. Yi Yun was only twelve, yet his words on the day of the ration distribution were unlike that of a twelve-year-old child. He also had the ability to incite the people to riot, making him an unstable factor in Lian Chengyu’s calculations.

But now, Yi Yun looked like a kid. What could a person who only had eyes on bacon do?

Lian Chengyu could not be bothered with Yi Yun except for the mysterious failure to kill him.

“Since you want to refine the desolate bones, why don’t you sign up? What are you doing out here?”

“To…To be honest, Lord Zhao only wants people who are at least second tier males, but for me…I…”

Yi Yun’s voice lowered once he said that. It was as if he was ashamed of his tiny strength, and he was unable to say anything further.

Lian Chengyu’s contempt in his eyes became clearer. This idiot, to think I thought so highly of him. That’s right, he’s just twelve, what sort of schemes could he have?

Lian Chengyu forgot that he too wasn’t that old. He was only seventeen. Among the other seventeen year olds, he was the worldliest, but he was still a bit too young. He could never have dreamed that the twelve year old in front of him had the soul of an adult.

“Since you have the heart, and are willing to give your strength to the Lian tribal clan, I will not forbid it. Seeing how ambitious you are, you are a person worthy of grooming. I’ll make an exception and give you a chance.”

Lian Chengyu gave Yi Yun a few words of “encouragement”.

This retard can contribute a bit of strength, although he’s a sickly kid, his fitness does not matter when using him to absorb the Frost toxin.

22 - : Recruitment

CKtalon  CKtalon

“So I can refine the desolate bone?” asked Yi Yun.

Lian Chengyu made a silent acknowledgement. It was so pitiful seeing a person live a life where he was so happy to be sent to his death.

“Thank you Young Master.” Yi Yun was very happy. This was not faked, for he was truly happy. He had originally thought Lian Chengyu would go crazy and pat him a few more times after seeing him alive to ensure his death.

Although Lian Chengyu’s methods would not harm Yi Yun, it would result in many implications.

Lian Chengyu might have mistaken it for an error for failing to kill Yi Yun the first time, but he would realize it if there was a second time. For Yi Yun, that was not good news.

Yi Yun’s goal to refine the desolate bone was fulfilled by Lian Chengyu.

Refining the desolate bone gave Yi Yun time to breathe. Yi Yun’s strength increased exponentially rates, so things would no longer be the same in two months!

“Yun-er, why aren’t you coming home to eat?” Jiang Xiaorou had finished preparing the meal and had come out to look for Yi Yun. But she saw Yi Yun speaking to Lian Chengyu the moment she came out the door.

Jiang Xiaorou instantaneously felt worried. Lian Chengyu had previously harmed Yi Yun grievously, and had almost taken his life!

She walked over quickly, afraid that Lian Chengyu would harm Yi Yun.

Although Jiang Xiaorou hated Lian Chengyu to the bone, she knew she could not lose decorum with him.

“I see, it’s Young Master Lian.” Jiang Xiaorou smiled wryly after seeing Lian Chengyu as she pulled Yi Yun behind her.

“Oh? Jiang Xiaorou I remember you.” Noticing Jiang Xiaorou’s actions, Lian Chengyu frowned. This girl was still hostile towards himself!

Lian Chengyu disliked having the poor plebeians of the Lian tribal clan show any disrespect to him. It was a result of an inferiority complex within him under all the larger powers, so he aimed to establish his authority among the poor who could not compare to himself.

But Jiang Xiaorou was considered a woman he admired, so he was more tolerant of her. He would slowly tame her.

Lian Chengyu left. Although he admired Jiang Xiaorou, he did not giver her any attention, nor say one word more to her. He was an elite. He was like an emperor who only visited, but never chased. He just needed to wait for Jiang Xiaorou to reach a desperate situation and get Zhao Tiezhu to deal with her.

Jiang Xiaorou looked at Lian Chengyu’s back as she clenched Yi Yun’s small hands, “Yun-er what was going on?”

“Nothing, Sis Xiaorou. You don’t have to worry,” answered Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was the one who told Jiang Xiaorou that Lian Chengyu had hurt him. Since Yi Yun assured her, Jiang Xiaorou eased up. These few days, she began to vaguely feel that her brother was no longer the mere child he was. He had his own ideas.

But Jiang Xiaorou began to think before she felt something amiss, “Yun-er, you can’t be thinking of refining the desolate bone? You can’t go to that place!”

Yi Yun looked at Jiang Xiaorou in surprise. Jiang Xiaorou’s keen intuition was surprising. Though she didn’t know what mysteries the refinement process had, she had figured that it was a dangerous job.

Yi Yun thought it over before saying softly, “Sis Xiaorou, I’m not as weak as you think. Having come back from the dead, I think I’m different from the past…Don’t you remember me climbing up the twenty-meter-tall cliffs a few days ago?”

With Yi Yun saying that, Jiang Xiaorou recalled. She was astonished at Yi Yun’s speed while he climbed up the cliff, but she accepted it because Yi Yun liked to climb and pick herbs since he was young.

Thinking it through, Yi Yun was indeed more agile. He was much better at scaling cliffs than most of the members of the warrior preparation camp.

With that in mind, Jiang Xiaorou felt reassured. Her brother was indeed different.

Sometimes, surviving a fatal situation could result in great fortune. Jiang Xiaorou had heard of people who were struck by lightning, and not only did they not die, they also obtained special abilities.

Could Yun-er be in a similar situation?

That night, Yi Yun as a new hire was brought to the grain-sunning grounds.

Wooden fences surrounded the grain-sunning grounds. Because of the “typhoid” incident, the wooden fences increased, preventing anyone from the outside to see in.

There were about thirty people split into two shifts involved in the refinement of the desolate bone.

Yi Yun was designated the night shift. There were about a dozen people for the night shift. Although these people were not as fit as the men from the warrior preparation camp, they were all large in size. Among them, Yi Yun was like a little chicken among swans. His height only reached their chests.

Seeing Yi Yun, the men were shocked. The reason for the stares was obvious, how did such a thin child get selected to refine the desolate bone?

Besides his strength, his height was so short that even he could not reach the mouth of the cauldron while standing on a stool. How would he be able to add the “Li Fire Water” into the cauldron?

“Lad, are you kidding me? A person like you can refine the bone?”

“What can you do with your little body? Your legs aren’t even thicker than the firewood!”

All the men had strong views upon seeing Yi Yun. Yi Yun would be given a piece of bacon for not doing any work. They were unhappy about that.

Yi Yun did not bother speaking, and he sat by the pile of firewood, allowing them to speak as they wished.

“Time for porridge!” A man from the warrior preparation camp brought out a bucket of porridge. There was food provided for those who refined the desolate bone. This was a welfare the upper echelon gave to ensure the smooth refinement of the desolate bone. Only after eating would they have the strength to work.

Upon hearing that the porridge arrived, the men’s eyes lit up and ran towards it.

With a brouhaha, the bucket of porridge was wiped empty. With Yi Yun at the back, together with how these people struggled and fought for the food, there was already none left for him.

Yi Yun felt helpless. The phrase—bad surroundings make bad civilians—had its logic. It wasn’t because the people in bad surroundings were immoral, but being moral did not ensure their survival.

“Time to work! Work time!” The guys from the warrior preparation camp shouted.

A few men walked towards the big cauldron. It was time to replace the day shift.

Yi Yun straggled at the back. He walked slowly as he stared at the cauldron.

In the eyes of others, Yi Yun looked stunned by the huge bronze cauldron that was being licked by the purple flames. Indeed, the cauldron was huge. Yi Yun’s height did not even reach the second handle of the cauldron.

In fact, Yi Yun’s vision was filled with faint points of light. It looked like flying fireflies dancing in the night.

Such a mystical power! This was the energy of the desolate bone, and it was the legendary—Power of Desolates!

This endless stream of light dots excited Yi Yun. Previously, the Purple Crystal had absorbed some of the desolate bone’s energy, but he was standing far away, preventing him from absorbing much. It was unlike today, where he was in close contact with the desolate bone.

In comparison, the Purple Jade ginseng and the Black Fungus were incomparable to this. Like a person who was accustomed to eating plain food seeing a lavish meal, Yi Yun was extremely excited.

This was like a thief entering an emperor’s tomb, or a weasel sneaking into a chicken coop!

All the energy of the desolate bone belonged to him.

“Kid, what are you idling for? Chop the firewood!” shouted a man before landing an axe in front of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was awaked from his sluggish state, and happily proceeded to chopping wood.

“This lad has a brain problem!” swore the man. He also began busying himself. He and the others were in charge of chopping the firewood.

The firewood was the key to the fire source. It was extremely strong and heavy. A few strongmen had to work hard before they could cut up the purple firewood.

These men worked hard, because if they did well, they could be promoted to foreman, getting more bacon and food.

Yi Yun, though happy, did not get carried away. He knew the desolate bones refinement had something to do with the “typhoid” break out!

He wanted to investigate the cause of the typhoid breakout thoroughly. If the Purple Crystal could not resolve it, then no matter how great the rewards, Yi Yun would only run.

So as Yi Yun chopped the firewood without much purpose, he was carefully observing the red-hot bronze cauldron.

Slowly, Yi Yun realized the problem.

From the big cauldron flew out two differently colored light dots.

The first was purple in color. It was part of the main stream. It flew around aimlessly, and Yi Yun realized that if he focused, these light dots would fly towards him.

With the Purple Crystal merged with Yi Yun’s heart, Yi Yun felt that he could now control the amount the Purple Crystal absorbed ever since he had broken through to the second level of Mortal Blood.

He could choose if he wanted to absorb it or not.

The other light dot was another color, icy blue…

23 - : Yi Yun’s Elixir Refinement

CKtalon  CKtalon

These cold-blue light dots accounted for a small proportion, but it made Yi Yun feel a mysterious bone-biting chill.

Yi Yun was familiar with this chilling feeling. He had felt it when he passed by the refinement area while descending the mountain. He remembered it clearly because it was just after his breakthrough into the Vigor realm.

The cold-blue light dots floated in the sky like specters.

Occasionally a light dot would leave the cauldron and dance in the air randomly before entering one of the men’s bodies.

Just like snowflakes falling into the water, these light dots would then disappear.

Yi Yun could not detect the light dot after that; the light dot had been absorbed by one of the men’s body.

Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat. He vaguely understood that the cold-blue light dots were the cause of the typhoid fever epidemic.

He quietly observed for a while and realized that the cold-blue light dots would randomly fly out of the cauldron before entering the bodies of the men. The men were busy chopping wood, and did not notice a thing.

Yi Yun was more assured of his speculation. The purplish-red energy would not fly into the bodies of people. On the contrary, they would remain in the “Li Fire Water”.

It was apparent that the desolate bone had two forms of energy, the purplish-red energy was beneficial to a person, causing a person to transform and allowing a person to break through. On the other hand, the cold-blue energy was an invisible killing force!

The energy was toxic. Although it sounded iffy, it wasn’t out of the ordinary.

On Earth, there were plenty of energies that had “toxicity”. One such example was the Sun. It was only after being filtered through the ozone was the sunlight able to give life to Earth. Humans would have died from the direct sunlight bearing down on them.

On Earth, the most frightening elements had “toxic” energy, such as radioactive Polonium. It killed Arafat, who used to appear often on the news.

If one were to use Polonium to kill, a gram would be sufficient to kill millions. A few hundred grams was enough to kill all life on Earth, making it much stronger than the common “poisonous” items.

In Yi Yun’s opinion, the blue light dots were similar in nature to energy, and using “toxic” to describe it may have been inaccurate. However, it was sufficient to understand them as having the capability to kill.

Just like on Earth, being exposed to radiation will cause cancer, ulcers and various illnesses. In the vast wilderness, absorbing the desolate bone’s chill toxin would cause “typhoid”, resulting in deaths.

“Then wouldn’t I be in danger by being here?” thought Yi Yun. He wasn’t guarding a cauldron; he was guarding a nuclear reactor!

Thinking carefully, there were plenty of things that were completely different from Earth, but there were similarities.

In terms of energy, the strongest energy on Earth could create atomic bombs or provide nuclear energy.

But in this world, the strongest energy was used to create the strongest experts!

These experts could topple the mountains and overturn the seas. A flip of hand would destroy a city!

These two forms of energy could result in terrible destruction. If not used properly, it would be toxic to the common people!

Thankfully, Yi Yun controlled the treasure that could harness the energy in this world—Purple Crystal.

“But can the Purple Crystal deal with this energy…” Yi Yun tried using the Purple Crystal to absorb the blue light dots. Since he could see the blue light dots, he should be able to absorb them with the Purple Crystal…

As Yi Yun prepared to absorb the first blue light dot, Yi Yun breathed in deeply and reached out his hand carefully. His heart raced, but he finally rationalized that even if the Purple Crystal could not absorb the form of energy, he wouldn’t die immediately from one light dot.

The blue light dot entered Yi Yun’s body.

Yi Yun felt it clearly. The light dot flew into his fingertips like an ice crystal, and then entered his bloodstream.

“It’s so cold!” This was Yi Yun’s first thought. It was like having a huge piece of ice stuffed down his collar during winter.

It was weird that he felt it so profoundly, but the other men did not feel it at all. Their bodies were not as fit as him, so they shouldn’t be able to resist the cold as much.

It seems they have slow reactionary speeds, and are not able to feel the biting cold. However, their bodies will not lie, once they are invaded by the frost toxin, they would slowly lose their strength. If not for the red pill that was given to them from the Lian tribal clan’s upper echelon, they would already be dead?

Yi Yun traced the blue light dot that entered his body. It was eventually absorbed and dissolved by the Purple Crystal into energy that mixed into Yi Yun’s blood.

When the energy flowed through Yi Yun’s body, that biting chill had already disappeared, and it gave Yi Yun a cool refreshing feeling.

It was comfortable as if he was soaking in aquatic springs.

This made Yi Yun more curious. What sort of treasure was the Purple Crystal? It could absorb all forms of energy, even harmful energy like the blue light dots from the desolate bone and the Yuan Qi Lian Chengyu had used on him. The Purple Crystal would reduce those forms of energy to the purest form of energy to nourish his body.

Yi Yun was not aware of the fact that in the vast wilderness, many desolate bones contained toxic energies. The Frost Python desolate bone’s toxin was one of the lowest grades. A low level Desolate Heaven Master could easily dissolve the toxicity. Hence, a toxicity of this level was nothing to the Purple Crystal.

After really absorbing it, Yi Yun realized the effect was not significant.

The Purple Crystal could indeed absorb the blue light dots, but the absorbing speed was extremely slow, far more difficult than absorbing the purplish-red light dots.

“Kid, what are you doing!”

Yi Yun was carefully researching the differences between the two types of energy when he heard a man shout at him. In the eyes of others, Yi Yun was just idling.

One of the men who wanted to be the “foreman” of the group naturally could not stand Yi Yun’s laziness.

“Uh…” Yi Yun replied with a smile, “Sorry uncle, this axe is too heavy…”

“Hmph!”

With a ‘I knew you wouldn’t amount to much’ look, the man responded, “I really don’t know what the top brass were thinking, to send a kid to refine the desolate bone, holding me back! The useless kid I have, Da Tou is about the same age as you. His strength is twice yours!”

Not to mention Yi Yun’s age, but even among his peers, the past Yi Yun’s body was extremely thin and lacked strength.

In the vast wilderness, the people worshiped the strong. They were proud of the big and tall men who had dark rough skin.

A handsome person like Yi Yun who had smooth skin was considered “ridden with ills”. Such a person was not popular.

“I’m really sorry uncle. I didn’t only hold you back; I even hit your balls. I’ll work hard in the future.” Yi Yun was still smiling. The man was good at doing hard labor, but his reaction was slow. He had not realized what Yi Yun had just said. He only grunted before returning to work while swearing.

Yi Yun began to split the firewood at an adequate pace. To avoid trouble, he increased his speed by a tiny bit. It took him five minutes of hard work, amounting to ten chops to split a piece of firewood.

He had to stay in line with his status.

At the same time, no one noticed that the purplish-red energy churning in the cauldron were flying towards Yi Yun.

As for the cold-blue energy, Yi Yun also absorbed as much as he could. He felt that if he could absorb the blue energy, the men around him would not die.

Unfortunately, the Purple Crystal was not highly effective in absorbing the blue energy. Small amounts of energy were still entering the bodies of the men around him.

Yi Yun had mixed feeling seeing this. Although these people weren’t pleasant, they did not deserve to die. However, he was unable to save them.

If he revealed the truth, the men would not only disbelieve him, they might even report him as rumor mongering to Lian Chengyu for a reward of bacon.

These people were definitely capable of doing that. Yi Yun’s situation would have been terrible if that happened.

In the vast wilderness, the weak had to accept their own suffering. There was no other way around it.

Just like pigs, cattle, and sheep, they did nothing wrong, but were kept in captivity and slaughtered by humans.

The only reason was their weakness. And in the vast wilderness, being weak was a fault! Being weak made you unable to decide your own fate. Being weak allowed you be trampled on…

24 - : Frost Toxin

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun spent a whole night refining the desolate bone, but he could not absorb the energy within the desolate bone without inhibitions.

Yi Yun realized that there was a limit to his absorption before he felt a feeling of fullness. Just like when eating a meal, there would be a point where one couldn’t eat anymore.

If he carried on absorbing the energy, he would feel a turbulent flow of energy within his body, making his body feel numb.

At this point, Yi Yun felt full of strength, and needed to vent it.

He couldn’t wait to go up to the mountains to cultivate!

After arduously waiting till dawn, the day shift came to swap out Yi Yun. Yi Yun raced to the back mountains. He had originally jogged at a slow speed to the mountain entrance, but when there was no one around, he began to run like the wind!

He was like an agile antelope. A simple jump covered five to six meters.

A three-meter high boulder was bypassed with a leap, and a five-meter-tall tree was crossed through the middle.

Yi Yun was not running, but appeared like he was flying while sticking to the ground! The mountain terrain was complex, but under Yi Yun’s keen senses, no terrain was an obstacle for Yi Yun.

He ran to the top of the mountain and descended from the other side down a valley to reach the back of the mountain.

During this period, Yi Yun had not rested once. While travelling, he maintained a constant deep breathing pace. His heart was beating at a constant frequency, slow, but strong!

After running for an hour, Yi Yun finally stopped. Even after such a long run, his face hadn’t turned red and his pulse was still normal. Running was also a form of cultivation. After running far enough, Yi Yun stopped and enjoyed the sweat from the run.

This location was the furthest away from the village and it was safe. Any further, he would go beyond the protection of the wonderland, and he could encounter behemoths and desolate beasts.

At Yi Yun’s present strength, he was doomed if he met a desolate beast.

The vegetation was not rich here. A few patches of black rocks littered the ground.

This was black ironstone. Black ironstone was as heavy as steel, and was several times stronger than normal rocks. Even the, moss which could break rocks, could not sprout on the black ironstone.

The place where Yi Yun was standing was a flat area below a cliff. It was about thirty meters in diameter.

Above the cliff was a waterfall. Numerous droplets of water danced and flew in the air currents, catching the sun and creating rainbows in the mist. This scenery would have been a fascinating tourist attraction on Earth.

The waterfall was not considered wide, but the vertical drop was high. It was more than a hundred meters. The turbulent water flow continued its relentless assault downwards, producing a rumble that could be heard from a distance.

Yi Yun chose this cultivation location previously, precisely for the waterfall.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and circulated the energy within his body. His tough training was about to begin again.

In an isolated mountain wilderness without anyone in a radius that spanned about a dozen kilometers, Yi Yun practiced each “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” stance.

There was no lack of boulders at the back of the mountain. Yi Yun had specifically chosen a flat piece of ground with black ironstone.

Yi Yun stood in front of the black ironstone and started sending punches at it!

How could mere fists made of flesh and blood break apart such lifeless black ironstone?

Yi Yun gritted his teeth.

One punch, two punches, three punches…ten punches, twenty punches!

He used all his strength in every punch!

The first few punches resulted in bruised fists. The pain was heart-wrenching as his fists turned bloody. Finally, as the punches flew, his joints began to rattle.

The pain traveled from his fingers to his heart. It was an indescribable pain but Yi Yun gritted his teeth and endured through it. His face was drenched in sweat. His lips turned white as his face turned pale!

Only when the surface of his fists was nearly reduced to bone did Yi Yun stop.

Following that, he began kicking the boulder. He did so till his legs were covered in bruises, allowing him to barely stand. After a breather, Yi Yun began hitting the boulder with his shoulders and back!

Yi Yun used every possible part he could use, but he was eventually still unable to do anything to the black ironstone; instead, his body was filled with cuts and bruises.

Pain!

Yi Yun rested on the ground. His body was out of strength, and even his vision had blurred.

He focused on his breathing, and followed the theories of the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” technique to circulate his energy.

This was a self-mutilating cultivation method that Yi Yun did not dare to try previously.

However, a few hours ago, Yi Yun had eaten his fill of the Frost Python’s desolate bone energy.

The energy contained within desolate bones was called the Power of Desolates; it was a great gift to any cultivator!

Compared to the Power of Desolates, the herbal essence in the Lian Clan Herb Mountain was trivial.

Even a hundred-year-old herb would be lacking.

With the support from the Power of Desolates, only then did Yi Yun dare to proceed with such self-mutilating practice.

This practice was recorded as the Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’s “Tiger Claws Smite Rocks”, a method to train the bones.

Using the boulder to smite his bones was a tremendously painful and difficult process. It was impossible without strong perseverance.

Even with perseverance, he had to have the resources to support it.

If not, one could end up disabled instead of having the bones trained.

Because of limited resources, the members of the warrior preparation camp did not dare to attempt Tiger Claws Smite Rocks.

Only the gifted in the large tribes could withstand such injuries through the consumption of desolate beast meat and soaking in desolate beast blood.

The Power of Desolates rapidly circulated within Yi Yun’s body. His wounds began to itch, indicating the recovery of his wounds.

The desolate bones were indeed top notch. Together with the Purple Crystal’s purification; the energy used to heal his body was at a tremendous speed, visible to the naked eye!

The method used by “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” to train one’s bones, letting the Power of Desolates to heal those wounds was a cultivation method similar to iron forging.

The method of forging swords was to repeatedly hit a steel sword when hot to forge a peerless sword!

Yi Yun’s current practice was similar to the forging of a sword.

He treated his body as the raw steel and the black ironstone as the anvil. Through repeated hits, he forged his body as a form of cultivation!

After resting for six hours, Yi Yun felt that he had recovered. There were scabs on his hands, so it did not affect his movements.

Yi Yun wrapped his wounds with cloth, and without any hesitation dived into the waterfalls!

“Splash!”

The water smashed into his body, like a thousand-pound jackhammer!

Under the waterfall was a deep plunge basin!

From the perennial impact from the waterfall, the plunge basin was of an unknown depth. From land, the plunge basin was emerald green in color with no obvious bottom.

This was the deepest water body Yi Yun could find in the vicinity of the Lian tribal clan grounds.

Yi Yun was practicing another stance of the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”—”Dragon Dancing in Vast Water”!

In actual fact, “Dragon Dancing in Vast Water” was not cultivated this way. The vast water referred to the ocean, but there was no ocean in the vast wilderness. Yi Yun could only use the plunge basin of a waterfall.

“Dragon Dancing in Vast Water” was a technique to train a body’s internal organs.

The more Yi Yun practiced “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, the more he understood its subtleties.

A warrior’s strength and energy was easily cultivated. But it was much harder to cultivate the tendons, bones and internal organs.

In the stances of the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, a warrior could cultivate his tendons through “Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain” by pulling his tendons like a bowstring, strengthening them tremendously.

Using “Tiger Claws Smite Rocks”, he could train the bones like steel being forged repeatedly.

As for the cultivation of organs, it was even harder. Organs were incomparable to tendons, as a warrior could not easily control his organs for training.

So the creator of “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” had come up with the method of “Dragon Dancing in Vast Water”.

“Dragon Dancing in Vast Water” required a practitioner to jump into the ocean and reach a depth of two hundred meters with one breath. The pressure at that depth was extremely high, enough to burst the eardrums and the organs of people!

The water pressure would exert itself on a person’s organs. Under prolonged periods of such pressure, a person’s organs would become even tougher!

Yi Yun took a deep breath and jumped down into the deep depths of the plunge basin while grabbing a heavy rock!

25 - : Self-mutilating Cultivation

CKtalon  CKtalon

The emerald green plunge basin may look green on the surface, but it had an unimaginable depth. Yi Yun had previously tried exploring its depths but he had never managed to dive to the bottom.

After submerging himself at about a depth of ten meters, he felt his ears hurting.

Human ears were extremely vulnerable. The most unbearable pressure a diver experiences comes from his ears. Martial artists were no different.

As a person goes deeper, his eardrums will rupture before his organs could feel the pressure. Yi Yun blew up the air in his mouth. By increasing the pressure from his mouth, he could balance the external pressure surge, reducing the pain in his eardrums.

After diving to an unknown depth, Yi Yun experienced poor light conditions underwater. Only by looking towards the water surface would he see the beautiful sunshine being transmitted down.

In order to have a means of escaping danger, Yi Yun kept close to the cliff. Peppering the cliff were weird rocks. The rocks led downwards into a deeper depth that was complete darkness. It was a terrifying and bottomless darkness.

Thankfully, Yi Yun had reached the Vigor realm; his breaths could last him a long while. With one breath, he was able to endure about fifteen minutes.

On Earth, the breath holding record underwater was about thirteen minutes. Of course, those people had undergone professional training, and if Yi Yun trained himself more, his timing would be longer.

As the pressure increased, Yi Yun felt his lungs being compressed. His abdominal cavity was filled with bodily fluids.

The ribs enclosing his lungs were under immense pressure. It was as if a huge bear was stepping on his chest. Yi Yun even heard a creaking sound from his ribs.

If not for the bone training he had just completed, Yi Yun’s ribs would most definitely have broken.

With his abdominal cavity compressed, tremendous pressure was transferred to Yi Yun’s body, compressing his bodily fluids and organs.

Slowly, Yi Yun felt his limit approaching.

Diving was a dangerous sport. The moment one lost consciousness due to the water pressure, one was undoubtedly doomed. The corpse would slowly fall to the bottom and get completely crushed.

On Earth, deep diving enthusiasts had to make all sorts of preparations such as ropes, balloons and other life-saving devices.

As for Yi Yun, he naturally had none of that. He had to rely on his own assessments.

“Splash! Splash!”

In the quiet depths underwater, Yi Yun could hear his own heartbeat and even the sound of his blood flowing.

The sunlight in the mountains was already dimmer, but at these deep depths, one could say that Yi Yun was totally surrounded by darkness. Under a quiet, dark and high-pressure environment, the only thing that Yi Yun could clearly feel was the Purple Crystal Origins in his chest. That cool feeling flowed through his bloodstream.

This cool feeling was like the fountain of life in fairy tales. Although it was extremely weak, it could ensure Yi Yun’s survivability. It allowed Yi Yun to stay conscious under such extreme conditions.

This situation resembled the time when he had experienced the cave-in back on Earth. Trapped under the earth, the Purple Crystal had accompanied him in that quiet and dark environment.

Yi Yun also felt that the Purple Crystal was like his life’s last refuge. When his organs were damaged under the immense water pressure, the Purple Crystal would silently repair his organs. It allowed him to not only experience the immense water pressure but also recover in the shortest time possible.

Yi Yun lost his sense of time underwater. He kept following the theories of “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” by circulating his energy. When he felt his breath was mostly used up, he began to swim upwards.

Deep-sea divers would usually not have much energy or air. As swimming upwards consumed a lot of energy, most people on Earth used devices like balloons to propel their bodies upwards, but Yi Yun had to rely on himself.

This was without question a great test for Yi Yun’s heart and lungs.

Under such immense pressure, his breathing and heart beats experienced a hundred times more stress.

Yi Yun held his breath, and by virtue of his willpower and the lifeline provided by the Purple Crystal, he swam upwards meter by meter!

“Splash!” As Yi Yun’s head emerged from the water, he took in large gasps for air. His face was pale. His lips were white and his pupils constricted.

Having dived to a depth of more than a hundred meters for more than twenty minutes, Yi Yun could not believe that he had done it without any device except a rock. He was surprised at the degree he performed “Dragon Dancing in Vast Water” for the first time.

Yi Yun swam towards land as water dripped from his hair. After a few long breaths, he was certain that his body was no longer the same.

The energy from the Power of Desolates had been completely digested. Before coming to the plunge basin, Yi Yun had felt bloated with energy, but after this round of cultivation he now felt extremely hungry. It was as if he had not eaten for three days.

This was the effect of “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”!

The “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” combined with the Power of Desolates from the desolate bones had increased Yi Yun’s strength by leaps and bounds!

“It really…feels great!” Yi Yun could not help uttering a cry.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

In the midst of this long cry, Yi Yun’s joints began to emit cracking sounds. Although they were not loud, they were extremely clear, like the sound of stirring steel pellets.

“Thunderous realm, this must be Mortal Blood’s third realm, Thunderous!” Yi Yun was delighted. The five levels of Mortal Blood were natural endpoints after sufficient training. Without any bottlenecks, as long as one worked hard, anyone could reach the fifth level of Mortal Blood with sufficient energy supplied.

Although anyone could reach level five of Mortal Blood, the difference in speed of doing so was great.

A talented person would not only cultivate quickly, his fundamentals would be solid, making him much stronger than ordinary people.

As for people with little talent, being stuck among the levels of Mortal Blood for three to five years wasn’t uncommon.

Yi Yun knew that he lacked talent. After tunneling through space-time, he was a normal person who was thin and weak. He had little strength that amounted to being able to lift a 30-catty rock weight.

Such a body’s talent could be in no way good. It was probably not far from the son of one of the men refining the desolate bones, “Da Tou”.

But with the help of the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun’s cultivation had improved tremendously. In half a month, he was already at the third level of Mortal Blood.

Then was it possible for him to become a Purple Blood Warrior in two and a half months’ time at the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior selection?

With a Purple Blood Warrior in this tiny tribe, it would cause a sensation and craze among the people!

No matter who it was, if they could become a Purple Blood Warrior in the Lian tribal clan, they would be worshiped!

He would have the highest prestige and wield absolute power in the tribe to determine life and death.

Yi Yun looked at the time. After this round of cultivation, it was already late afternoon. He had cultivated since morning and Yi Yun had once again not slept.

Having just broken through to the Mortal Blood level three’s Thunderous realm, Yi Yun did not feel a tinge of sleepiness. He meditated according to the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ methods for two hours, and felt as if he had slept soundly for eight hours. He felt he was brimming with energy!

“It’s about time to refine the desolate bone. I’m famished from cultivating the whole day!” Yi Yun had not eaten for a day. Previously, he had the energy from the desolate bone to support him, so although his stomach was hungry, his body was able to provide him the energy without problems.

But after undergoing the intense training from the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, the desolate bone energy within Yi Yun’s body had been depleted, so his hunger was much more unbearable.

From the color of the sky, the sun was about to set. Yi Yun returned to the village.

At the grain-sunning ground, the cauldron was burning bright, and it was time to change shifts.

Seeing Yi Yun return, Da Tou’s father pointed to a stack of firewood and said straight, “These firewood. Chop them up for me. You didn’t do anything last night. This place doesn’t employ useless people. If you can’t finish it, there will be no porridge for you today.”

Yi Yun was speechless upon hearing that. It was not as if he had eaten any porridge yesterday. The men had all rushed headlong into the fray. The number of rice grains Yi Yun had managed to receive could be counted with his fingers. The bucket of rice porridge was drank and licked clean that it didn’t even need scrubbing.

Yi Yun sat in the corner and began to chop the wood unhurriedly.

This firewood was as thick as a fully grown leg. It had to be chopped apart before dicing it into uniform sizes, in order for the fire to burn uniformly.

Without anyone realizing, a sheet of red and blue light that came from the cauldron, now covered Yi Yun as he chopped wood.

Previously, Yi Yun did not absorb all the energies from the herbs, leaving something for Lian Chengyu, because he was fearful that Lian Chengyu would realize something was amiss.

But this time, for the desolate bone, it was different. Yi Yun was determined to absorb all the energy from it, and increase his strength by leap and bounds. By then, he would no longer fear Lian Chengyu.

Yi Yun felt a little sorry for Lian Chengyu. He confessed in his mind: “Young Master Lian, I’m sorry. If I don’t reach the Purple Blood realm, then it’s too bad. For me to finish up this piece of desolate bone cleanly, with nothing left, I can only apologize.”

“If through luck, I can reach the Purple Blood realm before I finish absorbing the desolate bone, then I’ll…er…carry on sucking it dry. After all, the Purple Blood realm is just the beginning step on the road of martial arts. There’s still a long way ahead.”

“So please be a good man till the end. I will always remember you in the future.” After Yi Yun finished confessing, he began to absorb the desolate bone energy.

It was a tremendously comfortable feeling to be able to absorb the Power of Desolates without any restrictions while his body was seriously lacking in energy.

The lack of energy and hunger—although they were two different feelings—had much in common.

In the case of extreme hunger, what greater joy was there besides having a sumptuous meal of delicacies?

Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony with Lian Chengyu. He knew that the desolate bone’s energy was so vast that he would need a while to absorb fully.

After all, Lian Chengyu’s primitive methods of brewing the desolate bones could at best refine a small amount of the desolate bone’s essence. Just this small amount of essence was enough for Lian Chengyu to break through to the Purple Blood realm.

However for Yi Yun, using the Purple Crystal to absorb the desolate bone’s energy, he could absorb it completely and with high efficiency. Also, Yi Yun’s cultivation level was still low at the Thunderous realm: if his cultivation speed increased any faster, Yi Yun might even scare himself…

26 - : Thunderous

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun absorbed the desolate bone’s energy at night, filling up his energy reserves. In the day, he would spy on the warrior preparation camp’s practicing, secretly listening in on Yao Yuan’s teaching of “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”.

The warrior preparation camp was not a restricted area. It was common for people to come and go. As long as Yi Yun was careful, he would not be discovered.

After learning the skills, Yi Yun would go to the back mountain to cultivate. He would digest the energy from the desolate bone, fusing it into his body. Such a cultivation rhythm was perfect.

Within days, Yi Yun’s Thunderous realm became more and more stable. He could stay underwater for twenty-five minutes, almost as long as a dolphin.

About a month before the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior selection, a man who was refining the bones with Yi Yun fell sick.

Although Yi Yun had absorbed as much of the toxic blue light energies as he could, there were still some light dots that entered the bodies of others. Unfortunately, the leftover blue dots still caused them to contract the so-called “typhoid”.

After the first person fell sick, Yi Yun also “fell sick”, and his “sickness” was extremely serious.

Yi Yun could no longer refine the desolate bone. According to Jiang Xiaorou, he had diarrhea, was pale in the face, and was extremely weak. Jiang Xiaorou had to take leave on his behalf as he was bedridden.

Zhao Tiezhu strained his ears to finish hearing Jiang Xiaorou’s description. A delightful sense of schadenfreude engulfed him as he broke into a smile, “Oh my, diarrhea? Pale in the face? Extremely weak? Tsk tsk tsk, wasn’t he pretty hardy? How could he be bedridden this time?”

Zhao Tiezhu said it with an eccentric voice. Jiang Xiaorou face turned cold, as if in a rage. But in fact, she was just acting. She obviously knew that Yi Yun was fine, and that he was just feigning sickness.

“Your brother was originally a weakling. Even if he died, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But Young Master Lian sure has a good heart, and he has handed me the pills!” Zhao Tiezhu said as he reluctantly pulled out a red pill from his hip.

Zhao Tiezhu had no intention of giving Yi Yun the pill. He could only wish for Yi Yun’s death, but he did not know why Lian Chengyu had high appraisals for Yi Yun, and specifically gave him the pill to pass to Yi Yun. He was to make sure that Yi Yun ate the pill.

Did Young Master Lian really think that highly of the little bastard?

Zhao Tiezhu felt upset thinking of this.

“Young Master Lian is such a good person!”

“Young Master Lian is too kind!”

During that period of time, as the men refining the desolate bone fell ill one after another, many people had gathered to obtain a pill. Having seen Zhao Tiezhu take out the legendary pill that could bring people back from the dead to give to Yi Yun, the people began to sing praises of Lian Chengyu.

These people had previously thought Lian Chengyu would ignore them. But seeing that a useless lad like Yi Yun could receive a pill, they believed that their strongman at home would also receive one.

Furthermore, the bulging bag Zhao Tiezhu held in his other hand looked like it contained bacon. These people became even more agitated. The situation had put the crowd in a nearly uncontrollable frenzy.

“Lord Zhao, my man in the house has fallen sick too!”

“Lord Zhao, my child’s father is seriously ill. He has been vomiting for three days!”

A crowd gathered around Zhao Tiezhu hoping for a pill, and some bacon. Their eyes were full of hope. They were almost about to kowtow to Zhao Tiezhu.

Zhao Tiezhu was pleased for he enjoyed being praised by a crowd of people. He found Young Master Lian too soft hearted. Giving such precious pills and bacon to these poor commoners was such a waste!

Zhao Tiezhu had originally wanted to secretly eat a pill, but Lian Chengyu had warned him previously, so he had to give up on that thought. The fact that he had to personally deliver the pill to that monkey Yi Yun upset Zhao Tiezhu tremendously.

“Stop making a fuss! As long as you are really ill, there will be something for you!” Zhao Tiezhu opened up the cloth bag, and after accounting for the number of people, handed out the pills and bacon.

Everyone who received a pill and bacon gave endless thanks, “Thank you Lord Zhao! Thank you Lord Zhao!”

“What are you thanking me for. You should thank Young Master Lian. Young Master Lian will remember your sacrifice to the tribe. As long as you work hard refining the bones, Young Master Lian and the tribe will not let you down.”

Zhao Tiezhu said it with a sense of achievement. He had the illusion that he was representing the Lian tribal clan‘s upper echelon. In fact, at that moment, Zhao Tiezhu felt like he was one of the upper echelon of the Lian tribal clan.

“Yes, yes. Thank you Young Master Lian,” as some of the people knelt down and kowtowed towards the Patriarch’s compound.

Zhao Tiezhu was pleased with the outcome. He had distributed most of the pills and bacon. There were two pieces of bacon left: the biggest and smallest pieces.

Of course the biggest piece was left for himself. The moment Lian Chengyu had allowed him to distribute the bacon, he had reserved the largest piece for himself.

There was a count of the number of pieces of bacon, so it was a problem if there was one less. The solution was to cut out a small piece from the second largest piece of bacon.

Of course, this piece was the smallest piece of bacon. He gave this smallest piece of bacon to Jiang Xiaorou.

“This is yours.” Zhao Tiezhu said it straight.

“You…” Seeing the tiny piece of bacon, Jiang Xiaorou knew Zhao Tiezhu had done it on purpose. However, she knew that it was pointless to argue, so she accepted the piece of bacon.

Yun-er had not had meat in a long while.

“How’s your brother?” said Zhao Tiezhu lazily as he kept the largest piece of bacon.

“Didn’t I tell you earlier!?” replied Jiang Xiaorou sharply.

“Hehe, let me follow you back. What can I do? I have a good heart and I care for the citizens,” said Zhao Tiezhu as he made a division between himself and the commoners. The word “citizens” was extremely irksome to the ears.

As for why he wanted to see Yi Yun was partly due to Lian Chengyu’s instructions, or he couldn’t care less. Zhao Tiezhu did not understand why Lian Chengyu was taking such good care of the little monkey.

Actually, Lian Chengyu had only said it to Zhao Tiezhu casually, and did not take it to heart. He had aspirations higher than the sky, to become one who lords above all, and enjoy endless riches. Why would he bother about some small character like Yi Yun?

He was just curious why Yi Yun had not died all this while.

He had fallen off a cliff when picking herbs the first time. He was even able to dig himself out after being buried.

The second time was when he had secretly transmitted a fatal Yuan Qi into Yi Yun’s body, but Yi Yun still did not die.

Lian Chengyu wanted to know that with the refining of the desolate bones—the desolate bone’s frost poison together with the toxicity of the Blood Thinning Pills, could Yi Yun still survive it?

To Lian Chengyu, Yi Yun was like a cockroach. Although a cockroach was small and weak, it had an extremely tenacious vitality. Even after being squashed with its organs bursting and losing the capacity to move, a cockroach could still survive a day or two without food and water.

Yi Yun was similar. Although he was so weak, he had survived numerous death experiences.

“Peng!”

The yard door was kicked open. Jiang Xiaorou asked with a crisp angry voice, “What are you doing!”

“Haha, to see your brother.” Zhao Tiezhu strutted in and saw Yi Yun lying on the bed.

Yi Yun’s face was covered in sweat. His hair was wet and sticking to his forehead. There was a pot that seemed to contain vomit, emitting a foul stench.

“Damn it, it’s noxious!” Zhao Tiezhu pinched his nose and passed the Blood Thinning Pill to Yi Yun, “I don’t really know how you lucked out for you to get special treatment from Young Master Lian. You look worse than a beggar of beggars. Looking at you makes me feel sick. Quickly eat this pill!”

Yi Yun picked up the Blood Thinning Pill on his blanket with a deadpan expression. Jiang Xiaorou rushed forward with a bowl of water.

When Yi Yun held the Blood Thinning Pill, he could feel the energetic properties of the pill.

There were pathetic amounts of energy in it. It did not contain any valuable herbs, but contained a very poisonous substance.

A good pill contained energy within it. The pill’s medicinal essence would spread through the body when a person consumes it. It will then naturally heal injuries, giving the person a new lease of life.

But a bad pill like the Blood Thinning Pill contained nearly no energy. It used the toxic substance to stimulate a person’s potential, without any concern for the consequences.

So although a person could recover quickly after eating this pill, it would greatly shorten the person’s life.

Yi Yun obviously did not eat a pill that did more harm than good.

Although Zhao Tiezhu was looking from the side, it wasn’t hard for Yi Yun to deceive him. He ate the Blood Thinning Pill and drank a mouthful of water. It seemed like he drank a lot of water, but when the bowl was removed, Yi Yun had spit out all the water back into the bowl.

Following that, Yi Yun looked as if it took a lot of work to swallow, but his mouth contained no water, so naturally nothing was actually swallowed.

Immediately after that, Yi Yun pretended that his body was weak to point that he had difficulties even in drinking water and coughed violently.

Jiang Xiaorou came forward with a cloth to wipe Yi Yun’s mouth. In the process of wiping his mouth, Yi Yun spit out the Blood Thinning Pill without any trace, leaving the pill in the cloth.

With the cloth scrunched up, nothing could be seen.

Zhao Tiezhu was full of disregard and impatience, so he did not see through Yi Yun’s act. Even if it was Lian Chengyu who came, he would probably not have seen Yi Yun spit out the pill.

After all, Yi Yun had the appearance of a twelve-year-old. Who would think that he could be capable of such acts?

“Count your blessings! After eating this pill, it will not only save your life, but it will make you more energetic. It’s better than looking like a ill-ridden weakling!” With that said, Zhao Tiezhu walked off.

After Zhao Tiezhu left, Yi Yun scrutinized the Blood Thinning Pill in the cloth with a flash in his eyes. Lian Chengyu is truly cruel. To refine that piece of desolate bone, he was prepared to kill numerous people!

This strange world was unlike Earth.

On Earth, there would be instances where a child brought a knife to school to stab another child to death after a quarrel between the two. These kind of situations were rare, and only seen on news networks like Tencent.

But in this power-oriented strange world, such matters where someone could be killed over some words, eh…Could it still be labeled a matter?

Because of the peaceful rule of law on Earth, murder was a huge deal, but over here, murder was as commonplace as slaughtering cattle.

In fact, plenty of times, killing someone did not need a reason. Not looking right was sufficient reason…

27 - : Sick

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the Blood Thinning Pill handed out, all the men who had contracted “typhoid” recovered by the next day.

Having received the elixir and bacon, they were naturally extremely grateful, and worked even harder to refine the desolate bone.

Of course, Yi Yun was one of them. His “recovery” was the fastest for he simply needed to wipe off the fake sweat—water he had sprayed on his face.

As such, Yi Yun headed to the grain-sunning ground the next morning as if full of energy,

After this bout of illness, Yi Yun and the group changed from the night shift to the day shift. This suited Yi Yun’s wishes since he could no longer learn much more from Yao Yuan’s “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”. Yao Yuan was not planning to teach the remaining stances, but the first few stances was enough to occupy Yi Yun for a period of time.

Refining the desolate bone in the day, and practicing in the back mountains at night made it more covert.

“Kiddo Yun, is your body feeling better?” asked the auntie from next door. She had seen Yi Yun skipping down the road, as if he had excessive energy.

“Auntie Wang, I’m totally fine! Thanks to Young Master Lian’s elixir! Young Master Lian is such a great person!” smiled Yi Yun, with a look of gratitude. As he went down the road, he boasted to others about the effectiveness of the Blood Thinning Pill.

“That’s great, that’s great!” Auntie Wang said as she saw Yi Yun’s energy, knowing that he had fully recovered.

For an adult like Yi Yun, it was pretty awkward for him to skip down the road, but he was after all a twelve-year-old child in the eyes of others.

The age of twelve was when kids were the most playful. Yi Yun was “noticed” by Lian Chengyu because Lian Chengyu had felt he was too mature, unlike a child.

A twelve year old had to behave like a twelve year old. If he acted as one occasionally, it would reassure people that nothing was out of the norm.

“My family’s man wanted to brew that bone soup thingy, but too bad he was not able to. Kiddo Yun, you sure are lucky.” Auntie Wang said with envy.

“Ha ha, Auntie Wang, There’s still some bacon left from the one I received. I’ll give you a piece tonight.” Yi Yun said casually; he did not cherish this piece of bacon that were coveted by all these poor commoners.

Actually, Yi Yun had cut a small piece from the bacon to feed a dog. Of course, that dog did not belong to Yi Yun’s family for a poor family did not have the means to rear a dog. Even if they did, the dog would have long been slaughtered and eaten.

In the entire Lian tribal clan, only the warrior preparation camp reared a few dogs. All of these dogs were hunting dogs. As there were few wild beasts near the wonderland, searching for rabbits without hunting dogs would be no different from searching for a needle in a haystack.

Yi Yun had fed the meat to the dogs because he was worried that Lian Chengyu had poisoned the bacon. Although it was unlikely, Yi Yun had to be cautious.

After seeing that the dog was all right, Yi Yun then allowed Jiang Xiaorou to use the meat for cooking.

Yi Yun had not enjoyed the taste of meat for ages. However, the taste of the bacon wasn’t great, as it had been cured far too long. The meat was hard and tasted like wood. It only tasted salty and lacked the fragrance of meat.

But for such a piece of bacon, Jiang Xiaorou had insisted on leaving it for Yi Yun, and refused to eat it. Yi Yun took a lot of effort to convince Jiang Xiaorou to have a small bite.

Yi Yun did not eat much himself. He even hung the remaining meat on the wall.

Yi Yun was aiming for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior selection in two months, so he was not concerned about this tasteless piece of bacon. He had heard from Jiang Xiaorou that Auntie Wang from next door had taken care of them in the past, especially in the years after Yi Yun’s mother had passed away. Jiang Xiaorou was always out of food before the ration distribution, and if not for Auntie Wang giving them some food, they would have long since starved to death.

It was a great, kind debt. After all, few people would give their food to others in this world. It was much more difficult than lending money on Earth.

Hence, giving this piece of bacon to Auntie Wang was fitting.

“How…How can you. Kiddo Yun, you and your sister are undergoing puberty, it was hard for you to obtain this meat. Auntie can’t accept it!” Auntie Wang said firmly, giving mixed feelings to Yi Yun.

In this poor and backward tribe, although there were many obstinate citizens and wicked people, there were people like Auntie Wang who thought of others even when they were starving.

Such a land could actually produce all kinds of people.

“Auntie Wang, Xiaoke is also in the growing stage. Even if you don’t eat it, Xiaoke would need it too.” Auntie Wang’s child, Zhou Xiaoke was about the same age as Yi Yun. When they were young, she used to follow Yi Yun all around.

With Xiaoke growing up and full of life, together with Yi Yun’s resurrection, the two had interacted a lot less.

“Auntie, say no more. I’m going to brew the bone soup.” Yi Yun did not wait for Auntie Wang’s reply before running away.

“This kid!” Auntie Wang shook her head, but a happy smile plastered her face.

In the Lian tribal clan’s Patriarch compound, Lian Chengyu was standing in the middle of the granite courtyard, practicing his boxing.

He wore a loose practice suit. This practice suit was made of a rare silk fabric uncommonly found in the Lian tribal clan. It was very expensive. This practice suit was smooth and soft to the touch, and was extremely comfortable when worn.

Lian Chengyu walked in circles with varying speeds. When he was slow, he was like an old man exercising in the morning, but when he was fast, he was like a cheetah hunting a prey.

Through it all, Lian Chengyu’s eyes were focused on his fingertips. His arms were like a snake sliding through the woods, making it difficult to determine where he would launch his attack .

Zhao Tiezhu stood silently by the side, waiting for Lian Chengyu to finish his practice.

After about half an hour, Lian Chengyu was finally done.

He held his hands by his waist and spit out a breath arrow. This arrow flew far without dissipating.

Spitting out a breath arrow was the symbol of the Vigor realm, but Lian Chengyu’s breath was no longer a simple Vigor realm’s breath. It was powered from the Mortal Blood’s fifth level, Qi Gatherer. Lian Chengyu was able to gather the Yuan Qi from the environment into his body, so the air he spit out was not only air, but also consisted of Yuan Qi!

“Fabulous! It’s absolutely fabulous!” shouted Zhao Tiezhu as he saw Lian Chengyu finish. His eyes lit up as he began to kiss ass.

“This strength, this skill, in the warrior selection in two months, Young Master will definitely become a Kingdom Knight of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!” Zhao Tiezhu began his flattery once again. Lian Chengyu’s strength was indeed not bad. For him to have that ambition, he had to have the means to do so. He had reached the fifth level of Mortal Blood the previous year, so the few punches he displayed were reminiscent of a master’s.

“Cut the crap, how is the refining of the desolate bone?”

“Everything is going as per normal! It has to be normal!” said Zhao Tiezhu as he patted his chest. “Those cheap people were extremely grateful after receiving Young Master’s bacon and drugs. They wish they could refine the bones all day!”

“Hmm…Give them some of the herbal dregs then,” said Lian Chengyu casually. The herbal dregs were of no more value to him. Suddenly, Lian Chengyu asked, “Right, what happened to that Yi Yun?”

“Yi Yun…” Zhao Tiezhu gave a look of disdain. “That kid fell sick a few days ago and had diarrhea, and was covered with sweat. The entire house stank. He was no different from a beggar.”

“If not for Young Master’s mercy, he would have long died without the elixir! Lowly me followed Young Master’s instructions and saw with my own eyes that the kid swallowed the pill. But thankfully, that kid still has some conscience. These few days he had been going around singing praises of Young Master, saying that he could recover all thanks to Young Master’s medicine!”

“This…” Lian Chengyu’s mouth formed into a gentle arc after listening to Zhao Tiezhu’s narration.

This tribe of cheap lives, each more foolish than the preceding one. He thought that there were a few clever ones in the tribe like Yi Yun, but it seemed as though he had worried too much.

It was good, them being dumb allowed him to cover up any incidents in the future.

“Make sure to keep watch. The nearer we are to the end, the more we need to ensure that nothing goes wrong with the refining of the desolate bone. If it’s refined successfully, I’ll reward you greatly. If anything wrong happens, you will pay with your head!” Lian Chengyu said the last word with great killing intent, scaring Zhao Tiezhu into nodding incessantly.

“Young Master, don’t worry. This servant will keep watch day and night, I will ensure that nothing goes wrong!”

…

Zhao Tiezhu hurried to the grain-sunning ground in a flurry. Yi Yun was still chopping wood in his usual unhurried manner. Yi Yun secretly smiled when he saw Zhao Tiezhu. It was true that an idiot could do no harm.

“What are you looking at, get to work! Are you looking to die!?” Zhao Tiezhu roared and threw a big bag. When the bag was opened, out came a huge pile of herbal dregs.

These were the remnants after Lian Chengyu finished soaking his body in.

“This herbal dregs are a reward for you. The necessary supplementary drugs are in there too. Take them back and boil it in water. Soak your body in it while it’s still hot, and it will benefit you much. Damn it, you guys really have it good!” Zhao Tiezhu swore as he said those words. The men’s eyes lit up after hearing it. They rushed to grab the herbal dregs.

Of course, Yi Yun did not get any. Even if it was given to Yi Yun, he would not have wanted it. That was the bathwater of Lian Chengyu after all, would he want to soak in the leftover bathwater? What a joke!

Yi Yun still did the motions of lunging forward. When he did not get any, he just sighed.

Seeing Yi Yun having such a slow response, and appearing dim-witted, Zhao Tiezhu could not help but laugh. This idiot could not do anything even when in a hurry, what else could he do? He deserved starving to death!

Zhao Tiezhu left, as the men carried on refining the desolate bones. The refinement process was to brew the desolate bones’ essence in the Li Fire Water, and then evaporate all the Li Fire Water, allowing the dissolved essence to crystalize.

The Li Fire Water’s boiling point was extremely high, so it was not easy to evaporate it away. Countless amounts of firewood had been burnt. The men in charge of the refinement had their skin grilled red.

But Yi Yun was an exception. His skin was still like a baby’s bottom and his cheeks were rosy. This rosiness was not a result of the fire, but from the absorbing of the desolate bone’s essence. Because he was well-nourished, his healthy body displayed a healthy pink.

As Yi Yun looked at Zhao Tiezhu’s back, he glanced at the huge cauldron. Again he had satiated his appetite, and could not wait to go “rampant” on the back mountain.

His body was full, but his fist was unable to endure the thirst!

28 - : Faking

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the days went by, the Lian tribal clan’s back mountain was dotted with Yi Yun’s footsteps.

Yi Yun would refine the bones at night, peek at the warrior preparation camp in the morning, and then spend the rest of the day in the back mountain cultivating. Only at dusk did he return home to sleep for two hours.

Yi Yun’s cultivation was extremely tough, but it also caused his strength to jump leaps and bounds.

The back mountain was separated a distance from the herb mountain, and since his location was very far from the village, few people ever came here in the day. At night, there wasn’t even a shadow, so Yi Yun could train at ease.

Fifteen days later—

“Ha!” Yi Yun roared, as his body shot up like an arrow into the sky. He had leaped past a ten-meter-high rock!

With the air ringing in his ears, every joint in Yi Yun’s body cracked loudly like a dragon or tiger’s roar!

“Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain!” Yi Yun kept his body taut with his feet pressed against his hip, before sending a punch flying out!

“Twang!”

Yi Yun’s body emitted a clear sound; it was the sound of a strong bow’s twang. Yi Yun’s tendons had made the noise! Compared to Yao Yuan, this sound was even more intense!

“Ka-cha!”

A huge rock crumbled in front of Yi Yun as he smashed through it with a punch!

Spider web-like cracks appeared throughout the rock!

This was no ordinary rock, but one made of black ironstone. It was stronger than ordinary rocks, but today it had been smashed by Yi Yun’s punch.

“Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!” In the forest, several birds flew away in fright. All the bugs and frogs quieted immediately due to the shock!

At that moment, the entire mountain was silent. Only leaves and bird feathers fell to the ground, or onto Yi Yun’s head and shoulders.

Thunder Occurring in the Nine Clouds, Surprise Bow Drops Flock!

My fists have reached such a state!

Currently when Yi Yun exerted all his energies, his joints would crack loudly like the sound of thunder. As for Surprise Bow Drops Flock, it would only be possible for a lone injured goose. Because even a nine-shi strongbow would have trouble intimidating a flock to drop.

A casual movement of Yi Yun’s body issued “Ka Ka Ka” sounds. His bones were well forged like metal and his tendons were as strong as dragon ribs!

“My current level has been fully consolidated. It’s time to attempt at opening my channels, and enter the fourth realm of Meridians!” The human body had meridians, but ordinary people did not have their meridians opened, so they were unable to complete a circulation to accommodate the Yuan Qi from the Heaven and Earth.

When a warrior practiced the arts, he would attempt to clear his meridians after his body was completely trained. It was the first step on the path of martial arts.

A human’s channels consisted of twelve regular meridians and eight special meridians.

The twelve regular meridians spread throughout a person’s limbs. They were the three arm yin meridians (lung, pericardium, heart), three arm yang meridians (large intestine, triple burner, small intestine), three leg yang meridians (stomach, gall bladder, bladder), and three leg yin meridians (spleen, liver, kidney).

As for the eight special meridians, they spread throughout the body. The most two important special meridians were the conception and governor vessels.

The position of the conception and governor vessels is in the central axis line of a person, and will be seen as a straight line from the front.

The conception vessel is located in the front, while the governor vessel is in the back. The two lines circle into a bundle in a person’s body, passing through the dantian and huiyin. Like two ropes that passed through a person’s crotch, they held up a person’s body.

There were broken channels between the conception and governor vessels. When the conception and governor vessels was opened up, the broken channels would heal up, forming a central expressway for a person’s energy to fully circulate. So to be able to open up the conception and governor vessels was an important step to opening up the entire body’s meridians.

In the wuxia novels that Yi Yun had previously read, there were multiple ways to open the conception and governor vessels.

For example, in the famous novel, ‘The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber’, Zhang Wuji used the ‘Heaven and Earth Great Shift’ to open up his meridians. On the other hand, Xuzhu opened up his meridians by inheriting the powers of Li Qiushui and Tonglao.

Including the ancient medical books, there were multiple records on how to open up the conception and governor vessels. The moment the conception and governor vessels were opened, a person would be rejuvenated, and enjoy a boost in power.

The perfect outcome of the meridians would pave the way for a higher realm of martial arts in the future.

Yi Yun crossed his legs and sat down. He began to accumulate his energies to open up his meridians!

As long as he opened up his meridians, Yi Yun’s strength would be about the same level as a peerless expert from those wuxia novels.

In ancient China, he would be able to walk up walls, settle any grievances, and behead the general of an entire enemy division.

There were two ways to open up the conception and governor vessels. One was to rely on external help, while the other was to depend on him.

In the novels, there would be peerless experts helping the protagonist to open up the conception and governor vessels, causing the protagonist to increase in strength. This was also known as “power transfer”.

It may be fast, but it was not the proper way. It was better to cultivate by himself.

Of course Yi Yun chose the second method of opening up his meridians by himself.

Written in the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” was a way to open up the meridians. By sitting cross-legged, every breath should be made as long as possible.

Once a warrior reaches the third level of Mortal Blood, their breaths would mix with the energy accumulated in their body causing a circulation that spread like fire!

Yi Yun consciously sent that energy to his dantian, and compressed it!

Again and again, Yi Yun’s body was filled with energy. His breaths increased in speed, but each breath was deeper than the last.

Obtaining the essence of the Sun and Moon, and breathing in the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi!

If someone looked from a distance, they could see Yi Yun’s body engulfed in a thin layer of faint light.

Especially Yi Yun’s chest there was a purple light concentrated there, which slowly spread throughout his body.

This was the light the Purple Crystal Origins emitted after absorbing the Yuan Qi from the surroundings. When Yi Yun breathed out, the Purple Crystal in his heart would absorb the energies from the surroundings, helping to finish Yi Yun’s effort towards opening his meridians.

Slowly, the purple light surrounding Yi Yun grew denser. This purple light resembled the ancient Chinese legends of “Purple Air Comes From The East”, a symbol of a saint!

With the energy accumulated time and time again, Yi Yun’s body began to make sounds resembling the roars of dragons and tigers. His blood flow was like a mighty stream, flowing without restraint!

With each breath, the air around Yi Yun swirled rapidly. It was as astonishing as a whale sucking in water.

“Phew–Phew–Phew–” Yi Yun’s breaths became heavier and heavier. Every breath would muster up his body, his body was like a boat being roughed up by the waves.

As his body moved up and down, the energy in Yi Yun’s body began to condense.

His tendons began to emit twang-like sounds, while his skin was like blown up leather. His bones emitted popping sounds.

When this accumulated to its extremes, Yi Yun felt his body about to explode. He controlled his energy and sent the heat flow towards his dantian, wave after wave, as if they were crashing on the rocks!

Yi Yun slowly began to approach his limit. When the small vessels on the surface of his body were about to burst, he heard a “boom”. With Yi Yun in the center, energy exploded out. The rock Yi Yun was sitting on cracked, and the trees in a five-meter radius broke!

Yi Yun felt his body go limp. His nostrils, ears were all bleeding. But this wasn’t fresh blood but black blood. Including Yi Yun’s pores, a greyish sweat pulp oozed out.

It’s done.

Fourth level of Mortal Blood—Meridians!

Yi Yun knew that he had finally opened up his meridians, and had become equal to a hero from a wuxia novel.

When Yi Yun read wuxia novels in his youth, he had often dreamed of becoming a handsome gallant, walking up walls, upholding justice and settling grievances.

As for today, he had finally obtained that power.

However, in this strange world, the energy was much richer than on Earth. Opening up the conception and governor vessels on Earth would make one a peerless master, but that would be because Earth did not have the “Heaven Earth Yuan Qi”.

But in this world, not only was there Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, there was also Power of Desolates, psychic powers and other mysterious energies Yi Yun was still unable to understand. These energies were as powerful as the nuclear powers on Earth.

These energies could be used by him, so the fourth stage of Mortal Blood, Meridians was just infant steps on the path of martial arts.

Yi Yun leaped up from the ground. He could clearly see and feel his surroundings. He knew everything that occurred within a ten-foot radius, every rustle of the leaves and every squirm of a worm was heard loud and clear.

He could count the number of leaves that had dropped in front of him with a glance. There were thirty-two leaves!

With a clear awareness and a sharp mind, many martial artist experts had an eidetic memory. This was a result of their meridians opening up resulting in an improvement of their brain’s capabilities!

After all, the conception and governor vessels cycle through the brain. With energy passing through the brain, it improves a person’s memory and reactions.

“It feels awesome. So awesome!” Having undergone a body transformation, Yi Yun was extremely delighted. He had perfectly broken through into the fourth level of Mortal Blood’s Meridians. Not only that, he had experienced another round of marrow cleansing.

Mortals eat all sorts of grains causing their bodies to be filled with impurities. Before reaching the Purple Blood realm, it was a necessity to undergo a round of marrow cleansing.

The more thorough a marrow cleansing was, the better it was. Yi Yun having gone through it twice, had less dirt than the previous time.

Yi Yun undressed himself and jumped into the plunge basin for a bath. He dived dozens of meters deep, and held his breath underwater for about twenty minutes before swimming back up.

“Puah!” Yi Yun emerged out of the water like a giant carp, creating an explosion of water droplets!

He was buck-naked. Without any change of clothes, Yi Yun wore his old damp clothes.

This set of clothes was soaked with water. It stuck to Yi Yun’s body, clearly outlining the firm curves of his body.

After days of arduous practice, Yi Yun’s muscles had grown firmer, and his body shape was getting better by the day. He had also grown taller, becoming a handsome young lad.

Yi Yun gave off a brand new aura after breaking into the Meridians realm. He stood on a large rock, with his body like a sheathed sword. He had an overpowering presence. Under the soft moonlight, it illuminated Yi Yun’s delicate skin, making it shimmer like mercury.

Such a young lad no longer looked like a poor kid who had nothing to eat.

He was like a diamond in the rough, but had already shown the inkling of his beautiful luster. The clothes he wore could only be described as “rags”, but it could not conceal his shimmering aura.

29 - : Opening up the Meridians

CKtalon  CKtalon

Having broken into the Meridian realm, the world seemed different to Yi Yun.

He did not need to use the Purple Crystal Origins to perceive the ubiquitous Yuan Qi in this world. This Yuan Qi was like the air; it would enter his body with each breath and be exhausted from his pores. This subtly changed Yi Yun’s physique.

Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had a higher grade of energy than food.

Normal people ate grains, but a cultivator could use the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi as their energy source. Upon reaching a certain level, they could avoid eating grains completely.

In ancient China, “Zhuang Zi–A Happy Excursion” contained records of people “not eating the five grains, but sucks the wind and drinks the dew”.

It meant that a person could survive solely on the energies provided by the Heaven and Earth, losing the need to eat the five grains. Such a survival method allowed a person’s body to be purer. With fewer impurities, they could also live longer.

The ancients held this state in high esteem, so there was plenty of documentation in the ancient books.

Of course, Yi Yun was still far from the state of avoiding grains. Yi Yun felt that even if he had reached the state where he could avoid grains, he felt that he would never succumb to that state.

On Earth, Yi Yun was a glutton, erm…that lacks sophistication. It should be said that Yi Yun was a food connoisseur — yes, a food connoisseur. The former was a symbol of laziness and gluttony, while the latter was for someone who could enjoy the beauties of life.

Yi Yun not only enjoyed eating, he was also a good cook. He had lived alone for a long time on Earth. Although his dishes were not comparable to a top chef, his home-cooking was absolutely delicious.

If Yi Yun had worked hard to build a career after two years, with his looks and culinary skills, he would be an extremely eligible bachelor in the eyes of women.

Unfortunately, having crossed worlds, he had to start from scratch. In the poor and sufferable Lian tribal clan, Yi Yun could not display his culinary skills.

Yi Yun could only hope that he would lead a good life in the future. He would set up a table of delicacies to reward himself. As for avoiding grain, sucking the wind, and drinking the dew, all of that could go to hell. Such a way of living was terrifying. If he could not satisfy his tastebuds, wouldn’t that be a great loss in the pleasures of life?

Having arrived in this strange world for a month, the only meat Yi Yun had seen was that piece of bacon. Although it tasted bad, it was still meat. With the bacon finished, there was only coarse grain porridge. Yi Yun’s tastebuds were crying in dissatisfaction.

Of course, under his conditions, Yi Yun could only endure the gut-wrenching hunger, and replenish his energy using the desolate bone essence.

Thankfully, the desolate bone essence tasted great.

Since the Lian tribal clan has withheld the food, leaving no food for me, I’ll eat their desolate bone essence!

After all, he had already decided to absorb the desolate bone essence clean. Yi Yun was not planning to stand on ceremony and decided to absorb as much essence as he wanted today with the aid of the Purple Crystal’s capabilities.

It was what Yi Yun had always been doing, but there was a disruption in his plans today.

At dawn, Yi Yun realized that the tribe was extremely lively when he returned to the village.

The young and old from the tribe had come out of their houses. They had gathered in the square in front of the Patriarch’s compound, causing the tiny square to be filled with people.

In the midst of the crowd, there was a massive object about the size of a hill.

Yi Yun focused on it and was surprised. That small hill like object was a huge beast!

This…

Yi Yun was stunned, how could such a huge beast appear in the Lian tribal clan? Looking at the head of the beast, it was absolutely mighty. One such beast could easily level the entire Lian tribal clan!

But with so many people crowding around it, the huge beast clearly was not on the offensive, cohabiting with the Lian tribe in that small space peacefully.

Oh?

Yi Yun’s mind suddenly flashed, “This beast…”

He recalled to the day he had crossed into this world. He had seen a huge beast running in the wilderness while returning home with Jiang Xiaorou!

That beast was about ten meters long, with sharp fangs and muscular limbs that resembled metal pillars. Its running speed was extremely fast.

And on the back of that monster was a man, who had a sword slung on his back. That man’s aura was commanding and extremely terrifying.

That scene had left a deep impression on Yi Yun. After all, being an earthling, such a scene was extremely shocking.

And now, this huge beast in the square looked identical to that beast running through the fields. It might even be the same beast!

Yi Yun suddenly understood that someone important had arrived in the Lian tribal clan. This huge beast was the VIP’s mount!

How could Yi Yun miss such an important matter? He flew quickly towards the square.

En route, Yi Yun saw the villagers celebrating, as if it were the new year.

Yi Yun also listened in to the conversations. These conversations made Yi Yun’s heart race.

The owner of the huge beast was a member of the Jing Long Wei 1 !

The Jing Long Wei was the elite military division of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. The levels of the leading members were above the Purple Blood realm!

With the basic units comprised of Purple Blood warriors, the Jing Long Wei’s battle prowess was unbeatable!

The person who founded the Jing Long Wei was the founding emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Back then, the Tai Ah Emperor led the Jing Long Wei across the lands, laying the foundation of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

This overwhelming division, the Jing Long Wei carried on its legacy till now, for an unknown number of generations.

Chosen personnels at the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior selection would enter the Jing Long Wei reserves. They would first cultivate in the reserves, and after passing the evaluations, they could become an official member.

But it was extremely difficult to pass the evaluations. If they failed the final evaluation, they would be sent to the regular army. It will then end their journey towards being an elite member of the Jing Long Wei.

“If he’s a Jing Long Wei member, then that is to say this person who came to our tribe must be at least a Purple Blood warrior.”

A Purple Blood warrior from the Jing Long Wei was totally different in battle prowess from a Purple Blood warrior born from the Cloud Wilderness.

In actual fact, the Jing Long Wei member who came to the Lian tribal clan was an expert at the peak of the Purple Blood realm.

Having reached such a level, and having been well honed in the Jing Long Wei, his battle prowess was unmatchable. He was an elite warrior of the Jing Long Wei!

For such a person who came to the vast wilderness, even the Patriarch of a large tribe with a hundred-thousand-strong population would have to bow respectfully.

To the Lian tribal clan, such a status was terrifying.

As such, the upper echelon of the Lian Chengyu went all out. Lian Chengyu and the Patriarch put on their biggest smiles while leading the welcoming party.

Yi Yun had also seen it clearly. The man was the same man he had seen when he first arrived into this strange world. He had a commanding aura, and exerted a pressure even from afar.

“It’s indeed him!” Yi Yun’s mind began to light up. This was the second time meeting him.

Having met him just after tunneling into this world, it was definitely not a coincidence.

Thinking it through, ever since he came into this world, and from his understanding of the Cloud Wilderness, he knew that the Cloud Wilderness, and especially the Lian tribal clan, was a poor tribe that no expert would ever bother with.

That is to say, as an elite of the Jing Long Wei, he must have had his reasons for staying around the Lian tribal clan for such a long period. But what could be the reason?

30 - : Jing Long Wei

CKtalon  CKtalon

As Yi Yun was in deep thought, someone caught his glance.

Ever since breaking into the Meridians realm, his five senses were extremely keen. He spotted Jiang Xiaorou who was looking around while tip-toeing among the tumultuous masses.

“Sis Xiaorou!” Yi Yun let out a cry.

“Yun-er!” Having seen Yi Yun, Jiang Xiaorou was pleased. “Oh, Yun-er you…”

She felt a difference in Yi Yun today, but she couldn’t quite put her thumb on it.

If one were to describe the Yi Yun of the past, it would be a submissive harmless child. The present Yi Yun was that of a smart-looking handsome young lad. Even his rag-like clothes could not suppress Yi Yun’s aura of elegance.

A diamond in the rough…

Jiang Xiaorou suddenly recalled this phrase. Every good sword was hidden within a sheath, waiting for the day it would be unsheathed.

The present Yi Yun gave Jiang Xiaorou such a feeling.

However, only Jiang Xiaorou could feel that difference because she was extremely familiar with Yi Yun from their constant interaction. For people not familiar with Yi Yun, they would only find something different about him before brushing it off. After all, Yi Yun was an ill kid who was good for nothing.

“Sis Xiaorou, I’m fine,” Yi Yun laughed. He knew that his aura had changed after breaking through into the Meridians realm. “Let’s see what’s going on.”

He grabbed Jiang Xiaorou’s hand naturally and pushed through the crowd. Having reached the Meridians realm, an invisible force would push the people apart with a stretch of his hand, allowing him easy passage. People who came round to figuring out what happened would only see a kid passing through.

By the time they had a response, they would think that Yi Yun’s body was small, allowing him to squeeze through the masses.

…

At the center of the square, the Lian tribal clan’s upper echelon were still carefully giving the sword bearer a proper reception.

“Chengyu, give the order. Kill the cows and set up a feast!” The Patriarch waved his hand, although his heart ached.

The tribe reared a few cattle, which comprised the entire fortune of the Lian tribal clan. Although the cattle looked similar to the cattle on Earth, their strength was much greater.

In the wilderness, rocks littered the ground. Some of the rocks were black ironstone. Opening up a piece of land for agriculture was extremely difficult. Without the cattle, the Lian tribal clan would not be able to produce any food. And when that happened, the Lian tribal clan would totally rely on the Tao tribal clan for food.

Hence, in the Lian tribal clan, each cow’s value was worth more than ten lives. It sounded pathetic, but that was reality.

With the Jing Long Wei arriving in the Lian tribal clan, the tribe had to entertain the guests. However, the tribe had been tightening the belt for the refinement of the desolate bone, so there was no food left. They could only resort to killing the cattle.

The sword bearer naturally knew that the small tribes in the wilderness led tough lives. He said coolly, “You don’t have to kill the cattle. I met several fierce beasts, who attacked me on the way here. I killed them and stored the meat on the near-horned beast as rations. You just need to get people to take it down and cook it.”

The man may have said it without any flair, but the people of the Lian tribal clan were shocked.

In the Cloud Wilderness, there were three types of beasts that would attack humans. They were the wild beasts, fierce beasts and the desolate beasts!

Wild beasts were the most common kind of beasts. They were similar to tigers and leopards on Earth. An experienced hunter, even if they lacked martial arts would be able to capture one using traps.

As for fierce beasts, they were a power unto itself. They were comparable in strength to a Purple Blood warrior!

There were many fierce beasts in the Cloud Wilderness. In fact, the greatest threat hunters of the tribe who went out to hunt, were these fierce beasts.

Although desolate beasts were strong, but they would lay dormant in areas known as “Desolate Lands” that had dense Power of Desolates. As long as one avoided the “Desolate Lands”, they would be safe.

However the proliferation of fierce beasts was too wide, it was unavoidable!

A Purple Blood realm warrior had the ability to hunt, not only because they had the ability to kill many fierce beasts, but because if they couldn’t defeat one, they had no trouble escaping.

This sword bearer had crossed the wilderness and easily killed numerous fierce beasts. Such strength was very enviable!

Lian Chengyu took a deep breath and clenched his fists. The large bulging bag on the near-horned beast was clearly the meat hunted from the fierce beasts.

“One day, I would eventually have that strength, and would even far exceed that!” Lian Chengyu decided.

Hearing that they did not need to kill the cattle, the Patriarch was delighted. Still he politely said, “How can that do? We can’t let a guest prepare the food. Our Lian tribal clan may be poor but…”

“Enough, you don’t have to carry on. My trip here is on official business,” said the sword bearer with an authoritative voice. He was not interested in the fake niceties the Lian tribal clan displayed.

“High Ambassador, please speak! Although my Lian tribal clan is nothing, it has a thousand people. If the High Ambassador has any requests that would need us, please speak your mind!” The Patriarch spoke humbly without any vexation from having his words cut off. He knew that a member of the Jing Long Wei would not come to such a worthless place like the Lian tribal clan.

The man said, “Recently, the Cloud Wilderness had a huge event. And the location of the Lian tribal clan happens to be within the area of the event! The Jing Long Wei is here for that reason.”

As the man’s voice tapered off, the Patriarch’s expression changed. Something happened in the Cloud Wilderness?

Furthermore, from the tone of his words, he was just one of the many Jing Long Wei members who had come.

An event that could be considered great by the Jing Long Wei was something the Lian tribal clan could not even fathom. He did not know if it was a blessing or curse for the Lian tribal clan to be within the event’s area of influence.

If they got engulfed by such a big matter, the ant-like existence of the Lian tribal clan would be extinguished without a sound.

Seeing the Patriarch’s expression, the man said coolly, “This matter shouldn’t involve you. However, there will be plenty of people passing the vicinities of your tribe. There may be many big shots among them. It’s best not to offend them.”

“Yes, I will keep what the High Ambassador said in mind,” said the Patriarch with a nod.

The man carried on, “My visit to the Lian tribal clan was a matter of convenience. My superiors have ordered me to give you some pointers in preparation for the soon-to-be Kingdom’s selection!”

Having said that, the man turned towards the tribe. His voice was loud and clear even five kilometers away.

Momentarily, the rambunctious crowd was silenced.

“My name is Zhang Yuxian. Remember well. My visit here to the Lian tribal clan is to choose thirty youngsters below the age of twenty-eight as my temporary disciples. I will give pointers on your stances and techniques!”

“I will only be here for about three to five days. You will need to work hard. If you understand the content I teach, you will definitely pass the Kingdom’s selection!”

The Lian tribal clan held their breath the moment Zhang Yuxian said those words.

The Kingdom’s selection!

It was tied to their future. The entire tribe had burnt their bridges to ensure that Lian Chengyu passed the warrior selection!

The members of the warrior preparation camp were especially excited. They were so excited that they had trouble breathing.

An expert from the Jing Long Wei actually came to their Lian tribal clan to give them pointers on their skills and techniques. This was such a good opportunity!

They did not harbor any hope at passing the Kingdom’s selection, but if they received Zhang Yuxian’s pointers, and learned an advanced skill from the Jing Long Wei, it would aid them in their future growth!

When Lian Chengyu eventually passed the Kingdom’s selection and entered the city, those who were stronger could win themselves riches!

“The thirty people will be chosen by me. The participants of the Kingdom’s selection will also be chosen from those thirty! In other words, those not chosen by me will not be qualified to participate in the Kingdom’s selection!” After hearing Zhang Yuxian’s words, Yi Yun suddenly understood. This Zhang Yuxian was the kingdom selection’s first examiner.

The Kingdom’s selection was rarely held in the Cloud Wilderness. There was a lack of resources in the Cloud Wilderness, so the warriors’ average strength was low. Since the population distribution was sparse, it was difficult to hold an examination. To ensure that all the tribes could participate in an examination would involve large amounts of manpower and resources.

So having an experienced elite Jing Long Wei member like Zhang Yuxian do a preliminary selection would save a lot of time!

“Now, all those who wish to become a temporary disciple of mine by participating in a three day training period, and wish to participate in the Kingdom’s selection, step forward. I will choose thirty!” A commotion arose the moment Zhang Yuxian finished his sentence.

The members of the warrior preparation camp were the first to lunge forward with all their might.

Those who knew how to read the attitudes like Zhao Tiezhu first looked at Lian Chengyu for approval before they squeezed forward to be before Zhang Yuxian.

In a short moment, the entire warrior preparation camp’s members had stood forward.

There were about sixty people in the warrior preparation camp, and those who matched the age requirement numbered about forty.

Zhang Yuxian was only going to choose thirty, which meant there would be about a dozen people who would be eliminated!

The weaker members of the warrior preparation camp became nervous, afraid they would be brushed off by Zhang Yuxian.

31 - : Preliminaries

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Everyone is here, Lord Zhang. Please take your pick. Of course, I will want to participate in the Kingdom’s selection. If possible, I wish to be a subordinate of the Lord, receiving the Lord’s teachings,” said Lian Chengyu respectfully.

Zhang Yuxian took a glance at Lian Chengyu and measured him up.

“Oh? What is your cultivation level?”

A Mortal Blood warrior was after all in the beginning stages of cultivation, all they practiced were skills that involved their bodies. The five levels in Mortal Blood were classified by a person’s physical phenomena. Hence, it was hard to tell with a look that a person had opened up their meridians, or if their bones and tendons could make sounds.

Only a person who had reached a cultivation level at the spiritual level could sense a person’s level of accomplishment. This was called “Opening Heaven’s Eyes”. Only then could they judge a Mortal Blood warrior’s cultivation level.

Evidently, Zhang Yuxian had not reached such a level.

“My Lord, I have reached the peak of Mortal Blood level five, Qi Gatherer. I’m one step short of the Purple Blood realm!”

“Oh?” Zhang Yuxian furrowed his brows. “To be able to reach such a level while growing up in a small tribe that lacks resources. You must either have exceptional talent or have had an opportunous event. Either way, it’s all very good!”

Zhang Yuxian nodded saying, “Stay behind then!”

“Thank you Lord for your appraisal!” Lian Chengyu said respectfully. He was not overjoyed because he had taken for granted that he would pass Zhang Yuxian’s assessment!

His goal was the Kingdom’s selection. If he could not even pass the preliminaries, there was no point talking about his high ambitions.

After choosing Lian Chengyu, Zhang Yuxian turned his head and looked towards the members of the warrior preparation camp. He stared at them for five minutes before feeling a sense of disappointment.

Besides Lian Chengyu, no one else in the entire Lian tribal clan caught his eye.

He could only choose a general from among the dwarves. He reluctantly began choosing some.

Although he was ordered by his superiors to choose thirty, Zhang Yuxian had his own principles. He could not be bothered to teach those who seriously lacked talent.

“Is there no one else in the Lian tribal clan who wants to participate in the Kingdom’s selection?” Zhang Yuxian’s eyes swept through the commoners of the Lian tribal clan.

Coming into contact with Zhang Yuxian’s glance, the people were a prudent lot. They too wanted to be given pointers from a legendary person like Zhang Yuxian. But they could not even make ends meet, so they knew no martial arts. Even if they stood forward, they would be brushed off by Zhang Yuxian.

It would only be humiliating to step forward; the entire tribe will mock his feeble attempts.

The commoners’ reaction was within Lian Chengyu’s expectations, he laughed saying, “Sorry for the joke displayed before the Lord, the ones who practice martial arts in the tribe are all here. As for the rest, they are commoners who are good for nothings. They are only good for agriculture and picking herbs, unsuitable for martial arts. May the Lord not pay attention to these people, may the Lord please…”

Before Lian Chengyu finished, a voice rang from the crowd, “Please let me through…”

In a moment, a growing boy holding on to a young lass had squeezed out of the crowd.

Yi Yun was originally late, so he was at the periphery of the crowd. He did not enjoy the good positions afforded to the warrior preparation camp members.

“Yun-er, you…” Jiang Xiaorou had been pulled forward before she could grasp the situation. Only when she went through the last layer of the crowd did she realize where she and Yi Yun were.

Jiang Xiaorou was dazed. This was the center of the square!

Seeing Zhang Yuxian surrounded by the Lian tribal clan’s upper echelon standing in front of her, Jiang Xiaorou was momentarily lost.

And at that moment, Jiang Xiaorou felt Yi Yun release her hand, and saw him walking forward. He stopped walking only when he reached the group of warrior preparation camp members.

Jiang Xiaorou’s mouth gaped, but nothing came out of her mouth.

As for Lian Chengyu, his smile froze. All the members of the warrior preparation camp were also stunned!

Zhang Yuxian looked surprisingly at Yi Yun asking, “You want to participate?”

“Yes, milord!” said Yi Yun in a short but powerful voice.

Those words stunned the crowd into silence. Everyone looked at Yi Yun in a flabbergasted manner.

Yi Yun must be mad?

He didn’t know his place. He was like a little chick and probably didn’t even weigh eighty pounds. All the strongmen in the crowd who were ineligible were stronger than him by a hundred times!

Besides, Yi Yun had never practiced martial arts. He had almost died picking herbs. He couldn’t even chop the firewood for the desolate bones well, and he wanted to sign up?

The men who wanted but did not dare sign up looked furiously at the young child, Yi Yun.

“This kid is creating trouble at such an occasion, does he not want to live?”

When a person sees another with courage do something he lacks the courage to do, it is often he would feel a sense of envy. Many of the commoners in the Lian tribal clan were precisely in that situation.

“Yi Yun, you little slave. How dare you show no respect for your elders. Today’s situation is not one you can mess with! Get the fuck down!” Lian Chengyu did not expect a retard like Yi Yun to take such actions on such an important occasion.

Yi Yun was just a child, and he was the weakest among the children. To dare sign up for the selection, it was clearly him using Zhang Yuxian to pass time!

It was so humiliating. It could even damage his reputation in front of Zhang Yuxian. Zhang Yuxian would think that he had disciplinary troubles or that he could not even control a child.

Yi Yun took a glance at Lian Chengyu and responded to his atrocities calmly and sharply, “In the wilderness, the weak are enslaved as slaves. To put it bluntly, the weak are slaves. If my strength is weak, then it is only right to call me a slave. I will not retort that. But if one day, Young Master Lian meets a person stronger than himself, he too will become a slave. What does Young Master Lian think of that?”

Lian Chengyu’s expression changed. He was furious. What was this? A little slave in the tribe dared to talk to him like that!?

If not for Zhang Yuxian, Lian Chengyu would have killed Yi Yun with a slap.

“The weak are enslaved as slaves?” Zhang Yuxian smirked. He did an unexpected glance at Yi Yun, “Interesting. To have such insight despite being born in a small tribe. You said it right. The weak are enslaved as slaves, and that is applicable to everyone. If I were to one day be subjected to someone more powerful than I, I too would become a slave.”

Hearing Zhang Yuxian’s words, Yi Yun was surprised. He never expected that Zhang Yuxian would openly admit that he could submit to another. This frankness may not be rare among important people, but it was seldom displayed from an important person to someone of lower stature since it was disdainful.

Zhang Yuxian’s approachability surprised Yi Yun.

Lian Chengyu had to pull back his rage with Zhang Yuxian’s words. An elite Jin Long Wei had already admitted so, he no longer dared say anything!

However, it did not mean that Lian Chengyu could tolerate Yi Yun causing a mess at such an occasion. He said to Zhang Yuxian, “High Ambassador, this child is named Yi Yun. He is a lowly medicine boy in our Lian tribal clan. He has no martial arts background. He’s here only to use you to pass his time. I will throw him out. Please do not fault my inability to discipline my tribe and to incur ridicule on myself.”

Lian Chengyu was so furious not because Yi Yun had questioned his authority, but because he had humiliated him in front of Zhang Yuxian.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Yuxian did not mind. He casually pointed to a spot saying to Yi Yun, “As a child, you are surely interesting. Stand here. I will check your suitability for practicing martial arts later.”

Zhang Yuxian may have appreciated Yi Yun but he was not overly concerned. From his point of view, few people in the wilderness were suited for martial arts. Since Yi Yun dared to stand forward, he would help examine him. With Zhang Yuxian making clear his position, other than shooting a resentful glance at Yi Yun, Lian Chengyu could only remain silent.

“Thank you, milord.” Yi Yun thanked him in a decent manner and stood beside the warrior preparation camp troops. Incidentally, he was standing beside Zhao Tiezhu.

This was because Zhao Tiezhu was close with Lian Chengyu, so he had become the unspoken leader of the warrior preparation camp. As such, he stood first in line among the troops. With Yi Yun coming over, he naturally ended up standing beside Zhao Tiezhu.

As a result, Yi Yun was now standing at the first position.

As for this, Zhao Tiezhu was a bit irritated. What a joke, he was of great stature and great strength, how could he be compared to this little retard?

He was planning on entering the city with a high position as part of the family of a Kingdom Knight in the future. What was there to nitpick with a retard?

“Little slave, you are here as a joke, right?” Zhao Tiezhu mocked. He was waiting to see Yi Yun make a fool out of himself.

Yi Yun could not be bothered with him, and stood there silently.

At that moment, Zhang Yuxian began his selection. No one knew what Zhang Yuxian’s selection criteria was. They had all gathered their strength awaiting it.

32 - : The weak are enslaved as slaves

CKtalon  CKtalon

“How old are you?” Zhang Yuxian looked at the first person—a short but stocky man. The members of the warrior preparation were both stout and dark-skinned.

This man had a considerable status in the Lian tribal clan. Even among the warrior preparation camp, he was one of the strongest. He felt honored being the first to be examined by Zhang Yuxian and was dying of anticipation.

“Lord, Me is twenty-six this year. Me can raise a 200-kilogram stone roller. Me isn’t bullshitting. Me can lift such a heavy rock four to five times like a toy. If the Lord wants to follow Me, Me will lift it to show you!” This man introduced himself confidently. Zhang Yuxian did not take notice of his boastful words and silently placed his hand on the man’s shoulder. He began to inject Yuan Qi in.

One who had “Opened Heaven’s Eyes” could see a person’s muscles, meridians, bones with a glance, and from there determine if a person was suitable for martial arts.

However, Zhang Yuxian had not reached such a realm. So his selection method was to inject a person with a little Yuan Qi, and see how the person’s body would absorb it.

Those who could absorb it well had a suitable constitution. Those who had poor absorption had an unsuitable constitution.

After a short venture, Zhang Yuxian was speechless. Less than 10% of the amount of Yuan Qi he had injected was absorbed by the man. It was about 7-8%.

This talent was so miserable that he could hardly bear looking at him.

“Do you think you can defeat your enemies just because you can lift rocks?” Zhang Yuxian stared into the man’s eyes saying, “Your constitution is extremely common, it’s not suitable for martial arts.”

Zhang Yuxian’s words were like a bucket of cold water that splashed on the man’s face. The boastful man was confused.

Not suitable for martial arts? How could Me not be suitable for martial arts?

That man felt extremely disgruntled, but coming into contact with Zhang Yuxian’s cold stare, he faded backward like a defeated cockfighter.

Me has always been stronger than my peers since a young age. Me could lift a 200-kilograms stone roller when Me grew up. If Me wasn’t suited for martial arts, would Me be able to lift the heavy stone roller?

These thoughts swirled in the man’s mind. He had been practicing martial arts for years, and to be told by Zhang Yuxian that he was unsuitable for martial arts, negated all his previous efforts.

Of course, he only kept that in his mind for he did not have the courage to contradict Zhang Yuxian.

“Stay here for now,” Zhang Yuxian did not plan on sending him packing immediately but kept him there.

It was because Zhang Yuxian knew that he had to be mentally prepared when making a selection in the wilderness. It was hard for these people to become an expert under such poor environments.

A tribe without any experts would continue on from one generation to the next, and it was very unlikely a prodigy could transpire out of that.

But very quickly, Zhang Yuxian realized that he had underestimated the extent of the poor quality of men in the vast wilderness. He began to understand that there was no such thing as worst, only worse.

As he went down the line, the boastful man from before was actually considered not bad. As he reached the end, most of them could only absorb 6-7%. There were even some who could only absorb 4-5%.

It was a terrible sight.

Zhang Yuxian could only lower his standards. He finally decided that all those who could absorb more than 6% could stay behind.

“You…I guess you barely qualify.” Zhang Yuxian looked helplessly at a stout man, and could only describe it with the word “barely”.

As he probed down the line, his elimination rate was at about 50%.

With about forty warrior preparation camp members, there were only about twenty who qualified under such standards, clearly missing the thirty people target.

“Lord Zhang sure is strict. Those soldiers from the warrior preparation camp are so strong, but half of them were eliminated.”

“Thankfully we didn’t go up, or it will be so humiliating.

A few men who had previously wanted to make an attempt after seeing Yi Yun signing up felt lucky.

Under such elimination practices, only a very gifted person could be selected.

And they could tell that Zhang Yuxian was not really satisfied with the people who had passed. It was only because there was no one else to choose that he had to pick a general among the dwarves.

Upon understanding this, the crowd began to admire Lian Chengyu even more.

Only Lian Chengyu won the praise of “extremely not bad”.

“Yun-er…” said Jiang Xiaorou as she clasped her tiny hands. She looked at Yi Yun worriedly. She knew that Yi Yun had been secretly practicing martial arts the past few days, but she did not think that his ability would rise above the members of the warrior preparation camp in such a short period of time.

If Zhang Yuxian would not even pick those men from the warrior preparation camp, how would he choose Yi Yun?

Jiang Xiaorou was still standing in the middle of the square. Her position was extremely awkward. The crowd’s eyes were on her. Her brother was among the preliminary candidates. Jiang Xiaorou could neither retreat nor could she stand there.

Yi Yun noticed Jiang Xiaorou’s worried eyes and moved his mouth slightly, “Sis Xiaorou, don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Zhao Tiezhu burst out into laughter after hearing Yi Yun’s words, “You fucking bullshitter, I can pick any stray dog, and it would be stronger than you. Lord Zhang would rather choose a dog as a disciple rather than you!”

Facing the cynical mockery, Yi Yun could only stare coldly into Zhao Tiezhu’s eyes saying, “You should just care for yourself. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Hey! This kid sure got cocky! To think he used those words against me! If you were to be chosen today, I will uproot that large pagoda tree by the village entrance and eat it, leaves and roots all.” Zhao Tiezhu burst into laughter as he said that. At the same time, another man standing beside Zhao Tiezhu, another warrior preparation camp member echoed mockingly, “Then I’ll eat that big stone roller by the village entrance!”

“Haha, you guys sure are humorous. I’ll join you guys by drinking all the water in the East River.”

The men from the warrior preparation camp began to turn rowdy.

Yi Yun looked helplessly at these men and shrugged as he said, “Whatever.”

At that time, Zhang Yuxian had already reached Zhao Tiezhu. Zhao Tiezhu wiped off his smile and stood up straight.

Zhang Yuxian pressed on Zhao Tiezhu’s body and said “Twenty-eight?”

Zhao Tiezhu replied hastily, “The Lord sure has great eyes, I am indeed twenty-eight years old.”

Zhang Yuxian frowned for Zhao Tiezhu was also not satisfactory to him. But considering that the numbers were too few, he reluctantly said, “I guess you meet the minimum requirements. I will keep you to make up the numbers.”

Zhang Yuxian began to reach the conclusion that having a kingdom selection in the Cloud Wilderness was a pointless endeavor.

Zhao Tiezhu heaved a sigh of relief, and shook his fists, “That’s great! I passed!”

He was very excited and began making a spectacle of himself in front of Yi Yun. Although he had barely met the minimum standard, he had still passed!

He was about to practice martial arts with the High Ambassador. When he had a meteoric rise, he could marry multiple wives and walk towards the peak of humanity. It was not something a weakling like Yi Yun could compare with.

At that moment, Zhang Yuxian was standing in front of Yi Yun.

Everyone’s eyes were focused on Yi Yun.

Lian Chengyu sneered.

I want to see how you are going to get out of this!

That thought had bubbled into his mind, but he pricked it immediately. Yi Yun was a mentally handicapped kid, so Yi Yun would be oblivious even if he was humiliated.

A mentally handicapped kid did not need to wrap things up. Causing an uproar was common. He might even mistake the jeers as compliments.

Lian Chengyu was rendered speechless when his train of thought reached this conclusion. It was akin to the quote that one should never argue with an idiot, they will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.

“Yi Yun, right?” said Zhang Yuxian as he stood in front of Yi Yun.

“Yes, milord!”

“Have you never really practiced martial arts?”

Zhang Yuxian gave a wistful glance at Yi Yun. He was only at the Purple Blood realm, and could not tell Yi Yun’s level, but he had felt a hidden power within Yi Yun’s body.

To be talented yet self-effacing!

“I’ve trained a bit,” Yi Yun chose his words wisely. Training by stealing lessons was also considered training.

“Lord, this kid is lying!” Zhao Tiezhu began to snitch, “I can attest to the fact that this kid has never practiced martial arts!”

Yi Yun looked at Zhao Tiezhu as if he was a retard, “How would you know if I practiced martial arts? I’ve passed the tribal grounds multiple times. I’ve also practiced some of what Instructor Yao had taught.”

Yi Yun openly admitted that he had practiced martial arts. This was to prepare for the day when he had to reveal his real strength. It would make people think he was a prodigy, lowering the risk of the discovery of the Purple Crystal.

If not, he would be unable to explain where he got all his skills from.

“You secretly learned martial arts?” Hearing Yi Yun’s words, not only did Zhao Tiezhu laugh, even the other members of the warrior preparation camp were trying hard to hold it in. They did not dare be audacious in front of Zhang Yuxian.

At this point, no one pursued his crime of secretly learning martial arts by watching lessons covertly.

A member of the warrior preparation camp said, “Instructor Yao’s “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” is so profound. We couldn’t even grasp it by following his every move. A dull kid like you without any strength managed to learn it secretly? What could you have learned!?”

Yi Yun could not be bothered to retort. He just wanted to leave the impression that he had practiced martial arts. It could be used to cushion the blow when he eventually revealed his true strength.

Zhang Yuxian pondered as he placed his hand on Yi Yun’s shoulder, slowly injecting his Yuan Qi.

Zhang Yuxian had not expected much. He had appreciated Yi Yun for his bravery for it was rare for a kid to step forward under such circumstances. Of course, appreciation was one thing, but the practice of martial arts was not only about bravery.

The Yuan Qi that Zhang Yuxian released into Yi Yun’s body completed a circulation, and as he waited expectantly to see how much was absorbed when he received the Yuan Qi…

He realized that the Yuan Qi he injected had disappeared without a trace!

“This is…” Zhang Yuxian stared in surprise.

How could this be?

His brows began to twitch as he refused to believe the situation he was in. He injected another surge of Yuan Qi into Yi Yun’s body.

This burst of Yuan Qi entered Yi Yun’s meridians as if they had entered a black hole. The moment it passed Yi Yun’s heart, it was absorbed by the Purple Crystal, with not a drop left.

“You…” Zhang Yuxian was shocked. The Yuan Qi that he had injected into Yi Yun had been absorbed completely!?

Seeing Zhang Yuxian’s eyebrows jumping, Lian Chengyu did not know if Zhang Yuxian had been angered. He walked to Zhang Yuxian’s side with a sullen expression.

Lian Chengyu’s thoughts revolved around the examination of the Lian tribal clan that Zhang Yuxian was conducting, but alas, an eccentric flower like Yi Yun had messed it up.

Although he treated the lives of the Lian tribal clan as dirt, he did not want the Lian tribal clan shamed in front of outsiders. It would result in others thinking lowly of him.

Lian Chengyu reluctantly smiled, “Lord High Ambassador, the banquet has been prepared. Shall we eat first?”

Lian Chengyu had wanted to divert Zhang Yuxian’s attention, wishing that he could cover up the incident with Yi Yun. But suddenly, Zhang Yuxian grasped Yi Yun’s shoulders with both hands.

He measured up Yi Yun carefully.

A poor tribe in the vast wilderness could produce such a talent?

Besides, this youth in front of him had the courage and commitment towards martial arts. He had proven himself by standing up in public.

Besides that, the youth had a hidden amount of power. It had sparked Zhang Yuxian’s interest.

“You are good, very good! I never thought that I would find such an unpolished gem in a small tribe in the vast wilderness.” Zhang Yuxian was not stingy with his compliments. His voice projected far and loud.

Ah?

Beside Yi Yun was Zhao Tiezhu, who was ready to mock Yi Yun when he failed to qualify. He suddenly widened his eyes like a rooster being grabbed by the neck.

What did Lord Zhang just say? Did I hear wrong!?

Lian Chengyu who was gearing to lead Zhang Yuxian for a meal stood dumbfounded. He was not sure how to react momentarily.

The periphery of the crowd who could not see the situation did not know what had happened. Their interest was piqued after hearing Zhang Yuxian compliment, someone.

“Who? Who received such a high compliment?” People in the periphery started jumping to catch a glimpse.

“You have a ‘Seamless Body’. Even a low-grade Purple Blood Seamless Body is extremely good! You will be appreciated even in a large tribe!”

Seamless Body?

The people, including Lian Chengyu, did not know the term Seamless Body.

But this did not prevent them from understanding Zhang Yuxian’s attitude.

“Very good”, “unpolished gem”, “appreciated even in a large tribe”!

Even Zhao Tiezhu with his feeble mental processes knew that Zhang Yuxian’s compliments for Yi Yun had exceeded Lian Chengyu’s!

How could this be? Zhao Tiezhu felt like he had eaten a pound of shit, leaving a spectacular expression on his face.

The other warrior preparation camp members were all dumbfounded as their mouths gaped.

“Brother, he…” Jiang Xiaorou’s eyes were watery. She was the only person who had wished that Yi Yun would amount to something. However, happiness had come too suddenly that even she had trouble believing it.

She had seen Yi Yun’s growth since he was wearing diapers. She had never felt that Yi Yun was talented. Was what Zhang Yuxian had said true?

Jiang Xiaorou felt something iffy. Even Lian Chengyu’s evaluation was weaker than her brother’s?

“This kid is a martial arts prodigy? How could this be!” Lian Chengyu clenched his fists. He could not accept it.

Zhang Yuxian had favored Yi Yun even more!

Lian Chengyu was always the number one prodigy in the Lian tribal clan, how could he tolerate someone exceeding him?

Besides, the other person was a young slave!

“This…Lord High Ambassador, you say that this kid is a martial arts prodigy? Could you have made a mistake…” Everyone doubted Zhang Yuxian’s words but only Zhao Tiezhu could not keep it in and asked dumbly.

Zhang Yuxian’s face turned solemn, and said coldly, “You doubt me?”

“Uh…” Zhao Tiezhu was shocked. He shook his head vigorously, “No, I dare not, I wouldn’t dare.”

Zhang Yuxian gave Zhao Tiezhu a cold glance as he said, “I have limited time. In an hour, those who were selected, gather around here. I will impart martial arts to you for three days!”

With that said, Zhang Yuxian left. He had no interest in the welcoming banquet.

Zhao Tiezhu, Lian Chengyu, and the rest of the warrior preparation camp were staring with utter bewilderment.

They looked at Yi Yun as if he was a freak. They could not accept the fact!

Yi Yun had passed the preliminaries. He had even received extremely high compliments. How could that be?

“Yun-er!” Jiang Xiaorou caught notice of the glares Lian Chengyu and company were shooting at Yi Yun. She rushed forward to hold Yi Yun against her side as she worried about him.

“Me don’t believe it! Me don’t believe it! That Lord said Me was not suitable for martial arts. He even said this kid was some gem or what body. Me can lift a 200-kilogram stone roller. That kid doesn’t seem like he can even hold a chicken firmly. Me can’t be compared with him?” shouted the short stout man.

His words were met with an astounding response.

“I can’t compare with that kid? I don’t believe it!”

“This kid sure is one lucky fuck!”

The warrior preparation camp members were originally filled with confidence, but it had been wiped clean during Zhang Yuxian’s preliminary examination. Yi Yun was the only one who had received high compliments.

They were definitely disgruntled.

At this point, Zhao Tiezhu walked towards Yi Yun, saying, “Kiddo, don’t be too proud. I’m not sure what was wrong with Lord Zhang. You think we don’t know? You have been ill-ridden since you were young, like a little chick. You can’t even lift a twenty-five-kilogram rock weight. You almost died picking herbs. Such a person is a martial arts prodigy? My foot!”

Zhao Tiezhu was not wrong. The children of Yi Yun’s age could lift twenty-five-kilogram rock weights, and Yi Yun could barely lift fifteen kilograms a few months ago.

Yi Yun himself did not expect a “Seamless Body” assessment.

Through the ownership of the Purple Crystal, and combined with his keen senses from entering the Meridians realm, Yi Yun had already guessed what Zhang Yuxian was doing. He had injected energy to test a person’s talent.

This energy was absorbed by the Purple Crystal, resulting in the misunderstanding by Zhang Yuxian.

To be honest, his body’s innate talent was nothing out of the ordinary. There was definitely no Seamless Body.

A real martial artist prodigy would not have such a poor constitution like Yi Yun. If a body had a high affinity with energy, it would absorb energy from the surroundings in an invisible manner, causing the body to grow strong.

How could one expect a starving child that grew up in the vast wilderness be a prodigy?

Of course, although Yi Yun understood it, he decided to accept his title as a prodigy.

It was a good way to explain himself when he revealed his strength.

With that, Yi Yun looked at Zhao Tiezhu with a faint smile.

Seeing Yi Yun glancing over at him, Zhao Tiezhu stared back with a look of disdain, “What? Disgruntled? If you are disgruntled, you can fight with me. I’ll squash you with a finger. I’ll let you win if I use an additional piece of hair!”

Zhao Tiezhu was also fuming; he wanted to teach Yi Yun a lesson.

But Yi Yun replied calmly, “Uncle Tiezhu, have you finished eating the large pagoda tree?”

A critical hit with one sentence!

The mocking words Zhao Tiezhu had planned on saying got stuck in his throat. He remained silent as his eyes stared like a dead fish on the ground.

“And that warrior from before…have you eaten that stone roller?”

“Oh…and there was another one who wanted to drink up the East River’s water.”

Yi Yun said in a bemused manner. His body was small and thin while his face was still boyish. It did not seem capable of causing any harm, but every word he said embedded within itself an extreme amount of destructive power.

The members of the warrior preparation camp quickly disavowed their statements. No one took responsibility for what they had said. The words they had previously said in front of the entire tribe had smacked them right back in the face.

“My fellow warriors, I shall head back to take a rest. I need to make preparations for practicing martial arts with Lord Zhang. Also, Young Master Lian, since I need to practice martial arts, can I be given time off from the refining of the desolate bone?” Yi Yun asked earnestly. Lian Chengyu’s face was utterly black. How could he dare not to?

“Of course. Practicing martial arts is more important.” As Lian Chengyu said that, he felt his intestines twist.

33 - : Eating a Large Pagoda Tree

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou returned home almost under the escort of all the villagers.

To the Lian tribal clan, it was big news that Yi Yun had passed the examination.

A poor kid had been chosen by a High Ambassador and he would be given martial art pointers. He could even participate in the kingdom selection in the future!

This could not be described by any auspicious omen.

“You say, I watched this Yun-kiddo grow up. I never felt anything special about him. He’s really a martial arts prodigy? And to contest in the kingdom selection. Is that true?”

“Since it was said by the High Ambassador himself, there has to be some truth in it. But I doubt he would have enough time to prepare for the Kingdom’s selection. Even if Yi Yun was a prodigy, he would have absolutely no hope.”

To the villagers of the Lian tribal clan, they knew that martial arts wasn’t something that could be accomplished overnight. The Kingdom’s selection was an elite selection process. He was one lucky fuck to catch Zhang Yuxian’s fancy.

It would be akin to daydreaming for him to pass the Kingdom’s selection.

No matter how clever a child was, giving a child, who had never read before a scholarly collection was pointless. It would never allow him to pass the exam to become a scholar in two months.

It was the same logic with participating in the kingdom selection. The Lian tribal clan had come to a consensus, which no one doubted.

With a lot of effort, Jiang Xiaorou finally brought Yi Yun home.

Despite Jiang Xiaorou closing the courtyard’s door, many people had climbed up the walls to look into Jiang Xiaorou’s house. As the mud walls in the villagers were short, a kid could easily climb up the walls.

As a result, a row of people were slumped over Jiang Xiaorou’s house walls. The mud walls began to sink, as if they were about to collapse.

Jiang Xiaorou did not bother about that as mixed thoughts plagued her. She was proud of her brother, but it was also mixed with the fear and confusion of the unknown future.

Jiang Xiaorou knew that Yi Yun only had talent and that he lacked strength.

The villagers might have mixed it up, thinking that Yi Yun had undergone a life changing event. Jiang Xiaorou knew that in the vast wilderness, strength was of utmost importance. A person with talent had to let the strength grow to be of use, or it would be useless!

“Yun-er, Lord Zhang said you had a Seamless Body, do you know what a Seamless Body is?” Jiang Xiaorou held onto Yi Yun’s hands as she sat by the bedside.

Yi Yun shook his head, “Sis Xiaorou, could it be that you know what it is?”

“Yes…I’ve heard a bit about this. A Seamless Body means that a body does not have any energy ‘leaks’. Such a constitution is extremely suitable for practicing martial arts.”

“A Seamless Body also has levels. The lowest level is Mortal Blood Seamless Body. One can be without leaks while in the Mortal Blood realm, but will not be able to do so upon reaching Purple Blood. A Purple Blood Seamless Body would not have any leaks in both the Mortal Blood and Purple Blood realm. But at higher levels, they will not be able to do so…I don’t know what you are at the moment.”

Yi Yun was surprised at Jiang Xiaorou’s words, “Sis Xiaorou, how do you know so much?”

Jiang Xiaorou touched Yi Yun’s head saying, “When I was young, I had my talent tested by my family, so I had learned something from there.”

“The steps to testing a Seamless Body were extremely troublesome. That Lord Zhang did not have any array set up, and his cultivation was limited, so he could only test you crudely…”

“A person with Seamless Body is highly appreciated in a clan. But if you were only a Mortal Blood Seamless Body, then the appreciation will be limited. However the higher levels of Seamless Body are extremely rare. I remember on the day of the test, a cousin of mine named Jiang Mingzhe was a Sage level Seamless Body. The entire family was overjoyed, and they celebrated for days. There were many VIPs who came during those days, as for the details, I don’t really remember anymore…” Yi Yun was stunned after hearing Jiang Xiaorou’s words.

Sage level Seamless Body?

Although he didn’t know what level that was, it sounded really powerful.

And…to be able to produce such a constitution in the family, what sort of clan did Jiang Xiaorou belong to?

Yi Yun knew that Jiang Xiaorou came from a rich background. She was taught how to write from a young age. She had read widely, so she knew about cultivation. It was impossible for children that came from small families.

Having been born in such a clan, how did she inexplicably find herself seeking refuge in the vast wilderness, to be eventually adopted by his own family?

Yi Yun could not help but ask, “Sis Xiaorou, what sort of family clan was yours?”

Jiang Xiaorou wrinkled her little brow as she thought for a while before shaking her head saying, “I don’t remember anymore. I only remember it was a big family clan. Then I remember…that I began reading and writing at a young age. I remember the courtyard I stayed in when I was young. As for the events after that, I don’t remember anymore even if I tried.”

Jiang Xiaorou’s words piqued Yi Yun’s curiosity. Did Jiang Xiaorou’s family experience some huge transition?

Could such a brilliant family have been destroyed, causing the clan to disperse?

Dynasties rose and fell, families grew and were destroyed. In this world, nothing was eternal.

“Yun-er, this set of clothes was made by me. See if it fits.” As Jiang Xiaorou said that, she took out a set of newly sewn clothes from some old baggage.

It was made of blue fabric. It was very rough as people from the Cloud Wilderness usually wore clothes made of linen. They were tough and resistant.

Yi Yun was surprised. The family was so poor that locks were not needed. It was not an exaggeration but a fact. Poor families like Yi Yun’s did not have locks. In the Cloud Wilderness, locks made of metal were expensive. A poor family’s entire fortune was not worth more than the price of a lock.

Despite such a situation, Jiang Xiaorou had been able to obtain a piece of cloth to make him new clothes?

Yi Yun received the clothes with mixed feelings. Although the cloth was rough, it was elegant and neat. The ends of the cloth were studded with tiny pins. This was sewn one stitch at a time by Jiang Xiaorou.

Honestly, the texture of the clothes was not good, in fact, it was pretty bad. Compared to the cotton and silk clothes Yi Yun had experienced on Earth, it was a difference like night and day.

But such a piece of clothing made Yi Yun feel extremely special.

“Quick, put it on. I wanted to give it to you for the new year, but you will be practicing martial arts today in the school yard. It’s a joyous occasion, so you should wear something nice. Others won’t be able to mock you that way.” Jiang Xiaorou’s words formed a lump in Yi Yun’s throat. He took a deep breath before taking off his tattered clothes. He then changed into the new set of clothes.

As the saying goes—clothes make a man just as a saddle makes a horse. Jiang Xiaorou’s clothes were extremely fitting. Although it was made of linen, it matched well with Yi Yun’s growing body and the aura he obtained after breaking through into the Meridian realm. It was eye-catching.

Jiang Xiaorou pulled Yi Yun in front of her and looked all over him, feeling extremely pleased.

But she recalled something, saying, “Yun-er, you may have been appreciated by Lord Zhang, but Lord Zhang will leave in three days. He isn’t related to us, so it will be hard for him to take care of us, so in the future, we must rely on ourselves.”

“Lord Zhang may say you have a lot of talent, but talent is not enough for protection. You might face a disaster before you mature. It’s because an elephant has tusks, while a rhinoceros has a horn that they are hunted. When you are practicing under Lord Zhang, don’t be too excessive. Keeping things low key and staying cautious is the right way to go.”

“Especially people like Lian Chengyu who are extremely narrow minded. He will not spare you if you steal his limelight!”

“When Lord Zhang is here, Lian Chengyu would not dare try anything, but what would happen after Lord Zhang leaves? Lord Zhang wouldn’t know what sort of person Lian Chengyu is, nor would he know the ongoings in the Lian tribal clan and Lian Chengyu’s hostility towards you. Lord Zhang likely has his hands tied with some matters, and he came here out of convenience for the Kingdom’s selection preliminaries. He will likely not put too much thought into it, and wouldn’t meddle with the internal affairs of the Lian tribal clan. Hoping for him to protect you will be extremely difficult. Do you understand?” Jiang Xiaorou said a lot in one breath, astonishing Yi Yun.

Jiang Xiaorou’s thoughts were prudent. Her understanding of people and the world exceeded girls her age.

A normal girl would have fainted upon hearing how her brother had been appreciated by a High Ambassador. She wouldn’t stay at home to give him advice, but run off to the neighbors to brag about her capable brother.

“Sis Xiaorou, I understand everything that you said,” Yi Yun held Jiang Xiaorou’s hand. “Don’t worry, if I wasn’t confident in dealing with Lian Chengyu, I would never have stepped forward today.”

Yi Yun had carefully weighed his choices before registering.

Without question, Yi Yun had to pass the preliminaries hosted by Zhang Yuxian. Not only was it a required ticket for entry to the Kingdom’s selection, but to be able to be imparted skills from Zhang Yuxian made Yi Yun extremely interested.

Previously, Yi Yun had stolen lessons from Yao Yuan, so the effectiveness was largely reduced. Yi Yun had to step forward when Zhang Yuxian was making his selection.

However, Yi Yun could only reveal his talent, but not reveal his actual training in front of Zhang Yuxian.

Zhang Yuxian did not know Yi Yun’s trump card. Neither did Lian Chengyu know. Yi Yun was a weak kid a few days before, without herbs or people imparting skills to him, it was preposterous that he reached the Meridian realm out of nowhere!

If Lian Chengyu informed Zhang Yuxian of this, Zhang Yuxian would feel suspicious. A proud person like him could not even have such a fast cultivation speed even if he ate all sorts of precious herbs daily.

At that time, Zhang Yuxian might even suspect that he had a secret!

Although Zhang Yuxian seemed like an upright person, it was best to err on the side of caution. An upright person could be tempted by the huge treasure in front of him to do horrible acts. Yi Yun definitely could not expose the Purple Crystal.

34 - : Jiang Xiaorou’s warning

CKtalon  CKtalon

Late in the morning, Yi Yun came to the school ground. Zhao Tiezhu and the bunch of warrior preparation camp members had arrived early with eagerness. They had moved big stone rollers and millstones over.

These boors relied on these items to train their strength. It was what they were best at, and something they were extremely proud of.

So although Zhang Yuxian had not arrived, these men from the warrior preparation camp had begun lifting the stone rollers.

There were many villagers in the vicinity. They could not stop themselves from watching such a lively scene.

“Oh, isn’t this our martial arts whiz! How about it, have a go at it.” Zhao Tiezhu demonstrated as he saw Yi Yun squeeze out from the crowd.

“Peng!”

With a thud, Zhao Tiezhu had thrown a 250-kilogram stone roller in front of Yi Yun.

“Do you dare to have a go at it?” said Zhao Tiezhu with a contemptuous look at Yi Yun.

In front of all these people, Zhao Tiezhu wanted to prove that it was only through sheer good luck that Yi Yun was considered a martial arts prodigy.

“Brother Zhao, you are being too hard on him. How could he lift a 250-kilogram stone roller? Come little brother, why don’t you try this small rock weight.”

Another man threw a hundred-kilogram rock weight at Yi Yun. He complemented Zhao Tiezhu in humiliating Yi Yun.

To them, even twenty-five kilograms would be tough for Yi Yun, not to mention a hundred kilograms. How could he be a martial art prodigy?

Yi Yun looked at them as if they were retards. He couldn’t be bothered with them.

He had already proven his talent for martial arts. He did not care if they believed for he had already achieved his goal of planting the seed in their minds.

Next, he had to cultivate properly. When he showcased his extraordinary strength at the Kingdom’s selection, it would be understandable.

Yi Yun did not plan on being in direct conflict with Lian Chengyu. Lian Chengyu’s cultivation was one level higher than his, and he had rich fighting experience. Besides, Lian Chengyu wasn’t just one person, there were others like Yao Yuan and the Patriarch, and numerous people from the upper echelon that supported Lian Chengyu.

If it really came down to it, Yi Yun felt his current strength was too weak. Besides, he had a weakness—Jiang Xiaorou.

“Lord Zhang is here!” Suddenly a man shouted in a low voice. All the members of the warrior preparation camp scattered like chickens and began lifting the stone rollers.

“Hey! Ha! Hey! Ha!”

These people had been lifting stone rollers for years, resulting in a harmonious chant.

The scene was really in full swing.

Accompanied by Lian Chengyu, Zhang Yuxian walked to the center of the square. The men’s faces were flushed with excitement. They tried to display their strength to Zhang Yuxian, hoping to gain some credit.

Amongst all, Zhao Tiezhu was working the hardest. The expression on his face read, “Do you see it?” This was his real strength. He could fool around with a 250-kilogram stone roller. How could he be incomparable to a small kid. Lord Zhang, take a good look, did you make a mistake just now?

Seeing this scene, Zhang Yuxian frowned. He felt his minimal amount of patience grinding low. The upper echelon of the kingdom did not know any better and wanted to hold a kingdom selection in the wilderness. And he had to take on the task to which he felt like he was teaching a pile of trash.

“You bunch of trash, stand well for me!” Zhang Yuxian suddenly roared. His sound waves exploded forward like a bomb, scaring the members of the warrior preparation camp. They all released their grip.

“Peng! Peng! Peng!”

Many of them nearly broke their backs by dropping the stone roller on the ground.

Zhao Tiezhu and the rest were a little dumbfounded. They did not expect the originally majestic but amiable Zhang Yuxian to change totally.

In fact, the Jing Long Wei was an army. As an instructor in a unit, it was common to beat a person to death. Zhang Yuxian was being moderate because he could not be bothered to stoop down to the level of junk. Beating these trash who had brain problems was a sully to his reputation as a Jing Long Wei member.

“You bunch of idiots! I will only be teaching you three days of skills during this visit to the Lian tribal clan! I had originally wanted to teach you fist skills or movement skills, but from your actions and ignorance, I doubt I can finish teaching you a skill.”

Zhang Yuxian swept the crowd with his sharp gaze. It felt like a knife had scraped past their face, itching their facial skin!

Zhang Yuxian turned and walked to a corner of the school field. In that corner stood a tall and thick tree.

This was the “large pagoda tree” Zhao Tiezhu had promised to eat when he mocked Yi Yun.

Zhang Yuxian stood in front of the large pagoda tree. He looked up and suddenly sent a chop towards the tree.

“Ka-cha!”

A crisp sound erupted. This large pagoda tree had been cut down with Zhang Yuxian’s hand chop!

Wow–

The men from the warrior preparation camp gasped at seeing this scene. The surrounding villagers were shocked and couldn’t stop grinning. They had never seen such a terrific display of skills.

Lian Chengyu’s eyebrows jumped. If it was a kick, he would have been able to do the same. But a casual hand chop to bring down a large pagoda tree as if he was cutting grass was a shocking display of power.

Zhang Yuxian dragged the large pagoda tree that weighed thousands of kilograms as if it was a wooden stick. He threw the big tree before the members of the warrior preparation camp.

As the people looked at the tree, they recalled Zhang Yuxian’s words. Zhang Yuxian had said that he will teach them one skill. Was it this hand chop?

Thinking of this, many of them couldn’t help but anticipate it. This move was too cool. Even if they couldn’t match Zhang Yuxian, just a tenth of the power would be extremely cool!

“Today the skill I’m teaching you is neither a technique not a combat skill. It’s a mystic technique! It’s a cornerstone skill of the Jing Long Wei. It’s priceless! If you can learn it well, the path of martial arts will be smoother for you, and it will greatly increase your body’s strength. It will also increase your survivability!”

Zhang Yuxian’s words aroused the curiosity of the people. Not only did it help in their martial arts, it also increased their strength, and even survivability. It was a cornerstone skill of the Jing Long Wei!

This mystic technique sure sounded great. What was it?

“You!” Zhang Yuxian pointed at Zhao Tiezhu, “Step forward!”

Zhao Tiezhu intelligently stepped forward in front of Zhang Yuxian. He was a part nervous and a part excited.

“This mystic technique will be demonstrated by you.” Zhao Tiezhu was delighted hearing those words; a good outcome had fallen into his lap.

Hahaha.

Zhao Tiezhu laughed in his heart thrice. Zhang Yuxian was going to personally impart the mystic technique to himself. Would he not learn it well?

Although Lord Zhang did not say anything, he had appreciated me after all. It was expected, I am one of the strongest in the entire warrior preparation camp.

With today’s practice target being that large pagoda tree, I would at least be able to cut down a large piece of bark with one chop!

As Zhao Tiezhu was itching to try, Zhang Yuxian split the large pagoda tree apart with two chops!

Following that, Zhang Yuxian pointed at the large pagoda tree and said to Zhao Tiezhu, “You! Eat this large pagoda tree!”

With those words, an excited Zhao Tiezhu nearly tumbled, planting his head into the ground.

What? What the fuck?

Eat this large pagoda tree.

Eat the large pagoda tree.

Eat the tree.

Eat…

The words rang in Zhao Tiezhu’s head. He couldn’t believe Zhang Yuxian.

I couldn’t have heard it wrongly!

35 - : Cornerstone Skill of the Army

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh? Do you not understand?” Seeing Zhao Tiezhu hesitate, Zhang Yuxian’s expression turned cold.

“I…” Zhao Tiezhu was speechless. He felt that Zhang Yuxian was teasing him.

Did Lord Zhang hear his lampooning of Yi Yun, and was purposely teasing him?

But no matter how discontent he was, he did not dare to retort Zhang Yuxian.

At that moment, the members of the warrior preparation camp looked at Zhao Tiezhu with pity. They knew what words Zhao Tiezhu had previously said to Yi Yun.

They did not expect retribution to come so quickly!

Seeing Zhao Tiezhu’s misfortune, the two men who had pitched in about eating a large stone roller and drinking the East River’s water began to twitch.

They wished they could slap their own mouths. Why did they join Zhao Tiezhu’s craziness? It was possible they would receive their just deserves in a while!

It was possible to take a bite or two from the large pagoda tree, but how could one eat the stone roller.

“Zhao Tiezhu, what are you idling for? You were ordered to eat the tree, did you not hear?”

Lian Chengyu saw Zhao Tiezhu’s reluctance and reprimanded him.

Lian Chengyu did not care what the reason was. He decided that since it was commanded by Zhang Yuxian, any order from the High Ambassador had to be complied. After all, it wasn’t just because of his rotten luck.

“I…I…” Zhao Tiezhu made up his mind despite his bitter face. He said, “I’ll eat…”

He crouched down and broke off a piece of wood.

Zhao Tiezhu looked at this piece of wood with a tearless grief. This piece of wood could be used to build a house. I’m being treated as a termite!

Seeing Lian Chengyu’s unfriendly face, Zhao Tiezhu could only resign to fate as he stuffed the piece of wood into his mouth with his eyes closed.

This taste was was an indescribable ‘enjoyment’.

Zhao Tiezhu felt as if his throat was being torn apart. He had managed to swallow a piece with extreme difficulty. He looked at Zhang Yuxian helplessly. It read, “Is that enough?”

But Zhang Yuxian simply said, “Carry on!”

Zhao Tiezhu almost fainted!

He was great at lifting stone rollers, chopping trees and piling, but eating wood was a torture!

“Lord Zhang, I don’t understand this mystic technique?” Lian Chengyu had originally thought that Zhang Yuxian was teasing Zhao Tiezhu, letting him understand the importance of following orders.

But now it didn’t look right. It appeared as if making Zhao Tiezhu eat the tree was part of the mystic technique.

If so, then even he had to eat the wood in a while. So he asked to be sure.

Towards Lian Chengyu, Zhang Yuxian’s attitude was better. He said, “This mystic technique is known as the ‘Elephant Swallowing Technique’. It’s a technique used to train your stomach and digestive abilities! A person who accomplishes much in the Elephant Swallowing Technique can eat as much as they want every meal. It is rumored some can even eat an entire elephant, hence its name.”

The members of the warrior preparation camp had an expression on their faces. Simply stated, this Elephant Swallowing Technique was just a technique for eating.

Isn’t this a gluttony skill? Can this be considered a mystic technique?

Seeing the expression on the members of the warrior preparation camp, Zhang Yuxian knew what was on their minds.

He said disdainfully, “You people have the exposure similar to an ant. How dare you evaluate the cornerstone skill of the Jing Long Wei! Simply ridiculous!”

“Training a warrior’s stomach is very important! With good heart and lungs, you can endure longer, and fight harder. But being good at fighting can’t be better than cultivation. With your stomach strong, it will be a benefit to cultivation!”

“For Mortal Blood warriors, you may be moving stone rollers, fighting, climbing up trees and houses. Where does all this energy come from? It’s from your meals!”

“Some warriors with a well-trained stomach have astonishing appetite. They can finish a cow in three days, the amount of nutrition they absorb will naturally be more. Their muscles will grow stronger, and their strength increases naturally.”

Zhang Yuxian’s voice was loud but Yi Yun was moved by his speech.

Indeed, a warrior’s energy output was terrific. This energy had to come from somewhere. And that energy source for Mortal Blood warriors had to come from their meals.

Meals were energy. If one could eat more, there would be natural benefits.

Consider the children of average talent that came from noble families. Most of the time, they would not be distributed desolate bone essence for their cultivation. The only method to increase their strength was by eating desolate beast meat.

Most people would be full from about four kilograms of desolate beast meat. With such an appetite, it was pointless for them; they might as well take care of the family business.

There were others who could eat a hundred kilograms of desolate beast meat and still have room for more.

All the desolate beast meat could be digested, obtaining the essence within. By working hard to cultivate, they would be able to reach a higher level.

Hence, having a good stomach allowed one an advantage!

Zhang Yuxian’s foundation mystic technique was the Elephant Swallowing Technique.

It was a fundamental technique for practicing the arts!

Zhang Yuxian carried on, “The warriors from the large tribes, practice the Elephant Swallowing Technique with desolate beast meat. As you lack the materials in the Cloud Wilderness, you can’t even fill your stomachs. However practicing the Elephant Swallowing Technique is still useful!”

“Having a strong stomach allows you to absorb the nutrients of anything you eat!”

“Commoners will waste a lot of the essence when they digest the five grains they eat. Most of it is excreted as feces.”

“Human waste is even eaten by dogs. Maggots thrive in the feces and the dung beetles roll the dung into balls as their brooding chambers! In it, there are large amounts of nutrients that were not completely absorbed!”

“If you can’t even absorb completely the five grains, don’t even think about eating precious foods!”

“Without a good stomach, you won’t even be able to digest precious foods!”

“After learning the Elephant Swallowing Technique, you will be able to absorb anything you eat completely! When you encounter a famine, you can eat and digest the bark on the trees or Guanyin clay 1 , giving you the nutrition to sustain life!”

“From today, your meals will consist of tree roots, tree bark and Guanyin Clay. After you are done eating, follow my method to practice your Elephant Swallowing Technique to kickstart your stomach to digest these hard-to-digest foods into nutrients!”

After hearing Zhang Yuxian’s words, the members of the warrior preparation camp were speechless. They had to eat that?

They could only have wood and Guanyin clay as meals for three days!

They had originally thought that they would be able to feast on the meat Zhang Yuxian had obtained from hunting fierce beasts.

However, reality is cruel. Not only did they have no chance at eating fierce beast meat, they were not also barred from eating rice porridge.

The faces of the members of the warrior preparation camp were bitter. No one wanted to eat the tree.

They needed to at least ease into the process.

As they looked at each other, Yi Yun walked out of the group. He crouched down in front of the big pagoda tree, broke off a branch and swallowed it down, leaves and all.

Practicing the arts wasn’t meant to be an enjoyment. It required suffering, frustration and the risking of their lives.

It was not limited to only martial arts. Yi Yun knew that on Earth, children who practiced acrobatics, dance or Judo underwent tough training. For example, a teacher would kneel on a child’s back to exert pressure. That kind of pain wasn’t something an adult could endure.

In this strange world, behind the scenes of a peerless expert was indescribable effort. Eating some wood or Guanyin clay was nothing.

36 - : Really have to eat the tree?

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing that Yi Yun was the first to follow his instructions, Zhang Yuxian nodded with satisfaction. The others did not think likewise. Zhao Tiezhu looked at Yi Yun eating the tree and sneered.

It wasn’t so simple eating wood.

You may be trying to be a hero, but I’ll see how you burst to your death later.

When the people faced famine, people ate grass roots and tree bark. But no one tried eating wood, especially uncooked hardwood.

Other than termites or borers, few animals in the world ate wood. The wood fibers in the wood was not something the stomach could digest.

“Go! Dig up some Guanyin clay!” Zhang Yuxian ordered. Guanyin clay was actually magnesium silicate. No one knew why it was called Guanyin clay. Perhaps people looked to the Guanyin goddess for help during times of famine. This clay could fill the stomachs, so it obtained such a name.

But in reality, Guanyin clay was a poison. It was not harmful in small amounts. But slightly larger portions would result in indigestion. It would be impossible to excrete it out, and a person would eventually die of abdominal distension.

Coincidentally, the Lian tribal clan had such a material. Some people may wonder why would people eat the Guanyin clay if they knew it could kill?

This was because of the ignorance of the local people. They believed that if they had a sincere heart, they would receive salvation from the goddess, Guanyin.

The second reason was that Guanyin clay tasted much better than tree bark and grass-roots. Its appearance and taste resembled flour. Some people who could not resist the temptation under extreme hunger would die from eating too much.

The Guanyin clay was dug up and piled into a bunch.

This Guanyin clay was moved over by the citizens. The citizens of the Lian tribal clan had become onlookers.

Seeing the people from the warrior preparation camp about to eat the Guanyin clay, the onlookers were worried. It was okay eating some Guanyin clay, but the results would be devastating if they finished that large amount.

“Begin,” Zhang Yuxian said lightly. Yi Yun did not hesitate and began eating the Guanyin clay in large amounts. It did not have any special taste but it tasted a bit creamy.

The Guanyin clay was much easier to swallow than the wood.

Seeing Yi Yun’s actions, the people from the warrior preparation camp could not take that lying down.

They bit the bullet and began eating.

They believed Zhang Yuxian wasn’t out to harm them. Although it was awful eating that, they had to endure the eating in order to practice the skill!

But just as the thought flashed in their heads, Zhang Yuxian destroyed that thought when he said, “The Elephant Swallowing Technique isn’t that easy to learn. Some people who ate the Guanyin clay for the practice of Elephant Swallowing Technique did not manage to learn it before dying of abdominal distention.”

“What!?”

Upon hearing Zhang Yuxian’s words, the courage they had mustered deflated.

If you can’t master the Elephant Swallowing Technique, eating all this wood and Guanyin clay would result in death!

Learning this technique could result in death. They thought they would be subjected to suffering, but it would not be life-threatening. But the truth proved that they had thought wrong!

Seeing Zhao Tiezhu and company’s expressions, Zhang Yuxian gave a disdainful glance, “Do you think the practicing of martial arts is to treat others to dinner and having a good time? And from that, you will learn a peerless skill?”

“When a warrior practices the arts, he has to understand that he will constantly confront death! There are often deaths even among the Jing Long Wei members’ normal training! Without pushing your body to its limits, how do you expect to break through!?”

“The path of martial arts, entering mysterious lands, vendettas, vying for treasure, destroying the devil within, escaping death, surviving tragedies! Which one of those doesn’t have death involved? You are only at the beginning stages. If you don’t dare to eat Guanyin clay, then don’t practice martial arts. Just die in this vast wilderness!”

Zhang Yuxian had no more demands from the likes of these people. He also did not say how much Guanyin clay or wood a beginner of the Elephant Swallowing Technique should consume.

It was up to a person’s courage to determine how much he should eat.

The warrior preparation camp members looked at each other. They subconsciously began to slow down their eating speeds.

As for Yi Yun, he paused for a while. After a short silence, he began eating at a constant speed, not affected by those words.

Zhang Yuxian noticed Yi Yun and nodded. This courage was admirable.

As for Zhao Tiezhu and company, they naturally noticed Yi Yun’s constant eating of the wood and Guanyin clay. Zhao Tiezhu maliciously whispered, “That little bastard, he may be showing off now, but he will die from a ruptured stomach later!”

“Don’t mind the idiot, Brother Zhao. We are just beginners. Let’s not eat too much. 250 grams, no…200 to 250 grams should do…”

The men from the warrior preparation camp began to carefully weigh the amount they ate. They ate it sparingly like a gluttonous child unwilling to finish a cake.

“Brother Zhao, don’t bite off more than you can chew. Let’s do it step by step. We will do it steadily. We will let Lord Zhang see our martial arts talent! How could we not match up to a little kid!”

The men from the warrior preparation camp suppressed their anger. Zhang Yuxian had looked down on them, and his words implied that he had chosen them just to fill the numbers.

They had conceded to that, but they could not agree to Zhang Yuxian’s high appraisal of a sickly child like Yi Yun!

They thought they could lift stone rollers while practicing martial arts with Zhang Yuxian. It was their forte where they could posture and easily repress Yi Yun. It would have been fun.

But they never expected that they were required to eat a tree for their cultivation!

It was like a bolt out of the blue!

“It’s just eating wood and Guanyin clay. What’s there to fear? Bros, eat! We have to exceed Yi Yun. This little chick is just here to play after all.”

Zhao Tiezhu grew madder and madder just thinking. If the other men did not dare eat, he would purposely eat more. He did not believe he would be unable to learn the Elephant Swallowing Technique.

At this point, Yi Yun had already eaten about a kilogram of Guanyin clay at a leisurely speed. The Guanyin clay had begun to expand in his stomach. He felt as if a lead block had been stuffed into his stomach and was falling.

Yi Yun’s stomach began to hurt.

This kind of pain was not obvious in the beginning, but it became worse as time went by, to the point of causing people to die from pain.

Suddenly, Yi Yun heard a voice say, “Follow me, do these twelve moves.”

Yi Yun raised his head and saw Zhang Yuxian standing in front of everyone. Zhang Yuxian eyes were on him, with an encouraging smile.

With that, Zhang Yuxian began to move.

It was hard to describe Zhang Yuxian’s movements. His movements looked like a blur. It seemed like he was standing in another space-time dimension, having cut off contact from the outside world.

He demonstrated each of the moves which were extremely strange. But when the actions connected, it gave off a consistent natural feel.

Zhang Yuxian’s speed varied. It contained a hard to describe charm.

These actions appeared in the irises of the people, but it was as if seeing a shadow that didn’t exist. It looked like an illusion.

Dreamy…

Yi Yun suddenly thought of something, he felt like it was a dream seeing Zhang Yuxian’s movements.

In a dream, the things seen, the words said were all very real and clear.

It was possible to have utmost creativity in the dreams, creating beautiful poems.

One could feel that his literary talent was excellent in the dream, but no matter what, he would never be able to remember what was written or said.

Upon waking up, everything would be forgotten.

Seeing Zhang Yuxian’s movements, Yi Yun had such a strange idea.

Is the “Elephant Swallowing Technique” just a fundamental skill? Why do I find it much better than the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”?

Yi Yun could not believe it.

At this point, Zhang Yuxian had already finished. Although he could not remember most of the moves, Yi Yun knew that Zhang Yuxian had done the entire set of movements three times!

“Alright, these are the twelve moves of the Elephant Swallowing Technique. Do it accordingly. If you can do it, you will have some small success with the Elephant Swallowing Technique, and it wouldn’t be hard to digest that bit of Guanyin clay.”

Wh…What?

Hearing Zhang Yuxian’s words, Zhao Tiezhu and company stared wide-eyed!

What did Zhang Yuxian just do?

They only saw a blur. Zhang Yuxian’s body shook, leaving some after-images, and then he was back there standing.

Some of them were thinking if they were giddy, since they had seen double.

They did not understand the situation. It was impossible for them to follow Zhang Yuxian’s movements!

Upon seeing the sodden expressions of the warrior preparation camp members, Zhang Yuxian asked, “What’s the problem?”

“A…A question…” Zhao Tiezhu swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said his question with difficulty. “If…If we can’t learn yo…your movements, then wh…what will happen to the Guanyin clay and wood that we just ate?”

Zhao Tiezhu felt hopeless. It was too complicated. He couldn’t even understand the moves. It was impossible for him to learn it in three days!

“Oh?” Zhang Yuxian frowned. He could not be bothered with Zhao Tiezhu’s retarded question and said, “When you go to the bathroom, use a finger or a pick to dig, and you might survive. Remember not to drink any water.”

Hearing Zhang Yuxian finish his words, Zhao Tiezhu and company suddenly felt like they had eaten a kilogram of shit, the kind that had been festering in the intestines for days.

That expression was indescribable.

37 - : Twelve Moves

CKtalon  CKtalon

Fuck, is he teasing me?

Zhao Tiezhu was crushed. This isn’t some Elephant Swallowing Technique, it’s a prank!

Many of the warrior preparation camp members had already begun digging their throats with their fingers, hoping to vomit out the Guanyin clay and wood they had just eaten.

However, it was useless. The Guanyin clay was extremely sticky. The moment it reached the stomach, it sank and coagulated. Vomiting this final block would prove difficult.

Even though the men from the warrior preparation camp had vomited out their gastric juices, only a few wood splinters came out. The Guanyin clay was still bound tightly in their stomachs.

Momentarily, the men all froze up.

“Lord Zhang, please stop joking. I couldn’t even see your movements!” said one of the men who were close to tears.

“How could anyone learn such a movement?”

Despite hearing the complaints of the warrior preparation camp members, Zhang Yuxian remained indifferent. He did the twelve moves of the Elephant Swallowing Technique again. However, this time, he did it at a slower speed, allowing the people from the warrior preparation camp to see better.

But Yi Yun realized that when Zhang Yuxian lowered his speed, there was a charm lacking in his set of moves!

And it was this charm that was the crux of this set of moves!

“Let me try!” At that moment, Lian Chengyu stood forward.

Lian Chengyu had already eaten quite a bit of Guanyin clay and wood.

Lian Chengyu had some perceptive ability after all. He barely demonstrated the movements Zhang Yuxian had done. But in fact, his movements were far from correct.

Of course, only Yi Yun could tell. As for Zhao Tiezhu and company, they were filled with admiration.

“Young Master Lian is a man of God!”

“Wow, how could you do those moves?” Zhao Tiezhu and company began to suck up. They were truly filled with admiration for Lian Chengyu as he astounded them.

But Zhang Yuxian looked at Lian Chengyu and said lightly, “That barely counts.”

Given this evaluation made Lian Chengyu feel a sense of defeat. The moves were too hard, and he felt it was quite impressive that he was able to mimic it.

But Zhang Yuxian only rated it as “barely counts”. His standards were too high.

Lian Chengyu always had confidence in his talent. He felt that it was not because he failed to do well, but a result of Zhang Yuxian’s overly strict standards. Zhang Yuxian was also not generous with his praises.

At that moment, Lian Chengyu noticed that Zhang Yuxian’s gaze was focused on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had closed his eyes as if in a daze.

Lian Chengyu sneered.

Having eaten so much wood and Guanyin clay, the kid’s stomach must be hurting right now.

This Elephant Swallowing Technique was so difficult, the set of movements was filled with mystery. How could a twelve-year-old like him learn it? It was best that he died a painful death from a ruptured stomach!

Due to Zhang Yuxian’s high praise for Yi Yun, Lian Chengyu treated Yi Yun with great animosity.

Yi Yun was fully immersed in his own world.

Yi Yun could not be bothered watching Lian Chengyu’s movements after a while. It was because Lian Chengyu could only barely match a few of the moves. And it was those moves that Yi Yun realized lacked a certain charm!

From this point, Yi Yun realized something. He closed his eyes and began pondering.

In Yi Yun’s mind, Zhang Yuxian’s movements were repeated again and again like a movie.

After breaking through to the Meridian realm, Yi Yun’s five senses were extremely keen. Although Zhang Yuxian’s movements were quick, Yi Yun still managed to gain some insight.

Also having lived two lives, he had very high perceptivity. His eyes had been nourished by both the Purple Crystal and his meridians, making the motion of Zhang Yuxian that was replicated in his mind even clearer. The outer form first came together, and slowly each move began to emit that charm.

Yi Yun realized that the Elephant Swallowing Technique was extremely mysterious.

First, one had to eat hard-to-digest and impossible to excrete food. Next, they had to use this set of mysterious moves to train their stomach and intestines.

These moves, if one paid attention to the poses, would have their charm reduced.

If one wanted to reflect the charm, then the poses would no longer be accurate.

It was a fascinating mystic technique!

Yi Yun began to have such a thought. He felt that the Elephant Swallowing Technique was more mystical than the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”. But why would a cornerstone skill of the Jing Long Wei be widely spread among the grassroots?

It wasn’t time to think about this. Yi Yun began to reach out his hands according to his memories.

Suddenly, Yi Yun began to move. With his eyes slightly closed, and without any sense of direction, he began to demonstrate the movements of Zhang Yuxian using the mysterious feelings in his memories.

One by one, Yi Yun’s train of thought became clearer, and his speed increased.

People who were looking at Yi Yun only saw a blurred shadow of Yi Yun!

Zhang Yuxian’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Yi Yun managed to simulate a trace of the charm of the Elephant Swallowing Technique in his first practice! This had nothing to do with one’s practice or physique. Only a person’s perceptivity mattered.

The difficulty of the Elephant Swallowing Technique was its comprehension. It took Zhang Yuxian a long while to understand the charms behind the Elephant Swallowing Technique. He too had suffered from eating Guanyin clay back in his day.

This kid, Yi Yun, had an exceptionally perceptive mind!

As for the men from the warrior preparation camp, they were all shocked at Yi Yun’s movements. They did not understand the mystery behind the Elephant Swallowing Technique, but no matter how dumb they were, they knew that Yi Yun wasn’t doing it haphazardly. Because they too perceived an incomprehensible illusion from Yi Yun’s movements!

“This…This kid…” The men were stunned. They did not need to judge if Yi Yun’s moves were accurate. From Zhang Yuxian’s eyes, they knew they had to accept a more frustrating reality. Yi Yun could perform the Elephant Swallowing Technique!

“How could this be. This little slave born from a low caste managed to learn Lord Zhang’s movements after he demonstrated it twice?” Zhao Tiezhu and company did not know how many times Zhang Yuxian had demonstrated the moves. They only saw his figure blur twice, hence they had concluded that he had done it twice.

“He actually learned such a difficult move?” The members of the warrior preparation camp found it unacceptable. They had always been condescending, and deep down, they felt they were the ruling class of the Lian tribal clan.

But today, an inferior plebeian had climbed over their heads, suppressing them greatly.

The lifting of stone rollers, which they were proud of was worthless in the eyes of Zhang Yuxian, but they could not learn a thing Zhang Yuxian taught them.

Even the bright star of the clan, Lian Chengyu was suppressed by Yi Yun!

Lian Chengyu clenched his fists. A deep sense of anger and frustration burned in his eyes. This sense of frustration slowly turned into cold killing intent!

38 - : Charm

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun repeatedly performed the twelve movements of the Elephant Swallowing Technique. For an unknown reason, it was extremely energy depleting. In Yi Yun’s semi-conscious state, he repeated the moves five times before he felt exhausted!

Yi Yun opened his eyes and felt his abdomen burning, it was as if a fire had lit up!

Large amounts of blood and energy was supplied to his stomach in a surging fashion!

A normal person would have their blood flow to their stomachs after a meal. This was to aid the digestive process.

Yi Yun was in a similar situation, just magnified a hundred times.

Yi Yun felt that if he wished, his entire body’s blood could be condensed within his stomach. Even metal nails and glass could be digested!

The bloated feeling from eating the Guanyin clay had completely vanished. Under the strong peristalsis within his stomach, the coagulated Guanyin clay had already been separated.

Yi Yun lifted his head to realize that everyone was looking at him. Zhang Yuxian had a smile on his face. As for the people from the warrior preparation camp, they could only be described as astonished, jealous, and hostile.

At that moment, Lian Chengyu walked over to Yi Yun with a smile.

“Yi Yun, I must give in.” Yi Yun looked surprised as Lian Chengyu said that. Lian Chengyu also patted Yi Yun’s shoulder saying nicely, “Yi Yun, to be honest, I was wondering if you had passed the preliminaries due to sheer luck. But you have just proven yourself. I hereby apologize to you. I can’t believe that you have such great talent!”

Lian Chengyu was not stingy with his praise. “In the past, using you to pick herbs was a waste of talent. From now on, you can enter the warrior preparation camp. The Lian tribal clan will focus on grooming you!”

“It’s too bad that the kingdom’s selection is in a few weeks. You have to blame me for not noticing your talent, wasting your time. With only this amount of time left to practice martial arts, it’s unlikely you can pass the kingdom’s selection…”

“But it’s alright. If this stupid brother of yours becomes a kingdom warrior, I will definitely help you. I will ensure that you will be able to leave this vast wilderness. When the time comes, you will be able to support our Lian tribal clan, and be glorious. We can even mass migrate into the cities!” Lian Chengyu said earnestly. His eyes did not exhibit the slightest amount of deceit.

If Yi Yun did not know Lian Chengyu well, he would have been fooled!

It is impossible to judge a man’s heart from his face. If a person that was good at hiding his true intentions so wished, it would be impossible to tell from his facial expression what he was truly thinking.

Lian Chengyu was exactly doing so.

Yi Yun understood that he was doing it as an act in front of Zhang Yuxian.

The moment Zhang Yuxian left, Lian Chengyu would reveal his true colors.

How could Lian Chengyu tolerate his growth?

Yi Yun sillily smiled, saying to Lian Chengyu, “Thank you Young Master Lian, I will not disappoint you.”

Seeing Yi Yun fooled, Lian Chengyu broke into a smile. He did not expect that under the skin of this twelve-year-old was an adult with richer experience than himself.

Lian Chengyu carried on with some words of encouragement before turning towards Zhang Yuxian saying, “Lord Zhang, I’m a dumb student. My perceptivity is not as good as my younger brother, Yi Yun. I still haven’t mastered the Elephant Swallowing Technique, could Lord Zhang please demonstrate it again for us students?”

Since he had decided to settle scores later, Lian Chengyu showed humility on the surface. But for Zhao Tiezhu and company to hear those words, they began choking.

“Young Master Lian…”

Zhao Tiezhu was worried. How could Lian Chengyu think so highly of Yi Yun? How could he say those words…

“Shut up. All of you are good for nothings. All the tribe’s rations and meat were provided to you, but you can’t even learn this Elephant Swallowing Technique today. It’s so humiliating. If you don’t practice it well, do you really want to die with your stomachs ruptured from eating Guanyin clay?”

The moment Lian Chengyu said “die”, Zhao Tiezhu and company suddenly changed their expressions. Right, this isn’t a joke. If they didn’t learn it well, they would have to live with the consequences!

Seeing Lian Chengyu appropriate handling of matters, and his good choice of words, Zhang Yuxian nodded. Lian Chengyu had both talent and good leadership potential. He was a talented individual.

Zhang Yuxian said, “For this Elephant Swallowing Technique, eating wood and Guanyin clay is just the beginning stage. If you meet the criteria, you can even try eating materials with devastating energies or treasures that are extremely difficult to digest. The effects of practicing the skill will be better.”

These words were only for Lian Chengyu and Yi Yun. From Zhang Yuxian point of view, only Lian Chengyu and Yi Yun had the ability to leave the vast wilderness and become a true warrior.

He turned towards Zhao Tiezhu and company, saying, “As for you, although you won’t have the opportunity to eat all those treasures, but if you were to master the Elephant Swallowing Technique, you will be able to eat grass roots and tree bark safely during a famine. It will be a great boon to your survival. Even learning a tiny bit will be extremely valuable for you.”

“I will do it again. The speed will be much slower. Look carefully. To be able to identify the charm of the Elephant Swallowing Technique will all depend on yourself!”

With that, Zhang Yuxian began moving again.

He really slowed down, but he was still unable to get through to Zhao Tiezhu and company.

The result for that night was wailings from the toilets of the Lian tribal clan.

Some people say that the most painful thing in life is the failure to find a bathroom when experiencing diarrhea. They would eventually have to shit in their pants.

But for Zhao Tiezhu and company, what would this be called?

Only those who experienced what Zhao Tiezhu was feeling will know that even shitting in their pants was extreme bliss.

That night, the only doctor in the Lian tribal clan boiled a huge pot of laxatives. Every member of the warrior preparation camp drank it, but they still could not succeed in excreting what they consumed out.

As a last resort, they had to follow Zhang Yuxian’s words. They used their fingers to dig. When they realized their fingers were not long enough, they used bamboo sticks.

As for bamboo sticks being inserted into their rectum…

That feeling was…”heavenly”.

In fact, using a bamboo stick to dig was not easy. It was an extremely difficult task for an individual, because they could not see.

As a last resort, they had to “help” one another. They had to reveal their ass, getting a brother to help…

That scene was too perfect that Yi Yun didn’t want to think about it.

To be able to bust ass for a comrade was nothing. But to help a comrade dig out shit, that would be true love.

Just listening to the shrill cries, one could imagine the carnage happening. The bamboo sticks might have dug through something…

On the second day, Zhao Tiezhu and company’s faces walked soft-footedly with an ashen expression. They had not been able to sleep the whole night for they were constantly running to the toilet. Even after they had drunk the laxative, all that came out was yellow liquid, as for the bamboo sticks… Even known tortures were nothing in comparison. However, they were thankful that they did not eat too much Guanyin clay. As a result of the laxatives and the digging, no one died.

…

For the second day of training, Zhao Tiezhu and company no longer dared to eat the Guanyin clay. As such, Zhang Yuxian only taught Yi Yun and Lian Chengyu.

Eventually, Zhang Yuxian did not even stay the full three days at the Lian tribal clan.

On the second night, a jade slip that accompanied Zhang Yuxian trembled while producing a sound.

This jade slip was a messaging device the Jing Long Wei used.

Seeing the jade slip tremble, Zhang Yuxian’s expression changed. He left a note, mounted his beast and disappeared into the night…

39 - : A person’s most painful experience in life

CKtalon  CKtalon

Early the next morning, the members of the warrior preparation camp arrived at the square. They already knew that Zhang Yuxian had left. Many people had heard Zhang Yuxian’s beast galloping away last night. Of course, that included Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun!” At the square, Lian Chengyu called Yi Yun from afar. His expression was still warm.

“Young Master Lian, what’s the matter?” Yi Yun asked with a smile; he knew that Lian Chengyu’s current demeanor was an act for the villagers.

At the square, there were many onlookers. Although Lian Chengyu had long since wanted to get rid of Yi Yun, he did not want to do it in front of the villagers.

Having appreciated Yi Yun, it was possible Zhang Yuxian would return to the Lian tribal clan for Yi Yun after he completed his mission.

Even if Zhang Yuxian didn’t return, he might ask about Yi Yun at the kingdom’s selection.

If Lian Chengyu had attacked Yi Yun in public, it would ease his emotions, but with so many people watching, word would spread. At any rate, he couldn’t silence the entire tribe.

If the matter was investigated by Zhang Yuxian, Lian Chengyu would be implicated. Hence, he planned on using a slow and steady manner to get rid of Yi Yun.

Noticing that Lian Chengyu did not turn the tables, Yi Yun happily joined in with Lian Chengyu’s shenanigans. Besides, if they were to really break out into conflict, Yi Yun’s strength was still insufficient. Also, Yi Yun was still not done absorbing the desolate bone essence.

“Yi Yun, Lord Zhang left behind a note and a box of pills. In the note, he instructed that the pills were for the both of us. The pill for me isn’t a mild drug. A person with low cultivation cannot eat it. As for yours, it’s very suitable for building a beginner’s foundation.”

Lian Chengyu reasoned it well. If Yi Yun didn’t know who he was, he would have fully believed in it.

“Oh, a pill!?” said Yi Yun as his eyes lit up. He was extremely excited and anticipant. “Lord Zhang left a pill for me?”

“Yes!” Seeing Yi Yun’s silly look, Lian Chengyu sneered in his mind. He’s indeed a retard. He actually believed that there was a pie in the sky.

“Lord Zhang sure is generous. The kindness he has shown the both of us must be remembered even if we rise up!” Lian Chengyu patted and advised Yi Yun, but in his eyes, there was killing intent.

With Zhang Yuxian gone, Lian Chengyu could no longer conceal his killing intent towards Yi Yun.

“Young Master Lian’s words are wise. I will not forget it,” Yi Yun answered with a sincere desire to learn.

“Yi Yun, your talent is far greater than mine. When the desolate bone essence is extracted, I intend to give you some of it. This desolate bone essence not only concerns our future, but it concerns the future of a thousand lives living in the Lian tribal clan. I can’t trust anyone else but little brother Yi. I will be more assured if you lead the brewing.”

“Let’s do it this way. In the day, you will carry on refining the desolate bones. When it is refined, we shall consume it together as brothers. I will then help you, allowing you to reach the second realm of Mortal Blood, Vigor. I will then give you the pill from Lord Zhang, allowing your cultivation to go one step further!”

Lian Chengyu smirked as he said those words. Yi Yun, on the other hand, knew it was a mocking expression.

Without Zhang Yuxian, to Lian Chengyu, Yi Yun was just a child who could be crushed easily in his palms.

Even if Lian Chengyu had really prepared a pill for him, it would most likely be a slow-acting poison. It would paralyze him and cause him to slowly die in pain.

But from Lian Chengyu’s point of view, no poison was better than the Frost Python’s frost toxin. It was without cure. Using the Frost Python’s frost toxin to kill Yi Yun was most fitting!

“I will complete whatever matter Young Master Lian assigns me.” Yi Yun patted his chest with a guarantee. He pledged like a hot-blooded youth.

When Zhang Yuxian arrived in the Lian tribal clan, the refining of the desolate bones had not been halted. Its location was just moved to the Lian Clan Herb Mountain. After all, having a huge cauldron burning day and night when Zhang Yuxian entered the Lian tribal clan was not appropriate.

Lian Chengyu wanted to use the frost toxin to continue harming Yi Yun and slowly push him towards a miserable death. It would also allay suspicions away from him since dead men tell no tales.

As for Yi Yun, he planned to absorb all the energy of the desolate bones before he fell out with Lian Chengyu. He wanted to break through to the Qi Gatherer realm, increasing the chips in his hand.

As such, both of them quickly hit it off as they each had their own schemes. With that, Yi Yun happily went to refine the desolate bone.

Of course, to Lian Chengyu, Yi Yun’s elated behavior resembled an immature kid.

“This retard. I’m sending him to his death, yet he remains so happy. How could my talent lose to this retard? How humiliating is that!” Lian Chengyu sneered. He balled his fist so tightly that his knuckles emitted soft explosive sounds.

…

Yi Yun was pining after the desolate bones, as he had not absorbed its energy for three days.

Without the desolate bones supplementing him with energy, Yi Yun’s cultivation was slower. He would also feel hungry as a result.

“Damn it kid, where did you die to?”

The dark faced men in charge of refining the bones snapped at Yi Yun.

These men had been staying up on the Lian Clan Herb Mountain, so they were not aware of the events that happened with Zhang Yuxian.

Their impression of Yi Yun was still that of an ill-ridden child. So they were not amiable towards him.

Yi Yun did not pay them any attention. He went to his familiar spot and began chopping wood.

Today, he was prepared to absorb all the energy from the desolate bone because Yi Yun knew that there was not much time left. Lian Chengyu’s patience might run out in a few days.

He had to break through into the fifth Mortal Blood level, the Qi Gatherer realm.

Facing the burning cauldron, Yi Yun took in a deep breath. In his vision, he saw endless points of lights.

These points of lights were like a delectable cuisine; Yi Yun was already drooling.

Come on, I’ll eat it clean!

With that in mind, Yi Yun conjured up a purple vortex with his heart in the eye of the storm.

In that split second, Yi Yun felt his body heat up. A heat flow began circulating through the conception and governor vessels that Yi Yun had just recently opened up.

After that, in Yi Yun’s vision, several purplish-red light dots appeared from the cauldron’s mouth before an uncountable number of light dots began to emerge from the “Li Fire Water”, and flew towards Yi Yun like a flock of birds!

“This…” Yi Yun was momentarily shocked. The number of light dots were more than he had anticipated. It had even formed a line!

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

The light drops rained on Yi Yun’s body, entering his meridians without resistance.

Yi Yun suddenly felt his body tremble. He felt his meridians were about to burst!

Pain!

An extremely intense pain caused Yi Yun to fall to the ground. And the energies were still entering his body without pause.

If the men refining the desolate bones could see, they would see Yi Yun’s body covered by a halo.

40 - : Each having a Scheme

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had mustered up his strength to absorb the energy from the desolate bones today, but he did not expect that the energy would be so overwhelmingly violent.

He had originally estimated that he would need at least five to six days to finish absorbing the desolate bone’s energy.

But currently, Yi Yun had absorbed more energy in those few seconds than the cumulative amount he had absorbed a few days ago!

Could this be a result from opening up the meridians?

Yi Yun felt the warmth within his body’s meridians. He suddenly came to an understanding.

This was the first time he was absorbing the desolate bone after breaking through into the fourth level of Mortal Blood, the Meridians realm!

Previously, Yi Yun’s meridians were blocked, so he could only absorb the desolate bone’s energy using his flesh. As there was a limit to his flesh’s capacity, Yi Yun would normally be satiated quickly.

But with his meridians opened up, it was different. The meridians were the body’s channels to transfer Yuan Qi, so their capacity were much higher than flesh.

Meridians were like an energy highway, and with Yi Yun reaching the Meridians realm, it was equivalent to him opening up that energy highway within his body.

Originally, the desolate bone’s energy would seep into Yi Yun’s body, but now, the energy would enter his body directly using the meridian highway. It was completely incomparable.

Yi Yun had no formal education with regards to martial arts, so he did not know the difference. Due to this, he had hurt himself, and the injury was quite serious. Yi Yun had only opened up his meridians a few days ago, so he was not able to withstand the energy surge.

He had basically absorbed all the desolate bone essence from the Frost Python in an instant!

“There’s such a thing…absorbing too much energy will result in this. That’s some bad luck.” Yi Yun felt extremely unlucky. He felt his meridians all around his body about to break. It was as if he needed hospitalization from indigestion after eating at an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet.

In fact, if the energy was beyond a certain amount, it could break a person’s meridians.

It was not something new in the martial arts world. Commoners could die from being unable to digest aged herbs. Some warriors would explode to their deaths when they weren’t able to digest the desolate bone relic they had consumed.

This manner of death was truly pathetic. Yi Yun felt it was no different from death by overeating.

Yi Yun felt his body burn up. He felt something in his throat before a mouthful of blood surged upwards.

“Hey, little monkey, why are you lying on the ground? Are you playing dead so that you don’t have to work?” A black-faced man grumpily scolded. This man had a son, “Da Tou”. He had even compared “Da Tou” with Yi Yun a few days ago.

“Damn it, did you hear me?” Da Tou’s father flared up when he saw Yi Yun still sprawled on the ground. He threw down his axe, ready to kick Yi Yun a few times. But he noticed the paleness on Yi Yun’s face and how his body was trembling. Yi Yun’s nostrils and ears were bleeding fresh blood.

Seeing that, Da Tou’s father was dumbfounded!

Something had happened!

Although Da Tou’s father wasn’t a good man; he had a sharp tongue and loved to hoard the belongings of others; however, he would fluster when encountering a dying person.

“Hurry, report to the superiors. Tell them someone is dying.” Da Tou’s father told his companions.

This wasn’t Da Tou’s father cursing Yi Yun, but having seen Yi Yun bleeding from seven orifices, how could he not die?

In the Lian tribal clan, there was practically no medical procedures. Due to the lack of resources, the tribespeople had weak immunities. Even a common cold would cause death, let alone bleeding from all seven orifices.

To Da Tou’s father, Yi Yun was doomed!

“I say little monkey, please don’t die here. If you want to die, please go somewhere else…” Da Tou’s father was about to grab Yi Yun, but when he touched Yi Yun’s hand, he felt a burning sensation. Da Tou’s dad cried in pain. He fell over, and crashed into a pile of firewood. He had almost hit his head on the red hot cauldron. If he did, his life would be practically over.

Even so, Da Tou’s father burned a handful of his hair. It scared him ashen. It was as if something had entered his body when he touched Yi Yun.

“What the?” Da Tou’s father was shocked. This matter was too strange. It was as if he had been bitten by a snake. The hand he had used to touch Yi Yun was still shaking.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Many men rushed over.

Da Tou’s father had hardly recovered from his shock, but he said, “I’m not sure if this kid is possessed. Quick! Inform Young Master Lian.”

A man rushed to make a report after Da Tou’s father finished his sentence.

Da Tou’s father began thinking, and said to Yi Yun in fear, “I say little monkey…Ah no, I say little brother. What’s wrong with you? You must hang on. I’ve already called people over. The tribe’s doctor will be here soon.”

Although Da Tou’s father had said that, he knew that it was unlikely that the only doctor in the tribe would step up to save Yi Yun.

That doctor was exclusive to the upper echelon of the tribe. If not, with a thousand people in the tribe, he would never be able to handle it if everyone consulted him when they were sick. Even if he could, there was insufficient medicine. The Lian tribal clan’s medicine was extremely precious.

So when a poor person fell sick, they had to rely on themselves. If they couldn’t hang on, then they would just die. After all, life was cheap.

“I say little brother, I was greedy before. I stole your porridge. Please don’t blame me.” Da Tou’s father did not know that Yi Yun had been appreciated by Zhang Yuxian, but seeing Yi Yun on his deathbed, he decided to reconcile with Yi Yun “before his death”. He was worried Yi Yun would turn into a ghost and haunt him for revenge.

The people in the vast wilderness were superstitious. It was probably because they needed a crutch in life because of their tough life. They believed that the evil would go to Hell, and the good would go to Heaven. The poor had the opportunity to reincarnate into a good family.

Yi Yun heard all of this and was at a loss whether to cry or to laugh. I’m not dead yet, and I’m already being cursed.

However, this was a painful lesson. If he absorbed too much desolate bone essence, he could really die.

To be in this state today was some ill luck. The phrase too great a pleasure will bring about sadness was the exact way to describe his current state.

…

As Yi Yun was suffering from his damaged meridians while bleeding from his seven orifices, Lian Chengyu had already received the news from Zhao Tiezhu.

“Young Master Lian, hehe. That Yi Yun is not going to make it. I heard he was possessed. His nostrils and mouth are pouring blood!”

Zhao Tiezhu was delighted when he heard that Yi Yun was in trouble. This kid who was appreciated by Lord Lian is doomed for sure.

“Oh?” Lian Chengyu was originally training, but after hearing Zhao Tiezhu’s words, his movements slowed down, but an elated look flashed in his eyes.

Possession? Lian Chengyu felt it was just the poor perception of stupid commoners. Lian Chengyu was sure that Yi Yun’s situation was a result of the desolate bone’s frost energy and the Blood Thinning Pill.

It’s time for the kid to die!

41 - : Wounded

CKtalon  CKtalon

The symptoms of being invaded by the Frost Python’s frost energy and the overdrafting of a person’s life force from a Blood Thinning Pill was the same as what Yi Yun was experiencing.

Most of the time people would vomit black blood and exhibit an ashen look of death. Although it wasn’t so spectacular like bleeding from the seven orifices, minor deviations were not abnormal. After all, everyone had different physical conditions.

And Lian Chengyu had the impression that Yi Yun’s body was too weak despite him having martial arts talent. His life force was not enough for the Blood Thinning Pill’s overdraft, so among the men refining the desolate bones, Yi Yun would be the first to succumb.

“That little slave succumbed so quickly. I was planning on playing with him for another two days. Too bad, he couldn’t live up to it.” Lian Chengyu did not believe that Yi Yun had any chance of escaping his fate.

The Frost Python’s frost toxin was without cure. For a commoner, it was fatal. Even Lian Chengyu would not be able to withstand the Frost Python’s frost energy, let alone Yi Yun. If not, he would not have needed to sacrifice so many people from the tribe to absorb the frost toxin.

This sort of frost toxin could only be gotten rid off by a Desolate Heaven Master. If not, even a Purple Blood Warrior would not dare to take in the Frost Python’s desolate bone essence!

Lian Chengyu was actually worried about Yi Yun’s impending death. With Yi Yun dying the moment Zhang Yuxian left, would such a coincidence lead to Zhang Yuxian’s suspicion?

But Lian Chengyu’s worry gave him pause for a second; in the next second, he carried on with his training.

His motions were smooth as per normal; no one could pick out the slightest fault.

After he finished his set of moves, Lian Chengyu slowly cooled down. Each movement was done with precise attention to detail.

After finishing, Lian Chengyu suddenly thought of something. The corners of his mouth curved up. Yi Yun had given him an inspiration!

“It’s no big deal. So what if he dies? Don’t let it affect the refinement of the desolate bone,” Lian Chengyu said coldly.

“Of course, the refinement of the desolate bone is guaranteed! I have already ordered the rest to keep working, but…what should we do with the little bastard’s body? Should I find a few brothers, hang the little bastard up, and after mutilating him, feed him to the dogs?” Zhao Tiezhu said with a smile. Yi Yun’s death would be the punishment he deserved.

Zhao Tiezhu’s ass was still hurting and he had irrationally blamed his anal pains on Yi Yun.

Lian Chengyu coldly snorted saying, “You want the entire village to see Yi Yun’s corpse hung up to be mutilated? When that happens, people will think that it was us who harmed Yi Yun. When Lord Zhang questions us, who is going to bear the responsibility!”

“Yes, Young Master Lian is right,” said Zhao Tiezhu immediately. “I think too simply. Young Master Lian is wise after all.”

“Well, drag Yi Yun’s body to Jiang Xiaorou’s house. It would be bad luck for him to die beside the refinement cauldron!” Remember, when you bring the little bastard over, make sure that he is really dead. Forget it, I’ll verify it myself.

Lian Chengyu found it odd that Yi Yun was able to revive time after time again. Although he was doomed to die from the desolate bone’s frost toxin, Lian Chengyu still wanted to be assured.

“Jiang Xiaorou? Haha, I wonder what that little girl will be like when she sees her brother!” Zhao Tiezhu said with an excited look.

Lian Chengyu knew that with Jiang Xiaorou and Yi Yun’s relationship, she would faint the moment she saw Yi Yun.

But Lian Chengyu did not have any tenderness toward women. This was the vast wilderness, rife with killings, both cruel and tragic. Lian Chengyu wanted to let Jiang Xiaorou know what it was like in the vast wilderness.

He would not spoil any women, even if he liked her.

He was a future elite; he wanted to make women understand that it was him, Lian Chengyu, who rescued them from suffering. He was the one who gave them food to eat, a place to stay.

The women needed to learn how to appreciate him, learn how to be grateful, and learn how to serve him in reverence. Any woman he treated well was receiving a great gift, while any woman he treated badly was just receiving her lot in life. Without him, all those women would have died in the vast wilderness!

This was because of Lian Chengyu’s inferiority complex. He hated the world, and he slowly evolved into a bigoted dictator. He wanted to become an overlord that dictated the lives of everyone around him.

…

With Yi Yun in trouble, the men who were refining the desolate bones were convinced that he had been possessed. None of them dared to touch Yi Yun.

It was not a joke. If Yi Yun died, it was possible for the spirit to switch hosts. What if it possessed one of them?

If not for the cauldron they had to man, they would have all been long gone.

Yi Yun was pale in the face and bleeding from his nostrils.

Today was really a big one, to actually suck dry the desolate bone in one go!

Yi Yun had to thank his lucky stars that his tiny meridians were not torn apart by such a large amount of energy,

Noticing that the informant had returned, Yi Yun knew that he could no longer wait here since he was in no condition to return to the village. He did not wish to leave his life in the hands of others. In his present state, he had no way of resisting Lian Chengyu.

“I need to find a quiet spot, and quickly digest all these oppressive energy.” Yi Yun thought before lifting his body. He walked towards the chasm nearby.

At the bottom of this chasm was the Lian tribal clan’s East River.

The East River’s water flow was extremely turbulent. The waterfall where Yi Yun had previously practiced at was a part of the East River.

“Kid…Wh…What are you doing?” Seeing Yi Yun walk towards the chasm, it seemed like he was about to jump off. The men’s faces were white with fear.

“He’s been possessed by evil spirits! Evil spirits!” Da Tou’s father lost his calm. He felt that Yi Yun’s eyes were glazed, and he guessed that Yi Yun did not know that he was just above the chasm.

Jumping down would spell a guaranteed death!

And following the East River’s flow, it would reach a waterfall. If he fell down the waterfall, death was no longer a surprise.

“Sh…Should we stop him?” A man swallowed his saliva and stammered.

But no one responded. Under the sky, only their lives mattered.

It was possible for them to be possessed if they made contact with Yi Yun.

“This little brother is already so seriously injured so I doubt he will survive. It’s best to cut short prolonged suffering, so jumping down isn’t a bad idea. Then…little brother Yi, we will not send you off. Have a good trip through the netherworld and don’t blame us for your death.” Da Tou’s father comforted himself and at the same time advised Yi Yun, hoping that he would not seek revenge after his death.

At this point, Yi Yun had already reached the edge of the chasm. He had already recovered a tiny amount of his Yuan Qi, but the energy in his body was still extremely turbulent. The heat was surging throughout his body, causing extreme discomfort.

The current Yi Yun wasn’t weak. On the contrary, he had an inexhaustible supply of energy. Jumping down the chasm into the waves would actually allow him to use up the energy.

It was also his best route of escape.

Yi Yun did not hesitate. With one step, he dropped down from the cliff.

The men drew a gasp. Even someone with nine lives would not survive the drop with their seven orifices bleeding

“Splash!” Yi Yun crashed into the river. The chasm was about fifty meters high. Even as a Mortal Blood level four, Yi Yun felt the pain from the fall. After all, he was not in the best of conditions.

It was already deep in winter, so the river water was icy cold. It was only because of the fast-flowing water that prevented the water from freezing.

Yi Yun followed the drift. He felt the raging energies in his meridians flare up in his entire body.

Yi Yun held his breath and swam against the water flow!

Yi Yun knew that he was in such a state because he had absorbed too much energy. The energy within him needed to be consumed, or his meridians would tear from the energy surge!

Swimming was a good way to consume the energy. He had to endure the pain no matter how excruciating it was.

If he could bring the amount of energy down to within the limits of his body, he would be able to recover slowly.

Yi Yun calculated that in about an hour, he would be brought to the waterfall that he had previously trained at!

42 - : Jumping down the Chasm

CKtalon  CKtalon

The water flow slowly turned into a mighty flow of stormy waters. Yi Yun knew that he was approaching the waterfall.

He kept adjusting his breathing rhythm in order to keep his body in its optimum state.

On Earth, people had dived from sixty meters without dying, but the East River’s waterfall boasted a drop of a hundred meters.

Although Yi Yun’s fitness level was superior, he had never undergone professional diving lessons. Besides, he was not in his best condition, so it was a huge challenge.

“Boom!”

Yi Yun could hear the sound of the waterfall crashing into the plunge basin. The rapids had already sucked Yi Yun forward.

After churning in the water, Yi Yun suddenly felt an emptiness under his feet. The instant feeling of weightlessness overwhelmed Yi Yun. All he saw from above was the whiteness of the torrential waters.

With that, he plummeted a hundred meters down the waterfall.

From afar, the majestic cliffs looked like a giant standing at attention. The waterfall that flowed from the cliffs looked like the sword of the giant. With the giant leaning on the sword, the scene was extremely breathtaking.

As for Yi Yun, he was just a tiny black dot rolling down the giant sword at an impressive speed!

“Splash!”

The large splash resembled a lotus in full bloom.

The water assault Yi Yun experienced after resurfacing was tremendous. The powerful force attacked his organs and body. It made Yi Yun feel like his body was being forged by a hammer while resting on an anvil.

This heavy blow loosened Yi Yun’s muscles. Although it caused immense pain throughout his body, he still felt an incredible sense of comfort.

Yi Yun held his breath and dived straight down!

His body was on fire. The deeper he went into the icy cold water, the more comfortable he felt.

By doing so, he had quietly dived to a depth he had never previously reached.

Till he…

Reached the bottom!

This was the first time Yi Yun had managed to reach the bottom of the plunge basin!

At the bottom of the plunge basin was clean and untainted sand that resembled polished jade. Yi Yun curled up his body into a fetal position, and he seemed to fall into deep sleep at the bottom of the plunge basin.

He had seemed to lose the concept of time. After an unknown period of time, Yi Yun felt a cool feeling in his heart. It prevented him from suffocating even though he wasn’t able to breathe.

The heat in his meridians began to cool down from the cold water. The water carried on exerting its pressure on Yi Yun’s organs…

Yi Yun felt as if he had returned to his mother’s body. He felt like a baby in his mother’s womb, cut off from the outside world…

It was as if a fire was burning in his body. Yi Yun’s only thought was to digest that energy as fast as possible. If not, it could burst his channels, and result in a devastating outcome.

In the nearly zero degree celsius plunge basin, Yi Yun’s body temperature rapidly decreased. A person in zero degrees air would not die as long as they stayed awake. But when surrounded by zero-degrees water, it would not take ten minutes for the person to be frozen completely.

The low temperature, high pressure and lack of oxygen was a harsh environment. It allowed Yi Yun to quickly consume the desolate bone’s energy within his body. As his body consumed the energy, his physical condition was improved as he went through another round of marrow cleansing.

Time passed but there was still silence underwater. There was not the slightest movement in the plunge basin. It was as if Yi Yun had entered a completely independent space-time dimension. In this dimension, he could hear his slow but lingering heart beat.

“Dum! Dum! Dum!”

Again and again, the rhythm spaced out in intervals like a pendulum.

Slowly, it seemed like Yi Yun’s soul had left his body. His last thought in his mind had disappeared. It was as if Yi Yun had frozen.

A person who loses his consciousness during a deep dive was doomed to die.

Although Yi Yun had lost consciousness, the Purple Crystal in his chest was slowly pulsating, sending energy to every part of Yi Yun’s body.

Yi Yun had entered an ethereal state. Every cell of his body was absorbing the desolate bone energy to fight the cold and fighting the alarming pressure!

In fact, even a top skill like “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” was unable to temper every inch of flesh and blood. No matter if it was “Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain” or “Dragon Rising to Nine Skies”, there would be parts of the body it would miss.

Wherever it missed, it would become a weakness of the warrior.

Only the stance “Dragon Dancing in Vast Water” could use the enormous water pressure to, in theory, uniformly train every inch of a warrior’s body.

Nonetheless, there was a physical limit. Not many could practice “Dragon Dancing in Vast Water” to the extreme.

To be able to temper every inch of flesh and blood, one had to enter an ethereal state of mind, or a person’s body will be subjected to the regulations of the mind. The mind will consciously use the strong organs that was most often used. For instance, when a person pushes a boulder, they will inadvertently use their familiar hands, and exert pressure.

Only by emptying one’s consciousness could every cell resist the pressure and cold naturally. Only then can the body be tempered completely. Under such a state, a person’s body will follow its instincts. This was also the concept of “No Law, No Shape, No Void, No Me”!

To be able to enter this state was extremely difficult. It was even harder to achieve that in the deep waters as losing consciousness was equivalent to suicide!

Although Yi Yun had lost his consciousness, the Purple Crystal Origins was distributing energy through Yi Yun’s blood, nourishing Yi Yun’s brain, meridians and organs with energy. A person’s body needed to breathe because the body needed to release energy through respiration. But with the Purple Crystal Origins providing energy, oxygen was no longer needed.

In this state, Yi Yun unwittingly spent a whole day and night underwater!

All his bones, organs, and cells were suddenly alive. It seemed like they had developed their independent consciousness.

It was until late in the morning of the second day that Yi Yun slowly floated up. It was just like a drowned body floating…

…

The Cloud Wilderness was one of the twenty-four wild lands of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Besides the wonderlands that were protected by the large tribes, few people trod through the wilderness.

In the Cloud Wilderness, there was another place known as “Desolate Lands” other than the wonderlands where people gathered around!

The Desolate Lands had rich Power of Desolates. And the really strong desolate beasts were all found in the middle of the “Desolate Lands”!

A lacking warrior would definitely die if he entered the Desolate Lands!!

But…at that moment, along the boundaries of the “Desolate Lands” of the Cloud Wilderness appeared an elder and a young girl.

The elder was dressed in a yellow robe. He was overweight and he had a ruddy complexion. His eyes were small, making him look ugly.

As for the young girl beside him, she had a slim figure. She looked seventeen. Her eyebrows were curved above a pair of slender eyes. A pair of pupils as clear as spring water resided within those eyes. They were extremely clear.

The young lady wore a set of linen clothes. Under the rough sleeves, an arm as white as a lotus root could be seen.

This girl had delicate fair skin, with thin blood vessels running through.

Generally speaking, such white skin with redness was very beautiful. This was also a symbol of health. However, this girl’s skin though white gave off a feeling of frailty.

But one wouldn’t think so just by looking at the situation.

The young girl’s jade-like hands were dyed red from blood. And in front of the young girl lay a dead fierce beast the size of a cow. This girl had slain it single-handedly!

43 - : No Law, No Shape, No Void, No Me

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Master, didn’t you say we were going to the northwestern divine wilderness to kill the desolate beasts there? Why did we end up coming to the Cloud Wilderness? The Cloud Wilderness is a barren heathland, probably void of strong desolate beasts!” The young girl said with a sweet and gentle voice.

“Northwestern divine wilderness…Sigh. You were born with Yin Meridians and lack physical strength. Among the desolate beasts that roam the northwestern divine wilderness, there are some high level desolate beasts. It will be tough for you to handle them,” said the fat elder as he shook his head.

“Alright, Xingtong, I’ll give you fifteen minutes to refine this level six fierce beast into a desolate bone relic. As mentioned before, this is to give you experience. Unless your life is in danger, I will not interfere.” After the fat elder finished his words, he chose a big rock to rest his buttocks, and began to look at the scenery.

The girl nodded her head. She rolled up her sleeves with a finger, then she took out a bronze disk which was inscribed with dense runes. The moment the disk appeared, it flew up into the sky and grew larger. Very soon, the disk was about the size of a house. Following that, the level six fierce beast was absorbed by the disk, turning into a blinding white light.

In the white light, the fierce beast’s carcass seemed to burn up. Its flesh melted and together with the essence from the blood, it seeped into the bones. In a few seconds, the fierce beast had turned into a skeleton. After a few more seconds, the skeleton also began to melt and started to fuse…

As this was going on, the girl’s fingers began to link up to form a seal. Her fingers were long, and due to the fast movements of the sealing process, finger shadows were formed. A series of sealing charms were sent out by her, flying into the disk as they combined with the beast’s bones.

In less than fifteen minutes, the entire beast’s bones had completely melted, eventually reducing to a bone relic the size of a green bean. If Lian Chengyu saw this scene, he would have yelped out in shock.

Desolate Heaven Master! This young girl was a Desolate Heaven Master! It was hard to believe that the girl had this fearsome ability of easily refining a level six fierce beast in less than fifteen minutes. If this girl wanted, refining the Lian tribal clan’s Frost Python desolate bone would have been a breeze!

The bone relic fell into the palm of the girl who began frowning upon seeing the bone relic. She was clearly not satisfied. “It’s still not small enough.” The girl shook her head. Her goal was to reduce a six grade fierce beast to the size of a rice grain in fifteen minutes. Judging from the outcome, it seemed like she was still a distance away from the goal.

“Xintong, don’t be too eager. You are the most talented Desolate Heaven Master I’ve seen in all my years of traveling the world, unfortunately…” The fat elder said with a sigh. To be able to reduce a six grade fierce beast to a relic the size of a rice grain within fifteen minutes was not something he could have done at seventeen.

It was a pity that the girl named Xintong had Yin Meridians. Her skin was so pale because of the extremely rare condition of having Yin Meridians. It was a terminal illness that would only appear in females.

A girl with Yin Meridians was weak to the cold. Even during the summer, she would have to wear a coat. A normal person with Yin Meridians would at most live to eighteen before falling into a slumber for two to three days. As time went on, she would sleep longer and more frequently, to the point of each slumber lasting nearly a year. Over time, her body’s vitality would slowly wilt away, eventually leading to death.

But Xintong was born in the ancient Lin family clan, which enjoyed an old heritage. With the support of the Lin family, she could consume fire elemental desolate beast relics. With the fire elemental relics’ fiery force, she was able to combat the chilling cold within her body.

Although living a long life wasn’t a problem, for cultivation it was a different story. A person born with Yin Meridians could never completely open up her meridians during the Meridian realm. A latent danger would result from this realm. It would also be harder to cultivate to a higher realm, and the higher it was, the more difficult it was. Eventually, a bottleneck was reached!

Although having Yin Meridians was a curse, there were always exceptions. Legends told of a human Great Empress who had Yin Meridians during ancient times. She had used her own strength to connect her meridians. When the Yin Meridians were connected again, an unknown transformation would happen. However, this was poorly documented in the history books.

Lin Xintong’s master was the fat elder. He had tried to connect up Lin Xintong’s broken meridians using ancient methods left by Desolate Heaven Masters, but none of them were successful. Those ancient methods were arcane and obscure. Be it the ingredients or the refinement techniques, they were too confusing for the old fat man, resulting in abysmal results. The fat elder cared for his disciple and he had tried all sorts of methods while wandering the vast wilderness, but to no avail.

“Master, don’t sigh. Although I have Yin Meridians, with fire elemental bone relics, I can live for at least three hundred years. I’m much more blessed than other commoners.” Being born from a clan with a long heritage, the young girl never needed to worry about her meals and she had seen all sorts of treasures. But over the years of wandering the wilderness, her experience taught her the hardships of the world. She knew how commoners struggled in this world. This made her empathetic. Indeed, although she had Yin Meridians, she was much more blessed than the commoners by thousands of times.

The girl swallowed the bone relic that she had just completed refining. A bone relic refined from fierce beasts was poorer in quality to a desolate bone relic. However, few warriors actually ate desolate bone relics. It was sufficient to eat fierce beast relics, as it took a long time to refine a desolate bone relic.

“Up ahead, we will enter the territory of the Lian tribal clan. Hmm, this Lian tribal clan is a small tribe of less than a thousand households. We don’t really have to enter,” said the fat elder as he took out a map made of rubber. He unfurled it and while looking at it, he said happily, “This map is all thanks to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Jin Long Wei. They created a new map. Originally the map of the Cloud Wilderness had not been updated in eight hundred years. Many small tribes have changed positions and an old map would not have all this indications.”

Lin Xintong looked at her master’s map, provoking a sense of doubt within her. To make a map of the Cloud Wilderness was a thankless and pointless job. Those small tribes were as many as the sand grains of the five Ganges Rivers. It was unknown which tribe would collapse, giving birth to a new one. Such a detailed map required a great deal of effort to draw, but it would be useless in about a hundred years.

Connecting it to the recent ongoings of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom in the Cloud Wilderness, Lin Xintong asked, “Master, why did we deliberately travel from afar to the Cloud Wilderness? Also, I heard that the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has sent the Jin Long Wei here, in preparation for the warrior selection in the Cloud Wilderness that will be held soon. It requires a lot of effort to hold a warrior selection in the vast wilderness, so why did the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom do it?”

“Is the reason why we are here in the Cloud Wilderness related to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s selection?”

44 - : Female Desolate Heaven Master

CKtalon  CKtalon

Few people resided in the Cloud Wilderness, while desolate and wild beasts were everywhere. This resulted in many small tribes.

Under such situations, to gather all the small tribes together for an examination needed lots of manpower and resources.

Although the kingdom had a long history, the number of warrior selections held in the vast wilderness could be counted with one hand.

It was needless to say that being born in the vast wilderness was a tragedy. Not only was there a lack of resources, even a prodigy would not be noticed by others. So it was impossible to get ahead in life.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom knew that, but nothing could help the situation. Besides the Cloud Wilderness, even some prodigies from the 108 states might be missed!

Over the years, an unknown number of prodigies born in the wilderness had died in vain. They either died from starvation, illness, falling to their deaths while picking herbs or being eaten by beasts.

Those who could become great men ended up dying as beggars. Even after their deaths, they were not given a proper burial and were simply buried underground. Sometimes there might be a wooden stick erected as a tombstone–just like Yi Yun’s. However, these tombstones would decay and collapse after a few years. Once those who remembered the dead died too, their presence in the world was erased.

Born poor and dying without a trace; that was the fate of the people in the wilderness. Lian Chengyu understood it deeply, resulting in his distorted view of life.

The fat elder said, “Our trip here has both something and nothing to do with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s selection. To put it more concretely, the reason why we are here and the reason for the sudden warrior selection by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom are likely caused by the same incident.”

“Oh?” This had evoked the young girl’s interest. A pair of slender long eyes gently stirred as her long eyelashes caught the faint sunlight.

“Five months ago, some strange phenomenon had happened in the Cloud Wilderness. It was a day with clear skies, but in a couple of seconds, the entire sky in the Cloud Wilderness, a region of a few hundred thousand kilometers was covered by thick clouds!”

“And the strange thing about it was, the clouds were purple in color!”

“The purple cloud covered the entire Cloud Wilderness. This sort of phenomenon was simply amazing. Even the astronomers of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom declared that night an astronomical phenomenon, and named it: ’Purple Clouds’ Birth’!”

“This phenomenon had happened again two months ago. It was even more spectacular, covering the celestial bodies and masking the world!”

“This Purple Clouds’ Birth had alarmed the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom; but for the commoners in the Cloud Wilderness, they did not know anything. As the phenomenon happened at night, with their normal eyesight, it would be hard for them to distinguish the colors at night. They also didn’t know that the purple clouds had covered the entire Cloud Wilderness, nor did they know that the Purple Clouds’ Birth had caused a Yuan Qi disorder in the confines of the Cloud Wilderness.”

“At that time, even in the deepest parts of the Cloud Wilderness, desolate beasts that lay dormant for hundreds of thousands of years were startled!”

“There are only a few possibilities for such a phenomenon to happen.”

“First, it could be the birth of some treasure. However, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had used treasure compasses five months ago to search the Cloud Wilderness. Although the treasure compasses would have been unable to find the exact location of the treasure, they would have been able to confirm the existence of a treasure within a large vicinity.”

“But the treasure compasses did not ready at all. That meant that there was either no treasure, or that the treasure was so mysterious that the detector could not detect it. If it was the latter, it would be hard to imagine! Such a treasure would be capable of stirring a storm of bloodshed on the lands!”

“The second possibility is a reclusive lord among the human race had made a huge breakthrough. Or it could have been an ancient desolate beast causing chaos. However, such a possibility is extremely unlikely. Although the Cloud Wilderness is extensive, it would be a speck when considered under the backdrop of the entire world. There’s nothing special about it, so a reclusive lord or an ancient desolate beast would not likely choose this place.”

“As for the third possibility, the odds are slimmer. They are legends purely from hearsay, it’s pointless speaking of those. I’ve brought you here to the Cloud Wilderness, one was for that phenomenon, for who knows if there will be a treasure that will join up your Yin Meridians!”

“Master…” the girl sighed faintly. Although she was touched, she could not bear seeing this fat elder rushing everywhere over even the tiniest possibility of curing her of her terminal illness.

But she knew that her terminal illness was a curse. Although rumors mentioned of an ancient Great Empress having managed to join up her meridians through her own powers, it was after all a rumor.

Such rumors proved the difficulty of joining up the meridians of this terminal illness!

The fat elder knew Lin Xintong’s thoughts and smiled, “Alright, coming here for such a phenomenon to enrich your experience is a must, even if there are no results from it. This phenomenon that happened within the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has alarmed the Tai Ah royal family. Besides the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, even neighboring kingdoms has sneaked into the Cloud Wilderness to investigate!”

“In the past few months, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has sent out the Jing Long Wei, looking for the cause of the phenomenon. They were hoping that it was the revelation of some treasure. Since the Jing Long Wei were in the Cloud Wilderness, they might as well hold a warrior selection.”

After the fat elder’s monologue, the girl understood immediately. It was no surprise that the Jing Long Wei had drawn up a detailed map, that included even the thousand-household small tribes for the Cloud Wilderness.

“Alright, let’s get going. After passing that mountain, we will pass through the Lian tribal clan, then we will stop by at the Tao tribal clan. That is a big tribe of over a hundred thousand households. We can rest there.”

Just as the fat elder finished saying that, his heart skipped a beat and let out of soft exclamation.

“Master, what’s the matter?”

“In the waterfall ahead, there’s someone there. It seems like a case of drowning. Let’s go take a look!” he said as he started moving forward through the dense forest. Although his steps looked slow, each step yielded a large distance, as if the ground under his feet had contracted in length.

Lin Xintong followed as well. They were people who lived at the pinnacle of existence, and they would not interfere with the sufferings of the millions of people in this world. But if they were to actually encounter a situation, they would interfere by saving lives.

…

Yi Yun did not know how long he had been under the plunge basin. From the previous night, after absorbing all of the desolate bone’s energy in one go, Yi Yun had jumped into the plunge basin, entering a trance-like state. Till now, Yi Yun was still not fully awake; it was as if he was still in a dream.

The desolate bone’s energy had already been digested completely by Yi Yun’s body, with not a drop left!

His body had entered starvation mode once again.

In a daze, Yi Yun felt a soft hand grabbing him by the collar, lifting him up…

Yi Yun’s body felt light, like he was on a soft grass patch, and the soft hands were pressing on his chest.

“Puah!”

Yi Yun spat out a mouthful of water. The water wasn’t clear, but cloudy. It was mixed with Yi Yun’s impurities that had resulted from his physical cultivation.

“Eh?”

The girl who had saved Yi Yun did not reveal any expression of aversion, but instead, it was one of surprise. As a Desolate Heaven Master, she knew immediately what it meant by spitting out such water.

After Yi Yun woke up and recovered his vision, he had trouble opening his eyes from the bright sunlight.

45 - : Purple Clouds’ Birth

CKtalon  CKtalon

In a haze, Yi Yun saw the girl inches away from him clearly.

Her pale white skin, clear eyes, a fresh feeling and a weak scholarly aura that exuded from her body made her seem like a daughter of a big tribe.

But her clothes were not made of extremely expensive silk, instead, it was made of white linen. It was washed clean, without a spot marring it.

In the vast wilderness, this type of clothing was what the poor wore.

A rich child would only wear linen clothes when an elderly relative had passed away. This was to indicate an impoverished state, also known as putting on mourning apparel.

The girl in front of him did not look like a poor child in terms of her temperament or looks; yet, she wore linen clothes.

And with her slim figure and jade-like skin; after wearing the linen clothes, it gave an impression of a fairy hiding in the mountains after she descended to the mortal world.

“You…You are…” Yi Yun had doubts. This girl was definitely not from the Lian tribal clan, so could she be an outsider?

Yi Yun looked at the sky and it was already late in the morning. When he entered the water, it was in the middle of the night. Did he stay in the water for a whole night?

Suddenly, Yi Yun realized something with a great shock!

He had stayed underwater for an entire night, which was beyond the capabilities of a normal person.

Although Yi Yun had been in a trance-like state, he knew that the Purple Crystal’s cool energy flow had maintained his bodily functions, allowing him to not die of asphyxiation.

The Purple Crystal was his biggest secret.

Why would this girl be at the plunge basin at that moment? Did she know how long he had been in the water for?

Thankfully, the girl’s next words dispelled his worries.

“Why were you floating on the water? Were you drowning?”

Floating on the water?

He was apparently floating when the girl appeared.

Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief, and cupped his fists saying, “Thank you, Miss, for saving me, eh…”

Yi Yun then realized that there was a fat elder behind this girl. The elder’s head was full of silvery white hair, and he did not look young. However, his skin was extremely fresh and bright. Not only did he lack wrinkles, it was ruddy.

Yi Yun thought of a phrase “red amidst white, exceptional in might” out of nowhere.

Yi Yun felt a chill. This phrase was used to describe beautiful girls, but using it to describe an old man was ridiculous.

Yi Yun realized that the old man was looking at him cheekily as if he was very interested in him.

His eyes were originally small, and his face was plump. This smile had nearly caused his eyes to disappear, but that pair of eyes seemed to be able to see through Yi Yun.

Yi Yun suddenly had a feeling of having nowhere to hide, and that feeling was extremely uncomfortable.

Was he…able to see the Purple Crystal in my heart!?

But at the next moment, Yi Yun realized he had been worried for no reason. The fat elder’s gaze did not stay at his heart, but said with meaning in between the lines, “Young lad, you may be young, but you have many deep thoughts!”

“Oh?” Yi Yun shivered. What did the old man mean by that?

“You were not drowning, yet you thanked us. We didn’t even save you, but you still took advantage of the situation for your benefit. Are you hiding something? Your expression looked somewhat panicky just a while ago.”

Having said that, the fat elder smirked as if he had caught on to something.

Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat!

At that moment, the fat elder’s hand had already rested on Yi Yun’s shoulders. This made Yi Yun worried. Fuck, I hate it when people pat me on the shoulders! It nearly cost him his life the last time Lian Chengyu did it!

“Don’t misunderstand, I’m not interested in the little secret your body has.” The fat elder said jovially.

What a joke, as an elder of esteemed status, why would I harbor thoughts of the secret a child who was slightly more than ten years old would have? Furthermore, the child resided in a small tribal clan located in the vast wilderness. An equivalent would be like an emperor snatching the belongings of a small beggar.

How could that happen!

Of course, these were the thoughts of the fat elder, but in the eyes of Yi Yun, he felt the elder’s smile was…extremely wretched.

“I’m just curious…you seem to be…oh…” The fat elder’s expression changed as he said, “You can actually reach such a level?”

The fat elder’s words gave Yi Yun a slight treble.

Things had happened too suddenly. Yi Yun had just floated up from the water only to meet this old and young duo, and he had not been able to check his own physical condition. After checking, he realized his cultivation was…huh? Why is it still at the fourth level of mortal blood, Meridian realm?

His cultivation had not improved, but deep down, something was different.

“What is going on. Previously I had absorbed herbal essence from a huge pile of herbs, and with a tiny amount of desolate bone energy, I could go from a weakling to the realm of opening up my governor and conception vessels. Last night I had sucked dry all the desolate bone essence and succeeded in completely digesting it. I thought I would be able to surge into the legendary Purple Blood realm, but even if I did not reach it, I should be at the peak of the Qi Gatherer ream. Why am I still stuck at the Meridians realm?”

Having finished an entire piece of desolate bone, it was greatly disappointing to be still at the fourth level of Mortal Blood! This was the energy Lian Chengyu needed to break through into the Purple Blood realm.

Could my natural talent be that bad? But…what did the fat elder’s words mean, saying “actually” reach such a level?

Was breaking through to the Meridians realm an unbelievable feat for a warrior from a small tribe?

The fat elder looked with uncertainty at Yi Yun, mumbling, “Cleared Meridians, Dragon Pulse, Tempered Body, Bone Blood as One. It can’t be. This kid is born from the Cloud Wilderness and should be from the Lian tribal clan, it would be impossible to have a Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse?”

The fat elder looked at the dull clothes and torn old shoes Yi Yun wore, and guessed his background. Even if a disciple of a big tribe had come to the Cloud Wilderness for training, they would wear linen clothes, but it would be new; it would be different from Yi Yun, who had clearly worn those for years.

“Cleared Meridians, Dragon Pulse, Tempered Body, Bone Blood as One?”

Yi Yun did not know the meaning to the fat elder’s words, but he could tell that it was something good!

It appeared as if he had unknowingly obtained a great benefit?

“Master, you say this lad has a Tempered Body?” said the surprised young girl upon hearing the fat elder’s words.

It seemed like this assessment was something out of the ordinary!

“Yeah…if it was an elite from a family with a long heritage, it is of no surprise accomplishing it. But for a young poor child in the vast wilderness to accomplish a Tempered Body, it is very rare!”

The fat elder could tell that Yi Yun did not know the meaning of such a state, and explained to him, “Although there are five levels to Mortal Blood, only the first four levels have anything to do with training the body. The fifth level, Qi Gatherer is an intermediary stage between Mortal Blood and Purple Blood.

“Reaching the fourth level isn’t hard, but to train to the extreme, such that every inch of body reaches the state of Tempered Body is not easy. Such a person not only has cleared all of his meridians, his meridians are also stronger than a normal warrior’s. They would have a strong life force as if there was a dragon dancing within his body! And when the tempering of the body is complete, the bones, flesh, and blood are perfectly one. A strike would cause the bones and blood to shout out as one!”

The fat elder’s explanation enlightened Yi Yun. It was no wonder he still had zero improvements despite finishing more than half the desolate bone’s energy. All the energy was used to reach this Tempered Body state!

His improvements in his training had been fast, and Yi Yun knew the principle of more haste makes waste, so having risen through the levels at those speeds might not have been a good thing!

But having accidentally gone into deep sleep underwater, he had removed many latent problems!

“Hmm, your constitution is extremely normal,” said the old man as he squinted his eyes. Compared to Zhang Yuxian, his ability was much higher.

The method Zhang Yuxian had used to test Yi Yun’s talent had obtained the “talent” of the Purple Crystal.

As for this old man, he could tell Yi Yun’s true talent with his bare eyes. Yi Yun was stunned, this fat man had clearly reached the realm of having opened “Heaven’s Eye”!

46 - : Cleared Meridians, Dragon Pulse

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun knew that he was a normal person. Even just two months ago, this body was so weak that it could not even hold a chicken. The fat elder was already being very euphemistic by saying “extremely normal”.

Yi Yun was worried. If the fat elder had opened Heaven’s Eye, could he not see what lies within his heart…

“Normal constitution, born poor, yet…” The fat elder pondered. He looked at the plunge basin behind Yi Yun, and a thought flashed through his mind.

He touched all over Yi Yun’s body, giving him goosebumps.

What’s this old man doing, doesn’t he know it was improper to touch between men!?

“I understand now. This kid must have eaten some valuable item, and he trained his body in the deep pool. The valuable item’s violent energy was neutralized by the cold pool water. As such, you accidentally tempered your whole body, allowing you to reach such a state!”

This old man’s words made Yi Yun speechless. This old man was impressive. Although his guess was not fully accurate, he was in fact very close to the truth.

“To be able to obtain such an achievement at this age sure isn’t easy. Although it’s because you lucked out and managed to eat some treasure, in the future…I doubt there will be more. But, it’s still not easy!”

The fat elder’s words made Yi Yun roll his eyes. Was this a compliment or an insult!?

“Hey kid, I guess it must be fate that you met me…” said the fat elder as he reached into his chest as if he was taking something.

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. Is this the early indications of a pie in the sky? Could it be that the old man had appreciated him, and was planning on giving him some technique manual or desolate bone essence? Even magical pills would do!

The fat elder’s hand was thick and fat. He wore a gaudy jade ring on his thumb. It was unlike the wrinkly look normal elders would have.

Having grabbed something, his fat fist was clenched tight. Like a white steamed bun, he placed it on Yi Yun’s palm and released gently.

Clink! Clink!

A few bronze coins fell into Yi Yun’s hands. The bronze coins were still warm from the fat elder’s heat.

Bronze coins?

A dark cloud filled Yi Yun’s mind.

“Take it and buy some sweets.” said the fat elder as he smiled. He did so while waving his hands with an air of generosity. The linen clothed girl beside him smiled mildly. They had treated Yi Yun has a child.

“What the fuck!” Yi Yun looked at the twenty bronze coins in his hand, with a thousand lines of “fuck your mother” running through his head.

In this world, mortals did use gold, silver, and bronze as currency. But in the Cloud Wilderness, gold and silver were only an auxiliary form of payment. The real currency was food, armor, and weapons.

This old man was obviously an expert, but he was still required to carry around some currency in this world.

Silver bullion were a large denomination in the mortal world. It was essential to have bronze coins for the typical inn or food stall.

So it was not a surprise the old man had bronze coins.

But…

But to experts, gold and silver were of little value to them, let alone bronze coins. If you wanted to give me something, at least give me a few golden ingots!

Yi Yun was speechless.

Actually having such thoughts of hoping to get something out of nothing was an embarrassing. As the saying goes, “poverty acquaints men with strange bedfellows”.

With his training resources spent, Yi Yun was still in the Meridians realm. Although having a Tempered Body was great, he did not dare to hunt in the vast wilderness without being at the Purple Blood realm. Without hunting, how was he going to eat? Am I supposed to just eat grain porridge?

And even for grain porridge, Jiang Xiaorou had always left the grains for him, while she just drank the porridge water.

If Yi Yun were to starve, he would also cause Jiang Xiaorou to starve.

Yi Yun felt ridiculed, but he still collected the bronze coins. He might as well take it. After all, if he gave it to Jiang Xiaorou, she could exchange it with the tribe or other people for some food.

Indeed, there was no pie in the sky.

Also, the fat elder only considered him a child; hence, he was given some bronze coins for sweets as a form of amusement.

Although he had a Tempered Body, he was nothing special as his constitution was average and he had reached that state through the consumption of a treasure.

He was small, poor, and lacking in strength. He was also complete strangers with the old man, so why would the old man give him any benefits?

The old man just found him amusing, and he was just teasing him.

“I say, elder, where are you going?” Yi Yun tried to make conversation.

There was no harm in becoming an acquaintance of the old man after all.

“We are going to the Tao tribal clan.”

The fat elder did not bother keeping it secret.

“Tao tribal clan…” Yi Yun knew the Tao tribal clan was a large clan near to the Lian tribal clan and was the patron of the Lian tribal clan!

The Lian tribal clan’s manufacturing of weapons and armor were supplied to the Tao tribal clan.

This old and young duo were obviously people of stature. They had the ability to cross the Cloud Wilderness without any hesitations; it was admirable.

Yi Yun suddenly recalled that when talking to the Lian tribal clan, Zhang Yuxian had mentioned that something had happened in the Cloud Wilderness. He had also mentioned that several VIPs would pass by the Lian tribal clan, so as to prevent the Lian tribal clan’s Patriarch from neglecting any niceties.

From the looks of it, this old man and the young girl were VIPs!

The fat elder was already planning on leaving. But just before he took a step, he suddenly felt hungry. He looked at the sun and rubbed his fat double chin saying, “It’s time to eat something. The scenery here is not bad. There’s a mountain and the water is clean. Let’s eat here.”

“Eat?” Upon hearing that word, Yi Yun suddenly felt…hungry, very hungry.

Having eaten porridge for two consecutive months, he had been using herbs and the desolate bone essence as energy sources, but he had digested all the energy he had absorbed last night in the deep waters.

It was as if Yi Yun’s body was empty on the inside.

“Hey, disciple, let’s eat.” the fat elder called to Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong nodded and looked at Yi Yun, saying “Little brother, why don’t you join us?”

“Eh?” Yi Yun was stunned. He was exploding with happiness. He felt that the girl’s voice was extremely touching, “That…You don’t have to do that…”

Although Yi Yun had said that, he was already finding a spot to sit.

This old man and the young girl must be of exceptional stature, the food they eat can’t be that bad, right?

Any dish would be very conducive for cultivation!

The fat elder was planning to light a fire; however, seeing that Yi Yun was planning to drag out his stay, he scorned with disdain. But since his disciple had already invited him, he could only accept it.

He touched the jade ring on his right hand and pulled out three plucked pheasants like a magician. He pierced them using a pole and placed it by the side of the fire.

The old man’s jade ring was like Doraemon’s pouch. In a short while, he took out a bunch of bottles and jars filled with spices.

Yi Yun was envious. He had initially brushed the old man’s ring off as a magical performance, but the item was a treasure that could hold the largest items.

Looks like this was similar to the legendary “interspatial rings”.

“Hehe, count your lucky stars, kid. Not many people have tasted my culinary skills!” Saying this, the old man rubbed his hands and began grilling a pheasant.

Only then did Yi Yun realize that this was no ordinary pheasant. It looked like a pheasant, but within it was tremendous amounts of energies. This was because Yi Yun could see the light dots floating from the pheasant. This energy was very pure. It made him crave it.

Yi Yun felt his mouth salivating. It was good stuff!

He had not eaten meat in two months, so having seen this plump pheasant which consisted of pure energy, how could he not salivate?

He could not wait to roast the pheasant and swallow it down his stomach.

But very quickly, Yi Yun felt depressed when he saw the old man’s method of roasting.

The old man’s “culinary skills” were…too terrible to watch!

47 - : Scrounging a free meal

CKtalon  CKtalon

The fat elder was holding up the pheasant, but he was placing it too close to the fire, and the speed at which he rotated the pheasant was too slow. Roasting food with a naked fire was unlike grilling in a barbecue eatery. A barbecue eatery uses specialized grills that are easily lit. Its flame is uniform and most importantly, it is smokeless.

But for firewood, the fire is not uniform, and the smoke is thick. This smoke was the ash from the unburned wood and would rise up with the flames, sticking onto the pheasant’s skin. So in a while, the pheasant in the old man’s hands was already burned black. It wasn’t overcooked, but it was covered in a layer of ash. It not only affected the texture, but it would also taste bitter.

Although the old man wiped oil every now and then, it was unable to change the situation of the layer of ash growing thicker. From the way the old man did it, it was clear that it was a matter of time before it was burnt.

Using firewood to grill meat was a difficult job. Even a barbecue eatery’s experts might not be able to do it well, but the old man was even worse.

This was understandable, after all, what sort of position did this old man have? Time was precious, so he need not prepare food for himself.

His culinary skills were naturally nothing flattering. Furthermore, grilling meat with firewood was extremely difficult.

“This is practically the destruction of Heaven’s property!” As a glutton, eh, no, as a connoisseur who enjoys researching delicacies, Yi Yun could no longer endure the travesty in front of him.

As the pheasant was almost done roasting, the old man sprinkled various spices and offered the blackened roasted pheasant to Lin Xintong.

Yi Yun felt that there was no spot one could get a bite in!

But Lin Xintong did not seem to mind it. She said “Thank you, Master”, accepted the grilled pheasant before taking small bites at it. Although her lips were pink and tiny, her lips were colored black after eating such a roasted pheasant. This scene made Yi Yun’s lose all expression on his face.

It was a great offense against food culture.

The old man treasured his disciple, so the roasted pheasant was naturally left for her. As for Yi Yun, there was no doubt that he would be last. But Yi Yun was still grateful. If this pheasant was sold, its price would be expensive, even someone like Lian Chengyu would not be able to afford it.

After he finished grilling one pheasant, the old man began grilling the second one.

As the first was given to Lin Xintong, the old man had grilled it with extra care, but since the second one was for himself, it looked even worse.

However, the old man was still very pleased with his work. After he finished grilling both pheasants, he took out a jug of wine from his ring. He began eating the roasted meat savorily and drinking his wine with pleasure. After finishing it, he had a look of enjoyment, and his white beard was curling with satisfaction.

He then had a sudden thought and looked at Yi Yun, saying lazily, “That’s for you. You can roast it for yourself. I won’t be serving.”

What the…

Yi Yun was speechless. Although he did not expect the old man to roast a pheasant for him, the old man had previously said, “Not many people have tasted my culinary skills!”

When Yi Yun heard those words, he believed that the old man would roast a pheasant for him, but from the looks of it, that was no longer the case!

Yi Yun wasn’t very confident about roasting it himself. Although he had done research on food, he was after all a modern man, he could easily cook a tender and crisp roasted chicken easily with a barbecue pit and smokeless coal.

But it was hard for him to do it with firewood. There was no way of blocking the ash from the firewood, and no matter how much he turned the pheasant, the ash would still end up on the pheasant meat.

“I say, do you have a wok?” Yi Yun asked extremely politely. As a glutton with principles, he was not willing to compromise no matter how hungry he was! This was the first time he had seen meat in two months, not to mention that it was high-grade meat!

“I do,” said the old man as he took out a pot from his ring.

Although the pot was made of an unknown material, it was well made and of appropriate size. Yi Yun was very satisfied.

Yi Yun began to busy himself. He began identifying the spices the old man had taken out. He was surprised at the complete assortment of spices, oil, sauces, and salt. There was even some plant spice that resembled green onions and parsley.

“That wine, can I borrow it?”, asked Yi Yun again.

“Eh? Wine? You want to drink two cups with me?” said the old man with a smile as he passed the wine to Yi Yun after recovering from a momentary shock. This kid actually appreciated wine?

Although he was stingy, he was eager to have an alcohol buddy as that was the only meaning in drinking.

Although he didn’t like the kid in front of him, Yi Yun was better than nothing. After all, Lin Xintong did not drink alcohol, so he had been drinking alone for one whole year.

“Master!” Lin Xintong was a bit speechless, “How can you give a child alcohol?”

But they never expected that after Yi Yun had dried the pheasant, he had poured the wine, spreading it evenly, not missing the pheasant’s abdominal cavity.

“Kid, what are you doing?” The old man stared at Yi Yun as his beard flared up. This was a thousand-year-old wine. As a wine enthusiast, he could not endure the waste of his alcohol.

“I’m cooking.” a surprised Yi Yun answered matter-of-factly.

I must say, this wine sure is good. Its aroma is sweet. I wonder what sort of treasure was it distilled from. I believe drinking one gulp of this will do wonders for cultivation!

“Cooking? Wine can be used for cooking?” The old man repudiated.

After some hesitation, Yi Yun understood.

The culinary methods in this world were very different from Earth’s.

Even during the period when food culture was at its peak in China, all the cooking techniques were very simple in ancient times.

During the Tang and Song dynasties, the basic cooking methods were steaming or boiling. Be it vegetables or meat, they were mixed with salt, covered with a lid and eaten once it was cooked.

As for stir-frying, quick-frying, blanching, smoking, or cooking with alcohol, etc, these methods of cooking could only be developed after material wealth was improved.

Each region had different food cultures. About eighty percent of Chinese cuisine was unique.

Even the most simple stir-frying of vegetables was a product of China. Although it sounded incredible, that is what is it.

In the entire Earth, the most complex cooking techniques belonged to the Chinese, with no near rival.

In this world, leaving out the vast wilderness, the hard labor lives people led were too tough, so there was no energy or materials left for food experimentation.

As for the rich cities, the rich were experts. They were focused on their martial arts, arrays, and the techniques for refining desolate bones, so there was no time to research cooking.

Only the servants of large clans could research on this. These people made good meals, and through experience, accumulated some cooking skills. But in such a lowly area, there was a limit to one’s culinary skills.

Yi Yun glazed the pheasant’s body with oil and soy sauce. He poured wine into the abdominal cavity and sprinkled some spices that resembled spring onions and cilantro. Yi Yun had tasted the spice, and with his gluttonous talent, he knew that it wouldn’t be lacking as compared to using spring onions or cilantro.

Next was the crucial point, Yi Yun used a clean coarse cloth to wrap the pheasant. He then poured large amounts of salt into the pot and buried the pheasant in it. After completely covering the pheasant, he sealed the pot and began steaming it.

The fat elder looked at Yi Yun with suspicion. He had used so much salt and wrapped up the pheasant? Wouldn’t it be extremely salty!?

Have the poor children of this tribe not eaten salt?

Even if they lacked salt, it wasn’t meant to be eaten this way. It was a speechless turn of events. The fat older scoffed at the kid’s eccentricity.

He carried on eating his roasted pheasant, but Lin Xintong had stopped eating and began watching the pot Yi Yun had placed above the fire with curiosity.

Slowly, the pot began to emit a fragrance. The fragrance was not obvious. If these people were not martial artists with keen senses, they would not have smelled it.

Could something with such a light scent be delicious?

The fat elder had already finished his roasted pheasant and began licking his thick and short fingers. At that moment, Yi Yun opened the pot, and used a ladle to brush away the hot salt, and took out the pheasant.

A savory salt-baked pheasant was completed.

The moment the salt seal was broken, a fresh savory fragrance emitted, making Yi Yun eager to eat.

Yi Yun was surprised that he was able to prepare the meal to his fullest capabilities. Of course, the main reason stemmed from the fact that the pheasant’s flesh was filled with energy. It was much better than the bred chickens on Earth.

And the wine, which was brewed from some treasure had turned into the ambrosia of the gods with just some yeast and a few hundred years.

With the two combined, Yi Yun was able to produce a salt-baked pheasant of a quality that reached unprecedented heights.

“Eh?”, flared up the old man’s beard as his eyes suddenly rounded up.

48 - : As a glutton with principles, no compromises

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun could no longer wait. He poured the sauces he had prepared earlier and tore off a pheasant leg and bit down. The skin was crisp and the flesh juicy. The meat was tender, and oil oozed out with each bite. His mouth was filled with fragrance.

It had to be said that the fat elder’s unknown pheasant was absolutely delicious. It was no wonder that he was still able to enjoy it even after roasting it to such a pathetic state.

Besides, the meat included a stream of pure energy. As it entered Yi Yun’s stomach, this energy spread throughout Yi Yun’s body, giving him a sense of warmth that was indescribably comfortable.

The old man’s wine was also extremely special. After baking in salt, the taste of alcohol had not evaporated. It had fused into the pheasants flesh, giving it an intoxicating aroma.

The wine contained even purer energy, refreshing Yi Yun’s entire body till his pores opened.

Lin Xintong looked curiously at Yi Yun. Just from the smell and appearance, it was easy to guess that it tasted great.

This kid is at most twelve and he has such skills?

“Sister Fairy, do you want some?” Yi Yun’s words were extremely sweet. He knew that the girl’s stature was extraordinary. The old man had treated her as the apple of his eyes, so although Yi Yun didn’t know her name, there was no harm calling her Sister Fairy.

“Eh…” Lin Xintong hesitated, but seeing Yi Yun tear off an untouched drumstick for her, she was unsure what to do.

After hesitating a moment, she accepted it and took a small bite.

It was indeed delicious!

In comparison, this would make her master’s “Black Charred Pheasant” unappetizing.

The girl took out a handkerchief, wiped her mouth and thanked him with a smile.

She had never tried such a way of cooking and the taste was very unique.

Although Lin Xintong lead an austere life, and she was not obsessed with food, she had reached her limit after eating the bitter “Black Charred Pheasant” daily while out in the wilderness for training.

Although the girl appreciated it, she did not embellish her praise. But the fat elder was different. He was a greedy glutton. Despite him reaching the state where he could avoid grain many years back, he had never succumbed to it. He made sure to have four meals a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper.

Usually, he would be supplied with food and drink at home; it tasted good, and it was sufficient to satiate his taste buds. But now with him out with his disciple, it was tough on him. He was already sick of eating ash barbecue continuously.

His gluttony had led to him salivating, but he could not lower his status to ask from Yi Yun. As Yi Yun did not seem to have any intention at giving him some of the pheasant, the fat elder was unhappy. This kid was such an ingrate, did he forget who gave him the pheasant and wine?

“I didn’t expect that you could cook. I have tasted all the world’s delicacies, so I am definitely an authority when it comes to taste! Come on, kid, I’ll appraise you, and see how good is your culinary skills. I’ll give you pointers if there’s any room for improvement.” As he said that, he stretched his greasy fat hand stained with soot out. He had not even wiped his hands after eating the roasted pheasant!

Yi Yun wanted to avoid by instinct, but for some reason, although the fat hand’s speed wasn’t fast, he was unable to evade it. In the end, a small portion of the pheasant was ripped off. Two wings par excellence were gone!

Damn it!

Yi Yun cursed in his heart. But at that moment, the fat elder had already bitten down. He gave Yi Yun a sardonic look which read, “You think you could avoid my moves with your trivial abilities?”

As he bit down, the grease exploded and fragrance filled his mouth. The fat elder’s eyes lit up!

The meat was of course delicious, but the most important thing was the taste of alcohol.

In fact, the old man had eaten lots of delicious delicacies, but this was the first time he encountered such a cooking style.

The meat which had absorbed the alcohol was made even tastier!

He was not only a glutton, but also an alcoholic. It had never crossed his mind that alcohol could be used in this way. He found it unbelievable that alcohol and pheasant, two distinct and delicious flavors could be so delicious when combined!

In contrast, the roasted pheasant he previously made was only fit for dogs!

Although the old man had already finished a pheasant previously, and the unknown pheasant was extremely large in size, he was still able to eat another half of a pheasant without any indications of being full. Having learned the Elephant Swallowing Technique, Yi Yun knew that the meat was extremely resistant to digestion. A normal person could survive on a drumstick for days without going hungry.

The old man was able to eat at an astonishingly fast speed despite looking refined as he ate. He finished half a pheasant in about a minute, leaving only a pile of bones.

The bones, even the delicate rib bones were eaten clean, putting a dog to shame.

The old man was not bothered about Yi Yun’s surprised gaze, as he calmly wiped the oil off his mouth. He said, “The taste is passable. If you improve further, you will catch up to my roasted pheasant.”

Yi Yun nearly choked upon hearing the old man’s brazen claims. What sort of person was he? It felt like his stature was extraordinary, but why was he so shameless?

The old man pretended not to notice Yi Yun’s despising glare and looked at the salt-baked pheasant in Yi Yun’s hands saying, “Why aren’t you eating, are you full?”

“No!” Yi Yun was shocked, he quickly shook his head and attacked the salt baked-pheasant in his hands.

What a joke. If he was slower by a second, or even the time it took to blink, the pheasant in his hands could have turned to a pile of bones.

Besides being tasty, the meat was great nourishment for the body. Yi Yun felt his originally empty body fill up with energy in a short while. It made his blood begin to stir, and made him grow stronger.

Could this pheasant be a descendant of some ancient bird desolate beast?

Yi Yun felt mixed emotions. Rich people ate such food daily so their strength was bound to naturally increase rapidly.

He was initially feeling joyous from completing his Tempered Body, but this made him calm down.

His starting point was considered low. Even if he made a meteoric rise in a small tribe, it would have been nothing spectacular in a big tribe. He still had a long road ahead.

“Hey, from what I see, you have some culinary skills, and it can be considered fate that we got to know each other…” With that said, the fat elder touched his ring.

This was the second time Yi Yun heard these words, and he was already immune to it. He calmly wiped his mouth as he waited for the fat elder to take something out.

“Hehe, Kid, take this to buy some sweets,” said the fat elder as he took out two golden ingots from his ring. It looked like it weighed half a pound.

This was the first time Yi Yun was seeing golden ingots. Back on Earth, he had only seen gold plates displayed in the glass cases of banks, but they were not this big.

Yi Yun could not help but take another glance.

“Come, I still have over twenty chickens. You can cook it, and I’ll give you these two gold ingots. Then, you can buy lots of sweets,” said the old man in a jolly manner. Although he did not admit it verbally, he knew that his culinary skills were nothing compared to Yi Yun’s. Yi Yun’s salt-baked pheasant, especially combined with the alcohol and the meat’s fragrance had made the fat elder’s mouth water.

Upon hearing this, Yi Yun curled his mouth. In the Cloud Wilderness, gold ingots were only pleasant to the eye, but they were of no use.

On Earth, these two large gold pieces would have been enough to buy a lifetime’s worth of food. But in this world, food was very expensive, especially in the Cloud Wilderness. Even with gold ingots, one might not be able to buy anything. If he were to use gold to exchange with Lian Chengyu for food, it would be throwing himself to the wolves.

“I don’t want gold,” said Yi Yun who was unmoved. This old man had initially given him bronze coins, and now he had given gold. It was clear that he was treating Yi Yun as some kid who got lucky, and not someone who practiced martial arts. “Senior, don’t you know that the outcome would be disastrous if a kid carries gold into the streets?”

“Eh?” choked the fat elder. Thoughts such as even if Yi Yun couldn’t use it, he could have given it to his parents floated into the elder’s mind.

Lin Xintong, who was by the fat elder’s side, looked at Yi Yun with surprise. The principle of an innocent man gets into trouble because of his wealth was simple, but as a twelve-year-old child, he was not only unmoved by the gold, but the way he calmly said it was pretty impressive.

“Then what do you want?” said the fat elder as he put away the gold.

“I only want one item from you, Senior,” said Yi Yun slowly and calmly as he looked the fat elder in the eye.

The fat elder said with interest, “Say it.”

“I can tell that Senior is some extraordinary person. You must be someone of a high standing and exceptional status, with…”

“Alright, cut the flattery.” The fat elder looked at Yi Yun with a despicable look. This kid sure was odd.

“Oh…I’m not sucking up to you, I’m just expressing my admiration towards you. You can have all that and be admired by many, including me, because…Senior you have the strength!”

“In this wilderness, those with strength will be honored by others!”

“So I will make a request with great courage for one item, that is—strength!”

Yi Yun said those words with confidence. Although he had said it slowly, it entered straight into the fat elder’s ears, giving him a shock.

Lin Xintong blinked her pair of beautiful eyes and looked at Yi Yun with surprise. What Yi Yun had said was very simple, but when her master had asked him what he wanted, he had said those words to express his desire of becoming strong. This was unlike how kids spoke without thought.

Those words were unlike that of a child.

49 - : I want one item

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You want me to take you in as a disciple?” said the fat elder as his eyes flashed. The disdain he had for worldly affairs vanished. His eyes turned into one that exerted pressure!

Yi Yun held his breath and looked into the fat elder’s eyes, and he said slowly while shaking his head, “You’re asking me if I want to be taken in as your disciple, it’s pointless since the decision is not made by me. My wishes are not important. If you wanted to take in disciples, I’m sure many elites would come to your feet, allowing you to choose. Even if they begged you on their knees, it would be useless.”

“Oh?” The fat elder was surprised by Yi Yun’s words once again. Although this kid was greedy, he knew how to push for and retract from his demands!

It was extremely rare!

Some people did not know how to obtain the greatest benefits, and they did things mediocrely and trudged through life without aim. These people were undesirable.

As for others, they were greedy without an understanding of their standing. By being presumptuous, they would eventually lead themselves to self-destruction. This was described by the saying; “human beings die in pursuit of wealth and birds die in pursuit of food.” Such people were even more undesirable.

As for this twelve-year-old kid, he had a scheming mind and he went against the flow. Yet, he knew his place and he had a sense of propriety. It was indeed not simple to possess such qualities.

This kid could tell that he did not want to accept him as a disciple, so he had not insisted.

“Kid, I appreciate you. You guessed right, I can’t take you in as a disciple. I’m indeed very interested in your culinary skills. But culinary skills are just a pleasure for the mouth. But for me, taking in a disciple is a huge matter. To be honest with you, I have been looking for a suitable successor all these years, but for you… I’ve seen your constitution and it’s not good, so you lack the qualifications. Although what I say may sound harsh, it is the truth…”

Yi Yun was not affected by it and said calmly, “I know.”

“Ah…It’s good that you understand. You are much smarter than kids your own age. You can try taking a scholastic exam and become some minor official. When that happens, you will not worry about food anymore.”

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the real government officials were experts. As the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was under military jurisdiction, be it a general or district magistrate, they were all martial artists at the very least! Those who could study, but not do martial arts, could at most be an advisor or a minor official like a clerk.

Seeing that Yi Yun was obviously not listening, the fat elder carried on, “As for cultivation, the mind isn’t unimportant, but the key is a person’s talent.”

“In this world where resources are valuable, a warrior’s resources are the various treasures and desolate bone relics! In a large tribal clan, there are limited desolate bone relics, and only the ones with the most talent would be prioritized.”

“Those with talent will improve a lot from absorbing a desolate bone relic, as for those without talent, the same desolate bone relic will only improve their strength by a tenth. And the further one goes, the harder it gets to improve one’s strength. At that point, no family will be able to afford it!”

After hearing the fat elder’s words, Yi Yun understood it firmly. He had some idea about cultivation matters from Jiang Xiaorou, but only after listening to this elder did he understand it clearly.

In a situation with limited resources, one’s talent was indeed important.

Lian Chengyu had the ambition to break through to the Purple Blood realm was obviously because he had the talent.

If he lacked talent, even with the entire Lian Clan Herb Mountain and the desolate bone, Lian Chengyu would never have been able to encroach into the Purple Blood realm territory.

Yi Yun knew his conditions. He was just an average youth. He was a normal mortal to the bone, and he had no relations with martial families, so how could he have the talent to practice martial arts?

But thinking of his absorbing of the energy from the herbs and the desolate bone, his cultivation speed had indeed been very fast over the past few days. This was all clearly the credit of the Purple Crystal.

With the Purple Crystal deep within his heart, every heart beat would spread energy to each and every part of his body, improving his fitness. This method of absorption was much more efficient than other warriors who used their stomachs to absorb energy.

After understanding this, Yi Yun’s thoughts became clearer as he raised his head looking at the fat elder saying, “I don’t need to be your disciple.”

Since he had already indicated his position, Yi Yun did not want to insist. Actually, even if the old man had wanted to take in Yi Yun as a disciple, Yi Yun would have to think very carefully. After all, his body had a huge secret. If he did not carefully think of the special characteristics of the Purple Crystal Origins, his master might discover the secret and the consequences would be unthinkable.

“What I want from Senior is a miracle medicine! Be it fierce beast essence, desolate beast meat, herbs or even desolate bones!”

After hearing those words, the fat elder laughed, “You sure know how to take a mile from an inch. You thought well, exchanging a desolate bone relic for some chicken that was provided by myself?”

The desolate bone relics stored in his rings were all high in quality. To exchange them for a few dishes was no trifling matter.

“I guess you aren’t willing to listen to me,” said the old man as he shook his head in disapproval at the kid that could not be taught. “You are still bent on going down the path of martial arts. It was not easy for you to attain a Tempered Body through an opportunity. Although your physical state is not bad as of now, you have never had any systemic martial arts cultivation. Do you even know any cultivation technique? Do you know any fighting technique? Do you have a soul cultivation technique? Without a master or any manual, are you planning on reaching the Purple Blood realm through self-learning?”

After a barrage of rhetorical questions, Yi Yun remembered it all. Cultivation technique! Fighting technique! Soul cultivation technique!

Although there was plenty he did not understand, they were not important. Without question, he needed to obtain those by himself!

As for the Purple Blood realm that the fat elder said…The Purple Blood realm was not Yi Yun’s goal. Yi Yun knew that there were many higher realms beyond the Purple Blood realm.

Since he had received the mysterious Purple Crystal card, how could he just become a Purple Blood Warrior, and drift in life as someone in a small tribe of the Cloud Wilderness?

Of course, he could not mention his goals, or people would think that he has mad.

Yi Yun said, “I really haven’t had contact with fighting techniques and soul cultivation techniques. But as for cultivation techniques, I have practiced one known as the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’!

“‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’!” said the elder as a flicker of surprise flashed across his face. “You actually know this set of fist techniques? This ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ is considered as the top cultivation technique of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Even to me, I think there are many merits to this set of techniques. It’s a classic! If so, did you have a master who taught you this?”

Although the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ had been opened to the public by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, it was rare for a poor kid in the Cloud Wilderness to be able to learn it.

The fat elder was shocked to learn that Yi Yun knew a bit of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

“I don’t have any master. I secretly learned it when people in the tribe were practicing it!”

“Secretly learned”, said the fat elder as he shook his head.

Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist may be the foundation, but it’s not easy. From his lack of foundation, how could this kid learn anything even if taught properly, what more him learning it secretly?

Secretly learning was equivalent to imitation. It was difficult to understand the key points.

Besides, what sort of master could there be in such a backwater village in the Cloud Wilderness?

The person who taught this kid the technique probably was just a dabbler. How good can his “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” be?

A mediocre master, and with the kid secretly learning, he must have learned some superficial tricks and thought that he was good.

It wasn’t the case of the fat elder looking down on the people of the Cloud Wilderness, but it was because the people of the Cloud Wilderness had limited knowledge; they did not know how big the outside world was or how many experts there were.

“‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ can be learned secretly? Do you know Tendons like Bowstrings? Do you know Thunder Within Bones? Can you punch out a tremor?” asked the fat elder. Those who had learned the basics of martial arts could easily display ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, but they were all superfluous. They did not know the essence of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

Yi Yun cupped his hands saying, “I’m lacking but I know a thing or two about Tendons like bowstrings and Thunder Within Bones!”

Thunder Occurring in the Nine Clouds, Surprise Bow Drops Flock was the key result of the set of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, so how could Yi Yun not know? He could already create snapping sounds in his tendons, scaring the birds in the forest before reaching the Meridians realm!

Now he had completely opened up his Meridians, his governor and conception vessels were opened, and he had a Tempered Body! Yi Yun felt the energy within him trashing like the ocean waves. If not for the sudden appearance of the fat elder and the girl in white, Yi Yun would have done a round of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ to see the progress of his cultivation.

“Haha! Nice try! Know a thing or two!?” The fat elder was clearly not convinced of Yi Yun’s accomplishments. “Since you’ve said that, I do want to see what sort of Thunder Within Bones you have reached!”

As the fat elder laughed, he had the sudden vile interest of wanting to teach Yi Yun a lesson. He turned his head and said to Lin Xintong, “Xintong, during this tour to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, I gave you the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ for you to roughly look through, didn’t I? For this cultivation technique, I guess you had also casually practiced it for about half a month. Although you didn’t work hard at it, there has to be some minor accomplishment!”

“Why don’t you spar with this kid and give him some pointers?”

“Right, you should suppress your level too. Lower it to the level of the third level of Mortal Blood, Thunderous would do. Don’t hurt this kid.”

50 - : The fat elder’s vile interest

CKtalon  CKtalon

The fat elder’s pair of eyes flashed playfully. He was planning on letting the country bumpkin know what a true warrior was, and what the real Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist could do!

While the fat elder was speaking with Yi Yun, the girl in white was sitting on a boulder a distance away. However, she had heard the entire conversation between Yi Yun and the fat elder.

She could not believe that her master would be so nasty to want her to fight with a child!

She was already seventeen, and although she had Yin Meridians that prevented her from clearing her meridians, she was far from what Yi Yun could measure up to at her current stage. After all, she was a genius as she had excellent perception and had an excellent constitution, so her cultivation had not been seriously affected.

Even by lowering her level to the third level of Mortal Blood’s Thunderous, it was already a form of bullying.

She knew that her master had the intention to tease Yi Yun, and to show off in front of a person from the Cloud Wilderness. It made her unsure to laugh or cry, for an esteemed Desolate Heaven Master wanted to show off in front of a starving kid from the Cloud Wilderness. It was as if he was behaving more and more immature as he aged.

Besides, he even said…

Words like “gave the Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist for me to ‘roughly’ look through.”

Words like “also ‘casually’ practiced it for ‘about half a month’.”

Words like “didn’t ‘work hard’ at it, there has to be some minor accomplishment.”

These words filled with hints of bullshit, what the heck?

Lin Xintong looked at her master helplessly as she said, “Master, I may not be focusing on the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, but I managed to have some interaction with the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ for almost half a year ever since we came to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom about a year ago. In this half year, besides focusing on my ‘Fairy Maiden Heart Sutra’, I was also looking at the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ seriously. I did not casually practiced for ‘about half a month’, and didn’t work hard at it as you said…”

Lin Xintong emphasized the words “half year” and “seriously” exposing the fat elder’s lies with no mercy. She was always a serious girl and did things meticulously. Hence, she did not slack off even for a secondary skill like ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

With that, no matter how thick the old man’s skin was, his face flushed red, and he awkwardly coughed while laughing.

“Oh is it? It’s been half a year? Ai, I’m getting old. Time just flies by, and my memory fails me. I thought it has only been half a month…”

The fat elder’s words made Yi Yun roll his eyes. As the saying goes, the more shameless one is, the more invincible they are. Remembering half a year as ten days. With such divine memory, how do you remember how to walk with your legs, and how to eat with your mouth?

“Alright, let’s cut to the chase. That who, you said you have practiced the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, show it to us! If you can maintain it for about ten seconds, then I’ll believe that you know a thing or two about ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. Then I’ll give you some miracle medicine.”

The fat elder quickly changed the subject. Although his act of bragging had been uncovered, his skin was extremely thick, so he recovered quickly, pretending none of whatsoever had happened.

He did not think Yi Yun could persist under Lin Xintong, even in her suppressed Thunderous realm state, for more than ten seconds.

This was a battle of achievements, cultivation techniques, fighting techniques and battle experience, traits that could not be covered up by a lucky use of some treasure to obtain a Tempered Body.

“Good! I’m lacking in talent, and need to obtain advice from Sister Fairy. I hope I’ll receive pointers from Sister Fairy!” Yi Yun took a deep breath. This was his first time sparring with an expert!

He was just planning on aiding his digestion after a sumptuous meal. Besides, he knew his opponent was extremely powerful!

What was inconceivable to Yi Yun was that despite knowing his opponent was extremely powerful, his heart was full of anticipation and excitement.

Was he born to be a warrior?

“Since you want to, then alright…” Lin Xintong stepped off the large rock as her clothes fluttered in the wind. Her toes landed softly on the ground, like a butterfly. She did not cause as much as a speck of dust to fly up.

“My name is Lin Xintong.” Lin Xintong walked towards Yi Yun as she introduced herself.

“Yi Yun!” Yi Yun said his name to prevent the occurrence of the fat elder saying “that who” from happening again.

Yi Yun walked to a clearing, and distanced himself about a hundred feet opposite from Lin Xintong and faced her!

In the green mountains, with an abundance of ancient pine trees, the wind blew across the rustling folds of pine trees.

Not far from the two were piles of weird rocks, and a thousand-foot waterfall! As the silvery water raced down the canyon drainages, it caused slight tremors as it impacted the huge rocks.

This was Yi Yun’s first battle upon arriving to this world!

And it was the first battle ever since he began practicing martial arts!

His opponent was an otherworldly maiden. Although she looked weak and frail, seeing her stand among the green mountains, there was only one phrase Yi Yun could think of—Still as a virgin, but moves like a running rabbit.

Be it her looks or her heart, the girl was extremely quiet.

But Yi Yun had no plans on showing mercy. He knew that he did not have the qualifications to show mercy.

Lin Xintong held her hands behind her back and stood there with her skirt fluttering in the wind. She said coldly, “I will suppress my strength to the third level of Mortal Blood. You first!”

Lin Xintong was very modest but Yi Yun licked his dry lips saying, “Ladies first…It’s better you be first!”

It wasn’t because he was showing humility, but since he had never battled before, he did not know the procedures expected of an expert when he makes his first move. Therefore, he was preventing himself from doing something foolish, or the fat elder would snigger again.

Yi Yun was planning to see Lin Xintong’s moves to gain confidence. When that happened, he could draw a tiger with a cat as a model, preventing him from being that terrible.

“Then I’ll make my move, watch out!”

Lin Xintong did not show any further humility and suddenly she moved! Her body was like a flash of white light, sending a palm strike at Yi Yun’s chest!

“Whew!”

A clear sound emitted from Lin Xintong’s body. This was the sound produced from training the bones using ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. This sound was unlike the thunder from the sky, but a sound issued from her leap. The sound was extremely mesmerising!

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted suddenly. The girl in white was too fast for she had covered a distance of a hundred feet in a blink of an eye to be in front of Yi Yun.

Her palm’s five fingers were white and slender, but to Yi Yun they were like five sharp swords!

Up close, Yi Yun was able to see the soft textures on the young girl’s fingers!

Yi Yun thought he had no way of escaping such speed, but in that moment, his mind was extremely calm. It was as if the surroundings had suddenly slowed down. Yi Yun’s conception and governor vessels had closed up to form one cycle, with his brain’s channels cleared, his senses were keen, and thinking sharp. This caused his reaction to be faster than his previous self by more than ten times!

In this split moment, Yi Yun’s mind flashed as he recalled the Dragon Dancing the Nine Heavens stance from ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. With a roar, he leaped up like a flying dragon. And with the thousand foot waterfall as a backdrop, he flew!

“Ka-cha!”

The stone that Yi Yun was standing on had been shattered by Lin Xintong, and the blast sent stone chips flying! !

Wow！

Yi Yun’s pupils contracted. The black ironstone under his feet could not withstand a blow from Lin Xintong!

It was unimaginable that her weak-looking hands could shatter stone that easily.

“Eh?” Seeing Yi Yun jump up high as if he had spread his wings flying, the fat elder was surprised.

This kid has good reactions!

“I didn’t guess he could last a round, but since he has dodged the first, it’s unlikely he can dodge the second. With him in mid-air, he has no way of dodging the next attack. And only three seconds has passed. He still has seven seconds left. It looks like it wouldn’t be a problem at all to finish the battle in ten seconds!”

51 - : Yi Yun vs Lin Xintong

CKtalon  CKtalon

High in the sky, the wind blew. Yi Yun could feel the water from the distant waterfall leaving a coolness on his face.

I can actually jump that high?

It was needless to say that Yi Yun had no battle experience. After obtaining a Tempered Body, his fitness had increased by leaps and bounds. But he had never had the chance to test it to see how much it had improved before meeting Lin Xintong and the fat elder.

At that moment, Lin Xintong dipped her toe into the ground, and like a swallow flew up into the sky!

Facing a Lin Xintong who was rushing towards him, Yi Yun was very calm. Imperceptibly, the cool Purple Crystal in his heart had moved, sending energy to his entire body.

From Yi Yun’s perspective, everything had become slow. The wind that blew seemed to pass him knowledge about his opponent.

Clenching his fists, Yi Yun borrowed the strength of gravity and charged downwards!

At that moment, the tremendous strength within Yi Yun surged out! With his meridians opened up and his Tempered Body, Yi Yun’s body was like a simmering volcano that had suddenly erupted.

Commanding from atop, Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain!

Yi Yun roared with something that didn’t sound human. It was a roar that resembled a tiger’s roar, causing fear among all the beasts!

Yi Yun no longer dodged, after all there was no way to dodge in the air. He suddenly stretched out his arms and made a tiger claw pose and went straight down, coming in contact with Lin Xintong’s palms!

Yi Yun who had previously practiced ‘Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain’ of the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” had previously used it against black ironstone, and it could shatter the rock.

But today, it was to grab Lin Xintong’s slim hands!

Of course, Lin Xintong’s hands were more terrifying. Her hands were capable of shattering rock as if they were tofu.

Seeing Yi Yun rushing down, Lin Xintong was also extremely surprised, he actually dared to go against her head on? It’s indeed true that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers!

“Hey, disciple, don’t maim him!” shouted the fat elder. “Actually it’s fine maiming him, but the problem is the kid will make us pay his hospitalization bills!”

The fat elder’s words had already been drowned out by the sounds between the two. They had crossed each other in the sky!

“Boom!”

A loud clap rang, as the shock wave radiated outwards. Yi Yun only felt a large strength surge towards him, causing his insides to toss and turn!

As for Lin Xintong, it was as if she was blown up by the shockwave as she rapidly swirled her body.

As she flew back, Lin Xintong had a strange feeling. At the moment they crossed palms, she felt a warmth from Yi Yun’s palms that flowed into her body.

This warm flow was inconspicuous, but it had entered her broken meridians silently before disappearing.

As she carefully experienced it, Lin Xintong felt that her meridians had undergone some transformation, yet it didn’t seem so too. What happened, was it an illusion?

Before she had time to think carefully, she realized that Yi Yun, who had experienced her heavy blow, was not only uninjured, but he had also managed to stabilize his body while retreating.

His body was upside down as he flew towards the waterfall.

“Peng!”

Yi Yun was like a carp falling into the water. He crashed through the waterfall and stepped on a slippery stone behind the watery curtain!

Although the waterfall’s flow was from a thousand feet, making it a tremendous force, Yi Yun was able to stand firmly on this rock. He then squatted on the rock and pushed off!

He raised his head, as his shining eyes shone through the white water curtain and shot towards Lin Xintong like a pair of swords!

“Huh!?” Lin Xintong was surprised. He could actually withstand her blow without harm? A kid at the Meridians realm could actually have such a strong body?

“It can’t be!” The fat man stumbled. He had wanted his disciple to go easy, yet from that strike, there was not much mercy involved. Although she had suppressed her cultivation level, it was not something the kid should have been able to withstand!

Before the fat elder could think it through, Yi Yun had already charged forward from that rock.

“Splash!”

Yi Yun went through the waters of the waterfall.

The water curtain’s strength was horrifying, but Yi Yun was good at swimming, so he rushed through the indomitable waterflow, and using the strength of the waterfall, he increased the strength of his charge. From afar, the linen-clothed Yi Yun was like a water dragon dancing in the waters!

“Boom!”

At that moment, Yi Yun’s body produced a thunderous sound, similar to the thunder from the sky!

Thunder Occurring in the Nine Clouds!

Yi Yun twisted himself in the air, and bringing his foot to his hip, he bent his body like a bow, as his right fist shrank to his ribs, he mercilessly shot out his punch like an arrow!

“Peng!”

Just like a strongbow, it was a sound that entered deep into the ears of all present!

This punch had consolidated all of Yi Yun’s momentum and strength. It had caused an infinite mist to cloud around him, giving the impression of an ocean surging forward!

Lin Xintong was shocked. This was the strength of the boy?

This thunder-like bone crackle and the twang that came from his tendons, were they produced by his body?

In that moment of shock, Yi Yun was already in front of Lin Xintong!

Lin Xintong could feel the tremendous wind that accompanied the fist. She could tell immediately that the strength of the fist as it was the ultimate achievement person at the Meridians realm could attain.

In a tenth of a blink of an eye, Lin Xintong had struck. She was still at a cultivation level of the third level of Mortal Blood, one less than Yi Yun.

But the strike was not that of “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, but her main cultivation technique: “Fairy Maiden Heart Sutra”!

Lin Xintong’s hands were like a lotus as she gently tapped out like a fairy adjusting her sleeves.

This strike had a magical power of softness to it, and it was the exact opposite to the extremely powerful force of the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”

Hardness and Softness were opposites! Lin Xintong and Yi Yun crossed fists once again!

Originally a finger colliding with a fist would result in bone fractures, but that was farther from the truth.

From afar, this strong air blast was like a hammer hitting a soft wall made of air.

The wall of air deformed drastically, but it had managed to take on that tremendous air blast’s attack!

“Boom!”

With a loud burst, the energy blast exploded at the last moment.

Lin Xintong’s flinched as she retreated three steps back!

As for Yi Yun, he flew backward by more than a hundred feet. His clothes were torn and his chest was surging with blood as his face flushed from the blood.

Boom!

Yi Yun stepped on a boulder. His entire body was hurting, and it seemed like his innards had been completely misplaced. All he could see was stars.

So powerful…

Yi Yun was impressed. This was an expert who suppressed her strength to one level below himself.

Also he had stored up his energy by devoting his momentum and strength. He had used all his tricks, yet the other party had only hurriedly struck. The distance between the two was too great.

As for the results of the sparring—the other party had retreated three steps, and was fine; on the other hand, his blood was in turmoil and he had suffered minor injuries.

This girl was horrifying.

Just as Yi Yun was amazed, Lin Xintong was even more surprised. She looked at Yi Yun with a startled and uncertain look and finally said, “This match was lost by me.”

52 - : I lost

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun struggled to stand up. He adjusted his torn clothes and said with a wry smile, “Sister Fairy, please don’t ridicule me any further. It’s clear I lost. The attack I produced was with all my strength, yet you returned a blow at the key moment, sending me flying. It’s clear who lost.”

Yi Yun was convinced of his defeat, but the girl shook her head saying, “My level is much higher than yours, so it’s totally unfair to battle against you, even if I suppress it. I had originally agreed to use ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ to spar with you, but I was forced to use my ‘Fairy Maiden Heart Sutra’ by you at the last moment.”

Lin Xintong was an honest person. Having agreed on using ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, she had violated the rules by using another attack, so she had naturally lost.

She also did not explain to Yi Yun why she had lost her concentration during the battle.

When she had crossed fists with Yi Yun for the first time, she had felt a strange energy stay within her body and the energy had even seeped into her broken Yin Meridians. However, she did not feel it when they exchanges blows for the second time.

Lin Xintong was also unsure if it was just an illusion.

If not for losing concentration after the first crossing, she would not have been forced by Yi Yun to use her “Fairy Maiden Heart Sutra”

Upon hearing Lin Xintong’s words, Yi Yun was surprised. This girl was indeed special. Any expert like her would be a proud daughter of heaven, and would have never admitted to losing to a kid from the vast wilderness. It was after all something hard for such proud people to accept.

But this girl had admitted that she had lost, even though she had not lost from his point of view.

He turned his head and looked at the fat elder. Yet he saw the fat elder pulling at his beard with a horrible expression.

“What are you looking at?” The fat elder saw Yi Yun looking over and was pissed. He was shocked for how could a plebeian from the Cloud Wilderness be so powerful?

To have such power in the Meridians realm, he would not even be considered weak among the elites of a large family clan.

He had clearly learned “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” secretly, yet he could display Tendons like Bowstrings, Thunderous Bones. It was practically the same as having mastered the essence of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, not “a thing or two”.

What the hell is this? The fat elder had originally said that Yi Yun will be defeated within ten seconds. But till the end, not only had the time passed, even Lin Xintong had admitted defeat!

No way we’re losing, we clearly won, alright!

The fat elder was extremely upset. Was his estimations wrong? This kid had only an average body constitution, and had used some treasure to reach the state of Tempered Body. How could he cultivate a technique to such a level?

Maybe he had excellent perception?

In practicing cultivation techniques, besides a person’s constitution, one had to have perceptivity.

The importance of perceptivity was just second to constitution. A person with poor perception would learn everything slowly, so even if they had a good constitution, they were destined never to reach a higher realm since there were plenty of things in the martial world that could only be understood, not taught, especially for bottlenecks which could only be overcome by oneself.

In terms of perceptivity, Yi Yun was indeed not bad. On Earth, Yi Yun was good at his studies and had developed intelligence at an early age. Hence, the poor kids of the vast wilderness could not be compared to him.

In addition to him having crossed into this strange world, making Yi Yun experience two lives, all of this made his soul even stronger.

And with the Purple Crystal in his heart, that coolness was providing energy to his soul, and nourishing Yi Yun’s spirit continuously.

When he cultivated “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, he had added some of his own understanding unique to him, creating a situation of necessary success with the ripe conditions.

Seeing the old man’s face wrinkled like a peach seed, Yi Yun could not help himself from laughing, but he did not dare to express it on his face, or the old man might explode.

“This is for you!”

Lin Xintong grabbed something from her interspatial wristband and threw an azure light towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun caught it and realized that it was a book.

The azure book’s cover was made of golden silk. Its paper quality was great, and it was well made, making it great to the touch.

On the book cover wrote five words: “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”!

The five words were written with flair, making it look imposing.

This was the manual to “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”!

Yi Yun was happy. He had been secretly learning “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, but as the fat elder said, there had to be holes in the process of secretly learning techniques. Besides, the members of the warrior preparation camp had poor perceptivity, so Yao Yuan had not taught everything about “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, and he had only taught them the first nine moves. For the remaining moves, Yi Yun did not know a thing.

So Lin Xintong giving him this manual was especially timely!

Yi Yun could not stop touching the azure-colored book. He found that the book possessed a faint fragrance, making it very seductive.

“Eh?”

Yi Yun curiously flipped the manual and realized that the manual consisted of pictures of people in various poses. Beside it was the mantras with notes by the side.

The notes were written with another color, and the font was small. The handwriting was very beautiful and had a mysterious smell associated with it. It was most likely the girl’s handwriting.

These notes were clearly added on later and belonged to the owner of the manual.

Yi Yun was shocked, this had to be Lin Xintong’s handwriting.

With Lin Xintong’s level of training and her understanding of martial arts, her notes for “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” would be extraordinary. If he could read it from cover to cover, it would give him great inspiration.

This was the insight Lin Xintong had obtained. And according to her, she had been reading this manual seriously for about half a year.

She had to be carrying this manual close to her all the time.

Yi Yun suddenly realized the value of the book. Although “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” had been made public by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the book was not valuable, but with Lin Xintong’s notes, it was no longer the same.

“Sister Fairy, this book is too valuable. I can’t have it. These notes are insights from your own understanding…”

“It’s nothing, I already have all my notes memorized. I have read this ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ from cover to cover so it’s no longer useful to me. With it, you might be able to get some inspiration.”

“This…” Yi Yun accepted the book upon seeing Lin Xintong’s insistence. He had really wanted it. It wouldn’t only be some inspiration, but a lifesaver. With this book, he could master the entire set of “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”.

As Yi Yun felt guilty accepting the book, the fat elder made an ill-timed comment. “Bah, if you want it, just say so. Stop acting.”

Yi Yun choked upon hearing that. This old man was really sarcastic with his words. This had to be a form of revenge. The fat elder and his disciple Lin Xintong had characters that were opposite extremes. It was unknown how they had managed to get along so well.

“Alright, stop looking at me. You have proven your strength. I would accept that you know ‘a thing or two’ about the Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist,” said the old man as he stroked his beard. It was an affirmation of Yi Yun’s strength.

“Previously, I said that if you could last ten seconds, I would give you a miracle medicine. I’m a person who doesn’t go back on his promises…” saying that the old man touched his ring and took out something. It was neither a desolate bone or desolate bone relic, but a black charred head!

53 - : Gift of a book

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing the head, Yi Yun suddenly constricted his pupils.

This head was covered with red scales. It was unknown how such beautiful scales were blackened.

Its head had three horns, sharp as a sword. It had sharp canine teeth and two long and thin feelers. It didn’t look hideous and it even seemed to possess some dignity.

Although it was already dead, its two green eyes still seemed to possess a cold killing intent that emitted a chilling feeling.

“This is…”

Yi Yun did not know why for besides the killing intent he felt coming from the eyes of a dead fierce beast, he also felt a faint sense of disgruntledness.

“Its called a Chi Lin beast!” came a faint voice. It was not the fat elder but Lin Xintong’s voice.

To Yi Yun, Lin Xintong’s voice was soft and gentle like a pearlbush flower.

Yi Yun was slightly stunned as he took a look at Lin Xintong. Ever since he had met them, Lin Xintong had been extremely quiet except when they sparred. She had never cut into his conversation with the old man.

Lin Xintong said, “Chi Lin beast is a desolate beast. Although its desolate bone quality is not low, a Chi Lin beast’s strength is quite weak among other desolate beasts. Chi Lin beasts are special. A small number of them would suddenly die at the prime of their life.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun dazed a moment. Suicide?

Lin Xintong carried on, “Rumor says that Chi Lin beasts have the blood of the Fire Qilin. If they light up their body’s meridians, they can transform into a real Fire Qilin amidst the fire.”

“But the current Chi Lin beasts are progeny that are countless generations apart from a Fire Qilin. Even if they really had the bloodline of the ancient Fire Qilin, they would be extremely rare. So most normal Chi Lin beasts would just lead a normal life for a few hundred years before they die of age.”

“However…some Chi Lin beasts do not share similar thoughts. From the moment they were born, they would search and swallow all sorts of fire elemental items. They would even swallow fire and gather a large amount of fire energy within their body till their bodies reach their limits. They would then explode into a Chi Lin inferno!”

“These Chi Lin beasts would then undergo the baptism of fire. In that fire, they will search for their ancestor’s Fire Qilin’s bloodline.”

“But…they only have one outcome, and that is to burn to their deaths, without any exception…”

“Sometimes I guess that they probably know it clearly that it is impossible to awaken their ancestor’s bloodline within themselves. But they would still not hesitate to do so, because although they can live their lives peacefully for hundreds of years, they would rather ignite a Chi Lin inferno within themselves at their prime and die in the fire.”

Lin Xintong’s voice grew faint. The Chi Lin beast was a desolate beast she had known since a long time ago.

She felt like a Chi Lin beast. Having been born with Yin Meridians, she was unable to break her curse. To be able to connect her broken meridians, she had to be like the Chi Lin beasts who aimed to awaken their ancient Fire Qilin bloodline.

It was as hard as ascending to heaven, and it was equivalent to bringing destruction on herself.

Was she to choose the life of a normal Chi Lin beast, and live an ordinary life for hundreds of years before dying, or to choose to be the brave ones among the Chi Lin beasts, to attempt at breaking the confines of their destiny, without worrying about sacrificing their lives?

Actually Lin Xintong had already made up her mind in her heart…

Hearing Lin Xintong’s words, Yi Yun was silent.

Born to search for flames and choosing the fire elemental items that were the hottest. Using them as food till they burned their bodies, and eventually dying within the flames.

Even if they knew they had no chance of transforming into a Fire Qilin, they were willing to chase this shiny dream at the expense of their lives.

Because they were not willing to live amongst the weak. It could be summarized with a phrase that is: “Unwilling to stay ordinary! “

Yes, unwilling to stay ordinary. Yi Yun too was unwilling to stay ordinary. But he did not know that the gentle and frail Lin Xintong in front of him shared similar thoughts.

“Senior, are you using the Chi Lin beast to encourage the younger generation, or are you cautioning the younger generation against being overconfident to the point of burning one’s own fingers?” asked Yi Yun suddenly.

The fat elder grunted in reply, “You think too much. What’s the point of encouraging you with your constitution? I can at most tell you not to be overconfident. In this world, there are plenty who practice martial arts. Many have brought destruction on themselves. In order to obtain more resources they have gone out into the wilderness by themselves without knowing themselves, and eventually, they end up in the stomachs of wild beasts!”

Although the fat elder had a vile tongue, his words had sincere advice within. Yi Yun humbly said, “I’ve been educated.”

“Well…” Seeing Yi Yun’s attitude, the fat elder was very satisfied. “The book Xintong left you is too good for you. Read it well. Although you have a poor constitution in my opinion, your perceptivity still meets the mark. As for your ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, it’s so-so. Read Xintong’s book, and your strength should improve.”

Although the fat elder’s words hinted at a deliberate disparagement of Yi Yun, Yi Yun could tell that they were words of encouragement, so he humbly accepted the advice.

“Sigh, what a pity.” The fat elder shook his head and changed the subject. “Oh, kid you may not know, but if you were to sell this book in an ancient clan, and say that it has notes made by Xintong, I have no idea how many young masters will be willing to make a high bid for it. To these young masters, Xintong is…”

“Master!”

Lin Xintong grumpily interrupted the fat elder. For a particular reason, she was indeed the pursuit of many sons of the big families in an ancient clan. If not for her master taking her in as a disciple, she would have already been betrothed.

After all, although Lin Xintong had excellent talent, her power was limited because of her Yin Meridians, so her life span was just a few hundred years only.

A big family clan was very utilitarian. Everything was done for the family’s interest. Clearly betrothing her would obtain the support of another family, which further pushed the interests of the family clan.

“Forget it, forget it.” said the fat elder as he waved his hand. He changed topics and said, “Hey kid. This Chi Lin beast’s head is yours. Chi Lin beasts are a bit special. After it dies, the Yuan Qi within its body will slowly emanate. It could do this for ten years. So if you were to hide this head properly, you can still absorb its Yuan Qi without refining it. How much you can absorb from it will depend on yourself.”

From the fat elder’s point of view, Yi Yun was not capable of refining the desolate bones. Also with Yi Yun’s foundation, it was unlikely he would be able to digest the Chi Lin beast’s head. Letting the energy emanate out and slowly absorbing it was the best method.

Of course this method was too slow. How could the sons from huge family clans wait ten years?

“Kid, although I’ve already told you. I can guess that you will still want to go out into the vast wilderness to gain experience. No matter. I’ll write you a protective charm. When you reach the peak of Qi Gatherer, this protective charm will be activated. It can protect your life once. If we are fated to meet again one day, and you had not used the protective charm, you can use it as a gift to me.”

“Eh? Why are you looking at me in that manner?” The fat elder asked as he noticed Yi Yun’s eyes filled with suspicion.

Yi Yun did not expect that the old man was offering to give him some benefit. The sun must have risen from the west.

But if he offered to give something, was it trustworthy?

54 - : Unwilling to stay Ordinary

CKtalon  CKtalon

Just as Yi Yun was pondering over it, he saw the fat elder take out a tattered piece of yellow paper. This yellow paper resembled the paper used in the 80s in China, ones which villagers used as toilet paper. But this talisman was more tattered than those toilet paper.

The talisman’s paper quality was world’s apart from the paper of the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” manual Lin Xintong had given him.

Under the questioning gaze of Yi Yun, the fat elder stuck his fat finger into his mouth and licked it. He used his finger as a pen and began drawing on the talisman paper with his saliva.

“It’s done!”

The fat elder gave the talisman paper to Yi Yun saying, “Keep it well. My talisman is worth a fortune so you lucked out. Hey! Why are you giving me that expression? You don’t have to shed tears of gratitude.”

Yi Yun accepted the talisman speechlessly. The saliva on it was a mess, and from the looks of it, the saliva was drying up soon.

Yi Yun gave a constipated look. Although he didn’t doubt the old man’s strength, he was afraid that the old man was pulling a prank on him. After all, this talisman’s purpose was to protect his life!

If at the moment he was about to lose his life, such as being cornered by a desolate beast, he would pull out that piece of talisman, but if it didn’t do a single thing…

That scene was too perfect. Yi Yun could not bear to think about it any further. It could be expected that the desolate beasts with intelligence would have thought that Yi Yun was being considerate by leaving a piece of toilet paper. When they wanted to take a shit after digesting Yi Yun, they could use this piece of paper to wipe their ass!

“Alright, whatever that should be given has been given. Quick make the dishes for me!” The fat elder took out a large number of pots and pans from his ring, and laid it before him in a pile noisily.

This made Yi Yun sigh with emotion. A person of high stature could do anything, and he even had such an inventory space. Even when out traveling, he would bring with him seven to eight pots.

He was not in a hurry to make his salt-baked chicken so he cupped his fists and asked, “May I know the name of this honorable elder?”

Having gotten to know him, and received plenty of kindness from him, Yi Yun still did not know the old man’s name.

“Heh, My name…” the old man paused and seemed to reminisce, “it’s been a while since someone called me. Since you want to know, I’ll give you a stamp.”

As the old man said it, he suddenly took out a seal-like object from his ring and stamped that piece of toilet paper.

In a while, faint light was emitted, leaving a red stamp on the piece of paper.

It read two words: Su Jie.

“Su Jie?” Yi Yun’s mind whirled. This name sure is special. “Jie” indicates calamity, or disaster. For parents to name a child, they would usually choose a lucky name, and they would seldom choose “Jie” for a name.

“For today’s kindness, I will gratefully remember it.” Yi Yun said it sincerely for he knew that despite Old Man Su having a vile mouth while being greedy and stingy, he had still helped him. And he had definitely not helped him solely for a few rounds of ‘salt-baked chicken’.

Yi Yun parted with Old Man Su. Before parting, Yi Yun wrote the recipe for the salt-baked chicken and wrote a few methods of cooking that used alcohol for Old Man Su. There were good cooks in the world who could follow the recipe and create a delicious dish for Old Man Su to enjoy. This was the only way Yi Yun could requite the favor.

Before Old Man Su left, he gave some ingredients to Yi Yun. After all, the life in the wilderness was too tough.

And it was so. As the sun slowly set, Old Man Su and Lin Xintong carried on their training journey. When they turned their heads, Yi Yun had already disappeared into the mountains. All that was left were the clouds that seemed to burn in the sky.

“Master, do you think highly of him?” Lin Xintong asked. After Yi Yun had finished making his salt-baked chicken, she had sparred with Yi Yun for a short while. But the strange feeling that happened to her dried up meridians did not occur again, disappointing her.

It was likely just an illusion.

Old Man Su shook his head and said, “I don’t think highly of him, I just appreciate him.”

“His perceptivity shocked me and he had good luck, but…I can’t think of any way to fix his weakness of having a poor constitution. If he wants to cultivate to a higher realm, he would need massive amounts of resources. It will be too hard!”

In this world, there were many who aspired to be a warrior. There were as many as the sand grains of the five Ganges Rivers, but how many of those succeeded?

“Perhaps, this world will have a miracle…” Lin Xintong mumbled to herself. It seemed like she was referring to Yi Yun, but she also seemed to be referring to herself.

Old Man Su was stunned when he heard that but he remained silent.

Yes, a miracle…

He was a Desolate Heaven Master and he was extremely demanding about taking in disciples. He wanted them to have excellent constitutions and with exceeding talent in the Desolate Heaven technique. It was too difficult. He had searched for hundreds of years, and had seen uncountable numbers of offspring from the big family clans before accepting Lin Xintong as his disciple.

Although he was extremely satisfied with his disciple, she was cursed with Yin Meridians, wasting the potential of her excellent constitution which she had for practicing martial arts.

It was such a ridicule.

“Let’s go…We may never meet him again. We won’t stay long in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. When we leave the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, this kid might not even have stepped out of the Cloud Wilderness. Even if he does step out of the Cloud Wilderness, it would be hard for him to step out of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom in his entire life. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom is too big.”

Old Man Su felt a sense of regret. The kid had high aspirations, but he was born in the wrong place and lacked the needed constitution for practicing martial arts. It was depressing.

“Never meet again?” Lin Xintong went into a trance as she remembered the weird feeling she had when she exchanged blows with Yi Yun for the first time. Her dried up meridians did seem like they had been activated.

However, the events that followed proved that there was a 99% chance that it was just an illusion, but Lin Xintong was not willing to give up even a tiny bit of hope. Maybe her master would be able to give some explanation?

“Master, I have something I need to tell you…” Lin Xintong suddenly blurted out.

“Oh? What’s the matter?” Old Man Su said with a solemn expression as he slowed down his footsteps.

Lin Xintong described her encounter in great detail. Hearing her words, Old Man Su was surprised, the dried up meridians were activated? What could be the reason?

He couldn’t help but stroke his beard as he went into deep thought.

Old Man Su had spent the past few years researching Yin Meridians in a bid to cure it, but he had failed time and time again. But because of his research, few could match Old Man Su’s understanding of Yin Meridians.

Yin Meridians were terminated Meridians, and they unable to hold any energy, just as a dry well cannot produce water. But from what Lin Xintong had just said, she had a mild energy flow within her meridians when sparring with Yi Yun!

Even if it was an illusion of Lin Xintong, Old Man Su took it seriously.

“Let’s go to the Tao tribal clan first. I have already made an appointment with the Jing Long Wei’s division leader and I had asked him to gather intelligence about the Purple Clouds’ Birth. After I receive the information, we can discuss this in detail!”

Old Man Su’s main reason for his coming to the Cloud Wilderness was for the Purple Clouds’ Birth. He wanted to know if there was any treasure that had sprouted in the Cloud Wilderness, and if he could defy fate by joining up Lin Xintong’s terminated meridians!

As for Yi Yun, it could have been an illusion that Lin Xintong had experienced. As such Old Man Su was not hopeful about it, but he would rather not pass up any chances, so he planned to investigate the matter.

55 - : Su Jie

CKtalon  CKtalon

Just after the sun had set, the sky had not completely gone dark. In the Lian tribal clan, about seven children and a few women stood around Jiang Xiaorou’s house. These kids were about eight years old. The eldest was about the same age as Yi Yun. Every one of them wore rags and their bodies were dirty. In their hands were cow dung, as they threw it one after another at Jiang Xiaorou’s door.

“Splat! Splat! Splat!”

The dirty cow dung exploded upon contact with Jiang Xiaorou’s door, giving rise to a strong stench.

Behind the child was an old women dressed in long black robes, looking like a witch. She began dancing as if she was in an epileptic shock and chanted weird phrases.

“All gods are my brothers, all bodhisattvas are my sisters, all the diseases and disasters, stay away from me! Demons and ghosts, hasten and leave! Bewitching evil spirits, show yourself! Ah Ah Ah…Wu Wu Wu…Ah Ah Ah…”

Using the mouth which had few teeth left, she kept wailing like a ghost, as if she was experiencing an orgasm.

As the old woman’s voice reached its climax, the children around her became more excited and threw the cow dung.

The cow dung was obtained from the Lian tribal clan’s cattle. There was always a large pile in the farms, so they could obtain a large amount.

The villagers wanted the cow dung to exorcise evils.

The news of Yi Yun bleeding from his seven orifices had spread throughout the Lian tribal clan.

Deaths in Lian tribal clan were nothing new, but to die so horribly was something that grabbed the attention of the people.

And at noon, the Lian tribal clan had suddenly released information saying that Yi Yun had died from a mysterious disease! It was a kind of plague!

Suddenly the entire Lian tribal clan exploded in activity!

Numerous people began spreading the news and in two hours, the news had been spread throughout the tribe!

Plague!

It was an extremely fearsome word in the vast wilderness. Plagues were terrifying, as it killed more than famines.

Typically, a plague could easily wipe out an entire tribe.

In ancient China, there was the possibility of escaping a plague, but in the Cloud Wilderness, having a plague was equivalent to a death sentence. There was nowhere to run. Escaping to the vast wilderness would only result in being eaten by fierce beasts.

The citizens of the vast wilderness were terrified of plagues to the bone!

The medical facilities in the vast wilderness were backward, be it herbs or doctors, they were small in number. But in the face of a plague, they would not sit there doing nothing to await death.

As such, the citizens of the vast wilderness “invented” several methods to counter the plague, and one of the most common ones was the “witch exorcism”.

A witch would “Dance to the Gods” in order to drive out the plague. As for its effectiveness, it was unknown.

This may sound ridiculous, but in the vast wilderness filled with ignorance, this sort of phenomenon was common, and was regarded as the Truth. In Earth’s ancient times, there were all sorts of witches around the world, and they were all strikingly similar.

Besides, the citizens of the vast wilderness believed that cow dung or dog blood could be used to drive away evil. Dog blood was too rare because it would have long been drunk by the tribal people to stave off their hunger.

But cow dung was common, so they used cow dung to throw at Jiang Xiaorou’s house. They threw it at the walls and doors to seal the plague, preventing it from spreading.

Because of this, these self-proclaimed “brave” kids threw with great strength. They felt they were warriors of the Lian tribal clan, fighting a war with the plague and the evil!

“That place isn’t covered yet!” A leader among the kids said as he pointed, and a large heap of cow dung flew over.

“Splat, splat, splat!’

The cow dung exploded. This wall was close to the window, and Jiang Xiaorou had only stuck a piece of paper across the window. In the Lian tribal clan, paper was expensive, but the windows could not be left uncovered, for it would be too cold in the winter. Without the paper blocking the window, the wind would not be kept out.

Jiang Xiaorou had spent the whole day putting up this thick window paper, bit by bit, as she hoped to ensure that she and her brother could enjoy a warm winter.

But now.

“Pa!”

With a snapping sound, a pile of cow dung had broken through the paper window, flying into Jiang Xiaorou’s house.

As the pile of cow dung hit the floor, it made the entire place filthy.

Jiang Xiaorou was sitting by the bed looking grim.

When the news of her brother broke, she was of course the first to hear it. But she did not believe it to be true, for her brother had been able to survive repeated catastrophes without dying.

This time, they said that her brother was dead. And even two men claimed that Yi Yun had jumped off a cliff tens of meters high with his last breath. Such a drop could even kill cats!

Brother…jumped into the river…to his death…

These words circled Jiang Xiaorou’s mind like a curse. It was unknown how she managed, but she was totally dazed.

She could not believe that her brother was dead. She knew that Yi Yun had undergone change in the past few days. He had greater abilities, became stronger, and after practicing martial arts, he had become even stronger.

How could such a strong brother die?

Jiang Xiaorou could not believe it, she had pinned all hopes on Yi Yun!

But no matter how much Jiang Xiaorou believed in Yi Yun, Yi Yun’s disappearance was a fact…

Especially with the rumors of Yi Yun contracting the plague, Jiang Xiaorou was afraid, afraid that Yi Yun had really been infected by the plague, and was worried that he would spread it to her, hence drowning himself.

“Pa!”

Another clump of cow dung was thrown in, hitting the dining table. The only two bowls in the house were immediately dirtied by the cow dung, unable to be used ever again.

However, Jiang Xiaorou did not even take a glance.

The siege on Jiang Xiaorou’s house with cow dung had lasted for an entire afternoon.

Even with the sun setting, the operation had still not concluded.

“Cover it tightly! This lass and that dead imp are jinxes. We should have never accepted them into our tribe!” Outside of the broken window came a woman’s mean voice.

This woman was tall and her face long. Her cheekbones were raised and her sleeves were rolled; she looked like a shrew.

Even the poor citizens were categorized in classes. Those who had Lian as their surname in the Lian tribal clan were afforded better treatment. They would sometimes enjoy special privileges in the tribe, after all, they shared the same surname as the Lian tribal clan’s leaders.

The women who spoke had Lian as her surname. Her name was Lian Cuihua. She was known as Aunt Cuihua.

In fact, her aggressive posture this time leading a group of people to throw dung at the walls was ordered by Lian Chengyu.

Lian Chengyu wanted to stir up a storm, and he naturally found a person to “care for the children” among the people, so that she could fan the flames.

“I think we might as well burn the house, to prevent any filthy things from coming out. Do you know, Da Tou’s father saw the kid turn sick with his own eyes. He even said that not only did the kid get infected with the plague, he had been possessed!”

“At that time, Da Tou’s dad touched the kid, and it felt like a snake had bit him. It’s no simple matter! Think about it, this little bastard has such a cheap life, cheaper than a dog, how could he have been chosen by Lord Zhang? And to think he was said to be a martial arts prodigy, how is that possible? Lord Zhang may not know, and you may not know! He was a good-for-nothing, no different from a beggar. He was weaker than a wench. A martial arts prodigy, my foot!”

“Only was he possessed can we explain how a good-for-nothing could suddenly become so powerful. It was because he was possessed! When the ghost was within him, he was strong, but with the ghost gone, he died!” Lian Cuihua said it with a queer voice, depicting the story of Yi Yun of days past as a living zombie.

In the past day, Lian Cuihua would say the same speel whenever she met anyone. This was of course taught to her by Lian Chengyu.

As Lian Chengyu could not do it himself, he allowed Lian Cuihua to spread the rumors. By using possession to explain Yi Yun’s apparent talent, many of the people were willing to believe it.

After all, the Yi Yun they knew could not have been a martial arts prodigy.

Doing so could retain Lian Chengyu’s absolute authority. He was the most talented person in the Lian tribal clan, and no one could match him!

This would make the tribe believe that only through him Lian Chengyu, could they be led towards glory.

“What Aunt Cuihua says makes sense.”

“So he was possessed. I already said that weakling Yi Yun could not be more talented than my Er Dan.”

A few women echoed her as they shared the Lian surname, and was the foundation of the Lian tribal clan.

However, in the room, Jiang Xiaorou turned a deaf ear to all of this.

Yun-er, where did you go?

Why aren’t you back?

Jiang Xiaorou was in a daze. Although she knew her hopes were slim, she still refused to believe that Yi Yun had died.

56 - : Siege

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, in the Lian tribal clan Patriarch compound.

Zhao Tiezhu ran in, and excitedly reported the situation of Yi Yun’s house to Lian Chengyu.

“Young Master Lian sure has the best plans. Yi Yun’s house is now completely covered with dung, hahaha!”

Zhao Tiezhu laughed and Lian Chengyu just responded with a terse affirmation before he waved his hands saying, “Leave, and occasionally pay attention to Jiang Xiaorou’s house, and report to me anytime.”

“Yes, yes. I will take my leave,” Zhao Tiezhu accepted his orders as he bowed while retreating out of the house.

Zhao Tiezhu was in a good mood. He felt that Lian Chengyu was beginning to grow fond of him, for he was giving him tasks to do.

After Zhao Tiezhu left, Lian Chengyu calmly poured a cup of tea for himself. He then filled another cup to the brim.

At that moment, from inside the back room came out a yellow robed elder.

He laughed as he picked up the tea cup Lian Chengyu had filled, and took a sip.

This elder was the Lian tribal clan’s Patriarch.

“Chengyu, you have done well regarding this matter. I’ve really grown old,” shook the elder’s head. For the past few months, every matter of the Lian tribal clan was dealt with by Lian Chengyu.

Lian Chengyu had used the strong men to refine the desolate bone, worrying the yellow-robed elder, since there would be deaths caused by the refinement of the desolate bone. And with the starvation, it was a matter of time before the people began to riot.

Even if Lian Chengyu used the Blood Thinning Pill to draw out the potential of those people’s lives, and stabilize their condition, it was an unsustainable method as it overdrafted their life force. In a few days, those people would grow sick again and die.

When the matter was exposed, the Lian tribal clan would come under unprecedented pressure!

If not handled properly, it would cause a riot amongst the people. It would cause loss of lives, and could affect the refinement of the desolate bone. The consequences would be disastrous.

But the yellow-robed elder could not believe that Lian Chengyu had pushed all the blame to the dead Yi Yun before the illness broke out.

If so, even if the strong men who were refining the desolate bone died, no one would become suspicious, they would all believe that Yi Yun had initially contracted a strange illness and had been possessed.

Yi Yun spread his strange illness to the other men who were refining the desolate bones. This illness would later become an epidemic plague.

Also Yi Yun’s possession would give an ominous omen to the tribe.

At that point, the people would believe that Yi Yun had caused the deaths of everyone.

As such, the people would only hate Yi Yun and not hate Lian Chengyu. And there would be new strong men willing to carry on refining the desolate bone, and everything would be perfect.

This was the main reason for Lian Chengyu’s direction of the matter. It could be said as killing two birds with one stone. Not only would he be able to affirm himself as the number one genius in the tribe with absolute authority, he could also ensure the smooth refining of the desolate bones.

“It’s just some small tricks. Grandpa has thought too highly of me,” said Lian Chengyu casually. “Based on the Frost Python’s toxin, and the effects of the Blood Thinning Pill, in about three to five days, those who were refining the desolate bone would die. At that time, the people would be angry. They wouldn’t just simply throw dung at Yi Yun’s house, they would probably directly burn the house down.”

As Lian Chengyu said it, he took a sip of tea and gently wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. His movement was extremely graceful. He was the only person in the Lian tribal clan who continuously maintained the style of an aristocrat.

He was born in the Cloud Wilderness; although the young masters of the Cloud Wilderness had a higher standing, but which of them followed the way of the aristocrats? But Lian Chengyu was different, he had learned the manners of the aristocrats from Yao Yuan, and ensured that he followed those protocols all the time.

Because he thought that he was fated to one day be one of the upper class, and even be among the upper echelon of the kingdom, and attending the banquets of the kingdom.

He did not want to be ridiculed by the upper class people as a Cloud Wilderness brat.

He wanted people to know that although he was born from the Cloud Wilderness, he could also do everything equally well!

“It’s such a pity I didn’t get to see Yi Yun’s corpse with my own eyes…” Lian Chengyu said with thoughts in his head.

“Haha, Chengyu, you worry too much. Do you think the kid can still survive under such conditions? Besides the lack of a cure for the Frost Python toxin, simply falling several tens of meters down a cliff would have broken a person’s body. Furthermore, the East River’s flow is extremely fast. There is even a waterfall downstream, so even the best swimmers would either die from the fall or from drowning.”

The Patriarch was not worried one bit.

Lian Chengyu nodded his head, “Yes…Grandpa is right. Yi Yun just began practicing martial arts, and he hasn’t even reached the Valiant realm. There’s no chance he can avoid that.”

Lian Chengyu placed his teacup down. Yi Yun may be dead, but his sister was still around. After this disaster, and having her house plastered with cow dung, and burnt down, she would have nowhere to go. She was even hated by everyone in the Lian tribal clan, except himself, who would be willing to have her under their wings?

When he thought of that, a smile formed on Lian Chengyu’s lips.

This girl would fall into his hands sooner or later. Letting her suffer a little would temper her attitude, making her more docile. Whatever he said would be what it was.

“Yi Yun-ah, Yi Yun. You made me lose face in front of Lord Zhang, killing you and then enjoying your sister can only be considered fair.”

“With you dead, I’m actually saving your sister. In the future, she will obediently listen to me. You can rest easy in the netherworld. And when I make my meteoric rise, I will let her be one of my concubines, and will not abandon her.”

…

It was finally dark, but the few “brave” children were still extremely dedicated. They did not leave even in complete darkness till the entire pile of cow dung was thrown. Not only Jiang Xiaorou’s door and walls had been smeared, even the foundations were buried in a small pile of dung.

“Well done!” Lian Cuihua clapped her hands. She had originally wanted to touch the boys’ heads as an encouragement, but she realized they were dirty and retracted her hand. “Come to Aunt Cuihua tomorrow, Aunt Cuihua will give you sweets to eat.”

These sweets were of course from Lian Chengyu. In the Lian tribal clan, sweets were a rare thing.

When the kids heard that there would be sweets, their eyes lit up.

“Alright, alright, we will carry on throwing cow dung tomorrow, will there be sweets then too?”

“Yes, of course there will be,” laughed Lian Cuihua. “Not only will there be sweets, by throwing the cow dung, you have driven the evil away, saving everyone!”

“Yes, we saved everyone!” said a bigger child proudly.

“We are heroes!” another child echoed. Children at this age all had dreams of being heroes. They wanted to be a warrior that flew through the skies for that would be very impressive.

At that moment, there were a pair of dark eyes in the grass watching all this.

These were Yi Yun’s eyes!

He had figured the details of what happened from the conversations of the children and villagers. Thus, Yi Yun had also guessed this was planned by Lian Chengyu.

He clenched his fists and a sense of killing intent flashed in his eyes!

57 - : Lian Chengyu’s evil motives

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the plague as an excuse, the blame was pushed to him. Such a move was extremely vile. And with the intelligence of the villagers, there was no way for them to see through it!

How would they know about the pill that could overdraft their vitality? How would they know that desolate bones had toxins that could kill when refined?

There were many among them that had not even heard of desolate bones just two months ago.

The poor had led lives that suffered from starvation and the cold. Besides food, they had no way of accommodating anything else in their brains. Even if you explained it to them word for word, they might not be able to understand.

“Damn it!”

Yi Yun’s eyes turned cold. If he showed himself, it would be the same as declaring war on Lian Chengyu!

Yi Yun knew his hand, his cultivation was still at the Meridians realm, but it had reached a Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse state.

As for Lian Chengyu, he was at the brink of the Purple Blood realm, and was at the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm. If not for Yi Yun, Lian Chengyu breaking through into the Purple Blood realm would have definitely been a done deal.

Yi Yun did not have confidence fighting with a Tempered Body in the Meridians realm versus Lian Chengyu who was bordering on the Purple Blood realm.

In the Lian tribal clan, besides Lian Chengyu, there was also the Patriarch and the instructor Yao Yuan!

The three of them were at the fifth level of Mortal Blood, Qi Gatherer. He would be fighting against three!

Yi Yun was not worried about the Patriarch, but as for Yao Yuan…

Yi Yun did not know Yao Yuan’s true strength. He had previously reached the Purple Blood realm, but he had dropped from that realm.

Not only was Yao Yuan’s level was greater, but Yao Yuan would also have much richer battle experience than Yi Yun.

As for Yi Yun, besides the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, he had never learned any other offensive martial skill, and did not know any movement skills.

In terms of fighting skills, Yi Yun was lacking. He was in the beginning stages in terms of martial arts.

So Yi Yun calmed down and began making plans.

“Lian Chengyu, I will make sure you die in agony!” Yi Yun clenched his fists tightly. He was originally from Earth and he had tunneled into this strange world where power ruled supreme. Yi Yun had previously not wished to murder anyone directly, but after today, he was determined to kill Lian Chengyu!

Lian Chengyu had harmed Yi Yun twice secretly, but Yi Yun had never been so mad to such a degree. Lian Chengyu should have never ever done this to Jiang Xiaorou.

His sister was alone and helpless; as a fifteen year old girl, she had to face the entire tribe’s accusations!

And when those strong men died from their illnesses, there was no need for Lian Chengyu to do anything to push the blame onto Yi Yun. At that time, what would the families of the victims do to Jiang Xiaorou? It was the unthinkable!

If at that moment, Lian Chengyu appeared and wanted to do anything to Jiang Xiaorou, she would have no way of resisting!

Yi Yun picked up a pebble and threw it at Lian Cuihua’s face from the grass.

“Pa!”

This pebble smacked Lian Cuihua right in the face.

“Ouch!” Lian Cuihua screamed as she crouched down. She covered her face in pain. Her face had turned blue-black.

“Who the fuck dare hit me?” Lian Cuihua angrily said. The children around her immediately shook their heads, saying it had nothing to do with them.

Yi Yun did not give any killing blows. Although he had the urge to kill the mean woman, he knew that if he did anything to Lian Cuihua, he would arouse the suspicion of Lian Chengyu.

He would remember Lian Cuihua’s debt. In a month, in at most a month, he will collect the debt with interest. The insidious woman will pay the price.

“Ah!” At that moment the boy beside Lian Cuihua jumped up clutching his buttocks, “Who hit me?”

This child was the ringleader of the children.

“It’s not me!”

“It’s also not me!” Many people hurriedly clarified, distancing themselves from the matter.

But at that moment, the screams began to sound out one after another. Yi Yun’s hands were tremendously fast. The pebbles he shot out were well guided and properly controlled. The moment the pebble hit the child, it would bounce off and disappear into the night. This prevented the children from knowing what they were hit by, nor did they know where the pebbles came from.

“What is it!?” The children knew something was wrong.

It was already late in the night, and they were doing the heroic job of “ridding evil”. They began to break into cold sweat after being hit by mysterious objects.

“There…There are ghosts!”

An unknown child shouted, and with that the rest of the children were scared white, and they scattered in a blink of an eye!

Lian Cuihua was even more afraid as she tumbled while running away.

The village was especially afraid of the supernatural such as demons and ghosts.

After the children scattered, Yi Yun surveyed the surroundings to ensure there was no one before heading to his house like a ghost, jumping over the wall.

The courtyard was filled with cow dung, but Yi Yun had already reached the Meridians realm, and was had achieved a Tempered Body, so he was the same as a Kung Fu master. With one breath, he had crossed the entire sea of dung.

Yi Yun crossed the yard without sullying his shoes.

He pushed the void, and a gust of wind blew forward pushing the door open, and Yi Yun stepped into the house.

Right in front of the house was the stove. There was no light, so it was pitch black.

But in the bedroom, the window had been smashed through by cow dung, letting in some moonlight. Yi Yun could clearly see Jiang Xiaorou’s thin figure under the moonlight.

Her face and her shoulders gave people the urge to give her infinite love.

“Who!?” Jiang Xiaorou had descended into grief and anxiety after Yi Yun disappeared. But she was still extremely alert. The moment she heard noises, she would grab the arrow by her side!

Jiang Xiaorou was an unyielding girl, she constantly strived to become stronger, but her living circumstances made her have given her the thoughts that “without a man in the house, life would be sad”.

With her brother around, her life revolved around him. Without her brother, she had lost her spiritual column of support. And a girl living alone in the vast wilderness would be bound to be the subject of bullying.

Also Yi Yun had previously warned Jiang Xiaorou that Lian Chengyu coveted her, so Jiang Xiaorou had never separated from the arrow for the past day.

“Sis, it’s me…Yun-er…” Yi Yun said with a trembling voice as he looked at the house filled with dung. Seeing Jiang Xiaorou in the middle of the mess, he could only feel a lump come up his throat, urging him to cry.

Jiang Xiaorou was stunned. In the darkness, she used the moonlight to see Yi Yun’s face. Although it was blurry, how could she not recognize that familiar outline?

“Yun-er! !” Jiang Xiaorou ran forward with tears in her eyes and embraced Yi Yun tightly!

“Yun-er, you’re fine. As long as you alright, as long as you are alright!” Jiang Xiaorou’s voice was urgent. She used all the strength in her two arms to hug Yi Yun, afraid that the moment she released him, Yi Yun would disappear.

With Jiang Xiaorou hugging him tightly, Yi Yun could feel her shaking body and her rapid heartbeat. Yi Yun could feel a warmth at his neck. It was Jiang Xiaorou’s tears.

“Sis, I’m fine…”

“I know…I knew from the beginning,” cried Jiang Xiaorou as she said. Although she said she knew, she could not rest assured.

She was not bothered by the insult of having the walls plastered with cow dung, nor was she bothered by the curses of that mean woman. The only thing that mattered to her was if her brother will return.

Now, it had finally happened after a long wait!

“Let’s go. Sis, we need to leave this place. We can no longer stay in this village!”

Yi Yun’s sudden words were a bolt in the blue for Jiang Xiaorou who had been going through a roller coaster of emotions. “If we don’t stay here, where can we go? Are you saying to go into the Cloud Wilderness?”

58 - : Returning Home

CKtalon  CKtalon

A normal person had no way of leaving their tribal clan. Leaving the tribal clan meant that there would be no source of food, so going into the Cloud Wilderness was the same as sending them to their deaths.

“We can go to the back mountains. Bring all our food, we will build a treehouse in the back mountain and stay there for a month!”

Yi Yun had already planned it out. He could not be seen, and there was no way he could stay in the Lian tribal clan anymore. The best solution was to hide in the back mountains.

The back mountains were vast, and did not have any herbs. Few would go there normally.

“To the back mountains? What will happen when our food runs out? Where can we go then?”

“We won’t finish it. Sis Xiaorou, take heart,” as Yi Yun smiled. He had obtained a lot of meat from the old man. It was sufficient for several months. And in a month, the kingdom’s selection would happen, so Yi Yun was not worried one bit.

At that time, he would settle the debts clearly! Lian Chengyu, Zhao Tiezhu, Lian Cuihua and all those that bullied him will meet their just deserts!

Yi Yun helped Jiang Xiaorou gather their belongings. In fact, it was only a bag of food and the bed in the inner room that had not been sullied by the cow dung. All the bowls and plates had been caked in cow dung, and were no longer usable.

“Oh? There’s someone.” Yi Yun hid himself and with the moonlight, he saw a few people gently pushing the yard door, and walked into the dung-filled courtyard.

It was the Aunt Wang, Uncle Zhou and their daughter Zhou Xiaoke from next door.

Aunt Wang had often lent Yi Yun food. Yi Yun had previously given them a large portion of bacon he had received to Aunt Wang.

Aunt Wang’s daughter Zhou Xiaoke was about the same age as Yi Yun, and had followed him all around when they were young. Back then she would often be covered in mud from her exploitations, but now she was much quieter and had the temperament of a young lady.

“Little girl Jiang, Aunt is here to give you your meal. You haven’t eaten a whole day…”

The courtyard was filled with cow dung, and it troubled Aunt Wang. She did not know what illness Yi Yun had contracted. He was a perfectly good child that was chosen by Lord Zhang a few days ago. And the villagers had said he had finally amounted to something and his family had struck gold.

But in a few short days, it was all gone with one word?

Heaven sure was blind.

Aunt Wang was dismayed that there was no light coming from the house.

“Have Sis Xiaorou and Brother Yi Yun left?”

From outside came Zhou Xiaoke’s sad and shaking voice.

Yi Yun peered through the window and saw a young girl the same age as him standing by the door. She had a round face like an apple, and her face were in tears.

Yi Yun sighed, even in this poor and emotionless Lian tribal clan, there were still people like this Aunt, and a young girl who still remembered him…

When he was chosen by Zhang Yuxian, the villagers had begun to curry favor him, but it wasn’t anything. When everyone thought that he had died from a plague, they condemned him. This was the truth that beared in their minds.

Yi Yun gave a wink to Jiang Xiaorou.

Jiang Xiaorou understood and said, “Aunt Wang, don’t come in. I’m already sleeping. There isn’t any place for you to step on, and…

Jiang Xiaorou didn’t say anymore. Aunt Wang sighed for she knew Jiang Xiaorou was worried about the plague infecting her. She could only clear a spot and left the items by the door.

“Lass, I’ve made a bowl of soup noodles for you. I’ll place it here. You can also use the bowl. I’ll be leaving first.”

In a poor village, it was easy to have evil people, but hard to have kind people as the notion of giving an inch and he’ll take a mile prevailed. Yi Yun had given Aunt Wang some bacon, and Aunt Wang had brought some soup noodles. In this period, soup noodles were a rare item.

Aunt Wang knew that Jiang Xiaorou had no chance of eating since noon. As her house was bombarded by cow dung, how could she make a meal?

Aunt Wang placed the soup noodles down and said, “let’s go.”

Aunt Wang pulled the tearing Zhou Xiaoke and together with Uncle Zhou, closed the yard door, and left the yard.

Uncle Zhou was a dull man, and did not speak a word. He had some strength, allowing their family to get by.

After Aunt Wang left, Yi Yun came to the yard and brought the bowl of hot soup noodles in. This soup noodles was different from those from Earth. It was handmade. Each short and thick noodle had the imprints of Aunt Wang’s.

“In the future, I’ll repay them. Those who harmed me, I’ll remember it. Those who were good to me, I’ll remember it.”

Yi Yun thought to himself and brought Jiang Xiaorou away into the mountains.

…

Deep in the night, Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou came to the back mountains. This was a spot Yi Yun had specifically chosen. It was well hidden and near a water source. There was also a large tree, suitable for building a treehouse.

It was already deep in winter, and the chill in the mountains were worse. White frost bits crystallized on the rocks. Each breath blew out a white mist.

Jiang Xiaorou’s face was red from the cold. She shrank her body and kept rubbing her hands as a thin layer of goosebumps appeared on her skin.

Even a strong man, not to mention a fifteen year old girl, wouldn’t be able to survive in the deep mountains for one winter night. They were bound to catch a chill the second day after sleeping.

They only had one bedding, which was not enough back home; now in the cold mountains, it was even worse.

“Yun-er, it’s too cold. We won’t last more than a few days,” Jiang Xiaorou was confused. They had left their house in a spur. Although the house was in shambles, it could still keep out the cold. How were they to survive in the mountains?

The future seemed to be dark.

How could they survive?

Yi Yun laughed, “Sis Xiaorou, don’t worry.”

Yi Yun went to the back a huge boulder and took out a pile of firewood.

When he separated from Old Man Su, the sky was still bright. He could not return to the village, so he had roughly prepared a temporary foothold. The firewood was also prepared at that time.

“Yun-er, you…” Jiang Xiaorou was surprised. At that moment, Yi Yun had sparked the fire starters, setting the wood on fire.

In a moment, a flame began burning as hot air began to rise. The frost on the surrounding rocks began to melt and Jiang Xiaorou felt some warmth.

In such desperate times, a tiny bit of warmth gave Jiang Xiaorou hope.

“Sis, look at what this is,” Yi Yun laughed as he took out a big bag from behind the boulder and unwrapped it. Jiang Xiaorou took a curious look and when she saw its contents, she was stunned.

In the bag was food, there were meat, vegetables and even wild fruits!

The meat accounted for a large proportion. They were all cut up with their fur removed. They were all fresh meat and when put together would weigh more than two hundred catties!

“Yun-er where did you get that from?” Jiang Xiaorou looked with disbelief at Yi Yun.

Meat was rich in fat and was a high caloric food. In poor environments, meat was a life saver.

“Sis Xiaorou, don’t ask. I’ll promise you that in the future, I’ll ensure a comfortable life for you. Our tough days are over. Whoever bullied us, we will return it a hundred times!” Yi Yun’s voice carried a hint of killing intent. After training for two months, just like his strength, Yi Yun slowly became more and more ruthless and resolute.

In this world, the strong preyed on the weak, there was no rule of the law. Using the values from Earth to interact with others was the same as courting death.

Now, if not for the Purple Crystal’s help, he would have long been forced to the wall.

“Sis Xiaorou, look well! Today, I’ll let Sis Xiaorou eat the most delicious foods!”

59 - : Kindness

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The most delicious foods…” Jiang Xiaorou looked at Yi Yun in a daze. In the dark night, her eyes were sparkling.

She felt that everything that happened that night was like a dream.

“Sis Xiaorou, you just have to wait to eat.” Yi Yun began to focus. He had prepared uncountable number of meals in his life, but he had never focused as much effort as this one meal!

Yi Yun had received an entire set of cooking apparatus and condiments from Old Man Su. He had even obtained some of the vintage wine. It was sufficient for him to fully express his culinary skills.

Water was added to the pot with the processed ingredients, together with the meat, seasoning, flavoring, soup stock, oil…

Yi Yun was meticulous in his every step.

And he did many dishes simultaneously. As a dish was being cooked, he was already preparing another.

The cutting board was a cleaned tree stump. The knife also came from Old Man Su.

After obtaining a Tempered Body, Yi Yun’s strength increased. His knife work was superb. The ingredients were cut as thin as the wings of dragonflies and his speed was unrelenting.

By the side, using the fire’s illumination, Jiang Xiaorou was stunned by Yi Yun’s knife work.

When did her brother become so powerful?

In order for Jiang Xiaorou to eat a good meal, Yi Yun had made a few dishes that needed complex steps. Even on Earth, these dishes needed Yi Yun’s care and attention as it required many steps, and he was not a professional chef. A mistake or two would make the dish lose its perfection.

But now, with Yi Yun reaching the Meridians realm, his brain’s channels had been cleared and energy entered his brain making his thinking sharp. So he was able to do three dishes simultaneously without missing a beat in the steps needed for each dish.

With one dish done, it was ladled out, and another dish was prepared. It was all done with clockwork precision.

And Jiang Xiaorou had already completely froze. The aromas that attacked her olfactory senses opened up her appetite.

Jiang Xiaorou seldom saw a few pieces of bacon, so when could she have the chance to see such top class cuisine?

Yi Yun’s dishes were all made of the best desolate meat. From Old Man Su’s stature and gluttony, he would not keep anything less than desolate meat. And even among the desolate meat, only the finest were kept.

Besides, the various condiments Old Man Su had left behind were all expensive items. So Yi Yun was able to fully express his skills, allowing him to finish dish after dish.

Jiang Xiaorou looked at the delicacies that lined the tree stump. It felt like she was in a dream.

Was all this real?

Just a while ago, she was worrying over food and their future, but now, she was faced with a table of delicacies. Was all these made by her brother? Could she really eat all the food?

“Sis Xiaorou, quickly eat it. The wind is cold. The food will cool down soon.”

Yi Yun took a bowl of steamed meat that was as clear as crystal and said, “This is called steamed pork belly, Sis Xiaorou try it.”

On Earth, normal pork belly tasted great when made into steamed pork belly, but using desolate meat for steamed pork belly made it even better.

Yi Yun picked a piece of steamed pork belly and served it to Jiang Xiaorou’s lips.

It was always her feeding Yi Yun, but today, the roles were reversed. Jiang Xiaorou was not used to it and her face turned red as she opened her mouth to take a small bite. The moment the meat entered her mouth, it melted into an aromatic and delicious flavor. It was not greasy and with the faint flavor of rice, it was extremely memorable.

Jiang Xiaorou could not believe that there was something that delicious in this world.

People who have been starving for extended periods of time would find a bowl of soup noodles a delicacy, let alone this dish that could rival even the best dishes on Earth with the excellent desolate meat.

Jiang Xiaorou felt as if her tongue could no longer move. It was too delicious. The taste was something she had never tried before, nor had she ever thought about it.

When she was young, Jiang Xiaorou came from a wealthy family but she was still young then. She was only obsessed with snacks and did not learn to appreciate food. Having only interest in sweets and having never starved, she never knew that fish and meat was that delicious.

“Red braised pork, salt-baked chicken, scalded vegetables, desolate bone vegetable soup!” Yi Yun introduced his dishes one by one. Old Man Su had left behind some vegetables, so he had fried it with some meat.

China’s traditional cuisine with the ingredients from the strange world made the taste even better. Even picky as he was with his food, the glutton Yi Yun felt it was perfect.

Jiang Xiaorou ate it so fast that she almost swallowed her tongue. Eating such a meal was the same as a dream.

And the dishes would give a strong warm feeling when it entered the stomach. This warmth spread throughout their bodies giving them extreme comfort!

This was the desolate meat reforming their bodies.

Desolate meat was something the poor in the vast wilderness could rarely eat. If they could eat it daily, their bodies would be strong and would not succumb to illnesses!

Even the vegetables left behind by Old Man Su was something good for the body, and normal people would never have the chance to eat it.

The siblings ate ravenously and in fifteen minutes, they had swept away the delicacies on the tree stump like a typhoon.

It was hard to believe that Jiang Xiaorou was desperate, hungry and cold and filled with despair just a while ago, but in a short period of time, she was full from eating. And with the energy within the food, she felt warm.

Only after experiencing hunger would one know that delicacies were such blissful objects.

At that moment, Yi Yun had already begun constructing the tree house.

With his Tempered Body, Yi Yun had great strength, so it was simple for him to build tree house.

“Yun-er, what had happened the past few days?” Jiang Xiaorou saw Yi Yun busying himself, and felt like she was still in a dreamy hallucination.

The events of the past hour were too amazing.

“Oh, I met an unscrupulous man by the surname of Su. He saw that my constitution was surprisingly good and gave me some pointers. He also gave me some good items. It’s roughly that. Sis Xiaorou, don’t worry. I’m different from the past. In the future, your life will only get better and better.”

The tree house was completed, but it was cold and moist in the mountains, so sleeping in the tree house would be too cold.

Although there was a fire nearby, and it was warm, it needed constant attention for it could not burn throughout the night, so they would still be cold.

Seeing Jiang Xiaorou rubbing her ears occasionally, Yi Yun smiled and descended from the tree house. In a short while, he brought up the Chi Lin head.

The Chi Lin had a rich amount of fire-elemental energy. Placing the head in the tree house was like having a small heating stove. In a short time, the tree house had warmed up.

Yi Yun had brought in too many surprises this night, so Jiang Xiaorou decided against asking.

Although she had to lie down on the tree house’s wooden planks, she had never felt more secure than today.

Having eaten a meal, quenched her thirst, having a warm home and with Yi Yun by her side. What other thing in this world was more blissful than this?

“Yun-er, I’m so afraid this is all a dream…”

Jiang Xiaorou felt that everything was unreal. She feared sleeping, afraid that if she closed her eyes and opened them, she will find herself in that cold empty house with nothing but dirty cow dung, and the bad news of Yi Yun having died from an illness…

“It’s not a dream. Sis just sleep, I’ll protect you.” Yi Yun sat on a log bed beside her and held Jiang Xiaorou’s hand.

After feeling the heat from Yi Yun’s palm, Jiang Xiaorou obtained a peace of mind.

This warm touch allowed the tiredness to overwhelm her. Although she was unwilling to sleep, slowly she lost consciousness and fell asleep. This day, she had first learned of Yi Yun’s death, and then besieged by the villagers. She had been terribly frightened and her emotions were marked by big ups and downs, so she was totally exhausted.

Jiang Xiaorou entered dreamland and a blissful smile appeared on the corners of her mouth…

60 - : Bliss

CKtalon  CKtalon

After making sure that Jiang Xiaorou had fallen asleep, Yi Yun quietly pulled away his hand. Even when Jiang Xiaorou was sleeping, Yi Yun did not rest . He used the Purple Crystal Origins in his body to absorb the energy from the Chi Lin beast’s head.

Chi Lin beast was a desolate beast, and when Yi Yun had just broken into the Meridians realm, he had absorbed the Frost Python’s Power of Desolates, and due to a lack of experience, he had sucked up too much power causing him harm. He had nearly burst his meridians.

This time, Yi Yun had turned wiser. He carefully controlled the energy intake into his body, and from the speed, he knew that the Chi Lin beast head could last him a month.

In one month, he would pass the warrior selection and obtain new resources.

As the night got deeper, Yi Yun who had absorbed enough energy quietly left the tree house.

He was like an agile monkey crossing through the woods, and he quickly reached a clearing.

Under the clear sky and moon, was a youth in linen clothes. He sat under a tree and rested his back on the tree trunk. With the moonlight, he began flipping through the pages of that green ancient book with perfect focus.

A yellowed leaf escaped from one of the old tree’s branches and slowly fell upon one of the opened pages, but the youth brushed it away gently and returned to his dedicated reading.

Although it was dim at night, but after reaching the Meridians realm, Yi Yun could clearly see in the night as if it were the day.

“So Dragon Dancing the Nine Heavens is not only that one move. There are three others, making the entire set have four moves…”

Looking at Lin Xintong’s ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, the many questions Yi Yun previously had were gradually cleared.

Back then when Yao Yuan was teaching the warrior preparation camp members, under the consideration that the members had poor learning abilities, he had simplified all the moves. Only the simplest of moves out of the entire set of moves were taught.

Now with the entire set of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, he had filled in all the gaps.

“Oh? Miss Lin wrote here that although ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ is ingenuous, it is after all a basic fist technique, and one should not be limited by the routines of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. If one were to be focused only on the routines of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, then in one’s entire life, one would only reach the completed realm of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, but not improve any further.

Lin Xintong’s words startled Yi Yun. He immediately focused on what Lin Xintong had noted.

Lin Xintong’s handwriting was elegant and each tiny word was soft and beautiful, but the content was majestic. Yi Yun could only feel the shocks from it!

In Lin Xintong’s notes, the highest realm one could reach with ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was the peak of Purple Blood realm.

This was the so-called “completed” realm, but was there anything left to practice any further?

Sorry, there’s none!

At this point, unless one obtained an even higher grade cultivation technique could they reach an even higher realm, for example the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”. If one had the ability to obtain it, then one should definitely use it.

But a problem will arise. The ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ previously learned was totally different from the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”. Between the two, there was not much that could be inherited.

The “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” was supposedly created by the founding emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, while the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was unexpectedly obtained by one of the descendant emperors. They did not have the same heritage.

If two different systems were used together, there would be parts that could not be meshed together into perfection.

On Earth, this would be like a high school student choosing to do mathematics for the college entrance exams, and upon entering college, quit mathematics to study history.

That doesn’t mean that he would not be able to learn anything. A talented person could easily still become a famous historian. But no matter what, the mathematics learned prior was a waste for when researching historical articles, was there differentiation one could use?

When changing techniques, there would be a problem, after learning the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”, then the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ would be useless. Its use was only to break past the Mortal Blood, and push him to the peak of Purple Blood!

Just like a high school student learns mathematics only to obtain a college acceptance letter.

This meant that it was a waste of resources. A warrior’s time was extremely precious. Practicing martial arts was a fight against the heavens. To break through to a higher realm, one needed to keep striving and not waste time!

Lin Xintong was a person who went against the heavens; she wanted to accomplish an impossible miracle, so how could she afford such waste?

Lin Xintong’s method was to go beyond the routines and completely understand the routines and cater it for use only for herself!

So forgetting routines is also known as “assuming formlessness”, an important step for walking your own martial path!

Based on one’s martial arts foundations, one could find a path to reach a high level of martial arts. The techniques learned along the way, no matter if it was basic, intermediate or advanced, would be completely understood and merged into one’s own understanding of martial arts.

As such, it will not be a waste.

When Yi Yun saw such a note, he had a sobering feeling.

Yes, routines have limits, but martial arts is without limit!

In ancient China, Mengzi had said, “If you believe everything you read, you better not read.” A real sage would read the basic “Three Character Classic”, “Hundred Family Surnames’ or for the more advanced, the four great books, and even the hundred schools of thought.

All these countless classics would be integrated into their knowledge before they write out their beautiful articles!

I want to be a sage, I want to be a martial art sage!

Yi Yun vowed, and began studying even harder at the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ that Lin Xintong had annotated.

Without saying, this was the advantage of birth. Lin Xintong was born in a large family clan, and had much interactions and perspectives, so it was extraordinary.

Yi Yun had only practiced martial arts for two months, but even if his perceptivity was high, he would not even be able to reach Lin Xintong’s dust trails.

Experience was only gained by a non-stop accumulation of learning. Even a sage had to begin from babbling as a child.

Yi Yun used two hours to finish reading ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ from cover to cover. He pondered over it and received a huge enlightenment!

“I too cannot rely on Miss Lin’s understanding. Everyone has different understanding of things. Many things can only be understood but cannot be described. I need to have form my own opinion.”

It was a must to understand the opinions of others, but he could not just rely on them.

Yi Yun carefully stored away the manual and jumped onto a large rock.

His body was filled with the fire elemental energy of the Chi Lin beast. Ever since he broke into the Meridians realm, the biggest advantage was to be able to flexibly control his body’s energy.

The Chi Lin beast energy he had absorbed in the tree house had been sealed within his dantian. Now, Yi Yun began to open up his conception and governor vessels, and he felt a surge of heat within his body.

The heat flowed along Yi Yun’s conception and governor vessels, and cycled again and again. Slowly, Yi Yun’s body was burning hot, as if he had been drinking a large pot of wine in a hot spring!

Using this strength, Yi Yun began displaying ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’!

With the Chi Lin energy rushing to his head, Yi Yun could feel his spirit fully relax. His body began to move freely without thought, as if it moved on instinct.

Such a dissociated state was the best state for learning martial arts.

It had to be said that although Yi Yun’s constitution was not good, his perceptivity and intelligence was far greater than children his age. Even the elites of the large tribes would pale in comparison to this Yi Yun who had led two lives.

From the fourth Mortal Blood realm to the fifth Mortal Blood realm, besides eating treasures, another critical step was to gather the Yuan Qi into his body!

And that was in fact the most difficult step!

The warriors in the vast wilderness could fly, lift tens and hundreds of cauldrons, level off mountains.

This energy, where did it come from?

Would eating gruel, vegetables and tea provide that energy? It’s obviously impossible!

Using the knowledge from Earth, energy was conserved.

To make a horse run, one had to feed the horse grass. It was the same for warriors; for a warrior to move a mountain, you had to provide him with the energy to move the mountain!

So when warriors train their body, be it some treasure, beast meat or desolate bones, it had to be continuously consumed, as the warriors’ energy consumption was dependent on the food.

But upon reaching the Qi Gatherer realm, warriors would not just rely on the consumed food to provide energy, they could also absorb the energy from the surroundings to complement their bodies.

When warriors attain an even higher cultivation, they could topple the mountains and overturn the seas. At that moment, the main source of energy was not from food by the energy from Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

After two rounds of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, Yi Yun felt his body heating up. His body was drenched in sweat. To completely go through the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ properly was an extremely laborious one.

The energy Yi Yun absorbed were depleted in two rounds. This energy would then settle within Yi Yun’s body, nourishing his body…

61 - : I want to be a sage

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, in the Lian tribal clan Patriarch compound.

“What!? The bitch, Jiang Xiaorou, has run off?”

Upon hearing the news, the teacup in Lian Chengyu’s crumbled!

“Pa!”

The hot tea splattered, giving Zhao Tiezhu a shock.

He did not know why Lian Chengyu had worked up such a temper. In fact, Lian Chengyu had an inferiority complex but he was also a proud man. In front of the large tribe’s elites, he had to be inferior, but in front of the poor people of the Lian tribal clan, he would not allow anything that was detrimental to his pride.

For example, although Lian Chengyu wanted Jiang Xiaorou, he had never expressed such a desire in front of his subordinates. It was like an emperor taking a liking to a small court girl. He would only visit, but never chase.

How could a cheap commoner be worthy of his pursuit?

That was the reason why Zhao Tiezhu did not know about Lian Chengyu’s designs on Jiang Xiaorou. Even now, he was still at a loss. Why would Lian Chengyu be so angry with Jiang Xiaorou running away?

“Leave!” Lian Chengyu waved his hand. His expression was gloomy. I did not expect the bitch to be that stubborn, willing to die than to be possessed by me!

One of the reasons Lian Chengyu was so angry was because he coveted Jiang Xiaorou’s exceptional temperament and looks.

The second reason why was the key reason. Lian Chengyu, having lived in the resource poor Lian tribal clan, had always been able to get anything he wanted. But he had to bend over just to obtain a discarded piece of resource from a large tribal clan. This accumulated to the point of him having an extreme desire in his heart.

He wanted to obtain things that did not belong to him, and if it belonged to him, no one could touch it.

To Lian Chengyu, Jiang Xiaorou belonged to the Lian tribal clan, so she was exclusively his.

It was alright if he couldn’t obtain the things of others, but the things in the Lian tribal clan was his and his family’s. So there was nothing that made him angrier than her escaping!

“This bitch might already be dead.”

A fifteen-year-old girl had to have a lot of courage to escape into the vast wilderness alone as it was equivalent to suicide.

And to send men to find her was impossible. The vast wilderness was so large, who would know which direction Jiang Xiaorou had escaped to?

And sending dozens of his men from the warrior preparation camp would probably lead to some deaths. It was not worth it.

Very soon, Lian Chengyu received a second piece of news.

The men who had taken the Blood Thinning Pill had finally fallen ill! Actually the time for them to fall ill had already been delayed from Lian Chengyu’s original estimate.

They were all extremely weak and each cough coughed up blood.

These ill men were all the pillars of their family. They had originally hoped to earn some additional food for their family by refining the bone.

But now, the pillar was gone!

These few days, because of the lack of food, there were already a few people who had died of hunger and cold.

The first who died were the ill and the elderly.

The families with able-bodied men could barely make do, but without their men, their days ahead were unimaginable!

And for this, the Lian tribal clan upper echelon no longer came forward to provide assistance. They did not hand down food because Lian Chengyu had decided that these people would not last long, and that they had lost their value.

With the meagre amounts of food left in the tribe, they still had to carry on recruiting able-bodied men to refine the desolate bone.

Of course, after the best batch of fit men were maimed, the second batch were a bunch of mediocres. But it didn’t matter since the desolate bone was almost done refining.

Despite the Lian tribal clan’s upper echelon being so cold and heartless, the people were left in the dark. They did not know the truth, because it was all Yi Yun’s fault.

The desperate family members of the able-bodied men came to the Lian tribal clan Patriarch compound, hoping to be given some food, and hoping they could obtain a Blood Thinning Pill that had “saved” their men’s lives.

Of course in the eyes of the family members, that was a life-saving “miracle drug”.

But the Lian tribal clan upper echelons dismissed this requests. There were limited numbers of Blood Thinning Pills, and since it overdrafted on a person’s life force, why would they waste it on these people who had no chance of surviving?

As a spokesperson, Zhao Tiezhu arrogantly stood on a dais and gave a disdainful glance at the family members of those able-bodied men.

He was once a member of the poor, but now Zhao Tiezhu felt he was no longer poor. He had escaped the realm of the poor, and was different from the ant-like inferior creatures.

He was now a subordinate of Lian Chengyu. When Lian Chengyu becomes a Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior, or even a “Kingdom Knight”, he would be one of the servants of a Kingdom Knight!

You know how great is a Kingdom Knight? A watchdog of a prime minister’s house was equivalent to a grade three official, when that happens, Zhao Tiezhu would be able to have multiple wives, and become successful! How could he mix with these scrounging poor?

“What are you making a din for? What are you making a din for? You bunch of bumpkins still want a miracle drug to save lives. How many of these miracle drugs do you think our tribe has? Do you know the cost of refining a miracle drug?”

From up above, Zhao Tiezhu looked down at the ragged bunch of women and children with a despising look.

But seeing that they had been stunned by his words, he felt like he was now a person of the upper echelon as he said, “If I were to say it bluntly, all you bumpkin lives added up would not be enough to exchange for a miracle drug!”

“You want food? You want miracle drugs? Give up hope!”

“The tribe has previously saved your men’s lives once, and you still expect a second? It was your men who got infected by the plague accidentally. It has nothing to do with the tribe. Too bad for your luck? If you want to blame, blame it on that kid Yi Yun. It was he who got infected and spread it to you. That bastard, even in death he is harming others!”

Zhao Tiezhu had the ulterior motives to fan the flames.

And at that moment, someone with a mean voice rang, “Soldier Zhao is right, it’s all because of that jinx Yi Yun!”

This was Lian Cuihua’s voice. She had been mixed within the crowd and had waited for the opportune time to steer public opinion.

“Also that Jiang Xiaorou that seductress! Our Lian tribal clan had kindly accepted that troubled family, giving them food and a place to live, and not only did they not repay us, they even brought disaster on us!”

“Fellow villagers, if you want to blame, blame those two jinxes!” Lian Cuihua shouted at the top of voice, and the family members of the able-bodied men were unable to tell right from wrong in their state of desperation.

Besides, the truth was too complicated for them, making it too hard to understand.

Now with that bitch Jiang Xiaorou gone, she had absconded to avoid punishment! Let’s burn their house! Let’s make sure that she will freeze to death even if she returns! Starve to death!”

“Burning their house is also a form of exorcism, let’s go fellow villagers!” Lian Cuihua took off her tattered cloak and jumped up the stage only with a top and began waving her coat, as if it were a small flag.

People had a tendency towards mass behavior, so they were easily led.

Besides, in their hearts, it was really Yi Yun who had caused their able-bodied men to collapse, causing them to have desperate times ahead. They were most likely going to starve or freeze to death.

Under Lian Cuihua’s instigation, the people besieged Jiang Xiaorou’s house again.

These people were either really angry, or simply following the herd. There were some who did not have the heart to do so.

But the outcome did not change, ten torches were thrown towards Jiang Xiaorou’s dilapidated hut filled with cow dung.

The flames reached the sky.

The crackling sounds were like the cries of the demons. As the tongues of the flames leaked the sky, thick black smoke rose, dying the beautiful red sky black…

From a distance, Lian Chengyu was watching this scene without expression. Burning Jiang Xiaorou’s house was not enough to appease him, it only mattered if Jiang Xiaorou was found.

He said calmly to the Zhao Tiezhu who was standing behind him, “Send down the order, do not affect the desolate bone refinement. Also, when out hunting, if you find Jiang Xiaorou, bring her to me. There will be a reward!”

“Yes, Young Master Lian. I will guarantee that it will be done!” Zhao Tiezhu accepted the order before leaving.

62 - : Scapegoat

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the back mountains of the Lian tribal clan, Yi Yun could see the rising black smoke from afar.

He could not see the position of the fire, but he could guess what had happened. He only sneered and said nothing.

He was planning to bring Jiang Xiaorou out of the vast wilderness, so it was alright burning the house!

Yi Yun closed his eyes and began expirating the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Once his meridians were opened, he could expirate.

Expirating was the absorption of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. After completing one circulation, the energy would be discharged from the pores and subtly transform the body and was a cumulative process.

And having opened up the meridians, they would be the channel for the flow of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Lin Xintong’s meridians were dried up, so the biggest problem was not being able to expirate the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, unable to freely use the energy in her body.

But even under such restrictions, Lin Xintong could still obtain her present day martial arts achievements. It was an amazing feat.

Yi Yun did not know this and he was sitting in a trance like state, and began expirating the Yuan Qi.

Expirating may seem simple, but it was not. It was a process that tested talent.

A person without talent would never be able to enter a trance like state. They would feel like time passes extremely slowly. After twenty hours, or even a day or two of cross-legged sitting and expirating, it would be too boring. Most people would lose their patience after doing this boring thing for long periods of time.

Especially the hyperactive children would not be able to endure this.

But, if one could reach the trance like state, then the concept of time will be lost. In a blink of an eye, several days would have passed. And the person expirating would feel like he had just taken a nap.

As for Yi Yun, he was currently in such a state.

Yi Yun’s constitution was that of a normal person. But his soul was different from others. He had extraordinary perceptivity and Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal hiding within him.

The Purple Crystal was a divine artifact that was related to energy. A person’s body has “Spirit”, “Qi” and “Soul”. In the flesh was “Spirit”, while the soul was about the “Soul”, as for the energy, it was “Qi”.

By using the Purple Crystal to gather Qi, Yi Yun could do it easily!

The speed at which he absorbed the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi or the circulation speed within his meridians were far faster than a normal person.

As such, Yi Yun had completely forgotten the concept of time.

From sunset to late at night, from late night to dawn…

The mountain was chilly, and Yi Yun’s clothes were wet from the chilly air. A layer of white frost had already crystallized on his hair.

Yi Yun had previously warned Jiang Xiaorou not to look for him, and to wait without worry in the tree house.

There was plenty of food in the treehouse which Jiang Xiaorou could prepare when she was hungry.

After sunrise, the sun rose in the vast wilderness. It was a beautiful picture as the golden sun climbed up with difficulty. The horizon appeared to be coated gold by the sunlight. The entire mountain had seemed to been revived as they welcomed the baptism of the golden sunshine.

Yi Yun remained motionless. His young face greeted the rising sun as if many light dots were jumping on his skin.

After sunrise, it was midday, followed by evening and into the night!

Yi Yun had sat there meditating for a day and a night without taking in a single grain.

He was like a piece of rock that never moved. But if you had Yi Yun’s vision, you would see numerous light dots flying towards Yi Yun, covering his entire body.

His body’s meridians had become crystal clear from the flowing golden light. Under the light, it was as if he had turned transparent.

Yi Yun could even see the insides of his body, where the shining meridians formed a perfect meridian graph.

This was a mesmerizing scene.

Slowly the lights Yi Yun could see grow thicker. His meridians were becoming brighter and brighter and his body was getting hotter!

In Yi Yun’s mind, various images appeared. They were the moves of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ playing out like a movie in his mind.

It was as if Yi Yun was cultivating himself in a spiritual world, and he kept doing each stance of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ without tire.

Behind Yi Yun were the shadows of a dragon and tiger, each taking a side.

Yi Yun’s condition became more and more mysterious. He could feel that his body was being pressed and his cells were continuously compressed, and solidified. His bones became heavy and his blood had become similar to mercury.

After Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist, Yi Yun began practicing the Elephant Swallowing Technique!

The Elephant Swallowing Technique was not a fist technique, but a set of moves and this set of moves was extremely mysterious, even more so than ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’!

Elephant Swallowing Technique was extremely high in energy consumption. Under the situation of a body’s energy being drained, the body would reach a state of absorbing energy from the external world where it welcomed all.

Yi Yun was now like a sponge, and he was in the energy ocean freely absorbing its power.

After the Yuan Qi accumulated to its maximum and Yi Yun having performed Elephant Swallowing Technique and Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist for the umpteenth time–

“Peng!”

Suddenly, Yi Yun heard something explode in his body. A raw breath surged up Yi Yun’s throat, and with a open of his mouth, “Wah”, he had vomited a large mouthful of black blood!

This mouthful of black blood was extremely thick and sticky. After vomiting it out, Yi Yun felt full of energy, like nectar raining down his head, drenching his whole body.

He opened his mouth and the nectar would enter his mouth!

This was not an illusion. It was his tongue feeling it, because even Yi Yun’s saliva tasted sweet like nectar. Swallowing a mouthful made him extremely relaxed and comfortable!

Yi Yun knew that he had reached the fifth level of Mortal Blood, Qi Gatherer!

The Qi Gatherer realm was the transitionary border between the Mortal Blood realm and the Purple Blood realm, the process where a person’s body could shrug off their mortality!

“Wonderful! It really feels wonderful!” Yi Yun suddenly opened both his eyes. His eyes flashed like lightning and his gaze would shoot out like lightning, piercing through darkness.

He jumped up and looked like a tiger living on the rocks!

Having reached the Qi Gatherer realm, Yi Yun felt his body full of energy. He casually lifted his right leg and stomped down!

“Boom!”

The black ironstone by his feet was stomped open by Yi Yun’s foot.

Seeing the cracked piece of rock, Yi Yun was very satisfied.

“My strength is many times stronger than when I was in the Meridians realm! Not even a five-hundred-kilogram cauldron, lifting even a three-thousand-kilogram cauldon would be no problem.

With his strength reaching six cauldrons, or three thousand kilograms, it was no wonder the rock was shattered as a three-thousand-kilogram object would cause the same damage when dropped from a height.

If that three-thousand-kilogram object had reduced its size to that of a fist, it would be fearsome.

And with Yi Yun’s ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, the fist would be way stronger than his body’s strength by several times.

63 - : Qi Gatherer Realm

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yao Yuan had previously said that when ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was trained to a certain state, one could lift five hundred kilograms, and pull a nine-picul bow. I haven’t even mastered half of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ yet, and already have this strength. When I finish the eighteen stances of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, I will be able to easily exceed five thousand kilograms. At that time, even a hundred picul divine bow would be as easy as shooting marbles, sending the arrow flying thousands of feet, piercing steel plates! If I had this strength in Earth’s ancient times, I could win a war by myself.” In ancient times, when two armies clashed, if an arrow could be shot to tear the opponent’s General apart, the battle would have been won.

Thinking of this, Yi Yun felt his stomach. He was hungry.

“I’m sure a glutton.” Yi Yun was speechless, there was nothing he could do about it after all. A warrior were bound to have large appetites. Even the energy needed to stomp the black ironstone to pieces was the amount that could last a normal person for days.

A warrior upon reaching the Qi Gatherer realm would have strength above one cauldron. If the warrior wanted to improve, he would have to work hard at cultivating.

Using one cauldron of strength to cultivate had naturally high energy consumption. And to replenish the energy was to eat more!

Yi Yun endured his hunger and practiced a stance from the Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist. He really had the strength to easily shatter rock. It was now comparable to the destructive power of Lin Xintong in her suppressed state.

“The Qi Gatherer is indeed not the same! But, I must not be too obsessed with ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. As Miss Lin said, although this fist technique is exceptional, but it still just a basic cultivation technique!”

“But, I can’t look down on it just because it’s a basic cultivation technique. On the contrary, I should work even harder, refining it to perfection, until I can step beyond the routines, integrating ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ fully, digesting it till it becomes mine!” Yi Yun was thinking of this and activated his technique and flew through the woods. Like a cat, he jumped back to the tree house.

In the treehouse, Jiang Xiaorou was still sleeping. But she had not been sleeping soundly. She was lying by her side and a slender thigh peeked out from the blanket, and had tightly clasped the blanket. At the same time, her small hand was grabbing to a corner of the blanket, and her face was pale, with eyebrows frowning. From her wrinkle-free forehead, a line of perspiration appeared.

Yi Yun knew that Jiang Xiaorou was having a nightmare. A fifteen-year-old girl having suffered a catastrophe and the upheaval of emotions would still feel insecure, even though everything was now over.

Yi Yun walked lightly to the wooden bed, and lay down beside Jiang Xiaorou. He hugged her from the back and softly whispered into her ear, “Everything will be alright, I’ll always be by your side.”

Yi Yun’s words were like magic. Jiang Xiaorou’s frowned eyebrows relaxed and she no longer grabbed her blanket rightly. The corners of the mouth started curling, and a calm smile appeared.

Yi Yun gently pulled a corner of the blanket and covered himself, sleeping with his clothes on. He had been practicing martial arts for two months and he had almost not have any sleep every night. Tonight, in this tree house, it was a space that belonged to Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou. He decided that he would take the night off, accompanying his sister.

In the darkness, Yi Yun could see the faint light dots that emitted from the Chi Lin heat. They were like little flies, flying towards him slowly.

Yi Yun had broken through to the Qi Gatherer realm, so his body was extremely hungry. With an energy source, the Purple Crystal would stream all the energy to strengthen his body.

After eating the energy, although it could do the same as making him full, it could not compare to the eating of delicacies…

As Yi Yun thought about it, he became more determined. He wanted to leave the Cloud Wilderness and walk towards the unknown world, and become a peerless expert. By reaching the peak of the martial world, he could be able to see the magnificent scenery!

Slowly, Yi Yun fell deep into sleep.

Even in his sleep, the Purple Crystal in his heart carried on pulsating with his heart, replenishing Yi Yun’s energy.

…

In the Lian tribal clan, faint cries could be heard deep into the night.

This was due to the able-bodied men who had fallen ill from refining the Frost Python desolate bones.

Supposedly, these people would not have been able to last five days before dying.

However, it had already been seven days, and they were still hanging on their last breath.

They had been eating porridge daily, yet they did not die.

They didn’t have any strength, and were bedridden. They had dark eye circles, and no trace of blood could be seen on their faces.

This was actually the after-effects of eating the Blood Thinning Pill. The Blood Thinning Pill overdrafted a person’s life force, causing the blood to thin, and making the person bedridden. But besides the after-effects of the Blood Thinning Pill, there were not much of an after-effect from the Frost Python toxin.

Supposedly, the Frost Python toxin’s after-effects were even worse, and was enough to take all their lives.

But, no one paid attention to this.

Because in the Lian tribal clan, they were preparing a huge celebration. This celebration was to celebrate the completion of successful refining the desolate bone.

This was an event that would determine the tribe’s future, so with people being superstitious in the vast wilderness, how could they not hold a celebration?

Happiness always comes suddenly. As the preparations were beginning, Lian Chengyu received great news that the Frost Python desolate bone had already been refined into desolate bone essence!

Upon receiving the news, Lian Chengyu was pleasantly surprised, “why is it so fast? It’s earlier than the forecast by ten days!”

According to the technique’s manual, another ten days to completely refine the desolate bone essence would be its best prediction.

“Hahaha! It’s so fast! Chengyu, Grandpa congratulates you!” As the laughter traveled over, the Lian tribal clan’s Patriarch slowly walked in. His face was full of joy. He was indeed happy. With the desolate bones refined, Lian Chengyu could break into the Purple Blood realm and after being selected by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, his achievements would allow even his pets to ascend heaven.

As Lian Chengyu’s grandfather, he had played a huge role in it. He could follow Lian Chengyu into the city to live a comfortable life. Although he was the Patriarch, he was sick of the poor life and was already planning to destroy the Lian tribal clan.

It would be great in the city. The people there were rich and he could get a few concubines and peacefully enjoyed the comforts of his remaining life.

“Good! It’s too good!” Lian Chengyu was excited. The displeasure of Jiang Xiaorou being missing had long been forgotten.

Compared to the desolate bone relic, what was women?

In the future when he made his meteoric rise, would he have any lack of women?

“How are the preparations for the celebration?” asked Lian Chengyu.

“It happened too suddenly, and the celebrations aren’t prepared. I will get people to prepare it overnight. Tomorrow, we will kill our livestock to honor the heavens. Chengyu, the tribe’s hope now rests on you.” said the Patriarch as he patted Lian Chengyu on the shoulder. He had placed all hope on Lian Chengyu.

“Tomorrow? Great! Tomorrow will be the day!” Although Lian Chengyu could not bear the wait to eat the desolate bone essence, he knew that to achieve greatness, he had to sharpen his mind!

Patience was extremely important.

Lian Chengyu had been waiting for years, so he was willing to wait another day.

He knew that he had struggled with great difficulty to obtain the desolate bone relic. In order to adjust his mental state, he had to calm himself down before eating it. Only then will it achieve maximum effect, allowing him to break into the Purple Blood realm!

That day many of the tribal elders prayed in the Lian tribal clan’s Patriarch compound.

As for Lian Chengyu, he was served by four maidens, taking care of his every need.

These four maidens were about sixteen years old. They were all slim, but their skin was rough and had looks inferior to Jiang Xiaorou’s. However in a small tribal clan like the Lian tribal clan, they were one of the prettiest.

If it was a normal day, Lian Chengyu would have intercourse with these maidens, but today his mind was as still as water, as he conditioned his mental state.

64 - : Desolate Bone Refinement Completed

CKtalon  CKtalon

That night, Lian Chengyu ate vegetarian, burned incense and meditated the whole night, conditioning his mind to its optimal state.

The next day, early in the morning, the celebration officially began!

Zhao Tiezhu led the members of the warrior preparation camp and moved the bone horn used by the Lian tribal clan to honor the heavens. Two strong men would carry it, and another strong man will use all his strength to blow through it.

The deep baritone echoed over the Lian tribal clan and could be heard a few kilometers away.

“The auspicious hour has come!” shouted Zhao Tiezhu at the top of his voice.

Such a grand celebration by the Lian tribal clan attracted all the tribe’s people, as long as they could get off the bed; even a one-year-old child would be carried here by his mother.

The venue was packed to the brim!

“Dong! Dong! Dong!”

The drummer began beating the drum. It began slow but became more rapid as time went by. The worn cow skin covering the drum seemed like it could hardly withstand the large force.

“Slaughter the animals!” Zhao Tiezhu shouted again. His face was ruddy and he was in high spirits. To be the celebration’s master of ceremony was such an honor!

The members of the warrior preparation camp led the only head of cattle in the Lian tribal clan over and slaughtered it.

The Lian tribal clan had originally three heads of cattle, but with the shortage of food, two of them were slaughtered to make bacon. Most of it had been given the upper echelon of the Lian tribal clan, and small amounts of it had been given to the able-bodied men who refined the desolate bone as a reward.

Now, even the last head of cattle was killed. It was equivalent to the burning of bridges. Without the cattle, it was even harder to farm in the village.

The land of the wilderness was filled with black ironstone. To open up a land for agriculture was extremely difficult. Members of the warrior preparation camp like Zhao Tiezhu would pale in comparison to a cattle if they were to try to plow the land. Lian Chengyu was stronger than a head of cattle, but would Lian Chengyu pull a plow?

With the head of cattle dead, the blood was collected. The tribe’s witch came and wiped the blood all over her body and began dancing like an epileptic.

That’s right, this witch was the same witch as the one who had joined the villagers in throwing cow dung at Jiang Xiaorou’s house. In fact, there was only one witch in the Lian tribal clan.

“Finally the bone has been brewed, it’s great. Now, Young Master Lian can become a Purple Blood Warrior!” Lian Cuihua said proudly among the crowd. As her voice was loud, many people heard her.

“I heard that if Young Master Lian were to be chosen by the Kingdom, he could bring us into the big city to lead a good life.”

“Will our future change for the better? It may not matter to an old man like me, but my kid is just over ten years old, if he could leave this shithole, it will be great…”

The people of the vast wilderness only concerned about their future life. With the cattle slaughtered, herb mountain picked dry, and the grain warehouse empty, it could be said that the Lian tribal clan had spent everything, and were now penniless.

If they met with failure, the consequences would be unthinkable.

“Could something go wrong regarding this matter…” a middle-aged man asked uncertainly. He was afraid.

“Pui! Pui! Pui! What are you saying, of course, nothing will go wrong!”

The people began to discuss. They were very hopeful about Lian Chengyu breaking through to the Purple Blood realm and participating in the Kingdom’s selection.

“Mama…will we get some meat?” As people looked forward to the future, a three-year-old girl in her mother’s bosom asked as her eyes stared at the beef that was placed in the cauldron to cook. She could not stop swallowing her saliva.

“Don’t speak rubbish. That’s a tribute to the gods, how can they give it to you?” the woman jumped as she quickly covered the girl’s mouth…

The ceremony lasted for two hours before it ended. Lian Chengyu, wearing a grand robe with silver armor came to the stage.

Today Lian Chengyu was in high spirits!

In front of Lian Chengyu was a jade box and it was covered by a piece of red silk.

Lian Chengyu took a deep breath for the time has finally come. It was time to realize his ambitions and aspirations!

He slowly pulled the silk away to reveal the item inside the jade box. In it was a desolate bone essence the size of a fist!

This desolate bone essence was an item that had cost all his family’s assets!

The look of the desolate bone essence did not look good. It was mud brown in color and its looks could not be compared to the peanut sized crystal-clear desolate bone relic.

This was understandable. They had used a backward technique to refine the desolate bone essence. They had brewed the energy within the Frost Python desolate bone in Li-Fire water, and evaporated the Li-Fire water, crystallizing it to obtain the desolate bone essence.

How could something made that way look pretty?

Even though it didn’t look good, in Lian Chengyu’s eyes, it was the most exquisite work of art in the world!

It was related to his future, related to all the hope he had placed on the item. Lian Chengyu calmed his mind and took up the desolate bone essence with both hands and ate it.

The fist-sized desolate bone essence was like a ball of mud, even the texture was no different from eating mud.

The taste was self-evident.

But Lian Chengyu was not willing to waste it. He was careful, without missing a bit. He even licked his fingers clean.

He was nervous. This was the first time eating a desolate bone essence. The energy within it might be violent but his body constitution was not bad, so he should be able to withstand it,

“The ceremony is over! Everyone, out!” Zhao Tiezhu shouted loudly. The members of the warrior preparation camp began to chase the people away, to prevent Lian Chengyu from being disturbed.

Lian Chengyu would break through to the Purple Blood realm on the altar blessed by the tribal witch!

Although they were being chased away, these people did not go far. They looked from afar to see the situation on the altar.

All they saw was Lian Chengyu sitting cross-legged. He had begun to regulate his breathing in a bid to break though.

But…

The expected heat rush that would spread throughout his body, giving his body an exploding feeling did not happen.

Instead, his diaphragm was calm. It was as if what he had just eaten was a normal mud ball.

Oh?

What’s the matter? Lian Chengyu frowned.

Could there be a delay before the desolate bone essence would kick in? Do I need to wait a little longer?

Lian Chengyu began to patiently wait, and wait.

“Stay calm. You need to calm down. When the desolate bone essence releases its energy, it will be like a surge. Although my body has a solid constitution, when the surge happens, it might be hard to bear. I need to calm my heart and grit my teeth, upon withstanding this surge, I would be like a phoenix rising from the ashes and soar into the sky!” Lian Chengyu had this thought and calmed his heart and mind down.

However, fifteen minutes passed…

There was not the slightest reaction from the desolate bone essence that had reached his stomach.

This was the first time Lian Chengyu ate a desolate bone essence, so he did not know how long it would take to show its effects. He thought that maybe the desolate bone essence was not easily digested, so it would be slow…

Maybe…

65 - : Lian Chengyu is nervous

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seconds changed to minutes as Lian Chengyu began to have his doubts. As the matter was of great importance, he was afraid something wrong had happened.

Why hasn’t the desolate bone essence revealed its effects after such a long time?

When he bought the desolate bone, he had carefully checked it. The desolate bone had no traces of having been refined before. And in the beginning of the refinement process, there was the appearance of the Frost Python toxins that was recorded in the books. It had caused a group of able-bodied men to fall ill. That meant that the desolate bone was genuine.

Did something wrong happen during the refinement process? Thinking carefully, it couldn’t be. There were many of his men who were watching the refinement process, and he had checked on the process every now and then, how could there be a problem?

Lian Chengyu was no ordinary person. After a deep round of pondering, he calmed down quickly and said to himself, “Mud can be solidified after a rain, but jade amber has to be buried for millions of years to be nourished by the land.”

“Sweet corn can be harvested in a year, but an immortality pill needs to be subjected to millions of years to absorb the essence of the surroundings.”

“An unscrupulous charlatan can write a fist technique book in three days, but the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s founding emperor had to train for ten thousand years to create the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!”

“A mud block will be smashed with one stomp, but a jade amber will become a piece of art handed down for generations; Sweet corn will become the waste of humans, but an immortality pill could make a king a god; a charlatan’s fist technique manual can only be used to cheat a fool of his money, but the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ will be spread down for ages, sought after by warriors!”

“To accomplish greatness, patience must be honed. If I cannot endure these few minutes, how can I accomplish greatness!”

Lian Chengyu began thinking and his expression turned calm.

But, one hour passed…

Lian Chengyu still sat with a calm mind. His words had been repeated to himself an uncountable number of times.

Two hours passed.

Lian Chengyu’s forehead started to ooze sweat.

Four hours passed.

Lian Chengyu’s eyes were blood red, his fists clenched tightly, with his nails lodging deep into his flesh.

Six hours!

Zhao Tiezhu and the rest were already aching in their feet. As for the people crowding around Lian Chengyu, waiting for him to soar into the sky and bringing them into the city had already stretched out their necks till they became stiff.

Eight hours, the sun had set. Lian Chengyu had been sitting there in his silly meditation the whole day.

How could this be? How could this be?

How could this be!

Lian Chengyu shouted in his heart. Veins looking like earthworms appeared on his forehead making him look hideous.

Seeing Lian Chengyu in this state, Zhao Tiezhu and company began to rouse themselves. Even the Lian tribal clan Patriarch was staring widely with full attention.

They knew this was probably the legendary explosive power of the desolate bone!

Because the energy was too strong and Lian Chengyu was at his body’s limits, it caused his veins to protrude. If something inadvertent happened, it could cause Lian Chengyu’s veins to explode!

In history, there was no lack of warriors who ate the desolate bone essence greedily, but instead of absorbing it, they only ended up blowing up their bodies.

“Everyone, take a step back, no one is to interrupt. Kill anyone who takes a step forward!” The Patriarch issued his command. This was Lian Chengyu’s most crucial moment. If anyone were to disturb Lian Chengyu, he might receive damage to his meridians, destroying hopes of breaking through. When that happened, it would not be enough to grind the person to death.

Ten hours.

The sky was totally dark and the moon was high in the star-filled sky.

But the Lian tribal clan upper echelon and the members of the warrior preparation camp had not left. The tribe’s witch and doctor were all awaiting orders. They had just eaten a few bites for their meals.

The witch would kneel down to pray from time to time, continuing on her ceremony, blessing Lian Chengyu.

At that moment, Lian Chengyu who was meditating suddenly made a loud roar!

“Ah–”

This roar was deep but loud. It was like the angry roar of a beast, soaring to the ends of the skies!

“Boom!”

The altar Lian Chengyu was sitting on cracked open. This was caused by Lian Chengyu’s energy.

“Young Master has broken through! Young Master has broken through!”

Seeing such a display, Zhao Tiezhu leaped up in joy.

The members of the warrior preparation camp got up to cheer and celebrate.

The Patriarch only stroked his beard and revealed a happy smile. Only the warrior preparation camp instructor, Yao Yuan, looked curiously at Lian Chengyu. His eyes were puzzled because why did Lian Chengyu’s roar contain a deep sense of irreconcilability and hatred?

Zhao Tiezhu signaled to the people behind him. It’s meaning was to shout with him–

“Congratulations Young Master, congratulations Young Master! With Young Master’s Purple Blood completed, he will unify the wilderness! Young Master is to live for many generations, having a life as long as the heavens!”

The members of the warrior preparation camp began shouting in unison.

They had practiced this chant for very long which was planned by Zhao Tiezhu in secret. Zhao Tiezhu, who was a master of sucking up, would never have passed up this opportunity.

It had to be said that the members of the warrior preparation camp were much stronger than the average person. Having practiced this chant, the sound was loud and could be heard from five kilometers away.

As such, everyone in the Lian tribal clan knew that Lian Chengyu had broken into the Purple Blood realm!

For the past few days, Lian Cuihua had been deliberately spreading the news, so even a granny whose teeth were all dropping off knew what the Purple Blood realm meant.

It was the best of the best of the best among all the experts. The Zhang Yuxian who came a few days ago to the Lian tribal clan was in the Purple Blood realm.

Now Young Master Lian can’t be that much weaker than Zhang Yuxian.

“Young Master Lian has broken into the Purple Blood realm, we will have a good life in the future.”

“Yes, Young Master Lian had previously said it, we will all be brought into the city.”

“You may not know, but back then when Young Master Lian was born, the entire sky was lit red. It’s obvious Young Master Lian is a star that descended, and not someone ordinary!”

People discussed animatedly because they had been yearning for a life of ease. The sufferings and hunger they had endured were no longer important.

As long as Lian Chengyu broke through, then all sorts of good things would come. They did not seek prosperity, but as long as they a stable life, they would be thankful.

The people were prevented from coming close, but the members of the warrior preparation camp had already circled Lian Chengyu and were chanting even louder.

“Young Master to live for many generations, the wilderness will be unified!”

“Young Master’s prowess is unparalleled, life as long as the skies!”

All they could chant were those few words, but at that moment Lian Chengyu’s face was pale. His eyes looked at the surroundings in an unfocused manner.

“Puah!”

A mouthful of scarlet fresh blood spit out from Lian Chengyu’s mouth like a red fountain, spraying all over the floor!

Zhao Tiezhu was kneeling right in front of Lian Chengyu, and that mouthful of blood had sprayed onto Zhao Tiezhu’s face, drenching him crimson.

Zhao Tiezhu was dumbfounded, he just stood there dazed.

The other members of the warrior preparation camp were dumbfounded too, what…what…happened?

“Chengyu! Chengyu!”

The Patriarch jumped in shock and frantically rushed over and supported Lian Chengyu, “Doctor, call the doctor!!”

The tribe’s only doctor had been waiting on the sidelines all this time. He was old and did not know any martial arts. His legs were aching from the long standing. Seeing Lian Chengyu vomit blood suddenly, his face turned pale. He ran over, but because his legs were not stable, he had tumbled and crawled to Lian Chengyu’s side.

When he measured Lian Chengyu’s pulse, he could only find that his pulse was in utter disorder, and he was unsure of the matter.

At that moment, Zhao Tiezhu opened his mouth and waved, “Everyone, rest assured. Young Master must have just broken through, causing his pulse to be unstable. He vomited out black blood, it’s known as marrow cleansing, I guess you don’t know about it. Marrow cleansing requires the vomiting of the impure black blood in the body.”

As he said that, Zhao Tiezhu wiped the blood off his face. For a moment, Zhao Tiezhu’s face was as red as the dancing witch.

The people around looked at Zhao Tiezhu’s face and gaped. They did not know what to say, nor did that know how to break the silence.

After wiping the blood off his face, Zhao Tiezhu was still calm and said, “Soon Young Master will recover and when that happens, the wilderness will be unified for many generations.”

In Zhao Tiezhu’s heart, Lian Chengyu was a god.

What could happen to a god? Besides, Lian Chengyu had just broken through to the Purple Blood realm, so a little imbalance was normal.

66 - : The wilderness will be unified for many generations

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Patriarch completely ignored Zhao Tiezhu’s words. Having lived to a ripe old age, he was able to tell with his own abilities. He worriedly asked, “Doctor, how is he?” The Lian tribal clan’s barefooted doctor’s knowledge was originally limited, so he was unable to tell.

This quack began to panic and was utterly dumbfounded by the question of the Patriarch.

What did he know?

“The situation…I can’t really tell, I’ll write a prescription to the Young Master. The Young Master’s foundation is solid and he’s strong, he…he should be fine…”

“Are you sure he will be alright? Could it be that the Young Master is weak after having broken through? Was the backlash in his vitals caused by the Yuan Qi? As such, he should recover soon, right?”

“This…” The quack did not dare guarantee this. His forehead was filled with sweat, but he composed himself with a sigh, “Everything will depend on the Young Master’s future conditions. Let him take the prescription and have a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow we should be able to tell. Tomorrow.”

The quack had just said a bunch of crap that was as good as not saying anything. As for Yao Yuan, he frowned and walked to the side of the Patriarch and whispered a few words into his ear.

“What did you say!?”

After hearing Yao Yuan’s words, his heart skipped a beat, “You say Chengyu failed to break through!?”

The Patriarch hushed his tone for this matter was of great concern. He did not want this to spread.

“Hmm… it should be a failed breakthrough, resulting in a counter flow of energy against him. It might have been due to anger that resulted in this…” Yao Yuan had chosen his words wisely in order to not agitate the Patriarch.

But those words still made the Patriarch dizzy.

“How could it be?” Zhao Tiezhu, who was extremely calm, turned anxious upon hearing Yao Yuan’s words.

But Yao Yuan gave him a stern look, shutting Zhao Tiezhu up.

He knew that Yao Yuan’s experience was extraordinary. Yao Yuan had previously broken into the Purple Blood realm before, so what he said could not be bunk, it had to be the truth!

Young Master Lian really failed in his breakthrough?

Seeing Lian Chengyu’s barely breathing and unconscious self, Zhao Tiezhu could no longer deceive himself.

“Chengyu ah…” The Patriarch suddenly seemed to age by eight years as he stumbled to pick up Lian Chengyu.

Seeing the crowd approaching, the Patriarch hurriedly said in a hushed tone to the surrounding people, “Chengyu’s failure to break through is to be kept confidential… It cannot be announced…”

The Patriarch’s voice was weak. Be it the refinement of the desolate bones or the breakthrough of Lian Chengyu, it was a high profile and great event.

Such an event of great importance was tied deeply to the prestige and reputation of the leadership.

If the tribe were to know that Lian Chengyu had failed to break through, in spite of all that was put in to obtain the desolate bone essence, including the lives of the weak and the old, what would the tribe think?

What sort of prestige would be left? How were they to rule the clan in the future?

Besides, all the cattle had been slaughtered, the herb mountain was picked dry, and there was no more stored rations left. Under such a situation, if the tribe were to know that Lian Chengyu had not only failed to break through, but had even vomited blood, wouldn’t they revolt?

They were all hoping for Lian Chengyu to have good days ahead!

“Carry Chengyu into the courtyard. Unrelated personnel are not to come close!” The Patriarch said in a harsh tone while having a sullen expression.

“Then… Then what should we say to the tribe people?” Zhao Tiezhu asked puzzledly.

“Say that Chengyu had broken through to the Purple Blood realm, but he has received some injuries from the violent energies of the desolate bone. He will need to be nursed back to health for a few days!”

The Patriarch decided to cover up the secret, and everything had to wait till Lian Chengyu had recovered.

…

As the Lian tribal clan were in a frenzy, and the mess the tribe’s upper echelon was in, the culprit, Yi Yun was building a fire in the back mountain. Oh, he was grilling chicken wings. Yi Yun sang as he grilled. This was a parody of a song in the movie, “Flirting Scholar”, in the scene when Stephen Chow was caught eating chicken wings when he was supposed to be on his deathbed.

“I love chicken wings. I love grilled chicken wings the most! I love Hong Shao chicken wings the most!”

This was a comedic song without any sense and poor rhythm, but Yi Yun still sang it very happily.

Although using firewood to grill meat was difficult, it could not deter a glutton’s desire for barbecue.

Soon, Yi Yun’s chicken wings were smelling good. Drop after drop of grease dripped into the fire as it roared in response.

“It’s done!” Yi Yun cut the meat on the grilled chicken wings and sprinkled some seasoning. “Sis Xiaorou, try it.”

Yi Yun gave Jiang Xiaorou the first chicken wing that finished grilling.

“Be careful, it’s hot,” Yi Yun warned. To Yi Yun, Jiang Xiaorou was the most important person in the world.

“You little kid, beginning to warn your elder sister now?” Jiang Xiaorou gave Yi Yun a stare. In the past, Jiang Xiaorou would make porridge for Yi Yun; and because she was afraid Yi Yun would scald himself, Jiang Xiaorou would always cool the porridge by blowing at it, warning him, “Slowly eat, be careful, it’s hot.”

A simple phrase yet it sounded very sweet.

Yi Yun made sure that the chicken wings he grilled were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Although there were some black spots, it was harmless.

Jiang Xiaorou opened her mouth and took a tiny bite. It was really tender and juicy, making it extremely delicious.

“So delicious!” Jiang Xiaorou’s face was glowing. What could be happier than circling a fire and sharing delicious chicken wings with her brother?

“Yun-er, you should eat too.”

“Oh, of course. It took me a great deal of research to find a firewood that doesn’t give off black smoke!”

Yi Yun smiled. Yi Yun’s progress had slowed down the past few days and he was no longer breaking through into new realms every few days.

The Qi Gatherer realm was a demarcating line. Cultivation progress upon reaching it would slow down. A person without talent will be stuck at this bottleneck for life, never to improve.

Yi Yun had already absorbed half of the Chi Lin’s head’s energy.

Yi Yun had further deepened his understanding of the Purple Crystal. He could now control the speed at which the Purple Crystal could absorb energy.

Back then, when Yi Yun first broke through to the Meridians realm, he had nearly burst his body due to an unrestricted flow of incoming energy within his opened meridians.

Now, Yi Yun could control the speed of absorption of the Purple Crystal, so he would no longer make the same mistake again.

“The energy in Chi Lin’s head is much richer than the energy in Lian Chengyu’s desolate bone. It should be able to last another ten days or so; by then, it would be almost time to participate in the Kingdom’s selection…”

As he thought about it, he suddenly heard a faint sound in the distance.

After reaching the fifth stage of Mortal Blood, Yi Yun’s senses were keen, so he could easily hear the sounds from afar.

“Sis Xiaorou wait for me.” Yi Yun said before jumping down the large tree with ease. In the distance, what he saw made him gasp.

67 - : Conceal the secret

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the dark night, there was a row of fire torches in the valley moving like a slithering fire snake.

Using the light, Yi Yun could see that the troops were made up of huge beasts marching through the mountains. Atop the beasts were people holding torches.

“It’s the Jin Long Wei’s beasts, it’s the Jin Long Wei army!”

With a glance, Yi Yun could see about eighty behemoths; one wouldn’t need to go into detail about such a troop’s battle prowess!

Among them, the behemoth leading the pack flew a flag banner on his back.

That flag was golden yellow in color, and on it was a beautiful dragon (Jin Long).

This was the flag of the Jin Long Wei!

When he had parted with Lin Xintong and Old Man Su, Yi Yun had asked regarding the kingdom’s selection. He also knew that the Jin Long Wei had purposely created an extremely detailed map of the Cloud Wilderness.

Of course, Old Man Su did not tell Yi Yun anything about the two occurrences of the purple cloud phenomenon that happened in the past few months. If he did, Yi Yun’s thoughts would run wild.

“They are finally here. For this troop to enter the Cloud Wilderness, it has to be for the kingdom’s selection! I guess it’s about time!”

The Cloud Wilderness was extremely broad, and the small tribes were numerous. To organize the kingdom’s selection, they could not go to every tribe to hold the examination. Hence, they would gather all of the candidates in one of the large tribes, set a particular standard and collectively assess them.

The destination for the Jin Long Wei was the Tao tribal clan. They had decided on the Tao tribal clan’s land as the examination center for the kingdom’s selection. The Tao tribal clan controlled an area that spanned several hundred kilometers in diameter. The biggest tribes had hundreds of thousands of households, which was equal to a million people.

In the Cloud Wilderness, the population census was based on the number of able-bodied men, as this number was most meaningful. Able-bodied men were the main labor force, and also the leading warriors in battle. To reflect a tribe’s real strength, including the old and sick would make it meaningless.

An able-bodied man had a wife, parents and a few children. As for the families without able-bodied men, like Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou, they wouldn’t even be considered a “household”, so when a population census is made, Jiang Xiaorou will not be included in it.

For a large tribe, a “household” was about six to seven people, so with hundreds of thousands of households, it would be about a million people.

In the Cloud Wilderness, to have a tribe consisting of a million people was quite amazing.

…

Cloud Wilderness, Tao tribal clan—

The Tao tribal clan had survived in the Cloud Wilderness for more than a thousand years. As they had a long history, they were able to form a martial art heritage they could call their own.

As for a small tribe like the Lian tribal clan, they had no fences surrounding them, but for the Tao tribal clan, strong sturdy fences circled them.

These wooden fences were made of thick circular logs placed side by side. Each was over ten meters high. These logs were obtained from a particular tree in the vast wilderness. Its body was extremely dense and solid and it wouldn’t rot even after a few hundred years of experiencing the elements.

For the Tao tribal clan to able to last all these years, the key reason was due to the tribe’s wonderland—Tao mountain. Desolate beasts avoided wonderlands, and only lived in the ‘Desolate Lands’; hence under the Tao mountain’s protection, few desolate beasts appeared in the area controlled by the Tao tribal clan.

Also, the Tao tribal clan had no lack of Purple Blood warriors or warriors at the peak of the Purple Blood realm. Not only that, the Tao tribal clan had a precious ancestor weapon, even if a strong desolate beast mounted an attack, with the ancestor weapon as the core, the numerous Purple Blood warriors could create an array, giving them the power to battle.

Because of these reasons, the Tao tribal clan had lasted for many years and had grown in strength.

But a strong and large tribe would not be able to compare to the large entity like the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. The comparison would equal to that of a pebble at the foot of a mountain, or a dust speck under the roots of a tree. It was not worth mentioning.

At that moment, the Tao tribal clan had received the news. At high noon, the Jin Long Wei would arrive. The Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch and a large number of tribal elders were there to receive them.

At high noon, the Jin Long Wei arrived punctually as mentioned.

The leader of this convoy from Jin Long Wei was a man in red armor. He was the Jin Long Wei’s Red-shirts leader, Zhang Tan.

“The Tao tribal clan is honored for life to have Thousand Households Zhang to grace his presence here!” Seeing Zhang Tan, the Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch immediately came forward to receive him in an extremely deferential manner.

In the Jin Long Wei, the Red-shirts leader commanded a thousand people, so they were commonly addressed as Thousand Households. Of course, the “Households” refer to able-bodied men.

In the armies of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the Jin Long Wei did not have any females. Women formed their own troop.

A typical Thousand Households was nothing, but a Thousand Households of the Jin Long Wei was not the same. To the Tao tribal clan, this sort of person was not someone they could afford to offend.

“These are our tribe’s new generation of aspirants. Come, greet the Thousand Households!” The Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch said that as he waved his hand. Behind him were a hundred young warriors with ages ranging from thirteen to twenty years of age. They greeted Household Zhang in unison.

These people were all the next generation of elites from the Tao tribal clan, and they were participating in the kingdom’s selection.

The Patriarch had hoped that by getting the young warriors to greet Zhang Tan, one or two of them would catch the eye of Zhang Tan, allowing them more chances of nurturing.

But it was a pity, Zhang Tan had absolutely no interest. In fact, the Jin Long Wei’s officers were extremely elitist. Having come from the Kingdom’s capital, it was rare for them to appreciate a warrior from the Cloud Wilderness. It wasn’t because they looked down on them, but because the warriors of the Cloud Wilderness were inadequate.

From Zhang Tan’s point of view, the reason for the Jin Long Wei to come to the Cloud Wilderness was to investigate the phenomenon that appeared in the Cloud Wilderness. As for the kingdom’s selection, it was just a matter of convenience, and there were no expectations to discover any prodigies in the Cloud Wilderness.

Zhang Tan took a slight glance at the group of youths in front of him and said with a business-like attitude, “The reason for my trip is for official business, so there’s no need for extravagance! Enter the city!”

Zhang Tan waved his hand and the Jin Long Wei directly moved in.

The young warriors of the Tao tribal clan were originally full of anticipation, and they had prepared for it meticulously; but having waited for the day to come for the Jin Long Wei to arrive, they were ignored.

With this, the young warriors were depressed.

“This Thousand Households Zhang, he totally looked down on us!”

“That’s too much. Our Tao tribal clan is the biggest tribe in the region. Although we are located in the wilderness and are poor in resources, we have grown up experiencing battles and seeing blood after growing up in the wilderness. How could those greenhouse flowers stand up to our real fighting experience?”

“Soon it will be the selection, we will make the Jin Long Wei officers know that they were wrong. We may not do well, but our Tao tribal clan’s first young master is about to complete a Tempered Body, and reach a state of ‘Dragon Pulse’. In this warrior selection, he will definitely shine!” These young warriors discussed in private with a defiant tone.

The Tao tribal clan’s first young master was named Hu Ya and he was well known throughout the tribe. This was because he was extremely close to reaching the state of Tempered Body. In the vast wilderness, it was extremely hard to reach a Tempered Body state.

Zhang Tan led the Jin Long Wei straight to their encampment. After a short rest, he changed and left alone in the middle of the night, without any followers and without anyone noticing.

68 - : Behemoth Troop

CKtalon  CKtalon

In an elegant courtyard, there sat an old man dressed in fine clothes playing chess with a girl dressed in white clothes.

“Master, it’s your turn.” The girl in white smiled. She was the girl, Lin Xintong, who Yi Yun had the chance to meet. And the old man she addressed as master, was of course Old Man Su.

“Eh…” Old Man Su knitted his brow in concentration as his fat finger tightly squeezed a chess piece, indecisive of his next move.

He had used various excuses to retract the last eight chess moves he had made, but once again, he had been forced into a corner by Lin Xintong. Seeing that his king was about to succumb, he did not have any way to get out of his predicament.

“Ahem…Xintong, your chess skills have improved and it resembles my skills of the past. Looks like I have to get serious…” said Old Man Su brazenly which made Lin Xintong snigger, but all she did was to urge her master to make his next move.

Lin Xintong seldom smiled. Only in front of Old Man Su would she display the small liveliness a young girl would normally display. In Lin Xintong’s mind, Old Man Su was both her master and a grandfather.

At that moment, a voice came from the door,” This lesser commander, by order of the Emperor, is here to deliver a letter to Grandmaster Su.”

“Ah? There’s a guest,” said Old Man Su as if his savior had arrived. “Not playing anymore, not playing anymore. A guest is here. Xintong, bring the pot of tea here.”

With that Old Man Su, used his fat arms to swipe across the chessboard, messing up all the chess pieces.

“Eh…” Lin Xintong was speechless and said with humor, “Your disciple has already prepared the tea. Master had been too focused on the game that you didn’t drink it.”

“Eh?” Old Man Su looked at the teapot on the table as he blinked speechlessly.

Fortunately, the Jin Long Wei’s Thousand Households Zhang had entered the yard and cupped his hand, saluting Old Man Su.

“This lesser commander, by order of the Emperor, is here to deliver a letter to Grandmaster Su. May Grandmaster Su look over it.” As Zhang Tan said that, he placed the letter on the chess table politely. It was a red letter with a seal rune on it.

Old Man Su’s main reason for being at the Tao tribal clan was to wait for the letter that Zhang Tan brought him.

He took the letter and with a serious look on his face said casually, “Zhang Tan, right? You’ve worked hard. Have some tea.” Zhang Tan paused for a moment and glanced at the teacups on the table.

He was a careful person. He could see that the tea was drunk while Old Man Su and Lin Xintong played chess, and it was most likely brewed by Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong was a person of great stature that many elites from the big families chased after. She may one day be betrothed to a prince of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and become a princess. She might even become empress one day.

As a Thousand Household of the Jin Long Wei, Zhang Tan would be courting death to drink tea brewed by a future empress!

Although it was unlikely, Zhang Tan had to consider the big picture as a Jin Long Wei Thousand Household when dealing with all kinds of people.

He immediately replied, “Thank you, Grandmaster Su, for the offer, this lesser commander still needs to return to report, so I’ll not drink.”

Zhang Tan followed etiquette to the letter and was proper with his words, but Old Man Su was a person with no fixed place of abode, so even the kingdom’s royalty would have to treat him with courtesy. He was not mindful of the etiquettes of the world, nor was he interested in it.

“Alright, you can leave then.” Old Man Su waved his hand and waited till Zhang Tan left. He tore up the wax and with a few hand gestures released the seal.

Next, Old Man Su took out something inside the envelope. It was not a letter full of text, but a diagram.

When Old Man Su took out the diagram, a phantom image of an ancient beast rose up before disappearing. It was like a curl of smoke.

Seeing this diagram, Old Man Su’s eyes lit up. It was as if he was a poor vault guard seeing a priceless treasure.

He said to himself, “This Cloud Wilderness might really have some treasure! Even Marquis Wenyun could not do it himself and needs my help… Looks like the kingdom’s search for treasure was not in vain!”

“Master, what’s the matter with the diagram?” asked Lin Xintong, who was pondering on the side as she looked at the phantom image of the ancient beast that had already dissipated.

She could not uncover the mystery from the diagram but she could feel its mysticism.

Old Man Su said, “This diagram is something that was passed down from ancient times. I do not know if it’s related to the Purple Clouds’ Birth, but even if it isn’t, it’s something quite good! Xintong, don’t worry. I will search to the ends of the world just to find a way to join up your broken meridians.

…

Ever since Lian Chengyu failed to break through into the Purple Blood realm, the Lian tribal clan had quietened down. There were no more grand scenes of hundreds of people on the mountains picking herbs, nor were there strong men fanning the fires in the grain-sunning ground.

The news that Lian Chengyu was injured had been covered up. All the people had believed that Lian Chengyu had broken into the Purple Blood realm, and had increased his strength by leaps and bounds!

Now, all they had to do was to wait for the kingdom’s selection; Lian Chengyu would become a kingdom warrior and bring the Lian tribal clan to a better life.

This day, the sky was dotted with snow as the clouds hung low. A large eagle was flying in the skies of the Lian tribal clan.

This eagle had a wingspan of over ten meters, and its flight picked up a gust of wind, causing the snow to dance in a chaotic manner.

“What’s that?”

How could the poor of the Lian tribal clan have ever seen such a big eagle?

“Is it a fierce beast? Or could it be a…desolate beast!?”

Seeing such a large eagle had panicked the people. Typically under the protection of a wonderland, normal fierce beasts or desolate beasts would seldom encroach into the vicinity of a tribe.

But those were under “typical” conditions, there could be instances when fierce beasts or desolate beasts would charge into the wonderlands that hosted people, resulting in a mass murder.

That had the same meaning as genocide. There were numerous small tribes in the entire Cloud Wilderness, so it did not matter if a few small tribes were to collapse.

If it was really an attack by a desolate beast, it would be a tragedy for the Lian tribal clan!

As the people panicked, the large eagle suddenly dropped something that began burning in the sky.

“Peng!” A large explosive sound resulted in a row of text appearing in the sky.

Each of these words would have taken half an acre of land if they were placed on the ground. In the sky, this allowed anyone in the entire region of the Lian tribal clan to see it clearly.

“In three days at noon, the Jin Long Wei will send ambassadors to the Lian tribal clan and take with them ten warriors to the Tao tribal clan for the selection. Those who pass the selection will become the kingdom’s warriors, members of the Jin Long Wei! The ten people have to be below the age of twenty-eight. They are to be chosen from those who had passed the preliminary examination and their eligibility will be decided by the tribe!”

Seeing the large row of text, everyone paused. The kingdom’s selection was finally beginning!

After all these days of waiting, and all that they had sacrificed, it was here! The day they had been waiting for was here!

69 - : Diagram

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the courtyard of the Lian tribal clan, Yao Yuan squinted his eyes as he looked at the large words in the sky. He recalled that the large eagle was known as a Divine Wind Eagle, specially bred by the Jin Long Wei.

These Divine Wind Eagles were fed with fierce beast meat from a young age, and they possessed a very high intelligence. Due to their speed and agility, they were able to fly in the vast wilderness.

Previously, when the Jin Long Wei made the maps, they had already indicated all the locations of the small tribes. Now, the members of the Jin Long Wei had sent the eagles to all the small tribes to convey the news about the kingdom’s selection!

Large rows of the text were left burning in the sky for an hour before it slowly dissipated.

In the back mountain of the Lian tribal clan, Yi Yun was leaning on a large rock looking at the words while munching on a blade of grass.

“Ten people…decided by the tribe!” Yi Yun began to ruminate over the meaning of the words. Obviously, the Jin Long Wei were planning to hold the warrior selection in the Tao tribal clan. For such a small clan like the Lian tribal clan with only ten places, the process would be simpler if the tribe chose the ten people themselves!

“Chosen by the tribe? Heh!” Yi Yun sneered for it was obvious that the ten places would be taken up by Lian Chengyu and the rest of the most reliable members of the warrior preparation camp. As for Yi Yun, he was considered a ‘dead person’ in the tribe. No matter what selection method was used, Yi Yun would not be chosen.

Yi Yun spat the blade of grass in his mouth and a thought came to him, “Three days later at noon…I’ll get my spot by myself!”

…

At the same time in the Lian tribal clan’s courtyard, snowflakes were slowly falling. Lian Chengyu was lying on a soft animal skin by a fire, as he squinted at the large words in the sky. Ever since he failed to break through to the Purple Blood realm, Lian Chengyu had been lying in bed for days. His face was pale and it was lacking in blood. He gave off the feeling of a weak scholar.

Because he was physically weak, he had been lying on a chair piled with soft animal skin. He was carried around in and out of the house and was served by maidservants everywhere.

At that moment, Lian Chengyu was surrounded by four seventeen-year-old maidservants who were awaiting orders. They were either holding a plate of dried cured meat, fruit or a pan of charcoal.

The day was cold and the four maidservants had been standing in the snow for four hours.

They were far from the fire, so they could not enjoy its warmth. Their faces, ears, and hands were all red from the cold. Because of the snow, their linen shoes were wet trapping their numbed feet in an ice cavern-like environment.

But still, they stood there tall and straight without moving. They held the items in their hands properly, even though their arms had long turned numb.

A few maidservants bit on their lips as they were almost about to faint. They desperately held on because they knew if they moved, their outcome would be miserable!

All these days, they had been waiting on the sickly looking Lian Chengyu, and he was prone to mood swings, making him very terrifying!

Three days ago, a maidservant beside Lian Chengyu had accidentally spilled the porridge on the animal skin rug when she was bringing the porridge over. As a result, Lian Chengyu broke her four limbs and tied her in the firewood chamber for two days and two nights without providing food and drink.

That maidservant was probably almost dead by now.

But no one dared to give her a glancing look, nor did anyone dare to give her anything to eat or drink.

In the past when Lian Chengyu beat or scolded people, he would not go as far as taking their lives, but now, in the eyes of these maidservants, Lian Chengyu had become an evil beast. Worst of all, his face showed no trace of killing intent before he killed.

He could be laughing one second, and in the next second he would pull out a knife to stab you blind, cut your tongue and crucify you before placing you into an urn.

“Chengyu, the examination will begin in three days!” At that moment, a person had walked into the courtyard. It was a middle-aged man dressed in blue.

In the entire Lian tribal clan, there were only a few people who could address Lian Chengyu as “Chengyu”. It was mostly the elders of the Lian tribal clan. As for the only qualified outsider, it had to be the warrior preparation camp’s instructor, Yao Yuan.

“Yes, I’ve seen it.” Lian Chengyu answered weakly. He had never expected that he would be in such a state.

With the desolate bone essence failing to work and his failure of breaking through to the Purple Blood realm, Lian Chengyu had received too great a setback!

He had accumulated all of his assets, spent all his fortune, and burned down bridges just for that one bet, but when the time came, it was relentlessly destroyed.

His life of seventeen years to which a decade of that was spent practicing martial arts was for that one dream. And just as he made the final step towards success with the kingdom’s selection, he had completely failed!

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. It was evidenced by Lian Chengyu’s angry vomiting of fresh blood at the altar.

“Chengyu, you had been triggered by anger, causing you to injure your meridians. This is not a light injury and you will need plenty of rest.” During this period, you must not use martial arts, nor should you circulate your body’s energy. It’s best you do not even move, or there might be permanent damage.” Yao Yuan said that as he glanced thoughtfully at the four maidservants by Lian Chengyu’s side.

Lian Chengyu wrapped his body in the animal skin rug and said, “I got it. Instructor Yao, look at my body, do you think I’ll be completely fine when the selection begins?”

Yao Yuan answered, “You have already recovered plenty. You should be fine in another four to five days. The Jin Long Wei will escort you to the Tao tribal clan, and settle you in. They will have to prepare the examination area, which will take a day or two. By the time of the examination, you would have recovered to your prime condition.”

“Alright, that’s good.” Lian Chengyu’s voice was very calm but when he spoke, his eyes flashed with a cold glare that would palpitate the heart of others!

It was a combination of vileness, loathing, and hatred towards the world.

It was hard to tell what the impact of the failure to break through to the Purple Blood realm had done to Lian Chengyu’s psyche.

He seemed to hate everything around him.

Why did I have to go through all these tribulations, and cross this bumpy road?

Why did Heaven steal my last chip?

If there was a Heaven, I curse you to oblivion! If there was a God, I curse you to be struck by lightning!

Seeing Lian Chengyu’s demeanor, Yao Yuan did not know what to say. He just comforted him, “Chengyu, don’t lose heart. You may have failed to break through to the Purple Blood realm, but you still have a high chance of passing the kingdom’s selection. The kingdom’s selection is mainly to see your potential, not how high your current cultivation is.”

He did not purposely hide his words from the maidservants, for these four maidservants knew better than to go around gossiping.

“Yes, I know. Instructor Yao, I will have to trouble you to choose nine people from the warrior preparation camp. At that time, they will accompany me to the Tao tribal clan.”

Even after hearing Yao Yuan’s consoling words, Lian Chengyu was still not in high spirits. He had not only planned to pass the kingdom’s selection, but he had planned to shock and awe, gaining the attention of the Jin Long Wei’s high brass, allowing him to be knighted as a “Kingdom Knight”, or even become a Jin Long Wei Hundred Household or Thousand Household.

But now, it was no longer guaranteed that he would pass the selection. It was impossible for him to make progress in a short time.

70 - : Prologue to the Selection

CKtalon  CKtalon

The way to choose the remaining nine was to have a fighting match!

It was a fair, simple and direct method.

In all these years, the Lian tribal clan had led an unexciting life, for all they did was to search for food. This fighting match was a rare event!

How could the villagers miss it?

So, on the day the fighting match began, all the villagers that could come, came. They were there to see the men from the warrior preparation camp fight.

With tough and boring lives, the villagers were extremely excited to be able to watch the lively fighting match. Among them, the children were the happiest, even more so when bacon was given out.

The fighting match was scheduled to happen late in the morning and it was held in the square in front of the Lian tribal clan’s Patriarch compound. But, even before daybreak, the arena was already filled with people looking for a good spot.

Children were riding on their fathers’ necks, and with a favorable spot faced the stage.

Many children were about the same age as Yi Yun, and wouldn’t be considered young. How often would you see such old children ride on their father’s neck? They would have been mocked, but today, no one could care less.

The children were rubbing their fists and knuckles, hoping they could have been the ones fighting on stage. This fighting stage was extremely stimulating for them.

They had always dreamed of becoming a member of the warrior preparation camp. It was so prestigious!

The crowd grew bigger. Even the trees, houses, and roofs were packed with people.

In this world, most people’s eyesight were good, so they could clearly see everything that happened on-stage from afar.

Late in the morning, the members of the warrior preparation camp appeared. They were all wearing a warrior uniform, something they seldom wore. So the blue clothes they wore looked new. Although it wasn’t much better than the linen clothes Yi Yun wore, it was pretty impressive in the eyes of the people of the Lian tribal clan!

One by one, the high-spirited members of the warrior preparation camp entered. When they surveyed the surroundings, they felt that they had proven their value in life today. They had been training all those years just for today.

“It feels great! Today I’ll be able to show my might!” thought a short twenty-year-old man. His face was radiant with vigor.

By his side was a perverted comrade. He glanced at the girls surrounding them as if stripping them off their clothes saying. “This time I’ll show my prowess, letting all the bitches in this village see how much vitality I have. In the future, when I shake my pinky, all these girls would be running to me.”

Life was tough in the village, so besides eating, men had only one other primal pleasure. As the old Chinese saying goes, “Food and sex!”

The basic human nature comprised of the need to eat and the need to have sex. These were natural instincts animals had when they came into this world.

For today’s fighting match, the men from the warrior preparation camp had specially slaughtered two dogs.

They had planned to celebrate after the match by eating meat and drinking alcohol.

These two dogs were the hunting dogs reared by the village. But it didn’t matter, the kingdom’s selection was soon. They would be leading good lives soon, what use was there for a hunting dog?

“Look, it’s Young Master Lian!” With a loud shout, a sudden uproar arose from the crowd. Everyone looked over and indeed, out from the Patriarch’s compound came two men carrying a rattan chair.

Lian Chengyu was sitting on that rattan chair with an animal skin rug draped over him. His eyes were squinted as if he was asleep.

Behind him were the four maidservants. In their hands were a stove and a fruit plate. They looked like they were being extremely careful.

“Young Master Lian, it’s really Young Master Lian!” The villagers immediately became excited. Ever since Lian Chengyu had “broken through” to the Purple Blood realm, his prestige in the Lian tribal clan had reached unimaginable heights.

Everyone had placed their hopes into Lian Chengyu leading them into the city to lead a better life. It could be said that Lian Chengyu was now the spiritual pillar of support of the Lian tribal clan!

The people began to fervently worship Lian Chengyu, as he was now the absolute king of the tribe. Anything he did would obtain the unconditional support of the Lian tribal clan. Whoever he wanted dead, a word without reason was sufficient to make the people be his murdering tool. Whichever girl he wanted, with a word, the people would wash her clean and deliver her to Lian Chengyu’s bed.

For the past few days, Lian Chengyu had been a recluse, preventing the people from seeing him. How could they not be excited when they finally saw him?

Many seventeen-year-old girls were flushed with excitement. It was indeed true that the girls of the vast wilderness worshiped the strong, but compared to a rough, dark-skinned man like Zhao Tiezhu, a pretty boy was much better.

In the hearts of the girls of the wilderness, an ideal match would be someone like Lian Chengyu who was both strong and extremely handsome.

These few days, Lian Chengyu had already become the dream lover of many girls in the Lian tribal clan.

“Begin,” Lian Chengyu said lightly. He clearly did not care for whatever happened on-stage. What a joke, it was the brutes from the warrior preparation camp. To him, they were all a bunch of straw bags. Even if they trained for another hundred years, they would not even be able to touch the Jin Long Wei’s gates!

It was clear to the people that he was haughty and that he even had a faint disdainful look. But to the group of girls, it made him even more charming, making them worship Lian Chengyu even more.

They all flocked to this grand match, yet Young Master Lian could not even be bothered with it. This was the difference in outlook.

“Battle begin!” Zhao Tiezhu shouted at the top of his lungs. Ever since he got closer to Lian Chengyu, he was the unspoken leader of the warrior preparation camp.

In the past few days, he had enjoyed the benefits of the Lian Clan Herb Mountain because he had managed to get the herbs that Lian Chengyu rejected. This caused Zhao Tiezhu’s strength to increase a lot.

In a situation with scarce resources, whichever member of the warrior preparation camp had the most resources, they could cultivate the fastest!

Because he was afraid the others would be jealous, he had secretly used the drugs. He had also hidden from others that his strength had increased by leaps and bounds.

Even Zhao Tiezhu did not know how much his strength had increased. He wanted to test it out on stage, for it was a place that gave Zhao Tiezhu the chance to flex his muscles!

“Hehe, after hiding it for so long, when I go on stage, I’ll amaze the world with a single brilliant feat!” After having a significant increase in strength, Zhao Tiezhu’s ambitions had grown. He had already planned to be the number one henchman of Lian Chengyu, and no one was to vie with him.

71 - : Nine spots

CKtalon  CKtalon

Matches in the vast wilderness did not have many rules. The way it proceeded was simple; a person will stay on the stage and he would be attacked by others in a duel fashion. Whoever had the capability, could go up.

Eventually when no one went up on stage, then the person standing in the arena would win a spot. He would then be able to take a wooden board that symbolized his victory.

Such a system might sound chaotic, where it was possible for two similarly-matched warriors to engage in a brutal match, or by tag-teaming, causing the warrior who was hoarding the stage to run out of energy. However, the people of the warrior preparation camp did not bother to think too deeply into that. Simple and rough was their style.

Originally, neither Yao Yuan nor Lian Chengyu could be bothered with this meaningless matches. Yao Yuan had given Zhao Tiezhu the authority to decide on the rules, but for a boor like Zhao Tiezhu, was it possible for him to come up with reasonable and fair rules? If the rules were too complicated, the people competing wouldn’t understand.

When the match began, Zhao Tiezhu was first on the stage!

He was unable to reel in his patience, for he had waited long for this opportunity where he could display his hidden strength.

The arena was a hundred feet wide. Zhao Tiezhu stood in the middle of the arena and began making poses to showcase his muscles, “Come! Who wants to spar with me?”

Zhao Tiezhu began shouting. Likewise, the onlookers began shouting too.

They did not expect that it would begin with an expert duel. Zhao Tiezhu was famous, together with his high profile way of doing things, everyone knew that Zhao Tiezhu was one of the top ten experts in the warrior preparation camp.

“Hehe, Brother Zhao, I’ll spar with you!” A strong man jumped into the arena. His surname was Sun and he was of average strength in the warrior preparation camp. He was not Zhao Tiezhu’s match, but he was on good terms with Zhao Tiezhu. He was a pal who could share in the meat with Zhao Tiezhu on the occasional successful hunt.

He could tell that Zhao Tiezhu wanted to parade himself, so he had gone on stage to complement him.

The people of the warrior preparation camp had trained together for a long period, so all of them knew each other’s standing. They knew that Sun knew he would not be within the top nine spots, so he might as well give Zhao Tiezhu a favor.

“Haha, good, Brother Sun, come on!” Sun and Zhao Tiezhu both had aggressive attitudes. In the arena of the vast wilderness, there was no messy etiquette. The match began once you came into the arena!

Since everyone was watching, the both of them fought with their best.

The members of the warrior preparation camp indeed had large strength. As for fighting skills and techniques, then that was too much. Their sparring was similar to a Hong Kong action film, where the motions were slow, punches always landed and out of nowhere, they would grab each other in a twist.

Sun was not Zhao Tiezhu’s match even before his power had increased. Hence, in a few rounds, Zhao Tiezhu had grabbed his waist, pinning him down in the arena.

The two had fought without any style for as they fought, they realized all the fist techniques and stances they had learned before were not easy to use. In the end, grabbing each other and rolling on the ground was most pragmatic!

Whoever had the greater strength won.

This was also the logic of Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In the popular mixed-martial arts competitions like the UFC in America, the person who was able to twist the arm or crush the other party’s neck would obtain victory, albeit the awkward looking moves.

“Good!” The audience shouted. Although Zhao Tiezhu’s movements were not elegant, it was a great pleasure in the eyes of the Lian tribal clan clansmen. They were easily excited just seeing wrestling.

After Sun, another person went up on stage to spar with Zhao Tiezhu but he had also lost to him.

After two matches, Zhao Tiezhu status was even better for the more he fought, the more courage he gained.

“Haha, who else is coming up?” shouted Zhao Tiezhu glowing. It was as if he had drunk a jar of rice wine.

The people could tell that Zhao Tiezhu would obtain one of those warrior spots today.

A man jumped up the stage and said with a low muffled voice, “Brother Zhao, let me have a shot with you.”

When this person went on-stage, it immediately drew cheers.

“It’s Zhang Dali! Zhang Dali was naturally born strong. At fifteen, he could lift a 100-kilogram rock weight. It’s unknown how strong Zhang Dali is now!”

In the Lian tribal clan, the names of the leading members of the warrior preparation camp were also widely known.

When Zhang Da Li could lift 100 kilograms of rock weights at fifteen, he had become famous in the Lian tribal clan.

There was a high chance Zhang Dali would be among the nine selected ones.

With Zhang Dali and Zhao Tiezhu, this match of strong versus the strong caused the crowd to erupt.

“Dali, haha, good! I’ve long wanted to spar with you, come!” Zhao Tiezhu eyes lit up. A year ago, he was weaker than Zhang Dali by a bit, but this year he had a substantial change in his strength. He had been yearning to find a strong opponent to test his strength out!

Zhang Dali leaped onto the stage and was separated from Zhao Tiezhu by thirty feet. Without any etiquette, they rushed towards each other with a roar.

Both men were stout, so it was as if two bulls were charging towards each other.

“Peng!” Zhao Tiezhu and Zhang Dali collided into each other without any gaudy display. People could hear the sounds of flesh and bone colliding, scaring them white.

Such a collision if it directed onto their bodies would have broken their bones.

The battle between Zhao Tiezhu and Zhang Dali was obviously much more aggressive than Sun’s battle from before.

Both men’s strength measured about 350 kilograms, more than twice a tier-one male. Such a disparity in strength ensured that even if a dozen tier-one men attacked Zhao Tiezhu, he would still be able to easily down them.

“Tiezhu well played!” In the crowd, Lian Cuihua was shouting at the top of her voice. As she had recently been roped in by Lian Chengyu to do some “job”, she had been close with Zhao Tiezhu, and soon they were an item.

Thinking of the Zhao Tiezhu’s vigorous prowess from the previous night, Lian Cuihua could not help feeling a lustful desire.

Hearing the people cheer and with Lian Cuihua’s support, Zhao Tiezhu seemed to gain some inexplicable strength and began lashing out a storm. But, Dali did not wish to be outdone; with his huge strength, he still had a big advantage.

The essence of a typical fight among the members of warrior preparation camp was a battle of strength. This was also why lifting stone rollers was their leading performance and the way to gain bragging rights.

After wrestling on the ground for a long time, Zhao Tiezhu finally managed to suppress Zhang Dali. He was held down and could no longer move.

The main reason why Zhao Tiezhu was able to suppress Zhang Dali was due to him eating lots of herbs causing his fitness to increase along with prolonged stamina.

He had won this match due to his stamina!

Zhang Dali had been suppressed till he was a bit asphyxiated. He did not understand how Zhao Tiezhu was able to be like a tireless bull, how did he have an unexpendable amount of energy?

It has to be said that although the average member of the warrior preparation camp had great strength, their arms would still be sore after lifting a 250-kilogram stone roller eight times. It was not easy to be like Zhao Tiezhu, who become stronger the more he fought.

Zhang Dali gasped for air as he asked, “You…you can’t have broken through to the Vigor realm, have you?”

“Hahaha, almost!” Zhao Tiezhu began to brag. Most of the members of the preparation camp were in the Valiant realm, and Zhao Tiezhu was far from the Vigor realm. How could it be easy to be at the stage of Breathes in like a Snake, Out like an Arrow?

Zhao Tiezhu had just a bit more endurance, but if he stayed in a poor place like the Lian tribal clan, he most likely would never be able to break through to the Vigor realm.

The surrounding commoners knew what the Vigor realm meant. After all, the kingdom’s selection had been known for a long time, and Lian Chengyu had long announced what was the Purple Blood realm.

Under the false information by the ruling class of the Lian tribal clan, the people had all believed that Lian Chengyu had entered the Purple Blood realm. To the ignorant commoners, they felt that the Purple Blood realm was as powerful as a deity in Heaven.

If Zhao Tiezhu was said to be a bull, then Lian Chengyu was a terrifying desolate beast. The gap between them was heaven and earth.

The more they felt Lian Chengyu’s strength, the more hope they had that Lian Chengyu would bring them into the city. At the same time, they felt that by following Lian Chengyu, it would be an honor to become a servant under him. In this chaotic world, people did not think about freedom. To those who could not fill their stomachs, freedom was an extravagance and a joke. All they wanted was to follow a good master and to be satisfied with a meal.

“Hahaha!” Zhao Tiezhu broke into a laughter. He was very pleased with the present scene. He also knew that there was no way he would be able to pass the kingdom’s selection but to be able to show off, Zhao Tiezhu felt like he had reached the pinnacle of his life.

72 - : The pinnacle of Zhao Tiezhu’s life

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Who else wants to come up and try?” Zhao Tiezhu was in high spirits, “Dongzhi, you want to come up here and play with me?” Seeing no one coming up, Zhao Tiezhu began calling out names.

“Brother Zhao, don’t joke with me. How can I win against you? The punch you sent out a while ago had a ring in your joints. Isn’t that the Thunder something, and bow shooting down flock realm or something?”

All kinds of fawning methods were used by this young warrior by the name of Dongzi. He understood that to survive in the warrior preparation camp, he had to grab onto someone great, so that when the meat was handed out, he would receive more.

“Hahaha! It’s ‘Thunder in the nine clouds, Surprise Bow Drops Flock!’. This phrase had taken a long while for Zhao Tiezhu to memorize before he could spout the mouthful.

He was still light-years away from that realm, but looking at Zhao Tiezhu’s expression, it was as if he had already reached that state.

Noticing that no one in the audience was willing to face him, Zhao Tiezhu felt there was no need to continue posturing as he said loudly, “If no one is coming up on stage, then I’ll gladly accept this spot!”

Originally, Zhao Tiezhu’s rules were like so: if no one dared to face the person in the arena, then that person would take a spot away. This was how the nine spots were chosen.

No one had any disagreements because they were convinced of Zhao Tiezhu’s strength.

“Is there anyone in disagreement?” Zhao Tiezhu deliberately slowed down the speed at which he collected the wooden tablet. It was akin to the feeling of an auctioneer counting down in order to tease for higher bids.

To Zhao Tiezhu, this was just another of his posturing acts, but no one expected that, just as he asked that question, a voice came from the crowd, “You sure are detestable, why can’t you just take the wooden tablet? Do you need to act in that infuriating manner, asking people to go against you? If so, then I’ll fulfill your wish and go against you.”

“Who? Who?” Zhao Tiezhu was just about to finish his perfect act, but someone had actually jumped up to oppose him!

And in between those lines, he had accused him of being detestable!?

That’s right, everyone could tell that Zhao Tiezhu was just posturing. He had used it to announce to the entire Lian tribal clan that he was the strongest in the warrior preparation camp, but who would dare say it?

“Whoever who said that, come out here. I want to see who is it that’s sick of living!”

Zhao Tiezhu had already considered the Lian tribal clan as his, if Lian Chengyu was a tiger, then he was the jackal henchman of Lian Chengyu. How could he tolerate being hit in the face in his own territory?

But, if someone were to step forward now, he could set an example, establishing his authority!

He had decided that he would kill the person who had caused trouble in front of everybody!

In the lawless vast wilderness, there was nothing wrong with the strong killing the weak; furthermore, it was in the arena, thus making it even more justified.

Thinking of this, Zhao Tiezhu swept through the crowd with his bloodthirsty eyes.

Zhao Tiezhu was looking for the person who had said those words, but the person was hidden within the sea of people and not coming forward.

After about thirty seconds, someone had pushed through the crowd to the forefront of the stage.

The people gave way as they saw a small-sized child walk out to the front of the stage, and leisurely climb up the stage.

This small-sized child only reached Zhao Tiezhu’s chest and he was dressed in rough linen clothes. His clothes were clean but tattered, with several large patches.

Seeing this body’s size and pose, question marks filled the brains of the crowd. Was this child the person who called out?

The people had originally thought that the person who called out was some warrior with a lot of confidence in his strength, and he was most likely a member of the warrior preparation camp, but unexpectedly, it was a child! Does he not want to live?

It was no wonder he could not be seen earlier because he was short and was hidden below the crowd!

“You…how could you…” Zhao Tiezhu was shocked at the child in front of him, “Yi Yun!? You aren’t dead?”

Yi Yun’s back was originally facing the people, so many had not noticed. Now, they could see clearly that the person on stage was none other than Yi Yun.

“Brother Yi Yun! It’s really brother Yi Yun!” Yi Yun’s neighbor Aunt Wang and her daughter Zhou Xiaoke were in the audience. Zhou Xiaoke, having seen Yi Yun alive, was pleasantly surprised, but seeing the immediate scene, she worried for Yi Yun.

At that moment, Zhou Xiaoke grabbed Aunt Wang’s rough hands tightly with her heart in her mouth.

“Kiddo Yun is still alive, but why would he go up the stage now to antagonize this dangerous person?”

Aunt Wang was worried as she did not know what Yi Yun was doing.

And at that moment, Yi Yun, who was standing on stage, slowly turned his body towards the animal skin chair in the Lian tribal clan’s courtyard, where a frail Lian Chengyu was sitting!

The other party’s gaze was like bullets shooting at him!

Lian Chengyu was motionless in his seat, yet the four maidservants around him could not help but shiver.

They could feel that Lian Chengyu had suddenly turned into a ferocious beast!

How many times was it? Yes…, it was the third time!

Lian Chengyu placed the teacup in his hand down and carried on staring at Yi Yun.

The first time, Yi Yun was resurrected after falling down while picking herbs.

The second time, Yi Yun had escaped after being attacked secretly by Lian Chengyu.

The third time, after being poisoned by both the desolate bone’s frost toxin and the Blood Thinning Pill, and bleeding from his seven orifices and falling down a big cliff, he still survived.

Lian Chengyu’s eyelids began to jump. The way he looked at Yi Yun was like a poisonous snake looking at its prey with traces of ruthlessness and greed.

“His body has a secret!” Lian Chengyu believed that Yi Yun had a treasure that protected his life. Although he did not know what the treasure was, it did not matter, because the treasure would soon be his.

After killing Yi Yun, he would obtain the treasure. He could then slowly examine it and eventually figure out its usage.

When he thought of this, Lian Chengyu slowly regained his composure.

His expression was calm on the surface, but within his body was excited and hot blood. He gently licked his lips, flashing eyes that thirsted for blood.

Good! Very good! Heaven is finally fair to me for once!

Heaven may not have given me a glorious family background, nor had it given me the resources needed for practicing martial arts, and it had even cut me off just as I was about to break through into the Purple Blood realm!

But today, you have given me a chance, sending this treasure that can protect one’s life right to me.

As the ancient saying goes: if you do not grab an opportunity presented to you, harm will fall unto you!

If I were to ignore the object that Heaven has given me, it will invite future disaster. I, Lian Chengyu, am surely not a stupid person.

Surprisingly, this kid named Yi Yun can have such a blessed life despite being a starving little slave—no, it should be said that I have a blessed life! By killing him, I’ll get the treasure. Whoever holds the treasure also holds the blessed life!

Many thoughts flashed within Lian Chengyu’s mind. A grinning Zhao Tiezhu had already begun walking towards Yi Yun without any orders from Lian Chengyu.

73 - : Yi Yun’s Appearance

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Those words were from you?” Zhao Tiezhu sneered. He was curious why Yi Yun had not died after falling down a cliff that was tens of meters high. He did not believe anyone could be that lucky and had used some trick to give the men refining the desolate bone a false impression.

Zhao Tiezhu had originally thought that a warrior with some means had challenged him, so he could use overwhelming strength to kill the other. But unexpectedly, what faced him was this useless little monkey, Yi Yun.

With this, he was unable to show off. How could killing a little monkey that only reached his chest be show worthy?

What Zhao Tiezhu was thinking was the method to which he could use to kill Yi Yun, one that would make Yi Yun most uncomfortable and afraid.

“Of course it was me. Wasn’t what you just said nonsense?” Yi Yun held his arms behind him with an expression that was clear. Did you need to ask such a retarded question?

“Ah!” Zhao Tiezhu looked at Yi Yun as if he was a retard. He could not understand if Yi Yun had crushed his brain in the door, for Yi Yun should have been envisioning the fate that awaited him. “Little bastard, to offend me today, you are dead meat. Obediently kneel down and kowtow to me a hundred times, before burrowing under my crotch. Do you want to do it yourself, or should I make you do so?”

Zhao Tiezhu grinned while Yi Yun looked at him as if he was retarded, “I’m here today to get a spot, not to listen to your nonsense.”

With those words, the entire audience were stunned.

The people realized that by going up on stage, Yi Yun was not purposely antagonizing or making Zhao Tiezhu unhappy, but to fight a match to obtain a participation spot for the kingdom’s selection!

Heavens, with his size, is he crazy?

He had just trained for a month, and was just slightly older than twelve years of age, how was he to compete with Zhao Tiezhu?

“Brother Yi Yun…” In the crowd, Zhou Xiaoke was having a heart-wrenching moment. Did Brother Yi Yun know how strong Zhao Tiezhu was?

To the people of the Lian tribal clan, the members of the warrior preparation camp were like a group of tigers. No ordinary person was their match, what more a kid like Yi Yun.

“Hahaha!” Zhao Tiezhu convulsed with laughter as if this was the funniest joke he had ever heard in his life. “Little bastard, have you gone mad? Don’t tell me that you believe you can defeat me after learning some skill from Lord Zhang, so that you can represent the Lian tribal clan at the kingdom’s selection?”

As Zhao Tiezhu said those words, the members of the warrior preparation camp roared with laughter.

“Brother Zhao cut the crap with this kid. He’s nothing. Just because he’s one lucky fuck to get chosen by Lord Zhang, he thinks he’s invincible!”

Many people echoed this. At that moment, a mean female voice sounded, “Brother Tiezhu, break the kid’s legs and hang him up!”

The person was none other than Lian Cuihua. How could Yi Yun forget her shrill voice?

The person who led the villagers to besiege Jiang Xiaorou’s house with cow dung was this Lian Cuihua.

Yi Yun sneered and took a deep glance at Lian Cuihua.

“What the fuck are you looking at, you little bastard? Do you think you can afford to look at me? Look anymore, and I’ll dig out both your despicable eyes!” Lian Cuihua was domineering as she said, “Brother Tiezhu, slaughter the little bastard!”

As she said that, Lian Cuihua even sent a flirtatious glance at Zhao Tiezhu.

Zhao Tiezhu was obviously empowered by that flirtatious glance and laughed heartily. “Kid, I guess you have not recovered from your sickness. Your mind still isn’t straight. A little slave like you who can’t even find food in the mud plains wants to join the kingdom’s selection? Today I’ll take off your head to be used as a urinal!”

With that, Zhao Tiezhu charged at Yi Yun.

His face showed a facetious expression as he stretched out the two steel-like arms of his to grab Yi Yun’s head. He was not just saying, and was really planning to twist Yi Yun’s head off!

Zhao Tiezhu had great strength, so how could a normal kid withstand his grab?

Yi Yun stayed motionless and with a firm stance stretched both his arms to grab Zhao Tiezhu. It was the same move as Zhao Tiezhu!

Yi Yun’s hands were totally out of proportion compared to Zhao Tiezhu’s large hands.

Seeing the idiot Yi Yun to dare stretch his hands out, Zhao Tiezhu grinned and grabbed towards Yi Yun’s hands. He had changed his mind. He wanted to crush Yi Yun’s hands!

The four limbs clashed and a snapping sound rang!

Zhao Tiezhu’s face froze!

His lips twitched as he looked unbelievably at Yi Yun’s hands and his. His two large hands within Yi Yun’s small hands had been mangled. Fresh blood trickled down without pause. Besides his thumb, all his other eight fingers were twisted in weird angles and completely broken.

His hands had been brutally crushed by Yi Yun!

Ah!

A loud heart-wrenching scream came out of Zhao Tiezhu’s mouth!

Yi Yun looked coldly at Zhao Tiezhu, “Who did you say was the slave? In this world, the weak are enslaved as slaves, the strong are regarded as lords. Whoever was stronger could dominate everything. I’ll tell you who the slave is today.”

After saying that, Yi Yun took a step forward and a simple knee struck Zhao Tiezhu in the chest.

“Peng”

With a thud, Zhao Tiezhu’s burly body flew up like a torn sack with Yi Yun’s knee strike. His sternum bent inwards, with an unknown number of broken ribs.

He fell heavily to the ground, with blood seeping out from his mouth. His body was twitching with a broken spine.

This sudden scene shocked everyone present.

Their expressions had been from seconds past, completely frozen.

What…was this?

Yi Yun had crushed Zhao Tiezhu’s hands and sent him flying with a knee!

Yi Yun’s small and thin body and Zhao Tiezhu’s burly body were in sharp contrast, giving an extremely strong visual impact!

Was this a dream?

Lian Chengyu, who had been sitting in his animal skin chair all along, suddenly stood up and stared at Yi Yun with a pair of shining eyes.

Yi Yun, a herb picking slave who did not normally have food to eat was no different from a beggar. Such a person would be no cause for concern in the Lian tribal clan.

But, he was able to maim Zhao Tiezhu in a brief moment!

Where did his martial arts come from?

Could it be that after practicing martial arts with Zhang Yuxian, he was able to grasp martial arts in a month’s time, allowing him to beat Zhao Tiezhu?

How could this be possible!?

Lian Chengyu clenched his fists so tightly his nails pierced his palms.

The audience were silent. For a long moment, no one uttered a sound, as they had yet to come round.

Even Zhou Xiaoke, who had been worried for Yi Yun, stared at him with her two large dark eyes. She was totally stunned, is this real? That devilish-looking, tower-like Zhao Tiezhu had been defeated by Brother Yi Yun!

Yi Yun returned to his normal stance and casually straightened the tattered clothes he wore.

This was Yi Yun’s first act of violence.

Previously, Yi Yun’s punches would land on boulders. They were extremely hard, causing pain to his fists. But today, it landed on a human’s body, all he felt was a hardness after softness. Having maimed a person directly, Yi Yun did not find it unacceptable. He had already grown accustomed to the new survival rules of this world ever since he crossed into this wild world.

He knew clearly that if he were a compassionate person or a monk who did not have blood-stained hands, he would be taken advantage off.

Yi Yun gently moved his ten fingers before turning his head towards Lian Cuihua.

“You previously said that you would break my legs and hang me up? And to dig out my eyes?” Saying this, Yi Yun slowly walked towards Lian Cuihua.

74 - : Brutally Attacking Zhao Tiezhu

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What…What do you want to do?” Seeing Yi Yun walk over, Lian Cuihua screamed. “You little bastard, you contracted the plague. Do you plan to spread it to the people?” Lian Cuihua was not someone to be trifled with. Seeing Yi Yun suddenly becoming so terrifying, she quickly thought of Yi Yun contracting the plague, and began shouting, hoping to be reinforced by the crowd.

“My fellow folks, this little bastard must have been possessed after he died, or he would not be so powerful. Have you forgotten that he was possessed? Right!” Lian Cuihua suddenly thought of something and quickly squeezed through the crowd.

“Move away, move the fuck away!”

Running out, and when she returned, she had a wooden bucket in her hand.

Looking at Yi Yun, an insidious smile flashed across her face.

“Little bastard, you can be so smug because I let you be. Do you think you are invincible just because you are possessed by those filthy things? See how I kill you!” After saying that, Lian Cuihua splashed the contents in the wooden bucket at Yi Yun!

Inside the wooden bucket was blood-red liquid, and a stench emanated from it.

It was dog’s blood!

Before the match, the members of the warrior preparation camp had slaughtered two hunting dogs and had prepared to have a feast after the match.

After slaughtering the hunting dogs, the blood was stored in the wooden bucket. In it floated the dogs’ intestines, fur, heart, and lungs. And all these were thrown towards Yi Yun!

The people of the Cloud Wilderness believed that dog blood was capable of exorcism.

The filthy spirits could not stand the sight of dog’s blood, and if splattered with dog’s blood, they would melt away.

A Chinese phrase “dog’s blood over face” had that meaning. Cursing a person to the point of “dog’s blood over face” was the same as a possessed person with dog blood over them. It meant that they would stay immobile and remain speechless.

Lian Cuihua genuinely believed that Yi Yun had been possessed to be able to maim Zhao Tiezhu, so as long as the dogs’ blood covered him, the evil spirits would burn away, leaving a small chicken-like Yi Yun, who would be helpless against her.

Lian Cuihua was dying to chop off Yi Yun’s limbs and hook him up to burn. As long as she accused him of being possessed, it was easy to encourage the people to burn him at the stake.

The people exclaimed when they saw the bucket of blood spilled.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s eyes flashed a murderous intent.

For a woman like Lian Cuihua who did not know any martial arts, Yi Yun would not have bothered with her, but she had previously attacked Jiang Xiaorou.

Furthermore, he now knew how vicious this woman was.

Some people were venomous to the bone. These kinds of people did harm to the world, whether they knew martial arts or not, whether they were a woman or not.

“Peng!”

A loud explosive crack sounded. Without seeing Yi Yun move, the bucket of dogs’ blood had already exploded right in front of Yi Yun’s eyes!

Although the blood splattered everywhere, not one drop landed on Yi Yun’ body.

On the other hand, Lian Cuihua was covered with the dogs’ blood!

“Ah!”

Lian Cuihua shrieked. Her hair was disheveled and she kept screaming, “You monster, you little beast, you bastard! Ah…”

Lian Cuihua was unable to say anymore because Yi Yun had her by the neck!

Lian Cuihua’s tongue was hanging out, and her eyes went white as her limbs twitched.

“Save…save me…” The urge to survival empowered Lian Cuihua to barely say those words.

At that moment, the surrounding people had backed away in fright.

They did not dare to attack Yi Yun. The commoners of the vast wilderness were the type that bullied the weak and feared the strong. They had a strong inclination of servility. In front of an expert, they would unconsciously obey, while in front of a weakling, they will display their foul abusive side, turning into monsters. This was depicted by their attack on Jiang Xiaorou.

Lian Cuihua was finally afraid. As she looked at Yi Yun, her eyes were filled with fear.

She still did not understand how Yi Yun had suddenly become this strong. It seemed like he had not been possessed…because a possessed person would not be able to avoid the dogs’ blood. A possessed person seeing dog blood was akin to a mouse, frozen stiff from seeing a cat.

“You…You want to…beat a woman? Ke Ke…Ke Ke…” Lian Cuihua found it hard to open her mouth, as her voice trembled.

Yi Yun laughed. “I have never hit a woman.”

After saying that, Yi Yun loosened his grip slightly.

Lian Cuihua was able to heave a sigh of relief and managed to muster some courage, “Quickly let me go, and ask for forgiveness from Young Master Lian, he might still let you go. You may have turned strong, but can you beat Young Master Lian?”

Lian Chengyu was a god to the Lian tribal clan.

He had absolute authority!

These days, under the propaganda from Lian Chengyu, the people knew that about the various stages before the Purple Blood realm; in the past Lian Chengyu was at the peak of the fifth level of Mortal Blood, while Zhao Tiezhu was at the first level of Mortal Blood, and the gap between the two was like heaven and earth.

Although Lian Cuihua was afraid of Yi Yun, she recalled that she had been of service to Lian Chengyu, so with him backing her, would she need to be afraid of the little punk?

If Lian Chengyu made a move, he would easily crush Yi Yun.

Thinking of this, Lian Cuihua became braver. She felt that being released by Yi Yun was a display of him wising up.

“Go kneel before Young Master Lian to admit your mistakes or he will rip off your skin. Do you think are so powerful just because you had defeated that loser, Zhao Tiezhu? Zhao Tiezhu is like a worm when compared to Young Master Lian. And you are just a slightly bigger worm!”

Lian Cuihua shouted, thinking that she could frighten Yi Yun. However, she genuinely believed all that she said, for Lian Chengyu as a Purple Blood realm warrior has unfathomable strength!

As for the loser, Zhao Tiezhu who couldn’t beat a child, he might as well die. Lian Cuihua would not reminiscence old times with a cripple.

Hearing Lian Cuihua’s threats, Yi Yun simply laughed and gave her a slap without warning.

“Pa!”

With that, Lian Cuihua’s body flew from Yi Yun’s slap.

She tumbled three and half times mid-air before landing on the ground heavily, with the heaven and earth revolving around her!

Lian Cuihua was stunned from her beating. Blood spit out from her mouth, like a trampled fish.

Lian Cuihua struggled a bit and with her shaking hand touched her left cheek. She found her left cheek completely deformed. It was a bloody mess!

She felt something in her mouth, and with a spit, out came more than ten blood-stained teeth.

The left side of her teeth had been knocked out by Yi Yun!

“Uh…Uh…” Lian Cuihua looked at Yi Yun wanting to say something. But her tongue was destroyed and her face deformed; she could not say a single word. Even when looking at Yi Yun, her eyes would lose focus if her pupils were to dilate.

She moved her lips with great difficulty, making out a distorted sound. This sound had longed changed. But Yi Yun could still understand. If he guessed correctly, Lian Cuihua had questioned him having never beaten a woman before.

“Did I say so?” Yi Yun countered. Lian Cuihua barely blinked her eyes.

Yi Yun rubbed his hands and said, “Oh… What I said was in the past, in the future, I won’t do so anymore. People who deserve a beating will receive one.”

It was alright if Lian Cuihua had scolded Yi Yun, but she should have never bullied Jiang Xiaorou.

Yi Yun found it hard to imagine how Jiang Xiaorou managed to survive the day when she received the news of his disappearance and the cow dung besiegement by the group.

In this strange world, Jiang Xiaorou was his closest relative. He did now allow anyone to hurt her.

Just as Yi Yun finished his words, Lian Cuihua spewed a mouthful of blood and passed out.

75 - : Dog’s Blood over Face

CKtalon  CKtalon

No one had expected the arena contest to have such a turn of events—Yi Yun’s sudden appearance, the maiming of Zhao Tiezhu and the beating up of Lian Cuihua.

In the vast wilderness, medical procedures were extremely backward. 99% of such injuries would lead to infection, and without antibiotics, the moment they became infected, they would have no chance of surviving.

Even if he survived, Zhao Tiezhu had been crippled off his ability to practice martial arts or work; even getting down from the bed would be a problem.

As for Lian Cuihua, she was disfigured. Of course, to Yi Yun, Lian Cuihua’s looks before being disfigured was terrible. But without her half her set of teeth, Lian Cuihua would have trouble eating grain or vegetables. In the vast wilderness, unless someone gave her something to eat, she would most likely starve to death without anyone taking care of her.

Be it Zhao Tiezhu or Lian Cuihua, the future that awaited them would be a tragic ending.

After Yi Yun maimed Zhao Tiezhu and Lian Cuihua, there was total silence.

Previously, the family members of those who had been infected with the “plague” hated Yi Yun to the bone, but now they were scared stiff.

Yi Yun noticed these people and even recognized them as the children who had attacked Jiang Xiaorou a few days ago.

One of the woman’s facial expression changed. She immediately shielded her child and said with a trembling voice, “Back then…Back then it was instigated…instigated by Lian Cuihua to burn your house…”

Many of the people in the Lian tribal clan knew that with Yi Yun returning strong as ever, he would definitely settle the issue of the burning of his house and the besiegement of Jiang Xiaorou.

Yi Yun took a few steps forward.

The woman’s face turned even whiter, “Throwing…Throwing the cow dung was instigated by Lian Cuihua. We…We…”

The children who had thrown the cow dung were about Yi Yun’s age, and some of them even looked stronger than Yi Yun. Typically, the child would not notice a child like Yi Yun, but today, he was scared stiff.

“You really think that your men got infected with the plague because of me?” Yi Yun’s words were injected with Yuan Qi, so it could be heard a few kilometers away. This made everyone hear it clearly.

Everyone was stunned. This was news released by the upper echelon of the Lian tribal clan, how could it be wrong?

Also, they could not comprehend something; Yi Yun had been infected with the plague. He was possessed and he fell down a cliff dozens of meters high, how could he not die?

Also, how was it possible for him to beat Zhao Tiezhu?

Even till now, many villagers could not believe that Yi Yun had maimed Zhao Tiezhu in two moves. They knew Yi Yun had practiced martial arts with Zhang Yuxian.

But he had only practiced it for a month, how could he be stronger than Zhao Tiezhu who had been practicing for decades?

“Our…Our men…what…is it?” The woman asked with a shiver and at this point, Yi Yun could see by the side of his eyes that Lian Chengyu had already stood up. Both his eyes were like a venomous snake staring at him.

Coldness, killing intent and greed!

All the properties a snake would possess were contained within!

Yi Yun knew that Lian Chengyu was threatening him. But he met Lian Chengyu’s gaze and said without fear, “The desolate bone was poisonous. Your men died because of the desolate bone refinement. It has nothing to do with me!”

Yi Yun’s voice was transmitted far, and everyone heard it crystal clear.

In a moment, the villagers exploded!

The desolate bone was poisonous!?

Our men died from refining the desolate bone!?

The villagers were at a loss and began to flurriedly discuss.

Today, if it was a weak Yi Yun who said it, no one would have believed him. On the contrary, they would burn him at the stake, in the name of exorcising the evil spirits.

But now, Yi Yun had a formidable power backing him. What he said might sound crazy and incomprehensible, but some people would subconsciously believe in it.

This was what strength could bring!

A person’s strength not only determined their position or dignity, it also affected the words they said.

An expert’s words were as good as gold, and each word had its oomph.

A weakling’s words were the same as the sounds of farts, no one would care about it!

The present Yi Yun was relying on his strength to stand in the arena, or as a twelve-year-old child, how was he to show his might?

Lian Chengyu sneered and remained quiet. At that moment, a yellow-robed elder stood up.

“Empty words!”

The elder with a harsh voice was naturally the Patriarch of the Lian tribal clan.

“You kid, how dare you instigate the masses with your wagging lies? The desolate bone was bought using all our savings, and with the help of our tribe, we managed to refine it successfully after weeks! How could it be poisonous!?”

“This desolate bone essence has been eaten by Chengyu; if it was poisonous, the first person to be poisoned would be Chengyu!”

The Patriarch remained extremely dignified. He had gained an air of authority after being in charge of the Lian tribal clan for all these years.

Even though Yi Yun had the strength, whatever Yi Yun said would not have the weight compared to the Patriarch.

Besides, the Patriarch’s words were very reasonable.

The desolate bone was bought by the tribe at great expense to be refined for Lian Chengyu. If it had poison, it would have been equivalent to the tribe spending a great deal just to harm Lian Chengyu?

“The Patriarch is right! My fellow folks, don’t believe the kid’s words!”

“How can you trust the words of a twelve-year-old child?”

In the crowd, several people shouted. These people were the people who had Lian as their surname. They had mutual interests as the Lian tribal clan’s upper echelon, and some of them were similar to Lian Cuihua. They were the eyes on the ground for the Lian tribal clan upper echelon, responsible for whistleblowing and the spreading of rumors. By doing so, the upper echelon would give them extra food.

Seeing some of the villagers having doubts, these people said, “You think that little monkey is strong? Compared to Young Master Lian, he’s nothing!”

“So what if he beat Zhao Tiezhu, Zhao Tiezhu is just like us, normal mortals. As for Young Master Lian, he has already reached the Purple Blood realm. Do you even know what the Purple Blood realm is? Lord Zhang that previously came to our village was also in the Purple Blood realm, and he was almost the same as a god in the sky!”

Back then everyone knew that Zhang Yuxian rode a behemoth, and he had brought down a large tree with a simple chop. The power of the Purple Blood realm was terrifying. In comparison, beating Zhao Tiezhu in wrestling was nothing.

“Yi Yun may seem strong to us, but compared to Young Master Lian, he’s nothing worth mentioning! Only Young Master Lian can lead us to a good life. It can’t be that you choose to believe this kid over Young Master Lian!”

People began to shout once again.

It had to be said that having ruled the Lian tribal clan for so long, the ruling class was deep-rooted. For Yi Yun to say a few words to affect their standing would be very hard; furthermore, Yi Yun had no proof.

Also, the entire tribe’s efforts had been invested in Lian Chengyu, and Lian Chengyu had “not failed to disappoint the masses”. He had “made greater breakthroughs” in his strength, and had “achieved” the Purple Blood realm.

With all their hopes on Lian Chengyu to change their lives, how could they stop believing Lian Chengyu and instead believe a twelve-year-old childlike Yi Yun?

It was the same even if Yi Yun defeated Zhao Tiezhu!

Yi Yun had already expected this and it did not matter to him. He did not hope to overturn Lian Chengyu with just words; he simply wanted to plant a seed of doubt within the people.

The vast wilderness was a world where power ruled supreme. Ever since time immemorial, it has been so!

Would a victor need to provide proof? It was superfluous because the strongest victor’s words were the rules, the law, and the truth.

Experts did not need more words to explain themselves. Others would subconsciously believe in it and eventually really believe in it.

By making his appearance today, Yi Yun was already mentally prepared to have a direct conflict with Lian Chengyu.

He knew that Lian Chengyu would not break through to the Purple Blood realm with that energy-less desolate bone “essence”.

Lian Chengyu was at the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm, while he was in the beginning stages of the Qi Gatherer realm, but at the same time had reached the realm of Dragon Pulse.

He was confident of this battle!

However, Yi Yun was still worried about Yao Yuan. He did not know Yao Yuan’s strength.

He waited for Lian Chengyu to make his move, and at the same time secretly observed Yao Yuan.

But surprisingly, Lian Chengyu had no plans to make any moves and was just looking at him with a dark look!

Today, Lian Chengyu would not be making any moves!

Yao Yuan had already warned him that he had hurt his heart due to the anger he experienced.

If he ignored his injuries and made a move, it was possible, but he would never recover to his peak at the kingdom’s selection in a few days!

76 - : The Desolate Bone was Poisonous!

CKtalon  CKtalon

Of course, Lian Chengyu was not going to affect his chances at the kingdom’s selection for Yi Yun. It was his life’s top priority! With no room for failure!

“Instructor Yao, what do you think of his strength? Thunderous? Meridians?”

To be able to easily cripple Zhao Tiezhu, and even crush his fist, Lian Chengyu was sure that Yi Yun was above the third realm of Mortal Blood and his strength was above a thousand catties. Lian Chengyu was not sure, however, if Yi Yun had opened his conception and governor vessels.

Yao Yuan said, “We have all underestimated Yi Yun. I’m not sure of his strength, but one thing I know is that his intelligence and thinking far exceeds that of a twelve-year-old child. Whoever goes against him will only lose badly if they treat him as a child.”

Yao Yuan’s words subtly referred to Lian Chengyu. Lian Chengyu had difficulty dealing with this for he had never imagined that the day would come when he would be compared to a child.

But he had to admit that in the past few clashes with Yi Yun, he had been played by him!

“This kid has been playing the sucker. He knew all along that I had intentions of killing him, but he pretended to not know, making me careless! At such a young age, how could he be so scheming?” Lian Chengyu was in disbelief. Yi Yun was a problem!

“Instructor Yao, my body is not in the condition to do anything today, could Instructor Yao catch this little bastard for me?” Yao Yuan turned silent upon Lian Chengyu’s request.

Yao Yuan had also guessed that Yi Yun must have met with some fortuitous event, such as eating some treasure while picking herbs, allowing him to have a rapid increase in strength.

This was the only explanation, and with this, it was reasonable that he had survived the fall into the East River.

As for this treasure, it had to be able to neutralize the Frost Python’s toxins, so it could be said that the treasure was more valuable than the Frost Python desolate bone.

But what could they do?

The treasure had already been eaten by Yi Yun. To extract it out would be difficult. Even if it were to be extracted, Yao Yuan did not have any coveted thoughts about it, since his meridians had been severed after being wounded by an enemy. It prevented him from proceeding further along the martial path.

Yao Yuan’s status was simply a long term guest in the Lian tribal clan and he was not Lian Chengyu’s henchman.

Yao Yuan said, “Chengyu, years ago, I owed your dead grandfather a favor, promising him that I would protect the Lian tribal clan, and teach you martial arts, but I never said I would help you kill, nor did I say I would aid you in your evil ways. I knew about your refining of the desolate bone, but I didn’t butt in because I know this world is one where the strong preys on the weak. Sacrificing the weak to gain achievements is still understandable. But to want me to attack a child, a child who has a talent for martial arts because you are jealous? I cannot agree because of this reason.”

“Although you will not listen, I will give you a word of advice either way. You have to be broadminded. If you want your life to be good, you will need to have some tolerance. If you are too ruthless, extremely self-centered, and intolerant of others, sooner or later, it will destroy you.”

Yao Yuan’s words made Lian Chengyu frown. Since ancient times, good advice is jarring to the ear; as for Yao Yuan’s words, Lian Chengyu had already found them unpleasant to his ears.

“Instructor Yao, what is the meaning of this? All these years, I have honored you as a teacher, but today, you are helping an outsider?” Lian Chengyu’s words were filled with anger.

Yao Yuan shook his head, “All these years, I’ve seen you grow up. I know all about your thoughts, I just do not want to see you committing mistakes one after another.”

“Besides, although it is hard for anyone below the Purple Blood realm to match my strength, I have no confidence in capturing Yi Yun!” Yao Yuan’s words surprised Lian Chengyu.

“How is that possible?” Was Instructor Yao admitting that this kid had the ability to match Instructor Yao? If so, wouldn’t he at least be in the Qi Gatherer realm, similar to me? “It’s impossible!” Lian Chengyu found it preposterous. No matter what lucky event Yi Yun had encountered, he could not have such a high cultivation speed.

“I also think it’s impossible,” Yao Yuan sighed. “But did you not consider that with this child’s intelligence, and his level of cultivation, he wouldn’t know the differences in the realms below Purple Blood? Your cultivation level and mine aren’t a secret, yet he still dared to appear here. This proves that he has the confidence to confront you, and the ability to escape unscathed.”

Yao Yuan’s words provoked Lian Chengyu and he rebuked, “If Instructor Yao were to give it a shot, he would not be able to escape without any injuries!”

Yao Yuan said, “I have similar thoughts. I too feel that he should have died after being poisoned by the desolate bone’s frost toxin or when he plummeted into the East River, yet here he is alive.”

Yao Yuan’s words made Lian Chengyu speechless.

Indeed, he had believed that Yi Yun should have died, but today, he was standing in front of him. He had even maimed Zhao Tiezhu!

This was no doubt a public slap to his face.

Yao Yuan said, “His strength might be in the Thunderous or Meridians realm, but he might also have some method to preserve his life, like a treasure that will protect him.”

“If you were to make such a twelve-year-old child with such mental capabilities and strength your enemy, he will no doubt seek revenge on you in the future unless you kill him.” Originally, Yao Yuan had wished to prevent Lian Chengyu from sinking any deeper. But now if he failed to kill Yi Yun, he would have to take on the risk of a revengeful Yi Yun; this gave Yao Yuan less reason to attack Yi Yun.

“I got it.” Lian Chengyu took a deep breath. His expression was horribly gloomy. Because of Yao Yuan’s refusal, he now held a grudge!

With Yao Yuan not making any moves, and him unable to make any moves, the only person who could rival Yi Yun was his grandfather, the Lian tribal clan Patriarch.

To have the Patriarch attack a kid under the watchful eyes of this many people was inappropriate.

The fact was that Lian Chengyu could not guarantee that his grandfather would be able to handle Yi Yun. This was because the Patriarch was old and feeble. In the Mortal Blood realm, people used their muscles and body to fight, so age would severely affect their combat strength. The older they got, the worse it became.

Although the Patriarch was in the fifth stage of Mortal Blood, the Qi Gatherer realm, his frail body would make it difficult to even fight a fourth stage Mortal Blood warrior. Besides, Yao Yuan had said that Yi Yun might have some hidden card.

After considering all the possible outcomes, Lian Chengyu realized he was in an extremely awkward situation.

He had been smacked in the face by Yi Yun publicly, yet he could do nothing to him!

At least, not before he recovered his strength!

“Damn, if I were not injured, I would rip that little bastard’s skin off!” Lian Chengyu was pissed. He had never thought that the day would come when he could not do anything to a person he treated as an ant days before!

Yao Yuan remained silent, while everyone present was looking at Lian Chengyu.

Lian Chengyu needed a way to get out of the predicament!

77 - : Yao Yuan’s Advice

CKtalon  CKtalon

Lian Chengyu gave Yi Yun a scathing look.

“I just need a few days to recover and when that happens, I’ll make sure I’ll get revenge for what happened today! I want to let you know what it means to lead a living death!”

If he had been overwhelmed by an expert, it would be no matter. But now, a person who seemed weaker than him was provoking him and undermining his authority; yet because of his injuries, he could not do anything about it. How could he not be angry?

“Yi Yun!” Lian Chengyu said with reluctance. However, Lian Chengyu knew that he could not do anything. If he fought with Yi Yun, even if he won, it would affect his chances at the kingdom’s selection that was days away, and that was not a price he was willing to pay.

“My Lian tribal clan has suffered for hundreds of years in the Cloud Wilderness. Our ancestors ate grass roots and tree barks as they slowly developed our clan into what we are today.”

“Finally, in my generation, I have practiced martial arts for a decade and never slacked off in my cultivation, even during the famine years. The only reason was to bring the Lian tribal clan out of the wilderness and into the city, letting the tribe prosper!”

“But now… Just as I have invested all of my assets into saving the tribe, you come out here to spread rumors, to bewitch the people and falsely accuse me. Do you want the people of the Lian tribal clan to live forever in misery?” Lian Chengyu’s words were spat right back at Yi Yun, creating a public debate.

Lian Chengyu and Yi Yun stuck to their own arguments.

Yi Yun said that Lian Chengyu had refined a desolate bone that was toxic, causing the deaths of the people, while Lian Chengyu said Yi Yun was framing him! Both sides were diametrically opposed to each other!

However, in this debate, the people undoubtedly believed in Lian Chengyu; after all, Lian Chengyu had an extremely high standing in the Lian tribal clan, while Yi Yun was just a child.

Hearing the speech, Yi Yun could guess the sentiments of the tribe members, and could not help recall a fable from Earth.

During the primitive periods, a group of cavemen worshiped a shadow. The shadow could grow bigger and smaller. It looked like a god, so the cavemen would worship the shadow every day.

However, a clever caveman did not believe in ‘god’. With great effort, he managed to climb to the top of the cave one day. He then realized that the god the people worshiped was just the shadow of a rock being cast by the sunlight.

The clever caveman told his tribe the truth, he did not want them to worship the shadow because it was just the shadow of a rock and not a god.

In the end, no one believed the clever caveman, but they became scared. The clever caveman was eventually burned at the stake because of his blasphemy against the god. After that, the cavemen carried on worshipping the rock’s shadow.

Yi Yun felt that his current situation was exactly that of the fable.

He was the clever caveman, while Lian Chengyu was the shadow.

The current Lian Chengyu who was trying to save the tribe, had cut all the roads of retreat and had managed to “successfully break through” into the Purple Blood realm, was a god in the Lian tribal clan!

Everyone, be it the Lian tribal clan upper echelon, the members of the warrior preparation camp or the commoners, had all placed their hopes on Lian Chengyu, hoping he will bring change into the tribe, leading them out of poverty and hunger.

People who lived in hardship would tend to be religious. They needed an emotional support, allowing them to escape from reality and believe in a brighter future. Only then, would they have the courage to keep living?

As for Lian Chengyu, he had undoubtedly taken that spot. He was the tribe’s leader and an idol for many youths in the tribe. He was the perfect dream lover in all the girls’ hearts.

As long as Lian Chengyu passed the Kingdom’s selection, he would be the savior of the Lian tribal clan!

As for Yi Yun, he was just a twelve-year-old child. He didn’t have much prestige or authority, so it was difficult for him to topple Lian Chengyu.

Besides, Yi Yun had no evidence. Even if he did, it was likely that no one would believe in him because if Lian Chengyu was toppled, it was tantamount to shattering the poor people’s spiritual hope, telling them that they would forever live in darkness. Who would allow that?

If Yi Yun hadn’t maimed Zhao Tiezhu and used his strength to stand his ground, he would have been burnt at the stake by the angry crowd like the clever caveman.

Seeing that the people were clearly on his side, Lian Chengyu was pleased. The only thing that annoyed him was that, even with the support of the people, he still could do nothing to Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun, I acknowledge you as a genius, and you have an acceptable talent for martial arts. It was probably some fortuitous event that allowed you to get to this stage!”

Lian Chengyu emphasized the word fortuitous because he was extremely jealous of Yi Yun. What gave Yi Yun the right to have a fortuitous event, but not him?

Although he was jealous, Lian Chengyu had to act as though having a fortuitous event to obtain increased strength was not showing one’s true strength. It meant that only by taking a short cut could you reach this stage, but I had worked hard using my own strength to obtain it.

Lian Chengyu’s meaning was quickly understood by his henchmen. They said, “No wonder. This kid could beat Zhao Tiezhu, it’s because he took a shortcut!”

“He may have eaten some treasure, but I heard that with these treasures, although it can quickly increase your strength, your fundamentals will be shaky, and you will eventually meet a bottleneck. It’s like pulling up a seedling in the mistaken hope of helping it grow!”

The henchmen gave a look of understanding, of course, their boss was the strongest, and as for Yi Yun’s strength, it was just short-lived. Besides, Yi Yun wasn’t that strong, he had only defeated Zhao Tiezhu, and that didn’t count for anything.

The crowd was swayed as they felt the reasoning of these henchmen reasonable. This was the only way they could understand how Yi Yun’s strength had increased by leaps and bounds.

Lian Chengyu carried on, “To be able to reach this stage, it was not easy indeed. I’ll pardon you, so you should join hands with me, to work hard together to make the Lian tribal clan prosper!”

Lian Chengyu said it with dignity.

Lian Chengyu’s henchmen and the idolizing fans in the crowd began to cheer.

“Young Master Lian understands the principles of right and wrong and the tribe is really fortunate to have him!” Some people clapped and shouted with joy.

“Young Master Lian is so magnanimous, Yi Yun discredited Young Master Lian, yet Young Master Lian didn’t blame him, he even wanted to put Yi Yun in an important position. If Yi Yun knew any better, he should assist Young Master Lian.”

The talk on the ground was easily swayed, what’s more, the words of the henchmen were totally reasonable.

After all, Lian Chengyu had broken into the Purple Blood realm, so passing the Kingdom’s selection was a sure thing.

As for Yi Yun, although his talent seemed good, he had not practiced martial arts for long and obtained such strength from a fortuitous event. He was roughly at the third state of Mortal Blood, so it was unlikely he would pass even if he participated in the Kingdom’s selection.

In the future when Yi Yun grew up, if he was willing to help Lian Chengyu, he would be a great help to Lian Chengyu, allowing the Lian tribal clan to take off.

These were the thoughts of the majority, however, Lian Chengyu and Yi Yun had no such thoughts…

78 - : Pedestal

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun ignored the comments of tribe members and Lian Chengyu’s henchmen. He was surprised that Lian Chengyu didn’t attack him to right the malicious slander against himself. What could be the reason?

Yi Yun noticed that Lian Chengyu was pale. Could he have experienced a Kundalini crisis, which had hurt him?

But even if Lian Chengyu did not make a move, there was still Yao Yuan!

Yi Yun did not know the reason why Lian Chengyu hadn’t made a move, and he ignored the doubts of the people.

In fact, it suited Yi Yun that Lian Chengyu didn’t make a move today. His strength had grown exponentially in a short time, so in time, he would exceed Lian Chengyu. When the time to exchange blows came, there was no reason to fear Lian Chengyu, Yi Yun would, without any doubts, win. Even if Yao Yuan intervened, Yi Yun would have nothing to fear!

Yi Yun’s appearance today was simply to obtain a qualifying spot at the kingdom’s selection. It was sufficient enough to reach this goal.

“Young Master Lian, you said to join you to make the Lian tribal clan prosperous. If so, do you plan for me to participate in the kingdom’s selection?” Yi Yun asked with a faint smile. Lian Chengyu frowned. He knew he had no reason nor did it make sense to publicly reject him. The Jin Long Wei would be here the next day, and Yi Yun had proven his strength in front of the tribe.

The Jin Long Wei’s purpose of holding the kingdom’s selection was to select the strong, whoever was strong or had potential would be recruited. They would definitely accept Yi Yun’s participation, as all he had to do was display his strength in front of the Jin Long Wei’s ambassadors. Lian Chengyu had no power to decide who was going to participate in the kingdom’s selection because it wasn’t organized by the Lian tribal clan.

“Of course! But Yi Yun, your cultivation period has been short. I’m only letting you participate in the Kingdom’s selection so that you can broaden your horizons. With that experience, it will help you in your future growth.”

“You might not know how difficult the kingdom’s selection is. In a region that spreads out a few thousand kilometers, of all the tribes of this region, only twenty will be chosen! Among the twenty, about three-quarters of them will come from the Tao tribal clan, which is the biggest in these lands!”

The Tao tribal clan had the people and the resources; Lian Chengyu’s Frost Python desolate bone was obtained from the Tao tribal clan!

Besides resources, the scholarship of the Tao tribal clan was outstanding. The elites of the younger generation from the Tao tribal clan were under the tutelage of Purple Blood warriors in the middle, late or even peak stages. They even had a heritage of cultivation techniques. How could a small tribe compete with the Tao tribal clan?

Hence, with a quota of only twenty people, the spots left for the small tribes were just three or four! To choose three or four from dozens of small tribes was a pathetic ratio!

Lian Chengyu carried on, “The Tao tribal clan is a behemoth, their population is hundreds of times bigger than our Lian tribal clan! Some of the young elites of the Tao tribal clan have even reached the Purple Blood realm! Especially the three young masters of the Tao tribe, they are even more famous! It is impossible to compete with them as a person born from a small tribe. As for the kingdom’s selection, you can forget about it if you are not at the fifth stage of Mortal Blood realm, the Qi Gatherer stage.”

Even Lian Chengyu, who had failed to break through to the Purple Blood realm, was facing a lot of pressure.

Mortal Blood was impossible to compete against Purple Blood. They could only compete with the people who were in the Mortal Blood realm. And just reaching the fifth stage of Mortal Blood was a mediocre entry ticket.

“When I pass the selection, I’ll assist you. If you can achieve much, it will be a good thing for the tribe.” Lian Chengyu said this extremely reluctantly. He naturally did not want Yi Yun to participate in the kingdom’s selection because it meant that during the selection, there was no way he could attack Yi Yun.

Also, Yi Yun’s growth was too quick, even if Yi Yun had obtained his strength from some lucky object, his growth was so quick that it even worried Lian Chengyu. Lian Chengyu did not like things to be beyond his sphere of control. Lian Chengyu wanted to remove Yi Yun as soon as possible, especially when Yi Yun was in an unprepared state. Lian Chengyu was still worried about the item that was protecting Yi Yun’s life.

Killing Yi Yun meant that the treasure would belong to him!

“Then, I’ll thank Young Master Lian for his ‘guidance’!” Yi Yun emphasized on the word ‘guidance’ with a thick hint of sarcasm.

“But, Young Master Lian, you don’t look well. Are you not feeling well?” Saying that Yi Yun took a few steps forward.

Lian Chengyu was alarmed. Yi Yun had suspected that he was injured!

“Instructor Yao!” Lian Chengyu shouted angrily.

Yao Yuan sighed and transmitted words into Yi Yun’s ears silently, “Little brother, I will not go against you today. That’s because I respect you as a young warrior, do you need to be so difficult?”

Yao Yuan’s words made Yi Yun stop. He didn’t know how to transmit words silently, so he could only look at Yao Yuan and cup his fists.

That was the reason why Yao Yuan didn’t make any moves. Although Yao Yuan was one of the ruling class in the Lian tribal clan, he had a strong sense of chivalry and didn’t play a part in Lian Chengyu’s vile actions.

“Instructor Yao is right, I give my thanks for I admire Instructor Yao as a person greatly. I will go ahead first. See you tomorrow at noon!”

Yi Yun’s words were polite to Yao Yuan. In fact, Yao Yuan was Yi Yun’s first master. He had taught him the most basic cultivation technique “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, although Yi Yun had learned it secretly.

Yi Yun squeezed through the crowd and headed towards the Lian Clan Herb Mountain after saying those words.

He was worried about Jiang Xiaorou’s safety, so he didn’t expose the treehouse’s location. He planned to jump down from the chasm of the herb mountain into the East River and going with the flow down to the waterfalls. As such, no one would be able to guess where he stayed.

…

The next morning, Yi Yun opened his eyes as he finished meditating.

The day had finally arrived. Today, the Jin Long Wei ambassador would come to the Lian tribal clan to bring them to the kingdom’s selection!

“Yun-er, just do your best but don’t insist on it. You are still young and have plenty of time ahead of you. Our days will become better and better, so don’t do things out of spite, as for acting on impulse…”

“I got it, Sis Xiaorou.”

Knowing it was the day of Yi Yun’s departure, Jiang Xiaorou had been advising Yi Yun. Hearing these heartwarming words he said, “Sis Xiaorou, you have to be by yourself in the coming days. I have prepared all the food for you. Don’t wander around.”

Yi Yun had guessed that he could not bring Jiang Xiaorou into this foray to the Tao tribal clan for the kingdom’s selection. He was just an unimportant candidate and he had to sit on one of the mounts the Jin Long Wei had. It was impossible for him to bring someone along.

Thankfully the Lian tribal clan’s back mountain was extremely broad. To hide Jiang Xiaorou was easy. Also, Lian Chengyu would be leaving the Lian tribal clan to participate in the kingdom’s selection, so it eased Yi Yun’s mind. As long as Jiang Xiaorou hid, the back mountain was very safe as there were no beasts there.

Finally, as the last measure of protection, Yi Yun gave the protective talisman Old Man Su had given him to Jiang Xiaorou. That yellow tattered pulp, that was comparable to toilet paper had been kept by Yi Yun all this while. The only hope he had was that Old Man Su was not pulling a prank on him.

That old fool would be extremely wicked to pull a prank using a defensive item.

Yi Yun left. He was like an agile antelope, and moved towards the Lian tribal clan with great speed!

When Yi Yun came to the Lian tribal clan, the entire top brass of the Lian tribal clan had come out to receive the Jin Long Wei ambassadors, who came punctually at noon.

He was a large man with ashen black skin. Riding on a standard issue Jin Long Wei mount, he arrived at the Lian tribal clan with a commanding aura.

“Who will be participating in the kingdom’s selection?”

This ambassador’s words were short and sweet, with bold undertones.

The ten people, including Yi Yun and Lian Chengyu, stepped forward.

“Get on!” The ambassador waved his hands as he cut to the chase. As such, the ten candidates mounted the ambassador’s mount.

Although the mount was tall, with ten people on it, it became extremely crowded. The Jin Long Wei ambassador sat on the spacious back of the beast, while the rest sat on the sides, practically shoulder to shoulder.

Of course, Lian Chengyu was given more room by the other eight members of the warrior preparation camp. Being henchmen, they needed to ensure that their master was comfortable. That was the duty of a henchman.

With limited space, and Lian Chengyu enjoying a large amount of room, Yi Yun naturally did not have much room. He was squeezed in the middle of two men, but Yi Yun was not bothered by it.

79 - : Arrival of the Selection’s Ambassador

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ever since dawn, the people of Lian tribal clan had already come out of their houses, and stood by the village entrance, waiting to send off Lian Chengyu and company.

Lian Chengyu’s departure symbolized the harvest of a seed they had painstakingly cultivated; hence, there were extremely high expectations by the tribe.

“Young Master is sure to win! Triumphant return! Young Master is sure to win! Triumphant return!” The members of the warrior preparation camp began to shout their slogans once more.

Hearing the chants, Yi Yun felt ashamed. He was speechless at the retardedness of the warrior preparation camp’s members.

The people also began to shout a few words.

“Young Master Lian, the entire tribe will be depending on you!”

There were old men kowtowing on the ground. Also, the only witch in the village was dancing in her epileptic manner again.

“My people, don’t worry. I will not let you down.” Lian Chengyu stood up from his spacious spot and clasped his hands, first to the left, then to the right, in an amiable manner.

It had to be said that Lian Chengyu was charming, together with his long white robe, he looked extremely elegant. He had the bearing of a large tribe’s young master. Combined with his self-confidence and friendliness, it was extremely charming to young girls.

Many young girls in the tribe were awe-struck by Lian Chengyu. Blushing, they shouted, “Young Master Lian, we will wait for your return!”

“Don’t worry, when I can enter the city to build my own ground, and establish my family clan, you can all accompany me, and become the first batch of citizens of my Lian family clan.” Lian Chengyu’s confidence words made the villagers flush from excitement as if they had just drunk a bottle of wine. As for those girls, they were red from dreaming of being a personal maidservant of Lian Chengyu, or even a servant in the bed.

To be able to follow Young Master Lian was a great joy.

Many young girls had such thoughts as they were smitten. Yi Yun was apathetically watching by the side, for he knew he would not receive any sending offs. Suddenly, he heard a timid voice, “Brother Yi..Yi Yun, you must work hard, Xiaoke…Xiaoke will wait for your return…”

Hearing this voice, Yi Yun was stunned. He looked over and saw a little girl dressed in old clothes looking at him nervously. That watery pair of eyes exuded a million words of meaning. She was Aunt Wang’s daughter, Zhou Xiaoke.

Among all the young girls sending off Lian Chengyu, to shout Yi Yun’s name by herself took a lot of courage.

“Xiaoke.”

Yi Yun beckoned Xiaoke over. Seeing how this little girl’s face glowed, he found her adorable. “Don’t worry, I’ll return safely.”

“Okay.” Zhou Xiaoke nodded her head forcefully.

“Kiddo Yun, it’s alright if you don’t pass the selection. Don’t be discouraged for you are still young. You are just twelve!”

Aunt Wang was shouting by the side too. As she shouted, she took out a vegetable dumpling from a basket, “Kiddo Yun, I made this vegetable dumpling. Have it along the road.”

Seeing the vegetable dumpling that was made with little grain, Yi Yun was touched. He came down from his seat and accepted the vegetable dumpling. In return, he stuffed a cloth bag into Aunt Wang’s hands, “Auntie, open it up only when you are back home.”

After saying that, Yi Yun jumped back onto the behemoth’s back without waiting for Aunt Wang’s response. And at that moment, the Jin Long Wei ambassador began to lead the beast forward.

Seeing Yi Yun’s figure grow smaller into the distance, Zhou Xiaoke continued to wave.

A few women surnamed Lian looked disdainfully at Aunt Wang’s family saying, “You sure have a good relationship with that kid!”

“It’s none of your business!” said Zhou Xiaoke as she puckered her small mouth.

The women let out an unbridled laughter, “This little lass sure got smitten! That kid Yi Yun thinks he’s one of the main participants, to think he followed Young Master Lian to participate in the kingdom’s selection. Did he even consider his own strength? Young Master Lian is just too nice a person.”

“So what if he takes the kid with him? Young Master Lian is just taking him to experience life, and use him for his own purposes. In the future, he will just be another henchman. Do you really think the kid will pass the selection?” These Lian women completed each others’ sentences with ease and delight.

They shared the Lian surname and was part of the same family as Lian Chengyu. They also had the same bloodline as the Lian tribal clan. As long as Lian Chengyu struck it big, they would receive great benefits.

With the end of their suffering beckoning, how could they not be happy!

As the Lian women ridiculed Zhou Xiaoke, Aunt Wang was shocked as she touched the cloth bag Yi Yun had passed to her.

After freezing for a moment, she swallowed a mouthful of saliva before carefully putting the cloth bag away, while keeping it close to her body.

She ignored those mean women and quietly pulled Zhou Xiaoke home. Only after latching the door did Aunt Wang take the cloth bag out. She placed it carefully on the table in the main room.

“Mom, what did Brother Yi Yun give?” Zhou Xiaoke asked curiously.

Aunt Wang’s hands were trembling. At that moment when she touched the bag, there were many people, hence, she was afraid to open it up. But while holding it, she could feel the texture and smell the aroma of something she thought impossible to obtain… She took in a deep breath and unwrapped the cloth bag layer by layer…

Moments later, Zhou Xiaoke was stunned. As for Aunt Wang, even after being mentally prepared, her heart still skipped a few beats.

What appeared in front of both of them was a roasted chicken. It was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. It was golden glazed and fragrant!

“This… This is…” Zhou Xiaoke began to swallow mouthfuls of saliva. “Brother Yi Yun gave this?”

“Yes… Kiddo Yun gave us this…” Aunt Wang was gawking at the chicken in disbelief. How did Yi Yun manage to get this roasted chicken? Also looking at this roasted chicken, it was cooked with exquisite culinary skills. The smell of the skin was familiar with Aunt Wang. It was honey, she had picked some in the back mountains by chance a long time ago!

Honey roasted chicken, how did Kiddo Yun get this?

Aunt Wang was in disbelief, but at that moment, Zhou Xiaoke’s saliva was dripping down to the table. She eagerly looked at the roasted chicken asking, “Mom… Can I eat it?”

Aunt Wang laughed and touched Zhou Xiaoke’s head, “Kiddo Yun’s chicken was given to you for eating.”

With that said, Aunt Wang tore a chicken leg and stuffed it into Zhou Xiaoke’s tiny hands, “Quickly eat it. We can eat the rest when your dad returns.”

“Yes!” Zhou Xiaoke hurriedly took a bite. The moment the chicken flesh entered her mouth, Zhou Xiaoke felt like she was floating in the sky. The chicken flesh was delicious. She had never eaten something that tasty…

Brother Yi Yun is so good.

Thinking of this, Zhou Xiaoke’s heart was filled with happiness.

80 - : Departure

CKtalon  CKtalon

The behemoth’s running speed was fast; in a short while, the Lian village and the people sending them off had disappeared into the distance. Yi Yun could only shake his head with regret. The people of the vast wilderness were easily cheated.

They were simple but not kind, on the contrary, they exhibited all the evils and ugliness; maybe, that was human nature…

Yi Yun stopped thinking about it as he looked at the scenery hurling past him. Feeling the wind from the behemoths galloping forward, Yi Yun could not help but say, “Vast wilderness, here I come!”

This was the first time that Yi Yun stepped out of the Lian tribal clan and into the large vast wilderness. He would learn what the real vast wilderness was like outside the Lian tribal clan’s protection!

The fast behemoth left a huge footprint with each step and could travel a few thousand kilometers each day. They felt violent tremors while sitting on the behemoth’s back, so without a certain strength, it was unbearable. A person’s bones could break just by sitting on it for a day.

Even the warrior preparation camp’s members were finding it hard to endure.

As for Yi Yun, he was standing on the behemoth, holding onto the reins, and enjoying the scenery.

As the behemoth ran out of the protective area of the Lian tribal clan, Yi Yun could finally see the real vast wilderness!

The Cloud Wilderness was extremely vast, without any traces of humans. There were forests everywhere and the landscape looked primal.

Actually, Yi Yun did not know if they were called forests. These forests were different from the primal forests on Earth.

The primal forests on Earth were hot and humid, and the forest floors were covered with dead leaves and twigs. The forests were dense, and under the trees were shrubs. Such a forest would be extremely difficult for a person to walk through, what more a huge behemoth.

But in the vast wilderness, the trees were far apart from each other, allowing the behemoth to run through the woods at full speed. The trees were ridiculously tall, reaching a hundred meters, or even hundreds of meters, to the point of exceeding the clouds!

And such trees grew on the extremely barren land. Everywhere in the vast wilderness was boulders, hills, and deserts!

There were even trees that rooted themselves into black ironstone!

A huge boulder growing a divine tree that went up hundreds of meters was a grand sight!

But this was not a rare sight because this was found everywhere! There was little soil in the vast wilderness and its surface was littered with rocks. 90% of the trees had no choice to but to grow in these rocks.

These rocks were rough all around, and there were steep cliffs everywhere, making it hard for even monkeys to climb!

The mountain peaks, protruded isolated peaks or the mountain ranges that were thousands of meters high, were considered short. It was common to see ten thousand meter tall mountains which had snow-covered peaks that never melted in thousands of years, making them as strong as steel!

In between the mountain peaks, it was full of lofty cliffs that had bottomless canyons…

This was the vast wilderness which hid fearsome desolate beasts that could swallow a warrior in one gulp. Even without them or fierce beasts, any typical warrior would not be able to cross the vast wilderness because the path was too difficult to take.

Climbing cliffs, leaping across chasms and facing the blizzards, avalanches and the invisible ice caverns on the tall mountains…

Even a Purple Blood warrior would find it difficult to get past these lands.

The Jin Long Wei’s behemoths were huge. They could easily run on such rugged paths as if they were plains. The behemoth followed a chasm path, which was the passage used to travel between the Tao tribal clan and Lian tribal clan.

Halfway through the journey, the behemoth passed two large mountains, and Yi Yun finally saw the Tao tribal clan he had heard so much about.

The buildings were lined up like fish scales. The streets were filled with people and they were lined with bustling stores.

In the middle of the Tao tribal clan, there stood a tall building and a tower.

In the Tao tribal clan, those who could stay in the tower were all Purple Blood warriors, for they were the protectors of the tribe.

“You will stay here.”

The Tao tribal clan had prepared accommodations for the participants from the small tribes.

Around the Tao tribal clan was dozens of small tribes. Ten people came from each tribe, as for the Tao tribal clan, their young promising candidates numbered more than all the small tribes’ participants put together. There were over a thousand people taking part in the selection.

The prepared accommodations for the participants were divided into three large areas.

It was obvious the construction quality differed greatly among the three areas. The first area was made up of individual small buildings. Each small building was exquisitely built. It resembled the villas from Yi Yun’s previous life.

The second area was made up of neat rows of large houses. Although less luxurious than the small buildings, they were still made with brick and looked extremely comfortable.

Then there was the third area which was made up of makeshift wooden huts. The wooden huts were shaky and the furnishing was simple. There were only a table and four beds in each hut. With four to a room, it resembled the college dormitories from Yi Yun’s past life.

The first area was prepared for the offspring of the Tao tribal clan, where they could each enjoy a small building.

The second area was prepared for leaders of the small tribal clans like Lian Chengyu. Each person stayed in one of those spacious tile-roofed houses.

The third area had the most people and was the place where the “followers” like Yi Yun and the members of the warrior preparation camp would stay. Each leader of the small tribes would participate in the kingdom’s selection, so they would bring their men along since there were ten spots.

To others, these followers were not different from slaves. Although they too were here to participate in the kingdom’s selection, the difference between slaves and their master were huge. How could they stay in the same place?

In this different world, there was a rigid concept of hierarchy, which was similar to ancient China.

When Yi Yun came to his own residence, he saw his three other roommates. They were about fourteen years old, not much older than him.

They too wore linen clothes but the clothes looked new. They must have prepared new clothes for the kingdom’s selection.

In the vast wilderness, there were plenty of suffering people!

“Time to go out and see how the geniuses of the vast wilderness are like.”

With this thought, Yi Yun left the wooden hut.

The Tao tribal clan was large. This area was originally used to gather the tribe. For the Tai Ah Divine kingdom’s selection, it was not a simple arena match for the examiners would set up all sorts of hurdles to test the participants on various aspects. As for the specific topic, it was still unknown.

In front of the residential area, Yi Yun saw a familiar face: Lian Chengyu.

But Lian Chengyu was together with several young elites. They surrounded a youth who had red lips and gleaming teeth. He was dressed in white and was about fourteen years old. He was fair-skinned and looked just like a girl. He was extraordinarily handsome.

Lian Chengyu, who was always arrogant, displayed a humble smile on his face. He stood together with the young masters of the other tribes, discussing the kingdom’s selection.

“Lian Chengyu, the people you mentioned are not even worth mentioning.” The fourteen-year-old child was extremely overbearing as he said, “This kingdom’s selection has about a thousand participants, but in reality, about 90% of them are followers or slaves pulled here to fill the spots. Removing these slaves, how many are there left? If you wanted to count properly, there isn’t more than a hundred people!”

“These hundred people would only seem strong to commoners, but to me, even the specially cultivated heir of a small tribe is nothing to me! As for you, you barely make it. This selection is actually pointless!” The child who said those words was absolutely overbearing.

Yi Yun was shocked upon hearing those words. Who the hell was that person?

The person had even said those overbearing words loudly, making it be heard by people all around!

A large number of them were also included in his reprobation. These people as described by the child were either slaves or poultry.

“Fuck, who the hell is the kid?”

A large man could no longer hold it in and was about to rush to the youth in white to beat him up, but he was stopped by the people around him.

“Do you want to lose your life! He’s the Tao tribal clan’s third young master, Tao Yunxiao!”

81 - : Third Young Master

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What third young master?” asked the man who was at a loss.

“You don’t know? He is the Tao tribal clan’s third young master. An elite carefully nurtured by the Tao tribal clan! The first young master is eighteen years old, and his cultivation level has reached the middle stage of the Purple Blood realm. The second young master is sixteen and has just broken into the Purple Blood realm, as for the third young master, he’s the youngest and had just turned fourteen, but his cultivation level is already at the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm! Most people are saying that he will break through into the Purple Blood realm before fifteen years of age!

Breaking into the Purple Blood realm at fifteen years of age?

Hearing these words, everyone gasped. The angry man no longer dared to say anything. He was twenty-five, and just at the third stage of Mortal Blood, how could he go against him!

Even Lian Chengyu could hardly keep up his facade after hearing Tao Yunxiao’s arrogant words. His talent which he was proud of had been criticized with a “barely make it”.

Fuck, if not for the desolate bone refinement failure, I’d be in the early stages of the Purple Blood realm!

From the Mortal Blood to the Purple Blood, the former was considered mortal, while the latter was considered to have exceeded mortality. It was two different concepts.

If everything had gone well, he would have been in the early stages of the Purple Blood realm at seventeen. To be able to receive such results from a poor tribe would be something to be proud of. This kingdom’s selection would no longer be a question. Would he need to listen to this kid’s bragging?

Tao Yunxiao patted Lian Chengyu on the shoulders saying, “I think you are smart. Follow me in the future. You must break into the Purple Blood realm early. To not have done so by seventeen, It’s a bit slow…”

Tao Yunxiao hit a tender spot; although Lian Chengyu was extremely aggrieved, he could do nothing but say, “Thank you for your appreciation. I will definitely work harder and break through into the Purple Blood realm soon.”

Lian Chengyu still did not know the reason why he had failed to break through. The Frost Python desolate bone that was given to him by the Tao tribal clan did not have problems. The strong Frost toxin and the able-bodied men who fell sick after refining the bones had made it clear. So what could be the problem?

Lian Chengyu could never understand it, for he had never eaten a desolate bone essence before, nor did he know what would happen after eating a real desolate bone essence. He lacked experience, so it was not easy to tell what had gone wrong.

“Eh, this kid…” It happened that Tao Yunxiao noticed Yi Yun.

As the children in the vast wilderness suffered from malnutrition, their body development was slower. because of this, Yi Yun’s body was still extremely tiny, and he stood out in the crowd.

Tao Yunxiao had originally believed that at the age of fourteen, he would be the youngest person to participate in this kingdom’s selection. Unexpectedly, he saw someone even younger in the square, so he paid special attention to Yi Yun.

“He can participate in the kingdom’s selection at such a young age?” Tao Yunxiao frowned. He had wanted the honor of being the youngest participant in the kingdom’s selection. But from the looks of it, he had no chance to get that honor. At best, he would get the honor of the youngest chosen member of the Jin Long Wei.

“Young Master Yunxiao, that kid is called Yi Yun. He’s from my Lian tribal clan and he has some talent for martial arts. He was lucky and had some fortuitous event, giving him some strength. As Young Master Yunxiao knows, our Lian tribal clan is lacking in resources and is unable to groom much talent, so I brought him here to experience the world,” said Lian Chengyu when he noticed Tao Yunxiao’s gaze.

“I see.” After listening to Lian Chengyu’s explanation, Tao Yunxiao lost interest for this kid as he was not noteworthy.

He wanted to pay attention to the true heroes of this era, and not the self-proclaimed elites of the vast wilderness.

For example…

Tao Yunxiao turned his head and squinted at a tall tower in the distance.

That tower was about two hundred feet tall with twelve floors. It was colored in dazzling purple gold.

“Young Master Yunxiao, what are you looking at?” Lian Chengyu traced Tao Yunxiao’s gaze and looked towards the tower that looked especially special. “What sort of person is in that tower?”

“No ordinary girl!”

Lian Chengyu did not expect those words from Tao Yunxiao. Tao Yunxiao had enjoyed success from a young age and he had grown up in an environment where he was treated as a star. He had never stepped out of the Tao tribal clan and had never undergone tribulations, but he was regarded as one of the top prodigies of the Tao tribal clan. With such life experience, could he not be arrogant?

Besides, he was a fourteen-year-old child and was at the age where he felt highly self-important and dreamed of being a hero.

To say that the girl was no ordinary girl meant that she was extremely dazzling.

“Is she joining the kingdom’s selection too?” Lian Chengyu asked. For such an extraordinary girl, he was naturally interested. If he could get to know her and win her favor, she would be able to greatly aid him in his journey.

“The kingdom’s selection?” sneered Tao Yunxiao, “I already said she was no ordinary girl. What does it mean to be extraordinary? You have talent that makes people jealous of you, unfathomable strength, and a mysterious background that intimidates anyone! How could such a person participate in the kingdom’s selection? Even the Thousand Households of the Jin Long Wei has to be extremely polite to her. You think the Jin Long Wei dares to take her in even if she wants to join the kingdom’s selection?”

Tao Yunxiao rebutted with a rhetorical question, shocking Lian Chengyu. Was it that exaggerated?

To Lian Chengyu, the Jin Long Wei was already incredibly powerful; for such a powerful army, it’s Thousand Households had to be respectful to this girl, then what sort of identity did she have?

“Tsk!” Tao Yunxiao showed some disdain upon seeing Lian Chengyu’s dazed expression. “So what if she’s of noble birth, it does not mean anything! There were many ancient emperors who were commoners before they eventually thrived! Today’s kingdom’s selection is just my first step. In the future when my strength grows, I’ll leave the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, and become famous all over the world. When that happens, I would be noticed by the power behind that extraordinary girl. Eventually, she will be betrothed to me, then wedding her would be no wonder!”

Tao Yunxiao expressed his monolog with confidence. Lian Chengyu was stunned. He had already believed his ambition was great. By being able to get a named rank in the Jin Long Wei, he would be knighted in the kingdom, and thrive.

But Tao Yunxiao was planning to leave the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. The huge Tai Ah Divine Kingdom could not hold him in!

Whether it meant to be young and crazy, or that newborn calves were not afraid of tigers, it was the best way to describe the fourteen-year-old Tao Yunxiao!

Yi Yun had taken this all in from the side. There was no such thing as the most arrogant, but only someone more arrogant. Tao Yunxiao, does your mother know about your arrogance?

As for the extraordinary girl in the tower, the one that the Jin Long Wei’s Thousand Households had to be respectful to…

Yi Yun squinted his eyes and looked towards the purple gold tower.

And he did not know that at that moment, someone was looking right back at him from the tower.

Lin Xintong was standing by the tower’s window, and her eyes could distinguish Yi Yun through the crowds in the busy street.

Her eyesight was extremely good, and even at such a distance, she was able to see Yi Yun’s face clearly.

“Master, he really came,” said Lin Xintong with a smile. Old Man Su had said that they would likely not meet Yi Yun again after going their separate ways at the Lian tribal clan’s back mountain.

But the youth had given Lin Xintong’s Yin Meridians a magical feeling.

Although it was like grasping at shadows, to think that that special feeling could heal her of her Yin meridians was a crazy thought. However, Old Man Su did not want to leave anything to chance, so he had stayed in the Tao tribal clan to wait for the kid to come knocking.

A young child who reached the Meridians realm was definitely a first-rate genius in the vast wilderness. How could such a genius miss the kingdom’s selection?

“Let’s see how this kid performs at the selection.”

82 - : He Really Came

CKtalon  CKtalon

A day later, all the participants from the small tribal clans within a few thousand kilometers slowly arrived at the Tao tribal clan. After a night’s rest, the kingdom’s selection was officially started!

The selection’s venue was a flat wasteland just outside the Tao tribal clan’s city.

The flat wasteland covered a large area and its surface was littered with black ironstones as if they were specially paved tiles.

More than a thousand participants, who split up into their own tribal clans, lined up neatly on the wasteland.

In the middle were the young elites of the Tao tribal clan. They numbered about six hundred people and had more participants than all the small tribes combined! Not only were they large in numbers, the quality of their cultivation was excellent. Even those who were pulled in to fill the numbers were stronger than the Lian Clan’s warrior preparation camp members.

Yi Yun noticed that right in front of those people stood the Tao tribal clan’s third young master, Tao Yunxiao.

As for the first and second young master, they did not make an appearance. According to the rules of the kingdom’s selection, the first assessment was a preliminary round. It would eliminate those who lacked strength. As for those who had already reached the Purple Blood realm, there was no need for them to participate in the preliminaries as they could just participate in the final selection rounds.

In fact, by reaching the Purple Blood realm, it was a guaranteed spot in the Jin Long Wei. The final selection round was just going through the motions. A Purple Blood warrior before the age of twenty-eight would have already proven their talent even if they were in the early stages of the purple blood realm; hence, they were well-qualified to be a member of the Jin Long Wei.

In the entire Tao tribal clan, besides the first and second young master, there were seven other Purple Blood warriors who were below the age of twenty-eight. Hence, nine spots in the kingdom’s selection had already been reserved for these nine people.

Over a thousand people had to vie for the last eleven spots!

A group of cavalry horses galloped forward, and leading them was the Jin Long Wei’s Thousand Households, Zhang Tan.

He was also the examining officer of the selection in the Tao tribal clan.

Zhang Tan gently reeled in the reins and dismounted the horse, “Now, I’ll announce the rules of the first preliminary round!”

Zhang Tan was direct with his no-nonsense attitude. He did not even introduce himself before jumping straight to the point, “The selection’s first round is to test your Spirit!”

“Spirit?”

The participants were stunned. They were guessing that the preliminary would be a test of strength or something similar as it was the simplest and easiest. But to test Spirit? What is Spirit? How does one test it?

“Spirit is your morale, and it’s also your resoluteness! A person with great Spirit would be able to deal with matters decisively. They would be daring, and never retreat in the face of adversity. They would charge forward with determination regardless of any temptations!”

“On the path of learning martial arts, there are several obstacles! There are many mysterious areas that are life threatening; and without Spirit and resoluteness, you would not dare enter those areas.”

“When facing a strong desolate beast in battle, Spirit is required to protect the human cities. It is insufficient to only have power. When facing a primordial desolate beast in battle, if you were to be timid, you would not be able to display a half of your true strength, how would you be able to fight?”

“One step on the path to breaking through the realms is to defeat the demons within one’s self. You need to have the momentum and the will to break through everything. On the path to becoming a peerless expert, you will face endless temptations. Many forces will try to draw you to their side by granting you riches, treasure, and beauty, hoping to corrupt you, and then eventually, they will exploit you! If you were to indulge in these temptations, without being resolute, that would be the end of your martial path!”

“So the future of a warrior is not talent, but Spirit!”

Upon hearing Zhang Tan’s monolog, Yi Yun understood it deeply; having great Spirit is a quality that every accomplished person should have!

The heroes of ancient China were all focused on one goal and they forged forward through tribulations. Adversity and temptations had all failed to hinder them!

This Spirit was known in ancient China as “aura”!

The people who could read a person’s aura would see an accomplished person have a purple halo above their head. A person with this halo would be known to have the aura of Heaven’s Child. In novels, it is known as having the aura of a conqueror.

In summary, to have the aura of Heaven’s Child meant that they had the power to accomplish great deeds!

Zhang Tan carried on, “To determine your Spirit, it will be a holistic test. A simple test will not be able to accurately assess you. Now, all of you will circle around me. The closest person has to be at least fifty steps away from me!”

With that, the crowd began to move. A crowd of a thousand people without any unified direction—not to mention the vagueness of Zhang Tan’s orders—made the scene chaotic.

Seeing this situation, several people, including Tao Yunxiao and Lian Chengyu, began to display their leadership qualities.

“The people of the Tao tribal clan, hear my command. We shall hold hands and form a circle around Thousand Households Zhang, and then spread out.

As the Tao tribal clan had the most number of people. By holding hands and forming a circle, they could avoid the confusion.

Several other tribes began to follow suit.

“Yi Yun, what are you idling there for? Go across, can’t you see that there are few people there?” Lian Chengyu shouted at Yi Yun. He felt that maintaining order in the chaos was also a way to showcase his Spirit. If he did it well, he would gain the attention of the upper echelon of the Jin Long Wei.

This was an opportunity for him.

Yi Yun was, after all, a member of the Lian tribal clan. If Yi Yun did not obey his orders and ran amok, it would make him lose face and make him appear incompetent.

Yi Yun looked coldly at Lian Chengyu and said, “Just take care of your lackeys.”

Yi Yun’s words made Lian Chengyu turn cold, “I’ll see how long you can stay arrogant. You may have talent in martial arts, but in this test of Spirit, how could a follower like you, who is poor and always hungry, have any?”

Spirit was the ability to achieve great things, only a person with leadership qualities could possess it. As for the Lian tribal clan, who was the leader? It was clear!

“Let us try it and we’ll find out who has more Spirit” shrugged Yi Yun. “Also, Young Master Lian, how’s your injury? It won’t affect the test of Spirit later, will it?”

Yi Yun was great at targeting people’s weak spots and ridiculing them about those weak spots.

Lian Chengyu’s failure to break through to the Purple Blood realm and his anger at this failure that caused him to cough up blood was his most depressing and disgraceful memory.

Lian Chengyu’s face fell when Yi Yun mentioned it.

“Little bastard, I’ll see how long you can be this arrogant! You will eventually fall into my hands and then I’ll let you know what it means to lead a living death!”

After saying it in a hushed tone, Lian Chengyu turned and walked away.

Yi Yun chuckled and was not bothered by Lian Chengyu. He moved with the crowd and he would occasionally glance at Zhang Tan. He saw Zhang Tan retrieving a black box, which exceeded three meters in length, from his interspatial ring.

This black box was made entirely of black iron and its surface was covered in ancient, mysterious looking inscriptions.

When all the people had finally formed a circle around Zhang Tan, he coldly said to the crowd, “the preliminaries are about to begin. I will give you all a word of advice. Do not push it, if you think you are lacking in Spirit, stand further away to prevent injury.”

No one moved after listening to Zhang Tan’s words. In fact, a few people, including Tao Yunxiao and Lian Chengyu, moved forward a few steps, to demonstrate their Spirit.

Zhang Tan smiled and opened up the box. From the box, he took out a three-foot-long black object. It was a curvy spiked spine. The spiked spine was helical and looked like a scimitar.

Yi Yun could tell that the black object was the horn of a huge beast.

After Zhang Tan took out the horn, it began floating slowly upwards, defying gravity.

This was the object to test one’s Spirit?

Everyone was confused and was unsure how the assessment would proceed. Weirdly, they felt a sense of unease while in front of the horn.

This feeling of unease sank into their hearts…

“I will say it once more. Those people who lack confidence, stand back or this test might kill your confidence. It might even prevent you from practicing martial arts ever again,” said Zhang Tan solemnly.

A few of the Jin Long Wei members by his side retreated and left Zhang Tan alone. With a few light taps, blinking runes appeared around the horn!

83 - : Testing your Spirit!

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It seems like the horn was sealed and now the examiner is releasing the seals!” Upon seeing the lit runes, Yi Yun understood. Back when he received the Chi Lin head from Old Man Su, Old Man Su had done something similar.

After desolate bones were obtained, people would seal it with an arcane technique to prevent the loss of energy. They would only unseal it when they were going to refine and use it.

“That horn must be the horn of a desolate beast!” thought Yi Yun. If it was a desolate beast, it had to be an impressive one. Because as the seals were removed, colorful light dots appeared from the horn!

These light dots could only be seen through Yi Yun’s pairing with the Purple Crystal.

The energy contained within the horn made Lian Chengyu’s Frost Python desolate bone pale in comparison!

“Such strong energy, I wonder which desolate beast the horn belongs to.” Yi Yun was startled and uncertain, and he realized the participants who were beside him had all begun to turn nervous.

Some of them were worse and had turned pale. Fear could be seen in their eyes as if they had seen something terrifying.

The seals were lifted one after another by Zhang Tan’s quick fingers!

As more and more colorful light dots appeared in Yi Yun’s vision, more and more participants began to tremble!

Suddenly, Zhang Tan stopped. His gaze swept through the people surrounding him, speaking with a hushed voice, “It begins, the first test, the test of your Spirit!”

With this, Zhang Tan tore off the last seal by waving his hand.

The moment the seal was removed, Yi Yun saw a bright light pillar shoot up into the sky like a sword stabbing the clouds!

“This is?” Yi Yun’s expression changed and took several steps back!

As for the participants around Yi Yun, their faces were ashen, full of cold sweat and their knees went soft, causing them to collapse to the ground on their knees!

There were even some who had trouble breathing as their teeth chattered. They could only feel an immense invisible force encasing them, causing them to be frightened out of their wits.

Those that could still stand had retreated with their trembling bodies. After retreating more than ten meters, they turned around and ran!

“Such a strong desolate beast!” Yi Yun was shocked. At that moment, he realized that the light pillar had formed a phantom image!

This phantom image was not only seen by Yi Yun, but by all the participants.

It was huge and had robust limbs. Its body was burning with blue flames like a huge white tiger but was infinitely more terrifying.

Everyone held their breath when the huge phantom beast appeared.

The beast was unrestrained but stared at everyone with great killing intent! It was as if it were to charge forward at any time, beginning its wanton killings!

Those who couldn’t bear it, like the members of the warrior preparation camp, were scared silly. A man that had the strength to lift 250 kilograms who had previously ridiculed Yi Yun collapsed onto the ground, his wet pants stained with the stench of urine.

“Don’t…Don’t eat…me.” He seemed lost in an illusion as he trembled to crawl out of the area.

As Zhang Tan had mentioned, this test could destroy a person’s wits, preventing them from ever having the confidence to practice martial arts or to amount to anything.

But then again, even if they had been scared out of their wits, they would not have gone far due to their lack of talent.

Yi Yun stood motionless and felt a chill. He held his breath as he saw the energy light dots from the phantom image slowly float towards him!

Even such fierce and terrifying bones would have its energy absorbed by the Purple Crystal after having its seal removed!

Noticing that the Purple Crystal was going to consume all the energy from the horn, Yi Yun’s face turned solemn. He immediately began to interface with the Purple Crystal to slow down the absorption rate.

Not long ago, Yi Yun had absorbed dry the energy within the Frost Python desolate bone and he had nearly ripped apart his meridian channels. Hence, having learned his lesson, he felt that to absorb all the energy from this unknown horn that had many times the energy of the Frost Python desolate bone would likely blow up his body.

As Yi Yun was focusing on dealing with the surge of energy, a large number of participants around him had been eliminated.

As Zhang Tan said, they lacked the Spirit, so they were unable to withstand the terrifying aura. Such people would never be able to exhibit their full strength when entering a mysterious land or while battling a desolate beast. They were nothing but a bunch of trash.

Of course, out from the trash appeared strong warriors!

About four hundred people could handle the pressure. And out of those, another hundred could easily cope with it.

It was to the point that tens of people including Lian Chengyu and Tao Yunxiao were able to laugh in the face of such adversity.

Tao Yunxiao took a glance at the people around him, and only felt disdain. It was so unsightly to see those bunch of good-for-nothings exhibit such ugly expressions in front of the desolate beast’s aura.

He was not surprised to see Lian Chengyu standing firmly where he was.

But…

Oh?

Tao Yunxiao noticed that not far from Lian Chengyu stood Yi Yun. A twelve-year-old child was very noticeable in the crowd.

Yi Yun was surprisingly still standing there. Besides him being in a daze, there were no signs of discomfort.

Tao Yunxiao was surprised. Didn’t Lian Chengyu previously mention that this kid had just increased his strength by eating some treasure? How could he withstand the fierce pressure of the desolate beast’s aura?

“Interesting.” Tao Yunxiao only smiled. He knew that this was just the beginning. Although Yi Yun had attracted his attention, it was just a cursory notice. Tao Yunxiao did not see Yi Yun as a competitor. In fact, Tao Yunxiao did not treat anyone below the Purple Blood realm as a competitor.

He was thinking of how to show off in the kingdom’s selection, and how to attract the attention of the upper echelon of the Jin Long Wei. Suddenly, he noticed that high in the sky, there was a blur. It was a white boat drifting over.

An airship?

Tao Yunxiao was slightly stunned. He had previously read about airships in books, but this was the first time he had seen one.

An airship was extremely fast. It also contained extremely precious cargo and passengers. To have an airship, it would make it easy to travel in the vast wilderness.

But in the entire Tao tribal clan with a hundred thousand households, they could never afford such an airship.

Not just buying it, even if an airship was given to the Tao tribal clan, they could not use it. That was because the power source of the airships came from desolate bone essences!

If they had desolate bone essences, the Tao tribal clan would have given it to their young geniuses to eat, how could they afford to use it to power an airship?

To be able to sit in an airship was an extremely expensive affair!

As for the person residing in the Tao tribal clan who owned an airship…

That person’s identity could be easily guessed, it was the mysterious girl in white!

Tao Yunxiao did not know her name and had only seen her side view from afar.

But this did not prevent Tao Yunxiao from having thoughts of love and conquest about the girl.

A strong girl with a mysterious background, who had Thousand Households Zhang’s respect, would, of course, arouse the interest of the arrogant Tao Yunxiao.

If he could conquer this girl, then it would be proof of his strength. And secondly it would be a perfect way to satisfy his ego. As an extraordinary man who would leave the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, how could he not have a mysterious, extraordinary girl as his partner?

84 - : Absorbing energy again

CKtalon  CKtalon

“I didn’t expect the extraordinary girl to be watching the kingdom’s selection preliminaries. Who is she here for? Could it be me?” Although he felt it was impossible, who else in the preliminaries besides him was worth paying attention to?

The likes of Lian Chengyu were nothing compared to him.

Upon thinking of that, Tao Yunxiao grew excited. Whether if she was here to see him or just to soak in the atmosphere, he wanted to put in greater efforts to shine in the selection, winning the attention of that extraordinary girl!

To shine, standing there was insufficient.

Noticing that, Zhang Tan understood Tao Yunxiao’s intentions.

Releasing the seal was just the first step. To pass the preliminaries, they had to march forward despite the horn’s tremendous pressure.

Zhang Tan shouted, “A bunch of wimps! It’s only the horn of a dead desolate beast, and yet you are unable to handle it! Besides wasting the food and creating waste, what are you doing while living in this world? If you can’t handle it, get lost, for you are not suitable for practicing martial arts!”

“I shall now announce the goal of the preliminaries. Using your own strength, you must walk towards the horn and when you reach a distance of twenty steps from this horn, you must be able to stay there for the time it takes for ten breaths. For every ten steps you move forward, the pressure will double. Whether you are a mule or a horse, that will be decided. It begins now!” Zhang Tan’s words echoed in a five-kilometer range. Zhang Tan was only a few feet away from the horn, and under the pressure, he was still able to convey his words loudly. Just based on this, it was extremely admirable.

“I wonder what state Zhang Tan is in, maybe… he has exceeded Purple Blood…” thought Lian Chengyu. He then began to open up his strides and walked towards the horn!

As he was walking forward, Lian Chengyu glanced at Yi Yun.

Lian Chengyu was still surprised that Yi Yun was able to stand there. It was surprising that a poor little bastard could withstand the pressurizing aura of the horn.

This troublesome kid has that much Spirit?

Lian Chengyu was not pleased. Besides having good talent in martial arts, he was lucky, this luck allowed him to meet some fortuitous event, improving his strength rapidly.

Now the kid even had Spirit. Could he be destined to achieve great things?

Lian Chengyu was unwilling to accept that. He felt that he himself was the true Heaven’s Child in the Lian tribal clan. How could that troublesome slave Yi Yun have the luck that could compare with his luck, luck that had been accumulated from many generations in the Lian tribal clan?

With those thoughts, Lian Chengyu carried on walking towards the horn. He wanted to prove that, not only could he be within twenty steps, but he could be within fifteen steps, ten steps or even be able to touch the horn!

Lian Chengyu began to speed up his pace as he forced his way forward in a bid to prove himself!

But after taking about ten steps, Lian Chengyu felt that the pressure emitted by the horn increased tremendously!

That desolate beast phantom image in the air gave out a terrifying force that felt extremely realistic. Both its eyes seemed to be able to see through people’s minds. Its tusks seemed to have torn apart countless warriors.

This desolate beast phantom made Lian Chengyu unable to face it.

“It’s fake! It’s just an illusion!” Although Lian Chengyu told that to himself, no matter how he tried to convince himself, a chill still came to him.

This was similar to a person who is afraid of ghosts and going to the bathroom late at night. Although he will keep telling himself that there are no such things as ghosts, he would still a feel a chill. If a black cat were to suddenly leap out, or a sudden cold gust of wind blew, it would scare him out of his wits.

Lian Chengyu had taken fifteen steps forward, but Tao Yunxiao’s progress was much faster, having entered the thirty-step range.

Upon entering the thirty-step range, Tao Yunxiao felt the pressure for the first time.

“What sort of desolate beast horn is it? It’s so powerful!” Tao Yunxiao frowned. He surveyed his surroundings and found himself to be the first. This pleased Tao Yunxiao, for if he were the first to enter the twenty-step radius, he would be the person with the greatest Spirit in the preliminaries!

But this was understandable. Spirit was a person’s boldness, resoluteness, self-confidence, and it also included strength.

A person’s Spirit might be strong, but they could be weak.

But a strong person would naturally have great Spirit!

Tao Yunxiao raised his head to the airship and a smile appeared on his lips.

“Beauty, are you looking at me from up there? First place is mine! Although it is as easy as picking one’s own pocket and nothing worth mentioning, this is just the beginning. As time goes on, my light will shine brighter!”

Tao Yunxiao began moving forward without fear and with a most gallant posture!

Up in the sky in the airship, a girl in white was holding a teapot. The way she poured and drank the tea did not emulate the etiquettes of the nobles, but it still looked extremely elegant.

Her every move seemed to be of the greatest elegance.

The girl in white looked out of the window from her side but she did not notice Tao Yunxiao’s gallant posture. She was here today only to see Yi Yun.

Facing the pretty girl was the exact opposite, a wretched fat elder busily filling his mouth with salt-baked chicken.

This salt-baked chicken was of course made by Yi Yun. As the fat old man ate, he also drank wine. He did not use a wine cup but just drank directly from a wine flask, flooding his greasy mouth with alcohol.

“So how is it, has the kid passed yet?” The old man was vague. In this opinion, the kingdom’s selection was nothing of great importance. If not for Lin Xintong’s Yin Meridians having a tiny reaction, he would not have bothered coming here.

“Not yet, he has been staying still…” Lin Xintong frowned slightly, what was he doing? Why was he idly standing there?

Lin Xintong did not believe that this test was able to trouble Yi Yun. Although she was not optimistic about Yi Yun’s martial arts talent….no, to be accurate, Yi Yun had no martial arts talent, Yi Yun’s Tempered Body and Dragon Pulse would make it easy for him to reach a spot twenty steps away from the beast horn, unless he did not have a shred of Spirit.

Although she had met Yi Yun by chance, Lin Xintong did not know why she could not bear to see Yi Yun performing poorly at the Kingdom’s selection. It might have been because she subconsciously hoped that Yi Yun was no ordinary person after triggering her Yin Meridians. To her, it was hope, even if there was the slimmest of chances that he could help her join up her terminated meridian channels.

“Hahaha, is this kid a coward?” Old Man Su wiped the oil from his mouth and stuck his neck out. All he saw was Yi Yun foolishly standing there.

“Oh, this kid is dully watching a show!” Actually, even if Yi Yun was timid, Old Man Su would not have been surprised since Yi Yun was just a child. He had never seen such a large desolate beast phantom image. It was pretty good that Yi Yun did not wet his pants.

But to Old Man Su, he felt that Yi Yun was no ordinary child.

“This will get interesting. The thing Zhang Tan took out is a horn from an ancient desolate beast, the “Fierce Divine Tiger” that Marquis Wenyun killed in the Cloud Wilderness. It was about three meters in length originally, but a Desolate Heaven Master had carved it, reducing its size to its present size. Marquis Wenyun then used this as the Jin Long Wei sixth division’s commander’s seal.”

“The Jin Long Wei’s commander seals are usually in the hands of the generals, to control the troops. Seems like ever since the Purple Clouds’ Birth in the Cloud Wilderness, the six division’s reckless general Yan Menglong joined in the fun. So this commander’s seal was used as a prop by the reckless general for this Kingdom’s selection.”

It’s was apparent that Old Man Su was on good terms with Marquis Wenyun, so he knew a lot about the matters of the Jin Long Wei.

“I want to see the kid embarrass himself. If he were to perform well and overcome all obstacles, I can’t even be bothered. It’s fun only if he embarrasses himself though!” Old Man Su derived pleasure from the misfortune of others, so upon hearing those words, Lin Xintong was speechless. She did not understand how he could be happy if Yi Yun were to really perform badly.

Yi Yun was indeed especially unique among the crowd.

Those that could withstand the desolate beast’s pressure, would have long begun walking towards the horn; as for those who couldn’t withstand it, either they were paralyzed on the ground or tumbling away.

But for Yi Yun, he remained motionless, because he was focusing on absorbing the Divine Tiger’s desolate bone’s energy.

85 - : Noteworthy

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment in time, the horn’s energy had entered Yi Yun’s body, putting tremendous pressure on it! The energy contained within the horns was not ordinary. It contained an aura of unspeakable evil and blood-curling arrogance!

“Boom!” Yi Yun felt his vision shake as if a white tiger-like desolate beast was standing on a mountain roaring, and under its feet were ten thousand beasts succumbing to it!

The suppressor of these beasts was no ordinary beast, but an existence that was above the fierce beast grade. Some large beasts were much stronger than Purple Blood realm human warriors.

This white tiger-like desolate beast had a respectable status as a beast king. During its life, it had conquered large territories, winning it infinite glory. Even in its death, its remnant horn still possessed such awe-striking power!

It seemed like it was this evilness and blood curling arrogance that placed immense pressure on the participants, causing their misery!

Yi Yun repeatedly took in deep breaths. His face pale, for he realized that the energy he had absorbed seemed to have a life of its own. Although it was suppressed by the Purple Crystal without a fight, the energy upon reaching his body was still extremely oppressive. It surged within his meridian channels causing Yi Yun pain!

He had to gather up all his strength to withstand the pain. Even so, he still felt an excruciating pain. The heat within his body made sweat appear on his forehead, as his body trembled!

Yi Yun felt as if he had dropped into a cauldron of fire. His fists tightened as he clenched his teeth. Blood even seeped out along the edges of his mouth!

Whereas at that moment, Tao Yunxiao had finally reached a position within twenty steps from the Fierce Divine Tiger’s horn. Members of the Jin Long Wei proceeded to draw a circle at that spot. Tao Yunxiao was the first participant to cross into the region.

“Haha, I’m indeed the first!” Tao Yunxiao glanced at Lian Chengyu who still needed at least five steps.

But Lian Chengyu’s progress was considered good. Many of the other heirs of the smaller tribes could not compare with Lian Chengyu.

There were also some elites that had been nurtured by the Tao tribal clan who were still short of a few steps from that circle.

As for Yi Yun, he was no longer noticed by Tao Yunxiao. This was because Tao Yunxiao only looked at the ones closest to him.

“Compared to these people, there’s nothing to be proud of even if I became first. I need to walk another ten steps, and eventually, hold the horn within my hand!”

With this thought, Tao Yunxiao looked up to the airship.

“Wait and see, see how far I can go forward!”

Past the twenty-step radius, it became much harder to move forward as Tao Yunxiao felt immense pressure.

At that moment, Lian Chengyu had already walked into the circle. “I passed. This is my Spirit, and the ability to accomplish great things in the future! Very good, even if I wasn’t first, nor within the top three, the people in front of me are all elites of the Tao tribal clan. The only person to have such Spirit from a small tribal clan is me!”

Lian Chengyu was pleased with himself. Coming from a small area like the Lian tribal clan, he had little resources to enjoy, so his ambition was limited. To obtain such results made him proud of himself.

Lian Chengyu took a glance at Yi Yun. He wanted to see how far Yi Yun had progressed.

With that glance, he was stunned as Yi Yun was standing motionless on the same spot.

Not only that, Yi Yun’s face was red, and he was sweating profusely. A thin blue vein had appeared on his forehead as if there was a blue line buried under his skin.

Yi Yun looked as though he had been chasing wild horses for days.

“How can he be that weak?” Lian Chengyu was stumped. He had originally believed that Yi Yun’s Spirit would barely make it. Although Yi Yun was incomparable to him, Yi Yun should have been able to enter the twenty-step radius, or at least the thirty-step radius.

But from the present situation, he seemed no different to those losers who had been scared out of their wits. Besides being able to maintain his standing position, he seemed to be at his limits in every aspect.

Facing the facts, Lian Chengyu sneered to himself, “I thought this kid was so capable that he could be arrogant. It looks like forcibly standing up without kneeling down is his limit. To think I thought he would be a future threat. What a joke. So what if he has good luck, he has a worthless background. That’s all he amounts to. That’s right, how is it possible to find a Heaven’s Child in a group of beggars? All the luck accumulated by the Lian tribal clan had been used to support me. There cannot be another person who will threaten my status!”

With that thought, Lian Chengyu no longer cared about Yi Yun and proceeded walking towards the horn.

The participants with considerable power began crossing the twenty step boundary and started walking past it.

All of them wanted to show what their limits were. At the same time, they wanted the upper echelon of the Jin Long Wei to notice them, and nurture them for greater achievements in the future.

At that moment, Lin Xintong, who was in the airship, could no longer understand Yi Yun.

Could Yi Yun not withstand such a degree of pressure anymore? Not only could he not withstand it, his whole body was also sweating as if he could no longer stand.

“Master, what’s up with him?” Lin Xintong asked. Old Man Su took a side glance as he was curious what the kid was doing. Can he be that bad?

No one knew what Yi Yun was experiencing with the Purple Crystal’s energy trap.

Every pore of his was burning. It was as if knives were moving through his meridian channels. Yi Yun had never felt such pain from absorbing energy with the Purple Crystal. This was because the Fierce Divine Tiger’s energy was too difficult to overcome.

Under the extreme pain, Yi Yun found it unbearable. But at the same time, he was extremely excited. Due to the violent flow of energy entering his body, he felt his vessels and meridians becoming stronger; his bones and organs were also being tempered by this violent energy, becoming even stronger.

His body was transforming!

His cultivation was rapidly increasing!

Originally, Yi Yun was just at the beginning stages of the fifth level of the Mortal Blood realm, but slowly he felt his strength consolidate, and his base turning solid. He had gradually reached the middle stages and even making steps towards the peak of the fifth level of the Mortal Blood realm!

If he reached the peak of the fifth level of the Mortal Blood realm, Yi Yun’s cultivation level would be no different from Lian Chengyu’s! Combined with his Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse, defeating Lian Chengyu would be an easy task!

The rapid increase in strength made him excited. It made Yi Yun’s determination firmer. Even under the excruciating pain of his meridians tearing apart, he carried on enduring!

He wanted to break through to the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm in one sitting!

But Yi Yun felt there was something lacking to push his body to the limit. To compress all the energy into his body, it seemed like there was a lack of pressure.

He wanted to push himself to the limit, only then would he shine.

Biting his teeth, Yi Yun began to take steps forward towards the horn!

He planned to be close to the horn, using the Fierce Divine Tiger’s immense pressure to temper his body, and force him to break through, all the way to the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm!

“Master, he’s moving.” Lin Xintong’s eyes lit up, but Old Man Su was still frowning.

He may have moved, but such a state didn’t seem like he would pass. I don’t want you to steal the show, but don’t make me ashamed…

Oh? That’s not right…

Old Man Su suddenly realized something and looked towards Yi Yun with a surprised look.

86 - : Moving towards the Horn

CKtalon  CKtalon

Compared to the footsteps of the other participants, Yi Yun’s faltering steps looked more arduous. He looked like he was destined to be much slower than the rest. Most of the heirs of the small tribal clans and the elites of the Tao tribal clan had come within twenty steps of the horn.

There were some who were struggling, trying their best to pass the twenty-step mark.

“This little slave actually began to move. But in such a miserable state, he can’t go far.” After one glance, Lian Chengyu did not take any further notice. He raised his head to look at the large desolate beast phantom image in the sky. He gritted his teeth and wiped the sweat from his brow as he carried on moving forward.

The closer they were to the Fierce Divine Tiger’s horn, the greater the pressure became. For Lian Chengyu, each step became more difficult than the last.

He saw that he was about twelve steps away from the horn, and knew that upon reaching the ten step radius, he would receive an immense increase in terrifying pressure. Without any mental preparation, he would not be able to withstand it and be forced backward by the energy.

Some of the elites of the Tao tribal clan had failed because of this.

And among the people, the only person to successfully enter a ten-step radius was Tao Yunxiao!

Lian Chengyu had to admit that Tao Yunxiao had beaten him both in terms of strength and Spirit.

As a fourteen-year-old child, Tao Yunxiao was absolutely arrogant, but such arrogance was also a manifestation of Spirit!

At that moment, the slowest Yi Yun had approached the twenty-step radius.

“Master, he’s about to pass soon,” said Lin Xintong. Old Man Su pinched his beard and said, “Passing the kingdom’s selection’s preliminaries would be nothing even if you were to pass it, but…”

Old Man Su focused his mind and looked carefully at Yi Yun, “This kid is doing something…”

“Oh?” Lin Xintong was stunned.

“His strength is increasing!” Old Man Su said without rhyme or reason, “From the moment he began moving towards the horn, his cultivation level has been slowly increasing. Odd…”

Old Man Su stroked his chin and his incredible eyes could easily see every inch of Yi Yun’s body from high in the sky. By observing Yi Yun’s body condition, he had realized that Yi Yun’s energy within him was undergoing change.

If not for the mysterious Purple Crystal that exceeded Old Man Su’s comprehension, he would have been shocked by the uncountable number of light dots that were flocking to Yi Yun like birds following a Phoenix.

Twenty steps!

Yi Yun finally stepped into the twenty-step boundary and passed.

Every person who stepped into the twenty-step demarcation line would catch the attention of the crowd. Yi Yun was no different.

A few members of the warrior preparation camp had already retreated to over a hundred steps away to a “safe distance”. Seeing Yi Yun qualify, they were displeased.

This kid could not hold on and each step looked like he would tumble, yet he had qualified!

Heaven was unfair, this punk’s Spirit was stronger than all of them!

Buzz——

Buzz——

At that moment, Yi Yun’s accumulated energy had reached his body’s maximum capacity. The Purple Crystal in his heart would absorb the energy and compress it with each pulsation.

Blood began seeping out of Yi Yun’s mouth as his blood vessels began to protrude as if they were about to explode!

Just a bit more, just a tiny bit more!

Yi Yun gritted his teeth and as he was just about to take another step, the Fierce Divine Tiger in the sky stared at every one of them with its large amber eyes!

“Roar——”

The long roar of the Fierce Divine Tiger, which comprised of a large amount of energy from the horn, was like a volcano eruption, surging up into the sky!

“Ah!” Lian Chengyu let out a scream. The sudden change in pressure was too much for him. He felt like he had been rammed in the chest by a jackhammer. With a snort, his body flew backward!

Fierce Divine Tiger got its name because its roar was extremely fearsome, enough to scare the heavens!

This was only the phantom image of the Fierce Divine Tiger. If it was a mature living Fierce Divine Tiger, a roar would be enough to kill an army of a thousand people!

Many of the elites of the Tao tribal clan experienced the same thing as Lian Chengyu. With the sudden burst of the imposing aura, they were not prepared and failed to react in time, resulting in them flying backward.

Those who were already at their limits immediately vomited out blood and could no longer move forward.

As for Tao Yunxiao, his strength and confidence were showcased. Although he had retreated backward and his face was ashen, he only genuflected but he did not collapse!

“Good! Good! Exhilarating! I must conquer you today!” After wiping the blood off his lips, Tao Yunxiao’s eyes lit up with excitement. No one was competing with him anymore. The person to defeat was himself.

Just as Tao Yunxiao wanted to stand up and move, he heard a bone crunching sound behind him!

“Ka Ka Ka!”

It was the clear cracking sound of eggshells cracking which was alarming!

“Huh!?” Tao Yunxiao turned his head suddenly to search for the source of the sound.

He saw a youth drenched in sweat as if the youth had been fished out of the water. The youth was crouching on the ground, while his muscles were rippling and shaking!

The trembling of his muscles was not due to the fear caused by the pressure, but the joy of the muscles filled with energy.

The energy within Yi Yun’s meridian channels was circulating rapidly. When the Fierce Divine Tiger roared, the pressure had reached its extreme, sending a violent surge of energy through Yi Yun’s body, as if there was a high-speed crash into a wall.

A seal on his body’s energy was smashed through in that instant!

A whirlpool began to form at Yi Yun’s heart and began sucking in innumerable lights dots to it like a black hole.

“Boom!”

With the explosive burst of energy, the rock by Yi Yun’s feet shattered. He opened his eyes and his eyes flashed like lightning.

I have finally broken through to the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm!

As such, I’m just one step away from the Purple Blood realm!

“What’s the matter with this kid?” From Tao Yunxiao’s insight and observation capabilities, he could not tell what had happened to Yi Yun’s body.

As for Zhang Tan, who was in the middle of the square, he could feel it. Although he had not reached the point of Opening Heaven’s Eyes, he could tell that Yi Yun had broken through.

“This kid actually used the pressure from the Fierce Divine Tiger’s roar to break through?” Zhang Tan was surprised but he gave a fascinated look. “Interesting! Interesting! Normal people would find it hard to bear under such tremendous pressure. Each breath would feel as long as a day, and they would not wait to finish the test early. But this kid actually used this chance to give himself an opportunity. Haha, interesting!”

Zhang Tan felt that the child would one day amount to something!

Yi Yun clenched his fists and took in deep breaths. he felt every breath was sweet and refreshing. His saliva was like the water from an oasis, nourishing his body with each swallow.

Reaching the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm that was just one step shy of the Purple Blood realm, he felt the world appear clearer to him. His perception of the environment had increased further.

Not only that, he felt an inexhaustible amount of energy within his body. The rich Heaven Earth Yuan Qi around him was entering all his pores and into his body!

A warrior at the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm could easily absorb the energies of the surroundings. Although they had not reached the realm of avoiding grain, they could still survive even with the lack of food.

“This is the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm, it feels great!” Yi Yun clenched his fists and felt an upheaval of emotions. He turned his head over and he glanced at Lian Chengyu.

Yi Yun and Lian Chengyu were separated by a distance dozens of feet apart as they looked directly at each other!

87 - : Peak of the Qi Gatherer Realm

CKtalon  CKtalon

Lian Chengyu and Yi Yun glared sparks at each other. The both of them had reached the point of irreconciliation. After all, Yi Yun’s first enemy in this alternate world was Lian Chengyu.

“Lian Chengyu, I want to fight you now!”Yi Yun thought to himself as he had been holding it in for a very long time. He had finally gained the absolute power needed, for even if Lian Chengyu and Yao Yuan had attacked him, Yi Yun had nothing to fear.

Under such circumstances, the one thing Yi Yun wished to do was to brutally beat up Lian Chengyu. If possible, he wanted to cripple Lian Chengyu for life!

Little bastard, what the hell are you doing?

Lian Chengyu did not know what had happened to Yi Yun; all he felt was that the kid was slightly different. However, he could not tell what was different.

“Hmph, what are you looking at me for? Why? don’t tell me you want to fight me? You don’t even qualify!” Lian Chengyu forced his voice into a line, sending it into Yi Yun’s ear from dozens of feet away.

Yi Yun did not know that tiny trick. To speak to Lian Chengyu, he had to shout which would make him seem silly.

“I need to learn that trick.” Based on the wuxia novels he had read in the past, Yi Yun knew that it wasn’t hard for an expert who had opened up his conception and governor vessels to learn such a trick.

But, being unable to speak didn’t mean Yi Yun had no means of response.

He held out his hand and gestured to Lian Chengyu by lifting his pinky. Even in this alternate world, lifting the pinky represented contempt and provocation. Lian Chengyu’s face turned stiff as he cursed, “You’re courting death!”

Yi Yun only sneered and began to ignore Lian Chengyu.

Arrogance?

That’s right, this was arrogance!

Yi Yun was not a low-key person. In the past, he stayed under the radar because he lacked the strength and could only endure. Now, he had the strength, and no one in the Lian tribal clan could threaten his strength anymore. At that moment, was there any need to endure anything?

“Little slave, how dare you disrespect your master?”

Not far of, Tao Yunxiao had noticed Yi Yun’s situation. He recalled that Lian Chengyu had mentioned that Yi Yun belonged to the Lian tribal clan. To Tao Yunxiao, such a tribesman was equivalent to a slave.

But a slave dared to raise his pinky at Lian Chengyu. Such arrogance deserved death.

Tao Yunxiao belonged to the ruling elite and was of similar stature as Lian Chengyu. So he could not stand the revolt from a slave to his master because he was a master himself.

“Kid, you sure are arrogant.” Tao Yunxiao also knew how to force his voice into a line, and had purposely included an aggressive attack within his voice like a needle that pricked Yi Yun’s eardrums.

Yi Yun took a glance at Tao Yunxiao. For a person that was arrogant to the extreme, only the world would allow him to be arrogant, and if someone appeared more arrogant than him, that would be a challenge to his authority. He would then be displeased, aiming to destroy the other party.

Although Yi Yun did not have hate for Tao Yunxiao like the hate he had for Lian Chengyu, Yi Yun felt that the kid deserved a good spanking.

Yi Yun did not know how to transmit his voice, so he could only extend his small hand and gestured his pinky at Tao Yunxiao.

He was at the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm, and Tao Yunxiao had not broken into the Purple Blood realm, or he wouldn’t have needed to participate in the preliminaries. Since everyone’s cultivation was the same, why was there a need to be afraid of him?

“Fuck!” On Tao Yunxiao’s forehead appeared veins that formed a cross. He never expected that the little slave would be so arrogant to the point of provoking him!

You are courting death!

“It’s indeed true that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, do you know who am I? Very good! I will make sure you will regret your action for life!” growled Tao Yunxiao.

Yi Yun laughed because that phrase was best directed back at Tao Yunxiao.

A fourteen-year-old child, who had never experienced setbacks, did not know his limits.

A vast majority of people in the world subconsciously think that they are different, even a retard might think the same way too.

Tao Yunxiao regarded himself as extraordinary, and a new generation’s master who would eventually step out of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Yi Yun ignored Tao Yunxiao, and he started taking big strides towards the beast horn!

He had not finished absorbing the energy!

The energy that the Purple Crystal absorbed had all been expended for the breakthrough to the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm, so Yi Yun felt his body lacking in energy.

In his empty condition, only a fool would not absorb the high-quality energy source in front of his eyes.

Yi Yun not only wanted to absorb it, he wanted to drink his fill!

As for the extremely uncomfortable prowess of the Fierce Divine Tiger he had previously suffered from, it was now extremely comfortable for Yi Yun. Also with the existing pressure, it made him absorb the energy even more efficiently as it forced the energy absorbed by the Purple Crystal to enter his flesh and blood sooner.

Under such a situation, Yi Yun naturally wanted to go closer to the beast horn.

Seeing Yi Yun open up his footsteps, Tao Yunxiao made a contemptuous smile, “You little slave, what stubbornness. Let’s see how far you can go. Aren’t you going to wipe the sweat from your body?”

Tao Yunxiao’s words were full of sarcasm, but Yi Yun ignored him.

As he began walking forward, although each step was easy, Yi Yun’s speed was not fast as he wanted to absorb the horn’s energy. Besides, he wanted to use the pressure to strengthen his body.

Lian Chengyu had managed to get up after a few moments.

It was hard to believe that this rascal did not incur a serious injury and still had the strength to move forward when the Fierce Divine Tiger sent its pressure surge.

Objectively speaking, if one put aside the narrow-mindedness and the jealousy of Lian Chengyu, it was true that he had the persistence and perseverance in martial arts.

Yi Yun, Lian Chengyu, and Tao Yunxiao began walking towards the beast horn. There were not many people left, only about twelve but they were all still on the ground.

Many people had already qualified, but they had been pushed back by the aura previously and were injured. As such, they had to retreat to a safe distance.

Spirit included 25% strength, 25% boldness, 25% determination, and 25% fortitude. This was a holistic test on a person. If any aspect was lacking, they could still do well in the preliminary so long as the person had another aspect that stood out.

“This kid…to actually point his pinky at others, is really arrogant and childish, but…I like it!” Old Man Su laughed as he stroked his beard.

“Master, how did Yi Yun suddenly make a breakthrough?” Lin Xintong was incredulous.

“He broke through under the pressure. Sometimes, warriors would break through their bottlenecks under immense pressure. For example in the face of danger, with their life on the line, some warriors will break through, getting out of the jaws of danger. This is a wonderful ability. Usually, such people will have a lot of Spirit, and can easily survive in desperate times, allowing them to go far in the future.”

Lin Xintong could not believe that Old Man Su would say such earnest words because Yi Yun’s constitution was lacking.

But from the looks of it, besides Yi Yun having a bad constitution, he fulfilled every requirement of a martial arts prodigy in all other aspects, be it perceptivity or Spirit.

Could such a person eventually break the shackles of his poor constitution and achieve greatness?

Lin Xintong did not know, just like she did not know her if there was that tiniest hope that she could join up her terminated meridians in the future.

As Lin Xintong was thinking, Yi Yun had already moved forward by eight steps.

Yi Yun’s legs were short, so even after eight steps, he was still far from the ten-step radius boundary from the horn.

At that point in time, Lian Chengyu had finally reached that boundary.

At the ten-step boundary, the pressure would increase again. Lian Chengyu looked at Yi Yun loftily.

With a deep breath, he raised his foot to take a step inwards.

Boom!

Lian Chengyu felt a thick murderous spirit shrouding him, and in a second it was as if he was in the middle of a sea of blood during a slaughter.

Lian Chengyu’s body suddenly convulsed and with a loud roar, his bones began to snap and crackle. Blue veins protruded from his neck as he tried to contain that endless amount of sanguine and murderous pressure.

Peng!

Lian Chengyu half kneeled on the ground supporting himself with both arms. His eyes were red and he took in deep breaths. His cheeks were puffed up like a toad, and it was clear that this was his limit. But he managed to step within ten steps of the beast horn!

“I’ve succeeded!” Lian Chengyu clenched his fists; even though his nostrils were bleeding, and his body was soaked in sweat. He was in a sorry plight but he had succeeded.

He was infinitely excited because he was near the top for the preliminaries!

Besides the nine Purple Blood warriors who did not participate in the preliminaries, Tao Yunxiao, and a handful of Tao tribal clan’s elites, there was no one that matched Lian Chengyu.

Based on the rankings of the preliminaries, if he could maintain it, he had no problems passing the kingdom’s selection!

“Great!” Lian Chengyu wanted to laugh loudly, but he had already expended all his energy, so he could no longer laugh.

Suddenly, Lian Chengyu realized that Yi Yun had already come to his side.

As Lian Chengyu was challenging the pressure that came from being within ten steps, Yi Yun had leisurely walked to the ten-step boundary with his short legs.

Lian Chengyu’s mouth showed a trace of contempt. He had undergone the baptism of that brutal murderous surge and knew deeply of its terror. Even after experiencing endless numbers of actual combat, he had nearly been scared out of his wits by that immense murderous intent. Yi Yun was a kid. All he did usually was go up the mountains to pick herbs and dig for food in the mud. How would he able to withstand this extremely realistic murderous surge?

Many people in this world might have the talent, but even with talent, they had to train themselves to slowly release their potential.

What sort of training could Yi Yun have?

Lian Chengyu waited to see Yi Yun suffer a setback. He had just completed an extremely painful task, so seeing someone do felt inexplicably great.

But, many a time, things do not go as expected…

Lian Chengyu saw Yi Yun shoot out his short leg and crossed the ten-step demarcation line. He did not even pause in his steps.

Just crossing over like that.

Crossing over like that.

Over like that.

Over…

Lian Chengyu was stupendous as his eyes stared like a bug-eyed goldfish in a fishbowl.

This was not only limited to Lian Chengyu because not far away, Tao Yunxiao had also noticed this turn of events and was stunned silly.

How could this be possible!?

88 - : Arrogant for once

CKtalon  CKtalon

Even for Tao Yunxiao, it was not that easy to cross the ten-step demarcation line. It was incomprehensible! Was the ten-step demarcation line that Yi Yun crossed different from the line that the others had crossed?

Neither Tao Yunxiao nor Lian Chengyu could believe it.

But they could not walk to the area and examine the spot that Yi Yun had crossed because they were finding it difficult just to stand on their spot.

Could it be possible that Yi Yun accomplished this feat because he had unparalleled Spirit?

This was unacceptable. Even many disqualified participants from far, especially the members of the Lian tribal clan warrior preparation camp were agape and shocked as if they had just swallowed an egg whole.

The invincible Young Master Lian Chengyu in their hearts had been overtaken by Yi Yun!

Just a few minutes ago, Yi Yun was being pressured by the Fierce Divine Tiger’s aura causing him to profusely sweat and look pathetic, how did he suddenly seem to receive Divine help, which allowed him to walk forward with ease?

How could this kid have greater Spirit than them?

They could not accept Yi Yun’s strength. He had only learned martial arts for a few days and could not have that much strength. How could a twelve-year-old kid that grew up in a ditch be braver than others despite having not seen the world? How did he have the strong will to forge ahead despite adversity?

“Is there something wrong with the test? Could Yi Yun have found a loophole?” Lian Chengyu could only think come up with that as the reason, and that was the only reason he found acceptable. But seeing Zhang Tan nodding, he knew that his objections would be overruled and Zhang Tan would only end up looking down on him.

What the heck?

Lian Chengyu could not accept it. Having stepped into the ten-step radius, his results were at the top, but Yi Yun, the person who he hated the most, had pushed him down, and he didn’t know what had gone wrong.

At that moment, Tao Yunxiao began to react and he quickly marched towards the horn.

The Fierce Divine Tiger’s aura was oppressing; it made Tao Yunxiao know that to be one step away from the horn and touching it was impossible.

All he wished was that he would not lose to Yi Yun.

But Yi Yun’s steps were surer, and his steps were something that Tao Yunxiao could not compare with.

In fact, if Yi Yun had not been absorbing the Fierce Divine Tiger’s energy by controlling the Purple Crystal as he walked, his speed would have been much faster.

After using the energy of the Fierce Divine Tiger’s horn to break through to the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm, Yi Yun enjoyed the pressure given by the horn’s aura.

It was as if his flesh and organs were being pounded by the pressure, and the feeling was fantastic.

Seeing Yi Yun catch up, Tao Yunxiao became anxious. He ignored everything and headed towards the horn, hoping to suppress Yi Yun.

Tao Yunxiao began to feel his breathing become shallower and he sweated more profusely because he had overdrafted his body. He was close to his limit.

Yet at that moment, he could hear the footsteps behind him grow closer!

Tao Yunxiao turned flustered.

“I cannot be overtaken by him, I cannot be overtaken by him!” Tao Yunxiao began crying in his heart as each step he took felt like he was carrying a huge mountain.

But no matter how hard Tao Yunxiao tried, he was ultimately unable to change fate, he helplessly watched as Yi Yun walked to his side with his short legs.

In contrast to Yi Yun, Tao Yunxiao seemed to be moving in slow motion. It was comical.

As the both of them were very close to the horn and they were only a few steps away from it, Tao Yunxiao was very close to Yi Yun. They both looked at each other.

After exchanging glances, Yi Yun made a bashful smile, said hello, and then just walked pass Tao Yunxiao.

Tao Yunxiao nearly coughed out blood!

He had been overtaken by someone whose strength was inferior to him, by an inferior, a poor villager from a small tribal clan!

Tao Yunxiao felt his pride of fourteen years being severely trampled. He could not accept it!

Just as Tao Yunxiao lost his concentration, the Fierce Divine Tiger phantom in the sky issued its second roar. It could be said that bad just turned to worse.

“Roar!” A killing intent spread out like a pool of blood from hell; Tao Yunxiao was not prepared and was swept away by this rush of killing intent!

His ass hit the ground after tumbling a few times.

As for Lian Chengyu, he was sent flying a dozen of steps and he had already been pushed out of the twenty-step boundary.

As for Yi Yun, he felt the energy in his body accumulate to its extreme during the roar.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

The cracking eggshell sounds erupted again. Yi Yun’s body was cleansed by the energy, and each inch of his body was tempered, tranquilizing him.

“Puah!”

Yi Yun took a few steps back and spat out a mouthful of black blood!

This black blood was the impurities within Yi Yun’s body. With every marrow cleansing, he flushed out his body’s impurities, and Yi Yun’s body was becoming purer and purer.

By purifying his body, he laid a good foundation. The day he broke into the Purple Blood realm, he would be able to reach the peak of the early stages of the Purple Blood realm straightaway. His body could hold much more energy than other Purple Blood warriors!

“I didn’t expect this Kingdom’s preliminaries to turn into a fortuitous event for me. Using it, I have broken through to the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm and am just a step away from Purple Blood! I also feel my body filled with energy. I really cannot wait to expend this energy by cultivating!”

Yi Yun was full from absorbing the energy, and there was no more significance in proceeding further.

Besides, he had already overtaken Tao Yunxiao and he had taken first place in the preliminaries!

“Master, Yi Yun took first place.” Lin Xintong only knew Yi Yun amongst all the participants. Besides, her Yin Meridians had some relations with Yi Yun, so Lin Xintong naturally wished for Yi Yun to win.

“A grass-root level kingdom’s selection, and only a preliminary at that. So what if he’s first? There’s nothing impressive about that.” Old Man Su curled his lips like he didn’t care, but Old Man Su was pretty surprised to see Yi Yun break through under the great pressure.

If it was just a one off, then it would have been nothing. But if Yi Yun were to break through repeatedly under pressure or while in times of difficulty, then he would be a force to be reckoned with.

“Too bad, it’s really too bad. If his constitution was perfect, no, even if it was just slightly below perfect, then he would be a real great martial arts seedling!” Old Man Su shook his head sighing. He still remembered his first meeting with Yi Yun, who had said very extraordinary words. Yi Yun’s Spirit was unlikely bad from what he had previously said.

However, there was always one form of regret or another in this world.

Lin Xintong had a perfect constitution and an extremely high perceptivity. In every respect she was impeccable, but due to her Yin Meridians, it had cut off her road to martial arts and she was destined not to go far.

Yi Yun had Dragon Pulse, Spirit, excellent perceptivity, and great ambitions; however, his constitution was lacking, and it could be his fatal weakness!

89 - : First in the Preliminary

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Congratulations on passing the preliminaries!” Zhang Tan took the horn and began sealing it. His voice was clear and loud; he had no need to inject energy in his voice for everyone to hear him.

Only a dozen or more people passed.

Over a thousand people had been cut down to few dozen people. This disqualification rate was astoundingly high.

The members of the Lian tribal clan’s warrior preparation camp had all been disqualified. They were not the only ones; even some of the weaker participants in the Tao tribal clan had also been disqualified.

Being disqualified was nothing, as the members of the Lian tribal clan’s warrior preparation camp were mentally prepared that they would never pass the kingdom’s selection, but Yi Yun had received first place. Was this selection fair?

They believed that Yi Yun was of similar background to them, and he had a poor sufferable life. Why did he stand out?

People were like this; to people who were hallowed, they could accept that they were resplendent without being jealous. They might even sing their praises, hoping to cling on to them, gaining glory by being a follower.

But they could not accept that people similar to themselves or even someone even worse off to suddenly make an uprising and surpass them.

Zhang Tan carried on, “In accordance with the rules of the kingdom’s selection, I will need to ask if you are willing to become a member of the Jin Long Wei? If you agree, you can carry on in the semi-finals of the kingdom’s selection, if not, you can now leave!”

Zhang Tan’s words were just a formality, but as rules were rules, he had to ask.

No one left including Yi Yun as they all wanted to become a member of the Jin Long Wei.

Yi Yun had read novels in his previous life where protagonists would pass up the big factions’ pull and all the incentives that came with it and go at it alone.

With the support of great fortune, such an approach allowed a person to deserve being cocky. But Yi Yun knew that he was far from that. His strength was just a tiny bubble of no consequence in this world. A single prick would burst it.

Besides, be it cultivation resources or cultivation techniques, he could not obtain any by himself. His meals were even a problem.

He needed to join a large faction and using the faction’s resources and heritage, he could slowly rise up and eventually become a mighty power.

After he managed to reach a certain point of accumulated resources and experience, he would then have the minimum requirements to be cocky, and freely pursue his desires.

“You! What’s your name? How old are you?” Zhang Tan’s fierce and commanding gaze landed on Yi Yun.

“General, I am Yi Yun with the age of twelve.” Yi Yun replied without being servile or bumptious.

“Good! I shall now announce that you came in first for this preliminary round!”

“In this kingdom’s selection, if you could be selected, and obtain the first spot among the Mortal Blood participants, I will declare you a warrior of the Jin Long Wei’s elite troops immediately!” Zhang Tan’s words spread across the venue, making the people envious and jealous!

Jin Long Wei’s elite!

Even the warriors of the Jin Long Wei had different hierarchies which resulted in different treatment.

For example, Zhang Yuxian who had previously gone to the Lian tribal clan was an elite warrior of the Jin Long Wei.

Elite warriors enjoyed extremely great advantages in terms of cultivation resources, cultivation training grounds, cultivation techniques, much more than the regular warriors.

Most warriors that get selected by the Kingdom’s selection would usually be designated as normal warriors. Some of the best Purple Blood warriors such as the Tao tribal clan’s first and second young masters could become one of the elite.

But now a child who did not even need to shave had been valued greatly by Zhang Tan. Zhang Tan was even prepared to make him an elite warrior. How could they take it in their stride?

How strong is this kid? His cultivation level can’t be higher than ours!

As for the preliminaries, although the kid had obtained first place, he had suddenly risen to prominence at the end to overtake Tao Yunxiao. There might have been something wrong such as him finding a loophole.

Even if there was no problem, even if Yi Yun had a strong Spirit or had an upheaval there and then, so what?

Could you use Spirit to kill?

The various aspects that influenced Spirit included strength as one of its smaller components. And in the vast wilderness, where people lead insecure lives and the beasts roamed freely, what people valued the most was one’s strength.

Fancy stuff like Spirit was just some concept the people of the kingdom’s heartlands created. To the warriors of the vast wilderness, what was Spirit? Could it be eaten?

Many people remained unconvinced, especially Lian Chengyu and Tao Yunxiao.

Lian Chengyu wanted to stand up and oppose it, but Zhang Tan was too overbearing. A person who had exceeded the Purple Blood realm was far stronger than anything Lian Chengyu could conceive of. In front of Zhang Tan, Lian Chengyu could not muster up the courage.

How could a mouse oppose a lion?

But, although Lian Chengyu lacked the courage, this did not mean Tao Yunxiao was lacking in courage. In this world, not many people knew their place; after all, Tao Yunxiao was only fourteen. He had not crossed over into a new reality. A fourteen-year-old youth tended to be arrogant so he settled matters in a straightforward manner—doing whatever he wanted to do.

Just as Tao Yunxiao was about to open his mouth, a stern voice rang in his ears, “Yunxiao, shut up!”

Tao Yunxiao could easily tell that it was his father’s voice.

“Father, I can’t accept it, what the heck is with this kingdom’s selection, why aren’t they examining strength? Wouldn’t it be immediately clear once a test of strength is made? But they had to test such useless things, I can’t accept it!”

After being exceeded by Yi Yun in the test of Spirit, Tao Yunxiao began to subconsciously belittle the use of Spirit in his words.

“If you are not convinced, then exceed him during the semi-finals!” Tao Yunxiao’s father simply replied.

“Exceed that kid?” Tao Yunxiao snorted. He would exceed him for sure without a doubt, and would even crush him! “Alright, I’ll exceed the kid. The first place for the kingdom’s selection’s Mortal Blood competition is mine!”

Tao Yunxiao clenched his fists as he stared at Yi Yun with a strong sense of animosity.

At that moment, Tao Yunxiao’s father hesitated for a moment and sent his voice to Tao Yunxiao.

Upon hearing it, Tao Yunxiao’s eyes lit up. His voice was trembling with excitement.

“Father is what you say true!? Can I really use it? The tribe is no longer concealing it?”

“Yes, it’s mostly confirmed. A moment of forbearance does not mean that you are weak. Yunxiao, all my hopes rest on you. For this selection, you must live up to my expectations. Not only must you become an elite warrior of the Jin Long Wei, the kingdom’s selection will be the starting point of our Tao tribal clan’s move into the central plains…”

“I understand!” Tao Yunxiao clenched his fists with excitement.

He had never expected that the Tao tribal clan’s elders had such ambitions. Great! I shall be the person to write a new chapter in the Tao tribal clan’s history books!

As for beating Yi Yun in the semi-finals…Yes, with that thing, would it even be a question that I can defeat Yi Yun?

As long as the tribe did not conceal it, I will let everyone know what does it mean to be a frog in a well!

Tao Yunxiao looked at Yi Yun who was in the crowd. His eyes were full of contempt and ridicule. You might have been in the limelight for the preliminaries, but I will completely crush you in the semi-finals.

As for his father’s words, Tao Yunxiao was full of anticipation.

90 - : Jin Long Wei Elite

CKtalon  CKtalon

Deep in the night of the Tao tribal clan’s suburb, a clear sound of fist punches, cracking in the air could be heard! The Tao tribal clan’s wonderland was covered with a thick, wide layer of Qi. Hence, in a fifty kilometer radius of the Tao tribal clan’s wonderland, no fierce or desolate beast would choose to enter. So it was considered a safe place, though that was under normal circumstances.

Having absorbed a large amount of energy in the day, he felt his body burning. He could not sleep, hence he was out in the mountain outskirts cultivating!

“Peng!”

“Peng!”

“Peng!”

Each move and stance were part of “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”. A tree the size of a woman’s waist was broken with one punch from Yi Yun!

The more Yi Yun punched, the more excited he became because he felt an inexhaustible amount of energy within his body.

After performing the whole set of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ a dozen times, he was still not tired and still full of energy.

In the past, Yi Yun would feel exhausted after performing Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist about five times in the Lian tribal clan’s back mountain. But today, he could perform it continuously.

As Yi Yun was practicing the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, he could feel the Purple Crystal in his body pulsating with each heartbeat.

Each pulse allowed the Purple Crystal to absorb the environment’s Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Yi Yun realized that the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the Tao tribal clan was much denser than that of the Lian tribal clan’s back mountain.

This was naturally because the Tao tribal clan’s wonderland was of higher quality than the Lian Clan’s Herb Mountain.

With a thicker Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, Yi Yun could feel his energy replenishing faster, giving him great comfort.

“So a wonderland has such a magical effect…” Yi Yun finally realized that cultivating in a high-grade wonderland had a multiplier effect.

And this was only the Tao tribal clan, which was just a medium-sized tribe in the vast wilderness. If viewed from the perspective of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom heartlands, its scale was that of a rural village and nothing noteworthy.

It was unimaginable how it would be like cultivating if it were a big city of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the training grounds of the Jin Long Wei base, or even the royal imperial city!

In an environment with dense Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, with each cultivation, Yi Yun had entered a ‘No Law, No Shape, No Void, No Me’ state. It was a magical state as if he was trying to catch something.

It seemed like a thought but also an insight. It had to be important, but whenever Yi Yun was just about to catch it, it would slip away.

What was it?

Yi Yun chased after that thought but failed time and time again. It was to the point of exhaustion, and suddenly, he woke up from his trance-like state.

Looking up, the moon was already directly above him, and it was likely three in the morning.

The mountain breeze blew across Yi Yun’s sweat laden body. He was exhausted.

Touching his stomach, he realized the energy he had consumed from the beast horn had been expended, and…he was hungry again.

“I sure can eat!” Yi Yun grimaced. As a fifth stage Mortal Blood warrior, the body required energy supplied to it through food, and it was the point when he could eat the most. Besides, his appetite had grown even bigger after practicing the Elephant Swallowing Technique.

He did not have an interspatial ring, so he did not bring much meat when he left the Lian tribal clan. He could only eat the standard meals provided by the Tao tribal clan.

Even if the Tao tribal clan was rich and the food was provided by the Jin Long Wei, the standard meal was insufficient for Yi Yun.

If there was a grilled cow in front of him, Yi Yun felt he could swallow it all.

“If I had plenty of desolate beast meat for my meals, my strength will definitely grow faster…” As Yi Yun thought about it, he looked at his surroundings that had turned into a mess.

Many of the trees had been split apart by Yi Yun and several black ironstone boulders had been shattered by him. He did not realize that he had caused so much damage under his trance-like state.

“I wonder if I were to fight with Lin Xintong with her third level of Mortal Blood suppressed state, what would be the result? If she were to only use the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, I should be able to easily better her, but if she were to use her specialized skill ‘Fairy Maiden Heart Sutra’, the result would be unknown.”

Thinking back to two months ago when he sparred with Lin Xintong. He felt that Lin Xintong had bested him by too much; now with his strength improved, he wouldn’t be that much weaker than the Lin Xintong of old. As he was thinking about that, he felt something and turned around.

Just a glance petrified Yi Yun.

He gaped for not far from him was…it can’t be!

Now, about a hundred feet away from Yi Yun, stood a girl in white up on a pine tree! As the night wind blew, her clothes fluttered in the wind.

It was a beautiful picture formed of the moon, a pine tree, girl and mountains.

Yi Yun was stunned for a while.

Lin Xintong!

Why was she here?

Right, Old Man Su had said they would come to the Tao tribal clan, but Yi Yun had believed that Lin Xintong and Old Man Su were only here to train in the Cloud Wilderness, so they were unlikely to stay in the Tao tribal clan for long.

“You said, you wanted…to spar with me?” said Lin Xintong with a smile.

Yi Yun was speechless. What was going on, the words he said to himself nearly didn’t sound out, and Yi Yun felt he himself didn’t even hear it.

What sort of senses did she have to hear it?

Suddenly appearing in front of him at night while wearing white sure made her resemble a ghost.

Yi Yun was just grumbling in his mind. However, as a man, having such a beautiful ghost appear in front of him was a blessing.

“You have broken through to the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm,” said Lin Xintong calmly, as if stating a fact.

“Uh…” Yi Yun was stunned for a while for he felt he could not hide anything from Lin Xintong. It was even possible that Lin Xintong had seen him breaking through during the kingdom’s selection preliminaries.

That airship!

Yi Yun suddenly recalled that there was an airship in the sky during the kingdom’s selection preliminaries. Yi Yun had initially thought it was someone like a judge and he did not pay it any attention.

It might be that Lin Xintong was on it.

“Lady Lin, you saw me participating in the preliminaries?” asked Yi Yun in an unsettled manner. He was extremely conscious of the existence of the Purple Crystal.

But upon further thought, even if Lin Xintong saw the process of him breaking through, she might not be able to tell. It was unlikely she could notice the presence of the Purple Crystal, or even the traces of the Purple Crystal’s absorbing of energy. They were just light dots which she couldn’t see.

It was clear that the other party was oblivious when he met Old Man Su two months ago.

“Yes, I saw you break through at the preliminaries. You seem different from the rest…” Lin Xintong watched Yi Yun carefully, making Yi Yun uneasy.

On further thought, Yi Yun felt that his breakthrough could once again be explained away as the treasure he had previously eaten being not fully digested.

Actually, Lin Xintong had already noticed that Yi Yun had a secret, but the warriors of this world had too many secrets.

Many prodigies had their own fortuitous events.

This world had a long history, and many experts had been born out of it. These experts had left behind many opportunities. Some of them were big, some of them small, so obtaining a few was not unusual at all.

Lin Xintong had previously explored mystic ruins and found some good luck, but some of them were so small that she could not be bothered to collect them.

“Shall we fight?” Lin Xintong suddenly asked Yi Yun once again.

91 - : Meeting Lin Xintong once more

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Uh…” Yi Yun was stumped.

Are we really sparring?

It can’t be, previously it was due to Old Man Su who had instructed Lin Xintong to fight him while fanning the flames by the side. Yi Yun could tell that Lin Xintong did not want to fight him back then.

Her cultivation level and his cultivation level could not be compared. It would be like an adult bullying a kid.

But maybe it was because Lin Xintong did not have any airs. She did not mind lowering her stature to give him some pointers. Because of this, that battle was fought.

But today, what was there to fight?

Yi Yun asked puzzledly, “Lady Lin, please don’t joke with me. What’s there to fight between the two of us?”

Lin Xintong shook her head and said, “I don’t like to joke around. As for why I want to battle you, it has to do with a secret of mine.”

“Secret?” Yi Yun’s curiosity was aroused. What sort of secret could such an extraordinary girl have?

It had to be said that as a modern netizen, Yi Yun was quite into gossip. But since she didn’t say, he did not probe further.

“But…my stomach is a bit hungry, I don’t have strength left for the day.” Yi Yun rubbed his stomach with a wry smile.

Lin Xintong fluttered down from the pine tree and stood in front of Yi Yun. With a flick of her finger, a light flashed past.

Yi Yun caught it without thinking and upon looking at it, it was a red crystal the size of a peanut. It was like crystallized blood and exuded a thick aura of energy.

“This…This can’t be a…desolate bone relic!?” Yi Yun was excited. The legendary desolate bone relics were refined by Desolate Heaven Masters, and worth a fortune. Only the rich and proud could enjoy it.

“No, ” Lin Xintong shook her head. “With your present strength, if you were to consume a desolate bone relic, you might explode. That’s a fierce beast relic that was refined by me. Usually, when the children of large families say they eat desolate bone relics for their cultivation, a large number of them are really eating fierce beast relics such as the one in your hand!”

“Fierce beast relic…” Yi Yun was stunned but quickly recovered as he understood. Right, there were many times the number of fierce beasts than desolate beasts. In the entire Cloud Wilderness, there were only fierce beasts out of the human’s wonderlands.

These fierce beasts had the power to absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, and through that, they could grow stronger.

Killing these fierce beasts could easily allow them to be refined into a relic. Hence, it was no surprise that many of these fierce beast relics were consumed by the large family clans.

However, Lin Xintong had said that the beast relic was refined by her. It suddenly occurred to Yi Yun that the girl in front of him was a Desolate Heaven Master, or at least a quasi-Desolate Heaven Master.

There was a saying that comparing leads to exasperation. Not only was she of a noble background and extremely strong, she was also a Desolate Heaven Master. Obtaining such achievements in her teens was surely exasperating on a comparison.

“Your strength has risen to the Qi Gatherer realm, so I will increase my cultivation level by one, which means I’ll suppress myself to the fourth stage of Mortal Blood to battle you. I will still use the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, but you have to be careful. In the previous battle, I was not serious and because of something, I was distracted during the battle, but this time, I will not be distracted.” Lin Xintong said it faintly. The reason for her distraction during the last battle was naturally due to the changes she felt in her meridian channels.

Also, Lin Xintong’s meridian channels had some development when she was using ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ against Yi Yun; so this time, she was still going to use ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

“Thank you for the lady’s reminder. I will be careful,” Yi Yun was playing with the beast relic in his hand and found that it emitted a tantalizing aroma as if it was an extremely delicious cuisine.

Under the moonlike, the relic was red but translucent like a red crystal.

It was indeed a work of art. It was enviable that Lin Xintong could refine such a beautiful fierce beast relic.

But no matter how beautiful it was, it had to be eaten because Yi Yun was hungry.

He ate it as if he was eating a popcorn, he just threw the beast relic into his mouth.

This was the first time he was eating an exquisite food. He realized that the relic was not as hard as he thought it would be, it was chewy and could be crushed with his teeth.

As Yi Yun chewed on the beast relic, it was like exquisite wine gushing out from the relic, filling his entire mouth.

“Delicious! It’s truly delicious! So this is the taste of a fierce beast relic. If I eat this often, I’m afraid I’ll get addicted! But fierce beast relics can’t replace a proper meal. It’s a totally different sensation from eating a salt-baked chicken.”

Eating delicacies was an enjoyment, drinking wine was another form of enjoyment, and so was smoking. Although the three were hard to compare, one could not replace the other.

With the relic in his stomach, the warm energy from it spread throughout Yi Yun’s body.

Yi Yun’s originally empty stomach suddenly filled up as Yi Yun felt the warm energy go wild within his body, making him keen to vent it out.

He wanted to really fight a match, immersing himself in combat!

Yi Yun looked at Lin Xintong with excitement.

Having had his fill, he wanted something to aid in his digestion. With such a high-level trainer, how could he not be excited?

Although he was at the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm, his strength was naturally great, but that was a flaw. He lacked the battle experience which paled in comparison to Lian Chengyu.

Lian Chengyu would spar daily with Yao Yuan. With Yao Yuan, a past Purple Blood warrior, he lived a life that dealt with bloodshed. The battle experiences that he had taught Lian Chengyu would be extraordinary.

As for Yi Yun, he did not know any fighting skills or techniques. All he had was just a Tempered Body, and having only gone through two rounds of true battle, his battle prowess was minimal.

Now he could spar with an expert like Lin Xintong, curing him of his weakness.

Yi Yun was so excited that he waved towards Lin Xintong to make her move, just short of saying ‘come at me’.

But Yi Yun quickly understood that one shouldn’t get carried away, otherwise one would regret it.

Just after he beckoned Lin Xintong to attack, she disappeared from his sight.

In a blink of an eye, Lin Xintong seemed to have teleported in front of Yi Yun. All he saw was a blur before he felt a blow to his chest as if a sledgehammer had hit him.

“Peng!” Lin Xintong’s palm had hit Yi Yun’s chest. Yi Yun felt as if his bones had deformed and his organs were in turmoil. It was very painful. That girl may look weak, but she was a human Tyrannosaurus!

“Boom!”

Yi Yun crashed into a large tree, breaking it. He saw stars as he struggled to get up. Thankfully, all he ate was a fierce beast relic, if he had eaten something like a salt-baked chicken, he would have vomited everything out.

At that moment, Lin Xintong was not looking at Yi Yun but her hands.

That mysterious feeling still did not appear from that blow…

Was it really just an illusion?

Lin Xintong was a bit disappointed as she looked back at Yi Yun. She said lightly, “You were too careless. Real warriors constrict their pupils when facing an enemy so that they can monitor each and every move of their enemies. Just before I attacked you, your eyes may have been looking at me, but they were not watching my actions but they were watching my face.”

When Lin Xintong said those words, Yi Yun blushed red. This girl’s eyes were really venomous.

You shouldn’t have said it out loud even if you noticed that!

Yi Yun coughed and re-adjusted his mental state and began to seriously look at Lin Xintong’s every move.

It was true that Yi Yun had been too careless. Looking at Lin Xintong’s face was just a subconscious act. He wasn’t a battle-hardened warrior, so he could not emulate what Lin Xintong said about constricted pupils and the observation of every movement.

Lin Xintong may be pretty, but Yi Yun had just met her by chance. He had a favorable impression of her but did not have any other thoughts.

92 - : Another Sparring Match

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing Yi Yun quickly adjusting his mental state and his eyes turning focused, Lin Xintong gave a satisfied nod. And then, she attacked again! Her speed was as fast as lightning!

This time, Yi Yun saw it. He saw the stone by Lin Xintong’s feet break as she stretched out her palm that was as white as snow to his stomach. He could even tell that this stance was the ‘Fierce Tiger Shatters Jade’ of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

But even then, he could not avoid it. Yi Yun had no way of avoiding it, nor even the time to block the attack. He could only subconsciously arch his body to dampen the attack by tightening his muscles to resist the blow!

By tightening his abdominal muscles, his resistance to the attack was much stronger. Despite that, Yi Yun still flew backward and crashed into some rocks. A surge of blood erupted from his throat as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Fast, too fast!” Yi Yun wiped the blood from his lips. A serious Lin Xintong was completely different from the casual Lin Xintong from days ago. And she was still suppressing herself at the fourth stage of Mortal Blood.

How could the gap be that great between her fourth stage against his fifth stage Mortal Blood?

Lin Xintong seemed to hear Yi Yun’s thoughts and explained, “To classify the five stages of Mortal Blood, it is just based on the phenomena of the body, and not a real stage. For example, the Thunderous stage just means a person’s bones can emit thunder-like sounds, but…two different warriors who can both create thunderous sounds from their bones, are their strengths the same?”

Lin Xintong response had cleared Yi Yun’s doubts. Yes, everyone who is at the fifth stage of Mortal Blood was different. Even by suppressing her strength to the fourth stage of Mortal Blood, his fourth stage was a completely different concept.

“I understand, take your shot.” Yi Yun knew his strength was inferior to Lin Xintong’s but regardless, an expert had to know how to receive hits before they could deliver hits.

If he did not get beaten up, how was he going to gain combat experience?

But even if he was being abused, Yi Yun did not want to suffer a crushing defeat; he needed to at least regain some of his pride!

“Peng!”

Yi Yun had already been sent flying by Lin Xintong numerous times. This time he was sent flying into the woods, breaking several tree branches.

Lin Xintong and Yi Yun both had their own motives. Lin Xintong was looking for the reason that had activated her meridians, while Yi Yun wanted to become stronger.

“I can’t dodge it, I still can’t dodge it. Her speed is too fast for me and I can barely keep up with her movement. All I see is a blurry afterimage, and just as my body wants to react, I would already be hit!”

Lin Xintong’s strikes were well placed, although it caused Yi Yun’s body to ache, the force she sent in only affected his muscles and bones.

Such an attack would not only not cause harm to Yi Yun, it would also temper Yi Yun’s body, making his body even purer.

This was what Lin Xintong wanted for she did not want to owe him a favor. She was sparring with Yi Yun for her own Yin Meridians.

In order to understand the situation she had experienced, she had to beat up Yi Yun; but this made her feel bad. Hence, she decided to help Yi Yun grow stronger and by honing Yi Yun’s combat experience, as a form of compensation.

“Phew–Phew–”

Yi Yun half-squatted on the ground as he held out both arms on a rock, breathing in deeply. From his stance, he looked like the Toad skill practiced by Ouyang Feng in The Legend of the Condor Heroes.

Yi Yun was in that stance because he couldn’t help it.

The benefit of half-squatting was the ability to exert strength quickly. Without bending his leg, he was able to charge forward. Also by making his body shorter, he reduced the surface area that could be hit. He then had fewer spots to parry when Lin Xintong attacked.

“I can barely see her moves but I can’t avoid them. My body’s speed is slow and I am unable to keep up with her. How should I overcome this?”

To overcome his slow body movements seemed like an impossible task.

Suddenly, Yi Yun had a sudden flash of brilliance!

Right! Previously when I avoided her moves, I had moved my entire body, so I was naturally slower!

When Lin Xintong sent a palm strike, Yi Yun was thinking of jumping to the side to totally avoid it, but he could not do it.

There was a process for a person’s body to accelerate from rest to motion.

If he took a step backward, he did not need to move his entire body to avoid it. As long as he changed his body’s position, with the smallest of moves, he could avoid the palm?

As such Yi Yun’s center of gravity would not change; the only change would be his stance, which would make his avoidance naturally faster!

Upon understanding this, Yi Yun felt exceptionally clear in his mind and as if his body was filled with energy.

Seeing Lin Xintong’s ankle making a gentle move, Yi Yun knew Lin Xintong was about to strike!

Lin Xintong would always make a small movement before striking. In fact, she could have totally avoided doing so, but she did it to alert Yi Yun.

Yi Yun felt his mind having an unprecedented clarity. His vision was locked on to Lin Xintong’s every move, even the night breeze gave him signals about Lin Xintong.

Yi Yun was well aware of Lin Xintong’s heartbeat rate and respiratory rate.

“Come!” Yi Yun shouted in his heart and at that moment, Lin Xintong made her move!

Her speed was as fast as usual and in a blink of an eye, she was in front of Yi Yun after traversing a distance of a hundred feet.

But at that moment, Yi Yun felt that time had suddenly slowed down.

This feeling was the same feeling he had months ago when Zhao Tiezhu barged into his house and grabbed him. Yi Yun had the ability to see through Zhao Tiezhu’s movements and he had the opportunity to kill him in an instant.

Now, Yi Yun had the same kind of illusion.

Lin Xintong’s motions turned slow. In the past, he could only see the blur afterimages of Lin Xintong’s movements, but now he could see every move of Lin Xintong in detail. He could also tell that Lin Xintong’s arm was not straight but bent. Her palm was scrunched up as if she was catching insects as it came to his right chest.

“Dodge!” Yi Yun gritted his teeth and by sending strength to his legs, he bent his hips sharply, twisting his spine in an awkward position. It was as if his body was about to lose its balance!

Yi Yun’s right chest, which was where Lin Xintong was aiming, quickly moved backward, while Yi Yun’s left arm moved forward with his hands forming a fist.

By tilting his body to the point of having almost lost his balance, Yi Yun managed to avoid Lin Xintong’s strike!

“Cha!”

The recoil from the punch tore off the shirt on Yi Yun’s chest! His chest burned with pain!

It was still so painful even after avoiding Lin Xintong’s attack!?

This little girl sure didn’t pull her punches!

Yi Yun vented in his heart. He clearly understood the words Lin Xintong had said before they began their battle, “In the previous battle, I was not serious.”

It was impolite not to reciprocate; Yi Yun had been taking hits all night, and he had finally managed to avoid Lin Xintong’s attack, how could he afford to give up the chance of a counterattack?

Just before his body lost its balance, he had sent out a left punch, attacking Lin Xintong’s belly!

At that moment, Yi Yun’s body was very close to Lin Xintong body, so close that he could smell the fragrance from Lin Xintong. This blow’s angle was extremely tricky as it stuck close to Lin Xintong’s body!

“Peng!”

Yi Yun’s body emitted a sound. This was his tendons tightening up. Yi Yun had managed to master Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist to the point where every fist of his instinctively included the strength of his tendons!

Hit, he was almost about to hit her!

Yi Yun’s heart was crying out loud but at that moment, as compared to Yi Yun who was highly concentrated, Lin Xintong had entered a temporary inattentive state.

At the moment her palm brushed past Yi Yun’s chest, Lin Xintong felt a tiny surge of coolness. This coolness had entered her meridian channels as if a drop of water had dripped into a dried up well. Although it disappeared instantaneously, this feeling was enough to make Lin Xintong lose her concentration.

It’s this feeling again!

93 - : This feeling again?

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, Lin Xintong felt that mysterious feeling again; she felt her body start to burn up. Yi Yun’s punch had already hit her belly!

“Oh!?”

In quick response, Lin Xintong’s body rapidly retreated backward. Her retreating speed was even faster than Yi Yun’s punch.

Although Yi Yun had managed to make contact with her body due to her moment of distraction, he could not keep up with her speed the moment she came to.

Yi Yun’s punch had clearly hit Lin Xintong’s body, but due to her quick retreat, she had not received the full brunt of the force. Yi Yun felt like he had punched a ball of cotton.

Yi Yun’s raised his brow. He had been beaten all night and he had finally managed to hit Lin Xintong once, but Lin Xintong had retreated so quickly, it was as if he had never hit her.

Yi Yun could not accept it. He did not want to let Lin Xintong retreat fully, so he charged forward forming his fists into a claw as he scratched forward.

This was the stance of “Tiger Claws Smite Rocks”. When Yi Yun issued the move, a tiger’s phantom image that manifested from Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had formed behind him.

“Roar!”

The tiger roared as it pounced towards Lin Xintong. At that moment, Lin Xintong could even feel the wind brought forth from the tiger. This feeling was as if a real tiger was pouncing at her.

“Huh!?”

Seeing the tiger phantom image, Lin Xintong was surprised. This act of surprise had retarded her footsteps slightly. With that, Yi Yun managed to grab the ribbon by her waist.

“Peng!”

The tiger phantom image exploded in front of Lin Xintong. At the same time, with a ripping sound, as she tried to attack and defend, Lin Xintong’s ribbon by her waist had been ripped open!

“You!”

Lin Xintong’s reactions were extremely quick. With a quick rotation, she was covered with Yuan Qi as she flew up to a pine tree.

As for that ribbon, it was left in Yi Yun’s hands.

“Oh…” Yi Yun froze.

Lin Xintong looked angrily at Yi Yun. Yi Yun looked at the ribbon in his hand and the Lin Xintong standing on the pine tree. The situation quickly turned awkward.

Actually, it was no big deal having a ribbon torn off, but since the ribbon was located at Lin Xintong’s waist, it made Yi Yun feel awkward.

“I did not do it on purpose, besides…” Yi Yun innocently pointed to his right chest, which had been ripped apart by the wind generated by Lin Xintong’s palm.

Yi Yun’s meaning was clear. You tore my clothes and even revealed my skin, while I just pulled a strap of yours…

Of course, compared to Lin Xintong’s clothes, Yi Yun’s clothes were ugly.

Lin Xintong did not know to cry or laugh, but she did not pursue the matter further. In her eyes, Yi Yun was just a child.

A twelve-year-old child naturally could not have any bad intentions.

Although the reason why Yi Yun could tear off her strap had to do with her being distracted, it was still impressive. It was because Yi Yun had managed to avoid her palm strike.

Lin Xintong was surprised that Yi Yun could progress so quickly from just a day’s fight.

She never gave Yi Yun pointers on his movements, and Yi Yun grasped them all by himself.

Yi Yun having managed to avoid her palm may sound simple, but it was hard to do in practice. It had a special name for it, known as, “Minute Subtlety”, by using the smallest of moves to avoid an enemy’s attack, one could reduce greatly the flaws in one’s movement. It could also allow one to stick closely to the enemy, and counterattack when the enemy’s move was almost done.

To be able to do this at twelve years old, Yi Yun would be considered quite a genius. Of course, in terms of a genius, it only referred to his perceptivity and his body’s coordination.

Besides…

The thing that made Lin Xintong most concerned about was the strange reaction within her meridian channels at that moment…

In this world, few people were born with Yin Meridians. Compounded with the fact that people with Yin Meridians were considered to have a terminal condition, these people could not live long. Commoners with the condition would usually die around the age of twenty; even in a martial family, few families would spend the resources needed to nurture a person with this terminal condition.

So there were very few records of Yin Meridians. There were just a few records that said something along the lines of “Yin Meridians are terminated meridians, without cure, without chance of practicing martial arts”. Lin Xintong was searching for a way to open up her Yin Meridians.

Now, although Yi Yun’s body had resulted in a mysterious phenomenon for Lin Xintong, she did not know what it meant.

“Yi Yun,” Lin Xintong said softly.

“Yes, Sister Goddess, what orders do you have?” Yi Yun appeared very obedient and his speech was sweet to the ears.

Lin Xintong descended from the pine tree, “The move, ‘Tiger Claws Smite Rocks’ that you used, formed a tiger phantom image from Heaven Earth Yuan Qi behind you, did you notice that?”

A tiger phantom image formed from Heaven Earth Yuan Qi?

Yi Yun shook his head. When he used ‘Tiger Claws Smite Rocks’, he only had one thought, and that was to not lose totally, and as for the strike having an impressive aura, he was unaware of it.

Yi Yun remembered that in the wuxia dramas he had seen, when skills such as the ‘Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms’ were used, there would be a golden dragon flying in the sky. The phantom image formed from the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi he punched out was probably similar to that.

Lin Xintong said, “A warrior’s every move and gesture can affect the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. At a certain level, when a warrior attacks, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi will automatically form a phantom image. This is usually an ability people have only after reaching the Purple Blood realm. But you are just in the Qi Gatherer realm. Logically speaking, you should not have such an ability.”

“But, since you have ‘Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse’, your meridian channels are wider than an ordinary warrior’s. It might be wider that those of a warrior at the middle stages of the Purple Blood realm, so that’s why you can punch out a phantom image formed from Heaven Earth Yuan Qi!”

“By infusing Heaven Earth Yuan Qi into your moves, it can strengthen and increase the speed of your moves! Besides that, the movement you used to avoid my palm strike, that is the introductory stage to a movement technique known as ‘Minute Subtlety’. By using the smallest actions to avoid an enemy’s attack, this is known as ‘Minute Subtlety’! This ‘Minute Subtlety’ technique, after the introductory stage is known as the small success stage, which can borrow the opponent’s ‘force’ to aid in avoiding. Even if I said more, it will be hard for you to comprehend. Everything will depend on your own enlightenment.”

“By being able to do those two things in the Qi Gatherer realm is quite impressive. You need to slowly chip away at it to understand its wonder.” Upon hearing Lin Xintong’s compliment, Yi Yun scratched his head. Heaven Earth Yuan Qi phantom image, Minute Subtlety movement…

Yi Yun did not know anything about this, but after having evaluated by Lin Xintong, he had learned a lot from her. At least in the short run, he had a goal which was to ponder over the two techniques.

As for the Minute Subtlety’s small success stage, things that sounded too mysterious to him such as using “forces” to avoid were ignored.

“Yi Yun,” said Lin Xintong again.

“Yes Sister Goddess, what’s the matter?” Yi Yun had noticed that Lin Xintong had something on her mind but was hesitant on saying it.

“Hmm…” Lin Xintong bit her lips as she looked at Yi Yun’s palm.

The both times she had felt that strange phenomenon was when she touched Yi Yun’s body.

The contact with Yi Yun’s body during their battle had been fleeting, but, what if they remained in contact for a longer period of time? Would something special happen?

Aware of this possibility, Lin Xintong could not help but want to verify it.

But, to proactively touch someone’s body of the opposite sex was awkward. Also if she made the request, people might find it strange.

“He’s just a child, it should be okay…” Lin Xintong said to herself as she beckoned Yi Yun over.

Unsure of the reason, Yi Yun obediently went before Lin Xintong.

He did not know what Lin Xintong wanted, but the words that Lin Xintong said next left him dumbfounded.

“Can I touch your hand?”

Lin Xintong could not think of any euphemistic expression and decided to just be direct.

“Eh?”

Yi Yun did not have time to react because her request was extremely strange.

“What do you want to do to me?”

With those words, Lin Xintong choked.

“I…”

A twelve-year-old child is usually muddle-headed. When an elder sister says those words, a child would just stretch his hand out without knowing what it was about.

But Yi Yun’s rebuttal had rooted Lin Xintong to the ground.

“I… just want to verify something…”

Lin Xintong had trouble saying those words because it was embarrassing.

94 - : What do you want to do to me?

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh?” Yi Yun was curious about the thing Lin Xintong wanted to verify. But since she did not explain herself, he knew he would not receive an answer. He could feel that Lin Xintong was a pure and noble girl. One could feel the innocence in the middle of Lin Xintong’s clear eyes.

Yi Yun obediently stretched out his hand.

Seeing Yi Yun’s hand, Lin Xintong hesitantly took a step forward, closing the gap. She said, “Raise up your palm.”

Yi Yun followed and upon seeing Yi Yun’s palm, Lin Xintong’s cheeks blushed slightly red as she hesitated for a moment before stretching her hand to meet Yi Yun’s palm.

Under the pine tree, they stood three feet apart from each other with their palms locked. Under the bright moon, the two figure’s shadows were merging together. Such a picturesque scene seemed to have frozen for eternity.

“So cold!” This was Yi Yun’s first thought. Although he had made contact with her body when he sparred with Lin Xintong, Yi Yun could never feel the touch of Lin Xintong due to the presence of energy and hidden forces.

But today, he could feel it in the raw. It was cold and soft to the touch, like the touching of a pool of clear water.

Why is it so cold?

Both their palms were about the same size and they were a perfect fit.

Lin Xintong closed her eyes as her eyelashes trembled slightly as if she was hoping to feel something with her eyes closed.

As she remained quiet, Yi Yun also stayed silent.

“This feeling…” Lin Xintong closed her eyes and searched for any changes to her meridians. She had a strange feeling that the child in front of her was like an endless star-filled night sky.

As for her, it was as if she was swimming in this night sky, and deeply experiencing the vast expanse of the night sky.

It was a miraculous feeling. Although she knew it was an illusion, it felt very real.

As such, Lin Xintong could not help but open her eyes midway.

Under the faint starlight, an immature but surprisingly handsome face appeared in front of her. Those eyes were black and bright, like the world’s purest black gemstone.

And facing this black gemstone, Lin Xintong could clearly see her own reflection.

“Oh!”

This scene, for some unknown reason, left a deep impression on Lin Xintong. She subconsciously took a few steps back, as if she had been frightened by something.

“No!”

Although in that split moment, Lin Xintong had experienced an illusion, the feeling that she had been searching for, the thing that had activated her meridian channels did not appear.

It was like running after a shadow that left her without any traces.

Lin Xintong was disappointed.

But what was that star-filled illusion from just now?

Lin Xintong hesitated for a while before locking palms with Yi Yun again. Once again, there was nothing. She did not feel anything in her meridians nor did she experience the illusion of the star-filled sky.

She looked up and saw that the moon hung in the sky as if nothing had changed.

Lin Xintong sighed. Had she failed in her search? But when she pondered about it, she realized that there was nothing to be disappointed about. In fact, this was normal. How could she have subconsciously believed that a child like Yi Yun was able to join up her terminated meridians?

That would be impossible…

“I’ll look for you tomorrow night at this time and in this same spot.” With those words, Lin Xintong floated away and was gone with the wind.

Yi Yun was still filled with questions. He did not understand the reason why Lin Xintong had approached him for a fight. But he was not worried because it was beneficial for him, and it was something he yearned for.

After Lin Xintong left, Yi Yun was in no hurry to leave. Although it was already late at night, he had just eaten one fierce beast relic, and his body was still overflowing with energy, so how could he waste this precious opportunity to train? He could train only when his body had energy, it was impossible to train without energy.

After sparring, Yi Yun had some insight he needed to ponder over. First of all, it was the phantom image formed from Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, and the other was the Minute Subtlety movement technique!

The path of martial arts needed talent, but hard work was even more important. A talented person who did not have the will to practice would still fall behind.

Although Yi Yun’s talent was lacking, he was not worried as the Purple Crystal could make up for it.

But nothing could make up for hard work, he had to rely on himself.

He sent punch after punch into the vacant air!

“Peng Peng Peng!”

A big black ironstone was shattered by Yi Yun, sending its stone chips flying!

But it was a pity that the tiger phantom image formed from the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi did not appear. As for the Minute Subtlety movement technique, he needed a person to further his understanding.

Hence, Yi Yun could not make any progress on those two techniques.

On the contrary, Yi Yun entered an ethereal state.

In an unseen world, Yi Yun began to appreciate the wonders of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. It was a mysterious feeling but when Yi Yun tried grasping it, he could not…

“Master, he managed to form a phantom image from Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, and gained insight into the Minute Subtlety movement technique.” In the woods, Lin Xintong was silently staring at Yi Yun’s practicing figure while speaking to Old Man Su beside her.

“Yes…I saw it. This kid’s perceptivity is really not bad. He didn’t only comprehend those two things… We shall wait and see what else he has in store for us. Tomorrow is the kingdom’s selection’s semi-finals and I still want to see his performance!”

The kingdom’s selection’s preliminaries had injured many, but the Jin Long Wei did not plan to give the injured much time to rest.

In Zhang Tan’s words, the moment a battle begins, it would be like a storm. Would the enemy give you time to rest?

Yi Yun practiced all night till the break of dawn before returning to his residence. He was exhausted.

The moment Yi Yun’s head hit the bed he fell into deep sleep. In his dream, the Purple Crystal was slowly absorbing the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi around him, slowly recovering Yi Yun’s strength.

In his deep sleep, Yi Yun was still cultivating in his dreams.

In a blur, he felt like he was by a cliff and above the cliff were a flying dragon and a fierce tiger who were fighting it out!

It was a bustling scene where the earth trembled and the mountains swayed!

This dragon was like the dragon on the Jin Long Wei’s flag, and that tiger was the Fierce Divine Tiger Yi Yun saw during the preliminaries.

This dragon-tiger battle made the heavens rend asunder and the earth cracked.

In legends, peerless experts would learn a peerless skill from watching divine beasts fighting.

At that moment, Yi Yun was gaining further insight from this strange dream. He grew a deeper understanding for ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

But when he woke up, all his understanding was a blur and recalling it was like chasing shadows.

Yi Yun tried his best to recall but could not remember a thing.

Such a pity.

Yi Yun sighed emotively. In ancient China, Confucius would dream of the Duke of Zhou frequently. The Duke of Zhou would tell him the ways of the world; and when Confucius woke up, he would gain some understanding. Sometimes, dreams was a great inspiration for people.

Looking out of the window, it was already late in the morning.

Yi Yun had slept for about three hours, but because it was in deep sleep, and with the Purple Crystal replenishing his energy, three hours of sleep was enough to push Yi Yun’s mental state to its peak.

“Time to participate in the semi-finals.” Yi Yun leaped up. He had already decided that he wanted to obtain the first place of the Mortal Blood selection, and become an elite member of the Jin Long Wei!

95 - : Star-filled Sky

CKtalon  CKtalon

Most people did not know what the kingdom’s selection’s semi-finals would test. Yi Yun arrived at the plains of the city’s outskirts while hearing a flurry of discussion about the semi-finals’ examination topic.

Many disqualified participants and the citizens from nearby had gathered to watch the semi-finals, causing the venue to be packed with tens of thousands of people.

The plains on the Tao tribal clan’s city outskirts did not have a grandstand. The people in the front could see, but the people in the back couldn’t. Even so, many refused to leave.

In a while, the place was packed with people and the Tao tribal clan had to use the members of their warrior camp to maintain the order, in order to prevent a stampede from occurring.

It turned out that it was necessary for the Tao tribal clan’s upper echelon to send out men from the warrior camp to maintain order. The moment the Tao tribal clan’s first and second young master appeared, the crowd exploded with unprecedented excitement.

These first and second young master were the idols of the Tao tribal clan, especially the first young master, Hu Ya. He was eighteen, quiet and had a nonchalant attitude. He seldom appeared and kept things low-key, giving out a sense of mystery. This, along with his cold but handsome face, led many girls in the Tao tribal clan to worship him.

This was especially because Hu Ya had reached the middle stage of Purple Blood, and he was just a step away from reaching the “Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse” state.

In the vast wilderness, there was a lack of resources, and the heritage was lacking compared to the central heartlands. For the first young master to be close to the point of the ‘Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse’ state, despite those conditions was a miracle.

Because of this, the people of the Tao tribal clan were extremely proud of him!

They had placed a lot of hope on their first young master Hu Ya!

When Hu Ya appeared, many young girls began chanting Hu Ya’s name, and some fainted with excitement.

This scene reminded Yi Yun of concerts he had participated in. Some fans would go into shock upon seeing their idols; and in the vast wilderness where strength was everything, Hu Ya’s charisma as a martial arts prodigy exceeded the celebrities of Yi Yun’s past.

After Hu Ya was the second young master, Tao Yun who had received a lot of cheering.

Following them were the seven Purple Blood realm warriors. Their ages ranged from twenty to twenty-eight. Compared to Hu Ya or Tao Yun, they were much less popular.

Besides that, many elders of the Tao tribal clan had come. They represented the ruling class of the Tao tribal clan. As rulers, they had their dignity. It would be unsightly to squeeze amongst the crowd, so they had arranged for a row of tables to be placed, like a platform. There was even tea and fruits on the table.

The main examiner of this semi-final was still Zhang Tan.

About ten minutes before the semi-finals began; he rode a horse into the center of the arena.

A few elders invited Zhang Tan to come to the “platform”, but Zhang Tan simply ignored them. He stood in front of all the participants as his sharp gaze swept across the sixty warriors.

At that moment, several elders of the Tao tribal clan felt confused. They did not know whether to sit or stand. With Zhang Tan standing there, did they have the nerve to sit down?

Looking at each other, they decided to stand by their seats. They were like school children made to stand by their seats as a punishment from their teacher. It was extremely awkward.

The Mortal Blood warriors and Purple Blood warriors were split into two groups.

For the semi-finals, it was just going through the motion for the Purple Blood warriors. If they were not too terrible, they would all pass.

But for the Mortal Blood warriors, it was completely different. They would face intense competition!

“The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior selection semi-finals shall begin now!” Zhang Tan held his horsewhip and exclaimed loudly.

“I shall announce the semi-final’s rules!”

With a wave of his hand, a white light shot into the sky and began to grow, it eventually became a white jade stone stage.

This white jade stone stage was about thirty feet per side. It steadily floated, hanging in the sky.

The four sides of the stone stage had four columns. Each column had one blood-red crystal—desolate bone relics.

It was clear that the jade stage had some spell on it and it was powered by the desolate beast relic. It was a treasure!

But no one knew what the stage was going to be used for.

Zhang Tan stood on the jade stage saying, “When a warrior practices martial arts, they have to accept their heritage. The heritage comprises of cultivation techniques, movement techniques, mystic techniques, soul cultivation techniques, fighting techniques and various other techniques. The most basic of them is the cultivation technique! This will immediately decide the progress of your cultivation. It will decide if you can exceed Mortal Blood, or even exceed Purple Blood in the future!”

“Your path down the martial way is still considered in its infancy. The things that I test, like your Spirit and cultivation techniques, are the most basic things. It will almost determine your success in the future. So try to do your best!”

“Now, all of you will come up to this white jade stage and demonstrate publicly the cultivation technique you have cultivated in. At the same time report your age and I’ll grade you!”

“This white jade stage is a cultivation treasure used by the Jin Long Wei elite. A famous refining master in the kingdom created it. By using desolate bone relics to power it, it can gather Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, ensuring that you will be in your optimal state when you demonstrate your cultivation technique!”

With those words, a “bang” could be heard as the white jade stage had fallen to the ground, giving rise to a cloud of dust.

“So it is used to demonstrate one’s cultivation technique!” Among the Mortal Blood participants, Tao Yunxiao was standing right in front. Hearing Zhang Tan’s words, his lips curled into a smile.

He already had a well-thought-out plan!

The ideal semi-final for him was to engage in real combat, but to demonstrate his cultivation technique was the same. By using the trump card of the Tao tribal clan, he could sweep the audience off their feet!

“We will begin with the Mortal Blood group. Once I shout out your name, you can go up and perform!”

“First person, Sun Yu!”

Zhang Tan shouted out a name. Sun Yu was an heir nurtured from a small tribal clan. He had never expected to be first, so he was a little nervous.

With a deep breath, Sun Yu calmed down and leaped onto the stage.

“Sun Yu, twenty years old, demonstrating cultivation technique: ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’!”

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was the number one Mortal Blood cultivation technique, so there were many people who practiced it. Besides, the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was of great quality, making it a great cultivation technique.

Unfortunately, Sun Yu was born from a small tribal clan. A small tribal clan from the vast wilderness had little contact with the central heartlands, so Sun Yu’s ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, which was obtained from the Tao tribal clan, thus it was incomplete. It paled in comparison to Lian Chengyu, who had Yao Yuan as a teacher.

As such, Sun Yu’s performance was mediocre and he could not demonstrate the full power of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. His tendons and bones could only emit a slight sound, and was far from the standard of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

Tao Yunxiao sneered. He was not bothered by this level of cultivation.

“Next, Zhou Kang!”

Zhang Tan’s reaction to Sun Yu’s performance was expressionless. It was as if he did not see it. After Sun Yu left the stage, Zhang Tan immediately shouted the second name.

Zhou Kang was an elite nurtured by the Tao tribal clan. He too demonstrated ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ but compared to Sun Yu, his ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was much fiercer since Zhou Kang had a master who was at the peak of the Purple Blood realm.

Each blow was packed with a punch, and it was accompanied by a crackling sound in the bones!

“Ka-cha!”

When Zhou Kang shot out his last punch, he jumped off the white jade stage onto a clearing, with a “Tiger Descends Flattening To Dust” stance, he kicked a granite stone the size of a human head into pieces!

“Good!”

In the crowd, many of them cheered.

Zhang Tan remained deadpan, “Next, Cheng Pingguang!”

…

“Next, Lin Jun!”

…

“Next…”

Zhang Tan shouted out the names of about fifty Mortal Blood warriors without any expression. After about four hours, the weaker ones had finished their demonstration, leaving only the best among the Mortal Blood warriors. That, of course, included Tao Yunxiao and Yi Yun.

96 - : The Semi-finals Begin

CKtalon  CKtalon

From Zhou Kang onwards, each demonstrator would jump off the white jade stage after finishing demonstrating their cultivation technique. They would then find any rock they didn’t like the look of and send a punch towards it, smashing it to piece as a demonstration of their strength. There were all types of rocks everywhere around the arena, from granite with normal hardness to black ironstone of extreme hardness!

The weaker ones would smash granite rocks, while the stronger ones would smash black ironstone. Some of the elites of the Tao tribal clan could fracture three-foot-wide black ironstone with one punch!

Although it was implied that it was not a test of the power of a fist technique when Zhang Tan mentioned that the lack of a uniform standard, the contestants were secretly competing amongst themselves. The target they attacked could express the limits of their strength

As the end of the line of participants was reached, the black ironstone sizes that were broken became larger, making it more competitive!

This aroused the crowd to cheer as they shouted with excitement.

“Next, Lian Chengyu!”

Zhang Tan shouted again. It was finally Lian Chengyu’s turn!

“Young Master Lian is sure to win!”

“Young Master will live for many generations, he will unify the wilderness!”

When Lian Chengyu came to the stage, the members of the warrior preparation camp who were jostling in the crowd began to shout. Ever since Zhao Tiezhu was taken down, the members of the warrior preparation camp fought to become the number one henchman under Lian Chengyu. These warrior preparation camp members could not do well at the kingdom’s selection, but among normal people, they were a lot stronger. So even in a crowd of ten thousand people, they were able to squeeze to the very front and cheer on Lian Chengyu.

One of them was extremely good at sucking up to Lian Chengyu; Yi Yun did not know his name, but every time he saw him, he would subconsciously label him as “Zhao Tiezhu the second”.

This time, “Zhao Tiezhu the second” shouted so loud, that even Lian Chengyu felt uncomfortable. The words “for many generations, he will unify the wilderness” was fine when used in their own territory, but to shout that in the Tao tribal clan, at the selection’s public venue was ridiculous!

Indeed, the surrounding people of the Tao tribal clan began to laugh.

Lian Chengyu coughed dryly and stood on the stage, ignoring the members of the warrior preparation camp. He closed his eyes in concentration and began to perceive the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

This white jade stage was a Jin Long Wei treasure; hence, there was an extremely dense Heaven Earth Yuan Qi on the white jade stage!

“It feels great!” Lian Chengyu took a deep breath and began demonstrating his cultivation technique, which was of course “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”!

It had to be said that Lian Chengyu’s “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” was extraordinary!

When he performed “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, he would stir the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, forming into an invisible air flow, sending them wafting in all directions.

The demonstration of an expert was obvious.

Many of the Tao tribal clan elders that stood by the platform had teasing smiles on their faces, but when they saw what unfolded in front of them, they slowly wiped it off their faces. After all, Lian Chengyu could be considered a talent for someone his attainments despite growing up in a small tribal clan.

Lian Chengyu’s “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” was a complete version as well.

Technically, Yi Yun was also a student of Yao Yuan, despite only secretly learned from him. Many things were not taught by Yao Yuan publicly but were taught privately to Lian Chengyu. This was not because Yao Yuan had meant to keep them secret, but rather that Zhao Tiezhu and company would not have been able to comprehend those things even if he had taught them publicly.

But even if Lian Chengyu managed to demonstrate a complete version of “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, to Yi Yun there were multiple flaws in his demonstration!

Yi Yun’s “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” came from Lin Xintong. It was, of course, a complete version and also the truest version of the Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. The drawn pictures were more profound than the normally inscribed versions.

Just Lin Xintong’s “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” manual alone was priceless, not to mention Lin Xintong’s commentary in the manual.

Lin Xintong was an extremely serious girl. Every understanding she had from browsing through the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ manual was written down meticulously. Yi Yun benefited much from it because Lin Xintong was standing on a completely different level.

Yi Yun could guess that Lin Xintong came from some superior sect or ancient family clan.

Lin Xintong’s understanding of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ also represented the profound ancient family clans. How could a tribe in the vast wilderness compare?

As Lian Chengyu demonstrated “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, Yi Yun began to carefully count all the imperfections in Lian Chengyu’s movements.

Although Lian Chengyu’s every move looked perfect in the eyes of many, Yi Yun was still able to find faults in them.

Up to this point, Yi Yun had already counted twenty-eight flaws.

It was hard to imagine that, even with Lian Chengyu’s high-speed movements, Yi Yun was able to catch every flaw in his moves sharply. This was also because Yi Yun was getting stronger and his senses were getting sharper.

If Yi Yun was to battle Lian Chengyu in a death match, then Yi Yun could exploit Lian Chengyu’s flaws and defeat him!

By spotting the twenty-eight flaws, it meant that Lian Chengyu was no longer a match for Yi Yun in a direct battle.

“Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!”

At that moment, Lian Chengyu’s body was emitting the sounds of exploding bones.

And after that, “Peng! Peng! Peng!”

Like a strong bow being pulled, this was his tendons shouting in unison!

The essence of “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” was to train the bones and tendons. The aim of “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” was to train a warrior’s body to the point of having dragon ribs and tiger bones.

So having the bones and tendons sound was the most important symbol of having mastered “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”.

“Ha!”

With a large shout, Lian Chengyu jumped off the white jade stage and hit a black ironstone the size of a roller.

“Ka-cha!”

With a tremor, the black ironstone shattered!

Lian Chengyu’s fists were numb, but his eyes were filled with excitement.

He succeeded! He had achieved optimal performance. That punch was also Lian Chengyu’s maximum attack power. His every move could be said to be perfect.

Lian Chengyu was satisfied with himself. He retracted his reddening fist and loosened his fingers. With a smile, he looked at the crowd and landed his eyes on Yi Yun.

His eyes indicated a hint of provocation.

He may have lost to Yi Yun at the preliminaries, but it was natural for him to exceed Yi Yun in the semi-finals. Yi Yun was only strong in Spirit, but Spirit was just an empty show of strength. In a real fight, one needed real skill and strength!

Although the semi-finals did not compare their strength, it was not much different to comparing cultivation techniques!

Lian Chengyu knew that Yi Yun’s cultivation technique was the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. Although Yi Yun had another ‘Elephant Swallowing Technique’, it was a mystic technique that aided in cultivation, but it wasn’t a cultivation technique, so Yi Yun could only demonstrate ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

Previously, everyone would display the strength of their ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ and attack a piece of black ironstone to test their destructive power.

If Yi Yun wanted to stand out, he naturally had to showcase his fist technique’s’ power to obtain that impossible first place.

But how much destructive power could Yi Yun’s fist technique have? Could he even shatter a black ironstone the size of a face basin? He might even have to hit a granite rock.

To Lian Chengyu, Yi Yun’s level was at most at the peak of the Meridians realm. This was already an overvaluation. Even if Yi Yun was at the beginning stages of the Qi Gatherer realm, so what? Yi Yun’s fist technique was obtained through improper channels. It was a question if Yi Yun could even perform the complete set of Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist having secretly learned from Yao Yuan, so how could his performance be brilliant?

Lian Chengyu descended from the stage.

The order of the semi-finals was according to the rankings of the preliminaries. Those who were ranked at the top in the first round were naturally the last to perform on stage.

97 - : The pinnacle of Lian Chengyu’s life

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Lian Chengyu finished his demonstration, there were only five Mortal Blood realm participants left. Besides Yi Yun, the other four participants were elites nurtured by the Tao tribal clan.

These Tao tribal clan elites were stronger than Lian Chengyu in every aspect. This was because they had masters at the peak of the Purple Blood realm in the Tao tribal clan and these masters were much stronger than Yao Yuan.

Even Lian Chengyu had to admit that their ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was demonstrated with might. The level of their demonstration was much more powerful than his!

This made Lian Chengyu feel uneasy.

He had barely entered the top five in the preliminaries. It was not a done deal to enter the top five in the semi-finals.

Besides, Zhang Tan said that the Kingdom’s selection had three rounds. Lian Chengyu did not know if the third round’s topic would be something he was good at. Now that Tao Yunxiao and the nine Purple Blood realm warriors had already taken ten spots, there were not many spots left. Lian Chengyu felt a sense of urgency.

Three Tao tribal clan elites finished demonstrating one after the other.

The next person was: Tao Yunxiao!

As a person at the peak of the Mortal Blood realm, Tao Yunxiao was put in the limelight.

And Tao Yunxiao was on his home ground, so the surrounding audience was mostly filled with people from the Tao tribal clan. As the third young master of the Tao tribal clan, he obtained cheers from the crowd the moment he appeared!

Under such a cheering scene, Tao Yunxiao felt confident and he had a well-thought-out plan!

He strode onto the white jade stage. He was sure he would win this stage and he would win by a mile!

For the semi-finals, his father and the Tao tribal clan’s elders had given him a surprise! Tao Yunxiao was confident that this surprise would be able to make the semi-finals into a one-man show!

Standing on the stage while under the eyes of many, Tao Yunxiao exuded pride!

This was a stage that belonged to him, the starting point of his brilliant future!

He loved that feeling.

As his glance swept the crowd, he looked at the Mortal Blood realm participants. Tao Yunxiao’s lips curled into a smile; as for Yi Yun, he no longer noticed him.

Tao Yunxiao wanted these people to know the huge difference between him and the other contestants. He wanted them to know what it meant to be a frog in the well!

Tao Yunxiao waved and an elder came forward holding a long object wrapped in silk with both hands before passing it to Tao Yunxiao.

It was a sword!

“A weapon?” The people were shocked because so far, no one had used a weapon on stage.

It was not difficult to get started with weapons. Even someone like Zhao Tiezhu could grab a large saber and dance with it with great extravagance.

But a real warrior would not only just pose with their weapons. They would infuse their martial arts into the weapon, making the weapon part of them.

Most fist or leg skills were easier to manage. As for weapons like sabers, swords or halberds, it was not easy to utilize them as if they were a limb.

Warriors below the Purple Blood realm would muster their strength to break through to the Purple Blood realm, so they would not pay extra effort to cultivate their weapon skills.

But today on the white jade stage, Tao Yunxiao had taken out a sword. It was naturally not just for show, but also to reveal his real skill!

Tao Yunxiao was a warrior of the sword.

At fourteen years of age, he was no doubt a cultivation genius by being at the peak of the Mortal Blood realm and having cultivated a sword technique.

Even Zhang Tan, who saw Tao Yunxiao solemnly untying the cloth around the sword, was surprised.

He too wanted to know the level Tao Yunxiao had attained in his sword technique.

When the cloth was fully removed, what appeared to the masses was a two-foot-long short sword.

The sword’s pommel was unsophisticated while the sword’s hilt was covered in old snakeskin…

Looking at this sword, the elders of the Tao tribal clan standing on the platform had mixed expressions, but they also looked proud.

This sword was their Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact!

Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact was a pair of swords, a male and female sword.

The sword in Tao Yunxiao’s hand was a female sword.

“Grand Elder, why did you agree to Yunxiao’s use of the ancestral artifact? Aren’t you afraid that it would be coveted by others, causing a calamity to our Tao tribal clan?”

The two ancestral artifacts of the Tao tribal clan was how they had kept their foothold. In the past when desolate beasts attacked, the peak Purple Blood realm warriors in the tribe would use the ancestral artifact to battle the desolate beasts.

Not only that, this pair of swords was able to condense Qi to cleanse a person’s body. Training was more effective when both the male and female swords were used!

But today, for a kingdom’s selection, the Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch have given the female ancestral weapon to Tao Yunxiao for demonstration purposes! It sounded incredible.

The Tao tribal clan’s Grand Elder was a thin person. He mused, “The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom is such a behemoth. Why would they care about our two ancestral artifacts? Revealing our ancestral artifact might cause trouble, but if we kept our secret, and never face the challenges posed to us, then our Tao tribal clan would eventually be destroyed.”

“It’s time we show our strength and foundation. This kingdom’s selection is the best opportunity to show it off. We can’t forever stay in this poor wasteland of the Cloud Wilderness. We need to leave this place and create our own family clan!”

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, family clans were not a trifling matter.

Tribes such as the Lian tribe and the Tao tribe was just known as “tribal clans”.

The difference between a family clan and tribal clan was like the difference between a noble in the capital city and a village’s tycoon.

The Tao tribal clan had existed in the Cloud Wilderness for eons. Their ambition was to establish a family clan, and with their own hand, develop it slowly and build it up.

In the annals of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, many ancient family clans were built up from small tribal clans.

Many family clans had even survived several dynasties to the point that they had a longer history than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family.

The Tao tribal clan had already accumulated enough. They could use the opportunity of the kingdom’s selection to show their strength. And Tao Yunxiao was lucky; he was chosen to be the Tao tribal clan’s Mortal Blood realm poster child.

“Lord Zhang, I will be demonstrating ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’!”

“Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven?”

The commoners had never heard of such a cultivation technique; but for a person like Lian Chengyu, who had experience in martial arts, he knew what the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ was.

It was a cultivation technique that used nine sword moves to cultivate the entire body’s musculoskeletal system. It did the same thing as ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ in a different way. It was also able to complement ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ and vice versa. Since Tao Yunxiao had learned the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’, it was natural that he had also learned the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

He had learned two cultivation techniques!

This made Lian Chengyu feel mixed emotions. Such a large tribe like the Tao tribal clan was different. This was the difference in heritage.

One should know that the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ was not widely spread. Certain factions hid it, so it was not easy to obtain the manual. To learn ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’, one had to use a sword, which made the difficulty of learning it even higher!

The Tao tribal clan had their ancestral artifacts, the female-male swords. These two swords could give their users a mysterious energy. Coupled with the cultivation technique of the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’, it allowed the users to release unbelievable strength, allowing warriors to successfully break through in their cultivation.

This was the real secret the Tao tribal clan had, and it was the reason for being able to stand their ground in the vast wilderness for thousands of years!

And this secret had been kept completely confidential for a long time. But today, the Tao tribal clan elders decided they had accumulated enough. It was time to display their strength and begin their development and growth.

98 - : Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven?” Zhang Tan was slightly surprised because he had previously looked down on the Tao tribal clan. It was unbelievable that a small tribe in the vast wilderness could have such a thing.

“Alright, let me see your sword technique!” Hearing Zhang Tan’s words, Tao Yunxiao felt encouraged and he grew more confident.

Tao Yunxiao began brandishing his sword as the sword beams quickly turned into a spectacular light show!

The sword moves of the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ were very gorgeous!

The ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ may be a top cultivation technique, but it could not be compared with the elegance of the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’.

Every move and stance of the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ was like art.

And these great-looking moves could train every inch of a cultivator’s body. With proper breathing techniques, energy could enter the organs of a cultivator, strengthening their organs and blood.

The ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ was a cultivation technique that focused on strengthening the organs, while the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was used to strengthen the muscles and tendons. So they complemented each other.

By cultivating both cultivation techniques together, it allowed for greater efficiency.

Tao Yunxiao might have been arrogant, but he had the means to be arrogant. The sword seemed to come to life in his hand.

This two-foot-long female sword was a truly a precious sword. As he brandished the sword, the sword’s body would produce sounds that resembled the roar of a dragon or tiger’s.

Tao Yunxiao was completely engrossed in his sword moves. Although he could not be as one with the sword, he could inject his mental spirit into the sword, making it an extension of his arm.

“Buzz——”

As the female sword began to hum more aggressively, it turned from a low hum to a clear buzz. It had seemed to become part of Tao Yunxiao, forming an indescribable “aura”.

When this aura reached its peak, a sharp sound that sliced through the air could be heard–

“Whew!”

A visible airwave was emitted by the female sword with a crushing force!

“Cha!”

A piece of black ironstone the size of a washbasin ten feet from Tao Yunxiao flew up into the air before shattering!

The audience could not help but utter a cry when they saw that!

“Sword Qi!” Zhang Tan’s eyebrows raised. By injecting energy into a sword and using the sharpness of the sword, when a warrior strikes, the energy released is known as sword Qi.

Very few Mortal Blood warriors knew how to use swords, so it was even rarer for them to be able to release sword Qi!

Tao Yunxiao had proven that he had talent with swords from his attainment!

Tao Yunxiao did not sheath his female sword, but made large strides forward; he was chasing the stone that flew in the air.

His sword strikes were like a snowstorm!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

In the time of two breaths, Tao Yunxiao had sent out a few dozen moves. The female sword treated metal like mud; the washbasin-sized black ironstone was reduced to the size of a sugar cube before dropping to the ground.

“Awesome!” There was a jubilant uproar from the Tao tribal clan crowd. Their loud cheers were like layer after layer of waves, with each wave higher than the other. It took a while to subside!

The Tao tribal clan audience were extremely proud of their tribe.

The Grand Elder was satisfied. He knew that they had met their goal today. To build a family clan was an arduous task, and it might even lead to bloodshed.

By displaying the tribe’s strength, they could make the external tribes be in awe of their strength, and they could also implant their clan’s pride amongst the people.

Tao Yunxiao ended off with a beautiful sword dance before perfectly sheathing his sword. His face beamed with a confident smile. He too felt that his performance had been perfect!

Zhang Tan nodded slightly as he said, “The sword Qi you released had the aid of the sword’s power, but it can still be considered to be not bad!”

Zhang Tan had finally made his comment. The impression he had on the people was solemnity, probably harsh. The words “considered to be not bad” was an extremely high compliment!

The people of the Tao tribal clan were proud. Zhang Tan had praised their third young master!

And they still had the first and second young master. And the first young master, Hu Ya, was the brightest figure in their tribal clan.

“Well done Yunxiao!”

On the platform, several of the Tao tribal clan elders were not stingy with their praises. By obtaining the affirmation of the Jin Long Wei, Tao Yunxiao had regained the pride of the Tao tribal clan.

“Pinghai, you sure have a good son.” A tribal elder said to a middle-aged man not far from him.

The middle-aged man said with a laugh, “There is still a large gap between Yunxiao and Hu Ya. When Hu Ya uses the male sword on stage, it will heat up the atmosphere even further!”

This intense atmosphere lasted for at least thirty minutes but the people were reluctant to end it.

They had a feeling that Tao Yunxiao would obtain first place in the semi-finals.

Until Zhang Tan announced, “The last participant of the Mortal Blood realm, Yi Yun.”

“Oh? It’s not over?”

“Right, there’s still one more person!”

Only then did many people remember that Yi Yun had not gone on stage yet.

Yi Yun was, after all, first in the preliminary, plus the fact that he was young, he should have received a lot of attention; but because of Tao Yunxiao’s stunning performance, the people forgot about Yi Yun temporarily.

“Yi Yun, is he the one with the strongest spirit?”

“That’s right. If Yi Yun did not use a loophole in the preliminary, then he would be the person with the strongest Spirit in all the Mortal Blood realm warriors present. He may have great Spirit, but how’s his strength?”

“How good can he be? He can’t be much. That kid is only twelve. Our Young Master Yunxiao is a top talent, but he’s already fourteen. Taking ten thousand steps back, even if the kid has talent and can catch up with Young Master Yunxiao, his strength must be much lower due to the two-year age gap between them.”

The people began nodding their heads, fully agreeing with a Tao tribal clan warrior’s comments.

The citizens of the vast wilderness had a difficult time understanding what Spirit was.

But a cultivation technique’s strength was something they could comprehend. If Yi Yun could break a black ironstone with his punch, then he would be considered strong.

If he couldn’t, then it proved that Spirit was some gaudy gimmick.

This was the thought of the people of the vast wilderness—simple and direct!

“Kid, I wish you luck!” Seeing Yi Yun heading up on stage and passing him by, Lian Chengyu experienced schadenfreude. After seeing Tao Yunxiao’s stunning performance, Lian Chengyu had been jealous.

But as jealous he may be, he had always known the gap between the Tao tribal clan and the Lian tribal clan, so Lian Chengyu did not have a hard time accepting it.

And next, it was Yi Yun’s turn to go on stage. Lian Chengyu was rejoicing within, for although no one knew Yi Yun’s origins, he knew it clearly. Yi Yun could only demonstrate “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, and what’s more, it was secretly learned from Yao Yuan.

Firstly, Yao Yuan’s standard was not the match of a Tao tribal clan expert’s; secondly, Yi Yun had learned it secretly. So this difference was astounding!

Lian Chengyu could not stop laughing when the thought of Yi Yun using the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ he secretly learned to compete against Tao Yunxiao’s ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ came to mind.

It was a torture to compare, but why did you have to perform after Tao Yunxiao?

The contrast will be too obvious.

“Little slave, do well later. Don’t throw the face of your master, mine.” Just as Yi Yun walked past Lian Chengyu, his ear rang with Lian Chengyu’s voice.

Yi Yun stopped and turned his head towards Lian Chengyu.

“What are you looking at?” Lian Chengyu said with a teasing smile.

“Looking at a retard.” Yi Yun said calmly and carried on walking to the white jade stage.

Lian Chengyu’s face sank as he rooted himself into the ground. He cursed, “Little bastard, you reciprocate my niceness with that!?”

His face flashed a malicious expression but Yi Yun had already gone on stage, ignoring Lian Chengyu’s threat.

99 - : Yi Yun goes on stage

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun stood firmly in the center of the white jade stage. Everyone’s eyes were on Yi Yun as they were anticipating his performance.

Yi Yun felt some emotions. He slightly raised his head towards the airship in the sky. Without a doubt, Lin Xintong and Su Jie were riding in it and they were here to watch the semi-finals.

They had appeared just as Yi Yun came to the stage. Yi Yun, of course, knew that they were here to watch him.

As for Tao Yunxiao, he felt it was a coincidence.

Tao Yunxiao felt depressed. Why didn’t Lin Xintong come twenty minutes earlier, so that she could see me shine?

To be able to show his skills in front of a beauty would be a joy to Tao Yunxiao. Unfortunately, Lin Xintong had missed it.

Seeing the airship, Yi Yun felt as if he could “see” Lin Xintong looking through the window at him.

Yi Yun could not help but smile. He replayed the sparring match he had with Lin Xintong last night in his mind, and once again began to grasp further insight.

After having some sleep, those insights had turned evanescent, clear one moment, but fading the next. Yi Yun wanted to see if he could really incorporate those insights.

With a deep breath, Yi Yun could feel the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

The white jade stage he was standing upon was exceptional, with four desolate bone relics shining on the four pillars.

The array the desolate bone relics powered condensed Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, making the stage have more than a hundred times more Heaven Earth Yuan Qi than the Tao tribal clan’s outskirts.

It was indeed a cultivation treasure! Yi Yun also coveted this kind of treasure. Of course, even if he took it, he had no way of powering it.

“Phew–” Yi Yun took in one deep breath after another, and felt the 36,000 pores in his body open up. He greedily absorbed the energy on the white jade stage. Just standing on this stage would increase a person’s cultivation and even more so by training on it

The Purple Crystal within Yi Yun’s heart began to slowly stir as a small eddy appeared within the Purple Crystal and the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi began to be attracted by this eddy and quickly swirled into the Purple Crystal.

Pure energy cleansed every inch of Yi Yun’s body. That feeling was unbelievable!

Yi Yun felt intoxicated. It was like an alcoholic falling into a lake filled with thousand-year-old vintage wine while having free reign at drinking it.

“This kid, why isn’t he moving?”

“I wanted to see how good he is, yet he has not made any moves yet. Is he trying to fool us?” The people’s tongues wagged. From the beginning to now, Yi Yun had stood motionless for three minutes.

Tao Yunxiao crossed his arms and a smile appeared on his face. With a proud expression, he did not believe that Yi Yun would pose a threat to him for the semi-finals.

With the female sword appearing, who can challenge it?

At that moment, Yi Yun raised his arms. It was a simple stance and it did not stir any of the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi energy flow. It was because the Purple Crystal would absorb the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi flow any time it came close to Yi Yun’s body.

Energy pulsed within his body before Yi Yun finally began punching!

The actions he demonstrated was not intense. Instead, it exuded a feeling of softness. Each stance and gesture of Yi Yun was extremely slow, but it was very harmonious and seamless!

Such a fist technique would not appear surprising to any normal person. It was just simple moves that could be easily learned and emulated by any ordinary person.

In time, many of the audience turned restless. What the hell?! What sort of fist technique is this? We could do it if we were asked to go up.

“Quickly do something powerful, it’s too boring!”

“Can he really make the cut?”

The audience began talking in private. To them, only fist techniques that could shatter rocks and kick down trees were real fist techniques. Even many warriors thought so too.

Even though Yi Yun might not come close to Tao Yunxiao in terms of skill, he should have at least shattered some black ironstone since he had come in first in the preliminaries!

The laymen were here for the excitement, while the experts looked at the intricacies.

Zhang Tan stared at Yi Yun’s every move. He had not taken much notice in the beginning, but slowly, his expression changed, and a look of consternation appeared on his face.

“Oh? This kid’s ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ can actually have such a harmonious feeling…It doesn’t seem like he learned this fist technique in the vast wilderness!”

To empower the people so that they could battle fierce beasts, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had openly published the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ a long time ago which proliferated it. As for the people who had access to the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, they were a mixture of good and bad.

The later generations of warriors would often inject their own understandings into it, causing there to be many versions of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

As the cultivation technique became widespread, there were also drawbacks. Having many versions was not a good thing. Some of them oversimplified things and some of them removed things. As a result of all these varying standards, the essence of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was destroyed. But it came with the benefit of making it easier to learn.

The real and rigorous orthodox ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ may have never reached the vast wilderness, as it was too difficult.

Yi Yun was currently performing the most orthodox form of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. With the help of Lin Xintong’s notes, Yi Yun was able to reveal its charm.

The ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was a foundation skill of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, so it was the standard fist technique for their armies. As a Thousand Households of the Jin Long Wei, Zhang Tan was well versed in the orthodox ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, so he could immediately tell the level of Yi Yun’s fist technique.

“This kid sure has good perceptivity.” Zhang Tan was surprised. Even if one were to learn the orthodox ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, it was still difficult to master without perceptivity; what’s more, Yi Yun was twelve years old. It was shocking!

In fact, the crowd’s murmurs and Zhang Tan’s praises did not matter to Yi Yun.

At that moment, Yi Yun had reached the ‘No Law, No Shape, No Void, No Me’ state on the white jade stage. This was the first time that Yi Yun was practicing in a thick Heaven Earth Yuan Qi environment.

The Purple Crystal could freely absorb the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi’s energy in here.

Although desolate bones contained a lot of energy, they were similar to herbs. Some of the energy within was not pure. Some of them, when absorbed, will turn toxic, harming the person absorbing it. It could make a person’s foundation weak, or make it impossible to digest, eventually causing a person to explode to his death.

But Heaven Earth Yuan Qi would not. It was the most original, purest form of energy.

Of course, there was a weakness in Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. It was not as vibrant as desolate bone energy. To level up by absorbing Heaven Earth Yuan Qi would take an extremely long time.

As the ancient saying goes, “A meat-eater charges forward bravely, a Qi-eater does not die and becomes a god.”

The Qi-eater refers to a person who can absorb the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. He possessed a long life, and had the strength that rivaled a god!

When Yi Yun’s body and mind fused with the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, his Spirit, Qi, and Soul fused into one. In that evanescent state, it felt like he could touch the creator of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ and obtain the true meaning of his legacy.

This true meaning only existed within the most orthodox ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. Now, it slowly coalesced with Yi Yun’s mind.

Yi Yun’s every move and stance were injected with the true meaning as if it had a life of its own.

In Yi Yun’s mind, this true meaning had evolved into various images.

It was a battle between a dragon and a tiger.

The dragon soared while the tiger leaped, the earth trembled and the mountains swayed!

This was the dream scene Yi Yun had last night. The only difference was that this time he was watching the fight while awake. He could see every detail.

Yi Yun thought back to the previous night in the woods when he felt an abstruse feeling while practicing ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

At that time, he had trouble grasping it.

But today, he could!

Yi Yun finally understood what that mysterious feeling was.

100 - : Mysterious Feeling

CKtalon  CKtalon

A few months ago, Yi Yun had read the notes left behind by Lin Xintong before Yi Yun he through to the Qi Gatherer realm. Among the notes, there were records about this mysterious feeling—When ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ is completed mastered, a dragon and tiger would appear within the mind; with the Tiger Leaping through the Mountains and the Dragon Rising to Nine Skies! Yi Yun had just failed to connect that to what he had experienced the previous night.

It was difficult not to replicate the battle between a dragon and tiger in one’s mind. Every action would be identical to the actions of a dragon and tiger. At that point, every aspect of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ would have penetrated into one’s marrow.

After that, a warrior could forget all the moves of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, but when they battled, they would be able to perfectly manifest the spirit of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ in their every movement.

This amounted to fully digesting ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

Although ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was great, it was just a basic fist technique of the Mortal Blood and Purple Blood realms. If a practitioner of martial arts were to be bound by the fist moves of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, then it would be a tragedy for they were destined not to accomplish great things.

Because even with ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ fully mastered, it was just at the peak of the Purple Blood realm!

But if they could absorb the essence of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ and fuse it into their martial arts system, then it would be totally different!

All of this had been recorded within Lin Xintong’s notes. It was also the true meaning left behind by the creator of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’!

‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ was not the only cultivation technique in this world that had a limit. In fact, every cultivation technique has its limits. Even the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, which was of a higher grade than the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, has its limits as well.

To further cultivate, one has to switch cultivation techniques.

Warriors had to continuously change their cultivation techniques; those with low perceptivity would end up wasting time with poor cultivation techniques.

As for those with high perceptivity, they could digest the old cultivation technique, and incorporate it within their understanding of martial arts. Eventually, they will be able to go down their own path of martial arts.

As the statement goes, cultivation techniques had limits, but the path of martial arts had none!

This was also the source of the mysterious feeling Yi Yun had felt. Now, Yi Yun had managed to touch the threshold of that realm.

Yi Yun’s every move and stance became more harmonious as if it had blended together with the surroundings!

Seeing this, Zhang Tan became more surprised and slowly turned solemn.

Could it be…this was Yi Yun forgetting the routines, so as to assume formlessness?

This kid has managed to touch the threshold of that realm at twelve!

This realm was something any person who wanted to make a big mark in martial arts had to understand!

Yi Yun had done this for about fifteen minutes. He had entered a trance-like state and was completely immersed in his own world.

But the surrounding audience were sick of waiting.

One had to know that before Yi Yun, the person who demonstrated the longest was Lian Chengyu, who only took a few minutes. But Yi Yun had taken five times longer than Lian Chengyu!

If Yi Yun had managed to be a raging tempest, breaking rocks and chopping down trees at every turn, they could endure it because it was still a spectacle to behold.

But Yi Yun was just doing his ordinary looking moves. They were long sick of watching that.

“This kid, can he make it?”

“Do we really need to see this cowardly demonstration? I can do better than him!”

The people of the Tao tribal clan all grumbled in private, but none of them dared to shout it out. Zhang Tan was the examiner, and without him shouting for Yi Yun to stop, they did not dare say a word. They could only discuss in private and express their discontentment.

Actually, even Lian Chengyu and Tao Yunxiao could not tell the charm that Yi Yun was displaying with his ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, let alone the commoner audience.

This was because the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ Lian Chengyu and Tao Yunxiao had practiced were flawed, making it impossible for them to harmonize it.

“Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” was a top skill that trained the body and it was a national treasure manual of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. It was a top cultivation technique that was extremely difficult for one to be able to cultivate it to its extremes.

Not only was a proper master needed, a person also had to have their own perceptivity.

But Tao Yunxiao and Lian Chengyu lacked both criteria.

“The movement may look pretty, but the fists lack a punch. It’s just for show, nothing worth mentioning,” said Tao Yunxiao with a yawn. He had seen enough of Yi Yun’s fist skills. He was just waiting for Yi Yun to finish his last few moves before he jumped off the white jade stage to strike the black ironstone. At that moment, he would be able to know Yi Yun’s real strength.

Lian Chengyu shared the same thought with Tao Yunxiao. He too wanted to know Yi Yun’s real strength.

Although Yi Yun had been triumphant all this time, Lian Chengyu had never seen Yi Yun reveal his true strength. When Zhang Yuxian chose Yi Yun, it was because of his martial arts talent; maiming Zhao Tiezhu was nothing as Zhao Tiezhu was too weak; by shining in the Kingdom’s selection preliminary, that was because of his Spirit, not his strength.

Lian Chengyu wanted to tear down Yi Yun’s mask and see how strong he really was. But Yi Yun had demonstrated a Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist that was like an old granny’s foot-binding cloth; it was long and smelly.

When will it be over?

Fifteen minutes was followed by another fifteen minutes. Tao Yunxiao was totally fed up with waiting.

He began to strongly believe that Yi Yun’s strength was terrible.

As for Lian Chengyu, he too had a similar belief. If not, Yi Yun should have easily sent out a few strikes to destroy a few black ironstones.

“This little slave has been deceiving the public through dishonest means. If he really had the ability, he would have revealed it early. As for that old fellow, Zhang Tan, he must have realized that he had made a mistake at the preliminaries. He can’t salvage the situation, so he doesn’t want the little slave to end.”

As Lian Chengyu was having such a thought, he was suddenly stunned, for he saw a purple mist appearing above Yi Yun, who was still performing.

The purple mist dispersed the light, just like a waterfall dispersing the sunlight to form a rainbow. It became prettier and prettier. What did this beautiful scene mean?

“Whew!”

From Yi Yun’s body, a surge of pure essence flew up into the sky as it reached to the clouds!

This essence began to spread in the sky and formed a purple cloud; it was as gorgeous as purple satin.

This scene had left many people dumbfounded. In fact, they could not tell if this scene had anything to do with Yi Yun.

How could his punches create a purple mist?

The people collected themselves and they noticed that Yi Yun’s fists were faintly glowing!

Vast amounts of energy came to Yi Yun from all directions. At that moment, Yi Yun felt he was almost at the threshold of touching the gates of the Purple Blood realm!

“Oh? This is…Purple Air Comes From The East?” Zhang Tan was greatly shocked. When a person concentrated on his martial arts and eliminates all distractions, they would enter a ‘No Law, No Shape, No Void, No Me’ state. Under this state, their essence could emerge.

The essence that emerged could mix with the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, condensing into an air surge that shot into the sky.

This was Purple Air Comes From The East!

Purple Air, which was also known as the aura of Heaven’s Child, was indescribably precious!

Purple Air Comes From The East had nothing to do with a person’s cultivation. It was purely a state! It was a cultivation state that many martial artists would dream of, but like an “epiphany”, it was something that came by, not by searching for it!

But, many martial art masters, human overlords had never entered such a state of Purple Air Comes From The East in their lives.

“Purple Air Comes From The East?” On the airship, Old Man Su grabbed his beard and did not realize that he had torn off some his beard because he was oblivious to the pain.

Not far from him was Lin Xintong, who was entranced by this scene. A strange glint appeared in her eyes.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s bones began to emit a soft sound!

This sound began soft but it slowly became louder.

Bones like Thunder, Tendons as a Strongbow!

“Buzz——”

The sound grew more and more intense. At the same time, the light emitted from Yi Yun’s body grew brighter, as if a small sun had grown from Yi Yun’s body.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s essence had united; his understanding of “routines have limits, but martial arts is without limit” grew deeper, and the dragon, tiger phantom images in his mind grew more vivid.

Finally, when Yi Yun accumulated every bit of his energy, he punched out the last stance of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, even though this was the eighteenth time that Yi Yun had demonstrated the entire set of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’!

The final punch was drawn in!

“Boom!”

The energy within Yi Yun’s body roared out. His body had compressed a large amount of energy within, and with the release, the sounds in Yi Yun’s bones and muscles also united as one.

“Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng!”

On the platform, a dozen teacups and three teapots beside the Tao tribal clan’s elders shattered! The splattering of the tea gave the elders a great shock.

The elders of the Tao tribal clan were in the Purple Blood realm, but there were some advisors of the Tao tribal clan that had no martial arts background. Seeing their teacups shatter, they retreated in horror.

101 - : Purple Air Comes From The East (Part 1/2)

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What…what was that about?” Many people looked towards the white jade stage, but all they saw was Yi Yun concentrating with his eyes shut. His hands were by his eyebrows and his fingers pointed towards each other. Slowly, he moved his hands down while following the body’s central axis all the way till his dantian.

As for finishing, Lin Xintong had noted in the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ that it was not enough to play out a perfect cultivation technique, the finishing was also a way to retract the Qi. By retracting the Qi, one could calm one’s mind and consolidate one’s insight; only then would an entire set of cultivation technique be considered complete.

After Yi Yun finished that process, he exhaled a breath of air. Yi Yun’s energy was present in that breath, so like a blade, the breath flew far without dissipating.

Only then did Yi Yun open his eyes. His eyes were like two balls of lightning, especially sharp and incisive!

“That…That commotion a while ago. Was it due to the kid on stage?”

The audience were still unsure as they found it too incredulous.

“It…It should be…” Some people said uncertainly.

Looking up into the sky, the purple mist was still faintly glowing.

The platform was filled with a dozen broken teacups, with the broken pieces like crushed eggshells. Even the biggest piece was the size of a person’s fingernail. Some of the pieces had even turned to dust. It was simply shocking.

“When Yi Yun demonstrated, he produced some purple mist; his Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist produced the sounds of bones exploding, and it even shattered the teacups?”

The people took a long time to believe this fact.

They were dumbfounded; as for the members of the Lian tribal clan’s warrior preparation camp, they were even more stunned. They did not understand the purple mist, but the teacups confounded them. Wasn’t this the realm Yao Yuan mentioned, “Thunder Occurring in the Nine Clouds, Surprise Bow Drops Flock”?

These members of the warrior preparation camp had been waiting to see Yi Yun make a fool of himself, but now, no words came from their mouths, as if they had been petrified.

From the beginning of the semi-finals to now, the contestants had all used the method of breaking rocks to prove their strength. When it was Lian Chengyu’s turn, he had shattered a black ironstone the size of a roller. And when it was Tao Yunxiao’s turn, he broke the shackles of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ and performed the impressive-looking ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’. Finally, Tao Yunxiao had also used his destructive power to prove his cultivation technique’s strength.

But when it reached Yi Yun, never did he once attack the black ironstone, but in the end, he had conjured up a purple mist within his body and shattered some teacups with the exploding sound from his bones.

Tao Yunxiao had produced the energy of the sword that normal Mortal Blood warriors would not be able to, but Yi Yun had produced the purple mist and shattered teacups. When compared, which was better and which was worse?

The men from the warrior preparation camp could not tell. But there was no doubt that their Young Master Lian Chengyu was overshadowed by the two of them!

The leader of the warrior preparation camp members, “Zhao Tiezhu the second”, could hardly believe this could happen.

At that moment, Lian Chengyu had turned absolutely livid.

He actually did not know what Yi Yun had done. But just seeing that beam shoot up into the sky and the shattering of the dozen cups, Lian Chengyu had confirmed that Yi Yun’s fist techniques possessed something incredible!

Or else how could such a phenomena appear?

“Did he gain some particularly special insight?” Lian Chengyu, of course, did not know about ‘Purple Air Comes From The East’, as it was way beyond him. But he could work out that this was something gained from insight.

Perhaps, Yi Yun had taken the opportunity to break through to another realm!

Lian Chengyu’s eyes burned with jealousy. He was furious as he felt as if he had been robbed of something that belonged to him!

To be able to shine in the preliminaries and semi-final, to be valued by the Jin Long Wei officers, to become a Jin Long Wei elite member; these were things Lian Chengyu wanted.

But first, there was the failure to break through to the Purple Blood realm. Till now, he still did not know what the reason for his failure was. If he could have broken through to the Purple Blood realm, it would be as easy to pass the kingdom’s selection as eating and drinking. It would have been easier for him to enter the Jin Long Wei elite as well.

Now, he had to rely on his abilities to pass the kingdom’s selection. In the preliminary, he had just managed to rise to prominence and thought that he could gain the attention of Zhang Tan, but in a split second, Yi Yun had overshadowed him!

When Yi Yun performed his cultivation technique, he did not shatter rocks or chop trees. Just that light beam and the sound of his explosive bones, which shattered a dozen teacups, was enough to overshadow him to the extreme.

What’s more, this person was a poor plebeian from his tribal clan!

Lian Chengyu had never imagined such a day even in his wildest dreams!

And what depressed Lian Chengyu the most was the fact that he had yet to have seen Yi Yun’s true power.

Without really revealing his hand, Yi Yun’s attack and destructive power were still a mystery.

Yi Yun seemed to be very powerful and since he had never been in direct combat with others, no one knew his ins and outs. Is he at the peak of the Meridians realm, Qi Gatherer realm or an even higher level?

Not far from the platform, Zhang Tan was still in a state of shock.

For a poor youth from a tribal clan in the vast wilderness to induce Purple Air Comes From The East was unbelievable.

Purple Air was an aura of royalty. There were even legends that Purple Air was the signature of a founding emperor or a Saint.

For such rumors to arise, it was because the warriors who had induced Purple Air Comes From The East had great achievements. They really had the potential to become founding emperors and martial art saints.

Because Purple Air Comes From The East was rare, this was a bizarre legend among the upper echelon warriors of the kingdom’s heartlands.

Making it even more bizarre, it could be said that those who induced Purple Air Comes From The East had gained the recognition of Heaven and Earth. They had a “divine destiny” as if a star had manifested as a human. They were destined to be extraordinary.

It may sound outrageous, but there was some truth in it. Because Purple Air Comes From The East was the gaseous output of a person’s spirit, Qi, and essence when combined with the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

This also meant that the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi recognized the person!

A person recognized by the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi can also be said to be recognized by Heaven and Earth. Although it sounds like an exaggeration, it made sense!

At that moment, in the airship above the white jade stage.

Lin Xintong was looking at the ongoings below and a smile formed on her lips.

At a high altitude, they could appreciate the beauty of the purple mist. It was like a clump of purple flames burning.

And below that purple mist, there was a youth dressed in linen. His bearing had turned exceptional as if he was appreciating the fact that he was at the peak of a mountain.

Purple Air Comes From The East was definitely a surprise!

“Xintong…” Old Man Su suddenly said.

“Yes? Master, what’s the matter?” Lin Xintong reacted by turning towards Old Man Su, but she only saw him frowning.

“Tell me something. For some reason, I suddenly had a thought. A few months ago when the Purple Clouds’ Birth happened in the Cloud Wilderness, could it also be a form of ‘Purple Air Comes From The East’?”

102 - : Purple Air Comes From The East (Part 2/2)

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although Purple Air Comes From The East was rare in the circle of warriors, but in the long annals of history books, there had been uncountable numbers of outstanding figures. Hence, there were records of Purple Air Comes From The East in the history books. But for Purple Clouds’ Birth, it was an outright phenomenon.

Even going through the history books, it was hard to find a similar event. An event like a purple cloud covering the vast Cloud Wilderness had never happened before!

Originally, no one would associate the “Purple Clouds’ Birth” with “Purple Air Comes From The East”.

But Old Man Su somehow came up with the association.

Lin Xintong was shocked, “Master, how could it be possible. The Purple Clouds’ Birth covered such a large area, how could it be Purple Air Comes From The East?”

“Purple Air Comes From The East is when a warrior’s spiritual energy gains the recognition of the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. As for the Purple Clouds’ Birth, even if the entire vast wilderness’ Heaven Earth Yuan Qi has been activated, it would not have such a scale!”

Lin Xintong found it incredulous. Even a Great Emperor’s breakthrough was not that exaggerated.

Old Man Su nodded and gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Haha, I was just saying what came to my mind.”

Old Man Su did not mention this matter any further. However, Old Man Su was usually extremely accurate when he received some inspiration.

“Xintong, you left behind the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ manual inscribed with your notes for the kid. For him to gain such insight, his perceptivity sure isn’t bad. With that, Xintong you are now that kid’s master. Oh, since I’m your master, that kid is now my grand-disciple. Sigh, that kid has taken advantage of me again.”

Old Man Su shook his head saying that. Lin Xintong nearly burst out in laughter hearing that. If others were to acknowledge a grandpa as a master, they would have been at a disadvantage; but when it came to her master, if anyone took him as a grandpa generation master, that person would have taken advantage of him.

“Xintong, you don’t say. But I’m beginning to like him. Also, his influence on your Yin Meridians, have you understood anything?”

Lin Xintong shook her head. It was like running after a shadow and there was no way for her to make any confirmation.

That night when she returned, Lin Xintong had begun to circulate her ‘Fairy Maiden Heart Sutra’, but no matter how hard she tried, her meridians were dry, without any response.

This result was also expected…

But Su Jie was optimistic. He said, “Xintong, I will be meeting up with Marquis Wenyun in a few days time. Nothing has come up from investigating the Purple Clouds’ Birth. But Marquis Wenyun has brought a state treasure, a treasure compass, to the Cloud Wilderness and it managed to find an ancient ruin. That mystic land is extremely dangerous so it’s impossible for you to enter with your strength. Several of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s bigwigs, including Marquis Wenyun, have gathered together. But they have deliberated it for a very long time because they are afraid of entering it rashly. Marquis Wenyun has managed to obtain an incomplete formation map of the ancient ruins and he has invited me. I’m very interested in it and have decided to go. This ancient secret ground might have the heritage of an ancient Desolate Heaven Master. If I were to get some inspiration, I might be able to join up your terminated meridians.”

With Su Jie saying this, Lin Xintong felt worried but touch, “Master, that ancient ruin…”

“Haha, don’t worry. I will be fine. The main reason for me going is to crack the formation. Besides, when have I suffered while walking the vast wilderness all these years? When I was young, I could obtain the treasures amidst the dangers of mystic lands. I have resolved all kinds of dangerous situations. You don’t know how many people scrambled to have me join them to enter mystic lands.” Old Man Su said with pride. He was not bragging about this, and he had the ability to dissolve danger. He had returned with many treasures in the face of many dangers.

But as for many people scrambling to have Old Man Su to join them to enter mystic lands, it was quite the opposite.

When Su Jie was not that famous in his younger days, he had joined many expeditions to explore the mystic realms. They would later meet some unexpected danger causing the entire expedition to be wiped out except for Old Man Su.

There were even times when he even managed to get some benefits out of that. Of course, Su Jie would never admit to that.

Whenever he recalled those events to others, he would appear in grief and even pay tribute to those who had died. It was as if he had received a great deal of trauma in the perilous encounters in the mystic realms.

But in a turn of an eye, people would see him saunter into an underground workshop or auction house and sell the treasures that were of no use to him for things he needed. With a lewd smile, he would return fully loaded.

After this happened a few times, people gave Su Jie a nickname: “Runaway Su”, and the infamy known as Runaway Su quickly spread. As such, few expeditions brought him along from then on.

Who would dare bring him along when they would end up turning into cannon fodder while he made a quick escape?

So there was reason to believe that Marquis Wenyun’s invitation to Old Man Su was due to having encountered an extremely unsolvable problem in the mystic realm. It was only as a last resort that they had to get Su Jie to solve it.

…

At that moment, the crowd was confused or in wonder, or even in baffled as Yi Yun walked down the white jade stage.

“You’re Yi Yun? Twelve years old?” At that moment, a voice rang in Yi Yun’s ears. He raised his head and saw Zhang Tan looking at him.

Yi Yun slowed down his footsteps and nodded.

“What level are you at? Qi Gatherer realm?”

Yi Yun nodded again.

“The early stages of Qi Gatherer realm? Or at the peak of Qi Gatherer?”

“Peak.” Yi Yun gently moved his lips. But even from afar, Zhang Tan could read it.

This kid does not know how to force his voice into a line.

That’s interesting, as this was a small trick people in the Meridians realm would know. Did his master not teach him, or did he not have a decent master?

No, without a master, he would not have been able to master such a ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

Many thoughts began to run through Zhang Tan’s mind.

This Yi Yun sure is a freak!

It looks like when he broke through in the preliminaries, he had gone from the early stages of the Qi Gatherer realm to the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm!

Others were under great pressure and were struggling; yet, he had used the pressure to breakthrough.

And what made it rarer was that Yi Yun was just twelve!

At twelve with excellent perceptivity and a good cultivation level, he was an extremely good candidate.

“Do you know what the clouds you induced meant?” asked Zhang Tan.

Yi Yun had a thought in his head before he looked up the sky. In the sky, there was a stretch of purple. As it had been long, the lit clouds had slowly dispersed. It was extremely pretty, like dispersed purple feathers.

A purple sky…

While Yi Yun was cultivating, the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had surged into his body and after being processed by the Purple Crystal, it had escaped from his pores.

It seemed like this spirit energy had mixed with the surround Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to form the purple mist.

This purple mist might have something to do with the Purple Crystal Origins.

“It’s alright if you don’t know. Remember, guard against arrogance and rashness. In this world, there are many talents, and the world is too large. Just the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has almost no boundaries and it cannot be measured. Do not think too highly of your current achievements. Working hard is the way!” Yi Yun easily accepted Zhang Tan’s teachings. Actually, even without Zhang Tan’s words, Yi Yun knew that he had not even reached the starting point of his martial path. His path ahead was still long.

With these thoughts, Yi Yun left the white jade stage and walked towards his spot. As a member of the Lian tribal clan, his spot was next to the Lian tribal clan.

103 - : Old Man Su’s Guess

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun quietly returned to his spot and stood with his hands behind his back. Everyone was focused on Yi Yun.

The people were still in discussion about what the purple cloud in the sky was.

Purple Air Comes From The East was something that high-ranking warriors in the vast wilderness had never heard of before, let alone the commoners of the vast wilderness.

No one had witnessed a scene like this before in the Cloud Wilderness. In fact, even in the kingdom’s capital, very few people had ever witnessed Purple Air Comes From The East.

Among the people from the vast wilderness present, only the tribal elders of the Tao tribal clan had seen records of Purple Air Comes From The East in the history books.

But the ancient books in the vast wilderness only simply mentioned Purple Air Comes From The East without much detail. It was likely because the person who wrote the books had never seen Purple Air Comes From The East, and the person was just describing it from imagination.

So to recognize it from those records was another matter.

After all, the state of Purple Air Comes From The East was beyond them, and their preconceived expectations of Yi Yun subconsciously prevented many of them from thinking of that.

Only some of the heads of the Tao tribal clan such as the Grand Elder had some suspicions, but he did not dare make any confirmation. He carefully observed Zhang Tan’s reaction and tried to gain some clues from him.

At that point in time, Zhang Tan had left temporarily. With Zhang Tan as head, a few Jin Long Wei members were compiling the scores of the Mortal Blood candidates.

The final results of the candidates were a consideration of age, the grade of the cultivation technique, their level, their strength and several factors. Only then was a final score given.

This score determined the final ranking and to decide on the receiver of first place in the Mortal Blood round. It would determine if a person could enter the Jin Long Wei elite camp, allowing them to enjoy the best cultivating resources of the Jin Long Wei.

The participants were nervously waiting as this score determined their fates. How could they stay calm?

However, Yi Yun stood very calmly while in the crowd.

Suddenly, Yi Yun felt a gaze filled with killing intent aimed at him, stabbing his back like a needle.

Yi Yun turned his head and saw Lian Chengyu’s angry and venomous eyes as if he could not wait to skin Yi Yun alive.

This startled Yi Yun. In the past, Lian Chengyu had always wanted to kill him, and he knew this. However, he had never seen Lian Chengyu’s hate reach such a level. Seeing his eyes, it was as if they wanted to drink Yi Yun’s blood and eat Yi Yun’s flesh.

What craziness was Lian Chengyu up to?

“Little bastard, did you do something to the Frost Python desolate bone!?” Lian Chengyu sent the voice suddenly into Yi Yun’s ear.

Initially, Lian Chengyu had never thought that the problem with the desolate bone had anything to do with Yi Yun.

This was because Yi Yun had run away and jumped into the East River before the desolate bones were done refining. There were people monitoring the refinement process day and night. Besides, the desolate bone was in the large cauldron boiling in the Li Fire Water. That Li Fire Water had an extremely high temperature, so with it submerged, there was no way of taking it out.

But, with Yi Yun showing more and more of his extraordinary strength, Lian Chengyu suddenly realized there was something strange in the desolate bone refinement process.

Firstly, the Frost Python desolate bone should not have had problems. When he first received it, he could feel the bone-biting frost Qi when he got close. This chill was proof of the desolate bone’s quality. And in the desolate bone’s refinement process, there were many events recorded in the literature that had happened. Many of the able-bodied men who refined the bone had fallen sick. They had been injured by the chill.

It was a perfectly good Frost Python desolate bone, how could it not have any effects after refining?

Initially, Lian Chengyu lacked experience because it was his first time consuming a desolate bone essence. He believed that the refinement process had gone awry, or that there was something wrong with his own physique.

But upon careful thinking, it was not the case.

After consuming the desolate bone, not only did his strength not increase, his anger had burnt his heart, injuring his meridians. But Yi Yun had inexplicably grown stronger, maiming Zhao Tiezhu.

Besides, during this period, Yi Yun had previously refined the desolate bone. Was it possible that Yi Yun had used a special method to swap the Frost Python desolate bone with something similar to the Frost Python desolate bone?

The desolate bone essence he had eaten in the end was fake. The real desolate bone essence had already been eaten by Yi Yun!

Lian Chengyu did not know what method Yi Yun had used. But after thinking it over, this was the only reasonable explanation!

Yi Yun had backstabbed him and stole everything that belonged to him, robbing him of his hope and glory!

If it was not for Yi Yun, Lian Chengyu would have already broken through to the Purple Blood realm by today. He would have easily passed the Kingdom’s selection, becoming a member of the Jin Long Wei, or even a Jin Long Wei elite!

The more Lian Chengyu thought the more he felt his deductions were right. He clenched both his fists as his fingernails pierced his flesh while his body trembled with anger!

Yi Yun, you destroyed my future, I will make sure you lead a living death!

Lian Chengyu gritted his teeth.

In his extreme anger, Lian Chengyu felt as though his heart was about to explode. The veins and meridian channels protruded from his forehead like worms. A mouthful of blood had accumulated in his chest, to the point of him almost spitting it out.

The chaotic channels and erratic heartbeat alarmed Lian Chengyu as he quickly circulated his energy and forced his mind to calm down. He needed to prevent a relapse of his old injury.

Facing the raging Lian Chengyu, Yi Yun’s face was expressionless. He and Lian Chengyu had reached an irreconcilable point. Unfortunately, Lian Chengyu had never taken Yi Yun seriously before, missing his best chance.

“You are out.” Yi Yun’s mouth moved, conveying his words.

Lian Chengyu face contorted, “You really think with your so-called Spirit, and with the cultivation technique you gained insight on the white jade stage, you will be able to do anything to me? You have practiced martial arts for three months! In a real life-and-death battle, it is one’s strength that matters, not potential!” Lian Chengyu hated Yi Yun to his bones. Every word of his was like a sword, stabbing at Yi Yun.

In Lian Chengyu’s mind, even if Yi Yun had eaten the desolate bone essence that belonged to him, and even if Yi Yun had an unmatchable talent in martial arts, so what if he had absorbed all the energy in the desolate bone essence?

It had to be known that Lian Chengyu was already at the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm. Under this situation, with the aid of the desolate bone essence’s energy, he could have broken through into the Purple Blood realm.

But before Yi Yun fell to his half-death while picking herbs, he had no contact with martial arts. Even if he could absorb the entire desolate bone essence’s energy, he would at most reach the peak of the Meridians realm or the beginning stages of the Qi Gatherer realm.

Furthermore, Yi Yun was a beginner in martial arts who lacked actual combat experience. Yi Yun had no way of comparing with him.

But Lian Chengyu could not help but admit that Yi Yun’s martial arts talent exceeded him. Be it Yi Yun’s Spirit, or the phenomenon from demonstrating the Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist, they were a testimony to that fact.

So he had to take an opportunity to kill Yi Yun before he had the chance to grow!

If not, he would fall behind, and when that happened, he would definitely die.

104 - : You Are Out

CKtalon  CKtalon

Just as Yi Yun and Lian Chengyu were ready to jump at each other’s throats, Zhang Tan had walked to the center of the square. He was announcing the semi-finals ranking and results of the Mortal Blood warriors! The semi-final was different from the preliminaries. It was clear who won the preliminaries with one look, but the results of the semi-finals had to be decided by the Jin Long Wei examiners.

Previously when everyone went on stage, the Jin Long Wei examiners gave scores based on the contestant’s age and performance. After a discussion, and arranging the scores and averaging them, a ranking was completed.

“They are about to announce the rankings!”

Seeing Zhang Tan hold a roll to the stage, the crowd immediately began anticipating it.

It was an exciting moment.

They wanted to know what the third young master Tao Yunxiao’s ranking would be.

“I will announce the rankings of the semi-finals and your grades. From highest to lowest are Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow. With the Heaven rank being the highest and the Yellow rank being the lowest. Each rank has ten grades, from zero to nine. In total, there are forty grades!”

“Heaven rank is the mark of ancient great emperors!”

“Earth rank is the mark of ancient sages!”

“Mystic rank is the mark of Human Lords!”

“Yellow rank is the mark of human elites!”

Although Zhang Tan had yet to announce the results, just from introducing the ranks, it caused the numerous contestants and the listening audience to become excited!

Ancient emperors, ancient sages, Human Lords!

Even the worst Yellow rank was a human elite.

Very clearly, these evaluation rules were not set by the Zhang Tan or the Jin Long Wei, and probably not even the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom may be a behemoth, but they did not dare evaluate an ancient great emperor or sage!

The evaluation must have followed a uniform standard that was recognized by the world!

Upon realizing this, many of the contestants took short, light breaths. Some could not help but clench their fists as they waited to hear the results!

Many people subconsciously wished they were different from the rest; they wanted to see how far they were from the ancient sages and lords of old.

Was it possible that they could receive a grade close to those legendary figures?

Some of the proudest ones, especially Tao Yunxiao, believed that they would leave the vast wilderness, or even leave the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, eventually creating an empire. These people found it the hardest to remain calm!

Tao Yunxiao crossed his arms; although he looked cold and proud, one could tell from his shaking fingers that he was uneasy.

Tao Yunxiao’s eyes gleamed with excitement. He wanted to know, based on a standard agreed upon by the world, what his future achievements would be? How high could he go?

“Sun Yu, twenty years old, demonstrating cultivation technique: ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, Grade: None!”

Zhang Tan announced with a commanding voice. In the crowd, a tall thin youth was stretching out his neck, listening to Zhang Tan’s words with bated breath. But when he heard, “None”, his mind went blank.

To think that he did not even have a grade…

Sun Yu let out a depressed sigh. But it was expected, to enter the Yellow rank, one had to be a human elite.

As for him, he had been first in the semi-finals, which meant that he was the last person in the preliminaries. Not being able to be an “elite” was reasonable.

But Sun Yu felt embarrassed having his results announced in front of so many people.

But very quickly, that feeling lessened.

Because after Sun Yu, Zhou Kang, Chen Pingguang, and Tao Hai were told by Zhang Tan that they had no grade; they had not reached the Yellow rank.

Zhang Tan was announcing the results according to the order in which they performed at the semi-finals. Those without a grade basically had no results, they had come to the end of their journey in the kingdom’s selection for they had been eliminated.

Up to the twenty-fifth person, which was almost half of the semi-final contestants, no one achieved any grades!

Based on the standard, none of them reached the rank of “human elite” and they were considered ordinary!

Such a strict screening made Tao Yunxiao’s eyes light up with fire. The stricter the standard was, the more it made his blood boil. This standardized screening gave it credibility. As such, he would be able to tell his future success!

When Zhang Tan announced the thirtieth person, there was still no one with a ranked grade!

The ten thousand strong spectators began to burst into a discussion. Many of the gradeless people were heirs of small tribal clans that were specially nurtured, yet they could not even obtain a grade in the semi-finals. It was terrible.

They were speculating what sort of person would be able to obtain the Yellow rank.

“Say, what do you think our Young Master Yunxiao’s rank will be?” Some people in the Tao tribal clan suddenly asked; in their eyes, Tao Yunxiao’s talent was not inferior to the talent of the first young master of the Tao tribal clan.

Tao Yunxiao was also one of the idols in the Tao tribal clan, so he had many admirers.

“Of course, Young Master Yunxiao will not be bad, but I wonder what Yi Yun’s rank will be?”

The people broke out into speculation. They had never seen Purple Air Comes From The East; they did not know what the purple mist that surged into the air meant. They felt that it should be something amazing to induce such a phenomena.

Without a doubt, in the semi-finals, only Yi Yun had the qualification to compare with their Young Master Yunxiao.

As for people like Lian Chengyu, they were much worse.

“You say, that kid Yi Yun shattered those cups, how would it compare with our Young Master Yunxiao’s sword Qi?” asked a Tao tribal clan citizen.

“Are you silly, which do you think is stronger, a teacup or black ironstone? Young Master Yunxiao used the sword Qi to split through black ironstone! Since both shattered the items through the air, whichever object is harder means whoever broke it is stronger! How can Yi Yun match that? But then, that kid Yi Yun puffing out that cloud sure was odd.”

“Yes, say, why did he puff out that cloud?”

The citizens of the vast wilderness were filled with questions. Could humans do that?

Although it didn’t seem to have any power, it still seemed pretty impressive.

Just based on the cloud, it was hard to determine whose rank was higher.

Finally, Zhang Tan announced the first person with a rank, “Bai Chong, nineteen years old, demonstrating cultivation technique ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, Grade: Yellow rank, grade one!”

The vast wilderness used a system of nine; nine meant the highest, while zero was the lowest.

Bai Chong had just managed to enter the Yellow rank, but even so, it made him excited. The thirty people before him had no results, but he had managed to obtain one!

From that day onwards, he could be considered a human elite.

After Bai Chong, there were again, a few people without a grade. They may have done better than Bai Chong in the preliminaries, but they had failed to exceed him in the semi-finals.

After three consecutive participants without grades, the remaining people all had grades.

As it reached the ten last participants, Yellow ranks grade two and sometimes grade three appeared!

In a blink of an eye, Zhang Tan had already announced the results for fifty people. There were only six people left.

Yi Yun, Lian Chengyu, and Tao Yunxiao were part of the six participants.

105 - : Evaluation Results

CKtalon  CKtalon

Zhang Tan announced the results one by one but remained expressionless from the beginning until the end.

“Lian Chengyu!”

As Zhang Tan shouted out that name, Lian Chengyu held his breath and waited in suspense. It was finally his turn!

The result Zhang Tan announced indicated his future to a certain extent. Was he an elite? A hero? Amongst the elite heroes, where did he stand?

Tao Yunxiao also began looking at Lian Chengyu. From Lian Chengyu’s results, he was able to tell how high the accepted standards of the world was.

“Lian Chengyu, seventeen years old! Demonstrating cultivation technique: ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’! Grade: Yellow rank, grade five!”

Yellow rank grade five?

Lian Chengyu took in a deep breath. He felt as if his heart had been squeezed tightly. It was painful.

Just Yellow rank grade five…

He had subconsciously hoped that his results would be higher. He wished that the Jin Long Wei would see that he was different from the crowd.

But, he didn’t even reach the peak of the Yellow rank. He was just in the middle.

Although his results were better than the participants before him, it had disappointed Lian Chengyu. As a middle-ranked human elite, this was too far from his goals.

He had put in great effort, hoping to leave the vast wilderness; how could he be willing to just be a middle-ranked human elite?

“Even Lian Chengyu was not enough to enter the Mystic rank?” Tao Yunxiao noticed Lian Chengyu’s disappointment.

Mystic rank was the mark of Human Lords. What was a Human Lord? A Human Lord was someone who was able to rule over men and territory. The generals, ministers, and the nobles of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom were considered Human Lords.

It was no joke being a Tai Ah Divine Kingdom noble. They were given vast lands and command over numerous territories. Many people lived in those territories!

To be able to become a Mystic rank, even the lowest Mystic rank grade would be extremely difficult!

But Tao Yunxiao was confident of himself. He wanted to obtain the title of a young lord at this semi-final at the kingdom’s selection.

“Yunxiao, don’t get your hopes too high. The Jin Long Wei’s selection process is extremely tough!” Tao Yunxiao’s ears rang with the voice transmission from his father.

Tao Yunxiao’s father was quite a figure.

For Tao Yunxiao to be able to live in a sheltered environment, besides having talent, it was because of his powerful father.

His father was a warrior at the peak of the Purple Blood realm, and there were only a few peak-Purple Blood warriors in the Tao tribal clan. He was also young, so his position in the Tao tribal clan was formidable.

The peak of the Purple Blood realm might sound impressive as many of the elite warriors of the Jin Long Wei were at the peak of the Purple Blood realm. But Tao Yunxiao’s father knew clearly that the gap between them was still huge even if they were at the same rank.

Because of some specific reasons, a tribal clan in the vast wilderness, like the Tao tribal clan, had little chance of giving rise to an expert who could exceed the Purple Blood realm.

Tao Yunxiao’s father knew that his life had been delayed and that he would be unable to go another step further. Thus, he wished for his son to become an overlord.

He knew that his son was arrogant; he was afraid Tao Yunxiao had overly high expectations that might result in him suffering a setback.

“Don’t worry Father. I know how strict the standard is, and I know my strength. I do not ask for much. I would be satisfied as long as I barely hit the Mystic rank!”

Tao Yunxiao knew that having been born in the Cloud Wilderness was a natural disadvantage. To be able to reach the first grade of the Mystic rank would be difficult.

Being at the first grade of the Mystic rank did not matter; he could slowly climb upwards from a low rank till he became a general, a minister or a noble!

“Tao Ping, twenty-two years old, Yellow rank grade four!”

“Sun Chenghai, nineteen years old, Yellow rank grade five!”

Zhang Tan finished reading three people’s names. No one had exceeded Lian Chengyu; they had at most tied with him.

At that moment, Zhang Tan was down to two people.

“Tao Yunxiao, fourteen years old, demonstrating ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’, results are…”

Upon saying this, Zhang Tan paused and looked towards Tao Yunxiao. Tao Yunxiao immediately let down his arms and stood at attention while holding his breath.

The surrounding people of the Tao tribal clan tiptoed on their heels in anticipation. They wanted to know the final results of their young master.

“Yellow rank grade eight!”

The moment Zhang Tan said those four words, Tao Yunxiao’s brain buzzed.

Yellow rank grade eight?

Am I just at Yellow rank grade eight?

Tao Yunxiao clenched his fist. How could it be so low?

He was not satisfied. He had great ambition for his future. Although the kingdom’s selection was just his starting point, this starting point was far too low.

“Even Young Master Yunxiao didn’t reach the Mystic rank? How hard is it to reach the Mystic rank?”

“Heaven, Earth, Mystic, Yellow ranks. They said that there are four ranks, but after all the evaluations, either they didn’t even get into the Yellow rank, or they would be in the Yellow rank. Even if they were in the Yellow rank, not a single rank nine has appeared. What the hell are the Jin Long Wei judges doing, what’s the point of all those ranks above? For show?” someone said indignantly.

“Don’t talk nonsense. To be able to get the Mystic rank, the person will be a young lord. In the future, they could be made a minister or some bigwig of a big sect. Let’s ignore the Cloud Wilderness, but even in the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there are few with a Mystic rank. There are so many people in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, but how many of them can be generals, ministers or nobles?”

As a large tribe, the Tao tribal clan were well informed. They knew that the rankings like “Heaven”, “Earth” and “Mystic” ranks could be ignored. Announcing it was just paying tribute to the saints and nobles of old.

The only meaningful rank was the “Yellow” rank. In the vast wilderness, it was something to be proud of if one was ranked above the fifth grade of the Yellow rank.

“Last person!”

When Zhang Tan reached Yi Yun. As the last person to appear, he had stirred the sky purple and shattered the teacups on the platform. Yi Yun was naturally getting the most attention.

Everyone suddenly stopped their discussion of Tao Yunxiao and began to prick their ears to hear Yi Yun’s results.

“Yi Yun, it’s finally his turn. I wonder which grade of Yellow rank he will be?”

“Him spewing those clouds may look powerful, but it cannot beat Young Master Yunxiao’s sword Qi. How good can he be?”

Everyone was anticipating the result. When Zhang Tan announced Yi Yun’s name, he paused and looked Yi Yun deep in the eye.

At the platform, the Tao tribal clan’s elders were paying full attention. They wanted to know what that purple mist was.

“Yi Yun! Twelve years old, demonstrating cultivation technique: ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, Grade: Mystic rank… grade five!” Zhang Tan’s voice was loud and clear and he could be heard more than five kilometers away. At that moment, the people were stunned.

Mystic rank!?

Yi Yun actually reached the Mystic rank, and even at grade five!?

Then he’s a young Human Lord? He could become a general, a noble or some bigwig of a sect?

How could this be? He just spat out some purple clouds, and he was appraised as Mystic rank grade five!?

Many people were slow to react. They believed that the Jin Long Wei had made a mistake in their evaluation. How could their Young Master Yunxiao be a Yellow rank grade eight, but Yi Yun was a Mystic rank grade five?

This gap was too large!

106 - : Yi Yun’s rank

CKtalon  CKtalon

Many people began to question the rankings as they discussed in private. That included the Tao tribal clan’s elders who were stunned. Among them, although the most knowledgeable ones were not surprised that Yi Yun had exceeded Tao Yunxiao, they had never expected him to exceed Tao Yunxiao by that much.

“How could it be? I don’t believe it!”

Among the crowd, there was a person who finally exploded like a simmering volcano.

That person was Lian Chengyu. He was the most agitated person in the crowd. “He’s a Mystic rank grade five, and I’m a Yellow rank grade five. He is one entire rank higher than me, how could it be!?”

Lian Chengyu could feel his blood start to boil. His handsome face turned a deep red. Lian Chengyu’s face had distorted as if he was a red-faced demon that crawled out from hell.

He felt distanced from the surrounding people. Their noises had drowned into the background. He clenched his fists, with his nails biting into his flesh to the point of them bleeding. But Lian Chengyu could not feel the pain.

He had gone mad. He wanted to die.

He had watched Yi Yun, a poor kid whose life was cheaper than grass, slowly rise up and soar into the sky, with his own eyes. Yi Yun was a villager of his Lian tribal clan, and Yi Yun could be said to be his slave.

But now, the slave had surpassed the master!

What made him hate Yi Yun the most was the fact that Yi Yun had stolen his desolate beast essence!

Originally, he could have broken into the Purple Blood realm. All that glory could have been his!

When people get overcome by anger, they would often lose all reason.

At that moment, Lian Chengyu had lost all reason. He hated Yi Yun so much that he wanted to tear off Yi Yun’s flesh with his mouth.

“I… don’t accept it!”

Rage had given the courage needed for Lian Chengyu to challenge everything. He dared to shout out his indignation when facing Zhang Tan under such a situation. Immediately, the gazes of the people were gathered on Lian Chengyu.

Lian Chengyu clenched his fists, with a blue vein protruding from his forehead.

“I don’t accept it…”

Lian Chengyu repeated again as if he had experienced a tremendous amount of humiliation.

In the crowd, there was another person with a gloomy face, he was Tao Yunxiao.

“I don’t accept it as well!” Tao Yunxiao shouted. He really could not accept it!

He felt that he could reach the Mystic rank. Also, he didn’t think that Yi Yun could qualify to be a Mystic rank grade five. How could the Jin Long Wei make such an arbitrary conclusion? They didn’t even give any specific reason!

“I want to know what the judging criteria is!”

Tao Yunxiao’s eyes burned with rage.

“Hmph!” Zhang Tan coldly grunted. A cold gaze infused with energy entered Tao Yunxiao and Lian Chengyu’s ears, exploding within their ears!

Both their bodies quivered as if they were struck in the chest. They nearly fell to their knees.

“I am under no obligation to explain to you! If you can’t accept it, you can withdraw from the kingdom’s selection! No one is forcing you! But the moment you choose to be a Jin Long Wei member, you have to remember that in the Jin Long Wei, you only serve and never question! This is the first time you are questioning me, and it shall be your last!” A fearsome aura was imbued in Zhang Tan’s voice. Not only were Lian Chengyu and Tao Yunxiao affected, even the elders from the Tao tribal clan felt the pressure.

If you did not accept it, you could withdraw.

If you stayed, you had to obey!

The Jin Long Wei was an army, and it was the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s most powerful army. Its standing was exceptional!

For such a large force, how could a lowly person question the rules they set?

Even the son of a duke could not do that to the Jin Long Wei, let alone the young masters from the Cloud Wilderness’s tribal clans!

As for an explanation, would a lion ever need to explain anything to a mouse?

“Yunxiao, admit your mistake!” At that moment, Tao Yunxiao’s ears rang with his father’s voice. Tao Yunxiao clenched his fists, the veins on his arms squirming like a worm. Even with his father’s voice, he was indignant.

“Yunxiao, admit your mistake! Who do you think you are?” Tao Yunxiao’s father’s voice rang again.

Tao Yunxiao took a deep breath. He hated his circumstances. He hated that he was unable to prove his strength.

“I… am sorry!” Tao Yunxiao winced his face as he endured the insult, before saying those words with great difficulty.

Zhang Tan was emotionless. With a wave of his hand, the members of the Jin Long Wei stepped down temporarily.

Next was the Purple Blood warriors’ selection, which had nothing to do with Yi Yun and Tao Yunxiao.

Seeing Zhang Tan leave, Tao Yunxiao stared at Yi Yun. His gleaming eyes figuratively stabbed at Yi Yun like knives.

The relationship between Tao Yunxiao and Yi Yun was different from Lian Chengyu’s. Lian Chengyu hated Yi Yun while Tao Yunxiao was not convinced. He felt that he was stronger than Yi Yun in every aspect!

“Hehe, these ‘young masters’ of the Cloud Wilderness think so highly of themselves. They think that our evaluation results—that we as examiners make—have to take into account their views?” When Zhang Tan stepped down, a Jin Long Wei elite said disdainfully. The people from the heartlands despised the Cloud Wilderness because they treated the people of the Cloud Wilderness like barbarians. And in fact, that was the truth.

The difference between the Cloud Wilderness and the heartlands was too large a gap.

“This kid, Yi Yun, could induce Purple Air Comes From The East. The Purple Air symbolizes the Son of Heaven. Yi Yun has the chance to become a lord in the future!” said another Jin Long Wei elite.

“But then, it’s just a possibility. There are too many unknown factors ahead of a young lord. They might fall behind, in the middle or exhaust all of their potential, eventually falling out of sight…But some young lords grow at terrifying rates. They eventually become sages, great emperors. Anything is a possibility…” Zhang Tan said lightly. When he mentioned great emperors, the Jin Long Wei elites around him looked at each other and swallowed a gulp of saliva. To them, a great emperor was something too distant. Even the founding emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, whose accomplishments had overshadowed thousands of generations, was considered a sage.

Zhang Tan carried on, “We do not need to bother about those young masters’ doubts, but since they are unconvinced… for the last round, let’s test their actual combat ability…”

Zhang Tan said that casually. He knew that those who were indignant was not limited to Tao Yunxiao or Lian Chengyu. It included the other participants and the commoners of the Tao tribal clan. None of them could accept it.

To the people of the Cloud Wilderness, the only way to convince them was through strength. Other things were flashy to them, but to know if it mattered, only strength was needed.

“Oh? Test their combat ability?” A Jin Long Wei elite’s eyes lit up upon hearing it.

“That’s right. These people have differences in their age and their cultivation time. There is no uniform standard to test their strength, but…I had previously asked Yi Yun. His cultivation level is at the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm; so even if we were to test their combat ability, it will not appear unfair. Actually, I want to see how the kid’s actual combat ability is.” A smile formed on Zhang Tan’s lips as he said that.

What was the limit of the twelve-year-old child’s combat ability? Zhang Tan was anticipating it!

107 - : Let’s test their actual combat ability

CKtalon  CKtalon

The semi-finals of the Kingdom’s selection had not ended. The examination of the Purple Blood warriors was even more intense.

Although the Purple Blood warriors were sure to pass the kingdom’s selection, they still vied for a better spot amongst themselves, so that they can gain more resources and a higher status in the Jin Long Wei!

Yi Yun watched all the Cloud Wilderness’ Purple Blood warriors’ demonstrations.

A Purple Blood warrior was indeed much stronger than a Mortal Blood warrior. The Tao tribal clan’s first young master Hu Ya, who appeared last had pushed, the atmosphere to a crescendo!

Hu Ya had also demonstrated “Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven”!

Hu Ya used the ancestral artifact of the Tao tribal clan, the female-male pair’s male component.

The male-sword was three feet long. In Hu Ya’s hand, it was as if the sword with a startling aura was alive. As Hu Ya continued demonstrating, each slash caused sword Qi to emit out shockwaves, and the battlefield was filled with beams of sword flashes, like a silver waterfall.

Hu Ya’s sword moves were too fast for the eyes to follow.

At times, Hu Ya would slow down his speed; but even at a slower speed, it was hard to read his moves. This feeling was similar to Zhang Yuxian performing the Elephant Swallowing Technique. One could see him move, but one couldn’t tell what the sword move was.

The warriors from the large tribes of the Cloud Wilderness were full of praise. Even a few Jin Long Wei members nodded slightly.

When Hu Ya finished the last stance of “Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven”, nine sword beams flew out from Hu Ya’s body and into the sky!

These nine sword beams looked like golden swords from afar. It was colorful and had an extraordinary beauty!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

The golden swords sliced through the air, tearing open a rift in the clouds.

The surrounding Tao tribal clan people let out a gasp.

If one were to call Tao Yunxiao’s sword Qi the light from a firefly, then Hu Ya’s golden sword beams were like the moonlight. They stood in stark contrast.

“This is a manifestation of Yuan Qi!”

In the crowd, a warrior said, “To release the body’s Yuan Qi out and condensing it into a shape. It’s an extremely ingenious technique. It is something that only the best Purple Blood warriors can manage. If the clouds the nine golden sword beams struck was black ironstone, it will still be sliced up like tofu even if the black ironstone was the size of a house! Young Master Hu Ya just didn’t want to flaunt his destructive power!”

“Manifestation of Yuan Qi!” Yi Yun was stirred. He recalled that when he sparred with Lin Xintong the previous night, his last fist attack had formed a dragon-tiger phantom image!

He had not paid attention back then, but Lin Xintong had noted that it was a manifestation of Yuan Qi!

The manifestation of Yuan Qi not only looked powerful, but it could also greatly improve an attack’s damage!

In the battles of Mortal Blood and Purple Blood realm warriors, they would often use their bodies to attack. But as their martial level increases, the battle between warriors would become a competition of Yuan Qi!

For a high-level martial world, a manifestation of Yuan Qi was part of the basics.

But for the warriors of the vast wilderness, manifestation of Yuan Qi was a spectacular sight.

The crowd’s reaction was filled with excitement as they cheered vivaciously!

Commoners had no chance of witnessing the manifestation of Yuan Qi. Besides, Hu Ya was extremely popular in the Tao tribal clan, so all the cheering came from his admirers.

Hu Ya’s demonstration was done.

The faces of the Tao tribal clan people were red with pride. It was as if they had drunk a bottle of vintage wine, and could not disguise their euphoria. Previously, Yi Yun had upset them by overshadowing their prominence. But now, with Hu Ya, they were immediately elated with pride.

Also, the First Young Master Hu Ya was close to reaching the Tempered Body state. In a few days, he would likely make that last step. It was something the people of the Tao tribal clan were looking forward to.

The entire Tao tribal clan, in its several hundreds of years, had never given birth to a talent who could reach the “Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse” state.

“Young Master Hu Ya is too powerful!”

“Of course! Young Master is just about to reach the ‘Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse’ state. His cultivation level is in the middle stages of the Purple Blood realm. Soon, he will enter the late stages of the Purple Blood realm. How can he not be powerful? Young Master Hu Ya will definitely exceed Yi Yun!”

“That’s for sure! Nine golden sword beams formed from energy; that is a true strength! It’s not those illusory phenomena. That’s right, what sort of person is Young Master Hu Ya? He will teach those self-important people from the small tribes a lesson. They shall see the strength of our Tao tribal clan!”

The people were excited. The Jin Long Wei’s examiner had used fifteen minutes to rank the Purple Blood warriors.

Again, the order was based on the order of appearance. Hu Ya was the last one.

When Zhang Tan mentioned Hu Ya, everyone in the Tao tribal clan held their breath. This was the moment that concerned their Tao tribal clan’s honor.

They were waiting for Hu Ya to overshadow Yi Yun!

The Tao tribal clan’s strength was ten times stronger than tens of small tribes combined. How could they let a kid like Yi Yun overshadow them?

The people were filled with anticipation. Zhang Tan opened his mouth.

“Hu Ya, eighteen years old, demonstrating ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’, Grade…”

“Mystic rank…gradeless!”

When Zhang Tan announced Hu Ya’s grade, the Tao tribal clan’s people were stupefied before exploding.

Hu Ya had finally managed to reach the Mystic rank, but he had no grade. He was a gradeless Mystic!

The difference between the Yellow rank ninth grade and the Mystic rank first grade was huge. Some people could be judged to be better than Yellow rank, but to say he was a Mystic rank, he would fail to meet the mark.

As such in the talent evaluation rules, there was a gradeless level.

Gradeless Mystic meant they could barely make the rank of Mystic, but it was not enough and it would fade away. To be accurate, it was a transient level between the Yellow and Mystic rank.

Hu Ya was the number one young expert in the Tao tribal clan and he wasn’t much weaker than the older peak-Purple blood experts. It symbolized that the highest standard the Tao tribal clan had was just evaluated at a transient level between Yellow and Mystic rank?

Was this a joke?

There were numerous fans and supporters of Hu Ya in the Tao tribal clan.

Now, with the Jin Long Wei giving Hu Ya a gradeless Mystic rank, these supporters could no longer accept it! They were preparing to celebrate, but just before they could leap up in joy, they were ridiculed!

If the entire Cloud Wilderness had no Mystic rank, and Hu Ya had obtained a gradeless Mystic rank, they could settle for it because the Jin Long Wei’s evaluation criteria were strict.

But now, a rascal named Yi Yun had reached Mystic rank fifth grade, and Hu Ya was just at the transient period of the Mystic rank. How could they accept it?

“It’s not fair!”

“How can Hu Ya be gradeless? We don’t accept this!” Some people shouted. Previously, when Yi Yun overshadowed Tao Yunxiao, there weren’t many who shouted. But now, with Hu Ya also overshadowed, they could no longer bear it.

The power of fans was fearsome, especially passionate fans. For their idols, they were willing to risk their lives.

So what if it was Zhang Tan? So what if he was the Jin Long Wei Thousand Households? By belittling their idol, they would rebel!

“I don’t accept it. Hu Ya should be at least a Mystic rank sixth grade!” A young girl shouted, red from agitation. In the Tao tribal clan, there were numerous young girls who had a crush on Hu Ya. For Hu Ya, they were willing to run naked.

“Right! At least Mystic rank sixth grade. How can our Young Master Hu Ya lose to Yi Yun?”

“What the heck is that Yi Yun? He’s just a commoner from a small tribal clan. His cultivation isn’t even high. On what criteria, do you rank him a Mystic rank grade five? I don’t accept it!” Another girl echoed with extreme agitation. How could their idol be inferior to a commoner? It was an insult to their idol!

Seeing the Tao tribal clan’s young girls being agitated, Yi Yun was speechless. He was blamed for no reason. His competition with Tao Yunxiao and Lian Chengyu had nothing to do with the Purple Blood realm’s Hu Ya, how did he get pulled into this?

Yi Yun felt that Hu Ya was like a Korean drama star in his past life, and the fans were rabid.

Most of the time, fans would not be rational. Why did you have to be given a Mystic rank fifth grade, overshadowing their idol?

Yi Yun subconsciously looked at Hu Ya, but he realized that although his fans were agitated, Hu Ya was still holding his sword and standing at his spot, silent and expressionless. It was as if everything around him had nothing to do with him.

This made Yi Yun slightly surprised. This Hu Ya was interesting.

Facing such a crowd, he could still take things calmly. This kind of bearing was unlike that of a passionate young man.

108 - : Yet another slap in the face

CKtalon  CKtalon

After the semi-finals ended, the participants, whether they had succeeded or failed, went back to their own residences.

As for the people, no matter how indignant they were, they could not change the results of the competition and began to disperse.

But the battle never stopped.

When Yi Yun finished eating dinner, he met a bunch of children, who wanted to mess with him, after he came out from a Tao tribal clan cafeteria.

Their leader was a fourteen-year-old girl, and behind her were a bunch of boys and girls, all teenagers.

The little girl was their boss; no different from the school honchos in his memories.

Even in this alternate world, the children also entered their rebellious stage in their teens. Kids at this age easily formed their gangs such as the Azure Sect, the Hong Sect, the Youth Alliance, etc.

The little girl flicked her hair coolly and stared at Yi Yun without a sound. Her eyes were full of hostility.

They were here to demonstrate their might.

In fact, they treated Yi Yun like someone of their own age, and someone of the same IQ level.

If nothing else but height mattered, Yi Yun was an inch shorter than that girl.

How could kids know anything about Purple Air Comes From The East or manifestation of Yuan Qi? To them, strength was measured by a person’s height.

They would not dare to offend them those who looked tall and strong looked powerful. Those who were short in stature were not intimidating, and they were push-overs.

The leader of the children, of course, knew Yi Yun was strong, and the bunch she had brought with her wasn’t his match, but, Yi Yun was shorter than them by a head. This made them subconsciously gain a mental advantage, as they had often bullied the weak.

It was hard to describe the thoughts of these children. They felt that their idol had been insulted, so they needed to do something to stand in solidarity for their idol.

Of course, the real people who “insulted” their idol was the Jin Long Wei, but they did not have the courage to mess with the Jin Long Wei, so they came to mess with Yi Yun.

They just needed to make a gesture, to prove their undying support for Hu Ya. As for their desired outcome, they didn’t really know either.

Yi Yun was speechless. To be pestered by kids who didn’t know anything, he really felt unlucky.

Yi Yun simply released a tiny amount of aura to push the kids away. He strode out of the crowd, leaving them suppressing their rage.

In fact, ever since the semi-finals concluded, Yi Yun realized that the eyes of the Tao tribal clan’s people were full of hostility.

Yi Yun had crushed the three young masters of the Tao tribal clan in one blow. It was like walking into someone’s house to smack them in the face. How could the Tao tribal clan’s people be friendly with him?

What was worse was that Yi Yun had never shown his true strength the entire time. The results were decided by the Jin Long Wei. The people of the Tao tribal clan were extremely disgruntled with the results announced by the Jin Long Wei.

Yi Yun ignored these people and only wanted to quickly get out of the crowd. At that moment, Yi Yun noticed that not far away from him stood a girl in white. She was smiling at him.

The setting sun made the girl cast a long shadow upon the ground. Her dress was coated with a golden luster that shimmered in the setting sun like dancing elves.

The girl only smiled without saying a word. Upon seeing Yi Yun look over, she turned and left.

Yi Yun understood her intentions and followed.

The two moved forward and soon disappeared from the Tao tribal clan’s city.

With a change of the scenery, Yi Yun and the girl had arrived at the Tao tribal clan’s back mountain. At that moment, the sun had set and its glow was burning the western sky red.

“You don’t seem popular…” Lin Xintong leisurely said as she turned towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun smiled helplessly and said, “My appearance in the Tao tribal clan has stolen their thunder. Naturally they wouldn’t welcome me, besides…they are indignant about it.”

“The Jin Long Wei’s evaluation results are quite authoritative. You can ignore those people…Right…I’ve previously agreed to carry on sparring with you.” Lin Xintong had set an appointment with Yi Yun for them to continue their sparring today.

“Good!” Yi Yun could not ask for anything better. Lin Xintong was a master; although Yi Yun did not know what rank Lin Xintong was, he knew that the things she revealed benefited him a lot.

Lin Xintong gently touched her wrist and pulled out a sword.

Sword!?

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. This was the first time he was seeing Lin Xintong use a weapon.

In the past sparring matches with Lin Xintong, she had used her hands to spar with Yi Yun.

“Tao Yunxiao uses a sword, so does Hu Ya. The swords they use are the Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifacts. But why do I feel that the quality of those two swords can’t match the sword in Lin Xintong’s hand?”

The body of Lin Xintong’s sword was extremely soft, like a swimming silver snake. Although it was a distance from Yi Yun, that luxuriant cold beam felt like it was stabbing into Yi Yun’s brows, giving his brows a chill.

“The sword’s name is Frost Water; it is my sword. Usually, when I face enemies, I would use a sword. You can say that I have a special talent in swords. This talent is also known as “Sword Heart”.

“Sword Heart is a form of blood lineage. It’s not something any person can awaken. Maybe in the future, you will have your own blood lineage.” Lin Xintong’s words seemed to have opened a new door for Yi Yun.

Blood lineage? Sword Heart?

Yi Yun did not know what it meant to have a blood lineage, but he suddenly felt a strong interest in it.

Lin Xintong said, “You just need to break through to the Purple Blood for now. You can ignore blood lineage for the time being. It is still something out of your grasp…”

With those words, she swung her sword and said, “A weapon is part of a warrior’s body. The first contact for warriors in the way of the sword is to wield a sword with their bodies. The next step is to use Qi to wield a sword. The third step is using the heart to wield a sword!”

“Look well today, for this is ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’!” Upon saying that, Lin Xintong’s sword began to move. She did it slowly, but each move and stance had induced the power of the Heaven and Earth. Her movement was perfect and harmonious.

Lin Xintong’s sword technique was the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’!

Yi Yun was shocked. It seemed as if there was no cultivation technique that she didn’t know.

She knew “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, as well as the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’. And these two cultivation techniques were not her main cultivation technique; her main cultivation technique was the ‘Fairy Maiden Heart Sutra’!

But even though she had learned the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ and ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ on the side, she had practiced them to an extremely high level!

Just Lin Xintong’s notes on ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, had benefited Yi Yun a lot.

As for ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’, her swordsmanship was perfect. Even Yi Yun who was not well-versed with swords could feel the wonders of it.

Especially with the vision that the Purple Crystal Origins gave Yi Yun, he could see the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi condense towards Lin Xintong, forming innumerable points of light.

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!” Out came nine golden sword beams from Lin Xintong’s body. This was the manifestation of Yuan Qi that Hu Ya previously demonstrated!

But Hu Ya’s manifestation of Yuan Qi had only appeared for an instant before shooting to the sky.

But Lin Xintong’s manifestation of Yuan Qi–the nine small golden swords were like fairies flowing around Lin Xintong’s sword beams.

When Lin Xintong struck, the small golden swords flew out’, but when she pulled her sword back, the small golden swords would follow her back.

This move amazed Yi Yun.

Thinking it through, Lin Xintong was one year younger than Hu Ya. It was hard to imagine at which grade Lin Xintong’s talent was.

“I am really a frog in a well.” Yi Yun said to himself. He had first understood ‘routines have limits, but martial arts is without limit’, and he had induced Purple Air Comes From The East. Yi Yun could not help but feel proud of these two accomplishments.

But when compared to Lin Xintong, it was nothing.

Lin Xintong had definitely achieved the realm of “routines have limits, but martial arts is without limit” a long time ago. Or she could not have written the note in the manual.

Just by casually studying a cultivation technique for half a year, Lin Xintong had reached such a state. He still had a long way to go!

Lin Xintong demonstrated her swordplay as Yi Yun watched.

Although it was the same ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’, Hu Ya’s was much worse than Lin Xintong’s. As for Tao Yunxiao’s demonstration, it was not worth even mentioning.

Having lived two lives, Yi Yun’s soul was stronger and he had a high perceptivity. Lin Xintong just demonstrated her swordplay without a word. But by simply watching Lin Xintong’s swordsmanship, Yi Yun could recall the various flaws in Tao Yunxiao’s swordsmanship.

“Tao Yunxiao was not able to show the full potential of this ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ and the ancestral artifact of the Tao tribal clan. If the way of the sword had levels, then Tao Yunxiao was at the stage of wielding a sword with his body, and just at the beginning stages…” Yi Yun began to make his evaluations. With Lin Xintong’s perfect demonstration in front of him, Yi Yun was able to review Tao Yunxiao’s swordsmanship.

In terms of martial arts, Yi Yun was a good distance away from Lin Xintong.

Yi Yun could not understand even a tenth of Lin Xintong’s swordsmanship. But even this amount allowed Yi Yun to create his own views on swordsmanship.

Many things could only be understood but not described. Everyone had a different level of perceptivity, so Lin Xintong did not speak, and only demonstrated.

Now, the insight Yi Yun gained had sown a seed within his mind. When his abilities improved in the future, that seed would grow into a towering tree!

The environment greatly influenced a warrior’s practice of martial arts.

Often when sparring with an expert, even if it was an expert-dominated one, one would become a partial expert after being abused for long.

If one sparred with a dummy often, even if they could beat the living daylights out of the dummy, one would still be a dummy after a few years of beating.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong practiced till it was almost daybreak.

After Lin Xintong departed, Yi Yun returned to the Tao tribal clan quietly.

A few hours later, it was the last round of the kingdom’s selection. It was the moment the finals began.

This battle would decide the final results.

“I wonder what the last round’s topic would be?” Yi Yun thought with anticipation!

He meditated for about an hour before sleeping and ended up entering a deep sleep state. With four hours of sleep, he was able to restore his mental state back to its optimal state…

109 - : Blood Lineage

CKtalon  CKtalon

At noon, the sound of drums thundered in the sky above the outskirts of the Tao tribal clan’s city!

Two hundred warriors of the Tao tribal clan rode their horses on the plains in a line.

Two hundred horses might not seem as much, but in reality, they created a dust storm while running in the wilderness plains.

In the vast wilderness, rearing a horse was a luxury. The Tao tribal clan only had a few hundred cavalry warriors. A large number of them were used to cheer on the finals!

The platform had long been set up. The Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch and Grand Elder had come in person, waiting to witness a historic moment. They were waiting to see their Tao tribal clan leave the vast wilderness and to head outside, into the world.

After the scene was set up, Zhang Tan rode on his horse to the center of the arena.

Today was the last day of the selection.

After the semi-finals, there were only twenty remaining Mortal Blood warriors.

The twenty people were extremely nervous. It decided the outcome of their future. Success was like a carp leaping through the dragon’s gate, while failure meant wasted effort, and they would carry on their poor lives in the vast wilderness till they died of old age.

That sort of fate was too tragic, and the thought of it was depressing.

“The third round of the Kingdom’s selection. The topic for assessment will be…” Zhang Tan said in a long tone as the people held their breath…

“The topic for assessment is…actual combat!”

When Zhang Tan said the two words, “actual combat”, the people stirred with excitement.

“Actual combat? Hahaha! Finally, they are testing actual combat!”

“Right! With actual combat, one can immediately tell who is stronger and who is weaker!”

“Great! I’m not good at fancy things like Spirit. Neither am I good at demonstrating my cultivation technique. But for actual combat? I’ve never feared anyone! I’ve fought with experts in my tribe ever since I was young. After years of practicing martial arts, I’ve undergone so many battles!”

The warriors, who had passed the semi-finals, began rubbing their hands with glee. They all agreed that this should have happened early on! They had never heard of the tests Zhang Tan did, so how could they do well?

It would have been easy if they had just tested actual combat ability right from the start!

It was fair and easy to understand! What’s the fucking point of testing all those useless things?

The participants were excited, and so was the audience.

It was a sight to watch actual combat. It could also reveal the true form of those who had resorted to trickery. There was no trickery in actual combat!

Among the contestants, Lian Chengyu and Tao Yunxiao looked at Yi Yun. The former displayed a grim smile, while the latter revealed a sardonic smile.

They had been waiting too long for an actual combat.

They originally did not have much hope for it, but Zhang Tan had given them a pleasant surprise.

They finally had a chance to prove themselves!

“Good, very good! I can’t wait for it. I want to maim you, you little bastard, giving you a living death!” Lian Chengyu sent the voice suddenly into Yi Yun’s ear.

Yi Yun looked at Lian Chengyu; but since he didn’t know how to transmit words silently, he could not be bothered to answer him.

Lian Chengyu’s eyes blazed with hatred. He clenched his fists as he couldn’t wait another second. He wished that Zhang Tan would quickly finish speaking, allowing him to fight Yi Yun!

At that moment, Zhang Tan was still announcing the rules. In this battle, weapons were allowed, because weapons were a part of a warrior’s battle power. By practicing with weapons, warriors had to use a large amount of energy, so it would be unfair if weapons were forbidden.

As for the outcome of the battle, the battle would go on till one person admitted defeat, or until one lost the ability to carry on fighting!

The order of battle was decided by the Jin Long Wei. There was no drawing of lots. Whoever the Jin Long Wei wanted to fight, they had to fight.

The final ranking was decided by the Jin Long Wei, and there was no need for them to explain their criteria to anyone.

Soon, the first round was about to begin. Yi Yun and Tao Yunxiao, who shined in the semi-finals, were not called up.

But Lian Chengyu was called up to the arena.

His opponent was a person who barely passed the semi-finals. The opponent was a Yellow rank grade one person, so he was unlikely to pass the kingdom’s selection.

Lian Chengyu’s strength was alarming. The battle lacked any suspense as that person was defeated easily by Lian Chengyu, who reached the second round.

As for Yi Yun, he entered into the second round without fighting.

This made many people, who wanted to see Yi Yun’s strength, angry. The Jin Long Wei examiners were too biased to this guy.

“He may avoid the first, but he can’t avoid the second! Sooner or later you will be exposed.” Lian Chengyu who easily won was pleased as he sneered at Yi Yun, “Others might not know your background, but I know everything! You have just practiced martial arts for three months! Your strength is only enough to abuse characters like Zhao Tiezhu. Have you ever fought a real expert? I’m afraid you don’t even have any battle experience!”

“For me, I’ve sparred with Instructor Yao since I was young. I’m at the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm, the highest possible state in the Mortal Blood realm. What makes you think that you can fight me!?”

Lian Chengyu knew that Yi Yun was a genius, but although Yi Yun had induced purple mist during his demonstration of his technique, or possessed good Spirit, it only proved that Yi Yun had talent. So what if he was talented? It was a real battle today. A genius had to grow in order to instill fear in others!

He wanted to maim Yi Yun and destroy his confidence in this battle so that he was nothing but dust in the future!

Lian Chengyu’s hate for Yi Yun was like the river waters of the East River, a never ending flow.

Yi Yun took one look at Lian Chengyu and said, “Beat your opponents first if you want to battle me. There are over ten people here. Your strength isn’t the best among them, who knows, you might be defeated in the next round.”

After listening to Yi Yun’s words, Lian Chengyu laughed, “You are really foolish to continue taunting me when your death is at hand!”

The moment Lian Chengyu said those words, Zhang Tan shouted suddenly, “Next round, Yi Yun! Lian Chengyu! Enter the arena!”

This voice shocked the numerous contestants. They had come to the realization that Yi Yun and Lian Chengyu were bitter enemies. They were waiting to watch a show, but they knew that there was a chance they might never meet in battle.

But they never expected that Yi Yun’s first match was against Lian Chengyu!

Was this a coincidence? Or a deliberate arrangement?

“It may be because Thousand Households Zhang has noticed the hostile relationship between the two and deliberately arranged it!” Someone said affirmatively. How could it be this coincidental?

“Isn’t this helping Lian Chengyu? It was all Lian Chengyu could wish for.” The people looked at Lian Chengyu and saw an excited Lian Chengyu. He was like a wolf that had spotted a lamb after starving for a month. It was as if his entire body was burning.

“Good! Good! Just to my liking! Even Thousand Households Zhang is helping me, hahaha!” Lian Chengyu was elated. He looked at Yi Yun with his eyes red with excitement. People tend to lose their rationality when they are in extreme anger.

“Today is the day of your death!” Lian Chengyu transmitted his voice that was infused with a grim smile.

110 - : The Selection’s final battle

CKtalon  CKtalon

Lian Chengyu couldn’t wait to get up on stage.

Yi Yun walked up the stage, took a deep breath, and firmly stood a hundred feet away from Lian Chengyu. He did not expect his first battle to be against Lian Chengyu. It was no doubt a destined battle!

For a long time, Yi Yun had wished to fight Lian Chengyu. To brutally beat him with his own two hands, to have fist meet flesh in an eye for an eye fashion.

Both Lian Chengyu and Yi Yun were fired up for this battle!

It was a day Yi Yun had waited too long for! After enduring so much for so long, he would finally settle everything!

“It’s unexpected, but Thousand Households Zhang actually helped Lian Chengyu. I know some of what happened between Yi Yun and Lian Chengyu. Apparently, Yi Yun backstabbed Lian Chengyu, and now there’s a huge feud between the two!”

“It will be great, both are from the same tribe so they know each other well. Lian Chengyu definitely won’t go easy on Yi Yun!”

The gathered crowd discussed the upcoming battle with a feeling of schadenfreude. As members of the Tao tribal clan, it pleased them to see an internal fight between members of the same tribe. Furthermore, one of them was Yi Yun; Yi Yun who had stood out for a long time, who pissed off the Tao tribal clan.

“Thousand Households Zhang! Might I ask a question?” Upon standing in the arena, Lian Chengyu did not immediately take a fighting stance, but instead asked Zhang Tan a question.

“Speak!” Zhang Tan responded.

“Thousand Households Zhang, warriors must give their all in battle. It often results in injury, disability, and even death. Since we are having a direct showdown, what would happen if someone were to die or be severely disabled in this battle?” When Lian Chengyu asked this, there was a collective gasp.

Nothing was wrong with Lian Chengyu’s question. Injuries were indeed common in a duel. But by asking that, he made clear his intention to maim Yi Yun in this battle. He needed to be certain from the outset if there would be repercussions from the Jin Long Wei.

If Zhang Tan gave his blessing, he could make Yi Yun suffer.

Lian Chengyu was truly cruel!

Zhang Tan frowned slightly and said indifferently, “There is plenty of danger in the vast wilderness. A warrior learns martial arts to face life and death battles. During normal practice, demonstrations, training or sparring, everything must be taken seriously and you have to give your all. We demand that every battle be treated like a true battle. And death is a real consequence of battle!”

“As long as your opponent doesn’t surrender, you can carry on attacking. If this results in death, you will not be held accountable!” Zhang Tan’s proclamation raised an uproar among the crowd.

“So without an admission of defeat, I am not responsible for causing grievous injury or death?” Lian Chengyu asked. Zhang Tan’s words contained a loophole. All he needed to do was beat Yi Yun to the point of him being unable to speak, such as choking him, or ripping off his chin!

Lian Chengyu knew that Zhang Tan was aware of the loophole. His inquiry was just to confirm that he could take advantage of it!

Zhang Tan looked thoughtfully at Lian Chengyu without a word.

Lian Chengyu knew that Zhang Tan could read his intentions. As such, he decided to openly say it, “I do not want to lie to Lord Zhang, but I have a great feud with Yi Yun! Yi Yun used a despicable method to steal my desolate bone essence. He stole my resources, which is as grave as killing my parents. Yi Yun ruined my chance to break through to the Purple Blood realm. He is my mortal enemy!”

The loud words exclaimed by Lian Chengyu stunned the crowd, and they instantly began murmuring.

So that was the matter between Lian Chengyu and Yi Yun. Yi Yun had severed Lian Chengyu’s cultivation path. It was no wonder Lian Chengyu hated him so much!

“So it turns out Yi Yun is a thief!” Someone said privately.

“When a slave steals from his master, it’s reasonable for the master to kill the slave. Furthermore, Yi Yun stole a desolate bone essence, so Lian Chengyu is even more justified to kill him!”

“That’s right, severing off the path of a warrior is grounds for a great vendetta. The Jin Long Wei wouldn’t say anything even if Lian Chengyu killed Yi Yun.”

“I thought it was just a tournament, but it has become a battle of vengeance. There will be no end to it! If the Jin Long Wei stood on the side of reason, they would not interfere.”

The crowd continued to buzz. Lian Chengyu could feel his blood boiling as he took it all in.

He looked at Zhang Tan, waiting for his reply.

Finally, Zhang Tan nodded his head slowly. Indeed, according to the rules of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, and considering his vendetta, it was well within reason for him to request a deathmatch with Yi Yun!

“Thank you for granting my request, Lord Zhang.” Lian Chengyu was overjoyed. The humiliation, frustration and defeat he had bottled up for months were about to burst.

His aura grew stronger as his killing intent rose!

“I have the support of the people and Thousand Households Zhang is aiding me! Good! With all signs affirming me today, I’ll cripple this bastard’s martial arts and show him a fate worse than death!” Lian Chengyu cried in his heart!

Yi Yun looked indifferently at Lian Chengyu.

People talked about and condemned him. They showed their disdain and contempt for his stealing of the desolate bone essence, but Yi Yun turned a deaf ear.

The current Yi Yun was like a deep well, calm and unfathomable.

Lian Chengyu clenched his fists and said with a cheeky grin, “So what if you stole my desolate bone essence? Even after consuming it, you are not my equal!”

He flexed his muscles, and they emitted an explosive crackling!

Bones like Thunder, Tendons as a Strongbow!

Lian Chengyu learned the Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist at a very young age, so he was well-versed in it. His powerful display appalled the surrounding warriors in the crowd.

Lian Chengyu was truly a ruthless person.

With every step that Lian Chengyu took towards Yi Yun, the ringing of his body’s joints and muscles could be heard.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

The ground below him cracked. His power only continued to swell and grow!

“Young Master Lian, kill the little bastard!”

“Break his tendons and twist off his head!”

Amongst the crowd, the members of the warrior preparation camp cheered wildly for their master.

For them, it was a time to hold their chins up high.

Yi Yun stood motionless until Lian Chengyu was right in front of him.

“Roar!”

Lian Chengyu roared like a beast and pounced like a vigorous tiger!

Tiger Descends Flattening Dust!

Lian Chengyu swept out his leg towards Yi Yun’s chest with a kick that could easily shatter a black ironstone the size of a stone roller—it would reduce a person to pieces upon impact.

The crowd howled!

At that moment, it was as if time had suddenly slowed down for Yi Yun. He could see Lian Chengyu’s every move clearly.

With his perceptivity, Yi Yun gained a lot of insight from constantly sparring with Lin Xintong. Furthermore, Yi Yun’s ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ had reached the state of perfect harmony, inducing the Purple Air Comes From The East. So by using ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ against Yi Yun, Lian Chengyu had sealed his own fate!

With a mere glance, he could read every single flaw in Lian Chengyu’s technique!

But even without taking advantage of those flaws, he could easily crush Lian Chengyu with the tremendous difference in their strength.

Lian Chengyu’s fierce kick approached with howling winds, such that it felt like knives crossing Yi Yun’s face!

But Yi Yun did not move one step. He waited for the instant when Lian Chengyu’s foot was about to connect, and then reached out his hand like lightning!

“Pa!”

With a crisp sound, Yi Yun’s hand clutched Lian Chengyu’s ankle!

Lian Chengyu’s charge came to an abrupt stop when Yi Yun placed his hand on his ankle. It was as if Lian Chengyu had crashed into a bronze wall at high speed!

“What?” Lian Chengyu suddenly felt a strong power emitting from his leg, interrupting his charging momentum. His leg bent as Yi Yun’s hands gripped it like metal tongs. The pain was excruciating.

“You…” Lian Chengyu was stunned, and the crowd instantly turned silent. Lian Chengyu’s high-speed kick was filled with power, how could someone catch it with a bare hand? Furthermore, Yi Yun did not take a single step back!

“You’re courting death!” Although the unexpected turn of events shocked Lian Chengyu, he did not lose his composure. With his right ankle caught he rose up and twisted, roaring as he attacked Yi Yun’s neck with his left foot!

Although Lian Chengyu’s reaction was fast, it only made things worse!

“Pa!” Yi Yun reached out his other hand; Lian Chengyu’s left foot was caught by Yi Yun.

With both feet held by Yi Yun, Lian Chengyu’s entire body was suspended!

Yi Yun held onto Lian Chengyu’s feet and lifted him as if holding a humanoid wooden pole.

“You!” Lian Chengyu’s blood rushed to his head. He was feeling angry and resentful, but he also found it unbelievable.

His attack had been perfect and powerful; how could Yi Yun easily crack the flaws in it? How was this possible!?

Yi Yun looked at Lian Chengyu like a judge that determined life and death. He said in a deadpan manner, “You have ten crimes!! You owe me ten lives!!!”

With that said, Yi Yun held onto Lian Chengyu’s legs and swung him up.

Yi Yun moved his arms up and down three times—all done while holding onto Lian Chengyu’s legs—before smashing Lian Chengyu to the ground!

“Boom!”

Yi Yun flung Lian Chengyu as if he were a wooden plank, slamming him down. It caused the ground to crack and debris was sent flying!

The top half of Lian Chengyu’s body had smashed onto the ground!

Lian Chengyu had been training his body for a very long time. His body was very tough as a result, and could endure such a blow. But even so, his face was covered with blood and he saw stars!

This scene made everyone dumbfounded.

The high and mighty Lian Chengyu had put all of his power into his ‘Tiger Descends Flattening Dust’ strike, but it was easily blocked by Yi Yun.

Not only that, but then there was a huge reversal. Lian Chengyu was grabbed by Yi Yun, and like a human pole smashed into the ground head first.

It was an extremely humiliating way of being beaten up! How could that have happened?

111 - : You owe me ten lives

CKtalon  CKtalon

The members of the Lian tribal clan warrior preparation camp were completely stunned. They stared with their eyes wide open, mouths agape for a long while.

The invincible master Lian in their hearts, had been beaten so miserably by that bumpkin Yi Yun?

“What’s…the meaning of this?”

“Isn’t Lian Chengyu at the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm?”

Some people who knew Lian Chengyu’s cultivation level said stupendously.

Among the five realms of Mortal Blood, the peak-Qi Gatherer realm was the highest cultivation level of Mortal Blood. A person at that level was an extreme existence that could only be defeated by a Purple Blood realm warrior!

“It can’t be? Is Yi Yun a Purple Blood realm warrior?” Someone thought of that and said trembly.

“How could it be? A Purple Blood warrior would not need to participate in the Mortal Blood warriors’ contest. Also, the Jin Long Wei would not allow it. Besides, how old is Yi Yun? He’s only twelve, how can he be at the Purple Blood realm at twelve?” When someone mentioned Yi Yun’s age, everyone suddenly stared speechlessly at each other.

Yes, Yi Yun was just twelve years old, two years younger than Tao Yunxiao!

A twelve-year-old’s had the battle power that could beat up Lian Chengyu, what kind of monster was he?!

At that moment, Yi Yun was walking slowly towards Lian Chengyu.

Lian Chengyu’s hands were trembling and he climbed out from the rocks. His face was covered with blood and his expression ferocious!

Yi Yun looked at Lian Chengyu with stabbing eyes.

“I have said before that you have ten charges! You owe me ten lives!!”

“For every crime, I will beat you once, just now… was the first!”

Yi Yun’s sonorous voice could be heard a few kilometers away. Everyone heard it clearly.

“The first crime!”

“You rear henchman and you rule by oppression. You monopolized the tribe’s food and resources. The commoners work hard but the rations handed out to them isn’t enough to fill their stomachs. The clothes handed out are not enough. Every year people starve and freeze to death. Your hands are stained with the blood of many Lian tribal clan lives!”

“The blow previously was for them! This life was what you owe the commoners of the Lian tribal clan!” Yi Yun’s words shocked everyone. Initially, Lian Chengyu had accused Yi Yun of stealing his desolate bone essence, leading them to believe that Lian Chengyu was the victim.

But in a turn of an eye, Yi Yun had accused Lian Chengyu of ten crimes!

Clearly, Lian Chengyu’s feud with Yi Yun was not as simple as Lian Chengyu had said!

“You want to judge me on ten crimes? Who do you think you are?” Lian Chengyu managed to squeeze those words out from his mouth. He hated Yi Yun to the bone!

With Yi Yun having the absolute advantage and the upper hand, the reversal of the situation started with Lian Chengyu being mercilessly hit to the ground. It was maddening that the haughty him had been hit in such an embarrassing manner in front of so many people.

In the event of a sudden reversal and extreme humiliation, it was easy for people to go blank.

Lian Chengyu’s mind was currently blank. He had lost his ability to think so he was no longer able to calmly measure the difference in strength between him and Yi Yun. The only thought he had was to tear Yi Yun apart!

“Die!”

Lian Chengyu gritted his teeth and pounced towards Yi Yun!

“Tiger Claws Smite Rocks”!

Lian Chengyu’s claws reached out as his bones rang!

Lian Chengyu was a martial arts prodigy in the vast wilderness. He had grasped the essence of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ taught to him by Yao Yuan.

The ‘Tiger Claws Smite Rocks’ resulted in his bones and tendons to sound out as one. Using the power of his waist and spine, it was like a real tiger pouncing over.

But, the outcome was not to be doubted!

Yi Yun’s speed was too fast, far above what Lian Chengyu was capable of. At the same time, Yi Yun’s eyesight was able to make judgments in the middle of a battle. Besides his ability to make judgments having reached its peak, Yi Yun’s body and strength were better than Lian Chengyu’s, so he could easily resolve any attack Lian Chengyu used!

“Pa!”

Lian Chengyu’s stance was received by Yi Yun, who locked on to Lian Chengyu’s wrist!

With “Ka Ka Ka” joint crackling sounds, Yi Yun’s hands clench tightly causing Lian Chengyu’s forehead to ooze with sweat due to the extreme pain!

“I don’t think I’m anyone great, but I’m qualified to try you for your crimes just because I’m stronger than you! In this world, the weak are enslaved and the strong are regarded as lords!” With that said, Yi Yun pulled Lian Chengyu’s hands down. Lian Chengyu had no way of resisting it so his entire body moved downwards.

Immediately, Yi Yun leaped up and struck Lian Chengyu’s chest with a knee!

“Puah!”

Lian Chengyu violently sprayed out a mouthful of fresh blood. About eight ribs had broken, and his body flew in the air like a torn sack before heavily falling to the ground!

Yi Yun wiped off the blood on his hands and coldly said, “The second crime!”

“You forced the people of the Lian tribal clan to go up the mountains to pick herbs. Among those who picked herbs were children. Yet they had to climb up cliffs and go down valleys. There were a countless number of people who fell to their deaths! And you were indifferent to those who had fallen to their deaths. No aid was given!”

“Once, I fell off the rocks while picking herbs and was on death’s bed. I was even buried in a grave. I managed to survive that disaster, but similarly, I didn’t receive any aid. Even when I returned home to eat that watery rice porridge, it was my sister who sacrificed her meal for me! Without dying, not only did I not receive the sympathy and comfort from the tribe, I was ridiculed by your goons, thinking I wouldn’t live past a few more days even though I had survived once.”

“This second life is what you owe to the medicine children of the Lian tribal clan, and also to me!”

After saying those words indifferently, Yi Yun walked towards Lian Chengyu again.

“You… you…” Lian Chengyu struggled to get up. Lian Chengyu’s mouth began to foam with blood like a desiccated goldfish.

His eyes were filled with boundless hatred for Yi Yun.

He had undergone ten years of honing his art and he had used various herbs. His bones and internal organs had been repeatedly trained up. So even after such a blow, he still had his fighting capacity.

“I’ll kill you!”

Humiliation, anger, the realization of the difference between ideal and reality, and with the failure to break through into the Purple Blood realm, together with the hate towards Yi Yun had made Lian Chengyu completely lose his mind.

Upon reaching this stage, no matter how composed one was, one would not be able to calm down.

Lian Chengyu was exactly so.

He charged towards Yi Yun and threw a punch at Yi Yun’s face!

Without any suspense, Lian Chengyu’s punch was easily pushed aside by Yi Yun.

Following that, Yi Yun sent out a punch, hitting Lian Chengyu in the face.

He gave him the taste of his own medicine!

“Peng!”

Lian Chengyu cried out terribly as his body tumbled in the air and flew off once again.

His face was already stained green, red, purple and black by Yi Yun. There was every color imaginable.

His nose had been punched in by Yi Yun. His two front teeth had been punched out by Yi Yun!

“The third crime, you used the kingdom’s selection as a way to leave the vast wilderness, misappropriating the Lian tribal clan’s food reserves to exchange with a large tribal clan for a piece of desolate bone. You then used the people to refine the desolate bone. The people were tricked by your woven lies about bringing them into the city. Because we had very little food, many in the Lian tribal clan starved or froze to death in the past few months.”

“And my sister had been working through the night to make arrows in order to exchange a piece of meat for me. But on the day of the distribution of rations, not only was there no beast meat, there was also insufficient fine grain. There was only a small bag of coarse grain. It was tantamount to sending us siblings to our death! My sister tried to struggle against it but nearly got beaten up by your minions!”

“This life is one that you owe those who starved to death in the Lian tribal clan, and also for me and my sister!” Yi Yun’s expression was cold, but his voice was confident. He announced Lian Chengyu’s crimes one at a time. The onlookers could only watch agape.

No one had expected that the battle would turn into such a scene.

They never expected that Yi Yun had nearly been killed by Lian Chengyu. He was lucky to have survived.

But now was his time for revenge.

If what Yi Yun had said was true, then beating Lian Chengyu was perfectly justified!

Of course, Lian Chengyu wanting to kill Yi Yun for Yi Yun’s theft of his desolate bone essence was also understandable!

The bitter vendetta between the two was like the incompatibility of fire and water. At that moment, no matter who was right or wrong, whoever had the greater strength was right! Whoever was weaker deserved death!

This was the revenge rules of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

At that moment, the members of the warrior preparation camp were completely stunned. They stared dumbfoundedly at Yi Yun without a word, as if he was a ghost.

Lian Chengyu and Yi Yun’s battle was like a completely one-sided battle between a child and an adult!

They realized the possibility that their master would end up in a very sorry state today!

Lian Chengyu got up again. His spirit was on the verge of collapsing!

Yes, compared to the physical wounds, it was the mental anguish that made it unbearable!

When people reached this stage, they might burst a socket and go mad.

Lian Chengyu was still not that mad, but he was very close to that point.

He charged at Yi Yun once again!

His attack was without any technique. The first three moves were the stances of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, but now, it was simply brute force.

With the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ already useless against Yi Yun, this brute force was meaningless against Yi Yun.

Lian Chengyu threw a punch at Yi Yun’s belly, but Yi Yun contracted his belly, condensed his Qi at his dantian, and received Lian Chengyu’s punch!

If it was ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, Yi Yun would not have directly taken on the hit. But such a strike had greatly diminished in power after Lian Chengyu received three consecutive heavy blows. Therefore, Yi Yun was able to receive it without much pressure.

After receiving Lian Chengyu’s punch, he emitted a muffled grunt. However, Yi Yun did not even take a step back. In return, he was giving Lian Chengyu a cold stare!

“The fourth crime, you hated me for inciting the people to revolt, and secretly attacked me, causing me to be on the brink of death. You owe me for this life.” With that said, Yi Yun punched Lian Chengyu in the belly.

“Peng!”

Lian Chengyu’s body curled up like a shrimp. No matter how Lian Chengyu attacked Yi Yun, Yi Yun would return it in the exact same way!

112 - : Ten crimes

CKtalon  CKtalon

Lian Chengyu was slumped to the ground. He had vomited the food he had eaten as well as blood. He was truly in a pathetic state.

“The fifth crime. You sought young girls in the tribe to be your female slaves. Not only do you rob them of their bodies, you even abused them. You had always coveted my fifteen-year-old sister. You forced her into a corner, attempting to make her fall under your clutches! This life is what you owe to the tribe’s young girls and my sister!”

Lian Chengyu was lying on the ground with his head towards Yi Yun. Yi Yun sent a kick directly at his head!

“Peng!”

With a thud, Lian Chengyu flew up like a ball and tumbled in the air backward before crashing heavily back on the ground.

After rolling on the ground a few times, he laid on the ground with his body spread apart. His nasal bones had been completely shattered!

Without a divine elixir, Lian Chengyu would become disfigured. What used to be Lian Chengyu’s nose was now just two bloody holes.

“I’ll…kill…kill you…” Lian Chengyu had trouble even speaking. With each word, blood came out from the corners of his mouth!

He had gone insane!

In fact, even if Lian Chengyu wanted to admit defeat, Yi Yun would not have given him the chance. The moment Lian Chengyu tried to open his mouth, Yi Yun could easily kick Lian Chengyu’s chin off!

This was not a contest but a vendetta. Zhang Tan had assented to it!

And the person who suggested the vendetta was none other than Lian Chengyu; he had dug his own grave!

Since Lian Chengyu had dug his grave earlier, why wouldn’t Yi Yun take advantage of it by burying him, then fill it up with a shovel?

When Yi Yun approached, Lian Chengyu, who was lying on the ground, suddenly got up. It appeared as if he had accumulated all of his energy to punch Yi Yun!

This punch was naturally not a threat to Yi Yun. But this was a feint. As Lian Chengyu’s punch traveled half the distance, he suddenly opened up his fist, sending three flying daggers out!

A concealed weapon!

These three flying daggers were made of frost metal. The blade shined blue and was apparently poisoned!

This was Lian Chengyu’s life-saving trump card. By using it, it was his last resort!

However, Yi Yun had long noticed Lian Chengyu’s moves. At the moment the flying daggers flew out, Yi Yun’s body slanted and his fingers made three taps!

“Clang! Clang! Clang!

The sound of three metallic clangs could be heard; the three flying daggers had been intercepted by Yi Yun!

Immediately following this, Yi Yun grabbed Lian Chengyu’s shoulder and twisted his joints.

Ka-cha!

The arm that Lian Chengyu had used to throw the concealed weapon had been broken by Yi Yun!

Lian Chengyu made a miserable cry in cold sweat.

Lian Chengyu’s right arm was twisted at a weird angle, and a white bone jutted out.

“The sixth crime!”

“You lied to the people of the Lian tribal clan, making them refine a desolate bone that possessed toxins! After they overdrafted their vitality and their value, you did not give them any compensation. They could only wait for their deaths! But the people were ignorant. They did not know what the cause of their deaths was. Instead, you misled them, causing them to carry on working for you. Because of this, twenty able-bodied men of the Lian tribal clan died. These able-bodied men were the breadwinners of their families. Once they died, the remaining widows and orphans can only face a grim outlook!”

“This life is what you owe to the able-bodied men who died, their wives and children, and me!” With that, Yi Yun grabbed Lian Chengyu’s neck and with a stretch of the arm, he raised him high. Lian Chengyu looked like a piece of pork hung up when seen from afar.

Yi Yun then smashed Lian Chengyu’s head into the ground!

“Boom!”

The ground fractured again. Lian Chengyu’s face was now badly mangled.

Half of his body was buried in the rubble. His outcome was miserable as the rocks were stained red.

“The seventh crime!”

“You refined the desolate bone, causing the deaths of the able-bodied men, yet you framed me. You blamed me for the deaths of others by saying that I had been infected by the plague and that I was possessed. The people did not know the truth and hated me to the bone. This hate damns you!” With that said, he stomped Lian Chengyu’s head down with a foot.

Ka-cha!

With a smash, the heap of rocks had cracked under Yi Yun’s trampling. Lian Chengyu did not even make a sound. His head was buried in the ground; his body constantly twitching.

Yi Yun had counted the seventh crime of Lian Chengyu and he had beaten him seven times. But now, Lian Chengyu could no longer get up.

“Young…Young Master…” The members of the Lian tribal clan were pale and their voice trembled. They had never imagined that such a small and harmless, easily bullied Yi Yun would suddenly have such monstrous power. He had trashed their high and mighty master, Lian Chengyu!

Not only the members of the Lian tribal clan warrior preparation camp were appalled at this, even the people of the Tao tribal clan twitched. This was not a contest but a brutal killing!

This Yi Yun was too ruthless!

But based on what he said, he and Lian Chengyu did have a great feud. It wasn’t unreasonable for Yi Yun’s actions against him!

Lian Chengyu’s acts were indeed diabolical and heartless.

But in the vast wilderness, these kinds of things were not uncommon. Experts could dictate the fate of others without punishment regardless of the severity of the action. On the contrary, an expert would have a bunch of goons willing to be followers or accomplices to carry on oppressing and exploiting the people.

But killers can be killed. The day the killer is weaker, the killer’s outcome would be a miserable state like Lian Chengyu’s!

At this stage, Yi Yun still had no look of mercy. With one hand, he grabbed Lian Chengyu’s twitching leg and pulled him out from the rubble.

Yi Yun had reduced Lian Chengyu to such an insufferable state that even his mother would not recognize him.

Lian Chengyu was flipped upside down by Yi Yun, with his face in contact with the ground. Lian Chengyu was held up like a brush; a stroke on the ground left a red streak, but the red liquid was his blood, not ink.

Yi Yun did not stop because of Lian Chengyu’s terrible state. It was like he held a book that determined life and death. He was like Hades, the god of death who judged a person on their merits and crimes. Yi Yun carried on declaring Lian Chengyu’s crimes.

“The eighth crime! You instigated the people to attack my sister. Even the house was burned down.”

“My sister was all alone when she was bullied by the villagers. She had received news of my disappearance, a blow to her psyche that nearly made her have a nervous breakdown. I swore to protect my sister, yet you pushed her to a corner. This life is what you owe me, and my sister as well!” With that said, Yi Yun released his grip and Lian Chengyu’s body slipped in the air before receiving a side kick from Yi Yun.

“Peng!”

Lian Chengyu flew like a ball, splattering blood everywhere!

A collective gasp could be heard as many curled their mouths.

This kid sure was ruthless!

The children who had confronted Yi Yun the other day at the cafeteria, especially the fourteen-year-old little girl that led the group, shivered in fear!

Their tiny faces were pale and they were terrified.

This short and easily bullied young boy was a devil!

Under his harmless looking exterior was a cruel wolf with a bushy tail. They could not imagine what would have happened if that devil had released just a tenth, no, a hundredth of his might…

What would have happened to them?

It was unimaginable!

“Don’t… Don’t hit any further… Our young master… admits… admits defeat…” A member of the warrior preparation camp said with a faltering voice. Yi Yun looked back at the man with a deadpan expression.

Yi Yun’s eyes looked like he had killed a god. His face was stained with blood and his body was enveloped with a killing aura. The member of the warrior preparation camp trembled in his knees upon seeing Yi Yun’s eyes. With a thud, he had knelt to the ground.

Yi Yun had an extremely oppressive aura. He had beaten already Lian Chengyu up to such an insufferable state, so how could a slave of Lian Chengyu have the courage to face Yi Yun?

“What did you say?” Yi Yun returned with a question. The man immediately fell silent for he regretted uttering those words.

“I… I didn’t say… didn’t say anything.” He trembled as he spoke and looked towards Zhang Tan, hoping that he could prevent Yi Yun from further violence. The only person who could stop Yi Yun was Zhang Tan.

It was clear who had won. As long as Zhang Tan gave the word, Yi Yun had to stop.

But Zhang Tan remained unfazed, as if whatever happened had nothing to do with him.

113 - : Brutally beating Lian Chengyu

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Jin Long Wei army prohibited plotting and backstabbing, but they did not prohibit people from seeking revenge in a fair and square manner.

In fact, this was a world with weak laws. Seeking revenge was a universally accepted principle, and advocated as a custom of the martial way.

Even the constables and judges of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom would not interfere.

Besides, this vendetta was initiated by Lian Chengyu himself. As a warrior who had initiated the life and death battle, he had to be responsible for his own life!

So Zhang Tan just looked on and did not interfere.

It was pointless no matter how much the members of warrior preparation camp wished for Zhang Tan to end the contest.

But if the situation had been the reverse, where Lian Chengyu brutally beat up Yi Yun, Zhang Tan would have interfered. In the end, this was the difference in the value of a person.

For Yi Yun to be able to induce Purple Air Comes From The East, he would likely become a Human Lord in the future; how could Lian Chengyu ever compare to that?

Lian Chengyu had done well in his evaluations, but it was only within the scope of a few thousand kilometer radius of the Tao tribal clan.

The entire Cloud Wilderness had many tribal clans the size of the Tao tribal clan!

The kingdom’s selection ran by Zhang Tan was just one of the many in the entire Cloud Wilderness.

As for a talent like Lian Chengyu, there was no harm recruiting him into the Jin Long Wei, but neither was it a loss to not recruit him.

Zhang Tan had already noticed the animosity between Lian Chengyu and Yi Yun. There had to be an end between the two. Instead of letting them conspire against each other in the Jin Long Wei army, resulting in conflict, it was better to just let them fight it out during the selection.

It was obvious who to choose between the two. Taking in a talent was a great contribution to the Jin Long Wei, but on a personal note, nurturing an expert would bring benefits to Zhang Tan himself. In the future, Yi Yun could be considered a student of Zhang Tan; so if Yi Yun really flourished in the future, Zhang Tan would also share in the glory.

So, earlier when Zhang Tan asked Yi Yun about his cultivation level, he had already predicted the outcome of this battle. Yi Yun meeting Lian Chengyu in his first round was also intentionally planned by Zhang Tan.

Lian Chengyu was destined to end in tragedy from the beginning.

But if Lian Chengyu had not dug his own grave by trying to use a loophole to kill Yi Yun, forcing Zhang Tan to take a stand, then Lian Chengyu probably would not have ended in such a pathetic state.

It could only be said that the evil that was brought on by himself is the hardest to bear!

…

“The ninth crime, you overdrafted on the Lian tribal clan’s resources, picking dry the herb mountain, slaughtered the cattle and the hunting dogs! To push your future, you burnt the bridges of the Lian tribal clan, making them the sacrifices on your altar! You owe this life to the people of the Lian tribal clan!”

…

“The tenth crime, our private revenge is irreconcilable! You wished to kill me, to make me lead a living death! Today at the kingdom’s selection, you asked the examiner, hoping to eliminate me for your nefarious joy. If I were to set a tiger free, allowing you to recover, would you seek revenge against me, harming my loved ones? So today, I’ll get rid of the roots, eliminating any future trouble!”

After Yi Yun said that, he lifted a dying Lian Chengyu and crushed his working hand, and with two punches shattered his kneecaps. With the kneecaps shattered, Lian Chengyu could no longer stand up.

Yi Yun grabbed Lian Chengyu and sent another punch.

“Peng!”

With a thud, the last punch landed on Lian Chengyu’s dantian!

Lian Chengyu’s body suddenly began to tremble violently. He was suffering from body fractures and severed meridians, but the last hit was right on his dantian. Lian Chengyu was now like a leaking basket and was unable to store energy anymore.

Even if he induced Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to enter his body, this Yuan Qi would meander through his body and escape from all his openings, leaving nothing behind.

Without energy nourishing him, compounded with the severed meridians and destroyed bones, Lian Chengyu would have great trouble recovering. He would be crippled for life and would need to be bedridden for many years.

Lian Chengyu was totally crippled by Yi Yun!

The moment Yi Yun crippled Lian Chengyu, he felt extremely refreshed. The last blow made Yi Yun feel fulfilled and delighted.

The months of suppressed hatred, animosity and all the trials he had experienced had been released at that moment!

That’s refreshing feeling made the Purple Crystal’s energy directly flow into Yi Yun’s head, nourishing and rejuvenating his soul!

“When the ancients practiced martial arts, they made sure to settle vengeance quickly. This was probably the reason as it calmed the heart and mind, lessening the bottlenecks for breaking through!”

With a throw, Lian Chengyu’s body was thrown to the ground like a wastrel. He breathed out more than he breathed in.

Lian Chengyu’s face was pale and his eyes dull. His pupils were out of focus. He laid on the ground motionless.

Lian Chengyu suffered serious injuries, was crippled off hs martial arts, and had his meridians severed, For an ambitious Lian Chengyu, this was a fatal blow. He was leading a life worse than death!

“Young…Young Master…” A few members of the Lian tribal clan warrior preparation camp were stupefied, unclear of what they should do.

With their master crippled by Yi Yun, where were they to go from here?

The people, the other members of the warrior preparation camp and the upper echelon of the Lian tribal clan were all waiting for them to return with good news!

They could not imagine what the reaction of the upper echelon of the Lian tribal clan would be upon receiving news of Lian Chengyu being crippled.

The people of the Tao tribal clan were also stunned, they were at a loss for words.

They had an attitude of schadenfreude in the internal conflict of the Lian tribal clan, but soon, they could no longer laugh.

Yi Yun was too fearsome. His ruthlessness and decisiveness of his strength and actions made them shiver.

“Yi Yun… easily maimed Lian Chengyu! If not for the ten crimes he had to count, the process might have been even shorter! What cultivation level is Yi Yun?” The people had an intuitive understanding of Lian Chengyu’s strength because he had easily shattered a black ironstone the size of a roller when he had demonstrated on the white jade stage.

It could be said that his strength was easily in the top ten or even top five of the Mortal Blood warriors that competed in the kingdom’s selection!

But such a person had been easily maimed by Yi Yun. It was not a battle but a slaughter!

How strong was Yi Yun?

“Yi Yun has to be in the Mortal Blood realm. He’s only twelve, so he can’t have broken through to the Purple Blood realm. And if he really has broken through to the Purple Blood realm, the Jin Long Wei would not have allowed him to share the arena with Lian Chengyu, causing Lian Chengyu to be beaten into such a sorry state.

“Yi Yun’s level should be at the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm!” A Tao tribal clan warrior passed his judgment. He had quite a good cultivation level, but he could not participate in the kingdom’s selection because he was above twenty-eight years of age.

“Peak-Qi Gatherer? Then it’s the same as Lian Chengyu…but how can the difference be this big when they fight?” Many commoners were puzzled. To them, everyone who was at the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm had similar strength

“This question is meaningless,” the man shook his head. “So what if they are both at peak-Qi Gatherer? Don’t forget, Yi Yun’s demonstration had been assessed as…Mystic rank grade five.”

Mystic rank grade five.

The man’s words stunned the surrounding people.

Yes, Yi Yun had been assessed by the Jin Long Wei to be a Mystic rank grade five, much higher than their tribe’s three young masters!

Mystic genius was a young lord! When he grew up, he could become a noble!

The people of the Tao tribal clan were unconvinced originally, but now they were speechless.

They had to admit that Yi Yun’s talent and strength lived up to his ranking.

When Yi Yun demonstrated his techniques on the white jade stage, he did not show his strength because he did not want to.

If Yi Yun wanted to give a shot, shattering a black ironstone would have been too easy,

The fanatic fans of Tao Yunxiao and Hu Ya had all shut up.

With Yi Yun’s strength displayed to them, they no longer had grounds for dispute. The truth of the matter proved that the Jin Long Wei did not make an error in their assessment. Yi Yun did not use a loophole to obtain first place in the preliminary round. And Yi Yun’s demonstration was something they did not understand because of their lack of insight.

114 - : Evil brought on by himself is the hardest to bear

CKtalon  CKtalon

Lian Chengyu was carried out by the people from the Lian tribal clan’s warrior preparation camp. The arena was filled with pools of blood.

Up in the sky in the airship, Old Man Su smiled at this scene.

“This kid sure is resolute! I like it!” Old Man Su may look gentle and friendly, but he was no benevolent monk; Yi Yun’s actions suited his liking.

It was necessary to rid any possibility of any future threat. In fact, if Old Man Su had done it himself, he would have been even more ruthless.

Beside Old Man Su was Lin Xintong; she had seen the entire process of Yi Yun’s abuse of Lian Chengyu.

She may be pure as she stood aloof from the world, but she was not a kind fairy who could not bear to step on an ant. On major issues, Lin Xintong had her own thoughts and principles.

Lin Xintong said, “Master, I sparred with Yi Yun again last night. He has high perceptivity and grows fast. His strength may not be a match against the Purple Blood realm, but he’s not far from it.”

“Oh, he’s indeed pretty good considering his background. Let’s watch on. In a few more rounds, he will battle with Tao Yunxiao. There might be a surprise waiting for us.”

Under the flying boat, Tao Yunxiao watched gloomily at Lian Chengyu, who scarcely had any breath left.

At this point, everyone knew that in this contest of the Mortal Blood warriors, only Tao Yunxiao and Yi Yun were fighting for first place.

Tao Yunxiao had some idea of Lian Chengyu’s strength. Although the members of Lian tribal clan warrior preparation camp were a bunch of trash, their master Lian Chengyu had some capability. But now, he had been beaten into such a sorry state. It was a devastation.

Even the haughty Tao Yunxiao felt the pressure from Yi Yun!

“Father, I request the use of the ancestral artifact!” Tao Yunxiao transmitted his voice to his father. Tao Yunxiao had originally planned on fighting unarmed to demonstrate his overwhelming strength.

But now, he needed the ancestral artifact to take down Yi Yun!

Tao Yunxiao’s forte was in swordsmanship. By using the female-sword of the female-male sword pair with the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’, Tao Yunxiao believed that he could beat Yi Yun.

Even if he was no match against Yi Yun, Tao Yunxiao could still use the forbidden energy of the ancestral artifact!

Once he used that forbidden energy, he could fight someone much stronger than him!

Using the Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact to obtain victory was not an elegant win but Tao Yunxiao could not care that much.

Tao Yunxiao’s father went silent for a moment. He was negotiating with the Grand Elder silently.

After a long time, the Grand Elder transmitted his voice to Tao Yunxiao, “Yunxiao. Be warned that with the ancestral artifact used, you have to win and not lose!”

“Our Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact has a thousand-year heritage. The ancestral artifact has the spiritual guardians of the Tao tribal clan protecting it. If you were to lose to a commoner from a small tribal clan with the ancestral artifact in hand, that will be the greatest insult to our ancestors. Even all the blessings within the ancestral artifact will be lost!”

The Grand Elder had debated on this topic for a long time before coming to a decision.

The Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact was not only a protective weapon, it was also used in rituals. Many things were at stake.

In the vast wilderness, anything that had to do with the rituals was given special attention. To use the ancestral artifact in battle concerned the pride of the tribe.

Tao Yunxiao said, “Don’t worry Grand Elder. With the ancestral artifact, my strength will increase several times, ensuring my victory!”

Tao Yunxiao said it as a matter-of-fact. He was sure that he would win the battle. He would not hesitate to use the forbidden energy!

…

After Yi Yun went onstage, the matches became much more peaceful.

Previously, Zhang Tan had given his blessings that people could settle any feuds in the arena and the Jin Long Wei would not interfere. But those without any enmity were not allowed to fight to the death. The Jin Long Wei would end the fight if necessary.

Although the elites of the Tao tribal clan fought with flair, compared to the visual impact of Yi Yun thrashing Lian Chengyu, there was still a large gap.

The people were anticipating the final battle between Yi Yun and Tao Yunxiao!

There were over twenty matches that day. Yi Yun had another round in the afternoon against an elite nurtured by the Tao tribal clan.

This man was well-built and he was in his twenties. His results in the preliminary and the semi-finals were not worse than Lian Chengyu’s.

The elites of the Tao tribal clan were all proud people. They would not pay a small tribal clan’s heir no mind. A small tribe’s heir? What’s that!?

But today… on this stage, the tall youth had no such temper when facing Yi Yun.

He clearly knew that he was no match against this beast in human clothes. All the Mortal Blood warriors in the Tao tribal clan were no match against him, except Tao Yunxiao.

“The match begins!” Zhang Tan announced. Yi Yun did not get into any stance. The tall youth’s heart thumped because the arena he was standing on still had the blood stains from Yi Yun’s last match.

The twelve-year-old, who was shorter than him by a head, was surely a demon. Against Yi Yun, his aura was much weaker. If he did not do well, he might end up like Lian Chengyu, losing his chances at the kingdom’s selection.

But he could not admit defeat immediately. This was the Tao tribal clan’s turf. As a member of the Tao tribal clan, he represented the tribe’s glory. It was too embarrassing to flee without a fight.

The tall youth was irrevocably committed.

“Do you dare to take three hits from me?” He said with an idea lighting up within his head.

“Go ahead,” Yi Yun said casually. Due to the difference in strength, he did not mind that his opponent would strike first.

The tall youth was careful and continuously used moves from the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

“Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain!”

“Tiger Descends Flattening Dust!”

“Dragon Battles Tiger!”

The three moves were powerful with muscles and bones cracking. This tall youth was full of power!

But the three moves failed to do anything to Yi Yun. Yi Yun twisted and easily took on the attacks.

Initially, Yi Yun thought he could attack after the three moves, but the tall youth unexpectedly cupped his hands saying, “Your impressiveness in martial arts make me admit my inferiority. I concede defeat!”

Upon saying that, the tall youth turned and left the arena without delay.

This gave Yi Yun’s mixed feelings. He understood that the youth knew that he was not his match, but he could not admit defeat immediately. So he went through the motion by attacking three times. Since Yi Yun had acceded to it, the youth did not need to worry about being wounded.

After three moves, he could openly admit defeat.

The person was truly sly.

Although the tall youth had admitted defeat. He had lost with dignity. The people of the Tao tribal clan did not expect him to win, so the result was as expected.

The many experts from the Tao tribal clan that later appeared used the same tactic as the tall youth. They went through the motions of attacking Yi Yun a few times before admitting defeat.

They were still competing for spots with others; knowing that they were no match against Yi Yun, there was no reason to waste their energy and court death.

As such, Yi Yun reached the finals without any resistance.

The other person that reached the finals was none other than Tao Yunxiao!

Tao Yunxiao and Yi Yun were the two starlets of the Mortal Blood realm and their clash finally came.

This battle was the focus of attention!

In the Tao tribal clan, the people that had gathered were numerous despite Tao Yunxiao having fewer supporters than Hu Ya. Many teenage girls had already treated Tao Yunxiao, who was the same age as them, as their idol.

This was the home ground advantage. Whenever Tao Yunxiao went onstage, there would be a myriad of cheers.

It was already late in the afternoon, with the sun setting in the west. The kingdom’s selection final round for Mortal Blood warriors had taken an entire day.

“Do you need to rest?” Zhang Tan asked. They were originally planning to hold the final round over two days, so the battle between Yi Yun and Tao Yunxiao could be left to the next day.

“There’s no need,” said Tao Yunxiao while shaking his head. He had hardly used any energy in the previous matches since the Tao tribal clan’s elites would immediately admit defeat against him. Not only had Tao Yunxiao maintained his optimal state, Yi Yun was also no different.

115 - : Consecutive Victories

CKtalon  CKtalon

Zhang Tan was satisfied with the responses of Tao Yunxiao and Yi Yun and said, “Good, in thirty minutes, you will begin your duel. If Tao Yunxiao were to win, he will be designated as a Jin Long Wei elite.”

Hearing this from Zhang Tan, Tao Yunxiao was stunned and overjoyed.

Jin Long Wei’s elite!

Under normal circumstances, only the exceptional Purple Blood warriors would be inducted as a Jin Long Wei elite. Upon becoming a Jin Long Wei elite, they would be given much greater resources and facilities. They were promised a bright path ahead.

Originally, Zhang Tan promised this to the Mortal Blood’s first place, and with Yi Yun winning the first two rounds, Tao Yunxiao felt there was little hope in him coming in first even if he won the final battle. Unexpectedly, luck had turned in his favor and Zhang Tan had promised that he could be a Jin Long Wei elite by beating Yi Yun.

How could Tao Yunxiao not be excited?

Thankfully, he had received the ancestral artifact. With the ancestral artifact aiding him, his might would be doubled, and it would not be hard for him to defeat Yi Yun.

At that moment, not only Tao Yunxiao but all the Elders and the Grand Elder of the Tao tribal clan were stirring with excitement. If Tao Yunxiao could become a Jin Long Wei elite, it would greatly aid that bid of bringing the Tao tribal clan out of the vast wilderness.

But Zhang Tan carried on with his words that shocked the Tao tribal clan’s elders and Tao Yunxiao. Their original excitement had evaporated and they were left in a prolonged silence.

Zhang Tan said, “In this final battle, Yi Yun would become a Jin Long Wei elite regardless of the outcome. But if Yi Yun were to win, he will also be conferred the title of Kingdom Knight.”

The words “conferred the title of Kingdom Knight” shocked everyone.

Being defeated meant becoming a Jin Long Wei elite.

Not only did victory make him a Jin Long Wei elite, but he would also become a Kingdom Knight.

What was a Kingdom Knight in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom? Under the divine emperor were the nobles. The nobles were divided into seven ranks: prince, duke, marquis, count, viscount, baron, and knight.

The knight was of course “Kingdom Knight”.

Although Kingdom Knights were ranked last amongst the nobles, it was in no way of little value. All the nobles of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom were canonized by the royal household.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was a vast country. The founding emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was a sage, so it was difficult to measure the number of territories under it.

The great vastness of the Cloud Wilderness was just a remote place in the northern part of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and it was of little value.

As for the Tao tribal clan, they were just one of the many tribes in the Cloud Wilderness. Their territory just spanned five hundred kilometers.

It was a great honor to be conferred nobility by the royal household in such a vast empire, even if was only in name.

The title of nobility could not be used in idle talk. The difference between nobles and plebeians was great in any country in the vast wilderness.

Previously, the henchmen of Lian Chengyu often claimed that “Lian Chengyu will become a Kingdom Knight”, while Lian Cuihua and those women would spread information on how powerful a Kingdom Knight was throughout the Lian tribal clan. This made it seem like Lian Chengyu would immediately become a Kingdom Knight. But in reality, there was a huge gap between passing the kingdom’s selection and to be a Kingdom Knight.

Normally, to be a Kingdom Knight, one had to render meritorious services in battle. If not for meritorious services, they had to have outstanding talent to be noticed by the top before they could be conferred.

Just take the Jin Long Wei as an example. 99% of the Jin Long Wei warriors were never conferred titles. Their status was the same as a commoner and not a noble.

Even Zhang Tan as a Thousand Households of the Jin Long Wei was just a ‘Kingdom Knight’.

Which is to say, in terms of nobility ranking, Yi Yun would be at the same level as Zhang Tan.

Zhang Tan did not have the authority to confer Yi Yun as a Kingdom Knight, but after Yi Yun had induced Purple Air Comes From The East, it meant that he was bound to have a bright future and to become either a future duke or prince.

For a person who could become a duke in the future, so what if they gave the title of Kingdom Knight?

So to bestow Yi Yun the title of Kingdom Knight, Zhang Tan had consulted the senior members of the Jin Long Wei. Only after they gave their permission did he procure the Kingdom Knight title.

The next thing to do was to enter the capital for approval. In fact, a title like Kingdom Knight was a sure thing once the upper echelon of the Jin Long Wei had decided on it. Going into the capital for approval was just a process.

“As long as Yi Yun beats Young Master Yunxiao, he would become a Kingdom Knight.” The warriors of the Tao tribal clan knew clearly what it meant by the words Kingdom Knight. They could not believe that a poor kid from a small tribal clan could become an esteemed noble.

Days later, they would have to bow to Yi Yun upon seeing him.

It would be such a humiliating scene for them.

“Tsk, that will only happen if he beats Young Master Yunxiao. Young Master Yunxiao has obtained permission to use our Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact. With the ancestral artifact in hand, Young Master Yunxiao would be successful in any endeavor.” Some Tao tribal clan warriors said indignantly. The warriors of the Tao tribal clan found it hard to accept that such a title could be given to a commoner of a small tribal clan. They were extremely proud but Yi Yun had trampled on their pride.

“That’s right, for Yi Yun to get the title, he has to cross the hurdle of our Young Master. Our Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact has killed numerous ancient desolate beasts. Can Yi Yun withstand the ancestral artifact?”

The title of Kingdom Knight made everyone green with envy, because this title was not just idle talk, but was something packed with real benefits.

Kingdom Knights could obtain resources from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom annually. Not only that, a Kingdom Knight would receive a small piece of land in the central heartlands, where they could build their home.

Don’t belittle this, it was an absolute attraction to the people of the vast wilderness.

Typically, a Kingdom Knight was pretty wealthy. As a Kingdom Knight was strong, he had a respectable status. As such, many would come to seek refuge under the Kingdom Knight, giving up their numerous possessions in order to become a servant of the Kingdom Knight.

Many beautiful young women would vie to dedicate themselves, selling their bodies to the Kingdom Knight and serving him. If they were lucky to be noticed by the master, they could become a room maiden or a concubine. It would be a great blessing.

This was the present situation of this chaotic world. Commoners lived arduous lives in this world. By being sheltered by a large tree, their lives would be easy even if they were to lead a freedomless life of servitude.

What Lian Chengyu had previously mentioned of a family clan was this. If he became a Kingdom Knight, he could own his little piece of territory. He could take in servants and beauties and enjoyed splendid riches.

This vague promise had made the people of the Lian tribal clan excited. To these suffering people, they could get by through their labor, with no fear of famine, plagues or attacks from beasts if they could follow Lian Chengyu into the central heartlands of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Such days would be like paradise.

Now, Lian Chengyu’s dreams had been crushed like his body—never to be realized.

How ironic it was that Lian Chengyu’s ambitious goals were realized by Yi Yun.

Once Yi Yun became a Kingdom Knight, he could bring a group of people to his land in the heartlands. He could build his homes, take in servants and become a real lord of nobility.

The thought of a twelve-year-old noble made many jealous. It could only be described as a bright future.

Added with the fact that Yi Yun was handsome, even many girls of the Tao tribal clan would end up admiring him if he were to become a Kingdom Knight. Those fans of Hu Ya and Tao Yunxiao might even turn their backs on their infatuation and go for Yi Yun as one of his admirers. This was the power of the title of Kingdom Knight had.

Tao Yunxiao was so green with envy that his intestines turned green.

He originally thought that defeating Yi Yun to become a Jin Long Wei elite was a great honor.

But in a turn of an eye, Zhang Tan’s promise to Yi Yun shattered his pride mercilessly.

Even if Yi Yun lost, he would still be a Jin Long Wei elite, and if he won, he would be a Kingdom Knight!

Tao Yunxiao’s ambitions were similar to Lian Chengyu’s. He too wanted riches and concubines, great power and glory. Tao Yunxiao just had a greater ambition than Lian Chengyu.

At that moment, his ambition had not even been realized one bit, but Yi Yun had already taken his first step. This made him jealous.

“Kingdom Knight? How could I allow you to become a Kingdom Knight? Stop dreaming. I’ll defeat you no matter what it takes.” While thinking this, Tao Yunxiao gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

He wanted to be a Jin Long Wei elite and absolutely did not want to see Yi Yun become a Kingdom Knight. He had to win this final battle.

116 - : Kingdom Knight

CKtalon  CKtalon

There was a thirty minutes break before the final match. The Tao tribal clan took this opportunity to hold a ritual and a prayer before the ancestral artifact was taken out.

The ritual involved slaughtering a cow and the dancing and chanting by two witches, who had their faces smeared with cow blood.

A witch took out the Tao tribal clan’s female sword component of the ancestral artifact and washed it with blood.

This was a necessary ritual the Tao tribal clan used when taking out the ancestral artifact. It was not needed when practicing or demonstrating. But the ancestral artifact would see blood when used against an enemy; hence, they had to hold a ritual to honor the souls of their ancestors within the ancestral artifact.

It could be said to be odd because, when the female-sword was immersed in a copper bucket filled with cow’s blood, the cow blood suddenly bubbled as if it were boiling. In a while, the entire bucket was dry. It gave the feeling that the blood had been absorbed by the sword!

“That sword…is a bit malevolent…” Yi Yun frowned slightly. He had originally thought the ritual did not do a thing because it stemmed from the superstitions of the vast wilderness. But he did not expect that the female sword of the Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact would absorb the blood.

After feasting on the blood, the female sword looked redder, as though an invisible force circulated on the sword’s body. From the looks of it, the Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact was extraordinary!

After the ancestral artifact tasted blood, the Tao tribal clan’s witch carefully wiped the sword dry before handing it over to Tao Yunxiao.

Tao Yunxiao genuflected and raised both his hands above his head to accept the female sword.

After he received the female sword, Tao Yunxiao felt his body brimming with energy. He looked towards Yi Yun with eyes burning with battle flames.

“Yi Yun! Get on the stage!” Tao Yunxiao said as he jumped into the arena.

Yi Yun gave a meaningful glance at that female sword before working his way into the arena.

The sun began to set in the vast wilderness, its bright glow dyeing the western sky red.

There were tens of thousands of people watching Yi Yun and Tao Yunxiao, who stood a hundred feet apart. They all held their breath and paid full attention. They did not want to miss any interesting moments of the duel.

This was a battle using the Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact!

The Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact was no trifling matter; many people of the Tao tribal clan had never even seen the ancestral artifact, even at an old age. Some did not even know what the ancestral artifact looked like.

How could they not feel excited about seeing the ancestral artifact’s power today?

“Young Master Yunxiao is sure to win! Long live the Tao tribal clan!” shouted someone in the audience. This shout slowly turned into a tumultuous wave, with each succeeding wave being higher than the last.

It was a battle that determined their future!

Yi Yun wanted to become a Kingdom Knight because he knew that the best among the Kingdom Knights could enter the Divine Kingdom’s royal capital, and enjoy the cultivation resources of the Kingdom, practicing the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”!

Becoming a Kingdom Knight was an important step on his martial path.

Not only that, Kingdom Knights’ had their own territory. So, Yi Yun could bring his sister Jiang Xiaorou to the heartlands and lead a comfortable life.

He would include people he received favors from like Aunt Wang, Uncle Zhou and the delicate and touching Zhou Xiaoke. Yi Yun wanted to bring these people into the heartlands, letting them bid farewell to the uncertain life of the Cloud Wilderness.

“Yi Yun, you and I do not have any feud, but the sword is blind. Don’t blame me if I were to hurt you accidentally. I’ll give you another warning. With the female sword in hand, my strength is at least doubled!” Tao Yunxiao said in high-spirits while embracing the female sword with his arms crossed.

“It’s meaningless talk, make your move!” Upon saying those words, Yi Yun opened up his arms to fight bare-handed with Tao Yunxiao’s female sword of the ancestral artifact!

The desert wind was fluttering, blowing Yi Yun’s linen clothes. Yi Yun’s figure and aura left a deep impression in the eyes of many.

Some girls from the Tao tribal clan suddenly had a subtle change of heart when they saw Yi Yun looking like this. The girls of the vast wilderness worshiped heroes; the current Yi Yun was a hero in their eyes!

He was a genius and he had a great future ahead of him. He showed no fear as he faced Tao Yunxiao’s sword bare-handed!

This arrogance tormented the hearts of these girls. They looked at Yi Yun’s back, and some of their faces blushed red as their heartbeat increased in speed.

If Yi Yun beat Tao Yunxiao, they could follow him to the Kingdom Knight’s territory in the event Yi Yun showed them mercy. They could escape the poor and dangerous vast wilderness and to serve Yi Yun for life wasn’t a bad thing…

The thoughts of these girls were not known to Tao Yunxiao. If he knew, he would have gone mad from anger. He only felt Yi Yun’s aura growing stronger, with a grunt, the female sword he embraced had been unsheathed!

“Clang!”

The female sword flew to Tao Yunxiao’s hands as if it were alive. Tao Yunxiao could not wait to defeat Yi Yun.

Time seemed to freeze as tens of thousands of people watched Tao Yunxiao attack!

His body suddenly appeared as a line of shadows and the people could only hear the sounds of his steps and the sword cutting through the air!

“Cha!”

The female sword sliced through the desert wind; it was so fast that people could not see clearly.

“Such a fast sword!”

“We can’t even see Young Master Yunxiao’s sword, how can it be avoidable?”

When a person attacks with a sword, compared to using fists, it would increase the attacking range, attacking power and the attacking speed as well.

The speed difference between a slash of the sword against a punch from the fist was very different.

“Whew!”

Tao Yunxiao had quickly moved in front of Yi Yun and his female sword had gone straight for Yi Yun’s throat!

If this sword were to hit, Yi Yun’s throat would split apart. Even if the Jin Long Wei’s doctor was nearby, he was unlikely to be saved.

The people exclaimed but Yi Yun remained calm.

He had seen the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ before!

Last night, he had seen Lin Xintong’s full version of the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’. Compared to Lin Xintong’s swordplay, Tao Yunxiao’s ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ was not worthy of mention.

Although Yi Yun had never adapted to Lin Xintong’s sword, he could see the flaws of Tao Yunxiao’s swordplay. It was not a problem.

Just at the moment, Tao Yunxiao was about to pierce through Yi Yun’s throat, Yi Yun suddenly moved backward and dodged the killing blow. The sword’s tip was less than an inch away from Yi Yun’s throat!

“Huh!?” Tao Yunxiao was not pleased that Yi Yun managed to dodge his first attack in an extremely serene manner, and he quickly responded with a second attack.

He was using the ‘Flowers of the Storm’ stance of the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’. When this stance was practiced to the extreme, a sword could stab out over a hundred times in the time it takes one breath!

Tao Yunxiao could not reach that level, but he could thrust a few dozen strikes out. From afar, Tao Yunxiao’s strikes were a spectacular light show.

The ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’, when brandished, was so tightly bound that it could prevent water from entering. The sword beams around Tao Yunxiao’s body together with sword Qi would form a protective boundary. Tao Yunxiao was in the early stages of this state.

When this dense sword beams hurled at Yi Yun to envelop him, Yi Yun’s body turned into shadows that people couldn’t read.

This feeling was the same illusion Zhang Yuxian gave off when he demonstrated ‘Elephant Swallowing Technique’. They did not know what moves Yi Yun was making, but all they felt was that the arena was covered with afterimages!

The sword beams and afterimages were dazzling!

But there was no doubt that Tao Yunxiao’s strikes had failed to hit their target!

A person with a sword had issued a dense rain-like attack, while the other was avoiding barehandedly. It was clear who was better!

“What!?” Tao Yunxiao’s face turned a flustered red. He knew that Yi Yun would be a tough fight, so he had requested permission to use the ancestral artifact against Yi Yun. But he did not know that fighting Yi Yun would be much harder than he expected.

He had practiced his swordplay for several years, where his sword was as if a part of him; yet, he could not even touch the sleeves of Yi Yun!

“Yunxiao, don’t be anxious!” The voice of Tao Yunxiao’s father came into his ears. He could tell that his son was turning distraught from facing Yi Yun.

“I know, Father. Since he has such strength, I have no choice but to use the ancestral artifact’s strength!” Although Tao Yunxiao was haughty and arrogant, he wasn’t a fool who couldn’t tell Yi Yun’s strength. He knew that Yi Yun had withheld a lot of hidden power during his battle with Lian Chengyu. Still, Tao Yunxiao had the confidence to beat Yi Yun, because he could borrow the ancestral artifact’s energy!

“Yunxiao, are you sure…?” Tao Yunxiao’s father was worried because using the ancestral artifact’s energy was no trifling matter.

Tao Yunxiao did not respond because he hit himself in the chest.

“Puah!”

Tao Yunxiao spat out a mouthful of blood onto the female sword.

And just like before, the female sword absorbed Tao Yunxiao’s blood like the cow’s blood and soon turned red and sinister!

This scene transfixed the audience.

They knew the Tao tribal clan had an ancestral artifact, but for what it was or its powers, they had no idea.

“Using blood to honor the ancestral artifact… Yunxiao really is desperate.” The grand elder frowned. The Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact had some sinister side to it. Just using it as a sword gave one immense strength.

To use the Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifacts greatest power, the artifact had to be fed with blood. And it was most effective if the blood was the swordman’s!

But to use the swordman’s blood to feed the ancestral artifact would cause great harm to his Yuan Qi. By doing this blood ritual, Tao Yunxiao might take about half a year to recover which was extremely precious for a young warrior like Tao Yunxiao.

Tao Yunxiao had laid his bets; if he did not win, it would be a huge blow to him!

“Buzz——”

After the female sword fed on the blood, it began to emit a hum across the entire area. The people of the Tao tribal clan were stunned.

They did not know that such a scene would happen after the Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact was fed blood.

Although an ancestral artifact that fed on blood seemed sinister, there was no doubt of its power. One could tell just from the hums of the ancestral artifact.

117 - : Yi Yun VS Tao Yunxiao

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s expression changed when he saw that scene.

Initially, it was easy for him to beat Tao Yunxiao. But after Tao Yunxiao used the blood ritual on the sinister sword, there were some changes.

Yi Yun even felt that the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was being drawn by that sword into a tiny black swirl.

“Master, that sword…” Up in the air, Lin Xintong frowned when she saw the sword in Tao Yunxiao’s hand.

“Oh… that’s strange… This sword of the Tao tribal clan isn’t high in quality, and wouldn’t be considered a treasure, but… the way this sword was forged and the mystic runes inscribed on it, don’t look like they were made by humans!”

“If this was a place close to the boundaries of human civilization, then it wouldn’t be odd to have something forged from a nonhuman race… but… this is the Cloud Wilderness and it has always been the land of humans. It’s infinitely far away from those nonhuman races. How did such a low-quality weapon reach the Cloud Wilderness?” Old Man Su was feeling puzzled, but at that moment, Tao Yunxiao’s aura was beginning to rapidly increase!

Tao Yunxiao’s lips were painted with fresh blood, under the sword beam of the female sword, he looked ferocious.

“Yi Yun, try taking this strike!”

Tao Yunxiao’s body rose and having activated the ancestral artifact’s energy, Tao Yunxiao was no longer the same as before!

The female sword’s speed was at its limits.

“Huh!?” Yi Yun constricted his pupils and in a moment, Tao Yunxiao’s sword was before his eyes!

Although Tao Yunxiao’s swordplay had flaws, as the saying goes that there was no way of beating a fast move, Tao Yunxiao’s speed was at its maximum, so even if he had flaws, Yi Yun could not use them against him!

Because in terms of speed, Yi Yun was worse than Tao Yunxiao!

Yi Yun felt that Tao Yunxiao had turned into a demon with the ancestral artifact in hand. The sword was giving him energy! What Tao Yunxiao was using wasn’t his own body’s energy, but the energy of the demonic sword.

“Cha!”

Yi Yun dodged Tao Yunxiao’s sword, but the sharp wind that accompanied the sword sliced open Yi Yun’s linen shirt!

“Chi!”

The hear a light sound clearly.

“He got struck!”

The crowd yelled. They could see a foot long hole appear on Yi Yun’s arm. His left sleeve had been cut off.

“No, it’s just the sword’s wind. Yi Yun isn’t injured.”

Although Yi Yun had not been hit by Tao Yunxiao’s sword, the accomplishment excited the people of the Tao tribal clan greatly.

“Young Master Yunxiao is sure to win!”

“Kill that kid!”

The people of the vast wilderness were crude. As for the people of the Tao tribal clan, especially the hot-blooded youths, they did not want the tribe to be overshadowed by Yi Yun. Furthermore, they were extremely jealous of Yi Yun.

On this point, they were different from the young girls of the Tao tribal clan.

In a savage world where strength determined a man’s position, wealth, and women, it was no different than the law of the jungle. Males who feel a threat to their territory from an outsider would treat the outsider with hostility.

And Tao Yunxiao was the alpha-wolf among those beasts.

Seeing his left sleeve cut, Yi Yun’s eyes focused.

Tao Yunxiao had really become a lot stronger.

“He dodged it? Hmph! The next time, I’ll cut off your arm!” Tao Yunxiao sneered. Suddenly his right arm moved with a shrill ringing sound.

“Cha!”

The air was compressed by the female sword and with an explosion, blue waves of air raced at Yi Yun!

“Sword Qi!” Someone screamed outside the arena. Tao Yunxiao had released sword Qi the day before while demonstrating his swordplay, hence leaving a deep impression of sword Qi in the people’s minds.

And today, Tao Yunxiao released sword Qi again to the point of it being visible. This power and speed far exceeded the previous day’s!

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted as he dodged!

“Cha!”

Yi Yun dodged the sword Qi just in time, but at that moment, Tao Yunxiao had already appeared in front of Yi Yun!

With his extreme speed, it was as if he had teleported in front of Yi Yun. His ferocious expression was reflected in Yi Yun’s pupils!

At that moment, Yi Yun had just avoided the sword Qi and was in mid-air. He had no way of avoiding anymore!

By using the sword Qi to force Yi Yun into revealing a weak point, appearing before Yi Yun in a blink of an eye and sending out a killing blow was a fantastic chain of events! This was too much for the audience’s eyes to feast on!

How could anyone avoid this kind of attack?

Young Master Yunxiao was about to win! The people opened up their eyes, afraid to miss the next exciting scene.

The Tao tribal clan’s Grand Elder tightened up. This battle was of utmost importance. Tao Yunxiao was just about to defeat Yi Yun making him excited and nervous!

Even on the airship, Lin Xintong, who was full of confidence for Yi Yun, jumped in fright! She consciously touched her interspatial wristband, prepared to take out elixirs from within to save Yi Yun!

With nowhere to step on, Yi Yun had no way of dodging!

“Die!”

Tao Yunxiao struck! The sword traveled towards Yi Yun’s chest. The female sword was only two feet long and its blade was as red as blood!

At that moment, time seemed to come to a halt. In Yi Yun’s eyes, the blood red female sword was like a venomous snake approaching him!

Yi Yun had unprecedented focus. He seemed to have returned to the previous night when he had sparred with Lin Xintong. Lin Xintong had attacked him again and again. Although her suppressed attacks were not as fast as Tao Yunxiao’s, it had greater charm than him. Lin Xintong’s attacks on Yi Yun were not only physical attacks but were forceful attacks!

Force…

Yi Yun’s mind flashed the words Lin Xintong had said the previous night.

“That is the introductory stage to a movement technique known as ‘Minute Subtlety’. By using the smallest actions to avoid an enemy’s attack, this is known as ‘Minute Subtlety’! This ‘Minute Subtlety’ technique, after the introductory stage is known as the small success stage, which can borrow the opponent’s ‘force’ to aid in avoiding. Even if I said more, it will be hard for you to comprehend. Everything will depend on your own enlightenment…”

At that instant, Yi Yun suddenly understood something. Facing Tao Yunxiao’s attack, Yi Yun forcefully twisted his body and the red blood sword grazed Yi Yun’s nose. With a distance less than an inch, Yi Yun had dodged it!

The airborne Yi Yun had nowhere to land, yet he had managed to dodge it. It gave people the feeling like he was a leaf that was blown by Tao Yunxiao’s sword Qi.

“Huh!?”The whole Tao tribal clan was stunned. On the Tao tribal clan’s platform, the Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch, Grand Elder, and others were shocked. How did Yi Yun manage to avoid in mid-air?

“Impossible!” Tao Yunxiao refused to believe the result and attacked once again!

Flowers of the Storm!

Tao Yunxiao, who had stimulated the female sword’s energy, could nearly force out a hundred strikes when he used Flowers of the Storm!

This swordplay speed made the female sword’s body melt into the desert wind; only the wind of the sword could be felt, but the sword was unseen!

But something strange happened. Yi Yun’s body was like a feather without weight. Tao Yunxiao’s sword would strike, but Yi Yun’s body would move backward as a result. It felt like Tao Yunxiao was not brandishing a sword but a fan, and the wind that blew from the fan blew Yi Yun away.

Tao Yunxiao’s sword Qi was extremely sharp that it could cut through black ironstone, so how could the sword wind blow someone away? But that was what had happened in front of the crowd!

Yi Yun’s movements were too strange. Tao Yunxiao’s swordplay was extremely fast, but in front of Yi Yun, it looked slow and heavy!

It was as if Tao Yunxiao was using a fan to attack a feather. No matter how he fanned, it would not hit the feather, because the stronger he fanned, the greater the wind, making the feather fly faster!

After continuously attacking with a few hundred strikes, he could not even touch Yi Yun’s sleeve. Tao Yunxiao began to sweat profusely.

How could this be possible!?

On the Tao tribal clan’s platform, the Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch, Grand Elder, and others were distraught, with sweat oozing out of their foreheads.

They had lived for a long time and read many books. They had much greater knowledge than Tao Yunxiao. They knew what Yi Yun’s movement was.

“Minute Subtlety…This is the movement skill, Minute Subtlety!” The voice of the Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch trembled.

First, it was Purple Air Comes From The East, next it was the Minute Subtlety realm!

How could all of this appear in a twelve-year-old!?

118 - : The insight gained from battle

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch was a sixty-year-old man. For the ceremony, he wore a ceremonial dress for the Tao tribal clan’s ritual. However, due to his surprised reaction, the ceremonial dress became extremely untidy.

“Patriarch, what’s Minute Subtlety?” Not every tribal elder knew of this realm, so someone asked with uncertainty.

“By having Minute Subtlety, one can use the smallest action to avoid their opponent’s attacks. Warriors who understand Minute Subtlety are able to pull off many evasive maneuvers…” A middle-aged man said. He was Tao Yunxiao’s father, the youngest peak-Purple Blood warrior in the Tao tribal clan.

“To have Minute Subtlety, not only would it be easy to dodge, but he would be able to stay close to the enemy. Hence counterattacking would be even easier! So opponents who know Minute Subtlety are extremely fearsome!”

“And even in Minute Subtlety, there are the introductory state, small success stage, large success stage… Currently, Yi Yun is borrowing the ‘force’ from Yunxiao’s attacks to avoid. This is considered the small success stage of Minute Subtlety!” The middle-aged man said with complicated expressions. He knew about the realm of Minute Subtlety because he had carefully studied Minute Subtlety many years ago. And it was because he had studied it that he knew how hard it was.

But now, a twelve-year-old, who demonstrated the small success stage of Minute Subtlety, was his son’s opponent. How could he not be worried?

The difference between Tao Yunxiao and Yi Yun was too great. Even by activating the female sword’s energy, he was still no match for Yi Yun!

At that moment, up on the airship, Su Jie saw Yi Yun’s movements and laughed, “This kid has Minute Subtlety, hehe! Xintong, he had already gained the insight into Minute Subtlety the last time you sparred with Yi Yun, right?”

“Yes!” Lin Xintong nodded. “Yi Yun did not reach the Minute Subtlety realm that night, but he had touched the gates of Minute Subtlety. He knew how to dodge, but it was unlike what he has achieved now by reaching the small success stage of using the opponent’s ‘force’ to avoid.”

“In just a few days, Yi Yun’s progress can only be described as having divine speed.” Lin Xintong deliberated on her words, giving Yi Yun an appropriate evaluation.

Even to a large family clan, and with the demanding standards of a genius, Yi Yun’s progress in his movement techniques was very fast.

To be able to gain new understandings in battle and quickly put it in practice, such an opponent was fearsome!

“Haha, I’m beginning to like this kid. Look at him, he’s not attacking Tao Yunxiao at all. He’s just dodging, enjoying the Minute Subtlety realm!”

Yi Yun was indeed enjoying it.

He was enjoying the insight into Minute Subtlety. This feeling was too wonderful. He felt his body lose its weight; he was like a light feather, easily dodging any kind of attack.

He even wished Tao Yunxiao’s attacks would be faster and more aggressive so that Yi Yun could gain further insight, consolidating his understanding of Minute Subtlety.

But Tao Yunxiao was going crazy. He had really gone mad, for no matter what he did, he could not touch Yi Yun!

The faces of the Tao tribal clan’s elders turned ugly. The crowd stopped their shouting.

They could no longer shout as they had discovered that Yi Yun was not fighting with Tao Yunxiao, but he was training his movement technique!

Yes, Yi Yun was purposely using the battle process with Tao Yunxiao to train his movement technique!

This was an absolute insult to Tao Yunxiao!

Tao Yunxiao had sacrificed his blood to activate the forbidden energy of the female sword to do battle. He had pushed his combat power to the extreme, but Yi Yun did not beat Tao Yunxiao; instead, he used the ultimate attacks of Tao Yunxiao to train his movement technique. He was too arrogant, and he absolutely looked down upon his opponent!

Very soon, they realized that there was an even more arrogant matter.

The crazy kid Yi Yun had nothing he couldn’t do, such as… while Tao Yunxiao was crazily attacking him, sending sword beams enveloping Yi Yun, Yi Yun actually… actually… closed his eyes!

Eyes closed?

The tens of thousands of spectators were stunned!

Yi Yun had actually closed his eyes to dodge while facing such intense swordplay that they couldn’t discern!? Is he mad?

But soon, they began to suspect that it wasn’t Yi Yun who had gone mad, but themselves. They actually saw Yi Yun easily dodge all of Tao Yunxiao’s attacks with his eyes closed. His movement was like flowing water!

It could be said that Yi Yun’s movements were more fluid with his eyes closed.

How could that be possible!?

The Tao tribal clan’s people were shocked. They nearly popped their eyes out of their sockets!

Yi Yun had entered a strange state where he realized that he did not need to rely on his eyes to avoid Tao Yunxiao’s attacks. All he needed to rely on was to perceive Tao Yunxiao’s ‘force’.

Tao Yunxiao’s attacks had sword Qi and killing intent, and infused within the sword by Tao Yunxiao, was Heaven Earth Yuan Qi!

These combined together formed a ‘force’. By perceiving this ‘force’, Yi Yun could easily avoid Tao Yunxiao’s attacks.

This way of dodging was faster than using the eyes!

To use the eyes to track an enemy’s attack, it had to be transmitted to the brain. The brain would then send the command before the body could avoid it. This made it one beat slower.

But for a body to feel the attack’s ‘force’, it could be conditioned to subconsciously evade. By using this ‘force’, the dodging would be faster.

Because of this, a layman would think that Yi Yun was pushed away from Tao Yunxiao’s attacks instead of dodging his attacks.

It was clear which of the two dodging methods was better.

Since Yi Yun understood that he was using the perceived ‘force’ to avoid the attack, he decided he might as well close his eyes!

When the chaotic sword beams disappeared from his sight, Yi Yun’s concentration became more focused, and his perception of the ’force’ became even more sensitive.

As such, no matter how Tao Yunxiao attacked crazily, he had no way of touching Yi Yun’s sleeves.

In the airship, Su Jie touched his fat jaw that formed a double chin. He said with glee, “This kid Yi Yun sure isn’t nice. He’s clearly bullying others! Just because he has Minute Subtlety, he’s bullying others… This isn’t right, but then… I like it!!”

Lin Xintong, who was beside, Su Jie chuckled. She knew that what Yi Yun had learned today would do great things for Yi Yun’s future. So it was best to partake in that feeling as long as possible. But if this carried on, he would demolish Tao Yunxiao’s confidence.

Lin Xintong did not think nicely of Tao Yunxiao. In the few times they barely met, Lin Xintong noticed that Tao Yunxiao’s eyes at her were those of exploitative aggression.

Lin Xintong was not angry because of this. In fact, for such an insignificant small fry like Tao Yunxiao, he was not worthy of Lin Xintong’s attention. Lin Xintong was speechless because the so-called young masters of the Cloud Wilderness did not know the vastness of the world. They did not know what it meant to be a frog in the well. They did not know how far away they were from the ancient family clans. Tao Yunxiao’s aggression towards Lin Xintong was something laughable.

Since time immemorial, backwardness and ignorance were a pair of twins that never left each other’s side. The Cloud Wilderness… was like that too.

If Tao Yunxiao knew Lin Xintong’s thoughts, he would have truly suffered a mental breakdown.

He was an extremely proud person! Because of his youth, he had never seen the outside world. In Tao Yunxiao’s dictionary, the word “no” did not exist.

But then he met Yi Yun, a young man, younger than him by two years, but Yi Yun was stronger than him.

Tao Yunxiao did not want to lose; he had expended his blood and took on the danger of sliding backward in his cultivation just to activate the ancestral artifact’s forbidden energy, but the outcome he received in return was his opponent using him to train his movement skills!

This shattered Tao Yunxiao’s tremendous pride!

“Ah!”

Tao Yunxiao let out a frantic roar. The veins on the hand that held the sword bulged. His sword was brandished in an extreme manner, but still, he could not hit Yi Yun!

In front of everyone’s eyes, in front of the tens of thousands of people of the Tao tribal clan, in front of his father, grandfather and the upper echelon of the Tao tribal clan, the upper echelon of the Jin Long Wei, he was teased by a child two years his junior with no way of retaliating.

He was really going mad!

He was pressed to strike Yi Yun. To do so, he was willing to give up twenty years of his life!

But, reality is cruel.

Yi Yun’s movements were as fluid as water, and Tao Yunxiao could feel his strength getting weaker!

The female sword was a sword that fed on blood. The power gained from the blood Tao Yunxiao sprayed onto the sword had been exhausted!

“Ah!”

Tao Yunxiao let out a heart-wrenching cry. His heart felt like it was exploding. Two streams of blood flowed out from his nostrils like a winding snake.

Firstly, he had hurt his heart due to the anger. Secondly, due to the blood ritual from earlier, he had damaged his lifeblood, making his lifeblood unstable.

Tao Yunxiao came to a halt. He was breathing in deeply while the blood gurgled out from his nose!

In his entire life, Tao Yunxiao had never embarrassed himself like that!

“Yi Yun, do you dare take a direct strike from me?!”

Tao Yunxiao’s eyes were blood red. He did not attack for he knew it had no effect!

But Tao Yunxiao did not want to concede defeat. He wanted to directly attack Yi Yun once. If not, today’s experience would forever become a lingering demon in his life!

As a last resort, he had to goad Yi Yun on.

Currently, the hand that Tao Yunxiao was using to hold the sword was trembling. He stared angrily at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun still had his eyes closed as he was still immersed into the insight he had previously gained.

For his movement to go from the introductory stage to the small success stage of Minute Subtlety, Yi Yun had a lot of things to digest and understand.

Immersed in his own world, he did not hear Tao Yunxiao’s words. In fact, everything that happened around him was no longer important.

He had entered a ‘No Law, No Shape, No Void, No Me’ trance-like state.

But in Tao Yunxiao’s point of view, Yi Yun’s response was that of absolute contempt!

119 - : Small Success stage of Minute Subtlety

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun, curb your arrogance.” Tao Yunxiao’s expression was ferocious. He had gone mad with anger!

The surrounding people of the Tao tribal clan were similarly incensed. Yi Yun was too arrogant. He completely looked down on Tao Yunxiao.

Tao Yunxiao had made his last challenge. Even if you didn’t want to accept it, at least answer. What’s the meaning of closing your eyes?

But at the same time, there were girls from the Tao tribal clan that began to look at Yi Yun with eyes sparkling.

These girls’ faces were flushed red.

“Yi Yun is so cool!” A girl subconsciously said out loud.

“Ah! you think the same way? Me too!” said a blushing fourteen-year-old girl beside her.

Tao Yunxiao was very strong, but in front of Yi Yun, he was nothing.

Yi Yun did not even touch Tao Yunxiao, and Tao Yunxiao was bleeding from his nose. This gap was too big.

If Yi Yun had touched Tao Yunxiao, Tao Yunxiao would have peed in his pants.

Girls worshiped heroes, especially a young hero who was the same age as them.

The two girls began to excitedly discuss after having found their soulmate.

This scene happened in various corners of the crowd. Many young girls had turned into fervent fans of Yi Yun.

“You have gone too far!” Tao Yunxiao was like a wild ox as he took in deep breaths. He had goaded Yi Yun into accepting his strike, but neither did Yi Yun respond or open his eyes. It was as if he was here to sleep instead of the competition.

To Tao Yunxiao, this was showing him disrespect.

Tao Yunxiao was outraged. He touched the blood on his nose and wiped it on the female sword.

Following that, he used the female sword to slit his wrists. Fresh blood spewed out and was absorbed by the female sword.

This scene made the Tao tribal clan’s Elders worried.

“Yunxiao, have you gone insane!?” Tao Yunxiao’s father could tell that his son was likely to lose the battle. But this time, Tao Yunxiao used even more of his body’s blood for a desperate last chance. This action was extremely irrational.

But Tao Yunxiao ignored his father’s advice, “I’m not crazy. I can’t give this up or it will be something that will stay with me for the rest of my life!”

Tao Yunxiao activated the ancestral artifact’s forbidden energy once again. Because he had overdrafted his blood, Tao Yunxiao’s face turned pale and bloodless.

He had not only sliced his left wrist, he had also sliced his right wrist.

More and more blood flowed, while Tao Yunxiao’s face grew whiter. Back at the platform, the tribal elders and Tao Yunxiao’s father were shocked.

This was too big a price to pay.

Because of this battle, Tao Yunxiao would suffer an inevitable decline in his cultivation, setting him back by at least a year.

With the female sword in hand, Tao Yunxiao immersed himself in the sword’s hum.

He had used all his body’s energy to merge as one with the female sword.

“You will have to receive this strike of mine whether you like it or not!”

A vein bulged out from Tao Yunxiao’s forehead like an earthworm. He had catalyzed all his potential energy to the maximum. His body began to emit a sanguine red light.

“Hum Hum Hum Hum”

The female sword began to hum intensely. It sounded like thousands of ferocious ghosts were wailing from the sword.

The surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was gathering, forming a black whirlwind in the arena.

The black whirlpool got faster and faster, condensing to the point of solidity before it enveloped Yi Yun and Tao Yunxiao.

“Ground Rune Imprisonment!”

A tribal elder’s eyes lit up. “How did I not know that Yunxiao can actually use the Ground Rune Imprisonment attack?”

When the Tao tribal clan received the pair of male-female swords, they had received a sword manual which consisted of many moves and ‘Ground Rune Imprisonment’ was one of them.

By using the energy induced by the male-female swords, one could trap an opponent within a prison, preventing the opponent from escaping. It forced the opponent to meet and take on the swordsman’s attack directly.

By using Ground Rune Imprisonment, it would restrict Yi Yun’s movements, making it an extremely appropriate move. But the attack consumed a lot of energy, so it was considered as a high-level move. Hence, the tribal elders felt that it would be difficult for Tao Yunxiao to use it with his cultivation level.

“Under extreme pressure, one can go beyond their limit. Previously, it was probably under pressure that Yi Yun managed to gain insight into Minute Subtlety. Now, Yunxiao is in a similar situation, but the price he is paying is much greater.”

Forced by Yi Yun, Tao Yunxiao had used his ultimate strength. But this ultimate strength was obtained through overdrafting his blood to feed the female sword. It was not everlasting.

Once his blood ran dry, Tao Yunxiao would revert to normal, and he would even be seriously injured that would take him a long time to recover. The breakthrough he did at his limits would also cease to exist.

This was the difference between learning through shortcuts and the orthodox path.

“It’s already tough on Yunxiao to use Ground Rune Imprisonment but if he were to make another attack…” Tao Yunxiao’s father’s eyes were filled with worry. Tao Yunxiao had pushed himself to his absolute limit.

“Hum Hum Hum Hum”

The black squall grew stronger and enveloped Yi Yun. The strong wind nearly tore apart his clothes, and there were even times when a ghostly claw would materialize on Yi Yun’s body, grabbing his ankles.

This was the effect of the Ground Rune Imprisonment.

“Yi Yun has been caught!”

The crowd was surprised. This ghostly claw was their final glimpse of a possible reversal in this shocking battle. Tao Yunxiao, who had been suppressed, finally had the upper hand.

“Yi Yun, take this!”

Tao Yunxiao’s eyes were bloodshot, and his face flashed a sickly red. He had injected all his body’s remaining energy into the female sword.

“Weng!”

The female sword sounded out, and a dark red glow shined brightly from the sword.

“It’s a fighting technique!” shouted someone from the Tao tribal clan. Fighting techniques were different from cultivation techniques. Cultivation techniques were used to train the body, allowing a warrior to break through.

But a fighting technique was used to kill.

It was specialized, in terms of lethal power, as cultivation techniques could not hold up against fighting techniques. And good fighting techniques would be primed and powered by Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Similarly, the fighting technique used by Tao Yunxiao had Heaven Earth power within it to kill the enemy.

“This was found together with the ancestral artifact and the cultivation technique. This fighting technique could only be used with the ancestral artifact. Likewise for Ground Rune Imprisonment.”

“By using Ground Rune Imprisonment to restrain Yi Yun and then use a fighting technique exclusive to the ancestral artifact to attack Yi Yun.”

The eyes of the Tao tribal clan warriors lit up. As long as Yi Yun lost the use of his bizarre movement technique, Tao Yunxiao had a chance of winning.

A wind rose in all directions while the female sword flashed dark red light.

Suddenly, Tao Yunxiao moved. The female sword’s light beam began to converge into single red line with the thickness of a finger, like a swimming snake flying at Yi Yun.

“Extreme Scarlet Blood Hell!”

Tao Yunxiao pushed himself to the limits of his potential by using both Ground Rune Imprisonment and Extreme Scarlet Blood Hell. These were fighting techniques that were tailored for the female swords and powered by its evil powers.

This attack had already exceeded the limits a Mortal Blood warrior in the vast wilderness would have. All the Mortal Blood realm warriors only practiced the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, so this fancy attack presented to them a brand new world.

Moves could both be fancy and effective.

Although they were a distance away, the people could feel the bloodthirst and ferocity of the red snake. They felt the coldness in their chests and their brows went numb. It was as if that red snake was attacking them.

Such a fearsome move was indeed from a thousand-year-old Tao tribal clan. That ancestral artifact possessed a lot of power.

The people even suspected that an early stage Purple Blood warrior might not be able to withstand this Extreme Scarlet Blood Hell attack.

For people like them who had only practiced the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ or exchange physical blows during their battles, how were they to withstand such an evil fighting technique?

The people stared at Yi Yun. They knew that Yi Yun also practiced in the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, and with just that cultivation technique, how could he withstand a sword with his bare hands?

With killing intent looming at him, Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes!

He felt the extremely powerful “aura” from Tao Yunxiao. The Extreme Scarlet Blood Hell was extraordinary.

Tao Yunxiao held a huge advantage over a bare-handed Yi Yunt with his ancestral artifact. Many people would probably lose most of their fighting stance before the battle even began.

However, Yi Yun did not show any fear. Against the strike, he condensed his body’s aura to the limit. The Purple Crystal Origins within his heart began to pulsate as the pure energy continued in it began to nourish Yi Yun’s body.

Yi Yun’s joints rang, and his tendons roared.

He punched with the same old Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist.

“Boom!”

This punch was the first time he used his entire strength in front of the audience in the kingdom’s selection.

After Yi Yun had broken through to the peak of the Qi Gatherer realm, this punch was the best in form and expression.

“Roar!”

“Growl!”

At the moment Yi Yun charged forward, phantom images of a tiger and dragon formed behind him. It wasn’t an azure dragon and white tiger one would expect, but a Purple Gold Dragon and a Divine Heaven Tiger.

The tiger and dragon flew with the red setting sun as a backdrop.

“Manifestation of Yuan Qi!”

On the platform, the Tao tribal clan’s Grand Elder had the greatest reaction. He directly stood up and as a result of his reaction, the table underneath his hand was crushed with the pressure of his single hand.

The Manifestation of Yuan Qi was to coalesce Yuan Qi into a phantom image and be used with an attack move. This could only be used by the best of the Purple Blood warriors.

How could this appear on Yi Yun?

Did he have a Tempered Body?

This thought flashed through the Grand Elder’s mind, but at that moment, Yi Yun had already clashed with Tao Yunxiao.

The dragon-tiger phantom against the red snake from hell.

“Boom!”

The arena exploded with debris flying everywhere. The energy from Yi Yun and Tao Yunxiao blasted out.

Yi Yun’s shirt was dyed red with blood. His right fist was mangled, with a deep wound that went right to the bone.

But Yi Yun managed to get his footing after taking ten steps back. As for Tao Yunxiao, he directly flew out of the arena and fell heavily to the ground. His face was pale, his lips were quivering, and blood was gushing out from his nose.

120 - : Defeating Tao Yunxiao

CKtalon  CKtalon

The crowd fell into a long silence. The fight that had just happened was surreal.

It went beyond the limits of their understanding of Mortal Blood warriors.

Mortal Blood warriors could uproot willow trees and smash rocks. But when they fought, it would be done using their flesh and muscles. Occasionally there would be sword Qi and fist winds colliding, but that would be the limit.

They had never seen a battle between Mortal Blood warriors reach such a stage.

That red sword beam and that dragon-tiger phantom image that reflected the setting sun was too appalling! It was unbelievable!

But the huge hole in the stone stage set up by the Tao tribal clan proved that it had really happened.

A deep hole five feet wide was surrounded with cracked rocks. These rocks had spiderweb like cracks; it made it hard to believe that this was a battle between Mortal Blood warriors.

Tao Yunxiao had used the forbidden energy of the ancestral artifact, so to achieve such a destructive power was understandable.

But how did Yi Yun achieve it?

He had actually defeated Tao Yunxiao, who used the ancestral artifact’s energy, with his bare hands?

The people of the Tao tribal clan could not believe it. Even the girls who were secretly supporting Yi Yun had their mouths agape and their minds blank. Among them, there were some who had harassed Yi Yun the day before. This Yi Yun, who looked like a little boy from next door, actually had such terrifying strength.

They felt that they were like a bunch of mice yesterday, harassing a dinosaur. Thankfully the dinosaur didn’t go into a rage, or the outcome would have been unthinkable.

“Manifestation of Yuan Qi, it is indeed a manifestation of Yuan Qi. Only by invoking the power of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi could he have such destructive power.” The Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch looked dejected as he slumped back into his seat.

“Manifestation of Yuan Qi… How could it be!?”

Actually, there was no need for the Patriarch to confirm this because many people could tell that Yi Yun’s attack was a manifestation of Yuan Qi.

After all, the image of the snarling Divine Tiger and the soaring Purple Gold Dragon were still imprinted on their minds.

What else could it be but Manifestation of Yuan Qi?

The people of the Tao tribal clan neither knew about the ‘Purple Air Comes From The East’, nor Minute Subtlety, but they knew Manifestation of Yuan Qi very well.

There was only one reason. The only person amongst the younger generation in the Tao tribal clan, who was capable of manifesting Yuan Qi was Hu Ya.

Hu Ya had reached the middle stage of Purple Blood and he was just a step away from reaching the “Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse” state.

As such, he could use the Manifestation of Yuan Qi. Yesterday, Hu Ya had displayed Manifestation of Yuan Qi on stage to great applause.

People of the Tao tribal clan had been overjoyed over it and they had discussed excitedly over their meals. Hu Ya was the pride of the Tao tribal clan. Previously, Yi Yun had risen to prominence in the preliminary and semi-final, causing the elites of the Tao tribal clan to shy away with shame. But Hu Ya had given them back their pride.

But now…

Yi Yun was also capable of the Manifestation of Yuan Qi!

How could this be possible!?

Isn’t Manifestation of Yuan Qi something only the best Purple Blood warriors could do? Hu Ya had only managed to do so at the mid-stages of the Purple Blood realm; Yi Yun was at the peak-Qi Gatherer realm. Yet, he managed to accomplish it!?

“Ignoring talent, could Yi Yun also be much better than Hu Ya in terms of strength?” commented someone from the Tao tribal clan. No one could accept it.

“Yi Yun’s strength can’t be greater than Hu Ya. But Manifestation of Yuan Qi isn’t something a strong person can attain. Even some peak-Purple Blood warriors aren’t capable of the Manifestation of Yuan Qi! This Manifestation of Yuan Qi depends on a person’s perceptivity. It’s a gauge of a warrior’s ability to control energy. Besides, if a Mortal Blood warrior manages to achieve ‘Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse’, then he would be able to obtain the ability to Manifest Yuan Qi before the Purple Blood realm.” A warrior from the Tao tribal clan explained.

This did not resolve their doubts but made them even more shocked.

They were stunned!

Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse!?

Yi Yun has reached such a state?

They had long since heard from the Patriarch that Hu Ya was a rare genius, not seen in the Tao tribal clan for hundreds of years. The key was that he was eighteen years old, and just a step away from the “Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse” realm. Before this, in the past several hundred years of history, no one in the Tao tribal clan had reached this state.

They were proud because of that. They were waiting for Hu Ya to enter that stage, bringing them out of the vast wilderness and establish a family clan in the heartlands.

But now, Hu Ya was still a step away from that state, but for Yi Yun, he had already reached that stage at twelve years of age!?

How could this be possible!?

The people of the Tao tribal clan stared at Yi Yun. Their expression was as if they had seen a ghost!

They could not believe it; but seeing the warriors of the Tao tribal clan not have any objections and the Patriarch silently agreeing, they had no choice but to believe.

Yi Yun had really reached such a stage at the age of twelve!

Tempered Body, Manifestation of Yuan Qi, and he had previously produced purple clouds, and he had the strongest Spirit…

They did not dare think any further.

It was a torture to compare; trash was thrown out upon comparison!

They finally understood why Yi Yun had been graded Mystic rank grade five, but Hu Ya had been given a gradeless Mystic rank. It wasn’t because the Jin Long Wei were being unfair, but because it was the truth!

Yi Yun was much stronger than Hu Ya!

As for Tao Yunxiao, he was not even worth mentioning. He was the trash that had to be thrown out immediately upon comparison!

If they took a step back, Lian Chengyu…

Lian Chengyu was not worth mentioning. He was incomparable to Tao Yunxiao, so when he was compared against Yi Yun, he was like cow dung against a pearl!

The warriors of the Lian tribal clan were petrified. Their brains lost the ability to think. Yi Yun’s last battle had caused tremendous damage to their minds. It would take them a long while before they would come to.

As for Lian Chengyu, who had been crippled by Yi Yun, he had not said a word. However, his eyes showed a deep sense of despair!

This despair was ten thousand times worse than the despair he felt when he failed to break through to the Purple Blood realm after swallowing the desolate bone essence.

Yes, Yi Yun was not only a strong and ruthless person who crushed Lian Chengyu without any further thought, he had also declared a fact to Lian Chengyu. Lian Chengyu, who had been crippled and lost all his martial arts, had no chance of revenge against Yi Yun in the future.

Lian Chengyu’s lost all hope. He had used the thoughts of revenge to sustain himself. But now, there was no chance of revenge and he has lost the meaning of life. His body may still be alive, but he was no more than a walking zombie.

“Yi Yun wins!” Zhang Tan gave Yi Yuna meaningful glance. Although he had given Yi Yun excellent reviews, he had still underestimated Yi Yun.

If he were to evaluate Yi Yun’s rank again, he would have given him a Mystic rank grade six!

The kingdom’s selection’s final Mortal Blood battle had ended. The outcome was obvious at a glance. Yi Yun was still standing within the arena. But his right fist was seriously injured. After all, he had used Yuan Qi to wrap his fist in the final attack that went against Tao Yunxiao’s fighting technique, Extreme Scarlet Blood Hell.

Although he had employed Manifestation of Yuan Qi, his fist was still made of flesh. That impact had wounded Yi Yun’s fist so badly that even bone could be seen! If not for his Tempered Body, his right fist might have split into two.

Of course, Tao Yunxiao was even more injured. Not only was it a result of Yi Yun’s punch, but the blood he had wasted on feeding the female sword would also prevent him from recovering in a year.

“Doctor… Call the doctor…” The Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch waved his hand. He closed his eyes for he could no longer bear to watch further.

But no matter what, Tao Yunxiao was a young elite that the tribe had spent great amounts of resources on. He was one of the few who could bring the Tao tribal clan out of the vast wilderness.

Even if he was hurt, they still needed to use their best medicines to treat him.

The Patriarch was worried. After this foray, it would become a huge blow to Tao Yunxiao. Together with the loss of blood and cultivation, would a proud person like him survive this ordeal? Would he ever rise back up because of this?

The best doctor in the Tao tribal clan came with a heavy box. Within the box were several herbs produced from the Tao tribe’s herb mountain. There was plenty of ginseng, knotweed, and lucidus that were all more than a hundred years old. They were not stingy with it and took it all out to be used.

These were expensive herbs—the only aspect in which they could still be condescending against Yi Yun. Their Tao tribal clan was rich in resources!

Yi Yun was also seriously hurt in his right fist, but he was not treated with such good herbs. His bone and tendons had been lacerated by the ancestral artifact. If it was a normal person, their fist would have been crippled. For warriors, it wouldn’t be a problem but it would still be troublesome to heal.

The panting old doctor placed a box down. He did not know martial arts and compounded by his old age, he was like a candle guttering in the wind.

The old doctor grabbed Tao Yunxiao’s arm. He began to feel Tao Yunxiao’s pulse and soon, his wrinkled face frowned.

Tao Yunxiao’s pulse was in a terrible state. The old doctor felt that the possibility for him to heal Tao Yunxiao was nearly zero…

Zhang Tan waved his hand, indicating the doctors from the Jin Long Wei to help.

The Jin Long Wei had several life-saving drugs. But it could only prevent death. It could not replenish the shortfall of blood. In fact, drugs that could replenish blood were priceless. It was more expensive than several desolate bone relics. Even if the Jin Long Wei had such a drug, they would not use it on a contestant at the kingdom’s selection.

So what the Jin Long Wei doctor took out were just normal medicines. Whether it was Yi Yun or Tao Yunxiao, they were just injured with no threat to their lives; hence, the Jin Long Wei doctors were not flustered in any way.

Suddenly, people heard the sound of soft clothes fluttering in the wind. When they raised their heads, they saw a girl in white floating down from the airship!

121 - : The Selection is Finalized

CKtalon  CKtalon

To fall from hundreds of feet high, even a peak-Qi Gatherer warrior would die. A Purple Blood warrior might not die, but the outcome would be pretty embarrassing.

But this girl was walking on air and slowly approaching the ground. It was as if there was an invisible hand gently holding her up.

“This… This… She can fly!?” The people of the vast wilderness were shocked. They had seen people ride on eagles into the sky. That was impressive, but today, they actually saw a person fly in the sky with just their flesh and blood?

What sort of method was that!?

It was completely unheard of!

The eyes of the commoners nearly popped out of their sockets. But for the Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch and elders, they had a vague idea what realm that was.

In this world, when warriors reached a certain level, they were able to fly in the sky. And this realm was beyond their understanding.

At least, it was something that was impossible to achieve in the Purple Blood realm.

This girl… Did she exceed the Purple Blood realm?

But her age… she’s just a teenager!?

To exceed Purple Blood as a teenager? How could this be possible!?

The tribal elders began to stand up one after the other. Although they knew that two wealthy people had come to their Tao tribal clan, they did not know a thing about their identities. Today, they actually saw a teenage girl flying in the air!!

Heavens, who is this girl!?

Seeing this mysterious girl, the tribal elders felt immense pressure. To such a figure, the Tao tribal clan was insignificant.

The girl’s white dress fluttered in the wind till she landed.

Tens of thousands of eyes were concentrated on the girl in extreme shock.

They had been shocked too many times over the past few days. First, it was Yi Yun who had risen in prominence, overshadowing all the geniuses in the Tao tribal clan.

Next was this teenage girl who could fly.

The slim girl stood there gracefully, like a fairy that fell from the sky.

She had a veil across her face, concealing her appearance. But even so, many could guess that underneath that veil was a stunning beauty!

In fact, Lin Xintong usually did not mask herself. But Lin Xintong did not want to reveal her face in front of tens of thousands of people.

From the time she descended from the sky to the time she found her feet, she did not take a single look at Yi Yun. It was as if she did not know him. Yi Yun rubbed his nose and wondered why. What was Lin Xintong doing down here? From Yi Yun’s impression, an extraordinary girl like Lin Xintong would not wish to show herself in public. Besides, it was just a medium sized tribe in the Cloud Wilderness, filled with ignorant masses. Such an event was of no significance to her.

Apart from Yi Yun, the seriously injured semi-conscious Tao Yunxiao was also looking earnestly towards Lin Xintong.

Although he was seriously injured, he had not lost consciousness. The mental blow from Yi Yun had been too great for him, so with his sunken heart, he looked as if he had lost consciousness.

But now with Lin Xintong coming down from the airship, Tao Yunxiao suddenly woke up. He stopped coughing out blood; his eyes looked rejuvenated. He could even raise his head and was even struggling to stand up.

Lin Xintong was a goddess that Tao Yunxiao had been admiring! The goddess had descended, but his current state was too humiliating in front of her.

Tao Yunxiao was still unsure of the reason of Lin Xintong’s arrival. He saw her take out a white bottle by wiping her left wrist’s interspatial wristband.

Lin Xintong did not take a look at Yi Yun, let alone Tao Yunxiao. For a toad like him who lusted after her, Lin Xintong had no good feelings for him.

She flicked her fingers gently and the white bottle turned in a white flash before entering Zhang Tan’s hands.

Zhang Tan blankly caught the white bottle but remained confused.

Lin Xintong’s lips moved slightly as she transmitted some words. Following that, her body began to float as she headed back to the airship in the sky!

Under the red setting sky, her white figure made the scene even more beautiful…

The people looked in a shocked manner.

Was she human? Or was she a fairy?

Zhang Tan was still holding the bottle in his hands as if in a daze.

He pulled the cap open hesitantly. Two green pills rolled out and the fragrance assailed his nostrils!

Zhang Tan swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Damn, they were actually Jade Spirit Pills!

She was indeed worthy to be Grandmaster Su Jie’s disciple. She was the pearl of the ancient Lin family, an extraordinary girl who might one day become the wife of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Crown Prince…

She had easily given two Jade Spirit Pills. To use such precious pills to treat a physical wound was such a waste.

After the girl flew back to her airship, the people’s attention was now on the white bottle she had left behind. They had already guessed that there was some extremely valuable elixir within it!

Just based on the girl’s strength and identity, could her possessions be anything but normal? And Zhang Tan’s expression decisively confirmed this thought.

An elixir that could change the expression of a Jin Long Wei’s Thousand Households had to be priceless!

The Tao tribal clan’s elders suddenly turned envious.

Without a doubt, the two pills Lin Xintong had specially flown down from her airship to give, was for the injured.

They did not know why Lin Xintong had done so. But there wasn’t time to consider it. There was no doubt about the price of the pills. If one out of the two pills were given to Tao Yunxiao, then he would be able to quickly recover from his injuries.

Even the blood he had lost would be quickly replenished. As such, the aftereffects of his injury would be reduced to a minimum.

The Patriarch and the Grand Elder was filled with anticipation.

They did not know how the pills would be distributed, but it seemed reasonable that each person was to be given one.

Why did the girl in white give them the pills? Logically, Tao Yunxiao did not know the girl in white, so there was no reason for her to rescue him.

As for Yi Yun, his background was worse. He was just a poor kid from a small tribal clan, so he was less likely to know this extraordinary girl.

So, it was less likely the girl in white had especially left the pills for Yi Yun.

The reason could only be narrowed down to the kind nature of the white-dressed girl. She must have decided to leave the precious medicine for Tao Yunxiao to recover after seeing the young seedling they had painstakingly nurtured injured.

It was even possible that despite eventually losing, Tao Yunxiao’s sacrifice of blood to fight valiantly in the final battle had touched the girl in white, resulting in her giving the elixir.

The tribal elders came up with many possible explanations in a short period of time, but none of them were important. The important thing was that the elixir was here, Tao Yunxiao was saved.

Tao Yunxiao, who was on the ground, gained hope. The fairy had descended to this world to save me.

That’s wonderful.

With this elixir, I would be able to recover quickly. When that happens, I’ll work hard at cultivating. In a few months, I’ll break through to the Purple Blood realm and defeat that little bastard!

I will make that kid pay the price!

Tao Yunxiao screamed in his heart. At that moment, Zhang Tan was walking over to the arena with the pills in hand.

Zhang Tan was still puzzled… What relationship did this kid have with Fairy Lin? Why did she favor him so much? His hand was only sliced up by a sword. Although the wound was deep and he had hurt his bones and tendons, such a wound could be recovered in a few days with normal medicine for a warrior like him. He would at most miss a few days of training.

To use Jade Spirit Pills is making a mountain out of a molehill.

Unless Fairy Lin has something to do with this guy?

That is so unlikely. He’s just a medicine child from a small tribal clan. Even if he had met Fairy Lin while picking herbs, they wouldn’t have many interactions.

After all, for a person of stature like Lin Xintong, not only Yi Yun, even Zhang Tan was considered a small fry. If it was not because he had a mission in the Cloud Wilderness of handing that letter over to Su Jie, he would never have had any interaction with Lin Xintong.

Even he could not get to know her, let alone Yi Yun?

Regardless, Lin Xintong had given the Jade Spirit Pills to Yi Yun, which proved that Yi Yun was of extraordinary significance to Lin Xintong.

If so, I have to treat Yi Yun with greater respect!

Zhang Tan began to have his thoughts run wild as he neared the arena.

Tao Yunxiao was by the corner of the arena, so Zhang Tan had to walk past him to reach Yi Yun.

Tao Yunxiao had an eager look on his face.

Zhang Tan was walking closer and closer to him. Tao Yunxiao’s eyes looked at the bottle in Zhang Tan’s hands without blinking. His breathing sped up as he got more excited.

He could even smell the fragrance of the medicine. It felt as if simply smelling it was enough to refresh him, making him feel much better!

This sort of medicine would not only replenish his blood deficit but would make him go a step further!

Thinking that he had a blessing in disguise, Tao Yunxiao turned excited.

“Heaven still treats me well. That mysterious girl is a blessing from the Heavens. I must cherish it well. Since I have met such a goddess, I must grab this opportunity… She may have saved me not because of being fond of me, but simply out of convenience. Regardless of that, I will remember this kindness. In the future, when I’ve grown in power, I’ll be sure to treat her well…”

With these thoughts in mind, the depression and pain of having lost to Yi Yun had been swept away from Tao Yunxiao’s mind.

The surrounding tribal elders were also filled with anticipation.

With two pills, it was reasonable to think that each person would get one. But, Yi Yun’s injury did not need such good medicine. But Tao Yunxiao, his injuries were more severe and he had expended his blood. Those two pills should be used on Tao Yunxiao; as for Yi Yun, the Jin Long Wei’s normal medicine would do.

As the elders were having such thoughts, Zhang Tan had come to five feet from Tao Yunxiao and he was steadily approaching.

Four feet… three feet… one feet…

Because of his injuries and pain, Tao Yunxiao had a twisted expression. He forced a smile and with great effort, held out his hand while looking at Zhang Tan, hoping to receive the bottle within Zhang Tan’s hands.

But…

When Zhang Tan came to Tao Yunxiao’s side with the bottle in his hand, it was as if his mind was preoccupied. He did not lower his head one bit, and neither did he slow his pace…

He…just walked past Tao Yunxiao.

Just walked past like that.

Walked past like that.

Past like that.

Like that…

Tao Yunxiao’s outstretched hand froze in midair. The smile he had squeezed out through great difficulty completely stiffened.

Tao Yunxiao felt his ears buzz. At that moment, it felt like a hundred people had stuck their feet forward, and with a hundred shoes, trampled his face mercilessly!

All his blood surged to his face! He was already severely injured and his condition was in trouble. Now, from the shame and anger, his vessels had enlarged, causing him to nearly faint.

But Tao Yunxiao still had hope that Zhang Tan was just giving one pill to Yi Yun, and would hand him the other pill when he came back. He endured his anger and looked at Zhang Tan’s back.

This is going too far! Just because Yi Yun has a great future ahead, you treat him better by giving the pill to him first?

The surrounding tribal elders all had terrible expressions on their faces. When Zhang Tan completely disregarded Tao Yunxiao by walking past him, they felt like they had been slapped in the face hard!

They realized that things were not going as they had thought! Could those two pills be for Yi Yun? What’s that? He only has a superficial wound, why would he need such precious medicine!?

Many tribal elders and people of the Tao tribal clan, including Tao Yunxiao, watched helplessly as Zhang Tan walked to Yi Yun’s side. He then handed both pills to Yi Yun. The originally stern and unsmiling Zhang Tan suddenly showed a friendly smile!

Zhang Tan had a friendly expression never seen before. With an amiable tone, he said to Yi Yun, “Little Brother Yi, these are excellent medicine known as Jade Spirit Pills. Miss Lin instructed you to eat one of these two pills and ground the other with water and apply it to your wound. Before tomorrow, your wound will be completely healed. Also, slowly digest the potency of the medicine. It will do good for your cultivation.”

Zhang Tan’s words were like a curse echoing above the arena. The tribal elders all had great hearing, so how could they not hear it.

Out of the two pills, to eat one and ground the other with water and apply it to your wound!!

He had just been cut by a sword on his fist. Such extravagance was absurd!

“Puah!”

Not far from the arena, Tao Yunxiao, whose heart had been weakened by the loss of blood, suddenly vomited out a mouthful of blood!

His vision went blurry as his brain hummed. With that, he went weak and fell to the ground.

The heavy medicine box filled with lucidum and knotweed was knocked over by Tao Yunxiao. All sorts of hundred-year-old herbs scattered to the ground.

In Tao Yunxiao’s mind, he could only think of Lin Xintong’s beautiful figure as she slowly flew down from the airship.

This time, Tao Yunxiao really fainted.

He had hurt his heart due to his anger and fainted. The injury due to the loss of blood became even worse!

122 - : Tao Yunxiao vomits blood too

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yunxiao!” The Tao tribal clan’s elders panicked and quickly left the Tao tribal clan’s doctor to treat Tao Yunxiao.

But the medical facilities of the vast wilderness were limited. What could these quacks do for serious injuries that were a result of anger or the loss of blood?

They could only brew good herbs to be used. Hundred-year-old ginseng or lucidum were very good for a low-level warrior, but for a Mortal Blood fifth stage warrior, their effects were great reduced.

The members of the Lian tribal clan’s warrior preparation camp looked at the fainted Tao Yunxiao and the busy tribal elders with pity.

Thinking back, when their master Lian Chengyu had failed to break through to the Purple Blood realm, he had vomited blood. This was still fresh on their minds; the scene was so similar to the current scene of Tao Yunxiao vomiting blood…

But, their master, Lian Chengyu was now in a much worse state. He had not said a single word since yesterday. He was probably crippled…

Thinking of this, the few members of the Lian tribal clan’s warrior preparation camp looked at Yi Yun with fear. This twelve-year-old youth was a terrifying demon. Even if he wasn’t strong enough to kill others, he was capable of making them die or go mad from anger without touching them!

At that moment, Yi Yun had swallowed one Jade Spirit Pill.

Nothing special was needed to be done when eating Jade Spirit Pills. He just needed to chew and swallow.

The round Jade Spirit Pill simply melted in his mouth. It turned into an emerald green liquid that flowed down into Yi Yun’s stomach. Along with it came a strong aroma of herbs that refreshed one’s mind. Yi Yun felt the herbal essence spread within his body, opening up his pores.

“Little Brother Yi, quickly shrink your pores or the Jade Spirit Pill’s herbal essence will diffuse. This is good stuff,” Zhang Tan advised by the side. He had turned envious just by watching.

Yi Yun nodded and followed Zhang Tan’s instructions. He shrunk his pores, and cleared his meridians, letting the Jade Spirit Pill’s herbal essence circulate within his body.

He felt his meridians refreshed. His right fist was also warm as if a warm energy was enveloping it. Over time, it turned itchy and Yi Yun knew that his wound was recovering.

This Jade Spirit Pill sure is a high-grade medicine!

Yi Yun could not help but look up at the airship. He felt grateful towards Lin Xintong because he knew that his injuries could have recovered even without the Jade Spirit Pills.

But Lin Xintong had specially given the Jade Spirit Pills to him. Because of that, he remembered it well.

“Little Brother Yi. After reaching the Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse state, you will need a lot more energy than others to break through to the Purple Blood realm. When this Jade Spirit Pill melts into your body, slowly refine it. Do not be overeager. Use a few months to absorb it slowly, or there might be adverse effects.” Zhang Tan spoke without any reservations. To Zhang Tan, Yi Yun was no longer a student, but someone worthy as his peer.

Be it Yi Yun’s future prospects or the value Lin Xintong had for Yi Yun, they all clearly illustrated this point.

And in the Tao tribal clan, only Hu Ya was worth a little of Zhang Tan’s attention, but it was just a little.

As for people like Tao Yunxiao, Zhang Tan could not even be bothered.

“Little Brother Yi, tomorrow at an auspicious time, I will confer you the title of Kingdom Knight. Actually, the real conferment ceremony can only be done in the Jin Long Wei campgrounds, outside the vast wilderness. Tomorrow, I’ll just be giving you a Kingdom Knight’s seal, a conferment notice and the land that will be given to you.

Zhang Tan patted Yi Yun on the shoulders. “Work hard. By inducing Purple Air Comes From The East and to also be valued by Miss Lin, you have a bright future ahead. At that time, this old brother of yours might have to rely on Little Brother Yi. Haha.”

With that, Zhang Tan laughed heartily. Just from the way he addressed Yi Yun, he had subtly placed Yi Yun on equal footing.

Zhang Tan was a Jin Long Wei Thousand Households, and Yi Yun had just passed the kingdom’s selection, yet they were on equal footing!

But it was no wonder. Zhang Tan was a Kingdom Knight, and so was Yi Yun. They shared the same nobility rank!

Not far, the Tao tribal clan’s elders saw this and consciously gulped a mouthful of saliva.

Zhang Tan’s position demanded the Elders bow before him politely. They even had to be humble in their speech, but now, Zhang Tan was patting Yi Yun on the shoulder, and kept calling him “Little Brother Yi”, and even referred to himself as “old brother”!

This meant that verbally, Zhang Tan had acknowledged Yi Yun as his brother. Zhang Tan’s brother would be of similar stature. How could the tribal elders face Yi Yun?

These “lofty” Elders of the Tao tribal clan turned dumb at that moment.

In the past, they could visit a small tribe like the Lian tribal clan with great aplomb, as if they were gods. The Patriarch of a small tribal clan had to meet them in person, bow and be courteous. If they stretched out their foot, numerous people would lick it.

As for the commoners of a small tribal clan, they did not even qualify to admire them. But now, a nobody like Yi Yun had leaped to the same footing as Zhang Tan. They had to bow when they saw Yi Yun?

The thought of needing to bow to a twelve-year-old child made these tribal elders feel like they had swallowed a housefly.

“If we can’t afford to offend, can’t we hide?” The tribal elders made up their minds. They were determined to take a different path around Yi Yun if they ever encountered him. It was better to take their lives than to speak humbly before Yi Yun.

Up in the airship, Old Man Su was grabbing his beard with a heartache expression. Yes… he was feeling the pinch for his two Jade Spirit Pills.

Lin Xintong was speechless as she stood beside Su Jie. It was just two Jade Spirit Pills.

“Master, you could make a whole furnace worth of Jade Spirit Pills in the time it takes to have a meal.” Although Old Man Su was a Desolate Heaven Master, he was also an accomplished alchemist.

Old Man Su retorted, “What? A whole furnace worth of Jade Spirit Pills? Refining drugs also require the ingredients. There’s also the fire. The fire I use is the special earthbound Li Fire, and I have to use a fire array as well as energy from several desolate bones… Lots of resources are needed for cultivation, so we have to be thrifty. That damn brat only has a cut in his hand and he would be fine using the Jin Long Wei’s medicine. It’s such a waste using the Jade Spirit Pills.” complained Old Man Su. From the time they met, Old Man Su had been messing with Yi Yun.

Lin Xintong was between tears and laughter but she decided to remain silent.

“Xintong, that old fellow Marquis Wenyun has finished setting up the array. I will be leaving tomorrow to assist Marquis Wenyun in opening up that ancient array. That ancient mystic realm is fraught with dangers. I can’t take you there, so you will be alone for a few days. You must be extra careful. If you encounter any danger, use the protective charm I gave you.”

Old Man Su exhorted repeatedly as Lin Xintong nodded, “Master, you can be at ease.”

…

“I shall now announce that Yi Yun is first in the kingdom’s selection Mortal Blood realm! He will be a Jin Long Wei elite, and conferred the title of Kingdom Knight!” Onstage, Zhang Tan announced Yi Yun’s results to tens of thousands of people.

As for Tao Yunxiao, he was carried away by the tribal elders.

The surrounding audience had indescribable feelings. As members of the Tao tribal clan, they had always been proud. In an area spanning hundreds of kilometers, they were the absolute kings, but now, their pride had been shattered by Zhang Tan’s words.

“Little Brother Yi, the Jin Long Wei is carrying out a mission in the Cloud Wilderness. We will be staying for a while, so we won’t be able to bring you to the Jin Long Wei campgrounds in the central plains to confer you your title temporarily. You can accompany my Jin Long Wei Army and spend some time in the vast wilderness!”

“I will follow the plans of Lord Thousand Households,” Yi Yun said without any objections.

Zhang Tan nodded. In the end, he had never asked the relationship Yi Yun had with Lin Xintong.

For figures like Lin Xintong, Zhang Tan knew that he shouldn’t delve into things he shouldn’t. Even the matter of Lin Xintong giving pills to Yi Yun would be played down by him. He would not mention it again since Lin Xintong’s message had only been for Zhang Tan’s ears.

Zhang Tan had a faint idea that Lin Xintong did not want many to know about it.

So Zhang Tan decided to simply say that Lin Xintong had given those pills on a whim. He had taken things into his own hands by giving them to Yi Yun.

Zhang Tan faintly knew that the powers behind Lin Xintong were complex. It even concerned the upper echelon of the kingdom. It wasn’t something a small fry like him could understand or partake in.

Previously there were rumors that Lin Xintong could become a Crown Princess. No matter if the rumors were true or not, it was better to err on the side of caution, so Zhang Tan would not gossip about Lin Xintong’s relations with other people.

Previously when Zhang Tan gave Yi Yun the Jade Spirit Pills, he had transmitted the part about Lin Xintong directly to Yi Yun. It was also to prevent others from hearing it.

123 - : First in Mortal Blood

CKtalon  CKtalon

The day after the Kingdom’s selection ended was the day for Yi Yun’s conferment ceremony!

When Zhang Tan came looking for Yi Yun, first thing that caught Yi Yun’s eyes was not the conferment notice, but an exclusive mount used by the Jin Long Wei!

And Zhang Tan indicated that this mount was specially prepared for Yi Yun.

“This mount… it’s mine!?” Yi Yun looked at the eight-meter tall behemoth with great shock. This was a two to three story tall super-behemoth!

Yi Yun never expected this when he entered this world three months ago and saw Zhang Yuxian with a sword slung on his back, riding on such a behemoth across the vast wilderness.

And now, three months later, he actually would have such a beast mount of his own!

“Yes, it’s yours. Haha!” Zhang Tan laughed. “If it was any normal candidate, it would take them a year or two after becoming a Jin Long Wei member before they could get their very own near-horned beast!”

“This near-horned beast can travel fifteen hundred kilometers a day. Do not judge it based on its weight, it can go anywhere, be it mountains or canyons! Also, it has one big advantage. It is this reason that it is the Jin Long Wei’s standard mount. Can you guess what it is?”

Zhang Tan paused to keep Yi Yun guessing. Yi Yun asked with interest, “It can carry a lot? It has a lot of stamina?”

Zhang Tan shook his head, “No! This near-horned beast can, of course, carry a lot and has great stamina. It can run for three days straight, covering five thousand kilometers without a problem! But this isn’t the greatest advantage of the near-horned beast. The greatest advantage is that it eats very little! If a near-horned beast really wants to eat, it can eat a towering tree for its meal. But without food, it can directly absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi as its energy source. As a roaming army, supplies are a big problem. Usually, such a big mount’s appetite will need several carts of food. But the near-horned beast can starve for years. This is crucial.”

“Directly absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi?” Yi Yun was stunned but quickly understood. Yes, in this world, there were all sorts of treasures. There were also desolate and fierce beasts. They could absorb the essence of the surroundings and inhale and exhale the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi from birth. Humans had to cultivate to reach such a state.

Humans and beasts had their own advantages.

A large mount that did not need food was a great help to traverse the vast wilderness!

Yi Yun was very pleased with his mount. With a leap, he landed onto the near-horned beast’s wide and spacious back. The near-horned beast seemed to have some wisdom and did not resist Yi Yun as its new owner.

This mount was too eye-catching!

“Thank you, Lord Thousand Households!” Yi Yun disembarked his mount and bowed.

“Haha, Little Brother Yi, just call me Old Brother Zhang from now on. The Jin Long Wei will be staying in the Tao tribal clan for some time. Stay for a few more days and cultivate.”

When he heard Zhang Tan’s words, Yi Yun hesitated slightly before saying, “It’s like this. I would love to stay here for a few days to cultivate, but I have an elder sister back in the Lian tribal clan. Because of some reasons, she had to hide in the mountains. Before I left, I left sufficient food for her. But she’s a weak girl, so I am worried that she has stayed in the mountains for too long a time. And… my relationship with my sister is very good. She hasn’t heard from me these few days, and will probably worry and maybe miss me….”

“Also, I still have benefactors in the Lian tribal clan. Because of a lack of food, they aren’t having a good time. I really cannot put my mind at ease.” As Yi Yun did not bring Jiang Xiaorou with him, he was unable to be at ease.

In the back mountains of the Lian tribal clan where rabbits were even hard to find, there were no beasts. But even so, he could not afford a single mishap.

Zhang Tan laughed, “It looks like Little Brother Yi is sentimental at heart. Since you said so, then alright. In the next few days, some of my brothers will be coming to the Cloud Wilderness as reinforcements. General Yan has also ordered us to station troops around the surrounding tribes. We are still considered quite free for now. I’ll send some brothers with you to bring you back to the Lian tribal clan. You can then reunite with your sister. I’ll also get them to bring some good food for your benefactors!”

“In addition, you will need some followers at your new territory. The Jin Long Wei will help you bring them there.” Zhang Tan did as he said. With a wave of a hand, he let his subordinates do the preparations.

Yi Yun was pleased hearing that. The Jin Long Wei would bring food, allowing his sister and all his benefactors to go through this difficult period. With his most pressing needs resolved, Yi Yun could also hunt on his own.

As Lian Chengyu had overdrafted the Lian tribal clan’s food and resources, the people of the Lian tribal clan were already struggling. Some of them were even forced to eat Guanyin clay to stave off their hunger.

“Thank you, Old Brother Zhang.” Yi Yun was not pretentious. Since Zhang Tan had said so, he casually called him so.

“Haha.” Zhang Tan laughed heartily and patted Yi Yun on his shoulders, “Little Brother Yi, as soldiers, we are conferred high ranks in the future through meritorious services. You have a bright future ahead. If you were to become wealthy in the future, your sister will also be conferred a title because of you, and she might even become a princess or something!”

“Come, Old Brother will choose a set of clothes for you!” Yi Yun was to be conferred as a Kingdom Knight today. Although it was the preliminary ceremony, he had to be well-dressed and not be dressed in his shabby linen clothes.

Yi Yun’s residence had already changed to the Jin Long Wei’s camp, where the living conditions were good.

After taking a comfortable hot bath, Yi Yun changed into the new Jin Long Wei clothes from his linen clothes.

During celebratory ceremonies, the Jin Long Wei would wear special ceremonial clothes, as for Kingdom Knights, they could wear a flying fish robe!

The flying fish robe was white in color. Across the chest was an embroidered golden flying fish. It was exquisitely sewn using rich brocade. The beautiful patterns looked as if they were sewn with gold threads.

Yi Yun had always been wearing linen clothes. Even the Lian tribal clan’s Patriarch wore a mixture of old and new cotton robes which were already amazing. Usually, he would not be willing to wear it except during ceremonies.

As for the silk brocade, it was a legendary item because it was only obtained from the central plains! Not only the Lian tribal clan, but even the Tao tribal clan’s Patriarch had never seen such clothes.

He wore a flying fish robe and around his waist was a Qilin band; and he was wearing moccasins on his feet.

These items, especially the flying fish robe and Qilin band, could only be worn by nobles. Even the richest tycoons were not entitled to wear them.

This was a symbol of nobility!

Just from the gear, Yi Yun could tell the extraordinary status of the Jin Long Wei and the privilege enjoyed by the nobles. Even the lowest ranked Kingdom Knight’s clothes, if sold, could be enough for a person to spend the rest of his life.

After putting on his clothes, Yi Yun hung a Yanchi saber by his waist.

This was the standard saber of the Jin Long Wei. The scabbard was gilded with gold. As a unique mark of a Kingdom Knight, there was an oval piece of jade socketed in the middle of Yi Yun’s scabbard.

This Yanchi saber was mainly used for ceremonies or rituals. Of course, using it to kill wasn’t perfunctory.

This Yanchi saber was not more than three feet long. It was two inches wide and did not weigh more than a hundred catties. Pulling the saber out of the sheath, the blade was cold and shiny. It could slice through metal like mud!

This saber was extremely valuable. With it hanging by his side, it added to his heroic spirit!

After having put on his outfit, he was stunned when he looked into the mirror.

He couldn’t even believe that the youth in the mirror was himself.

Having come into this alternate world, he had always been wearing tattered linen clothes, how could he have tried brocade clothes?

As the saying goes, clothes make the man, Yi Yun in his white flying fish robe looked bright and valiant!

Due to the several months of training, Yi Yun’s body had improved greatly. With the Purple Crystal’s energy transforming his muscles, Yi Yun now had smooth and sleek skin, like a piece of jade. Soft lines featured his handsome face, but his eyebrows contained verve, making him still look masculine.

Although Yi Yun was still short, his body was fit. His legs were long and slender, making him bring out the beauty of the flying fish robe.

Yi Yun was like a precious sword that had been unsheathed. Its blade’s beam shining in all directions with a force to be reckoned!

When Yi Yun walked out of the bathroom’s locker room, Zhang Tan’s eyes lit up upon seeing him. His subordinates all stared at Yi Yun, trying to distinguish if this was Yi Yun or some extraordinary son from a large family clan in the capital.

“Haha, you suit this flying fish robe perfectly! I must say, Little Brother Yi, with your looks, when you become dashing in another three or five years, I wonder how many girls will get into trouble because of you!” Zhang Tan joked without shame. In fact, Zhang Tan was not a serious person nor inflexible. A typical military man amidst a testosterone-filled environment was seldom serious or prim. It was common to brag and goof off. They were often outspoken or enjoyed telling sex jokes to no end.

But Zhang Tan would only be outspoken among people of similar stature, or with brothers whom he had gone through life and death with. In front of his subordinates and commoners, he would appear cold and heartless.

As an old timer in the army, he as an instructor had to maintain the dignity of the Jin Long Wei in front of the recruits.

Yi Yun scratched his head shyly. He was very satisfied with the effects of wearing the flying fish robe.

“Let’s go. It’s time to confer you the title of Kingdom Knight!” With that, Zhang Tan brought Yi Yun out. Yi Yun rode on his near-horned beast that sauntered through the streets of the Tao tribal clan’s city.

The entire Tao tribal clan was bustling because Yi Yun’s conferment ceremony was being held in the celebration square of the Tao tribal clan.

The Tao tribal clan prepared the arrangements meticulously. That was because other than Yi Yun’s conferment as a Kingdom Knight, Hu Ya was also to be officially inducted as a Jin Long Wei member.

Of course, Yi Yun was the absolute star of the show today.

When Yi Yun rode on the near-horned beast and appeared near the Tao tribal clan celebration square, many people looked at Yi Yun.

Seeing Yi Yun in his brocade flying fish robe, with his Yanchi saber by his waist, many people of the Tao tribal clan became dumbfounded.

124 - : Overbearing Air of Elegance

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The young man riding on that behemoth… is he… is he Yi Yun from the Lian tribal clan?” The people of the Tao tribal clan were shocked upon seeing Yi Yun. They had obviously seen him more than once at the selection.

But despite that, they were not sure today.

Although his facial features and shape were right, the difference in disposition was too great!

It was considered an extremely impressive feat to ride on a near-horned beast to the people of the vast wilderness. With his splendor and the splendid flying fish robe, these two qualities made it even more shocking. It was like driving a top-end luxury car in a poor mountain village.

In addition, Yi Yun had an overpowering air of elegance, and his aura stood out from the crowd. Hence, this shock was played to its limits.

It was like he was a dragon or phoenix amongst the people!

The people of the Tao tribal clan wore similar linen clothes like the people of the Lian tribal clan. Seeing Yi Yun in his majestic attire, they felt ashamed.

The youth of the Tao tribal clan who were jealous of Yi Yun could no longer feel so because the gap between them was now too great.

Their strength was inferior, their talent was inferior, they were older and their looks and dispositions were inferior!

What was there to be jealous about? They were on completely different levels!

The people quickly made way as Yi Yun proceeded past them on the behemoth. Many of the people were looking at Yi Yun with awe.

This was the reverence given to outstanding people.

A person’s aura was extremely important.

People would know from a glance that a person with an aura was extraordinary!

Yi Yun was just like that.

Many teenage girls of the Tao tribal clan blushed upon seeing Yi Yun, with sparkles in their eyes.

The teenage girls of the vast wilderness had no resistance to a strong, cool and handsome youth that had a bright future ahead of him. They were willing to be indentured as his slaves.

In fact, to be indentured as a slave of a Kingdom Knight was not a humiliation to them. It was actually an excellent thing.

Some of the girls who were twenty years old hated that they were born a few years earlier. They felt that they had no chance to follow Yi Yun, but there were still some girls who did not give up hope. They still stared at Yi Yun with unblinking eyes, as if they wanted to swallow Yi Yun down their stomachs.

Yi Yun rode on the behemoth for fifteen minutes, passing a five-kilometer-long street before reaching the festival square.

The conferment ceremony at the Tao tribal clan was done with great fanfare!

For the ceremony, the Tao tribal clan specially slaughtered a cow, two goats, three pigs, five hunting dogs and ten chickens. These were the five livestock. Special care was made because these animals were known as the five animals and they were an important part of the ritual ceremony.

Even for the Tao tribal clan, it was an expensive affair to slaughter so many animals for the sacrifice.

The Tao tribal clan’s shamans and witches were out in full force as they prayed at the altar.

This ritual was mostly for Hu Ya. In addition, the Mortal Blood warriors like Tao Yunxiao, the elites nurtured by the Tao tribal clan and some heirs to the small tribes that had passed the kingdom’s selection were to be inducted as Jin Long Wei members.

As for the maimed and mentally unsound Lian Chengyu, he naturally did not make an appearance.

He had lost his qualification in his final battle.

Because of Hu Ya and company, the Tao tribal clan did their very best. It was in a way a ceremony for the Tao tribal clan to bid farewell to the vast wilderness, and their first step into the central plains. Hence, they were could not afford to be haphazard with the ceremony.

The Tao tribal clan had at least a hundred thousand people, so the people gathered at the festival square made it very packed!

These people were paying attention to the conferment ceremony. The youths and young men who could stand on that stage were all enviable people!

Actually, the people furthest in the back could not see a thing, but they were not willing to leave. Just by standing there, it was a way of witnessing a historic moment.

Of all the participants that passed the selection, only Yi Yun was qualified to ride a near-horned beast.

After Hu Ya and company received their Jin Long Wei appointment letters, Yi Yun also received a brocade letter that symbolized his status as a Kingdom Knight.

This brocade letter was a scroll half a foot long.

The scroll was made of silk and it was adorned with silk ribbons. At the two ends of the scroll were blocks made of sandalwood.

The sandalwood was heavy, but the carving was exquisite. The brocade letter also symbolized his superior identity within the Jin Long Wei.

In addition, as a Jin Long Wei elite, Yi Yun received a jade pendant.

This jade pendant was in the form of a flying fish which only Jin Long Wei elites obtained. The jade was greenish-white, and the dragon-fish drawn on it looked like it was alive. Hanging it by the waist, it added the finishing touches to Yi Yun.

It made Yi Yun suddenly look like a carefully sculpted piece of jade, giving off a dazzling luster. Not only did he have a sharp air of elegance, he also had an extremely composed air of nobility!

No one would have doubted that Yi Yun was an heir of a big family clan.

With the brocade letter in hand and a flying fish jade pendant by his waist, Yi Yun stood in the center of the square. Yi Yun was filled with emotion as tens of thousands of people looked at him with admiration.

It was no wonder numerous elites of the vast wilderness dreamed of obtaining the status as a Kingdom Knight. Such glory would have been the pinnacle of their lives.

But Yi Yun felt this was not the pinnacle of his life. Instead, it was just the beginning of his life.

He did not indulge in the glory he had received by being conferred a Kingdom Knight. He knew that his current achievement was nothing. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was not the entire world. And even in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, he was just the lowest rank among the nobles. There were greater things waiting for him in this world.

He wanted to explore, to climb and to conquer!

The ceremony lasted for six hours. Yi Yun received his brocade letter under the envious eyes of the Tao tribal clan’s people before returning to the Jin Long Wei camp.

On the same night as the conferment ceremony, Old Man Su was packing his luggage, in preparation to leave the Tao tribal clan. Yi Yun got wind of the news and felt that he had to bid the old man farewell.

After learning the residence of Old Man Su from Zhang Tan, Yi Yun knocked on the door politely.

This elegant but small courtyard and the high tower behind the yard was a restricted area of the Tao tribal clan. Without the permission of the Jin Long Wei, no one was to disturb Su Jie and Lin Xintong.

“Come in!”

Old Man Su’s lazy voice came from the other side. Yi Yun opened the door and saw Old Man Su and Lin Xintong sitting in the small courtyard.

Seeing Yi Yun, Old Man Su was slightly surprised.

Currently, under the bright moonlight, Yi Yun was wearing his flying fish robe, with the flying fish jade pendant by his side, giving off a princely look.

Old Man Su did not watch Yi Yun’s Kingdom Knight conferment ceremony, but he never thought that wearing the flying fish robe would have such an effect on Yi Yun.

Lin Xintong was also surprised, her beautiful eyes showing a slight hint of amazement. Lin Xintong had seen many young masters and young elites. They were all elegant and handsome, worthy of being called princely young masters.

But… these young masters lacked that natural flair Yi Yun had. They were not polished from the natural elements.

Artificial hills may be pretty, but they were not as pretty as the naturally formed mountains.

“Keke, you rotten rascal, to think you look all dressed up in that set of clothes!” Old Man Su gave a rare bit of praise.

Yi Yun rolled his eyes and could not be bothered to wrangle with Old Man Su. He simply explained his reason for being here, which was to bid Old Man Su farewell.

Yi Yun did not know where Old Man Su was going, but he could guess that Old Man Su was going to do something dangerous. This was because Yi Yun noticed whenever the destination of Old Man Su was mentioned, Lin Xintong would show worry in her beautiful eyes.

But the old man would just laugh and joke as if he wasn’t worried about the trip.

Old Man Su exhorted Lin Xintong to be careful after he left. He showed her care in every possible way.

But Old Man Su did not show any favoritism. After exhorting Lin Xintong, he turned his attention to Yi Yun. He patted Yi Yun on the shoulder and spoke a few words of “encouragement” to Yi Yun.

He said things such as, “Being first in the selection might be quite good, but it’s just a selection with a rotten level of quality.”

“I say, you actually hurt your hand defeating a retard like Tao Yunxiao? And so what if you injured your hand, why did you waste two of my Jade Spirit Pills! It was such a waste of a treasure!”

“I never expected you to be conferred a Kingdom Knight. It’s not bad becoming a noble. As for this Kingdom Knight title… You will hit a dozen of them by just throwing a rock on the street in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s capital.”

“Although you aren’t that awesome, you sure lucked out, producing Purple Air Comes From The East. That was barely passable…”

Old Man Su’s words rendered Yi Yun speechless.

The old man was truly wicked with his words. It was like he couldn’t say anything that didn’t cause harm.

But he knew the old man was leaving for a dangerous job, so he did not wrangle with him. He just listened to what the old man had to say while letting it go in one ear and out the other.

When the moon was at its peak, Old Man Su finally left.

He was in a white robe, riding on a little red horse of unknown origin. Old Man Su swore that the little red horse was a Qilin breed, but no matter how Yi Yun looked at it, the little red horse looked too funny. Especially with Old Man Su’s fat ass sitting on it, the little red horse was almost swallowed by Old Man Su’s ass.

Seeing Old Man Su’s round figure and his fat belly resting on the horse’s neck, Yi Yun could only feel embarrassed and depressed.

“Go!” Old Man Su shouted and the little red horse began galloping. Yi Yun really wondered if that mini-pony could withstand Old Man Su’s weight.

Under the moonlight, Old Man Su and his horse traveled towards the vast wilderness.

Looking from afar, Yi Yun felt that this scene would have meant more if Old Man Su wasn’t that fat…

On the plains, Old Man Su was singing a somewhat tragic song.

The sky is filled with dried yellow grass, with a horse, I travel afar.

The winds of meals attack the world, only to enter a dragon’s nest or god’s realm.

Heaven smiles with smoke arising, the lands confer me as king…

…

As Old Man Su sang his heroic song, he carried the ten baked chicken Yi Yun had given him, embarking on his long journey.

Behind, Yi Yun turned speechless again upon hearing it. Where the hell did he plagiarize that song from? It didn’t even have the slightest rhythm!

125 - : Kingdom Knight Conferment

CKtalon  CKtalon

With Old Man Su gone, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were left standing in the wilderness.

Under the moon, Lin Xintong was wearing a white dress like a fairy. Yi Yun wore a flying fish robe and had an excellent disposition.

In the wilderness stood a man and woman, both divine looking.

Lin Xintong was a quiet person, and Yi Yun usually didn’t say much, so the atmosphere turned silent.

“Old Man Su… uh… Old Man Su has left. Miss Lin, what plans do you have in the next few days?” Yi Yun was first to break the silence.

Hearing how Yi Yun addressed Su Jie, Lin Xintong laughed and looked radiant.

“Nothing much. Master told me not to go far, so I’ll just be hanging around here. In the deep parts of the Cloud Wilderness, there are some ancient desolate beasts that I cannot beat.”

“I see…” Yi Yun thought of something and said, “Tomorrow, I will be returning to the Lian tribal clan. Miss Lin, if you really have nothing…”

Yi Yun was still considering how beneficial it would be if he could train with Lin Xintong every night.

“Alright,” Lin Xintong answered concisely. She surprised Yi Yun as he thought that she wouldn’t agree, but she had agreed immediately. He had not even finished what he had to say.

“You will go with me to the Lian tribal clan?” Yi Yun tried to confirm with Lin Xintong.

“I was planning on doing so. I also have things I need to check,” said Lin Xintong.

Alright! Yi Yun was overjoyed. With Lin Xintong, it was obvious how fast his strength would improve. He had originally thought he would be taking a trip back to see his sister and might need to take a break from cultivating. But now, he had none of those concerns.

…

The next day at noon, five Jin Long Wei warriors prepared grain, meat, vegetables and clothes in preparation to embark on the journey for the Lian tribal clan.

These people were to send Yi Yun home. To traverse the vast wilderness, one needed to be at the Purple Blood realm, and optimally at the mid or late stages of Purple Blood.

Although Yi Yun was strong, Zhang Tan worried about him traveling alone in the vast wilderness.

Yi Yun rode a near-horned beast by himself. It was his own mount. Together with five other Jin Long Wei warriors, a team of six near-horned beasts could be considered mighty.

When Yi Yun finished packing his things, the members of the Lian tribal clan warrior preparation camp crept up sneakily and stood nearby. Seeing the six behemoths, they lamented.

These members of the warrior preparation camp had come to the Tao tribal clan for the Kingdom’s selection. Eventually, they had to return to the Lian tribal clan, because the Tao tribal clan would never allow them to be freeloaders.

The Jin Long Wei would send the unsuccessful candidates from small tribal clans back, but they would only do it once, not repeatedly.

Clearly, if the members of the Lian tribal clan warrior preparation camp did not join the team, they could forget about going back, since the Jin Long Wei would not specifically send them back.

A few men from the warrior preparation camp looked at each other bitterly. It was impossible to stay behind in the Tao tribal clan, but how were they to explain things when they returned to the Lian tribal clan?

They were too humiliated to go back!

Also, to hitchhike, they needed to ask the master, Yi Yun for permission!

They had previously followed Lian Chengyu’s lead by taunting and jeering at Yi Yun, but now, they had to beg Yi Yun.

Thinking about it made them distraught. If Yi Yun wanted to make things difficult for them and purposely chose not to bring them along, then they would have to run their own course!

“We’re dead, we’re dead. We have no way out. Let’s put the matter of returning aside first; even if we returned, with Young Master Lian beaten to this state, how are we to explain it to the Patriarch…?”

A man said with a bitter face.

“Are you an idiot!?” said an older man as he slapped him. “Don’t you know, things have changed. In the future, Yi Yun is our new boss! Let’s rush to kowtow to Young Master Yi and beg for his forgiveness. Acknowledging a new master is of utmost importance!”

When this clever man said those words, the surrounding tribesmen got confused.

“But, we have neither strength nor beauty. Even if we were to kowtow and beg for forgiveness, it would be useless.”

Having come to the Tao tribal clan, they had seen all sorts of experts, and they had realized Yi Yun’s amazing power. These men of the warrior preparation camp finally realized their so-called strength was a pile of shit compared to Yi Yun.

“We also have to make a stand. In the future, we will man the fields and work hard. At least we will have a way to live. If not, Young Master Yi can easily squeeze us to death like bugs.” The smart man sighed with emotion. He understood that the days of sucking up were gone. No matter how much they fawned over Yi Yun, he would not bother with them. But at least by doing so, they would still live.

“Then… then what about Young Master Lian?” a dumb man weakly asked.

“Young Master Lian? Fuck him, he’s a useless young master now. Lian Chengyu, this grandson of a turtle has caused so much harm to me!” Upon mentioning Lian Chengyu, this man became angry. If it wasn’t for Lian Chengyu, he would not have such irreconcilable relations with Yi Yun!

After all kinds of discussion, the men of the warrior preparation camp decided to recognize Yi Yun as their master.

They mustered their courage and while dragging Lian Chengyu, shoved each other towards Yi Yun.

“Bam!”

The eight members of the warrior preparation camp knelt down on the ground. With Yi Yun’s current status, kneeling before him was taken for granted.

“Young Master Yi, please be benevolent and forgive us!”

“Young Master Yi, I failed to recognize a great person. I deserve to die.”

“Young Master Yi, I shall be your slave in the future. If you want me to go east, I’ll never dare go west. If you wanted me to catch a dog, I’ll never dare catch a chicken.”

The few men from the warrior preparation camp showed their regretful faces that were filled with grief and slapped their faces with their big hands.

Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!

As an act of good faith, a few men slapped themselves even louder.

Seeing the members of the warrior preparation camp and their servitude look, Yi Yun could not be bothered with them. They irked him.

Yi Yun was done packing his items and remained silent.

With Yi Yun not showing any reaction, some of the slaves thought they did not show enough sincerity in slapping themselves, so they slapped themselves even harder.

Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!

A few of their faces were slapped swollen.

Yi Yun got frustrated listening to it. “What are you doing?”

“May Young Master Yi show mercy,” said a man as he slapped himself, “May Young Master Yi bring us home…”

Yi Yun impatiently said, “Just following would do.”

Although these people were bullies, they had never done any evil, so Yi Yun would not do anything to do them.

“Thank you Young Master Yi!”

A few of the slaves were grateful.

A man thought and hesitantly asked, “Then… Then what about the treacherous Lian Chengyu?”

“Bring him along,” Yi Yun answered casually. Lian Chengyu was already crippled. The heinous crimes that he had committed which caused all those deaths, were to be dealt with by the people of the Lian tribal clan when he was brought back to the tribe.

“Alright, let’s bring the grandson of a turtle back. When we return to the tribe, Young Master Yi will deal with him!” The man was smart, so the few members of the warrior preparation camp dragged the half-dead Lian Chengyu over.

Lian Chengyu’s eyes were glazed over. Being dragged by the men along the ground made his face stained with dirt.

After that, two men threw Lian Chengyu into a basket on the back of the near-horned beast as if they were throwing a gunny sack. They did not care if Lian Chengyu was comfortable.

“Fucking chicken sure caused me harm!” A man stepped on Lian Chengyu’s face to vent his anger.

Yi Yun saw this at the corner of his eye and had mixed feelings. Days ago, Lian Chengyu was the master, but days later he was a prisoner. The vast wilderness was cruel. The strong were honored and for the weak…even survival was a luxury.

The team of behemoths set off.

The six beasts galloped out the Tao tribal clan and along the way, they stirred dust in their wake.

Yi Yun wistfully looked back and seemed to see a white-clothed figure in a loft far in the distance, looking at him with a smile.

Lin Xintong naturally did not go with Yi Yun. In fact, none of the Jin Long Wei members knew that Lin Xintong would follow Yi Yun to the Lian tribal clan.

126 - : With a beauty as companion

CKtalon  CKtalon

The clouds billowed as the sun rose and set.

In a blink of an eye, a few days had passed. While Yi Yun and company were on their way, the people in the Lian tribal clan were having it rough. The Lian tribal clan was really poor now.

Even the ruling class of the Lian tribal clan like the tribal elders had almost no more rice in their houses.

Over the past few years, Lian Chengyu had emptied out the Lian tribal clan. Especially in the last few months, he had gone even further. Currently, the Lian tribal clan had slaughtered all of their livestock and used up all of their grains.

But, even as the entire village was starving, they still had hope.

They were eagerly waiting, waiting for Lian Chengyu’s return. They were hoping that he would bring them the good news that would excite them.

At that moment, in the few pieces of farmland the Lian tribal clan had, a few men were doing farm work. Without the cattle, farm work became extra hard. And beneath the trees, women were making arrows. These days, the arrows and armors produced by the Lian tribal clan would only be bought by the Tao tribal clan.

And the Tao tribal clan was not that close to the Lian tribal clan, so if the Tao tribal clan did not come to collect it, they had no way of taking the initiative to exchange their products for food.

It was late in the morning when the people of the Lian tribal clan were preparing to eat breakfast. As they were already hungry, eating a bowl of rice porridge with rice grains that could be counted on one’s fingers was insufficient.

Now, the members of the warrior preparation camp were not given preferential treatment. They only ate two meals a day like the commoners.

A few members of the warrior preparation camp that stood guard in the mountains came down to eat. A new shift went up the mountain to replace them.

Why were they standing guard on the mountain? The main reason was that the Lian tribal clan’s elders estimated that the results of the kingdom’s selection would arrive one of these days.

So every day in the morning, the elders would send men to the mountain pass to watch. They wanted to know when the tribe’s hope, Lian Chengyu, would bring back their tribe’s warriors. That he would now be an official member of the Jin Long Wei, having a triumphant homecoming.

Under extreme hardship, they needed news to excite the hearts of people.

They had been waiting for days, but not a single shadow appeared from the vast wilderness.

Today, just as the members of the warrior preparation camp changed shifts, Zhang Dali was suddenly surprised. His eyes looked into the distance. “You guys look… what’s that…”

Zhang Dali pointed into the distance. People started looking and what they saw was amazing.

In the distant horizon, a dust cloud had been swept up. Seeing closely, they could see huge behemoths running amongst those dust clouds!

They had seen those beasts before. They were the Jin Long Wei mounts!

“Young Master Lian… could it be that Young Master Lian is back!?” A man said uncertainly.

“It has to be. Looking at the direction those beasts are heading, they are coming right at our Lian tribal clan. It can’t be wrong!” Zhang Dali slapped his thighs. His face was filled with excitement!

Back when Lian Chengyu led the elite members of the Lian tribal clan away, they had sat on such behemoths. It was the Jin Long Wei who had sent someone to bring them.

Now seeing those beasts, it was highly likely that Young Master Lian was back!

And looking at the scale, it was much more massive than back then, there were at least… six behemoths!

“How could there be so many?” A man said puzzledly.

When they left, there was only one behemoth, yet they returned with six behemoths? Why was there such a difference?

Zhang Dali thought about it and realized the reason. He proudly said, “How is this difficult to understand? Originally, Young Master Lian was an ordinary candidate, so there was no special treatment. But now, Young Master Lian must have shined in the kingdom’s selection and he has become an official member of the Jin Long Wei. He is now greatly appreciated, so Young Master Lian is coming back on a greater scale! How can we compare Young Master Lian with others!?”

What Zhang Dali said enlightened the others!

“Brother Zhang is the clever one. He understood it immediately!”

“That’s for sure. Brother Zhang can write and is different from us brutes.” Another small-sized man sucked up. Zhang Dali could write. He could write his name, the main reason being… his name had fewer strokes.

“Let’s go! Let’s report the good news!” Zhang Dali waved his hand and the group of men ran towards the village happily.

They were originally very hungry, but with Lian Chengyu back, they were no longer hungry and ran with great haste!

At that moment, back in the Lian tribal clan’s Patriarch’s courtyard, the Patriarch was smoking using a pipe. Actually, this pipe no longer had any more tobacco. In the vast wilderness, tobacco was expensive and the Patriarch had almost finished smoking his stash. So for the past few days, he had been using a tiny bit of tobacco, and with a few puffs, it would be gone.

Even if it ran out, the Patriarch carried on smoking. It seemed like it had turned into a habit.

“Second Brother, you say, it’s been over ten days. There should be some news from Chengyu…” The Patriarch said to the old man not far from him. These words had been said by the Patriarch numerous times in the past few days.

The old man wore a half-new cotton robe. As he drank bitter tea made out of tea leaves foam, he said without much thought, “It should be one of these days…”

As the two old men spoke, the door to the Patriarch’s courtyard slammed open with a bang.

The old man who was drinking tea jumped in fright. He nearly knocked over his precious teacups. After all, it was hard to find a set of porcelain cups in the Lian tribal clan.

They were about to rage when they realized that it was Zhang Dali and several men from the warrior preparation camp.

These people were those they had sent to man the mountain post.

As such, the tea-drinking old man didn’t say a word and just stared at Zhang Dali with heavy breaths. He vaguely felt that there was a chance for him to be excited.

“He’s here! He’s here!” Zhang Dali said incoherently, “Six! Six!”

Zhang Dali gestured his six fingers and the two old men were shocked upon hearing it.

What the hell?

“Six behemoths! The… the kind the Jin Long Wei rides!”

Behind Zhang Dali was a panting member of the warrior preparation camp who explained. He had followed Zhang Dali all the way down, so he was panting heavily.

“Yes… I was the first to discover it!” Although Zhang Dali was out of breath, he did not forget to take credit. “So many behemoths heading to our village. For sure… For sure it’s Young Master Lian!” panted Zhang Dali.

Seeing the old man with a cup of tea in hand, he grabbed it without any propriety and drank it dry. This was because he was excited. Usually, he would never have the courage to do so.

“Young Master Lian must have become a Jin Long Wei member, maybe even an elite! Why else would the Jin Long Wei send so many behemoths to send him back?” Zhang Dali explained his reasoning.

Lian Chengyu must have obtained great results. If he had been unsuccessful, the Jin Long Wei would have been kind even if they sent just a single person to bring him back. They might not even be bothered to send him back. At that point, Lian Chengyu would have to stay in the Tao tribal clan. He would then have to wait for the Tao tribal clan’s Purple Blood warriors to come to the Lian tribal clan to do the exchange before he could come back.

By understanding this, the Patriarch turned radiant. His beard began to shake with excitement, “Great! Great! We have finally endured through it!”

“Chengyu has delivered the results, Chengyu has delivered the results!” The old man with the teacup was too happy. He began coughing after laughing and nearly died from excitement.

“Our Lian tribal clan will prosper. We will walk out of the vast wilderness into the central plains!” The Patriarch’s beamed from ear to ear. He laughed till his wrinkled old face became like a daisy flower during autumn.

“Quick! Give the orders, get the tribe to prepare. We have to greet the Jin Long Wei ambassadors! We cannot let the ambassadors think that our etiquette is lacking as countryside villagers!”

Only then did the Patriarch remember what was important. He slapped his thigh and quickly ordered Zhang Dali.

After Zhao Tiezhu had been maimed, many things in the tribe were instead done by the “smarter” Zhang Dali.

“Alright!” Zhang Dali rushed out of the courtyard door, taking the members of the warrior preparation camp with him. Their approach to announcing the news was simple and direct.

They simply shouted at the top of their lungs in the village.

“Folks, come out!”

“Young Master Lian has passed the kingdom’s selection! Young Master Lian has become a Jin Long Wei elite!”

“The Jin Long Wei ambassador is sending Young Master Lian back. They have almost reached the village entrance. Quickly prepare to welcome them!”

Zhang Dali voice was considered a loud one. So with one shout, it spread throughout the entire village.

The people quickly put down their work. Those who were eating stopped or preparing food stopped. All of them walked out their doors and looked at Zhang Dali.

“The Young Master is really back?”

“Could it be fake?” Zhang Dali said grumpily.

“Then we’ll be going into the city?”

“For the city, not necessarily. I heard to enter the city, he will need to be a Kingdom Knight! It’s not easy becoming one, but with the young master’s strength, it’s only a matter of time!” Zhang Dali said proudly. The villagers were all very excited upon hearing the news. They remembered that it was just a matter of time before they could leave the vast wilderness!

They put on some decent clothes, came out of their houses, and gathered near the village entrance, ready to welcome the Jin Long Wei into the village.

“Mom, Young Master Lian has been chosen in the selection…” In the crowd, Zhou Xiaoke held onto Aunt Wang’s hands. Seeing the hustle and bustle of the crowd, she was confused.

I wonder how Brother Yi Yun did in the selection… Would he also be coming back?

Aunt Wang said, “Kiddo Yun should be quite good. He even defeated Zhao Tiezhu, he might even have been chosen too! But even he wasn’t chosen, Kiddo Yun is only twelve. He still has a long way to go.”

Aunt Wang touched Zhou Xiaoke’s head. She brought Zhou Xiaoke to the side of the streets. From afar, the duo saw six behemoths running towards the village entrance. These six beasts’ great momentum caused the ground to gently quake!

127 - : Young Master Lian is back?

CKtalon  CKtalon

The man in charge of leading the Jin Long Wei was named Sun Jingrui. He too was a Jin Long Wei elite. He was a stout twenty-three-year-old man that looked extremely powerful.

The near-horned beast he was sitting on was also very mighty. When his two-storey behemoth moved into the crowd, the people subconsciously stepped back. This behemoth gave off an immense oppressive feeling.

“Welcome Lord Ambassador! Lord Ambassador must have had a tough journey.” The Lian tribal clan’s Patriarch and several tribal elders, including Zhang Dali, and the rest of the members of the warrior preparation camp hurried out of the crowd to greet him.

Sun Jingrui gave the Patriarch a friendly and pleasant look.

On the way, Yi Yun had not told him his relationship with the Lian tribal clan’s ruling class. Sun Jingrui only knew he had a feud with Lian Chengyu, but did not know that the people bowing before him were Lian Chengyu’s supporters and henchmen, or he would never have treated them as such.

After the Patriarch bowed, he lifted his head and looked at the backs of the five behemoths behind Sun Jingrui. He expected to see Lian Chengyu.

As one of the members of the Jin Long Wei, Yi Yun’s near-horned beast was fourth in line. As the near-horned beasts were large, he was a distance away from the Patriarch.

Although he was a distance away, he should have easily been seen.

But today, Yi Yun was wearing a flying fish robe with a Yanchi saber by his waist. He looked handsome and divine. After changing into this outfit, even Zhang Tan, who knew that the person in front of him was Yi Yun, was stunned before recognizing him.

The clothes make the man, so with a different outfit, his disposition looked completely different.

Naturally, the Patriarch did not recognize Yi Yun. It should be said that this youth in luxurious clothing riding on a behemoth was too different from that poor Yi Yun. So he never associated him with Yi Yun.

The old Patriarch just took a glance at Yi Yun. For an extraordinary youth like Yi Yun, he could only sigh. He reflected over the existence of all these promising men in the Jin Long Wei. This person was young and capable, making him filled with jealousy and envy!

Following that, his gaze concentrated on a few of the large baskets the near-horned beasts were carrying. From his experience, the contestants from the Lian tribal clan, who did not have the qualifications to ride the near-horned beast, would sit in the baskets. Watching from below, he could not see what was in the baskets from his angle.

As for the warrior preparation camp members in the basket, they looked back at each other, unsure of what to do.

Lian Chengyu had been reduced to such a state, and they had been eliminated in the first round. They had returned in utter defeat, so they were too humiliated to show their faces to the village.

If they had banked on Yi Yun’s success, they could impress by being Yi Yun’s henchmen. But Yi Yun showed no fondness for them, causing the situation they were in to be extremely awkward.

The Patriarch may not recognize Yi Yun, but there were some who saw him, such as Zhou Xiaoke!

As Zhou Xiaoke had been searching for Yi Yun, even though he was relatively far away, she had managed to notice him.

Seeing Yi Yun dressed in a flying fish robe, her tiny mouth opened up the size of a quail egg. That… Could that be… Brother Yi Yun!?

Zhou Xiaoke grabbed Aunt Wang’s hand, unsure of her discovery.

At that moment, Sun Jingrui waved his hand and released two large baskets carried by the near-horned beast. The basket landed heavily with a dull thud.

Bags of grain and meat wrapped in oilskin rolled out from the baskets.

The Patriarch was stunned seeing all the food!

The surrounding Lian tribal clan people stared at it.

They were completely shocked.

Grain! Meat!

Heavens! Was this a dream?

These people had been starving for days, unsure of the moment they would starve to death. For them to suddenly see food, including meat, it was a critical hit of great temptation!

Starving people could do anything just for a morsel of food.

The Patriarch shook from excitement, “Lord… Lord Ambassador, this food, is… is it for us?”

Sun Jingrui said, “That’s right, this is for the people of the Lian tribe. The Lian tribe has made a contribution to the kingdom by nurturing a genius. He was not only conferred the title of Kingdom Knight, he could even amount to much in the future, and becoming a Human Lord, one of the high nobles! This can be considered the good fortune of the Lian tribe! For your meritorious service, the Lord Thousand Households has rewarded food for all of you after hearing that the tribe is starving!”

When Sun Jingrui said those words, especially when he mentioned “conferred the title of Kingdom Knight”, the Patriarch was shocked and trembled with excitement. He was close to tears.

Conferred the title of Kingdom Knight… I must have heard wrong!

The Patriarch really wanted to shout out loud.

“Chengyu…. has been made a Kingdom Knight!!”

The tribal elders who were behind him seemed to turn forty years younger from the excitement. It seemed like they had returned back to the night they had consummated their marriage on their wedding day.

A Kingdom Knight was a noble!

Although they were from the vast wilderness, they knew what it meant to be a noble. And the Jin Long Wei ambassador had already said that not only had Lian Chengyu been conferred the title of Kingdom Knight, he would even become a Human Lord! Only the noble ranks of dukes or princes could be considered a Human Lord!

Heaven sure has eyes!

The people were extremely excited. They all knew that as a Kingdom Knight, Lian Chengyu would be given some territory. As such, they could enter the cities to lead a good life.

Originally, it was said that being conferred a Kingdom Knight was difficult. They would have to continue leading their tough lives in the vast wilderness. But they did not expect that Lian Chengyu had immediately jumped to the rank of Kingdom Knight!

“Young Master Lian is too great!”

“That’s for sure. Don’t you know what kind of person our Young Master was? When Young Master was born, the entire sky was lit red, an extraordinary phenomenon! Young Master Lian is a star that descended, destined to riches in the future!” A Lian woman said while smacking her lips. She and Lian Chengyu had a bit of affinity, so she was naturally happy.

“Not only riches, did you not hear the Lord Ambassador? Young Master Lian will be made a high noble! Young Master Lian became a Purple Blood warrior at seventeen years of age, one cannot fathom what realm he will reach in the future!”

“The Lian family is going to be so rich! Last night I dreamed that their floor was filled with golden rice. This morning when I woke up, I saw a nest filled with magpies. They flew to the Lian’s courtyard door and kept chirping. I say, it must have been a celebratory event! This is a great event that honors the ancestors. We too have benefited from association!”

Again, some women began chattering. Lian Chengyu’s becoming of a Kingdom Knight made many girls hopeful. If they could be made a maid in the Kingdom Knight’s territory, it was much better than starving in the vast wilderness.

Sun Jingrui, who was sitting on the near-horned beast, became dumbfounded upon hearing the people’s chatter. He had never expected such a reaction from the Lian tribal clan’s Patriarch and people.

He stroked his chin and glanced backward at Yi Yun.

Sun Jingrui had originally thought that with the near-horned beast-riding Yi Yun in his flying fish robe and Yanchi saber, wasn’t it clear who had become a Kingdom Knight?

Now, Sun Jingrui finally understood; all these people did not recognize Yi Yun!

Sun Jingrui suddenly wanted to laugh. This kid Yi Yun had a total lack of standing in the Lian tribal clan.

“Your standing sure is miserable,” read Sun Jingrui’s expression.

Yi Yun could read Sun Jingrui’s mind and gave him a helpless look.

The people and Patriarch of the Lian tribal clan could not be blamed. There were ten people from the Lian tribal clan who went to contest in the Kingdom’s selection; but in their hearts, there was only Lian Chengyu. The others were there to fill the number.

They had never entertained the thought that any member of the warrior preparation camp or Yi Yun could have passed the kingdom’s selection.

Therefore, when Sun Jingrui mentioned the conferment of a Kingdom Knight, all of them thought of Lian Chengyu, because there was only Lian Chengyu!

In the hearts of the people, Lian Chengyu was also a Purple Blood warrior! How could anyone else compete with him?

Besides, they did not know that the flying fish robe and the Qilin belt that Yi Yun was wearing were symbols of a Kingdom Knight. With their knowledge, they only believed that Yi Yun was one of the Jin Long Wei warriors like Sun Jingrui.

With those preconceived thoughts, it naturally led to this misunderstanding.

“Lord Ambassador, Lian Chengyu is my paternal grandson, uh… did he come back with you?” At that moment, the Patriarch’s face was flushed with excitement, as if he had drunk a jar of wine.

Sun Jingrui looked oddly at the old man and nodded, “He’s back…”

“Ah? Then where is he?” The Patriarch found it odd; since Lian Chengyu was back, where was he?

“So you want to see him…” Sun Jingrui looked sympathetically at the old man.

“Of course…” The Patriarch felt something amiss. But soon, he quickly thought of a reason to explain the situation. He said, “Lord Ambassador, is Chengyu still doing isolated training? It must be, as a Kingdom Knight, obtaining the kingdom’s salary, resources, he has to work hard for the kingdom. If he does not cultivate well, then he will fail to live up to the expectations of the lords, sullying the name of a Kingdom Knight. Cultivation is what matters, I’m not in a hurry. I’ll wait for Chengyu to finish his cultivation.”

With Lian Chengyu working hard, the surrounding people were amazed. No wonder Young Master Lian had such great achievements, He was gifted with talent and was hard working. Even while traveling, he was still isolating himself for training. He’s too powerful.

Sun Jingrui shook his head, “He isn’t isolated. I say…those guys hiding in the basket, aren’t you going to carry him out? What are you doing?”

Sun Jingrui shouted to the men hiding in the basket.

Just as an ugly woman could not avoid her husband’s parents, they had to face reality.

The members of the Lian tribal clan’s warrior preparation camp had no choice but to stick their heads out. They also carried out Lian Chengyu who had been jolted around all journey to the point of foaming.

The people of the Lian tribal clan were curious as to why the warrior preparation camp members carried out a half-dead person. Hanging by the basket, that person’s eyes were dull, and he was foaming at his mouth. His body was limp, and he looked like a gunnysack of potatoes hanging out on the market for sale.

And his looks, why… why… did he look like… Lian Chengyu?

All the people of the Lian tribal clan were dumbfounded!

The numerous tribal elders were utterly stunned.

There was total silence!

After a moment of silence, a trembling and uncertain voice sounded out, “He… He is Young Master Lian?”

“Impossible! How could Young Master Lian become like this!” Someone said disbelievingly.

Even the Patriarch as Lian Chengyu’s grandfather could not recognize Lian Chengyu in his current state.

“Chengyu! Chengyu!” The Patriarch panicked. He could tell that it was no ordinary injury. Even Lian Chengyu’s mind wasn’t normal!

“Chengyu, what happened to you?” The Patriarch’s voice began to shake. “Chengyu, I thought you were conferred the title of Kingdom Knight? Say something!”

“Patriarch… Lian Chengyu wasn’t conferred the title of Kingdom Knight…” A man from the warrior preparation camp carrying Lian Chengyu said reluctantly, “Lian Chengyu was crippled by someone. His meridians have been severed, all his martial arts have been destroyed. He has already lost the eligibility to be a Jin Long Wei.”

“What!?” The Patriarch’s head buzzed. He nearly collapsed! “Liu Tie, what nonsense are you saying!? Lord Ambassador just said Chengyu was conferred the title of Kingdom Knight!”

Being questioned by the Patriarch, Liu Tie was no longer polite. He threw Lian Chengyu down and said, “Lian Chengyu has been crippled! Patriarch, accept the fact… As for the Kingdom Knight, he’s right in front of you. You just can’t recognize him!”

Liu Tie said as his eyes motioned to Yi Yun.

Only then did the people’s attention transfer to Yi Yun.

At first glance, he looked familiar. On a closer look, they were completely stunned.

There was total silence once again. After a while, someone said uncertainly, “Yi Yun! It’s Yi Yun!?”

“The Kingdom Knight mentioned by the Lord Ambassador is Yi Yun? How could it be?”

The people were horrified. The Lian woman who had said Lian Chengyu was a star from the heavens had received a big shock. With a shake of her head, she said incoherently, “Impossible! Impossible! He’s just a useless villager! How could he be conferred the title of Kingdom Knight? Impossible!”

When those words were said, Sun Jingrui frowned. But before he could say anything, Liu Tie had jumped out of the basket on the near-horned beast.

“Fucking hell, who did you say was a useless villager!?” Liu Tie landed on the ground and in three steps faced the Lian woman and slapped her!

“Pa!”

With a sharp snap, the woman screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

“You dare insult Young Master Yi? You must be tired of living!” Liu Tie said. Taking a step forward, he stepped on the woman’s fat face. Another series of screams rang. This woman’s face had been crushed to the point of being dyed red.

Everyone was shocked. Liu Tie was satisfied as he clapped his hands and looked towards Yi Yun. Immediately, he bowed with a fawning look, “Young Master Yi, please dismount.”

Liu Tie was almost lying on the ground in prostration as if he was a stepping stone for Yi Yun.

Liu Tie had understood that even if Yi Yun did not want him as a henchman, he should not be discouraged. He had to show his determination at being a henchman. He wanted to sever ties with the Lian tribal clan’s ruling class, do whatever Yi Yun wanted to do and let Yi Yun feel pleasant. Maybe he could, one day, become Yi Yun’s henchman.

Yi Yun was speechless at Liu Tie’s actions. This was the modus operandi of the Lian tribal clan’s warrior preparation camp. They were all useless, but they were good at sucking up. They were naturals at that. The master determined the kind of slave.

Yi Yun jumped off the near-horned beast with a leap!

His body was light and landed without disturbing the dust. Only the Yanchi saber gave off a light metallic sound. This sound made the entire tribe, including the Patriarch, tighten up. He subconsciously took a few steps backward.

Seeing Yi Yun up close, his aura was oppressing. He was like a sword that had been unsheathed and no one dared to look at him directly.

An air of elegance, a noble aura, his stature, and strength gave an oppressive pressure. It made the tribal elder’s foreheads sweat.

Now, they had confirmation that Yi Yun had been conferred the title of Kingdom Knight! He was now a noble, and the gap between them was like night and day!

128 - : Heaven has eyes

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun held onto his Yanchi saber and walked forward a few steps and he stood in front of the Patriarch.

Facing Yi Yun, the Patriarch’s body was trembling. He knew that it was extremely difficult for the Jin Long Wei to confer the title of Kingdom Knight. Since Yi Yun was conferred the title, it was proof that Yi Yun’s strength was extremely terrifying, far beyond his imagination!

As for the near-horned beast mount Yi Yun had, the price of such a well-trained near-horned beast would be something the Patriarch did not dare think of!

The people of the vast wilderness worshiped and feared experts. If not for the difference in stature in the past, the Patriarch would have knelt down before Yi Yun. But now, he was barely keeping his dignity in front of Yi Yun.

“Lian Chengyu… was crippled by me.” Yi Yun said it simply.

The Patriarch’s brain buzzed. He subconsciously wanted rush up to Yi Yun and fight with his life. However, he came to a realization before he made an impulsive move, hence he stopped.

The Patriarch’s body trembled. Behind him, the tribal elders looked at Yi Yun with disbelief and contempt.

As for the commoners, they were all stunned.

Lian Chengyu was crippled by Yi Yun?

Didn’t Lian Chengyu break through to the Purple Blood realm? How could he be defeated by Yi Yun? Yi Yun had only cultivated for a few days, how could that be?

“You are so heartless; to think our Lian tribal clan brought you up, yet you did something so ruthless!” A tribal elder angrily accused Yi Yun. It was as if Yi Yun was someone cruel and unscrupulous.

Yi Yun sneered, “You brought me up? Wrong, it’s us who brought you up! All you tribal elders are the parasites of the Lian tribal clan! It is a parasite like you that treat the people feeding and clothing you as slaves! This world is a life-or-death struggle. Lian Chengyu tried to kill me several times. Why don’t you ask him why he was so heartless? So it is alright for him to kill me, but when I kill him, I’m in the wrong? What a joke!”

Yi Yun’s words shut the tribal elder up.

That’s right, if Yi Yun was a weak and poor kid, Lian Chengyu would have torn Yi Yun to shreds a long time ago.

Suddenly, a tribal elder jumped up in agitation, “You… You must have set up a trap for Chengyu! You can’t be Chengyu’s match. It’s impossible! You must have used some underhanded means, you…”

Before he could finish his words, Liu Tie had already rushed forward and kicked the old man down!

Many of the Lian tribal clan’s elders did not know any martial arts, so they were no match for Liu Tie.

The old man fell and nearly broke all his bones. He laid on the ground groaning.

“Fuck, I’ll make your dog eyes go blind! How dare you say that Young Master Yi had used underhanded means against Lian Chengyu!? Lian Chengyu is shit compared to Young Master Yi!”

“Do you know how dumb you are? You actually think Young Master Yi isn’t strong? Young Master Yi stood in the arena to fight Lian Chengyu. Lian Chengyu was like some helpless poultry and he was utterly beaten to a pulp. It was not a battle, but Young Master Yi’s abuse of Lian Chengyu!”

“Not even Lian Chengyu. Even the top genius of the Tao tribal clan, their third young master used the forbidden power of their clan’s ancestral artifact, and he still got beaten terribly! Do you know what the Tao tribal clan’s ancestral artifact is? I’m sure you have no idea. That sort of power is way beyond your imagination!”

Liu Tie sneered as he looked at the Lian tribal clan’s elders with contempt and haughtiness. His expression was saying they were a bunch of idiots, shouting without knowing anything.

“You dare to say Young Master Yi plotted against Lian Chengyu, I can’t even laugh. Wake up you retards! Your family’s precious baby Lian Chengyu barely reached Yellow rank fifth grade in his assessment. Do you know what Yellow rank fifth grade is? There’s so many in the vast wilderness, they’re nothing rare at all!”

“But Young Master Yi had been assessed as Mystic rank grade five, it’s an entire rank higher. Do you know what the Mystic rank grade five is!? This assessment was made by the upper echelon of the Jin Long Wei, and it is absolutely authoritative! What’s the Mystic rank grade five? It means they will become a Human Lord, destined to become a high noble!”

“While demonstrating, Young Master Yi managed to shatter teacups a thousand feet away. He even caused Purple Air Comes From The East! Do you know what Purple Air Comes From The East is? Hehe! I’m sure you don’t! That’s a purple mist that filled the skies for hundreds of kilometers. That was beautiful! When Young Master Yi was demonstrating his skills, he was acknowledged by the heaven and earth to produce such a phenomenon! You bunch of retards, bumpkins who don’t know anything, what the fuck are you shouting for!?” Liu Tie’s words were said with great aplomb. His voice spread throughout the audience as if he was the one who had induced Purple Air Comes From The East.

In fact, Liu Tie found it rewarding to flaunt his knowledge in front of these unknowledgeable people.

Liu Tie had decided to dedicate himself to protecting Yi Yun’s honor. By serving and satisfying Yi Yun beside him, Yi Yun might even bring him out of the vast wilderness!

Yi Yun, who was behind Liu Tie, was rendered speechless. The teacups he had shattered were just a hundred feet away, and his Purple Air Comes From The East was only a few kilometers at maximum. But Liu Tie had exaggerated it by more than ten times.

But the people of the vast wilderness had no concept of these numbers. They were all stunned by Liu Tie’s words.

These phenomena didn’t need Liu Tie to elaborate. They found it too great and terrifying. Could these phenomena appear from a normal person’s body?

Coupled with the fact that Yi Yun had been made a Kingdom Knight, nobody suspected Yi Yun’s strength. He was a dragon amongst the people. He had passed a competitive examination and attained great things. They were small fries who could not even look at Yi Yun anymore!

The tribal elders who hated Yi Yun did not dare speak as they were no longer qualified.

The people were silent.

After the atmosphere remained in silence for a while, Yi Yun walked into the crowd and scanned the audience.

“Your Young Master Lian had tried to kill me several times. He enslaved the population and caused harm to the people. He is guilt-ridden, so no matter what state he ends up in, he deserved it!”

“Lian Chengyu took away your food to exchange for martial arts resources. He bet on his wealth and gave you the promise of bringing you into the city. It was a lie. With Lian Chengyu’s ability, he would need several years to become a Kingdom Knight; by then, you would all have starved to death.”

“Lian Chengyu recruited able-bodied men to refine a desolate bone that was toxic. He caused the deaths of the able-bodied men. He also gave them pills that overdrew a person’s vitality, making them die even faster!”

“After that, he pushed all the blame to me. He lied and said that I was possessed and had spread the plague. He instigated the people to lay siege on my sister, and burned down my house!” Yi Yun said it nonchalantly. The people then remembered that half a month ago, Yi Yun had said the same thing during the Lian tribal clan’s selection match.

At that time, not many believed Yi Yun.

Today, Yi Yun had repeated himself and had virtually not changed anything. But this time, the result was completely different!

No one doubted Yi Yun.

This was what strength could bring!

A person’s word was not determined by how assured he was when he spoke it, nor was it determined by saying it by swearing, but by their status, position, and strength!

Whatever the real king said, it was the rule and the law!

Who wouldn’t believe? Who dared to doubt it?

And Yi Yun had reached that position. Did he need to lie to a bunch of ants?

So no one doubted Yi Yun’s words. They all knew that they were previously tricked by Lian Chengyu!

Lian Chengyu had treated them as fools, using them as stepping stones.

The higher Lian Chengyu went, the lower the people were trampled!

Maybe, those who had close relations with Lian Chengyu could have gotten some benefits from Lian Chengyu’s meteoric rise, but for the weak, they were destined to be abandoned!

Upon realizing this, the people were angry and at a loss. Yi Yun’s words were like a loud slap in the face. It took them a while to recover from that hit.

At that moment, Yi Yun no longer wanted to deal with these people. He thought of something and scanned the crowd. Very soon, he found who he was looking for.

In the crowd at a corner, an honest and simple looking woman was holding onto a cute twelve-year-old girl.

They were Aunt Wang and Zhou Xiaoke.

Zhou Xiaoke’s face was red. She wanted to come forward to greet Yi Yun, but she was afraid.

The current Yi Yun was completely different from the impression Zhou Xiaoke had of Yi Yun.

He was no longer the amiable Brother Yi Yun in linen clothes. Now, he looked high and mighty, Compared to Yi Yun, Zhou Xiaoke felt shame over her shabby clothes.

But at that moment, Yi Yun beckoned Zhou Xiaoke.

“Xiaoke, come over.”

“Ah!” Seeing Yi Yun suddenly wave to her, Zhou Xiaoke was like a frightened rabbit.

129 - : Glorious Homecoming

CKtalon  CKtalon

Under such circumstances, to be beckoned over by Yi Yun in front of so many people of the Lian tribal clan made Zhou Xiaoke extremely nervous.

Yi Yun laughed, “Xiaoke, come over. I have something for you.”

Zhou Xiaoke looked blankly at Yi Yun’s face. Zhou Xiaoke saw that familiar innocent smile that had been absent for a long time.

The smile made Zhou Xiaoke realize that Brother Yi Yun had not changed. He had never changed. Even after he had become a Kingdom Knight, he was still her favorite Brother Yi Yun.

“Oh!?” Zhou Xiaoke laughed. Dimples appeared at the corners of her mouth. She nodded and cheerfully ran towards Yi Yun, grabbing his hand.

“Brother Yi Yun!”

Zhou Xiaoke was not nervous standing beside Yi Yun. Yi Yun’s hands were smooth but strong. Zhou Xiaoke felt a sense of security as if the cold and hunger was nothing with Yi Yun around.

“Xiaoke, this is for you.” Yi Yun took out a bag. It was a cloth bag that emitted hot steam.

Xiaoke was stunned and sluggishly took the cloth bag. She did not open it, but she could smell the fragrance of food from within.

“This…” Zhou Xiaoke was stunned.

“Open it up,” Yi Yun said with a smile. This was specially roasted by him for Zhou Xiaoke just before he reached the village. Although he had brought back a lot of food, he guessed that Aunt Wang’s family was starving. So it was better to cook the food first.

And in the vast wilderness which lacked food ingredients, Aunt Wang’s culinary skills was definitely not as good as his.

Zhou Xiaoke swallowed a mouthful of saliva before she opened the cloth bag carefully. Inside it was a bundle wrapped in a green lotus leaf. Opening up the lotus leaf, what greeted Zhou Xiaoke was red roasted meat that weighed about three to four catties.

This was the leg of the Seven Colored Deer chosen specially by Yi Yun. The meat of the Seven Colored Deer was delicious. The marbling on the meat was of the utmost quality. Although it was all lean meat, it was rich in fat. It was very fragrant when baked.

Yi Yun had prepared and marinated the meat previously. When he roasted it, he had basted it with honey, making it extremely appetizing.

Sitting beside the roasted meat were rice balls wrapped in green vegetables. The aroma assaulted the nostrils.

Seeing this, Zhou Xiaoke nearly swallowed her tongue. The surrounding people also stared at the food!

Even the tribal elders were in a daze. They could not help but stare unblinkingly at the roasted meat in Zhou Xiaoke’s hands. Their saliva nearly flowed out.

The people of the Lian tribal clan had never seen such exquisite food. The meat they ate were 90% cured meats. The meat was salted and dried. Besides being hard and salty, what other taste did it have?

Occasionally, there was fresh meat. They would just cook and eat it, which was a great pleasure in life. How could they have ever seen such an exquisite method of roasting?

What’s more, there was a severe shortage of food in the Lian tribal clan. Even the tribal elders had problems with their meals. Seeing the roasted meat in Zhou Xiaoke’s hands, they turned envious!

“Brother Yi Yun, I…” Zhou Xiaoke swallowed a mouthful of saliva after another. She couldn’t wait to bite down on it and give some to her parents so as to partake in this feast.

But, Zhou Xiaoke felt embarrassed to immediately eat in front of Brother Yi Yun and so many people.

Yi Yun could read Zhou Xiaoke’s mind, and smiled, “If you are hungry, eat it. Aunt Wang, Uncle Zhou!”

Yi Yun called out to Zhou Xiaoke’s parents and beckoned them over.

Aunt Wang was stunned. She felt like it was a dream. Was it real?

She kept pinching her hands, but the pain seemed to indicate that it was not a dream.

“Kiddo Yun, he really made it…he really made it…” Aunt Wang muttered to herself. The honest Uncle Zhou beside her was even more astounded. He did not react until Aunt Wang gave him a pat.

“Let’s go, Kiddo Yun called us over,” said Aunt Wang.

Uncle Zhou blankly replied. He was not accustomed to such scenes. Uncle Zhou turned stiff with so many eyes looking at him.

“Aunt Wang, Uncle Zhou, this is for you,” Yi Yun cut two pieces of the roasted meat and gave them two rice balls.

“Just eat if you are hungry. Don’t stand on ceremony.”

“How…How can I…” Uncle Zhou scratched his head as he swallowed the saliva at the corners of his mouth.

Zhou Xiaoke laughed. She was just a child and extremely pure. Since Brother Yi Yun allowed her to eat, she began eating it.

When she bit into the roasted meat, she found that the meat was crispy on the outside but tender on the inside. The bone was smooth and the meat juicy. The deliciousness had exceeded Zhou Xiaoke’s expectations.

Aunt Wang and Uncle Zhou could no longer bear it. They began picnicking right there. After all, there were starving.

But this caused misery to the surrounding people. Their stomachs twitched as they salivated. Their eyes were green with envy!

This was an absolute torture!

But with Yi Yun standing there, none of them dared to rob it from them.

Many looked at Aunt Wang’s family with envy and longing. What would the taste of such fragrant meat be like?

Some of them were even resisting that act of biting their tongues for food. They stared at the roasted meat that slowly disappeared, wishing that the roasted meat had entered their stomachs.

They knew that being envious was pointless. After all, Aunt Wang’s family had always taken care of Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou.

Yi Yun swept the crowd with his eyes and picked out a few children, “You… You… You… come out.”

With that said, Yi Yun leaped up eight feet to his mount and took out a few large food boxes before coming back down.

Inside the food box were ready made meals. Of course, they were not prepared as exquisitely as the one Zhou Xiaoke’s family was enjoying, but it was more than ten times better than anything the Lian tribal clan could cook.

Yi Yun placed the box to the side and said to those children, “It’s yours. You don’t have to fight for it.”

Hearing this, the children were all excited and rushed forward with glee and opened the food box.

Poor and remote villages produced evil people, but most of the children were innocent.

But it was just the majority. The children Yi Yun picked were 70% girls. These children had seemed kind to Yi Yun.

The children grabbed and ate merrily.

As such, there were a few boys who turned envious. They realized that the children were given the privileges of eating.

“Yi Yun, why can’t we eat?” A fifteen-year-old boy questioned Yi Yun. He was the village’s child honcho and his grandfather was a tribal elder. Compounded with his strength, he would beat up anyone who did not please him. Hence, he established himself as boss among the children.

In the past, Yi Yun was also under his “jurisdiction”, and he had bullied Yi Yun more than once. In fact, all the honest children in the village had been bullied by him.

Against Yi Yun, this child was a little afraid, but the temptation of food was too great, so he couldn’t help but ask.

Yi Yun looked at him and sneered. How could he forget? Days ago, it was this boy who had led a bunch of children to lay siege on Jiang Xiaorou, throwing cow dung at his house.

Yi Yun had a very good memory. He remembered every boy that had thrown cow dung. Yi Yun would not condone their evil actions because of their age. He remembered everything and those who had done evil had to be punished.

In this food distribution, Yi Yun had excluded all the children that had thrown cow dung. Hence, the children Yi Yun had called out were 70% girls.

The boy felt nervous upon seeing Yi Yun’s silent sneer. But he had always been bold and lawless in the village. The children had to worship him. Yi Yun from the past was not even qualified to hold his shoes; but now Yi Yun had become the master, making him extremely pissed.

But he knew he was no match against Yi Yun, so he could only endure.

The boy realized that the children that Yi Yun did not give food to were all his henchmen. This made him feel like Yi Yun had singled him out.

He endured and said, “Yi Yun, why are you singling me out? Why can everyone have food, but not me and my brothers?”

Yi Yun laughed upon hearing the boy’s words. Competing with a boy was meaningless, but… Yi Yun, was a child himself, so what if he competed? Also, who said that children had the right to break the law? Who said there were no repercussions when a child breaks the law?

Many of the evil people in this world were not angels when they were young.

These people were bullies when young, gangsters when in their teens, criminals when they were grown up, frauds when in their old age.

They were evil to the bone. It was right to love the young and respect the elderly but there was no reason to do so to these kinds of people.

Yi Yun looked as if he was looking at an idiot and said, “I brought the food. Who I want to give it to is up to me. Back then when you distributed rations, the distribution amount was determined by you. Now that I’m distributing the rations, I’ll give more to whoever pleases me. Those who don’t, I wouldn’t give them a single grain!”

Yi Yun’s words made it clear that he alone had the final say in the Lian tribal clan!

Yi Yun was not a merciful saint. In this world, there were people who believed that you could be bullied that no matter how nice you were to them. They would not hesitate to stab you when the opportunity arose.

Treating these kinds of people well when they ill-treated you would only be dumb. Yi Yun’s principle was to return the favor severalfold to whoever was good to him. Those who had harmed him, he would demand everything back without missing a single one.

As for these children… so what if they were children. They were about fourteen-years-old, two years older than Yi Yun. Age was not an excuse. A person had to be responsible for his actions!

130 - : Settling scores

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You… You…” Upon hearing Yi Yun’s arrogant words, the boy angrily said, “This is the food given by the Jin Long Wei, how can you… how can you…”

Before the boy could finish, Yi Yun had begun laughing.

Accompanying him was Sun Jingrui.

Including several of the Jin Long Wei warriors, they were all laughing. It was a merciless ridicule.

“This silliness of this kid is the best,” Sun Jingrui said with a smile.

The boy was dazed; he finally realized that what he had said was ridiculous.

Yi Yun held back his laughter and said coldly, “You want food, sure. Take the cow dung thrown into my sister’s house and eat it, then I’ll give you some.”

The children who had accompanied the boy in throwing cow dung had a change in their expression. “Your house is already burned down. The cow dung… the dung has all been burnt!” A child said.

Yi Yun looked impatiently at the child. “There’s plenty of shit in the village, you can easily find it.”

“You… You…” The boy clenched his teeth. He realized that Yi Yun was not going to make life easy for him today!

He never planned to give him any food and had even ridiculed him in public!

He was filled with resentment and his eyes towards Yi Yun were filled with bitterness.

He knew he was no match for Yi Yun. He cursed Yi Yun and his family.

Yi Yun frowned and remained silent, but Liu Tie jumped forward.

“Fucking little son of a bitch, what are you staring at!? I’ll dig out your eyes.” Liu Tie punched the boy in the face until his face was swollen. Then, Liu Tie grabbed his hair and gave him another punch, making his nose bleed.

Liu Tie was ruthless. This child was only slightly older than Tao Yunxiao but Liu Tie was not merciful. Villagers married early, so a fifteen-year-old youth like him would be getting married in a year or two.

Liu Tie relentlessly attacked the boy, causing him to scream in agony, wailing for his parents! The boy’s grandfather, a tribal elder, watched with a livid expression, but he did not dare stop Liu Tie.

Those who wanted to engage in hooliganism would eventually be beaten. Back then, the boy was a bully. He led a bunch of lackeys and was filled with triumph. Those who resisted him were surrounded and then beaten. They took advantage of many girls, even to a serious extent, but these girls had no way of seeking refuge.

Yi Yun ignored all of this. At that moment, he realized that having some henchmen was not that bad.

Seeing most of the matters settled, Yi Yun jumped onto the back of the near-horned beast. He said to Liu Tie, “Look after the food. I’ll be back in an hour to distribute it!”

Upon hearing that, Liu Tie was thrilled. This was the first command Yi Yun had given him!

Sometimes, people were cheap. They fought to become a slave and Liu Tie was such a person. He immediately slapped his chest as a guarantee that he would complete his task.

Yi Yun bade farewell to Sun Jingrui and rode away on the near-horned beast.

His destination was the back mountain. He was going to find Jiang Xiaorou!

For some unknown reason, Yi Yun felt uneasy while he was heading towards the back mountain. This sense of unease made Yi Yun frown…

He held onto the reins and increased his speed!

The near-horned beast kicked off a dust storm and galloped to the Lian tribal clan’s back mountain!

Seeing Yi Yun leave, the people were filled with emotions. Those who had ridiculed Yi Yun and those who had bullied Jiang Xiaorou were extremely worried, and it showed on their faces.

They had hoped that Yi Yun would not remember these things, but it was obvious that Yi Yun remembered every deed!

The shipment of food brought by the Jin Long Wei was not only to save the Lian tribal clan, but it was also used by Yi Yun to settle his debts of gratitude and revenge.

…

At the Lian tribal clan, back mountain––

The weather in the mountain was colder than in the village. It was deep in the winter, so besides the fast-flowing East River, all the mountain springs in the Lian tribal clan back mountain had frozen over.

Even among all the fallen leaves, there were still tall, lush evergreen trees covering the blue sky.

On a hidden evergreen tree, there was a small and modest treehouse. Although there were chilly winds blowing outside, it was extremely warm inside the treehouse. This was because of the Chi Lin desolate bone that was constantly exuding a warm fire elemental energy.

Inside the treehouse was a fifteen-year-old girl with bare feet, sitting by the window. Her two small hands were by her sharp chin, as she gazed outside…

It was the sixteenth day…

It had been sixteen days since Yi Yun left. Jiang Xiaorou had been counting each and every day. She did not know what Yi Yun was doing.

These days, Jiang Xiaorou had nothing to do. Yi Yun had exhorted her not to go out, so she had been in the treehouse most of the time.

After all, be it beasts of any kind or the Lian tribal clan’s warrior preparation camp members, Jiang Xiaorou would be in danger if she had encountered them.

So all Jiang Xiaorou had been doing all these days was to wait.

Within the treehouse, she looked at the small piece of sky through the window. She looked at the hundred-year-old ancient trees and watched the boulders that never changed.

Day after day, Jiang Xiaorou would watch a huge rock grow a layer of frost in the morning, at noon, that frost would turn into vapor and at night, the moonlight would scatter off the rock…

Jiang Xiaorou could only wait, and that’s she did.

She sat alone every day, waiting anxiously. Sometimes, Jiang Xiaorou would have a nightmare, resulting in her waking up from fright.

It was noon…

A rare warm winter sun shone through the gaps in the woods onto Jiang Xiaorou’s face.

Under the rays of the sun, Jiang Xiaorou’s silky hair shone in the faint golden light.

Suddenly, a soft sound rang. A squirrel had come to the treehouse and stopped by the window.

Seeing the furry squirrel, Jiang Xiaorou flashed a rare smile.

This was a little partner she had stumbled upon by chance. Due to excessive hunting, there were very few animals in the Lian tribal clan’s back mountain.

Jiang Xiaorou was able to overcome her loneliness by having a little partner. She fed the little guy grains and corn. Hence, it often came for food.

Jiang Xiaorou sprinkled some corn and hugged her slender legs with her two lotus-like arms, as she watched the little guy eat.

The little guy ate really quickly. Its cheeks were filled up quickly, but it was very alert. It would raise its head to look at its surroundings from time to time.

Seeing the cute fella, Jiang Xiaorou felt at peace.

“Yun’er’s selection should be over.”

Jiang Xiaorou sighed as she looked out the window. “I wonder what his results are… Yun’er may have increased greatly in strength lately, but there are so many experts in the Kingdom’s selection. Just around the Tao tribal clan, there are a few dozen tribal clans. None of them are smaller than the Lian tribal clan… There is also the Tao tribal clan, which is a giant…”

Jiang Xiaorou was worried for Yi Yun. She was not counting on Yi Yun to pass the selection and for her to become rich as a result.

But she knew that Lian Chengyu had around 80-90% chance of becoming a Jin Long Wei. If Yi Yun did not become a Jin Long Wei, he would lose the protection of the Jin Long Wei and he might be plotted against by Lian Chengyu!

When that happened, Yi Yun would be in danger.

Every time she thought of that, Jiang Xiaorou became exceedingly worried.

Although Jiang Xiaorou grew up in the vast wilderness, she did not believe in a god. But for the past ten days or so, even an atheist like her had been praying for Yi Yun, praying for a miracle, praying that Yi Yun would pass the selection.

Those days were hard to get by.

Just as Jiang Xiaorou began to lose herself in thought, the little fella that was chewing a piece of corn released its claws on its favorite food. It stood up and alertly looked at its surroundings. It stopped chewing, but its cheeks were still full. However, its small dark eyes were on full alert.

Jiang Xiaorou suddenly wondered. What happened?

She carefully listened and could hear a “rumbling” noise in the background, as if a giant beast was running through the mountains.

The squirrel was frightened and with a “ping”, it had hidden behind Jiang Xiaorou’s back. In these few days, the squirrel had begun to trust Jiang Xiaorou.

Jiang Xiaorou stood up. The sound was getting louder and louder as if the behemoth was nearby.

“Could it be…” Jiang Xiaorou rushed to the window and looked out. She could see several trees in the woods, violently shaking. It was clear that a large beast was nearby.

Jiang Xiaorou held her breath.

About ten seconds later, she finally saw a two-storey tall behemoth passing through the layers of forest appearing before her.

She could see a bright youth sitting on the broad shoulders of the behemoth. In the luxuriant forest, the youth was like a star and extremely dashing! His fresh but extraordinary facial features gave Jiang Xiaorou a familiar feeling.

“Yun… Yun’er?” Jiang Xiaorou could not believe that the youth in front of her was Yi Yun!

“Sis Xiaorou!” After being apart for so many days, Yi Yun was filled with emotion upon seeing Jiang Xiaorou again. Yi Yun was overjoyed when he saw her safe and sound. He was really afraid that Jiang Xiaorou might have gotten into an accident.

The world’s greatest pain would be when you obtained your ultimate accomplishment, but the person you wanted to share it with was no longer around.

That was an extreme loneliness.

In this world, Yi Yun only relative was Jiang Xiaorou. Only Jiang Xiaorou could share in Yi Yun’s success and joy.

Yi Yun wished that Jiang Xiaorou could see him become a high noble or even a saint after seeing him become a Kingdom Knight!

For an unknown reason, Yi Yun suddenly had an uneasy feeling when he was riding on the behemoth through the back mountain. He was worried that Jiang Xiaorou had gotten into trouble. Only when he saw her, did he relieve himself of that pressure.

But, Yi Yun still felt uncertain.

He jumped up easily to the treehouse, causing the treehouse to rock to and fro. Without a word, he hugged Jiang Xiaorou tightly.

It was as if the moment he released her, Jiang Xiaorou would disappear.

“Sis Xiaorou, I’m back!’ Yi Yun choked, he did not know why he had that feeling from before.

No matter where that feeling came from, Yi Yun swore that he would protect Jiang Xiaorou for the rest of his life.

Under Yi Yun’s embrace, Jiang Xiaorou was already tearing up, “Yun’er, it’s good that you are back. It’s good that you are back…”

Hugging Yi Yun, Jiang Xiaorou’s heart was filled with satisfaction.

131 - : This is Bliss

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jiang Xiaorou and Yi Yun hugged for a long time before separating.

“Yun’er, how did you do at the selection?” Jiang Xiaorou was worried about Yi Yun’s results at the selection. Would he be unsuccessful, resulting in Lian Chengyu causing cause him trouble in the future?

After all, from Jiang Xiaorou’s impression, Yi Yun had only been practicing martial arts for a short time, and it would be difficult for him to pass the selection.

But at the moment Jiang Xiaorou asked the question, she suddenly thought of something. Her hands were on Yi Yun’s shoulders and she sized up Yi Yun’s clothes…

“Flying fish robe!” Jiang Xiaorou actually knew about such clothes.

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the clothing of the nobles was very particular.

Embroidered with flying fish, it was called the flying fish robe. Flying fishes were inchoate dragons. Under tough conditions, they could become a dragon.

Above the flying fish pattern, there was the python pattern, known as Python robes; Qiuniu 1 pattern known as the Qiuniu robe; and divine crane pattern known as Crane robes.

Reaching the royal family, there were the Qilin, flying dragons, five-clawed dragon patterns, etc.

Different clothes meant different rankings.

“Yun’er… You can’t simply wear such clothes. If someone noticed it, you will be exiled! These are clothes that only nobles can wear. Quickly take it off.” Jiang Xiaorou said as she touched Yi Yun’s collar. She had subconsciously thought Yi Yun was wearing the clothes of others.

In Jiang Xiaorou’s subconsciousness, the differences between nobles and commoners were too great. It was extremely difficult for commoners to become nobles!

Jiang Xiaorou did not believe that Yi Yun would become a noble.

But very soon, Jiang Xiaorou realized something. Her hand froze in mid-air and looked disbelieving at Yi Yun from top to bottom.

Jiang Xiaorou realized that Yi Yun was not only wearing a flying fish robe, he also had a Yanchi saber.

Not only that, he had ridden a near-horned beast to see her.

The near-horned beast was the mount of the Jin Long Wei. It was impossible to steal one. Even if someone stole it, they would not be able to handle it!

These things could not be someone else’s.

As such, Jiang Xiaorou had reached an incredible conclusion–

“Yun’er, you… you’ve been made a noble!?” Jiang Xiaorou was stunned.

Yun’er became a noble just by participating in the kingdom’s selection!? How was that possible?

Could it be Yun’er’s performance was exceptional, causing him to be made a noble at twelve years of age?

“Sis Xiaorou, I’ve passed the kingdom’s selection, and got first place in Mortal Blood! I’m already an elite member of the Jin Long Wei. The Jin Long Wei Thousand Households has made me a Kingdom Knight. In the future, I’ll have my own territory in the central plains and I’ll bring Sis Xiaorou there to lead a good life.” Yi Yun said happily.

A lot of the time, bliss was simple. When you obtained what you wanted, simply sharing it with someone was bliss.

For Yi Yun’s ambitious future goals, to be made a Kingdom Knight was nothing. It was just the beginning.

But now, Yi Yun was very pleased from the bottom of his heart with his title. Because it meant a lot to Jiang Xiaorou!

Kingdom Knight meant glory!

Jiang Xiaorou looked dazedly at Yi Yun as if she was still in a dream.

Mortal Blood first place… Jin Long Wei elite… Kingdom Knight…

Yun’er had not only passed the selection, he had also obtained exceptional results, making him a Kingdom Knight of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?

Jiang Xiaorou knew Yi Yun had some fortuitous event, and after gaining the help from an “Old Man Su”, it was no wonder his strength had increased tremendously. But she had never expected that Yi Yun could be made a noble.

Jiang Xiaorou took a long while before she could accept the news as it was too amazing.

“Sis Xiaorou, you even know about flying fish robes…” Jiang Xiaorou’s knowledge surprised Yi Yun. Yi Yun had the impression that Jiang Xiaorou was just a seven-year-old when she left her family clan.

For a seven-year-old to read so many books and know so much; it was far from what an average child could do.

Yi Yun was curious over Jiang Xiaorou’s background.

“Sis Xiaorou, I plan for you to practice martial arts with me.” Yi Yun had been considering this for a long time.

The lifespan of mortals was too short. Yi Yun did not want Jiang Xiaorou to die young, so he wanted Jiang Xiaorou to practice martial arts as well.

In the past, Yi Yun did not even have food to eat and was not able to let Jiang Xiaorou practice martial arts.

But now, he was a Kingdom Knight. He had a lot more resources, so letting Jiang Xiaorou practice martial arts wasn’t impossible.

Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal Origins which could absorb energy, but it was within his body. It would be difficult for him to transfer the energy the Purple Crystal absorbed to Jiang Xiaorou.

For Jiang Xiaorou to cultivate, he had to use other resources.

“I wonder what Sis Xiaorou’s level of talent is…” Yi Yun knew Jiang Xiaorou had an extraordinary background, so she might even have a better talent than him?

In the future, Yi Yun would feel assured if Jiang Xiaorou had the ability to protect herself.

“Yun’er, I’ll follow your wishes.” Jiang Xiaorou nodded and replied softly. In the past, Jiang Xiaorou would make the decisions for Yi Yun. Now that Yi Yun had slowly grown up, Jiang Xiaorou began to get accustomed to Yi Yun making the decisions for her.

“But make sure you don’t affect your own cultivation training.” Jiang Xiaorou added. She knew that cultivating needed a lot of resources. If she cultivated, she would have to use some of Yi Yun’s resources.

“That wouldn’t happen.” Yi Yun laughed. “Let’s go, Sis Xiaorou. I’m bringing you back to the village!”

…

Yi Yun had left for about an hour. The people of the Lian tribal clan had been waiting by the village entrance until Yi Yun came back.

Jiang Xiaorou was sitting on the near-horned beast and then she realized that about five thousand people of the Lian tribal clan were here. For a moment, Jiang Xiaorou was stunned.

It was rare to see such a scene even during ceremonies.

The entire tribe’s five thousand people, including the high and mighty tribal elders, looked at Jiang Xiaorou with complicated looks.

The village girls were envious of Jiang Xiaorou. Why couldn’t they have such a younger brother in the family?

In the future, Jiang Xiaorou could follow Yi Yun and enter the upper-class circles without worrying about clothing or food. They didn’t dare to think of such a life.

As for those evil people who had previously bullied Jiang Xiaorou, they were all scared out of their wits. In front of Jiang Xiaorou, they were like mice in front of a cat.

The children who had thrown the cow dung had shrunk into the crowd. They did not dare look at Jiang Xiaorou. Their boss was on the floor vomiting blood. What could they do? They were deeply regretting their actions.

“Ai, Missus is back. It must be hard on the Missus!” Liu Tie was attentive. He immediately changed his salutation of Jiang Xiaorou to “Missus”. This made Jiang Xiaorou take a while to realize that he was addressing her.

“Sis Xiaorou!” Zhou Xiaoke ran over into the arms of Jiang Xiaorou.

The relationship between Jiang Xiaorou and Zhou Xiaoke had always been good. They had been separated for two months, and it could almost be described as being a life-and-death separation. Jiang Xiaorou had left the house before her house burned down. When that happened, Zhou Xiaoke believed that Jiang Xiaorou would never come back.

A girl walking out into the vast wilderness was equivalent to committing suicide.

Seeing Jiang Xiaorou standing there well, Zhou Xiaoke couldn’t help but tear up.

Now, they were all back. Brother Yi Yun and Sis Xiaorou were safe. Things would only get better in the future.

Jiang Xiaorou’s eyes got puffy. She touched Zhou Xiaoke’s head and felt joy. The things she cared about had not been lost. Having not lost anything was such a good feeling.

The two girls hugged for a long time before separating. Jiang Xiaorou looked at the crowd and asked Yi Yun, “Yun’er… what’s this about?”

“Giving out the food!” Yi Yun smiled.

The Jin Long Wei had brought food, so it was natural to hand them out.

There was a limited supply of food brought with the near-horned beast. It seemed like a lot, but there was not enough for the entire Lian tribal clan’s population. With a thousand households, there were thousands of people. The amount of food needed to feed all these people was nontrivial.

The food Yi Yun brought with him was actually not enough.

So Yi Yun had a clear way of distributing. The amount distributed was based on their character. The good were given more, the bad could stand by the side!

Seeing Yi Yun stand in the middle of the square with a mountain of grain and meat beside him, the tribal elders’ eyes were twitching.

Life was filled with ups and downs!

Back then, when the tribe distributed the rations, Yi Yun had gotten into an argument with the warrior preparation camp because of a small bag of grain. He was nearly beaten up. Lian Chengyu came out and secretly harmed Yi Yun. If not for the Purple Crystal, he would have been dead.

But today…

Those who had wanted Yi Yun’s life were now crippled and could not live much longer. And now, the power to distribute the food was with Yi Yun. It was decided on his whims!

These tribal elders were bitter. They knew that as the ruling class, they would definitely not be getting much…

“Aunt Wang, Uncle Zhou, Xiaoke!” Yi Yun beckoned to Aunt Wang and Zhou Xiaoke, “This food is for you.”

Yi Yun picked out five heavy bags of grain, three bags of vegetables and a few cleaned beast meat and handed it to Aunt Wang.

Such a large pile of food made many jealous. With this, Aunt Wang’s family did not need to eat porridge anymore. They could eat fragrant white rice, cooked meat, and fried vegetables. It was heaven on earth.

Aunt Wang could not help grinning. Zhou Xiaoke’s face glowed and held Yi Yun’s hands. She was thrilled.

“Uncle Sun, this is for you…” Yi Yun handed out food based on his memories to the kinder families. After receiving the food, these people cheered up.

But having crossed into this world, Yi Yun did not have memories before he was twelve. Yi Yun did not know most of the people in the Lian tribal clan. He did not know who were good or bad and had to ask Zhou Xiaoke and Jiang Xiaorou.

Those they said were good were given food. Those they said were bad were told to go as far as their legs brought them.

“What about this person?” Yi Yun pointed at a man who was prepared to collect the food. Upon this question, the man became tense.

“Brother Yi Yun, he’s a good man, ” Zhou Xiaoke said.

“Oh.” Yi Yun nodded his head, and without moving a finger, Liu Tie had already given out the food.

“How about this person?” Yi Yun asked again. The person was a lanky man. He forced a smile and looked towards Zhou Xiaoke, giving a sycophant look.

But Zhou Xiaoke ignored it and said with a face of disgust, “Brother Yi Yun, that man is called Zhou Chang. He’s very bad. He often bullies others, and even bullied Elder Sister Zhao!”

Zhou Xiaoke was blunt. Zhou Chang’s face turned green and his mouth agape. He did not dare to refute her.

How things change! He had never expected that he would fall under the control of this little girl.

“Fuck, what are you standing there for? Don’t make me beat you. Get lost!” Liu Tie pulled up his sleeve and scolded.

“Young Master Yi, I…not even just…just a little?” Zhou Chang scrunched up his face, trying to make himself look pitiful.

“Damn! As if Young Master Yi is someone you can speak to. Get lost. There isn’t enough food for the good people, and you want it to be given to bad people like you? Dream on!” Liu Tie kicked at Zhou Chang. He was filled with disdain. He had totally forgotten that he was once not considered a good person.

Zhou Chang was mercilessly kicked by Liu Tie, but Yi Yun felt nothing. Those who had been bullies and lived their lives through extortion had more food stocked up in their houses. With grass-roots and wild vegetables, they wouldn’t starve.

The villagers lined up in anxiety. They were afraid that they had previously offended the two girls beside Yi Yun. If they had done so, they would be doomed.

The two girls now had the power to control the people’s fate. When the two girls nodded, bliss shined upon them. When the girls shook their heads, they knew to get lost, saving the lackey Liu Tie to do the job.

With Yi Yun backing the two girls, they were now the princesses of the village. Everyone looked at them with fear and respect. The bullies of the village and the warriors of the warrior preparation camp were now all obedient chicks. In front of Yi Yun, even the dragons had to coil and the tigers had to crouch. Furthermore, they were neither dragons nor tigers, at best they were monkeys who could jump.

After the rations were distributed, some were in misery and some were in jubilation.

That evening, there was smoke coming out from several houses. Under the setting sun, the smoke silhouetted the blue sky.

The long missed aroma of rice and roasted meat were eaten hungrily by the families. There was laughter and joy throughout the fields. It painted a happy farming family picture.

This was the most primitive pleasure and it was what made people happy and satisfied.

132 - : Yi Yun distributes food

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the sun slowly set in the west, the people in the Lian tribal clan had their fill. This was the first time in their lives eating such a big meal. In addition to having starved for so long, it was a great joy to fill their stomachs.

After finishing their meals, it was time to digest it.

Going out to exercise was one of the best ways in aiding digestion. What exercises do the people of the Lian tribal clan do? There was one thing waiting for them, that was to–settle old scores.

Yi Yun’s return made everyone know that they had been treated as fools by Lian Chengyu! Lian Chengyu had drunk the blood and eaten the flesh of the people. All he did was part of his plans for his own future.

The people starved so badly all because of Lian Chengyu!

What was ridiculous was that they had been foolishly pinning all their hopes on Lian Chengyu, and singing his praises.

Those who suffered were a given, they had always been oppressed by Lian Chengyu, so they hated him.

Now, relying on Yi Yun, they had managed to eat a good meal. Lian Chengyu was not only their enemy but the enemy of their savior, Yi Yun. Whether for themselves or for Yi Yun, they would not spare Lian Chengyu.

Even with Lian Chengyu crippled, it still did not quench their thirst for revenge. How could they let the enemy die without taking revenge with their own hands?

Even Lian Chengyu’s lackeys hated Lian Chengyu. If not for Lian Chengyu, would they have made Yi Yun their enemy?

If they did not make enemies with him, would they not get food today?

The people of the vast wilderness had a very special way of thinking.

If Yi Yun did not give them food, they did not hate Yi Yun because he was strong. The people of the vast wilderness subconsciously believed that the strong controlled the fate of the weak, so they did not dare hate, nor was there any point to hating.

But they were starving, and they needed a punching bag to vent their anger. This punching bag could only be a weakling. Who was the weakling now? Clearly, it was Lian Chengyu. This crippled ex-master had taken their food to exchange for the desolate bone and had still failed miserably. None of his promises had been fulfilled, causing them to starve!

Hence, whether it was the commoners or the previous henchmen of Lian Chengyu, they all turned their spearheads at Lian Chengyu. Lian Chengyu had become public enemy number one! That evening, a group of angry villagers rushed into the Patriarch’s compound to seek revenge on Lian Chengyu. The method they used to vent their anger was direct and simple. They threw cow dung onto Lian Chengyu’s house!

They felt that Lian Chengyu had brought bad luck to the Lian tribal clan. If it wasn’t for Lian Chengyu, would they have starved? Using cow dung to remove this unluckiness was a must!

But there were no more cattle left in the village, so there were limited quantities of cow dung.

What if there wasn’t enough to throw? The clever villagers went to the Jin Long Wei encampment and dug up the near-horned beasts’ dung.

The near-horned beasts did not need to eat or drink, but they could still finish an entire tree in a meal. Hence, the feces it passed out was spectacular! A wagon was not enough to hold it!

About seven villagers obtained the feces of the near-horned beast with great enthusiasm; this will be cool. The people believed that the effects of feces of near-horned beasts were better than that of cow dung, after all, a near-horned beast was more majestic than cattle by more than a hundred times!

As a result, near-horned beast feces rained onto the Patriarch’s compound, causing a group of tribal elders to take flight from fear.

And the original Patriarch of the Lian tribal clan had fallen sick. Lian Chengyu was crippled so all the Patriarch’s hopes were dashed, making him succumb to an illness.

Some people depended on spiritual pillars to carry on living. When the spiritual pillar collapses, they would lose the will to live.

No one stopped the angry crowd. Soon, the Lian tribal clan’s Patriarch compound was covered in dung.

About this… With such a great event, how could we miss Liu Tie?

As a man who dedicated himself to be Yi Yun’s henchman, Liu Tie would not miss any opportunity to show his loyalty to Yi Yun.

In fact, Liu Tie was one of the originators of this siege. He was the one who jumped the highest amongst the crowd. He was the most hardworking at throwing the near-horned beast dung. He took a shovel and shoveled chunks of feces into the Patriarch’s compound.

And he did it nefariously. He aimed for the windows so the house could be filled with the feces.

Lying in the house, Lian Chengyu was barely surviving and soon, he was covered in feces.

At this point, a tribal elder who had blood relations with Lian Chengyu plucked his courage and quietly entered the Patriarch compound. Under the torrent of feces, he pulled Lian Chengyu out of the piles of feces.

After all the near-horned beast dung was thrown, Liu Tie was still not satisfied, so he shouted, “Folks, let’s set it on fire!”

The people of the vast wilderness were rabid. With someone leading them, they all responded.

As such, torch after torch was lit and thrown into the Patriarch’s compound. Soon, the compound had turned into a big engulfing inferno.

The flames roared into the sky, ten times more intense than the fires that burned Yi Yun’s house.

Yi Yun stood in the mountains and looked at the fire from afar.

The same scene had happened in just a few months…

Back then Lian Chengyu distributed the food, today Yi Yun was the one distributing the food.

Back then, wicked people ate good meals, and the kind people were bullied. Today the kind were fed and the wicked starved.

Back then, Jiang Xiaorou had been besieged by cow dung and fire had burned down the house. Now the Patriarch’s compound had been besieged by near-horned beast dung and fire had burned down the Patriarch’s compound…

All this was a karma cycle. You reap what you sow.

Yi Yun suddenly sighed. In this world, the good were not necessarily rewarded. Evil people were not necessarily punished.

The world was not fair. He could only make the world fair and just within the limits of his capacity!

Yi Yun was no saint, nor did he strive for world peace. This sort of thinking was not pragmatic.

However, Yi Yun wished that in the land he would claim, he would not see such unfairness.

The kind should receive bliss, and the wicked, punishment.

This was the simple but beautiful wish Yi Yun had.

…

The sun had completely set. The sky had darkened as Yi Yun came to the East River’s waterfalls.

The hundred meter drop caused the water to rumble, vibrating the eardrums.

After half a month, Yi Yun had returned to this familiar place. Yi Yun had previously practiced Dragon Dancing in Vast Water here and had also met Lin Xintong.

Yi Yun closed his eyes in concentration. He began training. He took off his flying fish robe and wore dry linen clothes. His every move was delightful but they also contained explosive power.

After he finished a set of moves, Yi Yun felt something and turned his head. Under the star-filled sky, a girl in white was standing on a rock like a fairy…

133 - : You reap what you sow

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Miss Lin,” said Yi Yun with a smile because he knew Lin Xintong would come.

Back then, Yi Yun had sparred with Lin Xintong at this waterfall.

Without saying a word, Lin Xintong moved and a cold sword beam from the soft sword was thrust at Yi Yun like a silver snake!

Lin Xintong’s swordplay contained an indescribable charm; it was like a beautiful dance.

Yi Yun focused and his feet moved his body, and with a move of his shoulders, his body turned into a series of shadows; Minute Subtlety!

Yi Yun barely avoided Lin Xintong’s sword. Although it looked like he had dangerously avoided it, every move was within Yi Yun’s calculations, it was all precise and just right!

“You are getting more skilled at Minute Subtlety.” Lin Xintong sheathed her sword and praised Yi Yun.

But she suddenly said, “Now you are at the small success stage of Minute Subtlety. By using your opponent’s force, you can avoid their attacks, but you are still a distance away from the large success stage of Minute Subtlety.”

“What is the large success stage of Minute Subtlety?” Yi Yun modestly consulted her.

Lin Xintong walked down from the rock and gently wiped the hair on her forehead, saying, “You have to learn the large success stage of Minute Subtlety by yourself. If someone were to teach you, it will not be yours, and it might even limit your own understanding of it…Follow me, I’ll bring you someplace.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun nodded his head. He was about to leave with Lin Xintong when he saw her holding out her hand.

That delicate hand that was as white as jade stretched out in front of Yi Yun.

“Give me your hand,” Lin Xintong said very naturally.

“Eh?” Yi Yun stayed dumbfounded for a while. He looked at her pretty hands and hesitated. Holding hands…that’s not appropriate…

Yi Yun had a bit of anticipation, but he had a bit of guilt because Lin Xintong looked too pure. He didn’t want her to bear the brunt of blasphemy.

But thinking back, they had previously crossed palms. Holding hands again wasn’t anything.

Yi Yun inhaled lightly and gently held the beautiful hand. Those slender fingers were white and soft to the touch. It felt as if she had no bones. Holding it felt like he was holding a water stream.

“Her skin is so cold…” Yi Yun had that feeling every time he made contact with Lin Xintong’s skin. It was as if Lin Xintong was made of water. The feeling she gave was that of rain that gave a breath of fresh air.

“Let’s go.” With that said, her body began to float. Under the night wind, her skirt fluttered. It was like the legend of Chang’er soaring to the Moon Palace.

And behind Lin Xintong was Yi Yun, who felt a pulling force. Following that, his body turned light and he suddenly flew!

With the wind blowing in his ear, Yi Yun floated amongst the clouds. His feet was quickly moving away from the waterfall, and the stars above him grew closer. Yi Yun was stunned.

Flying!

Using just flesh and bones to fly in the sky.

Yi Yun looked down and all he saw in the darkness was mountains. What made people despair–the large mountains and rivers that made passage through them impenetrable, now looked trivial. They passed by under his feet at an astounding speed. This feeling… was too wonderful!

In the endless darkness, under the shimmering stars, the silver moon hang in the sky. Dressed in white, Lin Xintong held onto Yi Yun, who was dressed in linen clothes. They slowly moved across the moon flying to a distant location, leaving behind dream-like shadows.

Flying with Lin Xintong could only be described as shocking to Yi Yun. It was his first time flying in the sky without any other mechanical aid.

All humans dreamed of flying unaided. And it could be achieved by practicing martial arts.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong flew for about two hours.

After it felt like they had traveled about five hundred kilometers, Lin Xintong began descending with Yi Yun.

They landed in a valley which was serene and cold. There were constant blasts of cold wind, making a person’s hair stand on end.

Lin Xintong let go of Yi Yun’s hand and said, “We are here.”

With the softness in his hand gone, Yi Yun felt a lingering nostalgia for it. But soon he was attracted by the huge valley in front of him.

“This is…” Yi Yun’s eyelids twitched. He could hear the faint growls within the valley. It seemed like terrifying existences lurked within.

Not only that, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was very dense, but it gave him an uncomfortable feeling. Something seemed sinister.

Lin Xintong said, “This is the Desolate Man Valley. It’s a huge canyon within the Cloud Wilderness. This canyon stretches out about five thousand kilometers and is connected to the desolate ruins in the north!”

The desolate open grounds that Lin Xintong mentioned was the northern border of the Cloud Wilderness. Although the word border was used, it was not the end of the Cloud Wilderness. The desolate open grounds were much bigger than the Cloud Wilderness. There were all sorts of strong primordial desolate beasts within it. It was beyond the control of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. There was usually not a single soul in the desolate open grounds because even Human Lords would not dare to rashly enter.

Lin Xintong said, “The Desolate Human Valley’s edges are infested with fierce beasts. Can you feel the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi here? This Heaven Earth Yuan Qi can give humans discomfort. This Heaven Earth Yuan Qi is also known as ‘Power of Desolates’. It is what desolate and fierce beasts like the most.”

“Desolate Human Valley… where fierce beasts lie dormant!” Yi Yun’s eyebrows twitched. He never expected Lin Xintong to bring him to such a place!

The Cloud Wilderness had desolate lands and wonderlands. Desolate lands were filled with the Power of Desolates and were where desolate beasts gathered.

And wonderlands were filled with spiritual power, so humans preferred wonderlands.

The wonderlands and desolate lands were arranged in a mixed fashion, and together they formed the vast Cloud Wilderness.

This was Yi Yun’s first time stepping into the territories of desolate beasts. In the past when he was riding a near-horned beast to travel to and from between the Lian and Tao tribal clan, the Jin Long Wei had avoided the desolate lands and chosen neutral paths that were neither desolate lands or wonderlands.

“Heaven Earth Yuan Qi… Power of Desolates…” Yi Yun whispered it in his heart. He had a spiritual connection with the Purple Crystal within his heart. With a heartbeat, the Purple Crystal pulsated, creating a tiny whirlpool. The Power of Desolates that entered Yi Yun’s body was absorbed and slowly turned into pure energy.

When this energy entered Yi Yun’s body, the discomfort had already disappeared.

As such, Yi Yun felt there was no difference between desolate lands and wonderlands.

“The Purple Crystal sure is an absolute treasure…” Yi Yun had mixed feelings. He had learned another thing about the Purple Crystal. The Purple Crystal had the highest level of manipulation of energy. It was a divine artifact of energy. It seemed like no form of energy could escape the grasp of the Purple Crystal.

“Eh, you…” When the Power of Desolates within Yi Yun’s body got absorbed by the Purple Crystal, Lin Xintong seemed to have noticed something and looked surprisingly at Yi Yun.

“What?” Yi Yun touched his head. He was shocked because Lin Xintong had keen senses. When he absorbed the Power of Desolates, it had probably caused some changes that Lin Xintong detected.

Lin Xintong did not find anything wrong with Yi Yun’s body and thought that she had been mistaken. She shook her curiously and said, “Nothing… I’ll be returning to my family clan one of these days.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was slightly stunned. Suddenly hearing that he was to separate from Lin Xintong made him reluctant.

It was a great joy to have a beauty by his side. Besides, Lin Xintong was able to make his strength increase by leaps and bounds.

“Didn’t you say you were waiting for your master?”

“I cannot wait.” Lin Xintong shook her head. “My family has something going on that needs me to return. Besides, the level of the mystic realm my master went to seems to have exceeded his expectations. He has notified me that he would spend a year or even more to explore the mystic realm.”

Hearing Lin Xintong’s words, Yi Yun was stunned. It took a year or more to explore a mystic realm…

Lin Xintong noticed Yi Yun’s surprise and said, “Exploring for a year isn’t considered long. Some mystic realms are an independent world. They might be so vast that they are bigger than the Cloud Wilderness! Traversing through such a realm will need a long time. Besides…the mystic realm is sealed by an esoteric array. These arrays might be set up by a Sage or Great Emperor. Through the passage of time, the array might have weakened, but to crack the array, it will still take considerable amounts of time.”

“Because my master and Marquis Wenyun will be in the mystic realm for an extended period of time, the Jin Long Wei is likely to leave the Cloud Wilderness en masse. When that happens, you will be entering the lands of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.”

Hearing Lin Xintong’s words, Yi Yun gasped.

Tai Ah Divine Kingdom… Heartlands…

He was finally leaving the Cloud Wilderness, and heading towards the vast world!

“Miss Lin, I’ll be heading to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, and you will be returning to your family clan. Will we ever meet again?”

“We will,” Lin Xintong smiled. “I will leave soon. But before that, I will give you some more pointers, so you can improve further until you break through into the Purple Blood realm!”

“Purple Blood!?” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. The so-called first step in martial arts, the Purple Blood realm was the dream of many warriors in the vast wilderness. Being a Purple Blood warrior, one had the ability to stand alone, and could even be a king of a small tribe.

The Purple Blood realm had barred numerous people from proceeding further. Only one in ten thousand could do so!

For Yi Yun to enter the central plains and set up his own home, it wouldn’t do without more power.

Yi Yun had long wanted to break through into the Purple Blood realm!

After eating the Jade Spirit Pills, the herbal essence in them was still not fully digested by Yi Yun. He felt that he was just half a step away from the Purple Blood realm.

“Today, I brought you to Desolate Human Valley to fight fierce beasts. This will allow you to experience a true combat!” said Lin Xintong as she looked at the deep canyons.

Upon hearing Lin Xintong’s words, Yi Yun’s eyes lit up with excitement. To fight with fierce beasts!? What sort of scene would that be?

Thinking of this, Yi Yun felt a surge of hot blood.

134 - : Allowing you to break through to Purple Blood

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the vast wilderness, humans and beasts were in opposition, however, up to today, Yi Yun had never fought a real fierce beast before!

The Cloud Wilderness had no lack of fierce and desolate beasts. It would be regretful if he left the Cloud Wilderness without engaging in an intense battle with fierce beasts.

“The fierce beasts you kill shall be refined by me into fierce beast relics. After eating the fierce beast relics, together with the herbal essence of the Jade Spirit Pills, it will help you break through to the Purple Blood realm!”

Lin Xintong spared no effort in helping Yi Yun. She had also given him the Jade Spirit Pills in the past, so all this kindness made Yi Yun feel apologetic. “Miss Lin, why are you helping me?”

Lin Xintong hesitated slightly and said, “Since you want to know, there’s no harm telling you. When I was born, my family determined that I was born with Yin Meridians. I will eventually hit a bottleneck in my cultivation. Due to the Yin Meridians, I will never be able to get past this bottleneck.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was shocked. He had never heard of Yin Meridians before.

“Yin Meridians are also known as terminated meridians; there is almost no way of joining them up. But strangely, when I make contact with your body, I would occasionally feel my meridians activate. I have found a glimmer of hope for my terminated Meridians on your body. Although tiny, it is better than none… Maybe, when you go further and grow stronger, this hope will become larger…”

When Lin Xintong said those words, her expression turned forlorn. She raised her head, looked at the boundless starry sky and let out a faint sigh.

Yi Yun was stunned. Lin Xintong was actually burdened with terminated meridians?

Although Yi Yun did not understand a lot of what she had said, he could guess the meaning of the word “terminated”.

He recalled the crossing of palms with Lin Xintong on that fateful night. Lin Xintong had mentioned a secret of hers, so it was most likely this.

Yi Yun found it impossible to imagine. To him, Lin Xintong’s strength was massive and she was extremely talented and unfathomable!

But she was actually born with terminated meridians. How could she still have this ridiculous talent even with terminated meridians? If not for the terminated meridians, to what extent could her strength reach?

Yi Yun was shocked.

The world was indeed vast and filled with experts!

He deeply understood that no matter what results he had obtained, he was just taking baby steps. He still had a long path ahead of him!

“Give me your hand.” Lin Xintong stretched out her hand once again. Again it was this white creamy hand. Under the moonlight, it suffused the luster of jade, dazzling Yi Yun.

“Danger lurks within the Desolate Human Valley. Even some plants are man-eating monsters. You aren’t able to perceive things yet, and you can only use your eyes. In the dark Desolate Human Valley, it will be extremely dangerous. Hold my hand. I’ll be able to avoid any danger. If you were to separate from me and take a wrong step, you might fall into a trap and enter the stomachs of the beasts, and be eaten in an instant!”

Lin Xintong’s words were not unfounded because the Desolate Human Valley was fraught with danger. The monsters within were not only proficient at killing humans, they were masters of disguise and sneak attacks!

Yi Yun puckered his dry lips and held Lin Xintong’s hand.

The two slowly walked hand in hand into the rugged Desolate Human Valley.

To venture into the Desolate Human Valley with Lin Xintong filled Yi Yun with anticipation.

At that moment, the moon was dim and the winds strong. Not much light entered the Desolate Human Valley. Yi Yun followed Lin Xintong slowly but he could not see Lin Xintong at all. He could only feel his hand holding Lin Xintong’s. In the silent darkness, he could faintly smell the fragrance of Lin Xintong’s body.

The Desolate Human Valley was so quiet that they could hear each other’s heartbeats. This intriguing feeling made it seem like they were the only two people left in this world.

Although it was safe, walking hand in hand with Lin Xintong made the atmosphere ambiguous.

Lin Xintong walked in front and being able to use her senses to perceive the area, it did not affect Lin Xintong’s vision despite the absence of light.

It seemed like she could still see Yi Yun if she turned her head back.

In fact, Lin Xintong had to admit that she was very willing to make contact with Yi Yun. Holding Yi Yun’s hands made her especially comfortable.

Lin Xintong was born with Yin Meridians, so her body was cold like water. As for Yi Yun’s physique, it was hot. In Yi Yun’s meridians, it seemed like there was a constant flow of hot energy. This flowed through their skin and nourished Lin Xintong’s body. It made her extremely comfortable.

There were even times when Lin Xintong’s terminated meridians would have some tiny changes because of Yi Yun.

This tiny change infatuated Lin Xintong. As such, she had a sense of nostalgia of her holding hands with Yi Yun.

As the two proceeded deeper slowly, the surrounding atmosphere became more bizarre. Although Yi Yun couldn’t see, he could feel a sense of death encroaching.

The fanciful and fickle feelings he originally had was swept away.

This Desolate Human Valley… was filled with Death!

In here, he had to be on high alert as death was at every turn. If one did not stay vigilant, one could die in an instant.

Although Lin Xintong was protecting him, he wanted to make this fight a life and death experience. Such opportunities were rare!

Yi Yun felt that they were descending. It was as if they were entering an underground cave.

Slowly, Yi Yun saw some light. This light was from fluorescent minerals that littered the walls of the canyon. As such, Yi Yun slowly regained his vision.

He could see that there were plants of immense sizes within the rugged canyon.

These plants were like boulders, but there were exceptions. Some plants had bright and extravagant flowers. The flowers dripped blood because the edges of the flowers were lined with jagged teeth. It was like a huge mouth.

There was also a two to three feet tall mushroom that looked like a giant umbrella. It shimmered and released a particular fragrance. Under the mushroom cap, one could see the bones of animals.

“It’s the man-eating plants and the killing mushrooms. The man-eating plants eat people, while the killing mushroom’s fragrance is poisonous. The moment its spores enter your body, it will grow into a new mushroom. Those bones you see are a result of that.”

As Lin Xintong said, her body emitted a purple electric current which produced a buzz. Whenever the mushroom spores came near to Lin Xintong or Yi Yun, they would be burned to ashes by the electric current.

Yi Yun was secretly afraid. This was the wild world of the vast wilderness. In this region, death was possible without even knowing the cause of it.

Lin Xintong said, “There are many inaccessible places in the vast wilderness that do not have a single soul. It is fraught with unexpected dangers you can’t even imagine. But because there’s not even a soul, and because of the strange environment, it will create treasures. The value of some treasures can be hard to measure. When it enters other regions of the vast wilderness, it can cause a bloody storm, and might even destroy an ancient country…”

Lin Xintong spoke while Yi Yun listened in silence. This was his first time heading into that world. To see what the world was about, Lin Xintong could be considered Yi Yun’s first guide.

“Let’s take the Cloud Wilderness as an example. Some desolate lands of the Cloud Wilderness cover 50,000 kilometers, or maybe even 500,000 kilometers. They are deep mystic realms that have different space-time properties. It is filled with primordial desolate beasts and even Human Lords would not dare to enter rashly.”

Just as Lin Xintong said those words, she came to a sudden halt. She looked ahead coldly.

Yi Yun stopped as well, and he could feel a killing intent. “There’s something in front!”

Yi Yun unsheathed his Yanchi saber. He had not chosen a weapon for himself, but since the Jin Long Wei had given him the Yanchi saber, he used it.

Seeing Yi Yun on alert, Lin Xintong was also pleased. She took a few steps back and stood behind Yi Yun. She made it clear that this was Yi Yun’s battle.

“Roar——”

A muffled roar sounded out and in front of Yi Yun, a “stone wall” suddenly began to move, shaking off stone dust.

After everything peeled off, what appeared in front of Yi Yun was a gigantic ape-monster.

Its body was upright, and its arms long. The head did not take a large proportion of the body. It had a cross for its eyes and a large blood-curdling mouth.

This monster was covered in rock armor and its body color could change into that of a rock. This was why Yi Yun did not see it from the beginning.

But now, seeing its prey, its body started turning red, and it quickly became a giant blood-red ape!

“Blood Stone Gigantic Beast. Its level is that of a fierce beast. It’s greedy, cruel and strong. It likes to tear its prey apart. Kill it and I’ll refine the fierce beast relic, allowing you to slowly break through into the Purple Blood realm!” Lin Xintong said as she tapped with her fingers. The stone debris and dust did not even come close to her. In this chaotic underground world, Lin Xintong’s clothes had never been stained.

135 - : Battling Fierce Beasts

CKtalon  CKtalon

Fierce and desolate beasts distressed humans on an instinctual level. The Blood Stone Gigantic Beast was large and terrifying, so facing it was like a mortal facing an unrestrained tiger, would he not be scared?

Yi Yun was a twelve-year-old child, and this was the first time he was encountering such a terrifying opponent. Lin Xintong watched Yi Yun for signs of fear.

Some people, especially youths who had just made achievements in martial arts, would end up facing fierce-looking beasts when out for their first actual toughening experience. Even if they had great strength that exceeded the beast they were facing, they would still feel fear due to the difference in size and the ferocious appearance of the beast.

They were subconsciously thinking of themselves as weaklings. When encountering a fierce beast, the first instinct of mortals who lacked confidence was to flee. Even if they fought with the beasts, they could not perform to the full extent of their abilities.

There were too many people that fell into such a category.

When they faced people their own age, they would be domineering while bullying the weak.

But once they faced a fierce beast, their faces would turn ashen from fright. Such people could not abandon the “shackles of a weakling”. They did not have the heart of the strong, so they would not amount to anything great!

Lin Xintong did not believe that Yi Yun was such a person, but she wanted to see how far Yi Yun could go. How confident was he of his own strength?

But Yi Yun’s next set of words completely struck down Lin Xintong’s concerns.

Yi Yun said, “Miss Lin, this Blood Stone Gigantic Beast looks ferocious and savage. Doesn’t its meat look unpalatable?”

“Eh?” Lin Xintong was stunned. She did not expect Yi Yun to ask such a question.

“It’s like this. The village is lacking in meat. I’m thinking of bringing more back. Being from a small tribal clan, I got used to the poor lifestyle. However, once I began practicing martial arts, I had dreamed of walking into the vast wilderness to hunt, so that I don’t have to worry about food. This Blood Stone Gigantic Beast will be my first hunt! But if it’s not delicious, or even inedible, wouldn’t it be a waste of effort killing it and bringing its meat back to the village?”

Lin Xintong froze for a moment when she heard Yi Yun’s words before she managed a laugh. She realized that she had overthought things.

Yi Yun had treated the Blood Stone Gigantic Beast as his prey. It was very good to have such spirit!

“Although it looks hideous, its meat is delicious. Unfortunately, its meat quality is low, so it won’t give you a lot of energy when you eat it. Its essence is all in its bones!”

“It’s good. As long as it’s delicious!” Yi Yun did not care. No one from the Lian tribal clan cared as long as there was meat to eat.

While Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were exchanging their conversations, the Blood Stone Gigantic Beast went into a rage.

It felt like it had been belittled by the two tiny humans.

It roared and its massive body charged forwards! It stretched out its steel fork like claws and swiped at Yi Yun!

Yi Yun caught a glimpse of the beast charging at him from the corner of his eyes. His body slightly moved like a feather that was blown up.

“Ka-cha!”

The ground that was beneath Yi Yun’s feet was crushed by the Blood Stone Gigantic Beast’s claws. But Yi Yun had flown up as a reaction to the attack. It was as if the clawing wind had sent him flying.

Yi Yun had already perfectly grasped his Minute Subtlety technique!

“Clang!”

The Yanchi saber was unsheathed and Yi Yun’s legs landed on the huge arms of the Blood Stone Gigantic Beast. He rushed forward while running up the arm!

Blood Stone Gigantic Beast was alarmed as it opened its gaping jaws. Its blood-red tongue shot out like a javelin!

The Blood Stone Gigantic Beast’s tongue was barbed and it could pierce through steel plates. It would turn a person into a meat skewer upon impact.

The red tongue lashed out extremely quickly. Yi Yun constricted his pupils and just as the tongue was about to stab his chest, he turned his body sideways. He carried on charging while sticking by the side of the tongue!

The forceful strike by the tongue had not only failed to obstruct Yanchi saber, it had even given Yi Yun the chance to borrow the force to increase his speed. In a blink of an eye, he was at the Blood Stone Gigantic Beast’s head and with a swish of his Yanchi saber, he stabbed the cross-shaped eyes of the Blood Stone Gigantic Beast!

“Roar!”

The Blood Stone Gigantic Beast gave out an earth-shattering cry. It attempted to bite Yi Yun, but its attempt did not change its fate. With a jump, Yi Yun struck with the Yanchi saber!

“Puah!”

Blood splattered as the Yanchi saber penetrated the Blood Stone Gigantic Beast’s eye straight into its brain!

Yi Yun’s amazing physical strength had all been injected into that strike, allowing the Yanchi saber to completely pierce the Blood Stone Gigantic Beast’s head with no resistance, shredding its skull.

The Blood Stone Gigantic Beast screamed loudly before it came to a stop. Its body violently convulsed before collapsing to the ground with a thud and laid motionless.

Yi Yun had killed a ‘Blood Stone Gigantic Beast’ in about five seconds. His attacks were clean and decisive!

He did not use any special moves. All it took was two simple dodges and a stab at his foe!

These two dodges had the Minute Subtlety technique embodied within them.

His stab had was powered using a fist strike of the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”—”Dragon Rises From the Sea”. Using the saber as a fist, Yi Yun had honed his control of the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” to perfection!

From the beginning to the end, Yi Yun did not make any unnecessary moves. It could be said to be impeccable.

“You can actually use ‘Dragon Rises From the Sea’ with a weapon for the first time. Not bad! Your understanding of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ is very deep, and you can use it flexibly. This perceptivity is extremely good!” Lin Xintong was not stingy with her praises.

Yi Yun shyly said, “Actually… all the credit goes to Miss Lin’s notes. They taught me to not be restricted to the moves, and to forget all the fist moves of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, digesting it to make it mine.”

Yi Yun did not know any saber techniques, so he could only use his fist technique as a saber technique. This was all very natural.

“Yes! The ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ is actually most suitable for a sword. A saber tends to slash more. In the future, you should try even more weapons. In this world, there are many warriors who are not limited by weapons. Not only can they forget the moves, they can even forget the weapon. They can use the soul of weapons and command it, allowing them to fully use it. They can make the weapons part of their bodies.” Lin Xintong’s understanding of martial arts was far greater than most people; hence with a few words, Yi Yun was inspired.

Can weapons be forgotten? Allowing them to fully use it? “Then Miss Lin…” Yi Yun looked at the Frost Water sword by Lin Xintong’s shoulders.

Lin Xintong smiled, “I use a sword because of my blood lineage –‘Sword Heart’. That is another level unto itself. The current you can ignore it. I’ll refine a fierce beast relic for you today. Just watch!”

With that said, a light flashed from Lin Xintong’s wrist. A three-feet bronze disk flew out and spun in the air. It quickly became bigger and many runes flew around the disk.

Yi Yun watched unblinkingly. He had previously heard of Desolate Heaven Masters, and today he could see one refining a beast relic for the first time!

Lin Xintong was not only talented in martial arts, she was also a Desolate Heaven Master!

Yi Yun had mixed emotions. She was seventeen-years-old, and in comparison, he was nothing!

If Zhang Tan were to evaluate Lin Xintong’s talent, what rank would she be?

Earth rank? Which was a young Sage!

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s founding emperor was a Sage! One step higher was a Great Emperor. What sort of concept was that? Yi Yun did not know.

While Yi Yun began to make blind and random conjectures, the huge Blood Stone Gigantic Beast was being absorbed by the disk. What he saw next surprised him!

He was surprised to discover many points of light appearing from the Blood Stone Gigantic Beast’s body by the stimulus of the bronze disk.

These lights were a pale shade of red. Yi Yun felt their shapes were similar to the light dots the Purple Crystal could absorb!

This…

Yi Yun was stunned. He stared at Lin Xintong as she made many gestures to start a sealing process. Runes after runes were sent by her to the disk. And these runes were used to control those light dots.

These light dots were, of course, energy.

Lin Xintong’s attainment in the Desolate Heaven technique made it difficult for her to control all the light dots. In fact, Yi Yun noticed see that she was only capable of controlling about 60% of the light dots. The rest were slowly escaping into the surroundings.

Yi Yun suddenly had a thought. He tried to interface with the Purple Crystal in his heart and quickly released his spiritual force. He realized that he could control those light dots easily as always.

If he wanted, he could even absorb all those light dots Lin Xintong had gathered.

Yi Yun did not do so, instead, he collected the light dots together. It was as if the light dots had received a command and proceeded towards Lin Xintong.

Suddenly, Lin Xintong’s array became shiny.

“Eh?” Lin Xintong eyes flashed. Why is it so easy to refine the fierce beast relic today? Controlling the energy with the fierce beast bones is as easy as lifting a finger.

When Desolate Heaven Masters refined beast bones, there was always an inevitable loss of energy. Lin Xintong was still not accomplished in the Desolate Heaven technique, so when she refined fierce beast relics, she would lose about 40% of the energy. But today, Lin Xintong felt that she lost less than 5% of the energy!

What happened?

136 - : Lin Xintong’s uncertainty

CKtalon  CKtalon

Lin Xintong knew that she did not have any epiphany or breakthrough. It must have been some sort of accident or a stroke of good luck.

For a Desolate Heaven Master, there were times when things went great, resulting in the refinement of an exquisite relic. Hence, it was not odd, but today felt different…

Although she was disconcerted, it did not affect Lin Xintong’s hand movements. Her seals became faster as finger shadows were formed.

Yi Yun looked intently as his eyes followed the light dots.

As long as he willed it, he could control the movement of the light dots. It was a lovely feeling for Yi Yun.

He understood that a Desolate Heaven Master had the ability to gather the energy within fierce and desolate beasts’ bones.

But they were not just simply gathering. In the gathering process, the Desolate Heaven Masters would process the energy, branding it with their own mark.

In addition, the desolate bones had their own properties. With the Desolate Heaven Master’s mark and the desolate bones’ properties combined, it could bring about incredible changes, giving the bone relic a property the desolate bones originally lacked.

These things made Yi Yun generate a great interest. What if… I became a Desolate Heaven Master…

This thought suddenly appeared in Yi Yun’s mind and began to grow. Like a seed, it grew into a huge, towering tree.

Being a Desolate Heaven Master would bring him many benefits!

It was the noblest profession in the vast wilderness world. They could use their Desolate Heaven technique to obtain unlimited wealth.

And wealth meant cultivation resources!

Not only that, they could have special techniques to process the energy. This made Yi Yun palpitate with excitement.

Yi Yun had previously heard from Jiang Xiaorou that Desolate Heaven Masters create desolate bone relics with different effects. Some were used to heal, some were used to increase cultivation, some were used to break through a bottleneck, and some were used to increase perceptivity.

There were specializations within the technique. The Purple Crystal Origins could only absorb pure energy, but it could not change the properties of the energy.

If we made the analogy of energy as being food, then the Purple Crystal Origins was a collector of the best ingredients. A Desolate Heaven Master was the chef. Their culinary skills were the Desolate Heaven technique, and when processing the ingredients, they could make a delicacy.

With the Purple Crystal, he would have the best ingredients, and if he had the ability to manipulate the ingredients, shouldn’t he learn it to produce the best delicacies?

Yi Yun had many random thoughts within that few seconds. By then, Lin Xintong had already melted the Blood Stone Gigantic Beast’s bones in the white light, finally reducing it to a bone relic the size of a green bean.

As for the Blood Stone Gigantic Beast’s meat, Lin Xintong did not touch it. The meat had been separated and dropped to the side. With a wave of her hand, the meat was stored in her interspatial wristband.

Lin Xintong looked at that bone relic with a nonplussed expression. But she didn’t think any further and with a flick of the finger, it landed into Yi Yun’s palm.

“Eat it. You will be fighting battles continuously, draining a lot of your.” Lin Xintong said with thoughts on her mind. She still could not understand why the bones’ energy yielded to her control in such an obedient manner.

“Alright, Miss Lin.” Yi Yun took the fierce beast relic and threw it into his mouth like a peanut. After chewing a few times, he swallowed it.

The fierce beast relic’s taste was like an alcoholic sweet. Upon entering the stomach, a surge of heat spread throughout his body, quickly replenishing the energy Yi Yun had depleted.

The beast relic refined by Lin Xintong was different from the energy absorbed by the Purple Crystal Origins. This beast relic had a much better effect of replenishing strength.

Yi Yun pretended to inadvertently ask, “By the way, Miss Lin, were you demonstrating the Desolate Heaven technique? If an ordinary person were to learn the Desolate Heaven technique, what ways are there?”

“Oh?” Lin Xintong looked at Yi Yun with surprise. Her pair of eyes were still extremely bright even in the dark Desolate Human Valley. “You want to learn the Desolate Heaven technique?”

“I’m interested.” Yi Yun answered.

Lin Xintong shook her head, “I advise you not to learn it. When you begin learning, you will need a lot of bones to practice, and a lot of the energy will be wasted. This will spend a lot of resources and… you will need a good teacher, to correct your methods, control of the energy… There are also many complicated changes involved too. It’s too difficult!”

“So, Desolate Heaven Masters mostly come from wealthy entities, such as a big family clan or a large sect.”

“Also, besides needing a lot of resources, students of the Desolate Heaven technique need to have talent in controlling energy. Such people have a strong soul and have a natural affinity with Heaven Earth energy. There aren’t many people who can do that. The chance is less than one in a million.”

After Lin Xintong said so much, Yi Yun nodded his head and said, “I see. I understand what Miss Lin is saying.”

“Yes.” Lin Xintong nodded, “It’s good you understand. I can tell that you have great perceptivity towards martial arts. I want to prevent you from detours, wasting your own time. Learning the Desolate Heaven technique is extremely draining…”

Lin Xintong said all those words to dispel Yi Yun of his unrealistic expectations. But before she could finish her words, Yi Yun had already declared his decision, “I still want to learn…”

“You…” Lin Xintong was speechless. Many warriors were moved when they saw Desolate Heaven Masters refine desolate bones. After all, both a Desolate Heaven Master’s position and wealth was something warriors could not compare with.

However, these people would have mostly wasted their time, energy and wealth after attempted it. It wasn’t worth it.

“I am serious. It’s not on a whim.” Yi Yun looked at Lin Xintong. Under the fluorescent minerals’ light, their eyes were three feet apart as they looked at each other.

Lin Xintong knitted her eyebrows. She knew Yi Yun. In the first round of the kingdom’s selection, Yi Yun had taken first place in the test of Spirit. Therefore, Lin Xintong knew Yi Yun was a person with verve.

These people would not rashly come to a decision, but once they had decided upon it, they would acknowledge their target and overcome all difficulties.

However, a great Spirit did not mean that they had no failures.

Lin Xintong looked at Yi Yun with an incomprehensible look and said, “You seem to have really made up your mind. You will not give up even at the risk of wasting your time and resources?”

“Yes,” said Yi Yun with a nod.

“Alright then…”

Lin Xintong shook her head, “In that case, I will give you the opportunity to come into contact with the Desolate Heaven technique. You need to be at the Purple Blood realm to learn the Desolate Heaven technique. I have a scroll here left by my master. It’s a Desolate Heaven Master notebook.”

With that said, Lin Xintong took out a black scroll from her interspatial wristband. The scroll did not have any embellishments and looked a little old.

“My Master gave me eighteen scrolls. I have already memorized all the contents of the first scroll which I will lend you. In two years, if you can understand anything from that notebook that teaches the most basic hand seals and energy control, then I will aid you in learning the Desolate Heaven technique. If not, you will have to return the notebook to me.”

Su Jie may be an unscrupulous old man who was stingy and greedy, but his Desolate Heaven technique was exceptional. He was definitely a master.

It was obvious the Desolate Heaven Master notebook left behind by Su Jie was worth a lot!

Yi Yun looked at the scroll with mixed feelings.

He stayed silent for a while before solemnly saying, “I will remember Miss Lin’s kindness. In the future, even if there is the tiniest possibility that I can join up Miss Lin’s terminated meridians, I will do it at all expenses.”

Yi Yun solemnly took over the scroll.

Lin Xintong looked helplessly at Yi Yun as she found that she could not understand the child’s thoughts. It was difficult to explain his drive and confidence to learn the Desolate Heaven technique.

In fact, Lin Xintong had taken out Su Jie’s scroll to make Yi Yun aware of the overwhelming odds against him. The scroll’s difficulty was extremely high, especially for beginners.

Lin Xintong grabbed Yi Yun’s hand and pricked Yi Yun’s thumb with her fingernail. A drop of blood dripped on the scroll.

“In these two years, only you can read this scroll. If it were to enter the hands of others, the scroll will be automatically destroyed.”

In this world, although there were some public lectures by Desolate Heaven Masters, there was some core heritage that were treasured as one’s own belongings.

The scroll left behind by Su Jie was equipped with self-destruction capabilities. So as long as other Desolate Heaven Masters did not see the scroll, there was no way he could leak the core teachings of the scroll based on his skills.

Since he would fail to understand it, it was impossible for him to recount it to others.

Using his mental energy, Yi Yun interfaced with the scroll, but he was stunned when he caught sight of its contents. The various complicated symbols, formation diagrams, and knowledge looked Greek to him.

Furthermore, there was a tremendous amount of content contained within the scroll.

Yi Yun felt like an entire library had been moved into the scroll.

And according to what Lin Xintong said, this was just the first scroll. There were seventeen others, and the difficult of those scrolls might be even greater. The Desolate Heaven technique was truly exaggerated!

“Now, do you still want to learn it?”

Seeing Yi Yun’s surprise and shocked expression, the corners of Lin Xintong’s mouth suffused a look of satisfaction at having defeated him.

Informing you of the difficulty of the Desolate Heaven technique is just a form of advice to make you aware of the overwhelming odds against you. It will stop you from having such unrealistic ideas.

Yi Yun fell into a daze for a while before he kept the scroll solemnly. He clasped his hands and said, “Miss Lin, please check the results of my Desolate Heaven technique in two years time.”

“…”

Lin Xintong was speechless.

Yi Yun had no resources and he was poor as a church mouse. He did not have much ability also. How could he learn the Desolate Heaven technique from a book filled with words and diagrams he couldn’t understand?

Lin Xintong had a good impression of Yi Yun due to the sheer number of seemingly impossible feats he had accomplished. She even appreciated him to a certain extent, and if not for all of that, Lin Xintong would have labeled Yi Yun as an unreasonable person.

“You deal with it yourself!”

After saying what she had to say, what else could she do? She could only leave it as it was.

She turned around and carried on walking deeper into the valley…

137 - : If I were to become a Desolate Heaven Master

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Puah!”

Yi Yun countered a sneak attack that was launched by a fierce beast before beheading it! His assailant was a monkey-sized fierce beast that had a pair of wings, making it look like a bat.

“‘Purple Teeth Bat’. Its teeth have purple venom that would melt and liquify human muscles upon injection. Then, Purple Teeth Bats would suck the human dry, leaving only desiccated skin left. The Purple Teeth Bat may not be strong, but it has remarkable speed, making it proficient at sneak attacks. It’s very good that you are able to chop off its head! In the past few hours, your saber techniques have improved.”

Lin Xintong was extremely knowledgeable with the fierce beasts of the Cloud Wilderness. Like an encyclopedia, she knew every fierce beast and dangerous plant they met along the way.

During their journey through the Desolate Human Valley, Yi Yun would fight with fierce beasts while Lin Xintong would give out pointers, praise his moves and point out his deficiencies.

This benefited Yi Yun greatly.

Time passed quickly, and the duo had gone deep into the valley after traveling hundreds of kilometers over a full night and day cycle.

Yi Yun finished all of the dozens of encounters that they had!

Along the way, Yi Yun had suffered minor injuries which he quickly recovered from.

If they were hungry, they would cook their meals on the spot. Roasting meat, steaming rice and brewing soup… Although Lin Xintong was not a pursuer of good food, the food made by Yi Yun was still salivating.

Being away from home for a long time did not make Yi Yun worried. The Lian tribal clan was being taken care of by the Jin Long Wei and no one dared to touch Jiang Xiaorou.

Another day passed and late into the second night, Yi Yun had made great progress after experiencing intense battles one after another. It was all thanks to the bone relic Yi Yun ate after every battle, which strengthened his cultivation!

Not only did it improve his cultivation level, his foundation had improved. Most importantly, Yi Yun’s combat experience had rapidly increased. Traversing the vast wilderness and experiencing life and death battles were extremely valuable.

“Hiss….”

Suddenly, Yi Yun heard a sharp rustling sound which quickly became more intense. It sounded like massive amounts of sand was being constantly ground and the sounds assaulted their eardrums.

Yi Yun had a change in expression when he felt a chill!

It was like a cold wind that blew and entered into the bone.

“What is it…” Yi Yun went on high alert and attentively looked around. Under the faint fluorescent light, what he saw made his scalp tingle.

Not far away, a group of black snakes was sliding over.

Among this group of snakes, the slimmest was as thick as a water bucket. Some of them were as thick as a water tank, and some were so thick that the combined arm span of two people was unable to encircle them.

A group of snakes arrived from every direction, quickly surrounding Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

All these snakes were at the fierce beast level. With so many snakes attacking, Yi Yun was bound to be bitten to shreds.

But… Yi Yun had Lin Xintong beside him.

Lin Xintong glanced at the numerous pythons and said lightly, “We have encountered a desolate beast. All these snakes are being directed by a desolate beast!”

“Desolate beast!?” Yi Yun was stunned. Desolate beasts were one level higher than fierce beasts. There were much fewer desolate beasts than fierce beasts, but they were the true masters of the vast wilderness!

“It’s a Frost Python!” In this huge mass of pythons, Lin Xintong spotted the true serpent king.

Frost Python!?

Yi Yun, of course, knew about the Frost Python. He had stolen the Frost Python desolate bone’s essence from Lian Chengyu!!

The Frost Python’s desolate bones were toxic. To refine it, a Desolate Heaven Master was needed, or the consequences would be dire.

“It’s an immature Frost Python. Very good! Yi Yun, this is your chance. The Frost Python is one of the weakest desolate beasts. An immature one is about the strength of a normal Purple Blood warrior. You can try to see what it’s like battling at the Purple Blood level! In this battle, all you need to do is to remain undefeated. It will be a way of toughening yourself!”

Yi Yun was still at the peak-Qi Gatherer realm. The gap between Mortal Blood and Purple Blood was huge, but Yi Yun’s skills included Minute Subtlety and insight of not being restrained by moves. Compounded with his Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse, he could battle a weak Purple Blood warrior!

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed with excitement.

Desolate beast! He was finally going to fight a desolate beast!

But with so many snakes…

Just as Yi Yun was thinking about it, Lin Xintong made a move. She unsheathed her Frost Water sword and made a simple slash forward.

This strike turned into a bluish-white sword beam that was cold to the bone. It spread out like a water ripple, freezing the water vapor in the air, and lining the ground with a layer of ice!

At that moment, with Lin Xintong in the center, it was like a giant ice flower blooming. The surrounding area in a thousant feet radius had turned into a world of ice!

The group of pythons that were slithering forward froze, turning into ice sculptures!

Yi Yun was shocked when he saw that scene.

He knew how strong the fierce beasts were. But under Lin Xintong’s hands, they were unable to put up any resistance. The entire group was wiped out in one shot.

Only the Frost Python serpent could resist Lin Xintong’s icy sword attack.

This was because the Frost Python serpent was strong and its elemental property was ice, so it had a high resistance to the frost Qi.

But this sudden turn of events shocked the Frost Python!

It originally believed that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong would make a splendid meal. Warriors with a certain strength were a good supplement for desolate beasts. Eating them would have aided in its growth, allowing it to mature sooner.

As such the Frost Python had sent all of its pythons to attack the two, hoping to deplete them of their energy. But surprisingly, its legion of pythons was wiped out before they could even attack!

The Frost Python had some intelligence. It suddenly realized the strength of the young girl and was about to turn around and flee, but…

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

Runes began to flash. These runes formed a barrier of light trapping the Frost Python, Yi Yun, and Lin Xintong within it.

“You can’t escape!” Lin Xintong said as she sheathed her Frost Water sword. “If you can beat that boy, you’ll be spared. If you can’t win, you will die!”

“Oh? It can understand human speech?” Yi Yun was surprised when he saw Lin Xintong speak to the Frost Python.

“It doesn’t. But desolate beasts can sense the mental fluctuations of humans, so it can get the meaning.”

Lin Xintong was indeed correct. This Frost Python had identified its enemy.

It stared at Yi Yun and bared its black fangs.

The Frost Python was not large. Among the legion of pythons, its body was actually the smallest. Its body was the thickness of an adult’s thigh and it was not longer than three feet.

Yi Yun stared at the Frost Python. Yi Yun could clearly discern every scale it had, as well as the texture on each scale.

For the Tao tribal clan to be able to kill a Frost Python, it proved that the Frost Python was the weakest among the desolate beasts. This battle was just right for him!

Lin Xintong stood on the side and watched with anticipation. She wanted to see the result of the battle between Yi Yun and the Frost Python.

138 - : Desolate Beast

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Hiss!”

The Frost Python hissed and directly attacked Yi Yun!

The crushing force a python is capable of is terrifying. It can squeeze a person into noodles once a python wrapped itself around him.

By focusing, Yi Yun was able to see every move of the Frost Python clearly in his field of vision.

He had to hit it where it hurts!

Aiming for the Frost Python’s belly, Yi Yun slashed with the Yanchi saber!

“Roar!”

When Yi Yun attacked, the phantom images of a dragon and tiger appeared behind him. Manifestation of Yuan Qi!

“Clang!”

The Yanchi saber hit the Frost Python’s scales, giving out a metallic ring.

The Frost Python opened its jaws and spat a frost mist at Yi Yun!

The frost mist shot at Yi Yun like a blazing-fast sword. Yi Yun grimaced as he quickly retreated. He swished and slashed the Yanchi saber in front of him, forming saber beams in front of him.

This was actually a move of the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’, but Yi Yun had used a saber in place of a sword. He emulated Lin Xintong and Tao Yunxiao’s ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ and hacked away at the frost mist.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

The Yanchi saber was covered in ice as numerous ice crystals fell!

This frost Qi meandered down the Yanchi saber onto Yi Yun’s hand. At that moment, Yi Yun felt as if his arm had been frozen.

Such an amazing frost venom! Such a terrifying defense!

Yi Yun looked at the spot on the Frost Python’s body where he had slashed. There was a red mark there. Several scales had been cut through, and it shed a little blood. But it was just a superficial wound. For a Frost Python with powerful vitals, it was nothing.

“Frost Pythons have extremely hard scales. It is much stronger than tempered steel!” Lin Xintong said by the side.

“I see, to be considered a desolate beast, it sure has to be extraordinary…” Yi Yun had that thought in mind. The Frost Python let out a screech and thrust its huge tail at Yi Yun.

“Ka-cha!”

The ground shattered as Yi Yun leaped!

With a shake of the Yanchi saber, the ice crystals shattered. Using them as weapons, they were shot toward the eyes of the Frost Python!

But the Frost Python sprayed out a mouthful of frost Qi, freezing the ice crystals. Upon doing so, the Frost Python opened its mouth and sucked back all the frost Qi into its stomach.

“Oh? It can absorb frost Qi that has left its body?” This scene surprised Yi Yun greatly!

Following that, Yi Yun learned why a desolate beast was given its title that made it overshadow fierce beasts.

This Frost Python opened its mouth and spat back the ice crystals. The ice crystals solidified into the air to become a long saber!

This saber looked exactly like Yi Yun’s Yanchi saber!

It was mimicking Yi Yun!

“Cha!”

The frost saber slashed at Yi Yun!

Yi Yun raised his saber to parry the attack.

“Ping!”

A strong tremor traveled through his arm as Yi Yun felt his arm go slightly numb!

A desolate beast’s greatest improvement over a fierce beast was the ability to control Heaven Earth energy. Just like a warrior’s manifestation of Yuan Qi, a desolate beast could control the Heaven Earth energy to form its own moves to attack its enemy.

The frost saber was such a thing!

“As expected of a desolate beast!” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. The Frost Python was the most powerful opponent he had ever faced. With the Yanchi saber in his hand, he clashed with the frost saber!

Holding the Yanchi saber, Yi Yun interchanged between the moves of ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ and ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’.

At the beginning, Yi Yun’s battle was fraught with difficulty, but over time, he adapted to the Frost Python’s attacks.

A desolate beast was after all a beast. Although it had some intelligence, it could not be compared to a human. Yi Yun slowly saw through the Frost Python’s attacks.

It had great strength and speed, but its moves lacked a certain charm.

Yi Yun soon found his own rhythm and became calmer.

He again demonstrated his Minute Subtlety movements. Occasionally he would move forward, sometimes back, sometimes soaring into the sky, sometimes flipping backward. While battling the Frost Python, Yi Yun’s movements became more adept!

“Very good! Again!” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up.

Combat was the best way of improving one’s strength. It was not easy for Yi Yun to meet such an equal opponent, so he had used this battle with the Frost Python as training!

“Just a bit more. The speed needs to be faster!” Yi Yun was short of breath, but slowly, his attacks reduced, and he dodged more of the Frost Python’s attacks.

The Frost Python was expending its body’s Power of Desolates, but it became more feisty after failing to kill Yi Yun.

It knew that, if it did not defeat the human in front of it, it would die!

The Frost Python was cornered, it began to spit out large amounts of Power of Desolates, forming icicle cones. Together with the frost Yanchi saber, they were hurled at Yi Yun.

It bet everything on that one throw!

“Just nice!” Yi Yun felt like he was at his threshold!

Seeing the icicles flying towards him, Yi Yun clenched his Yanchi saber with both hands and slashed at it!

“Roar!”

With a dragon and tiger roar, a Purple Gold Dragon phantom appeared. At the same time, icy-blue light dots appeared from the corpses of the pythons that were frozen by Lin Xintong!

These light dots could only be seen with the aid of Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal!

The fierce beasts’ energy was naturally below the desolate beast’s, but there were too many energy light dots from the fierce beasts!

The moment the light dots appeared, they were sucked towards Yi Yun as if he were a whirlpool!

Numerous light dots entered Yi Yun’s skin, tendons, flesh, veins, bones, organs, and marrow…

This energy surged into Yi Yun’s body. Yi Yun felt that if he could not vent all this energy out, his body would explode.

In the chaos, Yi Yun could feel like he had touched a thin membrane, and it was none other than the Purple Blood realm’s bottleneck!

“Ha!”

Yi Yun roared, and the energy within his meridians surged. He infused the tremendous power into the Yanchi saber as he slashed forward!

“Peng!”

With a loud explosion, the crystals spat from the Frost Python had been shattered to pieces by the Yanchi saber!

The Yanchi saber’s momentum did not lessen. It mercilessly cleaved into the Frost Python’s head, splitting the Frost Python’s hard skull into two!

Yi Yun exerted more strength as his Yanchi saber sliced straight through the Frost Python’s gullet. The saber entered the Frost Python’s stomach, and blood sprayed all over Yi Yun!

The python’s blood was cold, like the icy-cold water of winter. Upon being splashed by the python’s blood, Yi Yun’s fighting spirit burned even stronger.

He exerted more strength into his hands.

Cha!

Not only did the Yanchi saber enter the python’s body completely, even Yi Yun’s hands entered the Frost Python’s mouth. The Frost Python’s body was like a thick whip that lashed constantly. All the surrounding rocks were smashed into pieces!

But the terrifying saber Qi had entered its body, crushing all its organs! The Frost Python was dead!

After the Frost Python died, its energy appeared as dots of light. After using that move, Yi Yun felt as if his body was a bottomless hole, making him extremely hungry. The first thing he did upon seeing the Frost Python’s energy was to swallow it all!

“Come!” As the Purple Crystal pulsated, numerous energy essences emerged from the Frost Python’s body and surged into Yi Yun’s body!

Yi Yun could feel his mind, body, and meridians burning up. The flames roared into the sky, illuminating his body.

Yi Yun suddenly could see every meridian and every blood vessel he had!

As he gazed at it, the blood transformed!

The blood coagulated and turned heavy, but it still had a strong vitality!

Every drop of blood seemed to come alive. The blood pulsated rapidly, carrying more energy and nutrients through the body. It had a slight hint of purple under the illumination of fire!

At that moment, Yi Yun’s bone marrow became extremely pure under the nourishment of the blood. It shimmered with a silver light as if mercury was being poured into it!

“Purple Blood realm, this is the Purple Blood realm!”

With the entire body’s blood transforming, it shimmered purple under sunlight. His bone marrow was tempered like silver, turning heavy and pure, as though he had been renewed. This was the Purple Blood realm dreamed of by many warriors of the vast wilderness!

At the moment he broke through to the Purple Blood realm Yi Yun felt extremely comfortable. He could not help but let out a cry!

This cry was like a dragon’s roar, piercing through the clouds and shattering stone!

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The sonic boom shattered the ice python sculptures, turning them into a countless number of ice crystals that scattered in all directions before falling all over the ground!

Not far away, Lin Xintong was stunned.

“Purple Blood realm, he broke through to the Purple Blood realm?” Lin Xintong had brought Yi Yun on this training trip to aid him in breaking through to the Purple Blood realm.

Yi Yun’s breakthrough to the Purple Blood realm was not a mystery to Lin Xintong, but she had originally expected that Yi Yun would have used up all his energy to kill the Frost Python. She would then help him obtain the Frost Python desolate bones and refine it to a desolate bone relic. After Yi Yun ate that, he could then break through to the Purple Blood realm.

But the actual turn of events went beyond Lin Xintong’s expectations. He had managed to break through in battle, with Yi Yun’s final strike as his ultimate attack, and also the prelude to his breakthrough!

The Frost Python had been split into two by Yi Yun. It was a terrifying blow!

Originally, Lin Xintong expected for Yi Yun to choose a weak point of the Frost Python such as the eyes. And by slowly depleting the Frost Python’s energy, he would be able to kill it.

But Yi Yun had killed it in one fell swoop. The outcome of the battle startled Lin Xintong.

Purple Blood realm, the beginning steps on the path of martial arts.

Generally, Lin Xintong would not be ambivalent about an ordinary person breaking through to the Purple Blood realm. And the breakthroughs of most people breakthroughs were nothing surprising. They usually ate a desolate bone relic, meditated for a long while before making a natural breakthrough.

It was a rare sight to see someone break through with such earth shattering results like Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was in linen clothes and his long hair was blowing in the wind. His body was covered with snake blood, making him look like a savage.

In myths and legends, warriors would bathe in the snake’s blood after they slay the serpent. Yi Yun lived up to the feeling of those legends!

“You actually broke through to the Purple Blood while in combat. I had originally planned to refine a desolate bone relic for you. But it looks like there’s no need.” Lin Xintong looked at Yi Yun as she murmured.

139 - : Purple Blood

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun took a few deep breaths and the surrounding frost Qi was sucked into his lungs. He could feel his blood stirring, which made him feel extremely comfortable.

“Miss Lin has refined many fierce beast relics for me. As it accumulated in number, it was only natural that I would make a breakthrough.”

Lin Xintong said, “You have previously reached the state of ‘Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse’. So, you needed a lot of energy to break through to the Purple Blood realm. It was not easy to accomplish that through your power alone!”

“At this point, there is nothing else I can help you with. Your future will be decided by yourself. I will be leaving the Cloud Wilderness and returning to the Lin family. Since you have killed the Frost Python, I’ll leave this set of Frost Python desolate bones with you, as materials for you to learn the Desolate Heaven technique.”

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s expedition to the Desolate Human Valley came to an end when they flew back to the Lian tribal clan overnight. Before separating at the entrance, Lin Xintong took out all of Yi Yun’s hunts from her interspatial wristband. The pile of fierce beast meat was already tied up in rope, forming a mountain of meat. Its weight was about fifty thousand kilograms.

Before her departure, Lin Xintong took a glance at Yi Yun’s blood-stained linen clothes and said, “I’ll give you a set of clothes…”

With that said, Lin Xintong’s fingers wiped the interspatial wristband and she took out a thin piece of apparel. It was extremely soft and looked like flowing mercury.

“This shirt is called Flowing Mercury Gown. It’s a piece of treasure. By wearing it, it can aid you in increasing your strength and help you reach the large success stage of the Minute Subtlety movement technique.”

As she said that, with some unknown gesture of hers, that flowing mercury gown flew into Yi Yun’s hands.

Yi Yun found that it was cold to the touch. It felt like holding a pool of water, which was very comfortable.

He was filled with curiosity. What was this Flowing Mercury Gown’s mystery? How could it increase his strength and improve his Minute Subtlety technique?

Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony and took off his linen shirt, exposing his shapely muscles.

After a few months of training, Yi Yun’s body was no longer thin and weak. He still looked thin with clothes on, but once he removed his clothes, he impressed people with his body’s muscular strength.

Every morning, Yi Yun would wake up to hear his joints popping. This proved that his body was growing very quickly!

Yi Yun found the Flowing Mercury Gown slick and cold when he wore it. It was very comfortable.

“It’s made of really good material. This Flowing Mercury Gown must cost a fortune.”

As Yi Yun thought about it, his face stiffened, oh? Something was wrong!

Yi Yun was surprised to find the Flowing Mercury Gown growing tighter. It bound his muscles to the point of feeling pain.

Not only that, a huge force was pressed into his body, pushing him down to the ground!

“So heavy!” Yi Yun grimaced. What sort of gown was this? It looked weightless like the wings of a cicada, yet its weight was at least more than 30,000 kilograms, and… Yi Yun felt that the weight was increasing!

That was not all. The robe seemed to possess an extremely strong elasticity. It took Yi Yun great effort to move because the gown completely restricted his muscles!

It was physically exhausting to even walk while wearing this set of clothes, let alone try to box!

“This Flowing Mercury Gown is a treasure made by my Lin family. In the city, there are many similar clothes like it, but none come close to the level of the Flowing Mercury Gown.”

“In the Flowing Mercury Gown, there is an array that absorbs Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and uses it as its power source. This set of clothing can change according to your preference. Its weight ranges from ten cauldrons to as many as a thousand cauldrons. The operating procedure is simple. I will explain it to you now…”

Lin Xintong explained the operating procedures of the Flowing Mercury Gown to Yi Yun. Yi Yun’s eyebrows kept twitching as he realized that such clothes existed in this world!

He finally understood Lin Xintong’s words of why wearing the set of clothes would aid him in attaining the large success stage of Minute Subtlety. It could be said that it was a constant form of training to wear the set of clothes.

Yi Yun followed Lin Xintong’s instructions and indeed, the weight of the Flowing Mercury Gown could be changed. But even at its lightest, the Flowing Mercury Gown still weighed 10,000 lbs.

The weight was actually not as important. What was important was the Flowing Mercury Gown’s strong binding strength. It made Yi Yun use a lot of strength just to stretch his body, or to box.

“I shall give you this Flowing Mercury Gown,” said Lin Xintong casually.

Yi Yun was stunned. Although Lin Xintong had simply described it, Yi Yun could guess that the Flowing Mercury Gown was not cheap. Yet, Lin Xintong had given it to him.

He was just about to say something when Lin Xintong began to float away. She was like a piece of cloud, flying up in the sky. With a blow of the wind, she had disappeared…

Yi Yun was somewhat disappointed. He had parted ways with Lin Xintong that day, and in a few days, he would step foot into the central plains.

The kingdom’s central plains were something Yi Yun had long anticipated!

Yi Yun looked at the huge mountain of meat beside him. He pulled the ropes and dragged the meat that was more than fifty thousand kilograms.

Having reached the Purple Blood realm, Yi Yun’s strength had grown. He lowered the weight of the Flowing Mercury Gown to five thousand kilograms. As for the binding strength of the Flowing Mercury Gown, it gave him difficulties stretching his body, but to maintain the pulling actions on the rope wasn’t difficult. Hence, it was simple for Yi Yun to drag the mountain of meat.

The fierce beasts tied up in the meat mountain had thick flesh and tough hides. Even as they were dragged, their meat did not get mangled. But due to the great weight of the fierce beasts, it left a huge ditch in his wake.

The scene of Yi Yun dragging the meat was shocking. As it was nearing noon, many of the Lian tribal clan’s people were out in the fields working.

They saw a moving mountain of meat from afar.

“What’s that?”

The people were shocked. When the meat neared them, they were shocked till their chins nearly fell to the ground on closer inspection.

Within the mountain of meat were tied up fierce beasts. The bigger ones were the size of a house. It weighed several thousand kilograms!

Everything in the large pile of fierce beasts was dead. Yi Yun was dragging them like he was dragging something worthless.

These… were killed by Yi Yun?

Did he go into the vast wilderness to hunt?

Those who thought of that were stunned.

To hunt in the vast wilderness was a dream-like phrase to the people of the Lian tribal clan.

If they could go into the vast wilderness to hunt, then there would be no lack of meat in the tribe.

But the vast wilderness was fraught with dangers. Even Purple Blood warriors did not dare venture too deep. They would usually hunt within a fifty kilometers radius of the village. And that was already considered very amazing!

Purple Blood warriors returning with one or two fierce beasts the size of a cattle would have been a great catch, but now, Yi Yun had dragged more than a hundred fierce beasts of various sizes. It was as if the ground had been littered with them for him to freely pick them up.

In the Cloud Wilderness, fierce beasts were synonymous with cruelty and death. Each fierce beast was terrifying and there was great risk hunting one. But Yi Yun was monstrous to be able to hunt them en masse!

Yi Yun had killed that many fierce beasts in the past few days? Had he ventured deep into the vast wilderness?

The people of the Lian tribal clan were at a lost for words. And especially the members of the warrior preparation camp who deeply understood the strength of the fierce beasts. They looked at Yi Yun as if he were a god, and wished they could kneel down and worship him.

In the vast wilderness, those with strength were respected. In the past, they could estimate Yi Yun’s strength from the kingdom’s selection, but they had no idea how strong Yi Yun really was.

But today, they had finally seen it.

He was a monster!

“Young Master Yi… hasn’t broken into the Purple Blood realm yet, right?”

Even the farmers knew that warriors had to reach the Purple Blood realm to go out into the vast wilderness to hunt. But how did Yi Yun manage to do so while he was at the peak of Mortal Blood realm?

“How would I know? Maybe he has already broken through. Even if he hasn’t, so what? Don’t you know, Young Master Yi was named the first in the selection, and was made a Kingdom Knight. Maybe his peak-Qi Gatherer realm is enough to match a Purple Blood’s fighting power!”

Hearing someone from the warrior preparation camp say that, the people were disturbed. If Yi Yun could match a Purple Blood realm at the Mortal Blood realm, what would the extent of his powers be when he really broke through to the Purple Blood realm?

It could be expected that Yi Yun would have a meteoric rise in the future and that he would amount to great things. If they could follow Yi Yun, being one of his servants or servant girls, then they could elevate their lives by clinging onto him, allowing them to not worry about food or clothing.

140 - : Flowing Mercury Gown

CKtalon  CKtalon

More than fifty thousand kilograms of fierce beast meat was piled in the center of the village.

The entire Lian tribal clan, which comprised of a few thousand people, was gathered in the central square of the village. They looked at the mountain of meat with shocked but radiant eyes.

This was fierce beast meat! It was worth more than cattle meat, and tasted delicious! Eating a piece of it gave a person strength, allowing them to stay full for a day!

More than fifty thousand kilograms of meat could last a long time!

But while some people rejoiced, some people lamented. Those who previously lorded over others in the Lian tribal clan were bitter.

They knew that no matter how great the fierce beast meat was, they would not receive much.

“Yun-er, you’re back!” Yi Yun had been gone for three days. Although the Jin Long Wei men assured her that Yi Yun was fine, Jiang Xiaorou could not help but feel worried. Jiang Xiaorou was delighted and proud when she saw Yi Yun return safely with so much meat.

When Jiang Xiaorou, together with Zhou Xiaoke appeared, the villagers quickly made way for them.

Everyone looked at the two girls with respect, some with ingratiating miens. They knew that these two girls were the two princesses of the Lian tribal clan and they had absolute authority through Yi Yun. Whoever offended them would be risking their lives.

“Sis Xiaorou, the distribution of the meat is all up to you.” Yi Yun gave Jiang Xiaorou the authority of distributing the meat. Immediately, all the people of the Lian tribal clan looked at Jiang Xiaorou with watery eyes, wishing they could kneel down in front of her and lick the ground she walked upon.

Jiang Xiaorou was, after all, a girl. She may be more resilient than the average girl, but it was inevitable she would be soft-hearted.

By letting Jiang Xiaorou distribute the meat, it was unlikely that the wicked people would not receive any.

There were more than fifty thousand kilograms of meat, which averaged out to about fifteen kilograms of meat per person.

Yi Yun had already expected this point when he gave the authority to Jiang Xiaorou to distribute because he had other plans today.

“Liu Tie, come over…”Yi Yun beckoned Liu Tie to come over.

This made Liu Tie thrilled!

Yi Yun had taken the initiative to call him!

This was a good omen. It proved that Yi Yun had intentions of making him one of his henchmen!

Liu Tie was extremely excited. He came before Yi Yun in a subservient manner. He cupped his fists and genuflected. “Greetings, Young Master. The Young Master is brilliant and mighty to slaughter desolate beasts like cattle and kill fierce beasts like chickens…”

“Enough!” Yi Yun interrupted Liu Tie’s nonsense in an exasperated manner. These members of the warrior preparation camp had made sucking up a natural trait of theirs. It seemed like they would become uncomfortable the moment they did not suck up.

“Young Master, I have something to report to you.” said Liu Tie.

“Oh?” Yi Yun raised his eyebrows.

“Lian Chengyu… has died…” Liu Tie had received news the previous night.

Lian Chengyu was already crippled and he did not have much life left in him. Coupled with his angered heart, he was at the extreme point of despair.

Despair and pain can destroy a person. If one did not wish to live, death was obviously imminent.

“Zhao Tiezhu has died as well. As for Lian Cuihua, she is still alive. But the villagers have made their stance clear. They want to be loyal towards you, Young Master. Whenever they see Lian Cuihua, they would walk around her and not interact with her…”

The Lian tribal clan had a food shortage. It was difficult for cripples or people with serious injuries like Zhao Tiezhu and Lian Cuihua to survive. Normal people were already starving to death, let alone them?

Zhao Tiezhu had relieved himself from his suffering, but Lian Cuihua had been isolated by the villagers. Her outcome was easily imaginable.

Yi Yun was unperturbed by the news. They deserved their just outcomes. If they wanted to harm others, they had to live with the consequences.

“Young Master, may I know your command?” Liu Tie said in an attentive manner.

“Oh… Liu Tie. Monitor the distribution of meat. If anyone has any malicious thoughts, just attack them. Also, in a few days, I’ll be leaving the Cloud Wilderness. I will take about a hundred people with me. I have already made my list, so make the preparations.” With that said, Yi Yun handed Liu Tie a piece of paper. Zhang Tan had promised Yi Yun that when the Jin Long Wei left, Yi Yun could bring some people with him to his fief.

It was impossible for Yi Yun to bring the entire Lian tribal clan to his territory for a few reasons. Firstly, the territory could not hold that many people and secondly, many of them were wicked, covetous of small gains, prone to bullying, and liked to strike a man when he was down. They were not any better when compared to tyrants. They only didn’t become tyrants because they lacked the power. If they had the power, they would definitely have gone from bad to worse.

These people were best left in the vast wilderness. As for the good people, Yi Yun had long had the intentions of bringing them to his fief.

Liu Tie excitedly took the slip of paper. The other people of the Lian tribal clan had also heard Yi Yun!

Yi Yun was taking people out of the vast wilderness and into his fief!

They dryly and helplessly looked at the piece of paper in Liu Tie’s hands, as if that piece of paper was a precious treasure map.

Compared to going into the central plains, dozens of kilograms of meat was nothing!

Indeed, Yi Yun had not much use for the meat since he had plans on leaving. Hence, he got Jiang Xiaorou to distribute the meat which would inadvertently allow the wicked villagers to get more.

With a few kilograms of meat, they would be able to weather the food shortage problem. As such, Yi Yun had shown extreme forbearance. In the future, they were to live on in the Cloud Wilderness and their lives depended on themselves.

Liu Tie’s breathing sped up as he scanned the name list. The number of words he recognized did not exceed the number of fingers he had on one hand, but he knew to recognize his name.

Liu Tie saw his name.

His heart was extremely touched. Yi Yun had placed his name higher up on the list. This made Liu Tie grateful to the point of tears. He swore that he would follow Yi Yun loyally. He knew he had no skills besides sucking up. He decided to lead a peaceful life by running errands for Yi Yun in the future.

Liu Tie’s greatest advantage was his ability to deal with matters. Yi Yun decided to make him a butler in the future, which could save him a lot of trouble.

“Thank you, Young Master, thank you, Young Master.” Liu Tie kowtowed to Yi Yun three times. He was grateful to Yi Yun from the bottom of his heart and he was determined to go through thick and thin for Yi Yun in the future.

To have a flourishingly life in the future by following such a master, who wouldn’t want it?

After the meat was distributed, the name list was announced. It was Jiang Xiaorou who taught Liu Tie how to read the words.

The names on the list were all the kind people who had been pointed out by Jiang Xiaorou and Zhou Xiaoke a few days ago.

These people were delighted to tears.

Those who were not selected looked as if they had lost their parents. Their faces turned ashen.

The joy of receiving the meat vanished.

The meat was bound to finish. What would happen to them after they finished eating it?

Imagining the tough lives they would have to suffer in the vast wilderness, they felt their future was filled with gloom and despair.

Yi Yun was unconcerned. There were too many people suffering in the vast wilderness. What was a small Lian tribal clan to him? What’s more, they only had themselves to blame.

People talked about karma in this world, but it was just a beautiful wish that people in suffering had. God wasn’t fair. Fairness was determined by humans.

With absolute strength, Yi Yun could formulate his own form of justice—goodness will be rewarded and the vice will have an evil recompense!

This was what strength brought…

Those were the thoughts Yi Yun had.

…

That night, the Lian tribal clan was bustling with excitement. Under Liu Tie’s suggestion, the people set up a bonfire party in the central square. Fierce beasts were roasted and the fragrance of meat permeated the air. After the people finished the meat, they sang and dance. Some brave youths even took the opportunity to express their love to the girls they fancied.

Jiang Xiaorou did not participate in this bonfire party, resulting in Zhou Xiaoke becoming the absolute star.

Many people tried approaching Aunt Wang with friendly faces, hoping to propose for Zhou Xiaoke’s hand. But Aunt Wang did not bother with those people.

Hmph! You are just weaklings, yet you want my daughter. Do you think I’m not aware that you want to use my daughter to get onto Kiddo Yun’s giant ark and follow Kiddo Yun into the central plains? Dream on!

My daughter may not be good enough for Kiddo Yun, but I will not let her be mixed in with the likes of you. In the future, Xiaoke can be considered Kiddo Yun’s god-sister. Who knows, if Kiddo Yun likes Xiaoke, Xiaoke might even be taken in as a concubine when she grows up!

This was what Aunt Wang looked forward to the most. Aunt Wang knew that Yi Yun was most likely to marry a daughter from an eminent family, so it would be a great blessing if Xiaoke could even become a concubine.

With these thoughts in mind, all those who came to propose were treated as toads lusting over swan meat by Aunt Wang. Some of them even had warts bigger than what toads had.

Try looking in the mirror first!

…

This bonfire party continued late into the night before it ended.

The next morning, under the envious stares of many people, the people who were chosen by Yi Yun entered the large baskets carried by the near-horned beasts. Following the Jin Long Wei under Sun Jingrui’s lead, they headed towards the Tao tribal clan.

Along the way, all of them were in high spirits. This was the first time they were stepping out of the Lian tribal clan’s wonderland. They were about to leave the vast wilderness and step into the fertile central plains. How could they not be excited?

Even Yi Yun was filled with anticipation for the future.

Yi Yun and company received news of the Jin Long Wei’s departure of the vast wilderness not long after they arrived at the Tao tribal clan. After reorganizing at the Tao tribal clan for a few days, Yi Yun split his people among the ten big baskets carried by near-horned beasts. And they stepped out of the Cloud Wilderness, onward to the Kingdom’s central plains…

141 - : Onward to the Central Plains

CKtalon  CKtalon

Dozens of near-horned beasts, led by Zhang Tan, galloped through the vast wilderness.

The number of Jin Long Wei troops that had come to Cloud Wilderness numbered ten thousand. The team led by Zhang Tan was just one of them.

Yi Yun also knew the reason behind the Jin Long Wei’s foray into the Cloud Wilderness. It was due to the Purple Clouds’ Birth that had happened a few months ago. It had alarmed the Tai Ah Kingdom, causing it to send the Jin Long Wei to search the vast wilderness for any treasures.

In the end, no treasure was found, but an ancient mystic realm was found.

Marquis Wenyun came to the Cloud Wilderness personally to search the mystic realm. Due to an array of the mystic realm that they could not resolve, they had to seek the help of Su Jie.

That mystic realm was very big, so Marquis Wenyun and company would take a long while to get out.

Added with the fact that the treasure was not found even after months of searching, the Jin Long Wei no longer had any reason to stay in the Cloud Wilderness.

So from yesterday, the ten thousand Jin Long Wei troops were ordered to leave the Cloud Wilderness. Zhang Tan’s team was the first batch to leave.

…

The vast wilderness was a great expanse. Within it, there were high mountains that stretched tens of thousands of meters into the sky. The peaks were covered with snow from years of accumulation. Glaciers blotted out the sky and covered up the earth!

Past the glaciers were canyons with raging rivers as vast as the sea!

Yi Yun followed the Jin Long Wei team and on this journey, he saw the magnificent scenery of the vast wilderness. It was rough but grand, which amazed him.

Without the army accompanying him, and without the special mount, it would be too difficult to traverse the vast wilderness.

There was a legend that long time ago, a glorious divine kingdom stood in the the Cloud Wilderness. It slowly declined and many martial arts heritage were lost, leaving a few small surviving tribes.

They traveled for more than a month.

Even while traveling, Yi Yun did not show any negligence to his cultivation.

Yi Yun wore the Flowing Mercury Gown Lin Xintong gave him. When he sat on the near-horned beast, Yi Yun lowered the Flowing Mercury Gown to its lowest weight in consideration for the near-horned beast.

But once the team stopped, Yi Yun would immediately increase the weight and binding of the Flowing Mercury Gown during his cultivation!

Yi Yun would wear the Flowing Mercury Gown to train.

In the past, Yi Yun could demonstrate the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ a few dozen times.

But now, due to the Flowing Mercury Gown’s restraint, he could only do it seven to eight times before his energy became severely depleted. It was not the weight but the binding the Flowing Mercury Gown had on his body that drained his energy. Be it punching, kicking, stretching or leaping, his speed was much slower than usual.

When his energy depleted, he would take supplements. However, the bone relics Yi Yun had accumulated when he entered the Desolate Human Valley were running out.

Eventually, Yi Yun not only had to rely on the Purple Crystal to absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, but he had to eat large amounts of desolate beast meat. Thankfully with the ‘Elephant Swallowing Technique’, Yi Yun did not reach the point of running out of energy for his cultivation.

This made Yi Yun sigh. He realized that the amount of resources expended by warriors could only be described as horrifying. But such high intensity training had very obvious effects.

In this month, Yi Yun got more used to the pressure applied on him by the Flowing Mercury Gown. If he lowered the binding strength of the Flowing Mercury Gown to the lowest, it was like he was wearing a tight shirt and it was not restricting his movement.

A month flew by as they traveled several tens of thousands of kilometers, and after traveling through a long-distance array, they arrived at a border town.

After waiting in the border town for three days, they re-grouped with other Jin Long Wei teams. Traveling through another long-distance array, they finally reached their destination – the Divine Kingdom’s central plains!

When Yi Yun walked out of the long-distance array following a group of Jin Long Wei, what he saw made him take a deep breath!

They found themselves on an extremely long precipice. And below the precipice, there was a ten thousand feet drop!

This cliff was extremely smooth. It was as if a mountain had been cleaved into two by a god. One half was removed, leaving the other half there like a ruler that spanned across!

Under the ten thousand feet drop, what stood at the limits of human vision, was an even more shocking scene.

There stood a thick divine tower. The divine tower was black and was like a world tree, reaching up into the sky!

Around the unbelievable thick tower was a huge city.

This city’s walls were dark red in color. They were tall and thick. It looked like the gates of Heaven from afar.

Above the city walls were hundreds of airships in the sky. Each airship could carry tens of thousands of people. In between the airships, there were various spirit beasts flying. These spirit beasts were covered in scales and grew dragon horns. Some of them had colorful feathers while others looked terrifying with dragon heads and lion bodies.

Every spirit beast gave off a very strong aura, more than a hundred times greater than the Jin Long Wei’s near-horned beast mounts!

The people could tell that people were riding these spirit beasts even from afar.

It was hard to believe what sort of people could ride these ancient beasts.

“The people of the vast Cloud Wilderness with numerous tribal clans have all been living in a well all their lives…” Yi Yun muttered to himself. He had heard it more than once in the vast wilderness that this world was incredibly big. He also knew the unimaginable power the big sects and the ancient divine kingdom had.

But even after being mentally prepared, Yi Yun still found it hard to settle the shock he had encountered when he saw it with his own eyes.

It was amazing. The picture in front of him could not be described with the word majestic!

Yi Yun had received proud results in the vast wilderness, but when placed in the ancient Tai Ah Kingdom, it was nothing.

Yes, from the Heaven, Earth, Mystic and Yellow ranks, he was only appraised at the Mystic rank. And within the Mystic rank, he wasn’t at the highest grade.

Yi Yun was still alright. The people that had accompanied Yi Yun to the heartlands were completely dumbfounded. The scene in front of them was beyond their comprehension.

What is this place? Is it heaven?

The world could actually be like this?

While Yi Yun was still reeling from his shock, he felt a soft hand place over his palm. Yi Yun turned and realized it was Jiang Xiaorou. “Yun’er, you still have a long way to go.”

“Yes!” Yi Yun nodded with a smile. Jiang Xiaorou was always able to tell what was on his mind immediately.

In Yi Yun’s mind, Jiang Xiaorou was a kind and considerate girl.

Zhang Tan patted Yi Yun on the shoulders and said, “That city is the Divine Capital. The Tai Ah Kingdom has 108 states and 24 wild lands. This Divine Capital is one of the biggest cities within the Tai Ah Kingdom’s Jing state”

“Divine Capital! One of the biggest city in the Jing state…” Yi Yun’s eyebrow twitched. Such a large city was just one of the many jurisdictions of the Tai Ah Kingdom, it was only one out of all the biggest cities!

The heritage of the Divine Kingdom was self-explanatory!

“Let’s go. Let’s enter the city! The Jin Long Wei has a big camp in the Divine Capital. That is our territory.” With that said, Zhang Tan pulled on the reins. The near-horned beast ran along the cliff and after an hour, went around the large cliff to the grand entrance of the Divine Capital.

Upon closer look, the Divine Capital was magnificent. The Divine Door was like the door to heaven in legends. It was almost a hundred meters tall.

In front of the Divine Door, two groups of guards stood neatly. They were dressed in shiny silver armor. Each of them had a four foot long saber hanging by their waists. They had an hidden imposing air. They were like a row of dormant primordial desolate beasts.

It was clear with one look that these people had gone through all sorts of bloodshed, and they were not just chosen for their fierce looks.

One could tell the strength of a city’s heritage by looking at its guards. These guards were all warriors at the peak of Purple Blood!

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun felt breathless.

“Dismount!” With a wave of Zhang Tan’s hand, everyone had to dismount.

Zhang Tan smiled, “It’s a rule of the Divine Capital. Commoners have to dismount when going through the city gates, but… Kingdom Knights and Barons are not restricted by these rules. They can ride their mounts while traveling through the city gates. If we go one step higher, such as viscounts or higher ranks, they can ride their flying mounts and fly over the city walls directly into the Divine Capital. In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, ranks are made clear and order is strictly obeyed!”

“Oh? Rank…” Yi Yun faltered. “Wouldn’t making such a clear difference in rank incite the unhappiness of the people?”

Zhang Tan paused before saying, “Why would they be unhappy? In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, all the people with noble ranks have to go far to fight enemies. They have to resist the attacks of fierce and desolate beasts. They can be said to be putting their lives on the line to ensure the safety of the commoners. The higher the rank of a noble, the greater exploits they have accomplished! There are so many people who want to enter the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s lands to lead a safe life. They can only feel grateful to the warriors who protect them. So why would they be dissatisfied?”

Zhang Tan’s words enlightened Yi Yun. Yes, this alternate world was not a peaceful one. A person’s status and glory had to be earned with their lives!

Obtaining a status by inheritance or by relationships would make people unhappy, but the honor gained from risking one’s life would give them respect and awe.

As such, in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the status of being a noble not only meant privilege, it also meant infinite glory!

With this thoughts in mind, Yi Yun looked up to the sky. There were huge, luxurious airships and gallant spirit birds and spirit beasts.

Noticing Yi Yun’s eyes, Zhang Tan laughed, “What are you thinking about?”

Yi Yun hid nothing and said, “I was thinking that one day, I will be sitting on those airships, or riding those flying spirit beasts, or primordial beasts into the Divine Capital!”

“Hahaha!” Zhang Tan laughed heartily. “Yes, that’s the way! As a person who practices martial arts, that has to be the way! There is no limit to the martial arts way. We need to continuously climb higher!”

With that said, he patted Yi Yun’s shoulder firmly. He liked this youth more and more.

Whatever Yi Yun had done in the Lian tribal clan was reported to Zhang Tan by Sun Jingrui. Upon receiving the report, Zhang Tan felt that Yi Yun’s temperament was very much to his liking.

A warrior had to be as such, to settle vengeances quickly, and to discriminate between friends and foes.

142 - : Divine Capital

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Divine Capital’s city walls were seventy to eighty feet thick. After passing through the city walls, Yi Yun saw the vast city within.

The main street of the Divine Capital was wide enough for ten near-horned beasts to walk side by side. The two sides were lined with various shops, inns, cultivation grounds and fighting arenas!

The shops sold desolate bone relics, weapons and all sort of treasured materials!

There were all sorts of treasures that were priceless!

Many of the inns that provided accommodation for warriors had their own spirit arrays that condensed Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, making it a good cultivation ground. The cost of staying one night was enough to last a commoner for many lifetimes.

As for the fighting arenas, they were full of experts that came from all corners of the divine kingdom. Some earned resources in the fighting arena, while some used it to hone their skills, hoping to break through in the midst of battle!

Along the way, Yi Yun could feel that the Divine Capital was opening up a brand new world for him. This impact was freakish!

The Divine Capital was humongous and the city covered a vast area, with many houses in it. It was enough to accommodate a large number of troops.

In the Jin Long Wei territory, just the barracks stretched more than ten kilometers. Together with other cultivation grounds, it covered a wide area. But yet, all of this easily fit in the Divine Capital.

Before he entered the Jin Long Wei camp, Yi Yun could see spirit energy charging into the sky from the camp.

This spirit energy was overwhelming as it covered the sky. The clouds in the sky were blown away by this surge.

It was an extremely masculine killing intent! Even from afar, Yi Yun could feel the pressure from that oppressive rush. It made him distraught.

“He! Ha!”

From far, Yi Yun could hear the shouts of the soldiers training. The shouts rumbled and the noise was deafening.

Cracking of joints and twanging of tendons could also be heard. These sounds prevented birds and eagles from flying across the camp.

“How is it? This is the Jin Long Wei Divine Capital’s camp! Come on, let’s go in!”

They went through strict checks at the entrance before entering the camp. In the camp, everything was very regimental. The camp guards aura were even greater than those that guarded the Divine Capital’s entrance.

On the road to the camp, cart after cart of meat was being shipped inside.

The meat was fierce beast meat. Many of these dead fierce beasts were bigger than elephants. If one was cured and given to a commoner family, it would allow a family of three to eat it for ten years.

But in the Jin Long Wei camp, the people who trained consumed a lot of energy. By using the Elephant Swallowing Technique, a fierce beast the size of an elephant was nothing.

When Yi Yun observed the procession, he saw lines of people moving grain, meat, and vegetables. It was a sight to be seen!

An army’s battle power could be understood just by looking at the food they ate!

“I’ll let your sister and servants wait here. They are not permitted to enter the camp. The commander of the Divine Capital’s Jin Long Wei is General Yan. All the chosen Jin Long Wei elites have to first meet General Yan. Besides the Cloud Wilderness, there have been many new recruits all over the Divine Kingdom. Soon, there will be a Jin Long Wei assembly to welcome the recruits.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was shocked. It seemed that out of a large number of troops that were chosen at the Kingdom’s selection, only a small portion was sent to the Divine Capital city. The other recruits were scattered around in the Divine Kingdom’s territories.

It was expected. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Jin Long Wei had many stations to man. Which station wouldn’t need recruits?

“How many recruits were sent to the Divine Capital’s Jin Long Wei camp?” Yi Yun asked casually.

“About one or two thousand people. Those that were made elites number about one or two hundred.”

Only the elites could meet Yan Menglong. In Zhang Tan’s troops, Hu Ya was the only other one with the qualification to do so, other than Yi Yun.

Hu Ya was a quiet man who didn’t say much on the trip. He and Yi Yun followed Zhang Tan past the heavily guarded rows of guards before they reached the square in front of the general’s camp.

At the entrance to the square stood the personal guards of General Yan. They were like bronze sculptures that stood motionlessly.

After passing the authentication, Yi Yun and Hu Ya went into the square. There were already dozens of people waiting.

These people were, without any exceptions, young men. They all looked exceptional. No one looked like an ordinary person!

These people were the young warriors that had passed the kingdom’s selection!

Some of them wore extremely luxurious clothes, with some sewn from divine silk that made it difficult for a normal sword to slice through.

Others had expensive weapons with them. The cost of those weapons was much higher than Yi Yun’s Yanchi saber.

“These people… aren’t from the Cloud Wilderness.” Yi Yun suddenly realized. The kingdom’s selection was not only held in the Cloud Wilderness but everywhere within the Divine Kingdom. As such, many people had been recruited.

They were the young elites from all parts of the Divine Kingdom!

Yi Yun noticed that there were people surrounding a large animal skin drum for reasons unknown.

Upon the arrival of Yi Yun, Zhang Tan, and Hu Ya, they immediately attracted the attention of many people.

“Haha! Isn’t this Thousand Households Zhang?” Just as Zhang Tan brought Yi Yun and Hu Ya into the square, a stout man came forward. The man was wearing shiny gold armor with his helmet held to his chest. He looked mighty.

Not only that, he had larger than average ears that protruded out, making him look comical.

Following behind the big-eared man was six youths in extraordinary outfits.

“Thousand Households Liu!” Zhang Tan cupped his fists as he smiled and licked his lips.

Yi Yun could feel that there was a spark within Zhang Tan’s eyes when he looked at the big-eared man.

In the army, they would all work together on the battlefield. But in private, different troops vied against each other!

During normal training, demonstrations or fighting on the battlefield, all of them would stretch to their fullest to compete against one another!

To soldiers, the collective glory was their pride!

So whenever the Jin Long Wei’s Thousand Households met, they would try to outdo the other.

“Tsk! Thousand Households Zhang, you went to recruit troops in the Cloud Wilderness. This recruit must be from the Cloud Wilderness…”

The big-eared man pointed at Hu Ya. He did not count Yi Yun because Yi Yun was wearing his flying fish robe with a Yanchi saber by his side. He did not look like a youth from the vast wilderness.

As for Hu Ya, he had a wildness associated with him like that of a wolf or leopard. It made him look like he came from the vast wilderness.

Therefore, the big-eared man deemed Yi Yun a young master accompanying Zhang Tan into the Jin Long Wei camp.

Zhang Tan did not reply, and the big-eared man carried on, “Bro, a few days ago I went to the Nanjun province of the Jing state and there were a few family clans there where I chose a few good seedlings!”

“Speaking of the Jing state Nanjun province’s family clans, they are full of astounding young men. Too bad for that there were not enough spots for me, causing me to miss out on some good seedlings. Such a waste.” The big-eared man said it as he eyed the youths behind him. Clearly, these youths were soldiers selected by the big-eared man. They were indeed handsome and had a reticent aura. It was obvious that they were top-notch youths.

“These six kids are all going to become Jin Long Wei elites! As long as they pass the recruit training, they will enter my Sky Wolf camp and become elite soldiers under my care!”

According to the unspoken rules of the Jin Long Wei, whoever selected the soldiers could recruit them under their flag.

This was similar to the imperial examinations. Whoever the examiner admitted would become the students of the examiner.

Hence, the various Thousand Households were secretly in a competition.

The selected disciples would become their own soldiers, so who wouldn’t be more meticulous?

Zhang Tan, who had gone to the Cloud Wilderness, had suffered. The talent in the Cloud Wilderness was much worse.

As for the big-eared man, he had gone to the Jing state Nanjun province where there were large family clans. It was a gravy train.

The big-eared man was a veteran and had been competing with Zhang Tan for years. He had managed to get back at Zhang Tan this time round, making him extremely delighted.

Furthermore, Zhang Tan had only Hu Ya as an elite member. Not comparing on quality, just by the quantity, Zhang Tan had lost to him.

Zhang Tan smiled and stroked his chin saying, “Big Ear Liu, you don’t have to flaunt your achievements in front of me. Indeed, the six of them are not bad! But they may not be better than the two I chose! It is about the quality, not the quantity!”

Zhang Tan was confident in his taste. Yi Yun was needless to say, but even Hu Ya was extraordinary. On this trip, Zhang Tan had been observing Hu Ya and found him to his liking.

“Two?”

Big Ear Liu was surprised. He had originally thought that Zhang Tan had only chosen one and never expected Zhang Tan to say he had chosen two.

The first was Hu Ya, then the second was…

He looked with astonishment at Yi Yun. This young scion was a recruit Zhang Tan chose from the Cloud Wilderness?

How could it be… his clothes…

Big Ear Liu had already noticed that Yi Yun was wearing the flying fish robe. As a soldier of the Divine Kingdom, Big Ear Liu was extremely sensitive to the dressings of the various nobles. How could he not notice the flying fish robe?

Although the six youths behind him wore clothes that were made of a material of much higher quality than the flying fish robe, it was no fucking use!

The value of the clothes was determined by the meaning the clothes represented.

Wealthy businessmen could wear expensive clothes, but the respect they gained was nothing.

“He’s wearing a flying fish robe and has been made a Kingdom Knight! The recruit you brought from the Cloud Wilderness has been made a Kingdom Knight?” Big Ear Liu was stunned. He could not believe that Yi Yun was originally not a noble. How could a Kingdom Knight come from the Cloud Wilderness?

There could only be one possibility and that was Zhang Tan had chosen Yi Yun, and by pleading to the upper echelon of the Jin Long Wei, helped him become a Kingdom Knight!

He was just a Kingdom Knight too, the same rank as a damn kid standing beside Zhang Tan!

How could Big Ear Liu feel comfortable about it?

I chose six recruits, each like a dragon, but did not request a title from headquarters. You went to the Cloud Wilderness, a godforsaken place to have a selection and you actually managed to confer a Kingdom Knight!?

143 - : Jin Long Camp

CKtalon  CKtalon

It had to be said that the shocking power of a Kingdom Knight was great.

Especially among the young elites present. Who didn’t want to be made into a noble or render meritorious services?

Kingdom Knight was the starting point for everyone. But some people might never reach this starting point in their entire lives. Now, Yi Yun, a child shorter than them by a head was a Kingdom Knight.

Suddenly, many eyes were cast on Yi Yun.

Most prominent was the glittering eyes of the six youths behind Big Ear Liu as they looked at Yi Yun.

Without words, there wouldn’t be martial arts. In this world where strength mattered the most, no one seceded from each other.

“This kid came out of the vast wilderness as a recruit and he has already been conferred the title of Kingdom Knight. I chose from so many geniuses in the large family clans and they were only Jin Long Wei elites!”

“Hmph! You are just picking a general among dwarfs. In the vast wilderness, the warriors are generally of low standards, so the occasional talent isn’t odd. Even if they were astounding, with our standards, we could easily sweep them up in the Cloud Wilderness.”

“This Kingdom Knight conferment must be child’s play!”

The people used Yuan Qi to discuss privately. Due to the difference in status between the nobles and the commoners, they did not dare question Yi Yun.

In the Cloud Wilderness, most of the people in the kingdom’s selection were just to make up the numbers. Most of them were eliminated after the first round.

But in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, all the young talents participated in the kingdom’s selection. Most of them were nurtured by big family clans and were all considered elites. The selection’s battles were elating scenes, with rounds of fighting, competition and tragic outcomes!

So the young talents that stood out among the large family clans had especially great superiority complexes.

They felt that they were better than others.

In fact, their superiority wasn’t unfounded. Under normal circumstances, the young talents from the vast wilderness could not be compared to the talents from the central plains.

“I see. So this kid is from the Cloud Wilderness. What’s your name, little bro?” Big Ear Liu touched his stubble and watched Yi Yun with a smile.

“I’m Yi Yun,” Yi Yun cupped his hands.

“Oh… Yi Yun.” Big Ear Liu nodded. “Interesting. Young Fella, we will be competitors in the future!” Big Ear Liu said without any niceties.

By the side, Zhang Tan said, “This might not happen. Shallow waters cannot hold a dragon. After Yi Yun passes recruit training, he is unlikely to stay under me. I don’t think I can keep him.”

The outstanding warriors of the Jin Long Wei had special arrangements. Those that stood out to the point of alarming the Jin Long Wei commander would be given special appointments by the commander. As such, Zhang Tan would not be able to keep Yi Yun under him.

Big Ear Liu could tell what Zhang Tan meant. His big ears trembled and he looked at Zhang Tan with an incredulous look. “Zhang, you sure are confident!”

“Hahaha! You too!” Zhang Tan’s words were full of pretense, making Yi Yun speechless. While in the Tao tribal clan, Zhang Tan appeared extremely serious, but now in the Jin Long Wei’s camp, in front of his rival, he was also pretty good at shamming.

It seemed like when soldiers get together, they liked to brag, expressing their troop’s or their own strength.

But this bragging would arouse the competitiveness of others. Big Ear Liu was extremely disgruntled. He said to Yi Yun, “Little bro, take a look around. It will be a while before General Yan arrives”

Big Ear Liu patted Yi Yun on the shoulder and gave him a meaningful glance.

The Jin Long Wei square was large, spanning a distance of more than a thousand feet.

The most conspicuous item was the large war drum in the middle of the square. The drum’s surface was black. It needed about seven to eight men encircling it before they could carry it.

The drum was placed on a bracket and the bracket was thirty feet tall and made of black iron. The metal legs were buried deeply into the ground!

In front of the drum, was a raised platform. A person could stand on the platform to hit the drums. The drumstick was a purple-colored femur of a beast and one end of it was connected to the drum’s bracket with a metal chain.

The drum was very impressive!

Big Ear Liu noticed Yi Yun’s interest in the drum and said by his side, “This is the Thunder Sky Drums! I’m not sure if you have seen the battles between armies. Soldiers will line up in a row and wait. When the order is made to charge, a specialist drummer will drum on it. This is what it means by rousing the spirit with the beat of the drum! And when the soldiers are withdrawn, a drummer will beat the gongs, hence the saying beat the gongs and withdraw the army.”

“This Thunder Sky Drums is our Divine Capital Jin Long Wei’s war drum! During a war, it is brought to the front lines. When it is drummed, it will cause the heavens and earth to tremble. When our soldiers charge, they will gain strength from the drum beat, giving them greater morale and multiply their combat strength!”

“So this is a war drum!” Yi Yun touched his cheek as he carefully looked at the drum.

In the era of cold weapons, wars needed drums. One reason was to give the signal to charge, the second reason was to boost the morale of the soldiers. For armies, the importance of having a good drum mattered greatly.

Big Ear Liu carried on, “This Thunder Sky Drum’s drum skin is made of Heaven Ox’s hide. This Heaven Ox has the bloodline of the divine beast, Kiu Ox. It can be considered a primordial desolate beast. Its hide is impervious to swords and resistant against fire! Back in the day, the Divine Capital city’s city lord killed a Heaven Ox. He soaked the leather in solution for ten years, and after ten thousand thrashes, this hide was used as the war drum skin.”

“Every beat on this Thunder Sky Drum will result in a vibratory force in response. Warriors without a solid foundation would not dare beat it because the aftershock can tear them apart!”

The divine beast, Kiu Ox, looked like an ox but it only has one leg and it had a deafening roar. Records indicate that an ancient emperor used its hide for a drum and used a thunder beast’s bone, which created a sound that could be heard throughout Heaven and on Earth, impressing the whole world.

Big Ear Liu slapped the Thunder Sky Drum’s bracket and said proudly, “How is it? Do you feel the drum’s magnificence? When the Jin Long Wei is not at war, this Thunder Sky Drum is kept in the square. The members of the Jin Long Wei who are undergoing training will find pride by beating it!”

“Usually, an early stage Purple Blood warrior can barely beat it once or twice before finding himself exhausted after. The rebound shock can really tear you apart!” Big Ear Liu said with an expressive smug look.

After listening to the introduction, Yi Yun had a surge of hot blood rising. No one knew what sort of desolate bone that heavy and thick drumstick was made from. It made Yi Yun want to pick it up and give a try at knocking it.

“Look there,” Big Ear Liu pointed to the side. “The Thunder Sky Drum tests a warrior’s physical resilience and strength, while that array over there tests a warrior’s movement!”

Yi Yun looked in the direction that Big Ear Liu pointed at and noticed that beside the Thunder Sky Drum was a vacant ground. On the vacant ground, there was a large array demarcated.

This array resembled a huge heptagon, and a dozen burning flame balls floated above it.

These round balls were red and not connected to anything. It could fly around freely in the air, which interested Yi Yun.

“Haha, these balls are called Frost Metal Blood Balls. In the deep sea trenches, there are huge Blood Oysters. These Blood Oysters are fierce beasts and can swallow a shark! The Blood Oysters will absorb the frost metal dust in the ocean and merge it within itself to form a metallic pearl called a Frost Metal Blood Ball! A Frost Metal Blood Ball the size of a fist weighs more than a hundred catties and can be used to make weapons and other magical objects. It’s worth a fortune!”

“Look at those Frost Metal Blood Balls. A rune has been engraved on each of them. Using the array’s power, the Frost Metal Blood Balls can fly in the air at extreme speeds. If one hits your body, it will cause a serious injury! If you are unlucky, you can even die!”

With Big Ear Liu’s introduction, Yi Yun looked wistfully at the dozen Frost Metal Blood Balls.

There were rumors that under a full moon, a giant oyster will float on the sea surface, and by borrowing the moonlight to temper its body, it would condense a pearl.

This was the so-called “Bright Moon over the Sea Shedding Tears”

This pearl was an amalgamation of the giant oyster’s essence. If it was picked and brewed with herbs, drinking it down would be great for one’s body.

Yi Yun did not expect that the Jin Long Wei camp used such a treasured pearl in an array to test a person’s movement skills.

Looking at the empty ground’s heptagon array, Yi Yun understood the principles of the array. A warrior would stand on the empty ground and attempt to avoid the attacks of the Frost Metal Blood Balls. Whoever had better movement speeds would avoid them better.

A Thunder Sky Drum and a Frost Metal Blood Balls array were tests that covered the two basic aspects of a warrior. Just from this, it could be seen that the Jin Long Wei’s camp had a great heritage. Both the Thunder Sky Drum and the Frost Metal Blood Balls array were extremely expensive. In the Cloud Wilderness, they would have been labeled treasures.

144 - : Thunder Sky Drum

CKtalon  CKtalon

As Yi Yun was deep in thought, he saw a young man wearing red, standing beside the heptagonal array.

This young man was about fourteen years old and he was luxuriously dressed, apparently not of ordinary birth.

“Start the array, I’ll try my moves!” The youth was extremely confident. “Frost Metal Blood Balls array, begin it at difficulty level ten!”

As the youth said those words, a few other youths beside him laughed, “Hahaha, Young Master Ji Chang has great bravery, to begin right away with level ten!”

“This Frost Metal Blood Balls array is dangerous, if you are not careful, you can break your bones!”

As they said, they lit up the array.

Beside the heptagonal ground was a stone platform with were rows of red crystals embedded in it. The crystal’s red color deepened along the row and the highest crystal was blood red.

There were three rows of crystals, with ten crystals forming a row, resulting in a total of thirty crystals.

The group of people lit up ten red crystals, which was also known as difficulty level ten.

This tenth level of difficulty tested a warrior’s reaction to the attacks by ten of these Frost Metal Blood Balls. Ji Chang was just fourteen years of age, as expected of the saying, heroes emerge from youngsters!

Once the array was switched on, the Frost Metal Blood Balls immediately began flying at extreme speeds!

Each blood pearl left behind a faint reddish blur. They moved quickly, forming random lines that were dazzling to behold!

The youth took a deep breath and rushed in!

The youth tossed and turned within the array like an agile leopard. The ten blood pearls did not even manage to touch his sleeves.

After the array was lit up for fifteen minutes, it slowly weakened.

The red-shirt youth walked out unharmed from the array.

His face was slightly flushed red and clearly, he still had a lot of remaining strength.

“Young Master Ji Chang is so strong, as expected of the Jing state’s Sunan examination’s third place!”

“Of course! The southern examination was filled with powerhouses. Young Master Ji Chang is different for him to be ranked third. If I must say, Young Master Ji Chang should be made a Kingdom Knight!”

The few Jing state young masters echoed one another and praised each other. They were the young masters of from the state of Jing, so complimenting each other was a matter of course.

These young masters were 13-15 years of age. Few children of large family clans would join the Jin Long Wei above the age of fifteen.

It could be said that they were in the prime of their youth, bright and valiant. It was the period they thought they were the center of the world.

“I say, the few of you, do you want to try?”

The few young masters looked towards some youths nearby.

These youths had rough skin. They wore clothes made out of animal fur and were physically stout. From the beginning to end, they had never opened their mouths and had been silent in the corner. They had a weak presence.

They were much older. Even the youngest was seventeen years old. Several of them were over twenty years of age.

Clearly, they were warriors from the vast wilderness.

The warriors of the vast wilderness lacked resources. Hence, their cultivation speed could not compete with the speed of the young masters from the Jing state’s large family clans. Furthermore, many of these sons of the vast wilderness could only join the Jin Long Wei above the age of sixteen since the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom almost never held the kingdom’s selection in the vast wilderness.

For example, Hu Ya entered the Jin Long Wei at eighteen years of age.

For a warrior, a young age was an advantage.

With everyone being at the same level and equal strength, a fourteen-year-old would naturally despise an eighteen-year-old.

The warriors of the vast wilderness had already arrived in the Jin Long Wei camp a few days ago.

For the past few days, they had been ostracized by the Jing state young masters.

These highborn young masters naturally formed a faction also known as the Jing State Young Masters Faction. They were large in numbers and powerful. Naturally, the Jin Long Wei members that came from the vast wilderness were in an inferior position.

When choosing the barracks, the Jing State Young Masters Faction occupied the best spots in the barracks, and the sons of the vast wilderness had to occupy the corners.

When the bone relics were distributed, the Jing State Young Masters Faction received the majority, while they received the least.

Even during meals at the canteen, the Jing State Young Masters Faction would pick all the expensive meat with greater energy, leaving the low-quality meat to them.

During their visit to General Yan, the Jing State Young Masters Faction immediately surrounded the Thunder Sky Drum and the Frost Metal Blood Balls and entered the array to train and spar, while the sons of the wilderness were ostracized to the side.

Actually, seeing the Jing State Young Masters Faction’s strength, these sons of the vast wilderness had to acknowledge their strength, but it didn’t mean that they were afraid of them.

The sons of the vast wilderness had a wildness within them!

They grew up in the harsh environment of the vast wilderness, so they did not easily admit defeat. Having been provoked, how could they bear it any further? A tanned youth stood forward.

He was about seventeen-years-old and he was lean. His glances were like bolts of lightning.

He gave off the feeling of a wolf that came from the vast wilderness. “My name is Hei Sha from the Blackrock tribal clan. If you want to challenge me, I’ll take you on!”

“Hehe! Challenge?” The scions smiled upon hearing those words. “We aren’t challenging you. You don’t have the qualification to make us challenge you. It’s all a game!”

The Jing State Young Masters Faction’s arrogant words made Hei Sha pop a vein on his forehead!

Game!?

“Alright, I’ll play with you!”

It was not a spur of the moment decision for Hei Sha to go on-stage. Within the Blackrock tribal clan, he may not be the strongest, but he was the fastest!

In the Blackrock tribal clan, he had the nickname of black lightning.

If it was to beat the Thunder Sky Drum, he might not be up to it, but he was filled with confidence when it came to the Frost Metal Blood Balls array!

“Come on up!” Ji Chang said as he saw loathing in Hei Sha’s eyes. “Let’s do it together so that it will be fair!”

With that said, Ji Chang glanced at Yi Yun from the corner of his eyes.

This glance was not obvious, but sharp Yi Yun was able to sense it. Yi Yun suddenly understood that this Ji Chang was unconvinced of his status as a Kingdom Knight from the vast wilderness, hence he imposed on those sons of the vast wilderness.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom gave great importance to stature. Although he was from the vast wilderness, Yi Yun had much higher stature as a Kingdom Knight than the Ji Chang, who was from a large family clan!

Whether it was Ji Chang or the other Jing state scions, none of them could provoke Yi Yun publicly. If they came into conflict and came to blows, an inquiry would prove that they were insubordinate, landing them in trouble.

Hence, they did not dare to flaunt in front of Yi Yun, but their indignation made them target the warriors from the vast wilderness and gain an upper hand against them. Those were the thoughts on their minds.

How could the Jing state scions, celebrities that came from large family clans be oppressed by a bunch of savages from the vast wilderness? After experiencing fierce battles, they had failed to obtain the title of Kingdom Knight. What made Yi Yun special?

Just as Hei Sha and Ji Chang stood in the middle of the array, Ji Chang said suddenly, “If I were to say, ten levels of difficulty is too boring, what do you think?”

Hei Sha raised his eyebrows. He suddenly realized that Ji Chang did not go his all previously. He still had more to spare!

By first appearing weak to prevent the opponent from shying away, then luring him into battle before raising the difficulty was a way to defeat the opponent in one swoop!

Hei Sha immediately understood Ji Chang’s thoughts. Indeed, the moment he stepped into that array, there was no way to back down. He had to accept it even if Ji Chang had made the difficulty even higher!

A simple trick to appear weak before forcing him into a dead end!

Although this trick was simple, don’t forget that Ji Chang was a fourteen-year-old child. He was extremely scheming!

These scions were not simple folk!

Hei Sha took a deep breath as his wizened face burned with fighting spirit.

Ji Chang still had more to spare but he was still pretty confident of his movement ability.

Alright, we shall battle it out in this array!

“Eleven levels of difficulty, begin!” Ji chang casually waved.

One of the Jing state young masters faction’s members was by the control panel of the array. He laughed, “Ji Chang, tell me if it’s not difficult enough, I’ll add more for you.”

With that said, he pressed the eleventh crystal!

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Eleven Frost Metal Blood Balls began whistling through the sky. The eleventh difficulty had one additional Frost Metal Blood Ball than the tenth difficulty, and they were even faster now.

The extreme speeds made the Frost Metal Blood Balls emitted a sharp whistling sound.

Ji Chang and Hei Sha began moving at the same time!

Both of them were extremely fast, leaving behind shadows. It was hard for people to distinguish the shadow from the person!

Yi Yun watched Ji Chang and Hei Sha by the side. Their every move could be seen clearly by Yi Yun. It was as if they were moving slowly in his eyes.

“To be able to make it to the Jin Long Wei elite, they sure aren’t simple,” said Hu Ya, who was standing beside Yi Yun. On this journey, he was a man of few words.

Yi Yun nodded, “Yes, this Hei Sha’s speed is very fast, and he is actually a little faster than Ji Chang. This should be his talent.”

“Unfortunately, Hei Sha makes a lot of unnecessary moves. Hence, his evasive actions have perhaps less than 40% efficiency. As for Ji Chang’s evasive efficiency, it’s as high as 60-70%. This great difference cannot be bridged with a slight improvement in speed.”

As Yi Yun said that, Ji Chang suddenly shouted, “Add more, twelve levels of difficulty!”

Under the high-speed evasion, Ji Chang was able to distract himself and speak. He laughed arrogantly.

“Alright!” The man by the array’s control panel made a nefarious smile before pressing the twelfth crystal!

Twelve levels of difficulty!

The Frost Metal Blood Balls’ whistling sound became higher in frequency. Together with one additional Frost Metal Blood Ball, Ji Chang and Hei Sha were under great pressure.

Sweat began to appear on Hei Sha’s forehead!

At that moment, a stout middle-aged man appeared by the square’s entrance. With a smile on his face, he noted with interest of the scene within the Frost Metal Blood Balls array…

145 - : Start the array

This middle-aged man wore a red robe. Beside him was a fourteen-year-old youth. This youth was wearing a flying fish robe, and had a Yanchi saber by his waist. His outfit was the same as Yi Yun.

This meant that this youth was also a Kingdom Knight!

“Oh? General Yan!?” Zhang Tan noticed the middle-aged man and stumbled. He was about to call the personnel to attention when the stout man raise his hand, motioning Zhang Tan not to announce it.

Zhang Tan could only nod as the middle-aged man carried on watching the match between Heisha and Jichang.

At this moment..

“Cha!”

With a swish, a Frost Metal Blood Ball had brushed past Heisha’s arm.

With a ear-piercing sound of torn cloth, a piece of animal skin flew up. The wind from the ball’s rotation had ripped off Heisha’s sleeve.

The piece of animal skin was completely shredded in the air while Heisha’s dark arm began to ooze blood!

A simple brush gave this result. The power of the Frost Metal Blood Balls were understandably strong!

The middle-aged man frowned slightly. He gently shook his head, feeling sorry for Heisha.

Yi Yun saw that and frowned slightly, “Heisha will not beat Jichang. If he persists on, he will definitely get injured. The earlier he admits defeat, the better.”

In fact, it was clear who was better. Heisha may have a better base, but his techniques were greatly inferior to Jichang. There was no meaning to compete any further.

Yi Yun even suspected that Jichang could handle the thirteenth level of difficulty.

It was apparent Heisha could not hold out much longer, and after a while, he was hit by the Frost Metal Blood Ball.

Usually when a warrior in the Frost Metal Blood Balls array realizes he cannot handle it anymore, he would shout for it to stop. To persist any further would result in paying a very heavy price.

To simulate real-life combat and the life-and-death battles, the Jin Long Wei made the attack power of the blood pearls very high. Being hit once would result in serious injury!

There were even cases of training in the Jin Long Wei where a soldier had died in the Frost Metal Blood Balls array due to bad luck.

By persisting even with his injury, Heisha was equivalent to dancing on the tip of a blade.

Any mishap could result in him being hit by the Frost Metal Blood Balls in weak spots like the head or eyes. The consequences would be disastrous!

“Cha!”

With another swish, a second Frost Metal Blood Ball brushed past Heisha’s shoulder, tearing the animal skin. This hit was more serious as the Frost Metal Blood Ball changed direction due to the contact. Heisha’s shoulder immediately split open!

The sons of the vast wilderness familiar with Heisha looked with tearful eyes!

“Brother Heisha!” These youths and men were not young. Seeing Heisha in such a predicament, they clenched their fists so excessively till they shook!

WIth two injures, Heisha persisted by gritting his teeth and enduring the pain. He still summoned all his spirit to dodge the attacks of the Frost Metal Blood Balls.

He did not want to admit defeat. Men that left the vast wilderness could be defeated in battle or die in battle, but they could not admit defeat!

To reach this stage, he had consumed too much resources of the Black rock tribal clan. His tribe had saved bits and pieces of food, allowing them to exchange for resources to let him grow.

He had left the vast wilderness and entered the Jin Long Wei. He was burdened with the hope of numerous people of the Black rock tribal clan!

He wanted to make great contributions, allowing the Black rock tribal clan folks to lead a better life. How could he just give up here?

To say “I admit defeat” and jump out of the array was simple, but he had his own principles. Ever since he left the vast wilderness, he had been despised, looked down upon and suppressed!

And now, this was a battle where he could prove himself. He may have lost in terms of strength, but he could not lose in terms of courage!

If not, how would he have the qualifications to compete with those children of the large family clans?

The warriors of the vast wilderness were extremely agitated. Their first foray into the central plains was like a child coming into the city from a rural village.

They brought with them ignorance, hesitation, their tribe’s hope, the dreams of making a triumphant return. They stood alone with little power against the rich young masters who had family backgrounds and abilities far greater than them.

Heisha’s persistence stirred the hearts of empathy among the sons of the vast wilderness!

However, the array was cruel. It would not change due to the wishes of people.

“Cha!”

Heisha’s other arm was scratched too!

At this point, Heisha had three wounds. Jichang smiled coldly as he knew Heisha was at his limit.

“Cha!”

The fourth wound!

At this moment, the whistling sounds of the Frost Metal Blood Balls, the laughters of the young master faction, the anticipation of the sons of the vast wilderness… disappeared. Heisha vomited a mouthful of fresh blood and his body flew out.

The fifth Frost Metal Blood Ball had ripped the muscles in his chest, breaking his ribs and was embedded within his chest!

The Frost Metal Blood Balls would reduce its speed upon hitting a person’s body. But this did not prevent the serious injury of rib fractures! This was the cruelty of the Jin Long Wei training.

At the moment he flew out, Heisha had instinctively covered his head with his arms. A Frost Metal Blood Ball had shot Heisha’s thigh, nearly piercing it!

In the Jin Long Wei’s camp, there were numerous injuries in the recruits, including a 2-3% mortality rate!

“Stop!” Liu Big Ear shouted and the array immediately stopped.

A few doctors immediately rushed over to treat Heisha.

Heisha’s injuries were serious. Even with high grade medicines, he would still need to lay in bed for four to five days.

Jichang glanced at Heisha as his mouth formed an arc. He circulated the Qi within his body, evaporating the sweat on his forehead immediately.

He rubbed his wrists saying, “There’s still some speed to spare. Too bad you lack the technique. But this isn’t your fault. There is little heritage in the vast wilderness, and you can’t learn many techniques. So most of the time, you are competing with strength and brute force.”

“If you were to fight with similar savages, you would naturally be at an advantage, but when you meet someone with martial art skills, then you won’t be able to hold out!” Jichang gave a few pointers.

Upon hearing this, the Jing State Young Masters Faction began applauding, “Young master Jichang’s pointers hit the nail on the head!”

“Indeed, Heisha lost to technique. But in the vast wilderness, there aren’t many techniques.” The Jing State Young Masters Faction echoed.

“Any sons of the vast wilderness willing to come up?” As Jichang asked, his eyes swept with mixed intentions towards Yi Yun.

Indeed, Yi Yun was his final target.

So what if he had stepped over Heisha?

Yi Yun was a Kingdom Knight. By stepping over a Kingdom Knight, it would be a relief. What made you a Kingdom Knight and not me? My strength is greater than yours, and I’ll purposely hit you in the face!

Not only Jichang was looking at Yi Yun, many of the sons of the vast wilderness were looking at Yi Yun.

However, unlike Jichang’s provocation, these sons of the vast wilderness looked at Yi Yun with a form of anticipation.

They had all lost. Even the fastest, Heisha, had lost to Jichang, so they wouldn’t do.

Their only hope was Yi Yun who had came out of the vast wilderness like them.

Him being a Kingdom Knight meant that he was no ordinary person.

Heisha had multiple injuries in his chest, leading to severe blood loss. However, even as he was gasping for breath on the stretcher, Heisha still looked up at Yi Yun with great difficulty.

Yi Yun looked calmly at Heisha in the eye. Although he did not know Heisha and had never spoken a word with him, Yi Yun felt he had to do something for him.

This was the respect a warrior deserved.

After all, Yi Yun had come out from the vast wilderness. He may not have a strong sense of belonging with the vast wilderness, but he did share the same homology as these sons of the vast wilderness. He could see the resilience and suffering of the people of the vast wilderness. Just like Jiang Xiaorou who persisted on.

Maybe one day, they would not suffer from low self-esteem due to their vast wilderness background, but use it as a form of honor!

With this in mind, Yi Yun walked towards the array.

“I shall compete with you.” Yi Yun said lightly.

Jichang was overjoyed. He laughed loudly, “To compete with a Kingdom Knight is a great honor!”

The Jing State Young Masters Faction were excited. They could finally see how great a so-called vast wilderness Kingdom Knight could be. Stepping over a Kingdom Knight would definitely feel good.

“Don’t you need to rest?” Young master Yi asked Young master Jichang.

“Thank you, Kingdom Knight, for worrying about me. But it was just a warm up, so I don’t need to rest. As for you, do you need to warm up?” Jichang exuded extreme confidence in his words.

It was tit-for-tat between the two!

“Interesting!” At this time, Yan Menglong suddenly laughed. None of the Jin Long Wei recruits had recognized him ever since he came. If so, Jichang would not have dared to continue clamoring.

Hearing this voice, Jichang stumbled. Noticing Yan Menglong’s dressing, he immediately realized the identity of Yan Menglong!

He quickly responded by cupping his fists, “Little me is Jichang, greeting General Yan! May the General forgive me for Little me’s public rashness!”

In front of Yan Menglong, Jichang maintained propriety without being servile or bumptious.

Yan Menglong laughed, “Being young and rash, and being contentious might not be a bad thing. I do wish that my army has absolute obedience in the battlefield, but to not show obedience to anyone during training! Battling is a good thing!”

“Since you are competing today, I’ll add some flair to it. Anyone can compete in this match. Whoever finishes with first place by suppressing everyone will be allowed to the enter the Divine Capital’s top grade armory and choose two weapons. Whatever you like can be taken away. In addition, I’ll give two desolate bone relics!”

After Yan Menglong said those words, the young warriors present immediately lit up!

To enter the Divine Capital’s top grade armory and choose two weapons? And two desolate bone relics?

The Divine Capital’s top grade armory was an extremely high level armory that was filled with weapons made with excellent workmanship. They were made with valuable materials and inscribed with arrays on them, making them priceless!

Even the teenager beside General Yan seemed interested. Many people noticed the teenager. He had came in together with General Yan and wore a flying fish robe. It meant he was a Kingdom Knight, making his stature extraordinary.

Weapons… Desolate bone relic…

In the array, Yi Yun gently clasped his fists. This was a great surprise. He was lacking a weapon. The Yanchi saber was a standard weapon of the Jin Long Wei. Hence, in terms of quality and other aspects, it was not excellent.

146 - : Unwillingness and Persistence

In front of Yi Yun, Young master Jichang had greater fighting spirit. Jichang thought so as well. “Start the array! What does the lord Kingdom Knight think about twelve levels of difficulty?”

Although his speech was respectful, the way Young master Jichang looked at Yi Yun was full of provocation. The natives of the vast wilderness were poor in technique, so even though this adonis, Yi Yun might have great physical attributes resulting in his conferment as Kingdom Knight, so what?

“Alright, twelve levels of difficulty.” Yi Yun did not care. This difficulty was nothing to him.

A young master of the Jing State Young Masters Faction grinned before pressing the twelfth crystal.

Immediately the sons of the vast wilderness held their breaths as they looked at Yi Yun with worry and anticipation.

“Twang!”

Twelve Frost Metal Blood Balls roared and assailed Yi Yun and Jichang like meteors!

Jichang’s eyes burned with fighting spirit. He began moving, leaving a series of shadows as he tossed haphazardly around in the air with extreme agility!

None of the twelve flying crystals touched Jichang’s shirt.

Jichang’s movements were dazzling and one could hardly see his body. In contrast, Yi Yun made very little movements. From the beginning to the end, he had hardly moved and stood in place!

Bead after bead of the Frost Metal Blood Balls flew over but Yi Yun either raised his arms, twisted or moved his legs. His body was a blur, forming a series of shadows surrounding his body.

It was hard to tell if Yi Yun moved or not within those shadows. The Frost Metal Blood Balls would stick close to Yi Yun’s body, but would never actually hit him.

Even the force wind from the rotation of the Frost Metal Blood Balls was calculated appropriately by Yi Yun. Even though the force wind was fast, it could still not tear Yi Yun’s flying fish robe!

Underneath the flying fish robe, he still wore the Flowing Mercury Gown, which was heavy and limited his actions.

No matter how fit Yi Yun was, it was impossible for him to not be affected by the Flowing Mercury Gown.

If it was a comparison of speed, he was no match for Jichang. All he could do was to push his dodging efficiency to its extreme within the limits of his speed!

If Jichang’s dodging efficiency was at 60-70%, Yi Yun’s would be above 95%!

Yi Yun just stood there, giving the people the impression that the Frost Metal Blood Balls were deliberately avoiding Yi Yun!

What happened!?

The sons of the vast wilderness stared dumbfounded and confused.

But the Jing State Young Masters Faction knew what it meant. Their faces immediately turned ugly!

“Oh!? Minute Subtlety?” Not far away, Yan Menglong’s eyes lit up.

Yi Yun’s Minute Subtlety technique had been well-honed by him. As Yan Menglong saw it, Yi Yun had reached the introductory stage of Minute Subtlety and was in the transitory area before the small-success stage. For a twelve-year-old to reach this stage was extremely rare.

“Is it only the introductory stage….” Zhang Tan stroked his chin as he looked strangely at Yi Yun. He had seen Yi Yun’s battle with Tao Yunxiao. Tao Yunxiao had used the ancestral artifact’s energy and yet he could not touch Yi Yun’s sleeves. At that time, Yi Yun’s Minute Subtlety technique was much superior.

But today, it seemed like he was holding back.

Buzz——

The Frost Metal Blood Balls flew faster and faster as Jichang avoided again and again. Although Jichang could handle it, he saw Yi Yun avoiding the attacks without much movement.

Jichang’s face turned ugly and nearly got hit in the head by a Frost Metal Blood Ball due to the distraction.

He had previously said the vast wilderness warriors were lacking in technique, but Yi Yun’s appearance had smacked him in the face.

Minute Subtlety technique! How could this be possible?

Minute Subtlety was the highest achievement of a movement skill. To reach this stage, one had to have excellent perceptivity. It was not something that could be trained.

“Add one more difficulty!” Jichang shouted. He refused to admit defeat. The Jing state young master manning the array controls pressed the thirteenth crystal with mixed feelings.

Another Frost Metal Blood Ball flew up and joined the array.

With thirteen Frost Metal Blood Balls, the speed was even faster. The ear-piercing sounds through the air were like scratches on glass.

As the beams flew by, it became countless numbers of lines forming a cage that surrounded Yi Yun and Jichang!

Yi Yun knitted his eyebrows. He was feeling great pressure under difficulty level thirteen!

The Flowing Mercury Gown had a great affect on his speed!

Even so Yi Yun did not reduce the binding on the Flowing Mercury Gown. The pressure gave him a driving force, so he wanted to push himself to the limit.

He had remembered the words Lin Xintong had said when she gave him the Flowing Mercury Gown.

“You have reached the small success stage of Minute Subtlety and still have a long way to go. You have to learn the large success stage of Minute Subtlety by yourself. If someone were to teach you, it will not be yours. This Flowing Mercury Gown can aid in increasing your strength and help you reach the large success stage of the Minute Subtlety movement technique.”

By pushing himself to the limit, Yi Yun realized that if he could reach the small success stage of Minute Subtlety while wearing the Flowing Mercury Gown, then when he took off the Flowing Mercury Gown, he would probably be at the threshold of the large success stage of Minute Subtlety.

Hence, Yi Yun continued to push himself to the limit!

As he could no longer increase his speed any further, Yi Yun had to rely on his dodging effectiveness. He was pushing the efficiency to almost 100%!

“Oh? His speed isn’t good!” Jichang suddenly realized that Yi Yun’s speed was not fast. And due to his speed limitations, it was hard for him to move under difficulty level thirteen.

Even if Yi Yun had great technique, without the support of being fast, he would not be able to pull off a great technique

“I see, this kid isn’t invincible. His technique may be good, but his speed is slow. How could there be such a freak from the vast wilderness? Hmph! Since you are slow, then my limit is probably not worse than you!”

Upon realizing this, Jichang renewed his fighting spirit.

Difficulty level thirteen was already Jichang’s limit.

It would be dangerous if he added more. Difficulty level fourteen was not to be taken in jest. It was a serious injury upon being hit by the Frost Metal Blood Ball!

“My body’s speed is fast. At difficulty level fourteen, I should be able to hold on briefly. I won’t lose to him!”

Jichang clenched his fist. He could not lose. He had said so much previously, so how could he lose? The young masters of the Jing state had their pride. Besides, General Yan had promised rewards!

“Add one more level!” While constantly dodging, Jichang said with difficulty.

Upon hearing that, the young master in charge of manning the array’s controls missed a heartbeat. After some hesitation, he pressed the fourteenth crystal.

“Weng!”

Yet another blood pearl flew up. The immense speed had caused a whirlwind within the square.

Under the shroud of the forceful wind, Yi Yun knitted his eyebrows as his palms began to sweat.

Pressure!

He felt pressure once again!

He felt he was on the verge of his limits, and it seemed like he would be hit by the Frost Metal Blood Balls anytime.

In the midst of the beams, Yi Yun closed his eyes.

With his eyes closed, what happened in his surroundings became clearer.

Yi Yun used his body to feel the Frost Metal Blood Balls’ trajectories, letting his body to make the instinctive reactions. This increased his dodging efficiency.

“Oh? Closing the eyes to feel the Frost Metal Blood Balls’ ‘force’ to dodge. This kid can actually do that? This is already the small success stage of Minute Subtlety!”

Upon seeing Yi Yun dare to close his eyes, Yan Menglong grew intrigued. He knew a little about Yi Yun. “Zhang Tan you said this kid induced Purple Air Comes From The East, and I thought it was just by chance. But it looks like his perceptivity is much higher than others. This title of the Kingdom Knight was well conferred!”

Yan Menglong was not stingy with his praise. Zhang Tan smiled and was indescribably happy.

He felt proud from Yan Menglong’s praise of a soldier he selected.

Yan Menglong looked at the youth in the flying fish robe and asked, “Zijun, what do you think of Yi Yun?”

This youth was named Zijun and was born with bright eyes and white teeth. He said, “For him to reach this stage from the vast wilderness, it’s indeed not bad. As for…Minute Subtlety, I know it too! And my speed is much faster than his!”

Being Kingdom Knight as well, he was young and aspirant, hence Zijun would not easily accept anyone.

Yan Menglong laughed heartily. He liked Zijun’s character.

Youths have to be unrestrained!

Youths would naturally not accept anyone!

Only then would Yan Menglong feel the vibrancy. What Yan Menglong needed was an army filled with vibrancy and self-improvement.

At this time, Jichang had reached his limits in the array.

He really wanted to give up. A Frost Metal Blood Ball had previously chafed at his sleeve.

Seeing Yi Yun’s forehead sweating, it seemed like in the next second he would be hit by the Frost Metal Blood Balls. He did not want to fall short of success at the last stage, hence he gritted his teeth and persisted on.

“Just a little while and I’ll win! I want to be a king, how can I give up halfway?”

“I do not need to complete difficulty level fourteen. All I need is to last longer…than him! His speed is slow and he is using a technique to avoid. He won’t be able to do it perfectly every time. Eventually, he will make a mistake!” Jichang kept convincing himself to boost his confidence.

But every time Yi Yun seemed to be trapped in an unavoidable outcome, he would come out unharmed. It was like a hair holding up a rock; although it seemed like the hair was about to break, it wouldn’t break!

Jichang was going crazy!

“Cha!”

As Jichang grew more upset and near his limits, a Frost Metal Blood Ball grazed Jichang’s thigh!

“Puah!”

Blood splattered as a piece of flesh on Jichang’s thigh was ripped off!

Jichang snorted and with his body unsteady, another Frost Metal Blood Ball was heading straight for his sternum!

And Jichang could no longer avoid this attack!

His pupils contracted as he crossed his arms to block it.

“Ka-cha!”

Jichang’s body flew out. His right arm, which blocked the Frost Metal Blood Ball, had been broken!

At this moment, another Frost Metal Blood Ball shot towards Jichang’s stomach. Even though Jichang tightened his abs, it still pierced through his skin into his gut.

With continued hits, Jichang vomited out blood as he fell heavily to the ground!

147 - : Youths have to be unrestrained

Seeing Jichang become seriously injured by the Frost Metal Blood Balls, the Jing State Young Masters Faction were dumbfounded.

A pretty boy that came out of the vast wilderness had actually defeated Young master Jichang!

Although they ridiculed Yi Yun as a pretty boy, weren’t they worse than a pretty boy? They ridiculed the people of the vast wilderness for not knowing any techniques and for only having brute force. But Yi Yun’s Minute Subtlety smacked their faces swollen.

“Stop the array!” the Jing State Young Masters Faction shouted. One of the young masters hurriedly stopped the array. Yi Yun who was completely immersed in his own world only realized after the array had stopped. Opening his eyes, he saw that Jichang had already flown out.

It ended?

Such a pity… I just had some insight, and then it was gone…

Although Yi Yun was not angry that he had been interrupted, he found that the Frost Metal Blood Balls array was extremely suitable for training his movement techniques. Together with the Flowing Mercury Gown, Yi Yun believed that it would not take long for him to reach the large success stage of Minute Subtlety.

“With the Flowing Mercury Gown, I’ll push myself to the limit. Whether my movement technique or other aspects will increase extremely quickly…” As Yi Yun thought about this, he saw a few Jing state young masters rushing to Jichang.

“Young master Jichang! Are you alright?” Jichang was covered in blood. There was a large hole in his abdomen. Although he originally had appealing looks, he was now white as paper and looked horrendous.

Being hurt like this, especially in the arms, it would take at least half a month to recover.

“This kid…” Jichang had not fainted. He was flustered having been defeated by Yi Yun. He no longer used honorifics while referring to Yi Yun. He did not understand why although Yi Yun looked like he was unable to endure further and was having a tougher time than him; yet, he had lost to Yi Yun in the end!

It was not worth being this seriously injured. To not be able to train for half a month, and coupled with the proper care for his wounds to prevent future problems, this injury could even affect Jichang’s future breakthroughs.

Jichang was depressed. He had lost the match and his face. He had been stepped on by a kid from the vast wilderness!

“Hahaha!”

Yan Menglong laughed, “Well done! Yi Yun, you are deserving of the title of Kingdom Knight! You men of the vast wilderness are also great men!”

Yan Menglong praised the sons of the vast wilderness.

Receiving this compliment, the sons of the vast wilderness were nearly moved to tears.

They had come from backward places and needed the approval of others, especially from General Yan, the leader of the Divine Capital’s Jin Long Wei!

Although this approval was won by Yi Yun, they too felt proud and elated!

“Brother Yi. Good for you!”

“Brother Yi. In the future, we will all follow you! Although we don’t have many abilities, we have some strength, please accept it.”

A few sons of the vast wilderness said to Yi Yun. Yi Yun could see genuineness within their eyes.

Yan Menglong carried on, “Yi Yun! It’s pretty good that you won this match. But… to receive the weapons and the bone relics, you still need to do more. What I want is the number one among everyone!”

While saying this, Yan Menglong looked towards Zijun. He knew that even without incentives, Zijun would still compete with Yi Yun on stage.

This was Zijun’s character. He would burn with fighting spirit when he faced an expert, especially an expert at his own age. He was unable to suppress his urge.

It was a great pleasure of life to fight someone who was your match!

Sure enough, Zijun walked out.

Many people had noticed his flying fish robe earlier.

“I’m Song Zijun and come from the Song family from the Jing state! I did not go through the Kingdom’s selection. I was sent directly to the Jin Long Wei for training, so… I am still not familiar with most of you. This is our first time meeting.” Song Zijun introduced himself humbly. Yi Yun understood that he was parachuted in by his family.

Those whose strength had not been acknowledged had to take the exam, but those were strong could be directly parachuted in.

Even some sons of the large family clans did not need to enter the Jin Long Wei. They actually had many choices. Some entered the Jin Long Wei due to the military environment.

In the military, there was plenty of strict training and life-and-death battles. These were greatly valued by the family clans’ leaders.

“So he is Song Zijun. The Song family’s Young master Zijun. He is a famous young master in the Sunan city. He is also the top expert among the younger generation in the Song family. So he has been conferred the title of Kingdom Knight!”

“There are two Kingdom Knights in the recruit training camp in the Divine Capital. It would not be surprising that the two of them will be made Thousand Households soon.”

“The competition between two Kingdom Knights is greatly anticipated! Brother Yi, we’re counting on you!” The sons of the vast wilderness constantly cheered on Yi Yun, hoping Yi Yun would win his next match.

As for the Jing State Young Masters Faction, they naturally biased towards Song Zijun.

Song Zijun’s fame was far beyond Jichang’s.

As for Yi Yun, to the Jing State Young Masters Faction, he had narrowly defeated Jichang. Although he was stronger by a tiny amount, compared to Song Zijun, there was a huge gap.

“This bunch of bumpkins from the vast wilderness actually think it will be an exciting match between Yi Yun and Young master Zijun? Although I don’t really want to admit it, Young master Zijun’s strength is much higher than us! Nobody here is his match!”

One’s fame could not be from a virtual scholar. The Jing State Young Masters Faction were full of anticipation with Song Zijun’s outcome. They could show the vast wilderness warriors the true strength of the Jing state young masters this time.

Song Zijun walked into the array and faced Yi Yun.

Both of them were dressed in flying fish robe. Both them had great heroic bearing. It was a battle between dragons!

“Yi Yun, right? I’m Song Zijun. My life’s greatest wish is to face all experts in the world and compete for the top! I’m older than you, so it’s actually unfair to compete with you.” Song Zijun’s words were friendly and elegant. He indeed exuded the feeling of a refined young master. “But, since General Yan has promised a reward, I have to beat you under such circumstances.”

“Oh? You think you are going to win?” Yi Yun calmed his breathing as the sweatdrops on his forehead evaporated.

“I will win!” Song Zijun said firmly. “I will enter the array first and won’t compete with you on the same stage, to prevent you from feeling uncomfortable with my rhythm, and getting hit by the Frost Metal Blood Balls! And… you exerted yourself a lot a while ago, so you can take the chance to rest…”

“So imposing…” The sons of the vast wilderness looked at each other. But then, although Song Zijun was imposing, he did not give off an irritating feeling.

Song Zijun stood at the center of the array. Yi Yun did not insist and stepped out of the array. He had tried to gain an understanding of the large success stage of Minute Subtlety previously and had really consumed a lot of energy.

“Let’s begin with difficulty level fourteen!” Song Zijun lightly said. To challenge difficulty level fourteen immediately with complete confidence showed that he did not think highly of this difficulty.

These words made those sons of the vast wilderness supporting Yi Yun thump in the heart. Yi Yun was having difficulty at difficulty level fourteen previously. But it seemed like difficulty level fourteen was just a beginning step for Song Zijun.

Song Zijun undid his Yanchi saber and placed it outside the array. He calmly said, “Start the array!”

“Alright!” The young master controlling the array smiled excitedly and pressed the fourteenth crystal.

148 - : Young master Zijun

The heptagon array beneath Song Zijun’s feet began to light up. Fourteen blood pearls began to softly buzz.

Whew!

The blood pearls headed straight for Song Zijun with an ear-piercing sound!

Song Zijun looked at those blood pearls and his body moved, creating a series of shadows.

These shadows were layered. Under protection of those shadows, Song Zijun stood with his feet apart and did not move one step. He was dodging on the same spot.

All the blood pearls were easily dodged by Song Zijun.

“Minute Subtlety!” The Jing State Young Masters Faction could not help but cheer when they saw Song Zijun’s movements!

“With his fame, how could Young master Zijun not know Minute Subtlety? It’s so easy dodging fourteen levels of difficulty in the Frost Metal Blood Balls array.”

And they could tell that Song Zijun’s speed was even faster, much faster than even Heisha’s.

With his speed exceeding Heisha’s, and his technique overshadowing Yi Yun’s, Song Zijun could only be described as perfect.

With the support of both technique and speed, Song Zijun moved fluidly within the Frost Metal Blood Balls array.

The Jing state young masters bemoaned their inadequacy upon seeing Song Zijun’s movements.

There was no limit in the universe. Jichang was strong, but compared to Song Zijun, he was too far off.

“Add one more difficulty!”

Fourteen levels of difficulty was just a warm up to Song Zijun. After he got used to the Frost Metal Blood Balls array, Song Zijun wanted the fifteenth difficulty level.

And this difficulty still failed to trouble Song Zijun.

Fifteen levels of difficulty was no simple matter. The fast-moving Frost Metal Blood Balls had created a small whirlwind in the air.

Under the immense pressure, Song Zijun finally had to move his feet. Even Song Zijun could not stay on the spot to avoid the Frost Metal Blood Balls at fifteen levels of difficulty.

Song Zijun’s steps were very particular. Every step he made never exceeded one and a half feet.

Such a short step was no different than a toddler learning to walk. With such footsteps chained together, it made it hard to tell where Song Zijun’s feet were landing.

“It’s the Song family’s secret technique, Half Foot Steps!” Said a Jing state young master. The advantages of the Jing state’s family clans were not only resources, but included heritage. This Half Foot Steps technique was not spread outside the Song family.

Old family clans tended to have more or less some family heirloom or cornerstone technique. This was their heritage.

“Add one more level!” Song Zijun said from within the array.

Add another? If another was added, it would be sixteen levels of difficulty!

Whether it was the Jing state young masters or the sons of the vast wilderness, they were full of admiration for Song Zijun.

The young master in charge of the array controls took a deep breath and pressed the sixteenth crystal!

“Twang!”

The Frost Metal Blood Balls thundered. Sharp air bursts sent tremors to causing numbness in people’s ears. Lines of fire formed into a fire web!

At this point, Song Zijun finally felt some pressure.

His movements were still refined, but slowly, he was unable to maintain the harmony.

The Half Foot Steps was the Song family’s secret technique, but Song Zijun had not completely grasped it. With his standard, it was tough for him to demonstrate it. It greatly depleted his mental strength and Yuan Qi.

“Minute Subtlety nearing the small success stage…and his speed is fast. To reach the small success stage of the Half Foot Steps at his age, Song Zijun can be considered the cream of the crop in the Jing state.” Yan Menglong gave an accurate evaluation.

At this point, Song Zijun reached his limits.

He withdrew from the array. He had ultimately maintained within the array at sixteen levels of difficulty for fifteen minutes.

As for the seventeenth difficulty level, he did not challenge it. There was a sharp change between the sixteenth and seventeenth difficulty level. For Purple Blood realm warriors, even if they had great accomplishments with Minute Subtlety, they would not dare to rashly try it.

After Song Zijun stepped off the stage, there was silence throughout the square.

A youth with Minute Subtlety demonstrating his movement techniques made many warrior burn with agitation.

Especially among the Jing state young masters. Their faces were glowing. Song Zijun was their idol. Whatever Yi Yun had managed to suppress, had been regained to its maximum level.

This was the heritage the Jing state family clans had. As the sons of the Jing state family clans, their hearts were filled with pride. They could one day achieve such results!

After Song Zijun was Yi Yun!

Everyone’s eyes gathered on Yi Yun.

Sixteen levels of difficulty for fifteen minutes! The pressure from such a result was too great.

After all, fourteen levels of difficulty seemed to be Yi Yun’s limit when he was competing with Jichang.

Yi Yun adjusted his breathing and flowed the Yuan Qi within his body to reach his optimum state.

“It’s your turn.” Song Zijun brushed shoulders with Yi Yun when he came down. He looked at Yi Yun with a trace of smile on his lips.

Yi Yun calmly looked at Song Zijun and nodded. His eyes were clear like the stars in the night sky. There was a sharp blade within his serenity.

Their glances clashed as if there were the sound of clashing swords.

“Yi Yun do you still plan to struggle up there? The result is already clear.”

“If not for Young master Jichang’s accident stopping the array, Yi Yun would most likely have been terribly defeated by fourteen levels of difficulty… Now Young master Zijun has completed sixteen levels of difficulty. If Yi Yun were to carry on with his fourteen levels, would it be interesting?”

The Jing state young masters’ faces were full of gloating expressions.

To them, Song Zijun had already won. The difference was great. Yi Yun had to go up the stage to protect his pride out of helplessness.

The people from the vast wilderness did not speak. They looked at Yi Yun with worry in their eyes.

As for Yan Menglong, he rubbed his stubble. His eyes flashed as he looked at Yi Yun with interest. It seems like he had saw something interesting.

Yi Yun leaped and shot out like an arrow. In an instant, he had landed within the Frost Metal Blood Balls array. He said to the controller of the array, “Fourteen levels of difficulty!”

“Fourteen levels again. That’s so boring. This is his limit. If he had any guts, he would go to level fifteen in a while.”

“Hehe, you want to see Yi Yun suffer right? Do not worry, there’s no need for fifteen levels, fourteen levels is enough for him to be hit by the Frost Metal Blood Balls.”

The Jing state young masters were waiting to watch the show. They were not waiting to watch Yi Yun’s performance, but for him to be hit by the Frost Metal Blood Balls, vomiting blood from his injuries and being bedridden for half a month.

The array lit up and blood beams shot up. The fourteen Frost Metal Blood Balls emitted a fierce roar and weaved around in the air with tricky trajectories before shooting towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was familiar with fourteen levels of difficulty, but he still wanted to begin there. He wanted to carry on his understandings while his body was at its peak. He steadied his breath as he closed his eyes.

By feeling the ‘force’ to feel the attacks, he pushed himself closer to his limits. Only then could he dig out his full potential.

In a split second, Yi Yun had reached his maximum concentration. It was as if he was the only person left in the world and the force wind around his body. It was the air pushed from the Frost Metal Blood Balls through their trajectories!

These trajectories slowly became clear within his mind.

Yi Yun moved as each blood pearl brushed past his body.

Every attack of a Frost Metal Blood Ball was barely dodged by Yi Yun. It was his limit and extremely frightening. A few times, he could feel the pain the force wind caused to his skin. After every brush, it was as if his skin would rupture at any time, giving him goosebumps.

When the sons of the vast wilderness saw this scene, their hearts nearly stopped. Yi Yun was barely handling it at fourteen levels of difficulty. It seemed like likely he would be injured if it went on.

Yi Yun’s breathing became heavy as he adjusted the Flowing Mercury Gown’s weight. It made him go closer to his limit so that the physical exertion would be greater.

Drops of sweat rolled down Yi Yun’s forehead.

Second after second passed by.

Very soon, fifteen minutes had passed. The Jing State Young Masters Faction had waited till their necks ached. They were waiting to see Yi Yun get trounced by the blood pearls.

But, every time Yi Yun was about to be hit by the Frost Metal Blood Balls, he would always avoid it at the critical juncture.

This situation had happened numerous times. As such, Yi Yun had slowly spent fifteen minutes in the array!

Following that, thirty minutes…

The Jing State Young Masters Faction waited to the point of disbelief.

What’s wrong?

“Hey, at least challenge fifteen levels of difficulty!”

The Jing State Young Masters Faction had to admit that Yi Yun could handle fourteen levels of difficulty. But even if he could, was he going to stay in there for two hours?

They were hoping that Yi Yun’s stamina would decline, and slowly he would be unable to handle it.

But at this time, as a beam shot pass, Yi Yun took out something and put it into his mouth.

Fierce beast relic?

The Jing state young masters were dumbfounded.

“Eating bone relics. He’s even eating bone relics?”

Yi Yun was not a god. Although the Purple Crystal could absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to replenish his energy, but due to the extreme weight from the Flowing Mercury Gown, it constantly pushed him to his limits, hence depleting him of his energy. As such, he needed to replenish his energy.

“Isn’t this cheating!?” A few young masters protested, but upon further thinking, there was no rules against eating bone relics.

“Fuck, if he carries on, he can play in that for two hours and maybe all the way to dinner…” The Jing state young masters were speechless.

Yi Yun simply turned a deaf ear to the surrounding chatter. He had already immersed himself in his own world.

He felt like he could perfectly control every inch of his body muscles and could precisely complete any tiny movement. He felt that the heavy Flowing Mercury Gown’s pressure on his body made him expend large amounts of energy with every move. He also had to tax his mind about calculating the trajectories of the Frost Metal Blood Balls.

Under such conditions, Yi Yun was physically and mentally exhausted.

But a sense of joy arose even while he remained exhausted.

“Minute Subtlety… Minute Subtlety… Is this the large success stage of Minute Subtlety…?”

Immersed in extreme pain and pleasure, Yi Yun became more adept at handling the Frost Metal Blood Balls’ trajectories around him.

149 - : Half Foot Steps

Even as he was drained mentally and physically, Yi Yun was in an other-worldly state, where he made progress bit by bit.

The light within Yi Yun’s heart grew brighter the longer he endured. It constantly expanded and all the blurred trajectories that were like slashes in the void slowly became clearer.

He even felt that the space in his body was slowly expanding outwards, with the pain his body was experiencing.

Yi Yun felt a surge of joy, but at the same time, he knew that he had been pushed to his limits physically.

The moment he couldn’t keep up physically, he would definitely fall out of that mysterious state…

Fortunately, Lin Xintong had left many bone relics for him before leaving. Yi Yun ate another bone relic.

The warm energy flowed within his body.

Yi Yun’s body was wet from sweat!

Yi Yun had already lasted within the array for two hours!

The Jing state young masters watched till their eyes saw a blur.

Yi Yun’s movements did not change. They had sillily watched with their neck straightened for two hours to point of throwing up.

“Is there any meaning to this?” Someone protested!

But when they looked at the Divine Capital’s General, Yan Menglong, he was still stroking his chin and watching Yi Yun with interest.

They did not know how the same moves that had lasted so long could be interesting.

As the Jing state young masters were about to lose their patience, the young master in charge of controlling the array was falling asleep. But suddenly, they heard something that made them excited.

“Add…one more level!” Yi Yun opened his mouth. His said it with difficulty and his voice was a little hoarse. It gave people the impression that he was nearing his limit.

He said those words while dripping in sweat.

“Making it more difficult? He’s finally making it more difficult!”

The Jing state young masters who were fighting back their heavy eyelids were suddenly refreshed. Great, Yi Yun is finally preparing to challenge the fifteen levels of difficulty.

The young master in charge of controlling the array licked his lips excitedly as he pressed down on the fifteenth crystal.

You’re finished!

They polished their eyes, waiting to see Yi Yun get hit by the Frost Metal Blood Balls and suffering serious injuries.

“Weng!”

The Frost Metal Blood Balls roared. Due to the high-speed friction in the air for two hours, each blood pearl was glowing red from the heat. The damage done from such blood pearls was imaginable.

Song Zijun’s face had a tinge of puzzlement and anticipation. He wanted to see what Yi Yun’s limit was.

Suddenly, Song Zijun’s pupils constricted. He noticed that in the middle of the array, there was a weird change in Yi Yun’s movements.

Yi Yun’s movements had been slow and were made with great difficulty. It seemed like he was about to be hit by the Frost Metal Blood Balls at anytime.

But suddenly, Yi Yun’s movements suddenly became fast again. It was like his body had dumped a pile of weight, causing his body to suddenly explode with frightening strength and agility.

Shadows appeared around his body and the array seemed to be filled with Yi Yun’s shadow.

He had reduced the Flowing Mercury Gown’s weight to the lowest!

Suddenly, Yi Yun’s movements were faster by at least 30%

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Yi Yun avoided all fifteen blood pearls!

The blood pearls reversed and shot back. Yi Yun tapped his toes and avoided them again. His movements were fluid. Compared to the fourteen levels of difficulty, his movements were more harmonious and relaxed. Not a single blood pearl could touch Yi Yun’s sleeves.

“What!?”

The people were stunned. How did Yi Yun suddenly increase his speed?

The Jing state young masters were in disbelief. Even the sons of the vast wilderness were confused.

Was Yi Yun withholding his strength previously? But it didn’t seem so. Every action of his looked like he was at his limits. The sweat and the vein that appeared on his forehead was proof.

“Interesting!” Yan Menglong who had been watching Yi Yun with interest suddenly laughed.

Within the array, Yi Yun’s eyes flashed with a strange excitement. His body was still covered in sweat, but his body was much more relaxed.

The restraint on his body had been reduced significantly. By reducing the Flowing Mercury Gown’s weight, it undoubtedly allowed Yi Yun’s suppressed body potential to burst out.

It was just nice to tackle fifteen levels of difficulty!

Hum Hum Hum

The Frost Metal Blood Balls howled in the air as it formed tearing winds that could be seen with the naked eye.

The fierce wind raged everywhere.

And Yi Yun was like a sea swallow shuttling through easily across a rough storm!!

The people watching it turned dumbstruck. This wasn’t going according to script!

Wasn’t Yi Yun supposed to get seriously injured after being hit by the blood pearls at fifteen levels of difficulty?

The Jing state young masters could not comprehend. If they did not see the Frost Metal Blood Balls speed increase with their own eyes, they would have thought that the array had malfunctioned.

At this time, Yi Yun said another set of words that made all of them drop their jaws.

“Add another level, sixteen levels of difficulty!”

Yi Yun’s voice was not loud. It was not clear amidst the blood pearls screeching across the air. But it still entered their ears, stunning them greatly!

They were all speechless!

Is he mad!?

“I’ll cordon your craziness and let you swagger. I’ll make you know the power of sixteen levels of difficulty. Do you really think you are on par with Young master Zijun?” The young master controlling the array fiercely pressed the sixteenth crystal

Suddenly, the entire array was covered in flashes. The sixteen Frost Metal Blood Balls shot wantonly. The surrounding crowd couldn’t help but take a few steps back.

Sixteen levels of difficulty put tremendous pressure on Yi Yun!

Every Frost Metal Blood Ball was like a shooting star. It put immense pressure on Yi Yun’s body and mind.

These Frost Metal Blood Balls would collide with one another now and then, making them fly helter–skelter, catching people off-guard.

The Frost Metal Blood Balls constantly reduced Yi Yun’s maneuver space.

Buzz——

Yi Yun’s ears were humming as his heartbeat rate increased. His blood was flowing at an extreme speed.

“Cha!”

A blood pearl brushed past Yi Yun’s waist. His flying fish robe had been ripped open!

Sixteen levels of difficulty was clearly above Yi Yun’s limit.

Ha!”

The Jing state young masters exhaled. Finally, this kid could no longer hold on.

They did not expect Yi Yun had held back, and underestimated him. But, he was still inferior to Young master Zijun!

“Cha!”

Another beam flashed by as Yi Yun’s flying fish robe’s sleeve was torn apart. A strand of blood flew out as Yi Yun’s arm had been injured!

Under sixteen levels of difficulty, the Frost Metal Blood Balls’ speed was too fast. The fierce force wind tore the flying fish robe as easy as tearing paper

Seeing a few Frost Metal Blood Balls flying towards Yi Yun with no dead spots, it would be difficult for Yi Yun to escape it!

At that instant, Yi Yun dodged and jumped out of the array!

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The blood pearls hit the empty space he left behind!

“Huh!?”

Seeing Yi Yun leave the array, the Jing state young masters were disappointed.

“This kid is too cunning!”

They had wished to see Yi Yun beaten to a pulp, but since he had given up, there was nothing left for them to see.

“Brother Yi. Good for you!”

The sons of the vast wilderness cheered. Although Yi Yun had only managed to last 10 seconds at sixteen levels of difficulty and had clearly lost to Song Zijun, to reach this stage was applaudable.

A youth that came from the vast wilderness had suppressed a group of young masters that came from large family clans, and he was not much weaker than their number one young master.

It was something to be proud of!

Today, the sons of the vast wilderness had proved themselves and proved the glory of the vast wilderness.

“Brother Zhang, you sure selected a good seedling.” Liu Big Ear patted Zhang Tan’s shoulders as he said from the bottom of his heart.

At this time, the corner of his eye was on Yi Yun. He noticed that the kid had taken off his flying fish robe.

The torn flying fish robe had been thrown messily on the ground by Yi Yun. It revealed Yi Yun’s undershirt. It was a shining shirt that looked like silk veil.

“Sorry, I want to take off my clothes.” Yi Yun wiped the sweat from his forehead and said.

“Take off your clothes? Is it too hot from the work out?”

A few Jing state young masters looked at each other and were speechless. This Yi Yun was weird. As a warrior, what was a bit of heat? One just needed to circulate Yuan Qi and the sweat would all evaporate immediately.

But country people probably manned the fields bareback, so they could understand.

But when Yi Yun took off his shirt, Song Zijun who had been calm all along, even when Yi Yun began the sixteenth level of difficulty, suddenly changed in expression!

Yan Menglong’s eyes also lit up; though he continued stroking his chin, he was stunned.

“Flowing Mercury Gown!” Yan Menglong was shocked!

What?

Some people were confused and looked curiously towards Yan Menglong. For a person like Yan Menglong to lose his composure meant it was something special.

“Flowing Mercury Gown? Was that the clothes Yi Yun took off?” The Jing state young masters looked curiously towards the shirt in Yi Yun’s hands. Besides it being thin, there was nothing special about it.

“Could this be…” Song Zijun looked incredulously at the Flowing Mercury Gown in Yi Yun’s hands. “This is the Mystic grade three Flowing Mercury Gown from the Lin family! It’s a treasure to train one’s movement and strength! It could be bought at auctions, but the price is so high to the point that there are no buyers most of the time.”

“Mystic grade three Flowing Mercury Gown can change its weight from 10 cauldrons to 1000 cauldrons according to the wearer’s preference. Not only that, it will restrict a person’s movement. Every movement while wearing it takes a lot of effort. Previously, while in the array… you were always wearing this…” Song Zijun’s voice trembled. He had worn something similar, but it wasn’t made by the Lin family, but he was very familiar with the Flowing Mercury Gown.

What the hell?

The Jing State Young Masters Faction were dumbfounded upon seeing Song Zijun lose his composure.

All their ears echoed was “change its weight from 10 cauldrons to 1000 cauldrons!”

10 cauldrons? Even the lightest was 10 cauldrons!?

Is he talking about this shirt?

Yi Yun had been demonstrating Minute Subtlety while wearing a 10 cauldron heavy Flowing Mercury Gown in the midst of the Frost Metal Blood Balls array?

This… must be a joke!

150 - : Yi Yun’s limit

The Jing state young masters could not accept it and were in disbelief.

This light-looking shirt had the weight of ten cauldrons? And Yi Yun was wearing that and handled fifteen levels of difficulty in the array so easily?

This must be a joke!

“The shirt… Can I see it…?” Song Zijun reached out his hand as he looked at Yi Yun with obvious respect. It was the respect given to the strong.

Yi Yun handed over the Flowing Mercury Gown.

Song Zijun held it with both hands and gently felt the softness of the Flowing Mercury Gown as his eyes looked on it with mesmerization.

“Fine workmanship, superior quality. It’s indeed an excellent Flowing Mercury Gown…” Song Zijun reluctantly handed back the Flowing Mercury Gown to Yi Yun. There were heavy clothing that were sold on the market, but those had fixed weights and were similar to armor, making the wearer clumsy and affecting their movement.

But the Flowing Mercury Gown could not only adjust its weight freely, it was also soft and thin. If one ignored the weight, it did not affect the wearer’s movement.

The difference in quality was too big.

Song Zijun had previously worn similar clothes, but the quality was nothing like the one in Yi Yun’s hands.

Seeing Song Zijun’s solemn expression, the Jing state young masters had no choice but to believe it. The Flowing Mercury Gown, as Song Zijun had said, was at least ten cauldrons heavy when worn.

Yi Yun wore a ten cauldron shirt and used Minute Subtlety while doing so. What sort of concept was this?

The Jing state young masters could no longer imagine it.

Suddenly, Yi Yun’s body flashed into the Frost Metal Blood Balls array.

Taking off the Flowing Mercury Gown made Yi Yun’s body light as a swallow.

Previously, he had grown accustomed to the Flowing Mercury Gown’s weight. With it suddenly removed, it was as if his body was weightless.

He had grown accustomed to the restrictions by the Flowing Mercury Gown where he had to overcome the strong binding force of the Flowing Mercury Gown with every move. Now with the restraint gone, Yi Yun’s control of his body was even more accurate and precise. It was as he pleased!

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Yi Yun easily dodged all the frost metal blood balls. Sixteen levels of difficulty could not push Yi Yun to his limits any longer!

“Haha. Delightful!” Yi Yun was delighted. To suddenly lose that restraint and being able to move as he pleased, allowing him to complete extreme moves, it made him feel happy and delighted!

But, the blood pearls’ speed was not fast enough. It made Yi Yun feel that there was something lacking!

“Add one more difficulty!” Yi Yun shouted.

The Jing state young masters did not know what to say when they heard him shout.

When Song Zijun previously introduced the Flowing Mercury Gown, they were mentally prepared that Yi Yun’s capability had reached crazy standards.

But when they saw Yi Yun easily dodge all the Frost Metal Blood Balls, and wanted to add another level of difficulty, their hearts sank.

Seventeen levels of difficulty!

This increase in difficulty was not just a tiny amount!

The Jing state young master controlling the array opened his dry mouth as he pressed down on the seventeenth crystal with a trembling finger.

Boom!

The moment the difficulty was cranked up, the entire array roared and quaked.

Every Frost Metal Blood Ball was screaming through the air, and moved like meteors hurtling around. Wind patterns that could be seen with the naked eye created winds that were like blades.

A soldier had a brush with a wind blade and felt his face hurt.

Just the force wind was terrifying! The power of the array could no longer be compared to the previous levels.

After taking off the Flowing Mercury Gown, Yi Yun’s eyes burned with fighting spirit going against such an array.

The force wind made Yi Yun feel like he was caught in a swamp. Every pore of his body felt restrained by immense pressure.

When the seventeen levels of difficulty initiated, the seventeen blood pearls no longer simply attacked. They could feel each other and were connected.

They could now cooperate!

The seventeen Frost Metal Blood Balls continued to smash into each other, creating thousands of permutations. Each collision was with a different strength, leading to a subtle change. This made the array unpredictable, with no traces of a solution to be found.

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Three blood pearls flew towards Yi Yun in a triforce pattern, and at the same time, ten blood pearls gathered behind Yi Yun, sealing off his retreat!

Yi Yun constricted his pupils and twisted his body in a magical angle, dodging all the blood pearls!

At seventeen levels of difficulty, Yi Yun had to consume several times more mental power to calculate, and did thousands of tiny adjustments just to be able to barely cope with the crisis again and again.

In his trance-like movements, Yi Yun felt he had perfectly coordinated his body and mind within the array.

Under the high level of concentration, it made him experience a mysterious realm.

His body turned soft, as if he did not have any bones. Every joint and every muscle in his body could be moved according to his wishes. They could make the most minute of changes, attaining a perfect combination.

Such high levels of concentration and physical change made him reach a point where he could control his body to an extreme level.

Gradually over time, Yi Yun began to feel severe physical exhaustion. Slowly, the sweat on his body began to turn into a mist.

This was an indication of a body being pushed to its limits. It was where the body became so hot that even the sweat boiled off.

“This feeling… is really delightful. I should be able… to go one step further!” Yi Yun was experiencing both pain and pleasure. But the huge amount of pain made him understand every detailed change of his body.

Minute Subtlety was originally an observation of everything, pushed to its limits.

Yi Yun was fully immersed in an indescribable happiness. Little by little, the ripples made by his body spread out slowly…

It was unknown when Yi Yun’s facial expression disappeared. He entered a trance-like mystic state.

He had the illusion that every inch of his body had been extended by a foot.

Within this one foot, it was as if it was his own world, his own territory.

When his feeling occurred, his posture within the array eased up.

Whenever a blood pearl entered a one foot distance from him, he would immediately have a reaction. With a slight move, he would avoid the attack before the blood pearl could have any change in direction.

To the people outside the array, Yi Yun seemed to have gained the ability of foresight.

Buzz!!

Suddenly, the array underwent a strange change. Seven Frost Metal Blood Balls simultaneously bumped into each other, and changed directions in the air. It suddenly flew in all directions, sealing Yi Yun’s maneuvering space!

“Chain of seven pearls!” The people exclaimed. There were too many bizarre changed at seventeen levels of difficulty. At this difficulty, not only were they simply fast, but the blood pearls had a charm associated with their attacks!

When the sons of the vast wilderness saw this scene, their hearts tightened.

Seeing the Frost Metal Blood Balls almost hitting Yi Yun, although he was covered in sweat and steam, his mind was still.

Yi Yun closed his eyes. When the seven blood pearls flew within the one foot radius, it was like the blood pearls’ “force” created invisible waves within his territory that allowed Yi Yun to fully perceive them!

In an instant, Yi Yun circulated his Yuan Qi to its limits. Every inch of his muscles were agitated at high speeds. He could detect the metallic smell of the pearls flying towards him at neck-breaking speed with each breath he took. Yi Yun’s concentration was focused on the pearls. The image of the Seven Frost Metal Blood Balls flying towards him was reflected within his mind.

Yi Yun’s movement and footwork miraculously made a hundred minor changes. To others, it was as if Yi Yun was stepping on a formless water surface, and each step created a wonderful ripple.

Whew!

The seven Frost Metal Blood Balls passed through Yi Yun’s figure. It gave people the impression that they had pierced through Yi Yun’s body!

Ah!?

Many people exclaimed aloud. But the next moment, they clearly realized that none of the blood pearls had hit Yi Yun!

Yi Yun’s movements remained smooth and fluid. The line of shadows he left behind lingered on.

Yi Yun had dodged the chain of seven pearls in a way they could not understand!

“This… How did he… do that?”

Whether it was the sons of the vast wilderness or the Jing state young masters, they were all completely shocked.

Yi Yun’s movement was like magic. His figure seemed to have lost its rigidness, leaving behind a mass of air. So no matter how the Frost Metal Blood Balls attacked, they were shuttling through empty air, not even once hitting Yi Yun!

“Minute Subtlety… large success stage! Yi Yun has already reached the threshold of the large success stage of Minute Subtlety…” General Yan eyes were radiant. It was amazing to reach this realm!

“Minute Subtlety… large success stage?” Outside the array, Song Zijun’s expression was complex.

As for the Jing state young masters, their faces twitched. They could no longer make any other expression. They had been shocked numb by Yi Yun.

The introductory stage of Minute Subtlety was to have precise control of one’s body. Using the smallest movement to avoid an attack. The efficiency of the movements is above 90%.

The small success stage of Minute Subtlety was to feel the attacker’s “force”, using the attacker’s “force” to power one’s movements. It was to use one’s opponent’s strength back at the opponent.

As for the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, it was to feel the Heaven and Earth’s “force”, merging oneself with the surrounding space, making it one’s “absolute territory”!

Currently, Yi Yun had made an area a foot around himself his own. As long as Yi Yun focused, his every move could be done with perfect harmony and flawlessly.

Yi Yun had only barely reached the threshold of the large success stage of Minute Subtlety and had not fully understood it. But this was a realm that the Jing state young masters were already unable to comprehend!

“Amazing! A Jinlin is in no case a common creature living in the pool, but it will change into a dragon upon facing a storm!” Yan Menglong had a premonition that Yi Yun would one day skyrocket, becoming a rising new star in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

151 - : Changes into a dragon upon facing a storm

Yi Yun, who was in the Frost Metal Blood Balls array, had now completely immersed himself in his own world.

Yi Yun did not hear any of the comments coming from General Yan or the Jing state young masters.

All he felt was the one foot area around his body that was his own territory. The ability to have complete control over this small space made Yi Yun obsessed!

Ever since coming to this alternate world, as Yi Yun’s knowledge of the martial world grew deeper, the greater his interest in the exploration of martial arts became.

Martial arts was like a beautiful treasure vault. Within it, there were numerous mysteries and truths waiting for a warrior to explore them.

And every time he sought after a higher goal, he would gain a deeper understanding, which delighted him.

Yi Yun still remembered the time when he flew across the endless mountains and canyons with Lin Xintong. It was intoxicating.

And there was also the thrill his strength gave him while battling fierce beasts in the Desolate Human Valley.

Also, with power, he could obtain stature, position, respect and happiness for his family and friends. By settling vengeances quickly, he could be in charge of the world, and could mete out justice to the good and wicked.

All of this gave Yi Yun a thirst. An endless thirst to climb higher, to explore the high levels of martial arts.

Human life is so short and passes so quickly.

By obtaining the Purple Crystal Origins, a bizarre item that might have caused the Purple Clouds’ Birth in the vast wilderness, it allowed Yi Yun to lead a heaven-defying and satisfying life, creating his own legend. He was not to covet a moment’s pleasure. Even though he could have a harem, but after a few hundred years, the outcome would be him turning back to soil.

Vegetables and rice took a year to grow, but they still ended up in the stomachs of mortals. But a black iron stone had to experience thousands of years of polish. Their brightness allowed them to last for millions of years…

Yi Yun knew that he was still in the polishing stage. He had to have the patience, perseverance and courage to accomplish all of it.

By entering the Frost Metal Blood Balls array, Yi Yun had reached the threshold of the Minute Subtlety’s large success stage. It also reinforced his wish to practice martial arts.

Seconds changed to minutes and after thirty minutes, only when Yi Yun was completely drained did he gradually leave that mysterious feeling.

Upon exiting the Frost Metal Blood Balls array, all Yi Yun saw were the Jing state young masters and the sons of the vast wilderness watching at him as if he was a monster.

Their eyes were filled with awe, envy, jealousy and worship…

“Brother Yi, you’re awesome…” The sons of the vast wilderness said it from the bottom of their hearts.

Yi Yun said, “I’m only better at movement techniques, as for other aspects, I’m not that good.”

Yi Yun was saying the truth. His Minute Subtlety was thanks to his perceptivity. This realm was unreachable by many people his own age.

As for other aspects, Yi Yun was good at them, but he was not at an abnormal level.

The Jing state young masters’ eyes dodged Yi Yun. Song Zijun was at his limit with sixteen levels of difficulty, and could only last thirty minutes. But Yi Yun had managed to last with flair in seventeen levels of difficulty for thirty minutes.

This strength made their faces swollen.

“Is anyone else challenging?” Yan Menglong’s question was met with total silence. What a joke! Who could win against Yi Yun?

Seeing this, Yan Menglong laughed heartily and said, “My Jin Long Wei is least afraid of competition and challenge! To aim high and never giving up! As long as you have the ability, you can pull down your superiors and me in the training field! Today, Yi Yun’s agility is number one.”

“According to my promise, I have two weapons and two bone relics awaiting you! Come, follow me!” Yan Menglong said as he beckoned Yi Yun over.

Zhang Tan patted Yi Yun’s shoulder and said with envy, “Kid, you are good. General Yan seldom gives such great praise. Two weapons from the top grade armory makes me envious too!”

Yi Yun smiled with mixed thoughts.

Weapon…

Choosing a weapon was a serious matter.

The Divine Capital’s Jin Long Wei top-grade armory was also known as the Divine Capital Armory. It was situated at the back of the Divine Capital’s Jin Long Wei’s camp. The armory was made of large slabs of obsidian rock. It looked majestic from the outside.

The weapons that were stored in the Divine Capital Armory were the best of the best treasures.

Yi Yun came to the Divine Capital Armory’s entrance and felt a deathly aura!

This aura came from the exquisite weapons within the armory.

The weapons were not all new. Some of them had been out in the field and tasted fresh blood. Some of those weapons had even slain human experts or strong primordial desolate beasts!

Only weapons that have killed had such a murderous intent spreading out.

“How is it?” Yan Menglong asked Yi Yun with a smile after seeing his reaction.

“My blood is boiling!” Yi Yun answered tersely.

“Haha, good! Let’s go in and take a look!”

With Yan Menglong in front, he led Yi Yun in to the Divine Capital Armory. After seeing the inside, it was unlike what Yi Yun expected. The weapons were not placed on racks, but stuck within large rocks!

On every three-foot black stone platform, there was a weapon embedded within it!

There were sabers, swords, spears and halberds!

Just after Yi Yun walked into the armory, he saw a spear, which was three meters long. It was shaped in a savage way, like a twisted serpent spear. It was embedded in a rough stone foundation. This long spear was mottled brown, as if it was dyed in blood.

Seeing the spear, Yi Yun felt something. He stepped forward to touch it. The spear was cold and hard. It was like frozen cold iron.

Yan Menglong laughed saying, “Kid, this spear is known as Breaking General. Why it’s named that is because many generals from ancient times use spears. With a long spear in hand, they can charge in and kill many enemies in one go. Extremely delightful! If you were to use this spear, it would be too long for you!”

Yi Yun’s body was still not grown up, so this spear was about twice Yi Yun’s height.

Yi Yun nodded. He knew he had just began. There were plenty of weapons within the armory.

Yi Yun glanced over and the various kinds of weapons dazed him. He did not know where to begin.

He slowly walked and touched each weapon gently. Sometimes, Yi Yun would climb up the stone platform and grab the weapon’s handle, hoping to find a special feeling, so that he knew that that was the right one.

Although they were all exquisite and had an extraordinary past, Yi Yun found that there wasn’t a big difference among the weapons after several tries.

This made Yi Yun lost.

Yan Menglong gave Yi Yun a meaningful glance. He could guess his thoughts and asked, “You can’t decide which to choose?”

Yi Yun thought and said, “It should be… I can’t decide what type to choose!”

Many warriors would only use one weapon type in their entire life. Those who used swords would carry on using swords, and those who used spears would carry on using spears!

It was a great deal to choose a weapon that was appropriate for himself.

Yan Menglong stroked his chin and said, “Yi Yun, some warriors are naturally attuned with a type of weapon. For example, I have seen natural swordsman. They seem to be born for the sword. Such people have to choose the most compatible weapon.”

“But there are people who are not sensitive to any weapon type. Any weapon suits them. Such people do not need to have an exclusive weapon, and is left up to their own desires!”

“Weapons are an extension of a warrior’s body. Some weapons are even a warrior’s life. For instance, I have seen natural swordsmen who wished they could change their bodies into a sword.”

“These kinds of people have excellent swordplay. But the moment they are separated from their swords, their battle power will be reduced! It is an extreme, and it has its advantages and disadvantages!”

“For people like them, they adapt to the weapon, but others would choose to make the weapon adapt to themselves. These people are strong, so it wouldn’t matter which weapon they chose!”

“For example, even in cultivation techniques, the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” may be a top-level cultivation technique, but it is not the be-all end-all of cultivation techniques. You can choose to practice the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” to an extreme level, but you can also choose other cultivation techniques, merging all the cultivation techniques into one for yourself!”

“There are two paths. It’s difficult to say which is better. One is narrow, but pushes you to the peak, while the other is wide, and might make you go through many detours. You take your pick.”

Yan Menglong’s words inspired Yi Yun. This was insight gained from real experience, enlightening Yi Yun.

“I understand.” Yi Yun nodded his head. He had already made up his mind.

152 - : The Heart for Martial Arts

Yan Menglong let him choose two weapons, it would not make sense for them to be the same weapon type.

Yi Yun had decided to choose a long-range and short-range weapon.

Long-range weapons were bows, crossbows, stealth weapons, spears or battle axes.

Among the long-range weapons in the Divine Capitals Armory, there were the greatest number of crossbows present. To an army, stealth weapons were not suitable. As for spears and battle axes, they were only used in tribes. These weapons were too heavy, and only suited for hunting. It would be tough to carry these weapons over long distances. A person’s carrying limit was about ten spears or ten battle axes

Yi Yun tried each one to get a feeling!

Suddenly Yi Yun felt something special when he touched a bow.

The feeling was not obvious and was difficult to explain, but it existed like an inseparable link.

“Bow… For my first weapon, I’ll choose a bow!”

“Oh, you are choosing a bow?” Yan Menglong’s eyes lit up. “In the army, there are eighteen martial skills, and the bow is first! Among the eighteen skills, bow is first, crossbow second, spear third, saber fourth, sword fifth, polearm sixth… all the way to bare fighting fists at eighteen! In the eighteen martial skills, the bow is first, and bare fighting last!”

Bare fighting was to fight bare-handed. A warrior would not always have their weapon beside them, for instance having their weapon shatter is a likely event.

Hence, fighting bare-handed is also extremely important. Hence as the last entry among the eighteen martial skills, it was leaving the best for last.

The bow was ranked the king among the eighteen martial skills because it was the king among long-range weapons! It was extremely important between two armies!

To a low level warrior, a crossbow would be easier to operate and learn. But a crossbow relies on mechanical power, so the power from it depends on the crossbow’s own body.

But a bow fully depended on a warrior’s arm strength!

Thus from ancient times, generals and human lords all used bows. The best weapon for obtaining the head of a rival army was the bow!

A speed of a bow was not something a crossbow could compete with. It was faster by at least four to five times.

When a human expert pulls a thousand cauldron bow, they can collapse a city wall with their continuous shots!

Seeing Yan Menglong acknowledge his choice, Yi Yun immediately took down a red battle bow. He pulled the bow and stretched it to the utmost.

Compared to his agility, Yi Yun’s arm strength was not as monstrous, but he was still far stronger than a warrior at the same level.

After all, Yi Yun had reached the “Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse” state!

When he stretched open the red battle bow, Yi Yun’s joints sounded out like rustling of frying beans. Yan Menglong stroked his chin and nodded slightly, “Not bad, this is the Sequoia Bow made by the Su family in the Jin state. Black iron was forged a thousand times into the bow. A typical early stage Purple Blood warrior can hardly pull the bow open. Only a peak-Purple Blood warrior could pull this bow and shoot continuously. This bow can easily pierce through a near-horned beast!”

Yi Yun shook his head and placed down the Sequoia Bow.

“Oh? You find it too light?” Yan Menglong smiled at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun nodded, “It’s not bad now, but my strength grows rapidly. This bow will outlive its use very soon.”

For a peak-Purple blood warrior to be able to string the bow made it unchallenging for Yi Yun.

“Haha, good! Follow me!” Yan Menglong said and brought Yi Yun around a large stone pillar. He retrieved a bow from behind the pillar, “Try this one.”

Yan Menglong threw a black iron bow over to Yi Yun. He looked meaningfully at Yi Yun, as if he wanted to test him.

Yi Yun caught the bow and immediately felt his arms sink!

Such a heavy bow!

Yi Yun was shocked. This bow was difficult for an ordinary warrior to lift, let alone stringing it to shoot arrows.

Yi Yun used his strength to pull. The bow gave a dull sound as he only managed to pull it open by a tiny amount.

Yi Yun raised his eyebrow. It sure was hard! With his strength of being able to pull hundreds of thousands of pounds of beast meat, he could not open up this bow!

“Even a peak-Purple Blood warrior might not be able to use this black iron bow. How is it, do you think it’s enough for you?”

Yi Yun went into deep thought for a while. He closed his eyes and felt the bow’s energy and the tremors when he pulled the bow. After that, Yi Yun shook his head.

“Oh?” Yan Menglong frowned slightly. “You can only pull open this bow by a tiny amount, and you still think its not enough? You do know that pulling the initial way just uses a tiny amount of strength. When you reach the end, you will need even more strength! This bow is enough for you in the Purple Blood realm, and you are not satisfied?”

Yi Yun thought for a while and considered his choice of words, “The strength needed is enough, but… when I held the bow, it was lacking a compatibility… It was like there a lacking spiritual connection.”

Yi Yun’s voice was hesitant, as he described with uncertainty, the mysterious feelings he had when pulling the bow. Although there was a weak compatible feeling when he touched the Sequoia Bow, it still existed.

But when it came to the black iron bow, it only felt cold to Yi Yun.

“Oh?” Yan Menglong looked with Yi Yun with surprise, “You actually have that feeling? Compatibility?”

“Yes,” Yi Yun nodded.

Yan Menglong took the black iron bow from Yi Yun and casually pulled it. The black iron bow gave off a dull sound before it was pulled fully open.

Yan Menglong released.

“Peng!”

A loud ring came from the bow as it quivered. It was like the surrounding air had been pulled along by this great strength and giving off violent tremors!

Yi Yun looked with hidden surprise. He was curious about Yan Menglong’s arm strength.

“Kid, you sure have some insight. This black iron bow may be heavy, but… it’s value is much lower than the Sequoia Bow you saw earlier! The Sequoia Bow was made specially by a blacksmith refiner. But this black iron bow was only made by a high-class blacksmith. The black iron bow is hard only because of its material!”

“Looks like… Among the long-range weapons, you have some natural sensitivity with bows… Not bad!”

Yan Menglong hesitated for a moment before saying, “Fine! Since then, I’ll show you that bow…”

Saying that, Yan Menglong brought Yi Yun deep into the armory. In the deepest parts of the armory, after going around a stone pillar, Yi Yun saw a door made of stone.

Seeing this stone door made Yi Yun excited as he was full of anticipation.

In the Divine Capital Armory, this bow was still kept separately in a secret chamber, which meant it was extraordinary!

Yan Menglong took out a key and opened the stone door. Yi Yun followed him into a stone chamber. On the stone wall, there was a black long bow. By the two ends of the bow, there were bayonets.

The moment Yi Yun saw this battle bow, his eyes lit up. He could feel an aura contained within like it was restraining some absolute power.

“Tai Cang Bow. It was made by a bow-making grandmaster that came from the Cang state’s reclusive aristocratic family, the Zhang family!”

“The Zhang family is an aristocratic bow and arrow family. The word, Zhang (张) has the meaning of bow (弓) within it. It is also used to describe the number of bows, such as one ‘Zhang’ of bow, two ‘Zhang’ of bows.

“Try it!”

Hearing Yan Menglong’s introduction, Yi Yun had a great feeling of excitement. He jumped forward and took the bow off the wall.

The first thought that came to Yi Yun’s mind was “heavy”!

This Tai Cang Bow’s body was not thicker than a thumbnail, but it was much more heavier than the black iron bow!

The Tai Cang Bow was made entirely of metal!

But holding the Tai Cang Bow, Yi Yun found that compatibility again. In fact, it was more than ten times stronger than the feeling when he held the Sequoia Bow!

Immediately, Yi Yun fell in love with the bow.

Yan Menglong said, “The Tai Cang Bow’s body is made of Tai Cang metal. Tai Cang metal essence is a family secret of the Zhang family. This metal is forged using the finest Divine black iron, making the Divine black metal have incredible flexibility! A shake of metal pole made from Tai Cang metal the width of a thumbnail can create tremors that can blast a person into pieces!”

“And not only that, this Tai Cang metal essence allows you to inject Yuan Qi into it. The hardness and toughness of the Tai Cang metal essence will increase a result. The more Yuan Qi you inject into it, the harder it becomes, making it harder to pull! Its strength increases too!”

“Not even you, even for me, when using this Tai Cang Bow, there is no limit to how much strength you can put into it. There is no fear that your strength can exceed the bow’s limits. As long as it’s the Zhang family’s Tai Cang Bow, if you can inject an entire ocean’s worth of Yuan Qi into it, you can really shoot down the Sun and the stars, piercing the sky!”

With Yan Menglong’s description, it made Yi Yun’s blood boil. This was indeed a great bow.

“Look at the two ends of the Tai Cang Bow. There are wrought iron blades mounted on the Tai Cang metal essence and with a swish can break any ordinary sword! The bow tip is made from Black Boned Giant Rhinoceros horns.”

“As for the bow string, it is made from an unknown number of processes. The Cang state’s Zhang family obtained the ribs of a Giant Python desolate beasts and twisted them into the bow’s string. It was then soaked into a mixture brewed from shark skin for eighteen years before completion!”

Yan Menglong’s description and the gaze he gave to Yi Yun conveyed a message–

“To give you this bow would be too good for a kid like you!”

But even without Yan Menglong’s description, Yi Yun could tell the strong feelings the bow gave to him. How could an ordinary item be placed in a stone chamber by itself? It was probably the most precious weapon within the Divine Capital Armory!

“Kid, try pulling it. Don’t inject any Yuan Qi, or you will definitely not be able to pull it open. Just use your body strength. I’ll warn you, if you can’t even pull it past the halfway mark, you are to play no tricks and put this bow back.”

As Yan Menglong said, he was pinching his stubble. It was clear that he felt pain in his heart to give such a bow to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun could no longer wait.

He immediately took a deep breath and with Qi rushing into his Dantian, and in a horse-riding stance, he used his waist as an arm and pumped all his muscles.

“Open!”

Yi Yun roared. His joints issued a “KaKaKa” sound as the Tai Cang Bow slowly bent, from a 0% to a 50%, as he approached 100%!

Yi Yun had managed to use his own body’s strength to pull the Tai Cang Bow to the three-quarter mark!

153 - : Yi Yun’s Weapon

“Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse! Together with the training from the Flowing Mercury Gown, you are constantly overcoming its binding strength. So your strength is pretty good.”

Yan Menglong stroked his chin and nodded, “Having given you such a good bow, don’t disappoint me. With this bow, be it out training or to achieving accomplishments in the future, there will be a form of assurance!”

“Thank you General!” Yi Yun gave his heartfelt thanks. He knew he had revealed enough, resulting in Yan Menglong to show such commitment to nurture him.

With the Tai Cang Bow slung around his back, Yi Yun took the quiver.

It was filled with Wind Chasing Arrows that were specially made for the Tai Cang Bow. They were made out of frost metal and their fletchings were made from the bird feathers of a primordial lineage monster bird. Such arrows could not change directions even with a Yuan Qi outburst from an opponent. They were top grade arrows!

Such expensive arrows would be a waste to shoot out. Strong bowmen could attach some Yuan Qi to the arrow’s shaft, retrieving it after shooting it.

After choosing the arrows and bow, next was the melee weapon!

Yi Yun looked through the entire Divine Capital Armory. He touched every weapon to decide on his selection.

This time, Yan Menglong did not say a thing and let Yi Yun choose by himself.

Yi Yun was unhurried. After two hours, he finally stood in front of a large rock.

There was a saber imbedded in this large rock!

Although it was a saber, it looked like a spear.

This saber was six feet in length (The lengths used here are those of ancient China. One feet is 23cm, one zhang is 10 feet, which is 2.3m. Yi Yun’s Thousand Army Saber’s blade is 6 feet long, which is 1.38m. With the hilt, the entire saber is 7 feet 2 inches long, which is 1.65m. It is taller than twelve-year-old Yi Yun’s height). Its handle was one feet two inches, resulting in a total length of seven feet two inches. It was almost equivalent to the height of an adult male and was much taller than Yi Yun.

There were silver-gray lines on the long saber’s blade. They looked like broken ice on a lake in winter and they looked beautiful.

Although the saber was extremely long, it was only two inches wide. The blade’s curvature was extremely mild. Together with its length, it made the saber almost straight, and also feel like a sword.

It was like a saber and a sword at the same time!

It could be used as a saber and it could also be used as a spear!

This saber’s exaggerated look reminded Yi Yun of katanas or miaodaos (苗刀) he had seen before. The word “miao” (苗) had nothing to do with addressing citizens, but described the miaodao’s narrow blade and length, which looked like a sprouted plant.

Of course, compared to the miaodao, katanas or samurai swords, they were much shorter than the saber Yi Yun saw.

The longer the blade was, the stronger each cleave was.

And the narrower the blade, the faster the saber was!

With those two points, a blade master’s saber tends to be long and narrow!

But the narrower and longer a saber was, the easier it was to break! It could be broken by an opponent’s weapon, broken with Yuan Qi, or even broken by bones.

Katanas and samurai swords were considered long, but they were not made too long for fear of breaking in battle.

In this alternate world, the blade crafting masters could push the narrowness and length to the fullest!

This was because they had absolute confidence in the sabers they create!

It was a real Horse Chopping Saber. A saber was given the name “Horse Chopping” because of its length,which allows it to split a horse into two.

And the saber Yi Yun chose could completely split a horse vertically. He could split an opponent and his horse from head to toe!

“This is it!” Yi Yun grabbed the saber’s shaft with both hands and pulled out the saber!

“Weng” When the blade separated from the stone, its blade gave of a low hum of metal. It was like a dragon breaking out of its restraints, giving off an extended roar. A cold chill surged.

“A good saber!” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up and used the saber to demonstrate “Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven”!

Although it was a saber, it was not much different from a sword, hence it suited the “Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven”. In an instant, Yi Yun was covered with flashes of light like a snowstorm.

The blade wind generated by Yi Yun left tiny scratches on the walls and ground.

“Enough, stop messing around!” Yan Menglong grumpily stopped Yi Yun, “The Thousand Army Saber! Kid, you sure have thieving eyes!”

This Thousand Army Saber was also made by a master. Although it was worth less than the Tai Cang Bow, it was also one of the best weapons in the Divine Capital Armory.

The Thousand Army Saber was made of Ice Frost metal. On the Ice Frost metal, there were pretty lines, which looked like a cracked ice surface. These lines were not there originally, but left there from the arduous forging process.

The Ice Frost Metal had a natural coldness to it. Using it to make a saber which could freeze a pond in the summer when immersed in the pond.

Using it to cut through other people’s weapons was as easy as cutting through mud. Not only normal weapons, even Yi Yun’s Yanchi saber would not last more than a few strikes against the Thousand Army Saber before breaking!

“Tai Cang Bow! Wind Chasing Arrows! Thousand Army Saber! Kid, you sure got a windfall!” Yan Menglong heart ached from Yi Yun’s choice of the Tai Cang Bow and the Thousand Army Saber.

Compared to those two weapons, the two inferior grade desolate bone relics had a much lower value.

“Kid, you aren’t even as tall as the saber and you already took away my Thousand Army Saber.” Yan Menglong’s face look pissed. Not even Yi Yun, the Thousand Army Saber was not much shorter than Yan Menglong.

“Thank you for the General’s generosity!” Yi Yun said it from the bottom of heart. He knew that although Yan Menglong hated to part with it verbally, but he still had the intentions to give Yi Yun both the Tai Cang Bow and the Thousand Army Saber. After all, the Tai Cang Bow was Yan Menglong who purposely brought Yi Yun to choose.

“With the weapons chosen, the desolate bone relics are not a problem. Following that… there’s still your land! Fuck, I’m seriously bleeding today!” Yan Menglong swore as he spoke. After affirming Yi Yun, he was more relaxed, and no longer gave off a high and mighty feeling.

Yi Yun sheepishly scratched his head saying, “This little one came to the central plains with only a few dozen followers. I wouldn’t need a large piece of land. A small one would do.”

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the monarch had absolute control over a vast piece of land. Below him, there were 108 states that were distributed. Each state was controlled by a duke!

A duke would then split the land further to generals and other state ministers of the vassal state.

The general would then distribute it among the Thousand Households and Kingdom Knights.

Yi Yun was the lowest of the nobles, so his land came from Yan Menglong.

Yan Menglong patted Yi Yun’s shoulders and said, “You will soar in the future. Soon, you will be taking some land from the Divine Capital; and when that happens, this land will come back into my hands.”

“So, I’ll give you a good piece of land. It will make you look good in front of your people and your sister!”

Yan Menglong had been very attentive about Yi Yun. He knew Yi Yun was very close to his sister Jiang Xiaorou.

He took out an animal skin map from his interspatial ring, and circled the land to be given to Yi Yun…

154 - : The Second Choice

Two hours later, Yi Yun took Jiang Xiaorou, Zhou Xiaoke and the other followers to his land under the Jin Long Wei’s guidance.

With the Divine Capital as a city, it was under the Duke of the Jing state, and it was his own territory. As for the other nobles’ territory, they were outside the city.

Yi Yun’s land was about a hundred miles away from the Divine Capital, which was an extremely good location.

Upon reaching the land, the people of the Lian tribal clan were amazed.

Yi Yun’s land was not some barren land. There was even a house within his land.

To be specific, it was a manor.

Although the courtyard, being a mile in circumference, didn’t sound big, it looked spectacular. The houses were close together in a row, and there were pavilions, rockeries and ponds. It resembled the gardens of Jiangnan.

Such a large manor could hold a few thousand people.

Yi Yun knew that in the mortal kingdom palaces, they were a few miles in radius. They could hold thousands of houses and even ten thousand houses. Eunuchs had to ride a horse just to light up the rooms.

“Although a Kingdom Knight was the lowest of all nobles, in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, it is still extremely good!” Yi Yun sighed. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s territory was so vast that it was difficult to measure. So for the normal nobles, they were all given land, but the nobility rank was not hereditary in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Wealth could be inherited but not the title.

Without the title, one did not have the land. If the next generation was useless, they would have to quickly give up the land.

Hence, the sons of the nobility would often work hard on cultivation. They actually were more stressed than normal people.

After all, after being used to a pampered and decent life, to not be able to maintain it was not only a loss of material goods, but a psychological pain of humiliation.

The main entrance to the manor could allow four to five wagons to travel side by side. There was a red lacquer door and it had ingots, the size of a fist, on it.

There were two large stone lions by the door and beside the stone lions, there was a flying fish stone sculpture.

Yi Yun led the people into the manor.

There were lines of red brick walls and glazed tiles. The manor was surrounded by thick century-old trees. There were many pavilions, magnificent buildings and a wide practice ground. There was also a emerald green pond…

These images were too much for the eye to feast on.

The Lian tribal clan people were all stunned. They had never heard of such a manor, let alone seen one.

In the Cloud Wilderness, they all lived in cottages and the walls were made of mud.

The best ones built their houses out of stone, which was a great luxury.

And Yi Yun’s manor was built with fine cement bricks through an arduous process. The resulting bricks were strong and even smooth to the touch.

The wood used to make the house was good aged pine. As for materials like ‘snow fir’ and ‘golden lines nanmu’, Yi Yun’s rank was still insufficient. It was not that he could not afford it, but his rank was not high enough.

The Lian tribal clan did not know the costs of the houses. If they knew, their jaws would have dropped off.

This was the world of warriors. The materials used by mortals to build houses may sound precious, but compared to the treasures used by the warriors, it was nothing.

Either of Yi Yun’s two weapons, the Tai Cang Bow and the Thousand Army Saber was worth more than the entire manor!

At that instant, the people who were unacquainted with the world grew excited from everything that was new around them.

They wanted to touch and to look, but they were afraid they would break something.

“So big, so pretty!” Seeing the scenery, Zhou Xiaoke was full of joy. She could no longer resist the crystal clear pond. She rolled up her trousers, took off her shoes and jumped into the pond to play. Her pair of tiny feet gleamed, which dazzled others.

She chased after the butterflies in the garden, and played with the Koi in the ponds. She had a great time playing by herself.

The other Lian tribal clan’s children were envious seeing Zhou Xiaoke play like this. Yi Yun had brought many children during this migration as the children were most innocent.

They had simple minds. It was easy for them to become loyal. Actually, Yi Yun did not care about loyalty; all he wanted was for them to not have wicked hearts that harmed people.

On the road to the central plains, these children had been exhorted by their parents that, upon arriving in Yi Yun’s house, the boys were to become manservants, and the girls to become servant girls. They had to understand the rules and not do anything they wished like they did in the tribe.

According to the rules of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, they had entered the Kingdom Knight’s territory. Their title was “seeking refuge from the master”. Besides Yi Yun and his sister, Jiang Xiaorou, all of them, including Zhou Xiaoke were slaves.

So now, they were all reserved, and did not dare to enjoy playing like Zhou Xiaoke.

But, having chosen these people specially, he did not treat them as slaves.

Before leaving the Cloud Wilderness, Yi Yun had did a character test on everyone he took away. Those that had questionable characters, plundering by cajolery and coercion, or bullies were left behind in the vast wilderness. They were given some meat and left to run their own course.

This was to prevent the bad people from mixing in.

Some people were innately bad. They wouldn’t show gratitude just because they were taken out of the vast wilderness. When Yi Yun was around, they would be servile, but once Yi Yun left, it was hard to tell.

Yi Yun was joining the Jin Long Wei and was destined to train and fight in wars. It would be normal for him not to be at home for several years.

If there were wicked people within his home, then they could betray him, erode the benefits of the manor and create all sorts of trouble. They could even do something to Zhou Xiaoke and Jiang Xiaorou. It was something Yi Yun did not wish to think about.

Hence, Yi Yun did not bring more than a hundred people from the Lian tribal clan out of the vast wilderness.

Yi Yun said, “In the future, just treat this manor as the Lian tribal clan. This is our new village. It’s just a prettier village.”

“Go ahead and play, there are no restrictions.” Yi Yun said casually. The children were initially scared, but Yi Yun smiled and chose a few children he was familiar with and let them lead the other children to play.

Initially, they were all timid, but slowly they opened up and played happily.

They chased each other across corridors, played hide and seek in the rockery and splashed water in the ponds…

The water droplets that splashed up in the air were like pearls in the Sun…

To the children of the vast wilderness, everything related to this manor was fresh. It made them excited and fond of it.

Seeing the children’s innocent smiles, even the adults had big smiles of satisfaction. Yi Yun was pleased too. He was glad he had brought happiness to these good, honest people.

“In the future, this manor shall be called the Soft Clouds (Rou Yun) Mountain Manor!”

Jiang Xiaorou was shocked when she heard Yi Yun said it as she turned to face Yi Yun.

Facing the setting Sun, Jiang Xiaorou’s face suffused a reddish glow, “Soft Clouds Mountain Manor… sounds very good…”

Of course she knew that Soft Cloud Mountain Manor were parts of her and Yi Yun’s name combined together.

In the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, there were clouds and mountain. The clouds were soft and the mountains were green. It was an artistic concept that gave limitless fanciful thoughts.

…

The manor, in addition to the houses, had several thousands of acres of fertile fields. Not only did these fields grow crops, they also grew mulberry and tea leaves.

Beside the fertile fields, there was a large river. Its water entered the fish ponds, and the water could be used for irrigation and fish farming.

Not far off, there were beast pens and horse stables. They could be used to feed the owner’s mount and also raise livestock and poultry.

Without any exaggeration, with some salt and metal, this manor could be cut off from the external world and still continue on. All the necessities of life were self-sufficient.

Yi Yun let Jiang Xiaorou preside over the distribution of the land. Based on the size of the population, each person were given about a dozen acres. A hundred people was probably the optimum number of people that could live in Yi Yun’s land.

The people Yi Yun had brought from the Lian tribal clan were now tenants of Yi Yun.

Initially, Yi Yun wanted to take a few percentage of their harvests, but Yi Yun was not going to be limited to this area. Neither did he want to pursue the food that these people survived on. As such, he decided not to take a cut, and all the crop production belonged to the tenants themselves.

Because of this, the Lian tribal clan people were extremely indebted to Yi Yun. Where could someone find such a landlord?

Back in the Lian tribal clan, a large portion of the fruits of their labor were given up. Every month, they would receive only a tiny amount of food from the Lian tribal clan’s headquarters.

And back then, the land belonged to the tribe as a whole. But now in the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, it was all Yi Yun’s. Yi Yun had given them fields rent-free and provided them with clothing and shelter. Such a master made them willing to die for him.

When the lands were distributed, the people’s mood was indescribable.

They had never seen such broad and fertile land in the vast wilderness. Some old farmers who have been farming for their entire lives burst into tears as they knelt down to kiss the ground. To farmers, the land was life. They had deep feelings for the land that ordinary people could not understand. To have land and food to eat, it was the greatest gift.

As Yi Yun’s sister, Jiang Xiaorou was the mistress of the manor.

The large fields, with a hundred people had to be managed properly. Who was to rear fish and who was to man the fields were planned. The finances had to be put into order and the family rules had to be complete.

Yi Yun had to cultivate and had no time for it. Hence, this responsibility fell on Jiang Xiaorou.

Jiang Xiaorou had wisdom that was completely inconsistent with her age. Yi Yun got a few housekeepers from the city to teach Jiang Xiaorou for a few days, and before long, Jiang Xiaorou had already managed to put the manor in good order.

This made Yi Yun rejoice. He had came to this alternate world and gained a sister who cared and took care of him, helping him share the burden.

After Yi Yun settled his house matters, he returned to the Divine Capital and entered the Jin Long Wei camp.

Yi Yun was not someone who would stay in his house, he had to carry on his military career…

155 - : Soft Cloud Mountain Manor

Early in the morning, just as the rooster made its morning call, the Jin Long Wei’s recruits gathered in the square!

Yi Yun was also living in the military barracks. But as a Kingdom Knight, he got his own dormitory and it was in good condition.

Yan Menglong stood in the middle of the square inspecting the new recruit warriors.

“Today is the first day you become a soldier! From today, you will receive tough training ranging from one to six years!”

Many of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Jin Long Wei would reach the late-stages of the Purple Blood realm, and even more would exceed Purple Blood when they retire.

A late-stage Purple Blood warrior had a lifespan of more than a 150 years, and could stay in their prime to a late age.

A Jin Long Wei could serve for a long time; hence taking 5-6 years of training was nothing much.

“All of you will be divided into three batches to undergo special training!”

“The three batches are… The third batch is to stay in the Divine Capital’s campgrounds. You will be trained in the Divine Capital! After completing your training, you will become Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s normal soldiers. If you have any meritorious services, you can be upgraded to an elite. Some feats might even make you a Kingdom Knight! Everything will depend on yourselves!”

“The second batch is the Zhong state campgrounds. The Zhong state is the biggest state in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. and it is where the imperial city is in. Hence, it is controlled by the Imperial Divine Majesty himself. To enter the Zhong state for training is of utmost glory! Those who undergo special training in the Zhong state would become Jin Long Wei elites upon completion. If there are any meritorious services, they will be made Kingdom Knights!

“As for the last batch, the Divine wilderness campgrounds! Qualified personnels are selected by the military division. They can voluntarily decide to go or not. The training grounds will be in the Divine wilderness ground! There is no shortage of danger in the Divine wilderness grounds, and a place full of death! One has to be prepared to die anytime within the Divine wilderness grounds!”

“The Divine wilderness campground is also known as the death camp, or the death gantry! There is a 15% mortality rate there, and a 5% chance of disability. Together, it’s 20%! Those who train there are the elites among elites. If you aren’t careful, you will be doomed eternally!”

“But if you were to complete your training, you will become an elite soldier of the Divine Kingdom. You can even become a human lord in the future! The Divine wilderness campground is the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s goal post. If you can jump across it, you will have eternal glory, but if you fall through it, you will smashed to smithereens!” While saying those words, his focus shifted onto Yi Yun and Song Zijun. Only Yi Yun and Song Zijun, within the entire Divine Capital were, qualified to enter the Divine wilderness campgrounds. As for them to go or not, it was up to them.

“Divine wilderness…” Yi Yun muttered to himself. He had learnt more about the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom in the recent days.

The Divine wilderness did not belong to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

In fact, the Divine wilderness did not belong to any country. Its dimensions were unknown. Its area was more than ten times bigger than the vast Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

To use one word to describe it, it would be: endless!

Deep in the Divine wilderness lurked real prehistoric giant beasts that had primordial blood. These divine beasts were equivalent to human Sages, and might even be comparable to a legendary great emperors!

The Divine wilderness was without end. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had only explored a small area of the Divine wilderness.

Due to the many uncontrollable factors of the Divine wilderness, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom established a camp in the Divine wilderness. Hence, the danger was obvious.

To say that the Divine wilderness campground was a death gantry was not an exaggeration.

“Dismissed! Yi Yun and Song Zijun, stay behind!”

Yan Menglong was brief. The three camps were distributed in a pyramid fashion. What he was most concerned about was the pinnacle of the pyramid, the Divine wilderness campgrounds!

“Yi Yun! Zijun! I’m sure you have probably guessed the reason for me keeping you behind.” Yan Menglong crossed his arms in front of his chest. He stood with his legs slightly apart and with a grand posture on the stone stage. He overlooked Yi Yun and Song Zijun.

Yi Yun and Song Zijun nodded.

“Entering the Divine wilderness campground is only by choice! If you do not choose to go, you can choose to go to the Zhong state campgrounds. There’s only a 2% mortality rate there. With your strength, you will definitely be the top of the Zhong state campgrounds, and would safely complete your training without any trouble. In the future, you will also get a good position, slowly rising to baron and be a Thousand Households. You can also marry a few wives, and lead a peaceful life as a master, do you want that?” Yan Menglong asked them rhetorically.

Yi Yun and Song Zijun answered at the same time, “We don’t!”

Serving safely in the Jin Long Wei for dozens of years and then be decommissioned; eventually, marrying and having children, living a wealthy squire life before dying after a hundred years. Besides leaving behind bones, nothing was left. Neither Yi Yun nor Song Zijun wanted to lead such a life!

A person had to have dreams and pursue them!

Lin Xintong had such strength, yet she still pursued her terminated meridians. Yi Yun, naturally did the same thing.

“Very good!” Yan Menglong nodded with appreciation. “If you choose the Divine wilderness campground, I have to tell you that there are numerous elites in there.”

“The Divine wilderness campground doesn’t only have the Jin Long Wei. Out of the three campgrounds I mentioned previously, the former two are organized by the Jin Long Wei, but the last Divine wilderness campground is organized by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. The Jin Long Wei only comprises about 10% of the people in the Divine wilderness campground.”

“Besides the Jin Long Wei, there are also the Qing Luan (Great Argus) Wei, the Royal guards and children of large family clans and members of the royal family!”

“These troops and family clan elites would all enter the Divine wilderness campgrounds!”

“Once you enter, you will see what it means to be a genius, and what’s monstrous. They have been bathing in drugs from the age of three, reaching Tempered Body at eight years of age. Some might even have a special bloodline, giving them natural strength that makes one envious, and even… there are some geniuses who are considered as youth sages!”

“The Divine wilderness campgrounds has a 20% disability rate and it is no laughing matter. Those who fall are top geniuses. Many geniuses who have died have greater talent than you!”

Hearing Yan Menglong’s words, Song Zijun took a deep breath of air and clenched his fists. He knew that in the Divine wilderness campgrounds, no one was weaker than him. There were even many who were stronger than him!

In the entire Divine Capital city, only two were chosen, Song Zijun and Yi Yun. Song Zijun admitted he was beneath Yi Yun, so he was considered as one of the inferior ones in those who were selected to enter!

By being weak, it would be dangerous. He might end up being one of those in the 20% mortality and disability statistics!

Yan Menglong carried on, “When you go to the Divine wilderness, you will be representing the Jin Long Wei, and representing the Jin Long Wei Divine Capital branch! Do not be an embarrassment for the Jin Long Wei, and do not embarrass the Divine Capital branch. Most importantly, what I want to tell you is… to come back safely. Life is most important!”

Yan Menglong did not bother to make sure if they regretted their decision, because he had found the answer within their eyes.

The Divine wilderness campgrounds was a challenge, but it was also a chance!

The path of practicing martial arts was to go against Heaven. Those who wanted to achieve much, had to charge forward bravely!

“Alright, go back and rest for two days. Early on the third morning, an airship will take the two of you there. Oh yes, I agreed to give you desolate bone relics.” As Yan Menglong said that, he flicked his fingers, and two bean-sized crystals flew into Yi Yun’s hand.

Back then Yan Menglong had said the winner in the competition would receive not only weapons, but desolate bone relics.

“Thank you General!” Yi Yun caught the two relics with delight. These two things were too critical. Yi Yun had already finished all the fierce bone relics he had accumulated back in the Desolate Human Valley.

A warrior’s cultivation needed endless amounts of elixirs and relics. To get a horse to run, it had to be fed.

“Do well! Don’t disappoint me!” Yan Menglong patted Yi Yun and Song Zijun firmly on the shoulders, and left. He left behind Yi Yun and Song Zijun who had mixed feelings.

Song Zijun breathed deeply as he clenched his fists, his fingers trembling.

Yi Yun was surprised at Song Zijun’s reaction and asked, “Scared? Excited?”

Song Zijun sighed with his back facing Yi Yun, “Both I guess…”

“General Yan is right, many of those geniuses who have died from missing the goal post are stronger than me! In fact, my strength is nothing when placed there. It might end up that my name will be on that 20% mortality and disability list!”

Yi Yun nodded. The weaker you were, the easier you would be eliminated.

“In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s 108 states, the Jing state we are in is an average sized state. And just the Jing state, there are 100 provinces! My Song family clan is considered a pretty good family clan in the Jing state’s Nanjun province, but it’s just one of many! I may be not bad in Nanjun, but it’s just not bad. Among the younger generation in the Nanjun, there are many much stronger than me. They just didn’t enter the Jin Long Wei and went elsewhere!”

“Oh…” Yi Yun understood it deeply. The dominating Divine Capital Jin Long Wei recruit camp was nothing much. They were just another division of the Jin Long Wei. They only held a small spot in the Divine Capital, and wasn’t the be-all, end-all. Besides, the Divine Capital was just a big city in the Jing state. Placed in the humongous Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, it was nothing.

This world was too large. What would the Divine wilderness campground with all the young elites of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom be like?

Yi Yun was full of anticipation!

Yi Yun and Song Zijun encouraged each other. Later, Yi Yun returned to the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. He had to handle his house matters.

But there was not much to handle. Jiang Xiaorou had settled everything. He only bade farewell to Jiang Xiaorou.

Yi Yun was never at ease with Jiang Xiaorou.

Thinking back, the people in his family were all kind people. They had been carefully selected by himself from the Cloud Wilderness. And because they showed gratitude towards him, they adored Jiang Xiaorou from the bottom of their hearts. So there shouldn’t be any trouble.

On the way back, he entrusted Zhang Tan to take care of the the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. With Zhang Tan, he could feel at ease.

At the same time, Yi Yun also hired a few martial artists to protect his house. Occasionally, they could teach Jiang Xiaorou and Zhou Xiaoke martial arts.

It was a helpless case. Yi Yun had rushed to the Divine Capital and then rushed to the Divine wilderness. He had no time to train Jiang Xiaorou in martial arts. Besides, he was not a skillful master. If only Lin Xintong could train Jiang Xiaorou, it would be great…

Lin Xintong, I wonder what happened to her. She had said her family had called her back for something. I wonder what happened…

156 - : Divine Wilderness Campground

“Yun’er, that Divine wilderness campground… do you have to go?” Jiang Xiaorou bit her lips and looked at Yi Yun with complex emotions.

Yi Yun did not tell Jiang Xiaorou about the mortality rates in the Divine wilderness campground, but Jiang Xiaorou still found out everything about the Divine wilderness campgrounds.

A 15% mortality rate and a 5% disability rate was too disturbing.

“I’ll be fine.” Yi Yun said seriously.

Hearing Yi Yun’s words, Jiang Xiaorou’s lips moved. She wanted to say something but did not say anything in the end.

Finally, she just gave Yi Yun a gentle hug. She knew Yi Yun had the life he wanted. What he had decided on, she had no way of changing his mind.

A wild horse was destined to belong to the prairie…

Jiang Xiaorou gave everything that Yi Yun could bring with him. She sewed a bag that suited Yi Yun, with a “Rou” embroidered on it. There were well wishes the people of the vast wilderness believed in sewn on the back. She also sewed the protective charm Su Jie had given to Yi Yun within, hoping it would keep Yi Yun safe…

With that, Yi Yun embarked on his journey…

…

The third day, at the appointed time, the sky had just lit up. Yi Yun carried a beast skin bag that was half the size of a human. He had been waiting in the Jin Long Wei’s square for a long time.

Not long after, Song Zijun’s figure appeared in Yi Yun’s vision.

Both of them nodded at each other. There was not much to say, as they both looked towards the Divine wilderness’s direction.

The two upright figures were like two straight javelins.

When the first golden ray of the Sun appeared, a emerald green speckle appeared in the distant horizon. Its figure grew and soon, it covered the sky.

Yi Yun looked up and secretly clicked his tongue. It was an airship. He had previously seen Lin Xintong in one back in the Cloud Wilderness.

This was a military airship. It was much bigger than the one Lin Xintong was on, but it was less sophisticated.

Airships were the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s air transports that were worthy of praise. Especially the airships that could cross the divine wilderness, they were also called divine ships. They were made by several of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s refinement masters. The metals used were all engraved with runes and arrays. They had strong defenses and many offensive measures. They could overcome the flying desolate beasts in the Divine wilderness.

The famous divine naval fleet of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was comprised of divine boats. It was a national symbol of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s strength.

The divine ship slowly lowered its height. Round droplets of water under its cold metallic belly flashed with the early morning sunlight. A few mysterious ancient runes inscribed on it shrouded the airship in a sacred halo.

Seeing such a mighty airship, Yi Yun’s was pumped. This was the first time he was flying on such a huge flying treasure.

He squeezed the certificate of proof needed for entering the Divine wilderness army.

Buzz

The airship roared as it suspended itself a hundred meters above the ground. It had stopped its descent.

A thick, black metal chain the size of a water bucket fell from the airship’s belly, crashing into the ground in front of Yi Yun and Song Zijun.

The heavy iron chains stirred up a dust storm.

A cabin door opened in the flying boat’s body. A thin, bald middle-aged man stood there with his hands crossed within his sleeves. Commanding from above, he looked down at Yi Yun and Song Zijun.

“Are you the Divine wilderness campground students that the Divine Capital Jin Long Wei have chosen? Show me your proof!” The man said authoritatively, sending the voice into Yi Yun’s ears, as if he was beside Yi Yun.

Yi Yun and Song Zijun answered and threw the certificate of proof upwards.

After examining the certificate, the middle-aged man nodded, “Good, use the chain to come up here.”

Yi Yun and Song Zijun immediately began climbing up the chains, but they realized the metal chains slid within their hands. It seemed like it was covered in layers of China wood oil.

Thinking about it, it was a small test.

But this test was nothing to Yi Yun and Song Zijun. With their flexibility, they climbed up the chain agilely like monkeys.

Yi Yun was especially outstanding. He climbed up it as if he was walking on flat ground. It made the middle-aged man give him a few more glances.

Upon entering the airship, the leader brought them to the northeast corner of the airship. After explaining some of the rules to be observed in the airship, he left.

When the leader left, Yi Yun took a look around carefully.

Within the airship, there were more than twenty people sitting down.

It came to him that these were participants from neighboring cities. There were many people just around the Divine Capital.

These people were all gallant and manly.

Some of them did not stop cultivating even on the airship. They sat down meditating. Some exhaled heavily, sending out punches. None of them looked relaxed.

This made Yi Yun realize that the people chosen to enter the Divine wilderness campground were not ordinary people!

Yi Yun did not say much to anyone. He sat down on his spot and began regulating his breathing.

Soon, the divine boat flew out of the Divine Capital’s influence. There were about a dozen people who boarded the divine boat in the neighboring cities of the Divine Capital. After flying to more than ten cities in a row, more than 100 people had boarded.

Following that, there was no one else. The divine boat flew higher and higher into the clouds, and with the array activated, it whistled through the air as it left behind a thunderous roar.

Yi Yun could not help but open his eyes and look out the window.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s scenery was a spectacle!

For a person like Yi Yun who came from a small tribal clan, it was a form of training and accumulation of experience to enjoy the panoramic view of the mountains and rivers.

Outside the airship, Yi Yun soon saw a huge roaring river. This river was several hundred miles wide and there were dark shadows within the river. Suddenly a shadow billowed out the waters. It was a giant beast many times the size of a whale. It leaped out from the water and grabbed a giant bird in the sky before diving back into the water.

Yi Yun could not help but be shocked. He had never seen such a murderous water beast.

He also saw there were flocks of strange birds that blocked out the sky in the endless desert. Their wings spanned a hundred feet and their flaps caused the airship to experience turbulence.

Also in the vast ocean, there were many tiny islands appearing out of the water for air. It spit out rainbows. They were actually colossal giant tortoises.

Many wonderful beasts amazed Yi Yun as it was an eye-opening experience.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was extremely vast, but after flying for a few days, the airship charged into a towering giant fortress.

The fortress had a magnificent array within it with countless numbers of crystals that radiated brilliant energy into the sky.

These were the super long-distance arrays.

As the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was too big, and the Divine wilderness was too far away, just flying in the airships were take an extremely long time. Hence, they had to rely on ancient arrays to travel.

Yi Yun counted and they had entered three such magnificent fortress arrays. They had been teleported three times, which was a distance on tens of millions of miles.

Finally, they reached a barren wasteland near the Divine wilderness.

The Lian tribal clan was originally in the Cloud Wilderness, which was beside the Jing state. But the Divine wilderness was at the other end of the Divine Kingdom. Traveling from the Jing state to the Divine wilderness covered a large area of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

The journey was too far.

The setting sun was blood-red as its glow spilled on the airship.

At the top of the airship, there were a few potholes. They were arrays embedded within the extraordinary metal to protect the divine boat. On their journey, they had been attacked twice by desolate beasts. And they left some traces on the metal.

“Divine wilderness! We’ve reached the Divine wilderness!” In the divine boat, someone shouted. Everyone rushed to the hall and looked out.

Yi Yun raised his eyebrows as he looked through the airship’s glass window. He found that in the distance, the fog was dispersed.

It seemed like a jungle’s atmosphere had surged over.

Ao!

The roar shook the world.

Below them, there was dust all over. There were many large behemoths running on the dust plains. Their hooves rumbled on the ground like thunder.

In the distant horizon, a black jungle spanned across. Each huge tree was like a beam rising into the blue sky.

There were sharp cries in the sky. They were numerous flying beasts swooping around and their razor sharp claws were like blades. A beast that looked like a lion had been grabbed from the chaotic dust storm as its blood smeared the sky.

Even further away, there was a mountain that towered into the clouds. There was a bright light circulating around it like a heaven realm. But this divine realm would shoot out black web-like silk capturing monsters that passed it…

Some of the mountain peaks were also bare and lifeless. A mountain was shrouded by a huge lion in a prone position. Its snores was thundering.

When the airship reached this area, it began to fly more carefully. It flew to an even higher altitude.

Below the airship was endless mountain stretches.

Occasionally, a large black swamp or sweltering desert could be seen.

There were mountain piles of white skeletons in those places.

“This is the Divine wilderness…” Yi Yun took a deep breath for the Divine wilderness was too mighty and dreadful.

“Look, isn’t that a Crackling Fire Beast?!” Someone suddenly said as Yi Yun looked down. He saw in the wilderness plains below the flying boat were small mountains of bones. Within these bones, there was something flowing like lava. It was apparently a Crackling Fire Beast.

But now, the Crackling Fire Beast had been killed. Its innards were exposed and a colorful huge bird was sitting on it, devouring its flesh.

Yi Yun’s eyes twitched. He knew that the Cloud Wilderness also had Crackling Fire Beasts, and was a well-known beast in the Cloud Wilderness. But in the Divine wilderness, it had became the prey of the colorful huge bird.

There was danger at every turn in the Divine wilderness. It was daunting. Compared to the Cloud Wilderness, it was at a totally different level.

The Cloud Wilderness was a barren land with little Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Hence, it could not give birth to treasures or strong desolate beasts.

There was a lack of types like grand giant beasts that were of the primordial species.

The Cloud Wilderness’s strongest desolate beasts would enter desolate wastes to the north of the Desolate Human Valley. The desolate wastes were two completely different places from the Cloud Wilderness.

But the Divine wilderness was different. It had countless numbers of grand giant beasts within it.

Normal people could survive, with great difficulty, in the Cloud Wilderness, but in the Divine wilderness, there were no normal people. Very few people treaded these lands. There were legends that there were mysterious tribes within that had special blood heritage. They were mysterious and powerful!

157 - : Traveling to the Divine Wilderness

“What is that huge flame-colored bird?” Yi Yun asked the person behind him. He had gained a few friends in these last few days.

“It’s a Ferocious Fire Bird. It has the bloodline of the primordial desolate beast Vermilion Bird. It and the Crackling Fire beast are both fire elemental desolate beasts. Consuming another fire elemental beast will help its development. Although they are both desolate beasts, the difference in their strengths is tremendous!” said a slightly plump youth beside Yi Yun.

This youth’s name was Xu Zheng. He was one of Yi Yun’s newfound friends that he gained while traveling.

Xu Zheng touched his plump chin and licked his lips, “Desolate beasts with primordial bloodlines, tsk tsk. They give great benefits to one’s body. If you can capture and refine a Ferocious Fire Bird into a desolate bone relic, it would be priceless on the market. There will be no shortage of people rushing to buy it.”

These days, Yi Yun had learned the different desolate beasts’ strength classification.

The weakest were normal desolate beasts. The only difference from fierce beasts was their ability to manipulate Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. It was similar to the Mortal Blood warriors before the Qi Gatherer realm and those who had broken through to the Qi Gatherer and above.

After normal desolate beasts, there were the elite-ranked desolate beasts, general-ranked desolate beasts, king-ranked desolate beasts…

Further up, there were rumors of primal-ranked desolate beasts and primordial-ranked desolate beasts. These were beyond Yi Yun’s comprehension scope.

For a desolate beast to be strong, the most important criteria was its bloodline. Typically, a desolate beast with a primordial bloodline tends to be stronger.

If one could kill a primordial type and obtain its bones and blood, one could make them into a relic and elixirs and their value would be immeasurable.

Of course, this was too far away for Yi Yun. He found it difficult to beat normal desolate beasts, not to even mention how he would do against primordial types.

As it started to turn dark, a commotion aroused within the airship. Upon hearing this, Yi Yun looked out into the distance. What he saw completely shocked him.

He had previously heard that the Divine wilderness campground was located within a city. This city stood within the Divine wilderness and was known as the Divine City of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

Words are but wind, but seeing is believing. Now, after seeing the city, Yi Yun knew why it was called “Divine City”!

Within millions of miles of endless gray plains, there stood a city. It was built on the peak of a gigantic outcrop!

The city was a black citadel. The foundation stone pillars were below it. It was a shaved off summit, dozens of miles in radius and tens of thousands meters high!

A city built on top of a rock pillar which was tens of thousands meter high, made it look like a black dragon from afar!

It was hard to imagine that the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had built such a city in the Divine wilderness. Even the most capable human would sigh with emotion when seeing this!

As the airship approached, Yi Yun slowly saw the city’s silhouette come into view. The sight made him feel a majestic aura, as if an emperor-god was attacking him, both mentally and physically.

Yi Yun’s chest started to fill with an unknown vigor, as if his blood was set on fire.

To use magnificent to describe a city such as this would be insufficient.

The city’s base was already tens of thousands of meters tall. Inside the city, there were tall buildings, some of them even pierced through the clouds themselves.

The walls around the city seemed to be connected to the sky, as if they were endless.

There was a huge, dark brown colored square in front of the city. It looked like it had been covered in blood, revealing an endless amount of killing and vigor.

Beside the square, there were thick and tall old trees, which resembled green giants.

The entire city was situated on a sharp cliff, the cliff walls were smooth like mirrors. There were no roads, only water-bucket sized black metal chains that linked the jagged parts of the cliff to the plains tens of thousands meters below.

Looking at it from below, the chains were huge and lofty at the bottom, while the other end looked thin in the distance, as they eventually disappeared into the clouds. It was horrifying.

These chains were bridges that hung in the void and they were the only entrances into the city from the Divine wilderness plains.

Such construction made it difficult to enter and exit the city. But it had a great advantage, it was easy to defend.

The Divine wilderness would occasionally have beast hordes. In these beast hordes, there was no lack of king-ranked desolate beasts. If it was an ordinary city, it would long since have been flooded by a beast horde!

Having a city built on an outcrop tens of thousands meters high, standing all alone at the pinnacle, once the chains were withdrawn normal desolate beasts would no longer have any way of attacking.

The airship landed on the square in front of the city.

There were dozens of vessels, the same size as the large airship they were on, parked in the square.

There were many strong-looking guards standing in the square.

Yi Yun, Song Zijun and the hundred other people from the airship followed the thin bald man in disembarking.

The moment he disembarked the airship, Yi Yun felt an extremely dense and oppressive Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi here was more than ten times denser than in the Cloud Wilderness. The density of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was very important for a warrior’s cultivation, hence, the Divine wilderness was considered by many warriors to be a sacred cultivation ground.

Finally standing in the square, Yi Yun felt the majestic aura of the city.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s number one city–Tai Ah Divine City!

The Zhong state royal capital was the central city of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, it was magnificent and had a grandiose atmosphere. However to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warriors, this city that stood in the distant Divine wilderness was the true number one city of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

Over the tens of millions years, the Tai Ah Divine City had nurtured numerous numbers of warriors for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. They cultivated here, they killed and grew here!

“How does it feel?” The bald leader spoke with pride. The Tai Ah Divine City was the pride of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

When standing on the tens of thousands meter tall city walls, looking at the endless plains of the Divine wilderness below, pride would inevitably rise up in every Divine Kingdom warrior!

“Let’s enter the city!” The bald man led them with a wave, bringing all these young heroes into the city.

The sky was already turning dark at this point.

The city walls were dimly glowing with inscriptions before they lit up one by one. It made Yi Yun clearly feel a mighty energy fluctuation.

These were inscription arrays made by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s array masters over hundreds of millions of years. Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was injected within, allowing every inch of the city wall to be impregnable.

On the city wall’s crenels, there were ballistae with fine inscriptions on them, as their muzzles pointed outwards in all directions. The ballista’s cold arrowheads would shimmer with purple energy. Together with the entire city wall’s array, it gave off a subtle trill.

These ballistae were like beasts in the night. Although they were not pointing at Yi Yun, they gave him a thin layer of goosebumps.

When a beast horde would appear, the greatest threat came from the attacks of flying desolate beasts. These ballistae were the nemesis of these flying desolate beasts!

Hence, this city was the amalgamation of uncountable numbers of Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warriors’ wisdom as well as their flesh-and-blood.

At this moment, the city gates opened. Yi Yun followed the bald man into the Tai Ah Divine City. There were not many people in the streets, so they looked empty.

Upon entering the city, the most prominent building was a large tower in the city’s center. This tower was squarish in shape and half of its height had broken through the clouds. Its spire, blurred within the clouds.

It looked like a huge pyramid.

Yi Yun compared it to the surrounding buildings and found out that, all the buildings around it made the pyramid’s size become even more exaggerated, it was like a huge mountain by itself.

Layer after layer of the pyramid was filled with exits, which made it look like a beehive. Flying beasts and airship could be seen shuttling though these exits. In the face of this huge pyramid, those huge beasts and airships were as small as mosquitoes.

“That is the Central Divine Tower. The top level is the residence of the Divine wilderness city’s city lord and its three elders. The Tai Ah Divine City’s elites live in the lower levels.” The bald man casually introduced it tersely before taking them deeper into the city.

The deeper Yi Yun entered the city, the more shocked he became.

The various buildings within the city were not exquisite. But their ruggedness and magnificence emitted a sturdy and solid aura. Its steadfastness was breathtaking.

Some of the building materials used even had several primordial type desolate bones. Yi Yun could feel the undulating souls of the beasts.

Such buildings were solid and grand in construction. Even if a desolate beast were to enter the city, it would find it extremely difficult to destroy these buildings.

Even the ordinary houses on the streets were covered with protective arrays. They looked ancient and simple. Some of the commoner’s houses had beams made out of the shin bones of unknown beasts.

It was amazing to use bones as beams.

“Oh? “What’s that?” A young hero found that there were black round metal platforms by both sides of the street. These round platforms were lined neatly and above each one there was a stone sculpture in the shape of a human bust.

Below the stone sculptures were some text.

One of the round platforms wrote: “In 2164 W.D., Gao Zhi stood on the Heaven-Earth stage and lasted for 3 min 24 seconds. He had broken the records of the ancestors. This record is to encourage future generations!”

Heaven-Earth stage? What’s that?

Yi Yun was puzzled. This “Gao Zhi” was naturally a person’s name. If he wasn’t wrong, the bust was Gao Zhi.

This half-man sculpture was that of a teenager with a daring sense.

As for 2164 W.D, it was the year that marked the beginning of the Divine Emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, Wan De. He was a Divine Emperor from 50,000 years ago.

That was to say that this metal round platform and the bust had stood there for 50,000 years. This Gao Zhi person had most likely passed away!

“Are these the records left behind by warriors training in the Divine wilderness?” Yi Yun understood that this street lined with metal platforms and sculptures, recorded all the geniuses that appear in this Divine City. They had accomplished splendid achievements in the Divine City and their records gave them a permanent place in history.

158 - : Central Divine Tower

The street went straight into the heart of the city. This was Tai Ah Divine City’s main road that went from the southern gate to the city’s center. Whoever entered from the southern entrance had to pass by this road. Hence, to place the sculptures here meant immense glory!

The bald man said, “This road is known as Sage Avenue! Whenever a warrior in the Divine wilderness campground breaks a record in the divine city, his name will be left here in Sage Avenue. A sculptor master will carve a sculpture to be placed on the Sage platforms!”

“To be able to have your bust and name left in the Divine City is a great honor. There is no lack of people dreaming of this!”

“But, it’s too hard. In the past 200 years, there have been no new names or busts. If anyone has the ability, they would have that tiny chance to become a human sage!”

“And because of this, this road is known as Sage avenue.”

“To become a sage!?” Hearing these words, the young heroes were extremely excited. A human sage was a person who could summon the rain with a flick of his hand!

Back then, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s founding emperor was a sage! Of course, among the sages in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, he was one of the best.

They did not need to be one of the best amongst the sages. Even the lowest sage rank was an extreme figure. No matter where they went, they would be given the utmost respect. Even the ancient family clans would be respectful!

From the youths that came to the Divine wilderness campground, which one did not want to become a top warrior? This Sage Avenue had stirred their excitement.

Many people stopped moving forward. They stopped and began reading the words written on the metal platforms.

The bald man did not stop them and permitted them to carry on looking. These things were placed here to honor the ancient heroes and to inspire the future generations. Letting these young people take a look was a good thing.

“Oh? Qingfeng Year 634. Zhou Tianping entered the top 1000 spots within the three rolls of honor simultaneously. He had broken the records of the ancestors. This record is to encourage future generations!”

“Qingfeng Divine Emperor, then that’s a divine emperor from 100,000 years ago. And he entered the top 1000 spots within the three rolls of honor? What’s the three rolls of honor?

The Tai Ah Divine City had always been mysterious. Even the youths from some smaller family clans did not know the rules of the Tai Ah Divine City.

“The three rolls of honor are the Heaven, Earth and Man rolls! These three rolls are extremely important in the Tai Ah Divine City. You will see it in the future!” The bald man said before proceeding forward.

The hundred young heroes walked along the street with their eyes focused on the metal platforms that lined both sides of the street.

The outstanding figures that had their names engraved on the metal platforms filled them with sincere admiration.

“Oh? Jing state’s Wang Lixiao. Isn’t he one of the four presiding army commanders! Back then General Lee had came to the Divine wilderness campground for training, and even left his name on the Sage platform.” A youth discovered it and immediately attracted a lot of attention from the others.

The Jing state’s Wang Lixiao was an idol of many young warriors. To see their idol’s name here excited them greatly.

If… they could leave their name here, it would be great.

These were the thoughts of many people. Of course, they knew that this was an incredibly difficult achievement.

The bald man led them into a rustic building in the rear of the city. Everyone was given a token.

“Mark an imprint within the token with your spiritual energy. In the next six years, this token will be your identity symbol!”

Yi Yun took a token and it felt heavy in the hand. The token was palm-sized and was about a few dozen pounds in weight.

The front of the token was filled with inscriptions and on the back were the words “Divine wilderness” in ancient script.

Yi Yun imprinted his spiritual energy into the token. Soon, golden runes lit up from the token, making it sparkle.

“Oh? This is…” The golden runes were like scales. It surprised Yi Yun.

“These dragon scales runes are the most basic item for warriors here. Without dragon scale runes, they can’t do anything.”

“Every expense within the Tai Ah Divine City for warriors, including resources, cultivation techniques, relics, training grounds need to be bought with dragon scale runes! Slowly, you will understand the importance of dragon scale runes.” The bald man explained by the side.

“I see, so dragon scale runes are the currency of the Tai Ah Divine City…” Yi Yun counted the number of dragon scale runes he had within his token. There were only ten.

The bald man said, “From today, this will be where you will be staying. The stone houses behind you is where you will live. These stone houses are the lowest class houses in the Tai Ah Divine City. It is provided free-of-charge. Food here is also provided free-of-charge, but of course, it’s the most inferior.”

The lowest class houses and the most inferior food?

All these young heroes were unordinary people. Hence the words “lowest class” and “inferior” were extremely harsh to the ears.

A youth could not help but ask, “What about the superior residences? What are the benefits? If we want to change to those places, what requirements do we need to meet?”

The bald man said, “The Tai Ah Divine City’s residences are divided into lower class, middle class, upper class, and the central divine tower! The lower class residences are free. The middle class residences charge two dragon scale runes a day. Upper class residences charge five dragon scale runes a day. As for the residences within the central divine tower, they charge at least fifty dragon scale runes a day.

“The central divine tower’s residences?”

All the young heroes consciously looked towards the city center. That mountain-like pyramid made them feel extremely small.

Out of the four types of residences in the Tai Ah Divine City, the lower, middle and upper class had similar prices.

But once it reached the central divine tower, the price jumped ten times, and began at fifty dragon scale runes!

It was obvious there were plenty of advantages living in the central divine tower.

The bald man said, “The Tai Ah Divine City’s central divine tower is a huge array that gathers Heaven Earth Yuan Qi! The Tai Ah Divine City is itself built on a wonderland vein and is thick in Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Together with the central divine tower’s array, all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in a hundred mile radius gathers towards the Tai Ah Divine City. Hence, the central divine tower is the place which has the densest Heaven Earth Yuan Qi!”

“The higher you go in the central divine tower, the thicker the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi is. The density in the top level reaches an inconceivable point!

“Fifty dragon scale runes is to stay within the lowest levels of the central divine tower. The higher one goes, the more expensive it becomes!”

“The Tai Ah Divine Tower has 99 levels. From level 50 onwards, the prices become extremely exaggerated. From level 70 onwards, the price becomes astronomical. The young heroes that come to the Tai Ah Divine City have no ways of affording it!”

“Affording it? Then who stays in the rooms above level 70?” Someone could not help but asked.

The bald man said, “In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there are many fathomless people like dukes, grand dukes, and some reclusive old human monsters. Typically, these people can stay above level 70…”

So that’s it!

The young heroes looked at each other. Those people had power beyond their comprehension.

Indeed, for the Tai Ah Divine City to be the number one city in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, and it being a city for warriors, it was a place for these young heroes from all around the country to train. But it did not only belong to them.

The best cultivation grounds above level 70 were of course given priority to these super experts. For a teenager kid to go up and use it?

Difficult!

The bald man continued, “Above level 95, there are top class rooms. In the Tai Ah Divine City, there are only 20 such rooms. Even with vast amounts of dragon scale runes, one is not qualified to stay within. Unless you have the absolute value or have obtained stunning results giving you enough glory points, then can you enter!”

Hearing the bald man’s words, everyone felt depressed. This central divine tower was good, but its requirements were too high, especially those rooms on the high levels. They were not prepared for kids like them.

From the bald man’s words, they could tell that he meant that for them to stay in the lower levels of the central divine tower would be extremely good.

It would be amazing if a few outstanding people could live at a dozen stories.

“First stay here. Tomorrow, I’ll bring you to the cultivation grounds. That cultivation is a chance, so take good advantage of it!” As he said those words, the bald man turned around. The youths sighed before walking to their dormitory.

These low class residences were at the edge of the Tai Ah Divine City. The rows of houses numbered a hundred. Yi Yun looked through a few rooms and realized something.

“Oh? The same free room, but the living conditions are so great in difference?’

Some of the rooms had spirit gathering arrays, resulting in the Yuan Qi in the room to be thicker. But other rooms had nothing, and was the same as outside the house. To cultivate in such houses would be naturally difficult.

Yi Yun sensed the area carefully and quickly found the houses with the thickest Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

On the wall of this house wrote–

House rating: Middle class.

Required dragon scale runes: None.

“Oh? Middle class room?” Yi Yun was surprised that mixed in this low class residence were 5 middle-class rooms and they were free.

Then who wouldn’t want to live in the middle-class house?

But…the bald man did not assign any room numbers to them. Hence, anyone was eligible to stay in these middle-class rooms.

Yi Yun could faintly guess the reason for such an arrangement by the Tai Ah Divine City.

Yi Yun pondered for a while, and walked towards the room. Just as he crossed the door, a cold voice came from behind him suddenly, “Sorry, these five houses are ours!”

Yi Yun turned his head and saw a majestic-looking youth. His arms were crossed in front of his chest as he sneered at Yi Yun.

The youths that came to the Tai Ah Divine City were about the same age. But the man in front of him was very much like an adult be it his height or build.

When this youth matured, he would probably grow to be as strong as a tower.

159 - : Sage Avenue

Yi Yun knitted his eyebrows as the youth said, “Let me introduce myself. I’m Zhou Kui from the Xuanwu (Black Turtle) Army!”

The entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom did not only have the Jin Long Wei as its only military division. The Xuanwu Army was one of the other trump military divisions of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

A normal Xuanwu Army soldier was on average, inferior to a normal Jin Long Wei warrior. But the size of the Xuanwu Army was ten times that of the Jin Long Wei.

Besides that, the Xuanwu Army also specially nurtured an elite corps. The people from this elite corps were not weaker than the Jin Long Wei elites.

The Xuanwu Army was stationed in the north of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and there were branches in the Jing state. Hence, accompanying Yi Yun and Song Zijun were a large number of Xuanwu Army personnel.

When Yi Yun was stopped by Zhou Kui, the other Jin Long Wei personnel came over.

The military was a cohesive entity. Whenever there was a conflict, people of similar backgrounds would help one another unanimously against external threats. If a fight was to occur, it was a fight to fight together!

“Brother Yi, what’s the matter?!” Xu Zheng, who Yi Yun had gotten to know, came over. He too was from the Jin Long Wei.

Yi Yun sent a signal with his eyes and the people immediately understood what was going on. “Hehe, with five rooms, we should allocate them accordingly, but the Xuanwu Army wants them all?”

“That’s too high-handed! Who do you think you are!?” said someone behind Yi Yun.

Immediately, all the Xuanwu Army personnels stood behind Zhou Kui.

The soldiers’ bodies from the Xuanwu Army were generally bigger than the Jin Long Wei members.

In contrast, the Jin Long Wei soldiers only number a dozen, a lot less.

A dozen against three dozen.

Yi Yun took a look at the stout Zhou Kui. He knew the intentions of the Tai Ah Divine City. By arranging there to be a few middle-class rooms mixed in with the lower-class rooms, without any allocation, it was to put the warriors who came into the Tai Ah Divine City into a competitive state from the very beginning.

Competition, battling, elimination. This was the purpose of the Divine wilderness campground’s deadly goalpost!

A simple competition for residence spots reflected this.

Zhou Kui clearly understood the rules too. He said without fear, “In the Tai Ah Divine City, strength is king. The five middle-class rooms placed here are obviously for us to compete over! Hehe, I like to compete! The Jin Long Wei wants to take a spot for themselves? Sure! We can have a competition here today. Whoever wins gets to stay in it!”

The Xuanwu Army had a daunting presence, and they had the advantage in numbers. As Yan Menglong said, none of the young heroes who could stand here were weaklings. The Jin Long Wei’s dozen people against the Xuanwu Army’s three dozen people had a predictable outcome.

Even Yi Yun, who was confident in his own strength, could not fight one against many.

“I know Zhou Kui. His cultivation level is at the middle stages of Purple Blood, nearly entering the late stages!” Xu Zheng said beside Yi Yun.

The situation was that they would definitely suffer if they went to battle. But if they did not fight, the Jin Long Wei would be disgruntled to just hand over all the middle-class rooms.

The Xuanwu Army had encircled the rooms. Zhou Kui laughed as he cracked his knuckles, giving off a provocative feeling.

His muscles tightened up and became similar to granite. It was hard to imagine that he was actually a fourteen-year-old teenager.

“Today, I’ll stand here and represent the Xuanwu Army. Who wants to come up and fight me? If you beat me, you will have the right to take one room.”

Zhou Kui knew that with such an arrangement by the Tai Ah Divine City, it was alright to have private matches as long as the opponent was not maimed.

Yi Yun looked at Zhou Kui. Zhou Kui had two weapons, a war blade and a warhammer. They were both hanging along his back.

It was rare to see a hammer as a weapon. Only people with great strength used hammers as their attack speed was slow, and were incomparable to swords and sabers.

As for the war blade Zhou Kui had, it was an extremely heavy war blade with a thick handle. It was completely different from Yi Yun’s Thousand Army Saber.

The Thousand Army Saber’s blade was long and narrow and had a tiny curvature, making it look more like a sword.

Compared to Zhou Kui’s war blade, they were two completely different weapons.

Yi Yun muttered slightly as his eyes flashed strangely.

The Tai Ah Divine City was a place with cut-throat competition. Since he was here, Yi Yun decided to accept the rule that the weak were the prey of the strong. There were too many geniuses in the Tai Ah Divine City; if you did not suppress others, others would suppress you.

In fact, not only in the Tai Ah Divine City, on the long martial arts path, if one wanted to carry walking down that path, one would continuously face competition. To mature and become stronger meant one had to fight for what belonged to them!

Yi Yun did not say a word and slowly unbuttoned his collar buttons. He took out a light chiffon, and handed it casually to Xu Zheng.

“Help me hold it,” Yi Yun said. He had handed Xu Zheng his Flowing Mercury Gown.

Xu Zheng paused because he could not tell what Yi Yun had handed him.

Zhou Kui did not react either. His arms were still held by his chest as he stood there boldly waiting for a challenger. His eyes swept the surroundings without much care. Even Yi Yun’s action of taking off the Flowing Mercury Gown was not given much attention, just a short glance. His attention was not on Yi Yun specifically as he did not think Yi Yun was anyone special amongst the dozen Jin Long Wei people.

At this time, Yi Yun moved! Without any warning or words, his body shot out like lightning.

His speed was extremely fast!

“Cha!”

The Thousand Army Saber was unsheathed!

Ever since he grasped at the entrance of the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, his speed could only be described as terrifying.

“Twang!”

The Thousand Army Saber slashed through the air generating a sharp sound. But this sound could not follow the Thousand Army Saber’s speed!

“Huh!?” Zhou Kui’s pupils constricted. His reaction was extremely fast as he retreated quickly. At the same time, he released the arms across his chest and was about to take out the war blade and war hammer from his back.

But just as he touched the blade’s and hammer’s handle and retreated three steps, Yi Yun’s Thousand Army Saber blade had reached Zhou Kui’s throat!

The cold blade had a murderous chill!

Zhou Kui’s neck started to bleed. If Yi Yun had not withdrawn the Thousand Army Saber in that hundredth of a second, Zhou Kui’s neck would have been cut apart!

This long saber was not any ordinary short saber. Just the blade was almost the same height as Yi Yun. When held by Yi Yun, he had an awesome aura!

Zhou Kui stood motionless as his forehead was sweating. In that moment, he had sensed death.

The people standing around were silent as they looked at this scene with stunned looks.

“You… attacked sneakily!!!” Zhou Kui’s eyes stared at Yi Yun’s blade. He said it while holding his breath. If he breathed too vigorously, he could not guarantee that the blade would not cut through his throat.

Zhou Kui was nursing a grievance. He had been crossing his hands in front of chest, with his blade behind him. He had just announced the match, and Yi Yun suddenly attacked him!

He had not even reveal any of his abilities and had nearly been instantly killed by a kid half a head shorter than him!

After hunting hawks for his entire life, to be pecked in the eye by a sparrow was a great humiliation.

“On the battlefield, will an enemy ask you if you are ready before killing you?” Yi Yun did not withdraw his saber. The blade tip was still against Zhou Kui’s neck, making it difficult for him to speak.

Zhou Kui shut his mouth because the ultra-long battle saber in Yi Yun’s hand gave him too much pressure.

At this time, the Xuanwu Army exploded. They were disgruntled and began shouting, “Too despicable. It was a sneak attack, and yet he made it sound so high and mighty.”

“If you have any ability, withdraw your saber and fight a decent match with Brother Kui!”

Zhou Kui’s strength was one of the highest among them. Due to his exceptional strength, when Zhou Kui used that war blade and war hammer, there was no one who could face him.

As for Zhou Kui’s speed, it was relatively weaker.

But Yi Yun, he was noted for his speed. Together with his sneak attack, it made Zhou Kui not even have the chance to pull out his blade, hence causing him to be in a situation where he lost in a single strike.

But Yi Yun could not be bothered with their words.

If anything was to blame, it was on Zhou Kui’s arrogance. His hands were still crossed around his chest when he announced the match.

“If this was a battlefield, you would already be dead,” Yi Yun said lightly.

Zhou Kui’s face turned red. He was resentful, but, he knew that what Yi Yun said was the truth.

He was someone flexible. Whether it was Yi Yun’s sneak attack or not, or whether his strength was greater than Yi Yun, the truth of the matter was that he had lost to Yi Yun.

“You sure are ruthless!” Zhou Kui gnashed his teeth saying. “One of the middle-class rooms is yours!”

Zhou Kui conceded and Yi Yun sheathed his saber.

Zhou Kui looked angrily at Yi Yun, “What’s your name?”

“Yi Yun.”

“Yi Yun? Good! I fell against you today, but I’ll remember you. I will take back the pride you took today. I will let you know the taste of my Ghost King Blade and the Cranium Crusher!”

Yi Yun did not take Zhou Kui’s word of resentment to heart. He carried his Thousand Army Saber and walked into his room.

These five rooms could not all be given to the Jin Long Wei. The Xuanwu Army had no way of taking them all. It all depended on who had the ability and the strength.

Yi Yun could not help the weak.

Yi Yun sized up the room. It was a plain stone house with extremely simple furnishings.

A beam made from desolate bones, a stone bed, a stone desk, a chair and a spirit gatherer array.

The desolate bone was nothing special; and with age, there was extremely limited energy left within it.

As for the stone bed, it did not even have any bedding. It was empty and hard. This bed would cause a normal person’s body to hurt after a night’s sleep. The reason why there was no bedding in the Tai Ah Divine City’s rooms was to tell the warriors coming here to train that they should replace sleep with meditation.

Coming to the Tai Ah Divine City was not to enjoy life. If they wanted to enjoy life, they should stay in their fiefs. In their six years in the Tai Ah Divine City, one had to train hard and strive to move forward!

Translator Note: Xuanwu is also known as the Black Turtle, one of the four mythological creatures in the Chinese constellations.

160 - : Thousand Army Saber’s First Battle

Yi Yun walked to the stone table and saw a new set of clothes and a book placed on top of it.

The clothes were made of linen cloth, rough to the touch but different from the linen clothes worn by commoners. This linen clothes was made with silver threads. It was invulnerable and resistant to the elements, it could even be used as a soft armor. If it were ordinary linen clothes, from the intensity of training a Tai Ah Divine City warrior underwent, it would turn into rags in just a few days time.

As for the book, it was the thickness of a fingernail. Its pages were thin and on the cover it was written “Divine wilderness”!

Flipping through the book, Yi Yun noticed that the book had another world within it. Each page was blank with no written text. But upon injecting one’s spiritual energy into it, one could read the vast amount of information within.

Actually, every page was like a book itself. It introduced one aspect of the Divine wilderness.

Yi Yun flipped through the first dozen pages, and within, it introduced:

“Tai Ah Divine City!”

“Divine wilderness region!”

“Ancient desolate beasts!”

“Treasures!”

“Rumors of mystical realms!”

…

The “Divine wilderness” book had about ninety pages. Each page was an eye-opener for Yi Yun!

The first page introduced the Tai Ah Divine City. It began with its history and then the warrior training rules within the Tai Ah Divine City.

The Tai Ah Divine City had many cultivation resources. And more than 90% of them could be exchanged for with dragon scale runes.

The last 10% of cultivation resources not only needed dragon scale runes, but they also needed glory points.

For example, breaking a previous record was a great honor. But, that was too difficult.

This book broadened Yi Yun’s horizons. Yi Yun engrossed himself in reading as he flipped through page after page. After the Tai Ah Divine City was introduced in the beginning, the later parts introduced the desolate beasts within the Divine wilderness and the herbs within the Divine wilderness. It was a survival guide to the Divine wilderness.

This knowledge was very important.

It had to be known that there were many elite desolate beasts in the Divine wilderness that looked normal, or even harmless. If one could not recognize them, and treated them as normal beasts, provoking them would be courting death.

There were also poisonous weeds that looked like precious herbs. If one picked it carelessly and used it, they would experience an unjustly death. If a hero of a generation, that could become a lord within the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, were to die from eating some herbs, would there be anything more humiliating?

The book not only indicated the dangers of the Divine wilderness, it also indicated the great values that those desolate beasts had.

Especially those desolate beasts with a small amount of primordial blood within them, even if they were inferior to the primordial species, they were still a hundred times more valuable than a normal desolate beast!

As for the real primordial species, their value was immeasurable!

Of course even if 10,000 Yi Yun’s were sent against these kinds of desolate beasts, they would all be killed. Only people like the Divine City’s primordial elder could fight one!

The primordial species were natural darlings of the world. They had an affinity with the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi that was beyond human comparison.

If a primordial species desolate beast could be killed, a desolate bone relic made from its bones would definitely set off a bloody storm!

Eating a relic from a primordial species would not only give great energy, it would also give small insights into the world’s natural laws. This was something even human peerless warriors would envy!

Yi Yun read the “Divine wilderness” book late into the night. Just before dawn, Yi Yun mediated for about two hours. For a warrior at Yi Yun’s level, as long as there wasn’t great depletion of power, two hours of meditation was sufficient to restore one back to one’s optimal state.

“Gather!” Just after dawn, someone shouted outside of the residential area.

Yi Yun quickly washed up and dressed himself before leaving his room.

On the empty grounds outside of the houses, there were already a few dozen people gathered. They had woken up like Yi Yun, and that naturally included Zhou Kui.

Zhou Kui was still carrying his signature battle blade and cranium crusher behind his back, giving off an aggressive feeling.

Zhou Kui looked towards Yi Yun and Yi Yun returned the stare, but they did not speak.

Baldy Qin stroked his chin and smiled playfully. The young heroes, who came to the Tai Ah Divine City, were all competing against each other. With limited resources, they had to grab it from each other, so it was normal for them to have some animosity.

It was inevitable.

“Today, I’ll bring you to the Wilderness Divine Hall! Let’s go!” The bald man was terse with his words, and led them into the Divine City’s center.

The Wilderness Divine Temple Hall was a grand hall right in front of the central divine tower. The Wilderness Divine Hall was enormous, making it the biggest building in the Tai Ah Divine City after the central divine tower. Upon reaching it, many young heroes felt like they were ants, crawling into an emperor’s grand hall.

All the columns by the hall’s entrance were meticulously polished. They were thirty feet tall and thick to the point of needing ten people to wrap around it. It was an amazing sight!

The rocks used to build the temple were extremely heavy and in large pieces. They were like pieces of rock shaved off a small mountain and then pieced together. Molten iron was injected within the gaps and under light, the iron gave off a cold metallic sparkle.

The hall was significantly spacious. With a glance, Yi Yun saw that there were many people gathered in it.

There were both men and women. Women accounted for about a third. The Jin Long Wei were all men, but there was no shortage of female cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City. These females mostly came from family clans or the royal family. Some even came from counterparts of the Jin Long Wei; for example, the Qing Luan Wei was the female regiment.

The people within the hall mostly dressed in style. Some of them were in their noble clothes. Besides flying fish robes, there were even python robes!

Python robes were worn by barons!

The noble titles of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom were not inheritable, and was not a title held for life. If a warrior were to lose his strength for some reason, his title and treatment would be reduced. Of course, being wounded because of fighting for the country was not included.

Yi Yun looked at the youth wearing the python robe. He was about fourteen-years-old. For him to be made baron at such an age meant he had superior talent!

“Fourteen-year-old baron…I wonder how strong is he?” Yi Yun muttered to himself. Suddenly he contracted his pupils and looked in another direction.

There was a youth in embroidered clothing wearing a Qiuniu robe and sitting gallantly on a chair.

A Qiuniu robe meant a viscount!

A sixteen year old youth had been made a viscount?

What was a viscount? Even the Divine Capital’s Jin Long Wei’s general Yan Menglong was only a viscount.

A youth had the same viscount title as a general!

Yi Yun was really surprised.

He realized that many people in the hall avoided the youth in embroidered clothes.

About 99% of the people present stood. Yet, this youth sat there indifferently as if he was a king.

The youth’s eyes glanced everywhere with the corner of his eyes. He had a purple long sword in his hand and a red ring on his finger.

“Interspatial ring…” Yi Yun recognized the ring. This interspatial ring’s price was extremely high. Yi Yun still did not have a interspatial ring. He carried an animal hide bag, half the size of a person, on his journey to the Divine wilderness.

“Do you know him?” Yi Yun asked Song Zijun who was beside him. Yi Yun only used his eyes to point out the youth, but Yi Yun did not expect that just this gesture was noticed by the other party!

The youth swept his gaze towards Yi Yun and Song Zijun. After a very short time, he ignored Yi Yun and looked elsewhere.

But in that instant, it made Song Zijun gasp.

“Sword Intent! His eyes has already learned how to use Sword Intent to form…”

When the youth had looked over, Song Zijun had felt as if a sword had reached in between his brows. That cold touch made his pores contract.

A swordsman could train their arms, palms and legs into swords. A palm strike was similar to a strike from a sword. At the final stages, even a glance could be made into a sword, killing people with a glance!

This youth had not reached the stage of making his glance like a sword, but he had already managed to form it.

“Who is he?” Yi Yun asked once again.

But Song Zijun shook his head, “No idea…”

Song Zijun was from the Song family in the Jing state’s Nanjun province. And the Nanjun province of the Jing state was just a small place and nothing against the vast Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Hence, Song Zijun did not know many outstanding people.

At this moment, a person beside Song Zijun said, “His name is Yang Qian, and is from the Tai Ah royal family. He entered the Tai Ah Divine City at twelve and has been training here for three years. Now, Yang Qian has broken within the top hundred of the Heaven and Earth rolls. This year, he might even enter the top ten!”

“Tai Ah royal family!” Yi Yun took a deep breath. In the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there were influential clans and family clans, but none of them could compare with the royal family!

As for the Jing state’s various provincial family clans, they were like ants in front of the royal family.

Ever since the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was established, the royal family’s bloodline had lasted for tens of million years.

In these tens of millions of years, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family had strict rules for marriage. Every member of the royal house had their marriage decided by elders. There was no private marriages or they would have to give up their royal status.

The marriage choice of the royal family were super family clans with deep heritages, or some superior bloodline from some ancient mystical tribes. If not, they had to have individual talents that overshadowed many.

In short, every talented, elite and proud children of heaven were absorbed by the royal family. The reason was to ensure that their offspring’s bloodline would grow stronger. Only then was a genius more likely to be born.

It was this unreasonable system that ensured that the Tai Ah royal family was to prosper and ensure their power.

The royal family’s heritage was impossibly deep. In the royal family, there was no shortage of treasures. But it did not mean that one could enjoy all these resources by being of royal descent. There were too many people of royalty, hence only the exceptional ones within the royalty were eligible for the nurturing by the royal family.

Under such circumstances, it was not surprising that Yang Qian had obtained the title of viscount at the age of fifteen.

161 - : Wilderness Divine Hall

Yi Yun and company waited for about fifteen minutes before a door opened and about a dozen people walked out.

A thin youth led them. This youth wore a simple and loose training suit, with a saber behind his back.

Each step the thin youth made were all exactly four feet, as if they were measured by a ruler.

This thin youth gave people the impression of being an unsheathed saber with an oppressing blade.

The moment the thin youth appeared, many eyes focused on him.

Yi Yun only felt his eyes contracted. His eyebrows felt a chill. The pressure from this youth was too great.

Not far away, Zhou Kui was alarmed at this youth.

This thin youth’s aura was greater than Yang Qian!

Yang Qian stood up and they exchanged glances that sparked.

“Broken through?” Yang Qian looked at the thin youth as his pupils contracted almost to that of a needle.

“A lucky breakthrough and I obtained some glory points. I can now do some things…” The thin youth said indifferently.

“Some glory points… Heh! A great result, congratulations!” Yang Qian’s eyebrows moved as his eyes flashed strangely. Although he was congratulating, everyone could tell the competitiveness between the two.

Yang Qian and the thin youth were rivals!

This was not surprising. In the Tai Ah Divine City, all the young heroes were in a competitive relationship.

Just like Yi Yun who would compete with many people. There were many things that if you took it, no one else could.

In such circumstances, how could there be amiable relationships?

Eventually, the thin youth rubbed shoulders with Yang Qian and left. Just as he was about to step out, he turned around and said to Yang Qian, “I’m waiting for your challenge!”

This words made all the rookies to the Tai Ah Divine City look at each other. Who was this thin youth? Why was he so arrogant as to wait for Yang Qian’s challenge?

Seeing Yang Qian’s reaction, it was clear that Yang Qian had secretly admitted that the thin youth’s strength was greater than his!

Heavens! Yang Qian was already so powerful. He was a fifteen-year-old viscount, yet there was someone suppressing him!

Many people paused and swallowed a mouthful of saliva before saying, “This place is indeed full of experts…”

After the youth with the saber left, many could not help but ask, “Who’s that thin swordsman? What’s his cultivation level?”

The leader, Baldy Qin answered, “His name is Yao Dao (Demon Saber). It is his nickname and also his name. He has been in the Tai Ah Divine City for three years. He is fifteen years old this year.”

“He and Yang Qian has been the best out of the batch from three years ago. They are each other’s greatest rivals. But Yao Dao has always been surpassing Yang Qian!”

“As for his cultivation level, he is the same as Yang Qian. They are both above the peak of the Purple Blood realm–the early stages of the Yuan foundation realm!”

Yuan foundation realm!

Everyone drew a cold breath.

“Yuan” had the meaning of beginning. “Yuan year” was the first year. “Yuan general” was the highest commander in the military, “Yuan Scholar” was the person who scored first in the exams.

Yuan foundation was a warrior’s beginning and the original root.

After a warrior reaches the peak of the Purple Blood realm, their body’s essence will be nourished. When converged, there would be a qualitative change. The blood would condense into an energy fountain. Once the energy fountain was solidified, it became a solid foundation!

This was the Yuan foundation!

If one were to call Purple Blood the beginning steps of martial arts, then the Yuan foundation realm was the first step for a warrior to attain divinity.

Yuan foundation realm warriors were very prestigious in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Besides, Yao Dao and Yang Qian were only fifteen!

It turns out they had already entered the Yuan foundation realm!

Many rookies turned speechless. They were all at the Purple Blood realm, but others were already at the Yuan foundation realm. Yang Qian was already impressive, but in reality, Yang Qian was suppressed by Yao Dao.

No matter how strong you are, there is always someone stronger!

“Your path ahead is still long. They have already been in the Tai Ah Divine City for three years. You have just arrived, what’s the rush?” The bald man said upon seeing the rookies’ downed spirits.

“Alright, it’s our turn to enter now.” As he said that, the bald man led them through the hall’s door.

It was dimly lit within the hall. The most prominent thing was the three statues in the middle of the hall.

Each statue was carved into the shape of a big and tall man.

They were the most famous divine emperors in the history of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

The middle was the founding divine emperor. The divine emperors on the side had previously extended the territory. They were wise rulers, exceptional both in politics and martial arts.

These three wise rulers left behind a great name for themselves, and obtained the admiration of people.

But Yi Yun was no longer paying attention to the three sculptures.

He saw that in front of the sculptures, there were three metal tablets. Each tablet had names engraved on it.

These were the three rolls of honor!

“These are the Heaven, Earth and Man rolls of honor!” The bald man said.

Each list’s top ten people had their names written in bigger font, almost to the point of a foot. Hence, it was very striking!

Yi Yun noticed that the names at the top of the Heaven and the Earth lists were the same, Tai Haotian.

As for the Man list’s top person, that was another person, Luo Huoer.

“Oh? Luo Huoer? A girl?”

Yi Yun quickly found Yao Dao and Yang Qian’s names. Yao Dao’s name appeared both on the Heaven and Earth list at fifty-two.

Yang Qian also appeared on the Heaven and Earth list at sixty-eight.

Both of them did not enter the Man list.

“See this? This is the roll of honor. If you were to leave the Tai Ah Divine City after six years and were able to enter the top 1000 of any of the lists, then you have performed well.”

“I know all of you are very proud. To be able to come here proves your excellence. But your excellence is only compared to the areas you came from. No one who came here is any worse than you! As for those who have been training in the Tai Ah Divine City for three to four years, it is normal for them to be stronger than you!”

“If anyone of you were to enter the top 1000 of any of those lists within one year, and not when you leave the Tai Ah Divine City, then you will attract the attention of all the large factions in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. They will scramble to attract you!”

The bald man’s words were very provocative.

To enter the top 1000 in a year! Winning the attraction of all the large factions in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

This was very exciting!

Zhou Kui grabbed his wrists as his eyes lit up with fighting spirit. As a man, he had to accomplish this. This was Zhou Kui’s dream, and also the dreams of many of the young heroes present.

Yi Yun quietly memorized the names on the list. On the Heaven, Earth, Man rolls of honor, even an early stage Yuan foundation elite was ranked in the tens.

Then for those that ranked in the top ten or top three, what were their cultivation levels?

Middle of the Yuan foundation realm? Or perhaps even the late stages of the Yuan foundation realm?

It was hard to imagine!

This Tai Ah Divine City was indeed the place where all the elites of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom gathered.

Even the Jin Long Wei was nothing when compared with the many large family clans, royal family, the four military regiments, the Qing Luan Wei, the Royal guards and other elite groups formed from the various factions. Furthermore, the Jing state’s Divine Capital’s Jin Long Wei branch was just one of the hundred Jin Long Wei branches in the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

This roll of honor was indeed a great challenge!

Yi Yun felt a surge of hot blood.

“I wonder what the current me would rank? It’s impossible to be in the top 1000. I heard that there were 12,000 cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City. Every year there would be about 2000 rookies. And the rookies tend to be ranked last. Song Zijun who came with me is definitely beyond 10,000!”

“Among the rookies, my strength should be pretty good. That Zhou Kui, even if I didn’t attacked him by surprise, I could still beat him! But… there are about 2000 people in this batch. Zhou Kui can at most be considered above average in the 2000 rookies. What would my rank be? In this 2000 rookies, are there many who are stronger than me?”

Yi Yun did not undervalue himself, but he knew that his Purple Blood realm strength was just the beginning.

In the entire Jing state, Yi Yun was considered among the best.

But there were 107 other states, and there was the biggest Zhong state! The imperial city!

It would be no surprise that there were others stronger than him among the rookies.

If he were to count the old from the Tai Ah Divine City, Yi Yun estimated his overall ranking to be somewhere above 10,000. Was it 8000? 9000? Or could he be way beyond 10,000, he had no idea…

Entering the top 1000 in one year’s time was considered exceptional. And it would attract the attention of various large factions in the country, then what about me? How far would I go in a year?

Yi Yun was looking forward to it. Thinking it through, he had come from the vast wilderness. Be it cultivation techniques or resources, he could not be compared to the youths from the royal family or the super family clans. Although he had led two lives, with high perceptivity and a heaven-defying Purple Crystal’s help, his contact with martial arts was short. To be able to enter the top 10,000 among the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s young heroes was already pretty good.

“Alright, there’s no point saying all this nonsense. Now, you have to begin cultivating! See those stone doors?” The bald man pointed to somewhere nearby. There were six huge stone doors erected in front of them. The stone doors were engraved with primordial desolate beasts and look ancient and mysterious.

The bald man said, “The six stone doors in front of you is the heart of the Wilderness Divine Hall! The Wilderness Divine Hall is a cultivation place. As rookies, all of you will get two hours of free cultivation time. Now, you can all enter! As for which door, choose freely! Each door only lets in 18 people!”

“Oh? ‘Free’ cultivation time?” Yi Yun paused, it seemed like entering this place in the future would require payment with dragon scale runes.

At this moment, the bald man stood by the side with his hands crossed across his chest. Beside him was a large hourglass. The bald man had just flipped the hourglass and the sand quietly flowed down. When it finished, two hours would have passed.

The young heroes present all came to the Tai Ah Divine City for their first time. They did not know that many rules, but they could tell that the time in the Wilderness Divine Hall was extremely valuable. Naturally, it was not something to be wasted.

162 - : Heaven, Earth, Man Rolls of Honor

Yi Yun swept his eyes across the six stone doors. The stone doors all looked the same; the only difference was the engravings on the doors. There were three-headed beasts, large serpents, fierce birds and a large shark…

To choose any of the six stone doors.

Yi Yun thought for a moment before walking towards the three-headed beast door.

At this moment, Yi Yun realized that Zhou Kui also walked towards the three-headed beast door.

“Heh! The chimera stone door is considered the most difficult stone door in the Wilderness Divine Hall!” Zhou Kui knew some things about the Wilderness Divine Hall. His words stirred Yi Yun.

Difficulty?

It seems this cultivation ground was not a simple place.

“How about it? Do you have the guts to compete with me? This Wilderness Divine Hall is a place that tests your true ability. Sneak attacks are useless here.” Zhou Kui tossed his head over and said it sarcastically. It was clear he was still holding a grudge from Yi Yun’s sneak attack from yesterday.

Zhou Kui found it disgraceful to suffer losses under Yi Yun. He found himself wronged to have lost to a sneak attack. He wanted to regain his pride with this entry into the Wilderness Divine Hall.

Many Xuanwu Army warriors followed Zhou Kui. They were his followers and brother-in-arms.

Quickly, they took the other sixteen places for the three-headed beast door.

Those who entered the three-headed beast were all from the Xuanwu Army, except Yi Yun!

These strong youths from the Xuanwu Army gave contemplative looks at Yi Yun. It felt like a pack of wolves looking at a little sheep that had fallen into their lair.

“Fighting is prohibited in the Wilderness Divine Hall, or there will be serious consequences!” Noticing the tension in the air, the bald man exhorted them without much ado.

Battles were common in the Tai Ah Divine City. As long as they did not fight in places that prohibited fighting, then it was alright to fight elsewhere in the event there were no deaths or serious injuries.

Hence, the bald man did not interfere the battles between the trainees, and in fact condoned it.

If the team he led fought with others, they would be rewarded if they won, and punished if they lost.

“These guys are like a bunch of flies having their eyes on you!” Xu Zheng transmitted this from behind Yi Yun.

Yi Yun shrugged and said casually, “Whatever!”

While saying that, Yi Yun headed towards the three-headed beast door.

Zhou Kui laughed and followed.

The other members of the Xuanwu Army also piled in.

“Whew!”

A white light flashed and before the stone door was fully opened, it sucked Yi Yun in.

“Oh?

Yi Yun’s vision blurred and turned clear the next moment. Before he could figure out what was happening, he felt his scalp burning. It was as if something terrifying had its eyes on him. He could feel feel the existence of an overpowering pressure that was pressing against him, as if he was immersed in a mercury pool.

What’s the matter?

Yi Yun looked towards the strange overwhelming pressure and was surprised to see a huge desolate beast sculpture standing in front of him!

This sculpture was completely black. It had a black golden luster, and its body was hard to be described as lion or a roc. It had three animal heads, and had unkempt fur. Each head’s eyes flashed with purple lightning. On its back were three thirty feet wings, as if it was ready to take off at anytime.

Its body gave off a sense of immense pressure, making Yi Yun inevitably feel a sense of smallness.

Boom!

Suddenly, by looking at the divine beast, Yi Yun felt a tumultuous thunder within his mind. Yi Yun could not help but shake a few times. His whole body felt an oppressive feeling.

At this time, a voice entered Yi Yun’s ear, “Before the Tai Ah Divine City was completely built, the three-headed chimera sculpture was created by the Tai Ah Divine City’s first city lord. It was a real primordial species. It was created by injecting large amounts of molten Great Yan gold into it and casted! This sculpture contains within it the primordial species’ oppression, and the true spirit of the first city lord of the Tai Ah Divine City! How much one can comprehend depends on oneself.”

The primordial species’ real body was injected with molten Great Yan gold before making into a sculpture?

The sculpture’s origin startled Yi Yun. This was actually a real primordial species. No wonder it had such a terrific pressure!

In front of the chimera, Yi Yun found it hard to breathe. The immense pressure nearly made him kneel on the ground!

Yi Yun gritted his teeth and lowered the Flowing Mercury Gown’s weight to its lowest before being barely able to withstand it.

At this time, many white light flashed beside Yi Yun. One after another, the men from the Xuanwu Army were sent in.

The first was naturally Zhou Kui. It had to be said that Zhou Kui had some ability. In front of the chimera’s immense pressure, he just trembled before standing firm.

As for the others, they were worse. Their ability was inferior. Although they were mentally prepared, to suddenly experience such overwhelming pressure made their blood turbulent. They found it hard to endure it. One by one, they faltered and fell to the ground!

They had been bragging a lot outside, but when the true test of their abilities and worth came, it wasn’t enough to just move their lips!

“Trash! Don’t be a fucking pussy!” Zhou Kui still had the strength to curse. Indeed, he had strong foundations. In fact, being under pressure was his forte!

He grinned at Yi Yun, “Come on, let’s compete to see who is more manly!”

Zhou Kui laughed with a pride that seemed to surge to the sky.

Yi Yun only glanced at Zhou Kui and did not respond. He was pondering about everything within the Wilderness Divine Hall.

The Wilderness Divine Hall wasn’t a place just to endure the primordial species’ pressure. The most valuable item in this cultivation ground was to understand the sage’s true spirit within the primordial species sculpture.

One had to endure the primordial species’ pressure and understand the true spirit of the sage at the same time!

The sage’s true spirit wasn’t easy to realize. Besides, these cultivators were rookies. They did not have much strength, hence it was not easy to endure the pressure, what’s more, it was not easy to calm themselves down to ponder over the true spirit.

Even Yi Yun did not find it easy. In just a while, his forehead was sweating.

As for Zhou Kui, he looked stronger than Yi Yun. A vein appeared on his forehead as his joints started to crackle. This aura was extremely amazing.

Zhou Kui looked at Yi Yun and thought to himself, “This kid is stronger than I thought. He actually has some skill, and not just sneak attacking.”

Zhou Kui gathered his all to compete with Yi Yun, so it was natural that he was watching Yi Yun. Zhou Kui was very confident with his endurance and resilience. Even if he could not keep up with Yi Yun at the beginning, he believed he could beat Yi Yun near the end. Furthermore, he was much stronger than Yi Yun from the beginning, so he was sure to win in the end.

Zhou Kui expected his victory, so he would not rejoice. Instead, he wanted to see what Yi Yun’s limits were.

What Zhou Kui did not know was that Yi Yun wasn’t concentrating on competing on him. In fact, Yi Yun had treated Zhou Kui as air from the beginning to the end.

Yi Yun was single-mindedly examining the chimera’s sculpture.

“Primordial species. This is the pressure left behind by a primordial species. Its strength exceeds that of a human lord. Even the elders of the Tai Ah Divine City might not be able to handle it. Obtaining a primordial species’ body to make into a relic could cause a bloody storm if it is reaches the mortal world! Even human sages would want it to nourish their bodies, and understand the laws embedded within the primordial species relic.

“It deserves the name of the primordial species!”

This was Yi Yun’s first encounter with a primordial species. Although it was sealed within gold.

Then could it possibly…

Ever since Yi Yun entered the Wilderness Divine Hall and saw the chimera sculpture, he had a thought he couldn’t suppress. This thought made him speed up his breathing.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. He let his consciousness enter an ethereal state and interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal Origins within its heart. With that, Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes!

Yi Yun’s vision turned white. In front of Yi Yun, the three-headed beast sculpture lit up with white light.

Yi Yun felt that his spiritual energy when attached with the Purple Crystal had managed to interface with the primordial species sculpture in front of him.

However, the gold used to seal the primordial species was preventing Yi Yun’s spirit energy from penetrating it.

This Great Yan gold was a wonderful metal. It had a natural property that absorbed Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Using it to seal the primordial species’ body, after tens of millions of years, the primordial species’ energy within would not decrease but even increase constantly, making it more pure!

The body of the chimera had actually more energy contained within it than when the Tai Ah Divine City was first built. Its cost was even greater.

The six primordial species sculptures within the Divine wilderness were the cornerstone treasures of the Tai Ah Divine City!

This was all thanks to the Great Yan gold. Its special property made energy easy to enter, but difficult to exit. It could be said to be one-way.

Unfortunately, although the Great Yan gold had the ability to nourish the primordial species’ body, it took too long.

Every hundred thousand years or million years, human sages died of old age and could not wait. Only a superpower like the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom could be handed down generation after generation. Together with the super fortress of the Tai Ah Divine City, it could protect the primordial species’ real body, preventing it from being robbed!

Yi Yun was now reversing the polarity of the Great Yan gold.

After he regulated his breathing, with full concentration, he used the Purple Crystal’s ability to control energy to draw out the energy from within the Great Yan gold drop by drop!

Slowly, the three-headed beast’s middle head shined a light that grew brighter as more energy gathered. Energy from all corners of the three-headed sculpture began to gather in the middle head of the three-headed beast, as if it were breaking out of a shell.

When the energy was condensed to its extremes, a light blob the size of a pigeon egg was squeezed out from the Great Yan gold with great difficulty. It slowly floated over and under the Purple Crystal’s guidance flew towards Yi Yun.

Seeing this light blob, Yi Yun was overjoyed!

I’ve succeeded!

163 - : Primordial Species Sculpture

Yi Yun only wanted to experiment, and it was a success. Even though it was energy from a primordial species that had been sealed by Great Yan gold, the Purple Crystal could still suck it out!

The process was difficult and the reason was likely because his spiritual energy was weaker.

The energy plucked out from within the Great Yan gold was actually an extremely tiny portion of the primordial species’ total energy.

If his spiritual energy was greater, then it would be much easier to absorb the energy from within the Great Yan gold.

Yi Yun had previously used the Purple Crystal to absorb desolate bones energy, which was in the form of densely-packed light dots. But now, the energy absorbed from the primordial species were light blobs the size of a pigeon egg.

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. Upon careful inspection, he found that within the light blobs were extremely small chimera shadows that tumbled around.

These mini three-headed beasts looked like puppies with two additional heads. It looked less ferocious than the chimera sculpture. It was even cuter.

Clearly, this was what a chimera looked like as a cub.

“To think there would be something like that within the primordial species energy. Is it because its energy is too pure that it forms this? It’s incredible!”

Yi Yun knew that certain herbs that reached a certain age, such as the purple jade ginseng, could form into a physical manifestation like a fat baby or a little girl.

It was unbelievable that the energy exuded out by the primordial species could form such shapes in a tiny light blob!

What would it feel like absorbing this energy?

Yi Yun carefully controlled the mini tiny beast shadow to fly towards himself.

Looking closer, he found the small beast to be extremely exquisite. Although it was the size of a pigeon egg, its wings, tiny claws and even scales could be clearly seen.

Yi Yun opened up his mouth and swallowed the energy blob.

A moment later, a warm energy surged within Yi Yun’s body, reaching his mind and his dantian!

This energy was completely different from the energies he had previously absorbed. It not only contained an extremely pure life essence, but it also contained some spiritual energy.

This spiritual energy entered Yi Yun’s mind and Yi Yun felt his surroundings turn into a blur.

In the misty white light, he felt like he saw himself flying. He was flying thousands of meters in the sky above the vast wilderness.

Yi Yun felt like he had turned into the primordial species.

This primordial species would hunt prey, flying into the air and onto the ground, battling with other primordial species. These images intermittently appeared within Yi Yun’s mind.

In these fuzzy scenes, Yi Yun felt like he had touched a brand new world. He was perceptive of the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. He had never found it so clear!

Yes!

Yi Yun’s mind flashed with brilliance. He recalled that he had read in the book “Divine wilderness” that the primordial species’ energy not only contained their life essences, but it also contained their nomology!

By consuming the primordial species’ relic, one could obtain tiny traces of the primordial species’ nomology. It was something all human peerless experts dreamed of!

On the road of martial arts, the higher the level, the more important the nomology truths became.

Upon being accomplished in nomology, one could control the world’s Heaven Earth Yuan Qi freely.

If he could understand the primordial species’ nomology truths, how much would his strength improve?

Yi Yun’s heart raced. He was full of anticipation for his future!

But now, this single energy blob contained too little of the nomology truths. It was severely insufficient.

Yi Yun closed his eyes and concentrated. With his teeth gritted, his spiritual energy entered the Purple Crystal Origins once again. By controlling the Purple Crystal, he drew out the energy from within the Great Yan gold drop by drop.

Although the Purple Crystal could absorb the primordial species’ energy, but its pressure was still applied to Yi Yun’s body in an overwhelming manner similar to a tidal impact on his blood.

It was not easy to absorb the primordial species’ energy under such a situation.

After taking nearly fifteen minutes, Yi Yun managed to squeeze out a second energy blob from within the Great Yan gold, sending it flying slowly towards him.

Although the primordial species’ energy was strong, a light blob the size of a pigeon egg did not contain much energy. With Yi Yun’s foundation, he could completely withstand it.

The second light blob was swallowed by Yi Yun.

Soon, a surge of warmth entered Yi Yun’s body again. The primordial species’ memory images also became clearer.

Yi Yun felt that he was the primordial species itself, and he could sense the laws.

Following that, under great difficulty, Yi Yun managed to absorb the third and fourth light blob…

After swallowing four light blobs, the images in Yi Yun’s head began to become complete. Slowly, he saw a scene that made him excited and shocked!

He saw the vast barren plains of the Divine wilderness. Above the plains, in the vast blue sky, a chimera was flying. It spread open its three big wings and flapped, sending clouds hundreds of miles away.

The chimera was battling a long-haired man wearing golden battle armor!

This golden armored man was armed with a spear. With an upstanding and dauntless pose, his long hair blowing in the wind!

In his hands, there was a four meter long spear that danced in the air causing turmoil and gave off an overwhelming aura!

Yi Yun realized that he was watching from the perspective of the primordial species as it fought against the golden-armored man!

Yi Yun suddenly realized that the man he was looking at was the first city lord of the Tai Ah Divine City! He was the one who killed the six primordial species beasts, and sealed their bodies within the Wilderness Divine Hall by using Great Yan gold to make them into sculptures.

The scenes he was seeing while the last memories of the chimera.

What did it mean to be Tai Ah Divine City’s city lord?

He could enjoy the Tai Ah Divine City’s pyramid’s 99th level’s cultivation ground, and could allocate all the resources within the Tai Ah Divine City!

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there were two giants; one was the divine emperor, and the other was the Tai Ah Divine City’s city lord!

The divine emperor had to deal with governance and deal with memorandums, but the Tai Ah Divine City’s city lord did not need to. He could cultivate all he wanted.

If strength was to be compared, the Tai Ah Divine City’s city lord was definitely stronger!

Yi Yun was watching the first city lord of the Tai Ah Divine City. He was an eternal character that existed in the tens of millions of years of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

His strength was in an unimaginable realm for Yi Yun.

When the Tai Ah Divine City city lord cast the six sculptures in the Wilderness Divine Hall, he had also left his own thoughts of nomology within the sculptures.

But now, when Yi Yun absorbed the primordial species energy, the laws within the energy had also been absorbed within Yi Yun’s body!

Besides that, Yi Yun could watch from the perspective of the primordial species, experiencing the battle scenes with the first city lord. It was almost as if Yi Yun was exchanging blows with the city lord himself. As such, Yi Yun had a totally immersive experience for understanding the first city lord’s nomology.

This two-prong approach of understanding was infinitely more superior to standing before the primordial species sculpture to understand.

Yi Yun’s perceptivity was always good. Having led two lives, Yi Yun’s spiritual energy was great. Even his perceptivity had been praised by Lin Xintong, and even old man Su, who had always despised Yi Yun, had to acknowledge Yi Yun’s perceptivity.

With his high perceptivity and the immersive experience, Yi Yun slowly understood the essence within the first city lord’s moves!

Although he could not understand it, Yi Yun formed a vague concept.

The law’s true meaning, is this the law’s true meaning…

With his own mind, he could induce the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to use it for himself. Upon reaching a sufficient cultivation realm, one could even transform one’s body into a heavenly one in short periods of time, allowing them to control the laws of Heaven and Earth!

Light blob after blob from the primordial species flew towards Yi Yun. These light blobs opened a mysterious door for Yi Yun. The simple understanding from the door surged over. It made Yi Yun feel like he had touched a magical new field. It was something he had never heard or seen before.

Yi Yun began consuming all these understandings like a starved person. This was the mysteries of the world. By lifting the veil of mystery, what appeared in front of him made him infatuated!

There was no concept of time when cultivating. Yi Yun was immersed in a magical state for an unknown period of time. However, outside Yi Yun’s mind, Zhou Kui was still giving his all competing with Yi Yun.

Zhou Kui’s goons could no longer take it. Many of them knelt or laid on the ground, as they felt the oppression from the primordial species.

There were only a few people still standing within the hall.

Zhou Kui was of course one of them.

“Hmph! Being under pressure is my forte. To withstand pressure, if I were to say I was second among the people here, no one will dare claim first. I will roll over everyone here!

Zhou Kui had this proud thought.

The primordial species oppression was great, but so what?

He was strong, like a hill against the wind!

He was free, like a metal chain stopping the river!

This was Zhou Kui’s current mental state.

Zhou Kui could already feel the pressure. Although he was dog-tired and his body was near its limits, but under this self-hypnosis, Zhou Kui entered an overjoyed state. He subconsciously told himself that he was the strongest. Hence, his resistance against the pressure increased another level!

Zhou Kui’s head was full of sweat as his body’s bones crackled. He turned with difficulty to look at Yi Yun.

But he saw Yi Yun’s face pale with his eyes closed. And Yi Yun’s eyelashes were constantly trembling, as if he was in a nightmare.

“His mental state is unstable. He’s at his limit.” Those were Zhou Kui’s thoughts. Of course, at this point, he was not finding it easy himself.

Zhou Kui wanted to see the scene of Yi Yun collapsing, however he was fated never to see it.

“Gong!”

Suddenly, a loud gong rang in everyone’s ears!

“Two hours is up. All the cultivators are to leave the Wilderness Divine Hall!” An authoritative voice echoed within the six rooms. This was the same voice that had introduced the sculptures within the Wilderness Divine Hall.

“Time’s up? Such a pity!” Yi Yun’s spirit was still in a trance. He slowly opened his eyes as he gradually returned from the world within his mind.

164 - : Sage’s Truth

“And it’s over… Two hours of cultivation time is too short…”

Yi Yun felt regret. Being interrupted while being in a state of learning was extremely uncomfortable.

If he could have stayed a little longer, like another two hours, he would have gained a lot.

Thinking about it, even an additional day would not be enough!

Yi Yun looked at the three-headed beast sculpture and coveted it greatly.

This Wilderness Divine Hall is indeed the cornerstone treasure of the Tai Ah Divine City. When will I be able to come in again?

“Damn, I finally endured through it.”

“The training experience is good, but these two hours were a suffering…”

Beside Yi Yun, several youths felt as if they had been fished out of the water. They were soaked in sweat.

Some of them didn’t have any strength left and laid sprawled on the ground, without any consideration of their current bearing. For these proud sons of heavens, if they had any ounce of strength, they would have braced themselves to stand up.

To lay on the ground like a dead dog meant that they were at the end of their limits.

Many wanted to give up midway and leave the Wilderness Divine Hall. But they knew that the chance to cultivate within the Wilderness Divine Hall was an extremely precious chance. They could not waste these two hours, because the next time they wanted to enter, they had to pay dragon scale runes!

This price would definitely not be cheap!

This was obvious. The Tai Ah Divine City had so many people, who didn’t want to learn from these six primordial species’ sculptures? With so many people lined up, how much time could a person get?

Under such circumstances, to give up halfway, not only was that making light of the heavenly treasure, but it would also make the bald man look down on them. They might even be blacklisted. Hence, no matter how uncomfortable it was, all of them endured through it.

Different from the rest, Yi Yun’s body was filled with pure energy. This energy naturally came from that primordial species’ statue!

Just before this, Yi Yun was in a meditative state. Under extreme concentration, his body had only absorbed a tiny amount of the energy from the primordial species. There was still a lot he did not manage to absorb.

Yi Yun shook his head. He had been trying to gain insight into the nomology, and could not care about anything else. He could not take time to digest the primordial species’ energy as it needed both time and his mental resources. If he did so, there would not be time left for gaining new insight.

The time in the Wilderness Divine Hall was too precious. He could just swallow down without chewing the primordial species’ energy and digest it later.

But since he had not fully absorbed it, Yi Yun’s body could grow stronger from the energy’s nourishment.

At this moment, many were staggering but Yi Yun felt full of energy. He casually wiped the sweat of his brows. Due to being fully concentrated trying to learn, Yi Yun had been sweating a lot.

“Hehe, are you hot? To sweat that much… but, you can be considered quite good. You surprised me by standing all the way to the end.” As Yi Yun was wiping his sweat, a voice sounded out behind him.

Yi Yun turned around and the originator of that voice was naturally Zhou Kui.

Zhou Kui had actually expended a lot of energy, but he had forcibly gathered enough Yuan Qi, allowing him to maintain his bearing and good image.

He returned to his trademark move by crossing his arms across his chest and stood with his feet apart, as if he was saying, “It was easy for me in the past two hours”.

In fact, for Zhou Kui to be able to maintain such a stance was already very good compared to the others.

To Yi Yun, Zhou Kui was in a forced pretense, strong only in appearance but brittle inside.

Yi Yun speechlessly glanced at Zhou Kui and could no longer be bothered with him, nor the interest to setback Zhou Kui.

This was not because Yi Yun was staying aloof with the rest of the world, but ever since he came to the Tai Ah Divine City and saw the Yuan foundation realm geniuses, Yi Yun’s horizons had been broadened.

With his horizons broadened, he had seen a wider world, so Yi Yun became even more ambitious.

Zhou Kui was no longer a competitor to Yi Yun.

His target was those who had stayed in the Tai Ah Divine City for three to four years.

These people were Yang Qian, Yao Dao, and even Luo Huo’er and Qin Haotian!

Yi Yun’s goal was to chase up to these people and, in the shortest time, break through into the Yuan foundation realm!

Yi Yun walked out of the divine hall’s main door. This place was too wondrous. By leaving this place, Yi Yun felt a sense of regret.

“Brother Yi, are you alright?” When Yi Yun left the Wilderness Divine Hall, a plump youth said with a pant. He was Xu Zheng who Yi Yun got to know on the way to the Divine wilderness. At this time, both his hands were on his knees and his face pale. It looked like he had expended a lot of energy.

“I’m fine” Yi Yun waved. Actually, his temples were aching.

Although his body was filled with energy, Yi Yun had consumed a great deal of his mental facilities.

Using the Purple Crystal to absorb the energy from the primordial species sculpture was not easy. Due to the Great Yan gold seal and the fact that Yi Yun’s level was very low, it was difficult to manipulate the primordial species’ energy. Just like a child swinging a sledgehammer would find his arms sore after a few swings.

Yi Yun had endured through that for two hours, so his mental facilities had been greatly taxed.

And to understand the truths from the sages was a big test on Yi Yun’s soul.

“Brother Yi, you sure look relaxed. Look at the surroundings.” Xu Zheng patted Yi Yun on the back as he pointed around.

Many were in bad conditions.

For example, Song Zijun was pale in the face. At this moment, he could not greet Yi Yun and was meditating, trying to regulate his breathing.

Many others were experiencing similar outcomes like Song Zijun. Xu Zheng was considered quite good.

The bald man had his arms crossed and stayed silent as he waited for the people to regulate themselves.

Although exhausted, some of them were excited.

Some even had a bit of Yuan Qi, and to demonstrate their resilience, they formed groups to discuss the gains from earlier.

“It was indeed challenging. As expected from the cultivation ground built by the first city lord of the Tai Ah Divine City. In the two hours of cultivation, I felt that my spirit grew stronger by a lot!” A Xuanwu Army member said with a pant. Although he was dog-tired, his face was smiling, giving a “I still have energy to spare” look.

“Yes! My blood has also condensed. The pressure was painful, but it managed to strengthen my blood. It’s full of benefits!”

“I really want to enter again! I don’t dare to say I can withstand another two hours, but I can still withstand another one hour!”

These rookies tried to top each other by bragging and making themselves look fat by slapping their own faces.

These people who made the statements were mostly Xuanwu Army members. It had to be said that the Xuanwu Army was specialized in strength, hence their resistance under pressure was stronger than Jin Long Wei members.

Many Jin Long Wei members did not even have the strength to speak, so they could not fake it even if they wanted.

For a moment, the Xuanwu Army overshadowed everyone else. They intentionally wanted to show off in front of the bald man to prove the strength of the Xuanwu Army, and also their personal strengths.

If they impressed the bald man, there would be benefits for their future development.

The bald man stroked his chin as he smiled while watching these thirteen-year-old kids act.

He had an obvious scar on his face. Due to his smile, the scar distorted and looked like a wriggling small snake.

Yi Yun noticed this and felt a sense of foreshadowing. This bald man’s smile seemed malicious.

Smiling tiger…

Yi Yun assessed quietly. This smile seemed like something he had seen before.

In his old world, while he was in school, there would be some classroom teachers with such smiles.

Every time he saw such a smile, Yi Yun would feel cold, because it usually meant a ton of exercises and assignments were to follow.

“Was the training good?” the bald man said smiling.

“Reporting to Instructor Qin, we are doing well!!” Zhou Kui made a standard bow with his voice being ear-deafening and powerful!

The other Xuanwu Army members also shouted, “Doing well!”

Armies were particular about fighting spirit, so whether it was to report the current strength, shouting commands, or replying to superiors, the voice had to be shout, loud and powerful.

But Yi Yun estimated that just from that shout, Zhou Kui had burned all the Yuan Qi he had previously recovered…

Yi Yun gave Zhou Kui a sympathetic look. This kid with muscles for brains probably did not know what was awaiting him.

“Still strong in spirit! Good!”

The bald man nodded and looked satisfied. “Then get up and follow me to the school grounds!”

“School grounds?” Zhou Kui dazed for a moment, “What are we going to the school grounds for?”

“Nothing much, just some basic training, such as weighted squats, frog jumps, bayonet drills, etc. It will be very relaxed.” The bald man said with a casual tone.

Upon hearing it, Yi Yun’s expression turned off, “basic” training? Very “relaxed”?

“Oh so it’s basic training, great!” Zhou Kui agreed immediately. Although he was exhausted, he still had some strength left to undergo basic training.

Zhou Kui’s situation may be better, as for all the other Xuanwu Army members, they all consciously gulped down a mouthful of saliva.

In their current states, it would be quite tough to do basic training.

“It’s alright, there are people worse off than us!” A Xuanwu Army member motioned towards Yi Yun, Song Zijun and others with his eyes.

“The Jin Long Wei is just a bunch of fancy pants. In a tough head-on manly training session, they are definitely not better than us. With others lining the bottom, there’s nothing to worry. Look at them, it seems they will have trouble even carrying their weapons to the school grounds.”

When humans were chased by tigers, they did not need to run faster than a tiger. It was sufficient to run faster than the slowest man.

“Right, we just need to be stronger than them!”

With this in mind, the Xuanwu Army members were relieved. They followed the bald man, ready to head towards the Tai Ah Divine City’s school grounds.

165 - : We are doing good

At this moment, several Jin Long Wei members were suffering in their hearts.

They were skilled at techniques, but in terms of strength, they really could not compare with the Xuanwu Army who were noted for their strength.

The Xuanwu Army was a heavy-armored regiment. Xuanwu is also the name of a divine beast, similar to a tortoise. This divine beast is shaped like a tortoise with a snake on its back.

With a divine beast with such high defence as the army’s mascot, it also reflected the nature of the Xuanwu Army.

These Xuanwu Army members mainly trained by bearing weights and doing strength-training.

It was difficult for the Jin Long Wei to compare with that.

These Jin Long Wei members had barely managed to endure two hours in the Divine Wilderness Hall. They were under the misconception that they could rest, but now, they had to undergo even more training. The Divine Wilderness campgrounds, which was known as death’s goalpost, was something normal people could not endure.

Seeing the ugly faces of the Jin Long Wei members, the Xuanwu Army members turned excited. For them, they did not need to be very happy, it was sufficient as long as someone beside them did worse than them.

To these people, the suffering of others was their own happiness. Besides, overshadowing the Jin Long Wei made them feel good.

As a result, the Xuanwu Army members were looking forward to go to the school grounds.

“The training will begin now. From the Wilderness Divine Hall to the school grounds is about five kilometers. Get there while frog-jumping!” The bald man said.

“Frog jumps? Haha, I like it!”

Frog jumps was a common training method used by the Xuanwu Army members. As warriors, they had to bear weights, or it would just be too easy. It was no trouble jumping a dozen meters with just one leap.

“How much weight do we have to bear?” Someone from the Xuanwu Army asked.

“Since you have consumed a lot of energy today, I’ll reduce the weight. You just need to wear these.” Saying that, the bald man touched his interspatial ring and took out a huge box.

With a kick, the box opened. The box was filled with training suit.

These training suits were colorful and looked like they were made of denim. But the young heroes present knew these were weighted clothes.

It was light in the hand, but upon wearing it, they would be tens to hundreds of thousands of pounds in weight.

“This is the Tai Ah Divine City lightest types of training suits. It’s originally used to train your movement, but I’ll let you use it for weights. It’s very easy!”

“The black training suit is 200 cauldrons, the purple one 100 cauldrons, the red one 50 cauldrons, the green one 30 cauldrons and the white one is 10 cauldrons! Choose whichever you want to wear.”

A cauldron was a thousand pounds. Even the lightest white training suit was 10,000 lbs and it was equal to the Flowing Mercury Gown’s lightest weight.

But the Flowing Mercury Gown could increase in weight to a thousand cauldrons, which was five times the black training suit.

And the training suits here had fixed weights. As such, the difference in value was obvious.

“By squeezing yourself to the limit is beneficial for you. But… if you think you can’t handle it, just choose the white training suit and eat some bone relics or something.” The bald man mocked.

This dismissive tone immediately stirred up the people’s desire for excellence. How could a bunch of proud youths acknowledge words that belittled them?

They immediately began choosing the training suits.

To frog-jump for five kilometers while there was little Yuan Qi within their body, even the young and spirited heroes knew the difficulty.

After measuring the difficulty, the Xuanwu Army members chose the red training suits. Very few of them chose the purple ones.

As for the Jin Long Wei members, they had to settle for a lighter suit. Most of them choose the green training suits, with a small minority choosing red.

After all, they had little energy left within their bodies.

Zhou Kui laughed at Yi Yun while glancing over at him, “Hehe, Yi Yun, you must have consumed a lot of Yuan Qi in the Wilderness Divine Hall? How about it? Do you want to choose a lighter one? This purple training suit is a hundred cauldrons, and it is probably not suitable for you.”

Zhou Kui purposely provoked Yi Yun. The purple training suit was the second heaviest training suit among all the suits. None of the Xuanwu Army members dared to choose it.

Zhou Kui wanted to provoke Yi Yun into choosing a training suit he couldn’t handle, and make him dog-tired while frog-jumping.

Yi Yun laughed and said, “It’s indeed not suitable.”

With regards to choosing the training suits, Yi Yun did not need any consideration. There was nothing to consider.

Back when he was in the Frost Metal Blood Balls array, he was wearing the Flowing Mercury Gown at a weight of ten cauldrons. However, that was to train his movement skills, which was very different from training his weight-bearing.

A tier one male could easily lift 300 lbs of items, but if he were to lift 50 lbs of items to do a hundred meter sprint or a long jump, then it would be much more difficult.

Yi Yun’s body was full of energy, and since it was just weighted frog-jumps, the purple training suit’s hundred cauldrons was not suitable.

Zhou Kui stumbled. He did not expect Yi Yun to ignore his taunts.

He’s so gutless? I said it was not suitable and he didn’t choose it? Is he even a man?

Just as he was preparing to say a few words to nip at Yi Yun, he suddenly widened his eyes as he saw Yi Yun picking up a black training suit.

The black training suit was 200 cauldrons in weight!

Seeing Yi Yun’s choice, Zhou Kui’s eyes twitched. Is this kid mad?

If Zhou Kui was in his optimal state, then jumping five kilometers in 200 cauldrons of training suits was nothing. He could even handle 300 cauldrons.

But now, after expending so much energy within the Wilderness Divine Hall, Zhou Kui was only planning on using a purple training suit. After all, there was still training to be done at the school grounds. If he were to collapse from exhaustion on the way, it would be too embarrassing.

He had wanted to provoke Yi Yun into wearing a purple training suit with him, entrapping him. But unexpectedly, Yi Yun chose the black one.

How should he choose? Now with Yi Yun choosing the black one, was he going to acknowledge his inferiority and choose the purple one?

Yi Yun must be a retard. Did he not listen to the bald man’s words and mixed up the weight of the black training suit?

Even the bald man looked at Yi Yun with surprise. But, it was only surprise.

As for the Jin Long Wei members, they were stunned.

“I choose this.” Yi Yun said it and smiled at Zhou Kui. “What about you? I heard the people from the Xuanwu Army like you practice frog-jumps all the time?”

Zhou Kui hesitated for a moment, and with a gulp, laughed bitterly, “That’s for sure. Stuff like frog-jumps is basically the same as walking to us Xuanwu Army! We have already gotten bored of it.”

Zhou Kui gritted his teeth. He could not be overshadowed by Yi Yun.

Zhou Kui grabbed another black training suit and thought, “Kid, I’ll let you fake it. I’ll see how long you can fake it!”

Zhou Kui knew his current situation. He was in no situation to play around with the black training suit.

But upon careful thought, this was no matter. Once Yi Yun collapsed from exhaustion, he could eat some fierce beast relics, or at worst, eat a desolate bone relic to replenish his stamina.

By gritting his teeth, he would be able to endure until he reached his destination.

After all, this was the heaviest training suit and he had expended a lot of energy within the Wilderness Divine Hall. Eating a desolate bone relic in this situation, even the strict bald man will probably allow it.

“Hehe, as long as I eat a desolate bone relic, I will be able to endure through it. As for you, with your tiny body and thighs thinner than my arm, you will probably not be able to make it after leaping thirty feet. Five kilometers isn’t that easy to jump!”

With this in mind, Zhou Kui gave a sinister and burlesque glance to Yi Yun. He said lightly, “In the past, our training uses 300 cauldrons training suits to do frog-jumps, and we do 15 kilometers at a time!”

Zhou Kui bragged, and his followers echoed, “Haha, Brother Kui had previously even played with 400 cauldrons. Even the shortest distance was 10 kilometers! It’s only 5 kilometers today, and the heaviest training suit is only 200 cauldrons. Brother Kui, you will just have to make do with it.”

After all, bragging didn’t cost anything, so they did it with great aplomb. But for Zhou Kui’s optimal state, he could barely manage slightly above 300 cauldrons.

Zhou Kui’s record was frog-jumping 2.5 kilometers with 360 cauldrons.

Seeing Zhou Kui and his follower brag, the bald man raised his eyebrows and laughed, “So, you think 200 cauldrons isn’t enough?”

Hearing the bald man’s words, Zhou Kui nearly planted his head in the ground. He wanted to slap his follower. Why did he have to open his big mouth!?

“If you think it’s not enough, you can wear two pieces.” The bald man pointed to the box and said calmly.

Zhou Kui laughed drily twice. Just as he was about to say some words to admit his defeat, he saw Yi Yun puffing and blowing while picking up a red training suit and putting it on his body…

Zhou Kui nearly choked.

He opened up his mouth and looked disbelieving at Yi Yun.

This kid, is his brain screwed on right?

With the black color’s 200 cauldrons and the red color’s 50 cauldrons, it was a total of 250 cauldrons!

Actually, this was the apparent weight.

Yi Yun had secretly changed the Flowing Mercury Gown’s weight to 50 cauldrons for a total of 300 cauldrons. Yi Yun estimated that this was his limit. If he really couldn’t take it, he could slightly reduce the Flowing Mercury Gown’s weight. When comparing strength, Yi Yun could not beat Zhou Kui in his peak condition.

At this time, Zhou Kui looked like he had eaten a pound of arsenic. He did not know what to say.

This kid, what madness is this…?

After enduring the Wilderness Divine Hall, he’s still taking on 250 cauldrons to frog-jump 5 kilometers?

Zhou Kui was now irrevocably committed.

Many people were looking at him. The Jin Long Wei members, the Xuanwu Army members and the bald man were looking at Zhou Kui with a smile.

Zhou Kui felt this heart was in a stampede of 10,000 near-horned beasts with mud-stained hoofs. They were crushing him till he vomited blood. He gritted his teeth and took out a red training suit from the box.

Black color and red color, a total of 250 cauldrons…

A vein stuck out from Zhou Kui’s head. Is he risking his life to defy me?

He looked at Yi Yun. He had his suspicions that this kid Yi Yun was purposely messing with him. Can he even wear 250 cauldrons of training suits?

If Yi Yun couldn’t, then he didn’t need to follow in Yi Yun’s mad footsteps.

But Yi Yun had already wore the red training suit and was just about to wear the black one…

166 - : Basic Training

Many people were looking at Yi Yun. Choosing two training sets was too shocking. But if Yi Yun couldn’t wear it, then it would be a great joke.

Yi Yun placed the black training suit over his head and passed his two arms through the sleeves.

The moment the training suit was worn, the array was initiated!

Yi Yun immediately felt his body sink. 250 cauldrons and the Flowing Mercury Gown’s 50 cauldrons were now weighing on Yi Yun’s body.

Such a weight made the ground sink with every step!

The Tai Ah Divine City’s streets consisted of special materials. It was made to support the warriors’ training, if not, the streets would be destroyed very quickly.

He really wore it.

Zhou Kui’s eyes twitched. He saw a scene he really did not want to see.

He had to admit that he had underestimated this kid.

But even if he had that ability, how long could he last?

Previously in the two hours at the Wilderness Divine Hall, Zhou Kui had already expended so much of his energy, it was impossible that Yi Yun did not expend any.

Zhou Kui gritted his teeth and wore the two training suits.

The moment he put it on, he felt his two legs grow heavy. At the same time, he could feel his body void of Yuan Qi.

To wear such heavy training suits to frog-jump, it was certain he couldn’t last long. “If I really cannot endure it, I’ll wait till Yi Yun collapse from exhaustion, then I’ll take off the red training suit.”

Zhou Kui made such plans since Yi Yun was unlikely to leap more than a few steps.

“Frog-jumps, begin!” The bald man ordered and everyone began jumping.

Many people were paying heed to Yi Yun, especially the people from the Xuanwu Army. They were all waiting to see Yi Yun collapse from the two sets of training suits.

“We shall wait and see. 250 cauldrons will crush your knees.” Some people thought maliciously.

Among the 100 people, Yi Yun was among the first few. He took a deep breath and with a deep squat, he jumped!

“Boom!”

With 300 cauldrons of weight, even the ground vibrated gently.

In the frog-jumping process, Yi Yun could feel each muscle in his body tremor.

300 cauldrons was the weight Yi Yun could bear. Under this weight, Yi Yun’s muscles even had slight cramps. His body’s joints was also enduring violent smashing into each other.

Yi Yun felt that the training suits he was wearing were like a heavy hammer striking at his body.

And this striking process made the primordial species’ energy, which he had not fully absorbed, be hammered into his flesh and blood. It nourished his blood, strengthened his muscles and broadened his meridians.

This feeling was too comfortable!

“The primordial species’ energy is no trifling matter!”

Yi Yun’s body heated up. It was like there was a fire in his Dantian. The primordial species’ energy surged through Yi Yun’s veins, making his blood flow faster. All of his joints began to crackle like the crackling of a bonfire!

Again and again, Yi Yun jumped and landed. He breathed in deeply and his steps were stable. He even felt that under the nourishment of the primordial species’ energy, his strength was constantly increasing.

The primordial species’ energy was being quickly absorbed when he was exercising at his limits.

Soon, Yi Yun had already jumped more than ten times. He did not seem like he was faltering, but he was actually becoming increasingly relaxed.

What… What the hell?

The people from the Xuanwu Army were dumbstruck. Zhou Kui was even more dumbfounded.

They were frog-jump training experts. They could tell just from Yi Yun’s takeoff and landing that Yi Yun was not forcing himself, but that he could really handle 250 cauldrons of weight!

Maybe Yi Yun’s strength could not last for long, but in this situation, he could easily jump and complete the first thirty feet easily.

Zhou Kui’s eyelid twitched. He felt like his stomach was churning.

As for the members of the Xuanwu Army, they swallowed a mouthful of saliva and they all had a constipated expression.

How could this be possible? This kid’s endurance is so good? He still had so much stamina left after spending two hours in the Wilderness Divine Hall?

“Brother Kui, what should we do?” Someone asked.

“What can we do, jump after him. I refuse to believe that I cannot endure longer than he can.” Zhou Kui bit the bullet and took a deep squat. He could only endure for a while doing frog-jumps with 250 cauldrons of weight with his current Yuan Qi left. The only thing left was to see who amongst them could sustain themselves longer.

“Right, Brother Kui is right. This kid definitely cannot beat Brother Kui! Brother Kui can even endure close to 400 cauldrons to jump 2.5 kilometers, not to mention 250 cauldrons.”

“Brother Kui, kill him. We will support you!” Zhou Kui’s followers were confident of Zhou Kui.

Zhou Kui took a deep breath and with a vein popping out of his forehead, he took a deep squat and jumped!

Zhou Kui felt like there was a big mountain pressing on his knees.

The knees bore the full brunt of the frog-jumps. If one wasn’t strong enough, they could injure their knees.

As such, Yi Yun was in front, and Zhou Kui was behind. Zhou Kui stared at Yi Yun’s back and followed closely behind.

He could not see Yi Yun’s expression. He had to guess if Yi Yun was nearing his limits by observing Yi Yun’s actions.

Many a time, by having a goal to follow, it could allow a person to persist for a very long time.

For example, in a long-distance run competition, the second place could follow the first place and have less pressure.

That was Zhou Kui’s plan. He was confident of his ability. With his advantage in strength, and the psychological advantage, there was no way he would lose.

But…

As time passed, Yi Yun was proceeding forward at a steady pace. During his advancement, the primordial species’ energy was constantly refining Yi Yun, entering Yi Yun’s blood and flesh.

This extremely pure energy gave him the ability to go against fate.

Yi Yun felt his body heat up more and more as he jumped. There was a surge of energy within his body that needed to be spent, or it would explode.

Under the stimulus of this energy, Yi Yun jumped with greater strength. He felt like he was rearing a Fierce Divine Tiger in his body. There was endless amounts of energy within him, making him want to jump several feet higher.

Yi Yun finally felt that 300 cauldrons was insufficient!

In the beginning, 300 cauldrons was Yi Yun’s limit, but now 300 cauldrons could no longer suppress the primordial species’ energy flowing throughout Yi Yun’s body.

With some focus, the Flowing Mercury Gown’s weight increased by another 30 cauldrons!

330 cauldrons.

This weight balanced out the primordial species’ energy.

Being at the limits, it could force Yi Yun’s stamina by compressing his blood, combining the primordial species’ energy into his body bit by bit.

With such a clear increase in strength and increase in level, it made Yi Yun overjoyed. He felt like a tree in Spring, as he grew bud after bud.

Slowly, Yi Yun had increased the Flowing Mercury Gown’s weight to a hundred cauldrons. Hence, Yi Yun was undertaking a total weight of 350 cauldrons, higher than what he was experiencing previously by 50 cauldrons!

The primordial species’ energy gave Yi Yun a 50 cauldron increase in strength.

Although Yi Yun’s face was covered with sweat, his eyes sparkled with excitement. His eyes were like shooting out lightning, and was extremely bright.

At this time, Zhou Kui did not see Yi Yun’s expression and eyes. All he could see was Yi Yun’s back. Zhou Kui gritted his teeth as he followed Yi Yun.

“He should… not be able to make it, soon…”

With this thoughts in mind, it motivated Zhou Kui to keep jumping.

Every jump and landing was like he was within an execution ground.

Initially at up to the sixty meter mark, Zhou Kui did not feel anything.

By 300 meters, Zhou Kui felt his legs go numb.

Following that, at 600 meters, 900 meters, Zhou Kui’s knees were trembling.

It was already 1200 meters!

1200 meters…What was the feeling after expending all the energy in the Wilderness Divine Hall for two hours, and undertaking 250 cauldrons to frog jump for 1200 meters?

Zhou Kui had never been so tired in his entire life!

But, in front of him, Yi Yun was still making one leap after another.

Zhou Kui was going mad. How the fuck is he holding on?

What went wrong?

Zhou Kui hoped that Yi Yun would falter at every breath, but… All he saw was Yi Yun leaping forward jump after jump, as if he didn’t feel tired.

Yi Yun’s speed was leisurely, and the distance he covered with each leap was surprisingly uniform..

Zhou Kui opened his mouth to take in deep breaths as his sweat seeped into his eyes.

After 1200 meters… it was 1500 meters…

Zhou Kui’s body had a deficit in Yuan Qi and he felt dizzy.

“That kid… should… should be faltering. I’m already so tired… He is definitely… just barely enduring it…”

“I just… just need to endure a little longer… and it will do, will do…”

Zhou Kui was hypnotizing himself as a form of consolation, but… as he opened his sweat-filled eyes, upon closer inspection, he could not believe that Yi Yun’s back was getting further away from him.

Even so, Yi Yun still jumped again and again with no signs of fatigue. It was as if he was going to jump to the ends of the world.

How… How could this be…

Zhou Kui could not believe it. Ignoring the thought of enduring to the point Yi Yun could no longer jump, just the distance Yi Yun had opened up was more than a hundred meters.

This hundred meters distance was an insurmountable cliff for Zhou Kui!

If he was inferior to Yi Yun in terms of speed, it was alright since he was not good at it.

But strength and endurance were his pride; how could he lose to Yi Yun in these?

When a genius experiences a failure, and especially in an area that he was most confident in, it will result in a psychological blow. Zhou Kui felt a lack of oxygen to the brain. He felt light-headed as his vision began to blur.

He could no longer hear anything except his breathing and heartbeat.

He had been motivated by his stubborn willpower previously. But now, with his Yuan Qi completely drained, and the huge psychological blow, with one breath, he was left without even a shred of energy.

“Splash!”

Zhou Kui’s body wobbled and planted his face into the ground. He fell sprawling upon the ground.

167 - : Frog-jumps

Zhou Kui had reached the limits of his limits. The people around him were dumbstruck.

Zhou Kui and Yi Yun were both frog-jumping bearing weights of 250 cauldrons.

Yi Yun had been jumping all this way, and the more he jumped, the more he increased his lead. And Zhou Kui had even fainted from exhaustion!

How could this be possible!?

Just from their weight, the sturdy Zhou Kui was probably twice Yi Yun’s weight. And he came from the Xuanwu Army, which meant he was good at taking on weight.

What’s the meaning of this?

“Brother Kui! Brother Kui!” A few members of the Xuanwu Army noticed something disastrous had happened, and scrambled to help Zhou Kui.

Zhou Kui was already foaming at the mouth and his eyes were rolling back.

At this time, the Xuanwu Army members no longer cared about their reputation, and they quickly took out a few fierce beast relics for Zhou Kui to eat.

Zhou Kui’s body was still considered good.

He had fainted from the frog-jumps only because he had depleted both his stamina and Yuan Qi.

The moment the fierce beast relics entered his stomach, they turned into a stream of warm energy. Zhou Kui slowly recovered and opened his eyes. In his blurred vision, he saw that Yi Yun’s back had turned into a fuzzy shadow the size of a fist and he was about to disappear at an intersection.

Zhou Kui could not believe it. How did this happen?

Yi Yun’s strength could not be stronger than him. If Yi Yun could really handle 500-600 cauldrons, then wearing 250 cauldrons would have been a very relaxed task.

But in fact, at the beginning, although Yi Yun managed to support the two training suits, he was not able to treat it as they were weightless and even struggled.

This simply meant that… Yi Yun had remarkable endurance!

In this aspect, Yi Yun was someone he could not compare with.

Zhou Kui even suspected that back in the Wilderness Divine Hall, Yi Yun had not even expended any of his Yuan Qi. If so, that would explain why Yi Yun had such great endurance…

This was something Zhou Kui had trouble accepting.

“Brother Kui, this kid is strange!” The other members of the Xuanwu Army refused to believe Yi Yun was that powerful.

Zhou Kui was panting like a bull. He could no longer take in any of their words.

He had lost the middle-class residence to Yi Yun, and now, he had lost at frog-jumps. He had lost twice consecutively.

…

Finally, Yi Yun managed to frog-jump the five kilometer distance to the school grounds.

The hundred people frog jumping from the Wilderness Divine Hall to the school grounds was a spectacular scene to behold. But the passers-by did not pay any attention to them, as obviously this scene was common.

As for the bald man, Yi Yun noticed the bald man’s expression when he finished the frog-jumps.

He made a slight nod with some appreciation, and that was all.

This made Yi Yun take a small breath of cold air. From the bald man’s attitude, he knew that to endure two hours in the Wilderness Divine Hall and then bearing 250 cauldrons (on the surface), frog-jumping all the way to the square was just considered not bad, not something amazing.

There were too many extraordinary people in the Tai Ah Divine City. They came from large family clans, with fate-defying bloodlines and amazing opportunities.

At this time, many of these extraordinary people had the advantage by possessing two out of the three qualities, or even all three.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was too big, and there were too many young heroes.

The Tai Ah Divine City’s square had many parts.

The population of the Tai Ah Divine City was small, but covered a great area. Most of the city’s land besides the army camp, the divine hall, the central divine tower and other essential buildings, a lot of them were part of the school grounds.

The school grounds was the place where sparring matches and army training happened. This was the reason why the Tai Ah Divine City’s school grounds was so big!

Some of the school’s grounds were big and others small. Some were high-class and others low class. The training facilities also varied.

Do not underestimate these training facilities. Many of the facilities’ cost of construction was extremely expensive. They were made by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s refining masters and array masters and were very beneficial for a warrior’s cultivation!

This high-class school grounds needed dragon scale runes for entry. It was not something a typical rookie could afford.

The bald man brought Yi Yun, Zhou Kui and the others to a rookie school ground which was free to use.

“Damn it, I’m so tired!”

“We’ve finally gotten here!”

The group of people reeled right and left upon reaching the school grounds.

Under the circumstances of their physical exhaustion and having to frog-jump with weights for five kilometers really drained them of their Yuan Qi.

That was just the road to the school grounds. They still had to do more training upon reaching their destination. They took the opportunity to recover some physical energy while the bald man stayed silent.

People began eating fierce beast relics. Yi Yun also ate one.

In a rare moment of kindness, the bald man allowed them to meditate and regulate their breathing.

As for the most exhausted Zhou Kui, he felt he had not recovered even after eating the fierce beast relic. He resolutely decided to eat a desolate bone relic which was worth ten times more than a fierce beast relic.

A desolate bone relic was the relic essence refined from desolate beast bones. It could allow a warrior to break through in their levels, but now, Zhou Kui was only using it to recover his energy.

Thinking about it, Zhou Kui’s heart was bleeding.

Zhou Kui may be a son of a rich family, but his family was insignificant compared to the Tai Ah royal family. To use a desolate bone relic to replenish his energy was extremely heart-wrenching.

But now he had no choice. He had been cornered by Yi Yun. He had lost to Yi Yun during the frog-jumps. And now, for the cultivation at the school grounds, he could not lose again.

Zhou Kui gathered a burst of strength, determined to exceed Yi Yun.

The school ground was wide. It was about 200 meters in all directions. On one side of the school ground, there were many iron rods and black iron rollers.

These were used to do weighted squats and frog-jumps.

These black iron items were extremely heavy. Even a palm sized piece was enough to crush a horse.

Beside these metal rollers were iron stumps and puppets. They were used to train a person’s punches and kicks.

On another side, there were plum blossom poles. These plum blossom poles were not ordinary. A typical plum blossom pole’s top surface was flat, and allowed one to stand steadily.

But the plum blossom poles used in the Tai Ah Divine City had rounded tops, and were even pointed. By standing on these, a person’s feet would hurt, let alone making fast-moving intricate moves on these plum blossom poles.

Besides all these, Yi Yun also saw something similar to the Divine Capital Jin Long Wei’s Frost Metal Blood Balls array. It was also used to train a person’s movement skills.

But the most prominent thing was the metallic wall in the middle of the school grounds.

This metallic wall was about ten meters tall and thirty meters long. It was made of some unknown metal, and it was covered in shocking imprints.

On closer inspection, one would see that those imprints were marks left behind by sabers, swords, spears, hammers, etc.

It was clearly imprints left behind by weapons!

“This wall is constructed using a mixture of a dozen metals by Tai Ah Divine City’s refining masters. The metal wall’s material is known as ‘purple tungsten’. Purple tungsten is soft, so a weapon can leave a mark on it. But in a month or two, the imprints on the metal wall will slowly disappear. This is the magic of the purple tungsten.

“This wall is used to test the strength of your moves!”

168 - : School grounds

In the army, attacking exercises were the most basic exercises.

A simple description is a warrior attacking straight ahead with a weapon in hand.

Spears and swords stab, while sabers and axes slash, and a hammer smashes.

For a warrior, the weight of the weapon was nothing. Training by using a weapon to simply attack had little effect.

Hence, they had to use a target to test their attack’s power.

An effective attack was to stab through armor. Only an attack that could break through an enemy’s steel armor was threatening.

In an army like the Xuanwu Army, the attack target was made of metal. The metal used was ordinary iron, but for most soldiers, that was enough.

But in the Tai Ah Divine City, things were different.

With the attack power of the Tai Ah Divine City warriors, an ordinary thick iron plate would be easily pierced with a fine weapon. It would be no different than a normal person chopping wood.

Hence, the Tai Ah Divine City’s refining masters created a purple tungsten wall that could self-heal.

It had sufficient thickness and toughness. It could test a warrior’s attack power, and it could also self-heal. This design made Yi Yun amazed.

The facilities and rules of the Tai Ah Divine City really opened up his eyes.

It was said that the purple tungsten wall would self-heal in a few months after a mark was left on it by an attack.

But during these few months, the purple tungsten wall would still be attacked, causing it to be filled with compact marks. Counting all these marks, there were thousands of them.

This was evidence of the intense training in the Tai Ah Divine City!

If a normal soldier from an army were to come here, he would fall apart from exhaustion. Those who could survive were the elites among elites.

“There’s such a wall!”

At this time, after the break, whether they were members of the Xuanwu Army or the Jin Long Wei, they had recovered quite a sizable amount of energy. With energy, they were raring to try.

The people from Xuanwu Army especially liked this form of manly training due to their culture.

“Alright, the attack training begins now!” The bald man waved. Many people began to wield their weapons. All the young heroes present did not have interspatial rings. Many of their weapons were not light, and had to be carried on their backs. This, no doubt, made it more difficult frog-jumping.

Many of them could not even make it halfway. They had to eat a fierce beast relic or some other supplementary elixir.

“Weapons…have to be standardized.” Seeing many people wield their weapons, the bald man shook his head. He pointed to a huge metal box beside the purple tungsten wall.

This metal box was four to five meters wide. The bald man kicked the box open and everyone saw what was in the box.

Within it were metal spears that were four meters long and were as thick as a strong man’s arm.

The metal spear was entirely black. Its tip was conical and cold. Yi Yun had never seen such a thick and long spear. This had to be something a three meter tall giant would use?

Oh?

Yi Yun noticed that on the other end of the metal spear were metal notches, making it look like an arrow.

“Have you seen the ballistae on the Tai Ah Divine City walls? The Tai Ah Divine City has 128 ballistae. Among them, one of them is the Primal Divine Crossbow. It was made by three sage level refining masters. This Primal Divine Crossbow can only be loaded through the combined efforts of twelve human lord experts!”

Combined efforts of twelve human lord experts? Then what would be the power if such an arrow was sent flying?

“Have you heard about the Star Shooting Bow?” The bald man asked and the crowd nodded in reply. The Star Shooting Bow was a famous weapon in the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Even Yi Yun had heard of it in the Cloud Wilderness.

When he was secretly learning from Yao Yuan, when Yao Yuan reached the part about “Thunder Occurring in the Nine Clouds, Surprise Bow Drops Flock”, he had said, “Everyone’s body is a treasure! The limit of human tendons is terrifying. The Star Shooting Bow bowstring was made of the tendons of the founding emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.”

The bald man had taken out a metal spear from the metal box. As he balanced it in his hand, he said, “You must have guessed that this thick spear is the arrow used by the Primal Divine Crossbow. If we are talking about its piercing strength, the arrows shot out from the Primal Divine Bow is fully comparable with the Star Shooting Bow! It can hurt even a primordial species beast!”

Upon hearing the bald man’s words, everyone’s heart jumped.

From the arrow’s thickness and length, the feeling it gave off made the Primal Divine Crossbow frightening.

But it had to be said that the Star Shooting Bow was more terrifying.

Only through the combined strength of twelve human lords could the Primal Divine Bow be strung, hence there had to be several restrictions in its use. And from the way the bald man said it, the Primal Divine Bow was only comparable to the Star Shooting Bow in terms of penetration power.

As for the Star Shooting Bow, it was not all about penetration strength. The arrows shot out from the Star Shooting Bow included within it Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and nomological truths. The burst of power it could create exceeded that of the Primal Divine Bow.

Of course, to open the Star Shooting Bow, one had to be at least a human sage. This made it incomparable to the combined effort of human lords to use the Primal Divine Crossbow.

“We will be using these for today’s attack practice!” As he said this, the bald man casually threw the four-meter long thick metal arrow into the purple tungsten wall with a shrilling sound!

“Ding!!”

A clear metallic sound rang out. The vibrations made a person’s eardrums numb as the arrow’s tail vibrated!

Upon seeing this scene, everyone took a cold, light breath. He had thrown it so easily as if he had stuck a chopstick into a cake.

“Don’t you want to prove yourselves? Come forward, grab a spear and insert it into the metal wall without regard. Insert it and pull it out!”

“If you can’t even do the basic motions of a man, then you should just castrate yourself, and don’t bother calling yourself a man ever again.” The bald man used a frivolous and sarcastic tone.

Many men in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom got married at the age of fifteen. A fourteen-year-old youth was sensitive about boy-girl relations. In fact, many among them had bade farewell to virginity; hence, the bald man’s words easily created certain associations.

At this moment, the youths, especially the brutes from the Xuanwu Army were all reeled up and became excited. They could not wait to prove their manly abilities.

The army was male-dominated, although there were female armies like the Qing Luan Wei, many people stubbornly believed that the army belonged to men. How could men be accused of being impotent?

Who could endure the bald man’s contempt towards them?

Many of them cracked their knuckles and rubbed their palms. They couldn’t wait to try, it was as if they had forgotten about the great consumption of energy during both the Wilderness Divine Hall and the frog-jumping process. Although they had recovered some of their energy, they might not be able to prove that they were men…

“Instructor Qin, let me!”

“We’ll see who can insert it the most number of times. Damn, I want to fuck it a hundred times!”

“If you are a man, you need to insert it a hundred times!”

Many of the youths from the Xuanwu Army shouted. What other matter could make these human beasts more excited than displaying their manly prowess?

The bald man had a contemplative smile, “Sure, those who want to give it a try, come on up!”

Immediately, eight members of the Xuanwu Army rushed up!

These people couldn’t wait to grab the Primal Arrows from the metal box.

But the moment the Primal Arrow entered their hands, their expressions changed.

The heaviness and that coldness to the touch told them a ruthless truth–

This arrow was heavier than they originally imagined!

“What the…!?”

A few members of the Xuanwu Army started sweating.

In fact, even if this Primal Arrow was made of normal metal, the four meter length and the arm-thickness like arrow would have a weight of 2000-3000 pounds.

However, the Primal Arrows were custom-made from very special heavy metals, so they weighed more than a hundred times more than normal metal!

And the long arrow shaft made one end of the arrow tilt, making it more difficult to lift the arrow.

Usually, at these Xuanwu Army members’ peak conditions, they could barely lift such an arrow. But now, after spending two hours in the Wilderness Divine Hall and frog-jumping, it was like they had been tortured, making them dog-tired. Although they had recovered some of the energy, they had no way of lifting such a ridiculously heavy Primal Arrow!

“Up!”

“Get it up for me!”

These strong youths shouted at the top of their lungs. They used all their strength, gritted their teeth, puffed their cheeks and nearly burst their eyeballs.

“Come on, move!”

A youth’s muscles flared up and an earth-worm like vein appeared on his head. But no matter how hard he tried, besides the sweat on his forehead, nothing happened.

Those with greater strength only managed to lift half the arrow shaft, but could not completely lift the Primal Arrow.

The weaker ones, those that depleted all their energy in the Wilderness Divine Hall, only felt that the Primal Arrow was melded to the box. No matter how much strength they used, the arrow remained motionless.

The surrounding people, including the Jin Long Wei members, were dumbfounded by this scene.

169 - : Primal Arrow

“This is ridiculous. These Xuanwu Army members, who have moronic-minds but well developed limbs, can’t even lift the Primal arrow, let alone pierce it into the wall.” A Jin Long Wei warrior transmitted his voice softly.

Ever since they came to the Tai Ah Divine City, they were finding it difficult to handle training after training.

The training was too tough!

After all, this was their first day of formal training ever since they came to the Tai Ah Divine City.

In the future, they would constantly undergo similar training. If they could not take it, the outcome would be miserable.

A group of Xuanwu Army members, after shouting for about fifteen minutes, collapsed to the ground one by one, with their faces puffed red. Their tongues stuck out from their mouths. They were really dog-tired.

“Can you get it up or not?” The bald man taunted.

Hearing the words “get it up”, they all felt ashamed.

It was taboo for men to be said to be unable to get it up. But now, they had no way of retorting.

“I’ve never seen such a bunch of wimps! Originally, I thought you wouldn’t be able to insert it in, but now, you can’t even get it up!”

“Since you can’t get it up, then what’s the point of keeping it? You might as well castrate yourself and become a woman!” The bald man’s words were really venomous. The Xuanwu Army members who had stepped forward wanted to burrow into the ground and hide themselves.

It was too embarrassing. They had never been that ashamed in their entire lives.

A youth said with some disgruntlement, “Qin… Instructor Qin, it’s not that we can’t get it up, but this Primal Arrow is too heavy. Instructor Qin, you might get it up easily, but we are still young. We have just spent two hours in the Wilderness Divine Hall, and frog-jumped while bearing weight. Our energy hasn’t fully recovered…”

“Just give us some time. Once we recover our energy, lifting this Primal Arrow won’t be difficult…”

Between the lines, the youth was implying that the bald man was using his age against them, forcing them to do impossible tasks.

Upon hearing the youth’s words, the bald man flashed a cold gaze that was difficult to detect, “Oh? Really?”

The youth immediately shut up with that reply. He did not dare look at the bald man.

These days, everyone knew about the bald man’s foul attitude. But he was extremely strong. He had handled the Primal Arrow like a chopstick. Although these youths were arrogant, in the bald man’s presence, none of them dared to show any temper.

Secretly, all of them called the bald man Baldy Qin.

“You, step out!”

The bald man pointed at Zhou Kui.

Zhou Kui’s eyes lit up. For Baldy Qin to call him, it was naturally to use him as a demonstrative model!

Zhou Kui’s heart beat faster!

This proved that Baldy Qin appreciated him!

This was his time to shine. He definitely could not fail!

Zhou Kui clenched his fists and walked out of the troop.

Zhou Kui did not expect that moving the Primal Arrow was that difficult. He had wanted his followers to try it, but seeing his boys fail to lift it, Zhou Kui also became aware of the difficulty.

Among his boys, some of them were quite strong.

Although Zhou Kui was stronger than them, he did not have a ridiculous amount of strength. Hence, Zhou Kui made the clever choice of continuing to recover his Yuan Qi.

Seeing Zhou Kui step forward, the Xuanwu Army’s unruly kids lit up.

Zhou Kui was their big brother and was the strongest amongst them. They couldn’t do it, but Zhou Kui could.

If Zhou Kui managed to do it, they would also gain some pride.

At least someone from the Xuanwu Army could say he was a man.

But before Zhou Kui could do anything, the bald man pointed out another person.

“And you too!”

The people followed Baldy Qin’s fingers, and that person was none other than Yi Yun.

No one was surprised when Baldy Qin pointed out Yi Yun. During the frog-jumps, Yi Yun had surpassed Zhou Kui and he was currently in the limelight.

There were even some Xuanwu Army members, who were full of confidence about Zhou Kui, felt that Zhou Kui might lose to Yi Yun.

The bald man gave a meaningful glance at Yi Yun, “Kid, step out!”

The gap between Zhou Kui and Yi Yun was rather obvious.

Zhou Kui was about the same height as the bald man. He was even bulkier than the bald man. On the other hand, Yi Yun still looked like a twelve-year-old child. Compared to that four-meter long Primal Arrow, three Yi Yun’s together would only be a foot longer than the Primal Arrow’s shaft.

Yi Yun was helpless about his height problem. The children from the vast wilderness grew taller later as their nutrition couldn’t keep up.

Now, Yi Yun had finally matched up his nutrition level. Every morning when he woke up, he could feel his joints crack. It proved that his body was growing.

But growing tall needed some time. To grow up, a boy needed about two to three years time.

Yi Yun walked out of the troop and walked towards the big metal box.

The adult arm-thick arrow shaft could only be lifted by Yi Yun using two hands, or he could not even maintain his balance.

Crossing glances with the bald man, Yi Yun noticed that there was a strange flair within the bald man’s eyes.

Zhou Kui glanced at Yi Yun. He pumped himself up. This time, I can’t embarrass myself.

“Brother Kui, go!”

“Brother Kui, insert it mercilessly!”

The brothers from the Xuanwu Army cheered loudly.

Zhou Kui rolled up his sleeves and after stretching his back and loosening his feet and neck, he finished his preparatory warmup.

Following that, Zhou Kui went into a horse-stance, and used both his hands to lift the Primal Arrow’s tail. With his hips, all his muscles flared up!

“Get it up for me!” Zhou Kui shouted loudly, and he lifted one end of the Primal Arrow, and rested it on his shoulders!

Following that, Zhou Kui rested the other end of the arrow shaft on the metal box corner. His body slided along the arrow shaft by two meters, placing his shoulders in the middle of the arrow shaft. With that, he lifted up the Primal Arrow!

“Brother Kui, nice!”

Upon seeing this scene, the Xuanwu Army members turned red from excitement, as if they had just eaten aphrodisiacs. Zhou Kui was the first person to lift a Primal Arrow.

“Insert it in!”

“Insert it in!”

The bunch of animals shouted loudly. With a burst of strength, Zhou Kui carried the Primal Arrow and rushed towards the purple tungsten wall with big steps.

He was like a wild bull charging forward!

“Dang!”

A metallic thud sounded, and the Primal Arrow crashed heavily into the metal wall.

It quivered against Zhou Kui’s arms and shoulders as they turned numb. His shoulder felt like it was breaking apart.

Before, the bald man said the purple tungsten was soft. Thinking about that, Zhou Kui wanted to curse. How was the purple tungsten soft? If it was, how could his long-trained body nearly break apart from that collision?

But, the result was okay. He had still managed to stick this Primal Arrow into the purple tungsten wall with great difficulty.

About half the arrow head was embedded within the metal wall at about half a foot deep.

But this deepness was insufficient to keep the Primal Arrow firmly planted within the metal wall. The moment Zhou Kui loosened his grip, the Primal Arrow staggered and fell onto the ground.

“Ding-Dang!”

The Primal Arrow fell heavily on the school ground, causing a tremor, showcasing it’s terrifying weight.

“Brother Kui is a real man!”

The people from the Xuanwu Army were extremely excited. Although it was not stable, it was still inserted.

Zhou Kui was the first person to lift the Primal Arrow, and the person who had left a mark on the purple tungsten wall.

But still, Zhou Kui frowned. He was not pleased with the result. The bald man had casually thrown it and the Primal Arrow stuck stably. When it came to him, he found it difficult just to insert it.

Zhou Kui thoughtlessly looked towards Baldy Qin, waiting for Baldy Qin’s evaluation.

Baldy Qin smiled and said pleasantly to Zhou Kui, “Not bad. The way you lifted the metal pole was very proficient. You knew to raise one end first, slide your shoulders over, and then lift the metal pole. Doing it this way really saved you a lot of energy. I say, you must have been a sedan carrier in the past?”

When Baldy Qin said the first half, Zhou Kui still felt praised, but the last half of his words made Zhou Kui choke.

Sedan carrier?

Zhou Kui took a while before realizing what Baldy Qin meant. He was ridiculing his pose used to insert the Primal Arrow.

The Primal Arrow was similar to a spear. When training your attacks with a spear, you would stab while carrying it in your hands. Who would lift a spear with their shoulder to stab?

His results had been torn to pieces by Baldy Qin’s evaluation!

“I…”

Zhou Kui was aggrieved, but he was completely unable to refute.

At this time, the bald man turned towards Yi Yun, “You, try it!”

Baldy Qin had been paying attention to Yi Yun. Baldy Qin’s expectations were high. After all these years in the Tai Ah Divine City, Baldy Qin had seen many geniuses, the real geniuses.

But this time, of the hundred people from he Jing state, Baldy Qin was not satisfied with them at all.

So far, he only paid a little more attention to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun regulated his breathing. This time, it was a comparison of pure strength, no tricks!

Yi Yun’s forte was not his strength. Of course, that was compared to those naturally born with divine strength. Compared to others, Yi Yun’s strength was still sufficient.

“Help me take this.” Yi Yun took off his clothes and removed the Flowing Mercury Gown and handed it to Xu Zheng.

“Oh? “Flowing Mercury Gown?”

Many people saw the clothes Yi Yun was wearing and recognized the level of the Flowing Mercury Gown with a glance. Its weight varied from ten cauldrons to a thousand cauldrons.

When Yi Yun was doing his frog-jumps, he was apparently also wearing the Flowing Mercury Gown. But if the Flowing Mercury Gown was at 10 cauldrons, then 250 cauldrons with the 10 additional cauldrons was just 260 cauldrons, and that was not ridiculous.

“Brother Yi, be careful. You just came out from the Wilderness Divine Hall and you have frog-jumped for a long time. This arrow doesn’t look light, don’t get injured!”

Yi Yun nodded, assuring Xu Zheng.

If it was a test of movement, Yi Yun could still wear his Flowing Mercury Gown. But in a test of his body’s strength, Yi Yun had to go all out.

Using all his strength might not even satisfy others.

Today’s training was a great challenge for Yi Yun. He felt that with his present strength, it would be extremely difficult to insert the Primal Arrow into the purple tungsten wall!

170 - : You must have been a sedan carrier in the past?

Yi Yun walked to the metal box and picked out a Primal Arrow. The moment he touched the arrow’s shaft, the ice-cold metal caused his heart to palpitate.

With his legs firmly planted to the ground, his left arm forward and right arm in the back, he applied pressure to the Primal Arrow. He did not choose to use his shoulder to lift the Primal Arrow, he wanted to use his two hands to carry the thick divine arrow!

Baldy Qin was right. A spear had to be stabbed using one’s hands, so how could one lift it with his shoulders to stab?

“This kid!” Zhou Kui could tell what Yi Yun was up to.

Carrying the Primal Arrow with one’s hands was much more difficult than lifting it with one’s shoulders!

Taking a deep breath, Yi Yun’s eyes flashed. Using his legs and hips, he exerted strength into his two shoulders and arms. He used all his strength at that moment.

Up!

Yi Yun’s muscles bulged as his veins twisted. The Primal Arrow was lifted up by him!

It was really ridiculously heavy!

Yi Yun clearly felt the terrifying weight of the Primal Arrow. It pulled on his arm muscles, nearly tearing them.

The Xuanwu Army members suffered a crushing defeat trying to lift the Primal Arrow, and it was not without reason.

“This kid really lifted it!”

When the Xuanwu Army members saw this scene their eyelids twitched.

But lifting the Primal Arrow was just the first step. The real difficulty was inserting the divine arrow into the purple tungsten wall.

With the Primal Arrow in hand, Yi Yun slid his arms forward to the middle of the Primal Arrow’s center!

They could see Yi Yun’s arm tremble. This was because his muscles could not bear the tremendous pressure from the Primal Arrow and they were protesting.

This proved that Yi Yun was at the verge of his limits.

If it was a month ago, it would have been impossible for Yi Yun to lift something like the Primal Arrow.

But now…

Within Yi Yun’s Dantian, his Qi was slowly circulating. This energy was from the primordial species’ Power of Desolates!

The primordial species’ energy was extremely pure. Upon entering Yi Yun’s bloodstream, it made Yi Yun feel rejuvenated, cleansing his marrows!

This primordial species’ energy had given Yi Yun strength ever since the frog-jumps. It had been slowly melting into Yi Yun’s flesh and blood.

“Brother Yi, all the best!”

“Yi Yun, go!”

The Jin Long Wei members clenched their fists and cheered for Yi Yun!

Yi Yun looked at the purple tungsten wall, and with his teeth clenched, he charged forward!

Every step he made on the ground caused a violent tremor in the special tiles on the ground. Yi Yun rapidly raised the Primal Arrow up.

Both his hands jerked forward!

“Dang!”

With a loud rumble, the Primal Arrow made a heavy impact on the purple tungsten wall. A tremendous rebound force sent Yi Yun backwards as his blood surged around his body!

So hard!

The purple tungsten wall was terrifyingly hard.

The Primal Arrow only managed to pierce half a foot deep into it. This depth was not enough to keep the Primal Arrow stuck within the purple tungsten wall.

Releasing it would make the Primal Arrow drop!

A vein appeared on Yi Yun’s forehead as he clenched his teeth. He took a few steps back and, using the strength from both his hands, he sent the Primal Arrow back in!

“Dang!”

The second impact made Yi Yun felt as if he heard all the muscles within his body tear.

Not far away, the people shuddered with fear. Yi Yun had actually used the Primal Arrow to pierce the wall twice.

But he had failed both times!

The strength of the second impact was weaker than the first. Although it sent the arrow deeper in, it was still less than a foot.

At this point, Yi Yun’s muscles and tendons had been injured from the tear. He could not carry on!

“Ding-Dang!”

The Primal Arrow fell to the ground.

Yi Yun’s arms trembled gently.

Training one’s strength could not be done overnight. Although Yi Yun had absorbed the primordial species’ energy from the Wilderness Divine Hall, he was still worse than those who have been training their strength for long periods of time and soaked in herbs from a young age.

Compared to peerless geniuses like Lin Xintong, the gap was even greater.

Yi Yun needed time to catch up!

“Weak!”

Baldy Qin’s evaluation was only a single word!

This word was used to evaluate the hundred people, including Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was silent. He knew the strength he displayed was considered normal.

In terms of movement skills, he had Minute Subtlety. But in terms of strength, he had no trump card. Just the training from the Flowing Mercury Gown did not give him reason to compare with those geniuses.

The atmosphere was solemn for a moment. After a long silence, Baldy Qin said, “Many years ago, when I was about the same age as you, I came to the Tai Ah Divine City. My first training lesson was also like this, and back then… I did not manage to pierce a single Primal Arrow!”

Baldy Qin’s words made many youths raise their heads towards the bald, middle-aged man.

He was thin and had a scar on his face. Compared to before, his expression now looked less foul, and had a tinge of nostalgia and tenderness.

Instructor Qin was also once a trainee in the Tai Ah Divine City?

Baldy Qin carried on, “My results made me discouraged, especially when I saw the Primal Arrow piercing record on the Sages Avenue.”

“Did you notice it?”

There were too many record platforms on Sages Avenue; hence, they did not see it all while they walked past. They shook their heads.

Baldy Qin said, “There is a special record for inserting the Primal Arrow into the purple tungsten wall. There are three requirements to leave a record. One, the cultivator has to be at fifteen-years of age or below. Two, their cultivation level has to be below the Yuan foundation realm. Three, there is a fifteen-minute time limit to insert using the Primal Arrow. Back then..the record was 109 pierces into the purple tungsten wall using the Primal Arrow!”

109!?

When they heard this, they drew a breath of cold air. This number was too ridiculous!

They felt a heavy pressure!

From Baldy Qin’s description, the person who used the Primal Arrow to insert 109 times was most likely at the peak of the Purple Blood realm.

This person’s cultivation level was higher than theirs, but not much higher.

Many of them could not even lift the Primal Arrow, not to mention insert it in. And that person had inserted it 109 times!

The gap was too wide.

Yi Yun looked at the numerous marks on the purple tungsten wall. He asked, “Instructor, I want to ask, how old was the person when he left the record?”

The ridiculous number that was 109 had also shocked Yi Yun.

“At that time… he had just turned 14. The requirements demand that a person not be above fifteen-years of age. But many geniuses would breakthrough to the Yuan foundation before fifteen-years of age. The fifteen-years age limit is just for geniuses who began their cultivation later…”

Fourteen-years-old…

Peak of Purple Blood at fourteen!

Yi Yun was almost thirteen years old and his cultivation level was only at the beginning stages of Purple Blood. He still had about a year to work towards his goal…

Baldy Qin said, “Now, that record has been unchallenged for 3000 years. In the past 3000 years, the nearest record was only 105. And that person who left the record eventually became a sage…”

“Do you have any concept of what a sage is?”

Upon mentioning sages, Baldy Qin’s expression turned into one of admiration.

“Sages are top human elites. In the Tai Ah Divine City, to become a sage, you can choose to become an Elder of the Divine City! A Tai Ah Elder has certain control over the Tai Ah Divine City’s resources. They stay above the 90th floor in the central divine tower. There are so many benefits!”

“Tai Ah Elders do not number more than a handful. The largest number of Tai Ah Divine City Elders has never exceeded ten in all of history.”

“And in the entire vast Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, including the royal family and reclusive families, there are more sages, but there’s not that many more. A sage’s lifespan can reach ten thousand years or above. By counting in this way, in the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there might not be more than one sage every 500 years!”

“But do you know how many rookies are sent to train in the Tai Ah Divine City?”

“You probably know the numbers. There are 2000 a year. Each batch spends six years. Hence, the number of young elites training in the Tai Ah Divine City maintains an average of 12,000 people.”

“In this unshakable Tai Ah Divine City, there are no shortage of cultivators! There are 12,000 people in six years, 120,000 in sixty years. Then what about 500 years? It’s a million people!

“And these people are the elites from all around the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom! A million elites, and a sage might not even appear! Can you understand the concept of this probability?”

“People often say so-and-so has absolute talent, and is a youth sage! When their talent was evaluated, there is the so-called, Mystic rank human lord level, the Earth rank sage level, and the Heaven rank great emperor level…”

“But in reality, those geniuses who were called youth sages have a very low probability of becoming a sage. The young heroes who had been evaluated to be of Earth rank sage levels only have a chance, and would they be able to?”

“Difficult!”

Baldy Qin’s words made the young heroes present speechless.

A sage once every 500 years. A million Tai Ah Divine City elites might not even give rise to one…

Qin Haotian was currently the number one person on both the Heaven and Earth rolls of honor in the Tai Ah Divine City. He was labeled as a youth sage. But even he did not have a 1% chance of becoming a sage.

The atmosphere turned silent. Baldy Qin was not afraid to pour cold water on them. If their martial art compass could be so easily distorted by some cold water, then they were destined to never succeed.

Yi Yun ruminated over Baldy Qin’s words. Back in the Cloud Wilderness Tao tribal clan, Yi Yun had been evaluated and his results were just–Mystic rank grade five!

That was a human lord level. As for Lian Chengyu and Tao Yunxiao, they were just at the Yellow rank, or human elites.

People evaluated as sage rank geniuses might not become a sage. He was just at the human lord level, and even amongst the human lords, his evaluation was not at the pinnacle. Then, he was still a long distance away.

But Yi Yun was not discouraged. After all, how long had he been practicing martial arts?

Not more than half a year.

In half a year, it was normal if he could not match those who came from martial art families and began training from the age of five.

The road ahead of Yi Yun was still long!

171 - : What it means to be a sage

Yi Yun and company’s training lasted all the way till sunset.

Including Yi Yun, all of them were exhausted. They felt like a layer of skin had been peeled off.

But, all the way till the end, there were only ten people who could lift the Primal Arrow. Among those ten, besides Zhou Kui and Yi Yun, the rest were Xuanwu Army members who had rested for a long time. They could just about manage to lift the Primal Arrow in a better condition.

But no one left a mark deeper than one foot in the purple tungsten wall using the Primal Arrow.

“From today onwards, you can come to this school ground to train at any time. This purple tungsten wall is for you to use! Thirty days! I will give you thirty days time, if anyone can pierce three Primal Arrows into the purple tungsten wall by then, I will reward him with two hours of cultivation time in the Wilderness Divine Hall!” Just before dismissing them, Baldy Qin suddenly said those words, stirring the hearts of the youths.

A reward of cultivation time in the Wilderness Divine Hall?

Not only Yi Yun, everyone else was yearning to cultivate in the Wilderness Divine Hall. The primordial species sculptures in the Wilderness Divine Hall was extremely beneficial for them! If they could enter occasionally, their cultivation level would increase by leaps and bounds!

But… there was no doubt that it was not an easy task to stick three Primal Arrows into the purple tungsten wall in thirty days. And… the reward given by Baldy Qin was only two hours.

Either Baldy Qin was stingy, or the cultivation time within the Wilderness Divine Hall was too precious, making it difficult to enter!

“Instructor Qin, if one wants to spend dragon scale runes to enter the Wilderness Divine Hall, how much is it?” Someone could not help but ask.

Instructor Qin sneered, “Heh! All of you look like a group of defeated soldiers! If I said it crudely, letting the current you enter the Wilderness Divine Hall is a waste of resources! You are only using the Wilderness Divine Hall to endure the pressure to forge your body and condense your blood? That is such a waste of a treasure!”

“The most important thing in the Wilderness Divine Hall is the nomology left behind by the first city lord. When you can gain any insight of this nomology, no matter how tiny, then you will have entered the path of martial arts. A little achievement will be a great advantage, but… did any of you learn anything about the nomological truths?”

Instructor Qin fiercely swept across them with hawk-like eyes.

Many of the youths lowered their heads. The nomological truths were too far away.

After all, it was their first time entering the Wilderness Divine Hall. Their cultivation levels were low too. The pressure from the primordial species was almost unbearable. As for gaining any insight to the nomological truths, ignoring perceptivity alone, all their strength was used to bear the Wilderness Divine Hall’s pressure, where did they have the mental strength to gain insight into the truths?

Many of them felt humbled. They were proud geniuses in their own cities, but upon arriving in the Tai Ah Divine City, they could not succeed in anything. They were last in everything!

A youth mumbled, “The next time we enter, we will definitely gain some insight!”

The youth was short of breath, because he had no clout in front of Baldy Qin.

“Hehe!” Baldy Qin sneered. The youth who spoke before immediately felt a like a cricket who got frightened by a cold late autumn breeze. He did not dare to say a word.

“Next time? To enter the Wilderness Divine Hall, two hours is a thousand dragon scale runes. There is no idea when your next time will be! Earn a thousand dragon scale runes before talking!”

The youth who spoke out shrunk his neck. He did not dare to retort the bald man.

“A thousand dragon scale runes, we do not know how much that is… How difficult is it to earn a thousand dragon scale runes?” A youth asked.

Yi Yun thought and asked, “Instructor Qin, may I know what the quickest ways to earn dragon scale runes are.”

Many of the youths present wanted to enter the Wilderness Divine Hall again, but the one who wanted that the most was none other than Yi Yun.

Every entrance into the Wilderness Divine Hall made Yi Yun’s strength increase by leaps and bounds!

No one could gain more from the Wilderness Divine Hall than Yi Yun.

Currently, Yi Yun had already absorbed most of the primordial species energy. He felt that his cultivation level was approaching the middle-stages of Purple Blood!

Baldy Qin said, “To earn dragon scale runes, there are six common ways. First, kill desolate beasts, and exchange the desolate beasts’ corpses with the Tai Ah Divine City for dragon scale runes. If you are strong, then earning dragon scale runes would be very fast! But, the strength needed to hunt a desolate beast is extremely high. People such as you who go limp just from two hours in the Wilderness Divine Hall will only become food for the desolate beasts if you go to hunt in the Divine wilderness!”

“The second method is also fast. It is by earning dragon scale runes from other cultivators. For example, trading with others or fighting with others in a gambling match. The Tai Ah Divine City’s fighting arenas not only allow you to bet dragon scale runes, even glory points can be bet! But I advise you not to go. With your current strength, you will be sheep for the slaughter. In front of a pack of wolves, you will lose all you have.”

“The third method is to get onto the three rolls of honors. Every month, when the ranking is compiled, a sizable amount of dragon scale runes will be awarded. Of course, that is if you can enter the roll. There is probably no chance for you in the next two years…”

“The fourth method is to complete certain achievements, such as breaking a record, or gaining insight into some nomology. It can give you a massive one-off amount of dragon scale runes, but… naturally that has nothing to do with you.”

“The fifth method is to receive rewards from your instructor. But do you think that with your qualifications, I will reward you with any dragon scale runes?”

“The last method, doing miscellaneous jobs, by mining, picking herbs or be a sparring partner for others to earn dragon scale runes. This method is of course slow, but the advantage is… as long as you are a human, you can do it.”

Baldy Qin’s words never left the concept of “you guys are weak”. The young heroes were dumbfounded upon hearing this.

In the end, among the most common six methods, the first five methods of earning dragon scale runes had nothing to do with them. They felt like Baldy Qin was just telling them about those methods simply for his own amusement.

The most viable route was the last one, which was the least technical one, doing miscellaneous jobs!

It was slow in earning dragon scale runes and it didn’t sound good. Before they could cultivate in the Tai Ah Divine City, they had to do miscellaneous jobs!

But for their training, they had to concede into doing miscellaneous jobs. This was, after all, the Tai Ah Divine City, which was a warrior’s city. There were no normal mortals, and there weren’t many weaker warriors.

Then who was left to do the miscellaneous jobs in the city? Of course, it had to be them. Because, they were probably the weakest bunch in the Tai Ah Divine City.

“Then… Instructor Qin, I would like to ask. If we did miscellaneous jobs, how many dragon scale runes would we make a day?” A youth could not help but ask.

“This, it depends on what you do. Typically, it’s about 20 or so a day…”

Hearing Instructor Qin’s words, the youths present felt like their hearts were in a stampede of 10,000 near-horned beasts with mud-stained hoofs.

20 or so a day?

Then wouldn’t they need to save a month or two before they could finally spend two hours in the Wilderness Divine Hall?

This must be a joke!

They knew that there were many cultivation resources in the Tai Ah Divine City, and they were not limited to the Wilderness Divine Hall.

There were other uses for the dragon scale runes.

Dragon scale runes were needed to purchase 90% of the Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivation resources. It was impossible of them to refrain from eating or drinking just to save all of their dragon scale runes so that they could enter the Wilderness Divine Hall.

No wonder Baldy Qin said, “There is no guarantee when your next time will be!”

If they were to carry on like this, they were destined to not have anything to do with the Wilderness Divine Hall.

And it was obvious that there were other precious cultivation resources in the Tai Ah Divine City that were like the Wilderness Divine Hall. To obtain those, they needed thousands or tens of thousands dragon scale runes!

“I see… That’s why rookies have two hours in the Wilderness Divine Hall cultivation time upon entering the Tai Ah Divine City. This is to tell the rookies that the Tai Ah Divine City is filled with good things. If you have the ability, come get it.”

“This is to inspire the morale of the rookies. They are not counting on rookies to gain any insight of the founding city lord’s nomological truths in that two hours.”

Yi Yun understood. The person who had set up the various rules in the Tai Ah Divine City had put a lot of thought into it.

Many of the young heroes were now a little discouraged.

“Heh! Do you think that the Tai Ah Divine City’s resources are prepared for you? There are so many cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City. There are limited top-level resources, how can it possibly be allocated? In the Tai Ah Divine City, there is a strong polarization. Less than 10% of the experts here account for 90% of the resources!”

“What do you think the reason for gathering all the talent in the Tai Ah Divine City is?”

Oh?

Hearing Baldy Qin’s words, they were dumbfounded.

A youth said weakly, “Isn’t it to focus on nurturing us by gathering here in the Tai Ah Divine City?”

To them, the Tai Ah Divine City’s resources were prepared for cultivators like them.

“Focus on nurturing?” Baldy Qin laughed. “It’s indeed correct. It is to focus on nurturing. But this method is different from what you think. Have you heard of breeding venomous worms? Those who breed them will put all sorts of poisonous worms inside a jar. They will then feed all sorts of poisonous foods to the worms, letting them grow. Later, the jar will be sealed and no food will be provided. This to let the worms fight and devour each other! Only one will be left from a few hundred worms. And that will be the King worm! The most venomous worm!”

“Right now, you are the worms being captured. The Divine Kingdom wants to nurture you, but it only wants to nurture a small number of you. The rest are destined to be eliminated. They are destined to become the stepping stones for those chosen to be proud sons of Heaven!”

172 - : Dragon Scale Runes

“Rearing worms?”

Hearing Baldy Qin’s analogy, the young heroes felt disgruntled. They were all outstanding figures from their own lands, but the first thing they encountered in the Divine wilderness City was for them to be fodder.

To gather all of them, it was only to make them fight against each other, eliminating the weak to decide who was the King worm!

Baldy Qin said, “Only the strongest from a circle of mighty warriors is the real king. Your circle decides your future. Hence, all of you are competitors! Human peerless experts come from stepping on numerous geniuses to reach the pinnacle of martial arts!”

“Not a single sage from a million people. How many young heroes have to be stepped on for a sage to be born in the Tai Ah Divine City? The Tai Ah Divine City gives everyone the same conditions. It all depends on you, whether you become a peerless expert or a stepping stone that will be trampled on.” Baldy Qin said with no holds barred.

Upon hearing this, the young heroes were filled with mixed emotions.

Success was built on a foundation of thousands of skeletons. No one wanted to become a stepping stone for others to trample on them.

Immediately, many of the youths felt a crushing sense of danger.

Whether it was the Wilderness Divine Hall’s temptation, the thirst to accomplish great achievements, or the strong sense of danger, they were all spurred on to continue climbing higher.

Humans were never satisfied. Many of the young heroes present were from good family clans and they came to this mysterious sacred land, the Tai Ah Divine City, for cultivation, which was brilliant in and of itself.

But they knew that they were now being saddled with pressures.

Some of them had to face fierce competition within the family for resources and stature. Some had to shoulder the heavy burden of the family’s prosperity. How could they become fodder? The pressure that they faced was not any better than the pressure Lian Chengyu faced before the Kingdom’s selection.

Most of the young heroes from every corner of the Divine Kingdom had to settle for miscellaneous jobs to earn dragon scale runes. The experiences they had in the Tai Ah Divine City made them understand that, however perfect people may be, someone better will always appear. By not exceeding others, they had to begin from zero.

“There are about ten types of miscellaneous jobs. There is no fixed compensation. However much you make depends on your own skill! But generally speaking, there are some errands that are more profitable than others. I’ll begin from the highest!”

“The highest is to be a sparring partner! Some veteran cultivators will need someone to spar with them during their cultivation. After wearing protective gear, you will spar with them. Upon enduring a certain amount of time, you will receive a corresponding amount of dragon scale runes. If you have some skill, you can take on sparring missions with rich people and the corresponding compensation will be significantly more. Of course, it is also easy to get injured. Additionally, it is highly likely that you might end up bedridden for half a month.”

Sparring? Isn’t that just being a punching bag for others?

These young heroes were prideful people. If it was in the past, they would find it unacceptable to do such shameful jobs. But after hearing Baldy Qin’s words and after undergoing the training, their pride had received repeated blows. They did not mind anymore, because without strength, how were they qualified to speak about dignity? Besides, being a punching bag was better than being fodder.

To become an expert, one had to bear the weight, and they had to learn how to take a beating!

“The second highest is forging! None of you have the ability to refine weapons, but it’s alright. Parts of the weapon refining process requires the forging of some special metals. Using a forging hammer, you need to forge it a million times and up! If you think you have the exceptional strength needed, then you can take on this mission!”

“The third is to patrol the walls and maintain the ballistae on the walls! This is a demanding job that requires you to know arrays.”

“These three are the highest paying jobs. Following that there are more relatively common ones, like standing guard in the school ground or the city entrance.”

“Or taking care of the spirit beasts reared in the Tai Ah Divine City’s beast pens, picking herbs, managing the distribution of daily necessities, etc. The last few are usually done by females.”

Baldy Qin finished introducing the various jobs. Upon hearing them, many of the youths felt that the first three were much more reliable.

The first one, which was to be a punching bag, didn’t sound good, but by sparring with an expert, they could learn the offensive skills of the other. By dodging and getting beaten, they could gain the experience of fighting with an expert. Besides, the pay was good, which made it the most suitable job.

“I’ll apply for the first!”

“I’ll apply for the first too, as a sparring partner!”

The youths present immediately expressed their wishes. Baldy Qin’s memory was good, and he remembered everyone’s application.

“I’ll apply for the second one, forging! My strength is pretty good. By hitting a few hundred thousand times, it can also train my strength! By then, I refuse to believe that I cannot pierce this purple tungsten wall 40-50 times with the Primal Arrows!” Zhou Kui rolled up his sleeves and said with a low muffled voice. He too wanted to stretch himself to obtain good results. He had received too much shock in just a day!

“I’ll apply for the first… sparring.” Song Zijun said. Among the group of people, he could feel the pressure. Although they were said to be weak by Baldy Qin, compared to them, Song Zijun was weaker than more than half of them!

There was fierce competition, even for doing miscellaneous jobs!

After making his decision, Song Zijun looked at Yi Yun, along with Baldy Qin.

Up to this point, Yi Yun’s performance was the most outstanding.

Although it had not amazed Baldy Qin, he believed that with six years of training, Yi Yun would definitely shine. Although it was impossible for Yi Yun to enter the top 1000 in the first year, he had great promise to enter the top 1000 within three years.

Baldy Qin also wished he could develop a talent.

Yi Yun thought for a while and smiled, “I’ll apply for… uhm, herb-picking…”

Yi Yun’s simple sentence shocked the young heroes present.

Herb-picking?

Baldy Qin also slightly raised his eyebrow. Very few of the students he had taken in had applied for picking herbs, and they were all female.

After all, females could only be sparring partners for other females. If there were too many sparring partners, men could still do other jobs like forging. Females were not suitable for forging. Similarly, patrolling and maintaining the ballistae was typically not something girls did.

Hence, those girls, who couldn’t be sparring partners, ended up at jobs like picking herbs, taking care of the spirit beasts, and distributing materials.

But Yi Yun, who Baldy Qin felt had good prospects, wanted to pick herbs?

As such, the other young heroes looked at Yi Yun weirdly.

Isn’t this guy pretty strong?

With his abilities, he would do well either in sparring or forging. Why would he pick herbs?

It can’t be for him to get to know girls while picking herbs, and then trick them into giving their bodies to him? Or to push them down in the herb mountain and do it in the wild?

Many people thought negatively of Yi Yun, for they could see no reason for him to enter the female bunch.

“Herb-picking? Are you sure?” Baldy Qin looked Yi Yun in the eye, hoping to see Yi Yun change his decision.

“Yes! I am sure.” Yi Yun nodded.

Baldy Qin pinched his eyes, as if he saw something from Yi Yun’s body.

“Today I’ll submit the name list. Once it is submitted, there can be no more changes in the next three months. Not only is picking herbs slow at making dragon scale runes, it also does not help much in training your strength. I’ll ask you one more time, are you sure you want to pick herbs?”

“I am sure!” Yi Yun replied calmly and firmly.

The surrounding people were speechless. It was clear that Baldy Qin was appreciative of Yi Yun for him to say that much, but Yi Yun was not appreciative.

Instructor Qin frowned. Finally, he shook his head. The decision was up to the trainee and he would not interfere. Since Yi Yun had made the decision, it was not up to him.

“Alright! I’ll apply for the herb-picking job for you. I’ll give you a word of advice. In the Tai Ah Divine City, slightly exceptional people aren’t that great. It is very easy for them to drown in the vast sea of people, never to be seen again.”

“Among the 2000 rookies this time, there were several good seedlings. The 100 people, that is you who came from the Jing state or the southeastern states near the Jing state. Compared to the Zhong state or the Imperial City, or those that were directly referred from the reclusive families, you are greatly lacking.”

“You probably do not know this. A day ago, in this school ground, a genius youth rookie by the nickname of ‘Qiuniu’ pierced this purple tungsten wall seven times. He was from a reclusive family clan!”

“And two days ago, a girl from the Imperial City managed to gain some nomological insight from the primordial species sculpture in the Wilderness Divine Hall! This girl’s name is Chu Xiaoran and she is the beloved daughter of the Defender Duke of the Tai Ah Imperial Dynasty!”

Instructor Qin’s words made all of their eyelids twitch.

The Defender Duke’s beloved daughter…

Genius youth from a reclusive family clan…

A Defender Duke was a duke of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. A duke together with the words “Defender” in his title made him an official of the highest level!

As for the reclusive family clan, that was even more terrifying.

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, some of the large family clans had family heritages that were unfathomably deep, and they might even be comparable to the royal family.

Some of these family clans had a longer history than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Some of them existed before the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was built, or even a few dynasties before, as they passed down one generation after the other.

Some family clans had helped the founding divine emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom gain its territories. As such, they were given nine big states of the Divine Kingdom’s territories by the founding divine emperor as their eternal fiefdoms.

These family clans had marriages with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom royal family for generations, creating an integral relationship between the two. It could be said that these family clans were the reason why the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom could last for so many years!

Due to the detachment of these family clans, ordinary people had no access to them. Hence, they were called reclusive family clans, not because they were really hidden.

As for Zhou Kui and company, they came from large families, but their families were from the Jing state or the surrounding small states. Those kind of families just occupied a small province of a state.

A provincial family clan had no way to compare with the reclusive family clans at the Divine Kingdom level.

173 - : Way to earn Runes

Yi Yun said, “Thank you for Instructor Qin’s advice. This junior understands what the instructor is saying.”

However perfect people may be, someone better will always appear. He barely insert a single Primal Arrow, but a genius youth from a reclusive family had inserted seven.

The gap was obvious.

Baldy Qin’s eyelids jumped, “Can you tell me your reason?”

He felt that for Yi Yun to stick to his beliefs meant that he had to have some reason, or else it would be too difficult to understand.

Yi Yun said, “There’s no special reason. In the past, when I was in the Cloud Wilderness, I picked herbs everyday to earn a living. Once I could walk, I began picking herbs. Thus, after all these years, I have accumulated some experience picking herbs. Also, I have some talent in picking herbs, so I think I will do well.”

Yi Yun casually gave an explanation, but when this fell onto the surrounding people’s ears, they were stunned and looked at Yi Yun oddly.

Cloud Wilderness? Picking herbs to earn a living?

The young heroes present had sometimes gone to pick herbs, but that was only when they were searching for treasures that could aid in their breakthroughs. Who needed to pick herbs for a living?

They did not believe that one of them was previously a medicine boy, and was even from the Cloud Wilderness?

They knew Yi Yun’s strength was greater than theirs!

This made it even more difficult for them to accept… A medicine boy from the poor, barren Cloud Wilderness was better than all of them who came from family clans?

It made them speechless. It was like a mule had infiltrated a group of horses and then it defeated all of the horses.

A mule was not necessarily worse than a horse. It excelled in endurance and strength, and it ate less. Although a horse was weaker, making it unable to do heavy work, it was better at running fast. It could be said that each had their own advantages, but… no one would wish they were the hard-working mule instead of the horse.

Now, the group of horses could choose a job that could train their abilities, yet Yi Yun chose to pick herbs.

It was like the horses had chosen to go on the battlefield, but the mule had chosen to go mill grinding.

And the reason was, he had done this in the Cloud Wilderness and it was his trade.

Besides, he even said he had talent in picking herbs.

This made them at a loss on whether to laugh or to cry. What talent was there in herb picking? Who couldn’t pick herbs?

“This kid! What the hell?” Zhou Kui gave a frowning look at Yi Yun. He had engaged with Yi Yun a few times, and except for not necessarily losing the last round, he had lost the other two times. He knew of Yi Yun’s strength, making him curious.

“Don’t mind him, Brother Kui. I guess this kid must have been hooked on being a bumpkin. People who come from the vast wilderness have a special way of thinking…”

“Old Xiong is right. Brother Kui, since we have come to the Tai Ah Divine City, we need to quickly accumulate dragon scale runes to increase our strength. This way we can go out to hunt or engage in other high-risk, high-reward jobs. How can picking herbs be a fast way of accumulating dragon scale runes? This kid Yi Yun may be stronger than us by a bit, but since he wants to take the road of ruin, no one can stop him. Maybe later, he will drown in an ocean of people, and he will become a stepping stone for us to trample upon.”

The people from the Xuanwu Army privately transmitted their voices. They were complete strangers to Yi Yun, so they would not say much. It should be said that for someone to make a foolish decision, they would actually gloat, as they were all competitors!

Baldy Qin shook his head. Finally, he gave up on persuading Yi Yun. He said, “Then take care of yourselves. Among the rookies every year, there will be a few exceptional ones. In two years time, both Qiuniu, Chu Xiaoran will become the Yang Qian and Yao Dao you saw previously!”

“The two of them have the chance to enter the top 1000 spots in the Heaven or Earth roll of honor within a year, but you? How long would it take to enter the top 1000? Furthermore, will you even be be able to enter the top 1000 before you leave the Tai Ah Divine City?” Saying those words, Baldy Qin left.

Baldy Qin had said that whoever managed to enter the top 1000 places in the Tai Ah Divine City, they would receive the attention of all the various large factions within the Divine Kingdom.

To enter the top 1000 in one year, meant that it was easy to enter the top 200 in two years. At three years, it would be the top 50-60. When leaving the Tai Ah Divine City after six years, they were likely to enter the top 5 or top 3, even being the first!

Being first in the Tai Ah Divine City’s roll of honor sounded too far. The person taking that spot was someone who Yao Dao and Yang Qian were a far cry from.

And Yao Dao and Yang Qian were someone that they were too far behind to catch up with.

The gap was obvious.

Yi Yun ignored the opinions of others. After he had his dinner, he went straight back to his residence. He began meditating, allowing his body to slowly fuse with the primordial species essence.

After a night…

When the sky lit up, the Tai Ah Divine City was still filled with fog. After Yi Yun finished washing up, he prepared to report for his job.

Song Zijun also came out. The both of them lived close to one another.

Today, Song Zijun had changed into an ordinary bunt shirt and looked less like a wealthy young master, and had a little more rustic flavor.

“Yi Yun, you picking herbs is such a waste. Your movement skills at your age, are the best I’ve seen in my whole life!” Song Zijun was still completely puzzled over Yi Yun’s decision.

The most important part about being a sparring partner was not to be resilient against attacks. Even if you were resilient against attacks, after being hit multiple times, you would still get beaten down. The most powerful sparring partner was the type that could dodge attacks and protect himself.

Yi Yun had entered the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, meaning he would have great benefits as a sparring partner. Song Zijun was actually very envious, but now Yi Yun was going to pick herbs, which was a waste of a treasure.

“Are you really not thinking of following me?” Song Zijun still felt some regret over Yi Yun’s decision.

“No.” Yi Yun smiled and waved at Song Zijun.

Song Zijun shook his head, “Forget it, you have your own decisions. My thoughts might not suit you…”

Ever since Yi Yun managed to reach the threshold of the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, Song Zijun had greatly admired Yi Yun. Although Yi Yun’s decision was odd, Song Zijun believed that Yi Yun had his reasons…

Fifteen minutes later, Yi Yun reached his job’s location. The different types of miscellaneous jobs had their own respective locations.

Since sparring was very popular, it resulted in a surplus of applicants, producing a long line.

But the job of picking herbs was much quieter.

Yi Yun reached his destination, he found a few girls who were arranging the herbs leisurely.

When these girls saw Yi Yun, they were a bit surprised. When they saw that Yi Yun was in rookie attire, it was apparent he was a rookie that just entered the Tai Ah Divine City. To be a boy and pick herbs as a rookie was unbelievable.

Boys who occasionally came to pick herbs usually suffered some injuries, resulting in them being unfit for sparring or forging; hence, they came to pick herbs.

Yi Yun ignored the girls and reported his name, receiving a drug basket, a jade box to hold the herbs, and a map of the herb mountain.

The person-in-charge was a thirty-odd year old woman with last name Wang. She was indifferent with Yi Yun’s arrival, and she just kept looking into her mirror. She kept fiddling with a lock of her hair, but she was never satisfied with whatever position it was in.

Even as the herb-picking person-in-charge, she herself felt that herb-picking was a dead-end business. Seeing Yi Yun coming to dawdle at his young age made her have no good feelings for Yi Yun.

“That… This Sister… May I ask how many dragon scale runes are exchanged for the herbs picked by this junior?”

The Wang girl glanced at Yi Yun and placed her mirror down. This was probably because Yi Yun used the words “Sister” making her feel good; hence, she grew some patience for this lazy child who came to pick herbs. She threw a manual at Yi Yun and said, “This is the exchange table of the herbs and dragon scales. Look at it yourself.”

Yi Yun caught the manual and flipped to the first page. Seeing the words on the first page, Yi Yun was shocked.

The first page wrote–

“Qingli Year 82, Zhong Yi picked 630 pounds of herbs using 60 days, obtaining 19,260 dragon scale runes. He had broken the records of the ancestors. This record is to encourage future generations!”

Record? This can’t be…

“Even a miscellaneous job like picking herbs has a record?”

Zhong Yi, in 60 days, broke a record picking herbs!

174 - : Even picking herbs has a record?

Thinking that Yi Yun was making a fuss, the Wang woman grunted, “Is it strange to have a record? Although herb-picking has no future, those who work hard at one job and specialize in it, the Divine City will still recognize them and reward them. In the Divine City, anything that can be quantified will have a record, including things like forging! As for the herb-picking record, that was from two to three thousand years ago. The person who breaks a record will get a one-time reward of 10,000 dragon scale runes and a glory point.”

10,000 dragon scale runes?

And a glory point!

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. 10,000 dragon scale runes was enough for him to cultivate within the Wilderness Divine Hall for 20 hours!

Besides that, there was a glory point. This was even greater. The most precious things in the Tai Ah Divine City could only be exchanged using glory points.

In the entire Tai Ah Divine City, 95% of the cultivators do not even get a single glory point in their entire six years!

This showed how hard it was to obtain glory points!

To an ordinary warrior in the Divine City, glory points were an unattainable thing.

Breaking a record resulted in a high reward. Even if it was some unimportant little record, it was still extraordinary!

Yi Yun excitedly pinched the pages with his thumb and forefinger, and flipped page by page. The herbs produced by the Tai Ah Divine City Herbal Mountain had very clear categories.

The most common herbs had ranks of Heaven, Earth, Mystic and Yellow.

The most commonly found herbs were Mystic or Yellow ranked. The corresponding amount of dragon scale runes was relatively smaller.

Upon reaching the Earth ranked herbs, things became amazing. One herb could exchange for a sizable amount of dragon scale runes.

But Earth ranked herbs were difficult to find.

Moving up, there were Heaven ranked herbs like Phoenix feathers or Unicorn horns. By being lucky just once, one could obtain a massive amount of dragon scale runes!

Zhong Yi who broke the herb-picking record many years ago obtained more than 19,000 dragon scale runes in two months because he had picked a few Heaven ranked herbs!

But… Heaven ranked herbs were not the pinnacle. Moving up, there were primordial herbs, immortal herbs, primal herbs and other different strains of divine medicine.

These herbs had ridiculous value!

But, this manual had no record of them…

Oh? Why was there no records of the awards for the primordial herbs, was it because the cultivators from the Tai Ah Divine City had no chance of picking them?

If that was the case, if one found primordial herbs, how would the rewards be paid out?

Yi Yun thought about this and asked the Wang woman, “This junior wants to ask. If this junior breaks the herb-picking record, will I be able to leave a name on Sage Avenue?”

Hearing Yi Yun’s inquiry, the Wang woman became impatient. She gave Yi Yun a glance which spelt out, “does this have anything to do with you?”

She tested her patience saying, “The people who can leave their names on Sage Avenue completed a tough job that showcased their strength, showing that they have a chance to become a sage in the future.”

“As for jobs like herb-picking, it doesn’t reflect one’s strength. Even if you break the record, it has nothing to do with being a sage in the future. You will only have your name written on the exchange booklet.”

“I see.”

Actually, even if Yi Yun could not leave his name on Sage Avenue, he did not mind. All he cared about was the benefits, “Then allow me to ask more, is there a fixed amount of time for picking herbs? Seeing senior Zhong Yi take exactly 60 days, does it mean everyone is given 60 days?”

“Why are you asking so much? It can’t be that you want to break the record?”

The Wang woman rolled her eyes at Yi Yun, and many surrounding girls managed a laugh.

Yi Yun scratched his head and gave an innocent little brother-next-door look, saying, “This kid is just asking, nothing else.”

“The herb-picking record is indeed for a period of 2 months. As for breaking this record, stop dreaming. This record has been there for thousands of years. Are you done asking?”

“Eh… One last question…” Yi Yun said weakly.

“Just say it!” The Wang woman was speechless, this kid just kept going on and on!

“Oh… It’s this. This kid wants to ask, if I were to pick a primordial herb or a primal herb, will there be a special reward? I tried looking in the manual, but there’s nothing about it…”

When Yi Yun asked that question, the Wang woman nearly threw her mirror.

She opened up her pair of long, sharp eyes and looked incredulously at Yi Yun, as if she was trying to tell if this youth had any mental problems.

“What did you say?”

Not only the Wang woman, everyone there looked weirdly at Yi Yun.

This kid actually asked if there was a reward if he picked a primordial ranked treasure?

“Oh…” Yi Yun gave a look of innocence. Was such a big reaction necessary…

“Pfft!”

A few female herb-gatherers couldn’t help but laugh, and their voices rang out beautifully like a bell.

“Little brother, you sure know how to dream. Let’s not talk about the rarity of the primordial herbs, the Tai Ah Divine City herbal mountain might not even have it. But the crux of the issue is, the entire herbal mountain is horrendously large, finding a divine herb is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Even if you have god-defying luck and chanced upon a primordial herb, don’t even think about picking it. These herbs have a spirit within them. They can hide! Let’s not talk about primordial herbs, even Heaven ranked herbs are difficult to pick. They have all sorts of ways to protect themselves. You can walk by one without even knowing it!”

“Oh? There’s such a thing?” Yi Yun looked at the female herb-gatherers with surprise. The herbs he picked in the tiny tribal clan were normal herbs. Yi Yun had never heard of herbs growing a spirit.

“Of course! Little brother, you really have a lot of questions. If you can really pick a good herb, the Divine City will reward you and never let you down, or even give you less than the value of the herb! The crux is, can you even pick one?”

“The Divine City is very generous to us cultivators. These years, there were even some descendants from family clans who mixed in some herbs that they brought from their family, pretending they were harvests from the Divine mountain to exchange for the rewards from the Divine City. I haven’t heard of anyone picking herbs who tried to keep it for themselves!”

“But then again… Those Heaven ranked herbs and above have never been picked by anyone in the past couple of years. We cultivators who come to pick herbs don’t have the ability, so if the Divine City’s Elders need any Heaven ranked herb or above, they would have to pick it themselves. But that is a huge waste of time and effort, so the elders are not willing to waste time. Even after putting so much effort, there is no guarantee of finding one. If someone were to find such a drug, the Elders will be very happy and would give out a generous reward, but… it’s impossible even if you want to!”

“Thank you Sister.” The female herb-gatherer’s words made Yi Yun excited. It seemed like as long as he picked good herbs, the rewards given by the Divine City would be amazing!

Firstly, it was because the Tai Ah Divine City was generous to cultivators, and willing to nurture talent. The second reason was that the Tai Ah Divine City’s herb mountain’s herbs were grown due to the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, and were not intentionally planted by the Tai Ah Divine City.

The herbs was considered part of the Divine wilderness’ wealth, and the Divine wilderness was the common treasure of the entire world’s warriors.

“I guess it would be difficult for me to pick a primordial herb… I might be able to find a herb with spirit within it, but to catch it… difficult!”

Yi Yun knew his own strength. The primordial herbs were definitely not easy to catch.

There were all sorts of treasures in the Divine wilderness herb mountain. Whoever had the skill could pick it.

“Little brother, what’s your name?”

The female herb-gatherer found Yi Yun amusing, his words were silly and goofy as if he was not right in the mind.

It is indeed true that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers.

These fifteen year old girls liked such a beautiful and innocent little boy because they found him cute.

“Oh… My name is Yi Yun.”

Seeing the female herb-gatherers looking at him as if he was an object of amusement, Yi Yun was speechless. He was an adult but was found to be amusing by these fifteen year old girls, this made Yi Yun at a loss of whether to laugh or to cry.

“So it’s Little brother Yi Yun. Alright, I’ll remember you. My name is Zhao Qingcheng, just call me Sis Qingcheng in the future.”

Sis Qingcheng?

Yi Yun rolled his eyes. As if I would call you Sis Qingcheng.

Zhao Qingcheng could tell Yi Yun had no interest in her, and deliberately elongated her tone saying, “Little brother Yi Yun, this sister is from the Luohuo Association!”

“Luohuo Association? Oh?” Yi Yun paused for a while, finding the name familiar. He guessed that Zhao Qingcheng had used her background to prove her strength. It was probably some large sect…

“Is that the name of your sect?” Yi Yun asked casually, without any interest.

Zhao Qingcheng managed another laugh and chattered, “Little brother, you sure are cute. In the Tai Ah Divine City, many of the cultivators will form an association amongst themselves. The purpose of the association is to let the members help each other through the sharing of resources, and trading.”

“The Tai Ah Divine City has all sorts of fierce competition. Forming a group has its advantages. Our Luohuo Association is the biggest association in the Tai Ah Divine City. The Luohuo Association’s president is Luo Huo’er who is number one on the Man roll of honor. You must have heard of it!”

So it was Luo Huo’er!

Yi Yun of course remembered Luo Huo’er. It was no wonder he found the name Luohuo Association familiar. This Luo Huo’er had used her own name to create an association.

“This Tai Ah Divine City sure is complex. The cultivators even form their own societies…” Yi Yun secretly thought about it. But it was a rational choice. The people who came to the Tai Ah Divine City were all capable people. Forming an association and deepening each other’s relationships was beneficial to their own future development and other aspects.

As strength came from unity, an association’s strength naturally exceeded that of an individual.

175 - : Luohuo Association

Zhao Qingcheng could tell that Yi Yun had some interest in the Luohuo Association and turned slightly delighted, “Hehe, little brother, it will be difficult to last in the Tai Ah Divine City without being in an association. How about it, are you interested in joining our Luohuo Association? Our Luohuo Association has very strict entry requirements! But I will introduce you, and you can immediately become an associate member!”

The olive branch Zhao Qingcheng threw to Yi Yun was rejected by him with a shake of his head, “No thanks, I’ll go at it alone.”

Associate member? What a joke! I wouldn’t even join as a full member!

Although Yi Yun had these thoughts on his mind, a harmless smile was still plastered on his face.

Actually Yi Yun knew that his current situation as a rookie kid with a medicine basket on his back made him look like a poor, low-class peasant. Who would want to accept him!

“Alright, if anyone bullies you, Sis here will protect you, hehe!”

Zhao Qingcheng fluttered her eyes at Yi Yun before she went off with her other sisters like lark birds.

Yi Yun was left holding the little booklet in a daze. The primordial herbs seemed difficult to pick. It was better for him to look for Heaven-ranked herbs, which was more reliable. Even Earth-ranked herbs would do.

But he could not be too exaggerated in his picking. He had to toe the line.

As he was thinking about this, a lioness suddenly roared behind him.

“Are you done? If you are done, stop dazing here blocking the path! Go elsewhere if you fancy to daze!”

Yi Yun jumped and turned his head and saw the Wang woman with a mirror in one hand, and the other hand tapping the table impatiently.

“This woman… reached her menopause?” Yi Yun maliciously thought, but he felt that it was not worth it to make a fuss with the bad-tempered woman. Well… the real reason is that he had no ability to make a fuss. His arms were thin, he had just arrived at the Tai Ah Divine City and could not yet do a thing. He was just a shrimp with no presence wherever he went.

But Yi Yun did not mind. He was extremely happy. Who said that there was no future in picking herbs? He just got a goal he could work hard towards.

As such, Yi Yun carried the the herb sickle and the herb basket that was about half his size out of the office.

In this pathetic, uncouth outfit, he walked on the streets of the Tai Ah Divine City, receiving all sorts of contempt, as well as odd and confused stares. Finally, Yi Yun reached the teleportation portal to the herbal mountain.

When he began to pick herbs, Yi Yun realized that trying to date girls while picking herbs was an unrealistic situation.

The Tai Ah Divine City herbal mountain had been divided into many sectors, and each sector was immense. And many of the sectors were segregated by arrays, preventing passage into another sector.

A herbal mountain was a wonderland nearly a thousand miles in radius. Around the wonderland, there were multiple arrays surrounding it.

In this mountain a rich spiritual aura and the protection of arrays prevented any typical desolate beasts from entering.

The herb mountain bred all sorts of treasures. These treasures were widely distributed on steep cliffs, deep abysses, or in the middle of a huge divine mountain.

Herb-gatherers were randomly sent to a herb mountain and Yi Yun was the only person in this particular herb mountain. After the herbs were collected, a herb-gatherer would have to use the teleportation portal in order to return to the Tai Ah Divine City.

Upon reaching the Tai Ah Divine City, they had to turn over the herbs and calculate the dragon scale runes rewards.

Hence, the herbs picked in the herb mountain could not be traded or secretly kept.

There was even a body-search of the warriors before they went picking herbs. This was to prevent unscrupulous people from bringing their own herbs to exchange for dragon scale runes.

Under all these rules, herb-picking was a lonely and boring job. It was hardly surprising that few people were willing to do it.

But, this suited Yi Yun.

When his body entered the teleportation array, sparkles flew around his body and a violent wind blew, making Yi Yun feel some change. When he opened his eyes again, he was already at the base of a huge unfamiliar mountain.

What Yi Yun saw made him speechless.

While in the Cloud Wilderness, Yi Yun had seen many magnificent mountains. But those mountains could not compete with the peak in front of him.

The mountain in front of him pierced the clouds and stretched far, with no end in sight.

The peak was probably obscured several dozen miles away by a thick hazy mist.

Under the mountain peak, lush plants grew. Ignoring the large trees, just the shrubs alone were as tall as a person. Their roots were dense and sharp, like swords and spears.

There was jagged gravel that rolled down to the foot of the mountain. They were like falling meteorites that were about the size of a house. Their hardness was greater than steel.

The huge, luxuriant mountain was so immense that it made one feel little.

“Such a big mountain, it’s really a wonderland!” Yi Yun sighed. This so-called ‘herb field’ of the Tai Ah Divine City was spectacular. The small part of the herbal mountain a person was transported to was already so vast!

Such a large divine mountain had limitless treasures and only needed the sufficient number of opportunities to obtain them.

“Such a massive herbal mountain, and not the only one…The Tai Ah Divine City sure is bottomless…I wonder how many herbs I can pick here?”

Yi Yun felt more and more assured that choosing herb-picking as his job was perfect.

After cutting through grass taller than him, Yi Yun walked towards the deeper parts of the herbal mountain. The air here was misty and chaotic. There was a milk-like smell of herbs in the air.

When these aromas entered the body, it felt like every pore was being cleansed in top-quality nectar, making it extremely pleasurable.

By just sitting here meditating, needless to say picking herbs would be be extremely beneficial.

“Let’s begin!”

Yi Yun warmed up his body and with a rub of his wrist, he felt he was at his optimal state! With this endless herb mountain that contained numerous treasures, Yi Yun was filled with lofty sentiments!

By interfacing with the Purple Crystal through his spiritual energy, Yi Yun’s vision slowly turned white. In Yi Yun’s vision, there was an area with slightly denser light, while another area was lacking. This meant that the different areas had different concentrations of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Yi Yun naturally headed to the place with more Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

With a thought of his mind, the Flowing Mercury Gown he wore had a bizarre change.

The weight began to surge up, pressing down every inch of Yi Yun’s skin.

Soon, a sound came out from Yi Yun’s feet. He had shattered the hard rocks under his feet!

Ka Ka Ka!

Crack lines appeared in all directions on the rocks with Yi Yun as the center.

It was as if Yi Yun was carrying a mountain on his body. He had adjusted the weight on the Flowing Mercury Gown to 200 cauldrons.

His back was slightly bent, making him look like a strong and vigorous cheetah, poised to strike any moment!

Yi Yun could endure 350 cauldrons while frog-jumping. But climbing up the herbal mountain was more difficult than frog-jumping. If he took on 350 cauldrons, his strength would be quickly drained.

Yi Yun not only wanted pick herbs, he wanted to take this opportunity to also train his body’s strength, allowing himself to continuously grow to his limit.

Time was of the essence; due to the fierce competition in the Tai Ah Divine City, Yi Yun had to seize every second to train. Even picking herbs was a rare opportunity to train.

Yi Yun became outstanding in the Cloud Wilderness in a short amount of time. He had gone from an ordinary youth step by step into his current state. The word miracle was not enough to describe this. The real reason was due to the Purple Crystal Yi Yun had. But using that as a foundation, Yi Yun had worked hard, and with good, decisive use of time, he was able to take every opportunity to cultivate.

It was challenging to climb such a tall mountain while wearing a 200 cauldron Flowing Mercury Gown. After all, the herb mountain did not have any special tiles within it. 200 cauldrons of weight was enough to crush these rocks to pieces!

After taking a long breath, Yi Yun sank Qi into his Dantian, and all the bones in his body began to snap. The energy at the peak of the early stages of Purple Blood began to ignite.

With a flowing blood’s support, Yi Yun was like a vigorous cheetah running through the mountain!

The Tai Ah Divine City’s herbal mountain, with its limitless treasures, was awaiting Yi Yun’s discovery.

Yi Yun was full of anticipation and yearning. The road of martial arts that belonged to Yi Yun had flipped open to an exciting new chapter.

176 - : Herb Picking Profession

In the endless Tai Ah Herb Mountain of the Divine wilderness, a small figure was climbing and jumping in the mountains!

With 200 cauldrons of weight of the Flowing Mercury Gown, Yi Yun’s every step had to be careful. He could not step on mud and had to step on rocks, or his entire leg would sink into the ground.

In the Divine wilderness’ mountains, there were many rocks, and their hardness were sufficient for supporting Yi Yun’s weight.

After stepping on a piece of rock, when Yi Yun was about to take a second step, the large green rock he had rested his weight on suddenly flipped over. It was as if it could not handle the heavy weight Yi Yun possessed, causing it to be pried out of the soil.

This sudden turn of events surprised Yi Yun. With the rock’s flip, his entire body fell down.

With 200 cauldrons of weight in the Flowing Mercury Gown, if he did not change the weight in time, falling would be no laughing matter.

If Yi Yun fell on any normal rocks, they would shatter and injure him at the same time.

Seeing that he was about to fall onto a large rock, Yi Yun still did not change the weight of the Flowing Mercury Gown; instead, he twisted his body in the air and drew out his Thousand Army Saber from his back!

Cha!

The human-height long Thousand Army Saber cut through the rock wall like tofu. Using this force, Yi Yun swung his body and somersaulted back into the air. With the strength from this back-flip, Yi Yun’s body, which was about to crash into the ground with his back first, managed to swing to the side.

He was like a lively monkey. After traversing a distance of three meters and tipping his toes on a rock, Yi Yun regained his stability. But the simple tip of his toes had crushed the rock to pieces.

As a result, Yi Yun finally had enough power to firmly land on top of a boulder.

The series of moves he executed was a result of reaching the threshold of the large success stage of Minute Subtlety. If not, he could only have reduced the weight of the Flowing Mercury Gown while falling off the large rock.

Climbing a mountain with a weight of 200 cauldrons was difficult since he could accidentally crush the rocks he walked on.

Yi Yun was continuously attempting and experimenting. Under all these attempts, he slowly gained more and more precise control of his strength. Each ounce of strength was no more, no less than necessary. It was like he was dancing on the tip of a blade.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Step after step, Yi Yun climbed up the mountain. Each step was fast and careful.

Every spot he passed by looked like the step of a behemoth. There was a large crater left behind wherever he rested his feet.

Every time he encountered a situation with the rocks he stepped on, Yi Yun would use his movement skills to safely emerge.

“Oh?

Yi Yun suddenly realized that there was a shimmering light by a tree a hundred meters away. It was like starlight.

The Purple Crystal within Yi Yun’s body began to pulsate slightly, bringing the light’s existence to Yi Yun’s attention.

With Yi Yun’s cultivation level getting higher, his spiritual energy was getting more powerful, allowing him to now perceive things in a keener manner. Yi Yun could perceive every bit of energy in a hundred meter radius.

And if there was a primordial species with full of pure energy around, even if it was tens of miles away, Yi Yun would still be able detect one. Yi Yun’s perception was not affected even if the energy was sealed. Of course, being able to perceive sealed energy was one thing. Absorbing it was another!

This was the fantastic vision that the Purple Crystal gave Yi Yun–a world with energy as its building blocks.

Under the guidance of the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun easily found the source of the energy.

Brushing away the shrubs, Yi Yun found a fist-sized flower in between the cracks of a tree trunk.

“Void Star Flower?”

By looking at the flower’s colors and the way the petals moved, Yi Yun identified the flower.

When he came to the Tai Ah Divine City, he had read the book ‘Divine wilderness’, which had records about the Void Star Flower. It absorbed Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and rain to grow. It was rooted in an ordinary large tree as a parasite.

But this tree was actually no different than the Void Star Flower’s own roots. Upon removing the Void Star Flower, the tree would slowly wither away.

In the Divine wilderness, there were all sorts of treasures that had the ability to hide and protect themselves, if not, they would easily be eaten by desolate beasts or picked by humans.

The Void Star Flower was a high-grade Yellow-ranked herb and could exchange for about three dragon scale runes.

“After going so far, all I’ve found is this high-grade Yellow-ranked Void Star Flower. If it’s the other cultivators from the Divine City, without the Purple Crystal, they can only find herbs by rummaging through grass and stones. Their efficiency at picking herbs will be much lower. To find a dozen Yellow-ranked herbs in a day would be quite amazing. If one was lucky, one or two Mystic-ranked herbs would be a great harvest.”

“Low-grade Yellow-ranked herbs can only be exchanged for two dragon scale runes. Mystic-ranked herbs can get a bit more, but it’s only around ten dragon scale runes. By this way of counting, a herb-picking cultivator can, at best, receive 40-50 dragon scale runes in a day!”

“But, by choosing the herb-picking job, there is a requirement of handing over at least 25 dragon scale runes of herbs a day. This was firstly a way for the Divine City to gain resources, and secondly, to prevent people from being lazing. Once 25 dragon scale runes were deducted, there will be even less!”

No wonder people were reluctant to pick herbs. This was indeed a lonely, boring and dead-end job.

After picking the Void Star Flower, he carried on. By choosing to particularly step on rubble and easy to slip gravel, Yi Yun kept testing his movement skills and his power control.

This naturally slowed down Yi Yun’s speed.

A typical herb-picking cultivator would begin searching for herbs upon reaching the herb mountain. They wouldn’t have the time to care about anything else. If they could not hand over 25 dragon scale runes, then their dragon scale runes would go in the negative.

Upon reaching negative dragon scale runes for two consecutive days, the Divine City would remove the free lodging privileges, causing one to sleep on the streets.

For a warrior, sleeping on the streets was nothing, and not really a punishment, but… it would be extremely shameful.

Those who could come to the Tai Ah Divine City were all prideful people. But to end up being ineligible to live in the Divine City’s free lodgings to the point of sleeping on the streets, it would bring great ridicule upon the news traveling back to their family clans. They might as well kill themselves.

Hence the people who came herb-picking would not dare to skive. But Yi Yun proceeded slowly into the herb mountain. Most of the time, he was practicing his movement skills. As for picking herbs… He did that casually. With the Purple Crystal, he had a 100% efficiency rate.

Soon, Yi Yun’s herb basket was filled with a dozen kinds of herbs, mostly of the Yellow-rank.

Yi Yun estimated that the herbs were only worth about 30 or so dragon scale runes.

“Oh? That is…?”

Yi Yun looked up and discovered that there was a fuzzy energy fluctuation several hundreds of meters away. The energy fluctuation was more intense than the Yellow-ranked herbs he had previously found.

“It has to be a Mystic-ranked herb.”

Yi Yun licked his lips and began using his movement skill to head towards the energy fluctuation like an agile monkey.

Yi Yun interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal. From his perspective, there was a huge blob of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, burning like a fire cluster. It was apparent that there was some spiritual item at its origin.

But exiting from the Purple Crystal’s vision, all Yi Yun saw was a black rock. The black rock was rough on the surface, and was full of tiny potholes. It looked no different than an ordinary rock, with no sign of a herb.

Yi Yun stroked his chin, and recalled an entry in the “Divine wilderness” book. He quickly understood what this rock in front of him was.

Yi Yun drew out his Thousand Army Saber and slashed down!

“Cha!”

With a light sound, the black rock was cut into two!

“So hard! Guess I was right.”

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. The Thousand Army Saber was able to cut through metal like mud, and with his strength, even a thick metal wall would be easily cleaved by Yi Yun, not to mention a rock.

Yet, the rock in front of Yi Yun, although it had split open, still caused numbness in Yi Yun’s hands.

This was no ordinary rock, but a meteorite!

“As expected of a meteorite! Due to the falling process, the meteor would turn hot due to the friction with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, eventually bursting into flames. The fire would burn off any impurities, and Heaven Earth Yuan Qi essence will enter the rock. Through this way of casting, the rock would be on a completely different level than typical metals. It was the same as a blacksmith forging metal by hitting it tens of millions of times!”

The meteorite Yi Yun split was smooth on the inside. It was grayish-white. Within the grayish-white texture, there was a hole the size of a thumb which was very conspicuous.

Yi Yun put his finger into the hole to clasp it and a smile appeared on his face.

He quickly dug out a ‘worm’ from the hole!

However, this was not a worm, but something known as “Meteorite Grass”. It was a tuber-like plant.

Meteorite Grass will send its seeds flying tens of thousands of miles away into the vast wilderness, finding a place to root.

It would be attracted by meteorites, especially metallic ones, before landing on the surface of a meteorite.

The Meteorite Grass’ seed will then secrete a corrosive liquid and, after a few years, it would slowly tunnel into the meteorite, taking root!

Then, the Meteorite Grass will be like a worm in an apple. It will slowly crawl and make thumb-sized tunnels within. It will absorb the meteorite’s essence, allowing it to grow!

These sort of amazing plants made Yi Yun sigh. In the Divine wilderness, there were all sorts of wonders. The lifeforms here exceeded Yi Yun’s past knowledge.

“Meteorite Grass! Middle-grade Mystic-ranked herb. As there aren’t that many, it wasn’t easy to find. The Tai Ah Divine City’s manual says that this can be exchanged for 82 dragon scale runes!”

After Yi Yun began practicing martial arts, his memory had become extremely good. He had already memorized all the dragon scale runes rewards within the manual.

Mystic-ranked herbs began at ten dragon scale runes. Based on the herb’s value, a few rare Mystic-ranked herbs could be worth as much as a hundred dragon scale runes, more than some Earth-ranked herbs.

“Oh… This should do for the day. I’ll prepare to leave. I shouldn’t be too ridiculous on my first day picking herbs.”

177 - : Meteorite Grass

Yi Yun had originally intended to pick a few herbs on his first day. If he picked hundreds of herbs on his first day, it would be too amazing. After all, in the future, if Yi Yun carried on picking so many herbs, it would arouse the suspicions and doubts of others.

Zhong Yi’s record was due to the quality of herbs he picked, not the quantity.

With a keen perception and a certain amount of luck, it was not surprising to pick exquisite herbs. Just by picking a few herbs that were worth a thousand dragon scale runes, one could easily get tens of thousands dragon scale runes.

Hence, it was reasonable to break the record this way.

If he did not use this method, and broke the record in terms of quantity by picking ten to twenty times more herbs, then something would be amiss.

Hence, Yi Yun wanted to win according to the quality of herbs he picked, not the quantity. There had to be a gradual process in breaking the record.

After collecting these herbs, Yi Yun began to concentrate on training his movement skills.

He practiced for most of the day. While practicing his movement skills, Yi Yun still managed to find some herbs here and there. After some hesitation, Yi Yun also plucked these herbs.

One of the Yellow-ranked herbs he picked was a Duskwood Fruit. The Divine City exchanged this Duskwood Fruit for 50 dragon scale runes.

This Duskwood Fruit was one of the best herbs among the Yellow-ranked herbs. It was worth even more than some of the low-grade Mystic-ranked herbs.

Today’s harvest was estimated to be about 200 dragon scale runes. This was 7-8 times what a normal cultivator could obtain!

Yi Yun touched his nose and helplessly smiled. He had accidentally picked more than 200 dragon scale runes. For a typical rookie to pick 30 odd dragon scale runes, just barely enough to pay the rent, was considered pretty good.

By slowly accumulating experience, one was able to pick about 40-50 dragon scale runes worth of herbs.

To pick 200 in his first day was somewhat exaggerated.

But upon careful thought, compared to Zhong Yi who left the record of 19,000, he was still inferior. Zhong Yi’s average returns each day was above 300 dragon scale runes. That was every day!

This number was quite amazing!

For Zhong Yi to pick so many highly ranked herbs, it clearly could not be explained by mere luck alone.

Of course, picking herbs needed luck. Picking a Heaven-ranked herb due to luck was not surprising. But luck was not something that was unlimited. One or two lucky days was possible, but not every single day.

“This senior Zhong Yi must have had some keen perception, or some other advantage. He must have had some special ability to leave behind such a record…”

In this world, there were extremely few people who had natural sharp instincts. Some people could observe their surroundings and remember every detail of the scene, such as the position of each blade of grass. These people were like alert animals. It was very difficult to sneak up on them.

This intuition might not bring much to a person’s fighting strength; but, if they entered a dangerous mystic realm, this intuition would often save their lives.

Yi Yun believed Zhong Yi was such a person.

With Zhong Yi’s record, if he picked 200 dragon scale runes worth of herbs, it should not attract too much attention. People will just think he was lucky.

In the evening, when Yi Yun saw the setting red Sun, he spat out a mouthful of foul air and sat down to meditate.

When the Sun completely set, Yi Yun arranged his herbs and went through the teleportation array back to the Tai Ah Divine City.

Besides his harvest of herbs, Yi Yun could clearly feel that during his herb-picking journey, the 200 cauldron Flowing Mercury Gown had been forging his body. It made his body better and allowed him to perfectly absorb the primordial species’ energy. At the same time, under the huge pressure, he had managed to gain better control of his strength, allowing him to have a deeper understanding of the large success stage of Minute Subtlety.

Upon returning to the job office, Yi Yun saw a bunch of girls with herb baskets handing over their herbs.

These herb-picking girls, regardless of origin, wore coarse clothes in the Tai Ah Divine City. They did not put on any make-up, making them look like simple village girls, and were like a breath of fresh air.

“Sister Wang, you pressed too hard with the steelyard! I can’t even afford my meals, and you still want to press it like that.”

A little girl said with a pettishly charming voice.

However, Wang was completely immune to it. With a foot-long rod, a pigeon egg-sized weight, and a shiny plate, she measured the weight of the herbs.

The herbs handed over by the girl was placed into a moisture-removing array by Wang before its weight was measured. The herbs’ weight was checked by Wang, and it would not be a big deal if she made some tiny changes to the number she recorded. But she was incorruptible and mean, so no one could gain any advantage from her.

“Next.”

Wang impatiently waved and ignored the petulant loli.

The loli spat out her tongue and retreated. Behind her were a few of the girls that Yi Yun had met here earlier.

The head of these girls was Zhao Qingcheng, and they were all from the Luohuo Association.

Zhao Qingcheng saw Yi Yun at the outset, but she did not greet him this time.

“Low-grade Yellow-ranked herbs, 545 grams. Rounding down to the nearest 50 grams, it will be counted as 500. A total of 100 dragon scale runes!” Wang deftly kept her steelyard. She rattled off a string of words rapidly. It was impossible to tell what she said without carefully listening.

In fact, with Wang’s cultivation level and keen perception, she could accurately tell the weight of the herbs using her hand. But she liked to use the steelyard to measure because by sliding the scale back and forth, it also pulled on the hearts of many cultivators.

“95 grams…”

Hearing this number, the jovial Zhao Qingcheng could no longer smile.

Typically, only middle-grade Yellow-ranked and above herbs would be computed one by one. Most of the low-grade Yellow-ranked herbs were all mixed together and dried using an array and given 10 dragon scale runes for every 50 grams.

By rounding down the last 45 grams, it made her heart ache!

She just needed 5 more grams!

Although low-grade Yellow-ranked herbs were not valuable, to these herb-picking girls, this was their main source of income. The higher grade herbs were too difficult to find. For example, Yi Yun’s Meteorite Grass was hiding inside a rock. Only by cutting open the rock would one see it, who could find something like that?

Zhao Qingcheng’s little group had four girls. With all their middle-grade and upper-grade herbs, their days’ combined revenue was 166 dragon scale runes.

Subtracting the 100 dragon scale runes rent, there was only 66 left, averaging to about 15-16 dragon scale runes per person.

This income was terrible…

“Ai, why the hell didn’t I pick one more herb. Just a few leaves would make up 5 grams…”

Zhao Qingcheng heart chagrined. She looked at Wang and persisted, “Sister Wang, I’m just short of 5 grams to reach 550 grams. Just let it pass. Do you know, Sister Wang, we had found an extremely good elixir a few days ago. And the price was reasonable and was perfect for us sisters to use. We bit our teeth and borrowed 200 dragon scale runes from the Divine City’s bank and, together with our savings, we bought the elixir. This loan has a 15% interest rate, and the interest compounds. If we can’t return it in 3 months, we sisters will be sleeping on the street.”

“Seeing that it’s nearly the end of the month…We are just short of the 200 dragon scale runes. If we have enough, we can return it. If we can’t return it, we still need to pay a month’s interest! What do you…”

As Zhao Qingcheng said it, she stared at Wang with a watery, wide-eyed, appealingly innocent gaze and fluttered her eyelashes.

Wang had put down her steelyard and was about to take her precious mirror. Hearing Zhao Qingcheng say so much, she did not even raise her head. She adjusted her hair and after a while said coldly, “What has all that crap you said have to do with me?”

Zhao Qingcheng’s smile froze. She carried on smiling obsequiously, “Sis Wang’s mirror is so exquisite… I say, Sis Wang is so pretty. If I were as pretty as Sis Wang, I’ll never part from the mirror.”

“Thanks.”

Wang accepted Zhao Qingcheng’s praise, and then… carried on fiddling with the small mirror in her hand.

She was impenetrable!

Zhao Qingcheng was wrecked. No matter how she counted, there was no way she could pay that sum of dragon scale runes.

15% interest would mean another month of scrimping and saving. If they still couldn’t return it, they had to sleep on the streets.

For a bunch of girls to sleep on the street, and looked at by a bunch of male animals in the Tai Ah Divine City, this was an absolute disgrace!

Yi Yun heard the conversation between Zhao Qingcheng and Wang.

This was the first time he knew that the Tai Ah Divine City had a bank. So it was possible for people with negative dragon scale runes to maintain a decent living by relying on loans.

But…15% compounded interest meant the bank was pretty much an usury!

By lending 100 dragon scale runes, the next month would be 115, and the following month 132!

Even a lot of usuries were not that bad!

No wonder Zhao Qingcheng was under so much pressure. If they could not return the loan to an usury within the short period of time, it would be nearly impossible in the future. Who would want to keep bearing a high-interest loan during their 6 years of training? And the interest kept rolling up!

Of course, this had nothing to do with Yi Yun. At this time, Wang put down her mirror and allowed Yi Yun to weigh his herbs.

“Hey, aren’t you the one who wants to break the record? What are you standing there for, hurry and hand them over!”

Wang appeared very impatient. Her expression said to hand over the herbs quickly and go to a corner, don’t waste this elder sister’s precious time.

178 - : The one who wants to break the record

The one who wants to break the record?

Hearing the way Wang addressed him, Yi Yun nearly choked. This woman sure had a foul mouth. He had only asked a few questions and she was being this sarcastic about it.

But… Alright… Although he did want to break the record, he had not said it out loud.

“Little brother Yi Yun, it’s you.”

Zhao Qingcheng looked at Yi Yun and forced a smile. She transmitted her voice, “This woman is a hedgehog. She wants to prick anyone she sees. She’s also a metallic rooster made of black iron. She’s so stingy that she won’t allow you to pluck out even a single feather! You will know once you hand over your herbs today. She will reduce the price of your herbs drastically. Many rookies can’t even pay the 25 dragon scale runes rent.”

Zhao Qingcheng was full of complaints. She was still worried over the usury.

The few herb-picking girls were all at a loss. To cultivators, dragon scale runes was too precious. They had to pinch every penny to lead their days, wishing they could use one dragon scale rune as two.

“Thank you Sis Zhao’s advice. Why does Sister Wang have such a bad temper?” Yi Yun asked casually.

“Who knows. I heard that she was a cultivator in the Tai Ah Divine City. Then she found another cultivator who she liked and got engaged. Later, due to some mishap, the person she liked died while cultivating. Later on, this Wang woman stayed behind in the Tai Ah Divine City. She’s actually very strong, but is not friendly with anyone, hence she was sent to be in charge of miscellaneous jobs.”

“This…” Yi Yun did not expect for this to happen. Hearing this story, he could feel the brutality of cultivating in the Tai Ah Divine City. It was so easy to die.

“Sis has to tell you. Dragon scale runes are very precious. Every dragon scale rune has to be wisely spent. Do not waste them. It’s difficult for rookies to earn dragon scale runes. You make about 10 or so a day, and there are many places you need to use them in the future.”

Zhao Qingcheng knew this all too well.

Yi Yun nodded. He felt that although Zhao Qingcheng was never serious with her words, she was still a good person.

At this time, Wang had already lifted the steelyard, and said to Yi Yun, “Herb picking is the same for rookies and veterans. 25 dragon scale runes, not one less! If there’s not enough… then we will have to reduce your dragon scale runes to below zero.”

Wang dragged out her tone and played with the pigeon egg-sized weight, knocking it on the table.

“Of course, if you don’t want to sleep on the streets, you can choose to be like those debtors and borrow from the bank. As for the interest… for rookies, it’s less. Only 12%, but of course it compounds.”

While saying this, Wang glanced at Zhao Qingcheng and company. They all turned red with embarrassment. This Wang woman’s mouth was too foul.

Yi Yun was nonchalant upon hearing Wang’s words. He placed his herb basket onto the table.

Wang pulled away the cloth covering the basket and reached in to pull out the herbs.

But, with this grab, a strange expression appeared on Wang’s face.

Having been in the herb-picking office for so long, she was extremely sensitive to herbs. With this reach, she could feel something amiss. Upon looking inside the basket, she gave an odd look.

She flipped the herb basket and her face gradually froze.

“Oh?”

Zhao Qingcheng and company also noticed Wang’s expression, and were curious about what had happened.

“These… were picked by you?”

Wang raised her head and measured Yi Yun from head to toe, as if this was the first time seeing him.

Yi Yun nodded. Zhao Qingcheng and company also came to realize that something had happened. They came over out of curiosity and looked into the basket and were immediately stunned.

“Void Star Flower, Panniu roots. Oh? This is Duskwood Fruit… a treasure among Yellow-ranked herbs, and… what is this…?”

Zhao Qingcheng took out a worm-like object. After looking at it for good while, she recalled the record in the ‘Divine wilderness’ book. “This… it can’t be, Meteorite Grass?”

Zhao Qingcheng had picked herbs for a long time and had only encountered a few low-grade Mystic-rank herbs, which were all very common ones among the Mystic-rank herbs.

And Meteorite Grass was a middle-grade Mystic-ranked herb that nearly approached upper-grade Mystic-rank.

Among the middle-grade Mystic-ranked herbs, Meteorite Grass was extremely rare. It was not easy to find one and it was worth a lot. Zhao Qingcheng had never seen the Meterorite Grass in the Tai Ah herb mountain, hence it took a while for her to recognize it .

“Hmph! To pick herbs with your knowledge, even with the herb in front of you, you still cannot recognize it. What’s the point of picking!?”

Wang mocked Zhao Qingcheng. Indeed, herbs in the Divine wilderness were very difficult to find. If one was lucky enough to see one and not recognize it, it would be a great waste.

But, this situation has happened to a lot of cultivators.

Unless one was an alchemist, how would one see the various kinds of herbs? Also, the herbs in the Divine wilderness were different from those in the central plains. Alchemists who did not have enough experience had to learn, on the spot, how to identify herbs.

Typical cultivators would rely on the records written in the ‘Divine wilderness’ book.

But after all, a book was a book. Just from some drawings and description, it was difficult to perfectly describe the different properties of the herbs. It was very common to not recognize one!

It was common for rookies to have dismal results picking herbs. Many herbs were missed due to their ignorance.

In fact, those who could recognize most of the herbs from the herb mountains’ thousands of species of plants using just a book’s record were abnormal!

And now, Yi Yun was one of those abnormal people in Zhao Qingcheng’s mind.

In the Tai Ah Divine City’s herbal mountain, many of the grass, shrubs, woods and plants all looked similar to herbs. It was not easy to distinguish which was which!

Many rookies had situations when they picked the wrong plant. Many spirit plants had some spirit gathered within it, making it look like a herb.

Also, many herbs could hide themselves, making it even more difficult to find them.

For Yi Yun to pick so many herbs on his first time was ridiculous!

“This Void Star Flower… How did you find it?”

Void Star Flower could transform to make itself look like a tree, hiding itself. Zhao Qingcheng had not picked a Void Star Flower in all of her months here.

“Oh… Doesn’t the ‘Divine wilderness’ book say… A Void Star Flower will make itself look like a tree. But the tree it creates will have a speckled texture. Like when clouds clear, leaving behind a void of star-like water droplets, hence the reason for its name.”

Hearing Yi Yun’s explanation, Zhao Qingcheng looked at Yi Yun as if she had seen a freak.

Of course, Zhao Qingcheng knew how the Void Star Flower got its name and how to distinguish the fake tree made by a Void Star Flower and other plants.

But!

How small were the water droplets left behind after the clouds clear?

In the Tai Ah Divine City’s herbal mountain, it was filled with trees and would take a day to travel through it. At the speed a warrior traveled, they would see tens of thousands of trees. Who would notice that a single tree had some sparkles? Especially when the sparkles were about the size of a pinhole!

How did Yi Yun get these eyes!?

Zhao Qingcheng could not believe it.

The four girls crowded around Yi Yun. Yi Yun could not stand it, “Uh… Why are you surrounding me like that… Uh, you are even drooling.”

Yi Yun saw that a girl about the same age as him, who was standing beside Zhao Qingcheng, drooling while looking at the Meteorite Grass in Zhao Qingcheng’s hands.

“Eh?” That thirteen-year-old girl quickly wiped her mouth and sheepishly smiled.

This Meteorite Grass was worth 80 dragon scale runes. It was a treasure. They were going mad from being poor, and they naturally wanted it.

And standing beside the Meteorite Grass, they could smell its milky scent, which was very appetizing.

“That… Brother Yi Yun, how did you find this Meteorite Grass?”

This young girl was a family friend of Zhao Qingcheng. She had just come to the Tai Ah Divine City and was following Zhao Qingcheng, being under her care.

But clearly, Zhao Qingcheng was not doing too well in the Tai Ah Divine City. She could only give limited care to this girl. At most, she could introduce the various rules and bring her around.

When this young girl asked, everyone looked towards Yi Yun. Although the Void Star Flower was difficult to find, at least it had some defining characteristics. It was no wonder he could find it if Yi Yun had ridiculous observational powers.

But for Meteorite Grass, it hid within stones and could not be seen from the surface. Only upon cleaving a rock open would you see it. But there were more rocks than trees in the Tai Ah Divine City’s herb mountain! How could you cleave open so many?

179 - : Handing Herbs Over

“Simple…”

Facing the young ladies’ inquiry on how he found the Meteorite Grass, Yi Yun gave an indifferent look as if it was not an issue at all.

“Of course I can’t cut every rock open. But Meteorite Grass can be found inside meteorites. I happen to know meteorites well. There may be many rocks in the Tai Ah Divine City’s herb mountain, but there are few meteorites. I just opened every meteorite up.”

“You know what meteorites are?” The young ladies asked again. They only had a vague concept of things like meteorites and they were not sure what it was because they were still young.

Yi Yun said, “Meteorites may look the same on the surface as normal rocks, but there is actually a difference. When a meteorite is falling, the heat bearing on it is extremely high. It will burn and melt in the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, forming a molten shell on its surface. And it is shiny and glossy black, which makes it different from other rocks. Also, it falls at an extremely high speed, thus, it burns through a path of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, leaving behind a texture of being blown on by Heaven Earth Yuan Qi when it cools. Although it is not obvious, you can look for this ‘wind pattern’.”

Yi Yun began to speak at random. He came up with a random story which wasn’t entirely clear. Based on the knowledge he had of meteorites in his past life coupled with his own imagination, it sounded amazing.

However, validating the story was not easy. Distinguishing meteorites was like appraising jade. It was not something someone could learn after hearing a few words. Every meteorite was different. The characteristics he mentioned could be found in some kinds of meteorites, so he was not exactly saying nonsense.

Even if someone proved that he was speaking nonsense in the future, there were no rules against speaking nonsense. There was always competition among the geniuses in the Tai Ah Divine City; hence, others would think he was making up nonsense so he would not share his secrets with others.

Sure enough, Zhao Qingcheng and company believed him. Even Wang could not find fault with Yi Yun’s words. Since Yi Yun’s words were reasonable, and as a warrior, Wang would not have done any research on meteorites.

“Brother Yi Yun sure is great. You can even find a meteorite amongst all of those stones…” The thirteen-year-old girl was looking at Yi Yun with sparkles in her eyes.

She wanted to accompany Yi Yun while he picked herbs. However, according to the rules of the Tai Ah Divine City, warriors had to be alone while picking herbs. It was to prevent them from privately exchanging herbs.

If not, by combining 20-30 people’s worth of herbs all to one person, one could easily break the record.

Yi Yun began to take out all sort of numerous herbs. After counting each one and drying the low-grade Yellow-ranked herbs, Wang quickly counted Yi Yun’s actual harvest: 208 dragon scale runes.

“208…”

The few girls behind Yi Yun drew in a cold breath of air. Although they had already guessed in their hearts, when the number came out, they were still shocked.

It was too ridiculous. They had been arduously picking herbs all these days just to pay the bank loan. And that loan was only 200 dragon scale runes.

The amount of dragon scale runes the four of them borrowed was earned by Yi Yun in a day!

It was really an exasperating comparison…

“Your luck sure isn’t bad. Maybe you have some skill.” After keeping Yi Yun’s herbs, Wang used her slender eyes to size up Yi Yun, “No wonder you asked so much about breaking records. Looks like you are pretty confident! Alright, bring your token here!”

Back when Yi Yun entered his residence, Baldy Qin had issued him the token. The front of the token was filled with inscriptions and on the back were the words “Divine wilderness”.

Each token was inscribed with 10 dragon scale runes at the beginning. Yi Yun’s token was no different.

After taking over the token from him, Wang used her spirit to imprint within. After a few seconds, some thickly-dotted golden sparkling runes flew from her token to Yi Yun’s token. It was like a bunch of tiny golden bees.

Zhao Qingcheng and company looked by the sidelines. Those golden runes made them envious!

After Yi Yun’s token absorbed all the dragon scale runes, some golden lines appeared on the surface. They were like dragon scales, and extremely beautiful.

“Thanks.” Yi Yun grinned, taking his token back. At this rate, in about 4-5 days, he would be able to accumulate enough dragon scale runes to enter the Wilderness Divine Hall.

“This… Little brother Yi Yun…” Just as Yi Yun was prepared to leave the jobs office, Zhao Qingcheng called out to Yi Yun with a flushed face.

“Oh? What’s the matter?” Yi Yun looked at Zhao Qingcheng and from the way she wished to say something, Yi Yun guessed what it was about.

“About this…”

“You want to borrow runes?” Yi Yun hit the nail on the head, making Zhao Qingcheng extremely awkward.

After all, she was not familiar with Yi Yun, so it was not easy to ask to borrow dragon scale runes.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, loans between cultivators were not protected by the officials of the Divine City. There were no terms of conditions or anything. In a nutshell, the Divine City did not support the borrowing of dragon scale runes among cultivators.

What the Tai Ah Divine City supported was fair trade and gambling fights! If one wanted returns, they had to prove their strength. There was no such thing as reaping without sowing.

To borrow dragon scale runes, one had to borrow from the bank. With an interest rate of 12-15%, very few people dared to take out a loan, because it was easy to fall into an abyss of debt.

As for the private loans between warriors, the Divine City had no way of interfering. Of course, one had to be ready incase the other party might not return it.

Besides, no one was rich in dragon scale runes and everyone had to pinch their every penny. To borrow from others?

Difficult!

“About this… We just want to return the loan from the bank. We just need 30 dragon scale runes, no… just 20 would do, is it possible…?” Zhao Qingcheng said with her face flushed and no longer had any clout in her words.

Yesterday, she had asked if Yi Yun wanted to become an associate member in the Luohuo Association. Also, she said that she would protect Yi Yun if he ever needed help.

But today, she wanted to borrow dragon scale runes from Yi Yun. Not only was she not protecting Yi Yun, Yi Yun ended up protecting her.

Upon recalling the words she said yesterday, Zhao Qingcheng was ashamed and embarrassed.

“20…” Yi Yun knitted his brows. To him, this was nothing. At his speed of making 200 odd dragon scale runes a day, he could enter the Wilderness Divine Hall in five days. Lending Zhao Qingcheng 20 dragon scale runes would not affect the time it took for him to enter the Wilderness Divine Hall.

Having met by chance, Yi Yun was under no obligation to help Zhao Qingcheng, but since it was as easy as lifting a finger for him, Yi Yun did not reject it after some thought.

To get to know another person in the Divine City would be beneficial. After all, it might be of use in the future.

He asked, “Sister Zhao, I want to ask something. Previously, on the roll of honor, I saw that Luo Huo’er was number one on the Man ranking. But she was ranked rather far back in the Heaven and Earth ranking. What’s the matter with the Man ranking?”

“The Man ranking… The Man ranking is dragon scale runes. The amount of dragon scale runes on your token and the amount of resources bought from the Divine City will be combined to form a rank. Senior Luo is number one on that!”

“But Senior Luo isn’t as rich as you think. Senior Luo earns a lot, but she spends a lot as well. She often worries about dragon scale runes… She’s a Desolate Heaven Master, and she needs to practice the Desolate Heaven skill, so she needs a sizable amount of dragon scale runes.”

“I see…” Yi Yun finally understood. Since the Tai Ah Divine City allowed private trade among the cultivators, as a Desolate Heaven Master, she would earn dragon scale runes quickly. But the practice of the Desolate Heaven skill is very expensive; so although Luo Huo’er was number one on the Man roll of honor, she was not very rich.

It should be said that with the rules set by the Tai Ah Divine City, no one could end up being rich. The dragon scale runes were used to buy resources.

There were many resources in the Tai Ah Divine City that were astronomical in price. No matter how much dragon scale runes one had, it could be easily spent.

“20 dragon scale runes, I can lend it to you…”

“Really!? Thank you so much!” Zhao Qingcheng was pleasantly surprised. Yi Yun was a great help for her this time round.

Yi Yun’s dragon scale runes could be used to pay off the month’s interest, which was a timely gift.

“I’ll return you on the 5th of next month.” Zhao Qingcheng said with immense gratitude. She left behind a voice transmission mark with Yi Yun, facilitating their contact in the future.

“Okay.” Yi Yun nodded.

After Yi Yun left, Zhao Qingcheng still felt like she was in a dream. This little brother had ridiculous observational power!

“He seems to be as old as me.” The young lady from before said helplessly. She was also about twelve years of age, and she still subconsciously felt that she was still a child.

But the things Yi Yun did, was it something that a child could do?

“Yeah… That Yi Yun might one day become a rising star! If we have cordial relations with him, it might perhaps help out our family…”

Zhao Qingcheng began making her calculations. Even if Yi Yun’s cultivation level was nothing in the future, just his observational skill would be beneficial. When warriors went to dangerous mystic realms on expeditions, a keen sense and observation could save lives. Partying up with these sort of people was an assuring matter.

180 - : Dragon Rune Ranking

Yi Yun started a daily routine in the Tai Ah Divine City.

Every morning he would go to the herb mountain. As he trained his movement skills, he picked herbs.Then, at night, he would meditate. This slowly became Yi Yun’s life.

As Yi Yun’s job was separate from Zhou Kui’s and Song Zijun’s job, he slowly had less and less contact with them, this was compounded by the fact he left early and returned home late, and never leaving his house.

Slowly, many Xuanwu Army members moved into the Tai Ah Divine City’s inner rings, and they began to live in medium-class rooms.

Middle-class rooms were more spacious and they were in better locations. But if one were to compare the density of the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the Divine City, other than the central divine tower, there was not much difference. Some might be stronger, but not by much.

Of course, the middle-class rooms had a spirit gathering array which was more useful.

Besides that, the greatest advantage from staying in a middle-class room was face. Among the many young heroes, they had certain backgrounds; hence, face was very important.

Yi Yun did not move. He stayed at the corner of the city, he was happy being alone.

As for the spirit gathering array, his room also had one. This room had been snatched from Zhou Kui, and it was the best room in the area.

Today was Yi Yun’s fifth day picking herbs.

Even Song Zijun was planning on moving out. He came over to say goodbye.

“Yi Yun, are you not moving to the middle-class district?”

Yi Yun shook his head, “There’s not a big difference. Besides, my room is also a middle-class room. There’s no need to.”

Song Zijun said, “It may be so, but the cultivators at the middle-class districts are stronger. Having contact with them has several advantages. For example, trading, discussions, etc. They will help in increasing your strength.”

That was the main reason behind Song Zijun moving into the middle-class district.

Yi Yun still shook his head.

“Alright then…” Song Zijun did not say more. “Yi Yun, you should come be a sparring partner soon. With your movement techniques, it is such a pity for you to not be a sparring partner…”

Due to the separate locations of their jobs, Song Zijun did not know of Yi Yun’s herb-picking situation.

Yi Yun smiled and did not say further. “I’ll only be picking herbs for a few months. I won’t be carrying on after that.”

“Okay… Alright then.” Song Zijun said no more.

After Song Zijun left, Yi Yun headed to the Wilderness Divine Hall.

If there was a day Yi Yun wanted to change his residence, it would not be to the middle or upper-class rooms, but he would move his residence into the central divine tower!

Middle-class district?

Yi Yun felt no need to live there.

In the past five days, Yi Yun had been receiving a steady amount of above 200 dragon scale runes a day from his herb-picking.

The Wang woman originally thought that Yi Yun had been lucky to pick so many herbs on his first day and she was waiting to see Yi Yun’s dragon scale runes earnings slowly decline.

However, Yi Yun’s herb count did not decrease, it was increasing everyday.

As a result, Wang had nothing else she could say. Her chattering foul mouth finally shut itself.

This Yi Yun was a freak!

Although at this speed, it was unlikely he could break Zhong Yi’s record, Yi Yun was the best herb-picking cultivator in the Tai Ah Divine City for the past several hundred years!

People who had ability were respected. Hence, no matter how mean Wang was, she no longer treated Yi Yun terribly.

And today, Yi Yun had amassed a thousand dragon scale runes. He wanted to enter the Wilderness Divine Hall.

By then, it was already dark.

Yi Yun stood in front of the Wilderness Divine Hall and raised his head. Seeing the towering Wilderness Divine Hall, he was filled with emotion.

“Which room do you want?” Today, it was an old man in charge of manning the Wilderness Divine Hall. This old man’s hair stood up like a sword. His pair of black eyes shined. In between his eyebrows, there was a red jewel, which was very special.

This jewel made Yi Yun take a second look. With that gem there, it gave the old man an indescribable flavor.

“Chimera! Two hours!” Yi Yun chose the chimera from before. His purpose was not only to absorb energy, but to also gain insight on the chimera’s nomological truths!

After handing over his token, a thousand golden runes flew out into the Wilderness Divine Hall’s array. Yi Yun had finally gained the qualification to enter the chimera hall once again.

With a flash of light, Yi Yun was sucked in.

Immediately, Yi Yun felt that he was under intense pressure.

Yi Yun had made his preparations, he immediately interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal and circulated his body’s Yuan Qi, undertaking the baptism of primordial species’ oppression.

In a short while, Yi Yun could feel the extremely pure energy boil and rise up within his body.

Yi Yun’s vision turned white again. As he focused his spiritual energy, numerous points of light from the chimera’s head gathered, eventually forming a blob of light, the size of a pigeon egg.

After going through the Great Yan gold, the light blob floated slowly towards Yi Yun. There were extremely small chimera shadows that tumbled around within the light blob.

Yi Yun opened up his mouth and swallowed the energy blob.

Yi Yun was already very familiar with this and he found it much easier than the first time.

Yi Yun began to slowly gain insight of the nomological truths from the chimera’s energy and he also allowed his body to take in all of the energy.

Yi Yun swallowed blob after blob of the primordial species energy as he sealed it within his Dantian.

Time soon passed and the two hour limit was up.

“Dang!”

A bell rang!

In this two hours, Yi Yun was only focused on swallowing the energy. He did not digest it so his body was feeling warm. He did not return to his residence after he exited the chimera hall. Instead, he paid 80 dragon scale runes to rent a high-class room in the Wilderness Divine Hall for a night.

Yi Yun began to meditate on the stone bed within this cultivation room.

The energy that he had taken out from the Great Yan gold was not a lot, but due to its pureness and its primordial origins, it could not be compared to the energy from typical desolate bones.

Yi Yun used his spiritual energy to make the energy flow out from his Dantian into all his limbs.

This energy had the ancient primal beasts’ bloodline essence within it. This essence slowly merged into Yi Yun’s blood.

This feeling felt like he had drank an entire pot of vintage wine. In time, Yi Yun’s body was burning hot and gave off steam!

The Qi within the primordial species’ energy was like a raging flood, it surged through Yi Yun’s meridians and blood vessels, all the way to Yi Yun’s head!

Under the chaotic energy flow, it was extremely painful.

This feeling was like his body was metal, and the primordial species’ energy essence was like a hammer. Every surge was like a hammer, striking him, constantly forging Yi Yun’s body.

Although it caused Yi Yun’s joints to hurt, this pain was an enjoyable experience for Yi Yun.

It was both pain and pleasure!

Yi Yun was engrossed in this feeling, and after seven hours, his body was drenched with sweat. It was like he had been steamed in hot water vapor for a long time.

Slowly, the strikes weakened.

What replaced that was a drunken state. In this state, Yi Yun forgot about everything and without any conviction or worries, he was like a primordial beast, flying in the sky, overlooking the vast wilderness…

The control of the nomological truths by the primordial beast subtly branded within Yi Yun’s mind.

These nomological truths were still unclear, but they left a seed in Yi Yun’s mind, which was waiting to sprout in the future.

Late at night, after meditating for eight hours, Yi Yun woke up from his wondrous state.

He circulated his body’s Yuan Qi and he was surprised to find his cultivation level was a tiny distance away from the middle stages of Purple Blood.

It had been two months since Yi Yun had broken through to the Purple Blood realm. These two months, he had been wearing the Flowing Mercury Gown and constantly cultivated. Together with the two absorptions of the primordial species’ energy, Yi Yun’s current cultivation level had finally reached its current state.

Although he was just a tiny distance away from breaking through, he had fully absorbed all the primordial species’ energy!

To press on to the finish without letting up, with just half a step away from the middle stage of Purple Blood, how could Yi Yun give up?

He immediately took out two bean-sized crystals from his luggage.

Back at the Divine Capital’s Jin Long Wei camp, Yan Menglong had promised to give two upper-grade weapons and two desolate bone relics to the person who placed first in the Frost Metal Blood Balls!

Yi Yun had not used the two desolate bone relics until now, he was using the material where it was needed the most!

With a flick of his fingers, he swallowed the two desolate bone relics without thought!

“Boom!”

The energy within the desolate bone relics exploded like gunpowder within Yi Yun’s body

Yi Yun’s blood began to boil once again.

The mystical feeling came back once again. Under the surge of energy, Yi Yun could feel like he was touching the middle stages of Purple Blood.

The two desolate bone relics gave sufficient Yuan Qi to Yi Yun, which filled his body with energy.

“Break for me!” Yi Yun roared together with his bones!

Peng!

At that instant, it was as if something exploded. Yi Yun felt his meridians clear and his blood become turbulent, which made him delighted.

He could not help but let out a long roar!

After that, the meditating Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes. It was extremely late, but Yi Yun’s eyes were like lightning at night, it electrified the void.

Yi Yun leaped from his stone bed like an agile hunting leopard.

Middle stage of Purple Blood! He had finally reached the middle stage of Purple Blood.

Yi Yun jumped to the center of the cultivation room and when he started moving his body, he formed a whole series of shadows. These series of shadows made Yi Yun’s body look completely blurred and it looked like it was not real!

Yi Yun’s speed grew faster, and slowly, it was like he integrated into the surrounding space. He was one with his surroundings!

Large success stage of Minute Subtlety!

Yi Yun again demonstrated his movement technique to the extreme. It was really the large success stage of Minute Subtlety!

181 - : Entering the Wilderness Divine Hall again

Yi Yun had such horrifying speed even though he was still wearing the Flowing Mercury Gown!

Although the Flowing Mercury Gown was reduced to its lowest weight, it was still 10 cauldrons. To not be affected under this weight and restrictive strength was terrifying. But Yi Yun’s understanding of Minute Subtlety allowed him to completely ignore it.

Yi Yun suddenly stalled and punched out with both fists, sending out a force wind! His body even sounded out!

Clang!

With the sound of metal, the Thousand Army Saber was unsheathed!

The saber flashed, reflecting the moonlight!

The saber’s shadows conjured up a wind, preventing water from splashing in!

Such brilliant saber flashes formed a whirlwind within the cultivation room. Yet it did not damage any of the furnishings within the room. This was due to Yi Yun’s absolute control of his energy!

Done!

With the Thousand Army Saber sheathed, Yi Yun’s body went from motion to stillness suddenly. The changes were done so quickly that it seemed to violate the laws of physics.

Yi Yun stood quietly within the dark room. The room was still the same. The moonlight that entered the cultivation room’s array reflected off the ground, making it a layer of white. And on that reflection stood a quiet Yi Yun. It was as if he had not even moved once…

This ability to freely receive and dispatch made Yi Yun ecstatic.

“Feels great! It’s really delightful!”

Yi Yun had not felt so happy in a long time. Yi Yun became more envious of the primordial species’ energy. He wanted to earn more dragon scale runes to enter the Wilderness Divine Hall once again!

Currently, he could only rely on picking herbs.

This job was really his life’s blessing. It gave him the most basic ability to accumulate. If not, at his current strength, it would be difficult to quickly amass dragon scale runes in the Tai Ah Divine City. All the people that had been cultivating for more than four years were much stronger than he was.

Yi Yun sheathed the Thousand Army Saber and walked out of the cultivation room.

Not far from the cultivation room stood the old man in charge of manning the Wilderness Divine Hall. The red gem between his eyebrows shined in the moonlight.

The elder looked oddly at Yi Yun, “Oh? You have broken through?”

This old man had clearly opened up his Heaven eyes, and could tell Yi Yun’s cultivation level. He was surprised, as Yi Yun had entered with a cultivation level of early stage Purple Blood but exited as a middle stage Purple Blood.

“Not bad.”

The old man stroked his beard. From an angle, the red gem between his eyebrows was like another eye, accentuating a strange feeling.

Previously, after having his fill within the chimera hall, he had rushed into the cultivation room. As a result, he did not notice the old man.

But now, upon closer inspection, Yi Yun found that the old man was like a deep pool of water, and was unfathomable.

But suddenly, the unfathomable feeling disappeared, and the elder returned to normal. There was no shred of Yuan Qi fluctuation, as if the old man in front of Yi Yun was just an ordinary mortal.

This sudden change stunned Yi Yun for a moment.

He could not help but sigh. There were all sorts of hidden dragons in the Tai Ah Divine City!

Of course, Yi Yun could not tell the cultivation level of the old man. But his intuition told him that the old man was fearsome.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, many people had unattractive positions, but were all top experts.

The old man in front of him, Instructor Qin, and even the herb office’s mean Wang woman were all absolute experts among humans!

“A lucky breakthrough? You seem like a rookie. To be able to earn a thousand dragon scale runes and come to the Wilderness Divine Hall again is not bad at all.”

The old man rubbed his chin. Some rookies were strong and could go through gamble fights, trading, or obtain rewards from their instructors to quickly earn dragon scale runes.

Before Yi Yun could reply, the old man suddenly smiled and moved without warning!

He stretched out a finger and pointed towards the center of Yi Yun’s eyebrow .

The old man’s speed was not fast, but this finger seemed to contain an indescribable charm, making Yi Yun apprehensive!

Without any thought, he jumped backwards and unsheathed the Thousand Army Saber!

A human length sharp blade slashed towards the old man!

Yi Yun did not go easy, nor was he worried that the Thousand Army Saber would harm the old man. Those were jokes, for if he could harm the old guy with an unknown cultivation level, he could become an instructor in the Tai Ah Divine City.

“Ah yah!” The old man yelped. “You little rascal, you sure didn’t go easy! Don’t you know the need to respect your elders?”

He was just testing Yi Yun, but he never expected for Yi Yun’s reaction to be quick and decisive!

When people were suddenly tested, they would often be shocked and might even give a look of “elder, what are you doing”.

But for Yi Yun, within a pause lasting less than a blink of an eye, he had unsheathed his saber!

With the sharp saber drawn, he had sliced it towards the old man’s head without a word. This reaction was surprising to the old man, but at the same time, he was impressed.

Although the old man had yelped, his hand motions were precise. He simply flicked the spine of Yi Yun’s saber.

With a metallic “clang”, a tremor reached Yi Yun’s wrist. Yi Yun felt his wrist go numb, and his sword fell away.

The spine was the weakest part of a saber.

The old man had easily found the weakness in Yi Yun’s moves. And in the next moment, the old man’s finger had gently touched Yi Yun’s forehead, like a dragonfly landing on the surface of water.

Yi Yun only felt his forehead go numb. Like an electric current, he nearly dropped the Thousand Army Saber!

Yi Yun retreated several steps backwards before stabilizing himself.

“Hehe, Kid, if I wanted to kill you, you would be dead.”

The old man retracted his finger.

Yi Yun rolled his eyes. He was extremely speechless handling this old man who bullied the weak.

What “if I wanted to kill you, you would be dead”. Wasn’t that nonsense? With his strength, it was easy to kill me. How could I block your blow?

The old man could read Yi Yun’s mind and shook his head, “I know you are disgruntled, but that flick of a finger on your blade was at a speed 30% slower than yours, and only with a hundred cauldrons of strength. There were no nomological truths or Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, just a simple flick of a finger!”

“The reason why I could flick away your saber was because you had too many defects in your saber skills. It’s filled with holes!” The old man said without letting up.

Hearing the old man’s words, Yi Yun stayed silent. On careful thought, his saber skills were nothing. The only few saber skills he had were from ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ and ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’.

These were unorthodox saber techniques. Besides, his ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ was a mess.

If he was against a person inferior to him, just from his speed and strength, he could easily crush the other party, just as he defeated Zhou Kui in one swift attack. It was all because of his speed. There was no way of beating a fast move, and speed had nothing to do with saber techniques.

But like today, if he fought someone much stronger than him, it was immediately clear that Yi Yun’s haphazard saber techniques were full of flaws.

Yi Yun felt some pressure. He had a lot of imperfections!

The only thing Yi Yun was good at was his movement skills.

As for others, his strength was not outstanding. His saber techniques were full of flaws, and he only knew the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’ as a cultivation technique. He had only just begun to understand the nomological truths.

Against Tao Yunxiao and Lian Chengyu, Yi Yun could easily suppress them. But compared to the young heroes nurtured by the royal family or reclusive family clans, Yi Yun was still a distance away.

Even his Tempered Body and Dragon Pulse was something many in the Divine wilderness camp had!

Let alone the royal family or reclusive family clans.

The gap between them was large, and there was a lot to brush up on!

Yi Yun’s time was precious, and so were his dragon scale runes!

The old man said, “For a warrior, one’s own cultivation level is the most important, but the use of weapons must not be too careless. I recommend you to go to a place, the Sword Scar Palace!”

“Oh? Sword Scar Palace?”

Upon hearing the name, Yi Yun felt that it was a place related to swords.

“Elder, this junior currently uses a saber. Must I switch to using a sword? Or can I change the sword skills into a saber skill?”

Yi Yun did not reject using a sword, since he had just begun using a saber, so it was nothing much.

To use a sword, he still had to buy a handy weapon. A good sword was not cheap!

“Hehe, Sword Scar Palace isn’t just about swords. You will know once you get there! If it’s your first time going to the Sword Scar Palace, there is a 50% discount. Two hours is only 50 dragon scale runes. You can consider buying 40 hours at a go…”

The old man smiled at Yi Yun. Yi Yun gaped and was speechless. That was another 1000 dragon scale runes!

The Tai Ah Divine City’s resources were too expensive!

Like Zhao Qingcheng, who was not exceptional, had to scrimp daily in the Tai Ah Divine City.

But the top resources easily cost tens of thousands. It was a huge gap!

No wonder Qin Hongxi said that 10% of the experts in the Tai Ah Divine City accounted for 90% of the resources!

“I want to go to the Sword Scar Palace. For the other places, I want to go there too. I need a lot of resources. I can’t earn enough dragon scale runes! I need to raise my strength and once I’m stronger, I will go to the arena to earn more dragon scale runes, which will make it faster!”

The initial amassing of resources was the most difficult. Yi Yun was now at the middle stage of Purple Blood. Once he reached the late stages of Purple Blood or the peak of Purple Blood, he had the confidence to be in the arena!

These five days, Yi Yun had asked around. Among the Tai Ah Divine City’s Heaven, Earth, Man rolls of honor, the Earth ranking was the ranking for the arena!

The first person on the Earth ranking, which was number one on the arena, was Qin Haotian!

The previously seen Yang Qian and Yao Dao were ranked in the tens. For a cultivator who had come to the Tai Ah Divine City, accomplishing that in three years was a pretty outstanding achievement!

182 - : Door Manning Elder

Yi Yun was like a diligent gardener, who gathered all sorts of herbs in the herb mountain, day after day. His dragon scale runes were constantly increasing.

Ten days later, Yi Yun had a total of 2000 dragon scale runes.

Not only that, Yi Yun’s physical strength had made good progress and his movement techniques were becoming well-honed because he had been wearing the Flowing Mercury Gown for such a long time.

Now, in the depths of the mountain, Yi Yun was moving through the woods at a rapid speed. Suddenly about a dozen miles away, Yi Yun saw a faint flow arise.

Oh?

Yi Yun paused and interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal and looked over.

All he saw was the light from some energy fluctuating. It was like a phantom tiger’s low growl in the light and it had an extraordinary aura.

Due to the great distance, Yi Yun could not see it clearly. But without a doubt, he could tell it was a herbal treasure!

Only high-grade herbs could create such a strong energy fluctuation that could be seen from afar. Besides, the energy essence was so strong that it formed a phantom image. It was no simple matter.

Yi Yun raised his head and saw that it was bright. It was about three-quarters of an hour past noon, the point when the Sun was brightest, and the Yang Qi thickest.

Some herbs would appear at three quarters of an hour past noon or midnight, when the Yang and Yin Qi were at their thickest respectively, to absorb the Sun and Moon’s essence or Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

These kinds of herbs were extraordinary!

“I wonder what rank the herb is. With that herb, I can consider entering the Wilderness Divine Hall another time!”

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun moved towards the herbal treasure with tremendous speed. While wearing the Flowing Mercury Gown, each step he made caused stones to fly.

While bearing a weight of 200 cauldrons and running through the mountains, Yi Yun was like a desolate beast!

Nowadays, Yi Yun felt that the Flowing Mercury Gown’s weight was turning light.

“Maybe, I should consider increasing the weight of the Flowing Mercury Gown tomorrow.” Yi Yun decided. After he reached the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, Yi Yun knew every change in his body’s energy.

He felt that 220 cauldrons was a more appropriate weight for him now.

As his body moved through the mountain, he heard the wind blowing past his ears. Under the Purple Crystal’s lead, he came to the bottom of a thirty-meter cliff. Looking up, Yi Yun could see the phantom tiger churning at the top of the cliff.

The herbal treasure was on top of the cliff!

But this cliff was vertical and extremely steep. The rocks that jutted out from the cliff were the about the size of a basin. The gaps between the rocks were haphazard, making it difficult for even a monkey to climb.

Yi Yun looked carefully at the cliff. Every protruding rock’s position was reflected within Yi Yun’s mind. He quickly calculated an optimal climbing path to scale the cliff.

He had only one chance because the protruding rocks could only withstand his weight once. Every time he rested his body weight on the rock, the rock would crumble.

And he had to borrow that moment of leverage to jump to the next rock.

Yi Yun took a deep breath of air and with his energy condensed at its limit, he leaped!

“Boom!”

When Yi Yun leaped, the ground beneath his feet cracked. Yi Yun grabbed the first protruding rock and leveraged on it.

The rock immediately crumbled under Yi Yun’s grab, but before he could fall, Yi Yun grabbed the second protruding rock!

With his Minute Subtlety, Yi Yun’s every control of power was perfect.

He was immersed in a magical state. In one breath, he had jumped a few dozen times, eventually reaching the peak of the thirty-meter cliff.

Upon reaching the peak, Yi Yun gasped loudly. All his muscles were trembling slightly.

When he continuously did the high intensity exercises, it made Yi Yun’s muscles protest. A sore feeling hit him like a flood.

But Yi Yun did not care about this. He looked at his surroundings. This cliff top was especially flat. There was gravel, leaves and a gigantic skeleton on it. Half of the skeleton was buried in the ground as if it had been weathered by the elements.

The beast seemed to have been dead for a long time. There was not much Heaven Earth Yuan Qi within its corpse and it was like a set of regular bones.

The strong herbal aroma and phantom tiger image Yi Yun previously observed had disappeared. It was as if there was only this buried animal on top of this normal cliff.

Yi Yun looked around for a while and a smile formed on his lips.

This herb knew how to hide itself.

Some of the herbs were like summer crickets. Without anyone around, they would chirp within the grass happily. But once people walked close to the grass, no matter how silent, they will be discovered by the crickets, thus the crickets silenced themselves. Every summer night, people would hear the sounds of crickets chirping as if there were hundreds. But without any tools, trying to look for one was almost impossible.

It was the same situation for warriors trying to pick herbs. It was too difficult to find a herb.

Facing the huge beast’s bones, Yi Yun pondered for a while. In the Purple Crystal’s vision, he could see that the beast bones had suffered from the elements and that there was very tiny amounts of energy left within the bones.

And these were not an ordinary animal’s bones, they were bones that belonged to a desolate beast. And it was even a high-grade desolate beast!

An idea flashed in Yi Yun’s mind. For such high-grade desolate beast bones to be weathered down so much, to have so little energy left, it gave Yi Yun a thought.

Could it be…

Yi Yun stroked his chin. Now, the herb had hidden its herbal essence and concealed itself, but… this had no effect on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun smiled, with his spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal, quickly, his vision turned white.

And the hidden herb was obvious like a bright star in the night. Yi Yun spotted its position at one glance.

Yi Yun came to a clearing and drew out the Thousand Army Saber.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

In a split second, he sent three slashes. With the Thousand Army Saber inserted in the ground, Yi Yun smacked the saber’s hilt.

“Peng!”

With an explosion, the ground blasted open!

After the dust settled, Yi Yun brushed aside a thin layer of soil. Under the soil hid a red fruit the size of a fist.

This fruit was like a red crystal and gave off a sweet aroma. On the fruit’s surface, there were small shining particles, like a ripe pomegranate without its exterior.

It was incredible that such a beautiful fruit was growing underground.

There were seven leaves around the fruit and the leaves were dropping and their color dark, as if they were about to wither at any time.

But every leaf was aromatic. In the middle of the leaf, there was a shining, blood-red wavy line.

Yi Yun took a sniff and felt a great aroma rush into his body, which nourished his body. It made his body’s blood warm up and surge.

“This is a Blood Yang Flower! It’s a middle-grade Heaven-ranked herb!” Yi Yun remembered a record of it in the ‘Divine wilderness’ book.

The Blood Yang Flower grew underground and it liked the dense and rich sunlight.

Typically, a Blood Yang Flower’s seeds would take root near a desolate beast’s corpse. When it germinates, it will absorb the desolate beast corpse’s energy to help it grow.

Within a short span of one to two days, it sucks the desolate beast’s corpse’s energy dry, leaving only its skeleton.

This energy would then be stored away for later, the fruit slowly absorbs it, and the energy aids the fruit in its growth.

When the desolate beast’s energy was completely digested, it would sprout out some leaves from underground when the sun was at its fullest and then soak in the extremely thick Yang sunlight!

Once people approached it, it would shrink its leaves back, looking like nothing was there to begin with.

The only thing that could expose the Blood Yang Flower was the pile of desolate bones nearby.

As the energy was fully absorbed by the Blood Yang Flower, the desolate bones would look like ordinary bones, making it difficult for people to recognize them.

There were too many types of desolate beasts species. Even if one saw living desolate beasts, one would have a tough time recognizing all the different types. To recognize badly weathered bones and guess which desolate beast they came from by the shape of the bones, you would require an experienced Desolate Heaven Master.

“Blood Yang Flower. It’s a great thing. This Blood Yang Flower is probably 700 to 900 years old.” Yi Yun carefully picked the Blood Yang Flower.

The Blood Yang Flower takes 300 years to take root, 300 years to flower, and 300 years to bear fruit. Seeing that the Blood Yang Flower was bearing fruit, it meant it was at least 700-800 years old!

A 700-800 year old Blood Yang Flower was definitely worth above 3000 dragon scale runes!

Yi Yun greatly coveted those 3000 dragon scale runes.

But…Yi Yun also coveted the Blood Yang Flower!

Yi Yun was unsure what to do with the Blood Yang Flower.

A typical herb-picking cultivator had no choice but to hand over all the herbs they picked, as they did not have the ability to refine such high quality herbs. Even if they had the ability, they could not bring the refinement equipment needed to the herb mountain as they were searched prior to entering the teleportation array. This prevented people from bringing their own herbs to exchange for dragon scale runes, as well as bringing their own refinement equipment, which prevented them from brewing the herbs on the herb mountain.

But with Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal, he did not need to brew the herbs. He could directly absorb the energy, so it was easy for him to steal the herb’s power.

“If I were to absorb the Blood Yang Flower’s energy, it will be a great supplement for me!”

Yi Yun was tempted. Previously, the Yellow and Mystic-ranked herbs he found were all turned in honestly.

The main point was that by stealing their power, it would do more harm than good. The low-grade herbs had impure energies, so they were not very helpful for Yi Yun. It had also a high possibility of revealing his secret.

The herbs picked in the Tai Ah Divine City herb mountain were given to the alchemists of the Divine City. Those old monsters were extremely terrifying. They knew all the properties of the herbs. If he had tampered with it, they were likely to discover it.

With the Blood Yang Flower, Yi Yun had three choices.

Sucking it dry, stealing the herbal essence or exchanging it for dragon scale runes.

If he didn’t suck it dry, then he would not get the Blood Yang Flower’s herbal essence but he would get 3000 dragon scale runes.

If he were to absorb a portion of it and then hand it over, it would be the best of two worlds, but it would increase the risk of his secret being discovered…

But upon careful thought, some loss in a herb’s essence would not be a great cause for doubt.

Yi Yun was wavering between the three and finally resisted the temptation by removing the third choice.

Although the possibility of him being discovered was tiny, there was no such thing as not getting your feet wet by standing beside the river. He might not be discovered the first time, but he might try again a second time.

If this happened again and again, he might be emboldened in his attempts.

Those magistrates and officials probably had such a mentality when they received bribes.

Yi Yun did not want to be penny-wise, pound-foolish. The road ahead of him was still long. It was not worth the risk for this petty gain.

Who would know what those old monsters would do?

So, he could only choose between the first two!

As Yi Yun was thinking, his expression suddenly changed!

Oh!?

Yi Yun was startled and went on high alert!

He quickly drew out his Thousand Army Saber!

What is this…?

Yi Yun looked around his surroundings. With his pupils constricted, he turned extremely focused.

How could this be, wasn’t he on a cliff? But now…

What… is this place!?

…

183 - : Blood Yang Flower

Yi Yun gripped the Thousand Army Saber tightly. With all of his energy surging throughout his body, he was like a cheetah poised to strike any moment.

Yi Yun’s surroundings had changed! The cliff that was originally there had disappeared and it was replaced with a cemetery!

There were tombstones after tombstones. These ancient and crumbling tombstones were similar to the scene that greeted Yi Yun when he first came into this world.

How did this happen?

Ever since coming to this world, Yi Yun had seen the terrifying strength of experts, the grand divine cities and all sorts of weird plants and beasts.

Many things had challenged Yi Yun’s knowledge, opening up his imagination.

But no matter how much his imagination had been opened, Yi Yun had never seen such a strange event. This was his first time!

One second he was at the top of a cliff, the next second he was here. Did he encounter a space-time tunnel?

Suddenly, the graves in front of Yi Yun broke open. Corpses began crawling out of the graves.

These corpses all wore tattered clothes and their eyes were dull. They gave off a feeling of death.

Yi Yun felt his scalp tingle. This sort of thing had exceeded his knowledge!

Upon seeing Yi Yun, the corpses’ eyes started glowing red. It was as if Yi Yun’s body attracted them.

They roared and charged towards Yi Yun!

Yi Yun’s blood was surging. Feeling a burst of energy within his body, he decided to ignore the strange encounter and begin killing whatever faced him!

“Cha!”

The Thousand Army Saber slashed forwards and the seven foot long blade traveled through the air. The three corpses in front of Yi Yun were all split into two!

Metal was like tofu when facing the Thousand Army Saber, what was rotting flesh compared to metal?

Yi Yun charged forward. He began swinging the Thousand Army Saber in all directions. Any simple slash could even split a horse apart; hence, every slash cut down three or four corpses!

The sharp blade moved without restraint and corpse after corpse was swept away, sending black blood splattering everywhere.

This feeling was not much different than cutting a watermelon!

But, even more corpses started to appear from the graves. About 4-5 corpses emerged from each tombstone. Sometimes, even more than ten.

These corpses seemed to be unending no matter how many he killed.

Yi Yun’s saber was already covered in blood and rotting flesh. His blade turned extremely greasy, but there seemed to be no end to this slaughter.

Wait…

Suddenly, an idea flashed in Yi Yun’s mind. The chaotic environment seemed to suddenly quieten down.

Time became oddly slow, and Yi Yun’s mind turned clear.

From the herb-picking on the cliff to this graveyard, then meeting this endless outpour of corpses, he had to constantly kill.

All these changes were very strange.

This abnormal matter must be due to a demon!

Yi Yun shivered. He looked at his surroundings. While the corpses charged towards him relentlessly, upon closer inspection, those corpses…

Strangely, Yi Yun felt a sense of deja vu.

These corpses… looked familiar?

“Puah!”

A rotting corpse swiped at Yi Yun, but Yi Yun helplessly watched. He did not draw out his saber nor did he avoid it…

This swipe went through Yi Yun’s body!

Pain!

Extreme pain.

But Yi Yun seemed bewitched. He just stood there regardless of his chest being pulled apart by the corpses. Instead, he closed his eyes.

His spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal and when Yi Yun opened his eyes again, his vision turned white.

When all he could see was energy, there were no illusions, only the truth!

The corpses had all disappeared. In fact, they never existed!

All of that was just an illusion.

Why did it seem familiar? That was because in Yi Yun’s past life, he had seen such rotting corpses crawl out from graves, attacking the main character of a movie he saw.

This graveyard scene was a common troupe.

This memory had been resurfaced from within Yi Yun’s mind, turning it into an illusion that attacked Yi Yun!

Hence, it was because Yi Yun was seeing something from his memories that made it look so familiar.

But, why did this happen?

Who created all these illusions?

The Tai Ah Divine City’s herb mountain would seal the entrance once a cultivator entered, preventing others from entering.

Then… was it caused by the Blood Yang Flower?

No, it can’t be. In the ‘Divine wilderness’ book, there were detailed descriptions of the Blood Yang Flower, and it did not have such an ability.

The Blood Yang Flower’s ability was to grow out its leaves to absorb the Yang Qi when it was safe. When danger approached, they would pull back their leaves and hide themselves.

This was a very simple ability, and probably was not even called an ability. Spiritual herbs were inferior to desolate beasts. Those beast general or beast king-ranked desolate beasts could easily destroy a tribe, and a primordial species beast could even destroy a city.

But a spiritual herb was not as dangerous.

Even the highest ranked spiritual herbs were helpless after having been picked. Their fate was to be thrown into an elixir furnace.

The problem was that picking high ranked spiritual herbs was not an easy feat!

If it was not the Blood Yang Flower that caused the illusions, then what was it?

Yi Yun pushed his spiritual energy to its maximum and the vision from the Purple Crystal turned clearer!

Without all the distractions present, Yi Yun finally saw it. In his energy vision, he could see two energy blobs.

One was bigger and it was the size of a wash basin. It was blood-red in color and it seemed to burn like a flame. The energy belonged to the Blood Yang Flower!

Previously, when Yi Yun was about to pluck the Blood Yang Flower, just before he touched it, he had suddenly be transported to the graveyard, where he met the endless stream of corpses.

And not far from the Blood Yang Flower, there was a tiny energy light that shocked Yi Yun.

That energy blob was like a rod, it was about a foot long and as thick as a wrist.

Its energy was extremely obscure. Compared to the Blood Yang Flower, it was much dimmer, but this dim energy light made Yi Yun jump!

The pureness of the energy within it was beyond Yi Yun’s imagination!

Only the energy that Yi Yun drew out from the chimera in the Wilderness Divine Hall was comparable to it.

What is this?

Similar in pureness to a primordial essence, could it be…

A thought suddenly flashed through Yi Yun’s mind. This thought made his heart race and his breaths shorten.

Could it be a primordial herb?

Above the Heaven-ranked herbs, there were primordial herbs, immortal herbs, primal herbs and other different strains of divine medicine.

These precious herbs would even make a human sage covet them!

In the Tai Ah Divine City, the Divine City’s Elders will occasionally leave the Tai Ah Divine City to search for herbs in the herb mountain. At their level, Heaven, Earth, Mystic, Yellow-ranked herbs were all useless. Naturally, they only searched for primordial herbs!

Primordial herbs were difficult to pick. But for the Divine City’s Elders, with their cultivation level and methods, as long as they found a primordial herb, they would definitely be able to get it.

The crux of the issue is… they couldn’t find any!

Even in the Tai Ah Divine City herb mountain, there were too few primordial herbs. They may find one with luck, but not by searching for it!

And the important point is, primordial herbs had a spirit within them. Their ways were to hide themselves and confuse the enemy. So someone might not even know it was one when they passed by it!

Human sages had keen senses. Even people with absolute talent at sensing, like Zhong Yi, could not compare to human sages.

The problem was, when a human sage entered a herb mountain, the primordial herb would hide far away, preventing the human sage from finding or picking it.

And it is this reason that made it difficult for a human sage to pick a primordial herb!

Different ideas flashed within Yi Yun’s mind as his heart raced!

Calm down! I need to calm down!

Yi Yun told himself that. He knew that he was faced with a great opportunity.

If he could pick that herb, there would be great benefits awaiting him!

But picking that herb was easier said than done!

Yi Yun’s cultivation was too weak. A human sage may easily pick such treasured herbs, but it will be extremely difficult for him!

However, having a low cultivation level had its benefits!

Since the primordial herb had a spirit, it probably had a certain amount of intelligence and could tell the strength of a herb-picker.

It was because he was weak, that it did not take Yi Yun seriously, daring to appear in front of Yi Yun and even using its magic to confuse and tease Yi Yun.

If Yi Yun was a human sage, it would have moved far away. Trying to use this magic on a human sage was courting death.

By taking him lightly, it gave Yi Yun his greatest advantage!

Of course, the primordial herb did not know that Yi Yun could use the Purple Crystal to accurately pinpoint its location.

“What should I do?” Yi Yun racked his brains.

He did not look at the primordial herb anymore. Since it had formed a spirit, if he were to keep looking at it, it would realize that and be on the alert.

“I shall pretend I can’t find its location and I will give the matter further thought!”

With this decision, Yi Yun pretended to be within the illusion, and dazed around, unable to distinguish North from South.

At the same time, Yi Yun maintained the energy vision. At the corner of his eye, he was secretly observing the primordial herb.

Yi Yun realized that the primordial herb was nearby swaying around, as if it was watching a good show.

This rascal!

How could Yi Yun feel good being teased by a herb?

Oh?

Yi Yun suddenly realized that the Blood Yang Flower had quietly shifted its position into a very secluded mountain corner. It had tunneled much deeper into the ground this time round.

It suddenly dawned on Yi Yun. The primordial herb had used the illusion to confuse him, to prevent him from stealing the Blood Yang Flower.

The moment he wanted to pluck the Blood Yang Flower, the primordial herb appeared. It was obviously not a coincidence.

Maybe it was protecting the Blood Yang Flower. Or it could even be that the primordial had accidentally found this Blood Yang Flower and it was planning to nurture the fruit before absorbing it.

Some primordial herbs would nurture high-ranked herbs before stealing their energy essence to aid their own growth!

This was similar to some primordial beasts who protect a spiritual plant for thousands of years. When the spiritual plant blossomed, the primordial beast would swallow it.

Yi Yun suspected that this was the situation with the primordial herb!

184 - : Mysterious Herb

The illusion carried on. As Yi Yun pretended to still be within it, he was thinking of a way to catch this primordial herb.

According to the ‘Divine wilderness’ book’s records, many primordial herbs have the ability to tunnel into the earth or water. Just like some novels that had records of human ginseng fruits, which had the ability to “dissolve upon contact with water, entering upon contact with soil…”

This sort of primordial herb would dissolve upon contact with water, and it would tunnel into the ground upon contact with soil. As such, they would be like the fish swimming in the ocean, impossible to find!

Catching a primordial herb needed to be done in one swift strike!

If it were to escape deep into the herb mountain, even a human sage would be helpless.

And Yi Yun was completely inadequate in terms of speed and experience in picking primordial herbs. Rushing to pick it would only result in failure.

The primordial herb still did not know that Yi Yun could see it. If Yi Yun were to draw out the Thousand Army Saber and rush at it, then the disguise from before would crumble. This would put the primordial herb on high alert.

Did he have to report this matter to the Divine City, letting a sage handle it?

If the tip-off led to success, then he would be rewarded. But the point was, if the human sage were to come with him, would the primordial herb discover it early on and slip off?

At that time, he might even be charged with the crime of crying wolf.

And even if the human sage had some exceptional method to capture the primordial herb, how was he going to explain his discovery of the primordial herb’s location?

Many things could easily arouse suspicion.

After some thought, Yi Yun decided to do it himself, betting all on a single attempt!

But… Not today!

Currently, he was grossly inadequate in preparations.

By rashly making a move, it could startle the enemy.

Although there might be no way of finding the primordial herb if it were to escape, Yi Yun had the confidence to locate the primordial herb’s location because the Blood Yang Flower did not have the ability to dissolve or tunnel through the earth.

Finding the Blood Yang Flower meant finding the primordial herb.

Yi Yun believed that the primordial herb was lurking around the Blood Yang Flower, protecting its ‘property’.

“The primordial herb’s hiding technique sure is good. Previously, when I used my spiritual energy to interface with the Purple Crystal, I could only detect the Blood Yang Flower, and missed that primordial herb. Its distance could not have been far off, but yet I didn’t see it. It was only when it used its magic could I find it!”

Yi Yun also felt lucky. For him to find a primordial herb was purely coincidental.

At the same time, Yi Yun felt that he needed to cultivate more, so he could increase his spiritual energy. Without sufficient spiritual energy, whether it was a primordial herb, immortal herb or primal herb, he would not be able to find it.

As Yi Yun was thinking, he suddenly found that in the illusion, there were more and more corpses surging towards him like a tidal wave, forcing him into a corner.

It looked like Yi Yun was in a forsaken cemetery, surrounded by plains. But Yi Yun knew that behind him was a cliff.

One more foot back and he would fall off the cliff.

Although 30 meters was not much, a person within an illusion would be unaware of this.

If Yi Yun hit his head first on the rocks, due to the heavy Flowing Mercury Gown he wore, his head and neck would take the brute force of the weight. He would be seriously injured and might even die from a broken neck!

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun’s urge to catch the primordial herb grew stronger.

Although primordial herbs did not have the ability to kill, by using their magic to charm a cultivator, they could still cause a cultivator’s death.

Yi Yun had no room for retreat. He lowered the weight of the Flowing Mercury Gown to its lowest, and pretending to slip, he let out a cry and fell down the cliff!

Whilst midair, it seemed like Yi Yun was alarmed and bewildered, but secretly, he was maintaining his balance.

“Boom!”

Yi Yun fell to the ground on his back, sending rocks flying!

Even with the Flowing Mercury Gown’s weight at its lowest, the impact from falling thirty meters was still tremendous.

Yi Yun sprawled out on the ground. His body had formed a huge human-sized crater. In fact, before Yi Yun landed, he had gathered his body’s Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to cushion his fall. However, it still caused his body to ache.

Although he was uninjured, Yi Yun pretended to pass out. At the same time, using the Purple Crystal’s vision, he quietly observed the primordial herb at the top of the cliff.

Yi Yun could feel a faint sneer coming from the herb.

“Primordial herb, this rascal…”

Yi Yun made sure that he would make the primordial herb pay for this.

Soon, the primordial herb lost interest in Yi Yun and left in a carefree manner.

In fact, to the primordial herb, Yi Yun was like an ant to it. He was not worth paying attention to.

Ever since this primordial herb formed a spirit, it had been growing in the Tai Ah Divine City herb mountain for thousands of years.

In the thousands of years, the primordial herb had seen countless numbers of cultivators from the Tai Ah Divine City.

All these cultivators were treated as unimportant animals like ants by the primordial herb.

They were young and extremely weak. Furthermore, they were extremely dumb. They said they were picking herbs, but they were like headless flies, randomly flying around.

There were many herbs under their noses, yet they could not see them.

Although it wanted to tease these cultivators, this primordial herb knew that there were human sages in the Tai Ah Divine City.

If it constantly teased the cultivators, accidentally killing a few, it would alert the Tai Ah Divine City’s sages.

If that happened, its days were over.

If it was targeted by a human sage, it had to be vigilant and live underground, reducing its foray outside.

It had to be known that many human sages had the ability to hide their presence. No matter how careful the primordial herb was, or how keen its senses were, it could miss a human sage that was creeping up on it. When that happened, it was done for.

Yi Yun laid at the bottom of the cliff for an hour before getting up.

Yi Yun remembered the position of the cliff. In the Purple Crystal’s vision, that Blood Yang Flower had not yet left. As it was startled, it hid underground and it was likely that it would not appear to absorb the pure Yang Qi for the next few days.

As long as the Blood Yang Flower was around, Yi Yun was relieved.

Yi Yun did not go up that cliff anymore. In fact, he walked in the opposite direction and picked a few herbs before leaving the herb mountain early.

When he handed over the herbs, Zhao Qingcheng and company were also there.

Seeing Yi Yun, Zhao Qingcheng shyly smiled. Her face was red, apparently due to her borrowing of money from Yi Yun the other day. Zhao Qingcheng was still embarrassed over it.

“Hi Sis Qingcheng,” greeted Yi Yun.

Today, Yi Yun’s harvest was only a hundred dragon scale runes.

After weighing it, Wang glanced at Yi Yun with a slight surprise. But it was nothing much. An expert would still suffer from bad luck occasionally. Having a smaller harvest one day was normal. But at this rate, Yi Yun would have no chance of breaking Zhong Yi’s record.

“About this, Sister Wang, I want to ask if there’s a book that introduces primordial herbs?” When he finished handing over the herbs, Yi Yun weakly asked. The ‘Divine wilderness’ book was mainly for Tai Ah Divine City rookies to read.

As the Divine City’s rookies had no chance of making contact with a primordial herb, the ‘Divine wilderness’ book only had brief records, which meant that Yi Yun had no idea what primordial herb he had encountered.

This naturally was a big obstacle in Yi Yun’s plan to capture the primordial herb.

Hearing Yi Yun’s question, Wang was speechless. This kid was still dreaming!

Even Zhong Yi did not manage to pick a primordial herb! Even the great human sages had to carefully plan for it. With some luck, they could catch one. How would it be possible for a kid like you?

If not for Yi Yun’s proof of his keen observational powers over the past couple of days, Wang would have cursed. But even so, her tone was still very mean.

“Kid, just because you have some talent at picking herbs and you have slightly better pair of eyes, it makes you think you are awesome? Primordial herbs? Wait another seven or eight years before caring about primordial herbs! You really don’t know anything!”

“Oh… I just want to read.” Yi Yun said.

“Read what? Just the contents in the ‘Divine wilderness’ is enough for you to read! If you understand everything, it will be pretty good!”

Wang was still mean.

Yi Yun touched his nose and felt speechless. He would not ask Wang again. He only had himself to blame at asking a question that was beyond his grasp. Wasn’t asking her the same thing as asking for trouble?

“Little brother Yi Yun, you want to find books related to primordial herbs?” At this time, a voice transmission from Zhao Qingcheng came into Yi Yun’s ear.

“Yes, you know anything about it?” Yi Yun was pleasantly surprised.

“Yes…There’s a library in the Tai Ah Divine City, don’t you know that? In the library, there’s a variety of information and cultivation technique manuals, etc. There are many zones in the library. The most restrictive zone has cultivation techniques in it, which makes it very precious!”

“If you want to read information on primordial herbs, it should be in the middle-ranked zones. You just need to pay a small amount of dragon scale runes to borrow it.”

“Ha, I see. Thank you Sister Qingcheng.” Yi Yun rejoiced. The library suited him the most. If he had to speak with others, it would cause some inconvenience.

“Little brother Yi Yun, don’t think that I’m nagging. Why are you asking about primordial herbs? You cannot possibly be eyeing primordial herbs, right? It’s not easy to come into contact with primordial herbs.” Zhao Qingcheng was afraid that Yi Yun was unaware of the dangers and that he belittled primordial herbs. After reading the information, Yi Yun might feel a thrill and rush to look for the primordial herbs. When that happened, it would just be a waste of time.

For many people, those at the age of twelve or thirteen felt they were the center of the world, especially those who had some accomplishments. They could not measure themselves and thought they were different from others, and were confident of accomplishing great things.

But reality was cruel. Those who had those thoughts tended to fail miserably.

“Don’t worry. I know too well. I am just interested and would like to know more.” Yi Yun knew Zhao Qingcheng meant well. Even that foul-mouthed Wang woman might have done it out of kindness.

185 - : Falling off the cliff

The library stood in the northeast corner of the Tai Ah Divine City. Compared to the central divine tower or the Wilderness Divine Hall, the library was much more plain.

Upon arriving, Yi Yun saw building after buildings of black stone terraces. Each black terrace was seven floors tall.

“Here it is. The further back you go in the black terraces, the more precious the books are. Some of them even need glory points to enter. But they are all cultivation technique manuals. If you just want to check for information, you won’t need many dragon scale runes.”

Zhao Qingcheng brought Yi Yun all the way to the entrance. After asking the librarian, Yi Yun walked to the third black terrace.

There were old bookshelves that lined the inside of the black terrace.

There were all sorts of ancient books that stood on the shelves. Some were made of paper, animal skins or even had metal pages.

Besides the ancient books, there were different kinds of jade scrolls and regular scrolls. A jade scroll the size of palm had an amazing wealth of information recorded within.

Soon, Yi Yun found the book he was looking for.

“Divine Wilderness Anthology”! This was a book devoted to introducing all the treasures within the Divine wilderness.

The book was as thick as a brick. Each page was similar to the ‘Divine wilderness’ book. It had its own world within and needed spiritual energy to read it. There was a vast amount of information contained in it.

Each page introduced the different treasures!

Yi Yun swept through the table of contents. The items that could enter the “Divine Wilderness Anthology” was items that interested human sages or top human lords.

The desolate beasts were all beast king-ranked and above or primordial species.

The worst kind of herbs recorded were Heaven-ranked or primordial herbs.

As Yi Yun browsed through it, he even saw the chimera the founding city lord of the Tai Ah Divine City killed!

“Oh? Chimera!” Yi Yun paused. The chimera was one of the strongest among the primordial species.

The primordial herb he found had energy as pure as the chimera, but the quantity was much less.

The chimera had the ability to cast away mountains and upset the sea, it was not something a herb could compare with.

Yi Yun carried on browsing and he looked carefully at every divine herb recorded.

From midnight, he carried on browsing deep into the night. After comparing over a hundred divine herbs, he slowly came to determine the primordial herb he had encountered.

“Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng! It has to be this!”

While in the Tai Ah Divine City herb mountain, Yi Yun had seen the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s shape using his energy vision. It was rod-like and it was about a foot long, with the thickness of a wrist. It was very similar to the description in the “Divine Wilderness Anthology”.

In addition, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng could control Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to form illusions. People who wanted to pick the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng would fall into an illusion, and they would not be able to distinguish between illusion and reality.

Furthermore, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was a Yang entity. It liked to eat items with Yang Qi in them to aid its own growth.

With this, it meant that the Blood Yang Flower was mostly likely food reared by the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

After considering all of the information, Yi Yun confirmed that the mysterious herb was most likely the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

There were clear records of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s habits, weaknesses, pharmacology and abilities within the “Divine Wilderness Anthology”.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was an earth elemental divine herb. It specialized in forming tunnels. It could instantaneously enter the ground and form tunnels at an incredible speed!

But the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had its fears. It was afraid of thunder and fire.

Thunder could make the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng momentarily paralyzed. And fire could burn it.

“Thunder and fire…” Yi Yun was lost in thought. For him to capture the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, he had to hit its weaknesses.

But the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s speed was too fast. For Yi Yun to get close to it, it would be difficult!

Yi Yun’s speed may be fast, but that was when compared to warriors on the same level as himself. But if he were to compete with the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, he was certainly slower.

If he were to charge with the Thousand Army Saber in hand, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng would notice the situation and flee!

Speed…

How to reach the limits of speed?

Yi Yun was faced with a difficult to solve problem at the outset.

It was not possible to improve his speed overnight.

It was not possible to train his movement techniques to the point of catching up with the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. How should he go about then?

Deep in thought, a thought suddenly flashed within Yi Yun’s mind.

His speed may be inferior to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, but it did not matter. As long as his attack could keep up with it.

Although this would be difficult too.

For a warrior, his attack speed would definitely be faster than his body’s speed.

Some large-sized primal behemoths moved slow, but their attack speed was terrifying. This was the reason why they were feared.

Improving his attack speed would be easier than improving his body’s speed.

But, Yi Yun thought of his best attack. And that was with arrows!

There was no chance for Yi Yun to approach the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. He estimated that the closest distance he could come to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was thirty meters. Any closer, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng would become wary of him.

At a distance of thirty meters, rushing forward with a slash was not fast enough. But if he were to shoot out an arrow, the speed would be much faster!

Although trying to hit the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng with a shot was difficult, there was always hope.

Using the Tai Cang Bow with the Wind Chasing Arrows, this was Yi Yun’s most extreme attack.

“Tai Cang Bow… Finally, it is time to use that bow!”

General Yan had previously said that the Tai Cang Bow was made by a reclusive family clan in the Cang state. A treasure bow made by the Zhang family!

What did it mean to be a reclusive family clan? Yi Yun did not know before. He only thought it was a big family clan. As for how big it was? He had a vague understanding.

But now, after Baldy Qin’s introduction, Yi Yun knew that a reclusive family clan had a long history. They were even super families that accompanied the founding emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom to conquer the lands. They had a complex relationship with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family, and their heritage might not be weaker than that of the Tai Ah royal family!

That guy nicknamed ‘Qiuniu’, who had stabbed into the purple tungsten wall seven times, came from a reclusive family clan.

The bow made by such a family clan was clearly exceptional.

After receiving the Thousand Army Saber and Tai Cang Bow, he had primarily used the Thousand Army Saber. After all, melee weapons were used in fights with other warriors. A bow was primarily used as a military weapon.

These days, Yi Yun had tried using the Tai Cang Bow a few times. Although he did not have superb archery skills, for a warrior like him, be it spiritual energy, eyesight, or the control of his muscles, they exceeded commoners. Hitting a target hundreds of feet away was simple. Furthermore, Yi Yun was only going to be thirty meters away from the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

At thirty meters, Yi Yun could accurately hit a willow leaf with the Wind Chasing Arrow.

“I’ll use the bow!” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. Just the thought of capturing a primordial herb made his blood boil!

186 - : Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng

In the Tai Ah Divine City, there was an archery range for practicing.

When Yi Yun came to the range, he found a few people there.

The range was rectangular; it was 300 meters wide and 3000 meters long. On one end of the long edge were the archers, and on the other end were the targets. These targets were made of purple tungsten, similar in material to the purple tungsten wall that Yi Yun had previously encountered.

The purple tungsten left a deep impression on Yi Yun. It was a very hard substance.

In the Tai Ah Divine City’s range, there were rows of targets, and even the thinnest ones were half a foot thick.The thickest targets were six feet thick, almost as long as the Thousand Army Saber’s blade!

The thickest target was even more ridiculous than the purple tungsten wall Yi Yun had previously tried piercing with the Primal Arrow.

These targets were secured on the ground with thick black iron frames that were shocking!

When Yi Yun really saw the targets, he took a cold breath of air.

At the center of the target, there were many arrows. Each arrow had pierced all the way inside only leaving the arrow fletching, almost like a fully embedded nail!

These arrows were the standard arrows at the range. It was specifically used with longbows and they were four foot two inches long.

How much energy was needed to fully insert a four foot two inch arrow into the purple tungsten wall?

Furthermore, Yi Yun noticed that a few arrows had fully pierced through the target, with an arrow head appearing on the other end of it!

Yi Yun felt scared. Almost ten days ago, he had charged with the Primal Arrow at the purple tungsten wall and he could only carve a foot long hole in it. The arrow was not even inserted stably.

But the people who shot these arrows were using light arrows and yet, they were still able to penetrate it so deeply.

They were really powerful!

Yi Yun felt penitent. “Brother, who was the one who shot through the target?” Yi Yun asked a cultivator beside him.

“Oh, those arrows… They were shot by Li Xiao, who is third on the Heaven rankings!”

“Third on the Heaven rankings? Li Xiao!”

Yi Yun remembered the name. He had memorized all the top-ranking people on the Heaven, Earth and Man rolls.

In the Divine wilderness, there was a vast expanse of Desolate Lands. Powerful desolate beasts lurked within the Desolate Lands.

There were many elite desolate beasts, beast generals or even beast king desolate beasts!

Not to mention the primordial species, who were deep within the Divine wilderness!

The strongest cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City did not do odd jobs like being a sparring partner or forging. There were two ways for them to earn dragon scale runes.

First was to trade with others or gamble in a fighting match!

These cultivators were particularly Desolate Heaven Masters, blacksmith masters or master alchemists. They could buy materials and then create relics, elixirs or amazing weapons in exchange for dragon scale runes.

And for those who did not have these skills, and only knew how to fight, their main dragon scale runes income came from hunting desolate beasts!

After killing a desolate beast, they could turn in the desolate beast’s bones, meat and all sorts of tendons and horns to the Tai Ah Divine City, and the Tai Ah Divine City would make a comparable compensation in dragon scale runes.

At the same time, based on how many and the type of desolate beasts the cultivators killed, their rankings will be formed, and that was the Heaven Roll of Honor!

The three rankings in the Tai Ah Divine City were: Man roll, which was ranked based on the total amount of dragon scale runes a cultivator spent and earned. Earth roll, based on the arena rankings. But from the way “Heaven, Earth and Man” was ordered, it meant that the Heaven roll, the hunting of desolate beasts, was ranked above the other two!

The Dragon scale runes ranking was a symbol of wealth. Although being rich in resources was of utmost importance for a warrior’s cultivation, many warriors in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had their family clans or sects supporting them. As long as they had sufficient talent, they would be provided with resources.

To earn resources by oneself usually happened after entering the sage realm.

As a result, the dragon scale runes ranking, which was a symbol of a warrior’s wealth, was listed at third place.

As for the arena ranking, that was related to the battles with other warriors. But the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom believed that the main threat against humans came from desolate beasts.

The desolate beasts occupied a large swath of the wilderness. But it just so happened that in that wilderness, there were endless amounts of treasures waiting for people to find them.

Hence, the Divine Kingdom did not encourage killing between warriors, but it encouraged the killing of desolate beasts.

Therefore, the Heaven ranking was given to the desolate beast hunting, and the corresponding rewards were higher!

“Haha, you must be new here. I see you have a bow on your back, oh? It’s even a good bow. It’s made by the Zhang family!” Yi Yun had casually chatted up a warrior, but that person had great judgment and could tell the quality of Yi Yun’s bow’s at a glance.

“Practice well. If you practice your bow and arrow well, it will be a great advantage on the Heaven ranking! Senior Li Xiao’s archery skills are superb! I have seen Li Xiao use an arrow the thickness of a thumb to rip apart an Armored Rhinoceros with my own eyes!”

The cultivator was about fifteen years old. From the way he described the scene excitedly, one would think that all that glory belonged to him.

It also made Yi Yun feel a surge of emotions.

An Armored Rhinoceros was famous among desolate beasts for its defense. Li Xiao used one arrow, not only to kill it, but to rip it apart!

His archery skills were terrifying!

A warrior’s accuracy at shooting an arrow was not the most important thing. With a warrior’s eyesight and mental prowess, shooting an arrow accurately was not difficult!

The difficult part was to inject within the bow and arrow Yuan Qi and strength!

The really terrifying archers did not pierce a willow leaf with an arrow from a distance of a hundred paces, but crumbled a small hill from a hundred paces away!

In fact, those who were good at bows were usually very strong warriors. Their primary weapons were not bows, but either a sword, saber or spear, etc. Bows were just one of their weapons. Their melee attacks were equally strong and their bodies had terrifying strength.

Yi Yun knew that Li Xiao was also within the top ten of the Earth rankings!

In ancient myths, there was the legend of Hou Yi shooting down the Sun. And the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s cornerstone treasured bow was named the Star Shooting Bow.

When someone’s archery skills reached a certain divine level, they could shoot down the stars and the Sun! Although there were some elements of exaggeration, it also illustrated the power of the bow and arrow.

For the current Yi Yun, the bow and arrow was a great advantage for him against desolate beasts. The hunting speed of a bow and arrow was naturally something melee weapons could not compete with.

Seeing Li Xiao’s arrow, what else could Yi Yun say? Practice!

In less than a year’s time, Yi Yun wanted to use his bow and his saber to obtain a spot on the Heaven and Earth rankings!

To enter the top 1000 in a year meant he was one of the human pinnacles, and would gain the attention of the Divine Kingdom’s various factions! But Yi Yun’s goal was more than that!

…

The Tai Ah Herb Mountain stretched out endlessly. There were countless of wonders throughout it, with unknown number of treasures waiting to be discovered!

At this time, the Sun was hanging in the sky. A youth dressed in linen was travelling through the mountain as agile as a cheetah.

He held a black long bow by his shoulder, and a quiver of arrows on his back. The quiver was about the size of an adult’s waist, and in it was a bundle of shining arrows!

Although he had a lot of luggage, it did not impede the youth. The steep mountains and dense foliage was powerless against the youth.

“Peng! Peng!”

The youth’s footsteps were heavy. Every foot on the ground was like a ten thousand pound sledge hammer slamming into the ground.

If he landed on a rock, the rock would explode!

If he landed on a tree trunk, the trunk would be crushed!

Suddenly, the youth pulled out a long sharp saber. With a swish of the blade, three thick trees were cut as if they were grass. The cut was clean, it was as if it had been buffed by sandpaper.

The youth picked up one tree trunk and with both feet on the ground, he flung it out with all his strength!

“Whew!”

With a shrill scream, the thick tree trunk flew out like a meteor directly into the sky!

The youth did the same for the remaining trees in an orderly manner.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

The three trees traveled across the sky. Yi Yun leaped and with the Tai Cang Bow in hand, he strung the bow!

Peng! Peng! Peng!

The bow string, which was made from the ribs of a Giant Python desolate beast, vibrated thrice. Yi Yun had shot three consecutive arrows!

The three arrows immediately created an explosive sound. The arrows formed visible ripples in the air, creating a misty haze around them!

These bows broke the sound barrier forming a sonic boom. Yi Yun’s body had not reached the speed of sound, but it was easy to shoot out supersonic arrows!

The three arrows chased after the three trees.

“Peng! Peng! Peng!”

Three consecutive thunderous claps! The tree trunks that had flown far into the sky were pierced by the three arrows and burst open, sending countless pieces of wood and leaves flying!

Yi Yun took a breath of air when he saw this scene.

Yi Yun had been practicing with his bow for ten days.

In the ten days, Yi Yun had pulled the bow countless times, which cut his fingers into a bloody mess.

And today, although Yi Yun’s archery skills were incomparable to the senior cultivators, there were very few rookies who could compete with him.

“In another four to five days, after I make my final preparations, it will be time to capture that primordial herb!”

Yi Yun had come up with a complete plan to catch the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. He had just this one shot at success!

187 - : Archery Skills

The next day in the evening, at the herb-picking job office.

“Sister Wang, this is my harvest today.” Yi Yun obediently placed his herb basket on the stone cabinet.

Wang glanced lazily. She reached in to grab the herbs from the light basket, and estimated Yi Yun’s harvest.

Wang grunted lightly.

“It’s getting less and less. Lame!”

The amount of herbs in the herb basket definitely did not exceed 80 dragon scale runes.

At the beginning, Yi Yun would hand in about 200 dragon scale runes worth of herbs. For a rookie to hand in so much herbs surprised Wang.

Although this level could not compare with Zhong Yi, he was not much worse. It wouldn’t be impossible to get an income of 15,000 dragon scale runes in the next 2 months. That result would prove his keen observation and senses. As a result, the Divine City would likely give out some form of reward.

But Wang never imagined that in ten days, the amount Yi Yun handed over had dropped by half, to about 100 odd dragon scale runes. But in the last three days, it had turned worse and it was just 70-80 a day!

All these years, Wang had been in charge of the herb-picking office. She had seen many cultivators with keen senses. Usually they handed in more herbs over time and they were never like Yi Yun, who handed in less herbs over time!

If Yi Yun was lucky at the beginning and slowly turned unlucky later, it didn’t make sense. Luck was unlikely to all be concentrated in the first few days.

The only possibility was that Yi Yun was not working hard.

Upon thinking this, Wang turned gloomy.

It was alright if you lacked the talent. After all, your talent was given to you by your parents and it was hard for that talent to be changed through nurturing.

Those who lacked talent would remain mediocre, because no matter how hard they worked, there was no way they could become a peerless hero.

Those with talent who ended up wasting their talents were considered scum by Wang. Furthermore, they were in the Tai Ah Divine City, taking up the Tai Ah Divine City’s resources and yet they did not work hard.

There were countless number of people in this world who wanted to grow strong but they lacked the opportunity. Not cherishing this opportunity and wasting resources was an unforgivable act!

The Tai Ah Divine City’s resources were provided to those who hunted desolate beasts, to the heroes who defended the country. It wasn’t something to be splurged, allowing one to attain a noble title to lead a rich life.

“82 dragon scale runes! You are really getting worse by the day. If you want to wallow in degeneration, no one can save you. If you want to dawdle in the Divine wilderness campgrounds, I advise you to scram early!”

Wang scolded directly at Yi Yun’s face, without any friendliness. She flung Yi Yun’s identity token, nearly hitting Yi Yun in the face!

“Eh…” Yi Yun caught his token and was speechless.

He had initially wanted to ask Wang about thunder-fire items, but seeing her attitude, he could only stay silent.

“What are you still standing there for?” Wang snapped when she saw Yi Yun still standing there.

“Nothing…” Yi Yun said helpless.Zhao Qingcheng and company were behind Yi Yun .

Zhao Qingcheng was also curious why Yi Yun’s harvest was so little now.

“Little brother Yi Yun, why are you picking less herbs now?”

“Nothing much. I am getting unlucky I guess. Also, I have been a bit tired recently…” Yi Yun shrugged, brushing it off. Naturally, he did not want to mention his preparations to capture a primordial herb.

“Sister Qingcheng, I want to get some strong thunder-fire spells. Do you know where I can get them?”

“Thunder-fire spells?” Zhao Qingcheng paused. She did not know what Yi Yun wanted that for.

“Right. As long as I can use it, the stronger the better!”

After some thought, Zhao Qingcheng said, “There are some districts in the Tai Ah Divine City that specifically sell charms. These charms are made by the masters in the Tai Ah Divine City. When warriors hunt desolate beasts, they can deploy these arrays, evoking the power within the charm if in trouble.”

“Oh? So there’re such things?” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. They met his requirements.

“Yes. The Divine wilderness is too dangerous. Some desolate beasts cannot be dealt with by cultivators. Without a protective charm, there would be more deaths and injuries. But, the Divine City doesn’t encourage us to rely on the charms. Hence, the charms are sold extremely expensive. The stronger charms can go for a thousand, or even two thousand dragon scale runes.”

A rookie had to work hard just to earn a thousand dragon scale runes. Even the more senior cultivators would have to work hard for a few days to earn that amount.

Using such a charm was equivalent to wasting the past few days of work.

“I got it. Take me there…”

The charms were sold in a concourse in the Tai Ah Divine City.

In the middle of the concourse, there was a huge array. Within the array was a pagoda that had a light flashing on its spire.

This pagoda had nine floors. On the large door, there were three large words written: Ten Thousand Pagoda!

“Use your spiritual energy to interface with the pagoda. You will then be able to browse through the catalog. Once you pay the dragon scale runes, you will receive it.” Zhao Qingcheng explained on the side. Ever since Yi Yun helped her, she had been ready to help Yi Yun. Whenever Yi Yun had any requests, she would take Yi Yun there, and introduce the rules in details, pointing things to his attention.

Yi Yun closed his eyes, and immediately in his mind appeared a huge wall. The wall was covered with all sorts of small objects.

They were not just charms, but included elixirs, desolate bone relics, array disks, etc. There was a dazzling exhibition that feasted his eyes!

Yi Yun realized that just on this wall, there were more than ten thousand objects.

And this wall had another wall connecting to it. Just a glance revealed more than a few dozen walls!

“There’s so many!” Yi Yun couldn’t help saying.

“Of course there’s a lot. This Ten Thousand Pagoda is the trading center of the Tai Ah Divine City! This does not only have the products of masters, but products of other cultivators. There are many cultivators whose main occupation isn’t fighting, but to produce charms, elixirs, or be Desolate Heaven Masters, etc. Their products will then be brought to this Ten Thousand Pagoda to be sold, making it very convenient.”

“Besides that, there might be some rare parts of desolate beasts that some cultivators kill. As the standard price given by the Divine City does not satisfy the warriors, they can choose to sell it on the Ten Thousand Pagoda. When a Desolate Heaven Master or alchemist sees it, they might buy it. Everyone puts things into the Ten Thousand Pagoda here, so there might be as many as a million treasures here.”

“I see.” Hearing Zhao Qingcheng’s explanation, Yi Yun felt at ease. With such a huge array, it was indeed very easy to trade.

Yi Yun used his spiritual energy to explore. Soon he found a wall full of colorful charms. They were inscribed with all sorts of strange formations and runes. Some of these charms were made from desolate beast hide, while others were made out of yellow paper. The difference in price was also great.

Some of the cheap ones were worth a dozen dragon scale runes.

These charms were for rookies, which Yi Yun did not consider at all.

He only chose charms that were in the thunder-fire category, and they had to be made by a master.

Finally, Yi Yun found something. It was a round bead the size of a marble. The surface looked like it was made from pure metal.

The bead’s surface was covered in strange runes. By interfacing it with his spiritual energy, Yi Yun could feel a killing intent. His spiritual energy felt like it was about to be absorbed by the bead.

This left Yi Yun stunned. He looked at the bead’s blurb.

Divine Hellion Bead!

There was a precious desolate beast relic within it. The relic had been engraved with an ancient array rune by a master. It was an offensive item that could be used only once. Using Yuan Qi to ignite it after throwing the Divine Hellion Bead would trigger the thunder-fire power within.

One Divine Hellion Bead was worth 2000 dragon scale runes. The wealth Yi Yun had amassed in nearly a month had shrunk more by half!

“So expensive!” Yi Yun licked his lips. Even for this grade of treasure, only one or two beads were prepared for the top ranking cultivators, who used them for a rainy day.

As a rookie, using this treasure would probably shock others till their jaws fell off.

When Yi Yun chosed the Divine Hellion Bead, it was wrapped in a ball of light and flew out of the Ten Thousand Pagoda into Yi Yun’s hands. Yi Yun put it in a jade box he had previously prepared and placed it in his bag.

Zhao Qingcheng was watching by the side. She did not know what the ball of light was. But since it was something as a means of preserving life, she did not ask any further.

A Divine Hellion Beads was not enough for Yi Yun!

Yi Yun carried on choosing. He wanted too many things, but due to his limited dragon scale runes, after choosing three items, he had spent them all.

A few treasures had depleted what took Yi Yun nearly a month to obtain. He was really betting it all on one attempt!

If he failed in capturing the primordial herb, Yi Yun might not be able to recover for a long time. As such, he would need to properly pick herbs to break the record. He would have to set aside the cultivation of his movement and archery skills.

With his preparations done, Yi Yun applied for a seven-day period of consecutive herb-picking from Wang.

A consecutive herb-picking period meant he did not need to return in the evening. Eating and sleeping were all done on the mountain for seven consecutive days!

Many cultivators would only pick herbs in the day, and cultivate at night. Previously, Yi Yun did the same; but this time, to capture the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, Yi Yun needed plenty of time.

“Seven consecutive days of herb-picking?” Wang glanced at Yi Yun and hissed. This kid who didn’t know anything. He couldn’t even last a day picking herbs, what’s more, he wanted seven days? How many days could he last?

“Can you fill your herb basket in seven days of herb-picking? You do whatever the hell you want!”

Wang could not be bothered. She had no relations with Yi Yun. To the hardworking, she would help a bit, but for degenerates, she couldn’t care less.

With seven days approved, Yi Yun carried his herb basket and walked towards the teleportation array towards the herb mountain early in the morning.

Victory was at stake!

188 - : The Final Preparations

With the teleportation array’s white beams leading on, Yi Yun stepped through the teleportation array.

This herb mountain, labeled #60, was the herb mountain Yi Yun was sent to by the teleportation array. In the past 30 days, he had always been picking herbs in #60. It was considered the herb mountain designated to Yi Yun for the past and the following months.

Cultivators who choose to pick herbs would be randomly sent to a herb mountain and they would not change locations for several months. The benefit would be that they could remember the places they had already searched, removing the need to search again the next time.

If all the cultivators were to be randomly assigned new herb mountains every time, that would be the possibility that a spot one searched was a spot previously searched a few days ago by someone else.

Yi Yun, with his Flowing Mercury Gown, had combed through a large region of this #60 herb mountain.

Yi Yun was especially familiar with the region a hundred mile radius around the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

The moment he was sent through the teleportation array, Yi Yun traveled through the mountain by the familiar paths, slowly approaching the cliff the Blood Yang Flower was.

At this time, Yi Yun was about a few dozen miles from the cliff.

He was not in a hurry to scale the cliff and just carried on casually searching for herbs nearby.

He was also not practicing his movement skills. He had taken off the Flowing Mercury Gown. After wearing 200 tons for an extended period of time, by suddenly removing it, Yi Yun felt weightless and he was as light as a dove, it was as if he could leap into the clouds!

This was Yi Yun’s optimal state. With a large battle looming, Yi Yun did not want anything that could adversely affect his speed.

“Another one, a high-grade Yellow-ranked Deathroot. This is a kind of poisonous herb that can be made into a poison.” Yi Yun muttered to himself as he kept the Deathroot. The alchemists in the Tai Ah Divine City could not only create elixirs with beneficial effects, they could also create drugs with adverse effects, for example poisons, hallucinogens, or drugs with paralysis effects. There were all sorts of possibilities.

After the Deathroot, there was black fungus, blood coiled roots, purple heart grass…

Yi Yun picked herb after herb at a casual pace, as if he had forgotten about the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

After picking herbs for the entire day, the evening was approaching. Unknowingly, Yi Yun had already approached the cliff where the Blood Yang Flower was.

Yi Yun knew that the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had long since discovered his presence. Primordial herbs were very alert. With Yi Yun’s methods, trying to secretly approach the primordial herb would simply be wishful thinking.

It was about two hours before midnight.

Yi Yun looked up into the sky. There was no moon and the night sky was as black as coal!

Yi Yun had came to #60 herb mountain early in the morning, but he deliberately dragged out time before arriving at this cliff. The reason was to wait for this opportunity.

It was the first day of the lunar month, the day of a “new moon”. Without the moon present, it was the lunar Yin day.

The lunar Yin day was the day with the most intense Yin Qi. Three-quarters of an hour past midnight was the time of the day with the densest Yin Qi.

Hence, Yi Yun had timed it to the moment when the Yin Qi was the densest throughout the month!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng liked Yang Qi and it swallowed herbs that were Pure Yang in nature.

The lunar Yin day at three-quarters of an hour past midnight was the moment when it was weakest.

Hence, Yi Yun chose this moment to attack!

Even so, Yi Yun had little confidence in hitting the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng with his Tai Cang Bow.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s speed was terrifying and its reaction speed was extremely fast!

For the past few days, Yi Yun had spent a lot of effort in searching for information on the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. Besides the “Divine Wilderness Anthology”, he had read all the information regarding it.

He was constantly comparing his archery skills with the abilities of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. His final conclusion was that, within thirty meters, even if his arrow exceeded the speed of sound, there was a high possibility the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng could still avoid it!

And the moment he failed in his attempt, he would not have the slightest chance to capture the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng in the future.

Hence, Yi Yun had to carefully take everything into consideration and he had to make all sorts of calculations.

“Let’s go for it! I’ll see if your tunneling skills are stronger or my arrow is faster!” Yi Yun told himself that and leaped up!

Cha!

With inaudible footsteps, Yi Yun set foot on the cliff’s rocks with a herb basket on his back.

He was a hundred times more nimble than a monkey and he easily scaled the cliff like he was on flat ground.

In the night, there was a cold mountain breeze that entered the bone.

On the flat cliff top, the weathered skeleton was scattered and it stood there through the successive gusts of wind.

The Yin Qi was extremely dense on the cliff top!

In this land, there were some spirits who would like to appear at this time.

Yi Yun stood on the cliff for a while and closed his eyes to concentrate. With his spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal, he could feel something looking at him.

It was the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

With the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun was extremely sensitive to the surrounding energy. Even so, in the Purple Crystal’s vision, Yi Yun could not pinpoint the exact location of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

But in the thick Yin Qi, there was a clear strand of Yang Qi. This belonged to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was not wary of Yi Yun’s observation. To the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, Yi Yun was like a wild rabbit that had walked into its territory and he was nothing of significance.

The primordial herb had existed for thousands of years, it had seen countless numbers of cultivators. Those idiots had never found it.

Some of the human experts had tried to catch it, but they could not threaten it. Occasionally, there would be sages from the Tai Ah Divine City who came to the #60 herb mountain. Only then would this primordial herb be on alert and hide in advance. As such, it had been safe.

With Yi Yun’s current strength, the primordial herb did not feel any threat.

In the darkness, Yi Yun stayed silent. He was secretly counting the time, and there were still two more hours before the appointed time.

Yi Yun seemed to randomly draw out his Thousand Army Saber. Although he could not pinpoint the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng using his Purple Crystal vision, he had already pinpointed the location of the Blood Yang Flower.

The Blood Yang Flower was about a hundred meters to the left and it was buried deep underground!

Yi Yun walked to the location he previously found the Blood Yang Flower.

There was still the hole he had excavated.

Yi Yun put on a face of curiosity and muttered, “Isn’t this where I found the Blood Yang Flower the last time…? I don’t know why, but when I was about to pick up the Blood Yang Flower, suddenly many corpses came out from the graves. I killed many, but after some time, I don’t know what happened. When I woke up, I was full of injuries and all the corpses and Blood Yang Flower had disappeared. It was like a dream…”

Yi Yun muttered to himself. Not far away, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was quietly watching this interesting human.

It had a certain amount of intelligence and it could understand Yi Yun’s words.

Humans were a really stupid species. They could be hit by magic without knowing and they ended up thinking they were dreaming.

This dumb specimen even wanted to try picking the Blood Yang Flower. Such wishful thinking.

After Yi Yun appeared confused for a long while, he swung his Thousand Army Saber and quickly chopped downwards.

“Peng!”

With a splash of soil and rocks, a deep, dark crack appeared on the ground.

Yi Yun hesitated and carefully reached in. In the darkness, he touched around, but of course, he found nothing.

He muttered to himself, “Wasn’t it here the last time? This Blood Yang Flower…ran away?”

Seeing Yi Yun being so dumb, if the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng could make an expression, it would be one where tears came out from laughing too much.

Are all humans so dumb? They didn’t even know they had been hit by magic, but they were so naive to think they can still find the Blood Yang Flower at the same spot.

So extremely dumb!

At this time, Yi Yun changed spots, and began digging.

Of course, it was another dud.

Yi Yun did not lose heart and rolled up his sleeves. On this cliff, he began to dig around, each about three feet deep.

To the primordial herb, Yi Yun’s behavior was humorous.

But slowly, it started getting serious. It realized that Yi Yun’s aimless digging was slowly approaching the Blood Yang Flower’s location.

This… Was it a coincidence?

Yi Yun was almost reaching the Blood Yang Flower!

Seeing Yi Yun’s digging become more meticulous and deeper, the primordial herb thought that he could really find the Blood Yang Flower if this kept going on!

Was this dumb luck?

Of course, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng did not want Yi Yun to steal the Blood Yang Flower.

It suddenly felt that the lesson previously given to this stupid human was not severe enough. This time, it had to give him a more severe lesson, hopefully one that would end him, which would solve the problem once and for all.

189 - : Lunar Yin Day

Killing a human was a difficult task for the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

Spirit herbs were different from desolate beasts, as they had innate deficiencies.

When a herb cultivates itself into a primordial herb or immortal herb, although it’s lifespan becomes very long, it could not escape its fate of being picked or captured.

Some primordial herbs were even inferior to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. Even as a primordial herb, they had no ability to escape through water or land, they were just sitting there waiting to be picked by humans or eaten by desolate beasts.

Such herb species had little chance of turning into a primordial herb.

Unless these herbs grew in really hidden locations and they were never found by humans, only then would they have the ten thousand years needed to absorb the Heaven Earth essence.

If not, some of them were under the protection by a strong desolate beast. Some primordial desolate beasts would guard a primordial herb for thousands of years and then finally eat it when it matured.

Only under such circumstances would these herbs have the opportunity to turn into a primordial herb.

At this time, it was simple for the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng to use its magic to confuse Yi Yun, but it was not easy to kill him.

It had to absorb Heaven Earth essence and pure Yang Qi for another few thousand years to form a magical illusion that could really kill.

Although it was not easy for the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng to kill people, it could immerse them into a most horrifying vision, confusing them to the point of a mental breakdown, eventually making them a lunatic.

If the human died in the process of going crazy, the human corpse could be used as fertilizer for the Blood Yang Flower.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng began to gather energy. It slowly condensed the tiny bit of pure Yang Qi from the surroundings.

It wanted to finish Yi Yun off, or else he might come again and again for the Blood Yang Flower. If an almighty human were to be led to it, they would only cause trouble for it.

It was approaching the lunar Yin day’s midnight. The pure Yang Qi in its surroundings had decreased to the lowest point possible.

The powers of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng dropped to 30% at this time. But even if it had dropped to 30%, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng did not feel that a youth at the middle-stage of the Purple Blood realm could pose a threat to itself.

Ignoring the Purple Blood realm, even a peak-Yuan foundation realm cultivator was nothing. The greatest means of survival for the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was its ability to hide itself in its surroundings. Unless it was a human sage, no human would be able to detect its presence.

As it was gathering its power and was about to launch its magical attack at Yi Yun, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng suddenly realized that Yi Yun had bent down and put two items on the ground.

They were two discs about a foot in diameter. One was black in color and the other ice-blue.

The two round discs looked clumsy and they had numerous runes written on it. It was like a tortoise shell but not eye-catching.

Although the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had some intelligence, it had no understanding of array techniques, desolate heaven techniques or even cultivation techniques.

Cultivating, creating charms or arrays were purely for humans.

In terms of lifespan, strength or affinity with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, humans were inferior to many other species. Humans could survive in the desolate wilderness, while holding on to their land with a firm grip, because of their creativity, their ability to learn and the creation of heritage amongst humans.

It was impossible for a spiritual herb to learn anything about arrays or charms.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng did not know what the two objects Yi Yun placed on the ground were for. It felt that a human teenager was no threat, but as a wary primordial herb, it secretly kept track of where Yi Yun had placed the two array disks.

It was not worried. Because once it launched its powerful magic attack, Yi Yun’s mind would shatter. So it was no matter what array disk Yi Yun had placed on the ground.

It was late into the night as the stars were blocked by clouds. Yi Yun was quietly counting the time in his mind.

It was about a minute away from three-quarters of an hour past midnight.

Yi Yun slowed down his breathing and he adjusted himself to his optimal state.

Slowly, the surrounding Yin Qi grew denser.

Even the two array disks Yi Yun had placed on the ground were faintly exuding a Yin coolness. They were ice-cold to the touch.

These two disk arrays were also immersed within the lunar Yin day’s night, emitting air that mixed with the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Among the two disk arrays, one of them was inscribed with a lunar Yin array, and the other was inscribed with a cicada array.

Both disk arrays were built by array masters from the Tai Ah Divine City. Besides using his dragon scale runes to buy the Divine Hellion Bead, most of the remainder was spent on these two array disks.

On the lunar Yin array, there was a pale purple charm stuck to it. It was a cheap activation charm.

This charm was connected to Yi Yun’s mind. As long as he wished, the activation charm would immediately activate the lunar Yin array.

With his setup properly laid out, the appointed time was slowly approaching.

With the lunar Yin Qi density reaching its apex, Yi Yun could feel a coldness that seemed to seep into his bone marrow.

Yi Yun tightened his muscles and as if aimlessly walking, approached the Blood Yang Flower!

At this time.

Weng!

A tumultuous sound rang in Yi Yun’s ear!

Yi Yun felt a huge impact on his soul as his head ached. It was the psychic attack by the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

This psychic attack was more than ten times stronger than the other time. It was clear that the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had gathered enough energy to shatter Yi Yun’s soul!

But, before Yi Yun came to the herb mountain, he had taken a Clear Minded Elixir. This was prepared by Yi Yun early on. Although it was not expensive, it was sufficient.

Yi Yun could clearly feel that at the moment his soul hurt, a stream of relieving power rushed out from his Dantian into his soul, which cleansed his mind like refreshing water and lessening the pain.

Yi Yun knew that the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s best trick was its magical attack. How could he not prepare for it in advance?

Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal’s vision field, so together with the Clear Minded Elixir, he returned to his clear state of mind in almost an instant!

But there still was not enough time to attack the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. Yi Yun knew that even at a distance of thirty meters, there was a chance of missing the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng with an arrow shot from the Tai Cang Bow.

Yi Yun could shoot anything immobile, or something that moved in a regular pattern at a distance of ten miles. But if it was something that could dodge, Yi Yun did not have the ability to steer the arrow.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s speed was too fast!

Yi Yun’s arrow might not catch up with it; so the only way of hitting it was to predict the next move of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

Yi Yun was waiting for the final opportunity.

At this time, Yi Yun’s surroundings had slowly transformed.

The cliff had changed into a vast wilderness, with the strong smell of the wilderness attacking his nostrils.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The land shook as a behemoth the size of a small mountain charged towards Yi Yun with a relentless force.

After the psychic attack, illusion magic followed immediately.

Yi Yun no longer had any doubt or hesitation compared to the first time he entered this illusion.

He identified the scene as the one he saw when he first entered the Tai Ah Divine City. It was the Divine wilderness he had seen while in the airship.

With that, Yi Yun pretended to be confused by the illusion. He drew his Thousand Army Saber and charged towards the behemoth.

The illusion was after all an illusion. Yi Yun had no fear, so even though there was a mighty desolate beast in front of him, it was just an illusion.

“Cha!”

The Thousand Army Saber slashed downwards. A mighty desolate beast that that could in reality, kill Yi Yun in an instant, was slashed into two by Yi Yun!

As the saber formed shadows and reflecting off cold flashes, the Thousand Army Saber in Yi Yun’s hand began to be splattered by blood!

Terrifying behemoths after behemoths were sliced apart by Yi Yun!

In the apparent chaos, Yi Yun was dodging and moving forward, slowly approaching the primordial herb!

Thirty meters!

Twenty-seven meters!

Twenty-four meters!

As he slowly approached, Yi Yun held his breath while counting the distance.

He pretended that he was still within the illusion magic, but he was making killing blows in reality!

Just as Yi Yun reached the twenty-meter mark from the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng finally became wary!

Although it looked down on Yi Yun, its nature as a primordial herb made it have a habit to avoid humans.

It secretly slipped backwards by a tiny bit, but it did not retreat much, or its magic would not be able to carry on its attack on Yi Yun.

Seeing the primordial herb retreat, Yi Yun’s heart sank slightly. His plans of slowly approaching the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng in the chaos had been shot down.

Indeed, primordial herbs were naturally cautious. They would make a subconscious decision to maintain a distance even if the person was of no threat to them.

As such, trying to reduce the distance between himself and the primordial herb to under three meters before using the Thousand Army Saber to attack was impractical.

Yi Yun had to rely on his bow and arrow, issuing a death shot!

190 - : Double arrays

Yi Yun stopped his attempts at approaching the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. If he came any closer, it was bound to arouse suspicion.

Now, Yi Yun was about twenty-four meters away from the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. Yi Yun guessed that this was the distance limit that the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng could tolerate.

Yi Yun gripped his Thousand Army Saber tightly and carried on slaying the illusions.

Desolate beasts were slain by Yi Yun, splattering blood everywhere!

In the illusion world, Yi Yun had been dyed red from blood!

Slowly, Yi Yun’s eyes turned red. Within his originally clear and black eyes, there was now a hint of bloodthirst. It was as if he had completely immersed himself in the world of killing, slowly losing his senses.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng could immerse a person in an illusion for eternity. If the person was unable to wake up from it, it would consume all of his Yuan Qi, eventually causing him to die from exhaustion.

Yi Yun slowly became crazy. He was madly swinging the Thousand Army Saber around, the cliff seemed like it was being slashed open by him!

At this time, Yi Yun drew his Tai Cang Bow!

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Yi Yun began to shoot arrows at non-existent primordial behemoth illusions.

The illusions exploded every time they were hit by the Wind Chasing Arrows!

This was Yi Yun’s final preparation. By drawing out the Tai Cang Bow, Yi Yun could attack the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng in the shortest time possible. Switching the Thousand Army Saber to the Tai Cang Bow would inevitably take some time, and that short amount of time could lead to failure against the primordial herb.

Yi Yun purposely slowed his arrows’ speed. Each arrow’s speed was one-third Yi Yun’s maximum speed. To the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, these arrows were like toys and of no threat to it.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was waiting. To it, Yi Yun was doomed. After this human fully immersed himself into the illusion and went crazy, it was only a matter of time before he died of exhaustion.

By removing this hazard, it could carry on nurturing the Blood Yang Flower within the herb mountain and slowly absorb the pure Yang Qi.

In a few thousand years, it could then complete its evolution, becoming even stronger. When that happened, it could finally escape through the seal array of the Tai Ah Divine City herb mountain.

This #60 herb mountain’s array was set up by the Tai Ah Divine City’s first city lord. Because of this, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had been trapped within this herb mountain for thousands of years. It was like a prison that it wanted to escape from.

And when it did so, it could go into the infinite Divine wilderness, search for wonderlands and find more pure Yang herbs. After swallowing their energy, it could slowly grow and evolve even further!

It was unfortunate that there was only one Blood Yang Flower.

If there were two Blood Yang Flowers, or other pure Yang herbs, they could absorb more Heaven Earth Yuan Qi for the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. It might just need a thousand years before it could escape from this herb mountain’s array.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng used its lacking intelligence to think about its future. Suddenly, there was a slight change in the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

The two disk arrays from not far away suddenly let out a soft sound, and a flame burned up.

The source of this fire was from the activation charm for the Lunar Yin array!

Of course, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had no understanding of items like activation charms, neither did it understand what that burning flame meant.

As a safety precaution, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng monitored Yi Yun who was the owner of the array, but all it saw was Yi Yun shooting with the Tai Cang Bow randomly. Yi Yun’s eyes were blood-red and his pupils had lost focus. His speed was clearly decreasing, as if he was slowly losing his mind.

It seemed like Yi Yun had nothing to do with the disk array’s change.

But the fact was, once the disk array was activated, there had to be a result.

With the disk array’s owner losing his mind, the disk array would still run, but it would slowly lose control, and unable to release its original power.

Hu! Hu! Hu!

The activation charm on the lunar Yin disk array burned.

This disk array had been gathering the Yin Qi in a ten-mile radius. When the activation charm burned, this Yin Qi became chaotic and a vortex of Yin Qi spread around.

“Buzz——”

The vortex spiraled, emitting dense Yin Qi fluctuations.

The ice-cold wind had the vortex at its center and it began expanding in all directions, it was as if it was going to destroy everything around it. Its strength was increasing!

It was the time of the day when the Yin Qi was the most intense. This lunar Yin array’s burst had pushed the Yin Qi to the extreme.

Not far from the Yin Qi vortex was the Blood Yang Flower. Although it was buried deep underground, it was still suppressed by this wave. Its body’s brilliance had disappeared and it was no different from an ordinary red fruit.

As for the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, it was a primordial herb, so the current surroundings did not affect it too much.

But this chaotic and thick Yin Qi vortex made the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng feel a sense of dread.

It wanted to take the Blood Yang Flower away as soon as possible. But seeing Yi Yun almost going mad, it did not want to be just one step short of success.

If it could not get rid of this human, then no matter how dumb this human was, he could figure out something was not right. Upon returning to the Tai Ah Divine City and reporting to the upper echelon of the Tai Ah Divine City, then its good days were over. Human sages would frequent this #60 herb mountain, making it wary all the time. It had no way of nurturing the Blood Yang Flower or absorb pure Yang Qi.

In just about a dozen more seconds, it could finally destroy this human. It could then leave in peace. Then whatever this disk array did was none of its business.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s thinking was perfect, but suddenly, something strange happened!

That lunar Yin array that had gathered to form a Yin Qi vortex suddenly shot out a vortex arrow the thickness of a human arm!

This vortex arrow looked like it had been shot out by chance from the lunar Yin array due to its overflow in energy,

The vortex arrow did not fly towards the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, because if it did, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng could easily avoid it.

But , it flew towards the Blood Yang Flower!

The Yin Qi vortex was very close to the Blood Yang Flower. Since the Blood Yang Flower had no self-defense mechanism, there was no doubt it would be killed by this Yin Qi attack!

This was something completely unacceptable to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had to constantly absorb pure Yang Qi to grow, only then could it escape the Tai Ah herb mountain. This Blood Yang Flower was too important to it.

Not only did it help the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng to absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, in a few thousand years, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng could even completely absorb the Blood Yang Flower, completing its evolution. How could it allow this Yin Qi vortex to destroy the Blood Yang Flower? If that happened, it will need to spend another two thousand years before it could escape the Tai Ah herb mountain. In such a long time, it might be discovered by a human sage!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng did not care about using its magic to attack Yi Yun. It desperately rushed towards the Blood Yang Flower!

The lunar Yin array’s pure Yin Qi vortex was dangerous, but it was no threat to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

But, at the moment the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng rushed towards the Blood Yang Flower, Yi Yun who had seemingly be lost in the illusion suddenly tensed up!

His eyes flashed and took notice of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s motion like a hawk!

He had set up everything in an elaborate fashion, all for this hundredth of a blink of an eye opportunity!

To the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, it was meaningless no matter how accurate the arrow was. Its speed was very extremely fast and could avoid all attacks. The only way to hit it was to predict its next move!

This was Yi Yun’s only chance!

Ever since he entered the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, Yi Yun was able to gauge details and changes to a certain extreme limit. In an instant, he had calculated the trajectory the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng would take.

The Tai Cang Bow had been readied, its shiny black bowstring taut, with a thin flash of brilliance!

Yi Yun had drawn the bowstring, pretending to shoot a primordial behemoth’s image, but he had been waiting for this fatal blow!

All of Yi Yun’s energy surged to the Tai Cang Bow like a tsunami. The exquisitely forged Tai Cang metal issued out a clear sound, and Yi Yun released his fingers.

“Peng!”

It was like a thunderclap had sounded out in thin air. The Tai Cang Bow’s bowstring snapped forward, sending a huge force into the Wind Chasing Arrow. With this tremendous force, the arrow formed a visible beam while flying directly at the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

This arrow was Yi Yun’s ultimate attack!

The Wind Chasing Arrows formed a line and shot through the night!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, which was eager to save the Blood Yang Flower, was about to get hit by the arrow!

It had never thought that Yi Yun, a twelve years old kid, who had seemed to be in his final moments and was only in the mid-stages of Purple Blood, would suddenly rise up like a tiger, sending out such a stunning blow!

Using the lunar Yin array to attack the Blood Yang Flower, then completely attracting the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s attention, and finally calculating the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s trajectory.

Everything was too perfect!

191 - : The arrow that shot through the night

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was particularly good at hiding. Even if a top human lord was standing in front of it, he would find it difficult to spot any traces of it. Hence, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng found this hard to believe.

A kid with an extremely low cultivation level had not only discovered its presence, but he had even sent out such a terrifying blow towards it?

Carefully selecting the lunar Yin day, and seemingly placing array disks randomly, and finally having the confidence to grasp its trajectory all meant that the youth had calculated everything. Back when he picked the Blood Yang Flower for the first time, he had already noticed its existence. He had deliberately planned for half a month to set up this perfect kill!

A terrifying youth!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had no time to think further. The Wind Chasing Arrow Yi Yun had shot over was less than a foot from it!

There was no time left to dodge!

This arrow was more than three times faster than the ones Yi Yun had previously shot!

By pretending to be weak to reduce the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s wariness, making it think Yi Yun’s archery skills were mediocre, he could then shoot the arrow that was a one-hit kill!

Even this detail was not omitted by Yi Yun. Yi Yun’s plan of capturing the primordial herb was perfect!

In a split second, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng conjured all of its pure Yang energy, pushing it to its maximum. It was planning to resist the arrow even at the cost of losing its spiritual energy!

A mid-stage Purple Blood warrior had limited attack power. Typically, such an attack would not do any harm to its Yuan Qi defense!

But when it tried to conjure its pure Yang Qi, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng realized that it had very little pure Yang Qi left. Firstly, it was due to the Yin Qi being extremely dense on this day of the month and time. Secondly, it had expended a lot of energy while attacking Yi Yun with its illusion magic.

Three quarters of an hour past midnight on the lunar Yin day that Yi Yun had carefully chosen played its role now!

But, this was still enough. The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was confident that the scarce amount of remaining pure Yang Qi it had was enough to defend against the arrow.

It would, at most, be inflicted with minor injuries.

It had already decided. After escaping this time, it would never return to this place. It would tunnel deep underground for a few hundred years before coming out. It did not even want the Blood Yang Flower.

Although the Blood Yang Flower was important, it was not as important as its own life.

This youth was too terrifying. Just by being able to make the herb turn into such a pathetic state by himself, if he were to bring a human sage, it was doomed to die!

Thinking back to when it wanted to make the youth into fertilizer for the Blood Yang Flower, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng cringed. It had underestimated the enemy. This youth was an evil demon who would not let anything slip past him.

Humans were indeed a crafty species!

With its pure Yang Qi gathered, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng formed a misty layer of pure Yang around it. It was prepared to resist the impact of the Wind Chasing Arrow!

But at this time, Yi Yun had activated his Minute Subtlety movement skill and fled in the opposite direction. He smiled, and with a simple thought, he silently recited–

“Boom!”

The moment the Wind Chasing Arrow hit the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s Yuan Qi shield, a bright flash emitted from the shiny arrow head. A bead emitting a thunder-fire aura had been embedded in the arrow head.

It was the Divine Hellion Bead!

A sure-kill treasure made by a Tai Ah Divine City master! Yi Yun had spent 2000 dragon scale runes just to buy this tiny bead!

This Wind Chasing Arrow, with the embedded Divine Hellion Bead, had been placed in a special spot in Yi Yun’s quiver. Just before he activated the lunar Yin array, he had strung this special arrow and just pulled open the bow!

The thunder-fire exploded at that moment!

Boom!

There was a tumultuous explosion , which tore up the night sky!

Ice-blue flames roared as numerous snake-like black lightning bolts shot out from within the flames!

The fire was ice-cold fire!

The thunder was Yin hellion thunder!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was afraid of thunder-fire power. And among the thunder-fire power, it was most afraid of Yin fire and Yin thunder!

This combination of thunder-fire power was the bane of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

Cruel, too cruel!

He had entrapped it with no possible chance of survival!

“Ah–”

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng let out a blood-curling scream. The pure Yang shield around it broke apart with a “Peng” sound.

The Yin thunder and the frost ice-fire interweaved together, sending out countless fire webs and lightning snakes. Upon coming into contact with the pure Yin Qi from the surroundings, it swept over the area like a hurricane.

Ka-cha! Ka-cha!

The cliff’s rocks crumbled within the frost Qi. They were also burned by the cold fire, which slowly melted them into ash in the frost ice!

The extreme Yin thunder power that had completely restrained the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s power exploded at close range, causing the entire cliff to be blown away with it!

Yi Yun had fled the area before the explosion occurred. Just before the thunder-fire power had swallowed the cliff, he had jumped off the cliff.

Boom!

Yi Yun was covered by a lot of soil and dirt!

With a thought, Yi Yun’s body was covered in a faint green light. It was like a layer of armor wrapping him within.

This was the last item Yi Yun bought in the Ten Thousand Pagoda, the Green Mystic Protection Charm.

The charm contained the power of green Nature that was endless. When the Yin Qi swept over, the charm produced a strong life force from the green Nature power, reducing Yi Yun’s damage to a minimum!

The Green Mystic Protection Charm was not made by a master, but it was not sold cheap.

Yi Yun had noticed who the maker of this Green Mystic Protection Charm was before buying it. It was made by Luo Huo’er who was first on the Man rankings!

Luo Huo’er’s products were very popular in the Tai Ah Divine City.

It was because she made good quality products and there was a guarantee with her reputation.

This Green Mystic Protection Charm did not disappoint Yi Yun. The misty green light blocked a large portion of the Yin Qi’s rush. In addition to Yi Yun having jumped off the cliff earlier, he had not received the brunt of the force and he was essentially unhurt.

A small amount of Yin Qi had entered Yi Yun’s bloodstream, but it was all absorbed by the Purple Crystal.

Over a long period of time, Yi Yun knew the rules of energy absorption that the Purple Crystal Origins had. It could only absorb energy which belonged to no one, or in other words, energy that had lost its spiritual connection with its owner.

For example, when herbs were picked, they were already dead, so Yi Yun could absorb their energy.

The primordial species’ statue was also dead. If the primordial species was still alive, Yi Yun would have no way of obtaining the energy from within its body.

Yi Yun did not know the Purple Crystal’s reason behind such energy-absorbing principles. It was likely the Purple Crystal’s law.

Falling in midair, Yi Yun forcibly twisted his body. Ever since he reached the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, Yi Yun had precise control over the surroundings Qi flow. Hence, he could move through the air for ten meters before landing in front of the cliff.

“Cha!”

The Thousand Army Saber stabbed into the cliff wall, causing sparks to fly!

Using the Thousand Army Saber, Yi Yun stopped his falling body.

Following that, Yi Yun used his limbs to agilely climb back up to the top of the cliff!

Just before Yi Yun fell down the cliff, he had activated the second disk array, the cicada array.

When Yi Yun had placed the two disk arrays, the lunar Yin array was above the cicada array.

The cicada array was the last item, created by a master, that had Yi Yun bought.

The three items that Yi Yun bought were made by masters, the most expensive was the Divine Hellion Bead, followed by the lunar Yin array, while the cicada array was the cheapest.

The cicada array was just a sealing array. Desolate beasts or herbs sealed by the cicada array would be as weak as a tree plagued by cicadas. Their movement will be slow or they might not even be able to move.

That was how the cicada array got its name.

The cicada array was the last line of protection Yi Yun had set. Yi Yun could not guarantee that the Divine Hellion Bead and the lunar Yin array was sufficient to debilitate the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s ability to move.

If the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng still had any strength left and it managed to escape through the soil, Yi Yun would suffer a huge loss.

Hence, with the cicada array, he could block off the possibility of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng escaping. Only then was it foolproof!

With a leap, Yi Yun returned to the top of the cliff. At the top of the cliff, the thick Yin Qi was still raging. Every blow of the wind was biting to the bone. The wind that blew on a person was like knives that were slashing on a person’s skin and it was extremely painful.

The grass and rock on the ground had been flattened. The cliff top had been shaved, leaving thick white plume of whitish smoke. This white smoke was dispersing from the explosive center. Layer after layer of the smoke made it look like a giant lotus flower.

Such a devastating explosion that gave rise to a lotus flower plume, it was aesthetically pleasing to Yi Yun.

Right in the middle of the lotus flower plum, Yi Yun finally saw the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s real body with his naked eyes!

It was about a foot long and it was as thick as a wrist, somewhat like a wooden stick.

Its body was greenish-purple in color and it was half-buried in the ground. There was thunder-fire bolts lingering around it and a large part of it was frozen in ice. It looked miserable.

Most of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s roots were destroyed in the Divine Helion Bead’s explosion, even a huge block of its stem had been blown off.

Of course, this damaged the herbal potency of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

But this could not be helped. Yi Yun had used all his tricks and strength to barely capture the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

In this process, he did not dare to go easy at all, or he was bound to fail.

But…

To Yi Yun, injuring the primordial herb was not a big deal.

The primordial herb’s energy was indeed pure, but in terms of quantity, it was much lesser than the primordial species.

When people collected a primordial herb, they would be extremely afraid of harming the primordial herb, as Heaven Earth Yuan Qi would leak out from the primordial herb’s wound, wasting its herbal potency.

It was the same for this Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

Ignoring primordial herbs, even when normal people dug up ginseng, they had to use a brush to clear the ginseng’s roots, in order not to break them, or the ginseng would be drained of its energy.

Yi Yun could feel the pure energy within the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng leaking out from its wound.

Yi Yun smiled. With the spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal, the Yuan Qi and herbal essence that was about to dissipate slowly formed light dots and drifted towards Yi Yun.

The dissipated energy was no longer controlled by the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng after it left the body. Hence, the Purple Crystal Origins could easily absorb this free energy.

Seeing this pure energy, Yi Yun subconsciously licked his lips. His expression was that of a glutton seeing a feast that suddenly appeared before him.

192 - : Primordial Herb in Hand!

If Yi Yun directly used the Purple Crystal to absorb a complete herb, it would easily gain the attention and arouse the suspicions of the Tai Ah Divine City alchemists.

But in the current situation, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had suffered serious damages. Yi Yun was only absorbing the escaping herbal essence, which would not lead to any suspicion.

Of course, Yi Yun could only do this occasionally. He could not always bring back herbs that were seriously damaged. Besides, damaged herbs would greatly reduce their value, and the compensation in dragon scale runes paid out by the Tai Ah Divine City would be less.

In conclusion, it was not very beneficial to Yi Yun.

Under the Purple Crystal’s control, none of the herbal essence of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was wasted. It was all absorbed by Yi Yun. The energy that gathered into light dots were like dancing pixies.

Just as Yi Yun was planning to absorb these energies, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng which was like a piece of dead wood suddenly made a whoosh and tunneled into the ground!

This Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was still trying to escape, even after it was seriously damaged.

But it was no use. Not a second after the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng escaped, a black light flashed. A light curtain appeared, forming a sealing barrier thirty meters in radius.

“Peng!”

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng crashed in the light curtain and it bounced back.

This was the cicada array, which was specially used to seal in spirit beings. If the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was in perfect condition, it would be able to escape from this array, but now, it was completely impossible for it to do so.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had never been this seriously damaged before. Its spirit was in chaos and it could feel its energy slowly depleting, and this energy was slowly drifting towards Yi Yun.

With the Thousand Army Saber in hand, Yi Yun approached the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

He was not going to go easy on it at all. The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was cunning, so Yi Yun was even considering cutting it into pieces before storing it away. If not, it could escape midway and everything would have gone to waste.

At this time, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng suddenly let out a shrill baby-child scream. It charged at Yi Yun, using its remaining pure Yang Qi to form a spirit sword that stabbed at the center of Yi Yun’s eyebrows!

It wanted to bet on that one shot, a last gasp attack!

Yi Yun did not hesitate, he slashed forwards with the Thousand Army Saber!

“Ka-cha!”

One was a spent force, while the other, who was waiting for an exhausted enemy, was fresh and fit. There was no doubt what the result of the clash was. With a shattering blow, the Thousand Army Saber sliced straight down!

Peng!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was swept away by the Thousand Army Saber!

Yi Yun did not choose to cut the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng into two. If he had done so, its value would sharply drop.

But, Yi Yun realized that even so, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s spirit was growing weaker, as if it was dying soon.

Once a primordial herb died, it meant that the spirit formed from thousands of years of cultivation would disappear.

In this regard, Yi Yun showed no mercy. Between him and the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, they were in a life-and-death battle. If he had not killed the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, he might be subdued by the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s magic illusion. If that happened, he would end up as fertilizer for the Blood Yang Flower.

When Yi Yun looked at the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, he noticed that its surface color was dimming. Strand after strand of pure energy left it. It seemed like it did not wish to live on any longer.

Having been caught to be brewed as drugs, it might as well be dead.

“Oh? This energy?” Yi Yun grabbed the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s roots. Under the Purple Crystal’s vision, he could see pure purple energy leaking out from the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s wound. This energy had formed into something like the vital essence from a legendary green dragon.

This was the first time Yi Yun saw such a green dragon essence energy form.

The energy he had seen before were all light dots.

Yi Yun hesitated slightly. Using the Purple Crystal Origins, he gathered the green dragon essence and the energy light dots that the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng had previously leaked into his body.

Immediately, a herbal aroma seeped into his olfactory nerves. It was extremely comfortable!

Taking this opportunity, Yi Yun quickly took out a squarish jade box that was a foot in length.

This was a herb box built using lotus jade. It could preserve the herbal essence to a great extent.

Since the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was seriously damaged, it was unrealistic to preserve all its herbal essence. He had to make do with whatever there was left.

Whatever essence could not be preserved was totally absorbed by Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal.

When these energy light dots entered his body, Yi Yun felt his body warm up. The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s herbal essence was slowly showing its effects.

What surprised Yi Yun was the energy that resembled a green dragon, which was very unlike the light dots.

This energy surged into Yi Yun’s soul.

“Boom!”

When this energy entered Yi Yun’s soul, Yi Yun felt a tremor in his soul. Following the tremor, his vision was filled with images.

These images were chaotic and random. Some of them were scenes from the Divine wilderness or the Tai Ah Divine City. Some of them were from the Lian tribal clan, the difficult life Yi Yun had with his sister. There were also scenes from his previous life. It was an amalgamation of bits and pieces of Yi Yun’s life.

Oh? This is…

Seeing these confusing images, Yi Yun suddenly understood that the green colored dragon energy was the psychic power left behind after the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s spirit shattered!

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng may be a plant, but once it gave life to a spirit, it had extremely strong psychic powers.

If not, it would not be able to create illusions.

Psychic power was the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s offensive measure and also its defensive measure. After the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng died, it’s shattered spirit was the best medicine for the soul.

Yi Yun was delighted. He began to quietly absorb this energy. Soon, it was like his soul had sprouted a gurgling stream. The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s psychic energy was like a spring fountain, it cleansed and moistened Yi Yun’s soul, this made him feel very fresh.

Slowly, Yi Yun felt that his soul had some minor changes, but he did not know what they meant.

At this time, besides the psychic energy, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s herbal essence also began to take effect. It flowed into Yi Yun’s meridians, and with a dull roar, strong Yang Qi flared through Yi Yun’s body.

The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi contained a rich amount of pure Yang energy. This energy was the essence gathered from thousands of years of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng absorbing Heaven Earth Yuan Qi . After numerous times of purification, every bit was precious.

Slowly, Yi Yun’s body transpired a warm air. His skin turned red as if he had been scalded by hot water.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s herbal essence was Yang in nature, while it was still in the middle of the night where the lunar Yin Qi was dense. Yi Yun’s body was burning with a Yang fire within, but Yin Qi flowed outside his body. Unconsciously, the two, Yin Qi and Yang Qi converged in Yi Yun’s body.

Under Yi Yun’s deliberate manipulation, the two Qis formed into a wonderful Yin-Yang symbol.

Yi Yun’s body was internally hot and externally cold. It was as if he had been alternately dipped into ice and fire.

As the herbal essence was digested, Yi Yun’s pores oozed out black blood. This was the accumulated bad blood and dirt that had been accumulated in Yi Yun’s body for the past six months. At this time, it was being forced out by the herbal essence, which refreshed Yi Yun.

Under the forging of the herbal essence, his muscles grew stronger, and his blood was filled with vigor.

This process went on for a long time as Yi Yun fully immersed himself in his own world.

From midnight to dawn.

And then from sunrise to noon…

With the Sun shining high in the sky, the Yin Qi on the cliff had been blown away. Yi Yun sat on the top of the cliff like a motionless statue.

It was a slow process to digest the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s herbal essence. After all, it was a primordial herb. Back when Yi Yun absorbed the chimera’s energy for two hours, he took an entire night to fully digest the energy.

Slowly, another day passed. Deep into the night, a thin crescent moon hung in the sky.

It was the second day of the lunar month. The Yin Qi had lessened and some mist had gathered. Yi Yun’s body was as if it was encased in an ice cube. His hair and eyebrows had formed a layer of frost.

Slowly, Yi Yun had finished digested 70% of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s herbal essence.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s spiritual energy had given Yi Yun unimaginable benefits to his spiritual well-being.

Yi Yun could clearly feel his mind expand and grow! His spiritual energy was continuously increasing!

As long as Yi Yun wished, his brain would produce all sorts of complex illusions. Yi Yun even felt that if he wished, those illusions could fly out from his mind and affect others!

It was as if the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s power of illusion had been inherited by Yi Yun!

The second night passed.

Yi Yun was still in meditation on the morning of the third day. Suddenly, he heard a light sound within his soul, as if something had cracked.

Immediately after that, he could feel a strong suction force in his head. All his body’s spiritual energy, blood, marrow, were all being pulled by a force to the middle of his eyebrows without any warning!

This feeling of all of his blood and soul being sucked out from his body frightened Yi Yun!

What is the meaning of this?

The blood, bone marrow and soul began to consolidate in the middle of his eyebrows, as if it was going to give birth to something.

Following that, an intense pain was felt by Yi Yun. He felt as if a drill had been pierced in between his eyebrows and it was was continuously swirling deeper.

It’s too painful!

Yi Yun’s forehead was covered in sweat. He has lost control of his body, which made him panic.

Yi Yun used his spiritual energy to interface with the Purple Crystal in a bid to stabilize the turbulent blood and energy within his body. But at this time, Yi Yun suddenly ‘saw’ that in between his eyebrows, a bead like object had been formed from his own blood and soul.

This bead was covered in blood tracks and it was connected to the surrounding meridians and blood vessels. It had became an inseparable part of his body.

When this bead appeared, the feeling of his body’s blood being sucked had away disappeared. The pain also suddenly eased.

Everything returned to normal. The only thing different was that tiny bead that had appeared in the middle of Yi Yun’s eyebrows.

Oh? What is this?

193 - : Absorbing the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng

Yi Yun carefully observed the tiny bead. It was about the size of a green bean and it was covered in blood threads.

This little ball was in the central axis of Yi Yun’s body. The Ren Du Er Mai was running through it. And Yi Yun found that when the energy within his meridians flowed past the blood ball, a certain amount of it was stayed in it.

What is this?

Why did something suddenly appear in the middle of his eyebrows?

Yi Yun suddenly thought of something. He realized that this blood ball was like an eye.

Eye?

Could it be…

Heaven’s Eye!?

When this thought suddenly flashed across Yi Yun’s mind, he was shocked!

Heaven’s Eye was in the middle of a person’s eyebrows.

When warriors reach a certain cultivation level, they can open their Heaven’s Eye.

It was not easy opening their Heaven’s Eye. First, they had to form the “Heaven eyeball” before they could completely open Heaven’s Eye

Yi Yun recalled the books he read about Heaven’s Eye. He increasingly believed that this blood ball in his brain was the Heaven’s Eye!

Warriors who opened their Heaven’s Eye would have an extraordinary perception of their surroundings.

A typical warrior’s cultivation level was difficult to tell from external appearances, but once the Heaven’s Eye were opened, one could easily use the Heaven’s Eye to read the cultivation levels of warriors of similar levels.

Back when Yi Yun first met Lin Xintong and old man Su, old man Su was able to tell Yi Yun’s cultivation level at a glance. He could also tell that Yi Yun had reached the “Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse” state.

This was because old man Su had opened his Heaven’s Eye.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng also had the ability to read Yi Yun’s cultivation level. This was because the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s psychic power was much stronger than typical warriors.

As such, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng could be considered to have opened Heaven’s Eye.

It was very difficult to open Heaven’s Eye.

Many Yuan foundation realm warriors, including the Jin Long Wei’s Thousand Households, might not open their Heaven’s Eye or they might not even form their Heaven’s eyeball.

Yi Yun had originally thought that he would need to reach the Yuan foundation realm before he could form Heaven’s eyeball and he would only be able to open the Heaven’s Eye in the late stages of the Yuan foundation realm.

But now, after digesting the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng and using the Purple Crystal to perfectly absorb the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s spiritual energy, Yi Yun had completed this step. With this, he could open his Heaven’s Eye by the time he reached the early stages of the Yuan foundation realm!

Warriors with opened Heaven’s Eye were not only aware of dangers approaching them, but their ability to grasp opportunities greatly increased also. Even their battle powers would be upped a notch. Their sharp senses could read an enemy’s weakness and this was a great advantage.

“The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng is indeed a primordial herb…”Yi Yun was rejoicing. Having caught a divine herb and having the Purple Crystal to help him absorb its herbal essence, it could be said that all the factors were in his favor.

Yi Yun was confident that he had formed the Heaven’s eyeball in the mid-stages of Purple Blood much faster than the geniuses from the royal families or reclusive families!

With the Heaven’s eyeball formed, Yi Yun could feel the surroundings with his eyes closed.

This was an indescribable feeling.

It was as if he had soared into the sky and he was looking at this colorful world from a totally different perspective.

Using his senses to sweep the ground, Yi Yun could tell how many fine gravel and bone particles were around him. He also knew every crack and texture of the gravel and bones.

Yi Yun could even tell the weak points of the stones and the bones. If he slightly knocked on those weak points, they would shatter.

When Yi Yun attempted to interface his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal, he was shocked by the scene he saw.

In the past, Yi Yun’s energy vision was just a bunch of dim light dots. Those light dots were the symbols of energy, and Yi Yun could only tell where there was energy, and where the energy was stronger. As for what that energy represented, he had no clue.

But now, using the Heaven’s eyeball and coupled with the Purple Crystal, everything was different!

In Yi Yun’s energy vision, every energy blob was clearer and they had even evolved into what the actual thing looked like.

There were mountains, flowing water and forests!

Yi Yun suddenly realized what had happened.

Everything in this world contained energy in them.

Even if it was a ice crystal or a rock, it possessed energy.

But as their energies were weak, Yi Yun could not detect them before as his senses were weaker.

But now, by forming the Heaven’s eye, Yi Yun could clearly see everything in this world.

This feeling was miraculous. Yi Yun was very fascinated by this.

Yi Yun believed that by opening his Heaven eye, his control over the Purple Crystal would level up too.

In that case, if he were to go to the Wilderness Divine Hall, what would the outcome be when he used the Purple Crystal to absorb the chimera’s energy?

Yi Yun licked his lips as he was full of anticipation.

He couldn’t wait to go back to the Tai Ah Divine City.

Yi Yun sprang up from the ground!

He had now completely digested the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s energy.

At the same time as forming the Heaven eye bead, his entire body had been injected with the pure Yang energy from the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. Looking within his body, his blood seem to be covered in a faint golden layer.

He clenched his fists tightly and his joints cracked!

The pure Yang energy boiled within his body and Yi Yun could feel that his body strength had made a quantum leap!

Yi Yun had just recently broken through to the mid-stages of Purple Blood.

This absorption of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s energy had only consolidated Yi Yun’s cultivation level and so, it did not bring any improvement to his level.

But, with the pure Yang energy integrated within Yi Yun’s body, it had increased his strength up a notch!

Yi Yun felt like his body was a simmering volcano that was filled with infinite energy, wishing it could erupt!

With the Thousand Army Saber in hand, Yi Yun casually slashed!

Cha!

A sharp visible blade Qi was sent out. The blade Qi carved a trench almost thirty meters deep into the ground.

Good!

Yi Yun was very pleased with the strength of that move.

Yi Yun had a thought and so he took out the Flowing Mercury Gown from his luggage. Usually, the 200 cauldron weight would burden Yi Yun’s movement skills.

But now, with 200 cauldrons, Yi Yun felt as if he was wearing a layer of light armor.

His strength had increased greatly!

Yi Yun began to experiment by increasing the Flowing Mercury Gown’s weight.

From 200 cauldrons, he increased it to 300 cauldrons, all the way to 500 cauldrons!

Such a heavy weight made Yi Yun’s feet sink into the soil!

At 500 cauldrons of weight, Yi Yun finally felt the pressure. However, this was not Yi Yun’s limit.

If it was a momentary burst of strength, Yi Yun felt that he could increase his strength to 600 cauldrons.

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. The primordial herb was worthy of its name. For an item that could even move a human sage’s heart, how could it be a common item?

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, be it the royal family or the reclusive families, the young heroes from these families were not eligible to enjoy resources like a primordial herb. It would be a waste.

But Yi Yun now had the primordial herb, the primordial species and all the cultivation resources. They were all the best!

Yi Yun walked towards the cracked lunar Yin disk array. With his Thousand Army Saber, he sliced downwards.

The rock opened, and at three meters deep, Yi Yun dug up the Blood Yang Flower which had lost its luster.

Back then, Yi Yun’s attack on the Blood Yang Flower was a feint, but even so, when the Divine Hellion Bead exploded, the Blood Yang Flower had been affected too and it lost a great deal of spirit.

If it was not for the three meters of soil protecting it, the Blood Yang Flower might have been blown to pieces.

Yi Yun sealed the seriously damaged Blood Yang Flower into the jade box. Looking up into the sky, it was already noon.

Yi Yun had applied for seven days of continuous herb-picking. In three-and-a-half days, he had captured the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng in a successful procedure.

“It’s time to go back. I wonder what the prize will be?”

By capturing a primordial herb, even if it was seriously damaged, the Divine City would still give a sizable reward.

This was a herb that sages had difficulty obtaining. Yi Yun was filled with anticipation for the reward!

But on explaining everything, Yi Yun had to choose his words carefully.

…

As Yi Yun was digesting the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s energy, the cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City were still doing their routine Divine City cultivation…

In the Tai Ah Divine City school grounds, a group of youths were standing at attention in the scorching sun.

These youths were all wearing heavy training suits. Under the Sun, the sweat on their muscles gave off a little luster.

The leader of this group of youths was Baldy Qin.

Zhou Kui, Xu Zheng, and Song Zijun, who were Yi Yun’s rivals or friends, were also within this group of youths.

Baldy Qin had his hands behind his back and he stood with his legs apart in the middle of the school ground. He was inspecting the recruits in front him.

The purple tungsten wall was behind him!

When Baldy Qin first brought this group of people to this school ground for training, the training objective was to insert the Primal Arrow into the purple tungsten wall. Back then, be it Zhou Kui or Yi Yun, none of them managed to insert the Primal Arrow in.

Baldy Qin had previously given them all a month’s time. Whoever who could insert three Primal Arrows into the purple tungsten wall would be rewarded with two hours of cultivation time in the Wilderness Divine Hall!

And now, the one month was up.

It was time to check the training of these recruits!

Today, the recruits led by Baldy Qin had gathered early on the school grounds.

All these days, Baldy Qin’s authority was deeply ingrained. No one dared to be late without his urging.

Baldy Qin glanced and was satisfied with all these punctual youths, but… hold on a second, his face of satisfaction disappeared.

He frowned for he noticed someone missing, Yi Yun had not arrived!

“Oh? Where’s Yi Yun?” Baldy Qin looked at Song Zijun with the eyes of a hawk.

Baldy Qin knew that Song Zijun and Yi Yun both came from the Divine City’s Jin Long Wei, so he naturally asked Song Zijun about Yi Yun’s absence!

194 - : Blood Ball in the middle of the eyebrows

Upon being questioned by Baldy Qin, Song Zijun became nervous. He had no idea how to explain where Yi Yun was.

For today’s assessment, Song Zijun had looked for Yi Yun so they could go to the school ground together, but Yi Yun was not in his room. When he found out where Yi Yun was, he turned speechless.

The Xuanwu Army members around Song Zijun began to show schadenfreude when they noticed Yi Yun was absent.

They knew very well that Baldy Qin was stern. Whoever went against Baldy Qin’s commands would have to bear all the consequences. Yi Yun was going to be in trouble.

Yi Yun had previously outshone all of them, so they were glad to see Yi Yun get in trouble.

“This Yi Yun sure is interesting. When choosing jobs, everyone chose either sparring or forging, but only he chose herb-picking, which is done only by girls. He even dared to miss Instructor Qin’s examination…” A Xuanwu Army member privately transmitted his voice with his peers.

“Hehe, he’s only courting death. I don’t know what Yi Yun is thinking. It’s clear he has a great foundation. If he works hard, he will obtain good results, but he had to self-degrade himself! How much strength could he gain from a month of picking herbs? Back then, he couldn’t insert a Primal Arrow, I doubt he is capable this time.”

A flurry of discussion erupted amongst the members of the Xuanwu Army. They were unable to insert the three Primal Arrows as required by Baldy Qin, but they were barely able to insert one. It was only possible for their strongest few to manage three.

In the past month, they had been tortured by their seniors. This living death cultivation had made them grow so much!

“I was asking you. Where is Yi Yun?” Baldy Qin looked at Song Zijun’s hesitation and slowly began to frown. He was like a lion about to burst into a rage.

Song Zijun helplessly told the truth, “Answering the Instructor, three days ago, Yi Yun had applied for a seven-day period of consecutive herb-picking with the herb-picking job office, now… Uh… he should still be on the herb mountain.”

When Song Zijun said those words, it made everyone dumbfounded.

Applied for a seven-day period of consecutive herb-picking?

Yi Yun had simply ignored the assessment day Baldy Qin had decided on a month ago and he was still on the herb mountain picking herbs!

Picking herbs on the herb mountain…

The people were at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

How much did Yi Yun love that job!?

He ignored everything else just to pick herbs for seven days!

Was herb-picking that addictive?

Many of them did not know what to say. According to what Yi Yun said, he had been picking herbs since young. Even when he came to the Divine wilderness campgrounds, he carried on picking herbs. They had previously ridiculed Yi Yun saying that it was a habit from being a bumpkin.

Those words were originally a joke; but now, it seems like Yi Yun was really thinking so!

A talent came to the Tai Ah Divine City to be a farmer!

Hearing Song Zijun’s words, Baldy Qin’s forehead, which had a scar, popped a hideous vein.

Baldy Qin still appreciated Yi Yun. He felt that Yi Yun was the most outstanding person among his recruits. Although he was inferior to Qiuniu or Chu Xiaoran, it was not impossible for him to enter the top 1000 of the Heaven or Earth rankings within the next three years.

Although this achievement was not amazing, it was considered pretty good.

Previously when Yi Yun wanted to pick herbs, Baldy Qin had not interfered. But now, he had promised that whoever succeeded in this assessment of inserting three Primal Arrows into the purple tungsten wall would be given two hours to enter the Wilderness Divine Hall!

This reward was a tidy sum!

Yi Yun had chosen herb-picking; for that, Baldy Qin felt that he may have his reasons. But for him to not grab the opportunity to enter the Wilderness Divine Hall, what was the point of him staying here in the Tai Ah Divine City?

Baldy Qin ignored the matter with Yi Yun. To him, Yi Yun was just a good recruit and that was it. There were many talents better than Yi Yun in the Tai Ah Divine City. Losing one Yi Yun was nothing.

“Everyone, listen up! I said a month ago, that in this one month, if anyone can insert three Primal Arrows into the purple tungsten wall, I will reward them with two hours of cultivation time in the Wilderness Divine Hall. I mean what I say! In today’s assessment, let me see the results of your cultivation for this past month!”

Baldy Qin’s words made the youths gear up!

The past month’s experience in the Tai Ah Divine City was too unusual for them.

A month ago, many of these youths were young masters from rich and large family clans. They were all extremely proud, but having arrived in the Divine wilderness camp, their lives were only constantly filled with beatings after beatings. They were beaten till their bones fractured and their tendons tore, they vomited blood from their serious injuries!

After being beaten up, they would eat some healing medicine, and once they recovered, they would stand up to continue to be beaten!

As sparring partners, they could counter-attack. In the beginning, they were indignant about it, and tried to counter-attack against the senior cultivators they were sparring with. The result was them being beaten up even worse!

After continuous beatings, they matured and honed their cultivation levels. At the same, in this one-month ordeal, they had trimmed their pride.

It could be said that they had really matured. Today was the day to test the fruits of their labor.

Just as this bunch of hot-blooded youths were rearing to step up, Yi Yun had been transported back to the Tai Ah Divine City through the teleportation array.

According to the Tai Ah Divine City’s herb-picking rules, cultivators had to hand in the herbs immediately upon returning to the city.

This was to prevent the cultivators from privately trading herbs, which falsified their harvests.

As such, Yi Yun naturally went to the job office.

It was about noon. Typically, cultivators would only hand in herbs at night. After all, there was a 25 dragon scale runes rent that was fixed. The same amount was deducted whether the herbs were handed in at night or at noon. An additional hour of herb-picking was an additional hour of revenue.

It was usually extremely deserted here in the herb-picking job office. It being noon meant there was nobody around.

Wang was reclining lazily in a chair. She was flipping through a pharmacological text.

Wang was actually an alchemist. Back when she was cultivating in the Tai Ah Divine City, she had obtained a good ranking in the Man roll rankings.

Hearing footsteps by the door, Wang peeped over the book and looked towards the door. What she saw made her frown.

Yi Yun was the one who had entered.

“Didn’t you apply for a seven day herb-picking period? It’s only been three and a half days, why are you back early?” Wang now found Yi Yun irritating.

This kid obviously had keen senses and he had extraordinary talent, but he had been lacking in perseverance towards herb-picking. The herbs he handed in was getting less and less each day.

When Yi Yun applied for seven days of continue herb-picking, she had guessed that Yi Yun would only show up for work, but not exert himself.

But she did not expect that Yi Yun was worse than she expected. He could not endure the boredom and he actually came back three and a half days early!

He was hopeless!

195 - : Returning to the City

“Hello, Sis Wang!” Yi Yun entered the office with the herb basket on his back. A silly smile plastered over his face.

Wang looked unfriendly, but Yi Yun was already accustomed to it.

“Sis Wang, I see you are reading a book…” Yi Yun tried to make small talk, but Wang’s mean look made people swallow their words.

Wang stayed silent. She threw the book in her hand on the table and looked coldly at Yi Yun.

“Uh…” Yi Yun did not know what to say. He took down the herb basket and placed it on the counter. The two jade boxes that contained the Blood Yang Flower and the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng were of course within the herb basket.

“You sure came back early!” Wang glanced at the light herb basket and said with a cynical voice. Her sharp voice was ear-splitting.

“Yes… It’s because I managed to obtain some extra bonus. I was worried about the loss of the herbal essence, so I came back early. Besides… I have something else to deal with.”

Yi Yun’s words were the truth, but of course it sounded like excuses.

“Hmph!” Wang could not be bothered to expose Yi Yun. She felt that it would be a waste of her breath to say anything to this lazy and self-deprecating youth.

“You applied for seven days of continuous herb-picking. Each day is 35 dragon scale runes. Even if you came back early, I will still deduct all the dragon scale runes, not one less!”

By applying to pick herbs continuously, the rent was even more. This was because typically herb-picking was done in the day, but picking herbs continuously allowed one to pick through the night.

Typical cultivators would spend the night cultivating in the Divine City, so very few cultivators applied for this.

“That is expected.” Yi Yun was not bothered about a mere 200 or so dragon scale runes.

Seeing Yi Yun’s indifferent attitude, Wang felt that he was really hopeless.

By lifting Yi Yun’s herb basket, it was as Wang expected. The herb basket was mostly empty.

Wang randomly grabbed some herbs, she was planning to dry them before weighing them. But as her fingers went in to the basket, they brushed against a hard object.

Herb box?

With her sharp instincts as an alchemist, Wang immediately identified what the hard object was. She was slightly stunned, and using her slender fingers, she opened the box with a snap.

When the herb box opened, there was a red object. This object was seriously damaged and looked like a bloody pulp.

This is…

A trace of uncertainty flashed in Wang’s eyes, but it disappeared in the next second.

As an alchemist, she may not be able to identify the herb immediately, but her instincts told her that this was at least a Heaven-ranked rare herb.

The feeling she got from the herb couldn’t be wrong!

Wang picked up the red object and tried to discern it. It was likely the fruit a size of a fist. It was most likely due to the damage that the red fruit’s juices had leaked out.

“Could this be…”

Wang’s face flashed a look a disbelief. With her finger, she dabbed a tiny bit of the pulp before tasting it.

That strong Yang Qi and the taste of blood confirmed Wang’s own guess.

Blood Yang Flower!

And it was a Blood Yang Flower that had born fruit!

Middle-grade Heaven-ranked herb!

Wang looked up with disbelief at Yi Yun, “You… you actually picked a Blood Yang Flower?”

Ever since Wang took over the office for decades, this was the first time a cultivator had brought back a Heaven-ranked herb. And it was even a middle-grade Heaven-ranked herb. This was astonishing!

“Yes, my luck was good…” Yi Yun scratched his head. As a Heaven-ranked herb, the Blood Yang Flower was extremely difficult to find. But in the long history of the Tai Ah Divine City, there were quite a few cultivators with keen senses who managed to pick Heaven-ranked herbs.

Only those among the best, like Zhong Yi, had gathered more than one.

Hence, for this Blood Yang Flower, Yi Yun did not need to do much explanation.

Luck?

Hearing Yi Yun say that, Wang’s eyelids twitched. Even if she had gone personally, it was not easy to find a Heaven-ranked herb. And Yi Yun had just used an understatement like luck to explain it away.

This Blood Yang Flower was one of the more hidden kinds among the Heaven-ranked herbs. How could one find it just from luck?

Wang stared deeply at Yi Yun. She was unhappy. This kid had been lacking in perseverance and diligence, yet he managed to pick a Blood Yang Flower. How was this fair to those cultivators who were diligently picking herbs?

It was not fair!

“You sure have good luck to find such a herb!” Wang said it unhappily. It was impossible for a typical person to pick a Blood Yang Flower just with luck. But for someone with keen senses like Yi Yun, with luck, it was normal for him to pick a Blood Yang Flower.

“Don’t be too happy yet. This luck doesn’t happen often! Also, this Blood Yang Flower is seriously damaged. Don’t you know how to pick a herb? You actually picked it in such a sorry state! I will, at most, give you a third of its price!” Wang said coldly and was constantly suppressing Yi Yun.

She had a great amount of authority on deciding a herb’s price, but she did not wish to give even more dragon scale runes to Yi Yun. It would be better off giving them to those who lacked talent but worked hard.

As Wang said that, she reached to open the second jade box.

Pa!

With a soft sound, the green cover opened. It revealed a dried and cracked item that resembled a carrot.

“Yet another damaged herb!” Wang became angry. Yi Yun’s herb-picking methods were destroying heavenly treasures!

So many good herbs had been destroyed by him!

“Are you blind? Can’t you be more careful when picking herbs? Don’t you know that once it’s damaged, it will…”

Just as Wang was beginning to reprimand Yi Yun, she stopped. Her words got stuck in her throat.

She was like a clucking chicken hen which was suddenly being strangled.

Wang stared with her eyes wide open. Again, she looked carefully at the dry and cracked ugly carrot-looking herb within the jade box…

After looking carefully for about ten seconds, her body slowly froze. Her eyes became rigid and her mind went blank.

This… This is…

Wang felt like her heart had been mercilessly pinched. Her breathing turned irregular as her bloodstream turned turbulent as she stared with a daze!

An absolutely ridiculous and unbelievable conclusion appeared in her mind.

Pri… Primordial herb!!?

The dry looking herb that a twelve-year-old child turned in, was actually a…. primordial herb!?

How could this be?!

Wang reached out with trembling hands. Picking up the jade box, she carefully looked at the herb within. She looked at every tiny root carefully.

No matter how much she looked, she was more and more convinced of her earlier conclusions.

This was a primordial herb. Comparing it to the books, it had to be a Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

A kid had managed to pick a Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!?

Wang’s neck seemed to rust. Her actions became slow. With difficulty, she turned her gaze from the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng inch by inch towards Yi Yun.

This must be a dream…

This thought appeared in Wang’s mind. But how could this a dream feel so real?

As a human lord warrior, how could she be confused between fantasy and reality?

She opened her dry mouth, asking Yi Yun, “This herb… was picked… by you?”

Yi Yun nodded, “Yes…!”

“How… How did you pick it?”

“Uh… Good luck…”

When Wang heard Yi Yun’s soft explanation, she nearly vomited blood.

To explain it like that, was this a game?

“You think I’m an idiot?” Wang gnashed her teeth and stared at Yi Yun with burning eyes. At the same time, she quickly closed the jade box to prevent the herbal essence of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng from leaking.

Of course, Yi Yun was not expecting to fool Wang with such ease.

As for how he picked the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, he had already prepared a tale.

For this, Yi Yun had spent the past few days to search through the library for every detail on the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. Even some alchemists, who have never seen a Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, could not beat Yi Yun in his knowledge of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

After all, there were too few primordial herbs. Some alchemists might have seen other primordial herbs, but not seeing a Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was very normal.

196 - : Handing Over the Herbs

“To be able to pick this herb, it was really the luck of this junior. It was like this…” Yi Yun stretched out his words. He made sure that there was nothing left out in the story he had fabricated.

“In the past few days, this junior had been diligently picking herbs in the #60 herb mountain. Late last night, this junior was near the peak of a mountain. I saw a flash of lightning a few hundred miles away. It seemed like it was raining over there.”

“But… the lightning that occurs when it rains is usually bluish purple. But this lightning was blood-red in color. But because it was too far, I couldn’t see it well. Even so, I felt that I was not mistaken.”

“From young, I have an inexplicable sense and intuition for strange phenomena. I found this lightning strange, as if something abnormal was happening. As such, I rushed over there to investigate.”

“I ran at my top speed, but by the time I reached there, the lightning had stopped. From the soil and plants, I saw obvious signs of lightning having struck the area.”

“I perceived the surroundings carefully and I found an unusual Yin-Yang Qi in the surroundings. I did not know what happened. I just recalled in some books that when treasures appear, it will create some phenomena. With this thought in mind, and seeing this phenomena, I felt that maybe this had something to do with a treasure!”

“Hence, I carefully searched the surroundings. I dug three feet in the ground and did not miss a single leaf. After that, I found this Blood Yang Flower…”

“It was deeply buried within, and it was already damaged. Its juices were mixed with mud, but even then, I could still recognize it.”

“I was overjoyed when I found the Heaven-ranked herb. I took out the jade box and I was thinking of sealing the Blood Yang Flower to prevent it from losing its herbal essence. But suddenly, I found that my surroundings had changed. It was like I had traveled through a space-time tunnel. I was suddenly in the middle of the Divine wilderness. There was thunder and lightning in the sky and there were a large numbers of desolate beasts charging at me from all directions!”

“I panicked and I took out my Thousand Army Saber to engage in battle. However, I felt something was amiss. How could the scenery suddenly change?”

“My perception has been different from others, even when I was younger. I quickly calmed down and perceived the surroundings. I suddenly felt that the beasts charging towards me did not exist. Everything was just an illusion.”

“I realized that something was trying to harm me! I could not find it, but I could guess that it was a magnificent existence.”

“At this time, I felt my head ache terribly. It was as if something had entered my head. I nearly went mad, but I suddenly realized that if I couldn’t endure through it, I was doomed. With all my might, I maintained the last bit of clarity within my mind and, with my Tai Cang Bow, shot out a desperate arrow.”

“This arrow had been specially modified by me. I had embedded the arrowhead with a Divine Hellion Bead, that I bought earlier, in it.”

“Divine Hellion Bead?” Upon hearing this, Wang suddenly interjected. Of course, she knew the weakness of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. This was too much of a coincidence. The arrow prepared Yi Yun had prepared earlier was the bane of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

“Yes…” Yi Yun scratched his head with shame. “I heard that the Divine wilderness camp has a high death rate. As this junior is afraid of death, so with the first amount of dragon scale runes I earned, I exchanged them for something defensive. I did not expect it to be used so early on. I’m really lucky.”

Seeing Yi Yun with his boy-next-door look, and the continuous mention of the word ‘luck’, Wang could not stop her eyelids from twitching. The reason he bought the Divine Hellion Bead was because he was afraid to die…

As a mid-stage Purple Blood kid, you actually exchanged a Divine Hellion Bead for defense!

Absolutely… speechless!

What was more outrageous was that this Divine Hellion Bead had really come in handy. This luck was too ridiculous!

Yi Yun was not afraid of mentioning the Divine Hellion Bead. As for the lunar Yin array and the cicada array, he did not mention them.

Even Zhao Qingcheng did not know what items he had bought in the Ten Thousand Pagoda.

Even if people were to investigate it in the future, the Ten Thousand Pagoda was not like a cashier machine like in his previous life. It did not have any storage system, so who would know what was bought by who amongst those millions of items.

“And you actually shot this herb just like that?” Wang asked.

“That is how it was. Back then, my mind’s hint of clarity was like a tiny boat in the huge ocean. It could disappear at any time. I shot that arrow with all I got. As for the direction I shot, I followed my feelings. I did not know what I was shooting at. I just felt that if I didn’t shoot, I was likely to die.”

“Following that, there was a large explosion. I was violently pushed by that explosive wave and I nearly fainted.”

“After struggling to not lose consciousness, I began searching my surroundings. I guessed that something formidable had attacked me, so I wanted to find out what it was.”

“My surroundings had turned into a scorched piece of land. The Blood Yang Flower was buried by the soil again and it was damaged even more. With my perception, I searched carefully and turned over every rock and finally I found a carrot-looking thing three feet deep. It didn’t look eye-catching, but I knew it was something spectacular!”

Yi Yun’s story was cooked up with a mixture of truth and falsehood. But everything within it was based on some factual foundation.

Wang listened carefully to the story. When Yi Yun finished, she gave Yi Yun an odd look.

According to the way Yi Yun said it, Yi Yun’s luck was really ridiculous!

The lightning Yi Yun said he saw from a few hundred miles away was likely a heaven calamity.

A large number of primordial herbs would slowly evolve, but there were some primordial herbs that through a variety of exotic lucky chances and they would create a small heaven calamity with a tiny probability.

This heaven calamity was unpredictable and it would usually catch the primordial herb off-guard.

Such a heaven calamity would make its evolution more thorough, but if it were to fail in surviving through the crisis, it would be destroyed.

According to ancient books, the blood-red lightning that Yi Yun saw was a specific feature of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s heaven calamity.

By surviving through a calamity, it was the point at which the primordial herb was at its weakest!

At this point, a primordial herb’s concealment abilities, attack power and its escaping abilities would all greatly decrease.

After surviving a calamity, a primordial herb would hide itself to slowly recover.

This Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng would likely do so, but Yi Yun had to appear at this moment and found the Blood Yang Flower it was nurturing.

Hearing Yi Yun’s description, Wang felt that this calamity came too suddenly. This Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng must have responded in a panic, which resulted in it to be greatly weakened.

At this time, the Blood Yang Flower, which could help it quickly recover, was too important to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

How could it let Yi Yun steal the Blood Yang Flower? As such, it ignored its serious injuries and attacked Yi Yun.

By right, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Yi Yun was still young and he had a low cultivation level. Even if the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was greatly weakened, it was no surprise that it could handle Yi Yun.

But Yi Yun had extraordinary mental fortitude. At a young age and with his mere mid-stage Purple Blood cultivation level, he could actually escape from the illusion. This gave the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng no choice but to increase its psychic attack on Yi Yun, causing it overdraft on its pure Yang Qi.

But what made Wang most puzzled and alarmed was that Yi Yun was able to use his intuition to guide him under the illusion attack. By using the Divine Hellion Bead arrow he had prepared well in advance, he killed the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

This was too ridiculous!

But… upon further thinking, with a Divine Hellion Bead made by a master, a full-strength shot from Yi Yun’s Tai Cang Bow and a seriously injured and overdrafted Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng made it possible for Yi Yun to turn the tide!

Wang was stunned for a while. What Yi Yun said may sound strange, but there was nothing unreasonable with the story if one gave it further thought.

And besides that, there was no other way in explaining how Yi Yun had managed to capture the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

Is that possible?

A less than thirteen-year-old kid managed to capture a primordial herb!

This was absolutely preposterous. How could all those long-bearded alchemists accept this?

The only mysterious thing was Yi Yun’s intuition.

But this was not surprising. In this world, there are some people who are born with naturally keen senses. In extreme conditions, they could have a magical sixth sense, which leads them to good fortune and allows them to avoid disaster.

This intuition was often life-saving.

Wang gawked at Yi Yun before moving her dried lips, “Do you know… what it is that you have dug up?”

Yi Yun thought and said, “It should be a primordial herb. Actually, this junior had some speculations. This junior has seen some Divine wilderness books. One of those herbs described within was very similar to the herb I picked. As this junior knew it was a matter of great importance, I came back earlier…”

Hearing Yi Yun’s words, Wang’s jaw dropped. She really did not know what to say. She had previously heard Yi Yun say, “Because I managed to obtain some extra bonus. I was worried about the loss of the herbal essence, so I came back early.”

At that time, she felt that Yi Yun was merely fabricating some story. But she never expected that Yi Yun was actually saying the truth and he had actually brought back a Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

This was the so-called “some extra bonus”?

This was “some extra”!?

What sort of worldly joke is this!

“You… You wait for me here. I… I’ll report to the Elder!”

Wang had trouble saying those words. It was almost like she had lost her ability to speak. To Wang, a cultivator picking a primordial herb was an absolutely important event!

It has been very long ever since the Tai Ah Divine City was built. But this was likely the first time that it happened!

She was completely at a loss how to handle it. The manuals in the office did not label the rewards for a primordial herb because there was no need to!

Upon thinking of this, Wang suddenly remembered that when Yi Yun came to the office, he had asked what the reward was for picking a primordial herb.

At that time, she had thought that this youth was crazy and he was somewhat like a retard.

But now, she suddenly felt that she was the retard.

This world had really gone mad!

197 - : Yi Yun’s Reason

“Report it to the Elder?” Yi Yun hesitated as he was counting the time in his mind. “How long would it take to report to the Elder?”

“Oh? Why are you asking?”

Wang was surprised for a moment. The Divine City’s Elders all lived within the central divine tower and many of them were in closed-door training. At Wang’s level, she had to go through the bureaucracy, which would definitely take some time.

“Oh… It’s this. I said earlier that I had something to deal with. Can I take off for now?”

Yi Yun did not want to wait here for nothing. He still remembered Baldy Qin’s assessment that was set a month ago. Originally, Yi Yun was fully focused on the preparations needed for picking the primordial herb in order to be in time for the lunar Yin day. As a result, he applied for seven days of continuous herb-picking and he had planned on giving up the assessment.

However, his capture and absorption of the primordial herb went surprisingly smooth and he came back three and a half days early.

Hence, Yi Yun figured that he could make it in time for the assessment.

The two hours of cultivation time in the Wilderness Divine Hall was worth 1000 dragon scale runes.

A hundred or two dragon scale runes was alright, but to lose out on a thousand dragon scale runes, Yi Yun would feel the loss.

Although he would receive a hefty reward for handing over the primordial herb, but in the Tai Ah Divine City, every resource was bought with dragon scale runes, so he had to save every rune.

“What’s the matter?” Wang asked Yi Yun. At this time, what was more important than the primordial herb?

Yi Yun explained the assessment to Wang.

Upon hearing this, Wang snapped unhappily, “It’s just two hours of cultivation time. I too can reward you. The Elder might even want to meet you this time!”

When Yi Yun heard this, he was overjoyed. “Thank you, Sis Wang. Originally, I heard rumors that Sis Wang was petty, but it’s now clear those rumors were untrue. See, since Sis Wang is rewarding me with two hours of cultivation time, it would be a waste not to receive Instructor Qin’s reward too. If the Elder wants to see me, then regardless of what I’m doing, I’ll stop everything immediately and rush to the central divine tower. Nothing will be delayed, right?”

Yi Yun was good at exploiting people. He accepted Wang’s offer and he did not want to waste Instructor Qin’s. He had managed to get four hours of cultivation time in one go, which was worth 2000 dragon scale runes.

Wang was speechless. In the past, she did not think that this kid was that crafty. But upon further thought, if the Elder were to summon him, whether he came from the office or from the school grounds, the distance was about the same and there would not be much a delay.

As for the reward, since Wang had said so, she could not retract it. After all, Yi Yun had brought back a primordial herb. Wasn’t such a large contribution worth more than a bonus reward of two hours cultivation time in the Wilderness Divine Hall?

“I’ll give you fifteen minutes. Get everything done quickly!” Wang said stiffly, but the way she looked at Yi Yun, she had an undisguised sense of appreciation for him. Yi Yun’s account may seem like it was all luck, but from his judgment at that point in time and the arrow he shot using his perception, it could not simply be explained with luck.

If it wasn’t Yi Yun and it was someone else, that person would have been turned into a retard by the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, which made it an empty harvest and also a great waste of a golden opportunity.

“Thank you, Sis Wang!” Yi Yun smiled and turned around, running towards the school grounds.

…

At this time, in the school grounds ten miles away, Instructor Qin’s group of youths were undergoing their assessment.

“Insert it! Insert it!” A group of energetic youths shouted like they were in heat. A stout youth was holding on to a Primal Arrow. His forehead’s vein popped out and with a loud shout, he inserted the Primal Arrow into the purple tungsten wall with great difficulty.

“Dang!”

With a loud metallic sound, the Primal Arrow’s arrowhead was barely inserted into the purple tungsten wall.

Although it was a bit shaky, it was still inserted.

In today’s assessment, about half of the hundred members could insert one Primal Arrow into the purple tungsten wall.

This result was completely different from the one a month ago.

The first reason was that after a month, these people had matured a lot.

The second reason was, a month ago, these youths had just entered the Wilderness Divine Hall and had frog-jumped five kilometers with weights, which made them exhausted.

But today, they were all in tip-top condition.

“Brother Kui, well done. It’s the second arrow!” Someone shouted. The stout youth who inserted the Primal Arrow was none other than Zhou Kui. He was the person with the strongest strength among the hundred people. It was fairly easy for Zhou Kui to insert the first Primal Arrow, but the second arrow was proving to be more difficult.

Next, it was the third arrow, which was the most critical arrow!

By inserting it, he would obtain two hours of cultivation time. If he couldn’t insert it, then it would all be thrown out the window.

Zhou Kui pumped himself up. In this past month, he had been in the smithy, forging metal tens of thousands of times. His palms had been roughed up uncountable times. All of that was to prove himself!

Today, regardless if he could insert the third Primal Arrow, Zhou Kui felt that he was a winner, because he had beaten his previous self.

Just as Zhou Kui was taking several deep breaths and preparing to pick up the third Primal Arrow, someone let out a cry.

“Isn’t that Yi Yun?!” Hearing that voice, everyone turned around. Not far from the school ground, a youth in linen clothes was walking over.

This youth’s hair was messy and his clothes were ripped. He looked very pathetic.

This was of course a result of picking the primordial herb. When the Divine Helion Bead exploded, its shock wave had also inflicted Yi Yun. After he finished absorbing the primordial herb’s essence, he had rushed back to the Tai Ah Divine City and he had no time to tidy up.

This herb-picking kid only just came back!

“Oh?” Seeing Yi Yun, Instructor Qin frowned slightly. But he noticed that Yi Yun’s cultivation level had increased.

A month ago, he was in the early stages of the Purple Blood realm, but now, he was in the middle stages of the Purple Blood realm.

“Instructor Qin, Recruit Yi Yun reporting in!” Yi Yun gave Baldy Qin a standard Tai Ah Divine Kingdom military salute.

“You are an hour late!” Instructor Qin looked sternly at Yi Yun. Just this gaze made many recruits soft on their feet.

“Sorry Instructor. Previously, when I went to pick herbs, I didn’t have time…” Yi Yun tried to explain.

When the crowd heard this, they could not help but laugh.

To be delayed by herb-picking. This Yi Yun had devoted his youth and life to picking herbs. This was probably his life’s pursuit.

They could not understand. This herb-picking job was done by women, why was Yi Yun so enthusiastic about it?

“Hehe, Yi Yun, you came just in time! Let’s compete again today. I’ve already inserted two Primal Arrows. This will be my third arrow!”

Seeing Yi Yun appear, Zhou Kui licked his lips. Zhou Kui had been disappointed not to see Yi Yun today. His strength had increased and his abilities had improved. All this was to prove himself.

And Yi Yun was the best opponent!

A month ago, he had been undermined by Yi Yun. Today, he wanted to exceed Yi Yun and regain his face. Without Yi Yun, he felt like he had punched cotton.

“That… Instructor Qin, I just arrived now. Can I still take part in the assessment?” Yi Yun asked weakly, awaiting Baldy Qin’s instructions.

Since he was so late, Baldy Qin had all the right to disqualify him from the assessment.

Baldy Qin snorted back coldly, “Go on up. Don’t forget what you came to the Tai Ah Divine City for!”

Baldy Qin reminded Yi Yun again not to undermine his cultivation for a pointless job. He really did not understand why Yi Yun loved picking herbs that much.

“Haha, come on!” The most excited person was Zhou Kui. “How about it? You must have gotten quite a lot from picking a month’s worth of herbs! I heard you even applied for seven days of continuous herb-picking. Why did you come back early?”

Zhou Kui smiled at Yi Yun. His arms were crossed across his chest and he casually leaned on a Primal Arrow. This Primal Arrow was one of the two he had inserted in.

He had inserted two Primal Arrows. One was firmly inserted into the purple tungsten wall, but the other was not as firm. The other end of the arrow’s shaft was slowly sagging downwards.

Even so, this was a result to be proud of. Zhou Kui was the only person among the hundred people who was able to insert a second Primal Arrow.

“Because of obtaining a pretty good harvest, I came back early.” Yi Yun said simply.

“Harvest? You got a plentiful harvest while picking herbs? Hehe.” Zhou Kui found it amusing. Could picking a few herbs be considered “pretty good”? What was there to be happy about?

“Yi Yun, you picked herbs for a month. So it’s not fair competing against you. But since it’s your choice, you can’t blame anyone else. Today, I’ll show you what a real harvest is!”

Zhou Kui shook his fists. In this past month, he had burst numerous blisters on his hands. His blood had been mixed with sweat. Holding the hot forging hammer through some cloth, the pain was excruciating. Despite it being memorable to Zhou Kui, it also made him surge with pride.

This was the life of a man, was it not?

How could the herb-picking lifestyle of a woman compare with his?

But Yi Yun said, “You don’t have to. I’ll do it with you. I’m in a hurry and someone might be looking for me in a while.”

As Yi Yun said this, he stood in front of the large metal box that contained the Primal Arrows. His tone was casual, but this tone made Zhou Kui frown. He was unhappy. It seemed like Yi Yun did not even care much about this assessment.

This kid! Who do you think you are? And there was someone else who wants to meet him, who was it? Another medicine kid he picks herb with?

He sure had turned into a celebrity and he was busy enough!

Zhou Kui rubbed his wrists. He took a deep breath and bent his back. He hugged the third Primal Arrow.

Today, I’ll show you the results of the grueling demon-like training I endured through from forging metal!

Zhou Kui got into a firm horse-riding stance. Both his feet was planted firmly on the ground. With his lower body stable, he passed his strength from his spine to his shoulders then to his arms!

His muscles swelled up, with vein after vein popping out. Just as he was about to shout out to lift up the third Primal Arrow, he heard a deafening “Dang” sound. He nearly let out his breath!

What’s the matter?

Zhou Kui turned around and his eyes widened.

Behind him, a Primal Arrow was firmly embedded into the purple tungsten wall. The end of the arrow shaft was still vibrating. It was not because it was unstable, but because the power at which it was inserted with was too large. It had nowhere to dissipate the energy and so it could only vibrate to get rid of it!

This vibration could hurt anyone who came too close!

The Primal Arrow had been inserted at least three feet deep!

Wh… What?

Zhou Kui was dumbfounded. This arrow was inserted by Yi Yun?

How did he do it so quickly!?

He took at least ten seconds or more to insert an arrow. The time needed to pick up the arrow was especially time consuming as he had to gather his strength.

But just now, he had just bent his back and he had not even lifted the arrow, yet Yi Yun had already finished inserting an arrow!?

Yi Yun was already beginning to move the second Primal Arrow within the large metal box.

And surrounding Yi Yun were a bunch of youths, with their mouths agape, in a lifeless state. They had just seen with their own eyes how Yi Yun, using his two hands, lifted the first Primal Arrow as if he was lifting wooden logs. It looked completely effortless.

Then, holding the Primal Arrow arrow, he charged at the purple tungsten wall and like skewing kebabs, he inserted the arrow deeply into the wall!

From beginning to end, Yi Yun did not shake once while holding the arrow!

Stable! Quick! Forceful!

The people were still stunned and before they could recover, Yi Yun had already picked up the second Primal Arrow.

Yi Yun’s energy was circulating in his body. The warm flow of energy that came from absorbing the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng surged through his body!

Because he already had broken through to the mid-stages of Purple Blood, using all his strength to insert a Primal Arrow did not make him exhausted. It even gave him a delightful feeling!

But as he was holding on to the second Primal Arrow, Yi Yun suddenly paused. “Oh? It seems there’s some disharmonious flow of energy…”

When he was using his all his body’s energy, Yi Yun had a feeling that although the strength given to him by the primordial herb was great, it was like a horse without reins that made him find it hard to control.

He had always been using the cultivation technique, “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” to control his body’s energy, but he slowly found that “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” had some shortcomings.

The primordial herb’s energy was too strong. As the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” was a cultivation technique before the Purple Blood realm, it was becoming more inadequate.

When Yi Yun stopped, it made the crowd more speechless.

It was difficult to lift the Primal Arrow. Due to the Primal Arrow’s weight, their arms would feel like breaking. As such, once they lifted it, they would rush to insert the arrow to save energy.

None of them would be like Yi Yun, who held the arrow while in a pause, it was as if he was contemplating the meaning of life.

This is way too overbearing!

Just as the people were thinking about this, it was as if Yi Yun was suddenly enlightened. Without any hesitation, he held the second Primal Arrow and charged at the purple tungsten wall.

“Dang!”

With a second loud sound, the second Primal Arrow was firmly inserted!

Again, the arrow head was inserted more than three feet deep and the tail was vibrating violently.

Not far away, even Baldy Qin was quite dumbfounded by this scene.

What is this kid… doing?

He had clearly been picking herbs for a month, how did his strength increase so much? Although it had something to do with him breaking through to the mid-stages of Purple Blood, but there was a tiny difference between the early-stage and the mid-stage. It could not result in such a great increase in strength…

Baldy Qin had the cultivation level of a human lord, but looking at Yi Yun, he had no clue.

“Second arrow! It’s still easy.”

The people’s hearts trembled. Yi Yun’s strength had opened a gap between them, a eighteen-street wide gap!

Yi Yun licked his lips and was overjoyed. These 1000 dragon scale runes sure were easy to earn!

Yi Yun casually rubbed his wrists. He bent down and touched the third Primal Arrow.

He did not take a break and he was doing it all at one go!

“Again!”

With a clear shout, Yi Yun’s hands stably lifted up the Primal Arrow!

By feeling the energy flow within his body, he could still sense that inharmonious feeling. Nevertheless, it did not affect Yi Yun’s explosive power.

Third arrow, in!

With a shout, Yi Yun’s blood boiled within his veins. The primordial herb’s energy gushed out like an erupting volcano!

At this point, Yi Yun could feel his energy reach a climax. He could not wait to vent it out!

With the Primal Arrow in his hands, he sent his whole body’s strength into the Primal Arrow and stabbed it with all his strength!

“Dang!”

The tumultuous sound tore apart the heavens!

Even the purple tungsten wall slightly trembled!

This third Primal Arrow was forcefully nailed into the wall. The arrow’s tail was vibrating so quickly that it formed shadows.

This arrow went in more than four feet deep!

Compared to the previous two arrows, this was more than two times stronger!

The surrounding youths were dumbfounded. What… is this kind of strength…?

How could that be?

Yi Yun, who was in front of them, was a humanoid desolate beast!

Zhou Kui was in a daze. The lofty sentiments that had previously surged in his heart had disappeared. The masculine declaration he had prepared when he won was now a joke.

Didn’t… Yi Yun pick herbs?

One can improve that much just by picking herbs?

Among this group, some forged metal while others were sparring partners. They went through an arduous month. They either suffered from muscle aches from repeatedly swinging the forging hammer, resulting in blisters and blood on their palms, or those who were sparring partners, who were beaten up seriously. After they put on some medicine, they had to stand up to be beaten again…

Through their hard work, they managed to save some dragon scale runes. They used it to exchange for relics and elixirs in the Ten Thousand Pagoda. It had to be said that the Tai Ah Divine City’s relics and elixirs were much better than the ones they ate back home.

Their progress had been obvious; but compared to Yi Yun, it was completely inferior.

It was a torture to compare; trash thrown out upon comparison!

“How… How did your strength increase so much…? How is that possible…?” Zhou Kui could not believe it. In the past month, he had not slacked off at all, yet he could not compare with Yi Yun who went to the mountains to pick herbs?

Yi Yun smiled. In this past month, didn’t every second count?

Besides picking herbs, he was wearing 200 cauldrons in the Flowing Mercury Gown daily. He climbed up and down the herb mountain, training his strength and movement.

When he returned at night, he would meditate till morning. He had never laid down in bed to sleep.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, sleep was too extravagant. By replacing it with meditation, he could also slowly increase his cultivation level while resting.

And because of capturing the primordial herb, Yi Yun had to use all his tricks and he underwent great danger. Under extreme danger and various difficulties, he seized that one-in-a-thousand chance and he grabbed the opportunity that no one thought possible!

Could this be compared to simply wielding a forging hammer or taking a beating while sparring?

Of course, Yi Yun did not say any of this.

He grinned and said to Zhou Kui, “This is all because…”

Yi Yun dragged out his words to whet the people’s appetite, before finally saying the three words.

“Of good luck…”

Zhou Kui nearly vomited blood due to anger!

He felt that Yi Yun was teasing him. The hard work they had put in this whole month had been upended by Yi Yun’s mention of good luck.

Zhou Kui was really angry. He ignored the strength gap between him and Yi Yun and said bluntly, “Stop brushing me off! What do you mean by good luck? You have just been picking herbs, it is a job meant for women. By goofing off all day, how can you grow in strength? Or grow in cultivation level? What did you…”

Before Zhou Kui finished his words, a group of men dressed in black cloaks suddenly walked over from the edge of the school ground.

These men were dressed oddly. They had a mysterious feel to them. Their casual steps seemed slow, but the space between their feet seemed to contract. In a few steps, they had reached the center of the school ground.

Among them was the herb-picking office’s Wang. She impressively followed behind these men. Wang, who never showed any respect to anyone, was now respectful. Clearly, these people in front of them were important.

Upon seeing these men, even Instructor Qin turned serious. The arms he held behind his back now hanged downwards.

“Lord Law-enforcer!” Baldy Qin slightly bowed. His position in the Tai Ah Divine City was lower than these people.

Law-enforcer?

The youths present were shocked. What position was a law-enforcer?

Although they did not know the cultivation levels of these men in black, they could feel an oppressive feeling from their auras.

And Instructor Qin’s attitude clearly showed that these “law-enforcers” were important people.

Many of the youths immediately stood at attention. Baldy Qin was also confused. Why would the law-enforcers from the central divine tower come to a recruit school ground?

A middle-age man who was the leader of the black-cloaked men unveiled his face hood, revealing a wizened face. On his face, there were three parallel lines that formed a astonishing scar. It was as if he had been scratched by a desolate beast’s claws.

His gaze swept the crowd of youths and calmly asked, “Who is Yi Yun?”

198 - : The increase in strength

“Yi Yun? He’s looking for Yi Yun!?”

Upon hearing the black cloaked man asking for Yi Yun, the youths were shocked. Why was such an important person looking for Yi Yun for?

Although Yi Yun was outstanding, he was just a rookie that would not attract the attention of such important people.

“I am.” Yi Yun stepped forward. He gave a Tai Ah Divine Kingdom military salute to the law-enforcer.

The black-cloaked middle-aged man sized up Yi Yun, as if he was trying to figure out what was so special about this youth.

This little fellow was really surprising for a mid-stage Purple Blood thirteen-year-old.

The black-cloaked man smiled and said lightly, “Follow us, the Elder wants to see you.”

Saying that, the black-cloaked man turned to leave.

Behind him, Zhou Kui and the other bunch of youths were stunned upon hearing this!

What did that black-cloaked guy say?

Elder!?

What Elder?

Many of them had not recovered from the shock. They looked at each other. It seems… in the entire Tai Ah Divine City, the people who were qualified to be referred to as Elders were only a handful of people. Each of them was a pillar of support for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and they were a super existence that could battle a primordial species.

They were sages!

A human sage wanted to see Yi Yun!?

They were shocked. Not even the youths, but even Baldy Qin was baffled.

The Divine City’s elder wanted to see Yi Yun? This was really… unbelievable…

In the history of the Tai Ah Divine City, there may not be a single human sage in 500 years!

Baldy Qin obviously knew that the reason the Elder wanted see Yi Yun was definitely not because he could insert a few Primal Arrows into the purple tungsten wall.

Yi Yun’s three Primal Arrows were indeed not bad, but it was definitely not worthy of the Elder’s concern.

Ignoring people like Qin Haotian, even new recruits like Qiuniu could match Yi Yun’s standard.

This achievement, in the eyes of a Human Sage, was like a passing cloud, it was absolutely negligible.

Then… why did the Elder want to see Yi Yun?

“Instructor Qin, I’m leaving for a bit. For that reward, sorry for bothering you.” Yi Yun bade farewell to Baldy Qin and followed the black-cloaked man.

Baldy Qin was still stunned and did not react, nor did he make a sound.

Behind Baldy Qin, Zhou Kui and the other youths were already dumbfounded. Their agape mouths did not close even when Yi Yun disappeared from their sight.

Zhou Kui suddenly recalled that before Yi Yun lifted the Primal Arrow, Yi Yun had mentioned that he was in a rush because someone might want to see him in a while.

At that time, Zhou Kui thought that it was some medicine child that Yi Yun picked herbs with. But now he realized that the person who wanted to meet him was the Tai Ah Divine City Elder!

The person Yi Yun casually said he was meeting was actually the Tai Ah Divine City’s Elder!

Zhou Kui began wondering if he had a mental problem.

“Instructor Qin, What… the hell is going on?” Someone asked Baldy Qin, but Baldy Qin shook his head. He had no idea too.

“Dismissed!” Baldy Qin waved his hand.

For Yi Yun to be summoned by the Elder, this was definitely a huge matter in the recruit camp. Baldy Qin did not know what Yi Yun did that could involve the Elder.

He was prepared to ask Wang in a moment.

…

And at this time, Yi Yun had already followed the law-enforcer to the central divine tower.

Despite seeing the huge and majestic central divine tower several times, Yi Yun was still shocked by its majesty.

It was like a majestic mountain. The huge airships that flew in and out of the central divine tower were as small as flying bugs compared to it.

The black-cloaked man said, “The Tai Ah Divine City has 5 Elders. The one meeting you later is Elder Jian Ge! Elder Jian Ge is currently in the central divine tower’s Earth Fire Alchemy Lab.”

As the black-cloaked man spoke, he took Yi Yun into the central divine tower. The hall’s passageway was five floors high, it gave the people who walked through it a feeling like they were tiny.

There were huge mural paintings and sculptures lining up along the two sides of the passage and the floor was made of flat tiles.

These tiles were black and they were so bright that you could use them as a mirror. When Yi Yun stepped on the tiles, he could feel his blood circulation speed up. There was a faint feeling that his body’s blood was connected to the floor tiles.

These tiles…

Yi Yun suddenly recalled the description of the central divine tower from the “Divine wilderness” book. The tiles used in the central divine tower were specially made.

These tiles were three feet and three inches in length and three feet and three-sixteenth inches wide. The tiles were smooth and they were as hard as steel. They had a special name, Beast Blood Midnight Tiles.

Midnight was used to describe the blackness of the tiles, while the Beast Blood was used because each tile was sprayed with desolate beast blood before being placed into the furnace.

It was hard to imagine how much desolate beast blood was used to build this central divine tower.

Tiles baked in a furnace with beast blood would absorb the blood’s strength. With the array master’s elaborate setup, the central divine tower became a huge treasure, allowing it to gather all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi within a hundred miles of it.

It could be said that the central divine tower was built using an extreme amount of wealth and materials when the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was extremely strong. This was the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s symbol!

The black-robed man pushed a heavy stone door, which revealed a spiraling staircase that led downwards behind it.

“Follow me.” The black-cloaked man said and started walking down the spiral staircase. The spiral staircase was not wide and it could only allow four to five people to walk up or down it at the same time. Yi Yun guessed that this was a small path that led underground.

However, because Elder Jian Ge lived underground in the divine tower and not at the central divine tower’s peak, Yi Yun was disappointed.

Yi Yun really wanted to take a look at the levels above the ninetieth floor of the central divine tower. He wanted to see the legendary top-class rooms!

The top-class rooms were mysterious and they were of the utmost grandeur among cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City.

Ignoring normal cultivators, even a person like Qin Haotian, who had cultivated in the Tai Ah Divine City for six years, might not be eligible to stay in one of those top-class rooms!

The spiral staircase, which did not seem to have an ending, had lit lamps on both sides of the wall. Yi Yun estimated that he had descended a few hundred meters before they arrived in front of a metal door.

This metal door was engraved with all sorts of complex patterns. The black-cloaked man stood in front of the door and bowed, “Elder Jian Ge, I have brought Yi Yun.”

“Alright…” A muffled voice transmitted from the big door. It lacked any might, but the sound did not dissipate, and kept echoing.

Yi Yun held his breath. He was worried about meeting the Elder.

Without anyone pushing the door, the door opened by itself.

A stream of hot gas rushed forward.

Hot!

This was Yi Yun’s first feeling. In front of him was the Earth Fire Alchemy Lab. A furnace made of brass stood in the middle of the hall.

The furnace was the height of a person, and on the surface were carvings of flowers, birds, insects and fish.

Below the furnace, a green flame burned. This flame was silent. The flame was steady and it did not jump. This was the so-called “Earth Fire”.

In the basement of the central divine tower, there was a Earth Fire array that gathered the Divine wilderness’s fire for the Elder to be used in refining elixirs!

And in front of the furnace stood a green-shirted elder. He had very ordinary looks and he was slightly thin. As such, his green alchemist robes looked baggy.

Behind the green-shirted elder was a sword. The sword was wrapped up in cloth, only revealing an unsophisticated hilt. It made it hard to imagine what the sword looked like.

This elder looked like he had spent a long time in the Earth Fire Alchemy Lab. His eyes even looked tired, making him look listless.

It was difficult to imagine that this groggy-looking old man, who did not look like anyone special, was one of the strongest experts in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

“Elder Jian Ge, I have brought Yi Yun here.” After the black-cloaked man bowed, he silently backed out and closed the door.

Suddenly, there was only Yi Yun and the green-shirted elder left in the alchemy lab.

Yi Yun held his breath!

He told himself to remain calm, but still, his heart beated even faster.

He had seen many strong desolate beasts in the past, but when facing them, Yi Yun had no fear. However, in front of this elder, even though the elder did not do anything and looked listless, Yi Yun still felt a tremendous pressure. He was like a mortal trapped in a cage with a fierce tiger.

“You are Yi Yun?” The green-shirted elder lightly asked. The eyes that were originally half-closed suddenly opened, reflecting Yi Yun’s figure in his black pupils.

As if he was looking at a mirror, Yi Yun could clearly see himself through the elder’s pupils.

Yi Yun tightened up immediately!

He felt that the eyes were looking through him.

His every inch of flesh and blood, his Dantian, his organs, his 360 acupuncture points, the 12 regular meridians and the 8 special meridians were all being scanned by the elder!

Heaven’s Eye…

Yi Yun felt a tremor in his heart. He wished he could stop his beating heart.

But reality went contrary to his wishes, and Yi Yun’s heart began beating even faster.

Within his heart, the Purple Crystal throbbed along with his heart and pulsated along. Yi Yun’s palms began to ooze sweat.

The Purple Crystal did not react to the green-shirted elder’s scan.

But, when the green-shirted elder’s scan swept past the Purple Crystal, he did not stop.

The green-shirted elder carefully sized up Yi Yun a feel times and he looked through Yi Yun inside out. But even after sweeping past Yi Yun’s heart a few times, he still did not detect the presence of the Purple Crystal.

Finally, the green-shirted elder withdrew his sensing.

The short few seconds made Yi Yun feel like he was in a great war. It was extremely exhausting, it was much more tiring than capturing the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

The green-shirted elder looked at Yi Yun with a surprise, “You have formed the Heaven’s eyeball?”

Since the green-shirted elder’s senses were sharp, the fact that Yi Yun had formed a Heaven’s eyeball naturally could not escape his eyes.

199 - : Elder Jian Ge

“Yes.”

Yi Yun had returned to normal. His rapid heartbeat and stagnant breathing was naturally perceived by the green-shirted elder. But it was nothing weird, it was rare for a youth to appear composed in front of a Tai Ah Divine City Elder.

“To form a Heaven’s eyeball before thirteen-years-of age, you do indeed have exceeding talent in terms of perception!”

The green-shirted Elder praised Yi Yun. He had previously heard from the black-cloaked man that Yi Yun was talented at picking herbs. He had picked more than 200 dragon scale runes worth of herbs on his first day.

This perception was extraordinary.

“Thank you for Elder Jian Ge’s appreciation,” Yi Yun respectfully answered.

The green-shirted elder looked at Yi Yun with a meaningful glance. He guessed that Yi Yun must have had some special opportunity.

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there were countless geniuses. Not having any special opportunities would make becoming a top human lord, or even a sage too difficult.

The human sages that appeared once every 500 years were all full of talent. Together with great luck, they experienced stunning opportunities.

Many of the geniuses in the Tai Ah Divine City had their own special encounters. For this, the green-shirted elder was in no way surprised.

Of course, the special encounters these young geniuses had were nothing when placed in front of people at the rank of the Tai Ah Divine City’s Elders.

Special opportunities Purple Blood realm warriors encountered were meaningless to sages. Even if they were occasionally tempted by it, they would not compete for them. As a Divine City’s Elder, they had the basic amount of open-mindedness. If rumors spread of a Divine City Elder snatching the special opportunities of a younger junior, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s reputation would be torn apart.

Previously, the green-shirted elder had used his Heaven’s Eye to scan Yi Yun’s body. If there was anything special about it, he would have noticed it. But there was nothing. The green-shirted elder guessed with certainty that Yi Yun had swallowed some divine treasure that promoted his spiritual evolution.

Such an explanation was most reasonable.

“This time, by handing over the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, you did a great achievement. Unfortunately, the Purple Yang Ginseng’s main body is damaged, and a lot of the herbal essence was lost. Its soul was also destroyed. Its value is only about a third of a complete Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng. But, this seat (I said in a confident way) will not be petty and will not give you an unfavorable reward.”

Hearing the green-shirted elder’s words, Yi Yun finally felt greatly relieved.

Ignoring the reward, he had passed!

In front of Elder Jian Ge, Yi Yun was under immense pressure for he was afraid something might go wrong.

This Elder Jian Ge might still have his doubts, but after deeply probing him, he could still not detect anything.

“I’ll give you…10,000 dragon scale runes, and 3 glory points as a reward.”

Saying this, Elder Jian Ge took out an unimpressive token. With his mind interfaced with the token, a dense stream of dragon scale runes flew towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun saw layers of dragon scale runes fly into his identity token.

10,000 dragon scale runes!

With this amount of dragon scale runes, he could stay in the Wilderness Divine Hall for almost a day!

Not only could he absorb the primordial species’ energy, he could also attempt to understand the founding city lord’s nomological truths for an entire day. There were too many things he could do.

Of course, Yi Yun knew that the 10,000 dragon scale runes were not that precious. What was most precious were the three glory points…

The glory points were extremely precious to the cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City.

“May I ask, what can I exchange the glory points for?”

Yi Yun asked unsettlingly.

Elder Jian Ge smiled and took out a jade scroll before throwing it to Yi Yun.

“This is the top-class second rank rewards. All the top-class rewards have to be exchanged using glory points. You can exchange for most of the items within that jade scroll.

Yi Yun caught the jade scroll and injected his consciousness into the jade scroll…

Within the jade scroll were treasures after treasures. There were weapons, elixirs and relics!

Not only was there a textual description of the treasure, there were even figures.

“Deva Flower Sword, 1000 dragon scale runes, 1 glory point!”

Yi Yun looked at the figure of the Deva Flower Sword. It was a full-bodied black longsword wrapped in python skin. Just from looking at the image, he could feel a sharp and murderous feeling.

“The Deva Flower Sword is made from metal that came beyond the heavens. Through the hands of a master in the Sky Sword family clan, the sword was engraved with inscriptions. When the sword was created, it was mixed with the blood essence of a primordial species!”

The first weapon did not interest Yi Yun. A divine weapon made from the primordial species blood essence was of course good, but it was too extravagant for himself.

There were other bows and sabers that were about the same level as the Deva Flower Sword, but Yi Yun just browsed through them before giving them up.

The first task now for Yi Yun was to increase his own strength, and not through the use of foreign objects.

Yi Yun carried on looking. The further the list went on, the more expensive they became.

In the beginning, the treasures were valued at 1 glory point and 1000 dragon scale runes.

But nearer to the end, most of them needed 10,000 dragon scale runes or tens of thousands of dragon scale runes; there were even items that cost 100,000 dragon scale runes.

And they needed 2 glory points.

“Dragon marrow relic, 1000 dragon scale runes, 2 glory points.”

“A dragon marrow relic refined from a king-ranked desolate beast. It can cause Marrow Cleansing in a person, allowing him to breakthrough a bottleneck.”

There were many relics and elixirs listed in the jade scroll that could be exchanged for. However, Yi Yun was uninterested in them. He had the Purple Crystal, so there was no shortage of energy for cultivation.

If he lacked elixirs, Yi Yun would have just completely suck dry the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng in the #60 mountain.

By risking to hand the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng over, he received the lacking resources he needed. Why would he use it to exchange for elixirs or relics?

Yi Yun carried on digging deeper. At this time, he finally saw a treasure that moved him.

“The first three volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, 10,000 dragon scale runes, 2 glory points!”

It’s actually the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”!

Yi Yun’s eyelids twitched. The founding emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had left behind this compendium. The successive monarchs and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom city lords had even added their own understandings to the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”.

After tens of millions of years, this “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” had become extremely profound. It was the crowning achievement of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s martial arts, and was the core of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family’s heritage!

A cultivation technique like the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” was low in grade but very useful; hence, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had no qualms about making it public.

But for the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”, as a cornerstone of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the royal family had always strictly controlled it.

“Tai Ah Sacred Technique! As expected, it can be exchanged!”

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up.

Cultivation techniques…. were extremely important to Yi Yun!

Having come to the Tai Ah Divine City, Yi Yun had no lack in relics or elixirs, but he had no cultivation techniques.

By turning in the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, his main goal was to obtain a high level cultivation technique!

The energy within the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was indeed precious, but to Yi Yun, if he absorbed too much, the effects would eventually lessen. He did not have the cultivation technique to digest it and manage the energy.

The basic “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist” could not support Yi Yun’s cultivation in the future.

A while ago in the school grounds, when Yi Yun lifted the Primal Arrow to insert into the purple tungsten wall, he felt that due to insufficiency of the cultivation technique, he had trouble managing the surging power.

If he had a high grade cultivation technique that trained the body, or a cultivation technique to control his Yuan Qi, then Yi Yun’s strength could go to the next level!

…

After the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”, Yi Yun quickly browsed through the other treasures. Yi Yun paid special attention to other cultivation techniques, but after some deliberation, Yi Yun still decided on practicing the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”.

This “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” may be a cultivation technique, but it included attack moves, nomological truths and movement techniques. It was a comprehensive martial arts compendium!

Among the top-class second rank jade scroll, it was the most complete and suitable for Yi Yun.

But of course, its price was the most expensive!

Currently, Yi Yun could only exchange for the first three volumes of the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”.

The “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” had a total of nine volumes. The first three volumes needed 2 glory points, while just the fourth volume alone needed 2 glory points.

The fifth volume needed 3 glory points!

Moving on, there was no mention of the sixth volume’s price.

As for the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” 7th to 9th volumes, those were in the realm of sages. A typical warrior had no chance of accessing it in their lives.

In fact, for young heroes, the first three volumes were sufficient. Those who could completely master the first three volumes would have the ability to show disdain for the Tai Ah Divine City!

“Have you decided?” The green-shirted elder asked Yi Yun.

“Yes!” Yi Yun nodded solemnly. “But before I make my decision, this junior has something to ask Elder Jian Ge.”

“Oh? Go ahead!”

“It’s like this… This junior heard from Elder Jian Ge that this jade scroll… includes only the second ranked prizes. This junior wants to know what’s within the first ranked prizes in the top-class jade scroll!”

When Yi Yun said that, his eyes shined.

He wanted to shine in the Tai Ah Divine City. In the next few years, he wanted to challenge all sorts of achievements.

He wanted to see what treasures there were in the Tai Ah Divine City that he could use as a goal to pursue!

200 - : Yi Yun’s Reward

“Oh? You want to take a look at the first-ranked top-class rewards?” Elder Jian Ge looked at Yi Yun with surprise and soon smiled.

He did not hand the first-ranked jade scroll to Yi Yun and instead asked with interest, “Little rascal, what are your goals for the future? Or what future level do you want to train to?”

Future level?

Yi Yun was slightly stunned and shook his head subconsciously. He had never thought of his future cultivation goals.

“Oh?” Elder Jian Ge frowned slightly upon seeing this, “No goals?”

Yi Yun thought a bit before answering , “It isn’t that I have no goals. It is just that this junior does not know how far he can go. Whatever level this junior sees, he will aim for that level.”

Yi Yun knew that in this world, sages were awesome, but sages were not the end of martial arts. Above sages, there were great emperors.

What was above a great emperor? Yi Yun did not know.

The path of martial arts was like mountain-climbing. The higher one went, the further one could see. Of course, a sage was like a legendary level for the current Yi Yun. Yi Yun would not say it as it sounded ridiculous.

The Purple Crystal was an impressive divine item. Yi Yun knew that even with his weak senses, the primordial herb had nowhere of hiding in front of the Purple Crystal. Even a human sage who used all of his perception on Yi Yun’s body could not discover any trace of the Purple Crystal.

The ability shown by the Purple Crystal had exceeded the level of sages.

By possessing such a treasure, how could his goal only be a sage?

Elder Jian Ge still did not know how ambitious Yi Yun was. But what Yi Yun said had made Elder Jian Ge very satisfied.

He knew that Yi Yun’s talent was lacking in several aspects, but these were unimportant. A warrior had to have a goal, whether it was achievable or not.

When Elder Jian Ge was still young, he had made his goal to become a sage. Back then, many people were saying he was an idiot with big dreams. How could a sage, that only appeared in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom once in 500 years, turn out to be him?

Many people had ridiculed him for overestimating himself; however, the people who ridiculed him had all slowly died of old age, turning to bones.

As for Elder Jian Ge, he slowly went from human lord to the pinnacle of human lords, before becoming a human sage.

Having an ambitious dream was not laughable; what was laughable were the people who had no dreams but mocked those who had them.

“This is the first-ranked top-class jade scroll. You can look through this. There is a huge gap between you and your dreams!”

Saying this, Elder Jian Ge threw a jade scroll to Yi Yun.

This jade scroll was golden in color and looked much smaller than the previous one.

Yi Yun sank his senses within…

But after seeing one item, his eyes could no longer move away from it.

There was such a divine item in this world?

“Divine Fate Bone Charm, 32 glory points, 50,000 dragon scale runes!”

Just the price made Yi Yun take a gasp of air! It was too expensive!

By handing over the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, he had only gained 3 glory points. However, Elder Jian Ge had previously said that it was only worth a third of its original price due to the severe damage of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

If so, the glory points obtained from handing over an intact piece of Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng would likely be 9 glory points.

But the Divine Fate Bone Charm’s price was nearly four times that of the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

Besides that, it also needed 50,000 dragon scale runes!

For such a precious item, it only had one sentence for its description:

“The Divine Fate Bone Charm transforms a person’s physical fitness, increasing the person’s affinity with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, improving their martial arts talent.”

Improving one’s martial arts talent…

Just the last description made Yi Yun yearn for it!

Yi Yun was surprised that there was such a herb in this world!

Yi Yun’s perceptivity was not bad. Having lived two lives, his soul’s power was extremely strong. He was not short of elixirs and bone relics for cultivation.

Although he did not have a cultivation technique, he could find them and collect them himself.

The only thing Yi Yun was helpless against was his martial arts talent.

Having tunneled into this world, into a vast wilderness’ youth’s body, his talent was extremely common.

Yi Yun did not know how much talent the Divine Fate Bone Charm could increase, but he believed that the price quoted by the Tai Ah Divine City was fair. Since it was labeled as 32 glory points and 50,000 dragon scale runes, it was likely worth that much.

“Oh? Has something caught your fancy?”

Elder Jian Ge noticed Yi Yun’s change in expression.

“This junior would like to ask the senior. The Divine Fate Bone Charm described in the first-ranked top class jade scroll… is there any cultivation level restrictions?”

“Divine Fate Bone Charm? Haha!” Elder Jian Ge laughed. “So that’s what caught your fancy! There is no cultivation level restriction for the Divine Fate Bone Charm. It’s sufficient with your Purple Blood realm. This Divine Fate Bone Charm is an impressive item. It is a special desolate bone relic refined from a primordial desolate beast, but… it’s not refined from our Tai Ah Divine Kingdom… To be exact, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Desolate Heaven Masters cannot refine a bone relic of this level.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun felt awed, “Even the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Desolate Heaven Masters cannot refine it?”

“Yes, the Desolate Heaven technique is extensive and profound. There are only a handful of sage-ranked Desolate Heaven Masters in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, but they don’t have the knowledge for refining the Divine Fate Bone Charm.”

When Elder Jian Ge finished saying that, he gave a long sigh, “This world is very large. Outside of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there are many other Divine Kingdoms too. There are even some deep-heritage sacred-level family clans and sacred-level sects! This Divine Fate Bone Charm was refined from a sacred-level family clan. The connection between the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and that family clan goes deep.

Elder Jian Ge’s brief description was shocking information to Yi Yun.

Sacred-level family clans! Sacred-level sects!

Those super powers which had an unknown years of heritage, what would they look like?

For some unknown reason, Yi Yun suddenly thought of Lin Xintong.

What was the Lin family that Lin Xintong came from like? Was the Lin family within the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom? Or was it outside of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, in the vast lands outside, somewhere on the broad planet?

But there was no point in thinking about all of these vast and ambitious items. His main goal was to obtain one Divine Fate Bone Charm.

“Hehe, kid, you sure don’t lack in ambition! The price of an item like the Divine Fate Bone Charm would scare a lot of people! But, taking the Divine Fate Bone Charm once is when it has the most beneficial effect. The more you eat, the lesser the effects. Also, the better talent a person has, the less effective it is.”

Hearing Elder Jian Ge’s explanation, Yi Yun finally understood.

Those who had amazing talent would not gain much from taking the Divine Fate Bone Charm.

With Yi Yun’s current rate of accumulating glory points, it would clearly not be easy to exchange for the Divine Fate Bone Charm. Items like primordial herbs could only be caught once. It was not that he couldn’t capture another one, but if he were to capture another one, he did not dare to hand it over.

Then it seemed like the only way to accumulate glory points was to break the records of the ancestors, especially those hard records that were left behind on Sage Avenue!

These records would be Yi Yun’s goals!

“Elder Jian Ge, this junior will exchange for the first three volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!”

Yi Yun announced his decision. He had to go one step at a time. To break the records on Sacred Avenue, Yi Yun needed to master the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” well, allowing his strength to increase.

That afternoon, Yi Yun bade Elder Jian Ge farewell and returned to his residence. He began planning his next 6 months of training.

But at this time, without Yi Yun knowing about it, the news that he had picked a primordial herb and received glory points had spread in the Tai Ah Divine City like wildfire!

The warriors in the Tai Ah Divine City were all obsessed with cultivation. They were either meditating or fighting, besides that, they would be out hunting desolate beasts.

They seldom followed the gossip on the grapevine as they lacked interest in it.

But for news that were spread, they were huge events! Soon, the news spread even further. Even the top ranking figures on the Tai Ah Divine City’s roll of honor got to know about it.

At this time, in the Tai Ah Divine City’s smithy, Zhou Kui was bare to the waist, revealing his strong muscles. With a human-sized forging hammer, he was busy forging metal.

Beside Zhou Kui were a few Xuanwu Army members. Like Zhou Kui, they were all burly. None of them looked like they were thirteen years old.

“Hey! Ha! Hey! Ha!”

They shouted with a rhythm. They took turns hammering a piece of special metal that needed to be hit a million times. It was very rhythmical.

201 - : Divine Fate Bone Charm

Being a blacksmith for the past one month, Zhou Kui’s muscles had turned bronze in color by the heat. His sweat made him look shiny.

After making more than a thousand strikes in one breath, Zhou Kui finally took a break to regulate his breathing.

The other people in the smithy also stopped. They took this time to wipe their sweat and drink some water, or eat a beast relic.

After all, forging metal was extremely tiring.

“Damn, I finally forged a good piece of metal.”

Zhou Kui looked at the hot-red metal on the anvil with glee.

“Ha, Brother Kui, you are getting better at using the Hurricane Hammer skill!”

A member from the Xuanwu Army said with a laugh.

“I guess so.”

Zhou Kui shook his head. This Hurricane Hammer skill was a hammer skill provided by the blacksmith job for free. It did not have any attacking power, but using it on metal would allow a cultivator to have perfect control of every inch of his body, giving it the best effect for training.

Although this hammer skill was free, Zhou Kui knew that if he were to completely cultivate it, it would be extremely terrifying.

18,000 years ago, there was a man who used this Hurricane Hammer skill to break the record of the blacksmith job.

In sixty days, he had forged all sorts of steel, good metals that totaled 48,000 dragon scale runes!

What was the concept of 48,000 dragon scale runes? Zhou Kui did not know in the beginning. When he first came to the blacksmith office, he was full of ambition. He felt that even if he couldn’t break the record, he would still be outstanding. That person may have obtained 48,000, but it wouldn’t be difficult for Zhou Kui himself to make about 20,000-30,000 dragon scale runes.

The result over the next few days dumbfounded Zhou Kui!

In the first three days, Zhou Kui used all his strength, and never made more than 25 dragon scale runes a day!

From the fourth day, Zhou Kui finally managed to somewhat master the Hurricane Hammer skill, and his daily income went above 30 dragon scale runes. Following that, his income hovered around 40-50.

Zhou Kui’s best daily earnings to date was only 52 dragon scale runes.

But that person who left the record?

To obtain 48,000 dragon scale runes in two months, that was an average of 800 dragon scale runes a day!

Zhou Kui wanted to cry. He had given his all to earn dragon scale runes, but the most he ever made was less than a tenth of that person. How could this be possible?

“Brother Kui, are you thinking about that guy’s record? I’d say that the guy has some desolate beast bloodline and is not a normal person. If not, the standards 18,000 years ago were different from how it is now. It must have been easier to earnings dragon scale runes back then! To earn 48,000 dragon scale runes in sixty days, I cannot believe it!”

A Xuanwu Army member said stubbornly.

But at this time, not far away, a young blacksmith who was also resting interjected, “You are belittling the world’s heroes! Just a few days ago, someone in the Tai Ah Divine City managed to earn 10,000 dragon scale runes in a month by picking herbs. He even obtained glory points! For someone to forge metal for two months 18,000 years ago, earning 48,000 dragon scale runes isn’t impossible.”

This youth’s words stunned Zhou Kui and company, but someone laughed, “How could picking herbs make 10,000 dragon scale runes in a month. Don’t speak bullshit.”

Zhou Kui and company could not believe, but the youth disdainfully said, “You guys don’t know about the matter yet? I heard it from several expert friends who permanently live in the central divine tower. It’s 100% true! The cultivator could get such a high reward from picking herbs because he picked a primordial herb! He was even specifically summoned by the Divine City’s Elder!”

“Picked a primordial herb?” Zhou Kui gave a “stop teasing me” look. “Your joke is pointless! To think you even said a primordial herb. Is that something people like us can pick? To think you even said the Divine City’s Elder summoned him. The Elder is a sage, is a sage someone we can come into contact with… EH!?”

When Zhou Kui reached that point in his sentence, his voice abruptly got cut off, as he began to experience shock..

He looked at his boys, but saw his boys looking at him with odd looks.

In fact, among them, Zhou Kui was the last one who came to the conclusion.

He swallowed mouthfuls of saliva and looked at the youth who was speaking from before. Zhou Kui stammered, “You… said previously… that… that he was summoned by the Elder?”

“Yes, it happened yesterday! A friend in the central divine tower told me himself. How could it be wrong?” The youth said lightly.

Zhou Kui and company stared. Picking herbs, summoned by the Elder…

Of course, they had guessed who the person who picked the primordial herb was.

“It can’t be! Yi Yun, he… he actually picked a primordial herb!?”

“What a joke!”

Zhou Kui and his boys had intense reactions. One of the boys even jumped up as high as three feet from a stone bench.

They had previously seen the law-enforcers bring Yi Yun to see the Elder, but they had no idea what the reason was.

Today, they finally knew that it was because he had picked a primordial herb.

But.. How was that possible!?

How could a Purple Blood realm warrior manage to pick a herb of that level?

“Oh? That young guy is called Yi Yun?” At this time, another young blacksmith stood up, “You guys know him?”

“Uh?” Seeing this young man suddenly stand up, Zhou Kui stumbled. This youth had left a deep impression on him.

This person was not very tall and looked thin. But he made more than a hundred dragon scale runes a day by striking metal!

Of course, he was not a rookie. He had been in the Divine wilderness campgrounds for a year. He was in his second year of military service.

As a recruit in his first year, Zhou Kui was awed by these veteran soldiers.

This was due to their strength.

“Let me introduce myself. I’m Ah Jun. Our Hongdao Association’s President is very interested after hearing about this youth. He wants to pull him into the association.”

Hongdao Association!

Zhou Kui had heard of this small association.

Many of the people in the smithy were from the Hongdao Association!

The Hongdao Association’s President was named Li Hong. His ranking on the Heaven ranking was 1030 and his Earth ranking was 1100.

This ranking may sound bad, but Li Hong had just entered the Divine wilderness camp last year.

Adding the previous month, Li Hong had been in the Divine wilderness camp for 13 months. To be ranked 1030 made him terrifying!

After all, it was extremely rare for someone to enter the top 1000 ranks in a year. This extraordinary genius was sufficient to alarm the Divine Kingdom’s various super factions.

Li Hong was just a step shy from this.

Li Hong was very ambitious. By setting up the Hongdao Association, he only took in people who had been in the Divine wilderness camp for less than a year.

The Hongdao Association was not strong yet. However, through the passage of time, by the time Li Hong had spent 3-4 years cultivating in the Tai Ah Divine City, they would become veteran cultivators. As such, this association would end up being one of the strongest associations in the Tai Ah Divine City!

Currently, many of the best first and second year recruits had been absorbed into the Hongdao Association.

It was unexpected that they had Yi Yun in their radar.

Zhou Kui did not feel happy about it. He had been forging metal with these Hongdao Association people for a month, but they had never even looked him in the eye.

And they had finally spoken to him, but it was because they were looking for Yi Yun!

Zhou Kui was pissed, but he did not dare to antagonize the Hongdao Association. If he were to offend an association that would end up being a large one in four years time, his life in the Tai Ah Divine City would become very unpleasant.

“Alright… He picks herbs in the day. He should be back home at night. I know where he stays…”

Zhou Kui grudgingly said. He felt as if he had swallowed a fly.

It was really exasperating comparing.

“Ha, thanks!”

The youth named Ah Jun smiled. Not only was their Hongdao Association looking for Yi Yun to be a member, they had some other important matters to discuss with him.

…

In the evening, the Sun began setting in the west. The majestic Tai Ah Divine City reflected the sunset and was covered in a layer of red and gold.

In the Tai Ah Divine City’s low-class dining hall, cultivators were scurrying in from all directions to receive their meals.

The Tai Ah Divine City provided delicious food and it was filling because of the desolate beast meat.

The cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City who went out on expeditions would return daily from the Divine wilderness, bringing the desolate beasts they hunted to exchange for dragon scale runes. The most precious materials and bones were taken away for processing, while the worthless meat was distributed as food.

In the Cloud Wilderness tribes, where desolate beast meat was rare, it was high grade food. In the Tai Ah Divine city however, it was the lowest grade of food.

The cook house in the Tai Ah Divine City had a very special pot for cooking their desolate beast meat. This pot was a treasure and was called the Tai He Precious Cauldron!

The head chef who operated the Tai He Precious Cauldron was a human lord who was seldom seen, but had an extreme love for delicacies.

This Tai He Precious Cauldron was the human lord’s precious treasure.

The Tai He Precious Cauldron had a world within it. It could hold a small mountain worth of food. Even if normal pork, beef or mutton were thrown in, the head chef could use the Tai He Precious Cauldron to cook an extremely tasty meal. It was imbued with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. It could prolong the lives of ordinary people if they ate it often.

It goes without saying that the ingredients used by the Tai Ah Divine City was not pork, beef or mutton, but desolate beast meat. So even the low-class food was not at all inferior!

The first time Yi Yun came to the Tai Ah Divine City’s cook house, he had enjoyed his meal.

Although at this stage, he could just absorb bone relics to replace his meals, Yi Yun would still come to the cook house from time to time to tuck into the food.

Eating fierce beast relics daily made him crave something substantial.

Since he learned the Elephant Swallowing Technique, Yi Yun’s appetite was unusually good. He could eat a big plate of desolate beast meat, a few plates of spiritual vegetables and finishing it off with a bowl of animal bone soup. It was very pleasant.

Today, Yi Yun returned to his residence early, so he did not miss the opportunity to have a feast.

As Yi Yun was biting into a big piece of meat, he saw a group of people enter the cook house from the corner of his eyes.

This group of people were clearly not here to eat. Upon entering the cook house, they searched all over, and very quickly they found their target. They walked over to Yi Yun with a smile.

“Huh? They were looking for me?”

Yi Yun was slightly stunned as he carried on biting into the meat. He noticed that the person leading the group of people was Zhou Kui.

Zhou Kui was behind a youth that was mildly plump, as if he was afraid of this youth.

The plump youth was fair and had curly hair. In his arms, was a young lady. This young lady seemed like a cultivator of the Divine wilderness camp.

“Oh? He is Yi Yun?” The plump youth asked Zhou Kui.

Zhou Kui nodded, “Yes, that is the person you are looking for!”

202 - : Rise to Fame

As Yi Yun ate, he paid attention to the group of people through the corner of his eyes.

The plump youth rubbed his chin while walking to the table before Yi Yun. He sat down, but his men did not sit. They stood apart on all four corners, like door-gods.

This attracted the attention of many as people looked over. Some recognized who the plump youth was.

“Isn’t he the Hongdao Association’s president, Li Hong?”

“He stays in the central divine tower, why would he come to a low-class cook house?”

The Hongdao Association was one of the organizations many people paid close attention to amongst the recruits in the Tai Ah Divine City. Li Hong was considered as an influential person in the Tai Ah Divine City.

To be recognized by so many the moment he sat down, Li Hong felt very satisfied.

“You are Yi Yun, right?”

Li Hong looked at Yi Yun and used a nod as a greeting. “It’s you who… picked the primordial herb?”

Many people knew that someone had picked a primordial herb and had been summoned by the Divine City’s Elder. But they did not know that it was Yi Yun, who was currently eating his meal at a low-class cook house.

Upon hearing Li Hong’s words, they became shocked. Soon, more and more people started paying attention to what was happened at the table.

One was an influential person in the Tai Ah Divine City, the other was a recruit who many followed with interest for having picked a primordial herb.

What were they going to talk about?

Yi Yun wiped his mouth and glanced at Li Hong. Li Hong was smiling affably. With his eyes squinting, it made him look like Maitreya Buddha.

Yi Yun had heard a bit about the Hongdao Association. It was one of the most influential organizations among the recruits. Many recruits wanted to board this cruise liner, hoping that when the Hongdao Association developed itself into one of the strongest factions in the Tai Ah Divine City in a few years, it would also inflate their own status.

Li Hong was strong, but he was not at some fate-defying level. The Hongdao Association set up by him, had a certain limit to its abilities.

It was not easy to prop up this organization.

“It’s me, ” Yi Yun nodded his head.

Li Hong said, “Let me introduce myself. I am Li Hong, the President of the Hongdao Association. I will just cut to the chase. I wish to take you into the Hongdao Association. I have prepared the position of Chief for you!”

When Li Hong said those words, many people who were paying attention to the ongoings were surprised.

Chief?

In the Hongdao Association, besides the President and Vice-President, there was the position of Chief. A Chief was a relatively senior position.

Yi Yun looked at Li Hong with a surprise. He had indeed become famous in the past few days, but it was not earned through his strength. It was earned through picking a primordial herb.

His cultivation level was only in the mid-stages in the Purple Blood. It was very common, and he was just a first-year recruit, yet Li Hong wanted to make him a Chief? How would the men under him be convinced?

“I heard that you encountered a primordial herb while it was experiencing a calamity, and that it happened to experience failure. That was how you picked the herb?” Li Hong poured a glass of water for himself while speaking in a nonchalant manner.

For a Purple Blood realm warrior to capture a primordial herb, it was like a fantasy. But Li Hong had obtained detailed information and knew that Yi Yun was just lucky to encounter the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng that had failed a calamity. As such, it was not surprising for him to capture the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng.

This luck was very enviable.

But good luck was useless. Li Hong knew that Yi Yun was only at the mid-stages of Purple Blood. His cultivation talent was just average. It was very difficult for such a person to stand out in the Tai Ah Divine City.

Yi Yun did not respond to Li Hong’s question, but it was considered a tacit affirmation. It was best if people thought it was due to his good luck that he picked the primordial herb. It saved him trouble from explaining.

“Brother Yi, I heard you aren’t from an affluent family? Your cultivation talent is also not at the top?”

Li Hong suddenly changed the topic and began asking about Yi Yun’s background.

Yi Yun gave Li Hong an unexpected glance, “What’s the matter?”

“Ha! Brother Yi, this old brother didn’t mean to look down on you. You were born from the Cloud Wilderness, but to come this far, you must have had some spectacular adventures. Your cultivation level is at the mid-stages of Purple Blood, right? If I must say, what you should be concerned with is to purchase large amounts of resources to increase your cultivation level.”

Li Hong patted Yi Yun on the shoulder, with a look that seemed to understand Yi Yun well. Actually, much of the information on Yi Yun was provided to him by Zhou Kui.

“Oh… And then?” Yi Yun suddenly realized that there was something in between the lines of Li Hong’s words.

“Ha! By handing in the primordial herb, you must have gotten a few glory points? The main purpose of those glory points is to buy the most luxurious cultivation resources in the Divine City. But to use it as a mid-stage Purple Blood, it will be quite a waste. What you should be buying is high grade desolate bone relics and cultivation time in the Wilderness Divine Hall. And these things require a massive amount of dragon scale runes!”

“So… this old brother recommends you to exchange the glory points for dragon scale runes. That would be for the best!” Li Hong spoke in earnest, as if he was full of consideration for Yi Yun.

“Oh?” Yi Yun suddenly laughed, “I see, then how can I exchange them for dragon scale runes?”

“You can leave this to me. In the future, when you become a Chief of the Hongdao Association, you can easily exchange for dragon scale runes. Actually, I can exchange it for you. As you, my brother, are a recruit, it will not be easy in the beginning. How about this, I have 30,000 dragon scale runes here. You can use this first!”

Li Hong waved his fat hand, appearing extremely forthright.

Yi Yun stroked his chin and squinted, “What you mean is that you want to use 30,000 dragon scale runes to exchange for my one glory point?”

“Haha, you are regarding me as an outsider. In the future when you enter my Hongdao Association, you will be a brother. There’s no need to be petty among brothers. You have use for dragon scale runes now. Just take it and use it. As for glory points, I happen to be missing a glory point for an item I want. When you need to use glory points in the future, I’ll give it to you!”

Li Hong said with a confident expression.

Yi Yun gave a flattering smile, but all he was thinking was, “go fuck yourself”.

He was originally curious, why would Li Hong suddenly come here to make him a Chief? It was to cheat him of his glory points!

To exchange 30,000 dragon scale runes for a glory point, he sure did his calculations!

The Tai Ah Divine City did not restrict the betting or trade of glory points, but in fact, no one would ever exchange glory points for dragon scale runes. Even 100,000 dragon scale runes would not be enough!

This was because whoever had the ability to earn glory points had no shortage of dragon scale runes. For a recruit like Yi Yun, he was an exception, having earned 3 glory points without many dragon scale runes accumulated.

This was why Li Hong was eyeing Yi Yun.

He had treated Yi Yun as a clueless rookie. He thought with the title of Chief, Yi Yun would be so overjoyed that he would just follow him as one of his men.

But it had to be said, any typical twelve-year-old child might be cheated by Li Hong’s promise of the Hongdao Association’s title of Chief.

The Chief of the Hongdao Association was an impressive title to many children!

If Yi Yun were to nod to the deal, and be cheated by Li Hong, the Divine City would not do anything even if he tried to redress the situation.

The Tai Ah Divine City rationale was that trades were done voluntary. If one was cheated, they had to swallow their loss.

This was the cruel world of warriors.

By accepting these group of youths, the Tai Ah Divine City not only taught them cultivation techniques and battle skills, it also taught them about life.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, everyone was battling for resources. They were rivals to each other. There would always be some form of deception, flattery and backstabbing!

Those with one-track minds would only hurt themselves in the Tai Ah Divine City.

If the Divine City were to redress the situation, those who had suffered would not mature. In the future when they entered the real vast wilderness world, entering mystic realms, what they would be cheated would not only be some dragon scale runes, it might even be their lives.

One needed to know how to live before one could become a warrior.

This was something taught to the recruits by the Tai Ah Divine City in an intangible manner.

“How is it? Brother Yi?” Li Hong kept seeing Yi Yun laughing sillily, but he did not know what this rookie was thinking.

“I see, so when I become a Chief, how many men will be under me?” Yi Yun gave a look of anticipation. At the same time, he took a big piece of meat and began chewing.

“Hahaha! Easy.” Seeing Yi Yun ‘hooked’, Li Hong began to ease, “I will especially set up a hall for you, giving you a dozen brothers that would listen to your command! Hey, you few… why don’t you follow Brother Yi in the future!”

Li Hong said while looking at his men behind him.

These men began laughing, “Sure. In the future Brother Yi is our hall Chief, we will all obey Brother Yi!”

These people had deep smiles on their faces. But these smiles appeared like they were laughing at a retard in Yi Yun’s eyes.

On the sidelines, Zhou Kui was full of envy upon hearing this.

How could the gap between people be this large? Yi Yun was just a recruit like him a few days ago. But in a few days, he was the Chief of the Hongdao Association.

This was the Hongdao Association, a huge organization that would skyrocket in the future. Now, Yi Yun had a dozen men, and some of them were even second year soldiers. In the future, he could obtain a hundred responses to a single call!

Zhou Kui felt that Yi Yun was very inspiring.

But…

Why was Yi Yun eating again. He was still eating meat while having an important discussion… This made him really speechless…

“How about it?” Li Hong ‘untiringly’ spoke to Yi Yun in a guiding manner. Seeing Yi Yun chewing, he slightly frowned. This kid sure does not know how to appreciate things, eating when I’m speaking to him.

Or, he was just a glutton and an idiot that did not understand any basic etiquette.

Yi Yun smiled brightly. As he chewed on his meat, he mumbled with a mouth full of food, “About being Chief…”

“Right, or else what do you think I’m talking about?” Li Hong began to believe that Yi Yun was really an idiot. Not only did he not understand etiquette, his response was also slow.

“For that… I’ll give you two words.”

“What?” Li Hong asked. The men behind him also stretched their neck, waiting to hear it.

Yi Yun chewed a few more times before swallowing the meat in his mouth with difficulty, “The two words are… go fuck yourself! Oh… Sorry, that was three words.”

As Yi Yun spoke, bits of meat flew, and a few meat pieces unfortunately sprayed on Li Hong’s face.

Li Hong froze. Yet after a second, his face turned black!

His slightly plump face turned extremely grim.

As for Zhou Kui who was behind Li Hong, he was totally dumbfounded. A goose egg could easily stuff his agape mouth.

What was Yi Yun doing!?

“Kid, are you teasing me!?”

Li Hong erupted! The cups and flasks on the table crashed to the ground from his tremors.

Everyone in the cook house was attracted by what happened. They were flabbergasted by Yi Yun.

Yi Yun wiped the oil off his hands in an unfazed manner, “You’re right that I’m teasing you, but… You teased me, I teased you. It’s tit-for-tat. Now we don’t owe each other!”

203 - : You teased me, I teased you

“Kid, you are courting death!”

The people from the Hongdao Association were seething with anger. Yi Yun did not reciprocate them giving him face!

It was because the Hongdao Association appreciated him that they came looking for him. He was a mid-stage Purple Blood rookie, yet Yi Yun turned down their request even when their President personally came. Who did he think he was!

Li Hong’s face turned terrifyingly gloomy. He was holding onto a metal cup which had tipped over on the table. With a light press with his fingers, the cup split into pieces. Under his fingers, such a metal, which had not been specially forged, was as weak as paper.

“What did you just say? I did not hear it. Say it again?”

Li Hong smiled at Yi Yun, still with his Maitreya Buddha look. But everyone knew that Li Hong’s expression was one of extreme anger.

For Li Hong, an influential figure with large numbers of men under him, even the cultivators who had been in the Tai Ah Divine City for 4-5 years would not dare to offend him.

There were severe repercussions by offending Li Hong!

“You didn’t hear it clearly? Say it again? No problem! What I just said was, go fuck yourself…” Yi Yun responded in an articulate manner. For a person who wanted to exploit him, but still pretended to treat him as a brother, how could Yi Yun hold back? They had just formed an organization known as the Hongdao Association, what made them think they were that great?

As for how the Hongdao Association would retaliate, Yi Yun was not worried. The Hongdao Association was an organization that was formed mainly of recruits. People were afraid of it simply because it had a chance of becoming big in the future. But why would Yi Yun be afraid of a future power?

Besides, although the Tai Ah Divine City allowed private battles between cultivators, there were still rules. There were many restrictions for second year soldiers against recruits. Even if recruits were to have private battles amongst themselves, there was a place for that. It could be done privately but not in public. For example, in the streets or in cook houses, fighting was not permitted.

“Did you hear it now?” Yi Yun said in an unclear manner as he took another bite of meat.

Hearing Yi Yun’s words, Li Hong’s voice began to tremble.

“Good! Very good! You think I cannot do anything to you?”

Li Hong began to crush the metal cup in his hands to smithereens.

But Yi Yun was still unfazed. He was apparently in full control of the situation. He sat at the table and simply carried on eating.

In the cook house, Li Hong did not dare to do anything. If they were to fight here, all the tables and chairs would be destroyed. The punishment for that would be something that Li Hong would not be able to afford.

When everyone saw this, they were shocked. Yi Yun was too domineering. He completely did not treat Li Hong seriously.

Li Hong was fuming, but yet he could do nothing.

He gritted his teeth saying, “Kid, you may think that I cannot do anything to you! Perhaps you do not know? In a few days’ time, when you recruits finish your jobs, you rookies have to compete in the arena!”

“Do you know the rules of the rookie competition? The Tai Ah Divine City will use your results over the past few days, the dragon scale runes you’ve earned and your cultivation level to give you an evaluation. You will then have an approximate ranking on the Earth ranking! And all those behind you would have the right to challenge you! By winning against you, they will replace you, taking your spot.”

“By earning so many dragon scale runes, it would be hard for you to have a low ranking! When that happens, I will get the new members of the Hongdao Association to take care of you especially! And you will have no way of refusing this challenge!”

Li Hong snickered. The battles in the arena were very intense. The cultivators would simulate them, as if being in a real battle. It was not surprising for someone to become injured there.

If Yi Yun was challenged repeatedly, he might even end up with a few broken limbs. He would then need to spend his dragon scale runes to heal himself. If he did not have enough dragon scale runes, he would end up having to take a loan. It was even likely he would be bedridden for months. That was a very common occurrence!

“Ranking battle?”

Yi Yun raised his eyebrows. Having been in the Tai Ah Divine City for some time, he knew the rules of the arena.

The arena’s ranking was also the Earth ranking. Every cultivator in the Tai Ah Divine City had a ranking on the Earth ranking no matter how weak they were.

There was no way of refusing a challenge for people on the Earth ranking.

But to prevent people from frivolously challenging others, there were many restrictions placed on the arena battle.

One of them was betting!

This was why Baldy Qin said that one of the fastest ways of earning dragon scale runes was on the arena! If one was strong, one could earn dragon scale runes quickly in the arena!

In every battle, the challenger and the person being challenged had to lay down a bet.

Depending on their rankings, there was a minimum bet limit.

The higher the rank was, the higher the bet limit. For someone to challenge another ranked much higher than himself, the bet he had to lay down was higher!

As such, there was a very high cost to challenging others. Those who had the confidence would fight, while those without the confidence would end up giving resources to others!

In fact, real arena battles often had stakes exceeding the minimum bet!

The bet amount had to be on mutual agreement.

Sometimes, when two rivals face each other, they would keep raising the stakes till it reached a frightening price!

This sort of battle often happened among people at the top of the rankings. This naturally attracted many spectators.

When Qin Haotian managed to unseat the top ranking person on the Earth ranking, the arena was filled with people. Almost all the ten thousand people or so in the Tai Ah Divine City had come to watch.

Even instructors and law-enforcers came to watch!

“You want to fight with me in the arena?” Yi Yun sniggered. He crushed the bones he was chewing on. A bone the size of a thumb nail was finished by Yi Yun.

Ever since he came to the Tai Ah Divine City, he had not had a real, proper match. Back when he was training hard in the Wilderness Divine Hall, his cultivation level had increased. Ever since he absorbed the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, his physical strength had greatly increased!

Now, he had even exchanged for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was a top compendium that included cultivation techniques, fighting skills and movement skills.

If a saber was not taken out to kill, it would be left to rust.

If one did not use a top cultivation technique in battle, the cultivation effect would be greatly reduced.

Yi Yun had already been contemplating to try his hand in the arena in the coming days. He never expected that people would come forward to be his training partner.

And these bunch of training partners did not need payments, they might even give him dragon scale runes too.

There was no way Yi Yun was refusing such a good thing.

“A group of people challenging me? Isn’t that too shameful… I’ll be scared.” Yi Yun gave a look of helplessness.

“Heh! Now you know fear? Too late!” A man behind Li Hong said with a grin, “Now even if you were to kowtow to Brother Hong, it would be useless. You will end up being beaten till your bones break and will then have to spend all of your fortune on medicines!”

When this man said it, the others behind Li Hong began to laugh heartily.

“Just because of herb-picking, you got some dog-shit luck in picking a half-dead primordial herb, you think you are capable? Strength is what matters in the Tai Ah Divine City. There’s no fucking use if you are good at picking herbs! By offending our Hongdao Association, don’t expect to survive the next six years in the Tai Ah Divine City!”

“You hick from the Cloud Wilderness, when you enter the arena, I’ll let you know the power of the geniuses from the imperial capital’s families!”

Seeing that they had oppressed Yi Yun, Li Hong’s men were all very happy. Some of them came from the Zhong state’s imperial capital’s families. They were born with a sense of superiority and looked down on other family clans in other states, not to mention a person from the Cloud Wilderness.

Previously, when Yi Yun was being arrogant in front of them, they had wanted to give Yi Yun a good beating. Now that they had oppressed Yi Yun, how could they not add a few more slanders?

But… Li Hong frowned. He felt that Yi Yun was not being truthful. It seemed like he was completely unafraid…

This kid was not timid at all!

“Things don’t change. Kid, just you wait!”

After saying these words, Li Hong led his followers away.

Zhou Kui was left standing there like a dummy. He did not know what to say.

He had originally thought Li Hong wanted to absorb Yi Yun into the Hongdao Association, yet this unexpected result happened…

As for the other cultivators in the cook house, they were all shocked. Most of them were rookies and they did not dare to offend a strong power like the Hongdao Association. They saw Yi Yun get persecuted by the Hongdao Association in a blink of an eye. There were even pledges of beating Yi Yun up so severely in the arena that he would go bankrupt from eating medicine.

How was Yi Yun going to survive in the future?

Many looked at Yi Yun with pity. Li Hong was a second year soldier. He was going to be in the Tai Ah Divine City for another five years!

“Yi… Yi Yun… I did not expect… it would end up like that.” Zhou Kui swallowed a mouthful of saliva and muttered. Although he had always been competing with Yi Yun, they were not life-and-death rivals, he did not wish for this upon Yi Yun.

After all, he was just thirteen years old, and Zhou Kui had always been one-minded. Even in a dispute, he did not really want to cause death on the other.

Zhou Kui felt that he had caused harm to Yi Yun by bringing Li Hong and gang.

Yi Yun was very open-minded. He smiled and picked up the meat on his table and carried on eating. He said unclearly, “Small matter. Don’t mind it. Do you want to eat? This meat tastes great.”

“Uh…” Zhou Kui was speechless. Yi Yun could still eat his meat at this time!

204 - : I’ll be scared

The news that Yi Yun had publicly humiliated the Hongdao Association in the low class cook house quickly spread.

Among the rookies, the Hongdao Association and Yi Yun were respectively an organization and someone they paid close attention to. It was obvious with the Hongdao Association; it always had a high prestige among rookies. Yi Yun had recently had a windfall by picking a primordial herb. He was considered an influential figure among the rookies, so many people paid close attention to him.

For such a person to be at odds with such an organization, it was definitely something worth watching among the first and second year rookies.

They also knew that, after Yi Yun finished his rookie job, he would specifically be ‘taken care’ of. Yi Yun would probably be in trouble.

The Hongdao Association had absorbed many talents amongst this batch of first year rookies!

They were very fast to act. A month ago, just as the rookies entered the Tai Ah Divine City, the Hongdao Association began to lock onto many targets. Those who were talent-spotted by the Hongdao Association came from the Zhong state’s capital’s family clans. They already had great reputations before entering the Tai Ah Divine City.

They had names like Capital’s Four Bully Lords, Imperial City’s Six Young Masters. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom capital was no doubt a place with the most number of family clans in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Those who could receive such titles were certainly not bad.

Li Hong also came from a family clan in the capital. Also, he had a wide social network and was very reputable. Many young masters gave him face, or it would not be easy for him to establish the Hongdao Association with such prestige amongst the rookies.

To absorb the young masters from the capital into the Hongdao Association, Li Hong had promised them many benefits.

But now, Yi Yun had humiliated the Hongdao Association. This was no doubt also an insult to these young bullies.

These young bullies were not angels. Back in the capital, due to their strong family backgrounds and their own talents, they could be said to be overbearing. They dominated and bullied. Normal people could do nothing against them.

After knowing that Yi Yun had said “go fuck yourself” to Li Hong in the cook house, their feathers were ruffled.

It was made worse when they heard that this kid Yi Yun came from the Cloud Wilderness. His background was worse than some family clan from a remote state. How outrageous could this be?

“This hick that came from the Cloud Wilderness is courting death? He dared to provoke Brother Hong? It’s already good that the bunch of us do not mess with others, but to think someone dares mess with us?”

“Fourth brother is right. It has always been us bullying others. Never has someone dared to bully us. Since this kid is sick of living, we will oblige him. When we enter the arena, the few of us will cripple him!”

The various little devils from the capital were all eager. They couldn’t wait to press Yi Yun into the ground while crushing his face.

Li Hong turned solemn and said, “Don’t underestimate this kid. He seems to have some skill. Although this primordial herb was picked due to it experiencing a calamity, I suspect it wasn’t that simple. By exchanging the primordial herb for dragon scale runes, his net worth is great!”

“Hahaha! Dragon scale runes?”

When the little bully lords of the capital heard this, their eyes lit up. “Brother Hong, now that you mention, I remember. Isn’t betting allowed in the arena? The few of us haven’t gone into the arena ever since coming to the Tai Ah Divine City. We are kind of tight on dragon scale runes. Now, a fat sheep has been served up to our doorstep!”

It was too difficult to earn dragon scale runes for rookies. It was the same for these young masters from the capital.

In the beginning, the Hongdao Association gave them some small benefits, but it was far from adequate, and soon they ran out.

Now, they suddenly remembered that betting was allowed in the arena. Besides, their target Yi Yun was loaded. This was a great opportunity bestowed by Heaven!

If they did not rip Yi Yun off, it would really be their loss.

“Don’t worry Brother Hong. We’ll make sure he loses till he loses his underpants.”

“The few of us will begin saving dragon scale runes from today. If not, when the day comes, we might not have enough dragon scale runes to kill this kid.”

The small bully lords soon came to an agreement.

A Hongdao Association Chief said, “Don’t worry. In the event you lack the dragon scale runes, the association will support you. We must make sure the kid loses his underpants!”

“Yes… You guys do as you see fit.” Li Hong muttered and nodded with some hesitation.

As such, the Hongdao Association publicized their intentions. They would beat Yi Yun like a dough into noodles at the arena and at the same time, make Yi Yun lose his underpants.

The news spread amongst the first and second year recruits. They had no relations with Yi Yun, so naturally, they were not too worried about Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s luck was too fate-defying. Humans tend to be jealous. Since the cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City were all competitors to one another, seeing Yi Yun easily earn a large amount of dragon scale runes made them jealous. Now that Yi Yun was quickly going to be in trouble, many felt a sense of schadenfreude.

They wanted to see what Yi Yun’s thoughts on this would be, and how he would react.

Many thought that having earned a huge amount of dragon scale runes, Yi Yun had no need to carry on picking herbs. One could only earn tens of dragon scale runes a day picking herbs, what use was that for?

Yi Yun should now be quickly exchanging them for resources, training hard. Even though cramming before the battle was insufficient, at least he wouldn’t lose too badly.

But… On the second day, many of them saw Yi Yun carrying his herb basket, as if he was not involved in it. He carefreely went to pick herbs.

It was as if nothing had happened.

Many turned dumbfounded upon seeing this. This was too ridiculous!

“Yi Yun… You are still picking herbs?”

Someone could not help but ask.

Yi Yun looked at the person with an odd look and said in a matter-of-fact manner, “Of course I have to pick herbs. There’s still a month left. I plan to break the herb-picking record.”

Breaking the record?

When the people heard this, they were dumbfounded.

To many people, the phrase “breaking record” was too distant. Even the lowest record like picking herbs was shocking to hear. They could not react in time.

The people watched Yi Yun enter the teleportation array, and with a flash of light, Yi Yun disappeared.

“This kid actually wants to break the record…”

“That primordial herb seemed to have given him a 10,000 dragon scale runes reward… but to break a record, it wouldn’t be simple…”

“He sure is ambitious. With people planning to besiege him, yet he tries to break the record with full composure. Isn’t he afraid that he will beaten into a cripple in another month or two? Or… is he confident? But those who came to the Tai Ah Divine City are all talented. He may be able to trump against many in his small world, but he does not know how big the world is, and how strong others can be.”

People discussed animately. These people were all proud sons of Heaven from all across the lands. They too thought they were awesome in the past, but soon they knew their place.

There were too many formidable people in the Tai Ah Divine City.

Yi Yun was of course, uninterested in the discussions between these people. At this time, he had already arrived in the #60 herb mountain.

The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi here was extremely rich and it was a good place for cultivation.

Yi Yun stood in a empty ground in the woods. He took out a palm-sized jade scroll. The front of the jade scroll was engraved with a golden dragon and on the back were the words “Tai Ah” in ancient script.

This jade scroll was the first volume of the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”!

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom strictly controlled the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”. Those who exchanged for the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” had to strictly safeguard it. If it was found out that one privately circulated it, both the circulator and the ones who secretly learned it would be punished severely.

Yi Yun slowly inserted his consciousness into the jade scroll. He could feel an ancient aura surge towards him. It was like a mystic door had appeared in front of him before slowly opening, revealing the truth of infinite mysteries.

Yi Yun knew these were the nomological truths.

A cultivation technique like the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” included within it nomological truths, and this was not something that could be described with words.

Previously when Yi Yun learned the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”, once he obtained the manual, he could easily make a copy.

But he could not copy the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”. Only when Yi Yun completely learned the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” could he be able to carve the nomological truths he understood into a jade scroll; hence, creating a copy of the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” that could be circulated for future generations.

Everyone’s understanding of the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” was different. There were tiny differences in the nomological truths engraved within. So a jade scroll like the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” had different qualities.

The “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” jade scroll provided by the Tai Ah Divine City was of high quality, making it very expensive. This was only lent to the cultivators for learning. They still had to return it in the future.

If it was lost, there would be serious repercussions!

205 - : Loses underpants

Before Yi Yun had the chance to properly learn the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”, he had many preconceptions of the top cultivation technique of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. He was guessing what this set of cultivation techniques would be like, and today, he finally had the chance to see what it really was like.

But when Yi Yun saw the first volume of the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”, he was extremely surprised.

The first volume of the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” only had a few word formulas and some general principles. Other than that, there was only one picture.

This picture was the main focus of the first volume of the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”.

Yi Yun stumbled because his preconceived notion of a cultivation technique was one that was full of text.

The higher the cultivation technique’s level, the more esoteric text there would be which needed one to understand the concept of the text.

But now, a picture was the first volume of a cultivation technique?

This picture was that of the Sun.

When Yi Yun looked at it, he gradually developed a strange feeling. Although this was just a picture of the Sun, he felt that it emitted an infinite brilliance, as if it was as bright as the Sun in the sky!

This picture…

Yi Yun took in a light breath. He felt that the person who drew this picture had an unusual technique. He had drawing skills of the highest caliber. Every stroke contained an indescribable concept within it that evaded his understanding.

“No wonder the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ is loaned out at such an expensive price! This jade scroll is extremely precious. There’s no way for others to copy this picture of the Sun!”

“In the entire Tai Ah Divine City, there are probably only a few jade scroll copies of the first three volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. And each jade scroll might have been drawn by a peerless sage in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s millions of years of existence. If one was not the best among the sages, one would not be able to draw this out. Even a current Elder from the Tai Ah Divine City might not have the ability to do this!”

“And this is only the first three volumes. The other volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ might even have fewer copies. The price would naturally be more expensive!’

Yi Yun was enlightened. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom strictly regulated the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ due to two reasons. Firstly, the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was a cornerstone of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, and was not to be spread out easily. Secondly, it was because there were too few jade scroll records of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. Since it was a precious resource, not everyone could be given the chance to cultivate it.

Only the best among the best could learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!

Yi Yun carried on looking. Below the picture of the Sun was a paragraph of text. These were the general principles of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!

The general principles were in four-word stanzas, with a total of 27 stanzas, making up a total of 108 words!

“Sunrise from Tang Valley, Roaming across the World, Spreading Light Onto World, Brilliant Glorious Magnificent Luster, Ten Suns (arise) from Fusang (a mythological tree or a mysterious land to the East), Who Masters Pure Yang…”

Despite these words being unclear in meaning, there was a mysterious sense of charm reading it. It felt catchy and was smooth to recite.

Yi Yun read it more than ten times in a row. The more he read, the more thoughts he acquired!

He felt as if those words were coming to life. Each word contained within it a spiritual essence. Each stroke was like a sword, with unmatched sharpness!

It was really nicely written!

These words were like the picture of the Sun, and just its shape contained an indescribable concept within it that needed time for one to slowly understand.

Even a mortal calligrapher with excellent drawing skills had no way of producing such a charm.

Although Yi Yun could not understand the concept of the principles and the picture of the sun combined together, but just from reading the principles, Yi Yun felt his blood flow speeding up. It was as if a nice and warm energy was entering his bone marrow.

“Good drawing, good text and good calligraphy!”

Yi Yun could not help but praise it. It was no wonder the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was the cornerstone skill of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. When comparing it to the cultivation techniques Yi Yun had previously seen, they were like fireflies in contrast with the bright moon!

Yi Yun voraciously read the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, and tried understanding the charm within the 108 words.

The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was broad and deep. Yi Yun wasn’t able to understand many aspects of it.

Unknowingly, a day passed.

Until sunset, Yi Yun took a long breath. This day had passed so fast!

“The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ sure is difficult. Just trying to grasp it by myself would get me stuck. I need a teacher…”

Yi Yun muttered to himself.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, there were many powerful people. These people would occasionally open up classes to teach. As long as one paid a specified dragon scale runes, they could attend the class.

If one was extremely rich, one could even get a sage Elder to give one-on-one advice by paying enough glory points.

Of course, the average person was not so extravagant. Obtaining advice from a sage may be good, but to spend glory points on it would make many people think through it carefully.

When Yi Yun returned to the Tai Ah Divine City, it was already dark and there were no lessons taught by strong experts.

But this was alright. Yi Yun went to the Ten Thousand Pagoda and rented a visual array disk from the Ten Thousand Pagoda.

This array disk had recorded the scene of an expert teaching the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ to a few geniuses four years ago in the Tai Ah Divine City.

And these geniuses in the Divine City were no ordinary people.

One of them was the current number one on both the Heaven and Earth ranking, Qin Haotian!

Because this lesson was taught in great detail, it was a classic. The students were high in quality, so the lesson’s content was made into many visual disk arrays. They were then rented and sold in the Ten Thousand Pagoda.

For four continuous years, this set of disk arrays had great sales. Those who had the chance to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ would certainly not miss it.

Even those who did not have the chance to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ would rent it out of curiosity.

After all, this disk array’s rental price was cheap. With nothing to lose, many watched it hoping they might get lucky.

Of course, they gained nothing from that.

After all, the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was too difficult. Even those with the cultivation technique jade scroll might not master it, not to mention those without the cultivation technique jade scroll. Just from listening to the class made it even more difficult!

“A lesson from four years ago… By watching a disk array, although it’s not as good as being there, it wouldn’t differ that much.”

With this thought in mind, he played around with the disk array in his hands.

The core of the disk array was an exquisite illusion array. It could record the scenes that had previously taken place. With the power of desolate bone relics, it could store the images for a hundred years.

By injecting some Yuan Qi into it, Yi Yun suddenly saw visions from the disk array.

The first thing he saw was a man in a black cloak.

This black cloaked man was thin, and across his face were three parallel lines that formed a startling scar. It was as if he had been scratched by a desolate beast’s claws.

“It’s him!”

Yi Yun was surprised. This black-cloaked man was none other than the law-enforcer who brought him to see Elder Jian Ge!

“This man is powerful! In the Tai Ah Divine City, besides the Elders, this cloaked man’s strength is probably at the top…”

Yi Yun muttered to himself and looked at the students attending the lesson.

There were four males and a female. One of the youths was dressed in linen clothes. His eyebrows were sharp and his eyes bright like the stars. There were two swords crossed across his back.

His whole being was like a sword, and he had a very oppressive aura.

Qin Haotian!

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. He was not familiar with Qin Haotian, but he had heard of Qin Haotian’s distinguishing features. His weapon was a pair of swords. One long and one short, both extremely sharp.

This was the Qin Haotian from four years ago. At that time, Qin Haotian was only thirteen-years-old!

Beside Qin Haotian was a youth carrying a bow. He was tall and skinny. His eyes were narrow but sharp.

“Could this be Li Xiao?”

Yi Yun had heard of the name Li Xiao a few days ago. Back then, Yi Yun was in the shooting range to practice his archery skills. He had seen a few normal arrows pierce all the way through the purple tungsten target.

Those arrows were shot by Li Xiao.

When Yi Yun borrowed the disk array, he had seen its introduction. It said that the four males and a female that were attending the lesson were all influential people on the Heaven and Earth rankings. This was no coincidence. Those who had the qualification to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ had to be the best of the best. Besides people like Qin Haotian and Li Xiao, other people had no right to listen to the cloaked man’s lectures.

“This girl… she must be Luo Huo’er…”

Yi Yun looked at the only girl among the five people.

Luo Huo’er from four years ago was slim and graceful.

She wore a red dress, and her face was a healthy pink. She had a pair of dimples on her cheeks. Her pair of eyes gave people a spiritual feeling when she smiled.

“Luo Huo’er, Qin Haotian, Li Xiao and the other two must be great people on the Heaven and Earth rankings. They must be a pair of brothers. They are known as the Tai Ah Twin Heroes. As for who is older, I do not know…”

Yi Yun muttered to himself, and at this time, the cloaked man began teaching.

He used his deep but hoarse voice to recite the principles of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, “Sunrise from Tang Valley, Roaming across the World, Spreading Light Onto World, Brilliant Glorious Magnificent Luster…”

The cloaked man’s voice was not melodious, but when he read the principles of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, there was a special charm in it.

Yi Yun could not help but be spellbound.

The principles written in the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ had a concept, but it could be read in such a special manner?

Just from this, Yi Yun knew that the cloaked-man had learned the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ to a very high level.

Unknowingly, Yi Yun felt as if he was sitting beside Qin Haotian, Luo Huo’er from four years ago, listening to the teachings of the cloaked man.

“The most difficult part of learning the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ is to condense Radiant Sun Qi! Back when the founding emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was explaining the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, he said that, only when one can condense Radiant Sun Qi would one be suitable for cultivating the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. If not, it would be best for you to switch cultivation techniques. The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ might not be suitable for you.”

“Among every five people who learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, there might not even be one who can condense Radiant Sun Qi…”

The black-cloaked man’s words startled Yi Yun. Although the ratio of one in five was not too great an exaggeration, one had to recall that those who could learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ were the best of the best. Even amongst such people, there was a four out of five chance of failing!

“The few of you are people who I appreciate. You are also the first batch in the second year recruits to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. My requirement is for all of you is to condense Radiant Sun Qi. Do not disappoint me!”

206 - : Sunrise from Tang Valley

The black-cloaked man began teaching Qin Haotian and company. With a change in tone, he said, “The Radiant Sun Qi has different grades! The Radiant Sun Qi that I have is the three-legged Golden Crow.”

While saying this, the black-cloaked man spread out his arms. His body began to crackle and suddenly, like a burning flame, a terrifying energy exploded from the cloaked man’s body.

It was a rising Qi that surged up into the air. It was as if, at that moment, the cloaked man’s body had turned into the Sun and it was extremely hot!

So powerful!

Yi Yun was shocked. Even while watching a visual array disk, he experienced tremendous pressure bearing down on him. If he was there in person, this feeling would be even more intense!

Yi Yun faintly saw the image of a Golden Crow in the Radiant Sun Qi that was surging behind the black-cloaked man. This Golden Crow had three claws and its wings were spread out, giving off flames!

This was the Golden Crow Radiant Sun Qi?

Yi Yun looked at Qin Haotian and company. He saw that they had all retreated far away. They could not withstand the pressure from the Radiant Sun Qi that the cloaked man emitted.

With a flash, the cloaked man’s withdrew his Radiant Sun Qi. It could be said he had complete control over it.

“Terrifying!” Qin Haotian’s eyes lit up. This strength was endearing!

“Now, all of you have just begun practicing the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. To be able to condense Radiant Sun Qi would be impressive! If you have the talent, you can cause the Radiant Sun Qi to turn into an illusionary image. If you can create the valleys, then that will be the Tang Valley Radiant Sun Qi. By reaching this stage, it can be said that your talent is amazing!”

Tang Valley level?

Yi Yun said to himself, “Sunrise from Tang Valley, Roaming across the World!”

The Tang Valley was the legendary place from where the Sun rose. The Sun would rise from the Tang Valley and move across the sky as it roamed across the world.

Hence the words: Sunrise from Tang Valley, Roaming across the World.

The Tang Valley was the beginning step of the Radiant Sun Qi!

“Everything is difficult in the beginning. The first thing you need to do is remember this picture of the Sun. Now, use your Yuan Qi to draw out the picture in your soul. When you can completely draw out the picture of the Sun, even with a minimal charm to it, then you would have reached the small success stage of the first volume of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.”

“To those who completely learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, there will be an eternal picture of the Sun within their soul that looks extremely life like! This is the foundation to learning the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!”

Using one’s Yuan Qi to draw the picture of the Sun?

Qin Haotian and company were absorbed in thought. After some moment of consideration, they closed their eyes and began reproducing the picture of the Sun in the first volume of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

Yi Yun slightly sighed. The cloaked man’s advice made Yi Yun feel as if he found a breakthrough.

Controlling Yuan Qi…

Yi Yun closed his eyes and with his spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal. Soon, he started to control the Yuan Qi within his body as if he was using his finger.

To Yi Yun, controlling energy and Yuan Qi was extremely easy.

“Doesn’t seem difficult…” Yi Yun began to draw the picture of the Sun according to the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

First it was the outline, followed by the sunlight, the flames…

Layer upon layer of images were drawn from Yuan Qi, giving it the feeling of a beautiful watercolor render.

But, Qin Haotian, Li Xiao and the Tai Ah Twin Heroes’ Qiao brothers in the visual array disk had completely different thoughts.

The energy they controlled were sometimes too light and other times too heavy.

Ignoring the control of energy, just think about using a hand to draw. One might have a thought in mind, but what one drew would look different from what one thought. Even commoners would find drawing a straight line without a ruler difficult.

At this time, Qin Haotian and company had sweat droplets on their forehead and they were frowning.

Drawing the picture of the Sun was extremely difficult.

Failure after failure, they tried again.

Failure meant another time!

With these people spiritual power, controlling Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to kill their enemy was not difficult, but to control the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to draw, they found it very tiring.

A moment of carelessness could easily disperse the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi they had set up.

Difficult! Too difficult!

Qin Haotian wiped his sweat. However, he knew that this step was extremely important.

In fact, the most important thing in the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was this ‘concept’!

It was not realistic to understand the concept within the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in one go, but there was the saying, “Read a book a hundred times and its meaning will appear”.

Even the most esoteric book could be understood after reading and writing it many times.

The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was the same. If one could use one’s own body to copy the picture of the Sun, and then by copying the 108 words that made up the principles, with each word containing the concepts, one could reach a great state in practicing the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!

Among Qin Haotian and company, the person who was more relaxed was Luo Huo’er.

As a Desolate Heaven Master, Luo Huo’er’s spiritual energy was stronger than Qin Haotian and the rest.

But even so, Luo Huo’er was also wrinkling her tiny nose and her cheeks turned red.

Seconds changed to minutes, Qin Haotian and company were working hard at drawing the picture. However, Yi Yun had almost completed half of the picture.

Till now, Yi Yun had not encountered a situation of losing control over his energy. There were very few spots that were not perfect.

The cloaked man began explaining again. He taught the techniques used to draw the picture and at the same time, he explained the concept of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

“You must use your ‘heart’ to look at this picture of the Sun. The process is very monotonous, but it is the foundation. Once the foundation is well laid out, it will be of great benefit to you in the future when you master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!”

“All of you have just begun. If you can finish about 5% of it in your first day, it is considered good. If you complete 10%, you are a talented genius!” The cloaked man encouraged Qin Haotian and company, but at this time, Yi Yun had completed 60%. He was six times better than the “talented genius” the cloaked man mentioned.

These results were quite ridiculous!

But even so, Yi Yun did not slack off. He was fully focused on drawing the picture. When he reached 65%, Yi Yun finally found it difficult.

Although it was difficult, Yi Yun still felt excited.

He could clearly feel that, as he was trying to draw the picture, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in his body was rapidly circulating. The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng energy he had absorbed was now entering the picture on its own, it was slowly becoming a part of the picture.

The Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s energy was pure Yang Qi!

It complemented the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!

In the past, Yi Yun had absorbed plenty of energy from the Wilderness Divine Hall and the #60 herb mountain, but without a cultivation technique, Yi Yun’s body could not hold on to all of the energy. With the passage of time, the energy Yi Yun absorbed slowly wasted away.

But now, it was different. The picture drawn within Yi Yun’s mind was like a energy pool. It could contain all of the energy that Yi Yun had absorbed. And the energy would circulate according to certain laws, causing Yi Yun’s cultivation level to strengthen in an intangible way!

Now, Yi Yun had not completely mastered the first volume of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ yet, but he had already received many benefits from it. How could he not be excited?

When he was nearly 70% close to completion of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ picture, Yi Yun began to feel his body enter a hungry state.

Yi Yun had not felt like this for a long time.

This was his body’s thirst for energy!

As such, it meant that Yi Yun’s cultivation level was about to rise again.

“Pure Yang power is most suitable for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. If only there was another Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng…” Yi Yun said to himself. He had handed over the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, but it was alright, there was still the Wilderness Divine Hall!

After handing over the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, Yi Yun had earned 10,000 dragon scale runes and 3 glory points. But after exchanging some of it for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, he had spent the whole 10,000 dragon scale runes and he was down to only one glory point.

But, Yi Yun still obtained close to 2000 dragon scale runes from handing over the Blood Yang Flower.

Added on with the two hour Wilderness Divine Hall cultivation time reward from Wang and Baldy Qin each, Yi Yun could enter the Wilderness Divine Hall for more than six hours.

Yi Yun had already decided that when he reached his limit at drawing the picture, he would enter the Wilderness Divine Hall to eat his fill!

As such, Yi Yun had spent the entire night drawing the picture of the Sun.

Early in the morning, Yi Yun was exhausted and his eyes were bloodshot.

His picture was 70% complete at this point!

At this moment, Yi Yun had no way of adding more to it.

After meditating for two hours, he adjusted his state back to normal. Following that, he went straight to the Wilderness Divine Hall.

The person guarding the Wilderness Divine Hall was still the white-bearded old man, who exchanged blows with Yi Yun. This old man was dressed in a white robe, and there was a red gem embedded between his eyebrows.

“You came again.” The old man was seated on a chair in front of a chessboard. He was playing against himself. Seeing Yi Yun, he casually greeted him, as if he was very familiar with Yi Yun and he did not treat Yi Yun as an outsider.

“Senior, this junior wants to choose a primordial species that has pure Yang power. Is there such a thing?”

“Pure Yang power?” The old man looked at Yi Yun with a thoughtful glance. He slowly placed the chess piece down. “Hehe, Kid, I heard that you got some dog shit luck and you picked a primordial herb. How was it? You exchanged for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’?”

This old man easily guessed the reason why Yi Yun wanted a pure Yang power.

Uh…

Yi Yun touched his nose. The three words “dog shit luck” made him speechless. He said, “I had good luck, but I had to use a certain amount of strength…”

The way Yi Yun stressed it made people think he was being young and impetuous. As such, it made people less suspicious.

“Ah! You young ones sure have ambition. You are beginning to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ so early. This stuff isn’t easy to learn, don’t end up crying if you can’t grasp it!”

The old man was improper, but he still answered Yi Yun’s question, “If you want to feel pure Yang power, go into Hall 6! It has what you want!”

207 - : Picture of the Sun

With a flash coming from the Wilderness Divine Hall’s door, Yi Yun was shrouded by light, and in the next moment, he was teleported into the Wilderness Divine Hall 6.

Hot!

This was Yi Yun’s first impression.

The temperature in the room was close to boiling point. If an ordinary mortal were to enter here, they would instantly turn into steam!

There was a blood-red sculpture in the middle of the hall. This sculpture was of a big fire bird.

The fire bird had its wings spread out, it looked like it wanted to cry out into the sky. Its feathers, which were soaked in Great Yan gold, looked like burning flames.

The Great Yan gold is originally black in color, but when light shines on it, it would reflect a dark golden sheen.

But this Great Yan gold sculpture inside Hall 6 looked blood red. This was because the pure Yang energy the fire bird had merged within the Great Yan gold over a long period of time and it eventually turned into this color.

“The founding city lord of the Tai Ah Divine City surely chose it well. To have an ancient three legged Golden Crow primordial species…” Yi Yun pondered over it. This fire bird’s name was Rainbow Blood Feather.

How could the Tai Ah Divine City, being the symbol of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, not have a pure Yang primordial species within its Wilderness Divine Hall?

If it did not have one, then future generations would find it difficult to practice the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

Back when the founding city lord of the Tai Ah Divine City built the Wilderness Divine Hall, he had chased the pure Yang Rainbow Blood Feather across half the Divine wilderness!

When the Wilderness Divine Hall was built, the Rainbow Blood Feather was placed in Hall 6. The Hall was inscribed with arrays that gathered pure Yang Qi. This caused Hall 6 to maintain a hot temperature over the tens of millions of years. The closer one approached the Rainbow Blood Feather, the higher the temperature was.

The tiles below the Rainbow Blood Feather had been baked red. Over many years, all the impurities in the tiles had been burned away. Even the tiles were considered treasures.

“Rainbow Blood Feather…” Yi Yun looked at the formidable fire bird sculpture. He could feel wave after wave of energy and pressure heading towards him like a tsunami. The blood within his body began circulating rapidly.

The Rainbow Blood Feather’s pure Yang energy was much better than the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

Yi Yun had his spiritual energy interface with the Purple Crystal. In his vision, it was a fiery red scene.

Ever since he had absorbed the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, Yi Yun’s mental powers had improved. Having formed the Heaven’s eyeball, his control over the Purple Crystal had increased.

Now, Yi Yun could easily use the Purple Crystal to absorb the primordial species’ energy through the Great Yan gold.

Soon, the first energy blob flew towards Yi Yun.

This energy blob was the size of a pigeon egg. There was a small, cute fire bird in it. This fire bird looked exactly like the Rainbow Blood Feather. Each feather looked lifelike and they could be clearly seen.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and calmed his mind. After that, he opened his mouth and began to swallow the energy blob.

Suddenly, Yi Yun clearly felt that the pure Yang energy surged through his limbs. Yi Yun controlled this energy masterfully and with one complete circulation in his body, the energy entered into the picture of the Sun.

With the picture of the Sun within his body, Yi Yun’s body ability to hold and control energy greatly increased. If Yi Yun’s body was said to be a water reservoir, then the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi would be the water. Now, having learnt the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, Yi Yun’s reservoir had been dug deeper, so he could freely absorb the energy, filling up the reservoir once again.

Blob after blob of pure Yang energy flew towards Yi Yun. The Rainbow Blood Feather, as a primordial species, had energy that was in no way inferior to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng in terms of purity. After going through the Great Yan gold and the pure Yang array for tens of millions of years, the energy quality was much better than the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng!

Of course, the most beneficial thing Yi Yun got from absorbing the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was not the energy itself, it was his Heaven’s eyeball, which he formed using its energy. This was an unexpected surprise.

In the next two hours, Yi Yun dedicated himself to absorbing the pure primordial species energy. As the picture of the sun in his soul became more and more complete, Yi Yun’s understanding of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ also grew deeper.

…

Day after day, Yi Yun would allocate time to cultivate in the day and at night. By absorbing the pure Yang energy within the Wilderness Divine Hall, he slowly copied the Sun picture in his mind. Yi Yun’s cultivation level also became more solid as he did so. The picture of the Sun slowly increased in completion. It went from 70% to 75% and then to 85%, all the way to 90%.

These days, Yi Yun’s Dantian was like a burning flame. Slowly, his cultivation level reached the peak of the mid-stages of Purple Blood and it was moving towards the late-stages of Purple Blood.

But at this time, Yi Yun had used up all the cultivation time he had left in the Wilderness Divine Hall.

Just a bit more…

The sun picture within Yi Yun’s mind was nearly complete. If he could not enter the Wilderness Divine Hall at this time, it would be a pity.

He just needed six more hours of Wilderness Divine Hall cultivation time to complete his Sun picture.

Yi Yun frowned slightly. If he were to pick herbs to earn dragon scale runes, it would be too slow. To earn 3000 dragon scale runes, he needed to pick herbs for at least another 7-8 days. Then, he wouldn’t be able to finish the first stage of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in one go. If he carried on 7-8 days later, he would lose his momentum and waste a lot of mental energy.

“Right!” Yi Yun’s mind suddenly had a flash of brilliance. He thought of an easy solution. “How could I forget this? It shouldn’t be a problem then.”

…

In the central square of the Tai Ah Divine City, there was an inconspicuous building behind the Ten Thousand Pagoda. This building was thirty meters tall and looked ordinary from the outside.

But this building held painful memories for many cultivators.

This was the Tai Ah Divine City’s bank. It provided loan and pawning services to cultivators.

The loan interest were abnormally high. Rookies had to pay a monthly interest rate of 12%, while non-rookies had to pay a 15% monthly interest rate.

Back then, when Zhao Qingcheng had to ask Yi Yun for help. it was because of the high-interest loan she had borrowed from this bank. That amount was just tens of dragon scale runes. Yi Yun did not ask for it back since Zhao Qingcheng had helped him quite a lot.

Yi Yun came to the bank to borrow money. He wanted to borrow 3000 dragon scale runes and he wanted return it in a month. He just needed to pay 360 dragon scale runes as interest. To Yi Yun, this was nothing.

The bank’s loaning procedures were not complicated. Although Yi Yun was a rookie, he had previously had a large number of dragon scale runes, so he had a high credit limit. According to the Tai Ah Divine City’s various regulations, Yi Yun had a 5000 credit limit.

Yi Yun planned to only borrow 3000, but when he entered the bank he encountered a strange group of cultivators.

Within the bank were four youths. They were dressed in silk. Their body figures were interesting. One was tall, another short, another fat and another thin.

The four of them stood together, completing a height and weight set. It gave a comical feeling.

“Manager, how much do you think this could be pawned for?”

Not many people dared to borrow from the bank’s usury. And to these rich young masters, borrowing from a bank was pretty disgraceful.

Hence, if they needed money, most of the time they would choose another method, which was to pawn.

Many young masters pawned items that they had brought from their family clans. The Divine City did not encourage such behavior, hence they greatly lowered the valuation of the pawned item!

An item, when pawned in the Tai Ah Divine City, would usually be devalued by half.

But there was no other choice. Many young masters would still come to pawn their items since the Tai Ah Divine City had many resources that could not be obtained elsewhere.

“500 dragon scale runes!”

The pawning manager had a moustache. He was a middle-aged man who wore a small felt hat, which gave him a common businessman look.

Each item was just scanned with his eyes half-opened. In a few seconds, he would evaluate the items and give them a price. The quoted price was final and those who didn’t agree with it could choose not to sell it!

“500, so little…” The tall youth was upset, but after some thought, he bit his teeth and said, “I’ll pawn it!’

“Second brother, don’t worry about it. Right now, what we are lacking is dragon scale runes. With this item pawned, we can redeem it back in the future if you want it.” The short one amongst the four youths spoke. As he said it, he raised his hand over his head to pat the tall youth’s shoulder. Due to the difference in heights, it looked very out of place.

“By pawning our items, we can use the dragon scale runes we get to bet with that fool Yi Yun next month. By then, 500 will turn into a thousand and a thousand will turn into two thousand. In a short while, we will earn everything back!” The short youth said it with ease.

The fat youth by his side echoed, “Right. This kid Yi Yun dared to offend our Hongdao Association. It’s best to start with him! Brothers, this battle will be our, the Capital’s Four Bully Lords, it will be our first battle in the Tai Ah Divine City. We must ensure that the name ‘The Capital’s Four Bully Lords’ becomes famous. In the future, the four of us will become famous in the Tai Ah Divine City. We will use Yi Yun as our flag in this first battle!”

The fat guy’s words made the others excited. Having the Capital’s Four Bully Lords dominate the Tai Ah Divine City was an exciting thing to think about!

At this point, not far away from them, Yi Yun’s facial expression was odd. These four people’s words made him puzzled.

Bet with that fool Yi Yun? Were they talking about him?

This made Yi Yun at a loss over whether to laugh or cry. He understood that these people were from the Hongdao Association.

They came to the bank to obtain money. However, as they came from a prestigious background, they had items to pawn. It did not matter if they couldn’t return the money in the future.

And the reason for them pawning their items was to bet on the battle with him in a month!

Rookies did not earn a lot of dragon scale runes, but they had large expenditures. It was natural that they did not have many dragon scale runes to gamble with.

And to many rookies, the battle in a month’s time would be their best opportunity to earn dragon scale runes.

As for Yi Yun, having arrived in the Tai Ah Divine City, he had chosen the herb-picking job that the least capable people did. Together with his Cloud Wilderness background, his strength couldn’t be any good. Yet, he picked a primordial herb, making him worth a lot. Was he not the perfect lamb for the slaughter?

208 - : Rainbow Blood Feather

“We’ll pawn it all!” The Capital’s Four Bully Lords said in an unrestrained manner and they placed all of the items they had brought with them onto the table.

“Brothers, keep it up. Our goal will not only be Yi Yun. Yi Yun will just be the starter dish. We will rise up the rookie rankings, letting everyone know the power of the Capital’s Four Bully Lords!”

The fatty of the four-man group gave the concluding remark. He was the oldest amongst the four of them.

At this time, in the corner of his eye, he spotted a youth in linen clothes looking at them by the door. His stare was… very odd.

Fatty felt unhappy. Why was this kid looking at them? Had he never seen such an elegant and magnificent group?

“Who are you?” Fatty stared at Yi Yun.

“Me? Uh…” Yi Yun rubbed his chin and gave an even stranger look. “My name is Yi Yun, nice to meet you…”

“…” The Four Bully Lords stared wide-eyed at Yi Yun, with their mouths agape. They were talking about Yi Yun and he was actually standing behind them!?

“You are Yi Yun!?”

“You are the kid going against us, the Hongdao Association?” The tall member of the Four Bully Lords, Lofty casually pulled out a dagger and played with it in his hand.

He threw the dagger into the air again and again, sending flashes of light. It could be told in a glance that this dagger was no ordinary item.

“Kid, what have you come here for? Pawning something?” The four of them sized up Yi Yun. Their faces had looks of ridicule. They all thought that Yi Yun was here to pawn his items to prepare the betting amount for the rookie rankings.

Yi Yun shrugged and said, “Taking a loan.”

As he was saying this, Yi Yun had already filled up his IOU. He handed it over to the manager.

Warrior’s had good eyesight. With a glance, they could see that Yi Yun was making a loan of 3000 dragon scale runes!

Immediately, the Four Bully Lords were a little dumbfounded. He was not here to pawn, but to take a loan?

“Haha, come to think of it, this kid is a bumpkin from the Cloud Wilderness. He’s poor, so how could he have an item to pawn?”

“Taking a loan is good! Borrowing from a usury for gambling sure is promising!”

The Four Bully Lords thought that Yi Yun was here to borrow runes for the betting.

To borrow money for gambling, with the high-interest rates, was an unacceptable action to many. One could lose everything until they had nothing was left.

The Four Bully Lords’ Fatty excitedly rubbed his chin.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, if one could not repay one’s loan, one had to sleep on the streets. Besides, one could not leave the Tai Ah Divine City. To live on the streets for years would definitely be interesting.

Yi Yun could not be bothered to explain. After finishing the borrowing procedure, he took the 3000 dragon scale runes and then he ran towards the Wilderness Divine Hall.

Cultivation was a very boring matter. One had to endure being alone as well as endure the loneliness.

To martial art experts, training reclusively for 20-30 years and not eating or drinking for 400-500 years was very common. They could rely purely on absorbing Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and eating desolate bone relics for sustenance.

To control one’s own destiny, to not rot to dust after a hundred years, one had to endure the boredom and loneliness.

Yi Yun embarked on his cultivation journey of absorbing pure Yang energy and he finished drawing out the picture of the Sun.

Yi Yun was mesmerized within his own world. Later on, he locked himself in his room for three consecutive days. He did not sleep or rest, so his brain had become a bit numb.

In front of Yi Yun, there were seven to eight jade scrolls. These jade scrolls were blank jade scrolls Yi Yun had bought from the Ten Thousand Pagoda. He had used his Yuan Qi to inscribe the picture of the Sun within these jade scrolls.

Now, a picture of the Sun would appear in front of him whenever he closed his eyes. He could remember every stroke clearly.

Not only had he been continuously drawing this picture in his soul. He had also drawn on the jade scrolls a few hundred times.

But, the picture of the Sun within his soul was only 99% complete. He lacked something before it was perfect.

Yi Yun knew that this last 1% lacked a certain charm!

And this charm was the entire Sun picture’s essence. It was like a drawn dragon that was missing its eyes.

But the charm could not be copied. Even though Yi Yun’s control of his own energy was at its extreme, he had gained nothing despite doing this continuously for three days.

In the morning, Yi Yun’s eyes were bloodshot. He opened his door and walked out into the street.

The Sun rose in the East like a blur purple flame. Yi Yun squinted his eyes and looked at the Sun rising from the horizon.

“Sunrise from Tang Valley, Roaming across the World, Spreading Light Onto World, Brilliant Glorious Magnificent Luster, Ten Suns from Fusang, Who Masters Pure Yang…” Yi Yun recited the principles of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. The Sun rose and set everyday, as if it would never fall down the sky. It would shine on this Divine wilderness forever.

But ordinary humans had a much shorter lifespan in contrast.

Even those with power, who enjoyed wealth and had many concubines, would turn to dust after a few decades. To be enshrined in history and to be remembered by future generations was extremely difficult.

Even the Divine Kingdom’s Kingdom Knight’s and Baron’s lifespan was only a few hundred years. It was an insignificant existence in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, not to mention, in the entire vast wilderness.

Weak existences would feel tiny when they faced the vast world and the passage of time, which was infinite.

But there would always be people who did not wish to remain tiny.

They would search.

What would the future be like 10,000 years from now? What about a 100,000 years? 10,000,000 years? Did this world have an end to it?

What was at the end of the continent? Was there another piece of land across the ocean? Was there a sky above the skies?

These people would want to slowly control their own destiny. By conquering nature in the pursuit of balance, they would exist on the same level as the world!

Yi Yun was such a person.

In the past, he had no such possibility. Now, God had given him a chance. As a result, he wanted to pursue it with everything he had. He wanted to explore and see what it was like at the pinnacle of martial arts.

Pursuit…

Pinnacle…

Eternal…

There was the legend of Kua Fu who chased the Sun.

Kua Fu did not do this for wealth, for power or for beauties. All he wanted to know was where the Sun went when it set. What was at the ends of the horizons?

In the legends, Kua Fu never managed to catch up with the Sun due to the heat and exhaustion. He could not bear the thirst and he drank all the water from two rivers, but still, he died of thirst along the road.

This story seemed to make Kua Fu’s death silly. But his quest was in understanding the world and to triumph over it.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly felt an enlightenment…

He looked at the morning Sun in the East. He could see a rising purple gas.

Despite his tired body, he injected his spiritual energy into the Purple Crystal…

This time, he did not draw the picture according to the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ jade scroll, but he used the real morning Sun!

The pure Yang Qi began to circulate within Yi Yun’s body. Line after line of energy interwove together. Yi Yun was drawing a charm that belonged to him.

The pursuits of humans.

The pinnacle of the martial arts way.

The eternal nature…

One had to have pursuits and dreams in one’s life. What if it was achieved?

Yi Yun recited the words he had heard in his previous life. He closed his eyes and controlled the pure Yang Qi within his body. With his feeling, he guided the last stroke. He felt that this last stroke had an inexplicable power that belonged to the Sun. That eternal charm was stamped deeply into the picture of the Sun.

Instantly, the picture of the Sun in Yi Yun’s mind came alive.

“Boom!”

A burst of pure Yang fire exploded from Yi Yun’s Dantian. It burned and circulated around his body!

Yi Yun’s entire body felt like he was bathed in flames. He was like a Rainbow Blood Feather that was being reborn within the flames.

Suddenly, Yi Yun heard the sounds of eggshell cracking within his body.

With that, the energy within his body rose! More and more of it turned into a purple Qi that mixed with the pure Yang Qi in the East!

This energy became one with Yi Yun. Yi Yun felt like all of the cells in his body came alive at that very moment and they were respirating Heaven Earth Yuan Qi!

Yi Yun’s body was covered in a golden aura. It was like he had a metal cage within his body. There was a primordial species locked in the cage, and now the cage had been opened and the primordial species had been awoken!

A new, strange energy went through Yi Yun’s body!

The purple Qi grew richer. In the air, it slowly evolved into a long valley.

The blurred valley had trees and flowing rivers. But these trees and flowing rivers seemed to faintly appear within the pure Yang Qi, as if it was in a burning flame.

“Radiant Sun Qi! This is Radiant Sun Qi!” Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes. At this moment, his eyes were like the burning Sun!

Radiant Sun Qi… When he completed the picture of the Sun, he obtained Radiant Sun Qi!

The cloaked man had said that only one out of five people practicing the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ could condense Radiant Sun Qi. But now, Yi Yun had really condensed Radiant Sun Qi!

Furthermore, he had only been practicing the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ for half a month!

The Radiant Sun Qi image that had been formed looked like the Sun rising from the Tang Valley.

This meant that Yi Yun’s Radiant Sun Qi had a grade! This was the beginning step, the Tang Valley level of Radiant Sun Qi!

209 - : Radiant Sun Qi

The Radiant Sun Qi energized Yi Yun’s whole body. His body’s fatigue was wiped away. A brand new energy warmed Yi Yun’s body as it rejuvenated him.

The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ powered by the Radiant Sun Qi was the real ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!

The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was a compilation cultivation technique. But it was more biased towards internal energy, which allowed a warrior’s Yuan Qi to pool and it’s quality to increase. As for stances, the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ did not go too much into it.

With the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ powered, it was not limited to a particular weapon. It could be used whether it was a saber, a sword or a spear.

Yi Yun slung his Thousand Army Saber across his back and ran straight to the job office.

In a few more days, Yi Yun would turn thirteen. His height had increased, but compared to the ridiculous length of the Thousand Army Saber, he was still shorter.

As such, Yi Yun found it very inconvenient to carry the Thousand Army Saber around.

“If I have the chance, I must get myself a interspatial ring.” Yi Yun was thinking that, be it the Thousand Army Saber or the Tai Cang Bow, they were too long to sling across his back due to their length. It was alright to carry them during normal training, but to pick herbs in the #60 herb mountain, it was easy for him to get stuck among the woods when he was traveling through them.

But right now, Yi Yun was tight on money. He had a 3000 dragon scale rune loan and in a few more days, he needed to prepare dragon scale runes for gambling in the arena.

He had to wait before buying an interspatial ring. It was imperative that he prepared the amount needed for the betting.

And the only way to quickly accumulate wealth right now was to break the herb-picking record.

When Yi Yun appeared in the herb-picking office, the Thousand Army Saber across his back made him seem like he was carrying a flagpole on his back, this made him stand out.

“Little brother Yi Yun, it’s been a while since I saw you. I thought you wouldn’t be picking herbs after you obtained the primordial herb.” In the office, Zhao Qingcheng and company saw Yi Yun from far. They greeted him with a smile. For a boy that looked like the brother from next door, Zhao Qingcheng and her sisterly friends had a good impression of Yi Yun.

When they previously heard that Yi Yun had picked a primordial herb, they found it hard to believe. But after receiving a few rounds of confirmation, they knew it was not a joke. They sincerely felt happy for Yi Yun.

“Yes… I’ve been busy training the past few days, so I haven’t been to the herb mountain much.” Yi Yun shyly smiled.

“Hehe, Little brother Yi Yun sure is great. We were all hoping you would break the record! You were only lacking in a few thousand, but you didn’t come for about ten days…Now, there’s only twelve days left to the sixty-day limit…” Zhao Qingcheng said it with some regret.

Previously, Yi Yun had managed to accumulate 10,000 dragon scale runes from picking the primordial herb. Together with all the other miscellaneous herbs, he had picked about 14,000 dragon scale runes worth of herbs.

But the record set by Zhong Yi was about 19,000.

Yi Yun was still 5200 runes short of the record.

With twelve days left to pick 5200 runes worth of herbs, Yi Yun had to pick an average of 434 dragon scale runes worth of herbs a day to reach his goal.

This was not easy!

“You finally thought about picking herbs? I thought that after you had your windfall, you lost interest in picking herbs!” At this time, Wang spoke without much emotion from behind the herb-picking counter.

“Sis Wang sure likes to joke. I still plan to break the record!” Yi Yun grinned and greeted Wang.

“Break the record? Ha!” Wang placed one hand on the table and looked at Yi Yun with a deep gaze. “Kid, you sure are confident! Do you know how many dragon scale runes you are lacking?”

“I know!” Yi Yun said it directly. “I’ve counted it carefully. The recruit ranking match will begin soon. I want to use the dragon scale runes I earn for my betting!”

Upon hearing Yi Yun, Wang squinted her eyes and looked at Yi Yun. “To pick over 5000 dragon scale runes worth of herbs in twelve days, you can’t be hoping to pick some Heaven-ranked herbs…”

80% of the dragon scale runes Yi Yun had accumulated previously came from the Blood Yang Flower and the primordial herb. This was all due to luck, but Yi Yun had never really picked many low-grade herbs.

“I heard that you offended the Hongdao Association. The entire association has declared war on you…” Wang said in her leisurely tone. This matter had spread throughout the Tai Ah Divine City and it was especially known among the rookies. Zhao Qingcheng and her friends, of course, heard of this and they were all worried for Yi Yun.

“Yes, that’s why I need Sis Wang’s care and concern. The rookies from the association pawned all their belongings to gamble with me. If you don’t give me more dragon scale runes, I won’t be able to afford the bet…” Yi Yun said in a pathetic manner.

“Don’t give me that crap!” Wang said coldly. She gave a herb basket and a sickle to Yi Yun. After that, she said mildly, “Elder Jian Ge has increased the reward for breaking the herb-picking record. If you break the record, you will receive 25,000 dragon scale runes and 2 glory points.”

Wang’s apparently unintentional words made Yi Yun overjoyed.

This was timely help.

He really had to thank Elder Jian Ge.

“Don’t get happy too early. Break the record first!” Wang poured a bucket of cold water; however, although she kept attacking Yi Yun with her words, she was looking forward to Yi Yun’s next step.

Every since Yi Yun picked the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, Wang had a different kind of appreciation for Yi Yun. She faintly believed that this youth would one day soar in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

…

With a flash of the teleportation array’s beam, Yi Yun arrived at the #60 herb mountain for the first time in a long time.

Facing this familiar surroundings, Yi Yun took a deep breath. The #60 herb mountain’s Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was thick and fresh. It gave people a mind-refreshing feeling

With his spiritual energy interfacing with the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun used his recently formed Heaven’s eyeball to scan the surroundings.

Immediately, a world completely formed from energy appeared within Yi Yun’s vision.

In a radius of five kilometers, every life became an energy figure. Whether it was a blade of grass or a flying insect, they all had their own representative energy light dot.

These light dots were very faint. Before Yi Yun formed the Heaven’s eyeball, he could not sense it at all.

And the energy blobs that were clearly lit up like a flame were no doubt herbs.

The more valuable the herb was, the more energy it contained.

In a radius of a few dozen miles, there were 20-30 herbs. There were a few Mystic-ranked herbs. There were no Earth-ranked herbs, but by changing locations, he could easily find them.

After forming the Heaven’s eyeball, Yi Yun felt like the herb mountain’s grounds were littered with tons of herbs to pick.

If he were to carefully search the few herb mountains in the Tai Ah Divine City, given sufficient time, he could probably find another primordial herb.

Of course, there was no need to do so.

Firstly, it was a huge waste of time and the outcome was not guaranteed.

Secondly, Yi Yun would not dare to hand in the primordial herb he picked. He could only absorb it himself. What was most important for Yi Yun now was the glory points. For the energy aspect, Yi Yun could get that from the Wilderness Divine Hall.

The Wilderness Divine Hall had six primordial species sculptures. Each of them had an alarming amount of energy within it. With Yi Yun’s current cultivation level, he could not reduce the energy within them by much through his few attempts.

Yi Yun picked herbs as he pleased and he found about 200 dragon scale runes worth so far.

By changing his location, with a scan using his senses, Yi Yun had managed to find 500 dragon scale runes worth in about an hour.

It was too easy.

Yi Yun used the remaining time to cultivate.

A warrior had to endure the boring and lonely cultivation process. Yi Yun had previously gained a thin concept of eternity when drawing the last Sun picture.

This made Yi Yun even more diligent. Life could not repeat itself like the rising and setting of the Sun. If one did not grab every moment, one would waste their talent and potential. It would be a great regret.

210 - : The result of the Heaven’s Eyeball

The sun was blazing high up in the sky.

In a clearing in the woods, Yi Yun stood upright in his linen clothes. His left hand was hanging down, while his right hand held the Thousand Army Saber in a stretched out manner. The blade was parallel to the ground. The saber, that was seven feet two inches long, did not tremble at all. If a bowl full of water was placed on the blade tip, no water would spill out.

Yi Yun maintained this posture for 15 minutes. Standing motionless, he was like a statue.

While Yi Yun stayed motionless, Yi Yun’s body was circulating a tremendous amount of energy, the Radiant Sun Qi was surging like a tsunami.

It was noon and this was the time when the Radiant Sun Qi was most intense.

At this moment, the Sun in the sky moved in a tiny angle, this made the shadows move slightly. The blade of the Thousand Army Saber exited from the shade and it reflected the glare of the Sun, sending off a blinding white flash.

In that split moment, Yi Yun moved!

“Boom!”

The Radiant Sun Qi erupted from Yi Yun’s body, like lava erupting from a volcano. Yi Yun’s body drew out a series of shadows and he charged at a towering cliff in front of him!

Yi Yun’s entire body seemed to be imbued within the blazing Sun and the Thousand Army Saber was sent out with a slash, like a burning flame.

“Swish!”

A bright white flash fell from the sky. It was like a snow white stream of water gushing through the sky!

A thundering sound accompanied the blinding flash. A huge half-moon blade beam was sent out at an incredible speed and it hit the cliff heavily.

“Boom!”

With an intense explosion, the blade beam had totally cut through the cliff! It was a deafening sound!

Ten seconds later, the flash faded away. The cliff in front of Yi Yun was over ten meters tall, but there was now a huge crack, that went from the bottom to the top!

This crack was a foot-wide, and the two sides of the crack had been melted by the high temperature. It had melted into some magma-like substance.

The seven feet two inch long Thousand Army Saber had sliced through a cliff, which was over ten meters tall, with a six feet blade!

This was all due to the Radiant Sun Qi!

With Radiant Sun Qi powering the Thousand Army Saber, its power was incomparable to before.

If this saber were to slice a person, the result was obvious. Those not strong enough would not only be split into two, they might even be reduced to ashes.

Yi Yun suddenly thought of a phrase commonly seen in the legendary novels from his past life, “My saber is not easily drawn, but once it unsheathes, it sees blood.”

This phrase was usually used by main characters to sound cool, but it was perfectly describing Yi Yun now.

As the saber’s power was too great, it was impossible to simply stop at touching. Hence, the moment it was unsheathed, it would see blood. There might not even be blood, since the blood would be burned dry by the Radiant Sun Qi!

“I wonder what level my strength has reached now…”

Having arrived in the Tai Ah Divine City over a month ago, Yi Yun’s strength had increased enormously because of him absorbing the primordial species and primordial herb’s energies and also recently, by learning the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!

His cultivation level was getting close to the late stages of Purple Blood. This cultivation level speed was going at a tremendous pace.

Yi Yun wanted to test himself against all the top elites from all over the Divine Kingdom.

“I’m really looking forward to the rookie rankings…” Yi Yun said to himself as his fighting spirit burned.

…

At dusk, Yi Yun returned to the Tai Ah Divine City.

In the office, Yi Yun handed over his day’s harvest. They had a total worth of 509 dragon scale runes.

This amount greatly surprised Wang.

“How… did you pick so much?” Yi Yun’s original speed of herb-picking was about 200 dragon scale runes a day. He had not come for the past ten or so days, yet his speed had doubled!

Yi Yun shrugged and said, “I managed to form the Heaven’s eyeball in the past few days, so my perception has become sharper…”

It was really shocking to pick 500 dragon scale runes worth of herbs in a day, but Yi Yun had the perfect explanation now.

But this explanation made Wang even more surprised.

Formed the Heaven’s eyeball?

How old was he!?

Thinking back, when Wang formed the Heaven’s eyeball, she was in the mid-stages of the Yuan foundation realm. It was even further along her cultivation before she was able to completely open Heaven’s Eye.

Wang’s natural talent was not bad, but compared to Yi Yun, the gap was huge.

He was a freak!

Yi Yun could only be described as being a freak. He was not a genius because he was not outstanding; in fact, he was mediocre in some aspects.

But in certain aspects, he had amazing talent!

If this carried on, Wang did not know how far Yi Yun could go. She was looking forward to it. She even felt that she had underestimated Yi Yun in her assessment.

And in the next few days, the number of herbs that Yi Yun turned in did not decrease, but it actually increased.

It went from just over 500 dragon scale runes to 600 and then more than 600!

In just 8-9 days time, Yi Yun’s accumulated 19,300 dragon scale runes from herb-picking, breaking Zhong Yi’s record!

He broke the record?

Wang found it amazing. She had never expected that she would see a young man break the previous herb-picking record in her lifetime or even while she manned the Tai Ah Divine City’s job office.

The Tai Ah Divine City did not pay much attention to the records for the miscellaneous jobs, so they were not eligible to engrave their name on Sage Avenue. The rewards given were also much lesser than those given for hard records.

But a record was still a record. It was still extraordinary!

To the Tai Ah Divine City, it had been a long time since someone broke a record.

As such, the news spread rapidly!

When Yi Yun was in a dispute with the Hongdao Association before, it only spread amongst the first and second year recruits’ circle. The senior cultivators had no interest in a new association’s gambling battle with a kid.

But they would pay attention to the breaking of a record. Even the herb-picking record was something to be concerned about!

Even Qin Haotian and Li Xiao were no exception!

…

In the central divine tower of the Tai Ah Divine City, a girl in a red dress stood in a Earth Fire Desolate Heaven chamber. She had just completed a cauldron of desolate bone relics. She took out a lightly-scented handkerchief to wipe the tiny droplets of sweat on her forehead.

This girl was Luo Huo’er, the number one person on the Man roll of honor. She was a mysterious person that seldom appeared in public.

She had extremely great talent in alchemy as well as in the Desolate Heaven technique, this made many people incredulous.

When Luo Huo’er showcased her talent, many large factions tried to recruit her, but all the carrots dangled out in front of her were rejected.

As such, these factions began to suspect that Luo Huo’er already belonged to a particular faction. It was obviously impossible to recruit her if she came from a prominent family.

But when they investigated Luo Huo’er’s background, they could not find anything. It was as if she had appeared out of thin air. Her background was a complete mystery.

This was such an anomaly that many even speculated that Luo Huo’er might come from a incredibly large family clan. This family clan might even be bigger than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, they thought this was the reason why they couldn’t find out anything.

But all of these speculations were illogical. The simple reason was that, if Luo Huo’er came from a super family clan, she had no reason to come to the Tai Ah Divine City for training.

Although the Tai Ah Divine City was impressive, it was nothing compared to the factions that were stronger than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. It was likely that they had better training grounds than the Tai Ah Divine City, so if Luo Huo’er came from an impressive background, then why did she not stay in her own faction for training?

Hence, Luo Huo’er’s identity became even more puzzling.

At this time, Luo Huo’er was carefully opening the cauldron. A square array disk flew out. On the array disk were 7 green desolate bone relics. They were jumping around in a mischievous manner as if they were jumping pixies.

A aromatic smell that fascinated people emanated out.

Although she was tired, Luo Huo’er had an excited expression on her tiny, flushed face.

Storing away the desolate bone relics, Luo Huo’er took out a mirror. She tidied up her hair that had gone messy after finishing her refinement process. She said to herself while facing the mirror, “As expected of Luo Huo’er. You can even refine relics of such a level!”

While saying that, a gorgeous smile appeared. With this smile, two cute dimples appeared at the edges of her lips.

“Hehe, I can take these to the Ten Thousand Pagoda. Then I’ll only be 8000 dragon scale runes short of breaking the refining record. It sure wasn’t easy. I heard that no one has broken any records in the Tai Ah Divine City for 2000-3000 years. They will need me to break one!”

“Come to think of it, there was some crazy dude called Su Jie who appeared in the Tai Ah Divine City 30,000 years ago. That guy pushed the Desolate Heaven technique record too high. If not, I would have broken the Desolate Heaven technique record in my first year. I don’t know how the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom got so lucky as to produce such a powerful Desolate Heaven Master who can barely keep up to 70-80% of my standard…” As the girl in red spoke, her expressions were vivid. The way she looked at the mirror and spoke to herself was a rare sight.

“But then again, this is good. After I break the record, no one will ever be able to break the Desolate Heaven technique record again! Hehe, my name Luo Huo’er will stay here forever!”

“But… to break the record, I haven’t been practicing my alchemy. Although I know that among the Desolate Heaven technique and alchemy, it’s better to practice one, but my alchemy skills are good too. I can’t bear to give up on it. Hah.. having so much talent sure is a headache.”

Luo Huo’er’s words sounded extremely arrogant, but accompanied by her good looks and charming smile, it appeared extremely cute.

But at this moment, a small loli ran into the Desolate Heaven chamber in a panic. She shouted as she ran, “Miss, Miss, something bad has happened!”

211 - : The power of the Radiant Sun

The little loli who ran in had not grown up yet. She looked even smaller than Yi Yun. She wore a loose dress and because it was inconvenient to run in it, she used her two tiny hands to clutch her skirt while running. The bangs on her forehead bounced as she ran.

Luo Huo’er immediately wrinkled her cute pair of small eyebrows, “What’s with the panic? Seriously, shouting over some matter. Lady-like! Do you know what it means to be lady-like?”

Luo Huo’er pointed at the young girl’s head without any reservations. With her lecture, the young girl’s forehead turned red.

The young girl said in a very wronged manner, “Miss, Dong’er knows.”

This young girl was Luo Huo’er’s servant girl. Amazingly, Luo Huo’er actually brought a servant girl when she entered the Tai Ah Divine City. Others, even people from the royal family like Yang Qian did not bring an imperial maid or a eunuch with them.

“Tell me, what’s the big deal? Is the Mimi you are rearing not eating again?”

Mimi was Dong’er and Luo Huo’er’s cat. Not only did Luo Huo’er bring a servant girl with her into the Tai Ah Divine City, she also brought a cat.

“Uh… no.” Dong’er shook her head like a rattle. She had a cute mushroom hairstyle, and with this shake of her head, her silky hair flew up. “Missus, some… someone has broken a record.”

“Broken a record…” Luo Huo’er was stunned for a while, “You said broken a record!? Who broke it?”

Luo Huo’er widened her already excessively large eyes.

Was something wrong? No record had been broken in the Tai Ah Divine City in a few thousand years! She was just about to break one, but someone had beaten her to it. How could there be such a coincidence!?

“Yes… Yes, that person is called Yi Yun. He broke the herb-picking record. I think he’s 12-13 years old.”

“Yi Yun? The brat who got lucky and picked a primordial herb?” Luo Huo’er had previously heard of Yi Yun picking the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng that failed surviving a calamity.

She was very jealous of Yi Yun’s luck. Why didn’t she pick it? With the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, she could use it to practice. It was a primordial herb and she had never refined a primordial herb into a drug before.

It was unexpected that just a few days later, Yi Yun had broken the herb-picking record.

Luo Huo’er was extremely pissed. If she broke a record after Yi Yun, it wouldn’t be as impressive.

“He was cheating. He earned a lot of dragon scale runes from picking the primordial herb. This herb was probably more than half of the record!”

Luo Huo’er ground her teeth as she felt disgruntled.

She was supposed to be the first, but now Yi Yun broke the record purely due to good luck. Besides, how could a herb-picking record compare to a Desolate Heaven technique record?

The Desolate Heaven technique record was a big record, and its rewards were excellent! Not only would it be regarded highly by the upper echelon of the Tai Ah Divine City, once it was broken, one could leave one’s name on Sage Avenue and even stir up the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

As for picking herbs… That was practically the worst record in the Tai Ah Divine City. The person who designed that record probably did it out of a whim. The rewards were also pathetic.

How could the herb-picking record compare with the Desolate Heaven technique record? They were far from being on the same level! But, both of them had the same term of “breaking a record”.

This was unfair! What right did one have to say “breaking a record” by picking herbs.

“Forget it, I won’t stoop down so low as to compare mine with such a low level record.” Luo Huo’er consoled herself and slowly calmed herself.

“Right, Missus. Yi Yun offended the Hongdao Association. In the upcoming rookie competition, the Hongdao Association will be specifically ‘taking care’ of Yi Yun. It seems all of them want to fight Yi Yun…”

Dong’er told her another piece of information.

However, Luo Huo’er was uninterested in this piece of information. “Hongdao Association? An organization formed of a bunch of brats only. Brats fighting against brats is something compatible.”

Luo Huo’er was completely uninterested in the arena level Yi Yun was involved in. What standard could they have?

In fact, Luo Huo’er was not ranked high on the Heaven and Earth rankings, only in the Man rankings was she ranked first.

A person had limited energy and time. Luo Huo’er spent most of her time practicing the Desolate Heaven technique and alchemy. As a result, she seldom went out to hunt desolate beasts, so her ranking on the Heaven roll of honor was very low.

As for the arena battles, Luo Huo’er never participated in it after the rookie rankings. Her reason was, “It is irritating to always be challenged.”

…

After the news of Yi Yun breaking the herb-picking record spread, the Hongdao Association naturally learned of it.

Regarding this, the Hongdao Association was very happy. Picking herbs did not depend on strength. There was no use breaking the herb picking record. The biggest benefit was that Yi Yun was rich again, allowing them the opportunity to win even more dragon scale runes.

They had already heard that Yi Yun received a one-time award of 25,000 dragon scale runes and 2 glory points from breaking the herb-picking record.

Added with the amount Yi Yun earned from picking herbs, and the amount he borrowed from the usury, a conservative estimate of Yi Yun’s wealth was above 35,000 dragon scale runes!

This large sum of wealth made everyone envious!

As a result, many of the new members of the Hongdao Association, especially those rich young masters from the capital, rushed to the bank to pawn all of their belongings in exchange for dragon scale runes. They were waiting for the rookie ranking competition to bet with Yi Yun.

The Hongdao Association even opened a special leadership meeting to decide on the order in battling Yi Yun. As for the Capital’s Four Bully Lords, being seniors among the capital’s circle, and with their relations with Li Hong, they easily became the first four.

They were the first to fight with Yi Yun.

Hence, the Four Bully Lords were overjoyed.

“Hahaha, thank you to all the brother’s help, offering this opportunity to us. In the future, if you ever need any of our help, we will never refuse!”

The Four Bully Lords smiled and cupped their hands, as if they were celebrating their victory parade.

Someone shouted, “Brothers, don’t go too far. If you cripple Yi Yun, the judge might decide that Yi Yun is not fit for battle, then we won’t have a chance to fight later on.”

“Haha! Don’t worry. We will control our beatings, making sure that he gets beaten up badly without affecting his later battles.”

The Four Bully Lords felt some regret for not being able to heartily beat up Yi Yun.

At this time, Li Hong who was sitting at the seat of honor said, “You guys be careful too. Don’t fail miserably in this very easy task. This kid has some skill. He has gone to the Wilderness Divine Hall many times recently, and has spent quite a considerable amount of dragon scale runes in doing so.”

Ever since Li Hong became enemies with Yi Yun, he had paid close attention to Yi Yun. He had spies in places like the Wilderness Divine Hall, so Li Hong knew much of Yi Yun’s recent actions.

“Wilderness Divine Hall? Many times? That kid!” The Four Bully Lords were stunned when they heard this. They were suddenly infuriated. It was as if a beautiful goddess that was within sight but beyond reach was now being pressed onto a bed for Yi Yun to do anything with.

Fatty among the Four Bully Lords said in a grudging way, “A place like the Wilderness Divine Hall is just to use the primordial species’ pressure to compress a person’s Qi and blood. It’s a waste going there often! This kid has lots of dragon scale runes, yet he spends it wastefully. I hate him. We had to work very hard for many days just to earn a bit of dragon scale runes!”

“Right, we haven’t even entered the Wilderness Divine Hall a second time yet! We haven’t gone to the Sword Scar Palace either. We can’t buy most of the items in the Ten Thousand Pagoda as well. Yet with a bit of luck, this kid is wastefully spending resources. It’s such a huge waste of treasures! These resources should belong to us!”

Seeing the Four Bully Lords rage, someone in the Hongdao Association said, “The Tai Ah Divine City is a place where strength matters. Relying on luck without strength is not the way to success. You are right. These resources are rightfully ours. We just need to grab them from him!”

“Right, grab them from him!” The Four Bully Lords echoed, agreeing to it.

But Li Hong said, “Besides going to the Wilderness Divine Hall many times, I have news that Yi Yun used the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng reward back then to exchange for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.”

“The Tai Ah Sacred Technique!?”

Li Hong’s words set off another huge storm at the venue. The Four Bully Lords felt a surge of blood to their heads. They were enraged.

All of the good stuff had gone to the pigs!

Yi Yun a bumpkin from the Cloud Wilderness, and he actually exchanged for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’! What gave him the right to learn this cultivation technique?

“The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’… What a joke. Only one in five geniuses can learn this cultivation technique and obtain Radiant Sun Qi. Those are geniuses! Even geniuses have such a low probability learning it! It really boils my blood. How can the Tai Ah Divine City’s Elder give the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ to such a person. It’s really an insult to the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!”

The Four Bully Lords were extremely pissed. They too wanted to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!

Although the probability of learning it was low, they too had some hope that they were lucky. If they were to learn it, their life would become completely different!

It could make their family members see them in a different light. They could walk proudly amongst the young master circles in the capital.

Those famous beauties in the capital would stick to them, actively trying to get close to them.

When that happened, wouldn’t they be able to pick and choose?

“Fuck, if I learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, Zhang Xinlian, that bitch, would not dare reject me. She would even obediently climb into my bed!”

The Four Bully Lords’ Lofty was unhappy and said the thoughts buried deep within his heart. Back then, he had been rejected by Zhang Xinlian, and bore a grudge as a result. He couldn’t wait to tear off the arrogant Zhang Xinlian’s clothes and devastate her body.

All of them wanted to try learning the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, but the cost of trying it was too high. They had no way of affording it!

They did not even have the chance to try, yet Yi Yun had wasted it. It was obvious how they felt.

“Yi Yun, this bumpkin, wants to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. He sure is a toad lusting after swan meat!”

“Right… Right!”

The eldest among the Capital’s Four Bully Lords, Fatty suddenly slapped his thigh. He thought of something which made him extremely excited. He even said words with a tremble, “You guys, say… Is it possible… to get Yi Yun to bet the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!?”

When Fatty said it, everyone immediately quietened down.

Using the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ as a bet!? This proposal made everyone shocked. But one by one, they became excited. Maybe… there was a possibility?

212 - : Maid Servant Dong’er

Ever since Yi Yun broke the record, he led a quiet life. He still went to the #60 herb mountain to pick herbs, and to practice the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

Yi Yun passed his thirteenth birthday during this period. Although his face still looked a bit childish, but after practicing martial arts for some time now, his body had begun to slowly grow. He was now a handsome young man.

It was still ten days away from the rookie rankings competition!

Yi Yun had complete control over his Radiant Sun Qi. He had also completed his foundation in the first level of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

“Yi Yun, the rookie competition’s rankings are out!”

When Yi Yun was eating dinner, Song Zijun and Zhou Kui came to find him.

Song Zijun and Zhou Kui could be considered to be under the same tutelage as Yi Yun. All of them came from the Jing state and the nearby states, together with Baldy Qin, to the Tai Ah Divine City. Although Zhou Kui and Yi Yun had some falling out and competition earlier, it was now a thing of the past. After the Hongdao Association singled out Yi Yun, Zhou Kui felt conscience-stricken. Besides, during the rookie ranking competition, they would be part of the same team; hence, their relations had to be closer, and they had to help one another.

“Oh? What rankings are you talking about?” Yi Yun raised his head without understanding much.

“The rookies’ rankings. Before the rookie competition, all of us rookies will be given an approximate ranking. Later, we will be fighting according to our ranks. The people ranked towards the back can challenge the people ranked in the front, and the people ranked in front cannot refuse the challenge. Of course, both sides have to place a bet.”

“In contrast, the people in front can also challenge the people at the back, but the opposite party can refuse. And there’s not much benefit to it; hence, that seldom happens.” Zhou Kui explained. He had been looking at the rookie rankings for a long time. He had always wanted to know what his ranking would be. Although this ranking was decided by the Tai Ah Divine City’s administration and was not a complete reflection of a person’s strength, it also decided on a person’s potential. It was also a matter of face.

Anyone would wish for their rank to be high, despite the fact that being ranked higher meant they had to fight more.

“Oh, so it’s that ranking. What’s my ranking?”

Yi Yun carried on eating his meat, clearly uninterested in the rankings.

When Song Zijun and Zhou Kui saw Yi Yun’s behavior, they were speechless. This Yi Yun was too magnanimous. Did he not know how many people were eyeing him!

“Your ranking is 10,003.” Zhou Kui looked at Yi Yun with sympathy.

“10,003? What does it mean?” Yi Yun did not understand immediately.

“Actually it means third place. According to rules, the rookie rankings competition will begin from 10,000 onwards. The first place will be 10,001, second 10,002, so you are in third place!”

The elites in the Divine Kingdom would train in the Tai Ah Divine City for six consecutive years. Each batch was approximately 2000 people. Counting the sum of the first five batches, it typically exceeded 10,000. With the rookies’ first place starting from 10,000 onwards, some veterans will end up being interspersed among the rankings past 10,000.

For the veterans to be ranked among the recruits, it was a very shameful thing to them.

“Third place…This ranking is pretty good.” Yi Yun was very pleased, but he knew that his earned dragon scale runes accounted largely to the rankings. His dragon scale runes earnings were definitely first in the Tai Ah Divine City amongst the rookies. As a result, being third place was reasonable.

Hearing Yi Yun’s words, Song Zijun and Zhou Kui were speechless. Being third place was just “pretty good”?

Also, did Yi Yun not know what he was facing? Fire was burning at his doorstep, yet he was eating his meat delightfully!

Zhou Kui said, “Yi Yun, do you know what my ranking is?”

“Oh? What is it?” Yi Yun asked.

“11,523! This is the overall ranking. If it’s just among the 2000 rookies, I’m approximately ranked around 1100. The additional 400 people are the veterans who did not enter the top 10,000.”

“In the past three months of rookie training, I had given my all, and only barely entered the middle ranks. Brother Zijun and some of my Xuanwu Army brothers are ranked even further back.”

“Many of those who entered the first 1000 are from the Zhong state, the imperial city or reclusive family clans. Many reputable and ridiculous people are all ranked behind you!”

Zhou Kui explained to Yi Yun what it meant to be ranked third.

Ignoring the reclusive family clans that could probably match the royal family, just the family clans in the imperial city were far from what the Jing state family clans could match.

As the saying goes, “You don’t know how small your title is until you go to the capital”. Nobles in the Divine Kingdom’s imperial city may be in charge of some tiny offices and their fiefs may not be big, but when compared to other local places, they could be in charge of a middle-sized city!

Of course, the local family clans had no way of competing with the imperial city for resources and bloodlines.

Those with strong bloodlines and a strong family clan foundation would often move closer to the imperial city. Ignoring the imperial city’s resources, just from the fact that their younger generations could marry the members from the imperial city’s large family clans made their own family clan’s bloodline better.

“Brother Yi, you sure became a bigwig. I know a brother whose father is a marquis. He’s considered pretty good within his family clan, but he’s only ranked around 200 amongst the rookies. Also, there are two grandsons of the Xuanwu Army’s Marshal who is in the same batch as us. Their rankings are around 300. Now do you know what it means to be ranked third…”

“I see…” Yi Yun wiped the oil off his mouth. It sounded really exaggerated.

There were too many family clans in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Every family clan had a huge number of sons and grandsons. Not only was it difficult to charge up the Tai Ah Divine City’s overall rankings, even to rank high among the 2000 over rookies was not an easy task.

“That’s why! Many people are eyeing you! And the two people ahead of you, one of them is Qiuniu, and the other is Chu Xiaoran! One of them was born with supernatural strength, and the other has extraordinary perceptivity! You may not know that when many of us were doing odd jobs, Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran already went into the Divine wilderness to hunt desolate beasts. They even have a ranking on the Heaven roll of honor now! That is why they are ranked first and second!”

“Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran are taking this opportunity to charge up the Earth rankings. I have no idea how far they will go. They might even reach the 3000-4000 ranking!”

After the rookie rankings were decided, Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran who were at the top could be challenged by others behind them, but at the same time, they had the right to challenge more senior cultivators in the rankings ahead of them.

Challenging someone also meant betting. To see how far they could go, it depended on their own skills.

Baldy Qin had previously said that whichever rookie could enter the top 1000 of the Heaven or Earth roll within a year would receive the attention of various large factions in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Yi Yun and his batch of rookies had entered the Tai Ah Divine City three months ago. If he wanted to enter the top 1000 within a year, then entering the top 3000-4000 now would not be considered too great an exaggeration!

“Qiuniu, Chu Xiaoran…” Yi Yun pondered slightly. These two people had the capability to enter the Divine wilderness to hunt desolate beasts while others were doing odd jobs. Indeed, they had the ability, or they would not be ranked first and second.

Yi Yun did not know how far he could rise up the Earth ranking at this time.

“Brother Yi, nobody dares to touch Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran. So now, everybody is eyeing you. You have become extremely famous among the rookies in the Tai Ah Divine City! Everyone knows that you are overflowing with wealth. And according to the rules, you were ranked third largely not due to your strength. It was all due to you earning too many dragon scale runes. You picking the primordial herb and breaking the herb-picking record have made many people jealous!”

“Many people are disgruntled by the fact that you are ranked so far ahead. With your wealth, many people are eyeing it and want to take a bite off your flesh, and that doesn’t only include the Hongdao Association!”

“But the Hongdao Association has already made it clear that no one is to challenge you without their permission. If anyone does so, they would be snatching business from the Hongdao Association, and the Hongdao Association will make sure to get even with them, so this has discouraged many. It could be said to be a blessing in disguise…”

Song Zijun said with a wry smile. Clearly, the words “blessing in disguise” was satirical.

When Yi Yun heard this, he rubbed his chin, “Snatching business? Using this term means they are treating me as fish meat put onto a cutting board.”

Zhou Kui said, “Brother Yi, the first round of registrations for the battles are beginning soon. Each day is limited to 12 battles. Your nameplate has been eyed by many, so they would all begin snatching for it at the beginning. You will likely have to fight 12 matches a day for three consecutive days!”

“You might not know, but the Hongdao Association have even begun taking bets on how many matches you can last. I think the first few opponents will be the Hongdao Association’s Four Bully Lords. They are ranked in the top few hundred amongst the rookies. While I was forging, I met one of them. Their reputation in the capital is much greater than mine.”

“Four Bully Lords?”

Yi Yun thought about the rare tall, short, fat, thin combination he saw in the pawnshop. These guys were at least nice, to pawn all their assets to gamble with him.

“Brother Yi, I bought the bet that you can complete more than ten rounds.”

Song Zijun patted Yi Yun on the shoulder as he said that to show his support.

Actually, Song Zijun, Zhou Kui and the youths that came with them from the Jing state knew Yi Yun was strong. Even without dragon scale runes, Yi Yun could get a high ranking just from his strength.

The crux of the problem was he might not be able to last through a tag-team battle.

And Yi Yun’s third place was too ridiculous. Those rookies among the top 50 were all formidable people!

Some of them could even charge into the top 4000 in the Earth rankings.

“Thank you!” Yi Yun cupped his hands. “Where’s the registration going on? I want to see it when the registration officially begins.”

He had a limited number of fights a day. He could not just fight with any Tom, Dick or Harry. They had to have some quality, uh… actually, they had to have a sufficient amount of dragon scale runes.

If not, wouldn’t it be a waste of a battle?

213 - : Rookie Rankings

The rookie Earth ranking competition was the first battle for this batch of rookies in the Tai Ah Divine City.

People treated this, as it was their first public display in the Tai Ah Divine City, very seriously. All of them wanted to stand out!

All these proud children of Heaven came from all over the Kingdom. Many of them were arrogant; although many faced setbacks when they first entered the Tai Ah Divine City, they quickly regained their confidence.

Especially in the past few months of training, these rookies had all improved, and they wanted to showcase their abilities!

At this time, the rookie registration had begun. This batch of rookies were declaring who they wanted to compete with in their first battle. After they succeeded, they would receive a corresponding nameplate token.

When Yi Yun’s nameplate appeared, many people were trying to grab it.

But at this time, the advantage of a society could be seen. As the biggest society amongst the rookies, the Hongdao Association easily received Yi Yun’s nameplate.

“Who’s sick of living? To dare snatch it away from me!”

The Four Bully Lords’ tall guy stepped on a stool with one foot and, with a shiny dagger in hand, faced the crowd.

“Pa!”

A nameplate fell into the tall guy’s hand. This was Yi Yun’s challenge nameplate.

It was not easy for others to compete for it when in front of a society.

“You bunch of people, don’t gather here to waste your opportunity. Do you know how much that kid Yi Yun is worth? How many of you can take out 500 dragon scale runes? You dare to bet with that amount?” A Chief of the Hongdao Association said loudly. To the rookies, 500 dragon scale runes was a huge sum.

Indeed, many of them could not afford it.

But for Yi Yun, with his wealth amounting to tens of thousands dragon scale runes, a few hundred dragon scale runes was nothing to him.

As people were in a heated verbal exchange, someone suddenly said, “Hey, isn’t that kid Yi Yun…?”

These words immediately attracted the attention of many. Everyone looked over and saw that at the entrance to the hall, a youth in linen clothes was leaning on a wooden railing, looking at the ongoings with interest.

This youth had bright eyes and distinct facial features. His face had a tinge of childishness. Who else was it but Yi Yun!

“It’s really that kid!”

The people from the Hongdao Association naturally recognized Yi Yun.

“The rookie competition is beginning soon and we are all waiting for this kid! Looking at him, he doesn’t seem worried at all.”

Many began discussing. Yi Yun stood upright and greeted the Hongdao Association’s people with a smile.

Seeing this scene, many turned speechless. Did Yi Yun not know the vendetta the Hongdao Association had with him? Seeing how he even greeted them, they wondered if this kid knew what the Hongdao Association was going to do? It was as if all that was happening in front of him had nothing to do with him.

“Everyone, have you amassed your betting amounts?”

Yi Yun looked towards the Hongdao Association’s Four Bully Lords and the Chiefs, and asked, “Betting amounts? Hehe!” Someone laughed saying, “Of course we have prepared the betting amounts. For you, we have amassed a large amount of dragon scale runes to gamble with in the fights with you. It’s at least 800 dragon scale runes a round. This amount might stun others, making us feel bad announcing it.”

When the person from the Hongdao Association said this, many people gasped. 800 dragon scale runes a match! Many rookies had to work hard to earn 800 dragon scale runes for more than a month. But now, that amount would be over in one match!

They realized that many amongst them did not have the right to fight with Yi Yun as they could not afford it.

Besides, Yi Yun was not a pushover. Many of them had gathered here, but in reality, they did not have much confidence in facing Yi Yun. Betting 800 was too much.

When faced with the number 800, Yi Yun clearly lacked interest. He shook his head saying, “800 dragon scale runes a match? To think you have the nerve to say that. You guys are so poor. I even saw quite a number of you going to the bank to pawn items, but why do you only have these small amounts of dragon scale runes?”

Yi Yun said sarcastically. Zhou Kui and Song Zijun who were behind him became dumbfounded upon hearing this. They only accompanied Yi Yun to watch. They thought Yi Yun was simply here to check out the competition, so that he wouldn’t lose too badly when he really fought in the arena.

But they never expected that Yi Yun would immediately slap the Hongdao Association in the face. Not only did he ridicule them as being poor, he even mentioned that these young masters had gone to the bank to pawn items!

To these “respected” young masters from family clans, pawning items was definitely not something to be proud of. The shamefulness was just slightly better than borrowing from an usury.

Did Yi Yun feel like he wasn’t hated enough? He was practically asking to be hit.

As expected, the members of the Hongdao Association became enraged. If it was not for this being in public, they would have immediately attacked.

“Kid, don’t boast so much. Did you not go to the bank to borrow from the usury!?”

Yi Yun said nonchalantly, “That’s right. I just borrowed a tiny bit. It was just a small amount of 5000. I thought I would not have enough dragon scale runes, but now I realized that I was over worried. I have about 40,000 dragon scale runes, but you guys are betting 800 a match. When can you exhaust it all?”

“At my level, it’s pretty easy to earn dragon scale runes. It’s just a number after all.” Yi Yun said it lightly. Over the past few days, he had accumulated more than 40,000 dragon scale runes from picking herbs. But by saying it this way, even Song Zijun and Zhou Kui, let alone the Hongdao Association members felt that Yi Yun was asking to be beaten.

He was practically trying to stir their hate for him. He was just short of saying, “Come beat me up.”

Many of the Hongdao Association members were hot-blooded youths. It was easy for them to get upset, but now, with Yi Yun’s instigation, many wished that they could fight it out with Yi Yun right there and then!

The eldest among the Four Bully Lords reached out and took out his interspatial ring. He placed it on the table and bit his teeth, “I’ll bet a thousand dragon scale runes and this ring!”

“Interspatial ring!”

Someone blurted out but quickly corrected himself, “It’s the Gongsun family’s manufactured Earth-ranked interspatial ring. It’s not easy to purchase it!”

Many watched this with horror. An interspatial equipment was originally expensive, but it being produced the Gongsun family made its price even higher.

An interspatial ring was a luxurious item. But to many warriors, especially those who went out to hunt desolate beasts, this was a very valuable piece of equipment. It could store various battle necessities like weapons, arrows, supplements, protective charms, etc.

Expensive desolate beast material could also be stored within the interspatial ring.

In the Tai Ah Divine City’s Ten Thousand Pagoda, there were interspatial rings for sale. But even the interspatial ring with the smallest space was worth more than 2000 dragon scale runes. A better one would cost tens of thousands of dragon scale runes. There were those that cost more than 100,000 dragon scale runes.

But typical Tai Ah Divine City cultivators would seldom buy an interspatial ring from the Ten Thousand Pagoda as there were many uses for dragon scale runes. It was too wasteful to use it to buy a ring. Most of their interspatial rings were brought from their own families.

Those families who could equip their young with interspatial rings were powerful families. A large number of cultivators who came to the Tai Ah Divine City did not have interspatial rings. What’s more, the one taken out by the Four Bully Lords was a high quality interspatial ring.

Yi Yun scanned the ring and was satisfied.

These Four Bully Lords sure were nice. He was just lacking an interspatial ring, and they sent one over to him.

When Yi Yun previously said that dragon scale runes was just a number to him, he was deliberately exaggerating to anger the Hongdao Association. There was no worry over having too many dragon scale runes, no matter how many one had.

The Tai Ah Divine City had plenty of resources that needed a massive amount of dragon scale runes to purchase.

Just Yi Yun’s saber skills were crude and needed to be improved urgently.

If Yi Yun planned to train in the Desolate Heaven technique, those dragon scale runes would be spent just like flowing water.

Yi Yun’s 40,000 dragon scale runes were really nothing if he wanted to spend them.

“Any other larger bets?” Yi Yun was secretly satisfied with the Earth ranked interspatial ring, but he faked an expression as if the ring barely made his minimum requirements. This undoubtedly offended many again.

The Four Bully Lords always stood together. They quickly took off their interspatial rings and placed the rings on the table one by one.

This bet included 4 rings!

4 rings could be all worn together. As a result, the space would be greater. If not, Yi Yun could always exchange all of them for a better interspatial ring. This bet was pretty tempting!

Under Yi Yun’s provocation, the Hongdao Association members began to increase the stakes. As a result, this round of rookie competitions became more heated! This competition was destined to make great waves amongst the rookie circles!

…

Time passed, and the rookie ranking competition had finally begun!

To the rookies, this was a critical battle. This battle could largely decide a rookie’s future success in the Tai Ah Divine City!

Those who rose up high on the Earth rankings would often stay high. In the coming years, whether it was the Heaven or Earth ranking, they would often rank at the top, becoming a prominent person. Hence, every time there was a rookie ranking competition, large factions would pay attention to it. There was no exception this time.

The Tai Ah Divine City seldom allowed unauthorized people to enter. But some of the administrators in the Divine City had ties with the various large factions. In fact, some of them came from those large factions, so much of the news happening within the Tai Ah Divine City would be known first hand by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s factions.

The various factions’ main focus was naturally Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu.

These two people were the daughter of a Defending Duke and the top son of a reclusive family clan. It was even possible for them to enter the top 1000 of the Heaven or Earth rolls within one year!

This was an impressive achievement. Besides the two, Yi Yun was also paid attention by a number of factions out of convenience. The main reason was because Yi Yun had earned a large sum of dragon scale runes from picking herbs, that resulted in him being challenged by a large group of people.

This was an interesting matter in the holding of the rookie ranking competition. Of course, it was just an interesting matter. A youth with special talent at picking herbs was a talent, but it did not mean he was worth the effort to be recruited and nurtured by these large factions.

214 - : Betting all one’s wealth

The Divine wilderness was located to the north of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, so the weather there tended to be cold. Today, the polar winds blew, causing a large snow storm throughout the night. A layer of snow built up overnight and it transformed the Tai Ah Divine City into a world of snow.

Just before dawn, while the sky was still dark, Yi Yun walked out of his stone house. Seeing the thick layer of snow reflecting the light from the blue sky, it suffused a layer of light blue gloss.

The blue snow matched with the surrounding unsophisticated stone houses and the cold, metallic city walls gave people a feeling of living in a magical legendary world.

“Dang!”

“Dang!”

“Dang!”

At this time, sounds came from the arena, which spread throughout the Tai Ah Divine City. It was slow and melodiously long.

It was the bell that indicated the start of the rookie ranking competition. The Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators, especially the rookies, were waiting for the bell to ring.

Many of them had meditated through the night to push their mental state to its optimal state, waiting for their battles!

The cultivators were about to fight their first battles in the Tai Ah Divine City. These battles would determine their futures!

The rookies came out from their various residences and they all formed a flow of people that headed towards the arena.

There were some second and third year veterans who followed the rookies into the arena. They came specifically to watch the rookies’ competition.

At every rookie competition, there were always some excellent rookies who stood out. They could enter the top 6000 or even 4000. These people had the ability to pose a threat to the senior cultivators who had been in the Tai Ah Divine City for 3-4 years.

Hence, many of them wanted to see who the formidable ones from this batch of rookies were, the ones that were worthy of their attention.

“I heard that for this rookie ranking competition, the Divine City has increased the rewards. Whoever is able to enter the top 8000 will receive dragon scale runes as a reward. If they can enter the top 6000, the reward will be doubled. Furthermore, the top ranker amongst the rookies will obtain a glory point and they will also be awarded with cultivation opportunities in the Sword Scar Palace and Sage Temple!”

Amongst the people, some of the rookies who were more informed about the rewards, mentioned what they had heard. The Tai Ah Divine City had not officially announced these rewards, but the officials had already decided on them.

“Sword Scar Palace? Sage Temple? And a glory point? Tsk!”

When many rookies heard this, their mouth watered. But they knew that they basically had no chance at these rewards.

This year’s rewards were exceptionally good, as the upper echelons of the Tai Ah Divine City felt that this batch of rookies was not bad; so they increased the reward ratio.

For example, Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu were hopeful candidates to enter the top 1000 within a year. To have two such figures in a year was absolutely amazing.

Many people were looking forward to Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu’s battle.

Yi Yun was mixed into the crowd as he listened to people talk.

He did not say anything, but no matter where he went, he was like a firefly in the dark night. He was extremely eye-catching and everyone he met on the street looked at him.

“See that guy? He’s a fierce figure amongst the rookies. He alone got into trouble with the entire Hongdao Association!”

Everyone looked over. Seeing Yi Yun in linen clothes with an extremely long blade behind him. His hands were in his pockets as he slowly strolled towards the arena. From this, it looked like Yi Yun was just heading to the cook house for breakfast and he was in no way nervous or worried.

At this moment, people were secretly horrified.

Ridiculous!

To be declared war on by so many people, yet he didn’t care about it.

Not only that, the kid’s attitude had already reached a point of invincibility and he was invulnerable to anything.

“He’s a true fighter!” Some people sighed. Many were impressed by Yi Yun.

In this batch of first year recruits, Yi Yun’s name was widely known. All the major events such as capturing a primordial herb, breaking a record, embarrassing the Hongdao Association were all related to Yi Yun!

If this sort of person wasn’t a fighter, what was he?

About fifteen minutes later, people from all around the Tai Ah Divine City slowly gathered in the arena.

The Tai Ah Divine City’s arena was a huge circular building which was tens of storeys high.

There were twelve main entrances to the arena. In the middle were 9 stages. Eight smaller stages surrounded a central big stage.

Around the stages were rows of weapon racks.

These racks had a variety of sabers, swords, spears, halberds, polearms, bow, whips…

All of the eighteen types of weapons were present!

Although the quality of these weapons were not the best, they were uncommon. They were all crafted in the Tai Ah Divine City’s forging workshops and they were crafted by many of the cultivators.

Of course, the cultivators who could place their products on the arena were amongst the best.

However, warriors in the arena would typically not choose the weapons on the racks as they would prefer to use their own weapons.

About 20 meters away from the weapon racks, there was a viewing stand.

This stand had multiple layers and it could easily hold 20,000 people. Each viewing stand was vast and the seats were also very comfortable.

The arena was always the spot in the Tai Ah Divine City that had the most number of people. Many of the experts in the Tai Ah Divine City would gather here to fight. The more participants there were, the bigger the audience.

Many cultivators also came to watch others fight. From the duels of experts, they could gain some experience. To the warriors, this could be very beneficial.

With 2000 rookies and over a thousand senior cultivators, along with the staff, there were not more than 4000 people. Even after they entered the arena, the entire arena was still relatively empty. It was very easy for the arena to hold 4000 people.

“Are you all here!?” When Yi Yun came to his spot, he heard a voice. It was Baldy Qin!

As Yi Yun’s, Zhou Kui’s and company’s instructor, Baldy Qin certainly couldn’t be absent for these recruits’ first battles.

“Make sure you focus on your battles. Whether you are a mule or a horse, we will know once it begins. Internally, our training can be anything, but in public, none of you are to throw my face! Understand!?” Baldy Qin’s opening speech was extremely simple.

Zhou Kui and company shouted loudly, “Understood!”

“Good!” Baldy Qin nodded.

He looked at Yi Yun with a meaningful glance, “Kid, you sure are good!”

Yi Yun replied with a salute and replied simply, “Reporting to the Instructor, I am doing well.”

“Ha! Great morale! Even if they were to do a tag-team battle, you must make it big for our Jing state recruit camp. Kill them all!” Baldy Qin hit Yi Yun on the shoulder with force. With a loud thud, the ground under Yi Yun trembled.

The youths around were secretly horrified. This slap could easily kill an elephant. But Yi Yun could withstand it without flinching.

“Yes, Instructor!” Yi Yun gave a resounding response.

Baldy Qin was satisfied. “Heard that? Don’t think they are that strong just because they are ranked further ahead of you. Raise your spirits. Even if you were to be beaten down in the arena, you must also pull them down with you!”

Baldy Qin cheered on the recruits. At this time, a law-enforcer from the central divine tower appeared in the central stage and gave his opening speech.

His opening speech was simple. He announced the rules of the competition and the ranking system. After announcing the final rewards, he declared the beginning of the ranking competition!

“Dang!”

The gong represented the beginning of the competition. After another strike of the gong, many of the recruits held their breaths.

Their first battle in the Tai Ah Divine City would be done in the presence of so many people. It included all the elites from all over the kingdom, their instructors and the law-enforcers!

It also included their family clans, who used various channels to watch their competition.

Under such circumstances, it was impossible for them to not be tense.

“The ranking numbers I announce will go on stage to compete!”

“Qian stage, 11,810, Zhong Han! 12,007, Bai Mingyuan!”

“Kun stage, 11,642, Liu Heyu! 12050, Jiang Deyuan!”

“Zhen stage…”

…

A referee in charge of the competition began reading out the name list.

Everyone had their own corresponding ranking number.

Those who ranked towards the back would compete in the eight small stages. The eight smaller stages were placed according to the Bagua’s eight trigrams, they were called, “Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen and Dui”.

Those who ranked farther ahead would be in the central stage!

This stage’s name was the Divine Wilderness Stage!

The Divine Wilderness Stage was not a place ordinary people had the opportunity to enter.

“Divine Wilderness Stage, 10,003, Yi Yun! 10,750, Feng Hai!”

The boisterous voice of the referee resounded through the arena.

“Oh? It’s already my turn?” Yi Yun was surprised. He thought he would have to wait a little longer before it would be his turn. He did not expect that his name would be called the moment he entered the arena.

It was understandable though, since so many people wanted to challenge him. He had to fight twelve matches a day. The referees must have taken this into consideration to let him begin early, so that his battles could be spread out. By extending the time between his battles, he could regain some stamina.

“Haha! It’s already my turn!” A tall youth excitedly jumped up from the Hongdao Association’s side. He was one of the Four Bully Lords and his name was Feng Hai.

He too did not expect that he would be the first to go on-stage. Furthermore, it was on the central Divine Wilderness Stage!

It was cool!

Yi Yun and Feng Hai’s match no doubt attracted the attention of the entire audience!

215 - : The Opening of the Ranking Competition

Yi Yun was now a celebrity. If one were to say the leading actors were Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu, then Yi Yun would be the most important supporting actor.

Yi Yun’s tag-team battle with the Hongdao Association had attracted the attention of numerous people.

Many wanted to see how far Yi Yun would last. Others were sure that Yi Yun would be defeated by Feng Hai in the first round.

The Four Bully Lords were not simple people. To achieve a prominent name in the capital was something that could not be gained just from their background or wealth.

Feng Hai himself was ranked 10,750. In front of him, there were several veteran cultivators who failed to enter the top 10,000. Excluding them, Feng Hai was ranked around 300 amongst the rookies.

This ranking was quite outstanding!

In the audience, there was a young girl in green clothes. She curiously looked at Yi Yun, “So that’s Yi Yun.”

This girl in green was small in size and she had a cute image. She was the young daughter of the current Defender Duke of the Tai Ah royal family, Chu Xiaoran.

Beside Chu Xiaoran, there was a 1.9 meter tall youth. He was wearing crystal armor and his eyebrows were shaved. Most of his hair was shaved off, leaving an inch of hair in the middle of his head. This remaining hair was extremely long, reaching all the way to his back.

This youth had his arms crossed across his chest. His legs were spread apart as he sat on the stone bench like he was in a horse-riding stance. His back was straight and he looked majestic.

This man looked like a eighteen to nineteen year old youth, but he was actually thirteen years old. He was Qiuniu.

Qiuniu smiled and said, “This kid is interesting. You might not know this, but he came from the Cloud Wilderness. He comes from a poor background, so to have his current achievements, it is extremely difficult!”

“I have a premonition that Yi Yun isn’t dangerous right now, but he’s a diamond in the rough. In the future, he might pose a threat to you and me.”

“Oh?” Chu Xiaoran flashed a odd look in her eyes. “In the future, he will compete for the number one rank of the Heaven roll of honor with us?”

“Possibly!” Qiuniu nodded.

Be it Qiuniu or Chu Xiaoran, both of them had goals to be first on the Heaven or Earth rolls in the future!

When Qin Haotian and his batch left the Tai Ah Divine City after training in the Tai Ah Divine City for five years, it would not be difficult for Qin Haotian and Chu Xiaoran to be ranked at the top!

What was difficult was for them to complete this goal within five years.

“Xiaoran, I want this rookie first place’s glory point ! Don’t fight with me over it.” Qiuniu licked his lips as he said to Chu Xiaoran.

Chu Xiaoran laughed, “That depends if you have the ability. We haven’t competed in a long while!”

Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran knew each other from a long time ago and they were friends. Both of them had their own advantages, and neither wanted to concede to the other.

…

“Yi Yun, quickly come up to the stage to receive your judgement!” When the law-enforcer announced his name, Feng Hai couldn’t wait to jump up onto the Divine Wilderness Stage. With a large broad saber in hand, he was filled with fighting spirit.

I want to be outstanding today!

Feng Hai shouted out in his heart. He felt that his awesome life was starting today!

And Yi Yun would be his first sharpening stone ever since he entered the Tai Ah Divine City, if Yi Yun was worthy.

Yi Yun leisurely walked up the stage. With the Thousand Army Saber behind his back like a flagpole, he looked a little odd.

“Haha, you use a saber too and you are shorter than your saber!” Feng Hai was the tall one among the Lofty, Shorty, Fatty and Scrawny combination. Hence, he was proud of his height. “Unsheathe your saber. Since all of us are using a saber, I’ll let you know today what it means to have a saber!”

Feng Hai’s saber was very different from Yi Yun’s.

Yi Yun had a long saber and its attack method was similar to that of a sword. It was noted for its speed and sharpness.

But Feng Hai’s thick-back saber was good at direct attacks. They were two completely different types of weapons.

“Unsheathe my saber?” Yi Yun glanced at Feng Hai.

There was no need to use the Thousand Army Saber against Feng Hai because it was not easy to use.

The Tai Ah Divine City had instituted the rule that if anyone were to deliberately kill another in the competition, they were to be sentenced to death!

Accidentally killing another meant imprisonment!

The Hongdao Association planned to use a tag-team battle to cause Yi Yun to become bedridden for a few months, but they did not dare to harm Yi Yun’s life.

If Yi Yun were to use the Thousand Army Saber with his Radiant Sun Qi, the Divine Wilderness Stage, that was made with purple tungsten, could easily be sliced off. Such power might accidentally cause the death of Feng Hai.

Even without the Radiant Sun Qi, Yi Yun felt that the Thousand Army Saber could easily destroy Feng Hai’s defenses. The Thousand Army Saber’s blade length was enough to split a horse, and since they had a gap in their strength, he had to control his blade all the time, so it was pointless.

And the Thousand Army Saber had edges on both sides. Even if he used the saber’s spine to attack, Feng Hai might not be able to take it. So it was better if he did not use it at all.

Yi Yun shook his head calmly. He recalled the phrase commonly seen in the legendary novels from his past life. As such, he slowly said to Feng Hai, “My saber is not easily drawn, but once it unsheathes, it sees blood.”

When he said this, everyone present was shocked.

It took a while before the people could recompose themselves and they understood what Yi Yun meant. He felt that Feng Hai was not worthy of him drawing his weapon!

Was this guy sound in his mind? Did he not know how many people behind him were eyeing him!?

Everyone of them were stronger than the other!

Feng Hai was originally stunned by Yi Yun’s words, then he became furious. He wanted to dice up Yi Yun who belittled him. But a second later, he was no longer angry. There was no reason to be angry over a fool.

When faced with a tag-team battle, even those confident in their strength would gear themselves up. However, Yi Yun was nonchalant about it, as if it had nothing to do with him. He even dared to boast that he wouldn’t draw his saber?

This clearly meant he was crazy!

The people from the Hongdao Association looked at Yi Yun for a while before roaring into laughter.

They all felt that Yi Yun was some fearless idiot. It was no wonder he was so calm.

As the saying goes, the wise worries, but the fools are fearless.

“Don’t get me wrong. I may not draw my saber, but I’ll still choose a weapon.” Yi Yun waved his hand. The Thousand Army Saber was not easy to use for he might accidentally cause serious harm to Feng Hai. This would lead to trouble for himself.

But it did not feel right without a weapon. The power of the fist had a disadvantage. It was not that Yi Yun could not deal with Feng Hai, but there were too many people behind him. It would be too tiring to use his fists. He might even end up with a bruised fist. If he could save some energy, why not do so?

Because of this battle, Yi Yun had already taken off his Flowing Mercury Gown and was ready in light gear.

Yi Yun walked to the edge of the stage in a composed manner.

Everyone was looking at him, wondering what Yi Yun would be up to next.

There were eighteen weapons around the ring!

“Do you want to choose from the weapons here?” The referee asked. These weapons were placed by the side of the stage for the cultivators to use.

Yes.” Yi Yun scanned the various sabers, spears swords and halberds.

He could not used any of these. Yi Yun decided on using a blunt weapon. It was easy to hold and there was no fear that he would accidentally kill someone with it.

“Well, this seems good. What is this?”

Yi Yun picked up a rectangular piece of metal from the weapon rack. It was about a foot long, and as wide as an adult’s palm.

“Oh, you can’t use this.” The referee shook his head. “This is a magical weapon. Its name is the Heaven Upheaval Seal. A typical Yuan foundation realm warrior can use his body’s Yuan Qi to steer this weapon to kill!”

“Besides that, the Heaven Upheaval Seal has an exquisite array technique within it. If you do not know it, the power of the Heaven Upheaval Seal would be greatly reduced.”

No one expected Yi Yun to know the array technique. As for him reaching the Yuan foundation realm, it was impossible. Naturally, he couldn’t bring out the power of the Heaven Upheaval Seal.

“I see…” Yi Yun heard the referee speaking, but none of it really entered his ears.

What Heaven Upheaval Seal, after giving all that nonsensical explanations and giving it such an awesome name, to put it bluntly, it was just a piece of brick.

What ‘steering it to kill’? All it needed to do was to hit someone in the head.

Yi Yun held the Heaven Upheaval Seal and weighed it in his hand. The size was the same as a brick and he could easily hold it in his hands.

Back when Yi Yun was studying, he had fought with others before. With the brick in hand, Yi Yun seemed to recall the feelings of those yesteryears.

“You really want to use the Heaven Upheaval Seal?” The referee looked at Yi Yun as he carried the Heaven Upheaval Seal up on stage. He could not understand it as he had just explained it very clearly. Yet, Yi Yun did not heed his advice. What was he doing?

“Right, I’ll use this.” Yi Yun carried the brick and walked calmly up on stage.

The Hongdao Association were all laughing with their backs hunched over as they saw Yi Yun as a clown.

Was he really here to compete and not here to play the fool?

To face such a person with abnormal intelligence, one could not view him as a normal person.

At this time, not only the Hongdao Association, even Zhou Kui, Song Zijun and company who were extremely confident of Yi Yun were shocked. They did not know what to say.

How could Yi Yun know any array technique. He definitely could not use this Heaven Upheaval Seal!

“Can we begin?” The arena’s referee was very cultured. Even with such a weird scene happening, he only gave Yi Yun an odd look. After that, he did not say more, and focused on the competition.

“Oh, right. I have something…” Yi Yun sure had lots of things. “I heard that the Hongdao Association had open up a betting pool. I have previously bought 5000 dragon scale runes that I would be able to last beyond 20 matches. I wonder if they can pay up or not?”

The highest payout ratio for Yi Yun completing 20 matches was at 1:10.

But the Tai Ah Divine City did not encourage people to gain resources from luck such as gambling. As such, there was a 40% tax. Also, there was a 5000 dragon scale runes bet limit.

Of course, Yi Yun placed the maximum bet. If he could win, he would receive 50,000 dragon scale runes and he would have to pay 20,000 in tax.

But what was most important was that the Hongdao Association needed to have the ability to pay up.

In fact, 50,000 dragon scale runes was a large sum even for an association like the Hongdao Association! After all, Li Hong was just a second year soldier.

Hahahaha!”

Feng Hai nearly cried out laughing. Twenty matches and above?

He had always thought that Yi Yun had some ability. But now, Yi Yun played out various humorous performances and he wanted to win more than 20 matches, he sure had a lofty dream!

The other Hongdao Association members convulsed with laughter.

This guy must be some comedian invited by some ancient monkey spirit!

He came here to give them dragon scale runes and he made them laugh out loud. They were really blissful to meet such a great person.

“Yes, we can begin.” Yi Yun nodded his head, and the referee declared the start of the match.

Everyone’s eyes were on the Divine Wilderness Stage. They wanted to see how this wonderful match would lead on.

At this time, Feng Hai stopped laughing.

Laughing was one thing, but when it came to a competition, Feng Hai would still focus. He had bet 1000 dragon scale runes and an interspatial ring for this match.

Li Hong had repeatedly ordered them not to underestimate Yi Yun, so that they wouldn’t fail at an easy task.

Although now it was clear that Yi Yun was likely a retard, he still wanted to abuse this retard!

Feng Hai opened up his posture and he began moving at a great pace on the purple tungsten stage.

People saw Feng Hai’s body blurred, and heard a series of footstep sounds, “Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta…”

Feng Hai was as fast as lightning, and at the same thing he began waving his saber!

The golden saber slashed out a sharp saber Qi that cut through the air, emitting an ear-piercing sound.

“It’s the Feng family’s ‘Bell Tone Steps’ and ‘Golden Wind Saber’!” Someone in the stands said.

Many of the cultivators did not have sufficient dragon scale runes to exchange for a cultivation technique, so most of them used their own family’s cultivation technique.

Some family clans had high quality techniques that were passed down generation to generation. Taking the Feng family as an example, as one of the capital’s large family clans, the “Bell Tone Steps” and the “Golden Wind Saber” were the cornerstone skills of their family clan. Although Feng Hai could only show a tiny charm of them, it was still impressive!

Being praised by many of the elites around him, Feng Hai’s vanity was greatly inflated. He was just a thirteen-year-old, an age which needed the most recognition. Immediately, Feng Hai felt extremely pleased about being the star of the stage.

He was no longer in a hurry to attack Yi Yun. Instead, he began to demonstrate his “Bell Tone Steps” and “Golden Wind Saber”.

“Saber Has No Fear, Royalty Among Weapons, Bell Tones Are Silent, Travels A Thousand Miles…”

Feng Hai began reciting the poetry created for the “Bell Tone Steps” and “Golden Wind Saber” by the previous head of the Feng household that was used before killing an enemy. He charged valiantly and spiritedly towards Yi Yun.

“Feng family’s saber technique’s first move – Golden Wind Jade Dew!”

Feng Hai slashed downwards. This slash was accompanied by numerous golden winds, which was the reason for the move’s pretty name.

At that moment, the turbulent winds and countless number of saber flashes trapped Yi Yun within.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

With the golden flashes, the surface of the purple tungsten metal momentarily became filled with marks.

But at this moment, Yi Yun’s figure moved. He demonstrated his large success stage of Minute Subtlety. It was as if he was one with the surrounding environment.

The Golden Wind Saber’s flashes were avoided by him by an iota.

Feng Hai’s saber was extremely fast. After all, it was the Feng family’s heirloom saber technique. Once it was used, the saber flashes were complex and appeared in a haphazard manner. To avoid it, one had to calculate the trajectories of all the flashes, making use of every single space!

But Yi Yun still managed to step into the saber vortex. Even though the saber was sharp, it could not hurt him at all.

The surrounding audience were all elites. Their eyes were sharp and could clearly see Yi Yun’s movement in the flurry of saber flashes.

What!? He actually avoided that!

Yi Yun’s speed was too fast. He could meander through the thick saber flashes. This movement technique was… horrifying!

Suddenly, Yi Yun’s figure disappeared!

“Huh!?” Feng Hai shivered as his pupils contracted!

When Yi Yun avoided his first wave of saber attacks, he began to be on high alert. But now seeing Yi Yun suddenly disappear, Feng Hai immediately used his Bell Tone Steps to retreat without any thought!

He wanted to distance himself to plan ahead. But at the same moment, as he jumped backwards, he felt a rush of killing intent behind him. Yi Yun had already moved behind Feng Hai!

This scene shocked the entire audience!

How could that be?

The people did not have the opportunity to be alarmed. All they saw was Yi Yun raising his hand, smashing the brick… no, it should be the Heaven Upheaval Seal, at the back of Feng Hai’s head.

“Get lost!”

“Peng!”

With a crisp sound, it sounded like a polo ball being hit by a polo club.

Feng Hai wanted to turn his head, but he felt the back of his head tremble. It was like he was hit by a heavy hammer.

With that, he felt the world spin around him. He turned dizzy and began to see stars.

Feng Hai’s body, which was originally retreating, had been stopped by Yi Yun’s brick attack!

Feng Hai came close to crashing on the ground. He barely supported his body with the golden saber. He felt that the back of his head was sticky; he was clearly bleeding.

What… What the hell…

Feng Hai had been beaten to the point where his mental processes slowed down. He could not react to many things as his body wavered. He turned his head with great difficulty to see how Yi Yun had attacked him. But his vision turned blurry. Yi Yun’s figure was like a hazy patch.

“Oh? Pretty strong…” Yi Yun hesitated and he was slightly surprised. Following that, he lifted the brick without hesitation and slammed downwards.

This brick hit the forehead of Feng Hai.

“Peng!”

The sound of a ripe melon being knocked came out, crisp and clear!

Feng Hai, who had not gotten the opportunity to see Yi Yun clearly felt his vision go black. His body was like a noodle that had slipped off a pair of chopsticks, losing the support of his bones.

After some twisted struggle, he went completely limp on the ground. He foamed at his mouth as his limbs twitched.

Feng Hai’s blood from his head splashed out, quickly forming a pool.

When the people saw this, they turned silly. Yi Yun actually used the Heaven Upheaval Seal as a brick and beat Feng Hai who was using the “Bell Tone Steps” and “Golden Wind Saber” into the ground with two strikes!

Those flashy moves lost to… a brick!

The great Feng Hai, one of the Capital’s Four Bully Lords, had been defeated by Yi Yun. This was…

Unbearable to watch!

As for the Hongdao Association members, especially the other three from the Four Bully lords, their mouths were agape. Their eyes were straight as they petrified. They could not say a word.

They had just been shaking with laughing, but now, they couldn’t even cry.

What… What the hell?

216 - : That One Brick’s Elegant Appearance

The people from the Hongdao Association were stunned for a long time, it wasn’t until Feng Hai bled a huge pool on the stage that the three people from the Four Bully Lords reacted.

“Brother Hai!”

“Second Brother!”

The three of them rushed up and saw that their brother had been beaten up badly.

The three Bully Lords lifted Feng Hai up, and all they saw was a huge bump on Feng Hai’s forehead and another huge bump on the back of his head.

The two bumps protruded out greatly. If one were to look at them from the side, it would look like a bear with two little ears.

This look made people at a loss of whether to laugh or cry.

“Brother Hai! Brother Hai!”

The Four Bully Lords shook Feng Hai. All of them stared with all their might. They could not believe that Feng Hai’s and Yi Yun’s battle could have such a result.

Actually, all the elites present could not believe it.

This was not going according to script. Feng Hai had clearly used an awesome move, and it was demonstrated beautifully. It was after all the secret technique of the capital’s Feng family, how bad could it be?

The blade beam, the aura, the movement, the force wind… was impeccable!

Everyone thought Feng Hai was about to flaunt his skills.

But… at this moment, how did he, how did he… get taken down by Yi Yun’s one brick!?

No matter how it was analyzed, Yi Yun’s brick was nothing special. The attack was direct and there was no fancy cultivation technique. In fact, there was no technique involved, but the result was ridiculous!

It was like a martial arts guru from a martial family clan demonstrated a beautiful set of Tai Chi Fist in an upscale dojo. While he was planning to befriend others through martial arts and meet all the heroes of the world, a ruffian on the street rushed forward and beat up the guru with a brick!

This was an eye-popping experience!

Many family clan descendants could not accept it.

“Was Feng Hai careless…? Yi Yun used the Heaven Upheaval Seal as a brick, and he didn’t avoid…”

Hongdao Association tried to find excuses for Feng Hai because they could not accept the result.

The battle had ended too quickly. It was too dramatic. They rather believed that this battle was just an outlier.

Many of them had bet heavily against Yi Yun. Amongst them, the least amount that people bet on was 800-900 dragon scale runes. There were even more people who took out their family possessions such as elixirs, relics, interspatial rings, etc.

They were really betting all their assets!

Of course, they did not believe that Yi Yun was stronger than them.

But, on another side, Qiuniu rubbed his chin and looked meaningfully at Yi Yun, “This Yi Yun is quite strong… I underestimated him just now!”

“Yes!” Beside Qiuniu, Chu Xiaoran nodded slightly. “Although Feng Hai took Yi Yun lightly, even if he had put in his all, he would definitely not be Yi Yun’s match. Yi Yun is very strong!”

“This kid is interesting!” Qiuniu’s eyes flashed. He liked to spar with experts. Yi Yun was already able to arouse his interest.

“Divine Wilderness Stage, Yi Yun versus Feng Hai, Yi Yun wins!”

At this moment, the referee declared the end of the match. Yi Yun kept the brick and wobbled down the stage.

As he was returning to the audience stands, Yi Yun turned around and said, “Referee, I’ll be borrowing this brick.” Yi Yun did this while he bade farewell.

When the referee heard this, he was speechless. He coughed twice and said, “This weapon… is called… the Heaven Upheaval Seal.”

“Right, it’s more or less the same. I find this weapon quite handy. Thanks.” Yi Yun said in a casual tone.

His words made many people roll their eyes. Even the expressionless referee could not help but twitch his lips a few times upon hearing it.

What the heck!

How could this Heaven Upheaval Seal that was painstakingly produced be used in this manner?

If the person who produced the Heaven Upheaval Seal knew that his own produced weapon was being praised in such a manner, it was a wonder what he would think.

As such, Yi Yun returned to his seat. Zhou Kui and Song Zijun looked at Yi Yun as if he was a monster.

He was basically a humanoid primordial species. It was unknown what herbs he ate growing up that allowed him to use the Heaven Upheaval Seal as a brick to knock Feng Hai unconscious.

Yi Yun placed the brick with a domineering aura on the stone table in front of him. The surface of the brick even had blood.

It was terrifying.

This really was…

No matter how good your martial arts were, you would be put down with a brick!

Whatever so-called “Bell Tone Steps” and “Golden Wind Saber” simply did not work in front of the brick.

Yi Yun began to meditate to rest his mind.

The rookie ranking competition carried on in the arena!

With this, the Hongdao Association people became more down-to-earth.

They no longer shouted. Besides occasionally going on-stage to compete, they shriveled up the rest of the time.

With a brick over their heads that could fall down anytime, how could they laugh!

“Fuck, we need to avenge Brother Hai!”

Feng Hai had eaten some medicine for his injuries, but due to the two brick hits, he was still unconscious.

This setback did not only cause physical harm to Feng Hai, but was largely a dent on his psyche.

Feng Hai originally seemed unstoppable. Just as he was demonstrating his family’s secret skills to appear outstanding, and just as he had reached the pinnacle of his life, Yi Yun’s two blows changed everything. It was definitely not a good feeling.

“Be careful, this kid is a bit odd!” The eldest amongst the Four Bully Lords said. The next person to battle with Yi Yun was also one of the Four Bully Lords.

They absolutely could not repeat the same mistakes; if they did, they would totally lose face as the Four Bully Lords.

“Fourth Brother, you are up next! Make sure to brighten up your eyes! Watch your back! If you were to be defeated by him, we, the Four Bully Lords will become a joke in the capital! We won’t have the face to mix in the capital’s circles anymore!”

“I got it Big Bro!” The thin monkey in the Four Bully Lords patted his chest as a guarantee.

“Big Bro, I don’t dare to say about anything else, but you know me. My speed is the fastest amongst us four! My eyes are also the sharpest! It would be good if I didn’t sneakily attack others, for others to sneakily attack me? Impossible!”

The thin monkey was very confident.

His moves were extremely dexterous. And his family had a top movement skill. Scrawny had great talent in movement skills, so having learned this movement skill for many years, he had perfected the first three levels.

Many people who even outpaced Scrawny in cultivation level could not attack him.

As a result, Fatty felt relieved that Scrawny was up next.

He could see that it was not realistic that Scrawny could screw up Yi Yun, but it was no matter. With Scrawny’s movement skills, he could remain unbeaten for a long time, and that would be enough.

After all, they were doing a tag-team battle. By consuming Yi Yun’s strength, when he and Shorty went up on stage, they could certainly finish Yi Yun.

After Yi Yun finished his match, he had a break for nearly an hour.

During this period, Yi Yun also watched the matches amongst the rookies, but there was nothing much to see.

Before he learned the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, these people’s cultivation technique would probably light up Yi Yun’s eyes. But now, with the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, these cultivation techniques looked very common and Yi Yun was no longer impressed.

The matches went one after another.

The rookie rankings also constantly changed.

Some rookies were outstanding in the arena. They left the stage smiling.

Others lost badly in the arena. Because they did not live up to their own expectations, they were greatly set back.

This was something all the Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators had to go through.

The martial arts way had its gains and losses. Sometimes, the rewards from a mystic realm might make you overjoyed for a hundred years; but there were times where a disaster could break all your limbs, and might even cripple all your martial arts!

One had to be able to take on great joy and sufferings when practicing martial arts. In contrast, the loss in the rookie ranking competition was just the first step.

Yi Yun originally wanted to see Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu’s battle, but none of them ever went up.

Upon further thought, Yi Yun realized that no one dared to mess with them as they were strong. No one would give dragon scale runes to others and get beaten up at the same time!

Only someone extremely wealthy like himself who was ranked third and looked extremely weak would attract so much hate that they wanted to take a bite off him.

“Kid, did you recently break through again?”

At this time, Baldy Qin walked over to Yi Yun. He slapped Yi Yun on the back. When Baldy Qin saw Yi Yun’s previous battle, he could feel that Yi Yun’s improvement was not just by a tiny amount.

Yi Yun stood up and smiled, saying, “Instructor Qin, indeed I have grown stronger recently…”

After Yi Yun learned the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, even if he didn’t use his Radiant Sun Qi, his strength was no longer the same as before. This was because Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi accumulation and pureness had made great progress!

Baldy Qin could only vaguely feel it, but he could not tell with absolute confidence.

Although Baldy Qin had opened his Heaven’s Eye, there were different grades to Heaven’s Eyes. For example the Tai Ah Divine City’s Elder, Jian Ge, could clearly see through Yi Yun with a glance. Except for the Purple Crystal, he could see everything.

As for Baldy Qin, he clearly did not have that ability.

Baldy Qin lifted up the brick on the stone table in front of Yi Yun and flipped it around, looking at it.

“Good brick. Solid enough! Heavy enough!”

“I think so too.” Yi Yun grinned.

Yi Yun had a good impression of Baldy Qin. Although Baldy Qin had not deliberately taken care of him, he had fulfilled 100% of his duty as instructor and had given him plenty of advice.

At this time, the referee announced, “Divine Wilderness Stage, 10,003, Yi Yun! 10,708, Sun Yuan! Come on-stage for the match!”

It was Yi Yun’s turn again!

And his opponent was again from the Capital’s Four Bully Lords, Scrawny Sun Yuan!

Sun Yuan had pointed ears and monkey cheeks; he was ugly. His weapon was special, a pair of nunchucks.

Sun Yuan made a weird call and jumped on stage, “Yi Yun, quickly come up, it’s time to fight!”

217 - : No matter how good your martial arts were, you would be put down with a brick!

Sun Yuan aggressively shouted at Yi Yun from the Divine Wilderness Stage. Yi Yun stood up and lifted the brick from the table.

The surrounding elites’ eyelids twitched when they saw this.

Yi Yun was carrying the brick up on stage again!

Yi Yun’s brick blow had previously knocked Feng Hai from behind, now he was planning on knocking down Sun Yuan?

Sun Yuan was now prepared against it, so how could he be knocked down?

“This Yi Yun sure is arrogant. He may be strong, but he shouldn’t underestimate the enemy. He may have been alright using the brick while facing Feng Hai, but now against Sun Yuan, the other party is already prepared, yet he still uses the brick!”

“This brick may be a bit hard, but it’s not a decent weapon. He should draw out his saber! Underestimating the enemy…is a sure recipe for failing miserably at an easy task. Is Yi Yun following in the footsteps of Feng Hai?”

People began discussing, and at this moment, Yi Yun had already carried the brick up onto the Divine Wilderness Stage.

Sun Yuan looked at Yi Yun and saw the brick in Yi Yun’s hand. He grinned saying, “You want to use the same move on me twice? Naive!”

As Sun Yuan said those words, his two feet had begun slowly moving.

Sun Yuan’s pace was odd. It looked slow, but when he moved, it was hard to see his legs, as if there was a space-time disturbance.

After Sun Yuan moved a few steps, there were shadows behind his body. These shadows lingered on for a long time and they made it harder to distinguish which was the real Sun Yuan.

Step after step, the number of Sun Yuan’s afterimages grew.

The people were awed when they saw this. It was the Sun family’s After Image Paces!

By using special paces to move, an opponent would not be able to tell which was the true body of the person demonstrating the After Image Paces. At the same time, each step was injected with Yuan Qi and each afterimage was formed from Yuan Qi. As a result, they looked extremely real!

If one couldn’t find the opponent’s position, how was one to attack?

Similarly, if one did not know the opponent’s position, one would not know where the attacks would come from. It would be easy to be sneakily attacked by Sun Yuan!

The ‘After Image Paces’ was the core of the Sun family’s heritage. Sun Yuan had used his outstanding talent in the After Image Paces to become one of the members of the Capital’s Four Bully Lords.

As long as the After Image Paces was not seen through, Sun Yuan would be invincible!

More and more afterimages surrounded Yi Yun. Each afterimage could be the real body and they could attack Yi Yun any time!

All the elites present were not weak. They were watching from a distance and even seeing Sun Yuan’s After Image Paces as a whole, a large number of them could not tell which was Sun Yuan’s real body.

“I actually can’t tell which body is the real one among all these images made from the After Image Paces.”

“As expected of the secret techniques of the Sun family. How is Yi Yun going to attack?”

Many people began praising it. The Four Bully Lords’ Fatty saw that Sun Yuan was slowly gaining control of the situation and he began smiling. Sun Yuan’s skill was the basis of his strength. This move perfectly countered Yi Yun.

If a sword-bearing or saber-bearing warrior was unable to see Sun Yuan’s position, they could just send out an outpour of blade beams, attacking indiscriminately.

If so, no matter how exquisite Sun Yuan’s After Image Paces was, he would struggle to cope with it. It would be easy to be slashed by the blade beams, which revealed the flaws of the technique.

But Yi Yun only had a brick. His Thousand Army Saber was placed off-stage.

A brick could not send off an outpour of attacks.

Who asked you to be careless?

Underestimating the enemy would lead to this outcome!

At this moment, in the middle of the stage, Yi Yun was still holding his brick and standing casually. Actually, Yi Yun was feeling quite speechless.

This Sun Yuan sure was not done with his tricks.

Yi Yun had already formed the Heaven’s eyeball. A sweep of the Heaven’s Eye and Sun Yuan’s real body would not escape him.

Even without the formed Heaven’s eyeball, Yi Yun could just open up the Purple Crystal’s vision to see Sun Yuan’s jumping like a monkey. The target was too obvious!

Yi Yun had practically a hundred different ways to find Sun Yuan.

To think that he said the same move could not be used on him twice. Did he think he was a saint warrior?

At this moment, Sun Yuan’s afterimages came within nine meters of Yi Yun!

To warriors, it was no different from being in contact. Initiating an attack was a matter that took a split moment!

“Good!”

The Four Bully Lords’ Fatty’s eyes lit up. Being surrounded by Sun Yuan’s afterimages and real body at a nine meter radius, the other party had already lost!

Fatty did not expect that Sun Yuan could deal with Yi Yun, it now appeared that Sun Yuan could win!

“Attack!”

Sun Yuan made his move. He suddenly attacked while behind Yi Yun!

The nine meters distance disappeared in an instance.

Sun Yuan drew out a thin soft sword hidden within his sleeve. The sword’s edge was soft and could not be easily seen when immersed in the air!

This sharp soft sword was like a venomous snake coming out of its hole. It struck Yi Yun’s back and at the same time, with a raise of Sun Yuan’s hand, he shot out a series of stealth weapons!

These stealth weapons were not obvious, they were easy-to-miss flying needles!

The Sun family’s flying needles were also very famous. These flying needles, when sent out amidst blade beams, would be protected by the blade beams. A typical opponent would find it difficult to spot them, let alone avoid them.

Even if the opponent was not confused by the After Image Paces, reacted in a timely manner and could parry the blade beam, the opponent would not be able to avoid the flying needles!

This series of moves could be said to be despicable!

Taking Feng Hai’s failure as a lesson, Sun Yuan had used all his best moves and had played them out to the extreme!

The After Image Paces approached Yi Yun, with the soft sword and concealed weapons combination, Sun Yuan did not believe he could lose.

This could only be blamed on the arrogance of this kid Yi Yun. Did he think he could use a brick to win?

Without any concern, Sun Yuan stabbed towards Yi Yun’s heart!

A row of concealed weapons also pierced through the body!

Hit!

“Cha!”

The soft sword penetrated the body!

But Sun Yuan’s expression suddenly changed!

This stab did not have the feeling of entering a body’s Yuan Qi protection. There was no resistance as if he had stabbed nothing!

At this moment, Yi Yun’s figure suddenly blurred.

After image!?

Sun Yuan was greatly surprised. The Yi Yun he stabbed was also an afterimage!?

The After Image Paces was mystic technique that combined Yuan Qi and fluctuating paces to form afterimages. Of course, Yi Yun did not know the After Image Paces, but with absolute speed, Yi Yun could also create a very short-lived afterimage.

This was because the original image would continue to appear in one’s vision for a split second, which was also the reason for this afterimage phenomenon. Without opening Heaven’s Eye, this afterimage left in one’s eyes could not be removed!

It was this short afterimage in Sun Yuan’s eyes that caused him to stab into empty space.

Sun Yuan immediately knew it was not going well. He urgently backed away, but at this moment, he heard wind behind his head!

A strong ominous feeling rose up in his mind. Sun Yuan felt his scalp tingle while his hair stood on end on the back of his neck. He tried hard to redeem the situation, but… it was too late.

“Dong!”

A clear and crisp sound rang. Yi Yun had struck Sun Yuan’s head with the brick!

Sun Yuan felt his body tremble and an intense pain from the back of his head. His vision turned black and he immediately felt dizzy.

F… F… Fu… Fuck…

Sun Yuan angrily wailed in his mind. He used all his strength to open his eyes and support his body, but it was all futile, it only increased his pain…

Yi Yun was surprised when he noticed that he could not finish Sun Yuan off with one brick. These Four Bully Lords sure were resilient. They must have been out and about in the past.

As such, Yi Yun patted Sun Yuan’s shoulders and earnestly said, “I say, you were jumping around like a monkey just now. When in battle, what’s the point with all those fancy tricks? It’s best to fight steadily…”

While saying that, Yi Yun silently raised the brick.

Sun Yuan’s mouth twitched as he wanted to say something, but he had no chance. When he seemed to make the sound of a syllable with great difficulty, Yi Yun’s second brick blow came smashing down, hitting him in the exact same spot as the first brick.

“Dong!”

Another crisp sound rang. The same attack had been repeated twice.

Sun Yuan was like a nail that was being struck by a hammer. His body shuddered and his eyes rolled. As if his bones had been siphoned off, he landed on the ground with a thud!

No one knew what Sun Yuan’s last thoughts were.

Yet another one was settled. With the brick in hand, Yi Yun loosened his wrists. It was as if he just killed a dog.

The audience turned silent upon seeing this!

Sun Yuan had used his Sun family’s secret technique, the After Image Paces, forming 36 split bodies. His move was so fancy and dazzling.

But the result was… being destroyed by a brick!

Yi Yun had come up twice, struck the brick twice to destroy two people!

Uh… It should be four brick blows, but that doesn’t matter!

Is this a fucking duel between experts?

No one that came to the Tai Ah Divine City was not an elite. Their duels should be filled with blade beams and heaven-moving auras!

What’s the matter with you, using two brick blows to put down two people!?

At this moment, on the Divine Wilderness Stage, Yi Yun crouched down and placed the brick to the side. He grabbed Sun Yuan’s hand and took off Sun Yuan’s interspatial ring.

After all, this thing had been part of the bet. It was going to be his sooner or later, so why not take it earlier?

“Thanks!”

Yi Yun said with a very provocative tone, but of course, Sun Yuan could no longer hear it.

Seeing this scene, the Four Bully Lords’ Fatty, outside the arena, was completely livid. The fat on his face was constantly twitching.

Scrawny had also been knocked out!

His interspatial ring had been taken and he had lost 1000 dragon scale runes!

Together with the previous match, the Four Bully Lords had lost 2000 dragon scale runes and 2 interspatial rings!

He could already imagine the future, while on the streets of the capital, when he was introduced by others, someone would say, “Oh! You are the eldest of the Four Bully Lords. I’ve long since heard about you. Two of your brothers got crushed by a Cloud Wilderness bumpkin with a brick. And you even gave all of your assets to him. I’ve heard of your famous name for a long time now. To meet you today is a pleasure! Nice to meet you!”

Upon thinking of this, Fatty’s face distorted completely. If this carried on, how were they to be called the Four Bully Lords. They might as well change their name to the Four Bastards!

218 - : Devastation of Sun Yuan

“Big… Big Bro…”

The Four Bully Lords’ Shorty spoke to Fatty without any confidence, “Next up… will be me, I don’t… don’t have any confidence.”

Shorty’s strength was pretty much the same as Sun Yuan.

Feng Hai’s defeat by Yi Yun could be due to him underestimating Yi Yun. But Sun Yuan had done his best; yet, he too had been bricked down by Yi Yun. This was due to the absolute difference in strength.

No matter how reluctant Shorty was in accepting the situation, he had no choice but to admit this fact.

Yi Yun was stronger than him!

Fatty stayed silent. He had nothing more to say.

What do we do now?

All their assets had been bet. If they did not fight, were they just going to throw in the towel?

After the Four Bully Lords, there were still a lot of people from the Hongdao Association. They all had ugly expressions on their faces. Many of them had submitted their application to compete with Yi Yun. They had even handed in their bets, it could no longer be changed.

For this, they were regretting it to the point where their intestines turned green.

If they had known that Yi Yun was so formidable, they would have rather died than mess with him.

Even if Yi Yun’s strength was immense, that was alright. But his weapon was a brick. Fighting with him meant one would be knocked out with a brick!

To warriors, it was alright to lose a match. As long as they did not lose their dignity, they would reluctantly accept it.

But to be bricked down by a brick, that would be too embarrassing!

Yi Yun carried the Heaven Upheaval Seal down from the stage.

He had twelve matches the first day. He had to fight a match almost every hour. In a day, he had to fight from dawn to dusk for a total of 12 hours.

After his second match, Yi Yun could feel that the gaze the surrounding people gave him was one of awe.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, as long as you were strong, you would be respected even if you came from a humble background.

Yi Yun meditated for some time before his third match began.

His opponent was Shorty from the Four Bully Lords.

When Yi Yun went up on stage again, Shorty lost a large portion of his morale when he saw Yi Yun holding the bloody brick in hand.

Before the match began, Shorty abruptly said, “Wait! I have something to say.”

“Oh? “What is it?”

Yi Yun looked at Shorty with some surprise.

Shorty gulped down a mouthful of saliva and said, “That… Can… Can you change your weapon?”

“Change? Why?”

Yi Yun looked at Shorty with a puzzled glance.

Shorty stayed silent. What he meant was that he did not want to be defeated by a brick. It would be too embarrassing, but yet he couldn’t say that.

After all, one wouldn’t expect him to say, “I don’t want to be knocked down by a brick. Please change to another weapon to knock me down with.”

This would simply mean that he was conceding in advance, before the fight even started!

Now, if he returned to the capital, that would be equally shameful. Others would say Lofty and Scrawny of the Four Bully Lords got knocked down by a brick. But later, Shorty did not want to be knocked down by a brick so he pleaded for Yi Yun to change to another weapon to knock him down with. Eventually Yi Yun agreed and as a result, Shorty was also knocked down…

Upon thinking of this, Shorty felt extremely aggrieved.

But, Yi Yun shook his head, saying, “I’m not changing. This Heaven Upheaval Seal is very handy. Even if I were to change, I would change to a hammer or something. It would be almost the same.”

When Yi Yun said that, Shorty felt his heart being trampled by 10,000 near-horned beasts with mud-stained hoofs. Could he not be so insulting?

He was addicted to knocking people!

Shorty became enraged!

“I’ll fight it out with you!”

Shorty drew out his curved blade and charged towards Yi Yun!

As he rushed forward, Shorty’s body blurred. With a touch of his interspatial ring and a shout.

“Split Body Technique!”

With this shout, Shorty split into two bodies!

What!?

Many people were shocked by this.

His single body became two in a split second?

Previously when Scrawny used his After Image Paces, his body turned into many bodies, but those were all afterimages. After images could not move, and could only be left in the irises of people, confusing a person’s vision.

But now, Shorty’s Split Body Technique had really divided his body into two. His doppelganger also rushed at Yi Yun and attacked!

Yi Yun was also slightly stunned, but soon he figured it out.

“Ha!”

Shorty and his doppelganger jumped and attacked Yi Yun from left and right. The two curved blades crossed

“Split Body Cross Slash!”

A gleaming blade beam shot out. But at this moment, Yi Yun’s moved, appearing in front of Shorty and his doppelganger.

He raised the brick.

“Dong! Dong!”

Using a mysterious movement technique, Yi Yun sent out two solid hits with the brick. Shorty had no way of dodging them.

The two curved blades flew straight out, but Shorty and his doppelganger had been knocked down by Yi Yun’s two brick blows.

“Boom!”

Shorty slammed to the ground heavily while his “doppelganger” lost its ability to move and twisted into a pile.

Only then did people realize that this was not really a split body.

In martial arts, those who reached a high cultivation level could have a doppelganger, but Shorty was far from that level.

His so-called doppelganger was actually a puppet. When Shorty threw out his puppet, he had injected the puppet with his Yuan Qi. Together with his own afterimage and fast speed, it created this doppelganger effect.

But this method was nothing to Yi Yun who had formed Heaven’s eyeball. He saw through it with a single glance.

Shorty was defeated in the same way as the others, being knocked unconscious by Yi Yun.

Up to this point, no one had been able to escape the curse of Yi Yun’s brick. That brick, in the hands of Yi Yun, was a terrifying weapon that would cause nightmares amongst the Hongdao Association’s members.

A brick on your head would result in a big bump, who wouldn’t fear it!?

They could not imagine the feeling of watching helplessly as Yi Yun knocked them down with his brick when it came to their turn.

They could predict the result of the match. They had to stick out their heads, just to be knocked down by him. What was more painful than this?

At this point, all the members from the Hongdao Association who had declared war on Yi Yun felt like they were sitting on pins and needles!

A youth suddenly gritted his teeth and said, “This kid must have practiced some special cultivation technique! We have all been fooled by him. He may look aloof, making others think he’s weak. Actually he is using a very domineering and powerful move! And that move’s carrier is… the brick!”

This youth’s words enlightened many!

Everyone looked at each other and suddenly felt that the youth’s words made sense!

But there were others who were in doubt, “It can’t be… His original weapon was a long saber… That long saber should be his weapon of choice, right?”

Upon facing this question, the youth from before denied it, “Bro, you are too naive. Don’t be fooled by appearances. Has any of you seen Yi Yun fight with that long saber? Ever since he came to the Tai Ah Divine City, he has been picking herbs, all the time! Picking herbs! Picking more herbs! And still picking herbs! He had never fought with us. We don’t even know what cultivation technique he practices!”

“I am 70% sure that Yi Yun has picked up a secret mystic technique, and this secret technique is related to bricks. In this world, there are sword skills, saber skills and spear skills. Why can’t there be ‘brick skills’? Don’t find it ridiculous. Think about it carefully, there are all sorts of weird cultivation techniques in this world. Having one of these cultivation techniques use a brick as the main weapon would be normal!”

This youth began to firmly believe in his own hypothesis.

People began to feel enlightened. “Bro, you’re right! No wonder this guy was leisurely walking to the arena in the morning when I saw him. He knew many were waiting to challenge him, yet he was not worried at all, it was as if he was not involved in it! His calmness was abnormal!”

“Right, when he went on-stage, he was peaceful as a dove, with no stress at all. Previously, he even provoked us to increase the stakes of the battles. Looks like he was confident early on. With his secret ‘brick’ technique, he was not afraid of us! This Yi Yun is too cunning!”

People became more and more convinced, as if they had seen through Yi Yun’s secret.

At the same time, the Hongdao Association’s youths grew furious at Yi Yun’s provocation for them to raise the stakes. Now, they finally realized they had been cheated by Yi Yun into raising the stakes!

This bastard!

But the problem now was, even if they knew Yi Yun practiced a mystic technique and that his weapon was a brick, how were they going to crack it?

The difference in strength was too great. They would still be knocked down when they went on-stage!

“Brothers, we have to think of a way to control the brick in his hand. Do not be tricked by the brick’s appearance. It might look comical, but in Yi Yun’s hand, it’s the most feared weapon in the world!”

Someone said the concluding remark.

The other youths echoed, “Right. We need to treat the brick as the sharpest saber, sword or spear! Speaking of swordsmen, some swordsmen can have such superb swordplay that they can “be one with the sword”. The bodies of those swordsmen who can ‘be one with the sword’ are equivalent to a sword. And that sword is also their body!”

“This Yi Yun, he might even have reached the stage of ‘being one with the brick’!”

“Oh? ‘Being one with the brick’!? So powerful!? It can’t be! The difficulty of ‘being one with the brick’ can’t be any less than ‘being one with the sword’. This realm can only reached by extremely gifted people with excellent perceptivity…”

Hearing that Yi Yun could reach the stage of “being one with the brick”, the youths present turned livid. This nut was too tough to crack!

They too had their own weapons, but none of them could be one with their weapons!

“I’m not being an alarmist, but I’ve seen warriors who were able to ‘be one with the sword’. Their moves looked simple. It was usually just one stab and they would defeat their opponent. On the surface, there was nothing fancy at all.”

“Now Yi Yun is the same too. With the knock of a brick, it might look simple, but yet he could defeat his opponents. It’s very similar to ‘being one with the sword’. It should be ‘being one with the brick’.”

219 - : Bro, you are too naive

The Hongdao Association’s thirteen-year-old youths were all gathered together. They were analyzing Yi Yun’s moves and weaknesses. Finally, they decided on a battle strategy.

When a swordsman reaches the point of being one with the sword, he had a weakness. Once he loses the sword in his hand, his battle power would be greatly reduced. According to this reasoning, these youths believed Yi Yun was the same. As long as he lost the brick in his hand, his battle power would drop!

As a result, their battle strategy was to first control the brick in Yi Yun’s hand, then find an opportunity to hurt Yi Yun seriously. It was not impossible to win.

As the youths began to analyze with well-reasoned logic, a cold voice shouted out, “All of you shut up!”

When this voice shouted out, the group of youths jumped in shock. Who was so arrogant to get them to shut up?

But when they turned their heads to see who it was, they immediately turned silent.

The person who shouted at them was the Hongdao Association’s President, Li Hong!

Li Hong had a very livid expression on his face. His eyes were fierce, as if he was a beast that was going to pounce and devour a person.

In the Hongdao Association, Li Hong had extreme authority. When faced with a furious Li Hong, the other youths kept quiet out of fear.

“A bunch of idiots. You still fucking dare to be stupid in front of me!?”

Li Hong ferociously said. The youths that were previously speaking were stunned. They were still oblivious to the situation.

Upon seeing the youths’ expressions, Li Hong’s lips twitched. He wished he could throw these bunch of retards down the Tai Ah Divine City’s cliffs. He felt that, after he formed the Hongdao Association, he had gathered a bunch of idiots and that he had always been commanding a pile of trash.

These kids when compared to Yi Yun… It was like the difference between jade and shit!

But then again, most twelve to thirteen year old kids were usually immature in their thinking. They would occasionally make a naive mistake and say something childish. That was also very normal.

But Yi Yun was different!

His mind was not like a kid’s at all!

Yi Yun had been challenged by a great number of people over the past few days. Yet, he was nonchalant about it. He carried on eating and sleeping, not putting it at heart.

Instead, he even taunted many people. He ridiculed and challenged others. These behaviors made him seem to have adolescent delusions, but the result was that the youths, ridiculed by Yi Yun, turned hot-headed and raised the stakes higher.

This resulted in Yi Yun completely taking advantage of them.

That included the Four Bully Lords.

Initially, Li Hong felt something amiss. Yi Yun always looked like he was in an adolescent delusion, but if that was so, how did he pick a primordial herb?

It seemed far-fetched to explain it away with luck.

Originally, Li Hong was cautious, but he still got tricked by Yi Yun.

The main reason was that Yi Yun was too sinister. Under normal circumstances, a kid from the Cloud Wilderness should not have much worldly experiences, and would not have such great power.

And, it was because of this that Li Hong allowed his men to bet with Yi Yun, resulting in the bets being pushed even higher.

Now, even his Hongdao Association had opened a betting pool. And Yi Yun had brought 5000 dragon scale runes with him to bet on himself in this betting pool, betting that he could complete more than 20 battles!

Once he thought of this bet, Li Hong felt breathless. He really felt his heart, liver and balls ache. Even his intestines seemed to twist together!

5000 dragon scale runes, with a 1:10 payout meant that the Hongdao Association would lose 45,000 dragon scale runes!

This practically was sapping him of his life!

To hope that those recruits who lacked both strength and brains could flip the tables, he might as well hope for pigs to fly.

Li Hong was not naive enough to believe that Yi Yun had learned some “Brick mystic technique” that made him that strong.

Yi Yun still had not used his saber, which meant that the opponents he faced did not have the qualification to make him draw his saber!

To Yi Yun, a brick was more than enough to take care of these imbeciles.

None of the Hongdao Association’s rookies were Yi Yun’s match. They couldn’t even exhaust him!

These 45,000 dragon scale runes were definitely lost!

Li Hong could feel his heart bleeding.

Earning dragon scale runes and resources, and supporting such a large association was not easy! Li Hong’s strength and talent were not the best. Although Li Hong had managed to obtain brilliant results in one year, he still failed to enter the Heaven or Earth rolls of honor.

It was not easy for him to earn dragon scale runes!

Li Hong clenched his fists. Separated by the stages, he looked at the linen-clothed Yi Yun that was nearly a hundred meters away.

Yi Yun had already placed the brick on the table and begun meditating.

When he was watched by Li Hong, Yi Yun sensed it and opened his eyes and his gaze clashed with Li Hong’s.

This clash in gazes made Li Hong feel a sense of fear!

Such keen perception!?

People with keen perception could feel it when they were being secretly watched. But with the large distance between them, Yi Yun still could feel it. This perception was too terrifying!

Even people who formed their Heaven’s eyeball were not as good…

“This kid, you sure are good! I admit I’ve been set up by you!”

Li Hong felt like he had been hit by a heavy blow. He had matured in his thinking early, so although he was only fourteen, he already had the mind of an adult.

Whether it was the rich kids circle in the capital or in the Tai Ah Divine City, Li Hong had used his excellent emotional intelligence to thrive. Or else, he would not have been able to organize such a large organization as the Hongdao Association.

But today, he had been completely played by Yi Yun, a kid who was younger than him by almost two years.

“Wan Kai, if you think you can’t beat Yi Yun, admit defeat!”

Li Hong said to the Four Bully Lords’ Fatty who was standing beside him. Fatty’s name was Wan Kai. He was from the Wan family in the capital, which was also a very famous family clan.

Wan Kai’s strength was stronger than the other three from the Four Bully Lords, but he was at best 20-30% stronger. Li Hong did not think Wan Kai stood a chance at beating Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had not even used his weapon or moves to defeat three of the Four Bully Lords, yet he did it so easily.

It could be said to be a landslide victory.

Since he knew Wan Kai was going up to be knocked down by the brick, it was better not going on-stage.

“I…” Wan Kai’s fat face flushed red.

To throw in the towel without a fight was embarrassing!

But if he fought, all of the Four Bully Lords would have been hit by Yi Yun with the brick, knocking all of them down. This degree of shame was not low.

It would be a shameful result, whether he chose to fight or not.

Wan Kai had never felt so aggrieved!

At this time, Li Hong also turned to his men in the Hongdao Association and spoke without any enthusiasm, “And all of you too… If you think there’s no point in fighting, admit defeat…”

Many of his men were dumbfounded upon hearing this.

“Brother Hong, you want us to just admit defeat like that? Then won’t everything we bet be given to him?”

Having gambled all of their wealth, they were unwilling to resign themselves without battling!

But so what if they felt resigned, if they could get back something by taking some pain, Li Hong would have made them all go up on-stage.

However, the crux of the issue was, even if they all formed a bump on their heads due to the knock, it would not change the fact that they had been cheated.

“Brother Hong, the bad blood between the Hongdao Association and Yi Yun is known by the entire Tai Ah Divine City. This bet was also first instigated by our Hongdao Association. If we were to admit defeat, how are we to live on in the Tai Ah Divine City?”

Someone said in a depressed manner.

Li Hong rolled his eye at this person, “You think that if the bunch of you line up and get knocked down by Yi Yun’s brick, you will still have the face to live on in the Tai Ah Divine City in the future?”

When Li Hong returned with this question, no one said a word.

Indeed, it would be more humiliating if that happened.

They could imagine that after this battle, when people mentioned the Hongdao Association, they would say, “Are you talking about the Hongdao Association, the one where the entire association went to bully one person, but ended up being knocked down by a brick? Of course I know about them! What? You are from that association? Nice to meet you! By the way, did you get knocked down by Yi Yun that time?”

Upon thinking of this, many of their faces turned livid.

“I’ll admit defeat, hai…” Wan Kai shook his head. Since he was inferior, that was all he could do.

There were a significant number of Hongdao Association youths that wanted to follow Wan Kai’s footsteps in admitting defeat. But many of them were still indignant, they felt that Yi Yun wasn’t that strong.

As such, Yi Yun did not meet any significant resistance the rest of the day.

When the referee got Wan Kai to come on stage, Wan Kai immediately admitted defeat.

The surrounding audience were speechless when they saw this scene. Wan Kai’s overall rank was around 10,500. He had even made a big bet with Yi Yun.

Under such circumstances, he decisively admitted defeat before even fighting!

It was clear that Wan Kai had lost all hope of winning.

Wan Kai left the stage in a dejected manner, allowing Yi Yun to win without fighting.

After Wan Kai, two Hongdao Association members who went on-stage also admitted defeat.

There were also others who did not believe in heresy, such as the youth who insisted that Yi Yun had learned a “Brick mystic technique”. He still firmly carried out his own battle strategy, hoping to take the brick away from Yi Yun’s hand and then “find an opportunity to hurt Yi Yun seriously”.

The result was obvious. When the fight began, just as the youth was waiting to carry out his battle strategy, Yi Yun just disappeared from his vision.

Following that, he felt a pain in his head. He was instantly put down when his vision turned black!

The youths from the Hongdao Association were stunned. This gap was too great!

At this moment, this new batch of rookies in the Tai Ah Divine City looked at Yi Yun with fear.

Yi Yun’s strength was too great! It was too far from them.

How far could Yi Yun go in the future? What would his Earth ranking be?

They did not dare to imagine it.

220 - : Throwing in the Towel

The first day of the rookie ranking competition ended.

Yi Yun had fought a total of five battles and easily won them all!

The other seven matches ended with his opponents taking the initiative to throw in the towel.

Those who were waiting to see Yi Yun turn into a joke were dumbfounded. The members of the Hongdao Association no longer had any temper. What else could they say after being bullied by Yi Yun in this way?

There were those who wanted to bite down on Yi Yun, thinking he was a fat lamb for the slaughter, but they had been stopped by the Hongdao Association. For this, they felt very fortunate.

They were extremely grateful towards the Hongdao Association for pulling them back in time, preventing them from falling into the fire pit. If not, that one brick would have taught them how to lead a proper life.

At the end of the first day’s competition, according to the rules, the losers had to pay the winners their dragon scale runes.

Ten Hongdao Association members including the Four Bully Lords lined up to hand over their dragon scale runes to Yi Yun.

Usually when they lined up, it was to collect resources or cultivation grounds or other various good stuff. Even the worst lines were for them to line up to buy fried dough or for the bathroom. But now, they were lining up to give their dragon scale runes to someone else.

These dragon scale runes were obtained from pawning all of their belongings.

It was obvious how they felt.

Yi Yun held his identity token and looked ecstatically at the stacks of dragon scale runes flying towards him.

He laughed happily saying, “Generous, you guys are so generous. Thank you everyone for your kind generosity. You know that me being a newcomer, things are not easy, and you all especially came to give me dragon scale runes to spend. I’m so grateful!”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, those Hongdao Association members, whose hearts and livers were hurting, nearly vomited blood.

Yi Yun actually said that it wasn’t easy for him to be a newcomer?

His net worth was even higher than many second and third year cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City, let alone the rookies!

Seeing Yi Yun’s brilliant smile, they really wanted to punch him, but too bad… they could not beat him.

“And the interspatial ring, don’t forget it…”

Yi Yun reminded Fatty from the Four Bully Lords. He had not collected Fatty’s ring.

Fatty’s mouth twitched twice. He looked at the green interspatial ring on his hand, and his fingers trembled as he took off his ring.

This ring was a gift given to him by his family clan for his twelfth birthday.

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, special attention was paid to the important birthdays for a boy, which were at 12 years old, 15 years old and 20 years old.

Twelve years old was the time a child abandoned their childishness which the elders blessed with a gift. Fifteen years old was when a child could consummate with a girl. Twenty years old was the official hallmark of being an adult.

Fatty’s feeling of giving away this gift of blessing that he received at twelve was clear.

When he went back to his family clan, his elders would reprimand him if they found out.

But the Tai Ah Divine City operated this way. One had to pay the price of defeat according to the Tai Ah Divine City’s rules.

“Are… Are you going to wear all four rings?”

The Four Bully Lords’ Scrawny asked disgruntledly.

“Of course I can wear them. Who says I can’t? I can wear eight on one hand easily. I can wear four rings using two fingers.”

While saying this, Yi Yun placed the four rings on his left hand’s middle and ring finger. Each finger wore two rings.

Yi Yun was pleased upon seeing this.

He finally had interspatial rings. It would be more convenient when he went into the Divine wilderness to hunt desolate beasts.

As for the #60 herb mountain, he reckoned he would not be going there as often anymore.

Seeing Yi Yun wear four rings on one hand, with the face of a nouveau riche, Scrawny swallowed his saliva and stared silently.

Yi Yun went back fully loaded with riches. Many looked at Yi Yun’s back with burning eyes.

As for Zhou Kui, Song Zijun and the other youths who followed Baldy Qin, they were at a loss for words. Yi Yun’s earnings in a day was more than what they made in a year.

They finally understood that their worry over Yi Yun in the past had been meaningless.

“Ah! If I knew earlier, I would have bet more! I only bet 50 dragon scale runes that Yi Yun would win more than ten rounds…”

Zhou Kui gave a look of regret. Fifty dragon scale runes was not a small sum to him. When he made the bet, he was extremely worried because he felt ten rounds were way too much.

But now, Yi Yun had not even used his saber to win ten rounds. It was a pity. If he knew this earlier, he would have thrown all his assets on it!

…

At night, in a bright and spacious house amongst the upper class residences in the Tai Ah Divine City.

A puppet beast was rolling on the floor while sweeping away the dust.

This puppet was used by some families in the capital to clean the floor. Of course, the Tai Ah Divine City did not provide such items. However, some sons from big family clans would bring such puppets to the Tai Ah Divine City to clean their houses.

“Oh? You want me to challenge Yi Yun tomorrow?”

In this room, a effeminate youth leaned on a bed while playing with a lancet flying dagger.

Sitting beside this effeminate youth was a slight chubby youth with a grim face. This person was none other than the Hongdao Association’s President, Li Hong.

“That’s right! Brother Liu is ranked sixth among the rookies. Your movement techniques are superb. In the capital city, only a few people do not know of your famous name, Liu Yuxing.”

Li Hong’s idea was simple. Since the Tai Ah Divine City’s rules only allowed at most twelve matches a day for the rookie rankings competition. This prevented the contestants from being over-exhausted that would result in a decline in strength.

But for Yi Yun who won without battling, he could have additional matches.

Hence, Li Hong wanted Liu Yuxing to come out to defeat Yi Yun. This was the way to end Yi Yun’s winning streak.

At least, he could save on the losses the Hongdao Association had incurred from opening up the betting pool. If not, he would have to give Yi Yun 50,000 dragon scale runes.

This would be equivalent to cutting off a piece of flesh from Li Hong.

“Haha, Brother Hong, does your Hongdao Association not have anyone that can stop Yi Yun?”

Li Hong shook his head, “Among the second year cultivators, there are many that can beat Yi Yun. But amongst the rookies, there really are none…”

The Hongdao Association was after all inferior to a large association like the Luohuo Association which had been established for 3-4 years. Its foundation was still not established, and many of the outstanding rookies did not join the Hongdao Association, but joined other larger associations. Those associations could give better benefits, while Li Hong’s promised benefits only came into effect 2-3 years later.

As a result, Li Hong did not manage to recruit anyone in the top 20 of the rookie rankings. There were also lone wanderers like Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran, who did not join any association.

Liu Yuxing was ranked sixth. Li Hong wanted to him to go up against Yi Yun because they had known each other for some time and considered each other as friends.

As for Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran, Li Hong never came into contact with them. He might not be able to pull his weight with them. And even if he could, they were ranked ahead of Yi Yun. If they challenged Yi Yun, Yi Yun could also reject it.

“Brother Hong, friendship may be friendship, but we need to make things clear. That Yi Yun has not even used his weapon yet. And without a weapon, he could still defeat the Bully Lords with one move. This means he has skill!”

“Although the power he has displayed up to now is of no threat to me, but who knows, he might have plenty of hidden strength?”

“This time, I plan to rush up to the top 5000 of the Earth ranks. Yi Yun still hasn’t gone up there yet. Even if I win against him, I would just replace his 10,003 spot. Besides that, there aren’t any benefits.”

“Me being born in the Duke’s residence, and Yi Yun being born from the Cloud Wilderness. He has nothing to lose. If I win over Yi Yun, people will say that is expected, and will even add to Yi Yun’s reputation. Yi Yun would be said to be so strong that the Duke’s residence’s Liu Yuxing came to challenge him.”

Liu Yuxing said slowly. As a really strong expert amongst the capital’s sons, he was completely different from the gangsters like the Four Bully Lords. He also knew how to cherish himself. Under normal circumstances, why would he challenge a kid from the Cloud Wilderness?

It was equivalent to a noble disciple competing with a country bumpkin. This meant a lowering of Liu Yuxing’s status.

“If you win against Yi Yun, I will give you 3000 dragon scale runes as a reward!’

Li Hong knew why Liu Yuxing was resisting it. He made Yi Yun sound strong only for some payment.

Hearing Li Hong’s words, Liu Yuxing laughed, “Brother Hong sure is understanding. However, 3000 is too little. 8000 dragon scale runes, take it or leave it!”

Liu Yuxing made a ridiculous bargain making Li Hong stare, “8000!? You are just going to fight once! And you want 8000?”

Liu Yuxing was strong, but 8000 dragon scale runes was too much. Liu Yuxing also didn’t earn dragon scale runes that easily during this period as a rookie.

“Heh! If Yi Yun were to win another 8 more rounds, you will need to pay 50,000. I only want 8000. It’s not unreasonable.”

Liu Yuxing hit Li Hong’s sore spot and quoted an outrageous price.

Li Hong gritted his teeth and said, “Alright… 8000 it is, but only if you win.”

“Rest assured!” Liu Yuxing laughed and stood up from the bed. “A kid from the Cloud Wilderness only beat up a bunch of goons. How could I lose to him?”

The Four Bully Lords and the other Hongdao Association members were ranked in the hundreds. The difference in strength between them and Liu Yuxing’s sixth place was indeed large.

This was the reason why Liu Yuxing was so confident.

221 - : Liu Yuxing

At night, in the arena hall, many rookies were gathered here. They were discussing the day’s battles and their outcomes, while waiting for the next day’s challenge tokens.

Except for some people as popular as Yi Yun, who were designated more than thirty matches even before the ranking matches began, the other cultivators did not have to fight that many matches. Usually they would decide on the following day’s matches after considering the first day’s results and rankings.

Hence, the challenge tokens were handed out again every day.

As for the twelve challenge tokens for challenging Yi Yun, they were all collected and then redistributed to those who had reserved a spot to fight Yi Yun.

Previously the challenge tokens for Yi Yun were easily snapped up. But today, it became a hot potato.

No one wanted it!

But… with the match reserved and the bet paid, one still had to collect the token, even if they did not want to!

“Where is Zhang Chang? Come collect your challenge token! Hurry!”

The person in charge of distributing the challenge token said impatiently. The challenge tokens for Yi Yun had been consecutively declined with all sorts of excuses by the people who had reserved them. It was as if they were being sent to the execution grounds.

Zhang Chang’s face turned bitter upon hearing his name. It was as if his parents had died, he reluctantly squeezed out from the crowd.

Seeing the challenge token for Yi Yun on the administrator’s desk, Zhang Chang wanted to slap his own face. Why did he have to be so cheap? Back when he had managed to grab it, he thought he had made a big sum. Now though, he knew that this token he snatched was like a piece of brick.

It was like he had nothing better to do but be bricked!

Just as Zhang Chang went up on stage, a youth in white walked calmly past Zhang Chang. He had a folded fan in hand and a mild smile on his face. It was as if he was a wandering tourist.

Upon seeing this youth, Zhang Chang was stunned for a moment. Just as he was wondering what the other party was going to do, he saw the youth wave his hand. His palm seemed magnetic as the token on the desk flew into the white-clothed youth’s hand with a “whoosh”.

“If you don’t want it, I’ll take it for you!”

The youth in white smiled. He turned around, and with a “pop” of his fan, he slowly fluttered it.

This youth looked very handsome and was like a piece of jade. However, he looked feminine and lacked a certain air of masculinity.

Upon seeing this scene, the surrounding people were dumbfounded. How did he fetch things through the air?

With thoughts and Yuan Qi injected into a magic weapon, then controlling it to kill people through telekinesis. Wasn’t this something only warriors in the Yuan foundation realm could do?

This youth didn’t look any older than 14 years old. He couldn’t be at the Yuan foundation realm or he would have been a national sensation.

“He’s Liu Yuxing!”

Someone recognized the youth in white and said out loud.

“Oh? Liu Yuxing!?”

Many had never seen Liu Yuxing in person, but they had heard of his name.

Liu Yuxing may be ranked 10,006 on the Earth rankings, but everyone knew that those who went over the 10,000 place would charge up the rankings after the rookie placings were completed. It was normal for them to rush up a few thousand spots, and very common for them to end up being around the 4000-5000 spots on the Earth roll!

“So it’s the son of Duke Liu. What he demonstrated earlier was the Liu family’s secret technique, Star Picking Hand!”

Telekinesis was indeed something only Yuan foundation realm warriors were capable of. Back when Yi Yun chose the Heaven Upheaval Seal as his weapon, the referee had told Yi Yun that only a Yuan foundation realm warrior could control the Heaven Upheaval Seal and that Yi Yun’s cultivation level was lacking. Later, Yi Yun really did not control the Heaven Upheaval Seal, but used it as a brick.

Of course, Liu Yuxing had not broken through into the Yuan foundation realm. But the limitation that other Purple Blood realm warriors had was not applicable to Liu Yuxing.

No one knew what a cultivation technique the “Star Picking Hand” was. But just from being able to perform telekinesis, it was something shocking.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, there were indeed many hidden dragons. Even some Purple Blood realm warriors had the means to do something only Yuan foundation realm warriors could do!

“Liu Yuxing wants to challenge Yi Yun!?” A bald youth exclaimed in surprise. Liu Yuxing’s reason for taking Yi Yun’s challenge token was obvious.

Liu Yuxing ranked sixth amongst the rookies due to his strength. This was completely different from Yi Yun.

This was going to be interesting now that Liu Yuxing challenged Yi Yun!

“Challenge?” When Liu Yuxing heard the bald youth’s words, he found it harsh to the ear. Fighting Yi Yun with his stature was a lowering of his status, and he dared say the word “challenge”?

“Was it you who said it…”

Liu Yuxing said it softly, and without any apparent moves, the bald youth suddenly jerked. It was as if an invisible sword had been pointed at his eyebrows, causing him to have breathing difficulties and his heart stopped.

“Ah… Ah…”

The bald youth stretched his neck backwards. He pressed against his chest with great effort as if he was in great pain.

“Brother Zhang, what happened?”

Seeing the bald youth’s odd behavior, his surrounding friends were alarmed. They rushed to check on the bald youth’s situation.

But at this time, the bald youth felt the pressure on his forehead relieve. That invisible killing intent subsided.

The bald youth broke out into cold sweat. Till now, he still did not know what had happened.

His strength was weak, and he came from a small family clan in one of the remote states. He ranked around 2000 amongst the rookies and was one of the those at the bottom. However, he should not have been so weak as to nearly be killed by Liu Yuxing. He did not even know what means the other party had used!

“You… You…” The bald youth looked at Liu Yuxing in horror. What just… happened?

“You just can’t say whatever is on your mind without consequences.” Liu Yuxing played with the fan in his hand and said it with a feminine voice. “There’s just someone who can’t stand Yi Yun and paid me to finish him off.”

“So… do you understand?”

Only then did people understand the reason why Liu Yuxing had punished the bald youth. He had found the word “challenge” insulting. He was to finish Yi Yun, not challenge Yi Yun. In most cases, the word “challenge” usually referred to someone inferior battling someone superior.

Liu Yuxing closed his fan and through a distance of nine meters, pressed on the bald youth’s chest. He already felt that even if he won this match against Yi Yun, it would just add to Yi Yun’s reputation. He wasn’t pleased about this. Hence, when this bald youth said that, it made him more upset.

The bald youth felt as if Liu Yuxing’s fan was pressing against his chest, retarding his heart beats.

He said with difficulty, “I… I understand.”

Only then did Liu Yuxing give a satisfactory nod. He looked at Zhang Chang who had come to collect the challenge token for Yi Yun and said, “The token is mine. As for the battle with Yi Yun, just admit defeat.”

Liu Yuxing said casually. Naturally, Zhang Chang had no way of disagreeing. He nodded like he was pounding garlic, “Yes, please take it.”

Liu Yuxing chuckled and played with Yi Yun’s token twice before turning to walk out of the hall.

The people inside the hall immediately gave way for Liu Yuxing to walk through. Who would dare to block Liu Yuxing’s path!?

Only after seeing Liu Yuxing’s back disappear into the night did people swallow a mouthful of saliva and whispered, “This guy… he is more arrogant than Yi Yun!”

Yi Yun had used a brick against the Four Bully Lords and never used a proper weapon from the beginning to the end. To many, this was an act of arrogance.

But compared to Liu Yuxing, Yi Yun would really be considered humble.

“He’s arrogant. But he has the ability to be arrogant. To be ranked sixth amongst the rookies. If Yi Yun was excluded, Liu Yuxing is actually ranked fifth! And the Liu family’s ‘Star Picking Hand’ has a great reputation. How it works is a mystery because many of those who have seen the ‘Star Picking Hand’ are already dead!”

Many family clans had secret cultivation techniques that they fiercely guarded. Even the powers and effects of these secret cultivation techniques were not known.

Of course, to completely keep the powers and effects a secret was impossible.

During competitions or fights, people would still see it.

But this would result in those uninformed people who had little insight not understanding the moves. As such, the moves become even more mysterious and fearsome.

“Liu Yuxing said someone paid him to beat Yi Yun. It has to be Li Hong. After all, Yi Yun had made a huge bet in the Hongdao Association’s betting pool. Li Hong would not just wait helplessly. I thought tomorrow’s matches would end with Yi Yun’s landslide victory again, but this would be interesting. We can see the elegant appearance of the ‘Star Picking Hand’!”

Many were looking forward to it, including the bald youth who had been abused by Liu Yuxing in public. He too wanted to know what Liu Yuxing’s cultivation technique was.

And how was Yi Yun to deal with Liu Yuxing?

…

After a night without events, the Tai Ah Divine City’s rookies surged to the arena upon daybreak.

After cultivating for a night, Yi Yun still did not know what sort of opponents he would be facing today.

Because Yi Yun had no challenge tokens to collect yesterday, he did not go to the hall.

While on the road, Yi Yun noticed that many were looking at him and privately discussing something.

As Yi Yun’s strength was frightening, these people did not dare to point at Yi Yun. Their discussions were all through Yuan Qi transmissions.

Yi Yun gave an odd look and touched his nose. What’s going on?

“Yi Yun! You became famous again!” From afar, Zhou Kui walked towards Yi Yun with a silly smile. He had bet that Yi Yun would win more than ten matches in a row yesterday. As such, he had won a large sum of dragon scale runes, so he was delighted.

Earlier on, he felt that if he knew Yi Yun was so strong, he would have bet 20 consecutive victories for Yi Yun. This would result in him earning more.

But today, he learned that Yi Yun had been eyed by Liu Yuxing!

When Zhou Kui was in the Xuanwu Army, he had heard a general mention the new generation of heroes in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. At that time, the general had mentioned Liu Yuxing. He was a person with terrifying strength and had previously gone on the battlefield, killing others.

Liu Yuxing was a proud person and even considered everyone beneath his notice. But this was built on the foundation of absolute strength!

Upon hearing that Yi Yun was going to fight Liu Yuxing, Zhou Kui was a bit delighted at his good luck. He was thankful that he did not bet on Yi Yun winning 20 matches. Whether Yi Yun was to win today’s battle was still up in the air!

Seeing Yi Yun’s confused expression, Zhou Kui said, “Brother Yi, do you not know? Today you will be fighting with Liu Yuxing!”

222 - : Star Picking Hand

Liu Yuxing?

Upon hearing Zhou Kui’s words, Yi Yun became momentarily dazed. Clearly Zhou Kui’s words meant that Liu Yuxing was very strong, or else he would not have rushed over just to tell him that.

Among the rookies, Yi Yun knew of Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu. As for the other strong rookies, he did not know anything about them. Yi Yun had no idea about any of the rookies after fourth place.

This was because Yi Yun had only been picking herbs or cultivating ever since he came here. He was not aware of almost any of the events that had happened, so he knew very little about the well-known figures.

“Is Liu Yuxing very strong?”

“Of course! He is the son of Duke Liu. He has already gone on the battlefield, he has even killed before. He’s ranked sixth amongst the rookies!”

Ranked sixth amongst the rookies?

Upon hearing this ranking, what Yi Yun thought was simply “OK“.

But seeing Zhou Kui’s expression, as if Liu Yuxing was a heaven defying force, Yi Yun did not want to shock him so he silently nodded. He echoed, “Then it must be someone whose strength is not bad…”

“It’s not only ‘not bad’! Liu Yuxing’s ‘Star Picking Hand’ has an uncanny attacking method. You must pay attention to it. It can kill a person from a hundred paces away in an intangible way!”

Zhou Kui knew some things about the ‘Star Picking Hand’, but his level of understanding was not very detailed.

“Star Picking Hand?”

Of course, Yi Yun had never heard of this cultivation technique. To kill someone from a hundred paces away in an intangible way sounded bizarre.

But bizarre did not equate being powerful. He knew that the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was undoubtedly the number one cultivation technique in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Just from the extreme difficulty in obtaining the opportunity to cultivate it, or its cultivation difficulty, illustrated this point.

Over the tens of millions of years, uncountable number of sages had learned the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, there were even those who had the capability to add their own understandings and enlightenment into the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!

In fact, those who could add to the nomological truths in the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ were the greatest sage-level experts. Figures of such levels were not someone that appeared in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom every generation.

Yi Yun arrived at the arena. There were a lot more people in the arena today compared to the previous day.

Many of the second and third year cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City had come to watch today’s matches.

Yi Yun’s outstanding performance the previous day had spread throughout the rookie circles in the Tai Ah Divine City.

Yi Yun’s performance was still not something that attracted the attention of senior cultivators that had reached the Yuan foundation realm, like Yang Qian and Yao Dao. But amongst the veterans who were ranked past 2000-3000, a person like Yi Yun was a potential threat to them.

In less than a year, Yi Yun would be coming for their spot. It was always good to pay attention to a future opponent.

“He’s Yi Yun.”

The moment Yi Yun appeared, he immediately attracted the attention of many. It could be said that Yi Yun barely counted as a prominent person in the Tai Ah Divine City.

“Liu Yuxing has appeared. That’s Liu Yuxing.”

With a slight commotion in the crowd, a youth in white strolled into the arena.

Liu Yuxing was like a delicate jade, and extremely refined. His spotless clothes and shoes were white and crisp.

Liu Yuxing only took a glance at Yi Yun, no longer looking at him after that. He sat down at his seat and began focusing. It was as if he was indifferent to everything around him, giving off an air of arrogance.

Yi Yun silently used his spiritual energy to interface with the Heaven’s eyeball and secretly observed Liu Yuxing from a distance of over thirty meters.

Having formed the Heaven’s eyeball, Yi Yun could gain a rough understanding of the Yuan Qi fluctuation within a person’s body, and from that, infer a person’s cultivation level.

“He should be in the entry stages of the late-Purple Blood realm…”

Yi Yun felt that Liu Yuxing’s cultivation level was just slightly higher than his own, so it was reasonable that he was in the entry stages of the late-Purple Blood realm.

…

The second day’s competition for the rookie ranking matches officially began!

Yi Yun’s first few opponents immediately gave up, until…

“Divine Wilderness Stage, 10,003, Yi Yun! 10,006, Liu Yuxing! Come on-stage for the match!”

The referee shouted loudly on the Divine Wilderness Stage.

“They’re up!”

There were a lot of people who were not paying attention to the ongoings matches and just meditated or discussed privately amongst themselves. But now, they all began to pay attention, looking straight at the Divine Wilderness Stage.

Many amongst them had come to the arena just to see Yi Yun’s and Liu Yuxing’s match!

Now, it had finally begun!

Liu Yuxing’s clothes fluttered in the wind. Like a graceful swan, he gently landed on the stage without kicking up any dust. Just this levitation art was an amazement to many.

Purple Blood warriors did not have the ability to fly, but Liu Yuxing’s levitation art looked no different from flying.

Yi Yun walked up on stage. He stood thirty meters away from Liu Yuxing and faced him.

Liu Yuxing’s hands were held behind his back, with his head slightly tilted up.

He glanced at Yi Yun and calmly said, “Someone paid me 8000 dragon scale runes to get me to break your winning streak. So me standing on this stage today is not because I’m interested in challenging you…”

While saying this, a sword appeared in Liu Yuxing’s hand.

This sword appeared like magic. Liu Yuxing casually swung the sword and pointed the blade at Yi Yun, but the sword was still within its scabbard.

Liu Yuxing did not unsheathe his sword and said, “Let’s begin. If you can make me unsheathe my sword in ten moves, and if you’re able to survive three of my hits, then I’ll let you see the Liu family’s secret technique: ‘Star Picking Hand’!”

The Liu family’s ancestors had instructed that the ‘Star Picking Hand’ was not to be easily used, as they did not want people to see the effects of this cultivation technique.

So if it was possible, Liu Yuxing did not want to use the ‘Star Picking Hand’ to finish Yi Yun.

What he said was clearly heard by everyone present. Liu Yuxing was really arrogant!

He did not want to unsheathe his sword while facing Yi Yun!

Yi Yun was not a pushover. By previously defeating the Four Bully Lords, he had already proven his extraordinary strength.

But Liu Yuxing still said those words even after seeing his matches. That meant that the strength Yi Yun revealed did not pose a threat to him!

The result of this battle depended on how much hidden strength Yi Yun had!

If Yi Yun had nothing else hidden, then he was bound to lose!

Liu Yuxing was indeed terrifying!

Among the 2000 or so rookies that came to the Tai Ah Divine City, they were all said to be elites. But even amongst them, there were huge gaps! The experts amongst the rookies were not weaker than some of the senior cultivators that had been training in the Tai Ah Divine City for more than three years!

“Force you to unsheathe your sword within ten moves?” Yi Yun smiled. His right hand touched the interspatial ring on his left hand’s ring finger. With a flip of his hand, he had taken out the Heaven Upheaval Seal.

Seeing Yi Yun’s action, many stared for a while before recovering.

Heavens! Are we seeing right!?

Even at this time, Yi Yun was still going to use the brick?

Was he planning to use the brick to settle the match with Liu Yuxing!?

Yi Yun planned to brick down Liu Yuxing, a person of great stature, like the Four Bully Lords!?

Was he mad!?

With the Heaven Upheaval Seal in hand, Yi Yun loosened up his wrist and said, “If you can make me unsheathe my saber in ten moves, and if you’re able to survive three of my hits, then I’ll let you see a cultivation technique I recently learned.”

Yi Yun returned Liu Yuxing’s words back at him without much modification.

Liu Yuxing frozed.

“What did you say?”

Liu Yuxing’s forehead popped a green vein, his face turning livid.

He was eccentric enough. He knew that Yi Yun was actually very strong, but Liu Yuxing’s character was as such. But he never imagined that Yi Yun was even more eccentric than him.

He dared to speak to him in such a manner.

Liu Yuxing did not unsheathe his sword, but it did not mean he would not use his sword. Even a sword placed within its scabbard was much more powerful than a brick!

“Making you unsheathe your saber in ten moves and you’ll show me your cultivation technique? Hehe…” Liu Yuxing laughed with anger. He was willing to demonstrate the Liu family’s ‘Star Picking Hand’ to Yi Yun, yet Yi Yun used the same words back at him. But what cultivation technique could he have that could compare with the ‘Star Picking Hand’?

Liu Yuxing felt that he and the ‘Star Picking Hand’ had been insulted by Yi Yun!

“Courting death!”

In his outrage, Liu Yuxing attacked. The calm Divine Wilderness Stage in the middle of the arena was immediately stirred up by a gust of violent wind!

Sword Qi soared up and shot out without restraint!

Liu Yuxing appeared in front of Yi Yun like a ghost!

This violent wind was a result of his movement skills. It was a terrifying speed!

“Whew!”

Liu Yuxing stabbed out straight at Yi Yun’s neck. A sheathed sword would be missing out on its attack power, but with Liu Yuxing’s Yuan Qi infused within it, this stab’s strength was also extremely frightening!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Before the blade arrived, the stirring sword Qi had already sliced the purple tungsten floor like a sharp sword, causing shocking sword marks to appear on it.

The purple tungsten was extremely hard, but the sword Qi still left a mark. It was obvious how strong Liu Yuxing’s attack was!

Seeing this sword coming, Yi Yun retreated and used the Heaven Upheaval Seal in his hand to block.

“Ding!”

A metallic clang sounded out. Yi Yun felt the Heaven Upheaval Seal tremble. The unrestrained sword Qi had impacted the Heaven Upheaval Seal, hitting it directly!

It was blocked!

Many were greatly surprised! Yi Yun had used the Heaven Upheaval Seal to block Liu Yuxing’s sword Qi. The first move was over!

“Huh!?”

A hideous look flashed within Liu Yuxing’s eyes. A short and small weapon like the Heaven Upheaval Seal could barely be used to hit people, but to use it as a shield was almost impossible.

But Yi Yun actually managed to use it to block his attack!?

“Locking On Mountains!”

Liu Yuxing’s move changed and a rain of blade beams poured down on Yi Yun!

The dazzling blade beams were immersed within the wind. Only the beams could be seen, not the sword itself! It was hard for people to imagine that an unsheathed sword would be able to send out so many blade beams!

These blade beams had covered a radius of nine meters. Within these nine meters, almost everything was under Liu Yuxing’s absolute authority!

Yi Yun was surrounded inside this absolute territory. Being inside this region, he could be attacked by endless sword attacks, and in a blink of an eye, a hundred stabs could be sent out!

“Competing in speed?” Yi Yun smiled. He had never truly been afraid when it came to speed.

223 - : Battling Liu Yuxing

Liu Yuxing’s sword was too fast. It was so fast that even the strong cultivators present had trouble seeing the trajectories of Liu Yuxing’s sword. Even if one could see the moves of the other party, it did not mean that one could dodge the attacks. Now that the moves could not be seen, how was one to dodge them?

Even though Liu Yuxing’s sword Qi was situated far away, many felt an infinite sense of killing intent. It was as if the intent reached as far as their own eyebrows!

Zhou Kui, Song Zijun and company all broke into cold sweat for Yi Yun.

“Cha! Cha! Cha! Cha!”

In that split moment, dozens of blade beams pierced through Yi Yun’s body!

Before people could react in alarm, they saw Yi Yun’s figure slowly dissipate before completely vanishing.

What was stabbed was an afterimage!

As Liu Yuxing’s sword carried on moving downwards, Yi Yun’s body had also disappeared along with his afterimage. He had merged within the wind and could no longer be seen.

Although he had disappeared, people could see Yi Yun’s afterimage flash every now and then, before being destroyed by a blade beam!

Liu Yuxing’s sword was everywhere. Without any blind spots available, it was stabbing at Yi Yun. This sword’s speed was so fast that gave the people an impression that Yi Yun would be stabbed by the sword wind at the very next moment. However, what Liu Yuxing struck was always an afterimage!

In a field that was completely filled with swords, dodging was no doubt much more difficult than attacking!

“Terrifying. This Yi Yun dodges Liu Yuxing’s sword by an extremely small amount every time!” “How can this be possible? There’s no dodging space amongst such a dense amount of blade beams!”

Someone could not help but ask. In this net of sword beams, within the huge mesh, how was one to avoid them all without shrinking one’s body?

Someone shook his head and said, “You’re wrong. Liu Yuxing’s blade beams might seem like a web, but it’s just an illusion from its speed. He is still slashing each sword one by one. There is a first and there is a second, so Yi Yun can completely dodge it.”

A sword was almost always faster than a human. For a person to dodge that many slashes, one had to reduce one’s range of motion. And Yi Yun was no doubt doing just that.

From this, many became even more alarmed. As Yi Yun slowly unfolded his movement techniques in front of them, many finally understood Yi Yun’s state.

This is… the large success stage of Minute Subtlety!

“This kid has reached the large success stage of Minute Subtlety!?”

People looked at each other. Large success stage of Minute Subtlety! This not only needed a strong foundation and a powerful body, it also needed extraordinary perceptivity to accomplish!

Chu Xiaoran gently squeezed her own hand. Her fingers hitting the back of her hand constantly. Back during the battles with the Four Bully Lords, Yi Yun had shown his outstanding talent in movement, but it was not this dramatic.

“It’s hard to believe that he came from the Cloud Wilderness. This world is so big, with so many elites!”

Chu Xiaoran muttered. Beside her, Qiuniu also sighed, “We really can’t look down on the heroes under the sky!”

…

In the ring, Liu Yuxing was attacking and Yi Yun was dodging. The battle had reached its climax. Yi Yun felt as if he had returned to the Frost Metal Blood Balls array back in the Divine Capital. He had previously used the Frost Metal Blood Balls to hone his movement skills.

But the Frost Metal Blood Balls were inanimate, so in terms of their adaptability in attacking, they were inferior to Liu Yuxing.

But Liu Yuxing’s attack speed was not up to Yi Yun’s satisfaction.

It’s not fast enough!

“Your name is Liu Yuxing, right…? How many… attacks have you used?”

Just as Yi Yun flew past Liu Yuxing, a faint voice entered Liu Yuxing’s ears, nearly making him vomit blood.

Liu Yuxing had previously said that he wanted to see if Yi Yun could force him to unsheathe his sword in ten moves.

“Locking On Mountains” could send out ten stabs in a flash, which could be considered one move. But even so, Liu Yuxing had long exceeded ten moves!

Yi Yun and Liu Yuxing had already been fighting for nearly a minute. How many slashes did Liu Yuxing make? It was simply uncountable!

After missing for so long and being ridiculed by Yi Yun, Liu Yuxing was greatly angered!

“You’re courting death!”

“Clang!”

With a clear sound, the scabbard flew out from the sword in Liu Yuxing’s hand. The shiny blade slashed at Yi Yun!

Liu Yuxing had finally unsheathed his sword! His previous arrogant words had now completely turned into an insult against him!

After Liu Yuxing unsheathed his sword, his attack speed greatly improved.

However, Yi Yun was still dodging.

Even though Liu Yuxing had unsheathed his sword, Yi Yun had still not drawn out his saber!

“Yi Yun, you!” Liu Yuxing’s eyes were almost burning! He had always felt that as the son of Duke, it was an insult to his stature to fight Yi Yun, a bumpkin from the Cloud Wilderness. Hence, he did not want to unsheathe his sword or use ‘Star Picking Hand’ to prove that he and Yi Yun were of different levels.

But unexpectedly, the situation was reversed.

Liu Yuxing had unsheathed his sword, but Yi Yun was still holding onto a brick!

This was going too far!

Liu Yuxing was really mad. His attack speed was getting faster and faster, but he still couldn’t even touch the sleeves of Yi Yun!

“This…”

Upon seeing this, the audience stood agape. It was unexpected that the battle would reach such a state!

“Liu Yuxing has already unsheathed his sword, yet he still can’t hit Yi Yun!”

Many were in disbelief. Many had thought that Liu Yuxing had a greater chance of winning, but now, he was completely suppressed by Yi Yun!

…

“Your sword is also not very fast!” Yi Yun’s voice came from behind. When Liu Yuxing heard this, he was incensed, but he could do nothing to Yi Yun.

At this point, Liu Yuxing suddenly felt a wind behind his head. A murderous intent came attacking.

With the brick in hand, Yi Yun had aimed at Liu Yuxing’s head, fiercely slamming it down.

“Yi Yun, you!”

Liu Yuxing’s handsome face was already completely distorted.

“Dang!”

With a twist of his blade, Liu Yuxing managed to block Yi Yun’s brick in the nick of time.

But after Yi Yun absorbed the primordial herb’s energy and had mastered the first level of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, his physical strength had reached an extremely ridiculous level. No matter what weapon Yi Yun was holding, it could still manifest unparalleled strength!

Liu Yuxing only felt a surge of energy transmitted over. The shock caused his arm to go numb and pain in his palm! With nowhere for this force to dissipate, it made Liu Yuxing almost lose his balance. As a result, his fast moving body was sent flying by Yi Yun’s brick strike.

“Deng! Deng! Deng!”

Liu Yuxing landed and took three steps backwards. His blood was in turmoil! His movement technique had been broken by Yi Yun!

Liu Yuxing’s face turned red. He had never been so ashamed in his entire life! A kid from the Cloud Wilderness actually knocked him with a brick!

And not only did he knock him, he had knocked him to the point where his blood was in turmoil and he had to retreat three steps!

Liu Yuxing felt that, as the son of a Duke and as a prominent figure amongst the imperial capital’s younger generation, it was an insult to be hit by a brick!

Not only that, he did not even manage to parry it.

The surrounding warriors were at a loss for words. In their minds, Yi Yun had sprung up to a mystic realm.

Just a brick was uncrackable by others! Even Liu Yuxing had failed to make Yi Yun use his saber!

Terrifying!

“Yi Yun, you have really annoyed me!”

Liu Yuxing’s eyes turned red. He swiped his interspatial ring and he circulated the Yuan Qi within his body. It was as if his whole person had transformed.

The feminine air that originally lingered on Liu Yuxing’s body had greatly vanished. What replaced it felt deep and sharp. It was as if a desolate beast hid within Liu Yuxing’s body!

Seeing Liu Yuxing in his current state, many were briefly stunned. But the next moment, they suddenly understood what Liu Yuxing was going to do.

“It’s the ‘Star Picking Hand’!”

Liu Yuxing was finally going to use ‘Star Picking Hand’!

At this point, if Liu Yuxing did not use all of his abilities, he was destined to be defeated by Yi Yun.

Many of them had previously heard of the famous ‘Star Picking Hand’, but they did not know the effects of the ‘Star Picking Hand’. Seeing Liu Yuxing about to finally use this secret technique from the Duke Liu family, they couldn’t help but become excited.

Would the ‘Star Picking Hand’ be able to reverse the situation?

Yi Yun looked at Liu Yuxing with the Heaven Upheaval Seal in hand. He too wanted to know how this rumored to be famous cultivation technique would compare with the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

“Picking Star Deathblow!” With a growl, Liu Yuxing attacked!

With some tiny Yuan Qi fluctuations, Liu Yuxing’s sword quickly whistled through the air towards Yi Yun. At the same time, more than ten small swords flew out from Liu Yuxing’s interspatial ring. Each sword was about half a foot long.

These small swords were not thrown out by Liu Yuxing, but were flying towards Yi Yun by themselves. At that moment, it was as if these small swords were alive!

224 - : Extreme Speed

Flying swords!?

When Yi Yun saw all the small swords flying at him from all direction, he was stunned. He originally thought that the ‘Star Picking Hand’ was some sort of finger technique, but it was unexpectedly a sword technique.

A sword technique, but it’s called ‘Star Picking Hand’?

One main sword and twelve small swords, a total of thirteen swords shot into the sky. A large number of them did not fly towards Yi Yun, but flew to the empty spaces around Yi Yun.

When the small swords flew somewhere close to Yi Yun’s side, they abruptly changed directions in mid-air. The sword tips began pointing towards Yi Yun from all directions!

The flying swords can change directions!?

Upon seeing this scene, the warriors present were alarmed!

To control a weapon to change directions mid-air with Yuan Qi was a technique used by Yuan foundation realm warriors. But on further thought, Liu Yuxing had previously used one move to send Yi Yun’s token flying towards him at the arena hall. It was apparently one of Liu Yuxing’s special abilities.

The thirteen swords came at Yi Yun from all directions. This was an attack with no room to dodge. Even with Minute Subtlety, it would be extremely difficult to dodge them!

Everyone stared wide-eyed at Yi Yun and the thirteen swords. They were afraid they would miss this wonderful scene that was filled with suspense!

As people’s attention was being attracted by the flying swords, Liu Yuxing secretly did a finger seal. He had circulated his Yuan Qi to its maximum. All the energy was focused on his right hand’s index and middle finger.

Both his fingers turned emerald-green in an instant!

Seeing the thirteen swords surrounding Yi Yun, who looked like he was struggling to handle them, Liu Yuxing flashed a savage look and thought “Die… It’s impossible for you to figure out that the flying swords are just fake moves, this is the real ‘Star Picking Hand’!”

“Picking Star – Deathblow!”

Liu Yuxing held out his fingers and an invisible Yuan Qi force merged with the empty air before shooting towards Yi Yun!

This Qi force was too well-hidden. It could not be seen. It was nearly indistinguishable from a regular, subtle fluctuation in the air. Like a ripple in space with incredible speed, it shot towards Yi Yun!

At the same time, the thirteen swords stabbed at Yi Yun from all directions!

The Picking Star Deathblow’s whistling was hidden within the sonic booms of the flying swords.

Its killing intent was also masked by the blade beams! As such, Liu Yuxing’s real killing blow was perfectly immersed within the thirteen flying swords. People believed the flying swords were the killing blow, but in reality, it was Liu Yuxing’s secret force attack!

“Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!”

Yi Yun waved the Heaven Upheaval Seal, fending off the flying swords in the air!

The razor-sharp flying swords posed no threat under Yi Yun’s counters. With a swipe of the Heaven Upheaval Seal, they were all shot down. They seemed impressive but lacked any substance.

Even the main sword was smashed down by the Heaven Upheaval Seal!

“What!?”

Seeing Yi Yun knock away the main sword, the audience stared with wide open eyes. The killing move, the ‘Star Picking Hand’ that everyone was looking forward to, which took Liu Yuxing so long to prepare for before shooting out, was blocked just like that?

As the audience was in shock, a grin formed on Liu Yuxing’s face. All his Yuan Qi had been infused into that sure-kill attack, so the Yuan Qi within the flying swords was of course weak, but Yi Yun was already preoccupied with them.

That death blow had flown straight towards Yi Yun’s heart and was no doubt on target!

Even if he had to experience jail time for killing Yi Yun, Liu Yuxing would not regret it.

Hit!

As Liu Yuxing shouted out in his heart, just as the strike was hitting Yi Yun’s heart, Yi Yun grinned. He held his hands together, and due to the extreme speed, his arms formed a series of afterimages!

The Yuan Qi within his body exploded. The Heaven Upheaval Seal was placed across his chest!

“Boom!”

With a loud ring, Liu Yuxing’s attack hit the brick surface of the Heaven Upheaval Seal!

A huge aftershock from the powerful impact caused a turbulent air flow. As such, Yi Yun’s body was lifted high up in the air. The impact was so great that even for Yi Yun, he felt his arms go numb.

“Such a great force. The Liu family’s secret technique, the ‘Star Picking Hand’ sure isn’t bad!”

This thought flashed in Yi Yun’s mind as he stabilized his body within the air.

Everyone who saw this scene was completely shocked!

What happened!?

All the flying swords had been fended off by Yi Yun, but where did that huge Yuan Qi explosion come from at the end?

And the person who was most shocked was Liu Yuxing. When he saw the final scene, he turned dumbfounded.

How did the victory that was almost in hand end in such a result!?

How was this possible? How could he be so fast as to block all thirteen swords and also block his Picking Star Deathblow!?

The Picking Star Deathblow hit at almost the same time as the other thirteen swords! He was actually fast enough to ward off all of them!?

Not only that, he actually discovered the force attack hidden within the blade beams!?

Liu Yuxing could not accept this!

All his energy had been in that one strike, yet it had been parried away by Yi Yun. He had not even forced Yi Yun to draw out his saber! To him, this was an extreme insult and setback!

And at this moment, he suddenly found that the Yi Yun he was looking at had disappeared…

Liu Yuxing felt like he had been struck by lightning. His limbs turned cold and slow to react. A strong sense of unease surged to his mind!

NOoooooo!

Liu Yuxing cried out in his heart. At the last moment, he struggled to leap forward!

But having used the ‘Star Picking Hand’, he had expended too much of his Yuan Qi. The instantaneous burst of speed had already slowed down…

It was too late! Yi Yun appeared behind Liu Yuxing like a ghost. His eyes were focused and his foot tip touched the ground. His body was still in the air when he stretched out his hand. And in his hand was the…

Shiny brick!

With his hands raised, the brick came crushing down!

“Dong!”

A crisp sound rang. Yi Yun’s solid brick and smacked Liu Yuxing in the back of his head!

Liu Yuxing’s body trembled. All he felt was an intense pain behind his head while his eyes saw stars! His whole body turned stiff. He was like someone suffering from Alzheimer’s. With great difficulty, he turned his head slowly towards Yi Yun.

At this moment, Liu Yuxing’s pupils had lost their focus. However, he still struggled to see Yi Yun clearly. He struggled to prevent his body from falling. He could not fall… at least… not due to a brick…

This was the only thought that was supporting Liu Yuxing’s ability to stand!

He finally managed to focus his eyes with great difficulty. All he saw was Yi Yun’s blurry figure.

At this time, Yi Yun had already raised his hands again. That shiny brick flashed before Liu Yuxing’s eyes.

I… Fuck you…

Liu Yuxing’s mouth moved, as he tried to curse. But just as he let out half a syllable, he saw an overwhelming gold beam slam down.

“Dong!”

Liu Yuxing’s vision suddenly turned dark. He could no longer see anything.

His heart was filled with great anger and humiliation. But ultimately, he still could not take on that simple but brutal move. With that, he sprawled on the ground with his limbs spread out.

“Peng!”

The sound of a dead dog that crashed to the ground was the only sound that could be heard in the entire arena.

Except for that, there was complete silence!

Everyone in the audience was stunned. They felt like their hearts had been trampled by 10,000 near-horned beasts with mud-stained hoofs. It was as if that vibration had caused them to be in a daze.

Heavens!

This must be a joke!

Even Liu Yuxing had been taken down by Yi Yun with a brick!

Brick… Brick. A brick can be this ridiculous!?

This was really…

With one brick in hand, to rule the world!

It was really ‘if God was in the way, I’ll slaughter Him. If Buddha stops me, I’ll slaughter him too”!

Everyone looked at Liu Yuxing, whose head had a huge blue-black bump, in the ring. Their eyes were full of pity. A son of a Duke had been taken down with a brick by a bumpkin from the Cloud Wilderness… One could imagine the effect if this piece of news was spread back to the capital.

Liu Yuxing was a well-known figure amongst the capital circles.

He was not only strong, but he was handsome and dignified. He gave people a feeling of a pretty boy.

Many girls from the capital were so infatuated with Liu Yuxing that they were willing to die for him. If Liu Yuxing gave them a glance, it was to die for.

In the hearts of many girls, Liu Yuxing was like a male god who came down from the heavens.

But now, this so-called male god had been smashed into such a state by Yi Yun with a brick.

Seeing his messy hair, and the spectacular bruise on his head…

Where was the slightest hint that he was a male god?

Many of the capital’s young masters, who were jealous of Liu Yuxing, secretly used a disk array to take a picture of Liu Yuxing’s current state. They planned to send these disk arrays back to the capital, to let the girls see how glorious Liu Yuxing was in the Tai Ah Divine City.

Just imagining the scene of these girls seeing the image in the disk array made these youths chuckle sinisterly. It had to be said that men, as masculine animals, had an innate nature of being jealous of those richer, stronger, more handsome and popular than them.

When these images were sent back to the capital, it would be a wonder how Liu Yuxing would ever be able to hang his face amongst the capital’s circle again.

Once they thought of this, these people experienced gleeful joy.

At this time, Yi Yun had returned to his own seat.

Zhou Kui looked as if he was looking at an ancient emperor when facing Yi Yun. He swallowed his saliva, and was tempted to say the words, “You are too… domineering…”

In the end, Zhou Kui finally muttered these undignified words, but Yi Yun just casually answered, “It was alright. It took me some effort to smash him unconscious. It wasn’t that easy…”

To use the brick against Liu Yuxing, and without using the Radiant Sun Qi, Yi Yun found that his victory was indeed quite difficult.

But when these words fell into the spectators’ ears, they nearly collapsed.

You used a brick to smash a Duke’s son unconscious, and you even say it was not that easy!? Are you only satisfied if you could easily smash Liu Yuxing as if he was a dog?

Zhou Kui decided to simply shut his mouth. He felt that speaking another word with Yi Yun would incur another shock!

“By the way, Brother Yi Yun, what was the explosion at the end?” Song Zijun finally interjected. He was curious from earlier on.

He had looked carefully at Liu Yuxing’s final Star Picking Hand. But still, he did not understand much. All he knew was that Liu Yuxing had a technique that seemed to be able to control flying swords.

225 - : With one Brick in Hand, To Rule the World

Song Zijun could not tell what the real killing move of the ‘Star Picking Hand’ was. Many of the youths present couldn’t tell either.

This made Song Zijun feel like a failure. There was a saying that a bystander sees through everything, but him being a bystander could not understand what happened. If Liu Yuxing had used the ‘Star Picking Hand’ against him, the outcome was obvious.

He wouldn’t even know how he died.

Yi Yun said, “The ‘Star Picking Hand’ is a finger technique that is hidden within the sword technique… The sword technique was just a farce to cover it up.”

The essence of the ‘Star Picking Hand’ was to condense Yuan Qi. This Yuan Qi would then be able to move objects, and could also be used to kill an enemy.

The two words ‘Star Picking’ described the result of cultivating the ‘Star Picking Hand’ to an extreme. One could use this Yuan Qi to pick the stars from the sky.

Of course, this was just an exaggeration.

Under unexpected conditions, the ‘Star Picking Hand’ indeed did wonders. But if the other opponent was prepared against it, its effectiveness would be greatly reduced.

That was why the Liu family tried so hard to hide the effects of the ‘Star Picking Hand’ attack. This made many inexperienced young warriors unclear on how the ‘Star Picking Hand’ worked.

Liu Yuxing’s sneak attack on Yi Yun was well done in all aspects. Unfortunately, Yi Yun had not only formed the Heaven’s eyeball, he also had the Purple Crystal within his body. He was extremely sensitive to energy.

Liu Yuxing’s intangible force attack was invisible to the naked eye; but in Yi Yun’s vision, this intangible force attack was practically like a flame in the night sky. How could such an obvious attack catch Yi Yun by surprise?

This was why Liu Yuxing was doomed to fail.

“So that’s the reason…” After hearing Yi Yun’s words and thinking back to the scenes when Yi Yun fought against the ‘Star Picking Hand’, Song Zijun finally understood the principles behind the ‘Star Picking Hand’.

In fact, cultivation techniques that employed sneak attacks were not the best. When it reached the levels of sages, with their Heaven’s Eye fully opened, their senses would be so sensitive that it would not be easy to attack them in a sneaky fashion.

Yi Yun sat in his own seat. In the following matches, no one dared to challenge Yi Yun.

Even Liu Yuxing was beaten to a pulp by Yi Yun with his one brick. What was there for them to fight? Going on stage with Yi Yun was just asking to be beaten.

Having spent a large sum of dragon scale runes to make themselves unhappy, those who had previously challenged Yi Yun were too deep in tears.

Yi Yun sat in his seat, and every time it came to his turn, he did not need to stand up because the other party would immediately throw in the towel.

Having beaten Liu Yuxing, Yi Yun won 15 matches in a row.

Following that, it was 18 matches, 19 matches, 20 matches…

Without any doubt, Yi Yun won 20 consecutive matches, winning him the bet with the Hongdao Association.

Li Hong’s face had already frozen up.

What else could he say at this point?

Among the rookies, Yi Yun had already reached the top. The only people who could compete with Yi Yun was probably Chu Xiaoran or Qiuniu!

Li Hong could only admit his failure.

“Brother Hong, we sure lost miserably this time…”

A Hongdao Association member said to Liu Yuxing with a gloomy expression. He had lost 1200 dragon scale runes. These dragon scale runes were obtained from pawning his items and borrowing from his friends.

Now that the match results were set, those friends came to press for payment. After all, the Tai Ah Divine City did not protect any loans between cultivators.

Thinking of that sum of dragon scale runes, the Hongdao Association member felt bitter. How was he to return it?

Li Hong stayed silent. He estimated that in the next few matches, Yi Yun’s wealth would accumulate to more than 100,000 dragon scale runes.

A rookie managed to earn 100,000 dragon scale runes in the Tai Ah Divine City within a few months. It was a heaven defying feat!

Li Hong was correct in his estimations. After the third day’s matches ended, the dragon scale runes Yi Yun accumulated had officially exceeded 100,000.

Adding the dragon scale runes he had previously spent, Yi Yun’s total of dragon scale runes reached 120,000.

This amount of dragon scale runes allowed him to enter the Man roll of honor!

The Man roll of honor’s method of calculating was to add up a person’s present dragon scale runes amount and all the expenditures they’d previously made in the Ten Thousand Pagoda and the various cultivation grounds in the Tai Ah Divine City. With the total amount, one was ranked on the Man roll of honor.

Glory points were not included in the Man roll of honor. This was because the Man roll of honor assessed the cultivator’s ability to earn wealth in the future. As for glory points, most of it was awarded to cultivators after they completed an achievement. It did not embody the ability to earn wealth, so it was not included.

Since the Man roll of honor calculated the total accumulation of wealth, it was more advantageous the longer someone stayed in the Tai Ah Divine City.

Typically, a cultivator who had lasted in the Tai Ah Divine City for 2-3 years with reasonable strength would earn about 100-200 dragon scale runes a day. This added up to about 40,000-50,000 dragon scale runes a year.

Yi Yun’s 120,000 dragon scale runes was no doubt number one amongst the rookies. Even among the second and third year cultivators, Yi Yun exceeded a vast majority of them.

Now, Yi Yun’s ranking on the Man roll of honor was around 6000, somewhere in the middle!

It was a first to reach a ranking of 6000 in three months for the past few centuries in the Tai Ah Divine City.

In time, Yi Yun’s reputation in the Tai Ah Divine City became even more prominent. Many of the powerful senior cultivators began to pay attention to Yi Yun.

Initially, they thought Yi Yun had only good luck, but now, by using his Heaven Upheaval Seal to put down Liu Yuxing, it proved his terrifying potential.

Such a person was bound to skyrocket in the future!

“Are you Yi Yun?”

On the third night, after the arena’s competition finished, Yi Yun, Zhou Kui, Song Zijun and company went to have dinner. A youth with curly hair appeared before Yi Yun.

“Oh?” Yi Yun glanced at the youth. He saw a faint smile on the other party’s face. He looked extremely friendly.

“It’s me.” Yi Yun said.

“Ha! Nice to meet you!” The curled hair youth cupped his hands at Yi Yun. “My name is Lan Bai. I’m from the Chu royal residence. I had previously reported Brother Yi’s news to my family. Our elder is very interested in Brother Yi. In a few more months, there will be a short vacation for the rookies. I wonder if Brother Yi would have the interest to come to our Chu royal residence for a visit?”

While saying that, the curled hair youth handed Yi Yun a jade scroll.

Yi Yun was stunned for a moment. He interfaced his spiritual energy within the jade scroll and scanned through the jade scroll’s contents. He immediately understood the curled hair youth’s purpose. He was representing the Chu royal residence to pull him in. The letter promised many benefits to Yi Yun.

A mid-sized city fiefdom under the jurisdiction of the Chu royal residence, a large tract of arable land, a luxurious mansion and nearly a thousand servants.

Every year, the Chu royal residence would provide Yi Yun with a considerable amount of elixirs, relics, a variety of armor, weapons and magical items.

As for the last line, the Chu royal residence even promised to give seven stunning beauties to Yi Yun after his fifteenth birthday as his concubines.

And the condition was for Yi Yun to be a guest of the Chu royal residence.

Yi Yun was stunned. He had been roped in!

This was really the first time he had encountered such a thing.

Although Zhou Kui and Song Zijun, who were standing beside Yi Yun, did not know the contents of Yi Yun’s jade scroll, they could easily guess that the other party was roping Yi Yun in. Their hearts were filled with envy.

This was the difference between a top genius and an average genius…

Yi Yun was being snatched up after being in the Tai Ah Divine City for three months.

“How is it? Are you satisfied?” The curled hair youth rubbed his hands, awaiting Yi Yun’s reply. However, at this moment, a pleasant male voice rang out. It gave the feeling of a fresh Spring breeze.

“Lan Bai, it’s been awhile since I’ve seen you. Why haven’t you improved at all. Here you are cheating rookies again!”

Yi Yun turned around in shock. All he saw was a green-shirted youth walking over. This youth looked eighteen years old. His eyebrows looked sharp, his teeth were white and he had a heroic aura.

Seeing the green-shirted youth, Lan Bai’s face immediately turned ugly. He opened his mouth and said with a dry tone.

“Xu… Xu Qingyun…”

Oh? Xu Qingyun!?

Upon hearing this name, Yi Yun was shocked.

Fourth on the Heaven roll of honor, Xu Qingyun was him!?

Yi Yun had a strong impression on Xu Qingyu. He was ranked top five in both the Heaven and Earth rankings!

Xu Qingyun was already in the Tai Ah Divine City for five years, and this year was his last year.

He was a senior cultivator to the very core!

Song Zijun and Zhou Kui were stunned. To rookies like them, Xu Qingyun’s stature was too high. They had no chance of interacting with him.

The recent rookie ranking competition, which was filled with shocking events had many events that made the headlines, attracted many to the arena to take a look no matter who was competing.

But to those who ranked in the top hundred of the Heaven and Earth rolls of honor, such a competition was nothing. There was no reason for them to pay heed. This was because the difference between their strength and the rookies were too great!

The curled-hair youth laughed without any humor and smiled saying, “Brother Xu must be joking. I’m not cheating any rookies.”

“Ah.” Xu Qingyun swept the jade scroll in Yi Yun’s hands. In a blink of an eye, he finished reading the contents within. He shook his head with disgust and said, “This again. Giving such small benefits to cheat rookies into signing a soul contract with your Chu royal residence. You guys sure calculated it well…”

“Oh? Soul contract?” Yi Yun quickly thought. Just from the name, he could roughly guess what it was.

It appeared that the benefits offered by the curled-hair youth was on condition of signing a soul contract.

This curled-hair youth may not have explained the soul contract clearly, but Yi Yun was better. He was mature in his thinking, and he had ambitious goals, so he was not easily fooled. Other rookies, who were just thirteen or fourteen years old, would have poor discernment. Together with supreme beauty sex cultivation slaves and all sorts of possible temptations, it was not impossible to be conned.

“In the Tai Ah Divine City, besides fighting, other things can also be sinister…”

Yi Yun shook his head in his mind. When the curled-hair youth came forward with a friendly smile, Yi Yun could not completely tell what the other party was up to.

“You better leave this place immediately, or else…” Before Xu Qingyun finished his words, the curled-hair youth laughed without any humor and said, “Brother Xu, Brother Xu, my bad. I’ll disappear right now!”

After saying this, the curled-hair youth bowed and retreated.

Yi Yun glanced at Xu Qingyun with surprise. This Xu Qingyun didn’t seem to have the airs of an expert.

226 - : Xu Qingyun

“Thank you, Brother Xu.” Yi Yun cupped his hands at Xu Qingyun.

Xu Qingyun shook his head and said, “It’s a small matter. I just can not stand seeing the Chu royal residence doing such despicable acts!”

Xu Qingyun’s carefree attitude gave Yi Yun a pleasant impression.

“What is a soul contract?” Yi Yun asked. It was best to be wary of others, so knowing an additional tidbit of information would always be better.

Xu Qingyun explained, “In some ancient family clans, they have many types of contracts. Once the contract is signed, it will be a soul-binding one. There is no way of removing it. Some of the high-handed contracts can even make you a slave. You would completely lose your own will. Lan Bai, the person from before, wanted you to sign a contract that wasn’t that terrible. If it was, the Tai Ah Divine City would not sit idly by, but… once the contract had been signed, you would have to become a servant in the Chu royal residence for several years. There were many unfair terms included within it.”

“The Chu royal residence has eyed your potential. The benefits they offered to you may look good now, but once your strength reaches an extraordinary level, the Chu royal residence could trap you for centuries with this contract. They would make you do a lot of things for them.”

“Thanks to Brother Xu’s tip, I have broadened my horizons.”

Besides Yi Yun, Zhou Kui and Song Zijun also felt that they had benefited greatly too. They had to be extremely careful when signing any contract in the future, otherwise, they would suffer the consequences.

“Little brother Yi, I am also from the Jin Long Wei and I can be considered your senior. In the future, if you have any problems , just come look for me. Also… this old brother wants to give you a heads up. Your future is limitless. Do not sell yourself cheaply for some immediate benefits! Do not frivolously sign contracts, especially those from the large family clans.”

Amongst the rookies, Yi Yun was at the top. This implied that in the next five years in the Tai Ah Divine City, Yi Yun would likely reach the Heaven roll’s top five.

Typical cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City, who attained a position in the Heaven roll’s top five, had a great possibility of being one of the best human lords if they did not falter in the future.

Upon reaching this stage, they would receive attention from all of the various large factions in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Wealth and noble titles would be at their fingertips.

Of course, such talents were impossible to rope in with mere wealth and titles of nobility. To rope them in, the factions would have to use cultivation techniques or other treasures.

Xu Qingyun said, “If you wish to join a faction, you can consider joining an association. There is much more freedom in this. This older brother is from the Linxiao Association. If you are interested, I can introduce you.”

Xu Qingyun casually said this. But by the side, Zhou Kui and Song Zijun were secretly alarmed.

The Linxiao Association… it was the true number one association in the Tai Ah Divine City. Its influential power was even larger than the Luohuo Association’s power.

The Luohuo Association had many people, but its quality in talent was lacking.

It was allegedly set up by Luo Huo’er on a whim. Due to Luo Huo’er’s extreme popularity, many young elites rushed to join the association because of her name. Later on, Luo Huo’er gave up control over the association and she began researching the Desolate Heaven technique by herself. The Luohuo Association was run by key personnel after that.

As for the true elites, most of them chose to go to the Linxiao Association, this included Li Xiao and the Tai Ah Twin Heroes’ Qiao brothers.

The Linxiao Association had few people, because they only accepted the best elites!

Zhou Kui felt that it would be difficult for Yi Yun to join the Linxiao Association in his present position. He still lacked the qualifications!

Therefore, he was surprised to find Xu Qingyun appreciating Yi Yun that much.

“Thank you for Brother Xu’s appreciation.” Yi Yun cupped his hands. In fact, joining an association wasn’t too bad. There were no obligations. Also, with people backing him, it would prevent other associations from bullying him.

…

It was the fifth day of the rookie ranking competitions. By this day, all the rookie-rookie battles had been completed. The rookies had a certain understanding of their own strength and their corresponding ranking.

Many rookies were now ranked beyond 10,000. They knew where they stood, so they were not dissatisfied with it.

Having just recently arrived in the Tai Ah Divine City, the people they were competing against were elites. The rookies had a much shorter cultivation time than the others, and they were younger than the others. What did the rookies have that would make them overcome this difference?

They could only take it step by step in a slow fashion.

However, there were some monstrous figures amongst the rookies who had outstanding talent. These people would not stick to their own spot. To them, the fifth day of the rookie competition was when the real fight began!

On this day, they could challenge the senior cultivators that were ranked higher than them!

Those who had been in the Tai Ah Divine City for two to three years were their targets.

To the rookies, these matches were much more exciting than the rookie-rookie battles!

They wanted to see what strength the senior cultivators possessed.

As such, the challenge battles against the senior cultivators began. The grade of the matches were completely different from the ones in the past few days.

Those rookies who ranked in the top 100 to the top 20 came forward to challenge senior cultivators who were in the top 8000, and even in the top 6000.

The battles were in full swing!

However, although the experts amongst the rookies fought beautifully, there were many who lost!

As the saying goes, ‘ginger is hottest when it’s old’, the senior cultivators, especially those ranked in the top 6000 almost never lost when they were challenged.

Rookie after rookie was defeated.

“Hmph, this bunch of rookies, they think that they are marvelous. They have just arrived in the Tai Ah Divine City, they have only been here for a few months and they think they can rise above us? So naive.” A senior cultivator said disdainfully.

The recruits that gathered in Tai Ah Divine City every year would have their egos inflated after doing well in the rookie ranking competitions. They wanted to rise up high by battling the veterans.

But most of the time, these people would fail.

Very few veterans in the Tai Ah Divine City were weaklings.

“There are some pretty good ones in this batch of rookies, such as that brat named Yi Yun. He has some talent, but he’s still too young. If he dares challenge me, I’ll teach him a good lesson.” A cultivator, who had spent two years and three months in the Tai Ah Divine City, wiped his long sword and proudly smiled.

His position on the Earth roll of honor hovered around 4000. Amongst the cultivators who had spent more than 2 years in the Tai Ah Divine City, he was considered one of the better ones. It was obvious that he was better than the rookies.

But at this moment, the referee shouted loudly; “Divine Wilderness Stage, 3780, Fang Jihai, come on stage!”

With this shout from the referee, the cultivator wiping his sword was surprised. What? 3780!?

Isn’t that someone ranked around 3700 in the Earth roll?

Fang Jihai…

The name flashed within the sword-wiping cultivator’s mind. He knew Fang Jihai. They had arrived in the same batch and have spent more than two years in the Tai Ah Divine City. However, Fang Jihai’s strength was higher than his!

Amongst the third year’s, Fang Jihai was considered one of the stronger ones. This name was quite a famous one!

Someone actually dared to challenge Fang Jihai? Someone is courting death?

The youth, who was wiping his sword, looked over to see who was so naive as to court death.

At this moment, he saw a girl in a yellow swan dress appear on the Divine Wilderness Stage like a gust of wind.

“Challenger: 10,001 – Chu Xiaoran!”

Chu Xiaoran! Isn’t she one of the two strongest people amongst the rookies?

Hearing Chu Xiaoran’s name, the sword-wiping youth froze. So it was Chu Xiaoran who had challenged Fang Jihai. But so what if it was Chu Xiaoran? Did she think that the senior cultivators, who had spent 2-3 years in the Tai Ah Divine City, were here just to enjoy the meals?

Did she think that they, as veterans, could be so easily stepped on?

Chu Xiaoran’s popularity was high amongst the rookies. The moment she appeared on stage, the arena heated up!

Many rookies cheered for Chu Xiaoran!

There were few females in the Tai Ah Divine City, so females were relatively more welcomed. For a person of Chu Xiaoran’s stature, and with her great strength, it was pretty much obvious why she was popular.

“Chu Xiaoran is sure to win!” Wave after waves of shouts made many excited in this high level competition.

And right in the middle of the stage, a youth in blue was unmoved hearing these cheers.

“So you are Chu Xiaoran…”

Chu Xiaoran’s opponent was Fang Jihai. He looked 15-16 and he held a spear in hand. He stood upright and had an imposing aura.

“Amongst the rookies, you are indeed not bad. In five years time, you will definitely have the opportunity to enter the top 3 of the Heaven and Earth rolls. You might even be number one! But now, it’s still too early. I will go all out to defeat you!” Fang Jihai said this before pulling out his spear. Hu!

A heatwave exploded like a tsunami. A flame began burning on the spear! It made it difficult for one to approach it.

Flame control?

People were surprised seeing this. Even Yi Yun stared attentively.

In this world, there were all sorts of cultivation techniques. It was not surprising for a cultivation technique to be able to generate a flame.

For example, in the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, the Yuan Qi that was condensed was named ‘Radiant Sun Qi’. It was also a form of Qi, but its elemental property was not fire, it was pure Yang!

In terms of energy grade, pure Yang was greater than fire!

“This Fang Jihai is quite strong. With his Purple Blood realm level, he can condense a flame with his Yuan Qi. That’s pretty amazing. Who do you think will win?” Just this display of Fang Jihai’s powers was an eye-opening experience for many rookies. Indeed, none of the senior cultivators were weaklings.

“Of course it’s Miss Chu! But… to win against Fang Jihai, she will probably need to put in some effort…”

Rookies were biased towards Chu Xiaoran; however with Fang Jihai’s strength displayed, this battle was probably not going to be easy.

“Junior Chu, the battlefield is heartless. Watch out now!” Fang Jihai raised his spear and charged forward. He raised the long spear above his head and slashed downwards!

“Phew–”

The flame flared up, sending waves of flames that indiscriminately swept the area.

“Reckless Fire!”

Facing Chu Xiaoran, Fang Jihai did not go easy. He used one of his signature moves from the start, so that he could beat Chu Xiaoran as quickly as possible. If he were to take a long time to battle a rookie, and actually end up failing miserably at such an easy task, it would be extremely embarrassing.

227 - : Lixiao Association

The entire Divine Wilderness Stage, that was thirty meters in radius, was engulfed by a thick fiery serpent. The fire serpent whipped around the stage with a tumultuous burning sound and it surrounded Chu Xiaoran.

Fang Jihai thrust his spear towards Chu Xiaoran’s shoulder!

Fang Jihai’s spear was nine foot long and it was made of black iron. On the other hand, Chu Xiaoran was using a sword. Using a sword, which is considered a light weapon, against a spear’s strike, it is inevitably inferior in strength!

At that moment, many broke out into a cold sweat for Chu Xiaoran.

However, Chu Xiaoran remained nonchalant within the fiery storm. As Fang Jihai thrust his spear downwards, the thrust threatened to swallow Chu Xiaoran within the flames. Only then, did she make her move!

The four foot long sword had a long yet soft blade. Like a tumbling leaf, it clashed with Fang Jihai’s spear.

Oh!?

Using a soft sword to parry a heavy black iron spear!?

People were shocked. How could this happen? Wouldn’t this strike from the spear deform Chu Xiaoran’s sword, which in turn would break her arm?

Before they could even gasp, they saw a sword beam rise up into the heavens!

Cha!

The engulfing flames were sliced apart by Chu Xiaoran’s sword!

Furthermore, Chu Xiaoran had broken Fang Jihai’s fire Yuan Qi with her sword. The sword tip came into contact with the black iron spear’s shaft.

Suddenly, space seemed to freeze. Fang Jihai’s spear was apparently stuck in a mud pool. It was restrained by a sword that was as soft as water. The heavy black iron spear could only bend the sword’s blade slightly and it could not go any further!

Chu Xiaoran suddenly pulled out the sword, separating from the spear with ease.

“Boom!”

Fang Jihai’s spear slammed into the purple tungsten ground, causing a huge dent.

But at this moment, Chu Xiaoran struck with her sword again!

Her sword reached an extreme speed as it stabbed towards Fang Jihai’s heart!

What happened?

Fang Jihai was struck dumb with astonishment. When he crossed weapons with Chu Xiaoran earlier, he felt a very odd feeling. It was as if all his strength had been restrained by Chu Xiaoran.

And he couldn’t figure out what method Chu Xiaoran had used.

Now, Fang Jihai had no time to ponder over it. Chu Xiaoran’s blade beam was right in front of him!

“Fiery Shield!”

Fang Jihai swept with his spear and a fiery vortex formed in front of him. In that split second, a thick crimson fiery shield was formed!

“Whew!”

Chu Xiaoran’s sword sent out a ear-piercing screeching sound and it struck the flame shield!

“Peng!”

Even after the energy impact, Chu Xiaoran’s blade beam carried on flying forward. It had broken through the flame shield completely!

The fiery explosion caused a rain of fire to spread out indiscriminately. In it, there was a girl wearing a yellow swan dress, this made the scene look extremely beautiful.

Fang Jihai retreated again and again. He was amazed that his Reckless Fire attack had been blocked by Chu Xiaoran, and then his Fiery Shield had been completely broken by Chu Xiaoran.

How could this girl be this strong!?

Chu Xiaoran began sending a flurry of sword attacks. Fang Jihai rapidly retreated as he tried to use his spear to break through Chu Xiaoran’s blade beams.

However, Chu Xiaoran’s sword seemed to possess an incredible resilience within it. No matter how strong Fang Jihai’s spear beams were, Chu Xiaoran’s sword was pervasive. A thin sword Qi pierced through Fang Jihai’s Yuan Qi protection, making his whole body feel numb as if he was electrocuted.

“How is this possible…?”

Fang Jihai clearly felt that Chu Xiaoran’s Yuan Qi was not better than his, yet he was restrained again and again. He felt that he could not use all of his strength at all.

In the audience when everyone saw this scene, a person suddenly realized, “It’s a nomological truth! Didn’t you hear? Chu Xiaoran has already gained insight on the ‘hard-soft’ truth!”

The hard-soft truth was a combination of hardness and softness. Chu Xiaoran’s weapon may look like a soft sword, but after Chu Xiaoran gained insight on the hard-soft truth, this soft sword gained incredible strength!

“Swish!”

With the blade beams rising up, Chu Xiaoran forced Fang Jihai into a corner of the ring. Then, an attack came from above, flying directly towards Fang Jihai’s head!

Fang Jihai raised his spear to block it.

“Puah!”

Fang Jihai’s fiery Yuan Qi was split apart. This sword slashed down on Fang Jihai’s spear shaft. The blade carried on with its momentum and it bent the shaft as it carried on towards Fang Jihai like a whip!

Oh!?

Fang Jihai constricted his pupils. He had no way of dodging because it was too close!

The sharp blade beam had broken through Fang Jihai’s protective Yuan Qi and it opened a wound across Fang Jihai’s chest.

This wound allowed Chu Xiaoran’s Qi to rush into Fang Jihai’s meridians. With the sword Qi entering his body, Fang Jihai’s body trembled as a stream of blood gushed out of his mouth.

Before he could counter, Chu Xiaoran had struck again.

“Peng!”

Chu Xiaoran’s attack completely split Fang Jihai’s protective Yuan Qi apart. He flew back before slamming heavily onto the ground.

Chu Xiaoran wins this battle!

When the referee announced the result, Fang Jihai was dazed. He lost? He lost to a rookie girl, who was 2-3 years younger than him?

He had been training in the Tai Ah Divine City for 2 years, yet he could not compete with someone who just arrived in the Tai Ah Divine City!

Many rookies in the audience, looked at each other. They were all supporters of Chu Xiaoran and they believed she could win. But they never expected Chu Xiaoran to win so cleanly. And it seemed like she did not use all of her energy.

She had defeated a senior cultivator ranked 3780 without using all of her energy…

Terrifying!

“Amazing…The strength Chu Xiaoran that showed was on a different level compared to those on the rookie rankings! Previously someone ranked 7th on the rookie rankings challenged a senior cultivator ranked in the 5000s and they still lost…but Chu Xiaoran beat someone in the 3700s easily! This gap is too great!”

“And it’s said that Qiuniu is on par with Chu Xiaoran, could Qiuniu also have similar strength?”

Many rookies were shocked. They had already heard that while they were doing their miscellaneous jobs, Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran had already entered the Divine wilderness to hunt desolate beasts. The danger involved was obvious.

Back then, they were just impressed, but they did not know to what extent these two’s strength was. But now, it seems that there was a big difference in strength between those ranked third, fourth or fifth on the rookie rankings, even though there is only a very small difference in their rankings!

The other rookies ranked in the top 10 like Liu Yuxing can be ignored. Only Yi Yun had an impressive battle. But he did not have the stunning result like how Chu Xiaoran easily defeated Fang Jihai.

Within the hearts of many, Liu Yuxing could not compare to a senior cultivator like Fang Jihai.

And the rule set by the Divine City for the rookie rankings was that fights had to carry on till a winner amongst the rookies was decided!

The Divine City had prepared rich rewards to the number one rookie!

Now Chu Xiaoran might seem the strongest, and the only person that could compete with Chu Xiaoran was Qiuniu and possibly Yi Yun…

“Chu Xiaoran has understood the hard-soft truths. This is the foundation of the Defender Duke’s family. From a young age, Chu Xiaoran was under the tutelage of good teachers in the Defender Duke’s residence. The resources she received were also extraordinary. Compared to us, she’s on a completely different level.” Someone sighed with emotion. After all, no one could compare with a descendant from a family with great accumulative heritage.

“We might not be able to, but Yi Yun might be able to barely compete. I am really looking forward to Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran’s battle. Yi Yun has even weaker roots than us. Although his chances of winning are slim, he can still fight an exhilarating battle. If he can force Chu Xiaoran to use all her strength, then it would be something to be proud of.”

Although many were jealous of Yi Yun, some cultivators were impressed with Yi Yun’s origins. Those who came from small family clans knew the difficulty of climbing up.

“How is it? Any thoughts?” Baldy Qin asked while stroking his chin as he stood beside Yi Yun. He had always been hypercritical, but he could not help but praise Chu Xiaoran’s performance.

Yi Yun smiled and nodded, “She is indeed strong…”

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there were all sorts of hidden monsters. If this was three months ago, when he just arrived in the Tai Ah Divine City, Yi Yun would feel like he could do nothing against a person like Chu Xiaoran.

They were of a completely different level!

Chu Xiaoran had great sword play, cultivation techniques and had gained insight on a nomological truth. As for states like the Tempered Body, Dragon Pulse, even a pea-sized brain could figure out that Chu Xiaoran had reached them earlier on.

Back then, Yi Yun with only his large success stage of Minute Subtlety would have no advantage against Chu Xiaoran. They were from completely different realms.

But now, everything was different. With the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, it had filled the gap in Yi Yun’s many shortcomings.

Now, Yi Yun deeply understood the importance of cultivation techniques and nomology. It could increase a person’s strength to an entirely new level.

Without a good cultivation technique and without understanding any nomologies, any amount of energy that his body absorbed would be useless. It was like a group of strong soldiers without a general commanding them. The battle prowess would be greatly reduced.

228 - : Hard-Soft

Today’s ranking matches were destined to reach greater heights.

After Chu Xiaoran, three expert rookies, who were ranked in the top ten, went on stage. They challenged senior cultivators that were ranked around 5000.

The battleground became extremely intense. Although these rookies could not compare with Chu Xiaoran, who had gained insight on a hint of nomological truths, they obtained cheers from the crowd just from their Yuan Qi clashes.

Unfortunately, the three expert rookies failed to beat the veteran cultivators, who had been training for 2-3 years.

Just as other rookies were feeling regretful for these three people, a black horse appeared on stage.

A rookie named Gu Mu, who was ranked twenty, challenged a senior cultivator who was ranked in the 4900s. Everyone originally thought that Gu Mu was going to lose, but the result surprised everyone. Gu Mu actually defeated his opponent, squeezing into the top 5000!

Gu Mu was an obscure name. As a rookie who was in 20th place amongst the rookies, he did not arouse much attention. But the rookie rankings were estimated based on their performance in the past three months in the Tai Ah Divine City. It could not accurately determine a person’s real strength.

Gu Mu was a nobody who managed to quietly rise up to the top 5000, this astonished many people.

What made most people surprised was that Gu Mu did not come from any famous family clans. In terms of familial background, he was better than Yi Yun, but not by much. His paternal grandfather was a Kingdom Knight, but when it reached his father’s generation, it deteriorated.

Such a family clan could not be considered a family clan, but it still produced a freak like Gu Mu.

Gu Mu must have had some fortuitous events to reach such a level.

When people thought about this, they sighed. The world was so large with an unknown number of people within it. There were so many elites. It was not surprising to them that some of these elites encountered fortuitous events.

In this batch of rookies, first it was Yi Yun, then it was Gu Mu. There was all sorts of hidden talent.

It became more intense as the battles went on during the fifth day of the competition. The last match pushed the excitement to a climax!

“Divine Wilderness Stage, 3960, Bai Mingwu! Challenger, 10,002, Qiuniu!”

Following the announcement by the referee, all the rookies were excited.

Qiuniu was up!

There was no one who doubted Chu Xiaoran’s strength anymore.

As for Qiuniu, he was always placed on par with Chu Xiaoran. Due to Chu Xiaoran’s outstanding performance earlier, many suspected if Qiuniu was at the same level as Chu Xiaoran. Now, they could see it for themselves!

“Hehe, finally it’s my turn!” Beside Chu Xiaoran, a 1.9m tall man stood up suddenly. It was hard to believe that he was thirteen years old.

Qiuniu looked at his opponent. His opponent was also a tall and well-built person. He was 15 years old and 1.8m tall. He was well-matched with Qiuniu.

“Against this kid, my white metal armor should be enough!” Qiuniu said to himself. Beside him, Chu Xiaoran laughed, “Be careful not to fail such an easy task!”

“Fail? Hehe…” Qiuniu wiped the tip of his nose with his thumb, “Don’t worry. Before fighting you, I won’t lose!”

Qiuniu had not fought Chu Xiaoran in a long time. After seeing Chu Xiaoran beat Fang Jihai, Qiuniu also felt the pressure.

After not seeing her for so many years, despite being familiar in the past, he could no longer fathom her strength.

Bai Mingwu came on stage. He pulled out his weapon, which was a polearm.

As for Qiuniu’s weapon, it shocked many people when they saw it. Most of his body was covered in thick pale gold armor that included his legs, torso, and arms.

On his right hand, he had a huge glove that was as long as half a person and it was as thick as an adult’s waist. This glove was like the barrel of a cannon. It was also pale gold in color. Behind the glove, there were three sharp blades!

Each blade was 1.5m long and they were half a palm’s width wide. With the three blades side by side, it was like a giant claw!

On Qiuniu’s left hand, there was a pale gold shield that was a meter in diameter!

Seeing Qiuniu in such an attire, many people were stunned. This was too ridiculous!

The armor and weapon made Qiuniu look like a moving castle!

“Boom!”

Qiuniu jumped onto the stage. With a metallic thud, the purple tungsten tiles trembled under Qiuniu’s feet!

“Heavens! How heavy is that!?”

People were shocked. The purple tungsten tiles were three meters wide and a foot thick each and they were extremely heavy. With them lined up side by side, they were extremely solid. But Qiuniu could cause them to tremble just by jumping on them…

“This armor…” Bai Mingwu glanced at Qiuniu and raised his polearm. “How are you going to keep up with my speed in such an attire?”

Qiuniu grinned and said, “I’m not good at anything. I just have a bit more strength. Only by wearing this can I accentuate my advantage…”

“Heh!” Bai Mingwu smiled coldly, “Then let’s try it!”

A soon as the match started, Bai Mingwu attacked. He used his movement skills to form a series of shadows!

He wanted to defeat Qiuniu using his speed!

In that attire, Qiuniu may have great physical strength, but he was slow.

Bai Mingwu moved like the wind, while Qiuniu stood motionless. Bai Mingwu did not belittle Qiuniu. With Chu Xiaoran defeating Fang Jihai, he had the perfect example. He did not want to follow in Fang Jihai’s footsteps by being defeated by a rookie.

It would be too embarrassing!

“Whew!”

A polearm beam flew into the sky and it began moving around like a whip. Bai Mingwu’s polarm had been infused with a lot of Yuan Qi, which turned it emerald in color.

“It’s the Bai family’s ‘Mystic Jade Heart Sutra’!” Someone shouted.

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, many family clans had their own secret techniques. None of these secret techniques should be underestimated. A family had its own heritage, which allowed them to train up their future generations. Through inter-marriage and obtaining good bloodlines, a family clan would slowly flourish.

A good set of cultivation techniques was the cornerstone of a family clan.

A warrior with a weak cultivation technique compared to a someone with a strong cultivation technique would be crushed if everything else was equal!

The ‘Mystic Jade Heart Sutra’ was also a cultivation technique with a great reputation. It was not weaker than the Liu family’s ‘Star Picking Hand’!

And Liu Yuxing who had used the ‘Star Picking Hand’ was just a rookie. How could he be as well-versed in a cultivation technique compared to a senior cultivator like Bai Mingwu?

“Swish!”

Bai Mingwu instantaneously appeared in front of Qiuniu. With the polearm raised, he slashed at Qiuniu’s neck. The pole arm’s beam went from top to bottom, it looked like a emerald-green lightning blast was flying towards Qiuniu!

Everyone stared wide. This attack was extremely powerful!

Facing Bai Mingwu’s deathblow, Qiuniu shouted out loudly. That tumultuous sound wave spread throughout the stage like thunder spreading across the sky!

With all his body’s strength circulating, he lifted his left arm!

“Dang!”

A deafening rumble sounded out. Qiuniu’s shield had blocked Bai Mingwu’s attack!

With a deafening bang, the emerald-green beam exploded. The purple tungsten tiles under Qiuniu’s feet trembled. The huge impact had caused two craters to form in the purple tungsten around Qiuniu’s feet!

But Qiuniu did not retreat even one step!

“This strength!”

Seeing Qiuniu use the shield on his left hand to block Bai Mingwu’s strike, everyone was shocked and their jaws almost fell apart. Bai Mingwu had used both hands to move the polearm and together with the “Mystic Jade Heart Sutra”, the power of the blow was imaginable.

Yet, Qiuniu managed to block it with his single left hand and he did not retreat once. What sort of strange strength was this?

If it was an average person, just using an arm shield to block a polearm infused with the “Mystic Jade Heart Sutra” would have broken the bones in his arm!

“You…”

Bai Mingwu contracted his pupils. The impact had caused his palm to feel numb from the tremor.

A polearm was a heavy weapon and it was very hard. He could not endure this for long, “This kid, I don’t believe his arm is totally fine…”

Just as he was thinking this, Bai Mingwu suddenly realized that Qiuniu had grabbed his polearm.

After blocking the polearm with his left hand, Qiuniu had used his right hand to grab the polearm. He had lodged himself in position with the polearm’s shaft.

“This weapon is now mine…” Qiuniu grinned. “If I grab any weapon, you can’t take them out of my hands!”

What!?

Hearing Qiuniu’s words, a vein popped out on Bai Mingwu’s forehead.

“You are too arrogant!” Bai Mingwu shouted and then he began circulating the “Mystic Jade Heart Sutra”, which caused his Yuan Qi to burst out. With his hands on the polearm, he pulled back with force!

Peng!

The “Mystic Jade Heart Sutra”‘s Yuan Qi burst out, but…the polearm was still in Qiuniu’s hand. It was like the polearm was stuck in Qiuniu’s hand.

“You…” Bai Mingwu stared with widened eyes. Qiuniu’s strength was too terrifying!

He did not believe in heresy. As he madly powered up his “Mystic Jade Heart Sutra”, his Yuan Qi roared out like a tsunami, but Qiuniu’s hands were like a black iron casted vice. It refused to release its grapple on the polearm. No matter how much the polearm resisted, it was like a snake that was stuck in a hole, it was unable to move.

This…What happened?

Beads of sweat began forming on Bai Mingwu’s forehead.

It was the first time he could not pull his weapon back after it had been grabbed. It was also the first time he faced an opponent who had used such a technique!

Using his enormous strength, he grabbed the weapons of others! How was one to fight that?

At this point, Bai Mingwu suddenly felt a surge of strength flow through the polearm. The polearm was raised up high. Bai Mingwu, who held on to the polearm, suddenly felt his legs lift up.

His entire body had been lifted by Qiuniu!

Everyone was shocked when they saw this scene. They were speechless. They never expected that this match would end up this way.

From afar, all one could see was Qiuniu wearing heavy armor, with his body as immovable as a mountain. He had inclined his arm upwards, lifting Bai Mingwu and the polearm up. It was like he was holding a lollipop.

229 - : Inborn Divine Strength

Bai Mingwu’s face turned red. After all these years, taking part in numerous battles, big and small, he had never encountered such a situation. It was absolutely shameful.

This Qiuniu’s methods were unpredictable!

Bai Mingwu grit his teeth. With an abrupt slip of his hands, he moved down the polearm’s shaft towards Qiuniu!

By circulating the “Mystic Jade Heart Sutra”, all of his Yuan Qi was now concentrated within his feet!

He aimed for Quiniu’s head as he kicked out with his feet!

Bai Mingwu had pretty good leg techniques.

However, all Qiuniu did was sneer before raising his shield.

“Dang!”

Bai Mingwu’s feet landed heavily on the shield. The Yuan Qi from the “Mystic Jade Heart Sutra” burst out, causing Bai Mingwu’s feet to turn numb. However, it did not affect Qiuniu at all. The thick and heavy shield was like a solid metal wall, warding off all sorts of attacks!

Bai Mingwu felt helpless. He had used his polearm to attack Qiuniu, but it was blocked by Qiuniu’s shield. The same happened when he used his feet!

After blocking Bai Mingwu’s strike, Qiuniu smiled. With his right hand pulling on the polearm, and his left hand holding his shield, his body suddenly jerked forward.

Shield bash!

“Peng!”

With a loud clang, Bai Mingwu’s entire body was sent flying by Qiuniu’s shield bash!

His body tumbled a few times in the air before he landed. The great impact had caused him to take more than ten steps backwards before he managed to steady his body again. The blood flowing within his body was now in chaos.

He pressed his hand against his chest and looked over at Qiuniu. Qiuniu was still standing in his original spot. In fact, throughout the whole battle, Qiuniu had not moved more than just a few steps.

As Bai Mingwu was sent flying backwards, his polearm was still in Qiuniu’s hand.

His weapon had been taken away!

There was no way of describing what thoughts were going through Bai Mingwu’s mind. He had only used one move during this battle. After his weapon was grabbed by his opponent, he could not take it back and now he was in this embarrassing situation.

It was too aggravating.

There were still a lot of moves he did not get the chance to use. However, all of these moves required the polearm. Without his weapon, his battle prowess would drop greatly, leaving him with just his leg techniques!

He still had a low quality polearm in his interspatial ring.

But, not only was that polearm unable to bring out his greatest potential, the crux of the matter was that Qiuniu might take that polearm as well!

He did not have any methods of preventing Qiuniu from taking away his weapon. If he lost another one, it would be too embarrassing!

Standing before Qiuniu, Bai Mingwu was now in a dilemma.

Qiuniu was wearing a heavy armor and he had a huge shield. It was impossible for Bai Mingwu to break those apart with just his fists and feet!

“Your polearm… I’m returning it to you!” As Qiuniu said that, he casually weighed the polearm in his hand. Following that, he grabbed the polearm and slightly leaned back, his right foot on the ground, while lifting his left foot.

“Ha!” Qiuniu shouted out, and as his left foot landed, his right arm sent the polearm flying!

“Sou!”

The heavy polearm let out an ear-piercing screech that sounded like an explosion. The polearm flew through the air, flying straight at Bai Mingwu!

With Qiuniu’s strength, the polearm’s speed was now completely terrifying!

Bai Mingwu constricted his pupils. Facing his weapon, which was now flying straight at him, he… did not dare to try and grab it!

At the moment the polearm was about to strike Bai Mingwu, he gritted his teeth and used his movement technique to dodge it.

“Dang!”

With a loud metallic clang, the polearm embedded itself into a purple tungsten protective wall beside the Divine Wilderness Stage.

The three foot thick purple tungsten wall tremored from this huge impact. Even the tiles on the ground trembled!

The polearm was also vibrating non stop!

Upon seeing this, many were at loss for words. Qiuniu’s strength was too terrifying!

Bai Mingwu stood on the stage with a pale face. He really did not know what to do!

Did he really need to run down the stage to pick up his polearm?

Not only was it embarrassing, but even after retrieving the polearm, he was not confident in his ability of beating Qiuniu. Also, what if Qiuniu attacked him as he retrieved the polearm?

After his deliberating, Bai Mingwu had to admit that he had lost the moment Qiuniu grabbed his polearm.

He was inferior!

Gritting his teeth, Bai Mingwu shook his head and said, “I admit defeat…”

He was not a sore loser. There was no point in resisting on stage when it had already reached such a situation.

“Thank you!” Qiuniu cupped his hands.

Qiuniu won this battle!

People’s moods were indescribable seeing Bai Mingwu sadly walking down the stage and him using all his strength to pull out his polearm.

This battle was quite ridiculous. Qiuniu’s battle strategy was quite different from others, but it was extremely effective. Bai Mingwu had been defeated by Qiuniu to the point that he conceded the battle on his own accord.

“Bai Mingwu admitted defeat… A person ranked in the 3900s on the Earth roll was defeated by Qiuniu, just like that…”

“There’s no other way. The difference in strength was too great. After his weapon was taken away, Bai Mingwu lost his confidence. If that did not happen, Bai Mingwu could have fought another few more rounds. In fact, upon reaching the Yuan foundation realm, a warrior’s connection with his weapon would greatly increase. It wouldn’t reach the point of easily having the weapon stolen.”

Once a warrior reached the Yuan foundation, or a realm beyond the Yuan foundation, they could use their Yuan Qi to grow their weapons. They could even keep their weapon inside of their Dantian, slowly nourishing it.

As such, it would not be easy to take away another person’s weapon.

But it was not impossible either. If someone was strong enough, they could erase the opponent’s soul mark on a weapon and steal it.

“This Qiuniu sure is difficult to handle. Once he grabs your weapon, it’s over!”

Seeing Qiuniu’s attire, many felt powerless.

Qiuniu’s glove was also armored. He could easily grab other weapons as well, such as sabers or swords!

If it was a low quality weapon, he could probably even snap it!

Not only that, Qiuniu’s defense was extremely perverse. With his body covered in armor, together with that heavy shield, it was like he had a thick tortoise shell. A weak attack would only be equivalent to scratching an itch for Qiuniu!

As for Qiuniu’s attack power, it was irrefutable. When Qiuniu threw the polearm at the end, Bai Mingwu did not even dare to grab it, even though he was its owner. How could Qiuniu’s attack power be weak?

How could one handle him, when his defence and attacking power were that strong and he could grab their weapons easily?

He was too difficult to handle!

Many of the veteran cultivators, who had spent 2-3 years in the Tai Ah Divine City, placed themselves in Bai Mingwu’s shoes. If they had fought Qiuniu, they had to admit that they would also lose!

“This batch of rookies sure is crazy… Now, it seems there’s an extremely high chance Qiuniu and that Chu Xiaoran can enter the top 1000 within a year!” A veteran cultivator said with mixed emotions.

But another veteran cultivator shook his head, “You are exaggerating by saying there is an extremely high chance. The top 1000 isn’t easy to reach. It is basically the world of Yuan foundation realm cultivators amongst the top 1000. Without being at the Yuan foundation realm, it will be impossible to hold one’s ground! And if a rookie were to rise up there, many veterans would pay close attention to him. Who would wish to be lorded over by a rookie? At that point, there would be numerous challengers wishing to pull you down. To establish yourself in the top 1000? It is difficult!”

Although this veteran cultivator was unwilling to admit that Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran could establish themselves in the top 1000 within a year, he was very well aware of the fact that Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran were absolute monsters amongst monsters. Their potentials were no weaker than Qin Haotian’s!

It was extremely rare for two such figures to appear in a single batch of rookies!

…

The fifth day of the rookie rankings ended. Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran performed outstandingly. Soon, the news of it spread throughout the Tai Ah Divine City. Their names became famous, not only with the rookies, even amongst the veteran cultivators circles.

All of the major factions began to pay close attention to Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran. However, it was impossible to draw them in. The two of them had their own family clans and they were destined to serve their own families.

The cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City debated about who amongst the two was the strongest one.

Both of them had their own supporters and they expressed their views based on inferences and conjectures. Their debates became very heated.

As such, some associations even opened up a betting pool, deciding who amongst the two would win first place amongst the rookies.

The odds between the two were very close. However, Chu Xiaoran had slightly more supporters. How could a beautiful girl be less popular than a stout man?

With the betting pools opened, many had also included Yi Yun into them.

Yi Yun was compared to Gu Mu, who had shocked everyone on the fifth day of the competition.

Yi Yun and Gu Mu were of similar backgrounds. They were both strong and were dark horses before appearing on stage. Many were interested to know who was the strongest one amongst the two.

…

“Haha, they are opening another betting pool! Brother Yi, I bought the bet that you would win.” Zhou Kui said excitedly. During dinner time, he found Yi Yun at the cook house. He had complete confidence in Yi Yun and he felt that Yi Yun was sure to beat Gu Mu.

Yi Yun smiled without saying anything. He had watched all the matches in the past five days. Gu Mu was indeed a noteworthy opponent, but he was much worse than both Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran.

Yi Yun paid special attention only to Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran. Both of them had their own specialities. Chu Xiaoran had techniques, while Qiuniu had absolute strength. Both of them had powers that were on a completely different level than the other rookies.

“How is it? Brother Yi, did you bet on yourself?” Zhou Kui asked excitedly.

Yi Yun shook his head. He had previously heard about these betting pools. Ever since the Hongdao Association suffered a great loss due to Yi Yun, many of the associations learned their lesson. The bet limit was only up to 500 dragon scale runes.

The odds against him beating Gu Mu was not very high. Together with the high tax on gambling by the Tai Ah Divine City, there was nothing much to be earned. Yi Yun could not be bothered to bet. Only poor rookies like Zhou Kui would find interest in making a small gamble.

“Brother Yi, keep it up. Although the Tai Ah Divine City is only giving away glory points and other cultivation privileges to the person in first place, you will still be well rewarded at third place. Brother Yi, I look up to you!”

230 - : The one gathering of the elites

A cold breeze blew through the Tai Ah Divine City deep into the night. The Tai Ah Divine City was covered in snow once again.

It had snowed twice during the past few days of the rookie ranking competition.

In a city like the Tai Ah Divine City, it had layers upon layers of arrays. Once the arrays were initiated, they would allow the whole city to experience the warmth of spring throughout the entire year. However, this was a great waste of energy and there was no reason to do so. The Yuan Qi gathered within the Tai Ah Divine City arrays were instead supplied to the warriors for cultivation.

Yi Yun walked along the streets. Every time he stepped onto the snow, the compacted snow would tremble and make a crunching sound.

There were rows of houses with unsophisticated ambiences on both sides of the street .

Yi Yun kept on recalling the battles that happened in the day.

There was no doubt that both Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu possessed outstanding capabilities. Most importantly, they each had their own characteristics and strengths.

Chu Xiaoran had gained insight into a law, while Qiuniu had his strong body…

Between the two of them, in their own respective aspects, they were so strong that they made others feel helpless to the point of losing confidence!

Of course, Yi Yun was not lacking in confidence. Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu may be strong, but Yi Yun still had the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

But the problem was…

The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ could not be considered a strength of Yi Yun.

The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was strong and the warriors who mastered the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ could easily beat warriors with average cultivation techniques. They could even battle people who were a few levels above them and it would still be as easy as eating and drinking.

But… the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ could not be considered to be a ‘specialty’!

The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ could suppress others through its absolute power. But if they were to face someone who also cultivated the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, or someone whose ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ level was higher than their own, such as Qin Haotian, then they would lose all the advantages that the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ gave them. What mattered then would be a competition amongst their other aspects.

The other aspects included competing in terms of strength, laws, speed or battle experience…

What was his competitive advantage? What did he have that allowed him to beat Qin Haotian?

He would most likely lose even at the same level!

Yi Yun suddenly realized that his battle power was far too weak. Besides the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ and the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, he had no other competitive advantages.

Yi Yun had great ambition. If a typical warrior were to master the legendary ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in a short period of time, they would be so excited that they would lose themselves, but Yi Yun felt that it was still insufficient. He needed to strengthen every aspect of himself. He wanted to be an all-rounded person without any weaknesses!

Such as… Saber techniques!

Yi Yun’s saber techniques had always been weak. In fact, he had no saber techniques at all.

The Saber moves that were derived from the ‘Nine Mysterious Swords of Heaven’ technique were nothing in front of an expert.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun started walking towards a new direction. He stopped in front of a palace after walking down the street for fifteen minutes.

He looked up and saw the three meters wide plaque that was hanging on top of the palace entrance and on that plaque were three large words – Sword Scar Palace!

These three words were sharply written and they contained an aura. With just a glance, it was obvious that it was written by a master.

Yi Yun had long since heard about the Sword Scar Palace. He always wanted to pay a visit to it. This was the best place for the cultivators of the Tai Ah Divine City to increase their compatibility with their weapons.

It cost 1000 dragon scale runes, just like the Wilderness Divine hall, to enter the Sword Scar Palace for two hours.

To the present Yi Yun, a thousand dragon scale runes was nothing. After paying, Yi Yun entered the palace.

The palace was not large. There were large rectangular stones in it. These large stones were Immutable Ancient Rocks and they were produced in the Divine wilderness. Whatever was carved on such rocks could not be erased, even if they were to be exposed to the elements of nature for millions of years.

On the walls around the Immutable Ancient Rocks, there were all sort of scar marks. These scars were left behind by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s sages. There were sword scars, saber scars, claw marks and even fist prints!

No matter what the weapon was, you could find the corresponding mark within the Sword Scar Palace. The assault abstraction (Assault abstraction refers to the concepts behind the original creator’s attack and how he moved when performing it. This is learned by watching and contemplating on the marks left behind) of the attackers were left behind within these scars.

One came to the Sword Scar Palace to gain insight into these concepts.

As Yi Yun was beginning to gain some insights, he caught sight of someone through the corner of his eye.

It was a thin, little old man. His hair and beard were messy, but the most amazing thing about him was the blood-red gem embedded in between his eyebrows. It sparkled under the everlasting lamps in the hall.

The old man was wearing a large gray robe. He was comfortably reclining on a lounge chair and his eyes were half-squinted, as if he was almost falling asleep due to the comfort.

There was a plate containing crystal-like grapes on a table beside him.

The little old man would occasionally reach out to pick up a grape lazily and put it in his mouth. He looked like he was enjoying himself a lot.

“Senior, you are also here?” Yi Yun was surprised. He had seen this old man before. The blood red gem in the middle of the old man’s eyebrows had left a deep impression on Yi Yun.

Back when Yi Yun went to the Wilderness Divine Hall to absorb the primordial species’ energy, he had met this old man when he came out of the divine hall. He had attacked Yi Yun without any warning, and had defeated him with one move. He had even reprimanded Yi Yun, telling him how terrible his saber skills were.

Back then, this little old man had recommended Yi Yun to go to the Sword Scar Palace. And when Yi Yun really came here, he did not expect to run into him.

The old man opened his eyes and glanced at Yi Yun. He laughed and said, “Kid, you finally thought of my place?”

“Paying my respects to the senior.” Yi Yun cupped his hands and bowed. “I’m here to gain insights from the sage saber scars.”

“Saber scars? Hehe!” The old man plucked another grape and threw it into his mouth. He shook his head and said, “Gaining insight from saber scars… Do you know where the deepest saber scar abstractions are in the Sword Scar Palace?”

Yi Yun shook his head after being questioned by the old man, “I do not.”

The old man chuckled, as if he had predicted Yi Yun’s answer. He said, “Let me take you to a good place. I guarantee you that it will be extremely beneficial to you!”

Hearing the old man’s words, Yi Yun was overjoyed. It could not get any better with someone giving him pointers.

“Thank you, Senior.”

“Heh, it’s no big deal!” The old man waved his hand, before suddenly remembering something, “Right…”

The old man stretched his right hand before Yi Yun and pinched his thumb and index finger. He gave a wretched-looking smile, “Did you bring enough dragon scale runes? The place I am taking you to will charge an additional fee.”

Yi Yun hesitated for a while before smiling, “I have brought enough.”

Charging more dragon scale runes? That was nothing!

Yi Yun had over a 100,000 dragon scale runes. There were not many places that he could not enter in the Tai Ah Divine City.

All Yi Yun cared about was the best cultivation resources. He paid no heed to the price.

“Oh… That’s good!” The old man looked relieved and said, “The place I’m taking you to will need an additional 10,000 dragon scale runes, and at the same time… you will need to pay a glory point. You should still have a glory point left, right? By handing over the primordial herb, you must have received plenty of rewards?”

The old man grinned as he asked Yi Yun. When Yi Yun heard this, he froze up.

What!?

10,000 dragon scale runes… and an additional glory point!

He could not have heard wrongly!

Although he paid no heed to price and only wanted the best, this fee was unreasonable.

This was robbery!

Looking at the old man with his wretched smile, Yi Yun felt a chill. This old bastard looked like an old swindler. Was he cheating him!?

“Senior, did you make a mistake?” Yi Yun asked tactfully, “This junior only needed two glory points to buy the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’…”

The old man shook his head like a rattle, “How could I make a mistake? This price is because a kid like you knows me and it is on account of our friendship. If it were anyone else, they might not even enter with that price! That place is not an ordinary place. After entering it, you will definitely have great gains. As for buying the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ with two glory points, that was just the first three volumes. The fourth and fifth volume combined will need five glory points. The prices of the last few volumes even increase at an astonishing rate. Do you think that the entire ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ is cheap? So what about it? Are you going in? You can enter that place and stay there for a whole day. You will regret it if you don’t go!”

The little old man began to tempt Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was in a dilemma. This old man looked like an old swindler. But as an administrator of the Tai Ah Divine City, even if he did not have any moral integrity, he still wouldn’t cheat a rookie, right?

Was it really worth the price?

10,000 dragon scale runes was not much, but a glory point… This was a precious resource that the top-ranked experts in the Tai Ah Divine City particularly cherished!

By needing to pay a glory point to enter, that meant that 99% of the cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City had absolutely no chance of entering it once in their six years here!

Even the cultivators who earned a glory point might not be willing to part with the glory point to gain entrance!

Yi Yun only had three glory points left. After breaking the herb-picking record, he received two glory points, and one glory point left from the primordial herb.

“To be able to enter this training ground for a day, that’s considered quite long. As for the rookie ranking competition, there are still 7+ days left. In the next two days, no one would challenge me. I won’t miss much if I don’t watch those matches…”

Yi Yun was tempted. He really wanted to take a look at such a place.

Even if he could not grasp anything, it was not like he could not afford the loss of this glory point.

So, Yi Yun nodded saying, “Senior, please lead the way!”

“Hehe, swift and decisive!” The old man laughed as he patted Yi Yun’s shoulders and gave a thumbs up. “Young man, you are really promising!”

Seeing the old man look as if he had fallen into money, Yi Yun became increasingly skeptical. Did the old man get a cut from promoting this mysterious training ground?

There was no way the Tai Ah Divine City would have such immoral rules, right?

As the old man was about to leave, with a thought, he took the bunch of grapes from the plate and put it in his pocket. As he plucked it to eat, he said to Yi Yun, “Follow this old me, I guarantee you that you will not regret it!”

—————————–

231 - : Sword Scar Palace

Author’s note: In the previous chapter, the glory points should be three. It has been corrected. While writing, I kept looking at the clock on the computer’s bottom-right hand corner. Since time was too tight and my brain was filled with plot points, I had a slight short circuit and wrote it incorrectly. This is considered the second chapter for 27th Jan.

…

Yi Yun followed the old man. After turning the corner around a staircase, he entered a dark walkway.

This walkway led underground.

There were everlasting lamps hung on both sides of the walkway, but the light from these lamps was not warm. On the contrary, gust after gust of cold wind blew through the depths of the walkway.

The old man did not walk slowly, but the walkway was extremely long. After walking for almost thirty minutes, they had covered a distance of almost four kilometers.

Finally, the old man stopped and said, “Here we are.”

The wind was even more chilling here. With a blow of the cold wind, the everlasting lamps flickered, dimming and brightening.

The old man slowly rotated his body. At the end of the passage, there were two large bronze doors.

On the surface of the two doors, there were carvings of an unknown primordial behemoth. The behemoth carvings contained an inexplicable abstraction within them that made one feel distraught when they looked at them.

“It’s in here!” The old man said as he rolled up his sleeves. He pushed the left bronze door with all his strength.

“Zha Zha Zha…”

With the sound of contraptions being activated, the bronze door slowly opened.

The door was extremely heavy and thick. As the metal shaft rotated, due to the sudden change in weight, the entire walkway began to tremor.

For some unknown reason, Yi Yun felt that the old man was not pushing a door, but a thick tombstone.

After the old man pushed the door open, he held the door open with one hand and said, “So heavy! I finally opened it. You can go in now…”

The old man pointed to the interior. Yi Yun hesitated and just as he was about to take a step, he suddenly felt a chill rush towards him, which caused his hair to stand up on end as he felt unease!

Killing intent!

Oh!?

Yi Yun was alarmed. It was as if there was a terrifying existence beyond this door.

What kind of door did this old man open?

“Kid, what are you standing around for? You do not dare enter?” the old man asked casually.

Yi Yun was surprised, “Senior, what is this place?”

“What place is this? Hehe…” The old man laughed sinisterly. “This is an ancient tomb.”

“Tomb!?” Yi Yun was flabbergasted. “A grave!? Could this be the resting place of some forefather of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?”

“You have so many questions.” The old man impatiently waved his hand. But with some deliberation, he said, “Actually…there is no harm in telling you this…Do you know why the Tai Ah Divine City was built here?”

The old man answered Yi Yun’s question with another question. Yi Yun began thinking. He originally believed that the reason behind building the Tai Ah Divine City at this location was by randomly choosing a spot in the Divine wilderness that had a spiritual pulse thick in Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, which would allow the elites from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom to train here.

But now, from the old man’s words, it seemed like that that was not the case.

Yi Yun shook his head, “I do not know.”

The old man patted the bronze door that was already opened and said, “The Tai Ah Divine City was built here because of this ancient tomb! The owner of this tomb is not a forefather of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, but someone else. In fact, this ancient tomb existed at least a few million years before the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was established!”

The old man’s answer took Yi Yun aback. This ancient tomb predated the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom by so many years!

The old man carried on, “As for who the owner of the tomb is, there’s no way of verifying who it is. When the first city lord of the Tai Ah Divine City found this ancient tomb, it had already been opened. The funerary items, inheritance and the corpse had long disappeared!”

“But the ancient tomb’s array field still existed! There were many ancient array inscriptions in the ancient tomb. The founding city lord of the Tai Ah Divine City used the ancient tomb’s array field as a foundation to build up the Tai Ah Divine City’s large array!”

“All these years, the Tai Ah Divine City has been gathering Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. A portion of it is used to nourish the ancient tomb’s array field. If this array field is stabilized, the Tai Ah Divine City would be indestructible!”

After hearing the old man’s words, Yi Yun finally understood. Having stood in the Divine wilderness for tens of millions of years, the Tai Ah Divine City would inevitably suffer attacks from beast hordes!

A typical beast horde would be courting death if they attacked the Tai Ah Divine City. But if a large number of primordial species attacked, then the Tai Ah Divine City would face tremendous pressure. With the ancient tomb’s array field present, it allowed the Tai Ah Divine City to stand firmly!

“Go in. Kid, you sure lucked out!” The old man pushed Yi Yun towards the tomb.

Yi Yun had a strange feeling. According to the old man, this ancient tomb was an important spot in the Tai Ah Divine City; yet the old man could bring him here. It seemed like this old man’s status was not ordinary.

“Senior…Since the tomb has been cleared by others, then what is there for this junior to do inside?”

Even before Yi Yun could finish, the old man had pushed him into the tomb. “Kid, in the ancient tomb, there are two chambers. The left chamber is related to sabers! Do well at gaining the insights, it’s a great opportunity! There are many treasures in the Tai Ah Divine City. It all depends if you have the ability to obtain it!”

After the old man finished his sentence, he pressed on the bronze door. With a “Zha Zha Zha” sound, he closed the tomb’s door.

Yi Yun was now in a completely sealed space.

Seeing the door close, Yi Yun’s heart thumped. Was this old man not afraid that the mechanisms would turn faulty? The door’s weight was terrifying, there was absolutely no way that Yi Yun could push it open.

The tomb chamber was now completely isolated from the outside world.

Yi Yun sized up the tomb chamber. The tomb chamber was not large and it was about ten meters wide.

There were everlasting lamps on all four walls, allowing him to see clearly.

In the middle of the chamber, there was a sarcophagus. The sarcophagus was already opened, and the lid had already disappeared. It was obvious the sarcophagus was empty.

Yi Yun took a look inside and gasped slightly.

The sarcophagus was not as empty as Yi Yun expected. There was a thick metal plate with a long indentation through the middle. The indentation was about five foot long. It was as if something was embedded within it originally.

After Yi Yun sized it up, he was shocked.

It looked like the shape of a saber!

A saber was originally placed within the indentation!

Maybe this sarcophagus was not used to bury a person but a saber!

But now, the saber was gone, leaving behind a saber sarcophagus.

A pity!

Yi Yun sighed. If the saber was left behind, it was clearly a great treasure! If it was possible, he wanted to see how awesome the saber was!

“I really do not know what sort of person the tomb owner is. Back when the founding city lord built the Tai Ah Divine City, he had to use the tomb’s array field to reinforce the Divine City. This meant that the founding city lord of the Tai Ah Divine City could not set up such an array field!”

“With this hypothesis, then the owner of the tomb was even more capable than the Tai Ah Divine City’s first city lord!” Yi Yun had mixed feelings upon reaching this conclusion. There were too many peerless experts in this world. There was no limit in the universe.

“What did the old man bring me here for…This sarcophagus is empty…” As Yi Yun knitted his eyebrows, he suddenly noticed something. With the light from the everlasting lamp, he found a few marks on the walls of the chamber!

Each mark were extremely sharp. It seemed like each mark was made by a saber!

It was a saber scar!

There were four saber scars!

And below each saber scar, there were words written on the wall!

Seeing these words, Yi Yun was momentarily overjoyed. Could this be some peerless saber technique’s mantra formula?

Yi Yun rushed to see if there were anything else on the wall, but after searching, he was slightly disappointed. There were not enough words for it to be a mantra formula.

With a glance, the words underneath first saber scar said–

‘The saber truth, pressing forward with indomitable will!’

The words underneath the second saber scar said–

‘The emperor amongst weapons, reigning supreme.’

The words underneath the third saber scar said–

‘The son of Heaven’s aura, killing at its core.’’

And the words underneath the fourth saber scar said–

‘With an invincible mind, invincible in all other aspects!’

The four sentences were short, but there was an indescribable quality in each of them. Yi Yun felt his blood rush after reading them.

The saber truth?

Yi Yun had obtained the Thousand Army Saber early on. He had always been using this saber, but he only used it as a handy weapon. He had never considered what the way of the saber was.

The Thousand Army Saber actually looked like a sword. Its blade was long and nearly straight.

But, it had an essential difference from a sword.

A sword was nimble, elegant and mutable.

Lin Xintong’s swordplay was biased towards nimbleness and elegance. When she stabbed with her sword, it was like a fairy was born. As for Chu Xiaoran, she was biased towards the mutability of sword moves. Her sword was soft like water and her swordplay was unpredictable.

However, a saber was different.

Nimbleness and mutability were not qualities of a saber.

The way of the saber was to be an absolute authority under the heavens with its sharpness!

The saber was the emperor among the weapons. With a slash of the saber, there was no end in sight, reigning supreme across the world!

The core of the saber was in killing.

Being decisive in killing, while killing all!

With such a stance, one’s mind was invincible, causing one to be unmatchable in the whole world!

232 - : The way of the saber

Yi Yun sat down cross-legged in front of the wall with the four sentences written on it.

He figured that the old man must have brought him here to take a look at the four lines of words.

This ancient tomb was already empty. Before, there were battle sabers, treasures and inheritance buried here, but they were all gone now, and the only thing left behind was the tomb owner’s words.

These words were full of a relentless dominance that was shocking to behold!

“Oh? These words…”

After Yi Yun stared at the four lines for a while, he realized that they contained an inexplicable concept. Each word, each stroke, was shiny, like a saber beam that seemed to break out from the wall! It was as if these words were a display of saber techniques!

Upon discovering this, Yi Yun began focusing his spirit and stared unblinkingly at the four lines.

Each word had a different concept from the other. But when they were combined together, it gave one a consistent and natural feeling.

“I get it!” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. “The person who inscribed these words demonstrated his insight on the saber truths, which he obtained over his entire life!”

“These words may not be a saber technique formula. They are even better than that!”

There was a concept within these words, but Yi Yun could not comprehend it. He could only roughly feel it and try to fathom it. But he was weak when compared to the person who left behind these inscriptions. Although Yi Yun had extraordinary perceptivity, he was unable to gain enlightenment.

“It’s so deep…”

Yi Yun knitted his eyebrows. These four lines were like four sets of saber techniques.

Each saber technique had its own saber truths. In Yi Yun’s current state, it was just wishful thinking to hope that he could understand everything.

In fact, the old man who brought Yi Yun here did not expect Yi Yun to gain much insight.

But if Yi Yun could gain even a tiny amount of insight into the “truth”, it would be extremely beneficial for him!

The road of martial arts was a long path.

This “truth” was the laws of the way. If at the beginning, one could point straight to the primeval source along the long path, then even if traversing the path was filled with difficulties, as long as one could endure it and fully understood it, one could skyrocket, achieving great things!

Of course, those who had no talent would not dare to take this arduous path.

This path was fraught with difficulties and there would be delayed achievements and breakthroughs. At one point in time, one would grow frail with age and they would lose their potential. One could die of old age without reaching the realm of a human lord. Then what was the point in cultivating martial arts?

“I guess this old man has high regards for me…” Yi Yun muttered to himself. It cost one glory point to stay in the ancient tomb for one day. It was possible for a person to not gain any insight. So an ordinary person would not risk it.

It was most likely that in every batch of rookies, only figures like Qin Haotian and Luo Huo’er, would have the opportunity to enter the tomb!

“I don’t think I’m the only person who has entered this ancient tomb. I wonder what people like Qin Haotian learned?”

Yi Yun did not believe that the old man had decided he was a future sage with a glance. It was most likely that he chose people, who were outstanding, to test them in the ancient tomb.

Those who could learn anything could stay behind.

Those who could not learn anything had no choice but to give up.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun suddenly had an idea. He let his spiritual energy interface with the Heaven’s eyeball and the Purple Crystal, and then, he opened up his energy vision!

By now, Yi Yun’s energy vision was almost perfect. Everything in the world was formed of energy; so in his vision, all the superficial appearances were ignored, leaving behind only the ultimate source!

When Yi Yun used his energy vision to look at the words, Yi Yun was surprised.

“Oh? This is…”

Yi Yun’s breathing stagnated. Typically when one engraved words on stone, words were words. There was nothing special with marks on stone.

But these four lines were completely different. In his energy vision, these words were no longer static words, but flowing energy lights.

This astonished Yi Yun. This great person had left behind words that embodied within them laws and yet, the energy had not dissipated after tens of millions of years!

Yi Yun realized that this energy was totally different from the energy of the primordial species or herbs.

He could control the energy from the primordial species and herbs with the Purple Crystal and he could absorb them to raise his level.

But the energy within these four lines seemed to be an independent system.

The energy that these words contained was not strong, but it felt primeval.

Primeval energy…

Yi Yun felt that he had been exposed to a lot of things in the short period of the past two hours.

It was like a mysterious door had suddenly opened before him and it was sending a wave of all sorts of primeval truths. Each truth was extremely mysterious and it was coming straight from the primeval source.

It was a pity that he could not completely understand these truths at his current level. It made Yi Yun feel like he had many things to learn, but he was dazzled by it all.

“Take it slow. The road ahead of me is still long. There’s no rush.”

With this thought, he calmed his mind. He took whatever he could get. He had to start somewhere on that long journey.

As such, Yi Yun began maintaining his energy vision and he began pondering over the saber truths in the four lines.

From the perspective of the naked eye, these words seemed stationary. Although they gave off an illusion of jumping out of the wall, it was still an illusion.

But in the energy vision, it was completely different.

The words were all moving. As they had condensed primeval energy within themselves, they were slowly flowing!

The bright energy light contained an inexplicable philosophy within them. It was as if each flow contained a fundamental law.

Yi Yun soon immersed himself in this view. He fell into a trance and forgot the time of day.

From midnight to daybreak, till noon. The next day’s rookie ranking competition had begun and Yi Yun was absent.

“Oh? Yi Yun didn’t come?”

Yi Yun was now a prominent figure. He was noticed everywhere he went. As an important cultivator, he had a special spot in the arena. As such, many people noticed that Yi Yun was absent from the rookie ranking competition.

“Today, Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu will both be having their own battles. They are already planning to charge into the top 3000. Yet, Yi Yun doesn’t want to watch their battles?”

As Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu were challenging veteran cultivators who were ranked in the top 3000, the atmosphere at today’s rookie competition was more intense. Many of the fourth and fifth year cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City had come to watch!

The arena which was usually empty due to its large area was now packed, giving off a crowded feeling.

“Yi Yun might not be planning to compete against Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu. These two are monsters, but… even if Yi Yun doesn’t plan on fighting them, he should still show up and watch…”

Many could not comprehend the situation. What was more important than watching Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu challenge cultivators in the top 3000?

It could even be said that in a few days time, it would become a battle between Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu!

When that happened, even the entire Tai Ah Divine City would scramble to watch it.

It was impressive that a battle between two rookies could reach such a level.

“The battles are starting soon. For a rookie to enter the Earth ranking’s top 3000 in three months, and for there to be two of them, this is probably something that hasn’t been seen in the Tai Ah Divine City for the past few decades!”

People were buzzing with activity. They were all looking forward to today’s competition.

At this moment, in a spacious room above the 90th floor of the central divine tower, two old men were sitting on chairs. They were looking at a disk array which was depicting the battles happening in the arena.

One of the two old man was Elder Jian Ge, and the other was the thin old man who brought Yi Yun into the ancient tomb.

“You took Yi Yun to the saber tomb?” Elder Jian Ge asked suddenly.

The old man nodded and said, “Yes… I find this kid a little interesting, he might gain some insights…”

“Might…” Elder Jian Ge knit his eyebrows. “Just because of the word “might”, you took him there?”

Elder Jian Ge was obviously displeased with the old man’s actions.

“So what? The ancient tomb may be a forbidden ground, but there are certain privileges that still allows one to access it. Besides, even if the kid doesn’t gain any insight, he has nothing to lose…”

“Nothing to lose?” Elder Jian Ge shook his head helplessly. “Cang Yan, you always do as you please and do not think it over. It’s not like you do not know that the primeval truths inscribed in the saber tomb are too difficult to comprehend. Once it is understood, it would be an excellent achievement!”

“But if one cannot gain any insight, it will be a waste of time! The way of the saber truth is too deep. It can easily cause obsession within a person. What I am afraid of, is that this kid might be too stubborn. Even after failing, he does not know when to stop. At that point, he would be wasting his time and energy.”

Time was too precious for young talents.

As for these talents, they were mostly arrogant and determined. This was generally a good thing, but there were times where it could be a bad thing.

A determined young genius might be mesmerized by the truth of the primeval source.

Even if one stopped him, he would always think about those words as if he was possessed.

At that point, one could not stop him, but neither would stopping him be right. Based on a person’s perceptivity, it would be a waste of precious time if one ended up not figuring out anything!

There were many cases like this in the Tai Ah Divine City. There were even some geniuses who spent their whole lives trying to figure it out, but they only ended up feeling more and more bitter about it. Eventually, their lives were wasted away. Hence, the Tai Ah Divine City took the ancient tomb very seriously. It was not easily opened so they could prevent accidental access.

But this Cang Yan was erratic. Whoever he found ‘interesting’, he would take him to the ancient tomb. He was practically harming them!

“Old freak, all sorts of geniuses come to the Tai Ah Divine City for training. It’s normal to die, yet you are always so careful. How would you nurture a real expert, like a sage? You may object to my actions, but just a few years ago, I brought that little rascal, Qin Haotian in there, and he gained something.”

Qin Haotian was a swordsman. The left of the two chambers in the Tai Ah ancient tomb was the chamber of saber truth, while the right chamber was the chamber of sword truth. Of course, Qin Haotian went into the sword truth chamber.

It was a mystery who left behind the words in both chambers.

Elder Jian Ge shook his head, “Qin Haotian was an exception. He was born for the sword. He is almost one with the sword. Qin Haotian almost cannot leave his sword and he can only use a sword. You cannot expect everyone to be like him. As for Yi Yun, he might not be a person who has to use a saber.”

233 - : Straight to the Primeval Source

The rookie ranking competition carried on over the next few days!

This rookie ranking competition was the most grand one seen in the past twenty years of the Tai Ah Divine City’s history. It could be said that it was filled with experts!

Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran entered the top 3000 on the second day of the ranking matches. This was indeed a result to be proud of.

In addition, the man from a humble background, Gu Mu, managed to gather attention after suddenly surprising everyone in his first match, which ended with him entering the top 4500.

Although it was worse than Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran’s result, it was still a result that left many rookies in the dust.

Because of this new ranking, Gu Mu was ranked third amongst the rookies.

As for the Yi Yun who was more famous than Gu Mu, he had not appeared until today.

The rookie ranking competition lasted for ten days.

The first four days were for the rookies to challenge one another. It was mostly for the average rookies to rank themselves amongst each other; mainly for those ranked over 10,000.

From the fifth day onwards, elites like Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran began climbing up the Earth rankings.

According to the competition rules, a person could take part in up to twelve matches a day. But these twelve battles only referred to the limit of the number of challenges one could receive a day.

If one wanted to challenge others, one could only issue two challenges a day!

Typically, when rookies climbed up the Earth rankings, the common practice was to gradually move up, rising up the rankings bit by bit. After all, this was the first time the rookies were climbing up the Earth rankings. They had to slowly battle it out and compare their own strength to the veteran cultivators’ strength as they slowly made their way up.

Typically, rookies who aimed to enter the top 6000 would begin in the top 8000. By doing so, they got used to the battle styles of the veteran cultivators,while gaining experience at the same time..

In six days, one could challenge others twelve times. It was sufficient for deciding their overall ranking.

As for the final result for the rookie rankings, it was calculated through this method.

Every rookie would be ranked according to the Earth ranking they would get in their battle history. The higher one ranked, the higher they would be ranked amongst the rookies. If the rookies fought between themselves, then the victor would be ranked ahead.

The rules sounded complicated, but they were actually very simple.

If Qiuniu was ranked 2900 on the Earth rankings and Chu Xiaoran was ranked 2800. Even if Chu Xiaoran was to be defeated by someone else on the last day, Chu Xiaoran would still be ranked first amongst the rookies!

But if Qiuniu felt he was stronger than Chu Xiaoran, he could challenge Chu Xiaoran on the last day. If he won, then first place would go to Qiuniu.

These rules were extremely fair. They would also reflect the rookies’ ranking in an impartial manner.

If the rookies were to take turns to fight their ranking matches, it would take a lot of time to rank 2000 people. But with the Divine City’s ranking rules, a person only needed to partake in slightly more than ten matches.

It was the ninth day of the rookie rankings!

There were only two days left before the end.

The rookie rankings were basically set at this point. There were three rookies who entered the top 5000 of the Earth rankings. There were more than a hundred who entered the top 8000.

As for Yi Yun, he was absent! His ranking was still at 10,003.

Many could not comprehend why he was not present. What was Yi Yun doing?

“What’s wrong with Yi Yun? We haven’t seen him for days. Could he be set aback by Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran?”

Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran were monsters. After Yi Yun saw their match, he had been absent from the second day onwards. As such, many people made this assumption.

“How could he be this weak? Also, there’s no need for Yi Yun to compete with Qiuniu or Chu Xiaoran. He can easily enter the top 5000 of the Earth rankings to vie for third place with Gu Mu. If he were to obtain third place, then the rookie awards he would receive would still make many envious.”

People’s tongues wagged. It was now the second to last day, yet Yi Yun had not participated in any challenge battles. He had only four challenge chances left. No one knew what he was thinking.

But at this moment, not many were concerned with Yi Yun.

Everyone’s attention was focused on Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran. They were all thinking that it would not be surprising if Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran were to battle on the last day!

This battle would decide who was first amongst this batch’s rookies!

Just thinking of this battle made many feel excited.

At this moment, in the central divine tower, Elder Jian Ge and the thin old man, who took Yi Yun to the saber tomb to gain insight on the primeval source saber truth, were playing chess.

Both of them were old friends. To people at that level, having a confidant was not easy. Due to their long lifespan, many of their friends and relatives had slowly died of age throughout their long lives. People who could go along with them were few and far between.

“Cang Yan, how’s that kid Yi Yun?” Elder Jian Ge casually asked as he placed his chess piece. He had been secretly paying attention to the rookie competition over the past few days.

“Oh, he hasn’t come out yet…” The thin old man answered without much thought.

Elder Jian Ge frowned. “He still hasn’t come out? How many days has he been in there? For a Purple Blood realm junior to stay in the saber tomb for so long, is he planning to discover something?”

“He’s been in there for the past 4-5 days…” The thin old man played with his chess piece and chuckled. “I have been paying attention to him for the past few days. He has been sitting quietly in front of the words bearing the saber truths. Seeing him in that state, I did not call out to him. Speaking of this, I told the kid that he had to pay one glory point per day in the saber tomb. Now that he has stayed in there for that long, I still haven’t gotten the remaining glory points from him. He sure lucked out.”

“You…” Elder Jian Ge was speechless. “To think that you are still in a mood for joking. This Yi Yun has been sitting in the saber tomb for so long. It’s most likely that he has gone astray trying to gain insight. Back then, not even Qin Haotian stayed in the sword tomb for that long.”

The words of the saber truth were too profound. For a Purple Blood realm warrior to try to understand them, it would not be a surprise if he gained an incorrect understanding of them.

If someone went too far on this incorrect path, it would adversely affect their future development.

“Cang Yan, quickly bring the kid out. If he has gone astray, correct him. Do not allow him to go astray any further.”

Elder Jian Ge had always been concerned about the younger generation.

Many Elders in the Tai Ah Divine City were oblivious to the younger generation that came to the Divine City to train. After all, a genius like Qin Haotian only had a 1% chance of becoming a sage.

In the long lives of these Elders, they had gotten accustomed to seeing geniuses. Slowly, they did not pay much attention to them. Only those that became a sage gained their attention.

“Hai, you really are long-winded, but… The rookie ranking competition is about to come to an end. This kid really should come out, if not he will miss it.”

With this thought in mind, the thin old man let go of the chess piece and walked towards the saber tomb.

…

At this point, Yi Yun was fully immersed in a trance-like state in the saber tomb.

In Yi Yun’s energy vision, line after line of energy light beams circulated. These flowing light beams were like saber beams moving.

In Yi Yun’s vision, these words did not look like words, they looked like the slashing and dicing of a saber!

Each saber move’s trajectory path was deeply branded in Yi Yun’s iris.

In his soul, Yi Yun constantly demonstrated it and imitated it.

By using the words’ strokes as saber moves, the energy flow within the words were, faintly, in conjunction with the energy flow within Yi Yun’s meridians.

“Every word’s stroke has an energy direction. And it’s in the same direction as the energy flow in my meridians… It’s really magical!” Yi Yun spoke to himself. The person who engraved these words could even inscribe the sutras, that controlled the energy within the meridians, within the words. This method was completely unheard of.

This person had clearly perfected his control over energy and laws. It was no wonder that the first city lord of the Tai Ah Divine City used this person’s tomb as an array field for the foundation of the Tai Ah Divine City.

As Yi Yun was having these thoughts, he suddenly heard a “Zha Zha Zha” mechanism sound.

He turned his head, and saw the large bronze door open. Cang Yan was standing by the doorway.

This old man stroked his chin. He was looking at Yi Yun as if Yi Yun was an animal in a cage.

“Kid, do you know how many days you have been in here?” Cang Yan asked.

Yi Yun shook his head, “It can’t be that short…”

Over the past few days, Yi Yun had been focused on cultivation. Whenever he was hungry, he ate a bone relic that he had. There was no way of telling the time of day in this ancient tomb; hence, Yi Yun did not know how much time had passed.

“Oh, it’s been about four days, not more than five, so… You owe me three glory points. When it comes to it, you will need to pay me back.” Cang Yan chuckled.

Yi Yun was shocked because it had been so long!

He really did not think he had been in here for so long!

But over the past few days, Yi Yun had gained a lot. Even if he had to pay the three glory points, it was worth it!

As for the rookie ranking competition, he had been absent for so long. There were only two more days left, which meant he had to rush back.

Yi Yun deeply craved the rewards for the rookie ranking competition.

“Thank you for the senior’s reminder!” Yi Yun cupped his hands. The old man was stunned. This kid actually thanked him. Was he going to renegue on those glory points?

“Kid, let me tell you. The ancient tomb’s saber truth words leads straight to the primeval source. If you gained any insight, it will let you skyrocket. Your first steps on the martial arts path will be in front of others. You will not take many detours and will have a great future.”

“But… if your level is too low, it will not be easy to gain any insight. In all of these years, this old man has brought many young geniuses into the saber and sword tombs to learn the essence of the saber or sword. But only Qin Haotian was able to gain a tiny understanding of sword intent. Qin Haotian is a natural swordsman. He has extremely high perceptivity with the way of the sword!”

“Kid, you must decide where you stand in your abilities. The things you can understand, do your best in understanding it. If you cannot understand something, do not force it. The road ahead of you is still long. In the future, when you are at a higher level, it will be much easier to study it when you come again.”

It was rare for the old man to say such words with such well meant intent.

After Yi Yun heard this, all he said was, “Thank you for the senior’s guidance!”

This kid!

Cang Yan stroked his chin. He felt that Yi Yun had a hint of confidence within his eyes!

He was not set aback by the saber truth words, but he gained confidence from them!

For a person with a low level to understand a high level law and even managing to obtain confidence from it, it was not a good sign.

Because most of the time, they should find it very difficult to understand, so how could they have confidence?

Those who had confidence had most likely gone astray, so they thought it was simple!

“Could this kid gone on the wrong path? If he really took the wrong path, then the confidence he has will have the opposite effect later…”

For things that depended on perceptivity, it could only be understood and not explained. Cang Yan was powerless to render assistance. Yi Yun had to rely on himself.

“I can’t have caused problems by taking this kid to the saber tomb, right?”

Seeing Yi Yun look so confident, the old man really turned worried. Such people usually were wrong without knowing it.

But Yi Yun had already bidden farewell and walked out of the tomb.

He was rushing to join the rookie ranking competition.

It was now noon of the ninth day of the ranking competition. If Yi Yun wanted to register a challenge battle, he had only four chances left!

“Four chances… It’s enough!” With this thought, Yi Yun walked towards the arena…

234 - : The Rookie competition’s last two days

With the sun high up in the sky, there was finally a trace of warmth flowing through the snow-covered Tai Ah Divine City.

It was midday on the ninth day of the rookie ranking competition!

There was a short lunch break at midday during the competition, but many spectators did not leave the venue. After all, as long as a warrior had a sufficient amount of Yuan Qi stored within his body, he would be fine without eating for a few days.

However, the most important reason why most of the spectators stayed was because there were two important matches in the afternoon.

The first match was Qiuniu challenging a veteran cultivator ranked at 2800 on the Earth ranking.

The next match was even more ridiculous. Chu Xiaoran was challenging someone ranked at 2600 on the Earth ranking!

Both of them had just entered the top 3000 and many of those veterans who were around this ranking had spent four years training in the Tai Ah Divine City!

These people were basically peak-Purple Blood experts and were outstanding compared to other warriors at the same level!

Going beyond 3000, it was not easy to proceed forward. The competition they faced became increasingly intense!

Of course, people wanted to see such a battle.

Compared to Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran, the other rookies were only there to accentuate their prominence.

Actually in the last two days, there were not many rookie battles. Now, if one did not challenge someone ranked in the top 7000, one would feel embarrassed to go up on stage!

People were fighting against the top 3000, yet you are fighting someone ranked over 10,000. Would you have the face going up?

“I think Qiuniu can still win challenging the 2800 ranking. As for Chu Xiaoran, she is really bold to challenge the 2600 ranking. The chances of losing are high…” Someone expressed his view. Many had been discussing for a long time about the results of the two matches Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran were taking part in. Everyone had their own view, which created a fiery atmosphere.

At this time, someone suddenly said, “Eh…Isn’t that Yi Yun over there?”

Everyone was shocked and they looked towards the direction of the voice. All they saw, nearby in the participant benches, was a youth in linen clothes walk to his seat before sitting down.

This youth was indeed Yi Yun!

“It’s really Yi Yun! He finally came!”

The rookie ranking competition was almost over. It was already the second to last day, yet Yi Yun was still ranked at 10,003.

People were speechless when they saw Yi Yun. He had no sense of urgency and he was sitting at his seat in a carefree manner!

It was alright if he did not have the capability, but he clearly had the chance at entering the top three.

“Yi Yun still has four matches. It can actually be in time…If I were him, my first match will be to battle someone in the top 8000. By securing the lowest ranking, he can next challenge the top 6000 and win it. The first battle on the last day can be used to directly challenge Gu Mu! If he were to win, then everything will be settled. If not, he still has one more match to secure his fourth place.” Someone said. Many people found this reasonable.

They were all weaker people. They had to go through more than ten matches to find their ranking.

But Yi Yun was strong, so he could be more wilful. He could use Gu Mu as his measuring stick. He could secure his ranking in three matches.

At this time, people saw Yi Yun take out his Thousand Army Saber from his interspatial ring. He unsheathed it and began polishing the shiny blade.

Seeing this made people speechless.

It sure was an unordinarily calm scene.

Yi Yun slowly polished his saber. Actually, only the blades of mortals had to be polished with a tarp to maintain its sharpness. But a treasure saber like the Thousand Army Saber did not need polishing.

But Yi Yun still polished it bit by bit in a careful manner. This was not a useless act. Yi Yun was actually reaffirming the knowledge gained from the saber tomb as he tidied up the thoughts in his mind.

Through polishing the saber, he could feel more compatible with the saber. At the same time, he could empty his mind and optimizing his understandings.

Yi Yun silently polished his saber for an hour. The afternoon competition was about to begin.

Yi Yun stood up and picked up a form. After filling it, he raised his head–

“Referee!” Yi Yun shouted out. Immediately, the surrounding people’s gaze was focused on Yi Yun.

They knew Yi Yun had most likely chosen his opponent!

In the first few days of the rookie ranking competition, Yi Yun was so popular that many people challenged him. So his matches had to be arranged in advance by handing out challenge tokens, so as to ensure that everyone did not fight more than twelve matches a day.

But in the last few days of the rookie ranking competition, this system was not needed. Those that wanted to fight were mostly done fighting.

As such, the timing for battles were freely chosen. It was not a problem to decide on fighting an opponent right at that moment. Once the opponent was up on stage, the battle could immediately begin.

“Guess who Yi Yun will be challenging in his first match?” Someone asked.

“The first person should be a veteran cultivator ranked in the top 7000-8000. This would be the more certain choice.”

“Heh, I think it is impossible. Yi Yun actually dared to use a brick to handle Liu Yuxing, this shows that he’s extremely confident. There’s no way his opponent’s ranking is at 7000-8000. He might be able to challenge the top 5000 straight away. He might even challenge Gu Mu!”

“Challenge Gu Mu? To set it in stone? This is impossible…Yi Yun has disappeared for the past few days. His first battle after appearing should logically be someone who he’s confident in beating. By securing his first match, he can build up his morale. After holding back for so long, if he were to lose his first match, it will be extremely embarrassing!”

Many felt that it was most appropriate to fight someone that guaranteed them victory in the first match.

But the previous speaker remained obstinate. He said, “Wait and see. Think about the glorious history of Yi Yun taking down Liu Yuxing with a brick. It is not impossible for Yi Yun to challenge Gu Mu in his first match…”

…

The referee looked at Yi Yun and asked, “You want to challenge someone?”

“Yes.” Yi Yun said as he handed the challenge form he had just completed.

The referee took it and with a sweeping glance, he gave an odd look, “Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Yi Yun nodded and returned to his seat.

The referee did not say anything else. It was the freedom of the participants to challenge whomever they wanted. He could not interfere in it.

The referee began to arrange the order of the battles.

Many were curious who Yi Yun’s first opponent would be,

Very soon, the referee gave the answer because the first battle in the afternoon was Yi Yun’s!

Having been absent from the rookie ranking competition for so many days, Yi Yun was first on stage the moment he came back! It seemed that even the referee wanted to see Yi Yun’s performance.

People raised their spirits. Besides Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran’s match, they anticipated Yi Yun’s first battle after his reappearance.

But when the referee announced Yi Yun’s opponent, everyone was shocked!

“Divine Wilderness Stage, 10,003, Yi Yun! Challenging 2980, Qiuniu!”

What!?

Challenging Qiuniu!

People were shocked. His first match was neither to secure a ranking, nor to challenge Gu Mu, but to challenge the second-placed rookie, Qiuniu!

Challenging Gu Mu was already quite an exaggeration, but he actually challenged Qiuniu. What was he thinking?

People were not able to react in time. Gu Mu who was ranked third amongst the rookies frowned.

In this rookie ranking competition, he had always treated Yi Yun as his greatest rival. When Yi Yun appeared, he had been mentally prepared to fight a bloody battle with Yi Yun. In the past few days, he had accumulated a lot of combat experience in his battles. He was confident he could beat Yi Yun.

But he did not expect Yi Yun to ignore him. Yi Yun had directly skipped over him to challenge Qiuniu.

This made Gu Mu peeved. He had been disregarded!

“This Yi Yun actually dares to disregard me. Does he think I am not qualified to be his opponent?” Gu Mu clenched his fists. Yi Yun was too disdainful!

Having made all the preparations to compete with Yi Yun, yet Yi Yun completely did not put him in his sights.

“He sure has guts…I’ll wait till you lose to Qiuniu. I’ll then battle you to show you the consequences of disregarding me!” With this thought in mind, Gu Mu looked at Yi Yun with strong fighting spirit.

…

“Challenging me…?” Qiuniu was also surprised. He glanced at Yi Yun and immediately smiled, “Interesting! It’s true the young are rash. I thought you would battle me only after you beat Gu Mu!”

Qiuniu stood up. He was always very interested in Yi Yun.

But he never expected that Yi Yun had the guts to challenge him in his first match.

“Since you are so confident, I’ll use the white metal armor to take you on. It is me giving you sufficient respect!” Saying this, Qiuniu took out a giant glove from his ring and wore it on his right hand.

“Ka-cha!”

Three steel claws shot out from the claw with a cold shimmer!

At the same time, Qiuniu’s left hand was equipped with a large shield.

Following that, with a thought, two circular metal pieces on Qiuniu’s chest and back began to shine. A set of white metal battle armor appeared, covering Qiuniu’s body!

In a few seconds, Qiuniu was covered in his white metal armor and he was fully armed!

“Ha!”

With a shout, Qiuniu leaped onto the stage!

He was wearing tens of thousands of pounds of white metal armor. He had leaped from more than thirty meters away from the stage and he was like a pouncing tiger!

“Boom!”

Qiuniu’s two legs squatted to cushion his landing as he put a hand on the ground. He was like a meteorite that landed on the stage!

The loud bang caused the entire arena to quiver! It made people exclaim!

Under Qiuniu’s feet, the thick purple tungsten tiles had clearly sunken in. It was obvious how strong Qiuniu’s leap was.

Ignoring Qiuniu’s attacks, just this leap was enough to break a person into pieces!

“Terrifying. He’s basically a humanoid primordial desolate beast!” Someone sighed. Seeing Qiuniu’s stance, one would lose 30% of their willpower. A typical person would not dare fight him.

Even the dark horse amongst the rookies, Gu Mu, did not have the guts to challenge Qiuniu. This was because Gu Mu knew that the gap between them was large. He was no match for Qiuniu at all!

Qiuniu stood up. After his 1.9 meter tall and burly figure was covered in heavy armor, all his muscles bulged out with worm-like veins. It was as if he was about to explode!

235 - : The first match’s opponent

Although Qiuniu was lower in the rankings than Chu Xiaoran , if someone was forced to make a decision on who to fight between the two, they would still face Chu Xiaoran rather than Qiuniu.

This was because Qiuniu gave people a sense of immense pressure!

Many people were unable to muster up their courage while standing in front of Qiuniu.

On the other side of the stage, Yi Yun held his Thousand Army Saber and walked onto the stage.

He stood thirty meters away from Qiuniu and faced him directly.

Yi Yun was finally going to use his weapon for a battle. This was reasonable; after all, his opponent was Qiuniu!

“This Yi Yun is finally going to use his saber. I wonder if his saber technique is any good.” People discussed. Previously, Yi Yun only used a brick to stomp his opponents. This was indeed very formidable, but this did not mean that by not using the brick and switching to the Thousand Army Saber, his strength would become even more perverse.

Of course, the Thousand Army Saber was stronger than the brick, but no matter how much stronger it was, it all depended on Yi Yun’s saber technique.

“Yi Yun’s saber is too long. Against any typical opponent, a long weapon is advantageous. But against Qiuniu, once he grabs it, Yi Yun will not be able to use it anymore! Even if it is not caught, just trying to slash Qiuniu’s body might not be enough to break through his defense.”

Qiuniu had an ability, which was that once a weapon was caught, there was no way of getting it back.

This was the reason why many people did not have the confidence when facing Qiuniu. It would be too embarrassing to lose their weapon to him.

And Qiuniu was very fast. Trying to keep the weapon away from Qiuniu’s clutches?

It would be very difficult!

Everyone acknowledged that a light weapon was useless against Qiuniu. Yi Yun’s saber was long and light. It could stir up a whirlwind by slicing and dicing and it looked cool, but against Qiuniu’s heavy armor, it was absolutely useless.

“Can we begin?” Qiuniu looked at Yi Yun with a grin. It was as if he could not wait any longer.

“Sure…” Yi Yun also laughed. He casually placed the Thousand Army Saber vertically beside his body. The extremely long Thousand Army Saber seemed to stand vertically on the ground without falling. It was a strange scene.

Many cultivators were stumped. According to normal circumstances, a saber had no chance of standing vertical on the ground, as it would lose its balance, but Yi Yun’s saber seemed to have a spirit within it!

Qiuniu was shocked too, but instantaneously, he licked his lips, “Interesting! I’ll see if you can keep your saber away from me!”

Saying this, Qiuniu leaped up towards him!

“Boom!”

Like a pounce from a primordial beast, every jump caused the stage to tremor!

Even while wearing his heavy armor, Qiuniu’s speed was not any slower.

“Ka-cha!”

Qiuniu landed heavily on the ground with a foot, while Yi Yun disappeared.

“Whew!”

Yi Yun had unsheathed the Thousand Army Saber. The scabbard still remained standing vertically on the ground while the sharp blade began to send out beautiful blade beams!

Yi Yun had finally started to use his saber. Like a dragon traversing the ocean, the Thousand Army Saber made a screeching sound!

In that moment, the blade beams formed a web as they enclosed Qiuniu. Yi Yun’s attack speed was so fast that it dazzled everyone!

Qiuniu’s eyes lit up.

“Nice one!” He shouted and contracted his body. He charged forwards with his shield leading the charge.

“Crackle!”

Numerous blade beams exploded on Qiuniu’s shield. The thick shield was like an impregnable fortress wall. Every blade beam that came in contact with it was destroyed from his charge!

Pa!

Yi Yun and Qiuniu passed each other. After Qiuniu stopped, he turned to face Yi Yun, “Your saber technique is not bad! Too bad, it cannot break through my defenses!”

As he said that, Qiuniu cracked his neck. His joints issued a crackling sound.

People were left in wonder. Just from this defense alone, it allowed Qiuniu to stand unbeatable!

“Your armor is also not bad.” Yi Yun gave his review.

Qiuniu laughed, “You are still in the mood to review my armor?”

As he said this, Qiuniu began walking towards Yi Yun. He was walking slowly and he was compressing the space Yi Yun could use to dodge bit by bit.

“Ka-cha! Ka-cha!”

As Qiuniu walked, the metal armor clanked around. The sound that approached people gave them an immense pressure.

Shield bash!

Suddenly, Qiuniu charged forward at Yi Yun with his huge shield.

Yi Yun dodged and avoided Qiuniu’s shield bash. With Yi Yun’s speed, it was very difficult for Qiuniu to hit Yi Yun with his shield attack!

Qiuniu took a step forward and swiped with his claw, but Yi Yun’s body was like a willow that was blown up by the wind, easily dodging the attack once again.

At this moment, Qiuniu sneered. With a slight turn of his body, the huge glove on his right hand followed.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

The three sharp claws suddenly protruded and shot towards Yi Yun!

The metal claws contained within them an array method. When Qiuniu injected them with Yuan Qi, he could cause the claws to shoot out. This attack would catch people off guard at a close distance!

Oh!?

Yi Yun’s eye focused on the three flying claws and he twisted his body in the air to avoid them. At the same time, Yi Yun’s Thousand Army Saber reversed and slashed at Qiuniu’s throat!

Without taking another glance, Qiuniu stretched his hand towards the Thousand Army Saber to grab it!

He wanted to grab Yi Yun’s saber!

This scene made every warrior hold their breath. In the previous battles during the competition, no matter who it was, whenever Qiuniu attempted to grab their weapon, they would all pull it back. If Qiuniu grabbed their weapon, there was no point fighting on.

Yi Yun’s saber was narrow and long, so it was obvious what would happen once it was grabbed.

Everyone thought that Yi Yun would pull his saber back. But he did not. With an expressionless face, the saber continued slashing downwards!

The way of the saber, has no end in sight!

The saber truth’s first line had already explained the saber’s nature. How could Yi Yun pull his saber back just because he was afraid his opponent would steal his weapon?

Oh? Not retreating?

Qiuniu was surprised and with a grin, he grabbed the saber.

“Clang!”

A metallic clang ensued. Qiuniu had grabbed onto the Thousand Army Saber without any concern!

This scene quaked the hearts of everyone. The saber has been grabbed!

This…

No one knew what to say. With Yi Yun’s speed, they felt that he could use his speed to embroil Qiuniu in a long battle. If he did not face him head on, this fight would drag out, without him losing his saber and with it, his reputation. But no one expected Yi Yun to carry on slashing down with his saber, which allowed Qiuniu to grab his blade easily.

What was there left to fight!?

Was he just going to lose just like that?

“Hehe…” Qiuniu laughed, “Your saber is mine! You should get another weapon.”

Saying this, Qiuniu tightly grabbed the saber with his right hand as he planned to pull it away from Yi Yun.

Yi Yun remained expressionless. With a slight rotation of his wrist, his body’s Yuan Qi circulated and the Thousand Army Saber seemed to be covered in flames.

Oh?

Qiuniu was stunned. The saber in his hand suddenly became hot. It was scalding!

What… is this Yuan Qi?

Before Qiuniu could react, Yi Yun’s eyes flashed!

The emperor amongst weapons, reigning supreme!

“Cha!”

The Thousand Army Saber whistled through the air like a long dragon cry. A sharp blade beam rushed up to the heavens!

Blood appeared!

The Thousand Army Saber easily returned into Yi Yun’s hands, while Qiuniu’s hand was left frozen in midair as it trembled.

“Pa Da!”

“Pa Da!”

More and more blood began dripping, like pearls dropping from a cut necklace.

The entire arena fell silent. Only the clear sound of dripping blood could be heard.

This…

Everyone was stunned.

Qiuniu… was injured!

His hand, which was encased in metal armor had grabbed Yi Yun’s Thousand Army Saber, but… Yi Yun still managed to reclaim his saber and at the same time, sliced Qiuniu’s palm open!

After so many battles, this was the first time Qiuniu was injured!

How could that happen? Did Qiuniu’s glove armor rip open?

“You actually…”

Qiuniu looked at his palm in disbelief. The armor on his hand had cracked open and not only that, the armor even had traces of having melted.

Melted?

Thinking back to the burning sensation, could it be… fire?

“Are you a fire elemental warrior?” Qiuniu was shocked. Even a fire elemental warrior was not supposed to be this strong. His armor was made out of white metal, obtained from the deep sea. It was extremely hard and it was almost impossible to break through. It would be almost impossible to melt it with the capabilities of the Purple Blood realm!

Yi Yun shook his head.

Fire?

The Yuan Qi in his body did resemble fire, but there was an essential difference!

After learning the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi had transformed. If one had to describe its elemental property, then it should be Pure Yang!

“If this is the limit of your power, then this battle is over.” Saying this, Yi Yun slashed his Thousand Army Saber downwards again!

“Whew!”

The splendid blade beam slashed towards Qiuniu!

Qiuniu contracted his pupils. He felt that this blade beam was much stronger than the ones before. This was because Yi Yun had injected pure Yang into it!

Qiuniu retreated and placed his large shield before his chest. However, Yi Yun’s blade beam was everywhere!

The pure Yang saber Qi completely melted through Qiuniu’s protective Yuan Qi! Deep marks were left on Qiuniu’s white armor. The saber Qi had also entered his body, now raging through him.

This saber Qi had a terrifying burning power in it. It burned Qiuniu, causing his blood to go turbulent.

Yi Yun’s saber attack was too strong! A weapon’s strength was determined not by its weight, but by how much Yuan Qi could be injected into it.

The blade beam sent out by Yi Yun was matchless in terms of sharpness!

“Cha!”

Another beam flashed!

Qiuniu’s body tremored as another bloody line appeared on his chest.

Deng! Deng! Deng!

Qiuniu retreated several steps with a look of shock!

At this time, even his face had a saber scar. Blood was dripping from all of his wounds.

The surrounding audience’s mouths were agape. This scene had gone beyond their comprehension. They could not understand how this had happened. Qiuniu’s armor was imbued with his Yuan Qi, and his defense was extremely strong. People thought that Qiuniu was invincible.

But… His defense had been broken by Yi Yun?

Yi Yun’s attack did not look special in any way!

Qiuniu wiped the blood off his mouth and said, “Powerful!”

Saying that, he took the shield off his left hand. “It looks like I cannot defeat you while wearing this armor…It seems like I have to take my armor off to do battle with a person like you…”

236 - : Fighting Qiuniu

“Taking off his armor to battle?”

Hearing Qiuniu’s words, the audience were stunned. Most people thought that one’s battle power would be stronger when covered in full body armor.

If he took his armor off, wouldn’t Qiuniu’s defense strength drop down a notch?

Qiuniu could not withstand Yi Yun’s saber even while he was wearing armor!

“This is so terrifying. How is Yi Yun’s saber so sharp? Qiuniu has never been hurt while fighting!”

No one could understand it. Previously when Qiuniu entered the top 3000, he had fought a veteran cultivator who used a long battle axe. That battle axe was extremely heavy, but when it struck Qiuniu’s armor, Qiuniu was still able to withstand it using his armor that was protected by his Yuan Qi!

Yi Yun’s saber did not look as powerful as the long battle axe, so how did he break through Qiuniu’s defenses?

People looked with wonder and awe at Yi Yun’s saber.

That sharp long saber was still dripping blood.

“Pa Da! Pa Da!”

Drop after drop of blood bloomed upon landing onto the purple tungsten ground, like plum blossoms.

This saber was too terrifying!

By now, Qiuniu had taken off his helmet and removed his chest plate and back plate.

Every part of this armor set resounded loudly when it was thrown onto the stage. It was hard to imagine how heavy it was when every part was added up.

“The armor is used to provide defense. This set of white metal armor has outstanding defense capabilities! But…” As Qiuniu said this, he threw the large glove from his right hand.

“The white metal armor is too heavy. I wear it not for protection, but to limit myself and to train my strength! I am constantly using my family’s secret technique, ‘Divine Strength Ox King Skill’ to counteract the white metal armor’s weight. As such, I am constantly cultivating!”

“And only by taking off the white metal armor can I push my power to an extreme!”

While saying this, Qiuniu had completely removed all of his armor. He was wearing black, tight-fitting clothes. His muscles stretching out the fabric of his clothes.

Qiuniu roared.

“Ha!”

A surge of Yuan Qi exploded from Qiuniu’s body as his muscles began expanding!

Vein after vein bulged and twisted. Even Qiuniu’s height grew taller as a result.

He was originally 1.9 meters tall. Now, he was more than 2 meters tall. His arms were as thick as an adult’s thigh. The long hair, on his nearly bald head, also grew longer under his power, all the way to his back.

After revealing his ‘Divine Strength Ox King Skill’, Qiuniu’s aura was completely different.

He took out a large polearm from his interspatial ring!

This polearm was as long as Qiuniu’s height. The polearm’s shaft was as thick as a child’s wrist. And the polearm’s head was about three feet wide!

This peerless weapon gave people chills when they saw it!

“Hahahaha! This feels great! It really feels great!”

Qiuniu laughed heartily, “It’s been a while since I completely removed all of my armor to use the ‘Divine Strength Ox King Skill’!”

Qiuniu stretched his body comfortable as his joints crackled. The wounds that were previously opened by Yi Yun’s Thousand Army Saber had also stopped bleeding from the expansion of Qiuniu’s muscles.

“Let me warn you. My body is an impenetrable body! This is a form of blood lineage! Although I have taken off my white metal armor, it has also released my ‘Divine Strength Ox King Skill’. With the support of the ‘Divine Strength Ox King Skill’ protective Yuan Qi, my defense ability only strengthens and doesn’t weaken!”

Hearing Qiuniu’s words, the surrounding audience were secretly horrified. Qiuniu was too terrifying!

An impenetrable body of a blood lineage! This was a rare physical state. It was no wonder Qiuniu had such odd strength.

By taking off his armor, Qiuniu’s defense actually strengthened! With increased defense, with his enormous strength, just being hit by that polearm was an obvious result!

Qiuniu seemed to not possess any weakness at this point!

“Are you ready?”

Just after saying this, with his large polearm, his figure moved like a gust of wind!

His figure also formed many afterimages. He was too fast!

People thought that Qiuniu was not proficient in his speed. In fact, in the previous battles, Qiuniu’s speed was indeed slow. He even seldom took more than a few steps. Most of the time, he stood in the middle of the arena like a fortress.

But Qiuniu, who had now taken off his armor, was completely different!

Only now did people realize that Qiuniu’s speed was as terrifying as his strength!

Qiuniu’s power that exuded from his body was extremely overwhelming. Although he was heavy, but with his terrifying strength, the weight from his body was nothing!

Although Qiuniu’s movements lacked style, just from the burst of speed he could muster, he was definitely amongst the best compared to warriors of the same level!

His defense was strong, his attack power was strong and his speed was also fast. How was one to win against such an opponent?

People began to worry for Yi Yun.

Qiuniu, whose position could not be determined by the audience, suddenly appeared in front of Yi Yun!

In an instant, the chaotic afterimages formed as one. With the large polearm in hand, all of Qiuniu’s strength exploded!

“Quaking Heaven Strike!”

Huge amounts of energy was imbued into the large polearm. Qiuniu’s polearm strike could easily flatten a mountain!

“Boom!”

The Yuan Qi within the large polearm exploded. A crater appeared in the purple tungsten arena. With a leap, Yi Yun floated away like a swan!

He dodged it!

Qiuniu sneered and swiped the polearm at Yi Yun!

Yi Yun’s body was in midair as it twisted in an incredulous manner. He dodged it again as if he was blown away!

“Sha! Sha! Sha!”

The large polearm moved in a dazzling manner!

But Yi Yun’s body seemed to be weightless. Every swipe of Qiuniu’s large polearm was avoided, it was as if he was blown away by the Yuan Qi. Even the overwhelming Yuan Qi blast was easily avoided by Yi Yun.

Qiuniu was fast, but Yi Yun was faster!

By reaching the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, and with the pure Yang power’s impetus, Yi Yun’s speed had reached an incredible level.

People’s eyes were fully occupied by the scenes on stage. One violent explosion after another appeared while Qiuniu and Yi Yun’s afterimages weaved together!

It was hard to imagine that this was a battle between two thirteen year old kids!

“What’s happening on stage!?”

The weaker warriors could not see what was going on. They only knew that the battle was extremely intense. As for who had the upper hand, they did not know!

“Qiuniu has been continuously attacking while Yi Yun has been dodging them all!” A better-ranked rookie explained, “Now it seems like Qiuniu has the upper hand. Yi Yun has not exchanged blows with Qiuniu at all!”

“Of course he doesn’t dare to exchange blows. Who would dare to parry that large polearm’s force. Yi Yun’s saber is so thin. If their weapons were to clash, Yi Yun’s arms might go numb and his saber might even break! But Qiuniu might not have the upper hand! Indeed, Yi Yun might not have the ability to clash with Qiuniu, but Qiuniu can’t hit Yi Yun. If this drags on, Qiuniu’s stamina will rapidly deplete. No matter how strong he is, his stamina will gradually run out. Once that happens, Yi Yun can turn the tables and win!”

Someone held an opposing view.

With the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, Yi Yun indeed held the upper hand. By using his movements to deplete Qiuniu’s stamina and finally counterattack when Qiuniu was exhausted, that would be the smartest approach and was Yi Yun’s only chance of winning.

Yet again everyone became stumped, not knowing what the outcome of this match would be. People held their breaths and opened their eyes wide. They were afraid to miss even a single exhilarating move.

But… At this moment, Qiuniu’s speed began to slow down till he eventually stopped.

He held his polearm in one hand and looked at Yi Yun with a burning fighting spirit.

Oh?

Yi Yun looked all around.

“Ah! You noticed it?” Qiuniu again twisted his thick neck out of habit. “My previous attacks had all been dodged by you, but I actually set up a Yuan Qi cage.”

“This is also a move of the ‘Divine Strength Ox King Skill’, named ‘Trapped Ox Lock’. It can create a blockade in empty air from the Yuan Qi released in each attack. It is especially used to deal with fast opponents like you!”

“With my powers, I can only maintain the Yuan Qi blockade for less than a minute, and I can only use it once. After that I will be too tired to use it a second time…”

Qiuniu did not mind exposing the weakness of his attack, “But… This is already sufficient. As long as I can obtain a chance to strike with the ‘Trapped Ox Lock’, that would be enough!” Qiuniu confidently said!

He was extremely confident. He was planning to win the battle with one strike!

237 - : Divine Strength Ox King Skill

“‘Trapped Ox Lock’? What’s that?”

Hearing Qiuniu’s words, everyone focused their gazes on him. They could not see anything happening on the stage, but when they concentrated, they could feel the odd Yuan Qi fluctuations in the middle of the Divine Wilderness Stage!

The Yuan Qi was converging together without dissipating!

“Trapped Ox Lock? He is using compacted Yuan Qi to trap Yi Yun?”

A few veteran cultivators had a keen perception of Yuan Qi. They could also understand Qiuniu’s plan. Yi Yun’s movement techniques were too good, so Qiuniu had to use his ‘Trapped Ox Lock’ to hold Yi Yun in one place.

Even if the lock only lasted for a few seconds, it was still enough for Qiuniu!

As Qiuniu’s frontal assault was too terrifying, no one would be able to take it head on! As long as Qiuniu managed to force Yi Yun to take his blow head on, then Qiuniu would win the match!

“This battle strategy is very effective. As expected, Qiuniu does not plan on letting Yi Yun deplete his stamina. Yi Yun is in trouble now!”

People held their breath. Qiuniu’s attack could easily kill someone!

Below the stage, there were some doctors on standby. Many of these doctors were past cultivator graduates of the Tai Ah Divine City. They could be considered the seniors of the rookies present here. Their jobs were to treat the seriously injured participants and they were responsible for their lives.

However, as weapons were hard to control, there would be a few accidental deaths in the arena every year.

They had to pay special attention to dangerous characters like Qiuniu. There was a high probability of his opponents dying!

Qiuniu slowly circulated his Yuan Qi. He was like a hungry tiger that was stalking it’s prey. He was staring at Yi Yun ferociously.

“My ‘Trapped Ox Lock’ isn’t strong. You just need a short amount of time to break it, but… I will not allow that to happen! I will do my best by using my strongest attack to defeat you!”

“This attack is one of the last three moves of the ‘Divine Strength Ox King Skill’. I can barely use it as its strength is too great. Even I cannot control it well. Just using it might kill. There is still time for you to admit defeat!”

As Qiuniu said this, he lowered his body into a squat, before half-kneeling on the ground. In this weird pose, both his hands held the large battle polearm’s shaft. His body’s Yuan Qi was like a simmering volcano!

Yi Yun was silent as he faced Qiuniu. He gently flipped the Thousand Army Saber and he pointed the tip of his blade at Qiuniu.

This was Yi Yun’s answer.

Qiuniu laughed, “As expected, you will not admit defeat. Yes! If you admitted defeat, you would not be a respectful opponent that I can look in the eye. Now, try to handle this attack!”

“Boom!”

Qiuniu’s Yuan Qi exploded. The surge of Yuan Qi was condensing behind Qiuniu as it slowly formed a single horned Sky Ox’s phantom image!

Qiuniu’s body seemed to slowly rise up, which made it look like he was holding up the sky.

“Sky Ox Tyrannous Blood!” Qiuniu roared as his aura reached an extreme point. He charged forward with this indomitable aura leaking out of him. Each step Qiuniu took left a crater on the purple tungsten stage!

With the Sky Ox’s phantom image boosting his surging strength, Qiuniu swiped his large battle polearm downwards at Yi Yun!

There was no doubt that this strike would be able to slash open the stage!

Facing this strike, that resembled a ravaging storm, Yi Yun was amazingly calm. He held his saber with both hands, the Thousand Army Saber’s tip forming an angle with the ground. At this moment, Yi Yun’s mind was exceedingly tranquil, because his mind was completely at one with the Thousand Army Saber.

The various insights he had gained from the saber tomb now rushed into Yi Yun’s mind.

Yi Yun had spent many days in the saber tomb, trying to understand its teachings. Yi Yun had imprinted the energy trajectories of those words deeply in his mind.

The energy and the word’s strokes all contained a saber truth within them!

Now, it was time to validate his understandings!

As Qiuniu’s attack moved downwards with an unshakable pressure, Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. The Thousand Army Saber slashed directly upwards with a green flash that flew straight into the sky!

At that instant, it was as if Heaven and Earth had turned silent. Time had stopped, leaving behind that blade slash. With an indomitable presence, it had sliced through everything!

The Saber Truth’s 32 Words – Reigning Supreme!

“Cha!”

The blade beam and the polearm’s beam collided. Yi Yun was like a god and he moved past Qiuniu with his Thousand Army Saber! As he held onto the saber, he charged into the roaring Sky Ox phantom image!

This Sky Ox image was formed from Yuan Qi using Qiuniu’s “Sky Ox Tyrannous Blood’! But Yi Yun’s saber slashed upwards with unstoppable onslaught.

The sky ox phantom image was split in half by the Thousand Army Saber!

“Boom!”

With the Yuan Qi exploding and the Trapped Ox Lock Yuan Qi wall shattering, a chaotic force erupted, causing the weapons surrounding the Divine Wilderness Stage to rattle. Even the purple tungsten protective wall experienced severe tremors!

However, Yi Yun’s Thousand Army Saber had pierced the force field. His body opened up a distance of thirty meters from Qiuniu before he landed steadily on the ground.

With the Thousand Army Saber’s tip placed on the ground, Yi Yun turned around.

On stage, Qiuniu’s back was facing Yi Yun. His body had completely frozen.

With his hand holding onto the battle polearm, he stood there, petrified in this position, without dropping the polearm.

His gaze had stagnated and his face muscles twitched. He lowered his head with great difficulty to look at his chest with disbelief in his eyes.

A bloody line had appeared, which went from the middle of Qiuniu’s eyebrows, following down the bridge of his nose to his chin, all the way to his chest.

Under Qiuniu’s muscular pressure, it took a few seconds before blood started spilling out from this wound, issuing a “Si Si” sound.

Yi Yun’s saber had sliced Qiuniu from the middle of his eyebrows to his left rib. The wound was about two feet long and even his ribs were broken!

This saber had not only sliced through the Sky Ox phantom image, it had also broken through Qiuniu’s protective Yuan Qi and at the same time, cut Qiuniu’s iron-like muscles open and broke the ribs on the left side of his chest!

Blood flowed out more rapidly, covering Qiuniu’s face, neck and chest. It made Qiuniu look extremely savage.

He could clearly feel that Yi Yun’s saber had sliced open his ribs and cut the muscles around his heart!

If Yi Yun had gone an inch further, his heart would have been cut open and he would have died!

But Yi Yun’s control of his energy in that slash was excellent. There was not a millimeter of inaccuracy!

That slash was too terrifying!

Qiuniu felt his palms begin sweating. He did not expect such an opponent amongst the Tai Ah Divine City’s rookies. Just one slash was enough to completely defeat him!

And Yi Yun had taken his ‘Sky Ox Tyrannous Blood’ head on!

This was Qiuniu’s strongest attack, one that he could not completely control. To be defeated while using this move, he admitted defeat from the bottom of his heart!

“In the battle of Yi Yun versus Qiuniu, Yi Yun wins!” The referee gave Yi Yun a deep glance and announced the results of the match.

Qiuniu had broken nine ribs, and his chest had been split open by the Thousand Army Saber. His left lung and heart were no longer protected by his Yuan Qi. It was difficult for him to even breathe, so it was natural that he had lost his ability to fight.

At this moment, four doctors who were on standby below the stage rushed onto the stage. They took out some medicine that they had prepared to treat Qiuniu’s wounds.

The doctors included three females and one male. They thought that they were going to treat Yi Yun at the end of this and that he might even be mortally wounded.

But unexpectedly, it was the complete opposite. The person who was injured was actually Qiuniu.

And Qiuniu’s wound was shocking. This slash was extremely precise, it was similar to a surgeon using a surgery knife.

It was a terrifying slash!

A few doctors looked at Yi Yun and they felt that this junior of theirs was unfathomable. In the future, he was likely to skyrocket!

“Thank you!” Yi Yun held his Thousand Army Saber and cupped his fists before turning to get down the Divine Wilderness Stage!

He knew that Qiuniu would be alright. He had deliberately avoided Qiuniu’s vital organs in this final slash.

He had learned this slash in the saber tomb. Yi Yun had only managed to understand two slash moves throughout his time spent in the saber tomb.

This ‘Reigning Supreme’ was the first saber move. In fact, this move did not completely display the essence of the the Saber Truth’s 32 Words. If one had to say how much it contained, it was just a thousandth of the essence of the Saber Truth’s 32 Words’ and it only had a ten thousandth of the charm.

Even so, by combining it with Yi Yun’s pure Yang Yuan Qi, it was still extremely powerful!

At this moment, everyone in the audience looked at Yi Yun with a completely different look.

Thinking back to the last slash, they felt like they were in a dream and they had not woken up from it yet.

Qiuniu’s ‘Sky Ox Tyrannous Blood’ attack was earth-shattering, but Yi Yun actually used his long and thin Thousand Army Saber to block it and then, he sliced through Qiuniu’s protective Yuan Qi to secure victory!

It was a shocking reversal!

Everyone thought that Yi Yun had no way of taking Qiuniu’s attack head on. But Yi Yun not only took it head on, he even defeated Qiuniu!

Think about it. A primordial ox charges at a person with a domineering aura, while that person stood still, but the primordial ox was defeated with one punch!

It was simply insane!

Even when Yi Yun returned to his seat, many people still had their mouths open from the shock.

“Amazing… Amazing… Is Yi Yun planning to get first place amongst the rookies!?”

Yi Yun’s amazing defeat of Qiuniu was beyond all forms of imagination.

Who could still compete with him?

Previously, Yi Yun had used one brick to smack his opponents unconscious one after another. It was quite impressive to do that, but not many people feared it.

Yi Yun had never used his saber, so no one knew how good his saber techniques were. But now, they had seen it.

It was chilling to the bone!

“The gap between us is too great… I really… can’t believe it…” In the crowd, Gu Mu, whose fame was not inferior to Yi Yun’s, turned pale after seeing this battle.

He had no way of comprehending Yi Yun’s strength!

He had been wanting to battle Yi Yun, but now that notion was a complete joke.

At this moment, in the Elder seat of honor on the side of the stage, a law-enforcer revealed an odd look after seeing the match under his black hood, .

“This saber technique… Did I see it incorrectly? At such a young age and having only been in the Tai Ah Divine City for only three months, it’s impossible…” He frowned.

And then he asked an arena administrator, “Do you have a video recording disk array of this battle?”

“Of course…” The administrator replied respectfully. They would use a disk array to record all the important matches and then archive them for future reference.

“Give me a copy!” The law-enforcer exclaimed. He was not sure and so, he planned on passing on the disk array footage to a Divine City Elder to confirm his guess…

He felt that it was impossible, but still, he needed an Elder to confirm it.

238 - : Clinching Victory

Yi Yun walked back to his seat with everyone in the arena looking at him.

At this moment, a weak voice came from the stage, “Yi…Yi Yun…”

Yi Yun paused and turned around. It was Qiuniu. He could no longer speak loudly as Yi Yun’s saber had cut open his chest, causing him to have trouble breathing.

“That move…Where did you learn it…?” Qiuniu said every word with difficulty. Even though the doctors advised Qiuniu not to speak, it fell on deaf ears.

“A few days ago, an elderly person took me somewhere to learn it.” Yi Yun did not hide the fact. However, he did not mention the ancient tomb as it was a secret that there was an ancient tomb under the Tai Ah Divine City and many people did not know this secret.

“A few days…” Qiuniu suddenly recalled Yi Yun’s disappearance for the past few days and gave a wry smile, “I see…You disappeared for a few days…to gain understandings about the saber…”

It only took him a few days to learn such a horrifying saber technique?

It was unimaginable…

“What is the saber move’s name…?” Qiuniu asked again. When Yi Yun had used the move, he did not shout out the move’s name like Qiuniu.

Yi Yun faltered slightly before replying, “Reigning Supreme!”

This was Yi Yun’s naming of the saber move. This was because this move was created from understanding the Saber Truth’s 32 Words’ “Reigning Supreme”.

Be it Qiuniu or the many cultivators in the Divine City audience, no one recognized the move. All they knew was Yi Yun’s saber move was terrifying.

“Reigning Supreme…Good move!”

Qiuniu did not say anything else as he was carried out of the arena by the doctors on a stretcher.

Qiuniu’s defeat and his serious injury meant he could no longer battle the veteran cultivator who was ranked 2800. As for Qiuniu’s ranking, it had dropped to 10,003 due to his defeat against Yi Yun.

But this did not affect Qiuniu’s rookie ranking as the rookie ranking competition ranked every rookie according to the highest ranking they achieved throughout all their matches.

So, Qiuniu would end up being ranked third and now, Yi Yun was ranked second amongst the rookies!

And he still had three more challenges remaining!

Who was he going to challenge next? Would he be challenging a high-ranking veteran cultivator or Chu Xiaoran?

After thinking about this, many people’s hearts started to race. No matter who Yi Yun challenged, it would no doubt be an interesting match!

…

At this moment, in the central divine tower…

Cang Yan and Elder Jian Ge were playing chess once again. These two old men had brewed a pot of tea. They played chess and at the same time, they enjoyed the tea. It was not easy for the two of them to progress any further, so they began leading an idle life. The two of them would end up playing chess for many days at a time.

As for the rookie ranking competition, they would only occasionally pay attention to it, while they played chess. The rookie ranking competition was not a big deal to people of their level.

Jian Ge and Cang Yan were considered the Divine City’s Elders who were the most concerned about the rookies. As for people like the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord, they would usually enter reclusive training for decades. If someone were to ask them who Qin Haotian was, they would say that they had never heard of the name before.

“I say, old man Jian, you recently went to the Southern Island and got two pounds of Jing Luo Chun, right? Why aren’t you brewing it? It is such a waste of a heavenly treasure to not drink it!”

Cang Yan was taking a sip of the tea. He was currently drinking a top-grade tea which could nourish the meridians and the Dantian. A pot of this tea was priceless. But, he still yearned for Elder Jian Ge’s Jin Luo Chun.

Jian Ge rolled his eyes and could not be bothered to answer him. He said, “Didn’t you take Yi Yun out of the saber tomb today? How is he?”

Cang Yan stroked his chin when he heard Jian Ge ask this. It seemed like he did not know what to say.

“This…it is hard to say! When I asked the kid to come out, he looked very confident, it was as if he had actually learned something. But thinking about it, he only went in for a short amount of time, so it is quite unlikely that he had actually learned anything. So I am thinking of letting him go into the saber tomb again, so that he can try to gain more insights over a few days. Then, I’ll prepare an opponent of passable caliber to fight with him to see the results of his training!”

Elder Jian Ge was speechless when he heard this. He smacked the chess piece in his hand on the table and snapped, “You want to take him in there again? Do you think the saber tomb is the Tai Ah Divine City’s cook house!?”

“For a cultivator of the Purple Blood realm to enter the saber tomb for the first time, and after a few days, gain some confidence from it like he has learned something, what he learned is most likely wrong. Don’t tell me you didn’t realize this would happen. Are you planning to take Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran to the sword and saber tombs in the next few days to see if they can gain some insight!?”

Upon being questioned by Elder Jian Ge, Cang Yan did not say a word. He also thought that Yi Yun must have gone astray in his learning.

He said softly, “Forget Qiuniu, but I think Chu Xiaoran has potential, so it is worth a try. She managed to gain some insights on truths at a young age and she has great perceptivity. Besides, she also uses a sword.”

Hearing Cang Yan’s words, Jian Ge hesitated. Cang Yan had a point about Chu Xiaoran, it was indeed worth a try.

Elder Jian Ge said, “Old man Cangg, we need to be careful. Although these geniuses have a very low probability of becoming sages, we should not ruin their futures. In the past year, there have been a series of phenomena in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, such as the Purple Clouds’ Birth in the Cloud Wilderness and the beast horde migration in the Divine wilderness last year. Who knows if something big has happened…To be able to nurture the younger generation, it is always good…”

As Jian Ge said this, he heard a Yuan Qi transmission from outside the door, “Subordinate Gui Bai seeks an audience with Elder Jian Ge”

“Gui Bai?” Jian Ge thought for a while. Gui Bai, as a law-enforcer, was in charge of this year’s rookie ranking competition. He should still be at the arena now.

“Come in. What’s the matter?” Jian Ge said lightly.

Gui Bai, who wore a black cloak, pushed the door open and entered the room. He unveiled his cowl and cupped his hands in a salute, “This subordinate was presiding over this year’s rookie ranking competition and something special happened in one of the battles. This subordinate could not be sure of what it was and I brought a video disk array for the two Elders to confirm it!”

Saying that, Gui Bai handed over the disk array.

Jian Ge looked at Gui Bai with some uncertainty. What sort of rookie battle needed him and Cang Yan to confirm?

At this moment, Gui Bai had placed the disk array on the table and by circulating his body’s Yuan Qi into the disk array, a light flashed from the disk array and video began emerging from it.

This was Qiuniu and Yi Yun’s battle!

“Oh? This little rascal immediately challenged Qiuniu? He sure is confident!”

After all, Yi Yun was of a normal background. To reach the point of challenging a reclusive family’s genius, Qiuniu, in three months after coming to the Tai Ah Divine City, it was not easy.

Gui Bai did not say anything and stood nearby with his hands by his side. Just the disk array’s video was enough to show Jian Ge and Cang Yan what was special about this battle without him saying another word.

Qiuniu and Yi Yun’s fierce battle appeared in the disk array’s footage. Seeing Yi Yun break through Qiuniu’s armor defenses, Jian Ge nodded his head.

Following that, Qiuniu took off his armor to battle Yi Yun again. Jian Ge gave a rare appreciative smile.

“This little rascal is not bad!”

“I know! He is not bad. Look at his battle with Qiuniu, he was never in a disadvantageous position in the first place. I had reason to take him into the saber tomb. Maybe with a few more days, he might really learn something!”

Cang Yan began boasting; but at this moment, Yi Yun was trapped by Qiuniu’s Trapped Ox Lock. Cang Yan’s happy expression froze. How could this kid be so unworthy of praise, I just praised him and now, he got trapped by his opponent. Yi Yun could only face the battle head on and he was bound to suffer as a result.

At this moment, Qiuniu launched his killing blow and Yi Yun took it head on with his saber.

It seemed as if time came to a stop. When they saw Yi Yun’s blade beam slice through the Sky Ox phantom image and then slash through Qiuniu’s strong body, both Cang Yan and Jian Ge expression’s froze!

Just now…

How could that be!?

The two elders looked at each other and saw an incredulous look within the other’s eyes.

“Replay!” Cang Yan said in a hurry.

Gui Bai did not say a word and injected some more Yuan Qi into the disk array to show Yi Yun’s slash again.

This slash had hit Qiuniu’s body and it was reflected in their eyes. That blade beam lingered in their irises for a long time.

“The realm of the Saber Truth’s 32 Words!” Elder Jian Ge said in a deep voice.

“This kid!” Cang Yan was completely at a loss for words. At this moment, according to his temperament, he would have jumped up to boast and say how good his foresight was.

But Yi Yun was a freak. For Yi Yun to manage to gain insight from the Saber Truth’s 32 Words in just a few days, even he could not say anything.

He had originally taken Yi Yun to the saber tomb on a whim. He wanted to test Yi Yun. He felt that he could take Yi Yun to the tomb a few times for him to gain a tiny insight and it would benefit him for life.

Under normal circumstances, if Yi Yun could gain some insight in a few months, it would be an extraordinary feat. But now, in just 4-5 days, he had gained such insight? This was too great of an exaggeration!

Even Qin Haotian, who was a natural swordsman, could not be compared to Yi Yun in terms of his understanding of the sword!

“Impressive! Could this kid be a natural saber user?”

Some people were naturally compatible with a certain type of weapon. It was as if they were born for the weapon. When they used the weapon, their powers would greatly increase and they could not use any other weapon at all.

These people could easily reach the pinnacle in one aspect. It was also easier for them to gain insights on the weapon of their choice.

Jian Ge shook his head and said, “No, he isn’t…He also has a bow. His bow skills are not bad either. I heard that he managed to capture the primordial herb using that bow from the herb-picking administrator.”

“To not be a natural saber user, but to have such perceptivity that exceeds a natural saber user…It’s incredible!”

239 - : Disk Array Video

After Yi Yun beat Qiuniu, he quickly submitted the name of the person he wanted to challenge next. Some people began to peek at the challenge form when the referee received it.

There were a few people standing near the referee’s table and they began to probe into the name that Yi Yun wrote and the person he chose was Chu Xiaoran!

Yi Yun versus Chu Xiaoran!

No one was surprised that this was going to happen. The rookie ranking competition needed someone to stand on top. Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran were destined to have a final showdown.

In fact, it was an experience a person like Yi Yun needed to have by battling against the experts amongst the rookies. He had to accumulate combat experience to train his martial arts!

“Yi Yun wants to battle Chu Xiaoran!” Someone spread the news.

“He wants to battle Chu Xiaoran? Chu Xiaoran is going to feel the pressure now!”

In the past, Chu Xiaoran’s performance had always subtly exceeded Qiuniu’s, but not by much. Everyone knew that Chu Xiaoran had held back a trick or two. But even so, it didn’t seem like she could do much when she faced Yi Yun!

“Yi Yun is a freak, even when Qiuniu gave it his all at the end, he could also break it in one shot. With his extraordinary movement techniques, his attack and speed leaves others in the dust. Can Chu Xiaoran defeat him? It is going to be difficult!”

“It may seem like that now, but who knows how much hidden strength Chu Xiaoran has not used. When Qiuniu and Yi Yun fought, he too had his trump card. So wouldn’t Chu Xiaoran have one either? Don’t forget that Chu Xiaoran is a person who had gained insight into nomological truths…”

People debated on this topic but in the end, most people believed Yi Yun had a higher chance of winning.

At this moment, the referee announced, “Divine Wilderness Stage, 2600, Long Li. Challenger, Chu Xiaoran!”

Before battling Yi Yun, Chu Xiaoran had already set up a match, she was challenging the 2600th person on the Earth roll of honor.

This was Chu Xiaoran’s third to last battle. Tomorrow, she still had two opportunities to challenge someone. No one knew how high Chu Xiaoran could rise up.

Chu Xiaoran held a sword that was soft as water and she walked up onto the Divine Wilderness Stage.

No matter who she faced in this battle or if Yi Yun was going to face her in her next battle, they were all strong rivals. But even so, Chu Xiaoran was still very calm.

Many people admired her for having such bearing.

“She’s indeed worthy to be an expert by not panicking. She did not react at all, even when she saw Qiuniu being defeated…”

People were secretly horrified. They did not know the limit to Chu Xiaoran’s strength.

Chu Xiaoran’s opponent Long Li held a spear in his hand. With the spear in his hand, he gave an impressive pose.

He took his opponent very seriously and he did not dare to treat her lightly.

“Chu Xiaoran…” On the participant benches, Yi Yun, who was meditating, opened his eyes. He too wanted to see the impressive style of the current number one rookie.

The battle had begun.

Many people focused their eyes on the stage. They were waiting to see Chu Xiaoran’s hidden strength. Qiuniu had plenty of hidden strength, so Chu Xiaoran definitely had hidden strength too.

Everyone imagined that in this battle, Long Li would slowly suppress Chu Xiaoran until she had to use her hidden strength to turn the tables.

But, this battle was different from what they imagined.

Long Li was indeed very fierce in his opening attacks. His spear shot out spear beams!

The spear was known as the best weapon among soldiers. Long Li was more than 1.8 meters tall; hence, he had an impressive aggressiveness while attacking with the spear.

But Chu Xiaoran was using a soft sword.

When a sword exchanged blows with a spear, it was usually at a disadvantage. Chu Xiaoran was quickly suppressed by Long Li!

Long Li’s spear was fast and he also injected his surging Yuan Qi into it.

Long Li attacked with one move after another like billowing waves that would not stop. As for Chu Xiaoran, she was like a small boat in the ocean. She was moving around like she was being rocked around by the waves and wind.

It seemed like Chu Xiaoran was in a dangerous situation, but…no matter how forceful Long Li’s attacks were, Chu Xiaoran remained undefeated.

After being unable to take her down for a long while, Long Li began feeling anxious. It seemed like he was just a tiny step away from defeating Chu Xiaoran.

If Long Li was a rock, then Chu Xiaoran was like a blade of grass. No matter how hard the rock pressed on it, the blade of grass would just bend and it would not snap!

This made many rookies frown. They wished for Chu Xiaoran to win her matches beautifully, but in reality, Chu Xiaoran was being suppressed.

The rookies did not feel good about this.

Did Chu Xiaoran not have any hidden strength? If she was being suppressed by Long Li like this, how was she going to fight Yi Yun?

People knew that Long Li was very strong. Being ranked at 2600 in the Earth rankings and even amongst the third years, he was considered one of the top experts. In past years, whichever rookie could battle a cultivator ranked 2600 to such state would be a freak. It was practically guaranteed for them to get first place in the rookie competition.

But this year, it was different. There was the incredibly powerful Yi Yun here. By fighting like that, she was not enough to pose a threat to Yi Yun!

Although the audience was anxious, Chu Xiaoran was not anxious at all. Chu Xiaoran carried on following a prescribed order and she parried every attack from Long Li. It looked dangerous, but she was doing it with such ease.

In the arena, Long Li’s heart sank. He knew that if this carried on, his energy would be depleted faster than Chu Xiaoran’s. In the end, he would end up losing.

He had to accumulate his strength to win in one hit!

He could only use his trump card now. Long Li had just recently learned this move and he was not skillful using it. But now, he only had this move to clinch victory.

As Long Li attacked Chu Xiaoran, he began preparing his best move. After he finished preparing it, he forced Chu Xiaoran to retreat and with his whole body’s Yuan Qi exploding, a surge of energy appeared in front of him!

Just as Long Li was prepared to use his trump card, something unexpected occurred.

Chu Xiaoran, who was sent retreating by him, suddenly seemed to borrow the energy from his attack and flew back at him, sending out an attack!

This attack looked unexciting and it did not seem like it was going to threaten Long Li’s energy wave.

But this attack shot out a sword beam, which destroyed a portion of Long Li’s energy wave!

This was because it had hit a weak spot in Long Li’s attack!

“Peng!”

Long Li’s Yuan Qi was broken, so, even though Long Li was able to react at that moment and try to protect his body while he retreated, it…was too late!

Chu Xiaoran was too fast and her sword was too precise!

Her body charged into Long Li’s spear beams like a ghost and she broke through Long Li’s protective barrier with her sword!

This attack was like a venomous snake coming out of a cave and it seemed to twist around Long Li’s neck.

The cold blade beam sank Long Li’s heart and all his Yuan Qi stopped circulating.

Wh…What?

Long Li was dumbfounded. He stood motionless as if he had been petrified.

“You have lost.” Chu Xiaoran withdrew her soft sword and quietly took a step back.

Long Li dazed as he saw Chu Xiaoran retreat. He could not believe what had just happened.

From the beginning, he constantly had the upper hand. It was because he could not take her down after prolonged attacks that he had to use the killing blow he had just learned. But before he could use it, Chu Xiaoran suddenly turned the tables and beat him. An ordinary looking move was able to break his defenses to secure victory in one move.

This huge reversal from defeat to victory happened almost in an instant!

Long Li felt that he was stronger than Chu Xiaoran, but in the end, he still lost!

This feeling was like in chess. When one was suppressing their opponent by removing a large portion of their opponent’s pieces, they had victory in hand. But suddenly, the opponent made a move that ended up checkmating their King…

The whole match was lost!

Long Li felt aggrieved at his loss. He could not imagine how Chu Xiaoran managed to break through his move.

The audience was also confused at this battle outcome. It seemed like Chu Xiaoran had won easily and not easily at the same time. Some people even thought that Chu Xiaoran had won by a fluke.

How did this happen? They were waiting for Chu Xiaoran to reveal her hidden strength, but from the beginning to the end, all Chu Xiaoran did was that one move. And just the strength of that one move allowed her to defeat Long Li in an unknown way.

“Does Chu Xiaoran not have any hidden strength? Is that all she has? Then, how is she going to fight Yi Yun? Isn’t she sure to lose?”

People inevitably had such thoughts. By struggling to beat Long Li, it was difficult for her to beat Yi Yun.

At this moment, someone said, “On the contrary…I think Chu Xiaoran’s performance in this battle is terrifying. The strength she used was weaker than Long Li’s, but the final result was unexpected! By defeating Long Li with a weaker strength, that is skill. How would you know that the strength Chu Xiaoran used was her limit?”

When this person returned with a question, it stunned the audience.

“If she can win with 60% strength, why didn’t she use 100%? Instead, by beating a 70% opponent with 60% strength, that shows skill. Maybe, Chu Xiaoran was training and honing her skills!” The person who said this was a veteran cultivator.

Now, many veteran cultivators had to admit that Chu Xiaoran was terrifying, even though it was embarrassing to admit that a rookie was stronger than them.

Upon hearing this, no one said anything. To hone oneself using the rookie ranking competition?

Recalling this battle, Chu Xiaoran was very calm from beginning to end. She never panicked, it was as if everything was under her control.

If she really could not beat Long Li, it was unlikely she could be that calm.

And in the final attack, it looked simple, but was it really that simple?

A simple attack had broken through Long Li’s forceful killing blow?

Upon realizing this, people found Chu Xiaoran unfathomable.

In this rookie ranking competition, Qiuniu was always ranked behind Chu Xiaoran. When one thought about it, it was probably Qiuniu’s intention to challenge Chu Xiaoran on the final day!

Although it was likely that, deep down, Qiuniu did not believe that he would lose to Chu Xiaoran, but this indicated that Qiuniu was previously weaker than Chu Xiaoran. If not, he would not have positioned himself as a challenger.

Unfortunately, now it was no longer Qiuniu challenging Chu Xiaoran, but Yi Yun…

240 - : The Weak overcoming the Strong

At this point in the rookie ranking competition, the entire arena seemed to belong to Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran. Everyone else was playing second fiddle.

When people looked at other battles, they only had one thought in their mind, and that was: “Hurry up and finish your battle. Let Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran go on stage.”

All the rookies that could still go on stage were the best amongst the rookies. All of them grew up with a halo around their heads, but now they were just supporting characters on the stage. This made them feel helpless, but they had to admit that Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran were on a completely different level from them.

The referee intentionally scheduled Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran’s battle at the end of the day. This was to ensure that Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran would be able to recover to their optimal states, so their battle could be a showdown at the highest levels.

The Sun slowly set in the west and dusk set in. People were all waiting for the beginning of this big battle. All the other rookies had finished their battles, so all they were waiting for was for Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran to go on stage.

Suddenly, near the arena’s main entrance, a commotion in the crowd happened. The tightly-packed crowd suddenly began to disperse.

The people who dispersed had faces of confusion or shock.

“Oh? What’s wrong?”

People began to look over and all they saw was a number of men in black cloaks at the entrance. And in between these black-cloaked men, there were two elderly men who strolled in leisurely.

They are…

Everyone was shocked, especially the rookies. They had never seen these two old men before, so it was natural they did not recognize them.

But the rookies vaguely knew about these black-cloaked men. The only people who wore black cloaks in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom were law-enforcers.

Law-enforcers? Why are there so many law-enforcers here?

The rookies were dumbfounded, and at this moment, some of the stronger veteran cultivators recognized the two old men after a momentary pause.

“Elder Jian Ge! Elder Cang Yan! Why did they come to the arena!?”

All of the rookies were dumbstruck when they heard this.

Elder…These two old men are Elders!?

To all the cultivators present, the Divine City’s Elders were legendary figures. In the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there might not even be one in 500 years.

What were they doing here in the arena?

The rookie ranking competition…was not something worth the attention of the Elders. Ignoring the rookie ranking competition, even Qin Haotian, who was ranked number one in the arena, would not receive such treatment by the Elders when he was challenged by those ranked second or third. At most, the Elders would just watch a video disk array.

There were firsts every year in the Divine City. Every year, the person ranked first on the Earth roll of honor would be challenged numerous times in a short period of time. The Elders were not so free to watch it every time.

Typically, the Elders never appeared in the arena. Instead, it should be said that cultivators typically did not have the chance to meet the Elders.

Rookie cultivators might have a chance of meeting Elder Cang Yan when he did his occasional guest appearance as the door-manning old man; however, they did not know he was an Elder.

Seeing Cang Yan and Jian Ge sit in the seats of honor, everyone was still in a daze, “Could they be…here to watch Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran’s match?”

Upon thinking of this possibility, people were in disbelief. But thinking further, Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran’s match was indeed a notable event!

“Amazing! This rookie ranking competition is getting the attention of the Elders?”

People looked at each other with puzzled faces. No matter how impressive Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran were, they were not at Qin Haotian’s level. They managed to get two Elders to watch them as rookies? This was really unbelievable.

At this moment, Cang Yan and Jian Ge calmly sat in the seats. It was indeed something that had never happened before, for some Elders to come in person to the arena.

They came here to see Yi Yun’s understanding of the Saber Truth’s 32 Words in person.

Although the Tai Ah Divine City’s video disk array could be used to record video, it was not enough to record laws that cultivators had insights into.

The unclear video images were unable to reflect the charm of the saber truths.

“Yi Yun! Chu Xiaoran! Divine Wilderness Stage!” The referee announced. With the two Elders here, the referee also felt pressure.

With his Thousand Army Saber in his hand, Yi Yun walked up onto the Divine Wilderness Stage. And his opponent, Chu Xiaoran held a soft sword in her hand. She had a quiet demeanor and she seemed to lack the sharpness of an expert.

As she walked, Chu Xiaoran glanced at the two elderly men in the seats of honor, “They are the Divine City’s Elders…The real pillars of support for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. They are stronger than my grandfather, my father and master…”

Chu Xiaoran came from the Chu family, which was a family clan with a deep heritage, but there was never a human sage in the family.

Even the current head of the Chu family was only a peak-human lord.

Chu Xiaoran had her own ambitions. She was determined to be the first sage in the Chu family. She wanted to start a new glorious chapter in the Chu family’s history. However, this ambition had always been buried deep in Chu Xiaoran’s heart. She had never mentioned this to anyone.

Now, having seen two sages at once, it struck a nerve.

In the future, she also wanted to reach that level!

A sage appeared once in 500 years. She wanted to be the strongest expert in the past 500 years! She could not fail here!

Chu Xiaoran drew out her sword. She was silent and her breaths were well tempered; however, her beautiful eyes could not hide her fighting spirit!

Yi Yun slowly drew out his Thousand Army Saber, “Chu Xiaoran, I know you are hiding your strength…And from the strength you have shown up to now, it is not enough to defeat me. If you do not use your trump card early on, you might not have the opportunity to use it.”

“Thank you for your advice! Make your move.” Chu Xiaoran was very calm. She was never more serious for this battle than before. It might be because of the appearance of the two sages that had ignited the fighting spirit in Chu Xiaoran!

She wanted to win!

At this moment, Yi Yun started to move.

His body moved like a gust of wind and the terrifying saber beam, which condensed into one that could shatter all kinds of blade beams, slashed down at Chu Xiaoran!

This move flooded the vision of everyone. Even at a distance, people felt that a long saber was hanging by their neck with a murderous intent!

A terrifying saber!

Chu Xiaoran contracted her pupils and she flew backwards to dodge the beam. Then, she stabbed her soft sword towards the beam.

All her body’s Yuan Qi also surged into the sword. This Yuan Qi was accompanied with an indescribable softness in it to meet the saber beam!

However, Yi Yun’s saber was much sharper than Chu Xiaoran’s sword!

With a “Chi Chi Chi” sound, the beam sliced through Chu Xiaoran’s sword Qi. All people could see was that the beam was travelling towards her face.

People could not help but exclaim!

Chu Xiaoran was a beautiful, young girl. If Qiuniu was slashed by the saber, it was alright. But no one could bear seeing Chu Xiaoran being slashed!

In a split second, just as Chu Xiaoran was about to be slashed by the saber, Yi Yun’s saber beam mysteriously shifted to the side.

Cha!

This slash eventually went parallel to Chu Xiaoran’s face, and it hit the purple tungsten ground heavily.

The solid purple tungsten stage quaked and a deep four feet long saber mark appeared on it!

Chu Xiaoran’s body fluttered thirty meters in the air before she landed softly on the ground, but…there were a few strands of hair that dropped down onto her cheeks…

What…happened just now?

The audience stared with their eyes wide open.

They were completely focused on the beam and they were afraid that they would miss an exciting moment. But even so, they could not clearly see what had happened during Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran’s clash.

It was too fast and in a split second, the two were separated apart. Following that, the stage was slashed open by the saber beam. It made people breathless.

“I clearly saw Yi Yun’s saber beam in front of Chu Xiaoran. Why did he not fully slash downwards. Did Yi Yun feel tenderness towards women at the last moment and held back?” Someone asked.

“Don’t be silly” A veteran cultivator shook his head. “You think she is a frail maiden? This is the Hard-Soft concept. Chu Xiaoran used the Hard-Soft concept at the last moment to dissipate Yi Yun’s force, but…she did not manage to dissipate all of it…”

Some of the veteran cultivators, who were ranked around 2000 on the Earth ranking, could clearly see Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran’s battle.

The Hard-Soft concept could dissipate many attacks, but if the difference in strength was too great, it still could not reverse the tide.

Many people noticed that a few strands of Chu Xiaoran’s hair had fallen off. It was Yi Yun who held the upper hand in their first engagement.

Yi Yun looked at his own saber and thought about the power from before. He was amazed that his saber could change directions against his will.

Yi Yun said, “Hard-Soft…It’s indeed amazing to use a weaker force to overcome a stronger force! But it is not enough to obtain victory with that. My first slash was just a probe. Following up, I will use all my strength!”

Probe!?

Hearing this, people turned speechless. Such a strong saber attack was just Yi Yun’s probe.

Many amongst them knew that they could not even resist this saber attack, nor did they know how to do so!

Previously, they knew Yi Yun was very strong. But they did not know how big the difference was. Now, they had an intuitive feel of the difference!

Now, it was no surprise that Qiuniu was defeated. They were not Qiuniu and did not know the pressure Qiuniu experienced when fighting Yi Yun. They would probably know the feeling if they were the one standing on stage.

241 - : Coming Together

On stage, Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was circulating. His aura continued to rise, while his Thousand Army Saber began to emit a light sound as his saber truth screamed out.

Yi Yun’s strength was constantly condensing like a surging tidal wave!

Seeing Yi Yun in such a state, Chu Xiaoran wiped away the hair that was cut by the saber Qi and took a light breath.

“Your saber is very strong… but I will defeat you!” Chu Xiaoran said seriously.

She held her soft sword in both of her hands and she stretched it out. A bluish-white glow circulated on the sword’s edges.

Her Yuan Qi condensed and very soon, a layer of frost formed on her sword.

The layer of frost became thicker, covering Chu Xiaoran’s sword, her hand, eventually spreading throughout her entire body.

A chill that penetrated into one’s bones had spread in all directions. Even the audience, who were far away, could feel this bone-chilling coldness.

“Is this Frost Qi? She has Ice Elemental Yuan Qi!?”

Many people in the audience hesitated for a moment. A warrior’s Yuan Qi could have many types of elemental properties. It was not odd for some of them to have ice elemental Yuan Qi. This was not enough to be Chu Xiaoran’s hidden strength, as Yuan Qi with elemental properties were not that much stronger…

Ice elemental Yuan Qi was no sensation. Fang Jihai, who Chu Xiaoran had previously defeated, was a fire elemental warrior.

Yuan Qi with an elemental property was easier to convert into an attack than non-elemental Yuan Qi, but it was not that much stronger!

Just as the audience was in a confused state, Heaven Earth Yuan Qi slowly began to condense behind Chu Xiaoran, forming a phantom image. It was the phantom image of a white wolf.

It was large in size, about 4 meters in height and seven meters long. It stood majestically behind Chu Xiaoran and it gave a strong visual impact.

“Glacier Snow Wolf! An ice elemental desolate beast… This is… manifestation of Yuan Qi?”

Manifestation of Yuan Qi was the phenomenon of coalescing the Yuan Qi emitted by one’s body into a physical form. This was something almost any Purple Blood warrior in the Tai Ah Divine City could do.

Qiuniu’s final attack, Sky Ox Tyrannous Blood, also used the manifestation of Yuan Qi. It had unleashed the phantom image of an ox, but it was still slashed through by Yi Yun.

It was not rare to have a manifestation of Yuan Qi in the Tai Ah Divine City.

But… some rookies realized that the white wolf behind Chu Xiaoran was different. It had an inexplicable spirit to it. It appeared to have a telepathic connection with Chu Xiaoran, it was as if it was formed from Chu Xiaoran’s soul, containing a part of Chu Xiaoran’s life force.

Besides, this huge white wolf contained a surging Power of Desolates within it. This was the strength only desolate beasts could have, but it was present in the Yuan Qi phantom image behind Chu Xiaoran. What was even more surprising was that the white wolf did not seem to be formed from Chu Xiaoran’s Yuan Qi, but seemed as if it was a real desolate beast!

Could it be…

The rookies were uncertain, but the veteran cultivators had long since identified it. It was not the manifestation of Yuan Qi, it was something of a higher level. It was something that only Yuan foundation realm warriors could do, Aspect Totem!

“Is it really Aspect Totem? How is this possible!?” People were astonished.

In the Divine wilderness, humans and desolate beasts were enemies. Desolate beasts would often eat humans and there would be beasts horde from time to time. A large city of a million households could be destroyed in a beast horde, which would lead to utter misery.

Even so, there were times when human warriors could not separate themselves from desolate beasts, as they could borrow the powers of the desolate beasts. This could be explained, starting with Aspect Totem.

Aspect Totem was the symbol of a Yuan foundation realm warrior.

When a warrior was at the peak of the Purple Blood realm, they would condense all of their blood essence into their Dantian, forging their Qi and their blood foundation. This was the beginning of the Yuan foundation!

To build a lofty tower, one had to build a stable foundation. The Yuan foundation was the foundation of the path of martial arts and it was an extremely important step.

After condensing one’s Yuan foundation, a warrior could absorb the energies of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and rank up. It was something that no Purple Blood warrior could match.

Just from this ability to gather energy, a warrior could gather the souls and Power of Desolates that escaped from a dead desolate beast that they had hunted in the wilderness. In the Yuan foundation, they would be able to gather and condense a Summon entity that belonged only to them.

When in a battle with others, they could then summon it, which would create a huge phantom image to strengthen their powers.

This Summon entity was known as the Aspect Totem.

Once the Aspect Totem was formed, it would always accompany the warrior. As a trademark, it was an important part of a warrior’s fighting ability.

Everyone’s Aspect Totem had a difference. They could grow continually, evolve and even morph.

Warriors above the Yuan foundation realm would often have to resort to using the Aspect Totem, when in a deathmatch with a difficult opponent, to increase their strength. This was the mark of a Yuan foundation realm warrior going all out in battle.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, there was a Heaven roll of honor. It was more important than the Earth roll of honor. The way that the Heaven roll was ranked depended on the number of desolate beasts one kills. The Heaven roll’s rewards were also the highest amongst the three rolls.

The warriors who charged up the Heaven roll would spend large amounts of time in the Divine wilderness killing desolate beasts. One of the reasons was to gain glory points, the second reason was to condense and strengthen their Aspect Totem.

The Aspect Totem could only be done by absorbing a desolate beast that one killed with their own hands. And it had to be done in a short timespan after the death of the desolate beast, because the desolate beast’s Power of Desolates and blood Qi would dissipate if they were not absorbed.

Before the Aspect Totem reached a bottleneck, one could form and strengthen their Aspect Totem by killing more desolate beasts!

Hence, the cultivation method of the veteran cultivators of the Tai Ah Divine City was to continuously hunt desolate beasts. It could increase their strength and also, it would earn them resources. It was like killing two birds with one stone.

As for Chu Xiaoran, having arrived in the Tai Ah Divine City three months ago, she never took part in the rookie jobs due to her outstanding strength. She only went into the Divine wilderness to hunt desolate beasts!

This meant that she had a head start on all the other rookies.

People originally thought Chu Xiaoran would, at most, earn more dragon scale runes; no one expected that she would condense a Aspect Totem!

“She… can’t be a Yuan foundation realm warrior, right?”

“Impossible! Even many of the cultivators who have been in the Tai Ah Divine City for 3-4 years have yet to break through to the Yuan foundation realm. Chu Xiaoran may be extremely gifted, but it can not be to the point where she can break through so early. Besides, if you reach the Yuan foundation realm too early, you might not be able to accumulate enough energy. And this is actually not beneficial.”

Many people discussed this. In the seats of honor, Elder Jian Ge stroked his beard and looked at Chu Xiaoran with surprise. “This is ‘Aspect Before Yuan’… The Tai Ah Divine City has not had a junior like this in a long time…”

Aspect Totem was something that warriors in the Yuan foundation realm could perform. But in this world, there were always some exceptions. Some people had a close affinity with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi or Power of Desolates. With excellent perceptivity, they could coalesce a Aspect Totem that belonged to them in the Purple Blood realm!

This sort of Aspect Totem was known as Aspect Before Yuan.

By being able to demonstrate a small portion of the strength of a Yuan foundation realm warrior, without being a Yuan foundation realm warrior, it was obvious how strong their battle power would be.

There were all sorts of specializations. Many geniuses had their own forte, but it was not easy to be good at everything. For example, Qin Haotian was an extraordinary swordsman, but even he could not form Aspect Before Yuan!

This meant that Chu Xiaoran had an extraordinary talent in using Aspect Totem!

The Aspect Totem was an important part of a Divine wilderness warrior’s battle power, it was really important for those of the Yuan foundation realm or above.

Obviously, the Aspect Totem had different strengths. The same Aspect Totem formed from the same type of desolate beast might have different powers, depending on the different warriors’ absorption of the Power of Desolates. This was related to a person’s talent and intelligence.

And there was no doubt that Chu Xiaoran was one of the best.

In the future, when she reached a higher realm, she would hold the upper hand against warriors of the same level. It was equivalent to her using a higher level Aspect Totem against others.

Cang Yan said, “To be precise, it is not a complete Aspect Before Yuan. It is just Embryonic Aspect, but that is still pretty impressive! I think there is a need to take this little maiden to the sword tomb.”

Cang Yan’s eyes glowed with excitement. His expression looked like a grave robber who had just seen a rare treasure.

Elder Jian Ge simply gave a deep sigh. Surprisingly, he did not oppose it. That was because none of the people who were able to create an Aspect Before Yuan lacked perceptivity. Indeed, she should enter the sword tomb once.

Jian Ge said, “This little maiden is also very sensitive to frost laws. Her Aspect Totem is also an ice elemental… She must have gained some insight into a portion of the ice elemental nomological truths. If not, it would not be that easy to form the embryonic form of Aspect Totem in the Purple Blood realm.”

The Aspect Totem could increase the strength of warriors, but it wasn’t just a mere increase in a warrior’s energy intensity.

Another very important point was that it allowed warriors to gain further insight into laws related to energy.

For example, Chu Xiaoran had a deep understanding of the hard-soft and frost ice laws.

The Aspect Totem she chose was an ice elemental in nature.

She had been continuously hunting ice elemental desolate beasts. The Power of Desolates that escaped from these ice elemental desolate beasts was also ice elemental in nature.

After Chu Xiaoran absorbed all of these ice elemental Power of Desolates, she merged them together into her Aspect Totem. Hence, her Aspect Totem was also an ice elemental.

As a result, when Chu Xiaoran enters a battle, just from the help from the Aspect Totem, she would gain bonus effects when she used ice elemental Yuan Qi.

It could be imagined as if Chu Xiaoran had brought a real ice elemental desolate beast, which had a telepathic connection with her, into battle against Yi Yun.

It was equivalent to fighting two against one.

“Is this Aspect Totem…? This is my first time seeing this… So that’s what it looks like…”

Yi Yun had no systematic study of martial arts. Even before leaving the Lian tribal clan, Yi Yun did not know what the realm above the Purple Blood realm was.

Although he later learned about the Yuan foundation, he did not know the hallmark of the Yuan foundation realm warriors, nor what special abilities they possessed. Yi Yun did not even know how to go from the Purple Blood realm to the Yuan foundation realm.

Yi Yun had not seen many Yuan foundation realm warriors before coming to the Tai Ah Divine City. Besides Lin Xintong, Yi Yun had never seen them fight.

And when he sparred with Lin Xintong, due to the great difference in ability, Lin Xintong naturally did not need to use her Aspect Totem.

…

Author’s Note: Many people asked Cocooned what martial art realms are there in “True Martial World”. About these setups, Cocooned has given them a great deal of thought. Different realms will not just have different names. There will be an essential difference. These setups will be written slowly as the plot unfolds. It will present an interesting and complete power system to everyone.

242 - : Aspect Totem

After Chu Xiaoran summoned her Aspect Totem, her aura was completely different. A pure chill now covered her entire body.

Seeing Chu Xiaoran in this state, the audience became secretly horrified. It was as if the person on stage was a snow lotus, growing on an icy divine mountain. The Glacier Snow Wolf behind her boosted this strong visual impact!

Chu Xiaoran’s blade faced the ground. What was once a soft ‘like water’ sword was now suddenly turning hard and sharp. This cold blade then stabbed into the purple tungsten stage.

Phew~

A cold wind blew out from the stage! Frost Qi began to emanate, with Chu Xiaoran’s sword as its center.

Ka-cha! Ka-cha!

Column after column of ice pillars formed on the stage’s platform. The entire Divine Wilderness Stage had now turned into a forest of ice, with Chu Xiaoran at the center.

Yi Yun stood inside the the ice forest, facing Chu Xiaoran’s sword, experiencing the bone-chilling coldness around him.

Seeing this scene, the audience became shocked. These ice pillars were formed from Chu Xiaoran’s Yuan Qi. A Purple Blood realm warrior could actually form a ice forest using her body’s Yuan Qi? How much Yuan Qi was that!?

A Purple Blood warrior’s body had limited amount of Yuan Qi. If typical warriors were to do the same as Chu Xiaoran, they would be drained of all their body’s Yuan Qi, making them unable to battle anymore.

“Oh… This ice forest…”

Yi Yun looked around and frowned slightly. He could feel that each ice column had a spiritual connection with Chu Xiaoran.

Interfacing with his Purple Crystal, he opened his energy vision. Now, Yi Yun could see that each ice column contained extremely pure energy. And this energy had thousands of connections with Chu Xiaoran.

The ice column’s energies came from Chu Xiaoran’s body, but at the same time, these ice columns also gathered Yuan Qi from the surroundings to supply Chu Xiaoran.

“This is an array technique!”Yi Yun suddenly realized.

The ice forest may seem to consume a great portion of Chu Xiaoran’s energy, but once it was set up, Chu Xiaoran would be supplied with energy from this array technique, while fighting within the ice forest’s boundary. As a result, she would have an absolute advantage in it.

“Is this how the ice laws are used…?”

Yi Yun knew that by controlling ice elemental energy, one could only use Frost Qi to attack enemies. It could definitely not be used to create such an exquisite array setup with magical effects.

Laws are the fundamental principles behind energy. By grasping the understanding of laws, one would be able to wield their methods for using energy.

The higher the realm of laws, then the application of energy would be closer to perfection!

At this moment, Chu Xiaoran attacked!

When she stabbed out, if was as if all the Frost Qi on the stage was drawn out. The energy within the ice column array was driven by Chu Xiaoran’s attack, now sweeping towards Yi Yun!

“Peak Frost Lotus!”

Chu Xiaoran twisted her blade and the surge of Frost Qi formed a huge ice lotus in the air which shot towards Yi Yun.

This unrestrained sword Qi did not break through the ice columns when it entered the ice column inside the array, instead it moved through it unimpeded.

Just from this move alone, one could see the level Chu Xiaoran had attained in her ice laws.

Facing this attack, Yi Yun charged forward with pure Yang Yuan Qi injected into the Thousand Army Saber. With a slash of his blade, the saber Qi laws appeared once again

“Cha!”

The saber beam shot into the sky, and Yi Yun’s saber Qi had a fierce collision with Chu Xiaoran’s sword Qi.

The two aimed to better the other. Boom!

When the aftershock of the immense explosion approached, both Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran were pushed back. When Yi Yun was retreating, his eyes suddenly focused and he abruptly lifted his head. Just above him, the huge Glacier Snow Wolf was attacking him!

Its white killer fangs flashed. Although it was a phantom image formed from the Power of Desolates, it could still fight like a real beast!

The Glacier Snow Wolf attacked downwards with both claws!

Its seven meters long body possessed claws that were like a row of sharp swords. These swords slashed at him, right at Yi Yun’s throat!

At this moment, Yi Yun had just finished his move, and having used up his energy, he could not muster any more at this time. Facing the Glacier Snow Wolf’s attack, Yi Yun forcefully twisted his body in midair.

Minute Subtlety!

Although Yi Yun could not fly, he could use his Minute Subtlety movement technique to be in one with his surroundings. He did not need to touch anything to control his movements!

His body moved to the side and at the same time, he slashed out with his saber!

“Dang!”

The Thousand Army Saber clashed with the wolf’s claws. Yi Yun felt his chest go numb. Having received this strong blow, he retreated backwards. With his feet on the ground, he used the Thousand Army Saber to cut through the ground. Due to the strong impact, Yi Yun had slid backwards a distance of seven meters. The Thousand Army Saber had caused a series of sparks on the purple tungsten metal!

Before Yi Yun could recover his breath, he suddenly had a change in expression.

He realized that he had landed in the middle of six ice columns!

And in his energy vision, he could clearly see that these six ice columns were brighter than other ice columns. They had gathered a lot of energy and seemed like a volcano about to erupt.

That’s bad!

Without any further thought, Yi Yun leaped upwards. And just before he leaped up, the six ice columns exploded simultaneously!

The flying ice fragments, which were like tiny ice swords, charged towards Yi Yun!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Yi Yun waved his Thousand Army Saber and covered his entire body with saber beams. Each icicle was destroyed by the Thousand Army Saber, but there were still some tiny icicles that pierced Yi Yun’s protective Qi, cutting open Yi Yun’s flesh!

Suddenly, blood started to fly everywhere!

Yi Yun had been injured!

The audience were shocked. This was the first time Yi Yun was injured in the competition!

Chu Xiaoran’s attack was too terrifying. Her continuous attacks were dazzling!

Previously, Chu Xiaoran did not reveal her real strength. Against Long Li, she had achieved victory with her weakest abilities. This was not because Chu Xiaoran wanted to appear weak on purpose. The reason was that if she was to use her ice laws and Aspect Totem, her attacks would be like a storm! A person like Long Li would have no way of handling it!

At this moment, before people could react, they saw Chu Xiaoran flying through the air like a snow spirit.

Chu Xiaoran was now making her second move!

Without stopping, she sent out attack after attack. Even the audience, who were watching the battle from the sidelines, had no chance to take a break, Yi Yun even less so as he was on stage!

Chu Xiaoran slashed her sword, making sword beams appear like a torrential ocean!

At this moment, the color of Chu Xiaoran’s eyes turned icy-blue. It was as if her pupils contained endless glaciers within them!

Chu Xiaoran slashed with her sword, behind her, another six ice columns simultaneously exploded. The fragmented ice crystals were then guided by Chu Xiaoran’s sword, flying towards Yi Yun!

At the same time, the Glacier Snow Wolf behind Chu Xiaoran howled. It then entered the sword and became the sword’s soul! This, together with the fragmented ice crystals, was Chu Xiaoran’s strongest attack! This was the extreme power of her attack!

“Azure Blue Frost Sea, Ephemeral Beauty!” Chu Xiaoran softly said those words, as if they were a poem with a picturesque sword beam!

If Chu Xiaoran was said to be a snow lotus, then the beauty she had been accumulating for a millennium was now being released in an instant!

This attack seemed to stop time. Everyone’s expression seemed to have frozen.

Chu Xiaoran’s strength was too terrifying, and it was deeply profound. It was heaven-shaking once it was revealed!

How could one block such an attack!?

Seeing this torrential tide of blue sword beams shooting towards him, Yi Yun constricted his pupils. His irises reflected the approaching sword beams. The cold Frost Qi and killing intent was going to destroy everything!

At this moment, Yi Yun’s mind was as still as water.

With his right hand gripping the Thousand Army Saber’s hilt, he injected all of his spirit energy into the saber’s blade.

Saber Truth’s 32 Words – Killing At Its Core!

In a split second, a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood seemed to appeared behind Yi Yun. Shura Hell!

The color of blood started to spread as cold killing intent sealed their surroundings!

Back when the saber tomb’s owner gained his insight into the saber truths, he had gone through numerous battles and killed a countless amounts of people!

The real saber truths were not something one could write in any book, it was something that had to be forged in the Shura Hell’s sea of blood!

The way of the saber was to press forward with indomitable will to kill everything!

This attack was the strongest saber move Yi Yun learned in the saber tomb!

When he slashed his saber, it was as if everything in the world disappeared, leaving only a blood-red blade beam. It looked as if it would slice through the arena!

What? This is!?

At the moment Yi Yun slashed out, Cang Yan and Jian Ge became deeply shocked. Cang Yan even stood up from his seat.

This kid!

Cang Yan’s eyes lit up. Previously when Chu Xiaoran condensed the Aspect Before Yuan phenomenon and displayed her ice laws, Cang Yan and Jian Ge were only appreciative. They were not as shocked as they were now!

Yi Yun’s saber and Chu Xiaoran’s sword collided once again!

The saber was like an emperor!

The sword was like a sovereign!

Boom!

The ice crystals shattered, the white wolf howled and the sea of blood swelled!

There was a terrifying explosion, which caused a shockwave to materialise and spread throughout the arena

Cha! Cha! Cha!

Pieces of ice crystals pierced Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi!

The Power of Desolates, which formed the Glacier Snow Wolf, also surged through Yi Yun’s body and meridians in a rampant manner.

Yi Yun even felt his blood momentarily freeze. Although he quickly circulated his Pure Yang Qi to melt the Frost Qi, it still left Yi Yun pale, and his blood flow chaotic.

He was once again injured. He could deeply feel the scariness of Chu Xiaoran. She was strong, not only in her strength, but also in her battle tactics, techniques and in her understanding of the laws!

When Yi Yun gained insight into the killer moves of the Saber Truth’s 32 Words, he was in no way weaker than Chu Xiaoran in terms of attack power. But with her techniques, she managed to overwhelm him with her attacks. Chu Xiaoran had even estimated where he would land after blocking the Glacier Snow Wolf’s attack. She had gathered the energy within the six ice columns ahead of time to explode the moment Yi Yun landed on the ground!

From the first attack and the Glacier Snow Wolf’s attack combo, followed up by the ice columns’ explosion, these three attacks were the foundation of Chu Xiaoran’s final attack. This attack was Chu Xiaoran’s real deathblow!

These type of calculations for this one attack was unbelievable, and Chu Xiaoran was just a thirteen year old girl!

243 - : Emperor Saber, Sovereign Sword

Those who watched the match between Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran were at a loss for words on how to describe it.

The arena, that could hold thousands of people, had become so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

Although they were also elites, when they compared themselves with Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran, they felt that there was a huge gap between them and this duo. In front of this duo, they did not dare to refer to themselves as elites. They felt more like they were ordinary people.

“Chu Xiaoran is frightening. It is a surprise that she hid so much of her power. Not only does she have extraordinary perceptivity, she has even formed Aspect Before Yuan. Even her battle tactics were well-planned. She almost managed to corner Yi Yun!”

“That Yi Yun is also ridiculously strong. After receiving such a combo attack, he was still able to handle Chu Xiaoran’s final attack, though he did receive injuries…”

Yi Yun was now in the middle of the stage, his body covered with plenty of bloody wounds. One could see that Yi Yun’s blood was in chaos, it was most likely due to Chu Xiaoran’s Frost Qi entering his body!

In contrast, besides some messy hair and a bit of damage to her clothes, Chu Xiaoran was not injured at all. Yi Yun’s final attack, Killing At Its Core, had been suppressed by Chu Xiaoran’s “Azure Blue Frost Sea, Ephemeral Beauty”!

Chu Xiaoran held the absolute upper hand in the final blow!

The Saber Truth’s 32 Words were profound, allowing Yi Yun to touch the genius of the saber truths, but… Yi Yun did not have enough time to gain further insights into the saber truths.

No matter how heaven-defying the Saber Truth’s 32 Words were, Yi Yun had gained far too little insight in them until now. His saber attack was not as powerful as Chu Xiaoran’s final sword attack.

“Will Yi Yun… lose to Chu Xiaoran?”

Seeing this situation, Chu Xiaoran clearly had the advantage. Yi Yun was already injured and he was still standing inside Chu Xiaoran’s ice array!

People looked forward to seeing either Chu Xiaoran’s unstoppable stance, where she would use her advantage to defeat Yi Yun or Yi Yun reversing the situation and obtaining victory with a counterattack.

As for what people were hoping for, no one expected what was to happen next. Chu Xiaoran suddenly turned to the referee and sighed, “I admit defeat!”

What!?

When Chu Xiaoran said this, the entire audience became stupefied.

Chu Xiaoran admitted defeat!?

She clearly had the upper hand. She had completely overwhelmed Yi Yun with her final blow. Why did she admit defeat?!

Chu Xiaoran did not bother to explain and merely began walking off the stage. Just as she was about to step off the stage, she turned around and looked at Yi Yun.

“My loss to you today was due to my unrefined skills. In the future… when I have consolidated my Aspect Totem, and when I am able to fully control the ice forest array, I will battle you once more!” After having said that, Chu Xiaoran walked straight to the arena’s exit.

She was leaving just like that!

People were shocked. What was going on? In what aspect did Chu Xiaoran lose? Why did she admit defeat?

Was there something in the last move that they did not understand? For example, did Yi Yun have the opportunity to take Chu Xiaoran’s life, but because of the no killing rule, or because he had tender feelings for women, he deliberately stayed his blade?

People began speculating.

Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran’s strengths were stronger than a vast majority of them. It was normal for them not to understand certain aspects of the battle.

But amongst these speculations, someone disagreed.

The person who disagreed was a veteran cultivator, who was ranked in the top 1000 of the Earth roll.

“It is none of those…” The person shook his head, “It’s stamina! Chu Xiaoran had injected all of her Yuan Qi into her final attack. It was her killing blow and her only attack. By not defeating her opponent, she lost! The attack’s power may have been very strong, and it had great understanding of the laws contained within it, but… as a Purple Blood realm warrior, she had used the Aspect Totem that Yuan foundation realm warriors use. This had already caused a great strain on her Yuan Qi consumption. Not only that, she also formed the ice forest array, which further increased her strength, but it also used more of her Yuan Qi.”

“After using those techniques, it was already a miracle that Chu Xiaoran could attack twice. But that was her limit. Chu Xiaoran must have learned this move recently, so there would be many limitations to using it…” Hearing the person’s explanation, people were dumbfounded.

Stamina! So that was it!

It made sense. That type of terrifying attack was definitely not one that someone could use again and again.

“But… Yi Yun should also have been greatly drained! Chu Xiaoran spent so much of her stamina, so there’s no reason why Yi Yun should have that much more left…”

“Actually, there is a reason.” The person looked at Yi Yun and, after some thought, he explained, “From the beginning of the match, Yi Yun had been dodging most of the time. Thus, his energy consumption was far less than Chu Xiaoran’s. Furthermore, Yi Yun did not use any moves that greatly increased his battle power, so he would have more Yuan Qi than Chu Xiaoran. Chu Xiaoran must have seen through this and felt that she could no longer win if it dragged on, so she admitted defeat…”

Hearing this person’s explanation, everyone felt enlightened.

It was stamina that allowed Yi Yun to win!

He may have lost the final clash, but he had won in terms of stamina!

After all, stamina was a part of one’s strength. But compared to the understanding of laws and concepts, as well as the cultivation techniques one learned, stamina was secondary.

This was because, as a warrior’s cultivation level became higher, their Yuan Qi would grow thicker, which would naturally increase their stamina.

As for cultivation levels, those were just a matter of time for the elites present.

But the understanding of laws and concepts, as well as the cultivation techniques one learned, they were all different. This was a person’s foundation. They determined a person’s martial arts attainment in the future.

The degree of a person’s talent was comprehensively determined by these factors!

The talent Chu Xiaoran had with laws and totems, was the reason why many found her terrifying.

“Chu Xiaoran, having just learned this move, was at a disadvantage for not having it well-honed. In the future, when Chu Xiaoran ranks up, solidifying her foundations and improving her understanding of the laws, the result will be completely different when she then battles Yi Yun again…” Someone said.

“It is possible. But Yi Yun is also not bad himself. Although he does not have much in the understandings of laws, and cannot form an Aspect Before Yuan, his saber is still really terrifying! Just with that saber, he could slash through anything!”

In this rookie ranking competition, Yi Yun had only slashed his saber a few times. But each slash he produced shocked the hearts of many!

When the saber beam flared, even at tens of meters away, they would feel as if the beam was close by!

Everyone agreed to what was said. But someone still shook his head, “Saber truths are just killing moves. It may be strong, and it could kill someone mercilessly, but just killing moves aren’t much compared to a person’s cultivation techniques and concepts! It is not the foundation of a warrior!”

“If Yi Yun is not impressive in other aspects, many cultivators will slowly catch up with him! Just his saber moves alone will not allow him to last long in the Tai Ah Divine City. ”

“Amongst the veteran cultivators, Qin Haotian, who is excellent in the way of the sword, doesn’t fully rely on his sword alone.” The person who said this was a veteran cultivator. In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, people had always weighed cultivation techniques over attack moves.

This was because a person’s cultivation technique could allow one to go far. Attack moves however, just allowed one to shine amongst people of the same level. If one could not raise one’s level in the future and then not become a sage, then no matter how strong their attack moves were, their lifespan would be shorter than others. So what was the point to it then?

This was something that most people present understood.

Yi Yun’s saber moves were strong, while Chu Xiaoran was good at laws and aspects. But, relatively speaking, people were more optimistic about Chu Xiaoran’s future.

Perhaps, in four years time, the number one person on the Heaven and Earth rolls would be Chu Xiaoran.

Even in her last battle against Yi Yun, many people felt that Chu Xiaoran did not deserve to lose. After all, in the final attack, Chu Xiaoran held the absolute advantage. Also, Chu Xiaoran’s combo attack and the ice forest array were stunning. She had only lost due to her lack of stamina.

…

The second last day of the rookie ranking competition had ended. Many people were prepared to leave, but seeing the two Elders present, they felt that it would be more polite to let the Elders leave first.

But on the seats of honor, Jian Ge and Cang Yan had no intentions of leaving.

Jian Ge had his head slightly bowed as if deep in thought, while Cang Yan was stroking his beard. His eyes were moving around, with no way of guessing what he was thinking about.

Although the last move Yi Yun made had been suppressed by Chu Xiaoran’s sword, it still shocked them greatly.

The rookies and veteran cultivators in the arena did not know the significance of this attack. Even some of the law-enforcers only had a vague understanding.

But the two old men, Jian Ge and Cang Yan, knew it well. In no exaggerating terms, that one move had opened up the path of Yi Yun’s martial arts!

The law-enforcers beside Cang Yan and Jian Ge did not move and stood still as they saw that the Elders had no intentions of leaving.

Many cultivators glanced at the seats of honor. They did not know why the two Elders were still sitting there. Would they review the battle?

But even after waiting for a long while, the two Elders still did nothing. They could only decide whether they should leave or not.

“It is unexpected that the rookie ranking competition would end prematurely. This year’s rookie ranking competition sure was exciting!”

“It may have ended, but there is still tomorrow. Do you plan on watching?”

“I don’t think so. Chu Xiaoran and Yi Yun have already fought, and there is no more suspense left in the rankings. But… Chu Xiaoran and Yi Yun might carry on challenging the higher ranking veteran cultivators?”

According to the rules of the rookie ranking competition, once the rookies competed against one another, as long as one beat the other, the winner would be ranked ahead of the loser. Even if Chu Xiaoran were to exceed Yi Yun’s ranking on the Earth roll tomorrow, Yi Yun would still be ranked first amongst the rookies.

There was no more suspense.

“Challenging veteran cultivators? It should also be an exciting match, but… I can probably guess. As Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran have similar strengths, they should both rank somewhere around the top 2000!”

“2000? Probably. They might even enter 1900. I plan on watching tomorrow’s matches. I want to see if they can enter the top 2000!”

People began discussing, they were secretly horrified. It was terrifying to think that people could enter the top 2000 from the rookie ranking competition alone!

After all, the people ranked there were already trying to form their Yuan foundation.

People began to stand up as they planned to leave the arena. Yi Yun had sheathed his Thousand Army Saber and he was also prepared to leave. He had a lot to digest after today’s battle.

Chu Xiaoran may have lost to him, but she had still given him a lesson.

Chu Xiaoran taught Yi Yun that a battle could be fought in such a way. The path of martial arts could be trained in this manner!

As Yi Yun was preparing to leave, he suddenly heard a familiar, but wretched, Yuan Qi voice transmission, “Rotten rascal, aren’t you going to say hello before you leave? Don’t you know courtesy, or how to show your elders respect!?”

244 - : Victory and Defeat

Hearing this voice, Yi Yun turned his head. He saw Cang Yan waving at him from the seats of honor. At this moment, the old man was smiling happily, revealing a row of bright white teeth.

This old man.

Yi Yun groaned in his mind. However, he was still very grateful towards Cang Yan. Although Cang Yan did not have any real intentions of grooming him and it was all the result of an unintentional fluke, it was still a significant event for Yi Yun.

It could be said that Cang Yan had pointed out a new path on the road of martial arts for Yi Yun!

The path of martial arts was extensive and profound, abstruse and complicated. There were too many things a martial artist could chose between. If one had the skill, one could choose everything!

But without skill, focusing on a single aspect and doing well in it, would be the best choice.

Yi Yun’s contact with martials arts had so far been very short. There were many things he did not know. Things like the Saber Truth’s 32 Words, Aspect Totems and nomological truths, were all realms that Yi Yun had no previous contact with.

He was like a dried up sponge that had been thrown into an ocean of martial arts. Now, he was greedily absorbing all of it.

Yi Yun walked towards Cang Yan and Jian Ge.

At this moment, the vast majority of the audience had yet to stand up to show respect for the Elders, so when they saw Yi Yun walking towards the Elders, they were shocked.

“The Elder called Yi Yun over!”

Everyone saw Cang Yan waving his hand. Many turned envious when they saw that an Elder of the Tai Ah Divine City was calling over a newcomer with such a friendly expression.

“Yi Yun greets Elder Jian Ge, and greets senior.”

Yi Yun still did not know Cang Yan’s name.

“What you just used was a saber technique learned from the Saber Truth’s 32 Words, correct?” Elder Jian Ge asked as he looked at Yi Yun.

“Yes!”

Yi Yun nodded. Just as he said this, he felt his heart go cold. Once again, Yi Yun felt that his body was being seen through! He felt that Elder Jian Ge’s eyes were seeing through every inch of his flesh and blood, all the way into his bones! Even the Heaven’s eyeball he had formed was now being carefully examined by Elder Jian Ge.

Of course… Jian Ge did not find anything in particular. The Purple Crystal in Yi Yun’s chest carried on pulsating within Yi Yun’s heart. It did not deliberately hide itself, as if it completely ignored Jian Ge’s action. It was as if it was a god that treated mortal beings with indifference.

“Old man Jian, what are you checking? Could it be that you think this junior has had a fortuitous chance that has caught your interest?”

Cang Yan noticed Jian Ge’s actions and teased him with a Yuan Qi voice transmission.

Jian Ge slightly frowned and replied with a Yuan Qi transmission, “Don’t frivolously joke around. How can I covet what belongs to a junior? I am merely curious. But it seems that he does not possess some amazing chance. His constitution is average. Maybe he ate some treasure, opening up his meridians, allowing him to complete the beginning steps of martial arts. As for his perceptivity, it should be inborn…”

Yi Yun’s constitution was average. As a sage, that much was obvious at a glance. Besides, Yi Yun’s cultivation level was not too ridiculous. It had not even reached the late stages of Purple Blood yet. Relative to other aspects of him, this Purple Blood cultivation level was not much.

“Did you read any top saber manuals before you entered the saber tomb?”

Jian Ge asked again. If Yi Yun had some fortuitous event by being able to read some saber truth mystic techniques, then Jian Ge could comprehend this situation better. Of course, this was very unlikely.

However, Yi Yun shook his head.

Elder Jian Ge nodded slightly, “I understand. In the future, if you want to enter the saber tomb again, you can just go through me or Cang Yan. We will not require you to pay anything. As for other resources, if you want to use those, you will still have to pay the usual price. That is the rules of the Tai Ah Divine City.”

Nothing could be accomplished without rules. Naturally, the survival of the fittest rules that the Tai Ah Divine City enforced on the cultivators had to be followed.

The saber tomb was not used by anyone, so there was no point in leaving it idle. There was no problem in letting Yi Yun freely use it.

But other resources were not the same. Many of them were vied for by other cultivators, risking their lives for them. If the Elders practiced favoritism, and directly gave them to Yi Yun, it would be hard to placate the masses.

Upon hearing this, Yi Yun was overjoyed. He really wanted to enter the saber tomb again. But one glory point a day was far too expensive. He could not afford to enter it even if he was rich.

“Kid, you lucked out.” Cang Yan chuckled. “Practice well. It is unknown which amazing person passed down the Saber Truth’s 32 Words. Even sages who entered the tomb were unable to gain a lot of insight from those words…”

“What? Even sages were unable to understand it!?”

Hearing Cang Yan’s words shocked Yi Yun. Sages were omnipotent figures to Yi Yun, but now Cang Yan said that even sages were helpless against the Saber Truth’s 32 Words.

“There is little common ground for understanding between people of differing principles. The saber and sword tomb have been sleeping underneath the Tai Ah Divine City for tens of millions of years. Sages can enter them freely, but not every sage is proficient with saber or sword truths. Even those accomplished in the way of the sword or saber may not be able to adapt to the laws hidden within the saber and sword tomb.” Cang Yan said and glanced at Jian Ge. “Old man Jian uses a sword. He has the most authority on this.”

Elder Jian Ge was famous for his sword. His sword was always held behind his back. He never kept it within an interspatial ring. This was to allow him to subtly transform, to slowly become one with the sword.

The Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators had never seen Elder Jian Ge’s swordplay. But just from his title, “The sage famous for his sword”, that was more than sufficient to explain Jian Ge’s achievement in the way of the sword.

Hearing Cang Yan mention his experience in learning from the sword tomb, Jian Ge filled with mixed emotions. He said, “When I was young, I indeed entered the sword tomb. After trying to gain insights for several months, I finally got some results. But after I learned a few of the sword moves, I slowly reached a bottleneck. I was stumped by some of the sword truths. I could not understand them… or grasp them. Later on, I continued to constantly make new attempts. These attempts took me a thousand years. Within this period, I tried many different methods which I thought was the correct path to take, but I was still unable to go any further…”

“A thousand years!?”

Yi Yun was alarmed. In this alternate world, it seemed like a thousand years was nothing. Being a person who had lived for about two decades in his previous life, he clearly knew the concept of a thousand years. A mortal dynasty would last for just about 300 years.

Jian Ge said, “It might be that the understandings of the sword truths I gained at the very beginning may have already been leading me astray, without my knowledge. Although I might have gone astray, the things I gained from the tomb were still useful.”

“The sword tomb’s way of the sword is a large path. It’s realm is extremely high, so high that I cannot fathom it. It is like a gigantic maze. By being in it, I did not know which path would be the correct one. I could only walk through it haphazardly. Maybe when I eventually reach the exit, will I finally know that I was walking on the correct path, but… that is too far away for me…”

“Large path?”

Yi Yun was slightly stunned. A large path that even made a sage feel despair, and even to the point of going astray. Furthermore, he could not even verify if he had done so…

“Yes, it is a large path. In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, people have always weighed cultivation techniques over attack moves. This is understandable. After all, a cultivation technique can allow a person to breakthrough to different realms, while attack moves cannot. But in fact, attack moves and paths are two different things. Saber moves are saber moves, while the saber truths are the way of the saber. They are fundamentally different. If you can understand the essence of the way of the saber, then it will be the same as understanding nomological truths. It can assist you in becoming a peak-sage, and maybe even reach a higher realm, but that is too difficult…”

Elder Jian Ge sighed. He had only said this casually. Although he appreciated Yi Yun, he had never thought of the possibility that Yi Yun would one day be able to reach such a point.

Peak-sage was a realm reached by the founding emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and the first City Lord of the Tai Ah Divine City. As for exceeding a sage, this was not worth mentioning. In the entire history, ever since the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was founded, there had never been a person who exceeded a sage.

Due to the arduous path of martial arts, the words casually spoken by Elder Jian Ge’s might have been due to some regrets he felt, but this greatly benefited Yi Yun.

Saber moves… Saber truths…

Since the words in the saber tomb were something Jian Ge described as a large path, then it was certain that it would allow him to go far in the future.

Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal Origins. The vision the Purple Crystal Origins gave Yi Yun allowed him to see the origins of energy. With this qualification, and him being able to freely enter the saber tomb, he had everything aligned in his favor. If he still could not gain something out of it, Yi Yun’s inability to comprehend it could no longer be justified.

Let’s understand it. Let’s see how far I can walk on this path!

Jian Ge and Cang Yan left, leaving behind Yi Yun, who was still ruminating over the words spoken to him by the two Elders. As for the others there, they were looking enviously at Yi Yun.

As the two Elders had isolated their voices by generating an invisible Yuan Qi forcefield, all the other cultivators present did not know the contents of the conversation between Yi Yun and the two Elders. But from the pleasant expression the Elder had, it was obvious that they appreciated Yi Yun.

If they could be called over by an Elder to receive guidance.. it was something worth losing a decade of their lives over.

As people were admiring Yi Yun, they saw Yi Yun walking down from the seats of honor, towards the referee.

“Oh? What’s the matter?”

The referee made the initiative to ask as he saw Yi Yun walking over. Previously, this referee had seen Yi Yun talking to the two Elders.

For a junior to be paid attention to by Elders, it was insufficient from being the number one rookie. The referee also thought highly of Yi Yun because of the Elders’ appreciation.

“Oh… It’s this. I want to declare the opponent I want to challenge tomorrow.”

After Yi Yun against won Chu Xiaoran, he had clinched the title of being number one amongst the rookies. It created a premature end to the rookie ranking competition. But, he could still battle to rush up the Earth roll tomorrow.

“Oh? Tomorrow’s opponents? You can tell me tomorrow. There’s no hurry.” The referee looked at Yi Yun in an amiable manner. It was good that Yi Yun wanted to carry on rushing upwards.

“I think it’s best to say it now, so that the person has some time to prepare.” Yi Yun grinned with a bright smile.

For some unknown reason, the referee hesitated for a moment when he saw Yi Yun’s smile. It felt like there was something malevolence hidden within that smile.

“Prepare?” The referee was curious. It was just a match, not a training excursion outside. What was there to prepare?

245 - : Rushing Up the Earth Roll

As Yi Yun spoke to the referee, many of the cultivators present were looking at them. Yi Yun was at the center of attention, so it was even more eye-catching when he spoke to the referee.

The spectators suddenly realized that Yi Yun was submitting his challenge for tomorrow.

“Yi Yun is climbing up the Earth roll!” Someone said excitedly. Yi Yun’s next match was definitely going to be exciting.

“That’s for sure! It is not only Yi Yun, but even Chu Xiaoran should carry on climbing up. With their strength already revealed, they can at least enter the top 2000. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.”

The audience was buzzing with activity. Some were looking forward to it, while others were sullen.

Especially the veteran cultivators who were ranked around the top 2000. They did not look forward to it. Their positions had suddenly become very delicate. If they were unlucky, and got challenged by Yi Yun or Chu Xiaoran, it might become a tragedy for them.

Just from today’s battle, they knew that Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran’s level of strength was very similar. Neither one of them would be an easy opponent. It was definitely not easy for them to win!

The veterans were older and they had a higher cultivation level. They had been around and about for a longer period of time. It was not admirable for them to beat their opponent by a small margin.

That was just being optimistic. But if one was being pessimistic, they could even lose accidentally, and that would be shameful.

There was no benefit in winning, and losing meant that you would lose a lot of face. No one wanted to be picked for a battle like that!

“I wonder who the kid will challenge…”

Many people began to focus their ears on Yi Yun’s words. The arena was very quiet. With the hearing abilities of a warrior, unless there was a sound-proof Yuan Qi forcefield like the one Elder Jian Ge used, they would clearly be able to hear what someone was saying.

At this moment, Yi Yun was still smiling. He did not say anything out loud, but he transmitted his voice, using Yuan Qi, to the referee, “There is still a need to prepare. This is so he does not get surprised…”

The referee found Yi Yun’s explanation odd. What did it mean by not being surprised? This was not a battle between two armies. There was no need to set up an array or anything. Unless a warrior was injured, they could enter the arena at anytime.

But as if Yi Yun wanted to be considerate towards his opponent, the referee could only nod his head, “Since you insist, alright. I will inform the person you challenge in advance. Who do you plan on challenging?”

The referee thought that since Yi Yun was being this considerate, the opponent was unlikely to be that strong.

Yi Yun was most likely challenging someone who was ranked around 2100-2200 on the Earth roll. Other cultivators were having similar thoughts as well. After all, Yi Yun still had two matches left tomorrow. After fighting someone in the 2100-2200 ranking, he could secure his rank and then, he could attempt to enter the top 2000 in his second match.

Yi Yun handed over the challenge form that he had already filled to the referee.

The referee received it and glanced at it. Immediately his eyelid twitched, “What? You are challenging Li Hong? The one ranked 1028 on the Earth roll, Li Hong!?”

Li Hong!?

The surrounding cultivators were dumbstruck when they learned who Yi Yun’s next opponent was!

The Hongdao Association’s President, Li Hong? Yi Yun actually wanted to challenge him?

Originally, they thought that it would be impressive if Yi Yun challenged someone in the top 2000. But he actually challenged Li Hong, who was ranked at 1028!

What was he thinking!?

Li Hong previously had misgivings with Yi Yun. Two months ago, Li Hong wanted Yi Yun’s glory points and he tried to cheat them off Yi Yun. But Yi Yun did not buy his scheme, and became an enemy of his. This was something everyone knew.

But misgivings were just misgivings. This was the Earth roll competition that was determined by a person’s strength. Was this challenge just a show of emotions?

Li Hong was no pushover. Out of all the second year cultivators, he was the strongest!

Li Hong had already climbed into the top 1000 in the Heaven roll ranking.

And as for the Earth roll ranking, he had reached 1028 last month.

It was especially difficult to rank up as you get closer to the top 1000 as most of the people were nearly approaching the Yuan foundation realm. It could be said that their strength was at the extreme peak of the Purple Blood realm.

This included Li Hong himself.

It could be said, without any exaggeration, that the strongest Purple Blood realm warriors in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom were converged around this ranking. There was intense competition for the places around this position!

There were even some Yuan foundation realm warriors, who had comparatively poorer cultivation techniques or attack moves, that were ranked below Li Hong!

For Yuan foundation realm warriors to rank below Li Hong, it showed that Li Hong’s strength was great.

“The number one rookie is challenging the second year cultivators’ number one…Incredible!” Someone said. Both of them were the best in their respective years, and to challenge someone who was a year above you in such a circumstance was extremely rare in the Tai Ah Divine City.

“Li Hong is only around half a month from breaking through to the Yuan foundation. Once he breaks through into the Yuan foundation, there is no doubt that he will enter the top 1000! He might even enter the top 700!”

Li Hong did not manage to enter the top 1000 within a year.

But he still managed to earn a Heaven ranking of 1030 in 13 months and an Earth ranking of 1100.

That was quite terrifying!

It was not every year you had perversely strong people like Chu Xiaoran and Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun challenging Li Hong, why do I feel…Yi Yun can’t beat him at all…”

Many people were having such thoughts. Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran’s battle was interesting, but they were a distance away from someone ranked just beyond the 1000th place on the Earth roll.

People could understand that Yi Yun had challenged Li Hong out of emotion, but if he were to be beaten up by Li Hong, he might get seriously injured. If that happened, would it not be depressing?

“What is Yi Yun thinking? He probably doesn’t know what it means to be around the top 1000 on the Earth roll…Or does he have some more hidden strength?”

“More hidden strength? He’s only in the middle stages of Purple Blood, what more is there to hide? Could he have managed to produce the Aspect Before Yuan? That’s impossible! The moment he came to the Tai Ah Divine City, he has been working. He never went out to hunt desolate beasts!”

People found it incomprehensible. They felt that Yi Yun was asking to be tortured by challenging Li Hong.

Previously Li Hong had oppressed Yi Yun, but he ended up losing a lot of money to Yi Yun. Li Hong was just thinking of causing trouble for Yi Yun! But, Yi Yun came knocking on his door.

There were a few Hongdao Association members sitting at the corner of the arena.

When they heard that Yi Yun was challenging their President, they were instantly furious!

“Who does this kid think he is!?”

“He should piss on a mirror to look at himself. He thinks he is invincible just because he is the best amongst the rookies. He’s courting death!”

Seeing that Yi Yun was so arrogant to the point of challenging their boss in public, a few of them became outraged immediately.

But upon further thinking, this was not necessarily a bad thing. Since Yi Yun was dumb enough to come knocking on their boss’ door, they should take this opportunity to beat Yi Yun up seriously and also make him suffer a great monetary loss!

Yes, make him suffer a great monetary loss!

Previously, they had suffered greatly due to Yi Yun. A bunch of brats had lined up just to be knocked down by Yi Yun’s brick. Not only did they get bricked, they even gave Yi Yun a large sum of dragon scale runes. Just thinking about the dragon scale runes made their hearts bleed.

“Let’s report this to the boss immediately!” A few of Li Hong’s henchmen suddenly thought it through.

Li Hong was not present. He had been absent for the past few days. He was not interested in seeing other people steal the show. Especially this afternoon, when Yi Yun appeared and shocked everyone. Even if Li Hong was present, he would leave prematurely. He would feel terrible if he saw Yi Yun being that outstanding.

“Brothers, we should take this opportunity to make sure Yi Yun suffers greatly. We must let the boss prepare in advance,” said a thirteen year old youth who lost a great sum of dragon scales to Yi Yun.

Those who had lost monetarily would usually hope to win it back through gambling.

This was the mentality of a gambler. It was not desirable, but very few people could rein themselves in before it was too late.

“That’s right. Even the boss is tight on money. He still needs to prepare for tomorrow. We will make sure that Yi Yun vomits out the dragon scale runes when the boss beats him!”

The Hongdao Association had lost a great deal of runes in the betting pool, so Li Hong was currently penniless. This henchmen thought that if Li Hong were to bet against Yi Yun, he could win it all back in one go. And the so-called “preparation” was to gather sufficient funds for the bet.

This was the reason why Yi Yun announced his opponent in advance. If he were to suddenly announce that he wanted to challenge Li Hong tomorrow, due to the lack of time and that Li Hong was poor, what sort of decent bet could he offer?

But if it was mentioned today, Li Hong would have the time to prepare. With his connections, he should still be able to gather a tidy sum of dragon scale runes.

Yi Yun had been keeping his trump card from the beginning. This trump card was specifically prepared to cheat Li Hong.

A few henchmen stood up. With either an outraged look or a smile, they glanced at Yi Yun. This expression seemed to say, “Kid, just you wait!”

They quietly left the arena and rushed straight to Li Hong to inform him so he could prepare for the battle tomorrow.

Unfortunately, when Yi Yun said to the referee “give the person some time to prepare”, he had used Yuan Qi to transmit his voice. Those henchmen did not hear it; if they did, these youths would probably have figured out something was amiss…

246 - : Let the Boss Prepare

Li Hong had been feeling upset for the past few days.

After being tricked by Yi Yun who was a first year rookie, his reputation in the Tai Ah Divine City was ruined. How could he feel happy?

He was a big brother figure in the Tai Ah Divine City, and in the capital, he was the famous Young master Hong. The most important thing to him was his face.

Now, his face had been tainted by others.

How could Li Hong feel any comfort? Once a warrior’s mind was at an unease, their body’s Yuan Qi would also turn chaotic like their mind. So, it was easy to become stuck in their cultivation.

Li Hong was at the critical moment of breaking through to the Yuan foundation realm, but when this happened, he felt as gross as eating shit.

Li Hong kept thinking of ways to save the situation. However, Yi Yun’s strength was rising rapidly. Although Li Hong was conceited, he still had to admit that in about half a year’s time, he would not be able to beat Yi Yun anymore.

Once that happened, it would be even harder to save the situation!

He needed an opportunity to deal with Yi Yun, but…where could he find this opportunity?

As Li Hong was thinking, a disturbance erupted outside, “Brother Hong! Brother Hong! Something big has happened! That kid Yi Yun has challenged you, he wants to fight you in the arena tomorrow!”

A few henchmen were charging into Li Hong’s courtyard, like a pack of hungry dogs, as they cried out.

When Li Hong heard this, he was stunned.

“Yi Yun is challenging me?” Li Hong was slow to react.

He was just thinking of getting his revenge on Yi Yun to save his face, but now Yi Yun had taken the initiative to knock on his door?

However, this made him feel odd.

Is this kid mad?

Or was there another reason?

Li Hong’s face turned sullen. He had some misgivings about the way that Yi Yun challenged him.

Was it a trap?

“Boss, why are you…”

A few of Li Hong’s henchmen expected him to be fuming mad, laughing heartily when he received the news, cursing at Yi Yun’s stupidness and his desire to be beaten up.

They did not expect Li Hong to react in such a manner. It was neither anger nor happiness.

“Did you make a video disk array of Yi Yun’s match?” Li Hong suddenly asked. Although he did not want to be present to watch Yi Yun’s match, it was a must to watch the video disk array or he would not be able to understand Yi Yun’s strength.

“This…”

The henchmen smacked themselves in the forehead. They had forgotten about it and they were single-mindedly rushing here to inform Li Hong!

“We’ll go back and get it.” A few henchmen rushed back.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, there were many backups of the recordings of the arena’s matches. The more intense the battle, the more backups there were. They could be kept for many years, and so as long as one could pay a small amount of dragon scale runes, they could be rented for viewing.

Soon, these brats obtained a disk array and they rushed back to Li Hong’s courtyard breathlessly.

When they returned, they did not expect to see so many people in Li Hong’s courtyard. A large number of the people who were present were part of the backbone of the Hongdao Association. A few of them were also veteran cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City.

“They…”

When the brats saw these people, they were shocked. They vaguely knew that Li Hong had a wide circle of friends and he had many powerful friends amongst the veteran cultivators.

They were all the people near the top of the Heaven and Earth roll of honors. There was even a person ranked in the top 50 and he was nicknamed “Hu Tou’.

“Oh? It’s him, right…?”

The brats saw this tall and thin teenager who looked 17-19 years old. This person had a necklace full of large beads on his neck, and his arm had a Fierce Divine Tiger tattooed on it.

Hu Tou was a veteran cultivator who had been in the Tai Ah Divine City for about four years. He had long broken through to the Yuan foundation realm. He still had a year and nine months left before he graduated. By ranking in the top 50 on the Earth roll, he was definitely one of the best amongst his class of cultivators.

“Let’s watch it and analyze it.” Li Hong was naturally suspicious. He erred on the side of caution by calling people over. Hu Tou, who had great foresight, might even be able to tell if Yi Yun had any hidden strength.

A few henchmen took the disk arrays of Yi Yun’s match, and left it on a table for a group of people to gather around it to study it.

Li Hong mainly wanted to obtain the opinions of veteran cultivators like Hu Tou. After analyzing it in all sorts of manner for a long time, they…could not figure anything out.

They could only make some general speculations from Yi Yun’s battle. But no matter how hard they looked at it, Yi Yun seemed to have went all out during his battle with Chu Xiaoran.

“Li Hong, I think that the possibility of Yi Yun having any more hidden strength is low. If he can still have hidden strength under such circumstances, then his acting is just too good. He might even have targeted you from the beginning! But he’s just a little kid. How can he think of all this when the rookie ranking competition began? Don’t forget, he had been at odds with the entire Hongdao Association. A huge group of people from the Hongdao Association had challenged Yi Yun, including Liu Yuxing who was considered one of the best amongst the rookies. Together with the best rookies, Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu, Yi Yun had to face such opponents. Adding the high stakes bets, he would already be worried over all these things. Do you expect him to have planned such a trap, while handling all those, just to let you, Li Hong jump into it?”

Hu Tou was the first person to express his opinion. What he said was reasonable. Yi Yun was, after all, only thirteen years old. A typical child would be confused when they faced all sorts of complicated problems. If he could even plan a trap at this point of time, and lure Li Hong into it, then he was not normal at all.

Li Hong frowned and said, “Probably…”

If this battle had to be fought, then a bet had to be prepared. Even if he did not want to bet, he still had to do so. By being forced into such a situation, if he did not bet anything, then he would lose all his standing amongst the Hongdao Association’s members. The other cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City would even ridicule him.

But Li Hong had still not thought of the item to bet on. The crux of the issue was he did not have many resources he could use.

As Li Hong was thinking about it, a sudden laughter ranged. “Hahaha! Li Hong, you actually opened a huge conference to discuss if you would lose, just because a rookie is challenging you. Do you have no shame!?”

This sudden voice made Li Hong’s face livid.

What the other person said was true. To be frightened before the battle after being challenged by a rookie, and holding such a huge analysis conference, he would lose all face if people found this out.

Li Hong turned angry from embarrassment. Just as he was about to flare up, he saw the person who spoke out and immediately shut up.

The person who walked in was dressed in a Qi Lin robe, with a nine python belt and moccasins. He had a natural air of nobility from top to bottom.

“Yang Dingkun!” The fifteen year old young man who came was the son of King Chu!

King Chu was a noble who had a long history in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. His bloodline could be traced all the way back to the first King Chu, who was the younger brother of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s founding emperor, so his family was also part of the royal family.

Later on, he was enfeoffed with the Chu state, so he became the vassal of the Chu state all the way to the present day.

Now, the Chu state’s Yang family had already bloomed into a super family clan. Of course, their blood relations with the emperor had grown distant, but they were still part of the royal family.

Yang Dingkun, who was ranked in the tens on both the Heaven and Earth rolls in the Tai Ah Divine City, was considered a prominent figure.

The Li family that Li Hong was part of, was also related to the Chu royal residence, but through marriage. In some sense, Yang Dingkun was a distant cousin of Li Hong.

Today, Yang Dingkun suddenly appeared and immediately ridiculed him, making Li Hong feel upset.

“Cousin, what are you doing here?” Li Hong asked.

“Haha, I’m here to be your strategist, Cousin. I know you are tight on resources recently. If you want to borrow dragon scale runes, I can lend it to you, but…I have one condition…” Yang Dingkun pulled his words.

“What condition?”

“That is…the first three volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. I want you to win it for me!”

When Yang Dingkun said those words, his eyes lit up!

Yang Dingkun knew that there were rules in the Tai Ah Divine City. The top cultivation techniques, like the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, could be used as stakes, but this was seldom done in the past.

The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ cultivation technique jade scroll was very precious and there were a limited number of copies. If a cultivator wanted to exchange dragon scale runes and glory points for the cultivation technique, they were actually renting it for ten months.

In this ten months, the cultivator who rented the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was free to cultivate the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, but they could not to lend the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ to other cultivators.

Unless it was lost in a gambling match.

To prevent people from deliberately handing over the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ by gambling, the Tai Ah Sacred Technique had strict rules. Once the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was used as a bet, not losing it was alright, but once it was lost in a bet, the remaining rental period was reduced by 30%!

This is why very few people would use the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ as a stake.

Once 30% of the time was lost, many cultivators could not afford it. It might not be possible for them to learn it in ten months, what’s more having 30% deducted.

“The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!? You are eyeing Yi Yun’s Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!?” Realizing Yang Dingkun’s outrageous greed, Li Hong jumped. He quickly calculated what his losses would be if he were to agree to Yang Dingkun’s condition.

There was no doubt that if Yang Dingkun wanted the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, then he had to put up something that was equivalent to the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ as a stake!

If that happened, this would be a great gamble!

Yang Dingkun was crazy enough!

But Li Hong was also confident that he could beat Yi Yun!

“Have you not have the chance to cultivate the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’?” Li Hong asked.

Although Yang Dingkun was from the Chu royal residence, he was not privileged enough to cultivate the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. There were too many children in the Chu royal residence. Even if Yang Dingkun was the heir apparent to the Chu royal residence, he would still not have that privilege!

The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ jade scrolls were too precious. The Divine Kingdom’s royal household only had three or four copies and the rest were stored in the Tai Ah Divine City!

Those who had the ability could compete for a chance to cultivate it, but those who lacked the ability could only stand by the side.

Yang Dingkun angrily said, “Tsk! The Divine City’s rules are too rigid. Although I have earned enough glory points and dragon scale runes to exchange for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, the price is too high. Once I exchange it, I would be absolutely impoverished!”

“But this kid Yi Yun had great luck in picking herbs, he obtained a large sum of dragon scale runes and glory points because of it. He exchange for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ just like that. It’s completely unfair! Who gave him the right to do so!?”

“He wants to cultivate the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’? He is a bumpkin from the Cloud Wilderness! Hmph! As a descendent of the royal household, I still haven’t even managed to cultivate this royal secret technique. How is this fair!? Once this ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ is in my hands, I will make its glory bloom!”

247 - : The son of King Chu

“You want Yi Yun to bet his copy of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’? Yang Dingkun, you sure have a big appetite!” Hearing Yang Dingkun’s plans, Hu Tou also felt tempted. He too had no chance to cultivate the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was too difficult to cultivate. Only one in five people cultivating the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ could master it.

And people like Hu Tou might have the wealth to exchange for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, but even after exchanging the precious resources for it, the chances of them failing to learn it was high.

To pay so many glory points and dragon scale runes for such an improbable possibility, Hu Tou could not make the resolute decision as the cost was too high.

“Of course, treasures belong to those who are capable of keeping them! The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in Yi Yun’s hands is a deliberate waste of a heavenly treasure. I have the royal bloodline, and since the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was originally the cultivation technique of my royal household, it will be easy for me to cultivate it!”

“Although it has to be returned within six months after you win me the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, it will be enough. I am confident that I can master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in less than six months!”

Yang Dingkun had considerable confidence in himself.

Hu Tou’s mouth twitched when he heard this. This rascal sure could brag, he wants to master it in less than six months? Was he not afraid that the bragging words he said might choke him? No one has mastered the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ within six months in the past decade!

But even if Yang Dingkun could not master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in six months, it would allow Yang Dingkun to determine whether he was suitable to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ or not.

If he was not suitable, he could give up on it. As such, it wouldn’t waste his glory points. So no matter what happened, Yang Dingkun would still benefit from it.

“You want to get the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ from Yi Yun, then what do you plan on using as a stake?” Li Hong asked.

Yang Dingkun gave a confident smile and said, “Naturally, I have something that will entice the kid! Besides that, I can lend you 30,000 dragon scale runes, as an additional bet against Yi Yun. This is just a loan, you need to repay it in the future!”

30,000 dragon scale runes were for Li Hong to recoup his losses. If he could win this amount, Li Hong would be able to catch a breather.

Li Hong contemplated it before slowly nodding his head. Yi Yun would not feel the pinch if he were to lose 30,000 dragon scale runes, but if he were to lose the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, Yi Yun would definitely feel the pinch to the point of dying.

Li Hong wanted to let Yi Yun know the feeling of suffering such a great loss.

He stretched out five fingers and said, “50,000! Lend me 50,000 dragon scale runes!”

Since the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was already bet, Li Hong did not dare to use glory points as a stake. It would be too ridiculous.

Li Hong’s limit was 50,000 dragon scale runes .

Yi Yun might still have hidden strength, hoping to cheat him. But how could Li Hong not have any hidden strength?

It was time to use all the trump cards!

“Yi Yun must think that I have fallen for his trap, but no one knows that I had a great breakthrough in the past month! Neither one of us knows the other’s hidden card. What makes you think I will lose to you!”

With this thought in mind, Li Hong became more resolute.

…

After Yi Yun defeated Chu Xiaoran, obtaining first place amongst the rookies, Yi Yun’s fame in the Tai Ah Divine City was said to be unrivaled!

Many large family clans’ lobbyists began arriving, hoping to rope in Yi Yun as a guest in their faction. Many of these factions had given various favorable terms for Yi Yun. Some even did not need Yi Yun to sign a contract. All they wanted was a verbal commitment from Yi Yun.

But Yi Yun rejected all of them.

Back when Yi Yun was in the Cloud Wilderness, he wanted to join a faction in order to obtain resources. But now, in the Tai Ah Divine City, Yi Yun could earn them using his own efforts. His strength was skyrocketing everyday, so there was no reason to join a faction and allow himself to be controlled by others.

As Yi Yun was having his dinner, before he went to the saber tomb again, he noticed a few pretty and slim girls walk past. They were talking and joking as they held their meal trays. In the middle of these girls was Zhao Qingcheng.

Zhao Qingcheng noticed Yi Yun and she gave him a surprised smile, “Little brother Yi Yun! You are here too!”

“Oh…” Just as Zhao Qingcheng uttered the last word, she suddenly realized something and stopped herself before saying, “I can’t call you that anymore. You are already the number one rookie!”

Thinking of her first meeting with Yi Yun three months back, Zhao Qingcheng had mixed emotions. Who would have expected that the naive-looking little brother could develop into such an outstanding figure!

The girls’ eyes lit up when they heard that Zhao Qingcheng knew Yi Yun. Soon, they surrounded Yi Yun, trying to get Zhao Qingcheng to introduce Yi Yun to them.

These girls did not wait for Yi Yun’s reply and they simply sat beside Yi Yun or opposite him with their trays. Immediately, the table was full with an aromatic crowd of young girls.

The girls simply ignored eating and only spoke to Yi Yun. They asked Yi Yun various questions in an excited manner. This feeling was the same feeling that the girls who chased idols around back in Yi Yun’s previous life gave off.

In the vast wilderness, warriors carried more weight than idols. But only the peerless geniuses were the real idols of teenagers. They had countless numbers of admirers and suitors.

“Young master Yi, are you engaged? Do you have someone you like?” A bold girl went straight to the point, which dumbfounded Yi Yun.

She was too direct.

In this world, mortals began considering marriage at fifteen years of age.

But amongst warriors, there were some who did not get married till they were hundreds of years old due to their sole pursuit for martial arts. But there were others who would decide on a partner when they were in their teens.

Martial arts partners could complement each other in their Yin and Yang through intercourse!

If the two were soulmates, their progress was faster compared to a person who cultivated alone in their pursuit of martial arts.

Upon hearing this question, a vague image appeared in Yi Yun’s mind…

Yi Yun was reminded of Jiang Xiaorou. Yi Yun could not explain it himself. He could not define the feelings he had for Jiang Xiaorou, but there was no doubt that Jiang Xiaorou was the most important person in his life.

They shared weal and woe, which was an eternal promise!

And after Jiang Xiaorou, Yi Yun thought of another white-dressed figure that rode the wind, Lin Xintong.

In Yi Yun’s mind, Lin Xintong was the girl, other than Jiang Xiaorou, that left the deepest impression.

Yi Yun still remembered the scene of the night in the Desolate Human Valley when Lin Xintong mentioned her naturally terminated meridians under the moonlight.

At that moment, Yi Yun could see the sadness on Lin Xintong’s face. When he heard Lin Xintong’s gentle sigh, he had felt an inexplicable sadness come over him.

“Lin Xintong said there was an important family matter she had to attend to. I have no idea what it is or if it was smoothly handled…Her family clan is probably not in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom…”

Thinking of this, Yi Yun’s mind wandered. He did not pay much attention to the girls who continued asking him questions.

At this moment, a very harsh and aggressive voice rang, pulling Yi Yun back to reality.

“Fuck, this kid Yi Yun is going to fight our boss tomorrow, and he is still in the mood to flirt with girls!”

When this voice called out, a few girls immediately stared angrily at the person who said it!

There were four youths, who clearly looked like henchmen, that were standing before Yi Yun’s dining table. They were clearly jealous when they saw Yi Yun surrounded by beauties!

These people had maid servants, who served them back in their family clans, that they could easily fool around with, but those maid servants could not be compared to the girls who entered the Tai Ah Divine City.

“Yi Yun! Prepare to die tomorrow! Our President has accepted your challenge. But there must be some bonuses in the match. Our President has told us to tell you that you have to bet your ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in tomorrow’s battle! And another 50,000 dragon scale runes on top of that!”

Although they were afraid of Yi Yun, these henchmen did not appear weak because of their connections with the Hongdao Association. They shouted loudly, causing the entire cook house to hear it.

Betting the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’! And another 50,000 dragon scale runes!?

This bet was…too ridiculous!

Especially the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. Many people knew that Yi Yun had obtained the first three volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ due to a stroke of luck in picking the primordial herb. Now, before it could even become warm in the hands of Yi Yun, Li Hong was targeting it!

How could one agree to such a bet!?

People stopped eating and stared at Yi Yun.

“Are you afraid? If you are afraid, quickly beg for mercy. Our President can’t even be bothered with your trashy strength!”

The few guys began to taunt Yi Yun in fear of his reluctance.

Yi Yun could not be bothered with such an immature taunt.

“The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’…” Yi Yun stroked his chin. He did not expect Li Hong to make the stakes so high!

Although Yi Yun was confident that he could beat Li Hong, there was no guarantee in a match between experts. Although Yi Yun had his own trump card, he did not know how great Li Hong’s strength was.

This was originally a challenge for Yi Yun!

Only a challenge had the motivating factor. The path of martial arts was a winding road fraught with difficulties!

“Li Hong wants me to bet the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, then what is his bet? It can’t be dragon scale runes!?”

“Hmph! Of course not! The person who wants to bet for your ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ is actually the young prince of the Chu royal residence, Yang Dingkun! The stake he will be placing is the Chu royal residence’s secret mystic technique, ‘Truth of the Laws’!”

“Oh? ‘Truth of the Laws’?” Yi Yun thought about it. At this moment, Zhao Qingcheng, who was beside Yi Yun, covered her mouth without thought.

The ‘Truth of the Laws’ was a valuable compendium.

It was not a cultivation technique, but it explained the nomological truths generally.

For example, warriors like Chu Xiaoran who had extraordinary perceptivity, managed to gain insights on two laws, hard-soft and frost ice, in the Purple Blood realm.

Although gaining insight on the laws mainly relied on one’s self, it was not something that one had to arduously figure out by oneself. To gain insight on laws, there was a slow initial process. And this compendium that described the laws was extremely important!

The Chu royal residence’s ‘Truth of the Laws’ was one of the top nomological compendiums in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. And this compendium was obtained by the tenth King Chu in a huge fortuitous opportunity. It was a manual that the Tai Ah Divine City did not have!

This reflected the true value of the ‘Truth of the Laws’.

Yi Yun was indeed tempted by this. He still had a lot of shortcomings in the understanding of the laws.

248 - : Truth of the Laws

“The Chu royal residence’s young prince, Yang Dingkun… This Chu royal residence should be the faction that was first in trying to draw me in…”

Yi Yun recalled Xu Qingyun of the Linxiao Association. He first met Xu Qingyun when a lobbyist of the Chu royal residence tried to draw him into their faction by promising him many benefits.

But amongst the conditions given to him by the Chu royal residence, there was a hidden soul contract. Once it was signed, he would have to serve the Chu royal residences for many years.

It was then Xu Qingyun who stopped the lobbyist.

Although Yi Yun would most likely not have signed that unfair contract, even without Xu Qingyun’s interference, it was still something that was nauseating.

Yi Yun did not have a good impression of the Chu royal residence. Yang Dingkun, who tried to take advantage of the situation to profit by cheating him, was someone that Yi Yun would not mind swindling.

“The ‘Truth of the Laws’ then… alright, I’ll agree to it!” Yi Yun said in a slow manner. He had initially set up a trap for Li Hong to jump into, hoping to get more of Li Hong’s dragon scale runes. He did not expect that there would be another person who would walk up to the trap voluntarily and insist on jumping into it.

Hence, the stakes became bigger this time to the point that it exceeded Yi Yun’s estimations.

“Young master Yi, they are ganging up to cheat you out of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.”

Seeing Yi Yun agree, Zhao Qingcheng became worried. The girls that surrounded him were also worried for Yi Yun.

Yi Yun may be strong, but Li Hong was a prominent figure amongst the second year cultivators of the Tai Ah Divine City.

Li Hong was ruthless and he had a dark personality. His strength was also horrifying. It would be hard for Yi Yun to beat him!

“Haha! That’s what you said! We have already recorded it with a video disk array. We will now go to the arena administration to file it. Don’t regret it now!”

The henchmen were overjoyed. Once it was filed, there would be no two ways about it.

But Yi Yun could not be bothered with them. He picked up a piece of meat and carried on eating.

“Kid, I’ll let you be arrogant for a little while longer. Tomorrow, you’ll be crying! Let’s go!” After a henchman said those tough words, he turned and left.

Seeing Yi Yun ignore them and carry on eating his desolate beast meat as before, Zhao Qingcheng and company were rendered speechless.

In less than two hours, the news that Yi Yun was betting the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ for the ‘Truth of the Laws’ with Li Hong had spread throughout the Tai Ah Divine City.

Even the veteran cultivators, who had spent four years in the Tai Ah Divine City, paid close attention to this matter.

The main reason was because the stakes involved the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!

“He even dares to bet the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!?” Many veteran cultivators turned green with envy when they heard this.

They had been been in the Tai Ah Divine City for a few years, yet they had never had the chance to even touch the jade scrolls of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, let alone learn it.

“This Yi Yun is mad enough. He has not even had the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ for two months, and already he does not want it anymore? He sure is a loser!”

“That might not be it. Maybe Yi Yun has already attempted to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ after he exchanged for it, but he was unable to master it. Since it is useless in his hands, he might as well use it as a bet.”

Some people analyzed it this way. Yi Yun gave a strange overall impression. His saber was overpowering, but his insight into the laws was weak. His talent was also said to only be average.

It would not be easy for Yi Yun to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ under such circumstances.

For example, Qiuniu was considered to be similar to Yi Yun. Yi Yun’s saber technique was powerful, while Qiuniu’s strength was powerful. Qiuniu’s strength left many rookies in the dust, but not many people believed that Qiuniu would be able to master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

Learning something did not depend on a person’s fighting prowess, it depended on one’s perceptivity and talent!

As for people like Chu Xiaoran, many of them believed that she was the one most likely to master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

“He got it from the glory points he earned from picking herbs, so maybe he doesn’t know how to appreciate it? In the future, he will find out how hard is it to earn glory points!” Some people said angrily. They all wished the glory points that were used to exchange for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ were theirs.

Naturally, Yi Yun was not bothered by the reactions the veteran cultivators had.

He already went looking for Cang Yan, because he was planning on entering the saber tomb. He wanted to spend the night honing his saber technique.

Li Hong was a strong opponent and Yi Yun did not know Li Hong’s full strength. Although he was confident about tomorrow’s battle, he could not guarantee his victory. He had to go all out.

Yi Yun would not waste the time he had at night.

This was a big bet. If he won it, he would obtain the ‘Truth of the Laws’. This was something Yi Yun was in absolute desperate need of to help him understand the laws!

When Cang Yan opened the door to the saber tomb for Yi Yun, Yi Yun suddenly had a thought and looked thoughtfully at the other chamber.

That was the… sword tomb!

If he entered the sword tomb, what would happen?

Yi Yun knew he was not a natural saber user. When he chose the saber in the Jin Long Wei Divine Capital armory, he did not have the feeling of that legendary physical affinity.

The reason why he could gain insight on the Saber Truth’s 32 Words had nothing to do with his accomplishments in the way of the saber, it was completely due to his energy vision. He could see the energy flows inside the Saber Truth’s 32 Words at a glance.

These energy flows were in fact equivalent to the laws of the saber truths!

If he entered the sword tomb, would he gain an additional bonus?

The laws in the saber and sword tombs were incomprehensible profound truths for many sages. Even with the profound truths laid out there, very few of those who entered the tombs gained anything from them, because they could not comprehend anything!

Since he had the facilities to do so, why would he not try to gain further insights to broaden his horizons?

“Kid, what are you standing around for? Why aren’t you entering?” Cang Yan’s voice suddenly interrupted Yi Yun’s thoughts.

Noticing Yi Yun’s gaze, Cang Yan knit his eyebrows, “Kid, you cannot be interested in the sword tomb…”

Yi Yun hesitated because he did not know what to say.

He knew that the truths in the sword and saber tombs were something sages of various generations had trouble understanding a tinge of it, let alone learning both at the same time.

Cang Yan gave Yi Yun an odd glance, “Rotten rascal, I’m warning you. Don’t go crazy on me! It was rare for me to see you have such talent on the way of the saber, don’t waste it!”

“By being able to gain insight into the Saber Truth’s 32 Words’ saber truth, it proves you have an extraordinary keen sense in the saber truths. But the more keen you are on the saber truths, the lesser your senses will be for the sword truths.” Cang Yan exhorted Yi Yun. If an average person had talent in one type of weapon and they managed to go far using it, it would be impressive. Cang Yan had never heard of a person reaching the far extremes in the use of two different weapons!

“Can’t the way of the saber and sword be taken to the extreme together? Then the sword and saber tomb…”

Yi Yun suddenly realized that there was a possibility the sword and saber tombs were the works of a single person.

If that was true, to what extent did that person reach in his martial arts attainment?

Of course, Yi Yun did not say his thoughts, or Cang Yan might have an outburst. He obediently entered the saber tomb, but the thought of entering the sword tomb when he had the chance rooted itself deeply in Yi Yun’s mind…

…

At the same time as Yi Yun entered the saber tomb, Li Hong was meditating in an expensive cultivation room.

Swirls of Yuan Qi condensed into a visible flow before they entered Li Hong’s body.

With the inflow of Yuan Qi, Li Hong’s muscles began to swell up like waves.

Li Hong clenched his fists. He wanted to use the cultivation from that night to push his condition to its highest point. At the same time, he also tried to consolidate his soon-to-be Yuan foundation cultivation level.

Li Hong had several speculations about Yi Yun’s hidden strength.

There was no way Yi Yun could hide his cultivation level. He was definitely at the peak of the middle-stages of Purple Blood. A person who had their Heaven’s Eye opened had looked into it for him.

It was also impossible for Yi Yun to have an Aspect Totem as he never went into the wilderness to hunt desolate beasts.

Yi Yun might have hidden his cultivation techniques or laws, but with the insight of a Purple Blood realm warrior, it was definitely not going to be a heaven defying thing.

Li Hong had even envisioned that even if Chu Xiaoran’s understanding of the laws had been implanted in Yi Yun’s body, Yi Yun was still not his match.

Taking a step back, he considered the possibility of Yi Yun having secretly learned a powerful cultivation technique. But even if Yi Yun were to learn something like the ‘Star Picking Hand’ or secret techniques that belonged to a duke-class family, Li Hong still believed that he could beat Yi Yun!

Furthermore, with Yi Yun’s background, where could he obtain a cultivation technique that was at the duke-class level?

No matter how much he calculated or envisioned it, this battle was a sure-win!

Li Hong’s eyes flashed as he clenched his fingernails deep into his flesh. He had an extreme desire to win the battle tomorrow.

An uneventful night passed. Both Yi Yun and Li Hong worked hard. The upcoming battle was too important to them.

Next morning, when the sun rose, the cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City woke up and began to arrive in the arena in streams.

The number of spectators who came today was even higher than the day Yi Yun fought Chu Xiaoran.

People were looking forward to know the results of Yi Yun and Li Hong’s huge bet.

249 - : Saber and Sword

The arena was buzzing with activity.

There were only a few matches happening in the arena today. Everyone who went on stage was strong. Besides Yi Yun and Li Hong’s battle, there was also a battle between Chu Xiaoran and a veteran cultivator ranked within the top 2000.

“Oh? Yi Yun and Li Hong have not arrived yet?”

When the spectators arrived, they looked for traces of Yi Yun and Li Hong, but no matter how much they searched, they could not see them.

“Their battle is going to start just before noon, so there is no need for it to be the opening match. I guess they are still cultivating or meditating right now…”

The spectators were secretly alarmed when they heard this.

Every minute counted. Even Li Hong, who was ranked in the top 1000, took this battle with a rookie so seriously.

When the matches began, it started with a few rookies ranked around 5000-6000 challenging each other. Even Gu Mu, who was ranked fourth amongst the rookies, went on stage. However, there was a lack of interest in all these battles.

It was only when Chu Xiaoran went on stage that the audience roused themselves up.

Chu Xiaoran’s opponent was a veteran cultivator who had spent four years in the Tai Ah Divine City. Chu Xiaoran did not hold anything back. She immediately summoned her Aspect Totem at the beginning of the battle and she used her frost ice concepts.

The battle was very intense, there were ice particles flying everywhere!

Finally, Chu Xiaoran managed to use the move ‘Azure Blue Frost Sea, Ephemeral Beauty’ to defeat her opponent.

But after Chu Xiaoran defeated her opponent, she was extremely drained of her strength. It could be said that it was a tough victory.

Chu Xiaoran entered the top 2000 of the Earth roll!

People could see that it would be tough for Chu Xiaoran to win her next match.

She still had another match she could fight, but she would at best reach the 1900 mark. It was impossible for her to go any further.

Chu Xiaoran, who was considered to be similar to Yi Yun, had found her bottleneck at 1900, but Yi Yun had challenged Li Hong who was ranked around 1000. He was mad enough!

“Oh? Yi Yun! Yi Yun is here!” Someone in the crowd shouted.

People glanced over and they saw a teenager dressed in linen clothes entering the arena. He strolled directly to his seat and sat down. Then, he closed his eyes and started to regulate his breathing!

Many people were impressed that Yi Yun was still as calm and at complete leisure even when he had a big battle with a large stake coming up.

“Yi Yun…”

Seeing Yi Yun’s calm appearance, Chu Xiaoran’s brows moved slightly, “Could it be…that he was still holding back during his battle against me?”

Chu Xiaoran also paid a lot of attention on this match. She wanted to see what sort of strength Yi Yun, the number one rookie, had.

Time began to pass and Li Hong still did not appear. Only at noon, as the time for the match to begin approached, did Li Hong finally appear at the entrance of the arena with a long staff behind his back.

He strode into the arena with precise strides. His aura grew larger as he walked towards the stage.

After seeing Li Hong, many felt that Li Hong was different in some way.

Although many in the audience had not opened their Heaven’s Eye, they could feel Li Hong’s aura. He was like a towering mountain. Not only was it pressuring, it was also oppressive!

Li Hong walked straight up onto the Divine Wilderness Stage without a word. He did not even wait for the referee to call out his name.

“Yi Yun! Get up here!” Li Hong shouted loudly. His voice echoed like thunder throughout the entire arena.

The cultivators in the arena held their breaths. His aura was too strong! Just to face someone like this needed a lot of courage.

People could guess that because Li Hong appeared so late, he must have had some kind of breakthrough.

Many people started to worry for Yi Yun. Li Hong was originally very strong, but if he had taken Yi Yun lightly, Yi Yun might still have a small chance for victory.

But Li Hong had been cultivating through the night and he was apparently going to go all out.

If he really had another breakthrough, then everything would be different. This battle involved extremely high stakes. If they were in Yi Yun’s position, they would be absolutely nervous.

Everyone’s gaze landed on Yi Yun. At this moment, there was no need for the referee to announce it. Yi Yun and Li Hong’s match was about to begin!

Yi Yun walked up onto the Divine Wilderness Stage. He unsheathed his Thousand Army Saber and then, he pointed the saber tip at the ground.

There were thirty meters between the two of them.

Li Hong pulled out his long staff and held it parallel to the ground. The staff was six feet long and there were golden loops on the ends of the staff that were made of metal forged from Tai Cang essence. And on the golden loops, there were half-inch long spikes!

Do not assume that a metal staff’s attack power was weaker than any other weapon. It depended on who was using the metal staff. In Li Hong’s hands, he could cause serious injuries with a casual swing of the staff. If he were to forcefully smash it down, he could cause all the bones in a person to fracture!

“Yi Yun, I know you are very strong, and you even have hidden strength! But today, no matter what hidden cards you have, it will be useless against me!” As Li Hong said this, his fighting spirit flared up. A golden sheen covered Li Hong’s body!

“I have experienced endless slaughters in the Divine wilderness’ desolate lands for an entire year. I have killed countless numbers of desolate beasts! A herb-picking kid like you has only picked a few herbs and you have never gone through big battles. You still think you can be my match? Today, I will let you know why I am ranked around the top 1000 of the Earth roll!”

With a shout, the golden sheen around Li Hong’s body formed patches of small scales, which covered his entire body.

‘Heaven Opening Technique’ Someone in the audience cried out.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, besides the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, which was no doubt the best cultivation technique, there were other top-grade cultivation techniques. Even though they were not quite as good as the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, they were still very powerful.

This ‘Heaven Opening Technique’ was one of the top three cultivation techniques in the Tai Ah Divine City. By cultivating the ‘Heaven Opening Technique’, one would gain the ‘Heaven Opening Real Qi’.

Many geniuses could not afford the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, and they tried to cultivate the ‘Heaven Opening Technique’ instead but they could not condense the ‘Heaven Opening Real Qi’.

This cultivation technique was also very difficult to cultivate.

“By using the ‘Heaven Opening Real Qi’ to protect his body, Li Hong’s ‘Heaven Opening Technique’ has already reached the second stage.”

The small scales on Li Hong’s body surface were formed from the ‘Heaven Opening Real Qi’. This was similar to Qiuniu’s armor defense, but it had no weight and it allowed Li Hong to move freely.

With the long staff in hand, Li Hong suddenly constricted his pupils and burst forward!

“Phew–”

Li Hong moved like a gust of wind and appeared in front of Yi Yun nearly instantly. He swung the staff downwards heavily!

Due to his extreme speed, Li Hong’s staff had turned into a line, it was as if it was a whip that swung at Yi Yun!

Minute Subtlety!

Yi Yun retreated backwards and with a blur of his figure, a dozen after-images appeared. Li Hong smashed his staff towards Yi Yun’s chest.

“Dang!”

One of Yi Yun’s after-images was torn apart and the staff landed heavily on the stage. The purple tungsten tiles sunk in deeply from Li Hong’s attack. At this moment, Yi Yun appeared behind Li Hong and sent the Thousand Army Saber slashing down!

With a change of expression, Li Hong did not dodge. The yellow scales on his back suddenly expanded and they formed a giant shield!

“Cha!”

Yi Yun’s saber collided with Li Hong’s shield. The blade quickly found itself unable to move an inch further when it struck the shield!

“Oh? This is!?”

Yi Yun was alarmed. There was nothing behind Li Hong, but in a hundredth of a blink of an eye, a huge shield had condensed out of thin air, blocking his attack.

Not only that, the shield was extremely dense and it had a strong squeezing force. It had even trapped the Thousand Army Saber. It made Yi Yun feel like he could not pull it out. It was similar to the feeling back when Qiuniu grabbed his saber!

“Die!”

Li Hong suddenly turned around and smashed his staff towards Yi Yun’s waist. At this moment, the Thousand Army Saber was still lodged in the shield!

This staff attack was so powerful that a typical Purple Blood warrior would have been split in two!

“Saber Truth – Pressing Forward With Indomitable Will!”

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed as he injected Yuan Qi into the Thousand Army Saber. With a whistling sound, the Thousand Army Saber dislodged itself from the shield as Yi Yun retreated hastily. At the same time, he bent his body backwards and formed a bridge with his arced body. Li Hong’s staff swung past Yi Yun’s nose tip!

Yi Yun could still feel the pain of the staff breaking through his protective Yuan Qi.

“Sou!”

With a leap, Yi Yun’s body flew upwards and retreated thirty meters, pulling away from Li Hong.

Li Hong’s back shield also slowly closed in on itself, turning into a small scale once again, covering Li Hong’s body.

Li Hong grinned at Yi Yun, “You dodged pretty quickly!”

“This cultivation technique…” Yi Yun was very startled. There was actually Yuan Qi that could be used so freely. It could form a shield above any part of one’s body to block an enemy’s attack.

This is the “Heaven Opening Real Qi”?

Of course, as a cultivation technique that ranked among the top in the Tai Ah Divine City, it would not be weak. The ‘Heaven Opening Technique’ also had other miraculous uses. The top cultivation techniques in the Tai Ah Divine City were much stronger than family secret techniques like the ‘Star Picking Hand’!

“Yi Yun…The attack just now could not even break through a fifth of my defense! Your saber may have pierced Qiuniu’s armor, but my defense is on a completely different level from Qiuniu’s. If you think you can break my defenses, that would be absurd thinking! I know you have even more powerful saber moves. Use it, or you will not have the chance.”

Li Hong had an oppressive momentum.

The earth yellow real Qi on his body became more turbulent.

“This defense sure is ridiculous.”

In the audience stands, the rookies held their breaths. Qiuniu’s battle strategy was already very impressive to them. But compared to Li Hong, he was still far from him.

Qiuniu relied on his armor for defense, while Li Hong relied on a top cultivation technique. This defense method revealed the disparity in the levels.

Not only that, Li Hong was just a shy of breaking through to the Yuan foundation realm. His Yuan Qi quantity was something Qiuniu could not compete with.

Without any question, Qiuniu would lose to Li Hong in an instant!

250 - : Battling Li Hong

On the stage, Li Hong held his long staff and began approaching Yi Yun. As he approached, his aura grew stronger.

“What’s wrong? Isn’t your saber very fast? Use any of the hidden saber moves you have. When I’ve blocked all of your saber moves, then it will be the end!”

Li Hong was extremely confident in his defense capabilities.

Yi Yun eyes flashed with a cold beam.

He slowly rotated his blade. What Li Hong had said was in fact correct. What Yi Yun was lacking the most in his martial arts was combat experience!

Li Hong had slaughtered numerous desolate beasts in the Divine wilderness. This benefited both his staff techniques and combat experience greatly.

Although other weaker children of family clans might not kill desolate beasts as rookies, they would still often spar with their peers while growing up.

Actual combat was the best way to hone one’s fighting techniques.

But for Yi Yun, the number of big battles he had experienced could be counted with his fingers. Besides the sparring with Lin Xintong and the slaughtering of fierce beasts in the Desolate Human Valley, there was only the Jin Long Wei selection and the current rookie ranking competition.

Yi Yun was very serious in every battle, especially in battles with people of similar strength as himself. This was a test he had to undergo, and also the best way for him to hone his saber techniques.

“Since you want to see my saber moves, I’ll grant you your wish!”

Yi Yun took a few steps forward and the Yuan Qi in his body started surging. His energy followed the Saber Truth’s 32 Words’ flows and circulated within his meridians.

Reigning Supreme!

With the Thousand Army Saber in hand, Yi Yun slashed downwards. A green flash gushed out like a bright crescent light, and gushed towards Li Hong with domineering momentum!

Li Hong roared and his earth-yellow Qi surged, making the scales on his body expand.

Yi Yun’s saber slashed heavily onto Li Hong’s body.

“Boom!”

With a violent explosion, Li Hong’s scales ruptured. Due to the intense blade beam, Li Hong was sent flying!

Li Hong’s body slammed heavily into the Divine Wilderness Stage’s wall. The intense vibrations caused the weapons hanging on the walls to drop to the floor!

Seeing this scene, people unconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Yi Yun’s saber was extremely powerful!

“Hehe… Good move!”

Li Hong was half-sitting by the corner of the wall. The scale armor on his body now had a two-foot long gash, going from his chest all the way to the waist. The scales around the gash had been completely broken by Yi Yun’s attack.

But after breaking through the scale armor, the saber move had expended most of its energy. It did not manage to break through Li Hong’s protective Yuan Qi and only gave him slight injuries.

Li Hong rubbed the blood off his lips and stood up. The scale armor on his body was rapidly repairing itself with a surge of his earth-yellow Yuan Qi.

“Your saber moves are not bad, but unfortunately you do not have enough Yuan Qi. Just a little bit more and you would have been able to hurt me. I was just testing the defense of my ‘Heaven Opening Technique’. That was the only chance you had of hurting me…”

“You sure are full of nonsense.” Yi Yun frowned. Li Hong’s defense was indeed strong. Li Hong had taken the move Yi Yun learned from the Saber Truth’s 32 Words head on, without even dodging!

“It’s not too late for you to become complacent after you take on my second attack!”

Yi Yun swiped with his Thousand Army Saber and a horrifying burst of killing intent surged out. The saber was a weapon that was used to kill. In mortal countries, sabers were banned unlike swords. Swords were ceremonial weapons. Emperors, gentlemen and scholars would choose a sword. But a saber was different. People, who used a saber, were people who really wanted to kill!

The owner of the saber tomb had inscribed the killing way of the saber into the Saber Truth’s 32 Words!

Suddenly it seemed like a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood appeared behind Yi Yun. And where Yi Yun stood, the area had now turned into a blood pool hell!

Killing At Its Core!

The Thousand Army Saber slashed forward and the blood waves gushed. The entire Divine Wilderness Stage seemed to turn into a world of blood!

Seeing the saber slash forward, Li Hong’s eyes burned with fighting spirit.

“Come forth, Heaven Opening Mountain!” Li Hong hit his staff onto the stage and earth-yellow Yuan Qi surged into the Divine Wilderness Stage!

“Boom!”

The ground trembled and a mountain sprang up from beneath Li Hong’s feet!

This mountain was majestic!

This was a mountain formed from Heaven Earth Yuan Qi by Li Hong, but it was no different than a real mountain!

“Oh!? This is?” Yi Yun was shocked. Seeing a mountain suddenly appear before him, how could he not be shocked?

Although Yi Yun was shocked, the Thousand Army Saber still cleaved downwards without hesitation.

Kill!

The saber slashed downwards sending out a blood beam that spread tens of meters wide. However, this blood beam was completely blocked by the mountain!

Li Hong had formed a mountain to take on Yi Yun’s killer move!

“Cha!”

A ear-piercing sound rang. The Thousand Army Saber’s blade beam slashed into the mountain, making a hole about seven meters deep. Although it caused a deep hole, it could no longer go any further.

Even after the blade beam’s Yuan Qi was completely expended, this mountain still floated above Li Hong’s head.

The mountain was more than twenty meters tall, and its base was tens of meters in radius. It did not sound large, but it looked very shocking in person!

This mountain had a terrifying weight. If it was not by using the powers of the laws, Li Hong would definitely not be able to lift it. This was really the strength of lifting a mountain!

The audience became dumbfounded.

This was too great an exaggeration. To use a small mountain to block Yi Yun’s attack?

“This is the law of the lands! Right, Li Hong’s Yuan Qi was earth-yellow in color. And earth-yellow Yuan Qi of the lands is most suitable for the ‘Heaven Opening Technique’ that focuses on defense! By injecting the Yuan Qi of the lands into the Heaven Opening Real Qi to form the scale armor, he can increase his defense by another level!”

“Blending the law of the lands into the ‘Heaven Opening Technique’, Li Hong is a real genius. Many people cannot even learn the ‘Heaven Opening Technique’, let alone combine the laws they know into the ‘Heaven Opening Technique’!”

Li Hong, who was ranked number one amongst the second year cultivators, was not an average person.

Also, he was about to breakthrough into the Yuan foundation realm. The Yuan foundation he had formed within his Dantian was already in its embryonic form.

This Yuan foundation embryonic form gave Li Hong plenty of energy. This was also the foundation that allowed him to the use the Yuan Qi of the lands to form this small mountain!

If it was Chu Xiaoran, although she was accomplished in the frost ice laws, she could only form tens of ice columns by consuming a large portion of her Yuan Qi. Previously, after exchanging two blows with Yi Yun, she had completely depleted her Yuan Qi.

This was the benefit of being at the peak of Purple Blood realm, or the quasi-Yuan foundation realm. The difference in cultivation level was something difficult to overcome when both parties were geniuses!

Seeing the seven meter deep gash on the mountain, Li Hong laughed. “How can a saber slash apart a mountain? Your attack is not bad, but unfortunately, I have formed this mountain. You will never be able to split it apart!”

Li Hong picked up his staff. He had consumed a great deal of Yuan Qi by forming the mountain.

Heaven Opening Mountain was a manifestation of Li Hong’s law of the lands. Once it was formed, it pushed Li Hong’s combat power to its extremes.

“I see, law of the lands…”

Yi Yun squinted and looked at the mountain in the sky. After all, Chu Xiaoran had managed to control the power of the laws, while Li Hong had spent a year in the Tai Ah Divine City. He had experienced slaughters in the Divine wilderness, so how could Li Hong be unable to learn any laws?

As the best second year cultivator, he definitely had something worth presenting.

“The power of laws is something that I am in urgent need of.” Yi Yun thought.

“That is as far as you go! By having to use the Heaven Opening Mountain to defeat you, it is something you can be proud of!”

Li Hong smashed with the staff!

“Boom!”

The mountain trembled and the entire mountain crashed towards Yi Yun. He was using an entire mountain as a weapon to attack?

This was a real eye-opener for the audience.

Such a mountain formed from Yuan Qi was not something the Thousand Army Saber would be able to block.

Indeed, Yi Yun did not try to resist it.

He used his Minute Subtlety movement techniques to retreat.

“Boom!”

The mountain crashed into the Divine Wilderness Stage. People felt the entire arena tremble like a minor earthquake.

“To… be crushed by that mountain, it will probably cause death…”

People broke into cold sweat.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, killing someone in a battle was subject to at least imprisonment. But at this moment, Li Hong’s eyes were red with murderous intent. How could he be bothered with imprisonment?

In the crowd, Yang Dingkun grinned.

Li Hong had not disappointed him. By conjuring the Heaven Opening Mountain, Li Hong had gained complete control over the situation. He was looking forward to seeing Li Hong smash Yi Yun into smithereens.

If that happened, not only would he win the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, he could also have one less talented competitor that made him jealous in the future.

Actually if he had his way, Yang Dingkun wished that all of the geniuses in the Tai Ah Divine City, like Qin Haotian, Li Xiao and the Qiao brothers would all die in their training excursions.

The Heaven Opening Mountain smashed downwards again and again, but Yi Yun managed to dodge it each time. Although it looked like each attack imperiled Yi Yun, he managed to escape unscathed every time.

Facing different opponents who used different battle techniques had broadened Yi Yun’s horizons.

A person like Li Hong gave Yi Yun an impression of a greedy and sinister person. It was unexpected that he could use such methods in the arena.

Yi Yun was cognizant of the fact that he had just embarked onto the path of martial arts. He would face a variety of opponents in the future. Some of them might not even be part of the human race.

They had all sorts of strange moves. If he did not take the opportunity to hone himself and broaden his horizons now, he might suffer greatly in the future.

The battle became more and more intense. Everyone stared wide-eyed, afraid to miss out on any of the exciting scenes.

The audience gradually realized that Yi Yun’s movement was extremely fast. While Li Hong’s mountain was huge and fast because it was powered by the laws, it was still difficult for it to crush Yi Yun.

And it seemed that Yi Yun had such a strategy in mind as he dodged again and again using Minute Subtlety.

Yuan Qi had to be consumed to power a mountain. It was not something that could be sustained.

At this moment, Li Hong grinned. “Trying to expend my stamina? Do you think my Heaven Opening Mountain is that simple?”

By willing it and pointing with his staff, “Split!”

Boom!

A thunderous rumble sounded, and the Heaven Opening Mountain exploded in the air, splitting into rocks of various sizes. Like stars in the sky, they enveloped the Divine Wilderness Stage!

The larger rocks were the size of a face basin, while the smaller ones were the size of a fist. The rocks were densely packed and surrounded Yi Yun.

“Do you think your Minute Subtlety is that great? How are you to dodge my attack now?”

251 - : Heaven Opening Mountain

Minute Subtlety was indeed amazing. But no matter how great a person’s movement was, it would be impossible to dodge an attack that was densely packed, leaving no space for one to burrow through!

Yi Yun was surrounded by rocks. The audience could no longer see what was happening on the stage due to the rocks blocking their line of sight.

“What is happening on stage? Damn it, I can’t see!” Someone was so anxious that he wished he could drill through the rocks just to see how the battle between Yi Yun and Li Hong was going.

“Li Hong’s law of the lands… should have already reached the second stage!”

Every law had it’s own grade system.

The higher one gained insight into one, the harder it was to progress. Li Hong could use Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to conjure a mountain. Being able to use the mountain to both attack and defend, this was the first stage of the law of the lands!

And to be able to split and conjoin the mountain, to the point of changing it into numerous smaller stones, in which each stone could be controlled according to one’s thoughts, this was the second stage of the law of the lands.

Going further, the law of the lands became even more powerful. For example, it could cause the earth to spew out molten lava and then control the power of the lava. Another example would be to control gravity. These were all different levels that the law of the lands had.

Of course, ignoring Purple Blood warriors, even Yuan foundation realm warriors would not be able to reach that stage. It was too difficult.

“Yi Yun, if you kneel down and beg for mercy, I can still terminate this attack. If I strike, I will no longer be able to control whether you die or not!” Li Hong reminded Yi Yun. It was not that he did not want to kill Yi Yun, he did, but he did not want to endure the punishment of imprisonment.

Although people could not see Li Hong, they could still hear him. Hearing that Li Hong was about to issue a strike that would leave Yi Yun’s life up in the air, the spectators held their breaths.

By seeing Li Hong control the mountain and make it slam into the stage, which caused the entire arena to quake, everyone couldn’t help but believe in Li Hong’s words. It was possible that when the mountain came crushing down on Yi Yun, Yi Yun would become nothing more than a bloody pulp.

If Yi Yun wanted to break through this move, he would have to use a hidden saber move with indomitable strength to slash a path out!

And then, with extreme speed, Yi Yun could fly out through that path.

That was the only way he could possibly survive.

But the point is, how would Yi Yun’s saber split open a path for him?

Everyone was eager to see if he could do it.

On the Divine Wilderness Stage, Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was surging. He looked at the rocks that completely blocked his vision. He interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal and opened his energy vision.

With the energy vision, Yi Yun could see that each rock was made out of energy. They did not stand independently and they all had an energy link with Li Hong.

“Oh? All of this energy is part of the laws of the lands…”

Yi Yun frowned. He could clearly see the energy circulating within each rock, but he could feel that the energy circulating within them was not perfect. There were many spots that were far from perfect. Comparing it to the energy flow of the saber tomb’s 32 words, the difference was even more obvious.

“Yi Yun, did you not hear me? Do you really not know the meaning of death!”

Seeing that Yi Yun had no intentions of replying and just stood there, pondering over something, Li Hong fumed.

“Since you want to die, I will grant you your wish!” Li Hong roared as the staff in his hand shot out a wave of earth-yellow Qi that swept through everything like a surging tide!

All the rocks that were floating in the air above the Divine Wilderness Stage began to shake!

A few of the law-enforcers by the stands stood up. They were circulating their Yuan Qi and using their spiritual energy to see through the layers of rock, locking onto Yi Yun’s body!

They were ready to take action at anytime!

They would not stop the match, but once it was clear that one party was going to lose, they would save him. They could not sit idly by and look at the number one genius rookie getting killed by Li Hong.

The atmosphere tensed up into an unprecedented fashion!

Everyone’s heartbeats seemed to stop. Li Hong laughed and leapt up high. His staff seemed to connect the heaven and earth!

At that moment, Li Hong seemed to start emitting the same pressure as a mountain.

“Suppressing Mountain Attack!” Li Hong roared as he swung his staff downwards!

The numerous rocks surrounding them were swept up by the staff and they charged towards Yi Yun!

The attack had no blind spots and the rocks were interconnecting to the point that even a rat could not escape!

Numerous rocks smashed downwards with Yi Yun at the center!

Every blink of an eye, thousands of rocks would bombard him!

And Yi Yun did not escape at all!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The rocks crashed into each other emitting ear-splitting booms. The entire arena was shaking!

People watched with their mouths wide open as the spot that Yi Yun was standing on became engulfed by flying rocks!

A huge rock was forming at that spot rapidly!

Did Yi Yun not dodge the rocks?

Many people were shocked. They originally thought that when the rocks fell down on Yi Yun, he would use a hidden saber move to cut a path open. But he didn’t!

The rocks quickly piled up and the mountain of rocks grew taller!

Heavens!

Yi Yun…

Many people stared wide-eyed at the mountain of rocks. Many suspected that Yi Yun had now been turned into a bloody mess!

Li Hong’s eyes were ferocious. He was so immersed in trying to kill Yi Yun that he no longer took imprisonment into account!

“Die!”

The rocks started to combine again, reforming the mountain that stood over twenty meters tall, as this happened, Li Hong descended from the sky. With a heavy whack, he hit the mountain!

“Boom!”

The power of this attack passed through the mountain’s outer shell, all the way to its center. The entire Divine Wilderness Stage shook once more!

Li Hong stood above the Heaven Opening Mountain’s peak. His staff was now stuck deeply in the mountain. The mountain was formed from Li Hong’s Yuan Qi, so it would not hinder his attack. All the power within his attack had been perfectly transmitted to Yi Yun’s body!

Being crushed by a mountain that exceeded ten million pounds and then being hit with Li Hong’s one attack, had Yi Yun already been turned into meat sauce?

There was total silence. Only the sound of Li Hong’s last attack echoed around the arena!

“Is… Is he dead?” Someone said with a trembling voice. Yi Yun’s friends, Song Zijun and company all felt like they had their hearts in their mouth. Zhao Qingcheng nearly screamed out loud.

“Heh! Very good!”

In a corner of the arena, Yang Dingkun grinned maliciously. He was very pleased with this result. Even if Yi Yun did not die, he was most likely crippled. Maybe all of his meridians were now broken to the point that even the best medicine would be unable to cure him.

“Oh? That is…”

Yang Dingkun was suddenly shocked. He saw that a dark red liquid was oozing out from the cracks in the rocks at the bottom of the Heaven Opening Mountain.

What is that?

Usually, dark red liquid would be blood, but this liquid was clearly different from blood. It was thick and torpid. There were even boiling bubbles popping in it and it appeared to be extremely hot!

This is…

Magma!?

Not only Yang Dingkun, but now, the entire audience had noticed the magma that was oozing out from the rocks. More and more oozed out, thickening the liquid!

Magma!? What happened!?

Did Li Hong’s law of the lands reach the point of being able to melt the mountain into magma?

When the law of the lands reached a higher realm, it could indeed manipulate magma!

Magma was the anger of the earth. A peak human lord who had an affinity with earth could cause a volcano to erupt with a simple wish!

But… it was impossible for Li Hong to have already reached that stage.

“How could it be? Manipulating magma!?”

“Yi Yun? What happened to Yi Yun?” People were now very anxious and looked at the law-enforcers. Why haven’t the law-enforcers done anything yet?

But the few law-enforcers who were in charge of the match only had odd looks on their faces and did not take any action.

Above the Heaven Opening Mountain peak, Li Hong was also stunned.

Magma!?

He was the person most aware of his own strength. He knew that he was far from being able to manipulate magma!

“How could the Heaven Opening Mountain create magma?” Li Hong asked himself in an incredulous manner.

At this moment, more and more magma gushed out. The mountain became hotter and Li Hong could feel a blast of hot air streaming out of it. He could no longer stand above the Heaven Opening Mountain.

He could even feel that, as the amount of magma increased, the Heaven Opening Mountain melted more and more!

The Heaven Opening Mountain, which was now soaking in magma, was like a candy that was dissolving in water. It was getting smaller.

“How is this happening!?”

Li Hong was greatly alarmed. At this moment, he could hear a faint sound. Suddenly, purple gas surged out from the entire Heaven Opening Mountain!

Oh?

Li Hong was surprised and leapt off the Heaven Opening Mountain’s peak. A few seconds after he jumped off, searing flames appeared on the mountain peak!

Hu! Hu! Hu!

Hot Pure Yang fire burned, covering the entire Heaven Opening Mountain! It was like a Sun, rising out of the Heaven Opening Mountain!

Swaths of purple gas tumbled willfully into the flames as they soared to the sky!

All the pure Yang Qi in a radius of several miles was pulled over. The Yang Qi mixed with the purple gas and became a part of it.

Now, it was noon, and the sun was scorching and purple gas was being emitted!

Above the arena, the purple gas was slowly condensing into a long valley.

The blurred valley had trees and flowing rivers. But these trees and flowing rivers seemed to faintly burn within the purple gas…

“This is!?”

Li Hong stared at the valley with his eyes wide open.

All of the veteran cultivators in the audience suddenly had inexplicable horrific looks on their faces. The rookies were in muddled states, they did not know what the purple gas represented.

“Radiant Sun Qi! It’s Radiant Sun Qi!” A veteran cultivator shouted in an incredulous manner.

“Not only is it Radiant Sun Qi, it is the Tang Valley stage of the Radiant Sun Qi! Who has mastered this level of Radiant Sun Qi?”

Many people did not react in time, but when the rookies heard it, they were stunned.

Although they had never seen Radiant Sun Qi before, they had still heard of the famous Radiant Sun Qi.

Radiant Sun Qi came from the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ and it was the strongest power in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. It was also the greatest inheritance of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

More and more magma appeared on the stage. The mountain was now glowing red hot and slowly melting. People began to arrive at a realization of the impossible possibility…

“Yi Yun… didn’t he exchange for the… ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’?” When someone said that, everyone held their breaths.

Yi Yun!?

He had exchanged for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ less than two months ago!

He was a rookie and his cultivation level was just at the peak of the middle stages of Purple Blood! He had already mastered the Radiant Sun Qi?! And it was even at the Tang Valley stage of the Radiant Sun Qi!?

What a joke!

At this moment, in the central divine tower, Cang Yan and Jian Ge were playing chess and watching a video projection of the battle going on using a disk array. The disk array was locked in place and it had been set up perfectly represent the ongoings happening in the arena.

After confirming that Yi Yun had learned the Saber Truth’s 32 Words, Cang Yan and Jian Ge did not feel the need to watch Yi Yun and Li Hong’s battle in person.

It was enough to watch Yi Yun using the video projection.

They were originally just watching without paying a lot of attention, that was until Li Hong used his killer move. Only then did they start paying attention to the match, they were worried that Yi Yun might not be able to handle the attack, but…

Seeing Radiant Sun Qi gush out… Cang Yan nearly flipped the chess board!

“This kid! Am… Am I seeing things!? Old man Jian, did you see that!?” Cang Yan asked Jian Ge.

Jian Ge said with a speechless expression, “I am looking at it!”

“It’s the Tang Valley stage of Radiant Sun Qi. Yi Yun has only been practicing the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ for less than two months, it’s really… impressive!”

By giving Yi Yun this evaluation, Elder Jian Ge had already praised him a few times. Under normal circumstances, it was very difficult for a junior to be praised by a sage even once.

Only two months had passed since Yi Yun picked the primordial herb and used the glory points he obtained from it to exchange for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. But no one knew that after exchanging the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, Yi Yun had actually only used about ten days to master the Radiant Sun Qi!

If Elder Jian Ge knew this, he would become even more astonished.

At this moment, in the arena–

The amount of magma had increased and had started to flow off the Divine Wilderness Stage.

Most people had by now guessed that Yi Yun had mastered the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, but there were still some who insisted that this was impossible.

At this moment, a ear-piercing sound rang out!

In the middle of the Divine Wilderness Stage, a purple blade beam had risen out from the Heaven Opening Mountain!

At that moment, it seemed like that blade beam had become the only thing in existence!

The blade beam was tens of meters long and it split the humongous Heaven Opening Mountain in two!

Cha!

The Heaven Opening Mountain violently trembled and the two parts of the mountain collapsed!

People could then see that the middle of the Heaven Opening Mountain had completely melted, leaving behind a gaping hole!

And a youth in linen clothes, holding a long saber, stood where the hole originally was!

Above him, lava rain splattered down, while beneath his feet, lava surged.

But this surging lava was blocked by the pure Yang Qi and did not even come close to the youth!

This…

Everyone stared widely and were completely stunned!

Yi Yun’s… Radiant Sun Qi had split the Heaven Opening Mountain apart with one attack!

People knew that when the Heaven Opening Mountain crashed down, Yi Yun had used his Radiant Sun Qi to melt out a place for him to take shelter. He was unscathed from beginning to end!

…

(Author’s note: Today is the eve of the lunar new year. A 4000-character chapter has been offered to everyone, wishing everyone a happy year of the monkey, and wishing everyone the best in everything, uh…about that…can I get a monthly vote as a red packet?)

(Translator’s note: If you would like to donate to the author, you can donate to me and leave a note that it is for the author. I will transfer the money to the author with proof.)

252 - : Radiant Sun

In the arena, Li Hong looked at the Heaven Opening Mountain that had been split into two, it was as if he had lost his soul.

As for Yang Dingkun, who bragged about mastering the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in five months, he grasped his seat’s armrests tightly with his hands until his fingers turned white.

“Radiant Sun Qi…Radiant Sun Qi! Has he mastered the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!?”

Two months ago, when Yi Yun managed to obtain some glory points due to his tremendous luck, he had been ridiculed for exchanging them for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. A hick had actually wanted to cultivate the royal family’s secret technique.

But now, all those people who had ridiculed Yi Yun could no longer say anything. Not only did Yi Yun master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, he had also succeeded in forming the Tang Valley stage of Radiant Sun Qi!

In just two months, Yi Yun shamed Qin Haotian, Luo Huo’er, Li Xiao and all the geniuses that hogged the top spots on the Heaven and Earth rolls in the Tai Ah Divine City in terms of cultivating the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!

Li Hong looked at Yi Yun as he clenched his fists. He was a genius with a wide circle of connections. Everyone said he was a dragon amongst people and that he was destined for great things. He had mastered the ‘Heaven Opening Technique’, a top three technique in the Tai Ah Divine City. It was an outstanding result, but now it was a joke compared to Yi Yun’s mastering of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in two months.

Before the battle, he tried to imagine Yi Yun’s hidden cards and he guessed that the most that Yi Yun had was a few hidden saber moves. He never expected that Yi Yun’s hidden strength was the Radiant Sun Qi!

“You…mastered the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’…before the competition?” Li Hong gnashed his teeth as he said it. He suddenly realized that Yi Yun had laid a trap for him from the beginning. It was trap for him to jump into.

Yi Yun said, “That’s right. I managed to master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ before the rookie competition. But you don’t have to think so highly of yourself. I did not reveal all my strength not because of you. The main reason was for me to hone my saber moves. I only learned my saber moves after the rookie competition began. I just needed opponents to refine it. Whether it was Qiuniu or Chu Xiaoran, they were the best amongst the rookies. So I benefited greatly by sparring with them.”

“As for laying a trap for you…It was just in passing. I did not expect that not only did you use dragon scale runes as stake, you even bet a ‘Truth of the Laws’ book.”

Yi Yun did not need to take the opponents before Liu Yuxing seriously. They were not qualified to hone Yi Yun’s saber skills. Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran were the perfect candidates to test his Saber Truth’s 32 Words.

After Yi Yun said that, he casually glanced at the audience. Yang Dingkun, who was standing in the corner of the spectator stands, had a grim expression.

Yi Yun had treated him as a sucker! The sarcastic tone was harsh on Yang Dingkun’s ears.

Yang Dingkun clenched his fists as killing intent flashed in his eyes!

Yi Yun had seen all of it.

Before, as Yi Yun was waiting to go on to the stage, Zhao Qingcheng had already pointed Yang Dingkun out to Yi Yun. Yi Yun had recognized this Chu royal residence’s little prince who tried to take advantage of the situation to profit by cheating him.

Yi Yun did not fear Yang Dingkun. Although the Chu royal residence was part of the royal family, it was only a distant relation of the royal family. They had a high noble title and they were powerful, but even so, a young master from the Chu royal residence had limited power.

How many people were there in the younger generation of the Chu royal residence? It was not easy to count.

The current King Chu had already lived for a thousand years. In a thousand years, how many wives did he marry? How many children did he have? Even King Chu himself might not remember.

It was hard to count the bastard children, legitimate children and grandchildren, great-grandchildren even if they were all added up.

Yang Dingkun was only one of the better ones of the younger generation, but he was not a greatly appreciated child of King Chu, because he was not the heir.

This was why Yang Dingkun had to use gambling as a way to obtain the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ from his bet with Yi Yun. He could not rely on the Chu royal residence, which resulted in him machinating his own schemes.

Hearing Yi Yun’s remark, Li Hong’s face turned red, “Just in passing? Hahaha, just in passing!”

Li Hong was furious!

“Who do you think you are!? So what if you have mastered the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, I will make sure that you die today!”

Li Hong suddenly lurched forward and he swept the Yuan Qi of the land with his staff!

Phew! Phew!

The Heaven Opening Mountain that had been split apart by Yuan Qi turned back into pure Yuan Qi and it entered Li Hong’s body.

Li Hong knew that under the power of the Radiant Sun Qi, the Heaven Opening Mountain was useless. It was better for him to convert the Heaven Opening Mountain back into energy so he could use his strongest attack.

“Mountain Opening Staff!” Li Hong roared loudly.

After the staff in his hand was injected with Yuan Qi of the land, it grew from six feet to several meters long. The staff had thickened so much that it was as thick as a column!

Most people would not use a thick column like the staff as a weapon since just holding it was strenuous, but because Li Hong’s law of the lands powered it, he could use the thick staff as if it was a part of his body!

The staff gave off a loud roar as it came crashing down like a mountain.

Yi Yun gathered Qi in his Dantian and the Thousand Army Saber was outlined with a shiny flame. Purple gas emerged as Radiant Sun Qi burned.

This was the first time that Yi Yun had really used all his strength, by using Radiant Sun Qi to power the Saber Truth’s 32 Words’ saber move!

Reigning Supreme!

“Cha!”

With a slash, a purple blade beam flashed and it made a deep gash in the purple tungsten stage!

When Li Hong’s thick staff collided with the saber, the rocks, that were formed from the Yuan Qi of the lands, melted as they came into contact with the Radiant Sun Qi!

But Li Hong still moved forward!

“Boom!”

When Li Hong’s staff and Yi Yun’s Thousand Army Saber collided, a chaotic blast erupted which caused people to hold their breaths.

Upon impact, Yi Yun retreated about thirty meters, he had reached the edge of the stage.

Li Hong had managed to force Yi Yun to retreat with the power of the lands, but he watched helplessly as a purple blade beam flashed forwards from the impact and it mercilessly pierced his protective Yuan Qi!

“Cha!”

The armor of the lands that Li Hong was proud of had been pierced by the purple beam and blood splattered out!

Li Hong was injured!

Yi Yun had only retreated but Li Hong was wounded. It was clear who had the upper hand!

However, this attack was just the beginning. Yi Yun shot forward like lightning using the large success stage of Minute Subtlety!

A series of blade shadows shot towards Li Hong!

Li Hong had disintegrated the Heaven Opening Mountain and injected Yuan Qi of the lands into his staff to strengthen its attack, but by wielding such a large weapon, no matter how skillful Li Hong was with the law of the lands, he did not have the speed of the Thousand Army Saber!

“Damn it!”

Li Hong focused his eyes and the scale armor around his body expanded!

Heaven Opening Armor!

Li Hong had used the ‘Heaven Opening Technique’, which had outstanding defensive capabilities to take on Yi Yun’s blade beam. This was what he was always doing when Yi Yun attacked.

But this time, with the Radiant Sun Qi powering it, every blade beam was extremely sharp!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Li Hong was hit dozens of times by the blade beams, and they entered his body after cutting open his protective Yuan Qi. The scale armor from the ‘Heaven Opening Technique’ melted under the Radiant Sun Qi’s pure Yang property!

“You said that a saber cannot slash apart a mountain? That’s only because the saber is not sharp enough. And how can the rocks on a mountain withstand the Sun’s fire?”

Yi Yun attacked faster and fiercer. The incessant saber Qi was like a purple tidal wave as it charged at Li Hong.

“Boom!”

Li Hong’s Mountain Opening Staff cracked upon impact with Yi Yun’s blade. The rocks melted into flowing lava!

Li Hong’s scale armor was quickly melting under the intense heat.

The hot lava thinned Li Hong’s protective Yuan Qi by burning it.

“Puah!”

Yi Yun’s saber hit Li Hong on his shoulder. Blood splattered on the stage as Li Hong retreated thirty meters!

At this moment, a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood appeared behind Yi Yun!

Blood burst out as ghosts wailed. It was as if Ashura Hell had appeared in the mortal realm.

Saber Truth – Killing At Its Core!

Yi Yun immersed all his Yuan Qi into that attack. It slaughtered all life, breaking through the heavens!

By being pushed to his limits, Li Hong gathered all his Yuan Qi and used his staff to block Yi Yun’s attack.

“Boom!”

There was a fierce explosion and the color of red spread everywhere as if the sea of blood had burst!

Li Hong was sent flying like a kite with a broken thread. He tumbled backwards and he heavily slammed into the protective wall of the Divine Wilderness Stage!

“Ding-Dang!”

Li Hong lost hold of his staff due to the impact and it dropped onto the Purple tungsten stage. The six foot long staff had been split into two by Yi Yun’s attack!

“What!?” Everyone was shocked to see the staff split in half!

Li Hong’s weapon was no ordinary weapon and it was most likely made by a famous master.

Under normal circumstances, it was extremely difficult for weapons made by masters to break in a Purple Blood warrior duel.

But Yi Yun had managed to do it!

And in terms of quality, Li Hong’s staff was likely better than Yi Yun’s Thousand Army Saber!

“How did that happen?”

Some people found it incomprehensible. The Thousand Army Saber was not some divine weapon, but it still managed to break Li Hong’s staff!

“It is due to the injection of Yuan Qi!” Someone gasped.

With the Radiant Sun Qi injected into the Thousand Army Saber, a saber’s sharpness would be completely different! It was impossible for Li Hong’s Yuan Qi of the land to withstand the attack!

“Yi Yun has won!”

The result of the battle was clear. All of Li Hong’s scale armor had been destroyed and his body’s meridians had been invaded by Radiant Sun Qi. He was covered in injuries and he would be crippled if he carried on fighting.

Yi Yun had defeated Li Hong!

When Yi Yun revealed his Radiant Sun Qi, many people had guessed that this would happen, but when it really happened, they still found it unbelievable.

Li Hong had spent one more year training in the Tai Ah Divine City than Yi Yun and he was the best of the second years. His cultivation level was about to break through into the Yuan foundation realm, yet he was finished by Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was too terrifying.

But…people could see that Yi Yun had very little energy left.

The Radiant Sun Qi was strong, but it also rapidly consumed Yuan Qi!

Yi Yun was still limited in his cultivation level, so to power the Radiant Sun Qi at the peak of the middle-stage of Purple Blood cultivation level was his limit to fight up to now.

If he did not manage to defeat Li Hong with the final attack, Yi Yun would not have much energy left to carry on fighting.

Author’s Note: It will be the year of the monkey in 20 minutes. The author of “True Martial World”, Cocooned Cow wishes everyone a happy new year, hoping all the best in one’s work and studies, fortunes and riches in the year of the monkey. Thank you for Singaporean Chinese, CKtalon’s large red packet, and wishing all the Chinese friends around the world reading “True Martial World”, and the foreign friends reading the English translation of “True Martial World” a happy spring! (in English) Happy /Chinese/ New /Year!

253 - : Defeating Li Hong

“For this match, Yi Yun wins!” The referee loudly announced the results of the match from the Divine Wilderness Stage.

When people heard this, they felt that they were still in a dream. Previously, when Li Hong had condensed the Heaven Opening Mountain, it was so overwhelming and shocking to the senses. It made people feel like using force to match him head-on was impossible.

But he had been defeated by Yi Yun. His Heaven Opening Mountain and the staff had both been split apart by Yi Yun!

“Even Li Hong who is ranked around 1000 on the Earth roll has been beaten by Yi Yun! Yi Yun is heaven-defying!”

He had nearly reached the 1000th rank in a rookie ranking competition. In previous years, it was the utmost limit of just a few notable people to reach a ranking of around 1000 at their first end of the year competition. This was enough to make the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s large factions pay close attention to them and to draw them in.

No one doubted that Yi Yun could secure a spot within the top 1000 in another month or two. It might even not take that long.

To enter the top 1000 of the Earth roll in less than a year. Was he still human?

“What say you, is there a possibility that…Yi Yun has the capability to enter the top 1000 now?” Someone said, but when the people present heard it, they were stunned. To enter the top 1000 now?

Upon further thinking, Yi Yun still had one more match in his rookie ranking competition!

“This…is impossible!” Someone said it. Although Yi Yun had defeated Li Hong in an overwhelming manner, he had consumed a lot of energy. It was unlikely he could enter the top 1000 today.

After all, the people in the top 1000 were all Yuan foundation realm warriors. To exchange blows with a Yuan foundation realm warrior, just the other party’s massive Yuan Qi quantity was enough to swamp you.

No matter what, Yi Yun’s results in this Tai Ah Divine City rookie ranking competition was one that has not been seen in the past century!

It was even more alarming that he had mastered the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in two months.

At this moment, in the corner of the spectator stands, Yang Dingkun was livid.

When Li Hong had been sent flying by Yi Yun’s attack and had his staff broken into two, Yang Dingkun felt as if that attack hit his body as well.

He lost…

He lost 50,000 dragon scale runes and the ‘Truth of the Laws’ as well!

Li Hong would still have to return the 50,000 dragon scale runes to him, so he was not miserable over it. But the ‘Truth of the Laws’!

It was the heritage of the Chu royal residence. Under normal circumstances, if an outsider wanted to learn the ‘Truth of the Laws’, they had to join the Chu royal residence. However, Yi Yun had previously rejected the Chu royal residence’s invitation.

But now, Yang Dingkun had lost the ‘Truth of the Laws’ to Yi Yun. If his family learned of this, he would be punished!

Thinking about being confined, having his resources deducted, or other more severe domestic disciplines, Yang Dingkun’s face twitched.

He clenched his fists tightly, and his arm trembled. “How could…this happen? Li Hong, this trash! He actually lost to that little bastard!”

Yang Dingkun grit his teeth. He was thinking how he could not give the ‘Truth of the Laws’ to Yi Yun, but all the gambles in the Tai Ah Divine City were under the jurisdiction of the law-enforcers. The law-enforcers were grim and impartial. It would be wishful thinking to take the ‘Truth of the Laws’ back from the hands of the law-enforcers!

At this moment, a flame lit up in the arena, exploding out of thin air!

Oh?

In the spectator stands, the law-enforcers were stunned.

“It’s an announcement by the Elders!”

A few of the law-enforcers stood up and absorbed the information contained within the flames. It entered their ears immediately.

“Yi Yun! The two Elders, Jian Ge and Cang Yan request your presence!” The referee said to Yi Yun. This referee was also a law-enforcer.

When the surrounding cultivators heard this, they were speechless.

Another summoning by the Elders!

How many times in the past three months has Yi Yun been summoned by the Elders since he entered Tai Ah Divine City?

Most of the spectators had been in the Tai Ah Divine City for several years and they had only gotten the rare chance of meeting the Elders yesterday all because of Yi Yun, let alone be summoned by them.

If not for Yi Yun, would the Divine City’s Elders come personally to the arena to watch a rookie competition?

“This junior will set off now.” Yi Yun cupped his fists at the referee.

As he was about to leave, the referee asked, “Yi Yun, you still have another match left today. Do you plan on continuing?”

Yi Yun’s ranking was now 1028. If he made another challenge, he could really enter the top 1000.

Yi Yun hesitated for a while.

To enter the top 1000, he had to challenge Yuan foundation realm warriors?

He felt that that in his current state, it was very difficult to skip a level to fight Yuan foundation realm warriors.

By using Radiant Sun Qi and powering the Saber Truth’s 32 Words with Radiant Sun Qi, Yi Yun could at most use ‘Reigning Supreme’ or ‘Killing At Its Core’ 3-4 times.

If the opponent could withstand his 4 attacks, he would lose.

In the battle with Li Hong, Yi Yun had exposed his weaknesses. His cultivation level was low and he had insufficient Yuan Qi.

If his opponents understood this thoroughly, they could use defensive tactics, and make Yi Yun expend all his energy. If that happened, Yi Yun’s chances of victory would be very tiny.

Yi Yun shook his head, “Not for the time being.”

He would of course return to the arena. But now was not the time. Yi Yun had a lot to digest today. Also, Yi Yun wished to understand the nomological truths as soon as possible.

With the power of laws assisting him, his Yuan Qi consumption efficiency would improve.

As such, it would be able to make up for his lack of Yuan Qi.

“Alright.” The referee nodded. A law-enforcer came before Yi Yun and said, “Follow me, I will take you to the central divine tower!”

…

Fifteen minutes later, in the hall of the central divine tower, Yi Yun met Elders Jian Ge and Cang Yan.

Once Yi Yun entered, Cang Yan looked at Yi Yun as if he was a monster. On the other hand, Jian Ge began to size up Yi Yun from top to bottom.

“Kid, you actually managed to master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in two months?” Cang Yan still found it incredible at this moment.

“Uh…” Yi Yun did not know how to answer. Did he have to tell Cang Yan that he actually only used 12-13 days to master it?

Yi Yun’s lack of an answer made Cang Yan think he had made a silent affirmation.

“That’s amazing! Way back then, Old man Jian used 4 months to master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. You used half of the time Old man Jian used.”

As Cang Yan praised Yi Yun, he also revealed Jian Ge’s shortcomings.

Jian Ge had initially wanted to say something else, but when he heard Cang Yan’s words, he became a bit embarrassed. With a cough, he slowly said, “Old man Cang, I recall that you took 5 months to master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’? That is one month longer than me.”

Hearing Jian Ge’s words, Cang Yan’s old face turned red, and just laughed it away.

“Learning the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ fast doesn’t say anything. Although I was slower, I managed to become a sage 400 years earlier than you.” Cang Yan said proudly.

Jian Ge was rendered speechless upon hearing this. Old man Cang’s skin was really thick.

“Old fool, why don’t you mention that you are 800 years older than me!?”

Jian Ge and Cang Yan became sages around the same time. They had a friendly relationship, so it was common for them to spat.

But…in front of juniors, they would have to maintain their dignity and refrain from squabbling.

Yi Yun felt flattered that the two of them behaved in such a manner in front of him.

He knew that Cang Yan and Jian Ge had already treated him as a disciple amongst the juniors. As such, they acted freely, and they had no qualms doing so.

This clearly indicated that the two old men appreciated him!

“Haha! Earlier means earlier! About that…Kid!” Cang Yan turned towards Yi Yun, “I previously mentioned that those who learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ might not become a sage. That is indeed true. In the past 5000 years, there are plenty of juniors who have learned the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ faster than me, but the number of them that became a sage can be counted with my fingers! Although you mastered the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in two months, do not be complacent. You are still far from becoming a sage.”

Cang Yan was afraid that Yi Yun’s early accomplishment would get to his head, so he exhorted him.

Having led two lives, Yi Yun of course understood this. He respectfully answered, “This junior understands.”

“Alright.” Cang Yan nodded. “Speaking of this, about 100,000 years ago, there was a person who left the fastest record of mastering the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. That person did become a sage, and he was one of the best amongst the sages.”

“Oh? There’s a record for mastering the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’?” Yi Yun stumbled for a while. There was even a record for the time it took to master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’?

If he knew that earlier, he would have declared so upon mastering it.

Yi Yun felt a pity because the rewards from such a record was definitely handsome!

He made a mental note to figure out what records he could break to quickly gain glory points.

“How long did that senior take to master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’?” Yi Yun asked.

Cang Yan extended two fingers and said, “20 days!”

“20 days!?”

Yi Yun was shocked, “So fast!?”

He knew that it was only due to the Purple Crystal that he mastered the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in just over than ten days. But there was someone in the history of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom that managed to master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ using his own effort?

What sort of talent was that!?

That person may have had his own fortuitous encounters, but Yi Yun believed that no matter what it was, it could not be compared to the Purple Crystal.

“Are you surprised? I was surprised when I heard it too. In fact…that person had a pure Yang body. So it was half the work with double results to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. Eventually, he was given the title of Pure Yang Immortal. He created the Pure Yang Palace…but unfortunately, the Pure Yang Palace has been destroyed. The way of the world is ephemeral…” Cang Yan slowly said. Yi Yun was slightly stunned. A pure Yang body?

The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was pure Yang in nature, so it was a matter of course for a person with a pure Yang body to master it quickly.

With this in mind, it was no longer a pity for not reporting his record of mastering the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. He did not have a pure Yang body, so there was no way to explain how he mastered the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in just over ten days.

But…the name pure Yang body sounded familiar, as if…

Yi Yun suddenly had a thought.

Lin Xintong!

Didn’t Lin Xintong have natural Yin Meridians!?

Due to her natural Yin Meridians, Lin Xintong had to travel around the world to search for a way to join up her terminated meridians.

Yi Yun owed a lot to Lin Xintong, and he had previously promised to find a way to help Lin Xintong join up her terminated meridians.

Now with something related to Lin Xintong’s body, Yi Yun could not help but ask, “Elder, this junior has heard of a constitution known as natural Yin Meridians. People with this condition cannot live past 400 years, and they would reach a limit when they cultivate to a high level…But after hearing what the elder said, that senior with a pure Yang body managed to become a sage.”

“I wonder if it is possible for a pure Yang body to neutralize natural Yin Meridians? Is there a relationship between the two?”

254 - : Pure Yang Body

“Oh? You know about natural Yin Meridians as well?” Cang Yan stroked his chin, “Natural Yin Meridians counter natural Yang Meridians, while a pure Yin body counters a pure Yang body.”

“Is that so?” Upon hearing this Yi Yun felt some regret. Previously, Cang Yan had mentioned that an elder senior with a pure Yang body had managed to master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in twenty days and he eventually became a sage.

Yi Yun had original thought that if Lin Xintong’s natural Yin Meridians could counter the pure Yang body, then Lin Xintong would have a chance to be a sage. Now, it appears that he thought too simply.

Yi Yun asked, “What is a pure Yin body? And what are natural Yin Meridians?”

Jian Ge took over and stroke his beard and said, “People with natural Yin Meridians definitely have pure Yin bodies, but people with pure Yin bodies do not necessarily have natural Yin Meridians.”

“Pure Yin bodies can only occur on women. Their bodies can perfectly synthesize with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, and they are usually rare cultivation geniuses. Pure Yin bodies also have different grades. The purer the body is, the higher the cultivation talent.”

“The extreme state of pure Yin bodies is having natural Yin Meridians. As the saying goes, things always reverse themselves after reaching an extreme, people with natural Yin Meridians would encounter all sorts of limitations on the path of cultivation. As you said, the girl will not have a lifespan exceeding 400 years. They would reach a bottleneck once they reach a certain cultivation realm!”

“Such girls with pure Yin bodies are very rare. Some people say they have so much talent that they cause the Heavens to be jealous; as such, they have short lifespans and their path of cultivation is cut short by Heaven’s law!”

Heaven’s laws cutting short the path of cultivation?

Yi Yun was stunned. Just for those words, he could imagine the difficulty needed to join up natural Yin Meridians.

“Does the senior know of any ways to join up such terminated meridians?”

Hearing Yi Yun’s question, Jian Ge shook his head, “Difficult! Too difficult! It is a Heaven-defying feat. Since the path of cultivation is cut short by Heaven’s laws, to join them up using a mortal’s power, it is too difficult. However, there have been legends that once these terminated Yin meridians are connected, the girl would become a cultivation genius, one not seen in millions of years. She will skyrocket and become a Great Empress!”

“And it seems that in ancient times, there was such a legendary Great Empress. She had natural Yin Meridians, but by using some unknown method, she had joined up her own terminated meridians.”

Upon mentioning ancient Great Emperors, Jian Ge felt emotional. There has not been a single Great Emperor ever since the establishment of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

“Ancient Great Empress?”

Yi Yun had a thought in his mind. Since there were people who managed to defy Heaven, it proved that this was not an impossible path. Since he had the Purple Crystal, he was different from others. He should have the means to do it…

As Yi Yun was thinking through it, he noticed Cang Yan’s eyes flashing some sinister thoughts as he stared at Yi Yun. It was as if he was seeing something.

“Uh…What is this senior looking at?” Yi Yun touched his face awkwardly.

“Kid, you are asking in so much detail. Do you actually know a girl with natural Yin Meridians?”

Yi Yun paused without knowing how to respond.

“Hehe…” Cang Yan began smiling lewdly and he lowered his voice, “Girls with pure Yin bodies are stunning beauties, they are the best of the best in the world. And for the extreme state of pure Yin bodies, natural Yin Meridians, are even more so…This girl’s body is so pure that it is like a melting iceberg…”

Once Cang Yan said this, Jian Ge began coughing, as if he wanted to stop Cang Yan from continuing. But Cang Yan turned a deaf ear and carried on saying with his mysterious tone, “Kid, have you heard of Yin and Yang complementary? It is using Yin to balance Yang, and using Yang to balance Yin. The greater the difference between the man and woman’s body, the better and clearer the effects. A girl with pure Yin body is the best partner to do such complementary intercourse, even more so for a man with pure Yang body. Besides, this kind of thing is also very beneficial for the girl…”

“Ahem!”

Jian Ge began to cough vigorously. He was speechless. How old was Yi Yun? To think this dirty old man was telling a thirteen year old child such things!

But Cang Yan became even more excited and treated Jian Ge as air, “I say, Kid. You have so much talent in cultivating the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. In the future, your body will be full of Yang Qi. So, although you do not have a pure Yang body… if you were to master the ninth level of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, you will definitely be stronger than any typical pure Yang body…But being pure Yang to the extreme might not necessarily be good. You will still need a hint of pure Yin Qi to attune yourself, which pushes you to the highest levels.”

Old man Cang began to chuckle with a “you know it” expression. Yi Yun’s mouth turned agape. He did not know whether to nod or shake his head at that moment.

“Old man Cang, what sort of nonsense are you telling him!?” Jian Ge said grumpily.

“Old man Jian, I wasn’t speaking nonsense. Everything I said was reasonable. Tell me, what did I say that was nonsense?” Cang Yan rebutted with a question in a serious manner, which caused Jian Ge to choke.

He had to admit that although Cang Yan’s words did not sound right, it was nothing but the truth.

“Besides,” Cang Yan patted Yi Yun on the shoulder and pulled Yi Yun over with his back facing Jian Ge, then he whispered, “Actually, I suspect that this Yin and Yang complementary intercourse might be able to help a girl with natural Yin Meridians to join up her terminated meridians.”

“Ah? There’s such a thing?” Yi Yun thought about it. Could that be true?

“Hehe, I’m guessing! But who can say that it can’t be so? Yin and Yang complements. That is a truth that never changes. I can’t guarantee if it will join up terminated meridians, but there will definitely be some benefits. At least it will extend the girl’s lifespan. Speaking of this, do you actually know a girl with natural Yin Meridians?”

Old man Cang was very concerned about this. When Yi Yun’s pure Yang was perfected, he needed a trace of pure Yin Qi, which would be an absolute fortuitous event for Yi Yun.

Yi Yun laughed dryly twice. He did not admit nor deny it.

If Yi Yun admitted it and began discussing Lin Xintong’s condtion with this wretched old man, he would find it odd. It felt like an obscene act of coveting a goddess behind her back.

Regardless, Cang Yan’s words gave Yi Yun a method to join up Lin Xintong’s terminated meridians.

Ignoring the act of intercourse, as long as he found treasures that contained pure Yang Qi to nourish Lin Xintong’s body, it would be very beneficial for her. With Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal, it was not hard for him to find pure Yang treasures.

“That…Senior, I have another question about the mystic techniques of totems. In a few days, I plan to go into the Divine wilderness to hunt desolate beasts. I want to try condensing a Aspect Totem!”

Yi Yun changed the topic. To condense an Aspect Totem, it could not be done out of thin air, he needed a mystic technique!

The totem mystic technique was the same as a cultivation technique. It was a very important technique for warriors.

“Oh? You want to try condensing a Aspect Before Yuan?” Old man Cang’s eyes lit up. Those who could condense an Aspect Before Yuan were fantastic people. These people were still very rare for a place like the Tai Ah Divine City, which gathered all sorts of geniuses!

Not only did they need perceptivity, they also needed talent. Different warriors had different affinities with the Power of Desolates.

Although some people had outstanding talent, they were bad at absorbing a desolate beast’s Power of Desolates. Such a person might find it very difficult to condense an Aspect Totem even after reaching the Yuan foundation, let along Aspect Before Yuan.

“I’ll try it…” Yi Yun said with a smile. “If I really can’t do it, I’ll just wait till I breakthrough to the Yuan foundation realm.”

“You kid! You have mastered the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ and you have also gained insight on the Saber Truth’s 32 Words. You even want to try the Aspect Before Yuan. Anything good is yours.” Cang Yan cursed in a friendly manner. “Don’t get your hopes too high though. It is alright if you can’t condense it. There are not many people who can do it. The results you have obtained is already amazing.” Cang Yan said as he threw a jade scroll at Yi Yun.

“The totem mystic techniques are in there. You can choose it. Of course, I’ll charge you as per normal for. A good totem mystic technique is not cheap!”

The Tai Ah Divine City had its own rules. The allocation of resources were strictly adhered to the rules.

Yi Yun caught the jade scroll with joy.

The beginning of the jade scroll introduced the different grades of Aspect Totems.

Aspect Totems had a dazzling variety!

Different warriors could condense different kinds of Aspect Totems according to their body’s characteristics and the cultivation techniques they learned.

For example, the Aspect Totem Chu Xiaoran condensed was in the shape of a desolate beast.

Some people would condense Aspect Totem forms like plants, weapons, star constellations or even mountains and rivers.

The stronger an Aspect Totem was, the harder it was to condense. Once formed, it would be great in scale, to the point of causing an unnatural phenomenon!

Of course, it was very difficult to reach this a stage.

255 - : Totem Mystic Technique

After seeing the jade scroll’s introduction, Yi Yun could not help but feel some anticipation.

An Aspect Totem not only increased a warrior’s Yuan Qi, it could also be used for attacking enemies.

For example a swordsman’s Aspect Totem would also be in the shape of a sword. When he conjured his Aspect Totem, he could kill an opponent that was three hundred meters away in a split second!

Many swordsmen wished their Aspect Totem was in the shape of a sword. To them, that was the best kind of Aspect Totem.

Unfortunately, not every swordsman could condense a Aspect Totem in the shape of a sword.

“I wonder what my Aspect Totem will look like when I condense it.” Yi Yun was looking forward to the moment he condensed his Aspect Totem.

He browsed through the totem mystic techniques within the jade scroll.

“Divine Martial Aspect, exchange price: 50,000 dragon scale runes. To master ‘Divine Martial Aspect’, strength-based desolate beasts have to be hunted, for example; Strength Omega Ape, Heavenly Armored Rhinoceros, Thousand Mountain Bear…”

“To master the ‘Divine Martial Aspect’, the requirements on a warrior’s blood and Qi foundation are extremely high. It requires them to be thick and strong. Only people with strong bodies can endure the Power of Desolates surging through their bodies. Once the ‘Divine Martial Aspect’ is mastered, they can condense a beast-like Aspect Totem. With the Aspect Totem, the body’s strength will increase several times, to the point of being able to lift a mountain!”

After Yi Yun saw the first introduction to the totem mystic technique, he immediately felt that this was a mystic technique most suitable for Qiuniu.

Once Qiuniu condensed an Aspect Totem similar to the ‘Thousand Mountain Bear’, he could become a humanoid primordial desolate beast. That could only be described by the word ‘violence’.

But, this did not suit Yi Yun. It was too restrictive to just battle using strength.

Yi Yun carried on looking through it. “Heavenly Fire Secret”, priced at 60,000 dragon scale runes.

This was a technique that condensed a fire-elemental Aspect Totem by hunting fire-elemental desolate beasts. It was most suitable for warriors with extreme affinity with fire-elemental Yuan Qi.

“Mist Venom Secret Tome”, priced 35,000 dragon scale runes.

It was a mystic technique that cultivated venomous worms. By hunting highly toxic desolate beasts and gathering their toxins, one could condense a toxic Aspect Totem. Once it was conjured, it would spread a toxic mist, reducing all living things in a five kilometer radius to bone.

Yi Yun searched through the catalogue. He realized that a large number of totem mystic techniques focused on a specific element, for example, ice, fire, earth or pure strength or speed.

But Yi Yun found that none of these suited him.

Many warriors had a natural affinity to a particular elemental law. For example, Chu Xiaoran was naturally able to control frost ice Yuan Qi, so the Aspect Totem she conjured was naturally that of ice.

But Yi Yun was not good at controlling any type of Yuan Qi.

Rather, with the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun did not have any energy that he was not good at controlling.

Whether it was Heaven Earth Yuan Qi or Power of Desolates, as long it was a form of energy, he was good at controlling it…

What sort of totem mystic technique was most suitable for him?

Yi Yun flipped through the catalogue again and again, and after looking through all the mystic techniques in the jade scroll, he still could not find a suitable one for himself.

“Oh? None of them are suitable?”

Seeing Yi Yun frown, Cang Yan also frowned. The totem mystic techniques contained in that jade scroll of his were mystic techniques most suitable for warriors in the early stages of the Yuan foundation realm. They were high in quality, but they weren’t too difficult to learn. It was most suitable for Yi Yun if he wanted to condense an Aspect Before Yuan.

But it was clear that Yi Yun was not satisfied.

“What are you not satisfied with?” Cang Yan asked.

“Uh…These mystic techniques are not bad, but…they are kind of limited…” Yi Yun said in a roundabout and tactful manner. But it was clear that he meant that the mystic techniques were too narrow in scope.

Yi Yun felt it was not suitable for himself to condense just any ordinary Aspect Totem that focused on a single law’s power.

For a powerful dragon that could swim the seas and summon the storms, it could not do anything in a shallow bay.

And the Purple Crystal was a powerful dragon.

Jian Ge and Cang Yan thought for a while before understanding the situation.

In other words, none of the mystic techniques had caught Yi Yun’s eye.

This damned fellow! Others would be full of trepidation about being able to form an Aspect Before Yuan. They would just attempt, without much hope of condensing one. Once they condensed one, it was a delightful surprise. In fact, It was normal to not be able to condense one.

But Yi Yun was acting like he had already condensed the Aspect Before Yuan, and he was very picky over the mystic techniques not because he was afraid he could not master them, but because they did not catch his eye!

Jian Ge and Cang Yan looked at each other speechlessly. This kid was too overbearing.

“Kid, the totem mystic techniques cataloged within the Tai Ah Divine City are accumulated over millions of years from all parts of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Every type is included, and the quality is high, yet none of them caught your eye?”

Seeing Yi Yun so picky, Jian Ge could not help but say.

In fact, Jian Ge wanted to say, you aren’t even in the Yuan foundation realm, and the condensation of the Aspect Before Yuan is still not set in stone, why are you so picky?

Aspect Before Yuan was not easy to condense. Even if your perceptivity was high, it was in vain if your affinity with Power of Desolates was poor.

“Yi Yun, do not bite off more than you can chew! Back then, Qin Haotian was not able to condense an Aspect Before Yuan. Neither did I back in the day. The difficulties of Aspect Before Yuan differs from person to person. It does not mean that you can condense an Aspect Before Yuan even with excellent talent!”

“You are currently still in the middle stages of Purple Blood. Do it in a down-to-earth manner. Don’t look down on all these totem mystic techniques. These mystic techniques are all amazing in their own right. If you can master any of these by forming the Aspect Before Yuan, it will be unbelievable!”

“Once you reach the Yuan foundation realm, you can let your Aspect Totem evolve. As your cultivation level rises over time, your Aspect Totem will also become stronger. It will exceed warriors at the same level as you! If you become a sage, your Aspect Totem would be even stronger than mine!”

“Once you reach a higher level, you can absolutely cultivate an ever better totem mystic technique. But that should not happen now. Currently, you are just in the beginning stages. It is best to choose something that you can master easily. In fact, the totem mystic techniques Cang Yan gave you are all excellent ones. You can tell just from the price. Every one of them average around 50,000 dragon scale runes. They are definitely not simple!”

Jian Ge seldom spoke much, but all of a sudden, he began saying so much to Yi Yun because he thought highly of him.

Yi Yun did not know what to do upon hearing this. He knew that Jian Ge was being considerate, which made him unsure how to reject his advice.

“That…Senior Jian Ge, this junior only feels he should try a higher quality totem mystic technique. It’s just an attempt. There’s nothing to lose, and what if I mastered it…” Yi Yun bit the bullet and said it despite Jian Ge’s concern. It was also troublesome to be given too much concern by someone powerful.

Cang Yan gave Yi Yun and odd look. “What do you mean by nothing to lose? Kid, do you know how much it costs for a high-grade mystic technique? Many mystic techniques are not prepared for young people like you. They were prepared for human lords, and some of the mystic techniques are even something Jian Ge and I have to ponder over occasionally!”

“Also, to master a totem mystic technique, you will need to spend a large amount of time and energy to hunt desolate beasts. One needs to absorb the Power of Desolates to experiment if you can master it. You think nothing is at stake? Who knows, you might actually have the ability to condense an Aspect Before Yuan, but due to choosing a mystic technique that is too difficult, you end up not being able to form an Aspect Before Yuan. It will be your loss if you form an Aspect Totem only after you break through to the Yuan foundation realm!” Cang Yan explained his reasoning clearly. For a person like Cang Yan, it was rare for him to educate the younger generation in such a stern manner.

Yi Yun nodded when he heard this and he looked as if he was thinking deeply over it.

“This senior has a point, and this junior understands…”

Cang Yan stroked his beard in a satisfied manner when Yi Yun said that. Just as he was to say some additional words to dispel Yi Yun off his unrealistic intentions, making Yi Yun condense an Aspect Before Yuan in a down-to-earth fashion, he suddenly heard Yi Yun say softly, “But as I was saying…what if I mastered it…”

“You…” Cang Yan blew at his beard and stared. The words he had prepared to say were left stuck in his throat.

After staring at Yi Yun for a long while, he asked seriously, “Are you sure you want to try?”

“If it’s possible…”

Yi Yun said it without much confidence, but Cang Yan knew that Yi Yun was determined to give it a try. The only reason why Yi Yun’s words were lacking in confidence was because he did not want to openly go against his and Jian Ge’s wishes.

“Since you are so determined, then…alright.”

Cang Yan shook his head. “Then follow me to the library to choose a mystic technique!”

…

Yi Yun had come to the Tai Ah Divine City’s library once before. They were building after buildings of black stone terraces. They had a simple exterior.

The further forward one went, the more valuable the books were. To enter the sixth or seventh terrace of the library, there was a one-time cost of a few thousand or even more than ten thousand dragon scale runes.

If he wanted to borrow the books, he even needed to use glory points!

Typical cultivators seldom went beyond the seventh terrace. This was because the books within it were too expensive. They were usually prepared for mighty figures of the human race.

Cang Yan brought Yi Yun directly to the ninth terrace of the library!

This was the last terrace!

This terrace had a big array guarding it, so no cultivator could enter it.

Upon stepping into the terrace, Yi Yun felt a powerful aura that made his breathing slow.

“Such a strong aura. Just the books gathered here can form an invisible pressure that makes me difficult to breathe!”

Cang Yan had already expected Yi Yun’s response and looked at Yi Yun with a smug glance. His expression said –

Kid, didn’t you want to learn the highest grade of totem mystic techniques? So I brought you here to let you know what kind of state the highest grade of totem mystic techniques are like.

Ignoring the possibility of mastering the mystic technique, just the aura can scare you to death!

“Elder!”

At the entrance of the terrace, a few administrators in black saluted Cang Yan upon seeing him.

Seeing these black-clad administrators, Yi Yun’s eyebrows jumped. After he formed the Heaven’s eyeball, although he could not tell the level of these men in black, he could roughly gauge their powers.

These people were extremely strong. They should be on the level of the law-enforcers.

With a group of law-enforcers guarding the terrace, together with the protective array within it, this terrace was definitely an important spot in the Tai Ah Divine City.

If not for Cang Yan, Yi Yun had no right to enter.

Cang Yan nodded, and motioned for the administrators in black to retreat. He took Yi Yun directly to the top of the terrace!

256 - : The Ninth Terrace in the Library

“Here it is. Go ahead and choose!”

The ninth terrace of the library had seven floors and at the highest floor, there were only seven shelves.

Each shelf had a few books or jade scrolls on them.

There were also protective barrier arrays on all of the shelves.

Yi Yun casually browsed through the shelves, but some of the jade scrolls he saw shocked him.

The jade scrolls were dark blood-red in color. The surface of each jade scroll was inscribed with ancient text, and they seem to possess a long history.

The label below the jade scrolls read, “’Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ Seventh to Ninth Volume”!

The last three volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!?

Yi Yun held his breath. Up to now, he had only exchanged dragon scales for the first three volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ and they were the cheapest of all the volumes.

The prices of the subsequent volumes grew at an exponential rate.

It was not known how many glory points were needed to exchange for the entire nine volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

“The last three volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ are stored here. It means the totem mystic techniques kept in this place are on the same level as the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!”

Yi Yun looked over and saw the shelf that displayed the totem mystic techniques. There were three jade scrolls and a black book on the shelf!

Amongst the three jade scrolls, two of them were two-part volumes of the same mystic technique.

The third jade scroll was an independent mystic technique.

And the black book was another mystic technique.

In other words, there were only three totem mystic techniques on the shelf.

Each one of them was priceless!

“These mystic techniques…” Due to a barrier array, Yi Yun could not pick them up and read them, but he could read the introductions of the mystic techniques.

“The ‘Five Elements Divine Totem’ was found in ruins left behind by a Great Emperor, and it was uncovered in the Divine wilderness by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Divine Emperor Tianfeng. To master the ‘Five Elements Divine Totem’, one needs to master the five elements; ‘Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth’. After understanding the laws of the five elements, one has to combine them together as one to complete the technique!”

Yi Yun read the introduction to the ‘Five Elements Divine Totem’.

Just from the introduction, it made many people flinch. Just to master one mystic technique, one had to be able to control the power of the five elements and understand the laws of all five elements.

It was pretty remarkable for an average person to master one law. For example, Chu Xiaoran had great affinity with frost-ice laws and was an incredible elite. But to master the ‘Five Elements Divine Totem’, one had to have an affinity with all five elemental laws.

Furthermore, one had to combine the five elemental laws into one!

This combination process was definitely difficult. It was probably even harder than mastering each element separately!

“Did Divine Emperor Tianfeng learn the ‘Five Elements Divine Totem’?”

Yi Yun had previously heard of Divine Emperor Tianfeng. He was an emperor who desired absolute power and control. Not only was he the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Divine Emperor, he had also taken on the position of the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord. This was something rare in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s history.

Divine Emperor Tianfeng had unfathomable strength or he would not have been able to enter a forgotten ruin of a Great Emperor. That was a place where even sages could die.

“Hehe…” Cang Yan smiled insidiously. “No he didn’t. Even if you have amazing perceptivity, you might not be able to understand the five elemental laws. There might just be one elemental law that you are unable to grasp. Divine Emperor Tianfeng used an extremely long period to master each of the five elements. He killed numerous elemental primordial species, but in the end, although he managed to master the five elements, he was unable to combine them. Hence, he never managed to master the ‘Five Elements Divine Totem’.”

Cang Yan said this while looking at Yi Yun with a fascinating smile. His expression seemed to say –

“How about it, are you dazzled!? Do you want to learn something that even Divine Emperor Tianfeng could not master? If this still can’t scare you to death, I want to see how much more you can fool around.”

Yi Yun quietly returned the mystic technique’s introduction back and picked the second mystic technique’s introduction.

“Book of the Stars! By interfacing with the power of the stars, one can merge it with the Power of Desolates from slain desolate beasts to form a Star Ancient Book! This Star Ancient Book is this mystic technique’s Aspect Totem. Once the ancient book is opened, it will reflect the constellations, and by borrowing the power of the stars, it will form a Heaven-Earth array. It will be the best offensive and defensive combination, resulting in invincibility!”

After the ‘Five Elements Divine Totem’, it was this ‘Book of the Stars’. Just from the description, one could feel the powerfulness of it.

“Has anyone mastered the ‘Book of the Stars’?” Yi Yun asked.

“Hehe. The ‘Book of the Stars” just requires one to interface with the power of the stars. Although it’s very difficult, it is not like the ‘Five Elements Divine Totem’. It doesn’t require one to master the Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth elemental laws. Historically, there was a sage in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom who managed to master the Star Ancient Book totem. Once the ancient book was opened, it could also reflect the constellations, but as for setting up a Heaven-Earth array using the stars, no one has been able to do it…”

“How about it, the ‘Book of the Stars’ is even more ridiculous than the ‘Five Elements Divine Totem’. Do you still want to attempt learning it?” Cang Yan said with a teasing tone, intentionally making fun of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun did not reply and he carried on looking at the third totem mystic technique.

This totem mystic technique was very special. It was not a jade scroll but it was in the form of a black ancient book.

The book was very thin, and it looked like it only had a few pages.

The ancient book’s introduction was not detailed..

“Nameless black book, an ancient remnant. It only has the first twelve pages. Divine Emperor Tianfeng named it the “Ten Thousand Beast Totem”. To master the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, one has to kill ten thousand primordial species, and use their Power of Desolates to condense an Aspect Totem!”

Yi Yun took a deep breath when he saw this.

Kill ten thousand primordial species!?

This is way too ridiculous…

Reading on, there were no other special elemental laws required listed in the introduction for this nameless black book.

There was no restriction on the elemental properties of the ten thousand primordial species that had to be killed. As the elemental laws came in all sorts of forms, the Aspect Totem that was mastered would have no specific form. Its power and laws differed from person to person, and had endless possibilities!

“This ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’…No one has mastered it right?” Yi Yun turned his head to ask Cang Yan.

Cang Yan rolled his eyes at Yi Yun, “Isn’t that obvious!? It is a remnant and one has to kill ten thousand primordial species. It is totally insane, who can master it?”

“But it’s not that no one has mastered it…There was one person who tried it. He did not kill primordial species, but killed desolate beasts that were one rank lower. Following the introduction of the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, the person managed to barely condense the Aspect Totem. However, its strength was just 1% of what was described in the book!”

“It is not only because of the lower ranked desolate beasts, the main reason is because the energy control described in the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ is too esoteric. To circulate the Power of Desolates, according to the instructions in the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, is too difficult! Even sages struggle to understand it.”

“I say Kid, have you finished choosing?” Cang Yan pressed, looking at Yi Yun with an amused expression.

You rejected the totem mystic techniques I carefully picked for you and you had to come here to suffer abuse. Now are you satisfied? These ridiculous totem mystic techniques here are not meant for people to learn.

I’ll see how you are going to choose.

Yi Yun stood before the shelf and stayed silent. He fell into deep thought.

Which of the three mystic techniques should he choose?

Cang Yan was standing by the side watching with a snigger. He knew that Yi Yun was in an unresolvable position. Only after coming here did he realize that every technique was an impossible undertaking.

He had already anticipated that Yi Yun would shrink back at the sight of these, eventually giving up the opportunity to choose any of the three totem mystic technique.

But at this point, Cang Yan did not mind leaving Yi Yun hanging. He wanted to teach Yi Yun a lesson that he should not reach beyond his grasp.

Thirteen year old youths tended to be ambitious and self-inflated. They thought that they were the only special person under the Heavens. It was beneficial for his growth to give him a setback at this moment.

“Kid, have you thought it through?”

Thinking that it was about time, Cang Yan decided to let Yi Yun have a chance to resolve his awkward position. He believed the lesson he gave to Yi Yun was sufficient up to this point.

“I have thought it through.” After Yi Yun gave a bit more thought, he answered.

“Alright, that’s more like it!” Cang Yan gave a satisfactory nod. He had an expression of ‘the boy is worth teaching’, ‘an old man’s sayings are seldom untrue’, ‘the distance I walked on bridges is more than a hundred times than the distance you walked’. How could heeding my advice be wrong? It’s alright to make mistakes in your youth, the problem is to not realize your mistake. It is a great virtue to correct what you have done wrong.

Cang Yan patted Yi Yun on the shoulder and just as he was about to say a few more words, Yi Yun’s words pushed the words Cang Yan wanted to say back into his throat.

“Senior Cang Yan, this junior understands. This junior shall choose the third mystic technique, ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’…” Yi Yun made up his decision after careful thought.

“Uh…” Cang Yan stared at Yi Yun as if he was a rooster whose neck was strangled right before it could crow.

He widened his eyes and looked disbelievingly at Yi Yun.

At this moment, Yi Yun still gave a pensive look.

He had immediately eliminated the first one among the three mystic techniques. The five elemental laws were not goals Yi Yun pursued.

As for the second and third mystic techniques, they had their own advantages.

The second mystic technique cultivated the power of the stars!

Yi Yun recalled that just after entering this world, the Purple Crystal had absorbed the power of the stars at night in the Cloud Wilderness. The faint dream-like lights were still something fresh in Yi Yun’s mind. It was because of them did he slowly realize the abilities of the Purple Crystal.

It was easy to guess that it would be easy to master the ‘Book of the Stars’ using the Purple Crystal.

But…the ‘Book of the Stars’ had its limitations. Just the power of the stars meant that it was only a single law.

Besides, the power of the stars and the power of pure Yang had a big difference. It was not well-suited to the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ he used.

Hence, Yi Yun had decided to choose the third mystic technique, it was one that had endless possibilities and infinite variations. The ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ was neither limited by laws, nor was it limited to elemental energy properties.

Unfortunately…

The ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ was a remnant!

This meant that he would be faced with numerous difficulties as he progressed further with the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’.

Once he reached that point, he had to find the other pieces of the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’. But it was almost impossible to find such a nameless ancient book.

“If it’s absolutely impossible, I’ll use the Purple Crystal’s energies to circulate. I might then be able to make up for some of its deficiencies. Or I might look for and then cultivate other similar totem mystic techniques.”

As Yi Yun was speaking to himself, he turned towards Cang Yan and saw Cang Yan’s mouth agape. His expression was lifeless, staring at Yi Yun with widened eyes. He looked like a dead fish, one that had been choked to death.

257 - : Ten Thousand Beast Totem

“You…You want to choose the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’?”

Cang Yan took a while before asking Yi Yun a question. He could not believe what he was hearing. Was there a gaping hole in this kid’s brain?

All of the three mystic techniques were extremely difficult to learn. And the third mystic technique was the most difficult amongst the three!

Whether it was the killing of 10,000 primordial species or the comprehension of the profound energy circulation trajectories, it was extremely hopeless.

Furthermore, it was a remnant!

Only fools or crazy people would choose such a mystic technique.

Yi Yun nodded and said, “Senior Cang Yan, I’ll chose this. Since the mystic technique is incomplete, it should be very cheap, right?”

While saying this, Yi Yun looked at Cang Yan with anticipation. He hoped Cang Yan would give him a concession.

“Cheap?” When Cang Yan heard Yi Yun’s words, he fumed. “Cheap my ass! If you want this mystic technique, it costs 2 glory points per page!”

Cang Yan was speechless. After all that he said, Yi Yun still ignored every word of his.

“Eh…” Yi Yun grimaced.

Two glory points per page meant that the twelve pages would cost 24 glory points in total. It was too expensive!

“Senior, this mystic technique is just placed here and there’s so many pages missing. With no one mastering it, nobody reads it too, right…?” Yi Yun asked timidly.

Cang Yan stared and said, “Who says no one reads it? Sages would often come here to try and understand the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’. The ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ has those twelve pages only and there is only one copy. Although it cannot be mastered, it still gives sages some inspiration of the laws!”

“Alright!” Yi Yun could only accept it. He had originally earned 3 glory points from picking the primordial herb, 2 more glory points from breaking the herb-picking record and 1 more from being ranked first in the rookie ranking competition.

With a total of 6 glory points, he had spent 2 to purchase the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. The remaining 4 glory points could only be used to rent 2 pages of the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’.

By spending all his glory points in a split moment, Yi Yun felt as if he had gone bankrupt overnight.

It was very hard to get glory points.

As for dragon scale runes, Yi Yun still had plenty left. Before Yi Yun had participated in the rookie ranking competition, he had 50,000 dragon scale runes. After the gambling battles with the Hongdao Association members, Yi Yun’s dragon scale runes total had reached 100,000.

Yi Yun had also earned a large amount from the Hongdao Association’s betting pool. After tax, he had earned 30,000.

Adding to that, in the final match Li Hong had given him another 50,000 dragon scale runes and Yi Yun had earned dragon scale runes from the reward for being first amongst the rookies.

Adding it all up, Yi Yun had a total of 220,000 dragon scale runes!

Yi Yun was extremely rich. Yi Yun could spend his dragon scale runes anywhere that needed dragon scale runes without any worries.

“It’s time to consider changing my residence…”

Yi Yun had been staying in the free dormitories and was lazy to move. This time, he could immediately move to the central divine tower.

“Kid, you will regret it in time!”

As Yi Yun was leaving the library, Cang Yan’s angry voice came from behind.

Yi Yun did not know what to say. He looked at Cang Yan who was blowing his beard and staring with widened eyes. He suddenly felt sorry for the old man. It seemed like he had been cheating him all the time.

“Cultivating the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ requires me killing a large number of primordial species. I definitely do not have that ability. I might as well go to the Wilderness Divine Hall, and try to see if the Wilderness Divine Hall’s primordial species’ energy is any help in mastering the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’…”

Yi Yun was not confident with this idea. To condense an Aspect Totem, he needed to absorb desolate beasts that he killed himself. The soul imprint within a desolate beast would dissipate if it was killed by someone else, especially one killed millions of years ago. As such, it would be very difficult to condense it.

Regardless, Yi Yun decided to give it a try. It could still be beneficial for him to use the energy within the Wilderness Divine Hall to familiarize himself with the cultivation methods of the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun headed towards the central divine tower. He planned to first settle the central divine tower move-in procedures before heading to the Wilderness Divine Hall to cultivate the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’.

Due to the Wilderness Divine Hall’s expensive entrance fee, even rich cultivators would not choose the Wilderness Divine Hall as a place to cultivate their cultivation techniques. After all, it was common for a person to spend 3-4 days in cultivation at a time. If it was all done in the Wilderness Divine Hall, it would cost 40,000-50,000 dragon scale runes!

But Yi Yun could do anything according to his wishes with 220,000 dragon scale runes in hand.

Anything that could aid him in cultivating the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ was nothing, even if it was to deplete him of all his wealth.

Before Yi Yun proceeded far, a voice called out, stopping him.

“Are you Yi Yun?”

Yi Yun turned over and saw two 17-18 year old youths standing behind him.

“You are?”

Yi Yun did not know the two.

“Young master Yang invites you to the Divine Moon Restaurant,” said one of the youths.

Although the youth had a deadpan expression, the tone he used in his words sounded unpleasant.

“Young master?” Yi Yun frowned. Cultivators who came to the Tai Ah Divine City usually could not bring followers. The two youths did not look like followers, but they looked like cultivators. “Surnamed Yang, could it be the Chu royal residence’s Yang Dingkun?”

With some thought, the only person surnamed Yang that had any interaction with him recently was Yang Dingkun.

“No! You’ll know when you go. Let’s go to the Divine Moon Restaurant.” The youth said again.

Yi Yun laughed, “What if I don’t go?”

If any Tom, Dick or Harry were to invite him, could he ever be free?

Seeing the ages of the two youths in front of him, they were likely cultivators who had spent a long time in the Tai Ah Divine City and they would soon leave the Tai Ah Divine City.

But Yi Yun felt that they were not that strong. They might have broken through to the Yuan foundation realm. But even if they had broken through, they did not have a strong foundation. In terms of strength, they were probably no match for Li Hong.

“You…” The youth did not expect Yi Yun’s reaction and immediately frowned. He patiently explained, “The Chu royal residence invites you!”

“As I guessed, it’s the Chu royal residence.” Yi Yun had guessed it earlier on.

“That’s right!” The youth said proudly. He obviously felt that Yi Yun would not stay arrogant once the words “Chu royal residence” were said.

This was what many would normally think. Yi Yun may be strong, but no matter how strong he was, he was still a junior. Compared to a large entity like the Chu royal residence, he was nothing. The Chu royal residence was filled with experts, so who would dare to offend them?

Yi Yun smiled, “The two of you must have joined the Chu royal residence midway?”

Yi Yun came to a realization that the Chu royal residence absorbed all sorts of talent within the Tai Ah Divine City by getting them to sign contracts. Their main goal was to attract outstanding talent, but they did not mind pulling in people with average strength to fill the numbers. After all, those who could enter the Tai Ah Divine City were the best amongst their peers.

This was also the reason why the two youths called a descendant of the Chu royal residence, “Young master Yang”.

The two youths nodded instinctively. Just as they were about to carry on speaking, Yi Yun turned around and left after saying, “Not interested.”

The two youths were dumbfounded, “Yi Yun, you…”

They did not expect Yi Yun to be so arrogant. They had joined the Chu royal residence a few years ago. The name, “Chu royal residence” was always useful in the Tai Ah Divine City. Many young geniuses would not dare to offend the Chu royal residence no matter how strong they were.

But Yi Yun, who was a first year rookie, completely looked down on the Chu royal residence.

The young master of the Chu royal residence had personally invited Yi Yun to the Divine Moon Restaurant. It was the most expensive place to eat in the Tai Ah Divine City.

They served all sorts of priceless food. If one was rich enough, one could even eat the meat of a primordial species!

Seeing Yi Yun walk further into the distance, the two youths looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

Yi Yun did not take this matter to heart. It was quite easy to guess the reason why the Chu royal residence was looking for him under the current circumstances. Yang had a request beseech him, yet he had sent two errand boys over; he sure had an air of importance.

…

Yi Yun went straight to the administrative office of the central divine tower to obtain a permanent room.

He chose a room at the 69th level of the central divine tower. This was pretty much the best room cultivators could stay in.

The central divine tower was a large array that gathered Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. The higher it was the thicker the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. The purity and concentration of the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi on the 69th floor satisfied Yi Yun greatly.

It was half the work with double the results when cultivating here!

Yi Yun was led by a young voluptuous girl, who was wearing a tight black dress, to look at the room.

The size of the room was not too exaggerated. It was about 100 square meters.

However, the facilities within it were expensive and extremely exquisite. There were three arrays used for cultivating. Each one of them had different functions and they each needed one desolate beast relic to power them.

As for the bedding and the carpet, they were made from king-ranked desolate beasts’ skin. They were given additional processing by masters such as embroidering array inscriptions within them. Sleeping on them nourished the body and it would subtly strengthen one’s foundation.

Outside the room, there were all sorts of facilities that aided one’s training. It was very luxurious.

“How is it?” The black-clad beauty asked with a giggle. Her voice was extremely sweet, like a wind chime. She was an attendant of the central divine tower that was in charge of hospitality and service.

The central divine tower residences was the only residence in the Tai Ah Divine City that had service personnel.

“It costs 20,000 dragon scale runes a month to stay here.”

The black-clad girl already knew Yi Yun’s identity, but she was very curious about this young man. Even the cultivators in the top ten of the Heaven and Earth rolls might not be able to afford living here.

And it had not even been four months since Yi Yun came to the Tai Ah Divine City.

“Yes, not bad!” Yi Yun was very satisfied. Yi Yun was not stingy with anything that could increase his cultivation speed.

“I shall rent this room for half a year!” Yi Yun said without much ado and passed his identity token to the black-clad beauty. There were 220,000 dragon scale runes stored within the identity token.

The black-clad beauty’s eyelid twitched.

For half a year, that was 120,000 dragon scale runes. In the entire Tai Ah Divine City, there was no other cultivator that could spend dragon scale runes in such a manner except this youth in front of her. It was impossible and completely ridiculous to find another.

After all, the black-clad girl earned a salary as an employee of the Tai Ah Divine City. And that salary was also paid in dragon scale runes.

Employees also needed to cultivate. They could not give up on their martial arts just for their jobs in the Tai Ah Divine City.

Hence, they would also need to use dragon scale runes to exchange for resources.

As a low-ranking employee, the black-clad girl’s monthly salary was just 3000 dragon scale runes. Compared to the youth in front of her, she was speechless. The youth had spent in a second what she earned in three years!

“This is your key.”

The black-clad girl gave Yi Yun a golden key. This was the central divine tower’s key, and the key was in the shape of a tetragonal pyramid. It was very exquisite.

“Thanks.” Yi Yun took it and smiled at the black-clad girl to show his appreciation.

Following that, Yi Yun left the central divine tower and went to the Wilderness Divine Hall. He bought 60 hours in one go and that was another 30,000 dragon scale runes spent.

In a day’s work, Yi Yun had spent 150,000 dragon scale runes. This gave Yi Yun mixed emotions. It was easy to be unrestrained once one had a lot of money.

258 - : Unrestrained

Since Yi Yun had decided to move into the central divine tower, Yi Yun went back to his free lodging to gather his things. All his belongings were thrown into his interspatial ring.

After packing his things, Yi Yun went to the cook house next to the free lodgings for dinner. But some uninvited guests came while he was eating.

A youth, who was fanning himself with a fan, walked over with a smile and sat opposite Yi Yun.

The person closed his fan with a snap. Yi Yun looked up and glanced at him. Behind him were two attendants who were the ones who had invited him to the Divine Moon Restaurant earlier.

Other than that, there was someone familiar, Yang Dingkun!

Yang Dingkun was following behind the youth with a fan. Without question, this fanning youth had a higher position than Yang Dingkun in the Chu royal residence.

“This must be little brother Yi. I had reserved a special table with a feast worth 1200 dragon scale runes at the Divine Moon Restaurant, but little brother Yi did not do me the favor to show up and rather chose to eat in the cook house. I waited there for nothing for two hours.”

The youth with a fan said with a smile. Although his tone was polite, there was a hidden sharpness within it.

Even Tai Ah Divine City cultivators ranked in the top 100 of the Heaven and Earth roll would feel the pinch after eating 1200 dragon scale runes worth of food.

Yi Yun slowly wiped his mouth. He was speechless. Every time he had a meal, someone would come pick on him. Did these fools collude beforehand to do so?

“Let me introduce myself. I’m Yang Yuefeng and from the Chu royal residence. I’ve been in the Tai Ah Divine City for four years, but have a shameful ranking of 100 or so on the Heaven and Earth rolls.”

The fanning youth said slowly with a lot of charisma.

It was a very impressive deed to commoners if someone could reach the Heaven and Earth ranking of 100 within four years in the Tai Ah Divine City.

But for a young leader of the Chu royal residence, it was not impressive.

Even Yang Dingkun, who was obviously lower in status than Yang Yuefeng, was ranked in the top 100. Furthermore, Yang Dingkun was even younger than Yang Yuefeng.

But Yi Yun was aware that even though Yang Yuefeng’s self-introduction might sound weak, it was a demonstration of his prowess. By pointing out his shortcomings, he was actually highlighting his strengths, or his status would not be above Yang Dingkun’s.

Yi Yun remembered Yang Yuefeng’s name since he had memorized the Heaven, Earth, Man rolls of honor.

Yang Yuefeng was ranked tenth on the Man roll!

By being ranked on the worse side of 100 on the Heaven and Earth roll, but ranked tenth on the Man roll clearly indicated that Yang Yuefeng had some special skills.

“I see that it’s young master Yang. Is young master Yang a Desolate Heaven Master? Or an alchemist?”

“Ha! I’m lacking in talent but have some mild research in the Desolate Heaven technique.”

Although Yang Yuefeng said it humbly, he was clearly very proud of his Desolate Heaven technique!

By being ranked tenth on the Man roll, it symbolized that his Desolate Heaven technique was near perfection!

It was due to his Desolate Heaven technique that Yang Yuefeng had achieved such a position among the younger generation within the Chu royal residence.

In fact, in many cases, large families would appreciate Desolate Heaven Masters more than pure combat warriors.

Outside of the Tai Ah Divine City, in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the currency most often used was desolate bone relics. Some special desolate bone relics could help a warrior make a breakthrough, condense an Aspect Totem or allow their Aspect Totem to evolve. There were many uses for desolate bone relics.

“So it’s Yang Heaven Master.” Yi Yun said lightly.

“Haha, I don’t dare to be given the title Heaven Master. In the future, when little brother Yi condenses an Aspect Totem, maybe I will be able to assist you in some way.” Yang Yuefeng subtly expressed the level of his Desolate Heaven technique. Only high-grade Desolate Heaven Masters could refine desolate bone relics that could help condense Aspect Totems.

“Little brother Yi’s time is precious, so I’ll go straight to the point.” Yang Yuefeng said before passing a jade scroll to Yi Yun. “Little brother Yi, you can take a look…”

Yi Yun swept it with a glance. It was the terms the Chu royal residence used to pull him in again with a binding contract. The remuneration was none other than elixirs, fiefs, relics, beautiful sex cultivation slaves, etc. However, compared to the previous contract, the terms were multiple times better. Some of the beauties prepared for him were even from the Chu family’s direct bloodline.

By giving the Chu royal residence’s descendants to elites, which the Chu royal residence wanted to pull in, as concubines, not only did it satisfy the vanity and dominating personalities of elites, it could also make these elites have a closer relationship with the Chu royal residence. It killed two birds with one stone.

This gave Yi Yun mixed emotions. Girls born from large family clans had a tragic fate if they did not have enough talent.

The Chu royal residence had too many children. For the family clan’s interests, they did not mind sacrificing their children who were of little value. In a large family clan, they had no freedom regarding their marriage.

Seeing all these conditions that lacked anything new, Yi Yun lost interest. He noticed that besides those conditions, even the ‘Truth of the Laws’, which Yang Dingkun had lost to him, had been written into it as one of the conditions.

Even a lost bet could be used as a condition? Yi Yun frowned slightly.

He returned the jade scroll, “Sorry, I’m not interested.”

“This… It’s regretful…” Yang Dingkun shook his head. “Then would little brother Yi please return the ‘Truth of the Laws’ jade scroll to me. According to the Chu royal residence’s rules, the ‘Truth of the Laws’ can only be cultivated by a person from the Chu royal residence. If little brother Yi was willing to accept the conditions on the jade scroll and join the Chu royal residence, then the ‘Truth of the Laws’ can be freely cultivated by little brother Yi. But if you do not agree to that, then please return the jade scroll. According to the Chu royal residence’s rules, Dingkun had no right to use the ‘Truth of the Laws’ as a bet. Hence, the bet does not count. For this, the Chu royal residence has severely punished Dingkun, lowering his position in the family clan by three grades! I have been ordered to remedy the situation.”

“Actually, if little brother Yi were to sign the contract and join the Chu royal residence, it will be a joyous occasion. But since little brother Yi doesn’t wish so, this also makes things difficult for me…”

Yang Yuefeng slowly said, still with a “sincere” tone.

But when Yi Yun heard this, he was amused. What did his difficulties have to do with him?

“Are you joking with me?”

Anything that was gambled is protected under the rules of the Tai Ah Divine City, regardless of the Chu royal residence, Yang royal residence. Even the Divine Emperor himself had no power against it.

The Tai Ah Divine City did not care about any Chu royal residence’s rules. What you lost as a bet meant it was lost. Doesn’t count? Dream on!

“Little brother Yi Yun, don’t be in a hurry to reject me.” Hearing Yi Yun’s sarcastic words, Yang Yuefeng was not annoyed and remained calm. He said, “I know little bother Yi is in the Tai Ah Divine City and is protected by the Divine City. But in the future, little brother Yi will have to leave the Tai Ah Divine City, and it would be unwise to offend the Chu royal residence which has deep connections… Dingkun was in the wrong and he has already been punished by the family. Furthermore, I can get Dingkun to apologize to you.

Yang Yuefeng said this and glanced at Yang Dingkun. Yang Dingkun was clenching his fists tightly, staring at Yi Yun. His eyes were filled with humiliation and frustration.

To apologize to someone was a great insult for a proud person like him. Although it was something very costly to Yang Dingkun, it was worthless to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun wiped his hands and said, “An apology to exchange for something substantial? So Yang Dingkun originally did not have the right to bet the ‘Truth of the Laws’ with me? Then let me ask you, if I were to be the loser in the battle with Li Hong, then would you return the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ to me?” Yi Yun returned with a question. Yang Dingkun’s eyes turned blood red, “Yi Yun, I’ve already apologized. Don’t you push it!”

“Shut up!” Yang Yuefeng berated him. He did not wish for the matter to worsen any further.

He had tried to lower his status as much as he could. He knew that his request was unreasonable, but he was hoping the reputation of the Chu royal residence would prove useful.

No matter where it was, an individual’s power was always subservient to a greater power! Unreasonable things would become reasonable.

He believed that by giving Yi Yun a chance to resolve the situation, Yi Yun would compromise since as the saying goes, “a wise man suits his actions according to the situation”.

“20,000 dragon scale runes. We can give this as a form of compensation.” Yang Yuefeng announced his terms. This was something he had prepared beforehand. It was Yang Yuefeng’s bottom line to pay this amount of dragon scale runes, as a way for Yi Yun to resolve the situation amicably.

“20,000 dragon scale runes?” Yi Yun sneered deep down. He had spent 10,000 dragon scale runes and 2 glory points to exchange for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. Glory points were priceless. It was not enough even if someone were to bid a 100,000 or even more dragon scale runes for one.

Yang Yuefeng was planning to use 20,000 dragon scale runes to exchange for something similarly priced to the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

“That’s enough to pay a month’s rent.” Yi Yun sarcastically said.

Yang Yuefeng’s heart jumped when he heard this!

The two followers behind him widened their eyes. Even Yang Dingkun was shocked.

A rent of 20,000 dragon scale runes per month? Had he changed to a residence above the 60th floor in the central divine tower?

The central divine tower was the Tai Ah Divine City’s biggest super-array. It gathered the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in a radius of a million miles. It was the reason why it was the best place for cultivating in the Tai Ah Divine City.

The cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City all wished they could live in the central divine tower. It was not only a symbol of glory, but it was key to their own cultivation as it significantly helped.

Furthermore, the residences above the 60th floor were so rich in Heaven Earth Yuan Qi that it made people envious!

They knew that Yi Yun was rich. But even typical rich people would not dare to spend their hard earned dragon scales like this. Was he not afraid to spend all his wealth, and not be able to earn large amounts of dragon scale runes again?

“What…conditions do you want?” Yang Yuefeng’s face sank. Yi Yun was clearly ridiculing his condition as worthless by mentioning the rental of 20,000 dragon scale runes per month in the central divine tower.

“Two glory points as a form of equal exchange.”

Yi Yun was just about to learn the laws and needed to receive insight from the ‘Truth of the Laws’. But no matter how much Yi Yun abhorred the Chu royal residence, he still held the mentality of avoiding trouble whenever possible.

Two glory points were used to exchange for the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, and the ‘Truth of the Laws’ was also worth an equal amount.

Yi Yun could accommodate the Chu royal residence’s rules, but it did not mean he was open to being bullied by the Chu royal residence.

An equal exchange was Yi Yun’s bottom line.

“Heh!” Hearing Yi Yun asking for two glory points, Yang Yuefeng’s glance turned dark. “You really want to…refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!”

259 - : Chu Royal Residence’s Negotiation

Yang Yuefeng did not truly want to make a transaction with Yi Yun in the meeting today. To put it bluntly, he wanted to use the overwhelming stature of the Chu royal residence to pressure Yi Yun to yield to them, returning the ‘Truth of the Laws’ back to the Chu royal residence.

The 20,000 dragon scale runes were just a token amount to give Yi Yun a reason to resolve the situation.

But Yi Yun had immediately gone on to say that he wanted glory points.

Yang Yuefeng had one glory point. It was insufficient, but even if he had enough, he would not use his glory points to exchange for the ‘Truth of the Laws’.

After all this was Yang Dingkun’s problem. Yang Yuefeng was only here to remedy the situation.

Yang Yuefeng initially planned to use this opportunity to impress the Chu royal residence’s Elders with his abilities, causing them to value him more. But Yi Yun was not able to appreciate favors!

“Yi Yun! I said everything nicely and was all smiles. I have given you enough face, yet you treat me as someone easily bullied?”

Yang Yuefeng was an extremely talented Desolate Heaven Master and had been valued by his family ever since he was young. Amongst the younger generation in the Chu royal residence, other than the heir of the Chu royal residence, he had the highest position.

Under these circumstances, he had always been looked upon as a leader amongst the younger generation of the Chu royal residence. Normally, who wouldn’t be subservient towards him?

Today, he had lowered his stature to negotiate with Yi Yun. His every word had been polite and earnest.

But even after doing all of that, this kid did not reciprocate and even treated him as a monkey.

Who did this kid think he was?

“Your face?” Yi Yun sneered. “Your face isn’t worth anything to me. I did not want to go against your Chu royal residence, but I am neither a fish on a chopping block for you to chop. If you are unwilling to take out two glory points and merely want to get the benefits without any risk, then there’s nothing more for us to talk about.”

Yi Yun rebuffed Yang Yuefeng immediately.

Yang Yuefeng was fuming. He angrily looked at Yi Yun and said, “Don’t you regret this!”

Saying that, Yang Yuefeng rose.

“Let’s go!” Yang Yuefeng shook his sleeves and left.

Yi Yun did not even bother to take a glance at them and simply carried on eating with his head down.

Although it was troublesome to offend the Chu royal residence, Yi Yun was not afraid of them. The Chu royal residence may be powerful, but it could not hoodwink the masses in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Although he was insignificant compared to the Chu royal residence, Yi Yun was confident that in a few more years, he would be able to demonstrate enough value to make people know that he was a future sage.

When that happened, the Chu royal residence would be unable to resist the combined forces of all the other factions trying to rope him in.

Furthermore, the Chu royal residence might even try to befriend him at that time. It was after all just a manual that was leaked out. To offend a future sage because of something like that would definitely not be wise.

As Yi Yun was about to leave after having finished his meal, there was stir in the cook house. A few people were excitedly passing on a message.

Yi Yun listened carefully. Something big had just happened in the Tai Ah Divine City.

Luo Huo’er had broken the Desolate Heaven technique record left behind 30,000 years ago!

“Desolate Heaven technique record?”

Yi Yun was slightly surprised. It was no doubt that the record meant a lot!

“Luo Huo’er is impressive!”

People were very excited as they discussed Luo Huo’er’s breaking of a record. After all, no one had broken a record in the Tai Ah Divine City in the past thousands of years.

Yi Yun was the only one who had broken a record with the herb-picking record.

But the herb-picking record was just established out of a whim by the Tai Ah Divine City to encourage hardworking people. It was just a record to fill the numbers and had no opportunity to leave one’s name on the Sage Avenue.

Compared to Luo Huo’er’s breaking of the Desolate Heaven technique record, it was nothing.

The Desolate Heaven technique’s record was a huge record. It could be said to be one of the most important non-combat records in the Tai Ah Divine City.

It was a record where cultivators had to process desolate bones and produce desolate bone relics with various effects in a fixed amount of time.

Finally, the Tai Ah Divine City would assess the value of the desolate bone relics and pay for them in dragon scale runes. The final amount of this was the final score.

This needed a Desolate Heaven Master to have a well-honed Desolate Heaven technique to produce the high-grade and expensive desolate bone relics.

At the same time, the Desolate Heaven Master had to have a very low failure rate to accomplish this. The Desolate Heaven Master also had to have a high production speed as well as plenty of Yuan Qi to sustain the long assessment!

Stamina, speed and precision were all essential!

A person who could break the Desolate Heaven Master record was undoubtedly a well-rounded genius!

“I’m so envious! Luo Huo’er was already number one on the Man roll, now she has even broken a high standard record. She really has all sorts of resources at her disposal! I heard that this record will reward Luo Huo’er with 100,000 dragon scale runes and 25 glory points!”

For cultivators that managed to break records, the dragon scale runes were just a token sum, the glory points were the real reward!

“25 glory points? Amazing! Back when Yi Yun broke the herb-picking record, I think he was rewarded with 2 glory points. And that was after the Divine City’s Elders raised it provisionally.”

“We are so lucky. We managed to see the breaking of a large record not seen in a thousand years. Many people do not even have a chance to witness something like this!”

There was a flurry of discussion. They were all of worship and admiration towards Luo Huo’er.

Ever since the Tai Ah Divine City was established, every record had been constantly refreshed by numerous cultivators. After all, geniuses were not omnipotent. Some people were better in one field, so all of the records left behind were left there by the best in that field.

Because of that, every broken record made people feel powerless and frustrated. It made many lose the courage to even attempt to break the record.

As such, even though there were all sorts of records in the Tai Ah Divine City, they would usually stay unbroken for thousands of years.

It was not an exaggeration to say that Luo Huo’er’s breaking of the Desolate Heaven technique record was a meaningful event in the Tai Ah Divine City.

The achievement of breaking into the top 1000 of the Heaven and Earth rolls in one years was nothing compared to it.

“Desolate Heaven technique record… Luo Huo’er…”

Yi Yun returned his cutlery while murmuring.

The Desolate Heaven technique record awarded 25 glory points. Breaking records was definitely the fastest and most efficient way to accumulate glory points.

Yi Yun wanted to exchange for the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ and the subsequent volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. He was in great need of glory points!

Yi Yun needed at least 30 more glory points to relieve him of his pressing problems.

…

“Are you really not going to think it through?”

A middle-age man with a long face pressed a jade scroll on the table, looking earnestly at the girl in red sitting in front of him.

After Luo Huo’er broke the Desolate Heaven technique record, the news of it had quickly spread throughout the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Many major factions were alarmed!

The main reason was that Luo Huo’er had no background. It was as if she had appeared out of nowhere. With hope that she could be roped in, what major faction would not go mad over her?

Many factions had already sent envoys at the level of elders and entered the Tai Ah Divine City through their connections. They had personally come to Luo Huo’er to give her all sorts of favorable conditions in an attempt to rope her in.

These factions were mostly reclusive family clans. Many of them were even more powerful than the Chu royal residence.

But Luo Huo’er was uninterested in them.

Luo Huo’er smiled sweetly and politely said, “Thank you for the kind gesture, but Huo’er does not wish to be bound, Huo’er prefers freedom.”

“If the conditions are not satisfactory, we can discuss them further.” The long-faced middle-aged man asked, unwilling to give up.

“It’s really not necessarily. Thank you for Uncle Song’s love, but Huo’er still prefers freedom, going wherever she wants.” Luo Huo’er politely said, sounding as pleasant as a lark.

“Really… Then that’s a pity.” The long-faced middle-aged man had lingered around for a long time, but he could only silently leave after seeing Luo Huo’er’s lack of interest.

When the door closed, Luo Huo’er’s bright smile immediately disappeared. She curled her mouth and snorted, “What a small broken faction. To think you call yourself a reclusive family clan. Trying to use a bunch of junk to trick me into joining. Dream on!”

Her maid servant, Dong’er revealed her head from the room, “Miss, these people are so troublesome.”

“Indeed!”

“Miss, there was a leaflet that was sent just now. The Chu royal residence’s Yang Yuefeng wishes to see you.”

Luo Huo’er paused for a while, “Who’s Yang Yuefeng?”

“Uh… He’s number ten on the Man roll. He’s ranked not far behind you. Previously when Elder Yuehua was teaching, he was trying to get close to you!”

Dong’er said in a speechless manner. Yang Yuefeng was after all an outstanding figure and ranked close to Luo Huo’er, but Luo Huo’er did not even know who he was.

But Dong’er knew that it was not because Luo Huo’er’s memory was bad, it was because she selectively chose to filter out insignificant people.

The stronger one’s soul was, the greater was one’s ability at selectively forgetting things.

In Luo Huo’er’s own words, remembering these useless peoples was a waste of life.

“Another toad, not meeting!” Luo Huo’er would patiently deal with the elders of large factions, but for a junior from the younger generation, Luo Huo’er could not even be bothered.

“Yes.” Dong’er nodded fiercely. “As expected, Miss is the best! Previously people placed Miss, Qin Haotian and Yi Yun as the three elites of Tai Ah. Now, they should know that Qin Haotian and Yi Yun cannot compare to Miss?”

Dong’er proudly said. She was proud of Luo Huo’er from the bottom of her heart.

“To be born in a place like the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, Yi Yun and Qin Haotian aren’t bad for reaching such a level.” Luo Huo’er said as she suddenly recalled something and curled her mouth. “Yi Yun, that rascal which only knows how to use loopholes, actually managed to break a record first and stole my first place.”

Even though Yi Yun’s record was nothing compared to Luo Huo’er’s Desolate Heaven technique record, it still put Luo Huo’er in a bad mood. Luo Huo’er remembered Yi Yun only because of this. If not, she would not have bothered with the rookie ranking competition at all, and neither would she have bothered to remember who Yi Yun was.

“Dong’er, set up a sound-proof barrier array. I want to cultivate! After all, because of the training in the Desolate Heaven technique, I have been putting my cultivating aside…”

260 - : Desolate Heaven Technique Record

The training ground was just next door to where Luo Huo’er was staying. Dong’er immediately began to set up the isolation array in a skilful manner. Following that, the young lady touched her interspatial ring, making a huge cauldron fly out of the ring.

Dang!

With a loud thud, the huge cauldron landed on the floor. With a few of Luo Huo’er’s hand seals, a rainbow colored flame began to emerge from the cauldron as it started burning. The training ground’s temperature began to increase rapidly.

Dong’er backed out and left Luo Huo’er alone in the training ground to cultivate. Luo Huo’er began to expirate as she started cultivating her cultivation technique, absorbing the fire essence as she tried to gain understanding in the fire laws…

The flames burning in the huge cauldron were collected from a mysterious land within the remote wilderness. The fire essences were being absorbed and released by Luo Huo’er.

Due to the high temperature, even the purple tungsten metal that tiled the floor nearly melted. At this point, a footprint could be left on what was usually an extremely hard purple tungsten metal.

Luo Huo’er’s body started to turn red as her body heated up while she was in this extreme environment.

She continued this cultivation for four hours. The changing flames in the huge cauldron were now slowly subsiding, and the heat waves that flooded the training ground also slowly started to dissipate.

Luo Huo’er’s entire body was now drenched in sweat, but her flushed face was one of excitement. She had gained another understanding in the laws of fire. If this went on, she would soon enter the third realm of her “Sacred Fire Infinite Book”.

“My ‘Sacred Fire Infinite Book’ is still only at the peak of the second stage. Although I cannot find an opponent amongst my peers, this is still far from the realm I want…”

“Father told me that when my ‘Sacred Fire Infinite Book’ reaches the seventh stage, I would be able to barely help share in his burdens. But the seventh stage… is so far away…”

Thinking about what her father wanted to do, Luo Huo’er was a bit anxious.

It was something troublesome, not having enough power.

With this thought in mind, Luo Huo’er walked past a large mirror and took a casual glance at it. She noticed her pretty face in the mirror.

Originally, this training ground did not have a mirror, but as this training ground was only used by her, she decided to take the liberty of placing more than ten Divine Mercury mirrors in it.

These Divine Mercury mirrors were made by smiths. The metal used was extremely expensive, and the mirror created by it could reflect a person’s looks perfectly. It was on a completely different level compared to the bronze mirrors used by mortals.

There were more than ten mirrors placed in a specific manner, so that one could stand at a certain spot in the training ground and see one’s reflection from all angles.

At this moment, Luo Huo’er was standing at that spot, admiring her reflections.

Luo Huo’er was at the age where she was as pretty as a flower. Due to her body being drenched in sweat, her clothes were now sticking to her body, outlining her body’s perfect lines.

Her slim and slender body was supported by two legs that were sticking close together. As her clothes were wet, one could vaguely see her delicate skin. Those perfect legs were soft and her flesh was springy to the touch.

Her full and firm female twin peaks could be easily seen due to her wet clothes. One could even vaguely see two tiny protruding dots.

Luo Huo’er was like a delicate flower bud that could make one be lost in wild and fanciful thoughts

As Luo Huo’er looked at her own reflection, all her worries quickly receded from her mind.

She said to herself, “So perfect… Excellent martial arts talent, Desolate Heaven technique and alchemy talent. Perfect looks and a perfect body line. Do I have any weaknesses?”

“If I were a guy, I would also fall in love with myself… Speaking of this, it sure is a headache. What would happen if no one is worthy for me? This Tai Ah Divine City gathers all of the elites, yet from the guys here, none of them are any good. Yes… I would rather stay unmarried for life than let these toads luck out…”

As Luo Huo’er spoke to herself, due to her body’s heat and excitement, her skin was very red.

She turned her body a few times and admired her perfect body line with a 360° view. At the same moment, the isolation array Dong’er had previously set up for Luo Huo’er to allow her to cultivate in the ‘Sacred Fire Infinite Book’ had dissipated with time.

Just as the isolation array dissipated and Luo Huo’er’s face was still one of narcissism, she suddenly felt that something was amiss.

As she slowly turned her body and noticed that not far from her, there was a youth in linen clothes with a saber on his back. He was standing there stunned, with a surprised and baffled expression on his face. He was looking at her with one eye raised higher than the other!

Luo Huo’er was extremely shocked!

It took her a few seconds before she suddenly covered her chest and screamed, “You… You… How did you come in here!?”

Luo Huo’er was embarrassed and angry. She had already lived in the 69th floor of the central divine tower for two years. This training ground was to be shared amongst the 69th floor residents, but in these two years, it had pretty much been her exclusive training ground. How did a man enter here!?

“Eh…”

Yi Yun looked at the pyramid-shaped key in his hand and raised his hand slightly. He meant…

I entered using the key to open the door.

“You!”

Luo Huo’er’s eyes burned with anger. When she recalled the words she said to herself, she felt so embarrassed that she could die. The isolation array was already greatly weakened before she began speaking. With an expert’s listening power, it would be very easy to hear everything at such a close distance. Besides, one could also read from one’s lips.

“How long have you been here!?” Luo Huo’er asked while clenching her teeth.

“I… just came…” Yi Yun explained hurriedly.

Luo Huo’er looked at the training ground door which Yi Yun had closed, and from his position from the door, Luo Huo’er could estimate that this kid had been here for quite a while!

“I… I’ll kill you!”

Luo Huo’er was fuming and immediately unsheathed a sword.

“Uh… Don’t be rash!” Yi Yun could feel Luo Huo’er’s murderous intent as he retreated. He sure was fucking unlucky. He had just moved into the central divine tower today and already he encountered this type of situation by opening the training ground’s door with the key.

“I didn’t know that you were training in here. I didn’t mean to…”

“You!” Luo Huo’er’s face was red with embarrassment. She leaped forward and slashed at Yi Yun with her sword!

This slash was accompanied with wanton blade beams and an overpowering aura. Before the sword could reach him, Yi Yun felt his body’s pores contract. It was as if 10,000 swords had already reached his body!

What the heck!

Yi Yun was dumbfounded. This girl’s sword attack was too fierce. Even without using the Purple Crystal’s vision, he could feel the surging energy coming from the girl’s sword. In comparison, Li Hong was nothing!

He definitely was not able to withstand that attack. The girl probably did not measure her strength due to her embarrassment that turned into anger. If he were to be killed or seriously injured by her, causing him to become bedridden for half a month, it would be a grave injustice!

If he could not take on this attack, it would be no different from suicide. He could not avoid it even if he wanted to. Yi Yun’s mind was filled with scrolling words of “fuck your mother”. How could he be so unlucky!?

In his panic, Yi Yun saw the blade beams engulfing him. The red-clad girl’s pair of little bunnies were bouncing naughtily around as she wielded her sword.

As the girl’s clothes were clinging tightly to her body, and because both of her hands were wielding the sword, she was not able to cover her chest. The picture in front of Yi Yun was clearly seen by him. He could even see through the clothes, seeing the red amongst the white soft skin.

Immediately, Yi Yun thought of something and a spell of wrath rose from his heart. Since he could not take the attack head on, he had to outsmart her!

He looked at the girl’s bosom, pointed with a finger and shouted, “Beauty, I can see your breasts!”

“Ah!”

Luo Huo’er cried in fright and the sword Qi greatly dissipated.

With the sword Qi blockage released, Yi Yun quickly pulled out his Thousand Army Saber and slashed outwards.

“Cha!”

Luo Huo’er’s remaining sword Qi was broken apart by Yi Yun. Yi Yun then quickly used his Minute Subtlety movement technique and rushed out.

He appeared in a blink of an eye in front of the training ground’s door and kicked open the door. Thankfully, when Yi Yun entered he had only closed it instead of locking it. If he had done so, the purple tungsten door would definitely give Yi Yun trouble!

The decision to escape was the wisest now. To stay behind while the girl was fuming with rage would be to court death. Girls were not reasonable creatures, even more so for girls burning with rage.

“Peng!”

With the door closed, Yi Yun immediately disappeared.

Luo Huo’er was holding her sword in one hand while her other hand was covering her chest. She stood in the training ground in a daze.

She was furious and embarrassed. She was like a cat whose fur was standing on end after its tail was stepped on.

“Damn that lecherous kid. If I catch you, I’ll definitely kill you!”

Luo Huo’er was already extremely angry, but when Yi Yun said his last words, “Beauty, I can see your breasts”, it made her so enraged that she gnashed her teeth.

She lowered her head and looked at her chest. The outline of her full breasts was completely brought out due to her wet clothes. There were even parts in the fabric that were vaguely translucent!

This made Luo Huo’er feel like she could die!

First the rascal heard her narcissistic words, then he saw her breasts. She had even previously said that she would rather stay single all her life than let those toads luck out. But at the next moment, she had been completely seen through by a toad!

“That damn toad!” Luo Huo’er’s chest heaved up and down. “I’m also dumb. I forgot I can use the fire laws to dry my clothes!”

As everything had happened too quickly, Luo Huo’er did not have the opportunity to think it through. She had forgotten about the fact that she had a wardrobe malfunction because her clothes were now drenched with sweat.

But even if Luo Huo’er’s grasp of the fire laws were exquisite, it would still take a few seconds to dry her clothes with a flame. Any faster and her clothes would end up burning instead.

Those few seconds were enough to let that rascal see through everything!

With these angry thoughts in her mind, Luo Huo’er angrily rushed out of the training ground.

“Peng!”

Luo Huo’er kicked open the door to her own residence, “Damn you Dong’er, come out now!”

Luo Huo’er had a sword in hand and had a threatening stance.

During her usual cultivation, as she did not want others to see her ‘Sacred Fire Infinite Book’, Luo Huo’er would always set up an isolation array and let Dong’er guard the door. But today, Dong’er had disappeared!

“What… What’s wrong Miss?”

Dong’er lifted her head and looked at Luo Huo’er in a daze. Her two hands were still holding up a round bun with it nearly stuffed into her mouth. So her words were muffled.

Seeing Luo Huo’er’s angry expression, Dong’er tried her best to swallow the mouthful she already had in her mouth. She then placed the bun into a bowl and hid the bowl behind her back, it was as if this ostrich act would give her better peace of mind.

“I made you guard the door and here you are, eating!?” Luo Huo’er asked furiously. In her anger, she grabbed the bowl and smashed it to the ground.

“Pa!”

With a clear snap, the bowl broke from the smash.

Seeing the broken bowl and the dirty bun, Dong’er was dumbfounded. Tears streamed down her face as she felt wronged.

Dong’er did not know why Luo Huo’er was in such a bad mood.

Luo Huo’er had been cultivating in the training ground for two years. In those two years, Dong’er seriously guarded the door in the beginning. But later on, as no one ever came, she naturally relaxed. Dong’er was still young at heart and Luo Huo’er would sometimes cultivate for more than twenty hours at a go. For a child to guard the door daily, she would be bored to death.

Hence, she would occasionally go run some errands and the missus never blamed her for that in the past…

261 - : Luo Huo’er’s Rage

“Damn Dong’er, darn Dong’er. You only know how to eat! Then, I’ll let you eat!”

Luo Huo’er was pinching Dong’er’s ears. At this moment, her heart was filled with anger, with no place to vent her frustration. Just recalling the last words Yi Yun said about seeing her breasts made Luo Huo’er feel like exploding.

“Painful…Painful…Ouch! Miss, you are going to pull off Dong’er’s ears!” Dong’er said in an aggrieved manner. Poor Dong’er still did not know what had happened. She was happily eating a bun, when suddenly a calamity from the Heavens fell upon her. That is why she was in such a state now.

Only then did Luo Huo’er release her. Dong’er’s tiny ears were red and her large eyes were filled with tears.

Seeing Dong’er’s pitiful look, Luo Huo’er’s heart started to soften. But she was still fuming inside. She grunted, “I told you to guard the door. Why were you here eating and not guardıng the door!?”

Dong’er touched her tiny red ears and said wrongfully, “I…was hungry…”

It was common for Dong’er to feel hungry guarding the door without a replacement…

Of course, even if Dong’er was not hungry, she would not just focus on guarding the door. She had plenty of other things to do such as staring blankly, sleeping and fiddling with flowers. She could even spend most of the day watching a small bug walking on a blade of grass.

In the central divine tower, Luo Huo’er would spend most of her time cultivating or practicing her Desolate Heaven technique. Although Luo Huo’er seemed like a capricious person, she was always working hard on her cultivation. Hence, Dong’er would be left alone and bored out of her mind most of the time.

“M…Miss. Was the ‘Sacred Fire Infinite Book’ seen by someone else…?” Dong’er pursed her lips as she asked fearfully.

The reason why Luo Huo’er instructed Dong’er to guard the door was to prevent her from being disturbed, and even more importantly, prevent others from discovering her practicing of her family’s cultivation technique, the ‘Sacred Fire Infinite Book’.

“It is worse than that!” Luo Huo’er said angrily. In fact, even if someone saw her cultivating the ‘Sacred Fire Infinite Book’, they would find it difficult to tell the level of the ‘Sacred Fire Infinite Book’. Luo Huo’er was just being careful, erring on the side of caution.

“Worse than that?” Dong’er opened her tiny mouth and started to stare at Luo Huo’er with round eyes. She knew she was in great trouble today.

Although she had an extremely good relationship with Luo Huo’er, they were after all still mistress and servant. She knew that her duty was to dedicate herself to serving Luo Huo’er.

“What happened, Miss?” Dong’er uneasily asked. She started praying in her heart hoping that it was not something unredeemable.

Luo Huo’er’s face turned red as she did not know what to say.

Even though she and Dong’er had a very close relationship, Luo Huo’er would never tell Dong’er the details of such a shameful event.

Did she need to tell Dong’er about that ruffian who heard the narcissistic words she was saying after he entered the training ground? And on top of that, he completely saw her whole body!

Not only that, he had even used a scoundrelly method to escape from her hands!

Just thinking about it made Luo Huo’er feel resentful. She went through such an unacceptable ordeal, and not only was there nowhere for her to vent her frustration, she could not tell anyone what had happened, not even Dong’er.

With nowhere to vent her resentment, Luo Huo’er started pinching Donger’s ears again. But this time, she did not use any strength.

“Damn you Dong’er, you listen carefully. In the future, when you are guarding the door, you are not allowed to go anywhere else! Also, I will punish you by not allowing you eat buns or any food for the next ten days! I will only give you an avoiding grain relic!”

When Luo Huo’er said this, Dong’er’s face paled in fear. It was as if she was facing the world’s most terrifying event.

“No buns, no food…”

Dong’er was too sad for tears. The avoiding grain relic Luo Huo’er mentioned was a fierce beast relic made specially for replacing meals. It did not have much Yuan Qi within it, but eating one stopped that person from feeling hungry for ten days.

But the avoiding grain relic had no taste. It was as bland as eating white noodles. Dong’er felt like she had entered hell when she thought about not having any food for ten days, having to subsist on just a tasteless relic.

“Miss…” Dong’er said in an aggrieved manner as she lightly pulled on Luo Huo’er’s clothes. Her watery eyes seemed to speak for her.

“This is not negotiable!” Luo Huo’er said hatefully, but after seeing Dong’er as if she was about to die, her heart softened. She said, “This time, I will be light on you. The ten days will be shortened to five!”

Saying that, she shook Dong’er’s hand off and stormed angrily towards the central divine tower’s administrative office.

She wanted to know how could a rascal, who appeared out of nowhere, manage to get the key of the central divine tower’s 69th floor training ground.

…

A black-clad beauty was sorting a room list in the central divine tower’s administrative office. She looked like she was in her twenties. She had an excellent body and beautiful good looks.

The central divine tower was the face of the Tai Ah Divine City, so it was common for her to receive all sorts of guests. As a service staff, every aspect of this beautiful girl was excellent.

The black-clad beauty was stunned when Luo Huo’er stormed into the room angrily to question her. After understanding Luo Huo’er’s question, she chuckled, “Little sister Huo’er, the person you are talking about is most likely Yi Yun.”

Back when Yi Yun rented a room at the 69th floor of the central divine tower, this black-clad beauty was the one who took him to see the room. Yi Yun, who was just thirteen years old, was able to pay half a year’s worth of rent in his first year of entering the Tai Ah Divine City. It was a great shock to the black-clad beauty, so she remembered him very clearly.

For him to be so powerful at such a young age, it indicated that he would have a promising future. He was a diamond bachelor, if only she could get him…

But this desire of the black-clad girl was just fantasy and she knew that. Previously, she cultivated in the Tai Ah Divine City for six years and her results were terrible when she graduated. It was only because of her beauty that she was able to stay in the Tai Ah Divine City and work in the central divine tower.

“Yi Yun!? He’s Yi Yun?” Luo Huo’er did not recognize Yi Yun at all.

She knew of Yi Yun only because he was the first person to break a Tai Ah Divine City record in the past thousand years. It peeved Luo Huo’er.

When the name Yi Yun was mentioned to 99% of the cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City, they would either admire him or be jealous of him. Only Luo Huo’er was bugged by his name.

This time, it was that Yi Yun again!

“Yes, he’s Yi Yun, a young man with great achievements.” the black-clad girl giggled. “He’s a tenant of the 69th floor of the central divine tower, so it’s natural for him to have the training ground’s key. That training ground was originally meant to be shared amongst the adjacent rooms. Oh yes, he’s even your neighbor!”

The black-clad girl was looking at Luo Huo’er with envy.

But when Luo Huo’er heard this, she felt as if a bronze basin was dropped on her head…

Dang!

Luo Huo’er was extremely shocked.

I am neighbors with that toad!?

Did it not mean that she to lower her head whenever she saw that rascal?

Heavens!

If it was not for what happened today, Luo Huo’er could completely treat Yi Yun as if he was just air, just like a toad on the side of the road. Although she did not like it, it was alright seeing him.

But…after today’s event, Yi Yun would have all sorts of images appearing in his mind whenever he met her again. Just thinking of this made Luo Huo’er go crazy.

The black-clad girl apparently did not notice Luo Huo’er’s mood and carried on saying without much thought, “You two are amongst the best geniuses in the recent batches of the Tai Ah Divine City. You two can mix around and share experiences with each other. Hai, I really envy all of you…”

When Luo Huo’er heard this, her mouth twitched a few times. Mix around and share experiences? Don’t make me laugh!

“I do not want to be his neighbor!” Luo Huo’er blurted out. She did not expect that Yi Yun could afford to live on the 69th floor of the central divine tower.

“Eh?” The black-clad woman was shocked. “Why do you not want to be Yi Yun’s neighbor? Yi Yun has already paid for the room, so it is natural for him to be staying at the 69th floor of the central divine tower…”

There were only a few rooms prepared for cultivators in the 69th floor of the central divine tower. No matter how the rooms were switched, they would still be neighbors. The only way out for her was to move to a higher or lower level.

But the rooms situated at the 70th floor and above were not for the Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators. This was because the concentration of Yuan Qi was a waste for low level warriors.

To stay at the 70th floor and above, one had to pay one glory point every two months. Even though Luo Huo’er was first on the Man roll of honor, she did not have so many glory points to squander. Using glory points in exchange for a place to live was too wasteful.

As for moving to the 68th floor, Luo Huo’er got more angry just thinking about it. Why did she have to move to the 68th floor!? If anyone had to move, it was that toad!

“I will find that kid and settle score!” Luo Huo’er ground her teeth and thought hatefully.

…

At this moment in the Tai Ah Divine City’s herbal mountain, in a place with beautiful scenery.

A youth in linen clothes was sitting on the grass, with his back leaning against a tree. He was quietly reading an ancient book. He would gently brush away the occasional fallen leaf.

“Ten Thousand Beast Totem”, “Truth of the Laws”…

Yi Yun planned on returning to his residence in the central divine tower to continue his research of the two manuals, but when he opened the door, he met a violent girl who nearly killed him.

Yi Yun found it puzzling, but there was no doubt that the violent girl’s strength was higher than his. Therefore, he decided to avoid the central divine tower temporarily. After that, he came to herbal mountain #60 under the guise of picking herbs.

He had to admit that the Chu royal residence’s ‘Truth of the Laws’ was a valuable book.

The ‘Truth of the Laws’ did not focus on explaining every single nomological truth’s cultivation method. The entire book introduced nomological truths. It was a secret manual that introduced the laws in a general fashion.

If he could understand it, it would be a great help for his future when it came to cultivation of the laws.

In the introduction of the ‘Truth of the Laws’, it explained that the path of martial arts had 3000 Great Dao. Each Great Dao could lead to the peak. While some of these Great Dao were difficult, others were easy. The powers one could obtain from each route were not the same.

These 3000 Great Dao were split into several big categories.

The first category was the Dao of weapons!

When it came to weapons, there were saber truths, spear truths and sword truths. All of them came under the classification of the Dao of weapons.

Some swordsmen only used swords throughout their lives. Even so, they could still reach the pinnacle of martial arts with just swords.

Similarly, it was possible with spears, sabers and polearms!

Yi Yun understood that the Saber Truth’s 32 Words in the saber tomb were left behind by an expert who had reached an unfathomable level at saber truths.

262 - : I am neighbors with him?

After the way of the weapons, there was the second large category, the laws of the five elements!

The five elements, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth could be cultivated to an extreme and pushed to the pinnacle of martial arts. If one could combine the five elements into one, one could go one step further.

Besides the five elements, there were the laws of nature.

One could use the powers of nature such as Wind, Snow, Thunder and Lightning and the power of crumbling mountains and tsunamis.

Once the laws of nature were cultivated to an extreme, they could also be combined into one. A warrior could become an embodiment of Heaven and Earth, holding onto the power of the Creator.

The aforementioned three laws were the most common cultivation techniques. They were not considered difficult to master, but they were still promising as one went higher. 90% of the warriors in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom chose from these three categories, focusing on a particular law.

After the three big categories, there were some relatively rare laws.

Many laws and Great Dao often came in pairs, for example, Hard-Soft, Fake-Real, Space-Time, Yin-Yang, Life-Death, Cause-Effect, Being-Void, Murder and Redemption, Ephemeral-Eternal…

Yi Yun kept reading. The 3000 Great Dao of martial arts were all-inclusive.

A typical warrior would only choose one of them, and at best, just a few.

Every path in the 3000 Great Dao contained endless mysteries. A warrior could spend his entire lifetime and still not be able to glimpse at every secret.

If one chose too many laws, it could result in one becoming too distracted, preventing one from accomplishing greater things.

Yi Yun read the introduction to every law, as well as their properties and principles which were recorded in the ‘Truth of the Laws’…

The ‘Truth of the Laws’ was a foundational description. Only 16 types were described in detail amongst the 3000 Great Dao.

Different Dao had their own differing qualities.

The highest grade amongst the 3000 Great Dao was the “Great Dao of Origins”!

There were very few types of Great Dao of Origins. It exceeded the normal Great Dao, and was king amongst the 3000 Great Daos.

It was very difficult to have an initial foothold in the Great Dao of Origins. It was also quite difficult to comprehend, master or break through. Just finding a mystic technique that dealt with the Great Dao of Origins was nearly impossible. Even the sages in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom rarely managed to see a book that dealt with the Great Dao of Origins.

A typical warrior would not choose the Great Dao of Origins when practicing martial arts. It was tantamount to blocking their own martial arts careers.

In human history, there were no lack of elites from super family clans that chose to focus on the Great Dao of Origins because of their exceeding talent. But due to their inability to succeed, they had to change to a lower grade law, resulting in wasted time.

In this world, there were people who tried to gain understanding in the high realm of the Great Dao of Origins. These people would usually begin with a normal Great Dao, and only when they became a sage and exceeded peers on the same level as them would they choose to try to understand the Great Dao of Origins. If they had any success, they could go a step further, becoming a Great Emperor. They would then become a giant of the Human race, allowing them to exceed a Divine Kingdom, being respected by all.

Below the Great Dao of Origins, there were second-ranked Great Dao. They were named Great Dao of Supremacy.

The so-called Supremacy was Supremacy below Origins.

For example, Space-Time Dao, Yin-Yang Taiji Dao, Life-Death Dao, Immortality Dao.

The Great Dao of Supremacy were also extremely difficult. But compared to the Great Dao of Origins, they were slightly easier. There were also many more known cultivation technique manuals for them.

Below the Great Dao of Supremacy, they were no longer named Great Dao, but instead named laws.

For example, the laws of the five elements, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, the natural laws of Wind, Rain, Thunder and Lightning. These were all known as high-grade laws.

Below high-grade laws were the lowest grades amongst the 3000 Great Dao, they were just normal laws.

Hard-Soft laws, Fast-Slow concepts, Mountain-River concepts, vibrational laws were all considered normal laws.

Young warriors with exceptional talent would slowly grasp normal laws in the Purple Blood realm. When they reached the Yuan foundation realm, they would be relatively skilled at using the laws.

Of course, it was not easy to understand normal laws to an extreme limit.

There was no limit to laws. In the history of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, many sages focused on normal laws. But even in the realm of sages, they were far from being able to cultivate any normal law to an extreme.

Yi Yun browsed through the ‘Truth of the Laws’ in its entirety once. The 16 laws described within the ‘Truth of the Laws’ were the five elements, Hard-Soft, Fast-Slow, Wind-Lightning, Starlight, Yin-Yang, Murder and Redemption.

The more Great Dao of Laws one cultivated and the more thoroughly one understood them, the closer one would get to reaching the pinnacle of martial arts.

Yi Yun clearly understood that he had to go slow. Although he had the Purple Crystal Origins helping him and had a promising future ahead of him, his martial arts path was still in its infancy. He could not be too greedy for many warriors would only focus on one Great Dao of Laws in their entire life.

After a lot of comparison, Yi Yun decided on his final choice, pure Yang Dao!

The pure Yang Dao was part of the Yin-Yang Dao, which was a Great Dao of Supremacy.

When the Universe was in its formative stages, “The primordial universe (Wuji) generated supreme ultimate (Taiji), and therefore generates the opposing forces. The two opposites generate the four images.”

This primordial universe was Chaos, and Chaos was a Great Dao of Origins, and the two opposites were Yin-Yang, which was a Great Dao of Supremacy.

By the evolution of Pure Yin and Pure Yang, they formed everything that existed in the Universe.

The Yin-Yang Dao was extremely difficult and profound. This was a reason why many elites failed at learning the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

After establishing his first goal of practicing the pure Yang Dao, his direction in condensing an Aspect Totem was then also decided.

That was to hunt pure Yang desolate beasts to form a pure Yang totem!

When Yi Yun chose the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, what mattered the most to him was that the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ had no restrictions based on laws. There was no requirement on what type of primordial species had to be killed for the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’.

Unlike the ‘Five Elements Divine Totem’ and the ‘Book of the Stars’, they were based on the five elemental laws and the powers of the stars respectively. The cultivation technique designated a strict path for a warrior.

Cultivation techniques were rare. High level cultivation techniques like the ‘Five Elements Divine Totem’ and the ‘Book of the Stars’ were invaluable.

Many warriors would restrict their own martial path by accommodating the cultivation technique, but Yi Yun was not like that.

“I want to gain an understanding of the pure Yang Dao, and cultivate the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’. At the same time I need to cultivate the next few volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. Not only that, I also need to learn the Desolate Heaven technique! I have so many things to learn!”

Yi Yun could perfectly control the energy within a desolate beast thanks to the Purple Crystal, so it was half the work with double the results when it came to mastering the Desolate Heaven technique.

The Desolate Heaven technique was a supplementary skill that greatly helped one’s cultivation, so Yi Yun would definitely not miss out on it.

Yi Yun had previously obtained a copy of a Desolate Heaven Master manual when he and Lin Xintong separated.

In the past six months, Yi Yun would read the contents within the Desolate Heaven Master manual whenever he had time. Although Yi Yun had never systematically practiced the Desolate Heaven technique, he had a general understanding of it.

“The Tai Ah Divine City also has lessons that teach the Desolate Heaven technique. It’s not too late for me to start now.”

Yi Yun decided to report for a Desolate Heaven technique class starting tomorrow. At the same time, he would progress in his cultivation of laws and Aspect Totems.

With his future path decided, Yi Yun took the remnant pages of the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ and began trying to gain an understanding of the contents in the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’.

263 - : Yi Yun’s Dao

As Yi Yun was studying the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, another sensational news broke out in the Tai Ah Divine City.

The Desolate Heaven Master of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family, Grandmaster Yuehua, would take up residence as one of the new Elders of the Tai Ah Divine City.

Grandmaster Yuehua would begin public teaching of the Desolate Heaven technique tomorrow. Each month, she would hold three lessons.

This news buzzed in the circles of the cultivators that focused on the Desolate Heaven technique.

These lessons would be taught by a sage-level Desolate Heaven Master!

Previously, few sage-level figures would show any concern for the young cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City. After all, the chances of a cultivator from the Tai Ah Divine City becoming a sage was extremely low. And these sage-level figures prioritized their own cultivation.

Therefore, how could cultivators not get excited when they suddenly learned that Grandmaster Yuehua would be teaching young juniors that were at the Purple Blood realm or Yuan foundation realm?

Besides, Grandmaster Yuehua was one of the best Desolate Heaven Masters in the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

People were discussing it. It was in fact no coincidence that Grandmaster Yuehua became a Tai Ah Divine City’s Elder at this moment in time.

The main reason was because of Luo Huo’er’s breaking of the Desolate Heaven technique record a few days ago.

The Desolate Heaven technique record Luo Huo’er broke had previously lasted for 30,000 years.

What did 30,000 years mean? A normal sage only had a lifespan of 10,000 years. Only the great figures who reached the middle or late stages of sages would have a lifespan of 30,000 years.

It was not surprising that Luo Huo’er would eventually become the best Desolate Heaven Master in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. If Luo Huo’er were to become a sage, her Desolate Heaven technique would then reach an extreme level. She could become the most powerful Desolate Heaven Master seen in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s for the past 100,000 years!

Because of this, the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was paying close attention to Luo Huo’er. All the powerful factions would provide Luo Huo’er with all sorts of benefits in their attempts to befriend her, even if they knew it was impossible to rope her in.

This was also a form of expression made by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family.

The royal family’s Desolate Heaven Master Yuehua came to the Tai Ah Divine City personally to become an Elder and hold Desolate Heaven technique lessons.

Everyone knew that Yuehua was only here to teach one person. And that person was Luo Huo’er! It was just out of convenience that Yuehua would take on the other Desolate Heaven technique apprentices as well.

Even though the other cultivators, who focused on the Desolate Heaven technique, knew that they were just side characters, they were still overjoyed. They had gained something great all thanks to Luo Huo’er.

But when Grandmaster Yuehua’s class details were released, many cultivators were dumbfounded.

Each lesson held by Elder Yuehua’s would cost 3000 dragon scale runes in tuition!

Tuition fees were paid monthly, which meant that one would have to pay 9000 dragon scale runes a month!

It was too expensive!

Many Desolate Heaven Master apprentices could not afford such high fees. Only those ranked at the top of the Man roll of honor would barely be able to afford Grandmaster Yuehua’s lessons.

Although many were disappointed, they knew the reason behind the expensive fee.

Just from Grandmaster Yuehua’s name alone, many cultivators would come in droves. Even cultivators who had never come into contact with the Desolate Heaven technique would join the class just for fun. Even if they could not understand a thing, just seeing Grandmaster Yuehua was good enough for them.

When that happened, how could Grandmaster Yuehua teach with the lecture hall so full?

Hence the 9000 dragon scale runes was used as a barrier to entry.

Those who could pay the 9000 dragon scale runes would be people with some attainment in the Desolate Heaven technique. As for those who just wanted to see Grandmaster Yuehua, they would stop here as no one would pay 9000 dragon scale runes just to join in for fun.

Although the tuition fees were expensive, there was an additional provision. This made many Desolate Heaven technique apprentices had something to look forward to. There was a scholarship award.

Those who attended Grandmaster Yuehua’s class and obtained outstanding results as well as the affirmation of Grandmaster Yuehua, would receive a scholarship.

This scholarship was funded from the tuition fees collected from the rest.

If anyone could break any Desolate Heaven technique related record in the Tai Ah Divine City, the tuition fees would be permanently waived. In addition, they would be given 8000 dragon scale runes worth of Desolate Heaven technique materials every month.

This allowance could be stacked. Breaking one record would have one’s tuition fees waived and be awarded a monthly allowance of 8000 dragon scale runes.

By breaking two records, the tuition fees of 9000 dragon scale runes would be returned, and with the double allowance, one would get 25,000 dragon scale runes a month!

This additional provision tempted many.

But even a fool knew that this last provision was customized for Luo Huo’er!

This scholarship system could even be considered as a way to reward and win the favor of Luo Huo’er by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family. Besides Luo Huo’er, who else could break a Desolate Heaven technique related record?

Learning the Desolate Heaven technique was a resource-burning trade. And materials used was a large proportion of the heavy costs. Many Desolate Heaven Masters may be ranked ahead in the Man roll of honor, and have a lot of dragon scale runes, but they would still think twice before spending them. They lived their lives on a tight budget.

With Grandmaster Yuehua establishing a scholarship system, if Luo Huo’er was to break another record, then the materials needed for her future practicing of the Desolate Heaven technique could be used without any monetary concern.

Many Desolate Heaven technique apprentices could only sigh when they thought of this. Luo Huo’er’s was a genius whose Desolate Heaven technique left them in the dust.

The original intent of the establishment of the Tai Ah Divine City was to gather resources to groom geniuses. It was fair competition. Those who could not gain the resources could only blame themselves.

…

The registration for Elder Yuehua’s class began.

Although the tuition fees were expensive, there were still many who registered for it. Although the cultivators, ranked ahead on the Man roll of honor and focusing on their Desolate Heaven technique, felt the pinch of paying 9000 dragon scale runes a month, they could still afford it.

Once 9000 dragon scale runes were paid, each person would receive a small lecture token.

Very quickly a few dozen lecture tokens were handed out, but there was still a long line. It was natural that there would be many attendees for Elder Yuehua’s first lesson.

When the lecture tokens were almost completely handed out, many people had begun leaving. At this time, Yi Yun dawdled into the administration office, intending to receive a lecture token.

The clerk in charge of handing out the lecture tokens recognized Yi Yun. Seeing Yi Yun asking for a lecture token, the clerk’s expression turned odd. He reminded Yi Yun, “This is a lesson for Desolate Heaven Master apprentices.”

He was afraid that Yi Yun had made a mistake. After all, Yi Yun should have been attending lessons for warriors that taught laws, cultivation techniques or Aspect Totem.

“Ah, I know.” Yi Yun said and handed over his identity token, intending to pay the 9000 dragon scale runes.

Seeing the dragon scale runes fly up, the clerk froze for a moment before asking, “You know the Desolate Heaven technique?”

The clerk was very aware of Yi Yun’s Cloud Wilderness background. He was poor. And to learn the Desolate Heaven technique, it needed the support of plenty of resources. Considering Yi Yun’s martial arts talent was so monstrous, it was unlikely that he could also have learned the Desolate Heaven technique…

“I don’t really know.” Yi Yun shook his head, and then said matter of factly, “I’m learning because I don’t know.”

“Eh…”

Hearing Yi Yun’s words, the clerk nearly choked.

Learning because I don’t know?

These words, which sounded completely logical, made the the clerk speechless.

A rookie, who was completely clueless of the Desolate Heaven technique, actually wanted to attend Grandmaster Yuehua lecture? That was a three lesson course that cost 9000 dragon scale runes!

He knew that Yi Yun was extremely rich after the rookie ranking competition. He could only sigh at the fact that one could be so capricious when one was rich. No matter how much the tuition fees were, he could learn it if he was interested!

…

At this moment, in the central divine tower, Luo Huo’er was lying comfortably in bed. She was playing a small token in her hands.

She did not pick up a lecture token because someone had sent the lecture token directly to Luo Huo’er.

Luo Huo’er was extremely satisfied with this.

This was not about running errands or the waiving of tuition fees, it was a matter of face.

As the Tai Ah Divine City’s most perfect girl genius, how could she not receive any special treatment?

“Miss, in the future we will get a monthly allowance of 8000 dragon scale runes! This Grandmaster Yuehua sure is a nice person.”

Maid servant Dong’er was looking at Luo Huo’er. She had not eaten for two days now. Although she had eaten the grain avoiding relic and wasn’t hungry, she still felt that her mouth and stomach were empty.

She wished that Luo Huo’er would absolve her of her punishment in her good mood.

Luo Huo’er rolled her eyes at Dong’er and said, “What’s 8000 dragon scale runes of allowance? It’s far from enough for me to spend. Wait till I break another Desolate Heaven technique record and receive 25,000 dragon scale runes in monthly allowance. I might even break a third record and receive 42,000 dragon scale runes in allowance. When that happens, I can practice the Desolate Heaven technique however I like.”

“Yes, yes. Miss is the best!” Dong’er began kissing ass. A the same time, she was eagerly looking at Luo Huo’er with her big eyes.

Luo Huo’er snorted, “I know what you are thinking. I’ll absolve you of the next two days of punishment. Follow me to class tomorrow!”

Of course, Dong’er could not enter the lecture hall. All she could do was wait outside.

…

As such, under all the anticipation, Grandmaster Yuehua’s course began.

The classroom was located underground in the central divine tower. A large Desolate Heaven technique hall with an area of a thousand square meters was used as the classroom .

In the large hall, there were all sorts of desolate bone relic arrays, cauldrons as well as rows of stone tables. All sorts of valuable materials were placed on the tables.

Just the layout and materials made many feel that the 9000 monthly tuition fee was not that expensive after all. Practicing the Desolate Heaven technique was a huge drain on resources, but in this class, the materials were provided free of charge.

Many cultivators had arrived in the lecture hall an hour early. They had an expectant mood as they waited for Grandmaster Yuehua to appear.

There were a total of 106 cultivators in this class. When Luo Huo’er entered the room, there were already almost a hundred people present.

When Luo Huo’er appeared, it naturally caused a stir.

“It’s Luo Huo’er!

When someone said that, everyone’s eyes turned towards the classroom’s entrance.

Luo Huo’er was wearing a purple Desolate Heaven Master robe. She was like a different person in public. Slowly walking over, her every action was elegant, exuding the air of someone from a high class family.

264 - : Learning because I don’t know

In the purple Desolate Heaven Master robe, Luo Huo’er looked extremely bright and lovely. Her gracefulness made her look like a proud peacock.

The cultivators who could pay the tuition fee were all elites who had a bright future ahead of them. Some of them even came from reclusive family clans. But in front of Luo Huo’er, they immediately turned inferior, they were like the green leaves growing beside a beautiful flower.

But these elites did not mind this. They were happy to be serve as Luo Huo’er’s foil.

Luo Huo’er, who was like the bright Sun at mid-day, not only had extremely high talent in the Desolate Heaven technique, she was very beautiful as well. If they could marry her, it would be a great thing.

Not only would they then have a beauty in their arms, they would also raise their own positions in their family by marrying Luo Huo’er.

“Miss Luo, I had reserved a table at the Divine Moon Restaurant, hoping that Miss Luo would grace herself there, but Miss Luo didn’t come. I wonder if Miss Luo will give me face and appear tomorrow?”

Yang Yuefeng said with a smile as he came forward when Luo Huo’er approached her seat.

Yang Yuefeng assumed that he would be unable to persuade Luo Huo’er into joining the Chu royal residence. He also knew that it was extremely difficult to win Luo Huo’er’s heart, but hard work had to be injected into everything. Who knows if it might succeed or not?

Luo Huo’er however, treated Yang Yuefeng and the rest of these young masters, who thought highly of themselves, as toads.

Just as she was thinking up an excuse to humor Yang Yuefeng, she noticed a figure. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a youth in linen clothes walking into the classroom after pushing the main door open.

Compared to all the others present, dressed in beautiful Desolate Heaven Master robes, this youth’s clothes were very simple. Although the cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City did not judge a person by the way they dressed, it was still unfitting to dress in linen while attending a noble Desolate Heaven Master class. It was like a dance ball where people were decked out in elaborate costumes, but a person appeared in uncouth clothes. Wearing a Desolate Heaven Master robe was a gesture of respect to Grandmaster Yuehua who was about to show up.

Seeing this youth, Luo Huo’er was stunned.

Yang Yuefeng, who was beside Luo Huo’er, was also stunned.

Isn’t that… Yi Yun?

What was he doing here? Was he here to learn the Desolate Heaven technique?

Luo Huo’er was stunned, but only for a moment. Her face then turned red. Her face, which had a deliberate smile on it, had now frozen.

At this moment, Yi Yun, who had just closed the main door and turned around, also spotted Luo Huo’er.

The both of them stared at each other.

Yi Yun was a bit surprised. It’s her?

Back when he met Luo Huo’er in the central divine tower, Yi Yun did not give it much thought. But after seeing Luo Huo’er for a second time in Grandmaster Yuehua’s class, Yi Yun suddenly had an idea of who she was.

A cultivator, who practiced the Desolate Heaven technique and lived at the 69th floor of the central divine tower could only be the first person on the Man roll of honor, Luo Huo’er.

Yi Yun had naturally heard of the recent events surrounding Luo Huo’er. The royal family’s Desolate Heaven Master Grandmaster Yuehua had purposely come to the Tai Ah Divine City because Luo Huo’er caught her attention.

Yet, Yi Yun had seen Luo Huo’er’s wardrobe malfunction and he had told her , “Beauty, I can see your breasts.”

Thinking of this, Yi Yun’s expression turned wonderful.

He could not help but think of the scene he saw that day, Yi Yun subconsciously glanced at Luo Huo’er’s perky female peaks.

This was purely out of reflex, but this tiny movement of his eyes was caught by Luo Huo’er who had extremely sharp senses.

Luo Huo’er turned extremely angry. Her face had turned from red to green as she clenched her tiny fists. If not for the people present, she would have stormed away.

Instantly, the atmosphere turned heated. Luo Huo’er’s eyes seemed to give off sparks.

Yi Yun could feel the killing intent and quickly looked away in an ashamed manner. It was as if nothing had happened.

This happened under everyone’s watchful eye. Many were baffled at Luo Huo’er’s stare at Yi Yun. Had something happened between Luo Huo’er and Yi Yun?

Yi Yun felt uncomfortable being stared at by Luo Huo’er. He opened his mouth, thinking of giving an apology.

But at this moment, he heard a Yuan Qi voice transmission from Luo Huo’er, “If you say anything about that day, you will die!”

Uh…

Yi Yun gave a wry smile. He knew that it was a big deal if a girl’s body was seen by others in this world. If she was seen by a man she liked that might still be acceptable, but that wasn’t the case if she was seen by a male stranger. Even the girls in Yi Yun’s previous life, who valued their chastity, would find it difficult to accept that.

Furthermore, Luo Huo’er was an extremely proud girl that was anything but ordinary. She definitely treated her body as something extremely important.

“You must be Miss Luo Huo’er. I am very sorry for that day. I did not know you were inside, neither was it intentional. As for that matter, I will never mention it to anyone.”

Yi Yun used his Yuan Qi to transmit his voice, with a very sincere tone.

“Hmph!” Luo Huo’er sneered, “It wasn’t intentional? Then it wasn’t intentional today?”

What Luo Huo’er was referring to was Yi Yun’s glance at her breasts just a moment ago.

“Eh…”

Yi Yun had no way of refuting it. His glance was purely a male reflective instinct. It did not go through the brain, it was something the eyes would do by themselves.

But his skin was not so thick to say that that was not intentional.

“You are not allowed to stay at the 69th floor of the central divine tower!” Luo Huo’er suddenly said with a Yuan Qi voice transmission.

Now, Luo Huo’er was slowly calming down. She could not do anything to Yi Yun. She could neither kill him just because her body had been seen, nor because her shameless, narcissistic words had been heard.

But Luo Huo’er did not wish to see Yi Yun. Just seeing Yi Yun made her feel awkward and depressed. Therefore, she did not want to be neighbors with Yi Yun.

“You won’t allow me to stay at the 69th floor?” Yi Yun frowned. He may have apologized, but he did not like to be ordered around.

“It is the freedom of people to choose to stay in the central divine tower. If Miss Luo doesn’t want to see me, you can move to the 70th floor.”

“You…” Luo Huo’er was at a loss of words by Yi Yun’s counter. Moving to the 70th floor required glory points. Although Luo Huo’er was rich, she could not afford to spend glory points like that.

Seeing Luo Huo’er’s face turn green and then white, Yang Yuefeng could no longer stand watching this any further.

He had originally been speaking with Luo Huo’er and was thinking of inviting her to the Divine Moon Restaurant for a meal. Just as he was looking forward to the answer from Luo Huo’er, Yi Yun had entered, absorbing all of Luo Huo’er’s attention.

The two of them had been staring at each other for more than ten seconds. From the looks of it, they were likely communicating with Yuan Qi voice transmissions.

Was it possible that this poor kid from the Cloud Wilderness had some dealings with Luo Huo’er?

Yang Yuefeng had previously been ridiculed by Yi Yun and had wanted to deal with him. Now, having seen the goddess in his heart being involved with Yi Yun, how could Yang Yuefeng feel pleasant?

He immediately took a step forward and stood in the middle of Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er.

“Kid, what are you doing here?”

Yang Yuefeng questioned Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s attention was completely on Luo Huo’er previously. Only when Yang Yuefeng appeared did he see him.

“Oh? Isn’t this the retarded young master from the Chu royal residence who wanted to use 20,000 dragon scale runes to exchange for the ‘Truth of the Laws’? Right, when he gave his self-introduction, he did mention that he was a Desolate Heaven Master. His Desolate Heaven technique is not bad and he ranks tenth on the Man roll of honor. It’s no wonder he appeared here.”

These thoughts flashed across Yi Yun’s mind. He could not be bothered with Yang Yuefeng.

Sensing Yi Yun’s disregard of him, Yang Yuefeng’s forehead popped a blue vein. “Kid, are you deaf? I was asking you a question!”

Yi Yun glanced at Yang Yuefeng and coldly said, “Aren’t you asking a nonsensical question. Since I’m here, naturally it’s to attend the class.”

Hearing Yi Yun say he was speaking nonsense, Yang Yuefeng’s face sank. “Attending the class? You? This is a place to learn the Desolate Heaven technique, taught personally by Grandmaster Yuehua. Do you even know the Desolate Heaven technique?”

Yang Yuefeng was aggressive and Yi Yun impatiently replied, “So what if I do? And so what if I don’t? Is there a rule saying that one needs to know the Desolate Heaven technique to attend the class?”

With Yi Yun’s rebuttal, all the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices were dumbfounded.

From Yi Yun’s words, it was clear he did not know the Desolate Heaven technique.

It was normal if one thought further about it. With Yi Yun’s experiences, how could he know the Desolate Heaven technique?

But he actually spent 9000 dragon scale runes to attend Grandmaster Yuehua’s class, without even knowing the Desolate Heaven technique?

“Hahaha!” Yang Yuefeng laughed as if he had heard the world’s funniest joke.

“You don’t know the Desolate Heaven technique and you actually came here to listen to the lecture? Do you think you are worthy? This ridiculousness goes to an extreme!”

Yang Yuefeng was a talented Desolate Heaven Master so he had his pride.

The Desolate Heaven technique was his field. He may not have as great a talent in martial arts compared to Yi Yun, but he was a king when it came to the Desolate Heaven technique.

Yi Yun was simply looking to suffer by entering a field that he dominated.

Yang Yuefeng had already bore a grudge from back when he was ridiculed by Yi Yun when he tried to get back the ‘Truth of the Laws’. He was thinking of a way to seek revenge, but now Yi Yun had came to his door, which greatly suited him.

Yi Yun could not be bothered with Yang Yuefeng and walked pass Yang Yuefeng and found a seat. All the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices were giving odd looks at Yi Yun.

This dude was too weird. He did not know the Desolate Heaven technique, yet here he was to join in on the fun. Did he not have anywhere to spend his money?

265 - : Enemies Meet Again

A stone table was prepared for every Desolate Heaven Master apprentice in the Desolate Heaven technique classroom. On each stone table there was a disk array used for refining desolate bone relics. There were runes inscribed on the three foot long square disk array.

Beside the disk array, there was also a meter tall cabinet. The cabinet was a storage device, similar to an interspatial ring. They all contained large amounts of desolate bone materials.

Desolate bones were usually extremely large. Some primordial desolate beasts could even be as long as a hundred or a thousand miles. The desolate bones of such a large desolate beast would look like a winding mountain ridge when laid out on the ground. Even a sage-grade Desolate Heaven Master would find it difficult to refine such enormous desolate bones into desolate bone relics.

When Yi Yun saw all of the most basic materials needed for practicing the Desolate Heaven technique, he recalled the Desolate Heaven Master notebook Lin Xintong left for him.

This notebook was written by Su Jie. Su Jie had previously left 18 notebooks for Lin Xintong, and in turn, Lin Xintong left the first volume for Yi Yun.

Lin Xintong originally did not support Yi Yun’s wish to learn the Desolate Heaven technique as it was extremely demanding on a person’s talent. Only one in ten thousand could learn the Desolate Heaven technique. Furthermore, one needed plenty of resources to practice the Desolate Heaven technique as well as a good teacher’s guidance. Back then, Yi Yun fulfilled none of those conditions.

Yi Yun however insisted on learning it, resulting in Lin Xintong making a deal with him. If he could gain any insight from Su Jie’s notebook within two years, learning the most basic of hand seals and energy control, then Lin Xintong would help Yi Yun learn the Desolate Heaven technique. If not, Yi Yun was to return the notebook.

Su Jie’s notebook was too profound for Yi Yun as he was only at the beginner stage.

Although Yi Yun had read Su Jie’s notebook many times in the past half year, what he learned from it was very limited.

He was only able to get a general overview over what the Desolate Heaven technique was about from the notebook’s summary. The real basics and details of it had to be learned.

Learning the Desolate Heaven technique would take some effort, but to Yi Yun, this was definitely more beneficial than harmful.

The Purple Crystal could prepare the world’s purest and richest energy. Currently, Yi Yun could simply absorb or swallow these energies, but that was a waste of a treasure.

If he could use the methods of the Desolate Heaven technique, he could process those energies. Bringing out particular aspects of those energies could make Yi Yun’s martial arts path easier.

And if he mastered the Desolate Heaven technique well, it would also be a good way to accumulate a lot of wealth.

Right now, Yi Yun was lacking a teacher, a teacher who could lead him into the world of the Desolate Heaven technique…

As Yi Yun was examining the Desolate Heaven technique disk array, someone suddenly shouted, “Grandmaster Yuehua is here!”

With this, everyone stopped what they were doing and stood upright.

When the classroom’s door was pushed open, a woman clad in a dark purple Desolate Heaven Master robe slowly walked in.

This woman did not look to be a day over thirty. She had white teeth, pretty eyebrows and a perfect body, exuding a mature charm.

“Oh?”

Yi Yun was surprised. This is Grandmaster Yuehua?

Initially, his impression of a sage ranked Desolate Heaven Master was that of an old man like Su Jie. He did not expect that Grandmaster Yuehua would turn out to be a woman in her prime. Just from her looks, it was hard to imagine that this woman had become a sage nearly a thousand years ago.

Countless girls were made jealous by her ability to maintain her beautiful appearance for more than a thousand years.

In fact, in the world of warriors, there would be many females with unparalleled manners and deportment, who not only had exceptional talent, but also beauty that could cause the downfall of cities and countries.

A person’s looks were 30% nature and 70% nurture. Ordinary ladies from rich families would most likely be more beautiful than a poor girl. This was because they were particular about their etiquette and did not do any chores. Because of that, their skin and body lines were much better.

But no matter how rich a mortal lady was, she would not be comparable to the elite females of the martial world.

These girls would inherit a good bloodline from their family. In their future growth, they also had Heaven Earth Yuan Qi as well as all sorts of elixirs to nourish themselves with.

These things allowed many of them to develop their bodies to near perfection. Their skin would be perfect like white jade and their figures would be developed perfectly due to Yuan Qi. They would not be like mortal girls, who would end up overly thin or fat due to poor nourishment.

For example, Grandmaster Yuehua had extremely good talent. This accompanied with the fact that she was still young when she broke through to become a sage, allowed her to maintain her youth for a long time.

“From today onwards, I will be your Desolate Heaven technique teacher!”

Yuehua said without much expression while standing in front of the hall, tapping the disk array on the stone stage lightly.

Her voice was gentle, but due to her lack of expression, she somehow exuded a charm.

Immediately, many of the youths below the stage went into a daze.

For 16 year old youths, who were extremely energetic, a mature woman’s charm was more deadly than a young girl’s.

“Teacher Yuehua is so pretty! Also, she looks very young.”

Some people private transmitted their voices. Female warriors tended to be more concerned about their looks. In the world of warriors, there were many ways to ensure eternal youth.

“In the next few years, I will be teaching in the Tai Ah Divine City. I will teach you everything about the Desolate Heaven technique. If you have the ability, you can even learn my ‘Thousand Hand Moon Buddha’!”

When Yuehua mentioned the ‘Thousand Hand Moon Buddha’, many of those who knew about this mystic technique could not help but gasp.

In the world of Desolate Heaven Masters, there were also cultivation techniques and mystic techniques. These were mainly used to extract and refine energy.

The ‘Thousand Hand Moon Buddha’ was a set of hand seals. Once it was performed, one would end up seeing the shadows of hand seals due to the extreme speed.

This was Grandmaster Yuehua’s specialty. By using this set of hand seals, it was extremely easy to extract and refine desolate bones!

The ‘Thousand Hand Moon Buddha’ was an opportunity Grandmaster Yuehua had chanced upon while she was enduring a training expedition. It was also the foundation of why Grandmaster Yuehua had such accomplishments in the Desolate Heaven technique. It was unexpected that she would be willing to teach it to others.

But, it was obvious that to reach Grandmaster Yuehua’s standards, would be almost impossible.

“This ‘Thousand Hand Moon Buddha’ was most likely prepared to be taught to Luo Huo’er. It’s pointless for us to think about it.”

People began privately transmitting voices. Grandmaster Yuehua’s rapid arrival in the Tai Ah Divine City was equivalent to taking in Luo Huo’er as a disciple. She had set many standards that were tailored for Luo Huo’er.

When they thought of that, many of them could not help but be disappointed. It was unlikely that they could learn the ‘Thousand Hand Moon Buddha’.

At this moment, Grandmaster Yuehua carried on, “All of you differ greatly in talent and foundation. I need to roughly understand what they are to teach according to your aptitudes. Now, I will give you two hours to use the disk array on your stone table and the materials stored in the cabinet. Choose your best Desolate Heaven technique and show it to me!”

When Yuehua finished saying that, she gently brushed her purple robe and sat down on a chair.

When the young cultivators under the stage heard this, they immediately lit up. Especially those who were very confident in their Desolate Heaven technique, they began to rub their hands.

They were all thinking about how to catch Yuehua’s attention at the beginning of the class. In the future, even if they did not have the chance to learn the “Thousand Hand Moon Buddha’, it would at least make it easier for them to win the scholarship award. This would make their training go even smoother.

Many people could not wait to take out the desolate bone materials from the cabinet. They chose the materials that suited them and were prepared to refine their desolate bone relic they were best at.

But at this moment, in the corner of the classroom, Yi Yun was dumbstruck when he heard Yuehua’s words.

Refine a desolate bone relic?

He did not even know the most basic sealing methods, how could he refine a desolate bone relic?

The things written in Su Jie’s notebook were stuff he could not even use at his beginner stage.

Yi Yun took out some sections of desolate bones, but he did not recognize any of the desolate bone materials.

At this moment, many people beside Yi Yun were already busying themselves.

They were all focused and doing their best. Yi Yun was the only one who was without action. It made him stand out.

While Yi Yun was in a daze, Yang Yuefeng was about to refine his specialty, the Seven Treasure Totem relic. This relic helped in the condensing of an Aspect Totem. It could increase the success rate of forming an Aspect Before Yuan by 5%.

This was the best Desolate Heaven technique that Yang Yuefeng could do.

He was confident that with the Seven Treasure Totem relic, not many people would be able to exceed him except people like Luo Huo’er and a handful of other people.

As for Yi Yun, how could this trash compare with him?

Yang Yuefeng gave Yi Yun a glance and noticed that he was in a daze.

In this situation, Yi Yun was really in a daze.

This retard! Yang Yuefeng said in his mind. If not for Grandmaster Yuehua being present, he would have laughed loudly and ridiculed Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s retardedness had exceeded his imagination. Yang Yuefeng had originally thought that Yi Yun was able to do a thing or two. He never expected that Yi Yun would have no knowledge of the Desolate Heaven technique, yet Yi Yun actually came to Grandmaster Yuehua’s class to shame himself. He sure was a dumb pig!

Unfortunately, at the level of dumbness that this kid was, it was unlikely that Yi Yun would be able to know the level of the Seven Treasure Totem relic he was going to refine. To show off his skills in front of a pig felt meaningless. It was really quite pointless subjugating such a person.

Yang Yuefeng shook his head and no longer looked at Yi Yun. He carried on focusing on the refining of the Seven Treasure Totem relic. There was a non-trivial failure rate for refining the Seven Treasure Totem relic, so he had to concentrate to succeed.

Not only Yang Yuefeng, even Luo Huo’er had noticed Yi Yun.

Seeing Yi Yun staying motionless, Luo Huo’er was delighted.

She gloated and said to herself, “This toad is way too inferior. He has decent talent for martial arts, yet he came to the Desolate Heaven Master class to shame himself. I really don’t know what he’s thinking.”

Luo Huo’er quickly stopped caring about Yi Yun. She had already chosen the desolate bone relic she wanted to refine. She wanted to show off her talent, letting everyone see what Luo Huo’er’s Desolate Heaven technique was.

Yi Yun carried on in his dazed state and this also fell into Yuehua’s eyes. At the beginning, Yuehua thought that Yi Yun was preparing his state of mind, as it was normal for many Desolate Heaven Masters to sit quietly for a while before refining a desolate bone relic.

But after 15 minutes, Yi Yun was still standing there motionless. Yuehua gave a slight frown and stood up before walking towards Yi Yun.

266 - : Grandmaster Yuehua

“What are you doing?”

Yuehua walked to the front of Yi Yun. She was tall, standing at a height of 1.75m. Coupled with her powerful aura, it made people feel a sense of being suppressed.

“I’m sorry Teacher Yuehua. I do not know how to refine a bone relic.” Yi Yun shrugged.

“You don’t know?” Yuehua was surprised. She never expected that there would be a student like this. “If you do not know how to refine a bone relic, you should at least know how to create seals. You can first refine the desolate bones. It is alright if you are unable to form a relic..”

Yuehua looked at Yi Yun’s age. He was approximately thirteen years old. Real geniuses, who began learning the Desolate Heaven technique, would be able to refine bone relics at this age. If he could not refine one, then it could be said that he was not suitable to learn the Desolate Heaven technique.

Yi Yun still shook his head, “I do not know how to form the seals either.”

“Oh?” Yuehua raised her eyebrows. What are you doing in my class if you do not know anything?

She did not ask this question out loud, but it was clear what she was thinking from her facial expression.

Yi Yun explained, “I am a beginner. I previously read some literature on the Desolate Heaven technique and I am very interested in learning it, so I came to Teacher Yuehua’s class to learn.”

Beginner?

When Yuehua heard Yi Yun’s words, she was slightly stunned. He spent 9000 dragon scale runes to attend her class out of interest?

This young man was quite interesting!

Yuehua did not think that Yi Yun was crazy. In fact, she appreciated Yi Yun for his courage in doing whatever he wanted to do.

Besides, this youth took out 9000 dragon scale runes without even blinking his eyes just for his own personal interest. It meant that he had other things he excelled in.

But despite appreciating him, Yuehua did not think that Yi Yun would be able to learn the Desolate Heaven technique from her. Her class was meant for students with a foundation. The lessons she held would be fast-paced. How could Yi Yun, who was a beginner, keep up with them?

Yuehua said, “Having courage is good, but you must still be able to recognize your own abilities. My classes will not be taught at a slower speed just because of you. There might be many things that you will be unable to completely understand. For this class, you can just listen by the side. If you think my class is pointless after the class is over, I can get someone to return your tuition fee.”

Yuehua felt that Yi Yun was like an ignorant newborn calf, unafraid of tigers. He did not know himself, but even so she appreciated such a hot-blooded youth. Due to this, she took care of Yi Yun.

When Yi Yun heard this, he got a favorable impression of this beautiful Desolate Heaven Master. He said, “Thank you Teacher Yuehua, I will still try.”

“Alright, up to you.”

Yuehua did not bother with Yi Yun anymore and walked towards Luo Huo’er.

Luo Huo’er was the person she was most concerned about.

Yuehua stood beside Luo Huo’er for a long time, watching every seal Luo Huo’er made carefully. There was an undisguised appreciation of Luo Huo’er in her eyes.

She had come to the Tai Ah Divine City especially for Luo Huo’er. This girl was a Desolate Heaven technique genius that only appeared in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom once every several tens of thousands of years.

…

Two hours quickly passed.

Only about half of the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices managed to complete their desolate bone relic refinement. The others either failed in their refinement or failed to complete it in the designated time.

Most of the desolate bone relics completed were made for Purple Blood realm warriors.

Only a few of them were for Yuan foundation realm warriors.

For example, Yang Yuefeng’s Seven Treasure Totem relic was meant for early-stage Yuan foundation realm warriors, to aid them in condensing an Aspect Totem.

But compared to Luo Huo’er’s relic, it was nothing.

Luo Huo’er placed her disk array down at the last moment. A purple desolate bone relic rolled around playfully in the disk array.

Seeing the purple desolate bone relic, the surrounding Desolate Heaven Master apprentices did not know what to say.

Luo Huo’er had refined a Purple Heart Forgetting Dust relic. It could be used by peak Yuan foundation realm warriors to break through to a higher level.

Compared to the other relics, it was on a completely different level.

If a Desolate Heaven Master had Luo Huo’er’s current standard, that person could become an esteemed guest in a large family clan.

All the relics were examined by Yuehua.

Even the failed desolate bone relics were examined by Yuehua. She would even occasionally give some pointers, telling them the reason for their failure. This made many of those who were given pointers feel overwhelmingly flattered.

These were pointers given by a sage-level Desolate Heaven Master! Every word said by Yuehua was remembered and repeated in the minds of everyone.

Only Yi Yun did not receive any of Yuehua’s pointers because he did not even have a failed product.

In the past two hours, Yi Yun did not do anything from beginning to the end. Many of the apprentices were embarrassed when they saw Yi Yun standing there like a wooden pole.

They all felt that if they were the ones in Yi Yun’s shoes, they would feel like they were sitting on a bed of nails.

“Tsk, this kid’s psyche sure is good. Doesn’t he feel awkward standing there sillily?”

“That’s right, even I feel bad for the kid. He truly doesn’t belong to the same group as us. What’s the point in staying here stubbornly? He probably cannot even understand Grandmaster Yuehua’s pointers. It’s really hard on him.”

Yi Yun really did not fit in amongst a group of Desolate Heaven Master apprentices.

It was like a group of geniuses, who had gathered together to discuss poetry and arts, suddenly had an old farmer intrude amongst them, but the old farmer was unable to say anything regarding the poems. All he could discuss with others was how much grain he could collect in his farm, or the number of chicken eggs his hens had laid.

What was the point of making himself uncomfortable?

All the youths present were between 14 to 17 years of age. They had great self-esteem and were at the point in life where they wished to strongly express themselves. If they were in Yi Yun’s shoes, they would not even be able to endure a second, they would have left a long time ago.

“This idiot…”

Yang Yuefeng gave a dismissive glance at Yi Yun. He could no longer be bothered with Yi Yun. At this point, Yi Yun was still hanging in here stubbornly, spending 9000 dragon scale runes to be in this awkward scenario. Wasn’t this signs of madness? It was impossible to win against a madman because one had to have the same thoughts as a madman.

Just as Yang Yuefeng began to think highly of himself, Grandmaster Yuehua came to Yang Yuefeng.

Yang Yuefeng bowed and passed his product with anticipation.

Yuehua gave it a few looks before giving him a few pointers. Although there were no obvious compliments, those affirming words made Yang Yuefeng feel honored.

He secretly looked at Luo Huo’er, hoping that Luo Huo’er would notice him, but… he was disappointed.

Yang Yuefeng still did not lose heart. He knew the extreme difficulty of pursuing Luo Huo’er. He did not hold out much hope for it. All he hoped was that even if he could not win her heart, he would at least be able to form a cordial relationship with Luo Huo’er. This would be extremely beneficial for his future.

“I have a rough understanding of everyone’s Desolate Heaven technique standard. Now, I will begin teaching and I will start with the most basic thing, extraction of energy.”

Yuehua returned to the stage after inspecting everyone’s product.

The first step to refining a desolate bone relic was to extract the energy from a desolate bone.

This first step was extremely important. If the extraction of energy was not done well, then it would be a waste no matter how good the desolate bone materials were. The subsequent steps of energy control, purification, activation and so forth would then become impossible to discuss.

Yuehua continued, “There are about ten common, basic methods to energy extraction. They all have their own advantages. Besides that, different schools of Desolate Heaven techniques would have their own mystic techniques. These mystic techniques are to increase the Power of Desolates extraction efficiency.”

“In addition, there are many personal extraction methods. If you reach an even higher level, you will even be able to combine several basic methods to create your own extraction mystic technique. Of course, that is very difficult… Many famous grandmasters find it difficult to do so…”

“It may be difficult, but in the history of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there have been many Desolate Heaven Masters about your age who managed to create their own extraction mystic technique. This kind of extraction mystic technique are only suitable for oneself. You can say that it can only be understood and not be taught…”

When Grandmaster Yuehua finished saying this, her gaze landed on Luo Huo’er.

It was clear what she meant. She wished that Luo Huo’er would create a miracle by developing her own extraction mystic technique.

Only Luo Huo’er amongst those present had the ability to do so.

Luo Huo’er knew Yuehua’s thoughts and clenched her tiny fists. There were three major steps in the Desolate Heaven technique.

The first step, Power of Desolates extraction.

The second step, controlling the Power of Desolates seal.

The third step, forming the relic itself.

The most basic part laid in the first step. She was determined to figure out a extraction mystic technique of her own. This was an extremely important part of her Desolate Heaven Master career.

Seeing Luo Huo’er’s determined and ambitious gaze, Grandmaster Yuehua nodded in a satisfactory manner. She then said, “In today’s class, I will only be talking about energy extraction. At the end of the lesson, there will be a little test.”

“In the future, I will have a test at the end of every class. Your test scores will be recorded down by me for your final grade. Those who have outstanding grades will be rewarded by me!”

Test?

When they heard Yuehua speaking about tests, some became nervous while others became excited. As for Luo Huo’er and Yang Yuefeng, they were undoubtedly the type of people who were excited.

Test? My favorite!

267 - : Power of Desolates Extraction

The cultivators’ spirits rose when they heard that there would be a test after the lesson ended.

If they could gain the appreciation of Yuehua, they might get the chance to learn Yuehua’s “Thousand Hand Moon Buddha” on top of earning the high-value scholarship.

A mystic technique of that level was the dream of the cultivators present.

Yuehua said, “These ten basic extraction methods are the basics for all sorts of mystic techniques and their variants. Although they are known as the basics, they are not simple at all. Not to mention beginners who just began learning the Desolate Heaven technique, even grandmasters, who have been well-versed in the Desolate Heaven technique for a very long time, might occasionally make a few mistakes. Now, I will explain all the ten extraction methods once. You can compare it with what you have previously learned…”

“The first extraction method…” Yuehua began to lecture. From time to time, she would demonstrate for the cultivators present.

As a sage-level Desolate Heaven Master, Yuehua’s level of the Desolate Heaven technique was impeccable. All the cultivators present gained a lot from listening to her lecture. Many of the things that they were previously confused about slowly became clearer to them.

During Yuehua’s lecture, Luo Huo’er would listen with ease, while stealthily taking glances at Yi Yun.

She wanted to see what the scene of a simpleton listening to a book from heaven would be like.

Luo Huo’er originally thought that it would be impossible for Yi Yun to understand Yuehua’s lecture. She thought he would either be frowning, with a constipated look, or he would be day dreaming.

Either one of those would have made Luo Huo’er delighted. However, when she looked at him, he was listening with a fascinated look on his face.

He held a pen in his hand and would scribble on a piece of paper from time to time.

A warrior’s memory was excellent and they would often have eidetic memory, but that would usually only happen if they had a basic understanding of what they learned.

If they did not understand anything, then it would be difficult for them to remember. This was when pen and paper would reflect their functions.

Seeing Yi Yun ruminating over it, with the occasional scribble or the occasional frown, Luo Huo’er was stunned.

Could this rascal stop taking this so seriously? I’m sure he can neither understand it nor be able to learn the Desolate Heaven technique.

This view was not because Luo Huo’er looked down on Yi Yun, it was because he had started too late. Besides, he was learning under a grandmaster like Yuehua, which would be almost impossible to catch up with.

If he could not learn it, why was he so adamant about it? Was he stupid? Why bother being so stubborn?

During Yuehua’s lecture, there were some parts that became extremely profound. Even some of the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices slowly failed to follow her teachings. Once they were unable to catch up, they would easily be left behind.

The cultivators present were all in their teens. Although they were hardworking, they would have some child-like mentalities. They might find it difficult to focus, especially when many of the things were incomprehensible.

It was taxing on the brain to try and understand the things Yuehua was teaching. A couple of minutes would be fine, but to continue on for more than an hour made many of them unable to handle it.

Luo Huo’er realized that some people had already lost focus, and when they regained their focus, they would find many things incomprehensible no matter how hard they paid attention.

But Yi Yun, who was a person who did not know anything about the Desolate Heaven technique, was focused from beginning to end. He was quickly scribbling on his paper without any slack.

“This toad…” Luo Huo’er could not understand the situation.

Even if he knew the hopes were low, he was still diligent…

Such a person could easily move a person’s heart.

Initially, Luo Huo’er’s attitude towards to Yi Yun was one of ridicule and gloating, hoping to see Yi Yun suffer a setback.

But over time, Yi Yun’s seriousness changed Luo Huo’er’s impression of him. No matter when it was, it was not right to ridicule a hardworking person.

It might be easy to laugh at the stupidity of a person determined to surmount an impossible task, but if one were to do so, it meant that one was going further away from success.

Yuehua lecture went on for two hours before she finished.

Many of the cultivators received a headache from listening. Only the best, like Luo Huo’er or Yang Yuefeng, could follow Yuehua’s thoughts, receiving enormous benefits.

“Alright, digest what I have just taught. In ten minutes, we will have the test.” When Yuehua said this, many of them began to tense up.

Many of the youths, who were originally very confident about the test, had now lost their confidence.

The things Yuehua taught were too profound. They were afraid that they would not be able to obtain a good result.

Seeing so many people with sour looks, Yang Yuefeng was extremely excited. He loved tests. He wanted to earn a scholarship through the test, and at the same time, shine. He wanted to let everyone see his talent in the Desolate Heaven technique!

Although he was inferior to Luo Huo’er, if he could become the person closest to Luo Huo’er through his hard work, he might be able to gain the attention of Luo Huo’er.

The more Yang Yuefeng thought, the greater expectations he had. As for Yi Yun, he had long forgotten about him.

Yang Yuefeng repeatedly looked at Luo Huo’er, brimming with confidence.

He wanted to vie for second place!

“Alright, I’ll hand out the test now!” Yuehua tapped the lecture stand lightly and, with a tiny voice, quietened down the entire classroom.

Many of them now held their breaths as they grew nervous.

Yuehua took out rolls of scrolls from her interspatial ring. There were more than a hundred rolls. With a flick of her finger, the scrolls flew to the front of every cultivator. These scrolls were made of desolate beast hide and were completely blank.

Following that, Yuehua did a hand seal. With a dense amount of shadows appearing around her fingers, more than a hundred seals were sent out by her. They turned into golden runes and flew!

The underground hall was not very bright, but with the hundreds of runes appearing, the room brightened up immediately!

“Oh? Is this the Thousand Hand Moon Buddha?”

Seeing Yuehua’s hand movements, many cultivators’ eyes lit up.

It was impressive to create more than a hundred seals in an instant!

People exclaimed.

Hearing them making a fuss, Yang Yuefeng disdainfully said, “How could this be the Thousand Hand Moon Buddha? It’s just some hand seals Teacher Yuehua casually made. The Thousand Hand Moon Buddha is even more incredible than this!”

Yang Yuefeng said this with a reverence for Yuehua. Throughout the lesson, Yang Yuefeng’s ambition grew. He too wanted to learn the Thousand Hand Moon Buddha!

“More incredible than this…”

People gulped a mouthful of saliva and stayed silent. Grandmaster Yuehua’s Desolate Heaven technique had long since exceeded their imaginations.

The hundred seals Yuehua formed flew in front of every cultivator, landing on the blank scroll, merging into them.

Yi Yun had also received such a scroll, and the runes on the scroll looked as if they were written with a golden pen.

“Now, you can choose any grade of desolate bone, extract the energy within the bone and condense it into the rune. I will give all of you 15 minutes before I collect the test papers.”

The contents of the test mentioned by Yuehua was clear and simple.

Although it sounded simple, it was not easy to do so. The runes may look small, but they came from Yuehua. Not only did the rune paths have a large capacity, they were also complex. Trying to conform to the rune paths and then use the Power of Desolates to slowly fill it was easier said than done!

Many of them frowned. They felt like they had an impossible task facing them.

The first lesson’s test content was very difficult!

A few people could not help but glance at Yi Yun. In their hearts they were thinking that thanks to this rascal, who would end up at the bottom, no matter how bad they did they would still be able to extract at least some energy. But Yi Yun would most likely stand there sillily like a wooden pole.

“Teacher Yuehua is such a nice person. She even handed to Yi Yun a test scroll even though he does not know anything…”

Many of them felt that there was no point in giving Yi Yun a test scroll. They felt that it was only because Yuehua was considerate of Yi Yun’s pride that she did not make any distinction.

At this moment, the best of them, like Luo Huo’er and Yang Yuefeng had already chosen their desolate bones. They had also began extracting energy from them, transplanting it into the golden runes.

This test’s level was not a problem for them, especially for Luo Huo’er. She made a few tiny movements with her finger, as if she was playing a piano. All her movements were harmonious like flowing water.

People could clearly see the shimmering light beneath Luo Huo’er’s hands.

This was the light coming from the condensing of the Power of Desolates. The methods and phenomena coming from the extraction of energy varied from person to person as everyone had a different affinity with energy. It did not really matter if the Power of Desolates emitted light as it could happen with either outcome. But overall, it was better to emit light during condensation.

At this moment, Yi Yun had yet to make his move. He could not resist opening his Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

In his energy vision, the Power of Desolates’ light was even stronger. Yi Yun could clearly see the light dots following every movement of Luo Huo’er’s as they flew into the golden rune.

Previously when Yuehua was lecturing, Yi Yun listened attentively. The first volume of Su Jie’s notebook Lin Xintong left him was also on energy extraction.

Back then, Yi Yun did not understand a lot of things, but after listening to Yuehua’s lecture, and seeing Yuehua’s demonstration of the methods, he compared it with the descriptions within Su Jie’s notebook. As such, Yi Yun began to understand many things he previously did not.

With Yuehua’s demonstration, Yi Yun could use his energy vision to see every seal she made clearly. He could see how the energy changed and moved, allowing him to keenly grasp it.

The other Desolate Heaven Master apprentices, even Luo Huo’er, would not be able to see it so clearly.

With theory conjoining with practice, Yi Yun had a general idea about the extraction of the Power of Desolates. With the Purple Crystal’s help, extracting the energy from desolate bones was no longer difficult for Yi Yun.

By recalling the ten theories of Power of Desolates extraction, Yi Yun made his move. He chose a high-grade general-ranked desolate beast’s bone. This grade of desolate bone was not easy for a Desolate Heaven Master apprentice!

Actually if Yi Yun wanted to, he could even extract the energy from a primordial species’ bone. But this would have been too shocking.

With some light finger movements, the energy within the desolate bones were now rapidly being pulled out by Yi Yun.

In the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, Yi Yun could see the light dots flying around like fairies all over the classroom.

But no one could see the light dots condensed by the Purple Crystal.

No matter how grand the scene was, the people around him were blind to this.

268 - : Test

Extracting energy was extremely simple for Yi Yun. However, injecting the energy into the golden rune required some Desolate Heaven technique knowledge.

He had to understand the reasoning behind the golden rune.

But, with the help of the Purple Crystal, this was not much a problem for Yi Yun either.

Back when Yi Yun cultivated the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, the process of drawing the picture of the Sun using pure Yang Qi was a hundred times more complicated than infusing energy into this golden rune. Even so, Yi Yun had managed to complete it.

It was easy for Yi Yun to just copy the process mechanically.

But, Yi Yun was not satisfied with just that. While he was drawing according to the golden rune, he made sure to understand why the rune was drawn in the manner it was. He had to understand the reasoning behind the golden rune or he would never become a Desolate Heaven Master.

Yi Yun was very quick, the Purple Crystal’s pull on the desolate bone’s energy was silent, neither did it emit any light. One couldn’t even feel any energy fluctuations.

This was the power of the Purple Crystal. Up to this day, everything the Purple Crystal had done went unnoticed by anyone else. The Purple Crystal was also completely ignored the two times Jian Ge examined Yi Yun’s body.

Around Yi Yun, many of the others were looking bitter or very focused. Everyone was engrossed in this intense test.

As for Grandmaster Yuehua, she placed all of her attention on Luo Huo’er.

Seeing Luo Huo’er’s methods, the undisguised appreciation in Yuehua’s eyes indicated that she treated all the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices as her students, but Luo Huo’er, she was her disciple!

Luo Huo’er was very fast at extracting the desolate bone energy, but Yi Yun was faster. If Yi Yun wanted, he could even complete everything in about 20 seconds.

However, to understand the theories within the golden rune, Yi Yun deliberately slowed down his pace.

But even so, Yi Yun only used about 7 minutes to extract the energy from the desolate bone he chose. There was still plenty of time left, and with Yi Yun’s understanding of the golden rune deepening, he could already absorb another two desolate bones’ Power of Desolates to fill up the golden rune.

If Yi Yun completely abandoned the attempt to understand the Desolate Heaven technique theories, he could even fill the golden rune up with energy. But, after thinking about it, Yi Yun decided against it. It would be too shocking.

After a second thought, Yi Yun chose another desolate bone, which was lower in quality and extracted its energy, injecting it into the golden rune.

In total, Yi Yun spent 10 minutes doing these things, so there was still 5 minutes left to the end of the test.

Besides Yi Yun, everyone else were basically fighting for each and every second before the test ended, including Luo Huo’er.

After all, the golden rune left by Yuehua had an enormous storage capacity. One could not fill it even if one had hour to do so, what more in only 15 minutes.

Luo Huo’er released a long, deep breath and massaged her sore wrists. She was very pleased with her test manuscript.

Raising her head, she saw Yuehua’s look of approval.

Yuehua nodded at Luo Huo’er gently. Luo Huo’er smiled sweetly back as she had a favorable impression of this teacher.

She was not only amiable and kind, she was also pretty.

“Not bad, carry on practicing your methods. In time, you should be able to develop an extraction mystic technique that belongs to you alone.”

Yuehua’s rare praise was an extremely high appreciation.

When the surrounding cultivators heard this, they became extremely envious.

As they were still working hard on following the golden runes’ paths, Luo Huo’er was already on the brink of developing an extraction mystic technique of her own.

It was really exasperating comparing.

Yuehua’s appraisal made Luo Huo’er very happy. As she was rolling up her test scroll, she suddenly recalled something and glanced at Yi Yun secretly.

She saw that Yi Yun already stood properly, the scroll in front of him had already been rolled up.

“This rascal, it must have been hard on him… I do not know why he is so obsessed with the Desolate Heaven technique, but seeing his diligence, I hope he learns something…”

Luo Huo’er stopped caring about Yi Yun. Whether it was the desolate bones energy extraction methods or the golden runes on the test scroll, it was all too difficult for Yi Yun in her eyes.

“Hand in your scrolls!”

Yuehua said simply and with that, all the cultivators rolled up their scrolls and handed them over to Yuehua.

“Tomorrow the results will be released in the Divine City’s Desolate Heaven Master Society. Class dismissed.”

Saying that, Yuehua immediately left.

Many of the cultivators left behind were still edgy. They did not know how good or bad their result would be.

“I didn’t do well…”

Someone complained.

“Yes, it’s quite difficult…” Another person shook his head, “I must say, Brother Yuefeng must have gotten excellent results!”

As a leader of the Chu royal residence’s younger generation, Yang Yuefeng had a large circle of acquaintances in the Tai Ah Divine City. Many were happy to associate themselves with him.

At this moment, seeing Yang Yuefeng looking proud of his success, everyone had various thoughts and complimented him.

“Haha! All of you do not have to squeeze me. This test was not easy and my answers can only be considered acceptable.”

“It’s also good to be acceptable, Brother Yuefeng must still give a treat.”

“Yes, Brother Yuefeng is probably going to shock everyone, making all of us envious!”

Many of them joked. It was common for the young masters’ circle to gather together, complimenting each other.

“Everyone must be joking, but since we are all gathered here, let’s go to the Divine Moon Restaurant to enjoy ourselves!”

If Yang Yuefeng treated, it had to be at the Divine Moon Restaurant. This had to do with a young master’s reputation. There were even different standards of spending in the Divine Moon Restaurant. A typical treat by Yang Yuefeng would cost several hundred dragon scale runes.

“Brother Yuefeng is an old sport!”

“No returning until we are all drunk!”

Their group laughed as they gathered their friends, heading towards the Divine Moon Restaurant.

Seeing this group disappear, Yi Yun leisurely packed his things and left the classroom.

He still had plenty of things to do.

The ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ and the ‘Truth of the Laws’ both needed to be cultivated. Yi Yun’s was tight on time.

Besides, in a while, Yi Yun was going to go out to hunt desolate beasts to condense his Aspect Totem. This was the most dangerous place for cultivation in the Tai Ah Divine City.

Many elites had died on this path of cultivation.

“Hey!”

Just as Yi Yun began walking, he heard someone call him. Turning his head, a girl in red was standing in front of him. It was none other than Luo Huo’er.

“Miss Luo…” Yi Yun coughed dryly. Whenever he saw Luo Huo’er, he could not help but recall that scene…

“In the future, if you want to use the training ground, tell me in advance. I do not like to share the training ground with others.”

Luo Huo’er pursed her lips as she said.

She wanted to cultivate the ‘Sacred Fire Infinite Book’, and it was not something others should see.

Yi Yun touched his nose. Although it sounded like a boundary was drawn, this also meant that Luo Huo’er had accepted him as a neighbor. At least, whatever that happened was now in the past and Yi Yun did not need to worry about a crazy girl rushing at him with a sword while staying in the central divine tower.

“Alright. I will probably not use the training ground that often.”

269 - : Reconciliation

When Yi Yun left the central divine tower’s classroom, he did not immediately return to his apartment but decided to first head to the Ten Thousand Pagoda.

Practicing the Desolate Heaven technique required a large amount of desolate beast materials to support it. Only then could one have ample practice.

Large numbers of cultivators of the Tai Ah Divine City went out into the Divine Wilderness daily to hunt desolate beasts. Some aimed to condense or strengthen their Aspect Totems, while others simply wanted to hone their combat skills.

The desolate bones and other materials from the dead desolate beasts would then be left in the Ten Thousand Pagoda for sale.

It wasn’t only Desolate Heaven Master apprentices from the Tai Ah Divine City who would buy these items, even other factions of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom would sometimes make a one-time mass purchase.

“Five Element crocodile’s bones, Four Symbols Snake’s teeth, Metal-back Eagle’s claws, Heavy Armor Giant Rhinoceros’ horn…”

Yi Yun created a purchase list according to his understanding of the Desolate Heaven technique.

The cost of these materials ranged from tens of dragon scale runes to above a hundred dragon scale runes.

By buying everything in bulk, Yi Yun quickly spent 20,000 dragon scale runes.

These materials were enough to fill two of Yi Yun’s interspatial rings to the brim.

“Practicing the Desolate Heaven technique is truly to spend money like water. Thanks to my previous windfall, I can squander it like this. Any typical cultivator would need to consider before spending anything. It’s almost impossible to learn the Desolate Heaven technique in the Tai Ah Divine City. They can only use their family clan’s resources while still in their families, learning it from a young age before coming to the Tai Ah Divine City, using the Desolate Heaven technique as a way to be self-sufficient.”

Many Desolate Heaven Master apprentices would buy materials and practice with them. At the same time, they would use these materials to produce desolate bone relics they could use to exchange for some income. Only then could they barely make ends meet.

“Not only do I want to practice the Desolate Heaven technique, I also need to find time to go to the Wilderness Divine Hall to practice the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’. Although I am not lacking in dragon scale runes, I’m lacking in time…”

With this thought in mind, he headed towards his apartment in the central divine tower.

At this moment, at the 98th floor of the central divine tower, Yuehua had just returned to her room. This was a large 300 square meter room. The furnishings in the room were simple, quaint and extremely elegant.

The 98th floor of the central divine tower had four rooms. Each room came equipped with a cultivation room, an alchemy lab and a relic room. The area totaled up to above a thousand square meters. The 98th floor of the central divine tower had very dense Yuan Qi, dense enough for even for four sages to cultivate. It was quite nice. More sages and the concentration of the Yuan Qi would become insufficient. So no matter how big the rooms were, it was not a waste.

Yuehua walked into her hall and took off her long robe. She then took out the student’s test transcripts from her interspatial ring and placed them on a table.

She picked up a single transcript from the pile. It was Luo Huo’er’s scroll.

There were also two other girls present that looked to be around twenty. They casually walked over and picked up the rest of the transcripts.

A girl laughed and said, “Master, since you are eyeing Luo Huo’er, why don’t you just take her in as a disciple. Why do you want to use this method of teaching a public class? There will be all sorts of nondescript characters entering your class.”

These two girls were Yuehua’s disciples. They may look twenty years old, but they were several hundred years old.

Yuehua shook her head, “Luo Huo’er’s background is mysterious. The cultivation technique she cultivates and the methods of her Desolate Heaven technique is quite different from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s orthodox heritage. There are even several aspects in which Luo Huo’er’s methods exceed the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s.”

“A few days ago, many large factions of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom came with all sorts of favorable terms in an attempt to pull her in, or even just befriend her, but she maintained a distance from them. She even did that to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family. Who knows, the faction she comes from might be even higher than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s… If that is the case, she most likely has a master.”

Yuehua had given it much thought. If Luo Huo’er had deep affections for her master, she would most likely reject her offer to be a disciple, which would make things awkward.

But Luo Huo’er’s talent made Yuehua want to teach her. She had a feeling that Luo Huo’er’s future achievements would exceed her own.

By building a master-disciple relationship with Luo Huo’er, especially with her powerful background, it would be very beneficial, not only for Yuehua but also for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family.

“I will look at Luo Huo’er’s test transcript. I leave the rest for you.”

Yuehua casually said. Actually, due to her strong mental powers, it would be easy for her to grade a hundred transcripts quickly. But she would not do so because these people were not her disciples.

“Yes!”

The two girls took the transcripts and left.

They had previously taken a similar test and knew Yuehua’s marking criteria.

Yuehua tested two main points when assessing the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices’ energy extraction.

One was the quantity of energy extracted, the other was the energy control precision.

The more energy that could be extracted, the stronger the refined desolate bone relic.

And the better one’s control was, the higher the success rate of refining a desolate bone relic would be.

There were a total of 182 fine rune paths in the golden rune in of a test scroll.

These 182 fine rune paths tested the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices’ energy extraction and control.

Only a perfect extraction of every strand of Power of Desolates, with a perfect control would allow one be able to perfectly follow the 182 fine rune paths.

And besides the golden rune’s 182 fine rune paths, there were also three other energy reservoirs.

These three energy reservoirs tested the amount of Power of Desolates a Desolate Heaven Master apprentice could extract.

The more energy the reservoir had, the harder it would be to fill it.

At the Purple Blood realm and Yuan foundation realm, filling up the three energy reservoirs was almost impossible.

As for the way the scores were calculated.

They were done according to this metric.

For the energy control’s 182 fine rune paths, perfectly filling a line earned two points, an imperfect filling earned one point.

There was a total of 364 points.

As for the three energy reservoirs, filling up one was worth 110 points, for a total of 330 points.

The total score was 694, but for a round figure, it was taken to be over 700.

According to past experiences, a typical Desolate Heaven Master apprentice would have an energy control of 140-150 points, and their energy reservoir would be about 80-90 points.

A total of 230-240 points was an acceptable score.

Exceeding 300 was very good.

At 350 points, one was a genius!

Above 400 points.. that was very rare. Even Yuehua’s two disciples only managed to score 430-440 points when they took Yuehua’s test in their teens.

This result would satisfy Yuehua.

Now, Yuehua was looking forward to Luo Huo’er’s test transcript.

She wanted to see how many points a promising Desolate Heaven technique genius that she appreciated would obtain.

As she slowly unfolded the scroll, a rough glance from the sides made Yuehua smile.

Luo Huo’er’s results would likely give her a surprise!

By first looking at the three energy reservoirs, she could tell the results with a glance.

When she sank her mental power into the three energy reservoirs, Yuehua could see that Luo Huo’er had filled them up with about 60% of energy.

This was quite a shocking number.

“Energy filling, 198 points.”

Following that was the 182 fine rune paths which reflected one’s energy control.

It was more important than the energy filling.

As the level of a Desolate Heaven Master increased, their ability to extract energy would increase steadily. But energy control was to a great extent a measure of talent.

The same level of Desolate Heaven Masters had different levels of energy control.

Seeing Luo Huo’er’s scroll, Yuehua’s eyes lit up. This feeling was like reading an ancient Desolate Heaven Master’s compendium. It made her want to explore the unknown and look forward to the surprise.

“Perfect, perfect, perfect…”

With Yuehua’s mental strength, she could quickly analyze the 182 fine rune paths’ situation in a few seconds. But now, she was looking at each fine rune path Luo Huo’er made, seeing if there were any defects.

“Perfect, perfect, and another perfect!”

Yuehua’s eyes lit up more and more. She had checked more than 100 fine rune paths by now, and Luo Huo’er’s methods were all perfect.

“Oh… This rune has a defect…”

After checking 126 fine rune paths, a defect appeared. There was one fine rune path which Luo Huo’er did not fill.

This made Yuehua sighed. Although she knew that Luo Huo’er’s ability to remain perfect up to now was marvelous, Yuehua who was yearning for perfection still felt a sense of regret when she found a defect.

“This rune path can only earn 1 point.”

Yuehua shook her head. She sighed to herself that she was being too greedy. A teenage girl, who could achieve this was already a monster, what else was she looking for…?

The 127th fine rune path was also perfect.

Following that,
perfect and defective runes were interspersed.

The further back it went, the examinees would slowly find their mental strength weakened. Even Luo Huo’er was not an exception. There was no way she could ensure that every single rune path was perfect. Furthermore, they only had 15 minutes for the test.

After the 160th fine rune path, many of them were blank, without any energy.

This situation resulted in zero points.

Adding them all up, Luo Huo’er’s energy control reached a total of 296 points!

This was definitely a monstrous score!

296 points, coupled with the other 198 points, Luo Huo’er’s total score was on 494 points!

She was just 6 points short of 500!

Seeing this total score, Yuehua took a deep breath. It was extremely rare to obtain more than 400 points. 450 points was virtually impossible, so the difficulty of obtaining close to 500 was obvious.

“Luo Huo’er’s future prospects cannot be measured!”

Yuehua was anticipating the future. Such a precious gem one could only come by with luck, not by searching for it.

Yuehua keep the test transcript carefully. A short while later, her two disciples hastily ran into the room.

“Pa!”

The door was flung open.

“Oh? What’s the matter?” Yuehua was surprised. Her two disciples came from the royal family and from a reclusive family respectively. They were always well-mannered and elegant. Seldom would they appear so flustered.

270 - : Yi Yun’s test transcript

“Master…” The two disciples looked at one another with odd expressions. “These test transcripts… were they done by cultivators from Tai Ah Divine City?”

“Of course!” Yuehua was curious, “Is there a problem?”

Yuehua’s answer made the two disciples speechless, “Master, I think it is best that you look at it in person. There is one test transcript that is very odd…”

“Odd?”

Yuehua was slightly stunned. Recalling the cultivators present, Yuehua did not find anyone odd. Besides Luo Huo’er, there were only a few others, like Yang Yuefeng, who were barely acceptable.

And this acceptable standard was only by using the Tai Ah Divine City’s standards. But the cultivators that came to the Tai Ah Divine City every year added up to a million people over the span of 500 years. In the long river of history, these elites would usually slowly be buried.

Yuehua followed her two disciples to the other room where they were grading the test transcripts.

In the pile of test transcripts, one test transcript had been singled out.

Although this test transcript had been previously graded, there was no score on it.

“It’s this piece…” One of the two girls said. They had already worked out the score to that transcript.

It was only because they felt it was too ridiculous that they did not dare to fill it.

“Oh?” Yuehua took the scroll and scanned it with her mental powers. She first looked at the simplest thing, the three energy reservoirs.

It was filled up to 45%!

Compared to Luo Huo’er’s 60%, it was nothing much. But according to the Tai Ah Divine City’s standards, this was definitely the best.

By filling it up to 45%, a score of 151 was given.

“Barely satisfactory.” Yuehua gave this evaluation in her mind. One could not see much from simply the filling quantity. Next was the energy control, which was the 182 fine rune paths.

Seeing golden light emitting from it, Yuehua could already sense something. She did not use her mental powers to quickly scan it. She thoroughly checked every rune path, just as carefully as when she checked Luo Huo’er’s.

“Perfect, perfect, perfect…”

Yuehua analyzed the methods of the examinee and her expression grew solemn. This person’s precision in his energy control was surprising.

“It’s not any worse than Luo Huo’er!”

Yuehua was very surprised. Energy control was much more important than the quantity of energy extracted as it depended on talent.

If a person really could be comparable to Luo Huo’er up to a certain extent, then it would be a really big surprise!

“The Tai Ah Divine City actually has two monstrous geniuses appearing at once…”

Yuehua muttered to herself as she carried on looking at it, “Perfect, perfect, and still perfect!”

It was perfect up to the 100th fine rune path.

Following that, 110, 120, 130!

Up to the 130th fine path rune, every path had been perfectly filled, this stunned Yuehua greatly.

She had originally thought that this examinee might be able to barely catch up with Luo Huo’er, but she never expected that his energy control would exceed Luo Huo’er’s!

Luo Huo’er first defect came after completing 126 fine path runes.

But this person maintained his perfectly.

140, 150…

Yuehua was very shocked!

She slowly began to become short of breath. She stared unblinkingly at the test transcript.

Although she was eager to know the final result, Yuehua’s grading speed became slower and slower.

Every rune path was examined carefully by her.

It was still perfect up to 170!

Could this test transcript be…

Yuehua’s expression turned incredulous.

The more she wanted to know the result, the slower she graded. Yuehua’s expression really looked as if she had just read a compendium left behind by an ancient Desolate Heaven Master.

180, 181, 182…

All the 182 fine rune paths were perfect!

A perfect score!

Yuehua froze. It took a while before she was able to regain her composure.

She had deliberately prepared the test to make Luo Huo’er sweat. It was something that would definitely make all the other Tai Ah Divine City examinees complain. But yet, there was someone who managed to get full marks on energy control!

She finally understood why her two disciples came looking for her with such odd expressions. This definitely did not look like a examinee’s answer script, but like the model answer scheme!

364 points from the energy control, with 151 points for energy extraction.

This test transcript scored a total of 515 points!

Luo Huo’er had only earned 494 points, yet this person scored 515!

This was a ridiculous score!

Who was this monster?

Yuehua took a deep breath and turned the scroll over. The examinee’s names were written behind the scrolls.

And all she saw was two words, “Yi Yun”.

Yi Yun?

Who’s Yi Yun?

Yuehua did not pay attention to the Tai Ah Divine City’s rookie ranking competition, so it was natural that she had never heard of this name.

“Check to see who Yi Yun is!”

Yuehua said to her disciples. It was easy to check on a person in the Tai Ah Divine City. Everyone received an identity token when they entered the Tai Ah Divine City.

Soon, Yuehua received Yi Yun’s details and saw Yi Yun’s picture.

Seeing the youth’s picture, Yuehua became dumbfounded.

How could it be him!?

She never dreamed that Yi Yun would be the youth dressed in linen clothes.

Yuehua had gotten everyone to refine a desolate bone relic, but that youth was standing there like a fool. When he was asked why he did not do anything, the reason was because he did not know the Desolate Heaven technique.

He did not know the Desolate Heaven technique, yet he managed to score 515 points on his test!

Was this a joke?

Although energy extraction was a basic of the Desolate Heaven technique and did not need much Desolate Heaven technique knowledge, it needed both talent and one knowing the methods to extract energy.

In theory, it was possible for those who did not know the Desolate Heaven technique to be good at extracting energies…

But this was in theory. Practically, one had to obtain perfection through practice.

If this person had never attempted to extract energy before and reached such a standard in his first time, then it was too ridiculous!

It was incredible!

Could this kid be bluffing me when he said that he did not know the Desolate Heaven technique? But what would be the point in lying?

Yuehua gripped Yi Yun’s test transcript tightly as she read through Yi Yun’s details. She noticed that Yi Yun actually came from a small tribal clan in the Cloud Wilderness.

A person from a small tribal clan in the Cloud Wilderness had no background. They were worse off than common civilians. Desolate Heaven Masters were like gods to them. It was common for them to not have any contact between one another.

In other words, when Yi Yun said that he did not know the Desolate Heaven technique, it was likely the truth…

For a person who does not know the Desolate Heaven technique to obtain such an achievement..

Yuehua muttered to herself. It was like she was in a dream.

271 - : Yi Yun’s Score

Not only did the Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators form associations, they also formed societies.

The biggest society was the Divine Wilderness Adventurers’ Alliance. The people in this society mainly formed groups to go into the Divine wilderness to obtain training experience and hunt desolate beasts.

And the second biggest society was the Desolate Heaven Master Society.

The Desolate Heaven Master Society was located in the central divine tower. Every month, the Desolate Heaven Master Society would organize various kinds of activities, and these activities received official support from the Tai Ah Divine City.

Today, there were no special Desolate Heaven Master Society activities, but the hall was still overcrowded!

There were 400-500 people gathered here. They were all Desolate Heaven Master apprentices. Nearly 80-90% of the Tai Ah Divine City’s Desolate Heaven Master apprentices had come.

It was because today was the day that Grandmaster Yuehua would release the test results.

Yuehua’s class actually only had about a hundred students enrolled. Many Desolate Heaven Master apprentices could not afford to pay the tuition fee to attend the classes, but even so, when they heard that Yuehua had tested her students during the lesson, many of them wanted to see the results of the geniuses.

This test resulted in scholarships and allowances and that was very critical. And many people believed that this test, from a certain perspective, would indicate the levels of the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices in the Tai Ah Divine City.

The scores could determine who was better!

There was no doubt who would be first. Luo Huo’er did not need to prove her Desolate Heaven technique talent. She had outshone everyone by breaking a record a few days ago!

Everyone wanted to know who would get second place.

Yang Yuefeng, Li Daohong and Zhou Shiguang were all contenders for second place!

The three of them were in the top ten of the Man roll of honor. However, the top ten in the Man roll of honor did not only consist of Desolate Heaven Master apprentices. For example, Qin Haotian, Li Xiao, etc earned a place in the top ten by earning dragon scale runes from hunting desolate beasts.

Yuehua’s test was a comprehensive way to judge all the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices in the Tai Ah Divine City. The meaning behind the judging was very significant. Not only were the Tai Ah Divine City’s Desolate Heaven Master apprentices concerned, even many large factions had dispatched their informants to obtain first-hand information of the results.

The people placed second to tenth would gain a lot of attention by all these large factions.

At this moment, in the training ground of the central divine tower’s 69th floor, Luo Huo’er was dressed in a white training suit. Her two long legs were split 180° apart. Her inner thighs were stuck to the ground while her body was bent backwards. Her body was bent into a perfect curve, with her silky long hair hanging down and spreading across the carpet.

Luo Huo’er was practicing her family’s heart sutra.

Suddenly, Dong’er pushed the door open and furtively ran in.

“Miss, today is the day the results will be released. There are many people gathered in the Desolate Heaven Master Society. Everyone is waiting to see the rankings. Why aren’t you going?”

Luo Huo’er did not answer as both of her hands pressed onto the ground while she lifted her entire body off the floor. Both her legs were still maintaining the 180° posture. She looked like a bird that was spreading its wings.

Because of Luo Huo’er’s motions, her training suit stuck tightly to her body, showing off her perfect buttocks and chest.

She focused on finishing the last few motions before she flung her hair and said, “Anyway, I’ll be first. There’s nothing much to see. Those people’s standards are so bad that I can use half a hand seal to beat them!”

Luo Huo’er’s mouth curled before she carried on practicing.

Dong’er chuckled, “Miss is right! There’s no other way besides Miss being first. But doesn’t Miss want to see what result you obtained?”

“The test was difficult. I have a vague idea what my score is, so I don’t really need to see it to know it. Besides, there’re so many there squeezing to look at the results. If I were to go squeeze with them, won’t I be degraded?”

Luo Huo’er curled her lips. Actually, this was the main reason why she was not going to look at the results. How could she squeeze in the crowd, tiptoeing just to see the rankings? Such a degradation did not match her status.

“Miss is right. I’ll go.” Dong’er volunteered and ran out of the training ground with her short legs.

When Dong’er reached the Society’s grounds, it was extremely crowded. Even some of the large factions’ ambassadors, who were not Tai Ah Divine City cultivators, were mixed in the crowd.

Firstly, they were here to look at the results, and secondly, build good relations with the up and coming rookies.

In the crowd, the three people who received the most attention were Yang Yuefeng, Li Daohong and Zhou Shiguang. Without Luo Huo’er present, they were the leaders amongst the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices.

“Brother Daohong, Brother Shiguang, it’s been a while!” Yang Yuefeng greeted Li Daohong and Zhou Shiguang.

“How have you been, Brother Yuefeng? I heard Brother Yuefeng did very well for this test and have already reserved a banquet in the Divine Moon Restaurant. It looks like second place is definitely Brother Yuefeng’s!” Li Daohong replied with a smile.

“Come on, come on. My results can only be considered satisfactory. It might not even be better than Brother Daohuo’s.” Yang Yuefeng replied “humbly”.

When young masters gathered together, they would often flatter each other, purposely causing the others to feel extremely flattered. In truth, only they knew what they were really thinking.

Not only were their reputations on the line, there was also a generous scholarship. If you get the appreciation of Grandmaster Yuehua, you might even have a slim chance of learning the ‘Thousand Hand Moon Buddha’!

Who did not want to be in second place for such an important test?

Although the three seemed to compliment each other openly, truthfully, all of them wanted to exceed the other!

“Hypocrites!” Dong’er saw the three of them wishing to be second, but yet pretended to flatter one another. Although she was young, she sometimes knew the ways of the world.

At this moment, the Desolate Heaven Master Society’s door was pushed opened. Two black-cloaked central divine tower law-enforcers walked out. They were holding a scroll as thick as a water bucket in their hands.

Everyone immediately turned silent. They sensed that the two law-enforcers were here to release the results. And the scroll was likely the result ranking!

Sure enough, when the two law-enforcers came to the center, one of them said, “Grandmaster Yuehua has told us to release the results. I will first paraphrase Grandmaster Yuehua’s words. She said that in this test, the students who are ranked first and second will be able to receive the teachings of the ‘Thousand Hand Moon Buddha’. If the two of them wished, Grandmaster Yuehua would guide them with all her heart.”

When the law-enforcers said these words, it was like a rock dropping into still water. The quiet scene turned into a tumultuous uproar!

The first two would receive the teachings of the ‘Thousand Hand Moon Buddha’!

If the two wished, Grandmaster Yuehua would guide them with all her heart. In fact, this was equivalent to taking them in as her personal disciples!

Everyone knew that Grandmaster Yuehua’s purpose in coming to the Tai Ah Divine City was to take in a disciple. She would only take in Luo Huo’er, but everyone else was hoping to catch the fancy of Grandmaster Yuehua. Even being a disciple in name was something they could be contented with.

And even if it was just being a disciple in name, one had to go through several tests and obtain outstanding results before it was possible.

They never expected that just after the first test, Grandmaster Yuehua had decided to take in another disciple other than Luo Huo’er!

This was the greatest opportunity!

Who was so lucky to obtain second place?

A few Desolate Heaven Master apprentices who were ranked at the top became excited.

“Brother Daohuo, Brother Shiguang, I never expected that the three of us would have a chance. Who knows, maybe either Brother Daohuo or Brother Shiguang has caught the fancy of Grandmaster Yuehua!” Yang Yuefeng said disingenuously. His voice was shaking. He was currently wishing that Li Daohong and Zhou Shiguang would suddenly die, leaving only him to be Grandmaster Yuehua’s disciple.

“Haha! Brother Yuefeng sure is humble. I think second place is most likely Brother Yuefeng’s. If that’s the case, Brother Yuefeng will be soaring into the sky. In the future, you must take good care of us.” Zhou Shiguang also lied. As he said, his heartbeat rate accelerated as he murmured in his mind, “It has to be me, it has to be me!”

At this moment, Li Daohong, Zhou Shiguang and Yang Yuefeng were the most nervous. It was the moment when their fate was decided. None of them had absolute confidence in beating the other two.

The two law-enforcers said, “I will now post the results. A perfect score is 700 points.”

One of the law-enforcers tore off the result list’s seal. No one else had seen the result list yet.

The list was very long. A law-enforcer would hold on to one end of the scroll, while the other law-enforcer would pull open the other end of the scroll. The two of them would open up the scroll horizontally like an art picture, displaying the results slowly.

Everyone held their breaths!

After some white space, name after name appeared.

These names appeared in the order from lowest to highest. The first name to appear was ranked at the bottom, with a score of just barely over 200 points.

“Such a low score!”

Some were secretly horrified. At the bottom of the list, with 700 points being the perfect score, obtaining 200 points was less than a third.

The list was slowly revealed. Name after name appeared. When the youths saw their own score, their expressions looked complicated. It was not exactly a glorious thing to be ranked near the bottom.

Slowly, more than ten names had appeared. Following that were those ranked in the middle, as the score slowly increased, exceeding 250 points.

Following that, 260 points, 270 points, 280 points…

The scores kept on increasing as they reached 300 points.

Now, those youths who saw their names lit up. Although their scores were unimpressive, being ranked in the upper range amongst a group of elites made them proud of themselves.

The list had opened up about three-quarters. It reached the top 20 names.

The remaining people tensed up.

Yang Yuefeng pretended to stay calm by fanning himself with his paper fan, but his palms were covered in sweat as his fan began to flap faster and faster, almost to the point of the fan tearing.

Li Daohong hung a smile on his face, but his smile looked forced, as if it was frozen on his face.

On the other hand, Zhou Shiguang did not conceal his feelings. Both of his hands were clenched into a fist as he stared without blinking at the names appearing on the list.

He was afraid to see his name appear.

After another ten names appeared on the list, it reached the top ten!

At this moment, everyone’s names that appeared were famous. They were the Desolate Heaven Master geniuses that came from big family clans!

Even so, these people’s scores were still approximately 320-330 points.

The perfect score was 700 points, and yet these geniuses from big family clans failed to obtain even 50%. It showed how difficult the test was!

Those who had not appeared on the list were extremely nervous. They wished they were the lucky one other than Luo Huo’er.

After a few more names appeared, there was only a tiny portion of the scroll left to be unveiled. A few people looked disappointed.

At this moment, the list’s names were now written in a larger font. Each word was three times bigger. Due to the large font, the speed of revealing the scroll slowed down. So every name that appeared seemed to take even longer.

Yang Yuefeng and company felt that each second was like a year!

All of them wished they would see the others’ names, hoping to see their name last.

“Zhou Shiguang, 345 points!”

When Zhou Shiguang’s name appeared, Zhou Shiguang who was standing beneath the stage felt like his brain had been slammed. His ears were ringing as he felt faint…

He had been eliminated…

His name had appeared before Li Daohong and Yang Yuefeng. This meant that he scored the lowest amongst the three of them.

“Brother Shiguang, such a pity…” Yang Yuefeng fanned his fan saying. He was rejoicing in his heart, yet he purposely gave a look of regret.

“It’s…It’s alright. Congratulations to Brother Yuefeng and Brother Daohuo. I’m inferior.” Zhou Shiguang cupped his hands and said it with an extremely reluctant smile. He looked uglier than crying.

At this moment, Yang Yuefeng and Li Daohong could no longer be bothered with speaking to Zhou Shiguang because the next name was about to appear. This was the most critical moment. Both of their hearts were beating like a drum as their pupils constricted. They unblinkingly stared at the result list that was being slowly revealed.

If a person’s gaze had any heat, the result list would probably have been burnt.

Next was, “Li Daohong, 347 points!”

Li Daohong’s body shook as his face turned white! His fingers trembled, unable to believe what he had seen.

He had lost… lost to Yang Yuefeng!

At this moment, Yang Yuefeng was rejoicing in his heart!

“Brother Daohuo, such a pity. Just by a bit!” Yang Yuefeng’s heart was beating fast as his blood flow sped up. He had wanted to look relaxed, but he could not fake it. His voice trembled slightly due to his excitement.

Everyone could tell that Yang Yuefeng was basically in an ecstatic happiness.

After Li Daohong, Yang Yuefeng’s name appeared.

“Yang Yuefeng, 360 points!”

Yang Yuefeng did not know if he had done especially well that day because a divine being had possessed him. He had scored 13 points higher than Li Daohong, breaking through to 360 points.

His score was really high! It was no wonder he had been selected together with Luo Huo’er.

Many people thought similarly. They had began to congratulate Yang Yuefeng.

“Congratulations Brother Yuefeng!”

“Brother Yuefeng must treat us! It has to be at the most luxurious room in the Divine Moon Restaurant! And it has to last for three days straight.”

Many people smiled and complimented him, but there was some sourness behind those smiles.

Only people related to Yang Yuefeng or people who had become a follower of the Chu royal residence were truly excited. If their boss was strong, they would also gain much from it. Many people were glad that they had joined the Chu royal residence earlier on.

Now, Yang Yuefeng’s face was flushed turned red with excitement. His body was like a boiling pot that was about to burst.

But he still had some sense. He did not get carried away till the end. There might be a dark horse appearing suddenly.

“Don’t congratulate me too early. There are all sorts of hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the Tai Ah Divine City. There might be someone even better than Brother Shiguang, Brother Daohuo and me.” Yang Yuefeng may sound humble and calm, but the vein on his forehead and already appeared. His eyes stared unblinkingly at the expanding result list. All he saw in his mind were the names that had already appeared.

While the result list was being revealed, Yang Yuefeng was already counting all the people that was a threat to him. All of their names had already appeared. Hence, there could not be any other person who could threaten his second place.

He was definitely selected as Grandmaster Yuehua’s disciple!

It was like a dream!

“Brother Yuefeng is so modest. How could it be? All those that should appear have appeared.”

As someone said that, a name that made Yang Yuefeng heave a sigh of relief appeared.

“Luo Huo’er, 494 points!”

When this name appeared, it was even bigger than the previous names. It was even written horizontally. It took up two feet on the scroll. Each word was not written in black ink, but condensed using energy runes. This reflected the difference.

494 points!?

So high!?

Seeing this terrifying score, everyone’s eyes widened.

Yang Yuefeng, who was in second place, had only earned 360 points.

Luo Huo’er had beaten him by more than 130 points. It was insane!

People knew how terrifying Luo Huo’er was, but only when the ridiculous result appeared did everyone realize the gap that was incredibly difficult to be bridged.

In the crowd, Dong’er saw Luo Huo’er’s score and punched her fists into the air. It was as if all the honor was hers.

“Hehe, Miss is so good. Not only did she obtain first place, she had led number two by so much. When I tell Miss the good news later, I doubt she will be very happy. She would definitely say that it was a matter of course.”

Dong’er had already anticipated Luo Huo’er’s reaction.

Luo Huo’er’s results were stunning, but Yang Yuefeng could no longer be bothered. He only had one thought in his mind.

With Luo Huo’er’s name appearing already, there was no mistake about it!

He was placed second. Because Luo Huo’er was first, and no one could score higher than Luo Huo’er!

“Congratulations Brother Yuefeng!”

“Brother Yuefeng is a dragon amongst people!”

A group of people came to congratulate him immediately. Regardless if it was truthful or not, all of them sang praises for Yang Yuefeng.

Yang Yuefeng had been chosen by Grandmaster Yuehua and he had limitless prospects in the future. Now that he was in high spirits, it was best to be enhance their relationship with him.

“Haha, everyone is too nice.” Yang Yuefeng turned his body to accept the congratulations from these people.

He cleared his throat and said to the people around him, “All these years, I have been practicing the Desolate Heaven technique arduously. Although I am lacking, I still worked hard and never relaxed. By receiving Grandmaster Yuehua’s appreciation and her taking me in as a disciple, I am extremely afraid. I’m afraid I will not live up to Grandmaster Yuehua’s expectations. In the future, I will work harder. With everyone’s encouragement, I will fight for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, protecting and fighting for all life under the heavens…”

Yang Yuefeng was riding on the crest of success and his voice was one octave higher. He wished he could fly up into the Heavens.

He had tried very hard to maintain his “not pleased by external gains, not saddened by personnel” image, but when he said these words, his mouth was almost from ear to ear.

But just after he finished his impassioned monologue, he suddenly froze.

“Oh…What’s wrong?”

He found something odd. All the people who had come to congratulate him had frozen. They were all looking at something behind him as if there was a ghost.

Only the result list was behind Yang Yuefeng’s body.

Yang Yuefeng heart thumped. What’s wrong?

Was there a problem with the list?

He did not dare to look back, but at this moment, an odd silence had befallen the entire hall. Everyone stood there dumbfounded. It was as if their expressions had been cursed, in a trance-like state.

Yang Yuefeng felt a cold breeze as his goosebumps raised on his back. He felt as if he was no longer in the Desolate Heaven Master Society, but in a silent graveyard.

“Luo Huo’er…Luo Huo’er, she…how could this be…”

After a long time in this tepid scene, a youth pointed at the ranking list and murmured with an incredulous look.

Seeing the youth’s reaction, Yang Yuefeng suddenly felt like his chest had been struck with a knife.

Everything around him had slowed down.

Yang Yuefeng’s body froze. It was as if he had turned into a zombie that crawled out of a grave. He turned his body with difficulty, as his head turned around bit by bit.

The ranking list which had brought him tremendous glory and anticipation now turned into a scroll that contained a devil’s curse. He did not dare to look at it.

Yang Yuefeng forced his eyes to land on the list. On the list, in a position ahead of Luo Huo’er, there were shiny golden runes that condensed into words. The words wrote, “Yi Yun, 515 points!”

Seeing these words, Yang Yuefeng suddenly felt as if his body’s blood had been sucked out of his body. His body seemed to lost all support as he almost fell to the ground.

515 points?

515 points?

This line of words circled in Yang Yuefeng’s mind like a curse. These golden words seemed to be dyed red, devouring him!

Yi Yun…It’s Yi Yun. How could it be Yi Yun!?

In over a hundred Desolate Heaven Master apprentices, there was only one person named Yi Yun, and it was the most unlikely person!

“Noooo! I cannot accept it!” Yang Yuefeng shouted.

His face was contorted. Veins appeared on his neck and face. It was as if there were squirming worms under his skin. It made Yang Yuefeng look hideous!

“There must be some mistake! Yi Yun does not know the Desolate Heaven technique, how can he be ranked ahead of Luo Huo’er!? How could he be ranked ahead of me!? There must be some mistake! There must be some mistake! I’m second! I’m second!!”

Yang Yuefeng was already incoherent.

He could not accept the reality in front of him. After his hopes were raised to an unprecedented peak that allowed him to look triumphantly in front of everyone, it had been snatched away from him! It was as if his heart had been sliced by a knife!

272 - : Release of Results

“Brother Yuefeng, Brother Yuefeng, calm down!”

Some of the cultivators who were part of the Chu royal residence rushed forward to pull Yang Yuefeng back.

Seeing Yang Yuefeng’s stance, he would have probably rushed up to tear down the ranking list if he was not stopped.

At this moment, many of the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices around Yang Yuefeng were looking in complete disbelief at the bizarre ranking list.

They still remembered the scene of Yi Yun standing foolishly in Grandmaster Yuehua’s class. He did not even know how to refine a simple bone relic, yet he exceeded Luo Huo’er?

Was there really a mistake?

“I want to see Grandmaster Yuehua!” Yang Yuefeng was pulled back others, but he carried on screaming.

Seeing Yang Yuefeng in such a state, many Desolate Heaven Master apprentices looked at him with sympathy and also with a sense of schadenfreude.

The situation was very clear. Regardless of the list having a mistake, there was one thing that was certain. Grandmaster Yuehua had no intentions of taking in Yang Yuefeng as a disciple.

Yang Yuefeng’s test results was only 360 points. This score was not much higher than Li Daohong, so how could it catch Grandmaster Yuehua’s eye?

Only a heaven-defying score like Luo Huo’er’s 494 points, and the questionable 515 points that Yi Yun obtained were qualified to catch the eye of Grandmaster Yuehua.

Now, the higher Yang Yuefeng climbed, the harder he fell!

If he did not have hopes to skyrocket in one step and did not say those impassionate words in public to the point of no return, he would not be in such a tragic state.

“You want to meet Grandmaster Yuehua?” The two law-enforcers in charge of releasing the results looked at Yang Yuefeng as if they were looking at a retard. “Grandmaster Yuehua isn’t someone you can meet just because you want to.”

The two of them had never seen the results, but the results were handed to them personally by Grandmaster Yuehua. With Grandmaster Yuehua’s mental powers, she could refine a desolate bone relic that required tens of thousands of seals without any problems, not to mention the recording of a score. How could she make such a simple error?

Looks like Yi Yun really obtained first place…

The two law-enforcers left, leaving the group of Desolate Heaven Master apprentices in a daze. Today’s ranking was too shocking. It completely overturned everything they knew.

But at this moment in the crowd, the little maid servant Dong’er was completely dumbfounded.

“Miss actually isn’t first…Miss isn’t first?” The little maid muttered the sentence again and again. She stared with a large pair of watery eyes at the ranking list pasted on the wall.

But no matter how long she stared at it, the large and eye-piercing words; “Yi Yun, 515 points” remained there.

There was really no mistake.

“I need to tell Miss…” Dong’er spoke to herself as she ran to the central divine tower with her short legs.

At the 69th floor of the central divine tower, Dong’er rushed up quickly.

“Peng!”

Dong’er pushed open the training ground’s door. At this moment, Luo Huo’er was still practicing her family’s heart sutra. When she saw Dong’er’s rash entrance, Luo Huo’er angrily said, “Damn girl, what’s all this rush about!?”

Luo Huo’er needed to have a calm heart while she practiced. Dong’er’s frequent entrance and exit affected her cultivation.

Dong’er ignored Luo Huo’er’s reprimand and exclaimed, “Miss, Miss…The test…test…”

Dong’er was extremely agitated so she was stuttering.

“The results have been released? Alright…What’s my score?” Luo Huo’er asked casually as she carried on her cultivation. It seemed like the release of the results was just a small matter to her.

Dong’er hesitated as the words she was about to say got stuck.

“Miss received 494 points…” Dong’er slowly said.

“494 points? What’s the perfect score? And how many points did the second place get?” Luo Huo’er asked casually again. She did not know the grading rubric, but she knew roughly what 494 points meant.

“Perfect score is….700 points.” Dong’er swallowed a mouthful of water and said nervously, “And…Miss, you are the person in second place. Someone else got first place. His score was 515 points…”

Oh?

Luo Huo’er was almost about to do a flip of her body to complete a revolution, but when she heard Dong’er’s words, her body froze, almost to the point of crashing to the ground.

“What did you say!? Someone got 515 points, higher than me!?” Luo Huo’er stared widely. Her cultivation state was now in a mess, all lost in that one breath.

Dong’er jumped up in fright. She carried on nodding her head fervently.

Luo Huo’er looked at Dong’er with a dumbfounded expression. She knew that Dong’er was a natural simpleton who would not crack a joke.

How could someone be higher than her?

Was that person someone like that Yang Yuefeng or something?

Just recalling Yang Yuefeng’s toad face, Luo Huo’er felt that it was impossible. If she could not beat that toad, she might as well just die.

“Who scored higher than me?” Luo Huo’er crawled up and grabbed Dong’er’s shoulders. She was a lot taller than Dong’er, so now with her scary expression, Dong’er became afraid.

“That…That person’s name is Yi Yun…”

Dong’er did not know the “story” behind Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er. Of course, she did not know what impact the two words, “Yi Yun”, left on Luo Huo’er…

“Who!?”

After hearing that name, Luo Huo’er felt as if she was struck by lightning. She was completely dumbfounded!

That…That rascal? How could that be possible!?

Luo Huo’er stared till her eyes turned round and her mouth was so open that a quail’s egg could be stuffed in it.

Just the mentioning of Yi Yun made her remember the evil words he had said a few days ago. That asshole actually ranked above her?

Besides, it was clear he did not know the Desolate Heaven technique!

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*!

Just as Luo Huo’er could no longer accept it any longer, she heard knocks on the door.

Dong’er ran to the door and saw a girl in white that looked twenty years old standing outside the door.

“Little lady, how are you?” The girl in white smiled sweetly.

“Good…” Dong’er greeted in a daze.

“Is Miss Luo Huo’er here?” The girl in white asked softly.

Luo Huo’er walked over, “You are…”

“I am Grandmaster Yuehua’s personal disciple. You can call me Senior Sister Liang. My master invites Miss Luo.” The girl in white gave a smile that made one very comfortable. Luo Huo’er was just about to look for Grandmaster Yuehua. She wanted to see the result list with her own eyes. She wanted to see how that irritating rascal had defeated her.

“Let’s go.” Luo Huo’er quickly changed her set of clothes and followed the girl in white to Yuehua’s room.

The girl in white took Luo Huo’er to the 98th floor of the central divine tower. Upon pushing open the door, all one could see was a spacious hall.

In the middle of the hall, there was an elegant-looking woman sitting on a chair. She was none other than Yuehua.

Beside Yuehua was another girl who looked like she was in her twenties. This girl had brought a youth. This youth was the person who made Luo Huo’er have no idea how to deal with, Yi Yun.

At the beginning, Luo Huo’er was slightly annoyed with Yi Yun when he first managed to break the record through trickery.

Later, in the training ground, that awkward situation had made Luo Huo’er want to silence Yi Yun, destroying his body in order to cover all traces.

Next was this test. Yi Yun had crushed Luo Huo’er with his score of 515 points.

What sort of person was he!? Why did she have this rotten luck every time she met him?

Luo Huo’er looked at Yi Yun while he looked back at her. Just exchanging glances with Yi Yun made Luo Huo’er feel uncomfortable. She kept feeling “bugged in the chest”.

“Student Luo Huo’er greets Teacher Yuehua.” Luo Huo’er respectfully bowed.

“Hmm….” Yuehua nodded with a smile. “Huo’er, in the future I will call you as such. Do you have any doubts?”

Yuehua’s voice was amiable. No matter who it was, they would find it strange encountering such a thing.

A kid who had never had any contact with the Desolate Heaven technique had defeated a bunch of elites. How could this be possible?

“Yes!” Luo Huo’er nodded. She said indignantly, “Teacher, I personally think this person doesn’t know the Desolate Heaven technique. I can not believe that he can score higher than me! Can…Can I look at the test paper?”

Luo Huo’er was suspecting that Yi Yun’s test paper was different from the one she did.

Yuehua gently smiled and said, “I will show it to you in a while if you want. Actually…I am also wondering, how did Yi Yun score higher than you? Yi Yun had also just arrived and I did not have a chance to ask him yet…”

As Yuehua said this, her gaze landed on Yi Yun. Her eyes looked clear, as if she could see through Yi Yun.

Yi Yun held his breath. He knew it was time to explain once again.

Talent was one thing, but just using talent to explain it was insufficient!

“Yi Yun…Your energy control received a perfect score. You filled in the 182 fine rune paths perfectly. How did you do that?”

Before Yi Yun could answer Yuehua’s question, Luo Huo’er covered her mouth.

What? A perfect score!?

“Teacher! Did we really take the same test?” Luo Huo’er asked.

She knew the difficulty of that test she did. Even if she was given another 15 minutes, she could not guarantee that she could perfectly complete the 182 fine rune paths.

“Of course, there was only one type!” Yuehua looked seriously at Yi Yun. Her eyes looked as brilliant as the stars at night.

When Luo Huo’er received Yuehua’s affirmation, she found it ridiculous. She had been exposed to the Desolate Heaven technique since she was young, yet she was inferior to a rookie who took one lesson?

Luo Huo’er’s reaction was noticed by Yi Yun. He touched his nose and awkwardly said, “That…How many points did Miss Luo Huo’er get in energy control?”

Yi Yun had attempted such a test for the first time. He did not know what results the other Desolate Heaven Master apprentices would obtain without the help of the Purple Crystal. Seeing Luo Huo’er, who was an extremely proud girl, lose her cool when she heard that he had obtained a perfect score, Yi Yun knew that he had caused a big situation.

But even if it was a big situation, Yi Yun did not mind revealing his advantage at energy control as it could be explained.

As for energy filling, this needed the foundation in one’s training. If Yi Yun, who lacked training, did shockingly well in that aspect, then he would arouse suspicion.

273 - : Yuehua’s Invitation

When Yi Yun asked about her results, Luo Huo’er’s face sank. Her results were much more inferior. Saying it out would just show how bad she was compared to Yi Yun.

“Huo’er, do you know your result?” Yuehua asked Luo Huo’er with a smile.

Luo Huo’er reluctantly nodded, “I probably filled 138 fine rune paths perfectly. 20 fine rune paths were not completely filled, and the remaining 24 fine rune paths were left completely empty…”

Luo Huo’er accurately mentioned her own results. Yuehua nodded, “That’s right! Huo’er’s energy control score is 296 points, but Yi Yun managed to get a perfect score, which is 364 points. Although for energy filling, Yi Yun’s results were not stunning, but just his energy control already got him first place!”

“Yi Yun, was it really…your first time coming into contact with the Desolate Heaven technique?” Yuehua looked at Yi Yun with sparkling eyes.

Here it came!

Yi Yun took a deep breath and still nodded, “Yes! It was the first time this junior came into contact with the Desolate Heaven technique.”

“Oh?” Yuehua’s eyes flashed. This gaze was blinding! She clearly doubted Yi Yun’s words!

“But…”

Yi Yun quickly added on, “Although this junior doesn’t know the Desolate Heaven technique, I have received some pointers from an expert for energy extraction!”

To fool a person like Yuehua, Yi Yun had to mix some truths with some lies. If they were all lies, Yuehua would easily see through it.

“Expert? May I know what his name is?”

Yuehua became interested. An expert, who could find a genius like Yi Yun, was no ordinary person.

“This…” Yi Yun faltered slightly and appeared hesitant. “He did not tell this junior whether I could reveal his name, so this junior would rather not say it. But, he had left this junior a book…This book describes many experiences related to energy extraction.”

Yi Yun mixed truths with lies and took out a black scroll.

This was the Desolate Heaven Master notebook that Su Jie had given to Lin Xintong. The first scroll amongst the 18 scrolls of Su Jie’s Desolate Heaven Master notebook described energy control!

Because energy control was the foundation of the Desolate Heaven technique, it was only right for it to be described in the first scroll.

About half a year ago, Lin Xintong had left Yi Yun this notebook before she left. They had agreed on a two year period. Back then, Lin Xintong had said, “In two years, if you can understand the most basic hand seals and energy control…then I will aid you in learning the Desolate Heaven technique.”

“Oh? This scroll…”

Seeing Su Jie’s scroll, Yuehua’s pupils shrank. “Can I take a look?”

When Yuehua asked, Yi Yun hesitated. It was, after all, something Lin Xintong had given him. It was not nice to just give it to others.

Yuehua naturally understood Yi Yun’s hesitation. She was not angered, and in fact, felt that what he did was appropriate. She laughed, “I will not look at the contents in the scroll.”

With that, Yi Yun handed the scroll over to Yuehua.

Yuehua gave the scroll a look and her expression turned complicated, “It’s really him…”

Yuehua gave off a light sigh. It was as if she had recalled something. She handed the scroll back to Yi Yun and said, “I see…I didn’t expect that you would have received pointers from him…”

“I had originally wanted to ask if you would want to be taken in by me as a disciple, but I did not expect you to already have a master.”

Yuehua grimaced deep down. She had seen two pieces of jade , Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er. However, due to Luo Huo’er’s mysterious background, it was likely that she had a master. Even Yi Yun, a commoner who came from the Cloud Wilderness, had a master.

It was quite ironic that with her status, there would be numerous people wishing to be taken in as disciples if she wanted to, yet when she wanted to taken in Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er as personal disciples, she could not take them in.

Yuehua felt that their talents were rare and they would have a great future ahead of them. When she compared them to her two other disciples, her disciples were inferior.

After some thought, Yuehua let out a sigh and said, “Are you two willing to acknowledge me as a quasi-master?”

Quasi-master?

Yi Yun was slightly stunned. In this world, there were a few types of masters.

Firstly, there was the late master. Due to chancing upon some opportunities and receiving the heritage from a dead person, such a master was known as a late master. For example, in Yi Yun’s gaining of saber truth insight in the saber tomb, the saber tomb’s owner was Yi Yun’s late master.

Secondly, there was a master. A disciple would go through a formal ceremony to acknowledge a master. Typically, there was only one such master under normal circumstances.

There were exceptions. When one’s strength exceeded one’s master, the master-disciple relationship would be automatically be relieved, allowing one to find another master.

As for the third type, there was the quasi-master. A quasi-master was not an official master, but one could follow the quasi-master to learn all sorts of skills and martial arts. One could have many quasi-masters, and there was no strict formal ceremony.

Typically, a sage-ranked Desolate Heaven Master like Yuehua would be a real master, whether it be taking in a personal or in-name disciples. She would never be a quasi-master.

But for Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er, Yuehua had decided on this.

Originally with just Luo Huo’er, Yuehua was not willing to degrade her status to be a quasi-master.

However, with Yi Yun appearing, Yuehua could no longer curb the temptation. Taking in one was no different than taking in two disciples. She might as well be a quasi-master.

This was because Yi Yun’s master was Su Jie. Yuehua was cognizant of her inferiority, so being a quasi-master after Su Jie was in no way disgracing herself.

“Grandmaster Yuehua is actually willing to be our quasi-master?”

Yi Yun was surprised. He knew the meaning behind a quasi-master. It made him feel flattered.

“I guess Grandmaster Yuehua knows old man Su…In the future, she would probably find out that old man Su is not my master at all. But it is a fact that I received old man Su’s scroll. Since I didn’t say that I had acknowledged old man Su as my master and only said that I had learned from him, it cannot be considered a lie…”

After thinking it through, Yi Yun felt that there would not be any problems and said, “Thanks to Grandmaster Yuehua’s appreciation, this junior is willing to acknowledge you.”

Yi Yun was well aware of his present situation. He may have shown unparalleled talent, but compared to a sage or the large factions in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the gap was too great.

He needed resources and protection.

A faction like the Chu royal residence was still aiming to rope him in by signing a soul contract. Naturally, he would not agree to it. In contrast, a sage-ranked Grandmaster Yuehua, who had no demands on him, only wanted to take him in as a disciple, even as a quasi-disciple, to groom him.

Yuehua had already degraded her status, so if he were to reject it, he would be failing to appreciate her kindness.

Yi Yun bowed in the form of acknowledging her. Luo Huo’er, who was watching beside him, fell into a daze. She did not know whether to acknowledge or not.

Yuehua looked at Luo Huo’er without any insistence. She guessed that Luo Huo’er had many worries mostly due to her background.

But in reality, Yuehua had thought too much. Luo Huo’er did not care about all those rules or pointless ceremonies. What was on her mind was that if she acknowledged Yuehua as a master, she would become a fellow disciple with that irritating rascal, Yi Yun.

Wouldn’t they then be meeting frequently? Wouldn’t that be a joke?

“Huo’er, if you don’t wish to, it’s alright.”

Yuehua’s expression was calm. At this moment, Luo Huo’er gritted her teeth and bowed, saying, “Huo’er is willing to acknowledge!”

Yuehua gave a satisfactory smile, “Good, in the future, the both of you will be fellow disciples. You must love each other and take care of each other…”

How could Yuehua know of the “past matters” Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er had? All the words she said were common remarks made when taking in disciples, but Luo Huo’er’s corner of her mouth twitched when she heard them.

What sort of life was this? She and Yi Yun had suddenly became fellow disciples. It really made her speechless. Back in the training ground when Yi Yun saw her breasts, then hearing the embarrassing words Yi Yun said, Luo Huo’er never expected that she would end up in such a relationship with Yi Yun one day…

She was really at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

“Then…that will be all for today. In the future, Yi Yun’s tuition fee will be waived. If you have any problems with the Desolate Heaven technique, you can look for me at anytime for answers.”

As Yuehua said this, she took out two notebooks from her interspatial ring. Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er received one each. “This is my Desolate Heaven technique notebook. Both of you can take it back to learn from it. Yi Yun’s book is on the most basic things while Huo’er’s book is a bit more profound.”

Yuehua was very considerate. Yi Yun’s talent may be alarming, but his foundation was too weak.

The notebook Yuehua passed to Yi Yun was prepared for Desolate Heaven Master apprentices many years back. As such, it could make up for Yi Yun’s lack of a foundation.

“Thank you master.” Yi Yun accepted the notebook and looked at Yuehua with gratitude.

Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er bade farewell and walked out the door. Yi Yun noticed that Luo Huo’er’s face was still sullen. He did not know what she was thinking, but clearly she was not very happy.

Luo Huo’er was in front, while Yi Yun was in the back. The two of them walked silently to their apartments.

Unfortunately, they were also neighbors, so their apartments were also in the same place. Naturally, they walked along the same path.

The two remained silent, causing the atmosphere to turn extremely awkward.

Yi Yun felt that since they were fellow disciples, they could not carry on like this in the future. As such, he coughed dryly and tried to make a greeting to ease their relations.

“Oh…That…”

Just after Yi Yun said those words, Luo Huo’er immediately stopped and she turned to look at Yi Yun.

Being surprised, Yi Yun stopped.

“What ‘that’? Who were you calling? In the future, I’m your senior sister. Next time when you see me, you are to shout senior sister! Did you hear that!?” Luo Huo’er said fiercely and even waved her little fist to demonstrate her prowess.

Since them being fellow disciples was an unalterable fact, then it was natural that she had to be the senior sister. Just thinking of this irritating rascal having to address her as senior sister this, senior sister that, it did not seem so bad after all.

Having an errand boy was also good!

Things like bringing in and pouring the tea and other things would make everything a lot easier.

Luo Huo’er’s thoughts were as such. As for how Yi Yun thought or if he would resist against it, it was naturally not in Luo Huo’er’s consideration.

As such, Luo Huo’er slowly cheered up. Her sullen little face suddenly brimmed with smiles.

Seeing Luo Huo’er’s face turn in such an inexplicable way, Yi Yun turned agape. He did not know what to say.

He had not even said a word…

This girl, was she right in the head…?

274 - : Acknowledging a Quasi-Master

The news of Yuehua taking in disciples quickly spread throughout the Tai Ah Divine City.

People thought that Yuehua took in personal disciples and did not know that she was just a quasi-master. If they knew that, it would be impossible to know their reaction.

When Yang Yuefeng heard that Yuehua took in both Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er as disciples, he received another devastating blow!

These days, Yang Yuefeng was completely listless. He locked himself in his house all day and did not see anyone.

For a person like Yang Yuefeng, who was one of the leaders of the younger generation in the Chu royal residence other than the Chu crown prince, what was most important in his circle was face.

But now, he had become the biggest joke in the Tai Ah Divine City.

In Yuehua’s first lesson, Yang Yuefeng had ridiculed Yi Yun in an extremely condescending way, but the next day he had been mercilessly suppressed by Yi Yun. The face he valued so much had been smashed to pieces!

Taking advantage of this opportunity, many of those who were not on good terms with Yang Yuefeng purposely spread and embellished the actions and the “impassioned” words he said in front of a crowd. Soon, Yang Yuefeng became a huge joke amongst the aristocratic circles.

Whenever Yang Yuefeng thought of this incident, he would go crazy. Many of the things in his house had already been broken by him.

“Yi Yun! I’ll remember this!”

Yang Yuefeng did not dare to hate Yuehua, he could only hate Yi Yun. From his failure in recovering the ‘Truth of the Laws’ to the point of him becoming a clown in the Tai Ah Divine City, it was all because of Yi Yun.

He was determined to find an opportunity to settle scores.

…

Now, in the Wilderness Divine Hall.

Yi Yun was in the sixth hall of the Wilderness Divine Hall. He had already stayed in there for 16 hours.

The primordial species statue in front of Yi Yun was a large, red fire bird.

The fire bird had its wings spread out. Its feathers were soaked in Great Yan gold, making it shine like the lustrous sun. It was burning in front of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was standing almost right in front of the fire bird, at a distance of less than three feet. The frightening heat made Yi Yun feel like he was being burned by flames, his entire body was scalding hot.

He perspired and soon his sweat evaporated to form steam. That feeling was extremely hard to undertake.

“This Rainbow Blood Feather is scary…”

Yi Yun gasped. He had already come to the sixth Wilderness Divine Hall, which contained the Rainbow Blood Feather, several times.

The Rainbow Blood Feather was chosen by the founding city lord of the Tai Ah Divine City. It was a primordial species that had a vestige bloodline of the ancient three legged Golden Crow. Back when Yi Yun cultivated the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, he had chosen this hall in the Wilderness Divine Hall to cultivate pure Yang Qi. It made the process so much easier.

But till now, Yi Yun had only spend about 2-4 hours in the sixth hall of the Wilderness Divine Hall. He had never spent 16 hours in there like he did today.

This was a big challenge for Yi Yun.

Yi Yun kept using the Purple Crystal to control the pure Yang power in the hall. At the same time he also used the pure Yang power to think through the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’!

To use the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ to complete an Aspect Totem was an extremely difficult task. This was not only an Aspect Totem mystic technique prepared for sages, it was even a remnant copy.

Even Yi Yun, with the Purple Crystal’s help, found it very difficult to gain much understanding in the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’.

“Indeed, the primordial species killed by others millions of years ago cannot be used to condense an Aspect Totem.”

Yi Yun felt a sense of regret while enduring the torturous, high temperature.

Cultivating the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ was best done by condensing the energies of primordial species.

Warriors, who cultivates an Aspect Totem, had to absorb the energies of the desolate beasts they killed, only then could it be completed. The Rainbow Blood Feather in front of him had been dead for many years. So even with the help of the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun had no way of binding those energies to condense an Aspect Totem that belonged to him.

“The Purple Crystal may be heaven-defying, but at times, it will also follow certain rules.” Yi Yun thought in his mind. The Purple Crystal had absolute control over energy, but it was not omnipotent. For example, the energy controlled by another living being could not be absorbed by the Purple Crystal.

Now, in the condensing of an Aspect Totem, the Purple Crystal also followed the rules of the Aspect Totem.

“It seems that I have to use the desolate beasts I kill with my own hands to condense an Aspect Totem that belongs to me. With my current strength, it’s completely impossible for me to hunt a primordial species. I can only instead use low-grade desolate beasts, but that will make mastering the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ much more difficult.”

The path Yi Yun chose was already much harder than others from the outset.

Not only in regards to the Aspect Totem, even the Saber Truth’s 32 Words, the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ and the pure Yang Great Dao that Yi Yun chose were all extremely difficult types.

It was difficult to grasp it, and perfecting it was difficult. However, once it was mastered, it was obvious how beneficial they would be for Yi Yun.

Other people still had to switch mystic techniques midway, Yi Yun however did not need to do that. These Great Dao Yi Yun chose were sufficient for Yi Yun to reach an extremely high level.

After the 18th hour, Yi Yun came out from the sixth hall in the Wilderness Divine Hall.

All of his skin had been completely burned red. These 18 hours of cultivation had been a kind of torture for Yi Yun.

Although the Rainbow Blood Feather’s energy could not be condensed into an Aspect Totem, Yi Yun still gained something. He had used the pure Yang power in the sixth hall to continuously deduce the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’. Now, Yi Yun had a much deeper understanding of the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ technique.

Thanks to this, when Yi Yun really went out into the Divine wilderness to hunt desolate beasts, it would make his attempt at condensing of a ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ Aspect Totem much easier.

Yi Yun dragged his exhausted body back to his apartment, there he took a comfortable bath and meditated for about an hour before he slowly recovered.

At this moment, the door sounded.

Yi Yun opened the door and saw a maid servant of Luo Huo’er standing by the door.

She looked at Yi Yun and stuttered, “Teacher Yuehua has set up a lesson for you… The work… needs to be handed over to Teacher Yuehua… after you are done.”

The maid servant said while passing a jade scroll to Yi Yun before she turned and ran away.

Yi Yun laughed. He injected his spiritual energy into the jade scroll and scanned it. Inside it, there were practices that involved energy extraction and basic Desolate Heaven Master seals. When Yi Yun completed it, he would then hand it to Yuehua for her to point out his deficiencies.

“I never expected Grandmaster Yuehua to guide me in such a painstakingly manner…”

Yi Yun was flattered by such painstaking educational methods. He kept the jade scroll and walked to the Desolate Heaven Master Society.

The Desolate Heaven Master Society had dedicated bone refinement rooms. On top of that, Yuehua had set aside an exclusive area for Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er. This exclusive zone had the best facilities for the Desolate Heaven technique.

Yi Yun opened the door to the bone refinement room. Luo Huo’er was already in there.

Besides Luo Huo’er, there were also Luo Huo’er’s maid servant Dong’er as well as six other young girls.

These girls had clearly received Luo Huo’er’s approval to enter. They too were Desolate Heaven Master apprentices.

“President, what do you think of my method?”

A girl with a ponytail asked Luo Huo’er after she took out a scroll that had energy runes condensed within it.

President?

Yi Yun was stunned. How did Luo Huo’er become a President?

On further thought, Yi Yun recalled that Luo Huo’er had formed the Luohuo Association, and it was a large association, only second to the Linxiao Association in the Tai Ah Divine City.

And Luo Huo’er was the President.

“This girl actually used her name to name the association. She sure is narcissistic.” Yi Yun mused. He could not help but recall the first time he met her and the speech she spoke to the mirror.

“You came?” Luo Huo’er glanced at Yi Yun. She actually greeted Yi Yun with a face full of smiles. She casually pointed to a spot and said, “You can have that position. Xiaoling, give way.”

“Yes President.”

The girl named Xiaoling obediently gave up her spot to Yi Yun. These girls were clearly also from the Luohuo Association.

The room was full of estrogen except for the only male, Yi Yun. Yi Yun stroked his chin. Why was Luo Huo’er so nice to him today? She even smiled at him?

Yi Yun walked to his spot and took out a jade scroll. He was preparing to finish the work Yuehua assigned him.

“Everything has been prepared. Master got someone to bring them over.” Luo Huo’er said and pointed to the stone table in front of Yi Yun. There was a pile of materials which were required for the assignment.

“Alright,” Yi Yun nodded. He noticed that Luo Huo’er’s eyes looked around when she was speaking to him. She never looked at him.

Yi Yun took a glance at the materials. They were the same as the pile on Luo Huo’er’s table. For energy extraction, Yi Yun exceeded Luo Huo’er greatly, so their assignment was exactly the same.

Yi Yun recalled the things Yuehua said in class. He reached out his hand to grab the materials but when his hand touched the materials, he suddenly felt that something was amiss…

Oh?

Yi Yun was slightly surprised. As the Purple Crystal was within his body, he was extremely sensitive to energy fluctuations.

This material is odd…

Yi Yun examined the material. The material’s name was Lin Bone Gall.

This was the gall of the desolate beast Lin Snake. The Lin Snake was very special. The surface of the gall was not made of flesh but was made of an inch-thick bone shell.

This bone shell enclosed the bile, so it was unique to the Lin Snake.

Such a Lin Bone Gall was the most valuable body part of the Lin Snake. It was not easy to extract the energy from a Lin Bone Gall, failure could come from a single mistake. This was also the reason why Yuehua used this material for the assignment.

By feeling something amiss, Yi Yun opened up his energy vision once again.

With the energy vision open, everything he saw turned into their original energy forms. All appearances disappeared.

Yi Yun finally saw the mystery hiding within the Lin Bone!

Inside the desolate bone, there was a strange energy node.

There were four different Power of Desolates mixed in this node. These energies were bound together by a seal, maintaining a delicate balance.

They canceled out each other’s effects and was well hidden. If not for Yi Yun’s energy vision, it would be difficult to realize its existence.

Yi Yun analyzed it bit by bit and understood that if he were to inject his spiritual energy into the desolate bone to extract its energy, he would break the balance amongst the four Power of Desolates. Following that, the Lin Bone Gall would also explode!

Because the energy was not strong, this explosion would not hurt Yi Yun, but it would drench Yi Yun with bitter bile.

275 - : Lin Bone Gall

What was this energy node?

Yi Yun was surprised. The body of the Lin Snake was huge and its gall was about the size of a child’s brain. If he tried to extract the energy from the Lin Bone Gall in the prescribed order, his body would be soaked in bile once it exploded.

It can’t be an elaborate trap that Teacher Yuehua set up, right…?

Yi Yun felt that this was unlikely. Even if Teacher Yuehua wanted to test him, she would not do such a thing.

At this moment, Yi Yun suddenly came to a realization. In the corner of his eyes, he noticed that although Luo Huo’er appeared to be slowly extracting energy, her eyes were furtively looking at him.

With this, Yi Yun immediately understood that this was Luo Huo’er’s prank.

Yi Yun was speechless.

“This girl is so vengeful. I embarrassed her once and all she wants is to take revenge, to make me make a fool out of myself…”

“No wonder this girl took the initiative to greet me when we met today. Also, all of these Luohuo Association members were probably invited by Luo Huo’er to be the ‘audience’ of this incident…”

Luo Huo’er probably felt that it would be more fun if Yi Yun made a fool out of himself in front of a crowd. It would not be as enjoyable to watch by herself.

These Luohuo Association members did not know that Luo Huo’er had tampered with anything. They would likely assume that Yi Yun had made a mistake, resulting in the Lin Bone Gall exploding.

Many thoughts flashed across Yi Yun’s mind, but he was already very clear about everything that had happened.

Hence, Yi Yun placed the Lin Bone Gall back unhurriedly. Following that, he pretended to examine the other materials.

At this moment, Luo Huo’er could not concentrate on her energy extraction as she was secretly observing Yi Yun.

When Yi Yun picked up the Lin Bone Gall first, she became very excited, she was waiting to watch the mayhem ensue. She did not expect him to place the Lin Bone Gall back down.

Then, Yi Yun slowed down even more. One moment, he was looking at a material, the other moment, he was touching another material. It did not seem like he had any intention to begin.

Luo Huo’er was getting anxious. She could no longer hide her thoughts.

“This darn kid, why isn’t he doing anything yet?” Luo Huo’er was pissed. She patiently waited for 15 minutes before Yi Yun finally began the energy extraction process.

Luo Huo’er’s eyes lit up!

Hehe, the show is about to start!

She could not wait to see Yi Yun become drenched in bitter bile.

As she brightened her eyes and focused on Yi Yun, she also pretended to do her own thing.

She saw Yi Yun holding the Lin Bone Gall, oblivious to the difference.

Yi Yun stayed silent for a while before he began injecting spiritual energy into the Lin Bone Gall. He made some of the hand seals according to Yuehua’s notebook, slowly extracting the Power of Desolates from within the Lin Bone Gall.

Actually, Yi Yun could extract the desolate bone energy even without a seal. But he still wanted to familiarize himself with everything in the Desolate Heaven technique, as it would further aid him in understanding the Desolate Heaven technique.

“As expected, this fool did not realize a thing. I do not know how he managed to get a perfect score for energy control, but how can this fool be better than me when it comes to energy? My tiny tampering would be enough for torture him. Hehe, it’s going to explode soon. When that happens, it would be fun…” Luo Huo’er felt a sense of schadenfreude. This energy trap was designed by herself. It was tailor-made for Yi Yun. No doubt, Luo Huo’er was very clever and the energy trap she designed was ingenious.

She had brought along a large audience, and all of them were beauties. When Yi Yun make a fool of himself in the midst of all these beauties, these girls would spread the news of Yi Yun’s embarrassing state, making even more people know about it.

Just thinking of this made Luo Huo’er feel delighted. As for whether the revenge method she employed was immature or not, Luo Huo’er did not care. She was such a petty person.

But… even after Yi Yun injected his spiritual energy into the Lin Bone Gall, five seconds passed without the Lin Bone Gall exploding.

Luo Huo’er was curious. What happened?

The energy trap should have been triggered immediately. Did she make an error, making the energy imbalance process need a longer period of time before activating?

Luo Huo’er could not exactly figure out what was wrong her designed trap. She comforted herself and carried on waiting patiently. But..

Ten seconds went by and the Lin Bone Gall was still silent.

Twenty seconds… The Lin Bone Gall was still fine.

“What the…?” Luo Huo’er was confused. The energy trap she set up should have exploded immediately. Yet, twenty seconds passed without it exploding!

After thirty seconds, the energy Yi Yun extracted grew more and more. He had already condensed the rune paths on a blank scroll, while the Lin Bone Gall was still being held in his hand.

Luo Huo’er was dumbfounded. Did her energy trap malfunction?

Luo Huo’er had always been proud of her intelligence, and she felt that she would never make such a mistake. But… the fact was laid right in front of her.

She really hoped that the energy trap within the Lin Bone Gall was just stuck and it would quickly “return to normal”, but…

Half an hour passed…

Luo Huo’er finally gave up.

“This darn kid sure has good luck!” Luo Huo’er gritted her teeth and murmured to herself. She was indignant about it. All she wanted to know was, in what aspect did the energy trap she set up go wrong?

She thought through the entire energy trap’s principles once more, but there should not be any problems…

Slowly, another 30 minutes passed. Yi Yun had completed the extraction of the Power of Desolates in the Lin Bone Gall. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and placed the Lin Bone Gall to the side.

“I can only extract this much… I am really lacking in cultivation level. I am unable to extract all of the Power of Desolates from it.” Yi Yun pretended to appear tired. Actually, with the Purple Crystal’s full horsepower, no matter how many Lin Bone Galls there were , they would not be enough for him to tire from extracting.

“Eh? Miss Luo, why do you look so bad?” Yi Yun looked at Luo Huo’er with a “puzzled” look.

Luo Huo’er’s face was sullen. She could not understand why Yi Yun’s luck was so good that he could avoid this disaster.

“I’m alright.” Luo Huo’er replied stiffly. She also did not pursue the matter of Yi Yun not addressing her as Senior Sister.

“Oh…” Yi Yun shrugged. He ignored Luo Huo’er and said, “I consumed too much Yuan Qi, and I will need to recharge. You guys carry on.”

After saying this, he went to the corner of the room and sat down. He swallowed a bone relic, closed his eyes and began mediating.

“This useless rascal. He’s out of stamina just after extracting this tiny bit of energy…” Luo Huo’er despised Yi Yun, but what made her most pissed was that this trash had actually beaten her!

After hesitating for a while, Luo Huo’er looked at Yi Yun again. She noticed that Yi Yun had cut off all perception.

In a safe environment, warriors would often cut off their perception while meditating. They would isolate themselves from their environment as it increased the efficiency of meditating.

Now, Yi Yun seemed to be in such a state.

Luo Huo’er casually swayed around a bit to determine if Yi Yun was able to notice her or not. She then quickly walked over to the stone table where Yi Yun previously was, after which, she picked up the Lin Bone Gall that Yi Yun was using.

“Eh, Miss, what are you doing…” Dong’er asked curiously when she saw Luo Huo’er’s actions.

“Shh!”

Luo Huo’er made a gesture telling her to be silent and furtively took a glance at Yi Yun. After determining that Yi Yun did not respond, she began probing the Lin Bone Gall.

She wanted to know what exactly went wrong with the energy trap she set up within the Lin Bone Gall.

She had perfected her Desolate Heaven technique foundation, so how did a trap that she set up not explode? What was wrong!?

Could it be that there was a fundamental flaw in the trap she designed?

If she did not know the reasoning behind the mistake, it would be dangerous. Who knows what sort of problems would happen due to a flawed understanding!?

Luo Huo’er calmed down and injected her spiritual energy deep into the Lin Gall Bone to examine its energy structure. She wanted to know where the mistake was.

Luo Huo’er was a person who had to know everything about the Desolate Heaven technique.

But at the moment Luo Huo’er’s spirutual energy touched the energy trap, the energy balance was broken, and all of the four Power of Desolates erupted.

It happened at lightning speed!

“Peng!”

Luo Huo’er was originally focused on finding the flaw in the energy trap. She never expected that nothing happened when Yi Yun used his spiritual energy, but once she used her’s, the energy trap exploded!

What kind of reasoning was this!?

The sudden explosion left almost no time for Luo Huo’er to react. She jerked backwards but the green snake bile had sprayed out everywhere due to the energy flow, drenching her entire body!

This was also part of Luo Huo’er’s trap. She wanted to prevent any escape, even if Yi Yun were to realize something had gone wrong. But now, all those plans backfired on Luo Huo’er herself!

Too deep for tears!

Luo Huo’er stood there in a complete daze. The bile was dripping from her body and her hair was wet. There was even a large wet stain on her clothes. Her face was also covered in the green bile. She looked like a cat that had just fallen into a drain filled with dirty water.

Luo Huo’er was petrified. She just stood there in a daze as her mind went blank.

“Miss! Miss! What happened?”

Dong’er never expected the Lin Bone Gall to explode the moment Luo Huo’er picked it up. The other Luohuo Association members were also shocked. They all stopped their Desolate Heaven technique practice and rushed over to see if Luo Huo’er was fine.

“President, what happened?”

“President, are you alright?”

The girls asked with concern one after another.

Hearing these people’s words, Luo Huo’er went mad. Can someone tell me what the hell happened!?

At this moment, Yi Yun also stopped meditating upon hearing all the commotion.

He walked over with an uncertain expression. Squeezing himself in amongst the girls and looked curiously at Luo Huo’er, “Miss Luo, are you alright? Was this an explosion? What happened? Did you lose control of the energy?”

When Desolate Heaven Masters refined desolate bone relics, an explosion might occur if there was a loss of energy control. It was similar to how alchemists’ furnaces would explode if they made a mistake while refining pills.

But only incompetent Desolate Heaven Masters would make such a stupid mistake. For highly-skilled Desolate Heaven Masters, even if they failed to refine a desolate bone relic, they would not cause an energy explosion.

Luo Huo’er was of course not an incompetent Desolate Heaven Master. Loss of energy control was absolutely humiliating for her!

But now, other than failing to control the energy, how else could she explain it?

276 - : Life is Filled with Miseries

Luo Huo’er could only suffer in silence.

Seeing the group of girls look at her with concern, Luo Huo’er nearly flared up.

Especially the damned kid mixed in the crowd. He too looked at her with concern and puzzlement in his eyes.

Luo Huo’er found it unbearable to recall the experiences of the past few days. Everything was related to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was like a jinx in her life. Anytime she met him, she would become unlucky.

“President, you must be careful. Experts can have accidents too. Never be careless because it would be terrible if you hurt yourself.”

A few of the Luohuo Association members clearly believed that Luo Huo’er had lost control of the energy, which resulted in the explosion.

Luo Huo’er was nearly dying from anger. With my abilities, would I make such a simple mistake!?

She still had not figured out why the energy trap did not trigger in Yi Yun’s hands, but the moment it came into hers, it exploded.

And since the Lin Bone Gall exploded, the energy trap was gone. She had no way of investigating what went wrong.

“Could that kid have tampered with it?”

Luo Huo’er looked hatefully at Yi Yun, but Yi Yun’s expression was a third puzzlement, a third confusion and a third concern. Besides that, there was nothing else that seemed odd.

“It can’t be him…”

Luo Huo’er shook her head deep down. Yi Yun had just come into contact with the Desolate Heaven technique. Even if he had extraordinary talent in energy control, it would be impossible for him to tamper with it in such a silent manner. It was after all, a trap she personally made.

Luo Huo’er’s clothes were all dirty and the foolish state she was in made her unwilling to stay here any longer. She just wanted to leave and take a bath.

The Desolate Heaven Master Society grounds did not have a place for washing up or changing clothes. Even though Luo Huo’er had brought clothes with her, there was no place for her to change.

Returning to her own apartment was also a problem. Even if she used her fire elemental energy to dry the snake bile, it would still leave a big green stain on Luo Huo’er.

For Luo Huo’er who treasured her face so much, she would rather die than be seen by others while wearing such stained clothes.

Gritting her teeth, Luo Huo’er took out her clothes from her interspatial ring and wanted to wear them over her body.

But her feminine clothes were slim in her upper body, while her lower body’s skirt was wide. It would clearly look odd to wear another dress over her dirty one.

“Miss Luo, I have a fairly large piece of clothing here. I am not sure if you will dislike it.”

Yi Yun took out his Jin Long Wei flying fish robe from his interspatial ring.

When Yi Yun came to the Tai Ah Divine City, he also brought along his flying fish robe. When he gained the interspatial ring, he naturally threw the flying fish robe into it.

The lower hem of the flying fish robe was wide, and there was also a spare cape.

Luo Huo’er actually wanted to reject it, but just as she was about to say no, she noticed that his flying fish robe’s cape could cover her body all around from the collar. If she wore the cape and a belt, it could be used like a cloak. She could then completely cover her body so that nothing could be seen from the outside.

She was indeed in extreme need of such a cape.

Luo Huo’er bit her lips and took the cape from Yi Yun.

She did not need the flying fish robe as the cape alone was enough.

Covering her body with the cape was perfect. The golden cape was embroidered with flying fish patterns, so it did not weird. In fact, it made Luo Huo’er appear heroic.

“Thank you…”

Luo Huo’er thanked Yi Yun slowly. She then left the Desolate Heaven Master Society with Dong’er.

She quickly walked back to her apartment in the central divine tower. On arrival she entered the bathroom and showered a few times, only then was she able to wash away the bitter smell. As for the clothes that had been stained by the bile, she threw them away as it was too difficult to wash the bile out of them.

As for Yi Yun’s flying fish robe cape, it too had been stained with the bile. She wanted to throw it away as well, but upon further thought, she threw the cape at Dong’er and said, “Wash the cape. Make sure to clean it properly. I’ll return it to him tonight…”

“Alright…” Dong’er obediently answered.

Luo Huo’er went into a slight daze and remained silent for a while. She then murmured to herself, “Dong’er, do you think I went a little too far?”

“Ah?” Dong’er went into a daze, “Miss, what do you mean by too far?”

“Nothing…” Luo Huo’er shook her head. Dong’er did not know the various incidents she had with Yi Yun.

Dong’er took the cape and left Luo Huo’er looking out the window with a pensive look.

Upon further thought, it was purely unintentional of Yi Yun to see her body and hear her words.

Yi Yun also won Teacher Yuehua’s test because of his ability.

Yi Yun did nothing wrong, yet she wanted to seek revenge, leading her to reap what she had sown…

Just now when she was soaked in bile, Yi Yun did not gloat over her misfortune, he even offered her his cape, saving her from embarrassment.

Upon thinking of this, Luo Huo’er felt somewhat guilty. She said to Dong’er, “Dong’er, before you wash the cape, go to the Ten Thousand Pagoda and exchange for a Lin Bone Gall. I’ll give that to Yi Yun too…”

Luo Huo’er had exploded Yi Yun’s Lin Bone Gall, so he naturally had no way of completing the energy extraction assignment. Buying a Lin Bone Gall to replace it was also a form of apology from Luo Huo’er.

…

That night, Yi Yun heard a knock on his door. When he opened the door, he saw Luo Huo’er standing in front of his door, holding a neatly folded cape.

On the cape, there was also a Lin Bone Gall.

“Eh…”

Yi Yun was slightly stunned. As he was about to say something, Luo Huo’er pushed the all the items into Yi Yun’s arms. “For everything that happened today, thank you. The cape has been washed and I’m returning it to you.”

After Luo Huo’er said that, she turned and left.

She left Yi Yun behind in a daze. He looked at the cape in his hands. There were still traces of a fire elemental law on it. Clearly, after the cape had been washed, Luo Huo’er also used her fire elemental laws to dry the cape…

“Did I go too far…?”

Yi Yun looked at Luo Huo’er’s back and stroked his chin and shook his head.

He and Luo Huo’er had both arrived at the same conclusion for the same matter. It was quite an interesting coincidence…

…

Clouds moved as the sun rose and set.

Life in the Tai Ah Divine City carried on. Everyday, Yi Yun would be cultivating, and then cultivating some more…

The Desolate Heaven technique, Saber truths, “Truth of the Laws”, “Ten Thousand Beast Totem”, “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”…

There were too many things Yi Yun needed to cultivate, and every one of them was an extremely difficult path.

Many warriors would never dare to touch things like the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ or the Saber Truth’s 32 Words even as human lords, what more merely being in the Purple Blood realm.

Slowly, two months passed. Yi Yun had now spent half a year in the Tai Ah Divine City.

In these two months, Yi Yun continued to solidify his foundation. His cultivation level had risen too quickly. He had used about half a year to go from the most basic first rank of Mortal Blood to the middle stages of Purple Blood.

Cultivating too fast usually led to a shaky foundation. As such, Yi Yun took the time to make sure that his foundation would be strong.

As Yi Yun walked out of the saber tomb once more, Cang Yan came over. He knocked Yi Yun on the chest and said, “Kid, why haven’t you challenged the Earth roll yet!?”

In his opinion, Yi Yun had almost reached the top 1000 of the Earth roll two months ago, so with two months passing by, Yi Yun should now have the ability to enter the top 1000.

For a Tai Ah Divine City rookie to enter the top 1000 in his first year was incredible.

If Yi Yun were to enter the top 1000 in half a year, he would shock the large factions till their eyeballs dropped out of their sockets.

But Yi Yun lived in seclusion for the past two months. He only cultivated, making Cang Yan feel slightly angry. Why was this kid not feeling any urgency!?

Yi Yun said, “I have too many things to cultivate. I’ll leave the Earth roll on the back burner.”

Yi Yun really did not mind. His strength may have grown, but it had not grown by much. It would not be too late to challenge the Earth roll when his strength increased by leaps and bound.

“Darn kid, can’t you behave properly? Just walk slowly on the martial arts path. You have excellent talent. You just need to understand the saber truths and the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ well, get a good Aspect Totem mystic technique and your future would be boundless. Yet you want to learn the Desolate Heaven technique… With your talent, if you need resources, the Divine Kingdom will not leave you hanging. You do not need to earn them by yourself.”

Cang Yan did not know what to say. Yi Yun learned too many things that were difficult. This made Cang Yan worry for him.

Yi Yun laughed and said, “Thank you for the senior’s concern. This junior is quite interested in the Desolate Heaven technique, so I will still carry on learning it…”

Yi Yun knew that the Divine Kingdom’s royal family would groom him once he showed sufficient talent in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

But Yi Yun’s goal was not the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. In the future, he wanted to leave the kingdom and face an even wider world. When that happened, there might not be any factions that could support him.

With an additional skill, he could have another way out.

“Do you still want to learn the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’?” Cang Yan still wanted Yi Yun to return the Aspect Totem mystic technique. The ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ was a mystic technique that even a sage could not master. What could Yi Yun learn from it while he was in the Purple Blood realm?

“Yes.” Yi Yun nodded.

“You really do not intend to change? I can return the glory points from the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ to you…”

Cang Yan “patiently” said. He had initially hoped that Yi Yun would give up after knowing the difficulty, he never expected that the kid would proceed on into the unknown.

Yi Yun shook his head. “Me coming to the saber tomb today is also for me to bid the senior farewell. I plan to… go into the Divine wilderness and begin condensing my Aspect Totem.”

Yi Yun’s two months of cultivation was the last pieces of preparation before he would embark on his Divine wilderness expedition.

Warriors who came to the Tai Ah Divine City for training would eventually enter the Divine wilderness to kill desolate beasts!

This was also the Tai Ah Divine City’s most important and dangerous training. Many cultivators died during this training experience.

“Condense the Aspect Totem?” Cang Yan was stunned. “You are prepared to condense the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem”s Aspect Totem?”

“Yes… I intend to try to…” Yi Yun said calmly and firmly.

He was finally going to enter the Divine wilderness, a unknown and mysterious world…

Author’s note: The transition is difficult to write. We are entering the Divine wilderness soon. I plan on tidying up my thoughts.

277 - : Heading into the Divine Wilderness

To many Tai Ah Divine City cultivators, going out into the Divine wilderness to hunt desolate beasts was a big deal. Their training expeditions would often last for about half a month. They had to make all sorts of preparation for the long periods outside.

It was insufficient to just be strong if one planned to go out alone into the wilderness. One had to know all sorts of skills and survival knowledge to survive out in the wilderness.

Before Yi Yun left, he spent another 50,000 dragon scale runes to buy a interspatial ring with a larger capacity than the ones he got from the Capital’s Four Bully Lords.

Following that, Yi Yun used an entire day to buy various supplies.

It included bone relics, medicine, life-protecting disk arrays, spare weapons, etc.

Yi Yun also bought a detailed map of the Tai Ah Divine City’s surroundings. He used some time to familiarize himself with the Divine wilderness’ terrain and every desolate beast that he could encounter. By the end of the day, he understood the beasts strengths, weaknesses, habits…

All this preparatory work had to be done perfect. Every year, 99% of the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators who died, died while training in the Divine wilderness. As for those who died accidentally in arena battles, those were few and far between.

Most of the time, this seemingly inconspicuous knowledge could save lives.

Yi Yun had recently overheard that a small group of three cultivators died a few days ago. The reason was because they misidentified a Heart Piercing Snake as a Golden Line Snake.

Both snakes are entirely gold in color, about two meters long, and have virtually no differences in their external appearance. But, a Heart Piercing Snake is more than ten times stronger than a Golden Line Snake. It also has a fatal venom. Even an early-stage Yuan foundation realm warrior will die in five seconds upon being bitten.

The Heart Piercing Snake and the Golden Line Snake cannot be distinguished through their appearances. The only difference between the two is in their behaviors. A Golden Line Snake will meander sideways as it moves forward, creating a curved trajectory. As for the Heart Piercing Snake, it will move forward in a straight line.

Many of the cultivators in the Tai Ah Divine City not only died because of their lack of strength, but also mainly because of their carelessness.

Yi Yun’s current strength was not bad, but compared to the cultivators ranked ahead on the Earth roll, he was still far worse. Even cultivators ranked ahead on the Earth roll could die on their training expeditions, so Yi Yun had to be careful.

Yi Yun did not team up and was going to train alone. As such, his training expedition’s risk increased a lot.

This day, the sky was clear and the Sun was shining high up in the white cloud-littered sky. Yi Yun brought all the items he had prepared and headed into the Divine wilderness for training.

Yi Yun had previously left the Tai Ah Divine City to go to herb mountain #60 for herb-picking. Back then, Yi Yun used a teleportation array.

But today, Yi Yun was using the main gate to leave the Tai Ah Divine City.

When he reached the Tai Ah Divine City’s city gate, he looked down from a height of 10,000 meters at the expansive wilderness below him.

The endless Desolate Lands connected with the sky, appearing both majestic and ancient.

Water-bucket sized black metal chains linked the jagged parts of the cliff to the plains tens of thousands meters below. It was a vast expanse of mist.

This was the path that led from the Tai Ah Divine City into the Divine wilderness. To defend against beast hordes, the Tai Ah Divine City’s entrance was a natural barrier, allowing one man to hold back all enemies.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and leaped up. He lightly landed on the chain.

Then, Yi Yun placed a stout rope over the chains, and slid downwards with the help of gravity while holding onto the ends of the rope.

Using a rope to go down from 10,000 meters was almost at the speed of a free-fall.

Yi Yun could hear the howl of the wind by his ears as he saw the ancient desolate wilderness approaching him.

The Divine wilderness had existed for an unknown number of years. Deep in the Divine wilderness, there were unknown numbers of secret treasures. Similarly, it also buried an unknown number of bones that belonged to past elites…

But now, Yi Yun was going to use his own feet to explore this land.

“Boom!”

Yi Yun landed on the ground. Due to the extreme speed, when Yi Yun’s feet landed on the ground, they stirred up a cloud of dust.

The Desolate Lands in front of him was covered with sparse patches of grass. The plains were black in color with many exposed rocks. There were also many strong and tall ancient trees that went way into the distant horizon.

Yi Yun locked onto a direction and began running.

A typical warrior would choose an appropriate speed while running in the Divine wilderness. One could not be too fast, not because of stamina, but because one might not be able to discover desolate beasts lurking in one’s surroundings due to the fast speed. By not being vigilant enough, one could easily receive a surprise attack from desolate beasts.

It was not uncommon in the history of the Tai Ah Divine City’s to have examples of cultivators who ran too fast, accidentally entering a desolate beast nest, resulting in there not even having a single piece of their corpses left.

But one could not go too slow either. As the Divine wilderness was too vast, being too slow would waste plenty of time. One could only explore a tiny area if one did, resulting in many missed opportunities.

Yi Yun first used a normal speed to cover tens of miles before he picked up his speed. At the same time, Yi Yun opened his Purple Crystal energy vision.

In the energy vision, every embodiment of energy returned to its original fundamental state, leaving no way for them to hide.

With the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun did not need to spend too much effort in being vigilant.

There were not many desolate beasts that could be killed surrounding the Tai Ah Divine City. Strong desolate beasts were afraid of the Tai Ah Divine City’s energy, so they would all flee far away.

Yi Yun’s destination was the Meteorite Abyss. Legend has it that tens of millions of years ago, a huge star, that burned with Yang flames, fell from the sky, crashing into the Divine wilderness. It broke up a mountain ridge that went on for tens of thousands of miles, creating a huge deep abyss.

This deep abyss was the Meteorite Abyss!

Back when the star landed, its Yang flames swept through the Divine wilderness, burning countless numbers of strong desolate beasts to their deaths. If they were close to the center of the explosion, even primordial species would not survive. They too would instantly be turned to ashes!

After tens of millions of years, the destruction left behind by the fallen star had already been restored. However, the Meteorite Abyss left behind by it was like a huge scar left on the Divine wilderness.

The star had merged with the Meteorite Abyss. Although the Yang flames that swept the Divine wilderness had been extinguished, there were still rainbow Yang flames burning deep within the Meteorite Abyss. All the Yang Qi in a radius of millions of miles was gathered here!

Hence, there were a large number of pure Yang-elemental desolate beasts in the Meteorite Abyss.

Yi Yun’s first attribute choice for cultivating the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ was pure Yang.

Hence, the Meteorite Abyss was Yi Yun’s first destination.

But, with Yi Yun’s current strength, he did not dare to venture deep into the Meteorite Abyss. He could only kill the desolate beasts, in the exterior perimeter of the Meteorite Abyss, to condense his Aspect Totem.

Yi Yun flew forward with the wind ringing in his ears.

After crossing a large tract of the wilderness plains, he encountered grassland. The grass was about half the height of a person and was called Frost Star Grass.

The leaves of the Frost Star Grass had cold frost dew formed over the years. This frost dew’s temperature was below freezing points, yet it did not form into ice. If a mortal were to cross into the Frost Star Grass grasslands, just a few steps would leave them frozen due to the frost dew.

Yi Yun gathered Yuan Qi and circulated his body’s Qi and blood, creating heat that emanated from his body.

He then rushed into the Frost Star Grass grassland. The glistening beads of dew reflected the dazzling sunlight. It made Yi Yun’s body wet, but Yi Yun only felt some slight cold at his exterior, it did not affect his movements.

With perfect movement techniques and the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, Yi Yun traversed the complicated terrain like a eagle in the sky, and at times, like a lurking python.

On the way, Yi Yun also encountered some desolate beasts. For example, the Specter Python that hid ten meters underneath the wilderness plains, or a creeping Three Spotted Tiger on a hilltop. These were all detected by Yi Yun using the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, allowing him to avoid them early.

Yi Yun’s goal in this expedition was clear. It was to kill pure Yang desolate beasts, absorb their body’s pure Yang power and blood, and condense an Aspect Totem.

Unless there were very valuable desolate beasts along the way, Yi Yun would not stop.

The Meteorite Abyss was very far away. Yi Yun managed to cautiously and stealthily make his way. Only when the dying Sun was swallowed by the horizon, and the star constellations in the sky began to appear, did Yi Yun have to stop.

He had come to a barren plain. The night breeze blew, causing pebbles to roll as it constantly shattered the quietness of the night.

Night time in the Divine wilderness was even more dangerous. Yi Yun had to use sleep or meditation to maintain his stamina.

Yi Yun used the Thousand Army Saber and quickly dug a pit that he could sleep in. He carefully laid soft hay, suitable for sleeping, in the pit.

Although warriors are physically strong, the Desolate Lands’ Frost Star Grass’s cold dew was biting to the bone. It was inevitable for some of it to enter a warrior’s body, creating a bit of unnecessary damage to his Qi and blood.

Yi Yun dug a few traps around the pit and placed triangular disk arrays within them.

Each disk array was about the size of a fist, containing a weak explosive energy within it. This was a necessity that many Tai Ah Divine City warriors would bring along when they went into the Divine wilderness for a training expedition, the “Ignition Disk Array”.

This “Ignition Disk Array” could not kill desolate beasts, but it could be used as a warning. After all, warriors would still lose some perception of the surrounding environment when they slept or meditated. On the other hand, there were also some desolate beasts who would be skilled in concealment. Many cultivators would often die while sleeping or meditating due to these surprise attacks.

Sleeping and meditation was indispensable. If one was high-strung and vigilant of one’s surroundings for a long time, one would end up becoming mentally exhausted even without being attacked by desolate beasts, greatly reducing their combat strength.

Hence, most of the time, these affordable “Ignition Disk Array” had the miraculous use of saving lives.

After setting up the “Ignition Disk Array”, Yi Yun took out a cloth bag from his interspatial ring. He then spread all the powder within the cloth bag.

This was the powdered feces of King-ranked desolate beasts. This powder would emit a special smell that only desolate beasts could detect. This would make other desolate beasts mistake this area as the territory of a King-ranked desolate beast, hence they would avoid entering.

With two levels of protection set up, Yi Yun wore a fine scale armor, his Thousand Army Saber by his waist, the Tai Cang Bow behind his back and entered the pit.

To not separate from their weapon was a habit warriors had to have when they were out hunting desolate beasts. The moment there was any commotion, they could quickly enter a combative state.

There were all sorts of dangers in the Divine wilderness. One had to be careful with everything.

But even with all of this set up, it was impossible to guarantee that nothing would go wrong…

278 - : Traveling Alone in the Divine Wilderness

Deep in the silent night, the cold wind blew, which covered everything with icy dew…

Yi Yun suddenly woke up from his deep sleep.

A natural instinct for danger suddenly arose in his mind. Yi Yun immediately opened his energy vision and found a furry desolate beast that was slowly moving like a ball.

This desolate beast had a pair of black round eyes and its body was covered with numerous small tentacles. These tentacles would rub against the ground, but strangely it did not emit a single sound.

Not only that, the beast’s presence was extremely well-concealed. There was not a single sign that it was present. As it moved forward, corrosive liquids flowed out from its pores. Everywhere it went, a trail corroded by this liquid was left behind on the ground.

This corrosive liquid also slowly seeped into the soil.

“Chi!” “Chi!” “Chi!”

The explosive disk arrays Yi Yun had set up previously gave off soft sounds that were nearly inaudible. Due to the corrosive liquid that had seeped into the ground, the disk arrays were corroded just before they could initialize.

Yi Yun’s muscles tensed up and the Purple Crystal within his body swelled up with light. This desolate beast was a Thousand Feet Black Silkworm!

Yi Yun had previously read in the “Divine Wilderness” book that the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm was a desolate beast that was extremely difficult to handle. It liked to ambush its prey at night and it had an obtuse temperament. It completely ignored the feces of King-ranked desolate beasts. As the liquid that flowed out from its body could corrode the Ignition Disk Array, it could catch many cultivators by surprise. Hence, it was also the nemesis of many cultivators that traveled alone.

The Thousand Feet Black Silkworm’s body hair was needle-like. They could be shot out, and due to the toxic bodily fluids within it, a warrior would die just touching a tiny bit of the corrosive liquid.

That was the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm’s most powerful move. When it shot out all its body’s arsenal like arrows, it was almost impossible to evade.

A typical cultivator would often hide to avoid fighting it to the death if they met a Thousand Feet Black Silkworm.

Before Yi Yun came into the Divine wilderness, he had made ample preparations. The Thousand Feet Black Silkworm’s weakness was its speed. To deal with it, he had to first open up a gap from it, and attack it from far.

It was equivalent to committing suicide trying to attempt melee combat with a desolate beast that was full of toxins and that had spikes that were as solid as steel.

With the Tai Cang Bow in hand, Yi Yun suddenly burst up from the pit!

Peng!

Rocks and soil were sent flying. The sudden explosion stopped the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm in its tracks for a while.

At that moment, Yi Yun had flown more than thirty meters backwards. While he was in the air, he pulled the Tai Cang Bow to its fullest.

Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi rapidly condensed and surged into the black arrow head. The cold beam of the Wind Chasing Arrow flashed in the night.

Whew!

Yi Yun’s arrow flew and its light beam cut through the night sky. In the arrowhead of the Wind Chasing Arrow that Yi Yun had shot, there was an explosive array within it!

This arrow hit the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm at lightning speed!

Boom!

With a loud blast, the explosive array exploded. The Thousand Feet Black Silkworm let out a shrill and a large amount of bodily fluids splashed out.

Black blood covered the surround grass. With a dull “Chi Chi Chi” sound, the toxic blood bore holes into the ground wherever it landed.

At the same moment the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm was suffering, Yi Yun’s eyes locked on the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm with hawk-like eyes. He flexed his arms as he continuously shot arrows!

Peng! Peng! Peng!

The bowstring emitted a sounds like muffled thunder as the sharp arrows cut through the air, leaving a visible Yuan Qi trace in its wake.

In the darkness, these arrows came raining down like a meteor shower, with the ability to tear everything apart. They rained on the wound that the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm had been inflicted with by the explosive arrow.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The few arrows pierced through the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm’s wound, and entered its soft flesh.

The arrowheads tore the weak stomach of the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm apart, till the flesh was completely penetrated through, before sticking heavily to the ground.

The Thousand Feet Black Silkworm made an earth-shattering scream and all its muscles contracted, sending out all its bristles out!

Usually the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm would only shoot out about tens of spikes for hunting prey, but now as it was threatened with death, the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm shot out all its bristles, and they fell in a dense downpour!

It was really an attack that was all-encompassing!

Cultivators, who fought against Thousand Feet Black Silkworms, easily died under this desperate attack as there was no way to dodge!

Yi Yun had anticipated that the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm would make a desperate attempt to counter at all costs. With his foot stepping on the ground, the ground beneath him exploded. Yi Yun’s body seemed to be carried up by a strong wind as he charged towards the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm’s wing on its side.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Countless number of bristle needles flew and scraped past Yi Yun’s body but he had dodged all of them.

Yi Yun’s current position was where there was a sparse amount of bristle needles because this was where the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm’s wound was!

Yi Yun’s attack had blown up a large portion of the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm’s flesh, leaving a few bristles left. Also, as much of the flesh had been damaged, the bristles could not be shot out.

This was the only flaw in the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm’s all-encompassing attack!

Yi Yun had already calculated beforehand because he would have found it hard to deal with the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm’s desperate attack. He had created this flaw for him to seek shelter!

Seeing the ineffectiveness its last attack, the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm was in a panic. It had shot out all its bristle needles from its body!

It’s combat power had been greatly reduced in a short period of time.

It gathered the toxins within its body, hoping to spew it on Yi Yun to corrode his body, but at this moment, Yi Yun had stepped forward, and with a flash of his body, he had appeared right in front of the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm.

Cha!

The Thousand Army Saber was unsheathed and it sounded out. With a flash of the blade’s beam, it cut through the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm’s head. Before the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm could spit out its toxins, the huge Yuan Qi that had been condensed in the Thousand Army Saber exploded its head.

The shrills that the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm was making seemed like its throat had been pressed as the sounds came to a stop.

Its body twitched vigorously a few times before collapsing to the ground.

Yi Yun’s entire attack process had been done in one fell swoop. He did not give the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm any respite!

Seeing that the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm was already dead, Yi Yun recalled the heart sutras of the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’.

To condense an Aspect Totem, one had to first condense a beast mark from a desolate beast’s corpse. A beast mark was the condensation of a recently-killed desolate beast’s life essence and Power of Desolates!

Under normal circumstances, a desolate beast’s life essence and Power of Desolates would slowly dissipate into the surroundings after it was killed.

The energy within the blood and flesh would dissipate the fastest while the energy within the bones dissipated slowly. It could then be used by Desolate Heaven Masters to refine desolate bone relics.

Warriors who were not Desolate Heaven Masters had great difficulty in using this energy.

Of course, after a warrior cultivated a totem mystic technique, he could usually borrow the worldly laws to a certain extent. They could make the desolate beast’s life essence and Power of Desolates synergize with their own murderous Qi by slowly extracting that energy.

A warrior’s murderous Qi could form such synergy only with the desolate beasts killed by the warrior himself.

By using the totem mystic technique, these separated energies would slowly form a light blob, and this light blob would have the imprint of the dead desolate beast within it.

This was the beast mark.

Actually, if a warrior were to use a totem mystic technique to condense a beast mark, he would only be able to obtain a tiny portion of the desolate beast’s energy.

Hence, even if the beast mark was extracted, this kind of dead desolate beast could still be exchanged for dragon scale runes. Using the desolate bones from such a desolate beast to refine a relic would not had too bad an effect.

It was not easy to condense a beast mark. Many warriors had to kill many desolate beasts to be able to barely condense a beast mark, and the quality left much to be desired.

If the quality of the beast mark was low, the Aspect Totem that was eventually condensed would also have limited powers.

To successfully condense an Aspect Totem, many cultivators would try to choose the totem mystic techniques that were easier to learn.

It could be said that the quality of the beast seal condensed depended on the totem mystic technique’s grade.

But a high grade totem mystic technique was impossible to learn. The beast mark condensed from killing dozens of desolate beasts was of questionable quality, so no matter how high grade the totem mystic technique was, it was still pointless.

For example, the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ Yi Yun was learning was a high grade mystic technique.

Even the sages of the Tai Ah Divine City could only read through the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ to ponder over its wondrous meaning. They would not learn a mystic technique that no one could master…

Standing in front of the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm, Yi Yun closed his eyes and thought deeply for a while as he sank his spiritual energy into the Purple Crystal…

The Purple Crystal, which was located in Yi Yun’s heart, emitted a strange glow. Yi Yun felt like a whirlpool had appeared in his body and the the murderous Qi that he generated from killing the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm spread all over the whirlpool as it let out a light groan.

A large amount of life essence and Power of Desolates within the Thousand Black Silkworm were sucked by this whirlpool and surged towards it!

Hum Hum Hum…

The energy created violent tremors in midair before finally condensing into a beast mark the size of a fist.

This beast mark emitted a reddish-gold light. Within it, there was a phantom image of a baby silkworm. With a thought, this beast mark flew into Yi Yun’s body.

Sou!

The beast mark’s energy entered all of Yi Yun’s limbs and bones. An indescribable feeling transmitted throughout Yi Yun’s body.

Although he had plenty of experience absorbing the essences of desolate beasts, none of them were similar to today’s experience. It made Yi Yun’s pores open up, as if his entire body’s soul and flesh had elevated to a new level.

“So this is the process of condensing an Aspect Totem…”

Yi Yun felt as if his entire body was free of inhibitions. Every inch of his bones, blood, meridians were being nourished by the desolate beast’s essence, as it went through a silent metamorphosis.

Yi Yun’s body was surging with life force, and it rising like a growing seedling.

After about a dozen seconds, only when the beast mark’s energy was finally fully absorbed by Yi Yun did he open his eyes.

It was so comfortable!

Yi Yun did not know what it was like when others condensed an Aspect Totem or what it was like to extract a beast mark from a desolate beast’s corpse.

Would it be any difference from his using of the Purple Crystal to extract a beast mark?

But there was no time to ponder over this. According to the records in the “Divine Wilderness” book, once a Thousand Feet Black Silkworm died, it would emit a special smell to inform nearby Thousand Feet Black Silkworm to gather here.

Soon, more than ten Thousand Feet Black Silkworms would gather in this place. There might even be a possibility of a Thousand Feet Black Silkworm King appearing, and that was something Yi Yun was unable to deal with.

He had to leave this place immediately!

279 - : Thousand Feet Black Silkworm

Yi Yun retrieved the silk within the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm and a portion of its toxins as quickly as possible. After that he removed a few of its metallic teeth, stored them in his interspatial ring and used his movement technique to run deep into the wilderness.

Storage was a big problems for cultivators who went into the Divine wilderness for training. One would only remove the most valuable parts of a typical large desolate beast, if not, the interspatial rings would quickly fill up.

While he was running, Yi Yun opened up his Purple Crystal’s energy vision again.

The surrounding Power of Desolates appeared like waves as they rippled around. Yi Yun soon noticed energy light dots appearing in the distant Desolate Lands.

“One, two, three…”

Each of these energy light dots were naturally a Thousand Feet Black Silkworm.

Yi Yun quickly changed directions, avoiding the group of Thousand Feet Black Silkworms as he ran deeper into the wilderness.

Before the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm appeared, Yi Yun had already slept for four hours. This was already enough for him.

Although the nights in the vast wilderness were dangerous, Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal’s energy vision to lead him, hence he could preemptively avoid any dangers.

While in the process of running at a fast speed, Yi Yun also started to feel out the Aspect Totem that was slowly condensing inside his body.

Just killing one Thousand Feet Black Silkworm was insufficient to condense an Aspect Totem.

However, Yi Yun could already feel it germinating.

A typical warrior’s Aspect Totem would usually be determined once it appeared, but the “Ten Thousand Beast Totem” Aspect Totem’s appearance would be different from the desolate beasts that were used for it. It could have a variety of bizarre changes.

From its embryonic form to its formative state, and finally its complete form, it could go through mutations and evolve.

It was unknown what it would be like when an Aspect Totem mutated.

Yi Yun was looking forward to it, but he knew that in his current state, he was still far from being able to mutate his Aspect Totem.

He had only taken the first step in his long march.

In the darkness of the endless wilderness, Yi Yun ran for an unknown amount of time. He encountered some desolate beasts lurking in the dark, but avoided them in advance.

When the first ray of dawn broke through the darkness, the distant land was covered in a mist. This mist constantly changed as it emitted a terrible smell.

It was miasma!

Following that, Yi Yun heard the sound of bubbles popping.

A dark and endless swamp appeared before Yi Yun. The light mist shrouded the mud.

Reaching here, the pungent stench in the air had now reached an extreme.

“It’s the Blackwater Swamp.” Yi Yun recalled the record in the “Divine wilderness” book. The Blackwater Swamp’s rotting mud and miasma were toxic, and the deeper one went, the greater the toxicity became.

Especially the black mud in the swamp, which was similar to the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm’s bodily fluids, it was corrosive.

In principle, such a toxic swamp should not have any living organisms, but the weird thing was that there were actually fresh aquatic plants growing in the swamp. These aquatic plants bloomed beautiful and coquettish flowers, creating a stark contrast with the surrounding rotting, black mud.

Yi Yun knew that these beautiful and coquettish flowers were named Blood Corpse Flowers. They used corpses as nourishment and liked the miasma. The Blood Corpse Flower was also toxic.

In this situation, Yi Yun could use Yuan Qi to envelop his body, allowing him to withstand the corrosive nature of the mud, but over time, his Yuan Qi would also rapidly deplete.

The Blackwater Swamp also stretched into the distance. Yi Yun estimated that he would need at least a day and a night of walking to cross the swamp.

But in this toxic mud, Yi Yun estimated he could not last more than two hours.

Besides, there also existed a few desolate beasts, like the Blackwater Ancient Crocodiles, in Blackwater Swamp. If he met one, he would be in trouble!

“Do I have to make a detour?”

Yi Yun slightly frown. If he had to make a detour, he would have to travel a long distance before reaching Meteorite Abyss. With the occasional desolate beast encounters, the journey would then take him at least ten days.

As Yi Yun was thinking over it, he suddenly saw something.

That is…

Yi Yun looked incredulously into the distance. There, in the thin miasma, a youth in green was riding a green cow, walking over slowly.

The green cow’s feet made apparent steps above the swamp, but none of the mud stained them.

On the cow’s back was a youth holding a piccolo. He wore a bamboo hat and played a melodious tune, affecting the wind in the swamp. Stalk after stalk of Blood Corpse Flowers swayed in the wind.

The toxic swamp which was fraught with dangers, suddenly transformed into a sanctuary that radiated the brightness and charm of Spring. Even the beautiful and coquettish Blood Corpse Flowers seemed to soften up.

Yi Yun was shocked. A green shirt, a green cow and a piccolo…

This scene of a youth, dressed like a shepherd, left a great visual impact with his sudden appearance in the Blackwater Swamp.

This youth looked completely out of place in this endless Divine wilderness.

He is…

Yi Yun looked at the green cow-riding youth in green approach. He touched the hilt of his Thousand Army Saber as he circulated his body’s Yuan Qi.

He could not tell the youth’s level. He felt like that person was a completely normal person. Even after checking with the Purple Crystal’s vision, the youth did not seem to have immense amounts of energy within him. The only thing different with him, was that his body had a colorful life force within it that was both luscious and beautiful.

When the youth saw Yi Yun, he separated the piccolo from his mouth and smiled at Yi Yun, “Hi.”

The youth’s voice made people feel as if they were showering in a spring breeze.

Yi Yun did not lower his guard and nodded slightly as a form of reciprocation.

“Are you… a cultivator from the Divine wilderness?”

Yi Yun instinctively felt the powerfulness of the youth. But the youth only looked to be about 16 years old. It was hard to imagine that there was such a proud son of heaven.

“Cultivator?” The youth was slightly taken aback before he laughed. He shook his head gently, “No, I’m not. I’m just a tourist, just passing through the Divine wilderness…”

“Tourist? Passing through the Divine wilderness!?”

Yi Yun was alarmed. From the direction from which the youth came, he had most likely crossed the Blackwater Swamp.

The Blackwater Swamp was extremely toxic, yet he could cross through it without flinching. However, this was not what made Yi Yun most alarmed.

He was alarmed because the direction the youth was heading in was clearly towards the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. And from the northern parts he came from, that was an uninhabited place. Further north of the Divine wilderness was the endless Desolate Lands. There were numerous strong desolate beasts dormant there. Even when human sages encountered many of those desolate beasts, they had to flee!

This youth actually said he was just passing through the Divine wilderness. If he really came from the north, then from exactly where did he come from?

It could not be the other end of the Divine wilderness, right…?

Although Yi Yun’s mind was chaotic, he still appeared calm on the surface. He did not say another word. This mysterious youth belonged to a world different from the present him.

Or maybe, he was not even a youth…

“Well… You are very interesting.”

The youth looked at Yi Yun and chuckled. “We will probably meet again.”

After saying that, he continued to ride his green cow and passed Yi Yun.

The melodious sounds from the piccolo started playing once again. The cheerful tune seemed to turn into reality. It flew into the blue sky that was littered with white clouds in an unrestrained manner.

The carrion birds in the sky were also attracted to the tune and began dancing in the air not far from the youth.

Far away in the swamp, a strange-looking toxic fish leapt out of the water and blew a bubble. It looked extremely happy.

These lifeforms that created fear and loathsomeness in people now seemed to turn into happy spirits. This scene left a deep impression on Yi Yun…

Yi Yun watched on as the youth disappeared from view. He felt that the youth’s piccolo tune had a magical power that could control the thoughts of desolate beasts…

When the youth crossed the Blackwater Swamp, it was as if he was strolling through a garden.

He was an obvious target, yet the desolate beasts could not detect him, but… maybe it was that strange tune which prevented him from being attacked.

“This youth sure is weird. He has the ability to control desolate beasts… What is he doing heading to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?”

Yi Yun muttered. The path of martial arts had all sorts of strange things. It was no wonder for a person to have the ability to control beasts.

As for why the youth was heading towards the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, or if he was just passing through the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, Yi Yun could not be bothered to think about it. He was most concerned about how he was to cross the Blackwater Swamp.

It was too far to take a detour.

Yi Yun followed the edge of the swamp and after proceeding for about 15 minutes, he suddenly stopped.

Oh?

In his energy vision, a mass of black energy was lurking underground.

“Gulu, Gulu”

Deep in the misty swamp, there was suddenly a hint of unusual movement. The mud tossed as a large mud bubble blew up.

A dark silhouette appeared in the midst of the mist…

280 - : Mysterious Youth

The black shadow was hidden within the mist, but Yi Yun saw through it using the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

In the energy vision, the black shadow was clearly a huge crocodile that was more than 10 meters long.

This crocodile had a dark hide, which was as strong as rock, as well as a single horn on its head. Thick eyelids covered most of its eyes and its body was covered in toxic and putrid black mud.

It was a Blackwater Ancient Crocodile.

The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile only lived in this corrosive swamp. It had great strength and its hide was extremely tough, making it invulnerable.

It had the peculiar habit of eating corpses, especially rotting corpses.

Yi Yun was still alive, but that did not matter. It did not mind occasionally eating something fresh. It could also kill Yi Yun and drag him into the mud to use him as a food reserve.

Seeing the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile, Yi Yun’s mind lit up. With that, the corner of his mouth curled upwards.

The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile swung its tail as it slowly swam towards Yi Yun. The mud was being pushed aside by its gigantic body.

Although the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile was large in size, it was extremely nimble. Once it locked onto a prey, it would slowly approach it. Once the prey fled, it would then rush out quickly, issuing a strike that was as fast as lightning!

Against a prey like Yi Yun, who looked weak and small but had no intention to flee, the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile found it strange. Its amber eyes locked onto Yi Yun’s every move.

Yi Yun quietly drew out his Tai Cang Bow, with his energy vision, the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile had no way of hiding.

Yi Yun’s retrieval of his weapon angered the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile.

It roared and with a frightening speed, charged to kill Yi Yun!

Yi Yun’s quickly retreated and with a thunderous snap of the bow string, a cold whistling howl sounded as an arrow hit the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s belly!

Boom!

The Yuan Qi contained within the arrowhead exploded, sending mud flying everywhere!

The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile felt pain. Although its belly was covered with scales, it still started to bleed from the violent explosion!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Yi Yun continuously released arrows from his bow. The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile curled its body, trying to use its tough carapace to withstand the attacks.

Yuan Qi continuously exploded and the Wind Chasing Arrows stirred up a mud storm in the swamp.

In the mud swamp, the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile was greatly angered.

It had never expected the that seemingly weak prey it locked onto could make it turn into such a pathetic state.

It growled and its huge body leaped up from the swamp. It’s long tail crashed down like a stone column as it swung towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun demonstrated his movement technique to an extreme and turned into a series of afterimages. And with a leap, he was more than 30 meters away.

The tail failed to hit, but when it crashed into the ground, it caused a huge bang, sending large amounts of mud flying!

Yi Yun used the Thousand Army Saber to withstand the flying mud before he then turned and fled. The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile growled and chased after Yi Yun. Its large body leaving waves of mud in its wake.

It quickly followed Yi Yun out of the Blackwater Swamp and into the Desolate Lands.

The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile was fast, but it was only so in the mud. Once it left the swamp, its speed clearly decreased.

After angrily chasing Yi Yun for a while, traveling a few kilometers, the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile started to feel a sense of unease.

It felt a tinge of danger, having distanced itself too far from the swamp.

It slowed down and thought of returning to the Blackwater Swamp, but at this moment, Yi Yun also stopped.

Yi Yun smiled. It was not easy to lure this big guy out here, so how could he let it flee?

Yi Yun took his Tai Cang Bow, took out an arrow from his interspatial ring and strung his bow.

Seeing that Yi Yun had no more plans of running and instead planned to attack it, the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile growled again and charged at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun gave a maleficent smile and released his fingers, shooting out the arrow like a shooting star!

Sou!

The arrow pierced through the air with a whistle!

The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile was aware of its strong defense, so it was not afraid of Yi Yun’s arrow. It crashed with the arrow head on! But at the moment the arrow hit the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile…

Peng!

A terrifying explosion sounded. The hidden array bead within the arrowhead exploded! Strands of energy ripples, resembling spider webs, emanated with a mysterious frost power.

Immediately, wherever the energy ripples touched, that place turned into white ice crystals.

For his Divine wilderness trip, Yi Yun had especially prepared many empty arrowheads. He had then placed different kind of array beads within them.

Yi Yun had prepared about 6 of this kind of frost energy array beads.

This type of frost bead was not considered strong, as it could not kill desolate beasts. But it was good at restraining and restricting desolate beasts. It helped warriors capture desolate beasts alive.

Ka-cha!

The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile was completely covered in fine ice crystals after being hit by the Wind Chasing Arrow. The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile was a cold-blooded animal so it had very low resistance against frost ice energy. Due to the Icy Strands array bead, its large body immediately greatly slowed down.

The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile frantically struggled as it shattered the ice crystals using its tremendous force. Although the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile was about to escape, this short amount of time was enough for Yi Yun.

Sou!

Yi Yun moved like a cheetah and leaped onto the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s head. His body emitted a series of popping sounds!

With a grab, he took out a brick-like weapon from his interspatial ring.

This was especially prepared by Yi Yun before he came into the Divine wilderness for training. It was easy to spill blood the moment the Thousand Army Saber was unsheathed, but most of the time, Yi Yun did not necessarily need to kill his opponent.

During the rookie ranking competition, Yi Yun had found the brick to be quite handy. Hence, he had prepared one for this training experience.

A brick that did not have any array engraved within it had only one advantage. It was heavy enough! And it was hard enough!

Yi Yun tightened his waist like an aquatic dragon. Energy surged into both his arms as he smashed the brick down onto the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s snout!

According to the records in the “Divine Wilderness” book, the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile was covered in extremely thick scales that gave it invulnerability. Its carapace was even more so. Its belly was always stuck close to the ground, so many people lost interest in attacking it.

But, it had one weakness. Halfway along its snout, there was a spot which contained a large number of the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s nerves. The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile would feel numbness once that spot was heavily attacked.

Generally, the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile would always pay attention to protect its weakness. It just needed to fling its head to dodge an attack which aimed for its snout. But, this did not include the situation of when a person would ride on its body and hit its snout with a brick!

Dang!

A metallic ring sounded. Yi Yun’s attack was heavy with the force of a million pounds!

The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s mind became muddled after being smashed by Yi Yun. It never expected, even with its originally less agile mind, that a human that had been pursued by it would suddenly grabbed onto its head to smash it!

The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile was angered by having its weakness attacked. It roared and just as he was about to pull down Yi Yun with a bite, Yi Yun used his brick a second time!

Dang!

With another loud ring, the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s roar muffled immediately.

This second hit had made the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s brain to feel groggy. Its amber eyes were seeing stars.

It struggled with its last bit of strength, rolling its body, hoping to lose Yi Yun using the ground.

But Yi Yun’s legs were like iron straps as he lodged onto the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s neck. No matter how it tossed and turned, it could do nothing to Yi Yun.

This was also the reason why Yi Yun chose to lure the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile out of the Blackwater Swamp. If it were to roll in the Blackwater Swamp, it would cause Yi Yun trouble if his body was immersed in the toxic mud.

“You still have the strength to do this death roll?” Yi Yun chuckled and sent his third brick strike!

Dong!

The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s snout was smashed apart by Yi Yun. Blood flowed out as the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s body twitched!

Ever since its body was frozen by that arrow, its motions had been slowed down, allowing Yi Yun to easily attack its weak point.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

The fourth, fifth and sixth hit. Yi Yun got addicted to smashing.

From the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s initial roar and tossing, to its whimper at the end, its large body had tightened into a clump as it trembled.

It had previously seen cultivators from the Divine wilderness. It had previously eaten the corpses of cultivators and had also chased cultivators away.

But it had never seen such a brutal human that used such a method in beating it up.

Yes, this was not a battle, but a beating.

It also knew that it was no match against this terrifying human.

Seeing the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile turn into a sorry mess after being beaten up, Yi Yun slowly stopped. His legs were still lodged against the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s neck. That golden brick was still hanging around the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s snout. To the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile, it was a terrifying threat.

“You!” Yi Yun said, “I do not know if you can understand what I’m saying, but now, you will be my temporary mount and ferry me across the Blackwater Swamp. If you have any nefarious thoughts, such as diving into the swamp halfway, I will guarantee you that your snout will bloom immediately!”

Yi Yun held the brick in one hand and the Thousand Army Saber in the other. The cold saber blade landed onto the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s snout.

“I may have to consume my Yuan Qi if I were to fall into the Blackwater Swamp, but I can easily last for about 2-4 hours. That will be plenty of time for me to kill you.”

As Yi Yun said those words, the Thousand Army Saber slid across the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile snout. Although it did not cut through the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s scales, it gave the snout a cold feeling that scared the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile out of its wits.

Desolate beasts had naturally higher levels of intelligence. Now, with its life being under threat and having been beaten up by Yi Yun, it seemed to understand Yi Yun’s intentions.

If it did not resist and followed Yi Yun’s intentions, then its life was not in trouble.

“Proceed!”

Yi Yun pointed with his Thousand Army Saber. The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile was stunned for a while before it finally barely understood Yi Yun’s intentions. It then began crawling in the direction Yi Yun pointed.

Slowly, it began to crawl faster as it charged into the Blackwater Swamp.

With the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile as a mount, Yi Yun was able to prevent his body from entering the swamp and wasting large amounts of Yuan Qi. As such, Yi Yun just needed to use Yuan Qi to disperse the miasma.

This way, he could maintain his stamina as well as quickly cross the Blackwater Swamp.

281 - : Crossing the Swamp

With the golden brick in one hand, and the Thousand Army Saber in the other, Yi Yun had the saber’s tip on the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s snout. The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile was afraid that Yi Yun would kill it, so it could only follow Yi Yun’s instruction to ferry him across the swamp.

Splash–

The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s body crashed through the corrosive mud and began heading deeper into the swamp.

When Yi Yun saw what the deeper parts of the swamp were like, he sighed silently. The Blackwater Swamp was really a place filled with death.

There were plenty of mud pools in the swamp, and if one were not careful, one could fall into one.

There were very few desolate beast laying dormant here, but there were a lot of desolate beast bones. All the desolate beasts had their flesh corroded away, even the remaining desolate bones had lost a great deal of their energy. They had been turned black from the swamp’s toxins.

Yi Yun even saw the bones of a huge python that looked like a mountain ridge half-buried in the swamp. The ribs that stretched out hundreds of meters into the sky were like spears that pierced the blue sky.

Yi Yun found it hard to believe that such a strong desolate beast would die here.

There were few desolate beasts in the swamp, but there were plenty of toxic plants. There were vines that were filled with toxins and they were tens of meters tall, and there were strange colorful flowers that could swallow corpses…

Yi Yun even saw the remnants of an airship. It was left wrecked in the deep part of the swarm. The hull had severely rotted, and blood-red moss grew on it.

Airships that could fly through the Divine wilderness were usually large in size. They had all sorts of arrays, weapons and cannons that needed more than ten humans at the human lord level to control them.

Yi Yun had also rode in a similar airship back when he came to the Tai Ah Divine City from the Divine Capital.

A typical small airship could easily crash if it was attacked by flying desolate beasts in the air.

When the airship crashed, Purple Blood realm warriors, who could not fly, would be committing suicide to fight with flying desolate beasts.

Hence, when cultivators went out to train, they would not take any airships. There was no way to control a large airship and they were expensive.

On the other hand, small airships were of not much use, and due to its large volume, they could not be placed inside an interspatial ring.

The airship in front of Yi Yun belonged to the small ships category that could not fly. It was probably specially prepared by cultivators to to cross the Blackwater Swamp.

But they must have had encountered an accident midway, or had been attacked by desolate beasts like the Blackwater Ancient Crocodiles, resulting in the ship being destroyed, killing all life on board.

Such a small boat had no defensive powers. Besides, the Blackwater Swamp did not have much water. It was mostly toxic sludge, so the speed of a boat through the mud was obvious. It was definitely incomparable to Yi Yun’s Blackwater Ancient Crocodile.

With an example before him, Yi Yun wanted to prevent the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile from causing destruction of good and bad alike. His Thousand Army Saber stabbed deeper making the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile shiver. Its four limbs began paddling even harder as it swam forward.

The journey proceeded till the crescent moon appeared. Finally, Yi Yun saw land in the distance.

Yi Yun only heaved a sigh of relief when he saw land ahead. He finally relaxed his tensed nerves.

He dislodged the Thousand Army Saber from the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile’s snout and leaped ashore.

The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile stared at Yi Yun with a worried look within its amber eyes.

Yi Yun smiled, “Thanks!”

Saying that, Yi Yun turned around and ran off. The Blackwater Ancient Crocodile felt as if a huge weight had been lifted of its shoulders and it quickly wagged its tail to enter the mud before fleeing far away.

…

After passing the Blackwater Swamp, the Meteorite Abyss was already getting closer.

Yi Yun could feel the pure Yang Qi in the air getting richer. He found a safe spot and meditated there for hours, adjusting himself to an optimal state.

The next day was when the real battle began.

The night was calm. No desolate beasts, that did not fear the king-ranked desolate beast feces like the Thousand Feet Black Silkworm, appeared.

The next morning when the Sun rose, Yi Yun stood at the top of a cliff and looked far ahead. Ahead of him was an endless barren Desolate Lands. The ground was filled with reddish rock fragments and fine gravel.

Along the edge of the Desolate Lands, where the horizon was, there was a deep canyon that seemed to cut up a mountain ridge. The jagged cliffs were staggered as if something had cut through the earth.

If one were to look down from an airship, one would think that the deep abyss was a huge scar dug up by a god with his divine sword.

In the middle of the Meteorite Abyss, there was a faint Yang fire shining. The heat turned everything in a few kilometers radius red, evaporating even the clouds in the sky!

The closer it was to the Meteorite Abyss, the drier the land became. There were no clouds, let alone rain.

Beneath the abyss’ surface, there was smoky haze that enshrouded layers of flames, obscuring everything that happened within.

Here, the air was clearly hotter.

In the swirling heat, light became distorted like water ripples.

He had finally arrived!

With his destination ahead of him, Yi Yun felt excitement deep down. He picked up his pace.

Stepping on the scorching sand, Yi Yun had arrived at the edge of the Meteorite Abyss swiftly like the wind. Hot winds blew up from the deep abyss. Breathing in the air made his nostrils feel strangely hot.

Standing on the cliff and looking down, all he saw was a vast expanse of huge craters. Underneath these craters, there were hidden continuous canyons and deep cracks.

All of these had been hiding within the large amount of red smoke, making it hard to see.

But in this smoke, there were strange but unknown giant trees that grew from hundreds of meters down in the abyss up into the sky. They were extremely spectacular!

A place that never rained all year round actually had such odd trees growing here!

“It’s really a wondrous place…”

Yi Yun was filled with emotions. He found it hard to imagine what sort of meteorite would create such a sight after landing on land.

“Oh?”

Yi Yun heard the faint growls of beasts in the midst of the hot blowing wind. With a thought, he opened up his Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

In the vast and boundless surface of the abyss, Yi Yun could slowly sense a lot of energy light dots and traces of life using the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

He could not help but feel his heart warm up.

The exterior perimeter of the Meteorite Abyss was detailed in the introductory materials of the Tai Ah Divine City.

However, deep in the Meteorite Abyss, there was a “Fallen Star Gate”. There was very little information describing it in the Divine City. There was so little information that there was only a one sentence description:

“Inside the Fallen Star Gate, the Yang flames have been burning inextinguishably for tens of millions of years. The environment within it is ever-changing and it is extremely dangerous. Do not enter!”

Although Yi Yun was very interested in knowing what it was like inside the Fallen Star Gate, he knew himself. It was unlikely he could survive in such a place with his mere Purple Blood cultivation level. It was best if he avoided the place.

After all, the more dangerous the environment, the thicker the pure Yang energy was, which gave rise to even stronger desolate beasts.

Even if he did not enter the Fallen Star Gate, the perimeter of the Meteorite Abyss was already fraught with danger.

In the Tai Ah Divine City’s tens of millions of years of history, an unknown number of cultivators had died in the Meteorite Abyss, becoming food for powerful desolate beasts.

With these past examples, Yi Yun was extremely careful.

After he calmed his mind, the light in Yi Yun’s eyes turned brighter. With a deep breath, he chose a direction and jumped towards the dark red abyss like a huge bird.

The perimeter of the Meteorite Abyss was a few hundred meters tall. While landing, Yi Yun clung on to a cliff and used the Thousand Army Saber to cleave into the side of the cliff, sending rocks flying, to slow down his descent.

Peng!

Yi Yun landed heavily on the ground, stirring up dark red dust.

Looking up, he saw that the sky was obscured by dark red smog.

Yi Yun was below a huge boulder. The barren boulder was like a little mountain with withered trees erected on its surface.

These trees were dark and shined with a metallic luster. Some of their branches had faint golden buds, demonstrating their strong lifeforce.

In the Meteorite Abyss, Yi Yun kept his energy vision on.

Splash!

Yi Yun heard the sound of running water. This sound surprised Yi Yun. It did not rain in the Meteorite Abyss and with its high temperature, how could there be a river?

Yi Yun followed the sound with his ears and saw a river wrapping a hill about tens of meters away from him.

When Yi Yun went closer, he was surprised. This stream emitted a coldness. Just gently reaching out to touch made him feel a biting cold to the bone. It was definitely below freezing point!

Yi Yun was shocked. What was this river?

The river water was clear, allowing him to see the bottom. Within it were transparent fishes that were the size of a palm swimming.

As Yi Yun was wondering over this strange river, something changed in his energy vision.

There was a sudden wind that whistled in the sky. Something was rapidly approaching as it cut through the air.

Yi Yun did not look up for he already knew what the sound above him was with his energy vision.

It was a weird animal that had a head of cow, but a body of a goat. It had sharp claws and wings behind its back.

When it spread out its wings, it was over nine meters long. It cast a huge shadow over Yi Yun’s head.

“Double Winged Ox Demon.”

Yi Yun crouched down as a fierce wind blew past his head. The Double Winged Ox Demon had cleaved downwards with its metallic claws that resembled a blade. He would be beheaded if he was hit by it.

Yi Yun kept his body close to the ground and moved away. The Tai Cang Bow quickly appeared in his hands and he quickly shot a killer arrow that was like a shooting star at the desolate beast’s head.

With the Purple Crystal’s vision, Yi Yun could see the Double Winged Ox Demon clearly. This arrow was aimed at the Double Winged Ox Demon’s weakness!

Double Winged Ox Demon was much weaker than the Blackwater Ancient Crocodile. Its wings were as strong as black iron, but its stomach was extremely soft, which was its weakness.

The Double Winged Ox Demon was in the midst of its swift attack. Even as it felt danger, it was too late to dodge due to the close proximity.

Cha!

The Wind Chasing Arrows had pierced through the Double Winged Ox Demon’s stomach!

Boom!

The Double Winged Ox Demon slammed heavily into the rocks. Pure Yang energies emitted from its belly.

In the farthest perimeter of the Meteorite Abyss, the desolate beasts were quite weak, so it was very easy for Yi Yun to deal with the Double Winged Ox Demon.

Just as Yi Yun was about to absorb the soul mark of the Double Winged Ox Demon, he suddenly heard a squeamish call.

Suddenly, sharp sword beams rose up into the sky.

Yi Yun was slightly stunned and looked in the direction from where the sound came. Oh? There were other people here?

282 - : Meteorite Abyss

With a flash in his eyes, Yi Yun’s vision penetrated through the layers of haze. He instantly saw the scene a distance away. It was a teenage boy and girl fighting a gigantic red ant.

Yi Yun also recognized this red ant. It was the Metallic Fire Ant. Its body was covered in red armor that made it virtually invulnerable.

Its weakness was its antennae. Once its antennae were cut off, the Metallic Fire Ant would go blind. Not only would its perception be slow, it would also receive a great deal of damage.

When that happened, killing it was much easier. But the Metallic Fire Ant would protect its antennae very carefully. Anyone who tried attacking its antennae had to deal with the Metallic Fire Ant’s ferocious metallic pincers first!

The male-female duo were clearly weaker than the Metallic Fire Ant, so they were in a dangerous situation.

“They should be cultivators from the Tai Ah Divine City…”

Yi Yun determined that the duo came from the Tai Ah Divine City through their attire and their cultivation techniques

He was in a slight dilemma. He did not rush forward immediately. He saw that the duo were barely handling it, but they would not be defeated anytime soon.

He had to try absorbing the pure Yang beast mark first. This was the first pure Yang desolate beast Yi Yun had killed in the Meteorite Abyss. He could not waste his first auspicious kill as the beast mark could not be condensed if he did too late after the desolate beast’s death.

Yi Yun interfaced with the Purple Crystal with his spiritual energy and a whirlpool like force appeared, attaching itself to the Double Winged Ox Demon that Yi Yun had just killed.

Wo! Wo! Wo!

Energy began to swirl as the desolate beast’s Yang essence was extracted. A Double Winged Ox Demon beast mark, the size of a fist that looked very lifelike, formed in the air

Once the beast mark appeared, it tried to fly away immediately. With a thought, Yi Yun used a large suction power to draw it in, and the beast mark was instantly engulfed by his body.

After the beast mark entered Yi Yun’s body, his body trembled. He could feel the pure Yang energy flowing within his body before entering his bones and blood, slowly entering his Dantian.

The pure Yang Yuan Qi that Yi Yun absorbed was like a furnace that burned. It tempered Yi Yun’s body’s bones and blood, completing the harmonization process even more.

“As expected, the desolate beasts in the Meteorite Abyss have extremely rich and pure Yang Yuan Qi. I can finally condensed a pure Yang totem…”

Yi Yun followed the records in the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ and tried to use the beast mark to form a pure Yang totem. This was the first time that Yi Yun was attempting to condense a ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ Aspect Totem. The Thousand Feet Black Silkworm he had previously killed was not a pure Yang desolate beast, so Yi Yun only absorbed its beast mark. It was unlike today, where Yi Yun used the beast mark energy as a foundation to construct the Aspect Totem.

As top grade totem mystic technique that received poor assessment and one that sages could not even understand, Yi Yun was full of anticipation with the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ Aspect Totem!

As his energy circulated, Yi Yun felt his body subtly metamorphosize. He was inexplicably delighted and he became even more serious.

But when Yi Yun completely broke down the Double Winged Ox Demon’s beast mark, he found it hard to be happy when he tried to form the Aspect Totem.

Although the Double Winged Ox Demon was relatively weak, it had quite a lot of pure Yang energy contained in its body. But it could not even complete 1 in 10,000th of the Aspect Totem.

So little?

Yi Yun was speechless. He had the Purple Crystal Origins help, so he was confident that he had an incomparable advantage in the condensation of the beast mark. But even so, to really master the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ was still difficult to a certain degree.

Did he really need to kill 10,000 Double Winged Ox Demon desolate beasts to barely condense an Aspect Totem?

The number 10,000 might sound simple, but to kill that many would take an unknown amount of time. Also, Yi Yun did not know if there would be any accidents when he used the energy to condense after he killed thousands of desolate beasts.

Many warriors might lose all their hard work just before they condense their Aspect Totem due to various reasons!

It was also because of this that people who could condense an Aspect Totem before the Yuan foundation realm were viewed as peerless geniuses. Even Qin Haotian did not have any advantage in condensing an Aspect Totem.

“This ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ sure is tricky…Other people’s totem mystic techniques are easier, so even if they lose all their hard work, it would not be too significant a loss. But my totem mystic technique is different…If I were to fail, I would suffer a great loss…”Yi Yun grimaced.

Originally, he believed that with the Purple Crystal Origin’s help, it would not be difficult to master the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, but now it seems that even the Purple Crystal Origins had to follow certain rules.

The ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ wrote that to completely master the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, one had to kill 10,000 primordial species.

The greatest difference between a primordial species and an ordinary desolate beast was in their energy qualities.

The Purple Crystal could control energy according to his wishes, but it could not change the quality of the energy. The Double Winged Ox Demon’s energy quality was clearly too low. It was not qualified to form the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ Aspect Totem!

“It’s impossible for me to try killing primordial species. It looks like I need to try to kill even higher ranked pure Yang desolate beasts. I need to see if those pure Yang desolate beast’s energies are able to barely build up the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ Aspect Totem.” Yi Yun sighed.

This was the problem with an extremely high grade mystic technique. Even sages could not master it, it was easy to understand the difficulty he faced with his Purple Blood realm level.

“It’s no wonder that even senior Cang Yan tried all ways to prevent me from choosing the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’. Even though I had used only a few days before to gain insight on the Saber Truth’s 32 Words, he still did not think I could learn the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’. This totem mystic technique sure is difficult…”

As Yi Yun was thinking it through, a girl’s scream resonated not far away. It seemed like she was in great danger.

“Oh? Can’t hold on anymore?”

Yi Yun turned around and glanced in that direction. He saw that the Metallic Red Ant was covered in a layer of ice crystals. It was in a rage as it attacked the duo crazily.

These ice crystals were clearly caused by an explosive array bead that the duo used. But not only did they not injure the Metallic Fire Ant, they angered it.

Since they were all from the Tai Ah Divine City, even if they did not know each other, Yi Yun would not stand by without helping. He pulled his Thousand Army Saber out and his body formed a series of afterimages as he charged towards the Metallic Fire Ant!

With the saber wind blowing, Yi Yun’s appearance made the energy of the surroundings fluctuate dramatically.

The duo, that was struggling to handle the Metallic Fire Ant, had no time to notice other things and they finally realized that there was another person nearby.

Seeing Yi Yun, they were overjoyed. The youth immediately shouted. “Friend, let the three of us join forces and kill this Metallic Fire Ant. Don’t be stingy with any life-saving trump cards you have. After we kill the Metallic Fire Ant, you can have all the best materials!”

Because of the Metallic Fire Ant’s attack, the youth’s voice was in a hurry. He felt that his conditions were very favorable.

But before he finished saying his words, Yi Yun had rushed towards the Metallic Fire Ant’s head like a strong gust of wind!

Yi Yun’s target was naturally the Metallic Fire Ant’s antennae!

That Metallic Fire Ant did not seem to expect that a small human would suddenly rush in front of it. After a momentary hesitation, it jerked its two antennae back!

At the same time, it opened up its metallic-like pincers and tried to bite Yi Yun!

The Metallic Fire Ant’s metallic pincers could even snap a black iron column!

“Ah!”

The girl, who was not far away, let out a scream. The Metallic Fire Ant was extremely difficult to handle and everyone knew its weakness was its antennae, but attacking its antennae was easier said than done.

The Metallic Fire Ant’s reaction was extremely fast and hastily rushing up would not only be difficult to attack the Metallic Fire Ant’s antennae, one would also face the Metallic Fire Ant’s most powerful attack!

The girl subconsciously thought of the scene where Yi Yun was bitten to death and her heart swelled up.

In a split second, Yi Yun’s reaction was fast. He used the large success stage of Minute Subtlety movements to change directions midway in the air. At the same time, with a wipe of his interspatial ring, a black beam flashed, and Yi Yun attacked with the golden brick.

“Ka-cha!”

The golden brick hit the Metallic Fire Ant’s mouth directly!

Yi Yun’s brick may not have any rune inscriptions, but as the highly tempered frost metal was the hardest and most heavy material, the Metallic Fire Ant’s brain received a shock when it bit forward, not to even mention the Metallic Fire Ant’s pincer.

This feeling was as if a person had used a million pound sledgehammer to smash its head. No matter how strong one’s body was, it still caused dizziness.

In that split second when the Metallic Fire Ant was in a daze, Yi Yun used the Thousand Army Saber and aimed at the Metallic Fire Ant’s two feelers as the blade cut down!

“Cha!”

The Saber Qi flared and shone through the sky like a white waterfall!

Although the Metallic Fire Ant had retracted its antennae, it could still not escape the powerful blade.

“Cha!”

Two of the Metallic Fire Ant’s antennae flew up. It had been chopped off by Yi Yun!

“Ah–!”

The Metallic Fire Ant let out a scream that pierced the eardrums!

The Metallic Fire Ant became blind immediately. Its pain made it crash haphazardly, causing large rocks to fall.

The Metallic Fire Ant’s armor was hard not because of the shell itself, but because it contained a layer of pure Yang energy.

The antennae of the Metallic Fire Ant allowed it to interface with the world’s pure Yang energy. Without its antennae, all the the energy would leak out from the Metallic Fire Ant’s wound. So it became much easier attacking it.

Yi Yun waited for about ten seconds as the Metallic Fire Ant went crazy. He eyed an opportunity and with a flash of his body, he appeared before the Metallic Fire Ant’s head and stabbed the saber into the Metallic Fire Ant’s mouth!

“Phuah!”

Yi Yun withdrew the Thousand Army Saber and green juice splattered out. The Metallic Fire Ant struggled crazily for a few times before it crashed into a large boulder the size of a house, eventually falling to the ground.

Yi Yun let out a sigh of relief.

Done!

This Metallic Fire Ant was much stronger than the Double Winged Ox Demon from before. If not, the duo would not have been in such a pathetic state.

At this moment behind Yi Yun, the duo, who were planning to join forces with Yi Yun and wanted to use all trump cards to deal with the Metallic Fire Ant, were completely stunned.

They looked at Yi Yun’s back in a daze. Their mouths were slightly agape and they took a long time to close them.

This small guy looked about thirteen years old, and he was definitely a rookie cultivator, yet he could cleanly kill the Metallic Fire Ant?

He was practically a humanoid desolate beast!

283 - : Opportunistic Kill

After Yi Yun killed the Metallic Fire Ant he cut off its two pincers with a swipe of his saber. The moment the Metallic Fire Ant died, its internal Yuan Qi began depleting, so the pair of pincers were easily removed.

“This brother, may I know your name?” The voice of a youth came from behind Yi Yun.

Yi Yun turned around and the youth that had been chased by the Metallic Fire Ant cupped his fists, “I am Chu Shan, and this is my younger sister Chu Luo. We are second year cultivators from the Tai Ah Divine City.”

After the youth introduced himself, he continued “If not for this brother, we would have had to waste a life-saving array charm today. If that happened, we would have to leave Meteorite Abyss.”

Many cultivators would spend a large sum of dragon scale runes to buy a life-saving disk array before they ventured out on a training expedition, it was used as a last resort to protect their lives. Once the life-saving disk array had been used, they would have to consider returning to the city. If not, the chances of being seriously injured, or even death, was extremely high.

Before Yi Yun could get out a reply, a sound that cut through the air could be heard. A girl holding a sword and a stout man rapidly rushed towards them.

“Chu Shan, Chu Luo, are you alright!?”

The sword-wielding maiden was like a shadow, and with a few flashes, she appeared before Chu Shan and Chu Luo. Upon seeing the people who came, Yi Yun was shocked.

This male and female duo was actually Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu.

He knew that Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu had been out training all this time, but he had never expected that they would be in the Meteorite Abyss.

Seeing Chu Xiaoran, Yi Yun realized that in the few months he did not meet her, her internal Yuan Qi had become purer. She was probably already gathering energy in preparation for breaking through to the Yuan foundation realm.

“Her cultivation level has already reached the peak of Purple Blood…” Yi Yun thought. Although he had formed the Heaven’s eyeball, he was still unable to determine Chu Xiaoran’s exact cultivation level with a glance.

“Sister, you came so quickly!”

Seeing Chu Xiaoran, Chu Luo was delighted as she held onto Chu Xiaoran’s hands.

Only then did Yi Yun notice that they all shared the same surname, Chu. They were likely from the Defender Duke’s family as well. Chu Luo and Chu Shan may be older, but they were clearly no match for Chu Xiaoran.

“Yes, I received your distress signal and rushed over here! And… Yi Yun! I did not expect to see you here. What a coincidence!”

Chu Xiaoran had noticed Yi Yun earlier. Chu Xiaoran greatly admired Yi Yun from the bottom of her heart.

“So you are Yi Yun! No wonder you have such strength at such a young age!”

Chu Luo and Chu Shan had naturally heard Yi Yun’s name, but they had never seen him in person. They also knew that the younger sister they regarded as a proud daughter of heaven had previously been defeated by Yi Yun.

“It really is a coincidence. Actually, it is quite normal for me to be in Meteorite Abyss, but as for Miss Chu. You practice frost ice laws, why are you here in Meteorite Abyss?”

Chu Xiaoran smiled and said, “The Meteorite Abyss sucks in all of the pure Yang Qi from the surroundings. Deep under the Meteorite Abyss is a place with extreme Yin. There is a ice river that flows out from that extreme Yin land. I have been training here for the past few days.”

“Oh? There is such a thing?” Yi Yun had only been reading information on the pure Yang lands, so he did not know that a pure Yin land also existed within Meteorite Abyss.

He had indeed previously seen a small river, which had temperatures below freezing point. It was most likely a distributary of that ice river.

This was probably also the principle of opposites.

“Haha, little brother Yi, we actually meet here.” Qiuniu had a very good impression of Yi Yun. After all, as the saying goes, friendship grows only when you exchange blows.

He tapped Yi Yun’s shoulders heavily and said, “Little brother Yi, you must have done your research on the Meteorite Abyss, but information is just information. It cannot compare with live maps like us. I, Qiuniu, have spent several months here in Meteorite Abyss! I can tell you what sort of desolate beasts exist in whatever location, and what sorts of desolate beasts suit you the best. With everyone together, we can take care of each other!”

Qiuniu’s words made Yi Yun hesitate slightly. The Meteorite Abyss was indeed a very dangerous place. It was very tiring to handle everything by himself.

Especially at night, he had to be on high alert while resting. It was extremely taxing.

But there were also advantages of being alone…

As Yi Yun was in a dilemma, Qiuniu said, “Little brother Yi, this Metallic Fire Ant was killed by you. Quickly try to condense your Aspect Totem. Although it’s very difficult to condense an Aspect Totem before the Yuan foundation realm, with little brother Yi’s talent, there’s still a chance!”

With Qiuniu saying that, everyone looked at Yi Yun, waiting for him to condense a beast mark.

They wanted to see what sort of beast mark a double genius like Yi Yun, who managed to cultivate both the saber truth and the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, would manage.

Typically, warriors in the late stages of the Purple Blood would find it very difficult to condense a beast mark, even to the point of not being able to condense one.

For example, Qiuniu was unable to condense a beast mark. He only came to Meteorite Abyss for training and to earn dragon scale runes.

“Eh…”

Seeing the group looking at him like curious babies, Yi Yun felt helpless. The benefit of being alone was that he could condense a beast mark without any reservations, without being watched.

Yi Yun did not know the difference in the beast mark he condensed using the Purple Crystal compared to others. It will not look too strange, right…?

“What do the beast marks you condense out look like? Yi Yun casually asked. If it looked too different, he did not plan on being with this group of people.

“It looks like a fuzzy little beast…” After surviving a dangerous situation, Chu Luo was clearly very excited and rushed to answer.

She had yet to break through to the Yuan foundation realm, but in rare occasions, she was able to condense a beast mark. However, she was still far from condensing an Aspect Totem.

“Yi Yun, have you not tried condensing a beast mark before?” Chu Luo asked.

“I’ve tried…” Yi Yun answered. With his spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal, he purposely reduced the Purple Crystal’s energy control. Since the beast mark everyone condensed was a fuzzy little beast, then it was probably not too outrageous…

At best, the beast mark he condensed was greater in energy?

With this thought, Yi Yun’s Dantian conjured a whirlpool.

The pure Yang energy that escaped from the Metallic Fire Ant was pulled in by the whirlpool and quickly condensed together. Tiny beads of light, which looked like fireflies, condensed into the shape of a golden ant in the sky.

The ant looked very alive, as if it had a life of its own.

With a thought, the ant flew towards Yi Yun.

At this moment, Chu Luo, Chu Shan and company, who were around Yi Yun, turned pale when they saw the ant beast mark. Their expressions were as if they had seen a ghost.

This was way too fast and easy!

Yi Yun’s talent was outstanding. So him being able to condense a beast mark was not strange, but this beast mark was too ridiculous!

The beast mark flew into Yi Yun’s Dantian and disappeared.

Yi Yun felt the Aspect Totem embryonic form within his body improve a tiny bit, but it was still very far from really condensing it out.

He turned his head and saw the dumfounded expressions of Chu Luo, Chu Shan and company.

“Uh… Is my beast mark weird?”

Yi Yun had already slightly weakened the Purple Crystal’s energy control, as normal desolate beasts did not contribute much to his ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’.

“Weird?” Chu Luo’s heart beat heavily. “It’s more than weird… The beast mark you condensed, compared to us… is…”

Chu Luo did not know how to put it in words. She no longer wanted to be with Yi Yun as it shocked her too much.

She was considered to have some talent in condensing an Aspect Totem, for she was at least able to condense a beast mark in the Purple Blood realm. In contrast, people like Qiuniu were not even able to condense a beast mark.

But compared to Yi Yun, there was really no comparison.

At this moment, Chu Xiaoran said, “Yi Yun, do you know what the Tai Ah Divine City’s instructors would think if they saw this scene of you condensing a beast mark?”

“When we condense a beast mark, it is about the size of a peanut. Its size is about a tenth of your beast mark. Besides…”

When Chu Xiaoran reached that, she sighed, “The beast mark you condensed looked extremely lifelike. As for our beast marks, they are blurry vague images. The different in quality is great. Even when a human lord wants to evolve their Aspect Totems, the beast mark they condense would probably look just like the one you just had.”

Chu Xiaoran really did not know how to appraise Yi Yun. He was practically a monster. Being with him greatly hurt her pride.

She was proud of two things. One was her Aspect Totem, and the other was her insight in laws.

Now, with the former completely overtaken by Yi Yun, was she able to maintain the latter?

“About the same as a human lord…”

When Yi Yun heard this comparison, he didn’t feel like it was too ridiculous. If it was the same as a sage, he wondered what sort of waves he would set off.

“Brother Yi, how are you letting me live…” Qiuniu patted Yi Yun on the shoulder and grimaced. Compared to Yi Yun, his talent in the Aspect Totem was trash. “Old brother, what totem mystic technique are you cultivating? At this rate, you will probably master an Aspect Totem in less than a month.”

Qiuniu asked with a tinge of envy.

“Uh… What totem mystic technique I’m cultivating?”

Yi Yun’s eyebrows knitted. He was troubled. Qiuniu really was a curious baby. The mystic technique he was learning would be quite shocking if he mentioned it. No, instead it should be said that if it was mentioned, people would think he was mad.

But it did not seem like he could keep it under wraps…

“Why? Still keeping it a secret? Haha. When you master your Aspect Totem, everyone will be able to tell once you use it!”

There was really no way of keeping a totem mystic technique a secret. It was different from a fighting technique move.

“That, the mystic technique I chose is a bit difficult to learn…” Yi Yun said vaguely.

“Difficult to learn? Of course! With brother Yi’s talent, how can you not choose a more difficult one? This mystic technique’s quality must be high!”

Yi Yun never expected that Qiuniu who looked so cool would be so talkative once they became familiar.

Seeing everyone looking at him, as if they were very curious over the mystic technique he chose, Yi Yun could only dryly cough and say, “I chose the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’…”

‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’!?

When the mystic technique’s name was announced, the reactions of the four people were completely different. Chu Luo and Chu Shan were utterly confused as they did not know what that was.

As for Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran, they were dumbfounded upon hearing it.

They had been exposed to the most valuable resources of the Tai Ah Divine City, so they had naturally seen the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’…

“What did you say!? You chose the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ that even sages are unable to master!?”

Qiuniu agitatedly grabbed Yi Yun’s arm. This was too ridiculous!

284 - : Meeting

Seeing Qiuniu’s agitated look, Yi Yun felt exasperated. He never realized that this rascal liked to get excited over the smallest things.

Alright, a mystic technique even sages could not master did sound a bit ridiculous…

“Yi Yun, why did you choose that mystic technique?”

Chu Xiaoran found it incomprehensible. Yi Yun had outstanding talent in Aspect Totems. In his Purple Blood realm stage, he was as good, if not better than human lords in condensing beast marks.

But that was only when comparing him to human lords.

Real human sages could kill even stronger desolate beasts and the beast marks they condensed were even more beautiful.

Furthermore, sages had stronger soul power. Accompanied with their experience, their insights into the the laws and mystic techniques left Yi Yun in the dust.

Now, by choosing the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, it was a waste of Yi Yun’s time considering how the Aspect Totem could not be condensed even in the Yuan foundation realm, let alone the Purple Blood realm.

“Yi Yun, the beast mark you condensed and then absorbed, was it any help in condensing the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ Aspect Totem?” Chu Xiaoran asked Yi Yun.

“A drop in the bucket…” Yi Yun answered helplessly. “Currently, it does seem that this mystic technique is quite hard…”

“It’s more than hard!” Qiuniu felt speechless hearing that. “Brother Yi, you have great talent, so don’t waste your time. It’s not too late to change your mystic technique. I think it won’t be any trouble mastering those high-grade totem mystic techniques that can be cultivated in the Yuan foundation realm!”

Qiuniu sincerely advised Yi Yun. Even Yi Yun himself wavered. Maybe his choice of the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ was really a mistake…

Up to now, Yi Yun had not seen a glimmer of hope in mastering the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ in the Yuan foundation realm.

“Maybe I should change. Previously, my thoughts were too simple.”

Yi Yun could already anticipate the scene when he found old man Cang to change his mystic technique. Old man Cang would smile with a smug look that was asking to be beaten. He might even deride Yi Yun by saying, “I long knew you would come back. The bridges your father, I, have walked are longer than the roads you have walked by more than a hundred times. How could heeding my advice be wrong? It a great virtue to correct what you have done wrong!”

This old man…

Yi Yun shook his head. I will let him feel complacent once.

Although cultivating the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ was a failure, Yi Yun did not feel any regret. He had to try such things to get an understanding.

Besides, when he became a human lord, it would not be too difficult to cultivate the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’.

“That’s the best.” Chu Xiaoran nodded. She endorsed Yi Yun’s decision. “But Yi Yun, you sure have great aspirations. Such a mystic technique that even sages cannot master, and it’s even a remnant. I completely lost interest reading the description. You actually exchanged for it. Just that boldness fills me with admiration!”

It depended on the person when it was the same matter. If any typical person were to choose the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, Chu Xiaoran would think that they had a problem in their head, but when Yi Yun chose it, this assessment was no longer the same. It became an assessment of boldness.

“Let’s go training. I know a good place!” Qiuniu laughed and strode ahead, leading the way. He loved battling. Besides the time in the rookie ranking competition, he spent all his time in the Divine wilderness killing beasts.

“Good.” The rest echoed.

Yi Yun no longer chose to travel alone. He had already made preliminary plans on giving up the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ temporarily. Now, there were no more problems in following these people and it was much safer.

The group passed through a stone forest and they met a few desolate beasts that launched surprise attacks, but they were easily handled by the group.

The place Qiuniu mentioned was a canyon. When Yi Yun entered the canyon, he found that the pure Yang energy within the canyon was more intense than other places. This was like a ‘spiritual vein’ in the Meteorite Abyss.

Of course, it could not be compared to the “Fallen Star Gate”.

“This place is indeed pretty good.” As Yi Yun said this, he noticed that there were other people here.

These people looked like cultivators from the Tai Ah Divine City just from their attire. And the person in the middle was dressed in a purple flying dragon suit. He held a purple sword and he had a domineering presence.

The surrounding people clearly venerated the youth who was bearing the purple sword. Be it their words or behavior, they were extremely respectful with the purple sword youth.

“It’s Yang Haoran!” Chu Xiaoran slightly frowned.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family all had Yang for a surname. Yang was also a big surname in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. If one were to follow the super family clans’ family trees, they would have blood relations with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family.

This Yang Haoran’s family was one of those families. Although he was not of direct royalty, he still received royal treatment. Also, he could wear a flying dragon suit because of his outstanding talent.

“Yang Haoran…One of the most prominent people in the third year cultivators. Ranked in the top 100 of the Heaven roll, and just above 100 on the Earth roll. Also, he had formed his own association, named the Purple Maple Association. As President, he’s one of the influential people in the Tai Ah Divine City.” Beside Yi Yun, Chu Shan said. A person like Chu Shan knew all the influential people in the Tai Ah Divine City.

As Yi Yun and company saw Yang Haoran, Yang Haoran naturally also saw Yi Yun.

He did not make any indication, but his lackeys came forward. “Make way! This canyon is ours!”

These lackeys had long joined Yang Haoran’s family clan. With the Yang family’s domineering reputation, they often threw their weight around.

Qiuniu had the worse temper. Seeing these small fries flaunting their prowess made his face sink. “What are you? Do you even have the right to speak to me? This Meteorite Abyss’ canyon does not belong to anyone. Anyone can train here. What makes you have the right to chase us away?”

Qiuniu was almost about to make a move. At this moment, Chu Shan came forward and pulled Qiuniu back. “Old brother Qiuniu, don’t argue with them. We just need to go somewhere else!”

While out training, it was often best not to act on impulse. Yang Haoran was ranked just above 100 on the Earth roll, and with his mid-stages of the Yuan foundation realm, all of them added up was not enough to beat him.

Of course, Qiuniu knew how strong Yang Haoran was, but he could not simmer down. “Chu Shan, what are you afraid of? It’s not like he can kill us!”

The Tai Ah Divine City prohibited cultivators from killing each other. The identity token they gave every cultivator had a special array designed within it.

This identity token recorded the number of desolate beasts every cultivator killed. According to the strength of the desolate beast, they would obtain a numeric score. This score was also resulted in the Heaven roll’s ranking.

If it was based on materials, then some people could privately purchase desolate beast materials to rush up the Heaven roll, then the Heaven roll would lose its credibility.

Not only that, the identity token would leave a record if cultivators were to kill other cultivators. Once such a fratricidal matter was revealed, one would come back to a death sentence!

Unless one stayed in the Divine wilderness without returning to the Tai Ah Divine City.

And in the vast Divine wilderness, even if Qin Haotian were to use his own strength, he could not get out. It was practically suicide.

Just as Qiuniu was about to push away Chu Shan’s hand to make a move, he heard a terrifying roar. A golden ox charged out from deep in the canyon right at Yang Haoran!

“Black Gold Ox!” Qiuniu took a deep breath. This Black Gold Ox had great strength. Its hide had tremendous defensive strength that exceeded the Metallic Fire Ant. And what was even more important was that the Black Gold Ox had almost no weaknesses.

If Qiuniu had to fight the Black Gold Ox alone, he had absolutely no confidence.

At this moment, seeing the Black Gold Ox charging at him, Yang Haoran had a look of indifference. He took a step forward and stabbed with his sword!

“Cha!”

A purple-golden sword beam flashed. Yang Haoran had stabbed the Black Gold Ox straight through its head. The sword beam minced its brains.

Following that, Yang Haoran ducked dexterously and the large body of the Black Gold Ox passed by his body and proceeded diagonally before crashing into a boulder.

“Splash!”

The boulder collapsed and the Black Gold Ox had been killed by Yang Haoran in one strike!

“Ha! Young master is too strong. Killing the Black Gold Ox is like killing a chicken. Too easy!” The lackeys immediately complimented him. They did not come to the Meteorite Abyss to train. They were there as followers of Yang Haoran, so they sucked up to him whenever necessary.

“See that, foolish big guy? If our young master wants to kill you, it will just be a matter of one attack!” A lackey said arrogantly to Qiuniu.

Qiuniu’s face flushed red. He had to admit that compared to Yang Haoran, he was indeed still a great distance away!

“Get lost quickly! Our young master is about to complete his Aspect Totem’s evolution. This place is ours!”

“Although our young master cannot kill you, there are no problems in him seriously injuring you. This will prevent punishment from the Divine City.”

These lackeys echoed one after another. One of them even provocatively pointed his finger at Qiuniu before turning around. He believed that Qiuniu and company would eventually have to take this lying down.

“Forget it, let’s go.” Chu Xiaoran said. Chu Xiaoran was naturally proud, so she could not take this lying down. But she was helpless against the pressing situation.

As Chu Xiaoran was about to leave, she noticed that Yi Yun did not move.

“Yi Yun?”

“Ha! No hurry.” Yi Yun smiled. Against these lackeys who had their eyes on the top of their heads, even clay figurines would be angry. But Yi Yun did not seem to take it to heart, nor did he seem to have any intention on leaving.

“Yi Yun…Don’t tell me, you want to make a move on them? This Yang Haoran is in the mid-stages of the Yuan foundation realm!”

Having not seen him for two months, Chu Xiaoran had guessed that Yi Yun’s strength had rose again. But no matter how much it rose, it could not be a match against a mid-stage Yuan foundation realm genius.

Back when Yi Yun defeated Li Hong, Li Hong’s cultivation level was just nearing the Yuan foundation.

There was an extremely big gap between the Purple Blood and Yuan foundation!

“No, I know my limits. Let’s just wait here for a while and watch.” Yi Yun smiled with a slight curl on the corners of his mouth.

Seeing the curl on Yi Yun’s lips, Chu Xiaoran’s heart missed a beat in an inexplicable manner. Actually, Yi Yun was just smiling normally, but in Chu Xiaoran’s eyes, she felt that this smile had a wicked flavor to it.

285 - : Taking the Site Over

“Why are you not leaving?”

Yang Haoran’s lackeys shouted from afar.

Yi Yun shouted back, “We will not steal your desolate beasts. It should be alright for us to just stand here and watch, right!?”

“Are you trying to steal the technique behind Young master Haoran’s beast mark condensation?” The lackeys, thinking that they had seen through Yi Yun’s intentions, smiled disdainfully. “So what if we let you watch? You think condensing a beast mark is something you can learn just by watching?”

“Let them be.” Yang Haoran said. Since they were willing to be his audience, there was no harm to it. Besides, Chu Xiaoran and Chu Luo were both young maidens. It was not bad to have beautiful girls as an audience.

“Young master Haoran’s Aspect Totem should be advancing pretty soon, right…?” A lackey asked Yang Haoran.

“Yes… If everything goes well today, it will probably be completed today.” Yang Haoran was very confident of himself as he had considerable talent in Aspect Totems. Although he did not manage to condense an Aspect Totem before the Yuan foundation realm, every beast mark he condensed were of high quality. So even though it was condensed after the Yuan foundation realm, his cultivation of the totem mystic technique went at a rapid pace.

“Young master Haoran sure is great. You are about to condense an elite-ranked Aspect Totem in the mid-stages of the Yuan foundation realm. In the future, you will have a beast-general ranked Aspect Totem at the peak of the Yuan foundation realm. When you become a human lord, it will be a beast-king rank. And at the peak of human lord, it might even be a primordial species-rank!”

The Aspect Totem’s ranks were the same as desolate beasts.

Typically, only sages could condense a primordial species-ranked Aspect Totem.

As for the probability of Yang Haoran becoming a sage, that was practically zero. It would be extremely difficult, even for him, to become a peak-human lord figure, not to mention possessing a primordial species Aspect Totem at the peak-human lord level.

“Ass skin can really be punctured by kissing it too much!”

Qiuniu coldly grunted beside Yi Yun. He had purposely lowered his voice to prevent the lackeys from hearing it, in order to prevent another quarrel.

“Take out your disk arrays and record it. We must record the evolution process of Young master Haoran’s Aspect Totem. In the future, this video will be precious.”

A few lackeys said as a video disk array was taken out and the condensation process of Yang Haoran’s beast mark was recorded.

A few days ago, they started recording it every single time. These were records of Yang Haoran’s brilliant history, which could make others admire and respect him.

Yang Haoran began to condense the beast mark while Yi Yun and company watching. Although Yang Haoran had no lack of girls, he still wanted to show off in front of outstanding members of the opposite sex. He wanted to present a good show to these rookies.

With his spiritual energy interfacing with the Black Gold Ox’s corpse, Yang Haoran followed the procedure according to the records in his totem mystic technique and controlled the wanton and dissipating pure Yang energy and slowly formed it.

It was very difficult to condense a beast mark for Purple Blood realm warriors. But in the Yuan foundation realm, because of the Dantian becoming a Yuan foundation, a warrior had an easier time controlling energy. When that happened, most warriors were able to condense a beast mark.

If a Yuan foundation realm warrior could not condense a beast mark, it was a very shameful thing.

As the gathering pure Yang energy increased, a visible ball of light, the size of a walnut, appeared.

Chu Luo earlier said that the beast mark she condensed was at the size of a peanut, and that it was only under rare occasions that she was able to condense them. Now, Yang Haoran could form a light blob the size of a walnut with a casual attempt. This was the difference between the Yuan foundation realm and the Purple Blood realm.

“Young master Haoran is really talented!” A few lackeys praised him. They were not just words of flattery towards him, but words that came from their hearts. This was because 99% of the Tai Ah Divine City Yuan foundation realm warriors cannot condense a beast mark as easily as Yang Haoran.

Even Qiuniu, who was indignant, had to admit that Yang Haoran had the right to be proud.

Just as the walnut-sized light blob was about to condense into a beast mark, Yi Yun interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal and a purple whirlpool quietly appeared…

The Purple Crystal could control free energy. When the Black Gold Ox died, the energy it left behind was free energy.

Yi Yun could use this energy to practice his Desolate Heaven technique, or he could directly absorb it without any problems.

But if he wanted to use the energy to condense an Aspect Totem, he would need to use a totem mystic technique. And the totem mystic technique had to resonate with the murderous Qi before it could be used. Since the Black Gold Ox had not been killed by Yi Yun, that was impossible.

But, if he wanted to cause trouble, that was much easier.

With just a thought, the pure Yang energy far away immediately became chaotic.

At this moment, the beast mark Yang Haoran was controlling had condensed halfway. It was just in front of him as he prepared to absorb it into his body.

The sudden chaos in the energy took Yang Haoran off guard. He had nearly no time to react.

“Boom!”

Yi Yun’s pupils shrunk, and with his spiritual energy controlling the Purple Crystal’s power, it was like he shot out an arrow!

“Boom!”

The energy blob exploded less than a foot away from Yang Haoran’s face!

“Huh!?”

Yang Haoran was great shocked. He jerked back, but the explosion’s shock waves left his face ashen.

The hair on on his head had even become disheveled by the shock wave. His long hair messily hung downwards!

“…”

The lackeys, who were surrounding Yang Haoran and were about to shout out praises and flatter Yang Haoran, were also caught in the shock wave, leaving them in a sorry state. They turned dumbfounded upon seeing Yang Haoran and his now ashen expression on his blackened face.

What the hell… happened?

Seeing the residual energy left in the sky, the images of the explosive energy were still imprinted in their eyes. An explosion had really happened. It was not an illusion.

A few of the lackeys were still dumbstruck. The beast mark Young master Haoran condensed actually exploded?

Typically, mid-stage Yuan foundation realm warriors differed only in the quality for the beast marks they condensed. Very few would explode midway in the condensation process.

Besides those lackeys, even Chu Luo and Chu Xiaoran were extremely shocked. Yang Haoran actually failed?

At this moment, Qiuniu suddenly burst out laughing.

“Hahahaha! Your dad is dying of laughter. Who was it that previously said that we were trying to secretly learn Young master Haoran’s technique in condensing a beast mark? And he said we won’t be able to learn it? Hey, we really aren’t able to learn such a technique. Hahahaha!”

Qiuniu slapped his thigh and his voice was brazen.

Of course, Yang Haoran’s eyes turned blood red as he stared at Qiuniu with murderous intent. Qiuniu gave a shameless expression, “What? You want to beat people up? If you don’t kill your father, your father will still record you condensing a beast mark today. It will then be announced later in the Tai Ah Divine City that Young master Haoran failed at condensing a beast mark, and then beat people up as his embarrassment turned into rage.”

Qiuniu was completely impenetrable. He was not afraid of Yang Haoran making a move.

Yang Haoran sneered, “A bunch of swallows who don’t know how high the sky is. Just because they see a swan flying low sometimes, they think they can fly higher than a swan. What a joke!”

“Yichi, use a Beast Luring Grass!” Yang Haoran said to his lackey without turning his head. His voice was like a blade.

“Beast… Beast Luring Grass…” The lackey named Yichi was clearly dumbfounded. The Beast Luring Grass would emit a special smell, attracting desolate beasts. Beast Luring Grass were typically used elsewhere in the Divine wilderness. It was extremely dangerous to use the Beast Luring Grass in Meteorite Abyss, as there are many strong desolate beasts.

They would suffer greatly if it ended up attracting a desolate beast that they could not handle.

“What? Do you think I can’t handle it?”

Yang Haoran’s voice was filled with killing intent.

Yichi swallowed mouthfuls of saliva, he did not dare to disobey Yang Haoran. He placed down the Beast Luring Grass and lit it up with chemicals.

With that, an odd smell spread out.

The effects of the Beast Luring Grass were immediate. In less than 8 minutes, a roar could be heard. A huge black beast’s head appeared from behind a boulder, its eyes were red as it stared at the Beast Luring Grass with greed.

“Blue Blood Ape!”

Seeing the sudden appearance of the desolate beast, Yang Haoran’s eyes were filled with bloodlust. He made the first attack and with a flash of his body, he appeared in front of the Blue Blood Ape and sent his sword down.

Yang Haoran showed no mercy as he attacked it with killing blows. In about ten seconds, he killed the Blue Blood Ape!

The Blue Blood Ape had been beheaded. Yang Haoran looked at Qiuniu and company. The purple sword still dripping blood as if it was showing his prowess. “See, this is the distance between you and me!”

“Hmph!” Qiuniu snorted coldly. He was not afraid of Yang Haoran, but he knew that it was likely an accident on Yang Haoran’s part. If Yang Haoran were to get serious, there would be nothing for him to laugh at.

At this moment, Yi Yun crept up and seemed to unintentionally transmit his voice to Qiuniu, “Brother Niu, didn’t you say that you wanted to record video just now?”

Qiuniu shook his head and transmitted back, “There’s nothing good to record. Yang will likely succeed this time. You want me to record him in the limelight?”

“If he really is in the limelight, then delete it. In the rare chance of him failing…” Yi Yun said casually.

“Good point!” With this, Qiuniu took out a video disk array. After all, he had nothing to lose in recording it down.

Seeing Qiuniu’s actions, Yang Haoran laughed.

This retard! He really is all brawn and no brains. The video of his beast mark exploding while he condensed it was a once in a century occasion. Does he really think that I will make the same mistake twice?

Yang Haoran sank Qi into his Dantian and easily extracted the Blue Blood Ape’s energy and formed a walnut-sized energy blob.

Yang Haoran even purposely aligned the energy blood for Qiuniu to allow him to record the video from a better angle.

The energy blood slowly pulsated as it floated towards Yang Haoran. About 80% of it was in the shape of a beast mark.

Seeing this scene, Yang Haoran was extremely pleased. His glance at Qiuniu was a show of force. The walnut-sized beast mark had a clear form. This left Purple Blood realm warriors in the dust.

“You want to record a video? Then record this!”

Yang Haoran laughed disdainfully. He opened his mouth and sucked in the beast mark.

At this moment, Yang Haoran’s facial expression changed as he turned pale.

“Boom!”

Without any warning, the Blue Blood Ape’s beast mark exploded three inches away from Yang Haoran.

No matter how fast Yang Haoran’s reaction was, it was too late. He retreated backwards at an extreme speed, but his mouth still became bloody from the explosion. Even his teeth nearly dropped.

“Peng!”

When Yang Haoran retreated, he hit a rock and nearly fell to the ground.

He used the purple sword to support himself and found his footing. At this moment, Yang Haoran’s hair was disheveled, his face was ghastly pale and his expression, grim.

What the hell…… happened!?

286 - : Causing Trouble

“Hahaha! Your father is dying of laughter! Your father is dying of laughter!” Qiuniu jumped up and down while laughing. “Daddy Niu has never seen such a good show before in his life!”

“Brother Yi, you sure are prophetic! Thankfully, I recorded it!” Qiuniu slapped Yi Yun strongly on his shoulders. He waved the video disk array in his hands with delight. Yang Haoran was a complete retard!

Yi Yun laughed and said, “I was just saying. I didn’t expect it to actually happen. Is this the legendary foul mouth?”

“Hahaha! What foul mouth? This is Buddha’s mouth. Whatever you say happens! I’m only thinking, why didn’t it explode in that rascal’s mouth?” Qiuniu said with some regret.

Yi Yun felt a chill down his spine when he heard this. Wasn’t this the so-called (censored)? This Qiuniu sure was evil.

But it was impossible, even if he really wanted to make it explode in Yang Haoran’s mouth. A distance of three inches was Yi Yun’s limit. As the beast mark was formed, the connection between the beast mark and Yang Haoran’s Dantian would become stronger, and the beast mark’s energy would become energy that had an owner. When that happened, the Purple Crystal could no longer control it.

Seeing the disk array in Qiuniu’s hand, Yang Haoran clenched his fists as his nails lodged deep into his flesh.

What was going on today? Why did that happen!?

“Young… Young master… It was just an accident, right…?” A lackey ventured a guess when he noticed Yang Haoran’s unkindly expression.

“Shut up!” Yang Haoran growled deeply. The lackey immediately turned silent and he did not dare to say another word.

Could an accident happen twice?

What was the reason behind this?

Yang Haoran was really going mad. He did not know where the problem lay. He even suspected that there was a problem with his soul. Did it suddenly become unsuitable for condensing beast marks?

No matter what the reason was, Yang Haoran felt that it was pointless to cultivate anymore today.

Ignoring his repeated failures, he was even unable to calm his current state of mind down. Cultivating an Aspect Totem required a calm state of mind.

With a group of people watching him, and having someone record a disk array video, Yang Haoran felt as if he was a clown performing on stage.

Although Yang Haoran wanted to attempt condensing another beast mark, for some unknown reason, he had a hunch that his third attempt would also result in failure.

He took a few deep breaths before he managed to pacify his furious mood.

With his purple sword in hand, he walked towards Qiuniu.

“What do you want? Do you want to fight?” Qiuniu was lacking in confidence about facing Yang Haoran. He was after all a person who ranked around 100 on the Tai Ah Divine City’s Earth roll. Even Yi Yun was no match for him.

“Give me the disk array. I’ll leave the place for you!”

Since he was not able to cultivate for the moment, Yang Haoran planned on leaving. Hence, the place would naturally be left for Qiuniu and company, but he did not want Qiuniu to have a disk array of his pathetic performance.

With Qiuniu’s personality, it was very likely that he would leak the disk array’s video out. This was something that made Yang Haoran feel full of disgust.

“Heh!” Qiuniu snorted. He wanted to use the disk array to reprimand Yang Haoran and add insult to injury.

But before he could open his mouth, Yi Yun said, “Give it to him.”

“Brother Yi…” Qiuniu glanced at Yi Yun.

He found that Yang Haoran was an eyesore and he felt that not insulting him would be a pity. But since Yi Yun said so, Qiuniu decided to let it go.

Yi Yun said, “Toe the line on everything. There is no need to offend him too openly. Yang Haoran has his bottom line. If he really wants to fight us, we are not his match.”

“Young master Haoran probably made an accidental mistake this time.”

The first few sentences were said to Qiuniu through a transmission. The last sentence was said by Yi Yun to Yang Haoran. Yang Haoran grunted before taking the disk array and left without turning back.

Seeing Yang Haoran thwarted, Qiuniu had not fully expressed his views and clicked his tongue, “Such a pity. There are plenty of girls who like Yang Haoran. I really wanted to know what their expressions would be like if I were to show them the disk array. Two consecutively failures at condensing a beast mark at the mid-stages of the Yuan foundation realm. Haha! I wonder what went wrong with Yang Haoran.”

Qiuniu was in high spirits. He felt extremely good today. He was nursing a grievance because of Yang Haoran, but now, he managed to find respite. It felt great!

Qiuniu could not get his mind off that matter and he asked Yi Yun, “I must say. Brother Yi, you are too nice. How could you give him the disk array back so easily?”

Yi Yun laughed and said, “You must toe the line as a human being. Besides, we did not lose a thing.”

Yi Yun’s words were echoed by Chu Shan, “Brother Yi is right. There’s no need to push the matter to an irreconcilable state.”

Chu Luo also said, “Little brother Yi Yun is so gifted, yet he is so humble. He is nice and he has a big heart. That is something rare.”

The group began chatting while Yi Yun laughed ingenuously. These people sure had good eyes. My character has always been good and my heart has always been wide.

Yi Yun accepted their praises calmly. As he was smiling, he noticed Chu Xiaoran’s gaze. Chu Xiaoran was looking deeply at him with an indescribable meaning behind it.

Yi Yun’s heart thumped. Could it be that this maiden had seen through something?

But even if Chu Xiaoran vaguely felt something was amiss, it was just a guess. She had no evidence for anything.

No one would believe that Yi Yun, as a Purple Blood realm warrior, had the ability to affect Yang Haoran’s ability in condensing a beast mark.

“Speaking of this, they did not take the Beast Luring Grass away!” Yi Yun noticed the Beast Luring Grass on the ground and hurriedly changed the subject. He wanted to prevent Chu Xiaoran from thinking too much.

With a flash of his figure, he came to the side of the Beast Luring Grass and picked it up.

Chu Luo said, “There’s not much effect in this Beast Luring Grass you picked up. Once the Beast Luring Grass is heated up, its effects can only last about 2-4 hours. And in Meteorite Abyss, the Beast Luring Grass is too dangerous. You might lure a strong desolate beast you cannot handle.”

Although Chu Luo said that, Yi Yun still decided to keep the Beast Luring Grass after some thought.

In his interspatial ring, the Beast Luring Grass’ smell was cut off, so he did not worry about attracting desolate beasts.

Now they occupied the best canyon in the perimeter of Meteorite Abyss, it was of great value. Training here with the desolate beasts that had abundant pure Yang energy within their bodies would save them a lot of time.

They split up and helped each other out as they advanced through the canyon.

…

Peng!

With a bowstring sounding out, a large red bird was shot down by the Tai Cang Bow. It had wanted to launch a surprise attack on Yi Yun.

It was a Fire Falcon that liked to eat the hearts and livers of humans. Legend has it that some tribes in the wilderness had burial traditions that Yi Yun had seen before in his previous life. They would feed the corpses of the dead to Fire Falcons as a burial method, allowing their souls to rise to Heaven.

The Wind Chasing Arrow had pierced through the Fire Falcon’s abdomen. Before it died, its sharp talons swiped down at Yi Yun without taking it lying down.

But Yi Yun was well prepared. He slashed with the Thousand Army Saber and chopped the Fire Falcon with one attack!

“Good archery skills Brother Yi!” Qiuniu praised. He was not praising Yi Yun’s accuracy but he was praising Yi Yun’s strength. To be able to pierce through a Fire Falcon indicated that the strength behind that arrow was tremendously terrifying!

Yi Yun did not say anything and interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal. As the purple light swirled, the pure Yuan Qi within the Fire Falcon condensed into a beast mark.

Up until now, Yi Yun had killed two Fire Boars and a Fire Falcon in this canyon.

But when he absorbed the beast marks into his body, he felt that he was still a long way off from forming a ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ Aspect Totem…

“It looks like I cannot continue on this training expedition. I need to return to the Tai Ah Divine City to exchange for another totem mystic technique.”

As Yi Yun was thinking of that, he suddenly heard a scream coming from behind the canyon. Following that, there was a fierce roar of a beast!

“Oh? What’s the matter?”

Yi Yun was alarmed. Beside him, Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran gripped their weapons tightly.

Before the surprise appeared, a killing intent had spread over!

Yi Yun opened his Purple Crystal’s vision and he saw the scene at the back. In his vision, there was a shining energy fire. This made Yi Yun’s heart miss a beat. It was a terrifying desolate beast, almost the level of a King-ranked desolate beast, and it was charging towards them!

And running in front of the desolate beast was Yang Haoran!

“Ah!”

Yet another scream. Yang Haoran’s lackey was pinned to the ground by the desolate beast. His entire torso was penetrated and his organs were destroyed. He bled from all his orifices!

Yi Yun was completely stunned. Although he had previously heard that countless numbers of people died in the Divine wilderness in the millions of years, and there was a 20% death or disability rate amongst the Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators, this was the first time he actually saw a cultivator die while training in the Divine wilderness.

A live person, even if he had a weak presence, was still a life. And he had turned into a bloody pile of meat in an instant!

The world was cruel! The Divine wilderness was cruel!

“Young master, save me!”

Behind Yang Haoran, there was a heart-wrenching scream, but Yang Haoran could not be bothered with him. He only hated the fact that he did not bring enough followers with him this time. The more followers he had, the more they could delay the huge monster behind him. Even delaying it by half a second was good.

But, it was alright. Yang Haoran still remembered that Yi Yun, Chu Xiaoran and company had entered this canyon.

Yi Yun, Chu Xiaoran and company were stronger than his lackeys. With them in the rear, his chances of survival was much higher.

With this thought in mind, Yang Haoran sped up as he rushed towards Yi Yun and company.

All of this happened in a split second. Yi Yun loudly shouted, “Run!”

Saying that, Yi Yun turned around and ran!

Oh!?

Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu did not have Yi Yun’s energy vision and they did not know what had happened. However, they heard the scream, and seeing Yi Yun’s reaction, they did not hesitate and they immediately followed Yi Yun in escaping!

Chu Shan and Chu Luo did not delay either. They were the weakest in the group. Seeing a person like Yi Yun turn pale, they knew that a terrible existence must have appeared.

In the face of such an existence, they would be killed in a second!

They had slight hesitations before they reluctantly used their life protecting trump card, which they did not use while facing the Metallic Fire Ant, the Extreme Speed Array Charm. This charm was the only thing that could help them at this moment.

287 - : Diverting Trouble

“Yang Haoran sure is wicked!” Yi Yun cursed in his heart.

This canyon led deep into Meteorite Abyss. Logically speaking, Yang Haoran would have headed towards the outer perimeter of Meteorite Abyss if he wanted to leave the canyon before finding a spot to set up camp for the night.

After he met a terrifying desolate beast, he should have fled towards the exterior. If that monster did not wish to leave the confines of Meteorite Abyss, he might be able to survive.

But Yang Haoran’s choice was the opposite. He fled back into Meteorite Abyss.

Clearly, Yang Haoran believed that the chances of him escaping out of Meteorite Abyss were very slim. Hence, he diverted the trouble, letting others take the rear.

“Yi Yun, what is happening?” Chu Xiaoran asked. But just as she asked, there was no longer a need for Yi Yun to reply.

Because she saw Yang Haoran bolting towards them. And behind Yang Haoran, there was a huge golden spider. It was covered in tiger-like stripes and its head had three green eyes. Its entire body was shimmering.

“That’s a Three Eyed Spider!?” Chu Xiaoran searched through the information in her mind and only the Three Eyed Spider came closest to fitting the bill. But a Three Eyed Spider did not have any tiger stripes, nor did its body shimmer.

Could it be a mutated beast?

Chu Xiaoran took a deep cold breath. There were countless numbers of desolate beasts in the Divine wilderness and there were many varieties. Sometimes, due to encountering special fortuitous events such as swallowing a treasure, or other reasons, some would end up mutating.

And most mutations would make them stronger than their original selves!

Originally, a Three Eyed Spider was already very strong, and Chu Xiaoran knew she was no match for, what more it was a mutated Three Eyed Spider!

It was no wonder Yang Haoran was fleeing!

They were in a canyon and there was only one path. If they could not outrun the mutated spider, they would probably all die here!

“People, don’t run. Stop and combine forces with me to kill this wretch!” Yang Haoran shouted from behind Chu Xiaoran and company. A strong wind resulted in a staccato voice as he said, “I was fighting the monster just now. Although I’m not its match, I’m not that much inferior to it. With your help, victory is guaranteed! If we keep fleeing, we will eventually take turns to be killed by it!”

Yang Haoran barked. Chu Shan almost stopped because what Yang Haoran said made sense. They were now running deep into Meteorite Abyss now. The deeper they went, the number of monsters and the strength of these monsters increased. It was equivalent to suicide.

If they stopped to fight in a desperate attempt, there was a chance of survival.

“Don’t believe his words!”

At the moment Chu Shan hesitated, Yi Yun’s fierce voice transmitted into his ears. “He only wants you to slow down to line his back. I guarantee you that if you stop, he will overtake you and be the first one to escape!”

Yi Yun could feel the power of the mutated Three Eyed Spider through his Purple Crystal vision. It was not something a group of children like them could handle!

Maybe if a human lord came, he could handle this Three Eyed Spider.

“There is a deep pool ten kilometers ahead. The pool’s water is cold to the bone and it is unfathomably deep. We might be able to escape through that!”As the group was fleeing, Chu Xiaoran said calmly.

She was a warrior who cultivated frost ice laws, so she was very familiar with the extremely cold spots in Meteorite Abyss.

“Have you ever explored the deep pool?” Yi Yun pressed.

“Not much! I only went down to a few hundred meters deep. Any deeper down and it is absolute darkness and I have no idea where it leads to, so I didn’t proceed further. It might lead to an underground river!” Chu Xiaoran quickly gave her analysis.

“Ten kilometers, we should be able to make it. Let’s risk it!” Yi Yun made his decision. With their strength, they could cover ten kilometers in approximately 100-200 seconds at full speed!

Chu Shan and Chu Luo had the speed array’s blessing that allowed them to keep up. If not, Yi Yun would also not be able to take care of them because he could not even save himself.

Yang Haoran was catching up as his speed was faster than all of them.

“This bunch of little bastards are cunning. But that’s useless, I will still overtake all of you!” Yang Haoran gritted his teeth. He also knew about the frost pool!

Ten kilometers, eight kilometers, five kilometers…

The frost pool was getting closer but the mutated Three Eyed Spider was closing the gap!

Suddenly, a gigantic black ape-shaped desolate beast appeared in front of Yi Yun and company without any warning.

It was a Blue Blood Ape!

All of them were shocked. Previously, the desolate beast that Yang Haoran had attracted using the Beast Luring Grass to attract it and then kill it was a Blue Blood Ape!

Yang Haoran was strong, but he still needed a few attacks before he managed to kill it.

As for Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran, it would be extremely difficult to kill the Blue Blood Ape. Its defensive power was much stronger than a Metallic Fire Ant.

The Metallic Fire Ant had its antennas as a weakness, but a Blue Blood Ape had no weaknesses!

Its sudden appearance that blocked them was a nightmare!

“That’s bad!”

Time was of the essence. Chu Shan and Chu Luo felt despair when they saw the Blue Blood Ape appear!

Just being stalled here for a few seconds would result in them being torn to shreds by the Three Eyed Spider behind them! Even Yang Haoran had to use ten seconds to kill the monster, so how were they going to pass it?

As they were almost deep in despair, a shadow flashed and rushed right in front of them. Yi Yun had jumped forward with the Thousand Army Saber in hand!

That moment, his eyes were filled with killing intent, but his mind was extremely calm. The saber tomb’s 32 Words flashed across his mind. The sword truths became extremely clear at that very moment.

Boom!

Radiant Sun Qi burst out from behind Yi Yun, forming a magnificent picture of the Tang Valley. Like the roar of a dragon and tiger, the Thousand Army Saber seemed to become an extension of Yi Yun’s body, being one with Yi Yun!

“Saber Truth’s 32 Words–One With the Saber!”

Yi Yun’s entire body and the Thousand Army Saber became a blinding blade beam before it slashed at the Blue Blood Ape!

The Blue Blood Ape roared as it sent a slap towards Yi Yun!

Its odd strength was able to collapse a hill with a slap!

But, Yi Yun was too fast. It was so fast that before the Blue Blood Ape’s attack struck him, Yi Yun’s saber had already hit the Blue Blood Ape!

“Swish!”

The blood-colored blade beam flashed across the sky as if the blade beam swallowed up the light, causing its surroundings to turn dark. It was as if the saber was the only thing left in this entire world!

The Blue Blood Ape’s body trembled and blood splattered out. Yi Yun’s attack had split the Blue Blood Ape in half from top to bottom!

Under the strong shock waves, the Blue Blood Ape’s two halves flew off to the sides, crashing heavily into the rocks.

Yi Yun and his saber went through the ape’s body, covering his entire body with blood!

Oh!?

Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran, who were behind Yi Yun, were both shocked. Chu Shan and Chu Luo could not even believe their eyes. Previously, Yi Yun had showed his strength killing other desolate beasts, but it was mostly through trickery. He attacked the weak spots of the desolate beasts. He was never like this, attacking a Blue Blood Ape, which had terrifying defensive power, head on with one slash and splitting it in half!

Even Yang Haoran, who was running behind them, felt his heart miss a beat.

This attack was too terrifying. Even his strongest attack could not create such damage!

Of course, attack strength was just one aspect of one’s combat power. Yang Haoran still had advantages Yi Yun did not have like an Aspect Totem, insights into laws and quantity of Yuan Qi. But even so, it still horrified Yang Haoran!

A Purple Blood realm warrior’s attack strength could achieve such a level?

Yang Haoran suddenly felt that after offending Yi Yun today, if Yi Yun survived, he would likely seek revenge against Yang Haoran in an intensified manner.

Just thinking of this made Yang Haoran’s heart flash murderous intent.

“Yi Yun, are you alright!?” Chu Xiaoran said as she used her movement techniques to rapidly traverse the ground.

With that attack, Yi Yun was completely worn out. This was the strongest attack he could use after painstakingly trying to understand the saber tomb’s saber truths in the past two months!

The way of the saber had killing at its core. With an invincible mind, one would be invincible in all other aspects!

The most terrifying thing of the Saber Truth’s 32 Words left behind by the saber tomb’s owner was its attacks. And with Radiant Sun Qi powering the saber truths, it no doubt maximized the attack’s damage!

But…with Yi Yun’s Purple Blood realm cultivation level, it consumed so much Yuan Qi just to power this attack!

With this one attack, he was depleted about half of his Yuan Qi, making it hard for him to carry on fighting.

If his cultivation level was to reach the Yuan foundation realm, then the same attack could be used ten times without a problem. It was also because of this that Yi Yun was unable to fight against the mid-stage Yuan foundation realm experts that were placed in the hundreds of the Earth roll.

After Yi Yun killed the Blue Blood Ape with one attack, Chu Shan, Qiuniu and company’s morale greatly increased. They charged towards the frost pool with one breath!

But at this moment, Yang Haoran suddenly issued a strange cry from behind!

288 - : One With the Saber

Hearing Yang Haoran’s strange cry, Yi Yun was delighted. If the rascal was caught by the mutated Three Eyed Spider, it would be a joyous occasion for all.

This was retribution and Yang Haoran could give them some time by delaying the monster.

Of course, before Yi Yun could focus to see what had happened to Yang Haoran, he heard a loud explosion as a surge of energy chaotically erupted like a volcano.

Yang Haoran had detonated a high grade explosive disk array!

This disk array slightly impeded the mutated Three Eyed Spider, and after that Yang Haoran’s body emitted a pale gold aura. His speed instantly increased as he charged towards Yi Yun and company!

“That rascal sure has a haunting presence!” Yi Yun cursed in his heart.

But this was reasonable. Even Chu Shan and Chu Luo would specially buy a special disk array and array charms as their life-saving trump cards, so why would Yang Haoran not do so?

A person like him would not easily die while in training.

Many thoughts whizzed past Yi Yun’s mind and at this moment, the frost pool that Chu Xiaoran mentioned appeared in front of them!

Below the steep cliff, there was a deep blue pool. There was a wind blowing through the canyon, but the water remained calm, without any ripples or waves. It was quiet like a piece of cold jade.

A frost pool like this gave off a very eerie feel to it.

“There it is!” Chu Xiaoran said.

At this moment, the group no longer had time to decide what was inside the frost pool. They charged right into the frost pool at a high speed.

“Splash!”

Water splashed up. The moment Yi Yun entered the water, he could feel the biting cold of the cold water.

It was a temperature that really froze right into a person’s marrow. It was a surprise that this frost pool did not freeze at such a low temperature.

And not only that, Yi Yun felt that the water in the frost pool was heavy and sticky. It had great resistance and it was very strange!

Yi Yun did not think any further and he circulated his body’s pure Yang Qi, which instantly removed the coldness. He was like a lively fish swimming deep into the frost pool.

Previously, Yi Yun had practiced the ‘Dragon Dancing in Vast Water’ of the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’, so he was very familiar with deep diving.

The five of them helped each other out. Chu Shan and Chu Luo were weaker than the other three, but by using all their Yuan Qi, they were able to cope with the cold pool water.

“Splash!”

Another heavy object entered the water. Yang Haoran had caught up.

“This rascal… There is no fairness in this world. He actually did not die!” Qiuniu gritted his teeth as he said that.

At this moment, all of them were unable to fend for themselves, so no one could be bothered to care about Yang Haoran. All of them used all of their strength to swim deeper into the pool.

Soon, the surrounding environment turned dark.

The pool had an extremely strong ability to remain opaque to light. Just diving down tens of meters into the pool resulted in one not being able to see one’s fingers in front of them.

Although all them were using their strength to wade through the water, there was not a single wave of sound in the water. It was an eerie silence.

The mysterious deep pool was like the huge mouth of a demon that had swallowed all of them up.

At this moment, Yi Yun had realized why Chu Xiaoran had only previously dived in halfway before not venturing any further. This deep pool really gave one a strong sense of unease. No one knew what was down below.

The water insulated against sound, light and perception. It was as if they were trapped in an eternal darkness. This was like the legendary gate to Hell, and if they were to swim deeper, they would swim into Hell.

“Is everyone here?” Chu Xiaoran’s Yuan Qi transmission rung in Yi Yun’s ears.

After reaching a depth of about 200 meters in the pool, the few of them were separated by about ten meters, yet they found it difficult to perceive the other’s presence.

Although warriors could see in the dark, they still needed a trace of light. In an environment without any light, a warrior was unable to see anything.

Besides, in the pool, there was a strong damping of Yuan Qi fluctuations. Even Chu Xiaoran’s Yuan Qi transmission became intermittent due to the dampening.

“Here!” Yi Yun transmitted his voice.

He opened his energy vision but in the bizarre pool, the range he could see using the energy vision was greatly reduced compared to being on land. But, it was still much better than Chu Xiaoran and company.

Yi Yun first looked up to see if the mutated Three Eyed Spider was still chasing after them.

But just above Yi Yun, in the still water, there was the mutated Three Eyed Spider!

Its speed had slowed down because it seemed to be afraid of the unknown deep pool. It did not dare to dive down too quickly.

Many desolate beasts could sense ominous places better than humans. This was the only good news.

But, Yi Yun and company still had to dive deeper into the water. No one could guarantee that the mutated Three Eyed Spider would not suddenly crazily chase them again.

“Oh? Yang Haoran…” Yi Yun frowned slightly. He saw Yang Haoran in his energy vision. Due to the darkness caused by the pool’s water, Yang Haoran had opened up a gap between them. They were about 100 meters away from each other.

“This rascal…” Yi Yun was pissed.

Yang Haoran had hogged the training ground for himself from the beginning. After Yi Yun used trickery to force Yang Haoran to leave, Yang Haoran unexpectedly managed to attract a mutated Three Eyed Spider that nearly wiped them all out.

The culprit behind this was lucky enough to survive, while all his followers were now dead.

But currently, Yi Yun was no match for Yang Haoran. He could not beat him even if he wanted to seek revenge. Even if he could beat him, due to the Tai Ah Divine City’s rules, he could not do anything to Yang Haoran.

Yi Yun could no longer be bothered to think of Yang Haoran. He turned his focus towards the bottom and prepared to use the energy vision to figure out a path in the frost pool. This look made Yi Yun feel pins and needles!

About 100 meters deep later, there were three huge caves. Around the mouth of the cave, there was a rapid water flow as a strong suction tugged at the water, sucking the water into it. This formed three black swirls!

Yi Yun did not know where the swirls led to, but he felt a strong sense of unease.

Such a cave’s depth was unknowingly deep. Although a warrior could stay in the water for a very long time, he could not stay in there indefinitely. If the cave was so deep that it didn’t have a bottom and it led to an unknown secret ground, then it was likely that they would die in this underground deep pool.

Yi Yun’s first thought was to choose another direction to flee. As the threat from the mutated Three Eyed Spider had been greatly reduced, there was no reason to risk their lives to go into the unfathomably deep caves. There might be other paths that they could go in the deep pool.

Just as Yi Yun was looking around for another way out, he suddenly feel a chill engulf him from head to toe. It made his heart contract as his blood flow stopped!

Below the deep pool, about 50 meters away from them, there was a school of strange fish that surrounded them in a circle!

Every one of these strange fish were about a foot long. They were floating quietly in the water, slowly gathering around them like underwater spirits.

They had amber round eyes with an empty stare in them. It was as if they had no focal length. They approached in a quiet fashion. This situation was alarming!

“We have been surrounded!” Yi Yun transmitted his voice.

“What!?” Chu Xiaoran and company had not detected these strange fish.

“A sort of aquatic desolate beast that looks like a fish. There are no details on such desolate beasts in the “Divine Wilderness” book. There are at least a hundred of them in this pool!”

The strange fish may be small, but Yi Yun would not forget the palm-sized piranhas in his previous life. If they gathered into a large group, it was an absolute nightmare.

“Aquatic desolate beast?” Chu Xiaoran and company were like blind people in the pool, so they were unable to perceive the strange fish.

They did not know how Yi Yun was able to detect the beasts. But since he said so, there was no mistake in it.

“Where?” Qiuniu touched his interspatial ring, in preparation of taking out his weapon.

Yi Yun grimaced. A few hundred meters below the water surface, there was an immense pressure and a biting cold. Also, the water was heavy and sticky. It was also an environment which diminished perception, reducing their combat power to about 10-20%.

For example, Qiuniu’s weapon was a massive tower shield. Yi Yun could not imagine what sort of damage Qiuniu could do with that ridiculously heavy tower shield against the fish in the water.

And these fish were natural underwater killers. In the water, they were able to maximize their combat power. If this dragged out, the chances of the five of them fighting in a group was slim!

Several thoughts quickly flashed through Yi Yun’s mind. At this moment, Chu Xiaoran, Qiuniu and company saw the water monsters, as their amber eyes began to glow red.

With more than a hundred strange fish, it was like they were surrounded by ghosts at night with those hundred pairs of red glowing eyes.

Chu Xiaoran and company all held their breaths!

They were really surrounded.

They had just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire!

289 - : Jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire

With the light from the strange fishes’ glowing red eyes, the group could see fuzzily see the surroundings up to a five meter range. They formed a circle with their backs facing each other as they faced the school of strange fish.

Yi Yun gripped his Tai Cang Bow tightly. At this moment, he was extremely calm. He knew very well that they would be bitten to shreds if they were to fight them head on.

“There are three whirlpools a hundred meters below us. Using my bow and arrow as a signal, we will all rush there when I shoot out my arrow. All of you take out the heaviest item in your interspatial rings to accelerate your sinking. At the same time, circulate your Yuan Qi to its extreme… maybe we can charge into the whirlpool…”

Currently, there was no way of escape. Although the whirlpool was fraught with unknown dangers, it was still better than staying and become fish food.

“Good!”

Qiuniu and company agreed. They focused as they waited for Yi Yun’s signaling arrow.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and flipped his palm. An item appeared in his palm. It was the… Beast Luring Grass!

Previously, Yang Haoran had left behind the Beast Luring Grass, and it was still effective for another two hours. Since Yi Yun was going to do it, he went all the way. He injected his Yuan Qi into the Beast Luring Grass and forced all of its smell out of it!

Following that, with his fastest speed, Yi Yun stuffed the Beast Luring Grass into a Wind Chasing Arrow’s hollow arrowhead. He then pulled his bow and strung the arrow, injecting all of his Yuan Qi into it.

“Peng!”

The bowstring hummed loudly, like a thunderous explosion, in the water. This Wind Chasing Arrow containing the scents of the Beast Luring Grass was shot out!

And the direction in which Yi Yun shot the arrow was at the direction in which Yang Haoran was escaping towards!

The Beast Luring Grass simulated the scents of Power of Desolates treasures, so they were very attractive to desolate beasts. These strange fish hesitated for a while before chasing the Beast Luring Grass.

This school of strange fish swam after that lightning-like arrow!

“Escape!”

Without needing Yi Yun to say this, Chu Xiaoran and company flared up their Yuan Qi, swimming towards the deep ends of the pool as quickly as they could!

There were still a small amount of strange fish behind Yi Yun. Because of Yi Yun and company’s sudden attempt at fleeing, they were pursued by the fish.

“Qiuniu!”

Chu Xiaoran shouted and Qiuniu retrieved a huge shield from his interspatial ring. With his huge shield leading the front, the strange fish was reduced by 75%. They were no longer able to create a threat with their encircling.

Chu Xiaoran also took out a sword and slashed gracefully. The sword Qi forced a path through the five strange fish blocking them. The five of them pressed on towards the bottom of the pool without letup.

After diving for tens of meters, they felt a strong suction force. They did not need to swim anymore because they were now being sucked in by the whirlpool, unable to control themselves!

The water flow was too fast. The strange fish shrunk back when they encountered the vortices’ water flow. They swung their tails to balance their bodies and stopped their pursuit.

As for Yi Yun, Chu Xiaoran and company, they were like duckweeds in a thunderstorm. They found it difficult to control their bodies, so they were involuntarily sucked underground by the high speed water flow.

“Boom!”

Yi Yun and company entered the bottomless tunnel. The tunnel was completely dark so Yi Yun used his Purple Crystal vision to view his surroundings. The tunnel was about thirty meters wide and the rock walls extremely smooth. Being sucked in here was like riding a flying dragon. The speed was extremely fast and they were unable to control their bodies!

This underground tunnel was not a straight tunnel. It had numerous branches. Due to the speed of the water currents, Yi Yun was unable to control the direction in which he went. After passing through a branch, Yi Yun became speechless when he realized that Chu Xiaoran, Qiuniu and company, who were beside him, had disappeared. He was left alone!

With the endless darkness and an accelerating speed, Yi Yun felt greatly disturbed. This was a fear of the unknown. He did not know what was in this underground world.

“The water current is so strong, so there should still be an exit. Maybe it will lead to an underground river or lake…” Yi Yun consoled himself. If this whirlpool had no exits, then he would die in this endless tunnel.

The turbulent current carried him for about 15 minutes before the water flow slowly ceased being cold. Instead, it was becoming warmer now.

Even a warrior was unable to hold his breath for this long. So, Yi Yun had long since exhausted the breath he had. He could only use the Yuan Qi in his Dantian to maintain his bodily motions.

At this moment, Yi Yun heard a loud rumbling sound. He felt thrown out by a strong force. It suddenly became bright, and when Yi Yun opened his eyes, he realized that he was flying in midair.

I’m out!

Yi Yun took a deep breath and stretched his body in the air. He was happy like a bird returning to the skies.

Yi Yun turned and looked back. He saw a huge hole spitting out water, forming a waterfall!

And the waterfall scene shocked Yi Yun. Below him was a clump of red clouds. The large waterfall was flowing into the red clouds. It was like a 30,000 meters tall waterfall.

This scenery was a wondrous sight to behold!

“Phew.”

Yi Yun was descending at a fast speed. When he pierced through the red clouds, he could feel hot air. Surging towards him was pure Yang Qi, richer by tens of times that of the canyon!

Even though he cultivated the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, Yi Yun still felt the strength of the pure Yang Qi. When he sucked it in, it was like his Dantian had been lit up by a fire.

So tall!

After Yi Yun pierced through the fire clouds, he saw the vast land underneath him. It was at least thousands of meters. He had started falling down from a tall mountain cliff.

As he was nearing the ground, Yi Yun pulled up his bow and shot out an arrow, straight into the vertical rock face. There was a rope attached to the arrow’s tail.

With the power of the arrow, Yi Yun swung around while holding onto the rope as he easily landed on the ground.

Yi Yun looked around, it was a magnificent and mysterious odd world.

The lingering red clouds hung in the sky.

The mountain peaks stretched out uninterrupted and were filled with life under the clouds.

He also saw clumps of towering red mighty trees.

Further in the distance was a barren red land, the flames reached out into the sky. It looked like a realm of death.

There was a clear boundary between the life and death.

From a distance came the deep growls of beasts which shook the world.

Seeing this scene made Yi Yun’s heart palpitate. He found it hard to imagine that there would be such an underground world here!

An underground world could be this vast?

“Is this still Meteorite Abyss…?”

This thought flashed passed Yi Yun’s mind, but at this moment, a person fell from the sky.

Yi Yun looked up and that it was Chu Xiaoran! Although the whirlpool had several forks, many of the forks led to the same world.

“Whew!”

Sword Qi cut through the air as Chu Xiaoran borrowed the rebounding strength of the sword Qi to easily land on the ground. Like Yi Yun, she was filled with shock upon suddenly entering this world.

“This place…” Chu Xiaoran’s knitted her eyebrows. The scene in front of her was being compared with the memories she had. Slowly, she had a rough understanding of what this world was.

“I’m afraid that this is… Fallen Star Gate!”

Fallen Star Gate!?

Yi Yun was shocked. He obviously knew of Fallen Star Gate. Tens of millions of years ago, a huge star fell into Meteorite Abyss. The core of it was within Fallen Star Gate, and the pure Yang flames in here raged on forever.

Fallen Star Gate was the core of Meteorite Abyss. The information spread in the Tai Ah Divine City regarding Fallen Star Gate was extremely little. This was because typical cultivators would never enter here at all.

“We actually entered Fallen Star Gate? Isn’t Fallen Star Gate a place which is a result of a falling star crashing here from outer space? A meteorite smashed open a world?”

Yi Yun found it incredible. He originally thought that, no matter how big the meteorite was, it would only create a bigger crater. Tens of millions of years later, although the pure Yang flames burned everlasting in the crater, it would only appear as a hell burning with flames.

But the scene in front of his eyes made it hard to imagine that it was all the result of a meteorite.

Was such a vast world underground or overground?

If it was overground, why did he not see this world when he looked over Meteorite Abyss?

If it was underground, then what was the vast sky and clouds above his head?

Chu Xiaoran said, “It isn’t necessarily a meteorite… It is just a saying on the surface. I’ve previously heard from my father that the star that crashed into Meteorite Abyss, might have been a cave left behind by a peerless expert. Tens of millions of years ago, this cave fell from the sky, smashing open Meteorite Abyss and Fallen Star Gate…”

“What!?”

Yi Yun was greatly shocked by this. A cave left behind by a peerless expert?

A cave had smashed open Meteorite Abyss? Smashing out an eternal pure Yang flame that continued to burn for tens of millions of years? Smashing out such a magnificent and fascinating world?

What sort of level was such a peerless expert at!?

What sort of level would a cave, left behind by such an expert, be at? Was there some sort of incredible heritage left behind by him within it?

“Do not bother thinking about it.”

Understanding Yi Yun’s thoughts, Chu Xiaoran sighed and shook her head slightly, “Since ancient times, numerous Tai Ah Divine Kingdom sages have tried to probe Meteorite Abyss, hoping to see the entrance to this mysterious cave. But, it was all to no avail. So… the saying of the fallen star being a cave is just a speculation. It’s impossible to tell whether it is or not.”

“Even if it really is a cave, no matter how heaven-defying our fated luck is, we will not be able to enter it with our lowly abilities as juniors.”

290 - : Fallen Star Gate

Over the tens of millions of years, an unknown number of mighty figures had tried probing Fallen Star Gate, with every inch of ground probably being covered, but…they did not manage to find the entrance to the cave.

Under such circumstances, Chu Xiaoran did not believe she had any luck.

Chu Xiaoran said, “There are many strong desolate beasts in Fallen Star Gate. The strength of the majority of the desolate beasts exceeds our imagination. Just the pressure they give is not something we can bear, let alone dealing with those existences.”

“Now it is imperative that we leave Fallen Star Gate. If we are unlucky, we might even die here…”

Chu Xiaoran’s expression looked serious. Traversing Fallen Star Gate really depended on their luck. The desolate beasts here were an unknown number of times stronger than the mutated Three Eyed Spider. Once the group were targeted by them, it was impossible to escape. It was practically a dead end.

Yi Yun nodded. Just as he was about to echo Chu Xiaoran’s words, he suddenly felt something. Just for a moment, he felt the Purple Crystal throb.

Ever since the Purple Crystal entered his heart, it had been sleeping peacefully. It would pulsate gently with his heart beats. Each pulsation period was precise like clockwork. There had never been any exceptions.

The Purple Crystal did not react even when Elder Jian Ge did a full body scan of Yi Yun using his Heaven’s Eye twice.

Yi Yun felt that something was unusual now that the Purple Crystal suddenly throbbed.

What is going on?

Yi Yun settled down and carefully tried to identify what caused the throb. He vaguely felt that the Purple Crystal Origins within his body had formed a faint connection with something in this world.

And this connection seemed to be guiding him to search for it.

“What is the matter?”

Yi Yun was curious. He wanted to find the location where the connection was established instinctively. But he knew how dangerous Fallen Star Gate was.

With his Purple Blood realm cultivation level, traversing Fallen Star Gate was like an ant traversing a busy street. If it was not careful, it would be crushed to pieces instantly.

At this moment, a few people fell from the sky.

Qiuniu, Chu Shan and Chu Luo fell down successively. It seemed like the various forks in the whirlpool all eventually led to Fallen Star Gate.

Chu Shan and Chu Luo were pale in the face. Apparently, they had consumed a lot of energy. All of them were shocked for words seeing the vast world in front of them.

Chu Xiaoran explained to Qiuniu and company. While at this moment, Yi Yun was in deep thought. He continued to interface his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal, trying to find that unknown guidance…

“Yi Yun, it’s time to go!” At this moment, Chu Xiaoran’s voice rang in Yi Yun’s ear. In her hand, there was a simple map that was just drawn.

As she looked at the map, she said, “I know very little about Fallen Star Gate. I used my memories to draw up a speculatory route. I do not know if I can bring everyone out.”

Amongst the group, Chu Xiaoran was the person who knew the most about Fallen Star Gate. It was better to follow her guesses than haphazardly going about.

“Let’s go. We need to work together to overcome over this difficulty!” Chu Xiaoran said and began walking. Qiuniu and company naturally followed.

“Yi Yun, what’s the matter with you?” Realizing that Yi Yun was not moving, Chu Xiaoran felt curious.

Yi Yun sighed slightly and raised his head to look in a direction. There was a flaming sea there. This flaming sea was the perpetual fire hell that burned pure Yang flames.

Yi Yun could vaguely feel that the source of the Purple Crystal’s throbbing came from within the flaming sea.

And Chu Xiaoran’s route choice was in the opposite direction of the flaming sea.

The flaming sea was considered a land of death, while Chu Xiaoran chose a path of survival.

Using one’s gut, there was a large chance of leaving Fallen Star Gate by following Chu Xiaoran, but Yi Yun did not have such intentions.

He said, “You guys go ahead. I do not want to leave temporarily.”

Hearing Yi Yun’s response, Chu Xiaoran was surprised. She thought she had heard wrongly, “What did you say?”

“I want to…go there and take a look…” Yi Yun pointed towards the flaming sea. Chu Xiaoran was completely stunned. Qiuniu, Chu Shan and company all looked at Yi Yun with disbelief.

Even if they did not understand anything about Fallen Star Gate, they could guess that the flaming sea was terrifying. Heading there was practically a road towards death! Was Yi Yun mad?

“Brother Yi, what are you thinking? Even with me leading the way purely through speculation, I would never head there!” Qiuniu said incomprehensibly.

“That’s right, Brother Yi. This is no joking matter. This is Fallen Star Gate, not the outer perimeter of Meteorite Abyss. Even in the outer perimeter of Fallen Star Gate, we would not dare to haphazardly venture. It could cause death!” Chu Shan echoed.

But Yi Yun had made up his decision. Yi Yun did not know what the throbbing of the Purple Crystal meant, but Yi Yun intuitively felt that he would regret it if he did not investigate it.

The path of martial arts was fraught with difficulties. Although Yi Yun had the heaven defying item that was the Purple Crystal, he could not slack too. He needed to work hard through his own efforts.

Many people who practiced martial arts risked their lives to explore mystic realms just for that 1% chance of those fortuitous events, and those people did not have any guidance nor could they guess what they would receive from the mystic realm.

But compared to these people, Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal guiding him. He was much better off.

The path of practicing martial arts was to go against the Heavens. If they did not fight for the fortuitous event right in front of them because of danger, they might as well give up on martial arts.

“Yi Yun, have you really made up your mind? You can’t be thinking of finding that legendary entrance to the expert’s cave, right…? You must know that the burning hell in Fallen Star Gate had been probed by mighty figures over the tens of millions of years. Their perception, strength all exceed your imagination, yet they never managed to find the entrance in the burning hell!” Chu Xiaoran looked seriously at Yi Yun.

She found him incomprehensible. So what if he had outstanding talent? How could a junior at the Purple Blood realm compare to a sage when probing mystic realms?

“Yes!” Yi Yun nodded.

Chu Xiaoran was helpless. She did not know what Yi Yun was trying to do. From her understanding of Yi Yun, he was a very rational person.

“Alright, since you have made up your mind. I can only wish you good luck…” Of course Chu Xiaoran would not accompany Yi Yun in taking the risk. It was practically courting death.

“I wish you all luck too.” Yi Yun said.

Chu Xiaoran sighed, “Hopefully…”

In the short four hours in Meteorite Abyss, Chu Xiaoran’s intuition told her that Yi Yun had secrets. His perception of danger and the handling of dangerous situations exceeded that of others.

If Yi Yun really was able to foresee danger, then he might have a chance of coming back alive.

Chu Luo was about to say something, but Yi Yun had already started walking towards the burning hell with the Tai Cang Bow across his back.

“Little Ran, are you just going to…” Chu Shan cut her speech halfway. In the distant horizon, the burning flames that tore up into the sky gavet off a sense of bleak solitude with Yi Yun’s back.

The heated air danced around as it distorted light. Yi Yun’s figure quickly became fuzzy and hazy.

Chu Luo wanted to stop Yi Yun several times, but never managed to open her mouth.

“Are we just going to let him go? I heard that there were deaths even when sages probed Fallen Star Gate…” Chu Luo really could not understand what a growing teenager like Yi Yun was planning to do heading into the burning hell.

Chu Xiaoran said, “Sages would die because they went too deep into the burning hell. Yi Yun should be aware of that and he would not do things that courted death. But even so, it would be difficult for him to come back alive…Maybe, he has a reason that compels him to go…”

Chu Xiaoran came up with this guess and she stopped thinking about Yi Yun.

“Let’s go…If I didn’t guess incorrectly, this should be the outer perimeter of Fallen Star Gate. If our luck isn’t too terrible, we can leave this place alive…”

“Alright…” Chu Luo, Qiuniu and company took another deep glance at Yi Yun before turning around, heading towards Fallen Star Gate’s exit…

291 - : The Purple Crystal’s Throbbing

There were extreme dangers inside Fallen Star Gate. Yi Yun embarked on a the journey by himself. He knew very well that with his current strength in Fallen Star Gate, he was just a tiny ripple in a large tidal wave, he could be destroyed at anytime.

He had to be extremely careful. Yi Yun kept his energy vision open at all times and remembered everything he saw deeply.

The Purple Crystal’s control over energy was not only effective on energy in the exterior world, it was also also able to control energy within his interior. Yi Yun used the Purple Crystal to gather all of his body’s Yuan Qi. This feeling was like he was an invisible membrane. It completely covered Yi Yun, making it seem like he was isolated from the world.

He carefully rested his back on a rock. With the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, Yi Yun had a keen sense of where the powerful entities were, making him able to easily avoid them in advance.

In an unseen way, Yi Yun could feel a terrifying desolate beast looking towards him from a distance. Yi Yun stayed motionless with a bated breath. It was as if he was a piece of rock.

Yi Yun only came around the rock when the terrifying desolate beast he saw with his energy vision slowly moved away. He opened his Heaven’s eyeball and used his energy vision to explore his surroundings. After making sure that there were no strong desolate beasts within a 5 kilometer radius, he began traveling at a faster pace through this small patch of desolate lands.

Again and again, Yi Yun used the Purple Crystal’s energy vision and various kinds of camouflage that Fallen Star Gate provided to proceed with difficulty. The distance from which he set off to the burning hell was just tens of kilometers away, yet Yi Yun took two whole days to reach this point.

By the time he came close to the burning hell, Yi Yun had not rested for two days. As he was constantly on high alert, his forehead was now covered in sweat.

Yi Yun held the Tai Cang Bow tightly and breathed lightly. In Fallen Star Gate, the Tai Cang Bow and Thousand Army Saber were just a way to psychologically comfort himself. If he really met a desolate beast, these two weapons would be no different than toys in front of them.

From Yi Yun’s present location, he could already see the burning hell in its entirety.

The burning hell may be said to be filled with eternal flames, which had been burning for tens of millions of years, but in reality, only when Yi Yun approached it did he clearly see that the burning hell was not burning with flames. It was filled with five-colored light streams.

These five-colored light streams were all formed formed of pure Yang Qi. They danced within the burning hell and rose up like layers of divine clouds. They seemed to be filled with propitious omens.

From afar, they were like patches of flames, lighting up the sky.

Nearing the burning hell, Yi Yun felt the temperature reach an inconceivable level. All of his skin had been scorched by the burning hell’s heat, as if it was about to split at any moment.

Pure Yang Qi had many similarities with fire, but it was not fire.

A piece of wood may burn, giving off light and heat in the dark. That was fire, but it could not be called pure Yang.

Only when a star burns, emitting the rays of a Sun, that is what is considered as pure Yang!

Pure Yang can give rise to fire, but fire is not necessarily able to evolve into pure Yang.

Yi Yun constantly adjusted the Yuan Qi within his body. He wanted to recover to a relatively optimal state before venturing into the burning hell.

Oh? That is…

Yi Yun constricted his pupils. With his spiritual energy interfacing with the Purple Crystal, he isolated his body’s energy from the external world, entering a breathless state.

He saw 6-7 desolate beasts jumping around in the burning hell. As they traversed the land, they were also respirating the burning hell’s pure Yang Qi.

From the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, Yi Yun could clearly see that these desolate beasts were three meter tall fire monkeys. They were all stout, with golden-green eyes!

In this world’s legendary myths, there was a stone monkey that was burned by True Chaotic Fire, but, not only did it not die, it became a great sage amongst desolate beasts. It was an existence that far exceeded human sages.

The fire monkeys in front of him naturally had no relations to the stone monkey refined by the True Chaotic Fire, but they were still far from anything Yi Yun could handle!

Such desolate beasts, which could easily traverse through the burning hell and respirate its pure Yang Qi, were definitely stronger than the mutated Three Eyed Spider Yi Yun had previously encountered!

“This bunch of monkeys sure is troubling!”

Yi Yun leaned his back against a rock and did not move. If not for the Purple Crystal sealing his energy within his body, his fate if noticed by any of these fire monkeys would be clear.

Only when he came to Fallen Star Gate did Yi Yun feel that his power was so minute. Just any random existence here could easily annihilate him.

This made Yi Yun even more determined to investigate the burning hell.

He wanted to know what the Purple Crystal was calling out to.

Yi Yun could not enter the burning hell with these fire monkeys present. Ignoring him entering the burning hell, Yi Yun did not even dare to move one bit while they were around. If he suddenly left, he might very well be discovered by the fire monkeys.

He would have to wait quietly.

But the fire monkeys seemed to be hooked on cultivating here. Many desolate beasts would cultivate for months, years, or even longer as they respirated the essence of the Moon and Sun.

Beads of sweat dripped down Yi Yun’s hair. Once the beads of sweat left the Purple Crystal’s area of influence, they would evaporate in an instant due to the high temperature of the burning hell.

Yi Yun quietly counted the time. He estimated that he had waited here for at least 20 hours now.

Upon counting, he had already spent three days within Fallen Star Gate. The longer he stayed here, the more likely it was that an accident would happen. And after not resting or sleeping for three days straight, Yi Yun’s physical strength was beginning to decline. His mental strength was also becoming worn out from the high tension.

Yi Yun gritted his teeth and did no slack off. He carried on maintaining the energy vision. It was the crutch his life depended on. Without the energy vision, Yi Yun would not have discovered many of the lurking desolate beasts just with the help of his Heaven’s eyeball.

Thankfully, desolate beasts had a very strong territorial sense. This group of fire monkeys that stayed within the burning hell seemed to have a certain status. When they stayed here, no other desolate beasts ventured close. This ensured Yi Yun’s safety.

Time passed again and another two hours was gone. At this moment, a shrill shriek suddenly sounded out in the burning hell.

“Xiao.”

It was like the call of a bird. However, its sonorous voice exceeded the limits of Yi Yun’s imagination. This bird call created visible ripples in the air, as if they were scattered and exploded due to a shock wave.

“Peng!”

This sudden sound wave caused Yi Yun’s blood flow to reverse. His heart beat stagnated. His organs felt intense pain and blood flew out from both of his ears.

What monster is it?

Yi Yun did not have time to think about it. He quickly ate a relic to control his body’s injuries. At this moment, a fierce wind set off within the burning hell! The serene burning fire-colored pure Yang flames turned chaotic due to the fierce wind.

A rainbow colored fire bird, with beautiful feathers and a wingspan of more than ten meters, charged out from the deep depths of the burning hell!

This fire bird looked like a phoenix. It had sharp claws, and its body was burning with flames. The fierce wind storm that now swept up the burning hell was actually caused by the flapping of the fire bird’s wings!

In the burning hell’s perimeters, the group of playing fire apes gave off a strange call before they scattered at the sudden sight of the fire bird rushing out from deep within the burning hell!

The fire bird’s golden eyes reflected coldness. It stretched out its sharp claws and with lightning speed caught two fire monkeys and flew up!

“Roar! Roar!”

The fire monkeys roared angrily. They were also powerful desolate beasts, so they naturally resisted when they were suddenly caught.

They used their strong arms to grab the fire bird’s claws, hoping to break them apart, but it was all in vain. The claw cut into the fire monkeys’ entrails like a sharp saber!

The two fire monkeys bled from all orifices as their bodies were ripped to shreds while their body twitched.

The fire bird brought the two fire monkey’s corpse up to a stone mountain. It landed on the mountain peak like a falling boulder, smashing apart a large amount of red boulders.

Yi Yun was holding in breath from beginning to end. He was extremely shocked. Such strong fire monkeys had been killed by this fire bird, without being able to resist in any way? This fire bird was too heaven-defying!

What bird was this? Was it a Rainbow Blood Feather?

Yi Yun recalled the pure Yang primordial specie statue placed within the Tai Ah Divine City’s Wilderness Divine Hall 6. The statue was that of a Rainbow Blood Feather, but in comparison, there were some differences with this fire bird.

Actually, when many desolate beasts which reached such a level, they would all have their individual differences. Due to their upbringing and the treasures they ate, the Heaven Earth essence they absorbed would be different. Hence, they would have different looks and different abilities.

“Oh? It’s back is injured?”

Yi Yun looked at the back of the fire bird. There was a gruesome wound there, as if it had been pierced through by a spear.

The wound was about the size of a wash basin. The flesh around it had been ripped open, allowing one to see the white bones and internal organs. Around the wound’s edges were traces of burning. This made Yi Yun feel his heartbeat freeze. What sort of existence could hurt such a strong fire bird?

The wound looked new, and it was not surprising that the fire bird was injured deep within the burning hell.

“This burning hell…”

Yi Yun held his breath. If there was something within the burning hell that could harm the fire bird. Then, if he were to enter…

That sort of existence could annihilate him using just 1% of its strength.

At this moment, the fire bird at the top of the stone mountain began devouring the corpses of the two fire monkeys. It tore off the limbs of the fire monkeys and swallowed them whole.

The pure Yang energy within the fire monkeys were absorbed by the fire bird, and slowly, the wound on its back began to heal.

Many powerful desolate beasts had extremely strong healing abilities. This fire bird was no exception, but the wound on its back seemed to contain some form of mysterious energy. Once it healed, it would split apart again. This went on again and again.

“So the reason why the fire bird ate the fire monkey was to heal… But what hurt it?”

Yi Yun turned around and looked towards the burning hell. The fire monkeys along the burning hell’s outskirts ran away a long time ago.

What was left was the serene five-colored flames which burned. It was like a mysterious aurora, covering the world beneath the burning hell. What was in there?

After the fire bird finished off the fire monkeys’ corpses, it spread its wings and flew away.

Yi Yun gripped the Tai Cang Bow tightly and with his body flashing, he rushed into the vast sea of flames…

292 - : Burning Hell

In the burning hell, the five-colored cloudy mist formed layers. The temperature of this flame, which was formed after pure Yang Qi accumulated to an extreme extent, was terrifying.

Yi Yun felt that this burning hell was like the Sun, mounted inside the Divine wilderness. Entering the burning hell was like entering the Sun itself.

With Yi Yun’s cultivation level, it was impossible for him to endure the scorching heat of the pure Yang flames. The only thing he could rely on was the Purple Crystal. With the Purple Crystal’s energy control, he could ward off the rich, pure Yang energy inside the burning hell.

“Buzz——”

Yi Yun interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal and it formed a golden spiral.

However, this spiral was diverging out instead of in.

Previously, the spirals that Yi Yun conjured with the Purple Crystal were used to absorb energy, this time however, he was using it to ward off energy.

Waves of pure Yang energy dispersed like the receding tide, while Yi Yun ran towards the far ends of the burning hell as if he was a fish in the water.

The burning hell within Fallen Star Gate was the size of a huge hole. The burning hell extended deep underground. The deeper he went, the higher the temperature of the burning flames became!

Although Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal to protect him, he still felt hot.

As the pure Yang Qi was too dense and Yi Yun’s spiritual energy was limited, he could control the Purple Crystal but it was imperfect. Occasionally, some pure Yang Qi would seep through the Purple Crystal’s protection and flow into Yi Yun’s meridians.

Just a trace of this pure Yang Qi entering his body made Yi Yun suddenly feel like his organs were set on fire. It felt like his body was starting to char from the burning sensation alone.

“Such powerful pure Yang energy.”

Yi Yun closed his eyes to concentrate, circulating his Yuan Qi to an extreme. Using the Purple Crystal and the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, Yi Yun barely managed to control the trace of pure Yang energy that entered his body. He then slowly refined it, letting it enter his meridians, slowly accumulating it within his Dantian and making it a part of his own strength.

When the trace of pure Yang energy becoming a part of him, Yi Yun could feel his Yuan Qi grow thicker. His ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ had also progressed.

If he could cultivate the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ for prolonged periods of time in this pure Yang burning hell, it would make things much easier.

But, this place was too dangerous. If it wasn’t for the Purple Crystal, his meridians would easily be burned by the pure Yang energy while cultivating here.

Besides that, there were also various kinds of powerful desolate beasts within Fallen Star Gate. That was the greatest danger.

Yi Yun was careful throughout his journey, he used his energy vision to alert him of his surroundings.

In the pure Yang burning hell, whether it was one’s perception or visibility, they were greatly weakened by the wanton energy. It wasn’t only Yi Yun, even the desolate beasts had the same problems. Even if a human sage were to come here, he would experience the same thing.

But, Yi Yun’s energy vision was nearly 50 kilometers in radius. He could clearly detect any hints of trouble in this radius.

Yi Yun saw a desolate beast the size of a small mountain. Its body was covered in crimson scale armor. It was like a red boulder, lurking quietly within the burning hell.

Its head and limbs could not be seen. They were all retracted inside its scale armor, as if it was in hibernation.

Yi Yun could not find any record of this red-scaled desolate beast in the ‘Divine wilderness’ book. He did not care if it was hibernating or not, he still used the most cautious attitude to go around it.

Due to the burning hell’s funnel shape, it was narrower at the bottom than the top. Yi Yun was moving down vertically, so he could see the burning hell’s walls. It was a wide stretch of strange jagged rocks. They were dark red in color, as if they were red hot iron.

“Oh? The remnant bones of desolate beasts can easily be burned to ashes in this burning hell, yet these rocks are perfectly fine here?”

Yi Yun found it weird, so he used his perception to explore the wall, but there was nothing special about it. They seemed to be like ordinary rocks.

“Really fascinating…”

Yi Yun suddenly had a thought. According to normal circumstances, this burning hell should not have formed a boundary with the external world. Because if there was a border, that border should have been burned by the pure Yang fire.

He could not understand it, nor did Yi Yun carry on thinking about it. He only felt that there was some sort of invisible law restricting the burning hell, making it so that the flames could not burn through the border.

Upon getting tens of kilometers deep into the burning hell, something drifted into Yi Yun’s vision. When Yi Yun focused his gaze, he found out that it was a remnant skeleton.

The skeleton was more than ten meters long and it looked extremely incomplete. He could no longer tell what desolate beast it was.

This skeleton had been burned by the pure Yang fire, leaving it filled with cracks. The Power of Desolates within it had been burned away cleanly and it seemed that the desolate beast skeleton would burn to ashes before long.

In the burning hell, no desolate beast corpse could be left behind. A desolate beast’s corpse, which was filled with treasures, was slowly destroyed by the pure Yang flames here.

“What a pity!”

Yi Yun shook his head slightly. If it had not been burned by the pure Yang flames and he brought this unknown desolate beast’s corpse back, it would be worth a fortune, allowing him to exchange it for a massive amount of dragon scale runes.

This was all wealth, allowing him to exchange for numerous resources.

Yi Yun felt a pinch in his heart. If only these desolate beasts died outside the burning hell. Leaving them here to burn like firewood was such a waste of heavenly treasures.

“Forget it. With the Purple Crystal, my goals should not be limited to such a scope. It’s just the remnant bones of an unknown desolate beast. In the future, with my own martial arts path, such bones would be nothing in retrospect. My scope is not so small, so what if I didn’t obtain this desolate beast’s corpse?”

Although Yi Yun said so, he still picked up a few bones that seemed presentable from the remnant skeleton, quietly placing them into his interspatial ring…

…

As he ventured further down, the Purple Crystal’s guidance was still intermittent. But its direction was very clear. It was in the far ends of the burning hell!

After going down several kilometers, Yi Yun was still as cautious as ever. At this moment, Yi Yun felt like he had just passed through a thin membrane.

Below this membrane, the pure Yang flames manifested forms, transforming from the original five colors to seven colors.

This seven colored radiance was like the world’s prettiest clouds. It was filled with mystery and beauty, but it was also full of danger!

Within the clouds, the pure Yang flames gathered together, manifesting the shapes of birds or beasts. They looked extremely lifelike, it was as if these flames had a spiritual trace within them.

Upon reaching this depth, Yi Yun began to struggle in controlling the Purple Crystal. There was more and more pure Yang Qi seeping through the Purple Crystal’s defense, flowing into Yi Yun’s body and into his meridians.

To overcome this brutal energy made Yi Yun feel extreme pain.

At the same time, his Yuan Qi carried on thickening. This made Yi Yun feel a sense of strange enjoyment. To cultivate here in the burning hell, it could be described with the words pain and pleasure.

Suddenly, Yi Yun felt the Purple Crystal within his body throb, it suddenly became a little bit more intense. It was a trivial change, yet it made Yi Yun extremely overjoyed.

“Is it here…?”

Yi Yun held his breath and followed the Purple Crystal’s guidance as he passed through the flaming clouds. The further he went, the more careful he became in order to not fail while making the final effort.

Author’s note: Recently I’ve been having a lot of mental blocks. The Divine wilderness’ adventure is quite a test of my imagination +_+.

293 - : Seven Colored Radiance

Currently, there was a stone cliff stretching into the distance in front of Yi Yun. The spot where the Purple Crystal was pointing to was within this stone wall.

“Stone wall…”

Yi Yun frowned slightly. This stone wall did not seem peculiar. Could there be some mechanism to it?

Yi Yun reached out and touched the stone wall. The stone wall was scorching hot. Even with the Purple Crystal protecting his hand, Yi Yun found it unbearable.

He found nothing, yet the Purple Crystal was pointing here.

There had to be something odd with this stone wall. The burning hell’s temperature was so high, yet it was unable to burn or melt this stone wall.

Yi Yun pulled out his Thousand Army Saber and slashed out a chunk of rock.

Yi Yun examined the dark red stone in his hand again and again, but he could not discover anything special about it.

Yi Yun circulated the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ and injected Yuan Qi into the rock.

“Peng!”

The rock exploded, turning to dust.

This dust spread over the burning hell, yet it did not get burned into ashes by the pure Yang flames.

Yi Yun took a deep breath. In the past tens of millions of years, an uncountable number of sages had visited Fallen Star Gate, attempting to discover its secrets, yet they all failed. This resulted in a loss of interest towards Fallen Star Gate amongst many mighty figures in the recent million years… Fallen Star Gate’s secrets were extremely well-hidden. He was unable to unearth the secrets even with the Purple Crystal.

When Yi Yun came to this conclusion, he calmed his mind.

Yi Yun opened the Purple Crystal’s vision and explored the smooth stony surface.

With the Purple Crystal’s vision, the stone face was shining brightly. Strands of mysterious energy gathered together.

And this energy was unable to erupt outwards as it seemed to be constrained.

As Yi Yun looked at the wall, a brilliant idea flashed in his head. He raised the Thousand Army Saber and injected Radiant Sun Qi into the saber before slashing at the area where the energy was focused.

Peng!

Radiant Sun Qi exploded and this slash was like a heavy rock entering a pool of still water in Yi Yun’s energy vision. The energy restraint was broken, and all the energy gushed out, eventually forming a mysterious bright black blob of light. It slowly rose to the stone wall’s surface.

Above the blob of light, there was energy flowing around. It made one feel fresh.

“This is…”

Yi Yun’s heart thumped. He had finally discovered something unusual!

This black blob of light could only be seen using Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal energy vision, it was invisible to the naked eye.

Yi Yun hesitated for a while before carefully touching the black blob of light. The light blob was not hot to the touch, but it simply emitted a bit of warmth. Yi Yun felt like he was touching a warm piece of jade.

Yi Yun attempted moving the blob of light, hoping to see if there was some mechanism to it, but he failed.

The light blob was impervious to outside forces. Yi Yun’s hand went straight through it.

Yi Yun did not know what to do. After his repeated attempts failed, he even tried to use the Purple Crystal to absorb the energy within the blob of light; but, he realized that this energy was locked by certain array techniques, preventing him from absorbing it.

The Purple Crystal’s control of energy was not omnipotent. Back when Yi Yun was in the Wilderness Divine Hall, it was also extremely difficult to absorb the primordial species’ energy through the Great Yan gold.

A few hours had passed as Yi Yun tried various methods, but the light blob remained motionless. Yi Yun was completely out of ideas.

He had found a mysterious light blob using the Purple Crystal. What was it?

Was the Purple Crystal’s throbbing because of this blob?

Yi Yun had taken a huge risk and yet just as he discovered the secrets behind this place, he was unable to crack it. This made him frustrated.

He could not return empty-handed. Yet, if he were to continue staying here, he would be at a loss as to what to do.

“Oh?”

Suddenly, Yi Yun had an idea. He took a few steps to the side and as he slowly walked, he made sure to focus on the changes of the Purple Crystal.

The Purple Crystal’s guidance let Yi Yun to find another spot.

This place…

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed. There was another energy focal point here as well.

Yi Yun slashed at it with the Thousand Army Saber.

“Cha!”

The energy balance was broken once again, and another energy blob rose to the stone wall’s surface.

This blob of light was about the same size as the first blob of light, but its color was different.

The first light blob was black, but this light blob was dark red in color.

There was not only one light blob!

Yi Yun carried on searching, and with the Purple Crystal’s guidance, he found more light blobs, one after another. The distance between these light blobs were sometimes far and sometimes near, they were placed seemingly in a random fashion.

But there were only two kinds of colors, black and dark red.

“There are too many!”

Yi Yun used a few hours time to discover more than a hundred light blobs!

All these light blobs were scattered within the stone wall and looked extremely spectacular!

Could it be a huge array?

That was the first thought Yi Yun had when he saw these light blobs.

This was very likely an array set up by a peerless expert. Yi Yun had little understanding over array methods, and he was inferior to Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s array masters. He could not break a normal array, what more a peerless array.

Now, he was clueless facing these numerous blobs of light!

“This puzzle is too hard!” Yi Yun frowned.

In the past tens of millions of years, many sages came back with nothing after probing Fallen Star Gate. They could not even find these blobs of light.

Without the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, even if they conjured the light blobs, they could not even see it.

And there were so many light blobs. The probability of conjuring all of them was extremely improbable.

Now, Yi Yun had everything with the Purple Crystal, yet he could not understand the light blob array…

Thinking of this, Yi Yun was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He was just one step away from success! Was he going to fail after putting in so much effort and undertaking so much risk?

“Oh? Wait!”

Yi Yun’s heart thumped. The Purple Crystal’s had another sudden odd throb!

A vague feeling made Yi Yun hold his breath.

“What is it now?”

This feeling was completely different from the tiny throbs the light blobs created. This made Yi Yun’s heart beat faster. Could it be the key point to the array?

Yi Yun used the Purple Crystal to converge all his body’s energy before slowly approaching the spot the Purple Crystal detected…

After going around a stone forest, where the stone seemed like erected swords, Yi Yun was extremely shocked to see what was behind the stone forest.

Behind the stone forest, there was a basin. Unexpectedly, there was a huge flower growing within the basin!

The flower’s stem was more than ten meters tall, and about four or five people had to hug it to completely encircle it. Its huge leaves were the size of houses.

The flower was in full bloom and there were seven petals. Each petal had its own color. The petals were plump and extremely beautiful.

It was a seven-colored flower!

And these seven colors corresponded to the seven colors of the Seven Colored Radiance. It shocked one down to their spirit!

“Fascinating!”

It was the first time Yi Yun saw such a large flower. What surprised Yi Yun the most was that this flower was growing in the burning hell!

The temperature here was extremely high, so much so that even pure Yang elemental beasts did not dare enter. Yet, this mysterious flower was able to be in full bloom here!

This Divine wilderness world was filled with endless magnificence. It was filled with an endless number of powerful desolate beasts and there was also such a mysterious flower.

Although the mysterious flower was pretty, it was unlikely to be the key point of the array. It was likely a fascinating plant that grew in the burning hell.

“Oh? That is…”

Yi Yun suddenly held his breath. He noticed that there was a mysterious flame quietly burning right in the middle of the huge flower.

This flame was also seven-colored. It emitted a faint halo, which made him feel dreamy.

Yi Yun used the Purple Crystal’s energy vision to look at it. The seven-colored flame was like a tiny Sun. It emitted infinite brilliance and heat. It filled the energy vision with the seven beautiful colors!

“Could this be…”

Yi Yun held his breath. He recalled the information he previously read on pure Yang Qi. There were also records in the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’…

This was likely a pure Yang spirit!

When pure Yang Qi became infinitely thick, it would give birth to a pure Yang spirit after a very long period of time!

A pure Yang spirit could physically transform a person, leading them to possess a pure Yang body.

At the same time, the pure Yang spirit was an extremely great gift that enriched cultivators of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!

If a warrior absorb a pure Yang spirit and then cultivate the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, the speed of cultivation would improve at a tremendous pace.

The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ moves powered by the pure Yang spirit were also extremely powerful!

“I actually managed to encounter a pure Yang spirit!”

Yi Yun’s heart beat like a drum. It was a tremendous fortuitous opportunity!

294 - : Burning Hell Huge Flower

Although Yi Yun was extremely excited, he did not lose his cool. He knew that although the pure Yang spirit was good, it was nearly impossible for him to absorb it as a Purple Blood realm warrior!

The energy contained within the pure Yang spirit was too strong. It could really be described as a tiny Sun. If a Purple Blood realm warrior were to absorb a small Sun into his body, he was destined to die from burnt innards!

Directly consuming the pure Yang spirit was equivalent to committing suicide. Actually, even sages would not dare to do so.

In the records written within the books Yi Yun read, there was once a sage Desolate Heaven Master in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom who tried to refine the pure Yang spirit into a desolate bone relic to slowly absorb it. But during the refinement process, due to the pure Yang spirit’s wanton energy, the furnace was destroyed!

Yi Yun was clearly aware of the pure Yang spirit’s terror. He did not dare to approach it without thought. The only thing Yi Yun could rely on now was the Purple Crystal.

It was impossible to consume the pure Yang spirit directly, so he could only absorb the pure Yang spirit’s energy using the Purple Crystal from a distance.

Yi Yun felt somewhat depressed when he thought about it.

The pure Yang spirit contained too much energy within it and Yi Yun’s cultivation level was limited. It was impossible for him to absorb the pure Yang spirit’s energy bit by bit with the Purple Crystal. His body could not accommodate that much energy!

Only a desolate beast could eat such an item. How much could a kitten eat?

What was he to do with the leftovers? Was he going to just leave it here?

The next time he came, the pure Yang spirit might already have changed locations, and it would not be easy for him to find it again.

All these thoughts flashed through Yi Yun’s mind. He only felt his heart ache. First, he had been led by the Purple Crystal to the light blob array, but he could not break the array. He could not grab an opportunity that was placed right in front of him.

Next, he found the pure Yang spirit, yet he could not consume it.

It was really maddening that he could not move this treasure mountain in front of him.

“Forget it! I’ll absorb as much as I can!”

Yi Yun interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal and began attempting to absorb the pure Yang spirit’s energy. He circulated the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ to an extreme for he was very aware that it was dangerous to just absorb a trace of the pure Yang spirit with his current strength!

A wave of pure Yang Qi was pulled towards Yi Yun using the Purple Crystal’s force.

But…the pure Yang spirit only shook a bit. No energy came out of it.

“Oh?”

Yi Yun was slightly stunned. He had used the Purple Crystal to absorb the pure Yang spirit’s energy, yet he had only absorbed the pure Yang Qi around it. He could not absorb the energy within the core?

Why is this happening?

Yi Yun did not believe in heresy, and he increased the suction power. A small purple swirl appeared in the Purple Crystal once again.

But even so, there was no reaction from the pure Yang spirit. The seven-colored flower even seemed to slightly vibrate as its petals seemed to close!

Yi Yun zoned out. What?

Yi Yun was dumbfounded when he saw the petals close slowly as if it was going to wrap the pure Yang spirit.

What was going on!?

He could not absorb anything from the pure Yang spirit with the Purple Crystal, yet this pure Yang spirit was receding?

This seven-colored flower grew up in the burning hell, so Yi Yun guessed that attacking it was pointless. If he suddenly attacked it, he might receive the seven-colored flower’s counter attack.

This seven-colored flower most likely had turned sentient!

Yes…Sentience!

Yi Yun suddenly realized this thought. He finally understood why he was unable to absorb the pure Yang spirit’s energy.

The Purple Crystal could only absorb energy without an owner, but it could not rob energies that belonged to another living being.

For example, the energy within dead primordial species and dead herbs was energy without any owners.

The Purple Crystal was unable to absorb the energy within true living beings

For example, back when Yi Yun captured the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, the Purple Crystal was unable to absorb the energy within it through thin air as it was still alive.

Now, the pure Yang spirit possessed sentience. It was not too much to say that it had life, hence the Purple Crystal was helpless against it.

Upon thinking of this, he felt as if 10,000 fuck you horses were trampling him. He nearly vomited blood!

What the heck!

He found the light blob array, yet he could not crack it!

He saw the pure Yang spirit but he was already disappointed that he could not take it away.

Next, he realized that he could not absorb even a drop of energy!

He could see it, but not eat it.

Did he spend so much effort just to watch a show?

Yi Yun was going mad in his mind. He could not bear the impulse to rush forward with the Thousand Army Saber to slash at the seven-colored flower.

Of course, that was just a thought. He was aware that with his strength, he was helpless against the seven-colored flower.

At this moment, Yi Yun felt a shiver in his heart.

There was another unnatural movement in his energy vision!

And this movement was completely different from the previous ones. Something filled with murderous intent was charging straight towards him!

A desolate beast!

Without any hesitation, Yi Yun leaped up and raced away. At the same time, he used the Purple Crystal to seal his energy within his body and held his breath!

Yi Yun knew that any desolate beast that appeared in the burning hell was an existence he definitely could not deal with.

“Xiao!”

Yi Yun heard the shrill call of a bird. It was ear-piercing!

This bird call sounded familiar. Yi Yun felt his heart go cold. It was the fire bird that he saw near the exterior perimeter of the burning hell!

A fire bird that could easily devour a fire monkey with unfathomable strength could rip him apart easily with one swipe!

Yi Yun did not turn around. He opened up his energy vision to look at the situation behind him.

He saw a huge fire bird in the burning hell plummeting straight down with its wings outstretched. Its feathers were bright-colored as it dragged a rainbow flame behind it!

Its goal was the seven-colored flower growing in the basin!

“Peng!”

The fire bird’s large claws grabbed the thick flower stem and pecked at the seven-colored flower’s corolla with its sharp beak.

The corolla deformed but the seven-colored flower possessed amazing resilience. Its corolla did not break despite the fire bird’s tearing at it.

“Whew!”

With a clear sound, a seven-colored flame surged out from the flower’s core, heading straight towards the fire bird!

This was the pure Yang spirit’s retaliation!

Seeing the pure Yang spirit’s attack, the fire bird gave a sharp cry as it went on full guard. Its feathers began to stand up like arrows.

“Cha!”

Its sharp claws swiped through the air as the fire bird’s claw grabbed the pure Yang spirit!

But even the fire bird could not endure the burning pure Yang fire. Its claw was quickly burnt, as patches of bloody skin fell off, leaving it bloodied!

The original wound on its back opened up once against as blood spilled from it.

Yi Yun remembered that when he first saw the fire bird in the burning hell’s perimeter, he had seen a blood hole the size of a wash basin on its back. There were burn marks around the blood hole that revealed even its organs and bones.

The fire bird devoured the fire apes in order to heal its injuries.

Now, after seeing the fire bird try to capture the pure Yang spirit, Yi Yun understood that the large hole in the fire bird’s back was most likely left behind by the pure Yang spirit!

The fire bird entered deep into the burning hell and it must have discovered the pure Yang spirit early on. It had tried to swallow the pure Yang spirit but was injured by it. It could even have managed to swallow the pure Yang spirit, but it escaped from the fire bird’s body, leaving behind that shockingly large hole!

The fire bird came out of the burning hell to treat its wounds. Now, it had come back once again, precisely for the pure Yang spirit.

“I actually tried to grab food from this monster’s mouth…If it discovered my intentions, it would tear me to pieces regardless of anything.”

Yi Yun felt some fear. Thankfully, he had his energy vision. In the burning hell, the perception of all desolate beasts were weakened. With his energy vision, Yi Yun was able to discover the fire bird early on.

If he had been half a second slower, he would have been left without even a bone!

The fire bird cried as it flapped its wings and flew around wantonly. It set off a fierce storm in the burning hell!

Large amounts of Seven Colored Radiance was swept up. Even though Yi Yun was far away, he still could feel his face burn. His Purple Crystal’s energy protection nearly cracked from the rampaging wind. It was like a fragile egg shell.

“Fearsome!” Yi Yun was filled with shock seeing the battle between the fire bird and the pure Yang spirit.

Yi Yun had no way of resisting such an existence in front of him.

Even though the fire bird had been seriously injured due to it swallowing the pure Yang spirit, its remaining strength went far and beyond what Yi Yun could handle.

Yi Yun still remembered that the fire bird was still able to instantly kill two fire monkeys even with a large gaping hole in its back.

He could only wait here till the fire bird swallowed the pure Yang spirit, or it leaving after it failed to devour the pure Yang spirit once again.

Only when the fire bird left, then Yi Yun could come out. As for what he could do once he stopped hiding, he had no clue. He would probably carry on studying the esoteric light blob array that might take him months and years to understand it.

Yi Yun also felt helpless when he thought of this. He had only himself to blame for his weakness. As for all the fortuitous opportunities he had encountered in the burning hell, he could get nothing from them. The fire bird got to eat meat, but he did not even get the chance to get any left overs.

As Yi Yun sighed, his limbs suddenly froze as he felt something in his heart.

He felt that an instant ago, a murderous intent surged towards him, locking on to his position!

“What is it!?”

Yi Yun probed back as a reflex and in his energy vision, there was no other desolate beast lurking in a five kilometer radius. There was only the fire bird and the pure Yang spirit!

It was the murderous intent that the fire bird emitted. It had discovered him!

Yi Yun gasped. He never expected the fire bird to discover him who was completely hiding his presence while it was fighting with the pure Yang spirit.

It actually had such keen senses!?

Yes, this fire bird had lived for tens of thousands of years. It may not be able to speak, but it was highly intelligent.

It knew that it was weakest when it swallowed the pure Yang spirit. If it was severely injured, near to the point of death, even a desolate beast at the level of a fire monkey could kill it.

As such, it did not allow any threat to its existence be near it, in order to prevent a third party from benefiting from its struggles with the pure Yang spirit.

Hence, as it was fighting with the pure Yang spirit, its senses were at its sharpest. When it scanned its surroundings carefully, it found Yi Yun!

295 - : Pure Yang Spirit

Yi Yun’s palm was covered in cold sweat. It was like he had been dropped into an ice pit!

What do I do now?

He did not know how long the battle between the fire bird and the pure Yang spirit would last. And no matter whether it won or it was defeated, this place would become his burial ground if he carried on staying here!

Escape!

This was Yi Yun’s first thought, but where could he escape to?

This burning hell was extremely deep and it was fraught with dangers. When Yi Yun descended into this place, he used the Purple Crystal’s vision to avoid all the desolate beasts and proceeded bit by bit.

If he tried to escape out of here and use the turtle speed he used to avoid desolate beasts, then no matter how far he ran, he would be chased by the fire bird to his death.

If his speed was too fast, then he would very likely rush into danger and be killed by other desolate beasts!

Yi Yun quickly thought of the possibilities. This was the biggest crisis he had encountered ever since he came into this world!

The fire bird’s murderous intent locked on to Yi Yun without fail. Yi Yun stopped hiding as it was pointless at this point in time.

Taking advantage of the battle between the fire bird and the pure Yang spirit, Yi Yun leaped up and no matter what, he had to first open a gap between him and the fire bird. At least this would give him the opportunity to respond.

“Phew–Phew–Phew–”

Below the burning hell, there were tumultuous winds blowing wantonly. The battle between the fire bird and the pure Yang spirit became more intense. If Yi Yun was to be embroiled in this storm, he would be pulverized!

He had climbed to a height of 300 meters, yet his body still swayed as he was blown by the strong winds.

In the process of escaping into the exterior, Yi Yun continued to use the energy vision to observe the battle between the fire bird and the pure Yang spirit. He was paying attention to every detail. He wanted to see if the fire bird would reveal any flaws, or maybe be killed by the pure Yang spirit.

But Yi Yun was disappointed. The fire bird seemed to gradually gain the upperhand.

It pecked again and again, almost devouring the pure Yang spirit.

“Oh? That light blob…”

In Yi Yun’s energy vision, not only was the fire bird projected in it. The hundred light blobs on the stone wall was also projected into his vision.

Yi Yun realized that no matter how strong the wind blew, the hundred light blobs did not move. Their energy did not even fluctuate as if it was unaffected by the stormy winds.

At this moment, Yi Yun’s life was on the line. Originally, he was not in the right mind to bother about these light blobs, but as he was at a distance of 300 meters away, he had changed his angle, allowing him to realize that the black and red light blobs, that did not seem to obey any rules, were scattered in a proper manner upon closer inspection. Neighboring light blobs were a fixed distance away from each other. And the distance between light blobs that were far away from each other was an integral multiplier of this shortest distance.

This is…

With a sweep of his perception, Yi Yun realized that the number of light blobs was not 100, but 99.

50 of the light blobs were pure black in color, while 49 light blobs were dark red. There was not one more or less.

Could it be…

Yi Yun suddenly felt enlightened. As he took advantage of the fire bird’s preoccupation with devouring the pure Yang spirit, Yi Yun carried on going to a higher height. From a higher height, he looked at the light blob array below him from a different angle.

The 99 light blobs could be seen in its entirety with his eyes. They shimmered above the dark red rocks. Their faint glow branded deep in Yi Yun’s iris.

An idea flashed like lightning in Yi Yun’s mind.

He suddenly realized that these 99 light blobs that formed an array was actually…a board game!

50 black pieced and 49 red pieces. They were placed on a square lattice. They were interlaced with each other, forming some sort of pattern!

Board game…

Was this board game the secret behind Fallen Star Gate?

Yi Yun’s heart raced. If he were to crack this board game, maybe the secrets of Meteorite Abyss would be revealed to him!

He glanced at the fire bird who was fighting the pure Yang spirit and then at the board game. Various thoughts flashed through his mind.

Escaping further up was basically a path that led to death. If he did not get chased by the fire bird, he would be killed by other desolate beasts as he haphazardly chose routes.

Then, it was better to risk it all and see if he could crack the board game!

The board game in front of him looked like Go. Although Yi Yun had some experience with Go, his skills at it was definitely not good enough to break the difficulty level of such a mysterious board setup. Besides, the way it was played in this world might be different from the Go in Yi Yun’s previous life.

That was to say, it was impossible for Yi Yun to crack the Go game with his skills. He was completely at a loss as to what the next step was in this game.

“Xiao!”

At this moment, he heard a shrill call that pierced throughout the burning hell. Yi Yun turned his head and saw the fire bird’s body burn in golden-red flames. It seemed to be consuming itself in flames and the flames that rose behind its back formed the image of a three-legged Golden Crow!

“Three-legged Golden Crow!”

Yi Yun was shocked. The three-legged Golden Crow was a legendary primordial divine beast.

“Ten Suns from Fusang, Who Masters Pure Yang!”

This was one of the phrases in the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ general principles. The so-called ‘Ten Suns from Fusang’ referred to the ten Suns that rose above the Fusang tree. And in each Sun, there was one three-legged Golden Crow!

The Golden Crow was a personification of a Sun, and it was a spiritual embodiment of pure Yang. This fire bird could condense a Golden Crow proved that it had a trace of the ancient Golden Crow’s bloodline!

This fire bird was a Golden Crow species!

A Golden Crow species was able to express its greatest combat power in this burning hell because it was filled with pure Yang energy!

It had used its ancestor’s blood lineage, proving that this Golden Crow species was beginning to go all out!

Yi Yun held his breath. The time he had left was reducing.

With the Golden Crow going all out, there would be an outcome in a short period of time, regardless of the outcome.

But could he break the array in such a short amount of time?

Yi Yun adjusted his thoughts as he suppressed the panic within him. He looked at the large chessboard from several hundred meters high.

Calm down… I need to calm down!

Yi Yun calmed down and realized that in the energy vision, the energy contained within the black and red pieces were distinct from each other.

The red pieces represented pure Yang energy, while the black pieces sealed within cold Yin energy!

Yin energy…

Yi Yun quickly thought over it. Although Meteorite Abyss was filled with pure Yang energy to an extreme, it also had extreme Yin energy. The ice rive and the deep pool illustrated that point.

This was also the reason why Chu Xiaoran could train in Meteorite Abyss!

There were opposing principles behind matter, and pure Yang gave rise to Yin! A pure Yang mountain valley also contained pure Yin. This created a form of balance.

Yi Yun looked at the board game below him where energy surged chaotically within. The 99 pieces and every piece’s situation was reflected within Yi Yun’s mind.

At the moment of life and death, humans would fall into two extremes. One was extreme panic, resulting in restlessness or to the point of a mental breakdown. Everything would fail as a result.

The other was extreme calmness. One’s brain would become clearer than ever before.

And now, Yi Yun was the latter.

His mind was now so calm that he had abandoned all human emotions.

Even the surrounding environment had disappeared for Yi Yun. The strong winds and the flames of the burning hell, the intense battle between the pure Yang spirit and the Golden Crow species had been forgotten by Yi Yun.

He only had the 99 pieces and their chaotic energy flow in his mind.

After controlling the Purple Crystal for so long, Yi Yun’s had extraordinary acute intuition with regards to energy!

Energy without constraints would flow in accordance to its natural laws. Its natural flow would form the most perfect and harmonious picture in the universe.

As for the board game in front of him, there was a point which was disharmonious in 99 spots of energy flow.

With the Purple Crystal’s vision, Yi Yun could drill right down to the energy origins, allowing the disharmony to become ever increasingly clear!

The Yin and Yang were in an imbalance!

Yi Yun’s mind flashed.

The 99 pieces, of which 50 were pure Yin, while 49 were pure Yang.

Yin flourished while Yang was declined!

And in Fallen Star Gate, the burning hell was a place where Yang flourished while Yin declined.

There was a possibility that this board game and Fallen Star Gate would form a perfect balance.

But there was an energy that was lacking, preventing this balance from being established…

Yi Yun’s mind became clearer. In his vision, even his body had disappeared.

The energy that the 99 pieces and Fallen Star Gate lacked when combined was clearly understood by Yi Yun!

Yi Yun was enlightened suddenly. He roared as the Purple Crystal within him formed a huge energy swirl. All the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi gathered towards Yi Yun!

Yi Yun’s eyes were like stars. After locking on in one direction, his body quickly rushed there!

The 99 pieces and their energies were lacking one. He had to use his body to fill the gap!

Yi Yun used the Purple Crystal to guide him as he brought the surging energy, finally landing on the board!

That moment, Yi Yun’s body turned into a game piece.

The 100th piece!

99 plus 1 was 100.

Nine Nine returns to One!

Nine was the extreme number. And nine nine was a number of utmost importance. Adding one to nine nine returned back to one. It was the same as reincarnation.

This was a perfect balance!

Yi Yun was the most critical “one”.

When Yi Yun brought this lacking energy to inject into this board array. The entire array turned silent suddenly.

The 99 light blobs suddenly darkened.

The energy circulated as the array dimmed. It was like the calm before the storm.

Yi Yun held his breath and looked at the 99 light blobs as they slowly sank into the ground.

“Boom!”

The entire stone wall began to tremor as rocks broke up, spewing pure Yang out!

A heavy bronze door slowly emerged from the ground. It emitted an old but infinitely vast presence.

Yi Yun was deeply shocked by this presence. As he looked at the door, he felt that in front of it, he was as tiny as an ant.

It was at a completely different level!

On the door, there were ancient engravings that revealed the four divine beasts. They were the;

Five-clawed Golden Dragon, Rainbow Phoenix, Fire Qi Lin and Three-legged Golden Crow!

The four divine beasts formed pairs. Everyone of the engraved lines contained some great Dao law to it. Just a glance at it filled one with shock.

“What is this…”

Yi Yun felt that he was standing in front of a gate to another world. If he pushed open the door, he would enter another world!

296 - : Breaking the Array! Nine Nine Returns to One

“Boom!”

As Yi Yun approached the bronze door, the door opened with a rumble!

Suddenly, a forceful presence that seemed to contain the universe’s great Dao origins surged forward.

At the same time, a seven-colored whirlpool was forming in the pure Yang burning hell, sucking the seven-colored radiance towards the large door!

Bathed in this surging energy, Yi Yun did not hesitate and quickly rushed into the bronze doorway.

Not far away, the Golden Crow species, who was battling the pure Yang spirit, was alarmed by the bronze door.

It looked in disbelief at the scene in front of its eyes. It had stayed in the burning hell for tens of thousands of years, and it never knew that there was such a door in the deep ends of the burning hell!

In the split second the Golden Crow species was slightly distracted, the pure Yang spirit’s attack burnt a large patch of its feathers.

The Golden Crow species let out an alarming scream as it retreated.

The pure Yang spirit may have been sentient, but it was all instinct and no wisdom. It did not know what the sudden opening of the bronze door meant.

It had been attacked by the Golden Crow species and it had instinctively counter-attacked. Other than that, everything else that happened in its surroundings had no significant meaning to it.

The Golden Crow species had no way of making an agreement with the pure Yang spirit to probe the bronze door together.

Seeing the puny human being enter the bronze door to explore the secrets within, the Golden Crow species was in a rage!

In its mind, this part of pure Yang burning hell was its territory. Everything within this territory belonged to it. This bronze door that suddenly appeared was its, including everything within.

How could it allow a puny human to plunder its items?

The Golden Crow roared as it tried to break away from the pure Yang spirit and kill that puny human first.

But the pure Yang spirit was like a maggot that latched on. It continuously burnt the Golden Crow species’ feathers and flesh!

If the Golden Crow retreated ever so slightly, it would launch a fierce attack, preventing the Golden Crow species from escaping.

The Golden Crow species may be strong, but the pure Yang spirit was not something easy to handle either. It was an existence that even human sages had difficulty refining!

The Golden Crow species was both anxious and furious. It was unable to break away from the pure Yang spirit completely. It was also afraid that the benefits past the bronze door would be taken away by Yi Yun.

It gave out a sharp scream as it burnt a bit of its pure Yang blood.

Burning pure Yang blood would temporarily give the Golden Crow species a burst of immense strength, but the after-effects would make it extremely weak and exhausted for a long period of time!

At this moment, the Golden Crow species could not care less.

The flames burning on its body burned more fiercely as its strength rose to an extreme in an instant.

“Xiao!”

The Golden Crow species let out a shrill cry as it extended its sharp claw and swiped at the pure Yang spirit without any regard.

It used this attack method of harming a 1000 enemies, while sacrificing 800 to quickly end the match!

Chi! Chi! Chi!

The pure Yang spirit charred a large portion of the Golden Crow species’ flesh and blood, but the Golden Crow species ignored its injuries as it grabbed the pure Yang spirit and swallowed it!

Previously, it had used the same method to swallow the pure Yang spirit, but as it did not deplete the pure Yang spirit of its energy, the pure Yang spirit was able to burn a hole through its body.

It had learnt from its mistakes. The Golden Crow species knew that using this method to kill the pure Yang spirit was extremely difficult.

But it had no other choice. It had gone all out burning its blood and with the burning flame that came out of it, it managed to temporarily suppress the pure Yang spirit.

It had to take this opportunity to kill that human first!

The human was weak and it could kill him in an instant. Following that, it could slowly deal with the pure Yang spirit within its stomach.

In this way, it could swallow the pure Yang spirit and also kill that human, obtaining the exclusive opportunities within the bronze door!

“Xiao!”

The Golden Crow species let out a sharp cry as it flew towards the bronze door!

…

At this moment, Yi Yun had rushed into the world behind the bronze door.

Phew–

A misty light flashed as Yi Yun felt he had passed through a transparent membrane. His eyes lit up and what he saw in front of him was shocking!

What was within the door was not some immortal cave that Yi Yun was expecting.

This was a real world. It had mountains, rivers, lakes and forests.

The only thing was that the mountains had collapsed, the rivers were broken, the lakes were dry and the forests withered…

Everything he saw was shocking!

This was a broken world!

Yi Yun ran on the ground. There was ancient but pure Yuan Qi in the air. It made Yi Yun feel like his body was going through a cleansing baptism.

It was not hard to imagine that this world was once a tremendous place, but now, there was nothing here.

Yi Yun could not be bothered with exploring this broken world in detail. He used all his strength to run, hoping to find a glimmer of hope in this world!

The bronze door had opened, but it did not close. Yi Yun did not know when it would close, but it meant that the Golden Crow species would chase after him at any time.

Without touching the ground, Yi Yun jumped across a dried up lake. On the edge of the dried up lake, there was a collapsed celestial palace.

The ancient stone walls had already cracked but it still gave off a luster that was like jade. It seemed like infinite time was not enough to leave a mark on these stone walls.

Even a celestial palace had collapsed…

Yi Yun was greatly shocked seeing this. Seeing the remnants of the building, it was as if there were still lingering sentiments, experiencing thousands of years without dispersing. Even after becoming a ruin, it still gave one a feeling of greatness and a forbidding presence.

It was hard to imagine how grand this place was in its past.

It could even be the palace of a Great Emperor.

Yi Yun did not dare to stay put. He went around the collapsed site, and behind it, there was a dried up river bed.

This river was tens of kilometers wide, and had been dried up for an unknown number of years. According to Yi Yun’s understanding, once a river dried up, it would slowly be filled by dust and sand, eventually completely losing any trace of it.

But this river was not like that.

As he looked down at the river bed, Yi Yun felt his heart go cold.

There were bones piled in this river.

The bones were mostly from unknown creatures. Some of the bones were extremely huge, as if they were the size of mountain ridges as they laid in the river bed.

There were also bones the size of dogs and cats that were half-buried in the ground.

Amongst them, there were human bones. Some of the bones even sparkled. There was pure Yang Qi seeping out from the bone, slowly dispersing into the environment…

If a bone could still shine after experiencing thousands of years, it showed how strong the person was while they were alive.

But such a person and all these powerful creatures were now all dead…

Even the world was on the brink of destruction!

Yi Yun did not know what this world had experienced or how big it was.

According to the books, the history behind Meteorite Abyss was that a huge star had fallen into the Divine wilderness, smashing Meteorite Abyss open.

If so, this world could not be too big, or the entire Divine wilderness would also disappear.

Maybe what crashed down was just an edge of a broken world…

Then, what had happened to the original world? Why would a fragment of that world pass through the vast universe and finally crash into the Divine wilderness?

Yi Yun found it hard to believe, but he was sure that the past residents of this world were all extraordinary existences!

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was nothing compared to them.

Although there were many such thoughts flying through Yi Yun’s mind, he did not slow down at all.

Oh? That is…

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. He saw a mountain far in the distance.

The mountain peak protruded like a divine sword piercing through the blue sky.

And at the top of the snow-capped mountain, there was a palace!

It was a complete palace that had not collapsed!

The entire palace gave off a faint glow, making one feel relaxed and happy.

“A mountain that has not crumbled and it is a complete palace on the mountain!”

Yi Yun held his breath. Could there be inheritance left behind by mighty figures in the palace?

Yi Yun increased his speed as he hurtled towards the palace.

At this moment, Yi Yun suddenly heard a sharp shrill behind him.

Turning his head, he saw the Golden Crow species spreading its wings as it flew towards him while screaming.

Its body was in flames as it traveled at a shocking speed!

The Golden Crow species had rage in its eyes. It seemed like it wanted to tear Yi Yun to pieces!

“Trouble!”

Yi Yun felt his skin go numb. At this moment, the Golden Crow species was chasing him. With its speed, it might catch up to him before he reached the celestial palace!

Yi Yun gritted his teeth and raised his speed to an extreme.

The Golden Crow species was in hot pursuit behind him.

297 - : The Broken World

Author’s note: It seems many people have misunderstood. Let me explain the lengths used in the book. We are using the lengths of ancient times. One feet is 23cm, one zhang is 10 feet, which is 2.3m. Yi Yun’s Thousand Army Saber’s blade is 6 feet long, which is 1.38m. With the hilt, the entire saber is 7 feet 2 inches long, which is 1.65m. It is taller than twelve-year-old Yi Yun’s height.

Yi Yun’s movement skills had reached the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, so his speed exceeded everyone else amongst the warriors at the same level as him. But, compared to the Golden Crow species, it was nothing worth mentioning.

With the absolute power gap between them, their speeds were not even on the same order of magnitude.

No matter how fast Yi Yun went, compared to the Golden Crow species, he was as slow as a tortoise.

“Xiao!”

The Golden Crow species cried out as it stretched out its wings to charge at Yi Yun. It reached out with its sharp claws, wanting to claw Yi Yun to death. But, just at that moment, the flying Golden Crow species suddenly stopped as a lump, the size of a face basin, appeared on its back. At the same time, the Golden Crow species coughed out blood, as if it was in extreme pain.

“Peng!”

The Golden Crow species slammed itself heavily onto the ground, crumbling large pieces of rocks, stirring up a storm!

“Oh?”

Yi Yun was shocked. Why did the Golden Crow species suddenly smash itself to the ground?

A thought flashed in his mind as he opened up his energy vision. In the energy vision, the Golden Crow species’ entire body was burning with energy. And within its body, there was another lump of energy which was even brighter.

It was the pure Yang spirit!

Yes, the Golden Crow species had yet to completely overcome the pure Yang spirit. Despite forcefully swallowing the pure Yang spirit, the two entities were still in a life and death battle!

The only difference was that the battlefield had now changed to a venue inside the Golden Crow species’ own body!

One side wanted to refine the pure Yang spirit, while the other side’s energy was injected into the Golden Crow species’ meridians, attempting to burn the Golden Crow species to death!

Neither of the two pure Yang elemental creatures were something Yi Yun could handle!

Although a large portion of the Golden Crow species’ strength was used to deal with the pure Yang spirit, it still just needed a single attack to behead Yi Yun.

Yi Yun felt that he would not make it, seeing that the palace was still a dozen kilometers away. He turned around and charged towards the dried up lake!

Below the huge lake were bones of unknown creatures!

These bones had undergone the passing of an unknown period of time. Although they looked like they were nearly decayed, the bones still shone in a jade-like luster.

Yi Yun ran through the bones.

Some of the bones were as large as mountains, so big that even a near-horn beast could run between the cracks of the bones, but there were also some that were similar to human bones. They blocked the path but Yi Yun squeezed through the cracks while pushing his Minute Subtlety movement technique to its extremes!

In the bone forest, Yi Yun obtained the greatest cover; while the large Golden Crow, with a wingspan of more than ten meters, would be greatly hampered.

“Ah!”

The Golden Crow species behind him shouted a hoarse cry. It tumbled around as it flew up, chasing after Yi Yun once again.

Seeing the bone forest blocking its path, the Golden Crow species simply ignored it and charged through it like a missile.

“Puah Puah Puah!”

Bones after bones were knocked over by the Golden Crow species, turning to powdery white dust in an instant. The Golden Crow species had a unstoppable momentum!

But after flying for a few second, it suddenly stopped and let out a scream!

A white bone had pierced through the Golden Crow species’ wing like a spear!

“Peng!”

The Golden Crow species fell from the sky, slamming into the bone pile.

One broken bone still looked shiny on the surface, even after thousands of years.

It was this bone that was extremely sharp. Even the Golden Crow species’ wings, which were as strong as black iron, could not defend against its piercing.

The Golden Crow’s body went into violent convulsions as its wounded wing became covered in blood. It took great effort from it to pull out the truncated bone with its beak.

A small stream of blood sprayed out from the wound, covering the Golden Crow species’ face.

The Golden Crow species had grown up in Fallen Star Gate since it was young. It had never encountered such a strong bone before. It looked like it had decayed, yet it was still this strong and sharp. Even without Yuan Qi injected into it, it could actually break through its defense! This exceeded whatever it knew.

It struggled once again to climb up. Within its body, the pure Yang spirit was still burning as it invaded the Golden Crow species’ blood veins and meridians.

The battle between the two pure Yang creatures had reached the ultimate life and death stage.

Seeing the human running further away again, the Golden Crow species’ feathers stood up due to its anger.

Such a tiny creature, which seemed like an ant in its eyes, could have easily been finished off by it, that was why it swallowed the pure Yang spirit, to chase after Yi Yun to kill him.

But, it never expected that the situation would drag out for so long!

The longer the pure Yang spirit was in its body, the more the Golden Crow species felt like it came closer to its death.

It did not have much time left. If it chased after that human again, it could very well be burnt to death by the pure Yang spirit!

Although the Golden Crow species felt that it could easily kill Yi Yun if it chased him and gave him one more attack, it decided not to take the risk.

It was not worth risking its valuable life for a puny human.

Besides, the Golden Crow species had previously burnt its pure Yang blood. It was destined to go all out in its battle with the pure Yang spirit!

It hesitated for a while and decided to focus on dealing with the pure Yang spirit. It wanted to completely devour the pure Yang spirit before it would chase after that cursed human being again.

To the Golden Crow species, swallowing the pure Yang spirit was the most important thing right now. Doing so could allow its body’s blood and veins to become purer, maybe even allowing its body to grow one more limb out.

Then, it would be able to manifest the form of an ancient three-legged Golden Crow!

For this pure Yang spirit, the Golden Crow species had put in a lot of effort over many years. It did not want to fail at the last moment!

But at this moment, the Golden Crow species noticed that the human had run out of the dried up lake and was rushing towards a mountain.

The mountain was like a divine sword that seemed to emerge out of the ground. It was extremely steep, and at the top of the mountain was a palace!

The Golden Crow species did not recognize palaces, but it could vaguely feel the strong presence of the palace. It seemed like there were great opportunities contained within the palace!

If the human entered it and managed to seal the door to the palace, it would not be able to enter! It would miss out on that opportunity!

Upon thinking of this, the Golden Crow species spread out its wings. It was worth it to risk another hundred seconds to first kill the human and secure the opportunities within the palace.

It gave a long cry before flying up into the sky, enduring the wanton destruction in its body by the pure Yang spirit!

One of its wings had been pierced through by the bone, injuring its meridians and bones. This severely affected its speed, but even so, it was still much faster than Yi Yun.

The Golden Crow species used about twenty seconds to easily catch up to Yi Yun.

But at this moment, Yi Yun had rushed into a forest!

The forest was completely dead, full of withered ancient trees. They seemed like broken halberds, piercing into the blue skies.

After thousands of years, any wood would rot, but these ancient trees still remained in this broken world. Even though they had withered, they still stood proudly!

With a once bitten, twice shy attitude, the Golden Crow species did not dare to charge into the forest, despite the wood being rotten. Instead it hovered above the forest.

As such, it was not able to catch Yi Yun.

Yi Yun used the dead forest as cover as it charged towards the palace. However, the Golden Crow species overtook Yi Yun in the air. It circled in the air twice before opening its eagle-like mouth.

“Phew–”

A golden fireball shot out from the Golden Crow species without warning. It was like a meteor falling straight down!

Oh!?

Yi Yun was greatly alarmed. He did not expect the fire bird to have such a move. Naturally, the dead forest was unable to withstand the fireball.

Yi Yun gritted his teeth and pushed his Minute Subtlety large success stage to his limits and changed directions and side stepped.

“Boom!”

The fireball exploded, sending out a powerful shockwave.

Although Yi Yun dodged the frontal assault, he was still affected by the aftermath. He felt an irresistible force hitting him, his body flying out like a piece of straw.

“Peng!”

Yi Yun crashed into a large tree. The tree trunk quivered and Yi Yun felt pain at his back. His fall had nearly caused his organs to twist.

He used the Thousand Army Saber as a support to stand up. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

What a terrible force!

Although the Golden Crow species was a spent force, it was still able launch a fireball attack that left him in such a pathetic state, despite him dodging and only being affected by the aftermath.

“Phew–”

The Golden Crow species folded its wings as it entered the forest, landing in a clearing about nine meters in front of Yi Yun.

The Golden Crow species’ wings were completely covered in blood and its life force was in chaos. Its eyes were not focused and no longer looked as sharp as a hawk. It was clearly near its limits.

In his energy vision, Yi Yun could see that there were two violent energies within the Golden Crow species body, crashing against each other, making its body nearly explode!

This Golden Crow species was not going to be able to endure this any further!

But even in such a state, the Golden Crow species was still not something Yi Yun could handle. A casual strike from it would turn Yi Yun into smithereens.

Conversely, if Yi Yun were to attack the Golden Crow species, even if it stayed motionless, Yi Yun might still not be able to break through the Golden Crow species’ defenses, no matter how he attacked.

This was the hopeless difference in strength.

At this moment, the Golden Crow species’ amber-colored eyes seemed to burn with a flame. It flared up as it stared at Yi Yun!

Two metallic claws, as sharp as blades, grabbed towards Yi Yun!

The pure Yang energy that the claw brought along formed a strong cage, locking Yi Yun within. In his current situation, he was unable to dodge!

A simple scratch would rip Yi Yun’s body apart like tofu!

In that split second, Yi Yun became extremely calm. He took out a sachet he always held close to his body.

On this sachet, there was a “Rou” word embroidered on it. There were well wishes the people of the vast wilderness believed in sewn on the back.

Within the safety sachet was the life-protecting charm left behind by Su Jie!

298 - : Dead Path

Back when Yi Yun first met Su Jie, he had sparred with Lin Xintong. Lin Xintong had suppressed her strength and although she beat Yi Yun, she admitted defeat because she had used her ‘Fairy Maiden Heart Sutra’.

And because of this, Su Jie left Yi Yun two items. One was the Chi Lin beast’s head and the other was a yellow toilet-paper like charm.

Su Jie had previously said that the charm could save Yi Yun’s life at a critical moment.

This was Yi Yun’s last trump card in the Divine wilderness. It was also one of the crutches he relied on to risk entering the burning hell.

At this moment, Yi Yun’s only glimmer of hope while facing against the Golden Crow species was Su Jie’s charm!

“Old man Su, old man Su, you love to take advantage of people, and you have taken advantage of me. Please do not take advantage of me this time!”

Yi Yun prayed in his heart as he injected all his strength into the sachet according to Su Jie’s instructions. He was activating the energy within the charm!

In the dark and lifeless forest, the sachet floated in the air as a yellow charm paper flew out of the sachet. It was like an old moth flying right into the burning pure Yang flames!

The flying moth entering the fire was a collision that was out of proportions. It was as if time had suddenly stopped.

The Golden Crow species’ sharp claws, Yi Yun’s frozen facial expression and the flying yellow piece of paper seemed to freeze in their spots…

“Phew–”

With a light sound, the charm paper burned.

As the charm paper was not eye-catching, the Golden Crow species completely ignored it as it sent its claw attack at Yi Yun.

But at this moment, a golden sword beam came out from the flames of the charm.

It was a half-foot long sword beam. It stabbed at the Golden Crow species at an incredible speed!

The Golden Crow species’ pupils constricted because of its desolate beast instincts, it sensed the impending danger. But at this moment, it was already a spent force. It could not respond in time.

The sword beam was too fast!

“Cha!”

The beam sword went through a gap in the Golden Crow species’ sharp claws as it mercilessly pierced the Golden Crow species’ heart!

“Puah!”

Blood splattered!

The Golden Crow species’ body trembled. Its heart had been penetrated by the sword beam!

Although the sword beam’s force was expended, the energy within continued to enter the Golden Crow species’ body like a maggot!

If the Golden Crow species was in its optimum state, it was still able to suppress this strength.

However, at this moment, this energy together with the pure Yang spirit’s energy became the straw that broke the camel’s back!

“Xiao!”

The Golden Crow species gave out a shrill cry of pain that soared up into the skies! Its body was about to explode!

The first to bear the brunt of it was Yi Yun. He was affected by the sound waves as his eardrums broke, and they were spraying blood!

The pain from both his ears did not affect Yi Yun one bit. At that moment, Yi Yun was extremely calm. With the Thousand Army Saber in hand, his body’s Yuan Qi exploded!

The saber tomb’s 32 words flashed through Yi Yun’s mind. The ultimate saber truths that he had eventually gained insight on merged with his killing intent burst out!

Boom!

Behind Yi Yun, Radiant Sun Qi condensed to form a ghostly image of the Tang valley. There was faint light of the Sun spilling out from it!

At the same moment the beautiful picture was born, the Thousand Army Saber in Yi Yun’s hand gave out a roar. The Thousand Army Saber almost seemed to merge with Yi Yun as one!

The saber was man, and the man was a saber!

“Saber Truth’s 32 Words–One With the Saber!”

Yi Yun and the Thousand Army Saber became a dazzling pure Yang beam as it flew right at the Golden Crow species’ chest!

Although the Golden Crow species was not noted for its defense amongst all the desolate beasts, its feathers were still as tough as blades. It was not something that Yi Yun could break through, and in fact, he would be far from capable in doing so.

Yi Yun’s attack was injected with all his energy. The spot his chose to attack was where the beam sword had split it apart. It was also the Golden Crow species’ heart which had been seriously injured!

“Cha!”

Yi Yun’s attack followed through the Golden Crow species’ wound and stabbed right into its flesh. More than half the 6 foot long saber had penetrated into it!

“Peng!”

The strong impact and the explosive power broke the Thousand Army Saber!

No matter how strong the Golden Crow species was, there was a limit to its flesh’s defenses. The Golden Crow species let out a deathly cry after the saber penetrated it!

Yi Yun felt the weight in his hands disappear. Seeing that the Thousand Army Saber had been broken, he did not hesitate and he used the Minute Subtlety large success stage to retreat!

At the same time, the Golden Crow species’ angry claw had swiped down.

It was the moment of the Golden Crow species’ death, so the attack had slowed down tremendously. It rubbed across Yi Yun’s chest!

But even so, the force wind that came from that attack cut through Yi Yun’s body!

Just the force wind was sufficient to cut through Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi like paper!

Three deep blood marks appeared from Yi Yun’s shoulder to his waist. It had nearly cut Yi Yun apart!

Blood splattered.

Yi Yun flew out as he tumbled roughly on the ground several times. The pain and the loss of blood nearly made Yi Yun faint.

He bit the tip of his tongue to keep himself awake. He knew that fainting here was no different than death.

Yi Yun maintained his energy vision and from it, he saw that the energy within the Golden Crow species was becoming increasingly chaotic.

The pure Yang spirit was still indignant about it as it tried to break through the Golden Crow species’ body!

But the Golden Crow species had already burnt its pure Yang blood and it had lost control at this moment. It was a final confrontation with the pure Yang spirit where the consequences did not matter.

Yi Yun’s continuous attack had pushed the primordial species’ life to the brink. And the chaotic energy within its body was no longer constrained, it was about to break out!

“No good!”

Yi Yun endured the pain as he gritted his teeth. He rolled on the ground to the back of a large tree that was 7-8 meters in diameter.

Almost at the same moment Yi Yun rolled to the back of the large tree, he heard a loud bang.

The pure Yang energy within the Golden Crow species’ body had exploded!

Blood and flesh splattered with its innards completely burnt. The Golden Crow species’ body exploded from the inside!

Its body was extremely tough, so even such an explosion did not blow it to pieces. A large portion of its body was left behind, but it had still been blown into two pieces!

The flesh and blood fragments shot out in all directions together with the shockwave. Yi Yun felt that tree behind him tremble as its tree bark was torn off, its roots breaking and the the tree collapsing.

“Ka-cha!”

With a snap, the large tree that needed about 10 people hugging it to encircle it, broke from the middle as the upper end of the ancient tree crashed to the ground.

Yi Yun hid in the space between the stump and the collapsed trunk, avoiding the crashing down of the tree trunk.

“Puah Puah Puah!”

Wood and flesh dropped to the ground. Everything around Yi Yun was covered in the rain of blood.

It has ended…

In his energy vision, the Golden Crow species was completely dead. Even the pure Yang spirit imprisoned within its body had lost its lifeforce. It seemed like its body was now a candle in the wind, about to extinguish any moment.

Yi Yun was currently seriously injured. His eardrums were broken and there were three gruesome wounds across his chest. His organs had been slashed and he was bleeding internally!

If not for the large tree behind him, Yi Yun would have died from the final explosion.

“This tree…”

Yi Yun touched the withered wood that was old and strong. He was extremely shocked.

What sort of tree was this? Even though it was dead, it could still stand for thousands of years. Even though it had withered, it was able to endure the primordial species’ explosive shockwave!

Although it had eventually snapped, it had saved him from doom.

Yi Yun leaned on the stump. He really did not want to move even a finger. He wanted to just sleep.

But this was not the time to sleep. He still had more important things to do.

Yi Yun’s fingers trembled as he took out a healing relic from his interspatial ring.

This was an expensive healing medicine that he had bought. It could heal the wounds in his organs and the injury to his ear drums.

After swallowing the healing relic with difficulty, Yi Yun felt a warmth flow permeating his body. It flowed from his Dantian to every end of his body, rejuvenating his broken body.

With the healing relic, Yi Yun managed to recover some Yuan Qi.

After that, Yi Yun took out some expensive herbs to smear on his wounds.

Yi Yun was using the best herbs within his interspatial ring, regardless of cost.

He wanted to recover quickly. He needed to be in a relatively good state to complete his next task.

After about ten seconds, Yi Yun stood up while holding on to the trunk. He walked to the Golden Crow species’ corpse.

Taking a deep breath, Yi Yun clenched his fists.

This was an extremely critical moment!

‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ was a totem mystic technique that Yi Yun nearly wanted to give up on, but now, he saw a glimmer of hope!

To condense an Aspect Totem with the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, the requirement was to kill a primordial species. Previously, Yi Yun had killed all sorts of pure Yang desolate beasts and absorbed their energies, but they were a fraction of what was needed to condense an Aspect Totem.

But now, Yi Yun finally had a chance!

Closing his eyes as he focused, Yi Yun sent his perception into the Purple Crystal Origins.

The sutras of the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ flowed across Yi Yun’s mind, and with the Purple Crystal Origins, Yi Yun was able to achieve the stringent requirements of the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’.

Yi Yun’s hands started to form seals as the pure Yang energy within the Golden Crow species’ corpse was extracted bit by bit.

Condensing a primordial species’ beast mark was easier said than done.

But with the Purple Crystal’s help, as long as it was energy without an owner, there were no problems and even if the energy was difficult to control, he could control it.

Within the quiet dead forest, a golden light appeared as if a phoenix was consuming itself in death.

At the same moment, the pure Yang energy contained within the pure Yang spirit that was almost dispersing was also sucked out by the Purple Crystal. It merged into the beast mark that was almost formed. It was an unexpected combination.

The pure Yang spirit danced around in the golden light like a flame.

The golden light within the forest become richer as if there was a heavenly treasure about to be born.

If this scene was seen by others, it would have been shocking. Because even when sages advanced their Aspect Totem, it would not have such divine light!

From within the golden light, a fire bird flew out. It had a hawk’s beak as its mouth, a crow’s eyes, red wings and three legs!

Three-legged Golden Crow!

Maybe it was due to its ancestral bloodline, or because of the pure Yang spirit’s injection, it was because the Golden Crow species’ beast mark actually was in the form of a three-legged Golden Crow!

This made Yi Yun pleasantly surprised. A three-legged Golden Crow’s beast mark was enough to allow him to condense his own Aspect Totem!

299 - : The counter-attack while in extreme danger

In the surging golden light, Yi Yun could feel thick, pure Yang Qi, as if the Sun itself was gushing it out. Holding his breath, he used the Purple Crystal to control the beast mark before slowly merging it into his body.

“Chi!”

The pure Yang energy burned and Yi Yun felt as if he had been thrown into a fire furnace, where the flames in the fire furnace were from those of the scorching Sun!

The seven-colored pure Yang energy was like a surging wave, recklessly passing through Yi Yun’s body, making him feel as if his meridians were burning with fire!

Yi Yun could feel every meridian and pore of his body gush out pure Yang Qi.

It’s too painful!

To be placed in a fire furnace, allowing himself to be burnt was a pain that did not need describing!

Yi Yun gritted his teeth as he expected the pain. With his body and cultivation level, how could it not be painful to experience the primordial species’ beast mark’s surge through his meridians?

Yi Yun sat down with his legs crossed. All of his muscles were trembling and convulsing. Behind him, a seven colored radiance arose, condensing into the image of a Golden Crow with reddish-gold feathers. Slowly it was merged with Yi Yun’s body bit by bit.

Suddenly, Yi Yun felt a burning pain coming from his blood and bone marrow.

It was like his blood, flowing within his blood vessels, had been replaced by magma.

This is…

In his energy vision, Yi Yun could clearly see that it came from the Golden Crow species’ pure Yang energy. It was continuously absorbed by his blood and marrow.

After his purplish red blood absorbed a large amount of the Golden Crow species’ pure Yang energy, it slowly started to turn a little golden in color.

His bone marrow also began to emit a golden sheen.

Could this be…

Yi Yun’s mind flashed.

Pure Yang body!

This was the pure Yang body Elder Cang Yan mentioned!

The pure Yang spirit could allow a person’s body to transform, towards the final outcome of a pure Yang body.

And after Yi Yun swallowed the Golden Crow species’ beast mark, with the two compounded together, he was now slowly starting to gain the property of a pure Yang body.

Yi Yun recalled that when Cang Yan introduced the cultivation record of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, he mentioned Pure Yang Immortal. Although he did not have the Purple Crystal, he only took 20 days to master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

The only reason for this was because he had a pure Yang body, allowing him to learn the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ with ease.

That person later created the Pure Yang Palace, becoming one of the mightiest figures in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Pure Yang bodies had different grades. The purer the body, the higher one’s cultivation level talent would be.

Yi Yun knew that he was at the beginning stages of the pure Yang body. Compared to Pure Yang Immortal’s body, he was still a good distance away.

However, this was enough to make Yi Yun become extremely excited.

Everything was difficult in the beginning. With this early beginnings of a pure Yang body, as long as his cultivation level increased over time, and as long as he could find even more pure Yang treasures in the future, then his body would become purer, eventually reaching an extreme.

Lin Xintong’s pure Yin body was at an extreme.

Yi Yun believed that in the future, he too would become an extreme, with a pure Yang body.

And what was most important was that, after successfully obtaining a pure Yang body, Yi Yun’s talent would slowly change.

Yi Yun had tunneled through to this world into a vast wilderness’ youth’s body. This youth was too normal, be it his bones or physique.

With the Purple Crystal helping him, Yi Yun had no lack in energy. However, his constitution was severely limited. There was a limit to how much one could handle, despite having all the energy in the world. Now, with Yi Yun gaining a pure Yang body, he would slowly feel the tremendous pace of cultivating in the future.

As time passed, the pure Yang body gave Yi Yun joy. The pain from the pure Yang flames burning his meridians had weakened. Without realizing it, the pure Yang energy within his Dantian had reached its maximum capacity.

“Pacha!”

Yi Yun heard a soft sound. His Dantian suddenly quivered, as if it had suddenly enlarged in size in an instant. The pure Yang energy became part of Yi Yun’s original energy.

His strength broke through the middle stages of Purple Blood, directly into the late stages of Purple Blood!

And that was not the end. Yi Yun could feel his energy surging, all the way to the peak of the late stages of Purple Blood, before it slowly lost its momentum.

This could be said to due to his well-grounded foundation. Yi Yun had stayed in the mid-stages of Purple Blood for too long, so when he broke through, he went straight to the peak of Purple Blood.

At the moment Yi Yun’s cultivation level reached the peak of the late stages of Purple Blood, a foggy, burning image appeared behind him. This foggy image was that of a Golden Crow. It became clearer and clearer as it grew in size, its body grew to the size of more than 10 meters, while its wingspan was nearly 30 meters long!

And this Golden Crow image had a third leg, its head was that of a crow’s and its beak was that of a hawk’s. It was the same as the legendary Golden Crow!

This was Yi Yun’s Aspect Totem, the ancient three-legged Golden Crow!

Yi Yun stood up. As he did not use the Purple Crystal to control energy while all of this was happening, all of his clothes had been burned clean from his body.

He now stood naked in the dead forest and the Golden Crow image behind him spread its wings as it was about to begin flying!

Such a lifelike Aspect Totem was as if a real Golden Crow was standing there. It gave off a great sense of oppression!

The Golden Crow stood behind Yi Yun as its eyes flashed. Its body was burning with flames like surging waves. This shocking scene was impossible to describe!

In contrast, back when Chu Xiaoran condensed a Glacier Snow Wolf image, it was about 4-5 meters tall, and its body was also much more fuzzy. It was a shadowy image, nothing like a real desolate beast.

If the Glacier Snow Wolf was to be placed in front of this Golden Crow, the contrast in body size would be like that of a field mouse against a goshawk.

“This is my Aspect Totem, the Aspect Totem formed from the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’!”

Yi Yun looked up at the large three-legged Golden Crow and a sense of pride surged through him.

With this Golden Crow aspect totem, he could fly freely in the sky!

“The ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ is indeed a top grade totem mystic technique. I only killed one primordial species and was able to condense such a strong Aspect Totem. Of course, to have such an effect has a lot to do with the Purple Crystal. Besides, I also managed to absorb a lot of the essence of the pure Yang spirit, that is also part of the reason.”

Back when Cang Yan showed the three totem mystic techniques to Yi Yun, the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’ was likely the most powerful one.

“Right, the pure Yang spirit!”

Yi Yun only formed the beast mark just now. Although he had absorbed a large portion of the pure Yang spirit’s essence, Yi Yun did not absorb the pure Yang spirit’s body.

Yi Yun opened his energy vision and looked around.

He quickly discovered the pure Yang spirit hidden in the Golden Crow species’ corpse. It seemed to have already lost its life force.

After being nurtured in the pure Yang burning hell for tens of thousands of years it slowly formed a sentience, but now, it was nearly wiped away.

Yi Yun injected his spiritual energy into the Purple Crystal, sucking out the pure Yang spirit. Slowly, it flew towards Yi Yun.

At this moment, the pure Yang spirit had completely lost its ability to resist.

“Whew!”

The pure Yang spirit entered Yi Yun’s body, going straight into the Purple Crystal. Finally, it was sealed inside the interior of the Purple Crystal.

“Oh? This is…”

Seeing the pure Yang spirit fly into the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun was shocked. He noticed that on the Purple Crystal, there was a mark that had mysteriously appeared.

This mark was that of a Golden Crow!

“I have absorbed the Golden Crow beast mark, and there’s a Golden Crow mark on the Purple Crystal. There’s actually such a thing…”

Yi Yun found it fascinating. It seems like the Purple Crystal still had many secrets which were just waiting for him to uncover them.

When the pure Yang spirit was absorbed into the Purple Crystal, it began to get nourished by the Purple Crystal’s energy, allowing it recover some Yuan Qi. As such, it began to slowly burn yet again.

This feeling was weird. Yi Yun felt like there was an additional flame within his body.

“The pure Yang spirit has been sealed within the Purple Crystal…” Seeing this situation, Yi Yun was overjoyed. With the pure Yang spirit within the Purple Crystal, he could continuously draw strength from the pure Yang spirit.

Also, the Purple Crystal would slowly nourish the pure Yang spirit, allowing it grow stronger.

With this, he had another trump card.

With his cultivation level reaching the late stages of Purple Blood, condensing a Golden Crow Aspect Totem, and now, the additional energy from a pure Yang spirit, this trip made into the burning hell increased Yi Yun’s strength by several times.

“I wonder what my ranking will be if I were to attempt challenging the Earth roll.”

Yi Yun was looking forward to it. But now was not the time for him to return to the Tai Ah Divine City. He still had to explore this mysterious world.

Yi Yun turned his head around and looked at the mountain’s towering peak. There, a palace stood proudly. The mystery hanging around it made him feel like it contained truths that were equal to Heaven.

300 - : Yi Yun’s Aspect Totem

Yi Yun took out a set of clothes from his interspatial ring, after putting them on he rapidly moved towards the palace.

This sword-like mountain did not look high, but when he tried climbing it, Yi Yun could feel that the mountain seemed to possess some sort of magical power. The distance up the mountain seemed to have lengthened. He climbed for 2 hours before reaching the peak.

On the mountain peak, the winds howled. Yi Yun overlooked the land beneath him, but he felt that everything he saw seemed to be shrouded in a hazy mist, making it all look lifeless.

And at the entrance of the palace, the large bronze door had been sealed shut. This world was once again isolated.

This unknown fragment of a world contained powers far beyond the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s, but the only thing it contained which was still intact was this palace. Everything else had faded away with time.

Yi Yun turned around and looked at the palace.

The shape of the palace was like a divine sword pierced through the sky.

Around the palace, there were four thick columns with engravings carved on them.

Yi Yun quietly walked to the columns and looked at the engravings.

The engravings were all connected together as a whole. Some of the scenes in the engravings startled Yi Yun.

He saw a divine dragon, locked up in chains. He saw all-powerful human Great Emperors being suppressed and a peerless expert shattering a world.

Amongst this, there was a great war scene where two sides were battling out. They were clearly of different races. One side was riding on primordial desolate beasts, while the other side was riding on powerful magical weapons.

“Could this world fragment’s downfall have anything to do with the great war recorded in these engravings…?”

Yi Yun looked at each scene carefully, marveling at at the grand scene. It was hard to imagine how wide this world was.

He felt that the world he had seen was just a drop in a sea.

Even sages in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, how much of this world have they managed to explore?

After passing the huge pillars, Yi Yun came before the palace. He raised his head and saw that, at the top of the palace, there was a golden plaque. There were words on the plaque that seemed to have been erased. There were only a few intermittent strokes left, emitting an aggressive aura.

As he approached the palace, Yi Yun started to feel an indescribable sense of oppression. This pressure on his senses was not only on his flesh, but also on his mental facilities.

It seemed like this invisible strength was suppressing Yi Yun’s energy circulation and all his life-bearing activities.

His heart, breaths, blood flow, and even his thoughts had all slowed down.

A black stone statue stood about 300 meters in front of the palace’s entrance. The statue was about 30 meters tall and was that of a tall and large middle-aged man. His face was covered by a black-red helmet and his eyes looked as deep as the star-filled universe. He had a sword behind his back.

Although there was only a statue there, it emitted an ancient wild aura that belonged to that of a peerless expert. The aura spread out in all directions, as well as up into the sky. For some reason, it left Yi Yun especially shaken.

Behind the statue, there was a fragmented black stone pillar. The words on the stone pillar looked as if they had been carved out using a sword. They were written in a crisp and powerful manner, as if the energy would seep out from the stone pillar.

As he read these words, it was as if an image of a refined person holding a sword had appeared before him.

Was this stone pillar carved by the middle-aged man the statue depicted?

Yi Yun looked at the words on the stone pillar. The way the words were written was different from how words were written in the present, but Yi Yun had read ancient books, like the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ and the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, so he was able to understand these words.

On the stone pillar were the words, “Establishing the Seven Kills Stone Pillar, announcing my will! Waiting for the future, when the heavens collapse, the non-existence of the universe, me as the world, control over life and death, destroying the cycle of reincarnation, obtaining the souls of everything, casting my sword, spilling my immortal blood, to slaughter all evil demons! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!”

There were seven “kill” words, each more shocking than the other!

Seven Kills Stone Pillar!

Yi Yun took a deep breath of air. Just reading these few lines of words made him experience a monstrous murderous intent. It seemed like this person had infinite amounts of hate which pushed him to destroy all of existence.

“What sort of person was this? To think that he wrote on the stone pillar that he was waiting for the day when the heavens collapsed, leading to the universe ceasing to exist and then become a world himself, taking control over life and death… This formidable intent…”

Yi Yun was secretly horrified. The person who made this pillar was amazing.

Yi Yun looked at the top of the stone pillar. The stone pillar was about 9 meters thick, and its top had been shaved off by a sword, leaving an extremely smooth, flat surface.

When Yi Yun walked to the back of the stone pillar, he was even more appalled. The attack that had shaved off the stone pillar continued on down its back. There was a long, black gap that became wider as it went deeper.

As he looked down towards this ravine, Yi Yun became even more shocked.

This attack had extended to the rear of the sword-like mountain all the way down the mountain’s base. It had been split all the way down.

A gap had been cleanly cut through the mountain, which was thousands of meters tall, spreading into the land. A canyon had been cut out in the lifeless land by that sword attack. The canyon was unfathomably deep, reaching all the way to the limits of one’s vision. Midway, there was a river that had also been cut apart and a path through a forest which had been sliced open.

Yi Yun turned silent for a long time after seeing this. It was as if this broken world had been divided in two by this attack. What sort of power was this!?

Could it be that after the person carved the words on stone pillar, he sent out such a slash due to his hate and loathing? Resulting in such a stunning sword scar?

Waiting for me as the world, to slaughter all evil demons…

Who were the evil demons? Was the person, who left behind this sword scar, defeated in that huge war?

Looking at the sword scar he could subtly feel that, besides containing a terrifying killing intent within it, there was also an air of tranquility to it.

Yi Yun felt pain in his eyes after looking at it for too long. Even his skin could feel prickling pain. His muscles tensed up involuntarily.

The longer he looked at it, the more the Sword Intent within the sword scar became obvious. It made Yi Yun not dare to move away from his spot. His breaths became heavier as if he was facing a huge enemy. It was as if this sword attack was about to pierce through space-time and slash at this head.

It was unbelievable that such a Sword Intent still existed in this sword scar, even after tens of millions of years!

Yi Yun conjured up his pure Yang Qi to ease that feeling.

“To have such power, after such a long period of time. Back then, this attack’s power would likely slash apart the entire Divine wilderness…”

Yi Yun sighed. If this was tens of millions ago, the remnant sword Qi was enough to kill him, considering how hard it was for him to endure the Sword Intent left behind by the sword scar.

Yi Yun took a deep breath. This level of existence was far beyond his understanding.

He turned around and left the sword scar, walking towards the palace’s entrance.

The ancient large door did not have any ornaments. As Yi Yun approached the door, he could feel sword Qi surging towards him, as if it was about to cut through his body.

He held his breath and walked to the door with great difficulty.

Before Yi Yun could reach out his hand to push open the door, a brilliant flash sucked Yi Yun in. With that, Yi Yun was already inside the palace.

The hall was dimly lit. The ground was covered in black unknown rocks. The first thing that entered Yi Yun’s eyes was a sword stuck in the ground!

This sword was extremely old. The sword’s edge was covered in rust and there were cracks in the sword’s blade.

“It’s broken?”

Yi Yun sighed. It was definitely a peerless sword, but unfortunately… the sword’s blade had cracks, making it lose a great deal of its spirituality. After such a long time, it probably was extremely fragile!

Yi Yun silently walked over and slowly grabbed the sword’s hilt.

At this moment, Yi Yun suddenly saw a black shadow standing not far from him. With a startle, he leaped backwards and unsheathed the Thousand Army Saber!

Focusing his eyes, the black shadow remained motionless. It did not have a physical body, but seemed like a burning flame.

It was wrapped in a black cloak, only its two red eyes underneath the cloak were bright. They were like jewels in the night.

“You are…”

Yi Yun originally thought that it was some unknown lifeform, such as the ‘evil demons’ mentioned on the Seven Kills Pillar.

However, he quickly realized that the black shadow had no intention of killing him.

If it really had killing intent, any existence that could stay in this palace would easily annihilate him with just a thought.

“How long has it been… Someone has actually entered…”

The black shadow’s bleak words seemed to contain an indescribable loneliness.

“Senior, are you this palace’s guardian?” Yi Yun ventured a guess.

The black shadow said, “I’m a sword spirit… I accompanied my master through countless battles for an unknown period of time. Now, my body has been destroyed, leaving behind a residual soul. I’ve been sleeping in this Pure Yang Sword Palace. By doing so, I have slowed down the time it takes for me to completely dissipate. Now, with you entering, I have awakened. However, such a long period of sleep has made me reach the end of my life…”

The black shadow’s voice was very weak. Yi Yun had a thought upon hearing this, “Senior, have you been sleeping for tens of millions of years?”

“I don’t remember… I’ve been wandering in space for too long before landing in this world. I originally thought that no one would ever pass through that door. Yet, you actually had such a fortuitous opportunity…”

Wandering in space?

Yes, the tens of millions of years was the time since this world crashed into the Divine wilderness. Before that, this world fragment had been drifting for an even longer period of time.

Yi Yun had many questions in his mind. The black shadow could see through his thoughts and said, “You do not need to ask anymore about things of the past. In comparison to this world, you are not bad. You have a low-grade pure Yang body. If you can become one of the best in this world, that alone is already not an easy feat, but that is not enough. The things you want to ask will be pointless. You will not be able to enter the deep levels of this sword palace unless you gain insight into the Sword Intent left behind in the sword palace by my master. When that happens, you might be able to refine the sword palace and obtain the items left behind by my master. However, for you to do that, it will be too difficult, too difficult…”

Yi Yun stayed silent. He knew that in the eyes of the black shadow, he was just a very lucky ordinary youth in this wilderness world. His qualifications barely made it.

Just him alone could gain insight on the Sword Intent in the sword palace?

The sword spirit clearly did not hold any hope for that.

For a person who wanted to learn the way of the sword, he needed extremely high talent. Clearly, Yi Yun did not have any talent in the way of the sword. Besides, his weapon was a saber.

By entering into such a world, the sword spirit probably did not believe his master’s heritage would ever be inherited.

301 - : Pure Yang Sword Palace

“I am returning to my deep slumber. This time I will go into a deeper sleep and I am unsure about when I will wake up again. Since you have entered Pure Yang Sword Palace, it means that you and I are fated. This broken sword is yours. You can leave anytime you want. You can also train within Pure Yang Sword Palace. You have a pure Yang body so you will be able to cultivate more easily here…”

After the black shadow sword spirit said this, its figure slowly turned fuzzy until it completely disappeared.

Yi Yun was left standing alone in the hall.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

With a few light sounds, the broken sword, which was originally embedded into the ground, slowly emerged before falling onto the ground.

Seeing the rusty broken sword, Yi Yun felt somewhat speechless. He had risked his life entering the burning hell, broke the board game array to enter this broken world. Yet, he could not enter the internal regions of the palace and only received this broken sword that looked to be in terrible shape.

However, Yi Yun knew that since the black shadow sword spirit gave him the broken sword, it could definitely not be something ordinary…

The question is, what is extraordinary about it…

Yi Yun picked up the broken sword and inspected it. The sword’s blade was not sharp in any way and looked extremely weak.

“The swords of the ancient mighty figures would remain extremely strong, even after weathering tens of millions of years. Although the blade may no longer be sharp, it should still be stronger than the Thousand Army Saber.”

Yi Yun looked at the Thousand Army Saber in his hand and sighed. The saber had accompanied for quite a while, but while battling with the Golden Crow species, it broke. Only 3 feet of the 6-foot long blade remained.

When he returned to the Tai Ah Divine City, he would have to change to another saber. This saber could be said to have made considerable contributions.

With the broken sword in hand, Yi Yun felt along the blade with his fingers. He could feel the rough texture of the short blade, making Yi Yun sense a spiritual change.

“The black sword spirit thought of me as a saber user, so it thinks I am unable to understand the sword palace owner’s Sword Intent. Yet, I will attempt to do so. Even if I cannot gain any understandings, I will slowly understand it thoroughly in the future.”

With the broken sword in hand, Yi Yun walked out of the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

Now he was closer, in one aspect, to the sword palace’s owner. They both cultivated the pure Yang laws. It was also because of this reason that this fragmented world smashed open Meteorite Abyss, a pure Yang land.

As for the differences between a sword and a saber, Yi Yun was not too particular about them. Sword and sabers were the world’s most common weapons. Back when Yi Yun first chose the Thousand Army Saber, it was because the Thousand Army Saber looked extremely powerful, not because he had any special connection with the saber.

A saber would do, so would a sword. To Yi Yun, they were equivalent.

After Yi Yun read the ‘Truth of the Laws’, he knew that regardless of saber truths or sword truths, they were all branches of the Dao of weapons. And the Dao of weapons was just one major category amongst the 3000 Great Dao of martial arts.

To cultivate to the peak of martial arts, just following one Great Dao was too narrow.

If he had the ability, the more Great Dao he learned, the closer he would approach the Heavenly Dao of Origins. When he later becomes a Great Emperor, his strength would become even stronger.

“Even if I learned sword truths together with my saber truths, there’s no harm to that.”

With his mind set, Yi Yun walked to the front of the Seven Kills Pillar left behind by the sword palace’s owner.

As he looked ahead, the large sword scar looked as if it was going to split the world apart.

Yi Yun held the rusty sword diagonally, tracing the sword scar in the air with the broken blade.

At the same time, Yi Yun opened the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

In the energy vision, Yi Yun was able to directly see the origin of the energy flows within.

Back in the saber tomb, Yi Yun had used the energy vision to see the ‘Saber Truth’s 32 Words’ origin saber truths. Today, Yi Yun was doing the same thing.

The Purple Crystal was too magical. In Yi Yun’s opinion, although the black sword spirit had extraordinary insight, it clearly could not detect the Purple Crystal’s existence.

The level of this kind of divine artifact exceeded Yi Yun’s imagination.

In the Purple Crystal’s vision, all appearances disappeared.

On the Seven Kills Pillar, each ‘Kill’ word looked the same with the naked eye, but with the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, they were completely different.

The sword palace’s owner had written his Sword Intent into the Seven Kills Pillar when he engraved it.

Every “Kill” word embodied a different Sword Intent, engraved with different Great Dao law!

Although Yi Yun was unable to enter the pure Yang Palace and obtain the heritage of the palace’s owner, the Seven Kills Pillar alone was a treasure!

However, the sword palace’s realm was far beyond Yi Yun’s imagination. The Sword Intent left behind in the Seven Kills Pillar was too difficult for Yi Yun, even with him looking straight at its origins.

This was probably a Sword Intent which reached the highest realms of the sword truths.

Yi Yun stood before the Seven Kills Pillar and the shocking sword scar for a day and night without moving, pondering over the origins of sword truths.

However, his level was too low. He was only able to figure out an extremely small part of it.

Only when Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was depleted did he open his eyes and leave the Seven Kills Pillar. Standing in front of Seven Kills Pillar was a test of his perseverance. Yi Yun had to constantly circulate his pure Yang Qi to withstand the pressure emitted by the Sword Intent.

At this moment, Yi Yun was exhausted, and what he understood from pondering over the Seven Kills Pillar’s sword truth till now was extremely limited.

This was a Great Dao that reached the extreme realms. It was extremely difficult to climb it.

Even so, Yi Yun was not discouraged.

He knew that the path of martial arts was fraught with difficulties.

Practicing martial arts needed one to endure unimaginable loneliness. Many experts could go into reclusive training for decades at a go.

Such long periods of time where a person had to sit alone in a chamber would drive a person crazy from the loneliness.

However, the pursuit of martial arts can ease this loneliness. What was supporting Yi Yun was the sword truths in the Seven Kills Pillar.

…

Yi Yun returned to the Pure Yang Sword Palace. There were only two places in the sword palace he could go. One was the hall and the other was a cultivating room.

When Yi Yun entered the cultivating room, he gained a greater level of understanding of why the black sword spirit said that this Pure Yang Sword Palace was a cultivating treasure land for him.

The pure Yang array within the cultivating room had not broken down, even after tens of millions of years. It was still able to gather Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

The chamber’s Yang Qi was shockingly pure. It would be half the work with double the results to cultivate here.

Besides, the stone platform within the cultivating room for mediating was also a treasure. While sitting on it, Yi Yun could feel his mind getting clearer and his body’s Yuan Qi could be circulated even faster.

This cultivating ground was even better than the central divine tower.

Yi Yun decided to stay within the Pure Yang Sword Palace for a long period of time. He had temporarily checked out of his residence in the central divine tower’s 69th floor right before he came out to train.

The central divine tower’s residences were like inns. They were charged by the day. Even if one paid dragon scale runes in advance, as long as one was not staying in it, the dragon scale runes could be refunded.

Now, Yi Yun felt that he should come to Pure Yang Sword Palace often in the future. He did not need the central divine tower much anymore. The 6 months he had reserved might be enough for his 6 years in the Tai Ah Divine City.

This broken world also had night and day. Everyday, Yi Yun would stand before the Seven Kills Pillar, pondering over the Sword Intent. At night, he would meditate in the palace’s chamber.

When he was hungry, he would eat the food and water in his interspatial ring. When he traveled the Divine wilderness, he had gathered plenty of desolate beast meat. It was enough for him to eat.

As such, Yi Yun began his first, long term, reclusive training of his martial arts career.

He wanted to consolidate his cultivation level and lay a foundation for his sword and saber dual cultivation during this reclusive training.

Spring passed as autumn came. Time passed with Yi Yun no longer knowing how much time had passed. He only knew his hair was constantly growing. His height had also rapidly shot up.

A child between the age of 13 and 14 was in his growth spurt. Due to malnutrition while in the Cloud Wilderness, Yi Yun’s physical development had been slow. Now however, consuming desolate beast meat and bone relics greatly nourished him, so his height grew by the day.

Yi Yun suddenly realized that the clothes he had brought with him were all one size too small.

He had unconsciously grown to the height of an adult male, he would even be above average amongst adults. His body became more and more stout, and his muscles were toned but not exaggerated. Besides his face having a tinge of childishness, he looked no different from an adult when one looked at him from the back.

Although Yi Yun was unable to understand the Sword Intent contained within Seven Kills Pillar, after a long period of time, Yi Yun experienced the baptism of the Seven Kills Pillar’s Sword Intent. Slowly, Yi Yun no longer needed to circulate the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ to withstand the Sword Intent.

Unconsciously, the charm of this shocking sword attack left behind by the sword palace’s owner, merged with the Purple Crystal and subtly branded itself within Yi Yun’s spiritual sea…

This was an indescribable feeling.

Now, although Yi Yun was unable to slash out such a Sword Intent, he had deeply remembered all the structures of the laws contained within the Sword Intent.

He felt that now, it was time for him to leave.

He planned on returning to the Tai Ah Divine City.

Below the Tai Ah Divine City’s central divine tower, there was a sword tomb other than the saber tomb!

Yi Yun was now sure that the level of the sword and saber tomb’s were lower than that of the Pure Yang Sword Palace. Relatively speaking, the laws within the sword tomb should be easier to understand than the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s.

By entering the sword tomb he could lay down the sword foundation before returned to the Pure Yang Sword Palace to understand the Sword Intent left there. Then he might be able to use his Sword Intent to enter the Pure Yang Sword Palace. He might even be able to refine the Pure Yang Sword Palace, making it his own!

Just thinking of this made Yi Yun’s blood boil.

The treasure level of this palace far exceeded his imagination.

He could even enlarge or contract it, keeping it within his body. It could fly and also tunnel through the ground. It could be used as a spiritual vessel.

If he really gained control over such a palace, it would be extremely easy to traverse the Divine wilderness.

One had to know, to cross the Divine wilderness, the airships used by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom needed the cooperation of more than ten human lords to power the aerial fortress!

On the day Yi Yun left, the black sword spirit still remained asleep. It was in a deep slumber. It was not bothered by, nor did it question, whatever Yi Yun did during this period. It might not even know. To the black sword spirit, a youth like Yi Yun was not worth its effort to care for. After all, it did not have much of its lifespan left.

Yi Yun packed his things and leaped down the sword palace’s mountain. As he approached the big bronze door, the door would open. As such, Yi Yun successfully returned to the burning hell.

After such a long period of time, the Yi Yun who entered and exited the burning hell were completely different.

Whether it was his strength or his psyche!

It could be said that Yi Yun had been reborn!

302 - : Returning to the Divine City

In early winter, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had its first snow. Ten months had passed since Yi Yun had left the Tai Ah Divine City.

The batch of cultivators that entered the Tai Ah Divine City with Yi Yun were now second years.

And the new batch of Tai Ah Divine City cultivators had entered the Tai Ah Divine City three months ago and they all had finished their initial jobs.

Now, it was time for these rookies to participate in the rookie ranking competition.

The rewards for this rookie ranking competition was 100% better than the last one!

The main reason was that the Tai Ah Divine City city lord’s birthday was coming!

For a figure at the level of the Tai Ah Divine City city lord, they had one birthday banquet every one hundred years. And on the day of the birthday banquet, he may be in reclusive training or out exploring ruins. Due to a multitude of reasons, a birthday banquet would not be held.

In fact, the current Tai Ah Divine City city lord was a bit mysterious. In the last few centuries, he seldom appeared, not to mention holding any form of birthday banquets.

The people in charge of the Tai Ah Divine City were mainly the two elders, Jian Ge and Cang Yan.

When he suddenly announced his birthday banquet, it surprised many. Some people speculated that there were some special reasons.

Of course, these were just things that the upper echelons considered. For the rest of the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators, it was definitely good news.

Being able to attend the birthday banquet of such a legendary person and witnessing such an event was a great privilege.

And during the birthday celebrations, many of the resources within Tai Ah Divine City were discounted and many of the rewards were increased. These were the most practical benefits!

Of course, the rookies that ranked high in the rookie ranking competition would gain the most from the city lord’s birthday celebrations.

In order to become first amongst the rookies, all of them used the moves all they had, showcasing their best skills.

Now, it was the battle to decide who the best rookie was!

The final battle was between a young man and a young girl.

The young man’s name was Lu Jie. He did not come from a prominent background, and he could only be considered to be an above-average noble. As for the young girl, Wen Yu, she came from a prominent family and she was indeed a proud daughter of heaven.

Both of them were thirteen years old. It could be said that many paid attention to their battle, so many senior cultivators came to watch.

Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran were amongst the crowd.

They were recognized the moment they entered the arena.

Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran had both entered the top 1000 of the Heaven roll within a year!

Especially Chu Xiaoran, who had reached the ranking of 890 on the Earth ranking at the end of her first year. Her Heaven ranking was more ridiculous, at 860!

To enter the top 1000 of the Heaven and Earth rolls in the first year as a Tai Ah Divine City rookie was impressive. It was enough to stir up a storm in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

And Chu Xiaoran entered the top 900 of both rolls. It was even more astonishing!

To this batch of Tai Ah Divine City rookies, their senior sister, Chu Xiaoran was a legendary person. She had condensed an Aspect Totem before the Yuan foundation realm, and her comprehension of the laws far exceeded warriors her own age. With so many rings of light surrounding Chu Xiaoran, this made many rookies become loyal fans of Chu Xiaoran.

The appearance of Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu stirred up quite a frenzy. Rookies quickly made way for the two of them.

Lu Jie and Wen Yu also admired the two of them. Although they were geniuses, they knew that compared to Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran, they were a distance away.

They had even heard that in the last rookie ranking competition, Chu Xiaoran was not the champion. It was a youth named Yi Yun. But Yi Yun was too rash as teenager, and he went alone into the forbidden lands of Meteorite Abyss–Fallen Star Gate to train.

After that, he disappeared. It was said that Tai Ah Divine City’s Elder Cang Yan even went into Fallen Star Gate to look for Yi Yun but he found nothing.

Up to now, Yi Yun had disappeared for ten months.

Originally, the cultivator’s identity token not only recorded the person’s identity, dragon scale runes and the points gained from killing desolate beasts, but it also provided their location.

But even by searching the spot, Yi Yun was still not to be found.

As such, it was most likely that Yi Yun’s identity token had been destroyed in Fallen Star Gate.

This identity token was considered an average magical item, and it was not that strong. In the chaotic environment within Fallen Star Gate, it was not surprising for it to be destroyed by the pure Yang flames.

As such, Yi Yun’s situation was not optimistic.

Some people believed that Yi Yun had died. According to the Tai Ah Divine City’s regulations, people who disappeared for a year was considered dead.

Historically, there were super crazy people who trained in the Divine wilderness for nearly a year.

Some people were originally thought to be dead, but they returned safely.

But such events were rare.

Even so, they were not like Yi Yun.

According to the news brought back by Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu, Yi Yun had went into Fallen Star Gate to train. Even the most awesome people did not dare train there for so long!

Hence, many people felt that the odds were greatly against Yi Yun.

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, only geniuses who were nurtured were paid attention to. As for geniuses who disappeared or died, they would quickly be forgotten.

As such, only Chu Xiaoran, Qiuniu and the second year cultivators deeply remembered of Yi Yun’s past glories.

As for the new batch of cultivators, they did not know Yi Yun’s name. Even if they had heard it, it would only be a story of novel interest.

The match had begun.

Wen Yu and Lu Jie showcased all their skills and they fought impressively.

The two of them had entered the top 4000 of the Earth roll. This match was their final battle to decide who was the champion amongst the rookies.

The battle quickly entered the most intense stage. And amongst the crowd, Chu Xiaoran was drifting off. Her mind was clearly not focused on the match.

“What’s the matter Xiaoran? Thinking about Yi Yun?” Qiuniu, who was beside Chu Xiaoran, asked.

“Yes…” Chu Xiaoran nodded. She came to watch this rookie ranking competition not to focus on Wen Yu and Lu Jie. The both of them would not pose a threat to Chu Xiaoran in the future.

Chu Xiaoran came to this match to reminiscence about the battle she had with Yi Yun last year. Although she had lost in that battle, it was the battle that left the deepest impression in her life thus far. As such, she felt extremely strongly about it.

“Back then when we were training in Meteorite Abyss, if not for Yi Yun, we would have died when our path was blocked by the Blue Blood Ape in the valley, and then later besieged by the weird fish in the deep pool. It can be said that Yi Yun had saved us twice.”

“Who would have thought that we returned safely, but only Yi Yun disappeared. Even though Elder Cang Yan also thinks that something happened to Yi Yun, I still think that Yi Yun would not die so easily. He has not returned because of some reason…” Chu Xiaoran said faintly.

Qiuniu nodded and said, “Yi Yun is a person with fate supporting him. He definitely won’t die so easily, but…people are worried because the connection to his identity token has been lost. We can only pray that our ancestors will bless him…”

…

In a swamp about 50 kilometers away from the Tai Ah Divine City.

This swamp was not the Blackwater Swamp. It was an area very close to Tai Ah Divine City, so the desolate beasts in the swamp were very weak. Typically, only rookies would train here.

It may be training, they were only out here to really see the world. They needed to familiarize themselves on how to work in a small team to kill desolate beasts. This was to lay a foundation for them to traverse the Divine wilderness in the future.

In the swamp, at this moment, there was a team of rookies killing desolate beasts.

As this was their first time out of the city, they were extremely tense as if they were fighting the greatest of enemies, even though it was just 50 kilometers from Tai Ah Divine City.

“Leader, look there. There’s a person!” A team member in charge of alerting the team noticed that there was a youth at the end of the swamp walking over with a saber in hand.

This youth seemed to dress very specially.

He had a slender body, but the clothes on his body were clearly one size smaller. They were also greatly worn out, they could be described as rags.

It seemed as if his hair had not been cut for a very long time. It reached down to his shoulders like they were wild grass.

The saber in his hand was also halved. He seemed to have gone through a great crisis and then be robbed by someone after that.

The team members were not even sure if this person was a Tai Ah Divine City cultivator. Could he be a Divine wilderness barbarian?

As the youth approached, the team became more alert.

“What are you?” The seven people asked with their weapons in hand.

The youth smiled and exposed his two rows of white teeth.

He had finally met some people after a long time!

Loneliness was an emotion not to be dismissed. Even Yi Yun felt extremely lonely after cultivating alone for an extended period of time.

Now when he suddenly saw people, he felt a warm feeling surging over him.

“Hello there, I want to ask, what year and month is it now?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s question, the youths were shocked. Was this really a barbarian? The first thing he asked was the year and month…

“It’s Qingfeng Year 68, 7th day of the winter month.”

Qingfeng was the present divine emperor’s reigning title. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom used the reigning title as a marker through the years. Typically, people would only say the last two digits as the numbers in front were too long. So they were often omitted.

“Seventh day of the winter month. That means it’s 7 November. I actually spent so long cultivating in Pure Yang Sword Palace…” Yi Yun sighed. Time really did not mean anything while cultivating.

“Hey, you haven’t told us what sort of person are you?” The team leader asked again.

“Me?” Yi Yun laughed. Seeing the youth that looked even younger than him, he said, “I’m a Tai Ah Divine City cultivator.”

“Cultivator?” A few of the cultivators were shocked. They looked strangely at Yi Yun.

This fellow was also a cultivator? He sure was in a sorry state!

As rookies, they were already in quite a tragic state. But now seeing this youth, they were nothing. He was no different from a beggar.

“Bro, were you surrounded by desolate beasts? Even your saber is broken, and your clothes are torn. Quickly return to the city. Prepare better in the future. Bring more disk arrays, array charms, lightning beads, etc. These one-time magical items may seem to be a waste, but they can save your life at the critical moment. You should not stinge on those dragon scale runes!”

The rookie team leader seemed to looked extremely enthusiastic. He advised Yi Yun with his recently gained experience.

Yi Yun chuckled and did not mind. He said, “Thanks! I’m indeed returning to the city. See you later!”

Since he was returning to Tai Ah Divine City, Yi Yun was in a good mood.

He had been in reclusive training in the Pure Yang Sword Palace for nearly 10 months. On his way back, he had killed desolate beasts, consolidating his Aspect Totem.

Now, Yi Yun’s cultivation level had officially entered the peak of the Purple Blood realm.

The next step was to begin forming the Yuan foundation.

303 - : City Lord’s Birthday Banquet

The highly anticipated rookie-ranking competition had come to an end. At the end, Lu Jie had a slight edge and defeated Wen Yu, becoming the champion amongst the rookies.

As the crowd in the rookie ranking competition dispersed, everyone discussed the final battle with great excitement.

The arena was connected to all the major residences, so it was extremely crowded.

It was at this moment that Yi Yun returned to the Tai Ah Divine City. On the way through, he noticed throngs of people and became slightly stunned, “Oh? Why are there so many people?”

As Yi Yun looked at the rookies with a dumbfounded expression, the rookies were also stunned upon seeing Yi Yun.

This was because Yi Yun’s appearance was too extreme.

The rookie ranking competition was a significant occasion, thus many people were very well-dressed. In contrast, Yi Yun was wearing ragged clothes that were obviously one size too small. Not only was he unkempt, his saber was even half-broken, all of this made him look like a beggar. It was severely out of place within the Tai Ah Divine City.

Who is this person?

This thought appeared in many people’s minds. If the Tai Ah Divine City did not forbid unauthorized people from entering, there might have been people throwing money at Yi Yun.

At this moment, not far away, a group with Wen Yu, Lu Jie, Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran amongst them were walking over.

The world of warriors respected those who were strong, so the four of them were treated like idols as they came over.

Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu were especially respected. No matter how crowded the streets were, everyone would make way for them.

Seeing Yi Yun suddenly appear, Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran became stunned.

This was because, in nearly a year’s time, Yi Yun had undergone too many changes. They were unable to recognize him with just a single glance.

After staring at Yi Yun’s face for a long while, Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran looked at each other in the eye with an incredulous look.

It’s really him!

“Haha! Yi Yun! ” Qiuniu laughed boisterously. Qiuniu and Yi Yun had only been ordinary friends, but they could be considered as having experienced life and death together in Meteorite Abyss. Besides, Yi Yun had also saved Qiuniu’s life.

Their friendship naturally was no longer the same.

Qiuniu squeezed out of the crowd and quickly strode towards Yi Yun, slapping him heavily on his shoulders.

“I knew you wouldn’t die so easily. Haha!”

Yi Yun coming back alive was something that made Qiuniu happy from the bottom of his heart.

Yi Yun also gave a hearty laugh and said, “I was lucky…I went in a cursory circle around death’s gate.”

After experiencing a year of loneliness, Yi Yun was overcome with emotion upon seeing a familiar face again. He had indeed nearly lost his life after being chased by the Golden Crow species.

“Yi Yun, you have finally returned!” Chu Xiaoran also moved towards Yi Yun. When they bade farewell 10 months ago, Chu Xiaoran was a tiny bit taller than Yi Yun. Now however, she had to slightly look up at him.

She felt that Yi Yun had undergone a complete change in the time they were separated. It was not only his physical appearance, but other aspects as well. As for what was different, Chu Xiaoran was unable to tell.

“Yi Yun, you have been out training for so long. What is your cultivation level?” Qiuniu asked casually.

“Peak of Purple Blood!” Yi Yun did not conceal it.

“Haha, then you are slower than us. Xiaoran and I have already begun to condense the initial shape of the Yuan foundation. You can think of us as being one foot through the door of the Yuan foundation realm. In two months, we will definitely break through into the Yuan foundation realm!”

Qiuniu’s eyes lit up and he was eager to try it out just by talking about cultivation levels. In these 10 months, he had made significant progress. The huge leap from the peak of Purple Blood to a half-step within the Yuan foundation made Qiuniu’s “Divine Strength Ox King Skill” progress one more level.

There was a significant jump with every “Divine Strength Ox King Skill” level.

Qiuniu was now filled with confidence and he wanted to fight anyone he saw.

“Brother Yi, when will we train in the arena!?”

Qiuniu knew that Yi Yun was definitely strong, but he still brimmed with confidence. He couldn’t help himself after seeing Yi Yun, a strong warrior peer. He felt that even if he was not Yi Yun’s match, the difference would not be as great as the gap between them a year ago.

The surrounding rookies turned dumbfounded upon seeing Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran speak so happily with Yi Yun.

They never expected that this beggar-like person would be Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran’s good friend.

“Yi Yun… Isn’t he the champion of last year’s rookie ranking competition…?”

A portion of the rookies had heard of Yi Yun. They had some impressions of this name which was now nearly forgotten by Tai Ah Divine City cultivators.

“It should be him, but this person… actually defeated Chu Xiaoran in the last rookie ranking competition? Is that really true?”

When everyone heard this, they were dumbfounded. This guy was completely different from the preconceived expert in their minds!

He did not have the air of an expert, yet, he was actually stronger than Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu?

Many rookies looked at Yi Yun with puzzlement and doubt. Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu’s strength had been witnessed by many of them, and it was terrifying.

However, the person in front of them looked like he came out from a refugee camp, he didn’t look like he made the mark. They found it hard to believe that this person was a super expert. Even if he was very strong a year ago, he had disappeared for too long, and no one knew what he had experienced during this period. Could he really lead Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran?

Many of them couldn’t help but have thoughts like that.

At this moment, Yi Yun decided to bid Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu farewell.

“Brother Yi, when you have time, come to the arena! When you do so, inform me!”

Qiuniu still did not forget the matter of sparring with Yi Yun. In his opinion, Yi Yun’s return was definitely to challenge the rankings.

Yi Yun smiled and said, “Sure!”

“Haha, don’t be perfunctory with me. You may not know this but Qin Haotian, Li Xiao and the Qiao brothers have already left the Tai Ah Divine City. Now the first few spots have opened up in the area and everyone is eyeing them! Some of the senior cultivators who have hope in being first are all in an intense battle for it. Especially because of the ongoing City Lord’s birthday celebrations, the arena rewards have increased by a lot!”

As Qiuniu said so, he pointed to the crowd behind him, “The arena was in a hiatus because of the rookie ranking competition. If not, there would be countless numbers of people fighting, more people than usual!”

“Oh? Qin Haotian, Li Xiao and the others have left?” Yi Yun was stunned upon hearing that. Indeed, they had stayed in the Tai Ah Divine City for a full six years, and it was time for them to leave.

A pity!

Yi Yun had known the famous names of Qin Haotian, Li Xiao and company ever since he entered the Tai Ah Divine City.

Yi Yun had always wanted to spar with Qin Haotian.

However, Yi Yun was now only at the peak of Purple Blood, and due to the difference in cultivation level, he would not be Qin Haotian’s match. Only Yi Yun himself knew the difference between him and Qin Haotian.

And now, they had left Tai Ah Divine City, leaving him with no opportunity to challenge them.

This could only be described as a pity.

“Yes, with them here, it would be very difficult for us to challenge the Earth roll.” Qiuniu laughed. He did not pay any attention to Yi Yun’s thoughts. From his point of view, anyone who wanted to challenge Qin Haotian from their year, was wishfully thinking.

“Now, the arena’s overall strength has decreased. Many of the fifth year cultivators are far weaker than Qin Haotian. Maybe in a year or two, we will be able to challenge the top 5 of the Heaven and Earth rolls!”

Qiuniu was very excited. If he could enter the Tai Ah Divine City’s top 5 in his fourth year, it would be a glorious achievement to be proud of.

Yi Yun sighed. Indeed,, the Tai Ah Divine City did not give rise to extremely talented elites every year. The current Tai Ah Divine City was a bit lacking.

Yi Yun still liked to battle the peerless geniuses. With Qin Haotian gone, there was only Luo Huo’er left. However, she seldom appeared in the arena, nor did she challenge the Heaven or Earth rolls. Her strength was a question mark.

“Brother Yi, it could not have been easy for you to return. Let us go to the Divine Moon Restaurant and drink two cups!”

Qiuniu wanted to take Yi Yun drinking.

However, Yi Yun shook his head, “Let’s have it at another time. I have been gone for far too long. Now that I am back in Tai Ah Divine City, I first need to greet Grandmaster Yuehua and Elder Cang Yan.”

Amongst these two people, one was his quasi-master, and the other may not be his master but had taught him plenty. It was only right for Yi Yun to greet the seniors.

…

About one hour later in the central divine tower’s 69th floor.

“Miss! Miss!” Dong’er ran to Luo Huo’er’s training ground on her short legs.

“What’s the matter this time?” Luo Huo’er said impatiently. This maid servant of hers liked to be surprised at the slightest things.

Dong’er puffed heavily as she hurriedly said, “That… That person you especially hate, he is back!”

When Luo Huo’er heard this, her mouth curled. She said without paying attention, “There are many people this missus hates! I cannot even remember all of them them. Which (not typo, she refers to them as animals) one are you talking about?”

“It’s… It’s that Yi Yun!” Dong’er used her chubby hands to wipe the sweat off her forehead as she panted.

“Yi Yun?”

Luo Huo’er was surprised. She subconsciously stopped practicing her family’s heart sutras.

Her facial expression changed as she remained silent for ten seconds.

The rascal who had disappeared nearly a year ago had actually returned.

After thinking for a while, Luo Huo’er grunted, “Good people die young, but disasters leave a mark for a thousand years. I knew he wouldn’t die so easily!”

“That’s right, that’s right!” Dong’er nodded her head strongly. “Miss, do you want to go meet him? He’s currently greeting Grandmaster Yuehua.”

Luo Huo’er’s mouth twitched, “What do I need to meet him for? In a few days, that toad will move back beside us. In the future, we will meet frequently. What a pain!”

Saying this, Luo Huo’er began practicing her martial arts again.

However, she couldn’t help herself from thinking about it. As she thought about it, her lips couldn’t help but curl up as she revealed a sinister smile.

Although she always found Yi Yun to be a pain, she never wished for the rascal to just die like that.

“Miss, why are you smiling?” Dong’er asked curiously.

“Am I smiling?” Luo Huo’er paused for a while and then grunted, “I’m laughing because the rascal is back. I have something fun to play with again. See how I will make a fool out of him now, Ke Ke Ke!”

Luo Huo’er began laughing happily. Dong’er cocked her head and tried to think hard. It seems that… Miss never succeeded in making a fool out of him?

Of course, she would never dare to say this out loud.

304 - : The new crop has yet to come in to replace the old

The news of Yi Yun returning to Tai Ah Divine City quickly spread in less than half a day.

Rookies did not have much concept of the name Yi Yun. However, it meant a lot to many of the second year cultivators, especially his enemies.

This name was unforgettable!

“That rascal actually didn’t die!”

A this moment, in a small courtyard, there were a few people gathered with sullen faces.

The three of them, who were sitting on chairs, were Li Hong, Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng.

Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng were brothers and came from the Chu royal residence. Yang Dingkun had taken the opportunity to gamble against Yi Yun in Yi Yun’s battle with Li Hong and ended up losing greatly. The ‘Truth of the Laws’ was lost, causing him to be punished by his family clan.

As for Yang Yuefeng, who had always been proud of his Desolate Heaven technique, he had his face torn off by Yi Yun.

However, the person who hated Yi Yun the most were not amongst these people. In the corner of this courtyard stood a youth, full of scars and a missing arm.

He was Yang Haoran.

10 months ago, inside Meteorite Abyss’s frost pool, he was suddenly attacked by a school of weird fishes. His body had consequently been horribly mangled by the fish, pieces of flesh had been ripped off his body!

Just recalling the experience gave him nightmares!

With the rage of being unwilling to die, he had then rushed out of the frost lake with great difficulty and managed to eventually survive.

He barely escaped death with his surface flesh and skin of his body gone. All he was left with was bloody remnant muscles. It was horrible!

One of his arms had been ripped straight off by a large fish.

Losing one arm was Yang Haoran’s greatest pain. How could a warrior be left without a limb?

It was not that there were no treasures that could restore a person’s arm, they were just extremely expensive. Even his Yang family could hardly obtain one.

And even if it was obtained, the arm which was regrown, would be a normal human arm. One had to train it from the beginning all over again.

It was easy to imagine what sort of hardship and suffering he had to undergo!

Yang Haoran only felt hate. He hated the strange fish and hated everything!

Originally, when Yang Haoran was bitten horribly and the calamity suddenly befell onto him, the pain prevented him from thinking about why he was suddenly attacked by the strange fishes.

However, after recovering, he recalled the terrifying nightmare. He remembered that back then in the water, he had heard an explosion and then saw a Yuan Qi beam.

Within the beam, there was an arrow flying towards him. On the arrowhead, there was something green. It looked like grass.

The arrow was not aimed at him and passed by him a short distance away from him, but accompanying that arrow was that school of terrifying strange fishes!

As Yang Haoran recalled the scenes back then, he became more and more sure of what had happened. That Yuan Qi fluctuation was definitely from a warrior, not a desolate beast.

Yang Haoran also slowly remembered that the grass on the arrowhead was the Beast Luring Grass he had previously used!

All at once, Yang Haoran figured it out.

The strange fish were deliberately being lured away from something and towards him, to purposely cause him harm. As for that arrow…

Amongst that group, only Yi Yun used a bow and arrow!

Yang Haoran’s anger reached its peak at that time. He wanted Yi Yun’s blood to atone for his!

However, following Yi Yun’s disappearance, the point of him possibly dying in Meteorite Abyss appeased Yang Haoran’s anger slightly.

He considered it as a consequence Yi Yun deserved.

Although he was unable to avenge himself, which made him unable to accept it, he knew that even if Yi Yun were to actually return, he could do nothing to him.

He did not have proof. Even if he had proof, he could not raise a complaint against Yi Yun because he was the person who initially lured that mutated Three Eyed Spider to them.

In fact, because of this event, Yang Haoran had to endure the immense pressure brought forth by Chu Xiaoran’s Defender Duke family clan and Qiuniu’s reclusive family clan.

The Yang family may have the royal bloodline, but it was too much for them to face two large family clans. With Yang Haoran’s physical disability, there was even a chance of his family clan abandoning him.

This placed Yang Haoran into an excruciating position.

Yang Haoran was too busy with his own affairs for the past few months so he had no energy to decide on how to seek revenge on Yi Yun.

Thankfully, as time passed, the possibility of Yi Yun having died became increasingly more likely.

However… today, Yi Yun returned!

And besides looking a bit pathetic, he had no injuries at all!

Looking back at himself, he was like a dog with a broken leg!

This comparison nearly made Yang Haoran go crazy!

“Haoran, do not be rash…”

Yang Yuefeng patted Yang Haoran’s shoulder.

After Yang Haoran became disabled, he became slightly insane and abnormal. Yang Yuefeng was the most senior amongst the group, hence these people all treated him as their leader.

“Everyone, we can all be considered as under one camp. With Yi Yun’s return, we have no idea how strong he has become. If he were to mature in the future, then we will really lose our place in Tai Ah Divine City.”

The Tai Ah Divine City’s genius-rearing strategy was similar to rearing venomous worms. A competition was held to obtain anything here. Many cultivators formed groups and associations to resist the competitive pressure.

They were arch-rivals of Yi Yun, so if Yi Yun were to mature and rank among the top of the Heaven and Earth rolls, their days would no longer be smooth-sailing.

Li Hong said, “Yi Yun has gone to report to the Elders. I heard his description. He had been trapped in a place for ten months, which prevented him from returning…”

“Trapped for ten months? Heh… From his appearance after coming back, he must have experienced some huge disaster. This bastard sure has a strong life. He will definitely challenge the Earth roll. We must first see what rank he is able to achieve before we decide on how to deal with him in the future.”

“Earth roll…” Yang Dingkun gritted his teeth. “If only he challenges me. Such a pity…”

After the last batch of cultivators left, Yang Dingkun’s ranking on the Earth roll had entered the top 40.

This ranking was extremely far off for second year cultivators. For example, Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran’s ranks only ranged from 700-900.

From Yang Dingkun’s point of view, Yi Yun was still far from being able to challenging the top 100 on the Earth roll. This meant he was not fated to exchange blows with Yi Yun.

…

“Rotten kid, where did you go to for the past ten months!?”

In the central divine tower, Cang Yan ruffled Yi Yun’s hair, “Ah! Kid you grew taller.”

Cang Yan was short so now he was shorter than Yi Yun.

Yi Yun felt helpless. He had already listened to old man Cang nag all day.

Regarding the burning hell’s explanation, Yi Yun did not dare to tell him that he had entered the deepest level of the burning hell.

That place’s pure Yang Qi was too rich. He had used the Purple Crystal to split the pure Yang fire in order to enter the depths of the burning hell. Even sages would need to spend a lot of Yuan Qi to enter.

Yi Yun could only say that he had been sucked into an unknown space. As such, he could explain how his identity token had lost its connection.

This sparked the interest of Cang Yan. He had already decided to form a team with Jian Ge to investigate the burning hell again.

This gave Yi Yun a headache. He felt like he was cheating the old man. This so-called “unknown space” was definitely something that Cang Yan could not find.

Cang Yan asked many questions regarding this “unknown space” and Yi Yun only gave some vague descriptions.

These sort of places tended to be vague and insubstantial and with Yi Yun’s cultivation level, it was not something he could understand, so it was normal. Cang Yan would naturally not suspect a thing, nor question him.

“So how about it? When are you challenging the Earth roll? Let’s see the fruits of the past ten months of cultivation.” Cang Yan was looking forward to seeing Yi Yun’s current strength.

“I do not have any plans on challenging the Earth roll for now.”

“Not challenging the Earth roll? What are you doing?” Cang Yan pinched his beard, clearly unhappy.

“I plan on going into the sword tomb.”

“Sword tomb!?” Cang Yan stared. “Aren’t you doing well in the saber tomb? Why are you going to the sword tomb?”

Cang Yan was practically speechless. This Yi Yun really made one worry.

He had not fully understood the saber tomb, yet he kept having his sights on the sword tomb. “Kid, what craziness is this? You cannot be giving up on the saber and picking up the sword, right? Or… do you want to use both saber and sword?”

Thinking of this, Cang Yan really wanted to pry open Yi Yun’s brain to see what messy thoughts this kid had.

Warriors who could thoroughly learn everything about one weapon were already amazing.

To master two weapons was something crazy. It was a task with no returns.

Since ancient times, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s sages had never done such a thing. Of course, it was common for people to pick up bows and concealed weapons as a side weapon. Bows and concealed weapons were ancillary weapons used to attack from a distance and could be put to great use during critical times.

“I’m just thinking of taking a look. Maybe I will get some inspiration from the sword tomb.” Yi Yun equivocated.

Even with such an explanation, Cang Yan’s face turned sullen. “Kid, back then when I let you choose a totem mystic technique, you chose the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’. Now, without having completed the ‘Ten Thousand Beast Totem’, you still aren’t even thinking of switching to a more possible totem mystic technique. And now you are even thinking about the sword tomb. You sure are capable!”

Cang Yan was also worried that Yi Yun would end up wasting his time trying to learn too many things, with all of them being extremely profound.

However, no matter what Cang Yan said, Yi Yun did not budge. He wanted to go into the sword tomb to gain greater experience and inspiration from within.

Finally, Cang Yan gave in. He demanded, “Alright! I will let you enter the sword tomb once! However, I will say the unpleasantries first. Once you exit the sword tomb, you are to challenge the Earth roll and enter the top 500. No! Top 400! No! 300! If you cannot enter the top 300, you are to focus on cultivating your saber skills without any other distractions. You are also to choose another totem mystic technique. And stop thinking of this and that for me in the future!”

Cang Yan indignantly said. He could tell that Yi Yun’s cultivation level was still at the peak of Purple Blood, a bit worse than Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu’s.

Even if Yi Yun’s talent was greater than Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu, and had strength that exceeded Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran combined, it would be impossible for him to enter the top 500.

One had to know that all cultivators who ranked in the top 500 of the Earth roll were at the peak of the beginning stages of the Yuan foundation realm. There was a huge gap between the Purple Blood realm and the Yuan foundation realm. It was extremely difficult for a person at the peak of the Purple Blood realm to battle against a person at the peak of the beginning stages of the Yuan foundation realm.

Still, the top 500 was not enough.

Cang Yan was afraid that Yi Yun had some fortuitous opportunities while he was missing, and could now enter the top 400. That would make the kid feel smug once again.

Hence, Cang Yan purposely set the goal to be the top 300. This was to ensure that he could rid Yi Yun of all his unrealistic ideas, preventing him from being overly ambitious.

Cang Yan never expected that Yi Yun would immediately agree with a “Sure!” after setting such a difficult objective.

“Eh?” Cang Yan had expected Yi Yun to go in a rage, he never expected him to immediately agree to it.

He was that confident?

Cang Yan was a bit dumbfounded. He clicked his tongue twice as a malicious smile formed on his lips.

This kid must still not know how strong the top 300 of the Earth roll is. Even plenty of mid-stage Yuan foundation realm cultivators are unable to enter the top 300. Underestimating it will only lead to misery!

Upon thinking of this, Cang Yan felt assured. It was good to let Yi Yun suffer some setbacks, to prevent him from thinking he can do everything everyday.

…

The day of the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord’s birthday banquet was quickly approaching.

That afternoon, a huge airship flew above the Tai Ah Divine City. This airship was about 2000 feet long and was completely covered in black scales. It was like a huge flying monster.

When it passed by Tai Ah Divine City, it cast a huge shadow.

This is…

The Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators looked up at the airship and were stunned. This airship was different from the Tai Ah Divine City airships and it was much larger.

Seeing this flying monster, many people could not help but feel a sense of awe and a feeling of being small.

Some people noticed that there was a strange symbol on the side of the huge airship. It was a blob of dark clouds, with a Black Dragon flying within the clouds.

“Yun Long (Cloud Dragon) Divine Kingdom!”

Some more knowledgeable people said after seeing this symbol.

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom shared a border with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was in the east while the Yun Long Divine Kingdom was in the west. To the north of both countries’ northern borders was the vast Divine wilderness.

Be it comparing the countries’ power, their heritage, areas or population, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom was almost on par with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

With two great nations together, there was bound to be some conflict over resources, land and other reasons. However, with the threat of the Divine wilderness, the two countries had to maintain the peace. They could not have any large scale wars or they wouldn’t be able to resist the occasional large-scale beast hordes coming from the Divine wilderness.

Hence the Yun Long Divine Kingdom and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom could be said to coexist in a cooperative and competitive state.

No one expected that the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s large airship would fly to the Tai Ah Divine City.

This airship was definitely a royal airship of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom. The appearance of the ambassadors of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom arriving in the Tai Ah Divine City in such an airship was a show of their country’s strength. At the same time, it also meant that whoever was riding the airship was a great figure in the Yun Long Divine Kingdom!

“The distance between the Yun Long Divine Kingdom and Tai Ah Divine City is not short. Why would their ambassadors come to the Tai Ah Divine City?” Someone asked subconsciously.

“Oh? Could it be that they are here for the City Lord’s birthday banquet!?”

Someone had a flash of brilliance. Everyone felt it was possible upon hearing it.

It had to be so. The only big matter in recent times in the Tai Ah Divine City was the City Lord’s birthday banquet.

“Strange, the ties our Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has with the Yun Long Divine Kingdom isn’t that great. Why would they especially send an ambassador to send their birthday wishes for our City Lord’s birthday banquet?”

Some more thoughtful people felt something amiss…

At this moment, within the large airship, in a luxurious hall.

A fat man in a yellow clothes was holding a meter-long roasted desolate beast leg. He was tearing off the meat with his mouth. The thin leg was not completely roasted to well-done, so it still contained some blood.

As the fat man in yellow ate the meat, he stood high above, looking condescendingly down at the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators through his airship window.

From his angle, the throngs of people below him were no different from ants that he could crush with his feet.

“These are the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators!? They don’t seem like anything special to me.”

As the fatty in yellow laughed, he licked the desolate beast blood from around his mouth with his excessively long tongue. A sardonic look of contempt flashed in his eyes.

Behind the fatty in yellow was a princess-like girl, dressed in a purple palace gown.

She held a wine glass in her hand as she tasted the red liquid inside it. She emitted a charming smile, “His Highness had previously said that the Tai Ah Divine City’s place in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom is equivalent to our Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s Yun Long 72 Pagodas. Do not look down on them.”

“Haha, whatever. We are here to give our birthday wishes, not here to fight. Of course, if necessary, it is basic courtesy to see what they are capable of.”

The yellow-robed fatty casually said as the girl in the gown shook her head gently. “It is not an ordinary celebration. This time, Lord Seven Star Pagoda Owner wanted to come personally and discuss something with the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord. Reports say that it has something to do with the mysterious person who suddenly appeared…”

“Haha, those are matters for the higher ups. I cannot care less. I’ll just eat all the meat I want at this birthday banquet. Of course, if there’s a fight, call on me!”

As the fatty said that, he tore off another piece of meat the size of a chicken and swallowed it down after a few chews. A meter long beast leg was quickly completely finished. He casually wiped his oily hands on his clothes and glanced at the corner of the hall. “What say you, Bai?”

In the corner of the hall sat a black-clothed youth with a pale face. His legs were opened up with his knees bent. Both his hands were resting on his knees and a black sword leaned diagonally by his legs.

His head was slightly bowed. His hanging hair covering his eyes, preventing others from seeing his face.

In the hall, he was strangely quiet. It was so quiet that it made people oblivious to his existence.

“Uh…” Facing the quiet black-clothed youth, the yellow-robed fatty gulped a mouthful of saliva and nearly choked. It was really asking to be rebuffed trying to speak to this rascal…

At this moment, the door to the hall was pushed open. A stout man walked in with a deadpan expression. He was wearing a thick fur cloak, with the collar standing up. His feet was covered in long rigid boots with desolate bones as their base. His steps emitted the bone ringing sounds of “Pa Da, Pa Da”.

“We are here. Let’s go down!”

Facing this male, the yellow-robed fatty and the girl in the gown became respectful.

“Yes, Lord Pagoda Owner.”

The pale youth sitting by the corner also slowly stood up.

With the airship’s door opened, the four of them flew towards the central divine tower in a light beam.

“Someone flew out!”

Many from the Tai Ah Divine City were straining their eyes, they did not know who the people were, but guessed that they were mighty figures of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom…

With these thoughts in mind, they never expected that a few days later, there would be airships from unknown factions flying to the Tai Ah Divine City. A large number of people disembarked and entered the central divine tower over the passing days.

These factions hung their own symbols, some were easily recognized by others. Other than the Yun Long Divine Kingdom, there was also the Tian Guang Royal Dynasty. It was a country about half the size of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom, but it was not to be underestimated.

Besides them, there were also ambassadors from other independent family clans.

These independent family clans did not belong to any country, but they had great heritage. A family clan was able to compare with a country!

The existence of some of these family clans was not shorter than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s. They controlled terrifying powers that could not to be ignored.

There were more and more people coming. It was really like an assembly of heroes!

This made the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators shocked. How resounding was this City Lord birthday banquet?

A day later, another mighty figure appeared. This person’s identity made many of the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators hold their breaths.

He was the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Crown Prince!

There were countless numbers of children from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family. Just in the Tai Ah Divine City, there were plenty of cultivators with the surname Yang.

These elites, who had Yang as a surname, would have blood relations with the royal household if their bloodline was traced.

However, compared to the current Crown Prince, they were nothing.

Not only in status and identity, but also in strength!

The Crown Prince was about 3000 years old. He was chosen amongst the thousands of children from the royal household and possessed extraordinary talent. With the royal household’s efforts to nurture him, he was now just a step away from being labeled a human sage.

Once he became a sage, the current Divine Emperor would hand over the throne to him.

Hence, the Crown Prince’s position in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was obvious!

“The Crown Prince is here. This celebration is going to be amazing!”

People knew that this celebration would be the greatest celebration they would ever experience in their lives!

305 - : Gathering of Experts

As people gathered in Tai Ah Divine City, Yi Yun was in the sword tomb trying to gain some understanding of the sword truths without knowing the time of the day.

Originally, Yi Yun thought that having experienced the saber tomb, which came from the same origins as the sword tomb, it would be extremely easy for him to understand the sword truths with his entry into the sword tomb.

However, it was only when Yi Yun entered the sword tomb did he realize that it was completely different from the saber tomb.

In the saber tomb, there were saber scar marks and the Saber Truth’s 32 Words. Each word contained a saber truth.

But, the sword tomb did not have those things. In there, there was a fascinating stone wall. Closing one’s eyes and meditating in front the stone wall would envelope someone in illusions.

In these illusions, there were rushing rivers, cascading waterfalls, the virtual images of mountains of corpses and a sea of blood, and there were also flying sword beams.

It seemed like the person who left behind the sword tomb had cast all the scenes he had seen in his life into the stone wall. As such, people of the future would sense these scenes while meditating in front of the stone wall.

“These are the things that the sword tomb owner saw when comprehending the way of the sword!”

Yi Yun opened the Purple Crystal’s energy vision and a light flashed across his mind.

The sword tomb owner had seen all these images that allowed him to comprehend his Sword Intent, hence, he had left his own Sword Intent within those scenes, allowing people of the future to ponder over them.

Yi Yun had spent 10 months in the Pure Yang Sword Palace and he failed to understand the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner’s Sword Intent. However, it still allowed Yi Yun to have a deep understanding of the sword truths.

After trying out the hardest sword truths that were closest to its origins, and then trying to gain insight on a relatively easier sword truth, this was much easier.

If it was said that the Sword Intent left behind in the Pure Yang Sword Palace was a tall mountain that was very difficult to scale, then the sword truths left behind in the sword tomb were like stone steps used to scale that tall mountain.

Yi Yun went up a step at a time…

Time passed. Yi Yun did not know how long had passed as he meditated in the sword tomb. He had entered a completely ethereal state, being one with nature in a spiritual sense.

The shocking sword scars from the Pure Yang Sword Palace kept resonating in Yi Yun’s mind.

It was as if those huge sword scars were carved in Yi Yun’s mind, slowly overlapping with the images from within the sword tomb…

It was unknown when a rusty broken sword appeared in Yi Yun’s hands. The broken sword emitted a cold frosty feeling, making Yi Yun’s mind even clearer…

He gently waved the sword slowly, as if he was slashing at invisible spider webs.

Slash after slash seemed to be completely random, but in the illusionary world, Yi Yun seemed to have slashed apart a waterfall, splitting a river, and the fantasy-like saber beam and sword shadows seemed to interweave with each other.

While Yi Yun was in a trance like state of trying to comprehend the sword, the Tai Ah Divine City was already bustling with activity.

In the central divine tower, there was a place for welcoming guests, named Splendid Room. The Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord’s birthday banquet was to be held here.

Although the Splendid Room was in the central divine tower’s hall, one would see flowers and bamboo upon entering. These plants were treasures, and between the plants, there was emerald-green water that quietly flowed around, as if it was a jade belt.

If any guest wanted to drink in this green bamboo forest, they could simply put wine glasses into the flowing water and drink from it, and it could be described as “drinking water from a winding canal”.

Beyond the bamboo forest, there were exquisite little tables. The tables were about one foot tall and they only allowed people to sit kneeling on the ground. There were all sort of exquisite spiritual foods placed on the tables. They were all treasures amongst treasures and extremely expensive. The foods contained rich amounts of Yuan Qi, allowing one’s cultivation level to benefit from eating it.

People who were qualified to sit at those tiny tables for the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord’s birthday banquet were all important figures from various large factions.

And for VIPs like the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord and the Seven Star Pagoda Owner, they were seated near the flowing water at the center of the entire hall.

Around the table, there were pavilions.

Each pavilion had one large table and all the young elites from each country would sit here.

Except for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, who was the host, all the other factions were only allocated one pavilion.

Those who could sit in the pavilions were the strongest youths from each faction.

And for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s pavilion, the relatively outstanding Tai Ah Divine City cultivators were selected. For example, the top 30 geniuses from the Heaven, Earth, Man rolls of honor, and the leaders of other age groups.

For example, the third-year cultivators’ Li Hong, the second-year cultivators’ Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu and the top three rookies of this year’s batch, Lu Jie, Wen Yu and a short fat youth.

“Oh? Why isn’t Yi Yun here?”

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s younger generation was split amongst 6 pavilions. Wen Yu, Lu Jie, Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran were sitting together. Lu Jie scanned the surroundings and noticed that Yi Yun was not around.

This surprised Lu Jie. With Yi Yun’s stature, he was definitely qualified to sit here.

“I don’t know, maybe he’s in reclusive training…” Chu Xiaoran casually said and did not bother about it.

In fact, it was pretty pointless for her to join such a banquet. She was not a person who liked the noise and excitement. She was only here to gain an understanding of the young elites from the various factions.

“Oh? It’s the people from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom!”

At this moment, the most important figures from the various factions had not arrived. Only the younger generation of the various factions were in the hall.

Chu Xiaoran saw about a dozen youths walk over. Leading them was a fatty in yellow. His face had a friendly smile, but his eyes contained arrogance.

He scanned over the crowd and skipped over Chu Xiaoran without pausing and looked to the pavilion besides Chu Xiaoran’s.

In that pavilion sat two of Tai Ah Divine City’s most influential figures, Yao Dao and Yang Qian!

Back when Yi Yun first entered the Tai Ah Divine City, Yao Dao and Yang Qian were fifteen years old. Back then, they were ranked in the top 100 of the Earth roll.

Now, after a year, Yao Dao and Yang Qian had spent 4 years in the Tai Ah Divine City, and they were now fifth year cultivators. Their cultivation level had reached the mid-stages of the Yuan foundation realm about half a year ago.

With Qin Haotian and his batch completing their training, they had left the Tai Ah Divine City. Hence, Yao Dao and Yang Qian had entered the top 5 of the Earth roll.

Without Qin Haotian, Li Xiao and company, there were not many presentable sixth-year geniuses in the Tai Ah Divine City other than Luo Huo’er.

But Luo Huo’er never challenged the Heaven or Earth rolls. No one knew how strong she was in other aspects other than her Desolate Heaven technique.

Hence, the fifth year’s Yao Dao and Yang Qian were now considered the best. People believed that the two of them would replace Qin Haotian and company’s position, and they would soon dominate both Heaven and Earth rolls.

As for Yang Haoran, Yang Dingkun and company, although they were outstanding, they were a lot worse than Yao Dao and Yang Qian.

The batches below, the fourth and third year cultivators were even worse.

The third year cultivators only had Li Hong. And he had been defeated by Yi Yun, a person one year younger than him, in the last rookie ranking competition.

This was definitely an embarrassment for the third-year cultivators.

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s yellow-clothed fatty had a general idea of who were the outstanding ones amongst the Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators before the birthday banquet began.

Hence, once he entered, he only paid attention to Yao Dao and Yang Qian.

Sensing the yellow-clothed fatty’s brazen gaze of sizing them up, Yang Qian’s frowned. “This fatty wants to fight!”

Yang Qian was a proud person and he had a bad temper. Feeling the yellow-clothed fatty’s animosity, he was enraged.

“This fatty is not simple. He is looking at your strength. His gaze is indeed irritating, as if it is the gaze of a businessman checking out his goods.”

Beside Yang Qian, Yao Dao said that calmly. His hand could not help but touch the short saber by the side of his body.

“Yang Qian, there might be some impromptu performances for the City Lord’s birthday banquet. It will be the moment for all the young elites from the various factions to compete against each other. Now with Senior Qin gone, those who can handle this scene are probably the two of us. Hence, this fatty is sizing you up!”

Yao Dao quickly guessed the fatty’s intentions.

Yang Qian grunted, “I see. That’s also good!”

Yang Qian was not afraid of a challenge. Battling against others amongst the younger generation was all he could wish for. He especially looked forward to sparring with young elites from outside of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

At this moment, the Splendid Room’s door opened, and with some attendants guiding them, the important figures from the various factions arrived.

Amongst them were the two leaders, one of them was a stout man wearing a heavy fur cloak and bone-laced military boots. He was the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s Seven Star Pagoda Owner.

And the other person was a middle-aged men in a green gown. He looked happy, but his sword-like eyebrows revealed an extremely sharp aura.

This person did not seem to give any sense of oppression. In fact, he looked like a scholar from the mortal world. He seemed to read the books of sages, but was thoroughly weak.

He was Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord!

306 - : The Birthday Banquet Begins

Seeing the middle-aged scholar appear, many of the young men and women in the Tai Ah Divine City pavilions held their breaths.

Wen Yu, Chu Xiaoran, Qiuniu, Yang Qian, Yao Dao… Even the most arrogant geniuses became extremely respectful while facing the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord as they all had a deep sense of reverence for him.

This was the first time they met the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord. Not only them, not even Qin Haotian or Li Xiao had ever managed to see the City Lord in the past.

As the middle-aged scholar, Seven Star Pagoda Owner and the important figures from various large factions entered, all the young elites in the pavilions stood up.

Seeing these legendary figures made them extremely excited and also made them feel a kind of pressure.

They thought that once the important figures were seated, the birthday banquet would begin, but unexpectedly, these people went straight past the “water canal”, going straight into one of the side chambers in the Splendid Room.

In the Splendid Room, there were side chambers used for negotiations. The doors to the side chamber closed the moment they entered.

“Eh?”

Seeing the group of important figures disappear into the side chamber, left the juniors hanging and confused.

Wasn’t this supposed to be the City Lord’s birthday banquet?

The banquet had been laid out, yet these important figures did not take their seats and immediately went into one of the side chamber for negotiations?

At that instant, many of the juniors looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

“What the heck!?”

The yellow-clothed fatty from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom was planning to dig in, but without the important figures seated, he could not eat.

“What’s the matter…”

The other young elites from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom were also filled with questions. At this moment, the girl in a palace gown calmly said, “Maybe… this negotiation is the main purpose for this birthday banquet…”

…

At this moment, in the side chamber of the Splendid Room, many important figures from the various factions were seated.

The seats were clearly split into three regions.

One region was led by the middle-aged scholar. Behind him were the various factions affiliated with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Another region was led by the Seven Star Pagoda Owner. Behind him were the factions affiliated with the Yun Long Divine Kingdom.

The last region was the twelve countries alliance from the South.

These twelve countries were smaller than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and the Yun Long Divine Kingdom. However, with the twelve countries in an alliance, they were powerful enough to form a tripartite with the other two Divine Kingdoms.

And between these three regions, there were various reclusive family clans and some scattered smaller countries.

In some sense, they formed the last powerful faction, but they were not united.

This simple negotiation would go according to the clearly distinguished powers.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and the Yun Long Divine Kingdom had been rivals for many years. There was constant friction between these two countries, but they never fought because of the constant fear of the Divine wilderness.

At this moment, the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord was sitting in the host’s seat, holding a scroll in his hands.

“I am honored by everyone attending my, Yang’s birthday banquet. Gathering all of you here is because there is an important thing we need to discuss. I wonder if everyone present has heard the legend of the ‘Shepherd Boy’…”

As the middle-aged scholar spoke, he opened up the scroll which contained a picture.

It was a youth, riding on a green cow in the picture. He held a piccolo in his hand and wore a bamboo hat. He dressed simply and looked like a handsome young farmer boy.

“‘Shepherd Boy’?”

Some people frowned, obviously they had never heard this name.

However, there were a few people whose expressions changed the moment they heard the words ‘Shepherd Boy’.

“I see. No wonder the City Lord has invited us over. I have heard the legend of the ‘Shepherd Boy’. 10 years ago, he appeared in the western regions and stirred up a bloody storm. I never expected him to suddenly appear here…” An elder said with a deep tone.

“Who is the ‘Shepherd Boy’?”

Some people frowned as they asked. Everyone present were important figures, so they did not feel good about not knowing something others knew.

“Let me tell you.”

The middle-aged scholar lightly threw the ‘Shepherd Boy’ picture and it flew up to a wall. He then slowly said, “The ‘Shepherd Boy’ is a mysterious youth. Of course, he just looks young. As for his actual age, I do not know. ‘Shepherd Boy’ is just a nickname of his. I am unsure of what his real name is.”

“The origins of the ‘Shepherd Boy’ is a mystery. We do not know who he is, but we do know that he is not human.”

“Oh!? What?”

A green-clothed elder was alarmed when he heard this. He carefully looked at the painting on the wall. It was clearly a young man, how could he not be human?

“Indeed. The last time the ‘Shepherd Boy’ appeared, he caused great misery in the western regions. Because, every time he appears, a massive beast horde will accompany him. At first, it will just be small-scaled. Later on, it will become more and more terrifying. There might even be many primordial species! Some people even suspect that the ‘Shepherd Boy’ is able to control desolate beasts.”

Control desolate beasts?

People were alarmed hearing this. “Could this ‘Shepherd Boy’ be a desolate beast in human form?” Someone couldn’t help but ask.

However, the middle-aged scholar shook his head. “I am afraid not. To date, in the most authoritative ancient records, there has been no records of a desolate beast taking on human form. Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility of a desolate beast cultivating to such an unimaginable realm that it is able to take on a human form.”

“Usually, there are beast hordes in the Divine wilderness, but the scale of them will not be large. And the desolate beasts’ intelligence is not high. The beast horde will charge and destroy aimlessly, like loose sand. It can be easily defeated, but… with the ‘Shepherd Boy’, it will be different. The beast horde will become very organized and strategic, making it extremely difficult to handle.”

“Ten years ago, when the ‘Shepherd Boy’ first appeared in the western region, he brought a huge disaster to the western regions. Back then, the ‘Shepherd Boy”s goal was the ancient family clan in the western regions, the Shen Tu family clan!”

“The Shen Tu family clan had a extremely deep heritage, so they were able to withstand that large scale beast horde. However, they suffered great losses!”

“After the ‘Shepherd Boy’ failed, he conjured up a few beast hordes in several places. Blood flowed like rivers, but these beast hordes were much weaker compared to the one that went against the Shen Tu family clan. It felt like it was a form of revenge…”

The middle-aged scholar told the story of the ‘Shepherd Boy’ in a calm tone.

“Shen Tu family clan?”

When people heard the name of the family clan, many of the important figures present looked at each other. This family clan’s heritage was extremely terrifying.

It was much stronger than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and the Yun Long Divine Kingdom.

Why did the ‘Shepherd Boy’ go against a family clan of that power level?

“Everyone, you do not have to worry too much.” Seeing the ugly expressions of the principal figures of the various factions, the middle-aged scholar then continued, “The Shen Tu family clan might have had some feud with the ‘Shepherd Boy’, resulting in that huge battle. As for us, we should not have any crossed paths with him. However, since he has appeared in our Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s northern regions, it is still very worrying. And once there is a beast horde, it will not just be the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s matter. Being closely related and having common interests, we all share the same fate, so all of you might be implicated too.

The middle-aged scholar slowly said this as the crowd listened to him with worried expressions. This topic was not something they could ease up on.

“Everyone, the reason for gathering everyone here today is to form an alliance, so that we will be able to combat the possible beast horde.”

The middle-aged scholar said the main purpose of this birthday banquet.

Everyone had different expressions when they heard this.

Although the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord was right about the fact that the surrounding countries would be implicated if there was a beast horde, the appearance of the ‘Shepherd Boy’ was in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s northern region, not near their countries. So the first one to suffer would be the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom in the event of a beast horde.

After all, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had to be destroyed first before it became their turn.

In fact, this beast horde might not be too large in scale and might not even be able to destroy the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. If so, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom would be able to withstand the beast horde by suffering losses. If that was the case, it would be none of their business.

Also, there was another point. Although the beast horde would cause huge losses of lives, even to the point of sages dying, it was a great opportunity to train up experts with every beast horde. Warriors had to undergo hardship and killing to mature. Besides, after a beast horde, there would be extremely large amounts of resources. For example, the body of a killed primordial species was full of treasures!

If one could withstand a beast horde, it was also an opportunity to be reborn from the ashes like a phoenix!

The best outcome would be both the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and the beast horde suffering great losses. With them joining late in the war, they would reduce the risk of their own sages and geniuses dying, only receiving the benefits…

The Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord was no simple person. How could he not figure out their wishful thinking?

In time, many of the important figures of the various factions were having disparate thoughts.

Facing this possible disaster and the chance of fortuitous opportunities, everyone had their own plans. Everyone wanted to avoid the risks but reap the benefits.

Unless the ‘Shepherd Boy’ is able to conjure up a beast horde that really is able to destroy more than ten countries, it will be impossible for the various factions to resist the beast horde without any demands.

At this moment, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s Seven Star Pagoda Owner said, “City Lord Yang, you mentioned an alliance. I wonder, who will be taking on the responsibility of the alliance’s leader?”

The crowd’s attention was instantly attracted the moment the Seven Star Pagoda Owner said this.

The alliance’s leader was not just a problem of face, it also involved the commanding powers. After the beast horde was over, there would be unspeakable benefits to the person holding the commanding powers.

This was because each war had to do with deaths and injury, losses and also the victory items!

There might be certain wars where various factions would seek to fight, but there were other wars that no one would want to send their own warriors to their deaths.

The middle-aged scholar smiled upon hearing the Seven Star Pagoda Owner’s question. He answered, “There will be no need for a leader for the alliance. All it needs is a Council, consisting of all the important figures from the various factions.”

“Oh? Council? If the Council is in constant debate without a consensus? This is when an alliance leader is necessary!”

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner’s tone sounded calm, but it had a hidden sharpness to it!

People knew that the relationship between the Yun Long Divine Kingdom and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was not friendly.

Now, with core interests involved, how could a battle be avoided?

Authors’ note: Yesterday for the 4 updates, two of the chapters were combined into one, nothing was missing. Today, there will be one fewer update. Tomorrow, there will be 3 updates to make up for today. The Shepherd Boy’s appearance is related to the story’s main plot line. There are some things I haven’t thought through.

307 - : Shepherd Boy

CKtalon  CKtalon

According to the original schedule, the City Lord’s birthday banquet would have lasted for seven days.

The important figures from the various factions would only attend the first two days. To the juniors, these two days were of extreme importance as it was a stage for them to showcase their skills.

The elites from various large factions were all extremely proud. How could they not flaunt their strength with all of them gathered together?

Under normal circumstances, the demonstrations during the birthday banquet were perfunctory, and there wouldn’t be any real fights on stage. It was just for people to show off their specialty skills as a performance to excite the banquet’s atmosphere.

Originally, many of the juniors had prepared their performances, such as sparring, swordplay, etc, and they were eager to get into action, hoping to shine during the banquet and win rewards. But they never expected that the mighty figures all entered a negotiation room on the first day. They did not come out even after six hours.

What is the meaning of this?

Many of the juniors were dumbfounded. The food was already cold, yet not a single soul of that negotiation group was seen.

It was only until midnight that the large door to the side chamber opened.

The mighty figures from the various large factions filed out of the side chamber.

Leading the way was the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord. He still wore his green gown and he gave off a breezy feeling with his faint smile on his face.

But the sharper people knew that something was amiss. There was a feeling of confrontation amongst the important figures.

Each party from the various factions was seated according to their respective statures. The atmosphere seemed to turn cold.

The middle-aged scholar stood up and raised a glass of wine, “It is my honor that everyone is here to participate in my birthday banquet. Due to a sudden turn of events today, I have neglected all of you. Please forgive me for being a bad host. Seeing that the Sun has set, please feel free to eat. The banquet will temporarily cease tomorrow and it will be held seven days later. This Splendid Room is a bit too small, thus the venue will be the arena! It is much roomier there!”

The City Lord gave a simple opening speech, which seemed like pleasantries, but all the young elites from the various factions were shocked.

The birthday banquet would be held seven days later? This birthday banquet could still be pushed back?

And, this Splendid Room is small…This Splendid Room was hundreds of feet in radius and it could accommodate more than 1000 people easily, how could it be small? And the middle-aged scholar’s mentioning of switching to the arena made many juniors present feel a surge of sharpness.

The legendary figures from the various factions did not speak a single word but they clearly silently accepted it. This birthday banquet’s atmosphere was sullen as the juniors present felt the solemn atmosphere.

An elite youth from a small faction had specially prepared a swordplay show. After everyone was eating silently for 15 minutes, he could not endure it any further and jumped out, announcing that he was going to provide some entertainment for the birthday banquet.

The legendary figures from the various large factions lacked any interest. Seeing their elders sullen faces, none of the juniors had the mood to cheer, what more, jumping out to spar with the youth.

Due to the awkward atmosphere, the youth decided to stop demonstrating his swordplay in the end.

As a result, no other junior came forward to get snubbed.

The first day’s birthday banquet ended in such a depressing atmosphere.

After the birthday banquet ended, there was a meeting of the Tai Ah Divine City Elders.

Jian Ge, Cang Yan, Grandmaster Yuehua and other divine city Elders were looking at the City Lord.

“How is the situation?”

The Elders did not enter the side chamber for the negotiations, so they did not know the results of the negotiations. They only noticed that the birthday banquet’s atmosphere was heavy, so they guessed that the result was not optimistic.

“We did not manage to come to a consensus. The main problem is the commanding rights…”

The middle-aged scholar shook his head gently. With so many countries in an alliance, there was indeed a need for a commander to unite them. If they were not united and fought their own battles, then the battle situation would be terrible. One had to know that it was the Shepherd Boy leading the beast horde, and it was a horde that did not fear death.

The final result of a group of timid and disunited troops against a monolithic beast horde was obvious.

On the battlefield, there would be inevitable results of narrow escapes or even everyone dying on the battlefield. As such, whoever had the right of command was able to save their own strength to a certain extent.

No one wanted to be cannon fodder.

“The Seven Star Pagoda Owner wants to be the alliance leader, but I refused. The ten countries from the south wanted more benefits, which I naturally did not agree to. The final condition set forth by the Seven Star Pagoda Owner was to set up an Elder League during the war, and in the form of a legislative assembly, fight for the commanding rights. And exactly how many seats every faction would receive would depend on each country’s strength.”

“Strength?” Jian Ge frowned. In the world of warriors, strength was king. The bigger one’s fist was, the greater one’s voice was. This was not to be disputed, but how was one to compete in strength?

“Our strength is on par with the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s!” Cang Yan said.

“Yes, in terms of national power, we are almost the same. Besides, there is no way to compare national power. We cannot gather the sages and peak Human Lords from every country to fight a match. Therefore, we will compete with the strength of our juniors. Their Yun Long 72 Pagodas is not much different from our Tai Ah Divine City. It too gathers all the best juniors of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom.”

“If the Yun Long 72 Pagodas is compared with the Tai Ah Divine City, we can indeed see whose juniors are stronger. A generation of juniors is the future of a Divine Kingdom. This form of competition isn’t unreasonable.”

“The Yun Long 72 Pagodas against the Tai Ah Divine City? City Lord, you agreed to it?”

“Yes!” The middle-aged scholar nodded.

“This…” Cang Yan was worried. “The geniuses of the Tai Ah Divine City are different every year. The last batch that just left the Tai Ah Divine City was filled with experts. Anyone chosen from Qin Haotian, Li Xiao and the Qiao brothers could fight one against ten, but now with them gone, the new crop has yet to come in to replace the old. Who do we choose?”

This rule was clearly disadvantageous against the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Cang Yan knew that the Yun Long Divine Kingdom had come prepared. It was likely that this batch in the Yun Long 72 Pagodas was much stronger than previous years.

For them to go against the Yun Long 72 Pagodas’ strong phase while their Tai Ah Divine City was in the weak phase, the outcome was obvious.

The middle-aged scholar said, “You are right. The Seven Star Pagoda Owner knew this and purposely made this request. He is clearly very confident of this Yun Long Divine Kingdom generation.”

“As for the ten countries in the south, they have agreed. They have added on a condition for them to have three additional Elder seats. They seem to be very proud of their countries’ younger generation.” The middle-aged scholar said as the Elders’ minds were shrouded in gloom.

They knew that it was a necessary concession for the middle-aged scholar had to agree on.

As the Shepherd Boy had appeared at the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s borders, the ten countries in the south and the Yun Long Divine Kingdom were still a distance away. If a beast horde were to happen, the first one to suffer was the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

They could watch on the sidelines as the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom fought against the beast horde first.

Although as the saying goes “when the lips are lost, the teeth will be exposed to the cold”, the ten countries in the south and the Yun Long Divine Kingdom would only feel “cold”, while the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom would be “lost”. The difference was great.

“What are the exact rules? We can’t be fighting without anything to reap?” An Elder dressed in a purple shirt said worriedly.

“No, if the younger participants do a good job, we will also win seats, just fewer in numbers.”

“And for making it fair, if the difference in ages is too great, then the older one will have to suppress their cultivation level. Even so, the older one would still hold an advantage. As suppressing one’s cultivation level is extremely limited. It is just for show as the insight into laws and Aspect Totems will not be suppressed.”

“The number of seats in the end will be decided according to the overall performance. In the end, just being first will obtain a once-off 10 seats.”

The middle-aged scholar simply introduced the rules. Cang Yan was extremely pissed hearing this as these rules were beneficial to the Yun Long Divine Kingdom.

The current Tai Ah Divine City’s achilles’ heel was that it lacked strong young adult cultivators.

They were not lacking in teenager experts.

But under these rules, it was impossible for a thirteen-fourteen year-old teenager to beat a seventeen-eighteen year-old young adult.

Hence, the final grand prize would have to be given up.

“Jian Ge, you have been the one in charge of the Tai Ah Divine City these days. Make a list of participants.” The middle-aged scholar ordered. “You should know who is most suitable to compete.”

The participant list not only needed to take into consideration the Earth roll ranking, but also the age. Even the sixth year cultivators, who were ranked in the top 30 of the Earth roll, could not compete as they were too weak.

But as for Wen Yu and Lu Jie, these rookie experts who were only ranked 3000-4000 on the Earth roll could take part in the competition.

Jian Ge said, “Yi Yun, Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu are all the best experts. With them, the fourteen-year-old bracket is definitely to our advantage. But there is a lack of fifth and sixth year cultivators. There is only a girl named Luo Huo’er. Her origins are a mystery, and she has never participated in the Earth or Heaven roll tussle, so we do not know how strong she is!”

The strength of Luo Huo’er, who was ranked first on the Man ranking, had always been a mystery. Now, Jian Ge could only rest his hopes on Luo Huo’er to give a pleasant surprise.

308 - : Competing for Assembly Seats

CKtalon  CKtalon

The news regarding the alliance of the various large factions against the beast horde and the competition for assembly seats quickly spread. The young disciples of the various large factions were also made aware of this information.

They finally knew why the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord had organized a birthday banquet and why it was suddenly stopped midway.

The birthday banquet was only an excuse. The real reason was to negotiate an alliance. Initially, this reason was kept confidential, which was why the lie of a birthday banquet was needed.

The matter of competing for seats was of grave importance. Every faction began making their preparations.

“The few of you are the best young people from our Bai Yue mountain family clan. I do not expect you to become the champion of this alliance ranking competition, nor do I even ask you to enter the top 10. As long as anyone of you can win our Bai Yue mountain family clan one seat, then the next Patriarch candidate will be mostly determined!”

Somewhere in the central divine tower, a middle-aged man said to a few young boys and girls in front of him.

The Bai Yue mountain family clan was a reclusive family clan that had its roots in the Bai Yue mountains. It did not belong to any of the three large factions, nor did it have any sages. The head of the house was a peak-Human Lord. If they were to develop according to a prescribed order, it would be very difficult for them to grow.

However, opportunities arise in troubled times!

First, they had to compete for a seat. This was the first step in allowing their family clan to grow.

With this critical one vote, the Bai Yue mountain family clan would be valued by the other factions. During a key moment, people would try to win them over by laying enough chips on the table.

While in another residence in the central divine tower, the fur-cloaked Seven Star Pagoda Owner was looking at the young elites of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom in front of him.

“You are the Yun Long 72 Pagodas’s strongest batch in the past 100 years! I suggested the rule of competing in an alliance ranking competition! I dared to suggest it because I have confidence in all of you!”

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner towered from above as he looked at the young boys and girls before him. The shadow behind him seemed to rise infinitely high, giving others great pressure.

“Since the rules were suggested by me, if anyone of you were to perform badly, then I will be the laughing stock of the South’s ten countries and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Even the old rivals in our country will mock me!”

“Now, I have nothing much to say to you. I only wish for you to gain at least half the seats in the alliance ranking competition in seven days! That is the bottom line! In fact, only by obtaining 60% of the seats would I be satisfied!”

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner’s voice was shocking. The youths of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom half-kneeled with a hand across their chest, “Yes! Pagoda Owner!”

Amongst the crowd, a pale black-clothed youth wrapped a bandage around his hand.

“The alliance ranking competition…I will not be limited by it. Let this beast horde be the first test in my martial life…” The black-clothed youth said this silently in his mind. A cold beam flashed in his eyes.

…

The seven days of preparation was sufficient. There were even some countries who brought the young elites from their country using super long-distance teleportation arrays, so as to join the competition.

As for the Tai Ah Divine City, it also gave out its own rewards.

This large competition was no longer a matter of glory points. The Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord announced personally that whoever were to obtain first place in the alliance ranking competition would be free to use any resources while training in the Tai Ah Divine City. They would also be conferred the title of Count, given a hundred cities as their fiefdom, and enjoy the privileges of the royal household in the future.

For example, even reading the entire set of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was not a problem.

This reward was pretty exaggerated, but the appearance of the Shepherd Boy was a matter of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s survival. Giving out rewards like this was understandable.

Of course, to obtain first place in the alliance ranking competition was too difficult for the Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators.

Even the leader figures of the current Tai Ah Divine City, Yao Dao and Yang Qian were experiencing heavy pressure at that moment!

The two of them were old rivals the moment they entered the Tai Ah Divine City. At that moment, they were sitting across each other in a loft.

“You and I have been at odds for four years. Now, we will need to fight hand in hand.”

Yang Qian took a deep breath. He was of royalty, so for this matter that involved the country’s and his own fate, he had to put in greater effort.

If he could obtain first place in the alliance ranking competition, he could be made a king for sure, even though it was impossible for him to be made Crown Prince.

“I am looking forward to fighting the young elites of the other countries on the same stage.” Yao Dao said as he gently wiped his long saber, as his eyes burned with fighting spirit.

At the moment everyone received this piece of information, Luo Huo’er received an invitation to fight.

Luo Huo’er’s small face frowned as she faced the invitation.

“Alliance ranking competition…” Luo Huo’er muttered to herself as if she was in a dilemma.

“Miss, why don’t you represent the Tai Ah Divine City to fight and beat them all up badly?”

Beside Luo Huo’er was a very excited maidservant, Dong’er, who exclaimed this while waving her small fists, making movements as if she was fighting against an opponent.

Dong’er had often heard Luo Huo’er bragging about how strong she was, such as tearing a king-grade desolate beast with her bare hands, destroying experts from all sorts of places, and so on.

When she mentioned of her ‘glorious past’, Luo Huo’er would often add one more line at the end, “This is nothing to me, piece of cake!”

To Dong’er, with her mistress’ ‘tearing a king-grade desolate beast with her bare hands’ powers’, she was sure to wipe the floor of all the geniuses from various countries!

As her mistress liked to join in the hubbub and with her show-off nature, it was natural that she would not miss out on this opportunity.

But Dong’er never expected what happened next. After Luo Huo’er seemed to appear to have some intentions, but upon recalling something, she said, “I can’t be bothered fighting this bunch of trash! It will only reduce my stature!”

“Uh…” Dong’er choked.

Many times, just before Luo Huo’er fought, she would use various kinds of excuses. “Reducing my stature fighting them” was Luo Huo’er’s most common excuse.

“Ai, forget it. I won’t bother with the likes of them. Training the Desolate Heaven technique everyday is also boring, but, so be it.” Luo Huo’er stretched her back, revealing her great body, “I’m going to sleep. Don’t bother me if there’s nothing.”

“Miss, why?” Dong’er quickly followed as her eyeballs rolled around, as if she had seen something on Luo Huo’er’s face.

The Tai Ah Divine City’s Heaven and Earth rolls did not have Luo Huo’er’s name on them. She only held first place of the Man roll of honors.

It was really weird that her mistress would not show herself off, considering her ability to tear a king-grade desolate beast apart with her bare hands.

Dong’er was anxious but Luo Huo’er appeared to have absolute zero interest. She yawned and ignored Dong’er, as she went back to her room.

Sitting on her bed, Luo Huo’er sat there quietly and lazily. After that, she unbuttoned her clothes gently and took out a talisman charm that hung on her neck, it was a protective charm. She touched the protective charm as she went into a daze.

“Daddy, when will you bring me back? It’s too boring here.”

“In this sensitive period, if those whatever City Lords or Pagoda Owners discover my identity, they would treat me as a spy and chop me up.”

“Ai, what a bother! It’s so troubling that I have been suffering from insomnia recently…”

Luo Huo’er grabbed her protective charm, pressing it to her chest as she laid back on the soft bed. Her hair spread out covered the whole bed like a blooming black rose.

Not long after, Luo Huo’er’s calm breathing was heard in the room.

…

The days passed one by one. During the seven days preparation time, the South’s ten countries transfered people from their country over for the alliance ranking competition.

There were more and more elites gathered in the Tai Ah Divine City.

These proud children of heaven were all extremely arrogant. With the rivalry between the factions they belonged to, how could they live in peace together?

Not long after, all sorts of friction exploded all around the Tai Ah Divine City.

Usually a small matter would escalate, causing the parties involved to make an appointment to fight it out in the arena.

There was always a winning and losing party in a fighting match. If one accidentally attacked too heavily, causing the other to be injured, the hostility would worsen.

Later, there would be people standing up for the injured party, resulting in another battle in the arena.

As such, before the alliance ranking competition even began, there were many fights. Many people were injured and the situation became even more testy!

Soon, the moment the elites from the various large faction met, it would be as if they were as incompatible as fire and water. It was just short of an all-out fight amongst the masses.

The Tai Ah Divine City’s people had the most casualties.

The main reason was that the people from the other factions were elites amongst the elites, while the Tai Ah Divine City had many ordinary disciples. The result was obvious for an ordinary disciple clashing with an elite.

The situation was nearly going out of control.

“This kid, why isn’t he coming out yet!? He sure makes one worry!”

Tomorrow would be the alliance battle. Cang Yan had been standing outside the sword tomb, tempted to open the door to the sword tomb a few times. However, he was afraid of interrupting Yi Yun’s cultivation midway, just as he was about to gain some important insight, by entering.

“In another four hours, I’ll go in if the kid still doesn’t come out. Fuck, this kid has gone in there for so many days. It’s nearly burning down outside, while he has it good. I don’t even know if he has fallen asleep inside there. What the heck is he doing going in there for 8-9 days!?”

If Yi Yun were to enter the saber tomb or if he were to go into reclusive training to ponder over things such as the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ or totem mystic technique, it would be fine.

But what most exasperating was that he had entered the sword tomb to learn about swords.

Isn’t he crazy for a saber user to learn swords!?

If not for Yi Yun giving Cang Yan miracles a time or two, Cang Yan would have long washed his hands of the matter.

Cang Yan placed an hourglass by the sword tomb’s entrance. Once the sand finished flowing, he would call Yi Yun out. As tomorrow was the big battle, he needed Yi Yun to have a good night’s rest, so that he would be in an optimal state.

Just as the sand flowed down about halfway, the sword tomb began rumbling as it opened by itself.

“This kid can actually open the tomb’s door himself…”

Cang Yan was thinking about this just as he saw Yi Yun appear by the stone door’s entrance…

309 - : Yi Yun Coming out of Reclusive Training

CKtalon  CKtalon

The white gown that Yi Yun had changed into before entering the sword tomb was now tattered.

The gown was not dirty, but it seemed to have been cut by a sword’s blade. Cut after cut made it look like rags.

Yi Yun’s long hair was hanging loose while his face seemed to exude a faint smile. His eyes were bright they shone in the dark sword tomb as if they were stars in the sky, which gave a strange feeling.

It seemed the Yi Yun, who entered the sword tomb entered 9 days ago, was now different once again.

This difference was not easily described. It seemed like there was a change in his disposition as if a sword Qi had merged right into his bones, making it as if Yi Yun himself was a sword.

“Kid, you finally came out!” Cang Yan said disgruntledly.

“Uh…I was too immersed and lost track of time. How long have I been in there?”

“It has nearly been nine days. Kid, you really are planning on learning the sword?”

Cang Yan looked inquisitively at Yi Yun and he was wondering how much sword comprehension Yi Yun had gained in the past few days. But to Cang Yan, even if Yi Yun had gained some insight into a few sword moves, it was useless. A saber could do the same amount of damage as a sword could do, so there was no point learning both the sword and saber. It was a really pointless endeavor.

Yi Yun did not want to continue on this topic and he interrupted, “Senior Cang Yan, you previously said that you will let me challenge the Earth roll and as long as I get to the top 300, I can carry on cultivating the way of the sword and the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’?”

Yi Yun indeed had plans to challenge the Earth roll. The people at the top of the Earth roll would receive dragon scale runes rewards monthly.

Cang Yan rolled his eyes at Yi Yun and sighed, “You sure have lots to challenge now. Alas, you still may not know that our Tai Ah Divine Kingdom is on the brink of destruction…”

Cang Yan carried on by describing the situation of the Shepherd Boy to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was stunned when he heard this.

Shepherd Boy?

Cang Yan’s description of the Shepherd Boy’s appearance made Yi Yun recall the mysterious youth he met at the blackwater swamp back when he went out into the Divine Wilderness for training.

The youth was riding a cow and he was blowing a piccolo. The piccolo’s sound seemed to contain a magical power that would affect one’s state of mind.

This mysterious youth traversed the Divine Wilderness and the blackwater swamp, yet all the desolate beasts seemed to turn a blind eye. It was a leisure stroll to him in the Divine Wilderness as if he was entering and exiting a flower garden.

This youth, who looked amiable and even seemed to be likable, had actually stirred up a bloody storm in the western regions, killing countless people, and nearly destroyed the extremely powerful Shentu family clan?

Yi Yun was extremely shocked. Hearing Cang Yan’s description, the Shentu family clan was stronger than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

A family clan was stronger than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom…

What sort of family clan was this?

And where were these so-called “western regions”?

Yi Yun sighed silently. Having come to this world, it seemed like he had some form of results, but compared to all those massive behemoths, he was still small.

Of course, this was not something he should think about now. He had to think about the big battle tomorrow.

Yi Yun was indebted to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. All his cultivation resources and cultivation techniques were mostly provided by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Yi Yun was a grateful person, so with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom facing a major crisis, he naturally would help as much as he could!

“Senior Cang Yan, does the Tai Ah Divine City have an armory? I want to choose a sword and a saber, to handle tomorrow’s big battle.”

Yi Yun’s Thousand Army Saber could no longer be used, and the broken sword he obtained from the Pure Yang Sword Palace was of great importance, so he could not use it unless his life was in danger. It was best to choose a sword and a saber in the Tai Ah Divine City.

The Tai Ah Divine City’s armory’s swords and sabers would definitely be better in quality than the Jin Long Wei armory’s.

Cang Yan looked at Yi Yun’s harmless-looking smile and his heart thumped. He snapped, “Rotten kid, you are trying to take advantage of old me once again. You can choose some weapons, but it will only be a loan. If you were to win tomorrow’s big battle, the weapons will be yours. If you don’t win, hehe, it will be charged accordingly! Don’t try grabbing my stuff just because of the big battle ahead.”

Yi Yun grinned, “Okay!”

That night, elites from all over were gathered in the Tai Ah Divine City. They were saving their strength and adjusting their conditions, in preparation for the battle tomorrow.

However, while everyone was trying to condition themselves, in a corner of the Divine City, there were a few people who took advantage of the dark and gathered in a small courtyard.

“It’s this person?”

Despite the night being dark, some warriors could still easily see in the dark.

At that moment, two men covered in cloaks were holding onto a portrait. On the portrait, there was a youth in linen clothes wielding a saber.

This youth was none other than Yi Yun.

“It’s him…” The cloaked man’s voice was hoarse, preventing others from recognizing his original voice. “Break his meridians. It would be best if you made him permanently disabled. If you can do that, we will give you great rewards.”

As the cloaked man said, he flipped his hands and a black bag appeared in his hands. “This is the down payment.”

“Ah!” A youth with a venomous serpent around his body took over a little black bag.

This youth was lanky and his ears were full of skull earrings. His face and body were covered in tattoos, which made him look extremely odd.

The youth’s pupils were also amber in color and oval like a snake. Whenever he smiled, sharp teeth would appear in the corners of his mouth, giving a chilly feeling.

Standing beside the youth with the snake, there was a yellow-clad fat person. He noted with interest as he stroked his chin and reached into the black bag.

Shiny objects rolled out. They were like gemstones that glowed in the night.

They were all desolate bone relics!

“Top grade desolate bone relics!”

The yellow-clad fatty licked his lips, “Interesting. I am very curious about your identities. You guys cannot be people from our Yun Long Divine Kingdom. Could it be that you are from the same faction as this Yi Yun? Tsk, he sure is unpopular, to the point that even people from his own faction would buy a rival faction’s people to maim him…”

“Don’t worry about us.” The two cloaked men’s voice turned cold, going on high alert.

If this deal they struck was found out by the Tai Ah Divine City’s upper echelons, there was a high possibility of them being crippled of their cultivation levels or even the death sentence.

“I warn you, this Yi Yun is not easy to deal with. Take care not to fail miserably at an easy task!” One of the cloaked men said.

“Hehe…do not think that we from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom are at the same level as your Tai Ah Divine Kingdom trash. He is just a kid that did not even enter the top 1000 amongst you people a year ago.” The snake youth laughed sinisterly and kept the desolate bone relics.

“You…”

When one of the cloaked men heard the snake youth’s arrogant mocking, he clenched his fists, almost to the point of getting to blows. However, he was stopped by the other.

“Then, we will rely on the two of you.” That cloaked man said.

“Ha! This anger means that you are indeed people from the Tai Ah Divine City. Don’t worry, I, Viper, am best at making vicious blows. I’ll take on this business!”

In this competitive battle, death or disability was not uncommon. After all, in a duel with real sabers and swords, many of the moves were made with full strength!

Even in the internal battles of the Tai Ah Divine City, even when people tried their best to avoid a death battle, there would still be deaths in the arena.

In this battle against rival factions, the battles would be even more intense and more brutal.

“It’s a deal!” The two cloaked men left silently.

The yellow-clad fatty was chewing on a bamboo stick as he picked his teeth, “These Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators sure are terrible. With a foreign enemy in front of them, they are still having their internal fights!”

“Hehe, jealousy and hatred are terrifying forces. They can cause a person to go mad, making them do things without considering the consequences. But this is for the best.

“Of course, it’s up to you.” The yellow-clad fatty did not mind.

“But who are these two people? They sure are cunning. They even disguised their voices.” The snake man said.

“Hehe! One of them is one-armed. He thought that he had disguised himself well, but that fake limb did not have any Yuan Qi fluctuations, so how could that trick me? The Tai Ah Divine City may have many cultivators, but there are only a few of them with one arm. It would be definitely easy to find him.”

As the fatty said, his lips curled into a sinister smile…

…

The next morning, the sky lit up and early winter snow fluttered above the Tai Ah Divine City. People from all over began to gather in the arena to participate in the City Lord’s birthday banquet and also, the alliance competition.

The arena had been cleared up and tables for ten were placed all over the arena.

At the seats of honor, there were small tables prepared for the various large faction’s legendary figures.

Fine wine and delicacies were placed on the tables. The scale of the birthday banquet was more than ten times better than the one seven days ago.

However, the arena had an additional deathly aura to it that lacked the elegance of the Splendid Room. Even the cutlery was made of black iron. They gave off a chilling feeling as if this was not a birthday banquet.

A special array was set up in the Divine Wilderness Stage in the middle. No matter how violent the battles were on the Divine Wilderness Stage, it would not affect the surrounding birthday banquet one bit.

But at that moment, many of the young elites present were not at ease enough to eat.

Of course, there were exceptions.

On the Yun Long Divine Kingdom side, there was a yellow-clad fatty who was grabbing roasted meat and tucking in, disregarding the fact that the birthday banquet had not officially begun.

Since all ties had nearly been broken, there was no point maintaining etiquette. Besides, how was he going to go on stage to fight if he did not have his fill?

Sitting beside the yellow-clad fatty was a lanky tattooed youth. A venomous snake was wrapped around his body. His eyes were like that of a serpent while he was in search of his prey.

Only when he noticed a youth in linen clothes walk into the arena did he faintly smile, with pick-like sharp teeth appearing at the ends of his mouth.

“Tsk, the prey is here. He sure is fresh and delicious.”

As he said this, the fatty beside him raised his head and looked at Yi Yun.

“Eh! Indeed. Poor child, he still doesn’t know that his own company has stabbed him in the back, hahaha!” The fatty laughed without control as his mouth was covered in oil.

While walking in the crowd, Yi Yun’s eyebrows wrinkled. He felt that people were staring at him.

He did not need to turn his head. Just by opening his energy vision, he could lock on to the yellow-clad fatty and the snake youth in an instant.

“Oh? I don’t know these two people. What are they staring at me for?”

Yi Yun subconsciously touched his interspatial ring, and in it were the weapons that Yi Yun had chosen yesterday!

310 - : Venomous Snake

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What is the matter, Yi Yun?” Seeing Yi Yun stop for a while, Chu Xiaoran asked.

“No matter, it’s just that some people are focusing on me.” Yi Yun said without much thought to it.

“Focusing on you is understandable. The people from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom probably know about your performance at last year’s rookie ranking competition.”

The main opponent of the Tai Ah Divine City was the Yun Long Kingdom’s 72 Pagodas. As for the Southern 10 countries, they were mainly facing off against the other smaller factions.

Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran walked to their seats and sat down. All the relevant Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators were gathered together, filling four large tables.

And Elder Cang Yan was sitting amongst them.

Yi Yun glanced at the people around the tables and he noticed Wen Yu, Qiuniu, Yang Qian and Yao Dao…

There were also Yi Yun’s rivals, Li Hong, Yang Dingkun and Yang Haoran.

Yang Haoran may have lost an arm, but his strength was still ranked near the top of the the Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators, so he was naturally selected.

But Yi Yun did not see Luo Huo’er…

“Oh? Luo Huo’er did not come?” From Yi Yun’s point of view, with Luo Huo’er’s absolute talent in the Desolate Heaven technique, her strength should not be too bad.

“Luo Huo’er said that she lacks talent in fighting, so she would not embarrass herself for the Tai Ah Divine City.” Someone in the know said by the side.

Yi Yun was shocked when he heard this. Were these words that a girl like Luo Huo’er would say?

Yi Yun did not have time to think too carefully about it before Cang Yan started speaking at that moment, “Everyone listen up. I will be mentioning the rules of the big battle ahead.”

“All the people fighting in our battle with the Yun Long Divine Kingdom will be split into eight groups. There will be four groups for those below the age of fifteen, and another four groups for those above the age of fifteen. A leader will be chosen for each group, while the remaining group members are forerunners.”

“Each group’s leader will hold on to two seats. Once the leader is defeated, the seats will be taken! Therefore, the leader’s position is of utmost importance. As for the forerunners… their main role is to protect the leader. They are to take on challenges for the leader or used to probe the opponents’ strength.”

“Everyone can only fail once. Once defeated, they will not be able to fight again.”

“Besides defeating the opponent’s leader and obtaining the seats, if you obtain first place in the under-fifteen groups, above-fifteen groups, and the overall group by defeating all opponents, then we will obtain additional seats!” Cang Yan finishing explaining the rules in a few words. Everyone could tell that only the leader could easily make meritorious contributions.

The others, although called “forerunners” euphemistically, they were, in actual fact, cannon fodder or stones used to scout ahead.

“First, I will announce the people who are leaders!” Cang Yan took out a scroll while the young elites present held their breaths.

The matches ahead meant a lot to them. It was far greater importance than challenging the Heaven or Earth rolls of honor.

“For the under-fifteen groups, the leaders are, Chu Xiaoran! Qiuniu! Yi Yun! And Li Hong!”

Cang Yan paused briefly after mentioning each name. When Yi Yun’s name was mentioned, Yang Haoran clenched his fist. That kid was made a leader!

Although he hated Yi Yun, he knew that Yi Yun becoming a leader was a reasonable decision.

Amongst the four leaders, Li Hong was the weakest. But they really had no one else to choose from. They could not get Wen Yu or Lu Jie to be leaders.

Li Hong was after all, the best person amongst the Tai Ah Divine City’s third year cultivators.

“Next will the above-fifteen groups’ leaders, Yao Dao! Hua Yue! Fang Hai! And Yang Haoran!”

When Cang Yan announced the four leaders’ names, everyone was shocked. What was going on?

Yang Qian’s strength was just slightly inferior to Yao Dao and he was outstanding in the Earth roll of honor. It was surprising that he was not made a leader.

What was the reason behind Hua Yue, Fang Hai and Yang Haoran?

“I’m a leader, haha, I’m also a leader!” Yang Haoran was ecstatic. He felt that if he had not lost his arm, it would have been no problem becoming a leader. But after he lost an arm, it was impossible to become a leader.

Now, Cang Yan had chosen Yang Haoran to be a leader, allowing him, who felt gloom in his life, to finally gain some spirit.

As everyone was still trying to understand the reasoning behind the leader selection, Cang Yan took out another bunch of scrolls, “The leaders have been decided. Now, I will announce each group’s forerunners…”

After Yang Haoran took his subordinate name list, he was dumbfounded.

There was no other reason. The people on his list were weaker than any of the other groups’!

They were practically people with average talent and they only managed to enter the top 30-40 of the Earth roll of honor with difficulty due to their age advantage.

These people were in other words, cannon fodder!

He, as a leader, was leading a group of cannon fodder?

Then wasn’t he also cannon fodder?

After Yang Haoran looked at the other name lists, he realized that the strongest people amongst the Tai Ah Divine City’s above-fifteen cultivators such as Yang Qian were all in Yao Dao’s group.

The other groups were all given cannon fodder. And even though they were considered cannon fodder, the cannon fodder given to him were the worst!

He suddenly realized that he had been given up.

The upper echelons of the Tai Ah Divine City had placed all their bets on Yao Dao’s group. Yang Qian and company may not have obtained the position of leaders, but they were able to guarantee Yao Dao’s group a victory.

As for the rest, due to the rules, they were only here to make up the numbers…

“Actually treating me like cannon fodder!”

Yang Haoran clenched his fist, as the veins on his forehead went taut. The hate for Yi Yun became stronger after receiving this name list. If it wasn’t for his missing arm, how could he have ended up as cannon fodder!?

He swallowed his anger because with Cang Yan here, he didn’t dare show it. He was only hoping that the two people he found the other day would be able to cripple Yi Yun or even kill him.

While at that moment, Yi Yun had also obtained the name list of his group. The four forerunners were all first year cultivators. Besides Wen Yu being not that bad, the rest were only there to make up the numbers.

Cang Yan had purposely placed the stronger people under the age of fifteen with Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran, strengthening their group’s strength.

As for Li Hong, his group’s strength was also not that great, it was on par with Yi Yun’s. Clearly, it was another of those groups that had been given up.

As for why the slight stronger ones were placed in Li Hong’s group, it was probably due to the Tai Ah Divine City’s upper echelons fear of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom using similar tactics. If they were all cannon fodder, then if their own cannon fodder was too weak, losing to the opponent’s average weak cannon fodder would be a huge waste.

In general, the upper echelons of the Tai Ah Divine City were confident in the under-fifteen groups, so they hoped that they would win more seats this way.

As for the above-fifteen groups, they only wished for one group to win. As for the other groups, they were completely given up on them without a second thought.

Li Hong felt gloomy seeing the names he had. He looked at Yi Yun’s name list and his subordinates were not that great either.

But Li Hong did not gain any satisfaction from that. He had guessed the intentions of the Tai Ah Divine City’s upper echelons. They probably trusted Yi Yun, so they sent weaker forerunners to Yi Yun, hoping that Yi Yun could turn the tide just by himself.

Li Hong gritted his teeth. “Those old fools sure look down on people! To treat us as cannon fodder and let Yi Yun be the hero. Heh! It’s not so easy to be a hero!”

Li Hong looked at the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s side.

There, the snake youth was discussing something with people and looked to be talking jovially.

Seeing the calm snake youth, Li Hong insidiously laughed twice. “The Tai Ah Divine City’s arrangements suit my wishes. Now my plan will be even easier to be carried out. Yi Yun, just you wait…”

After the groups were formed, the birthday banquet began.

The Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord was dressed in a blue shirt and he was seated beside the Seven Star Pagoda Owner in the seats of honor. He looked with a smile at the youths from the various factions.

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner was already informed of the Tai Ah Divine City’s grouping methods and laughed, saying,”City Lord Yang sure has a strong nerve. You can still smile so naturally even at that moment.”

“Same to you.” The Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord responded.

“It seems City Lord Yang has gathered all the experts in one group. This method sure is clever.”

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner’s words sounded like praise, but it was clearly mocking the City Lord.

This tactic was not considered honorable.

The City Lord faintly smiled as if he never heard the Seven Star Pagoda Owner’s mockery, and simply went with the flow by saying, “Thank you for your compliments. Everything is for victory, so there has to be some strategy in the assignment of troops.”

“Unfortunately, against absolute power, any strategy is useless.” The Seven Star Pagoda Owner’s smile turned cold. “You will see my Yun Long 72 Pagodas’ disciples sweeping the arena.”

“Oh? Then I look forward to that!”

…

The atmosphere in the arena was all set for a showdown. The birthday banquet only had some symbolic dishes. Not many people actually used their chopsticks as all their thoughts were on the alliance competition.

Yi Yun took his group’s four people to sit on the participant’s benches.

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s people were sitting next to them.

At that moment, a youth whose body was filled with tattoos and had a snake wrapped around him walked towards Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun, right!? You are the leader, and so am I. This will be fun. I will be taking the 2 seats you have!”

Both sides could freely challenge each other in the match. The decision to accept the match was decided by the leaders from both sides.

If there was no agreement, then the opponents would be decided by drawing lots.

Yi Yun had already expected that the snake youth would challenge him, as for who to fight, he did not care.

Since someone had challenged him, he accepted it.

“Oh? Then let’s see if you have the ability to take it over!”

When Yi Yun said this, Wen Yu, who was behind him, jumped up. Her expression looked bitter. You sure accepted the challenge too easily!

“That…Senior Yi, do you know who that is?”

As they were to fight in an alliance battle, people like Wen Yu had long did their preparatory work. They had sought information on their opponents.

This tattooed youth was nicknamed Viper. He was ruthless and very strong.

He had just reached the age of fifteen and his cultivation level had broken through to the Yuan Foundation realm. He was one of the toughest guys under the age of fifteen from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom.

Wen Yu did not want to fight a sinister-like person like him as she felt that in front of him, she was like a mouse in front of a venomous snake. But her leader had agreed immediately to Viper’s challenge.

This made Wen Yu sad enough that she couldn’t shed tears.

311 - : Leader

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You are asking about the guy whose body is full of tattoos?”

Yi Yun glanced at Wen Yu who was half a year younger than him. She looked a little weak, and since Yi Yun had little contact with her, he had the impression that she was just a very quiet girl.

Wen Yu nodded as she stared on with her watery, dark eyes. She looked at Yi Yun with hope, “Yes, Senior Yi, his name is Viper. You must have looked up his information before the battle, right?”

The opponent was just too terrifying, so she could now only hope that Yi Yun was stronger, even by just a bit. She was really hoping that Yi Yun had carefully researched their opponents, and that he only took on Viper’s challenge because he had confidence in winning against him.

After all, Yi Yun was rumored to be the strongest person amongst the second year cultivators, at least a year ago. With such a halo around him, he should be reliable, right…?

Wen Yu thoughts were like this, but clearly Yi Yun was unaware of them. He shook his head, “Viper? Never heard of him. Is he famous?”

Yi Yun was not being arrogant. He had just been informed of the alliance competition the night before. Although Cang Yan had given Yi Yun some information, Yi Yun had only paid attention to the strongest people from the Yun Long 72 Pagodas.

There were a few people that Yi Yun really needed to pay attention to, or even be alert against!

As for Viper, he was clearly not within the circle that Yi Yun chose to pay close attention to.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s response, Wen Yu became dumbfounded. He accepted the challenge without even knowing anything about the other party?

She really felt speechless. She was together with Yi Yun in this match, and was there to shield Yi Yun from the challenges from others. As he was the leader, Yi Yun had the final say in who were the first and the last to go on stage.

As a leader, Yi Yun was crucial. Yet, he had not done any research on his opponent’s information, and accepted an opponent’s challenge casually, without even knowing how strong he was.

This way of doing things made Wen Yu sad to the point where she couldn’t even shed tears.

She opened her mouth, but the words she wanted to say would not come out. She had an extremely ominous feeling…

She turned over to look at Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu’s groups. These two groups were having their own small meetings, discussing the choice of opponents.

As for Li Hong, this group that had practically already been given up, were choosing their opponents very carefully.

As Li Hong could not come to a consensus with the Yun Long Divine Kingdom in the choice of opponents, it had to be decided by drawing lots eventually.

Only on her side was it decided in a second by Yi Yun.

At that moment, Yi Yun, the leader who was supposed to be facing a mortal enemy, was closing his eyes while sitting at the participant benches. From the looks of it, it was good that he was not sitting at the birthday banquet’s feast tables, or he would probably have begun eating.

Encountering this situation, Wen Yu felt as if her heart was being trampled by 10,000 near-horned beasts with mud-stained hoofs.

At that moment, the three juniors beside Wen Yu gathered over and apprehensively asked, “Senior Wen, Senior Yi should be very strong, correct…?”

These three juniors were in the same group as Yi Yun.

They were weaker than Wen Yu and were there just to make the numbers. They knew where they stood, so they were especially nervous with such a looming huge battle.

Wen Yu bitterly smiled. She could not impact the original tiny confidence these few juniors had. She bit the bullet and said, “Senior Yi should not be too bad. After all, he was the last rookie competition’s champion. Juniors, do not worry. Let us do our best later.”

After Wen Yu said this the three juniors seemed to ease up a little. They were however still lacking confidence needed to face the Yun Long Divine Kingdom opponents.

“Ah! Kid, you sure are confident!”

While Yi Yun was meditating, he heard a wretched voice transmission. Without even looking, he knew that it was Cang Yan, that unscrupulous old man.

“It is Senior Cang Yan who is confident. To give me such troops is to make me be the vanguard. That is also looking up to me.”

“Hehe, do not try to take advantage of me. Do you want to use the pretext of forcing you to do something you are unwilling to do to gain some advantages from me? Don’t keep thinking about me. If you fight well, the benefits given by the City Lord will be much more than I am able to give! He’s so rich that oil flows out from him.”

After saying a few words, Cang Yan became serious again, “Kid, do not think too lightly of your opponents. Your opponent is not weak. This snake kid is a tough person. Do not fail miserably at an easy task!”

“Got it.” Yi Yun laughed. He was watching the competition’s main referee walk up the Divine Wilderness Stage as he announced the beginning of the competition!

The few smaller group’s competitions were held concurrently!

Yi Yun’s side was just the younger group, so he could not go onto the Divine Wilderness Stage.

They were sent to the eighth stage.

At that moment, Viper seemed as if he was a cat looking at mice. He looked at Yi Yun with great interest. Indeed, he had the rights to being arrogant. These few batches of Yun Long 72 Pagodas disciples were filled with talents, and the quality of them exceeded those of the past!

And him, Viper, was still as outstanding as ever, even amongst all these experts.

If not for the 72 Pagodas recently having extremely strong batches, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner would never have suggested the condition of letting these juniors decide on the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s future.

“Sun Long, go on up. Take care of those small fish, and force Yi Yun’s hand. I will then go on up to have a great time.”

Viper laughed and completely did not take Yi Yun to heart. He was one year older than Yi Yun and his cultivation level was an entire realm higher than Yi Yun’s, how could he lose?

“Haha! My hands have been itching for a long time. I can finally see blood once again. Who knows, maybe I will even get rid of Yi Yun!”

Sun Long put on his black iron claws and jumped up on stage. He was one of the backbones of the Viper clan, and usually followed Viper around, so his style was very similar to Viper’s!

“Who’s my opponent? Come on up!”

Sun Long grinned. He stretched out his tongue and gently licked the blades of his black iron claws. His expression was that of extreme evil.

For warriors, their stance was important. Sun Long’s ominous stance made people feel fear just from standing before him.

“Senior Yi, who are we sending up?”

Seeing Sun Long, Wen Yu’s heart thumped. It seemed that even Viper’s henchmen were not to be trifled with!

This person was filled with murderous intent. He was more terrifying than any other person they had ever seen by a lot!

The cultivators present were mostly children in their teens. Although they were strong, they had not killed many in real battles.

“Up to you all. Pay attention to safety.”

Yi Yun exhorted them. He also felt that Sun Long was not a person to be trifled with, but warriors who practiced martial arts would meet enemies in the future that were far more malicious than Sun Long.

These Tai Ah Divine City young seedlings had to go through slaughters to grow up too.

Ignoring other things, just the possible beast horde that might happen soon would be a baptism of blood. Unknown numbers of people would die in it.

It was best to suffer a bit now rather than losing one’s life in the future.

However, Yi Yun’s orders made Wen Yu angry. What did he mean by “Up to you, pay attention to safety”?

Was this something a leader should say?

“Xiao Zhen, go on up!”

Wen Yu ordered angrily. Since the leader did not care, she had to take over.

Xiao Zhen was a youth of short stature. Hearing Wen Yu’s words, he grit his teeth and jumped up onto the stage.

Before Xiao Zhen was Sun Long who was laughing sinisterly. “Tsk, sure is fresh. Let me taste… your blood!”

As Sun Long spoke, his body surged with murderous intent. With his Yuan Qi exploding, the claws on his arms turned blood-red in color. It was as if he had suddenly turned into an evil demon.

“I practice the laws of killing! The more I kill, the more my hands are stained with blood, the stronger I become! I have already forgotten how many people or desolate beasts I have killed up to this day. Even in a tournament, I am afraid that I cannot curb my urge to kill.”

Sun Long laughed manically while Xiao Zhen’s face turned pale.

He was a young master from a family clan. He had lived a pampered life since he was young. When had he ever encountered such a twisted person his own age before?

Yi Yun who was watching below the stage began to secretly shake his head.

To him, Sun Long was not big a deal, but the difference between his stance and Xiao Zhen’s was huge.

This was because Sun Long and Xiao Zhen had different growing experiences. Secondly, the recent Tai Ah Divine City’s batches were weaker than those of the past. As a result, when the Divine City’s warriors faced the Yun Long 72 Pagodas’ warriors, they naturally lacked confidence.

In this situation, even if their strengths were similar, it would be a completely one-sided battle.

Furthermore, Xiao Zhen’s strength really was weaker than Sun Long’s.

“Three moves!” Sun Long extended three fingers. “In three moves, I will open up the right side of your face! Then I will break your right hand and right leg’s tendons! I like to attack my opponent’s’ right side, tearing their right side to shreds while leaving the left side in a good condition. Isn’t that very interesting? Ahahahaha!”

Sun Long was extremely arrogant. After hearing this, Xiao Zhen turned angry. Did he think I am a weak and soft lamb to be slaughtered?

“This is going too far!”

Wen Yu clenched her small fist as her face filled with anger.

At that moment, Sun Long moved. He was extremely fast and appeared right before Xiao Zhen in an instant. He swiped at the right side of Xiao Zhen’s face with a claw!

Xiao Zhen was greatly alarmed, but he was after all one of the best amongst this batch of rookies. Although his stance was weaker at the beginning of the battle, he was able to reveal his real strength due to his anger.

How could he let this opponent hit him wherever he liked? It was too shameful!

He retreated and at the same time stabbed his sword at Sun Long’s palm.

A claw was considered a short-range weapon and was shorter than a sword. The longer it was, the stronger it was. Xiao Zhen believed that by stabbing like this, his opponent would either pull back his hand or his palm would be pierced right through by his sword!

However, as Xiao Zhen was stabbing, a grin flashed across Sun Long’s face. His body twisted in an incredulous fashion and three claw beams appeared from nowhere.

“Ah!”

Xiao Zhen let out a blood-curling scream as blood splattered out!

These three claw beams had slashed across the right side of Xiao Zhen’s face. His cheek, nose, ears and the corner of his eye had been ripped open by the claw blades. Three deep claw marks appeared on his face!

Xiao Zhen clutched his face. His hand was filled with blood and his eyes were bloodshot!

The flesh on his right face had sank downwards. Sun Long’s attack was too ruthless!

312 - : Humiliation

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What the heck?”

Xiao Zhen’s team members below the stage were extremely alarmed. Xiao Zhen supposedly dodged Sun Long’s attack, so how did he get hit?

This slash on his face by the claws was too terrible. His face had been ripped open, it looked like even his bones might have been slashed through.

And behind these people was a sullen Yi Yun.

Sun Long was stronger than Xiao Zhen and could have easily defeat him, only leaving him with slight injuries.

However, that was not what he did. Instead, he first indicated where was going to attack, allowing Xiao Zhen to be prepared, yet the attack still connected.

This was extremely shameful for warriors.

And to have one’s face ripped open, to the point of being disfigured, was a great humiliation.

Such humiliation happening at such an important occasion, under the attentive gazes of the various factions’ important figures, was equivalent to stamping Xiao Zhen’s face onto the ground.

It could even destroy Xiao Zhen’s confidence in martial arts, giving his mind demons in the future.

Even if Xiao Zhen’s wounds were to completely heal, the psychological impact would be hard to get rid off. Doing it like this was an extremely evil act!

“Xiao Zhen, admit defeat and come down here!”

Yi Yun stood up. The battle’s result was already obvious.

Originally, getting these young masters and mistresses, who had never experienced the cruelty of battles, to experience a little bloodshed was a good thing, but going beyond the limit was no good. If this carried on, it would cause demons to appear in Xiao Zhen’s mind, and these mind demons could cause Xiao Zhen to fail in breaking through in the future.

Xiao Zhen covered his face. His mouth and the right side of his face had been ripped open. He could not speak, yet he tried to open his mouth with great difficulty.

However, at that moment, he saw a blur in front of him and suddenly his right leg and right arm felt cold. Following that was an intense pain.

“Ah!”

Blood once more appeared as Xiao Zhen tumbled out. His right hand and right leg’s tendons had all been cut apart!

Sun Long licked the blood off his metal claws and wantonly laughed, “Hahaha, I said that I would break the tendons of your right leg and hand, how can I break my promise? I am a man of my words.”

Xiao Zhen’s team members fumed with anger when they heard Sun Long. He was going too far by bullying others to such an extreme!

According to the alliance ranking competition’s rules, as long as there was no intent to cause death to the other party, or to deliberately cause permanent disability to the other person, it would not be breaking the rules.

However, “deliberately” was something which was hard to define.

This rule was filled with loopholes. Besides, Sun Long cutting Xiao Zhen’s tendons would not create a permanent disability as they could be healed with good medicine.

However, the damage inflicted to Xiao Zhen’s psyche and the humiliation he experienced would be hard to cure.

“What a pathetic sight!”

Sun Long shook his head as the cultivators from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom behind him all began to laugh.

“This is a Tai Ah Divine City warrior? He’s no different from a dog. Being placed on par with us from the Yun Long 72 Pagodas is a great humiliation!”

As these harsh words reached Yi Yun’s small team, Viper pointed a thumbs down towards Yi Yun.

“Weak!”

The team members present were all teenagers and they were all at the age where their self-esteem was at their highest. Being humiliated like this made them feel an understandable amount of humiliation and anger.

Especially Xiao Zhen, who had been seriously injured. His body was shaking. He really wished he could die in exchange for a victory in battle.

Yi Yun turned silent. He calmly looked at Sun Long on the stage, “Your name is Sun Long?”

“Yes, you better remember my name!” Sun Long smiled willfully. His chin raised slightly as he looked at Yi Yun with contempt.

Yi Yun lightly touched the ring on his hand and calmly said, “I already made him throw in the towel. Why did you carry on attacking him?”

“You made him throw in the towel? I need to stop just because of that? Who do you think you are? What a joke!” Sun Long looked at Yi Yun as if he was looking at a retard. “Just because you are a leader? Don’t you know that in the competition’s rules, only the opponent’s own concession counts. Too bad he couldn’t open his mouth just now! Hahaha!”

Sun Long laughed and behind him, Viper and company also laughed.

“Tsk, your gaze looks terrifying.”

Sun Long looked at Yi Yun and knew that there was killing intent in Yi Yun’s calm eyes. Yet, he did not feel any fear, “Who’s the next one? Come on up. Should I rip the left side or the right side of your face?”

“You are courting death! I will seek revenge for Xiao Zhen!”

The Tai Ah Divine City’s youths were weaker in their stance, but being hot-blooded and because of Sun Long’s provocation, they could no longer endure it.

A youth pressed the edge of the stage and was about to jump on up but was stopped by Wen Yu.

“You are not his match. Going up will just make him show off more!”

Wen Yu gritted her teeth. She was prepared to go up to fight Sun Long herself. Actually Wen Yu also felt immense pressure, her opponent was also older than her.

“Tsk! What a pretty girl. You want to come up? If I were to rip open such a pretty face, it will be an interesting event.”

Wen Yu became even more enraged at Sun Long’s words.

However, at that moment a voice transmission from Yi Yun reached her ears, “Your mind is already in chaos due to his provocative words, even before going on stage. If you were to fight like this, the chances of winning will be lower than losing.”

“I…”

Wen Yu looked towards Yi Yun and felt some grievance. She felt that if he had not accepted the challenge from such a abnormal team, they would never have been in such a state in the first place.

“Stay put below the stage.”

With that said, Yi Yun walked up the stage.

“Senior Yi!”

Wen Yu froze. A team’s leader was supposed to be the last to go on stage. If they went on stage early and was defeated, they would lose completely. It was similar to using the King piece to charge into battle in chess.

She did not have time to stop Yi Yun. At that moment, Yi Yun had already walked before Sun Long.

Sun Long looked derisively at Yi Yun, “To think you can be a leader. You can’t even hold your own temper. Once you are up here, you can’t leave!”

Viper, who was behind Sun Long, also looked dismissively at Yi Yun. As a leader, he was not supposed to be so irrational as to go up on stage like this. The two cloaked men yesterday were actually jealous over such an idiot. That bag of desolate bone relics sure was easy to earn.

Facing Yi Yun, Sun Long casually loosened his wrists. The metal claws on his hands were gleaming coldly. Although he seemed to look down on Yi Yun, he was actually on high alert.

The two cloaked men yesterday had given them precise information on Yi Yun. Sun Long knew that Yi Yun was very strong, he also knew the various moves Yi Yun had.

Sun Long wished to fight against Yi Yun. It didn’t mean much to defeat some random fish. Only defeating Yi Yun and obtaining the seats was meritorious!

“Where is your saber? Take it out!”

“Oh? You seem to understand me very well. To know that I use a saber, but… My saber is only used against opponents that are worthy of respect or formidable. Against scum or retards, I will usually only use another weapon…”

Yi Yun gently rubbed his interspatial ring, the corners of his mouth curled upwards, revealing a sinister smile.

This smile made Sun Long feel his heart thump. This smile looked familiar to him because he often smiled like that.

His face sank and gritted his teeth, saying, “I will let you know who’s the real retard!”

He was guessing on whether Yi Yun’s other weapon was a bow or not. The information the cloaked men gave did mention that Yi Yun’s two strongest weapons were the bow and the saber. It did not say anything else.

Yi Yun did not bother with Sun Long’s retort and suddenly recalled, saying, “Right… Just now, you said that the competition’s rules only allows for the opponents to concede defeat personally. If not, it will not be counted, right?”

Yi Yun asked, and before Sun Long could even reply, Yi Yun had extended three fingers, “Three moves. I will smash your face’s left side, your left hand and your left leg!”

“You! You are courting death!” Sun Long turned furious. Yi Yun sure did not know what it meant to die, to use the words he used against him. Did he think he could do anything to him!?

Sun Long’s body surged with murderous intent as his eyes locked on to Yi Yun. His body rushed forward like a cheetah!

However, just after rushing forward a few steps, the Yi Yun he saw disappeared suddenly!

Oh!?

Sun Long was greatly alarmed and at the next moment, he felt a cold feeling spread through his whole body. Yi Yun had suddenly appeared on the left side of his body like a ghost!

He subconsciously stabbed at Yi Yun’s chest with his claw, but at that moment, he felt his head being pressed down by a hand.

This hand forcefully locked his head, and at that moment, another hand appeared. It was unknown when this other hand suddenly started holding a metallic, rectangular object in it.

Sun Long did not have time to tell what it was as he saw the metallic object grow in size till it covered his entire vision.

“Peng!”

There was a loud rumble. Yi Yun had used one hand to grab Sun Long’s head and the other hand to ferociously smash the left side of Sun Long’s face with a metal brick!

Yi Yun did not hold back with this brick. He slammed it down like he was using a ripe watermelon, smashing Sun Long’s bones apart!

Sun Long’s body trembled. He felt as if his head had been hit by a ten thousand pound sledgehammer. His eyes turned black as his ears rang and his mind went blank, and as if at that moment, he was isolated from this world. It was like his soul had been stripped from his body.

Shortly thereafter, an excruciating pain brought him back to reality.

Yi Yun had released his grip, and Sun Long was kneeling on the floor, vomiting.

“Puah!”

The food Sun Long ate and about a dozen blood-stained teeth were vomited out by him.

His teeth had all been knocked out by Yi Yun.

His limbs went cold while his ears and nostrils bled. The left side of his face had been completely smashed. A large portion of his facial bone now sank inwards.

Yi Yun coldly looked at Sun Long. “When mortals receive a heavy blow to their head, they will feel nauseous and vomit. I didn’t expect you to be the same. Do you admit defeat?”

Yi Yun asked. Sun Long tried to open his mouth, but his chin’s left joint had been broken and with his mouth that was completely smashed in, how could he speak?

“Oh? You don’t admit defeat?” Yi Yun nodded, “I understand.”

“Stop it!”

At that moment, Viper’s cold voice rang in Yi Yun’s ears.

However, why would Yi Yun care about him?

Yi Yun kicked Sun Long up as if it was a dead dog, sending him sprawling to the ground. Yi Yun raised the brick in this hand and smashed down, hitting Sun Long’s left hand and then Sun Long’s left ankle!

Sun Long gave a shrill. His hand and foot had been completely smashed into a bloody mess by Yi Yun!

It was an explosive fracture that turned it to smithereens!

313 - : Taste of Your Own Medicine

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ah, ah, ah…”

Sun Long rolled on the ground. A warrior’s strong mentality usually prevented him from fainting, but Sun Long was not far from doing so.

His left hand and leg were not much different from a frog’s limbs. They had been completely flattened.

Being smashed by a metallic brick like that was much more painful than being slashed by a claw’s blade. Also, the injuries were ten times more severe. Even if he was to be healed with various good medicines, it would take at least half a year for Sun Long’s hand and leg to regain their Yuan Qi.

To young geniuses, half a year of time was too precious. It would, to a certain extent, affect Sun Long’s future growth.

“You actually dare to say that you cultivate the laws of killing. That is an insult to this Great Dao!” Yi Yun sneered.

The Dao of Killing was one of the Great Dao and it ranked high amongst the 3000 Great Dao. It was ranked above the five element laws, and it was not weaker than the pure Yang Dao.

Sun Long had only gathered some killing Qi, he could at best be described to have a killing aura. He was far from the actual Dao of Killing!

Behind Yi Yun, Wen Yu, Xiao Zhen and company were too shocked for words. What just happened only took a few seconds. The mighty Sun Long was turned into something like a dead dog in a few seconds, so they could not react in time.

“This…”

Xiao Zhen swallowed mouthfuls of saliva. He had even forgotten the pain of his own body.

Yi Yun had returned everything Sun Long had done to him in a more severe manner. Everything had been done cleanly and easily.

“Senior Yi… is very strong!” A youth said, with an idolatry face.

One year ago, Yi Yun had taken first place in the rookie ranking competition and then, he disappeared. About ten months later, many people doubted if Yi Yun’s strength had increased by leaps and bounds, or if it had stagnated over time.

As he had not fought in a long time, people inevitably had their doubts. That was to be expected, but now, they knew that their worries had been completely unfounded.

“He’s not only strong, he’s also ruthless!” Another youth said. It was not right for a warrior to kill the innocent indiscriminately, but against an enemy, one had to be ruthless, or one would only end up suffering.

“Senior Wen, Senior Yi’s battle sure allows one to vent off one’s anger!” A youth said to Wen Yu. Wen Yu was in a daze, she was still unsure of what to say at that moment.

Beside Wen Yu, Xiao Zhen was tightly clenching his good left fist, as his eyes sparkled.

When people were in their weakest and most vulnerable state, it is easy for them to suffer a setback. However, at the same time, they are also easily inspired. This short battle had left an unforgettable impression in his heart.

Xiao Zhen was in such a stage. At the lowest point in his life, Yi Yun’s relentless beating of Sun Long unquestionably left a long lasting image in Xiao Zhen’s heart.

Xiao Zhen gritted his teeth and secretly made a resolution.

“Thank you, Senior Yi. I will work hard, and one day, I will use my own hands and be like you. Beating those who want to step on me until they turn bloody!”

However, Yi Yun, who was still on stage, did not pay attention to the psychological changes that Xiao Zhen was experiencing.

He was looking straight at Viper while nonchalantly wiping the blood off the brick. After he came to this world, he was getting more and more used to the rules of the warrior world.

Viper had an extremely ugly expression on his face. His amber eyes were filled with killing intent.

“You… have guts! I will let you know the cost of ignoring my words!”

Just now when he shouted, “Stop it”, not only did Yi Yun not listen to him, he had even looked back at him as if nothing happened, after he beat Sun Long up.

The look he gave provoked Viper!

Even though he had his services bought by someone with desolate bone relics, he would still go all out to cripple Yi Yun, hopefully killing him.

“You sure speak a lot of nonsense. Are you going to fight personally? Or are you going to send some more henchmen up here to die?”

Yi Yun was still on the stage, looking down on Viper. The Yun Long 72 Pagodas cultivators sitting besides Viper were all enraged. They seemed like they all wanted to rush up and dice him up.

However, they could only look fierce. If push came to shove, they all knew that they would suffer a crushing defeat in less than two moves.

Yi Yun was very strong!

Although they all despised the Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators, they had no choice but to admit that this was true.

Viper’s pupils constricted. The snake on his body spit out its tongue as it hissed.

“Interesting!” Viper grinned as he walked up on stage.

The audience around the eighth stage became dumbfounded.

It was too exaggerating for the eighth stage’s matches. The other stages had not even finished their first two battles, but the eighth stage had already finished fighting two battles, and the leaders were already going up to fight against each other!

It was too fast.

Although Yi Yun’s performance just now was outstanding, Wen Yu and company were worried for Yi Yun as he went up against Viper.

The reason was because of the difference in cultivation level!

According to the competition’s rules, if the gap in their ages exceeded a year, the older person had to suppress his cultivation level. If the difference was larger than two years, the cultivation level had to be suppressed even more.

For every full year, the cultivation level had to be suppressed by one grade. Only then would it be a balanced competition.

Yi Yun was slightly over 14 years of age and Viper had just turned 15. The difference in their age was just one month short of a year.

As a result, Viper did not need to suppress his cultivation level. And between the two of them, there was the border that separated the peak of the Purple Blood realm and the Yuan Foundation realm, which made this match extremely unfair!

For a warrior at the peak of the Purple Blood realm to fight a Yuan Foundation realm warrior, it would be nothing if the other party was mediocre. Many of the Tai Ah Divine City disciples would be able to do so.

However, the opponent was Viper!

Not only was he a genius, he was also extremely ruthless! With the dispute from before, there was no doubt that Viper would be attacking Yi Yun with death blows.

The hearts of Wen Yu and company were pounding.

“Senior Yi, be careful.” Wen Yu said silently below the stage. Her hands were clasped tightly together, indicating how nervous she was.

At that moment, people from not far away had begun to pay attention to the match of the eighth stage.

“What’s this? They are going to start just like that…?”

Cang Yan was originally sitting at a table drinking wine.

Seeing Yi Yun take on Viper, he put his cup of wine down.

Yi Yun’s talent was shocking, but he lacked time. Cang Yan was very concerned about this match. He pushed away his chair and walked towards the eighth stage.

Cang Yan did not know how Yi Yun’s fight would end. After all, his opponent was a Yuan Foundation realm genius. He went closer to the eighth stage, so that, in the event of Yi Yun losing, he could save him.

As for the rules, old man Cang couldn’t care less about them. Protecting Yi Yun was of the utmost importance.

Not only Cang Yan paid special attention to this battle, not far away, Li Hong, Yang Haoran and company had also noticed the match on stage eight. The leaders were beginning their duel.

“It has begun! Yi Yun against Viper!” Li Hong sent Yang Haoran a Yuan Qi transmission. Yang Haoran grinned because he had been waiting for this moment.

Yesterday, he had taken the huge risk of looking for Viper because he valued Viper’s ruthlessness and strength.

Viper could bypass the limitations of the rules while fighting against Yi Yun, so it was just right.

“So what if Yi Yun is a genius. Without the time to develop, it is pointless! Viper will definitely leave an unforgettable mark on Yi Yun!”

314 - : Against Viper

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun, meeting me is bad luck on your part. I will make you remember this battle for your entire life!” Viper said in a Yuan Qi voice transmission to Yi Yun before the battle began.

Yi Yun slightly frowned. Viper had been aiming at him from the beginning. It was definitely not because he had beaten up Sun Long, otherwise he would not have taken the initiative to set up the challenge.

“Why are you targeting me?” Yi Yun asked with a Yuan Qi transmission. He did not believe that Viper was interested in him solely because he was the last rookie ranking competition’s champion. Viper was obviously a very arrogant person, so he would never have taken interest in a person that was a level lower than him.

Yi Yun was suspecting that there was someone behind Viper deliberately targeting him.

“Hehe, you still have time to think about this. It seems that you still do not know your situation. In a while, it will be me torturing you. If you were to admit defeat now, there would still be time. If you don’t, I will first make you unable to speak, then I will make you suffer a hundred times worse than Sun Long!”

As Viper said this, a law-enforcer who was made referee especially for the battles between the leaders asked the two of them if they were ready.

This law-enforcer was a Tai Ah Divine City person. He was mainly asking Yi Yun because he realized that Yi Yun had yet to take his weapon out.

“I am ready.”

Yi Yun nodded and casually loosened his wrists, waving the brick which was still dripping with blood.

Oh?

The law-enforcer became momentarily stunned. Yi Yun was planning to fight like that?

Not only the law-enforcer, even the people behind Yi Yun, like Wen Yu and company were stunned as well. They felt that, due to the difference in cultivation level, Yi Yun would find it difficult to win against Viper, yet he chose to not take out a weapon?

“This kid sure makes one worry!”

Not far away, Cang Yan was at a loss of whether to laugh or cry. This kid, Yi Yun, had chosen the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’ as his totem mystic technique and went into the sword tomb after learning from the saber tomb. Now, he was using a brick to go against a Yun Long Divine Kingdom genius whose cultivation was a level higher than his.

Were these things a normal person would do?

Viper laughed heartily upon hearing Yi Yun, “Is your brain normal? You actually do not want to use a weapon to go against me?”

Yi Yun said with a smile, “Who told you that this isn’t my weapon? I’ve said it before, my saber is only to be used against opponents that are worthy of respect or formidable. Against scum or retards, the brick is sufficient.”

Yi Yun’s words made Wen Yu and company hold their breaths. Viper was already a lunatic, yet Yi Yun purposely provoked him. If Viper were to really get mad, the outcome would be unpredictable.

Viper’s face started to tense up as his pupils turned into the shape of a spindle, like that of a snake. “I see… you wish for me to send you to the netherworld!”

“Whew!”

Viper charged forward. His speed was extremely fast and his body seemed to lack bones as he moved forward while sticking close to the ground. He was like a python that was moving forward quickly!

It was the first time for many to see such a weird movement technique.

“Die!”

Viper swiped forward with his claw. His weapon was also a metallic claw and his swipe came from the top heading downwards. His attack’s target was Yi Yun’s chin!

If it were to dig in, the metallic claw would pierce through the chin, stabbing into Yi Yun’s mouth and tearing apart his tongue. This would naturally prevent Yi Yun from speaking.

Viper was fulfilling his words, attempting to prevent Yi Yun from admitting defeat.

Yi Yun’s gaze turned cold as he raised the brick in his hand and smashed it at Viper’s claw!

For a brick to go against a metallic claw, a blunt weapon like the brick would naturally hold a greater advantage. However, at that moment, the venomous snake that was resting on Viper’s shoulders suddenly flew out towards Yi Yun’s chest in an attack.

Heart Piercing Snake!

Yi Yun had a deep impression of this snake. A few days before he went out into the Divine Wilderness, about a year ago, a three-man cultivator team had been completely obliterated because they had misidentified a Heart Piercing Snake as a Golden Line Snake.

This Heart Piercing Snake was an extremely dangerous desolate beast. Yet, how could Viper control a desolate beast? Yi Yun had the impression that it was extremely difficult for humans to tame desolate beasts!

Yi Yun did not have time to think about it too deeply. Just as the Heart Piercing Snake was about to bite at his heart, he quickly retreated.

However, Viper swiftly followed him as a grin flashed from the corner of his lips, “You’re finished!”

Viper’s murderous Qi exploded and then merged into one with his Yuan Qi, turning into a visible black air flow. This air flow covered Yi Yun’s surroundings like a lock, sealing every direction that Yi Yun could use to dodge!

“Let me see how you will dodge this!”

Viper thrust his claw at Yi Yun and at the same time, the Heart Piercing Snake on his shoulders went straight for Yi Yun’s mouth. It wanted to swallow Yi Yun’s tongue!

Almost at the same moment as the Heart Piercing Snake was about to bite Yi Yun, his body suddenly twisted bizarrely and thick layers of after-images appeared. Yi Yun’s body seemed to suddenly transform into a flexible swift, shuttling through the air without any resistance.

Large success stage of Minute Subtlety!

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Yi Yun abruptly changed directions in the air and went through the murderous Qi lock using an incredulous trajectory! He dodged more than ten of them continuously, upon reaching the last few that he could not dodge, he smashed at them with his brick.

“Peng Peng Peng!”

Three of the murderous Qi locks were broken by Yi Yun!

“Hiss!”

Suddenly, the hissing sound of the venomous snake came from behind Yi Yun!

This Heart Piercing Snake was like a maggot, following Yi Yun without being shaken off.

Its speed was extremely fast, almost like a beam of light. However, Yi Yun did not even look at it, for in his energy vision, he could perfectly grasp the Heart Piercing Snake’s attack trajectory!

Yi Yun sent out a brick attack!

“Peng!”

Yi Yun’s brick heavily hit the Heart Piercing Snake’s triangular-shaped head!

With a loud moan, the Heart Piercing Snake was sent flying by Yi Yun!

“What?”

Seeing the Heart Piercing Snake fly out and how most of his murderous Qi had been dispersed by Yi Yun, Viper was greatly alarmed.

By using such a blunt weapon in hand, Yi Yun’s attack speed should have been greatly limited, so with the Heart Piercing Snake being as quick as lightning it was completely unexpected that it would be smashed by Yi Yun’s brick!

Viper’s spindle-shaped pupils stared at Yi Yun, a flash of shock appeared in his eyes.

The two of them had only exchanged blows for a few seconds. Many of those watching did not even have time to react to what was going on, it was so fast that people like Wen Yu and company did not even see the process of them exchanging blows.

They could only feel that the battle was intense enough to take their breaths away.

“Senior Yi is amazing. He isn’t at a disadvantage at all!” To Wen Yu and company, to not be disadvantaged against a Yuan Foundation realm expert was an extremely amazing feat.

“Senior Yi hasn’t even used his saber!”

Yi Yun’s team of rookies were all bright-eyed.

It was a great mistake to think that Yi Yun would be weak with the brick, even though he did not use his saber to deal with Viper.

As Yi Yun had said, the brick was also his weapon.

Viper’s expression turned sullen from this first exchange of blows. He originally thought that victory was his, he never expected that Yi Yun would be able to counter attack and even injure his Heart Piercing Snake.

He felt that it was humiliating that despite him being at the Yuan Foundation realm when going against a peak Purple Blood realm opponent, who was one year younger than him, he could not brutally kill him in one move.

“Hiss–”

The Heart Piercing Snake, who had been hit to the ground by Yi Yun, climbed back onto Viper’s shoulders while spitting out its tongue.

Upon seeing this, Yi Yun was alarmed. The Heart Piercing Snake had received a heavy blow on its head, yet it was able to withstand it and did not die.

This snake was stronger than a typical Heart Piercing Snake!

“Phew–”

At that moment, the Heart Piercing Snake emitted green Yuan Qi. It was like the miasma that arose from a swamp. The Heart Piercing Snake’s body began to emit crackling explosive sounds as a layer of scales grew on its body. This layer of scales were extremely sharp looking almost like blades.

“This is…” Yi Yun was shocked. How could the Heart Piercing Snake transform?

And this feeling was as if it was… an Aspect Totem!

“Kid, the Heart Piercing Snake on Viper is actually a puppet made from the corpse of a Heart Piercing Snake. And Viper’s Aspect Totem is also in the shape of a snake. He has combined his Aspect Totem and puppet into one body. He is going to use his real abilities now, be careful!”

At that moment, Cang Yan’s Yuan Qi voice transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ears.

Heart Piercing Snake puppet? Combined with an Aspect Totem? There was such a technique?

Yi Yun was alarmed. The path of martial arts did indeed have many roads. There was no lack of different sorts of battle techniques.

Viper roared as green smoke appeared from his body. The purple tungsten stage below his feet began to emit “chi chi” sounds the moment they were stained by the green gas. Holes were eroded out where the gas met the stage.

Such a powerful poison?

Many people held their breaths. Even the purple tungsten metal corroded from it. If it touched a person’s body, everything would have been burnt off before it even reached the bone!

“Yi Yun, you are indeed very strong. To force me to use my Aspect Totem and poison laws is impressive.” Viper approached Yi Yun step by step as he planned to use the poison to corrode Yi Yun’s body.

Yi Yun remained silent as he loosened his wrists and turned the metallic brick in his hand.

“You still aren’t using your saber. You really are courting death!” Viper raged. For him, as a Yuan Foundation realm warrior, to fight against Yi Yun’s who was at the peak of Purple Blood realm, it was undermining his title of a genius. He never expected that even after he used his Aspect Totem, Yi Yun would still not use his saber. Even if he were to win, it would be disgraceful.

“I’ve said before. My saber is only to be used against opponents that are worthy of respect or formidable. You, as a scum, are only worthy of a brick.”

Yi Yun’s voice was nonchalant. Around the stage, Wen Yu and company gaped when they heard him, they were speechless. At that moment, Viper had presented all of his techniques, yet not only did Yi Yun not use his saber, he was also repeatedly cursing Viper as a scum.

“Stop provoking him any further…” Wen Yu said in her mind. She had seen Viper’s complete information and knew of his character. This person was perverted and cruel. She was afraid that Viper would use some sort of cheap shot in this battle, causing Yi Yun an incurable injury.

“I will corrode your flesh and blood cleanly, bit by bit!”

Viper roared as both of his metallic claws turned into a misty green. The entire eight stage was covered in green smoke.

This green smoke was ten times stronger than the miasma of Blackwater swamp!

Warriors could endure the swamp’s miasma for short periods of time, but in this green smoke, even weapons refined by masters would start to corrode.

Those who practiced the poison-elemental laws would have to swallow all sorts of poisonous things, changing their Yuan Qi into a highly toxic Qi.

There were even legends that said that when the poison-elemental laws reached the highest levels, they could make all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the world become an extremely toxic Qi, corroding an entire world, transforming it into large tracks of toxic marshes that caused death!

All the toxic gas gathered towards Yi Yun. This was an attack a metallic brick could not block against!

315 - : Poison-elemental Laws

CKtalon  CKtalon

Hum Hum Hum…

That toxic green gas seemed to take on a life of its own as it began to wail like a ghost.

The toxic gas was extremely thick, as if it was made from that of a snake’s bile. It emitted a putrid smell that assailed one’s nostrils.

Hiss–

The Heart Piercing Snake puppet began to sound out as it flew in the air. It stared on with its dark green pair of eyes as it silently approached Yi Yun. Not only did this toxic gas not affect this venomous snake puppet, but it even supplemented it with energy!

Aspect Totems could originally fly, so this venomous snake puppet also had the ability to fly.

It could actually be considered a doppelganger of Viper, and although it was a puppet, it had a life of its own.

“So what if you don’t use a weapon. Be it a saber or this metallic blunt weapon, it will not be able to withstand the poison! In this toxic area, I dominate absolutely everything!”

Viper laughed sardonically. With the metallic claw in hand, he started to rapidly move!

Amidst poison, a typical warrior could only power up his protective Yuan Qi to withstand the poison’s corrosive properties.

However, by doing so, not only would their Yuan Qi be quickly consumed due to using a large portion of their Yuan Qi to withstand the poison, the amount left to block Viper and the Heart Piercing Snake puppet’s attack would also be reduced.

Only one could be handled, leaving the other free to reign!

As such, Viper could maximize his combat power within this toxic mist.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

Upon coming into contact with the toxic mist, Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi began to corrode and shrink.

Yi Yun was after all only at the peak of the Purple Blood realm, the amount of Yuan Qi he had was much lower than that of a Yuan Foundation realm warrior. As a result, it would be harder for him to withstand the toxic mist as time went on.

Many people were worried for Yi Yun, but there were also Yang Haoran and company who were looking forward to seeing Yi Yun turn into a skeleton after being corroded by the toxic mist.

“Die!”

Viper roared as he and the Heart Piercing Snake puppet split into two different directions. One came from the front while the other came from the back, attacking Yi Yun who was in the middle of the toxic mist!

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Viper’s body began to flash our tens of after-images, preventing others from telling where he was. As for the Heart Piercing Snake, it was like lightning, turning its airborne body into a blur.

Against Viper’s attack, Yi Yun’s mind was as still as water. He gathered his Yuan Qi to an extreme with the brick in hand.

“Weng–

With a clear sound, the Purple Crystal Origins within Yi Yun’s heart shook.

At that moment, it was as if a volcano had erupted. Burning hot, pure Yang Qi gushed out from Yi Yun’s body!

Second stage of the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”!

Pure Yang Qi of the finest purity turned into the image of a Tang Valley image in the air. A thin mist covered the ghostly valley, shrouding the divine green trees within!

After absorbing the Golden Crow species’s beast mark and having cultivated in the burning hell’s Pure Yang Sword Palace for ten months, Yi Yun’s ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was no longer comparable to what it once was!

The pure Yang flames burned and a large portion of the toxic mist was burned up by the pure Yang fire.

The poison-elemental law ranked on the same level as the five elemental laws. It could not withstand the burning of a higher grade pure Yang flame.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

Large swaths of green mist burned into green smoke. Even the purple tungsten metal beneath Yi Yun’s feet had melted into a molten liquid!

“Huh!?”

Viper was great alarmed. To have such a thick pure Yang flame, Yi Yun’s attainment in the pure Yang laws exceeded his own poison-elemental laws.

Although there was a difference in cultivation level, Yi Yun’s pure Yang Qi came from the Pure Yang Sword Palace and the Golden Crow species. The quality was not something comparable to the poisonous elements Viper had extracted from desolate beasts like the Heart Piercing Snake.

This difference in quality reversed the deficits of his cultivation level!

At that moment, Yi Yun’s eyes flashed, all his body’s pure Yang Qi had been injected into the metallic brick. The metallic brick began to shine and burn with pure Yang flames!

This was no longer any typical metallic brick, but a pure Yang flaming brick!

Viper held his breath as he shuttled around. He pushed his snake-like movement technique to the limit. Even with the pure Yang laws, there was still a chance for one of his attacks to hit Yi Yun if he was to attack together with his Heart Piercing Snake puppet!

However, at that moment, Yi Yun moved. He opened his Purple Crystal energy vision and the after-images that covered the sky disappeared from his view. Yi Yun clearly locked onto Viper’s actual position.

As for the lightning fast Heart Piercing Snake puppet, it could not hide in the Purple Crystal’s vision.

Large success stage of Minute Subtlety!

Sou!

Yi Yun’s body mysteriously disappeared. Viper felt felt his back turn cold and a chill arose from his heart. Without thinking, his claw attacked towards his back!

At that moment, the pure Yang flaming brick in Yi Yun’s hand had been send slamming heavily downwards.

With the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ pushed to its limits, the slamming of the brick created fiery arc beams in the air.

“Ka-cha!”

Yi Yun’s flaming brick smashed into Viper’s metallic claw. The hot, pure Yang flames bent the claw, while the brick did not lose any of its momentum. After it pushed down the metallic claw, it went straight for Viper’s head!

“Boom!”

When the pure Yang energy burst out, Viper’s protective Yuan Qi shattered like glass. He felt his head buzz, as if his head had been smashed by a crazily charging near-horned beast. His mind went blank and his vision was completely covered by a golden color, he could no longer see anything else.

As for the Heart Piercing Snake puppet, the Aspect Totem within it dissipated when its owner was severely injured. It lost its combat power and its speed rapidly decreased. At that moment, Yi Yun grabbed the snake three inches away from its head!

With one hand grabbing the Heart Piercing Snake, and the other hand holding the pure Yang flaming brick, Yi Yun saw Viper’s body sway. Viper was delirious and Yi Yun did not hesitate in raising his brick to smash down on him again!

At that moment, Viper was like an immobile target. So Yi Yun’s brick attack smacked right into the right side of Viper’s face!

“Peng!”

Viper began spinning in the air like a top, his body revolving while he threw up blood, the blood smeared the air into a red spiral. Even a few blood-stained teeth were spat out by Viper.

Seeing Viper fall to the ground, Yi Yun quickly rushed forward and sent out another brick attack.

This brick attack reversed its direction and hit the left side of Viper’s face. Viper, who was like a spinning top, was spinning clockwise, but after this hit, he began spinning counter-clockwise.

Viper’s face was completely mangled. Again, he threw up blood in a spiral.

Following that, Yi Yun leaped up with the brick in hand, and curving his body, he sent out a heavy third brick attack, as if he was smashing a ball.

Ka-cha!

Yi Yun’s brick hit Viper’s back and with the sound of a broken spine, Viper heavily fell to the ground!

Viper’s mind was completely in a daze.

However, at that moment, Yi Yun did not carry on minding Viper. Instead, he threw the Heart Piercing Snake in his hand down on the purple tungsten ground. Without Viper’s commanding it, the Heart Piercing Snake had lost its combat strength. Upon being thrown to the ground like this, it merely sprawled on the ground.

Following that, Yi Yun aimed right at the Heart Piercing Snake’s triangular shaped head and smashed down at it.

“Pfft!”

The Heart Piercing Snake’s head turned into bloody meat paste. Although this snake now lacked a head, its body was still struggling.

Wen Yu and company were completely stupefied on seeing what happened during this duel. Only one word appeared in their minds, brutal!

With the brick in hand, Yi Yun was a brutal erratic demon.

Sun Long and Viper, who had both gone up against him, were both smashed beyond recognition with just a few brick attacks!

After taking care of the Heart Piercing Snake, Yi Yun walked towards Viper with the brick in hand.

Although Viper had not fainted, the bone on both sides of his face could be seen. His eyes were completely covered in blood and he could not see anything, but he could still hear Yi Yun’s footsteps.

The footsteps for him sounded as if Death was approaching, making him horrified.

This person was a demon!

Viper, who had always abused others, had suddenly gone from being the abuser, to becoming the abused. His fear reached an extreme point.

“Are you not admitting defeat?” At that moment, Yi Yun’s voice reached Viper’s ears.

Viper felt as if he had been granted amnesty. His jaw had been beaten off so he was still unable to speak. He quickly sent a Yuan Qi voice transmission to Yi Yun, “Sto… Stop… I admit defeat…”

“Oh? Still not admitting defeat?” Yi Yun ignored Viper’s Yuan Qi transmission. How could it be admitting defeat without saying it personally?

Yi Yun firmly raised the metallic brick.

Viper was frightened out of his wits. If this brick were to slam down, such as hitting his head, he would die.

He did not wish to die here.

“Stop… Stop! I… I will tell you about the people who want to harm you!” Viper pleaded with a Yuan Qi voice transmission.

“Oh?”

Upon hearing Viper’s words, Yi Yun slowed down his attack, “Speak!”

“It was two black-cloaked people. They conceal… concealed their looks. Their voice… voice also changed, but… one of them only had one arm…”

Viper used his Yuan Qi to intermittently describe the characteristics of the two cloaked people from yesterday.

After Yi Yun heard this, the corners of his mouth curled upwards.

One arm…

Yi Yun already knew who the cultivator with one arm that had a feud with him was.

As for the other person, although he was not sure about exactly who it was, he could make an educated guess that it was none other than either Li Hong or Yang Yuefeng.

Yi Yun kept the brick and stopped brutally attacking Viper.

According to the competition’s rules, he could not purposely cause the death of others and could not purposely cause the person to become permanently disabled.

Now, Viper had lost all ability to resist. If he were to continue abusing him, it would not be against the rules, but he could not kill or permanently disable Viper.

If so, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom would not turn a blind eye to it. It would also not be easy for the Tai Ah Divine City to protect him.

As such, Yi Yun decided to leave it as it was.

“Stage Eight, Yi Yun wins! He defeated the opponent’s leader, winning two seats!”

The law-enforcer announced the battle’s outcome.

This was the first round that ended in the alliance competition. It was also the first seats that got an owner.

The speed at which this battle ended was so fast that it felt like it was an exaggeration.

As Yi Yun walked down the stage, Wen Yu and company were still in a daze. They felt like all that happened just now was a dream.

They knew that Yi Yun was not simple, but they never expected that Yi Yun would be so violent. To finish Viper with a brick!

And the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ that Yi Yun displayed at the end stunned them even more.

316 - : Defeating Viper

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Senior Yi, were you using the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ just now!?”

When Yi Yun got off the stage, his team members asked as they gathered around him.

As the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s top cultivation technique, the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” was very famous.

Many rookies had long heard of its name, but had never seen it before.

“Of course, is there a need to ask!?” Another junior said, “The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ is so powerful. All that poison was burnt away in a second.”

These juniors had previously heard rumors that the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was extremely difficult to cultivate. Many geniuses had attempted cultivating it but ended up failing.

For the outstanding leaders amongst the rookies like Wen Yu, they set mastering the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” as their goal. But this goal was extremely distant.

Now, Yi Yun could use the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in a very well-versed manner. He could easily use it even with the metallic brick as a weapon. Yi Yun was not much older than them, yet he had reached such an amazing level with the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, which made them admire and envy him.

“Hehe, this kid Yi Yun did well!” Not far away, Cang Yan was rubbing his chin with a satisfied look.

Beside Cang Yan was Jian Ge who had seen the entire match. He said, “Yi Yun’s ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ has improved a lot since he went out for almost a year.”

The current Yi Yun not only had a simple transformation in his cultivation level, he experienced a qualitative improvement in every aspect.

“Of course, who do you think taught him!?” Cang Yan was very pleased.

Jian Ge turned speechless upon hearing this. This old man sure liked to boast without shame.

Old man Cang had naturally given a lot of help to Yi Yun, but as for teaching him, old man Cang had obviously never taught Yi Yun anything.

But, Jian Ge did not argue with Cang Yan over this. He knew that it was indeed Cang Yan who first discovered Yi Yun. At the beginning, it was also Cang Yan who brought Yi Yun into the saber tomb.

“He has already won two seats. Yi Yun’s batch is the strongest batch our Tai Ah Divine City has seen in recent years. It even exceeds Qin Haotian’s batch. Unfortunately, they haven’t grown up yet. If they were to break through to the Yuan Foundation realm, it would be even better.”

The competition rules set the demarcating age to be fifteen years of age. This was extremely disadvantageous for Yi Yun, Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran.

In this tournament, the third year cultivators were actually the most important. Unfortunately, there was only Li Hong amongst the Tai Ah Divine City’s third year cultivators that was worthy.

And Li Hong clearly could not hold the ground.

The first match had ended, so Yi Yun had nothing to do. There was still some time left for the remaining matches.

Yi Yun sat in the participant benches and began meditating.

He was trying to understand the sword truths from the sword tomb.

Upon seeing Yi Yun meditating, a few of the juniors looked at each other. Yi Yun still had matches he had not fought.

At that moment, Yi Yun should have gone to learn about the other teams’ battle situation and understand his competitors, yet he was sitting there meditating.

If it was 15 minutes ago, Wen Yu would have despised Yi Yun in her heart for his actions. But now, after easily taking down Viper, Wen Yu no longer said a word.

Different people doing the same thing would have completely different results. Weaklings who did so were retards, but when the strong did so, they had the bearing of experts.

“What are you dazing for. Let’s get some information!” Wen Yu tapped on a junior’s head. As they did not play a significant role, this was the time for them to do something.

The four factions’ alliance tournament began with the small group battles happening concurrently.

Later on in the championship match, the under-fifteens groups would first compete before the above-fifteen and the overall group matches.

They split up to watch the battle situation of the various teams.

Yi Yun, who was meditating, ignored Wen Yu and company’s departure. He felt that there were a few stares watching him. The stares came with both hostility and fear.

Yi Yun did not need to see to know who they were.

“This kid actually defeated Viper despite being a level lower…”

Not far away, Yang Haoran was clenching his only fist so tightly that his whole hand shook.

The outcome of Yi Yun and Viper’s battle was unexpected to him. He had handpicked the ruthless and powerful Viper to get rid of Yi Yun.

To what extent…did Yi Yun’s strength reach?

He suddenly realized a possibility that made him despair. Even now, with Yi Yun not grown up, he with his severed arm might not be Yi Yun’s match!

This made Yang Haoran experience an extremely great setback.

“Haoran…It’s better we…don’t target him anymore…”

Beside Yang Haoran, Li Hong was beginning to lack confidence.

Li Hong was a vengeful person. He would think of ways to retaliate more than ten times worse against anyone that provoked him.

However, who the other party was mattered. If he knew that the other party far exceeded him, it would only be him being stupid to provoke the other party.

Li Hong initially went against Yi Yun because he thought Yi Yun would be easily bullied.

But now, Yi Yun’s strength and talent was greater than his. Yi Yun already exceeded him in several aspects. The only advantage he had was his family clan behind him. But compared to the high regard given to Yi Yun by the Tai Ah Divine City Elders, it was nothing.

And after not being able to deal with Yi Yun, he would only end with a tragic fate when Yi Yun eventually became a mighty figure in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Li Hong already had thoughts of backing out.

“Are you afraid?” Yang Haoran looked angrily at Li Hong.

Li Hong shook his head. He was afraid of Yi Yun, but he did not want to offend Yang Haoran. “I only feel that we might not be his match…”

“Not his match…” Yang Haoran gritted his teeth. He had to admit that what Li Hong said was the truth.

Yi Yun was a person who had shown brilliant results in the alliance tournament, and was being highly regarded by the Divine City’s Elders, and also taken in as a disciple by Grandmaster Yuehua. Their families would not offend someone like him just for them.

And what was most critical was that a family clan would weigh the pros and cons. They might even give up on him. After all, he had lost an arm.

This was the cruelty and the reality of a large family clan.

Upon thinking of this, Yang Haoran felt extreme sorrow.

“Yi Yun broke my arm, ending my martial arts career. Yet, I, Yang Haoran have to endure this…When have I ever suffered such humiliation…”

The world of warriors respected those who were strong. When Yi Yun proved his strength, even as a son of a prominent family clan, he had to bow.

As Li Hong was talking with Yang Haoran using Yuan Qi voice transmissions, a loud scream from the stage sounded out from behind Li Hong.

Li Hong turned around and saw that one of his team members had his arm broken, and had been thrown down the stage.

That team member was also a rookie. His face was pale and laid on the ground twitching. The outcome was obvious.

The groups that progressed the fastest was Li Hong’s team other than Yi Yun’s.

This was because Li Hong’s team was also filled with a bunch of ineffective troops. It was about the same as Yi Yun’s team.

But with similar ineffective troops, Yi Yun had shone. He managed to win two seats in less than 15 minutes after the competition began. As for Li Hong’s side, they were almost wiped out.

Seeing the ‘forerunners’ that were supposed to protect him get defeated one after another, Li Hong could no longer sit at ease.

This difference was too great!

“Really so weak!”

On the stage was a stout youth. He was laughing, “You are the group that was given up, right? You sure are humiliated being the leader of this group.”

The youth’s words struck a nerve with Li Hong.

Li Hong’s expression turned cold as he carried his long staff up the stage. His team no longer had anyone left except him, so he had to go on stage anyway.

He swung his staff and pointed at the stout youth, “Cut the nonsense. Let me see what allows you to be this arrogant.”

Li Hong was after all the best cultivator amongst the Tai Ah Divine City’s third years. How could he not be angry after being provoked by a forerunner.

“Ah Jun, come on down. Let me take him on.”

At that moment, an indifferent voice came from off the stage. A tall and thin man stepped onto the stage.

This man did not look anything like a youth. He looked cultured and his eyes were slender but had spirit in it. He gave off a different kind of aura.

Upon seeing this man, the arrogant youth immediately became a lot more respectful.

“Senior Jun Yue, you are the leader. Why would there be a need for you to deal with a small fry?”

Although the youth said such words, Jun Yue did not mind and laughed, “I actually thought that I didn’t need to do anything, but…I saw Viper being defeated on the eighth stage. The person, who defeated Viper, is very interesting. As a result, my hand is itching. I should be battling him, so this will be my warm up before it.”

Jun Yue’s voice was very casual. While speaking, he kept looking far away at Yi Yun who had his eyes closed. A smile formed on his lips.

And at that moment on the stage, Li Hong’s face had already turned green.

Jun Yue was taking bullying to an extreme!

This Jun Yue only saw Yi Yun as his opponent. He actually treated the battle with him as a “warm up”?

Courting death!

Li Hong clenched his fist. The veins on his fist started to twist like earthworms. He had to fight well to regain his dignity in this match!

He too was a proud son of Heaven. By being disregarded in such a manner, he wanted to bite off a piece of his opponent’s flesh even if he would be sent flying.

As this was another battle between leaders, a Tai Ah Divine City law-enforcer came forward to be the referee. After he asked if both parties were ready, Jun Yue’s hands remained empty. He did not take out a weapon.

“Not taking out a weapon?” Li Hong’s expression turned sullen. But he did not shout for his opponent to take out his weapon.

He knew his opponent was very strong. Even though his opponent did not have a weapon, he would still have to go all out. The only way of obtaining victory was to take advantage of his enemy’s underestimation.

“The match begins!”

With the announcement from the Tai Ah Divine City’s law-enforcer, Li Hong charged forward with his staff in hand.

At the same moment, an Aspect Totem the shape of a gray bear appeared behind him!

Over the past year, Li Hong had also gained his own Aspect Totem. Against Jun Yue who was unfathomable, Li Hong had to go all out from the beginning!

However, Jun Yue stood on the stage like a sword even though Li Hong was charging forward.

At the moment Li Hong reached 30 feet in front of him, Jun Yue’s pupils contracted, emitting an eye-catching cold glimmer.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Below Li Hong, the metal tiles suddenly underwent an incredulous change. Metallic arrow projectiles that were the thickness of a thumb began separating from the ground, shooting at Li Hong!

What!?

Li Hong’s expression changed. What sort of attack was this!?

317 - : Jun Yue

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the metallic arrow projectiles flying towards him, Li Hong did not think twice and immediately retreated, smashing his staff down to deflect the projectiles.

“Ding Ding Ding!”

A series of metallic collision sounds rang. Li Hong had deflected the metallic projectiles, but at the same time he felt his arms go numb, and the thigh of his hands felt pain. It was difficult for him to withstand the strong attacks.

Could it be…

A thought suddenly appeared in Li Hong’s mind, but at that moment, the metallic projectiles that Li Hong had deflected returned and flew at Li Hong once again!

These metallic projectiles seemed to have a life of their own and they pierced the air without any resistance. They could even dodge Li Hong’s staff.

The quantity and intensity of the attacks had increased. Li Hong’s forehead was covered in cold sweat.

“Metal-elemental laws!”

Li Hong finally realized what sort of attack it was.

Amongst the five elements; Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, the metal-elemental laws were the best. There were very few who could master the metal-elemental laws.

This lanky youth was a metal-elemental practitioner, and the degree of his nomological insight was extremely terrifying!

Typically for those who practiced the five elemental laws, even if they would have some achievement amongst those laws, they would only be able to inject the power of the five elements into their own attacks. Very few people could be like this lanky youth, who could control the elemental energy so easily, like it was a part of his body.

He could even manipulate the purple Tungsten tiles on the ground. This power was very terrifying.

“Ding Ding Ding!”

Many projectiles flew in the air as Li Hong conjured his Aspect Totem. However, the projectiles pierced right through his Aspect Totem!

Li Hong felt his soul tremor and his face went white.

His limbs numbed from the relentless attacks. He could not take it any longer.

“Whew!”

A projectile had finally bypassed Li Hong’s defenses and penetrated his shoulder. It exited his shoulder from the back, bringing with it a shower of blood!

Li Hong grunted and fell backward.

At that moment, another projectile pierced through his belly. Li Hong’s protective Yuan Qi was like paper in front of these sharp metallic projectiles.

Li Hong’s body was sent flying before he landed heavily on the ground, while his entire body twitched.

Jun Yue’s metallic arrows moved in a spiral and after the arrows the thickness of a thumb pierced through Li Hong’s body, the wounds inflicted were the size of a cup of alcohol. Li Hong’s entire arm had nearly been twisted off.

“I…admit defeat…”

He said those words with difficulty. Li Hong’s face was pale and it was covered in sweat. The two open wounds made him lose a lot of blood.

The Tai Ah Divine City’s medical staff rushed up to save Li Hong.

Jun Yue’s expression remained calm. He only nodded and from beginning to the end, Jun Yue did not move a single step. He had only used the metal-elemental laws to control those arrow projectiles and eventually, he gained victory.

The gap was too large!

Li Hong was extremely depressed. This alliance tournament had become an unforgettable experience for him.

After Jun Yue clinched victory, he stared right through the crowd, straight at Yi Yun who was meditating in the participant benches.

Yi Yun heart thumped. He did not open his eyes but using the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, he could feel the existence of this person.

It was because he was too striking.

In the energy vision, human Sages like Cang Yan and Jian Ge only gave off a dim light as they kept their energy within. Even for figures like the Tai Ah Divine City City Lord, they were no different from mortals.

As for people like Wen Yu, they were too weak so their presence was very small.

He could pick Jun Yue out clearly. Not only was he strong, his energy was willfully displayed. His existence was like a fire in the night. It was extremely visible.

“This person does not seem typical.”

Yi Yun quietly took note of this person. But he was currently trying to comprehend the sword truths, so he was unable to check up the other party.

But beside Yi Yun, Wen Yu and company had already dug out all the information of Jun Yue.

The world was vast, and there was always someone stronger. Even though Jun Yue’s nomological insight reached such a perverse level, he was not very famous. From the information gathered by Wen Yu, there was less information on Jun Yue than that of Viper.

“Senior Yi has met his match…”

“This Jun Yue is really terrifying.” A few juniors lacked confidence. It was hard to determine who would win when Yi Yun faced Jun Yue.

After Jun Yue defeated Li Hong, the results of Chu Xiaoran and Qiuniu’s battles also came out. Chu Xiaoran had won and Qiuniu had lost!

For the under-fifteen teenager group matches between the Tai Ah Divine City and the Yun Long 72 Pagodas, it ended in a draw with both groups securing two wins and two losses.

Cang Yan was very satisfied with this result.

After all, the Tai Ah Divine City only had three main powerhouses; Yi Yun, Qiuniu and Chu Xiaoran. They were not even fifteen years of age, so they had a handicap in terms of age. Even so, they managed to tie with their opponents.

At least they had managed to hold on to 4 seats.

But following the under-fifteen group matches was the teenager group championship. To become group champion was the most important thing.

If someone became a champion, their camp would gain at least eight seats.

The person who could win the championship for the Tai Ah Divine City was none other than Yi Yun, but he had to face Jun Yue.

Cang Yan frowned slightly. Previously, in Li Hong and Jun Yue’s battle, it was clear that Jun Yue did not use all his strength. Cang Yan found it hard to determine how Yi Yun would compare with Jun Yue. This was a serious challenge.

Immediately following that, the results of the above-fifteen groups’ matches came out.

Yao Dao’s team had managed to clinch victory, while the other three teams were undoubtedly annihilated.

In fact, when the three teams faced their opponents, their opponents only sent out one or two people and they fought all the way to the end.

As they belonged to teams that were abandoned, those members lacked fighting spirit because they knew no matter how much they fought, they would end up defeated as well.

“The Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators’ battle strategy is very effective!” On the seats of honor, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner laughed while saying that. He still had a sarcastic tone. “To give up on three groups and concentrate all your power into one group, and win that match. That match was against my Yun Long 72 Pagodas’ weakest team, and that is all thanks to your luck.”

“Luck is also a kind of strength.” The Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord was unaffected by his words. No matter what the Seven Star Pagoda Owner said, he would respond with a smile, not taking it to heart.

“Unfortunately, luck does not mean anything in the final match. There’s no avoiding it.”

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner was full of confidence. The outcomes of the matches before did not matter much. What was most important were the matches ahead.

A group’s champion could win at least 8 or 10 seats.

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner was confident that the Yun Long Divine Kingdom was able to win all those seats.

His goal was to obtain more than 60% of the seats, and that was including the Southern 10 countries and the other neutral factions!

The battle carried on.

After the small group matches, there was a break for an hour. Following that was the group championship!

The teams that won in the group matches and those cultivators who were not defeated could participate in the group championship.

The group championship rules were very simple. There was freedom to challenge anyone.

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom would send one person out and challenge one person from the other side. The person who lost was eliminated. The person who won would carry on fighting. It would be fought to the end and the last man standing would be the group champion.

For the under-fifteen group, the group champion would win eight seats.

For the over-fifteen group and the overall group group champions would win ten seats.

If there were more than ten people left on one side, an additional two seats could be won.

The group championships were what the Seven Star Pagoda Owner cared the most about.

There were nearly 30 seats. In contrast, the 6 seats lost in the small group matches did not mean anything.

“Kid, the group championship is beginning soon!” While Yi Yun was meditating, Cang Yan’s voice rang in Yi Yun’s ear.

Yi Yun opened his eyes. The Pure Yang Sword Palace’s sword truths were too profound. Even with the Purple Crystal’s help, Yi Yun found cultivating it impossibly difficult. This was definitely the most difficult and hardest to understand cultivation technique that he had faced in his martial arts career until now.

“The group championship is an elimination tag-team tournament. The more people you have, the more advantageous for you would be. We do not hold the advantage in numbers. Do your best.” Cang Yan said while pointing to a girl not far from Yi Yun. She was none other than Chu Xiaoran.

“We have become teammates now…” Chu Xiaoran said with a smile.

Yi Yun looked at Chu Xiaoran and noticed that she was alone.

Chu Xiaoran smiled coyly. “My teammates had all been defeated. Qiuniu and Li Hong’s groups lost, so there’s really only me. Together with the people from your team, there is a total of five people…”

Uh…

Yi Yun’s eyebrows scrunched together. Around him, there were Wen Yu and two other juniors who lacked any presence.

The three of them were there to make up the numbers.

No matter how it was counted, there were only two people who were actually participating in this championship, Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran.

Looking back at his opponents, they were a group of powerful people that were like wolves and tigers.

This number sure was “not holding the advantage”!

318 - : Metal-elemental Laws

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Human Lords and sages from the various factions gathered for the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord’s birthday banquet. But now that the small group matches were over, the arena was completely made available. All the matches from now on would be held on the Divine Wilderness Stage. And everyone was waiting for them!

In the past, when Tai Ah Divine City cultivators battled each other, the audience would only be cultivators from the Tai Ah Divine City. Since everyone was from the same faction, even if someone lost, there would not be much disgrace.

But now, every match was being watched by the different important figures.

There was no doubt that such a situation would make people tense up.

“Senior Wen…” A thirteen year old junior swallowed a gulp of saliva as he pulled on Wen Yu’s sleeves before turning silent.

Wen Yu knew what he was nervous about. The three of them should have been eliminated. It was because Yi Yun had fought early, so there was no need for them to fight in the first round, and this allowing them to survive. Their opponents for the battles ahead were all much stronger than the three of them, so going up on the stage to fight was a masochistic move.

It wasn’t a big deal to be battered by others normally, but under the watchful gaze of all the important figures in the audience, the resulting embarrassment from being badly beaten was obvious.

Wen Yu was helpless. In fact, her situation wasn’t any better than the junior.

Just glancing at the Yun Long Divine Kingdom participant benches, each person gave off a terrifying aura that made people fear them.

“You guys don’t have to go up.” Yi Yun said from behind Wen Yu. His voice was calm.

“Ah? I… ” Wen Yu’s face turned red as she fell into a predicament, “At least… we can test them out…”

Wen Yu felt that she had to play a tiny role, no matter how tiny it was.

Having joined this alliance tournament, she had done nothing besides gathering intelligence.

“There is no need.”

Yi Yun also did not need Wen Yu to test his opponents out. In fact, they were unqualified to do so. The battles that were going to happen only involved him and Chu Xiaoran.

As for their opponents, there were seven people! The number of people was more than three times larger.

The VIPs from the various factions were observing these new people, especially Yi Yun and Jun Yue.

Everyone focused on them.

Yi Yun had defeated Viper without using a weapon and Jun Yue defeated Li Hong without moving a single step.

Both of them were absolute geniuses, but unfortunately, Yi Yun was one year younger than Jun Yue.

For geniuses in their teens, it was the period where they progressed the fastest. A year’s time was too long. Even 3-4 months could unsurprisingly allow a person to increase their strength exponentially due to one breakthrough.

“Such a pity. That Yi Yun is young and he doesn’t have many team mates. One person alone can’t save the situation.” said an Elder of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom, who was sitting in the Elders seats, while stroking his beard.

“If Yi Yun was a year older, he might be able to fight Jun Yue. But now…he is too young.”

Another Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder echoed. He was dressed in a plain white robe and had the demeanor of an immortal, it was as if he existed on a different ethereal plane.

The two of them believed that there was no doubt that Jun Yue would win the battle.

“Dumb ass!”

Just as the two Elders finished saying their respective statements, they suddenly heard someone exclaim that. They were stunned. In such an occasion, with so many legendary figures sitting together, who would use such low-grade words?

They turned around and saw a thin old man. He was nibbling on seeds and also throwing the shells away without thought.

The old man was looking right at the Divine Wilderness Stage and he wasn’t even looking at them.

This thin old man was none other than Cang Yan.

The immortal-looking white-robed Elder was sure that the “retard” who said those words was that old man.

“My friend, why do you say so!?” The white-robed Elder exclaimed angrily.

“What?” Cang Yan looked shocked at being shouted at. He gave a confused expression, “Are you referring to me?”

“Yes!” The white-robed Elder’s expression was ugly. “Please explain the words you said just now!”

“Just now? Me?” Cang Yan looked surprised before finally understanding, “Oh, while I was chewing on these Spirit Abutilon Seeds, I suddenly remembered something about my mount, a green ass. It had overturned my herb furnace yesterday, so I cursed it. Is there a problem?”

Cang Yan gave a look of innocence, while the two Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elders’ faces turned livid.

They were questioning Cang Yan in a disapproving manner but they had been scolded by this old bastard once again.

But Cang Yan had scolded them using the words “dumb ass”. Now, he said he was scolding his mount, which was a green ass. So it seemed like there was no problem. After all, Cang Yan did not look at the two of them from the beginning.

This made the two white-robed Elders fume. Clearly, they had been made into fools twice, but they could not find a reason to vent their anger. They could only stare helplessly.

The two Elders were completely helpless. Who would have thought that such a rogue character would appear in this circle of large factions’ legendary figures?

“That darned old fool!” One of the white-robed Elders transmitted his voice angrily.

“Forget it. He won’t be able to boast much longer. We just need to hold our tongues for a while. Once the results are out, we shall see what he else he has to say!”

“Right, our Yun Long Divine Kingdom is filled with proud sons of heaven this time! This is the most flourishing generation in the past hundred years. We will disgrace the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom completely!”

As the two white-robed Elders communicated with each other, they temporarily calmed down. They looked at the Divine Wilderness Stage because the first match had just begun.

Someone from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom first went onstage. It was a very cute boy who looked about seven or eight years old.

He held a small umbrella in his hand. The umbrella had no driving force, so it was floating in the air and spinning on his fingers.

“Oh? A child?”

“He only looks young. His name is Lin Tong. He is about the same age as us. Do not look down on him. I’ve seen the information on him. He is very strong. And to be first to fight also illustrates that.”

At the beginning of the competition, it was atypical to send a person who was too weak as they needed to establish their foothold.

“I’ll fight!” Chu Xiaoran said as she walked up to the stage.

They only had two people, and naturally Yi Yun would be last. Hence, the only person that could be sent out was only Chu Xiaoran.

“Alright, be careful.” Yi Yun nodded.

“Hehe…” The child laughed. He looked at Chu Xiaoran while revealing two rows of white teeth.

“Let the match… begin!”

As soon as the referee said “begin”, a Glacier Snow Wolf Aspect Totem appeared behind Chu Xiaoran as she held her long sword.

Chu Xiaoran conjured out her Aspect Totem from the beginning as she wanted to end the battle quickly.

“A wise decision!” The child praised her.

Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran were battling against seven opponents. As such, their stamina was especially important. They had to conserve their strength for every battle and they could not drag any of the battles out for too long.

“Roar!”

The wolf howled and charged at Lin Tong.

At the same time, Chu Xiaoran slashed with her sword. A cold wave surged. One ice column after another began appearing above the purple tungsten stage as they trapped Lin Tong!

This was Chu Xiaoran’s frost ice area of influence. Yi Yun had experienced this move a year ago.

But the current Chu Xiaoran was a lot more skillful with her frost ice area of influence. The power could not be compared to what it was in the past!

“Peng Peng Peng!”

The ice columns exploded into countless pieces of ice crystals as they shot towards Lin Tong.

This was an attack with no room to dodge. Even with Yi Yun’s large success stage of Minute Subtlety, he would not be able to dodge this!

At the same time, Chu Xiaoran’s sword and the Glacier Snow Wolf had shot at Lin Tong as two beams of light.

It was a three-prong attack!

Chu Xiaoran had used all her techniques from the beginning!

Against this storm-like attack, Lin Tong had no way of dodging, but at the same time, he did not have any intentions to dodge.

He roared deeply and all his Yuan Qi exploded as he rapidly circulated his Qi to form a huge whirlpool.

“Peng Peng Peng!”

Numerous ice crystals bounced off the Yuan Qi whirlpool the moment they collided with it.

The concept of rotation!

Lin Tong had used his rotation powers to deflect all the ice crystals!

At the same time, Lin Tong’s hands extended forward. Twelve small umbrellas flew out from his palms. The large ones were the size of a face basin, while the small ones were the size of a bowl. There were all sorts of colors and they were extremely pretty.

The small umbrellas twirled around as they flew towards Chu Xiaoran.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

With the sharp hum of air being sliced through, shiny razors suddenly emerged from the umbrellas. What were originally pretty spinning small umbrellas now became ferocious death-seeking flywheels!

The twelve flywheels blocked off Chu Xiaoran’s multi-pronged attack from twelve different directions. Lin Tong was forcing Chu Xiaoran to back away.

Lin Tong had broken through Chu Xiaoran’s three pronged attack, which seemingly had no room for dodging.

However, when facing off against the twelve flywheels, a flash of determination appeared in Chu Xiaoran’s eyes. She gritted her teeth and twisted her body in an incredulous fashion and went straight through a gap amidst the twelve flywheels!

Hard-Soft concept!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

But no matter how perfect Chu Xiaoran’s Hard-Soft concept was, she was not able to dodge the flywheels perfectly.

Three flywheels scratched Chu Xiaoran’s shoulders and belly.

Blood splattered!

“Die!”

Chu Xiaoran stabbed straight at Lin Tong’s face with a death blow!

“What!?”

Lin Tong retreated in shock. His hands formed seals and a large umbrella opened up to protect him!

“Peng!”

With an explosion, Chu Xiaoran’s sword had pierced through the large umbrella. Sword beams exploded as the large umbrella vibrated violently.

And at that moment, Chu Xiaoran’s Glacier Snow Wolf had charged from behind Lin Tong biting his shoulder.

Lin Tong cried out in shock. His shoulder had been torn apart by the wolf’s teeth. His Yuan Qi had diminished and he was unable to maintain the large umbrella in his hands.

And at that moment, Chu Xiaoran had barely managed to gather a little bit of Yuan Qi to shoot sword beams at him!

“Peng!”

The large umbrella exploded and dispersed into Yuan Qi. The sword beams were relentless as they collided with Lin Tong’s protective Yuan Qi.

Lin Tong spit out a mouthful of blood and flew backward, landing heavily outside the stage.

That large umbrella was Lin Tong’s Aspect Totem.

Some warriors’ Aspect Totems would not be in the shape of a desolate beast. It could be related to their cultivation techniques or the weapons they used.

Lin Tong was the latter. He cultivated the concept of rotation. It was not a very powerful law but it was very effective.

“Lin Tong has been defeated!”

The Tai Ah Divine City camp’s spirits rose the moment they saw the battle end.

In this battle that went by like a flash, Chu Xiaoran had attacked decisively. She had defeated the storm-like Lin Tong, a strong cultivator from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom!

This was greatly encouraging.

However, there were people who worried for Chu Xiaoran. Yi Yun sighed silently after seeing the wounds on Chu Xiaoran’s shoulders and belly.

The wounds were very deep. Lin Tong was very powerful and Chu Xiaoran had aimed for a quick and decisive battle. To save her stamina, she had to forcefully attack. With injuries like that, Chu Xiaoran’s battle prowess would be greatly reduced.

319 - : Cang Yan’s ass

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Well done, senior Xiaoran!”

As Chu Xiaoran got off the stage, a few of the Tai Ah Divine City juniors rushed forward to give Chu Xiaoran some healing medicine. However, Chu Xiaoran’s complexion was unnaturally red. The moment she got off the stage, she suddenly shook and spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Senior Xiaoran!” Wen Yu and company jumped with fright. They quickly rushed to grab Chu Xiaoran.

Yi Yun looked at Chu Xiaoran’s wounds and frowned, her injuries were more serious than he imagined. Lin Tong was indeed not an average cultivator. He had cultivated the uncommon concept of rotation, so all of his attacks included a spiral force to them.

Although Chu Xiaoran did not seem to have been hit in any vital spots, but the spiral force from the flywheels had penetrated Chu Xiaoran’s meridians through the wounds, causing her meridians and organs to be damaged.

This sort of injury needed at least one to two days for it to completely heal. It was highly unlikely that Chu Xiaoran would be able to use half of her strength in battle with an injury like that.

With so many strong enemies to face, Chu Xiaoran’s 50% battle power was clearly insufficient.

“Sorry…I wanted to finished it quickly, but I never expected it that…the gains could not make up for the losses.”

After spitting out a mouthful of blood, the redness in Chu Xiaoran’s face disappeared and she turned pale.

Yi Yun shook his head, “If you did not finish it quickly, you would have consumed too much Yuan Qi and end up too weak to fight. The outcome would have been the same.”

Lin Tong was indeed very strong. With Chu Xiaoran’s strength, she was unable to battle again after beating Lin Tong.

The people in the Elder stands saw the scene of Chu Xiaoran spitting blood.

“Such a pity. It seems that there is only Yi Yun left. And he has six opponents left.” A Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder took pleasure for their misfortunes.

Yi Yun was facing an elimination tag team battle. He might not enough last long enough to face Jun Yue.

At that moment, a person from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom walked up the stage. This person was extremely thin. He gave a sense of fragility but his eyes looked like a blade. There was some killing intent in them.

“It’s Kui Yu! He is actually second up! He defeated Qiuniu before!”

A junior standing beside Yi Yun exclaimed after seeing this skeleton-like person walk up the stage.

“Oh?” Yi Yun was slightly shocked. So this was the person that Qiuniu lost to.

“Kui Yu was born in a Divine Wilderness mystic clan. His mystic clan has the ability to create puppets. And this Kui Yu is a puppet master himself!”

“Kui Yu? An odd name…” Yi Yun had heard of Divine Wilderness mystic clans in the past. There were some tribal clans that had a long history of living in certain areas of the Divine Wilderness. This tribal clans were not as backward as the small tribal clans in the Cloud Wilderness. As the Divine Wilderness was extremely dangerous, for any mortal tribe clan to survive and live on in the Divine Wilderness, they had certain fortes.

They often had a unique heritage that was very difficult to deal with.

“I never expected a descendant from a Divine Wilderness mystic clan to go to the Yun Long 72 Pagodas for training…”

“Brother Yi, be careful. That Kui Yu is very tough. A puppet master’s weakness is his own body, but when puppet masters fight, they would enter into a puppet with super strong defenses. It would be like a turtle shell. Although it does not have any offensive power, nor does it have the advantage of speed, it is extremely resistant to attacks.”

“Kui Yu is no different. When he enters his ‘turtle shell’, he would command his puppets to battle from within. If you were to attack his main body, then it would be over. Because as you are attacking, his puppets would take advantage of the moment when you run out of Yuan Qi and launch killing blows!”

Wen Yu finally showed her usefulness at that moment. She knew a lot about the Yun Long Divine Kingdom experts, and she searched for a lot of information about Kui Yu as well.

Wen Yu carried on, “To deal with Kui Yu, the best approach is to attack all of his puppets first. Once you get rid of all his puppets, he would be like a tiger without claws and teeth. It would not be sufficient to cause fear. Although his main body would still have strong defenses, he would not be able to fight without his puppets. At that point, he would just be a moving target, so it will be easy to defeat him then!”

“But… dealing with Kui Yu’s puppets is not easy!”

Wen Yu really did do her homework. She again introduced Kui Yu’s weaknesses. “Puppets are refined using special techniques. It is either made of metallic armor or strong scale armor from desolate beast corpses. These puppets have high defenses, so it would be very difficult to damage a puppet directly!”

“But thankfully, puppets have a weakness… Every puppet has a core array within their body. It is used to receive the instructions from their owner. Although each core array have layers of protection, just destroying the array will make destroying the entire puppet much easier. As long as you destroy the array, then the puppet will be an immobile object. If so, then Senior Yi can win!”

Wen Yu said all of that in one breath. Yi Yun nodded upon hearing it and gave a simple reply, “Got it.”

Wen Yu was overjoyed. She had finally made herself useful.

After this, Yi Yun walked up onto the stage.

Kui Yu laughed without any restraint and quipped, “Are you discussing battle strategies? Hehe! That young lady seems to be prepared. She must have told you to attack my puppets’ core array, right?”

Wen Yu had spoke to Yi Yun using Yuan Qi transmissions, so it was impossible for Kui Yu to have heard them. However, he was able to guess what she had said.

Wen Yu’s expression changed. It did not feel good to be completely grasped by others.

“Unfortunately, although the battle strategy given by this young lady is good, it is useless against me. I am completely different from other puppet masters. It has to do with my blood lineage, Je Je Je Je!”

Kui Yu laughed strangely. Wen Yu’s expression turned increasingly ugly after she heard what he said. She lost all confidence the moment Kui Yu said those words.

With blood lineage coming into play, it was hard to tell. It was possible that Kui Yu did not need to use a core array to control his puppets.

Wen Yu felt a sense of defeat. Was all the intelligence she gathered wrong?

“But, that young lady said something right. That is… my main body’s defense has no weaknesses!”

Kui Yu suddenly let out a hoarse scream. His body shrank and completely entered a turtle shell-like puppet.

The turtle shell puppet was dome shaped and made of some unknown alloy. Its surface, which was covered in mysterious lines, shimmered. These lines were injected with Yuan Qi, forming a Yuan Qi shield.

There were two layers of defense!

The audience were secretly horrified. If Yi Yun wanted to harm Kui Yu’s actual body, he had to break through two layers of protection. The difficulty to break through a Yuan Qi layer of protection and an additional alloy shell was obvious.

And the surrounding puppets would not let Yi Yun attack Kui Yu’s main body freely.

“Ka Ka Ka Ka!”

Eight puppets appeared around Kui Yu.

These eight puppets were all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some were made of pure metal and others were made from some unknown divine wood. And he had desolate beast corpses as well.

The eight puppets held different types of weapons. They formed a battle array around Kui Yu, keeping Kui Yu in the middle!

“Oh no. Back when he was fighting Qiuniu, Kui Yu only used six puppets! Now against Yi Yun, not only is he using eight puppets in an array, but with his main body’s crazy defense, Kui Yu would be invincible! And he also said that he does not have the weaknesses of typical puppet masters! How can we beat against him?”

Yi Yun’s expression turned slightly sullen upon facing the puppet battle array. He rubbed his interspatial ring and pulled out a long saber from within.

This saber was entirely black. The blade was about two-fingers wide and it was exactly five feet in length.

The blade was straight and it shone beautifully. Its body was engraved with beautiful patterns that looked similar to crushed ice.

The saber’s name was Sonic Deathblade and it was a weapon that Yi Yun had selected from the Tai Ah Divine City armory.

The meaning behind the Sonic Deathblade’s name was that it could kill people just from the sound waves emitted from brandishing the saber!

After being used to the Thousand Army Saber, Yi Yun still preferred straight sabers that were like Tang sabers. The Sonic Deathblade was slightly shorter than the Thousand Army Saber, but its quality was far beyond it!

“Oh? Finally using your saber? This would be fun! Unfortunately, it is still useless!” Kui Yu’s hoarse voice could be heard from within the turtle shell.

At that moment, Yi Yun moved. He leaped forward and charged straight at the puppet battle array.

“Phew–”

Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi exploded and like the flare of the Sun, the Yuan Qi that appeared formed a phantom image of the Tang Valley behind him.

Radiant Sun Qi!

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed as killing intent surged out like a tidal wave from his body!

“Phew! Phew! Phew!”

The eight puppets moved and they began to gather around Yi Yun.

At that moment, Yi Yun reduced the footprint of the Sonic Deathblade. Without using his blade, he rushed straight inside the puppet battle array with just his body.

These puppets were extremely fast, rows of sharp blades and sharp claws hacked at Yi Yun!

Yi Yun’s mind was as still as water. He began to use his large success stage of Minute Subtlety and took advantage of the successive order of the puppets’ attacks to dodge every one of their attacks using incredible angles. In a blink of an eye, he had rushed at Kui Yu’s main body!

The Sonic Deathblade that had been pulled back suddenly flashed a cold brilliance!

He was attacking the main body immediately!?

The audience were surprised. Yi Yun did not look for the puppets’ weaknesses and he targeted Kui Yu’s main body. But Kui Yu’s body had two layers of protection and was almost invulnerable!

In the Elder stands, smiles formed on many of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elders’ lips.

Attacking Kui Yu’s main body was a fool’s errand. It was equivalent to digging one’s grave.

They seemed to imagine the scenes of Yi Yun’s attacking with no avail. And right at the moment when he lost his momentum, he would be surrounded and attacked by all the puppets, resulting in him vomiting blood from his heavy injuries.

The thoughts of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elders had coincided with Kui Yu’s in his turtle shell.

He grinned cheekily. As he powered the turtle shell puppet’s defensive shield, he gathered energy in preparation for his counter attack.

In front of him, Yi Yun was not distracted. Yi Yun’s body was covered in killing intent and it was raised to an extreme, merging with the Radiant Sun Qi as one!

The saber truth, pressing forward with an indomitable will!

The Sonic Deathblade issued out a long cry and it became one with Yi Yun!

One With the Saber!

“Cha!”

The bright blade beam slashed through the sky, making the celestial bodies lose their color. The only thing that was left behind was the blade beam that shone like the bright Sun!

This saber hit the turtle shell puppet without any fanciful moves!

“Boom!”

A terrifying explosion sounded. The Radiant Sun Qi flooded the audience’s visual facilities, they could not see what had happened.

After the flash disappeared, what remained was a jaw-dropping scene. The five-foot-long Sonic Deathblade had completely pierced through Kui Yu’s turtle shell.

It had penetrated from one side and out the other, revealing a three-inch-long blade tip on the other side and it was dyed with blood…

Kui Yu and his turtle shell puppet had been…penetrated!?

320 - : The Saber that Pressed forward with Indomitable Will

CKtalon  CKtalon

The five foot long Sonic Deathblade had stabbed right through, till the base of the blade. The front portion of the shell had already started to crack. Due to the powerful impact, the purple tungsten tiles below the turtle shell had slightly cratered downwards.

It was obvious how powerful Yi Yun’s attack was.

And at that moment, Yi Yun was still holding onto the Sonic Deathblade’s hilt. Behind him, the eight puppets that had been rushing to attack him had all lost their ability to move and just stood in their spots like straw men.

The entire arena turned silent. Everyone was extremely shocked, especially the people from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom. They found it impossible to accept the situation right in front of them.

Yi Yun’s saber had pierced through Kui Yu…

Kui Yu’s main body, whose defense he was proud of, was not even able to withstand a single blow from Yi Yun.

Originally, people thought that Yi Yun would attempt to look for Kui Yu’s weakness.

However, he unexpectedly, brutally, attacked Kui Yu’s main body. In front of an absolute attack, Kui Yu’s defense as well as his puppets lost their meaning.

“Is Kui Yu dead?” The Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors said as if they just woke up from a dream.

That impact, coupled with his body being pierced through like that, likely meant that the odds were greatly against him being alive.

“This Yi Yun is too ruthless!”

Many of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors saw the killing intent that accompanied Yi Yun’s gaze. Although the alliance tournament would not hold someone accountable if they did not have the intent to cause death, the killer would still be hated by others if someone really died.

A Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder disappeared and appeared on the stage. His face was sour as he pressed onto Kui Yu’s turtle shell puppet with one hand.

“Ka-cha!”

The turtle shell was removed by the Elder through some unknown technique.

At that moment, everyone could clearly see that Kui Yu’s chest had been penetrated straight through by the Sonic Deathblade.

His face was pale and his forehead was covered in sweat as his body slightly trembled.

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder’s face turned increasingly ugly.

He did not dare to rashly pull out the Sonic Deathblade. He placed one hand on Kui Yu’s chest, intending to inject Yuan Qi into him to extend his life.

At the same moment, he took out a sacred healing pill from his interspatial ring to feed Kui Yu.

However, the moment he rested his hand on Kui Yu’s chest, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder’s expression suddenly changed.

“Oh?”

He realized that Yi Yun’s saber had pierced right through Kui Yu’s body, without causing much damage to his meridians, even his organs were intact.

Yi Yun’s saber had pierced through a narrow gap between Kui Yu’s heart and right lung.

Although it seemed to have pierced through his chest, he was not greatly injured.

“The saber pierced through the gap between the organs!?”

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder looked incredulously at Yi Yun.

The organs of a human body were basically stuck to each other. It was difficult to explain this phenomena just by luck.

The organs’ placement are slightly different in everybody’s body, so to avoid stabbing an organ was extremely difficult to do. Some saber users could sometimes do it with their intuition. However, just now, Kui Yu’s body had been hidden within his turtle shell puppet. Not even his position was clear, so how was Yi Yun able to attack him so precisely with his saber?

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder looked deeply at Yi Yun, “Yi Yun right? I will remember you!”

This Elder tapped on Kui Yu’s acupuncture points to stop the flowing blood.

“Can I pull away my blade?”

Yi Yun had opened his Purple Crystal’s energy vision in his attack. He was able to see the placement of Kui Yu’s organs, so although his attack looked fatal, Kui Yu was not severely injured at all.

“Hmph!” The Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder grunted as he flicked the blade with his fingers.

“Clang!”

The Sonic Deathblade emitted a clear sound as it flew straight out and into Yi Yun’s hands.

Yi Yun wiped the blade with one hand, and all the blood on the Sonic Deathblade had been cleanly dropped off. Not a single blood drop was left on the blade.

A saber was chief amongst weapons. In terms of variations of moves, it was inferior to a sword, but in terms of attack power, it exceeded that of a sword.

In the countries of mortals, to prevent citizens from rebelling, sabers and crossbows were banned while swords and bows were permitted. This explained things clearly. In the hands of mortals, a saber’s destructive power exceeded that of a sword by a lot.

After Kui Yu was defeated, there were only five people left on the Yun Long Divine Kingdom side.

Yi Yun stood on the stage with the Sonic Deathblade in hand. His blade formed an angle with the ground as he waited for the next person to come on stage.

“Yun Long Divine Kingdom, who is fighting next?”

The referee shouted loudly on stage as he looked at the people from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom.

Who should go up?

The few people from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom looked at each other. They did not know who to send. Many of them were even weaker than Lin Tong.

As for Kui Yu, he was stronger than Lin Tong. In the previous small team matches, Kui Yu fought as the leader and defeated Qiuniu, proving his strength.

Yi Yun had instantly defeated Kui Yu, so if they were to go up, they would most likely end up worse than him.

Against such a strong opponent as Yi Yun, the people from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom were experiencing tremendous pressure. With so many important figures focusing on them, not one of them wished to be tortured by Yi Yun on stage. It was a very embarrassing outcome.

“I’ll fight…”

At that moment, a deep voice said. Jun Yue stood up.

“Jun Yue…”

When they saw Jun Yue standing up, they clearly showed greater respect.

Jun Yue said, “The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom side still has three people who have not gone on stage. However, this group championship is eventually still a contest between me and Yi Yun.”

As he was speaking, Jun Yue had already walked up on the stage. He stood 100 feet away from Yi Yun.

“Jun Yue has gone on stage. The number one person amongst our Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s younger generation. To think that he went on stage so early… against Yi Yun…”

People originally thought that Jun Yue was the leader amongst their leaders. That he only needed to fight at the end, or might not even need to at all.

However, now, before even 15 minutes had passed, Jun Yue had already gone up on stage to have a showdown with Yi Yun.

And the outcome of this battle determined the group champion.

Jun Yue…

Yi Yun opened his Purple Crystal’s energy vision. In the Purple Crystal’s vision, Jun Yue’s body was surging with energy. Standing on stage, he looked like the bright moon in the night sky.

“Senior Yi, this person’s attainments in the Metal laws are extremely high. When fighting against him, be careful of the ground beneath you. He can control even the purple tungsten ground.”

At that moment, Wen Yu’s Yuan Qi transmission reached Yi Yun’s ear.

Yi Yun nodded slightly. The Yun Long Divine Kingdom was filled with elites. Their areas of expertise and their battle strategies were all different. To fight against them on the same stage benefited him by broadening his horizons.

“Jun Yue, just over fifteen years of age, and more than a year older than Yi Yun. You will need to suppress your cultivation level by half a small realm.” The referee in charge of the group match said.

Jun Yue’s cultivation level was at the peak of the early stages of the Yuan Foundation realm. After suppressing it by half a small realm, he was still in the beginning stages of the Yuan Foundation realm, which was still higher than Yi Yun’s.

Jun Yue nodded. Suppressing his cultivation level was very easy. It could accomplished by injecting a seal mark into his body.

321 - : The Precise Saber

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jun Yue stood on the stage where his entire body felt like a sword. He looked at Yi Yun and smiled, “I’ve been paying close attention to you for a long while.”

Yi Yun looked at Jun Yue as his heart jumped.

“Amongst all the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators, you are the one I want to fight the most! Now, without anyone interfering with our battle, you will be able to fight in your best condition, so this battle is how I like it. I have been looking forward to this battle with you!”

Jun Yue said as he took a weapon out from his interspatial ring. It was a sword.

The sword was extremely long. It was even longer than the Thousand Army Saber. The sword’s blade was broad, its width was about a foot long. The blade’s central ridge was about an inch thick.

It was an extremely heavy sword.

The audience gasped when they saw the sword. Not many of them had seen a sword with such an exaggerated size like that before. Even if they did, it was usually an ornamental sword. They had never seen one being used to kill enemies.

This sword looked like it was like a door that was split in the middle, with the two halves connected together.

It did not look easy for a person to hold such a sword.

“How do you brandish such a heavy sword? It cannot be used agilely.” A Tai Ah Divine City warrior said. Although there was a saying that the longer a weapon was, the stronger it was, it did not really mean that it was that much better the longer it became.

A sword that exceeded one’s height by more than 100% would be severely constricted them when it was brandished.

But just as the Tai Ah Divine City warrior was midway through his words, he shut himself up.

This was because he was shocked at what he saw. Jun Yue had casually released his hand and the sword began floating in midair. Following that, Jun Yue landed on the sword’s blade with a gentle leap.

“What?”

Many of the audience were dumbfounded. You could do that?

Wasn’t this flying on a sword?

Yuan Foundation realm warriors could not really fly, but by standing on the large sword, Jun Yue was able to fly in any direction. This was no doubt the advantage of having a large sword.

When one’s insight into the laws reaches a certain realm, they are able to use all sort of bizarre combat techniques. This was the power of the laws.

“I’m going to attack.”

Before Jun Yue attacked, he warned Yi Yun, showing his great confidence!

“Cha!”

A sword beam flashed as Jun Yue flew towards Yi Yun while standing on the large sword!

This sword’s speed was extremely fast. It was very difficult to tell its trajectory!

Just as the sword was about 30 feet away from Yi Yun, a “Ka” sound rang, and the sword’s body split!

“What!?”

Yi Yun constricted his pupils. He saw that the large sword had split into 24 flying swords.

The huge sword was not one sword, but it was made up of 24 swords. No wonder it was that big!

In this split second, Yi Yun did not have time to think carefully. The 24 flying swords had surrounded him!

Minute Subtlety!

Yi Yun’s body began creating multiple after-images as he retreated hurriedly!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

There were about 20 sword marks on the purple tungsten tiles on the ground. At the same time, two of the flying swords flew close to Yi Yun’s cheek and body. The sharp sword wind cut through Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi protection and two bloody slashes appeared on Yi Yun’s face and body.

“Your speed is very fast, too bad…”

Jun Yue gripped both his hands, “Ka Ka Ka!”

The purple tungsten tiles underneath Yi Yun’s feet sprouted out metallic poles about the thickness of a thumb.

These metallic poles immediately formed a cage the moment Yi Yun landed, trapping him in it.

“How are you going to dodge this time?”

With a thought, more than 20 flying swords flew towards Yi Yun who was in the metallic cage!

At that split moment, Yi Yun roared, and his body’s Radiant Sun Qi erupted like a volcano!

The power of the pure Yang flames burnt the metallic cage and turned it into molten metal. Yi Yun flew out of it.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

The place Yi Yun was originally standing was instantly diced.

And at that moment, Yi Yun changed directions in the air. With the Sonic Deathblade in hand, he attacked from top to bottom while charging straight at Jun Yue.

The Saber Truth’s 32 Words – Reigning Supreme!

An emerald green saber beam with its formidable presence tore through the air, emitting a sharp howling whistle!

The Sonic Deathblade could kill people just with its sound waves!

Against this attack, Jun Yue remained calm. He stretched out his palm and blocked Yi Yun’s attack with just his bare palms.

What!?

The audience were shocked. But just at the moment when Yi Yun’s saber was about to slash at Jun Yue’s palm, a huge metallic shield appeared in front of Jun Yue’s palms.

“Boom!”

The Sonic Deathblade slashed on the metallic shield. The half foot-thick shield was split into two by the Sonic Deathblade. But the remaining saber force had dissipated.

“Good saber technique!” Jun Yue gasped in admiration from the bottom of his heart.

He had always been proud but against a younger Yi Yun, whose cultivation level was lower than his, Jun Yue was still unable to suppress him.

Yi Yun’s insight into the the saber truths startled Jun Yue.

The exchanges between the two were so fast that the audience were too engrossed to take a breath.

Jun Yue moved his fingers and the huge metallic shield dissipated, turning into flowing metal that covered Jun Yue’s entire body. Slowly, it formed into a metallic armor.

This metallic armor was much more exaggerated than the armor Qiuniu wore. It was impossible to estimate its weight, but Yi Yun knew that the metallic armor would not give Jun Yue the slightest feeling of heaviness. This was because Jun Yue could manipulate it as he wished.

“This battle armor specially made from Tai Cang metal. It follows my every wish. If I were to inject Yuan Qi into it, it will be indestructible. As long as your Yuan Qi is weaker than mine, you have no way of breaking through my defense. Even though my cultivation level is suppressed to the early stage of the Yuan Foundation realm, the amount of Yuan Qi I have far exceeds yours. Therefore, you will not be able to hurt me.” Jun Yue’s voice was calm as if he was narrating a fact.

“Can’t break through your defense?” A flashed beamed in Yi Yun’s eyes. He was always very confident in his own attacking power, “Let me try!”

Yi Yun took one step forward before his body transformed into a beam of light, heading straight for Jun Yue!

Boom!

The Radiant Sun Qi exploded behind Yi Yun, forming the phantom image of the Tang Valley.

Yi Yun’s Sonic Deathblade began burning with pure Yang flames.

Saber Truth’s 32 Words–One With the Saber!

“Cha!”

With a slash, the pure Yang flames exploded, flooding everyone’s vision with white light.

Yi Yun’s saber had made its impact on Jun Yue’s armor. From the right shoulder to the left thigh, the blade edge slashed past. The vicinity of the blade mark on the metallic armor had been melted. There was a shocking one meter long blade mark!

“Oh?”

Yi Yun was surprised. He did not hold back with this attack, but at the moment the Sonic Deathblade slashed on Jun Yue, he felt Yuan Qi surge in Jun Yue’s armor. Jun Yue’s Yuan Qi had combined with the metallic essence as one, and had greatly dissipated his Radiant Sun Qi.

He had not been able to hurt Jun Yue’s body!

“Good attack!” Jun Yue gritted his teeth. He began circulating his Yuan Qi. After enduring Yi Yun’s attack, the veins on his forehead bulged, making him look ferocious.

“But…you are still lacking by just a bit…” Jun Yue grinned. A flash appeared in his eyes!

“Cha!”

24 flying swords around Jun Yue suddenly came stabbing towards Yi Yun!

“Boom!”

The 24 flying swords impaled the purple tungsten ground. With his Yuan Qi exploding, Yi Yun used his large success stage of Minute Subtlety. However, he was still hit by the energy. He flew back and when he landed, he moved back another tens of feet. His Qi and blood was in chaos.

Jun Yue’s defense was too strong. It was completely on a different level from Kui Yu who Yi Yun had previously defeated.

Jun Yue was not bragging about the so-called absolute defense. Anyone whose Yuan Qi was inferior to his could not break through his armor.

At that moment, Jun Yue’s armor had already begun repairing. The large saber mark that Yi Yun had left behind was slowly disappearing.

Soon, the saber mark had completely disappeared, and the armor looked as good as new. It was as if Yi Yun had never slashed on it before.

The Tai Ah Divine City audience did not know what to say upon seeing this scene.

This kind of manipulation of the laws was too terrifying. If one could not break through Jun Yue’s defense in one strike, then he would just restore it again.

“Jun Yue! Jun Yue!”

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom cultivators began cheering.

The female cultivators were the ones who screamed the most passionately. In the world of warriors, the men who were strong and had extraordinary talent would easily win the hearts of women.

“Jun Yue is sure to win!”

“Wipe the Tai Ah Divine City! Kill all these useless fools!”

People from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom began shouting even louder,while the people from the Tai Ah Divine City did not look so good.

At that moment, Jun Yue was indeed mighty. He was wearing armor that had incredulous weight and 24 flying swords were revolving around him.

These swords were all of different weights and lengths. The presence they gave off was full of power.

With his strong defense and incredible attacking strength, it made others not be able to muster the courage to fight him.

Yi Yun’s expression was solemn.

This opponent was indeed tricky.

The five-elemental laws may be lower in grade than the pure Yang laws, but when the other party’s insight into the laws exceeded his, then the power the laws would give could not be measured by the differing grades in the laws.

Yi Yun only wanted to use his Aspect Totem as a last resort as it was too shocking. He would have to come up with explanations if he were to use it.

But now, it seemed like typical attacks would not be able to beat Jun Yue.

By controlling the metallic armor, Jun Yue began to slowly fly. Up in the air, he looked down at Yi Yun with a commanding presence.

The 24 swords were around his body, arranged in a manner similar to a peacock’s revealed tail.

“Your speed is very fast and your movement techniques are strong. Even when I power my swords with all my strength, I still can’t seriously injure you, so I have no choice but to use my last sword.”

Jun Yue said this as his body began sparking with streams of rainbow light. A purple energy sword appeared from behind him before landing in his hand.

This energy sword was thin and long. It looked like a purple light beam had shot out from Jun Yue’s hand.

Many in the audience were greatly alarmed seeing the purple beam.

“Aspect Totem, this is Jun Yue’s Aspect Totem!”

A sword-shaped Aspect Totem was the Aspect Totem that swordsmen dreamed of.

By conjuring his Aspect Totem, Jun Yue was prepared to go all out!

322 - : Fighting Jun Yue

CKtalon  CKtalon

Being covered in metallic heavy armor and with the Totem beam sword in hand, Jun Yue looked like a war god.

“Yi Yun! I’ve conjured my Aspect Totem to fight you, even though I am one realm higher than you. You should be proud!”

Jun Yue’s voice resounded throughout the arena. It was a shockingly powerful.

“My Totem sword is 100% faster than my flying swords. Your movement technique is extremely fast; but now we shall see, how you are going to dodge my sword.”

As Jun Yue said this, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors began to cheer.

“Jun Yue! Attack!”

Many of them were shouting as the atmosphere went into a frenzy. In the world of warriors, nothing was more exciting than watching experts fight on the same stage. National pride also rested on the outcome of this battle, so their emotions were easily incited.

With the beam sword in hand, Jun Yue raised it above his head. Although he had an indifferent attitude, he could not help but become intoxicated by the excited cheers.

He gave a deep roar as the 24 swords around him shot out like raindrops in a storm!

After Jun Yue conjured his Aspect Totem, the 24 swords were much faster than before!

Yi Yun constricted his pupils and quickly retreated.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

The purple tungsten tiles where Yi Yun originally stood cracked. At the same moment, Jun Yue’s beam sword already came slashing down at Yi Yun!

This sword had locked onto Yi Yun’s location and it came at him with an irresistible force!

Extreme Kill – Vault of Heaven Luminous Moon Sword!

The moment Jun Yue brandished his sword, Heaven Earth Yuan Qi gathered behind him, forming a emerald green phantom image that resembled the luminous moon.

The luminous moon dangling in the sky was covered in mist, making it look mysterious, as if it was something untouchable.

As for the Totem sword in Jun Yue’s hands, it suddenly rose up. The sword became like a light pillar, shooting straight into the clouds. This slash from the sword seemed to be able to split apart the vaults of heaven.

At that moment, Jun Yue’s domineering armor and his beautiful swordplay made a perfect combination. It created a strong visual impact, making the cheers in the crowd reach a crescendo!

Yi Yun’s mind was as still as water when facing this sword. With both of his hands holding the saber, he circulated his body’s energy as the Radiant Sun Qi began to burn.

Yi Yun knew that the Saber Truth’s 32 Words’ saber intent and the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ were not enough to withstand Jun Yue’s attack. Neither could they break through Jun Yue’s absolute defense.

Yi Yun sent his thoughts into the Purple Crystal, within the Purple Crystal’s core was a small flame, quietly burning.

This small flame was the pure Yang spirit Yi Yun had captured in the burning hell.

The pure Yang spirit was a divine item that had been condensed from the infinite pure Yang essence within Fallen Star Gate. Even sages would find it difficult to refine it in a few hundred years alone. And now, it was sealed within the Purple Crystal, becoming the Purple Crystal’s own source of pure Yang energy.

“Your strength shall be given to me!”

In his spiritual world, Yi Yun looked straight at the pure Yang spirit within the Purple Crystal. His voice had a domineering aspect to it.

The Purple Crystal began to gather Heaven Earth Yuan Qi as energy began to rapidly circulate. With an explosive boom, what was at first a small flame quietly burning suddenly shot up!

Extremely pure Yang energy surged throughout Yi Yun’s meridians. At that moment, burning pure Yang Qi poured out from all of the pores of his body as he circulated the burning flame.

It was as if Yi Yun’s body had changed into that of the Sun.

The Saber Truth’s 32 Words – Reigning Supreme!

With the Sonic Deathblade in hand, Yi Yun’s slash was as if a mighty god had descended, as if a Sun had entered the mortal realm.

The Tang Valley image behind Yi Yun was like a huge picture scroll. It covered the entire arena. If one looked from up high, they would see that, above the arena’s dome, was a burning Yuan Qi flame.

“Huh!?”

Jun Yue was greatly alarmed but he still powered his Vault of Heaven Luminous Moon Sword and slashed at Yi Yun.

The Luminous Moon against the Radiant Sun, Metal against pure Yang!

“Boom!”

A terrifying explosion happened and the world turned silent. The expressions of everyone present froze as they could only stare. They looked at the pure Yang flame, burning in the air. It was like as if a Sun had swallowed the luminous moon!

Metal melted while pure Yang Qi flared.

Jun Yue let out a deep growl as his Totem sword was split apart by Yi Yun’s slash!

Yi Yun’s saber did not stop and carried on slashing at Jun Yue’s armor. From his shoulder to his thigh, the saber slashed diagonally!

“Peng!”

Jun Yue flew out and heavily slammed into the purple tungsten walls by the side of the Divine Wilderness Stage.

A foot-long purple tungsten wall was brought down by Jun Yue’s impact!

“Ka Ka Ka!”

Jun Yue’s battle armor was torn apart. His metallic armor could not withstand the burning power of the pure Yang energy. It began to melt from the middle while Yi Yun’s pure Yang saber Qi entered deeply into Jun Yue’s body, burning all his internal organs and meridians.

Jun Yue spit out a mouthful of blood as his face flushed red while his body trembled.

A bloody line went from his shoulder to his thigh as blood spurted out, but it was instantly incinerated by the burning hot armor.

Yi Yun’s attack had completely cut through Jun Yue’s flesh and ribs!

Besides his saber injury, there was the internal injuries caused by the pure Yang Qi. The injuries he suffered were horrible.

Yi Yun landed on the tip of his feet with the Sonic Deathblade in hand. The Sonic Deathblade was not covered in blood but had turned heated red from the pure Yang Qi.

The attack Yi Yun used was powered by the pure Yang spirit’s energy. As a medium between the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and the pure Yang spirit, Yi Yun had consumed a lot of Yuan Qi himself.

At that moment, the pure Yang Qi around him was still burning. The rising golden flames left a long trail from Yi Yun’s descent. They looked like the beautiful scene of a phoenix’s tail feathers fluttering.

The entire audience turned silent upon seeing this.

Especially the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors. They went from frenzied cheers to dead silence. Everything had happened in just a few seconds, resulting in many of their frenzied expressions still being fixed on their faces.

Jun Yue was defeated?

At the last moment, Jun Yue had conjured his Aspect Totem and went all out, but he still lost to Yi Yun even at his peak.

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors could not believe it.

Many of the obsessed girls that were crazy over Jun Yue still had their mouths agape.

Many of them had admired Jun Yue for a long time. He was the unbeatable war god in their hearts, but now, Jun Yue had been defeated.

“How was Yi Yun’s last attack so powerful?”

Many people were privately discussing. In the beginning, Yi Yun clearly could not cut through Jun Yue’s defenses, but his last attack actually defeated him in one strike!

“I do not know. Maybe this is his hidden move.”

People could only comprehend it this way. The pure Yang spirit was hidden within the Purple Crystal which was within Yi Yun’s body. When it spewed out pure Yang energy, it was not much different from the pure Yang energy that Yi Yun usually gave off. As such, no one noticed it. They only felt that Yi Yun’s Yang Qi’s purity and strength rose a level during this sudden explosive display.

Medical personnel rushed to the side of the stage and began checking on Jun Yue’s injuries.

Jun Yue’s was badly injured. In the last instant, Yi Yun was fighting against Jun Yue who was at his peak. He could not go easy or he would definitely be defeated.

“Yi Yun vs Jun Yue. Victor, Yi Yun!”

The Tai Ah Divine City law-enforcer announced the outcome of the battle. Even the law-enforcer, who was usually cold, was so excited that his voice actually trembled.

The victory in this match meant that the teenager group champion most likely belonged to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

After a few moments of silence, the audience burst out into a tumultuous cheer.

“Yi Yun! Yi Yun!”

The Tai Ah Divine City warriors were all shouting loudly. Their expressions were that of joy and frenzy!

From the beginning, as the Tai Ah Divine City warriors were lacking in strength, they did not bear too much hope. When they suddenly obtained the final victory, this unexpected joy made them become ecstatic.

“This kid sure fought well! Hahaha!” In the Elder stands, Cang Yan began laughing loudly. The grin on his face nearly reached his ear lobes. Yi Yun’s victory made this old man, who did not have much of an image, become highly conceited. He suddenly recalled something and looked sideways at the two Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elders who previously looked down on Yi Yun. That expression seemed to read, “The two of you, shall we talk about my ass from yesterday?”

The two Elders, whose expressions were already ugly, now saw Cang Yan’s wretched smile dangling in front of them like a chrysanthemum flower. It looked as if they had swallowed a huge house fly, and it was the type that had a green head.

They could only ignore Cang Yan. They knew that, the moment they responded, they would end up being ridiculed.

“Yi Yun really gave me a great surprise!”

Even the calm and indifferent Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord was in a good mood as he gave a heartfelt laughter.

Beside him, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner’s face was now gloomy.

The outcome of the battle had completely gone beyond his expectations.

He had originally proposed the alliance tournament because he knew of the Yun Long 72 Pagodas’ few geniuses in the younger generation. They were invincible against their peers. And with the Tai Ah Divine City facing the pressure of the Shepherd Boy appearing within the borders of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, they had no way but to compromise.

However, now, Jun Yue’s failure was a severe blow to the Seven Star Pagoda Owner! With his loss, the plan of taking 60% of the seats came to an end.

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner took a deep breath and said to the middle-aged scholar, “The teenager group is just the beginning. Sir City Lord, are you not laughing too soon?”

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner did not mince his words towards the middle-aged scholar. He believed that, in the young adult and the overall groups, the Tai Ah Divine City did not have anyone left. Yao Dao and Yang Qian were far from enough. The Yun Long 72 Pagodas would sweep it all, leaving the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom with nothing.

Unfortunately, they had lost the teenager group. Although the Yun Long 72 Pagodas would eventually win, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner could no longer laugh.

He had not expected someone like Yi Yun at all. If he knew about him earlier, he would not have separated the teenager and the young adult matches. There would only be an overall group and all the seats would be determined by the overall group’s results. Then, no matter how much of a genius Yi Yun was, he would definitely not be able to win against opponents 4-5 years older than him.

The middle-aged scholar laughed, “I do not ask for much. Your country aimed for the fact that in this year, our Tai Ah Divine City’s new crop has yet to come in to replace the old. And, with the pressure from the Shepherd Boy, you forced me to accept the proposed alliance tournament. However, now that the Tai Ah Divine City has won a third of the seats from your hands. Why shouldn’t I be laughing?”

“Hmph!”

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner snorted and remained silent. He had divided the cultivators into a teenager and young adult group so that he could showcase the strength of the Yun Long 72 Pagodas, but he had ended up lifting a stone only to drop it on his own feet.

323 - : Luminous Moon against the Radiant Sun

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Does anyone from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom want to challenge Yi Yun?” The referee on the Divine Wilderness Stage asked loudly.

There were still four more people from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom left who had not gone up after Yi Yun defeated Jun Yue. They were eligible to challenge Yi Yun.

The four of them had ugly expressions, but none of them really went on stage to fight Yi Yun. The difference in strength was too great, going up on strength would only end with them being brutally beaten up by Yi Yun. As such, whether they went up on stage or not had lost its meaning.

No one answered the referee. After the referee repeated that statement three times, he said loudly, “No one from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom is challenging, so I shall now announce that for the alliance tournament’s Tai Ah Divine Kingdom vs Yun Long Divine Kingdom teenager division, the winner is the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!”

The referee’s voice was excited as the Tai Ah Divine City audience burst out into a tumultuous cheer.

This victory was really surprising. Having thought that their Tai Ah Divine City’s new crop had yet to come in to replace the old, they had still managed to beat the Yun Long 72 Pagodas in the teenager division competition. This result was something to be proud of.

But not all the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators were happy. At that moment, Li Hong, Yang Haoran and company’s faces were ugly listening the tumultuous cheers.

In particular, Yang Haoran was clenching his fist tightly, his nails were lodged deep in his flesh.

See his arch-enemy become the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s hero, even gaining the attention of the City Lord, together with Cang Yan, Jian Ge and Yuehua’s support and favor granted to Yi Yun, the hopes of taking revenge on Yi Yun had become a joke.

Compared to the aura of being the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom hero, he, with his broken arm was no different from a lost dog. This difference made Yang Haoran feel anguish that did not need further elaborating.

At that moment, the referee on the Divine Wilderness Stage was also extremely excited as he announced with an exhilarated voice, “Next, we have the young adult division competition. Yun Long Divine Kingdom and Tai Ah Divine Kingdom will have 15-18 year-old cultivators coming to the stage to battle!”

When the referee said this, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s audience became excited. After having their moods dampened by Yi Yun, they were filled with anger. Now that it was the young adult division, their Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s young adult division was filled with elites. In comparison, the Tai Ah Divine City’s young adult division was like a handful of kittens. There was no doubt what the outcome of the battle would be.

“Yun Long Divine Kingdom is sure to win!” Some of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom cultivators shouted loudly.

They were looking forward to obtaining revenge for the disgrace they suffered.

“Wipe them out! Wipe out the Tai Ah Divine City!”

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom audience was excited. On the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom side, the audience went tit-for-tat as they cheered as well.

The situation looked as if the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and Yun Long Divine Kingdom audience were almost about to fight.

“It’s really crazy!”

Yi Yun, who was on the participant benches, sighed upon seeing this scene. But it was reasonable. In his past life, there were some ball-related sports matches where the audience would become so agitated watching the game that they led to stampedes and other accidents, what more, this is a warrior’s world. Compared to the sports matches in his previous life, elites battling against each other was a matter of greater importance and with it came greater excitement.

Yi Yun glanced at Cang Yan who was in the Elder stands. He transmitted his voice, “Senior Cang Yan, I can’t participate in the young adult division matches, right?”

Cang Yan, who was still being highly conceited, was shocked hearing Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi voice transmission. “No, you can’t. However, you can participate in the overall group matches in two days.”

The overall group competition was scheduled in two days time to allow the competitors to rest and heal, allowing them to adjust themselves to their optimum states.

“Alright, I got it. Then, I want to go to the sword tomb.”

The Pure Yang Sword Palace’s sword Dao was extremely profound. Yi Yun always felt his understanding of the sword Dao was still lacking up to this point. The path of martial arts was fraught with dangers and difficulties, and could be said as defying Heaven. Yi Yun had to grab every opportunity to strengthen himself.

“Sword tomb? You are going just like that? Aren’t you going to watch the young adult division matches?” Cang Yan said with a shock. “You sure are grabbing every second.”

“I’m not going to watch.” Yi Yun shook his head. Actually, watching the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s experts’ performance before the overall group match was necessary. However, it was not that Yi Yun was being arrogant and underestimating his enemies, but he guessed that the person he really wanted to see would not appear in the upcoming young adult division matches. Even if the person appeared, that person would not go all out.

In that case, there was not much difference whether he watched or not.

“Alright.” Cang Yan nodded and stood up to guide Yi Yun.

At this point, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom audience’s cheers had reached a crescendo. From the Yun Long Divine Kingdom cultivators side, a fatty dressed in yellow jumped on to the Divine Wilderness Stage.

He raised a fist and shouted loudly, “Yun Long is sure to win!”

“Yun Long is sure to win!”

“Yun Long is sure to win!”

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom audience responded like a surging tide.

At that moment, the fatty lowered both his hands, motioning for the crowd to be quiet. He gave a faint smile and looked at the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom cultivators, “Today, I will represent the Yun Long Divine Kingdom and declare war on the Tai Ah Divine City!”

As he said that, he pointed out his index finger and pointed towards the Tai Ah Divine City’s side, “Just me alone will be sufficient! Who will fight me? I’ll take on as many as you send!”

The fatty’s words were highly rousing and it had a provocative vibe to it. When he declared war in such a domineering and arrogant fashion, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom audience cheered once again. Previously, Yi Yun had won despite being up against five people in the teenager division matches. This made them fume inside, but now with the fatty’s domineering declaration of war, all the shame they had suffered was being vented.

All of them were extremely excited.

“Your Tai Ah Divine City may have gone one against many, but so can our Yun Long Divine Kingdom!”

“This darn fatso, who does he think he is?”

On the Tai Ah Divine City side, the participants were furious.

Yang Qian’s expression was extremely ugly, “Is he bullying our Tai Ah Divine City as if we don’t exist? What does he mean, ‘take on as many as you send’. Those words sound so arrogant. We only have two people we can send out for the young adult division.”

According to the alliance tournament’s rules, everyone was only allowed one defeat. Once they were defeated, they could not carry on participating in the group championships.

Previously, in the Tai Ah Divine City young adult division small group matches, three of the four groups had been wiped out. There was only one group left. And in that group, only Yang Qian and Yao Dao remained undefeated.

The fatty’s words were nicely put, but it was in actual fact, one against two, and that wasn’t much of an exaggeration.

“He is just going with the Yun Long Divine Kingdom audience’s wishes. By declaring war in such a manner, he can increase his popularity. This fatso sure is crafty!” Yao Dao, who was beside Yang Qian, gave his evaluation. These two former rivals were now comrades in arms.

“Hmph! How powerful can a fellow, who just messes around, be? Although there’s only two of us left in the Tai Ah Divine City young adult division, we will not be defeated by him. I’ll go up and finish him off!”

Yang Qian said as he jumped up the Divine Wilderness Stage, “I’ll challenge you!”

“Yang Qian! Yang Qian!”

The Tai Ah Divine City cultivators shouted loudly to cheer on Yang Qian. As one of the top ranked people on the Tai Ah Divine City’s Earth roll, he was extremely popular.

Yang Qian and Yao Dao were the only hopes that the Tai Ah Divine City young adult division had.

“Hehe!” The fatty looked at Yang Qian as his lips curled into a sinister smile. To establish his reputation, he began with Yang Qian.

In a short while, it would be his personal performance.

After today’s young adult division match, there was no doubt he would become the brightest person in the Yun Long Divine Kingdom!

He was looking forward to the fame gained from this one battle! By performing well in the tournament, besides being rewarded, he would also gain the attention of the upper echelons of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom. There were many benefits!

The fatty smiled as he subconsciously glanced at the Tai Ah Divine City teenager division participant benches. He knew that in two days time, he would meet Yi Yun in the overall group match.

He wanted to let his future opponent see his performance.

But this glance made his expression go stiff.

Because, at that moment, Yi Yun was carrying his Sonic Deathblade and walking towards the arena’s exit. From the fatty’s perspective, he could only see Yi Yun’s back.

“What!? That kid!”

The veins on the fatty’s forehead bulged. He had been ignored?

Yi Yun had actually left the arena without watching his match? Who did he think he was?

Seeing Yi Yun leave the arena without even turning back, the fatty’s expression turned gloomy.

“In two days time, I will teach you manners.”

The fatty clenched his fists and began thinking hateful thoughts. Next, he turned towards Yang Qian and said coldly, “Yang Qian, right? I will defeat you in less than ten moves!”

“The nerve!” Yang Qian unsheathed a sword and pointing straight at the fatty’s eyebrows.

“The person who will be defeated is you!”

324 - : The Young Adults Battle

CKtalon  CKtalon

As part of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royalty, Yang Qian was the second most important person in the Tai Ah Divine City for this alliance tournament. Yang Qian was always proud, but against someone from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom, he held back his pride and focused all his spirit and mind.

Before the battle, he had also gathered information regarding the Yun Long Divine Kingdom geniuses.

However, as the alliance tournament had happened too suddenly, and due to the large distance between the Yun Long 72 Pagodas and the Tai Ah Divine City, it was difficult to obtain detailed information of the Yun Long 72 Pagodas in such a short time. Yang Qian was also unable to use the royal family’s powers, so whatever he gathered was just general information.

The general information he gathered that dealt with the Yun Long 72 Pagodas geniuses was extremely limited. Yang Qian only knew their weapons and commonly used attacks. As for their trump cards and killer moves, Yang Qian was also not able to probe in detail.

For example, the information on Jun Yue was very little. And it was same for the fatty in front of him.

Yang Qian only knew that this fatty came from a Divine Wilderness mystic tribal clan. Anything related to the Divine Wilderness tribal clans was not simple. They had unknown blood heritage and their tribe’s mystic techniques.

For example, Kui Yu, the puppet master from before was also from a Divine Wilderness mystic tribe. But there was no doubt this fatty was much stronger than Kui Yu.

Although Yang Qian had not lost his presence in this battle, he knew that this battle would be extremely difficult.

“Let the match… begin!”

With the referee’s announcement, light circulated around Yang Qian’s body as a tiger appeared behind him. It was Yang Qian’s Aspect Totem.

“Roar!”

The tiger roared as Yang Qian rushed forward. While moving forward, his body began burning with flames.

It was pure Yang flames.

As one of the elites of the Tai Ah Divine City and as a royal house member, Yang Qian’s core cultivation technique was also the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

Compared to Yi Yun’s ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, Yang Qian’s ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was unable to conjure the Tang Valley Radiant Sun phantom image. However, with his cultivation level being at the mid-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm, the pure Yang flames burning around his body encompassed an even greater area!

“Phew–”

Slashing with his sword, the pure Yang flames flared. At the same time, the tiger behind Yang Qian charged at the fatty.

The tiger roared and swiped downwards with its sharp claws. The fatty grinned as he stretched out his right hand, and blocked the tiger’s claw attack with just his arm alone!

Courting death! Yang Qian’s expression revealed killing intent. This fatty obviously did not want his arm anymore by using it to block the Totem tiger’s sharp claws!

“Peng!”

With a powerful impact, the fatty’s body shook as he took a half step back. He pressed his feet into the purple tungsten ground, creating a deep footprint.

The cloth on his arm was torn, but his arm remained fine.

The corners of fatty’s mouth formed a grin. He had really used his arm to block the Totem tiger’s attack!

“What!?”

Yang Qian was greatly alarmed. How was this possible? The totem tiger behind him was a mutated Golden Eyed Tiger. This kind of desolate beast’s strength was immense. It could smash a tiny mountain with a swipe of its claw. It was a strength that really could smashed a mountain!

The Aspect Totem behind him may be weaker than a real mutated Golden Eyed Tiger, but its attack was not something that a Yuan Foundation realm warrior could withstand with his body.

Yang Qian believed that even Qin Haotian would not have such terrifying physical strength!

Could this be the mystic technique that belonged to the fatty’s Divine Wilderness mystic tribe?

Yang Qian may have been awed by it, but his attack was treated seriously. He slashed with his sword as the pure Yang flames flared at the fatty.

“Peng!”

The fatty clasped his two big hands together, clamping Yang Qian’s sword!

“Phew–”

Yang Qian powered the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ to an extreme. The fatty may be able to block Yang Qian’s sword, but with the pure Yang flames flaring, he could not block the burning flames.

The flames engulfed his body. The fatty’s body was covered in flames. Even his hair began to burn.

However, the fatty began roaring with laughter within the fire.

“So this is your strength. It feels like a fire during winter. It’s pretty warm. Hahaha!”

Fatty’s laughter resounded through the arena. It was like a demonic curse when it entered Yang Qian’s ears. “How is this possible? He does not feel a thing with the pure Yang flames engulfing his body?”

What sort of Divine Wilderness mystic technique was this? He could both block the mutated Golden Eyed Tiger’s sharp claws with his bare hands and laugh even while his body was engulfed in flames?

Yang Qian felt true fear. He felt that his opponent’s strength had gone far beyond his imagination.

And he did not even know what his opponent was relying on. Logic told him that it was impossible to have such a strong body, but it was happening right in front of his eyes.

Without understanding what mystic technique this fatty was relying on, Yang Qian knew that he was bound to lose. His strongest attack now couldn’t even hurt the fatty, while his opponent had not even used a weapon!

Yang Qian panicked. He used strength in both his hands and pulled his sword out from the fatty’s hands.

But fatty seemed to be invulnerable. His palms did not shed a single drop of blood.

“Tai Ah Sacred Technique: Radiant Sun Sword!”

Yang Qian’s sword swept up the flames, forming a golden Radiant Sun swirl as his sword stabbed straight at the fatty’s heart!

But the fatty only laughed. He did not dodge but instead, sent a palm towards Yang Qian!

“Cha!”

The sword pierced through the fatty’s body, but at the same time, the palm had slammed onto Yang Qian’s chest.

“Puah!”

Yang Qian felt a huge tremor in his chest as he flew backward. In the air, he spit out a mouthful of blood.

On the other hand, the fatty’s body had been pierced through, however it was like as if nothing had happened. He grinned showing the blood in his mouth.

The fatty could still laugh with a sword stabbed through his body. The scene was extremely weird. His body shook a bit before he grabbed the sword with one hand. Bit by bit, he pulled out the burning hot sword.

“Good attack, too bad…It’s useless against me!”

The fatty wiped the blood off his lips. It was as if Yang Qian’s sword had never stabbed at him.

Seeing this scene, Yang Qian, who had always been extremely proud, nearly collapsed.

How could there be such an opponent? Did he have an undying body?

Could the Divine Wilderness mystic technique be an undying body? How could an opponent with an undying body be defeated?

Yang Qian had never felt so powerless before.

…

“What’s the matter? The match has began a long time ago. What are they doing?”

In the arena, people were watching the “battle situation” on the Divine Wilderness Stage, but were confused.

After the referee declared the beginning of the match, Yang Qian and the fatty stood motionless a hundred feet apart.

The only change was a mystic mark that had appeared between the fatty’s eyebrows. The mystic mark sparkled and gave off an ancient mystic aura.

“Why are they just standing? Why aren’t they fighting?”

Some of the Tai Ah Divine City warriors asked. They were looking forward to an intense battle, but they were left scratching their heads with the actual situation.

But in the stands where the Tai Ah Divine City’s instructors and administrators sat, many of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom Human Lords had solemn expressions.

“The battle has long since begun…” A Tai Ah Divine City instructor said. His voice sounded worried, “That fatty’s move is an illusion technique. The situation is not good. Yang Qian is lost in the illusion technique.”

“Illusion technique?”

Many of the Tai Ah Divine City warriors were shocked hearing this. Attacking with illusion techniques?

There was such a move?

Some people suddenly recalled the mark between fatty’s eyebrows. Could the shimmering ancient mystic mark be the source of the illusion technique?

As they looked at Yang Qian again, his face was covered in sweat. The hand that was holding his sword was trembling slightly. It seemed like his mental condition was extremely unstable!

“This is bad!”

Although they did not know the actual situation an illusion technique duel entailed, just from Yang Qian’s condition, they knew that he could not hold on much longer.

Within the world of the illusion technique, the fatty was the absolute master. Once his opponents entered the illusion, they would fall under his control.

Whatever the fatty thought up in his mind, it would happen in the illusion. As such, in the illusion, the fatty was in an unassailable position!

“The Qianshui Family Clan really has matchless illusion techniques.” In the Elder stands, a white-robed Elder, who had the bearing of an immortal, stroked his beard and laughed happily.

“Of course. It is a pity the Qianshui family clan is so limited in numbers. In this generation, they do not have many people left. Some Divine Wilderness mystic tribes have problems with reproduction due to their blood heritage.”

Another white-robed Elder added on. These two white-robed Elders were the ones who had disparaged Yi Yun previously, and also the two that had bickered with Cang Yan.

As they spoke, the two of them glanced at Cang Yan with smiles on their faces. Cang Yan had just given Yi Yun a token, allowing him to enter the sword tomb. He had just returned and had been targeted by the two white-robed old men.

The white-robed old men purposely reminded Cang Yan, “The greatest advantage of illusion techniques is that it ignores the opponent’s movement techniques, attack moves, cultivation techniques and laws. As long as the opponent’s mental strength and Yuan Qi is lacking, then just entering the illusion would render any move meaningless.”

Cang Yan understood the thoughts behind the two. They were hinting that Yi Yun’s cultivation level was limited, and it would be difficult for him to stay clear-minded in the illusion.

Cang Yan grunted and could not be bothered to reply. He grabbed a handful of Spirit Abutilon Seeds. As he was munching on it, he was also beginning to worry. If Yao Dao could not defeat this fatty, then what would be the outcome when Yi Yun were to duel this fatty in two days?

As Cang Yan was thinking, something happened on the Divine Wilderness Stage. Yang Qian’s body suddenly quivered as his nostrils and ears bled. His face was pale and his eyes listless. It seemed like his fighting spirit had been destroyed inside the illusion!

The fatty chuckled as he leaped forward. Like a violent bear, he rushed right in front of Yang Qian and sent a forceful punch right into Yang Qian’s chest!

“Peng!”

With an explosive sound, Yang Qian’s sternum fractured. His body flew out, slamming heavily into the purple tungsten wall, immediately fainting.

Yang Qian could not withstand the double attack against his soul and body.

“Haha!” The fatty began laughing loudly. “It was so easy!”

With his illusion, the yellow-clothed fatty only used one move, other than the illusion technique, from beginning to end.

Immediately, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors in the audience erupted with cheers.

The fatty closed his eyes as he stretched out his arms to enjoy the cheers and shouting. This was his stage. This was his glory.

The fatty was intoxicated by the cheers the crowd gave him!

325 - : Qianshui Family Clan

CKtalon  CKtalon

Below the Divine Wilderness Stage, Yang Qian slowly regained consciousness under the care of a few medical personnel. He was still coughing incessantly as he weakly said, “Sorry…”

The proud Yang Qian felt ashamed at that moment. The gap in strength between him and the fatty in yellow was too great. Being unguarded against illusions, he had fallen into the fatty’s illusion, causing him to lose terribly.

Beside Yang Qian stood a young man, Yao Dao.

Yao Dao was silent. As he looked at the fatty on-stage who was enjoying the cheers of the crowd, his gaze turned grim.

The fatty was older than him, and his cultivation level was higher than his. Fighting him was very tricky!

Yao Dao was full of confidence regarding his saber techniques, but Yao Dao had never undergone training to combat in an illusionary world.

This fatty was the first illusion warrior Yao Dao had ever met.

Fighting in an illusion was completely different from actual fighting. Without experience, he was bound to suffer.

Now, Yao Dao felt like he had just mastered his saber techniques and had challenged an expert without having any combat experience.

Everything had to be discovered on his own.

“Yao Dao, just do your best.”

Yao Dao’s instructor, who was standing beside him, pat him on the shoulders.

Yao Dao nodded. Before the competition, he had never expected his opponent to turn out this way. He had originally looked forward to a stormy duel, but things did not go according to his wishes.

Yao Dao carried his saber up onto the Divine Wilderness Stage. The fatty who was across him revealed a playful smile, “Yet another one. Interesting.”

“Cut the crap. Let’s fight!”

The moment he finished saying that, Yao Dao circulated his Yuan Qi and began focusing his mind, in preparation to withstand the fatty’s illusion attack.

The fatty laughed as he slowly took out a gourd from his interspatial ring.

The gourd was small and about a foot tall. It was dark gold in color.

“Oh?”

Yao Dao focused his mind as his right hand griped his saber’s hilt tightly. The fatty did not take out a gourd when he was fighting Yang Qian.

Or could this scene of the fatty taking out the gourd be an illusion?

At that moment, Yao Dao hesitated attacking the fatty. He was afraid that he would fall into the illusion the moment he moved and end up in a pointless battle with the fatty inside of the illusionary world. If that happened, he was bound to lose!

But he could not just stand there watching. It was equivalent to letting the fatty use his mystic techniques. Yao Dao had a hunch that whatever was within the gourd was extremely dangerous. If he allowed the fatty to use it, only grim possibilities awaited him.

Upon thinking of this, Yao Dao suddenly bit the tip of his tongue. By biting his tongue, the pain would allow him to wake up.

“How can I be so timid? The battle has not even begun and I have lost my fighting spirit. How can I hesitate attacking my enemy just because I’m afraid of the illusion!?”

All these thoughts appeared in Yao Dao’s mind. He was suddenly enlightened. As a saber user, one had to foremost press forward with indomitable will. He calmed his mind and his saber Qi exploded to slice through all that was unreal!

“Die!”

Yao Dao charged forward, and with his narrow saber in hand, he slashed at the fatty.

And at that moment, the fatty pulled out the gourd’s stopper. Rainbow-colored smoke emitted from the gourd like a thin veil.

“Using the Seven Illusion Wolf Smoke against you is because I, the Fat Lord, thinks highly of you. You should be proud to lose in the Seven Illusion Wolf Smoke!”

The Seven Illusion Wolf Smoke instantly thickened, covering everyone’s vision. It formed a barrier on the stage. Everything inside could no longer be seen.

In the stands, the audience were staring widely with their eyes open, afraid to miss a single scene.

However, they could not see a thing.

The Tai Ah Divine City warriors were extremely nervous. They were worried for Yao Dao, and did not know what the outcome would be.

Yao Dao was the only person left in the Tai Ah Divine City’s young adult division. The moment he lost, their Tai Ah Divine City young adult division would suffer a terrible failure!

…

In the sword tomb, Yi Yun was sitting crossed legged. On his lap was a broken sword covered in patches of rust. This sword was the one Yi Yun had taken out from the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

Yi Yun had tried to learn the way of the sword for nearly a year. He had come up with numerous scenarios and simulations in his mind regarding the huge sword scar left in the Pure Yang Sword Palace, but up to this day, he still had a vague feeling whenever he recalled the sword scar.

It was as if there was something hiding the sword scar when he tried to recall it, preventing him from identifying it.

Today, Yi Yun was still maintaining his cross-legged posture. Subconsciously, he had entered a state of forgetting everything else. It seemed like there was a heavy mist in his mind.

Yi Yun tried hard to see through it and when the mist slowly dissipated, he saw blurry figures.

Oh? This is…

Yi Yun mind lit up. He had never seen this scene before.

Amongst the figures was a man holding a sword. He was brandishing his sword without thought and every sword beam that slashed out had the power to destroy celestial bodies and cut open the Heavens.

The scene was in complete chaos. At times it was clear, but at other times, it was blurry. Yi Yun could not see the opponent of the sword-wielding man. He only felt that the chaotic battle was earth-shattering.

At that moment, a giant appeared high in the sky.

This giant was as if he was casted out of bronze. His body was like a vast mountain, emitting a suffocating aura. It was as if he was a divine spirit that came from the Nine Heavens, a controller of the Heaven and Earth, a proud being over all existence.

He held in his hand a humongous bronze halberd. Just brandishing the halberd caused the world to fracture!

This shocking crack spread through the ground, all the way to the oceans and sky!

The oceans ripped apart as the sea water formed numerous huge whirlpools. Everything that entered the crack disappeared till the oceans was completely dried up. Following that, the sky tore apart. Eventually, a complete world had been ripped apart by the giant!

A halberd attack that could split an entire world!

Yi Yun was greatly shocked. What sort of existence was this giant?

He did not have time to think carefully as light began to distort. In the blurriness, he saw the sword-wielding man turn into a beam of light as he flew towards the bronze giant.

At that moment, the man and his sword had combined into one.

The sword beam flashed past and the man stabbed the bronze giant’s neck, almost to the point of cutting off the bronze giant’s head!

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted. This attack was too terrifying!

The giant’s strength was able to split a world apart with his halberd. Now, his head had nearly been chopped off by the man’s sword?

Next, Yi Yun seemed to hear a “ping” sound. The man’s sword had broken because of the enormous impact!

The man was left with half a broken sword in his hand. Because it had been stained by the bronze giant’s blood, it was slowly being corroded, emitting trails of green smoke.

The divine sword was originally covered in flowing light, but now the light rapidly disappeared. The sword seemed to have a life of its own as it issued out painful cries.

The bronze giant, whose head had nearly been chopped off, also let out a painful roar. He swiped his halberd towards the sword-wielding man!

The halberd flooded Yi Yun’s vision. He could only vaguely see the sword-wielding man being hit by the halberd and his body flying out. His body even flew out of this world.

And this world also shattered with the bronze giant’s second attack.

An entire corner of a world peeled off and left the world’s main body as it drifted into the endless universe…

Following that, this corner of the world experienced a long and aimless drifting through the universe…

And that broken sword was left in that world.

It had already completely lost its spiritual essence. As it was corroded by the bronze giant’s blood, its surface began to rust.

Rust kept building up and soon, this broken sword was covered in rust, and looked no different from a piece of junk metal…

From the beginning to the end, Yi Yun was like a spectator of this world. He had silently witnessed everything.

He saw the river of time flow as he saw seas change into mulberry fields…

Yi Yun did not know how long he spent in his vision. He seemed to experience numerous lifetimes that lacked any emotion, and only after leading a long and callous life did he somehow suddenly awaken.

The awoken Yi Yun was covered in cold sweat. The dreary life he experienced refreshed his memory. He felt like he had turned into a lifeless stone residing in that world, which did nothing but be a witness.

Yi Yun looked towards a wall corner. The oil lamps were still silently burning in the chamber. From the amount of oil that was consumed, he estimated that he had only spent about an hour throughout that experience.

But in the dream, Yi Yun felt like he had experienced thousands of years.

Yi Yun lowered his head as he pondered. He looked towards his knees and there laid the broken sword motionless on his lap.

The patches of rust covered the entire blade. Vaguely, Yi Yun could see a few brown spots on the broken sword. Around the spots, there was clearly more rust.

Were these spots left behind by the bronze giant’s dried up blood?

The scenes in his vision seemed to be the origins of the broken sword…

And the corner of the world that the bronze giant ripped off with his large halberd must have been the world that had drifted amongst the stars for a long period of time before crashing into this world. It was the so-called meteorite that fell into Fallen Star Gate?

Normal warriors believed that a meteorite had crashed into Fallen Star Gate, while there were reclusive family clans that thought that it was a mystic cave.

But no matter what they believed, it was not right.

It was a corner of a world that a bronze giant had cut off.

Yi Yun’s mind became clearer. He finally understood that the vision he previously saw was the memories of the sword.

A sword could also have memories?

Yi Yun lifted up the broken sword from his lap as he examined it from all angles.

No matter how he examined it, the sword was like a piece of scrap metal. It was unbelievable that before it lost its spiritual essence, it was the sword of a peerless expert that could kill gods.

Could the sword-wielding man be the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner…?

Many thoughts flashed past Yi Yun’s mind. It was hard to believe what sort of martial arts realm the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner and that bronze giant had reached.

After being hit by the bronze giant’s blow, did the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner die?

That terrible blow could ever shatter a world, and with the tens of millions of years, the odds of him still being alive were low.

If he was still alive, how could he ignore the Pure Yang Sword Palace?

It was such a pity for this peerless expert!

326 - : The Memories of the Broken Sword

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the broken sword in hand, Yi Yun injected his spiritual energy into the sword as he stood up to obtain the memories from the sword.

He began brandishing the sword slowly, as if he was immersed in that dream-like spiritual world.

The sword-wielding man’s attack that cut the bronze giant’s neck was naturally much clearer than the sword scars left in the Pure Yang Sword Palace. Yi Yun just needed to recall it as it was now a clear memory in his mind.

Looking at a sword scar to learn an attack was naturally limited. But having seen the attack personally, and having the scenes of the sword attack imprinted into his mind, it was completely different.

Yi Yun slowly entered that mysterious state again. He wandered around that dream-like world and he could faintly feel that the things he had previously not understood become clearer.

So that was how it was…

Yi Yun muttered to himself. He did not know how much time had passed when suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from outside the sword tomb.

The sound of the footsteps were very soft, but they had a rhythm to it. The interval between each step was like clockwork precision. It was the footsteps of an expert.

Cang Yan…

Yi Yun knew who the owner of the footsteps was immediately.

Yi Yun was surprised that he could hear the footsteps from inside the sword tomb. It was fascinating.

This was because the sword tomb’s door isolated the sword tomb from the exterior world once it was closed.

And not only could he hear the footsteps, he was even able to identify the owner of those footsteps.

“This kid still hasn’t come out yet.”

Outside the sword tomb, Cang Yan began talking to himself in an annoyed manner.

There were only two hours left till the beginning of the overall group match. Every time Yi Yun entered the sword tomb, he will lose track of time, requiring Cang Yan to remind him.

But, Cang Yan was afraid of disturbing Yi Yun. Warriors were most afraid of being disturbed when they were cultivating.

Just as Cang Yan was looking at the hourglass, the sword tomb’s door suddenly opened.

Yi Yun appeared by the door, “The overall group matches are beginning?”

Yi Yun was able to hear the words Cang Yan was saying to himself from inside the sword tomb.

Cang Yan was stumped for a while before saying snappily, “You sure are on time, you seemed to be in the right place to catch that. Almost everyone is at the arena now. There are still two hours left. You can still meditate and rest for a while to adjust your condition. Your opponent today is very strong, extremely strong!”

Cang Yan used two consecutive “strong” words to describe the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s overall group match opponent.

“This old man doesn’t expect you to become the champion, and I only want you to fight to show our Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s forceful stance, lest those sons-of-bitches continue being so complacent in front of me!”

Cang Yan looked pissed. He was in a bad mood after those two white-robed Elders nipped at him.

“I got it.” Yi Yun responded tersely as if his mind was still wandering. He was still immersed in gaining insight of the Sword Intent, so he could not help it.

Seeing Yi Yun not taking it at heart, Cang Yan turned despondent, “Kid, what are you thinking? The entire Tai Ah Divine City’s hopes for the overall group match are resting on your shoulders.”

“Kid, let me tell you. The Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s young adult group has several people who are very strong. If you can just beat any one of those strong ones, or win five consecutive matches, I will get the City Lord to give you a saber!”

Cang Yan felt that Yi Yun was like a rabbit who did not worry until it saw an eagle coming, so he decided to bait him with some attractive prizes.

“Saber?” Yi Yun was slightly stunned.

Cang Yan smiled mysteriously, “Don’t be deceived by the City Lord’s scholarly appearance. He actually uses a saber. And the City Lord loves to collect all sorts of treasured sabers. His personal arsenal is filled with great sabers. If you can win five consecutive matches, you can pick any saber!”

“The City Lord’s collection?”

Yi Yun was tempted. The Sonic Deathblade he was currently using was taken from the Tai Ah Divine City’s armory. Although it was a good saber, it was much worse compared to those the City Lord collected.

He already had the mysterious broken sword, and as for his saber, it was indeed normal.

If he had a good saber to help him in his battles, his combat powers would go another step further!

But…actually, the broken sword was not something that could see the light of day. Yi Yun did not dare use it easily as it was one of his absolute trump cards. Therefore, he was lacking a sword as well.

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun glanced at Cang Yan, and grinned, “About that…Senior Cang Yan, why not give me a sword too. Elder Jian Ge likes collecting swords, right?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Cang Yan’s beard went diagonal with a quirk of his lips, “Kid, you sure take a yard when given an inch! You aren’t even at the Yuan Foundation realm and you want to keep two sage-level weapons. Aren’t you afraid people will eye them!? With your current strength, you can’t even use the power of a sage-level weapon!” Cang Yan said unhappily.

But upon saying that, he changed his mind and said, “Hmph, if you win, so what if I want to give you a good sword. Don’t even talk about that old kid, Jian Ge’s collection, even if you want the sword in Jian Ge’s hands, I’ll grab it for you!”

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s honor was on the line for this battle. Although sage-level sabers and swords were precious, rewarding Yi Yun with them was not a big deal.

But Cang Yan knew that it was not easy for Yi Yun to beat any of those strong experts, or to win 5 consecutive matches!

If Yi Yun did well, the opponent will realize his outstanding strength and send an expert to end Yi Yun’s winning streak.

With Cang Yan’s guarantee, Yi Yun smiled, “Then this junior thanks Senior Cang Yan.”

Seeing Yi Yun smiling, Cang Yan rolled his eyes. This kid even thanked him. Did he really think that sword and saber were already his?

Yi Yun followed Cang Yan to the arena. The overall group matches were about to begin!

Yi Yun arrived at the participant benches. Chu Xiaoran was also there. For the Tai Ah Divine City overall group matches, only Yi Yun and Chu Xiaoran had the participating qualifications.

But not much could be expected of Chu Xiaoran’s strength. Basically, only Yi Yun could fight.

Glancing at his opponents, there were 15 people from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom!

Other than the weakest young adult team having lost and being eliminated previously, every person from the other groups were present from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom.

They still had their full lineup after the young adult group match?

Yi Yun was surprised and he asked Chu Xiaoran who was beside him, “Xiaoran, wasn’t there a young adult match before the overall group match? Our Tai Ah Divine City’s Yao Dao and Yang Qian had fought. Both of them are very strong, but they could not defeat a single person from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s question, Chu Xiaoran smiled bitterly, “The person they fought against was that fatty in yellow. He is proficient in using illusions. Yang Qian did not understand the situation and got hit with fatty’s illusions, resulting in his immediate defeat.”

“As for Yao Dao, he was in a better condition. He used his saber intent to break through the fatty’s illusions and slashed at the fatty thrice. Although the fatty had managed to dodge the slashes, preventing damage to any of his vital parts, he was still quite injured.”

“But the fatty is older than Yao Dao, and his cultivation level is higher. He used a gourd’s weird smoke, called Seven Illusion Wolf Smoke. The Wolf Smoke was very weird, it could form into an illusion barrier. Within the Seven Illusion Wolf Smoke array, Yao Dao was unable to keep his mind absolutely clear, so he was eventually defeated by the fatty.”

“Illusion?” Yi Yun thought for a while. He never expected that humans could use illusions as an attack.

It was not much different from the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s powers.

Back when Yi Yun first met the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, he had been hit by the herb’s illusion and nearly fell off a cliff.

Yao Dao was a very strong saber user. Although he was inferior to Qin Haotian, Li Xiao and company, he could not be defeated so easily. A person like Yao Dao, who faithfully trained the way of the saber, would have very strong martial arts conviction.

But even so, he still succumbed to the fatty’s illusion. From this, it was indeed true that the fatty was outstanding.

Yi Yun subconsciously looked towards the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s small groups and met the fatty’s gaze.

The fatty was leaning on a chair with his hand supporting his chin. He was looking at Yi Yun with great interest. That gaze looked like a hunter having seen his prey.

“Really interesting.”

The fatty began to laugh. Yesterday, he had met the one-armed man once again. This time, the one-armed man had offered a greater reward to get the fatty to maim Yi Yun.

The fatty was proficient in illusions, which was a spiritual mental attack. The souls of humans are very fragile, so once they get injured, they are very difficult to treat.

So whenever spiritual mental attacks were involved, it could easily hurt others, but it was also easy to have the attack reverse back at the caster.

In the illusionary world, it was not difficult to cause permanent damage to the other party’s soul.

The fatty did not care who the one-armed man was, but he was swayed by the high price the one-armed man offered. Hence, he did not mind doing so. After all, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom was a rival faction of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

“That fatty is targeting me!”

Yi Yun frowned slightly. At that moment, the fatty’s Yuan Qi voice transmission came into Yi Yun’s ears, “This Fat Lord will be the first one fighting. Have you gotten any information about this Fat Lord from the babe beside you? I recommend you to gather as much intelligence as possible, if not, in the match, you might just die without knowing why.”

Hearing the fatty’s words, Yi Yun hesitated for a while before scrunching of his eyebrows. He gave of a helpless looks. This fatty sure felt good about himself.

“I’ve asked. I heard you use illusion, I’m actually quite afraid.”

“Oh?”

The fatty frowned as he sat up straight. He stared at Yi Yun from a distance more than a hundred feet away.

He stared at Yi Yun for more than the time it takes for 10 breaths before suddenly laughing, “Newborn calves sure aren’t afraid of tigers. Who gave you this courage?”

The fatty’s cultivation level was at the peak of the mid-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm, and he was just a bit short of entering the late stages of the Yuan Foundation realm.

During the match, the fatty had to suppress his cultivation level to the early stages of the Yuan Foundation realm due to the age difference, but his illusions did not need to be suppressed. There was not much difference using illusions at the early stages of the Yuan Foundation realm.

This was also the source of the fatty’s confidence.

He was not good at actual fighting, but he could prevent enemies, who were good at actual fighting, from showcasing their strength.

This was the fatty’s ability.

Yi Yun could not be bothered with the fatty as he began meditating. As he digested the insights gained from the sword tomb, he adjusted his breathing, pushing his condition to its peak before the match began.

At that moment, the Tai Ah Divine City referee had walked up the Divine Wilderness Stage. The overall group matches had officially began!

327 - : Overall Group Match Begins

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Today is the overall group competition and it is also the last competition! The group champion will win ten seats! Tai Ah Divine City’s fighters, Yi Yun, Chu Xiaoran! Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s fighters, Bai, Feng Lin….”

On the Divine Wilderness Stage, the referee announced each and every name of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s warriors. There was a total of fifteen names and the Yun Long Divine Kingdom crowd would loudly cheer as every name was read out. As that happened, the Tai Ah Divine City’s warriors became even more solemn with every announced name.

There were just too many people left standing on the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s side for the competition.

After the referee finished announcing the names, he carried on, “Next, may the Yun Long Divine Kingdom and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warriors come up on stage!”

After the referee said that, the fatty dressed in yellow jumped up on stage from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s side.

He was holding the dark gold gourd in his hand. As he raised the gourd high up, he loudly screamed. His presence was domineering!

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom audience was riled up as they started shouting back, “Qianshui! Qianshui!”

The fatty stretched out his arms and closed both his eyes. He was enjoying the cheers and screams of the audience. As a member of the Qianshui family clan, he enjoyed the infinite glory he got from allowing his surname to reverberate within the Tai Ah Divine City’s arena.

The cheers lasted for a long time when they ended the fatty lowered his head slightly and looked at Yi Yun with a provocative smile.

“Yi Yun, I will go up first!” Chu Xiaoran said to Yi Yun. She knew that it was impossible for her to win against fatty, but at least she could share some of Yi Yun’s burden. By scouting the battle ahead, she could allow for Yi Yun to gain a better understanding of the fatty’s fighting techniques.

“There is no need. I alone will be enough for this overall group competition.”

Yi Yun’s words stunned Chu Xiaoran, “Yi Yun, you want to fight against all of them alone?”

Yi Yun said, “Actually… Not all of them will fight. Except for a few people, the rest are just there to make the numbers and can simply be ignored.”

“Eh…”

Chu Xiaoran was speechless. At that moment, Yi Yun had already reached the Divine Wilderness Stage.

“Yi Yun! Yi Yun!”

In the arena, there were also people from Tai Ah Divine City shouting for Yi Yun. Although this was the overall group competition and the hopes of the Tai Ah Divine City winning were slim they could not lose their stance, even if they lost the match. Having more people, the Tai Ah Divine City’s cries managed to drown the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s cheers.”

“It’s useless to shout with that much strength. Although Yi Yun is not bad, his abilities will be suppressed by Qianshui and he will not be able to use them at all.” a Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder said unhappily upon seeing the Tai Ah Divine City’s cheers drown out the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s cheers.

Yi Yun’s strength came from his ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ and his Saber Dao.

However, fighting against Qianshui, what mattered most was the depth of one’s Yuan Qi and the strength of one’s spiritual mind.

There were only two ways in which Yi Yun could turn the tables. Either Yi Yun’s cultivation level had to be higher than Qianshui so that he could use his thick Yuan Qi to withstand the illusion technique, or he had to have strong spiritual mental powers so that he would not be affected by the illusion technique.

And for these two conditions, the former was not even up for consideration as Yi Yun was still not at the Yuan Foundation realm, the depth of his Yuan Qi was inferior to Qianshui’s.

As for spiritual mental powers, Qianshui had cultivated the Qianshui clan’s mystic technique, which was a mystic technique that focused on training one’s spiritual mental powers. So, his spiritual mental powers were much stronger than his peers, even more so when compared to a younger Yi Yun. Why would Yi Yun, a saber user, specifically train his spiritual mental powers?

Yi Yun’s saber techniques and cultivation techniques had no effects in an illusion technique battle.

This was the reason why Qianshui was so confident in himself. No matter how peerless your saber techniques were, so what if you could conjure a Tang Valley phantom image for your ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’? Once you get lost in the illusion, none of those abilities could be used effectively.

Although Qianshui was confident, he did not underestimate Yi Yun. He took out the golden gourd from the beginning and planned to use the Seven Illusion Wolf Smoke.

“Yi Yun! You are sure to lose!”

When the referee announced the beginning of the match, the fatty immediately opened up a distance and pulled out the stopper of the golden gourd. Right after, the Seven Illusion Wolf Smoke emanated out from it. It was like a colorful cloud.

The illusion only needed an instance to activate. It was impossible to use the short time gap to attack the fatty.

“Yi Yun, preserve your mind. Do not fall under the influence of the illusion. Attack with your saber and finish off the fatty. He is not good at actual fighting, so if you were to inject the strongest combat power of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ into your attack, just one attack alone will secure your victory!”

Cang Yan’s Yuan Qi transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ear. The old man’s voice sounded anxious.

“Got it.”

Yi Yun responded tersely. He closed his eyes as his body was slowly covered by the Seven Illusion Wolf Smoke.

“If you think closing your eyes is of any use, then you are too naive!” The fatty grinned. Between his eyebrows was a glimmering ancient mystic mark. This was the Qianshui clan’s symbol and was also the source of the illusion.

Under the shimmering of the mysterious mark, the Seven Illusion Wolf Smoke completed the forming of its barrier. The Divine Wilderness Stage was completely blocked off as the fatty pushed his illusion to the extreme.

At that moment, Yi Yun still remained motionless.

The fatty did not lie. One could not withstand the Qianshui clan’s illusions even with their eyes closed.

Yi Yun saw that he had arrived in the desolate wilderness. This place looked familiar and resembled Meteorite Abyss when Yi Yun was out training in the Divine Wilderness. And right in front of Yi Yun was a huge mutated Three-Eyed Spider!

This mutated Three-Eyed Spider was staring at Yi Yun with its three red eyes. Its mouth constantly dripped with saliva while its two fangs reflected a cold beam.

“Mutated Three-Eyed Spider…This is a desolate beast I have seen before. It is also a terrifying monster that I could not defeat back then. The Qianshui clan’s illusions can dig up my memories of terrifying existences.”

Yi Yun’s spiritual mental powers and Yuan Qi were indeed weaker than the fatty’s, so he was not able to shake off the influence caused by the illusion. However, Yi Yun’s mind was clear, and he would not succumb to the illusion.

Actually, the fatty’s illusion technique had not yet reached the ultimate realm. If so, he could easily cause his opponent to be lost in the illusion, and kills in the illusion would be reflected in reality.

However, even so, the fatty’s illusion technique was still very deadly.

It was equivalent to cutting off the five senses of a warrior. Even if you knew that you were in an illusion, even if you knew everything in front of you was fake, you would not be able to do anything about it.

You would see the things in the illusion coming forth to kill you. At that moment, no matter how you resisted, you would not be able to break out of the illusion.

As for the fatty who was outside the illusion, he could attack at any time, killing him in one strike.

At that moment, Yi Yun was standing silently in the illusionary world. No matter how much the mutated Three-Eyed Spider growled, he remained motionless.

Yi Yun had opened his Purple Crystal energy vision before the fatty activated his illusion.

In the energy vision, all sorts of illusions lost their meaning. Yi Yun was able to directly see the origin of the energy flows within this world.

He clearly saw, in his energy vision, that the fatty was huddled in one corner. His energy was not strong and was weaker than Jun Yue’s.

Yi Yun even saw thread-like energies flowing from the fatty’s body. It was likely that these energies were responsible for conjuring up the illusions.

“The Qianshui clan’s illusion technique is different from the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng’s illusions, but they still have the same effect.”

Many thoughts flashed past Yi Yun’s mind. Back when he captured the primordial herb, the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng, he had used the Purple Crystal to see through its illusions, enabling him to lock onto its position.

As for the fatty’s illusion technique, it was actually slightly worse than the primordial herb’s. It was completely ineffective against Yi Yun.

Yi Yun stood there without a single motion. His right hand silently pressing over his interspatial ring.

Next, he allowed the fake mutated Three-Eyed Spider to attack at him.

Phew–

The mutated Three-Eyed Spider passed right through his body and disappeared like the wind.

Seeing Yi Yun’s reaction, the fatty laughed.

“I was pondering over the reason why you were so arrogant. So it is because you think that my illusions will be useless against you if you closed your eyes and remained motionless by not attacking or defending, letting the illusions attack you. It’s ridiculously funny! The attacks within the illusion are indeed fake, but some attacks are real!”

The fatty laughed out loud as he took out an ax from his interspatial ring. He was not afraid to let Yi Yun hear his words as Yi Yun’s five senses were being controlled by the illusion technique. Yi Yun was unable to hear a single thing.

The fatty played with his Soul Cutting Axe as he slowly walked towards Yi Yun. The ax was very short and there was an extremely hideous, ghastly face drawn on the handle.

“By falling into my illusion, you will lose your body’s ability to resist. Let me use my Soul Cutting Axe to send you on your way!”

The fatty laughed. The ax could be injected with spiritual mental energy. Although he was not good at actual fighting, he could imbue a spiritual attack into his physical attack. One attack could severely injure his opponent’s spiritual soul, making his opponent turn into a retard.

He purposely measured Yi Yun’s neck and head with the ax, as if he was choosing his angle of attack. Attacking Yi Yun now was no different than attacking a motionless straw target.

Seeing the fatty gain complete control over the situation to the point of freely choosing the angle of his attack, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors off-stage turned excited.

“Qianshui! Qianshui!”

They shouted loudly as their emotions amplified in excitement.

“Qianshui! Chop off the kid’s head!”

“Qianshui! Cut him to pieces!”

Many of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors were standing up due to their excitement. They were waving their arms. Some even drew their weapons and gestured motions that resembled the act of cutting off Yi Yun’s head.

With the Soul Cutting Axe in hand, the fatty raised both his hands to enjoy the cheers. Following that, his eyes immediately turned cold as intense killing intent appeared in his gaze towards Yi Yun.

“Kid, don’t blame this Fat Lord.”

The fatty grinned as he leaped up to charge at Yi Yun!

His fat body began moving and he looked like a bouncing ball. His speed was not very fast, but there was no need for speed as his opponent could not dodge.

The fatty rushed right in front of Yi Yun and he injected spiritual mental energy into the Soul Cutting Axe, making it emit a black light. The ghastly face on the handle began to emit wailing sounds that were like a ghost crying!

At that moment, the referee in charge of this match turned nervous. He was, after all, a Tai Ah Divine City law-enforcer, so he was worried that the fatty would heavily injure Yi Yun on purpose. He was prepared to make a move at any time to save Yi Yun. This was instructed to him by Cang Yan as Cang Yan had to guard against the fatty’s strange illusion techniques.

However, just as the referee was about to make his move, he was stunned. In his extreme focused spiritual perception, he suddenly noticed that Yi Yun’s body was circulating immense amounts of Yuan Qi. It was as if a calm pool of spring water had suddenly transformed into a violent vortex!

At that instant, the Soul Cutting Axe’s black light seemed to stall. The originally motionless Yi Yun reflected in the fatty’s eyes suddenly opened both his eyes.

Yi Yun’s gaze contained a hint of sneer and sinister playfulness.

What!?

The fatty’s grin immediately froze. He was like a mortal who was sneaking up on a tiger and, when he raised his metal fork, the tiger suddenly woke up.

Yi Yun’s right hand, which had been constantly pressing on his interspatial ring, suddenly sprang up and in his hand appeared a cold metallic brick.

Everything happened in a split second!

Yi Yun suddenly took a step forward and with his Yuan Qi exploding, the pure Yang Qi from the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was injected into the brick. The pure Yang flames burned as the brick came crashing down at the fatty’s head.

The fatty momentarily went into a daze. Although he was not good at actually fighting, as long as he was mentally prepared, he could dodge, but… Yi Yun’s sudden attack had exceeded all his expectations and understandings. This resulted in Yi Yun’s attack completing about half its trajectory before the fatty suddenly woke up from his daze to retreat.

However, it was already too late!

How could the fatty’s speed compare with Yi Yun’s?

Yi Yun quickly caught up and, like a maggot that could not be shaken, the brick hit the fatty’s oily forehead!

“Peng!”

A thud boomed out and people heard the unmistakable crack of a skull fracture. The fatty’s body bounced off as if it was a ball that had impacted a wall. He then flew out tens of meters before heavily crashing into a purple tungsten wall.

“Boom!”

Like the sound of a dead pig crashing down from a high height, the fatty’s body was like a large pancake that slapped onto the wall. After a few seconds, his body slowly slid down to the ground.

Left behind on the purple tungsten wall were gruesome blood stains. The fatty’s face was covered in blood with his eyes staring wide open. His expression was that of seeing a ghost.

Yi Yun’s attack had been too sudden. The final explosive attack at the last moment was Fast! Accurate! Ruthless! It did not give the fatty any chance of dodging.

Around the Divine Wilderness Stage, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom audience were like roosters who had their necks squeezed. The cheering stopped as the cacophony of voices turned into a complete silence that resembled that of a graveyard. All of this happened in a second.

They were still maintaining their standing positions with their arms high up in the air. Their expressions were that of excitement as if they were waiting to see the mayhem that was to occur. All of that had been frozen on their faces. However, the mayhem that happened did not befall on Yi Yun, but instead, it befell the unlucky fatty.

A group of people seemed to turn into a row of standing zombies. They were silent, stiff and twisting.

The reversal had happened too fast. They had yet to understood what had actually happened.

This included the Tai Ah Divine City’s warriors who were also confounded. They did not understand how Yi Yun had won. Was the fatty’s illusion useless against Yi Yun? Even Yao Dao could not break through the illusions, so how was Yi Yun able to do so?

328 - : Yi Yun vs Qianshui

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun, are you alright…?” Chu Xiaoran worriedly asked as Yi Yun came off the stage, but she quickly realized that her question made no sense.

Yi Yun looked as if he couldn’t be any better. In fact, it looked like he never took part in a huge battle. He had casually loosened his muscles, warming up his body before casually defeating the fatty.

Thinking back to the battle process, Yi Yun had won far too easily. From beginning to end, he had only stepped forward once and attacked once. Besides, the weapon he used wasn’t even his saber…

If one ignored the time it took for the fatty to prepare his Seven Illusion Wolf Smoke and illusion technique to bewitch Yi Yun, then it took them less than the blink of an eye to exchange blows. This was definitely the fastest Yi Yun had ever taken care of an opponent.

Chu Xiaoran did not really know what to say.

This fatty was not some nobody. He was from the Qianshui clan and this mysterious family clan’s mystic technique was dreaded by countless numbers of people. In the Yun Long 72 Pagodas, this fatty should be ranked in the top 3. He had defeated Yao Dao and Yang Qian, but against Yi Yun, this fatty had suddenly transformed into a straw sack. If Chu Xiaoran had not seen the match between Yao Dao and the fatty with her own eyes, she would have never have believed that the fatty was a top expert.

In the Elder stands, Cang Yan was stroking his chin and he was also very alarmed.

“Could this kid have specially trained his spiritual mental powers?”

Originally, he did not have any hope in Yi Yun truly defeating the fatty, because he could not conceive how Yi Yun could win. It was only because Yi Yun often surprised him pleasantly that he hoped that there would be a pleasant surprise this time. This was the unconditional trust and anticipation he had in Yi Yun.

However, not only did Yi Yun give him a pleasant surprise, it was such a ridiculously pleasant surprise that it made it hard for Cang Yan to believe it.

Though, now was not time to question Yi Yun in detail. Cang Yan stroked his chin as he suddenly recalled something. He turned his head and looked at the Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elders with great interest.

As expected, Cang Yan saw the two white-robed Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elders look like their dear sons just died. Their expressions were extremely ugly.

This made Cang Yan overjoyed. His current feelings could be described in one word: “awesome”.

“Feng Lin, what are you doing!?”

One of the white-robed Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder was fuming with anger. Especially after seeing Cang Yan’s sardonic, wretched and arrogant smile, he was so angry that even his liver ached.

Letting go of the fact that Yi Yun won the teenager group competition, now he also flaunted himself in the overall group competition. Many of the Elders could not bear it any more!

“Elder Bai Yu, I do not know what happened either. Qianshui’s illusions seem to be ineffective against Yi Yun.” Said a girl, in a palatial attire, from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s participant benches. She was the leader of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s participants.

When they first reached the Tai Ah Divine City, this girl and the fatty in yellow had stood in the airship, looking down at all of the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators. Back then, the fatty was commenting on others while being highly spirited and vigorous.

Unexpectedly, when the real battle happened, he was nearly beaten into a retard by a fourteen year old kid with a brick.

Feng Lin found it fascinating. Even when she fought the fatty, she had to be extremely careful. She had to use the accumulation of her family heritage’s “Clear Minded Curse”, the fact that her cultivation level was higher than the fatty’s and the experience that she gained from fighting warriors with illusion techniques to barely beat him.

Yi Yun had nothing. How did he win?

“No matter what the reason is. I absolutely do not wish to see a loss in the next battle!” Elder Bai Yiu said unhappily.

Feng Lin took a deep breath and said, “Do not worry, Elder Bai Yu.”

While Feng Lin was conversing with Bai Yu, the Tai Ah Divine City warriors in the arena were filled with high emotions!

Yi Yun’s brick really allowed them to vent their frustration!

When they saw the fatty’s various forms of arrogance earlier, the Tai Ah Divine City warriors had to suppress their anger, wishing they could go up and step on his fat face.

However, everyone knew that the fatty was very strong. He even defeated Yao Dao. Even Yi Yun would find it difficult, what more them.

They never expected to see the fatty jump up and down on the stage, acting smug and all, only to later be bricked down by Yi Yun. What else could be more exhilarating than that?

Therefore, the Tai Ah Divine City warriors now only wished that they could rush up to the Divine Wilderness Stage and toss Yi Yun up into the air.

In this state of excitement, the Tai Ah Divine City warriors cheers went on without any signs of abating for just a bit under 15 minutes.

Only when the referee went on stage did they slowly quieten down.

“Next match, Yun Long Divine Kingdom, who is fighting?”

The referee did not bother asking Yi Yun as Yi Yun was already standing in the middle of the Divine Wilderness Stage.

Seeing Yi Yun’s calm expression while standing on the stage, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors did not look too good.

“This kid must have some method of breaking through illusions. Senior Brother Qianshui isn’t good at fighting. Furthermore, Yi Yun took him by surprise and made him suffer. He might not have that much of an ability, I’ll go up and finish him!” A youth dressed in a red shirt said just as he was about to jump up on the Divine Wilderness Stage.

However, just as he jumped, he was pulled straight back by Feng Lin.

“Shut up!” Feng Lin suddenly boomed.

“Senior Sister, I…” The youth in red was left dazed by Feng Lin’s berating.

“Do you think we haven’t lost enough face? You really think Yi Yun is weak? Or do you think that you can squash him just because he’s young? Do not forget that you need to suppress your cultivation level. Back then, even Jun Yue lost!”

Feng Lin’s words left the youth in red speechless.

His strength was only ranked above average in this group of people, so he naturally did not dare to refute Feng Lin.

As the leader, Feng Lin had the right to decide who was to go up on stage. Feng Lin was originally considering letting their 4th or 5th rank person battle Yi Yun as they wouldn’t fight too poorly.

However, now, with Elder Bai Yu’s authoritative command, Feng Lin was thinking of going up herself.

This match had to finish Yi Yun off. For even if they won after letting Yi Yun go through a series of battles alone, it would be too shameful.

Before Feng Lin went on stage, she subconsciously looked at the corner of the participant benches. A pale faced youth in black sat there. His hair covered his eyes. Even when the fatty was defeated by Yi Yun, he never seemed to have any reaction.

Feng Lin took a light breath of air before she walked straight up on stage.

“I’ll fight you!”

“Oh?” Yi Yun’s heart thumped. In the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, Yi Yun had sensed that this girl in palatial attire had surging energy.

“This girl’s strength… is very strong!”

Yi Yun knew that he had easily defeated the fatty because he used trickery, thanks to the Purple Crystal.

Unfortunately, the fatty’s abilities were completely countered by Yi Yun. Furthermore, Yi Yun had purposely given the fatty the false impression of “I’ve fallen into your illusion, you can attack me now”, luring him to come closer to him. And in the moment that the fatty thought he had already won, Yi Yun beat him with one strike.

This fatty had really been badly cheated by Yi Yun.

The battle was won easily, but Yi Yun would not look down on the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors because of it.

Amongst the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors, there were people who were extremely frightening, so much that Yi Yun did not have complete confidence against them.

For example, the girl in palatial attire was not an ordinary person.

Against this girl, Yi Yun immediately retrieved his Sonic Deathblade.

329 - : Feng Lin

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun, I never expected that in my trip to the Tai Ah Divine City, my first battle would be against you, a fourteen year old child.”

Feng Lin looked at Yi Yun as she slowly took her palatial gown off.

Feng Lin’s body was slender and she was an elite of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom. Although she wore a tight combat attire under her palatial gown and wasn’t revealing anything provocative, the blood of the hot-blooded teenagers present started pulsating through their veins upon seeing the stripping scene.

Some of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s youths even started cheering loudly, shouting out Feng Lin’s name.

Feng Lin was very popular in the Yun Long 72 Pagodas. She was the object of admiration for many of the male cultivators.

Feng Lin was different from Fatty Qianshui as she did not have the slightest reaction to the cheers. She was only looking at Yi Yun. At that moment, Feng Lin had already appeared in her combat attire that clung closely to her body, perfectly showcasing her relatively well-developed mature figure.

She slowly took out a broad and tall, ice-blue metal box from her interspatial ring.

There was a slender, foot-long sword hilt on the top of the ice-blue metal box.

It was a sword case.

The sword case was wider than Feng Lin’s waist and it almost looked like a door. It did not match Feng Lin’s figure.

Yi Yun looked carefully at the weapon, “Truly… an exotic weapon, but… you seem to be older than me by only a few years.”

Yi Yun found it amusing. This bunch of elites liked to act older than they were. Just because they were a few years older, they would label others as children. However, it was likely that, as the leader of these people, this young girl was used to being a young leader and considered herself mature.

“My sword, is actually not exotic…”

As Feng Lin said that, she lightly pressed on the sword hilt as if activating a mechanism. With a soft “Ka” sound, the sword case opened and numerous small sword cases popped out of the main sword case as they split into two sides.

There were a total of 18 sword cases and they formed into a semicircle, like a peacock’s tail. Every sword case had a sword hilt to it.

“Oh? This is…”

Yi Yun looked at the ice-blue, fan-shaped sword cases. These weapons seemed very gaudy.

A single person using 18 swords? Why did the people from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom like to use so many swords?

Feng Lin smiled, “My swords are different…”

As she said that, she gently pulled out a sword. This sword case was made of an unknown metal which was ice-blue in color, and so was the sword itself. The sword was about four feet long and the blade was not more than three fingers wide. On the blade, there were blue lines resembling ice cracks, making it extremely beautiful.

Feng Lin said, “Usually when I fight others, using up to my fourth sword will be enough. Today, I have to suppress my cultivation level to the early stage of the Yuan Foundation realm while fighting you. I wonder how many swords I will need? I might even need to use all of them.”

As Feng Lin said that, her figure moved, and an unbelievable scene occurred. Behind Feng Lin, water vapor started concealing her, causing her figure to turn blurry, as if she was conjuring many phantom images.

After that, those phantom images suddenly turned into real bodies as they walked out one by one from behind Feng Lin. These girls were identical to Feng Lin, as if she was part of multiple births.

“Huh!?”

Yi Yun was shocked. What sort of cultivation technique was this? Cloning technique?

A person could suddenly split into so many people?

Yi Yun knew that these were not after-images formed from extreme speed but actual bodies!

Every Feng Lin was identical in terms of clothes and dressing. They all came before a fan-shaped sword case and pulled out a sword.

In a split moment, there were 9 Feng Lins standing in front of Yi Yun, each with a sword in hand.

“For this battle, let’s begin with 9 swords!”

The 9 Feng Lins held up their swords and a row of flashes from the ice-blue swords’ ice fragment cracks was reflected, creating a dazzling scene.

“Yi Yun, this is a water-elemental mirror-image.” Cang Yan’s Yuan Qi transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ear.

“Oh? Water-elemental mirror image?” Yi Yun was shocked. The water-elemental laws of the five elemental laws, was a law that had multiple transformations. Different warriors would end up with completely different insights when they tried to understand the water-elemental laws.

For example, Feng Lin was currently manipulating the mirror-like properties of water.

Others would use the water-elemental healing properties, the water-elemental defensive properties, water-elemental attacks or water-elemental elixir refinement.

Every realm, when completely understood, could give rise to a top expert, or a talent many factions would woo to fill a support role.

At that moment, the 9 Feng Lins formed a circle, enclosing Yi Yun in the center.

Yi Yun knew exactly which one that was Feng Lin’s actual body, but identifying which one did not have much meaning to it. The water-elemental mirror images were not used to confuse the enemy but they were used to kill.

“Jade Maiden Nine Swords Array!”

All nine Feng Lins moved together! Their motions were uniform as four swords stabbed at Yi Yun’s head. Yi Yun brandished his saber, warding off the four swords. However, at that moment, from between the bodies of those four girls came another 4 sword attacks that stabbed forward like venomous snakes!

The other four girls were behind the initial four girls. They coordinated their attacks and their sword techniques were extremely precise!

Yi Yun had not yet recovered from brandishing his saber, so he was unable to do anything but use his Minute Subtlety movement technique to dodge to the side, surviving the second round of attacks.

However, at that moment, another Feng Lin came attacking out from thin air.

This Feng Lin was the real Feng Lin!

“Autumn Waters of a Sword!” (Autumn Waters is used to describe the limpid eyes of a maiden, coinciding with the concept of a Jade Maiden.)

Feng Lin’s sword slashed out. In the sky, her Yuan Qi formed into the phantom image of rippling autumn waters with the setting Sun shining as the sky darkened in the golden lit sparkling autumn lakes. It was extremely beautiful.

This sword’s beautiful scene was intoxicating, but Yi Yun knew that behind the beautiful scene, there was deadly killing intent!

Yi Yun gathered an amount of Yuan Qi as the phantom image of a saber mountain in the midst of a sea of blood appeared behind him, as if Ashura hell had entered the human realm. This phantom image was in deep contrast with Feng Lin’s Autumn Water Sword image.

Saber Truth’s 32 Words – Killing At Its Core!

Yi Yun’s killing intent exploded as his saber beam was stained blood-red. Red Yuan Qi gushed out, breaking the Autumn Water Sunset in front of him apart!

“Clang!”

The saber and sword clashed, issuing a clear ring!

The strong impact made both Feng Lin and Yi Yun retreat backward. With a thought, Feng Lin used her Jade Maiden 12 Swords!

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Another 3 female figures flew out and, with a chime from the sword cases, 3 swords flew out and entered into the hands of the 3 girls!

These 3 girls attacked at Yi Yun, sending another 3 swords stabbing right at Yi Yun’s face!

At that moment, Yi Yun held his saber back. Seeing the nonstop attacks from the water-elemental mirror images, Yi Yun’s eyes were filling with killing intent. He bit the tip of his tongue as he gathered Yuan Qi.

Tai Ah Sacred Technique!

Boom!

Yi Yun’s Radiant Sun Qi exploded and behind him, the phantom image of the Tang Valley formed.

Yi Yun slashed with his saber, which now contained the Radiant Sun’s power.

The Saber Truth’s 32 Words – Reigning Supreme!

The flames burned as the pure Yang Yuan Qi surged. The sky above the arena was immediately dyed golden by the pure Yang flames, as if a Sun had fallen into the human realm!

“Peng! Peng! Peng!”

The 3 closest girls exploded in front of the Radiant Sun, turning into water vapor. Under the pure Yang flames, they instantly evaporated.

Three swords fell to the ground.

With his attack succeeding, without pause, he and his saber flew out in a beam. His target was the fan shaped sword case that was erected on the ground!

He could tell that the core of Feng Lin’s Jade Maiden Sword Array was the large sword case, so Yi Yun wanted to destroy the sword case’s power!

Seeing Yi Yun’s actions, Feng Lin grunted coldly!

Jade Maiden Sword Array – Ten Thousand Swords Firing in Unity!

In that instant, Feng Lin’s sword case shot out ten thousand beams of golden light. Each golden beam was a beam made out of Sword Qi!

The remaining 6 swords issued a clear ring as they left the scabbard and directly flew towards Yi Yun!

The six swords flew together with 10,000 sword beams!

Yi Yun constricted his pupils and quickly retreated!

There was no way to dodge such a dense amount of sword beams. As Yi Yun retreated, he brandished his saber to break the attack.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

The saber beam directly clashed with the sword beams while Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi was constantly punctured by the swords!

At that moment, Feng Lin’s main body attacked Yi Yun from behind.

Jade Maiden 18 Swords!

Feng Lin circulated her Yuan Qi to an extreme as 18 mirror images simultaneously appeared. Even the 3 mirror images that had previously been destroyed by Yi Yun’s Radiant Sun Qi were once again recreated. As long as Feng Lin had any Yuan Qi left, she would be able to constantly create new mirror images!

Out of the 18 Feng Lins, 12 of them wielded swords while the other 6 were using their fingers as swords. A cold beam emerged out from their slender fingers that were no different from swords!

The 10,000 sword beams, together with the 18 Feng Lins, attacked Yi Yun from the front and the back!

At that moment, everyone in the audience were highly focused on the match as they held their breaths!

Yi Yun had no way of dodging. He sent his thoughts to the Purple Crystal, and activated the pure Yang spirit’s energy. Immediately, all the pure Yang Qi around him rushed towards Yi Yun.

Pure Yang spirit, explode!

“Boom!”

In the Purple Crystal, what was a quietly burning pure Yang spirit now completely exploded. It was as if a Sun was born inside Yi Yun’s body. By using the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, Yi Yun was able to attack in all directions! Even the phantom image of the Tang Valley behind Yi Yun exploded.

The flames burned, repelling Feng Lin’s 17 mirror images and completely shattering the 10,000 sword beams.

Even so, Feng Lin’s main body broke through the pure Yang burning flames, but her sword’s momentum was greatly reduced.

The main body’s sword flew directly at Yi Yun’s heart!

“Cha!”

The sword Qi stabbed through Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi, heavily impacting the pure Yang energy. Yi Yun flew backward, like a kite, flying diagonally out of the Divine Wilderness Stage.

Feng Lin’s attack had lost all of its momentum, so she was still unable to hurt Yi Yun at all.

Yi Yun pressed his chest lightly as he adjusted his breathing and his Yuan Qi as he looked up at Feng Lin.

At that moment, Feng Lin’s long hair was a mess. There were many tears on her clothes. Even with the protection of her protective Yuan Qi, her combat attire could not withstand the powerful saber Qi.

And behind her, the 17 mirror images had completely exploded into a pool of water.

Yi Yun’s attack was powered by the pure Yang spirit’s energy. He may have expended quite a bit of energy, but he finally managed to break Feng Lin’s Jade Maiden 18 Swords Array.

Around the Divine Wilderness Stage, the audience stared on in silence as the battle was so intense.

In comparison, the battles before were similarly intense, but they were, after all, only sword and saber attacks. There was plenty of aggression and blood, but they were not as magnificent as this.

They were unlike this battle. The gorgeous lights and the picturesque phenomenon formed in the sky was a feast for their eyes.

Autumn Waters is used to describe the limpid eyes of a maiden, coinciding with the concept of a Jade Maiden.

330 - : Jade Maiden 18 Swords

CKtalon  CKtalon

The audience around the Divine Wilderness Stage were staring unblinkingly at the stage, afraid to miss any of the exciting scenes. The atmosphere in the entire arena seemed to freeze.

Especially the Tai Ah Divine City warriors, who were even more nervous. At that moment, only Yi Yun could fight for their Tai Ah Divine City.

And until now, the battle between Yi Yun and Feng Lin was a close call. It was hard to predict what the outcome of the battle would be.

“You really are impressive!” Feng Lin looked at Yi Yun and showed some appreciation of him, “Unfortunately… your cultivation level limits you, dooming you to fail in this battle!”

Before Yi Yun could respond to Feng Lin’s speech, the Tai Ah Divine City warriors off-stage immediately roused up, “This Feng Lin sure can brag. Wasn’t her eighteen chicks array or whatever broken by Yi Yun!?”

“Right, she couldn’t even beat him with eighteen people. What’s she so cocky about!?”

As Yi Yun had created a series of victories previously, many Tai Ah Divine City warriors had absolute confidence in Yi Yun. Although the outcome of the battle was currently not clear, they still hoped that Yi Yun would be able to create a miracle at the very last moment.

Some of the Tai Ah Divine City warriors were already standing up, jeering at Feng Lin. However, Feng Lin was not affected by it and simply turned a deaf ear.

Feng Lin continued, “Yi Yun, the accomplishments in your saber techniques is shocking. As for your understanding of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, it far exceeds your peers. Unfortunately, your cultivation level has not broken into the Yuan Foundation realm, so you are lacking in Yuan Qi. Your struggle in gathering Yuan Qi could be seen when you were dealing with my Jade Maiden 18 Swords Array.”

Feng Lin’s words pointed Yi Yun’s weakness out in the previous round. When Feng Lin attacked with 18 people, there was no gap in her offense, and the attack was like a relentless rain.

Yi Yun could handle the first wave of attacks, but the second wave would follow closely behind!

This meant that Yi Yun had no choice but to forcefully gather his Yuan Qi. This created extreme pressure on his body and meridians.

If Yi Yun was in the Yuan Foundation realm, the depth of his Yuan Qi would prevent that from happening.

Even the Tai Ah Divine City warriors had to admit that what Feng Lin said was true.

But so what if it was the truth, Yi Yun might still have hidden moves. At the final critical moment, he could conquer and secure victory!

In the audience stands, there were Tai Ah Divine City warriors beginning to shout words of encouragement to Yi Yun.

However, at that moment, Feng Lin grabbed the sword handle on the opened up sword case with a single hand.

“Oh? Could it be…”

Yi Yun’s heart thumped. After Feng Lin’s sword case was opened, there were 9 swords on both sides of it. All the hilts were pointing upwards, like that of an opened peacock’s tail.

However, the fact of the matter was that right in the middle of the sword case was another sword hilt. Yi Yun had previously thought that the sword hilt was the handle to the sword case, but it did not seem so anymore.

“Clang!”

With a clear ring, Feng Lin pulled out a huge sword from the top of the sword case!

The sword’s blade was 156 cm long, it was as wide as a palm, which meant that it was much larger than the other eighteen swords.

This heavy sword was more suited for a stout man. It looked quite jarring to see Feng Lin holding it.

“This nineteenth sword’s name is the Angel Sword, and it is also my last sword…” Feng Lin said as she threw the sword into the air.

And at that moment, Feng Lin’s body began glowing, as if countless pieces of silver was shimmering.

In this light, a light entity in the shape of a young girl appeared from within her. Her arms were covering her chest and her body was curled up. And on her back was a pair of wings.

“Pa!”

The girl spread out her wings and they spanned nearly three meters, covering Feng Lin completely.

The girl stood up from the light. She seemed to have hatched out from a cocoon. Finally, the “Angel Sword” floated in front of the girl.

She slowly grabbed the Angel Sword and pointed it at Yi Yun!

This winged girl was more than two meters in height. The huge sword suited her very well!

“Aspect Totem?”

Yi Yun constricted his pupils. From the beginning of the battle till now, Feng Lin had not conjured her Aspect Totem. Yi Yun never expected that Feng Lin’s Aspect Totem was the shape of a girl. Looking at the girl, besides the wings behind her back, she looked identical to Feng Lin.

“Phew! Phew! Phew!”

With a soft sound, water-elemental mirror images began appearing beside Feng Lin!

A row of Feng Lins stood. And in the air, there was a winged girl totem.

“Nineteen swords!”

Seeing Feng Lin’s Aspect Totem and her forceful stance, all the Tai Ah Divine City warriors who had previously cursed at Feng Lin immediately shut up.

Against such a Feng Lin, they too began to lack confidence.

“There’s such an Aspect Totem?”

The Tai Ah Divine City warriors looked at each other. Amongst the Aspect Totems, they had seen beast-like ones the most. They had also seen Aspect Totems in the shape of weapons, such as sabers, swords, spears, and halberds.

However, it was very rare to see a humanoid Aspect Totem.

For a person’s Aspect Totem to resemble themselves identically, and with another pair of wings was shocking. It was like the mythical legends of gods!

The winged girl had a listless expression. She seemed to ignore everything, including Yi Yun.

Her wings were gently flapping as a layer of hazy light covered her. The sword in her hand shone a cold beam that threatened one’s soul!

“Yi Yun, he…” Wen Yu, Chu Xiaoran, and company, who were sitting in the participant benches, could not help but be worried. One could tell a warrior’s strength from their forceful stance.

The current Feng Lin was as such.

The Tai Ah Divine City warriors were all silent. Those who were standing up began to sit back into their seats as they looked nervously at Yi Yun.

And opposing the Tai Ah Divine City audience was the Yun Long Divine Kingdom audience who started cheering. Many of them had never gotten the opportunity to see Feng Lin display her ultimate combat power.

In such a state, Feng Lin gave off the feeling of a fairy landing in the human realm.

“Breaking my Jade Maiden mirror-images was useless too. My Yuan Qi is thicker than yours. I can conjure an endless number of Jade Maiden mirror-images. As for your Yuan Qi, can you sustain it?”

Feng Lin’s cold voice rang as she pointed the icy marked sword at Yi Yun.

A total of nineteen swords uniformly did the same!

Yi Yun’s face turned serious at being pointed at by nineteen swords.

Feng Lin was indeed very strong. Yi Yun knew very clearly that with the powers that he had displayed, it was impossible to defeat Feng Lin.

Yi Yun was even considering if he should conjure his Aspect Totem.

At this stage, Yi Yun could no longer hide the fact that he had conjured a Golden Crow totem.

If he needed to explain to Cang Yan and company, it might be complicated, but it wasn’t like he was unable to explain it away. As long as he retold the story of how he encountered a Golden Crow species fighting a pure Yang spirit in Fallen Star Gate and then used the protective charm Su Jie had given him, then he could explain how he killed the Golden Crow species. It was reasonable. The only thing that was incredulous was how he had managed to master the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’.

Yi Yun’s Aspect Totem may be powerful, but it had a problem, that was it expended too much Yuan Qi!

Feng Lin was right. Yi Yun’s cultivation level was his weakness.

Yi Yun estimated that using his lacking Yuan Qi to support his Golden Crow totem only allowed him to use about one to two attacks.

After conjuring the Golden Crow totem, even if he defeated Feng Lin, Yi Yun would likely take days to recover his Yuan Qi.

But, this overall group competition was one where his opponents would fight him one by one.

Later on, Yi Yun still had to face the other opponents from the Yun Long 72 Pagodas, especially the youth in black. That youth’s strength was extremely mysterious that made him worry.

In an extremely weak condition, it would be difficult for him to carry on fighting against the youth in black.

Yi Yun realized that it was extremely hard for him to win the overall group championship alone…

Regardless, he had to do the best he could. Everything else was left to providence.

“Yi Yun, now I will combine all my nineteen swords together. Let me warn you that, due to my present cultivation level and also it being recently learned, I am unable to control the strength of this move well once it is used. It might cost you your life. As a genius, there is no need to risk your life for an alliance tournament. It’s still not too late to admit defeat now!”

With a sword in hand, Feng Lin looked elegant with her hair fluttering in the gentle wind!

Yi Yun looked at Feng Lin and took a deep breath. He touched his interspatial ring and a purple sword appeared in Yi Yun’s hand.

Sword!?

Everyone in the audience was stunned seeing Yi Yun take out a sword. Wasn’t Yi Yun a saber user? Why did he pull out a sword?

Yi Yun looked at the purple sword. Its blade was four feet long and emitted a cold shimmer.

Cang Yan had taken Yi Yun to the Tai Ah Divine City armory to choose this sword. It was one of the highest quality swords prepared for cultivators in the armory.

Its name was Distinguished Light. Even experts like Qin Haotian was unable to use the sword to its greatest capability.

“Indeed…” Yi Yun gently touched the sword blade and seemed to be speaking to himself. “There are some moves whose power is difficult to control. Although it is not a life and death match, it might still cause death. After all, in a final confrontation, when going all out, one cannot guarantee how much strength is used when using a move that you have not perfectly grasped…”

“You may have one, but so have I…” When Yi Yun said these words, the entire audience went into silence.

What did Yi Yun just say? “But so have I?”

By saying that, didn’t he mean that he too had a move that he found it hard to control, that might even take the life of Feng Lin!?

Feng Lin was so strong, yet Yi Yun could actually take her life?

Could it be related to this sword?

Is that really true?

Yi Yun had always used a saber, so this made people find it hard to believe that he could have a more powerful move using a sword. After all, since ancient times, warriors would usually specialize in one weapon. In the history they knew, it was extremely rare for a person to train in both sword and saber!

“You have used a sword before?” Feng Lin’s eyebrows frowned slightly as she looked suspiciously at Yi Yun. Before, she had some information on Yi Yun. In the Tai Ah Divine City, his weapon had always been a long saber.

“I’ve never used it in the past, but now I have to use it. I have a vague understanding of this sword attack. I too am not confident I can use this attack to its full extent. And you will be my first opponent to face my sword attack!”

After Yi Yun said this, Feng Lin’s eyebrows knitted even closer.

331 - : The Sword Appears

CKtalon  CKtalon

“A sword attack you just learned?”

If not for Yi Yun previously beating the strong Jun Yue, using some unknown technique to defeat Qianshui through trickery, and having a remarkable battle record, Feng Lin would have suspected that Yi Yun had a mental problem. He was actually going to use a sword attack that he recently learned to attack her with all he got when he had never even used a sword before.

“In the Tai Ah Divine City, there is a sacred ground for learning saber and swords. I had the privilege of entering the sacred ground of swords and gained some insight.” Yi Yun gave a vague explanation. Feng Lin was stunned upon hearing this. There was a sacred ground for learning the way of the saber and sword in the Tai Ah Divine City?

“What sacred ground of sabers and swords? It’s just the saber tomb and the sword tomb!” At that moment, a Yun Long 72 Pagodas Elder transmitted his voice, using Yuan Qi, right into Feng Lin’s ear.

This old man knew that the Tai Ah Divine City had two mystic grounds, named the saber tomb and the sword tomb.

Both of the tombs were treated as an absolute treasure by the Tai Ah Divine City. And this bunch of Tai Ah Divine City fellows guarded this place very carefully, believing that it was a remnant of a Great Emperor expert, calling it a sacred ground for swordsmen and saber users, despite not even being able to verify the tombs’ history.

However, to the Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elders, this was all just intentional idealizing and bragging. Although they had never seen the sword and saber tomb, they knew that, over many years in the Tai Ah Divine City, many sages would constantly enter the tombs to gain insight into the sword and saber Dao, but weren’t the sages that grasped something from the tombs still considered a bunch of weak trash?

In every generation of the Tai Ah Divine City, only the City Lord was worrisome.

Even if the tombs’ grade was as described by the Tai Ah Divine City, taking 10,000 steps back, so what if it really was a remnant of a Great Emperor?

As people studied the sword tomb for tens of millions of years with no obvious results, how could a young junior, like Yi Yun, go in and come out with the ability to flip the heavens?

“Lin’er, this kid is just bluffing. Saying that his uncontrollable power will hurt you is just psychological warfare. If any sword move can be learned from the sword tomb, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom would long since have exceeded the Yun Long Divine Kingdom. Would they then have gone around asking for help just just because of the fear of a Shepherd Boy?”

“You do not need to bother with it. Just go all out. Even if you kill Yi Yun, it is what he deserves. With us around you can rest assured. We are on the side of reason, so the Tai Ah Divine City will not dare to do anything to you.”

The white-robed Elder who had transmitted his voice was half a teacher of Feng Lin. Feng Lin’s water-elemental laws were all learned from this white-robed Elder.

“Lin’er understands. No matter how good Yi Yun’s sword techniques are, I will do my best to use my sword attack.”

Feng Lin did not despise Yi Yun. Her powerful stance was continuously rising. It was as if she had become a Jade Maiden mountain that could not be looked at.

In the Elder stands, Cang Yan’s fingers were rapping on the table. His thin palm was oozing with sweat.

What is this kid doing. Does he really want to use a move he just learned from the sword tomb to face Feng Lin?

“Cang Yan, Yi Yun was learning the ways of the sword in the sword tomb?”

At that moment, the stern voice of the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord rang in Cang Yan’s ear.

Cang Yan felt bitter. It was him who had brought Yi Yun into the tomb to learn the ways of the sword.

He bit down and said, “Yes, this kid had adamantly requested to enter the sword tomb a few days ago. Old me was originally thinking of bringing him down a peg or two and set some conditions, bringing him into the sword tomb, who knew that he would…”

“A few days ago… bringing him down a peg or two…” The middle-aged scholar repeated those words a few times. It was unknown what he was thinking.

Cang Yan was helpless. Yi Yun had a bright future ahead of him with sabers, yet he wanted to learn swords. He really was someone that made one worry.

And at that moment, Cang Yan had no time to explain any further. The 18 Feng Lins as well as Feng Lin’s Aspect Totem raised their swords.

The sword beams were intertwined as they filled the sky. Seen from a distance, it was like an immense ocean. This ocean was a vast expanse of misty, shimmering, rolling waters.

The ocean was filled with a vast amounts of water.

People held their breaths. From the beginning of this match, Feng Lin’s moves were all too shocking.

At that moment, Feng Lin struck. 18 sword beams, together with the Aspect Totem’s sword, entered the vast ocean, giving rise to a huge wave. This wave was filled with killing intent. It was not a phantom image of Yuan Qi, but formed from sword Qi.

There was not only one wave. One wave followed another as each wave rose higher than the other. There were a total of 9 huge waves now surging right at Yi Yun like mountains.

Within the waves were terrifying sword Qi!

At that moment, the warriors below the Divine Wilderness Stage, especially those who were facing the surging wave, felt the sword Qi at their eyebrows. It made them feel frightened and distraught. Many people subconsciously moved backward.

One could tell how terrifying Feng Lin’s sword attack was just from the sword Qi’s prowess which was enough to force these favored children of the Heavens to retreat!

At that moment, Yi Yun, who was standing in front of the roaring ocean and huge waves, appeared small in size. He looked like a little boat in a storm, completely negligible.

Yi Yun held the Distinguished Light sword tightly. In Yi Yun’s vision, time seemed to come to a stop. The huge, surging wave seemed to move extremely slow.

There he stood, silently in front of the huge wave. In his mind, the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s huge sword scar became even clearer. It was as if he had actually seen the past scene of the Sword Palace’s owner creating that scar with his very own eyes.

And that world destroying battle in the strange time-space. The bronze giant who was brandishing his halberd, ripping off a corner of the world, but still nearly had his head cut off by the Sword Palace’s owner!

Yi Yun could not reproduce the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s attack, but in this imagery, Yi Yun had managed to capture a trace of the sword attack’s concept.

This conceptual trace slowly fused with the sword moves Yi Yun learned within the sword tomb.

Immediately, Yi Yun’s mind seemed to be blessed. It was as if something had been activated as the concept and sword moves fused together.

He closed his eyes, ignoring the roar of the ocean. Without any conscious thought, Yi Yun raised his sword and gently slashed downwards!

At that moment, Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was pulled in. Everything began to condense into sword Qi. These sword Qi began roaring from all directions. In the sky, the phantom image of a huge divine sword began to condense!

This sword resembled the sword the Sword Palace owner once used! However, what Yi Yun was now using was a sword move from the sword tomb.

Only… Yi Yun had added an inexplicable concept into the sword tomb’s move.

This was one of the Pure Yang Sword Palace sword scar’s concepts. This concept seemed to be like a god having graced the lands, showing disdain at all life!

“Weng–

In the audience stands, the swords of some cultivators began to roar with a clear sound. Some of the swords even began to violently shake. Without the control of their owners, they even unsheathed themselves!

“My sword!”

A person quickly pressed and held onto his sword. The lower the cultivator’s cultivation level was, the greater the influence on their swords were!

In the air, Yi Yun slashed the huge divine sword that had been condensed downwards, right into the raging huge waves!

Strangely, this fierce impact was without sound. It was as if everything in the world had lost its voice.

The huge waves were split apart by that one sword. It was like a mountain having been split by a divine sword!

After the first huge wave was split apart, the divine sword did not lose its momentum. It was an irresistible force.

Wave after wave was split apart one after another. The divine sword slashed straight at Feng Lin’s eyebrows!

“What!?”

Seeing the powerful sword Qi coming towards her, Feng Lin was in a shock. At that moment, she really felt the approach of death!

“Lin’er!”

At that moment, a white-robed Elder in the Elder stands stood up!

At the same time, Feng Lin pointed with her sword tip, and behind her, the 17 water-elemental mirror images, as well as her Aspect Totem, charged directly at the sword beam.

“Peng!”

With an fierce impact, the 17 water-elemental mirror images exploded, turning into water vapor before completely disappearing. Even Feng Lin’s Aspect Totem was split apart by the sword beam.

Feng Lin’s body violently shook as a sword scar appeared from Feng Lin’s shoulder, going all the way down to her thigh. Her body flew out just like that!

While flying backward, Feng Lin could feel that her body had almost been torn apart by the sword Qi!

Having her body torn apart would no doubt mean her death!

And at that moment, she suddenly felt her body become light. A white-robed old man had appeared behind her like a ghost. This white-robed old man grabbed Feng Lin with one hand, and flicked his sleeve with the other!

“Peng!”

With a loud explosion, the huge phantom sword image formed from sword Qi was shattered by the white-robed Elder!

However, the shattered huge sword still formed into tiny pieces of sword Qi as the fragments spread out wantonly as they emitted “Chi Chi Chi” sounds. These sword Qi wandered around in the air for a long time…

“This sword Qi!”

The white-robed Elder focused his eyes. These sword Qi actually had a trace of an undying property.

Clearly his strength exceeded that of Yi Yun and could easily destroy the sword Qi instantaneously, but the destroyed sword Qi still remained lethal. It made people feel apprehension.

At that moment, Feng Lin, who had been saved by the white-robed Elder, was pale in the face.

There was a shocking wound on her body. It was almost as if her body had been cut open. If not for the white-robed old man suddenly appearing, Feng Lin would really have been killed by Yi Yun’s sword attack.

The entire audience turned silent upon seeing this scene.

Feng Lin’s terrifying final attack, with 19 swords as one, was broken by Yi Yun? And it was broken in such an easy fashion?

Even Feng Lin herself nearly got killed by Yi Yun!

What attack was this? Wasn’t it too terrifying?

Some Tai Ah Divine City Elders could tell that this attack was indeed a sword move from the sword tomb, but how did this sword tomb move gain such a powerful force to it?

“This attack… how could it be?”

The Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord found it fascinating. He could faintly feel that this attack was somehow different from the sword tomb’s move.

He could not explain what this tiny difference was. Could it be something that Yi Yun had added?

As for Cang Yan, being the person who brought Yi Yun into the sword tomb, his expression was as if he had seen a ghost after seeing Yi Yun’s final sword attack.

He still did not understand what had just happened.

“This kid… he…”

Cang Yan looked at Yi Yun with his eyelids twitching.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s right hand, which wielded his sword, was completely covered in blood.

On his arm, one blood vessel after the other burst open and blood flowed out of them without stopping. It looked as if he had been fished out of a blood pool. It was shocking!

The hand which Yi Yun used to hold the sword was trembling. It looked as if he found it difficult to even hold the sword.

This sword attack had actually burst all the blood vessels in Yi Yun’s right hand!

332 - : Breaking Waves

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun’s hand…”

Everyone’s focus was originally on Feng Lin, only now realized that the sword-wielding hand of Yi Yun was bleeding profusely. All the blood vessels in it had ruptured, and even the tendons and meridians had suffered a great deal of damage.

Just using a sword attack caused such an injury to his hand.

This sword move is too terrifying…

“To think that Yi Yun’s hand would suffer such an injury. That sword move’s power far exceeds that which Yi Yun can control. His cultivation level is limited, so injecting that much energy into his meridians caused them to tear immediately…”

The Tai Ah Divine City warriors were looking at Yi Yun with extreme worry.

With the price of one sword attack being so high, could Yi Yun still use his hand?

“Yi Yun!”

At that moment, the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord stood up. He was far in the seats of honor, but the look he gave Yi Yun was that of generous appreciation.

“You have already done very well. If you cannot continue, do not force yourself.”

The Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord had no expectations of Yi Yun actually winning the overall group championship because it was just too difficult.

Now, the City Lord knew that it was unlikely that Yi Yun would be able to use his right hand anymore. At the very least, Yi Yun could not use that terrifying sword attack again.

His arm would not be able to handle it.

Because of the sword attack, with its large Yuan Qi consumption, Yi Yun was only left with 60-70% Yuan Qi. Fighting in such a state against the Yun Long Divine Kingdom competitors would be extremely difficult. In fact, it should be said that it was impossible to win.

Looking at the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s side, there were 13 other people sitting on the participant benches. The pale-faced youth in black clothing had particularly stood out for the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord. His strength could only be described as unfathomable for Yuan Foundation realm warriors.

In such a situation, how could Yi Yun win?

At that moment, the youth in black was no longer sitting quietly in a corner. He stood up, holding a sword as he looked at Yi Yun with dark black eyes.

Yi Yun also looked back at the youth in black. His right hand was still trembling, with blood continuously dripping from it.

“What a pity…”

At that moment, the youth in black sent a Yuan Qi voice transmission to Yi Yun. His voice was cold and heartless, causing one to worry. “If I knew you had such strength, I would have personally fought you in the previous round. And now, with your hand in such a state… you can no longer fight me.”

The youth in black glanced at Yi Yun’s hand and showed a sense of regret.

Although in this overall group match participants were allowed to take pills, elixirs, and relics to treat themselves, due to the short period of time, they had limited effects.

Discerning people could tell that the injury on Yi Yun’s hand had reached to the root of his bones and the meridians. Even if it was immediately treated, only a small portion could be healed in the short period of time. If Yi Yun were to use that sword attack again, his hand might be completely destroyed!

This youth in black felt that it was a great pity.

He was a fanatic for martial arts and he trumped all of his peers. As a lonely expert, he was thirsty for an elite that could compete with him in a delightful battle. If Yi Yun could use that sword move, then Yi Yun would be qualified.

Yi Yun looked at the youth in black silently. He had already expected that this battle would be very tough, now it was indeed so. It had even exceeded his predictions, just the second battle had injured his arm thoroughly.

However, Feng Lin was just too strong and forced Yi Yun to do so.

The sword attack that had been injected with the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s concept could really not be used by Yi Yun. He could not slash out an attack with that amount of force, if he did, Yi Yun would not be able to handle the stress on his arm.

“Yi Yun, do not force yourself!” Seeing that Yi Yun was not responding, the City Lord said again.

In this alliance tournament, lives could be lost in the exchanges between experts. Even if no lives were lost, it could also end up with heavy injuries, crippling some of them. It was possible to end up bedridden for more than 6 months. And for an elite like Yi Yun, 6 months was too precious. He could not afford to lose that.

“Thank you for your concern City Lord. However, I think I can carry on fighting.”

Yi Yun’s voice was calm. The hearts of the Tai Ah Divine City warriors’ sank when they heard him say this. It was extremely worrying seeing Yi Yun’s current state.

With Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi being greatly depleted and having a severely injured hand, how could he carry on?

“Since you insist, then so be it…” The middle-aged scholar looked deeply at Yi Yun before slowly sitting down.

“Haha! This Yi Yun would rather die than lose face. He clearly can’t handle it, yet he insists!” On the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s side, a youth in silk clothes laughed disdainfully.

The youth’s silk clothes were the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s clothes of nobility. The noble’s clothes were embroidered with a flying black wyrm. It was equivalent to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Viscount. To rise to the rank of a Viscount at this age proved that this youth was not weak.

“A spent force should not speak the words of the brave. Yi Yun is finished. His hand is crippled and with less than 70% of his Yuan Qi left, he is nothing to be feared!” Another Yun Long Divine Kingdom elite said.

“He could admit defeat in a decent manner, but he was not smart enough and instead, he insists on dying on stage. If so, I will go up and finish him!”

The youth wearing the flying black river dragon suit grinned slyly and jumped up the Divine Wilderness Stage with a saber.

“Let me fight this match!”

The youth pointed his long saber at Yi Yun and smiled provocatively. “Yi Yun, you are very arrogant after having won a series of battles. Unfortunately, you are destined to be defeated by me, Murong Guang. Come! Let me see what other abilities you have left, use it all!”

Murong Guang’s words had no restraint, causing the surrounding Tai Ah Divine City cultivators to fume with rage.

“Who does he think he is!? Taking advantage of a person’s disadvantage and pretending to be great. He is shameless!”

Some senior cultivators only wished they could rush up and chop up Murong Guang.

“If not for Senior Yi Yun’s injury, he would be no match for Senior Yi Yun!” One Tai Ah Divine City rookie junior was also fuming till her undeveloped chest heaved up and down.

However, at that moment, Murong Guang only sneered, “Only the outcome of the battle matters. Why does the process matter? So what if you are a genius? You will still end up being finished by me! No matter what reason it is, being defeated by me means being defeated. It is something you can’t remove from your entire life. Even if female saints were screwed by me, they are forever screwed! Hahaha!”

As Murong Guang was laughing, he suddenly went into a daze.

He saw Yi Yun take out a container from his interspatial ring. He opened the container’s lid and in it, there was a heavy and sticky liquid.

“What is it?”

Before Murong Guang could see it carefully, Yi Yun had tilted his head and finished all the red liquid in the container.

Inside the container, there was precious blood, the precious blood of the Golden Crow species!

In Fallen Star Gate, after killing the Golden Crow species, Yi Yun had kept the corpse of the Golden Crow species into his interspatial ring. He had also taken the blood of the Golden Crow species’s heart and stored it in blood containers. This was where all the essence of the Golden Crow species was.

333 - : Severely Injured

CKtalon  CKtalon

There was extremely rich pure Yang energy in the Golden Crow species’s precious blood.

It was better than any healing medicine by many times. Typical healing medicines, even very high-grade ones, were limited when used by Purple Blood realm warriors. As Purple Blood realm warriors could only absorb a tiny amount, and even after absorbing it, the medicinal essence would take a while to be digested. After all, the medicinal properties of these healing medicines were different to the warrior’s energy.

However, since this was the precious blood of the Golden Crow species. The situation was completely different.

As Yi Yun had absorbed the Golden Crow species’s beast mark and had condensed a Golden Crow Aspect Totem, the essence and pure Yang energy in the precious blood was highly compatible with Yi Yun considering that they came from the same source. Hence, it was very easy for him to absorb it.

After Yi Yun drank the Golden Crow’s precious blood, he felt as if there was a pure Yang flame burning in his body. The wanton energy first entered his dantian, and from there, it flowed out into his limbs. This feeling was extremely comfortable!

As for Yi Yun’s heavily injured arm, the muscles in it were slowly moving, giving him an itchy feeling.

This meant that the muscles in Yi Yun’s arm were quickly regrowing. His wound was also healing. Although his flesh was growing rapidly, it was extremely difficult for his meridians to connect back together.

Even though the Golden Crow species’s precious blood came from the same source as Yi Yun’s energy, it could not recover Yi Yun’s arm in such a short time span.

“Taking medicine?”

Although he did not know what Yi Yun had drunk, Murong Guang could roughly guess that it was most likely the blood of some desolate beast. How effective could it be for healing one’s wounds and replenishing Yuan Qi?

“Meet your death!”

Murong Guang unsheathed his saber and his Yuan Qi exploded. Although he knew that Yi Yun could not recover greatly from drinking the rejuvenating beast blood, he did not want to give Yi Yun any time for a breather. That would only create more variables in this battle.

He wanted to defeat Yi Yun in one blow, becoming the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s hero!

Defeating the person who defeated Feng Lin, how impressive was that?

“This shameless villain!”

Off the stage, the Tai Ah Divine City warriors were fuming. Yi Yun had just consumed medicine, yet Murong Guang didn’t even wait to attack.

It was really like when the tiger enters leveled land, he would be insulted by dogs! Yi Yun may be strong, but fighting against more than 10 Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors turn by turn in such a condition fated him to be defeated. He might not even be able to beat Murong Guang.

Just thinking of Yi Yun losing to this nameless and shameless scum made the Tai Ah Divine City warriors’ hearts burn.

Losing to Feng Lin was alright, but losing to such a person only made one furious.

At that moment, Murong Guang had already charged at Yi Yun. He was brandishing his saber while laughing loudly, “I’ll show you my family’s ‘Murong Saber Technique’. This is a top class heritage saber technique of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom. Today, I’ll open your eyes! Letting you be defeated by this top class saber technique is me valuing you.”

As he said that, his saber gave rise to numerous saber images. These saber images condensed into a tiger that charged at Yi Yun.

This was a tiger condensed from saber Qi.

Roar!

The tiger gave a tumultuous roar which echoed throughout the arena, hurting everyone’s eardrums!

At that moment, Yi Yun remained ever calm against the tiger.

His brain was recalling the sword attack from before. The sword Qi condensed from the powerful Heaven Earth Yuan Qi went beyond the limitations of his meridians.

His arm had yet to recover and he could not use that attack again. However, after consuming the Golden Crow species’s precious blood, Yi Yun had the ability to carry on. So what if he held back his Yuan Qi, and only used a tenth of that attack’s power?

Yi Yun cleansed his soul and passed the sword to his left hand. The memories of the broken sword flashed in his mind as the scene of the Sword Palace owner cutting the bronze giant’s head open once again appeared in his mind, clearer this time.

Yi Yun gently slashed with his left hand, following the Sword Palace’s owner’s strike.

“Cha!”

A sword beam, the thickness of a chopstick, shot out from Yi Yun’s sword and it seemed to be hidden within the distortions of space-time.

This sword beam may be thin, but it did not mean that the injected energy was weak. It was because his sword Qi had reached an extreme, and it could compress the essence of the Yuan Qi greatly which resulted in this.

This sword beam was extremely sharp as it shot straight at the tiger’s eyebrows!

Whew!

The sword beam did not meet any resistance as it pierced straight through the area between the tiger’s eyebrows. The tiger was still charging at Yi Yun but it had been pierced by Yi Yun’s sword beam!

This attack flew at Murong Guang in an unrivaled state.

“What!?”

Murong Guang was shocked. As he retreated, he brandished his saber to block!

“Ding!”

With a metallic clang, Murong Guang felt pain in his arm. The thigh of his palm felt pain. There was a small hole, the size of a pinky, melted through his saber due to the highly compressed pure Yang sword beam!

Murong Guang watched the small hole form and next, he heard the sound of his protective Yuan Qi tear apart. At the same time, he felt pain in his heart. He felt great pain in his chest as his vision turned blurry.

He saw spurting blood. He felt his entire body lose all its energy as he knelt on the ground.

Murong Guang touched his chest and his fingers were covered with blood!

“I…”

He looked disbelieving at the wound on his chest. From the small wound, blood spurted out. However, Murong Guang knew that his body had been pierced right through by the sword beam!

“How is it possible… he was clearly… heavily injured…!”

“Peng!”

Murong Guang felt dizzy as his vision became even more blurry. With that, he fell straight to the ground.

“Peng!”

After a thud, blood flowed out of Murong Guang’s chest, covering the floor with a pool of blood.

Everyone around the Divine Wilderness Stage who saw this scene was horrified!

Murong Guang’s body had been pierced by Yi Yun’s sword attack?

Just a few seconds ago, Yi Yun was still severely injured and it did not seem like he could make it, while Murong Guang seemed to have a forceful stance, wanting to defeat Yi Yun in one strike while he was weak.

Even to the Tai Ah Divine City warriors, it was highly likely that Murong Guang would have defeated Yi Yun.

However, in a split second, the situation was completely reversed!

After Murong Guang, who was once prominent, brandished his saber, he had been penetrated by Yi Yun’s attack without actually exchanging blows with Yi Yun. It was still unknown if he was dead or alive!

Yi Yun was already so injured, yet he could be this strong!?

People looked at Yi Yun with their eyelids twitching. Especially the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors who felt a chill looking at Yi Yun.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s right hand was no longer trembling. However, he was undeniably still greatly drained and his arm was still bleeding.

Although he was in a state of nearly breaking down, he had still defeated Murong Guang with one attack.

It was shocking. His vitality and combat power could be compared to that of a humanoid desolate beast…

At that moment, with a “shua” sound, a Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder had instantaneously appeared on the Divine Wilderness Stage.

He lifted Murong Guang up and fed him healing medicine.

At that moment, Murong Guang could no longer swallow, so the Elder had to use Yuan Qi to force the medicine down his throat.

After checking Murong Guang’s injuries, the Elder’s face turned sullen.

“His left lung was been pierced, hurting his heart, resulting in spasms in his heart, and this prevented the heart from delivering blood. This kind of injury would be difficult to treat even with sacred medicine. Yi Yun, you sure are ruthless!”

The white-robed Elder looked angrily at Yi Yun with killing intent.

The people around the Divine Wilderness Stage gasped. Previously when Yi Yun fought with Kui Yu, he had purposely missed Kui Yu’s organs.

But this time, he did not.

For Yuan Foundation realm warriors, they might not be able to recover in more than half a year when their hearts were injured. Just a bit of intense motion would cause the heart to not be able to provide blood, causing one to lose their breath.

The teenage years were the most precious period of the elites present. This was the period when warriors grew in strength rapidly. It could be said they were different every month.

After being so heavily injured, losing more than half a year’s time, it would definitely affect one’s accomplishments in the future!

Facing the white-robed Elder’s killing gaze, Yi Yun did not cower in fear. He did not break any rules, so the other party could not do anything to him.

Sure enough, after the white-robed Elder expressed his killing intent, all the Elders on the Tai Ah Divine City stood up and locked on to the white-robed Elder. If he were to make a move, all of them would attack.

In a split second, the entire arena turned quiet as the atmosphere became tense.

Yi Yun was holding the Distinguished Light sword with both his arms bleeding. The blood flowed down the sword’s blade and onto the floor, giving rise to the clear dripping sound. It filled the quiet arena.

“My physical condition isn’t good so I cannot control my strength very well. For the upcoming battles, I will go all out. Every attack I use will be aimed at a vital part and I will not hold back. For anyone who comes up, I cannot guarantee that you can live going down!”

Yi Yun’s words almost made the air freeze!

“This Yi Yun is courting death!” A Yun Long Divine Kingdom warrior said angrily.

“He is too arrogant!” a person echoed.

However, those who were angry quickly understood why Yi Yun was doing so.

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom participants for the overall group championship exceeded the teenager group in strength. All of them were strong and their numbers were great.

Yi Yun would not be able to handle the challenges of more than ten people from beginning to the end.

Now, he had to save his Yuan Qi and stamina for every battle.

Just like in the previous battle, Yi Yun may seem to defeat Murong Guang easily, but how easy was it really?

The fact was that it wasn’t. If it was that simple, Yi Yun could have defeated Murong Guang like he did with Kui Yu with the saber techniques from the saber tomb. That would reduce his energy consumption to the minimum.

However, he had used the sword intent from the Pure Yang Sword Palace. Although it was a small amount of energy, it was still an immense stress on Yi Yun’s meridians and stamina.

If this went on, in a few battles, Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi would be depleted. The meridians on both his hands would not be able to bear it and rupture. When that happened, Yi Yun would not be able to fight anymore.

When forced into this situation, would Yi Yun hold back?

Of course not!

Whoever wanted to challenge him had to pay the price!

They might be severely injured, crippled or even die!

As such, the people who wanted to challenge Yi Yun had to weigh the benefits to decide if it was worth it.

Going up was to be cannon fodder. They would consume Yi Yun’s energy, but they had to give up the degrading of their future achievements. They might even pay the price of death. As such, no one was willing to come up.

This was Yi Yun’s battle strategy. It was a bloody and simple, yet effective.

Indeed, after Yi Yun said those words, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom overall group participants frowned. When their gaze clashed with Yi Yun’s cold gaze, they felt their confidence drop.

334 - : Golden Crow’s Precious Blood

CKtalon  CKtalon

Everyone knew that with more than ten people fighting him one after another, Yi Yun would definitely not be able to last more than a few rounds. However, everyone wanted to be the last person to end the situation. As prominent figures of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom, no one wanted to be the second Murong Guang, sustaining serious injuries that would affect their own future.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s left hand trembled gently. One blood vessel after another began to bulge. Although they did not rupture, they still looked like they were under immense stress. It seemed like Yi Yun was still greatly depleted from using that sword attack.

He took out another container of beast blood and tossed his head back to drink it down.

Many people turned speechless seeing this scene. They felt that Yi Yun should suffer a calamity from the skies and be struck by lightning. He always misled people. His hands were already trembling, the meridians and blood vessels on his arm had ruptured and his Yuan Qi had been greatly depleted. From the looks of it, he should not have lasted long, yet he nearly killed Murong Guang with his sword attack. With him doing this again, he made them lose confidence.

And that beast blood, what was it?

It seemed like the effects were very noticeable after drinking it. If it was ordinary desolate beast blood, then the effects should be very typical.

If it was the blood of a primordial strain, ignoring the preciousness of it, it was not easy to absorb the primordial strain’s blood with his Purple Blood realm cultivation level.

The blood of a primordial strain was no different than poison for many warriors.

Without knowing the full details, many of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom elites were in a dilemma.

They were as concerned about their future prospects as they treasured their lives. When they believed they could not beat Yi Yun, all of them hesitated as none of them took the initiative to stand forward.

At that moment, Bai quietly stood up. Without a word, he walked up the Divine Wilderness Stage.

When Yi Yun saw Bai appear, his pupils constricted. He gripped his sword’s hilt tightly and breathed slowly. At that moment, Yi Yun was a like a desolate beast that was poised to attack.

Finally, he was going to fight this youth in black!

Yi Yun could guess the difficulty of this battle. If he was still at his peak condition, he would definitely look forward to the battle with Bai and would be filled with confidence.

However…now, Yi Yun was lacking in confidence. He did not know how strong Bai really was, nor did he know what moves he had.

The entire arena immediately turned silent.

Everyone was watching the Divine Wilderness Stage quietly, awaiting the final battle.

In the participant benches, Wen Yu, Chu Xiaoran, and other Tai Ah Divine City warriors were worried for Yi Yun. Unless a miracle happened, Yi Yun was unlikely to be able to use the strong sword attack he used to defeat Feng Lin.

Without that attack, could Yi Yun win against the unfathomable youth in black, Bai?

Amongst those people included the people in the Elder stands. There, the expressions of Cang Yan and company were solemn. They did not know what the outcome of the battle would be. Now, Cang Yan no longer cared if Yi Yun won the overall group championship, he was only worried about Yi Yun suffering any mishaps. If that happened, it would not have been worth it.

In the corner of the arena was a girl in red clothes. She was watching all of this quietly.

She was Luo Huo’er.

Luo Huo’er gave the reason of her being bad at actual combat to not participate in the alliance tournament. However, she had quietly come to the arena to watch the final match.

Since she was just there to watch, she was not worried about having any abnormalities discovered, as long as she didn’t reveal the special energy within her body.

“Miss, that black-clothed guy looks very strong…”

Standing beside Luo Huo’er was the short-legged Dong’er.

“Tsk, are you worried about that rascal, Yi Yun?”

Dong’er immediately shut up. She slipped a glance at Luo Huo’er. She was unsure what Luo Huo’er was thinking, so at that moment, she felt that it was best she kept quiet.

Up on the Divine Wilderness Stage, the black-clothed youth was hugging his sword and did not attack Yi Yun.

“Are the two of you ready?” A Tai Ah Divine City referee asked.

At that moment, Bai extended a finger and looked at Yi Yun, “One two-hour period! I will only wait one two-hour period!”

When he said this, the entire audience became slightly stunned.

Two hours? This black-clothed youth was giving Yi Yun time to recuperate?

In the seats of honor, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner frowned.

Although he was extremely confident in Bai, that even if Bai were to fight against Yi Yun in his optimal state, he would have 80-90% chances of winning, he did not wish for Bai to give the other party time to recuperate his physical strength.

After all, this match was of grave importance. If a 100% guarantee could be accomplished, then it should not be any less. Now, having lost the teenager division championship, if the overall group championship had any mishaps, then he would be ridiculed by countless numbers of people when he returned to the Yun Long Divine Kingdom.

“Bai! You are being too arrogant!” The Seven Star Pagoda Owner said with a stern voice that rang in Bai’s ear. “You do not have the right to underestimate the enemy at that moment!”

“I’m not being arrogant, nor am I underestimating my enemy. I just want to have a proper and real duel. If the Lord Pagoda Owner isn’t agreeable, you can always find someone else to replace me.”

“You…” The Seven Star Pagoda Owner glanced at others as he frowned even more. Without Bai fighting Yi Yun, it was useless hoping for the others to win.

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner knew Bai’s personality. No matter what others said, once Bai made a decision, he would not waver. His personality gave people headaches.

The Seven Star Pagoda Owner had no choice but to accept it. He knew that punishing Bai was also pointless.

“Two hours?” Yi Yun looked at Bai with surprised. He never expected the other party to have such a request. He looked at the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s authority, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner who did not have any objections.

As such, Yi Yun sat down cross-legged, “Even if you are giving me time, I will not go easy!”

“That suits me!” Bai’s voice was clear. “Resting for two hours will also not restore your arm, this actually…isn’t a battle I want.”

Bai looked at Yi Yun’s hand and felt a sense of regret. He wanted to experience the power of that sword attack.

“You will have the chance in the future.”

Yi Yun hurriedly began conditioning his breathing. He was just in need of time to absorb the two containers of Golden Crow species heart blood he had drunk.

Two hours of rest was extremely important for Yi Yun.

His opponent was not only Bai but the rest too.

He expected the fight with Bai to be even harder than the battle with Feng Lin. After finishing the battle, even if he won, he would be left with even less Yuan Qi.

There was still a bit of Golden Crow precious blood left. Using that precious blood and the remaining Yuan Qi he had to deal with the remaining 11 Yun Long Divine Kingdom members would be extremely difficult.

Time slowly passed as everyone watched the stage with bated breaths. No one spoke a word, nor did anyone leave.

People were waiting for the two hours to pass.

Yi Yun’s hand no longer bled, and his meridians were slowly joining up. As long as he did not use the complete sword intent from the Pure Yang Sword Palace, Yi Yun’s hands would be completely fine.

Yi Yun, who was meditating, slowly felt the Golden Crow species blood in his body burning. This energy made Yi Yun’s body fill with fighting spirit.

Bai watched Yi Yun from a distance of a hundred feet away. Bit by bit, he wrapped a white cloth around his hand. When he finish winding the cloth, Bai stood up and said calmly, “The time is up.”

335 - : Two Hours

CKtalon  CKtalon

As Bai stood up and drew his sword, the arena, which was originally very quiet, became so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

Bai was finally fighting. Due to the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s side being so strong in the alliance tournament, Bai had never needed to fight until now.

This was the first time he was actually fighting in any real sense of the word.

Yi Yun also stood up and, with his right hand, took out the Sonic Deathblade.

A saber in his right hand and a sword in his left.

“His saber is in his right hand while his sword is in his left hand. Is Yi Yun going to rely mostly on the saber?”

Many people began to worry upon seeing Yi Yun use his saber against Bai.

To them, Yi Yun’s sword was much stronger than his saber.

“Why is he not using his sword?” Many people were curious.

Someone shook his head, “Against Bai, it is likely that Yi Yun cannot continuously use his sword, or maybe it is that he will not be able to handle the energy drain.”

Yi Yun’s sword attacks were only stronger than his saber attacks when the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s sword intent was used. And once the pure Yang sword intent was used, even just a tenth of it would be beyond that which Yi Yun’s body could handle.

Nonetheless, if Yi Yun was going to rely mostly on his saber, how was he to defeat Bai?

“Thank you for giving me two hours to recuperate! Are you not afraid that by giving me two hours to recover, it might led to your defeat?”

Yi Yun casually shook the Sonic Deathblade as he injected Yuan Qi into it.

“Weng–”

The saber blade emitted a clear hum that sounded like the roar of a dragon. The Sonic Deathblade’s sound waves alone could kill.

Bai however, was not affected by the Sonic Deathblade’s hum. When the sound wave was 3 feet away from him, it was destroyed by his protective sword Qi.

“If you want to thank me, just go all out! It has been a long time since last I looked forward to a fight. I can only wish for you having the ability to defeat me. It is a pity that, in the past two years, I have never suffered defeat against the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s younger generation.”

“One victorious battle after another, not only does it not make me feel delighted, it also makes me feel perplexed. The Yun Long Divine Kingdom is just a tiny stage, I do not want to be blinded by the halo titles of being ‘Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s Number One’ or ‘Invincible amongst the Younger Generation’. If I do, I might not know how strong I am when I leave the Yun Long Divine Kingdom and enter a stronger faction. Maybe I would be as ridiculous as a frog in a well?”

“I do not want to end up in that situation. Therefore, your appearance has made me excited. If I were to be defeated by you, I will feel glad. I am not afraid of others surpassing me, I am only afraid that I do not know how far a real elite has progressed. If humans do not have a goal, they will be lost! Only with a goal will I be excited!”

The usually silent Bai suddenly spoke a lot.

Yi Yun was slightly stunned upon hearing this. He never expected Bai to have such thoughts and vision.

Indeed, be it the Yun Long Divine Kingdom or the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, they were just a drop in the ocean of this vast world.

Bai could not see how vast the world was, but he could foresee it.

As for Yi Yun, he really had seen a corner of that magnificent world. In the Pure Yang Sword Palace, that bronze giant who could destroy worlds and the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner left Yi Yun shocked.

The mushroom knows not the alternation of day and night, while the short-lived cicada does not know the seasons. If one were to see the vast world yet not explore it, turning to dust hundreds or thousands of years later, then what difference was there between them and the mushrooms and cicadas?

Such a life was too insignificant for people not resigning to fate. Yi Yun wished that he could be an equal of the world, becoming a main character of the current generation.

With the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun was already standing higher than others. As such, did he have any reason to slack off?

“Words are needless, let us fight!” Bai said and with a light “Chi” sound, lightning emerged from his sword’s blade.

The purple lightning were like small snakes surging wantonly.

The law Bai cultivated was Lightning!

Yuan Foundation realm elites all cultivated a certain law. Thunder-elemental laws belonged to one of the nature-based elemental laws of Wind, Snow, Thunder and Lightning. They were ranked equal to the five elements, but exceeded them in power.

“This sword’s name is Black Light.” Bai stretched out his index and middle finger as he gently stroked the sword’s blade. The sword blade was black and did not reflect a single beam of light. It was only three feet long and the sword’s pommel was unsophisticated while the sword’s hilt was covered in old snake skin. Under the illumination of the lightning, the snake skin’s scales had a luster sheen.

“I am going to attack!”

Just as Bai finished speaking, a purple beam suddenly flashed. The Black Light sword had stabbed straight through Yi Yun!

Bai’s sword was so fast that it exceeded the limits of human recognition.

People only saw a purple flash and then Bai’s sword had pierced through Yi Yun’s chest!

“What?”

Some people gasped, but in a blink of an eye, Yi Yun’s figure slowly blurred before completely disappearing.

Yi Yun’s body had already appeared more than a hundred feet away.

It was an after-image that was stabbed.

Seeing Yi Yun look completely fine, many Tai Ah Divine City warriors let out a sigh of relief. This attack was too soul-wrenching. Before they could even react, the sword had already hit its mark. Thankfully Yi Yun’s speed was very fast, if it was switched to them being on stage, they would have died.

“Your movement technique is not bad. Large success stage of Minute Subtlety!” Bai praised, “However… Minute Subtlety is just a form of controlling one’s body. By perfectly doing so, one can dodge the attacks from enemies, but…”

Once Bai said that, his words took a sudden turn, “There is a limit to how well you can control your body. The potential of Minute Subtlety is only that much. It is only able to work wonders at a low level. When one’s level slowly increases, especially when one begins to learn laws, the power of laws will far exceed that of Minute Subtlety and will completely replace it! As for Thunder and Lightning, it is the law that is best for speed.”

“If what you just did was the limit to your speed, then I am afraid you have already lost!”

As Bai said that, purple lightning flashed all over his body. Just a simple movement of his formed multiple layers of after-images around his body.

“Extreme speed!”

Bai shook his Black Light sword and after-images began to appear. It was impossible to tell Bai’s position. This time, Bai’s speed was even faster than before!

Soon, the stage was completely filled with Bai’s after-images. There were tens of after-images!

Many people focused their minds, trying with great difficulty to see through Bai’s after-images, but it was to no avail. It was as if Bai had completely transformed into a lightning bolt. His figure was surging around on the stage freely, leaving behind traces of lightning.

There were streaks of lightning and after-images of Bai everywhere!

“Such a fast speed! This black-clothed youth can trump many just with his speed. Besides, speed should just be a small aspect of his strengths.” Even a Tai Ah Divine City Elder’s expression changed upon seeing this!

All the martial arts in the world could not be defeated if one was fast enough. If the speed reached an extreme limit, one could pierce through an opponent’s throat before they could even react. This was the split moment that decided victory.

People looked with bated breaths as the after-images surrounded Yi Yun.

Yi Yun tightly clenched his Sonic Deathblade and became extremely wary. Bai’s speed was indeed very terrifying.

“Cha!”

A purple beam flashed and like a lightning bolt, appeared before Yi Yun and sent out a hundred stabs in an instance!

These dense sword beams formed a lightning web that covered Yi Yun.

Minute Subtlety!

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted as he hurriedly retreated backward. However, Bai’s attack was too fast, so fast that it far exceeded Yi Yun’s dodging speed.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

Along with the sound of lightning, Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi was torn apart. The lightning current surged into Yi Yun’s meridians and made him feel paralyzed.

Yi Yun’s clothes were cut apart by the sword Qi, blood appearing on his arms and shoulders!

Tai Ah Sacred Technique!

Yi Yun circulated his body’s Yuan Qi. With the pure Yang Qi, he annihilated the lightning powers within his meridians. His body flashed and he was now 200 feet away!

It was too fast!

Yi Yun felt awed. He had just used a perfect Minute Subtlety movement technique, yet he was still unable to completely dodge Bai’s sword beams.

No matter what law it was, once it was understood well enough, it would be so powerful that it was shocking. And Bai was no doubt a youth that had reached an extreme level in the Thunder and Lightning elemental laws.

“I have not met my match amongst the Yun Long Divine Kingdom younger generation because none of them are able to keep up with my speed! I can easily attack anyone who is slower than me. It’s even to the point where I even have many methods that I have never tried before. It is a huge regret of mine! Yi Yun, is this as far as you can go? If that is the case, then I am too disappointed. Originally, I was looking forward to going all out when fighting against you!”

As Bai said this, there were many lightning after-images around his body. Above the Divine Wilderness Stage, there were surging purple bolts everywhere. Clearly, it was very easy for Bai to maintain this speed; hence, he could speak this calmly.

Upon seeing this scene and hearing Bai’s words, the Tai Ah Divine City’s warriors were shocked. They finally understood how strong Bai was. If their speed was inferior to his, then they would be defeated by him. However, with such speed, who could match him?

Yi Yun’s speed was already very fast, but it was still inferior to Bai’s!

And taking 10,000 steps back, even if he could catch up to Bai’s speed, Bai still had other tricks up his sleeve.

Extreme speed was just a small portion of Bai’s Lightning laws.

Completely opposite from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warriors’ astonishment, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors were burning with excitement. Bai was their Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s god of war, and was also known as the Son of Lightning.

Most of them had only heard of Bai, but had never seen him fight.

Today however, seeing Bai’s prominence, they felt extremely excited and were greatly looking forward to it!

“As long as one’s speed is inferior to yours, they will be defeated by you?”

Yi Yun gently wiped off the blood from his body. Yi Yun had always been confident when it came to his speed. Back when Yi Yun’s strength had not greatly increased, he had relied on his speed when fighting against Liu Yuxing and Qiuniu. Yi Yun had previously amazed everyone, but now however, he could only admit that he was slower than Bai.

With slow speed, one was at a greatly disadvantaged, whether it was offensive or defensive!

If he could not block Bai’s stabs or touch Bai’s sleeves when attacking, then there was no doubt that the results of this battle would end with his loss.

This was why Bai said that if Yi Yun’s speed was inferior to his, then Yi Yun would be easily defeated.

At that moment, Bai’s speed increased again. There were more and more after-images appearing on the stage, and each after-image was surging with lightning, completely surrounding Yi Yun!

336 - : Son of Lightning

CKtalon  CKtalon

No matter who faced Bai, that person would end up experiencing extreme pressure!

Other than his extreme speed he also had unfathomable strength.

Yi Yun’s speed clearly could not keep up with Bai’s. This worried many of the Tai Ah Divine City warriors.

At that moment, Yi Yun closed both his eyes. A human’s eye would have the after-image of a person left behind in it if the opponent was faster than a tenth of a second. As Bai’s speed was too fast, one would only see numerous after-images due to his blazing speed. As a result, it was very difficult to lock onto Bai’s location.

Yi Yun opened up the Purple Crystal’s energy vision. Within the energy vision, all the after-images disappeared, only leaving behind a energy beam that moved at high speeds!

The energy vision could see through to the most fundamental energy flow, leaving no after-images behind.

In his energy vision, Yi Yun was able to clearly see Bai’s location.

“Yi Yun closed his eyes!?”

“Is he only relying on his perception?”

Seeing Yi Yun close his eyes, people were alarmed. To Purple Blood realm and Yuan Foundation realm warriors, their Yuan Qi perception was relatively weak so it was inferior to using their own eyes.

In this split second, people had no time to think over it carefully as they saw a purple beam flash past!

“Cha!”

The Black Light sword’s trajectory left an energy ripple in the air.

Yi Yun felt as if he was standing on a lake. Bai’s sword was like a swimming fish, and as it swam, it agitated the lake’s water, forming ripples that reached Yi Yun’s heart.

At that moment, Yi Yun made his move. With a saber and sword, Saber and Sword Combined!

Yi Yun did not use the Pure Yang Sword Palace sword intent. Having entered the saber tomb as well as the sword tomb, he had gained insight into both sword and saber intents from this heritage ground of sword and saber.

Although the saber and sword tombs were greatly inferior to the Pure Yang Sword Palace, they still far exceeded the realms of many Tai Ah Divine Kingdom sages!

“Ka-cha!”

Yi Yun’s sword and saber clashed against the Black Light sword!

The energy collision set off a fierce explosion as purple light swept across the area, as if many purple snakes were dancing in the air. And within this surging wave of purple, there was also burning pure Yang energy!

Yi Yun’s saber and sword Qi were burning like the Sun. He had blocked Bai’s attack head on!

Bai’s attack speed was fast, faster than Yi Yun by a lot, but Yi Yun’s sword and saber moves had characteristics that Bai lacked. They were steady, as Yi Yun’s domineering stance was like a towering mountain. His energy was like the roar of the ocean!

In a blink of an eye, Bai and Yi Yun had exchanged hundreds of blows!

During this period, the number of attacks Bai did were at least twice those of Yi Yun’s as their speed differed by a level.

If this was any other person, an opponent whose speed was inferior to Bai, that person would have been defeated by Bai’s fast attacks.

However, this time it was against Yi Yun, as such, the situation was completely different.

Although Bai’s attack speed was faster, he was not able to break through Yi Yun’s defenses.

That sword and saber were like a dragon and a tiger. They defended Yi Yun’s body flawlessly. It was impossible to break through them.

Bai would attack twice, but Yi Yun would use a single move to block them both.

The exchange of blows became more intense. People could only see the numerous after-images in the middle of the stage. It was like a crazy storm. Bai’s speed was obvious, and although Yi Yun’s speed was a bit slower, that was only relative to Bai. To others, it was still an unattainable speed!

Sword beams! Saber beams!

Pure Yang energy! Lightning energy!

Marks began to appear on the purple tungsten tiles of the Divine Wilderness Stage due to the unrestrained surging energies.

“This is too terrifying. Is this the battle scene of the number one people from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?”

Quite a number of people in the audience came from the ten Southern countries or other smaller factions. Their tournament was separate from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Seeing Yi Yun exchange blows with Bai, no matter how much the ten Southern countries and the factions did not want to admit, they definitely had no temper left.

“This speed… This strength. Our country’s number one person may be pretty wild, but compared to them, he will probably lose in just a few seconds…”

“Our country is about the same. There is always someone stronger…”

A few warriors from the smaller countries said as they swallowed their saliva. They had never thought that it would be possible for the younger generation to fight at such a high level, let alone see one.

At that moment a “Peng” sound rang out as some Yuan Qi exploded, sending out a shock wave. Yi Yun and Bai separated from each other.

The exchange of blows before was like a storm. It was unknown how many blows they had exchanged.

Yi Yun and Bai stood about 200 feet apart. The remnant Yuan Qi still lingering between them.

“I have to admit that even with my speed being faster than your’s, I still cannot beat you by using speed!”

Bai’s voice was solemn. Before this, he had always won just by using his speed. However, today, against Yi Yun, he had to change that view.

One could still break through fast speeds.

Previously, the opponents he faced were all lacking. Now, against an expert, such unexpected scenarios could happen.

Yi Yun said, “When you are obsessed with speed, your attack power naturally weakens!”

“You are right. Fighting with you has not disappointed me. You and I have to battle to mature. Only by facing more experts will we learn. Only then will we no longer become flustered when we face unforeseen circumstances in a life and death battle.”

Bai said as he stabbed his sword into the purple tungsten tiles.

“Zi Zi Zi!”

With the sound of electric currents being released, Yi Yun felt a current from from the tiles. It made him feel numb!

Yi Yun immediately circulated his pure Yang Qi to withstand the attack.

“Oh? Bai transmitted lightning into the purple tungsten tiles, using the ground to attack Yi Yun?” Many people were stunned. The ground seemed to be adverse against Yi Yun.

Soon however, they shut up. They realized that a purple light curtain had appeared above the Divine Wilderness Stage. Like a huge bowl, it engulfed the Divine Wilderness Stage.

“This is?”

Many people were confused.

“It’s a force field!” Amongst the crowd, a person at the Human Lord level alarmedly said, “Force fields are also known as a domain. Only a very limited number of people are able to have such supernatural affinity with certain laws . Only then can they gain such insight. Unexpectedly, this youth in black can have his own force field at such a young age…”

Anyone could learn laws when they reached a high realm of cultivation. The only difference was one’s level of understanding of the laws.

Force fields however, were different.

Force fields were extremely profound. Non-geniuses amongst geniuses would not be able to gain such insight.

If one’s affinity with the laws were insufficient, then one would not be able to gain insight into force fields throughout their entire lives. And this affinity with laws was decided congenitally. The results from subsequent hard work was extremely limited.

Not even Yuan Foundation realm warriors, peak-Human Lords, or even sages, they could all fail at gaining insight into nomological force fields. This was because sages could be strong in other areas and still not necessarily have a high affinity with certain laws.

For example, Jian Ge focused on swords and was matchless in swordsmanship.

For laws, Jian Ge cultivated the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, and although he had reached a very high realm, he was still lacking affinity with pure Yang energy, so up to this day, he was still unable to create his own pure Yang force field.

When Bai used his lightning force field, even the Elders in the Elder stands were shocked, let alone the audience.

This black-clothed youth was no doubt a darling of lightning. He was a natural Son of Lightning.

His understanding and affinity with the lightning laws were shocking!

337 - : Lightning Force Field

CKtalon  CKtalon

Being trapped in the lightning force field, Yi Yun felt the current passing through his skin, which made his whole body feel numb.

“Since I can’t defeat you just with speed alone, let me fight you directly!”

Bai’s body was encased by purple lightning in a spasmodic manner. His clothes and hair moved along with the purple lightning.

By setting aside his speed, Bai’s energy soared. At that moment, he was like a god that controlled thunder and lightning.

“Roar——!”

It was as if a behemoth roared from Bai’s body as he made his move. This was the first time he was using all of his strength.

The Black Light sword, which gathered the divine lightning within the lightning force field, slashed towards Yi Yun as it emitted a tumultuous whizzing sound. The purple lightning gathered in the air as it reached an extremum, turning black in color. This black lightning eventually condensed into the shape of a lightning beast that was tens of feet long!

This lightning beast looked life-like and it’s appearance was that of a black tiger. It charged at Yi Yun.

“Lightning Kill!”

When the black lightning beast flew at Yi Yun, the purple tungsten ground beneath it melted into a molten metal.

This sort of power made the audience hold their breaths.

Seeing the black lightning beast attacking him, Yi Yun’s body surged with Radiant Sun Qi, as a Tang Valley phantom image appeared behind him.

Yi Yun knew that this attack from Bai was extraordinary. Due to the difference in their cultivation levels, it was impossible for him to withstand it just with the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

Phew–

Within Yi Yun’s body, the pure Yang spirit’s energy surged as he pushed the Purple Crystal to an extreme. The pure Yang spirit rapidly absorbed the pure Yang energy from the surroundings. The pure Yang spirit, which was originally burning quietly, transformed into a blazing brilliant Sun.

The pure Yang spirit nearly charged out of the Purple Crystal. It’s searing power was like a tidal wave that filled Yi Yun’s limbs. Yi Yun felt as if his body was burning up.

Saber Truth’s 32 Words – One With the Saber!

Yi Yun slashed his saber. His body and the Sonic Deathblade combined into one, and shot out like a meteor.

Boom!

The strong impact resulted in an aftershock that cut the purple tungsten ground up like sharp sabers.

“Careful!”

The warriors closest to the Divine Wilderness Stage could clearly feel the terrifying sword and saber Qi. Even with the protective shield separating them, they still felt the immense pressure.

The first direct clash resulted in Yi Yun’s body shuddering as his hand numbed from it.

He felt the lightning entering his body as it wantonly surged through his meridians. Bai’s lightning seemed to have an endless flow of power that even the pure Yang energy could not easily dissipate.

Similarly, Bai did not feel any better. Yi Yun’s saber Qi was too sharp. Besides, after gaining an insight into the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s sword intent, Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi had an additional trace of an undying property to it. This undying power would appear even when Yi Yun did not use the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s sword intent on purpose.

As such, Yi Yun’s pure Yang energy was like an inextinguishable flame that burned in Bai’s body. It was ineradicable so Bai’s entire body felt the pain.

Both of them retreated more than a hundred feet from each other. Their faces were pale as their blood was in turmoil.

“Yi Yun!” Seeing Yi Yun’s pale face with a deep frown, Wen Yu, Chu Xiaoran and company started to worry for him.

Bai was too strong!

From the strength Yi Yun had displayed up till now, it was already very difficult for him to win this battle. Even if he had won, it would have been a Pyrrhic victory!

Just from that clash of blows, both of them sustained severe internal injuries.

Bai being injured was no big deal, but with Yi Yun injured, the situation turned sour.

After all, after Bai, there were still 10 more Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors left!

These people may be far inferior to Bai and Feng Lin, but they were also strong. Relatively speaking, Murong Guang, who Yi Yun defeated in one sword attack, was just average amongst the group.

Yi Yun had expended a lot of Yuan Qi when handling Murong Guang, even though it appeared as if it was easy.

If he were to fight against these people after fighting Bai, how much Yuan Qi would he have left?

At that time, it was unlikely Yi Yun could use that sword move again.

“Good saber attack! Such strong pure Yang energy!” As Bai said, an unnatural flush appeared on his face. He wiped the corner of his mouth, and a tiny stream of blood flowed out.

In the direct clash with Yi Yun before, his meridians had been damaged.

“However, you can’t be feeling too good now. My lightning isn’t that easily annihilated!”

Bai looked at Yi Yun as the corners of his mouth turned into a smile. This was a smile that arose from the excitement of meeting someone his equal. Fighting against Yi Yun made him more and more excited.

Opposite from Bai, Yi Yun looked straight into Bai’s eyes as he clenched his Sonic Deathblade tighter.

It was indeed extremely difficult fighting Bai. In the end, it was too demanding for him to face fifteen elites from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom alone!

If he were to conjure his Golden Crow Aspect Totem, Yi Yun believed that his energy would be emptied out in a short period of time!

But if he did not use his Golden Crow Aspect Totem, how was he going to beat Bai?

“Again!”

Bai roared loudly and attacked once again.

“Roar——!”

Again with another roar, the black lightning beast appeared behind Bai once again.

The lightning beast was infused in Bai’s Black Light sword, resulting in radiant black beams being emitted by the entire sword!

Bai leaped up high in the air, with countless number of lightning current flowing around him. It was as if numerous thick purple snakes were surging towards Bai. Within the lightning force field, he could use his full power!

Bai came attacking from the top as he charged downwards at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun constricted his pupils. With the Sonic Deathblade in his hand, a Tang Valley phantom image appeared behind him. However, this time, a mountain of corpses and sea of blood that resembled Ashura Hell appeared as well!

“Hum Hum Hum…”

Wailing sounds accompanied the burning pure Yang flames. The two powers, which were nearly exact opposites in terms of properties, were injected into the Sonic Deathblade as Yi Yun attacked from bottom to top and slashed at Bai!

“Saber Truth’s 32 Words – Killing At Its Core!”

Ka-cha!

A fierce impact with the high temperatures made the purple tungsten ground below Yi Yun’s feet crack and a crater formed. Yi Yun’s entire body was nearly piled deep into the Divine Wilderness Stage!

However, Bai’s body was sent flying tens of meters back from the impact, while he spit a mouthful of blood out in the air.

Boom!

Bai slammed heavily into the purple tungsten wall outside the Divine Wilderness Stage, deforming it. He slipped to the ground before using his Black Light sword as a crutch to stand up. His eyes sparkled with fighting spirit that exuded excitement.

Yi Yun also leaped out from the purple tungsten hole. The Sonic Deathblade formed an angle with the ground as its tip trembled slightly.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s shirt was torn. One could see the contours of his chest muscles, but there were blood stains and numerous spots that had been burnt black from the lightning on them.

Bai’s attack this time was even stronger than before. It was as if he had compressed all the lightning force field’s energy into that sword attack, causing Yi Yun’s blood to go into chaos!

The audience were quiet. From the speed battle in the beginning to the direct head-on clashes now, the battle was intensifying. Furthermore, Yi Yun and Bai’s injuries were getting more severe!

What would be the outcome of this battle?

“This really feels great!”

Bai was extremely excited. It was as if he became more excited the more injured he was. “Amongst the younger generation, it has been a long time since someone has managed to fight me to my heart’s content.”

As Bai said this, his aura did not decrease but increased!

It was as if the injuries he had sustained were nothing to him.

“Oh!? Bai’s aura is increasing?” People were alarmed. They had originally thought that the battle between Yi Yun and Bai would slowly become less intense as their energies were depleted, but now, looking at Bai, it looked like the battle would become even more intense!

“Bai still has a lot of strength he has not revealed. Or maybe it should be said that due to the excitement from fighting Yi Yun, he was able to release his body’s hidden potential power.”

“Bai still hasn’t conjured his Aspect Totem!”

People from the Yun Long Divine Kingdom turned excited.

To them, although the overall group championship was filled with ups and downs, and even though Yi Yun was extraordinary, the eventual outcome still wouldn’t change.

Bai was their Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s god of war. Other than Bai, there was no lack in strong experts amongst the other ten people. Many of them were stronger than Jun Yue because they had the advantage of age!

“This mad man…”

In the Elder stands, Cang Yan looked at Bai as he swore.

Even he had to admit that this battle was getting harder. Bai was the type that grew stronger the more he fought. Fighting such a war junkie was the trickiest!

“Cang Yan!” At that moment, a Yuan Qi transmission rang in Cang Yan’s ear. Cang Yan turned his head and saw that it was the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord.

“The outcome of this battle is still up in the air. If Yi Yun is defeated, you have to make a move and save Yi Yun. Do not allow him to have any mishaps in his battle with Bai.”

“Similarly, if Yi Yun were to defeat Bai, then we shall call it quits for the overall group championship. There is no need to fight the battles after this as there is no way we can win. Instead, I fear that someone will deliberately hurt Yi Yun severely, and gain fame within the Yun Long Divine Kingdom from this battle. I do not want to see Yi Yun severely injured under the hands of these weak juniors.”

Hearing the City Lord’s words, Cang Yan felt heart-warmed.

Cang Yan had already treated Yi Yun as if he was half a disciple of his. Seeing the City Lord not pursue victory for this overall group championship, and prioritizing Yi Yun’s safety first, Cang Yan could only feel grateful.

“I know, with me around, I will not let Yi Yun get into an accident.”

…

On the Divine Wilderness Stage, Yi Yun and Bai were standing about a hundred feet from each other.

Both of them could feel the other’s powerful strength.

“Yi Yun! I know you are worried about the battles after this, but… I think your worries are unnecessary. That is because you will not have a single chance defeating me if you do not go all out!”

“Even if you were to go all out, the chances of you winning is slim. Without being able to use that sword move, it is nearly impossible for you to defeat me!”

Bai felt regret as he really wanted to encounter Yi Yun’s sword attack. He wanted to battle a Yi Yun that was at his peak!

As Bai was speaking, a black lightning beast phantom image appeared behind him for the third time, “I wish that our battle was able to decide the champion of the overall group match between the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and the Yun Long Divine Kingdom. However, it is is a pity that I do not have the power to make this decision. Letting you rest for two hours was the limit!”

Bai said frankly as Yi Yun nodded, “I understand!”

Bai could at most make decisions in his own battle, but he could not arrange the battles of the other people in the overall group championship.

Bai flicked his sword blade and a glimmer flashed in his eyes, “Being able to fight with you to such an extent has left me greatly satisfied. To show you my respect, I will use my strongest move to defeat you next!”

338 - : Terrible

CKtalon  CKtalon

Just as Bai finished speaking, the presence of the phantom image of the lightning beast grew stronger. The lightning force field around Bai also began to create thunder, as if it was going to spit out all of its energy.

Crackle!

The force field formed a lightning barrier around Bai, placing him under its protection.

“Roar——”

The lightning beast issued a roar that shook the heavens and earth, piercing through people’s eardrums. Even from behind the array barrier, the audience could still feel the powerful energy that resided within the sound. This sort of energy seemed like a bolt, hitting their insides, causing their blood to go into disarray. It was extremely uncomfortable.

“So terrifying!”

People were alarmed. Just the lightning beast’s roar alone was something they could not handle. If they were to stand where Yi Yun was, how would it be like to experience the frontal impact from the lightning beast?

At that moment, Bai extended his hand out and grabbed the lightning beast’s neck.

“Roar! Roar! Roar!”

The lightning beast began to roar crazily as its body began to intensely convulse. While convulsing, it was actually reducing in size.

As its size reduced, the lightning beast’s lightning energy grew even stronger. The lightning’s color turned from a purplish black to pure black!

Just as people thought Bai would conjure the lightning beast to attack Yi Yun, a shocking scene happened. Bai actually pressed the lightning beast into his own chest.

Whew! The lightning beast entered Bai’s body and with a “Chi La” explosive sound, the clothes Bai was wearing exploded after the lightning beast entered his body. A strong wind blew the remnant cloth and Bai’s hair around until they stood up vertically.

What!?

People were alarmed. They could not help but stand up.

At that moment, the lightning beast’s phantom image appeared on Bai’s chest, it was like a tattoo on his skin.

Many of them were completely speechless upon seeing this scene.

Bai had actually devoured the lightning beast!

The lightning beast tattoo spread across Bai’s body. Wisp after wisp of tiger stripes slowly encroached Bai’s neck and face like Lichtenberg figures. Bai seemed to have completely transformed into another person. With this look, Bai made everyone tremble with fear.

At that moment, the lightning barrier around Bai contracted once more. Finally, all the energy condensed together, forming into the phantom image of a long, thick snake.

The snake became more and more realistic and increased in presence. It was 70-80 feet long and completely black. It had six heads and its body stripes looked like lightning.

“Six-headed Lightning Snake!?”

Someone exclaimed in the audience stands. This was Bai’s Aspect Totem!

Bai’s Aspect Totem turned out to be a Six-headed Lightning Snake. It was a terrifying existence amongst lightning-elemental desolate beasts. In the Divine Wilderness, even late-stage Human Lords might not be able to handle Six-headed Lightning Snakes.

And Bai had actually obtained a Six-headed Lightning Snake as an Aspect Totem.

Typically, the Aspect Totems that were in the forms of beast, corresponded to the desolate beast a warrior killed.

The desolate beast killed would form the corresponding Aspect Totem.

To condensed an Aspect Totem, one had to personally kill the desolate beast. It did not work if it was killed by someone else. This was a law that even the Purple Crystal could not violate.

And Bai had actually condensed a Six-headed Lightning Snake Aspect Totem.

This proved that he might have personally killed a Six-headed Lightning Snake!

It was also possible that Bai had killed a lot of Three-headed Lightning Snakes, causing his original Three-headed Lightning Snake Aspect Totem to evolve into a Six-headed Lightning Snake. If a Six-headed Lightning Snake were to evolve once more, it would become a primordial strain-grade Nine-headed Lightning Snake.

However, even Three-headed Lightning Snakes were strong desolate beasts that even early stage Human Lords would not be able to handle.

How did Bai manage to kill Three-headed Lightning Snakes?

With the appearance of the Six-headed Lightning Snake, black clouds started to gather together as lightning started to cover the sky.

Boom!

As the lightning flashed, the dark clouds grew bigger. From the open dome of the arena, the spectators could see the dark clouds gather, as water vapor began to appear.

Not a second later, it started to rain in the arena!

“Thunderstorm?”

People felt the cool raindrops pattering on their face as they felt appalled.

Lightning resulted in rain. So when Bai conjured his Six-headed Lightning Snake Aspect Totem, due to the powerful lightning he released, it affected the weather, causing it to pour down.

It was simply inconceivable for a Yuan Foundation realm warrior to influence the weather.

“Is this Bai in his strongest state?”

People looked at Bai with alarm.

“Hahaha! It has been a while since I have felt this good!” Bai loudly laughed. Currently, he was naked from the waist up, revealing his taut muscles. His body was covered in tiger stripes and lightning tattoos, and on his chest, there was a roaring black tiger lightning beast, while a Six-headed Lightning Snake was rising up from behind him. The Black Light sword in his hand also manifested a large amount of black lightning. All of this made Bai look like a statuesque thunder god!

Yi Yun took a deep breath upon seeing Bai’s state, his expression turning solemn.

After devouring the black lightning beast, inserting its energy into his own body and then conjure up a Six-headed Lightning Snake Aspect Totem. The present Bai, who was at his peak, was too strong.

He had to go all out against Bai. However, by using all of his strength, that would mean that he would not be able to fight in the subsequent matches.

“Yi Yun, make your move! In my current state, what I look most forward to is the sword attack that you used to defeat Feng Lin! I really want to know how much damage it will cause me to take on that attack.”

Bai did not say whether the attack would defeat him or not, he only questioned how much damage it would cause him. Clearly, he believed that he could withstand that attack completely! He would only be injured and not defeated!

Bai had complete confidence in himself, that he could handle the sword attack that nearly killed Feng Lin, this showed how presumptuous he was!

However, no one said anything about how presumptuous Bai was, this was because his strength gave him the right to say such words!

“Unfortunately, you can no longer use that attack. I feel regret, but I will still use my strongest state to defeat you. Make your move, maybe… you will surprise me and not disappoint me!”

Bai pointed the Black Light sword at Yi Yun!

Yi Yun sighed as he touched the Distinguished Light sword and smiled helplessly.

“Indeed, I can no longer use that sword attack… I was still having that tinge of hope about winning this overall group championship. After all, I am grateful towards the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, so I have been reserving my strength and not use certain moves if I could help it. The energy consumption of using them will be too great, resulting in me not being able to fight the battles after. However…”

Yi Yun paused upon saying this and gently swiped his hand across the Distinguished Light sword, opening up a gash on his palm, resulting in blood flowing onto the sword.

Yi Yun’s blood seemed to be like hot lava. It started burning the moment it flowed onto the Distinguished Light sword.

“However, against you, I indeed have no other choice. So be it! I will not care so much anymore and fight a magnificent battle with you!”

Yi Yun’s eyes were burning with fighting spirit as he said those words.

Yi Yun was staring right at Bai, with Bai staring back at him.

“Oh? Do you still think that you have the capital to fight against me? In my upcoming attack, I will be going all out!” Bai loudly said.

Yi Yun laughed, “I will also be going all out. I believe that my full-powered attack will at least ‘not make you disappointed’!”

Yi Yun used Bai’s words back at him.

Bai laughed loudly, “Great! I look forward to it! Let me remind you that you might die from this attack!”

As Bai spoke, killing Qi surged from his body.

The Tai Ah Divine City warriors, especially Wen Yu, Chu Xiaoran and company who knew Yi Yun, held their breaths. Bai, in his peak state, was indeed too terrifying. He was so strong that he made people not have the courage to resist him.

In the Elder stands, Cang Yan was even more concentrated. He was afraid that Yi Yun would suffer a mishap. In his opinion, even sages in their youths did not match up the current Bai!

The rain became heavier.

Water vapor permeated the visions of people.

Bai and Yi Yun, two contemporary proud sons of Heaven, were less than 200 feet away from each other. They were looking at each other, separated by a curtain of rain.

At that moment, Bai made his move!

He brandished the black sword in his hand, and like a black bolt of lightning within the rain, he cut through the thick curtain of rain!

The power of that one sword attack was enough to shake the heaven and earth!

The entire Divine Wilderness Stage, as well as the thick purple tungsten ground, was slashed open by the sword, resulting in a huge sword scar!

Bai’s sharp sword beam, along with his Six-headed Lightning Snake, rushed at Yi Yun!

Yi Yun constricted his pupils. At that moment, he too made his move. It was still the move from the sword tomb, but within it, there was now a trace of the pure Yang sword intent. This was also the strongest sword intent Yi Yun could handle at the moment.

However, just this sword intent alone was far from enough.

At that moment, a clear cry rang from within Yi Yun’s body!

This clear cry seemed to be the cry of a phoenix that transcended the heavens. No matter how loud the falling rain and the rumbling thunder was, they were drowned by that clear cry.

“What was that!?”

The spectators became alarmed as the sound was too loud. It was as if it was ringing within their own ears, straight into their hearts. Yet, it was not harsh on the ears, it instead had the power to refresh their minds!

Boom!

The pure Yang flames burned, and like a Radiant Sun that exploded behind Yi Yun, the phantom image of a Tang Valley appeared behind Yi Yun. Before people could react, they saw a divine light rise up into the sky. Like a divine sword, it charged into the clouds, splitting them apart!

“Xiao!”

They once again heard that clear and loud cry. The audience helplessly watched on as a Golden Crow, covered in pure Yang flames, rushed out from Yi Yun’s body, following the divine light’s path all the way up!

This Golden Crow had a wingspan of tens of meters and nearly covered the entire Divine Wilderness Stage.

Under the burning of the pure Yang flames, the raindrops and water mist around it immediately evaporated!

“Heavens! What is that?”

People were extremely shocked. The divine bird that rushed out had the eyes of a crow, the beak of an eagle and the feathers of a phoenix. It had three legs and all of its feathers were burning with golden, pure Yang flames!

“Golden Crow!? Three-legged Golden Crow!?”

Some people incredulously shouted out the name. This Golden Crow had rushed out from Yi Yun’s body. Could it be Yi Yun’s Aspect Totem!?

“How is that possible!?”

A typical warrior, whose Aspect Totem was in the form of a king-grade desolate beast, was already extremely stunning!

Bai was such an example.

If it were a primordial strain. it would be even more fascinating. However, only Sages would have these types of aspect totems.

After all, the Aspect Totems warriors gained were obtained from the process of their hunting. Typically, those who could hunt primordial strains were only Sages.

Even Human Lords, who might have the fortuitous luck of killing a primordial strain, might not have the ability to absorb it!

A Three-legged Golden Crow!

It was a level higher than a primordial strain.

How could it appear on a Purple Blood realm warrior!?

The audience did not have time to think about it carefully. All they saw was the Three-legged Golden Crow rush at the Six-headed Lightning Snake and with a fierce cry, stretch out the sharp claws of its three legs to grab the Six-headed Lightning Snake.

Crackle!

The purple lightning roared as the pure Yang flames engulfed it. The lightning snake and Golden Crow fought a fierce battle in the sky!

Snakes, were by nature, not the match of eagles, so how could a Six-headed Lightning Snake be the match of a divine beast like the Golden Crow?

In just a few seconds, the three legs managed to hit its mark and the Golden Crow tore the Six-headed Lightning Snake open!

The Six-headed Lightning Snake began to bleed like it was a real desolate beast, made up of flesh and blood!

Yi Yun’s sword followed right after the Three-legged Golden Crow killed the Six-headed Lightning Snake, sending a slash down along with the Three-legged Golden Crow!

At that moment, it was as if Heaven and Earth had lost their sound. A golden sword beam was all that was left in the sights of people. The beam illuminated the world and even the dark clouds in the sky were split apart!

Boom!

The lightning broke apart as the pure Yang flames engulfed it, burning everything to cinders.

Yi Yun’s sword heavily smashed into Bai’s lightning force field, and the force field shattered like it was made out of paper!

Bai was greatly alarmed and raised his sword to face the incoming attack. However, under the pressure of the terrifying pure Yang flames, as well as the Three-legged Golden Crow divine beast, he felt it was impossible to compete with them with his power alone.

Peng!

The sword beam exploded and Bai felt a strong surge rushing towards him. He was like the leaf of a tree, helpless in a stormy hurricane!

“Bai!”

Beside the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner constricted his pupils and rushed out straight away. The chair beneath him was instantly smashed to smithereens!

At the same time, Bai spat out a mouthful of blood. His protective Yuan Qi had shattered, and his sternum had completely collapsed. He was sent flying like a piece of paper. As for the deadly pure Yang sword Qi, it was still locked onto his body, wanting to take his life!

However, at that moment, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner seemed to instantaneously appear beside Bai and grabbed him.

“Peng!”

With a flick of the Seven Star Pagoda Owner’s sleeves, that terrifying pure Yang sword Qi completely shattered, before even coming close to him.

Seeing the Seven Star Pagoda Owner grab the heavily injured Bai, no one spoke a single word.

The outcome of this battle was completely different to what was expected. Bai had been defeated by Yi Yun!?

In the end, Bai actually needed the strongest person of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s entourage, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner, to personally come and save him!

The audience felt like they were in a dream, especially the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors who could not accept this.

Bai was their Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s god of war, yet he was defeated by a youth who was younger than him and of a lower cultivation level than him. How was this possible?!

People looked up at the sky. The rain had actually stopped. Yi Yun’s attack had slashed apart the dark clouds, dispersing the rain clouds that resulted from Bai’s lightning!

One could cause rain, while the other had the ability to disperse clouds!

It was difficult to imagine that this battle actually reached such an extent. It was difficult to imagine that they were both only warriors from the younger generation!

However, what was most shocking of all was the Three-legged Golden Crow that flashed past in the final moments of that battle.

The mysterious phantom image that burned with golden pure Yang flames was still lodged in the iris of everyone in the audience, unable to be removed.

That was no doubt a Three-legged Golden Crow, but how could it have appeared? Was it Yi Yun’s Aspect Totem?

People looked at Yi Yun and felt incredulous.

How could a Purple Blood realm warrior have a Three-legged Golden Crow as an Aspect Totem!?

339 - : Lightning Snake against Golden Crow

CKtalon  CKtalon

A warrior’s Aspect Totem was usually condensed after continuously hunting desolate beasts. The beast marks condensed after killing a desolate beast might not be perfect, so for those warriors that lacked talent in condensing an Aspect Totem, they might have to attempt it hundreds of times before they would be barely able to condense an Aspect Totem.

Furthermore, for Aspect Totems that were in the shape of a beast, they became harder and harder to condense the higher ranked the desolate beasts were. It was not only the difficulty in killing a high-ranked desolate beast, even the condensing of the beast mark after killing the high-ranking desolate beast was not simple.

For example, even if a Purple Blood realm warrior were to actually kill a primordial strain he might not be able to condense a primordial strain Aspect Totem, let alone a Three-legged Golden Crow which was much more powerful than a primordial strain.

The vast arena was in complete silence. Be it the Tai Ah Divine City warriors or the Yun Long 72 Pagodas warriors, the Southern 10 countries or the other small factions, everyone found it incredulous.

“How does Yi Yun have a Golden Crow totem?” A Tai Ah Divine City Elder asked Cang Yan. Although Yi Yun’s quasi-master was Grandmaster Yuehua, Cang Yan was the one who knew more regarding his cultivation.

Cang Yan froze for a while before he stuttered, “I do not know either… In fact, I was the one who took him to choose a totem mystic technique, and later on… Hai, he chose the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’…”

“Myriad Beast Totem!?”

As an Elder of the Tai Ah Divine City, he naturally knew what that totem mystic technique meant.

Not only was it a remnant copy, it was also extremely difficult to cultivate. Since ancient times, no one from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had been able to master it.

Yi Yun mastered the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’!?

Many of the present Elders from the Tai Ah Divine City had previously seen the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’. Upon careful thinking, the Aspect Totem which Yi Yun conjured did greatly resemble the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’.

Is… that possible?

Yi Yun actually managed to master a totem mystic technique they did not?

Many Elders were looking at Cang Yan with a questioning look, Cang Yan could only stare back as he had been rendered completely speechless.

He had tried every means to stop Yi Yun from choosing the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’, but in the end, this kid actually mastered it!?

This really toppled Cang Yan’s perception of the world.

“Really a monster… After the tournament, I will make sure to ask him how he managed to master it.”

As Cang Yan was thinking, the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord’s voice transmission resounded in his ear.

“For our Tai Ah Divine Kingdom to produce such a person is of the greatest blessings. If the Shepherd Boy really is to bring a beast horde that will bring a calamity to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, then maybe this will be the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s chance to rise up from the ashes. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has existed for too long, causing the country to become a bit lethargic. Death might not be a bad thing, and Yi Yun might give way to the opportunity that the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has to rise back up from the ashes…”

“In the future, he might even have the chance of becoming a Great Emperor…”

The City Lord’s said it in a solemn voice.

It was not only limited to Cang Yan, many of the Elders present were greatly alarmed upon hearing the City Lord’s voice transmission.

Great Emperor!

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s history of tens of millions of years, there had never been a single Great Emperor. The strongest person was just a peak-Sage.

The distance between Sages and Great Emperors was separated by a huge gap. It was a gap that made people lament upon seeing it.

Yi Yun had the possibility of becoming a Great Emperor?

If that was the case, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom would very likely undergo a quantum leap!

A Great Emperor not only guaranteed the prosperity of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, if a Great Emperor’s bloodline was to be mixed with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal bloodline, then it would cause the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal bloodline to become even more powerful.

Other than that, a Great Emperor would create many sorts of martial arts, leaving behind heritages that were obviously priceless!

After all, the sword and saber tombs were left behind by a person suspected of being a Great Emperor. Unfortunately, the sword and saber tomb was not the complete heritage of a Great Emperor.

They had been opened before, losing a lot of the valuable heritage within. Only the marks were left within the sword and saber tomb, and even they looked as if they had been casually drawn by the owner, so it was not considered a heritage. However, the sword and saber tombs, along with the array within them allowed the Tai Ah Divine City to be opened up in the Divine Wilderness in conjunction with a peerless expert from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

Just an incomplete heritage had so much value to it, so the value for a complete Great Emperor’s heritage was obvious!

If there was a Great Emperor within the country, it would raise the overall strength of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. With a Great Emperor, the number of Sages within the country would also increase.

And a second Great Emperor might even appear not long after!

“Great Emperor, is that really possible? Yi Yun might become a Great Emperor?”

Cang Yan looked at Yi Yun and felt incredulous. To him, Great Emperors were a legend that eluded him.

Was he going to witness the rise of a Great Emperor and become one of the masters of this Great Emperor?

Just thinking of this made Cang Yan feel like he was dreaming.

If he became a Great Emperor’s master, then even if he was one of the least outstanding ones amongst Yi Yun’s future masters, Cang Yan would still feel extremely satisfied. It was impossible for him to become a Great Emperor in his life, but if he had a student that became a Great Emperor, he could really die without any regrets.

At that moment, the City Lord carried on, “I am afraid that Yi Yun can no longer fight. Let us admit defeat for this battle. To fight to such a level, he is already an elite amongst elites. He has obtained enough glory for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and he has won us precious seats. I will personally reward Yi Yun for his meritorious achievements after this battle.”

Cang Yan looked at Yi Yun. At that moment, Yi Yun’s face was pale after having used his Golden Crow Aspect Totem. There was not a tinge of pink left on his face and his hands, which held the sword and saber, were trembling. Although he did not sever any meridians this time, Cang Yan could feel that Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi had been nearly completely expended.

Using the Golden Crow Aspect Totem for less than the time it took to take a breath completely drained Yi Yun of his Yuan Qi.

Yi Yun was now severely exhausted. It was very likely that he would not even be able to use the Saber Truth’s 32 Words’ moves. There was no meaning in fighting any further.

Yi Yun used the Sonic Deathblade to support himself as he breathed heavily. He barely managed to regulate his chaotic blood flow.

Although he had the Golden Crow’s blood as healing medicine, he had already drunk a lot of it, and whatever he could absorb had already been absorbed.

It would still be effective if he were to drink some more, but it definitely was not enough to replenish his energy to the point of winning this alliance tournament.

“He looks like… he can’t make it…”

Not only Cang Yan, others also started to discover Yi Yun’s situation.

“It looked like he couldn’t make it the last time too, but he still managed to finish off Murong Guang with one sword attack.”

Some of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s warriors on the participant benches were quietly discussing.

Previously, Murong Guang thought that he could easily take out Yi Yun but ended up being easily taken out by Yi Yun. That scene was still fresh in their minds.

In a once bitten, twice shy situation, and especially with Yi Yun nearly crippling Murong Guang, it made these elites feel fear. They lacked the courage to go against Yi Yun. No one wanted to follow in Murong Guang’s footsteps.

“Hmph! He has definitely expended even more this time! His Aspect Totem is even more terrifying than that sword attack. With his peak-Purple Blood cultivation level, to be able to stand after using it is already not bad! Yi Yun is already a spent force, not someone to be fearful of!”

A purple-dressed youth said arrogantly as he looked at Yi Yun.

At that moment, on the Divine Wilderness Stage, Yi Yun’s body suddenly convulsed as he placed his entire body’s weight onto the Sonic Deathblade, finally spitting out a mouthful of blood.

The blood stained the cold purple tungsten ground.

“Yi Yun!”

Chu Xiaoran and company were extremely worried upon seeing this.

“He’s vomiting blood! Haha!” The purple-dressed youth, who spoke earlier, laughed loudly upon seeing this scene. His eyes were shining with excitement. He looked back at his peers and gave a very pleased look.

“As I said, he can’t make it anymore, yet all of you don’t believe me!”

The others looked at each other before someone nodded, “Indeed, Yi Yun should not be able to make it. This is our chance.”

“Hmph! The Seven Star Pagoda Owner had transmitted his voice, saying that Yi Yun has a tiny possibility of becoming a Great Emperor. Although I do not believe he will become a Great Emperor, so what if he becomes one the future? Wasn’t he still defeated by us in his youth?”

“You’re right. Just thinking of defeating a young Great Emperor makes me excited. In the future, we can all say that we were people who could defeat a young Great Emperor, hahaha!”

Under the instigation of the purple-dressed youth, many of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom youths laughed excitedly. They were eager to defeat Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun, I’ll challenge you!”

The purple-dressed youth swaggered up to the Divine Wilderness Stage and looked at Yi Yun with a haughty look.

At that moment, Cang Yan’s Yuan Qi voice transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ears, “Yi Yun, do not eat into his provocation. This person may look like a retard, but he is still very strong. Of the ten people the Yun Long Divine Kingdom have left, he is probably ranked third or fourth. The current you is no longer his match. You just need to admit defeat. If you do not want to say it, I will represent you in admitting defeat.”

Cang Yan was afraid that Yi Yun would be foolhardy due to his young age. Recklessly fighting against this shameless person and only end up falling into his ploy. Once they started fighting, the other party would definitely use various sorts of methods to severely injure Yi Yun.

Although Yi Yun’s life was not in peril with Cang Yan around, Cang Yan would still feel extremely pissed if the number one person of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was being brutally beaten by such a person.

Yi Yun remained silent and did not respond.

This purple-dressed youth was probably stronger than Jun Yue due to his age!

Currently, it was too demanding for Yi Yun to fight someone stronger than Jun Yue.

“I am Murong Fei. Remember my name because you will be defeated by me. In the future, even if you are to accomplish great things, it will not change the fact that you are like a woman I fucked. No matter how distinguished she will be in the future, she would still be someone that I fucked, hahaha!”

The purple-dressed youth roared with laughter.

He had already guessed that Yi Yun might surrender, but how could he allow that?

If Yi Yun were to surrender, then he could not brutally beat up Yi Yun and he could not be the person who defeated a young Great Emperor.

He did not care if Yi Yun was currently completely exhausted, as long as he defeated Yi Yun, it would still become a fact. Be it within his family clan or in his circle, he would have the rights to flaunt himself.

Just thinking of defeating a figure known as a young Great Emperor felt great!

340 - : A Tiger leaving his Hill and descending to the Plains

CKtalon  CKtalon

“So what about it, kid? Do you dare fight me?” Murong Fei unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Yi Yun’s eyebrows. His face was full of contempt and provocation. “Does the person known as the number one person amongst the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s younger generation have guts? If you think you can’t make it, quickly beg for mercy.”

Murong Fei became more and more arrogant. He guessed that Yi Yun was going to surrender.

Not being able to fight Yi Yun would leave him with regrets as he would lose the right to brag.

But even so, he still wanted to carry on provoking as Yi Yun might turn hot-headed and accept his challenge.

Even if Yi Yun did not accept the challenge, saying all of that made Murong Fei feel good. In the future, he could boast in his circles and family clan saying how the number one person of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, Yi Yun, known as a person who would one day become a Great Emperor was humiliated by him and did not retaliate, and eventually, he surrendered with his tail between his legs.

This effect was barely acceptable.

Seeing Murong Fei’s provocation, all of the Tai Ah Divine City warriors were fuming.

Many of them could not accept it any longer!

“Fuck, I’ve never seen such a shameless person!” A person stood up and pointed at Murong Fei and cursed.

“Murong Fei is no different to shit! And that Murong Guang! They must be from the same family. One is more shameless than the other!”

“Fuck! Still jumping out to talk a bunch of crap, appearing as if he’s all awesome and what not. Why didn’t he fight earlier? He’s no different to a straw bag. If Yi Yun had 30% of his strength left, he could finish this kind of person in 1 move. To think he dares be arrogant. Even a dog’s bark sounds better than your shouting!”

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warriors were quite good at cursing.

However, Murong Fei’s skin was thicker than the city walls. He remained unmoved.

So what if you cursed me?

“Miss, this person is too shameless.” Beside Luo Huo’er, the maidservant Dong’er clenched her pink and tender tiny fists and her small circular face looked like an apple as it had turned redder due to anger. As she said that, her undeveloped chest moved up and down like a small balloon.

Luo Huo’er looked at Murong Fei with a disgusted and irritated look. This was the first time she had seen such a toad that was so shameless. Comparatively, that unpleasant fellow Yi Yun was like an angel.

Seeing Murong Fei being so arrogant and then looking back at Yi Yun, Luo Huo’er’s black eyes seemed to roll around, as if she thought of something. Luo Huo’er seemed to be in a dilemma.

She rubbed her smooth forehead with her tiny fingers as if she was still struggling to decide before she said quietly to herself, “Just this once. It shouldn’t be a problem…”

…

At that moment on the Divine Wilderness Stage, the referee looked at Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun, do you want to accept this challenge?”

Seeing that Yi Yun was still silent, the referee had no choice but to ask.

“Yi Yun, don’t fall for their trap! You are admitting defeat after a huge battle, it is not shameful. On the other hand, that Murong Fei is so shameless that it made people despise him. You just need to admit defeat. If you were to fight him, you would end up being even more humiliated.”

Chu Xiaoran was afraid Yi Yun would fall for the trap.

Cang Yan noticed that Yi Yun did not intend to surrender, so he stood up, “I’ll represent Yi Yun, and give up…”

Just as Cang Yan said this, Yi Yun, who had been silent, suddenly raised his hand, “Hold on! I’ll accept this battle!”

What!?

Everyone was stunned when Yi Yun said this. Anyone could tell that Yi Yun was at the limits of his limits. He could not beat Murong Fei, yet he accepted the challenge? Was this any different than self-mutilating himself?

“Hahahaha!” Murong Fei laughed loudly, “Great, I originally thought that you were a coward, but I now take that back. You are not a coward, but a complete idiot. Very well, let’s fight! I will beat you up like you are a dog!”

Murong Fei clenched his fists with extreme excitement on his face.

“Don’t be in such a hurry. I am the leader of the Tai Ah Divine City’s overall group match. I can let Chu Xiaoran take over for me.” As Yi Yun said, he looked down the stage at Chu Xiaoran.

Chu Xiaoran was stunned hearing this.

Was he letting her fight in his stead?

She didn’t lose in the teenager division matches, so according to the tournament’s rules, anyone who had not been defeated had the right to fight. This included Wen Yu and a few other first year cultivators.

However… She was not Murong Fei’s match!

Murong Fei was a Yuan Foundation realm warrior, and due to the age gap, Chu Xiaoran would only be abused trying to fight Murong Fei. Besides, Murong Fei seemed like a shameless type of person who would not hold back.

Yi Yun wanted her to fight?

Chu Xiaoran was completely in a daze. At that moment, Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi transmission rang in her ear, “Drag it out, let Wen Yu and the rest also go up too. Try to delay as much time as possible before going up on stage. Try to delay for the time it takes 1-2 joss sticks to burn. The longer it is, the better. When you start fighting, just surrender quickly!”

Chu Xiaoran was shocked when she heard what Yi Yun said. Delay for the time it takes for 1-2 joss sticks to burn?

In this alternate world, one joss stick was the time it took for someone to take a hundred breaths. The time to take 100-200 breaths was completely inadequate for Yi Yun even if it was delayed.

In Yi Yun’s situation where he had been depleted of all his energy, he needed about four or five days to recover. And this was only under the condition of using all sorts of treasured materials to recuperate.

“Yi Yun, what are you doing?” Chu Xiaoran asked worriedly, “Do not fall for his trick! That Murong Fei is purposely antagonizing you so he can shine!”

Yi Yun shook his head, “No matter how Murong Fei provokes me, it is meaningless to me. He is just a retard in my eyes. If I minded a retard, then wouldn’t I have the same intelligence as a retard?”

Yi Yun words immediately rendered Chu Xiaoran speechless, “Then you…”

“I only want to win! I want to win this overall group championship. That’s why I accepted the challenge. You, Wen Yu and the other juniors, help me drag it out!”

In accordance with the tournament’s rules, when one side sent out a person to fight on stage, the other side could indeed send another person to accept the challenge. It was only because Yi Yun was the only power on the Tai Ah Divine City’s side that resulted in Yi Yun fighting all the way.

“You want to win? We can win under such circumstances?” Chu Xiaoran was stunned. Yi Yun’s words were simply unbelievable.

“I’ll give it a try. I do not have much confidence as well, and I do not know what will happen.” With that said, Yi Yun walked off the Divine Wilderness Stage.

Chu Xiaoran was completely confused.

“Hahaha! You actually used a woman as your shield, you sure came out well!” Murong Fei laughed loudly the moment Yi Yun walked off the Divine Wilderness Stage. His laughter was without restraint and in it, there was a tinge of perverseness in it, “Little beauty, come on up and play with this elder brother! Gee, you’re such a beauty. Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.”

Against social norms, Murong Fei’s gaze wandered over Chu Xiaoran’s body and it landed on her thighs, then on her chest.

This made Chu Xiaoran fume. She really wanted to charge up and fight it out with Murong Fei; however, she remembered Yi Yun’s words and endured.

I’ll let you be arrogant for a while!

Although she did not know what Yi Yun was doing, and while Yi Yun said he did not have much confidence, Chu Xiaoran still had unfounded confidence in Yi Yun. She believed that he might be able to create a miracle.

With that in mind, Chu Xiaoran said to the referee, “Sorry, I did not expect myself to engage in battle so suddenly. I want to prepare for a while.”

The referee was slightly stunned, prepare?

Although he did not know what Chu Xiaoran needed to prepare, the referee nodded.

“Alright!”

…

At that moment, Yi Yun had already left the arena. With a blur of his figure, he disappeared.

Although he was greatly drained of his energy, he could still maintain a speed that exceeded mortals by a hundred times.

In the time it took to take a few breaths, he arrived in front of a stone hut a few hundred meters away. In the Tai Ah Divine City, there were plenty of these simple stone huts along the streets. They were built for people to take a breather.

At that moment, within the stone hut, there was a girl dressed in red. She sat on the railings of the courtyard casually, leaning on a tree beside the railing. Both her tiny legs were dangling in the air. Her dangling her feet looked like a girl touching the surface of the water with the tip of her feet.

“Luo Huo’er!”

Yi Yun came out because of Luo Huo’er’s Yuan Qi voice transmission!

“Miss Luo, you have a desolate bone relic that can recover stamina quickly?”

“Relic? Uh…I guess so…” Luo Huo’er responded whilst being preoccupied with another matter, in a way of affirming Yi Yun’s query.

“There is such a relic?” Yi Yun found it unbelievable. A relic that could quickly restore a large portion or even all the stamina of a completely exhausted person was something that even the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord lacked!

There was a process for warriors to absorb relics. Relics could recover one’s stamina, but their effects were slow. In fact, they had very limited effects. Even the Golden Crow species’s blood he used did not have such a heaven-defying effect.

Although it sounded incredulous, Luo Huo’er had no reason to lie to him. She couldn’t be up to her mischievous antics in this situation.

“You really have a relic like that, wouldn’t it be very valuable? To use it on me…” Yi Yun stopped his words. Luo Huo’er’s background was mysterious and the relic would have an abnormally high value according to her description as it confounded common sense.

Hearing Yi Yun’s words, Luo Huo’er was rendered a bit speechless. How could she have such an amazing relic? She could recover Yi Yun’s stamina only because of a special ability of hers.

However, her ability was not to be flaunted as it was related to her family clan and race. She could not let others know.

Luo Huo’er was also mischievous, but she was not good at lying. She wanted to sweep it under the rug in a hand-wavy fashion, but seeing that Yi Yun wanted to ask again, Luo Huo’er felt anger and stared at him. She snapped, “Where are you getting all that nonsense from!? Just stay there!”

“Uh…” Yi Yun choked. He never expected that Luo Huo’er, who was still mumbling a few moments ago suddenly, would take an 180° turn in attitude.

“Lie down!” Luo Huo’er said with a repulsive look and pointed to a stone table.

The table’s length was about a foot long, and this rendered Yi Yun a bit speechless. It was so small, just barely enough to sit down on, how could he lie on it?

“There’s no time, hurry!” Luo Huo’er urged him. Yi Yun had no choice but to lie down on the stone table.

Now, Yi Yun had the height of an adult, so for him, lying down on such a small stone table was an acrobatic art. If he was not careful, he could fall down.

When Luo Huo’er saw Yi Yun’s comical state, the corners of her mouth arced upwards. She really wanted to take this opportunity to tease Yi Yun, but due to the lack of time, she gave up on the thought.

She was about to use her race’s mystic technique, but then she thought of the matter regarding relics. So she took out a desolate bone relic from her interspatial ring and threw it at Yi Yun, “This is special medicine, eat it.”

“Special medicine? It’s this?” Yi Yun stared at the relic that looked like a sugar pill in his hand. He was speechless.

You think this bro is a child!?

He was now a Desolate Heaven Master, and he was not so easily fooled. Wasn’t this an ordinary relic that could be bought anywhere on the streets?

Could this thing rapidly recover his stamina? Wasn’t this a joke!?

341 - : Voice Transmission

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Isn’t this a normal desolate bone relic refined from the White Spirit Divine Snake and Heavenly Star Worm Teeth?”

Yi Yun held the sparkling bone relic in his hand and examined it while asking Luo Huo’er to clear his doubts.

Luo Huo’er was stunned for a moment. What the heck!? Can you recognize it just like that?

Although Luo Huo’er knew Yi Yun had extremely high talent in the Desolate Heaven technique, his talent had always been in the extraction of energy. She had never seen his talent in identifying energy.

Energy identification was not easy as it required tremendous amounts of experience.

Many outstanding Desolate Heaven Masters, who had studied for decades up to a century, might not be able to completely identify the materials used in every relic. In contrast, how long had Yi Yun studied the Desolate Heaven technique? And he had spent a long period of time in the Divine Wilderness, so how could he practice his Desolate Heaven Technique?

The desolate bone relic in Luo Huo’er’s hands was made of a mixture of materials, yet Yi Yun had managed to accurately identify them.

Luo Huo’er could not longer lie anymore after Yi Yun identified the original raw materials. Seeing that Yi Yun was still having his doubts and hesitations, Luo Huo’er went from embarrassment to anger, “Why do you have so many nonsensical questions!? Do you want to eat it or not?”

Yi Yun was speechless. This was a grave matter. He had accepted Murong Fei’s challenge, and if something went wrong, the outcome would be tragic.

However, the common desolate bone relic in his hand could recover stamina? Even ghosts wouldn’t believe it!

But at that moment, Yi Yun could only try it as a last resort. He could only pray that Luo Huo’er was not pulling a prank on him. If she were to pull a prank like that at that moment, then she would be too evil.

Yi Yun swallowed the relic in his hand.

Seeing that Yi Yun still had the expression of “stop kidding me” even after swallowing the relic, Luo Huo’er had no way of justifying herself.

The situation was too sudden, so she had not thought of a good way to conceal it. However, upon further thinking, it seemed like it was impossible to conceal it.

As such, Luo Huo’er’s expression turned serious and she said with a threatening tone “Kid, this lady warns you! Whatever happens next, you are not to tell anyone. If anyone asks you how you recovered your strength, just saying that this lady gave you a special medicine will do!”

Luo Huo’er came from a special background. It was expected that no one would have doubts if it was explained in such a manner.

Back then, her family clan had placed an individual near the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and then sent her to the Tai Ah Divine City. She didn’t know what sort of standing the person had in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. To Luo Huo’er, he was some low ranking person, or else why would he have placed her here?

However, it seemed like that fellow had some standing in this region. He was not only able to send Luo Huo’er to the Tai Ah Divine City, but he also got the maidservant Dong’er entry into the city. Bringing a servant into the Tai Ah Divine City was a treatment many of the young masters did not have.

Under such circumstances, Luo Huo’er’s status in the Tai Ah Divine City had always been mysterious. People guessed that her background was extraordinary, but it was weird because if she came from a prominent birthplace, why did she have to come to the Tai Ah Divine City for training, and not stay in her faction for training?

It was something that many people could not figure out.

Hearing Luo Huo’er’s words, Yi Yun was slightly stunned. He vaguely guessed that Luo Huo’er most likely had a shocking secret that she did not want others to know. And clearly, the ability to heal his injuries had nothing to do with that relic.

“Not tell anyone, right…”

“Right! If not, you will… Eh?” Luo Huo’er stressed the “Eh” part of her speech in a strong tone. At the same time, she waved her tiny pink fist in front of Yi Yun’s face. She used what she thought was a vicious look to express how terrible the consequences would be if Yi Yun revealed the secret.

“Do not think that just because this lady looks weak and pretty that her strength is lacking. Hehe, if you do, then your are really naive!” Luo Huo’er said fairly confidently. People who usually said these kinds of words were weak trash, somewhat like Murong Guang,

When Luo Huo’er said those words, for some unknown reason, Yi Yun felt that this girl was really someone to be feared.

“Alright, there is no time! Close your eyes. You are not to peek. If you peek once, I’ll dig your eyes out!” Luo Huo’er said fiercely, so Yi Yun had no choice but to close his eyes.

Following that, Yi Yun felt his body suddenly being covered by a layer of light. This mysterious membrane of light completely cut off Yi Yun’s perception.

“Oh?”

Yi Yun found it strange when he suddenly felt a cool energy envelope him.

It was as if he was submerged in the purest water, with his body left hanging in the void. Water flowed around him wave after wave and cleansed his body. It was a young girl’s lovely touch. It was extremely comfortable.

This is…

Yi Yun was shocked. He really wanted to open his eyes to see what Luo Huo’er was doing.

However, upon recalling Luo Huo’er’s words, Yi Yun held back the thought.

Without a doubt, Luo Huo’er was risking exposing her secret by helping him. As such, Yi Yun did not take the initiative to peek.

The clear water flow that seemed to contain wonderful amounts of energy seemed like a pure water fountain. It slowly meandered through Yi Yun’s pores, orifices and into his meridians. It nourished his dantian, organs and even his bone marrow.

In a subtle fashion, Yi Yun felt his own energy gradually recovering. He even felt that the severed meridians in his right hand, sustained from using the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s sword intent, were slowly recovering.

Even that was possible!?

Yi Yun was really shocked in awe.

With his body gradually recovering and as he felt that clear water flow, Yi Yun seemed to feel a joy in life that he had never felt before. It was something he had never even thought of before.

It was like Man and Woman, who had never tasted the forbidden fruit, would never know the joy of love. Currently, Yi Yun also never thought that there was such a wondrous joy in the world.

Yi Yun felt like a fish, that had been separated from the ocean for a long time, and now it had finally returned to the water. He swam freely as he stretched his limbs out comfortably. He relaxed his body as every inch of his muscles and skin felt completely relaxed.

The pure water that gushed into his body was constantly accumulating energy within his body. Yi Yun felt as his body seem to go through very subtle changes. Even if he probed it carefully, he could still not figure out the changes. Yet inadvertently, it seemed to really exist…

At that moment, Yi Yun felt a pair of soft, cool and smooth arms hug him. When he received the embrace, that joy reached an extreme. And at that split second, Yi Yun felt as if the clear energy within his body had evolved. It really merged with his flesh and blood, no longer separating.

This feeling was too beautiful.

Unfortunately, it was just a fleeting instance that seemed like a dream. It even made Yi Yun suspect if that was really the arms of a young girl hugging him.

Checking his own body, Yi Yun realized that he had recovered to his optimum condition. His injuries had recovered by more than 90%. Including his Yuan Qi and stamina, they had nearly recovered to their peaks.

Now, Yi Yun even felt that it was no problem conjuring the Golden Crow totem or even using the full Pure Yang Sword Palace sword intent!

It is so magical!?

Yi Yun really found it unbelievable.

“It’s done!” At that moment, Luo Huo’er’s voice rang in Yi Yun’s ear.

“Can I open my eyes?” Yi Yun asked.

“You can keep them closed, I won’t stop you.” Luo Huo’er answered stiffly.

Yi Yun was speechless as he opened his eyes. He saw Luo Huo’er wearing an exquisite dress standing there. Her eyebrows were like willows, and her small face was red. Only her cute lips had a paleness to them that made one feel a sense of pity.

It seems… using that mysterious technique was quite exhausting on her.

Yi Yun suddenly felt a surge of pity and gratitude. He suddenly felt that this Luo Huo’er, who was usually up to no good and had a bad temper, seemed pretty cute.

Just as Yi Yun wanted to say thank you, Luo Huo’er suddenly said, “Why do you keep staring at me for?”

Luo Huo’er’s eyes seemed to dodge his. She was like a little rabbit who would retreat 4-5 meters away at the slightest commotion. It was as if she wanted to draw a line between herself and Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s word of thanks was suddenly taken back. “Just now…”

Just after he said two words, Luo Huo’er suddenly cut him off, “What are you dazing around here for?! If you don’t go, your tournament will be lost!”

Hearing Luo Huo’er’s words, Yi Yun knew that she did not want to mention any of this, so he did not say anything else.

He did not say thank you and just nodded solemnly. With a flash, he rushed out of the small courtyard.

At the instance of him rushing out of the courtyard, Yi Yun inadvertently saw that on the corner of the wall in the courtyard was the short-legged Dong’er. With her two pigtails, she had found two bricks from somewhere to step on. She was lying on top of the wall as she tip-toed to peek into the courtyard!

The maidservant seemed to be slow to respond. She did not realize that Yi Yun was rushing out so suddenly. Only when Yi Yun rushed out of the courtyard did she realize that Yi Yun had disappeared. With her slow reaction, she hurriedly turned her head.

This resulted in her staring at Yi Yun. The atmosphere turned awkward.

“Uh…” Dong’er’s tiny face was red as she pointed into the courtyard, saying hesitantly, “I was… just watching…”

Seeing Dong’er’s look, Yi Yun found it amusing, “Then keep watching.”

While saying that, Yi Yun’s body flashed again and completely disappeared.

“Dong’er!”

At that moment, a cold voice rang. About halfway through, while Luo Huo’er was using her mystic technique, Dong’er had appeared. Luo Huo’er was concentrated on using her mystic technique and she did not realize that. However, later on, she naturally found out.

Dong’er jumped up with fright as she hurriedly climbed down the bricks and obediently walked into the courtyard.

“Miss… Dong’er was actually following you. When I saw the courtyard light up, I raised my neck to catch a glimpse…”

Dong’er shrunk back her neck like a child that had done something wrong.

Luo Huo’er’s face turned cold. Actually, it was alright even if Dong’er saw it. Treating Yi Yun was different from fighting in front of the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord. Just from this, even if she had revealed a few her secrets, people would only think that she had some fortuitous event and fascinating cultivation technique, and not suspect that she wasn’t human.

And with her background, no one would touch her because of this.

However, if people could recognize her race, then it would be problematic. Although she could inform her family clan and ask for protection, then no one would do anything to her. However, it would bring a great deal of trouble to her family. At that moment, she would definitely be punished by her father.

Just thinking of the father who always abided to her wishes, and would suddenly become a stern father at the critical moment, Luo Huo’er felt helpless.

“That…” As Luo Huo’er’s mind was wandering, Dong’er, who had originally made a mistake, sneakily glanced at Luo Huo’er and asked softly, “Miss, why did you hug elder brother Yi Yun at the end?”

Hearing Dong’er’s words, Luo Huo’er’s small face sank. She glanced at Dong’er and said coldly, “That never happened!”

“Uh?” Dong’er was surprised for a moment and shook her head in confusion. She still said in a matter-of-fact manner, “That did happen…”

Luo Huo’er remained silent. Her pretty face seemed to almost drip water.

Dong’er, who was slow to react, still did not realize it. She continued to ask her question stubbornly. However, just as she opened her mouth to ask again, her chubby little face was suddenly pinched by two small hands!

Luo Huo’er pinched Dong’er’s chubby cheeks and pulled from both sides.

“Aiyah, pain! Pain!” Dong’er shouted. Her face was molded into a funny face as her small mouth was pulled wide apart.

However, Luo Huo’er did not let go, nor did she speak. She kept on pulling for about thirty seconds. Dong’er’s tears came out. From her experience, whenever this happened, it was because she had made a mistake or had said something wrong.

Dong’er finally understood and as she rubbed her face, she said dejectedly, “I think, I saw wrongly…”

“Alright…”

Luo Huo’er gave a nod of satisfaction before releasing her hands.

However… She still felt unhappy.

In fact, she thought with her powers, she could easily treat Yi Yun. Unexpectedly, healing Yi Yun’s injuries required too much energy. It far exceeded her expectations.

90% of the healing power within Luo Huo’er’s body had been transferred into Yi Yun’s body, but it was still insufficient.

As a last resort, at the last moment of using her mystic technique, Luo Huo’er used her “Fusing Technique”, perfectly infusing the healing powers into Yi Yun’s blood, flesh, and meridians.

If the healing power used by Luo Huo’er at the beginning was a boost in volume for Yi Yun, the last instant was a qualitative leap.

However, the “Fusing Technique” needed physical contact and it could not be transferred over a vacuum.

When Luo Huo’er was greatly drained, she could only use this method, in order to prevent it failing at the last moment.

“That toad has really lucked out. This lady’s first hug was given to him.” When Luo Huo’er was using her mystic technique, the situation was too urgent for her to think carefully. Now thinking about it, she felt she had got the bad side of the bargain. “It’s all Mother. Teaching me such a mystic technique. Isn’t this something only used for my husband or children? Forget it, I’ll not practice it in the future!”

As Luo Huo’er was thinking this, she kicked a stone on the ground up into the air. “Well, I’ll treat it as if I was hugging a pet dog. I hugged the family dog when I was young, so there is no difference!”

Luo Huo’er comforted herself as she slowly soothed her emotions.

342 - : Clear Water Fountain

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment in the arena, the alliance tournament between the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and Yun Long Divine Kingdom was in its final stages. Yun Long Divine Kingdom was likely to clinch victory.

“I admit defeat!”

A few seconds after the referee declared the beginning of the current match, a youth representing the Tai Ah Divine City timidly raised his hand.

“Admit defeat? Admitting defeat again?”

The Tai Ah Divine City audience were dumbfounded.

A few cultivators from their Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had consecutively done lots of preparation before going on stage. They then hung around the stage for a while, and a few seconds after the match began, they would admit defeat!

What are they doing?

Actually, the Tai Ah Divine City warriors knew that those who came up on stage last were not Murong Fei’s match at all. Since they were not his match, there was no point forcing it. Why go up and not fight, only bringing shame to yourself?

“Hahaha, I’ve never seen a group of extreme quality tortoises!”

“I’m dying of laughter. They don’t even dare to fight. Are you coming up on stage en masse to sing!?”

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors quipped sarcastically as they laughed.

Previously they had suppressed their anger, as Yi Yun was too strong. They had not been able to relieve their anger. Now in a rare turn of events, Yi Yun was seriously injured and could no longer fight, resulting in the others going up on stage. They immediately began to relieve their anger by sarcastically ridiculing the Tai Ah Divine City warriors.

“Your Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has only one strong person. As for our Yun Long Divine Kingdom, we have a group of strong people! Feng Lin, Bai, Murong Fei. Anyone is good!”

Another Yun Long Divine Kingdom warrior in the audience stands shouted loudly.

When Murong Fei heard this, he felt extremely elated. This person’s words had specially mentioned his name, and he was ranked together with Feng Lin and Bai.

Murong Fei was planning to brutally fight and torture in his one-man show but was unable to do so because of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warriors surrendering. However, he still felt extremely good being able to stand on stage alone, triumphant over the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warriors and looking down on the masses!

“Wen Yu, you are last. Delay it as much as you can! The second joss stick should only be burned halfway. Yi Yun should be back soon!”

Chu Xiaoran was confident in Yi Yun. She believed that even if Yi Yun could not recover from his injuries, he would still return by the appointed time.

“Yes.” Wen Yu nodded.

“Ah, little beauty. Are you prepared to fight me, or will you be like the rest, admitting defeat once the match begins?” Murong Fei’s mouth curled up in a mocking smile, “If I fight you, I will be gentle. Don’t worry.”

Murong Fei’s words were filled with mockery.

Wen Yu’s face sank and did not speak a word. As she adjusted her weapon, she prepared to go on stage.

“Adjust it a bit more. Don’t think I do not know what you are doing. You are all coming up one after another to mess around. Are you trying to stall for time? Hahaha! Yi Yun, that gutless fellow is using women as shields. Such a pity, how long can the lot of you delay? So what if you drag it out for another 15-20 minutes? The outcome would not change!”

Murong Fei’s smile turned cold as he waited to see Wen Yu perform.

Having Murong Fei see through their ploy, Wen Yu’s hand trembled as her sword nearly dropped to the ground. Previously, she was a proud daughter of heaven in her family clan. When had she ever lost her confidence because of going on stage to battle?

But now, faced with this scenario, Wen Yu was feeling intense pressure.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom audience’s depression, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom audience’s ridicule and the perverse gaze from Murong Fei were all sources of Wen Yu’s pressure.

Just as Wen Yu had finished adjusting everything and was about to go on stage, she suddenly heard a voice transmission, “That will do. Just leave it to me from here on out.”

Wen Yu halted in her steps and turned her head forcefully. She did not know when Yi Yun had walked up behind her.

Yi Yun’s clothes were still stained with blood and no one knew what he had done in the time it took two joss sticks to burn.

Wen Yu used her perception to probe but failed to discover any gains in Yuan Qi for Yi Yun.

“Senior Yi…” Wen Yu was just about to say something when Yi Yun walked up to the center of the Divine Wilderness Stage, standing in front of Murong Fei.

“Yi Yun is here!” Chu Xiaoran exhaled deeply. Yi Yun had indeed arrived back at the appointed time. If not, she would not have known what to do next.

Chu Xiaoran did not know what Yi Yun did. Although her rationale told her that it was impossible to recover from such serious injuries in a short time, she still looked forward to Yi Yun bringing about a miracle.

“Yi Yun, you have finally come out? I thought you wouldn’t dare.” Murong Fei looked at Yi Yun with a grin on his lips.

Yi Yun had finally appeared and it was time for Murong Fei to show off. He was looking forward to this fight. All these years, he had been overshadowed by Feng Lin and Bai’s halo. He was not famous, but in fact, he was very confident in his strength!

He needed an opportunity to prove himself.

And the greatly drained yet prominent Yi Yun was the best stepping stone!

Although he knew Yi Yun could not recover in such a short period of time, Murong Fei still checked Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi to be safe. He wanted to know how much he had recovered.

However, he did not detect any.

Realizing Murong Fei’s intentions, the ends of Yi Yun’s mouth curled up. He had long converged his body’s Yuan Qi. With the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun’s control of Yuan Qi was too good. When he converged his Yuan Qi, Murong Fei naturally could not detect anything.

If this was seen through, how was he to fight in a while?

Yi Yun was not some magnanimous person. Against enemies, there was no lack of him stabbing them in the back.

“Hehe.” Murong Fei felt slightly relieved having not detected Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi. He smiled insidiously and mocked, “Yi Yun, you delayed all this time to secretly eat some medicine? How effective is it?”

Yi Yun lightly replied, “Not bad. It wouldn’t do against experts, but against some cats and dogs, especially those shameless people without any ability, it is not a problem.”

Hearing Yi Yun’s words, Murong Fei’s face sank. How could he not be aware of Yi Yun scolding him with his words, “Courting death!”

Murong Fei said the two words and his Yuan Qi exploded. Behind him, an Aspect Totem in the shape of a leopard appeared.

Murong Fei did have some ability. The Aspect Totem was known as a Golden Leopard. Its defense was extremely strong and was not easy to deal with. To be able to have a Golden Leopard as an Aspect Totem proved that Murong Fei had trained a lot in the Divine Wilderness, by killing a large number of desolate beasts with his own strength.

“Young Master Murong! Kill the kid!”

In the audience stands, a vassal family of the Murong family clan began cheering for Murong Fei.

The Murong family clan was one of the top super families in the Yun Long Divine Kingdom, so it had many supporters in the audience.

Murong Fei’s energy rose to an extreme level and he shouted loudly. Just as he was about to use his skill, Yi Yun suddenly attacked!

Three sword attacks were slashed out in an instant!

Within these three sword attacks were about 10% of the Pure Yang Sword Palace sword intent.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

The three beams cut through the air and shot straight at Murong Fei!

It was so fast that it left people no time to react. The Aspect Totem Murong Fei had just conjured up was slashed apart by the three sword attacks!

“Whew!”

After the three sword attacks tore apart the Aspect Totem, they did not lose their momentum and carried on flying straight at Murong Fei!

The three sword beams brought with them a terrifying killing intent!

“What!?”

Murong Fei was greatly alarmed. He had some ability and in a hundredth of a blink of an eye, he managed to respond in a timely manner. His body flew back and wielded his sword to block the three sword beams.

However, how could he block Yi Yun’s sword attack?

When Murong Fei’s sword clashed with Yi Yun’s sword beam, a “Ding!” metallic cracking sound was heard. Murong Fei’s sword snapped from clashing with the three sword beams!

Murong Fei’s palm tore apart as he felt his arm go numb. His face was filled with inexplicable horror.

How could there be such a terrifying sword beam? It managed to snap the sword in his hand instantaneously!?

Murong Fei’s sword was no ordinary item.

However, even if it was a sword made by a master, it needed a warrior to inject within it Yuan Qi and sword intent to remain intact. When two swordsmen differed greatly in their sword intent and strength, then a clash between them would usually lead to the breaking of one party’s sword!

Once the sword was broken, Murong Fei no longer had the ability to resist.

The three sword beams pierced through his protective Yuan Qi, right into his flesh without further thought.

“Puah!”

Blood splattered and Murong Fei’s chest and abdomen were pierced open by the sword beam. What was even worse was the third sword beam stabbing into his shoulder, chopping off his right arm!

Murong Fei bellowed out a heart-wrenching cry as he slammed heavily to the ground. He saw his arm flying with his own eyes. That experience was unforgettable.

“My arm…”

Murong Fei’s face was pale. To warriors, even if an arm was chopped off, as long as it wasn’t destroyed, it could be reconnected with medicine.

However, even a rejoined arm would need more than half a year to fully recover.

Furthermore, his chest and abdomen had been pierced through. It would probably take Murong Fei more than a year to recover his Yuan Qi. His injuries were much worse than Murong Guang’s!

“Murong Fei!”

Seeing the tables turn, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom participants were completely shocked. What was this situation? Yi Yun was clearly drained of all his Yuan Qi previously and looked like he couldn’t last any further. Yet, in a blink of an eye, he was able to produce such a terrifying sword beam?

In less than a few seconds, Yi Yun had severely injured Murong Fei to the point of death with his slashes!

“Yi Yun, he!”

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom participants looked at Yi Yun with horror. They saw Yi Yun breathing deeply and quietly. He had a sword and saber in each of his hands. His body was straight like a javelin, erected on the Divine Wilderness Stage.

No Yuan Qi fluctuation was found in Yi Yun’s body. But for an unknown reason, seeing Yi Yun was like seeing a dormant primordial strain. It caused great apprehension!

This fellow had really fought with Bai for several hundred rounds and had been seriously injured!?

How was it possible to be this strong even when seriously injured!?

Could it be…

People looked at each other and seemed to figure out of the only possibility.

That was…Yi Yun had recovered from his injuries!

With that thought in mind, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors held their breaths. Heavens! What happened in the few minutes when Yi Yun was away!?

343 - : Fighting Again

CKtalon  CKtalon

“This kid! Has he made a full recovery!?”

Cang Yan looked at Yi Yun with open eyes. He too could not figure out what Yi Yun had done. Yi Yun had returned brimming with energy in about 8 minutes. It went against common logic.

He looked at the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord questioningly, and he noticed the City Lord looking at Yi Yun thoughtfully. Cang Yan had no idea what he was thinking.

…

Yi Yun stood on the Divine Wilderness Stage with a sword and saber in each hand, looking down at the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors off-stage.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s body was covered with blood. The blood was both his and his enemies. Although his clothes were torn and tattered, the aura he gave of was like that of the triumphant return of a king, looking down upon all men!

“Who else is there?” Yi Yun asked.

He did not mean to shout, but his voice contained a lot of energy. This caused his words to echo throughout the arena.

“Who else is there?” “Who else is there?” “Who else is there?”…

Hearing Yi Yun’s question, the audience held their breaths.

Terrifying!

A person with one saber and one sword managed to battle the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s 15 proud children of heaven!

And this generation of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom was a generation filled with talent, a talent that was not seen in the past century!

Otherwise, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s Seven Star Pagoda Owner would not have proposed for the younger generation to fight it out to decide on the number of seats.

However, under these circumstances, none of the proud children of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom dared to accept Yi Yun’s challenge to fight!

Now, all the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors were in complete silence.

This overall group match was like facing a humanoid primordial strain when they faced Yi Yun!

Yi Yun’s strength, endurance and ability to endure pain was incredulous.

Not only did he easily defeat Qianshui, and then defeat Feng Lin and Bai in two intense battles, he had even defeated the two Murong brothers in a split second when they took the opportunity to challenge Yi Yun when he was at his limits!

A terrifying opponent like Yi Yun made them struggle to muster the courage.

He seemed to have an endless amount of power. It made people feel a sense of despair. It was impossible beating him.

At that moment, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors were looking at each other, yet none of them dared to go on stage. What a joke! Wasn’t one courting death to fight against this humanoid primordial strain? The Murong brothers were the perfect example!

Especially Murong Fei. His injuries were worse than Murong Guang’s. He had two holes left in his body and he lost an arm. His life was nearly on doorsteps of death.

Although he still had a breath of life left, he was crippled. It was clear that he would be left behind by the elites at his level. His talent would drop down a level.

With such a heavy price, who was willing to fight Yi Yun?

“Yun Long Divine Kingdom, is there no one willing to fight?” The referee asked again.

The audience all looked at the remaining 9 Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors.

These nine people were suddenly the focus of attention. However, it did not feel good being the focus of attention at that moment.

Being defeated by others was originally embarrassing, but now, they were the type that did not even fight. It was even more embarrassing.

Against all the stares of everyone, the nine of them seemed to be sitting on pins and needles. They simply wished that they could turn into a pile of shit. At least, in that case, no one would focus on them.

They really regretted participating in this alliance tournament. Many of them had not even fought once.

In the young adult division matches, they had no chance to fight because they were too strong.

In the overall group match, they still had no chance to fight because they were too weak!

The nine of them evaded the gazes of Yi Yun and the audience. It was clear that they were abandoning the battle.

Seeing that the nine of them were abandoning the battle, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elders felt a sense of anger and pity. However, they knew that with Yi Yun completely recovered, having the nine people go up would only result in them being battered.

“Ah!”

A Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder slapped his thigh. Having all the country’s elites defeated by a single person felt frustrating!

As for the Yun Long Divine Kingdom audience, they were numbed as every one of them remained silent. Back when Yi Yun had defeated Feng Lin and Bai consecutively, they were still suppressing their fiery anger, but now, that fiery anger had been extinguished by a basin of water.

Originally, they had wanted to say that the top geniuses of their Yun Long Divine Kingdom were just weaker than Yi Yun by a bit, and that they were superior in number.

However, now that those geniuses had been defeated by a single Yi Yun even with their numbers, what else could be said?

“Since that is the case, I shall announce that the overall group champion belongs to the… Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!” On the Divine Wilderness Stage, the referee announced excitedly. As a Tai Ah Divine City law-enforcer, he too felt extremely excited.

With the referee’s announcement, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warriors began to scream wildly.

“Yi Yun! Yi Yun!”

If not for the law-enforcers maintained order, they would have rushed up the stage to lift Yi Yun up.

This victory was definitely not easy!

The battle process was intense and difficult. It was nearly all fought by Yi Yun alone. He had used all his energy to the point of overextending himself!

“We won!”

Chu Xiaoran exhaled. She looked at Yi Yun with eyes full of admiration and curiosity. Originally, when Yi Yun asked her to draw out the time, she did not believe that Yi Yun could recover to near peak conditions in such a short period of time.

What did he do?

“Senior Brother Yi, you’re awesome!”

When Yi Yun walked off the Divine Wilderness Stage, the Tai Ah Divine City competitors, the juniors, and Wen Yu all gathered to congratulate him.

They had overjoyed expressions and they were extremely excited.

Although they were only there to make up the numbers for this tournament, they had at least gone on stage. And it was not meaningless, they had collectively managed to gain some time for Yi Yun.

Seeing these juniors reveal smiles that came right from the heart, Yi Yun finally relaxed his high-strung nerves.

He smiled, “It wasn’t just me alone.”

Yi Yun had meant to refer to someone else, but these group of juniors naturally did not realize that. They thought that Yi Yun was referring to them.

Even though they liked to brag occasionally, they did not feel comfortable stealing the credit at that moment. They scratched their heads and said sheepishly, “Senior Yi, you are too modest. What we did was nearly nothing…”

Yi Yun smiled and did not explain. He knew Luo Huo’er did not want to proclaim this.

He casually looked towards the audience stands and saw a red figure hiding in the corner. Her elbow was propped onto a railing with her hand cupping her chin.

This young girl was naturally Luo Huo’er, and beside her was her maidservant Dong’er.

“Hmph! This fellow sure is cocky. Without me, he wouldn’t be able to be so spirited!” Luo Huo’er said in a pissed off manner. She was the type that liked to show off, but due to her family’s secret, she had no choice but to stay low-key, otherwise, her father would scold her.

This feeling of being a hero behind the scenes did not feel good!

“Indeed, indeed! Miss is the best!” Dong’er nodded to praise Luo Huo’er hurriedly. She was afraid that if she were any slower, Luo Huo’er would pinch her face again.

344 - : The Dust Settles

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although the alliance tournament had ended, the audience still cheered, with each wave louder than the other.

The Tai Ah Divine City warriors were too excited and they could not stop at all.

The glory belonged to the Tai Ah Divine City today, and it belonged to Yi Yun even more.

Yi Yun stood on the Divine Wilderness Stage with his eyes closed as the waves of cheers roared.

Although this cheering was intoxicating, Yi Yun was not enjoying the cheers. He was trying to gain some insights.

In the battle with Feng Lin, Yi Yun had gathered new insight on the sword intent when he used the Pure Yang Sword Palace sword intent, and that brought some changes to Yi Yun’s dantian.

Following that, Yi Yun drank the Golden Crow species’s blood. In the intense battle, the Golden Crow species’s blood slowly merged with Yi Yun’s blood, forming a harmony in his body.

And in the battle with Bai, this harmony reached an extreme. Yi Yun’s understanding was continuously being accumulated and increased.

Finally, when Luo Huo’er healed him, the cool energy that entered Yi Yun made his meridians harmonize and clear. It was as if he was going to break through soon.

He could vaguely feel his body’s Yuan Qi slowly gathering towards his dantian, and slowly binding together.

Yi Yun knew that once the Yuan Qi bound and condensed together, he would be entering the Yuan Foundation realm.

Yuan Foundation was the foundation for a warrior to climb to the peak of martial arts!

“Yi Yun!” Cang Yan jumped down from the Elder stands. “You little kid, you grew that much by being out for less than a year.”

Cang Yan looked at Yi Yun, but he felt the more he looked at him, the more he didn’t understand. It was amazing how Yi Yun had come this far.

“Senior Cang Yan.” Yi Yun bowed.

“The City Lord wants to meet you!” Cang Yan suddenly said.

Yi Yun was slightly stunned. Meet the City Lord?

Yi Yun nodded and said, “I got it. I had gained several insights in the battles before. In two hours time, I’ll meet the City Lord.”

It was rare for warriors to gain insight. The insights gained from a close fight were especially valuable. If one did not strike while the iron was hot to convert the insights into one’s strength, then these insights would fade away after a period of time.

“Alright. Feel at ease while digesting them. There’s no need to rush to meet the City Lord.”

Cang Yan didn’t seem to mind. Now, the more he looked at Yi Yun, the more he liked him. Yi Yun not only had gained seats for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, but he had gained glory for the Tai Ah Divine City. It also gave Cang Yan a life goal.

At Cang Yan’s stage, his position and status was pretty much at the peak of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, however, it was all meaningless to Cang Yan.

He was on the path of pursuing martial arts, but due to his age, his potential had been expended, so he could not go further anymore.

Even with his martial arts at its end, Cang Yan still wished to pursuit other things.

Cang Yan also wanted to leave a name in history.

For so many years in the history of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, there had been so many Sages since ancient times. In that long river of history, Cang Yan was not outstanding. However, if he were to groom Yi Yun well, then it would be different.

He could make history from achieving this feat.

…

The news of Yi Yun defeated all the Yun Long Divine Kingdom warriors, and winning first place in the overall group match for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was immediately spread like the wind through various channels the moment the tournament was over!

All sorts of long distance arrays, jade scrolls and letters were used.

Soon, Yi Yun was the most dazzling person in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Numerous factions paid attention to Yi Yun. And countless numbers of young warriors treated Yi Yun as an idol. His achievements were really amazing. Besides, he was still young, so his future was limitless!

At that moment, Yi Yun was in his residence, having just finished two hours of meditation.

Bit by bit, he clarified his understandings as he consolidated his foundations and cultivation level.

Yi Yun felt that he had reached a critical point. He was close to breaking through to the Yuan Foundation realm.

“It’s time to meet the City Lord!”

Yi Yun stood up and calmed his mind. Against the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord, Yi Yun did not feel at ease. He knew that in a while, he would be questioned a lot.

Outside the door, three law-enforcers had been waiting all that time.

“Are you ready?” A peak-Human Lord cultivation level law-enforcer, who was usually cold, now turned respectful when he met Yi Yun.

“Yes!” Yi Yun nodded. He followed the three law-enforcers all the way to the top of the central divine tower.

In the middle of the central divine tower, there was a vertical tunnel. And in the tunnel, there was a spirit boat powered by relics. Yi Yun rode the spirit boat together with the three law-enforcers, flying to the top of the tower.

The Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord residence was located at the 99th floor of the central divine tower!

This level had only three other heaven-graded rooms other than the City Lord’s residence. These three rooms were provided to guests. For example, people from neighboring countries of equal level to the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord or the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Emperor would use these rooms.

The City Lord residence was situated in the middle of the three heaven-graded rooms. There was a large plaque on the door, and on it there were two large carved words, “Tai Ah”!

This plaque was written by the first Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord himself. It had experienced the test of time.

When Yi Yun walked over, the door to the City Lord residence opened automatically.

Yi Yun adjusted his breathing before he walked in.

He entered a brightly lit hall after walking through the doors. Yi Yun saw a middle-aged scholar standing between some columns. His hands were held behind his back as he was admiring a picture.

This picture looked very strange. It had some abstract red lines that stretched endlessly. It looked like smeared out blood.

Just looking at this picture gave one an extremely unpleasant feeling.

Although Yi Yun vaguely knew what the picture was, he did not ask. He stood silently behind the City Lord.

This was the first time he met the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord. It was not convenient for him to ask too much.

The middle-aged scholar looked for a long while before he turned around to look at Yi Yun.

“City Lord!” Yi Yun bowed.

The middle-aged scholar smiled, “Yi Yun, can you tell me how you mastered the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’?”

Yi Yun had already expected that the middle-aged scholar would ask him that. He thought through his words before explaining how he met the pure Yang spirit and being unable to do anything to it, he met the Golden Crow species. He then witnessed the fight between the two pure Yang beings.

Later on, he mentioned how he used the protective charm Su Jie gave him. He managed to use the protective charm to resolve his crisis, and then, how he finally killed the Golden Crow species.

Everything Yi Yun said was the truth, without any lies. There were only some things that he did not reveal.

The City Lord nodded, “I see. In the way you describe it, it’s indeed a very good opportunity… However, I guess, that isn’t all the opportunities you have encountered, right…”

The middle-aged scholar was hinting at something, causing Yi Yun’s heart to beat fast.

“Yi Yun, you don’t have to be nervous!”

The middle-aged scholar laughed, “No matter what you encountered in Fallen Star Gate, all of them belong to you. As a junior, you risked your life to obtain them. If I were to vie with you for it, then with my outlook and aspirations, I am not worthy of being a City Lord.”

The Tai Ah Divine City had stood for tens of millions of years. All these years, the Tai Ah Divine City had Sages residing it. Elites often went out into the Divine Wilderness for training, so it was not uncommon for them to have a fortuitous event.

If the Divine City’s Sage level Elders fought for the fortuitous events every genius encountered, then it would be chaos. If this went on, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom would have been destroyed in a short period of time.

The middle-aged man carried on, “At my stage, the chances of me breaking through to the Great Emperor realm is infinitely tiny. No matter how big a fortuitous opportunity it is, it would be very difficult. As I have expended a large amount of my potential, the gap from the peak of the Sage realm to the Great Emperor realm is like a divine moat. It is impossible for me to cross it, so you do not worry about me coveting your possessions.”

“And even if it were you, with a large fortuitous opportunity, it would be extremely difficult to break through to the Great Emperor realm. If you were managed to do so, it will be a huge blessing for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and me!”

When the middle-aged scholar said this, he suddenly felt an endless amount of emotions.

“Yi Yun, many of your accomplishments now are unprecedented in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. However, when placed in some factions which you can’t even imagine, it is probably nothing.”

“Now, you have gained insights on the saber tomb and the sword tomb, you managed to master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ in tens of days, and you mastered the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’. All this achievements have surprised me. However… it is just a surprise. This is because I know that in your current state, you have a chance of becoming a Great Emperor in the future. But when placed in that vast world, so what?”

“This world is too big. You are not the only young person who I have not been able to see through. For example, the Luo Huo’er who healed you of your injuries may have achievements in the future that far exceed you.”

When the middled-aged scholar suddenly said this, Yi Yun felt alarmed.

The middle-aged scholar knew that Luo Huo’er had healed his injuries!

Indeed, although Luo Huo’er had chosen a concealed area to heal him, with the middle-aged scholar’s means, he probably had methods to track him and Luo Huo’er with his perception, seeing the process of Luo Huo’er healing him.

“You don’t have to worry. Regarding that young lady, I have no intentions in investigating her. She comes from a very huge faction. I also do not think that faction has any machinations on the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, so I am not too concerned.”

The middle aged scholar turned away slightly as he spoke. Again, he looked at the blood picture behind him.

“The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom is like a tiny leaf in this world. It is extremely rare for it to stand for so long. In the future, it has every possibility to capsize…for example this crisis we are facing now!”

Yi Yun quietly listened to the City Lord’s words. He could feel the temperament of a leader from the middle-aged man. What concerned the middled-aged scholar the most was the future of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

“City Lord, are you referring to the Shepherd Boy?” Yi Yun asked cautiously.

“Maybe…” The middle-aged scholar sighed. “This picture you see in front of you was drawn by a Sage from the imperial city. He expended a few hundred years of his life span to use the Tai Ah Compass to draw a… Divination Picture!”

345 - : Meeting the City Lord

CKtalon  CKtalon

Tai Ah Compass?

Yi Yun knew about this item. It was one of the most important items of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Back when the phenomenon of the Purple Clouds’ Birth happened, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had used the Tai Ah Compass to search for treasures. In fact, the Tai Ah Compass was used to search for treasures most of the time. As a result, citizens usually called it a treasure compass.

“What were the results of the divination?” Yi Yun asked.

“The result was… Extreme calamity!”

The expression of the middle-aged scholar turned serious, “Actually, before the divination was made, I had an ominous feeling. I too am not able to predict the future.”

The middle-aged scholar shook his head. The future was filled with mysteries. It was too difficult to catch a glimpse of the future with the cultivation level of a Sage. He was only able to get a vague premonition.

“Shepherd Boy…”

Yi Yun did not know what to feel. Originally, when the Shepherd Boy appeared, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom only became alarmed. They had contacted the alliance countries to prepare for battle, as to whether there really would be a real beast horde or not, it was still an unknown.

People hoped that they were alarmed for no reason. However, from the words of the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord, one could tell that the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was likely to soon face a crisis.

Yi Yun recalled the time when he met the Shepherd Boy. He found it hard to believe that such a peaceful looking and delicate youth, who looked like a regular country farm boy, was actually a demonic person that had killed countless people. His appearance was accompanied by a blood storm.

What sort of person was he?

“Yi Yun, the future of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom is unknown. This Divine Kingdom has existed for too long and I can feel a trace of apathy… I cannot see the future of the Divine Kingdom, but I can guess that this crisis might be a chance for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom to break and recreate itself. If it can survive this crisis, the Divine Kingdom will be reborn. If it cannot…”

The middle-aged scholar stopped in his words.

Yi Yun was alarmed upon hearing this. The situation was a lot more serious than he thought. Could such a big country be destroyed?

“Alright, let us not talk about this anymore. Yi Yun, you have contributed the most this time. I will reward you. You are about to break through to the Yuan Foundation. Here, I have a elixir, something that you can use right now.”

As the City Lord spoke, he took out a small porcelain vase and handed it over to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun received the vase and removed the cap. A elixir in the color of dark red blood rolled out.

Just holding the elixir made Yi Yun’s hands feel hot. It was like he was holding a flame.

“Many years ago, I obtained a primordial herb. Its name is the Dragon Blood Lucidum. This primordial herb looks no different from normal lucidums. However, when you cut its roots or pileus, juice the color of blood will flow out, hence its name.

The Dragon Blood Lucidum is extremely difficult to catch, much harder than the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng you obtained. I used it as the main drug to refine a Blood Yang Elixir. Blood Yang Elixirs are extreme Yang herbal items. You are cultivating the pure Yang laws and with your fortuitous opportunities, you have now a partial pure Yang body. If you were to eat this Blood Yang Elixir before you break through to the Yuan Foundation realm, it will benefit you greatly!”

“To break through to the Yuan Foundation realm and using this Blood Yang Elixir, a normal person might end up dying from his body exploding, ignoring the fact that it would be a waste. However, I believe that giving it to you will make the Blood Yang Elixir be put to good use.

“At that time, I will give you a heaven-grade room in the central divine tower’s 99 floor to allow you to go into reclusive training to break through. The Blood Yang Elixir will allow your Yuan Foundation realm to become even sturdier!”

“Remember, the Yuan Foundation realm is extremely important. Yuan Foundation, Yuan Foundation. Yuan means “first”, while foundation means the “base foundation”. Yuan Foundation realm is the base of your martial arts. You have to create a solid and sturdy Yuan Foundation. It will greatly affect your future success!”

Yi Yun felt heartfelt gratitude when he heard the middle-aged scholar say all this. All these great conditions were probably the highest possible treatment a young warrior in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom could enjoy while breaking through to the Yuan Foundation realm.

He had sincerely worked hard for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom while the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom reciprocated likewise. This relationship was very rare.

“This is also for you.”

As the middle-aged scholar said this, he handed over a wooden box to Yi Yun.

The wooden box had an ancient make to it. When Yi Yun held it in both hands, he felt his hands sink. The wood was surprisingly several times heavier than metal.

It was Divine Ebony.

Yi Yun recognized this wood. Divine Ebony was harder than metal. It would not decay, even when buried in the ground for 100,000 years. However, the Divine Ebony box in Yi Yun’s hands were lined with the marks of time. It was mottled with age. It was unknown about how much time this wooden box had experienced.

Yi Yun opened the wooden box, and within it was a yellow silk fabric. Above the silk fabric were nine jade scrolls.

All the jade scrolls were lined up, with one piece larger than the other. Yi Yun could feel the jade scroll’s heat when he picked up one of them and placed it in his hand. It felt like flesh and blood.

“This is… the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’!” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up.

“That it is. This is the complete jade scroll set of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. These nine jade scrolls correspond to the nine levels of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. The higher you go, the fewer the jade scrolls. Especially the ninth jade scroll, it only has one copy!”

“Attempts to replicate the ninth jade scroll have been made since ancient times by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Emperor, the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord and anyone else who have had great accomplishments in the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. However, all attempts have failed. The only few copies that exist are too different from the original copy!”

The replication of cultivation techniques is extremely difficult. There was the requirement of the replicator completely mastering the cultivation technique before one even had the ability to replicate. And to completely master the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, this was just too difficult.

“Now, I am passing the nine jade scrolls to you. They are the foundations of our Tai Ah Divine Kingdom! There are rumors amongst the citizens that the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was created by the founding Emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, but in fact, this is not true… This Sacred Technique was found within an ancient ruin by the founding Emperor. The nine jade scrolls in your hands are the original copies the founding Emperor took out from the ruin!”

“From now on, the jade scrolls will be left with you. However, if the crisis really comes, then I will take them away from you. You… still do not have the ability to protect them.”

“These nine jade scrolls are invulnerable and impermeable to water and fire. They have been handed down without problems for over tens of millions of years in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. I do not wish for them to be lost by my hands!”

The middle-aged scholar looked seriously at Yi Yun as he spoke. With that, he placed a hand on Yi Yun’s shoulder.

Yi Yun found the hand very heavy.

These nine jade scrolls were actually the original jade scrolls the founding Divine Emperor left behind. Their value was obvious.

It was unexpected that the City Lord would give the original jade scrolls to him for cultivation.

This amount of debt could not be said to be light.

The Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord had placed very high expectations on Yi Yun. He was also hoping that, in the event that the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom encountered anything terrible, Yi Yun would become the remnant seed of the Divine Kingdom.

When this seed germinated, it could one day grow into a towering tree…

346 - : Great Expectations

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun looked at the residence in front of him, it was several hundred square meters in area. There was an alchemy lab, a library, a guest hall, a bedroom and a cultivation room. All sorts of facilities were present.

In the middle of the room, there was an expensive array that could gather Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. It allowed a warrior to cultivate here for double the results with half the effort.

This was the central divine tower’s 99th floor’s heaven-grade room!

The central divine tower’s 99th floor was only several thousands square meters in area. There were a total of 4 rooms on this floor. This room was not opened to cultivators, but now, Yi Yun was allowed to stay here for an extended period of time.

Just thinking back about a year when Yi Yun first entered the Tai Ah Divine City, Yi Yun would not even dream of entering the rooms in the central divine tower’s 99th floor.

As Yi Yun was feeling mixed emotions, he suddenly heard a child-like feminine voice coming from behind him, “Miss, Miss, wait for me!”

The voice sounded extremely familiar. After pausing for a while, Yi Yun turned his head and saw Luo Huo’er, dressed in a red gown with tall leather boots. She was surveying her surroundings, as if she was apartment-hunting.

And behind her was maidservant Dong’er.

Poor Dong’er was born with two short legs, yet bags of all sizes were hung on her body. She gathered her breath every few steps, “Miss, slow down.”

Dong’er climbed the stairs, puffing and blowing.

Usually, items like luggage could be placed in interspatial rings, but there were always things that weren’t suitable to be placed within interspatial rings. For example, the potted plant that Dong’er was currently hugging. Living objects could not be placed in interspatial rings. Yi Yun even saw a cat hanging around Dong’er’s neck. This cat looked like it was sleeping, comfortably shrinking in Dong’er’s collar.

“This room is a little better than the place we were staying. Dong’er, put the things down.” Luo Huo’er said in a satisfied manner.

Dong’er seemed to be released of her burden. Without a second thought, she placed all the items on her body down. The cat also jumped down reluctantly. Only then did Yi Yun realize that this was not a normal cat, but a spirit beast of sorts.

“Uh…You have moved up here as well?”

It was only then did Luo Huo’er see Yi Yun, who had walked into the middle of the room. She was somewhat surprised.

Luo Huo’er had previously been summoned by the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord. She had received many benefits for no reason and she was given permission to stay on the central divine tower’s 99th floor. Luo Huo’er was still feeling happy regarding this. However, she never expected that the moment she moved up here, she would see Yi Yun hanging around here.

Now, Luo Huo’er no longer hated Yi Yun, but she was absolutely not fond of him. Just seeing this fellow inevitably reminded Luo Huo’er of some unpleasant experiences, including her healing Yi Yun not too long ago. As Luo Huo’er had no choice but to hug him, she felt somewhat pissed.

“Right…It’s such a coincidence…” Yi Yun said those words reluctantly. Thinking over it carefully, he felt that it was not strange that the City Lord arranged for Luo Huo’er to move up to the central divine tower’s 99th floor.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was going to face a major catastrophe, and Luo Huo’er’s status was special. The City Lord was not having any hopes that the faction behind Luo Huo’er would save the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, but it was definitely not wrong to establish good relations with Luo Huo’er.

Taking a step back, it was clear that having good relations with her was meaningless. However, as long as Luo Huo’er stayed on the central divine tower’s 99th floor, in the event that the beast horde invaded the city, Luo Huo’er’s family clan would naturally not sit idle. They would definitely send someone to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s central divine tower.

At that moment, to Yi Yun, it could be life-saving.

When Yi Yun thought of this, he gradually understood that the City Lord was using Luo Huo’er’s status as a shield.

“Why? You seem quite reluctant to be my neighbor?” Luo Huo’er’s small mouth puckered.

Yi Yun hurriedly shook his head, “How could that be? I still need to thank you for healing me.”

“That’s more like it!” The corners of Luo Huo’er’s mouth curled up slightly. She sat down on a chair casually and indulged in the comfort of the chair as she said, “This place is still acceptable, although, it’s worse than the home I used to live in.”

Hearing Luo Huo’er’s words, Yi Yun rolled his eyes. Although Luo Huo’er liked to brag, Yi Yun did not doubt her when she said that this place was worse than her home. He never figured out what Luo Huo’er was doing in the Tai Ah Divine City.

If one considered that she was here to engage in a mission, ignoring the fact that the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom wasn’t some high grade place, it was difficult to have something that could attract those super factions. And even if there really was such an object, it was illogical for them to send Luo Huo’er, a precious daughter who had not fully matured, to carry out the mission.

“I’ll be staying here!” Luo Huo’er had finished appraising the room.

Yi Yun was rendered speechless. He initially meant to say that he had chosen this room, but he decided to let it pass, especially after seeing little Dong’er carrying items of all sorts of sizes. She was puffing and blowing as she placed items everywhere, so there was no such need.

There was no difference changing to another room.

Yi Yun bade farewell and chose the heaven-grade room next door. He needed to seize every opportunity to break through to the Yuan Foundation realm.

Besides not knowing when the calamity would befall, Yi Yun knew that with his strength, it was like an insignificant wave in a storm if the calamity was anything as terrifying as what the City Lord had foretold.

If he could increase his strength, even by just a tiny bit, it would allow him to have a bit more control over his destiny.

Yi Yun entered the room’s cultivation area and closed the stone door.

This cultivation area was one of the cores of the large Yuan Qi array in the Tai Ah Divine City. The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was so dense in here that it nearly condensed into liquid droplets.

Yi Yun touched his interspatial ring and a red elixir appeared in his palm.

It was the Blood Yang Elixir.

With the Blood Yang Elixir in his hands, Yi Yun felt like he was holding a flame.

The Blood Yang Elixir was refined from a primordial herb. It contained stunning amounts of pure Yang herbal essence in it. Usually, normal Purple Blood realm cultivators could not absorb it.

Even Yuan Foundation realm warriors would not dare to directly consume the Blood Yang Elixir. They would usually immerse the Blood Yang Elixir in water, and drink the elixir water several times, like they were drinking tea.

However, by doing so, the elixir would begin to lose its essence the first time it was immersed in water. It would result in a tremendous waste.

Yi Yun did not need to consider all of that. He had the Purple Crystal and an incomplete pure Yang body. Hence, swallowing the Blood Yang Elixir wholly was not a difficult task.

However to completely digest it, he needed several months.

These several months would be the several months Yi Yun needed to attempt to break through into the Yuan Foundation realm.

Yi Yun adjusted his breathing, allowing his heart and mind to calm down completely. He sat there silently for four hours, allowing his mind to be as still as water.

Following that, Yi Yun swallowed the Blood Yang Elixir.

The Blood Yang Elixir was a medicinal item with extreme Yang essence. It was like a flame in his hands, so when he swallowed it, it felt like swallowing a piece of iron. Yi Yun immediately felt a fire burn within his body.

This heat burned the insides of Yi Yun’s body.

Yi Yun was prepared for it as he pressed his both hands on his dantian and endured the pain. With his spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal, he slowly began guiding all the Blood Yang Elixir’s energy out of the Elixir.

A large portion of energy was stored in the Purple Crystal, while a small portion of the energy was infused into Yi Yun’s meridians and blood vessels as it spread throughout his body.

All this energy that flowed in his meridians brought a burning sensation to every end of Yi Yun’s body.

The energy fused into his bone marrow as Yi Yun felt his blood begin to boil.

His body was completely drenched in sweat as his skin turned as red as blood. He looked as if he was completely cooked.

Water vapor, strands of blood and sticky gray impurities started to discharge from his pores. Yi Yun felt like his body was a burning furnace as all the key points of his body spat fire out. It was an indescribable pain.

Back then, Yi Yun had experience absorbing the Golden Crow species’s beast mark, and now although it was extremely painful absorbing the Blood Yang Elixir, it did not hurt his meridians that much.

Or else to cultivate while healing his wounds would be troublesome.

Seconds changed to minutes until the pain slowly reduced after two hours.

Yi Yun’s body was completely covered in blood strands and sticky impurities. Having suffered pain for a long time, Yi Yun’s face was pale and both his hands trembled.

However, Yi Yun did not mind any of this. He could feel that all of his Yuan Qi had been injected into his dantian. His dantian was accumulating more and more Yuan Qi as it gradually settled down.

This was the beginning stages of the Yuan Foundation!

This change made Yi Yun overjoyed. He could feel his power rising as his strength increased.

Yi Yun was currently in a state known as being in the half-step Yuan Foundation realm. He could be considered as a person who had one step through the Yuan Foundation realm’s door. Half-step Yuan Foundation was not considered as an actual realm, and it was just a transitional zone. People at the peak of Purple Blood realm might never be able to break through to the Yuan Foundation realm all their lives, but for those who reached half-step Yuan Foundation, they would break through to the Yuan Foundation realm in a short period of time.

At that moment, there was still a lot of the Blood Yang Elixir’s medicinal essence left. Yi Yun still felt his body burning and it felt as if he would be burnt to death if he did not vent it out.

Yi Yun decided to accomplish with one effort as he carried on absorbing the Blood Yang Elixir energy in the Purple Crystal as he compressed it into his dantian.

For the second time, the burning pain had significantly decreased. Yi Yun was ready as he went through it step by step. It was a long, arduous and painful process.

Day after day passed by as the clothes on Yi Yun’s body had been completely drenched thoroughly by his sweat, blood strands and impurities. It could no longer be worn, so he took off his clothes and cultivated completely naked.

With each energy cycle, the pain reduced in intensity while Yi Yun felt the energy in his Yuan Foundation grow stronger.

In the end, Yi Yun felt as if his dantian was about to explode.

This feeling made Yi Yun feel a bit flustered. The amount of energy his dantian could endure seemed to reach a critical value.

At that moment, if he carried on extracting the Blood Yang Elixir’s energy from the Purple Crystal, he might encounter danger. The main reason was that the Blood Yang Elixir was after all an elixir that exceeded what Purple Blood realm warriors could withstand. The amount of energy Yi Yun used to break through to the Yuan Foundation realm far exceeded other warriors’.

After some consideration, Yi Yun felt that breaking through in one go was the best option, or else, by lacking that tiny bit, his breakthrough would not be perfect.

Gritting his teeth, Yi Yun extracted large amounts of Blood Yang Elixir energy from the Purple Crystal.

When this energy entered his dantian, Yi Yun felt his body become a volcano. Due to all the energy he had compressed in it, everything exploded.

A blast of heat flowed through Yi Yun’s body. His meridians seemed to burst open.

Yi Yun’s blood vessels seemed to bulge like worms. After trying his best, he managed to compress all the energy back into his dantian.

“Boom!”

His dantian quaked, causing him to feel a wave of heat flood into his mind. The flood caused his mind and body to separate, and with a quake in his mind, he passed out…

347 - : Attempt to break through to the Yuan Foundation Realm

CKtalon  CKtalon

After an unknown period of time, Yi Yun woke up in a groggy state. He opened his eyes and found that his body was covered in a sticky substance.

The Blood Yang Elixir’s energy was too violent for a Purple Blood realm warrior. Back when the City Lord gave him the Blood Yang Elixir, he did it with the intention of letting Yi Yun use water to dissolve it and slowly drink it.

However, Yi Yun had swallowed it all in one mouthful.

“I actually fainted. Looks like that really exceeded the limits my dantian could take…” Yi Yun took a few deep breaths and slowly calmed his mind. He then checked his dantian and was stunned on probing it.

He was surprised to find that the Yuan Qi had condensed together in his dantian. It had completely solidified.

This was the mark of the Yuan Foundation realm!

He had finally broken through to the Yuan Foundation realm.

Yi Yun was delighted. It had been nearly two years since he began practicing martial arts.

Mortal Blood realm warriors were not considered martial artists.

The Purple Blood realm was the beginning steps of a martial artist. It was the transitional zone between mortal and warrior.

And now, with the Yuan Foundation realm, he was at the actual beginning. He had laid the foundation for his future martial path.

As he slowly clenched his fists, Yi Yun realized that his body was filled with energy.

This was the strength that came from having a deep cultivation level. With this, he would not be drained of all his strength, unable to fight after conjuring the Golden Crow species totem once.

Even after breaking through to the Yuan Foundation, Yi Yun found that there was still an intermittent burning sensation within his body. There were still remnants of the Blood Yang Elixir’s energy surging through his veins and meridians. It could very well make a resurgence.

Yi Yun gave it some thought and decided to carry on cultivating by using this energy for his cultivation technique.

And now, Yi Yun had the complete set of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ jade scrolls.

This was the perfect opportunity for him to cultivate the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

Yi Yun took out the Divine Ebony box and from it, laid out the nine jade scrolls. These nine scrolls were the dreams of many elites in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Even amongst the members of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family, only those who had extraordinary talent and the qualifications to become a Prince or even a Divine Emperor, had the right to cultivate with the complete set of the nine original jade scrolls.

Yi Yun took the first scroll up. This was the first volume of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

Actually, Yi Yun had already mastered the first level of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, but back then Yi Yun did not cultivate using the original version, instead he cultivated using a copy which was made by a Tai Ah Divine Kingdom Sage who had great accomplishments in the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

A copy would naturally have some tiny differences from the original. Usually, these tiny differences would not affect anything, but Yi Yun still wanted to look at the original version. He wanted to see these tiny differences in the original cultivation technique so that he could correct any unknown errors he might have. He could also look for greater inspiration from it.

After taking the jade scroll in hand, Yi Yun sank his sensed within it and what he saw shocked him.

Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal in his body, so he was very sensitive to the control of energy. He was surprised to find that, in his energy vision, every word and stroke in the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ jade scroll contained a trace of energy.

It was as if, after all this time, the energy traces had greatly weakened. However, they still existed. In contrast, in the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ copy, there were no traces of energy.

“It looks like the person who created the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was far beyond the Sage realm. Indeed, if it was a cultivation technique created by a Sage, how could it become the foundation pillar of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?”

Ever since the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was established, tens of millions of years ago, there had been countless numbers of Sages. Top Sages were not lacking in numbers. Besides, there were even peerless Sages such as the Tai Ah Divine City’s founding City Lord, but he had never heard of any of them creating a cultivation technique that could match the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.

The Sages of every Tai Ah Divine Kingdom generation would attempt to add some improvements to the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’; however, these additions might not really be beneficial. At least, at a higher martial Dao realm, these additions might be meaningless.

Yi Yun read through the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ and subconsciously became engrossed in it. He knew that the cultivation technique was only temporarily lent to him for studying. So if he did not take this opportunity to memorize more of it, he did not know when he would have the chance to read it again.

So even though he could not completely understand the contents of the last few volumes of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, he still managed to store all of their contents in his mind.

Month after month, time silently passed. Yi Yun did not know for how long he had been in this chamber.

This day, he suddenly heard “Dang! Dang! Dang!”, the sound of metallic percussions. They were resounding like thunder across the Tai Ah Divine City.

Yi Yun’s chamber was soundproof and would be nearly completely isolated with the chamber door closed.

Under normal circumstances, there would be absolute silence inside the chamber. However, there was one sound in the Tai Ah Divine City that could transmit directly into the chamber.

That was the sound of the Divine Wilderness Bell!

This Divine Wilderness Bell was a magical treasure. It could only be rung by a person with a peak-Human Lord cultivation level. Its sound could be delivered thousands of kilometers away and even sound isolating arrays could not ward it off.

“The Divine Wilderness Bell has rung!?”

Yi Yun was alarmed. The main purpose of the Divine Wilderness Bell in the Tai Ah Divine City was to warn. It was only rung when an enemy was invading, meaning that the safety of the Tai Ah Divine City was being threatened.

And the things that could threaten the Tai Ah Divine City was few and far between. A typical small-sized beast horde would not even be able to come within 100,000 feet of the Tai Ah Divine City, so there was no need to ring the Divine Wilderness Bell.

In fact, it was said that the Divine Wilderness Bell had not been rung in the past millennium.

Could it be…?

A dark cloud shrouded Yi Yun’s heart. He rushed out of his own residence and immediately met Luo Huo’er who also came running out of her residence.

“Miss, what has happened?” Dong’er was plugging her tiny ears as she nervously asked.

Outside of the residences, the chimes of the Divine Wilderness Bell were even more ear-shattering. If one’s cultivation level was lacking, it would cause one’s organs to resonate with the bell chimes, making it quite unpleasant.

“This should be the Divine Wilderness Bell…” Luo Huo’er, in contrast, was not worried. She found it novel to hear the bell for the first time.

“Yi Yun! Come to the city gates!”

At that moment, a solemn voice rang in Yi Yun’s ear. This voice belonged to the City Lord!

Yi Yun glanced at Luo Huo’er, from her expression he could tell that she had received a similar message.

“Let’s go!”

Yi Yun pushed open the central divine tower’s outer door and followed the tower’s sloping emergency passage staircase, running down the tower.

…

When Yi Yun came out of the central divine tower, he realized that in the past months of his reclusive training, the Tai Ah Divine City had changed and was no longer the same.

The Divine City’s four walls were shimmering with several defense arrays. Piles of bone relics were stored in large metal boxes, as the source of energy for the arrays.

These were the strategic reserves of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. They were all taken out in times of need.

There were several catapults installed all along the city’s four corners. Amongst these catapults was the legendary Primal Divine Crossbow.

The Primal Divine Crossbow was driven by a huge array. More than ten Human Lords had to combine their forces in order to control one Primal Divine Crossbow. The crossbow used the Primal Arrows that Yi Yun had seen the first time he entered the Tai Ah Divine City.

They were four meters long and every arrow was made out of a special metal. The cost of their construction was high and they weighed 500,000 kilograms.

Back then, Yi Yun and the other recruits had all failed to pierce into the purple tungsten wall using the Primal Arrows. Even Yi Yun failed the first time he tried. Although he could lift the Primal Arrow, he was still not able to steadily pierce it. Releasing his hand made the arrow fall to the ground.

Because of these experiences, this terrifying weapon was still fresh in Yi Yun’s mind.

This was a weapon that could even threaten primordial strains. With so many Human Lords and sages in the city, and with the support from other factions, the Tai Ah Divine City’s combat strength was rather terrifying.

Yi Yun walked straight ahead and found that there were a lot more warriors in the Tai Ah Divine City compared to before. The cultivation levels of these warriors were mostly at Human Lord. They came from all sorts of factions and were the backbones of several large factions.

These Human Lords were all dressed in armor, with their weapons in hand.

All of them looked solemn. No one could rest easy when pit against the legendary Shepherd Boy who had nearly annihilated the Shentu family clan.

Yi Yun could feel a thick war-like atmosphere coming from those people.

This time, it was no longer a battle on a stage, but a real life and death battle.

Winning allowed you to stay alive while losing most likely meant complete annihilation!

When Yi Yun reached the city gates, a lot of people had already gathered there. They were Sages of factions from all over. They were all standing above the city gate.

Yi Yun saw Cang Yan, Jian Ge and his quasi-master Grandmaster Yuehua.

They slightly nodded at Yi Yun and did not say a word. They were all focusing on something far into the distance.

Yi Yun even saw the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord, who was now standing with the Seven Star Pagoda Owner. They were discussing something.

Yi Yun did not bother the City Lord and instead walked over to Cang Yan who looked relatively free, “Is it the Shepherd Boy?”

Cang Yan did not look back as he carried on looking at the distant horizon.

This old man that was usually laughing now had a serious face. He nodded, “It should be. We have outposts deployed in a radius of 1500 kilometers from the Divine City. Just now, a scout from one of the outposts transmitted the news of a large-scale beast horde emerging. Later on, nothing came from him. It’s most likely that he has already given his life for his country…”

Cang Yan’s tone sounded bleak when he said that.

Died for his country?

Yi Yun’s heart sank. Everyone knew that being a scout was extremely dangerous. The first person to die was the scout when a beast horde happened. However, a person had to go. This was war. There was no choice in the matter.

Cang Yan said, “Now, the City Lord has ordered all scouts from the outposts to retreat to the Tai Ah Divine City. With the beast horde’s speed, they would probably appear within two hours…”

Two hours…?

Yi Yun looked at the sky. Everyone in the Tai Ah Divine City had been activated. Clearly, while he was in reclusive training, these warriors protecting the divine city had experienced numerous exercises.

Now, although everyone was somewhat worried, no one panicked.

Catapults after catapults were raised. The large arrays on the city walls were activated. The airspace above the Tai Ah Divine City was enveloped by a colorful, lit up haze.

Those were the light beams of the array.

348 - : Alerting Bell

CKtalon  CKtalon

Above the city walls, Yi Yun saw Bai and Feng Lin. The two of them nodded slightly at Yi Yun without a word. Yi Yun also saw many people that were the enemy during the alliance tournament. At that moment, they were all standing shoulder to shoulder in arms.

To these factions, situating the battlefield to the Tai Ah Divine City was better than spreading the flames of war to their own land.

The air seemed to freeze as the atmosphere become graver than ever before!

A huge hourglass was placed above the city walls as a way of keeping time.

There was a distance of 1500 kilometers from the outpost where the scout was located to the Tai Ah Divine City. It was a human estimation that it would take the beast horde two hours to arrive, it was not necessarily exact. However, it was not too far off. With an hourglass keeping track of time, it allowed people to mentally prepare.

Yi Yun stood on the city walls as he watched the sand quietly flow. He felt that what was seeping downwards was not sand but fresh lives.

Once the beast horde came, it was unknown how many lives would disappear like the sand…

Shepherd Boy, what sort of person are you? Why did you conjure the beast horde that could wipe out life?

…

After an unknown period of time, the sky started to darken. It was as if a dark cloud obscured the Sun.

Yi Yun’s gazed far into the distance and suddenly noticed a gray blur in the far horizon. It was like a layer of haze.

“Sandstorm!”

Someone suddenly said. The gray haze was sand that was being lifted into the air in the far horizon. There were endless amounts of sand, and concealed by the sandstorm were tiny, blurry figures. They were moving on the ground, but they were not sand… It was the beast horde!

From a lofty height, looking several hundred kilometers out, even large desolate beasts, the size of buildings, would look like specks of dust.

“Beast horde! The beast horde is here!”

People could feel the ground shaking. The beast horde’s gallop transmitted the tremors from several hundreds of kilometers away straight to the Tai Ah Divine City!

It was really like an earthquake, formed from the running of countless numbers of desolate beasts.

At that moment, people saw a large blurry figure looming in the sky. It became even clearer amongst the kicked up sandstorm.

“What is that!?” Someone said in horror. The figure was so large that it made people chatter with fear.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The terrifying sounds transmitted all over and clear tremors accompanied them to the Tai Ah Divine City. It was like huge meteors were crashing to the ground.

The phantom image slowly walked out of the sandstorm. People could finally see it clearly. It turned out to be a huge turtle.

Its head was in the shape of a dragon, while its body was covered by its turtle shell. The rumbling noises were from its footsteps!

Every step it made caused the Tai Ah Divine City feel a tremor!

“Heavens!”

The people on the city walls were appalled. With hundreds of kilometers of distance separating them, with them at an altitude of 100,000 feet, this angle made four-five storey high behemoths look like tiny specks of dust. However, this huge turtle nearly filled the entire horizon with its humongous body.

Every track in the divine turtle’s shell was as big as a city. Its limbs were as thick as a mountain. With each step it took, the ground and mountains would shake, causing the Heaven and Earth to tremor!

There was such an existence in this world? What was it? A desolate beast?

Even the Sages present were shocked. They had previously killed primordial strains in the Divine Wilderness, but compared to this divine turtle, the primordial strains they had killed were like nothing!

Yi Yun, who was above the city walls, was equally shocked. There were too many unknown existences in this world. It far exceeded the limits of his imagination.

For example, the divine turtle before his eyes and the bronze giant he saw in the Pure Yang Sword Palace that could split a world apart using a halberd.

Against such existences, the current him was still too tiny.

“This giant turtle comes from the deep parts of the Divine Wilderness?” A human Sage asked in alarm. He never knew that there was such an existence in the Divine Wilderness. Even historical books had no such records. Only a few books, with all sorts of bizarre information, recorded such a giant turtle, but those books were usually categorized as myths and legends.

“I do not know…The Divine Wilderness is too big. We do not know what is within it. Primordial strains are not the peak existence of the Divine Wilderness… but, is it pointless to discuss this any further. Look at the giant turtle’s head.”

A Sage said and everyone looked towards the divine turtle’s head.

The eyesight of warriors was extremely good. Furthermore, using all sorts of mystic techniques, people could see that on top of the mountain-like turtle’s head, there was clearly a person sitting there!

He was dressed in a green shirt, wore a hairband on his head and held a piccolo in his hand. A composed smile was hanging on his face.

From his expression, it looked as if he was not standing on the head of a giant turtle whose body was situated within a beast horde that could annihilate a country. Instead, he looked as if he was having a lavish field trip.

“Shepherd Boy!”

Someone said with a trembling voice. This name was now a nightmare for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and the other three large factions.

“It really is him!”

People were terrified. Previously, it was said that the appearance of the Shepherd Boy would set off a blood storm, but no one had any concept of how strong the Shepherd Boy was.

Until… they now saw the Shepherd Boy themselves!

The Shepherd Boy clearly did not emit an ounce of Yuan Qi energy, nor did he release any pressure. He looked no different from an ordinary teenager, but just by facing him, people inexplicably felt immense pressure!

And the giant turtle he was sitting on stalled one’s breaths. A feeling of not being able to use force against the Shepherd Boy and the beast horde grew in the people’s minds.

Could they really withstand this beast horde?

Would they… die here?

These thoughts flashed past through the minds of many people. Lately, the words “beast horde” had been thrown around a lot. When people thought about it, they only thought of a beast horde that was larger in scale, by a few times, compared to the usual beast hordes. That there might be plenty of primordial strains which would make the battle extremely bloody.

However, they never expected that the beast horde conjured by the Shepherd Boy would be this terrifying. Just the giant turtle alone far exceeded the scope of primordial strains.

“City Lord!”

Some of the Tai Ah Divine City Sages gathered around the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord. All of them looked solemn. Beads of sweat were even oozing out of their foreheads.

The Yun Long Divine Kingdom Sages similarly gathered around the Seven Star Pagoda Owner. Against such an enemy, they were at a loss.

How would they be able to withstand this!?

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The divine turtle’s footsteps were slow, but every step it took crossed a distance of dozens of kilometers. It just needed to take tens of steps before it would have traversed the distance from the horizon to the Tai Ah Divine City.

Every footstep it left behind in the Divine Wilderness would form a large lake when it rained in the future.

With the divine turtle approaching, the tremors the Tai Ah Divine City felt became more and more obvious. At that moment, the melodious tune of a piccolo could be heard across the vast Divine Wilderness. Several hundred kilometers were not enough to hinder the piccolo’s tune.

The piccolo’s tune slowly emerged, flowing like water in the air as it resounded inside everyone’s ears.

People held their breaths. The piccolo’s tune could be heard everywhere. Even the loud trampling of the beast horde could not drown it!

“He is the Shepherd Boy… We… we were too… too naive…”

On the Yun Long Divine Kingdom side, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner bitterly smiled. An unknown feeling arose in his heart.

At that moment, the divine turtle was just tens of kilometers away from the Tai Ah Divine City. The giant turtle, with its head lifted, exceeded the Tai Ah Divine City in altitude. When people saw the large head, they felt as if there was a black mountain standing in front of the Tai Ah Divine City. And the Shepherd Boy, who was standing on this mountain’s peak, was lightly blowing on his piccolo. His green clothes were fluttering in the wind, as he looked like a god.

Currently, the Shepherd Boy was like his present position. High up, above all, looking down on everything!

The Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord looked up at the Shepherd Boy as he held a saber in hand. He gently sighed, “Cang Yan, activate the backup plan…”

The City Lord’s voice entered Cang Yan’s ears, making Cang Yan quiver, “City Lord…”

“There is no need to say anything. There is no time.”

As the City Lord said this, his body flew straight out. He flew out alone towards the Shepherd Boy!

“City Lord!”

People were greatly alarmed. Cang Yan nearly jumped out of his skin!

What was the City Lord doing? He was the backbone of the people. If the City Lord were to be lost at that moment, the consequences would be disastrous!

However, no one could stop him at that moment. The City Lord was like a wisp of smoke as he appeared before the Shepherd Boy. He was just a thousand feet away from him now.

The Shepherd Boy looked at the middle-aged scholar and a smile formed on his lips.

349 - : Giant Turtle

CKtalon  CKtalon

The fierce winds howled as the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord looked at the Shepherd Boy from a distance while floating above the vast wilderness.

The City Lord was situated beside the nostrils of the divine turtle. He felt as if the nostrils were two large volcano openings, spewing out hot air.

The middle-aged scholar sighed. He had spent 90% of his life in the Divine Wilderness, yet he did not even know of the existence of such a terrifying behemoth being in the Divine Wilderness. It was quite tragic.

“Human, you seem to have something to say to me?” The Shepherd Boy stood up from the divine turtle’s head, with the piccolo in hand, smiling at the middle-aged scholar. “You are pretty good. Even under the pressure of the Long Gui 1 True Spirit, you are still able to remain unruffled. For your cultivation level, it is extremely rare!”

At that moment, the middle-aged scholar held his saber as his clothes started fluttering violently in the turbulent winds.

“Long Gui True Spirit…” The middle-aged scholar gently shook his head, “I see. When I traversed the Divine Wilderness, I did hear of people mentioning primordial spirits.”

“Primordial strains have a trace of the bloodline of an ancient divine beast, but it is extremely dilute, as such it is only known as a species. As for primordial spirits, the bloodlines they have inherited is much thicker than those of the primordial strain. They can even manifest the shapes of the ancient sacred or divine beasts, hence they are called True Spirits.”

“Long Gui True Spirit should be a descendant of Long Gui…”

The legendary Long Gui was a divine beast. It had a dragon’s head and a turtle’s body, and it was one of the nine sons of the True Dragon.

The body of a Long Gui was huge, and its strength was limitless. It could even carry a star!

“Not bad, although you are born in this remote land, your knowledge is not lacking.” The Shepherd Boy was smiling even now.

“You… are not human?” The middle-aged scholar asked as he looked at the Shepherd Boy. He had always suspected so.

The Shepherd Boy gently shook his head. “No, I was born from the Desolate race. My appearance may look no different from a human, but the difference is our sole ability to communicate with desolate beasts.”

Desolate race! Able to communicate with desolate beasts!

Many of the warriors above the city walls had never heard of such a race.

However, the middle-aged scholar knew. This world was not limited only to the human race. There were other races as well. And amongst those races, there were some whose numbers exceeded that of humans!

“The Desolate race… I see. May I ask you why you are annihilating my Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?”

“Because I have something to do…” The Shepherd Boy gently shook his head, “I do not truly want to destroy Tai Ah, but unfortunately, the few countries around the Divine Wilderness are hindering me from doing what I want to do. As such, I can only annihilate.”

When the Shepherd Boy said words that played down on the matter, the hearts of the people on the Divine City’s walls jumped. You want to destroy a few countries just to do something!?

One had to know that there were trillions of lives in the countries surrounding the Divine Wilderness! He wanted to kill all of them with just a few simple words!?

“You want to destroy trillions of lives just to do one thing?” The middle-aged scholar’s voice sank as he tightly clenched his saber.

“So what?” The Shepherd Boy stroked his piccolo. “All sorts of natural living things support the survival of humans, yet humans have never reciprocated that to the Heavens. Humans have accepted the gifts from nature, but what they consider is forever their own interests.”

“You have extracted from nature without constraint, and with your trillions of people, you have extracted even more. To survive, are you not killing living beings every second and every moment? And the numbers you kill are far greater in number than the number of humans.

“The world is heartless, it treats everything as lowly beings. In front of a stronger power, humans are no different from pigs and dogs. You can kill other living beings because you are strong. If other living beings kill you, it is because they are stronger. You can say that this is part and parcel of the Heavenly Dao, survival of the fitness.”

“Not only you, even large worlds can collapse… formation, existence and then destruction, it is all a part of the Heavenly Dao.”

When the Shepherd Boy said all this so frankly, the middle-aged scholar felt a chill. Although he did not wish to admit it, he had to agree that what the Shepherd Boy said was reasonable.

With a higher Heavenly Dao in front of them, so what if it were to destroy a trillion lives? When two stars collide, it too would kill trillions of lives!

However, who would say that the stars were cruel?

“If that is the case, then there is nothing for us to negotiate on.” The middle-aged scholar let out a long sigh.

“What should be destroyed will eventually be destroyed.” The Shepherd Boy faintly said, “If you and your kind will leave this place, you may still survive. I appreciate you and you should not be fated to die here.”

“It is impossible for me to leave… I cannot dodge what is mine.” The middle-aged scholar unsheathed his saber. The cold beam of the four-foot long saber seemed to freeze even the sunlight.

On the Divine City’s walls, the Seven Star Pagoda Owner also let out a long sigh as he took out a spear from his interspatial ring.

Everyone could feel the difficulty of the upcoming battle. This was a battle to the death. It was fated that many of them would die here!

“Yi Yun, I’m taking you away!”

At the moment when swords were drawn and bows were strung, Cang Yan’s Yuan Qi transmission entered Yi Yun’s ears.

“What?” Yi Yun was shocked. And at that moment, Cang Yan’s hand had already grabbed Yi Yun’s shoulder. It was not only Yi Yun. Yao Dao, Yang Qian, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom’s Bai, Feng Lin, Qianshui and company all had law-enforcers and Elders prepared to lead them away.

“We… are not fighting?”

Fatty Qianshui trembled as he spoke. His voice clearly shook. He was after all young, how could he have ever experienced a scene such as this?

Against the Shepherd Boy and the humongous Long Gui, it would be a lie if Fatty said that he was not afraid. This level of existence could easily turn him into ash with the mere flick of its hand!

Fatty was now in a dilemma.

On one hand, he did not wish to stay in the Tai Ah Divine City. If he could run away with his foot lubricated, that would be the best.

However, he just found it too shameful to run away in the face of danger. After all, there were still plenty of people left defending the city!

“You are just sending yourselves to your graves by participating in the battle. It is completely meaningless. The City Lord had previously instructed me to send all of you out of here in the event that the Tai Ah Divine City cannot be secured!”

No matter which faction it was, their younger generations were their future. They could not be sacrificed for nothing.

If their countries were to collapse, then their countries might still have a chance to reconstruct in the future when the younger generation grew up.

Yi Yun, Bai and Feng Lin were silent. Everyone was always in a balance between id and super-ego. They did not wish to escape in the face of danger, but they knew that it was meaningless to stay behind and die.

Only Fatty Qianshui seemed to be fearless. He gritted his teeth, “We are warriors! How can we leave our seniors here to fight while we leave!?”

Cang Yan rolled his eyes unhappily at Fatty Qianshui’s righteousness and awe-inspiring speech. He was wise at his age, so how could he not have noticed that Fatty’s face had turned white with fear previously?

“Then you can stay behind while the others leave.”

Cang Yan could not be bothered to speak nonsense with the cowardly Fatty. At that moment, time was of the essence; if not, these elites would never be able to leave.

Fatty Qianshui immediately shut up. His mouth gaped but he could not utter a single word.

Yi Yun’s expression turned solemn. At that moment, he was in no mood to ridicule Qianshui. He said worriedly, “Senior Cang Yan, letting us escape, are all of you already prepared to…”

“Pui! Pui! Pui!” Cang Yan interrupted Yi Yun’s speech midway. “What a foul mouth! If one can live, who the fuck would want to die?”

“In all of these years, the Tai Ah Divine City has accumulated large numbers of relics and strategic reserves. With the sword and saber tombs’ large array, it can still defend for a while. We Sages and Human Lords cannot retreat. The Tai Ah Divine City is a stronghold that holds off the beast horde. If this city falls, then the beast horde will enter the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Then there will be nothing to stop the horde as it goes straight ahead.”

“Although I too want to run, I have already lived a long life. So, I still want my face. The Divine Kingdom has allowed me to reach the Sage realm, so repaying them with my remaining few years of lifespan is not a loss on my part! However, all of you are different. Your survival is of the greatest value to the Divine Kingdom!”

When Cang Yan said this, he suddenly let out a hearty laugh, “fuck. What is yours will always be yours, what is not yours will never be yours no matter how hard you fight for it. Besides, I might not even die!”

As Cang Yan spoke, he found that the words he said sounded like a will. He slapped his mouth, “Fuck, why are my words becoming more and more ridiculous. By following the City Lord’s plan, we might even survive! Now, all of you, quickly leave!”

As Cang Yan said this, he and another Yun Long Divine Kingdom Elder began preparing to send the young cultivators away.

Now was really not the time to be hypocritical. Although the divine city had a large protective array, who knew if this large array could withstand the attack from the Long Gui True Spirit?

Staying behind could even cause the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord and the Seven Star Pagoda Owner to be distracted. If they had to take the time to protect them, then it would not be worth it!

“A short distance teleportation array has been prepared on the first floor of the central divine tower. After you are sent away, there will be an airship waiting for you there!”

Other than Yi Yun, Bai and the other elites, even the other Tai Ah Divine City cultivators were arranged to evacuate. More than 95% of the people like Wen Yu and other first year cultivators had already been evacuated a month ago.

Originally, Yi Yun, Bai and the other elites were left behind in the hope of them being able to behold the scene of a beast horde to gain some experience.

However, the developments had far exceeded the original expectations of the Sages from the four large factions. Training in the beast horde was now something deemed impossible.

The teleportation array was right in front of them as the cultivators that were left behind began walking towards it. Luo Huo’er sneaked into the crowd with her maidservant Dong’er, hoping to sneak through the teleportation array with her head lowered.

And at the moment she walked before the teleportation array, she suddenly heard a dry cough.

“Miss Luo, please hold on.”

Eh?

Luo Huo’er jumped with fright as she turned around only to see Cang Yan smiling at her.

“Wh… What?”

Luo Huo’er felt that this old man’s smile was sinister.

“Sorry, the City Lord has especially instructed that Miss Luo is not to leave.”

“Why?” Luo Huo’er was rendered speechless. Everyone could leave except her?

Cang Yan was also helpless. If not as a last resort, would a group of Sages make it so difficult for a young lady?

“Miss Luo, I am also forced to do this. About this… Miss Luo, you should have a way to request help from your family clan, right…?”

350 - : I cannot dodge what is mine

CKtalon  CKtalon

Cang Yan was certain that Luo Huo’er came from an impressive background. And Luo Huo’er seemed to be someone of importance in her family clan.

Under these circumstances, it was unlikely that Luo Huo’er’s family clan would leave her completely unprotected by letting her go to the Tai Ah Divine City alone.

It was likely that Luo Huo’er had some method that could save her life. If this life-saving method could not rival the Shepherd Boy, then under normal circumstances, Luo Huo’er would have secretly informed her family clan several months ago to request for protection.

Now, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was like a drowning person. Any hanging blade of grass that could save it would be grabbed on.

Although the chances of relying on Luo Huo’er to save the Tai Ah Divine City were extremely minute, it was better than having no hope.

It was extremely difficult for a Tai Ah Divine City Sage, such as Jian Ge, to raise this issue with a young lady like Luo Huo’er as they could not bear ripping off their face to do so. Hence, this task fell gloriously onto Cang Yan, who had the thickest skin.

“Family clan? What family clan?” Luo Huo’er’s eyes rolled her eyes, as if she was clueless about it.

Yi Yun also stopped his steps. He looked behind him at Luo Huo’er and Cang Yan. Cang Yan clearly had expected Luo Huo’er to feign ignorance. He coughed drily and rubbed his hands, saying, “Miss Luo, don’t joke around with this old man in such a time of need. We are gambling the numerous lives of the Tai Ah Divine City’s residents on this. If we had any other options, this old man would not have put up this old face to mention this to you…”

“Lives are precious. All of us old fellows do not have many years left to live, so it’s fine if we lose our lives. However, behind us, there are trillions of citizens. Amongst them are newly-wed couples, newborn children…”

“I don’t think you want to see these citizens die in the beast horde. When that happens, how great a human tragedy would that be…” Cang Yan said earnestly.

Yi Yun, who was eavesdropping, could not help but admit that Cang Yan was very good at speaking. If Luo Huo’er were to turn away and leave now, she would be a heartless person.

Besides… the Tai Ah Divine City’s teleportation array needed the control of two law-enforcers to activate it. If Luo Huo’er did not make any affirmation, Cang Yan would probably not let her leave.

If Luo Huo’er was forcefully left in the Tai Ah Divine City, then her family clan would probably not turn a blind eye.

Luo Huo’er clearly also understood this. She bit her lips and said, “Senior Cang Yan, it isn’t because I don’t want to help you all… but… I can’t be of help. Your guesses are right, I do come from a very large faction. However, if you think that there is some expert protecting me nearby, then you are wrong…”

“Why do you think that with my large faction background, I would come to a place like the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?” Luo Huo’er answered with a question. Yi Yun was shocked as he too was curious over this point.

“Actually… I’m here as a refugee. My family clan is in the midst of a war with it being in a precarious position. As a result, for the past few years, the children of my family clan have been sent to the family clan’s branches all around the world to prevent the annihilation of the family clan, and ending our bloodline.”

“As for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, it happens to have a branch of our family, that’s why… I was sent here. If my family clan was at its peak, I might have had experts protecting me when I went out training. However, now… How could there be any one available? As for the secret family clan branch in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, they are likely helpless against such a beast horde even if they were willing to reveal themselves…”

When Cang Yan heard all that Luo Huo’er had to say, he was completely stunned.

After more than 30 seconds, Cang Yan let out a long sigh, it looked like he had grown older.

“Is that so…? If that is the case, then the Heavens really wants my Tai Ah destroyed…” Cang Yan shook his head. Although he did not hold much hope with Luo Huo’er, Cang Yan still felt his heart sink when he truly realized that Luo Huo’er could not help at all.

If the Tai Ah Divine City was lost, Cang Yan did not dare to think what would happen to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Would the majestic Royal Capital and the bustling state cities be void of all life, eventually becoming a part of the Divine Wilderness?

Cang Yan’s heart sank even more when he thought of this.

“Leave.” Cang Yan waved his hand, as he stopped making it difficult for Luo Huo’er to leave.

Luo Huo’er bit her lips and strangely felt sorry. Although this matter had nothing to do with her, she still felt responsible for it.

After some thought, Luo Huo’er seemed to make up her mind. She took a jade scroll out from her interspatial ring and placed it into Cang Yan’s hands.

“Senior Cang Yan, this was given to me by my father. It is an embodiment used to protect my life in times of danger, you might be able to make use of it. I’m leaving and now with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom in danger, my family clan’s branch would most likely take me away…”

Luo Huo’er’s family clan was originally a passing guest in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. It was a migratory bird that landed on a tree.

Now with the tree toppling, it was impossible for the migratory bird to support the tree, it would now just fly away.

As the teleportation array flashed, Yi Yun’s heart felt heavy as he was leaving.

He did not know what would happen to the Tai Ah Divine City. Cang Yan, Jian Ge and the City Lord, what did their fates entail with them staying behind?

As for Yi Yun himself, although he was returning to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, where would it be safe when the Tai Ah Divine City falls?

Yi Yun knew clearly that his present strength was like a tiny bubble in a large tidal wave that was the super beast horde which was sweeping through several countries. He was not only helpless, but he could be destroyed anytime.

It seemed like… he was out of options…

Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er walked through the teleportation array together. There was already an airship docked at the other end. Many of the young elites had long boarded the airship, waiting to retreat back into the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Yi Yun saw Yang Qian, Yao Dao and company.

No one spoke a word. The atmosphere was very solemn.

In a corner, Luo Huo’er sat in a daze. She seemed to be lost in thought.

Yi Yun sighed lightly as he sat beside Luo Huo’er.

The airship was started up and as it flew, it trembled in the turbulent air. Luo Huo’er’s body was swaying with every tremble of the airship.

“Yi Yun… why do you think… war exists?” During the flight, Luo Huo’er suddenly asked faintly. She was looking out the window at the Divine Wilderness with a dazed expression.

If it was not for war, she would not have left her family clan. And if was not for war, lives would not be lost.

Yi Yun stayed silent for a while before saying, “The fighting between humans is the same as animals hunting each other for food. It will always be this tragic. Maybe real peace will never exist. This is because for Life to exist in this world, it has to continually hunt for food. Only through non-stop killing can Life carry on. Those are the Heavenly laws.”

“Either we become the hunter or we will become the prey. There is no way to escape this cycle. Even in death, our corpses might become food or nutrients, continuing on this cycle… This is probably the hallmark of Life…” Yi Yun sighed, but when Luo Huo’er heard this, she was slightly shocked. She had just said it in passing, as if she was speaking to herself, but she had never expected Yi Yun to give her such an answer.

She never expected that a fourteen-year-old youth like Yi Yun could say such things.

“It wasn’t serious.” Yi Yun shrugged as he carried on, “Instead, we should now think about how we are going to carry on living.”

“Carry on living?” Luo Huo’er pursed her lips, “I should… be leaving… Actually… I can put in a word with my family clan, to bring you along…”

Luo Huo’er did not have any friends in the Tai Ah Divine City, other than the dim-witted Dong’er.

Yi Yun was originally a person that Luo Huo’er found very irritating, but now with life and death on the line, Luo Huo’er no longer found him irritating.

“Leave?” Yi Yun was shocked. At that moment, he felt somewhat tempted.

If he could leave the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom with Luo Huo’er, then he would naturally be safe.

However… once he left the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, he would not know when he would ever return.

Just thinking of Cang Yan and the words that the City Lord had said to him, Yi Yun felt that it was impossible for him to do such a thing no matter what.

He was able to accomplish everything he had done because of the resources the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom provided.

He had already accepted the fact that he had no other choice but to retreat back into the Divine Kingdom. However, if he escaped by himself, while people risked their lives by staying behind, then he would be an ungrateful brat.

Furthermore, Yi Yun still had his elder sister, Jiang Xiaorou, still in the Divine Capital City. There was also Zhou Xiaoke, Aunt Wang and all those people he had close relations with. It was impossible for Yi Yun to abandon them, leaving them to die in the beast horde.

Returning to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom meant that there was a chance to reverse the tide. After all, with so many people working hard at it, how could he choose to escape?

“No, I’ll be staying behind.” Yi Yun eventually rejected the tempting offer. Luo Huo’er pursed her lips and did not say anything else.

She knew that the people in her family clan branch were definitely aware that the beast horde conjured by the Shepherd Boy was much more horrifying than they had previously estimated.

Under these circumstances, her family clan branch would most likely to send someone to get her.

The airship traversed through Divine Wilderness with the atmosphere in it of complete silence. It flew towards the territories of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

While it flew, it continuously went through many large scale teleportation arrays. One bustling city after another was left behind by the airship.

Yi Yun knew that once the beast horde came, these cities would all turn to ruins.

And the residents of these cities had basically no hope of retreating. Sending away tens of millions of citizens through the city teleportation arrays needed energy that they could not afford.

“Where are we going?” A person could not help but ask when a law-enforcer walked past.

“The Divine Capital City!” The law-enforcer answered.

“Divine Capital? Why are we going to the Divine Capital?” People had originally assumed that they would head to the Imperial City.

The Imperial City was the city that had the greatest defense in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, other than the Tai Ah Divine City.

The law-enforcer said, “The Divine Capital is the largest city closest to the Cloud Wilderness. If the Tai Ah Divine City falls, the Imperial City will naturally fall too. At that moment, we can only send all of you into the Cloud Wilderness, to hide in some barren lands. Compared to the Divine Wilderness, the Cloud Wilderness is much safer.”

Escape into the Cloud Wilderness?

Yi Yun was shocked. This was probably the last resort.

However, with beast hordes erupting everywhere, and the Cloud Wilderness being one of the gathering spots of desolate beasts, was it really much safer?

Regardless of this, he could at least see his elder sister, Jiang Xiaorou, once again if he were to return to the Divine Capital.

His fiefdom was after all located in the Divine Capital City.

To be able to meet Jiang Xiaorou once again in this time of chaos was a blessing.

351 - : Leaving

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Divine Capital City was the largest city in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Jing state.

It was situated close to the Cloud Wilderness. Back when Yi Yun first came out of the Cloud Wilderness, his first stop was the Divine Capital.

When the airship floated above the Divine Capital’s airspace, Yi Yun stood by a window, looking down at the bustling city.

When he left the Cloud Wilderness he never expected that he would go to the Tai Ah Divine City, using the Divine Capital as a stopover. Now, one and a half year later, he was returning to the Divine Capital to use it as a stopover to return to the Cloud Wilderness.

This really was returning back to the starting point.

The only difference now was that Yi Yun’s strength was completely incomparable to last time.

However, it was a pity that Yi Yun was powerless against the vast beast horde that could destroy several Divine Kingdoms.

The airship landed on a platform in the Divine Capital City. Such a large airship was not often seen even in the bustling Divine Capital. People stopped to look as they found the sight of the huge airship fascinating.

The Divine Capital looked like it was still thriving. It was early in the morning, so Yi Yun could see the morning bird merchants shuttling through the streets. He saw store owners preparing to begin their businesses. He saw bearded, old men sitting under a tree to avoid the sun.

More and more citizens of the Divine Capital walked onto the streets. Some were walking leisurely while others were in a hurry. They all began their day’s life.

They still had not heard the news of the impending beast horde.

Not to mention the Divine Capital, even the Imperial City had not been informed of this.

Those that knew that there was a beast horde outbreak which the divine city was incapable of resisting were limited to the royal family, the imperial capital’s family clans and several reclusive family clans.

This information could not be made public, or there would be utter chaos.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had a trillion citizens, so it was impossible to evacuate them all. In desperation, they might even attack the army, mobbing the administrative offices and the teleportation arrays between the larger cities.

If that were to happen, not to mention that the citizens would not be able to escape, this would also cause the Divine Kingdom to become paralyzed.

Currently, the only thing the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom could do was to defend against the beast horde at all costs. If they could not defend against it, they could only send the Divine Kingdom’s future hope, the Divine City’s elites, into the Cloud Wilderness.

As for the Divine Kingdom’s citizens, they could only be left behind.

“Yi Yun, I am leaving…”

Luo Huo’er said to Yi Yun after the airship landed. She had received news from her family clan’s branch. She was to leave the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

“Take care.” Yi Yun nodded.

“Let us meet if we are fated.” Luo Huo’er looked at Yi Yun while contemplating if she should say something. In the end, she only said those words. Beside her was her maidservant Dong’er. Dong’er stared at Yi Yun with her pair of dark eyes.

“Elder brother Yi Yun, you must survive.”

Little Dong’er said.

“Yes, I will.” Yi Yun revealed a smile.

The present situation was really quite depressing for him.

With old friends departing, the country being on the brink of disaster, and the fates of his masters and seniors unknown…

…

After Luo Huo’er left, Yi Yun wandered the Divine Capital’s streets alone. He stepped on the thick granite-paved streets. The morning dew was still on the granite. Between the slabs’ crevices, there was green moss that made it look like lush greenery.

These granite slabs had witnessed all sorts of people. They had witnessed prosperity and hardship, joys and sorrows. Every stone was like a thick history book that encompassed the long history of the Divine Capital City, ever since its creation.

However… this history might shortly cease to exist.

There would no longer be laughter and talking in these streets. The flowers and greenery would no longer exist.

Just thinking about it made Yi Yun sigh.

There were more and more pedestrians out on the streets. Yi Yun saw an old woman pushing a pancake cart as she sold pancakes. He saw a young girl tip-toeing to choose candy.

It was hard to believe that all of these honest people would turn into a pile of bones in just a few months…

They were pitiful. They still did not know that a disaster was looming. It was definitely a tragedy, a sorrow of the masses.

“I want to take a trip home. My home is here.”

Yi Yun said to a law-enforcer not far behind him.

“Oh?” The law-enforcer hesitated for a while. He never expected that the Divine Capital City would be Yi Yun’s home. There was military discipline in the military, and at that moment, they had received orders to be on standby. Waiting to stay behind and defend, or evacuate to the Cloud Wilderness.

If the army was dispersed, there might be incidents or even leaked news.

Initially, the law-enforcer did not want to agree. However, Yi Yun’s status was special. After some thought, he said, “Return as soon as possible. Remember, you are not to leak the news of the beast horde! This is a military order!

“I know.” Yi Yun nodded. Although he could not bear to see these common citizens die from ignorance, telling them would not help. The divine city had not abandoned them. Many Sages and Human Lords were fighting for them, sacrificing themselves. Unfortunately, there were plenty of times when human power lacked the ability to defy Heaven!

“Lord law-enforcer…” Yi Yun hesitated for a while before saying, “If we are to evacuate to the Cloud Wilderness, can I bring a few people…?”

Yi Yun could not abandon Jiang Xiaorou. There was also Zhou Xiaoke. He could not bear to let such a cute young girl die in the belly of a desolate beast.

The law-enforcer slightly frowned, “Are you bringing a warrior or a mortal?”

He had roughly guessed that Yi Yun likely wanted to bring along his family members.

“Mortals.”

“Alright…” The law-enforcer was not surprised. As a person with a commoner background, Yi Yun’s family was naturally made up of mortals.

“You can bring some, but… it will be limited to a very small number. You should know that it will be very troublesome to evacuate to the Cloud Wilderness while bringing along mortals.”

“Yes… Thank you.”

Yi Yun thanked him as he rushed towards the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor.

Yi Yun was extremely anxious about being able to meet Jiang Xiaorou shortly.

Jiang Xiaorou was the first family member he had ever since he came to this alternate world. In the Cloud Wilderness, when Yi Yun was still lacking in strength, he and Jiang Xiaorou had spent those tough days together, with only each other as kin.

The Soft Clouds Mountain Manor was about fifty kilometers away from the Divine Capital, so Yi Yun arrived there in fifteen minutes.

When he saw the big manor, it appeared to be even more glamorous than when he left.

The red lacquer door, with the shiny bronze ingots and the two large stone lions in front of it, made the place look substantial.

“Stop, who is there?”

Two servants who were guarding the door did not recognize Yi Yun at all. They tried to stop Yi Yun, but Yi Yun did not even bother to answer them. With a flash, he entered the mountain manor.

The two servants were still standing at the entrance with their mouths agape. The person in front of them had instantly disappeared. They looked at each other, wondering if they had seen wrongly.

The inside of the manor was lined with red bricks and green tiles. Several hundred-year-old trees blocked the Sun, and between all the pavilions were rockery and greenery. It was a very beautiful landscape.

Yi Yun was in no mood to see this. He knew where Jiang Xiaorou stayed and focusing his hearing so that, within a hundred meter radius, he could hear even a worm burrowing in the ground.

Soon, he locked onto Jiang Xiaorou’s position. With a flash of his figure, Yi Yun arrived in an exquisite garden.

In this small courtyard, Yi Yun saw a girl in green holding a watering can as she watered the flowers.

Yi Yun immediately recognized this young girl in green as it was his elder sister, Jiang Xiaorou.

After not having seen her once in the last one and a half year, Jiang Xiaorou, who had now eaten exquisite and nourishing food in the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, now looked even more graceful. She no longer looked like her undeveloped self from back then. Her skin had become even smoother and delicate, like creamy jade. Her figure was slim but curvy. She gave off a spring-like feeling.

“Sis Xiaorou!”

Yi Yun loudly shouted. At that moment, his heart was filled with emotion. He had thought that after he went to the Tai Ah Divine City, he would become a dragon amongst men and then have a glorious homecoming. He thought he could give his sister a title of first-grade princess, or some title of Lady, allowing her to live the life of a noble young mistress in the future. If he had a chance, he would get her some magical elixirs, allowing her to reach a certain martial arts realm and gain eternal youth.

However, he never expected that, although he had been outstanding in the Tai Ah Divine City, he could not have a glorious homecoming. He returned to the Divine Capital as a refugee.

Indeed, the phrase “the god of destiny makes fools of the people” was true.

“Yun… Yun’er?” Jiang Xiaorou looked in disbelief at the sudden appearance of this youth that was taller than her by a half a head.

Although Yi Yun had grown taller and his body had become more muscular, they had spent every day together since they were young. No matter how much Yi Yun changed, Jiang Xiaorou could recognize him immediately.

However, she could not believe that Yi Yun would so suddenly return home. She had not received any prior news to this.

“It really is Yun’er!”

Jiang Xiaorou was so overjoyed that she dropped her watering can and scurried forward to stand in front of Yi Yun.

“You have grown tall.”

Jiang Xiaorou touched Yi Yun’s face while her eyes became moist. When Yi Yun left, he was shorter than Jiang Xiaorou, but now, other than looking slightly boyish, he completely looked like an adult.

To Jiang Xiaorou, she did not care if Yi Yun obtained many achievements or reaching whatever cultivation realm. As long as he returned home safe and sound, allowing her to see more of him, she would be satisfied.

“Sis Xiaorou, I have something to tell you.” Yi Yun said hurriedly.

“What is it? What is the rush?” Jiang Xiaorou was a very sensitive woman. She was overjoyed upon seeing Yi Yun’s sudden return. However, with some thought, how could Yi Yun suddenly traverse millions of kilometers back home before finishing his training in the Divine City? There was no prior news to this which made it somewhat unusual.

And from Yi Yun’s expression, it seemed as if something had happened. Jiang Xiaorou’s expression turned solemn.

“We will talk in the house.” Yi Yun pulled Jiang Xiaorou’s hand. Yi Yun could not bring everyone from Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. He could only bring a few along…

352 - : Divine Capital

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun set up a simple sound isolation energy barrier in Jiang Xiaorou’s boudoir. He then told her everything about the beast horde.

The more Jiang Xiaorou heard, the more alarmed she became. What Yi Yun was telling her was truly unbelievable.

A 100,000 feet tall Long Gui behemoth? How big was that?

Jiang Xiaorou had heard of beast hordes more than once while they were living in the Cloud Wilderness. However, she had never encountered one. Today, the beast horde Yi Yun told her about was unexpectedly a super beast horde that could wipe out the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

Jiang Xiaorou had gotten a clear idea of how big the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was over the past year. Such a vast country could actually be destroyed? It sounded incredulous.

“Sis Xiaorou, you cannot tell others of what I told you. Follow me to the army campgrounds and bring Zhou Xiaoke, Aunt Wang and Uncle Zhou with you… This is probably the largest number of people I can take with me.”

Yi Yun believed the law-enforcer would accommodate him bringing four people along.

Yi Yun did not know what would await him in this trip back to the Cloud Wilderness. For such a large divine kingdom to hole up in a barren land like the Cloud Wilderness, was it planning to become a Cloud Wilderness tribe in the future?

For the large divine kingdom to become a tribe was just ironic.

“Only four people?” Jiang Xiaorou could not bear it. What about the people who were left behind?

However, she knew she was unable to change anything and could only nod, “I… got it…”

Jiang Xiaorou followed Yi Yun and stayed within the Jin Long Wei campground. Now, the Jin Long Wei campground was the temporary residence of the Tai Ah Divine City’s elites.

With the looming presence of the beast horde, Yan Menglong and the other Jin Long Wei superiors of Yi Yun had all been deployed to the front lines.

For days, the campground’s atmosphere was extremely depressing. Everyone was waiting for the order to come down as if they were waiting for the decree of Fate.

And today… the order finally came. However, they were not to head to the Cloud Wilderness, but… to rush to the Chu Prefecture City.

To the Chu Prefecture City?

People were confused as they did not know why they were going to the Chu Prefecture City for at that moment.

The Chu Prefecture City was not near the Cloud Wilderness, it was actually closer to the Divine Wilderness. Could it be that the Tai Ah Divine City had been successfully defended?

People could not help but have such thoughts as this was the outcome they wished to see the most.

When Yi Yun learned of their destination, he slightly frowned. He had heard of the Chu Prefecture City. It was the fief of the Chu royal residence. It was also the Chu royal residence’s largest city in the Chu Prefecture.

Yi Yun did not have a good impression of the Chu royal residence. Previously, his enemies, Yang Yuefeng, Yang Dingkun, and company were all from the Chu royal residence.

Regardless of that, an order was an order. Yi Yun followed everyone as they flew towards the Chu Prefecture City.

Jiang Xiaorou and company were also brought along by Yi Yun.

Following that, it was another boring journey. Through these days, they were constantly on the move, not knowing what their future fate would be…

The airship went through one teleportation array after another, slowly closing in on the Chu Prefecture City.

However, at that moment, people on the airship’s deck saw another airship fly alongside them in the air.

This was an airship they had never seen before. It did not belong to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, nor any of the other large factions.

This airship was black in color and its surface was engraved with complicated red runes. As the airship flew, these runes shimmered with a rhythm. They exuded a mysterious and ancient feeling.

Clearly, the red runes were some form of esoteric array; but the law-enforcer in charge of the journey from the Divine Capital, who happened to be proficient in arrays, did not understand it at all.

The airship was about a thousand feet long but its volume was not too ludicrous in size. However, when the airships keel came in sight, a law-enforcer who was proficient in the Desolate Heaven technique became greatly alarmed.

“The heel is made of primordial strain ribs!”

The keel of an airship’s main backbone was a straight beam. Along the beam were several crescent-shaped bones that formed the curvature of the keel.

This shape was, in fact, similar to a human’s sternum and ribs.

If a large primordial strain’s sternum and ribs were used to construct an airships keel, then the quality of that boat would be obvious!

However, in practice, the corpses of primordial strains are extremely precious. The precious bones of the species were usually used to refine desolate bone relics, so who would be willing to use them to construct an airship?

Besides, for an airship of this size meant that the primordial strain must have exceeded a thousand feet in size. It was definitely a horrific existence that could cast away mountains and upset the sea, bringing about Armageddon. Even a peak-Sage might not be able to kill such a beast!

“Such precious bones were used to construct an airship?”

A few law-enforcers became extremely alarmed. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had a few similar grade primordial strain corpses, but they were all placed in the Wilderness Divine Hall for the Tai Ah Divine City cultivators to use for cultivation.

How could they be so extravagant and use them to construct an airship?

“What faction is this?”

People started wondering. However, in times of peril, no matter what mysterious power it is, it will certainly bring imagination and hope to people.

At that moment, the black airship accelerated as it flew towards the Chu Prefecture City, leaving them behind.

“They too are going to the Chu Prefecture City?”

“Look, there are words on the back of the airship!’

People focused their gaze and saw ancient characters on the back of the airship. Two large blood-red words were written, Shen Tu!

The Shentu family clan!?

Could it be…

When people saw this surname, they all held their breaths.

If this was a few months back, no one on the airship would have known who the Shentu family clan was.

However, now, because of the Shepherd Boy, they all knew it clearly!

The Shentu family clan was an ancient family clan in the western regions. Their heritage was unimaginably deep that far exceeded that of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

And when the Shepherd Boy first appeared, it was in the western regions. He had once stirred up a vast beast horde in the western regions, and at that time, the Shentu family clan had resisted against the beast horde.

Although the Shentu family clan was greatly weakened after the beast horde, they still managed to hold on!

A family clan which had been able to defend against the Shepherd Boy!

“It really is the Shentu family clan!”

“People from the Shentu family clan have come. Right, they have a feud with the Sheperd Boy. We might be saved!”

Thinking of this history, people were overjoyed. It could be said that the Shepherd Boy and the Shentu family clan would fight to the bitter end. Now, with the Shepherd Boy appearing once again, the Shentu family clan had taken the initiative to send someone!

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. For the Shentu family clan to appear now, it undoubtedly brought a glimmer of hope to the despairing Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

“Hahaha, this is great! Looks like our orders to head to the Chu Prefecture City is likely because of the Shentu family clan!” A law-enforcer, who was usually serious, became excited and started to cheer.

Even with the Shentu family clan joining, the war would still be extremely difficult with obscene amounts of bloodshed. However, it gave them hope of winning the war.

On the airship, Yi Yun gave a sigh of relief. It was best if they did not need to flee into the Cloud Wilderness.

“Disembark the airship!”

No one had time to appreciate the magnificence of the Chu Prefecture City after they landed. They had received orders to immediately head to the Chu royal residence’s main hall.

And this time, they received precise information that stated that the people from the Shentu family clan had arrived. They were planning to assist the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom in withstanding the beast horde.

“There are kindred spirits to be found in the human world. In this savage world, human forces have to be united!” A law-enforcer said from the bottom of his heart.

“Who can refute that. We humans are weak, so we need to unite to prosper. Things are now great!”

The law-enforcers leading the group were overjoyed. They brought the young Tai Ah Divine Kingdom elites to meet the Shentu family clan’s ambassadors.

Not every elite had this qualification.

It was only limited to Yi Yun, Yao Dao, Yang Qian, Chu Xiaoran, and company.

Many of the others looked at Yi Yun and company with envy. To be able to meet the ambassadors of an ancient yet powerful family clan was an extremely glorious matter.

Not only did it broaden one’s views, but getting to know mighty figures, and gaining the appreciation of the mighty figures would allow one’s path to turn smoother in the future.

There were all sorts of unexpected benefits!

Of course, they were only envious, they had no contempt. Only people like Yi Yun and company had the right to represent the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. If they were sent, they would only be humiliating themselves in front of the ancient family clan.

“In a while, rouse yourselves up. The higher-ups have instructed that you are to seriously handle the Shentu family clan if they are to question you. You must not let down the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s reputation!” A law-enforcer ordered. The higher-ups had just sent down the command. Yi Yun especially, for he was the most presentable talent the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had to offer.

They had to leave a good impression on the ambassadors from an ancient family clan. The ambassadors had to know that the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was thriving with strong warriors in every generation. Only by letting them know that the younger generation of elites was extraordinary in strength could they show them the value of cooperation.

“Yes, I got it.”

Yi Yun nodded. He knew very well that this meeting between the Shentu family clan and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom in the Chu Prefecture City was extremely important. The fate of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom relied on it!

Whether the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom could survive this ordeal relied on the attitude of the Shentu family clan to a great extent.

353 - : The Glimmer of Hope

CKtalon  CKtalon

The grand Chu royal residence was filled with palatial towers everywhere. The main Hall was situated in the King Chu tower that stood magnificently high in the sky.

Currently, the Sun was setting in the West, enveloping the sky in a red glow. The tall King Chu tower was covered by a layer of golden light, making one feel like they were in an immortal paradise.

Before Yi Yun followed the law-enforcers into the King Chu tower, he saw the Shentu family clan’s airship. It was docked in the square in front of the King Chu tower, and Shentu family clan guards surrounded it.

These guards looked strong and sturdy. Their breathing was restrained making it difficult to estimate their strength.

They stood there motionless like wooden poles. As they all uniformly wore the same type of Shentu family clan armor, it was majestic at a glance.

When Yi Yun and company walked past them, all of them continued looking straight, clearly following regimental discipline.

This made Yi Yun secretly surprised. He roughly estimated that these soldiers were no weaker than the Tai Ah Divine City instructors. However, in the Tai Ah Divine City, once people reached that amount of strength, they would have great freedom and a high status.

However, in the Shentu family clan, these people could only become soldiers and guards.

This was the difference between a large faction and a small faction. Although the people were of the same cultivation level and those in a small faction could lead a more comfortable life, they would lose more opportunities and resources. Their horizons were more narrow, so there were people who were willing to serve a large faction, even if they were to be a normal soldier.

“The Shentu family clan has such military prowess and such regimental discipline. It’s much stronger than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.” Yi Yun thought in his mind. He felt more confident of being able to withstand this beast horde.

Stepping through the King Chu tower’s door, he was met with a solemn atmosphere in the main Hall. The ground was paved with inscribed stones. Not only they were harder than steel, they formed a very pretty pattern on the surface. It looked beautiful and noble.

Yi Yun saw that further in the Hall, there was a young man dressed in a traditional costume. His clothes were green in color, and there was a hair band on his head. His skin was white, and his forehead was revealed. His face had a healthy red shine to it. In a subtle way, Yi Yun could feel that in the middle of his eyebrows, there was a hint of purple air.

Purple Air Comes From The East was a symbol of innate royalty.

This youth’s dress sense was simple and his breathing was very deep and composed. He did not seem to have any airs to him, and he seemed very amiable.

Sitting beside the youth were two elders who wore golden headdresses. They remained very respectful to the youth.

Yi Yun noticed that although the two elders were sitting on chairs, they only sat on a third of the seat. Their backs were upright, and this was a sign of humility.

Yi Yun did not recognize the two elders, but, one of the elders was wearing a golden python robe, thus Yi Yun recognized him.

A golden python could be said to be a python, but it actually resembled a dragon. It had four claws which were one less claw than a dragon, so a golden python could be said to be a four-clawed dragon.

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, only those who were given the title of King could wear a four-clawed golden dragon robe. For example, Chu Xiaoran’s father was a Defender Duke, which was one level lower than King Chu’s noble rank, hence he could not wear such a robe.

In other words, the elder wearing a golden python robe was King Chu himself!

For a young man to be able to receive such respect from King Chu made it certain that he was from the Shentu family clan. And amongst the Shentu family clan, he probably did not have a low status. Yi Yun noticed that King Chu was showing heartfelt respect to the youth himself, and not because of the faction behind him.

Other than those three people sitting in the great hall, the rest were left standing.

Yi Yun noticed that amongst those who stood, there were some teenage boys and girls wearing uniforms. These young people were clearly from the Shentu family clan, and they were likely the talented juniors from the Shentu family clan.

There were other older followers and family generals, but all of them treated the youth in green as their leader.

“Young Master Nantian, these are the young elites of our Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, please take a look.”

King Chu pointed at Yi Yun and company. The youth in green casually glanced at them and his gaze stopped for a short while on Yi Yun.

“Not bad…” Shentu Nantian smiled and nodded, “When a country is in danger, being born in this chaotic times is unfortunate, but it is also lucky. If all of you can survive it, then this will be your fortuitous opportunity. Make sure to take advantage of it.”

Shentu Nantian gave a simple evaluation. His voice was like powerful Spring pool, which made many of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s favored children of heaven feel as if they were placed upon a pedestal.

These days, all these teenage boys and girls had slowly understood how vast the world was. They were located in a corner, and they had limited horizons.

Originally, as a figure of such stature, Shentu Nantian would not concern himself with a bunch of geniuses from a small country as they were nothing. Unexpectedly, Shentu Nantian had even given them a good evaluation, making them feel encouraged.

“This Young Master Nantian does not have any airs.”

“Right, I never expected him to encourage us. What a pleasure.” A few youths began discussing using Yuan Qi transmissions.

Some of the young girls even looked at Shentu Nantian with a hint of admiration and idolization.

For a favored son of Heaven from a powerful background to be this charming and strong, he easily moved the hearts of the young girls.

“My Chu royal residence’s family generals, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Sages and all these young proud children of Heaven will listen to Young Master Nantian’s orders!” King Chu respectfully said. At that moment, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was struggling, so naturally, it was very courteous to the Shentu family clan, which was like a life-saving straw.

“Alright.” Shentu Nantian responded lightly. “My Shentu family clan has come to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom for two things. Firstly, it is to clear the beast horde set off by the Shepherd Boy to settle my feud with him. Secondly, it is to discuss some matters with the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.”

As Shentu Nantian spoke, he flipped his right hand slightly, and in his hand, a red stone appeared from out of nowhere.

He picked the gem out of his right hand and swiped it across all the people in the room. This gem emitted a light that put people in a dreamy state. If one looked at it, they would not even realize that their spirit was being sucked in.

Many of the favored children of Heaven were alarmed and hurriedly stop looking at it.

“This is…” King Chu was stunned, not knowing what Shentu Nantian was doing.

“Desolate Mirror Stone!” Shentu Nantian said calmly, “People from the Human race and Desolate race look no different. There is no way to distinguish them on the surface. Only this Desolate Mirror Stone can detect the Desolate race’s signature. This is to prevent spies from the Desolate race being amongst us!”

When Shentu Nantian said this, King Chu’s expression changed. He smiled dryly, “How is that possible? My Chu Prefecture City is a long distance away from the Divine Wilderness. Besides, these are geniuses reared by the Tai Ah Divine City. We know their roots, so they can’t be of the Desolate race…”

“Impossible?” Shentu Nantian chuckled and stood up. “How many people from the Desolate race have you interacted with before? You are just guessing. The Desolate race is cunning, cruel and bloodthirsty. On the way here, I have confirmed that there is more than one member of the Desolate race in the Chu Prefecture City!”

“My guess is that the plan to set off the beast horde to destroy the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom has been prepared by the Desolate race for a long time. Many years ago, the Desolate race might have sent numerous spies to infiltrate all corners of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!”

“This…”

Hearing Shentu Nantian saying it so certainly, the people in the great Hall looked at each other. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had been infiltrated by Desolate race spies? And there were that many?

Originally, their impression of the Desolate race was only that of the Shepherd Boy. It was synonymous with powerful, mysterious, bloodthirsty and cruel.

As for the other members of the Desolate race, they had never thought of them before.

“But…” Shentu Nantian’s suddenly switched gears, “I’m curious. With the Shepherd Boy’s strength, he can destroy the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom by himself. I do not understand why he sent spies out before hand. I’m afraid that his goal of attacking the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom is not that simple!”

Shentu Nantian sighed slightly as he seemed to be in deep thought.

Yi Yun’s mind began cranking when he heard this. When he was in the Tai Ah Divine City, he had seen the Shepherd Boy lead the beast horde to attack the city with his own eyes. Back then, the Shepherd Boy had indeed said, “I have something to do… I do not truly want to destroy the Tai Ah Kingdom, but unfortunately, the few countries around the Divine Wilderness are hindering me from doing what I want to do. As such, I can only annihilate them!”

The fact that Shentu Nantian had managed to reach this conclusion from all sorts of small clues showed how capable he was.

Shentu Nantian carried on, “Everyone, remember this. The Desolate race’s blood is silver in color! If you detect any people with silver blood, you are to immediately report it to me!”

“The Desolate race may look human, but they are in fact not human. In essence, they are desolate beasts. The Desolate race is innately cruel and prone to killing. They do not have any concept of mercy. They kill people like they are cutting grass!”

“Hence, do not treat the Desolate race as humans. Desolate race and Humans are arch-rivals, just as humans are arch-rivals with desolate beasts. You can say that we are irreconcilable!”

“The Desolate race’s silver blood is of great use to Humans. The corpses of high ranked Desolate race members are much more valuable than primordial strains. And moving up, the blood of King-ranked Desolate race members are far superior to primordial true spirits! And King-ranked Desolate race members are not the strongest amongst the Desolate race!”

“The most important point is that the blood of Desolate race members has mild energies. They are not like the blood of primordial strains that can cause damage to one’s meridians. If… anyone of you discovers a Desolate race, and report them to me, I will give you a portion of the Desolate race’s blood. Therefore… I had previously mentioned that this war is a fortuitous opportunity for all of you. Now, you should understand why!”

After Shentu Nantian said all this, the young elites present were moved.

The value of a high ranked Desolate race member’s blood exceeded that of primordial strains.

Furthermore, there were even King-ranked Desolate race members that exceeded primordial true spirits.

The concept of a primordial true spirit had been deeply engraved in their hearts. Back when the Shepherd Boy led the beast horde to attack the city, the giant turtle that shocked many was a primordial true spirit!

Then, what sort of value did the blood have that even a primordial true spirit paled in comparison?

“Alright, that will be all for today. There are no spies amongst us. From now on, the city gates have to be closed as we first find the spy!” Shentu Nantian said as his mouth suffused a confident smile.

The Shepherd Boy, who had previously stirred up a bloody storm in the western regions, was an arch-enemy that had nearly killed his parents and himself.

Now, he wanted to make the Shepherd Boy know what it meant to atone with one’s blood!

354 - : Young Master Nantian

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Chu Prefecture City was on lockdown. People began going door to door to search for the Desolate race’s spy.

A lot of Desolate Mirror Stones were handed out. The Shentu family clan and people from the Chu royal residence were also searching. However, not a single Desolate race was found after a few days.

Some people suspected that Shentu Nantian was being overly sensitive.

“If I said that they exist, then they exist! My intuition is not wrong. I have previously seen some Desolate race members with very pure blood and I have used the pureblood blood elixirs of the Desolate race, so I have a vague sense of the existence of a Desolate race. Now, I have already sensed them, so there must be a Desolate race lurking here. You must carry on searching!”

Shentu Nantian was extremely confident of his judgment. The Desolate Mirror Stone was not omniscient. When a Desolate race member’s strength reached a certain realm, they would be able to hide their signature, as such it would not be surprising that the Desolate Mirror Stone was not able to detect anything.

And the stronger and purer the Desolate race’s blood was, the more valuable it was.

This time, the Shentu family clan had sent several top experts. They were not afraid of the Desolate race’s strength, they were only afraid that the Desolate race blood would be impure.

“Let me… extract a high-ranking Desolate race’s life-giving blood to refine into elixirs. I will use their corpses as a sacrifice to my clansmen who died that year.”

Shentu Nantian rubbed his interspatial ring as a cold beam flashed in his eyes. He had made it his life’s goal to slaughter the whole Desolate race. As long as he killed the whole Desolate race, then the desolate beasts would not be able to form into a super beast horde, so it was insufficient to cause fear.

…

“Using the blood of a Desolate race member to refine into elixirs…” In a small courtyard in the Chu royal residence, Yi Yun was sitting on a long bench as he watched the leaves fall from a hundred-year-old tree.

This looked like one of the courtyards that one of the Chu royal residence’s palace girls lived in. There was even a swing in the courtyard. However, no one knew where the girl had gone, so Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou were assigned to live in it.

There were too many people that had entered the Chu Prefecture City. Although the Chu royal residence was large, it was quickly filled up. It was extremely difficult to be assigned a residence with a courtyard for a single person like Yi Yun.

“Are you biased against using Desolate blood to refine into elixirs?” Chu Xiaoran was sitting opposite Yi Yun. These days against the beast horde, Chu Xiaoran would occasionally look for Yi Yun to chat with so as to relieve her stress.

She did not have many friends in the Tai Ah Divine City. Qiuniu was one, while Yi Yun was the second.

“There will be at least some. The Desolate race look no different to Humans, so to use the Desolate race’s blood to refine into elixirs makes me somewhat uncomfortable with the thought…”

Yi Yun spoke with some deliberation, despite Shentu Nantian having previously said that members of the Desolate race should not be treated as humans, and instead, they should be treated like a type of desolate beast.

Chu Xiaoran said, “The Desolate race is cruel and they have killed countless numbers of people. The Shepherd Boy looks like a neighborly youth, but underneath his skin, he is extremely cruel. The ancients describe death feuds as ‘wishing only to eat one’s flesh and drink one’s blood’, so I don’t think it’s too much.”

What Chu Xiaoran said was not unreasonable, but Yi Yun recalled a phrase from his previous life, “there, we shall feast on barbarian flesh and drink the blood of the Xiongnu”. Now, Shentu Nantian’s feud with the Desolate race was probably similar to the famous general Yue Fei…

“Right, you must be careful of Yang Yuefeng and Yang Dingkun. They have returned to the Chu royal residence and the Chu royal residence is their turf.” Chu Xiaoran suddenly remembered Yi Yun’s feud with the Chu royal residence’s children.

“Yes…I know. I will be careful.”

In the Tai Ah Divine City, Yi Yun could not do anything to Yang Yuefeng and company and vice-versa due to the Divine City’s rules.

However, now in the Chu royal residence, Yi Yun had to be on the watch.

Thankfully, be it Yang Dingkun or Yang Yuefeng, they were just juniors in the Chu royal residence. They could not affect those who held power in the Chu royal residence with their own intentions.

As Yi Yun was thinking, he suddenly heard a commotion outside.

Oh? What happened?

Yi Yun focused and listened. He heard people shouting like they had caught a Desolate race spy and were prepared to submit it to Shentu Nantian to gain credit.

“They have caught a Desolate race spy?” Chu Xiaoran also heard the commotion. She was pleasantly surprised as she stood up.

However, beside Chu Xiaoran, Yi Yun’s expression seemed to change. Why…

His body flashed as he rushed out of the small courtyard!

…

“This is the Desolate race spy? How can it be so weak… Didn’t Young Master Nantian say that the Desolate race spy should be very strong?”

“Haha, who cares. The Desolate Mirror Stone is so bright, so it can’t be wrong. Let’s send the news now.”

There were two Chu royal residence’s guards. One of them lit a voice transmission charm and directly sent the information.

This had happened only about a hundred meters away from Yi Yun’s tiny courtyard, so Yi Yun reached here in a flash.

And what Yi Yun saw made him freeze.

Two large and sturdy Chu royal residence’s guards were surrounding a girl dressed in green. She was his sister, Jiang Xiaorou!

Sis Xiaorou… How is this possible!?

Yi Yun’s heartbeat stagnated as he couldn’t believe it!

“I… I’m not a Desolate race spy, I’m not…” Jiang Xiaorou was curled up in the corner of a wall. Beside her was the basket she had dropped. In it were fresh vegetables and eggs that were scattered all over the ground.

Originally, she had gone to the Chu royal residence to obtain some ingredients so as to prepare a meal for Yi Yun, but she was stopped by these two guards. The stone they had emitted a red glow, and they had insisted that she was a Desolate race spy.

“Hmph, you sure can act!” One of the guards grinned. As a Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warrior, and knowing the cause and effect of the beast horde, they hated the Desolate race to the bone.

Without the Desolate race, would they have been in such a state?

“Let me see how long you can act!” A guard raised his hand as he was about to slap Jiang Xiaorou’s face.

This guard’s cultivation level was in the Yuan Foundation realm. This slap of his was enough to fall a large tree.

Seeing the slap reaching her, Jiang Xiaorou curled into a ball as she closed her eyes. She was filled with panic and despair.

“Stop it!”

Yi Yun’s body flashed and appeared beside the guard like lightning. He reached out his hand and grabbed the guard’s hand.

“You…What are you doing?” Yi Yun had recently broken into the Yuan Foundation and his strength exceeded similarly-ranked warriors. Yi Yun’s grab hurt the guard. The guard’s expression changed slightly as he never expected the youth to be that strong. He struggled to free himself from Yi Yun, but Yi Yun’s hand was like an iron cast. The more he struggled, the more his wrist hurt.

He was a bit afraid as he said cowardly, “Don’t tell me you are trying to protect a Desolate race spy?”

“Yun…Yun’er!” Jiang Xiaorou opened her eyes and she saw Yi Yun standing before her. She cried tears of joy.

“Yun’er, I’m not a spy, I really am not…” Jiang Xiaorou’s voice slightly trembled. She was a very ordinary girl. She had only been trying to get some ingredients before encountering this attack on her.

“You are… Yi Yun?” A guard recognized Yi Yun, whose identity was extremely shocking.

“So you are Yi Yun… So what if you are Yi Yun? She is a Desolate race spy, as if you can protect her!”

Although he knew Yi Yun’s identity and was lacking confidence, his anger had caused him to verbally attack Yi Yun as his wrist was hurting badly.

Yi Yun stood in front of Jiang Xiaorou to protect her. His expression was not happy. At that moment, Chu Xiaoran had also arrived, “What is going on… ?”

She knew Yi Yun had a mortal sister and she had heard the commotion amongst these people. She found it hard to believe that Yi Yun’s sister was a member of the Desolate race as it was too incredulous.

However, she also saw the Desolate Mirror Stone in the hands of the two guards shining the color of blood.

This meant that there was indeed a member of the Desolate race nearby, and it was extremely close!

Yi Yun looked at the Desolate Mirror Stone, and he found the red light emitted by the Desolate Mirror Stone extremely blinding.

He was silent as he turned his head around and looked at Jiang Xiaorou, “Sis Xiaorou…”

“Yun’er, I’m not a spy…” Jiang Xiaorou bit her lips. Her face was a bit pale. In Jiang Xiaorou’s bright eyes, Yi Yun could see his clear reflection.

He was sure that the girl in front of him was the Sis Xiaorou who had followed him all the way. She was not a Desolate race member in disguise.

He grabbed Jiang Xiaorou’s hand and that intimate and harmonious feeling was not something an unfamiliar Desolate race member could disguise.

“She is my elder sister.” Yi Yun turned his head and looked at the two guards as he said unhurriedly.

At that moment, there were more and more people gathering. Many people had rushed out when they heard the commotion.

Many of them were the favored children of the Tai Ah Divine City. Amongst them were Yang Qian and Yao Dao.

One of the Chu royal residence guards clutched his wrist that had been grabbed by Yi Yun. He pointed at Jiang Xiaorou and said to the people that had gathered, “We caught a Desolate race spy. It’s her!”

Everyone’s gaze fell onto Jiang Xiaorou, causing her to subconsciously move backward.

Up to now, she had not figured out what had happened. Two fierce-looking stour men had waved a red stone around her body, and had insisted she was a spy.

“She’s from the Desolate race?” Yang Qian frowned as he looked at Yi Yun. To Yang Qian, he did not mind Jiang Xiaorou, but he had to consider his attitude towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was silent. Jiang Xiaorou’s background was mysterious and he did not know which family clan she came from either. He guessed that Jiang Xiaorou came from a huge background.

However… Desolate race?

Yi Yun recalled the bits and pieces of his interaction with Jiang Xiaorou before shaking his head, “Impossible!”

Back in the Cloud Wilderness, Jiang Xiaorou had previously told him of her childhood. Although she had lost a lot of her childhood memories, she still remembered certain scenes, which included her past life and her reading and writing.

The life she had described did not seem to be that of the Desolate race which lived with desolate beasts.

Besides, Jiang Xiaorou was literate. What she knew was language of humans, and Yi Yun knew that the Desolate race had their own language.

Jiang Xiaorou was the one who first taught Yi Yun’s how to read and write.

If Jiang Xiaorou was from the Desolate race, then why would she learn the language of humans at a young age?

“Just because you say it’s impossible, that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible? The Desolate Mirror Stone can’t be wrong. If no one believes me, then we can test it now. Previously, Young Master Nantian had said that the color of the Desolate race’s blood is silver. Let’s use a knife and see whether this girl’s blood is red or silver!”

The man who had his wrist grabbed by Yi Yun suddenly had a brilliant thought. He suggested this method and everyone who heard this agreed.

Indeed, checking the color of one’s blood was enough, wasn’t it?

355 - : Spy

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Right, a blood test would be sufficient!” People began saying.

Yi Yun’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest. After coming into this world, he had no memories from the original body.

Yi Yun had never seen Jiang Xiaorou bleed since he came here, so he did not know the color of Jiang Xiaorou’s blood.

“Yi Yun, I never expected that you would encounter such a thing. I really pity you, Keke…” A voice filled with schadenfreude rang. Yi Yun looked up and saw that the person who said it was Yang Dingkun.

The two brothers, Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng had appeared in the crowd. As the younger generation of the Chu royal residence, they were the masters here.

For the past few days, as everyone had temporarily taken up residence in the Chu royal residence, the status of the two of them clearly increased amongst the Tai Ah Divine City’s elites.

Of course, they were still far below Yi Yun. In the Tai Ah Divine City, people respected the mighty ones more. Yi Yun’s stature was obtained through his hard work, which was different from the two Yang brothers.

So even though they had returned to the Chu royal residence, Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng would usually hide if they saw Yi Yun. Today, seeing that Yi Yun’s sister was likely a member of the Desolate race, they were pleasantly surprised. They had never expected this to happen to Yi Yun.

If this matter turned out true, then it would be interesting.

Just from Jiang Xiaorou’s identity, they could kick Yi Yun while he was down.

Yi Yun’s gaze turned cold. These two fellows and that one-armed Yang Haoran were like snakes hiding behind him. They were ready to bite him at anytime.

Unfortunately, Yi Yun could not do anything to them in such an environment.

At that moment, the crowd made way as an invisible aura approached.

Yi Yun stood up. He saw that amongst the group of people, Shentu Nantian had slowly walked over.

Shentu Nantian was still in his green clothes. He gave people the feeling of a gently breeze. He had a mild temperament of pale clouds and a light breeze and he did not seem sharp at all.

However… against Shentu Nantian, Yi Yun did not know why he felt a pressure.

“You found a Desolate race spy here?” Shentu Nantian asked as he looked at Jiang Xiaorou, “Is it you?”

Shentu Nantian smiled. Jiang Xiaorou held her breath in front of the green-dressed man. She hid behind Yi Yun as she did not know why she felt extreme fear in front of Shentu Nantian.

Yi Yun frowned. Shentu Nantian had arrived too quickly.

If it wasn’t for Shentu Nantian, Yi Yun felt that he could use his status to protect her without a problem, even though Jiang Xiaorou’s identity was still not clear. After all, Jiang Xiaorou was a real mortal girl. It would be the same even if a Sage used the Heaven’s Eye to investigate her.

A mortal girl should not be faced with such difficulties.

However, Shentu Nantian was different. Yi Yun did not know him, and he had a great feud with the Desolate race.

“Yes, it’s her! We used the Desolate Mirror Stone to test her and it turned so red that it nearly turned purple. There’s definitely something wrong with her. But someone is trying to shield her.”

That guard was obviously referring to Yi Yun.

Shentu Nantian lightly smiled and looked at Yi Yun, “This girl seems to have some abnormal relationship with you?”

“She’s my elder sister!” Yi Yun said seriously. He had said this several times today.

“Blood sister?” Shentu Nantian retorted.

Yi Yun hesitated for a while before shaking his head, “No!”

“Then she was adopted by your parents?”

Hearing Shentu Nantian’s questioning, Yi Yun’s heart sank. Although he was completely reluctant, he eventually nodded his head, “Yes!”

“Where was she adopted?” Shentu Nantian asked again.

Yi Yun’s heart was growing colder, “The Cloud Wilderness!”

Jiang Xiaorou’s origins was extremely disadvantageous to proving her identity. However, Yi Yun could not lie about them as there were many people who knew about his family background.

“Cloud Wilderness is a barren place with lots of desolate beasts! There are Desolate race deeply hidden in the Cloud Wilderness! You adopted a girl of unknown origin in the Cloud Wilderness, then it is possible that she is from the Desolate race!”

As Shentu Nantian said this, Yang Dingkun and company were gloating as it now seemed more and more likely!

Yi Yun clenched his fists. He knew that with his present strength, he was absolutely no match for Shentu Nantian. If Shentu Nantian wanted to do anything to Jiang Xiaorou, Yi Yun did not know what he could do.

Making a move against Shentu Nantian was like hitting a rock with eggs. Doing that would likely anger Shentu Nantian and result in the opposite effect!

Seeing Yi Yun’s reaction, Shentu Nantian gently laughed, “Looks like you really care for your sister. Take it easy. Even if she really was a Desolate race, as long as she does not know anything about the Shepherd Boy and she is just a Desolate race commoner that was accidentally adopted by you, then I might let her off this once because of you. However, I will put some restrictions on her!”

When Shentu Nantian said this, Yi Yun felt relived. He never expected Shentu Nantian to back down.

Was it because of his reputation?

Yi Yun found it a bit incredulous. He may be considered someone in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, but in the eyes of Shentu Nantian, he was probably nothing.

“Someone, check her blood.” Shentu Nantian wiped his smile and gave the order.

A sharp knife was presented and a Chu royal residence guard grabbed it.

“Hold on, I’ll do it myself!” Yi Yun stopped the guard who was itching to do so. How could Yi Yun be assured letting someone slice Jiang Xiaorou’s body? Besides, this person had qualms with him, and Yang Dingkun might even transmit some instructions to cause trouble.

“Let him do it.” Shentu Nantian said. He gave a deep glance at Jiang Xiaorou and no one knew what he was thinking.

Yi Yun did not grab the knife, but he simply grabbed Jiang Xiaorou’s hand. “Sis Xiaorou, I’m going to do it. It won’t hurt.”

“Alright!” Jiang Xiaorou nodded.

Yi Yun extended his index finger and gently stroke Jiang Xiaorou’s palm. The knife he made out of Yuan Qi was extremely sharp.

With almost no pain, a tiny gash opened in Jiang Xiaorou’s palm.

Blood slowly dripped from the wound.

At that moment, Yi Yun held his breath! He was very afraid to see the lethal silver.

Everyone else focused their attention on Jiang Xiaorou’s palm.

“Pa Da!”

A drop of blood dripped out onto the granite pavement. It broke up and reflected the light of the setting Sun. It was like a red colored gem.

“Red colored blood!” Yi Yun let out a long sigh of relief. He had never found the color of blood to be so bright and beautiful!

Jiang Xiaorou, was after all, his sister, not a member of the Desolate race!

Although her identity seemed problematic, Yi Yun could not care less. No matter what Jiang Xiaorou’s background was, he only knew that they had spent the toughest days in the Cloud Wilderness. That kind of blood thicker than water feeling could not be compared to anyone else’s.

Although Yi Yun now had many relations with all sorts of people and was an elite of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, back in the Cloud Wilderness, he was just a mortal. In fact, it should be said he was a burden.

However, Jiang Xiaorou did not abandon him and they depended on each other.

“It’s actually red, what the heck… ?!” The two Chu royal residence guards could not believe it. They had managed to arduously find a Desolate race spy, but it resulted in them being wrong.

“Fuck, this kid sure has good look for him to escape unscathed. However, it’s strange. Since the girl’s blood is red in color, why does she cause the Desolate Mirror Stone to shine red?”

Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng were feeling unhappy. They thought they had found Yi Yun’s weakness. Although they could not use that to shake Yi Yun’s position, they could at least cause his sister to die, making him grieve. That was something they were very happy to see.

However, now all had come to naught.

“So there shouldn’t be a problem, right…” A person asked Shentu Nantian.

“As I said, how can Yi Yun’s sister be from the Desolate race?” Tai Ah Divine City cultivators who revered Yi Yun began supporting Yi Yun.

Shentu Nantian gently stroked his chin as he looked at Jiang Xiaorou silently. No one knew what he was thinking.

“Young Master Nantian, can we go?” Yi Yun placed Jiang Xiaorou behind him as he asked Shentu Nantian. He was still alert. As long as he did not leave their vision, he felt like he had beams stabbing his back, it was impossible for him to feel at ease.

However, Shentu Nantian did not respond. He seemed to recall something and was lost in thought.

Suddenly, he began slowly walking towards Jiang Xiaorou. Jiang Xiaorou’s heart contracted as she subconsciously retreated a few steps.

However, Shentu Nantian did not force himself and stood not far from where Jiang Xiaorou previously stood. He had a smile on his face as he squatted down. He was looking attentively at the drop of blood on the ground.

It was the blood Jiang Xiaorou bled.

After a few seconds, Shentu Nantian stretched out his finger and touched the drop of blood.

Suddenly, a strange smile appeared on the corners of his mouth. He raised his head and looked at Jiang Xiaorou. He faintly said, “Your surname is Jiang, right?”

Jiang Xiaorou’s heart sank. Against Shentu Nantian’s smile, her face turned pale in a flash, “You…”

Beside Jiang Xiaorou, Yi Yun was on high alert. In the previous conversion, no one had mentioned the name “Jiang Xiaorou”, but Shentu Nantian had managed to guess Jiang Xiaorou’s surname!

Shentu Nantian stood up and his smile became even more bright. It was so bright that it looked sinister. “I think I know who you are… I never expected that I would find you here!”

356 - : Blood

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun noticed that the look Shentu Nantian gave Jiang Xiaorou, contained a trace of greed in it!

The feeling was similar to that of a venomous snake looking at a palatable prey.

Yi Yun tightly held onto Jiang Xiaorou’s hand. His palms were sweating as he was extremely nervous. An extremely sense of foreboding started to rise in his heart.

Yi Yun really had no idea of what to do if Shentu Nantian wanted to do anything to Jiang Xiaorou.

Yi Yun was always calm, but now, his mind was completely blank.

“What… has happened?”

At that moment, two elders walked into the crowd.

The person leading the way was dressed in a four-clawed, golden dragon robe. His hair was white and his eyes sparkled. He was King Chu!

Beside King Chu was an elder, dressed in gray clothes. This elder was also present when Yi Yun previously met Shentu Nantian in the main Hall. He rarely spoke and seemed to be a personal guard of King Chu.

“Your Highness, there is a problem with the identity of Yi Yun’s elder sister.”

A Chu royal residence guard quickly explained the situation to King Chu with a Yuan Qi voice transmission.

King Chu was, for a short while, stunned as he too never expected for this to happen.

“Young Master Nantian, what is this girl?”

Now, Jiang Xiaorou’s identity was uncertain. The only person who knew was Shentu Nantian himself.

“She is a member of the Desolate race.” Shentu Nantian determined Jiang Xiaorou’s identity with a simple line without offering any further explanation.

Yi Yun’s heart sank. Desolate race!

Even though her blood was red, she was still of the Desolate race?

Previously, Shentu Nantian said that if Jiang Xiaorou was of the Desolate race and had been accidentally adopted, having no idea about the Shepherd Boy’s invasion, then he would not pursue her. However, clearly… the matter was no longer that simple!

“Young Master Nantian, may I know what you want to do with my sister? She may be of the Desolate race, but she is just a Desolate race commoner.” Yi Yun suppressed his emotions while asking Shentu Nantian in a respectful tone, hoping that he would let Jiang Xiaorou off.

“Desolate race commoner?” Shentu Nantian glanced at Yi Yun and chuckled, “How do you know if she is a commoner? She is not a commoner, and her identity is very special!”

“I will take your sister away. Although I could fabricate a lie and leave you with beautiful fantasies, I will not do that. I want you to know that the Human race and the Desolate race are bitter enemies, there will never be a peaceful coexistence.”

“To us, the Desolate race are just desolate beasts that can speak. Originally, if this girl was a Desolate race commoner without anything special, it would be no problem for you keeping her as a pet or as a sex slave. I would have allowed that, but she is not. There is a great history contained within her background, and once she is sent back to the Desolate race, it will bring an endless amount of calamities onto humans. It might even be far more serious than the beast horde set off by the Shepherd Boy!”

When Shentu Nantian said this, everyone became stunned. Was it possible for this girl to cause something far more serious than the beast horde set off by the Shepherd Boy?

“Therefore… I must kill her. As for her blood, I will use it to refine elixirs! The truth is cruel, but since you asked, I told you the truth.”

After Shentu Nantian said this, he wiped off his smile. His voice was ice-cold and full of murderous intent.

Jiang Xiaorou, who was behind Yi Yun, felt as if she had been struck by lightning!

Refine! Elixirs!

She would be refined into an elixir?

Yi Yun’s blood was surging as his eyes turned bloodshot.

Shentu Nantian actually wanted to use Jiang Xiaorou for refining elixirs?

At that moment, Yi Yun felt as if his soul left his body. He stood before Shentu Nantian, as if he had been completely isolated from the surrounding world. All he could see was Shentu Nantian.

What do I do? What am I supposed to do!?

Thousands of ideas flashed past Yi Yun’s mind, but none of them could resolve the current situation!

At that moment, Shentu Nantian turned towards King Chu, “King Chu, you are just in time. Does your residence have an alchemy lab? Please lend me the best one you have.”

“Al… Alchemy lab?” King Chu gave him a bitter smile as he glanced at Yi Yun with the corner of his eyes.

At the moment, King Chu was having a huge dilemma. How did the matter develop to this point?

Although he did not care for Yi Yun, there were several people in the upper echelons of the Divine Kingdom who found Yi Yun very promising. They were hoping that Yi Yun would be able to change the fate of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

However, if he were to help Shentu Nantian now, and refine Yi Yun’s sister, then Yi Yun might go into a rage and do something silly. Then, all the troubles stirred up would most likely be blamed on him.

King Chu found it difficult to give him an immediate answer.

“Grandpa, since Young Master Nantian wants an alchemy lab, let us just give him one. Do we not have a Herbal Royal Lab in our residence? That is an alchemy lab with Earth Fire. In the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, only the imperial city’s Dragon Elixir Lab can compete with our Herbal Royal Lab.”

Yang Dingkun, who stood beside King Chu, said in a gloating fashion. His heart was so happy that it felt like it was blooming with flowers. The Herbal Royal Lab’s grade had been exaggerated by him as he was afraid that Shentu Nantian might not like it.

If it was Yi Yun’s sister, refining her in the Chu royal residence’s Herbal Royal Lab would be extremely interesting.

When he thought of this, Yang Dingkun looked at Yi Yun. He saw Yi Yun touching his interspatial ring with one hand. Green veins were protruding on his forehead, clearly he was extremely angry.

Seeing the action of Yi Yun touching the interspatial ring, Yang Dingkun became overjoyed.

Great! This is too great! If Yi Yun got agitated to make a move, then it would be a joyous occasion. Then he could even kill by proxy, by letting Shentu Nantian destroy Yi Yun.

In Shentu Nantian’s eyes, how great of a figure could someone like Yi Yun be?

With this thought in mind, Yang Dingkun sent Yi Yun a sarcastic Yuan Qi transmission, “Yi Yun, Keke, your expression sure looks fearsome, but what can you do? Now, you can only watch on helplessly as your sister is being refined into elixirs. Young Master Nantian previously said that the stronger the Desolate race, the more power the blood contains. The elixir that is refined would then also be higher in grade. Your sister must have a pretty good bloodline for her to gain the favor of Young Master Nantian. If only I could get a few of those elixirs.”

Yang Dingkun said it all in a an eccentric manner as Yi Yun’s gaze turned muddy. He had now given Yang Dingkun the death penalty in his heart.

Actually, up till now, Yi Yun had never really killed a person.

For example, although Lian Chengyu’s death was caused by Yi Yun, he had only been maimed by Yi Yun. Lian Chengyu only died due to his own despair and serious injuries.

However at that moment, Yi Yun really wanted to kill Yang Dingkun!

Yang Dingkun’s heart sank upon seeing Yi Yun’s cold eyes. He inexplicably felt his back go cold.

Yi Yun did not lose his reason due to his rage and did not blindly attack. This made Yang Dingkun unhappy, but Yi Yun’s murderous gaze made him feel fear.

“What is there to be afraid of!?” Yang Dingkun said to himself. He had decided to arrange the alchemy lab, and by sucking up to Shentu Nantian, allowing Shentu Nantian to feel happy.

When that happened, he would end up with a meteoric rise.

So what about Yi Yun, so what if he was great? He may be special in the Tai Ah Divine City, but compared to Young Master Nantian, he was nothing but a fart!

357 - : Dark Red

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Earth Fire alchemy lab? That will probably do…” Shentu Nantian said treating the matter lightly.

Shentu Nantian’s statement had decided the matter.

What else could King Chu do? With the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom teetering on the brink of destruction, how could he possibly disobey Young Master Nantian’s orders?

“Uncle Zhou, arrange the Herbal Royal Lab for Young Master Nantian.” As King Chu spoke, he glanced at Yi Yun. He had been noting Yi Yun’s reaction the entire time. He too felt some sympathy for this young man.

“Yes, your Highness.”

Uncle Zhou was the elder in gray that had been following King Chu all this time. He was King Chu’s personal guard as well as the steward of the Chu royal residence.

“Uncle Zhou, let me and Dingkun arrange it.” Yang Yuefeng said. He was eager to do the job and seize this opportunity to please Shentu Nantian. An opportunity like this was very rare.

“Young Master Ding, Young Master Feng…” Uncle Zhou hesitated for a bit but did not stop them. He just quietly stood by King Chu’s side.

Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng looked at Yi Yun with mocking glances and solicitously said to Shentu Nantian, “Young Master Nantian, shall we do it now? If you need any materials, we will prepare them for you immediately.”

Yang Dingkun patted his chest as a guarantee.

Shentu Nantian said with a smile, “There is no need. I am afraid that you do not have the things I need.”

“Yes, yes, yes. The things Young Master Nantian need must be priceless treasures that we cannot prepare. Sorry for the joke displayed before you.” Although he had been despised, he still flattered Young Master Nantian cheerfully.

At that moment, Shentu Nantian turned towards Jiang Xiaorou.

As for Yi Yun, he was standing in front of Jiang Xiaorou with his right fist clenched and his left hand was on his right hand’s interspatial ring.

At that moment, Yi Yun was like a sparrow protecting its young against a foul hawk in front of him.

“Your name is Yi Yun right? I can feel that you are very promising. To have such accomplishments while being born in such a small country. Breaking through to the Yuan Foundation realm at such a young age and having such a solid foundation is extremely difficult.”

“Cherish your future and do not do anything stupid. I have repeatedly stressed that humans and desolate beasts are bitter enemies! Do you not see how this beast horde was stirred up? The Desolate race are willing to kill trillions of civilians without even blinking, just to accomplish their goals!”

“The sister you have behind you has a special bloodline. I definitely cannot let her live. For once she is found by the Desolate race, there will definitely be a scourge.”

As Shentu Nantian spoke, he walked towards Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou.

However, Yi Yun gritted his teeth as he remained standing in front of Jiang Xiaorou.

Shentu Nantian frowned. He stared into Yi Yun’s eyes for a few seconds, Yi Yun did not relent and stared back.

Shentu Nantian’s expression sank as his patience was limited.

“I am saying this for the last time. I am giving you the time it takes to take 3 breaths to get out of my way.”

Yi Yun took a deep breath. He felt as if his heart was bleeding, but he still endured it, “Young Master Nantian, I beg of you, let my sister go. You can put restrictions on her, but…”

“Oh!?” Shentu Nantian’s face turned cold as his aura exploded. Originally, Shentu Nantian gave people the feeling of a gently breeze. His usual temperament was like that of a elegant breeze, giving people a comfortable feeling.

However, now, he was like an evil demon. It was like a ferocious beast had awoken within Shentu Nantian’s body!

Suddenly, Shentu Nantian became extremely scary.

“Scram!”

Shentu Nantian waved his hand, making Yi Yun feel a terrifying force surge towards him from all sides. The blood within his body seemed to freeze at that moment. His meridians, his key points and his energy had been completely locked.

This energy was too terrifying as Yi Yun was powerless to resist it. His entire body was sent flying by the energy, heavily slamming into the Chu royal residence’s wall!

“Boom!”

With a loud bang, the one foot-thick wall collapsed. Stones fell as Yi Yun was buried in rubble, his body now completely covered in stone and dust!

At that moment, Yi Yun felt as if all of his organs had been misplaced. He felt something in his throat as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Yi Yun!

This sudden scene stunned everyone.

Under Shentu Nantian’s sudden attack, the powerful Yi Yun was like a helpless baby.

Chu Xiaoran and company felt their hearts clench as they were worried about Yi Yun. A wise man does not fight when the odds are stacked against him. They were afraid that Yi Yun would be rash and do something stupid.

However, there were also people like Yang Dingkun, Yang Yuefeng and company who were now smiling. This was great, it really felt great!

Shentu Nantian’s voice said coldly, “I gave you face, but you did not want it. Who do you think you are? I appreciate you and can speak to you pleasantly, but if I hate you, you can be squashed by me like an ant!”

“I have taught you the ways of being human countless times, telling you to keep away from the Desolate race, but you! You repeatedly go against me. Do you really think that I would tolerate you time and again?”

At that moment, Shentu Nantian revealed a natural regal air to him and was extremely scary!

He was like a King who held the rights to life. One moment, he was pleasant, in the next moment, he was killing people out of anger. His moods made it hard for people to grasp it.

“I warn you for the last time, draw a line with the Desolate race. If you do so, then you will be one of us Humans. If you do not, I will kill you with my own hands!”

Shentu Nantian’s final words were filled with murderous intent.

“Yun’er…”

Jiang Xiaorou ran in front of the rubble and helped Yi Yun up. At that moment, Yi Yun’s mouth was full of blood. The blood had mixed with the dust, turning its color into a reddish-black.

Seeing Yi Yun in such a state, Jiang Xiaorou’s heart broke. She bit her lips. In this situation, she was helpless.

She looked at Shentu Nantian and sobbed, “Do not fight anymore… I will follow you.”

“Haha!” Hearing Jiang Xiaorou’s words, Shentu Nantian laughed heartily, “Such a sickening sibling relationship. For a human and one of the Desolate race to have such feelings for each other, that they can give up their lives to protect the other is laughable to an extreme!”

“Do you think that you would have the chips to negotiate with me if you were to leave with me? Your life was originally in my hands! However, I did not want to kill your so-called brother today. I only wanted to teach him a lesson and let him remember what race he is. I wanted to let him know that he cannot forget who he is!”

As Shentu Nantian spoke, his hand grabbed towards Jiang Xiaorou, “If you want to blame anyone, blame your own destiny!”

Shentu Nantian’s hands were injected with a trace of Yuan Qi as he pressed towards Jiang Xiaorou’s head. He wanted to strike Jiang Xiaorou’s mind. Once that happened, Jiang Xiaorou would lose her sanity, but her body would remain alive. Using a living body when refining elixirs gave the best results.

358 - : At the end of the Road

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun looked on helplessly as Shentu Nantian’s hand went to grab her. Shentu Nantian’s motion was not fast, but he did not need to be that fast to destroy a mortal’s mind.

No——!

Yi Yun shouted in his heart. He buried his hands deep in the rubble as his eyes nearly bled, but he was still completely powerless to prevent this scene!

At that moment, Yi Yun’s body was in complete pain. His energy was still being locked by Shentu Nantian so he could not use his Yuan Qi. Even if he could use it, against Shentu Nantian, Yi Yun’s strength was negligible. He had no doubt that if he were to challenge Shentu Nantian’s authority again, not only would he not be able to save Jiang Xiaorou, he would also end up dying together with her!

At that moment, Yi Yun deeply felt how minute his existence was!

Because of his minuteness, he could be kneaded by others in any way.

Because of his minuteness, he could not protect the people he wanted to protect.

Strength! He needed strength! He needed time to grow, but… now, it was too late!

Time seemed to freeze as Shentu Nantian’s hand came pressing onto Jiang Xiaorou’s head without any resistance. It was as if this strike was shattering Yi Yun’s own heart!

Jiang Xiaorou closed her eyes. She had calmly accepted this approaching fate of hers. At the last moment, she was praying for Yi Yun to be fine. That, after her death, Shentu Nantian would not harm Yi Yun.

And at the moment Jiang Xiaorou had resigned herself to fate, something strange happened. Murderous intent covered everything!

“Huh!?”

Shentu Nantian suddenly turned around and slammed his palm to the back, “Who!?”

“Pa!”

A loud explosion, which sounded like glass breaking, boomed out. Shentu Nantian’s body trembled as he retreated. Before him, there now was a thin grey figure attacking him!

In his hand was a short, black, curved saber that was slashing straight at Shentu Nantian’s neck!

“Uncle Zhou, you…”

When he saw who it was that attacked, King Chu was dumbfounded. His guard and steward actually attacked Shentu Nantian!?

Uncle Zhou had previously saved King Chu’s life in a mystic realm!

Compounded with Uncle Zhou’s power and steady personality, King Chu had always trusted him greatly.

In name, Uncle Zhou was King Chu’s personal guard and steward, but he was in fact a very good friend of his. Usually, they would address each other as brothers.

King Chu never expected that Uncle Zhou would suddenly launch a surprise attack at Shentu Nantian at this critical moment!

“Courting death!”

Shentu Nantian loudly shouted as a sword appeared in his hand from out of nowhere. His sword blocked off Uncle Zhou’s curved saber. He knew that if he could drag it out a few more seconds, then the Shentu family clan’s experts would be able to rush here and kill this person!

“So, the person of the Desolate race that I felt was you!” Shentu Nantian grinned as he revealed Uncle Zhou’s identity.

Uncle Zhou was the Desolate race spy!

Jiang Xiaorou’s strength was too weak, so even though her bloodline was pure, it was in fact impossible for Shentu Nantian to detect her presence.

What he felt had to be a strong member of the Desolate race.

And this Desolate race was extremely good at hiding. Even with a Desolate Mirror Stone, there had been no way of finding him.

Instead, Jiang Xiaorou, who was a commoner, could neither hide the signature of her bloodline nor could she hide from the Desolate Mirror Stone.

“Clang!”

The sword and saber clashed as Shentu Nantian started laughing maniacally, “Another high-ranked Desolate race, great! Today I will have a great harvest. Stay behind and enter the furnace…”

As Shentu Nantian said this, his voice froze.

He looked incredulously at his neck and saw that a gruesome gash had appeared out of nowhere. It extended from his carotid artery, all the way down to his collar bone.

“Puah!”

The carotid artery had been slashed open, causing blood to spray out!

A dizzy feeling flooded Shentu Nantian senses as he froze. He had clearly blocked the spy’s saber, so how did he get so seriously injured?

An invisible saber blade had injured him with a slash!

When he thought of the moment when he turned around, there had been the clear sound of breaking glass. Only then did Shentu Nantian realize what had happened.

Spatial Dimension Blade!

Spatial Dimension laws!?

A Desolate race had actually managed to cultivate in the Spatial Dimension laws and used an invisible Spatial Dimension Blade to injure him!

The mysterious and esoteric Spatial Dimension laws were of a realm that made people envious. Its was extremely powerful and the way it attacked was extremely elusive. Many wanted to cultivate in it, but no one had ever managed to even step through that door.

“Shentu Nantian, today I’ll die with you!”

Uncle Zhou hated Shentu Nantian to an extreme, as if they had a great feud in between them. The curved saber in his hand quickly rotated as he slashed towards Shentu Nantian’s heart!

If the Spatial Dimension Blade pierces through the heart, it could kill Shentu Nantian!

At that moment, Shentu Nantian’s artery was spewing out blood and almost half his neck had been cut open. Any normal warrior would have long since died. Even if it was Shentu Nantian, his battle prowess had now been greatly reduced. He could not withstand that strange attack which contained the Spatial Dimension laws!

In a split second, Shentu Nantian’s chest suddenly flashed with a divine flow as a protective charm flew out on its own towards Uncle Zhou’s blade.

“Clang!”

The blade beam was shattered while the protective charm revealed a crack. However, it was still able to completely protect Shentu Nantian.

Shentu Nantian’s eyes turned cold, “You want to kill me? You are too naive, you do not have anymore time.”

Just after Shentu Nantian said this, seven Yuan Qi beams shot up from the surroundings and into the sky.

“Who dares to assassinate our family’s young master!?”

“Prepare your life!”

The seven elders came from all directions. They were all legendary figures of the Shentu family clan and each had unfathomable strength!

They were responsible for the protection of Shentu Nantian during this trip!

The seven people’s speed was as fast as lightning as they approached Uncle Zhou.

Feeling the Yuan Qi intensity coming from these people, and seeing the thick, shimmering protective shield now around Shentu Nantian, Uncle Zhou’s eyes glimmered with resentment and unwillingness!

He was unable to kill Shentu Nantian!

“The Heavens has eyes, you shall pay with your blood!”

Uncle Zhou gritted his teeth as he retreated a step back to stand beside Jiang Xiaorou. He then grabbed Jiang Xiaorou’s shoulder!

Seeing this scene, Shentu Nantian’s heart tightened. He knew that the Desolate race was escaping!

“Seal all routes of retreat. Do not let this old thing escape with the little witch girl!”

Shentu Nantian snapped with a fierce voice as he clutched his bleeding neck.

The seven legendary figures had already begun to set up an array while they were rushing over. They locked down all routes of retreat, preventing Uncle Zhou from escaping!

However at that moment, Uncle Zhou’s expression showed an unswerving determination. He suddenly punched himself in the chest.

“Puah!”

Uncle Zhou forced out a mouthful of blood, and this blood sprayed onto Jiang Xiaorou’s clothes.

Silver blood that reflected the setting Sun’s glow and seemed to be, in itself, a flowing treasure. It looked even more glaring than red blood.

Jiang Xiaorou was completely stunned. She was unable to react to this sudden turn of events.

At that moment, Uncle Zhou touched Jiang Xiaorou’s head with one hand and showed a kind smile.

Under the sunset’s glow, his wrinkle-filled face and smile seemed to freeze into eternity.

“Successor, this old servant will now be sending you home…”

The words said by Uncle Zhou’s old voice resounded in Jiang Xiaorou’s ear. These words seemed to become forever imprinted in her mind.

Following that, Jiang Xiaorou suddenly felt the blood on her chest, from Uncle Zhou, turn warm, as if the blood was burning.

The silver blood was like a river of fire, causing her to feel pain on the chest.

At that moment, she felt inexplicable pain upon seeing old Uncle Zhou. This pain came out of nowhere, making it hard for her to even breathe.

A beautiful rainbow light enveloped Jiang Xiaorou.

“Space teleportation! That old beast knows Spatial Dimension laws. He has burned his blood essence and initiated a space teleportation to send the little witch girl away!”

Shentu Nantian finally realized what Uncle Zhou was doing. He was angrily alarmed. Jiang Xiaorou was not to be let go!

Shentu Nantian conjured up a large golden hand to grab at Jiang Xiaorou!

“Little witch girl, you are staying behind!”

“Boom!”

A loud explosion sounded as the large hand grabbed onto the light formed from the laws that surrounded Jiang Xiaorou. The light shield trembled, causing ripples to form in the spatial dimensions.

Shentu Nantian’s palm felt pain from the tremors, but Jiang Xiaorou, who was within the light shield was still safe and sound.

The Space Dimension laws had been activated. Although they could still see Jiang Xiaorou, at that moment she was already in a completely different space-time dimension.

“It is too late!” Shentu Nantian said as his heart burned with anxiety. “We cannot let the array succeed. Kill that old beast and interrupt the array. Tear open the space dimension tunnel and drag the little witch girl out!”

Shentu Nantian yelled as if he was crazy.

The legendary figures from the Shentu family clan attacked from all corners. There were 4 swords, 2 sabers and 1 spear. They all stabbed at Uncle Zhou at the same time.

The weapon’s cold beams flashed, but Uncle Zhou did not even take a glance. He did not even conjure up his Power of Desolates to protect his body.

He bit the tip of his tongue and spat out another mouthful of blood essence to inject into the array!

“Puah Puah Puah!”

Seven sharp weapons pierced through Uncle Zhou’s body at the same time!

Fresh silver blood splattered. Uncle Zhou’s slightly stooped body suddenly quivered. His organs had all been ruptured and his mouth was filled with blood. It flowed down like mercury.

His hands were slightly trembling as he pressed onto the spatial light shield around Jiang Xiaorou. With the last ounce of his strength, he drew an engraving with his blood.

He watched Jiang Xiaorou in this fashion, as if he had all sorts of things he wanted to say to her but couldn’t.

Jiang Xiaorou held her breath. She had always lived a bland life, never experiencing such a scenario.

She did not even know who this elder, who died for her, was. Neither did she know what their relation was. She had lost a portion of her childhood memories. She desperately tried to recall, but could not remember a thing…

She wanted to touch the elder’s face through the light shield, but she could not touch it…

“Boom!”

A battle axe cleaved down on the elder’s head.

The elder’s head jerked as his head was split open. Blood spouted out from his forehead.

With his incredible will, he managed to ignite all the engravings at the last moment of his life. The light beams became thicker, like a burning flame.

In this light, Jiang Xiaorou saw the elder’s final expression. It was that of a serene smile…

As space distorted, Jiang Xiaorou was aware of what was about to happen. She would soon be teleported away.

“Yun’er! Yun’er!”

Ignoring the grief of the dead elder, what Jiang Xiaorou was the most concerned about now was Yi Yun!

The elder, having sacrificed his life to send her away, was already the limit. As for Yi Yun, what would happen to Yi Yun?

Would Shentu Nantian, in his anger, spare Yi Yun’s life?

“Yun’er!”

Jiang Xiaorou cried out loudly. However, her voice was completely isolated by the light shield.

She felt space distort, causing her to nearly faint! At that split moment, she tunneled through endless space-time!

359 - : Serene Smile

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

Above the Chu royal residence, a space-time black hole appeared out of nowhere. It swallowed Jiang Xiaorou, leaving behind black Spatial Dimension law beams that slowly disappeared in the sky…

Uncle Zhou’s body had been completely pierced through by sabers and swords. He looked at the space-time portal as it was slowly disappearing, the smile on his face had already gone stiff.

He had done it. Although he did not manage to kill Shentu Nantian, he did manage to send away the Successor. He died without any regrets.

“Old bastard! You interfered with my grand plans!”

Shentu Nantian was clutching his own neck as his eyes turned scarlet, like those of a wild beast!

Under his tremendous rage, Shentu Nantian’s body flashed and then appeared before Uncle Zhou’s body. He then smashed down onto Uncle Zhou’s forehead with a palm.

“Ka-cha!”

People heard the crisp sound of cervical bones cracking. Shentu Nantian had pressed Uncle Zhou’s neck all the way into Uncle Zhou’s own chest.

His neck was completely broken, even his skull had been completely cracked open. It was a terrible sight!

Shentu Nantian’s hair was disheveled, his body was covered with of blood, and his hands were stained with brain fluid. Currently, he looked like a bloodthirsty demon!

People held their breaths, they were reduced to complete silence!

After Shentu Nantian completely revealed his foul ways, he was a completely different person!

The way he dealt with Uncle Zhou could be said to be extremely brutal!

Even King Chu was shaking and felt distraught. The person who had sneaked up on Shentu Nantian and disrupted his great plans, causing them to fail, was his most trusted steward.

“King Chu!”

Shentu Nantian stared at King Chu with his blood red eyes!

King Chu held his breath as beads of sweat began to emerge on his forehead.

“This small King has made a great mistake by not investigating his subordinates.” King Chu had experienced all sorts of situations before, but in front of Shentu Nantian, he was unable to keep any standing.

This was the absolute pressure brought on by strength. No matter what one’s status was, it was completely meaningless in front of strength.

“Please calm down Young Master Nantian, my grandfather was blinded by schemers. Today, everything should be blamed onto that ungrateful rascal, Yi Yun. If not for him, with Young Master Nantian’s superior divine strength, how could you be sneaked upon by that old thing? Yi Yun, he…”

Yang Dingkun realized that Shentu Nantian was about to cause trouble for his grandfather, so he quickly said this in an attempt to redirect the spearhead at Yi Yun.

“Shut up!”

Shentu Nantian roared. A sharp sound wave, containing Yuan Qi, formed into a sword and hurled towards Yang Dingkun.

“Peng!”

Yang Dingkun’s body shook as his eardrums began to bleed from the tremors.

With a tremble, Yang Dingkun half-kneeled on the ground.

He looked at Shentu Nantian with inexplicable horror. He did not dare to speak another word. A few moments ago, he almost thought he was going to die.

“Do I need you to teach me what to do?”

Shentu Nantian’s voice was gloomy. Everyone understand that his rage had reached an extreme with Jiang Xiaorou’s escape. At that moment, whoever interacted with him were bound to not end up well.

It would be no surprise for him to suddenly start killing people to vent his anger!

And if he really wanted to do so, Yi Yun… would by no doubt be the first to suffer his wrath!

Step by step, Shentu Nantian walked towards Yi Yun. Blood was dripping from his fingers and onto the granite pavement.

This strong oppressive pressure made people hold their breaths.

“Yi Yun…”

Chu Xiaoran and company, who had good relations with Yi Yun, had their hearts in their mouth.

The odds were stacked against Yi Yun!

They could only stare on helplessly. As for jokes, such as standing up for Yi Yun to plead for him, that would be useless. It would only result in them accompanying Yi Yun to the grave.

“You sure have guts!” A cold gaze flashed in Shentu Nantian’s eyes.

“Boom!”

Yuan Qi exploded around Yi Yun, causing debris to crumble. Yi Yun felt his body tremble as he rolled out. His injuries had become worse!

Shentu Nantian walked before Yi Yun and grabbed his neck.

Yi Yun’s body was covered with blood. His vision was blurry and he found it hard to breathe.

At that moment, he could feel that if Shentu Nantian were to even just slightly use some of his strength, he could immediately break his neck and throat. His entire head would be ripped off!

Death seemed to be looming near. His feeling of powerlessness reached an extreme as his life was now in the hands of someone else!

“It’s because of you! Originally, I would have gained a furnace filled with divine blood elixirs. My cultivation level would have increased by leaps and bounds! However… you allowed the Desolate race spy a chance to sneak up on me, causing the little witch girl to escape! You did well! Not even killing you ten thousand times will be enough to appease the hatred in my heart!”

Shentu Nantian pushed all the blame onto Yi Yun.

Jiang Xiaorou’s identity was special. To Shentu Nantian, obtaining Jiang Xiaorou would be the greatest fortuitous opportunity, but now, this opportunity had escaped right in front of his eyes. So how could Shentu Nantian not feel hatred!?

Yi Yun laughed bitterly. At this stage, whatever he said would be meaningless.

The only thing to blame was that he was too weak. If not, he would not need to swallow this insult or this humiliation silently while begging Shentu Nantian to let Jiang Xiaorou off and not refine his sister into elixirs.

Pleading did not work, and he had been beaten up. Later Jiang Xiaorou was rescued by someone else, resulting in him becoming the scapegoat and punching bag. He was facing an outcome of death.

Having one’s life in the hands of someone else, with no room for resistance, this was the sorrowful truth of the weak.

Shentu Nantian looked at Yi Yun, murderous intent rising in his eyes. However, his hands still did not press down on Yi Yun’s neck.

He was silent as several thoughts flashed past his mind.

Killing Yi Yun would not be enough to appease his hatred. This feeling was like being bitten by an ant. Even if he crushed the ant to death, he would still have been bitten, so how could trampling this ant to death relieve his hatred?

This was an irredeemable scene. Shentu Nantian had not been able to capture Jiang Xiaorou and had thus been unable to deal a blow to the Desolate race.

The Desolate race would not feel anything for a dead human. Only Jiang Xiaorou would feel hatred, and it might even end up causing her to attain greatness.

However, what if he made good use of Yi Yun?

Shentu Nantian remembered that Jiang Xiaorou had agreed to give her life to him in order to prevent Yi Yun from being harmed.

Jiang Xiaorou definitely cared a great deal about Yi Yun’s safety.

When he thought of this, Shentu Nantian stood up and let Yi Yun go.

He said to an elder behind him, “Take this little bastard away. Announce to the masses that he will be given capital punishment for treachery, death by dismembering the heart!”

Dismembering the heart!?

A few elders jumped with fright as they heard the name of the death sentence.

Dismembering the heart was the most brutal capital punishment of the Shentu family clan. It was only used on warriors, as mortals could not handle such torture.

In a period of 36 days, a red-hot blade would be slashed onto the criminal 36,000 times, 1000 slashes a day!

After each day’s slashing, a heart dismembering worm’s egg would be placed in the wounds. The eggs would then slowly hatch and eat the flesh and blood. The teeth of the heart dismembering worm larvae were toxic. Once this toxin entered the body, together with the feeling of one’s flesh and blood being eaten, it would indescribable.

Finally, when the 36,000 slashes were completed, the heart dismembering worms would follow the blood vessels and meridians all the way to the heart. There, tens of thousands of worms would bite at the heart, eventually leading to one’s death.

In this capital punishment, the heart dismembering worms caused the most pain. Typical Yuan Foundation realm warriors could not withstand this capital punishment and would die after just a few days of torture. Even when the Shentu family clan carried out the capital punishment, they still had to provide pills to extend the life of the criminal.

“Young Master, are you going to lure the Desolate race into saving him?”

A few elders immediately guessed Shentu Nantian’s intentions.

“That is correct. Killing this kid would be no different from squeezing an ant to death. It is meaningless to me, neither can it remedy anything. However, if I were to spread the news that the kid would be executed by dismembering the heart, then that little witch girl would quickly learn of it. In the Chu Prefecture City, there are probably still other Desolate race spies! The news will quickly spread to her ears.”

“That little witch girl will not sit idly by. At that moment, we will have an opportunity!”

When the few elders heard this, they slightly sighed. An elder said, “Does this Yi Yun have such great a value? When the Desolate race receives the news, they will definitely know that we have laid a trap. If they know that there is a trap, they will likely not be so dumb as to fall for it. Besides, Yi Yun is a human, so what happens if the Desolate race does not come to save him?”

Yi Yun was only close to Jiang Xiaorou and had no relations with the Desolate race. Why would the upper echelons of the Desolate race care about Yi Yun’s life? How could they send and risk an expert’s life to save a human, especially when they knew that there was a trap?

“We will know by trying. There will not be any loss for us. If no one cares about his life, then we will just let him die from a dismembered heart!”

Shentu Nantian said this lightly, determining Yi Yun’s fate.

And none of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warriors standing beside Yi Yun could prevent this.

Just thinking about it made them depressed. This was their country and Yi Yun was their country’s genius. A few simple words from Shentu Nantian had been enough to sentenced Yi Yun to death! And now, they could only watch on helplessly!

“We must immediately report this matter to His Majesty, the Divine Emperor!”

Chu Xiaoran made up her mind. Although the Divine Emperor might not save Yi Yun, as the master of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, he definitely had some weight in his words…

At that moment, Shentu Nantian suddenly thought of something. He then walked towards Yi Yun and pinched Yi Yun’s jaw.

With a flip of his hand, an icy-blue pill appeared in his palm.

This pill was like a ball of ice. After it appeared, it exuded an alarming frost Qi. The surrounding water vapor quickly condensed, forming ice as a result of the frost Qi.

A single pill was able to exude such a tremendously dangerous aura.

Shentu Nantian looked condescendingly at Yi Yun with a tinge of mockery, “I really do not like the way you look at me… On the surface, you seem to fear me, but in your heart, you deeply hate me. You truly wish to kill me to release your anger, right!?”

“Are you thinking that if you survive this calamity, you will cultivate with all your might and, in the future, seek revenge against me? Hahaha!”

Shentu Nantian read Yi Yun’s mind, and his eyes flashed contempt.

“How can I let you wish to kill me all day and night while you are being imprisoned? You are like an ant, and thus do not deserve such thoughts. If you could that, that will be a desecration of my status!”

“Let me cut off your hopes and give you despair as if you are a member of the walking dead.”

360 - : Vicious

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Shentu Nantian said this, the surrounding people were alarmed. They did not know what he would do to Yi Yun. However, there was no doubt that it would be extremely terrifying.

People looked at the pill in Shentu Nantian’s hand, the icy air around it made people shudder with fear!

Shentu Nantian then said to Yi Yun, “To me, you are like an ant. You are not worthy of mention. Your thoughts of killing me are as funny as a mortal beggar telling a human Sage that he will replace him. Besides, you will die in ten days. I will especially prepare a trap for the members of the Desolate race that will come to save you, preventing them from saving you.”

“However… even so, I will not give you any chance of revenge. The pill in my hand is called the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill!”

As Shentu Nantian spoke, he forced open Yi Yun’s mouth. His face was still covered with a smile, but the smile was one of ferocity and cruelness.

“The Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill is an extremely expensive pill. You should find it worth your while eating it as a dead person.”

“In ten days time, the frost toxins will invade your organs. You seem to be cultivating pure Yang laws? Haha, from today onwards and in ten days time, your pure Yang cultivation will completely waste away. Even a God cannot save you! At that moment, taking ten thousand steps back, even if you are actually saved by the Desolate race, you will still become a cripple. There is only endless despair waiting for you.”

When Shentu Nantian finished speaking, the faces of the people around him turned ugly. Shentu Nantian had a reached a point that was so vicious that it was difficult to imagine anything worse. Wasting away a warrior’s cultivation level was worse than just killing him.

After being accustomed to the strength and status that martial arts brought to them, many warriors would rather die than have their cultivation levels waste away.

Furthermore, Shentu Nantian was using Yi Yun to lure his sister back, even after feeding him a poison pill, yet the Desolate race would be trying to save a cripple. His methods were so vicious that it made one’s hair stand on end!

Yi Yun’s mouth was filled with blood. As he looked at Shentu Nantian, he revealed a bitter smile. He had never hated a person so much in his entire life. In contrast, Lian Chengyu, who had made several attempts on Yi Yun’s life back then, was actually much better than Shentu Nantian!

“It seems like you really hate me? That look in your eyes, Keke! However, what can you do? If you did not have any use, I would have killed you by now… Of course, killing you cannot compare to the way I am handling you in terms of making you suffer.”

Shentu Nantian laughed sinisterly. With a flick of his finger, the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill was shot straight into Yi Yun’s mouth.

“Phew”, the pill was sent all the way into Yi Yun’s stomach.

In the first few seconds, Yi Yun did not feel a thing. However, what followed was that he suddenly felt his body freeze. This pill carried a terrifying frost Qi. After it rushed into his stomach, it rushed straight towards his dantian.

He felt extremely cold.

That terrifying frost Qi rose up from his dantian, and the pure Yang Yuan Qi he originally cultivated, was quickly eroded by it.

Cold, too cold!

Yi Yun’s face turned pale as his body shivered. Surges of frost Qi emanated out from his acupuncture points and pores. The water vapor in the surrounding air condensed, eventually forming ice crystals. A layer of ice froze over Yi Yun’s eyebrows and hair.

He tumbled to the ground as he felt like his blood had frozen over and stopped flowing.

“Yi Yun!”

Seeing Yi Yun in such a state, Chu Xiaoran and those who had good relations with Yi Yun felt their hearts ache. Shentu Nantian was inhuman, he was ruthless and unscrupulous, prone to mood swings and had high ambitions!

And Yi Yun would probably end up dying in his hands.

Disasters could not be predicted, who would have thought that the originally high-spirited and promising Yi Yun would become like this in just a matter of days!?

And Yi Yun’s cultivation level was quickly being wasted away. Would the Tai Ah Divine Emperor still bother to save him?

Everyone had a value attached to them.

If it was Cang Yan, Grandmaster Yuehua, or the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord, they might be sentimental and take into account the merits which Yi Yun had accomplished. Even though Yi Yun’s cultivation level was now crippled, they would still try their best to protect Yi Yun.

However, the Tai Ah Divine Emperor did not know Yi Yun at all. He had only heard of him, but with the country’s interest in front of him, how could he go against Shentu Nantian for the sake of a hopeless person, who now had his cultivation level crippled?

Now, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was counting on the Shentu family clan!

Without any surprises, the Tai Ah Divine Emperor would most likely take it lying down, as if this had never happened…

Just thinking about it made Chu Xiaoran feel a pang of sadness.

At that moment, Shentu Nantian spoke to an elder behind him, “Formulate the edict and inform the world that the beast horde is attacking. Tell the Tai Ah commoners that the legend in their heart, the Tai Ah Divine City, has been lost. Danger will befall even the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s lands!”

Shentu Nantian knew that the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had kept the beast horde a complete secret. However, now there was no need to keep it a secret anymore!

People could guess what Shentu Nantian’s intentions were. He wanted to throw the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom into a panic. As such, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal household would have to rely on them even more.

And they would also successfully win the hearts of the people. Their status would rapidly advance in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and then, they could justify their action of using the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom as the battlefield for chasing after Jiang Xiaorou.

“This person is vicious and scheming. There is no way to prevent Yi Yun from dying under his hands…” A Tai Ah Divine City proud son of heaven lamented.

A person like Shentu Nantian was a natural-born leader. His viciousness, determination and unscrupulous methods terrified others. No one would dare disobey the commands of such a person.

As such, Shentu Nantian, who did not belong to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, had now secured his place in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, becoming the person in control of the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

At that moment, Shentu Nantian carried on, “Arrange for Elder Su and Elder Mo to set up a Heaven Earth Empyreal Array. Place Yi Yun in the middle of the array and wait for the Desolate race to bite at the bait. No matter who comes, kill them all!”

“Elder Su… Elder Mo…”

A few elders looked at each other and felt alarmed, “To invite them to do so… to use Yi Yun as bait… Important people from the Desolate race might not come knowing that there is a trap. If we were to disturb the two of them and make them come over for nothing, that would not be good, right…?”

Elder Su and Elder Mo were guests of the Shentu family clan. They were extremely famous in the western regions. They were existences that were treated as distinguished guests no matter which ancient family clan they went to.

They owed the Shentu family clan relational favors, resulting in them being of service to the Shentu family clan for 300 years, and they only had to do a total of three things.

For example, by inviting Elder Su and Elder Mo to set up the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array, that would be considered as them having done one thing for the Shentu family clan, even if an inferior Desolate race member came.

However, if no one from the Desolate race came, then it would not be considered as one of those things, but it would be a waste of their relational favors.

That was why a few of the elders felt that it was raising a big rumpus. Yi Yun was just a human, who was very weak. Was there really a need to do so?

Shentu Nantian said, “I feel that this little bastard is extremely important to that Jiang girl, and that girl has a very special status amongst the Desolate race. When I release this piece of news, it is very likely that a high-ranking member if the Desolate race will come!”

“The Desolate race has crossed over the Divine Wilderness with a huge scheme. To conjure up such a beast horde is not for the simple task of finding a girl. The Shepherd Boy might not even know of the Jiang girl’s existence!”

“Hence… even if they were to find the Jiang girl, they might not leave immediately. If we can kill some of the upper echelons of the Desolate race, then we can track down the girl by following the clues left behind and capture her!”

“Not only is she extremely important in status, but her blood is also extremely pure. It is invaluable. If we can capture her, not only will it be a great fortuitous opportunity for me, it will also be a golden opportunity for the Shentu family clan. For this, it is a must for us to use Elder Su and Elder Mo!”

“This… Alright, we will follow the young master’s instructions.” The elders retreated and began arranging all the logistics.

Shentu Nantian glanced at Yi Yun and said coldly, “Take him away and lock him up!”

At that moment, Yi Yun’s body was covered in ice. White strands started to appear amongst his originally black hair.

This was one of the effects of the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill.

This pill, as mentioned by Shentu Nantian, was priceless!

Yi Yun did not know how the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill was refined. He guessed that the ingredients were at least from top-grade primordial strains. There might even be several primordial herbs mixed within it.

One had to know that in such a family clan, even primordial true spirits existed. As for a pill, it was not surprising for it to have a portion of a primordial true spirit’s blood mixed in it.

Under normal circumstances, if a Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill was swallowed, with his cultivation level, all of Yi Yun’s meridians and his dantian would be frozen as Shentu Nantian said. Later on, the pure Yang Qi that he cultivated would be slowly eroded by the frosted ice.

At that moment, his meridians would become damaged and his dantian would disappear. With frost toxins in his entire body, his cultivation level would waste away into nothing, and he would become a complete cripple!

This was what Shentu Nantian wanted to see. Although he looked down on Yi Yun, he made it a habit to rid himself of weeds by killing them at their roots. He did not want to see anyone, who had even the tiniest possibility of threatening him, exist in this world.

When Yi Yun was enduring the horrifying icy frost Qi, no one knew that the Purple Crystal Origins in his heart was quietly palpitating. Again and again, the Purple Crystal Origins pulsated with every heartbeat. The frost energy in his body was being subtly absorbed by the Purple Crystal.

If Yi Yun’s body was to become a piece of ice, then the Purple Crystal was like a seed of fire in the middle of the ice, giving him a flicker of warmth and light.

With the Purple Crystal’s energy flowing through his frozen meridians, Yi Yun felt that they were gradually showing signs of recovery.

And after the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill’s frost energy was absorbed by the Purple Crystal, it was slowly compressed into a lump within the Purple Crystal.

It was a lump of blue ice crystals. It began to condense within the Purple Crystal, slowly becoming larger in size. Not far away from it was the pure Yang spirit.

A lump of frost blue energy and a lump of golden energy were just a distance away from each other in the purple crystal. Although the energies were the complete opposite in nature, they remained distinct from one another and nothing happened.

The Purple Crystal… was still here…

Yi Yun clutched his chest. In his greatest moment of despair, the Purple Crystal had not abandoned him. It gave Yi Yun his last hope.

Indeed, no matter what happened, the Purple Crystal remained in his body, becoming something that Yi Yun could rely on for eternity.

361 - : Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Get in there!”

Two guards brought Yi Yun to a chamber in the Chu royal residence and pushed him into it, they then locked Yi Yun’s limbs with chains.

Yi Yun fell down to the ice-cold ground and laid down on his back. Every breath coming from him released cold vapor, causing the water in the air to condense.

The chamber’s doors and windows were all made of a special metal, engraved with arrays in them. Even if a Human Lord were to be locked in here, he would not have the ability to break out.

Furthermore, there were Chu royal residence guards patrolling outside the door. And further away, there were the legendary figures of the Shentu family clan. Attempting to escape only amounted to wishful thinking.

Though, regardless of this, he had still survived. However… he was only able to live for the time being. The reason was that of Shentu Nantian’s obsession with Jiang Xiaorou’s blood.

If Shentu Nantian did not hate the Desolate race to such an extreme or wished for a chance to capture Jiang Xiaorou, Yi Yun would have already lost his value, leaving him as a corpse.

Yi Yun found this hard to accept. He did not want his survival to be established on so many what-ifs.

Today had been the closest he had ever come to dying. It was also the moment when he nearly lost the most important person in his life.

In comparison, Lian Chengyu’s plots against him in the Cloud Wilderness as well as being hunted by the Golden Crow species in the Fallen Star Gate were much smaller in magnitude.

Death…Yi Yun did not know what it was like. Under the ground, it was cold and dark, with a sense of endless loneliness. Bodies rot there, eventually turning into nothingness…

Yi Yun was a modern person in his previous life. He was not like the warriors of this world. He would not easily risk his own life for a particular matter.

Yi Yun cherished his life. As long as his bottom line was not crossed, Yi Yun will try his very best to live on.

If he could live through this disaster… Then, he never ever wanted his life to be in the hands of someone else, never ever should someone else decide his life.

He would not allow anyone to do so, no matter who it was!

Yi Yun’s body remained motionless. In this chamber, in a completely silent environment, he interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal. By using the Purple Crystal’s powers, he started to slowly refine the frost toxins in his body.

Even in the midst of despair, he was not willing to give up hope. He wanted to give it his all to gain even a slightly better chance of survival.

He knew that he was temporarily safe.

Shentu Nantian was using him to lure out the upper echelons of the Desolate race. As such, they could not maim him too badly. At least he would not be made into a complete cripple, such as the breaking of all of his limbs.

If that happened, when the upper echelons of the Desolate race came, they would realize that Yi Yun was in such a pathetic state and give up on him when they probed him with their perception. This was because saving Yi Yun in such a state would be meaningless. It would only add to Yi Yun’s suffering.

This was probably why Shentu Nantian used a Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill to waste away all of Yi Yun’s cultivation. By doing so, and by controlling the proliferation of news, then on the surface, it would look like Yi Yun was void of all energy and extremely weak. Like that, the upper echelons of the Desolate race would not know that they were saving a cripple.

This was also Shentu Nantian’s plan.

Obviously, Yi Yun would not succumb to his machinations.

There was no concept of time in the chamber due to the lack of light. So as time passed, Yi Yun remained sprawling on the ground, without moving even his fingers. However, in Yi Yun’s body, the Purple Crystal had formed a tiny whirlpool. This whirlpool imperceptibly absorbed all of the frost toxins in Yi Yun’s body.

Inside the Purple Crystal, the originally small, blue, ice crystal gradually grew bigger.

Although its quality was inferior to the Pure Yang spirit, this incident had accidentally left behind a frost Yin elemental seed within the Purple Crystal…

One day, two days, three days…

Yi Yun looked up towards the sky with his eyes open. He did not move and on the surface, it looked as if he was dead.

However, Yi Yun’s injuries were slowly healing. His strength was also quickly recovering.

In his dantian, the Radiant Sun Qi had restarted flowing vigorously, but… Yi Yun used the Purple Crystal to seal the pure Yang energy.

As long as the Purple Crystal absorbed and sealed the energy within itself, then not even Sages could detect it.

At the same time, Yi Yun released the frost energy inside the Purple Crystal throughout his entire body. Because of this, from the surface it still looked as if Yi Yun was poisoned by the frost toxins, and as if his cultivation was nearly wasted away.

There was no night and day in the chamber. The guards of the Chu royal residence would bring a pill and force feed it to Yi Yun every morning. This pill was a life-prolonging pill used to prevent Yi Yun from dying.

The deadline was a few days away. They had to ensure that Yi Yun looked fine, regardless of anything, or they would not be able to lure in the Desolate race.

“Keke! So pitiful. It has been seven days, yet this Yi Yun has not even moved his eyes. If not for his heart still beating, I would have thought he was already dead.”

A guard said with a gloating tone.

As a Chu royal residence guard, their status was not low. However, when compared to an elite like Yi Yun they were almost worthless.

It was inevitable that they felt some hatred and jealousy in their hearts. When they saw Yi Yun in such a misfortune, they got the same feeling as commoners who saw a high ranked official fall.

“Nothing is more lamentable than a dead heart. With your cultivation crippled, you would end up the same when your heart is dismembered a few days later.” Another guard said as he fed the pill to Yi Yun.

“Haha! If I were him, I would probably commit suicide now!”

“Commit suicide? Stop dreaming. Young Master Nantian would not let him die. Poisoned by the frost toxin, he does not even have the ability to terminate his own meridians. His limbs are also locked down, so he can only give up hope on committing suicide. With a life-prolonging pill being given to him every day, it is impossible for him to die even if he wishes to. Hai! This world is unpredictable. Who would have guessed that he, who was like the sun in the middle of the day a few days ago, would become a pathetic death row criminal? He has fallen from a heavenly palace and into hell!”

A guard shook his head as he spoke. He knew that the Shentu family clan had invited two enigmatic elders. Both of them had set up a powerful large array to lay down the bait.

In a few days, high-ranking Desolate race members might come to break through this virtually unbreakable large array to save a complete cripple.

Just thinking of this made the two guards feel like there was something fun to look forward to.

They really wanted to know what kind of facial expressions the upper echelons of the Desolate race would have when they saved Yi Yun, only to find out that he was now a cripple.

…

The ninth day.

Shentu Nantian looked at the sky. The Sun was about to set and tomorrow was the last day. If the upper echelons of the Desolate race did not come, then Yi Yun would be put to death.

“Young Master Nantian, I am afraid that the Desolate race will not come. Setting up this Heaven Earth Empyreal Array was not cheap…”

Beside Shentu Nantian was an elder in white robes. His eyebrows were very long and hung down like two white snakes.

The Heaven Earth Empyreal Array needed the blood essence of primordial strains in order to draw the array lines. 108 refined desolate bones were also needed to be used as the array flags.

Creating this set of array flags was costly. Furthermore, this kind of array flags could not be permanently used. A portion of their lifespans would be consumed with every use.

Shentu Nantian then said, “Elder Su, Elder Mo, I wish that you do not take this lightly. That witch girl is of a very special status amongst the Desolate race. Her wishes would be valued greatly by the Desolate race. The Heaven Earth Empyreal Array may be expensive, but if we can capture a few high ranking Desolate race members, as well as stop this beast horde, then we can even take this opportunity to capture that witch girl. If we do, then this amount of investment can essentially be ignored.”

The two elders did not reply. They went back to their own positions to meditate and rest. They were recuperating to ensure that they would be in tip-top condition.

However, to the two elders, this obvious trap would likely not give any returns. No high-ranking Desolate race member would want to come seeking death.

The moon was high up in the sky as a night wind blew through the Chu Prefecture City.

On a mountain in the city outskirts, a lone, silver wolf howled while facing the silver like full moon.

The lone wolf howled.

Beside the silver wolf was a youth holding a bamboo flute that was not more than a foot long. He stood there in solitude.

His eyes like deep, dark, black gemstones. It reflected lights that were brighter than the stars. Behind the youth was a vast galaxy. The silver light was like a waterfall falling from the sky. The scene was reminiscent to that of a dream.

The green-clothed youth looked into the distance towards the Chu Prefecture City. The night wind blew up his green hair band as it fluttered in the wind.

Under the night sky, the Chu Prefecture City was like a huge black beast that was just waiting for his arrival.

The green-clothed youth took a step on the flowing wind and started levitating…

“Huh!?”

Elder Su and Elder Mo, who were meditating, suddenly opened their eyes. They had simultaneously felt a strong presence approaching.

And it was not the Yuan Qi energy of humans, but the surging Power of Desolates!

Power of Desolates… Desolate race!?

They really came!?

The eyes of the two elders flashed. They leaped up into the sky and flew with a golden beam trailing their feet. One of them held a golden sword while the other held a bronze mirror. They were like two gods of war flying in the air.

It was unexpected that with the two of them there, and with the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array, that a Desolate race member was actually willing to come to his death!

To come alone was a military taboo. Besides, they were fresh and fit, with a trap set up. This member of the Desolate race was absolutely crazy!

At that moment, Shentu Nantian also flew out from a palace. He was extremely excited that a member of the Desolate race would actually come.

With this, his plan had a meaning to it.

If the Desolate race did not bother with Yi Yun, then even if Yi Yun’s heart was dismembered in a day’s time, it would just be the execution of a cripple. It would be no different from stepping on an ant.

However, now, even if he could not capture Jiang Xiaorou, he would still gain a lot just from capturing a high-ranking Desolate race member!

“I wonder what the lineup is. I hope that I will not be disappointed.” Shentu Nantian thought. He was estimating that the Desolate race would send at least seven or eight experts, to help each other out to reduce the risk.

However, when he saw the person who had come, Shentu Nantian was stunned.

A green-clothed youth was slowly walking on thin air.

His movements were calm and elegant. With every step he took, there would be starlight condensing together before it bloomed like a green lotus.

Sliding over water, lotus blooming with each step!

His steps seemed very slow, but every step he took seemed to contract the distance under his feet. A few seconds ago, he was along the horizons, but now, he was already right above the Chu royal residence’s thanks to his calm steps.

“Shepherd Boy!”

Shentu Nantian’s eyes flashed coldly!

362 - : Lotus blooming with each Step

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ten years ago, the Shentu family clan had fought the Shepherd Boy. Shentu Nantian still clearly remembered that the green-clad youth in front of him had killed several of his clansmen. There was an irreconcilable feud between them!

“You really have guts. Even though you know that there was a trap, you still dared to come alone. Today, you are going to die!”

Shentu Nantian’s nerves tightened. He was unable to muster up any courage against the Shepherd Boy, who was a very powerful member of the Desolate race, even though he had the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array, Elder Su and Elder Mo. He even had a hidden last resort as his trump card.

The Shepherd Boy had left an enormous psychological scar on him in the battle ten years ago.

The Shepherd Boy glanced at Shentu Nantian. It seemed like two bolts of lightning from his black eyes had pierced through the air. The bolts brought with them an unmatchable aura that penetrated straight to the heart!

At that moment, Shentu Nantian’s face paled. He felt that the Shepherd Boy’s eyes had seen through him. That glare was sufficient enough to harm him!

Shentu Nantian retreated a few steps in the air. At that moment, Elder Su had stood in front of Shentu Nantian with a bronze mirror.

As a result, the pressure on Shentu Nantian decreased.

“Young Master Nantian, he is just an empty show of strength. The current him is different from the one ten years ago!” Elder Su looked at the Shepherd Boy with a sneer.

…

At that moment in the Chu royal residence, many people rushed out of their residences knowing that an expert of the Desolate race had arrived. They looked up into the sky awaiting the battle.

They were both excited and nervous.

“That is the Shepherd Boy?”

It was the first time the people from the Chu royal residence had seen the Shepherd Boy.

The warring parties were both existences that they found difficult to raise their heads up to. This battle was definitely going to be earth-shattering. To them, this was a rare experience.

“Let us keep a distance away. If we get hit by any stray attacks from the battle, our bodies will definitely turn to dust…”

The people from the Chu royal residence knew their own strengths. Even King Chu was taken a distance 5 kilometers away from the Shepherd Boy and company by the convoy of his guards.

With the vision of warriors, they could still clearly see the details of the battle in the night sky, even from a distance of 5 kilometers.

At that moment, in the center of the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array, where the royal residence’s chamber was, Yi Yun lifted his head. He looked up at the sky with the chamber’s arrays blocking him.

At that moment, someone’s perception swept across him. Even though he was surrounded by arrays, the arrays were unable to prevent this person’s perception.

He knew that someone from the Desolate race had come!

Jiang Xiaorou had after all sent an expert from the Desolate race to make a move.

He had never expected that he would be backed into a corner when the Desolate race attacked by setting off a beast horde that could wipe out the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

However, it later turned out that the Shentu family clan, which was like a savior, had sentenced him to death, resulting in him on relying on the Desolate race to save him.

Such shocking situation reversals were extremely ironic.

…

“Shepherd Boy, since you are here today, stay behind! For the battle ten years ago, you borrowed a Primitive Sacred Desolate Beast, the Divine Lion from the Nether World Desolate God. It was indeed powerful, but that Divine Lion was seriously injured by our Ancestor. It’s not bad that it still lives to this day, but without the Divine Lion, you are only left with an old Long Gui. You are like a tiger without claws, so what is there to fear?”

“He won’t have the Long Gui!” At that moment, Shentu Nantian interjected, “I purposely set a period of ten days, so that he has to hurry here from the Divine Wilderness. That old Long Gui may be strong, but it’s speed is extremely slow. How can a typical teleportation array send it through due to its size? Hence… that old Long Gui did not come at all!”

Shentu Nantian sneered. To rush from the Divine Wilderness to King Chu’s city in ten days was quite a feat, considering that there was a time lag between the Shepherd Boy receiving the news and setting off.

“That’s right, he doesn’t even have the Long Gui True Spirit.” As Elder Su spoke, a phantom image appeared behind him. It was a thousand-hand Buddha and in front of the Buddha, there was a bronze lamp that burned slowly.

This was Elder Su’s Aspect Totem!

“A thousand-hand Buddha as an Aspect Totem?”

This was the first time the people from Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had seen such an Aspect Totem. The Aspect Totem was hundreds of feet tall. When it was conjured, it pierced the sky, and was as if a Buddha the size of a mountain was standing behind Elder Su.

This scene was extremely shocking.

Before this, the Aspect Totems they saw were much smaller, even for Sages.

And at that moment, colorful Aspect Totems lit up like torches from all corners of the Chu royal residence.

Elders from the Shentu family clan and their guests all flew up into the night sky.

All of them were famous figures. Typically, they would seldom team up to fight against someone due to their extraordinary status.

However, today, ten Shentu family clan Elders, together with Elder Su and Elder Mo, a total of 12 peerless figures, surrounded the Shepherd Boy from all corners.

Against the Shepherd Boy, they had to go all out and use whatever means possible.

If they could kill the Shepherd Boy, it would be a great achievement. The Shentu family clan would definitely reward them with invaluable items.

The Shepherd Boy was encircled by them, and beneath his feet was the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array that the Shentu family clan had carefully prepared!

“Shepherd Boy, your Desolate race is essentially no different from beastmasters. Without the prehistoric sacred beasts under your command, I don’t believe you can escape!” Elder Mo, who was dressed in black, pointed his golden sword at the Shepherd Boy.

The Shepherd Boy glanced at Elder Mo and said calmly, “Your Aspect Totem has not even managed to enter your body… Your cultivation level is just so-so.” The Shepherd Boy’s voice was calm as his green clothes fluttered.

“The nerve!” After being looked down upon by the Shepherd Boy, Elder Mo’s eyes flashed coldness, “Ten years ago, you were hit by our Ancestor’s Death Heavenly Revolution. Even now, you are still injured, yet you dare to speak so recklessly. I wonder who gave you that confidence!”

The battle ten years ago had the Shepherd Boy use the Divine Lion against the Shentu Patriarch.

As a beastmaster, the Divine Lion he borrowed from the Nether World Desolate God was the Shepherd Boy’s greatest strength. However, that Divine Lion had been seriously injured by the Shentu Patriarch.

At the same time, the Shepherd Boy had been hit by the Shentu Patriarch’s Death Heavenly Revolution!

The Shentu Patriarch’s strength could only be described as unfathomable! However, he had suffered injuries from that battle and has been in reclusive healing ever since.

Elder Mo was sure that the Shepherd Boy was more injured than the Shentu Patriarch was ten years ago. That was the reason why he had retreated, as for that Death Heavenly Revolution, it was impossible to dissipate it once it was struck one’s body.

Now, the Shentu Patriarch’s strength had not even recovered 60% of his strength, so how much could the Shepherd Boy recover?

The Shepherd Boy remained silent and did not acknowledge Elder Mo.

Suddenly, he turned around a tiny bit and looked somewhere into thin air. With the bamboo flute in his hand, the Shepherd Boy lightly waved his sleeves, “Come on out! I know you are hiding in the shadows.”

The thin air remained still as no one responded.

The Shepherd Boy raised the bamboo flute to his chest silently before saying in a deep voice, “Do you want me to invite you out?”

At that moment, a shrill laugh came out from the thin air. It made the scalps of the surrounding people tingle.

“I was just accompanying the Shentu family clan with their foray into the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and I had no intentions on doing anything. However, with you coming in person, how could I miss it?”

The hoarse voice made people shudder. The people from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom were so alarmed that they did not speak a single word. The 12 legendary figures from before, especially Elder Su and Elder Mo, were extraordinarily strong. Even Shentu Nantian treated them with absolute respect.

However, now, there was actually a person hiding in the shadows? And it seemed that this person was the strongest amongst all of them!

363 - : Trap

CKtalon  CKtalon

A ripple suddenly appeared in the thin air. Space was torn apart as a black bell flew out of the void.

“Dang!”

A loud ring sounded from the bell, resounding throughout the entire area. It shook the entire Chu Prefecture City.

With the bell appearing, a old man, wearing a black cloak with a stooped back, slowly walked out of a black mist. There was a thick aura of death being exuded from him.

“As I guessed, it is you, the Myriad Empyreal King.”

The Shepherd Boy looked at the black-cloaked person who had suddenly appeared, without any change in his expression.

However, when the warriors of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom in the Chu Prefecture City heard the title of Myriad Empyreal King they gasped.

Myriad Empyreal King…

Ten Thousand was a title, while Empyreal King was the name of the person’s realm.

In fact, a lot of people in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom were not sure of what the names of the realms above the Sage realm were. Empyreal King was by no doubt in the realm of a Great Emperor. As for how strong he was amongst the Great Emperors, they had no idea.

Great Emperors were too mysterious for them.

“It is nice of you to remember me, hehe.” The black cloaked man insidiously smiled. He slowly lifted off the hood covering his head. With that, people saw a face that made them feel like vomiting.

The cloaked man’s face was filled with wrinkles and scars. Most of his hair had fallen off, leaving behind only a few strands of hair. His neck, face and skin were all baggy. It looked like it were about to fall off due to rot.

The person in front of them looked as if he had crawled out from a grave. Such a look made people not want to take a second glance.

“He is still alive even in that state?”

The Tai Ah Divine City warriors were extremely alarmed. An old man’s corpse that had begun to rot after a month would probably be in a better shape than he was.

“Of course I remember. I am just curious about how you are still alive. You cultivated the Ten Thousand Ghost Dao, to the point of going astray. And now, you are are in a state where you are neither ghost nor man… To carry on living like this requires a great deal of courage.”

The Shepherd Boy used a calm tone of voice to say what were obviously mocking and vicious words. However, the way he said it made people unable to detect the sarcasm, it sounded more like he was stating a general fact.

When people heard him, they shuddered. In this situation, with so many experts surrounding him, while situated inside such a large array, the Shepherd Boy was still able to calmly taunt his opponents.

The Myriad Empyreal King’s face sank, “Good! Good! Today, I want to see what qualifications you have to be so arrogant!”

“Attack!”

The Myriad Empyreal King was the first to make a move. He cried out in a strange way and a gigantic, blood-colored skeleton appeared behind him.

This blood-colored skeleton was a thousand feet tall. It looked like blood intertwined with the full moon!

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

The blood-colored skeleton melted in the air, turning in a blood-colored sea. It reversed directions and swept towards the Myriad Empyreal King, and finally, the blood-colored sea completely merged with the Myriad Empyreal King’s body.

In an instant, the Myriad Empyreal King’s rotted body became blood-red. At that moment, he looked like a blood-colored Shura who had climbed out from Hell.

“The Aspect Totem entered his body!”

King Chu said with surprise five kilometers away. He did not know what realm merging one’s Aspect Totem into one’s body was, but he did remember that the Shepherd Boy had previously said, “Your Aspect Totem has not even managed to enter your body… Your cultivation level is just so-so.”

Clearly, merging one’s Aspect Totem into one’s body was the goal of those peerless mighty existences.

The Myriad Empyreal King struck with a palm. The palm swept up a surging tidal wave of blood. One could also faintly see white bones within it, and one could also hear the ghastly wails of ghosts roar!

Against this tidal wave, the Shepherd Boy did not take one step back. He lightly flicked his green long sleeves and pressed down against the tidal wave with one palm.

A large green hand appeared out of thin air, one that could block out the sky!

“Boom!”

The blood wave dissipated into a bloody mist before it disappeared into the night sky. The Shepherd Boy did not retreat at all. His deep, black eyes saw through the blood mist and locked on to the Myriad Empyreal King, “You are already half a step into the netherworld. Since you do not have the courage to take that final step, let me send you on your way!”

The Myriad Empyreal King looked at him ferociously as he roared, “What are you waiting for!? Activate the large array and join forces to kill him!”

“Right, attack! We have so many people, and he still has injuries. He will definitely be no match for us!”

“Without the Primitive Sacred Desolate Beast at his command, he is nothing to fear!”

Several legendary experts attacked together. At the same time, the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array beneath them started to emit a ghastly blue light. A visible energy shield then encased this part of the world!

The Heaven Earth Empyreal Array was an array that countered the Desolate race. Once the array was activated, there would be a closed domain spanning the radius of 5 kilometers. In this domain, the Power of Desolates would be greatly reduced.

The Power of Desolates was the source of the Desolate race’s energy. Now, whenever the Shepherd Boy used an attack, he had to exert a force to counter the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array!

To resist the array and face off against the attacks of so many people alone, it would naturally be very disadvantageous for the Shepherd Boy!

However, even though this was the case, the Shepherd Boy still had to enter the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array. That was because Yi Yun was sealed within the heart of the great array by the Shentu family clan!

A few legends of the Shentu family clan attacked together. In an instant, the beams of Aspect Totems lit up the dark sky. Terrifying Heaven Earth Yuan Qi condensed together to form a gushing divine fountain!

In the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array, the strength of humans would not be reduced, it would instead increase!

“With the ten of us joining forces, you will definitely turn to dust!”

A few of the Shentu family clan’s legends set up a battle array, which increased their strength. The force from one strike was earth-shattering!

The Shepherd Boy however transcended them. His expression did not flinch at all, for there was no sadness or happiness in it.

He bathed in the moonlight of the nine heavens, as if he was a god that had descended from the heavens.

He made his move. No one saw how he attacked, all they saw was a green flash that looked like a green, hundred thousand feet waterfall, traversing the starry sky.

“Ah!”

A legendary expert of the Shentu family clan, who was previously antagonizing, suddenly let out a scream. It was as if he had hit a mountain at high speed. He flew backward, his sternum and ribs on both sides now completely shattered. His chest sank inwards as his organs ruptured! He spat blood out from his mouth!

“What!?”

The Shepherd Boy managed to counterattack even when alone against the ten legends’ combined efforts. At the same time, he had seriously injured one of them!

Furthermore, this was within the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array. In this array, his strength was greatly reduced!

“Elder Sun!”

A legendary expert of the Shentu family clan turned around to save the old man. However, at that moment, a silk like strand of a green beam flashed past his body. This strand was clearly condensed of extreme amounts of energy. It cut through thin air at an incredulous speed.

“Puah!”

Blood dyed the sky as the heavily injured legendary expert’s head flew out. His neck had been split apart just like the thin air!

Injuring all of a man’s fingers was not as effective as merely chopping one off. The Shepherd Boy knew that this battle today would not be easy. So his goal was not to heavily injure the enemy, but to kill them!

Seeing the head fly up high in the sky, people were stunned.

To the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warriors, this was a battle that exceeded their comprehension.

As for the people of the Shentu family clan, they were all frightened and distraught.

Shentu Nantian had long since retreated to the far back. He was only a junior and had no qualifications to participate in this battle.

He watched on helplessly as Elder Sun was killed by the Shepherd Boy. He could not even tell how the Shepherd Boy had attacked!

“How can this happen?” Shentu Nantian frowned. He had set up the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array, why did it not seem to affect the Shepherd Boy at all?!

“Do not panic. With us combining forces, there is no way that we will lose! He must have used brute strength to break through the array’s shackles. This will be extremely taxing on him!”

A legendary expert of the Shentu family clan said. He did not believe that the Shepherd Boy had the strength to turn the tide under this situation.

As long as morale was upkept, they could combine forces and, step by step, the Shepherd Boy would soon run out of energy!

However, just as that legendary expert finished speaking, he saw a blur. A figure flashed before him like a ghost. It was like a vast amount of green smoke condensed before him.

The Shepherd Boy appeared right before the old man, without any expression. He then attacked with a palm strike!

What!?

The elder’s soul jumped out of his body. When he said those words, he was on full alert. He did not feel any spatial fluctuations in energy, but still the Shepherd Boy suddenly appeared in front him like a ghost. He had instantaneously traversed a thousand feet through the void, far exceeding the elder’s reaction time!

Against the terrifying male of the Desolate race, the Shepherd Boy, this elder felt as if Death itself had descended on him. That pressure, this fear could not be described with words!

Even though he had spoken with confidence and logic, his hair was now standing on end, and his face had turned pale.

It was too terrifying. He was unbeatable!

In a split second, the elder knew that escape was no longer a possibility. He roared and ignored the palm strike from the Shepherd Boy. He circulated his body’s Yuan Qi and slashed at the Shepherd Boy’s chest with a saber!

He wanted to risk his life to take a life!

Since he could not block the Shepherd Boy’s attack, he could only use this method to force the Shepherd Boy to defend!

However, the Shepherd Boy remained expressionless. His palm carried on descending.

Risking his life?

The Shepherd Boy had spent his entire life in the Divine Wilderness, and now stood above this world. How could he risk his life with a Shentu family clan’s elder?

“Boom!”

As the palm struck the elder’s chest, the elder’s body suddenly shrunk. Even the space around him collapsed. His sternum fractured and his heart and lungs burst. He turned in a mass of blood.

However when the elder’s saber finally slashed down, the Shepherd Boy’s body suddenly disappeared!

He had calmly retreated to a few hundred feet away with peerless gracefulness. His green clothes fluttered as they remain clean from even a single drop of blood. Even his hands were clean of blood, it was as if he had not fought. His hands sparkled like jade, as if he had never struck out with his palm.

The second legendary figure had died!

Several kilometers away, Shentu Nantian’s face was pale. How could this happen? Even when the Shepherd Boy was at his peak ten years ago, he was not that strong, even with the Divine Lion’s battle strength!

Ten years ago, although it was said to be a battle between the Shepherd Boy and the Shentu Patriarch, the one really fighting was the Divine Lion. The Shepherd Boy was only playing a supporting role.

Back then, the Shepherd Boy had definitely not been a match for the Shentu Patriarch.

As for the Divine Lion, it was a sacred beast owned by the Nether World Desolate God. It did not have any relations with the Shepherd Boy as it was just lent to him.

Hence, Shentu Nantian’s impression of the Shepherd Boy’s strength was that it was equivalent to the early stages of Great Emperor.

Shentu Nantian would not be afraid of such strength at all, as the Myriad Empyreal King, who had been hiding in the shadows, had already exceeded this realm.

With the support of the great array, this was supposed to be foolproof.

However, the turn of events had gone far beyond his expectations!

The Shepherd Boy was so strong that it was unbelievable!

According to common sense, the Shepherd Boy, at his previous cultivation realm, should not be able to increase his strength this much in the short span of ten years!

Did something happen to the Shepherd Boy in the past decade?

Even if something did happen, Shentu Nantian could not understand how the Shepherd Boy was able to completely ignore the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array.

Or could it be just as the Shentu family clan’s legendary expert, who had just died, said? That the Shepherd Boy had forcefully gathered his strength in order to break through the shackles of the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array. If so, then every strike of his would expend a great deal of energy, weakening him at a rapid pace!

If this was true, then they were bound to win if they dragged the battle out!

However, at that moment, the Shentu family clan’s legendary experts before him were all lacking confidence. The Shepherd Boy was too terrifying. He had attacked twice, and both the attacks had killed one of the Shentu family clan elders!

This was also under the restraint and threats of the others. It was as if he could ignore the presence of everyone!

No one dared to speak another word while facing the Shepherd Boy. They were now all silent because the past two times the Shepherd Boy attacked, he killed the two elders that spoke the most.

They had taunted the Shepherd Boy, but were killed shortly after!

“So that is why…” A thousand feet away from the Shepherd Boy, the Myriad Empyreal King had witnessed the two times the Shepherd Boy attacked. His expression turned serious, “You have already grasped the Order of Heaven and Earth. And the Order you have gained insight in, has the ability to manipulate the world’s Power of Desolates, allowing you to ignore the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array…”

The Heaven Earth Empyreal Array was also a type of law. To be precise, all the arrays in the martial world belonged to a type of law.

When the laws a warrior grasped far exceeded the array’s laws, then that array would not be able to restrain him.

The Shepherd Boy was in such a state. The Order which he controlled was something the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array could compare to at all.

Hearing the words of the Myriad Empyreal King, the Shentu family clan elders held their breaths.

Grasped the Order of Heaven and Earth? This had nothing to do with one’s cultivation level, it was one’s attainment in the laws. It meant that a warrior’s achievements in a particular law had reached its peak!

The Shepherd Boy did not comment as he gently wiped his interspatial ring and took out a sword.

This sword was entirely white, like jade. It did not reflect any light like metals do.

However… this sword was not made of jade but bone.

This was a Primitive Sacred Desolate Beast’s bone that had been ground into a sword!

The sword’s blade was four feet long, but its hilt was extremely short, just four inches long.

The sword’s blade and hilt were connected together without a guard. However, on the hilt, there were nine nomological seals. It emitted a mysterious yet ancient aura.

“The sword’s name is Illusionary Bone.”

The Shepherd Boy said lightly as he pointed the white sword blade towards the Myriad Empyreal King!

364 - : Order of Heaven and Earth

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Myriad Empyreal King’s expression turned ugly when the Shepherd Boy pointed at him with the sword, “You think I am like them?”

That night, amongst those who fought for the Shentu family clan, the Myriad Empyreal King was the strongest. Following behind him were Elder Su and Elder Mo, the two elders who were not in the family.

As for the other ten elders, and legendary experts, they were the weakest.

The two people the Shepherd Boy killed were two of the ten normal elders.

Hence, although the Shepherd Boy seemed overwhelmingly strong, the Myriad Empyreal King was not scared out of his wits by the Shepherd Boy. A dense deathly aura emitted from his body as he opposed the Shepherd Boy!

“Things do not look optimistic…” Several kilometers away, Shentu Nantian’s expression had turned ugly. The events of tonight had gone far beyond his original expectations.

The large array he had set up, along with all the experts he had gathered here to await the enemy falling into the trap, was all foiled by the Shepherd Boy alone. He had even killed two people!

Now, it was still a mystery if the Myriad Empyreal King could actually defeat the Shepherd Boy!

If he could not prevent the Shepherd Boy from leaving today, then when Shentu Nantian returned to his family, those who were at odds with him in the family would attack him with this.

Even in the Shentu family clan, there was competition over power and benefits. Shentu Nantian’s existence naturally harmed the prospects of others.

“Young Master Nantian, that… Should we take this opportunity to get rid of Yi Yun?”

At that moment, Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng came to the Shentu Nantian’s side and suggested this without much confidence.

The way Shentu Nantian had previously done things was still fresh in their minds. Especially so for Yang Dingkun. Just after Jiang Xiaorou escaped, he had interjected, hoping to redirect the spear head from King Chu onto Yi Yun. However, with a shout from Shentu Nantian, his eardrums had burst, resulting in him bleeding. He himself even knelt down at that moment.

Back then, Yang Dingkun even thought that he was dead.

Against Shentu Nantian, Yang Dingkun had a psychological scar, so he did not dare to speak boldly.

However, he had to suggest this matter at that moment. From the current situation, there was a possibility that the Shepherd Boy would be able to rescue Yi Yun!

They had offended Yi Yun badly, and had done all sorts of things to add insult to injury. If they did not take this opportunity to get Yi Yun killed. Then, if something was to happen in the future…

Previously, Yi Yun’s talent had appalled Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng. In the four kingdoms’ alliance tournament, Yi Yun had defeated Feng Lin, then Bai, and finally he battered the elites of the Yun Long Divine Kingdom. He was almost non-human!

Although Yi Yun was already crippled now, they would rather be safe than sorry!

Seeing the Shepherd Boy and his heaven defying methods, what if he had the means to heal Yi Yun?

Even if he could not be completely healed, just being partially healed would be more than enough to torture the two brothers!

Furthermore, even if Yi Yun was completely crippled, he could still find his elder sister and send someone from the upper echelons of the Desolate race to kill the two of them. It would be as easy as child’s play!

Just thinking about it made Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng feel fear. Hence, they had to muster up their courage and talk to Shentu Nantian!

“Oh?” Shentu Nantian’s voice turned cold. “Do you think that my Shentu family clan is destined to be defeated in tonight’s battle?”

Yi Yun could only be saved by the Shepherd Boy if Shentu Nantian’s plan failed!

Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng immediately shivered. Their faces turned white with fright. Shentu Nantian’s had mood swings, and once his anger burst out, no one would know what their outcomes would be.

“No, we do not mean that. How could that happen… It is just…”

Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng were sweating profusely. They wanted to force out an explanation, but seeing Shentu Nantian’s cold eyes, their voices began to tremble.

Facing Shentu Nantian was like a mortal facing a powerful desolate beast. They could lose their lives at any moment.

Although Shentu Nantian’s eyes were cold, he was not against Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng’s proposal.

In fact, Shentu Nantian did not think that the Shepherd Boy had any means of healing Yi Yun.

That was a Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill, which had an extremely strong frost power to it. That sort of pill was originally used by peak-Sages for them to cultivate in the frost ice laws. It could be used to increase one’s insight in the laws and deepen one’s cultivation level.

The medicinal properties of a pill used by peak-Sages were extremely violent. What sort of outcome would happen when used on a Yuan Foundation warrior?

Furthermore, the frost toxins had already been in Yi Yun’s body for ten days. Even a god could not save him now.

However, he still agreed with Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng. There was nothing wrong with being meticulous and making sure to prevent any possible future troubles.

Shentu Nantian slightly sighed and spoke to Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng, “What you say does make sense. You must rid the roots of everything to prevent any future trouble. You can enter the chamber and kill Yi Yun!”

“W… We?”

When Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng heard this, they were dumbfounded. They had originally thought that Shentu Nantian would send someone from the Shentu family clan to finish Yi Yun. They never expected him to send them.

Yi Yun may be a cripple now and nothing to be feared. In fact, they really wished to kill Yi Yun, and do all sorts of terrible things to him, to enjoy the pleasure of revenge.

However, the critical point was that the Shepherd Boy was still up in the sky!

The Shepherd Boy’s power was unfathomable. Such an expert had great senses. When he discovered that they entered the array’s core, couldn’t the Shepherd Boy just blow some air at them to turn them to ash?

Wasn’t this courting death?

“Hmph! What a bunch of cowards. The Heaven Earth Empyreal Array’s array disk is in my hand. With the array disk, I can send you directly into the array core!”

“There is a barrier in the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array’s core. Although the Shepherd Boy can ignore the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array’s laws and still use the Power of Desolates, the array core has a strong shield that separates it from the outside world! No matter what laws are understood, one cannot ignore this energy shield.”

“Therefore, if the Shepherd Boy wants to enter the array core, he needs to use brute force. It is not that the Shepherd Boy cannot break through the barrier, but the crux of the issue is that he still needs to face the Myriad Empyreal King!”

“The Myriad Empyreal King is not necessarily weaker than the Shepherd Boy, so how would the Shepherd Boy dare divert his attention to break through the barrier while in battle? Even with the Shepherd Boy’s strength, he will need several seconds to break through this barrier! And these few seconds are enough for a powerful person like the Myriad Empyreal King to do several things!”

Shentu Nantian explanation seemed reasonable.

Although Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng were still afraid, they did not feel like it was something that would be certain to send them to their deaths.

In fact, Yang Dingkun even wanted to ask, since it is so safe, why do you not do it yourself?

Of course, he absolutely did not have the guts to say that.

“What are you waiting for? Do you want me to personally kill the ant-like Yi Yun?”

Shentu Nantian’s voice turned cold, causing Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng to jump up with fright. They did not dare act against Shentu Nantian’s orders.

At that moment, they were lamenting in their hearts. They hoped that whatever Shentu Nantian said was true and that he had not deceived them. They really had nothing better to do but to give themselves something to do.

Even if Yi Yun might one day recover from his injuries, it was still better than facing the Shepherd Boy now.

“Do not worry. I will not send you to your deaths. The Shepherd Boy and Myriad Empyreal King are going to fight soon. I will send you into the array core when their battle is at its greatest intensity!”

“At that moment, the Shepherd Boy will have absolutely no time to attend to other things, otherwise, it would just be suicide!”

Shentu Nantian confidently said. Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng looked at each other, lamenting in their hearts. At that moment, it seemed like they could only bite down hard and do it.

365 - : The Yang brothers’ idea

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the sky, the Shepherd Boy and the Myriad Empyreal King had finally begun fighting. The sealing laws of the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array were not effective. At the same time, the Shentu family clan’s elders joined in the battle against the Shepherd Boy.

With the Myriad Empyreal King as their leader, Elder Su and Elder Mo, together with the other legendary experts formed a large array to aid him.

When the Myriad Empyreal King used his Ghost Dao laws, a ghastly wail resounded in the sky over a radius of 50 kilometers.

A sea of blood emerged, covering the full moon with a bloody shadow.

Against the Myriad Empyreal King who was going all out, the Shepherd Boy brandished the beast bone sword. Nine runes on the sword lit up one after the other.

“Now is the time!”

A few kilometers away from the battle scene, Shentu Nantian noticed that the Myriad Empyreal King and the Shepherd Boy were about to start their intense battle. He suddenly grabbed Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng and at the same time, the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array’s array disk flew up into the air and spun above Shentu Nantian’s head.

The array began shimmering. Shentu Nantian threw both Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng into the array.

At that moment, Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng’s hearts went tight, “Young Master Nantian, hold on! The Shepherd Boy hasn’t made his move yet, now is not the time!”

Before Yang Yuefeng could finish his sentence, he had been thrown into the array’s light. In front of Shentu Nantian, how could Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng have the ability to resist ?

“Ah!”

The two brothers let out a scream and felt space distort. They were being warped into the array.

Behind them, Shentu Nantian sneered, “Good luck to the two of you. If you can alert the Shepherd Boy and force him to kill the two of you, then it will be a worthy death.”

Although the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array’s core had a protective barrier and the Shepherd Boy was busy fighting the Myriad Empyreal King, it was still a question of what the Shepherd Boy would recklessly do as a result of his rage when Yi Yun was really killed.

Besides, Shentu Nantian himself had a feud with the Shepherd Boy, so he definitely would not take the risk.

However, if it was Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng, then it did not matter. If they could anger the Shepherd Boy and distract him into killing them, then there might be a chance for the Myriad Empyreal King to sneak up on him. It would be putting them to good use.

Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng only felt space distort and the next moment, they were already in the Chu royal residence’s underground chambers.

…

“Oh?”

High in the sky, the Shepherd Boy noticed something. He swept his perception over the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array’s core. He clearly knew that people had just entered the core a moment ago.

The Shepherd Boy’s perception pierced through the barrier and clung onto Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng’s bodies.

Seeing the two of them, the Shepherd Boy turned silent. He did not make any moves, but at that moment, the Myriad Empyreal King in front of him had let out a strange squeal. A palm strike came towards him. That palm formed a black ghastly claw in the sky, as it came flying towards the Shepherd Boy’s face.

The Shepherd Boy flew backward and slashed with his sword. A white flame burned on the white bone sword.

This flame was immaculate and pure. There was not a single trace of any other color, as if it was the Order of Heaven and Earth burning.

Boom!

When the ghastly claw struck the sword beam, a divine beam shot into the sky, and the sounds of wailing ghosts rang. The light of the tumultuous energy poured onto the Chu royal residence from above.

The palaces were built from all kinds of hard and precious stones; however, under the explosive force of the light from the energy, they were destroyed like they were sand castles.

People watched helplessly as the Chu royal residence’s main hall was struck by a white beam before it disintegrated. It did not collapse, nor did it crumble, but it turned into dust after being struck by the white light. Later, the dust dissipated away; it was a complete annihilation!

“Terrifying!”

At that moment, King Chu’s face was pale. He did not have the time to be concerned about the array-laden palace that he had spent a lot of resources building. Now, lives were at stake. Two Great Emperor realm experts were exchanging blows, so who knows what would happen?

“Send the command. Evacuate all the commoners of Chu Prefecture City. Evacuate everyone in the royal residence too!”

The Myriad Empyreal King was definitely not someone who was kindhearted. As the Shepherd Boy said, he had cultivated an ancient evil cultivation technique, so it was impossible to wish that he was a kindhearted person.

As for the other person, the Shepherd Boy, he may look handsome, but he was after all a member of the Desolate race. He would not show any mercy when he killed humans, just like how humans slaughtered desolate beasts mercilessly!

“Boom!”

The Shepherd Boy and the Myriad Empyreal King exchanged blows once again. The ground in the center of the Chu royal residence had completely collapsed. A huge ghastly claw mark was left imprinted on the ground. Countless palaces collapsed as the earth quaked…

…

“What happened!?”

In the core of the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array, Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng slammed heavily into the chamber walls. When the ghastly claw struck, it had directly hit the barrier of the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array’s core!

Although the barrier did not explode, the terrifying vibrations had sent Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng, who were within it, flying. They nearly spat out blood from colliding with the wall!

“What the heck is going on? Is the Shepherd Boy attacking the array?”

Once they entered the array, all sound was cut off completely. Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng were completely unaware of what was going on outside.

At that moment, a Yuan Qi transmission from Shentu Nantian entered their ears, “Do not panic! The Shepherd Boy has completely ignored you. He is currently battling the Myriad Empyreal King. You will feel some vibrations due to the fallout from their fighting.”

Shentu Nantian did not know what was going on in the array, but he guessed that the aftermath of the Myriad Empyreal King’s ghastly claw would definitely make Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng suffer. Hence, he used his Yuan Qi transmission to inform them.

What? The fallout was that powerful?

Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng looked at each other and they were secretly alarmed. However, as long as the Shepherd Boy ignored them, then everything would be fine.

“Let’s first get rid of Yi Yun!”

“Yes, since we are in here, killing Yi Yun is of utmost importance. I have long hoped to place that kid under my feet and stomp on him until he becomes a muddy mess!”

The two sneered. Just thinking of them facing Yi Yun whose cultivation level had been wasted made them excited.

They dashed to the chamber where Yi Yun was imprisoned in one breath.

“Peng!”

The chamber’s door was kicked open violently by Yang Dingkun.

“Hahaha! Yi Yun, you must not have imagined that this day would come!?”

In the chamber, Yi Yun’s body was chained up. He was huddled up in the corner of the walls. His face and hair were veiled with a layer of frost. His clothes were mostly torn and stained with blood. Those stains were from the blood that he had bled when Shentu Nantian wounded him. Now, the blood had dried up, turning black.

Yi Yun’s current state looked no different to a beggar.

“Yi Yun, to think you have already turned into such a state after not seeing you for a few days. If I did not know that you were the only person locked up in here, I would really not be able to recognize you. Is this really the proud son of Heaven from the Tai Ah Divine City of yesteryear? Keke, life sure is unpredictable.”

Yang Dingkun felt very happy seeing Yi Yun in such a state. He suddenly felt that it was worth it to risk his life to enter the chamber.

To be able to ravage a genius who had previously been praised by the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord and idolized by countless numbers of Tai Ah Divine City cultivators was indescribable!

“Yi Yun, you must not be too smug as a person. The higher you stand, the harder you fall. You fell from Heaven into Hell. I really feel sad for you. However, don’t worry, we are here to end your suffering. For a person like you to become a cripple, living itself is a suffering, isn’t it?”

Yang Yuefeng also mocked.

Yi Yun looked up and his gaze pierced through his messy hair and landed on Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng.

“It is you two…”

A cold beam flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes.

When Jiang Xiaorou’s identity was revealed, Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng had diligently offered to prepare an alchemy lab for Shentu Nantian. They had also sent a voice transmission to Yi Yun saying how great it would be if they were given some elixirs.

Yi Yun had a strong murderous intent towards the two of them!

“Keke, your gaze looks fearsome, but what can you do? In a while, it will be me brutally killing you. Your gaze is not bad. I will dig your eyes out and soak them in herbal liquid to store them properly. After that, you can keep staring at me. It would definitely be very interesting.”

Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng laughed without restraint as they walked towards Yi Yun.

Yang Yuefeng flipped his hand and retrieved a dagger from his interspatial ring. The dagger reflected a cold beam. He brandished the dagger tip in front of Yi Yun’s eyes as he simulated the act of digging Yi Yun’s eyes out.

On the other hand, Yang Dingkun stopped in front of Yi Yun and raised his foot. He was preparing to step on Yi Yun’s face.

“So what if you are a proud son of Heaven?! Stepping on you now is no different from stepping on a dog!”

To step on Yi Yun’s face gave a great sense of achievement.

However, just as Yang Dingkun raised his foot to step downwards, Yi Yun who was in the corner, suddenly sprang up like a leopard.

“Crash!”

The chains on Yi Yun’s body tightened!

Phew–

Yuan Qi surged out from Yi Yun’s body as it burned!

The sudden turn of events greatly alarmed Yang Dingkun. He had no time to react before Yi Yun grabbed his neck. Yi Yun pressed Yang Dingkun’s entire body on the ground.

“You!”

Yang Dingkun screamed. At that moment, Yi Yun had already used a hand to hold Yang Dingkun’s calf down, and he took a brick out from his interspatial ring with his other hand.

The black metallic brick was suffused with a cold beam. This was the brick that Yi Yun used when he traversed the Divine Wilderness. Yi Yun’s eyes looked ferocious as he aimed the brick towards Yang Dingkun’s ankle before slamming it down with full force.

How could using the Sonic Deathblade to chop off a foot be more joyous than smashing it into a pulp with a metallic brick?

“Peng!”

An explosive sound rang as Yang Dingkun squealed like a pig being slaughtered. Yi Yun’s brick had slammed onto Yang Dingkun’s foot. The chamber’s floor was made of specially constructed metal and it was extremely hard. The metallic brick along with Yi Yun’s brutal force, together with the hard metallic ground caused Yang Dingkun’s entire foot to become meat pulp!

The foot’s bones were crushed into dust and the flesh into bits.

Yang Dingkun screamed crazily as if his throat was filled with glass. His face was white as he sweated profusely.

He had never expected that the Yi Yun, who was half-dead, would suddenly become so terrifying!

366 - : Settling Scores

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yang Dingkun stared widely at Yi Yun with fear as he grabbed his calf that no longer had a foot.

“You…you…”

His voice trembled. He could not even complete a sentence.

To Yuan Foundation realm warriors, if their foot was cut off, the foot could be joined back with good medicine. It could completely recover in a few months.

However, if the foot was smashed into meat pulp, then there was no way of recovering it. Only top-grade medicines could regrow a lost limb. However, with Yang Dingkun’s status and wealth, it was practically impossible for him to obtain such medicine.

Hence, Yang Dingkun’s foot was equivalent to being completely disabled!

A warrior whose foot was disabled was worse than a warrior missing a hand. The despair Yang Dingkun now felt was obvious!

Yi Yun held the brick stained with meat pulp and blood while looking at Yang Dingkun. He said calmly, “You do not need to feel despair. Today, you will die here. Having one foot less or not does not matter.”

Yi Yun’s voice may sound calm, but it was filled with murderous intent.

Yang Yuefeng, who was beside Yang Dingkun, still held a dagger in his hand. A drop of cold sweat cr down his forehead.

“How… How is this possible? Your cultivation was clearly crippled!”

Previously, when Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng entered the chamber, they had clearly seen Yi Yun covered in ice crystals, as if he was poisoned by frost toxins.

However, in a blink of an eye, all the ice crystals disappeared and Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi had exploded!

“Crippled cultivation?” Yi Yun sneered, “Whatever you do to me, and whatever you wanted to do to me but have not done, I will return all of them to the both of you identically! Regardless whether it is you, or the Shentu family clan!”

When Yi Yun said this, his body emitted an unlimited amount of murderous intent. A phantom image of a corpse mountain and blood sea appeared behind him.

This was the Saber Truth’s 32 Words – Killing At Its Core!

While Yi Yun’s understanding of the Saber Truth’s 32 Words grew deeper by the day, the phantom image of the corpse mountain and blood sea would appear automatically whenever he was filled with killing intent.

When they saw the phantom image behind Yi Yun, Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng’s faces paled in fright. Cold sweat dripped down their foreheads. “Your… Your cultivation hasn’t been crippled? How can that be!?”

The two of them acted like their souls had left their bodies.

A few months ago, when Yi Yun was at the peak of the Purple Blood realm, he had won the alliance tournament by defeating Bai after beating Feng Lin!

Back then, Feng Lin and Bai may have suppressed their cultivation levels, but they were still people that Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng had no methods to deal with!

And at that moment, Yi Yun had already broken through to the Yuan Foundation realm. His cultivation level was similar to theirs. With Yi Yun’s extraordinary battle prowess, they lacked the courage to resist against Yi Yun.

“He still has chains on his body!”

Yang Yuefeng saw that some of the chains on Yi Yun’s body were broken, but there were still some that were connected.

These chains were engraved with runes and they were extremely strong. It was not easy to break them.

Yang Yuefeng slowly retreated. He used the corner of his eyes to look at the chamber’s door. He felt hatred towards Yang Dingkun who had closed the metallic door after entering the chamber.

He calculated in his mind that the time it takes to open the metallic door was the time it took to snap one’s fingers. As Yi Yun was restrained by chains, he could only attack from a distance, and might not be able to harm him.

And behind him, there was also Yang Dingkun.

At that moment, the idea of brotherly love was just a joke. Why would Yang Yuefeng care if Yang Dingkun lived?

Yi Yun touched his interspatial ring and sneered, “Are you thinking of escaping!?”

Yang Yuefeng’s face sank. He knew that the moment he moved, Yi Yun would attack him!

For a Yuan Foundation realm warrior, there was no need to make bodily contact. The power from Saber Qi or Sword Qi cutting through the air was also powerful!

Yang Yuefeng watched Yi Yun’s movements carefully. He said coldly, “Do you think you can keep me here? You are being bound by chains and the power of the moves you use will be limited. Besides, you only have the time to strike once, so what can you do to me?”

“If you want to break the chains, you need to waste a lot of energy. The chains you have broken must have wasted a lot of your energy, right!?”

As Yang Yuefeng spoke, he slowly retreated.

He could not turn around and flee as that would open his body to attack. Then, Yi Yun could mortally wound him easily with one strike.

Yi Yun chuckled, as he flipped his palm. He took a old broken sword out from his interspatial ring.

This broken sword was covered in rust. It looked like a relic that had been unearthed.

“Oh?”

Yang Yuefeng was surprised. He did not know why Yi Yun pulled out such a useless sword.

As he was still wondering why, something that made his eyes pop out had happened. He saw Yi Yun casually wave his hand, slashing at the chain.

Following that, with a clear snap, the runes on the chains suddenly shimmered for a while. After they had finished shimmering, the broken sword had completely cut through the chain!

“What!?”

Yang Dingkun stared widely. His face was gloomy as his soul began to separate from his body.

How could this be possible? That was a chain made by a master blacksmith in the Chu royal residence. How could it break so easily?

The broken sword that looked like it was almost going to rot away had cut through the chains as if it was cutting grass!

“What you said previously was well-said.” Yi Yun casually threw the useless chains away and said coldly, “You said that one must not be too smug as a person. Or else, you will fall from Heaven into Hell. That is indeed true…”

As Yi Yun spoke, he began walking towards Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng.

At that moment, the chamber’s door was still closed. With Yi Yun’s strength, Yang Yuefeng had no hope of opening the door with Yi Yun attacking.

“We will go all out and fight you!”

Yang Dingkun was holding onto his calf as he spoke in a threatening manner but he lacked courage deep down. With only one foot, there was no way he could escape from Yi Yun’s sword.

And at that moment, he suddenly felt a push on his back. His cousin, Yang Yuefeng had pushed him, who had only one leg, towards Yi Yun!

“Brother, help me block him for a while!”

As Yang Yuefeng said that, he frantically rushed out of the chamber.

“You!”

Yang Dingkun was greatly shocked. He had only one leg left, so how could he withstand the full force of Yang Yuefeng’s push? His body flew towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun sneered as he took a step forward.

“Ah!”

Yang Dingkun screamed in despair. He stabbed his sword at Yi Yun!

However, at the same time, Yi Yun had kept the broken sword. For a despicable person like Yang Dingkun, how could he be worthy of being killed by the companion sword of the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner?

It was a complete insult to the sword. This sword could only taste the blood of gods and demons like the bronze giant!

With the broken sword put away, Yi Yun entered the battle unarmed. He directed a punch towards Yang Dingkun’s face!

“Ah!”

Yang Dingkun screamed as he was punched in the face by Yi Yun. His facial bones sank in, and an eyeball popped out of its sockets. Yi Yun had completely smashed his facial features into a mess!

Yi Yun turned his fist into the shape of a claw. Taking advantage of the momentum, he grabbed Yang Dingkun’s face as he rushed forward, slamming the back of Yang Dingkun’s head onto the metallic chamber walls.

“Peng!”

With a loud sound, the back of Yang Dingkun’s head cracked open and blood splattered out!

Yang Dingkun was left with one eye. There was no eyeball left, leaving an empty socket. His face was also gone. The back of his head was bleeding.

The difference in strength between him and Yi Yun was too great!

At that moment, Yi Yun turned his head and saw the scene of Yang Yuefeng closing the door!

Once the chamber’s door was closed, then it could only be opened from outside. And this door was constructed of the same metal as the chains. The two foot thick metallic door was many times stronger than the chains. It was not that easy to tear the door down even with the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner’s broken sword.

“Farewell Yi Yun! Although I do not know how you recovered your cultivation, that does not matter. Young Master Nantian will finish you off!”

Yang Yuefeng used his Yuan Qi transmission to pass the message into Yi Yun’s ears in a split second.

He believed that Yi Yun could not break down the door. Even if he could do so, he definitely needed some time. And this time was sufficient for him to escape.

“Pa!”

The door closed. The sound of the metal locking was music to his ears.

Yang Yuefeng let out a long sigh. He could not stay here for long. He had to leave at once, and report everything that had happened to Shentu Nantian.

Shentu Nantian could transmit his voice into the chamber as he had the array disk in hand, but Yang Yuefeng had no way of sending the message out.

However… when Yang Yuefeng turned around, his blood froze!

He saw that three feet away from him, Yi Yun was standing there like a ghost. His gaze was that of looking at a dead man.

How could he… be this quick?

Yang Yuefeng felt his world fall apart. He originally thought that he had seen a chance at living, but in the blink of an eye, he had entered Hell once again!

When Yi Yun was in the Purple Blood realm, his Minute Subtlety had given him speed that exceeded several Yuan Foundation realm elites.

Furthermore, with Yi Yun already breaking through to the Yuan Foundation realm, his speed at travelling short distances could be described like teleportation!

“It is the end.” Yi Yun said calmly, as if he was the judge of fate.

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!” Yang Yuefeng shouted wildly. He retaliated by stabbing at Yi Yun with a dagger.

Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi surged out, and he reached out his hand. With the advantage of power, he grabbed Yang Yuefeng’s wrist!

Yuan Qi circulated as Yi Yun’s energy increased.

“Ka-cha!”

With the sound of a bone snapping, Yang Yuefeng’s hand was twisted and broken by Yi Yun!

Yang Yuefeng’s hand was twisted at an odd angle giving him heartfelt pain. He gritted his teeth as he sent a punch towards Yi Yun’s dantian!

However, Yi Yun’s other hand shot out like lightning, catching Yang Yuefeng’s other hand.

With a repeat of events, another “Ka-cha” was heard!

The pain caused Yang Yuefeng’s face to distort. Both his hands had been twisted and broken by Yi Yun!

The dagger in his hand dropped before Yi Yun caught it.

“You… you will die a horrible death.”

Yang Yuefeng felt newborn despair as he stared venomously at Yi Yun and maliciously cursed him.

However, Yi Yun only sneered. With a flick of his hand, the dagger pierced one of Yang Yuefeng’s wide-staring eyes.

“Puah!”

His eyeball burst. Yi Yun had pierced the dagger deep into Yang Yuefeng’s eye socket

A powerful force completely surged through Yang Yuefeng’s brain. Yang Yuefeng’s body twitched as blood and brain juices flowed out from his eye socket.

Yi Yun did not feel a thing from such a bloody scene.

He was not a bloodthirsty man, but when his heart was filled with hatred, seeing such a bloody scene, it gave him a thrill that was difficult to be described with words.

“I had previously said: whatever you wanted to do to me, I would return to you identically!”

367 - : Returning it to you

CKtalon  CKtalon

After killing Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng, Yi Yun gathered their corpses together and shot a pure Yang flame at the bodies. The two corpses crumbled into ashes immediately, completely disappearing.

The high temperature from the pure Yang flames could even vaporize ash. One could say that the corpses literally disappeared into thin air.

Yi Yun destroyed everything that was Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng. It really was wiping all evidence by destroying the corpses.

This was the first time Yi Yun had killed someone in this and his previous life!

Maybe, he was slowly growing accustomed to this world where martial arts was placed above all. Maybe, it was because he had gone through slaughtering desolate beasts in the Divine Wilderness, resulting in him slowly getting used to it. Or maybe it was because of his hatred for Yang Dingkun and Yang Yuefeng. At that moment, Yi Yun did not feel any remorse for killing them.

On the contrary, he felt like he had released the discomfort he had suppressed and accumulated over the past few days!

These ten days was first marked by the pain of him nearly losing Jiang Xiaorou, and how he nearly lost his life. This came from the despair of being brutally beaten and nearly slaughtered.

One could not rid themselves of their natural intentions. After suppressing all the feelings of being oppressed and tortured, a brutal streak had begun growing in him. The experience from the past few days could be considered a turning point in Yi Yun’s life.

In such desperate situations, a person could change a lot.

Yi Yun looked up towards the sky. His gaze and perception had no way of seeing through the chamber’s ceiling. He also did not know what was happening outside. He was waiting… waiting for the judgment of Fate.

He swore that this was the last time he was leaving it up to Fate, where he would allow others to decide his survival.

From today onwards, his fate would be controlled by him!

If it was said that only mighty figures in this world had the ability to control their own fate, then he would become a might figure. If the Great Emperor realm was insufficient, then he would exceed a Great Emperor!

…

At that moment in the night sky, the Illusionary Bone sword was being brandished. The sharp sword Qi split the starlight apart, and what was remaining was the bright color of blood that smeared the air. A Shentu family clan Elder had been split in half by the sword Qi!

The Elder screamed before his body was ground to bits by the sword Qi!

Another Shentu family clan Elder had died.

Up till now, five Elders from the Shentu family clan had died!

Those Elders, whose cultivation level was not in the realm of the Emperor realm, had no way of defending themselves from the Shepherd Boy. Once the Shepherd Boy grabbed an opportunity, the outcome would be their deaths in one strike!

The thought of retreating arose in those normal Elder’s minds. Although they were part of the Shentu family clan and had worked hard for it, they were not at the stage where they would not mind giving their lives up.

To them, living was much more important than anything else.

“Oh?”

Realizing that the Shepherd Boy was approaching, the legendary figures hurriedly retreated. The Myriad Empyreal King frowned, “What are you afraid of!? He was hit by the Ancestor’s Death Heavenly Revolution a decade ago. It is impossible that he has recovered by now. I don’t believe he can last all the way to the end!”

The Myriad Empyreal King put his hand out, and behind him, the large floating bell flew towards his hand.

“Dang!”

The bell rang. In the Chu Prefecture City, even though the citizens had been evacuated, those who heard it from tens of kilometers away felt their ears buzz and their hearts heavy. Those who were lower in cultivation level spat blood out from the tremors.

“Dang!”

The large bell rang again. As the sound waves approached, those mortals who were nearer to it could not withstand the surge of the sound wave. With a scream, they turned into a bloody mist as a result of the sound wave.

“Ah!”

Some people let out shocking cries. After two consecutive sound waves were sent surging, now there was so much blood that it nearly formed a river!

King Chu was on a mountain peak far into the distance. When he saw this scene, he let out a long sigh.

There was an indescribable feeling in his heart. Ever since he heard the Shepherd Boy call out the Myriad Empyreal King’s title, he had guessed that the exchange of blows between Great Emperor realm rivals would definitely harm the Chu Prefecture City, thus he evacuated the residents early on.

However, there were too many people in the Chu Prefecture City, so there was no way to complete an evacuation in time. This resulted in many innocent commoners dying!

And what was tragic about this was that they did not die under the hands of the Desolate race expert, the Shepherd Boy, rather they were killed by the Myriad Empyreal King who was human.

Be it the Desolate race or mighty figures from the Human race, they treated commoners like ants.

The large black bell floated in front of the Myriad Empyreal King. There were ghostly runes engraved on the large bell, making it look sinister and savage.

“My Ten Thousand Ghost Bell was strengthened using the souls of ten thousand Human Lords. However, it still lacks a person at the Emperor realm to be its main soul. A thousand years ago, you killed my only son. Today, I will use your soul as my Ten Thousand Bell’s main soul, so as to commemorate my only son’s spirit!”

“Oh? That is really tragic. Your body is impotent, and you do not have any descendants. What other meaning is there to life?” The Shepherd Boy sneered in a mocking fashion.

The Empyreal King’s had a long life, and he would usually have several wives and concubines, resulting in countless numbers of descendants. However, the Myriad Empyreal King had cultivated an ancient evil cultivation technique and had gone astray. He also cultivated the Ghost Dao Death Spirit skills, so he had already lost his potency.

It was very difficult for a deathly body to create life-giving essence; hence, when his only son was killed, this created an irreconcilable feud!

“Courting death!” The Shepherd Boy had touched a sore spot, resulting in the Myriad Empyreal King’s eyes turning blood red. “Dong!”

He rang the Ten Thousand Ghost Bell and sent terrifying sound waves out. The tremors had split the earth open below them. Due to the resonance from the sound wave, the ground became like a water’s surface. Ripples in the ground appeared like water ripples.

Muddy waves spread out in a circular manner. It caused the Chu royal residence, which was mostly destroyed, to collapse completely!

Countless numbers of pavilions, rockeries, and flowing water bodies turned into ruins. The ground caved in, causing even the foundations of the towers to completely churn upwards.

This was just the fallout. In fact, the highly condensed sound waves from the Ten Thousand Ghost Bell had been directed at the Shepherd Boy.

A soul attack was embedded in the sound waves!

Against the Ten Thousand Ghost Bell’s sound waves, the Shepherd Boy gently flipped his hand, and a short bamboo flute appeared in his hand. He carried this bamboo flute everywhere. Even when he led the beast horde, he would use this bamboo flute to transmit his intentions.

A sweet and melodious tune came out of the flute. It clashed with the extensive Bell sound waves!

“Boom!”

The sound wave explosion shook the surroundings. The strongest attacks hidden in the sound waves were their own Sword of the Soul!

Soul attacks were the most dangerous. If a backlash happened, there would be extremely serious consequences.

The two people’s souls crossed. Illusions flooded their minds as they reached a stalemate.

In the sky, the Myriad Empyreal King’s soul formed into a burning blood-colored skull, which looked like an evil demon entering the world. It was infinitely oppressive.

And behind the Shepherd Boy, it was a scene of the vast wilderness. In the vast wilderness, there were divine dragons and phoenixes flying about. They may not be real divine beasts, but even if they weren’t, they were Primitive Sacred Desolate Beasts whose bloodline was extremely close!

The phantom images of the two Great Emperors appeared at the same time. This battle had reached its hottest point!

“The Shepherd Boy and the Myriad Empyreal King are fighting with their souls. Now they are in a deadlock, it is the best opportunity to kill him!”

About ten kilometers away, Shentu Nantian shouted!

However, the few Shentu family clan Elders were hesitant. Previously, their companions had died horribly!

“Move! If you kill the Shepherd Boy and use his blood to refine a divine elixir, I will give one to each of you! If you retreat without fighting, there will be punishments once the Ancestor gets wind of this!”

Shentu Nantian even used the Shentu Patriarch as a threat.

Under this threat, and with the temptation of the Shepherd Boy’s blood elixir, a total of seven people consisting of the remaining five Elders, along with Elder Su and Elder Mo, charged at the Shepherd Boy.

They all used their best moves, in a bid to kill the Shepherd Boy in one strike!

At that moment, the Shepherd Boy and the Myriad Empyreal King were in a deadlock, so he was the perfect target!

The divine beams formed into one, like a rainbow cloud that covered the sky, and situated in the middle of the cloud was the Shepherd Boy!

At that moment, everyone held their breaths. Was the battle ending?

Boom!

All the attacks exploded in the night sky at the same time. The air was like a picture scroll that was torn apart by the terrifying impact!

Blinding lights from the energy made everyone shut their eyes. And the powerful energy formed a force field that formed an isolation barrier, which prevented others from using their perception to probe what was going on within it. They did not know what the outcome of the battle in the sky was.

The seven legendary figures had teamed up to attack him, and at that moment, the Shepherd Boy was resisting the Ten Thousand Ghost Bell’s ringing. Under this situation, there was no one who could withstand it!

“Is the battle over?”

“The Shepherd Boy is dead!?”

The light slowly dissipated as people focused their eyes upwards. They realized that the empty air had disappeared. What was in front of their eyes was like an immortal paradise in the sky.

It was a vast blue sea that sparkled.

And above the sea, there was an island!

A sea that floated in the sky, and a small island within the sea.

That island was covered with spiritual fountains, and was Spring-like, forming an idyllic scene. There were peach trees that had grown healthily on this land for thousands of years.

At that moment, the peach blossoms went into full bloom. As the petals fell, it formed a rain of flowers. And as light dispersed through this rain, a green cow could be seen walking amongst the flowers…

Green cow, peach blossoms, paradise island!

The green-dressed Shepherd Boy was standing in this paradise. His green clothes were stained with blood while he held his bamboo flute!

The Shepherd Boy was injured!

The silver blood slowly flowed down the Shepherd Boy’s fingers before it began dripping…

The pink peach blossoms, the silver blood suddenly formed a beautiful picture.

368 - : Killing All Together

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Shepherd Boy’s silver blood flowed down, landing on the paradise’s soil beneath his feet before being absorbed by the paradise’s ground. It did not drop onto normal ground.

Seeing this divine paradise soil, the hearts of the Shentu family clan Elders tightened.

“Domain!”

This single island immortal paradise was the Shepherd Boy’s domain.

Many warriors had their own domains, so it was not uncommon. However, the Shepherd Boy’s domain was clearly extraordinary. He had used this domain to withstand the combined attack of the seven experts and the Myriad Empyreal King!

“He is injured and bleeding… The blood of the Desolate race is much more precious than our human blood. Once they bleed, it means that they are seriously injured!”

The blood of the Desolate race could be refined into elixirs, which illustrated how precious their blood was.

The Myriad Empyreal King looked at the blood flowing out of the Shepherd Boy’s mouth and grinned, “If I’m not wrong, our combined attack has made the Death Heavenly Revolution stir up in his body. And my Ten Thousand Ghost Bell should have hurt his soul!”

The Myriad Empyreal King was very confident about the effects of his Ten Thousand Bell attack. He refused to believe that even the Shepherd Boy could remain unharmed after being attacked while in a deadlock with him.

“It’s the end, let us all attack!”

“Break his domain apart, and we can kill him. Then we shall have his Desolate blood and refine elixirs from it, so we can share them!”

A few Shentu family clan Elders looked each other in the eye as they made their minds up.

The Desolate race’s blood elixirs were extremely precious. Even if it could not let them have a break through, it could catalyze their bodies’ potential, thus extending their lifespan.

The 7 Elders attacked together, and used all sorts of laws. The divine powers rushed into the sky like a rainbow tidal wave surging towards the Shepherd Boy’s domain.

“Boom!”

All the attacks landed on the paradise island domain.

The domain shook violently. On the paradise island, the petals of the peach blossoms fell like bloody rain. The Shepherd Boy was standing below a ten thousand-year-old peach tree, looking indifferent.

When the powerful forces tore the paradise island apart, a shocking crack appeared on the ground.

People believed that they were on the brink of splitting the domain apart; however, at that moment, the Shepherd Boy suddenly held his Illusionary Bone sword and wiped his palm over it, staining it with his silver blood.

“Chi Chi!’

The silver blood burned and it transformed into a spotless white flame.

This flame had been used by the Shepherd Boy previously. However, this time, he had used his blood as fuel, so the power of the flame could no longer be compared to last time!

Roar!

Behind the Shepherd Boy, a earth-shattering roar that sounded like a Primitive Sacred Desolate Beast spread out. This power was imbued into the Shepherd Boy’s body. He slashed with his sword, causing the Order of Heaven and Earth to collapse. The combined efforts of the Elders released a Yuan Qi divine force, but it could not block the Shepherd Boy’s attack at all.

The divine beam collapsed as all the attacks disappeared. As for the Shepherd Boy’s flaming sword, it pierced forward without any resistance!

“Cha!”

A Shentu family clan Elder screamed. He was split apart from the hip down!

The white flame swallowed him, burning the Elder’s blood and his mind into ash!

“What!?”

When the other Elders saw this scene, they were terror-stricken. They had thought that the Shepherd Boy was a spent force, so they had combined forces to attack him again. Now, with a look, his strength had become even more terrifying after being injured!

Against the Shepherd Boy, they felt a fear in their hearts. This Desolate race Great Emperor was simply unfathomable!

The Shepherd Boy sent a stab at the Myriad Empyreal King with his Illusionary Bone sword.

The Myriad Empyreal King was alarmed, “You actually don’t mind spending your Desolate blood to fight me!? Is this just to save a human? Is it even worth it!?”

The Shepherd Boy remained quiet. White flames surged from the sword, burning the emptiness. These flames seemed to spontaneously form runic lines.

This was the array runic lines formed when one’s fire laws reached an extreme. It represented the origins of the Heaven and Earth Great Dao!

“The Successor has promised me something. So in return, I definitely have to uphold my promise!” The Shepherd Boy said calmly.

The Shepherd Boy had used all his strength with this attack. The white beam was like jade as it lit up the entire night sky. It stretched all the way to the horizon and it seemed infinite. Even the arm of the galaxy in the sky disappeared as it was overpowered by the divine light.

The white flames burned, forming a wispy sound as in resounded in the heavens. It was as if the ancient river of time had been reversed.

Against this tsunami-like attack, the Myriad Empyreal King’s face displayed a ferocious expression. He knew that he had to go all out, otherwise, the Shepherd Boy would kill him!

“Roar!”

A beast-like roar came from within his body. His rotting, dried up skin swelled up. In an instance, a deathly aura exploded as ten thousand ghosts wailed. From within the Myriad Empyreal King’s body, a red skeleton rushed forward. As the skeleton howled, it charged at the Shepherd Boy.

At the same time, the Myriad Empyreal King threw the Ten Thousand Ghost Bell at the Shepherd Boy.

As the bell gave a deafening sound, it was like a mountain of Hell flying towards the Shepherd Boy!

The Myriad Empyreal King’s Aspect Totem, which had his soul attack embedded in it, left his body, and at the same time, all of his Yuan Qi was injected into the large bell. The two combined into one and this was the strongest attack the Myriad Empyreal King could use!

He believed that no matter how sharp the Shepherd Boy’s sword was, the Shepherd Boy had no way of breaking through this killer attack.

Seeing the Ten Thousand Ghost Bell and the bloody skeleton attacking him, a cold expression flashed on the Shepherd Boy’s face. He attacked with his palm, and at the same time, injected the Power of Desolates into his palm, rupturing his blood vessels, which caused some of his blood to splatter!

The Shepherd Boy’s palm had turned into a bloody palm!

“Dang!”

With a tumultuous explosion, the palm made a direct impact on the large bell.

The weight could not be estimated. The Ghost Bell, that had ten thousand Lord-realm souls in it, quaked. A depression immediately appeared on the thick and heavy bell, it was a clear and visible palm print!

The Shepherd Boy’s silver blood was left behind on the Ten Thousand Ghost Bell as well. The metal that was used to construct the Ten Thousand Ghost Bell actually melted turning into molten metal under the burning blood.

The Shepherd Boy’s blood had burned a hole through the Ten Thousand Ghost Bell!

There were unfathomable powers in the Desolate race Great Emperor’s blood.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

The flames burned as the souls began to howl in pain. These were the tortured souls that were sealed in the Ten Thousand Ghost Bell. They were burned by the white flames, turning into ash instantaneously!

Although the process was painful, it was a form of release for them.

As the wails increased, an unknown number of souls had been burned to ash in the blink of an eye.

“You burnt the souls in my Ten Thousand Ghost Bell!?”

The Myriad Empyreal King’s eyes turned red. However at that moment, his energy had been emptied out and he was powerless to stop it.

The Shepherd Boy roared and pushed the Ten Thousand Ghost Bell away from him with one hand. He raised his Illusionary Bone sword and carried on slashing.

“Roar!”

The bloody skeleton roared as it bit at the Shepherd Boy.

This bloody skeleton was the Myriad Empyreal King’s Aspect Totem. It could swallow a person’s soul. If it was allowed free reign in a crowd, the people who were devoured by it would lose their souls, turning into walking zombies.

However, against this bloody skeleton, the Shepherd Boy did not dodge it. He charged forward together with his sword.

His entire person had transformed into a sword beam. At that moment, it was as if he himself had turned into a peerless divine sword.

That terrifying sword intent had protected the Shepherd Boy’s soul. With his flesh as the sword, and his soul also as a sword, his sword Dao didn’t meet any resistance as it surpassed everything under the sky!

“Break!”

The Shepherd Boy let out a long cry. His blood burned on the Illusionary Bone sword as the surrounding flames condensed into runic lines of the Great Dao origins. At that moment, all of them reversed and injected themselves into the sword.

“Cha!”

The sword pierced all the way through the blood-colored skeleton, till it reached the Myriad Empyreal King!

The bone sword’s blade shone with white light that resembled jade and it was no more than 3 feet away than the Myriad Empyreal King.

“You burst through my blood skeleton head on!?”

The Myriad Empyreal King’s expression twisted. Seeing that he had no way to avoid it, he put his dried up claws out to grab the Shepherd Boy’s neck.

He wanted to force the Shepherd Boy to retract his attack and defend by the threat of exchanging injuries.

However, when the Shepherd Boy stabbed with his sword, he had no intentions to dodge again. Once his sword was unsheathed, it had to taste blood!

The Illusionary Bone sword pierced straight ahead. He did not defend!

“Puah!”

The sword stabbed into the Myriad Empyreal King’s left chest, piercing through his heart!

The white blood flame seeped into the Myriad Empyreal King’s body, and began to spread out like an explosion. From his heart, it spread to all the neighboring blood vessels. It burned all his blood into ash.

However, at the same time, the Myriad Empyreal King let out a strange cry as his ghastly claws had pierced the Shepherd Boy’s chest.

Ten bloody holes were left on the Shepherd Boy’s body and black gas surged around like plumes of black smoke being released. The Myriad Empyreal King’s claws were poisonous!

However, the claws had not managed to grab the Shepherd Boy’s heart. The Desolate blood flame on the Shepherd Boy’s sword burned the Myriad Empyreal King’s Yuan Qi away, destroying all possibility of survival! It also prevented him from breaking through the Shepherd Boy’s protective Power of Desolates.

Chi!

The sword swept ahead and the Myriad Empyreal King was split into two by the Shepherd Boy!

After the Myriad Empyreal King’s corpse was split apart, it lost its Yuan Qi protection. Hence, it no longer had the ability to withstand the Shepherd Boy’s Desolate blood flame. It was reduced to ashes in the air.

A ghastly Emperor had been annihilated in such a manner!

Seeing the ashes spreading down and slowly disappearing in the sky, the Shentu family clan Elders were fear stricken.

It was too terrifying!

This was the blood of a Desolate race’s Great Emperor, just the power of the blood was so terrifying. This was also why many members of the Human race were desperate for the blood of the Desolate race.

However, the blood of the Desolate race was not only used to refine elixirs, it could also be used to kill someone!

The Shepherd Boy’s face was pale. There were ten bloody holes on his chest and silver blood flowed out from the holes, and at that moment, his silver blood was slightly contaminated.

The poison that the Myriad Empyreal King used was not common. It had been condensed and refined from toxin laws. Even if it was the blood of a Desolate race’s Great Emperor, the poison would still corrode it.

“The Shepherd Boy has killed a human Great Emperor!”

On the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s side, King Chu and company were frightened and distraught.

This was such a terrifying matter. For the Chu Prefecture City today, it was destined to be a day that was going to be remembered. A Great Emperor had actually died in their Chu Prefecture City!

A human Great Emperor was a legend to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

It was rare to meet one, but now, one of them had died!

Furthermore, they had witnessed the death of this Great Emperor with their own eyes!

Looking back at the Shepherd Boy, his green clothes were stained with blood and he looked pale. He was also poisoned, and seemed to be at his limit, like a candle flickering in the wind!

Could he still fight?

Such a question flashed in King Chu’s mind. Although it was a opposing force, the Shepherd Boy’s peerless grandeur had completely impressed King Chu.

It was all because of his peerless talent!

369 - : The Blood of the Desolate Race

CKtalon  CKtalon

The divine lights of the laws began to slowly fade in the vast sky. The arm of the galaxy once again began to shimmer in the sky, and now, the entire Chu Prefecture City was in complete ruins. With the Chu royal residence as the core, it seemed to have been attacked by a terrible storm. All the nearby buildings had completely collapsed, while the Chu royal residence had been reduced to dust, not even leaving behind any wreckage.

The Shepherd Boy stood under the bright moon, holding the Illusionary Bone sword in one hand and the bamboo flute in the other.

A breeze blew, fluttering his green clothes. His elegance and talent seemed peerless.

His pair of eyes stared at the Shentu family clan Elders. That deep stare seemed to resemble the endless starry sky above his head.

“He’s injured, and should be very seriously injured at that. He should be on the verge of his limits!”

“Ignoring the Death Heavenly Revolution left in his body, even the wound on his chest has been infected by toxins. He is bleeding black blood!”

The Shepherd Boy’s condition was clear to everyone, but even then, no one dared to go forward.

The Shepherd Boy had previously killed 6 of the Shentu family clan Elders, and then the Myriad Empyreal King. This was too great a shock for them. Furthermore, every time they thought they could kill him, they were killed by him instead!

Hence, even if they knew that he had damaged his life force, none of the Shentu family clan Elders dared to make a move.

Even Elder Su and Elder Mo did not go forth. The pressure was too great.

Maybe if they all piled on, maybe then they would be able to prevent the heavily injured Shepherd Boy from leaving. However, there was no doubt that they would only be left with a few people in the end. They might even all die together with the Shepherd Boy.

No one was willing to make such a sacrifice.

At that moment, people saw that a black mist was emerging from the 10 claw wounds on the Shepherd Boy’s chest.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

After the black mist left the wounds, it burned in the air, quickly being reduced to ash.

When people saw this, their hearts tightened, “He is using the Power of Desolates to force the toxins out of his body!”

“This is not good, we cannot let him force the poison out. If he completely recovers, we will be even less of a match for him. We might even all die here today!”

The Shepherd Boy was unexpectedly healing himself in the air, completely ignoring them. This made many of the Shentu Elders aggrieved. It was as if they did not exist.

They knew that if they did not attack the Shepherd Boy now, they would lose their greatest advantage in battle.

However, no one dared to make a move against him. Everyone knew that the first few who went forward would definitely end up dead.

While they looked on, the black mist being emitted out of the Shepherd Boy increased, with a “Chi Chi Chi” sound, a pure white flame started to burn on the Shepherd Boy’s chest.

If this went on, they would not stand a chance if they only remained motionless!

“Si!”

The Illusionary Bone sword flashed a cold beam. Under the moonlight, the white bone sword the Shepherd Boy held looked like an elephant’s white tusk.

“What do we do?”

A Shentu family clan Elder asked Elder Su and Elder Mo.

Elder Su and Elder Mo’s expressions were ugly as they felt irrevocably committed.

“What else can we do? We cannot really wait for him to recover and let him kill all of us? Let’s protect the young master and leave.”

Hearing Elder Mo’s words, the Shentu family clan’s other Elders felt aggrieved. Although they, in name, were leaving to protect Shentu Nantian, they were in fact, escaping.

They had the numbers advantage, and had even set up the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array. Even with the addition of the Myriad Empyreal King, they had still been sent scurrying away by the Shepherd Boy. This had turned into a huge joke.

However, now, if they did not take the opportunity to escape while the Shepherd Boy was still recovering from the poisoning, they had no other methods.

“Evacuate the Chu Prefecture City!”

When Elder Su said this, the Elders looked at each other and reluctantly accepted reality. They kept their guard up and retreated in the air bit by bit, to the point of them being several kilometers away. Only then did they take Shentu Nantian along with them to rapidly evacuate.

From the beginning to the end, the Shepherd Boy looked on indifferently. He did not attack again.

He was indeed on the verge of his limits. It was not because of the toxins from the Myriad Empyreal King, but because of the Death Heavenly Revolution left within his body by the Shentu Patriarch a decade ago!

Just now, he had used the blood of the Desolate race to kill the Myriad Empyreal King, but that had caused the Death Heavenly Revolution in his body to begin moving. He was almost on the verge of being unable to repress it.

Under this situation, if he had forcefully killed the Shentu family clan Elders, he would have to pay a terrible price. Not only would he have to enter a recovery phase again, but he would also have to hurt his life force.

If he really hurt his life force, then it would be very difficult to recover, even if he nursed himself back to health for decades.

…

“The Shentu family clan has retreated!”

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warriors looked as the Shentu family clan retreated to a distance of tens of kilometers away from the Chu Prefecture City before they turned and fled. Soon, they disappeared into the night…

This scene made many of their hearts go cold.

The Shepherd Boy had sent the Shentu family clan running single-handedly. From the contents of their past conversations, the Shepherd Boy’s strength did not decrease but actually increased, although he was hit by the Death Heavenly Revolution in the huge battle a decade ago!

As such, the Shentu family clan had severely underestimated the Shepherd Boy’s strength.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warriors were extremely nervous. They were afraid that the Shepherd Boy would suddenly attack them. If he was angered, the Chu Prefecture City would be pulled in. Once the huge slaughter began, only a few amongst them would live on.

It was a very easy matter for a Great Emperor to destroy a city.

However at that moment, the Shepherd Boy’s focus was not on the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warriors. After he forced out the last toxins in his body, he held the Illusionary Bone sword and hovered above the Heaven Earth Empyreal Array’s core.

The Illusionary bone sent out 3 flashing beams, and these three waterfall-like sword beams streaked across the ground.

Chi La!

It was as if white lightning had struck. The Heaven Earth Empyreal Array’s barrier violently trembled and completely burst open the next moment.

Following that, the Shepherd Boy sent out another slash. The Chu royal residence’s chamber had been split open by his attack!

…

In the chamber, Yi Yun heard a rumbling of energy explosions. He looked up and saw a sword beam split open the chamber’s dome. A ray of moonlight spilled down from the huge crack and into the dome, lighting up his face.

Ever since he was locked in the dark chamber, where day and night could not be distinguished, he had not seen the long-absent sight of moonlight.

And now, bathing in the moonlight, Yi Yun felt as if he had reincarnated.

He seemed to have died once in the past day ten days.

And today, he was reborn. He would make every effort to explore the highest realms of martial arts. He wanted to control his own fate, and control the fates of the people around him.

Under the moon, the Shepherd Boy’s green clothes were stained with blood. He looked like a pristine piece of jade.

With the Illusionary Bone sword in hand, he looked at Yi Yun without any emotions. There was no emotions in his voice as he said, “Follow me.”

After saying that, the Shepherd Boy spoke no more. He turned around and left, not giving Yi Yun another glance.

Yi Yun felt an invisible force wrap around his body as his body began to fly.

Under the moon, the Shepherd Boy kept his sword in hand as he flew towards the starry sky. His black hair fluttered in the wind, giving him an extreme charm.

And behind him, Yi Yun was following closely behind.

The Shepherd Boy did not speak a word, Yi Yun too remained silent. He never expected that such a day would happen. He had been imprisoned by a large human faction, yet it was the Desolate race’s Shepherd Boy who saved him.

Thinking back to the first encounter, of him meeting the Shepherd Boy in the Divine Wilderness, the Shepherd Boy was then riding a green cow, crossing the Blackwater Swamp. That scene seemed like a dream…

Back then, Yi Yun had never expected the Shepherd Boy to have such an identity.

The two of them flew silently, with one before the other. They slowly disappeared into the horizon, hidden by the bright light of the moon.

Only when the two of them completely disappeared did the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s warriors exhale.

The backs of many of them were drenched with cold sweat.

The Shepherd Boy had given them too great a pressure.

“Maybe we were too tiny, so the Shepherd Boy did not even bother killing us.”

An old man smiled bitterly. The Shepherd Boy had passed by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and saved Yi Yun, those who were watching by the sides were probably nothing more than a bunch of ants to the Shepherd Boy. When a person encountered a group of ants while walking, except for naughty children, probably no one would purposely walk over to step the ants to death.

“He has saved Yi Yun, but Yi Yun has already become a cripple.” A Human Lord sighed. Many people from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom felt pity for Yi Yun. Many of them felt sorry that Yi Yun had been crippled.

“That might not be so! The Shepherd Boy’s powers are godly. He might have a way to recover Yi Yun’s cultivation!” Another Human Lord said.

However, many of them shook their heads when they heard it. “With the frost toxins in his body, and his meridians destroyed, who knows what sorts of treasures are needed to join back his meridians. Furthermore, ignoring the fact that the Desolate race might not use such treasures on Yi Yun, Yi Yun might also not be able to handle such medicine.”

“Even if we took 10,000 steps back and all those conditions were fulfilled, and it great amounts of time will be lost to join back Yi Yun’s meridians. And the meridians that are joined back might not be as good as they originally were. There might be some hidden injuries left behind. If that happened, then Yi Yun might only become a peak-Human Lord. Becoming a Sage would be difficult, let alone becoming a Great Emperor.”

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s history, there was no lack of geniuses who were peerless. However, due to sudden severe injuries, they bodies and talents were no longer the same after they recovered. Their cultivation was slowly caught up to by their peers, and finally their potential was exhausted, in the end they just vanished in the crowd.

There were too many examples of this. People suspected that Yi Yun would end up the same.

Just thinking about it made them sigh.

A proud son of heaven had fallen just like that. Although he was still alive, he had lost the halo around him.

The higher one fell from, the greater the tragedy.

One had to live on a grayed life in hatred and despair after suddenly losing everything overnight. For one, who was originally used to being cheered on by others and being admired by all around him, to carry on living in a weak state with all one’s powers gone, with no chances of revenge, death would probably be more than blissful.

“Everything is predestined. When the Shentu family clan came, we thought we had seen hope. However, who knew that such an outcome would occur. With them now retreated, who knows if they will return…” King Chu looked at the Chu Prefecture City’s wreckage with a heavy heart.

Although they were extremely disappointed with the Shentu family clan and were very unhappy, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom warriors still were still afraid that the Shentu family clan would just leave.

If the Shepherd Boy went back, he could likely make a return. He could then set off another beast horde and destroy the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

As for the Shentu family clan, although they were overbearing and cruel, they were at least on the side of humans.

To expect a bunch of tigers, leopards, wolves and other beasts of prey to help them, was a tragedy brought forth from their weakness…

370 - : Finally Leaving Tai Ah

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun flew behind the Shepherd Boy for an unknown period of time.

While flying, Yi Yun did not find the speed to be fast, nor did the wind, blowing at him, feel forceful. In fact, it could be said to be gentle.

However, the scene of the ground beneath him was quickly changing, as if space was being distorted.

“Senior Shepherd Boy, where is my sister?” Yi Yun could not help but ask after flying for two hours. He was currently most worried about Jiang Xiaorou’s whereabouts.

The Shepherd Boy did not respond until he landed Yi Yun on the top of a mountain. Looking around, it was desolate lands and canyons. There were several hundred meter tall ancient trees around, towering into the sky.

Yi Yun recognized that this was the Cloud Wilderness!

Standing on a mountain peak of the Cloud Wilderness, the strong winds blew coldly. Yi Yun brushed away the hair that had covered his eyes, and cupped his hands, “Senior Shepherd Boy, Yi Yun will remember the debt of you saving me. I will definitely repay you in the future!”

The Shepherd Boy was silent and had his back facing Yi Yun.

Yi Yun hesitated for a while before asking again, “Senior, I want to ask… Where is my sister?”

The Shepherd Boy looked at the endless expanse of land from the mountain peak as he said calmly, “You do not need to remember this gratitude, neither do I need you to repay this gratitude. I saved you because I agreed to Her Grace’s request, as for Her Grace, she has promised under certain conditions. So, you do not owe me anything.”

“Now, I have saved you, and you can leave…”

Leave?

Yi Yun’s eyebrows ticked. How could he leave just like this? He had not even seen Jiang Xiaorou.

“Senior, I wish to meet my sister,” Yi Yun said earnestly.

The Shepherd Boy sighed and shook his head, “The Human race and the Desolate race were originally two separate worlds. There is animosity between the two. You do not need to meet Her Grace, besides… She is not your sister. The fate between the two of you shall end here…”

Hearing the Shepherd Boy’s words, Yi Yun’s heart tightened. Will their fate end?

He and Jiang Xiaorou had relied on one another along the way, going through thick and thin together. However, now with the Shepherd Boy’s simple words, their fate was ending?

“Senior Shepherd Boy! If it is as you said, that the Human race and the Desolate race are two completely different worlds, and my fate with her has come to an end, then I want to meet my sister once and hear it from her. If she too thinks that our fate has ended, then I will leave immediately and never again interfere with her life!”

Yi Yun said those words in a deep voice. He did not believe that Jiang Xiaorou would feel like their fate had ended. The relationship between Jiang Xiaorou and him could not be compared to the relationship between Jiang Xiaorou and the Desolate race which she had not interacted before.

The Shepherd Boy turned around and looked at Yi Yun. His hair was flying in the wind as his eyes looked deep like the ocean, “You do not need to meet her, neither will she meet you. This was promised by her at the beginning. It is also one of the conditions I had for saving you.”

What?

Hearing this, Yi Yun felt his heart suddenly wrench.

Jiang Xiaorou had gotten the Shepherd Boy to save him under such conditions.

Although he guessed that his sister’s status among the Desolate race was phenomenal, she had no strength. She would be restricted in the many things she wanted to do…

Without any questions, when Jiang Xiaorou pleaded the Shepherd Boy to save him, she must have agreed to several conditions.

“What else has she promised?” Yi Yun asked. The Shepherd Boy’s words made him feel somewhat depressed.

“As for the rest… they deal with her cultivation and the Desolate race… These things, you do not have to know, nor do you need to worry about them. Although the things I made the Her Grace agree to are things she is not willing to do now, it is all for her own good. It is also for the Desolate race’s future. Humans and Desolates have different paths, so it is best that you forget her!”

“Let me give you another word of advice. Quickly grow up. The peaceful years might not last for long. The next time we meet, we might be enemies.”

When the Shepherd Boy said this, he turned around and was about to leave. Yi Yun shouted from behind him, “Hold on!”

“What else is there?”

The Shepherd Boy’s back faced Yi Yun as he had no intention to turn around again.

“The peaceful years might not last for long… Is your Desolate race going to go to war with the Human race?”

The Shepherd Boy said, “Not necessarily, but… it is possible that we have to.”

“Originally, destroying Tai Ah was the prelude to this battle. The orders from the Lord was to make a way through Tai Ah, Yun Long, and the other surrounding countries so that the Divine Wilderness would annex the territories of those countries, leaving the Divine Wilderness to spread all the way to the Tian Yuan world. The Tian Yuan world is also what you call the Western Regions.”

“However, by accident, we found Her Grace and are no longer in a hurry to do so. Besides, Her Grace is kind, she does not wish to see Tai Ah turn into a river of blood…”

Open up the Divine Wilderness all the way to the Tian Yuan world?

When Yi Yun heard this, his mind trembled. Yi Yun did not know of the Tian Yuan world. Originally, Tian Yuan was the center point of a Go board. With Yuan marking the beginnings or the origins.

It seemed that the Tian Yuan world was the center of this world. As for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, it was a country that was far from the world’s center. As the Tian Yuan world was to the West of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom would generally call the area the Western Regions.

As for the Divine Wilderness, it was situated to the north of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. If the Shepherd Boy set off a beast horde and swallowed the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, then all the cities would turn into ruins. The land would become the land of the desolate beasts. Then the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom would really become a part of the Divine Wilderness!

If the Divine Wilderness and the Tian Yuan world were connected, then, with the Divine Wilderness as the base, the Desolate race could set off a beast horde to attack the Tian Yuan world directly.

And the Shentu family clan was located in the Tian Yuan world!

Yi Yun knew that the Desolate race had a feud with the Shentu family clan. Previously, the Desolate race had set off a beast horde in a bid to destroy the Shentu family clan, but they ultimately failed.

However, during that time, the Shepherd Boy had set off a beast horde deep within enemy territory, without backup. He could not rely on the Divine Wilderness.

If a channel to the Divine Wilderness was opened up, then there could be endless hordes of desolate beasts that could come from the Divine Wilderness, straight into the Tian Yuan world. When that happened, the outcome of the war would probably change…

“Can I know the identity of my sister? She was originally a high-ranking member of the Desolate race, yet she ended up in the Cloud Wilderness. Then how did Shentu Nantian recognize her identity with a glance? Why do the Desolate race and the Shentu family clan have such an irreconcilable feud?”

Yi Yun always wanted to know the secrets behind this matter and understand Jiang Xiaorou’s childhood.

However, the Shepherd Boy had no intention of explaining. He lightly said, “You do not need to know.”

After he said that, the Shepherd Boy flew away.

His green figure quickly disappeared into the night, leaving Yi Yun standing on the high mountain. He was currently lost in thoughts.

The Shepherd Boy had left. The desolate plains were quiet. Only the sound of the wind could be heard. Yi Yun was for a while, confused.

Although he had escaped danger, he had not managed to meet Jiang Xiaorou. In the future, it would be extremely difficult to meet her again.

If they met again, she was one of the Desolate race, while he was of the Human race, what would happen?

He naturally could not return to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. So, where should he go?

The Divine Wilderness… With his strength, it was unlikely that he could cross it. Then… Should he cross the Cloud Wilderness?

For a moment, Yi Yun did not know where he should go.

He was urgently in need of improving his strength.

…

After separating from Yi Yun, the Shepherd Boy flew extremely fast.

His goal was the Tai Ah Divine City.

To save Yi Yun, he had been delayed for too long. He had even been wounded.

While flying, the Shepherd Boy suddenly felt something in his mind. A distant voice rang in his mind. The message was short. It said.

“The seal has diminished. Slow down.”

The Shepherd Boy took a deep breath when he heard that the seal diminished. In his eyes, which had always seemed carefree, a rare glimmer of expectation and hope now appeared.

It was finally beginning. Everything was going according to plan.

And an unexpected surprise was the return of Her Grace.

Her Grace, who had disappeared for several years, had not died. With this, maybe he could be able to open up a new era for the Desolate race!

371 - : Humans and Desolates have different paths

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the vast Divine Wilderness, at the Tai Ah Divine City.

In the gray night sky, the Shepherd Boy had just landed in the divine city like a wisp of green smoke.

“Lord Qing Kui, Grand Magus Xuan Yin requests your presence as soon as possible.”

A Desolate race warrior, dressed in light armor, bowed to him as a form of salutation as the Shepherd Boy landed.

Qing Kui was the Shepherd Boy’s real name. When he traversed the human countries, he had never used his own name, hence the humans only called him Shepherd Boy.

Qing Kui nodded and walked towards the Tai Ah Divine City’s central divine tower.

When he entered the central divine tower, Qing Kui walked straight underground, only stopping when he finally reached the sword and saber tombs.

Now, the sword and saber tombs looked completely different. If the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord was here, he would be inexplicably surprised.

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had used the sword and saber tombs as the foundation for the Tai Ah Divine City. They had used the divine city for several years, but every generation’s City Lord never knew that the sword and saber tombs hid such a secret.

Now, the two tombs had been opened.

Below the sword and saber tombs, a huge, black, spatial dimension had appeared. This space seemed to lead to an infinitely deep abyss. On the surface of the deep abyss, there was a light purple whirlpool which was slowly swirling.

Qing Kui stood before the whirlpool with a serious expression.

“Do you need to rest for a while? Your condition is not very good.”

At that moment, an old woman with a walking stick made of peach treewood appeared behind him.

“Xuan Yin, you have worked hard. You have been taking care of this place during the days I was not here.” The Shepherd Boy said to the old woman. “I do not need to rest. On the way back, I took some medicine. My injuries have basically recovered, and I have once again managed to suppress the Death Heavenly Revolution in my body.”

“Qing Kui…” The old woman shook her head. “This time, you went deep into Tai Ah alone, and you battled the Shentu family clan alone. This was too risky. If anything happened to you, it would greatly impact our plans!”

“I am cognizant of that.”

The Shepherd Boy answered simply as he was reluctant about making a fuss of the matter. “Let us begin!”

“Good!”

As Grand Magus Xuan Yin said that, she stood opposite the Shepherd Boy. They hovered in the air and below their feet was the black swirl below the sword and saber tombs.

…

That night in the Divine Wilderness, across the vast land, a divine purple beam shot up into the sky. This divine purple beam was like a huge divine sword that shot upwards to split apart the nine heavens!

This divine beam lasted for longer than several hours and lit up an area of 50,000 kilometers in radius.

Even those in the remote Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, on the Divine Kingdom’s boundary, could see this divine beam surging into the sky. It connected the heaven and earth like a path to reach the divine realm of the nine heavens.

Only when the Sun rose from the East did the divine beam slowly weaken before disappearing completely…

After the divine beam disappeared, an infinite amount of purple clouds gathered together.

There were more and more purple clouds gathering, in the end, the entire Divine Wilderness was covered.

In the boundary of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, people were shocked speechless upon seeing such a phenomenon.

Endless amounts of purple clouds covered a radius of 50,000 kilometers, obscuring the sky and covering the earth, it was an extremely spectacular sight!

“Purple Clouds’ Birth, it is the Purple Clouds’ Birth again…”

In a border city of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, an old man dressed in a dragon robe was filled with mixed emotions upon seeing this scene.

The dragon robe he wore was made of black gold threads, embroidered into it was nine golden dragons. All the nine golden dragons had 5 claws.

The nine five-clawed golden dragons combined to represent the imperial throne.

He was the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s current ruler, the Divine Emperor!

The Tai Ah Divine City had fallen and the beast horde was about to flood into the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. The Divine Emperor had personally come to fight against the beast horde. He and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Sages were all situated in the Divine Kingdom’s border city.

However, after the Shepherd Boy led the beast horde and took over the Tai Ah Divine City, he did not carry on moving South. Instead, he stayed in the Tai Ah Divine City for a long time.

It was only until today that a purple beam shot up into the sky. Purple Clouds’ Birth!

The old Divine Emperor thought of the scene that had happened two years ago in the Cloud Wilderness.

The purple clouds that covered the sky blotted out the Cloud Wilderness. Back then, the upper echelons of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom thought that it was the birth of a special treasure. They had sent the Jin Long Wei to search for it. Even their national treasure, the Tai Ah Compass was used. However, they still returned empty handed.

Once in the Cloud Wilderness and once again in the Divine Wilderness. The two Purple Clouds’ Births were separated by two years, and this naturally had a connection that no one knew of!

The Divine Emperor looked into the distance. His gaze pierced through the endless lands of the Divine Wilderness. It seemed like he could see the ethereal image of the Tai Ah Divine City…

“Purple Clouds’ Birth… it turns out to be related to the Desolate race. Two years ago, when I first saw the Purple Clouds’ Birth, I never expected that it was because of them…”

“It is such a joke that I thought a special treasure had appeared in the Cloud Wilderness, and even deployed troops to search for it. In the end… Hai!”

The old Divine Emperor let out a long sigh and kept shaking his head. He could feel a sense of lifeless in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s fate. Could this Divine Kingdom, which had been passed down for such a long time, eventually fall under his hands?

The Purple Clouds’ Birth appeared in the Divine Wilderness. Far away, in the Cloud Wilderness, Yi Yun was alone.

The Divine Wilderness was too far away so he had no idea what was happening there.

He was currently planning his own future.

He wanted to leave the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

North of The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was the Divine Wilderness, to the East was the Cloud Wilderness. To the West was the Yun Long Divine Kingdom and in the South were the 10 Southern countries.

Yi Yun was now in the Cloud Wilderness, east of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. He wanted to leave the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom as fast as possible. He could only head into the deep depths of the Cloud Wilderness, because if Shentu Nantian used some method to find him, he would definitely die.

The Cloud Wilderness may not be as vast when compared to the Divine Wilderness, but there was nearly no one in the deep depths of the Cloud Wilderness.

Yi Yun did not know what he would meet if he kept heading deeper into the Cloud Wilderness.

And if he really crossed the Cloud Wilderness, what scene would he see on the other side?

Would there be other human countries there? If so, would those countries be stronger or weaker than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?

This route would definitely be fraught with danger. Yi Yun also had no idea of how vast the Cloud Wilderness was. It might take him a year, however, this was also a training experience for him.

He needed to rapidly increase his own strength. He needed power!

The Shepherd Boy had said that Humans and Desolates have different paths. If he had absolute power, then he could set the rules himself. So what if Humans and Desolates had different paths?

Just as Yi Yun was planning his future, he suddenly saw a purple beam fly up into the sky, far into the distance. The ground then began to gently rumble!

This purple beam shot straight into the clouds. It was blinding and did not dissipate for a long time.

Yi Yun thought for a moment, what was going on?

After hesitating slightly, he began to rapidly move towards the blinding purple beam.

On the way, Yi Yun controlled his breathing as he kept himself on alert of his surroundings.

For there to be such a sudden phenomenon might be a fortuitous opportunity. It could also be an immense danger. Now, he lacked strength, and from how powerful the purple beam seemed, any tiny bit of danger from it could be too much for him. If that was the case, then he had to quickly leave.

After running for a long time, Yi Yun suddenly heard a loud boom. In a distant mountain valley, the ground exploded. Yi Yun then saw a human figure, shooting out from the pile of rocks on the ground.

This figure had dishevelled hair and a dirty face, his clothes were tattered and he looked like a beggar.

Yi Yun quickly hid. As he focused on it, he saw that the figure that had appeared was an old man.

This old man seemed crazy, as if he had been greatly provoked. As he ran, he cursed, “Fuck, this damn place, it is killing me! Really killing me!”

“After being trapped in there for so long, I have finally come out! It really was not fucking easy!”

As the old man cursed, he casually wiped his face. However, his hands were originally blackened, so he only dirtied his face even more. This wipe only made his old face even uglier.

However, even so, after he wiped his face, Yi Yun could still see it clearly…

That familiar face and those wretched facial features…

This old man, wasn’t he Su Jie?

Old Man Su!

When Yi Yun was cultivating in the Cloud Wilderness’s Lian tribal clan, he had met Lin Xintong and Old Man Su.

Old Man Su was miserly and greedy for food. He never seemed decent, but he had given Yi Yun a protective charm. In Fallen Star Gate, Yi Yun had used that protective charm to get out of the jaws of danger, killing the Golden Crow species instead. If not for it, he would probably have died in Fallen Star Gate.

Later on, during the Jin Long Wei’s selection, Yi Yun had met Old Man Su once again in the Tao tribal clan. Old Man Su had said that he was going to explore some mystic realm, and with Lin Xintong saying she had some family matters to tend to, they bid farewell with each other.

As such,, they had not seen each other since the three of them split up.

Surprisingly, today he actually met Su Jie again in the Cloud Wilderness!

And it could be seen that this old man had gone through a miserable period.

Yi Yun hid behind some rocks. However, after Su Jie ran a few steps, he suddenly felt something and discovered Yi Yun.

Yi Yun decided to just stand up.

When Old Man Su saw Yi Yun, he was stunned.

Yi Yun was now much taller than he was 2 years ago. Although his looks had slightly changed, Old Man Su could still recognized him in a glance.

Can there be a mistake, it is this kid?

Old Man Su had estimated that he had been trapped in that darn mystic realm for two years.

In those two years, he had been locked in a purple seal. He had tried all sorts of methods but failed to break through the seal.

This seal could isolate Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and at the same time, gathered the Power of Desolates.

As such, there were extremely rich Power of Desolates in the seal, but extremely thin Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. For a person like Old Man Su, he could choose to not eat a long time ago, and did not need food or drinks to survive, however, he could not go without Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Without eating and without any Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to absorb, Old Man Su had nearly become a flickering candle in the wind over the years.

He originally thought that he had failed miserably at an easy task, but he never expected that the purple seal would suddenly turned into a purple beam and surged into the sky, that was until it disappeared today.

As such, he finally managed to get out of that mystic realm!

Then, under such circumstances, he saw Yi Yun.

After being trapped for two years, and managing to finally come out, how could he see Yi Yun? According to Old Man Su’s estimation, Yi Yun should have long since have been admitted by the Jin Long Wei, and should have left the Cloud Wilderness after that, right?

“How is it you?”

Su Jie and Yi Yun said that at the same moment. The two of them had never expected that they would meet each other here.

372 - : Seal

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the last two years, Yi Yun had left the Cloud Wilderness and he had experienced a lot. Yi Yun’s psychological state had changed greatly especially after the bitter experiences he suffered through over the past few days.

Now, with him returning back to the Cloud Wilderness, and meeting Su Jie again, it felt like everything had returned to the beginning. It filled Yi Yun with mixed emotions.

“Kid, it cannot be that you never left the Cloud Wilderness?”

Su Jie blinked his eyes. He found it hard to believe that, after entering the mystic realm two years ago, he would meet Yi Yun again right after he came out!

“I left, but because of some reasons, I have returned.” Yi Yun’s experience was a long story. “What about Senior? Why are you still in the Cloud Wilderness? Did you just come out of that mystic realm?”

Before they separated in the Cloud Wilderness, Yi Yun knew that Su Jie had gone in search of fortuitous opportunities.

Hearing Yi Yun’s question, Su Jie went into a daze for a while. He blinked his small black eyes and seemed to turn dumb.

However, he was still quick to react. He calmly touched his dirty beard and pretended to be mysterious, “Indeed, I had gone into a mystic realm. It was awesome, and there were plenty of fortuitous opportunities! In there, I gained a lot, but some of the opportunities were too difficult to obtain. I tried all sorts of methods, resulting in me being delayed by a bit.”

Uh…

Hearing the words of Old Man Su, Yi Yun was stunned for quite a while. This old man still bragged well, even in such a pathetic state. Only a ghost would believe him!

However, since Su Jie did not want to mention the mishaps in the mystic realms, Yi Yun did not probe further.

“Kid, you were in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Jin Long Wei campgrounds, so why did you come out to the Cloud Wilderness? To do a mission?”

Old Man Su looked at Yi Yun from top to bottom. Actually, Yi Yun was not looking great at present. After being locked in prison for ten days, his clothes had become covered in dirt and they were completely tattered.

With the two of them together, it was as if an old beggar had met a young beggar.

“It is a long story. I am leaving the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.” Yi Yun sighed.

“Leaving the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom? That cannot be…”

Old Man Su was stunned. In Yi Yun’s situation, joining the Jin Long Wei and using the Jin Long Wei’s resources to cultivate would be the best of outcomes. Why did he suddenly want to leave the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?

“Oh? How did you… break through to the Yuan Foundation?”

Su Jie found it incredulous that Yi Yun’s cultivation level had already crossed the Purple Blood realm, breaking through to the Yuan Foundation in just two short years.

The Yuan Foundation realm was the most important realm for a warrior’s path. It was the foundation of martial arts and should not be rushed.

“Breaking through too soon results in a shaky foundation. It will cause hidden consequences.” Su Jie advised Yi Yun. As he wanted to say some more, a sudden “Gu” sound was heard. It was Su Jie’s stomach calling…

Yi Yun was dumbfounded for a while as he looked at Su Jie. He found it amazing that an expert like Su Jie would be so hungry that his stomach growled.

Su Jie’s face turned red. It was all because of that darn mystic realm. After being trapped for so long, and being isolated from Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, he still needed the energy to sustain his life no matter how high his cultivation level was.

In that mystic realm, Su Jie only depleted energy. As such, he had no way to abstain from eating or drinking. Furthermore, Su Jie was originally a person who loved eating. Over the last two years, he had become extremely hungry.

In the mystic realm, he had decided that if he was able to get out, the first thing he did would be to eat a sumptuous feast.

Now, whatever Old Man Su saw looked like roasted meat. He rubbed his belly and coughed dryly, “The mystic realm was fraught with danger and it was thin in Yuan Qi. This old man has greatly expended his energy, and all his elixirs were consumed, so I am a bit hungry…”

Yi Yun found it funny, but he resisted the urge to expose the old man. He began collecting firewood to light a fire.

Thirty minutes later, a fire began to burn as a crackling sound could be heard from the burning wood.

A greasy leg of a beast was being roasted over the fire. Beside the fire, there was a crock pot that brewed bone soup.

Old Man Su watched at the meat in Yi Yun’s hands. He rubbed his hands and asked, “Is it done roasting?”

Old Man Su had already asked this question several times. It was as if Yi Yun was seeing an old refugee. Helplessly, he took out a dagger and sliced off the cooked meat from the exterior parts of the beast leg. He then passed the meat along with the dagger to Old Man Su.

With the roasted meat in his hands, Old Man Su could not help but rip out a piece and fill his mouth.

The moment he bit down, the meat that was soft on the inside and crispy on the outside filled his mouth with oil. It was so delicious that he even wanted to swallow his own tongue.

After being trapped for so long, finally being given new life and eating roasted meat that had been absent from his life for so long, Old Man Su was truly in tears.

This was life. This was how one should live! No matter what darn mystic realms there are in the future, I would rather die than enter them!

As Old Man Su shouted out in his heart, he voraciously ate the meat.

He nearly thought that he would die of hunger in that mystic realm. Even with his cultivation level, he would slowly weaken if he had to stay in such an environment for a few decades. He would then have to enter a state of hibernation.

If no one saved him by taking him out of it, then he would never wake up.

“I say, kid. Why are you leaving the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom? Where are you going?”

Old Man Su casually asked Yi Yin while he was focused on destroying the roasted meat in his hands.

Yi Yun sighed and said, “I have nowhere to go…”

“Oh?” Su Jie was stunned for a moment. He knew something was unusual. Since Yi Yun had nowhere to go and had to leave the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, then he was probably forced to do so.

“You got chased out by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?”

Yi Yun smiled bitterly and said, “You can say that…”

After thinking through his words, Yi Yun narrated the main points of the recent events to Su Jie.

As for matters regarding Jiang Xiaorou, Yi Yun did not wish to mention much regarding those. Su Jie was after all, human, he might have some hatred for the Desolate race, so Yi Yun did not wish to mention matters regarding Jiang Xiaorou.

“The Shentu family clan? That is a family clan in the Tian Yuan world… To offend the Shentu family clan, that sure is not a good situation to be in…”

Su Jie wiped the oil off his mouth and looked at the roasted meat in his hands. He then looked at Yi Yun and with a roll of his eyes, he said, “Kid, if you have nowhere to go, why not follow me?”

Su Jie did not care about the feud Yi Yun had with the Shentu family clan. What he cared about was being able to eat the roasted meat Yi Yun cooked daily.

Eating was the most important thing in life.

“Follow you?” Yi Yun looked up at Su Jie, “Where are you going?”

Su Jie smiled with a “Hehe” and said, “To the Lin family to look for my disciple! Speaking of which, the Lin family is also in the Tian Yuan world.”

Find Lin Xintong?

Yi Yun’s mind began churning as a white dressed figure, holding a long sword, appeared in his mind.

He had not seen Lin Xintong for a long time…

Su Jie finished his roasted meat and, as if it ought to be, took the uneaten roasted meat in Yi Yun’s hands, before munching on it as well.

His mouth was filled with meat as he unclearly said, “The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom is my hometown, so I brought Xintong here for training. Xintong’s family is actually in the Tian Yuan world.”

“What you call the Tian Yuan world is the Western Regions. And in fact, that is the central lands of the Human race. There are all sorts of powerful family clans gathered there as well as numerous experts! In comparison, this place is just a remote place in the east. How about it? Kid, do you want to broaden your horizons with me in the Tian Yuan world?”

Su Jie’s words were tempting for Yi Yun.

The Tian Yuan world, the central lands of the Human race!

With more experts, it meant there would be greater opportunities for him there.

If he went to the Tian Yuan world, then his growth would be even faster, and his horizons would broaden.

Of course, he would be closer to the Shentu family clan. Eventually, he would collide with them!

Against such a colossus entity, Yi Yun’s strength was incomparable. However, he felt the fighting spirit within him silently rise.

He had sworn to kill Shentu Nantian, making him pay ten times the price.

The Tian Yuan world would be his opportunity and would be a tremendous challenge.

To the Tian Yuan world? Thinking about it made Yi Yun’s blood boil.

At that moment, Su Jie added on, “This old man has the official title of a guest in the Lin family with little else to do. Usually, if there is nothing, I too would not go to the Lin family. However, in this trip to the mystic realm, I have expended too much, so I will need to recuperate in the Lin family for a while. You can follow this old man. I will make do and take you in as an in-name disciple.” Su Jie said casually.

When warriors taught disciples, there were personal disciples, normal disciples, and in-name disciples. Without a doubt, in-name disciples were the worst.

A lot of the time, in-name disciples was just a title, as nothing would be taught to them.

This was similar to a warrior having a quasi-master.

Yi Yun rolled his eyes. This old fellow clearly had no intentions of taking him in as a disciple.

Even if it was an official disciple, I might not even want it!

Yi Yun had such thoughts.

Su Jie could read Yi Yun’s mind as he moaned, “Rotten kid, you sure think highly of yourself. In the Tian Yuan world, I am a famous Desolate Heaven Master. There are tons of young masters of different family clans who want to be my in-name disciples. You should be happy that I am taking you in as a disciple!”

Taking in Yi Yun as a quasi-disciple was just a sudden whim Su Jie had. If he took in such a disciple, then he would get to eat all sorts of good food daily, wouldn’t that be a good deal?

As for teaching Yi Yun the Desolate Heaven technique, Su Jie never thought of it. After all, learning the Desolate Heaven technique was too tough. Those who had the talent needed were less than one in a million.

373 - : Heading to Tian Yuan

CKtalon  CKtalon

After taking Yi Yun in as an in-name disciple, Su Jie did not immediately rush to the Tian Yuan world, instead, he searched around the Cloud Wilderness. He wanted to find the people who had previously entered the mystic realm with him. However, those people had disappeared.

This made Su Jie sigh. Amongst those people, there was Marquis Wenyun, Li Wenyun, who was an old friend of his.

He and Li Wenyun had traveled the Tian Yuan world together and explored numerous mystic realms until Li Wenyun was conferred the title of Marquis in the Tian Yuan world. As for Su Jie, he had been made a guest Desolate Heaven Master in the many large factions in the Tian Yuan world. The both of them were quite successful.

And because Marquis Wenyun was injured, and due to his old age, he had returned to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom for his retirement. As a result, they had not met each other for several hundred years until the Purple Clouds’ Birth two years ago. Marquis Wenyun had then invited Su Jie to explore the mystic realm, but who would have guessed that this mystic realm was a forbidden land.

Su Jie guessed that it was a land with ancient seals. As for what was sealed within it, he had no idea.

After Su Jie entered the mystic realm, he was quickly separated from his old friend. Later on, he ended up being trapped in the purple seal and only just managed to escape.

As for whether his friends were alive or not, Su Jie had no way of knowing.

“Let us go!”

Su Jie sighed. When one’s cultivation level reached a realm like his, it made life and death no longer be that big of a deal after having lived for tens of thousands of years.

Yi Yun remained silent. At that moment, he did not know what to say.

Su Jie took out an airship from his interspatial ring. After he activated the array, the airship shot up into the sky.

They then flew towards Tian Yuan, and even though there were several long distance teleportation arrays on the way, it would still take them several months.

On the way, Su Jie stopped every now and then. When he did, he got to learn many things.

Last night, there were many placed in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the Yun Long Divine Kingdom and the surrounding small countries where purple beams had shot up into the sky.

And amongst those beams, the Divine Wilderness’s purple beam was the most terrifying. It looked like a path to the sky and illuminated the world around it. It was especially stunning.

After the purple beam, the Purple Clouds’ Birth appeared in the Divine Wilderness. The area it covered was much wider than the Purple Clouds’ Birth that occurred in the Cloud Wilderness back then.

As such, Su Jie also came to understand that the mystic realm he had entered back then had something to do with the phenomenon he saw the previous night.

Not only the Cloud Wilderness had a mystic realm, there were mystic realms in several other places as well. And these mystic realms were all connected to one another.

The Desolate race had done something unknown in the Tai Ah Divine City to set off this phenomenon. Even several mystic realms, millions of kilometers away, had been activated, responding from afar.

And it too was the cause of the purple beam that shot up to the sky from the mystic realm that had trapped Su Jie. As the purple seal disappeared, he was freed.

As for the Shepherd Boy, he had saved Yi Yun in the Chu Prefecture City and then left him in the Cloud Wilderness. After that, he rushed to the Tai Ah Divine City to prepare matters regarding the phenomenon.

By activating this phenomenon, Su Jie was released and met Yi Yun, who was also in the Cloud Wilderness and had been lured there by the purple beam.

All of these incidents seemed both likely, and unlikely, to be mere coincidences.

…

The airship traveled at a fast speed while Yi Yun stood quietly beside the airship’s window. The airship traversed past vast lands of wilderness and forests until it arrived over a sea.

Yi Yun had naturally seen the sea in his previous life. However, the sea Yi Yun had seen was completely different from the sea he saw in this world.

The sea in his previous life frequently had storms. Even if there was no wind, there would always be undying waves.

However, this sea was completely different. It was too calm. There was not even the tiniest wave, the calmness of this sea made it seem eerie.

And the seawater was light red in color. It was the color of blood mixed with water, which was quite shocking.

“This sea is called the ‘Untraversable Sea'” Su Jie said behind Yi Yun. “The reason why it is called the ‘Untraversable Sea’ is that no one has ever crossed it. Although we are currently flying above it, what we are seeing is just a small section in the middle of the straits between the Divine Wilderness and the Tian Yuan world.”

“Going north, it will really be an Untraversable Sea. This sea is boundless without end. It is also dead still and has very little marine life in it. There are some mutated desolate beasts lurking deep in the Untraversable Sea. The rank of these desolate beasts is hard to estimate. Even if it was me who entered the depths of the Untraversable Sea, I would still find it very dangerous.”

“Previously, there has been a Great Emperor from the Human race who tried to fly across the Untraversable Sea to figure it out. However, as he flew for seven to eight years, the further he went, the thinner Heaven Earth Yuan Qi became. Without Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, even a Great Emperor will slowly weaken. Eventually, he had no choice but to turn back midway…”

As Su Jie spoke about the legends of the Untraversable Sea, he added, “South of the Untraversable Sea, there is a land bridge that connects to the Divine Wilderness. As for countries like the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and the Yun Long Divine Kingdom, they are situated on this land bridge…”

When Su Jie said this, Yi Yun was alarmed. It was now clear why the Shepherd Boy wanted to destroy the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom to connect the Divine Wilderness and the Tian Yuan world.

It was hard to imagine how big the Divine Wilderness was. The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, which was millions of kilometers in radius, was just a part of the land bridge that connected the Divine Wilderness with the Tian Yuan world.

En route, Su Jie told Yi Yun about several rumors regarding this world. As for the introduction of the Tian Yuan world, it shocked Yi Yun greatly.

The reason for the Tian Yuan world being called a “world”, and not the Tian Yuan continent, was because the Tian Yuan world was very different from the area where the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was situated.

Although the Tian Yuan world and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom were situated in the same world and were even connected by a large land bridge, the natural laws governing the Tian Yuan world and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom were in fact very different.

The Tian Yuan world had its own independent system. In the Tian Yuan world, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was much thicker, but also much more violent. The Yuan Qi was not easy to control there.

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, a warrior who could slash a sword Qi hundred feet out could only do so for fifty feet in the Tian Yuan world. It was the same with perception. Even a warrior who had opened Heaven’s Eye would find that their perception of their surroundings would be much smaller in scope compared to when in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

“Why is there such strange laws?” Yi Yun found it hard to believe. How could there be such a huge difference in the same world?

“I do not know.” Su Jie shook his head. “Actually, the Tian Yuan world did not exist from the beginning, it was formed later on. The spatial-temporal aspects of the Tian Yuan world are also much stronger than other places. The violent Yuan Qi also gives birth to much more valuable treasures.”

“Over there, it is like a higher ranked world. Warriors who cultivate in the Tian Yuan world will bear the pressure from the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi over a long period of time. There are better resources and much better heritages. Hence, the Tian Yuan world is the core of Human warriors. There are many experts over there, experts which other lands cannot compare to.”

“Like a land area like the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, once a family clan grows strong enough, they can establish a country and make themselves a royal household and rule their lands. However, that cannot happen in the Tian Yuan world.”

“The Tian Yuan world has no countries as there are too many strong family clans. For example, a powerful family clan like the Shentu family clan are only able to occupy a small region.”

“The competition between the large factions is intense. Hence, in the Tian Yuan world, we end up with a situation where we have multiple family clans. Many of the family clans would compete against one another for their own interests, but they can also form alliances through marriage.”

“By splitting it in this way, where some live and some die, a new family clan will be born while an old family clan will perish. Some super family clans would be able to continue on amongst these battles. Their heritages are extremely profound, however, even such a family clan is not able to establish a country. Once you establish a country and try to make yourself emperor in the Tian Yuan world, then you will most likely be attacked by the other families.”

With Su Jie’s explanation, Yi Yun finally felt enlightened. So this was why… That was the reason why when the Tian Yuan world was mentioned, it would be the Shentu family clan or the Lin family, etc. The name of a family clan naturally sounds weaker than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

However, in terms of strength, these family clans far exceeded the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

“Kid!” Su Jie patted Yi Yun on the shoulder and said, “The Lin family is situated actually very close to the Shentu family clan. These two families have been fighting against each other over the recent years. However, they had previously formed an alliance due to common interests. If you were to go to the Lin family, it will definitely be fun.”

Su Jie said this half-jokingly but Yi Yun became speechless when he heard this. Before he had even begun his travels through the Tian Yuan world, he was already fated to experience challenges and hardships, but of course, this was also an opportunity!

“Look, the sea is beginning to become less calm. We are slowly approaching the Tian Yuan world.”

Yi Yun looked down from the airship’s window and saw that there were ripples in the red seawater that looked like sea waves.

“Below the Tian Yuan world, there is a large, black whirlpool named the God Burial Abyss! This name isn’t without reason. If a god really went there, he would not be able to return.”

“The God Burial Abyss is situated in the deep depths of the Untraversable Sea. The whirlpool is extremely terrifying and it is pitch black deep down. It seems like it is a spatial-temporal door to another world. It continuously engulfs seawater, but it is unknown where the seawater goes.”

“The whirlpool has a terrifying suction strength. If a Great Emperor goes too close to it, he will also be sucked in. And once you fall into that seemingly endless abyss, there is no way of returning!”

“That is how the God Burial Abyss got its name!”

“As for what is in the God Burial Abyss, that is still unknown. We have no idea if those who have entered the God Burial Abyss are alive or dead.”

“Some people believe that the God Burial Abyss is not some land of the dead, but a passage of no return. By passing through it, one would enter another alternate world. Hence, there have been some Great Emperors, who were nearing the end of their lives, who would enter the God Burial Abyss to probe it. They also wanted to see if it was some form of opportunity that could extend their lives.”

When Su Jie said this, Yi Yun became greatly alarmed.

Untraversable Sea… God Burial Abyss…

Yi Yun’s original impression was that a Great Emperor was an existence that was beyond one’s reach, but from what Su Jie just said, there were even mystic realms that Great Emperors were helpless against in this world.

This was the power of the Creator, or the natural laws, that made people have to respect it!

As the airship proceeded, the Untraversable Sea became increasingly rough. This was clearly caused by the God Burial Abyss. It was clear how frightening the huge whirlpool was to create such tidal waves.

And at that moment, through the sea fog, Yi Yun saw a towering cliff in the distance.

This cliff was 100,000 feet tall and was like a divine wall that stood in the middle of the sky and the sea.

“That is the Tian Yuan world! The Tian Yuan world is just above the God Burial Abyss. A portion of the land you see is floating above the sea surface. No one knows what sort of power is supporting the Tian Yuan world and preventing it from sinking…”

374 - : Tian Yuan World

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the southern regions of the Tian Yuan world, there was a mountain range named the Jade Spirit Mountains.

The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was thick here, giving birth to all sorts of treasures. Large family clans in the Tian Yuan world would always vie for this land.

However, though many families fought over the Jade Spirit Mountains for generations, a foreign family clan suddenly appeared, defeating all the other family clans, before they began thriving in the Jade Spirit Mountains. This family was the Lin family!

The Jade Spirit Mountains had a total of 324 mountain peaks. The Lin family’s main branch occupied 18 mountain peaks, while its other branches scattered among the remaining 306 mountain peaks.

As for the exterior perimeter of the Jade Spirit Mountain, there was a vast plain. The exterior branch of the Lin family stayed in this plain, where they grew spirit grains and vegetables, reared spirit beasts and did business.

If any of the main branch’s children lacked talent, the subsequent generation would end up in the side branches.

If the children of the side branches were inept, they would end up in the exterior branches of the Lin family the next generation, becoming the grass roots of the Lin family.

A thriving and self-sufficient large family clan would need a large number of grass roots to provide them with the basic necessities of life.

When Yi Yun flew towards the Jade Spirit Mountain, he was extremely shocked seeing the Lin family.

The first thing he saw was the exterior perimeter of the Lin family area. There were numerous houses and palaces neatly erected on the plains. All of these buildings were made out of granite, which would remain steadfast for 100,000 years.

Buildings along with bricks and tiles stretched out endlessly into the horizon.

There were shops, a bustling city square, large areas of farmland and a wide open pasture…

Yi Yun previously found it hard to believe that a family clan’s size could reach such a scale.

“Right in front of us is the Jade Spirit Mountains. I’ll take you there, and in the future, you will be my in-name disciple. When you see me, you need to call me master.”

Su Jie chuckled while Yi Yun rolled his eyes. To call this old man master was such a joke. Does he even look like someone with the airs of a master?

They flew past stretches of mountains where fabulous palaces covered in mist stood on each mountain peak.

After seeing so much, Yi Yun felt numbed until he saw the 18 main peaks of the Jade Spirit Mountain.

The 18 main peaks were incredible tall and majestic. The clouds that covered the sky only covered the foot of the mountains.

When the airship began flying higher and higher, it broke through the white clouds, and what Yi Yun saw gave him an inexplicable shock. A 10 kilometer long head was floating in the clouds silently. When the airship Yi Yun was on flew past it, the huge head’s large eyes that were the size of a lake stared at the airship.

The amber pupils of the pair of eyes were like towering trees. Above its head, there was a hill-like horn. Its body was covered in silver-white scales and each scale was about the size of a house.

In front of this gigantic head, Su Jie’s airship looked like a minuscule bird.

Yi Yun was so shocked that his mouth turned agape. He looked at the back of the head and saw that behind the gigantic head, there was a huge silver-white body that resembled a python. It stretched out several hundred kilometers and it was extremely thick like a mighty river.

The huge python’s body was coiled around the main mountain peak. The 100,000 foot mountain was wrapped by it from the foot to the summit.

“Haha, it’s big, right? That is the Lin family’s guardian spirit beast, the Dragon Transforming Silver Python. Spirit beasts are different to desolate beasts. A desolate beast’s strength comes from the Power of Desolates, while a spirit beast’s strength comes from Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Just this guardian spirit beast takes up one of the 18 main peaks!”

Legend said that a Silver Python could transform into a dragon. First, horns were grown, then four claws. Following that, a heaven calamity would befall the Silver Python, and once it survived it, it could fly into the sky and become a real dragon!

Now this Silver Python had a single horn growing on its head, and it was on the path to transforming into a dragon!

Of course, it was still far from becoming a real dragon. However, it was still shocking!

The heritage of the Lin family was really terrifying.

The only huge beast at the same rank that Yi Yun had previously seen was the Shepherd Boy’s Long Gui.

That Long Gui was not as long as the large Silver Python, but the Long Gui was most likely heavier than the Silver Python.

“These ancient family clans are indeed extraordinary. No wonder when the Shepherd Boy’s army attacked, he did not manage to destroy the Shentu family clan…”

Yi Yun spoke to himself as Su Jie eavesdropped. He laughed, “After that battle, the Shentu family clan’s standing has been greatly reduced. Originally, the Shentu family clan was pretty overbearing, but now with their Ancestor injured, they are seeking alliances with other family clans. For example, they wish to form an alliance with the Lin family.”

“Oh? Form an alliance with the Lin family?”

Yi Yun frowned. This was something he did not wish to see happen.

“Haha, don’t be alarmed. It is just wishful thinking on their part. Tens of thousands of years ago, the Lin family did form an alliance with the Shentu family clan, but as they had various conflicts due to different interests, you can say that they are hostile.”

“After the beast horde 10 years ago, the Shentu family clan began to mollify the conflict with the Lin family in an attempt to build an alliance. If you were the family head, would you agree?”

Su Jie’s rhetorical question made Yi Yun shake his head. Obviously, no one would agree to it.

When you were strong, you fought hard to vie for resources and suppress the Lin family. But now with the Ancestor injured, and your standing weakened, you want to mollify conflicts, and protect the interests at hand, how could there be such a good thing in this world?

If the Lin family was hostile to the Shentu family clan, it would be fine. Yi Yun would be much safer.

However, if the two sides formed an alliance, Yi Yun would have to consider going somewhere else.

“We are here!”

As Su Jie said, the airship landed on one of the 18 main peaks of the Jade Spirit Mountain.

There was a huge square built on the summit, and it was about a hundred acres in size. Bronze furnaces stood on the square. In the bronze furnaces, flames burned, emitting a fragrant smell, top grade sandalwood was being burnt in them.

“This main peak is specially for the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven Masters to use. My house is at the foot of the mountain. Originally, Xintong also stayed on this mountain peak, however, I have no idea why that girl was summoned back by the family in such a hurry or for what…”

Su Jie rubbed his chin and was finding it strange. On the way, when he was nearing the Lin family, he had used a voice transmission charm to inform Lin Xintong of his return. However, there was no response.

Such situations were limited to Lin Xintong being away or she was in reclusive training.

Lin Xintong’s standing in the Lin family was quite special. Although she was the most talented girl in over the past thousand years in the Lin family, due to her Yin Meridians, she was destined to not live beyond 500 years. Also, the higher her cultivation realm was, the harder the bottleneck would be.

There was nothing they could really do about it. As Lin Xintong was too perfect, and the Heavens were jealous, she was destined to have something taken away from her by the Heavens.

“Elder Su, you came back?”

When Su Jie walked out of the square, a person came welcoming him. When Su Jie flew into the Jade Spirit Mountains, the Lin family was informed.

Yi Yun looked at the person who was a middle-aged man. He was dressed like a steward, and he was probably an administrator of this main peak.

Yi Yun eyed the steward while the steward looked at Yi Yun, curious of Yi Yun’s identity.

“This is an in-name disciple I took in.” Old Man Su said it casually. When the steward heard this, he no longer paid attention to Yi Yun. Typically, a in-name disciple was not much different from a companion medicine boy.

“Is my room still there?” Su Jie asked.

“Elder Su sure likes to joke. Your room is definitely there and has been regularly cleaned.” The steward hurriedly responded in a very respectful manner. “However, the courtyards beside Elder Su’s residence have being occupied by some people…”

Just as the steward said this, a few people came walking over.

There was an old man dressed in green Desolate Heaven Master robes. Behind him were several young people who were most likely his disciples.

When the green-robed elder appeared, Yi Yun immediately held his breath.

This was because, he saw a very familiar logo on the elder’s Desolate Heaven Master robe, the Shentu family clan’s coat of arms!

Previously, when Yi Yun flew past the Shentu family clan’s airship, Yi Yun had seen this coat of arms. Later on, when Shentu Nantian wanted to kill him and Jiang Xiaorou, this coat of arms was unforgettable for Yi Yun!

How could it be someone from the Shentu family clan?

Yi Yun’s mind began churning as his expression turned ugly. Was it possible that the Shentu family clan had formed an alliance with the Lin family?

If that was the case, this was extremely bad news for him!

And if that was true, then he had to leave the Lin family immediately. He had to go as far as possible before the Shentu family clan discovered him!

Yi Yun hid behind Su Jie’s back and lowered his head slightly, hoping the other party would not notice him. He never expected such an unforeseen situation would happen. If not, he would have gotten Su Jie to help disguise him!

However, it was not easy to deceive such people with disguise techniques. If it was not well done, then it be giving himself away by such an conspicuous act, resulting in more suspicion!

“This Shentu family clan old man can’t know me. He probably doesn’t know the feud between me and Shentu Nantian in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. As long as I don’t attract attention to myself, I should be fine…”

Many thoughts flashed past Yi Yun’s mind. As he calmed his mind, his expression returned to normal.

“This is…” Su Jie also frowned. He had never expected to meet someone from the Shentu family clan. Also, from the steward’s attitude, he was extremely friendly to these people. Was an alliance really formed? What was the Lin family’s family head thinking, why did he form an alliance with the Shentu family clan now!?

Similarly, Su Jie did not have a good impression of the Shentu family clan. When you were strong, you plundered everything, but when your family clan’s Ancestor was injured, you want to form an alliance, how could there be such a good thing in this world?

“Elder Su, let me do the introductions. This is Elder Shen Tu, who is a guest of the Lin family. The Shentu family clan’s have extraordinary accomplishments in the Desolate Heaven technique. And Elder Shentu is an even greater expert at the Desolate Heaven technique!”

After that, the steward turned around and introduced Su Jie to the green-robed elder, “This is Elder Su, who is also a top Desolate Heaven Master. With the two of you staying together, you can learn a lot from each other in the future.”

The steward clearly did not take notice of Su Jie’s attitude as he introduced him eagerly.

Su Jie did not like the Shentu family clan, as for Elder Shen Tu, he too did not have a good impression of the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven Masters.

People in the same line were enemies. When two top Desolate Heaven Masters gathered together, neither would accept the other, and there was always a need to compete.

The Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven technique level was always better than the Lin family’s.

This made the Desolate Heaven Master in the Shentu family have a superiority complex. However, under such a situation, Su Jie’s reputation in the Tian Yuan world was bigger the green-robed elder, which made him unwilling to accept it.

Besides, they came to the Lin family under the orders of the family head. Other than showing they meant well, the Shentu family head had also said that they were to demonstrate the heritage of the Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven technique to convince the Lin family of their greatness.

This would aid them greatly in what they wanted to do.

For this, the Shentu family clan had prepared a lot and failure was not an option.

So be it for personal or official matters, the green-robed elder wanted to vie with Su Jie.

The green-robed elder glanced at Su Jie and said, “You are Su Jie? I’ve heard of you. People have given you the nickname, ‘Sacred Hands Su’! I have always wanted to meet you!”

The green-robed elder came straight to the point and the first words he said to Su Jie indicated his intentions to challenge him.

“It’s just some praises by martial arts practitioners. You can’t treat it seriously.” Su Jie casually replied, but the green-robed elder clearly was unsatisfied with Su Jie’s attitude as he said, “Praises? Then, is it right to say that Elder Su thinks he does not live up to the name?”

Su Jie chuckled, “Why? Are you planning on stealing that nickname from me? Speaking of this, who are you? I have never heard of you before…”

Su Jie was not someone to be messed with either. Su Jie was not afraid even though this green-robed elder was so testy in their first encounter.

“Heh!” the green robed elder sneered. He did not respond to Su Jie’s words and instead tilted his head to look at Su Jie’s back, before saying lightly, “Is that your disciple behind you?”

The green-robed elder’s gaze landed on Yi Yun as he sized him up.

Yi Yun tensed up and began swearing in his mind. How did he gain the attention of the old man when he was lacking so much in presence!?

Not only did the elder notice him, even the young men, who looked like disciples, behind the elder had all looked at Yi Yun. Their gazes were filled with provocation as if they wanted to compete with him.

Master against master, disciple against disciple.

Yi Yun really felt speechless. He had decided, “If the Lin family has formed an alliance with the Shentu family clan, then I’ll immediately leave the Lin family. As for the provocation from these people, I can’t even be bothered with them. If I did, then I’ll definitely lose my life.”

“Interesting, we will meet again very soon. We shall see who has the real qualities!”

After the green-robed elder said this, he brought his disciples to walk past Su Jie. As those young people walked, their gazes were still pinned onto Yi Yun. From their looks, they were clearly hoping to fight it out with Yi Yun, and then brutally beat him up.

“Kid, my name is Shentu Guang, remember it well!”

As they walked, a youth about the same age as Yi Yun left his name.

Yi Yun could not be bothered with such a trivial person. His only current thought was the possibility of the Lin family and the Shentu family having formed an alliance.

Only after those people left did Su Jie ask the steward beside him in a sullen manner, “Why are the people from the Shentu family clan here? Has the Lin family formed an alliance with the Shentu family clan?”

When Su Jie asked this, Yi Yun also held his breath. This was very important for himself.

Author’s Note: 4000 character chapter. This sequence of events was foreshadowed when 300,000 characters (approximately Chapter 11x) were written. I’ve finally reached it.

375 - : Unforeseen Situation

CKtalon  CKtalon

“About the alliance…” The steward began to think through his words, “Now, the family is indeed facing such a choice, and there is quite a number of upper echelon elders who are leaning towards it…”

When the steward said this, Yi Yun’s heart sank. They were really going into an alliance!

He had just come to the Tian Yuan world, and his strength was still relatively tiny in this world. Did he have to travel the world by himself? If he did, he might even have to face the possibility of the Shentu family clan’s deathly pursuits!

“They are leaning towards it? What are those old fools thinking? The Shentu family clan is not any good. Is allying with them not the equivalent of asking a tiger for its skin?”

Su Jie immediately cursed.

The steward smiled bitterly, “Elder Su, let me say my piece. Actually, this matter is related to you…”

“Oh? Related to me?” Su Jie was shocked.

“To be precise, it has to do with your disciple, Miss Xintong…”

Lin Xintong?

Yi Yun’s heart thumped, was this related to Lin Xintong previously being summoned home?

And following that, the steward’s next words verified Yi Yun’s guesses.

“Elder Su, you naturally know the matter of Miss Xintong’s meridians…”

The steward glanced at Yi Yun, intending to mince his words. He did not want to discuss Lin Xintong’s problem in front of Yi Yun. However, Su Jie only waved his hand, indicating that he need not worry about Yi Yun, “Just say it directly.”

“Oh… Having natural Yin Meridians means that one will die within 500 years of age. It is effectively the end of one’s martial path, and it is an incurable disease.”

“This meridian state is a curse from Heaven, however… Once someone is able to defy heaven and join up the natural Yin Meridians, then an incredible metamorphosis will occur. In ancient times, there was a peerless Great Empress who managed to reverse the situation of her natural Yin Meridians, and her cultivation level skyrocketed, becoming the number one person of her generation. Her strength was unfathomable… It was rumored that the Great Empress was much stronger than our Lin family’s grand elder and the Shen Tu’s Ancestor of our time…”

“And about two years ago, the Shentu family clan found an ancient Desolate Heaven technique in a mystic realm, and it is suspected of being related to the peerless Great Empress…”

“The Shentu family clan believes that this ancient Desolate Heaven technique is able to join up Miss Xintong’s terminated meridians. Thus the upper echelons of the family summoned her back.”

“However, the family’s upper echelons are still doubtful of this technique. Although it is really an ancient Desolate Heaven technique recipe, it cannot be confirmed that it was left behind by that peerless Great Empress. And… even if the recipe really can cure the natural Yin Meridians the family’s upper echelons do not believe that the Shentu family clan has the ability to guarantee that they will be able to refine this desolate bone relic…”

When the steward said this, Su Jie was stunned.

Over the past few years, he had brought Lin Xintong around to many places, but he had failed to find a way to join up her natural Yin Meridians.

Now, the Shentu family clan had declared that they found a Desolate Heaven technique recipe related to the ancient Great Empress, how could this not surprise Su Jie?

Previously, Lin Xintong may have been a direct child of the Lin family and a genius not seen in a thousand years, she was greatly loved by the Matriarch. However, because of her naturally terminated meridians, her status in the Lin family was not high.

For the Lin family, with their great heritage, everything went in accordance with the rules. And these rules could only be described as being cold and heartless.

The children of large family clans were always in a state of competition. As Lin Xintong was greatly loved by the Matriarch, it was bound to cause a lot of jealousy. Furthermore with Lin Xintong being destined to a short life, she was essentially a cripple. Hence, she did not live a happy life within the family clan, which was why she went out on training expeditions with Su Jie.

However… if Lin Xintong’s terminated meridians were to be joined up, then her status would be completely different. Once the natural Yin Meridians metamorphosed, Lin Xintong’s future would be limitless. This would definitely be a great event for the Lin family’s history!

“What are the conditions?”

Su Jie asked in a deep voice. He already had a bad premonition about this. Since the Shentu family clan had such a Desolate Heaven technique recipe, they would not join up Lin Xintong’s terminated meridians for nothing. There had to be conditions attached to it.

And there was probably only one condition that would gain the Shentu family clan’s trust…

“The condition is to marry Miss Xintong into the Shentu family clan. With that, the Shentu family clan will reap great benefits. As Miss Xintong’s body is special, intercourse with a man will be a great opportunity. Especially after Miss Xintong’s terminated meridians are joined up, the man that gain’s Miss Xintong’s primordial Yin will greatly increase his strength by one realm. He may even instantly gain the insight into the laws Miss Xintong knows…”

“As such, the Shentu family clan will have one more peerless expert at the level of the Shentu Patriarch. Under normal circumstances, that person’s future would be even stronger than that of the Shentu Patriarch…”

“Furthermore, with Miss Xintong marrying into the Shentu family clan, she would become one of the Shentu family clan. So, the Shentu family clan will then immediately have two peerless experts.”

I see…

Yi Yun understood. The ploy the Shentu family clan had was brilliant.

Now the Shentu family clan was vulnerable, once it formed an alliance with the Lin family, it would able to ride out this period of vulnerability.

And following that, they would have one more child who was at least at the level of the Shentu Patriarch, as well as another peerless Great Empress. With that, the Shentu family clan would probably become the number one family in the Tian Yuan world!

“Who is Miss Lin’s marriage partner?”

Yi Yun suddenly asked.

Seeing Yi Yun ask him, the steward frowned. He naturally did not feel happy about it. As a main peak’s steward, his status was naturally quite high.

He was speaking with Su Jie, yet a young in-name disciple suddenly interjected. Did he not know his manners?

Furthermore, he had called Miss Xintong Miss Lin, was she someone he could address freely like this?

As Su Jie was around, he did not immediately reprimand Yi Yun, but he used an unpleasant tone when he harshly replied, “Of course it’s the Shentu family clan’s number one hero, Shentu Nantian. Only he is worthy of Miss Xintong.”

It was indeed that rascal, Shentu Nantian!

Yi Yun took in a deep breath. Indeed, enemies often cross each other’s paths. Although he knew that he would definitely clash with Shentu Nantian when coming to the Tian Yuan world, he never expected for it to be this fast. He had just arrived in the Tian Yuan world and had not even warmed the ground with his steps, but already he ended up being connected with Shentu Nantian again.

“Marrying Lin Xintong, gaining the purest primordial Yin of her pure Yin body, breaking through one huge realm and gaining Lin Xintong’s insights into the laws. At the same time, he will gain a peerless Great Empress as a wife, becoming the person in power of the number one family clan in the Tian Yuan world…”

“All of these good things befalling you. If that were to happen, will I not just die from anger?”

Yi Yun’s face turned gloomy. He was never a generous man.

He and Jiang Xiaorou had nearly been killed by Shentu Nantian. He had then separated from Jiang Xiaorou because of Shentu Nantian. With this great feud between them, how could Yi Yun watch on helplessly as Shentu Nantian gain all of these benefits and make a meteoric rise?

“It really is that son of a bitch!” Su Jie began swearing. “That kid Shentu Nantian is a wolf in sheep’s clothes. He is not a good person, how can Xintong marry him? What is the decision of the Lin family, have they already agreed?”

Su Jie’s face was gloomy as he did not have any good impressions of Shentu Nantian.

The steward said, “It has not been decided… but several elders of the upper echelon are leaning towards agreeing to it. As for the elders who are not agreeing to it, they need to see proof of the Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven techniques. They have to first prove that they have the ability to heal Miss Xintong of her naturally terminated meridians.”

The steward’s answer was within Su Jie’s expectations.

A large family clan has to follow some unreasonable family rules to exist in the Tian Yuan world. And the first family rule was that everything had to place the family’s interest at its forefront!

If the family clan could produce a peerless Great Empress, then the Lin family would give up anything to pursue the matter. And the final decision of the Lin family’s elders was the highest command which no one could defy!

If the Shentu family clan could really prove that they could heal Lin Xintong of her naturally terminated meridians, then the Lin family would definitely agree to the marriage. It was pointless for anyone to object to it.

Not even ten Su Jies would be enough, let alone one.

Thinking of this, Su Jie sighed. He too was helpless.

He inadvertently glanced back at Yi Yun. He saw that Yi Yun’s face was gloomy, but his eyes were sparkling as if he was thinking of something.

“This poor child… He is probably thinking of how to escape…”

Su Jie empathized with Yi Yun. Yi Yun was really unlucky. He was doing well in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and would have enjoyed immense riches in the future, but the sudden beast horde placed the country on the brink of destruction. It was not easy to have the Shentu family clan come to their rescue, but when they did, he was locked on by Shentu Nantian and barely escaped from the claws of death.

Now, he had come to the Lin family and could have stayed in the Lin family to cultivate safely. He could have relied on the Lin family and not been afraid of Shentu Nantian, after all, the two families were in conflict.

However, he had been placed in a situation where the Lin family was considering allying themselves with the Shentu family clan!

The two family clans had been in conflict for so many years, yet they seemed to have turned into allies over the past two years. When one was unlucky, one could even have one’s teeth stuffed from drinking cold water.

His enemy was about to gain endless amounts of benefits with a large scale opportunity, breaking through in his cultivation and gaining a beauty, he might even one day become the master of the entire Tian Yuan world.

As for Yi Yun, he would become a fugitive again, and would have to endure being endlessly hunted. This was probably one of the worst tragedies of life!

Su Jie sighed. He really found Yi Yun to be pitiful. The current Yi Yun was too weak and had no opportunities to grow.

Under such circumstances, even if Yi Yun had tenacity and perseverance, Su Jie did not believe that Yi Yun would have the ability to change anything.

Even Su Jie himself could not change anything. The decision of the upper echelons of the Lin family was final. This was a matter that directly influenced the future of the Lin family.

Su Jie shook his head and no longer looked at Yi Yun. As for Yi Yun, his eyes were moving as a sinister thought appeared in his mind.

He did not wish to run again. He had had enough of living the life of a fugitive.

For now, not every Lin family elder had agreed, so he still had time.

“Shentu Nantian… If I do not cause trouble for you, then I might as well cripple my own cultivation and become a monk!”

With this thought in mind, several ideas popped up in Yi Yun’s head. Even an extremely evil thought suddenly popped up in Yi Yun’s mind.

What if I made Shentu Nantian a cuckold?

376 - : Evil Yi Yun

CKtalon  CKtalon

If he really succeeded in making Shentu Nantian a cuckold, then wouldn’t all the benefits awaiting Shentu Nantian become his?

This thought flashed past Yi Yun’s mind. He was rather taken aback as he frowned. He spoke to himself, “When did I become so evil? Although I don’t think I have been a gentleman all this time.”

Yi Yun recalled the experiences over the past two years. Be it Lian Chengyu, Tao Yunxiao or Yang Haoran, Yi Yun had always been meddling with things in secret. Even the narcissistic and crazy Luo Huo’er had been pranked by Yi Yun when she wanted to prank him, and Luo Huo’er was still clueless over who had caused her embarrassment back then.

Taking revenge if there was any, and stabbing one in the back was Yi Yun’s modus operandi.

Against Shentu Nantian, Yi Yun had already suffered greatly. It was enough to be vexed by him once if he was vexed a second time, then he might even suffer from internal injuries due to his anger.

The Shentu family clan had taken an ancient Desolate Heaven technique recipe out with great fanfare this time. Other than the value of the recipe, just the materials used for the recipe would probably be invaluable.

To gain her hand for such a huge price, they would probably announce it to the world. They would then receive all sorts of marital gifts from all powers. And if, at that moment, Shentu Nantian was made a cuckold… wouldn’t he vomit blood from the anger?

A warrior needed a good mental state to practice martial arts. Sometimes, they would go into reclusive training for decades. During this period, the person would sit alone and his mind would be as still as water.

Sometimes, when breaking through a realm, one needed a good frame of mind to endure the harassments of mental demons.

However, if the pangs of anger remained in one’s heart, then it would be over. It would be hard to still one’s mind in reclusive training. It could easily cause the pangs of anger to flare up.

If a person was affected by one’s mental demons while breaking through, they might even lose themselves to the demons.

Mortals could die from anger. Stifling one’s anger for long periods of time could shorten one’s life. Anger would not affect a warrior’s lifespan, but it would affect one’s martial heart, slowing down one’s cultivation speed.

If Shentu Nantian got wind that he was made a cuckold, and the person who took away all his benefits was the ant that he looked down on and could easily kill, it would be a wonder what Shentu Nantian’s thoughts would be…

These thoughts flashed past Yi Yun’s mind. Although he had thought through these clearly, Yi Yun eventually shook his head. Although he really wished to anger Shentu Nantian greatly to create a mental demon, he did not want to make use of Lin Xintong to seek revenge on Shentu Nantian.

Of course, Yi Yun did not consider himself as a man of integrity, but he had his bottom line. In Yi Yun’s heart, Lin Xintong was pure like a fairy from the heavens.

She was calm and gave off the demeanor of a light breeze, but in fact, she was a very determined person. Her martial heart was not to be shaken.

That day when Yi Yun met Lin Xintong under the moon, Lin Xintong had said that everyone had their own fate. Although her meridians were cursed to be terminated, and she was not accepted by the heavens, she had not given up even a glimmer of hope. She wanted to use her short life span to fight till the very end.

How could such a determined girl have a casual temperament?

“Let nature take its course… I will do my best to destroy the marriage plans between the Shentu family clan and the Lin family… Also, other than healing Lin Xintong of her natural terminated meridians, there is nothing left that needs to be considered.”

Yi Yun was indebted to Lin Xintong. When Yi Yun knew of Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians, he was previously determined to seek a cure for Lin Xintong’s condition.

Back then, Lin Xintong had previously said that when she made contact with Yi Yun, she could feel her terminated meridians undergo a strange change. Although it was not obvious, it definitely happened.

Back then, Yi Yun didn’t have a pure Yang body. And even if he had, he did not believe that his body would result in Lin Xintong’s terminated meridians having any reaction. That strange change could only happen due to the Purple Crystal.

The Purple Crystal was extremely mysterious. Its origin was bizarre and Yi Yun found it difficult to estimate the realm of the Purple Crystal. In these two years, the Purple Crystal had created one miracle after another. Be it mystic realms like the sword and saber tomb or even the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s mysteries they had all been successfully opened up by Yi Yun using the Purple Crystal.

And even a mighty figure like the Shepherd Boy had not discovered anything about the Purple Crystal.

For such a divine item, Yi Yun believed that the Purple Crystal’s realm far exceeded the ancient Great Empress from back then. Furthermore, Lin Xintong’s terminated meridians had reacted to the Purple Crystal, so under these circumstances, Yi Yun was confident that the Purple Crystal was able to heal Lin Xintong. This was the greatest thing he could rely on to destroy Shentu Nantian’s hopes.

Would joining up terminated meridians with the Purple Crystal be difficult… probably not!

When Yi Yun was thinking this through, Su Jie suddenly asked, “Where is Xintong? I want to see her!”

Although Su Jie was powerless against overturning the decisions of the family’s upper echelon, he could at least meet his own disciple and understand her actual thoughts. If possible, he could help fight for her, and obtain some tiny concessions.

Any child’s interests could be sacrificed when pitted against a family’s interest. It was even more so for the females of the Lin family.

Su Jie felt pain for Lin Xintong.

“Miss Xintong is currently in reclusive training. When Miss Xintong learned of this matter two years ago, she went into reclusive training without coming out. Some elders wanted to meet her, but they were rejected on grounds of her reclusive training…”

“Reclusive training… as expected…”

Su Jie shook his head. Previously, he had failed to contact Lin Xintong when he used a voice transmission charm. Thus, he had felt that something had happened.

Actually, now Lin Xintong’s position in the Lin family had become special. Originally, Lin Xintong was just a beloved child of the Matriarch, and she was destined not to amount to greatness. The elders would not hesitate to sacrifice Lin Xintong for the interests of the family.

However, now it was different. If Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians were healed, and she became a peerless Great Empress, then her status would become prominent.

Even the Lin family’s grand elder would have to be careful with his attitude towards Lin Xintong.

Although the final say was subjected to the elders, no one dared to force Lin Xintong. This was because the Lin family wanted a Great Empress that had a sense of belonging to the Lin family. In such a future, Lin Xintong could become a pillar of support for the Lin family to allow it to prosper.

On the other hand, if Lin Xintong felt resentment towards the Lin family in the future, then she would not be of any help to the Lin family when she became a peerless Great Empress. Even helping the Lin family once twice because of past sentiments would be all that one could wish for.

This was not the outcome the Lin family wanted.

Hence, this matter had been dragged on. Now, it has been two years, and the situation was unlikely to drag on any further.

“Tell Xintong that her master is back and wants to meet her.” Su Jie told the steward. Lin Xintong could reject meeting her family’s elders, but she would definitely meet Su Jie.

“Yes, Elder Su.” The steward replied respectfully. After some thinking, he exhorted, “Elder Su, currently, almost half of the Elders have agreed to the marriage proposal. As for the other half, they are not against it but are taking a wait-and-see attitude. Elder Su, I would hope that you would note…”

The steward halted his speech midway. It was evident what he meant. He had euphemistically informed Su Jie not to fan the flames for Lin Xintong to make her oppose the matter.

In these two years, it was not easy for the Lin family’s elders to give Lin Xintong the time to think over matters.

However, Su Jie grunted and said, “I don’t even know the veracity of the Great Empress’s recipe. And the Shentu family clan might not even be able to refine it! Who knows if the Shentu family clan is actually cheating us!?”

How could the Great Empress recipe be easily refined? Even Su Jie did not dare to say that he was capable of refining the ancient recipe.

“Oh? You said that we won’t be able to refine it?” At that moment, an old voice called out. Yi Yun looked up and saw an old woman with silver hair. She held a walking stick as she walked over slowly.

And behind this silver-haired old woman, there were a few people dressed in Desolate Heaven Master robes. They were people of all ages and genders.

The green-robed elder who had provoked Su Jie and Shentu Guang, who had provoked Yi Yun, were also there.

There were about 30-40 people from a rough count. These people were no doubt Desolate Heaven technique experts of the Shentu family clan and their disciples.

Seeing this silver-haired old woman, Su Jie’s heart jumped. He knew this old granny. She was the elder sister of the current head of the Shentu family clan. She was very famous in the Desolate Heaven technique circles, and people called her the Thousand Hand Granny.

She was definitely much better than the green-robed elder from before!

“Two years…” The old woman stopped and suddenly slammed her walking stick on the granite tiles on the ground, resulting in a dull thud.

“My Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven Masters have stayed in the Lin family for two years. In the past two years, we have shown our good faith and even used the Gloriosa Superba Spirit Mountain as a dowry for Lin Xintong’s marriage. Yet, you have been delaying to accept this marriage proposal.”

“Now, even an ignorant person has come here and questioned the standard of my Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven technique. What a joke!”

When the Thousand Hand Granny said this, she glanced coldly at Su Jie.

Su Jie’s face sank. This old woman dared to point him out as an ignorant person?

Previously when he exchanged words with the green-robed elder, the other party was just being provocative and did not make it as clear like the old woman was verbally attacking him. This was really breaking all ties.

“Darn old granny, did you not wash your mouth after going to the toilet? Or else, why is your mouth so smelly?” Su Jie was not any proper old man. If he did not respond with something worse when he was scolded, how could he endure it?

“Oh?”

A murderous intent flashed in the Thousand Hand Granny’s eyes, “Su Jie! You are courting death!”

“Ha! Do you want to make a move?” Su Jie laughed. He was not afraid to make a big commotion. This was the turf of the Lin family. Although the Lin family had the intention of accepting the Shentu family clan’s conditions, that was all because of their interests. However, if he and the Shentu family clan turned hostile, then the Lin family would definitely not ignore it and make the Shentu family clan account for it.

If things came to blows, then the Thousand Hand Granny would definitely be the one to suffer.

Naturally, the Thousand Hand Granny knew this. Her wrinkled face turned gloomy like an ancient corpse that had been unearthed from a tomb. It looked horrific.

“So what if you win the battle of tongues? At such an age, you still have the temperament of a child!”

“This time, the Shentu family clan has invited some Desolate Heaven Masters from the Tian Yuan world and their close disciples. In two months, there will be a Desolate Heaven technique tea session at the Tian Hua peak. There, we will let you see if the Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven technique meets the mark! Elder Su, you will not lack the courage to attend it, right?”

377 - : Taking revenge if there was any, and stabbing one in the back

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Desolate Heaven technique tea session?” Su Jie sneered, “How can I lack the courage to attend?”

A Desolate Heaven technique tea session was actually just a gathering of a bunch of old guys, where they would discuss the Desolate Heaven technique while they ate and drank. Also, they would also brag about their achievements in the Desolate Heaven technique.

While bragging, it was also common for them to show off some of their techniques.

Typically, there was no real need for a competition, as they only needed to display some of their best techniques to gain the praise of others.

Su Jie knew the old men of the Tian Yuan world well. Once they were complimented, they would immediately say false niceties like “wrongfully praised”, “exaggeration”, or “this old man only has an empty name”.

In fact, these people were ridiculously vain. They would immediately rage the moment anyone belittled them. They would roll up their sleeves and fight it out with you.

Hence, hearing all these extremely arrogant and self-important people saying all sorts of words filled with false modesty, one’s goose bumps would pop up so much that they would fall off.

However, the theme of the Desolate Heaven technique tea session that the Thousand Hand Granny mentioned was not about complimenting each other or boasting.

Those who participated in the Desolate Heaven technique tea session would be part of their own camp. Before the tea session, both sides would be easily agitated, and during the actual tea session, they would show off all sorts of skills.

Previously, it was mostly disciples who flaunted their skills in these kinds of tea sessions. After all, the old fellows treasured their reputations greatly. If right after they flaunted a technique, someone even better appeared, embarrassing them, then it would be awkward.

And it was fine if the disciples lost.

However, for this Desolate Heaven technique tea session, it was clearly not a competition amongst disciples. Those old fellows would probably gear up to flaunt their skills.

After all, the Shentu family clan was taking this opportunity to let the Elders, who were unwilling to agree to the alliance, see their strength in the Desolate Heaven technique.

“Don’t be full of yourself, or it might turn ugly when it comes to it!” The Thousand Hand Granny snorted before she flicked her sleeves and left.

The other people from the Shentu family clan were all confident. The older generation looked at Su Jie, while the younger generation looked at Yi Yun.

They believed that this kid beside Su Jie was definitely his disciple.

At the Desolate Heaven technique tea session, those older masters would definitely be the stars of the show, but their disciples would also be dazzling. The younger generation represented the future. A genius, who had extraordinary talent in the Desolate Heaven technique, was an invaluable fortune to a large family clan.

After the Thousand Hand Granny and company left, Su Jie brought Yi Yun to his residence. Just before they entered, Su Jie suddenly turned his head and said, “I say, kid. Don’t stay in the Lin family. I’m foreseeing bad signs. You might lose your life if you carry on staying here. This old man will stay in the Lin family for a while to take a look. If Xintong agrees to it, and the sons of a bitches from the Shentu family clan can really heal Xintong, then once Xintong is healed, I will also leave the Lin family.”

Su Jie was originally not from the Lin family, and he was a guest with a different family name. He was free to come and go, and he was not under the jurisdiction of the Lin family.

If Lin Xintong agreed to the marriage, and her terminated meridians were healed, then that would be a great thing for Lin Xintong.

As for Shentu Nantian, as long as Lin Xintong’s strength was strong, she could be completely independent.

Also, Lin Xintong was not some weak woman. Even if she married into the wrong household, it would not be anything horrible. In the future, when Lin Xintong becomes a peerless Great Empress, it would be very easy for her to take control of her own destiny.

Hence, Su Jie felt that he should also leave. If his disciple had a bright future, he would definitely be happy, as long as it was her choice.

“Kid, us meeting is also a form of fate. I have some old friends in the Tian Yuan world. I’ll write a letter for you. If you take it with you to them, they will probably take you in.”

Su Jie sat down on a chair and took out a pen and paper.

Yi Yun looked at the old man. Su Jie’s hair was already white, and his body was slightly hunching.

Looking at the back of Su Jie writing a letter, Yi Yun suddenly felt touched. If it was not for this old man, he would probably have died inside the Fallen Star Gate. And now, Su Jie was sending him away, and giving him a letter. If Yi Yun did not have the Purple Crystal as his hope, then he would definitely have left. And this letter would be of timely help.

This old man had been most kind to him.

“Senior Su Jie.” Yi Yun said softly, “This junior wants to ask if you have any advanced means of disguising one’s appearance such as a tool or skill, which can prevent people with very high cultivation levels to not be able to see my original looks…”

Yi Yun’s question stunned Su Jie. He stopped writing and said, “You are afraid of being recognized? Although it’s good to be careful… it shouldn’t matter. The Tian Yuan world is too big. Shentu Nantian also doesn’t know that you have come to the Tian Yuan world, so the probability of him finding you is tiny. You can at most change your name.”

“I don’t want to leave.” Yi Yun shook his head. “I want to take a look at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session in two months time.”

“Oh? Not leaving?” Su Jie was shocked. “Staying in the Lin family is dangerous. Although the Lin family and Shentu family clan have yet to make an alliance, who knows what will happen in the future?”

“Besides, why do you want to take a look at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session for? Today, although I was tough with my words against that old hag, I actually do not have much confidence.”

Su Jie sighed as he shook his head. “In terms of the Desolate Heaven technique, the Lin family is indeed inferior to the Shentu family clan. Furthermore, this time, the Shentu family clan has invited many Desolate Heaven technique masters from the Tian Yuan world to hold the ground. In two months, the Shentu family clan will probably steal the show at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session.”

“For such an important occasion, Shentu Nantian would definitely be present. Do you want to see your enemy riding on the crest of success?”

Su Jie looked at Yi Yun in a puzzled fashion. Was Yi Yun a masochist? If it was him, he would have ran as far as he could, for everything was clean as long as the eyes did not see it.

Yi Yun said, “It’s because I also want to participate in the Desolate Heaven technique tea session, which is why I’m thinking of disguising myself. Also… Senior Su Jie, can you teach me the Desolate Heaven technique in these two months?”

What?

Su Jie was shocked and looked incredulously at Yi Yun.

“You want to learn the Desolate Heaven technique? To participate in the tea session in two months? Don’t tell me you want to pit your Desolate Heaven technique against the Shentu family clan’s younger generation!?”

Su Jie was completely speechless. This was only because the person who said it was Yi Yun, if it was anyone else, he would have thought that the person was an idiot.

However, even if it was Yi Yun, Su Jie still found him abnormal. The Desolate Heaven technique was not something that could be learned overnight. Yi Yun had not practiced martial arts for a long time, so how could a Desolate Heaven technique that was learned at the last minute be qualified to participate in the tea session? Wouldn’t that just end up with him being ridiculed by the Shentu family clan?

Yi Yun said, “This junior has previously come into contact with the Desolate Heaven technique while in the Tai Ah Divine City. You can say that I’m at the introductory stage.”

“How long was the contact?” Su Jie looked at Yi Yun in a speechless manner. Yi Yun had not practiced martial arts for more than two years. Even if he had begun learning the Desolate Heaven technique ever since they had separated, what could he do now? He would still be brutally defeated by others.

“A few months… Previously, I had learned with Grandmaster Yuehua for some time.” Yi Yun knew that Su Jie would definitely think lowly of his standards if he only said that he had learnt the Desolate Heaven technique for a few months. Hence, he had to tout Grandmaster Yuehua’s name, to give Su Jie some confidence.

However, Su Jie still looked at Yi Yun as if he was looking at a mad man, “Kid, don’t tell me you have suffered too many setbacks, resulting in depression, so now, you are just amusing yourself by using this old man?”

“Since you have come into contact with the Desolate Heaven technique, you should know that there are three big steps of the Desolate Heaven technique. The first step, extraction of the Power of Desolates. The second step, controlling the Power of Desolates seal. The third step, forming the relic.”

“For this, just the extraction of the Power of Desolates needs several years of hard work to barely pass. If you are not thorough with extracting the Power of Desolates, then it would be a waste of materials. The desolate bone relic would also not be refined properly.”

“Following that, controlling the Power of Desolates seal. That is even more complex as there are thousands of hand seal techniques. Different elemental Power of Desolates require different hand seal techniques. If you are not careful, you can easily dissipate the Power of Desolates that you extracted through painstaking means, resulting in an explosion.”

“I have more than 3000 hand seal techniques alone! Learning every one of them requires a lot of practice. One also needs to have good perception and one can only slowly grasp them through the accumulation of time.”

“As for the third step, forming the relic. It is easier than the first two steps. However, it is just slightly easier. There are also thousands of techniques used to form the relic. Without being able to grasp more than a hundred techniques, you can’t even call yourself a Desolate Heaven Master without blushing.”

Yi Yun was naturally aware of the things Su Jie said. He had gone through systematic lessons for the Desolate Heaven technique.

To Yi Yun, extracting the Power of Desolates was extremely easy. With the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun was much better than Su Jie in this aspect.

The problem lied in the hand seal techniques.

The Purple Crystal could allow Yi Yun to control energy as he wished, however, it could not increase Yi Yun’s perception.

Learning the seals required time!

Although Yi Yun’s perception was great, he could not learn many hand seal techniques in two months time. This was also the greatest difficulty for Yi Yun to quickly master the Desolate Heaven technique.

378 - : Desolate Heaven technique tea session

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Yi Yun was in the Cloud Wilderness, he had trained together with Lin Xintong, and when he saw Lin Xintong use the Desolate Heaven technique, Yi Yun suddenly had the thought of becoming a Desolate Heaven Master.

Now, this thought was still rooted in Yi Yun’s heart. With the Desolate Heaven technique, not only could it supplement his cultivation, he could also rely on the Desolate Heaven technique to earn resources.

Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal to control energy, so he enjoyed an exceptional advantage in learning the Desolate Heaven technique.

However in the past two years, as Yi Yun was too weak, he had been busy cultivating. He had only learnt a tiny bit of the Desolate Heaven technique and he had put it mainly on hold.

Now, Yi Yun wasn’t simply thinking of messing up the Desolate Heaven technique tea session. He also wanted to take this opportunity to learn the Desolate Heaven technique properly. This would greatly aid his future cultivation.

“Senior Su Jie, there’s only two months left till the tea session. I want to learn the seal for controlling the Power of Desolates and the forming of relics from you.”

“You want to learn these two in two months? You think you are learning Pai Gow?” Su Jie blinked with an expression of being defeated by Yi Yun. “There are thousands of hand seal techniques, which one do you want to learn?”

Yi Yun said, “I only want to learn two techniques. One that can control the Power of Desolates and another used to form a relic.”

Yi Yun knew himself. Although his perception was good, it was unrealistic for him to learn hundreds of hand seal techniques. Hence, Yi Yun had no alternative but to give up on his first choice, so he chose two!

However, by choosing two techniques, there were several limitations.

As Su Jie had just said, a Desolate Heaven Master of a certain caliber would grasp at least a hundred techniques at the beginning.

Just like a good cook, one could not just have one method of cooking like “stir-fry”.

Different dishes would be made in different ways.

There were stir-frying, quick-frying, deep-frying, blanching, smoking, pickling, etc! One had to choose the most suitable cooking method for different ingredients.

It was the same with the Desolate Heaven technique. If a Desolate Heaven Master’s hand seal techniques were too uniform, then he would face numerous restrictions.

For example, some sealing techniques were only suitable for desolate bone relics of the lowest grade. The method was simple, fast, only consumed a little of one’s mental strength and it had a good success rate. However, against powerful Power of Desolates, this sort of sealing techniques could not control it at all and they were unuseable.

To refine high-grade desolate bone relics, one had to use more advanced techniques. These techniques were complex, slow and extremely consuming of one’s mental strength. Even a good Desolate Master would have to rest after using this technique as it was too draining.

And if this technique was used for refining low-quality desolate bone relics, it would be overkill.

There were other sealing techniques more suitable for particular elemental energies, for example, some were suitable for fire, and others for ice.

If the elemental property was matched, the sealing technique would result in double the results with half the effort. The success rate would also be higher.

In conclusion, if one wanted to refine high-grade, the sealing technique had to be more complex and because of that more difficult to learn. The more techniques a Desolate Heaven Master had, the more flexible he could be when refining a desolate bone relic. Sometimes, they could combine several techniques to refine a relic. And it was up to the preference of the Desolate Heaven Master as to which technique to use.

If a sealing technique was chosen well, it was already half the battle won.

Since Yi Yun had already made his choice of choosing two techniques, he could only have one each for the Power of Desolates sealing and the forming of relics.

Then, there were a few features the two techniques needed.

First, they had to be widely applicable, and they could not be narrowed to a single elemental energy. They had to be useable for all kinds of elemental energies.

Secondly, these two techniques had to be applicable for the refinement of high-grade desolate bone relics. For the current Yi Yun, low-grade desolate bone relics were no longer useful.

Finally, the two techniques could not be too complicated. If they could not be learnt in two months, they would be useless.

Yi Yun had a good amount of understanding of the Desolate Heaven technique, so before he asked Su Jie if he could learn the Desolate Heaven technique from him, he had already thought of the techniques he wanted to learn.

“Senior Su Jie, the two techniques I want to learn are, the Mystic Crystal Hand sealing technique for the controlling of the Power of Desolates, as well as, the Small Thousand Seal for the forming of relics.”

These two techniques had met Yi Yun’s requirements.

Not only could they be used to refine high-grade desolate bone relics, they were also easy to learn and widely applicable.

Since these two techniques had such features, it meant that they weren’t some extraordinary methods.

It was easy to learn the techniques, then correspondingly, the success rate of these two techniques were very low.

And since they were widely applicable, in the Desolate Heaven technique circles, it meant that they were not specialized for anything.

The Desolate Heaven technique focused on specialization. Every elemental energy had a corresponding technique. For the Mystic Crystal Hand and Small Thousand Seal, they were actually common techniques that could be easily found on the street. Any Desolate Heaven Master who had certain accomplishments in the Desolate Heaven technique would never bother using them.

Even the young Desolate Heaven Master disciples, who had outstanding talent, would not look up to such a one size fits all approach.

Only some Desolate Heaven Masters from small family clans or small sects would haphazardly refine desolate bone relics, which would be a treasure, for the disciples of these small sects. In such a situation, their Desolate Heaven technique did not need to be great, nor did they need to have too much talent. As such, they would choose to learn easy and low-grade techniques.

Despite hearing Yi Yun’s choice which “lacked ambition”, Su Jie found Yi Yun’s choice wise.

Everyone knew that advanced techniques were good, but so what? It was only meaningful if one could learn it. It was pointless if one could not learn it.

It was like everyone knew being a Great Emperor was good, but if anyone said they wanted to become a Great Emperor when they began learning martial arts, they would probably be thought of as crazy.

With Yi Yun’s foundation, the Mystic Crystal Hand and Small Thousand Seal would be relatively difficult for him. Even learning it would be pretty good.

However… even if Yi Yun mastered the Mystic Crystal Hand and Small Thousand Seal, there would be no hope in him joining the Desolate Heaven technique tea session.

In the tea session, everyone would show off their skills by choosing the most complicated and most difficult techniques.

If one used the Mystic Crystal Hand or Small Thousand Seal, that would cause the stomachs of others to rupture from laughing.

“Senior Su Jie, how about it? After all, you have taken me in as your in-name disciple. I’m just learning two techniques from you…”

As Yi Yun spoke, Su Jie rolled his eyes at him, “Only now do you remember that you are my in-name disciple? Forget it. I find you pitiful, so it’s nothing teaching you two sealing techniques. In the future, if you were to leave the Lin family and live on the streets, this would also be a means of livelihood, right?”

Yi Yun turned speechless hearing Su Jie say such words.

Living on the streets? It shouldn’t be that terrible even if he was forced to leave the Lin family, right…?

“Alright, I can teach you, but let me warn you in advance. Forget about the Desolate Heaven technique tea session! At that time, I’ll take you to broaden your horizons. As for showing off your techniques, don’t throw my face. I still care about my old face, and I want to mess around in the Desolate Heaven technique circles in the future.”

“If you were to demonstrate these two techniques that can be found on the streets, the tortoise grandsons of the Shentu family clan would all die from laughing. Although you are my in-name disciple, an in-name disciple is still a disciple. Everything you do represents me, do you understand!?”

Su Jie earnestly exhorted to Yi Yun. In fact, he felt that Yi Yun had only come into contact with the Desolate Heaven technique for a short period of time and did not know how difficult the Desolate Heaven techniques really were.

Yi Yun would know the difficulty once he taught him the two techniques.

As for the tea session, the Desolate Heaven Masters and geniuses would gather to flaunt their techniques. What they showed would be dazzling and too much for the eye to feast on.

Flaunting of one’s skills was not about what the best technique was but it was about what the hardest technique was!

At that moment, Yi Yun will see the gap between the geniuses and himself. He would probably then realize how childish his ideas originally were.

As long as Yi Yun’s mind was right, then he would not go on stage to get schooled.

He had a feud with Shentu Nantian, wouldn’t he be mad to end up a clown in front of Shentu Nantian?

“Thank you Senior Su.”

Yi Yun was delighted. There was no doubt in Su Jie’s Desolate Heaven technique level. So with his teachings, it would be double the results with half the effort.

“As for disguising your looks…” Su Jie stroked his chin and said, “It’s too difficult to use disguises to bluff the old monsters from the Shentu family clan. However, there is a very simple method and that is to wear a mask.”

“There are many rare materials in this world that can completely cut off perception. Even an Empyreal King will not be able to sense anything. And I happen to have such a mask.”

“As for changing your voice, that’s even easier. Just change the tone of your voice.”

Some old monsters who had unfathomable cultivation levels could easily see through disguises. However, one could change one’s tone to change their voice. No matter how strong one was, they could not guess what the original voice of the person was after he changed his tone, as the two were completely unrelated.

“That’s great.” Yi Yun said happily. Wearing a mask was nothing strange. In a warrior’s world, there were plenty of people with odd habits.

Furthermore, Shentu Nantian would definitely not guess that he had come to the Tian Yuan world and participated in the Desolate Heaven technique tea session.

“Then Senior Su Jie, without further ado, if you have time now, please teach me the Mystic Crystal Hand technique and Small Thousand Seal technique!”

As there was only two months left, time was precious, so Yi Yun naturally had to grab every opportunity.

Su Jie pinched his beard as if irritated, “Alright. I’ll teach you these two techniques. My time is precious!”

379 - : Mystic Crystal Hand and Small Thousand Seal

CKtalon  CKtalon

In Su Jie’s residential area there was a large hall meant for practicing the Desolate Heaven technique. This was not Su Jie’s dedicated practice room, but a room for the disciples of the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven Masters to practice their Desolate Heaven technique.

Yi Yun walked into the middle of the hall and saw Desolate Heaven technique stone benches neatly arranged in the hall. They numbered more than a hundred.

On these benches, there were all sorts of materials and Desolate Heaven technique disk arrays. There were people dressed in Desolate Heaven technique robes around who were busy shuttling through the benches.

There was no shortage of elders and there were also cultured-looking, middle-aged men and women there. These people were obviously the backbone of the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven Master force.

Beside these Desolate Heaven Masters, there were also other youths of both genders here. Clearly, they were the disciples.

“Elder Su, you are back!” A middle-aged man, wearing a Desolate Heaven technique robe, greeted Su Jie in a very respectful tone.

“Heaven Master Sun, long time no see.” Su Jie nodded.

The middle-aged man glanced at Yi Yun, “Is this Elder Su’s new apprentice?” Due to Su Jie, the middle-aged man looked at Yi Yun in a friendly manner.

Yi Yun cupped his fists and politely bowed.

“Haha, a fine-looking man with talent! The apprentice of Elder Su must be outstanding. You must be very gifted in the Desolate Heaven technique.”

As the middle-aged man spoke, a 15-year-old girl behind him, who was about the same age as Yi Yun, looked curiously at Yi Yun. It was as if she wanted to know what aspect of this youth was so outstanding that he had been fancied by Su Jie.

However, Su Jie waved his hand and said, “What do you mean gifted? I just took him in as an in-name disciple on a whim. I am just informally teaching him.”

Su Jie rushed to clarify his relationship with Yi Yun. This made Yi Yun roll his eyes. This old man sure was afraid of Yi Yun shaming him.

As for the middle-aged man, although he heard that Yi Yun was an in-name disciple, he was still very polite. “Even an in-name disciple of Elder Su should be extraordinary. Haha!”

The Lin family was very respectful to Su Jie. Even more so in the Desolate Heaven Master circles.

Desolate Heaven Masters might not admire the strong, but they would admire those great masters who completely had the Desolate Heaven technique at their fingertips, to the point of prostrating.

Yi Yun did not respond. He naturally knew that the middle-aged man was just being polite. After they separated from the middle-aged man, Yi Yun coughed dryly and said to Su Jie, “Senior Su Jie, my Desolate Heaven technique is quite alright. Although I haven’t learned the sealing of the Power of Desolates and the forming of relics, should you not first look at the situation as to teach me according to my aptitude?”

Yi Yun could only do energy extraction now. And that was just the beginning stage for a Desolate Heaven technique apprentice.

Of course, Yi Yun’s energy extraction was extremely monstrous. He intended to show Su Jie his real strength, to prevent the old man from thinking that he was inept. If he permitted that impression, the old man would just end up haphazardly teaching him.

However, Su Jie said, “There will be plenty of opportunities for you to show off your strength. In a few days, I will go into reclusive training and begin preparing for the Desolate Heaven technique tea session. Today, I will teach you the two techniques, and tomorrow I will see Xintong.”

Su Jie had been trapped in the mystic realm for two years and had not managed to use the Desolate Heaven technique. For the tea session, there would be all sorts of experts gathered, and some of them were even better than Su Jie.

Su Jie also needed to prepare. By going into reclusive training, he could maintain his best condition before the tea session.

“Alright…” Yi Yun shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

Su Jie was currently putting all his thoughts into the Desolate Heaven technique tea session. In addition to the worry for his disciple, Lin Xintong, he was clearly not interested in watching a kid mess around at this point in time.

Su Jie brought Yi Yun to stand in front of a bench.

Coincidentally, the middle-aged man, Desolate Heaven Master Sun, and his female apprentice were standing on the bench right next to them.

This middle-aged man was teaching the little girl the Desolate Heaven technique. There were other Desolate Heaven technique benches nearby, where there were many youths standing around, all learning the Desolate Heaven technique. Occasionally, a Desolate Heaven Master from the Lin family would stop by to give them some pointers.

“The Small Thousand Seal and the Mystic Crystal Hand are relatively lower grade techniques. They are easy to get started with, and neither of them is hard to become proficient in it. However, they are too shallow!”

Su Jie stood in front of the Desolate Heaven technique bench and took out a Desolate Heaven technique disk array. There was a jade-green desolate bone on the disk array.

The desolate bone was about a foot long. It was of good quality, but the Power of Desolates within it was slightly chaotic. It was probably a general-ranked desolate beast’s bone.

Su Jie casually tapped his finger and the desolate bone began to tremble violently. The Power of Desolates within it was instantly extracted by Su Jie.

Yi Yun could, with his naked eye, see that the desolate bone begin to change color. It went from its original jade-green color to grayish-white.

And correspondingly, the energy light blob that appeared on Su Jie’s fingers were clearly the energy essence extracted from the desolate bone. It had all been gathered onto Su Jie’s hand.

This technique of extracting energy made Yi Yun amazed. It was done in a very smooth and simple fashion.

If Yi Yun used the Purple Crystal to do it, he would still not be able to do it as fast as Su Jie.

Although the Purple Crystal’s control of energy was peerless, Yi Yun’s control of the Purple Crystal was still far from perfect.

What the Purple Crystal was powerful at, was that it could work with energy from all sorts of levels, be it normal desolate beasts, primordial herbs, the sword and saber tomb’s origins energy, or even the sealing energy in the Pure Yang Sword Palace. All of them were on equal footing to the Purple Crystal.

It was very easy for Yi Yun to absorb any of these energies by using the Purple Crystal.

However, what was a bit more difficult for Yi Yun was activating the Purple Crystal and the process of controlling the Purple Crystal.

With Yi Yun’s current mental strength, it would not be that easy to control the Purple Crystal. Hence, he was unable to do like Su Jie and easily extract all of the energy from a desolate bone in an instant.

Yi Yun’s advantage was that, be it extracting the energy from normal desolate bones or primordial strain desolate bones, it was the same. Probably, to the Purple Crystal, all of these energies were of too low a level, so low that it could not distinguish between them.

This was equivalent to Yi Yun using a sledgehammer to crush a chicken’s egg and a quail’s egg. Using a sledgehammer to crush them both is simple. However, swinging the sledgehammer is what was most difficult.

Su Jie held the green energy blob in his hand as he glanced at Yi Yun before lazily saying, “Kid, watch well. This is the Mystic Crystal Hand. If you cannot learn it even after I do it a few times, then do not blame me for not teaching you.”

As Su Jie said, his fingers began to move. Seals were sent flying as they formed beautiful patterns in the air.

Yi Yun focused as he held his breath.

He opened the Purple Crystal’s energy vision. Through the vision, Yi Yun could clearly see the origin energy’s flow within every seal that came from Su Jie

It was naturally different to use the energy vision compared to using his naked eye to look at Su Jie’s actions.

The naked eye still needed one to gain insight and understanding. However, with the energy vision, he could see the movement of the energy directly.

In fact, the so-called seals were only runic lines condensed from energy. By seeing this energy, one could also see the origin of the laws within the runic lines.

Every Desolate Heaven Master would use their own energy to draw out their own understanding of the energy laws when beginning to refine the desolate bone relic.

The same technique would result in completely different grades of desolate bone relics, based on the practitioner’s own understanding of energy.

In the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, Yi Yun could see the energy under Su Jie’s control move in a beautiful, complete harmony.

Yi Yun knew that Su Jie was very well-versed in his sealing techniques. He could make the Power of Desolates flow in complete accordance with the natural laws. By doing so, a desolate bone relic would naturally be perfect.

At that moment, Su Jie’s hands turned crystal clear due to the infusing of tremendous amounts of energy. They nearly became transparent, which was how the “Mystic Crystal Hand” got its name.

To exhibit this phenomenon, that was entirely reliant on a person’s mastery of the Mystic Crystal Hand.

Now, Yi Yun saw that Su Jie’s hands were like crystals. There was no doubt that his Mystic Crystal Hand was already perfect.

The Power of Desolates within the desolate bones was quickly controlled by Su Jie as they formed into a runic line seal.

With the Mystic Crystal Hand completed, what followed next was the Small Thousand Seal!

Su Jie changed his technique and in front of him, the Desolate Heaven technique disk array began to spin. The runic line seals, condensed from the Power of Desolates, were all absorbed by the disk array. Under Su Jie’s control, they all began to condense into one.

Hundreds up to a thousand seals were sent out by Su Jie. Finally, the energy seals formed together before emitting a sparkling flash.

“Ding!”

In this white glow, a crystal, bead-like desolate bone relic dropped onto the disk array, giving off a crisp sound.

Su Jie turned to look at Yi Yun, “Just now, I lowered the sealing speed by ten times. How much of my technique did you see? To what percentage can you mimic it?”

380 - : Mastering the Desolate Heaven Technique Quickly

CKtalon  CKtalon

For the technique Su Jie employed at a speed of ten times slower than normal, Yi Yun saw it clearly by using the Purple Crystal’s vision. Furthermore, Yi Yun had always had a good memory, so he managed to memorize about 70-80% of Su Jie’s Small Thousand Seal and Mystic Crystal Hand.

However, memorizing Su Jie’s techniques was one matter. To completely imitate it was another. Having something memorized did not mean one could emulate it.

Hence, in response to Su Jie’s question, Yi Yun conservatively replied, “I have got some idea from the technique Senior used. As for emulating it, I can probably do around 30-40%.”

“30-40%? Kid, you sure are confident.” Su Jie’s voice did not sound serious and had a mocking tone in it. Although the Mystic Crystal Hand and Small Thousand Seal were considered low-grade techniques, they were not that easy to learn.

Typically, rookies could only gain a fuzzy understanding of the superficial moves after seeing it once. To follow and be able to slightly emulate them would be pretty good.

With a certain level of skills, an apprentice in the Desolate Heaven technique with 2-3 years of foundation beneath him could be considered a genius if he could emulate more than 20% of it after seeing it once.

Of course, this so-called 20% emulation refers to being able to do 20% of the Small Thousand Seal and Mystic Crystal Hand’s sealing motions.

As for doing them right, doing them well and doing them in a masterful manner, there was naturally a gap between the three accomplishments.

It was not easy for a rookie to do it right.

Yi Yun looked at Su Jie’s smile that was asking to be beaten. He felt pretty speechless. With this old man as a master, he really felt drunk. The masters of others would have the mannerism of a master in their every move. They would be stern and serious while teaching their disciples or be patient and understanding. After all, they all wished for their disciples to succeed.

However, this old man, he was never serious and seemed to be laughing like a clown all the time. After teaching and asking his disciple, he would even give off the feeling of watching a joke.

Yi Yun could not be bothered to say anything else as he took out a Desolate Heaven technique disk array from his interspatial ring. Just as he was preparing to practice with a high-grade desolate bone, Su Jie took out a normal desolate bone and threw it at Yi Yun.

“Use this?” Yi Yun frowned.

“Of course, you think it is not enough? You must lay a good foundation when practicing the Desolate Heaven technique. First learn to walk before you learn to run. You have not been learning the Desolate Heaven technique for that long. First use a normal desolate bone as practice for a year or two. Refine more than 10,000 desolate bone relics before you start talking about anything else.”

“Do not look down on the low quality Power of Desolates that is in a normal desolate bone. Its laws are the still the same. And a normal desolate bone’s energy is much easier to control. It will allow you to approach the creation of a perfect law route.

The Desolate Heaven technique focused on one’s foundation. Hence when Desolate Heaven Masters practiced, they would begin with the simplest desolate bone. This included Su Jie. When he first practiced the Desolate Heaven technique, he too went through the honest route of refining more than 10,000 normal desolate bone relics.

Yi Yun did not argue with Su Jie. Su Jie naturally had his own thoughts, being his master. It was like the story he had heard before in his previous life, Leonardo da Vinci drawing an egg. Legend has it that when Leonardo da Vinci was learning how to draw, his master made him draw chicken eggs repeatedly. This was probably similar to his current situation.

Yi Yun picked up the normal desolate bone and with the Purple Crystal, he could clearly feel every energy flow within the desolate bone.

And to the side, the middle-aged man that was surnamed Sun and his disciple were also watching Yi Yun.

The middle-aged man surnamed Sun looked at Yi Yun and admired Yi Yun’s focused expression. He slowly nodded and said, “Elder Su, your disciple is not distracted and his breathing is composed. He is a good seed. How long has he been learning the Desolate Heaven technique?”

Su Jie said, “He has only been learning it for a few months. I have just recently taken him in as a disciple. Previously, he learnt the Desolate Heaven technique from someone else. If he was taught by me from the beginning, his standards would definitely be much better than they are now.

Su Jie said confidently. Although he had just cursed the old fellows who were joining the Desolate Heaven technique tea session as hypocritical and vain people, who wanted to show off all day, Su Jie had in fact forgotten that he too was one of them.

“Haha, Elder Su is right. With Elder Su’s teachings, the standard would be even higher! Elder Su has the ability to turn the foul and rotten into the rare and ethereal.” The middle-aged man surnamed Sun echoed while he laughed.

Su Jie accepted the middle-aged man’s praise silently. He nonchalantly took a cup of tea. As he drank the tea, he watched Yi Yun perform his Desolate Heaven technique.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and, with the desolate bone in hand, sank his spiritual energies into the Purple Crystal. A familiar feeling then surged to his mind.

Instantly, in the Purple Crystal’s vision, Yi Yun could see every strand and ounce of energy within the desolate bone that rested in his hand.

As long as he willed it, all of the energy within it would be pulled out like harvesting silk.

Yi Yun began to form seals with his hands. For Yi Yun, using the seals were meaningless in the extraction of energy. It was just a form of concealment for him.

The seals Yi Yun used were the one Grandmaster Yuehua had taught him in the past. It was a method rookies used.

“Heaven Moon Seal. His technique is stable and not in a rush. It is pretty well done.” The man surnamed Sun evaluated.

Su Jie slightly moved the tea cup from his mouth. He never expected that the kid would have some skill. If he had only learnt the Desolate Heaven technique for a few months, then this standard meant that he had pretty good talent.

At that moment, Su Jie and the middle-aged man could not see the purple light beams that were being emitted from the desolate bone in Yi Yun’s hand. Numerous light dots flew out from the desolate bone and spiraled around Yi Yun like pixie elves.

The phenomenon of the Purple Crystal sucking out the energy could only be seen by Yi Yun. It was as if a mysterious law had cut off the ability for others to realize this.

Su Jie and the middle-aged man could only sense that the energy in the desolate bone was being extracted by Yi Yun at a constant pace. The entire process was done very smoothly.

One could not tell Yi Yun’s greatness with a low-grade desolate bone, but even so, the perfect energy flows’ trajectories surprised the middle-aged man, “Elder Su, how many months did you say that this disciple of yours has been learning the Desolate Heaven technique?”

“Uh…” Su Jie began to pull his beard out of habit. He never expected for Yi Yun to do it in such a profound manner. Could this kid be deceiving me?

He found it hard to believe that Yi Yun was able to accomplish this just by learning the Desolate Heaven technique for two months. If that was the case, then his talent was almost approaching Lin Xintong’s.

Lin Xintong was a genius. Having lived to such old age, it was not easy for him to find such a treasured disciple. He had even planned on letting her inherit his mantle.

Although the talent of some Desolate Heaven technique geniuses approached Lin Xintong, that was still quite normal. However, Yi Yun was a kid he had casually met in the Cloud Wilderness. Back then, he did not seem very special. Under these circumstances, when Su Jie then realized that Yi Yun’s Desolate Heaven technique talent was actually comparable to Lin Xintong’s, how could he not be shocked?

“The kid said that he learnt the technique for a few months himself. I also do not know if it is true or not. Now he still seems fine, and is about half my standard back when I was first beginning to learn the Desolate Heaven technique.”

Su Jie grunted as he spoke. The middle-aged man smiled without a word.

At that moment, after Yi Yun extracted the Power of Desolates from the desolate bone, he began to use the Mystic Crystal Hand. In his mind, he was recalling the motions Su Jie used. The flow of every strand of energy was clearly recalled by him.

“Mystic Crystal Hand… First seal…” Yi Yun began moving his ten fingers as he began forming the seals.

The first seal was sent out by him.

Just mimicking the action was very easy. As warriors have an eidetic memory, they could mimic it very closely after just seeing it once. The difficult part however lied in guiding the Power of Desolates to condense into the seal one wanted.

However, guiding the Power of Desolates was also not a hard thing for Yi Yun to do, as he had the Purple Crystal.

Hence, under Yi Yun’s guidance, the Power of Desolates condensed into the first runic seal. It was like a tiny, purple butterfly, fluttering in the air.

Following that, second seal…

Yi Yun imitated what he had seen, and another runic seal was sent out by him. It danced in the air. All of this was done in an effortless and relaxed manner.

When the first runic seal was sent out, Su Jie did not have much of a reaction. However, when he saw that the second runic seal was equally perfect, he was slightly dazed.

Following that, the third and fourth runic seals came forth one after another as they flew in the air.

Slowly, Su Jie’s mouth turned agape. This kid, is he serious?

Yi Yun not only succeeded in forming the seals, the energy forms were also very well done. He did not seem in a hurry, or in a confused state, throughout the sealing process. Everything was done in an orderly fashion.

This made Su Jie find it hard to believe that such runic seals came from a Desolate Heaven technique rookie.

381 - : A small sample of one’s Skill

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing Yi Yun complete more than ten runic seals, with each of them being flawless, the middle-aged man beside Su Jie said in an incredulous manner, “Elder Su, did this disciple of yours truly learn the Desolate Heaven technique for just a few months!?”

He could barely accept it if a Desolate Heaven technique apprentice with a certain foundation accomplished this. It was too great an exaggeration for this to come from a beginner!

Su Jie did not say anything. After a while, Yi Yun had already completed more than 20 runic seals. The Mystic Crystal Hand had approximately a hundred runic seals. This meant that Yi Yun had already completed more than 20% of it, and it had been perfectly done.

“Do not tell me he will really complete it up to 40%…”

Su Jie mumbled to himself. And following that, as it it was to confirm his speculation, one runic seal after another was sent out from Yi Yun’s hands like rain.

38, 39, 40…

Although he had reached 40 seals, Yi Yun did not stop.

In fact, one did not have to send out all 100 runic seals from the Mystic Crystal Hand. Just 60-70 of them would be sufficient enough to refine a desolate bone relic.

Now, Yi Yun had already condensed nearly 50 runic seals. Another dozen or so runic seals would be enough to form the relic!

At that moment, other than the man surnamed Sun and his disciple, there were also a few other Desolate Heaven technique apprentices who were attracted by the commotion. They gathered around to watch.

Just the expressions of Su Jie and the middle-aged man were sufficient to make them wonder about what was going on.

And the disciple of the man surnamed Sun naturally became the person to explain the situation. When she finished describing the situation, everyone of them found it impossible to believe.

Slowly, more and more people gathered around. Yi Yun had already completed 55 Mystic Crystal Hand seals.

However, at that moment, as it was Yi Yun’s first contact with the Mystic Crystal Hand, he was unable to perfectly replicate the energy seals Su Jie had sent out earlier despite having seen them clearly. When the 56th runic seal was sent out, flaws and shortcomings began to appear.

Yi Yun’s mind churned. In the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, he had immediately noticed that the runic energy lines in these few runic seals were not as harmonious as the others.

“There is a mistake…”

Yi Yun slightly frowned. As this was his first time learning the Mystic Crystal Hand, he could not figure out where his error was immediately.

Slowly, Yi Yun’s motions slowed down.

Since he had made a mistake, it was meaningless to keep on persisting.

Even if Yi Yun sent out more runic seals and eventually condense a desolate bone relic, he had still made a mistake. The quality of such a desolate bone relic would deteriorate significantly. Even the effects of the relic would be problematic.

Many Desolate Heaven Masters apprentices would carry on even if they made a mistake. This was because completing a relic with flawed runic seals was not easy either. It would still be a proof of their ability.

However, Yi Yun did not want that. He wanted to be able to create a correct and perfect runic seal.

With that, Yi Yun quit.

“Peng!”

With a loud crack, the runic seals burst in the air after losing their binding force. Colorful points of light scattered out, turning the scene into a beautiful one.

Many of the spectators were dazed seeing this.

“To form 56 seals…” The disciple of the man surnamed Sun covered her mouth. This number was too ridiculous.

The youth’s talent had far exceeded her imagination.

“Junior Sister Lin Qing, you have been fooled by him.” A youth dressed in a green Desolate Heaven technique apprentice robe shook his head. “Just now you said that he has only learned the Desolate Heaven technique for a few months. That must be him lying. He must have had very long contact with the Desolate Heaven technique, if not he would not have such skillful control of energy. He may have good talent, but it is not to such an alarming degree. He lied because he wants to show off his talent.”

When the green-robed youth said this, many of the other disciples were enlightened. Right, who could guarantee that this kid was not lying?

In the Lin family, the younger generation that dabbled with the Desolate Heaven technique were always in a state of competition to decide who was better. By competing, and being unwilling to surrender, they would have a driving force. The Lin family itself encouraged such rivalry.

If it was as described by the young girl Lin Qing, where Yi Yun had only learned the Desolate Heaven technique for a few months in the past, and had just now learned the Mystic Crystal Hand, then him completing 56 runic seals meant that calling him a monster was far from sufficient to describe him.

Be it Su Jie, Thousand Hand Granny or anyone else, all of these grandmasters in the Desolate Heaven Master world would be nothing compared to this kid when they were younger.

No matter how awesome you were, it was impossible for you to put these legendary figures underneath your feet. Hence, it was more believable that Yi Yun was lying.

When something could not be explained, people would often be inclined to believe what was most reasonable.

“Fake?”

Lin Qing was slightly shocked and did not immediately react.

“Haha, Young Junior Sister Lin Qing, you are too naive. That kid most likely learned the Mystic Crystal Hand beforehand. He only managed to condense 56 runic seals, if it were me, I could easily condense 90. And I would even say that I learned the Desolate Heaven technique for only 3 days!”

The green-robed youth’s mocked. And with him saying that, many people erupted into laughter with him.

Many of them had already learned the Mystic Crystal Hand and were able to condense 90 runic seals. It was not hard. Some were even able to condense all of the runic seals, which was also nothing worth boasting about.

However, if they lied and said that they had just learned the Desolate Heaven technique, then it would be too ridiculous. It was like meeting a kid on the street who said that he had exceeded a young Great Emperor. Who would believe that?

Even children knew how to make such a lie.

The discussion of these young boys and girls was naturally heard by Yi Yun.

It was normal for people to doubt. Yi Yun had told Su Jie how long he had learned the Desolate Heaven technique because Su Jie had asked him. If it was someone else who asked, he wouldn’t have bothered to answer them.

Yi Yun took no heed to what others were thinking.

“Elder Su’s disciple sure is a dragon amongst humans!”

The man surnamed Sun stood up and said with a smile. He did not declare whether he believed Yi Yun or not. What he said encompassed both possibilities while avoiding to offend Su Jie.

“Well… it is okay.” What else could Su Jie say at that moment. He was inclined to believe what Yi Yun had said. Although the matter was a bit ridiculous, he could not say for sure if it was true or not.

After all, Yi Yun was his in-name disciple. If Yi Yun angled for undeserved fame, he too would not look good.

“Yi Yun, follow me.”

Su Jie waved his hand at Yi Yun. Yi Yun followed and walked into a side hall, leaving the group of people behind. They were discussing as they pointed fingers at Yi Yun.

“This kid is Grandmaster Su Jie’s in-name disciple?” People managed to get new information from Lin Qing as she was a person who answered questions if she knew the answer.

Su Jie was awesome, but an in-name disciple was of significantly lesser importance. Usually, in-name disciples would not learn skills that had value.

Amongst the spectating disciples, none of them were in-name disciples. In fact, most of them were personal disciples of grandmasters.

Their masters were not that much inferior to Su Jie, so their statuses were greater than Yi Yun’s.

“In-name disciples are sometimes worse than a medicine boy… Then there is no doubt. Let us go, let us just treat it as a joke today.”

The green-robed youth said as he waved his hands to disperse the crowd. He was like the leader amongst this group of young adults.

“Little Junior sister Lin Qing, if you have any problems with the Desolate Heaven technique, feel free to ask me.” The green-robed youth said solicitously as he came to Lin Qing’s side.

Pretty female Desolate Heaven technique apprentices very easily attracted older Desolate Heaven Master apprentices for them to appear in the form of “Senior Brother”. Of course, those Senior Brothers who had extraordinary abilities, talent and good looks, would easily gain the worship and admiration of many young girls.

Lin Qing was a bit perplexed. At that moment, Yi Yun had followed Su Jie into a chamber.

This was a bone refinement room for Desolate Heaven Masters. It was higher in quality than the previous hall.

There was a 5 meter long Desolate Heaven technique stone bench. There were all sorts of materials and bone refinement disk arrays placed neatly on it.

Under the stone bench, there was even a large, engraved array, which aided the Desolate Heaven technique in condensing the Power of Desolates.

Also this bone refinement room was independent. Naturally, an independent chamber for practicing the Desolate Heaven technique was much more comfortable than the noisy hall from before.

“Yi Yun, you can use this bone refinement room. There are still two months left until the Desolate Heaven technique tea session. In these two months, I too will need to prepare well. I do not have much time to teach you.”

Actually for the Desolate Heaven technique tea session, the competition between the young apprentices was naturally not as important as the competition for Su Jie and other grandmasters. As a result, Su Jie naturally had to prepare for it.

382 - : Doubts

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Just now when you were working on the desolate bone, there were some parts where you were inadequate…” As Su Jie spoke, he demonstrated the Mystic Crystal Hand once again. This time, Su Jie was even more serious. Every movement was broken down into parts, as he patiently taught Yi Yun.

Once Su Jie became serious, he was indeed an excellent master. Yi Yun had no problems in energy control, but he needed plenty of time to practice the sealing techniques.

Su Jie did not speak much and demonstrated it again and again for Yi Yun. From the Mystic Crystal Hand to the Small Thousand Seal, every runic seal was broken down into parts for Yi Yun. This carried on through the night, till it was early next morning.

Before they knew it, the two of them had been in the bone refinement room for more than 20 hours.

Yi Yun was covered in sweat as it was very draining to use the Purple Crystal continuously.

On the other hand, the Old Man Su Jie was still as fit as a fiddle.

And at that moment, a spark flashed in front of Su Jie’s eyes. It was the beam from a voice transmission charm.

“Oh? Xintong is coming out!”

Su Jie’s words made Yi Yun’s heart thump. He stopped forming his hand seals. Lin Xintong was coming out?

Previously, Su Jie had passed a message to Lin Xintong. Now, with her coming out, it was oviously to meet Su Jie.

“I’m going to meet Xintong. Right… why don’t you come with me?” Su Jie suddenly said to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was stunned for a while. Can I go too?

For this girl who he was indebted to and not met for two years, Yi Yun really wanted to meet her again.

Yi Yun followed Su Jie and left the Tian Hua peak. They headed to one of the other main peaks, the Jade Bamboo peak.

The Jade Bamboo peak was in the central region of the 18 main peaks. The mountain peak was not very high and it was covered in arrays. Jade bamboo grew throughout the year, despite the seasons. The peak had beautiful scenery.

At that moment, Yi Yun landed on the Jade Bamboo peak. It was early in the morning and it was misty. Looking down, all he saw was a sea of clouds. Above the clouds, there were green bamboo forests. It looked like an immortal paradise.

The Lin family’s females mainly lived on the Jade Bamboo peak. Usually, male members of the Lin family could go up the mountain, but males were restricted from the back mountain regions.

Su Jie took Yi Yun to a Jade Bamboo Temple on the mountain peak. The entire Jade Bamboo Temple was built inside a bamboo forest. The tiles used for the temple’s dome were made of jade making the entire place look green.

This made the Jade Bamboo Temple appear very harmonious with the Jade Bamboo. It was as if this temple was not man-made, and it was a natural occurrence from the bamboo forest.

A maidservant had been waiting at the door. When Yi Yun and Su Jie arrived, she took them inside.

In the Jade Bamboo Temple, there were pine and cypress trees interweaving with the jade bamboo everywhere.

And what made Yi Yun surprised was that many of the structures inside the Jade Bamboo Temple were made of bamboo or pine. These structures had the scent of bamboo and pine and it made one feel relaxed.

“The Lin family’s Matriarch likes bamboo. This Jade Bamboo Temple was also built by Her Aged Reverent.”

When Su Jie said this to Yi Yun, Yi Yun was slightly stunned. From Su Jie’s tone, this old granny’s age was not low. Even Su Jie himself addressed her as Her Aged Reverent. Was she at least 40,000-50,000 years old?

The maidservant took Yi Yun and Su Jie through a yard till they arrived at a newly built bamboo hut.

Yi Yun could see a beautiful girl dressed in white in the distance. She held a long sword in her hand and she was practicing her swordplay amongst the bamboo trees.

Her motions did not seem fast, but they gave a feeling of freely flowing water and floating clouds. Every stab of the sword would cause the surrounding bamboo leaves to fly around. Under the girl’s sword, these bamboo leaves seemed to possess some soul as if they were alive.

This girl was the person who Yi Yun had not seen in two years, Lin Xintong.

Su Jie stopped in his footsteps as he watched Lin Xintong practicing her swordplay. His eyes were filled with love. Having not seen her for two years, Lin Xintong’s sword skills had greatly improved yet again. A nonchalant brandish of her sword would become one joined with the surrounding environment. If it was described, this realm could be called, “one sword, one scene”.

Every sword move would present a different scene to the people watching the swordplay.

“Master!”

Seeing Su Jie, Lin Xintong stopped. A happy smile hung on her face. After separating from Su Jie, she had always been thinking of him. This was because she knew that Su Jie had entered a very dangerous mystic realm. She was naturally worried since she had not heard any news from him for two years.

“Oh? You are…Yi Yun?”

Lin Xintong saw Yi Yun and she was taken aback. Yi Yun had changed so much in these two years. He had gone from a child to a bright teenager.

Lin Xintong was tall. Two years ago, Yi Yun only reached Lin Xintong’s nose tip; but now, Yi Yun was slightly taller than Lin Xintong.

“Miss Lin, long time no see.” Yi Yun smiled shyly. Having been separated for so long, he had experienced so many things. Now that he met Lin Xintong again, it was natural that he had the feeling of meeting an old friend.

“Oh? Who are you?”

At that moment, a sharp female voice rang out. Yi Yun turned his head and he saw a middle-aged woman dressed in a red palatial gown slowly walking over.

Beside the woman was a white-haired elder.

When Lin Xintong saw those two people, she bowed slightly, “Lin Xintong greets (paternal) grand aunt and sixth grand uncle.”

The two of them were Lin Xintong’s elders, and they were members of the upper echelons of the Lin family.

The woman in palatial gown gave Yi Yun a deep glance. She was perplexed when Su Jie brought a youth that was either his in-name disciple or medicine boy to the Jade Bamboo Temple. After all, the Jade Bamboo Temple was the women’s residence in the Lin family. Typically, Su Jie would not bring an outsider to meet Xintong.

And since he brought him along, then it meant that Su Jie’s relationship with the kid was not ordinary. Now, it appeared that even Lin Xintong knew him. This astonished her even more.

“He is a friend of mine.” Lin Xintong calmly explained.

“Friend?” The woman repeated the word and frowned slightly. Looking at Yi Yun’s appearance, he did not appear to be from a large family clan. Ignoring anything else, just the interspatial rings on Yi Yun’s hands were common goods sold on the street. How did Lin Xintong befriend such a person?

Although she was unhappy, the woman did not say anything. Now, Lin Xintong’s status was sensitive. Other than that matter, she would abide by Lin Xintong’s intentions for any other matter.

“Grandaunt and sixth grand uncle, what are you doing in my bamboo porch?” Lin Xintong asked without much emotion. It appeared as if the two were not very welcomed.

“We are here to see you, Xintong. Why, do you not wish to see your grand aunt?” The woman said as she cordially held Lin Xintong’s hand.

In the Lin family, about half of the elders supported the Shentu family clan’s marriage proposal. The woman and the old man beside her were two of them.

To them, the marriage between the Shentu family clan and the Lin family was a win-win situation. Although in recent years, the Shentu family clan and the Lin family had been fighting due to all sorts of interests and had some old scores to settle on both sides, the small grudges were nothing compared to the gains laid in front of them.

The main reason was that a peerless Great Empress was too great a temptation for the Lin family.

Once the natural Yin Meridians were cured, Lin Xintong’s future prospects were limitless.

Compared to the ancient Great Empress, the Shentu Patriarch and the Desolate race’s Shepherd Boy who had appeared ten years ago were nothing.

She would definitely be a figure standing on the peak of the world. In this world’s vast history, few people could be chosen to match this peerless Great Empress.

Other than the family’s interest, this was also a very good thing for Lin Xintong. Lin Xintong’s lifespan was originally less than 500 years. She was destined to have her cultivation level capped before reaching the title of Sage. Such a tragic fate could be reversed with this.

Not only would she be the person who could dominate the entire Tian Yuan world, she would also gain several hundreds of thousands of years of lifespan. She could create her own era which was very enviable.

One had to know that for a figure like the Shentu Patriarch, lifespan was more attractive than strength!

That was at least a few hundred thousand years and maybe even millions of years worth of time. Where could one find such a good deal?

The woman in palatial gown only found it a pity that she was aged and lacking natural Yin Meridians, or else, she would have agreed to marry into the Shentu family clan 10,000 times and obtain that great opportunity. And marrying into the Shentu family clan was not an unacceptable matter either. After all, it was a large family clan that was almost equal to the Lin family. There was no lack of resources or heritage.

As for Shentu Nantian, if Lin Xintong did not like him, then she could maintain a distance. When warriors practiced martial arts, they would usually go into reclusive training for several years or several decades at a time. When Lin Xintong reached the Sage realm, she could go into reclusive training every year. Out of sight, out of mind, what was unacceptable?

Unfortunately, no matter how she persuaded a thousand or ten thousand times, Lin Xintong was unwilling to let her fate be arranged by others. This made the woman find it hard to understand. Would Lin Xintong rather die in 500 years than letting go of her so-called pride and accept this great opportunity that people wished they had?

Although many of the Elders in the family were in favor of this, they could not force her. As such, the matter had been dragged on. Many Elders had tried to enlighten Lin Xintong, but it was useless.

The woman knew that many of the Elders in the family did not have a good relationship with Lin Xintong.

This was because Lin Xintong was born with terminated meridians, which was equivalent to a crippled body. No matter how good her talent was, who would bother caring about a person who could not live for more than 500 years?

Lin Xintong was ignored in the family when she was young, she was even mocked.

However, there were two people who showed additional love to Lin Xintong. One was the Lin family’s Matriarch, and the other was Su Jie.

Lin Xintong’s relationship with the two of them was the deepest. If the Matriarch was willing to persuade Lin Xintong, then the result would definitely be different.

Alas, it had to be that the Matriarch was indecisive for the past two years. On one hand, the Matriarch was leaning towards letting Lin Xintong accept the Shentu family clan’s marriage proposal if they were able to refine that elixir. After all, she did not wish to see her most beloved granddaughter die before the age of 500.

Yet, on the other hand, she did not wish to force Lin Xintong against her will. As such, the Matriarch was indecisive. Besides, two years was nothing for martial artists. She was taking a wait-and-see attitude.

With the Matriarch not committing to it, the other person was Su Jie.

Su Jie’s attitude to the matter was vital. The woman knew that Su Jie had come to see Lin Xintong, so she had rushed here early in the morning. She was afraid that Su Jie would say something that he shouldn’t say, adding oil to the flames.

383 - : Lin Xintong Coming out of Reclusive Training

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Elder Su, it’s been a long time since we met.” Seeing Su Jie, the woman dressed in palatial attire said smiling.

Obviously, Su Jie knew what these two old fellows were here for. It was to spy on him.

Su Jie tersely responded without any further words.

And at that moment, Su Jie suddenly felt something. He turned around and saw a bevy of girls walk over from a short distance away. Most of them were young, and amongst them, there was a silver haired old granny wearing silk clothes.

This old granny held a dragon-head cane, and her hair was held in a golden jade hair clasp. Although her face was full of wrinkles, it was still a healthy pink in color.

The woman in palatial attire and Lin Xintong’s sixth granduncle immediately went forward. Yi Yun naturally understood that this silver-haired old granny in silk clothes was the Lin family’s old Matriarch.

Other than a few grand elders, the Matriarch was one of figures who held the most influence in the Lin family. She had even greater influence in matters concerning the internal affairs of the Lin family.

However, although the Matriarch held a high position in the Lin family, she did not give off the slightest bit of imposing pressure. Yi Yun really felt that this Matriarch in front of him was a normal old granny from a rich household that was amiable.

“Xintong, your reclusive retreat has been for so long…”

The Matriarch looked lovingly at Lin Xintong while Lin Xintong smiled sweetly and said, “Originally, I was planning to greet you today, but I never expected you to come here personally.”

Lin Xintong was very respectful and loving to the Lin family’s Matriarch.

She was the elder who loved her the most back in the day. When Lin Xintong was receiving the cold treatment in the family, the Matriarch had always cared for her.

If the Matriarch had any wish, Lin Xintong would do her best in fulfilling it.

Seeing the Lin family’s Matriarch come, Su Jie suddenly felt awkward. He originally planned to speak privately with Lin Xintong, asking for her thoughts. However, before he could even walk into Lin Xintong’s bamboo hut’s courtyard, all sorts of important figures of the Lin family had come one after another. Even the Matriarch had come.

Although Su Jie was Lin Xintong’s master, he was still an outsider in regards to the Lin family’s family affairs. Especially with the Matriarch present, there were words he could not say conveniently.

The Matriarch had guessed Su Jie’s thoughts and took the initiative to say, “Xintong, today with your master present, say whatever you want to say. This matter has been dragged on for two years. The old fellows in the elder roundtable have been arguing all this time. The Shentu family has also become increasingly annoying, maybe… it is time to make a decision.”

Once Matriarch Lin said these words, Lin Xintong’s grandaunt and granduncle immediately perked up their ears. They knew that if Matriarch Lin nodded her head slightly in front of Lin Xintong, that would be much better than them saying a million words.

This old granny’s attitude was very important!

At that moment, it was not appropriate for Su Jie to speak, so he could only look at Lin Xintong, leaving the decision up to her.

Su Jie was in dilemma. He wanted Lin Xintong to reject the marriage proposal. For her natural Yin Meridians, he had ran around for years, reading all sorts of ancient manuscripts, but he had never found a method to cure it. Now, the Shentu family clan, whom he never liked had announced that they had found the method. Emotionally, this was a bit unacceptable.

However… He was also worried that if Lin Xintong refused the marriage proposal, and if he could not save her, then Lin Xintong would die young. Of course, Su Jie did not wish to see such an ending.

Lin Xintong pursed her lips as she turned silent.

Everyone looked at Lin Xintong. Yi Yun also watched Lin Xintong’s expression, trying to guess her thoughts.

“Let us go into the yard first.” Lin Xintong said nonchalantly while she took the Matriarch, Su Jie and company into the bamboo hut’s small yard.

The yard was not large, but it was elegantly furnished. In the middle of the yard, there was an ancient rattan chair. Lin Xintong invited the Matriarch to sit down before Su Jie, sixth granduncle and grandaunt took their seats.

Lin Xintong brewed a pot of tea as she said softly, “Ever since I turned sensible, I knew about my natural terminated meridians and was destined to die young. As the Matriarch has cherished me, I was able to use the best elixirs, relics in the family when I practiced martial arts. At that time, there were older cousins who were unhappy about this. They said that I was destined to die, yet I wasted the family’s resources. If they received those items, they would accomplish all sorts of things. Paternal and maternal aunts always looked at me weirdly, saying I was a unlucky and that I was cursed to have such a body behind my back…”

Up to this, Lin Xintong’s voice was calm. However, Yi Yun and Su Jie found that the tone had a hint of sadness. Anyone could imagine what sort of mental scars a young girl, who was at the age when her self-esteem was invaluable, would receive when mocked in such a manner when the Matriarch was not around.

Yi Yun knew that the bitter times Lin Xintong endured while growing up was definitely not limited to what she had said.

When he first met Lin Xintong, he only knew her as a cherished daughter of Heaven that was high above. She was like a snow lotus at the top of a high mountain, unperturbed by worldly affairs. Who would have ever thought that she would have such a childhood?

“Child, it was hard on you.” The Matriarch sighed as she lovingly touched Lin Xintong’s face.

Lin Xintong gently held the Matriarch’s old hand and carried on, “When I was young, the Matriarch would tell me every time I felt hurt that the natural terminated meridians had a cure. She even said that if I were to join up my terminated meridians, then I would become a Great Empress that was strongest in the entire Tian Yuan world.”

“From then, I swore in my heart that I would definitely join up my terminated meridians in this life.”

“I was unwilling to accept the machinations of fate. I was not willing to let them look at me like that, or letting them looking forward to my death.”

“This thought began taking root, sprouting and growing from a very young age. Slowly, it has become the greatest thought and pursuit of my life.”

When Lin Xintong said this, Yi Yun recalled the words Lin Xintong said when they were in the Cloud Wilderness’s Desolate Human Valley.

Back then, he only found Lin Xintong pure and determined. She was going against all odds, despite knowing they were against, but he never knew why Lin Xintong was behaving like that.

At that moment, Lin Xintong’s grandaunt could not resist saying, “Xintong, since you have thought it through, why are you in a dilemma? Now, the chance is right in front of you. As long as you nod your head, wouldn’t the thought you had since you were young be accomplished? When you become a peerless Great Empress and live for generations, that would be something countless number of people would envy!”

“When you were young, indeed, I did not care for you enough, but… the family has so many children. Which elder is able to take into account every child’s feelings? I gave you the cold treatment when you were young, but now, I have repeatedly appeared before you and persuade you with this old face of mine. I know that you do not have any good feelings for a snobbish person like me. In fact, your heart is filled with contempt and disdain, but you just do not say it.”

“However, whatever I say is reasonable. Xintong, I will not mention anything about the family. I know you don’t like hearing about that. Then let me ask you, life and your innocence, which is more important?”

This woman indeed had good intentions and she was honest. Yi Yun had to admit that for her to say those words with her status, she was pretty to the point.

Life and innocence, which was more important?

Probably 99% of girls would choose the former.

Lin Xintong nodded, “Grandaunt, you are right. I already understood all of these reasonings when I returned home two years ago and received the news.”

“However… I don’t want to. It is not because I dislike the Shentu family clan, and it has nothing to do with the questionable character of Shentu Nantian. But… I do not want to use my own body in exchange for a martial path carefully paved by someone else.”

“The goals I set when I was young did not only include joining up the terminated meridians, it also included searching for the pinnacle of martial arts after I joined up my terminated meridians.”

“For martial artists, their martial path is embedded in their hearts. Practicing martial arts is to go against the Heavens. It is originally fraught with difficulties!”

“Joining up natural terminated meridians may be difficult, but can it be more difficult than exceeding a peerless Great Emperor? However, up to now, there has not been a person who has gone beyond the realm of peerless Great Emperor.”

“The practice of martial arts is perilous, it requires one to open up a new path forcefully on the way up the dangerous peak that has no path. If I were to sell my beliefs and body to exchange for this path, then, even though I become a Great Empress, so what? In my heart, there would be a seed of failure buried in. With my beliefs sold, it would never be restored. Then, I would probably not have any breakthrough after I became a Great Empress. I probably will never reach the realm of the peerless Great Empress from the past.”

“This is not what I want. My life has just begun. Although my lifespan may seem very short to you, but to a common mortal, it is already extremely long. Since I am determined to fight for my destiny, then my fight has just begun now. I still have nearly 500 years I can use. Why would I give up now?”

When Lin Xintong said this, everyone turned quiet.

Yi Yun drew in a deep breath. Lin Xintong’s words really shocked him. Her determination was something he had never seen throughout his life.

The Matriarch’s eyebrows ticked before she finally let out a long sigh, “Xintong, you are still so stubborn. However, sometimes, some paths cannot be opened up just with faith.”

The Matriarch had ultimately experienced a lot. She was very awed of this world.

When people are young, they would often be arrogant and frivolous. They would often wish to challenge everything in the world, believing that they could defy fate. They believed that if they had the perseverance and ability, anything could be done.

However, compared to young people, older people tended to succumb to reality. In the end, the Matriarch still did not believe that by abandoning the opportunity the Shentu family clan provided, Lin Xintong would be able to defy the fatal fate that awaited her.

Often, reality was much more cruel than the ideal.

Beside Su Jie, Yi Yun could tell that the Lin family’s Matriarch was most concerned about Lin Xintong’s life. She did not wish to see her grandchild die before her.

Hence… she had already leaned towards accepting the Shentu family clan’s offer.

Yi Yun suddenly said, “Do you all think that the Shentu family clan can definitely heal Miss Lin?”

384 - : Lin Xintong’s wishes

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s comment was very sudden. Instantly, everyone in the yard looked towards Yi Yun.

At that moment, Yi Yun was standing behind Su Jie’s seat. He completely looked like a young medicine boy. From the moment Yi Yun appeared, no one had noticed him, other than Lin Xintong’s grandaunt from before. She had only spoken to him because Yi Yun knew Lin Xintong.

If Lin Xintong had not greeted Yi Yun, she would have treated him like thin air.

“What are you? Do you know your manners!? Do you even have the right to speak here?”

This was a matter of the Lin family. Even Su Jie did not have much right to speak as he was an outsider. From the beginning to now, Su Jie had been mostly been listening.

And with Su Jie’s status, if he really wanted to make a comment, the Lin family would listen. However, how could a follower of Su Jie, who looked like a sidekick youth, have the right to interject while the upper echelons of the Lin family were talking?

Not even the Lin family, even in a big mortal household, if a servant were to suddenly interrupt his master while he was speaking, he would only end up being smacked in the mouth!

Due to Su Jie, the grandaunt could not do anything to Yi Yun. After all, she had been lowering her status to persuade Lin Xintong today, and she was feeling a burning rage. If Yi Yun was a member of the Lin family, she would have dragged him away to be punished according to the family rules.

Before Su Jie spoke, Yi Yun directly said, “I’m Yun Yantian, Elder Su’s in-name disciple.”

Yi Yun casually gave himself a name. He used his original name, Yun as his surname. ‘Yan’ was a homophone, and actually meant concealment. Yun Yantian then meant clouds (Yun) concealing (Yan) the sky (Tian). It also secretly expressed Yi Yun’s martial arts goal.

At the same time, Shentu Nantian’s name also had a ‘Tian’, so clouds (Yun) concealing (Yan) the sky (Tian) also meant Yi Yun was concealing Shentu Nantian. This was an evil pun Yi Yun used when giving himself the name.

“In-name disciple?” When the woman in palatial gown heard this, her face turned gloomy. An in-name disciple’s status was low, yet he dared to speak to her here?

She was nearly about to go into a rage when Lin Xintong stood up and said, “Grandaunt, he is my friend.”

The woman wanted to say something but it got stuck in her throat momentarily, “Friend?”

This word made her feel uncomfortable. What kind of status did the Lin family have? Lin Xintong was also the greatest figure of the Lin family’s younger generation. She could become a peerless Great Empress in the future, yet she made friends with such a person?

If it was her granddaughter, she would have reprimanded her. However, against Lin Xintong, she did not dare do so. She could only tone down her expression and said patiently, “Xintong, it is your prerogative to make friends, but you must see what sort of person someone is. You have a dignified background and you will have limitless achievements in the future. If you want to make friends, they have to be people like Shentu Nantian, who come from a large family clan. They are youths who will amount to great things in the future. As for some cats and dogs, or riff-raff, it is best you don’t mix around with them, or you would lose your dignity and be ridiculed by others. What do you say, Xintong?”

The woman tried to make her speech sound kind, but even so, her words were filled with superiority. They included referring Yi Yun to cats and dogs or riff-raff, and this angered Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong’s eyebrows frowned as she spoke coldly, “Grandaunt, he is my friend. As for you, you can only be considered my elder. You have lived a long time, and have seen numerous people and encountered numerous matters. You should understand the meaning of how a mere acquaintance should not sow discord between two close people.”

The words Lin Xintong did not include any swear words, but it immediately turned the woman’s face white!

A mere acquaintance should not sow discord between two close people!

The woman in the palatial gown was Lin Xintong’s grandaunt, but as for Yi Yun, what sort of person was he to Lin Xintong?

He was just a friend, and a friend of an unknown closeness at that.

However, Lin Xintong had actually said “Mere acquaintance should not sow discord between two close people!”

This meant that in Lin Xintong’s heart, she as the grandaunt was the mere acquaintance. She was dispensable. As for this riff-raff, Yi Yun, he held a greater spot in Lin Xintong’s heart than the grandaunt, her!

Previously, Lin Xintong also said that the woman “can only be” considered Lin Xintong’s elder.

This also meant that other than the relation of being of the same clan and the elder-junior relationship that could not be wiped off, she as a grandaunt was nothing in Lin Xintong’s heart.

With her status as someone who was more distant, she was being presumptuous and being offensive by criticizing the kid who was closer to Lin Xintong.

“You… ” The woman’s voice trembled slightly. To have those sharp words aimed at her in front of so many people, including the Matriarch and the juniors the Matriarch brought, she had lost all face!

However, she could not refute a word. When Lin Xintong was young and suffered all sorts of abuse from her family, she as a grandaunt had never played a positive role. On the contrary, she had taken on a conniving attitude.

It was only two years ago when Lin Xintong could become a peerless Great Empress and become a transcendent figure of the Shentu family clan and Lin family in the far future, did she try to deepen the ties with Lin Xintong. However, what was the point?

To Lin Xintong, being courteous to her grandaunt was purely out of the respect for one’s elders. If it involved her friends or her master, things would completely be different.

“Xintong, how can you be so brazen with your words!?” The Matriarch rebuked, helping the woman in palatial attire to ease the situation.

The grandaunt had lost face as she glanced angrily at Yi Yun, “Matriarch, this kid is young and of lowly status. He doesn’t know anything, yet, here he is jumping onto a Shentu family clan and Lin family matter that only Great Emperors can decide. He really doesn’t know his place!”

The Shentu family clan and Lin family’s great matter was decided by the upper echelons, so for a junior to join in the discussion, it naturally gave others the feeling that he did not know the rules and that he was immature and ridiculous.

Yi Yun said calmly, “I was only listing a possibility. The Shentu family clan may not be able to cure Miss Lin.”

“What a joke. When a large family clan does things, do you think it’s children playing House? If they do not even have the slightest confidence, wouldn’t they end up being the laughing stock of the world?”

“Besides, our Lin family will verify it ourselves to guarantee complete success. Do you think that the Elders of our Lin family cannot come up with thoughts that you thought of? That their insights are inferior to yours?”

“Do you know the Desolate Heaven technique? Do you know the ancient recipe? You are just Su Jie’s in-name disciple!”

“Indeed, lads are ignorant, and their words are hilarious!”

The woman retorted in a sarcastic tone like a cannon. Yi Yun took that in silently, making it seem like he had been dumbfounded by the woman’s words.

This finally allowed her to feel a sense of relief. However, Yi Yun’s status was after all lowly. To partake in such an exchange still made her feel like she had lowered her status and it was not worth it.

To her, this feeling was like being bitten by a bug. So what if she had trampled the bug? She had still been bitten by the bug.

“Matriarch.” The woman was afraid the Matriarch would hesitate on this matter, so she turned to the Matriarch and said, “The Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven technique has extraordinary heritage that has no reason to be doubted. It is indeed a level higher than our Lin family. If the Lin family allies with the Shentu family clan, then when Lin Xintong takes on a commanding role, our Lin family’s Desolate Heaven technique heritage would also probably upgrade a level.”

“The Desolate Heaven technique tea session organized by the Shentu family clan will be in two months time. At that time, the Shentu family clan should be able to prove their ability to cure Xintong’s terminated meridians!”

As the woman in palatial attire said, she glanced at Su Jie with a mocking look. “Elder Su, you must have already prepared for the Desolate Heaven technique tea session, right?”

The woman knew that Su Jie would definitely suffer a defeat at the tea session. Although his Desolate Heaven technique standard was extremely high, he would not be able to resist against the gurus of the Shentu family clan. No matter how strong Su Jie was, he would probably lose.

The woman was not on good terms with Su Jie, so seeing Su Jie suffer naturally made her delighted. Also, if the Shentu family clan proved their strength, then it would support her position. As no matter how she saw it, this marriage would only benefit the Lin family.

“You do not need to worry about my preparations. Why? You seem to look forward to the Lin family being trampled on?”

Since he did not have a good impression of her and had been targeted by her mean words, Su Jie naturally would not take it sitting down. He immediately attacked back verbally.

“Elder Su, you don’t need to imply that I’m helping others secretly. Of course I wish the Lin family to be in the limelight, but I would not blindly dream. Does it mean you will win just because I wish you will win?”

Seeing the woman about to quarrel with Su Jie, the Matriarch’s face sank and reprimanded the woman, “Quiet! Have some decency!”

Su Jie was the Lin family’s in-house guest, so he naturally had to be treated respectfully or he could easily just leave. The Matriarch would naturally reprimand the woman in palatial attire if she argued with Su Jie.

The woman stayed silent. She had said those words on a whim.

The Matriarch leaned on her dragon-head cane and stood up, “Elder Su, the original intention of the tea session is for the Shentu family clan to showcase their Desolate Heaven technique standard. However, they have prepared well in advance, and we did not have much time to prepare as well as our comparatively lower heritage, we might be suppressed.”

“Having said so, our Lin family should not lose too badly. I hope I can rely on Elder Su for this matter! You must uphold the Lin family’s reputation.”

The Matriarch’s voice was sincere as Su Jie nodded, “I will do my best. May the Matriarch be at ease!”

“Alright.” The Matriarch nodded and turned towards Lin Xintong, “Xintong, I will not force you. You should walk down your own path. You still have a long life ahead.”

“I have lived so long and have seen too many people and things. Having experienced so much, I only want to tell you that you are still young. Whatever you are thinking of now, and what you are insisting on now might be childish and ridiculous when you really grow up a few thousand years in the future.”

“What you hold deeply might not be what you want… You might rather die now, but eventually, you might accept it despite the humiliation. Maybe one day, you might even celebrate that you had given in… ”

After the Matriarch finished speaking, she used her cane and under the companionship of the group of girls, left.

385 - : A mere acquaintance should not sow discord between two close people

CKtalon  CKtalon

After separating from Lin Xintong, Su Jie began his two-month reclusive training period. Regardless of anything, he could not make any mistakes for the Desolate Heaven technique tea session.

As for Yi Yun, he also began his Desolate Heaven technique training. Yi Yun had already received everything from the Mystic Crystal Hand and Small Thousand Seal techniques that Su Jie could teach him. The remaining training only depended on himself.

Yi Yun locked himself in the independent bone refinement room Su Jie had prepared for him. In front of him were all kinds of desolate bone materials. Some of these materials were provided by Su Jie, while the rest were obtained from desolate beasts he killed while he was in the Divine Wilderness.

Originally, all these materials were supposed to be handed over to the Tai Ah Divine City to exchange for glory points, but after the alliance tournament, glory points lost its meaning for Yi Yun. Hence, Yi Yun kept them for himself.

Practicing the Desolate Heaven technique was a very boring process. It also expended his mental powers greatly. Yi Yun would often spend a day and a night in the bone refinement room at a time.

The way he practiced the Desolate Heaven technique was to use the Purple Crystal to extract the Power of Desolates, and by controlling the Power of Desolates, he would constantly form seals, destroy them, form seals and destroy them again.

One runic seal would usually be repeated a few hundred times. It was done until it was branded in Yi Yun’s mind, it was something that became muscle memory.

Originally, after Su Jie taught Yi Yun the Mystic Crystal Hand, Yi Yun was able to perfectly form more than fifty seals with the Mystic Crystal Hand. Very soon, Yi Yun managed to perfectly form the remaining forty runic seals.

However, that was not enough as Yi Yun was using extremely low-grade desolate bones when he was practicing the Mystic Crystal Hand.

Low-grade desolate bones contained very little Power of Desolates and they were easy to control. As the grade of the desolate bones increased, it also became harder to use the Mystic Crystal Hand to control the Power of Desolates to form seals.

Even with Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal, he was unable to ignore such a rule.

After all, the Mystic Crystal Hand and Small Thousand Seal were ‘one-size fits all seals’ techniques. The higher the realm one reached in the Desolate Heaven technique, more the inadequate the two seals appeared to be.

“These two techniques are not a long term solution. However, my Desolate Heaven technique is currently limited. I am lacking in cultivation time as well. To complete all these complicated hand seals is not easy. It is even more impossible to master it quickly in two months…”

Yi Yun had already made his plans. The Mystic Crystal Hand and Small Thousand Seal were just used in transition. When a Desolate Heaven Master practiced the Desolate Heaven technique, there was definitely a process of going from simple to difficult. There had to be a transitional process.

As for the next stage, Yi Yun had already chosen a few sealing techniques he had planned on learning. All of these techniques had the feature of being more broad in scope. Yi Yun temporarily did not plan to learn those seals that aimed at a particular type of energy as his time was too precious.

Yi Yun practiced day and night for ten days. He would often practice till his mental strength was depleted. He would meditate for a while before immersing himself in practicing again.

To completely drain his mental strength, and then carry on practicing after a short meditation was also a form of training for his soul.

*Knock! Knock! Knock*!

At that moment, a knock sounded outside the bone refinement room. Yi Yun stopped what he was doing and frowned slightly. Typically, when Desolate Heaven Masters practiced, it was taboo to be disturbed as it was easy to cause a seal that was formed to be undone.

“Who is it?”

Yi Yun walked to the stone door and opened the door with a solemn expression. Yi Yun saw a young lady standing at the door.

Currently, Yi Yun’s hair was messy and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked ferocious and scary, causing the young lady to be stunned.

“Who are you?” Yi Yun’s voice was slightly hoarse. The continuous practicing had caused Yi Yun’s mental state to be somewhat suppressed.

“Young Master Yun… Yun.” The young lady swallowed a mouthful of saliva. These days, Yi Yun had been using the fake name of Yun Yantian, so she naturally addressed him as Young Master Yun.

Actually, in the entire Lin family, other than Lin Xintong and Su Jie, almost no one cared about Yi Yun. For figures like Lin Xintong’s grandaunt, she disliked Yi Yun, but she would not pay much attention to him.

As for the other Desolate Heaven Master apprentices who had seen Yi Yun’s performance back then, they could not be bothered with him as they had the idea that Yi Yun was just a phony who was fishing for fame.

Yi Yun would often be locked in the independent bone refinement room by himself and he would not have any contact with them, so when the young lady in front of him suddenly addressed him as “Young Master Yun”, Yi Yun was slightly taken aback.

The young lady took out an interspatial ring timidly, “This… This is given by our family’s Miss. Soul… Soul Nurturing relic, and… and the ring, Miss said that… it’s for Young Master Yun to… use.”

The young lady handed the interspatial ring over to Yi Yun in a fluster before turning to run away. She was really afraid when she saw Yi Yun’s bloodshot eyes and ferocious image.

Yi Yun was stunned for a while before recovering. This girl was Lin Xintong’s maidservant. Back in Lin Xintong’s courtyard, he had seen this maidservant, and he had seen her at random.

So it was sent by Miss Lin.

Yi Yun looked at the interspatial ring in his hand. Probing it with his spiritual energy, he realized the capacity of the interspatial ring was more than ten times the rings he had. It was really a magical item.

It was probably because Lin Xintong felt that Yi Yun was despised by the woman in palatial attire due to his equipment. His equipment allowed the woman to tell at a glance that Yi Yun was not a rich person and that he had come from a small place.

Taking out the item from the ring, it was a crystal clear jade box. When he opened it, a green desolate bone relic rolled out from the jade box.

It was the Soul Nurturing relic. It was not the name of a relic, but the overall name of a type of relics. Consuming such relics could allow one’s mental strength to rapidly recover.

Lin Xintong must have learned from Su Jie that he was practicing the Desolate Heaven technique.

After hesitating for a while, Yi Yun took the green relic and popped it into his mouth.

With the relic in his mouth, Yi Yun gently chewed on it. It was like he was biting on a soft sweet.

Yi Yun swallowed the Soul Nurturing and he felt it turn into a hot stream that entered his soul. Yi Yun felt like he was being cleansed in a pool of spring water. His mind cleared and the headache he was having reduced greatly.

Clearly, this was a very good Soul Nurturing relic.

Indeed, with Lin Xintong’s status in the Lin family, the resources she could use were all top notch.

Yi Yun felt a warm surge in his heart. It was naturally not convenient for him to meet Lin Xintong now. It was not easy for Lin Xintong to still remember that he was practicing the Desolate Heaven technique and send a maidservant to give him a Soul Nurturing relic.

This box of Soul Nurturing relics was a timely gift for Yi Yun. With this, he was able to practice the Desolate Heaven technique more smoothly.

After recovering some mental strength and closing the jade box, Yi Yun began the dry practicing process once again.

When warriors trained in martial arts, they were destined to be lonely. It was also the same when practicing the Desolate Heaven technique!

In front of Yi Yun, there was a long Desolate Heaven technique stone bench. On it was a row of desolate bones. From left to right, these desolate bones were arranged in according to their grade.

The leftmost desolate bones were normal desolate bones. Yi Yun had already perfectly completed the Mystic Crystal Hand and Small Thousand Seal on those desolate bones.

In the middle were desolate bones that were from general ranked desolate beasts, as well as king-ranked desolate beasts.

These two types of desolate bones were Yi Yun’s training focus.

And on the right side were the highest grade desolate bones. It was the Golden Crow species’s bones that Yi Yun had obtained in Fallen Star Gate!

After Yi Yun killed the Golden Crow species, he did not waste any of its body’s materials. Yi Yun had nearly finished the Golden Crow blood in the alliance tournament.

Yi Yun still kept the remaining feathers, claws, desolate beast meat and the most precious desolate bones.

Yi Yun quietly turned his gaze on the primordial strain’s desolate bones. The dark red desolate bone seemed to be glowing red-hot…

There were still two months left, there… should be enough time.

386 - : Soul Nurturing Relic

CKtalon  CKtalon

Time passed by without Yi Yun realizing it as Yi Yun quietly practiced without knowing the time of the day. It was until one day when another person knocked on his door. This time, it was not Lin Xintong’s maidservant, but the female Desolate Heaven Master apprentice he met when he first entered the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven technique hall. She was the disciple of that middle-aged man whose surname was Sun.

“Senior brother Yun, my master ordered me to tell you that the Desolate Heaven technique tea session will begin tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning?” Yi Yun ruffled his unkempt hair. He gave people the impression of him having just woke up.

Two months have passed… How time flies.

The young lady’s gaze looked past Yi Yun’s body all the way to what was behind Yi Yun. Seeing this, she covered her mouth in surprise.

There was no other reason other than Yi Yun’s bone refinement room being too messy. It looked like it had been swept by bandits.

Four to five Desolate Heaven technique disk arrays were messily placed on the stone benches. There were materials scattered on the ground. Most of these materials had their energy extracted. Some were cracked, while others broken. Some had even turned to powder.

If one walked into the bone refinement room, there was not even a spot to place one’s foot. It was not an exaggeration at all.

“Thank you. What is your name?” Yi Yun casually asked.

“Senior brother Yun, my name is Xiaoqi.” The young lady crisply said.

“So, it’s Junior sister Xiaoqi! Has my master come out of reclusive training?”

“He’s out. Elder Su is now in the hall chatting with my master!”

“I got it. Junior sister Xiaoqi, if you are going back, please inform my master to get someone to clean up this bone refinement room. Since the Desolate Heaven technique tea session is tomorrow, I will need to get some rest.”

Saying this, Yi Yun nonchalantly picked up some of the materials that were still useful and stuffed them all into his interspatial ring. Following that, he rubbed his head and walked past the young lady.

After hearing that, the young lady was somewhat dumbstruck. He had asked for her name just to say this?

To get Elder Su to find someone to clean up the bone refinement room?

Xiaoqi felt speechless. This Senior brother Yun, who was just an in-name disciple, had actually ordered Elder Su!

A disciple had ordered his master and said it as if it was something taken for granted. What the heck!?

Elder Su’s position in the Lin family was extraordinary. He was even higher in status than her own master, so who could order him around usually? Furthermore, it was ordering him to do some trivial matter.

Seeing Yi Yun walk further away, Xiaoqi wanted to run over to him and drag him back. However, she was introverted, and although she opened her mouth, she did not say a word. At that moment, Yi Yun had already disappeared around the bend of a corridor.

Xiaoqi stood there in a daze for a while. In the end, she did not have the courage to go to Su Jie and get him to order someone to clean up the bone refinement room. If she did so, her master alone would have scolded her, whatmore, Su Jie.

And in the end, her master would definitely order her to clean up the bone refinement room. After all, many of the things in the bone refinement room could only be cleaned by people with knowledge of the Desolate Heaven technique. A normal person would not do.

Just thinking of this made Xiaoqi feel somewhat pissed.

This person had gone too far. He had used such a good independent practice room that she did not even have the chance to use. It had been messed up by him into such a state. Did he even have a civic mind!?

Xiaoqi was angry but she had no other avail. As she looked at the poor state of the bone refinement room, she stamped her feet and finally tip-toed into the room.

“I’ll treat it as if I owe you one!” Xiaoqi gritted her teeth as she said that.

She began cleaning the bone refinement room up. When she approached the Desolate Heaven technique stone bench, the surface was covered in a layer of bone powder. Other places were also messy. She estimated that she would take at least an hour to clean the mess up.

Xiaoqi felt aggrieved. As she cursed Yi Yun, she cleaned up the place. She had ended up cleaning for something that had nothing to do with her.

As she was cleaning the garbage up, Xiaoqi suddenly felt something peculiar. On the corner of the Desolate Heaven technique stone bench, she discovered a very peculiar material residue.

It was a desolate bone that had already turned into dust.

Typical desolate bones would turn grayish-white in color after having their energy extracted and turn to dust. However, this desolate bone still remained dark red in color even after it became powder. It was very peculiar.

And when Xiaoqi touched the red powder, she could vaguely feel its heat. It was not residue heat from heating the powder, but heat from the powder itself. This was because within it was fire-elemental energy or pure Yang energy.

“He did not even extract the material properly. There is still so much Power of Desolates left. Such a waste.”

Xiaoqi mumbled to herself, but she could not recognize what sort of desolate bone it was. After all, its energy had been extracted, and there were too many types of desolate bones. Even a Desolate Heaven Master would not be able to distinguish it easily.

Xiaoqi threw all of the powder into a bag…

…

Yi Yun returned to a room Su Jie had prepared for him. The moment his head hit the bed, he went into a deep sleep.

He was too tired after two months of intense practice.

Usually when Yi Yun rested, he would just meditate, however, this time meditation was not enough.

Yi Yun quickly entered deep sleep. His perception was completely cut off as his soul went into a deep sleep state. All his mental activity stopped.

Yi Yun slept for about 15 hours, for nearly the entire night and half an afternoon.

Only until the sky lit up did Yi Yun faintly wake up.

After he laid in bed for a moment, he suddenly leaped up. The room was dimly lit, but Yi Yun’s eyes were sparkling. They were like two beams of ghostly lightning.

Looking into his soul, Yi Yun realized that the Heaven’s Eye in his mind had already slowly formed its shape. Now, Yi Yun had completely opened his Heaven’s Eye.

This change was brought forth by Yi Yun’s strengthening of his mental strength.

Intense practicing of the Desolate Heaven technique had expanded Yi Yun’s soul.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and spat out a breath. He saw a visible sword Qi fly out.

Now, Yi Yun felt better than ever before. His brain felt infinitely awake. He was completely aware of everything happening in his surroundings.

It was time to participate in the Desolate Heaven technique tea session. Yi Yun took a comfortable shower and changed into dry and clean clothes. Wearing the mask Su Jie left him, he walked out of his residence.

He gently pinched his throat to change his voice. This was not much different from his original voice, but under such circumstances, the Shentu family clan was unlikely to imagine that an ant-like Yi Yun who have been crippled of his cultivation would appear in the Lin family. He had even suddenly transformed into a Desolate Heaven Master of the Lin family, and he was Su Jie’s disciple.

The status difference between the two was too great. So, no matter how great the Shentu family clan’s imagination was, it was very difficult to connect them together.

From a distance, Yi Yun could see a huge airship land on the Tian Hua peak. There was a symbol Yi Yun was very familiar with engraved on the airship. It was the Shentu family clan’s coat of arms!

The Shentu family clan had already arrived.

387 - : Desolate Heaven Technique Tea Session Begins

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Tian Hua peak was one of the 18 main peaks in the Lin family’s Jade Spirit Mountains. The Desolate Heaven technique tea session was held in the Tian Hua Garden on the Tian Hua peak.

In contrast to vast expanse of jade bamboo on the Jade Bamboo peak, the garden on Tian Hua’s peak reared all sorts of magical herbs. In addition, energy gathering arrays made it so that the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the Tian Hua Garden was extremely thick.

Every morning, there would be a thin mountain fog in the Tian Hua Garden, and due to the rich Heaven Earth Yuan Qi mixing with the fog, just taking a deep breath would make one’s pores open up. It was extremely comfortable.

In the inner regions of the Tian Hua Garden, there was a lake with clear water. On the lake’s surface, there was a green building. In front of the building was a square, and surrounding the square were pavilions made of jade. This was the site where the Desolate Heaven technique tea session was being held at.

“You are Senior brother Yun?”

Lin Qing asked uncertainly as she looked oddly at Yi Yun’s mask when he neared his seat.

The reason she asked was because the seats had been arranged for the tea session. When Yi Yun came to the Tian Hua Garden he was met by a receptionist. To enter, Yi Yun had to show his identity token, which had been made for him earlier.

Yi Yun nodded at Lin Qing and used his original voice, “It is me.”

“Why are you wearing a mask?” As she had been forced to clean up Yi Yun’s mess, Lin Qing’s impression of Yi Yun was no longer as good as before. Now, Yi Yun was even wearing a mask, trying to act cool for the Desolate Heaven technique tea session.

Yi Yun’s mask was entirely silverish-white in color. At the placement of the eyes there were two blood-red lines. It looked scary at first glance. In the Desolate Heaven Master circles, there were some people who pretended to be mysterious and liked to wear masks. They purposely gave off an enigmatic feeling, but in fact, their skills were not that great.

At that moment, Yi Yun saw the Shentu family clan’s airship land by the side of the lake. Many of the Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven Masters, and their younger generation, emerged from the airship. Crossing the rainbow bridge over the lake, they walked to the square in the center of it.

These people took turns to be seated. In the world of warriors, there was a hierarchical system. Those who sat closer to the center, where the seats of honor were, they were the important figures from the various large family clans and the top-ranked Desolate Heaven Masters from everywhere. And in the outer regions sat the children from normal family clan members and the disciples of many Desolate Heaven Masters.

Yi Yun naturally sat in the outer regions. As he was about to be seated, Yi Yun’s footsteps stopped as his motions slowed down.

He saw that, by the lake, a man dressed in green was disembarking the Shentu family clan’s airship. People clustered around him before he stepped onto the rainbow bridge on the lake.

The man held a folding fan in his hand and wore a headband. His green clothes were extremely simple. but since he was surrounded by many people, it was clear that he was someone important. His every move did not feel like he was showing off, and they were in fact gentle and charming. It made those who saw him feel extremely comfortable.

Shentu Nantian!

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed.

Meeting Shentu Nantian now was no different from the first time Yi Yun saw him. Back then, Shentu Nantian gave one the feeling of a humble scholar.

Only when Jiang Xiaorou’s identity was discovered by Shentu Nantian did he showcase his ferocious side.

“Young Master Nantian, it must have been hard on your to come all the way here.”

On the rainbow bridge, a few custodians of the Lin family were responsible for receiving the important figures of the Shentu Nantian for today. Shentu Nantian, who could likely become one of the in-laws of the Lin family and the family head of the Shentu family clan, was naturally one of them.

“Young Master Nantian, this way, please.” The Lin family’s custodian was very attentive. Once Lin Xintong’s terminated meridians were joined up, then as long as Lin Xintong wished it, she would taken over the helm of the Lin family in the future. As for Shentu Nantian, who would become Lin Xintong’s fiance, his status would become even more important. Hence, the custodian had to do his best to treat him well.

“Well, thank you.” Shentu Nantian said very politely as he smiled warmly.

Shentu Nantian slowly walked and behind him were three of the top Desolate Heaven Master apprentices from the Shentu family clan. They were all young and had little reputation. However, they followed Shentu Nantian all the way to the seats of honor. Although they did not sit in the first row, and sat in the few rows at the back, those seats were still only spots for outer Elders.

The custodian who was in charge of the reception did not feel good seeing them sit there as if a matter of course. The young generation of the Lin family, other than Lin Xintong, were all seated in the outer seats. The only person from the Lin family’s younger generation who could sit in the seats of honor was Lin Xintong herself.

“These three are…?” The custodian asked somewhat awkwardly as he minced his words to indicate that they were not suited to sit there.

Shentu Nantian said without heeding, “They are the most outstanding Desolate Heaven Masters of the Tian Yuan world’s younger generation. Shentu Feng, Shentu Hai are from my Shentu family clan, and this is Song Ziyue from the Song family.”

The Song family that Shentu Nantian mentioned was a family clan the Shentu family clan had an alliance with. Although they were slightly lacking compared to the Shentu Nantian in terms of power, they were still one of the top family clans in the Tian Yuan world.

Since it was clear that the Shentu family clan was letting Shentu Nantian be the host of the Desolate Heaven technique tea session, the custodian in charge of receiving him decided not to speak any further.

“This Shentu family clan sure is arrogant.”

On the Lin family’s side, several younger disciples noticed this. The juniors of the Shentu family clan, who had the same qualifications of them, were blatantly sitting near the middle of the square. In contrast, they were all sitting on the pavilions surrounding the center of the lake.

This Desolate Heaven technique tea session was originally a competition between the Shentu family clan and Lin family’s Desolate Heaven Masters, but before it began, the Shentu family clan had already suppressed them with their stance. How could the juniors of the Lin family agree to that?

“These bunch of grandsons of the Shentu family clan really think as if they are some big shots!”

Beside Yi Yun and Lin Qing, a Lin family junior swore. This person’s name was Lin Yuan. He was a fellow disciple of Lin Qing as he was also a disciple of the middle-aged man whose surname was Sun.

Lin Yuan was slightly older than Yi Yun, so although it seemed like the Lin family was about to have marriage ties with the Shentu family clan soon, Lin Yuan still did not like the Shentu family clan. He never found the Shentu family clan pleasing to the eye.

“Junior sister, wait and see. When the tea session begins, I will show those bunch of grandsons what strength is!”

Lin Yuan patted himself on the chest as he spoke to Lin Qing. He liked this distant cousin that was a few years younger than him. Showcasing himself in front of her and gaining her adulation would definitely be a joyous matter.

Little Lin Qing nodded her head vigorously, as if she trusted this disciple senior of hers greatly.

And beside Lin Qing, a few 14-15 year old children echoed, “Haha, Senior brother Lin will definitely show his awesomeness and impress that bunch of Shentu family clan fellows!”

Lin Yuan’s status amongst these children was very high. He could be regarded as the leader of this bunch of children.

The small pavilion that Lin Yuan, Lin Qing and Yi Yun were sitting at was called the Evening Breeze Pavilion. About a fifth of the Lin family’s 13-16 year old Desolate Heaven technique apprentices sat at the Evening Breeze Pavilion.

Practicing the Desolate Heaven technique required a long period of time. For Desolate Heaven technique apprentices, one’s skill was mostly determined by age under the situation where everyone’s talent was similar.

The standard of the Desolate Heaven technique of 13-16 year old children was pretty limited. As Lin Yuan was the oldest amongst the youths in the Evening Breeze Pavilion, he was also the senior brother of the pavilion. As such, the other children who were lacking in the Desolate Heaven technique treated Lin Yuan as their leader. This did not mean that Lin Yuan was really a genius in the Desolate Heaven technique.

Lin Yuan knew how to play his role and quickly gathered the children together to discuss their battle strategy. Lin Yuan knew that the Shentu family clan was not easily handled.

At that moment, the Desolate Heaven technique tea session officially began.

Since it was called a tea session, there was of course tea. Pots of good spirit tea was served along with all sorts of pastries.

The materials used to make the tea and pastries were all treasures and their value was obvious.

In the seats of honor, the tea and pastries were even higher in quality. These things could normally only be exchanged for with the Lin family’s family contribution points. This made many children of the Lin family feel unhappy. Such good things were being fed to the dogs.

When Yi Yun saw the teacup in front of him, he noticed that the tea was crystal clear, as if it was molten amber. The tea’s fragrance was refreshing. With the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, he could clearly see densely packed light dots in it. They were all made of pure Yuan Qi.

This was just tea normal juniors drank and was considered the lowest quality tea served in the Desolate Heaven technique tea session.

Even so, this tea cup shocked Yi Yun greatly. If this tea was in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, it was probably a tribute for the royal palace.

The Tian Yuan world was indeed luxurious. In such an environment, with all the top resources, and lands much bigger than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, coupled with even better family clan heritages and traditions, all of this gave rise to young elites that were higher than the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s by an entire realm or more.

This also made Yi Yun sigh. He went from the poor Cloud Wilderness, where he could not even eat his fill, to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. From there, he then went to the Tian Yuan world. He had really witnessed the world’s great contrast in levels.

It was like in his previous life. The richest people in the poor mountainous regions, where vehicles could not even pass through, would probably not amount to a hundredth of the wealth of a commoner in Shanghai.

As Yi Yun was thinking, he noticed a white figure appear on a bridge above the lake. Yi Yun’s mind stirred. Lin Xintong had arrived!

388 - : Enemies Meet

CKtalon  CKtalon

Lin Xintong’s appearance naturally became the focus of attention. Shentu Nantian stood up with a slight smile on his face, “Miss Lin, it has been a while since we met.”

In such a situation, even though Lin Xintong did not have a good impression of Shentu Nantian, she still nodded her head politely.

Entering the seats of honor, Lin Xintong sat down at her seat and remained silent.

Shentu Nantian did not pester Lin Xintong. Other than the initial polite greeting, he did not cling on further.

Even some children of the Lin family, who did not like Shentu Nantian, could not resent Shentu Nantian’s behavior and attitude.

Although the Shentu family clan was the one who had proposed the idea of marriage, Shentu Nantian did not give off the impression that he was begging the Lin family. His mannerisms were neither too humble nor too haughty, they were just perfect. Shentu Nantian did not overly pursue Lin Xintong, but neither did he snub her too much. Such a man was easily liked by girls. There were even some young girls of the Lin family who felt their heart flutter upon seeing Shentu Nantian.

A young hero with good looks, personality and strength was indeed the ideal partner to spend the remainder of their lives with. Although it was not possible to be the first wife, being a concubine was not that bad either.

The tea session proceeded in an orderly fashion as the bigwigs chatted and drank tea in the seats of honor. They chatted about the understandings of the Desolate Heaven technique, exchanging points of view, the session seemed amiable.

Su Jie did not speak much, while Lin Xintong only remained silent. Only Shentu Nantian attended to both sides like a fish in water.

Now, Shentu Nantian had several supporters in the Lin family. For example, Lin Xintong’s grandaunt and 6th granduncle had the most engaging chat with Shentu Nantian.

The grandaunt, who was wearing her palatial gown, kept addressing him as “dear nephew Nantian” in a very affectionate manner.

“Dear nephew Nantian sure is exceptional. Not only is your strength outstanding, I have even heard that dear nephew Nantian’s accomplishment in the Desolate Heaven technique is also great. Why not go on stage to perform a bit to broaden my horizons?”

Lin Xintong’s grandaunt’s face smiled like a flower.

“Grandaunt, you overly praised me. I only dabbled in the Desolate Heaven technique slightly.” After the woman in palatial gown introduced herself, Shentu Nantian took it for granted to begin addressing her, using the same salutation as Lin Xintong, to appear closer. “The path of martial arts is fraught with thorns. Although my qualifications are slightly better than others, it is still a struggle. Practicing martial arts takes up too much of my time, so I do not have the energy to practice the Desolate Heaven technique. I only took some unorthodox shortcuts. Now, I can only do bone refining techniques like blood pills and relic formation.”

Shentu Nantian spoke modestly. In fact, many favored children of heaven who focused on martial arts, such as Lin Xintong and company would dabble in elixir refinement techniques, Desolate Heaven technique and array techniques. This could broaden their horizons and would be of a great help to their future martial path. It was the same for Shentu Nantian.

At that moment, Yi Yun who was in the Evening Breeze Pavilion stared at Shentu Nantian from afar. His gaze turned gloomy.

Bone refining techniques such as blood pills and relic formation…?

Other than the desolate bones of desolate beasts being valuable, the blood of many desolate beasts were also of great value, and could be refined into blood pills.

However, for Shentu Nantian, the best material for refining blood pills was not the blood of desolate beasts, but the blood of the Desolate race!

How could Yi Yun forget that, a few months back in the Chu royal residence, Shentu Nantian had caught Jiang Xiaorou. The first thing he wanted upon her capture was for King Chu to provide him a elixir refining room so that he could refine Jiang Xiaorou’s blood into blood pills!

Being questioned by so many people, Shentu Nantian used the techniques of blood pills and relic formations to flaunt his Desolate Heaven technique. After hearing this, killing intent surged up from Yi Yun’s heart.

“Haha, the Desolate Heaven technique is so broad. Just being a master of one aspect is sufficient!”

An Elder from the Lin family echoed. Even the Elders, who were not supportive of the marriage between the Lin family and the Shentu family clan, were quite enthusiastic towards Shentu Nantian. After all, no one could guarantee what the future would be. Offending this future in-law was definitely not a wise option.

Compared to the remote corners of the tea session, the upper echelons of the Lin family, in the seats of honor, constantly chatted with Shentu Nantian. With that, Shentu Nantian naturally became the focus of everyone’s attention. Without a doubt, he could be said to be the main lead of this tea session.

On the Shentu family clan’s side, some of the older generation from the upper echelons intended to give the stage to Shentu Nantian for him to flaunt his skills.

If the Elders of the Lin family acknowledged Shentu Nantian, then this marriage would most naturally be a success.

After one hour passed in the tea session, Shentu Nantian stood up and said, “Everyone. This Desolate Heaven technique tea session is firstly, for everyone to exchange their Desolate Heaven technique knowledge and improve on it together. Secondly, it is to prove to the Lin family that my Shentu family clan has passable Desolate Heaven technique standards. Since everyone have mostly eaten their fill by now, why not let some children from my Shentu family clan go on stage to perform some skills to add some fun!”

As Shentu Nantian said this, he signaled with his eyes, and a Shentu Nantian child sitting into the outer regions jumped up to the middle of the square. He looked about 16 years of age and was wearing the uniform of the Shentu family clan. He seemed to be in high spirits.

“All seniors and heroes, I am Shentu Jun and I am seventeen years old this year. I am the direct disciple of the Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven Master Shentu Yanfei. Today, with all the experts gathered her for the tea session, let me venture forth to show some tricks, hoping to induce others to come forward with valuable contributions. Please excuse my shortcomings!”

As Shentu Jun spoke, with a snap, a desolate bone appeared in his hand like magic.

Everyone present were experts in the Desolate Heaven technique. From a distance, people could see that the desolate bone was just a normal desolate beast’s bone.

To many 17 year old Desolate Heaven Master apprentices, controlling a normal desolate bone was a drop in their status. However, just controlling it to show something spectacular was still a feast for the eyes.

“Up!”

Shentu Jun shouted clearly and a Desolate Heaven technique disk array appeared from his interspatial ring. Following that, Shentu Jun began forming seals with his hands. One runic seal after the other was sent out by him, dancing in the air.

Immediately, the desolate bone’s energy was rapidly extracted by Shentu Jun.

Shentu Jun was showcasing his speed. He could extract energy from normal desolate bones very quickly. It only took about 30 seconds before the desolate bone in his hand was completely drained off its energy!

This desolate bone turned grayish-white and was casually tossed away by Shentu Jun.

“Pa!”

With a snap, the desolate bone, which had lost all its essence, shattered like a ceramic tile falling onto the ground.

And at that moment, Shentu Jun carried on making more seals. After a short while, the Power of Desolates, that was dancing in the air, started to form into runes.

These runes were completely controlled by Shentu Jun, like a flock of birds flying in the sky.

“Together!”

Shentu June waved his hand and all of the runes began flying together, like a hundred birds following the wind.

“Split!”

Shentu Jun waved his hand again as the runes immediately split apart. It was like directing his own fists.

A bunch of runes began to move in a uniform manner, like a school of fish. It was a very beautiful sight.

“Good!”

“Awesome!”

In the surrounding pavilion, the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices from the Shentu family clan, and the family clans that were in an alliance with the Shentu family clan, began applauding and cheer on Shentu Jun.

Shentu Jun’s method was clearly not the technique used for refining desolate bone relics. It was purely a way of showcasing his ability to control energy and his seal-forming techniques. It was purely form. Of course, to really refine a desolate bone relic, no one would control the runes with such flashy but ineffective moves.

In the seats of honor, the Shentu family clan and Lin family’s upper echelons nodded their heads slightly as they were watching the performance.

However, Desolate Heaven Master like Su Jie and the middle-aged man, Sun, did not have such thoughts. This was a battle between the heritage between the two family clans. Furthermore, the Desolate Heaven Masters from both sides were always competing against each other, so none of them wanted to be inferior.

A Desolate Heaven Master Elder from the Lin family looked towards a pavilion on the outer circle and nodded. Following that a youth dressed in purple jumped onto the square.

He cupped his fists and said, “I am Lin Yue, the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven Master Lin Fenglang’s direct disciple. I am also seventeen years old. Seeing Brother Shen Tu’s performance alone, it looks somewhat insubstantial, so as my fingers are itching, I decided to join you and hopefully bring a smile to everyone!”

As Lin Yue spoke, he took out a desolate bone he had prepared earlier. Using his fastest speed, he extracted the Power of Desolates from the desolate bone. Following that, he formed seals with both his hands and transformed the Power of Desolates into runic seals as a group of runes began to fly.

389 - : Razzle Dazzle

CKtalon  CKtalon

Lin Yue’s seals were similar to Shentu Jun as they began taking form and turning into various shapes.

These seals were sometimes like a flying eagle, while at other times, they were like galloping desolate beasts.

When Shentu Jun and Lin Yue’s runic seals came close to one another, they would clash and burst into sparks.

“Peng Peng Peng!”

Many of the runic seals turned to smithereens after clashing with one another.

There was a number of ways for Desolate Heaven Masters to compete. It was not just simply seeing who could refine a higher quality desolate bone relic. For example, runic seal collisions determined whose runic seals were stronger, and that were determined by having better energy control and the use of higher-grade desolate bones.

Shentu Jun and Lin Yue’s runic seals clashed with one another as neither of them let up, trying every trick they had.

More and more runic seals turned to dust as Shentu Jun and Lin Yue’s faces were covered in cold sweat. Clearly, such a match greatly depleted their mental strength. Every annihilation of a runic seal was a hit to their soul.

It was understandable what sustained collisions would do to their mental strength.

Crackle!

Their runic seals bloomed like fireworks in the air and after about 30 seconds, a loud boom was heard as all the runic seals in the air exploded. Lin Yue took a few steps back and with his legs going weak, he fell to the ground.

Currently, his face was pale and he was covered in sweat. He clearly could not carry on any further.

As for Shentu Jun, he was no better than Lin Yue. He too was at his limit, but he had struggled with his final breath to not fall to the ground. This made it seem like he was more composed than Lin Yue.

“Haha, Junior brother Lin’s energy control is not bad, you nearly exploded all my runic seals.”

Although Shentu Jun was covered in sweat, he was smiling very proudly. He spread his hands and people could see that he still held two runic seals in them. Although these two runic seals were lacking in luster, and they were about to collapse at any moment, this still meant that Shentu Jun was slightly better than Lin Yue.

“Interesting!”

Outside the square, several Desolate Heaven Master apprentices shouted. These people were from the Shentu family clan or from the Shentu family clan’s alliance.

As for the people from the Lin family, the upper echelon did not think much about it as it was just a competition between the juniors to see who could outshine the other. However, the Desolate Heaven Master apprentices from the younger generation of the Lin family were all holding back their anger. Seeing the runic seals in Shentu Jun’s hands and his smug look, they felt even more indignant.

“Junior brother Lin Yue, such a pity!”

“Right, just missed by a bit!”

The juniors all pitied him. The performance of a Desolate Heaven Master apprentice was not stable. The degree to which Lin Yue and Shentu Jun competed meant that they were similar in strength. Sometimes, just a bit of luck was enough to decide the winner.

“Let me win it back.” A youth named Lin Jun said and jumped onto the square.

“I am Lin Jun, the Lin family’s Heaven Master Fusheng’s direct disciple. I am sixteen years old! Is there any hero from the Shentu family clan who wishes to join me in performing on stage together?”

Every young hero who jumped on stage would announce their name, age, and their master.

The people who had come on stage were all direct disciples. Although direct disciples were slightly lower in status than personal disciples, they were not that bad.

Shentu Jun had left since he was too drained, so naturally, he could not stay in the square.

Facing Lin Jun was another disciple from the outer circles of the Shentu family clan.

Lin Jun indeed had the capital for he won the duel. Furthermore, Lin Jun won beautifully, he was not like Shentu Jun, who barely beat Lin Yue. After winning, Lin Jun still had some strength left. This allowed the younger generation of the Lin family gain back some dignity.

Actually, the young generation of the Lin family knew that the Shentu family clan’s heritage in the Desolate Heaven technique was deeper than theirs; however, in a competition amongst the younger disciples, they actually might not lose.

“The Lin family’s young generation sure is filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons. This Lin Jun is not bad indeed.” In the seats of honor, Shentu Nantian smiled saying that. His tone was that of an elder giving pointers to a junior, “This way of competition is too slow. Why don’t we have a group battle?”

As Shentu Nantian spoke, he snapped his fingers. The Shentu family clan had already prepared a total of 32 young disciples aged from 13 to 18 years old people clan. They stepped forward and walked towards the square.

The 32 Desolate Heaven Master apprentices were all wearing a Shentu family clan uniform. They stood in a row on the square and gave a considerable visual impact.

“This…”

Seeing the Shentu family clan suddenly pull out so many young heroes, the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven Masters suddenly felt at a loss.

With 32 people competing against one another, they would do it one on one, so 32 people from the Lin family were needed.

Many Desolate Heaven Masters immediately gave their orders to get their disciples to choose suitable people to compete with the Shentu family clan.

These 32 people were clearly not the elite of the Shentu family clan, and they were just relatively normal in strength.

If they sent an elite up, winning this group battle would not be a problem; however, the Shentu family clan still had many experts that had not gone up, so this would result in their utter defeat.

In the Evening Breeze Pavilion that Yi Yun was at, Lin Yuan received a voice transmission from the middle-aged man surnamed Sun to take part in this group battle.

“These fellows aren’t anything special. We do not need to send disciples with outstanding strength. We just need to send a few normal disciples who match their ages.” Lin Yuan stood up and said in the Evening Breeze Pavilion.

After a group battle, a lot of mental strength would be depleted, so it would naturally affect the future competitions, so the real experts could not be sent out.

“Senior brother, do I need to go?” Little Lin Qing asked in both an excited but nervous manner.

Lin Yuan glanced at Lin Qing. Although Lin Qing’s Desolate Heaven technique was not up to standard, she was still not bad compared to her age bracket as she was still young. After all, she was his junior sister and also, a personal disciple of their master. So to send her to compete in the chaotic group battle would be wasting talent on a trivial task.

“There’s no need. You and I do not need to go on stage as it would be a waste of talent. Wait till a 13-year-old genius girl from the Shentu family clan comes on stage, then you can go up. Now, we just need to send some people who are relatively alright.”

Lin Yuan looked at the people in the Evening Breeze Pavilion and weighed their strength before comparing their ages.

“You, you and you.” Lin Yuan pointed a few people out as his gaze landed upon Yi Yun.

From the beginning of the tea session, the other Desolate Heaven Master apprentices of the younger generation would comment as they watched and as they compared with their own techniques while learning the merits of others.

However, Yi Yun was just sitting quietly in his seat. He did not say a word and it was not known if he knew anything.

Even with the group battle about to begin, he did not produce a single reaction.

Lin Yuan knew Yi Yun was Su Jie’s in-name disciple. Although in-name disciples were considered to be at the rank of a medicine boy, it was after all Su Jie, so Yi Yun could probably make the standard.

“I intend to choose four people. Since the numbers are lacking, why don’t you go up and fill the numbers?” Lin Yuan said to Yi Yun, thinking that this was an opportunity for Yi Yun to go on stage. One had to know that at Desolate Heaven technique tea sessions, most young disciples never had a chance to go on stage to compete.

With Yi Yun’s strength, he may not get a chance to go on stage. And for the chaotic group match, even if his abilities were lacking, he would not lose too badly on stage, neither would it be too obvious. This was the best chance for the weak to go on stage.

“Junior Brother Yun, you seem to know some Mystic Crystal Hand sealing techniques. Although your completion progress is just lacking a bit, it will do. For this group match, just use your Mystic Crystal Hand. You just need to defend without going on the offensive.”

Lin Yuan gave some pointers to Yi Yun on the battle strategy. Two months ago, when Yi Yun first reached the Lin family, he had learned the Mystic Crystal Hand and Small Thousand Seal from Su Jie. He had obtained a perfect completion of slightly more than 50 runic seals during his first try at the Mystic Crystal Hand.

As a Desolate Heaven technique apprentice who had just come into contact with the Desolate Heaven technique for a few months, Yi Yun’s result could be said to be a miracle amongst miracles.

However, no one believed that Yi Yun was a rookie who had just learned the Desolate Heaven technique for a few months. Everyone believed that Yi Yun was just bragging. This weirdo and the strange matter revolving him were only used in trivial conversations and usually, as a topic of ridicule. This was the repulsiveness most people had as mocking others tended to make one feel good.

However, no one cared about this matter after a few days. After all, a joke could only be used a few times. It would lose its flavor after being heard too many times.

Later on, Yi Yun went into reclusive training and it was as if he had disappeared all of a sudden, no one paid any attention to this in-name disciple Su Jie took in on a whim.

“This kid sure has good luck. Usually, a technique like the Mystic Crystal Hand is not something one would showcase. However, it would not be too eye-catching in a chaotic group match.”

The other younger disciples silently agreed with Lin Yuan’s assignment. To be able to showcase themselves on stage in front of so many masters in the Desolate Heaven technique tea session was a valuable experience. Many people wished they had such an opportunity.

However, no one expected that for this matter, Yi Yun actually casually shook his head and said nonchalantly, “You should find someone else, I don’t have much interest…”

390 - : I don’t have much interest

CKtalon  CKtalon

What? No interest?

Lin Yuan nearly thought he had heard wrongly.

The purpose of the Desolate Heaven technique tea session was to showcase the skills of each family clan in the Desolate Heaven technique, and it was a stage for the young heroes to perform on.

If one excelled in one’s performance, not only would it bring fame, one would also gain the attention of the upper echelons of the family clan. Then, one would be able to enjoy even more resources and have a prosperous future.

It was an opportunity many wished that they could experience, where they could display their skills. Yet, when Lin Yuan purposely prepared such an opportunity for Yi Yun, his reply was that he was not interested?

“Brother Yuan, ignore the kid. Since he does not dare to go, why not let me?”

A child of the Lin family laughed as he volunteered himself.

Lin Yuan nodded as he guessed that Yi Yun was lacking confidence and thought that he would shame himself if he went up. This really made Lin Yuan speechless. Back when Yi Yun was learning the Mystic Crystal Hand, he had acted with great pretense, but now, when push came to shove, he shrunk back. Such a person was someone everyone looked down upon.

“Alright then, you are up!”

Lin Yuan nodded towards the Lin family child who had volunteered himself. As such, four people jumped into the square from the Evening Breeze Pavilion.

The other pavilions also put together 28 people. As such, the Lin family also sent up 32 people.

With 32 against 32, the big chaotic battle kicked off.

The duels in the Desolate Heaven technique caused the scene to look extremely beautiful. Just two people competing in the Desolate Heaven technique would create a sight as beautiful as fireworks due to the flying runic seals exploding in the air.

Now, with 64 people bedazzling the square, various colors illuminated the sky, making it more beautiful than the morning glow of the sun’s rise in the East.

A lot of people in the surrounding seats, who were seeing a group Desolate Heaven technique battle for the first time, began sending out repeated praises.

At that moment, behind Shentu Nantian, a youth’s lips began suffusing a teasing smile.

This youth was one of the three that followed Shentu Nantian to the seats of honor. His name was Song Ziyue, born from the Song family who had an alliance with the Shentu family clan. To be able to enter the seats of honor with Shentu Nantian clearly meant that his ability in the Desolate Heaven technique was good.

A while later, an outcome in the battle between the 64 people slowly emerged on the square.

In this large battle, runic seals exploded even more violently. The impact on one’s mental strength was thus even greater. Those who were weaker would immediately be eliminated.

One disciple after another succumbed with pale faces, leaving fewer and fewer people left standing in the square.

Slowly the runic seals flying in the air became sparse, the light beams also slowly faded. The final result of this battle was a bit unexpected. In the end, there were two Lin family disciples still standing in the middle of the square. Although they did not have many runic seals left in their hands, they still won.

The young generation of the Lin family felt their spirits rise seeing such an outcome.

The Lin family won by a narrow margin!

“Well done!”

“Interesting!”

Even though the Shentu family clan’s heritage in the Desolate Heaven technique was said to be stronger, the Lin family had now taken two battles out of three, this made winning this match even more valuable.

While seeing the youths from the Lin family cheer below the stage from the seats of honor, Song Ziyue calmly said, “Young Master Nantian, it is almost time. Now with us losing two rounds, we have shown our pleasantries. Let me end this pointless razzle dazzle.”

The Shentu family clan had come prepared for this Desolate Heaven technique tea session. Not only were there people from the Shentu family clan, allies of the Shentu family clan had come as well. It could be said that there were also all sorts of heroes present. Besides, to refine the peerless Great Empress’ ancient recipe, the Shentu family clan still had many hidden techniques. If they showcased these hidden techniques, then it would shock everyone. Under these circumstances, the Shentu family clan would no doubt shine in the Desolate Heaven technique tea session. And there was a 80-90% chance that they would get the matter of marriage settled by using this tea session.

Since the outcome was destined, Shentu Nantian did not mind letting the Lin family enjoy winning a bit, letting them think that their family clan’s Desolate Heaven technique was comparable to the Shentu family clan’s.

The benefit of doing so was that on the surface, the Shentu family clan had hunkered down and had purposely left the Lin family with some face.

Shentu Nantian stroke his chin and finally nodded slowly. “Yes.”

Song Ziyue smiled and leaped onto the square like a floating cloud.

He was dressed in purple and stood straight in the middle of the square, “I am Song Ziyue, 16 years old this year. I am a child of the Song family, I am also the closed door disciple of the Shentu family clan’s Thousand Hand Granny!”

As Song Ziyue spoke, people subconsciously looked towards the seats of honor. At the seats of honor, there was a silver-haired old woman holding a dragon headed cane. She was the elder sister of the Shentu family clan’s current family head. She was the leader in matters regarding the Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven technique and was known as the Thousand Hand Granny.

For this Desolate Heaven technique tea session, the Thousand Hand Granny had taken on a low profile. This was to allow Shentu Nantian to perform. However, even though this granny did not speak much, the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven Masters, including Su Jie, were all wary of this old granny.

“This fellow is the Thousand Hand Granny’s closed door disciple?”

When people heard this, they were taken aback. The Song family had always been friendly with the Shentu family clan. They were considered the younger brother of the Shentu family clan. When children of the Song family proved their talent in the Desolate Heaven technique, they would be taken in as disciples by Desolate Heaven Masters from the Shentu family clan.

And this Song Ziyue had gained the favor of the Thousand Hand Granny.

The so-called, “closed door disciple” meant that he was the last disciple of the Thousand Hand Granny. After taking in Song Ziyue, the Thousand Hand Granny would never again take in another disciple. Hence, Song Ziyue was the youngest disciple of the Thousand Hand Granny.

In the tradition of martial arts, there was a special significance to closed door disciples. In fact, it was no different than being the top personal disciple.

“Everyone!” Song Ziyue cupped his fists in the middle of the square as he made the gesture to the surrounding audience, “The Lin family’s standard in the Desolate Heaven technique is indeed not bad, but compared to the Shentu family clan…”

Song Ziyue smiled and did not go on. However, his meaning was already very clear. Many people from the Lin family frowned upon hearing this as they did not find the words pleasant.

Who did he think he is? He’s just a 16 year old kid, how could he have the right to give a review of the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven technique?

Song Ziyue carried on, “The Shentu family clan has always been famous for their Desolate Heaven technique. And for this generation, it has attained an even higher peak. It just may be that some outsiders do not know so… Actually everyone knows that this Desolate Heaven technique tea session was held to showcase the Shentu family clan’s abilities. I, Song Ziyue am a very direct person. Since it is to showcase one’s ability, then I only have one sentence to say, I will beat down others until they are convinced!”

“Actually, this marriage proposal from the Shentu family clan is a great opportunity for the Lin family. Once it becomes a reality, the Lin family will gain a peerless Great Empress and will gain unmatchable benefits, however… it is unexpected that the matter has not proceeded smoothly. It has been dragged for two years, and till now, it seems like the Shentu family clan is pleading the Lin family. We have lowered our stance, yet the Lin family still looks at us with animosity. Even our Desolate Heaven technique is being questioned.”

“Since you have your doubts, I shall still use that same sentence, beat down others until they are convinced! I shall stand here, so feel free to challenge me!”

After Song Ziyue finished saying these words, the words resounded throughout the square. People raged upon hearing it. This kid had not even grown out his hair, yet he is already this arrogant?

One had to know that one’s mental strength was greatly expended in Desolate Heaven technique battles, so one could not battle against people one after another!

In a martial arts showdown, some people could win 4-5 matches due to their endurance, but in a Desolate Heaven technique showdown, just fighting two matches was already very difficult.

What gave Song Ziyue the right to say this?

“He is just someone from the Song family and his master is the Shentu family clan’s Thousand Hand Granny. He is just a junior. How dare he speak those words with his status? Can he represent the Shentu family clan?”

Someone from the Lin family said with disdain, but someone beside him said, “Actually, he can. It is precisely because he is not from the Shentu family clan that he does not need to mince his words as he is both an outsider and a junior. What he is saying now is what the Shentu family clan is thinking. The upper echelons of the Shentu family clan are just using his mouth to say it…”

Many of them knew that the Shentu family clan was not satisfied with the current situation. The Shentu family clan wished that the Lin family would make their decision shortly.

“This kid is too arrogant!”

In the Evening Breeze Pavilion, Lin Yuan was the first person who could not take this sitting down. Song Ziyue was sixteen years old, the same as as him, so he could go up to do battle!

As if feeling Lin Yuan’s gaze, Song Ziyue turned around and looked towards him with a smile. Song Ziyue’s expression was calm and amiable, but his lips moved slightly as a voice transmission rang in Lin Yuan’s ears.

“Come on up, trash.”

What?

Hearing this, Lin Yuan felt anger consume his heart. Song Ziyue seemed to be perfectly alright on the surface, but the words he transmitted were insulting.

Lin Yuan’s face sank as he jumped up onto the square.

“The Lin family’s Sun Wanhai’s personal disciple, Lin Yuan. 16 years old, let me see what abilities you have!”

The Lin family’s disciples found Song Ziyue too domineering. Was he really thinking of challenging all of them alone?

There was no way for a tag team battle in a Desolate Heaven technique showdown, so where did Song Ziyue’s confidence come from?

Song Ziyue gently smiled as he wiped his interspatial ring and took out a square disk array and a bunch of desolate beast bones.

These bones were divided into five different colors, golden, green, blue, red and dark yellow.

The five bone types exuded thick Power of Desolates.

“Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth. The powers of the five elements!”

Everyone present were experts so they could clearly feel that the Power of Desolates within these five types of desolate bones were the powers of the five elements.

Song Ziyue reached out his hands as the desolate bones flew in all directions, landing around Song Ziyue, with the disk array in the center. The desolate bones were arranged in a specific order, as if they were now a whole.

“This is my Five Elemental Bone Array. All of them are made by me. If you can extract more than 30% of the Power of Desolates from this bone array, then I will lose!”

The first step of the three steps of the Desolate Heaven technique was the extraction of the Power of Desolates from desolate bones.

Song Ziyue had used these desolate bones to form an array, but these desolate bones were still Desolate Heaven technique materials. Extracting energy from it was equivalent to cracking the array!

391 - : Five Elemental Bone Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

Song Ziyue had already said that the Five Elemental Bone Array was designed by him. Logically, the person setting up an array holds the advantage, while the person trying to crack it has the disadvantage.

In a typical showdown, one side would set up an array while the other would try to crack it. If one could completely crack it, it meant that the person cracking it exceeded the person who set it up.

Song Ziyue did not take advantage of Lin Yuan in this aspect. He was proud and thought lowly of Lin Yuan. He had proclaimed that if Lin Yuan could extract more than 30% of the Power of Desolates from the array, then Lin Yuan would win.

30% of the Power of Desolates was considered very low.

Being looked down upon by Song Ziyue, Lin Yuan suppressed the raging flame in his heart, “Such shameless boasting. See how I break down your bone array!”

If a layman were to look at Song Ziyue’s bone array, that person would not be able to see anything special about it. It was just like a child taking a bunch of beast bones and casually stacking them together.

However, when Lin Yuan entered the bone array, his expression turned serious. He could see that the desolate bones had been processed through some special techniques.

Desolate bones with the five elements, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth corresponded to five elemental desolate beasts, and not any ordinary desolate beasts.

For example, the desolate bone in front of Lin Yuan was a general-ranked desolate beast’s bone.

Lin Yuan could not tell what sort of desolate beast it came from. The bone looked very special as it was entirely smooth and round, like a glass bead.

“Song Ziyue may be arrogant, but he indeed has the ability. The array he set up is made from the combination of the bones from elite-ranked desolate beasts and general-ranked desolate beasts. The inner circle, where the array’s core is, there are even bones from king-ranked desolate beasts. To crack this array, the first thing needed is to find the array’s cores.”

In the surrounding pavilions, people began to discuss. They never expected that this was how the Desolate Heaven technique showdown would be for the matches from Song Ziyue onwards.

However, this method required more technical skills than the clashing of runic seals. Also, it allowed one to keep on battling.

There might be consecutive failures of people trying to crack Song Ziyue’s array. This was what he relied on to challenge all of the young heroes of the Lin family in a tag-team battle.

“This bone should be the central point of the ten plus desolate bones nearby. It is also one of the cores of this array.”

Lin Yuan had previously counted that this desolate bone array counted a total of 108 bones. There were 9 bones for the array core, and every 12 bones formed a group. Each group had a central bone and this central bone was where one of the array’s core was.

If he could break apart this core bone, then this small array group would be broken.

Previously, Song Ziyue said that as long he broke 30% of the array, then Lin Yuan would win.

Although Lin Yuan was indignant with Song Ziyue’s contemptuous words, he slowly held back his pride as he began examining the Five Elemental Bone Array. This array was not simple!

Regardless, winning was most important. If he could not even break 30% of the bone array, it would be too embarrassing.

“I only need to extract the Power of Desolates of 4 desolate bones and break apart 4 small group arrays to win.”

With this thought in mind, Lin Yuan injected all of his mental energy into the smooth glass bead-like bone. This bone emitted a searing feeling and was probably a fire-elemental desolate beast’s bone.

When Lin Yuan sank his perception into it, for some unknown reason, he suddenly felt faint. It was as if his perception had been absorbed into the desolate bone, entering a world that was filled with fire.

“Oh? This is!?”

Lin Yuan was alarmed. He immediately pulled back his perception and exited his consciousness, but at that moment, the round fiery glass-like desolate bone cracked!

“Boom!”

With a fiery explosion, a fire python, which was entirely red in color, appeared from the desolate bone. This fire python opened its jaws and bit at Lin Yuan.

“Ah!”

Lin Yuan let out a scream. Although it happened suddenly, and his soul had suffered a backlash, making his head hurt, Lin Yuan was still able to use all of his strength to send out a punch when the fire python threatened his life.

“Peng!”

With an energy explosion, the fire python was destroyed by Lin Yuan, but at the same time, the arm Lin Yuan had used to send out the punch dislocated due to the forceful clash with the fire python. His entire fist was now covered in blood!

Lin Yuan’s body was also sent flying by the energy surge as he landed heavily on the square.

His face was pale while his body suffered from some spasms. Clearly, he was injured.

Actually, the injury on his arm was nothing. The most important thing was the damage to his soul. When he had used his mental energy to probe the desolate bone, he had suffered a backlash from the desolate bone, causing his soul to be injured.

Such an injury needed to be treated by an extremely good Soul Nurturing pill. He could not use his mental energy for at least half a month.

“What happened? What happened back there?”

Some of the Lin family’s juniors were puzzled. A glass-like desolate bone suddenly shattered, popping out a fire python that injured Lin Yuan.

“It is an Essence Qi shadow left behind when a desolate beast dies!”

An old man from the Lin family said. He was extremely surprised that the junior named Song Ziyue had managed to master such a technique.

“That glass-like desolate bone is actually from a general-ranked desolate beast, it’s the Flaming Fire Python’s ‘brain stone’ in its head. Song Ziyue managed to seal the Flaming Fire Python’s Essence Qi into the brain stone when it was killed. Following that, he used the brain stone as one of the group array cores of the Five Elemental Bone Array!”

“The remaining Flaming Fire Python’s Essence Qi inside the brain stone contained the resentment of being killed, so once it was initiated, it would break the brain stone and change into a Fire Python shadow that could kill. If the reaction of the person who probed it was any slower, he would have died on the spot.”

Although many Desolate Heaven Masters were not good at fighting, they were proficient at certain killing techniques, such as setting traps in desolate bone relics.

This was how one could use the Desolate Heaven technique to kill.

With a trap set inside a desolate bone, even if the person trying to break the array knew that there was a trap, it would not be easily cracked. This was because to crack the array, one had to sink one’s mental energy into the desolate bone, and once that happened, it would trigger the trap, causing the desolate beast’s essence Qi to form a backlash to one’s mental energy. The result after that was quite obvious.

This could only be avoided if one’s Desolate Heaven technique was superb, to the point where one could undo the trap Song Ziyue had laid at the moment one’s mental energy sank into the desolate bone. And Lin Yuan clearly did not have this ability.

Lin Yuan retreated back to the Evening Breeze Pavilion with his face pale. After consuming a Soul Nurturing pill, and readjusting his dislocated arm, he barely managed to regain some Yuan Qi.

“I was careless. Too careless. I accidentally fell into this fellow’s trap. If I knew that there was a trap in the desolate bone, I would definitely not have turned out this way.”

Lin Yuan, who returned to the Evening Breeze Pavilion, felt embarrassed facing his juniors. He had directed the battle previously and arranged the order in which people went up, making him seem like the leader of the Evening Breeze Pavilion.

However, the moment he went up he fell into a trap just as he attempted to extract the first desolate bone’s energy. Thus he lost, even though Song Ziyue had said that just extracting 30% would give him victory.

He had not even managed to extract a single bit of energy. Having completely failed, it was too embarrassing!

“This kid first mentioned the 30% of energy to divert my attention, making me miss the possibility of there being a trap in the desolate bone. He is too cunning!”

As Lin Yuan gave some thought to it, he began to spout some unconvincing excuses. Not far away, Yi Yun shook his head gently when he heard him. In a showdown between Desolate Heaven Masters, it was all about using one’s ability to create all sorts of obstacles for one’s opponents. Setting a trap within a desolate bone was a very common practice.

Back when he first came into contact with the Desolate Heaven technique and was extracting the Lin Bone Gall, Luo Huo’er, who was unhappy with him, had set a trap in the Lin Bone Gall. She had hoped that he would cause it to explode when he injected his mental energy into it, drenching him in bile.

However, Yi Yun had seen through it, causing Luo Huo’er to succumb to the trap herself.

Of course, compared to Luo Huo’er’s trap, that was just a mischievous prank, Song Ziyue’s method of using a desolate beast’s essence Qi was more lethal. It could kill.

“Anyone else?” Song Ziyue said on stage. He took out another piece of bone from his interspatial ring, placing it down in the spot where the Flaming Fire Python’s desolate bone had been. This bone was not a fire-elemental desolate bone, but a water-elemental one.

This surprised people. Every time Song Ziyue set up the Five Elemental Bone Array, the arrangement of the desolate bones was different.

Such an ever-changing array was most troublesome as it would be much more difficult to figure out the rules.

“As long as you a Desolate Heaven technique apprentice below the age of 18, feel free to challenge my Five Elemental Bone Array! If you can break 30% of it, you win!”

Song Ziyue was extremely confident. His provocation made many disciples of the Lin family angry. Song Ziyue was only 16 years old, yet he proclaimed that any Desolate Heaven technique apprentice below the age of 18 could challenge him.

However, though people were indignant about it, they knew that it was certain that the array set up by Song Ziyue was extremely hard to deal with. Lin Yuan, who was the personal disciple of the middle-aged man surnamed Sun, was quite outstanding in terms of his Desolate Heaven technique in the Lin family. Unfortunately, he did not manage to extract even a single bit of energy from the Five Elemental Bone Array. He lost instantly.

Lin Yuan said that he had been careless and fell for the trap, but everyone knew that Song Ziyue had set up an extremely profound, hidden trap. This caused Lin Yuan to be unable to discover it, if not, he wouldn’t have lost so miserably.

Under these circumstances, even if someone had told Lin Yuan that there was a trap in the bone, he would probably still have been unable to do anything about it.

Yi Yun looked at Song Ziyue and furrowed his eyebrows. His goal in participating in the Desolate Heaven technique tea session was very clear. He was here to mess things up!

Previously, when Lin Yuan attempted to send Yi Yun up to participate in the 64 people group match, Yi Yun lacked interest. Those who participated in the group match were a bunch of nobodies. Yi Yun would only waste his mental energy by going up, it would be meaningless.

He would only go on stage at such a moment when a top Desolate Heaven Master apprentice from the opposite side appeared. Only then was it time for Yi Yun to make a move.

Yi Yun stood up and, without a word, walked along the Evening Breeze Pavilion’s edge.

The youths in the Evening Breeze Pavilion were curious about Yi Yun’s action, but at that moment, Yi Yun silently leaped up and, like a feather, moved towards the center of the square…

And at the same moment Yi Yun leaped, a young girl flew up into the air from another small pavilion in the central regions of the lake, towards the square at the lake’s center.

392 - : Desolate Bone Trap

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s appearance was to sudden. Before the youths in the Evening Breeze Pavilion were able to react, Yi Yun had already disappeared. Lin Yuan only felt a gentle breeze blow past him.

The next second, Yi Yun, who was dressed in green, had already landed in the lake center’s square. This scene alarmed many. What was he doing?

There was a conventional order of appearance for people in the Desolate Heaven technique tea session.

The tea session would begin with the juniors who were comparatively lacking. People like Shentu Jun and Lin Yue were such people, it could be seen from their status. When they went on stage, they would declare themselves as “direct disciples”.

Direct disciples were one grade lower than personal disciples. Later on, people like Song Ziyue would appear, it would then be personal disciples or closed-door disciples.

After the juniors finished competing, then the showdown between the older generation, like Su Jie, would begin.

Yi Yun’s status was barely enough to qualify him for the first few matches right at the beginning. However, he did not participate in the group match. Yet, now he had suddenly jumped into the lake center’s square, which was an entirely unexpected turn of events.

“That rash fellow, what is he trying to do?”

Seeing Yi Yun suddenly appear, Lin Yuan and company were dumbfounded. Did Yi Yun want to challenge Song Ziyue’s Five Elemental Bone Array?

At that moment, even the best personal disciples from the Lin family had to carefully weigh their options before going on stage. For example, no one from the Evening Breeze Pavilion dared to step forward. Hence, Yi Yun appearance onstage was extremely unexpected.

In the seats of honor, Su Jie was also in a daze. He had originally said that he would not let Yi Yun do anything. So now that Yi Yun suddenly jumped forward, he was completely caught off guard.

“Teacher. Yi Yun, he…” Lin Xintong knew very clearly that Yi Yun knew nothing back in the Desolate Human Valley two years ago. At that time, he had expressed an interest in learning the Desolate Heaven technique, but Lin Xintong had advised him against it. She did not want him to have any fantasies regarding the Desolate Heaven technique. Yi Yun however insisted, and because of that, she had reluctantly left Su Jie’s notebook with him.

“I do not know. He probably knows himself well.” Su Jie bitterly smiled, but on the inside, Su Jie did not have much confidence in Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was however not the only one from the Lin family who had flown onto the lake center’s square. There was another young girl there as well, dressed in purple. Her hair was tied into a ponytail which hung down to her waist.

When Yi Yun stood up, this girl had also stood up at the same moment. As a result, both of them had jumped onto the central stage simultaneously.

“It is Lin Ziyan, Senior sister Lin!” Someone below the stage said. Unlike Yi Yun, Lin Ziyan was one of the best amongst the Lin family’s younger generation. Her ability was on a completely different level from Lin Yuan’s.

Lin Ziyan had been accompanying her master in training expeditions for the past few years. She had only returned to the Lin family in recent months. There was no doubt of her strength, or her Desolate Heaven technique ability.

“You are…”

The purple-dressed girl did not know Yi Yun. Her life goals were centered on martial arts and to make her Desolate Heaven technique proficient. She was not concerned with small matters that happened within the Lin family’s younger generation circles. Thus, she had never heard of Yi Yun. Two months ago, the matter of Yi Yun learning the Mystic Crystal Hand and completing more than 50 runic seals was a trivial matter. It had only spread amongst the Lin family disciples who had gathered around Yi Yun, and they all treated it as a joke of a newbie pretending to show off. It had never reached Lin Ziyan’s ears.

“I am Yun Yantian.” Yi Yun answered simply.

“Yun Yantian?” The purple-dressed girl’s smoky eyebrows furrowed while she thought. Clearly, she had never heard this name before. Typically, the disciples whom she had never heard of were clearly those of low abilities. Now with the Lin family competing against the Shentu family clan on the Desolate Heaven technique, it was a matter regarding the Lin family’s reputation. If a Lin family’s disciple with extremely poor ability went on stage, they would no doubt be made into a laughing stock by the other family clans.

“How old are you? Who is your master?”

To confirm Yi Yun’s ability, the purple-dressed girl asked.

“I am fifteen, Su Jie’s in-name disciple.”

Hearing Yi Yun’s words, the purple-dressed girl was dumbfounded. This person was only 15 years old and was just Su Jie’s in-name disciple? What the heck?

“Hahaha! This is really interesting. An in-name disciple is actually challenging me?” Song Ziyue roared with laughter, “Your courage is deserving of praise. I am okay with it. Since both of you came up together, then break the array together! I don’t mind!”

Song Ziyue had heard that Lin Ziyan had some ability, so he would not be too careless with her. However, where did this Yun Yantian come from? It was as if he had come just to play the clown.

To let Lin Ziyan and this rash fellow break the array together, he actually had the additional intention of humiliating Lin Ziyan. A proud daughter of heaven and a rash fellow joining forces. Wasn’t this mockery? After all, Song Ziyue had decided that it would be pretty impressive if this Yun Yantian did not end up making things worse by being up on stage.

Whatever Song Ziyue thought of, Lin Ziyan had also thought of. She did not want to do it together with Yun Yantian. It would end up with the bad label of going two against one, yet it would not really have the effect of two against one.

“Junior Brother Yun, why not go down first? After I break this array, you can come on up later regardless if I succeed or fail.”

Lin Ziyan felt that she had said this very politely and had not questioned Yi Yun’s abilities directly. She had given Yi Yun sufficient face.

However, Lin Ziyan never expected that, even though her intentions were so obvious, Yi Yun still paid no heed to her words. He minded himself and walked to the side of Song Ziyue’s array and began analyzing the array technique.

The Five Elemental Bone Array was formed of a total of 12 smaller group arrays. Each small group array had a bone in it that held the array together at its core. This bone was not difficult to find. Yi Yun had chosen one of those.

It was the desolate bone of a general-ranked desolate beast and looked like a spinal bone.

This bone emitted hot air and was clearly a fire-elemental desolate bone.

The fire element was similar to pure Yang. The fire element in the five elements was just normal fire, while the pure Yang was the solar fire of the stars.

Yi Yun, who practiced the pure Yang laws, had considerable knowledge in the fire elemental laws.

With his spiritual energy interfacing with the Purple Crystal, and using the Purple Crystal’s powers, he sealed the Power of Desolates in the desolate bone.

The Purple Crystal was pretty much the supreme law when it came to controlling energy. With the Purple Crystal, regardless of what type of energy it was, it would be impossible for it to explode outwards.

At that moment, the desolate beast’s essence Qi within the desolate bone was completely suppressed by the Purple Crystal. It was powerless at resisting it.

Actually, with Yi Yun’s ability, he could have just used the Purple Crystal’s powers to violently extract the Power of Desolates and the essence Qi within the desolate bones at the same time. He could then use brute strength to forcefully refine them, regardless of array techniques or traps.

However, with so many people watching, if he had done all that with just his will power, it would be too shocking and there was no way for him to explain it.

Hence, Yi Yun decided to use the methods in the Desolate Heaven technique to make it seem like he was using the Desolate Heaven technique to break the trap and extract the Power of Desolates from the desolate bones.

Yi Yun opened up his energy vision and through it, the entire desolate bone turned transparent. Whatever Song Ziyue had done was clearly seen in Yi Yun’s vision.

He could clearly see that there was a lizard-shaped desolate beast essence Qi locked within the core of the desolate bone.

And surrounding the essence Qi were runic seals. These runic seals were clearly set up by Song Ziyue. As long as Yi Yun injected his mental energy into it, the runic seals would detonate the desolate bone, causing the desolate beast essence Qi to explode outwards. It was like a clever igniting mechanism. What Yi Yun had to do now was to dismantle or seal off Song Ziyue’s set up.

As long as he sent out a runic seal and broke Song Ziyue’s igniting array, then Yi Yun would be able to dismantle the trap.

And with the Purple Crystal in hand, Yi Yun could perfectly control every runic seal he made. He could even destroy Song Ziyue’s runic seal setup directly. It was extremely easy for him to do so.

Understanding this, Yi Yun began to form seals. Array patterns began appearing in Yi Yun’s hands, but compared to the runic seal showdown from before, which were dazzling like fireworks, the runic seals Yi Yun sent out looked much more plain.

Seeing Yi Yun form runic seals, the surrounding people were dumbfounded. Seeing Yi Yun’s motions and the runic seals he formed, wasn’t he using the Mystic Crystal Hand?

Mystic Crystal Hand… Back when Yi Yun first reached the Lin family, in his first display and only display of his Desolate Heaven technique publicly, he had used the Mystic Crystal Hand.

Back then, people believed that Yi Yun had been in contact with the Desolate Heaven technique for a long period of time. Since he had learned the Desolate Heaven technique for so long, then it was impossible for him to have the Mystic Crystal Hand as his only sealing technique.

Back then, Yi Yun had said that he was a beginner, so using the Mystic Crystal Hand, which was a very common and simple technique, was considered normal. After all, this would make him ‘appear’ as a beginner.

However, now, at this Desolate Heaven technique tea session, in front of so many people, with the Lin family’s reputation on the line, even if he could not break apart Song Ziyue’s array he should not have used a one-size fits all technique like the Mystic Crystal Hand which lacked any technical skill.

The Desolate Heaven technique tea session stressed the need to captivate. The best was not needed, the hardest was. Using the Mystic Crystal Hand? Isn’t this just going to make everyone laugh their heads off?

Seeing the scene happening before them, the Lin family’s disciples felt their faces burn. They felt that Yi Yun was too thick-skinned. If it was them in Yi Yun’s stead, standing in the square, they have long since wished to burrow into the ground to hide away.

As for the Shentu family clan’s disciples, there were some who could not help but laugh. Song Ziyue gave an unashamed laugh, “Hahaha! When the Lin family organized this Desolate Heaven technique tea session, were they too worried about the atmosphere being too tense? Did they specially prepare an entertainment program? To let everyone laugh and ease the tense atmosphere?”

Song Ziyue mocked ruthlessly. This voice became even more piercing to the ear when it landed in the ears of the Lin family’s disciples.

Many of the Lin family’s Elders looked towards Su Jie.

Su Jie was now sweating furiously in his heart. He had specifically exhorted Yi Yun not to do anything rash at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session. Su Jie knew that Yi Yun had a feud with Shentu Nantian, but he should not have been this rash, even with a feud!

Su Jie also knew that Yi Yun was very talented in learning the Desolate Heaven technique, and his talent could even rival Lin Xintong’s. However, he had only learned it for such a short period of time. Besides, Song Ziyue was no ordinary person. Even when Lin Xintong had been learning the Desolate Heaven technique for one to two years, it was still impossible for her to break the Five Elemental Bone Array.

Under these circumstances, Su Jie was even considering to go with the flow and admit to what Song Ziyue said, to say that Yi Yun was there to enliven the atmosphere…

“Ziyan, quickly make a move. Break as much of the Five Elemental Bone Array as you can. You need to regain some of the Lin family’s face. If that kid carries on messing about, there will be no way to redeem the situation!”

393 - : Yi Yun Makes His Move

CKtalon  CKtalon

At the moment Yi Yun began cracking the array, a Yuan Qi voice transmission sounded out in Lin Ziyan’s ear. It came from her master, a female elder of the Lin family.

“Yes, Master.”

Lin Ziyan was not feeling pleased with the situation either. Originally, it had almost turned into a situation where no one from the Lin family showed up to crack the array. It would have been something that was greatly fulfilling, but with Yi Yun haphazard actions, the situation was now in a mess.

She glanced over at Yi Yun with resentment. One needed to have a mind as still as water when cracking an array. Now, Lin Ziyan felt that the state of her mind was in some turmoil. She took a few deep breaths to calm her mind.

Song Ziyue’s array was not easy to crack. She needed to give it her all and be serious about it.

Lin Ziyan made her move. Both of her hands formed a lotus shape in front of her chest. Her palms were facing each other and with that, a rainbow light stream started twirling around her fingers. These streams of rainbow light condensed together into a rainbow in the air which then circled around Lin Ziyan. It made her suddenly appear like a goddess who had entered the human realm from heaven.

Lin Ziyan’s fingers moved in unison and began moving faster and faster as it formed a series of shadows. Suddenly, beautiful lights flashed and golden lotuses filled the air as if the Heavens had landed in an auspicious manner. It was as if immortal plants were taking root in mid-air, blooming into a colorful lotus.

Lin Ziyan’s sealing technique was so gorgeous that it made people gasp!

Beautiful sealing techniques did not necessarily mean that the technique was brilliant, but it meant a more complex energy control, and even greater energy intensity.

If one sealing technique set contained both complex and powerful aspects, then it could definitely not be a bad one.

Besides, for those at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session, a dazzling technique that was both complex and spectacular was expected.

“It is the Guanyin Flower Picking Hand!”

In the surrounding square, people let out amazed gasps.

The Guanyin Flower Picking Hand came from a Buddhist sect, the Daming Temple. The Daming Temple existed long ago. It was the world’s biggest Buddhist sect and had four Great Monks, 18 Emperor Arhats, a million Buddhist sect disciples and a trillion believers.

However, affairs of the world are ephemeral. The Daming Temple eventually fractured and after it was besieged by a few large family clans, a lot of its heritage was either destroyed or lost across the world. The Guanyin Flower Picking Hand was one of those.

The legendary bodhisattva, Guanyin, had a thousand hands. What sort of feeling was it when a thousand hands picked flowers?

Hence, this name of Guanyin Flower Picking Hand described people who used such a technique. Their hands moved so rapidly that they appeared as a blur to people, just like a Thousand-hand Guanyin.

At the same time, the lighting effect generated from this technique was like a thousand flowers blooming at the same time. It was extremely beautiful.

The Guanyin Flower Picking Hand was extremely difficult to learn. Furthermore, the seals were complex. Just a tiny mistake would cause all the of seals to collapse and disintegrate.

Typically, at Desolate Heaven technique tea sessions, where bedazzling techniques were the norm, it was still very rare to see the Guanyin Flower Picking Hand used by juniors. Now, with the Guanyin Flower Picking Hand’s appearance, it, of course, made the disciples of the Lin family very excited.

“Senior sister Ziyan is so awesome. She has been out training for many years and has actually managed to master such a technique!”

“It is marvelous. Senior Sister Ziyan should be able to break Song Ziyue’s array. Once the array is cracked, we shall see how Song Ziyue can carry on flaunting himself.”

The disciples of the Lin family found it a relief. Previously when Song Ziyue was being extremely arrogant, they had suppressed their fiery anger in their hearts.

Against Lin Ziyan’s Guanyin Flower Picking Hand, Song Ziyue’s expression turned solemn. Although he was confident in the traps he had set, Lin Ziyan was no normal person. Before Song Ziyue participated in this tea session, he had gained some understanding of the Lin family’s younger generation. Lin Ziyan was one of the opponents whom he had paid close attention to.

Three years ago, before Lin Ziyan went out on a training expedition, she was already famous. Now, returning after three years, it was very difficult to tell how powerful she was!

“Dear nephew Nantian, what do you think of our Lin family’s disciple’s technique?” Lin Xintong’s grandaunt said proudly beside Shentu Nantian. Lin Ziyan was one of her direct descendants, so she had always been proud of Lin Ziyan.

However, when Lin Ziyan was young, she had not been able to reveal much of her talent. Back then, she did not enjoy a lot of resources and was even worse off than Lin Xintong. This made the woman in palatial attire very unfriendly towards a young Lin Xintong.

“Very good! The Lin family has geniuses in every generation. It will only prosper with each day!”

Shentu Nantian went with the flow and praised Lin Ziyan.

The woman in the palatial gown was pleased as she glanced at Su Jie, “Elder Su, you sure did well by taking in this in-name disciple of yours. He is a rare stock that is almost impossible to get. At the Jade Bamboo peak, he spoke rashly without considering the age hierarchy. Now, at this tea session, in such a solemn scene, his brain went to mush and went on stage rashly. It really causes people to be dumbfounded! Thankfully Ziyan is here today, if not your disciple would have thrown the Lin family’s face.”

The woman in palatial attire mocked with a mean tone. She had never been on good terms with Su Jie. Back at the Jade Bamboo peak, she had already gone at odds against Yi Yun and was unhappy about it. Now, with this matter, Yi Yun had embarrassed the Lin family, while Ziyan had made the Lin family proud, so how could she not take the opportunity to flaunt?

As for offending Su Jie, she had already done so at the Jade Bamboo peak, so she did not care much.

Su Jie’s expression sank. His character was originally of the proud sort, but now with the woman enumerating his faults in public, he became extremely pissed. However, since logic was against him, he had no right to retort.

“Hehe, the Lin family’s disciples are so active. Elder Su’s disciple should be praised for his courage!” Shentu Nantian said with a smile. He did not wish to offend Su Jie. After all, Su Jie was extremely important to Lin Xintong.

As for Yi Yun, Shentu Nantian completely ignored him. With his status, and in a situation where he was unable to recognize Yi Yun, he would not pay much attention to such a small fry.

“However… My Shentu family clan has even more heroes. Some of them might even exceed Grandaunt’s expectations!”

Shentu Nantian turned towards the woman in palatial attire again. His words were full of confidence. He believed that the preparations the Shentu family clan had made would greatly surprise the Lin family. He was looking forward to that scene.

“Oh? Exceed my expectations?” The woman’s interest was caught. “That would be interesting. Then let us see if Ziyan will also be able to surprise dear nephew Nantian!”

Against the woman’s self-confidence, Shentu Nantian smiled without saying a word. He appeared inscrutable.

…

At that moment, on the square, as Lin Ziyan’s forming of seals became even faster, layers of finger shadows began forming from her ten fingers. Runes after runes flew out like young swallows and into Song Ziyue’s array.

And in the center of the group where Lin Ziyan was forming a seal was one of the wood-elemental desolate bones in Song Ziyue’s array.

Actually, the Guanyin Flower Picking Hand leaned more towards the wood-elemental Yuan Qi energies. This piece of desolate bone was surrounded by Lin Ziyan’s runic seals. People could clearly see lotuses, immortal grass bloom above the desolate bone.

This scene made people more and more excited.

394 - : Guanyin Flower Picking Hand

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Guess how long it will take for Senior sister Ziyan to crack that small group array?”

Someone amongst the Lin family’s disciples asked with excitement.

This was what it meant to be captivating. Previously, when those direct disciples had gone up and did battle using the crude method of colliding runic seals, that was completely without technique. Compared to Lin Ziyan and Song Ziyue’s competition in the Desolate Heaven technique, it was like the difference between savage wrestling and beautiful dancing.

“About seven to eight minutes!”

To win against Song Ziyue, at least 4 small group arrays had to be cracked. Song Ziyue’s array was extremely abstruse and complicated, so breaking a small group array in about 7-8 minutes was already considered very fast.

For this duel, it was a competition between top geniuses. Although the Lin family disciples adored Lin Ziyan, they had to admit that Song Ziyue had the ability to be arrogant. It would also not be easy for Lin Ziyan to win against Song Ziyue.

“About seven to eight minutes… Then Senior sister Ziyan will need about thirty minutes to win against Song Ziyue. Besides… Senior sister Ziyan might not stop after only breaking four small group arrays. She might even break six, seven, or even all twelve small group arrays!”

Some of the younger Lin family disciples had infinite hopes in Lin Ziyan.

“Difficult!” An older Lin family disciple shook his head. “Guarding an array is easy while breaking an array is difficult. Junior sister Ziyan needs to be stronger than Song Ziyue by at least 30-50% to have any hope of doing so.”

Before the older disciple finished speaking, he suddenly heard a light “Peng” sound.

He was stunned as he looked towards the sound. The source of the sound was Yun Yantian.

For cracking this array, Yi Yun stood opposite to Lin Ziyan with Song Ziyue in the middle. However when Lin Ziyan displayed her Guanyin Flower Picking Hand, other than people like the woman in palatial attire who had animosity against Yi Yun and Su Jie, no one else had paid attention to him.

In fact, Yi Yun’s Mystic Crystal Hand had long since been obscured by the Guanyin Flower Picking Hand’s light beams. It was impossible to tell what was happening.

And only with the exploding sound did people look towards Yi Yun. And the scene in front of them dumbfounded everyone.

In front of Yi Yun, the fire elemental desolate bone had already fractured. It had turned from its original dark red color and into a grayish white. Clearly, it looked as if its Power of Desolates had been drained.

Only when a desolate bone has had all of its Power of Desolates extracted will it become like this.

Following the desolate bone, that powered the array’s core, losing its energy, the entire small group array lost its energy, as if it was about to collapse at anytime.

What… What is happening…?

Many people’s brains did not react in time. They could not understand what the scene in front of them meant. Maybe they had actually thought of it, they just could not believe it.

And at that moment, Yi Yun nonchalantly grabbed a fiery red light from within the fractured desolate bone. It was the phantom image of a small lizard. It was the desolate beast essence Qi that was originally sealed within the desolate bone!

“Lava Fire Lizard! He grabbed a Lava Fire Lizard!”

Many people stared with their eyes wide. Even with a desolate bone placed there, many of the Desolate Heaven Masters would not be able to identify what desolate beast the bone came from. However, now, with Yi Yun grabbing the essence Qi, they could easily recognize it.

This Lava Fire Lizard was a formidable desolate beast. It was tyrannous and its body contained a terrifying fire-elemental energy. If it released the energy, it would be a nightmare.

And at that moment, this Lava Fire Lizard’s essence Qi, which was filled with resentment and tyranny, had been nonchalantly grabbed by Yi Yun, as if he was capturing any ordinary house lizard.

At that moment, Yi Yun nonchalantly formed a few runic seals on the Lava Fire Lizard’s essence Qi. He then took out a box from his interspatial ring and stuffed the Lava Fire Lizard in as if he was storing food. He then closed the lid.

“Peng!”

When Yi Yun closed the lid, the small group array in front of Yi Yun completely exploded. The remaining desolate beast bones scattered as it completely fell apart.

Yi Yun had already cracked a small group array!

Wh… What?

Seeing this scene, people were stunned and had their mouths agape. Even if they could not believe it, they finally realized what the scene in front of them meant. Yun Yantian had cracked one of the small array groups of the Five Elemental Bone Array!

Everyone present, be it the Lin family’s disciples or the Shentu family clan’s disciples, had their expressions frozen. Their bodies were stiff as if they were zombies with talismans pasted on them.

The entire tea session’s venue was silent. It was as if they had seen a ghost.

Originally, people estimated that Lin Ziyan would use about 7-8 minutes to crack a small group array, but in about 30 seconds time, when Lin Ziyan’s Guanyin Flower Picking Hand had made about a third of its progress, Yun Yantian had already cracked the first small group array on his side!

What was going on? People were still slow to react. This feeling was like a martial arts grandmaster and a second-grade figure in the trade challenging a top expert at the same time.

When the battle began, that martial arts grandmaster fought with the top expert beautifully by using all of their secret techniques. It made the scene appear fabulous, making jaws drop. However, victory was undetermined.

However, when it was the second grade figure going up on stage, he used a very ordinary kungfu technique against the top expert. Without a word, a nonchalant kick then caused the top expert to fall to the ground.

This must be a joke, right?

People truly found it unacceptable. Especially those in the seats of honor, Lin Xintong’s grandaunt was completely dumbstruck. Her mouth was agape and her eyes staring straight ahead. She looked like a hen would do when it had its neck grabbed.

At that moment, she felt all of her blood surge to her face. Her old face had turned red like a cooked crab.

Yun Yantian, that country bumpkin who did not understand any rules, had actually broken one of Song Ziyue’s group arrays before Ziyan?

She turned her head with difficulty to look at Su Jie. It was as if her joints had turned to rust and could not be moved.

She saw Su Jie with a completely dumbfounded expression too.

Su Jie was the person who knew Yi Yun the best amongst all of them. Others might think that Yi Yun had been learning the Desolate Heaven technique for a very long period of time, but Su Jie was very sure that Yi Yun had only been learning the Desolate Heaven technique for a very short period of time.

Two years ago, Yi Yun was still a mortal in every way. In these two years, he had gone from Mortal Blood to the Yuan Foundation in his martial arts. He had also cultivated all sorts of heritages. Under such a situation, how could he have time to learn the Desolate Heaven technique?

How did he accomplish this in such a short period of time? It was too great an exaggeration.

Although he found it unbelievable deep down, but noticing the woman in palatial attire project her gaze on him, Su Jie’s old face began to give a lewd and teasing smile. Who cares why Yi Yun’s Desolate Heaven technique was so awesome, as long as he could let this disgusting old hag eat dirt, it alone would be a joyous feat.

“How is it? Is your face swollen? Keke, if I were you, I would quickly jump into the lake. If not, your old face will become as red as a monkey’s bottom. If that happens, how are you to face others?”

Su Jie mimicked the tone the woman in palatial attire had used before and spoke in a queer manner. Now there was only one word in his mind, marvelous!

395 - : Yi Yun Cracks the Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

The woman in palatial attire felt as if her lungs were about to explode after she was put down by Su Jie, however, she had no way of retorting. She did not understand how Yi Yun was able to crack Song Ziyue’s array.

“Dear nephew Nantian, what is going on? Were you not very confident in Song Ziyue just now? However, just now a random punk managed to crack the array!”

Originally, the woman wished to see a junior from the Lin family beat a junior from the Shentu family clan, but how could she not feel indignant about letting a fellow like Yi Yun, who came from some nook and cranny, put Lin Ziyan to shame?

Shentu Nantian frowned as he too was baffled, “Grandaunt, do not worry. I believe that there should be some other reason. Let me ask Ziyue and confirm my suspicions.”

As Shentu Nantian spoke, he transmitted his voice to Song Ziyue.

At that moment, Song Ziyue was standing in the center of the square, frozen like a wooden stave. The moment Yi Yun cracked his array, he felt as if his heart had been severely scratched.

“Ziyue, what is going on?”

Shentu Nantian’s voice rang in Song Ziyue’s ear.

Song Ziyue seemed to wake up from a dream and took a deep breath. He gave a deep stare in Yi Yun’s direction and a vein bulged on his forehead, “This kid broke my array…”

“Is that not obvious!? I am asking you how he cracked it!” Shentu Nantian said in a discontented manner, “With such an obvious matter, do I need you to repeat that to me?”

Song Ziyue’s expression sank as he thought for a moment before he spoke, “Logically, it is impossible for him to have used the Mystic Crystal Hand to dismantle the trap I designed in the desolate bone. However, although my array is complex, it is not without flaws. If you have heaven-defying luck, it is possible for you to crack it randomly.”

Even the best lock could be opened by a bumbling locksmith. With a piece of wire, sometimes luck might allow someone to open the lock. Although it was highly improbable, it was not impossible.

Song Ziyue was convinced that the Mystic Crystal Hand’s runic seals that Yi Yun used had resonated with his own runic seals, resulting in such an effect.

Shentu Nantian took a deep breath, “I was originally suspecting that this was the case. Are you sure?”

“I am sure!” Song Ziyue nodded as gazed at Yi Yun, his gaze now containing a trace of hatred, “There will not be a second time. The Five Elemental Bone Array definitely cannot be cracked by the Mystic Crystal Hand.”

Song Ziyue gnashed his teeth as he said that. He was very confident in his own array.

And at that moment, Yi Yun had already walked over to a second small group array.

In the middle of the small group array was an Earth-elemental bone. Earth-elemental energy was an energy type that Yi Yun had been in little contact with, but it did not prevent Yi Yun from cracking the array.

With the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, all the traps were fully exposed in front of Yi Yun, with nowhere to hide. Furthermore, Yi Yun’s control of energy was precise to the point that it far exceeded Su Jie’s.

“Earth-elemental bone array…”

Yi Yun focused on the piece of bone. In his energy vision, he could see that the trap within the desolate bone was very different from the trap before.

The twelve small group arrays were all different in Song Ziyue’s Five Elemental Bone Array. This increased the difficulty of cracking the array. A Desolate Heaven Master apprentice, whose ability was lacking, might crack one group array with great difficulty and expend a lot of mental energy. However, when he then tried to crack a second group array, he would have to start all over again. As such, trying to break more than four small group arrays was naturally not an easy feat.

“You still want to crack it?” Song Ziyue stared coldly at Yi Yun, “I want to see how long your good luck can last.”

Detecting Song Ziyue’s gaze, which was filled with killing intent, Yi Yun raised his head and gave Song Ziyue a light glance. He was wearing a mask so it was expressionless. Only the two thin sanguine marks at where his eyes were looked indifferent.

Yi Yun ignored Song Ziyue and lowered his head as he carried on cracking the array without worries.

…

“Grandaunt, it was an accident just now.” Shentu Nantian turned towards the woman in palatial attire and smiled. “I wonder if Grandaunt has heard of Heaven’s stem and Earth’s branches lock. The Heaven’s stem is made up of ten stems and the Earth branches are made up of ten branches. Together with the Bagua, the five elements, there are tens of thousands of combinations. Only one of them is correct, only by pressing all of them correctly can one open the lock to Heaven’s stem and Earth branches.

“A person, who does not know anything, might use a random combination of Heaven’s stem and Earth branches and actually get it right. As such, the lock to Heaven’s stem and Earth branches can be opened.”

As Shentu Nantian spoke, he opened his fan and gently fanned himself with a look of confidence.

His confidence was not unjustified and was not because he was blindly convinced because of Song Ziyue’s words. Shentu Nantian had made his own judgment and strongly believed that a one-size fits all technique, like the Mystic Crystal Hand, could not crack the Five Elemental Bone Array in the hands of a fifteen-year-old youth.

This point was sufficient to support Shentu Nantian’s opinion.

In the seats of honor, there was no lack of Desolate Heaven Masters in the upper echelons of the Lin family. They also acknowledged Shentu Nantian’s point. What he described really did exist.

“There might not be such a coincidence under the Heavens.” Su Jie said coldly. He did not have that much confidence in Yi Yun, but seeing Yi Yun’s accomplishments being put down by Shentu Nantian so quickly naturally did not make him feel good as Yi Yun’s in-name master.

“Haha, Elder Su, I’m just expressing his opinion. It is a fact that Song Ziyue’s Five Elemental Bone Array is not something the Mystic Crystal Hand can crack. Maybe in the hands of a Desolate Heaven Master, that is possible. In the hands of a junior, however, it is as hard as ascending the Heavens.”

“Under this situation, this junior is just suggesting the most likely reason and it is the most reasonable explanation… What say you, Junior sister Xintong?”

Shentu Nantian turned towards Lin Xintong. Lin Xintong had almost not spoken at all since she arrived. Shentu Nantian wanted to get to know Lin Xintong, so at random times, he would pull Lin Xintong into the topic of discussion.

“What you think may be reasonable might not be reasonable.” Lin Xintong said coldly. As it was a gathering of the upper echelons of both the Lin family and the Shentu family clan, Lin Xintong could not be impolite. She had to answer Shentu Nantian whenever he talked to her, if not she would be criticized.

However, Lin Xintong’s mind was not on Shentu Nantian when she spoke. She was still looking towards the center of the square and her gaze was locked onto Yi Yun’s hands. She saw Yi Yun’s every move very clearly.

As if in a trance, she seemed to return back to that night from two years ago. The words Yi Yun had said when he first saw Lin Xintong’s hand seals in the Desolate Human Valley…

Thinking of the scenes of that night, Lin Xintong felt mixed emotions. She found it hard to believe in what Yi Yun had said, which was both stubborn and seemingly absurd in nature, yet it had been realized by him with his own hands today.

The technique he used, and all the runic seals the Mystic Crystal Hand formed, were extremely normal. It seemed to resemble the ordinary linen clothes which Yi Yun wore two years ago, and at the same time seemed to be as simple as Yi Yun himself.

He had really become a Desolate Heaven Master at an unbelievable speed!

Who could believe that a small tribe youth, whom she had met in the Cloud Wilderness, who had set goals that would be laughable to normal people, such as pursuing martial arts and ambitioning to become a Desolate Heaven Master, would… actually, succeed!

It was as if Lin Xintong had witnessed a miracle that happened to Yi Yun with her own eyes.

This miracle had a special significance for Lin Xintong herself.

This was because Lin Xintong had naturally terminated meridians. If she could succeed in joining up her terminated meridians, then it in itself would be a miracle!

Completing something that was nearly impossible would be just like Yi Yun, achieving aspirations that ordinary people thought impossible.

Lin Xintong, of course, remembered the scene where she had revealed her determination to join up her terminated meridians when she was young, she had been ridiculed by her aunts and cousins.

The ridicule and sarcasm had once made a young Lin Xintong feel distressed and embarrassed. Now, however, it no longer did… She walked her own path and pursued her own dreams. Why should she care about what others felt?

Humans always needed to have dreams, if they did not, what difference would there be between humans and livestock?

Lin Xintong seemed to see herself in Yi Yun. The same effort, persistence and the equally distant and elusive dreams.

If Yi Yun could do it, how could she not?

Lin Xintong silently clenched her fists. Her slender jade-like fingers turned white from her clenching.

“I will walk out a path that belongs to me. I wish that you too can walk on a path that belongs to you…”

Lin Xintong said to herself silently. At that moment, Shentu Nantian was frowning slightly. He was sensitive and naturally noticed that when he spoke to her, Lin Xintong’s attention was always on Yun Yantian and that she only gave him a perfunctory response.

When had Shentu Nantian, who was a very proud person, not be the center of attention ever since he was young? There were countless numbers of girls willing to be the ones throwing themselves at him, only in front of Lin Xintong did he have to lower his status and be frustrated by her again and again.

For example, now, Lin Xintong would rather focus on a small fry instead of taking notice of what he was saying. This made Shentu Nantian feel hatred for Yun Yantian.

He took a deep breath and swallowed his anger. He still hung a breeze-like smile on his face, “Junior sister Xintong, actually there is nothing interesting for this match. It was one in a ten thousand chance coincidence that will not happen a second time.”

“At this Desolate Heaven technique tea session, my Shentu family clan has made some special preparations that will definitely astound Junior sister Xintong. When that happens, it will not be too late for Junior sister Xintong to focus on it. As for this match, actually there is not much to see, it is all…”

Before Shentu Nantian could finish his words, he suddenly heard a “Peng” explosion behind him. This explosive sound seemed familiar to Shentu Nantian.

At that moment, he was still speaking to Lin Xintong, so he was unaware of what was happening in the square, but he realized that the upper echelon elders of the Lin family and the Shentu family clan’s elders in his field of vision were all having astonished expressions, as if they had seen a ghost.

Especially the Shentu family clan’s elders, not only were they shocked, they also had very ugly expressions!

Lin Xintong as well, she too had a similarly shocked expression. However, in her shocked, beautiful eyes, a hint of being pleasantly surprised could be seen very clearly.

Shentu Nantian felt a hum ring in his head as if he had been hit heavily by a hammer. He was completely stunned.

He turned his neck with difficulty. Inch by inch, he turned towards the center of the square…

396 - : Breaking one after another

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shentu Nantian nearly forced himself to let his gaze fall on Yun Yantian’s body. He held his breath as his mind went blank. His eyes even protruded slightly.

At that moment, he had seen with his own eyes that a portion of Song Ziyue’s Five Elemental Bone Array had been torn apart in front of Yun Yantian. Yet another core bone had exploded into grayish-white desolate bones powder!

This meant that the Power of Desolates within the desolate bone had been extracted cleanly by Yun Yantian!

Shentu Nantian looked on as Yun Yantian nonchalantly grabbed a small, yellow turtle from the pile of bone residue.

This small turtle had short limbs and struggled desperately. However, its body was covered with runic seals, so it could not move despite its struggle.

Although the small turtle looked quite cute, it was a vicious desolate beast, named Earth Spirit Turtle. Usually, half of its body would be buried underground and its upper body would be covered in earth. It would even have grass growing on it. It would stay motionless for months, up to half a year, in a state of semi-hibernation. If it felt that a prey that it considered palatable approach it, it would suddenly rise up and swallow the prey!

This Earth Spirit Turtle was one of the essence Qi’s that Song Ziyue had sealed within the Five Elemental Bone Array. With Yi Yun’s nonchalant grab, and with the runic seals suppressing it, he easily threw it into a jade box. The entire process seemed very easy and casual as if he had just caught a tortoise in a pond.

Yet another small group array had been broken apart by Yi Yun!

How… how was this possible!?

Shentu Nantian felt all of his blood rush to his face, turning his entire face red. He no longer looked like the suave and jade-like gentleman anymore.

He had just said, in front of every Lin family elder, that he was sure that Yun Yantian was just lucky, but before he could even finish speaking, he had been given a loud smack on the face!

“Cracked… it has been cracked again. There is no other way. This junior surnamed Yun really can crack the array. It was no coincidence.”

A Lin family elder said in both a surprised and excited manner.

If the first time was said to be a coincidence, they could believe it as it was the most reasonable explanation. However, if the second time was also explained away with a coincidence, then that was clearly impossible!

It was really incredible. They were also sure that it would be impossible for a junior’s Mystic Crystal Hand to crack the Five Elemental Bone Array, but the truth was placed right in front of their eyes.

The field of the Desolate Heaven technique was extremely deep and profound. Even these elders did not dare to say that they understood the Desolate Heaven technique greatly. There were always phenomena that they could not understand, and other domains that they had never encountered before.

The more they learned, the more they realized that they knew less!

“This kid, hahaha. Well done!”

At that moment, Su Jie was also elated as he felt extremely happy!

“Elder Su, you took in a good apprentice.” The elders of the Lin family, other than Lin Xintong’s grandaunt and her sixth grand uncle, as well as a small minority, did not have a good impression of the Shentu family clan even though they had agreed to the marriage proposal from the Shentu family clan. After all, the Shentu family clan and the Lin family had been at odds over the past few years.

Under these circumstances, they also felt good upon seeing a junior from the Lin family smack the Shentu family clan in the face.

Truthfully, seeing Shentu Nantian sit amongst the Lin family’s upper echelons as if he was half the owner of the Lin family, they felt extremely uncomfortable. They were only worried that Shentu Nantian would one day become an in-law of the Lin family, that is why they could not offend him, so instead, they had patiently appeared polite on the surface.

“This, *cough*…” Su Jie stroke his beard as he blushed. He opened his mouth and although he wanted to take credit for this, and had always been thick-skinned, there was no way for him to really take credit for Yi Yun’s current achievements.

“Actually… I only took in this disciple midway for a couple of months. As for really teaching him, I only taught him the Mystic Crystal Hand two months ago. And I only taught him for a day. To have such results… truthfully, this does not have much to do with me.”

Everyone knew that Su Jie had taken in Yun Yantian as an in-name disciple. An in-name disciple meant that he would not receive the core teachings of his master.

Clearly, Su Jie had not imparted Yun Yantian with any true ability. It could even be said that Su Jie had never intended to really take in Yun Yantian in as a disciple from the beginning.

Under these circumstances, Su Jie naturally could not lie with his eyes wide open.

He had regretted taking in Yi Yun only as an in-name disciple. Was this not going to make people say behind his back, that he failed to see even though he had eyes!?

“Haha, Elder Su sure is modest. Regardless, our young friend Yun is a talent that Elder Su discovered. Even if he is not from the Lin family, if he can mature in our Lin family, it would be joyous news!”

At that moment, an old but amiable voice sounded. The person who spoke was the Lin family’s Matriarch!

In the Lin family, the Matriarch had the final say in internal affairs. Other than those grand elders who dedicated themselves to cultivating and cared nothing for the worldly affairs, whatever the Matriarch said was not questioned in the Lin family.

Su Jie knew that with the Matriarch saying those words, it had the hidden meaning of wishing to recruit Yi Yun.

In the Lin family, there were plenty of disciples that did not share the same surname. They were recruited into the Lin family due to their talent, and they enjoyed the same treatment as direct descendants.

A few years later, they might even marry the children of the Lin family, eventually becoming a real member of the Lin family.

In the world of warriors, marriage was a relationship that made people feel reassured. Especially in a marriage where both parties could work together and cultivated through intercourse, then their relationship would grow even stronger.

“This… I will ask my disciple for his intentions. However, I do believe that he has no reason to oppose it.”

Su Jie was overjoyed. The Matriarch appreciating Yi Yun would be an excellent turn of events.

Then again, if the Matriarch did not try to recruit Yi Yun, with his extraordinary Desolate Heaven technique talent, that would have been abnormal.

With Yi Yun first reaching the Tian Yuan world and having Shentu Nantian as an enemy, he would indeed require the protection of the Lin family. By providing him with the necessary environment and resources needed for him to mature, this would be a matter that benefited both sides.

“Xintong, do you know this little friend Yun?”

The Matriarch suddenly turned and spoke to Lin Xintong. She naturally remembered that when Yi Yun “contradicted” Lin Xintong’s grandaunt in the Jade Bamboo peak, Lin Xintong has said “a mere acquaintance should not sow discord between two close people”, preventing her grandaunt from salvaging the situation.

Clearly, not only did Lin Xintong know this little friend Yun, their relationship was also not shallow!

This was naturally a good thing. After all, the Matriarch had the intention of nurturing Lin Xintong into becoming a pillar of support for the Lin family. The more elites who she had good relationships with, the better it would be for her future. It was even more so knowing a top genius in the Desolate Heaven technique.

After all, Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians still had not been healed, and even if they were healed, who could guarantee that there would be no remaining symptoms?

Knowing a Desolate Heaven Master who had a future ahead of him was necessary!

“Yes, Yun Yantian is Xintong’s old friend.”

Lin Xintong said frankly. And sitting beside Lin Xintong, Shentu Nantian’s expression turned even uglier upon hearing this.

Traces of blood-red color covered his face as they engulfed it.

Old friend?

This was actually a phrase that did not mean much, but in Shentu Nantian’s ears, it sounded extremely harsh.

He did not know why he found the two words, “old friend” to be such a problem!

Especially just now, he had clearly seen the joy in Lin Xintong’s eyes when Yun Yantian cracked the array for the second time.

If it was any ordinary girl who felt happy about an old friend’s success, then Shentu Nantian could barely accept it.

However, Lin Xintong was a girl who resembled a breeze and had little emotion.

Why would she be happy for that kid’s success? This was not normal!

A person would only be happy for another person’s success when they had a close or special relationship. If not, as humans were naturally selfish, they may congratulate on the surface upon knowing of a friend’s success, but deep down they may say, what does this have to do with me?

There was even the situation when one would feel jealous upon seeing someone else’s success when one was down and out, thinking of things like why can a friend have this but not me?

This was the way of thinking of ordinary people.

Would Lin Xintong rejoice upon seeing the other Lin family disciples, who even had blood relationships with Lin Xintong, do remarkably well on stage?

Taking a step back, if it was Shentu Nantian himself, would Lin Xintong have any reaction if he was able to show off his remarkable skill?

At that moment of being queried, maybe even an insincere praise would be something very rare!

Thinking of this, how could Shentu Nantian feel pleasant?

He was originally not a magnanimous person. Besides, under these circumstances, which man could be magnanimous!?

At that moment, Shentu Nantian was on the verge of anger. If not for the occasion, he would nearly have made a move to kill Yun Yantian!

“Junior sister Xintong…” Shentu Nantian’s voice turned increasingly deeper. Just as he got Lin Xintong’s attention and was about to say something…

“Peng!”

The third explosion!

Shentu Nantian’s heart sank as he jerked his head towards the center of the square.

His eyes looked ferocious like a wild beast’s red eyes.

He could clearly see that the third group array in front of Yun Yantian had crumbled. The desolate bone that held the group array in place had turned into grayish-white bone residue.

Like clockwork, Yi Yun stretched out his hand and grabbed the third desolate beast essence Qi from the bone residue.

At that moment, Song Ziyue, who was standing before Yi Yun, was completely dumbstruck. After Yi Yun broke his array for the second time, he had already felt a heavy blow.

Now, with the array being broken for the third time, his confidence was devastated. Seeing Yun Yantian put the third desolate beast essence Qi into the jade box, Song Ziyue seemed to lose his soul. He looked like a fool, where could one still find the temperament of a young proud son of heaven?

He was really afraid. Now, whatever that happened on stage made him feel like he had entered a nightmare.

“The third one!”

Shentu Nantian clenched his fists as his temples throbbed. The veins on his hands bulged. It only took about thirty seconds in between cracking the second and third group array!

Yi Yun, who was onstage, took an average of about thirty seconds to crack a small group array. This was not cracking an array, it was clearly just pushing down sand castles built by children!

397 - : Nearly Devastated

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Broken yet again, hahahaha!” While Shentu Nantian was trying his best to contain his anger, Su Jie began laughing in a very exaggerated and loud manner at the perfect time, “This disciple I took in sure is amazing! He has given me such a huge surprise in this Desolate Heaven technique tea session, hahahaha!”

Su Jie’s laughter was like a chanting curse that made Shentu Nantian irritated.

Yi Yun was about to begin breaking the fourth small group array while Song Ziyue, who was in the middle of the array, looking dejected, had lost all of his will to fight.

Without a doubt, if this carried on, Yi Yun would definitely completely crack the Five Elemental Bone Array.

Shentu Nantian naturally did not want to see this result.

Shentu Nantian was already treating Yi Yun as the enemy, and suspected the feelings Lin Xintong had for him. Under this situation, how could he allow Yi Yun to carry on stealing the show?

“Everyone, it looks like there is no point left in this showdown.” Shentu Nantian suddenly stood up, “Junior Brother Yun’s Desolate Heaven technique is outstanding. Ziyue, keep your array and admit defeat!”

Oh?

Yi Yun stopped his hands and turned around to look at Shentu Nantian.

At that moment, Song Ziyue seemed to recover from his dumbstruck state. Every second he spent in the square was a grilling moment for him.

“I admit defeat!”

Song Ziyue gritted his teeth as he said so. Since he was inferior, he had no qualms in admitting defeat.

As he began to dismantle the array, Lin Ziyan, who was opposite Yi Yun, also stopped her Guanyin Flower Picking Hand.

From the moment Yi Yun began cracking the array till now, only about 150 seconds had passed. Lin Ziyan had only completed 80-90% of her Guanyin Flower Picking Hand, but at that moment, there was no need to carry on using it.

If it was to be decided who ended up the worst after the showdown between Song Ziyue and Yi Yun, it was naturally Song Ziyue, while Lin Ziyan was caught in the crossfire.

She originally hoped to use the Guanyin Flower Picking Hand to compete with Song Ziyue. It would have been a spectacular showdown of high-level techniques that would have been the center of attention, and she would have gained fame and glory from it.

However, because of Yi Yun’s appearance, she ended up in such an awkward situation.

“Junior Brother Yun has good ability. I underestimated you.”

Lin Ziyan said as she gave Yi Yun a deep glance before she left the square.

With Song Ziyue admitting defeat and Lin Ziyan leaving the square, there was no reason for Yi Yun to stay behind. As he was preparing to leave the square, Shentu Nantian suddenly said, “Junior Brother Yun, hold on a moment.”

Yi Yun halted and looked towards Shentu Nantian.

“Now, with Junior Brother Yun just coming on stage, why the hurry to leave?” As Shentu Nantian spoke, he left the seats of honor and began walking towards the center of the square slowly.

Seeing Shentu Nantian’s actions, everyone was stunned. What was Shentu Nantian going to do?

“He is not letting Junior Brother Yun leave. It cannot be that he wants to compete with Junior Brother Yun in the Desolate Heaven technique, right?”

A junior from the younger generation said in a speechless manner.

“It cannot be. If that was the case, then Shentu Nantian would really be too shameless.”

Shentu Nantian did not focus on the Desolate Heaven technique, but as many things intersected with one another, his situation was pretty similar to Lin Xintong’s.

Shentu Nantian’s age was slightly more than two times that of Yi Yun’s age. Was it not bullying if an adult were to compete with a child’s Desolate Heaven technique?

“It cannot be. Shentu Nantian has to consider his own background. It is impossible for him to do something as unbecoming as that.”

For a proud person like Shentu Nantian, how could he want to compete with Yi Yun? This was because, even if he won, he would still be mocked by the Lin family’s upper echelons.

“Junior Brother Yun, I saw you breaking the array easily just now. You should not have expended too much of your energy, right?” Shentu Nantian had already walked into the center of the square and was just ten steps away from Yi Yun.

Yi Yun held his breath and a pair of black eyes could be seen through the mask as it quietly looked at Shentu Nantian.

He did not express the hate in his heart, but the coldness and indifference in his eyes made Shentu Nantian frown slightly.

This kid’s pair of eyes are really annoying…

No matter how Shentu Nantian looked at Yi Yun, he did not like him. It was to the point where he really wanted to dig out Yi Yun’s eyes.

“No!” Yi Yun answered calmly. He had only taken about a hundred seconds to crack the Five Elemental Bone Array, and since it was through a trick, he had not consumed that much of his mental energy.

“That is good.” Shentu Nantian smiled. How could he let Yi Yun walk off stage while still being in the limelight?

Of course, Shentu Nantian could not compete with Yi Yun directly; hence, he had thought up a method.

“Junior Brother Yun’s accomplishment in the Desolate Heaven technique is outstanding, and you have only showed us the tip of the iceberg. I believe that everyone has not yet seen enough. If Junior Brother Yun were to leave now, it would be quite a shame.”

Yi Yun remained silent. He knew that Shentu Nantian had most likely thought of something.

He could feel Shentu Nantian’s hostility towards him. It was ironic that, even with a change of identity, he had once again formed a grudge with Shentu Nantian.

“I am not sure if Junior Brother Yun has ever heard of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect?”

Yi Yun did not understand why Shentu Nantian asked the question. However, the surrounding people paused slightly. The Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect was an extinct sect. It existed even earlier than the Daming Temple.

The greatest aspect of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect was its Desolate Heaven technique.

Back when the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect was in its golden era, it had produced many famous Desolate Heaven Masters.

The Desolate Heaven technique heritage of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect was a system of its own. It was extremely difficult to learn and extremely profound. Only those with extraordinary talent could learn the Desolate Heaven technique of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect.

Seeing Yi Yun shake his head, Shentu Nantian smiled, “It is alright if you do not know. Speaking of this, back when my family clan’s elders explored an ancient mystic realm, they happened to find a Desolate Heaven technique recipe left behind by the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect.”

“The Desolate Heaven techniques recorded inside the recipe were not anything spectacular, but they can still showcase my Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven technique abilities. And coincidentally, with my abilities, I can barely refine it… Hence, I was thinking of showing it to everyone. You can think of it as me adding some fun for this Desolate Heaven technique tea session.”

Upon him saying those words, people began to look at each other. How could an ancient Desolate Heaven technique recipe left behind by the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect be as unremarkable as Shentu Nantian described?

The Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect’s Desolate Heaven technique was much more abstruse than mainstream Desolate Heaven techniques. And Shentu Nantian previously said that this recipe was found in an ancient mystic realm. The Great Empress’s recipe that could cure Lin Xintong of her natural Yin Meridians might have come from that mystic realm!

Furthermore, Shentu Nantian also said that he could barely refine it. This made many become secretly alarmed. Shentu Nantian’s Desolate Heaven technique might have been even better than they expected.

“This Shentu Nantian is really a genius! There is no need to talk about his ability in martial arts, but who would have thought that his accomplishments in the Desolate Heaven technique would also be extraordinary. He might even have even dabbled in arrays and elixir refinement.”

The younger generation of the Lin family were all secretly alarmed. Although many of them did not like Shentu Nantian, they had to admit that it was indeed well-deserved for him to be called a peerless son of Heaven in the Tian Yuan world.

If Lin Xintong was able to join up her naturally terminated meridians and become a peerless Great Empress, then the only person qualified to be her partner in cultivation intercourse would probably be Shentu Nantian.

“Junior Brother Yun, I previously said that I could barely refine that ancient recipe. Hence, I need others to help me… Junior Brother Yun’s accomplishments in the Desolate Heaven technique are extraordinary, and is in line with my requirements, so… how about cooperating with me?”

When Shentu Nantian asked him, Yi Yun finally understood what Shentu Nantian was thinking.

Shentu Nantian had said so much, but the main reason was to put him down.

Despite talking about cooperating to refine a desolate bone relic, there was probably a trap within!

How could Yi Yun know an ancient recipe left behind by the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect? Shentu Nantian could do something during the process to make Yi Yun embarrass himself very easily!

And at that moment, Shentu Hai and Shentu Feng, who were originally sitting with Shentu Nantian, walked to the center of the square while laughing.

They had previously received a Yuan Qi voice transmission from Shentu Nantian. It was time for them to make a move.

“Junior Brother Yun, let us do it together. If it is just you alone, it might be too difficult. With the three of us joining hands, it will be done smoothly.”

As the two spoke, they stood to the left and right of Yi Yun.

“How about it, Junior Brother Yun? This would be a rare experience for you.” Shentu Nantian gently touched the interspatial ring on his finger as he still hung a genial smile on his face.

“This fellow sure is a hypocrite…” With this thought in mind, a smile, suffused with a trace of mockery, appeared on Yi Yun’s face. However, under the mask, his smile could not be seen by others.

Since he understood what Shentu Nantian was planning to do, Yi Yun wanted to see what trick Shentu Nantian was up to.

Originally with Yi Yun’s personality, he would not try to steal the show. However, today, his purpose was to mess things up, so how could he miss out on the fun?

398 - : Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect

CKtalon  CKtalon

Following Shentu Nantian’s suggestion, everyone’s gazes landed on Yi Yun.

Quite a considerable number of people did not understand what Shentu Nantian’s was thinking, nor did they know that Shentu Nantian already disliked Yi Yun because of Lin Xintong’s special feelings for Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun, you must not agree to it. Shentu Nantian is going to try and give you a hard time on purpose.”

At that moment, Lin Xintong’s Yuan Qi transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ears. Lin Xintong had previously heard from Su Jie that Yi Yun had a great feud with Shentu Nantian, which was why he had to change his identity.

“Yi Yun, you have not even heard of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect before. You definitely will not understand the Desolate Heaven technique heritage of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect. You do not know that the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect’s heritage is different in many ways compared to the Tian Yuan world’s Desolate Heaven technique. If you were to agree, you would fall into Shentu Nantian’s schemes!”

“Oh? Differences in the heritage systems?” Yi Yun thought and looked towards Lin Xintong. He felt a strand of warmth surging to his heart when Lin Xintong used her Yuan Qi to inform him.

However, about the heritage systems being different, Yi Yun did not care at all. Ignoring the Desolate Heaven technique heritage of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect, Yi Yun did not even know much about the mainstream Desolate Heaven technique heritage of the Tian Yuan world. Especially the aspects of energy sealing, Yi Yun only knew the Mystic Crystal Hand and the Small Thousand Seal.

Just with these two techniques, how much could Yi Yun understand the mainstream Desolate Heaven technique heritages?

Hence, it did not affect Yi Yun much even if the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect’s heritage contained some mysteries.

“Thank you Miss Lin, but… I still want to try…”

Yi Yun’s words made Lin Xintong’s eyebrows frown. “Yi Yun, I know you have a feud with Shentu Nantian and want to take some revenge, but now is not the time. You are too weak, if you act on emotion, you will only suffer.”

Yi Yun laughed and said, “It is just a competition in the Desolate Heaven technique and not a life and death battle. Even if I were to suffer, it will be nothing much. I will just be embarrassed. After all, I am a newcomer to the Lin family and I am not an important figure, so what if I am embarrassed?”

“If I were to be afraid of losing now, and not accept Shentu Nantian’s challenge, then that means I am already afraid. Today’s competition does not risk my life, and if I were to reject it, then in the future, when I face a life-death blood battle with him to settle our feud, there might only be me and Shentu Nantian. There will be no one to protect me. At that time, can I still reject it?”

Yi Yun’s rhetorical question stumped Lin Xintong.

Indeed, when someone wants to kill you, would they ask you if you wanted it or not?

Compared to the situation of a life and death battle, the Desolate Heaven technique showdown right now was nothing.

Upon understanding this, Lin Xintong stared deeply at Yi Yun. She did not know what Yi Yun’s expression was like under the mask. She found it hard to believe that the youth she had met in the Cloud Wilderness would reach this point, step by step maturing along the way.

Besides, he was only fifteen years old, but he already had a blood feud with Shentu Nantian. However, despite that, he was still unperturbed and could still make such a calm analysis with such courage.

“Yi Yun… you are right. I was the one being narrow-minded, but I need to remind you that Shentu Nantian is a merciless and narrow-minded person. Even if he does not know your real identity, he might still have murderous intent for you.”

“Yes, I understand.” Yi Yun nodded. “Miss Lin, do not worry, I have a sense of proportion.”

As Yi Yun said that, he turned his gaze towards Shentu Nantian.

“Hey, kid, are you agreeing or not?” Shentu Hai had a mocking smile on his face as he provoked Yi Yun.

Yi Yun completely ignored Shentu Hai and cupped his hands and said, “Thanks to Young Master Nantian’s appreciation, you have given me this opportunity to train my Desolate Heaven technique standard. Of course, I have no reason to reject it.”

Yi Yun said this very “sincerely” while Shentu Hai and Shentu Feng nearly burst out laughing.

This retard! This was probably the type of person who would help you count the money received from selling him?

“Hahaha, Junior Brother Yun is so candid. Good! Then let us begin.”

As Shentu Nantian spoke, he took out a disk array from his interspatial ring. This disk array was about five feet wide and squarish. There were runes densely engraved in the middle, forming a perfect circle.

An array disk that gave off the meaning of perfect harmony.

With Shentu Nantian in the middle, Yi Yun, Shentu Hai and Shentu Feng stood around him in a triangular fashion.

The surrounding disciples of the Lin family were looking at the four people in the middle of the square.

Although they did not know about Shentu Nantian’s feelings for Yi Yun, they knew that Shentu Nantian’s goal in taking out the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect’s recipe was to flaunt the Shentu family clan.

Maybe it was because Yi Yun had smacked Song Ziyue’s face so terribly that Shentu Nantian had to stand forward to save the Shentu family clan’s reputation.

Under this situation, how could Shentu Nantian let Yi Yun shine in this cooperative bone refining process?

Letting Shentu Feng and Shentu Hai go onstage at the same time to cooperate with Yi Yun was probably to put Yi Yun down.

“Junior Brother Yun sure has guts. However, he has never even heard of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect, yet he still wants to cooperate with Shentu Nantian. In a while, he will probably embarrass himself.”

In the surrounding pavilions, some of the disciples of the Lin family were worried for Yi Yun.

“Having too much courage can be a fault, to the point of being stupid… For this matter, if it were me, I would definitely not agree to it.”

People began discussing and at that moment, Shentu Nantian took out 12 desolate bones from his interspatial ring. Once these 12 desolate bones appeared, they shone in the air.

The 12 bones were either crystal clear, like jade, or simple and plain. They faintly seemed to create small Yuan Qi swirls around them.

These bones were not ordinary, that could be seen at a glance!

“Oh? Amongst these desolate bones, it seems like some of them are primordial strain’s bones!”

Some of the Desolate Heaven Masters that were present had extraordinary vision. Although they could not recognize what desolate beast the bones came from, they could still tell their grade. Normal desolate bones definitely did not contain such strong Power of the Desolates.

“Could it be that Shentu Nantian already has the ability to refine primordial strain bones?”

Thinking of this, many of them were alarmed. Shentu Nantian was only 30 years old. To warriors with long lifespans, he was currently a junior. If he could refine primordial strain desolate bones at this age, would that not be remarkable?

“That is not the case…” At that moment, an old man shook his head and disagreed. “Those are not primordial strain desolate bones but desolate bones processed using an ancient mystic technique. It almost increases a desolate bone’s grade by one grade. It should be a mystic technique belonging to the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect!”

In the Lin family, there were Elders from the older generation who had previously read books regarding the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect’s mystic techniques, even though they did not understand the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect’s heritage system.

“Increase a desolate bone’s grade?” People were shocked. There was such a method?

“Indeed, but the effects are not as great as you think. This is because one has to pay a price to increase a desolate bone’s grade.”

“Actually, with the Shentu family clan’s heritage, they are not lacking in desolate bones of primordial strains. However, Shentu Nantian had used such a roundabout method because, with his ability, it would probably be quite difficult for him to handle several primordial strain desolate bones at the same time.”

As the old man spoke, Shentu Nantian waved his hand and the 12 desolate bones split into three groups. They then shot towards Shentu Hai, Shentu Feng, and Yi Yun!

These desolate bones landed in the hands of the three, with each having four pieces.

“This…” People were alarmed. “Is Shentu Nantian thinking of getting these teenage juniors to extract the Power of Desolates from these desolate bones?”

It would probably be considered too difficult to extract the Power of Desolates from this grade of desolate bones for Yi Yun and company.

At that moment, Shentu Nantian smiled and said, “Can the three of you please help me. Do not worry. Soon, I will set up an array, so that your mental energies will increase, enough for you to extract the Power of Desolates from these desolate bones!”

399 - : Refining Bone

CKtalon  CKtalon

As Shentu Nantian spoke, he placed the disk array on the ground. Runic circles began to shine on it as it began to grow in size. It grew to the point where it extended beneath Yi Yun, Shentu Feng and Shentu Hai’s feet.

“Stand on it.” Shentu Nantian said. To refine the ancient recipe’s elixir, the disk array was its foundation.

Yi Yun faltered slightly before he stepped onto the disk array.

He knew that with his new identity, he had not yet reached the point where he had to be killed at all costs, even after offending Shentu Nantian once again. Under the current situation, Shentu Nantian would not do anything to him in front of the upper echelons of the Lin family.

“The three of you shall extract the energy from the desolate bones and provide it for me! The twelve desolate bones will follow the order of the twelve Heavenly branches. Whatever bone I need, you will need to extract the corresponding bone’s Power of Desolates!”

As Shentu Nantian spoke, he took a jade jar out of his interspatial ring. Opening the jar, a pungent smell of blood was emitted.

It was the blood of a primordial strain.

People could clearly see that this beast’s blood was heavy and thick. It also contained dense amounts of Power of Desolates within it, so there was no doubt that it was the blood of a primordial strain.

Shentu Nantian planned to use the desolate bones and blood simultaneously to refine the elixir from the ancient recipe.

“Zi!”

Shentu Nantian shouted out a word. “Zi” was the top of the twelve Heavenly branches.

And the “Zi” label desolate bone was in Shentu Hai’s hands!

Shentu Hai’s eyes flashed as he also took out a disk array from his interspatial ring. He then began extracting the Power of Desolates from the “Zi” labeled desolate bone.

This was the desolate bone of a king-ranked desolate beast, and since this desolate bone had been processed through an ancient recipe, it was not that easy to extract the Power of Desolates from it.

However, Shentu Hai was well prepared as he had been previously exposed the Desolate Heaven techniques of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect. Although he did not master it, he still had some understanding of it.

His ten fingers moved as he sent out runic seals. Behind Shentu Hai, Heaven Earth Yuan Qi energy began to condense, forming a black phantom image.

The phantom image had two wings on its back and had teeth sticking out its mouth. It looked like a huge bat and looked extremely ferocious.

“Aspect Totem?”

When people saw the black phantom appear, they were stunned. Typically, people would only conjure their Aspect Totem during battle. As for Shentu Hai conjuring his Aspect Totem while using the Desolate Heaven technique, it was rarely seen.

“Shentu Hai’s technique is known as the Black Handed Demon. It is an extremely rare method of the Desolate Heaven technique. In the past, there were Dark Desolate Heaven Masters who liked to use it. Black Handed Demon indeed requires the manifestation of an Aspect Totem.”

In the Desolate Heaven technique, there were a few existences that were taboo. They were labeled as Dark Desolate Heaven Masters.

This group of people was labeled as heretics by the orthodox Desolate Heaven Masters.

Different from the orthodox Desolate Heaven technique, Dark Desolate Heaven Masters would do anything just to refine an effective desolate bone relic. That also included using human bones as materials for the Desolate Heaven technique.

The reason why the bones of desolate beasts could be refined into desolate bone relics was that of the great amounts of Power of Desolates contained within them. In contrast, strong humans, their bodies contained great amounts of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Hence at times, the effects from the bones of strong desolate beasts and the bones of humans were the same.

Hence, Dark Desolate Heaven Masters had developed a method to use the bones of human experts to refine relics. Tens of millions of years ago, the heritage of the Dark Desolate Heaven Masters had reached an extreme.

They had established several Dark Desolate Heaven technique sects and there were Dark family clans that passed on their bloodlines. These dark family clans were Dark Desolate Heaven Masters for generations.

These family clans were extremely powerful, as they used unscrupulous means to obtain human bones to help refine desolate bone relics. As their bloodlines passed down the tyrannical cruelty, they caused chaos to the world.

They stole the corpses from orthodox sects, sacrificed virgin boys and girls, wantonly used girls as sex slaves, massacred mortals, and gave offerings to demon ghosts.

Due to their evil acts, the orthodox Desolate Heaven Masters finally combined forces with the orthodox sects to declare war on the dark world. Finally, the dark family clans and sects were all destroyed at their peak.

The heritage of the Dark Desolate Heaven technique was as such greatly destroyed. However, the Dark Desolate Heaven Masters did not completely disappear as a result of this, they just went underground.

The “Black Handed Demon” used by Shentu Hai was not an exclusive technique used only by Dark Desolate Heaven Masters. Some orthodox Desolate Heaven Masters would also use it, though seldom.

This method was ancient and complex, so many Desolate Heaven Masters did not even understand it.

It was indeed remarkable that Shentu Hai could use this method at his age.

The people from the Lin family, regardless of the younger or older generation, had to admit that Shentu Hai was a genius in the Desolate Heaven technique.

Clearly, it was an extremely difficult matter for Shentu Hai and company to cooperate with Shentu Nantian to refine the ancient recipe.

Realizing this, many of them began to worry for Yi Yun. Although they did not know Yi Yun, Yi Yun was, after all, representing their Lin family and was the only person who could compete with the Shentu family clan amongst the younger generation. If Yi Yun was to lose terribly, then they would also be embarrassed.

“Junior Brother Yun should still have some hidden methods, right?”

“That should be the case. If he could crack Song Ziyue’s array so easily, I doubt he only has the Mystic Crystal Hand. Let us wait and see…”

As they spoke, their hearts suddenly sank. They saw a black gas start to emit from the desolate bone in Shentu Hai’s hands. This black gas was like a venomous snake that shot towards Shentu Hai’s eyebrows!

“Oh? That is!?”

People widened their eyes. The black gas revealed a very dangerous aura and was clearly detrimental for Shentu Hai!

And at that moment, the bat-like Aspect Totem behind Shentu Hai roared and swallowed the black gas!

Shentu Hai was currently stressed. After his Aspect Totem swallowed the black gas, he began sending out runic seals onto the desolate bone. Only then did he manage to quell the black gas completely.

Only when the black gas was completely sealed did Shentu Hai exhale, revealing a complacent smile.

“Spiritual backlash!” An old Desolate Heaven Master identified the origin of the black gas.

In the domain of the Desolate Heaven technique, some desolate bones were extremely dangerous. If one did not have the ability to refine them, it would result in serious consequences.

People could die due to the Desolate Heaven technique!

“No wonder Shentu Hai had to use the Black Handed Demon. This Black Handed Demon has the advantage in dealing with spiritual backlashes.”

An old Desolate Heaven Master from the Lin family said. The reason why the Black Handed Demon was widely used by Dark Desolate Heaven Masters was that the human bones they refined contained resentment, resulting in more frequent spiritual backlashes!

Now, Shentu Hai’s king-ranked desolate beast’s bone made a spiritual backlash, likely due to the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect’s heritage. Some of the processing methods had caused the bone to become like this.

If one suffered a spiritual backlash while refining such a desolate bone, the consequences ranged from damaging one’s soul to becoming a retard!

“This Shentu Nantian actually chose such an ancient recipe. Since the “Zi” labeled desolate bone has spiritual backlash within it, then the other labeled desolate bones might also have it too, and they might even be more dangerous. These twelve desolate bones are definitely not simple.”

People looked at the 12 bones in Shentu Hai, Shentu Feng and Yi Yun’s hands as they eyelids twitched. Especially the younger generation felt fear. They felt lucky that they were not in Yi Yun’s position, facing such a situation.

If it were them, they would really be in a situation of being irrevocably committed. If they shied away from it, it would be too embarrassing. If they gritted their teeth and went through with it, who knows if they would end up a retard as a result.

Many of them began to sympathize with Yi Yun. Although his Desolate Heaven technique was extraordinary, he was too young. He was not like Shentu Hai or Shentu Feng. The both of them must have been exposed to the Desolate Heaven technique heritage of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect prior to this.

At that moment, Shentu Hai completed the extraction of the Power of Desolates from the “Zi” labeled desolate bone.

This blob of Power of Desolates finally landed into the disk array at Shentu Hai’s feet. As a result, the runes on the disk array lit up.

There was a total of 12 runes on the disk array, corresponding to the 12 desolate bones.

Seeing the corresponding rune light up, Shentu Hai clenched his fists and was delighted!

He had succeeded!

With Shentu Hai’s ability, it was quite taxing on him to extract a king-ranked desolate beast’s desolate bone. Furthermore, he had to be wary of the spiritual backlash within the desolate bone, so it was very draining on his mental energy.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and took out a Soul Nurturing pill from his interspatial ring before swallowing it down.

With that, his face flushed abnormally.

Usually, he did not have a 100% success rate at extracting a “Zi” labeled desolate bone. If an accident happened midway, Shentu Nantian had to expend some mental energy to help him.

At this Desolate Heaven technique tea session, Shentu Hai inevitably felt nervous in front of so many people. He worried that an accident would happen while he was handling it, but thankfully, he succeeded.

He had undoubtedly shined at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session. And he had gained face for the Shentu family clan.

“Junior Brother Yun, how about it. Can you handle it? If you think you cannot, it is not too late to quit now. Shentu Feng and I will become more tired, but we can finish your portion.” Shentu Hai said with a mocking smile. He was waiting to see Yi Yun’s expression of being in a dilemma.

Actually, with Shentu Nantian’s intentions, if he did not tell Yi Yun that there was a spiritual backlash within the desolate bones and instead tricked Yi Yun, causing him to become a retard, that would naturally be the best outcome.

However, at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session, Shentu Nantian naturally could not do so in front of all the upper echelons of the Lin family.

How could the Lin family permit such an insidious trick? After all, the Shentu family clan was still at a slight disadvantage in this negotiation with the Lin family. Shentu Nantian may hate Yi Yun, but it did not reach the point of him needing to kill Yi Yun at all costs. So he definitely needed to weigh the consequences.

Now, by letting Yi Yun first agree to the cooperative bone refinement, then pointing out the problem of the spiritual backlash after, everything was different.

If Yi Yun was smart, he would bow out in a crestfallen manner, then Shentu Nantian’s objective would have been accomplished. It could showcase the Shentu family clan’s abilities and at the same time, trample on Yi Yun.

400 - : Dark Desolate Heaven Master

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Junior Brother Yun, these twelve desolate bones are not simple. Your mental energy is weaker by a bit and you may not be able to handle it. Do you want to carry on?” Shentu Nantian smiled at Yi Yun as he asked.

If Yi Yun were to insist even after the dangers were highlighted, it would not be Shentu Nantian’s fault if Yi Yun were to have an accident. Then, there was no reason for the Lin family to find fault with him.

It could only be reasoned away with Yi Yun being overconfident and having only himself to blame.

Seeing Shentu Nantian’s smile, Yi Yun sneered in his heart.

Shentu Nantian did not mention the danger earlier on, and he had only highlighted it only after the bone refinement process had begun. Shentu Nantian’s goal was none other than to place him in a dilemma.

Shentu Nantian wanted to see Yi Yun carry on refining the bone. He was looking forward to seeing Yi Yun be damaged mentally and become a retard.

Conversely, if Yi Yun were to decline, then his goal would have been accomplished even though he would be slightly disappointed.

Regardless of the outcome, Shentu Nantian would’ve taken the advantage.

Yi Yun understood Shentu Nantian’s intentions, and naturally, Lin Xintong and Su Jie could understand it clearly.

“Kid, don’t be rash!”

“Yi Yun, don’t fall for his trick!”

Lin Xintong and Su Jie’s Yuan Qi voice transmissions simultaneously rang in Yi Yun’s ears.

The corner of Yi Yun’s lip curved slightly under the mask. Since Shentu Nantian was scheming against him, why could he not scheme against Shentu Nantian?

Yi Yun was a vengeful person. Previously, he had suffered a lot, so how could he accept the matter without obtaining a little interest?

“Don’t worry, I know my limits. If I really cannot cope with it, I will not force it.”

Yi Yun replied to Su Jie and Lin Xintong with a Yuan Qi transmission, ignoring their continuous disagreement with his decision. He said to Shentu Nantian, “I have no problem. Since the bone refinement has begun, how can I quit now!?”

When Yi Yun said this, all the Desolate Heaven Masters present were slightly taken aback. This kid really has guts!

Especially the juniors of the Lin family, they were worried for Yi Yun. These twelve desolate bones appeared evil in any form. Yi Yun was really a daredevil considering he accepted the challenge without knowing any of the heritage of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect.

Besides Yi Yun was young, he was younger than Shentu Hai and Shentu Feng by three years. In this situation, if it was anyone else, they wouldn’t really accept the challenge, risking their lives for it.

“An accident can’t happen, right… ?”

The members of the Lin family were worried. Now, Yi Yun was in the limelight. He had gained enough face for himself and the Lin family.

However, if he were to receive permanent damage to his soul during the bone refinement process, it would not be gaining face. He would be mocked by others as not knowing his own strengths, foolhardy and dumb.

“Junior Brother Yun’s courage is to be encouraged. He really is an elite son of Heaven of this generation in the Tian Yuan world. His style is magnificent and unmatched in his generation.” Shentu Nantian was not stingy with his praise. He was pleasantly surprised that Yi Yun would accept the challenge as he had expected Yi Yun to reject it.

“He is, after all, a child. He’s too young.” Shentu Nantian thought.

In his eyes, Yi Yun was fifteen-years-old, this was an age where people were arrogant, thinking they were the center of the universe.

Especially with Yi Yun showcasing his talent previously, if it were any other fifteen-year-old youth, they would inevitably feel inflated and lose their sense of self.

This was the outcome Shentu Nantian wished to see most.

Shentu Nantian’s lips moved slightly as he transmitted his voice to Shentu Feng and Shentu Hai.

The two brothers smiled, “Senior brother, don’t worry. Leave it to us!”

“Then, let us continue.” Shentu Nantian laughed, “Chou!”

Shentu Nantian shouted the second desolate bone’s label out.

The “Chou” labeled desolate bone was in Shentu Feng’s hands.

Shentu Feng took a disk array out of his interspatial ring. The “Chou” labeled desolate bone was not very difficult, so he was confident in completing it.

“Yin!”

Just after Shentu Feng began extracting the energy, Shentu Nantian shouted the “Yin” labeled desolate bone out immediately. And this desolate bone was in Yi Yun’s hands!

Yi Yun was calm as he picked the corresponding desolate bone and his own disk array out.

He noticed that a mocking and anticipatory smile had appeared on Shentu Nantian’s lips. Shentu Nantian was looking forward to him having his soul suffer a spiritual backlash from the desolate bone.

At that moment, a lot of people were staring at Yi Yun. In comparison, Shentu Feng, who understood the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect’s mystic techniques, did not receive much attention.

Yi Yun was not in a hurry as he controlled his mental energy to suspend the “Yin” labeled desolate bone mid-air.

At the same time, Yi Yun opened the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

With the energy vision, he saw through all illusions.

In an instant, Yi Yun could see the “Yin” labeled desolate bone’s entire energy structure.

“There is indeed heretic energy…”

Yi Yun could clearly distinguish the nature and essence of the energies in the desolate bone.

In this world, some energy was pure and powerful, and they were very beneficial for the cultivation of warriors. Examples are primordial strain desolate bones or the energy in a pure Yang spirit.

However, the nature of some energies was to destroy. Even if they were tamed, they did not have any benefit for a warrior. For example, back when the Shepherd Boy and the Myriad Empyreal King fought, the dark energy from the Myriad Empyreal King’s Ten Thousand Ghost Bell was similarly extremely powerful, but other than killing people, it had no other use. No one could absorb that energy to utilize it.

Now, in the desolate bone, it contained an energy that was similar. Other than harming others, it had no other purpose.

This was probably left behind by using the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect’s ancient mystic techniques to process the “Yin” labeled desolate bone.

These things would cause a backlash to a Desolate Heaven Master if they made the slightest of mistakes while extracting the energy.

Of course, to Yi Yun, this was not a threat at all.

Yi Yun raised his hands and began to form seals.

People focused their attention as they stared at Yi Yun’s ten fingers. The outcome of the bone refinement was all resting on this moment.

“Master!”

Lin Xintong alerted Su Jie. Su Jie waved his hand gently, and focused while speaking, “My mental energies are locked onto the kid. If there are any tiny abnormalities, I will immediately make a move and cut his mental energy link with the desolate bone. However… the spiritual backlash is instantaneous. Even if I can make a move in time, his soul will still suffer some damage, but he will definitely not become a retard.”

Su Jie could only do this. At the Desolate Heaven technique tea session, Yi Yun had agreed to this matter in front of so many people; so he, as Yi Yun’s master, could not strongly object to it. He could only save Yi Yun only when something happened.

“Yes.”

Lin Xintong nodded. She could only count on Su Jie now.

“Heh! He is a bit too undeveloped after all… ” Shentu Nantian noticed that when Yi Yun extracted the energy from the desolate bone, he did not divert much energy to protect his soul. That was a grave mistake.

For example, when Shentu Hai used the Desolate Heaven technique, he would first conjure his Aspect Totem to defend against the backlash from the desolate bone’s energy. And even with all the preparations, he had been greatly drained and he had nearly hurt himself.

And now, Yi Yun was only courting death by being so carefree.

“I really overestimated you. Looks like even if you do not become a retard this time, you would still suffer greatly. You will probably not recover without half a year’s recovery time.”

Shentu Nantian naturally noticed that other than Su Jie, the upper echelons of the Lin family, including the Lin family’s Matriarch, were all watching Yi Yun’s every move, ready to make a move at any moment.

Clearly, the Lin family would not watch a talent become a retard because of a Desolate Heaven technique tea session without doing something.

Such a scene made Shentu Nantian know that it was impossible to completely destroy Yi Yun. However, just making Yi Yun suffer a major setback and delaying his cultivation would be sufficient.

At that moment, Yi Yun tapped his fingers on the desolate bone and as if playing the piano, runic seals came flying out.

These runic seals revealed a very simplistic aura. When everyone saw this scene, they were dumbfounded.

Mystic Crystal Hand?

Why was it the Mystic Crystal Hand again?

The Lin family’s Desolate Heaven Masters, especially the younger generation, were all stunned with their mouths agape.

401 - : Heretic energy

CKtalon  CKtalon

People felt speechless. Back when Yi Yun first displayed his Desolate Heaven technique in the Lin family, he had used the Mystic Crystal Hand.

Later on, Yi Yun disappeared for two months for reclusive training. After coming out of reclusion, his first challenge in the Desolate Heaven technique tea session was to go against Song Ziyue’s specially designed Five Elemental Bone Array. And he had used the Mystic Crystal Hand once again to crack the array.

Now, it was the third time. He got to exchange moves with Shentu Nantian. In the domain of the ancient Desolate Heaven technique, just a tiny mistake would cause a spiritual backlash, so his life on the line. If this were any disciple of the Lin family, they would never dare to accept this challenge, but… after Yi Yun had accepted the challenge, he still used the Mystic Crystal Hand!

At this point of time, you shouldn’t be hiding any skills you have!

Many of the juniors of the Lin family who were about the same age as Yi Yun, were worried.

“Hahaha, Junior Brother Yun, you sure are confident.”

Shentu Nantian really found it amusing. This Yun Yantian was still using the Mystic Crystal Hand at this point in time. Was he trying to forcefully pretend to show how powerful he was?

Did he think that the Desolate Heaven technique was like cooking, where one trick could be used to feed the world?

However, Shentu Nantian did want to see Yi Yun use such a technique that would be the death of him.

On the other hand, many members of the upper echelons of the Lin family were breaking out in sweat for Yi Yun.

“Elder Su, what is the matter with your disciple? At that moment, shouldn’t he use his best skills?”

Even though Yi Yun did not know Dark Desolate Heaven Master techniques like Black Handed Demon, he should have been able to use some more powerful sealing techniques to withstand the spiritual backlash.

“This… ” Su Jie sweated. He reluctantly said, “Everyone might have misunderstood. It is not that this disciple of mine does not want to use any other techniques, but at this point, it seems… that he only knows the Mystic Crystal Hand. He also knows Small Thousand Seal, but that is to form the bone relic… ”

When Su Jie said this, the members of the upper echelons of the Lin family looked at each other. He only knows the Mystic Crystal Hand!?

They had heard of incidences in ancient times where there were some Desolate Heaven Masters who wandered the world, specially researching on a few sealing techniques, and pushing these few sealing techniques to perfection.

However, even those Desolate Heaven Masters would not have chosen a sealing technique like the Mystic Crystal Hand that had no future.

And at that moment, Shentu Feng, who was opposite Yi Yun, had conjured his Aspect Totem while refining the “Chou” labeled desolate bone.

It was another sealing technique that required the conjuring of an Aspect Totem. This technique greatly consumed the performer’s mental energy and Yuan Qi, but of course, it was very powerful.

Shentu Feng’s sealing technique was also very special. He stretched his palm in one hand like a saber, while his other hand used his fingers like a sword. When he formed the seals, not only was there gorgeous light emitting from it, but there was even the roar of saber beams and sword Qi!

People could faintly see the saber beams and sword shadows appear in midair. This wasn’t anything like refining a bone using the Desolate Heaven technique, it was a brutal fight!

“Oh?”

On the Lin family’s side, the eyes of many Elders flashed seeing this scene.

Could this be …

The Lin family’s Matriarch took a deep breath, “If I am not mistaken, what Shentu Feng is using is an ancient sealing technique known as the Saber Sword Shura!”

“Saber Sword Shura… Indeed! This sealing technique’s heritage is already incomplete as it got passed down today. A long time ago, in the great battle between orthodox Desolate Heaven Masters and Dark Desolate Heaven Masters, the Saber Sword Shura was buried along with the destruction of several sects!

Ignoring anything else, just the name of it could make one feel the power of this sealing technique.

Saber Sword Shura was both orthodox and heretic. It was very powerful. Some people claimed that the Saber Sword Shura technique could not only refine bones, but it could also be used in battle to kill.

Using the Saber Sword Shura sealing technique was a battle in itself.

As such, Shentu Feng, who had entered a combative state, could withstand the “Chou” labeled desolate bone’s spiritual backlash easily.

However, the Saber Sword Shura was extremely difficult to cultivate. After all, many Desolate Heaven Masters were not proficient in combat, so it was very difficult to learn the Saber Sword Shura.

Besides, the main heritage of this sealing technique had been lost. As such, even though the Saber Sword Shura’s technique was extremely powerful, very few Desolate Heaven Masters could use this technique nowadays as the high level heritage was lost and also because it was difficult to learn.

However, now people could see Shentu Feng use the Saber Sword Shura and it did not seem to be as simple as the incomplete heritage.

“The Shentu family clan not only found the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect’s Desolate Heaven technique heritage in the mystic realm, they also found the long lost Saber Sword Shura…”

The upper echelons of the Lin family were envious and depressed. Such a great opportunity had been gained by the Shentu family clan. If they had found it, the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven technique heritage would raise by at least an entire level. And they could even join Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians up themselves. If so, then things would not be so troublesome.

“The Shentu family clan really came well-prepared. For the Saber Sword Shura to appear in the hands of a junior, it must be an extremely tiny portion. If the Shentu family clan really has the complete heritage of the Saber Sword Shura, then they would definitely be showcasing the rest later! Now is just the appetizer.”

People understood that for a top level Desolate Heaven technique like the Saber Sword Shura, juniors like Shentu Hai and Shentu Feng had just learned a tiny bit of it.

As Shentu Nantian had said, they had prepared all sorts of things to shock the Lin family in this Desolate Heaven technique tea session. They would prove that they had the ability to heal Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians!

Although Yi Yun’s appearance had upset the Shentu family clan’s plans slightly, Yi Yun, as an uncertain factor, was nothing compared to the ancient heritage the Shentu family clan had obtained in the mystic realm.

After all, Yi Yun was too young.

And at that moment, Shentu Nantian smiled at the Lin family’s Elders’ odd expressions from the center of the square. There was a tinge of teasing in his smile.

He had wanted this effect.

He would let the Lin family understand the heritage and capital the Shentu family clan had. He would make the Lin family covet the heritage the Shentu family clan had obtained. Compounded with Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians, they had no choice but to cooperate with the Shentu family clan.

Shentu Nantian was the one who wanted this to happen the most. As by being together with Lin Xintong, and having cultivation intercourse with a pure Yin bodied girl who would become a peerless Great Empress, it would give him great benefits.

Shentu Nantian had already planned how he would make his plans happen beginning with the Desolate Heaven technique tea session.

By showcasing the ancient heritage of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect, he would broaden the horizons of the Lin family. This was the beginning of his plans. However, due to the unexpected bug that was Yi Yun, his plans had been pushed forward.

However, it did not influence him being able to showcase the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect’s heritage. Trampling on Yi Yun was just a matter of convenience for Shentu Nantian.

He, Shentu Nantian, would definitely become the person to control the Tian Yuan world in the future!

Thinking of these, Shentu Nantian was extremely pleased. He looked at Shentu Feng. Shentu Feng had not disappointed him. His Saber Sword Shura technique may have only reached half of the first level, but it was enough to handle and extract the “Chou” labeled desolate bone.

Now, Shentu Feng had already completed extracting half of the “Chou” labeled desolate bone’s energy in a prescribed order. Also, he had used the saber and sword at the same time, nipping the spiritual backlash in the interior of the desolate bone. Such a method was even superior than what Shentu Hai had previously showcased!

Shentu Nantian had already planned how he would present things that would make the Lin family red-eyed. And if they wanted this, they had to pay the price.

“Seniors of the Lin family, you must have noticed that what Shentu Feng is showcasing is the long lost Saber Sword Shura!”

“Of course, Shentu Feng is limited in his abilities. He can only show a tiny portion of it. To tell the truth, my Shentu family clan has already obtained a nearly complete Saber Sword Shura heritage. Now, the Elders in my family are researching it. However, as the Saber Sword Shura’s heritage is too arcane, the research is still in its initial stages.”

Shentu Nantian purposely threw out the bait as many of the Lin family Elders felt the temptation in their hearts.

They were naturally interested in this ancient heritage. Even Su Jie was not immune to it.

And beside Shentu Nantian, Lin Xintong frowned slightly. Shentu Nantian was too cunning. She could feel that Shentu Nantian was slowly gaining control of the situation. Through this Desolate Heaven technique tea session, it was certain that more and more Lin family Elders would lean towards Shentu Nantian.

“The Saber Sword Shura is extremely heavy in its killing aura. This demonstration of the Heaven Desolate Ancient Sect’s Desolate Heaven technique requires many of these sealing techniques in various aspects. Without them, using existing Desolate Heaven technique heritages would just appear lacking!”

At that moment, the Desolate Heaven technique demonstration still did not need Shentu Nantian’s involvement, so he could casually introduce these ancient Desolate Heaven technique methods.

“This time, my Shentu family clan has not only obtained the Saber Sword Shura in the mystic realm. Including the joining up of Miss Lin’s terminated meridians, it is inseparable from the ancient Desolate Heaven technique methods. Some of the methods are indeed stunning… ”

Just as Shentu Nantian was fervently narrating, he suddenly heard a “Peng” explosion.

This explosive sound appeared very suddenly, but it made Shentu Nantian feel a sense of familiarity.

As he felt a jump in his heart, the sound stopped.

He inexplicably had an uneasy premonition, what happened…

He slowly turned his head and looked towards the explosive sound.

When he saw the situation, Shentu Nantian seemed to petrify. His mind went blank.

He saw that behind him, where Yi Yun was standing, the “Yin” labeled desolate bone in Yi Yun’s hands had completely cracked apart. Its was grayish-white in color.

There was a blob of pure energy in Yi Yun’s hands. It was… the Power of Desolates from the “Yin” labeled desolate bone!

Yi Yun had already extracted the Power of Desolates from the “Yin” labeled desolate bone!

What!?

Shentu Nantian stared widely as his mouth was slightly agape. It was like he had Alzheimer’s as he could not believe the sight in front of his eyes.

What had happened? What happened to the spiritual backlash inside the “Yin” labeled desolate bone? Why didn’t Yi Yun get affected by the spiritual backlash surge?

402 - : Saber Sword Shura

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shentu Nantian’s first thought was that the “Yin” labeled desolate bone’s spiritual backlash had lost its effectiveness. Regardless if it were Shentu Feng or Shentu Hai, handling the spiritual backlash from the desolate bones was a life and death struggle. Only by using powerful sealing techniques could they resolve the danger through great difficulty.

And now, Yi Yun, who was fifteen years old, had used the run-of-the-mill Mystic Crystal Hand. Why didn’t he suffer the spiritual backlash without a sound? Also, his speed at extracting the energy was faster than Shentu Feng?

As these thoughts lingered in Shentu Nantian’s mind, he watched helplessly as an ashen gray colored gas flowed out of the cracked “Yin” labeled desolate bone in Yi Yun’s hands.

This gray gas was cold and silent, it was the spiritual backlash force that was produced as a result of the ancient processing methods used on the “Yin” labeled desolate bone!

Yi Yun looked calm as he used the Mystic Crystal Hand’s seals to suppress the ashen gray gas completely.

After that, he casually took a jade box out of his interspatial ring and he nonchalantly sealed the ashen gray gas inside.

Seeing this scene, Shentu Nantian was so dumbfounded that he stood as still as a statue.

Not only Shentu Nantian, even the members of the upper echelon of the Lin family had the same reaction.

When Shentu Feng suddenly displayed the Saber Sword Shura, it had attracted everyone’s attention. While they were briefly focused on Shentu Feng, who knew that in a short moment, Yi Yun had already completed the energy extraction of the “Yin” labeled desolate bone?

“Yi Yun, he… ” Lin Xintong had been focused on Yi Yun all this time. In fact, when Desolate Heaven Masters refined desolate bones, laypersons would not be able to figure out much. And Lin Xintong was still young, so she did not have the ability to see through the essence of items; hence, she too did not know what had happened.

“It’s quite odd… How did this young one do it?”

Many of the Lin family’s Elders were both excited and incredulous. They knew the difficulty of extracting the Power of Desolates from the “Yin” labeled desolate bone. However, Yi Yun had done something incredulous before by cracking Song Ziyue’s Five Elemental Bone Array with the Mystic Crystal Hand.

And now, Yi Yun had once again completed a seemingly impossible task. Although they were shocked, they barely accepted it.

If the Lin family had another Desolate Heaven technique genius, it would obviously be beneficial for the Lin family.

Especially for the Lin family’s Matriarch, she stared at Yi Yun without blinking as her eyes sparkled.

She increasingly liked this junior. If he could accompany Lin Xintong and mature together with her, then he would be a great help to Lin Xintong. He would not only be very beneficial for Lin Xintong in the future, but he could also provide the various refinements needed after her naturally terminated meridians were joined.

However, the Lin family’s Matriarch could also tell that Shentu Nantian had a grudge with Yi Yun like how oil and water did not mix. This was a problem that gave her a headache.

If Shentu Nantian was chosen, they could heal Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians with the power of the Shentu family clan. After which Shentu Nantian would probably not allow Yi Yun to exist.

At that moment, Yi Yun flipped his palm as the energy blob merged with the huge disk array beneath his feet.

As the disk array’s corresponding “Yin” label lit up, the “Chou” labeled desolate bone in Shentu Feng’s hands suddenly trembled. Three runic explosions occurred successively.

Shentu Feng’s face turned pale as his eyes turned bloodshot. At that moment, he had nearly lost control of the energy in his hands.

As Yi Yun had finished extracting the energy from the “Yin” desolate bone earlier than expected, Shentu Feng had naturally noticed this. He could not believe that it had happened.

Due to the emotional upheaval that Shentu Feng had experienced, his mental energy was unstable, so he made a mistake with his Saber Sword Shura seals.

Originally, with Shentu Feng’s abilities, it was already not easy for him to use the Saber Sword Shura as he was not good at combat. Naturally, a person who was not good at combat was unable to perform the decisive killing intent required of the Saber Sword Shura.

Now, Shentu Feng’s saber and sword beams exploded continuously and the energy in his hands was about to undergo a complete meltdown. Once it happened, Shentu Feng would suffer the consequences of a spiritual backlash. Damaging his soul was considered a light injury, and the worst case scenario was becoming a retard.

The more he panicked, the more trouble he was in. Beads of sweat oozed out of his forehead.

“Damn it!”

Shentu Nantian, who was in the center of the disk array, was fast to react. As Shentu Feng had an accident, Shentu Nantian quickly woke up from the shock he had gotten from Yi Yun completing the energy extraction of the “Yin” labeled desolate bone. He pushed his hands forward as a Yuan Qi sword shot into the energy blob in front of Shentu Feng, steadily stabilizing the energy that nearly exploded.

“What are you panicking about!?” Shentu Nantian’s fierce voice rang in Shentu Feng’s ears.

At that moment, Shentu Nantian was in a really bad mood. He had wished to take Yi Yun down a notch, and he saw it about to succeed, but he did not know what method Yi Yun had used to complete the task. And at that moment, Shentu Feng’s made a mistake with the Saber Sword Shura. It nearly exploded in front of the audience. This made Shentu Nantian very pissed.

He had really felt disgraced today!

And all of this was due to that Yun Yantian.

…

“Saber Sword Shura, is it… ?”

Yi Yun looked at the sealing technique Shentu Feng was using as his eyes sparkled. Previously, when Yi Yun was busy extracting the energy from the “Yin” labeled desolate bone, he did not have the mental resources to watch the technique carefully. Now with him watching it, he was quite alarmed.

This technique did not look anything like the Desolate Heaven technique. It looked more like a sword and saber technique.

Under the control of this sealing technique, the Power of Desolates in the desolate bone would condense into runic seals in the shape of swords and sabers. The sharp aura they emitted was alarming.

Yi Yun had no doubt that if these runic seals were sent flying, they could kill someone!

Such a peculiar and powerful sealing technique made Yi Yun slightly covet it.

“If I were to obtain this sealing technique, it would be great… ”

As these thoughts lingered in Yi Yun’s mind, Shentu Feng had barely managed to complete the energy extraction from the “Chou” labeled desolate bone with Shentu Nantian’s help.

Due to the accident from before, he was clearly drained. His mental energy had been overdrafted and he could not take it anymore.

Shentu Feng secretly gritted his teeth as he looked at Yi Yun. Up until now, he still did not know what happened. How did Yi Yun succeed in extracting the energy from the “Yin” labeled desolate bone so smoothly?

“Senior brother Nantian…”

“Shut up!”

Shentu Feng wanted to use his Yuan Qi to transmit his voice, but he was brutally cut off by Shentu Nantian.

Shentu Nantian was no longer in the mood to speak to Shentu Feng.

Shentu Feng knew that he did not do well, so he did not dare speak again. He quietly swallowed a Soul Nurturing pill and recovered some mental energy so as to prepare for the work that awaited him later.

Shentu Nantian sullenly placed the primordial strain blood in the center of the disk array. He no longer cared about Yi Yun.

Compared to shining at this Desolate Heaven technique tea session and letting the stubborn old fools of the Lin family completely lean towards him, trampling on Yi Yun was nothing.

Now, three of the twelve desolate bones’ energy had been collected. This ancient bone refinement recipe could officially begin. What followed was for Shentu Nantian to showcase himself.

Although his face had been smacked swollen, it did not matter. As long as he did things well in what followed, this Desolate Heaven technique tea session would be a great success!

403 - : Yi Yun’s thoughts

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Shentu Nantian is finally going to show his hand!”

Seeing Shentu Nantian take the desolate beast’s blood out, people were looking forward to it. Previously, Shentu Hai and Shentu Feng had displayed their extraordinary Desolate Heaven technique. It was all thanks to the discoveries the Shentu family clan had made in the mystic realm.

Although Shentu Feng had been affected by Yi Yun, nearly causing his runic seal to explodes, a flaw could not obscure the splendidness of jade. Generally, the Lin family was envious of the Shentu family clan’s strength in the Desolate Heaven technique.

Now with it being Shentu Nantian’s turn, it was the highlight of this round.

Actually, Shentu Nantian was not considered to be a normal junior. He was past 30 years of age, and in many aspects, he exceeded Shentu Feng, Shentu Hai and Yi Yun.

Whatever Shentu Hai and Shentu Feng could learn, Shentu Nantian had definitely learned it, and he would have mastered it even better.

The disk array’s light grew brighter. Beneath Shentu Nantian’s feet, there was a total of four primordial strain blood containers. All the lids of the containers had already been opened. Under the influence of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, red light swirled around them as the blood boiled.

Shentu Nantian spread his arms out and his body slowly lifted off from the ground as he started to hover in midair.

When warriors exceeded the Yuan Foundation realm, they could fly. Hence, hovering was nothing for Shentu Nantian.

Shentu Nantian had begun forming seals with his hands. His hand motions were very slow. His slender jade-like fingers seemed to possess an inexplicable charm, it drew the surrounding audience to his finger skills in a subconscious manner.

“What ancient Desolate Heaven technique method is this now?”

People were trying to guess. As many of the ancient Desolate Heaven technique heritage had been lost for so long, even figures like Su Jie and the Lin family’s Matriarch found it difficult to match what technique Shentu Nantian was using according to what was written in the books.

At that moment, behind Shentu Nantian, colorful lights started to emerge.

As these lights gathered together, they formed a phenomenon.

People could see lush, green grass grow on the disk array by Shentu Nantian’s feet. The grass was dotted with wildflowers. It looked extremely beautiful.

“It’s a phenomenon image!”

The Lin family’s Elders shouted. Warriors could use their own Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to condense phenomenon images. For example, Yi Yun also could use his Radiant Sun Qi to condense an image of the Tang Valley.

However, phenomenon images were just illusions and they did not look very realistic. In contrast, Shentu Nantian’s phenomenon image seemed to be a grassland that appeared before everyone present. People could faintly smell the fragrance from the grass and flowers.

As the colorful lights grew in intensity, a spirit tree grew from the grassland. A spring then appeared in front of the spirit tree.

As the spring water flowed, a human figure appeared by the spring.

This figure was dressed in a green gown and a headband wrapped was around his head. He held a folding fan and he looked like a learned scholar who had accomplished much at a young age.

The scholar strolled under the tree as he gently flapped his fan. He seemed to be reciting poetry and drawing art in the beautiful scene. The scene seemed magical and dream-like.

“This is Shentu Nantian’s Aspect Totem!” A Lin family’s Elder said.

“Oh? Aspect Totem?”

Humanoid Aspect Totems were very rarely seen. Back in the Tai Ah Divine City, during the alliance tournament between the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and the Yun Long Divine Kingdom, Feng Lin had also shown her Aspect Totem. It was a sword-bearing maiden with two wings on her back.

Compared to Feng Lin’s Aspect Totem, Shentu Nantian’s Aspect Totem was even more realistic. Furthermore, the picturesque scene was so realistic that mortals would completely believe that a scholar was standing under the spirit tree.

“Shentu Nantian’s Aspect Totem is known as the Transcendent Immortal Paradise.” While people were surprised at Shentu Nantian’s Aspect Totem, the Shentu family clan’s Thousand Hand Granny introduced it with glee, “Nantian’s Aspect Totem is comprised of an immortal paradise. As for the figure in the immortal paradise, it is Nantian’s incarnation. If one day, this figure transforms into a Immortal King, Nantian’s strength will reach an extreme limit.”

The Thousand Hand Granny was very proud of having a grandson like Shentu Nantian.

Very few people had Aspect Totems that had phenomenon images accompanying them. Furthermore, this kind of Aspect Totems could also evolve. It could be said to be a supreme quality Aspect Totem.

“I see. Dear nephew Nantian is surely a dragon amongst people.” Lin Xintong’s grandaunt spoke at the appropriate moment. She liked Shentu Nantian the more she looked at him. “In the Transcendent Immortal Paradise, the gentleman embodiment really suits dear nephew Nantian’s temperament. His Aspect Totem is just like him. The words “jade-like gentleman” really are the perfect portrayal of him.”

The woman in palatial gown praised him and she greatly pleased the Thousand Hand Granny. Her wrinkle-filled old face made her look like a walnut as a smile contorted her face.

“Jade-like gentleman? That sure is a phrase that insults a gentleman.” Su Jie curled his mouth. He could not be bothered to say anything else. If Shentu Nantian was a gentleman, then he was a Saint.

As Su Jie was silently cursing, a light flashed in his eyes. He could see thick blood beams being emitted from the four containers of primordial strains’ blood around Shentu Nantian.

In the blood beam, the souls of the desolate beasts emerged.

Beast mark!

When warriors condensed their Aspect Totem, they had to condense a beast mark from the desolate beast’s corpse they had killed with their own hands.

Only then could an Aspect Totem slowly form.

And now, with Shentu Nantian displaying the Desolate Heaven technique, he had ended up condensing beast marks. Furthermore, these were beast marks condensed from blood left behind by primordial strains.

These four primordial strains were not killed by Shentu Nantian. This meant that the beast marks Shentu Nantian had condensed were slightly different to the beast marks needed for Aspect Totems.

This was actually a very ancient sealing technique, so profound that Su Jie did not understand it.

“Four Images Seal…”

At that moment, the Lin family’s Matriarch said slowly.

The Four Images were related to North, South, East and West. Each Image corresponded to a divine beast, the Azure dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird and the Black Turtle.

Of course, Shentu Nantian was unable to form seals using the blood from divine beasts. The desolate beast marks surrounding Shentu Nantian were as such: the East being the Azure Python, the West being the Fierce Divine Tiger, the South being the Firebird, and the North being the Mystic Turtle.

These four desolate beasts also matched the divine beasts of the Four Images. The Lin family’s Matriarch had only seen records of such a sealing technique in books.

“The Matriarch is well-read!” The Thousand Hand Granny said with a smile. “Since the Matriarch knows the Four Images Seal, you should also know the power of this sealing technique.”

The Four Images Seal was also the last thing the Shentu family clan had found in the mystic realm.

This sealing technique needed to extract beast marks from the desolate beast’s blood. It was used in conjunction with the desolate bones and it was suited for Shentu Nantian to practice.

Now with the Four Images Seal showcased, it was also the last killer technique to win the showdown for the younger generation.

The Thousand Hand Granny believed that by showcasing these three ancient Desolate Heaven techniques consecutively, it was enough to shock and tempt the Lin family.

“I’ve heard that Miss Xintong is very accomplished in the Desolate Heaven technique. Why don’t you show it to us?” The Thousand Hand Granny suddenly turned towards Lin Xintong. She was not fond of Lin Xintong.

Just as how the Lin family was wary of Shentu Nantian, the Thousand Hand Granny felt a natural mistrust and prejudice towards Lin Xintong.

Due to the benefits gained from their getting together, she had to accept Shentu Nantian and Lin Xintong’s marriage.

However, she still wanted to take Lin Xintong down a notch before she was married into the Shentu family clan.

She knew that Lin Xintong was still young. In addition to the limitations of her naturally terminated meridians, her accomplishments in the Desolate Heaven technique was naturally inferior to Shentu Nantian. Besides, Lin Xintong did not know any ancient Desolate Heaven techniques. With Shentu Nantian showing off such an eye-catching Four Images Seal, Lin Xintong would definitely be put to shame no matter what method she used.

Lin Xintong frowned and did not respond. She knew what the Thousand Hand Granny was thinking. She had to admit that Shentu Nantian’s ability in the Desolate Heaven technique was unmatched amongst the younger generation.

“Ignore the old witch.” Su Jie swore in his Yuan Qi transmission as it rang in Lin Xintong’s ears. “Unfortunately, this rascal Yi Yun was not born a few years earlier. If that was the case, we don’t have to see such an arrogant Shentu Nantian!”

Su Jie thought with hate. At that moment, Shentu Nantian’s Four Images Seal had reached its final critical moment.

The Four Images Seal was extremely difficult to use. Compared to the Four Images Seal, the previous Five Elemental Bone Array and Black Handed Demon were like fireflies in front of the moon. They were not worth mentioning.

Even with Shentu Nantian’s ability, it was not easy for him to use the Four Images Seal to such a stage.

As his Aspect Totem burned, the colorful lights became brighter.

Shentu Nantian had managed to splice the four desolate beast marks together with great difficulty. He was about to finish the final fusion.

At that moment, a flash appeared in Yi Yun’s eyes. He had been standing in a corner and was ignored by everyone. The corner of his lips curved upwards, but no one could see it because of the mask.

In Yi Yun’s soul, his mental energies were being circulated. From Yi Yun’s heart, gorgeous purple beams circulated in the Purple Crystal. However, no one could detect the purple beams.

The Four Images Seal Shentu Nantian was using was in essence, energy. Furthermore, what had been just extracted from the primordial strains’ blood was pure energy without an owner.

Energy without an owner was basically food for the Purple Crystal. This was what Yi Yun wished for.

404 - : Four Images Seal

CKtalon  CKtalon

Back in the Desolate Human Valley, Yi Yun had seen Lin Xintong refine bones. He then tried to manipulate the Power of Desolates Lin Xintong had extracted from the desolate bones using the Purple Crystal and he had succeeded.

This was what started Yi Yun’s ambition to become a Desolate Heaven Master. He had obtained Su Jie’s notebook from Lin Xintong, which was his first step in becoming a Desolate Heaven Master.

In this Desolate Heaven technique tea session, when Shentu Nantian requested Yi Yun’s cooperation, Yi Yun had planned to use the Purple Crystal to interfere with Shentu Nantian at the critical moment to screw him over.

Hence, even though Yi Yun knew Shentu Nantian was targeting him, he had played along and accepted the challenge.

Yi Yun was not a magnanimous person. He would return things in fashion to whoever went against him.

At the critical moment Shentu Nantian fused the Four Images Seal, the bright light beams emitted by the Purple Crystal reached an extreme. A black swirl quietly formed and it began to form a powerful suction force on the Four Images Seal. It immediately caused chaos to the Four Images Seal.

At that instant, Yi Yun could clearly feel the array was being an obstacle to the Purple Crystal’s power.

The Purple Crystal could only absorb energy without an owner. The Four Images beast mark that was being extracted from the primordial strains’ blood by Shentu Nantian had not been refined in time by Shentu Nantian, so they were pure energies without an owner.

However, due to the confinement from Shentu Nantian’s array, Yi Yun felt some resistance from the ownerless energy at that instance.

It was similar to how Yi Yun felt the resistance of the Great Yan gold back in the Wilderness Divine Hall when he extracted the energy from the primordial strain statues.

However, as Shentu Nantian was barely able to use the Four Images Seal, all his mental energies was being occupied at that moment. He was at the limit of his limits.

He could not control the Four Images Seal freely as he wished. He could barely maintain its stability and it could melt down any moment.

At this point, the interference from the Purple Crystal’s powers was no doubt beyond what Shentu Nantian could handle.

“What… is going on!?”

Shentu Nantian was alarmed. He suddenly discovered that the Four Images beast marks in his hands seemed to be like a wild horse that he had lost the reins to. It was struggling to rid itself of Shentu Nantian’s bondage.

And at that moment, how could Shentu Nantian have the additional mental energy to restrain the Four Images beast marks?

As a result, the four beast marks clashed and shone brightly. It was like a burning Sun and it was about to explode any moment!

A large number of Elders in the Shentu family clan had not had the opportunity to come into contact with the Four Images Seal. After the Shentu family clan obtained the Four Images Seal, there was only one copy of the heritage and it could only be provided to the most important figures in the Shentu family clan to learn.

“Haha, this Four Images Seal is impressive. It is so powerful.”

A Shentu family clan Elder said excitedly. The other Desolate Heaven technique sealing methods were gorgeous, but they were greatly lacking compared to the Four Images Seal in terms of scale.

Those seals were at best considered as fireworks, so how could they compare to the Sun-like Four Images Seal?

“Of course, amongst the three ancient Desolate Heaven technique skills obtained by our Shentu family clan in the mystic realm, the Four Images Seal is ranked first!”

A few Shentu family clan Elders endlessly praised the Four Images Seal. They wished that they could quickly obtain the opportunity to learn this sealing technique. It would greatly enhance their Desolate Heaven technique abilities.

The Lin family’s Elders were about to chime in. They were very envious of the Shentu family clan having such a fortuitous opportunity. Just as they were about to say something, they felt something was amiss.

“It seems something has gone wrong…”

They saw that Shentu Nantian, who was in the middle of the array, was flushed red. He was sweating profusely as green veins protruded from his forehead. The blood arteries along his neck looked like they were about to explode at any moment.

“Don’t worry. There cannot be a problem. Besides, the Four Images Seal is indeed not easy. Even with Nantian’s cultivation level, it is also barely… ”

Some Shentu family clan elders spoke while stroking their beards. They did not know the exact results when the Four Images Seal was used, so they naturally could not detect any abnormalities. They even thought that it was normal!

Of course, amongst the Shentu family clan, there was one other person who had come into contact with the Four Images Seal like Shentu Nantian. That person was the Thousand Hand Granny!

She had just been bragging to the Lin family’s Matriarch, Su Jie and Lin Xintong about Shentu Nantian’s prowess, but now, seeing the Four Images Seal stability unhinged and that it was about to explode like a furnace, her smile had completely frozen. An alarmed flash appeared in her old, dimmed eyes.

“Tian’er!”

The Thousand Hand Granny exclaimed. The seat below her shattered as she rose up. She jumped up like an old toad and rushed to the center of the square.

“Tian’er, hang on!” The Thousand Hand Granny’s expression had greatly changed. Her wizened hands were like chicken claws as she formed seals in the air. She tried to stabilize the terrifying energy in front of Shentu Nantian.

At that moment, the Four Images beast mark energies were in complete chaos and they were on the brink of an explosion.

Shentu Nantian’s hair was disheveled as he looked ferocious. As he had greatly overdrafted his mental energy, his temples were at bursting point. His face was scrunched up like a crumpled drawing. He no longer looked anything like a jade-like gentleman.

Seeing the Thousand Hand Granny fly over, Shentu Nantian bit the tip of his tongue and forced a mouthful of blood essence out. He intended to burn his blood essence and gain the power to be able to forcefully endure for just a split second!

These four beast marks were formed from the essence Qi of primordial strains. Once the four primordial strains’ energy exploded, it would be no trifling matter.

At that moment, Yi Yun had quietly retreated to a safe distance. Seeing the Thousand Hand Granny send out runic seals, Shentu Nantian burning his essence blood and depleting his soul sea greatly, a deep smile appeared under Yi Yun’s mask.

“Let it explode.”

Yi Yun moved his mouth slightly and at that split moment, he powered the Purple Crystal to an extreme.

He had been waiting for this moment!

“Boom!”

The weak energy balance between the Four Images beast marks was completely disrupted. The primordial strains’ energies collided as powerful Power of Desolates surged out, transforming into a terrifying blast!

“Ah!”

The first to be hit was Shentu Nantian and he let out a scream!

Nearby, the Thousand Hand Granny widened her eyes. The seals she had just made needed a tenth of the time it took to blink to be sent to the Four Images beast marks and stabilize the situation. However, this short time gap was like a moat that separated the Heavens!

With the energy exploding, the Desolate Heaven technique sealing technique was already useless. With great anger, the Thousand Hand Granny crushed her runic seals and flung her sleeves as she waved it towards the explosive energy blast!

“Peng!”

The Thousand Hand Granny’s sleeve clashed with the energy blast. Colliding with her powerful Yuan Qi, the energy blast was instantly annihilated.

However, Shentu Nantian was originally on the other side of the explosion. Although the Thousand Hand Granny was able to withstand most of the explosive energy, she could only block it on her side. As for Shentu Nantian’s side, she could not help him at all!

The primordial strain’s energy was originally beyond Shentu Nantian’s control. He had used the Four Images Seal and the array beneath his feet to barely control it. Now with the primordial strain’s energy exploding in front of him, how could Shentu Nantian withstand it?

The remaining energy blast collided with Shentu Nantian’s chest. He felt like his chest was hit by a mountain. His ribs and sternum were cracked and he spat out a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying!

“Tian’er!”

The Thousand Hand Granny was already at her wit’s end. She reached out and her long sleeve wrapped around Shentu Nantian.

However, Shentu Nantian’s face was pale and his body trembling. Obviously, his condition was at its worst!

Other than the heavy injuries inflicted to his chest where his sternum was fractured, his heart and lungs were damaged and what was most important was the spiritual backlash to his soul!

This ancient Desolate Heaven technique was a bone refinement technique that was neither orthodox nor heretic in nature, but its backlash was extremely powerful.

Shentu Nantian had hoped to screw over Yi Yun with the spiritual backlash, but now he had tasted his own medicine. He had suffered the spiritual backlash from the Four Images Seal!

“Ka Ka Ka!”

The huge array beneath Shentu Nantian’s feet cracked. On the two corners of the disk array, Shentu Feng and Shentu Hai had also been implicated by the energy blast as well.

Although they were further away, their cultivation levels were incomparable to Shentu Nantian. Their condition was no better. Both of them were injured with their organs damaged. Their mouths were full of blood!

The only thing better for them than Shentu Nantian was that they didn’t suffer from the spiritual backlash. It was much easier for them to recover from their injuries.

And only Yi Yun had retreated in advance since he knew that there would be an explosion. At the moment of the explosion, he had hidden behind a green bronze furnace in the corner of the square.

This green bronze furnace was forged by the Lin family and it was a magical item used to suppress the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the Tian Hua Garden. Naturally, it was not destroyed by the explosion Shentu Nantian had caused.

Hence, out of the four young people present, only Yi Yun was not affected.

After the explosion cleared, Shentu Nantian, who was high-spirited and vigorous, was now like a dead fish. Similarly, Shentu Hai and Shentu Feng, who had stolen the show, were like roadkill. Everyone present, be it the Lin family’s Elders or the Shentu family clan’s Elders, as well as the juniors from both families, were dumbfounded!

“What the hell… happened?”

The situation had reversed so quickly no one had had the opportunity to react!

What had been a grand scene of showcasing the ancient Desolate Heaven technique had now turned into a bad situation.

Amongst the three brightest heroes of the Shentu family clan, two of them were lying on the ground, and another was being wrapped by the Thousand Hand Granny’s sleeves and barely breathing. As for the large disk array beneath their feet, it had completely shattered.

And at that moment, the audience happened to see Yi Yun casually coming out from behind the large furnace. Amongst the four of them, his cultivation level was the lowest and he was the youngest. However, not only was Yi Yun not injured, he did not even lose a single hair!

Seeing Yi Yun in his state, the expressions on everyone’s face odd.

He formed a sharp contrast compared to Shentu Nantian and company!

What the hell is this?

Many people felt a knot in their throats as their mouths were agape for a long while.

The Shentu family clan’s Elders were the most devastated. They had just been bragging and now with a shocking reversal happening, they were in a state of disbelief.

The script should not have been like this. It should have been Shentu Nantian showcasing his skills, perfectly completing the Four Images Seal, and refining a desolate bone relic from an ancient recipe!

405 - : There’s no negotiation to screwing you over

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Tian’er, are you alright? Tian’er!”

Seeing Shentu Nantian in such a state, the Thousand Hand Granny was extremely worried. Having one’s soul damaged was not a trifling matter. The Four Images beast marks were especially fraught with dangers as it was an ancient Desolate Heaven technique. In the records, there was no lack of ancient Desolate Heaven Masters who tried various dangerous bone refining experiments, resulting in them suffering spiritual backlashes, becoming mentally slow or crazy.

People called this a Qi deviation.

Shentu Nantian’s Four Images Seal was used to showcase his strengths and was forcefully displayed. Such a bone refinement process that was infinitely pushing his limits would be even more dangerous once a spiritual backlash was dealt.

Although the Shentu family clan had all sorts of top-grade soul nurturing drugs, there was a possibility of not curing the root of the problem, leaving repercussions.

Shentu Nantian could no longer speak. The backlash suffered from the beast marks of primordial strains were too great. His face was ashen and his lips purple. The only things on his mind were the various moments before the final explosion. He still could not figure out what problem led to the energy suddenly going beyond control.

The Thousand Hand Granny took out a green pill bottle from her interspatial ring. She poured all the crystal-clear pills out and stuffed them into Shentu Nantian’s mouth.

These pills were the Thousand Hand Granny’s own top-grade pills. As the Thousand Hand Granny was one of the top ranking Desolate Heaven Masters in the Shentu family clan, the value of her pills was obvious.

However, at that moment, she could not care less about being stingy. Curing Shentu Nantian’s injuries were what mattered most.

Once the entire bottle’s pills entered his stomach, Shentu Nantian’s condition seemed to improve by a bit.

“Granny, I…” Shentu Nantian found it difficult to breathe as he felt discomfort in his heart.

He was an extremely proud person. He had specially prepared for this Desolate Heaven technique tea session. He wanted to awe and shine before the Lin family, the Shentu family clan and all the important figures of the visiting family clans that had relations with the two families.

He had elevated himself greatly and did lots of groundwork and preparations, just to let people think the Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven technique heritage was unfathomable, with his own abilities being absolutely stunning.

But now, while he was proving himself, trying to realize that impression into reality, everything was for naught. He had thrown all his face in front of all the important figures amongst the large family clans.

And amongst the audience, it included his fiancée, Lin Xintong.

The magnitude of the setback Shentu Nantian suffered was obvious!

Now, while Shentu Nantian was enduring his injuries, there was not only the injury to his body and soul, there was also the blow to his confidence and self-esteem!

“Tian’er, what happened?” The Thousand Hand Granny was also unsure of what had happened. As a bystander, she naturally did not know as much about the energy changes of the Four Images beast marks at the final moment compared to Shentu Nantian himself.

However, Shentu Nantian shook his head. He too was not sure what had happened.

The Four Images Seal which he had chosen was a sealing technique he was very confident in. He had succeeded with it several times, but he never expected that at the final critical moment, something went wrong, and yet he still did not know where the problem lied.

After all, it was an ancient Desolate Heaven technique that was a heritage that was neither systematic or complete. Shentu Nantian’s understanding of the Desolate Heaven technique wasn’t that great, so an occasional accident that he did not know the reason to was quite normal.

“Alright, don’t speak! Just recuperate!”

The Thousand Hand Granny frowned. She was determined to figure out where the problem lied. If this happened another few more times, the Shentu family clan would definitely not be able to afford it.

Seeing Shentu Nantian being brought down the square with the Thousand Hand Granny’s support, the Lin family’s Elders shook their heads in their minds.

An Elder said secretly, “This Shentu Nantian is after all young and impetuous. He chose a bone refining technique that he could not handle, ruining an otherwise clever plan.”

“He should have the sense to choose a sealing technique that is lesser in difficulty. Then, this would not have happened.”

Seeing Shentu Nantian in such a state, the Lin family’s Elders naturally did not pity him. Of course, on the surface, they would not gloat over his misfortune.

For this Desolate Heaven technique tea session, the Lin family was clearly inferior to the Shentu family clan as the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven technique heritage was lacking. Furthermore, the Shentu family clan had obtained a lot in the mystic realm. So for the outcome to end in such a manner despite the huge difference between the two family’s abilities, the Lin family was very pleased.

“Yantian, you should be fine, right!?”

When Yi Yun came down the square, Su Jie laughed. He had already noticed that Yi Yun was completely fine having hidden behind the large furnace.

Su Jie did not know what had gone wrong with Shentu Nantian, but seeing him be blown to such a lifeless state, Su Jie felt joy deep down. I’ll see how arrogant you can be!

With Su Jie’s words, many people looked towards Yi Yun.

At this Desolate Heaven technique tea session, Yi Yun was originally a small fry. However, once the competition began, no one could ignore him.

Previously, he had defeated Song Ziyue. Next, he had accepted Shentu Nantian’s challenge, and perfectly completed his task during the ancient bone refinement process.

He had produced brilliant results for the two Desolate Heaven technique showdowns.

And in the end, when the four beast marks exploded under Shentu Nantian’s control, Yi Yun was the only person who managed to dodge in time.

In contrast, Shentu Feng and Shentu Hai were all much slower to react.

Actually, there were already many indications that the situation was not right. For example, veins had bulged on Shentu Nantian’s neck and forehead to the point of them nearly exploding. And Shentu Nantian’s profuse sweating and bursting temples all illustrated this point.

Previously, the Lin family Elders had already noticed something amiss. However, when it was mentioned, the Shentu family clan’s Elders remained confident and blindly believed in Shentu Nantian.

And at that moment, it all boiled down to one’s personal judgment of how the Four Images Seal, which no one knew well, was performing.

Not everyone could instantaneously make a quick and precise judgment call from all these tiny clues.

However, Yi Yun had managed to do it!

Compared to Shentu Hai and Shentu Feng, who had stood there in a daze, Yi Yun’s judgment and sensitivity were clearly on a different level.

This person was most suited to explore mystic realms. Dangers awaited in mystic realms in unsuspected ways. A small discrepancy might not seem much, but it could devour the lives of a dozen people in a blink of an eye.

Only those people who were on constant alert could go farther and live longer.

“Elder Su, you took in a good disciple.”

Sun, the middle-aged man patted Su Jie on the shoulder and looked at Yi Yun with envy.

To have such a disciple taking over their mantle was the dream many Desolate Heaven Masters had.

“Haha, it’s alright, it’s alright!”

Su Jie boasted without turning red. Yi Yun rolled his eyes hearing this. This old fellow had really treated him as a disciple he had discovered. Yi Yun still remembered that Su Jie had taken him in as an in-name disciple because he wanted to eat roasted meat every day.

“Yi Yun, you worked hard.”

At that moment, Yi Yun heard a gentle voice transmission. Yi Yun turned his head and saw the white-dressed Lin Xintong smiling at him.

She slightly curved her lips which looked like a silent crescent. Her bright eyes seemed like a pool of spring water.

Yi Yun always found Lin Xintong as a quiet girl. Whether it was her speaking or smiling, they were always so composed and light.

“I would never have expected that you had grown to this extent in the two years we have not met. Your level of the Desolate Heaven technique has surprised me.”

Thinking back to the scene of meeting Yi Yun in the Cloud Wilderness, no one would have expected the plain youth to mature in such a way today.

If he was given another ten years, he would be able to take charge of his own endeavors and shine.

406 - : The Blows Shentu Nantian Suffered

CKtalon  CKtalon

Due to Shentu Nantian’s spiritual injuries as well as Shentu Hai and Shentu Feng also being wounded, the first day of the Desolate Heaven technique tea session, which was supposed to end at sunset, came to an early conclusion.

Shentu Nantian was supposed to be the star of the Desolate Heaven technique tea session. The Shentu family clan had intended to use the tea session to let Shentu Nantian build a good relationship with the upper echelons of the Lin family. At the same time, they planned for him to display his abilities, letting the old fellows of the Lin family realize his awesomeness.

However with the situation like this, all the song and dance that had been planned for the stage was devastated. The Shentu family clan did not feel proud about it.

The Desolate Heaven technique showdown between the older generation, which was to be the main highlight, was delayed to three days later.

After the tea session ended, the Shentu family clan gathered a few of their Elders to analyze what had gone wrong at the last moment in Shentu Nantian’s Four Images Seal.

However, even after analyzing it all day, they still could not figure anything out.

This was quite demanding for them, as besides the Thousand Hand Granny, the others had never come into contact with the Four Images Seal.

Furthermore, Shentu Nantian, the person directly involved, could only give a vague description of what happened.

This made the Thousand Hand Granny’s old face scrunch up.

Her greatest fear was that there was a problem with the heritage.

As it was a heritage obtained by them in a mystic realm, the Four Images Seal was definitely part of an ancient Desolate Heaven technique heritage. There was no doubt to that. However, what the Thousand Hand Granny feared was whether the Four Images Seal required the use of other Desolate Heaven techniques in combination with it.

In the martial world, there was no lack of cultivation technique manuals which required another cultivation technique as a foundation. Without the foundation, problems ranging from damaging one’s Yuan Qi to suffering a qidong deviation could occur.

As to whether there was someone who caused Shentu Nantian’s Four Images Seal to fail, the Thousand Hand Granny never even entertained the thought. At the tea session, there were so many experts watching. With countless numbers of eyes and spiritual energies pervading the square, who could have the ability to bypass the perceptions of all of them and secretly sabotage it?

…

As the Shentu family clan’s Elders were racking their brains trying to figure out what went wrong with the Four Images Seal, the culprit Yi Yun was at the Lin family’s Silk peak, participating in a victory party.

Actually, with Yi Yun’s personality, he would not be interested in such celebration parties. The time was better off spent cultivating.

However, Su Jie had made it clear that the Matriarch held the party because of the Desolate Heaven technique tea session. And Yi Yun was the star of the party. If the star did not participate, then the party would lose its meaning.

As Yi Yun was still new to the Lin family, it was best to keep a low profile. If Yi Yun rejected the invitation the Matriarch sent, then it would inevitably lead to widespread criticism of him not being able to appreciate favors.

The Silk peak was not one of the Lin family’s eighteen main peaks. It was a small mountain situated in the external perimeter of the main peaks. The Silk peak was about half the height of the other eighteen main peaks, but there were plenty of spiritual flowers there, and these flowers grouped together like silk, giving Silk peak its name.

Other than some miscellaneous events being held at Silk peak, not many of the family’s disciples stayed here. Whenever there were any internal family celebrations, they would be held on Silk peak.

At that moment, in the opulent Silk Palace by the slope of the Silk peak, there were hundreds of people gathered. There were a few of the Lin family Elders amongst them. The others were all juniors about the same age as Yi Yun.

And amongst the few Elders, there was Yi Yun’s cheap master, Su Jie, and the Lin family’s Matriarch.

The Matriarch held a dragon-head walking stick and had her white hair was pulled back in a bun. Her hair bun was adorned with a piece of jade and she was giving Yi Yun a loving smile.

“Little Friend Yun, welcome to the Lin family. Your master Su Jie is the Lin family’s guest Elder, so you can treat the Lin family as your own home and do not need to feel restrained.”

When the surrounding juniors heard the Matriarch’s simple words, they were secretly envious of Yi Yun.

The Lin family had many disciples, and many of them were part of their direct bloodline, yet most of them had never received the chance to directly speak to the Matriarch.

And now, the Matriarch was especially warm towards Yi Yun at the Lin family’s celebration party. The treatment she gave Yi Yun by specifically saying those welcoming words made them envious.

The treatment many of these direct bloodline children received did not even match an outsider like Yi Yun.

However, there was nothing they could do. After all, Yi Yun had demonstrated monstrous talent in the Desolate Heaven technique!

“This junior thanks the Matriarch. This junior is greatly flattered by the love the Matriarch provides me.” Yi Yun humbly bowed as the Matriarch’s smile turned especially bright. She was even more satisfied with Yi Yun.

“This is a party for you young people. These old bones will not be joining.” After the Matriarch said a few more words, she took her leave. “Xintong, have fun with them.”

The Matriarch turned her head and spoke to Lin Xintong who was behind her.

Lin Xintong was still dressed in that spotless white dress of hers, but there was now a jade hair accessory on her head. This made her seem less distant, but also made her more charming.

“Alright. I will help you out.”

Lin Xintong smiled at Yi Yun before helping the Matriarch.

The party officially began and without the Lin family’s elders, the juniors became more carefree.

Many of the Lin family’s disciples would spend most of their time cultivating. Even when they had free time, they could not go wild due to the various family restrictions.

However, because of this celebration party, many of the youths could completely let their hair down.

And Yi Yun was no doubt the focus of the party.

“Senior brother Yun, my name is Lin Caiyun. I am also learning the Desolate Heaven technique and have been learning it for two years. However, I am still greatly lacking and can barely refine relics of the lowest grade.” A 14-15 year old girl of small stature and big eyes looked at Yi Yun without blinking, “Senior brother Yun, your Desolate Heaven technique is so awesome. Is there a secret to it? If you have the time, can you enlighten me?”

“Uh, I am also a beginner in the Desolate Heaven technique. There are many theories I am still learning. As for the techniques I know, it might be fewer than what you know.”

After Yi Yun ate something, he quickly realized he was especially popular amongst the girls.

Girls, one after another, would solicit Yi Yun for various reasons.

Of course, most of them did so by discussing the Desolate Heaven technique.

After the big-eyed girl left, a 18-19 year old girl with a tall and full figure replaced her.

“Hehe, Little brother Yun, your Desolate Heaven technique is indeed not bad. However a warrior should have some means of self-defense. Are you interested in learning swords? This elder sister can teach you.”

The girl’s voice was crisp and tender, and sounded like music to one’s ears.

Yi Yun was a bit helpless. Ever since he came to this alternate world two years ago, girls did not seem to take the initiative to woo him, but today, there were suddenly more than five of them.

“There is no need. I do not have the intention on learning swords from others.” Yi Yun could only reject. About the way of the sword, Yi Yun’s accomplishments were extraordinary. Of course, he had no intention to learn from others.

“Junior Brother Yun.”

At that moment, a refreshing voice rang in Yi Yun’s ear. Yi Yun turned around and saw the picturesque fairy-like Lin Xintong.

After sending the Matriarch off, she had returned to the party.

The moment Lin Xintong appeared, the few girls surrounding Yi Yun immediately knew to back off.

Amongst the younger generation of the Lin family, Lin Xintong’s status was extremely special.

Lin Xintong gave a slight smile, and with a voice transmission, whispered, “This celebration party has the intention of letting the boys and girls of the younger generation mingle together. The Lin family’s Matriarch has already decided to keep you in the Lin family.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was stunned. He understood what Lin Xintong meant. The celebration party was just an excuse, calling it a blind date would be more appropriate.

Yi Yun knew that he was a rare talent for the Lin family, having shown his talent and bright future.

And many of the young girls of the Lin family would be willing to marry Yi Yun. Yi Yun was handsome and with his extraordinary talent, it was easy for him to grab the hearts of the young girls.

Furthermore, marrying such a Desolate Heaven Master would make one’s future martial path even smoother as there would be no lack of resources. In a large family clan like the Lin family, the girls were not as reserved as the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s nobles. They would pursue what they wanted.

“The Matriarch probably wishes to see you marry one of the girls in the family. This way, the relationships will be even more stable. Maybe not long from now, there will be a matchmaker who will matchmake you. Sometimes, children of the family marry late, but they would get engaged very early.”

Lin Xintong’s expression seemed like she was both smiling and not smiling at the same time. It was hard to tell what she was thinking.

Yi Yun felt a bit speechless hearing this as he frowned. This was reasonable. In the Tian Yuan world, where the family clans gained their power from their children, marriage was indeed a very stable relation.

“Well… and there is another thing.” Suddenly, Lin Xintong changed the topic and her voice turned serious. “At this Desolate Heaven technique tea session, the Shentu family clan may have suffered greatly, but… the number of Lin family’s Elders who support the Shentu family clan has actually increased…”

“Oh?” Yi Yun frowned. This was not good news. If the Lin family really forged an alliance with the Shentu family clan, then ignoring what Lin Xintong’s fate would be, just his identity alone would be impossible to conceal forever.

This was the reason why Lin Xintong highlighted this to Yi Yun.

Lin Xintong’s marriage was actually a matter that was far in the future. However, the alliance between the Lin family and the Shentu family clan would be forged much earlier and quicker.

This was of course not something Yi Yun wished to see.

“Is it because the Shentu family clan demonstrated many ancient Desolate Heaven technique heritages?” Yi Yun asked. He knew that these ancient Desolate Heaven technique heritages were very tempting for the Lin family. Furthermore, with the Shentu family clan willing to share them with the Lin family, it would be a very favorable condition!

“That is just a minor reason…” Lin Xintong gently shook her head. “The most important reason is that the Shentu family clan has finally agreed to first refine a few of the peerless Great Empress’s ancient recipe’s relics for me to try… Previously, the Shentu family clan was unwilling to do so as every relic made from the ancient recipe required a very high cost.”

When Lin Xintong said this, Yi Yun was stunned. The Shentu family clan was already willing to refine the ancient Great Empress’s relic!?

407 - : Great Empress Relic

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the Tian Yuan world, there would be several Great Emperors in every generation. For example, for super family clans like the Shentu family clan or the Lin family, the number of Great Emperors they had was not limited to one.

Take the Myriad Empyreal King, who was killed by the Shepherd Boy, he was considered average in strength amongst the Great Emperors.

As for the Shentu Patriarch, the power he possessed was frightening. When the Shepherd Boy was at his peak, he had borrowed from a Divine Lion from the Nether World Desolate God, and in the end he was barely able to heavily injure the Shentu Patriarch, failing to kill him.

As for the Shepherd Boy himself, he had been hit by the Shentu Patriarch’s Death Heavenly Revolution, with the injuries lingering to date.

However… compared to the ancient Great Empress recorded in the books, the Shentu Patriarch was nothing.

A figure like the Shentu Patriarch was one of those who stood at the top of the Tian Yuan world for each generation.

However, it was only “one of”.

The Lin family and other super family clans also had people like him.

In the same generation, there would be about a dozen people that matched him, and counting the old monstrous people that secluded themselves, there would be even more.

And this was only for the Human race. The Desolate race also have plenty of figures that could match the Shentu Patriarch.

Since there were so many people like that, it was destined that a person like the Shentu Patriarch would be unable to leave his name for tens of millions of years, or even hundreds of millions of years in this world.

This was because there was a huge gap between the Shentu Patriarch and the ancient Great Empress.

The ancient Great Empress was the only legendary woman who managed to join up her naturally terminated meridians in history. The legends she left behind remained in the endless river of history, and kept on being passed down.

Yi Yun actually did not know what the realm above Great Emperor was, as it was too far away for him.

However, he was sure that the mighty figures whose strength exceeded Great Emperors would have a great power disparity. Actually, the “Great Emperor” title was just a collective name people in the Tian Yuan world gave to strong warriors who reached a certain realm. It was not a specific name of a realm. It was the same as “Sages” and “Human Lords”.

Hence, if the Myriad Empyreal King was to be compared to the ancient Great Empress, then the difference was probably like looking at a firefly against the bright moon.

Now, according to what Lin Xintong said, the Shentu family clan had already restored the ancient recipe left behind by the ancient peerless Great Empress and was able to refine the desolate bone relic recorded in it. For this, how could Yi Yun not be surprised?

The power of peerless Great Empress probably far exceeded the limitations of imagination many of the mighty figures in the Tian Yuan world had…

“The Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven technique has actually reached that level?”

Yi Yun found it unbelievable. Who had refined the Great Empress’ relic? Could it be the Thousand Hand Granny?

However, when he recalled the old granny, Yi Yun found it unlikely. The old granny was probably in the Empress-like realm, but compared to the Shentu Patriarch, she was probably far inferior despite being in the same realm. How could she refine the ancient Great Empress’s recipe?

“I am not sure either…” Lin Xintong shook her head. “Maybe the ancient recipe is not that difficult to refine. The ancient Great Empress may be strong, but it does not mean that the recipe she left behind is difficult. These two things might not be related.”

Yi Yun nodded hearing what Lin Xintong said. It was reasonable.

Lin Xintong added, “Regardless, the Shentu family clan will definitely be providing a relic this time. They have already made it public and have invited several of the family clans that have an alliance with them. They definitely cannot fake this matter, or else they will be considered as having gone back on their word. It would not benefit them in any way.”

“Besides, they must be very confident with the relic or else they would be subject to criticism. As such, the alliance between the Shentu family clan and Lin family will naturally be void and null.”

“Miss Lin, you are right.” Yi Yun nodded. It did not matter how the Shentu family clan managed to refine the Great Empress’ relic. Only by being able to provide it were they able to put forward such a proposal with the Lin family.

From the looks of it, the Shentu family clan was extremely confident!

Could it be that their ability to refine the Great Empress relic was because of the mystic realm they explored? Did the Shentu family clan manage to find a Desolate Heaven technique method in the mystic realm that allowed them to refine the Great Empress relic?

What sort of mystic realm was it? Yi Yun was highly interested in the mystic realm as a mystic realm of that level would definitely be extraordinary!

However, a mystic realm of that level was probably not something he could explore.

Yi Yun gently shook his head. He needed time. He was still too weak right now.

After staying silent for a moment, Yi Yun suddenly looked at Lin Xintong.

“Miss Lin…”

“Yes?” Lin Xintong looked up. Her face seemed to blur in the flickering candlelight. She was so beautiful that it did not seem real.

“If… I am saying if. If you are unable to find a method to join up your terminated meridians, would you accept the arrangements of your family?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s question, Lin Xintong frowned as she looked deeply at Yi Yun.

“Why are you asking such a question? Do you not think that speculating about the future lacks any meaning? For example you… When I first met you in the Cloud Wilderness, I never expect for you to have come so far in two years.”

“You are right…” Yi Yun nodded. “I am asking this because of that two years ago, in the Desolate Human Valley. There you told me that when your body touched mine, you seemed to feel your meridians have a faint energy flow…”

“Because of this, I had an idea that might sound like a joke. I want to join up your naturally terminated meridians!”

“However, I cannot guarantee that my thoughts would be achievable. And now… The Shentu family clan seems to have found a method to join up your terminated meridians. I do not know if their method will be effective, but at least, it seems like it is more reliable than the clueless thoughts in my head.”

” I really want to join up your terminated meridians, but… I do not have any reason to let you risk your life because of my own wishes and an unrealistic thought of mind. After all, the chances of healing you is very small.”

“I am thinking… when it is finally decided that there is no way to join up your terminated meridians, and when everyone is at a loss what to do. I believe that the Matriarch, and even Senior Su Jie, would wish for you to marry Shentu Nantian. At least, in that way, you will be able to live on…”

Yi Yun slowly said these words. These were the thoughts that had lingered in his mind, and was also the dilemma he felt by staying in the Lin family.

From a emotional point of view, he naturally did not wish to see Shentu Nantian heal Lin Xintong of her naturally terminated meridians, and use this coercive method to complete the marriage.

However… from a logical point of view, this was probably the best outcome for Lin Xintong.

Although Lin Xintong’s grandaunt was irksome, she did say something that Yi Yun found very reasonable. That was, if life and innocence was compared, which was more important?

Maybe the word “innocence” was not accurate for Lin Xintong as what she insisted on was her dignity and the right to choose her own life.

“Thank you.”

Lin Xintong said solemnly as she looked at Yi Yun. She had never known, prior to this, that Yi Yun wished to cure her of her naturally terminated meridians. If the Lin family or the Shentu family clan knew of Yi Yun’s thoughts, they would probably laugh and ridicule, thinking Yi Yun was speaking idiotic nonsense.

However, Lin Xintong did not think so.

“Regardless, I will fight for my own fate. After all, who can tell the future… What I can guarantee you is that, even if the Lin family agrees to ally with the Shentu family clan, I will prevent you from being forced to leave.”

Lin Xintong said seriously. Yi Yun knew that Lin Xintong was referring to the feud he had with Shentu Nantian.

“Alright, let us not talk about this anymore. The Matriarch had spent a great deal of effort to prepare this party for you.”

Upon saying this, the corners of Lin Xintong’s mouth curled up, revealing a light smile.

Yi Yun naturally understood the meaning behind her words. The Matriarch had probably informed a few female Elders in the family to matchmake suitable girls for Yi Yun.

With a slight turn of his head, Yi Yun noticed that the tall girl who wanted to practice swords with him was speaking to someone else while frequently looking over at him.

The lascivious bodied girl was probably intending to continue the discussion about swords after Lin Xintong left.

Yi Yun embarrassingly knitted his eyebrows. He had little experience in such events, be it in his previous and present life.

…

The party lasted for six hours and only ended late into the night.

In the end, the girls who had solicited Yi Yun wasn’t that many. This was because Lin Xintong was beside Yi Yun most of the night. At the beginning, both of them chatted about the situation regarding the Lin family and the Shentu family clan. It was considered “official business”.

Later on, they began chatting about anything under the sun.

Originally, Lin Xintong thought that Yi Yun’s insight would be lacking and that she could not talk about a lot of things. She had planned to tell Yi Yun about the current situation of the Tian Yuan world and the interesting historical facts.

However, when they really began chatting, Lin Xintong found out that Yi Yun was the one speaking most of the time while she was the one listening.

Yi Yun seemed to have endless amounts of interesting tidbits in his head.

Yi Yun naturally knew very little about this world.

However, in his previous life, where he lived in the explosive information age and had the Internet in his hand through a divine device, the strange things he knew far exceeded what this world had.

He adapted many of the bizarre events and blurred out the temporal background, turning it into an interesting story for this world.

Especially the hilarious jokes on the Internet were endless in scope. It was completely beyond the limits of this world’s warriors where cultivation was at the forefront.

In the beginning, Lin Xintong told Yi Yun some interesting historical facts, but soon, she realized that the interesting facts she knew were boring compared to what Yi Yun mentioned.

Later on, Lin Xintong was very happy to just quietly listen. She would sporadically cover her mouth as she chuckled. Sometimes, she would even widen her bright dark eyes and say stuff like, “That cannot be so right?”, “Where did you you hear all this from?”, “It is so interesting”.

The surrounding Lin family’s juniors were shocked upon seeing Yi Yun chat like that with Lin Xintong. Their impression of Lin Xintong was that she was a quiet and reserved person who did not laugh or talk much.

They felt that the number of times they had seen Lin Xintong laugh over the ten plus years was less than the number of times she laughed that night.

408 - : Night Chatting

CKtalon  CKtalon

Three days later, the Desolate Heaven technique tea session resumed. This time, it was the stage of the older generation like Su Jie.

Shentu Nantian was absent. Ignoring the damage to his soul, even if he had completely recovered, he still wouldn’t have the face to appear at the tea session again.

For a proud person like him to embarrass himself as he did, at such an important occasion, was a really heavy blow that few could understand.

At the tea session for the older generation, Yi Yun only watched, from the beginning to end. While watching it, he opened his energy vision and paid attention to the sealing techniques the Elders of the Lin family and Shentu family clan used, and studied the essence of their Desolate Heaven techniques. During this process, Yi Yun did not attempt to sabotage by using the Purple Crystal.

After all, this was the older generation of Desolate Heaven Masters. Their control of energy was not like Shentu Nantian’s, who was at his limits. It was only because Shentu Nantian was at his limits that it was so easy for Yi Yun to use the Purple Crystal.

Against the older Desolate Heaven Masters, Yi Yun may be able to cause trouble with the Purple Crystal, but it was much more difficult. Also, forcefully reversing the energy flow trajectories would increase the risk of being discovered.

Furthermore, if this thing happened time and again, it would make people suspicious.

Finally, even if his sabotaging succeeded, it would be meaningless as the Shentu family clan had already made a concession by letting Lin Xintong trial the desolate bone relic they refined. Then, regardless of the tea session’s outcome, the Lin family would first see the results Lin Xintong had after eating the desolate bone relic before they made a decision.

Compared to the younger generation, the Desolate Heaven technique skills displayed by the older generation were even more exaggerated. They could be described as being spectacular.

And overall, the Shentu family clan held the advantage.

Even though Su Jie and company used all the skills they had, they could not compete with the large number of people that the Shentu family clan had. At the end, the Shentu family clan sent a Grand Elder to display his Desolate Heaven technique. He was extremely thin, and seemed like a walking zombie, but his Desolate Heaven technique completely surpassed Su Jie. No one in the entire tea session could compete with him.

The Desolate Heaven technique tea session for the older generation lasted for three days.

In the end, the Shentu family clan managed to win back a bit of face.

After the Desolate Heaven technique tea session ended, the Shentu family clan entourage did not leave the Lin family, instead they stayed in the Lin family’s Tian Hua peak.

In a blink an eye, half a month passed.

Today was extremely important for both the Lin family and the Shentu family clan. This was because this was the day when Lin Xintong got to trial the medicine.

If it succeeded, then the Lin family would very likely gain a peerless Great Empress. Then, the achievements Lin Xintong would have in the future would be on par with the ancient Great Empress.

And the Shentu family clan would form an alliance with the Lin family as they wished, while Shentu Nantian would get his wish of becoming Lin Xintong’s partner and obtain great benefits.

However if it were to fail…

“My Shentu family clan have made several preparations for this matter. It is also the only copy of the peerless Great Empress’s recipe found in the ancient mystic realm, so how can it fail?”

The Lin family used a square that was dedicated for large-scale sacrificial activities. People from the Lin family clan and the Shentu family clan gathered here and took their seats. Shentu Nantian sat on a front-row bench and was calmly and confidently answering the doubts a Lin family elder had.

Previously, at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session, Shentu Nantian had suffered a spiritual backlash and had nursed his health over the period of time, he used various medicines without considering their costs, resulting in him finally being able to leave the bed.

In fact, the Shentu family clan had waited for half a month mainly to allow Shentu Nantian to regain the ability to get off the bed. After all, Shentu Nantian was the star of the show today. If he did not attend it, it would be outrageous.

However, Shentu Nantian’s soul had not completely recovered. If he were to fight, or use the Desolate Heaven technique, he would completely collapse.

At least under the situation of not needing to use his mental energies, he would be barely able to maintain his handsome and imposing appearance.

Furthermore, today was the day when the Shentu family clan took out the Great Empress relic to prove its effects. He could then use the opportunity to force the Lin family to decide on a marriage date for Lin Xintong. He did not want to drag it out any further with the Lin family by pushing and pulling.

He believed that with Lin Xintong’s life at stake, and having already thought about the different reasons, the upper echelons of the Lin family, including the Matriarch, would have no choice but to agree to this matter.

And if he were to obtain Lin Xintong’s primordial Yin, and have cultivational intercourse frequently, he would be able to look forward to becoming a Great Emperor.

Just thinking of this made Shentu Nantian feel even more high-spirited.

The other people of the Shentu family clan were feeling the same. The Lin family realized that all the people from the Shentu family clan came with a tinge of obvious pride. It looked like they were extremely confident in the desolate bone relic refined by using the Great Empress’ ancient recipe.

Although these people did not like the way the Shentu family clan behaved, it was after all, a thought. The Lin family all ended up becoming anticipant and started to feel confident about the desolate bone relic.

And for today’s main character, Lin Xintong, her expression was calm as she quietly sat there as if she was a fairy that was meditating. As the person who should feel the greatest emotions, she was the most indifferent.

At that moment, Yi Yun appeared together with Su Jie. When Lin Xintong saw Yi Yun, she revealed a faint smile and nodded at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun saw it and smiled back.

Seeing this scene, Shentu Nantian’s expression sank. The triumphant smile he had on his face turned stiff.

Yi Yun also sensed Shentu Nantian’s gaze. He turned his head and stared coldly at Shentu Nantian through his mask.

Shentu Nantian quietly and tightly gripped the fan in his hands as his eyes flashed coldly.

Yi Yun’s gaze made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

Just seeing Yi Yun appear immediately reminded Shentu Nantian of how he fumbled at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session half a month ago!

It was the greatest stain Shentu Nantian had ever suffered in his thirty years of living.

If this was not the Lin family grounds, he would have smacked Yi Yun to death with one hit.

However, although he could not do anything to Yi Yun now, he would become Lin Xintong’s partner after Lin Xintong took the medicine. He would then become half the master of the Lin family. Then, wouldn’t a small fry like Yi Yun be easily disposed of by him?

Shentu Nantian squinted his eyes at Yi Yun before turning his head to the Lin family’s Matriarch, saying, “Matriarch, the auspicious hour to take the medicine is nearing. Let us invite out the desolate bone relic.”

He smiled as he spoke and gently flapped his fan. Although he sounded calm, anyone could hear the hint of pride and confidence in Shentu Nantian’s voice.

Were they this sure that the desolate bone relic would definitely be effective on Lin Xintong?

“Alright.” The Lin family’s Matriarch nodded.

With the Lin family’s Matriarch words, a few Elders of the Shentu family clan immediately stood up.

Shentu Nantian also stood up and walked with them to the middle of the square.

Immediately, everyone from the Lin family stretched out their necks to focus on them.

What would the desolate bone relic refined from the Great Empress’ ancient recipe look like?

Feeling everyone’s gaze landing on him, Shentu Nantian smiled as he reached out his hand to swipe his interspatial ring.

A stone box with complex patterns and a powerful presence appeared in midair.

“To prevent the desolate bone relic’s medicinal strength from depleting, our Shentu family clan have especially used Everlasting Purple Gold and a top refiner master to manufacture this medicine box. Just this box alone is extremely valuable and can be compared to a city. However, if it was to be compared to the desolate bone relic inside, then it would be like a piece of dirt compared to a pearl.” Shentu Nantian smiled as he said loudly.

The city he mentioned was naturally a warrior city in the Tian Yuan world. Many of the cities in the Tian Yuan world had millions of years of history.

Many of the surrounding people from the Lin family had heard of Everlasting Purple Gold. Many juniors could not help but exclaim.

“Just the box storing the medicine is already so expensive. This relic sure is worth the wait! Indeed, if they do not have any confidence, the Shentu family clan would not have brought the desolate bone relic here.”

“This time, our Lin family will produce a peerless Great Empress. This would be a great matter for both of our families.”

As Yi Yun had made an outstanding performance at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session, his standing amongst the Lin family juniors was now extraordinary. At this event, he had the right to sit on a chair, while the juniors, who were discussing, were standing behind their masters.

Hearing their discussions, Yi Yun took a deep breath as he waited silently for the result. It was indeed a very important matter if Lin Xintong managed to join up her terminated meridians.

Even the Matriarch stared unblinkingly at the medicine box Shentu Nantian had taken out.

The other members of the upper echelons of the Lin family also began to whisper and discuss.

The grandaunt’s voice was particularly striking, “I already said Nantian would not disappoint us. Look at how sincere the Shentu family clan is. This relic will definitely give us a pleasant surprise! As long as the terminated meridians are joined up, then there is no need to delay Xintong’s marriage!”

As she said this, she looked towards Lin Xintong. However, she was disappointed as Lin Xintong’s expression still remained as calm as before. Those not in the know would have thought that this matter had nothing to do with her.

“Grandaunt is right. This marriage cannot be delayed any longer. Furthermore… the Great Empress relics used to heal Xintong totals to twelve relics. After taking the first one, then another has to be taken every month.”

“As such, the relics would be finished within a year.”

Shentu Nantian said this slowly as his gaze landed on Lin Xintong and the Matriarch for a while. His smile seemed to imply that he had everything in control.

Lin Xintong frowned and her watery eyes looked towards Shentu Nantian!

Within a year!

This meant that the Lin family clan had to make their decision on the marriage within a year!

The Shentu family clan would definitely not allow the marriage to be dragged on any further after handing the twelve relics to the Lin family.

This meant that the Lin family had to make the decision on the matter of marriage in the coming months!

Lin Xintong did not know if what Shentu Nantian said about taking the twelve relics continuously every month was true. Maybe it was a lie fabricated by Shentu Nantian to force the Lin family, but this was no longer important. The Shentu family clan just needed a ‘legitimate’ reason to force the Lin family into making a decision!

The Lin family’s Matriarch sighed. Whatever Lin Xintong thought of, she had naturally thought of. This had destroyed her intentions of delaying the marriage date…

409 - : One Year Deadline

CKtalon  CKtalon

“A year…”

The Matriarch’s expression sank slightly as she looked at Lin Xintong. At that moment, she too was in a dilemma. She finally knew why the Shentu family clan was willing to make a concession and let Lin Xintong trial the Great Empress relic.

According to what the Shentu family clan said, this Great Empress relic was extremely expensive. It was not easy to refine every single relic. The Shentu family clan would definitely not allow Lin Xintong to trial a relic and give the Lin family years to decide. It was impossible for them to to re-refine another similar relic to heal Lin Xintong’s terminated meridians when the decision as made.

Now, by letting Lin Xintong eat the first relic, she needed to consume a desolate bone relic every month for the next eleven months. This meant that the Lin family had to decide on the Shentu family clan’s marriage proposal.

For Lin Xintong’s grandaunt, and the elders in the Lin family who supported the Shentu family clan, they did not have any objections. The grandaunt smiled happily and said, “Dear nephew Nantian, please don’t keep us guessing. Quickly, take the Great Empress relic out and let it be an eye-opener for us!”

With her saying this, the sixth granduncle and other Lin family Elders echoed, eager to see the relic.

“Alright, I will open the box. This desolate bone relic was a result of the collective efforts of our Shentu family clan’s top Desolate Heaven Masters and some reclusive experts. They used large amounts of treasured materials to successfully refine this.”

“After the Great Empress relic was successfully refined, it was immediately sealed in the relic box. On this relic box, there are seven seals. Six of them have already been removed, and the final critical seal can only be removed using my mental energy. This is to prevent its medicinal properties from losing its efficiency.”

As Shentu Nantian spoke, be it his tone or attitude, he exuded a tinge of pride. It was as if he had swept away all the unpleasant things said of him bumbling at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session a few days ago.

When Shentu Nantian took the Great Empress relic out, he was really elated. With the relic in hand, even the upper echelons of the Lin family had to be differential towards him, let alone the Lin family’s younger generation.

“One of the seven seals can only be removed using Shentu Nantian’s mental energy. The Shentu family clan sure wants to highlight the important status of Shentu Nantian.”

The Matriarch pondered. She knew why the Shentu family clan had made such an arrangement. The desolate bone relic refinement process had nothing to do with Shentu Nantian, yet, the Shentu family clan had specially prepared a seal that needed Shentu Nantian’s mental energy for it to be released. This was to forcefully add a halo on Shentu Nantian, and it was also telling the Lin family that Shentu Nantian would be the master of the Shentu family clan in the future, and his status in the Shentu family clan was extraordinary.

“Alright, I am going to release the seal. Please anticipate it.”

Shentu Nantian smiled and he began forming a few hand seals as he injected his mental energy into the Everlasting Purple Gold relic box.

The mental energy needed to verify the mental energy seal was negligible, but as Shentu Nantian was seriously injured, just releasing the seal made his expression change slightly, as his lips turned slightly pale.

Shentu Nantian took a deep breath and he suppressed the pain in his soul. He pretended to easily open the relic box. At that moment, everybody could see the throbbing green vein on his forehead. He was clearly in great pain.

However, at that moment, no one cared about laughing at Shentu Nantian as all the focus was on the Great Empress relic in the box!

In the Everlasting Purple Gold medicine box, it was layered with white Heavenly Silk satin. Above the satin, there was a crystal-like relic.

This relic was not spherical in shape, but it was ring-like. In the hole in the middle of the relic, there was a small, red snake’s phantom image swimming around slowly.

Shentu Nantian took the Great Empress relic out with both hands. This relic was like a little Sun, as it emitted extremely pure Yang Qi!

And the relic itself seemed to have a life of its own. A glance could tell the extraordinary value it had!

“It is indeed a treasure!”

The eyes of the Lin family’s Elders lit up. They could tell the value of the relic at a glance and they could not stop discussing about it.

“That red snake phantom is a condensation of a pure Yang spirit . This Great Empress relic is also a pure Yang item. Indeed, Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians is because of having an overly pure Yin body. Only an extreme Yang item can help join Xintong’s terminated meridians up!”

“If I’m not wrong, the material of this relic has the life essence bone of a primordial true spirit desolate beast. Also, it is a primordial true spirit desolate beast that expirates pure Yang Qi!”

Primordial true spirit grade desolate beasts were extremely scarce and they could only be found deep in the Divine Wilderness, so it was hard to capture one. And pure Yang elemental primordial true spirit desolate beasts were even rarer.

The value of the bones of such desolate beasts was unimaginable.

“No wonder the Shentu family clan is so confident. With the Great Empress relic at this grade, there is a 80-90% chance of joining Xintong’s terminated meridians up!”

Several of the older-generation Desolate Heaven Masters from the Lin family turned excited upon seeing the desolate bone relic.

This feeling was like a sword master seeing a top-grade sword.

Just seeing a relic of such a grade was a great joy for them.

Furthermore, there were still eleven other relics of this grade!

After appraising the Great Empress relic, everyone’s eyes gathered on Lin Xintong.

They were waiting to see if the Great Empress relic would be effective for Lin Xintong. This was something that the Lin family Elders were greatly looking forward to.

“Haha, this Elder has a good eye!” Shentu Nantian suffused a proud smile, “This Great Empress relic is indeed refined from a pure Yang elemental primordial true spirit’s life essence bone. As for what primordial true spirit it is, it is not convenient for me to disclose it. Our Shentu family clan managed to refine twelve relics exactly using the primordial true spirit’s life essence bone. These relics have an invisible link to them. They were refined as a set.”

People could not tell if what Shentu Nantian said was true. They knew that by emphasizing this once again, it meant that once the bone relic was eaten, the Lin family had to make a decision. They could not let the Shentu family clan waste an entire primordial true spirit’s life essence bone just for a trial.

Lin Xintong remained silent. She knew that Shentu Nantian was forcing their hand. This made her not want to trial the relic, because once she ate it, they would owe the Shentu family clan, resulting in a complicated situation.

“Xintong!”

The Matriarch could tell what was on Lin Xintong’s mind. At that moment, even the Matriarch, who always adored Lin Xintong, would not stand on her side.

Large family clans needed to consider niceties. The Lin family had already agreed to letting Lin Xintong trial the Great Empress relic, and now, the Shentu family clan had already shown their sincerity, so if the Lin family were to change their tune, they would be criticized by others.

Besides, the critical point was that this Great Empress relic had also stirred the Matriarch’s heart. She was increasingly convinced that the Shentu family clan had the ability to heal Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians.

Without any confidence, would the Shentu family clan have invited various important figures from the large family clans to witness this occasion?

“I never expected… the Shentu family clan could produce such a relic…”

Not far from Lin Xintong, Su Jie was also sighing as he quietly shook his head. Even Su Jie, who did not like the Shentu family clan, had nothing to say about the Great Empress relic.

If Su Jie spoke truthfully, he too wished that Lin Xintong would try it. After all, the chances of him using his abilities to join Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians was extremely small. He too did not want to see Lin Xintong die at a young age, wasting her extraordinary talent.

“Xintong, consider it carefully. A strung arrow must be shot. If you do not trial the Great Empress relic, then the Lin family will not be able to salvage the situation.”

The Shentu family clan had invited so many family clans as witness to force the Lin family, and the Lin family’s Elders were happy to see such a situation.

Lin Xintong was silent. Immediately, the gathering turned silent as everyone’s eyes were still on Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong’s attitude and decision was of utmost importance!

With the atmosphere turning heavy, people knew that there was immense stress for Lin Xintong at that moment.

A young girl, even with extraordinary courage, might not be able to handle the stress!

At that moment, no one noticed that on a chair in a corner, a masked Yi Yun was staring at the relic. His eyes were shining.

The Great Empress relic… seems to…

When Shentu Nantian opened the relic box, Yi Yun had opened his energy vision.

The Purple Crystal’s energy vision could see through all illusions and seeing the essence of all things. Even in the sword and saber tomb, Yi Yun could use the Purple Crystal’s energy vision to see the energy marks left behind by its owner despite the tens of millions of years that had passed.

This was an ability that even Great Emperor-ranked Desolate Heaven Masters lacked.

However, when Yi Yun was using his energy vision to examine the Great Empress relic, he found something odd.

In the relic, there was a tiny amount of black gas.

This black gas was hidden underneath the red snake. It was like an even thinner and smaller black venomous snake was slowly swimming around.

However, once the energy vision was disengaged, the black snake could not be seen. It was like a ghost that made his heart jump!

For some unknown reason, Yi Yun felt an extremely sense of foreboding seeing this black snake. This was a feeling Yi Yun never had before!

There might be a problem with this relic!

Upon realizing this possibility, Yi Yun’s expression turned heavy.

And at that moment, the atmosphere in the square was still heavy. Lin Xintong remained silent while everyone looked at her. The scene had turned cold!

“Young Master Shen Tu, let old me look at the relic first.”

At that moment, the Lin family’s Matriarch suddenly spoke.

Actually, she had spoken to ease the situation as it was too awkward. Also, she could examine the relic to see if there was a problem.

410 - : Small Black Snake

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Of course, Matriarch, please have a look!”

Shentu Nantian was all smiles as he handed the Great Empress relic over to the servant girl beside the Matriarch.

The Matriarch held the relic with her thumb and index finger. Under the sunlight, this ring-shaped relic turned crystal clear. It was like it was a ring constructed from immortal jade. The snake on the relic’s surface even gave off a pervasive spiritual feeling.

“Good relic!”

A Lin family Elder could not help but praise it. The Matriarch opened her Heaven’s Eye and sank her mental energies into it before slightly nodding. She was very satisfied with it.

With her perception, she could feel the hot energy flowing within the relic. It was extremely pure Yang energy.

Seeing the Matriarch’s expression, Yi Yun’s heart sank.

He had been hoping that the Matriarch would discover something odd with the relic, but in the end, he was disappointed.

It was needless to say how good the Matriarch’s knowledge of the Desolate Heaven technique was. However, that was only limited to the understanding of the Tian Yuan world’s Desolate Heaven technique heritage. As for ancient Desolate Heaven techniques, the Matriarch did not know much.

The reason there was a problem with the relic was likely not because the Shentu family clan had poisoned it, but was likely that the ancient Desolate Heaven technique itself possessed extreme danger!

If the Shentu family clan had poisoned it, the Matriarch would naturally have been able to sniff it out. However, with regards to the ancient Desolate Heaven technique, it was a domain that the Matriarch had never been exposed to. Hence, she could not see the defect in the relic.

This made Yi Yun’s expression turn ugly. If the Matriarch had seen through it, everything would have been easier, but now, she had acknowledged that the relic was fine.

“Great!” A kind smile appeared on the Matriarch’s face, “The Shentu family clan has really worked hard for this!”

Seeing this relic, the Matriarch’s attitude towards Shentu Nantian turned kinder. It was like an attitude of an elder to a member of the younger generation.

This attitude made Shentu Nantian very excited.

“This is necessary for us. With the two families entering an alliance, we should trust each other and seek the future together.”

As Shentu Nantian said this, his eyes landed on Lin Xintong, “What say you, Xintong?”

Feeling that his marriage with Lin Xintong was 90% in the bag, Shentu Nantian addressed Lin Xintong in a more cordial manner.

And this addressed made Lin Xintong frown slightly.

She did not respond, which resulted in the Matriarch being dissatisfied with her attitude, let alone those Elders who had supported the Shentu family clan, like Lin Xintong’s grandaunt.

After all, the Great Empress relic that could cure Lin Xintong of her naturally terminated meridians was right in front of them. This opportunity was not to be missed!

Previously, the Matriarch had taken Lin Xintong’s personal wishes into account and wanted to drag out the matter, hoping to see if there would be an opportunity for change.

However, with Shentu Nantian’s introduction of the twelve relics, he had sealed their road to back down.

If they did not try the relic today, then there would be no chance in the future. It was equivalent to rejecting the Shentu family clan.

The Matriarch did not dare to take that risk. After all, to cure Lin Xintong of her naturally terminated meridians after missing such an opportunity would be as difficult as ascending to the Heavens.

A desolate bone relic of such a grade, and even made from an ancient recipe, was not something that the Lin family could refine.

“Xintong!”

The Matriarch’s voice turned a little harsh.

And at that moment, Shentu Nantian added on, “Miss Xintong, it is not that I am pressing you. Previously, I said that when my Shentu family clan refined this Great Empress relic, we especially used Everlasting Purple Gold to build the box containing the relic to prevent the loss of its medicinal properties. This was why there was a total of seven seals on the relic box!”

“These seven seals are no trifling matter. Even so, the Great Empress relic can only be stored inside the Everlasting Purple Gold relic box for a year. Now, I have opened the relic box. As such, this relic can only be kept for less than an hour. Its medicinal properties are gradually being depleted. The more time passes, the lower its effect!”

By saying this, Shentu Nantian’s words were like the final straw that broke the camel’s back. The Elders of the upper echelon of the Lin family who was still hesitating immediately leaned towards the Shentu family clan.

Even Su Jie could only let out a long sigh as he helplessly shook his head. He used his Yuan Qi to speak to Lin Xintong, “Xintong, your master is useless. I could not find a divine medicine to join up your terminated meridians. Even if you give your master another 500 years, I do not have any confidence. Now that the Shentu family clan has found it, it is probably fate. Sometimes, one has to pay the price for certain things…”

“Master…” Lin Xintong slightly turned her head over to look at Su Jie. There seemed to be a thousand words in her watery eyes, “You think so too?”

Su Jie sighed, “Warriors practice martial arts to compete with the Heavens, but… looking at the past hundred million years of the Tian Yuan world, how many of them have the right to say that they have defeated the Heavens?”

“Competing with the Heavens is not as simple as just shouting out some brave words, one has to first experience long years of humiliation and stress to slowly sharpen oneself, slowly pushing oneself to an extreme, eventually climbing up to the peak of martial arts. Only then can a person really say that ‘Humans can Defeat the Heavens’. A sharp sword is formed from endless sharpening. No one can defeat the Heavens the moment they were born…”

Su Jie’s tone was sincere, and it contained the insight he had gained from his 30,000 years of experience.

The currently slick and unreliable Su Jie’s talent in martial arts and the Desolate Heaven technique far exceeded that of his peers when he was young. He too had been a high-spirited and arrogant proud son of Heaven once.

Slowly, through his experiences in martial arts and life, Su Jie had slowly changed into a character in the game of life.

Lin Xintong took a deep breath of air as she smiled wryly.

Two years ago, when she first returned to her family, she had heard of the Shentu family clan trying to form a marriage alliance with the Lin family by having her marry Shentu Nantian. Her first reaction was that it was preposterous. Lin Xintong believed that, with the relationship between the Lin family and the Shentu family clan, and her own understanding of Shentu Nantian, this was something that was impossible.

And back then, there were several Elders in the Lin family who stood by Lin Xintong’s side.

Now, after two years, there was no one standing on her side anymore.

Even the Matriarch who had loved her so much, and Su Jie who had treated her as his own daughter, had begun to support the marriage.

However, the Matriarch and Su Jie had not bowed down to the Shentu family clan, but they had succumbed to fate. They yielded to the powers of Nature!

When warriors succumbed to their enemy, it was shameful.

When warriors succumbed to the Heavens, it was very normal.

As Su Jie said, looking back at the Tian Yuan world’s past hundred million years, how many would dare say that they had defeated the Heavens?

Lin Xintong shook her head deep down before she stood up. She knew that there was no one who supported her at that moment.

As she was about to open her mouth and say something, a faint voice sounded out from the corner of the venue.

This sound was familiar to her, yet different from her memory.

“Wait! I have something to say.”

Lin Xintong was shocked as she turned her head over. She saw that a hundred feet away, a youth dressed in green had stood up from his seat.

He was wearing a cold-looking silver mask. There were two grim-looking lines in the color of blood where the eyes should be. However, at that moment, Lin Xintong could feel an infinite warmth from the grim and cold mask.

Aware of Lin Xintong’s gaze, Yi Yun nodded solemnly.

This tiny action was enough for Lin Xintong to understand that Yi Yun wanted to say something to support her.

This made Lin Xintong slightly dazed. At the final moment, when she was the most helpless, with no one supporting her, including Su Jie and the Matriarch, this youth stood up and spoke with a different voice.

Even if Lin Xintong knew that this youth could not do anything, nor could he change anything, but him standing up and sounding out was enough for Lin Xintong.

This voice seemed to be a tiny candlelight in a cold, dark winter night.

It could not provide much warmth or light, nor could it bring the spring or dawn, but… it brought Hope.

Lin Xintong looked at Yi Yun and piercing through the mask, saw Yi Yun’s eyes. She could see her own reflection in his dark pupils.

She remembered what Yi Yun had said to her on the night of the victory party.

She had never known that Yi Yun swore to find the method to join up her terminated meridians that night in the Desolate Human Valley two years ago.

Even though the chances of him succeeding were extremely slim, he had still worked hard for it. And at that moment, in front of the Shentu family clan and the Lin family’s pressure, he had sounded out with a different voice with his tiny capacity.

This touched Lin Xintong.

“Thank you, but… there is no need.”

Lin Xintong shook her head and transmitted her voice to Yi Yun.

She knew that under these circumstances, Yi Yun could not change a thing.

Furthermore, if he said anything inappropriate, he would suffer the wrath of others.

After all, with a matter that was decided by the two large family clans, against the pressure from all the Elders present, anything Yi Yun said could anger some people.

Without mincing words, with his status, he did not even have the right to make a sound.

This was especially so with Shentu Nantian, who had the intent to kill Yi Yun. If the Lin family decided to cooperate with the Shentu family clan, then Shentu Nantian would have considerable influence in the Lin family, so when that came to be, Yi Yun would be in extreme danger.

“Oh?”

With someone suddenly interrupting, Shentu Nantian’s expression sank as he turned to look towards the source of the voice.

Upon seeing Yi Yun, Shentu Nantian’s blood immediately boiled. It was… that kid!

He still remembered Yi Yun’s mask clearly. Although his failure at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session had nothing to do with Yi Yun, Shentu Nantian had already connected his failure with that mask.

Once he saw Yi Yun, he remembered his failure. The words he had said before failing ended up smacking him right back in his face. It was the greatest disgrace of his life!

411 - : The final voice

CKtalon  CKtalon

With Yi Yun standing up, the entire venue turned oddly quiet. Everyone looked at Yi Yun with a startled look.

They were dumbfounded. In this situation, if anyone was to stand up to say something, it would have been Su Jie or the Lin family’s Matriarch, or someone from the upper echelons of the Shentu family clan.

What was the meaning behind Yi Yun standing up? With his status, what sort of qualifications did he have to speak?

“You?” Shentu Nantian looked at Yi Yun and sneered, “What’s your name? Who are you in the Lin family? How old are you? What’s your cultivation level? Do you know what the situation is? Do you know what the status of all these Elders and seniors are? With so many seniors not speaking, is it even your turn to speak!?”

Although Shentu Nantian wished he could kill Yi Yun, he had to maintain his gentlemanly image in front of the upper echelons of the Lin family and other large family clans. He could not scold without culture.

However, even so, his words were full of sarcasm and disdain. His three questions were all pointing at Yi Yun’s weakness. Firstly, he was a junior. Secondly, he was lacking in strength. Thirdly, he was an outsider and had no relations with the Lin family. To suddenly speak out at that moment showed how lacking in etiquette he was.

“I am Yun Yantian, the Lin family’s guest elder, Su Jie’s disciple. I’m 15 years old, cultivation at the early stages of the Yuan Foundation realm…”

No one expected that against Shentu Nantian’s obvious sarcasm, Yi Yun managed to answer his questions calmly, as if he could not tell the sarcasm in the words.

This behavior no doubt enraged Shentu Nantian. Probably everyone from the Shentu family clan was enraged, even the Lin family were puzzled over Yi Yun’s behavior.

“Elder Su, this…” The Lin family’s Matriarch looked towards Su Jie and was confused. She had a good impression of Yi Yun. Her impression of this youth was that he knew when to advance and retreat, and had a sense of etiquette. She did not understand why Yi Yun would suddenly stand up.

Su Jie was equally confused. This cheap disciple of his had never not let him worry.

“Enough!” At that moment, on the Shentu family clan’s side, an old voice erupted. There was a strong energy shockwave contained within this voice, causing many people’s ears to tremble!

“Pa!”

An angry looking Thousand Hand Granny smashed downwards on where she was sitting and the seat’s arm was shattered into wood pulp!

The Thousand Hand Granny bent her body and slowly stood up. With her cloudy eyes, she stared angrily at Yi Yun, like an old vulture eyeing a prey.

During the Shentu family clan’s negotiations with the Lin family, she had been angered greatly and was already fed up.

Especially half a month ago, her most beloved grandson, Shentu Nantian had suffered a backlash on his soul. Even after using soul nurturing medicine that cost a fortune, they had not managed to completely heal his soul. He was still nursing his health and his cultivation speed was significantly affected.

She had blamed this on the Lin family. If not for the Lin family doubting their Shentu family clan’s Desolate Heaven technique heritage, and doubted Shentu Nantian, would they have needed to hold the Desolate Heaven technique tea session? Would they have needed to let Shentu Nantian demonstrate such dangerous techniques at the tea session? And this kid who did not know the immensity of heaven and earth had not only messed up the tea session, he had now messed up such an important moment.

“Where did this little bastard come from? Does he even know his manners!? If this were the Shentu family clan, to be such an unbecoming junior, for a little bastard that doesn’t know what weight he has to jump out and make a fuss, I would have killed you with a slap!”

The Thousand Hand Granny said with a sullen face. Her words not only scolded Yi Yun, she had also secretly highlighted how the Lin family’s family rules were too lax. Only then could a little bastard who showed no respect for his elders jump around at such an occasion. She could not specifically scold the upper echelons of the Lin family, but could only use this subtle manner to release her anger.

Upon hearing the Thousand Hand Granny’s words, the Lin family’s Matriarch’s face also sank slightly.

“Thousand Hand Granny, what is the meaning of this?” In such a situation, the Matriarch had to speak.

“Matriarch Lin.” The Thousand Hand Granny no longer sounded polite with her tone, “Don’t blame that this old granny’s words sound ugly, this marriage alliance was indeed proposed by my Shentu family clan; however, wouldn’t this benefit the Lin family more? Even when Lin Xintong marries into our Shentu family clan, she is still a part of the Lin family. In the future, she will be your Lin family’s peerless Great Empress. Nantian will only benefit slightly from this. And because of this, my Shentu family clan has to pay the great price of refining that Great Empress relic!”

“Although my Shentu family clan had suffered in the beast horde a decade ago, we are not reliant on your Lin family’s protection. Even if my Shentu family clan might not be able to expand in the next few decades, we are still able to secure our family’s heritage!”

Against the Thousand Hand Granny’s hot and cold pressure, Matriarch Lin remained silent.

The Thousand Hand Granny would also not completely offend Matriarch Lin, so she turned to Yi Yun once again, “Little bastard, if not for Matriarch Lin, I would have killed you already!”

As the Thousand Hand Granny spoke, an aura came pressing down on Yi Yun. This was not the pressure from that of her cultivation level, it was just the aura of superiority she had obtained naturally from a long period of holding a high position.

Yi Yun pinched his nose. As a petty person, he naturally disliked people pointing at him and scolding him. With a hand, he casually straightened his cuffs and whispered, “I thought that… a person would be more stable in their bearing as they became older…”

As Yi Yun said these words, everyone became stunned!

This included Su Jie and Matriarch Lin. They also did not know how to react.

What was he saying? Although he did not curse, his tone and insinuations were no doubt more aggravating than cursing!

Besides, what Yi Yun had said wasn’t false. Although Yi Yun was indeed disrespectful of his elders to speak at a situation like this, it was indeed unbecoming of the Thousand Hand Granny’s status to jump up and curse at Yi Yun because of his words!

The Thousand Hand Granny’s eyes turned red immediately. It was as if all her blood had surged to her face. The color of blood slowly swallowed one wrinkle at a time. She looked at Yi Yun with alarm and anger. Her expression was that of an old cat whose tail had been suddenly ripped off by someone.

“Little bastard, you are courting death!”

The Thousand Hand Granny wanted to make a move and kill Yi Yun, but at that moment, Su Jie and Lin Xintong stood up at the same time. With a flash, Su Jie had appeared in front of Yi Yun.

As for the Lin family’s Matriarch, she had locked on to Yi Yun. If the Thousand Hand Granny were to make a move, Matriarch Lin had the means to pull Yi Yun back.

“Yantian, what are you doing!?”

As Su Jie protected Yi Yun, he spoke as if he was on the brink of collapse. He really felt speechless. What was Yi Yun thinking to actually start reprimanding the Thousand Hand Granny in front of so many people?

“Not doing anything, it’s just that…I think the Great Empress relic taken out by the Shentu family clan is problematic!”

Yi Yun’s words were resolute and seemed very confident.

Instantly, the entire scene quietened down. Be it the Lin family’s elders or the upper echelons of the Shentu family clan, all of them were dumbstruck.

However, the elders of the Shentu family clan only froze for a blink of an eye, following that, they all began looking angrily at Yi Yun.

“What nonsense is this junior spouting!?”

“How dare he slander the great cost and efforts our Shentu family clan had put in to refine the Great Empress relic. If the Lin family does not explain itself, I will definitely not take this going down!”

The Shentu family clan Elders already found Yi Yun unbearable. At that moment, the Thousand Hand Granny’s face was sullen. Her ferocious and muddy eyes contained murderous intent that seem like it was going to shoot through Yi Yun!

She said staccato words, “I want the Lin family to hand this little bastard over to me for disposal! If not, you can forget about eating this Great Empress relic!”

The Thousand Hand Granny’s rage had reached an extreme. She began to use the Great Empress relic to threaten the Lin family. If they did not hand Yi Yun over, the Great Empress relic would no longer be given to Lin Xintong!

The expressions of many of the Lin family Elders turned upon hearing this.

The fate of Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians and their Lin family being able to produce a peerless Great Empress that could rule the Tian Yuan world relied on this Great Empress relic.

Although Yi Yun’s value to the Lin family was not small, compared to Lin Xintong, he was almost negligible.

They did not know why Yi Yun was going crazy. At that moment, although many of the Lin family Elders wanted to protect Yi Yun, they could not support his manner of courting death. Why of all people did you have to antagonize that old hag?

The Thousand Hand Granny had always been ruthless. Especially when she grew older, she became even more ruthless. Whoever offended her would live a life worse than death once they fell into her hands!

“There’s a problem? What problem is there?”

Yi Yun’s words pricked the Matriarch’s sensitive nerves. She had reluctantly consented to the marriage only because of Lin Xintong’s lifespan. If the Great Empress relic was problematic, it would definitely be something that would let the Matriarch rage!

“What problem can there be, Matriarch? Don’t listen to this kid’s nonsense!” At that moment, Lin Xintong’s grandaunt stood up. She had been pissed with Yi Yun for a long time.

“The Shentu family clan has incurred a great price just to refine the Great Empress relic. Would they have poisoned it and waste this treasured medicine and end up offending the Lin family, just to kill Xintong? What a joke! What good would there be for them?”

“Besides, Matriarch, you have personally inspected the Great Empress relic. With your eyes, could you be inferior to that kid? The way I see it, just hand the kid over to the Shentu family clan since he isn’t one of our Lin family!”

Lin Xintong’s grandaunt sneered as she looked towards Yi Yun. Don’t blame others when you court death yourself!

The words Lin Xintong’s grandaunt said was indeed a view all the Lin family Elders held. Based on what did Yi Yun dare say that the Great Empress relic was problematic?

However, the Matriarch did not dismiss Yi Yun immediately. Due to Yi Yun’s performance at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session, she felt that Yi Yun wasn’t a person who did not have any sense of decorum. The Matriarch’s eyes flashed, “Little Friend Yun, tell me. Why do you think that the Great Empress relic is problematic?”

After she asked this, she used her Yuan Qi to transmit privately to Yi Yun, “Little Friend Yun, you must weigh your words. If you can’t give a proper response, I may be able to protect your life, but I will endure too much pressure and criticism.”

412 - : The conflict during the medicine trial

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the Thousand Hand Granny move of making it known that she wanted to kill Yi Yun, to the point of not her not giving the Great Empress relic to Lin Xintong just to force the Lin family to pass him over, the Matriarch’s Yuan Qi voice transmission made Yi Yun feel warm and fuzzy.

“Thank you, Matriarch. This junior is aware of the stakes.”

Yi Yun knew it was no longer the time for him to hide. Originally, Yi Yun did not want people to know about any of his abilities, but now, he had to stand out.

He could not use the help of Su Jie, for even if Su Jie believed him and said that the Great Empress relic was problematic, he too could not say what the problem was.

Hence, everything depended on Yi Yun himself.

Taking a deep breath, Yi Yun walked to the center of the square. He could feel Lin Xintong looking at him from nearby.

Within her gaze was worry and hope. She knew that Yi Yun seldom did things he had little confidence in. Since Yi Yun had already spoken out, he might have a way.

He stood about ten feet away from Shentu Nantian, since the Great Empress relic was already in the hands of Shentu Nantian.

Shentu Nantian held the Great Empress relic as he stared at Yi Yun, his eyes cold and filled with murderous intent.

“Kid, it is best for you that you do not fall into my hands in the future, or else you will live a life worse than death.”

Shentu Nantian’s Yuan Qi transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ear. He did not care about Yi Yun, though Yi Yun’s Desolate Heaven technique talent was good, strength was what mattered in a warrior’s world.

When it came to strength, who in the younger generation of the Lin family could compete with Shentu Nantian?

“Little bastard, speak. If you do not speak well, it might be your last words in this world.”

The Thousand Hand Granny looked ferociously at Yi Yun. All the Elders in the Shentu family clan were on Yi Yun. Their expressions were that of disdain and mockery.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and his voice rang in the entire venue.

“Since I was young, I have had a natural keen sense of energy. My eyes are special and can see through the essence of energy.”

“Oh?”

People were surprised. Seeing through the essence of energy?

In fact, in this world, there were people with mutated bodies. Although this was rare, but when considering the populations numbered in the trillions, it was still easy to find a lot of people with mutated bodies.

For example, Lin Xintong’s natural Yin Meridians was a kind of special body.

A pure Yang body was naturally also one.

There was also no lack of people who had mutated eyes. Some people had Dark Yin eyes, which allowed them to see ghosts and spirits.

Some people had Heretic eyes, which allowed them to charm others with their gaze, making them enter an illusion and suffer mental damage.

However, they had never heard of mutated eyes that allowed one to see through the essence of energy.

There was the legendary Double eyes and Repeated eyes that were related. Double eyes was having two pupils in one eyes. And Repeated eyes was having a smaller pupil within the bigger pupil. These two types of mutated eyes could see through illusions and fabrications. They could see the nature of things, so these people tended to have high perceptivity, resulting in outstanding talent. It was a very special mutation.

Could this kid have such eyes?

People looked at each other. However, even people like Lin Xintong’s grandaunt, who strongly disliked Yi Yun, somewhat believed in his words.

As Yi Yun had previously used the simple sealing technique, the Mystic Crystal Hand, at the recent Desolate Heaven technique tea session to easily crack Song Ziyue’s Five Elemental Bone Array.

Actually this was very difficult to explain, but if Yi Yun had eyes that allowed him to see through the essence of energy, it would be very easy for him to do so.

This was because any trap that Song Ziyue had set in the desolate bones would have been seen through by Yi Yun at a glance; hence, cracking it would be very easy!

“To see through the essence of energy… this is pretty much the ability that Desolate Heaven Masters wish for…”

A Desolate Heaven Master Elder from the Lin family said with envy and surprise. Who would have thought that a youth like Yi Yun would have such an ability?

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Shentu Nantian’s flashed in a imperceptible manner. As he looked at Yi Yun, his gaze revealed that he only wished that he could kill Yi Yun.

“Granny, this kid’s ability might be real!”

Shentu Nantian never expected that an unimportant character in the Lin family would go against him at every turn. And every time he appeared, he would either smack him in the face or crush his Achilles’ heel.

The kid’s strength was clearly nothing, but Shentu Nantian felt as if he was powerless against him.

The old face of the Thousand Hand Granny twitched a bit before she said, “So what if he has such mutated eyes? He has only detected that something is amiss, not what. This Great Empress relic was refined by using an ancient Desolate Heaven technique that several Grandelders in our Shentu family clan, a few Desolate Heaven technique experts from our allies, and I collectively used.”

“This Great Empress relic may have a flaw… but this flaw is something that even our allied family clans’ quasi-empyrean Desolate Heaven Masters, who jointly refined this relic, do not know! The Lin family Matriarch’s cultivation level may be formidable, but she too could not figure it out!”

“I do not believe that this kid can prove anything. I am guessing that he is just grasping at shadows and that there is nothing to be feared.”

With the Thousand Hand Granny saying this, Shentu Nantian felt slightly at ease. Indeed, so what if Yi Yun was suspicious. Did he have any proof?

Upon thinking of this, Shentu Nantian sneered and said to Yi Yun, “Are you done speaking? This is your explanation? Our Shentu family clan sacrificed the lives of many experts just to obtain the Great Empress’ ancient recipe, and then we gathered experts from afar and spent countless amounts of treasures, including a primordial true spirit’s life essence bone, to finally refine this Great Empress relic. However, with just a sentence, you, a teenage kid, are completely negating all we have done? Who do you think you are!?”

Shentu Nantian said this disdainfully and on the Shentu family clan’s side, those Desolate Heaven Masters who had worked hard for this Great Empress relic were even more outraged.

So what if Yi Yun had mutated eyes. Could a child at the Yuan Foundation realm with mutated eyes see a flaw in a treasure like the Great Empress relic?

“I can testify that this Great Empress relic has no problems!” A white-robed elder with long eyebrows stood up. “I am the Song family’s guest elder. I have no grudge with the Lin family, so whatever I say should be considered objective. My Desolate Heaven technique may not be outstanding, but I believe my eyes are not that bad. I was involved in the entire process of the Great Empress relic refinement and not once discovered any problems with the relic!”

This long-browed elder was actually one of the people involved in refining the Great Empress relic. So by standing up to speak for the Shentu family clan, his words were substantial.

Few people present actually believed Yi Yun, and with the elder’s testimony, even fewer did so now.

Under this situation, what right did a junior have to speak? If it was because of Yi Yun’s words that a matter, which involved the two families’ future and had been intensely discussed by the two families, was overthrown, then it would be too much of a joke.

“This kid is deliberately being disruptive and speaking nonsense. He said he has mutated eyes that can see through to the essence of energy. Then it is something that only he can see. Then who can prove whatever he says?”

Elders from the Shentu family clan began to criticize. The Lin family’s Matriarch’s expression turned heavy, “Little Friend Yun, do you have anything else to say?”

Yi Yun nodded, “What if I say… I have the ability to prove it?”

Oh?

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, people were stunned. Proving it?

“I need a desolate beast to test the medicine.” Yi Yun said as he looked towards the Matriarch. The Lin family did imprison desolate beasts. These desolate beasts had been causing chaos in the Tian Yuan world and had later been caught by warriors. They were not killed and were instead used for training purposes by letting juniors fight with them to hone their battle skills.

“Hahaha!” At that moment, Shentu Nantian suddenly erupted in laughter, “That is your proof!? You want to feed a desolate beast the priceless Great Empress relic? Just to see if it is poisonous?”

He thought Yi Yun had some method to prove it. However, this method was extremely stupid.

“Just because of your word, our Shentu family clan, who have spent countless amounts of effort to refine this desolate bone relic, is to feed it to a desolate beast? That is ridiculous!”

Against Shentu Nantian’s mockery, Yi Yun smiled, “Of course not. I still need someone to help me. Young Master Nantian, Thousand Hand Granny, in order to be fair, can I use your powers to help me?”

Yi Yun smiled gently. The corners of his lips curved up and gave a malevolent feeling.

Normally, when he expressed such a smile, someone would usually be in for some bad luck…

413 - : I can prove it

CKtalon  CKtalon

As no one could see Yi Yun’s smile, no one knew what he was thinking.

Shentu Nantian narrowed his eyes. He never expected that Yi Yun would need the Thousand Hand Granny’s and his help in probing the Great Empress relic. What was this kid scheming?

“Granny, what do you think is the underlying meaning is?” Shentu Nantian sent a Yuan Qi transmission to the Thousand Hand Granny.

The Thousand Hand Granny sneered and transmitted back, “This little bastard is just deliberately courting death. I don’t believe that a Yuan Foundation realm junior like him is able to do anything when even an empyrean-level Desolate Heaven Master can’t resolve or even detect the relic’s flaw!”

“Also, we will not let this kid destroy the relic. This will make it even more difficult to discover the relic’s flaw!”

The Thousand Hand Granny stood up while saying this. She walked to the middle of the square. She was a head shorter than Yi Yun, but her aura suppressed the entire venue.

“Little bastard, I want to see what game you want to play!”

“Oh!? Are you agreeing to it?” Yi Yun retorted.

“What a joke! Why would I not agree? However, do you think that a junior like you can slander my Shentu family clan’s honor? Since you are maligning my Shentu family clan today, you will need to pay the price! If I were to let you off, wouldn’t my Shentu family clan be the laughing stock of the world!?”

“I will give you an hour. If you cannot prove that the Great Empress relic is problematic, then you will need to hand your life over to me for my disposal!”

The Thousand Hand Granny said with a grin. She could tell that the Lin family’s Matriarch intended to protect Yi Yun. She was not serious when she had previously threatened not to heal Lin Xintong’s natural Yin Meridians and killing Yi Yun.

Immediately, everyone looked at Yi Yun. This had suddenly become a bet with his life at stake!

Once Yi Yun agreed to it, the Matriarch could no longer protect him.

If Yi Yun were to lose, who knew what sort of inhumane torture he would suffer before his death!?

“Yi Yun… !”

Lin Xintong’s concerned voice rang in Yi Yun’s ear. She had never expected things to develop to such a point. Yi Yun had stood up for her, but now, even Yi Yun’s life was at stake as well!

Lin Xintong had wished to see Yi Yun make an attempt. Any tiny bit of hope was after all, good. However, once lives were at stake, it was no longer the same. It was too difficult for Yi Yun to prove that a desolate bone relic of this grade was problematic. She was afraid that he did not have much confidence.

“Don’t take the risk! This has nothing to do with you!”

Lin Xintong wanted Yi Yun to rein in the horse at the edge of the precipice. Yi Yun’s expression had slightly turned serious. He had to carefully consider it with his life on the line.

Seeing that Yi Yun was afraid, Shentu Nantian was naturally pleased. “Granny, that was great! Let’s see how this naive kid can jump up and down with his life at stake.”

“Hmph! He just has a vague feeling. It’s impossible for him to find the flaw. If he dares agree to it, it will be something that I greatly welcome!”

The atmosphere in the square froze. Yi Yun stood silently in the middle. No one could tell what his expression was under that cold, silver mask.

Irrevocably committed? Why did you act as such knowing that this would be the outcome? Since you are now in the limelight, it is time to pay the price.

The Shentu family clan’s Elders all felt their frustration vent. This ignorant junior really made their blood boil.

“Yun!” Shentu Nantian looked mockingly at Yi Yun, “If you kneel down and kowtow to us to confess your wrongdoings, my Shentu family clan will not pursue this matter!”

Shentu Nantian was feeling very comfortable at that moment. He had been suppressing the pangs of fire for the past few days.

Yi Yun looked back at Shentu Nantian and sneered. How could he not have confidence in the Purple Crystal? However, as it concerned his life, even if he was 90% confident, he would need to give it even greater thought.

“If… I can prove the problem with the relic? If I were to fail, I will pay the price of my life. Then if I were to succeed, what price will you pay? How about your life!?”

Yi Yun took a step forward and looked straight back at Shentu Nantian!

Shentu Nantian’s heart sank and he subconsciously took a step back. Yi Yun was willing to bet lives with him!?

He did not have the courage to bet his life with Yi Yun. His mouth twitched as he was temporarily stumped. He was suppressed by Yi Yun’s stance momentarily.

However, Shentu Nantian calmed down quickly and retorted, “Do you think an ant-like figure like you can bet lives with me!? Who do you think you are!?”

“That idiot. Does he think his life is equivalent to Young Master Nantian’s!? That is an insult to Young Master Nantian!”

A Shentu family clan Elder echoed.

“Hahaha!” Yi Yun roared with laughter, “If you were not guilty-conscious, why does it matter if you bet your life?”

Yi Yun could only mock Shentu Nantian. He knew that it was impossible to get rid of Shentu Nantian with a bet.

“Since you are afraid to die, that is fine. I’ll change the stakes! If I win, I want the Shentu family clan to hand the ancient Desolate Heaven technique heritage and the Great Empress recipe over to me. You will then have to tell me where in the mystic realm the Great Empress recipe and the ancient Desolate Heaven technique heritage was found, as well as everything you had encountered while exploring the mystic realm!”

Yi Yun finally mentioned his real goal.

This is what he really wanted to know.

“Yi Yun, you…”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s proposed bet, Lin Xintong’s heart thumped. Her beautiful eyes looked at Yi Yun with complexity.

She knew that Yi Yun was doing this for her.

She did not know what problems there were in the Great Empress relic that the Shentu family clan refined. However, she had a faint feeling that this relic was likely effective on her, or the Shentu family clan would not have taken it out for her to trial it.

If the Lin family went personally to explore the area of the mystic realm where the Shentu family clan had gone, the outcomes of them obtaining the ancient recipe and finding the way to really heal her naturally terminated meridians would be completely different.

“Kid, you are dreaming!”

The Thousand Hand Granny’s old face twitched. Yi Yun was really demanding a lot to actually know the location of the mystic realm and the experience gained from risking the lives of many Shentu family clan experts!

Even if she did not believe that Yi Yun could prove the flaw in the Great Empress relic, she could not agree to it.

And at that moment, the Lin family’s Matriarch stood up. Her amiable smile had long disappeared, and her gaze was now fierce.

“Thousand Hand Granny! I am not doubting the Shentu family clan, however… if the Great Empress relic really has a problem, then the intentions of the Shentu family clan letting Xintong eat this relic is questionable!”

“Your Shentu family clan would not let little friend Yun easily off after he has slandered you. If my Lin family can prove that someone has malicious thoughts against us, then we would not let it go so easily. Thousand Hand Granny! If there is really such an outcome, my Lin family expects an answer from the Shentu family clan. Or else, my Lin family isn’t a place where you can come and go as you please!”

By saying this, the Matriarch words already had a threatening tone.

The Lin family was a top family clan in the Tian Yuan world. As the head of the Lin family’s internal affairs, the Matriarch was not some nice old lady. She had her strong side.

Seeing the Matriarch put her foot down, the Thousand Hand Granny’s heart sank. There was no doubt that if the Great Empress relic was proved to be problematic, the Lin family was willing to lose all decorum.

If the Lin family really were to fight against the Shentu family clan, both sides would end up with grave losses. Even if the Lin family were to win, it would be a pyrrhic victory. Another large family clan might take advantage of the situation and benefit from the tussle.

As for whether they will end up at war, the Thousand Hand Granny did not know. However, if their group did not give a reasonable answer, Matriarch Lin would not let them leave easily.

Upon thinking this, the Thousand Hand Granny knew that she had to agree to Yi Yun’s huge bet, if not, Matriarch Lin would be the first to disagree.

However, so what if she agreed!? Could a kid like him really think he would succeed?

“It is ironic for Matriarch Lin to suspect my Shentu family clan. My Shentu family clan had incurred a great price just to refine the Great Empress relic, but we only ended up being suspected!”

The Thousand Hand Granny shook her head and looked at the Lin family with disappointment.

The allies of the Shentu family clan felt emphatic hearing this. They felt the Matriarch Lin’s words were chilling!

“Since Matriarch Lin has said this, this old man can’t sit idly. I will also help to prove this so-called “flaw” in the Great Empress relic!”

The Song family’s long-browed top guest elder, who had previously stood up for the Shentu family clan, walked to the middle of the square.

Yi Yun nodded as if indifferent about it. It was irrelevant having one more helping hand.

“Words are useless. Let’s sign a soul contract!”

Yi Yun said, he knew that there were soul contracts that were binding amongst warriors. As long as both sides were willing to sign it, it would have to be fulfilled or they would suffer punishment.

With the Lin family’s heritage, it would not be difficult to produce a soul contract that could bind the Thousand Hand Granny.

The Thousand Hand Granny’s face twitched slightly and she looked coldly at Yi Yun, “Just to my liking! Take the contract out! However, a cheap life of a little bastard like you is not worthy of the information of the mystic realm. I want to add on a point, that is if the Great Empress relic is proven to be alright, the Lin family has no reason to delay this marriage. I have had enough from this dragging on for so long!”

When the Thousand Hand Granny said this, she looked at Lin Xintong!

For this marriage alliance, the most important factor was Lin Xintong’s attitude towards it. If Lin Xintong was adamant against it, they were helpless as the Lin family would not dare to force Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong frowned slightly. The way that things had developed had long gone out of control.

The Thousand Hand Granny sneered and waited for Lin Xintong to make a decision. She disliked Lin Xintong, who was a woman who did not know what was good for her.

“I… ” Lin Xintong stood up and gently closed her eyes as her long eyelashes trembled slightly. After about the time it took ten breaths, Lin Xintong opened her eyes and gave Yi Yun a deep glance.

Through Yi Yun’s mask, their eyes met. Yi Yun did not speak a word nor did he pass any message with his eyes. He respected Lin Xintong’s choice as it was a matter regarding her own marital affairs.

“I agree!”

The two clear words resounded in the venue.

Yi Yun had stood up because of her and had even risked his life. How could her betting her own dignity and innocence compare to that?

Since Yi Yun believed in himself, Lin Xintong also chose to believe in Yi Yun.

414 - : I agree

CKtalon  CKtalon

An administrator of the Lin family brought the soul contract forth.

It was an ancient scroll, made of a primordial strain’s or a primordial true spirit’s hide. The soul contract was engraved with complicated runes that specified the contract.

Surrounded by all the runes, there was a hideous ghost head image.

Upon seeing the soul contract, the Thousand Hand Granny sneered as she cleanly cut her finger with a dagger, dropping her blood onto the contract’s ghost head.

After the ghost head came into contact with the Thousand Hand Granny’s blood, it suddenly came to life and flew out of the contract reel, straight into the Thousand Hand Granny’s heart.

This ghost head was a curse. Whoever signed the soul contract, and did not have the power to counteract the soul’s curse, would have their hearts eaten by the ghost head and die if they were to breach the contract.

Yi Yun also dripped his blood onto the soul contract. When the ghost head entered his body, Yi Yun felt his body suddenly turn cold. It was as if his soul had separated from his body for a split second!

At that moment, the Thousand Hand Granny looked at Lin Xintong.

Without any hesitation, Lin Xintong gently stroked her nail across her index finger, and with a flick of her slender fingers, a drop of blood flew a distance of sixty to seventy feet, straight onto the soul contract.

Seeing Lin Xintong’s blood form a runic seal on the soul contract, a contented smile appeared on Shentu Nantian’s face.

“Miss Xintong’s actions sure are cool…”

Shentu Nantian flapped his fan as he looked at Lin Xintong. Seeing Lin Xintong’s graceful body line, an imperceptible look of greed flashed in Shentu Nantian’s eyes. After today, this woman of the highest grade would be his!

Shentu Nantian was already looking forward to the pleasures that a man and woman would enjoy together, but this was not the most important thing…

The more important thing was that the Shentu family clan had not only obtained the Great Empress ancient recipe in the ancient mystic realm, they had also found a remnant copy of a cultivation technique left behind by the peerless Great Empress of old, “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

This “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was a technique for cultivation intercourse, and it greatly benefited the man.

However, the cultivation technique required the woman to have the purest Yin body.

In ancient times, only the peerless Great Empress would be a candidate.

And now, there was only Lin Xintong.

After receiving Lin Xintong’s primordial Yin body, and having cultivation intercourse with Lin Xintong, Shentu Nantian himself could begin cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. This was a huge opportunity for Shentu Nantian!

This is also why Shentu Nantian was trying to push for the marriage with the Lin family through all means.

“It is finally signed!”

Shentu Nantian looked at the soul contract scroll. The mark left behind by Lin Xintong made him extremely excited.

After today, Lin Xintong is mine!

No matter how pure you are, with you not showing signs of flirtation to anyone, wouldn’t you end up ripe for my picking in the future?

Just thinking of this made Shentu Nantian suffuse an evil smile on his lips.

At that moment, Yi Yun had already stood in front of the Great Empress relic. He looked at Shentu Nantian, then at the Thousand Hand Granny and the long-browed elder.

The three of them were now standing in front of Yi Yun.

“Shall we begin?”

Shentu Nantian said with a mocking smile. He wanted to see Yi Yun feeling troubled.

“Yes, all of you should know the Mystic Crystal Hand, right!?”

Yi Yun’s retort made people speechless. The Mystic Crystal Hand again!

Could this Yi Yun do something fresh and new?

The long-browed elder frowned. He had not used a low-grade sealing technique like the Mystic Crystal Hand for many years. Without mincing one’s words, using this sealing technique would only degrade his status!

“Little friend, what is the meaning of this? Are you trying to use me for your amusement?”

“Even if I want to use all of you for my amusement, I would not use it at the cost of my life. It’s just that… I only know the Mystic Crystal Hand at that moment, so I have to use it.”

He only knew the Mystic Crystal Hand?

When people saw Yi Yun use the Mystic Crystal Hand all the time, people were already suspicious about it. However, with Yi Yun saying it himself, they felt extremely speechless. A genius Desolate Heaven Master could only use one technique, the Mystic Crystal Hand?

“Hahaha!” Shentu Nantian could not help but laugh. This retard only knew how to use the Mystic Crystal Hand and he dared to evaluate this world’s top-grade Great Empress relic. Was he out of his mind!?

Just as Shentu Nantian was about to mock Yi Yun, Yi Yun was the first to speak as he nonchalantly said, “Young Master Nantian, what are you laughing about? You look like you are rejoicing! Speaking about this, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to use the Mystic Crystal Hand now, right? It must be extremely easy for Young Master Nantian to use such a simple sealing technique. As for the minor injuries, Young Master Nantian incurred half a month ago, I believe they have completely healed, right!?”

Yi Yun’s easygoing words made Shentu Nantian’s face change slightly!

Yes, as the Mystic Crystal Hand was too simple, he had nearly forgotten that he was injured!

“What? Young Master Nantian has yet to recover?”

Yi Yun asked in a puzzled manner. However, under the mask, his lips curled up gently. He could have used a master like the Thousand Hand Granny to help him, but he had forcefully pulled Shentu Nantian into the picture because he had long decided to screw with Shentu Nantian again.

Yi Yun was always a petty person, so he would not let go of any chance to screw with Shentu Nantian.

Shentu Nantian’s expression sunk. He was extremely proud and he would work extremely hard to maintain his modest and calm image in front of others.

His reputation was his life.

Half a month ago, the news of his soul being severely damaged at the Desolate Heaven Master tea session was kept under wraps by the Shentu family clan. If the news that the heir of the Shentu family clan could not recover despite using great quantities of treasured medicine just because of a performance to the point of needing at least a year to nurse his injuries was leaked… wouldn’t it cause people to laugh till their guts burst?

Unfortunately, Yi Yun was a person who specialized in smacking the faces of others. He would randomly expose Shentu Nantian’s scars, which made Shentu Nantian unable to do anything but rage.

“Hmph, it was just a minor injury. Just some nursing was enough!”

Shentu Nantian’s facial muscles twitched. At that moment, it was not a matter of face, but the critical point was that the soul contract had been signed. The condition of them helping Yi Yun to prove the defect in the Great Empress relic was also written in the soul contract.

If Shentu Nantian did not fulfill the conditions of the contract, he was not sure if Yi Yun could find a loophole causing the soul contract to end up being void, then he would lose greatly.

As such, Shentu Nantian had to force himself in doing so.

“Haha, then that’s great!” Yi Yun gave a malicious smile. He gently touched the Great Empress relic with the tip of his finger. “My abilities are lacking, so although I may be able to form the Mystic Crystal Hand’s seals, it is impossible for me to control the energy in the Great Empress relic from the seals I form. Hence, I will need to use your strength.”

“All of you just need to form the seals. There is no need to control them, for I will take the lead!”

Actually, with the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun could extract the energy from the Great Empress relic himself, but it would be too shocking.

It was more reasonable to use the Thousand Hand Granny’s and the long-browed elder’s strength.

“Has the desolate beast arrived yet?”

Yi Yun looked at the Lin family. An Elder stood up and took a desolate beast out of a spirit beast pocket.

It was Fire-eyed Wolf. It was about the size of a dog and had very weak attacking powers. Typically, it would only attack Mortal Blood realm warriors and eat their organs.

At that moment, the Fire-eyed Wolf was being restricted by a seal. It gritted its teeth as it continuously struggled.

“It is this Fire-Eyed Wolf. It was chosen according to your requirements.”

The Elder threw the Fire-eyed wolf towards Yi Yun.

“Alright, let’s begin!”

Yi Yun gave a satisfied nod, “The three of you, please begin forming the seals. The Mystic Crystal Hand has a total of a hundred seals. You just need to do it from the beginning. I believe that with the standard of the three of you, the seals formed will be perfect!”

Yi Yun was not afraid that these people would secretly make any trouble for there were so many people looking. Naturally, they would not form the wrong seals.

“Hmph! You have only about an hour of your life left. Enjoy it while you can!”

The Thousand Hand Granny sneered as her thin fingers moved. The first seal of the Mystic Crystal Hand was nearly instantly completed. It was flawless.

For her, a seal at this level was child’s play.

Yi Yun opened his energy vision and observed the Thousand Hand Granny’s seals. He knew that under the focus of so many people and the constraints of the soul contract, the Thousand Hand Granny would not dare to mess around. However, as he was naturally cautious, Yi Yun still used his energy vision to inspect it to make sure that the seal did not have any traps like a spiritual attack embedded within it. Only then did Yi Yun use his mental energies to pull the seal towards him.

Next, Yi Yun pulled the seal from the long-browed elder.

With the two seals in hand, one on the left and one on the right, Yi Yun looked at Shentu Nantian.

“Young Master Nantian, it’s your turn… ” Yi Yun said those words with deep meanings.

Everyone’s eyes also began turning towards Shentu Nantian.

Shentu Nantian’s expression looked ugly. He grunted before beginning to form the seals hiding the difficulty he felt behind a calm face.

However, this seal had affected his soul. Shentu Nantian immediately felt the pain in his soul. It was like a needle pricking him and the pain was excruciating!

Shentu Nantian gritted his teeth and endured the pain. Bit by bit, he completed the seal. The Mystic Crystal Hand which could not have been any simpler now caused Shentu Nantian great pain.

“Kid, I’ll let you be arrogant for a little while. After you fail, you will fall into my hands, and I will let you know what it means to lead a life worse than death!”

With this thought in his mind, Shentu Nantian managed to use it as support to complete the first seal with great difficulty.

Finally, the seal was considered to be perfect, allowing Shentu Nantian to maintain his image.

Yi Yun pulled the seal towards him and scanned the seal with his energy vision. His mouth curled slightly, “Young Master Nantian is indeed awesome. I believe the remaining 99 seals won’t be a problem!”

Yi Yun’s words nearly made Shentu Nantian gasp. Shentu Nantian looked grimly at Yi Yun, wishing to skin Yi Yun alive.

“This kid!” He clenched his fists tightly with his heart burning with rage. “You can only live for another hour! So what if I tolerate you for just a moment?”

415 - : Great Empress Heart Sutra

CKtalon  CKtalon

The seals that Shentu Nantian, the Thousand Hand Granny and the long-browed elder formed landed in Yi Yun’s hands.

Yi Yun opened his energy vision up and in the energy vision, the Great Empress relic remained bright. The little black snake was like a scar that made the perfect Great Empress relic exude a dangerous and evil aura.

Yi Yun injected his mental energy into the Purple Crystal, and using the Purple Crystal’s powers, he carefully isolated the evil aura.

Before making the bet, Yi Yun had attempted and proven that the Purple Crystal was effective on the Great Empress relic.

When the Purple Crystal’s powers came into contact with the evil aura, Yi Yun felt a jolt. It was like a frost Qi had moved along his meridians, spreading across his entire body, making him feel cold to the bone.

Hiss…

The little black snake constantly hissed as it was being surrounded by the Purple Crystal’s powers. It struggled with all its might, trying to break out of the shackles enforced by the Purple Crystal.

This stunned Yi Yun. This black Qi could already instinctively struggle. This meant that a Spirit would soon evolve from it!

An intelligent Spirit could evolve from some elixirs and relics after a long time when a large number of invaluable high grade materials were used. At the instant a warrior swallowed it, it would fly out.

Seeing that the Great Empress relic had almost formed a Spirit after having been recently refined, it was quite formidable.

If the Great Empress relic were to possess a Spirit, especially with that little black snake having intellect, Yi Yun would no longer be able to separate it from the relic using the Purple Crystal.

This was because the Purple Crystal could only affect lifeless energies without an owner.

Yi Yun looked at the three Mystic Crystal Hand seals in his hand and without hesitation, he sent the three seals onto the little black snake’s body.

“Whew!”

When the seals pressed down on the snake’s body, they caused its struggles to greatly weaken.

“If this relic was kept in the Everlasting Purple Gold relic box for another one or two months, the black Qi would probably be able to absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, becoming even harder to control. When that happens, my Purple Crystal would be helpless against it.”

“Previously, Shentu Nantian said that even with the Great Empress relic sealed in the Everlasting Purple Gold relic box, it would slowly lose its medicinal properties, completely disappearing after a year. It looks like he was just fabricating it just to force the Lin family into deciding on the marriage alliance early.”

These thoughts flashed in Yi Yun’s head as he looked at Shentu Nantian with a smile.

“Young Master Nantian, it’s time for the second seal.”

Shentu Nantian’s face sunk as he snorted. He endured the pain in his soul as he began to condense the second Mystic Crystal Hand seal.

At that moment, many people were looking at Shentu Nantian, including the upper echelons of the Lin family and Lin Xintong.

How could Shentu Nantian, who treasured his reputation greatly, allow himself to be made a fool of in front so many people?

However, to act as a fatty, one had to endure the pain of the beating required to obtain a swollen face. Shentu Nantian was already beginning to regret it. Why did he have to hide his injuries and forcefully pretend to be indifferent about it?

The second seal, the third seal, the fourth seal… all the way to the twentieth seal.

Shentu Nantian managed to complete them barely.

However, upon reaching the twentieth seal, Shentu Nantian began to feel the strain. The veins on his forehead bulged. As his mental energy were being overdrafted, his eyes turned red. He no longer looked anything like the carefree gentleman he usually acted like.

And of all things, Lin Xintong was still looking at him. Shentu Nantian was insistent on not appearing weak in front of his future woman.

What Shentu Nantian was persisting on was the thought of being able to kill Yi Yun as he wished once Yi Yun failed.

However, there was no doubt that Shentu Nantian felt that every second in the one hour period was like a year!

At that moment, Yi Yun had already used the Mystic Crystal Hand seals to completely restrain the little black snake. After all, to extract the black snake, it was not using the Mystic Crystal Hand but the power of the Purple Crystal.

If he wished, he could easily extract the little black snake anytime.

However, seeing Shentu Nantian in that state, Yi Yun felt that if he did not drag this to the last moment, he would certainly let down the hard work Shentu Nantian had put in thus far.

“Young Master Nantian, you seem to be suffering? Is your soul hurting? Actually, you have only completed less than half of the Mystic Crystal Hand seals. There is still another 60 odd more left. Actually for things like pain, you will slowly get used to it as the pain goes on.”

When the fortieth seal was condensed, Yi Yun looked at Shentu Nantian as he said with “concern”.

Shentu Nantian’s face turned gloomy as he endured the throbbing pain in his soul. He gritted his teeth, “You better mind yourself. You only have 30 minutes left to live.”

At that moment, there was a hourglass erected by the side of the venue. Grain by grain, the sand flowed down silently from top to bottom, just like the flow of life.

After another fifteen minutes, 80 Mystic Crystal Hand seals had been formed.

Shentu Nantian’s expression was ferocious as his forehead was covered with sweat. His facial features were all twisted together.

At that moment, he could no longer pretend anymore. Even a seven year old could see that Shentu Nantian was a spent force.

The seals that Shentu Nantian formed now were no longer perfect.

Although he had lost all of his face, Shentu Nantian continued to try his best to keep going on. After all, him helping Yi Yun to search for the flaw in the Great Empress relic was written in the soul contract. Shentu Nantian was worried that something would go wrong with the soul contract.

“Tian’er, endure a little more. Just a little while longer.”

At that moment, the Thousand Hand Granny’s Yuan Qi transmission rang in Shentu Nantian’s ears.

Shentu Nantian nodded his head with effort as he took a Soul Nurturing pill out of his interspatial ring and swallowed it. Following that, his face flushed with an unnatural red color.

Originally, the injury to his soul was recovering, but after today’s ordeal, he would probably take another few more months to recover.

He really hated Yi Yun!

The amount of sand in the hourglass had depleted, there was only a tiny bit left.

Nearby, Su Jie, Matriarch Lin and Lin Xintong were all worrying for Yi Yun.

There was only about five minutes left! However, there was no obvious development with the Great Empress relic.

Lin Xintong clasped her hands together and she intercrossed her fingers. Lin Xintong, who was always as nonchalant as the wind, could no longer remain calm.

“Master…”

Lin Xintong transmitted her voice to Su Jie, but Su Jie only shook his head, “I cannot see anything either. Maybe only the kid’s mutated eyes can see such things.”

To the people present, Yi Yun’s mutated eyes were mysterious and incomprehensible. They were completely unaware of what the mutated eyes could see, nor did they know their effects.

No one had guessed the existence of the Purple Crystal as it exceeded their knowledge of the world.

In fact, there were already members of the older generation from the Shentu family clan who had used their Heaven’s Eyes to completely scan Yi Yun; however, they did not detect anything unusual. As a result, they could only accept the fact that Yi Yun had mutated eyes.

240 seconds, 210 seconds, 180 seconds…

Time passed as seconds changed to minutes, leaving only a small handful of sand left in the hourglass.

Realizing that there was not much time left, Lin Xintong and company had their hearts in their mouths. As for Shentu Nantian, although he was suffering from extreme pain, a grin of pleasure suffused on his mouth.

For a small fry to cause him to feel so much hate, other than Yun Yantian in front of him, the only other person to do that was Yi Yun from a few months ago.

Yi Yun had already been maimed by him. As for this kid, he would brutally kill him using the most horrific methods!

Another 90 seconds!

Shentu Nantian’s eyes were bloodshot as he looked at Yi Yun before looking at Lin Xintong.

As his soul was on the brink of tearing apart, Shentu Nantian was nearly going insane. He no longer concealed the way he looked at Lin Xintong as it became that of coveting desire!

In fact, compared to killing Yi Yun, obtaining Lin Xintong was a greater motivation that allowed Shentu Nantian to persist on. The pleasure obtained from this was better than killing Yi Yun by a thousand times or more!

Lin Xintong’s expression remained still as water as she kept silent.

Seeing that there were less than 60 seconds left and the 100 Mystic Crystal Hand seals completed, the Lin family held their breaths. One could have heard a pin drop.

As for the Shentu family clan and company, they expressed pleased smiles.

Especially Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny, who did not hide their ferociousness and pleasure.

“Kid, I’ll see how you shall die!”

The Thousand Hand Granny cackled like an old witch. For Shentu Nantian and Lin Xintong’s marriage, she had endured it for two years. Now she had endured this little bastard peeing and shitting on her head. She had had enough of it!

Once Shentu Nantian married Lin Xintong and cultivated the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, he would eventually become a top Great Emperor.

Then, the Shentu family clan would not only be able to ride out the crisis, they would also become the family clan that would rule over the Tian Yuan world.

30 seconds!

One could count the number of sand particles left in the hourglass with their naked eyes.

The Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian watched the hourglass closely. Once the final moment passed, they would obtain everything they wanted!

And at that moment, something out of the ordinary happened

The Great Empress relic under Yi Yun’s hands suddenly shook. The bright light emitted by the relic dimmed and a black gas flew out of the relic into Yi Yun’s hands.

This black gas looked hideous and evil. Even with the numerous Mystic Crystal Hand seals restricting it, it still struggled violently. It was like an evil black worm that gave people the chills!

Yi Yun used the Purple Crystal to extract the black gas hidden in the Great Empress at the final moment. People could only stare widely as the sudden appearance of the black gas was completely unexpected.

“What’s that?”

Other than the Elders from the Lin family, even the Elders from the Song family and the Shentu family clan were shocked. The black gas in Yi Yun’s hand made them feel uneasy.

That was extracted from the Great Empress relic? Why did it seem to have a life of its own? If one ate the Great Empress relic, wouldn’t that black gas be hiding in their body?

People did not have time to figure out what the black gas was as Yi Yun flicked his finger, shooting the black gas into the Fire-eyed Wolf beside him!

This Fire-eyed Wolf was the desolate beast that Yi Yun had selected for the experiment!

416 - : Extracting a Black Gas

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ao woo!”

With the black gas suddenly entering its body, the Red-eyed Wolf’s body twitched, before it began convulsing violently.

The moment the black gas entered its body, the Red-eyed Wolf felt a biting chill that irritated it.

At that moment, the Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian were completely stunned. Besides knowing that the Great Empress relic possessed a flaw, the ancient recipe they had obtained also described the flaw in detail.

However, even the Thousand Hand Granny did not know that there was a black gas hidden in the relic.

What was it?

“The kid has really found the defect?” Shentu Nantian coldly stared at the Red-eyed Wolf with his bloodshot eyes.

“Impossible!”

The Thousand Hand Granny suddenly burst out hysterically as her old facial features contorted. Her thin, arched body began to tremble, “The black gas he found is still of dubious origin. Victory has not been determined!”

At that moment, everyone present was watching the Red-eyed Wolf.

This weak desolate beast, that had the strength equivalent to an ordinary Purple Blood realm warrior, suddenly turned frightened due to the combination of it being stared at by so many strong figures and the frost Qi that had just entered its body. Its body began to shiver.

About ten seconds later, the Red-eyed Wolf’s body suddenly quivered as it let out a scream.

Its fur began to grow longer at a perceptible rate. The Red-eyed Wolf began to struggle violently as its wails sounded more painful than the previous wails.

Its eyes were turning redder and redder, they went from pale red to deep blood-red!

“Ao woo!”

The Red-eyed Wolf’s muscles began to crackle with explosive sounds as it crazily smashed its head on the ground and its fur grew longer and longer.

It was restricted by seals and it had no way of breaking the seals with its strength. However, now with its muscle’s expanding, the seals on its body were being destroyed one after another.

“Careful!”

Matriarch Lin immediately stood up. The Red-eyed Wolf was not a powerful desolate beast, but it was not necessarily the case when the black gas entering it.

The Matriarch’s mental energy locked onto the Red-eyed Wolf, and with a flick of her finger, a few energy beams shot out, enclosing the Red-eyed Wolf in a Yuan Qi cage!

The Red-eyed Wolf seemed to go mad as it desperately slammed into the cage, causing its head to bleed!

And people could see a chilling look of hate and evil in the Red-eyed Wolf’s eyes!

“What’s the matter!?”

The Matriarch asked angrily. She greatly cherished Lin Xintong, and now with the relic having a problem, she was furious!

“What… What’s strange about this!?” The Thousand Hand Granny immediately calmed down and snorted, “The Great Empress relic’s medicinal efficiency is extremely strong, so how can a Red-eyed Wolf withstand just a tiny bit of it? It would not be odd if the Red-eyed Wolf dies? There’s nothing you can tell from that!”

Just as the Thousand Hand Granny finished speaking, the mutated Red-eyed Wolf let out a blood-curling howl.

Its fur had grown to two feet long and its abdominal hair was already touching the ground. It began to convulse crazily and one could visibly see its muscles shrinking rapidly till they formed a lump.

Following that, its fur began to shed as its eye sockets sank.

Its eyes were no longer scarlet red they had turned dim, as if it had gone blind.

“It is aging!”

An Elder from the Lin family said in horror.

The Red-eyed Wolf was rapidly aging to the naked eye.

A Red-eyed Wolf could live for hundreds of years, but it seemed like hundreds of years were compressed into a few seconds.

Soon, the Red-eyed Wolf had lost all of its vitality as it slumped to the ground. All of its fur had shed, leaving behind a dried out piece of skin. However, this was not the end.

It was like the wolf skin had been buried for hundreds of years as it slowly rotted away. And what was left of the Red-eyed Wolf was just a pile of nearly-weathered bones.

“This is… ”

Seeing the Red-eyed Wolf’s final outcome, the Matriarch’s pupils constricted as her face paled.

It was terrifyingly toxic!

If Xintong had eaten it, what would have happened to her?

Not only the Matriarch, even Yi Yun was stunned. Although he could tell that the black energy was a form of evil energy, he had not expected the Red-eyed Wolf to die like that when the black energy entered its body.

“Im… Impossible!”

The Thousand Hand Granny’s face paled as well. It was like the paper dolls that were burned for the dead. It was the type that had been torn apart too!

Beside her, Shentu Nantian’s face was even more contorted. His temples were bulging and his brain was buzzing like a thousand drums were being beaten beside his ears.

This was not what was described in the ancient recipe!

If eating it would reduce one to a pile of bones, how could they have given it to Lin Xintong?

This was the territory of the Lin family, Did they not want to live any longer!?

According to what the ancient recipe said, once the twelve relics were eaten by a woman with naturally terminated Yin meridians, she would be cured, giving her peerless talent, and her cultivation would rapidly advance.

However, the relic had a very strong side effect. It would harm the woman’s lifespan.

Although women with naturally terminated Yin meridians would be healed, their bodies would be poisoned. Their life essence would be eroded by the poison, and it would limit her lifespan to 2000 years.

2000 years was enough for the Shentu family clan!

Shentu Nantian would marry Lin Xintong, and obtain her primordial Yin, which would greatly benefit him, allowing his cultivation to rapidly improve. Furthermore, with Lin Xintong’s help, Shentu Nantian would be able to cultivate the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. 2000 years was enough for Shentu Nantian to master the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

In addition, with the Lin family’s help, the Shentu family clan would be able to ride out the crisis, allowing the Shentu Patriarch to completely heal.

Finally, with Lin Xintong dying 2000 years later, it would also end the possibility of her becoming a peerless Great Empress.

Once a woman with naturally terminated Yin meridians was healed and she became a Great Empress, she would become an existence that could lord over the entire Tian Yuan world. No one would be her match!

Although Shentu Nantian would also become a Great Emperor, his strength would be too weak compared to Lin Xintong.

The Shentu family clan was afraid that Lin Xintong might have nefarious thoughts, causing the Lin family to swallow the Shentu family clan. This was something that the Shentu family clan did not wish to see.

By letting Lin Xintong die 2000 years later, Shentu Nantian would then become the number one person in the Tian Yuan world!

Hence, this move by the Shentu family clan achieved many things with one stroke.

However, now with the appearance of Yi Yun, this fabulous move was completely destroyed. With this sudden turn of events, it was something the Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian had never expected!

They simultaneously felt a biting cold!

This chill came from Matriarch Lin! It was her killing intent!

The Thousand Hand Granny was feeling the chills all over as she felt her neck was being squeezed tightly, preventing her from breathing.

“Peng!”

At that moment, there was an explosion!

Not far from the Thousand Hand Granny, the Great Empress relic had exploded!

What?

People were all surprised. The Great Empress relic’s explosion was no trifling matter!

Seeing the strong shockwave sweeping over, the long-browed elder, who was closest to the relic, and other Elders from various family clans made a move to block the surging energy.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The strong energetic impact caused a few of the Elders, who were shielding the blast, to waver. A few of them had their expressions slightly change as it was clearly taxing on them.

The Great Empress relic’s explosion was extremely strong. Furthermore, most of the explosive energy had surged up into the sky, leaving a tiny amount to surge to the sides. If not, they would have spat out blood from the blast.

After nearly 30 seconds, the shockwave dissipated. A few Elders wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads as they felt a lingering fear.

Why did the Great Empress relic explode?

People were confused, but the Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian knew the reason.

The Great Empress relic’s flaw could not be removed!

When the Shentu family clan obtained the Great Empress relic’s ancient recipe, this information was written in the ancient recipe by an ancient Desolate Heaven Master who was a contemporary of the Great Empress.

This ancient Desolate Heaven Master was a peerless genius. As he fell for the Great Empress, he wished to join the Great Empress’ naturally terminated Yin meridians up.

He had gone through tremendous efforts just to write out the ancient recipe that could join up the Great Empress’s terminated meridians.

However, after he completed the recipe, the refined relic had an evil energy that could not be removed.

The ancient Desolate Heaven Master had tried various methods hoping to extract the evil energy; however, once the evil energy was extracted, the energy structure in the relic would collapse, and it would result in an explosion!

Hence, the Great Empress relic was an utter failure in itself!

In the end, even the peerless ancient Desolate Heaven Master had to give up.

Although she knew this, the Thousand Hand Granny would never dare to admit it.

She suddenly turned crazy.

Due to her emotional upheaval, her body’s Yuan Qi surged wantonly. The hairpin on her head dropped off as sparse gray hair dropped down like a patch of wild grass.

She suddenly looked at Yi Yun with eyes full of bloodlust!

“Little bastard, you destroyed my Shentu family clan’s Great Empress relic and had prepared poison before hand. You planted this on the Shentu family clan! I’ll take your life!”

The Thousand Hand Granny suddenly imposed herself as she charged towards Yi Yun!

She stretched her skinny claws out which transformed into a huge, black hand shadow that travelled towards Yi Yun’s neck.

Yi Yun’s was shocked as he quickly retreated. Of course, he could not evade the Thousand Hand Granny’s attack, but at that moment, how could Matriarch Lin, Su Jie and company sit on the sidelines?

The two of them and a few Elders from the Lin family made their moves!

“Boom!”

With gorgeous rainbow beams flashed, the combined strengths of a few people devastated the Thousand Hand Granny’s black claws easily.

Following that, the rainbow beams did not diminish as they slammed heavily on the Thousand Hand Granny’s chest.

“Puah!”

The Thousand Hand Granny’s thin body suddenly halted as she spat out a mouthful of black blood, before she flew backward. Like a dead dog, she slammed heavily into a furnace used by the Lin family to suppress the mountain peak’s Yuan Qi.

“Ding-Dang!”

The large furnace shook vigorously as it emitted a metallic roar. The back of the Thousand Hand Granny’s head was covered in blood. She slid down slowly like a piece of dough.

“Little… Little bastard, I… I will grind you to dust!”

The Thousand Hand Granny shouted fiercely, but the moment she opened her mouth, she spat out another mouthful of black blood.

417 - : The Relic’s Secret

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Granny!”

Shentu Nantian hurriedly helped up the Thousand Hand Granny. The sudden turn of events had completely exceeded his control. Seeing Matriarch Lin full of killing intent, Shentu Nantian could not help but feel a deep sense of fear.

He really began to suspect that Matriarch Lin would annihilate the Shentu family clan including him!

The Thousand Hand Granny struggled to get up as a bitter smile appeared on her old face. Ten thousand years ago, she had once sparred with Matriarch Lin. Back then, she was no match for Matriarch Lin, and today, the gap between them was even greater. Furthermore, with a few of the Lin family’s Elders attacking together, her meridians had already been injured.

As for the other Elders of the Shentu family clan, none of them dared to help the Thousand Hand Granny. At that moment, they were all dumbstruck, they never knew that the Great Empress relic possessed such a major flaw.

There was no more possibility for excuses with the matter reaching such a situation.

If the Red-eyed Wolf’s body had exploded to its death, they could even say that it was because it was too weak to withstand the powerful energy within the Great Empress relic. However, for it to age and die, reducing it to dried bones, there was no way to explain it. Only evil energies could lead to such consequences.

The Shentu family clan’s Elders were all worried about being implicated.

This was the home turf of the Lin family. It was not hard for Matriarch Lin to kill them all!

The outcome would only be the complete breakdown of decorum between the Lin family and the Shentu family clan. It would be an all-out war.

Many of the Shentu family clan Elders were trying to think of a way to separate themselves from the situation and clarify their stand, but at that moment, Shentu Nantian was the first to speak, “Matriarch Lin! I did not know the Great Empress relic had such a flaw. I did not know this would have happened. This has nothing to do with me.”

Upon hearing Shentu Nantian’s words, Lin Xintong frowned. This person was shameless to the core!

Matriarch Lin walked towards Shentu Nantian as she held her dragon-headed cane.

Shentu Nantian held his breath. Just as he was about to add on, Matriarch Lin suddenly shot out her arm and her wrinkled palm came striking down like lightning.

“Pa!”

With a clear slapping sound, Matriarch Lin had slapped Shentu Nantian right on the face!

This slap completely contorted Shentu Nantian’s face. More than ten teeth flew out as Shentu Nantian spun in the air at least ten times like a top before slamming heavily to the ground.

“Ah…ah, ah…”

Shentu Nantian clutched his face as he trembled. His extremely handsome looks and great demeanor could no longer be seen as his face was now mangled with blood.

Matriarch Lin’s strike had repercussed the injury to his soul. As Shentu Nantian had gone through the ordeal with Yi Yun, and was like a flickering candle, this major blow made Shentu Nantian feel like a heavy hammer was constantly striking his head. His brain was buzzing as he felt an excruciating pain!

Shentu Nantian looked up. Blood was pouring out from his nostrils and ears. The killing intent Matriarch Lin expressed nearly made him think he was going to die.

This woman, who had been in charge of the Lin family’s internal affairs for ten thousand years, may look amiable, but once she was angered, she was extremely frightening!

“Dong!”

Matriarch Lin’s dragon-headed cane slammed heavily to the ground, producing a loud thud. The bricks made of Heavenly Formation Mud underneath her feet turned to dust with her strike!

“Don’t think I’m a three-year-old child. You are a wolf with savage ambitions. Your intentions on Xintong were never pure. Old me was dim-sighted from old age and was nearly fooled by you. If not for Little Friend Yun, I would have made a terrible mistake. After I die, I would have no face to meet the Lin family’s ancestors!”

Matriarch Lin had taken on a high position for a long period of time, so with her rage, the pressure and killing intent she forced on Shentu Nantian was something his injured soul really could not handle!

“Hand over the Great Empress ancient recipe! Say the secrets and location of that mystic realm!”

Under Matriarch Lin’s oppressive aura, Shentu Nantian found it hard to breathe. At that moment, the Thousand Hand Granny gave a wry smile and said, “So what if we say it. It’s just a soul contract. Death awaits if I don’t speak, but even if I speak of it, would you spare us?”

The Thousand Hand Granny was on the brink of despair. She had nothing to say if she had lost to Matriarch Lin, but today, she had lost to a teenage kid!

She could not accept it!

The Thousand Hand Granny looked towards Yi Yun with extreme hate!

Everything that happened today was because of that little bastard. The great benefits that awaited the Shentu family clan had now led to a disaster!

“You may not want to say it, but someone else will say it. Not everyone is like you who wishes to die.”

As Matriarch Lin spoke, she looked towards Shentu Nantian. She had not killed Shentu Nantian with her strike because she wanted to know the location of the Great Empress mystic realm.

Shentu Nantian’s mouth twitched as all sorts of thoughts flashed past his mind. He was in the worst of situations.

Even if he revealed the whereabouts of the mystic realm, the chances of him getting out alive were slim. The only way was for him to sign another soul contract with Matriarch Lin, with the condition of him being able to leave the Lin family if he revealed the location of the mystic realm.

Shentu Nantian had always led a smooth life. When had he ever encountered a scenario that was a threat to his life? This trip to the Lin family would have been the greatest opportunity in his life. A beauty, a top-grade cultivation technique and it would all be his; but in the end, it had become his nightmare!

As Shentu Nantian was facing the threat of death, and enduring the physical and spiritual pain, Yi Yun looked up towards the sky.

In the sky, there were Heaven Earth Yuan Qi gathered from all corners of the world, forming an enormous cloud.

This cloud was more than five kilometers wide. Its perimeter was golden in color, while the center was filled with all sorts of colors. It was extremely beautiful!

From the cloud, Yi Yun could feel the extremely pure Yang Qi. Yi Yun knew that this Yuan Qi cloud was formed after the Great Empress relic exploded.

The Great Empress relic was made from a pure Yang elemental primordial true spirit’s life essence bone. With all sorts of invaluable materials, a pure Yang divine item was refined.

The ancient Desolate Heaven Master who had written the Great Empress relic’s recipe had theorized that injecting the unadulterated form of pure Yang Qi into the Great Empress’ body would complement Yin with Yang and make her meridians open up.

However, refining a relic that contained such strong and unadulterated pure Yang Qi was extremely difficult. When pure Yang reached an extreme, it would explode.

As such, the ancient Desolate Heaven Master had added an extreme Yin and evil energy to balance the relic’s energy structure. Now with the Yin and evil energy having been extracted by Yi Yun, the pure Yang energy exploded. However, it had not disappeared. It had gathered in the sky above, forming a huge rainbow-colored Yuan Qi cloud.

In a few more hours, the Yuan Qi cloud would dissipate, but before that, this place would be a treasured ground that could be used to cultivate pure Yang cultivation techniques.

However, even the most powerful pure Yang elemental warrior could only take in a limited amount of pure Yang energy in a few hours. It was at best a drop in the bucket.

However, Yi Yun was different. With the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun could absorb all the pure Yang energy into the Purple Crystal and store them without anyone noticing!

The Yuan Qi cloud was like a great treasure for Yi Yun!

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun felt extremely excited.

The Purple Crystal could absorb energy without leaving any traces. In a few hours time, people would only think that the pure Yang Yuan Qi had dissipated by itself. No one would know that it had been swallowed by the Purple Crystal.

With this thought, Yi Yun immediately proceeded in carrying out his plan. He controlled the Purple Crystal and began pulling the pure Yang Qi in the sky towards him.

The pure Yang Qi was extremely clean and pure. Yi Yun had never come into contact with the energy of such a grade.

Furthermore, this energy was not as chaotic as he imagined. The ancient Desolate Heaven Master who had invented the ancient recipe had used some method to transform the pure Yang energy into a gentle state which made it easy to absorb.

After all, in ancient times, that peerless Great Empress, who had healed her own naturally terminated meridians, was still young. Her cultivation level was naturally limited, so how could she endure chaotic pure Yang energies?

“Whew Whew Whew Whew!”

In Yi Yun’s vision, he could see countless numbers of light dots surging towards him. Other than Yi Yun himself, no one could see the light dots.

Yi Yun felt like his body had transformed into a sponge, those light dots being the sweetest spring water that he greedily absorbed them.

There were more and more light dots as they became denser. In Yi Yun’s energy vision, his body had become like a Sun, exuding colorful beams!

Yi Yun suddenly felt extremely refreshed. The warm energy cleansed Yi Yun’s body from head to toe. The energy entered deep into his bone marrow, meridians and organs.

Yi Yun felt an indescribable comfort. This feeling made Yi Yun feel like his entire body had turned sublime.

He could clearly feel that every cell in his body was breathing the pure Yang energy as they grew and evolved while bathing in the pure Yang energy.

His cells became more and more energetic as if they had a life of its own. The ordering of the cells became even more perfect, following certain laws of nature.

The change to his cells made Yi Yun feel that his body had gone through a subtle change.

Could it be…

Yi Yun suddenly realized the possibility that his pure Yang body had undergone another evolution!

When Yi Yun first obtained the pure Yang spirit, his body became a pure Yang body of the earliest grade. Now, it had evolved to a higher level. Although it was not a perfect pure Yang body, he was getting close to it!

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun’s mood turned exceedingly serene.

Shentu Nantian was practically a boy who gave out treasures!

He sure was too much to cheat Shentu Nantian so terribly when he had come to give him treasures…

Yi Yun stroked his chin as a smile suffused on his lips. Clearly, he did not feel one bit guilty about this.

Shentu Nantian’s face was currently covered in blood. Of course, he did not know what Yi Yun was thinking. Neither did he know that Yi Yun was currently wolfing down on the Great Empress relic’s energy that his Shentu family clan had paid a terrible price to refine.

Furthermore, the evil energy had been discarded by Yi Yun. What he was absorbing was the essence of the essence. There were no side effects at all.

If he knew this, Shentu Nantian would probably have died from exploded lungs.

418 - : Shentu Nantian, the boy who gives treasures

CKtalon  CKtalon

As Yi Yun was single-mindedly absorbing the energy from the Great Empress’s relic’s explosion, Shentu Nantian was approaching the gates of Hell.

In this world, few people were not afraid of death, and Shentu Nantian was apparently not one of them.

“Matriarch Lin!”

Beads of sweat began oozing out of Shentu Nantian’s forehead. They were forced out by Matriarch Lin’s killing intent.

“I can tell you all the secrets of the Great Empress mystic realm, including the experience gained from sacrificing so many Shentu family clan experts. But, I plead that you let the people from my Shentu family clan leave.”

Shentu Nantian intended to sign another soul contract with Matriarch Lin.

“Let you go?” Matriarch Lin sneered, “You schemed to harm Xintong with evil intentions, and now, you want old me to let you off? If old me did not guess wrongly, if Xintong had swallowed that Great Empress relic, the evil energy would greatly shorten her lifespan! By the time my Lin family knew the truth, your family would have gained all sorts of benefits, and it would have been too late!”

“And all these benefits would all be yours, Shentu Nantian, alone. How can I let you go!?”

“You are using the Great Empress mystic realm as a chip, so how would I know if the ‘Great Empress mystic realm’ was really left the behind by the ancient Great Empress? Maybe, it was just a mystic realm left behind by an ancient Desolate Heaven Master. There would be no way of finding a method to join Xintong’s terminated meridians up!”

Matriarch Lin expounded pressure. After all, she was a grandmaster in the Desolate Heaven technique. Although she had been tricked by the Great Empress relic, she could roughly guess the Great Empress relic’s trap.

An elixir like the Great Empress relic made of extremely pure Yang energy was definitely useful for Lin Xintong’s natural Yin Meridians. however, the dangerous potential was not easily detected.

However, as the Red-eyed Wolf was too weak, and with it swallowing the evil energy and not the beneficial portion of the relic, as such it was suppressed by the evil energy, leading it to rapidly age.

Shentu Nantian knew that Matriarch Lin would definitely not let him off today. He was distraught, for in this situation, the news about the Great Empress mystic realm was the only card he had that was keeping him alive.

“Matriarch Lin! This junior can swear on my life that the Great Empress mystic realm is truly extraordinary. It is definitely closely related to the Great Empress. This point can be written in the soul contract. It is just that my Shentu family clan does not have the ability to fully open and explore the Great Empress mystic realm! Amongst all of the Shentu family members present, only Thousand Hand Granny and I know everything about the Great Empress mystic realm!”

Shentu Nantian began to speak factually. What he said immediately shocked everyone present.

The Great Empress mystic realm had not been fully explored by the Shentu family clan!?

Even the Shentu family clan did not have the ability to fully open the Great Empress mystic realm, so what was inside the areas that were not fully opened?

There was no doubt that the more inaccessible the place was, the more extraordinary it was. The parts explored had produced the ancient Desolate Heaven Master heritage that made many people envious. There was also the extraordinary Great Empress ancient recipe that had been proven to be defective.

The places that had not been opened in the mystic realm definitely had amazing opportunities!

People were tempted. Other than the upper echelons of the Lin family, even the upper echelons of the family clans that had allied with the Shentu family clan were envious.

The Shentu family clan may not be able to enter those areas, but they might be able to do so?

Although it was unlikely, it was not entirely impossible!

That ancient Great Empress was not someone that someone like the Shentu Patriarch could compare with. There was even the possibility that she had long surpassed the usual definitions of the Great Emperor realm, and she had reached a higher realm that they did not understand nor have a name to.

Matriarch Lin narrowed her eyes. If there was an area in the mystic realm that had not been opened up, that would be an opportunity for the Lin family. Furthermore, what Matriarch Lin was most concerned with was finding a method to join up Lin Xintong’s terminated meridians within those areas.

The situation had progressed into a dilemma.

Matriarch Lin may be having a powerful stance now, but she too did not know how to handle it.

On one hand, she did not wish to let Shentu Nantian off; and on the other hand, she wanted to obtain the the Great Empress mystic realm.

“Since we have made enemies with the Shentu family clan, it will only lead to endless adverse consequences if Shentu Nantian was let off…”

Matriarch Lin knew that despite Shentu Nantian’s poor character, he was extremely talented. Even now, Shentu Nantian’s talent far exceeded anyone in the Lin family’s younger generation.

As for Lin Xintong, she may possess great talent, but she had the critical problem of her naturally Yin terminated meridians.

Matriarch Lin sighed and suddenly, she turned her head towards Yi Yun, “Little Friend Yun, how do you think this matter should be dealt with?”

Matriarch Lin’s sudden words made everyone present surprised. Even Yi Yun, who was focused on absorbing the pure Yang energy, was stunned.

It was shocking to consult a junior on such a huge matter.

There was no doubt that with Yi Yun’s performance over the past few days, and having revealed the Shentu family clan’s evil scheme, Matriarch Lin no longer looked at Yi Yun in an ordinary manner. She had completely distinguished Yi Yun from the other juniors, and she had treated him as one of the members that could discuss in their family matters.

“This…” Yi Yun smiled bitterly. He scratched his head and shirked, “This is a matter that the upper echelons of the Lin family needs to decide. It might not be suitable for me to give my opinion…”

Matriarch Lin shook her head, “This is not only a matter for the Lin family, it is also a matter for you. This matter is closely related to you. There is no way of reconciling your relationship with the Shentu family clan, especially Shentu Nantian. If I were to let him off today, aren’t you afraid he will seek revenge in the future?”

Matriarch Lin had asked because she wanted to respect Yi Yun’s wishes. By letting Shentu Nantian off, the harm to the Lin family could be far off into the future, but the harm to Yi Yun would be immediate. Once Yi Yun lost the protection of the Lin family, he would suffer the vengeful attacks of the Shentu family clan.

“About this…” Yi Yun stroked his chin. He was already far from reconciliation with Shentu Nantian a long time ago. Just as the saying goes, one isn’t afraid of being bitten by lice once there were too many, so one matter more or less did not really mean much. “Actually, since Matriarch Lin has asked me, you already have the answer in your heart. This junior feels that healing Miss Lin of her naturally terminated Yin meridians is more important.”

Yi Yun knew that Matriarch Lin was not willing to miss the opportunity to heal Lin Xintong, despite the threat of Shentu Nantian’s future revenge if he was let off. Matriarch Lin was just taking into account Yi Yun’s feelings.

Seeing Yi Yun so considerate for Lin Xintong, Matriarch Lin was touched, “Little Friend Yun, as long as old me still has a breath left in me, and as long as Xintong still holds a spot in the Lin family, the Lin family will definitely not let you down!”

Once Matriarch Lin finished speaking, Yi Yun said, “Matriarch Lin, this junior did not say that Young Master Nantian should be let off!”

“Oh?” Matriarch Lin’s eyebrows raised as she was slightly surprised.

“It’s this. The soul contract’s curse will take a few days, right?”

Yi Yun knew that the ghost head in the soul contract was actually a curse. Once the contract was signed, and until the contract was nullified, the ghost head would slowly eat into the signee’s soul, till they died a painful death.

Only by fulfilling the contract would the ghost head disappear. This process varied depending on the person. Those with high cultivation levels could last for 70-80 days, while those with low cultivation levels could only last slightly more than ten days.

Matriarch Lin gently nodded.

“Right… Young Master Nantian’s strength is good, and he can definitely endure it for a long time.” Yi Yun smiled gently as he praised Shentu Nantian. However, this “praise” made Shentu Nantian’s heart freeze.

As he looked at Yi Yun’s cold mask and the two red blood lines where the eyes should be, a sense of foreboding was felt by Shentu Nantian. What was this kid going to do?

“It’s this. This junior has heard that the Shentu family clan has a form of torture, called the “Dismembering the Heart” punishment. In a period of 36 days, a red-hot blade would be slashed on the criminal 36,000 times. After each day’s slashing, a heart dismembering worm’s egg would be placed in the wounds. The eggs would then slowly hatch and eat at the flesh and blood. Finally, when the 36,000 slashes were completed, the heart dismembering worms would follow the blood vessels and meridians all the way to the heart. There, tens of thousands of worms would bite at the heart, eventually leading to one’s death…

The Dismembering the Heart punishment was what Shentu Nantian had told Yi Yun a few months ago.

Back then, Shentu Nantian wanted to use “Dismembering the Heart” as a way to deal with Yi Yun, to force the Shepherd Boy to save him.

However, now, it had switched to Yi Yun talking about the “Dismembering the Heart”.

Shentu Nantian’s face immediately turned as white as paper!

As a member of the Shentu family clan, he had witnessed with his own eyes how the “Dismembering the Heart” punishment was carried out by the Shentu family clan. The slashes were nothing much, but once the heart dismembering worm’s eggs were placed in one’s body, the feeling of the larvae crawling inside one’s body was a pain that was worse than death!

Back then as a spectator, Shentu Nantian felt some pleasure seeing people suffer this punishment. However, if it was him suffering it, he could not imagine it!

“Torture?” Matriarch Lin asked. She was surprised that Yi Yun was so vicious in his methods, even though he was so young!

“To get truths out of torture, that would be the best.”

“If it is useless, we can release news that the sentencing will happen in ten days later to allow the Shentu family clan to come and redeem him. Of course, the price of redeeming him is the information of the Great Empress mystic realm. The Shentu family clan would probably not give up on Shentu Nantian, right? …After all, the Great Empress mystic realm cannot be opened by the Shentu family clan. So things they cannot obtained can’t be more important than the future successor of the Shentu family clan.”

Shentu Nantian was extremely important for the Shentu family clan. His importance far exceeded the importance of Lin Xintong in the Lin family.

Matriarch Lin would not give up on Lin Xintong.

Then, the Shentu family clan’s Shentu Patriarch would also not give up on Shentu Nantian. He was the most favorite and beloved junior.

“This…” Matriarch Lin felt suspicious, “Then, wouldn’t Shentu Nantian be let off, what’s the difference?”

“The difference is, we can use these ten days to ‘take care’ of Young Master Nantian well. After all, Young Master Nantian’s injuries are quite severe. If we can ‘treat’ his wounds such as feeding him some poisonous items that might affect his future cultivation, then…”

When Yi Yun said this, Matriarch Lin’s eyes twitched. This little rascal sure wasn’t any goody two shoes.

Seeing Matriarch Lin look at him with disbelieving eyes, Yi Yun scratched his head sheepishly, “This junior is just letting him have a taste of his own medicine.”

Yi Yun had said that with his Yuan Qi.

419 - : The final outcome of the Medicine Trial

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Put everyone from the Shentu family clan into custody!” Matriarch Lin ordered. Not only Shentu Nantian, none of the other Shentu family clan Elders were allowed to leave either.

The people from the Shentu family clan looked at each other, unsure of what fate lied ahead of them.

Shentu Nantian was horrified at that moment. He had only heard the “Dismembering the Heart” punishment Yi Yun mentioned, as for the rest of Yi Yun’s words, they were all said to the Matriarch in a Yuan Qi transmission. He did not know what the Matriarch would do to him.

“Matriarch, can you please restrain their cultivation level?” Yi Yun said out loud. Matriarch Lin nodded as she stood in front of Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny. Both of their faces were covered in blood, their situation was terrible.

Hearing that his cultivation level would be restrained, Shentu Nantian looked hatefully at Yi Yun as his mouth curled. At that moment, he wished that he could tear off Yi Yun’s flesh bit by bit.

The eyes of Matriarch Lin flashed a cold beam as she tapped Shentu Nantian’s and the Thousand Hand Granny’s bodies as quick as lightning.

“Peng!”

With a loud explosion, Shentu Nantian’s body trembled as he was sent rolling on the ground a few times. Matriarch Lin had restrained Shentu Nantian by sealing his meridians.

Shentu Nantian was now suffering from his injured soul as well as the suppressed cultivation level. He was no different from an ordinary person now.

Actually, Matriarch Lin greatly desired to smash Shentu Nantian’s dantian, directly crippling him.

However, as the Lin family was hoping to use Shentu Nantian to exchange for the method to enter the Great Empress mystic realm, the Matriarch could not torture Shentu Nantian too terribly. At least, it should not be visible when negotiations with the Shentu family clan was held. If the Shentu family clan knew that Shentu Nantian had already become a cripple, they would give him up immediately, and go to war with the Lin family.

“Little Friend Yun, I will give you full autonomy in handling this matter. I believe you have your discretion.”

Matriarch Lin was very assured when it came to Yi Yun.

This astonished many from the upper echelons of the Shentu family clan. All of them were usually a famous name in the Tian Yuan world. They could easily cause a commotion upon visiting a small family clan, with the family clan’s head personally welcoming them. Now however, their fate was to be decided by a junior.

It was such a great ridicule.

Two administrators of the Lin family were assigned to listen to Yi Yun’s orders.

Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony and simply said, “For the Shentu family clan guests, find a clean and decent guest house for them to stay in. As for these two…”

Yi Yun looked towards Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny, “Find a dungeon and simply lock them up.”

Dungeon?

The two Lin family administrators were shocked upon hearing this. This kid sure did things seriously. Both Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny were members of the upper echelon of the Shentu family clan, but this kid was actually planning on imprisoning them in a dungeon!

“Little bastard, you better not fall into my hands. I will let you live a living death!”

The Thousand Hand Granny cursed. Yi Yun waved to the administrator, “Hey brother, stuff her mouth.”

Uh…

The two Lin family administrators were speechless and turned to look at Matriarch Lin.

Matriarch Lin nonchalantly said, “Just follow the instructions.”

After all, the Lin family had already lost all decorum with the Shentu family clan, so there was not much left to be considered. The two family clans were originally enemies. Now, with the Lin family knowing that the Shentu family clan had been scheming against the Lin family, how could they not sound out after being stabbed by a knife?

In the warrior world, one could only survive well by being more ruthless. Only then would one not be humiliated.

If everyone were to just endure and put up an attitude of not minding incursions from others just because they were a super family clan, then this sort of large family clan would eventually be eaten up by others. It was not enough to just verbally condemn.

Seeing the bloodied Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny being carried away like dead dogs, many of the Elders from the large family clans, who had good relations with the Shentu family clan, broke out in cold sweat.

Amongst them, the Song family’s long-browed elder, who had strongly supported the Shentu family clan, was feeling most nervous.

He had said, in a matter-of-fact manner, that the Great Empress relic did not have any problems. To prove that, he had used the Mystic Crystal Hand to aid Yi Yun, along with Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny.

However, now, amongst the three who aided Yi Yun, he was the only one left standing there. Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny had already been dragged off to the dungeons.

The long-browed elder wiped the sweat off his forehead and said, “I was dim-sighted from old age. Although I did participate in the refinement of the Great Empress relic, I only saw a tiny portion of the recipe. I really did not see problems with the relic.”

The Song family, which the long-browed elder belonged to, was much weaker compared to the Lin family. Furthermore, with him at fault, the Lin family could easily count the Song family as accomplices. That would be no simple joke.

Yi Yun had guessed that the long-browed elder really did not know much. This included a large majority of the Shentu family clan’s Elders as they too did not know anything about this matter.

After all, it was better when less people knew something to ensure the secrecy of the matter.

“For Elder Song to explain it away with the reason of being dim-sighted from old age, this junior really has nothing to say against that.”

“However, Elder Song, you should know that just now, when this junior was risking his life to stand out and question the Shentu family clan, I was looked down upon and suspected by others. Elder Song, you stood up for the Shentu family clan and was so sure of yourself, pushing me into an extremely unfavorable situation. If I did not gain the opportunity to prove myself, or failed to perform well due to experiencing too much pressure, resulting in me failing to extract the evil energy, then me dying would not have been a big deal, but the Shentu family clan’s scheme would have succeeded. Many years later, when Miss Lin then died as a result, it is not unlikely that the Lin family would have been swallowed by the Shentu family clan! That would then have been irreversible.”

Yi Yun was not a magnanimous person. Yi Yun still held the long-browed elder accountable for his actions, even if he was not aware of the truth.

Although Yi Yun would not put the long-browed elder through a terrible situation, rattling him up was not a bad idea either.

The long-browed elder bitterly cried in his heart. This little rascal was the kind of person who did not let one off easily. He could remain so calm even in front of all the mighty figures of the Shentu family clan, so how could he fail to perform well due to experiencing too much pressure?

This was clearly Yi Yun trying to con him!

Of course, he could not say this out loud. He was smart and knew the underlying meaning in Yi Yun’s words.

He said, “I was foolish and nearly made a grave mistake. Little Friend Yun is right. Just my apology is not sincere enough. I will give a satisfactory answer to the Lin family. Also, I will make reparations to Little Friend Yun.”

The long-browed elder did not mind compensating Yi Yun using material goods because this youth was just too terrifying!

He was still so young, yet his Desolate Heaven technique talent had reached such an extraordinary level. Furthermore, he had just now single-handedly destroyed the Shentu family clan’s machinations.

So many mighty figures had fallen into his hands. Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny even nearly died from his schemes.

If he was this brilliant at such a young age, he would become even more so when he grew up.

The Song family may have allied with the Shentu family clan, but that was just due to their mutual interests. Although they usually followed the Shentu family clan’s lead, it would be a joke if they were to help the Shentu family clan bear the brunt force of an attack.

Long-browed believed that Yi Yun would accomplish much in the future, so he was happy to get the chance to befriend Yi Yun.

Hearing the long-browed elder’s words, Yi Yun was satisfied. He would be a fool if he did not collect benefits. It was also absolutely legitimate for him to obtain those benefits.

“Little Friend Yun, this matter was settled all thanks to you. The Lin family has stood in the Tian Yuan world for so many years. Our family’s rules are also very clear with its rewards and punishments. You must be tired after extracting the evil energy. Go take a rest. Come see me in the Jade Bamboo peak early tomorrow morning.”

Matriarch Lin gave Yi Yun an affable smile. She suddenly thought of something and spoke to Lin Xintong who was beside her, “Xintong, you should come too.”

“Yes.” Lin Xintong nodded slightly. Before she left, she glanced deeply at Yi Yun. A strange light flickered in her eyes.

Although she had said that she believed in Yi Yun, Lin Xintong still felt deeply touched when Yi Yun actually managed to complete what seemed like an impossible task.

She had seen Yi Yun remain extremely calm, despite the dwindling amount of sand left in the hourglass. When he extracted the evil energy, without feeling any need to rush, and sent it into the desolate beast’s body, proving the toxicity of the evil energy, a strange and wondrous feeling surged in Lin Xintong’s heart.

This was mainly because she had seen this youth walk out from the vast wilderness. She had witnessed his incredible growth process, so this wondrous feeling was even stronger.

“Thank you.”

Lin Xintong lips gently moved as the soft and sweet words entered Yi Yun’s ears.

Yi Yun felt his ears itch with the young girl’s whispering words.

He slightly smiled and said, “Thank you too, for believing in me by betting your dignity and innocence.”

Lin Xintong said, “My dignity and innocence cannot compare to you betting your life.”

“Well, of course it cannot be compared for me. However, for Miss Lin, it is completely different.”

Yi Yun knew that a speckless girl like Lin Xintong would never have given up her own dignity just to carry on living.

Lin Xintong gave him a gentle smile and did not speak any further. She accompanied the Matriarch and left silently. Her beautiful figure disappeared into the green sea of bamboo…

420 - : Thank you

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Matriarch Lin left with Lin Xintong, Yi Yun remained on the mountain peak as he absorbed the pure Yang Qi in the rainbow-colored Yuan Qi cloud.

Some of the Lin family Elders also cultivated pure Yang laws. They too coveted the Yuan Qi cloud, however, they could only cultivate under this cloud for about three hours, which would not benefit them much.

These people simply gave up.

“Little Friend Yun, you practice a pure Yang cultivation technique too?” A Lin family Elder noticed that Yi Yun seemed to be cultivating under the Yuan Qi cloud, so he came over and asked.

After the medicine trial session, Yi Yun’s status in the Lin family had sharply risen. Hence, the Elders in the Lin family were much more polite with Yi Yun.

“Yes.”

Yi Yun nodded and the Lin family Elder smiled, “We Desolate Heaven Masters actually do not really need to hone our combat skills. Pure Yang laws are too profound. Practicing the Desolate Heaven technique already takes up a large portion of our time. If a law is to be cultivated, choosing something simpler like the five-elemental laws would do. For example, the fire-elemental laws are pretty good. In terms of fighting, the fire-elemental laws are similar to the pure Yang laws. Although it is weaker in strength,the fire-elemental laws are much easier to learn. With this comparison, the fire-elemental laws are much better.”

As he had a good impression of Yi Yun, this Lin family Elder began to give him some pointers. In his opinion, youths inevitably were over-ambitious. They would be too naive regarding martial paths, and they would recklessly choose profound and difficult to learn laws like Yin-Yang or Space-Time, eventually causing them to go through many detours.

“Thank you for the senior’s advice.” Yi Yun said modestly, before carrying on absorbing the pure Yang Qi.

Seeing Yi Yun’s actions, the Lin family elder turned speechless. Clearly, the youth in front of him was not listening.

By choosing pure Yang laws, this kid probably wanted to accomplish a lot in the martial path too. He was too greedy.

For example, even Shentu Nantian and Lin Xintong who were proud children of heaven would not attempt to master both aspects to an extreme. Although they had pretty good accomplishments in the Desolate Heaven technique, the two of them were more focused on their martial path.

They would give up learning most of the complicated sealing technique in the Desolate Heaven technique while cultivating profound martial laws.

The old man shook his head and left.

And at that moment, Yi Yun had already absorbed about a third of the rainbow Yuan Qi cloud’s pure Yang Qi.

This absorption rate was about the same speed as the dissipation rate of the Yuan Qi cloud itself.

Yi Yun did this just to be careful. He specifically used the Purple Crystal to absorb the pure Yang Qi that was about to disperse away. By doing so, even if a Great Emperor were to stare at the Yuan Qi cloud, he would not be able to know that the Purple Crystal had magically absorbed it.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s body was already full of energy. No matter how gentle the pure Yang Qi in the Great Empress relic was, Yi Yun’s body had its limits.

The remaining pure Yang Qi was stored inside the Purple Crystal.

As the pure Yang Qi was highly compressed, it had now liquefied into golden droplets. It looked like melted gold and it was extremely pure.

Seeing the golden droplets, Yi Yun was extremely delighted. With them, his cultivation level could rapidly increase in a short period of time.

Yi Yun had already been stuck at the early stages of the Yuan Foundation realm for quite some time.

Other than the golden droplets, the Purple Crystal contained two other energies.

The first was the pure Yang spirit, which was what Yi Yun had obtained in Fallen Star Gate.

The second was the extremely cold Yin energy. Back when Yi Yun was thrown into a cell by Shentu Nantian, Shentu Nantian force fed Yi Yun a Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill.

This Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill contained an extremely cold Yin energy. If not for the Purple Crystal absorbing and compressing its energy, Yi Yun’s cultivation would have been destroyed.

Thinking about this, a playful smile suffused on Yi Yun’s lips. It was time to visit Young Master Nantian. How Shentu Nantian treated him back then, it was time to return it to him in the same way!

After absorbing all the pure Yang Qi, Yi Yun was not in a rush to leave. He glanced at the pile of bones left behind by the Red-eyed Wolf and put them away.

With the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, Yi Yun knew that the black evil energy was still hidden amongst the bones.

After carefully examining the black gas, Yi Yun realized that not only did it not have any signs of deterioration after swallowing the Red-eyed Wolf’s vitality and flesh, it had actually grown stronger.

Of course, as the Red-eyed Wolf was too weak, the evil energy did not become that much stronger. However, this discovery alarmed Yi Yun.

What was this evil energy? It seemed like it could grow!

It sounded too fantastic and it was extremely creepy!

Could it be that this evil energy could grow indefinitely?

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun shook his head and rejected the idea. It was unlikely as the Shentu family clan probably used primordial true spirit-grade treasures as materials to refine the Great Empress relic.

They would not have been able to find materials more precious that that.

Under these circumstances, the evil energy that resulted from the Great Empress relic would not have been able to grow indefinitely.

But…

If it was used against Shentu Nantian, it would be enough.

The corners of Yi Yun’s lips suffused a smile as he headed towards the dungeon.

…

The Lin family’s dungeon was itself a strong fortress.

The dungeon was constructed from a special metal. The engraved runic arrays made it indestructible!

People who were thrown into the dungeon would have their cultivation level restricted. Even a figure like the Myriad Empyreal King would not be able to do anything once he was thrown into the dungeon.

The Lin family’s dungeon had previously imprisoned a demonic person who had stirred up a lot of trouble in the Tian Yuan world. He was imprisoned until his death.

The dungeon was located in the Death Hell peak, one of the Lin family’s 18 main peaks. From the peak of the mountain, there was a passageway that was thousands of meters long. The dungeon was located at the other end of the passageway, deep inside the mountain.

“Open the door!”

Yi Yun easily entered the dungeon with the warrant Matriarch Lin gave him. Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny were imprisoned inside a large cell.

Shentu Nantian’s hands and legs were bound with chains.

This scene was too familiar with Yi Yun.

How the tide changes, Yi Yun had been chained in a cell a few months ago by Shentu Nantian. Now, the situation had reversed.

The world was indeed unpredictable.

Beside Shentu Nantian, the Thousand Hand Granny was suspended in the air with chains. Her hair was disheveled and she looked like a ferocious ghost. When she saw Yi Yun appear, she immediately struggled towards Yi Yun.

“Crash!”

The chains tightened, and no matter how much the Thousand Hand Granny struggled, she was unable to grab Yi Yun. Her gaze looked liked she wanted to tear Yi Yun’s flesh off with her mouth, bit by bit.

“Little bastard! Remember this day, for I will make sure you lead a living death!”

The Thousand Hand Granny hated Yi Yun so much. Everything that had happened today was all thanks to Yi Yun.

Seeing that hateful and wrinkled old face, Yi Yun shook his head, “It seems that you have not accepted the reality of having your powers sealed. Now, you can no longer threaten me…”

As Yi Yun spoke, he suddenly lifted his hand and mercilessly slapped down.

“Pa!”

With a clear slapping sound, the Thousand Hand Granny heavily slammed into the wall. Her face was covered with dry black blood that seemed to be smeared with mud. However, this was not a result of Yi Yun’s blow. It was a consequence of the combined attack of Matriarch Lin’s and a few Lin family Elders’ attack.

“Little bastard? Tsk!” Yi Yun took a towel out of his interspatial ring and wiped the black blood stains off his hand before throwing the towel on the ground. “How many times have you cursed me? Probably ten or twenty times? My temperament sure is good to endure it up to now, you old witch…”

As Yi Yun said, he sent another merciless punch at the Thousand Hand Granny’s right eye!

Yi Yun felt pleased with the feeling of fist meeting flesh.

The Thousand Hand Granny gritted her teeth while staring at Yi Yun. She was greatly maddened, but she could not do anything to Yi Yun. She had never been in such a cowardly state in her entire life, to be brutally beaten up by an ant-like person!

“Yun!” Shentu Nantian stared at Yi Yun, “Do not forget that in a few days, I will walk out of here. The elders in my family will trade the information about the Great Empress mystic realm in exchange for me!”

“I will remember how you treat me today. One must be sparing in his ways, I advise you to give yourself a lifeline!”

Shentu Nantian was smart. He knew that if he were to revile Yi Yun, he would only be subjected to physical pain.

As a wise man does not fight when the odds are against him, he used the fact that he would eventually leave the Lin family as a threat to warn Yi Yun not to mess around.

Yi Yun stroked his chin and nodded, “That’s reasonable! However, according to what you say, I should cherish whatever time I have now. I should abuse you to get back my capital…”

As Yi Yun spoke, he sent a big slap at Shentu Nantian.

“Pa!”

Yi Yun’s palm fully came into contact with Shentu Nantian’s face, and accompanying the slapping sound, Shentu Nantian snorted before being sent flying by Yi Yun.

He was riddled with injuries, so he was already on his last breath. With his cultivation level suppressed, Yi Yun’s slap made Shentu Nantian feel like a thousand drums were being banged beside his ear. He began retching while sprawled on the ground.

The damage to his soul was too life-threatening. Just using a bit of his mental energy or receiving any external physical attacks would cause a repercussion to his injuries, giving him a terrible headache.

“You…You…” Shentu Nantian’s eyes turned red as he deadly stared at Yi Yun, “I have no grudge with you, why are you treating me this way?”

Shentu Nantian no longer dared to say any unyielding words.

The Thousand Hand Granny had been slapped when she reviled Yi Yun.

His outcome was the same when he threatened Yi Yun.

In that case, he could only take a soft stance.

“No grudge?” A mocking smile appeared on Yi Yun’s lips.

Yi Yun’s words made Shentu Nantian think.

There was a grudge?

Upon careful thought, why was this kid wearing a mask to hide his looks? Besides, it sounded like his voice was not his original voice. He was clearly trying to hide his identity.

An uneasy sense of foreboding rose in Shentu Nantian’s mind. He stared at Yi Yun’s eyes. Yi Yun’s mask could not cover his eyes, but it was very difficult to recognize a person just from his eyes.

Shentu Nantian only felt that Yi Yun’s eyes looked familiar. As to where he had seen them before, he was unable to remember.

421 - : How the Tides Change

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Who the hell are you!?”

Shentu Nantian was beginning to feel suspicious about Yi Yun’s identity. It was no longer a surprise that Yun Yantian had a grudge against him.

Shentu Nantian did not believe a fifteen year old child would have any close connections with him. Maybe Yun Yantian’s family had been killed by him.

Unfortunately, as Shentu Nantian was ruthless, he had killed a lot of people. Hence, he had grudges with many people, so he could not immediately figure out who Yi Yun was.

Yi Yun ignored Shentu Nantian’s words. With a stroke of his chin, he leaned over and grabbed Shentu Nantian’s hand.

“What are you doing!?”

Shentu Nantian was powerless at that moment, and he was like a flickering flame. How could he resist Yi Yun? He only felt pain in his fingers as Yi Yun took his interspatial ring off.

“Yun!!”

Shentu Nantian’s interspatial ring contained a large portion of his wealth!

As the heir to the Shentu family clan, Shentu Nantian naturally had tremendous wealth.

Back then, when Yi Yun was captured by Shentu Nantian, Shentu Nantian did not even take a look at Yi Yun’s interspatial ring as Yi Yun was too poor compared to him.

But now, with the tables turned, it was completely different. Shentu Nantian’s interspatial ring was very attractive to Yi Yun.

He could not waste whatever good things there were in the ring.

In for a penny, in for a pound, Yi Yun also took the Thousand Hand Granny’s interspatial ring.

The two rings were extremely high in quality. Their interior spaces were more than ten times larger than what Yi Yun was wearing.

And the ring Yi Yun was wearing was given to him by Lin Xintong along with the Soul Nurturing pill. If Yi Yun wore that ring back in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the difference would be even greater.

“Nice ring!”

Yi Yun praised with glee. At that moment, Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny were so angry that their lungs were to about to explode. However, they could do nothing.

When the Lin family locked them up, they would not take advantage of their perilous state and steal their interspatial ring.

In the Tian Yuan world, powerful families had to care for their face, so they did not do such things. However, this so-called powerful family vibe clearly did not exist in Yi Yun’s eyes.

Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny had a mental connection with their respective rings. If anyone touched their interspatial rings, they would feel it. If the other person’s mental powers were not as strong as theirs, they would not be able to open the interspatial ring.

Of course, it was completely different for the current Shentu Nantian.

Shentu Nantian’s mental state was terrible. He could not even complete a single seal of the Mystic Crystal Hand properly.

Yi Yun sank his mental energy into Shentu Nantian’s interspatial ring in a no-holds-barred manner. He ruthlessly wiped the spiritual connection!

“Ah!”

Shentu Nantian let out a scream. He clutched his head and painfully fell to the ground.

At the moment Yi Yun wiped the mental connection, Shentu Nantian felt as if a chunk of his brain had suddenly been sliced off. It was so painful that it made him break out into cold sweat.

Boundless hatred rose up within Shentu Nantian’s heart. He had never felt so much hate in his life!

His body was seriously injured, his cultivation level was suppressed, and he was locked in a dungeon. A top-grade woman that was about to be his was gone. He was then brutally beaten by an ant-like person who later stole his interspatial ring and wiped away his mental mark!

At that moment, Yi Yun was casually rummaging through Shentu Nantian’s interspatial ring. When Shentu Nantian looked at his ring being rummaged through, this humiliation made him feel like his eyes were bursting!

Yi Yun quickly finished sweeping through Shentu Nantian’s interspatial ring. He made a few discoveries.

First was a pile of jade scrolls. Inside them were all sorts of cultivation techniques and heritage. Some of the heritage was extremely valuable in the Shentu family clan. It required a sufficient number of family contribution points to exchange for them.

There were about 4-5 of those heritage scrolls.

There was also an ancient jade scroll that had complex runes engraved on it. With a simple search, he confirmed that it was the ancient Desolate Heaven technique heritage!

Without a doubt, this jade scroll was taken out of the Great Empress mystic realm by the Shentu family clan!

Other than the jade scroll, Yi Yun also found a large bunch of elixirs. Inside all these exquisite elixir bottles were soul nurturing and wound healing medicines that were top grade.

Besides these elixir bottles, there were three big chests.

These chests were made of a special metal. There were even seals on the exterior of each of them.

Yi Yun took the chests out and used the Sonic Deathblade to open the lock. With a kick, he opened the lid. Immediately, a pure and powerful Heaven Earth Yuan Qi surged out, filling the entire dungeon!

Within the chests were neatly arranged desolate bone relics!

These desolate bone relics were extremely pure in quality and they were uniform. Although they weren’t that precious, they were after all three huge chests worth.

In the warrior’s world, a uniform quality of desolate bone relics were often used as common currency to purchase all sorts of items.

These three chests were not used by Shentu Nantian for cultivation. Instead, it was his wealth. He could use it to splurge when he was out in the city.

Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony as he kept the three large chests of relics.

Finally, it was… weapons.

Shentu Nantian was a sword user. Yi Yun took an azure sword out. It was Shentu Nantian’s companion sword!

Seeing his companion sword in Yi Yun’s hands, Shentu Nantian’s eyes turned red. This was the item that was worth the most in his interspatial ring. It was given to him by the Shentu Patriarch when he came of age.

A gift from the Shentu Patriarch would be obviously valuable!

“Fine sword!”

Yi Yun pulled the azure long sword out. As he brandished it, Shentu Nantian’s body trembled as he clenched his fists. His fingernails sank deep into his palms.

His beloved sword was now nonchalantly being held in Yi Yun’s hands. This feeling was like his most beloved woman that was dedicated to him was now being blasphemed by Yi Yun.

“Yun Yantian, you deserve a horrible death!”

Shentu Nantian sent a nasty curse out, but at that moment, he felt some pain in his soul. It was like a 10,000 pound sledge hammer had slammed on it. His face went pale like a sheet of paper.

Taking advantage of Shentu Nantian’s weak mental state, Yi Yun ruthlessly wiped his mental connection with the azure sword.

Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony as he kept Shentu Nantian’s sword.

He was just in need of a sword. Previously, in the Tai Ah Divine City, the Tai Ah Divine City Elders had promised to give Yi Yun a sword and saber set.

However, as the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was attacked by a desolate beast horde, the matter of giving him the weapon set was put on hold. As for the sword and saber sets that Yi Yun had, other than the mysterious rusted sword, the rest were extremely common.

Unfortunately, despite finding so many treasures in the ring, Yi Yun did not find any records regarding the Great Empress mystic realm. This was reasonable as the Great Empress mystic realm’s secret was not a cultivation technique manual. It could not be encoded in a jade scroll. It was meaningless to let Shentu Nantian carry it around with him.

After rummaging through Shentu Nantian’s ring, Yi Yun decided to rummage through the Thousand Hand Granny’s ring.

However, despite having her cultivation level restricted, the Thousand Hand Granny’s mental energies were still fine. Her soul was not damaged.

Yi Yun attempted once, but he was unable to wipe the Thousand Hand Granny’s mental connection. He actually felt a spiritual backlash, causing a dull pain in his soul.

Yi Yun clenched his eyebrows and turned to look at the Thousand Hand Granny. She looked hatefully at Yi Yun and sneered, “Little bastard, do you think you are able to wipe my mental connection? Dream on!”

Before she finished her words, Yi Yun had already raised his feet as he kicked the Thousand Hand Granny’s face with all his strength.

“Boom!”

With an explosive sound, Yi Yun’s kick had slammed the disheveled Thousand Hand Granny’s head into the dungeon’s stone walls.

“Ah!”

The Thousand Hand Granny screamed as the chains binding her body began to clink and clank!

Yi Yun had no mercy as he kept sending out his right foot. Every attack targeted the Thousand Hand Granny’s face. Without any cultivation and any Yuan Qi protecting her body, the Thousand Hand Granny was just an ordinary granny. How could she withstand Yi Yun’s stamping on her?

The Thousand Hand Granny was trampled by Yi Yun till she was dazed, and at that moment, the Thousand Hand Granny felt a terrible pain in her head. At the moment when her thoughts were in a state of confusion, her mental connection mark on her interspatial ring had been ruthlessly wiped by Yi Yun!

Yi Yun held the Thousand Hand Granny’s interspatial ring and shook his head, “Why do you make things so hard? You are already locked in here and your cultivation has been suppressed. Why are you trying to withhold a ring?”

Yi Yun rummaged through the Thousand Hand Granny’s interspatial ring, completely ignoring her ferocious eyes.

There was even more good stuff in the Thousand Hand Granny’s interspatial ring!

There were five large chests of desolate bone relics in it!

There were plenty of cultivation technique manuals, weapons and medicines. Their grades were even higher than those in Shentu Nantian’s ring.

And Yi Yun found a saber in the Thousand Hand Granny’s ring as he wished.

This saber was not used by the Thousand Hand Granny as it was just part of a collection of hers. The saber was blood red in color. There was a life-like ghost head engraved on the saber handle, which made it look extremely evil.

On the saber blade, the words “Blood Red Lotus” were inscribed.

Red Lotus saber!

Yi Yun casually brandished the saber and the blood-colored beams looked like a blood-infused storm was surging over.

This saber had clearly drunk a lot of fresh blood as it had killed countless times!

Just the killing Qi gathered on the saber was enough to make it as a murderous weapon.

“Fine saber!”

Yi Yun was very satisfied.

This saber was just a collection of the Thousand Hand Granny, so it did not have any mental marks left behind by the Thousand Hand Granny. Yi Yun very happily imprinted his mental mark on the saber.

“Little bastard, I swear I will grind your bones to dust!”

The Thousand Hand Granny shouted hoarsely. She was so angry that her entire body was trembling. The chains were also clinkering around.

Yi Yun ignored the old hag and carried on rummaging through the ring. He opened every elixir bottle and gave a sniff. Suddenly, the corners of his lips formed a little arc. He had found it. She really had it!

Yi Yun opened a blue jade bottle. As he gently overturned the bottle, a full-bodied ice-blue pill that emitted a biting chill rolled out.

It could be said that this pill was something unforgettable for Yi Yun. This was because he had been force-fed one before.

It’s name was the ‘Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill’!

422 - : Taking advantage of their perilous state

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill was actually not a poisonous item. It only contained an extremely cold Yin energy that was very oppressive. If a person with lacking a cultivation base swallowed it, it could cause the person’s meridians to break, crippling one’s cultivation base.

Seeing Yi Yun hold the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill, the mouths of the Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian twitched. However, they did not believe that Yi Yun would be able to identify the pill. This was because this pill was extremely valuable. It was a secret concoction made by the Shentu family clan. A junior like Yi Yun would never have come into contact with it.

Yi Yun played with the pill. Just holding it made Yi Yun feel the cold biting into his body.

Yi Yun could still clearly remember the feeling of the frost Qi entering his bone marrow from two months ago.

Back then, when the frost Qi rushed into Yi Yun’s dantian, and all of his blood vessels, it had made him feel an extreme cold that came from deep within his soul. Following that, even the pure Yang Yuan Qi that Yi Yun cultivated was rapidly eroded by the frost Qi.

As a result, his face had turned pale and his body trembled. Icicles then formed on his eyebrows and hair. Following that, even his black hair had turned white.

Yi Yun’s back faced Shentu Nantian as he held the pill in between his index finger and thumb. In front of the dungeon’s candle light, he could see through the crystal clear pill. The flickering candle light looked unreal and beautiful through it.

Yi Yun squinted his eyes. This pill was the one that Shentu Nantian had fed him, leading him to feel endless pain, nearly pushing him to the brink of his death.

Yi Yun spent quite a long period of time admiring this pill.

Behind Yi Yun, the Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian looked each other in the eye. None of them knew what Yi Yun was doing.

“This kid, why is he so interested in the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill? He cannot be…” Shentu Nantian was feeling alarmed. To have such a dangerous pill fall into this kid’s hands, and having his life completely in the grasp of another person did not feel good when he was completely unable to put up any resistance.

“Impossible! This little bastard is not from some famous family, that can be seen at a glance. He must be some bumpkin that Su Jie found in some remote region. With his experience, how can he recognize the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill? He may even think that it is some treasure.”

The Thousand Hand Granny dismissed Yi Yun’s origins. In the Tian Yuan world, those from big family clans tended to have a form of superiority complex. The big family clans had such immense amounts of heritage that it made it hard to comprehend. So how could a warrior from humble origins compare to them?

Hence, the Thousand Hand Granny completely despised Yi Yun. In her eyes, Yi Yun was just a small, ant-like figure. She was just feeling extremely pissed that she was now in his hands.

As Yi Yun admired the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill, he suddenly opened his mouth, “I cannot find any news of the Great Empress mystic realm in neither of your interspatial rings.”

Upon hearing this, Shentu Nantian sneered. He was thinking, was that not obvious!?

Of course, he would never say those words out aloud. This was definitely not a good time to agitate Yi Yun.

“It seems the both of you have no intentions of revealing information of the Great Empress mystic realm?” Yi Yun also said.

Another obvious pile of bullshit!

Shentu Nantian knew that the Great Empress mystic realm was the only trump card keeping him alive. He definitely would not reveal it. For this Yun kid to say something so idiotic, he must have intelligence problems.

As Shentu Nantian was having these malicious thoughts, Yi Yun suddenly turned around as he gave Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny a playful look.

Shentu Nantian’s heart sank. He did not know what the meaning of Yi Yun’s gaze was. At that moment, the Thousand Hand Granny’s face was sullen as she said with her husky voice, “Junior, return the Eternal Frost Sword to Tian’er and the Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill to me. These two items should not be defiled by you. If you do not, then when my Shentu family clan comes to negotiate, it will not be something let off that simply!”

The Eternal Frost Sword was Shentu Nantian’s companion sword, which was also the azure sword Yi Yun had kept. It was the most valuable thing Shentu Nantian had.

It would be very normal if the Shentu family clan wanted back the sword when the Shentu family clan began negotiations.

As for the Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill?

Yi Yun hesitated for a bit. He was holding a Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill?

Seeing the Thousand Hand Granny’s muddy eyes looking at the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill in his hand, Yi Yun suddenly understood the intentions of the old hag.

“You say I am holding a Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill?”

Yi Yun seemed slightly stunned as he looked at the pill in his hand.

“What do you think?” The Thousand Hand Granny smiled disdainfully. “What a bumpkin, not from a good family. So what if you have some talent? You can’t even identify precious items! You can’t even identify the Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill!”

The Thousand Hand Granny mocked Yi Yun with a queer voice.

The Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill she mentioned was much more famous. Besides, in the Thousand Hand Granny’s interspatial ring, there was a jade scroll that introduced the Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill.

This Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill looked extremely similar to the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill. Even an experienced alchemist would not be able to distinguish between the two at a glance.

However, the effects of the two pills were extremely different.

The Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill was an extremely good medicine. Ignoring the difficulty at refining it, just the ingredients needed to refine it were just slightly inferior to the materials needed to make the Great Empress relic.

“The Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill is not something a person with your cultivation level can use. You are a Desolate Heaven Master apprentice, whose combat power is not even worth a glance. That pill you have is useless. Return it to me, or in the negotiation in a few days time we would definitely talk about this. Your Lin family will definitely be put in a negative position. You still want to stay in the Lin family. Do you think Matriarch Lin will condone of you messing around!?”

The Thousand Hand Granny’s words were extremely reasonable, so much that they nearly made Yi Yun believe them.

However…

Yi Yun shook his head gently.

Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill? Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill?

If it were juniors with limited insight, they would not have been able to distinguish between the two extremely similar pills. However, Yi Yun had personally eaten the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill before. That pain due to the biting cold that reached the bone was how he remembered this pill.

So how could he misidentify the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill?

“You are saying this is the Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill?”

Yi Yun smiled. The Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill was a treasured medicine. The Thousand Hand Granny’s act was purposely done to make him misidentify it!

Seeing Yi Yun’s cold mask and teasing tone, the Thousand Hand Granny’s heart skipped a beat.

Could this kid know something?

She wanted to let Yi Yun think that he was holding on to the Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill. If Yi Yun carried on rummaging through her interspatial ring, he would see the jade scroll introducing the Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill, which was almost identical to the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill.

As such, Yi Yun would then definitely believe in her words.

And in the jade scroll, it had introduced how juniors with weaker cultivation levels could use the Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill. One could drink the soup made from melting the Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill with water.

Once a Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill was made into a soup, its medicinal properties would slowly disperse, then, even a junior at the Yuan Foundation realm would be able to intake it.

The Thousand Hand Granny believed that with Yi Yun’s greedy character, the more she pretended the preciousness of the pill, the more she said that the Shentu family clan would pursue the matter of the pill, the more he would not hand the pill back.

He would deceive the Lin family and secretly take the pill and intake it after smelting it with water.

In that case, he would be swallowing a Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill!

Finally, when the frost Qi entered his body, his meridians would be damaged, crippling his cultivation.

This result was what the Thousand Hand Granny was dreaming to see.

“Impossible, with his knowledge, it is impossible for him to distinguish the difference between the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill and the Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill.”

As the Thousand Hand Granny was thinking, Yi Yun began speaking slowly, “I see, the Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill! I definitely would not dare to take such a precious pill! If I were to take it, then the Shentu family clan would definitely insist on this point during the negotiations. Then, I will not be able to withhold my face and this would affect the smooth negotiations. If I cannot obtain any news of the Great Empress mystic realm, then I would have sinned greatly.”

Yi Yun’s willingness to admit his mistake shocked the Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian.

The Thousand Hand Granny was afraid of Yi Yun’s suspicions, so she had acted out in that way. She never expected it to be counterproductive. This kid was too flippant in his attitude. How could he change his attitude that easily?

Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny quickly tried to think of something in the hopes of luring Yi Yun into swallowing the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill, without making him suspicious.

However, at that moment, Yi Yun had already walked before Shentu Nantian and smiled, “Actually, both of your wounds are indeed quite terrible. You are both guests of the Lin family, yet you are so badly injured. I feel sorry about it. Since this Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill is so precious, then I will feed it to you. This way, you can nurse your wounds, lest the Lin family gets criticized for its poor hospitality.”

As Yi Yun said this, he pinched open Shentu Nantian’s mouth.

Shentu Nantian’s expression immediately changed!

“What… are you doing!?”

Shentu Nantian was inexplicably horrified, but Yi Yun pretended to look puzzled, “Helping you heal!”

As Yi Yun said this, he placed the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill into Shentu Nantian’s mouth. The moment the pill touched Shentu Nantian’s tongue, the biting cold entered his body, scaring Shentu Nantian silly.

His lips turned pale, his expression ashened. He was nearly scared out of his wits!

For a person like Shentu Nantian, death was not as terrifying as the damaging of all his meridians and losing his cultivation. That was 10,000 times more terrifying than death!

“No! Stop!”

Shentu Nantian’s eyes turned bloodshot as he struggled with his life. However, how could he resist Yi Yun when his cultivation level was completely suppressed? The Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill began to melt in his mouth. Traces of the medicinal essence began to enter Shentu Nantian’s meridians and blood vessels!

“Kid, stop!”

The Thousand Hand Granny was also terrified as she shouted loudly. However, Yi Yun simply turned a deaf ear.

“Little bastard, I will kill you!”

The Thousand Hand Granny charged forward, but Yi Yun gave a side kick, sending her flying backward!

“Peng!”

The Thousand Hand Granny slammed into the wall in a pathetic manner. Seeing her beloved grandchild about to lose his cultivation, her face turned ashen.

“You… You know what pill this is?”

The Thousand Hand Granny said with a trembling voice. At that moment, she finally realized this possibility.

“I can recognize the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill even if it turned into water!”

Yi Yun said nonchalantly as the Thousand Hand Granny turned dumbfounded. How did he recognize it? He had even accurately called out the name of the pill!

And at that moment, the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill was still in Shentu Nantian’s mouth. He was struggling not to swallow it as he felt full of despair!

423 - : Helping You Heal

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shentu Nantian had never felt so helpless before. In the past, he was the beholder of the fate of others. He enjoyed the feeling of having absolute power in deciding a person’s life and death.

No matter how the person in his hands pleaded, he would do as he pleased.

However, now his life was in the hands of another. No matter how he begged or took on a soft stance, the other party could decide on his fate as he wished. This feeling was pushing Shentu Nantian to the brink of collapse!

“No… No!”

Shentu Nantian said with difficulty. He was arrogant by nature, and was greatly hallowed while he grew up. He had never felt this humiliation before.

However, now he had to give in. With his present injuries, swallowing the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill would definitely cripple his cultivation. There was no doubt about it!

Yi Yun looked deadpan. As he grabbed the thin air, just the mental energy of him being a Desolate Heaven Master could allow him to control the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill telekinetically.

“Stop, quickly stop!”

The Thousand Hand Granny was greatly worried. She did not want to see her most talented grandchild be crippled by Yi Yun.

“This pill will cripple Tian’er’s cultivation. If Tian’er were to be crippled, he will lose his value. The Shentu family clan will definitely not give you the information of the Great Empress mystic realm if that were to happen. And I will rather die than tell you! If you do this, you will not be able to achieve anything!”

The Thousand Hand Granny hurriedly said.

According to Matriarch Lin’s intentions, she would not kill or cripple Shentu Nantian. They still needed him to exchange for the information about the Great Empress mystic realm.

Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny knew this, hence they believed Yi Yun could at most just cause suffering of the flesh, and would not do anything else to them. However, now, with more and more medicinal essence entering Shentu Nantian’s body, the Thousand Hand Granny became terrified!

As Yi Yun controlled the pill, the corner of his lips curled, “Do not worry. How can I really cripple him? I am still counting on Young Master Nantian to exchange for that Great Empress mystic realm!”

With Yi Yun saying this, the Thousand Hand Granny heaved a sigh of relief. At least this little bastard had not lost his rationality.

However, seeing Yi Yun not letting go, the Thousand Hand Granny angrily said, “Then quickly stop. If this carries on any further, Tian’er will really be crippled of his cultivation! When that happens, if that little witch girl’s terminated meridians cannot be joined up, the Lin family will hold you responsible! Do you really think that with your contributions, they will allow you to misbehave? That little witch girl is the person that the Lin family cares about the most. If you spoil the Lin family’s plans, no one can save you!”

“Right, what you say makes sense.” Yi Yun said slowly. However, while he spoke, the medicinal essence of the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill carried on slowly entering Shentu Nantian’s body. Shentu Nantian’s face was white. He could no longer say a single word. His body was beginning to tremble slightly from top to bottom!

Bit by bit, the frost Qi surged inside Shentu Nantian’s body. His eyebrows were beginning to form icicles.

Yi Yun carried on, “To let the Shentu family clan believe that Shentu Nantian still is of value, I have already decided to at most cripple a tiny bit of his cultivation. In the meantime, I will leave some internal injuries in his meridians. Then, it should be no problem.”

When Yi Yun said this, the Thousand Hand Granny’s heart skipped a beat!

As for Shentu Nantian who heard this, he felt like he had crashed down from a pinnacle. For a peerless genius like Shentu Nantian, if an internal injury was left in his meridians when he was still young, then no matter how much of a genius he was, he would no longer be the top genius of his era. In that case, his status in the family clan would greatly be reduced!

“Little bastard, you are crazy!” The Thousand Hand Granny quivered with rage, “Do you think that by crippling a portion of Tian’er’s talent, the upper echelons of the family will redeem him with the information about the Great Empress mystic realm!?”

The Shentu family clan would greatly value a peerless genius who could be the heir.

However, if Shentu Nantian could be replaced, then his value to the Shentu family clan would be greatly reduced. The Shentu Patriarch would not hand over something as important as the Great Empress mystic realm just because of his personal preference.

“Of course, I will not go too far. I will just leave a tiny internal injury that will affect a tiny bit of his talent. It would not be easy to tell. Besides, would not the both of you help me conceal this fact?”

When Yi Yun said this, the words that entered the ears of the Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian were like the diabolical laughter of a demon.

Getting them to help Yi Yun conceal it!?

Yi Yun had stabbed them with a knife, yet did not allow for them to tell anyone of it. To think he could think of this!

However, in the present situation…

They really had to help Yi Yun conceal the fact!

This was because they were afraid that the Shentu family clan would give up on them.

Be it Shentu Nantian or the Thousand Hand Granny, they did not wish to die. They wanted to escape the Lin family. They may sound unyielding, but they were afraid that the Shentu family clan would chose the information of the Great Empress mystic realm over their lives.

In this situation, the Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian naturally could not let the family know that they had already been internally injured.

Furthermore, taking a step back, since the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill was not completely swallowed, with just a tiny portion taken in, then the hidden injuries would not be too severe. They could still use a certain amount of resources to completely heal it.

Of course, it would still affect Shentu Nantian’s cultivation speed. It would severely impact his future achievements.

Just thinking of this made Shentu Nantian’s heart bleed. He had suffered terribly under this kid, yet he had to help him conceal the fact!

This was like having one’s teeth being knocked out, but still having to swallow it!

The endless pain and hatred consumed Shentu Nantian. He knew that the medicinal essence of the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill he had taken in up to now had already caused irreversible damage to his dantian!

And at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly let go. The Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill was no longer controlled by Yi Yun’s mental energy. Shentu Nantian felt his jaw loosen. He immediately rolled on the ground and spat out the pill.

“Eugh!”

Shentu Nantian grabbed at his neck as he retched while sprawled on the ground. He was trying to vomit out the medicinal essence that had entered his body.

However, once the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill’s medicinal essence entered the body, the frost Qi would enter deep into the meridians and dantian, so how could he vomit it out?

After retching for a long while, Shentu Nantian was still unable to get anything out. He sprawled on the ground like a dead dog.

“You…” Shentu Nantian suddenly looked up. His eyes exuded boundless hatred as he looked at Yi Yun!

He had never hated a person this much!

Even the hatred for the Shepherd Boy was just 1% of the hate he felt for this youth.

When he thought about the Shepherd Boy, Shentu Nantian’s heart suddenly sank!

Oh?

A few months ago, Shentu Nantian had set a trap to deal with the Shepherd Boy. In the end, the Shepherd Boy ended up killing the Myriad Empyreal King. This caused people within the Shentu family clan to oppose Shentu Nantian as they criticized him. As a result, Shentu Nantian bore a lot of pressure. However, the Shentu Patriarch had come forward to suppress the matter.

Shentu Nantian naturally hated the Shepherd Boy to the bone!

And all of this was due to another youth. It was because of him protecting that little witch girl time and again. He had distracted Shentu Nantian, giving the Desolate race spy an opportunity. If not, Shentu Nantian would not have needed to lay a trap to deal with the Shepherd Boy.

Now, Shentu Nantian recalled the process in which he dealt the youth…

He had first thrown him into the dungeon and set a ten-day period. He then spread the news that he would use the “Dismembering the Heart” punishment ten days later to lure the desolate race to come save him!

In the dungeon, the youth had been locked in chains and was force-fed a Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill. Shentu Nantian wanted to cripple the youth’s cultivation, so as to prevent him from becoming a future threat even if he was saved.

The Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill was able to do this perfectly. It was not something that anyone should be able to tell and was thus the perfect choice.

Thinking carefully about all this, his current experience was very similar!

It was as if… it was identical!

The incredible coincidence of history had been reproduced on himself. Could it be…

Shentu Nantian suddenly looked at Yi Yun with blood-thirsty eyes. It was full of killing intent.

The two eyes in front of him slowly overlapped with the hatred-filled eyes of the youth from a few months ago…

They were both fifteen years old, and… this youth recognized the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill. Right, with his humble origins, how was he able to recognize the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill? How could he be so sure at distinguishing it from the Frost Soul Chill Silkworm Pill?

It was because… he had eaten it before!

He remembered all the hate he had in the past. Now, with his schemes, he had perfectly reconstructed them, step by step, to make Shentu Nantian realize it!

Back then, what Shentu Nantian did to the youth had been completely reproduced!

“It’s you, you are that little bastard! Ah Ah Ah Ah!” Shentu Nantian seemed to go crazy as he howled crazily. He charged at Yi Yun as he lost his mind.

However, what met him was a punch from Yi Yun.

“Peng!”

Yi Yun’s punch hit Shentu Nantian in the face. His face was like an opened dye house. His face was completely blue and black, while his nose was bleeding profusely.

Shentu Nantian slammed to the ground once again as he fell on his back. He began to laugh bitterly.

“It’s you, that little bastard! It’s you! If I knew this earlier, I would have strangled you. No! If I knew this would happen, I would not have used you to lure out the Desolate Race. I would have dismembered your heart on the spot! I would not have let you die. I would treat you again and again for a thousand times, for 10,000 years. I would make you wish you could die! Ah Ah Ah! I hate you! Hate!”

Shentu Nantian was like a madman as he scratched crazily at the ground. His knuckles turned white as the flesh of his fingers tore.

“Puah!”

Without any warning, Shentu Nantian spat out a mouthful of blood. His body began to tremble violently. He was nearly on the brink of insanity!

He was already full of serious injuries. With Yi Yun force feeding him a small portion of the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill, the frost Qi had already entered his body. With anger then burning his heart, the combination had caused him to vomit blood.

This was really vomiting blood from anger!

When mortals encountered something that made them enraged, they could die from anger.

Typically, a warrior would reach such a stage. They would end up with mental demons. It would become an obsession due to the anger, influencing their cultivation!

Now, Yi Yun had become Shentu Nantian’s mental demon. As long as Yi Yun did not die, that anger would scar Shentu Nantian for life!

“Yi Yun, I Shentu Nantian swear that I will make you suffer a living death!”

Yi Yun looked at Shentu Nantian. Shentu Nantian had finally recognized him. He did not find it surprising, nor did he mind it. This was because the hatred Yun Yantian had brought forth had far exceeded that which he brought forth as Yi Yun.

As such, it was no longer a big deal for Shentu Nantian to recognize him.

With a hand pressing on his chin, Yi Yun slowly lifted off the mask…

424 - : So it was you

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the mask removed, Shentu Nantian saw a very familiar but hated face.

“Yi Yun! It’s really you!”

Shentu Nantian clenched his fists. His nails pierced his palms till they bled.

“You… clearly swallowed the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill. Why… Why isn’t your cultivation crippled!?”

Shentu Nantian could not believe that although Yi Yun had been saved a few months ago, Yi Yun should have been a cripple in Shentu Nantian’s opinion. Living like that would have been worse than death.

However, he never expected that a trivial figure like Yi Yun, that he could crush to death anytime, was now standing in front of him, with the control of his destiny.

Back then, whatever he did to him had been exactly returned!

It was as if an ant he had nonchalantly stepped to death a few months ago had now stepped on him a few months later!

An ant stamping a human to death.

This was completely… an inconceivable matter!

Back then, in the Chu royal residence, when Shentu Nantian was disposing of Yi Yun, he never dreamed that there could be such a shocking reversal.

“Impossible, impossible, how can this be possible… !?”

Shentu Nantian repeated this again and again as if he was possessed.

Yi Yun squeezed his wrist gently and said lightly, “Senior Shepherd Boy has a unique healing method. Furthermore, with me using my mutated eyes, I guided Senior Shepherd Boy so he could heal my meridians. Although there were some twists and turns during the process, it left no lingering side-effects. As for you, that might not necessarily be the case… ”

Yi Yun easily pushed the matter of him being healed on the Shepherd Boy. The Shepherd Boy had extraordinary means. For him to be able to come in and out of the battle formation that the Shentu family clan Elders had set up even after he was suffering from the Death Heavenly Revolution, it was not surprising that he could heal Yi Yun. Besides, Yi Yun’s energy vision was something very mysterious to others. He could say it as he wished.

After knowing Yi Yun’s true identity, Shentu Nantian was fully setback.

His mouth turned agape as his face paled. He fell into a lifeless state.

Previously, with the series of severe injuries, and after the series of provocation and torture, Shentu Nantian already was in an extremely provoked state.

And now, with the final life-threatening blow hitting him, it made Shentu Nantian unable to accept reality.

He could not accept the reversal in destiny. It was a simple matter for an emperor to sentence a beggar to be beheaded. There was nothing much to think about, but who knew that a few months later, the beggar had managed to revolt, imprisoning the emperor and wantonly torturing him. What would the emperor think?

It was not enough to describe it as a mental breakdown!

“This Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill isn’t finished yet.”

Yi Yun ignored Shentu Nantian as he looked at the Thousand Hand Granny.

The Thousand Hand Granny was alarmed. The white hair on her head began to stand up, “Little bastard, you… ”

Before the Thousand Hand Granny finished her words, Yi Yun had flicked his fingers, sending the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill with his mental energy straight into the Thousand Hand Granny’s mouth.

“Ah!”

The Thousand Hand Granny screamed as she lay prostrate on the ground. She desperately tried to vomit, but the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill had already flew into her stomach.

The terrifying frost Qi slowly began to seep into the Thousand Hand Granny’s blood vessels.

The moment the medicinal essence entered her body, the Thousand Hand Granny began to tremble. Her dried lips turned white, while a thin layer of ice formed on her eyebrows and face.

The Thousand Hand Granny ate even more of the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill than Shentu Nantian. However, the Thousand Hand Granny’s foundation was much better than his. Yi Yun kept his energy vision open all the time as he oversaw the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill’s medicinal essence being circulated in the Thousand Hand Granny’s body.

Soon, he realized that the medicinal essence was just right. It took some of her lifespan, but it did not completely cripple her cultivation.

However, with the frost Qi entering her vessels, a residual effect had been left behind, causing her strength to be greatly damaged.

“You… you… will die a horrible death!”

The Thousand Hand Granny gasped. Every breath of hers released icy particles.

However, this cursing was no different to a mosquito bite for Yi Yun.

Only a bitch would begin to use nasty words to condemn the other party when she could not beat someone in a fight.

Seeing the medicinal essence begin to erode the Thousand Hand Granny’s cultivated Yuan Qi, Yi Yun touched his interspatial ring and took out a pile of nearly weathered beast bones.

There was still one final matter.

Yi Yun held the Red-eyed Wolf’s bones, which contained that black evil energy, in his hands.

With a thought, the dark energy was extracted by the Purple Crystal. While the Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian were busy struggling, Yi Yun controlled the black energy and caused it to fly straight into Shentu Nantian’s heart like a ghost from the back.

“Whew!”

The black gas seemed to be like a ghost as it silently pierced straight through Shentu Nantian’s flesh.

That second, Shentu Nantian’s body felt a sudden tremble, but then, there was not much change.

Yi Yun did not want Shentu Nantian or the Thousand Hand Granny to see the black gas entering Shentu Nantian’s body. If they knew that he could control the black energy as he wished, it would be too outrageous.

After finishing everything, Yi Yun let out a long sigh of relief. He felt extremely good!

Although he was good at enduring and hiding his intentions, it did not mean he liked it. He liked to end grudges quickly, living a carefree life.

Yi Yun never thought of himself as a gentleman. If he had a grudge, he would definitely seek revenge. He would not pretend to be magnanimous, even though he clearly hated the other person.

As for the saying “for a nobleman to take revenge, ten years is not too long”, Yi Yun felt it was quite a tragic thing. If revenge could be accomplished in a short period of time, who would endure for ten years?

Yi Yun walked out of the dungeon with his mind at ease. At the dungeon’s entrance, he saw a girl, Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong was as usual, wearing her spotless white dress. She clearly looked out of place in the dark dungeon entrance. She looked like a fairy who had strayed into Hell.

Seeing Yi Yun’s look, Lin Xintong’s lips curved slightly, “You went to see Shentu Nantian?”

“Yes.”

Yi Yun nodded. Matriarch Lin originally intended to spare Shentu Nantian in exchange for information about the Great Empress mystic realm. However, with Yi Yun’s sinister idea, he first tortured Shentu Nantian before they let him go. Lin Xintong was also aware of this.

Lin Xintong noticed that Yi Yun had already taken off his mask, it was apparent that Shentu Nantian now knew Yi Yun’s true identity. She did not know what thoughts Shentu Nantian had as a result.

Upon thinking of this, Lin Xintong revealed a rare playful smile as she said, “Whoever offends you would surely have bad luck befall them. They would definitely not have a good ending.”

“Uh… ” Yi Yun awkwardly frowned. Although he had done things which he was not ashamed of, having Lin Xintong realize it still made him feel like he had been caught doing something bad, “Am I that evil… ?”

Lin Xintong chuckled, “Of course not! There is no need to show mercy against an enemy. Whatever you did was right. Actually, with a friend like you, I feel at ease. You can do many things that I’m unable to do, and some of them might be things that I would not have thought of. My strength is clearly higher than yours, yet, I feel like I am being protected by you.”

As Lin Xintong said, she gave a knowing laugh.

This was an uncanny feeling. She had an unfortunate life growing up by being left out. Although the Matriarch was good to her, the Matriarch was in a high position. She was the decider of the internal matters of the Lin family, so there was a sense of distance felt by Lin Xintong.

The Matriarch had too many grandchildren, and Lin Xintong was just one of them. This made Lin Xintong behave very carefully, even in front of the Matriarch.

Only when Su Jie appeared did Lin Xintong first feel that she could rely on someone. However… Su Jie was after all an elder. It was normal for her to be protected by him.

And now, this sense of protection had appeared from a youth that was in the same generation as her. This was her first time, which made it feel very wonderful.

When the Lin family first came into contact with Yi Yun, Lin Xintong was actually very surprised. Back then, she had never expected that she would be protected by Yi Yun, allowing her to get out of the crisis and her tragic fate.

It was like a dream.

“This time, you have completely offended Shentu Nantian. He can’t wait to drink your blood and eat your flesh. You need to be careful in the future.”

Lin Xintong turned serious as she warned Yi Yun.

Yi Yun knew this of course as he said, “I know, but there is no other way. Just from me disrupting their medicine trial, it is enough for them to want to kill me. Even if I don’t do anything in the future, it would be useless.”

“However, this time, Shentu Nantian sure has suffered a great deal. For him to carry on being a leader amongst the younger generation would be no easy task…”

Shentu Nantian’s tragic state was a long story.

His soul was damaged, his body was damaged and the frost poison had entered his body. From the poison and the anger forming a mental demon in him, he had vomited blood out in anger.

All of these added up would definitely affect Shentu Nantian no matter how determined he was.

“Let’s go. Follow me to Jade Bamboo peak. You might as well live in Jade Bamboo peak for the coming days. The Matriarch wants to chat with you. Besides… people from the Shentu family clan will soon arrive. They should be planning on bringing information about the Great Empress mystic realm.”

Lin Xintong’s words made Yi Yun think.

For the information regarding the Great Empress mystic realm, the Shentu family clan sure was fast.

This also showed how important Shentu Nantian was to the Shentu family clan. This was good news.

Could they really discover a good solution to heal Lin Xintong in the… Great Empress mystic realm?

425 - : Planting the evil energy

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jade Bamboo peak was covered in lush green bamboo trees. Inside the bamboo forest stood a tower named Jade Bamboo Little Tower. It did not have a large area, but it was extremely exquisite. It was where Matriarch Lin stayed.

Other than a few Grand Elders who dedicated themselves to cultivating so they could extend their lifespans and did not question worldly matters, Matriarch Lin was actually in charge of the Lin family. Jade Bamboo Little Tower became the spot where the highest power resided in the Lin family.

At that moment, in the Jade Bamboo Little Tower, Matriarch Lin was sitting on her chair. Two maidservants were standing beside her, massaging her shoulders. Her eyes were slightly closed, as if she was about to fall asleep. On the surface, Matriarch Lin looked like an ordinary old granny from a rich, noble family. It was as if because an old person was lacking in mental energy, they would doze off from time to time.

“Matriarch Lin…”

A woman dressed in a palatial gown entered and bowed to Matriarch Lin. She was Lin Xintong’s grandaunt.

“Oh? Fenggu… ” Matriarch Lin opened her eyes slightly. After glancing at her, Matriarch Lin nodded, motioning her to take a seat.

Lin Xintong’s grandaunt, Lin Fenggu, had previously pushed for the Lin family and Shentu family clan marriage alliance. Although it was proven that the Shentu family clan had nefarious motives, people like Lin Fenggu were not punished, they were only reprimanded.

After all, there were too many people who sided with the Shentu family clan. Even the Matriarch herself had ordered Lin Xintong to eat the relic at the final moment.

For this, Matriarch Lin had self-reflected for three days, so as to remember this lesson.

“Matriarch, it’s about that Yun Yantian…”

The woman in palatial gown said distastefully. She still had a lot of prejudice towards Yi Yun.

“Oh?” Matriarch Lin frowned slightly. She had a hunch that Lin Fenggu would not say anything good, “What about him?”

“It’s this, I received some information regarding him. His true name is Yi Yun and he was born in the Eastern regions. Furthermore, even in the backward Eastern regions, he was an extremely normal civilian. His background could not be any humbler.”

“And this is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that he has an elder sister of a different surname. His sister is actually from the… Desolate race! Furthermore, she is a very important figure in the Desolate race. After his sister’s identity was exposed, this Yi Yun had actually desperately protected his sister to let her escape. He gave a Desolate race spy a chance to launch a sneak attack.”

“And because of this, he was imprisoned. However, it seems that this Yi Yun has something to do with the Shepherd Boy. A few days later, the Shepherd Boy came personally, risking being besieged by Humans. He saved Yi Yun and took him away, and because of this he had paid quite a sizable price!”

“Hence, I suspect that Yi Yun is actually a Desolate race spy. He has nefarious motives coming to our Lin family!”

Lin Fenggu gave a series of deductions, making Matriarch Lin’s frown grow tighter, “Where did you hear that from?”

“That… ” Lin Fenggu hesitated before saying, “I went to the dungeon to visit Shentu Nantian. It was Shentu Nantian who told me… ”

“Shentu Nantian!” Matriarch Lin’s eyebrows ticked upwards. She would not easily believe Shentu Nantian’s words now. However, if he had lied, it would be easily exposed. After all, there was Yi Yun’s master, Su Jie, who could be questioned. Furthermore, sending someone to the Eastern regions would allow them to easily find out.

“He has a Desolate race sister… ” Matriarch Lin knew that this was likely true. As for Yi Yun covering for the Desolate race spy, Matriarch Lin believed this was likely Lin Fenggu or Shentu Nantian deliberately distorting the facts and making embellishments.

“Back then the person who imprisoned Yi Yun was Shentu Nantian, right!?”

Matriarch Lin understood the crux of the matter quickly. She knew that Shentu Nantian was in the Eastern regions some time ago. Since he knew so much about Yi Yun and in such clear detail, obviously Shentu Nantian was personally involved in it.

“I see. Shentu Nantian has a feud with Yi Yun. No wonder he changed his name, and even wore a mask.”

“Matriarch, you are indeed prophetic. That’s how it was!” Lin Fenggu quickly continued while flattering her. “Hence, Yi Yun is using our Lin family to get his revenge on Shentu Nantian in their personal feud. He isn’t dedicated to the beneficial outcome of the Lin family. His motives are not pure!”

“That evil little creature’s ties with the Desolate race isn’t clear. He might even betray the Human race in the future. If you were to ask me, we should quickly chase him out of the Lin family. If I had my say, crippling his cultivation would be best to prevent any repercussions!”

“But then… I know Matriarch is kind. So although this evil little creature has ulterior motives, the Lin family is slightly indebted to him, so we can’t do anything to him.”

“However, if we were to chase him out of the Lin family, Shentu family clan will naturally deal with him. At that moment, we will not be criticized, and it would also prevent any repercussions. It’s killing two birds with one stone.”

“Besides, that evil little creature is very greedy. He took Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny’s interspatial rings. He pocketed all the good items in them for himself. Amongst the items included Shentu Nantian’s companion sword, and the ancient Desolate Heaven technique manual! If we are to chase him away, we need him to leave those behind! Actually, Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny were captured by our Lin family and their cultivation was restrained by our Lin family. The evil little creature had only provided a little information, so he has no right to get all those benefits!”

“Matriarch, you should also know that the Desolate race has always been eyeing the Human race. The moment we go to war, who knows what kind of sabotage that evil little creature will commit. If at that moment, our Lin family is still retaining the evil little creature, we would become a sinner of the Human race!”

Lin Fenggu tried her best to let her imagination run wild as she described various serious consequences to the Matriarch. This caused the Matriarch’s expression to sullen slightly, “Did Shentu Nantian tell you all of this?”

“U…” Lin Fenggu’s heart sank as she did not know how to respond. From the way the Matriarch’s face had turned sullen, she did not know what the Matriarch was thinking.

“No… Of course not.” Lin Fenggu quickly shook her head.

“Although Shentu Nantian is of poor character, he was involved in it himself after all. What he said is worth exploring. But if you didn’t hear it from what he said, then all of what you said was just your imagination?”

The Matriarch’s tone changed, causing Lin Fenggu to jump with fright. She hastily said, “But what I said isn’t impossible!

The Matriarch looked at Lin Fenggu with cold eyes, “The bunch of you only gossip behind others’ back, and speak badly of someone in front of me. Other than slandering talent, what else can you do!?”

“If the family only had people with such gossipy tongues, and no one with ability, the Lin family would have fallen in the hands of the Shentu family clan this time! In 10,000 years, our family could have been annihilated.”

“I… ” Lin Fenggu’s words seemed stuck. She opened her mouth, but she did not know what to say. The Matriarch usually had extremely strong stances, so before she raged, no one would know what she was thinking. If one said words in a muddle headed fashion that did not agree with her thoughts, the outcome would be terrible.

“Go face the wall and ponder over your misdeeds for ten days!”

Matriarch Lin’s voice was cold. Lin Fenggu wanted to say something, but eventually, she swallowed her words, before obediently leaving.

After Lin Fenggu left, the Matriarch’s expression still didn’t look good.

In her heart, she was naturally biased towards Yi Yun.

In fact, she really liked Yi Yun. He was young and had excellent talent in the Desolate Heaven technique. His future prospects were immeasurable. His personal relations with Lin Xintong was also good.

Such a person would provide a lot of help for Lin Xintong in the future.

The Matriarch did not mind that Yi Yun had a Desolate race sister of a different surname. However, she was afraid that he really was involved with the Desolate race. Then, it would be like a precious piece of jade that had a fatal flaw in it.

Hence, even though the Matriarch had reprimanded Lin Fenggu, she still needed to investigate the matter regarding Yi Yun. Lin Fenggu’s words were not enough to make her gullibly believe in them, but she too would not gullibly believe Yi Yun just because of her personal preference.

“Send the order, get someone from the Family Rules Hall to see me.”

The Matriarch said to a maidservant.

The Lin family’s Family Rules Hall was responsible in maintaining the family’s domestic discipline. Most of the time, they would also be sent out to perform some missions.

The Matriarch had planned to let people from the Family Rules Hall travel to the Eastern regions to investigate what had happened. She wanted to know if Yi Yun’s actions had been anything out of the ordinary.

“Yes.” The maidservant retreated. The Matriarch could not feel relaxed. She did not mind Yi Yun taking Shentu Nantian’s and the Thousand Hand Granny’s items. She was afraid that because of his relationship with the Desolate race, Yi Yun would favor the Desolate race.

That night, people from the Lin family’s Family Rules Hall set off. The Matriarch did not summon Yi Yun to meet her, so Yi Yun carried on staying on the Jade Bamboo peak.

However, three days later, people from the Shentu family clan came.

They were here to negotiate with the Lin family. They had also brought the information regarding the Great Empress mystic realm!

426 - : Slander

CKtalon  CKtalon

The atmosphere surrounding the arrival of the Shentu family clan was completely different from the previous one.

For a large family clan of the Tian Yuan World to have its successor captured and nearly given an extreme punishment like “dismembering the heart”, it was a heavy smack in the Shentu family clan’s face. What made it even more tragic was that they had no choice but to come.

For this matter, the Shentu family clan was originally in the wrong. The Lin family had even purposely publicized this matter. With their nefarious schemes exposed, the Shentu family clan had lost face. Now, many Shentu family clan Elders, the Thousand Hand Granny, as well as, the most important genius in the family, Shentu Nantian were in the hands of the Lin family.

With so many Tian Yuan family clans as witnesses, the Shentu family clan could only suffer in silence.

These people had to bring Shentu Nantian back, or people in the Shentu family clan would find the act too heartless. They would also be criticized as being too ruthless and cold-blooded by the Tian Yuan world families.

As for the revenge on the Lin family, that was a matter for the future.

In the martial ground of the Lin family, people from the Lin family and the Shentu family clan were facing one another. Their gazes clashed, as if they were forming sparks.

This martial ground was ordinarily filled with killing intent, and since the Lin family had lost all decorum with the Shentu family clan, Matriarch Lin had not prepared a guest hall for the Shentu family clan’s arrival. She had arranged for the meeting to be held at a martial ground.

The martial ground was about a thousand feet long. In the middle, there were tables and chairs placed without much attention given to them. There sat Elders from the two family clans.

And surrounding the martial ground were young disciples and children of the Lin family and Shentu family clan. These young geniuses also stared at each other fiercely.

To be chosen to appear to help the family’s forceful stance in this negotiation, it was an honor for these juniors. So although they were high-spirited, these juniors gave envious and complex looks towards the sides of Matriarch Lin.

There stood two people. One of them was the Lin family’s proud daughter of Heaven, Lin Xintong. The other was Yi Yun.

They already knew that Yi Yun was Yun Yantian and that he had previously changed his identity for some reason.

They stood around the martial ground, while Yi Yun was standing by Matriarch Lin’s side. He was standing side by side with Lin Xintong, so this difference in status with them was evident.

Lin Fenggu sat not far away. She looked at Yi Yun with an ashen expression. Her confinement had just ended, and the moment she came out for the negotiation, she saw Yi Yun standing beside the Matriarch.

She felt extremely depressed. Matriarch Lin clearly knew that Yi Yun had ties with the Desolate race, yet she treated Yi Yun with such favor.

The venue’s atmosphere was heavy. It could be said that they were ready to jump at each other’s throats any moment.

Especially with the martial ground as the background, people began to suspect that both sides might come to blows at any time.

Yi Yun could feel that in this negotiation, other than the Elders who were responsible for the negotiation, he had subtly become the focus of attention.

There was no concealing of the truth. The Shentu family clan already knew Yun Yantian was Yi Yun. This was the kid who had completely destroyed the Shentu family clan’s plans, causing them to lose all face.

The Elders from the Shentu family clan could suppress their hostility, but many juniors gave murderous looks at Yi Yun without a second thought.

“That’s him!”

A thin youth stared at Yi Yun like a venomous snake with the martial ground separating them.

His skin was sallow, and he looked sickly. However, his drooping eyes were extremely sharp. His entire person was like a sinister condor.

“If an enemy, who had impaired Shentu Nantian, fell into my hands, then it would greatly enhance my prestige within the family. Unfortunately, he is too young, and focuses on the Desolate Heaven technique. His combat powers aren’t worthy of mention. Defeating him is nothing to be proud of.”

The thin youth lightly used his thumb to rub his nose.

This person was named Shentu Ya. He was a strong competitor to Shentu Nantian in the Shentu family clan!

Although Shentu Nantian was pretty much designated to be the family’s heir, unexpected events could always happen. Ya, who was younger than Shentu Nantian had a frightening reputation.

He was completely different from the usually mild-mannered Shentu Nantian. Shentu Ya was bloodthirsty. He began taking on family missions at the age of twelve. His first mission was to wipe out a small bandit sect. No one out of the hundreds of people from the sect was spared.

Later on, Ya embarked on the extreme path of murder. Those he killed could hardly keep their corpses intact.

“Ya, don’t be negligent!”

Hearing Ya’s words, an Elder leading the Shentu family clan said softly.

Shentu Ya stared at Yi Yun as he licked the corners of his mouth, “I know. The matter ordered by the Patriarch will definitely be done well by me!”

At that moment, Yi Yun, who was standing beside the Matriarch, could clearly feel that a pair of eyes that resembled a serpent’s was staring at him.

Yi Yun tilted his head slightly and saw Shentu Ya.

Shentu Ya’s eyes squinted slightly as he grinned.

“This guy…” Yi Yun frowned slightly. He sure received the attention of the Shentu family clan.

Ignoring the hate Yi Yun had gathered for himself, just him putting down Shentu Nantian had caused many Shentu family clan disciples to be greatly interested in putting down Yi Yun.

It was particularly even more so for those people who coveted Shentu Nantian’s spot.

At that moment, there was a sudden overwhelming pressure that befell the venue!

No one knew where this pressure came from. They only felt their bodies turn heavily suddenly, as if a mountain was pressing down on them.

This is…

People were alarmed. Many weaker juniors nearly fell to the ground.

People looked up into the sky and saw a dark cloud slowly gathering. This overwhelming pressure seemed to come from the dark cloud.

Shentu Patriarch!

Matriarch Lin took in a deep breath. She knew that the Shentu Patriarch was here! Indeed, for such an important negotiation, how could he not come here to hold the ground?

If he did not come, once the Lin family had any intention to kill, they could wipe out everyone who had come to negotiate. Then, the Shentu family clan would be severely weakened.

As the dark cloud’s overwhelming pressure was transmitted, a few strong Yuan Qi beams surged up from a few Lin family main peaks to meet this overwhelming pressure!

The two auras clashed in the sky. Immediately, a strong wind sent the clothes of everyone fluttering and their hair flying.

These were the Lin family’s Grand Elders!

This meeting may be a negotiation in name, but it was actually a contest between the top figures of the Shentu family clan and the Lin family!

The juniors present felt their hearts stir as they saw the effects of the wind and the clouds gathering together. With the Lin family’s Grand Elders helping them withstand the pressure, they immediately felt much better.

At that moment, Matriarch Lin said, “Where’s the information for the Great Empress mystic realm?”

“Where’s the people?” The Shentu family clan’s Elder-in-charge retaliated with a question.

“Bring them.” A Lin family Elder clapped.

Soon, a few Lin family guards brought the Elders from the Shentu family clan over. In front of them were two people, Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny.

They were in chains, their hair was unkempt and messy. Their faces were stained with blood. They looked no different from prisoners on death row.

Upon seeing the Thousand Hand Granny’s and Shentu Nantian’s appearances, the faces of people from the Shentu family clan twitched.

The Elder-in-charge’s eyebrows jumped, as his expression turned cold, “What is the meaning of this?”

The Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian were in a very terrible state. It was equivalent to smacking their Shentu family clan’s face!

“To imprison them, we naturally needed to restrain their cultivation. Locking them up was just to make them suffer a tiny bit. If that were not the case, others will think that my Lin family is a place that you can come and go as you please.” Matriarch Lin said coldly.

Whatever Yi Yun had done was tacitly permitted by Matriarch Lin. She was after all, unwilling to release Shentu Nantian in the first place.

At that moment, not even the Shentu family clan, even people from the Lin family felt their hearts jump. This Yi Yun sure was cruel!

In the Elder gallery, Su Jie’s mouth could not help but twitch. He choked back his laughter as he felt extremely good seeing Shentu Nantian and that old hag in such a state.

This cheap disciple of his sure was good at letting people suffer…

Well done! He had never liked the Thousand Hand Granny due to a myriad of reasons!

“Suffer a tiny bit?” The Shentu family clan’s Elder-in-charge’s face turned dark. He took a step to stand before the Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian. As fast as lightning, he grabbed their wrists.

“Oh?” The Elder carefully probed. The Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian were both injured. Their meridians were damaged!

These injuries were not light, but if they used good medicine, these were not irreparable injuries.

However, this was clearly not just “suffering a tiny bit” as Matriarch Lin described.

“Did they do anything to you?” The Elder asked.

Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny looked each other in the eye. Both of them hated Yi Yun to the bone.

Shentu Nantian gritted his teeth, “A man who loses position and influence may be subjected to much indignity. That Yi Yun is a despicable person; however, he did not dare do anything to us. We only suffered some physical pain and there is no damage to our core.”

As Shentu Nantian said this, he felt his anger rising. He had been forced to eat the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill, yet he could only say that he had suffered some physical pain. It was such a humiliation!

This feud was truly irreconcilable!

427 - : Negotiation

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Just some physical pain… ” The Elder-in-charge looked deeply at Shentu Nantian, “Niantian… Your spirit might have been too abundant. So with this setback, it might not be a bad thing for you.”

The Elder-in-charge could only give some consolation. Shentu Nantian clenched his fists tightly, with his nails nearly piercing his flesh. However, he could only say, “Nantian understands.”

He did not have any way of telling the Elder-in-charge of the experiences he had in the dungeon. If other people knew, other than letting him lose face, there were no other benefits.

Furthermore, it would show the people who were eyeing his status that his meridians were damaged. By knowing that his future achievements would be affected, their ambitions would increase as a result.

This humbling feeling made Shentu Nantian’s intestines form knots. He could only suffer in silence!

“Since you have seen them, where is the information of the Great Empress mystic realm!?”

Matriarch Lin said coldly. At the same time, a Lin family Elder beside her took a soul contract out.

This soul contract had even more complicated engraved runes. The quality was even higher. It was used to bind the Shentu family clan, so as to ensure that the Shentu family clan would give them a jade scroll with genuine contents.

It also bound the Lin family, ensuring that Shentu Nantian’s and the Thousand Hand Granny’s lives weren’t in peril.

The Shentu family clan’s Elder-in-charge coldly snorted. He used a dagger to slit his finger, and with a flick of his finger, a drop of blood flew onto the soul contract.

“For you.”

Following that, a jade scroll flew out from the Elder-in-charge’s hands. This jade scroll flew very fast, and it was almost like a beam of white lightning. It contained the Shentu family clan’s Elder-in-charge’s Yuan Qi. The explosive sound it made while flying was shockingly powerful!

There was no doubt that just this jade scroll could threaten any ordinary Sage’s life!

This was a contest between the Shentu family clan and the Lin family’s upper echelons. Even a negotiation was extremely tense!

Matriarch Lin stretched her hand out and grabbed it. A soft white glow wrapped around her old hands as she easily clasped the jade scroll.

After confirming the contents of the jade scroll, Matriarch Lin nodded. Looking at the soul contract, the soul contract had begun burning by itself. Soon, it turned into a ball of flames. One could see the blood-colored ghost head burning as it slowly died and disappeared.

Once the contract was fulfilled, the soul contract would destroy itself. Once the ghost head was destroyed, the curse would naturally be lifted.

This proved that there were no problems with the contents of the jade scroll.

Since the negotiation was completed, Matriarch Lin said bluntly, “Send them off!”

She did not wish for the people from the Shentu family clan to stay in the Lin family area for a second longer.

“There will be retribution. Today, you might have gotten the upper hand, but our Shentu family clan will take it back in the future!”

As a Great Elder said that, he turned and walked towards their airship.

Behind him, the crowd of Shentu family clan family members began to depart. In the clouds, the immense pressure that flooded the venue also slowly faded.

And at the moment the pressure disappeared, Yi Yun, who was standing next to Matriarch Lin, suddenly felt a deadly chill flash through his heart.

A massive amount of killing intent had swept across him that instant!

“Ah!”

Yi Yun’s face went pale as he held his breath.

He knew clearly that in the dark clouds far into the distance, there was a pair of cold, ruthless eyes that had glanced deeply at him.

This glance had caused his limbs to feel numb and cold!

Shentu Patriarch!

This was an old guy who even the Shepherd Boy, back in his heyday, coupled with a primordial Divine Lion could not completely beat. And now, he had specifically glanced at him!

Just that glance was penetrating into the heart. It was as if just before the glance, he had returned to the time when he was still a mortal. It was like he was standing naked in a snowy environment.

The biting chill that was impossible to defend against made people flustered!

“Yi Yun!”

Matriarch Lin, who was standing guard beside Yi Yun, quickly put her hand out as she supported Yi Yun’s heart from the back.

A stream of warm Yuan Qi was injected into Yi Yun’s body. With that, Yi Yun’s complexion turned better.

“Are you alright?” Matriarch Lin asked with concern.

“I’m fine… Thank you Matriarch.” Yi Yun shook his head. A glance from the Shentu Patriarch was enough to cause his forehead to release micro beads of sweat. Even his soul felt extremely tense, and there was a tingling pain.

So this was the power of the top figure in the Tian Yuan world…

“That old monster! To actually do that to a junior.”

Matriarch Lin looked hatefully at the dark cloud that was fading into the distance.

The final glance the Shentu Patriarch had given contained his will. Although he could not kill Yi Yun here, that glance was enough to send a murderous warning.

To make the Shentu Patriarch behave like that clearly meant that the Shentu Patriarch was really angry about this matter!

The Lin family and the Shentu family clan were large family clans in the Tian Yuan world. If both sides really fought without considering anything else, they would both end up suffering. No one wished to see such an outcome.

Under this circumstances, the Shentu Patriarch had to endure this.

The Shentu Patriarch was forced to back down. But for a person like him to back down, that was a great price in itself.

“Yi Yun, you must be careful. Because you offended the Shentu family clan, you must be careful when you tour the Tian Yuan world. However, if you are in the Lin family, it is absolutely safe. My Lin family will protect you well.”

Matriarch Lin said to Yi Yun.

At that moment, many of the Lin family’s Elders had left with their disciples. There were only a few people that included Lin Xintong and Yi Yun, left beside Matriarch Lin.

Yi Yun heartfeltly said, “Thank you Matriarch.”

“This is to be expected. The reason why you offended the Shentu family clan is largely because of my Lin family. If it was not for you, I would have suffered from being dim-sighted from my old age. I nearly fell for their schemes. For the Great Empress relic to turn the Red-eyed Wolf into bones, it has the side-effect of affecting one’s lifespan. If I were to agree to the Shentu family clan’s proposal, I would have harmed Xintong, and I would also have harmed the Lin family. Yi Yun, you could be said to be our Lin family’s benefactor!”

Originally, the marriage alliance was beneficial to both the Lin family and the Shentu family clan. However, with the relic being flawed, only the Shentu family clan would gain the benefits, while the Lin family would have mistakenly fell for the trap. They would have ruined their family’s heir, and their resulting future could be predicted.

“Matriarch, you make it sound too serious, this junior is not worthy of that.” Yi Yun clasped his fists and said humbly.

The Matriarch smiled. She was very satisfied with Yi Yun’s attitude of not being arrogant, despite having accomplishing something.

“Yi Yun, I heard that you have not decided on your marriage matters. If you do want to marry, you can choose any girl in the Lin family that you like… ” When the Matriarch said this, Yi Yun felt speechless. He awkwardly touched his cheek and said, “This junior is still young, so this is not an urgent matter… ”

Clearly, the Matriarch still wanted Yi Yun to have his roots in the Lin family.

Not far away, Lin Xintong’s grandaunt felt unhappy hearing this, “Matriarch, how can you… ”

She was worried about the matter regarding Yi Yun and the Desolate race. How could the Matriarch let a person whose identity was unknown, and his motives impure, take root in the Lin family? Then, wasn’t what she said in the past for nothing!?

“Oh?”

The Matriarch’s eyebrows knitted as she gave Lin Fenggu a staring glance.

Lin Fenggu suddenly stopped speaking. Although she extremely disliked Yi Yun, she did not dare to go against the Matriarch’s wishes.

The Matriarch turned back towards Yi Yun and her expression changed into a pleasant smile, “You aren’t young anymore. Many mortals get married when they were 15 years old. For warriors, they may get married later, but it is also alright to have an early engagement.”

“On the road of martial arts, there are some cultivation techniques that allow for cultivation intercourse, which will help give fast improvements in cultivation. My Lin family also has such cultivation techniques, you can choose any of them as you wish. Of course, you can also choose who will be your companion. As long as you choose one, I will personally help you in the matchmaking process.”

There were not many people around, so the Matriarch said all that without any inhibitions. This made Lin Xintong, who was standing beside her, blush slightly. She was still pure, so hearing the Matriarch say things like this openly made her unsure on what her reaction should be.

“The Matriarch really is thinking seriously about Yi Yun’s marriage… ” Lin Xintong muttered to herself. For the Matriarch to be a matchmaker herself, no junior in the Lin family could enjoy such a treatment.

And if the Matriarch had any intention for a marriage to happen, how could it not succeed?

Besides, in the family, there would be no girl who would dislike Yi Yun…

When this thought appeared in her mind, Lin Xintong secretly glanced at Yi Yun. Now, Yi Yun had grown up into a bright young teenager. His childish looks no longer existed, and he looked more wise and he had a restrained air to him.

Furthermore, with his outstanding talent and bright future, which girl wouldn’t feel tempted?

Thinking about the celebration party a month ago, the young girls that had surrounded Yi Yun were like fluttering birds. These girls were obviously not following the instructions of the elders to approach Yi Yun, but, they wanted to get to know Yi Yun well themselves.

With this thought, the corners of Lin Xintong’s mouth suffused a faint smile. Back then, when she met Yi Yun in the Cloud Wilderness, how would she have known that he would become such an admirable youth?

“Yi Yun, think about it. If you wish, you can also go into our Lin family’s cultivation technique library and choose a cultivation technique you want.”

The people from the Family Rules Hall, who were sent out by the Matriarch, had investigated everything that happened to Yi Yun in the Chu royal residence a few months ago at the fastest speed possible.

After Matriarch Lin had heard it, she was already sure that Yi Yun was risking his life to stop Shentu Nantian because of his relationship with his sister.

Not only did this not decrease Matriarch Lin’s impression of Yi Yun, it in fact made Matriarch Lin think that Yi Yun was a person who set high values on relationships. Such a person was even more worthy of being trusted.

On the contrary, if he ignored his sister’s life, and assumed a stance of placing righteousness before family to appear dignified, such a person needed to be watched out for.

This was because this meant that they would do anything to reach their goals.

Yi Yun was a genius that was worthy of being trusted and nurtured. Hence, Matriarch Lin decided to hold on to Yi Yun’s heart. If she could get Yi Yun to find a girl that he liked in the Lin family, it would be even better. The girl will slowly take up a spot in Yi Yun’s heart. As such, there would be no fear in Yi Yun leaning towards the Desolate race.

428 - : Murderous Intent and Will

CKtalon  CKtalon

Under the companionship of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, Matriarch Lin headed to the Jade Bamboo peak.

When they stepped into the airship, the Matriarch suddenly stopped and handed the Great Empress mystic realm’s jade scroll to Lin Xintong.

“Xintong, take a look…”

This sentence made many people pause in their thoughts as they too stopped in their footsteps.

Everyone looked towards Lin Xintong.

Great Empress mystic realm!

The trade between the Lin family and the Shentu family clan was not only limited to the Great Empress mystic realm’s location. It also included the experience the Shentu family clan gained within the Great Empress mystic realm. It gave a general outline of what the Great Empress mystic realm had as well as the potential opportunities and risks.

Only the Matriarch had seen the jade scroll. As for what it was inside and whether it had something that could cure Lin Xintong of her naturally terminated meridians, was still a mystery.

If even after they had worked so hard and given it so much thought, the Great Empress mystic realm proved to be of no value to Lin Xintong, then it would be meaningless.

Lin Xintong took the jade scroll as she gently touched the corners of the jade scroll’s smooth edges.

Her expression remained calm. Only her long eyelashes trembled slightly as she read.

What was written in the jade scroll?

Could it provide an opportunity to change her own destiny?

With her perception sinking into the jade scroll, Lin Xintong read the contents within. She remained silent for a long while as everyone around waited as they observed Lin Xintong’s expression.

Old Man Su Jie’s hands were clasped together. He was clearly very nervous and looking forward to it.

There was no doubt that whatever easily obtained or valuable within the Great Empress mystic realm had already been taken away by the Shentu family clan.

What remained would only be extremely dangerous things that might not even be obtainable. This was as Shentu Nantian had said, the Shentu family clan had only explored a tiny portion of the Great Empress mystic realm. There were even more opportunities that the Shentu family clan could only lament at after seeing its inaccessibility.

After Lin Xintong finished reading it, she did not say anything. She returned the jade scroll to the Matriarch. Neither excitement nor frustration could be seen from her face.

“Let me see!”

Su Jie could not bear it further. Although Su Jie was an outsider, the Matriarch absolutely trusted him, so she naturally did not mind letting him see the contents of the jade scroll.

After Su Jie finished reading, his expression turned odd. Yi Yun, who was watching by the side, was also curious. What was in the jade scroll?

The Matriarch could tell what was on Yi Yun’s mind. She handed the jade scroll to Yi Yun, “You take a look too.”

“Me?”

Yi Yun was slightly stunned. He never expected that the Matriarch would specially give a junior like him to read the jade scroll first hand.

Beside Yi Yun, Lin Fenggu was angered. She had not even seen it as an elder, yet Yi Yun got it before her. Could her position in the Matriarch’s heart be less than this kid Yi Yun?

“To be able to obtain this jade scroll was all thanks to you. Although there is hope, this hope…is quite slim.”

The Matriarch shook her head gently. After Yi Yun received the jade scroll, he sank his perception into it.

As such, this mystical land that had been left behind a long time ago finally pulled off its veil in front of Yi Yun…

The first thing Yi Yun saw was the location of the Great Empress mystic realm as that was the most critical information.

Upon seeing it, Yi Yun gasped. The Great Empress mystic realm was located near to the God Burial Abyss!

When Yi Yun first arrived at the Tian Yuan world, he had heard from Su Jie that the surroundings of the Tian Yuan world was blocked off by the Untraversable Sea. This Untraversable Sea was infinitely vast, and its Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was sparse. It was dead silent and no one had managed to cross it.

And below the Tian Yuan world, deep in the Untraversable Sea, there was a huge black whirlpool named the God Burial Abyss.

This God Burial Abyss had an incomparable terrifying suction force. Once someone was sucked into it, they would fall deep into the endless abyss, with no way of returning. It was said even immortal gods could not return.

Hence, it was called the God Burial Abyss.

This was the most terrifying place in the Tian Yuan world. Even a mighty figure like the Shentu Patriarch did not dare to enter.

Now, only peerless figures would consider entering the God Burial Abyss when the end of their lifespans was getting close. Some wanted to see with their own eyes what was inside God Burial Abyss.

Others held out for the one in a trillion chance for an opportunity within God Burial Abyss that could extend what was their tiny amount of lifespan left.

The Great Empress mystic realm was not inside the God Burial Abyss. Because if that was the case, then no one could enter it.

It was located near to the humongous whirlpool in the God Burial Abyss. There was still quite a distance, but even so, the mystic realm’s main body was still affected by the God Burial Abyss’s terrifying suction force. This shocked Yi Yun.

One had to know that the spatial dimension around the God Burial Abyss was extremely unstable. For such a large mystic realm to exist under the terrifying suction force and the spatial warping for such a long time, what sort of power was needed to make this a reality?

There was no doubt that the Great Empress mystic realm was indeed left behind by the ancient peerless Great Empress herself.

It was not necessarily the Great Empress’s grave, but a heritage ground left behind by the Great Empress.

In the history of martial arts, peerless Great Empyrean-ranked figures like the ancient Great Empress was extremely few in number. Historical records did not specifically indicate how long their lifespans were. There was just a vague estimation.

They might have existed in this world for hundreds of thousands of years, and might have died or broken through into the void, leaving the world of Tian Yuan.

In history, there had never been two peerless Great Emperors that existed in the same era.

Hence, a peerless Great Emperor was destined to solitude and loneliness.

In the eyes of these peerless figures, the geniuses of their era were not considered geniuses. Hence, many peerless Great Emperors would never be able to have a true disciple which could inherit their mantle.

It was not that they did not wish to take in disciples, it was because they could not find one.

The elites in the same era could not catch their eye.

As the saying goes about ‘rather going without than be contented with anything less than satisfactory.’ If they had really taken in a personal disciple who was unable to continue their brilliance and was unable to push the inheritance they created to its peak, then they would rather not take in a disciple.

But…

A warrior always tended to want the laws and heritage they created in their lives to carry on. The lifespan of people were limited. Mortals wished to have children so as to continue their bloodline after they died. It was the same with warriors. If their heritage could continue, then it was like them living on.

If they could not find a suitable successor in their living years, then these peerless Great Emperors would establish lands with their heritage.

Inside these lands, there were all sorts of opportunities. Those who were destined could obtain the complete heritage they left behind!

Many mighty figures even began forecasting the future, and used the final years of their life to search for the possible time and location of their future heir’s appearance in the rivers of fate.

And they would use this information to leave behind a heritage mystic realm.

The value of the peerless Great Empress’s heritage was self-evident. Furthermore, there might even be treasures left behind by the Great Empress. Once the heritage and treasures appeared, it was sufficient cause for the large families of the Tian Yuan world to go mad.

However…the Shentu family clan had handed over the location of the Great Empress mystic realm to the Lin family.

The reason behind this was because the Shentu family clan could not enter the core of the mystic realm no matter what methods they had used. They naturally had no fate with the heritage and the treasures.

As for the exterior perimeter’s opportunities, the Shentu family clan had already taken whatever they could take. Hence, the jade scroll in Yi Yun’s hands may be valuable, but the premise was that the Lin family had to be able to take the items out from the Great Empress mystic realm.

This was too difficult.

Since the Great Empress mystic realm was a land of inheritance, then it naturally was the stage for young people.

As a land of inheritance, the main reason for its existence was to pick a successor. The ancient Great Empress would not choose an old man as her successor.

According to the records in the jade scroll, there would be many channels to choose from upon entering the Great Empress mystic realm. These channel would screen one’s bone age. The difference in bone age would result in different channels.

The Great Empress mystic realm also had treasures which was left behind by the ancient Great Empress as gifts for the world. These treasures did not have any age restrictions. People like Su Jie could also compete for them. These were all channels that had no bone age restriction.

As for the remaining core channels, there would be bone age restrictions.

There was no doubt the treasures that was up for grabs were trivial. The really precious treasure was the Great Empress inheritance that only juniors could obtain!

To leave behind the best things for one’s selected heir was human nature.

“Have you finished reading it? That’s about it…”

Everyone present had taken a look at the contents of the jade scroll before it finally returned to Matriarch Lin’s hands.

At that moment, Matriarch Lin’s expression did not look relaxed, “The bunch of us old people can also enter this Great Empress mystic realm, but we would not have any fate with the core land of inheritance. That is to say, this exploration of the Great Empress mystic realm will depend on our family’s juniors.”

“Actually, the number of people entering the mystic realm is not limited. However, the jade scroll given to us by the Shentu family clan has said that the entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm is near to the God Burial Abyss! There, the suction strength is extremely terrifying. An ordinary junior has no hopes of nearing it, or their bodies would be torn to pieces!”

When the Matriarch said this, her expression turned odd. This did not make sense. Since the ancient Great Empress had established this land of inheritance, then the main goal was to select a heir.

A heir that could really catch her eye would not be too old. The person wouldn’t have a very high cultivation level, but would have extremely high talent.

However with the mystic realm’s entrance being so dangerous, how could young people with lacking cultivation levels enter with their own strength?

This made the Matriarch suspect that when the ancient Great Empress established the inheritance mystic realm, the God Burial Abyss was not in such a state. There might have been some changes later on that resulted in the current situation.

Or maybe, with the drifting of spatial dimensions, the entrance of the Great Empress mystic realm had slowly moved to the entrance of the God Burial Abyss over a long period of time.

This also caused the Great Empress mystic realm that was supposed to be presented to everyone in the world to become extremely secretive and difficult to discover.

There was no meaning in trying to figure out the reason. What was important was that due to the location of the Great Empress mystic realm being near the God Burial Abyss, there was a limited number of people allowed to enter.

This was because the juniors of the Lin family could not use their own strength to approach the God Burial Abyss.

They needed a mighty figure of the Lin family to bring them in.

To bring a weak live person that close to the God Burial Abyss without harm was easier said than done. The Lin family did not have many people with such abilities.

“Tonight, we will discuss in detail the candidates who will enter the Great Empress mystic realm!”

429 - : Pulling off its Veil

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Great Empress mystic realm was not only a great opportunity, it also concerned the fate of Lin Xintong.

The current situation of the Shentu family clan exploring the Great Empress mystic realm, was that the elder generation was not able to explore the deepest parts of the mystic realm, while the younger generation did not manage to enter the mystic realm’s core.

Under these circumstances, the Lin family was unsure of what else could be in the Great Empress mystic realm.

And the method to cure Lin Xintong of her terminated meridians may seem very promising, but it would be extremely difficult to obtain.

The Lin family conceded that their strength was not much stronger than the Shentu family clan. The Lin family would also face the same difficulty exploring the places that the Shentu family clan was unable to explore.

Hence, the people who were to be chosen had to be very carefully selected by the Lin family.

Sending everyone out was not realistic. The Lin family had three Grand Elders. The strongest one of them had to remain in the family to hold the fort, so as to prevent the Shentu family clan from taking advantage of this opportunity to destroy the Lin family’s territory.

With Shentu Patriarch’s strength, he just needed two hours to crack open the Lin family’s mountain protective array. He could then lead the Shentu family clan elites and annihilate the Lin family.

For a large family clan like the Lin family, they would not let the Grand Elders that held the fort leave under normal circumstances as it was too dangerous.

As such, the Lin family only had two Grand Elders for this expedition. The two of them could jointly escort the younger generation into the mystic realm without a problem.

According to the records in Shentu Nantian’s jade scroll, the Great Empress mystic realm was fraught with dangers.

The channels that the younger generation faced were gentler. Typically, there would not be too many injuries or deaths. In contrast, the older generation would face dangers that could kill at any moment.

They might not even obtain a single opportunity there and end up dying.

“I want to go in.”

In the Lin family’s internal meeting, Su Jie was the first to speak.

This Great Empress mystic realm had been searched over once by the Shentu family clan, so all the easily obtainable opportunities were already gone. So it was not necessarily a good thing for the older generation to enter it.

Su Jie was worried over Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians, which was why he personally wanted to explore the mystic realm.

Matriarch Lin nodded, “Elder Su, there is no rush to decide the spots for the older generation. Now, we need to look at the spots for the younger generation. They are the most important ones.”

Compared to the older generation, the younger generation entering the Great Empress mystic realm was definitely a great assignment.

The dangers they would face would be much lower compared to that of the elders. Even if they couldn’t find any opportunities, it would still be a valuable chance to train.

By broadening their horizons by seeing the arrays and heritage left behind from ancient times, they could gain a lot and break through bottlenecks.

The Matriarch spoke, “The entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm is in a spatial crack near the God Burial Abyss’s whirlpool. If we want to enter, we will need to choose a period when the whirlpool’s tidal power is at its weakest. If not, even our family’s Grand Elders will find it difficult to withstand the God Burial Abyss’s terrifying suction power and be able to bring our juniors in or open the door to the mystic realm.”

“It is very difficult to determine when it will happen. It might be in a few months, and it might even be one or two years from now.”

“For this, we will need to make a lot of preparations.”

“And the spots to enter the mystic realm are currently fixed at ten.”

“These ten people must be the elites of our Lin family’s younger generation. Your mission is extremely critical! As the greatest opportunities within the Great Empress mystic realm will be in the areas that you will be exploring.”

As Matriarch Lin spoke, she looked at the juniors sitting behind the many Elders.

This family meeting also had juniors participating.

And those juniors that were qualified to sit here were only about twenty odd in numbers. They were the proud children of Heaven amongst the Lin family’s younger generation. Usually, they would enjoy the best resources of the Lin family.

Now, the ten people would clearly be chosen amongst them.

These juniors all turned nervous.

Amongst the twenty odd people, other than Lin Xintong, the differences between them were not too great. Those who were hovering around the passing mark held their breaths as they waited for the choice that would determine their fate.

Who amongst these juniors did not wish to see the heritage left behind by the ancient Great Empress? Maybe they would even be selected through great luck?

Even if they were not chosen, just getting some benefit would be quite something. The chances of the older generation gaining some opportunity to make a breakthrough were low, but it was different for the younger generation. They were still young, so they had plenty of opportunities and ambition.

“For this matter, I think we can determine six people immediately…” A black-robed, middle-aged man beside the Matriarch said slowly, “Lin Xintong, Lin Qingyun, Lin Lang, Lin Xiaodie, Lin Fengyue and Li Daoxuan.”

The names the middle-aged man named were indisputable elites in the Lin family’s younger generation.

Amongst them, Li Daoxuan was a disciple who did not share the same family name. His father’s surname was Li and he had married a woman from the Lin family. As his father’s strength was extraordinary, the Lin family would not let Li Daoxuan change his surname to Lin. For him to be considered one of the best six geniuses in the Lin family’s younger generation despite his different surname, it was obvious how strong Li Daoxuan was.

Yi Yun’s gaze swept the six people. Other than Lin Xintong, he did not know any of them, nor had he ever seen them before.

In the few months, Yi Yun was in the Lin family, the elites he had seen were only the geniuses in the Desolate Heaven technique.

Desolate Heaven technique apprentices who would mainly focus on the Desolate Heaven techniques. Their achievements in martial arts would no doubt be affected by that focus. They could not compare to the geniuses who specialized in martial arts like Lin Qingyun or Lin Lang.

Since the Great Empress mystic realm was to choose an heir to the ancient Great Empress’ heritage, it was natural to look at one’s martial art accomplishments. It was useless just being good at the Desolate Heaven technique.

In fact, although the Shentu family clan had obtained a lot of ancient Desolate Heaven technique recipes in the Great Empress mystic realm, these were not left behind by the ancient Great Empress, they were left behind by an ancient Desolate Heaven Master who admired the Great Empress.

The ancient Great Empress undoubtedly focused on martial arts, and she was a woman who had gone to the extreme on the martial path.

“I have no objections.” The Matriarch said lightly. These six people were indeed outstanding.

The middle-aged man added on, “There are still four more places. Everyone can try nominating. Firstly, we need to see their talent. Secondly, we need to see their cultivation level. The higher the cultivation level, the more pressure they can handle, making it easier to bring them into the Great Empress mystic realm. It will also alleviate some pressure for the family’s Elders.”

“Just now, amongst the six people that have been decided, Xiaodie and Yuefeng are relatively younger. Bringing them along will require quite a lot of energy. We can only choose one more person whose cultivation level is below the late-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm. There cannot be anymore.”

The middle-aged man had seen the Shentu family clan’s jade scroll and had assessed the situation of the God Burial Abyss.

In his opinion, two of the Lin family’s Grand Elders could each bring an older junior and a junior whose cultivation level was below the late-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm.

Other than that, there was also Matriarch Lin. She had the ability to bring one junior whose cultivation level was below the late-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm. In total, there were three people.

This was the maximum they could do in order to ensure safety.

“Matriarch, what do you think? Who will you choose?” The middle-aged man asked.

The moment he said that all the juniors present, who were below the late-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm, immediately looked nervous as they held their breaths.

Those older disciples still had hope. As 16-17-year-olds, they only had one spot. Everyone wished they would be the one selected.

16-17 years old was the crucial age for a warrior’s growth. To enter the ancient mystic realm at that moment for training experience would give a lot of benefits. Who could know when the tidal flows of the God Burial Abyss would lessen in strength.

At that moment, Lin Xintong’s grandaunt, with a smile, said, “In my opinion, the spot for someone below the late-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm would be suitable for Yu’er.”

“Yu’er’s strength can be said to be at the top amongst the juniors in the late-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm. I think that no one will have any objections to this, right?”

As Lin Fenggu said this, her gaze swept across the Elders present with a smile.

These Elders did not make known their positions. As a result, Lin Fenggu felt very pleased. Subconsciously, Lin Fenggu glanced at Yi Yun.

Although Lin Fenggu disliked Yi Yun, she had to admit that Yi Yun’s talent in the Desolate Heaven technique was extraordinary. To compare her nephews’ Desolate Heaven technique to Yi Yun would be a terrible sight.

Thankfully, this Great Empress mystic realm was not dependent on one’s Desolate Heaven technique talent. What was considered was one’s martial arts talent. This was a weakness of Desolate Heaven technique apprentices.

Lin Yu was one of Lin Fenggu’s grandnephews. Lin Fenggu was very pleased with him so she naturally wanted her own progeny to obtain this opportunity.

Upon hearing Lin Fenggu’s words, those juniors who were nervous and highly anticipant of the outcome felt their heart skip a beat. Lin Fenggu had a certain position in the family, and with Lin Yu’s exceptional abilities, these juniors felt that they had no hope.

They were inferior, be it strength or background, so how were they to compete?

And amongst these juniors, a blue-shirted youth looked straight ahead. He did not look around as his expression was very calm. Sitting at his spot, the corners of his mouth could not help but suffuse a smile.

He was Lin Yu.

Seeing Lin Fenggu advocating him, he was naturally happy.

“Matriarch, what do you think? This matter should be fixed, right? If Yu’er is not suitable, then no one else is suitable. Yu’er…”

Lin Fenggu signaled Lin Yu, indicating for him to quickly stand up to accept it and give his thanks.

Lin Yu suppressed the excitement in his heart as he calmly stood up. Clasping his hands, he tried to calm his voice, “Matriarch…”

Just as he opened his mouth, Matriarch Lin said lightly, “I already have someone in mind for this spot.”

The Matriarch’s words were like a sudden bolt from the clear skies. Lin Yu, who was smiling, suddenly froze. His expression was frozen onto his face.

Lin Fenggu’s smile also stagnated as her expression turned ugly. After dazing for a while, she said, “Who does the Matriarch have in mind? If it is another good talent, I naturally have nothing more to say.”

At that moment, Matriarch Lin turned towards Yi Yun, “Yi Yun, although the Great Empress mystic realm is an inheritance land for martial arts, I find your foundation very solid. You must have been having a secondary focus in martial arts while concentrating on the Desolate Heaven technique. Do you want to go in and take a look?”

The Matriarch’s tone was friendly. Standing beside the Matriarch, Lin Fenggu’s facial muscles twitched. Her face seemed to turn livid.

She had stood up to say something that had been rejected by the Matriarch. And in a blink of an eye, the Matriarch had used such a negotiating tone to ask if Yi Yun wished to enter.

This feeling was like she had been smacked twice in the face in public. She was dumbfounded!

Yi Yun, it was Yi Yun again!

The Matriarch actually chose Yi Yun to go to a martial arts mystic realm, something that had nothing to do with the Desolate Heaven technique!

430 - : Fixing the Spots

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, Lin Fenggu was feeling pangs of anger burning in her heart. If it was a Desolate Heaven technique mystic realm, she would not have anything to say about the Matriarch choosing Yi Yun.

However, this was a martial mystic realm, so on the basis of reason, the spot should have been given to Lin Yu.

“Matriarch!”

Lin Fenggu gritted her teeth; however, the Matriarch’s was expressionless. She did not care about Fenggu as she had obviously already decided this matter.

Lin Fenggu could only put her hopes on Yi Yun.

To her, Yi Yun was a Desolate Heaven Master, so it would be meaningless for him to search for martial arts inheritances.

“Yi Yun, think over the matter. The Great Empress mystic realm is useless to you. Even martial arts geniuses might not obtain any benefits by entering there, what more you.”

“Besides, the mystic realm is fraught with danger. You should just stay in the family and train your Desolate Heaven technique, then your future accomplishments will be inconceivable. If you were to risk it by going to the Great Empress mystic realm, and meet some unfortunate circumstances, then it might be too late to be sorry!”

“If you do not go, I can pass you some Desolate Heaven technique manuals. I can also prepare Desolate Heaven technique disk arrays for you.”

Lin Fenggu had used a Yuan Qi transmission to speak to Yi Yun. Yi Yun smiled, Desolate Heaven technique manuals? Giving him Desolate Heaven technique disk arrays?

For an old woman like Lin Fenggu, her items might not even make Yi Yun covet them. Besides, even if she really did have good items, it was unlikely that she would give them to him.

Yi Yun knew that if he were to reject the offer at this family meeting, Lin Fenggu would probably just use some low-grade items to brush him off, treating him as some bumpkin.

Yi Yun slowly stood up and bowed at the Matriarch, “This junior thanks the Matriarch for her care and concern. This junior is indeed interested in the Great Empress mystic realm and hopes to explore it.”

Yi Yun’s words were slow and gently, but when they entered the ears of Lin Yu and Lin Fenggu, it made their expressions turn extremely ugly.

“Alright.” The Matriarch gave him a benevolent smile, “Then that spot will be reserved for Yi Yun. This opportunity in the Great Empress mystic realm is originally all thanks to Yi Yun, so it is reasonable to leave one spot for him.”

The Matriarch was in charge of the internal affairs of the Lin family, so her words were final. She was not negotiating with the other Elders in the family, but informing them.

Immediately, the Elders present had all sorts of different expressions.

Many of them had a more suitable person in mind for the spot. Everyone wanted to advocate their direct descendants, but with Yi Yun taking one of the spots, it undoubtedly left one spot less for the rest.

Everyone knew that Yi Yun had made a great meritorious service for the family at the Relic Trial, so giving him one of the spots as an award was reasonable.

The point was that these people felt that it was a waste to give the spot to Yi Yun.

“Matriarch!” Lin Fenggu could not resist, “I know that Yi Yun managed to prevent a disaster for our Lin family at the Relic Trial, but I will not agree that the opportunity of entering the Great Empress mystic realm is thanks to Yi Yun!”

“The Lin family was the one who captured Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny. The people who negotiated with the Shentu family clan was also our Lin family! Even if Yi Yun managed to see through Shentu Nantian’s malicious schemes as a junior, what could he have done with his strength? If not for our Lin family’s strength, he would already have been killed by the Shentu family clan!”

“Only with power do you have the capital to be unyielding. It is our Lin family obtaining the location of the Great Empress mystic realm at the cost of offending the Shentu family clan. This has nothing to do with Yi Yun!”

Lin Fenggu’s words were agitated, but the reasoning within them were agreed upon by the other Elders of the Lin family.

However, the Matriarch’s expression turned cold upon hearing this. She only looked at Lin Fenggu with a cold stare.

Those Elders who were familiar with the Matriarch’s personality knew that by giving off that gaze, it meant that she was extremely displeased with Lin Fenggu!

Lin Fenggu’s voice cut off, no longer daring to make a sound.

Against the Matriarch, a figure who had helmed the Lin family for so many years, she was extremely afraid.

“If the Lin family only has people like you, treating enemies as family, backstabbing talented people, and only trying to swallow any interests you see into your own pockets, then the Lin family would probably not be that far off from destruction.”

“Impotence, jealousy, greed, selfishness, unable to distinguish between right and wrong, short-sighted. What use is there for the family to keep a person like you?”

When the Matriarch said this, it was like having a sharp knife stabbing into Lin Fenggu’s heart.

Lin Fenggu was stunned, as her ears buzzed. She felt like all the blood in her body had surged to her face. She had been completely refuted by the Lin family’s decision maker in the Lin family’s Elders meeting.

As for what the Matriarch said, “What use is there for the family to keep a person like you?”

Lin Fenggu’s old face flushed and this blood-red color spread to her neck. She stood there without speaking a word.

Behind Lin Fenggu, Lin Yu was also standing stiffly at his seat. From the moment he stood up, he had not even finish speaking a sentence, but left hanging there. It was extremely embarrassing.

Hearing the Matriarch decide on the matter, he felt like his entire self had been emptied.

He felt that the gaze from the surrounding juniors had changed from envy and jealousy to sympathy.

After all, Yi Yun had the Matriarch backing him. He may have strong backing, but it was not stronger than Yi Yun’s.

“I… I cannot accept it!” Lin Yu clenched his fists tightly as his body began to lightly tremble. He did not dare to shout this out and had only transmitted his voice to Lin Fenggu, “I want to fight Yi Yun. In terms of martial ability, what is he!? I can completely destroy him without a weapon!”

Lin Yu’s Yuan Qi transmission was full of irreconciliation. However, Lin Fenggu only shook her head, “So what if you can win against him? Do you think the Matriarch does not know that your martial ability far exceeds that of Yi Yun’s? However, she will not let you go, as this is a reward for Yi Yun.”

With Lin Fenggu saying this, Lin Yu felt like a deflated ball. Yes, even if he did defeat Yi Yun in a showdown, so what? So what if he had mercilessly beat down Yi Yun?

It was even to the point that the Matriarch would not even grant his request to have a martial showdown. In the Matriarch’s eyes, Yi Yun’s value was not something he could compete with.

“This matter is already decided. Do not think of replacing Yi Yun, however… you can take advantage of the period where the God Burial Abyss’s demon-like tidal strength has not weakened, and work hard cultivating. If you reach the peak of the Yuan Foundation realm, then you would not need to compete with Yi Yun for a spot. There are still a few spots left, so maybe you can obtain one of those.”

Lin Fenggu’s transmission meant that they had to take up second best. It was not impossible to obtain a spot for those who were at the peak-Yuan Foundation realm and above.

“Peak of the Yuan Foundation realm…”

Lin Yu’s eyebrows ticked. If the God Burial Abyss could be opened half a year later, then he could indeed breakthrough to the peak of the Yuan Foundation realm before it happened.

Even if it was shorter, he could still break through, but it would be inevitable that he would have progressed too fast in his cultivation level. His foundation would be affected by that.

To geniuses, rashly breaking through was not a good thing.

“I understand…”

Lin Yu endured this grievance and sat back at his seat.

…

At this meeting, there were eight spots that were temporarily decided upon amongst the ten spots. There were still two spots to be discussed in the future.

With the Matriarch’s backing, Yi Yun had easily obtained one of the valuable spots. For this, it was inevitable that the Lin family’s upper echelons and juniors would criticize this matter in secret.

Many people believed that a family competition should have been held to decide who was to obtain the remaining spots. That was the most fair way.

However, even with a family competition, it was hard to tell whose talent was better due to the differences in age.

Some people who had good relationships with Lin Yu felt some injustice for Lin Yu. They felt that a genius like Lin Yu had been repressed by the family, while Yi Yun, of average strength, had obtained this advantage because of his backing. It was too unfair.

For this matter, it was easy to cause people to feel a sense of resentment.

However, because of this, Lin Fenggu no longer added fuel to the flames. After being harshly reprimanded by the Matriarch, Lin Fenggu toned herself down. She knew that if she were to discuss this matter secretly, then it would be equivalent to speaking ill of the Matriarch. She no longer dared to do anything that could make the Matriarch unhappy, for if this reached the Matriarch’s ear, the consequences would be disastrous.

“Time will tell.” While people were discussing this matter, Lin Fenggu said with certainty. Her expression was confident, “It is alright even if Yu’er did not manage to obtain the spot for those in the late stages of the Yuan Foundation realm and below. As long as Yu’er makes a breakthrough, he can still obtain one of the two remaining spots.”

“Fire is the test of true gold. Once he enters the Great Empress mystic realm, Yu’er will prove his worth. When that happens, Yu’er will use his results to shut those who were laughing at him. He will also let those without abilities know what a genius is, and what strength is!”

The “those without abilities” mentioned by Lin Fenggu naturally pointed to Yi Yun. She just did not dare making it clear.

As for these discussions, Yi Yun was indifferent. Ever since the meeting ended, Yi Yun had gone into a reclusive chamber for training.

There was at most two to three years for the opening of the Great Empress mystic realm, and the shortest time was a few months. No one knew when the God Burial Abyss’s demon-like tidal strength would reach its nadir.

Yi Yun was planning to use this time to properly digest the pure Yang energy inside the Purple Crystal.

At the Relic Trial, Yi Yun had completely swallowed all of the pure Yang energy essence that exploded out of the Great Empress relic. Now, the energy was stored in the Purple Crystal, so it was time to turn it into his strength.

He knew that his strength would make a leap in a short amount of time!

Not only Yi Yun, the other juniors who had been selected to enter the Great Empress mystic realm wasted no time at cultivating. As for the two remaining spots, they became something many of the juniors of the Lin family worked hard towards.

People knew that this Great Empress mystic realm was of great importance. If one obtained a great opportunity within it by luck, then it would be like a carp leaping through the dragon’s gate. Their future achievements would be limitless!

This was an ancient peerless Great Empress’ heritage. In comparison, many large family clans in the Tian Yuan world were simply not on that level.

Besides, if one could obtain an ancient recipe that could heal Lin Xintong, then they would obtain unimaginable honor and benefits. There might even be that slight chance of winning Lin Xintong’s heart.

In the Lin family, as long as they were separated by three generations of blood relatives, they could marry each other. Many of them had no genetic relationship with Lin Xintong.

With all the possible benefits, people were all red-eyed.

“I will make the Matriarch regret this!” Under the bright moon, a youth dressed in blue clothes stood on a cliff. He inserted the sword in his hand into the rock as he his eyes shimmered with non acceptance. He was Lin Yu.

The tides will change, those who despised me, Lin Yu, I will use my results to smack you in your faces!”

431 - : The Matriarch’s Decisiveness

CKtalon  CKtalon

The middle and highest peak amongst the 18 main peaks of the Lin family was named Jade Forest peak.

If one looked at the Lin family’s mountain range from a height of a million feet in the air, one would realize that the Jade Forest peak was the core of the mountain range, as the rest of the mountains meandered from it. It was like giant dragons surrounding the Jade Forest peak as its center.

The Nine Dragon Encircling Pearl was what people called this strange landscape.

The Lin family used this landscape as its foundation. It had a spiritual vein array so as to ensure the Lin family’s prosperity. With its thick Yuan Qi, it transformed this place into the Lin family’s treasured ground.

People who practiced martial arts needed “Wealth, Land, Companion, Law”. Amongst them, “Land” meant a cultivation ground. As one of the four most important factors needed for cultivation, it was easy to see how seriously cultivators treated land.

Every family clan in the Tian Yuan world had its own home land. They had spent large amounts of resources so as to set up their grounds to be flawless.

And a lot of the time, the conflicts of interest between family clans tended to revolve around the battle for territory.

To the Lin family, the Jade Forest peak itself was a very important asset to the family. The three Grand Elders of the Lin family would choose the Jade Forest peak as the location whenever they began a long reclusive retreat.

At that moment, Yi Yun was also residing in Jade Forest peak, cultivating in recluse.

The chamber Yi Yun used was named the Heavenly Yang Hall.

The Heavenly Yang Hall was a cultivation ground for cultivating pure Yang laws. It was ranked third in the Jade Forest peak. It was only inferior to the first, which was used by Grand Elders, and the second, which was used by guest elders of the Lin family.

This was the best cultivation ground juniors from the Lin family could use. Typically, very few of the younger disciples in the Lin family received such treatment.

A good cultivation ground allowed one’s cultivation to have double the results with half the work.

Now, Yi Yun had already stayed in the Heavenly Yang Hall for quite a long while. He had absorbed the pure Yang energy within the Purple Crystal, and was as such transforming his meridians. He was creating a solid foundation step by step.

The Yuan Foundation meant to set up a foundation in a warrior’s dantian.

The next higher realm after the Yuan Foundation realm was called the “Dao Seed”.

The meaning of the Dao Seed is to plant a martial arts seed on top of the Yuan Foundation base.

To plant a Dao Seed on the Yuan Foundation was to sow one’s path in the martial Dao.

What would sprout in the future depended on the warrior.

In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, many warriors would come to a stop at the Yuan Foundation realm throughout their martial lives. To be able to reach the Dao Seed realm was a great fortune. It was enough for them to lord over people.

As such, people who reached the Dao Seed realm were called Human Lords in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom!

However, in the Tian Yuan world, people at the Dao Seed realm were only people who could travel freely. To lord over others and be called a Human Lord would only be a joke.

With the passage of time, Yi Yun, who was immersed in cultivation, had already entered an ethereal state. Pure Yang Qi was seeping out from the Purple Crystal Origins, entering into all of the corners of Yi Yun’s body. As it circulated through his meridians, a large portion of the energy injected itself into Yi Yun’s blood vessels. A very small portion of it escaped out of Yi Yun’s pores.

The pure Yang Qi that was being emitted from the crystal also took along with it slight amounts of impurities within Yi Yun’s body.

After repeated marrow cleansings, and with the transformation of the pure Yang Qi, Yi Yun really felt as if he was slowly being reborn.

Yi Yun’s muscles were becoming more toned, but he was not stiff like stout muscular men. His muscles gave off an elegant beauty. They were like a mountain stream and were like nature itself.

Yi Yun’s air also became more and more restrained. With the grade of Yi Yun’s pure Yang body increasing, not only did his body not radiate burning gas, it actually began to seal it within his body’s aperture points. He gave off the feeling of a gentle scholar. If one phrase was enough to describe him, it would be “jade-like gentleman”.

A prudent gentleman of a disposition as graceful as the luster of jade may seem restrained, but it had the integrity of jade.

Shentu Nantian also chased down the path of being a jade-like gentleman, but that was to give people that impression. He purposely catered to the requirement of being a jade-like gentleman, but his core person was not like that.

As for Yi Yun, as his pure Yang body was approaching perfection, it naturally allowed him to gain such a temperament. Even though he himself was not a true gentleman.

It should be said that Yi Yun’s core beliefs were that of a gentleman, but what he did would not be restrained by the code of ethics of a gentleman.

As he cultivated while losing the sense of time, Yi Yun had already been in reclusive training for five months without realizing it.

Before this, the only time Yi Yun had cultivated for so long in one seating was back when he entered Fallen Star Gate.

In these five months, while absorbing the pure Yang Qi, Yi Yun also constantly resolved the problems that were previously caused by hastily improving his cultivation. At the same time, he also made up for his shortcomings in nomological truths. This made Yi Yun’s martial arts system become increasingly unassailable.

Yi Yun looked within his body and saw that every inch of his bones were as white as jade. His bone marrow had also become like a translucent red crystal.

With every breath, Yi Yun could taste the fragrance in his mouth. The saliva in his mouth was as sweet as springwater.

The benefits of this body, now with nearly zero impurities, was brought forth from having a pure Yang body.

This feeling was indescribable!

Yi Yun checked the Purple Crystal and most of the pure Yang energy from the Great Empress relic had been absorbed by Yi Yun. The pure Yang spirit had also grown. As for the frost Qi condensed from the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill, it was compressed and placed in a corner. It was completely under Yi Yun’s control.

Actually, if Yi Yun wished it, he could easily remove the frost energy, but Yi Yun felt that it might not necessarily be useless in the future, so he kept it.

In this period of five months, Yi Yun used the pure Yang Qi in the Purple Crystal to make his cultivation level reach the peak of the middle-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm. He was now closing in on the late-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm.

The more solid the Yuan Foundation was, the more impressive the martial arts fruits bore from the planted Dao Seed would be.

With a breakthrough in cultivation level, it also brought an increase in strength. Previously, whenever Yi Yun conjured his Aspect Totem, his body would be drained of his Yuan Qi in a short period of time.

Now however, Yi Yun felt that even if he conjured his Aspect Totem, he could still last a short while, even at full combat capability.

“I have gained a lot from this reclusive training. In this treasured ground in the Jade Forest peak, I was able to focus, without distractions, on digesting the Great Empress relic’s medicinal essence. With the Purple Crystal’s help, no junior in the Tian Yuan world can possibly have similar conditions like me. It would be hard not to have my strength increase by leaps and bounds.

As Yi Yun was thinking this, a flare suddenly lit up before his eyes.

It was a voice transmission talisman. Only a few voice transmission talismans could penetrate the chamber, and this came from Matriarch Lin.

The voice transmission talisman only had a few words.

The Matriarch wanted Yi Yun to come out of reclusive training as the Lin family’s Grand Elder had predicted that in a month, the God Burial Abyss’s demon-like tidal strength would weaken. And that moment was the opportunity for the Lin family’s disciples to enter the Great Empress mystic realm!

After the flare dissipated into the darkness, Yi Yun took a deep breath as his eyes flashed.

“The Great Empress mystic realm is finally opening!”

Yi Yun felt like he had unending amounts of Yuan Qi within his body. He was in his top condition, so to enter the Great Empress mystic realm to challenge himself was in line with his wishes.

He could not help but feel like his blood was boiling.

“I want to see, with my own eyes, what sort of things are in this Great Empress mystic realm!”

432 - : Planting a Dao Seed On the Yuan Foundation

CKtalon  CKtalon

With winter coming, it began to snow in the Jade Spirit Mountains.

The array in Jade Spirit Mountains did not insulate the land from snowflakes, so the entire magnificent mountain range was covered in snow.

The snow-clad Jade Spirit Mountains had another form of beauty.

Looking from high in the sky, one could see an endless white snowy expanse. It was like a huge divine pillar made of those white peaks piercing the blue sky.

With these peaks stretching together, it looked like an ancient snake dragon that twisted amongst the clouds.

And above the mountain peak, there was a spirit spring that never froze all year round. It seemed like a misty jade that scattered over the mountains into countless numbers of pearls, disappearing when they entered the clouds.

With the Great Empress mystic realm about to open, the first thing Yi Yun encountered after coming out of reclusive training was the snowfall. Seeing this beautiful scene, it felt like he was in a paradise. It was like a poem or a piece of art.

Yi Yun had already received the Matriarch’s voice transmission that all the juniors of Lin family, who were entering the Great Empress mystic realm, were to gather at Cloud Protruding peak.

Cloud Protruding peak was one of the 18 main peaks of the Lin family. It was usually the place for the younger generation of the Lin family to cultivate and grow.

Usually, juniors would cultivate at Cloud Protruding peak, and many of them would end up living on the Cloud Protruding peak for the convenience of cultivating.

Upon reaching Cloud Protruding peak, Yi Yun immediately felt the vitality in the peak. Ignoring everything else, there were dozens of martial art grounds on Cloud Protruding peak.

On these martial art grounds, there were young elites sparring with each other. Sword and saber beams flashed as Yuan Qi flared.

The snow ended up being blown away by the energy surges, causing several parts of the martial art grounds to be void in snow. It looked like pictures of flowers.

Yi Yun went straight to the main hall of Cloud Protruding peak. This main hall was where they were to gather.

A distance away from the main hall, Yi Yun suddenly heard the ferocious roar of a beast!

This sound caused one’s eardrums to tingle. With a thought, he followed the sound and came to a back area of the Cloud Protruding peak’s main hall.

Upon seeing the scene, Yi Yun felt slightly apprehensive.

On the square in the back area, there was a huge metal cage.

The metal cage was a hundred meters long and about three storeys high. The bars of the metal cage were about the thickness of a person’s wrist. On these iron pillar-like bars, there were complex runes engraved on them. It was apparently a type of array.

Inside the cage, there was a seven to eight meters long, ferocious-looking desolate beast. It looked like a hideous saber-toothed tiger.

Yi Yun did not know the rank of this desolate beast, but just from the aura it gave off, it was definitely an extremely strong desolate beast.

And at that moment, there was a person fighting the desolate beast inside the cage.

Yi Yun happened to know this person. He was Lin Yu.

Lin Yu was holding a bloody four-foot long sword. His hair was disheveled and his clothes were torn. There were even several wounds on his body.

“Ding Ding Ding!”

The sword clashed with the desolate beast’s fangs as Lin Yu moved and dodged around in the metal cage. He was looking for the desolate beast’s weakness and he was constantly leaving wounds on the desolate beast.

With Lin Yu’s constant provocation, the desolate beast was extremely enraged.

“Roar!”

After its neck was stabbed by Lin Yu, the saber-toothed tiger charged at Lin Yu desperately. Just as its shiny fang about to stab Lin Yu’s neck, Lin Yu suddenly crouched down and stabbed with his sword. The sword Qi roared!

“Puah!”

The blade pierced the saber-toothed tiger’s soft belly as blood splattered. Lin Yu’s sword had nearly pierced straight through the saber-toothed tiger!

Following that, Lin Yu’s body flipped as he kicked his foot upwards, hitting the saber-toothed tiger on its jaw from below.

The saber-toothed tiger let out a wail as its body flipped backward, crashing heavily to the ground.

Its body was twitching. After being severely wounded, it had apparently no strength left to fight.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Lin family administrator in charge of Cloud Protruding peak immediately opened the cage. They restrained the saber-toothed tiger and carried it away.

This desolate beast was reared by the Lin family. It was specially used to train the young.

It was not easy to capture desolate beasts so typically, they would try their best to prevent killing them when fighting them. They would heal them their wounds and use them again.

Fighting a ravaging desolate beast in the cage was itself an extremely dangerous form of training. Most of the time, the one severely wounded was not the desolate beast, but the Lin family disciple.

Even with the Lin family’s administrators protecting them on the side, sometimes, a young disciple might succumb to the desolate beast during training. It was something that happened occasionally.

“Brother Yu is so good!”

“Brother Yu managed to defeat a Mystic Lin Tiger in the time it takes for half a stick of incense to burn. It was done in such a relaxed fashion!”

There were quite a lot of juniors surrounding the cage. These people were apparently Lin Yu’s lackeys. Seeing Lin Yu exhibit his prowess, they immediately surrounded him to flatter him.

“It’s just a young Mystic Lin Tiger, so defeating it is nothing to be proud of. The danger in this Great Empress mystic realm exceeds this. My strength is insufficient.”

Lin Yu inattentively wiped the tiger blood off his blade. He ignored his lackeys, as his eyes drifted to a few youths present. These youths were also cultivators to be sent out to participate in this Great Empress mystic realm.

These people were his companions, and also his rivals!

Lin Yu knew very well that in terms of absolute power, he was far inferior to them. Their cultivation level was, after all, higher than his. However, if their cultivation level was fixed and just from comparing talent alone, he believed his ability exceeded these people.

For this Great Empress mystic realm, he had worked hard. He was planning to achieve much to prove himself.

As he was thinking, the hand that was holding on to the cloth that wiped the blood turned stiff. Both his hands subconsciously moved downwards. The straight blade was now being bent by him.

He had seen a person amongst the crowd, Yi Yun.

Lin Yu narrowed his eyes as he could not prevent his eyes from having a hint of fighting spirit and provocation. He exchanged gazes with Yi Yun.

Beside Lin Yu, the youths who looked like lackeys were still excited. Just as they were about to say something, they saw the expression of their “Big Bro” change. They realized something was amiss and they also looked at Yi Yun.

“Eh? Who is that kid?”

These lackeys were a bit stunned. They did not know why their big brother was suddenly paying attention to this person.

Many of the Lin family disciples present had only seen Yi Yun’s masked appearance. Few of them had actually seen Yi Yun’s actual appearance.

“Yi Yun! He’s Yi Yun!”

Someone said in the crowd. Immediately, the Lin family’s younger generation were all slightly stunned.

They had long heard of Yi Yun’s name, and today, they had finally seen him in person.

“So he is Yi Yun. This is the person who had meritorious contributions at the Relic Trial, and being appreciated by the Matriarch.”

“That’s right. I heard Yi Yun comes from a place called the Tai Ah Kingdom in the Savage East. For him to reach such a position in the Lin family is indeed not easy. However, this is also because of luck.”

To the Tian Yuan world warriors, the remote lands in the East were collectively referred to as “Savage East”. The Savage East had several countries, and the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was one of them.

Few Tian Yuan world’s warriors paid attention to the countries in the Savage East. Be it the Yun Long Divine Kingdom or the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, they all felt that those countries were just a blob on the map. As for what the names and specialities of these countries were, they had no idea, nor did they bother to find out.

Some people present knew the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom only because of Yi Yun. However, the term “Divine Kingdom” was subconsciously changed by them to “Kingdom”. In their opinion, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was not worthy of the word “Divine”.

“Yi Yun, we meet again!” Lin Yu suddenly spoke. As he walked towards Yi Yun, he slowly wiped the blood off his blade. The scarlet beast blood drops reflected the sunlight as they dropped onto the white snow, making it look more shocking. To Yi Yun, this was a form of demonstrating Lin Yu’s strength.

“I heard that after you obtained a spot to enter the Great Empress mystic realm, you went into reclusive training immediately in one go?” Lin Yu stopped 30 feet away from Yi Yun. Accompanying him were a few Lin family disciples who had obtained spots to enter the Great Empress mystic realm.

Yi Yun looked at the people present. Other than Lin Xintong, he did not know many of the top martial arts geniuses of the Lin family.

Actually, Yi Yun did not wish to have any contact with these people. However, these people were team mates that would be entering the Great Empress mystic realm with him. Yi Yun also did not want to appear rude and unruly, which would cause their relationship to turn bitter.

“Yes… I was lucky to gain some insight, so I was in reclusive training until now.”

“Jade Forest peak’s third grade cultivation land, Heavenly Yang Hall. This is a cultivation ground typically used by the family’s Elders, and yet, you went into reclusive training for nearly half a year… ”

Lin Yu did not carry on his sentence. However, people could tell that he was hinting how the cultivation ground was wasted in Yi Yun’s hands. After all, Yi Yun’s cultivation level could hardly put the Heavenly Yang Hall’s effects to full use. It was a waste of a heavenly treasure.

“At our age, going into reclusive training for a month or two is the limit. Any longer is of no use. Power is gained from actual fighting, not something you gain from just sitting there.”

“Only through battles that let you risk your life would your progress be at its fastest. Don’t tell me that you think that going to the Great Empress mystic realm is just playing house? That place can cause people to die if you are just a little careless! None of the Lin family disciples that were chosen to the enter the mystic realm dared to slack. They were all fighting for their lives in countless number of times throughout this period.”

Lin Yu said proudly. His tone had an air to it that came naturally. It was a killing air and fighting spirit that he had gained over prolonged fighting with desolate beasts.

With this air infused into his speech, it made his words sound resounding and appealing.

His words also gained the acknowledgment of many of the young elites!

These Lin family elites advocated strength, and advocated battles that saw blood. This was what a warrior was. It was the expected living situation of young warriors.

As for people who went into reclusive training for prolonged periods of time, they were usually middle-aged people who had mostly expended their potential. It was also something liked by old people who could no longer make a breakthrough in their cultivation levels.

Yi Yun only smiled after hearing Lin Yu’s words. He did not retort.

Fighting was naturally the best method to increase one’s strength. However, with the Purple Crystal and the Great Empress relic’s pure Yang energy combined together, it would allow him to be reborn once. The benefits gained from them was far from something fighting could compare with.

In the five months of reclusive training, Yi Yun’s increase in his cultivation level was not considered much. The greatest benefit was his pure Yang body’s formation. About 90% of the Great Empress relic’s energy had been used by Yi Yun to reconstruct his body. As for the breakthrough in cultivation level, that was something that would naturally follow.

433 - : Desolate Beast Cage

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s silent response made Lin Yu felt like he was punching into thin air.

For people at Yi Yun’s age, it was the time when they were the most aggressive. They would not allow others to look down upon them. Lin Yu had originally expected that saying those words would cause Yi Yun to become agitated and begin quarreling with him with his neck red with anger. When that happened, he could then provoke Yi Yun into entering the desolate beast cage, and fight with a Mystic Lin Tiger.

With Yi Yun’s strength, him facing a Mystic Lin Tiger would definitely put him into a pathetic state. Even if the administrators of the Lin family helped him, Yi Yun would still be injured, or at least embarrass himself greatly.

However, Lin Yu was at a loss with Yi Yun’s low-key forbearance.

Lin Yu’s lackeys had grown up together with Lin Yu, so they understood Lin Yu’s mind very well. They wanted to step forward to provoke Yi Yun.

However, Lin Yu shook his head, “Forget it. Provoking him would be obvious on our part. This kid Yi Yun might not even agree. Even if he agrees, the Matriarch would hold us accountable if he gets injured.”

Lin Yu did not want to complicate things, and at that moment, he felt something as he turned to look far into the distance.

People had the same feeling as they all looked into the distance.

They only saw a group of people flying towards Cloud Protruding peak silently in the snow-filled sky.

Yi Yun squinted. Amongst the people, he saw Lin Xintong, Su Jie and Matriarch Lin.

What made Yi Yun slightly surprised was that the Matriarch, who was always the head of the Lin family, was currently following respectfully behind two elders.

These two elders, both had white hair and beards with slightly yellowish faces; one of them was dressed in gray, while the other was dressed in white. Their face even had spots from age. They did not seem to portray the feeling of immortals, and could even be said to be a bit ugly.

The two elders looked very similar, as if they were a pair of twins.

When Yi Yun saw these two old people, they were still very far away and their speed seemed very slow, but in just a few seconds, they had already landed lightly, without even stirring the dust on the ground around them.

Immediately, the noisy Cloud Protruding peak quietened down. Everyone was looking at the two elders in a daze. It was as if the snowflakes fluttering in the sky had stagnated.

With the two elders in front of him, Yi Yun felt his heart thump heavily. He subconsciously held his breath. Yi Yun felt like he could not look at the two elders’ eyes, as if their eyes were light beacons that could see through him.

Although Yi Yun knew that the Purple Crystal’s level far exceeded this world’s standard and they would not be able to detect it, the pressure emitted by these two elders made him unable to be at ease.

The two elders glanced at Yi Yun at the same time. One nodded slightly, while the other remained expressionless.

Not far from the two elders was a simple-dressed Lin Xintong.

Having not seen her in five months which had only felt like a blink of an eye, Yi Yun felt Lin Xintong’s temperament had a subtle change when he saw her again. She seemed to resemble a fairy of Heaven even more. With the Purple Crystal in his body, Yi Yun could feel that Lin Xintong’s energy was like a calm lake, without the slightest wave.

For her to have such a powerful energy yet it being so calm meant that Lin Xintong’s power had reached an unimaginable level.

“All Lin family disciples present, let me introduce. These two are the two of the Lin family’s three Grand Elders, Elder Huowen and Elder Tianzhu. I believe everyone must have heard of them since a long time ago, but few people have actually seen them.”

After the Matriarch finished speaking, she retreated to stand behind the two Grand Elders.

Although the people present had some prior suspicions, they still drew a breath of cold air when they heard the Matriarch’s affirmative response. They found it unbelievable.

The three Grand Elders of the Lin family were legends to the juniors present. They were almost never seen. Even some of the ordinary Elders in the family would seldom have the opportunity to meet them.

These two elders were the real pillars of support of the Lin family. For the Lin family to survive in the Tian Yuan world and becoming one of the top family clans and protect its treasured ground, the Jade Spirit Mountains, was all due to the support of these few elders.

However, the situation of the Lin family was not at its best. The two Grand Elders present were very old and they did not have much lifespan left.

The remaining third Grand Elder was the most powerful one and was younger. However, it also required the Lin family to produce another Grand Elder within the next 10-20,000 years so as to carry on supporting the Lin family’s estate. This was not an easy task.

And Lin Xintong was no doubt the candidate the upper echelons of the Lin family paid the most attention to. Once Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians was joined up, then she would become a future peerless Great Empress. Then it could ensure the prosperity of the Lin family for a million years.

With such great advantages ahead, it was worth it for the Lin family to take the risk.

“All of you must already know the meaning behind the Great Empress mystic realm, so I shall not say any further. For this trip to the mystic realm, Tianzhu and I will accompany you, but the real main characters would be all of you!”

“As it is an inheritance ground, the greatest benefits of the Great Empress mystic realm would be definitely left to juniors like you. If you can obtain the recognition of the Great Empress mystic realm and obtain the heritage left behind by the Great Empress, or be able to find a method to join up Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians, then you would be the person who contributed the most to the Lin family. As long as your future achievement is passable, you will be allowed to helm half of the Lin family’s estate!”

Elder Huowen’s words were a surprise. It caused all the geniuses present to stare with widened eyes.

Helm half of the Lin family’s estate!?

They had originally guessed that the Lin family would reward greatly for this Great Empress mystic realm trip as it was very important. However, they had imagined that it would be cultivation techniques, elixirs or relics.

They had never expected that Elder Huowen would promise the future ownership of the Lin family.

As for why it was half of the estate, it was obvious. The remaining half was reserved for Lin Xintong.

If Lin Xintong could really join up her naturally terminated meridians, then it would be reasonable for her to become the person helming the Lin family. However, for them to share power of the Lin family with Lin Xintong, with their status being second only to a peerless Great Empress, this made many of the Lin family disciples present excited.

“The Lin family has really invested a lot this time.”

Behind Grand Elder Huowen, Su Jie was secretly surprised. He was quite impressed with Elder Huowen’s drive. Only with great rewards would there be brave heroes.

However, Elder Huowen’s rewards were reasonable.

This was because if someone was able to obtain the Great Empress’ heritage, then he would have the sufficient capacity to control half of the Lin family. And if that someone could find a way to heal Lin Xintong, then his credit was even greater.

“Let’s move out!”

Elder Huowen did not speak any further nonsense. Throwing his hand gently, a beam flew out. It was a mini-airship.

This small airship began to rapidly grow in size once it was thrown into the air. Soon, it was about a thousand feet long.

Following that, Elder Huowen flicked his long sleeves and a strong force surged over. The juniors present were transported into the airship by this force.

Yi Yun felt the space around him transform, and the next moment, he was already inside the airship’s hull.

This made Yi Yun astonished. Elder Huowen’s method clearly contained spatial laws within it, or he would have appeared on the deck and not inside the airship’s hull.

The airship shot up into the sky and with a blink of an eye, left Cloud Protruding peak as they flew towards the God Burial Abyss.

Along the way, the airship broke through the fog at an extremely fast speed. However, Yi Yun felt it was very stable while on board it.

The two Grand Elders were no longer seen. At the beginning, Elder Tianzhu had nodded at Yi Yun slightly, which was the thanks to Yi Yun for seeing through the Shentu family clan’s nefarious plot. Later on, they no longer paid any attention to Yi Yun. Most of their efforts were placed on Lin Xintong.

For this expedition to the Great Empress mystic realm, the most important person amongst the juniors was of course, Lin Xintong. The person most likely to obtain the Great Empress’ heritage was also Lin Xintong.

The younger generation of the Lin family did not know that in the past five months, the three Lin family Grand Elders had come forward to give Lin Xintong pointers. Together with the Matriarch, they would each teach Lin Xintong something they were good at from time to time.

All the experts in the Lin family were revolving around Lin Xintong. All sorts of precious medicines were generously given to Lin Xintong for her usage.

The Lin family’s nurturing of Lin Xintong could be said to have stopped at nothing. No junior in the long history of the Lin family had received such treatment.

And Lin Xintong did not disappoint the upper echelons of the Lin family. In the short period of five months, her strength had once again made a leap forward. Her nomological insight had also improved. In the entire Lin family’s history, no one had her strength at this age.

If it was not for the curse of the natural Yin meridians clouding the hearts of the all the Elders, then Lin Xintong’s current achievements were enough for her to be nurtured as the Lin family’s future successor.

Now, taking advantage of the time the airship was flying, the two Grand Elders meditated beside Lin Xintong, secretly manipulating the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi around her, letting Lin Xintong reach her optimal state in the three aspects of Essence, Qi and Spirit.

For this expedition to the Great Empress mystic realm, the upper echelons of the Lin family had a great deal of confidence in Lin Xintong.

They knew that the reason why the Shentu family clan failed in the Great Empress mystic realm was because of Shentu Nantian. He, as the number one genius amongst the younger generation of the Shentu family clan, had not been able to gain the recognition of the Great Empress mystic realm!”

If Lin Xintong were to gain the recognition of the Great Empress mystic realm, then the Lin family would truly be able to open up the Great Empress mystic realm.

With Lin Xintong having natural Yin meridians with a perfect pure Yin body, her martial talent was impeccable. If Lin Xintong could not gain the recognition of the Great Empress mystic realm, then the upper echelons of the Lin family could not think of anyone who had this ability.

“Matriarch, don’t worry. Xintong will be fine.”

Beside the Matriarch, an elder said. The Matriarch nodded. The eyes that she used to look at Lin Xintong was filled with love and hope…

At that moment, Lin Xintong’s eyes were tightly shut. Her eyelashes were gently quivering. She looked like an ethereal fairy while in her meditative state. But underneath her calm as still water energy, there was a hidden thriving fighting spirit burning. It was her declaration of war at fate!

She had always wanted to take control of her destiny. And this time, the Heavens had placed an opportunity in front of her…

434 - : Heading towards God Burial Abyss

CKtalon  CKtalon

The airship traveled at an extremely fast speed, it only needed a day’s time to reach the Untraversable Sea.

The Untraversable Sea surrounded the entire Tian Yuan world. Heading east from the sea, one would reach the border of the land containing the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. And heading north, one would see seas with no end in sight.

The sea would be completely still with no Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Even a Great Emperor could not cross it.

The God Burial Abyss was deep in the Untraversable Sea, which was also directly below the Tian Yuan world.

The airship travelled downwards parallel to the Tian Yuan world’s continental cliff. As the Sun was obscured, the airship was quickly swallowed by the Tian Yuan world’s continental body’s huge shadow.

What was a thousand foot long airship looked like a speck of dust in front of the huge continental plate.

“Puah!”

The airship entered the Untraversable Sea, causing a splash. However, looking down from high up in the sky, this splash was completely trivial.

Yi Yun stood in front of a window of the airship and looked at the deep and endless underwater world.

This sea did not have many fish. Occasionally, biological creatures would appear. They were large underwater fierce beasts.

Looking up, Yi Yun noticed that the Tian Yuan continent was actually floating on the Untraversable Sea. There was no foundational attachment anchoring the Tian Yuan continent to the seabed. Most of it was empty space, and there were countless numbers of large rocky spines protruding through the empty space.

These rocky spines covered more than a 100,000 feet. It went from the Tian Yuan world’s continent deep into the depths of the Untraversable Sea. They looked like ferocious teeth.

Seeing this scene, Yi Yun deeply felt the vastness and mightiness of this world. And in it, he felt very small.

People tend to feel tiny when faced with the vastness of nature. This was probably one of the driving forces for people to constantly grow stronger and to explore the mysteries of the universe.

At this depth, the water flow became more and more turbulent. The airship was approaching the terrifying vortex in the God Burial Abyss.

The airship was large in size, so it was more affected by the suction force. The closer it got to the God Burial Abyss, the more uncontrollable the suction force would become. Even the Lin family’s Grand Elders could not control such a large airship in the turbulent sea.

Hence, in another 15 minutes, they had to leave the airship.

Then, people would need to approach the God Burial Abyss using their own physical strength.

“We are almost there. Any deeper and we will lose control of the airship.”

On the deck of the airship, Elder Huowen was standing steadfastly as he withstood the turbulent waters of the nearby God Burial Abyss.

Elder Tianzhu nodded, “Let the juniors come out. They should be able to withstand a water flow at this level.”

As Elder Tianzhu said this, he suddenly noticed something. Turning his head to the side, he looked deep into the depths of the sea.

“Oh? That is… ”

In the deep depths of the Untraversable Sea, there was a fuzzy shadow that was approaching the Lin family’s airship.

Elder Tianzhu squinted his eyes. His eyesight was excellent, so he could clearly see in the dark sea depths. It was a giant sea turtle.

On the sea turtle, it had a barrier. And in that barrier sat a group of people.

Despite the distance, Elder Tianzhu could see their clothes clearly. On their clothes, there was a flame-like emblem. It was a kind of coat-of-arms.

Among those people, there was an elder who clearly felt the gaze of Elder Tianzhu. He tilted his head slightly and exchanged gazes with Elder Tianzhu. A smile formed on his lips.

“Li Fire Sect!”

Elder Tianzhu frowned. The uninvited guests in front of him came from the Li Fire Sect, which was a huge sect.

In the Tian Yuan world, not every faction was in the form of a family clan. The Tian Yuan world had several large sects as well. Their strength was even stronger than several family clans!

“What are they doing here!?” Elder Huowen’s face sank. At that moment and place, it was naturally not a coincidence for the Li Fire Sect to suddenly appear close to the God Burial Abyss.

“They probably have the same purpose as us. It looks like our fears have come true. The Shentu family clan will definitely not let us explore the mystic realm freely. They plan to hinder us and fight us in the mystic realm!”

Back when the Relic Trial ended, the Lin family had suggested using Shentu Nantian, the Thousand Hand Granny and the lives of the upper echelons of the Shentu family clan to exchange for the information of the Great Empress mystic realm. Then, the upper echelons of the Lin family had already guessed that the Shentu family clan would not hand over the secrets of the Great Empress mystic realm without qualms to the Lin family. The Shentu family clan would privately sell the information of the Great Empress mystic realm to other factions!

By doing so, they could kill three birds with one stone.

Firstly, the Shentu family clan would recoup their losses to the highest degree. The Shentu family clan could choose a few or even a dozen factions and negotiate a price with them. After the negotiation, they could sell the information of the Great Empress mystic realm to them. And these dozen or so factions could provide quite a sizable income to the Shentu family clan.

Secondly, by doing so, the Shentu family clan could prevent most of the Great Empress mystic realm falling into the hands of the Lin family. With everyone entering it, there will be a big scramble to see who had the best ability and luck.

It was very likely that with everyone competing, restraining and scheming against each other, no one would dare to break the prohibitions of the Great Empress mystic realm at all costs. They might end up leaving empty handed.

The Shentu family clan knew that it was nearly impossible for them to get the core heritage of the Great Empress mystic realm, so they might as well make the information available. Everyone could enter the Great Empress mystic realm, but no one could obtain it.

Thirdly, by releasing the information of the Great Empress mystic realm, many experts from the various factions would end up killing each other, finally dying there. The Shentu family clan definitely wished to see other factions weakened as a result.

The Lin family knew this was possible, but they had no way to prevent this as not even a soul contract was sufficient.

This was because when the Lin family spread the news of the negotiation with the Shentu family clan, the Shentu family clan had sufficient time to sell the information of the Great Empress mystic realm.

The soul contract was only signed when the upper echelons of the Shentu family clan came to negotiate with the Lin family. Binding the Shentu family clan by then would be too late.

“What should we do…? Probably when the Shentu family clan sold the news, they had come to an agreement that once they entered the mystic realm, they would join forces against us. Then, we would not be able to make any progress.”

The Great Empress mystic realm was after all a place for the Great Empress to pick her successor.

When the ancient Great Empress established this inheritance land, she naturally knew that those who entered the Great Empress mystic realm would not be uniform in age. As a result, there would be huge differences in their cultivation levels.

Those with high cultivation levels might not necessarily be more talented. Someone with a lower cultivation level might be the person she was looking for.

Under these circumstances, the ancient Great Empress would naturally provide some protection for those with low cultivation levels. If not, those with high cultivation levels and of higher age, but of average talent, would kill others wantonly so as to reduce their competitors.

However, this protection was not everywhere. There had to be places that was outside the scope of this protection.

If Lin Xintong were to be outside the range of this protection and the Lin family was jointly attacked by the Shentu family clan and the other family clans, the outcome would be disastrous.

Elder Huowen frowned as he said with a sunken expression, “If we did not guess wrongly, when the Shentu family clan signed the agreement, it would’ve included that the other family clans are not to pick on the Shentu family clan, and on the contrary, deal with our Lin family. If that happens, it would be very difficult for Xintong to amount to anything in the Great Empress mystic realm!”

“In this half a year… Shentu Nantian’s injuries should be healed. He would most likely appear at this expedition to the mystic realm. His intentions on Xintong were never pure. Coupled with the Shentu family clan understanding the Great Empress mystic realm being better than ours, if they were to make any arrangements before hand… ”

Elder Tianzhu did not speak further. He did not dare to imagine the consequences.

“The situation of the juniors is actually better. To protect her successor, the ancient Great Empress should have set up several restrictions. As for us old folks, we would be in a more dangerous situation. The Great Empress’ protection for us will be so little that its pathetic!”

The ancient Great Empress’ intention was to pick a successor. As for those old folks like them, who entered to search for treasures, why would the Great Empress care about their lives?

The Great Empress may have left treasures for them probably on a whim. After all, some of the treasures could not be used by her future successor and it might not be particularly valuable in her eyes. Hence, she had conveniently left them behind for the people of the future.

Those who had the means to get the treasure would get it. If they could not get it or ended up dying for the treasure, they only had themselves to blame.

“This move of the Shentu family clan sure is malevolent!” Elder Huowen said angrily. “The juniors have to be very careful. As for us old folks, we can probably only enter the protective outer perimeter of the Great Empress mystic realm. We can’t proceed any deeper as it would be too risky. Then, it will almost certainly be fated that old folks like us would return empty-handed!”

“We have gone through so much effort and have been embroiled with the Shentu family clan for so long only to end in this result. Compared to the other family clans, we have received no advantage at all. It could be said to be a disadvantage!”

“There’s no other way… ” Elder Tianzhu shook his head, “If we had not been embroiled with the Shentu family clan, and not force the Shentu family clan to make the information available, it would still be a mystic realm solely controlled by the Shentu family clan. We would not have gotten a single chance. But now, we finally have that tiny bit of hope… With the wolf, Shentu Nantian, inside this mystic realm, I can’t feel at ease.”

“Let’s ask Xintong and see what her decision is… ”

Elder Huowen may say so, but in fact, he had already guessed Lin Xintong’s answer. With her personality, she would only have one answer.

435 - : Meeting Opponents

CKtalon  CKtalon

The order to leave the airship came. Yi Yun and another Lin family junior stood together as Elder Tianzhu brought the two of them to the entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm.

With a wave of Elder Tianzhu’s hand, Yi Yun felt that he was being surrounded by a powerful energy. This energy made him feel a tinge of numbness as countless lightning sparks faintly flashed.

This was the power of lightning.

Elder Tianzhu practiced the law of lightning. Lightning was also known as the power of Heaven’s punishment. It was rumored that it could kill heinous evil-doers, it was also why Elder Tianzhu (Wrath of Heaven) got his title.

When Yi Yun was brought out of the airship, he first hand experienced the terrifying suction power of the seawater close to the God Burial Abyss. Even with Elder Tianzhu’s energy residing on Yi Yun, he still felt as if his muscles were about to tear.

Yi Yun looked down at the deep depths of the sea, and… saw a scene that he would remember for the rest of his life.

In front of him, deep down in the sea, there was a humongous black hole. The black hole swallowed the horizon of the seabed, and extended as far as one could see.

In the core of the black hole, there was a dark divine beam surging into the sky. It was like a spear of the gods that shot out. It pierced through the Untraversable Sea, straight into the gigantic and heavy continental land above the Untraversable Sea.

That continental land mass was the Tian Yuan world.

It gave the impression that this mysterious and terrifying black light was the thing holding the immeasurable weight of the Tian Yuan world. It was the supporting pillar of the Tian Yuan world!

Below the black light, the black hole was not a flat abyssal surface. It was a slightly rounded surface. It was as if there was a huge black Sun buried in the bottom of the sea, and was just revealing the tip of the iceberg.

The terrifying whirlpool crazily rotated around the black ball. Endless amounts of seawater was swallowed by it.

What was even stranger was that this rotation did not produce the slightest bit of sound. It was creepily silent! It gave off the feeling that, even if there were sounds to it, the sounds had also been swallowed by the God Burial Abyss!

This was an eternal whirlpool that had existed since ancient times. Only when Yi Yun got close to it did he feel its terror. Even a Great Emperor would be humbled in front of it.

“We are actually still very far from God Burial Abyss. As to how far from it we are, we don’t know. We might be 500 kilometers away, or maybe 5000 kilometers… Due to the tremendous suction force of the God Burial Abyss, spatial dimensions have been warped, so distance is no longer a well-defined quantity. Even I would not dare to approach it too closely. Once you come near the God Burial Abyss, not only will there be a terrifying suction force, just the distorted spatial dimensions would make it difficult for me to find my way back…”

As Elder Tianzhu spoke, he flew towards God Burial Abyss while bringing Yi Yun and the Lin family junior along. The tremendous tearing force from the seawater was largely dissipated by Elder Tianzhu. The purple Yuan Qi around his body condensed into a thunderbolt sword, so all the seawater was separated wherever it passed.

Warriors could reach the stage of avoiding grain. They could interface with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, allowing them to breathe underwater. They could absorb the Yuan Qi in the sea, providing them with energy.

However, the immense pressure in the deep depths of the sea was not something any typical warrior could endure. Especially at a depth of hundreds of thousands of feet, their bodies would feel like they were carrying a mountain at all times.

“Oh? That is…?”

When they approached the entrance to the God Burial Abyss, Yi Yun saw that many people had gathered there. They were obviously not from the Lin family.

Competitors!

Yi Yun’s gaze turned cold as his expression turned heavy.

The appearance of competitors did not exceed his expectations. This also meant that this expedition into the Great Empress mystic realm would become even more difficult!

When the entire Lin family had gathered together, those people from the other factions also looked towards the Lin family. Due to the existence of the God Burial Abyss, the seabed was not completely pitch black. With the eyes of warriors, they could clearly see each other in this environment.

“This…”

Upon seeing so many factions, the Lin family disciples immediately began to panic. This exceeded the expectations of several people. They had originally thought that the Lin family would be able to explore the mystic realm alone. They did not expect this scene.

And from the looks of it, these factions were eyeing them, which made the danger imaginable.

“Shentu family clan!”

Lin Xintong’s grandaunt had followed the Lin family team to the Great Empress mystic realm entrance. Upon seeing the Shentu family clan emblem, this old woman’s expression changed.

Their Lin family had completely offended the Shentu family clan, so under this situation to face the Shentu family clan and so many unknown factions, it was like mortals meeting a pack of wolves in the night. It was extremely terrible.

“What are you panicking for!” Elder Huowen snorted as he said unhappily, “It is just the Shentu family clan and a few family clans that they have contacted to form a temporary alliance. They are just a pack of wolves formed from a temporary interest. Do you think that they will be so united? In this environment, they would not make a move. They are just looking at us!”

Now, close to the God Burial Abyss, the pressure was immense. One could accidentally succumb to the whirlpool and be sucked into the God Burial Abyss. Even if they were the Grand Elders of various large factions, they would also die.

Under these circumstances, if the Grand Elder-grade figures began fighting, it would not be much different from committing suicide.

Besides, once they fought, they would not be able to care for their family’s juniors. Once those juniors entered an unprotected state, they would be crushed to dust after lasting, at most, a few seconds.

No faction would be willing to pay such a big price to make a move on the Lin family.

Of course, it would be different when they were inside the mystic realm.

Just from their expressions, one could tell. For example… Yi Yun had already seen Shentu Nantian!

In the midst of the large group of factions, Shentu Nantian was in the most central position. Shentu Nantian was under the protection of a Shentu family clan Elder. He was grinning ferociously at Yi Yun.

After these six months of time, Shentu Nantian no longer had his mild-mannered appearance. His facial features had not changed, but he now emitted a hideously evil air.

This feeling was as if a sanctimonious and orthodox man of the martial path had one day tore off his disguise, and began to cultivate some overwhelming demonic powers. His entire person had become insane and extremely dangerous.

“Yi Yun!” Shentu Nantian looked towards Yi Yun with a cruel smile, “172 days! 172 days have passed since I left the Lin family! In these 172 days, I have been constantly remembering the pain and endless humiliation you brought me!”

“I will return it 10,000 times, no, 100,000 times worse to you! You must not fall into my hands for I will not cripple you of your martial arts. That would let you die too early, then it would not be fun. I will only restrict your cultivation level, and then use molten iron to encase you. Then I will use all sort of top grade drugs to extend your life. I have already thought of 10,000 methods to torture you. It will be enough to torture you for 10,000 years.”

“Also Lin Xintong, that bitch. I will conquer and ruthlessly fuck her in front of you. I will let both of you know what it’s like to lead a living death!”

Shentu Nantian’s voice was transmitted into the ears of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong simultaneously.

Yi Yun was expressionless as he looked towards Lin Xintong. She was only gently pressing on the hilt of her sword.

The venomous snake, Shentu Nantian was following them into the Great Empress mystic realm. It would be an immense threat.

Regardless of how Yi Yun had tortured Shentu Nantian half a year ago, having implanted a mental demon in his heart, and the hidden injury left in his soul, at the current moment he was still far from Shentu Nantian’s match.

Shentu Nantian was already thirty years old. His cultivation level was even higher than Lin Xintong’s, what more Yi Yun’s!

“Yi Yun, this Shentu Nantian seems to have undergone some sort of change in the past six months. He might have cultivated some sort of evil cultivation technique. We need to be careful!”

Lin Xintong transmitted her voice. With how things had progressed, she had to enter the Great Empress mystic realm. Despite all the dangers they would face, she would not back down.

Ever since she reached a sensible age, she had looked forward to this day, for her to really have a chance at challenging her own destiny.

Now, with the opportunity right in front of her eyes, she would definitely grab it, even at the cost of her life!

“All of you can see the danger. Now, if anyone wants to back out at the last minute, it is not too late!”

Elder Huowen’s back faced the people from the Lin family as he said with a deadpan expression.

Many of the Lin family disciples looked at each other in the eyes. They shook their heads. Their eyes either looked firm, or scared, but… no one backed out.

As a large family clan’s disciples, they could not bear the disgrace of backing out at the last moment.

“Very good! I do not care if you are regretting it deep down in your hearts, but since you have chosen to stay behind and face the threats in the mystic realm, and the desolate beast-like opponents, then you will have to do your best to be more ruthless than others so you can stay alive!”

“Many places in the mystic realm will bestow protection upon you, so you do not need to fear being killed by enemies. This is our Lin family’s opportunity. Success or failure all depends on this gamble!”

Elder Huowen’s words sounded resoundingly.

“Now, opening the mystic realm!”

As Elder Huowen spoke, he formed a stance. His Yuan Qi began to surge. This clothes that were soaked by the sea water also began to swell up.

Originally, the mystic realm could only be opened with the combined efforts of Elder Huowen, Elder Tianzhu and Matriarch Lin.

However, now, only Elder Huowen made a move. Elder Tianzhu and Matriarch Lin stayed behind to hold the ground.

It was naturally not enough with only Elder Huowen’s strength alone. In one of the other factions, an Elder sneered, “Quite careful!”

They knew that the Lin family only sent one Grand Elder to open the mystic realm as they were wary of them. If no one from their side participated, then this Great Empress mystic realm would naturally not open.

“Let me do it!”

From the Li Fire Sect, an elder made his move.

The other factions also sent out an Elder.

The person sent out by the Shentu family clan was an insidious-looking man. He did not look very old. He was also the leader of the Shentu family clan delegation. As for the Shentu Patriarch, he stayed behind to hold the ground for the Shentu family clan.

The Great Empress mystic realm was hidden in a spatial fissure in the deep depths of the God Burial Abyss. Many of the Grand Elders from the various factions present were well-versed in spatial laws. They had sufficient power to tear open the space.

A total of ten beams shot out from all directions. They struck a point in the sea. That point seemed to melt away under blazing hot temperatures as a spatial cavern slowly emerged in front of everyone.

When the cavern opened, Yi Yun, who was standing behind Elder Tianzhu, felt a profound and mysterious desolate bone aura surge out from the cavern…

436 - : The Opening of the Great Empress Mystic Realm

CKtalon  CKtalon

“This aura…”

When he was enveloped by this aura, Yi Yun felt that behind the entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm, there was an extremely mysterious sealed world. It was as if he would be able to see the origins of the Great Dao if he entered that world and he would have all the secrets of the universe easily in his grasp.

Not only Yi Yun, the other young elites also had a similar feeling. The only difference was that their perception of the energy was not as keen as Yi Yun’s. The feeling was not that clear. They only had the feeling that they could enter the Great Empress mystic realm, and they had the desire to explore the secrets.

The entrance grew bigger and bigger. It was big enough for ten people to enter at one time. With the combined efforts of the Elders from the various large factions, it was not difficult to open the spatial channel.

“Go in! Once you enter the Great Empress mystic realm, all you young people will be sent into the testing grounds directly. While us older ones will enter the treasure seeking grounds.”

Elder Huowen said as a ball of energy wrapped around his palm. As he pushed his palm forward, a Lin family junior was directly sent through the entrance of the mystic realm.

In the process of flying into the mystic realm, this Lin family junior went on high alert as he held his breath.

However, no one from the other factions attacked him at all. Every faction had juniors, no one wanted to end up in a life and death struggle.

One after another, youths from the various factions were sent into the mystic realm.

Yi Yun stood behind Elder Tianzhu. He could feel Shentu Nantian’s gaze trained on him like a sharp knife.

Other than Shentu Nantian, there was another insidious-looking youth. His skin was sallow and he looked sickly. However, his eyes were sharp and vicious.

Yi Yun recognized this person. His name was Shentu Ya, one of the more talented young elites in the Shentu family clan. His position in the family was probably second only to Shentu Nantian. Back when the Shentu family clan came to the Lin family to negotiate, Yi Yun had seen Shentu Ya. Yi Yun had remembered his eyes deeply.

When it was Yi Yun’s turn, Matriarch Lin hesitated and transmitted her voice to him, “Yi Yun, are you sure you want to go in?”

Matriarch Lin had previously sent people from the Lin family’s Family Rules Hall to check on the reason behind the Yi Yun and Shentu Nantian’s feud. They had also checked his life slightly, and she received some undetailed reports. Matriarch Lin only knew that Yi Yun had made quite an exceptional performance in one of the training grounds of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. However, even so, it did not indicate much. To the Tian Yuan world, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was nothing worth mentioning. Hence, having some achievements there was not very persuasive.

Besides, Yi Yun was now facing Shentu Nantian and company, who were the top elites of the Tian Yuan world. They were also much older than Yi Yun, so the danger that he would face upon entering the Great Empress mystic realm was easily imaginable.

“Yi Yun, actually, this training experience was for you to broaden your horizons. However, if it is too risky, you need to consider if it is worth it. Even if you do not enter the Great Empress mystic realm, with your achievements in the Desolate Heaven technique, it is enough to have a promising future and become a leading person in the Tian Yuan world.”

The Matriarch was in a dilemma. She was even feeling some regrets having let Yi Yun enter the Great Empress mystic realm.

Yi Yun said, “Thank you for the Matriarch’s concern, this junior indeed wants to enter the Great Empress mystic realm to take a look.”

“Then… alright. I know you have a basic foundation in martial arts and you are one of the best in the younger generation of the Tai Ah Kingdom. However, the Tian Yuan world is different. Those elites are much stronger than you imagine! I do not have high hopes that you will obtain the Great Empress heritage, nor do I wish for you to find the method to join up Xintong’s terminated meridians. As long as you come back alive, that will be the greatest reward.”

The Matriarch exhorted again. Yi Yun himself was the Lin family’s wealth. His mutated eyes was an ability that the Matriarch had never even heard of. This ability might even be passed down to the next generation!

As the Matriarch spoke, she nodded to the two Elders, Huowen and Tianzhu.

The two Grand Elders from the Lin family had freed themselves. To prevent Yi Yun from receiving a sneak attack from the Shentu family clan, the two of them personally sent Yi Yun through the mystic realm’s entrance.

But even so, the moment Yi Yun entered the mystic realm entrance, he felt his body being scanned by a few pair of eyes. This feeling of being examined made Yi Yun’s heart turn cold. Although he was not worried about people detecting the presence of the Purple Crystal, he found it extremely disgusting to be scanned like that.

That bunch of old fools!

Just as more than half of his body had entered the mystic realm, Yi Yun turned back to glance at those people. He saw a few hostile-looking eyes and Shentu Nantian’s hideous face as well.

“He has gone in. I really do not know who gave him that confidence, but… that’s to my liking!” A cruel smile suffused on Shentu Nantian’s lips. He subconsciously grabbed the air with his hand as if he was squeezing Yi Yun to death.

“Gongsun Hong, Yi Yun is just slightly younger than you. In the initial entry to the Great Empress mystic realm, he will be grouped with you. I’ll leave the future matters to you.”

As Shentu Nantian spoke, a youth in a flaming long robe standing not far from him lightly nodded. He casually said, “Small matter.”

…

Yi Yun only felt his vision suddenly change. Following that, he appeared above a vast and empty land.

This land had on it nothing at all. It was so empty that it made people feel weak. It was monotonously white and it extended all the way to the limits of one’s vision.

Swish! Swish!

With a few light sounds, there were more people who were transported inside. Yi Yun circulated his Yuan Qi as he became more vigilant.

Other than Yi Yun, there were more than ten people who had been transported to this place.

With a glance, he immediately discovered that people from the Shentu family clan were amongst those people.

As for people from the Lin family, Yi Yun also noticed a few. One of them was a young girl dressed in flowery clothes. She was petite and beautiful. Seeing Yi Yun look over, the young girl smiled.

Her name was Lin Xiaodie, one of the initial six who were given a place to enter the Great Empress mystic realm.

Beside Lin Xiaodie was another effeminate-looking youth. His name was Lin Fengyue. He was Lin Xiaodie’s brother.

As for the third person, he was Lin Yu.

When Lin Yu saw Yi Yun, a tinge of disgust flashed in his eyes.

“I am so unlucky to be with this rascal.”

Lin Yu did not feel good. Although he wanted to flaunt his abilities in front of Yi Yun to let this bumpkin know what an elite of the Tian Yuan world was like, Lin Yu knew that Yi Yun was a person marked by the Shentu family clan. In this training experience, an unknown number of people wanted to deal with Yi Yun. Being with Yi Yun would definitely result in him being implicated.

“This jinx. I need to be careful being grouped with him. None of those people are pushovers.”

Lin Yu scanned his surroundings.

On the initial entry to the Great Empress mystic realm, people would be divided into groups, and the rules to a group depended on two points. One was age, and the other was the time period of entry.

Those who entered in the same time period and were of similar age would be grouped together.

Hence, the four youngest juniors of the Lin family were grouped together. It was inevitable.

The Lin family disciples naturally gathered together. They maintained a clear distance from the Shentu family clan and the other factions.

“Haha, to be grouped with the person who smacked Young Master Nantian’s face is my pleasure!” A youth who carried a large bag on his back looked at Yi Yun as he said with a sarcastic tone.

In fact, the moment after Yi Yun went through the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance, a group of people immediately squeezed into the Great Empress mystic realm. These people were around Yi Yun’s age, so they were intending to be grouped together with Yi Yun!

As for why, it was because the Shentu family clan had established extremely tempting rewards for the person who obtained Yi Yun’s head.

In the eyes of these people, Yi Yun was like a piece of succulent meat. Everyone wanted to have a bite on him.

“Shentu Nantian is sure useless, for any Tom, Dick or Harry to trample on him. Ze Ze!”

A black-haired young girl dressed in black said in a cute yet seductive manner. Her words were full of ridicule for Shentu Nantian. Clearly, these people were gathered together due to common interests, but they were not friendly with the Shentu family clan.

Yi Yun glanced at that girl. She was petite and her back had a subtle bend. She gave the feeling she was bending her back all the time. Her fingernails were pure black. They were pointed and sharp, and the cold feeling they gave off made people feel like her fingernails were covered in poison.

When she saw Yi Yun looking over, she laughed as she subconsciously licked her lips. This feeling was as if she wanted to devour Yi Yun.

“Fuck, What are these people?” Lin Yu cursed in his heart. These people were clearly no ordinary people. Many of them were here for Yi Yun.

437 - : Encircled by a Pack of Wolves

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Panther Lady, do not speak so ill of Shentu Nantian. He just failed at a miserably easy task. This Yi Yun kid is very crafty! We need to watch out for him.”

Some of the people present came from factions that had good ties with the Shentu family clan, so one of them spoke up for Shentu Nantian. The person referred to as Panther Lady was the petite, black-haired girl with black clothes and black finger nails.

The Panther Lady stopped talking. She did not have a good impression of the Shentu family clan, but since they had signed a soul contract beforehand and the fact that there was a disciple of the Shentu family clan present, it was not right to put down Shentu Nantian.

And this Shentu family clan disciple looked to be about 16-17 in age. He was very low-key as he stood behind a youth dressed in a flaming, long robe.

This youth’s name was Gongsun Hong, he came from the Li Fire Sect.

Even the Panther Lady, and the youth with a bag behind him from before, showed reverence for Gongsun Hong. He had obtained first place in the last Li Fire Sect’s tournament for inner sect disciples.

The Li Fire rankings were held every three years, and only for those below the age of 18. Only the Li Fire Sect disciples who had yet to reach a mature age could participate in it. And Gongsun Hong proved his fearsomeness by being able to get first place in the Li Fire rankings

One had to know that in the Tian Yuan world, a sect’s cohesive power was lacking to that of a family clan. However, when it came to strength, they usually far exceeded large family clans. After all, a family clan could only choose from their own family’s descendants, and would inevitably be limited in this way. A sect, however, did not have such considerations.

Many of the people from the different factions present began to talk. They did not care about Yi Yun, nor did they hide their intention of killing Yi Yun.

The only thing was that, now, in the Great Empress mystic realm, every person was protected by a law. Whoever attacked first would immediately have his energy temporarily removed by the law.

However, this protection was only bestowed to cultivators who were qualified to be the Great Empress’ successor. Once they lost that qualification, they would no longer receive any protection, and the Great Empress mystic realm would obviously not spare any energy to protect those who were useless.

They were waiting, waiting for the trial to begin. Only those with sufficient talent could go all the way. Those who lacked the ability would be eliminated.

To many of the people present, being eliminated just meant the end of their trial. For Yi Yun however, being eliminated meant falling into a wolves’ den. His fate if that were to happen was imaginable.

And at that moment, with a “shua” sound, the vast white ground twisted in front of everyone. A roaring large river appeared out of nowhere above the land. And above the river was a huge bridge of light.

This bridge of light was more than twenty meters wide and about 200-300 meters long.

On the bridge of light, a shadow appeared out of nowhere, turning from a blur to clearness.

When people took a more detailed look, their hearts quaked. There was a desolate beast on the bridge!

This desolate beast was about two stories tall and looked like a humongous tiger. It’s body was not covered in tiger stripes, instead there were countless number of lightning bolts.

It had long fangs that resembled lances and claws that resembled swords. It looked extremely ferocious and gave off a strong sense of oppression!

“This is…”

Many of the youths present were shocked. What was this?

This desolate beast looked too real! It did not look any different from a real desolate beast. It had flesh and blood, and its pair of amber eyes also revealed a shockingly cold flash.

However, people knew that the Great Empress mystic realm had existed for a very long time, no desolate beast could be sealed within it and still survive for so long.

The desolate beast in front of them might look real, but it was in fact an energy projection!

A desolate beast made out of energy could perfectly simulate the feeling of a real desolate beast. This method was surprising, but what was most surprising wasn’t this, it was that this scene was not recorded amongst the experience depicted in the Shentu family clan’s jade scroll.

The records in the jade scroll indicated that they would first pass through a wilderness and experience killing along the way. It had not mentioned the bridge of light or this ferocious desolate beast.

Due to the soul contract, Shentu Nantian could not have given a jade scroll with false information. Hence, it was most likely that the Great Empress mystic realm would have a different trial with every entry…

This way, people who came later could not use the experiences gained from people who came before to target the trial. This would maximize the guarantee that the successor chosen by the mystic realm was genuine.

Upon realizing this, people felt awed. This Great Empress mystic realm was way too scary. How did the ancient Great Empress manage to make the mystic realm trials be different every time?

Now however was not the time to marvel about this. Without a doubt, other than indicating the entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm, the Shentu family clan’s mystic realm jade scroll did not have much referential value.

They had to rely on their own resourcefulness!

“With the trial’s content changing, then all that we will face is unknown.”

The youth with a bag behind him, not only did he not feel worried, his face even flashed with excitement.

“Interesting!”

The Panther Lady was also yearning to try. She subconsciously scratched with her palms as a black claw flashed.

At that moment, a voice sounded in everyone’s ears. This voice was calm and soothing but did not have any human emotions, resulting in it sounding metallic. “Everyone has one chance. Withstanding for a period it takes for a joss stick to burn will allow for passage through the bridge of light, and entrance into the next level of the mystic realm.”

“I see, so we need to withstand for the time it takes for a joss stick to burn under this desolate beast’s claws!”

“I like this trial!” The Panther Lady looked excited.

Not only the Panther Lady was excited, on the Lin family’s side, Lin Yu was also very excited. The first trial was to fight with desolate beasts.

And this was what he was good at.

In the last six months before entering the Great Empress mystic realm, he had undergone devil-like training. He spent all of his time in battle, either battling with young elites, or having a life and death fight with desolate beasts.

“This is a good omen. I will shine in this trial!”

Lin Yu clenched his fists tightly. An ambitious glimmer appeared in his eyes subconsciously.

Lin Yu was not at the level of a top elite in the Lin family, or else he would not have nearly lost his place in entering the Great Empress mystic realm.

As for Yi Yun, Lin Yu was not concerned about Yi Yun getting killed by others in the mystic realm. He was only concerned that Yi Yun who have too many strong enemies, that it would also implicate him.

To not mince his words, as long as he was fine, then Lin Yu would only gloat if Yi Yun was killed by the people from the other family clans.

Yi Yun had nearly robbed him of his place, and had also received the favor of the Matriarch, allowing him to use any of the top resources. For this, Lin Yu was already extremely jealous, so for him, Yi Yun was better off dead!

And at that moment, Lin Xiaodie began to laugh with glee, “To experience this ancient mystic realm personally is a very rare experience. Not recording this would be a pity.”

Lin Xiaodie was dressed in colorful clothes. She was petite and cute. Like her name (Little Butterfly), she was like a butterfly that shuttled through the flowers.

Maybe it was because she was about Yi Yun’s age, her character was like that of a child that couldn’t grow up. She did as she said and ignored all the factions that were eyeing their Lin family. She took out a visual array disk from her interspatial ring and placed it not far from the bridge of light. She was planning to record the scene of every junior’s trial on the bridge of light.

“Ha! Junior sister Xiaodie, doing that is quite interesting!”

Seeing the visual disk array, Lin Yu was also quite excited. He thought that his own performance would not be seen by the elders of the Lin family. Now however, with the visual disk array, they could watch it in the future and see his splendid and brave performance!

Lin Yu was hesitating whether or not he should immediately go on up, but at that moment, the indifferent voice of the Great Empress mystic realm sounded again, “The first cultivator to step on the bridge of light will have the difficulty reduced by 20%!”

The moment these words were heard, a pudgy youth immediately jumped onto the bridge of light. The first person who went on up would not know the abilities of that desolate beast, so it was a big disadvantage. However, if the difficulty was reduced by 20%, then this disadvantage would become an advantage.

“This kid!” Including Lin Yu, many people cursed silently. This fatty was too crafty, for first place to be robbed by him just like that.

“Haha! Everyone, I will scout the path for you all!”

The pudgy youth said with a laugh. He was very pleased that he had grabbed first place.

Of course, even though he was pleased, he had no intentions of overestimating himself. In front of the desolate beast, the pudgy youth became extremely alert.

He knew clearly that the ancient Great Empress was an existence that stood so high above that she could not be reached. Any typical genius would not catch her eye.

The difficulty of the Great Empress mystic realm she created to select her successor was easily imaginable!

The desolate beast in front of him was of some unknown, ancient species. Its strength was extremely fearsome. Although these people were top geniuses, there would be a sizable number of them who would be eliminated in this first assessment!

Previously, the cold voice said that just withstanding for the time it took for a joss stick to burn on the bridge of light would be sufficient to pass.

Hence, the pudgy youth had no intention of attacking the desolate beast. As long as he could hold on, that would be sufficient!

Simply withstanding would naturally be much easier than defeating this desolate beast!

438 - : Ancient Desolate Beast

CKtalon  CKtalon

On the bridge of light, the flames of fighting spirit burned in the pudgy youth’s eyes, in contrast with the ancient desolate beast’s amber eyes.

There were so many benefits at this trial!

Ignoring the opportunities in the mystic realm, just seeing the ancient mystic realm would broaden his horizons, and also greatly benefit his growth.

Taking 10,000 steps back, even if he was quickly eliminated, that would be alright too. This was because he was grouped together with that unlucky Yi Yun.

Once he was eliminated, he would no longer be afraid of receiving any punishment from attacking Yi Yun with the mystic realm’s protective energy on him gone. He could then kill the destined to be eliminated Yi Yun and receive the reward from the Shentu family clan.

It was a generous amount, and for the pudgy youth who came from the Xu family, which was in no way comparable to the Shentu family clan, the reward offered by Shentu Nantian was very tempting for him.

Thinking of this, the pudgy youth glanced at Yi Yun using the corner of his eyes. Greed and intimidation flashed in his eyes.

Upon noticing the youth’s glance, Yi Yun frowned. It was really quite a headache. It seems that other than the Lin family disciples, who could not receive the reward from Shentu Nantian, everyone else had him in their thoughts.

Indeed, as a Desolate Heaven Master apprentice, and with him being so young, he was like a piece of succulent meat placed in front of them. Who wouldn’t want to take a bite?

“Roar!”

At that moment, the desolate beast roared and its claw swiped down on the pudgy youth!

Although it was a simple attack, the beast claw appeared as a blurry afterimage.

Fast! Too fast!

The pudgy youth was not distracted. He immediately locked onto every action of the desolate beast. Seeing the desolate beast charge forward, his fat body bounced up like a rubber ball!

Sou!

The pudgy youth charged towards the side. The feeling he gave others was that he did not experience any acceleration. His speed had instantaneously reached its maximum. It violated the order that people knew.

“It is the Xu’s family heritage movement technique, ‘Nine Clouds Rope’.

Someone said in the crowd.

The Xu family was not one of the top family clans, but “Nine Clouds Rope” was one of the best movement techniques in the Tian Yuan world. Those who mastered this movement technique could fly even at the Yuan Foundation realm. They could use this movement technique and fly into the clouds. It was like they had an invisible rope that allowed them to climb. That was how Nine Clouds Rope got its name.

With the Nine Clouds Rope, the pudgy youth might not look fine with his body, but his speed was extremely fast. He shot around on the bridge of light, consecutively dodging 7-8 of the desolate beast’s attacks before finally moving around the desolate beast and charging towards the opposite side of the bridge!

He crossed the river and reached the other side!

The pudgy youth’s eyes beamed. This first round of evaluation was too suited for him. His combat strength may be weaker, but he was extremely confident in his movement technique.

He felt that victory was at hand!

However, just as he was about to cross the bridge, he felt a powerful resistance that greatly reduced his speed!

Oh?

The pudgy youth was secretly alarmed. The other side of the bridge had a hidden unknown. It seemed like it was impossible to cross the bridge without withstanding for the time it took a joss stick to burn.

Feeling the wind behind him, the pudgy youth knew that the ancient desolate beast’s attack was reaching him. Without taking a look, the pudgy youth abruptly reversed his body’s momentum and flew in an opposite direction.

Changing directions in midair was a technique of the large success stage of Minute Subtlety.

The Minute Subtlety movement technique had more to do with one’s control over one’s body. There were no laws contained within. It was an exquisite skill in low martial ranks, but in the higher martial ranks, where laws were important, it was nothing much.

In the Tian Yuan world, the Minute Subtlety movement technique was nothing to boast about.

However, just as the pudgy youth reversed directions midair, the ancient desolate beast behind him suddenly let out a roar. A crack appeared on its forehead. Black beams shot out from the crack. It was like the ancient desolate beast’s third eye!

Oh? This is!?

People did not have the time to react. They only saw a energy beam shoot out. The desolate beast managed to chase up to the pudgy youth with an inconceivable speed and attacked with its claw!

“Peng!”

With a loud ring, the pudgy youth screamed. He was like a rubber ball that had been hit. As he was sent flying by the desolate beast, people could hear the clear sound of breaking bones.

The pudgy youth slammed heavily to the ground. His entire right arm had been cut off by the desolate beast!

His arm had been cut off, but not only that, the ribs and sternum on his right side had completely shattered. Blood flowed out like water!

“Ah… Ah…” The pudgy youth moaned in pain. His fat face was now completely pale. The fat on his face was constantly trembling.

“Pain… Pain…”

He was after all a 16 year old child. Even a warrior who had experienced several tribulations would feel the visual impact of seeing his arms chopped off. The white bone with some bone marrow in it was not something any typical youth could handle.

That was his own hand.

Seeing the pudgy youth in this state, people were secretly in awe. This Great Empress mystic realm was an extremely cruel trial. This was not a place where opportunities were free for picking. Just being careless could cause death!

For example, if the ancient desolate beast’s claws had hit the pudgy youth’s head and not his right arm, he would already be dead!

“He… Help me…” The pudgy youth whined. However, he was met with indifference from the people surrounding him.

Arriving in the Great Empress mystic realm, they were all competitors. Besides, amongst these large family clans, they all had tense relations. In fact, they would usually have some bouts of friction. If they were not worried about others gaining from the battles amongst themselves, a few of their family clans would have already fought to compete for resources.

In this scenario, with opportunities everywhere in the Great Empress mystic realm, it was extremely normal for these juniors to fight and kill each other.

Most of the time, it was already not bad to not hit one when one was down.

The Xu family was a small family clan. Only three juniors had come in. As they were of different ages, they did not come in together. The pudgy youth did not have any companions.

According to the Great Empress mystic realm’s rules, once a person was eliminated, he had to wait until the end of the trial before he could leave the mystic realm.

During this period, he would not have any protection. He could only wait. However, with such severe injuries, the pain he had to endure for at least an hour could be imagined.

“Ze Ze, so pitiful.”

Lin Xiaodie was still recording with her visual disk array. Although she said that, she had no inkling of pity in her. She did some good and kicked the fatty’s broken arm to him.

As for Yi Yun, he was coldly watching everything. He knew very clearly that if he failed, his outcome would be even more miserable than the fatty’s. He did not even have the chance to wait, for he might have his body torn apart immediately! And that fatty might even be one of the culprits.

The fatty trembled as he picked up his broken arm and swallowed a pill. He was experiencing extreme pain and horror. He did not know if he could join up his broken arm after the trial ended about two hours later.

439 - : Indifference

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ze Ze, so pathetic. Aren’t you courting death by coming to the Great Empress mystic realm without any ability!?” The youth, who carried a big bag behind him, said sarcastically while looking at the fatty’s terrible state.

The fatty’s tragedy made some of the young elites present lose some confidence, but the majority of them remained oblivious.

As the genius elites of the Tian Yuan world’s various large factions, they were very confident in their strength. The tragedy that was the fatty in front of them came from a second-rate family clan which they did not take seriously.

“This really is getting more and more interesting. It is even more bloody than how it was described in the Shentu family clan’s jade scroll.”

The Panther Lady licked her fingernails and was tempted to give it an attempt.

“Hur!” The youth with the bag laughed, but did not carry on speaking. He subconsciously gave Gongsun Hong a glance. Gongsun Hong was nonchalantly standing with his hands by his back. His expression was indifferent, as if whatever had happened had nothing to do with him.

“The second cultivator to step on the bridge of light will have the difficulty reduced by 10%.”

The indifferent voice of the Great Empress mystic realm sounded again. People began to look at each other. This time, no one was in a hurry to vie to be the first.

Previously when the fatty jumped onto the bridge of light, he had been at quite a disadvantage for not knowing the rules and the desolate beast’s strength. For example, he had naively thought that by going around the desolate beast, he could rush pass the bridge of light, but in the end he was stopped by the array’s laws.

Also, the desolate beast had also suddenly opened its third eyes, which made them have some suspicions that once it opened its third eye, the desolate beast’s strength would greatly increase.

Lin Yu was watching by the side as he gritted his teeth, yearning to be next. However, at that moment, the youth with a bag on his back had already stepped onto the bridge of light.

“Hehe, let me try!”

Many of the youths present looked at the youth. His strength was apparently very high. If he could not pass, then many of them might have to give up.

Once the youth with the bag landed on the bridge on one foot, the ancient desolate beast roared and charged forward.

The youth leaped and, in the air, the bag behind him opened up, suddenly a group of shadows came surging over.

“Oh? Crows?”

It was quite a surprise that there was a bunch of crows sealed inside the youth’s bag. These crows were each about the size of an eagle. Their eyes were blood-red and their beaks were sharp as blades. They charged at the ancient desolate beast without regard for their lives!

“This is the Beast Control Sect’s mystic technique. These crows have been tempered by the mystic technique. They have lost their mind, and are like zombies. They can be sealed inside a spirit beast bag. This rascal Chu Cai is one of the leading figures amongst the Beast Control Sect’s juniors. The spirit beast bag he has is also amongst the best top-grade items. It probably might be able to seal hundreds of thousands of zombie crows!”

Said a girl who understood the Beast Control Sect well.

“Hundreds of thousands?” When people heard this, they were alarmed. How much effort was needed to refine hundreds of thousands of crows?

“The Beast Control Sect…” Yi Yun faltered slightly. The Lin family was powerful, but in the Tian Yuan world, they only held a spirit mountain range for themselves. The Jade Spirit Mountains may be a treasured ground, but compared to the vast Tian Yuan world, its area was very small.

Similarly, the Shentu family clan was in the same situation.

In the Tian Yuan world, there were still many other family clans and sects. They were hidden deep in the depths of the Tian Yuan world. They were very powerful and had deep heritage.

Now, the Shentu family clan had only chosen a dozen or so factions to bring into the Great Empress mystic realm to mess with things. The previous Li Fire Sect and the current Beast Control Sect made Yi Yun feel the powerful strength of these sects.

Yi Yun had never come into contact with the established sects in the Tian Yuan world.

As Yi Yun was thinking, Chu Cai had already released more than a thousand crows. These crows formed a dense wall and nearly covered the entire bridge of light.

Every attack of the ancient desolate beast was blocked by hundreds of crows.

“Die!”

At that moment, Chu Cai attacked. He took out a half moon saber from his interspatial ring. Crouching down, he charged like a cheetah at the ancient desolate beast.

“What? He is actually attacking the ancient desolate beast!?”

When people saw this, they were greatly alarmed. As a land of trials for the ancient Great Empress to choose her successor, the Great Empress mystic realm had extremely high difficulty. Now, for the first round of trials, many people felt that their strength was not even enough to dodge the ancient desolate beast, yet Chu Cai actually tried to sneakily attack the ancient desolate beast!

He was too arrogant!

In this split second, people did not have time to think carefully, for at that moment, Chu Cai had already rushed under the ancient desolate beast’s body!

A typical desolate beast’s back and limbs were extremely hard, like divine metal. However, its soft abdomen was where its weakness was!

The ancient desolate beast in front of them may be a construct of energy, but it did not look any different from a real desolate beast. It was almost like a living creature.

Its weakness was also likely the same as an ordinary desolate beast. After all, the ancient Great Empress was using array techniques to replicate the real world. Only then could she choose the successor she wanted in the most realistic environment.

Chu Cai had such a calculated thought before he sneakily attacked the ancient desolate beast. He had used the crows as protection and his wondrous movement technique to come under the ancient desolate beast’s belly.

“Cha!”

Slashing with his saber, beams from the blade wantonly shot out. This was the Beast Control Sect’s Nine Yin Heavenly Thunder Saber. It was as fast as lightning. Its extreme speed was in itself an extremely powerful attack.

“Dang!”

Chu Cai’s saber slashed directly at the ancient desolate beast’s belly.

However, not only did Chu Cai not rejoice, his expression greatly changed. The contact he felt from the saber made him alarmed. His saber had at most scratched the surface of the ancient desolate beast’s skin. It did not even manage to slash into the flesh!

“This!”

Chu Cai was greatly shocked. He rapidly retreated, but the ancient desolate beast’s sharp claws had already swiped downwards!

Chu Cai exerted all his strength as he used his curved saber to block off the claw attack. His palm tore open and his arm was injured. And at that moment, a beam shot out from the ancient desolate beast’s third eye!

This beam was like a sharp sword. A few hundred crows were turned to ashes when the beam hit them. The beam was in no way weakened as it pierced through Chu Cai’s shoulder.

“Puah!”

Blood splattered as Chu Cai’s face turned pale. He fell onto the bridge!

“Chu Cai has also been defeated!?”

People felt the terror. Isn’t this level too difficult!?

However… unlike what others thought, Chu Cai rolled on the ground after falling, but he still managed to stand up once again. He gritted his teeth as he pressed onto his penetrated shoulder. People could clearly see that in the inside of his shoulder, there were leech-like worms crawling around.

These worms were grown on Chu Cai’s flesh. It made the scalps of people tingle.

“This is!?”

People were shocked. These worms looked disgusting, and their effects were also unknown. Yet, Chu Cai had actually reared them on his own flesh.

“This is one of the mystic worms of the Beast Control Sect. Rearing them in the body allows pain relief and the repairing of wounds. Although Chu Cai’s arm has been penetrated, his combat strength should not greatly decrease!”

The person who spoke was Gongsun Hong. This was the genius youth of the Li Fire Sect. He had almost never opened his mouth ever since he entered the mystic realm. He gave off the feeling of an enigma.

Gongsun Hong was right. Chu Cai’s combat strength was mostly with his crows. If Chu Cai had not used his saber to attack the ancient desolate beast, and only dodged, his combat strength would definitely not have decreased much.

And in fact, in this situation, even if Chu Cai had another life to spare, he would still not dare to attack the ancient desolate beast again.

The desolate beast was invulnerable. There was no weakness to speak of!

“An ancient desolate beast constructed from energy is different from a real one… Its belly is hard as divine metal. It is impossible to defeat it…”

A youth said in the crowd, however Gongsun Hong shook his head, “That is not the case. The desolate beast formed from the Great Empress mystic realm’s energy is too strong. So even its weakness is no longer a weakness. If it was a primordial true spirit, even if you knew its weakness was in its belly or eyes, so what? Even a few Empyrean experts might not be able to kill it with their combined efforts!”

Gongsun Hong’s voice was indifferent. In his opinion, Chu Cai was too naive in attempting to defeat the ancient desolate beast. How could it be possible?

Gongsun Hong’s words awed many people. Indeed, for this Great Empress mystic realm, they had to put away their confidence and explore it with fearful respect.

This was because, to the ancient Great Empress, the so-called geniuses amongst them were actually weaklings.

To stand out in the mystic realm trial and be an indomitable force was not much different from ascending to the Heavens.

As people had this in mind, Chu Cai had released several thousands of crows on the bridge of light. He sacrificed these crows regardless of their cost. He allowed the ancient desolate beast to wantonly tear through the crow barrage, and only through this method did he delay the ancient desolate beast’s footsteps.

Chu Cai endured the wounds on his body and dodged the attacks that managed to get past the crows.

As such, he managed to withstand the time it took for a joss stick to burn with great difficulty.

Chu Cai became the first person to pass the first round of the trials!

440 - : Impossible to Defeat

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Chu Cai has passed.”

Seeing Chu Cai in such a state, people had complex feelings. He had a bloody hole in his shoulder, and he had to use his Beast Control Sect’s mystic technique to pass it with great difficulty. Now, Chu Cai was completely covered in blood. His face was pale and his arms were trembling. It was a great difference from Chu Cai’s previous high-spirited and pointer-giving air and appearance.

Chu Cai seemed to suffer quite a setback. He sat on the opposite side of the bridge of light, completely silent.

“Chu Cai should not have suffered such grave injuries, but unfortunately, he had to attack the ancient desolate beast. He bit off more than he could chew!”

As Panther Lady spoke, she jumped onto the bridge of light. The bridge was covered with the corpses of the crows.

Against the ancient desolate beast, Panther Lady did not dare to be careless, even if her speed and sneak attacks were her forte.

“Roar!”

The ancient desolate beast charged forward, and Panther Lady’s body suddenly disappeared!

“Cha!”

With a forceful wind surging over, Panther Lady’s body forcefully reversed in midair, and avoided the ancient desolate beast’s attack by a hair!

When Panther Lady landed, her hair was messy. Her eyes beamed like that of a wild beast.

“Roar!”

The ancient desolate beast attacked again as it opened its third eye.

This mysterious third eye could give the ancient desolate beast an increase in its speed and strength. Panther Lady’s pupils contracted, and turned thin like a needle, just like a cat. Her body began to emit cracking sounds. A strange tattoo began to appear on her body. Following that, fine hair began to grow on Panther Lady’s face. Her back became more bent, as her arms became even longer. She sprawled on the ground, while her black fingernails had become sharp claws.

“Beast transformation!”

Someone exclaimed. Panther Lady’s name was not trivially given. She came from the Tian Yuan world’s Totem Mystic Race.

The people from the Totem Mystic Race had a special bloodline. By using their race’s mystic technique, they could transform their body, making them similar to a beast, stimulating their body’s potential.

Now, Panther Lady was using such a method. In her beast form, her speed and reaction speed had been greatly increased!

“Cha!”

A beam shot out from the ancient desolate beast’s third eye as it grazed past Panther Lady’s arm. Although Panther Lady had managed to dodge the beam, the energy that surrounded the beam had made her grimace in pain. A wound appeared on her arm as blood seeped out.

“To think that the ancient desolate beast can still wound Panther Lady in her beast form!”

“This is way too terrifying.”

Panther Lady’s speed was already extremely fast, but it was still not enough in front of the ancient desolate beast.

Panther Lady revealed an embarrassed and irritated expression. She wanted to pass the trial without any injuries, but now, that was too difficult to achieve!

After some abrasions, Panther Lady managed to struggle to endure through it. Even though her speed and reaction speed had been pushed to an extreme, by the time it took for a joss stick to finish burning, there were a few shallow wounds on her body.

Although compared to Chu Cai, Panther Lady was clearly less pathetic as her wounds were just abrasions, after she got out of her beast form, her face was pale. And from her continuous light panting state, Panther Lady clearly had not gotten through it easily.

This made everyone feel heavy in the heart. The first round was already so difficult!

Lin Yu’s expression no longer looked good. Originally, when he saw that this round was to deal with a desolate beast, he was overjoyed, but now, he too felt the pressure.

However, compared to the other disciples, he still had some confidence. After all, he had been focused on actual battle usually. He had fought with desolate beasts for countless numbers of times and he had a wealth of experience.

Lin Yu scanned the faces of the people beside him. He saw that including Lin Xiaodie and Lin Yuefeng, their expressions were also not relaxed.

Everyone was the same!

Lin Yu heaved a sigh of relief. However, when he saw Yi Yun’s expression, he suddenly turned dumbfounded.

At that moment, Yi Yun was absorbed in staring at the ancient desolate beast. His expression looked deep, as if he was pondering over something.

Why does this kid have such an expression?

Lin Yu found it weird. He felt that Yi Yun should have fallen into despair seeing this difficult task. Others could still survive if they failed, but he would die if he failed.

“Is this kid scared silly? Forget it. Who cares what he’s doing. Let me pass the trial first.”

With this thought in mind, Lin Yu stepped on the bridge with determination.

At that moment, everyone’s eyes fell on Lin Yu, including Lin Xiaodie, who was holding a visual disk array.

Lin Yu stood straight and looked at the visual disk array in Lin Xiaodie’s hands. He clenched his fists tightly.

Back then, when the decision was made on who was to enter the Great Empress mystic realm, he had been denied by the Matriarch publicly. He was not even given a chance to speak, so it was a great blow to his self esteem.

This time, he wanted to avenge his previous disgrace!

Lin Xiaodie’s visual disk array would record the process of him passing the trial. He wanted to show Matriarch Lin that her initial choice was wrong!

Thinking of this, he subconsciously glanced at Yi Yun. Yi Yun was the reason for his ridicule.

Yes, the Matriarch’s chosen person would soon be ruined. His dying process would also be recorded by Lin Xiaodie. So what if he was favored by the Matriarch? Without strength, he would only be courting death in the Great Empress mystic realm. When Yi Yun is being killed, he would be standing on the opposite side of the bridge!

As he thought of this, Lin Yu turned and faced the ancient desolate beast.

“Roar!”

The desolate beast roared. Lin Yu felt his scalp go numb. Feeling the pressure from the ancient desolate beast up close was too much!

The desolate beast charged over as Lin Yu’s face flushed red. His eyes beamed as he leaped to dodge the attack!

“Boom!”

The bridge trembled. Lin Yu was completely focused. He used the experience he had accumulated in the past and managed to barely survive under the ancient desolate beast’s attack. Every dodge of his was extremely close. Just a tiny mistake would result in immediate serious injuries.

“Oh? This Lin family kid’s strength is passable.” In the crowd, someone said. The Lin family was after all a top family clan, so it was normal for Lin Yu to have such a performance.

As people were speaking, the ancient desolate beast opened its third eye. The pressure Lin Yu felt suddenly surged!

“It’s over, he won’t be able to last through it!”

“To be able to last to this point with such a small price isn’t considered weak.”

Hearing these people’s discussions, a cold sneer appeared on Lin Yu’s lips. He had trained so hard all this while, so how could he be of this level?

Seeing the desolate beast’s beam shooting over, an abnormal redness appeared on Lin Yu’s face. This redness spread all the way down to his neck, until his entire body suffused a faint bloody glow!

“Oh? This is… Sky Blood Yuan Qi!?”

On the Lin family side, Lin Xiaodie and Lin Yuefeng were also surprised.

In the path of martial arts, there were some cultivation techniques that would result in a special Yuan Qi that matched the cultivation technique. Sky Blood Yuan Qi was one of those.

Sky Blood Yuan Qi was very difficult to master, but even if it was mastered, it still had some constraints for its use. This was because it would overdraw on one’s Qi and blood, causing harm to the body.

And as a result, the power it gave was overwhelmingly powerful!

Now, with Lin Yu’s strength and him using the Sky Blood Yuan Qi, it was likely he would be left with reticent injuries.

“This Lin Yu sure is going all out!’

Lin Yuefeng shook his head slightly. This was just the first trial, and even if he passed, he might not get any substantial benefits. He would at best get some insight and experience.

Hence, every cultivator that entered the Great Empress mystic realm had to have a balance in their hearts. They needed to know if it was worth paying the price.

As the time it took for a joss stick to finish burning approached, Lin Yu was somersaulting everywhere. His face was completely swallowed by the color of blood, however, he still gnashed his teeth and held out.

“Cha!”

Another beam shot out from the ancient desolate beast’s third eye. Lin Yu used all his energy, but he was still unable to dodge this attack. His thigh was torn, causing blood to flow!

Lin Yu snorted as the blood vessels on his forehead and neck bulged, as if they were about to explode anytime.

He was already nearing the limits of his limits.

“Roar!”

The ancient desolate beast did not give Lin Yu the chance to take a breather. It quickly followed up with a claw!

“Boom!”

This claw caused light beams to distort from the ground. The strong impact sent Lin Yu flying. He heavily slammed to the bridge of light and vomited blood.

Lin Yu had not managed to complete dodge every attack of the ancient desolate beast. He felt like his body was about to fall apart.

However, just as he felt he could not endure any further, the ancient desolate beast suddenly stopped.

It used its cold eyes to stare at Lin Yu, but it did not charge forward.

It was because the time it took for a joss stick to burn was over!

441 - : Sky Blood Yuan Qi

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Peng!”

Lin Yu fell to the ground as if he had been reflected away by the array.

He passed!

Lin Yu let out a sigh of relief. He immediately felt weak all over.

He trembled as he took out a desolate bone relic from his interspatial ring and put it into his mouth. He then avoided where Panther Lady and Chu Cai was and went aside, quickly grabbing the opportunity to regulate his breathing.

After using the Sky Blood Yuan Qi, Lin Yu would feel weak for a period of time. However, he was the third person to pass, and there were still other geniuses who had to pass the bridge. He could take this opportunity to meditate and recover. After all, with the Shentu family clan and the Lin family at odds, he had to be careful despite the Great Empress mystic realm’s protection.

Lin Yu closed his eyes. He appeared calm on the surface, but he could not suppress the excitement in his heart. He knew that his performance had been recorded by the visual disk array. In the future when the Matriarch saw it, she would naturally know the difference between him and Yi Yun.

Upon thinking of this, Lin Yu looked across the bridge and gave Yi Yun a glance. A sneer suffused on his lips. He really did not know what this rascal’s outcome would be. There was no question that Yi Yun would die, the question was, how would he die.

However, all of this did not matter. After he passed the bridge of light, Lin Yu no longer cared about Yi Yun. There was no meaning in comparing a dead person to a person with a promising future like himself.

“This Lin family kid sure has some abilities.”

The other cultivators gave Lin Yu a few more looks.

Seeing Lin Yu pass, Lin Fengyue, who had been silent all this time, lifted his eyelids and said, “I will be next.”

Lin Fengyue, was an influential person amongst the younger generation of the Lin family. Be it his strength or prestige, they were much stronger than Lin Yu.

Back when Lin Yu nearly failed to get a spot for the expedition to the mystic realm, there was no controversy regarding Lin Fengyue’s spot.

Lin Fengyue’s performance was not disappointing. After being slightly wounded, he also passed the bridge of light. Only when the ancient desolate beast opened its third eye did he received some abrasions because he could not completely dodge two attacks.

This result made the people present secretly horrified. The Lin family was indeed one of the top family clans of the Tian Yuan world. This Lin Fengyue, who was a man of few words, was clearly much stronger than the Beast Controlling Sect’s Chu Cai!

After Lin Fengyue, several geniuses from various large factions also took their turns. However, there were geniuses from second-rate families and sects that decided to give up after weighing their decisions. They did not want to end up in a tragic state like the fatty from the Xu family who went first.

“It looks like we will not be able to pass, so let’s not bring contempt upon ourselves. However… even if we cannot pass, just the reward from killing that kid can be split amongst us.” A few geniuses from the small sects who had given up and walked aside discussed as they stared with greedy eyes at Yi Yun.

For them to enter the Great Empress mystic realm after so much difficulty, they were unwilling to take the fact that they were not be able to pass the first trial lying down. Just thinking of killing Yi Yun and obtaining a reward was a form of conciliation.

However, Yi Yun still appeared to be unaware of these people’s unkindly gazes. He was still staring at the ancient desolate beast on the bridge of light. No one knew what he was thinking.

As the geniuses that went up increased, there were quite a few people who barely passed with some injuries consecutively, but a larger number of them had given up or failed.

The fewer injuries one had, the more attention they received.

These geniuses were all competitors in this Great Empress mystic realm. Besides, amongst these geniuses, there was an unspoken competition. The first trial was also an opportunity for them to observe their opponent’s strength.

At that moment, Lin Xiaodie suddenly flew onto the bridge like a butterfly. Her elegant posture and agile movement techniques immediately lit up the eyes of many.

That Panther Lady had, for the most part, recovered by now. She raised her hand and stared at Lin Xiaodie while licking her fingernails. Young girls around the same age tended to compare themselves with each other.

“Yi Yun, take care of yourself.”

Lin Xiaodie’s Yuan Qi voice transmission suddenly entered Yi Yun’s ear, and at that moment, Lin Xiaodie had already begun her battle with the ancient desolate beast.

Yi Yun was stunned and gave a chuckle. Indeed, his situation didn’t look too good…

Lin Xiaodie was even younger than Lin Fengyue, but against the ancient desolate beast, she was calm and without fear. No matter how the ancient desolate beast attacked, she would be like a butterfly fluttering though the wind amongst the flowers.

However, even so, as her Yuan Qi was greatly consumed, as well as the desolate beast’s attacks becoming gradually stronger, her calf was scratched by the desolate beast’s energy beam attack just as the time was almost up. A trace of blood began to flow down her pale skin.

The ancient desolate beast’s every attack had a terrifying Yuan Qi fluctuation. Even if one could dodge the attack itself, one could not dodge the Yuan Qi fluctuation. This was also the reason why most of the geniuses received abrasions and not serious injuries.

With her calf injured, Lin Xiaodie’s movements were slightly restricted, resulting in her receiving slight injuries in a row, putting her into a miserable state.

She managed to endure through the time it took for a joss stick to finish burning with great difficulty. When Lin Xiaodie landed on the other side of the bridge, her face expressed some feeling of unwillingness. Although she had passed, she was not satisfied with her own performance.

“This ancient desolate beast sure is terrifying. Up to now, no one has been able to dodge its attacks as well as the Yuan Qi fluctuations.”

People were amazed. The first trial of the mystic realm left behind by the Great Empress was already so hard.

At that moment, Gongsun Hong slowly kept the jade piece on his azure flaming long robe, as he stepped forward on the bridge of light.

“Oh!? Gongsun Hong is making his move!”

“I wonder how Gongsun Hong will do.”

Gongsun Hong’s movements made everyone’s eyes land on him.

As the number one person amongst the Li Fire Sect’s younger generation, Gongsun Hong received considerable attention from the Tian Yuan world’s other family clans and sects.

The power of the Li Fire Sect was much greater than several large family clans.

While these geniuses were discussing, Gongsun Hong had already reached before the bridge of light.

As the distance between the ancient desolate beast and him decreased, the immense pressure exuded by the desolate beast came surging over. In front of an ancient desolate beast, a person was like a mouse in front of a fierce tiger.

Facing the gigantic ancient beast, Gongsun Hong’s eyes were steadfast and his breathing calm. Suddenly, a sword appeared in his hand. It seemed to appear out of nowhere. Many of them did not see the movement of him unsheathing his sword.

“Oh!? He is using a sword? With his sword unsheathed, could Gongsun Hong be planning to fight the ancient desolate beast?”

Everyone stared on with disbelieving eyes. Previously, the person who said the ancient desolate beast had no weakness was Gongsun Hong himself, but now, he unsheathed his sword against the ancient desolate beast?

Although Gongsun Hong was very strong, none of them felt that Gongsun Hong was able to defeat this ancient desolate beast.

Roar!

The ancient desolate beast roared and charged at Gongsun Hong, while Gongsun Hong’s figure suddenly disappeared from its original spot!

The next moment, in the sky above the ancient desolate beast, azure figures appeared out of nowhere. These figures were all that of Gongsun Hong. They moved very quickly, dazzling everyone.

“36 figures!”

Many people said with surprise. These figures were not just simple after-images. Those without enough ability would think all these Gongsun Hong were one and the same. There was no way to tell which was real.

“‘Sweeping Figure Sword Steps’! A movement when a person is one with the sword. Every step is like a flying sword Qi! These figures are formed from sword Qi. They have the same Yuan Qi that Gongsun Hong’s main body has. Not only can it be used to confuse the enemy, it could also really launch attacks!”

“When a person’s ‘Sweeping Figure Sword Steps’ reaches perfection, one can form 108 sword Qi avatars. He can even use these avatars to set up a battle formation. Enemies would feel despair the moment they see it! There would be all sorts of restrictions with fighting, and they would have flawless coordination! Now, Gongsun Hong’s ‘Sweeping Figure Sword Steps’ has reached 36 figures. That is already in the small success realm, it is very impressive! This amount of talent is well deserved for the number one person of the Li Fire Sect’s inner disciple tournament.”

The other geniuses were all amazed. No wonder Gongsun Hong could remain so calm. He indeed had the ability.

“‘Sweeping Figure Sword Steps’ huh…”

Yi Yun rubbed his chin and focused his eyes. The Tian Yuan world’s sects and family clans’ cultivation techniques all had their unique features. It really was an eye-opener.

Despite the ancient desolate beast being astonishingly powerful, most of its attacks only hit Gongsun Hong’s avatars.

Even though his sword Qi avatars were destroyed, it did not affect Gongsun Hong himself.

When the time it took for a joss stick to burn was up, there was no longer any figures of Gongsun Hong, only Gongsun Hong himself, standing safely on the other side of the bridge.

His clothes were still straight, and his hair was not messy at all. He had passed perfectly!

442 - : Sweeping Figure Sword Steps

CKtalon  CKtalon

“No injuries!”

Seeing Gongsun Hong pass the trial unscathed, many of the elites present looked at each other.

With this “Sweeping Figure Sword Steps” displayed, not only was it gorgeous, its power was also shocking.

“The ‘Sweeping Figure Sword Steps’ is a move that is both offensive and defensive. It has speed and is also very aggressive.”

People knew Gongsun Hong was very talented, and wanted to know how he would pass the trial. They had however never expected for Gongsun Hong to use such a method. He had used a trick, and with his exceptional abilities, he easily passed the trial.

“If Gongsun Hong had used ‘Sweeping Figure Sword Steps’ to attack the ancient desolate beast, he would not be taking any risk. Yet, even so, he did not do so…”

“Sweeping Figure Sword Steps” was only sword Qi, so nothing happened with it shattering. If the other people were Gongsun Hong, they could not help but attempt attacking the ancient desolate beast and see its effects, but Gongsun Hong did not even try. Clearly, he had made the judgment that the attacks of ‘Sweeping Figure Sword Steps’ were too inadequate to be used on the ancient desolate beast.

While people were talking, a sudden light beam fell from the sky, shooting straight at Gongsun Hong!

“Oh?”

Gongsun Hong was surprised, but he did not dodge. He allowed the beam of light to hit his body because he made the judgment that the light beam had no murderous intent.

“Whew!”

The light beam hit Gongsun Hong on the arm, and formed a purple mark. It looked like a small tattoo.

“Could that be an… Empyrean Mark!? He received an Empyrean Mark just like this?”

When Panther Lady saw this small purple mark, she became dumbfounded.

When she said this, she immediately caused a commotion amongst the crowd. Many elites ignored their injuries and stopped their meditation. They looked towards Gongsun Hong’s arm.

In the Shentu family clan’s jade scroll, there was a description of the Empyrean Mark. After the Great Empress mystic realm opened, if the younger generation excelled in any of the trials, they would obtain an Empyrean Mark.

Every Empyrean Mark was precious. These runes could open the Great Empress’ vault once enough were accumulated. One could then exchange the runes for treasures inside the Great Empress vault.

The ancient Great Empress was not stingy when it came to nurturing geniuses.

Those who were not up to mark to be her successor, but had considerable talent would be given appropriate help and rewards.

And every item left by the ancient Great Empress in the Great Empress mystic realm were impressive. If one could manage to exchange for any single item…

Just thinking of this made the others extremely envious.

Even Gongsun Hong, who was always calm, could not help but smile. He had his ambitions. It was to the point that he did not want his future to be restricted in the Li Fire Sect.

However, just one Empyrean Mark was not enough. According to the records in the Shentu family clan’s jade scroll, the items in the Great Empress vault were extremely difficult to get.

There were juniors in the Shentu family clan who managed to obtain Empyrean Marks, but they did not manage to see the real Great Empress vault. They could only see the inventory list of the Great Empress vault. And the number of Empyrean Marks needed to exchange for the treasures greatly set them back. The amount of Empyrean Marks they gathered were just enough to exchange for items that the Great Empress found insignificant.

Regardless, it was still a good sign. To obtain one Empyrean Mark at the first trial meant that in the future trials, they would be be able to get more Empyrean Marks. If they could really open the Great Empress vault, then that opportunity would be unimaginable!

“This Gongsun Hong… Hai…”

The youths who had passed the bridge of light could not help but shake their heads. They were geniuses too, but the difference was just too great. The scene of Gongsun Hong obtaining a Empyrean Mark made the joy of them passing diminish greatly.

However, they had nothing else to say with Gongsun Hong’s strength. Compared to the situation of them passing the trial, Gongsun Hong was indeed on a level higher than them.

As all of them were focused on the Empyrean Mark on Gongsun Hong’s arm, not far away, Yi Yun’s eyes were still looking straight ahead. He had been staring at the bridge’s ancient desolate beast and its third eye…

Back when Yi Yun went into reclusive training for half a year, he had used the pure Yang Qi in the Great Empress relic and the Purple Crystal to transform his body. He had made his pure Yang body come closer to perfection.

With a pure Yang body he would also be a top genius, even here in the Tian Yuan world. Back in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, a predecessor with a pure Yang body had managed to master the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” in twenty days, and eventually became a Sage. This time period had also become an eternal record in the Tai Ah Divine City.

And that was just an ordinary pure Yang body. If it was a perfect pure Yang body, then it would be even more amazing.

Even in the Tian Yuan world, it would be a startling occurrence. It was a body condition that could influence the situation of the various large factions in the Tian Yuan world!

When he was in the Cloud Wilderness, Yi Yun’s martial arts talent could be said to be extremely terrible.

After he went to the Tai Ah Divine City, and his expedition into Fallen Star Gate, Yi Yun’s martial arts talent greatly improved.

And now, Yi Yun had come to the Tian Yuan world. With the Purple Crystal’s energy subtly transforming his body, his body was slowly approaching that of a perfect pure Yang body. Even without the Purple Crystal, he could still truly be called a martial arts genius!

In the Great Empress mystic realm, Yi Yun did not find it difficult to use his own strengths to pass this entry trial.

However, this was not enough to satisfy Yi Yun. The ancient Great Empress could leave her name for eons meant that her cultivation realm had exceeded the imagination of this world. To impress the ancient Great Empress, just passing or passing beautifully was far from enough!

Gongsun Hong was considered to have passed beautifully, but so what?

It was just one Empyrean Mark. Yi Yun had seen the description of the Shentu family clan’s jade scroll. To really exchange the treasures in the Great Empress vault, one Empyrean Mark was nothing at all.

From Yi Yun’s point of view, a young genius who won first place in his Li Fire Sect’s tournament, would not be the only one of his kind in the current Tian Yuan world. A couple of them could be pointed out from all the various large factions. Placed in the ancient Great Empress’s era, they were easily found in handfuls.

If the ancient Great Empress wanted such a person as her successor, she just needed to indicate her will back in her era. Countless numbers of people would come breaking down the doors. And amongst those people, there were definitely people who were more outstanding than Gongsun Hong!

However, it was all useless.

Hence, Yi Yun was sure that Gongsun Hong’s performance was not to the Great Empress’ satisfaction.

Perfectly dodging was not impressive to the Great Empress, and if that was so, it meant that there was a more perfect way of clearing the trial, such as… killing the desolate beast!

When this thought came to mind, Yi Yun was also taken aback himself.

It was because things were clear. The massive ancient desolate beast on the bridge was not something Yi Yun could deal with. Even if all of the people present joined forces it would still not be enough. Even when Lin Xintong was sixteen years old, even if she doubled her strength, she would still be no match for the ancient desolate beast.

However, according to analysis of the various aspects, there was only one way to clear the trial that would satisfy the ancient Great Empress. If not, the Great Empress mystic realm set up by her would lose its meaning.

It was impossible to directly kill a desolate beast that far exceeded the strength levels of 16-17 year old youths. Hence, using this logic, the ancient desolate beast in front of him definitely had a weakness.

This first entry trial might not be testing one’s movement technique, nor was it a test of one’s actual combat skills, but testing the observational powers of every cultivator that stepped onto the bridge.

Search for the ancient desolate beast’s weakness!

Yi Yun’s perceptivity might be pretty good, and his eyes sharp, but he did not believe his ability in this area outshined the geniuses from the ancient era, nor would it make the Great Empress satisfied.

Hence… Yi Yun had to use his killer weapon…

When the ancient Great Empress set up the Great Empress mystic realm, be it arrays or arrangement, they could not avoid their… energy!

In his energy vision, the bridge and the ancient desolate beast gave a completely different scene.

This method might seem a bit shameless, but… Yi Yun liked it a lot.

“Cough… Why am I having such thoughts?”

Yi Yun touched his nose, “Senior Great Empress, sorry. I also did not want to cheat, but… the Purple Crystal is also considered a part of me and is a constituent of my talent. If I were to receive your heritage, I believe… it will not be shamed in my hands.”

Yi Yun believed that the process and methods of doing a task was not important, as long as he did not violate his own bottom line. The result was what was fundamental.

And at that moment, the indifferent voice of the Great Empress mystic realm sounded out. There was still 30 minutes left before the ancient desolate beast would disappear!

443 - : Empyrean Mark

CKtalon  CKtalon

There were still 30 minutes left… Yi Yun looked behind him at the cultivators that had not began the trial. Including him, there were three people left. 30 minutes was more than enough time.

At that moment, many of the cultivators that had managed to cross the bridge finished their meditation. Their eyes were all gathering onto the last few people.

Momentarily, these people’s faces turned bitter. They did not wish to give up, but neither did they have the courage to face the ancient desolate beast.

The few of them looked each other in the eye, hesitant to go forward. It was easy to give up, but they felt that giving up without a fight would result in a black mark in their lives. It would affect their martial hearts.

With no room left for retreat, a person cowardly went onto the bridge of light, attempting the trial.

However, the disparity in strength could not be made up. Against the ancient desolate beast, this youth only lasted for about a minute before being sent flying by the ancient desolate beast in one strike!

He did not have the ability to avoid the direct attack and be unaffected by the energy fluctuation like the other geniuses. So, he got a dealt a heavy blow, causing his ribs and sternum to shatter. He flew off the bridge like a broken blood bag.

“Haha! So terrible!”

Seeing this cultivator’s state, the youth from the Shentu family clan started mocking. There was no sympathy in the world of warriors. When these youths grew up, they could one day be their enemies, so they did not mind impacting the confidence of these people, letting them never recover from a setback.

“Ze Ze! There are two people left. To drag it out to now, their courage is smaller than a needle head. That Yi Yun has not gone up yet. He is the shame of the Lin family!”

The Shentu youth looked at Yi Yun as his eyes glanced on Lin Yu, Lin Fengyue and company. His expression was one of disdain.

“He is not part of our Lin family, don’t include the Lin family into this!” Lin Yu said angrily not far away from the Shentu youth. He could not tolerate any insults to his family, “That kid was originally a bumpkin coming from the wilderness of the Backwater East, whatever you want to do to him has nothing to do with the Lin family.”

Lin Yu was in a very bad mood. Yi Yun’s timidness had made him get ridiculed as well.

What was the point in delaying? In less than 30 minutes, this bridge of light and the ancient desolate beast would disappear. Then, there was no way for Yi Yun to go through the trial.

There would be enough time to kill Yi Yun in between the time of the bridge disappearing and the opening of the second trial entrance.

Many of them were silently waiting for this moment. The Shentu youth was watching Yi Yun with a cold sneer.

Shentu Nantian had given this task to him, so he naturally needed to do it beautifully. Besides, it was not a difficult task at all.

Shentu Nantian had specially instructed that Yi Yun had to be killed in the most cruel manner!

A visual disk array was not a bad choice. By recording the process of Yi Yun dying, Shentu Nantian could indulge in his tragic death. He was likely to become very happy with that gesture.

Shentu Nantian might have stumbled previously, but he was after all the most likely successor of the Shentu family clan. He had a bright and limitless future. This Shentu family clan youth was already thinking of a way to build friendly relations with Shentu Nantian, hoping to be put in an important position in the future by Shentu Nantian.

And killing Yi Yun was that opportunity.

Thinking of this, he took out a visual disk array from his interspatial ring. He also took out a worm that the Shentu family clan reared, as a cruel smile appeared on his face.

At that moment, other than Yi Yun, the last person had already gone up. He did not have much confidence to begin with, hoping to let Yi Yun go up first, but seeing Yi Yun being leisurely at ease, he knew he could not last longer than Yi Yun, so in the end he had to summon his courage and go up.

In the end, there was no miracle. The youth failed miserably.

His whole body was covered in blood as his eyes flashed with the unwillingness to accept his fate, but thankfully, he did not lose to his fear.

On the other side of the bridge, many people were giving off mocking smiles. Many of them were saying tasteless and sarcastic remarks, as if they were watching a monkey show.

That youth’s face was filled with humiliation, but he did not say a word. He swallowed an elixir and began to meditate.

Seeing the youth in this state, Yi Yun let out a light sigh. The Tian Yuan world was indeed cruel. In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, people were after all from the same country, so even if they were jealousy or animosity, people would at least slightly disguise it. However, there was no such thing in the Tian Yuan world, there was just full blown hostility and murderous intent.

However, if the youth could handle the humiliation from this experience, then his future accomplishments would no longer be the same.

Yi Yun shook his head slightly and looked back at the ancient desolate beast, confirming its weakness. He was not in a hurry. As for the mockery from the cultivators across the bridge, he turned a deaf ear to it.

Yi Yun wanted a hundred percent guarantee!

The Great Empress mystic realm’s test was extraordinary. Even with the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun had to confirm it again and again so as to ensure that there was no mistakes.

There was about 10 minutes left before the bridge of light disappeared. The Great Empress mystic realm’s voice gave another indifferent notice,

“The time remaining is the time it takes for two joss sticks to burn!”

Hearing this notice, people began to ready themselves.

“Yi Yun, give it a try. It is better than not having any hope at all!” The person who spoke was Lin Fengyue. Yi Yun gave Lin Fengyue a surprised look, before saying faintly, “Thank you.”

After saying that, Yi Yun walked towards the bridge.

“He’s finally coming up. Hahaha!”

The Shentu youth laughed maniacally, waiting to see Yi Yun end up in a pathetic state, “I say kid, you can’t be thinking of committing suicide on the bridge, right? That would be quite wise!”

The Shentu youth naturally did not want Yi Yun to die like that. He only deliberately provoked Yi Yun. At the same moment, he placed the visual disk array down and aimed it towards the bridge, preparing to record the scenes of Yi Yun being abused.

Yi Yun did not even look at the Shentu youth as he stood ten meters away from the ancient desolate beast, quietly looking at the terrifying existence.

In his energy vision, the bridge of light became colorful, and the desolate beast on the bridge became an existence made up of colorful light dots.

Yi Yun tilted his body slightly as he wiped the interspatial ring with his fingers, creating a surprising scene for everyone. Yi Yun actually… drew out a bow!

With the bow and arrows, as well as the cold arrowheads, he held the bow straight at the ancient desolate beast!

Bow!?

Everyone became shocked. They originally thought that it would be pretty impressive if Yi Yun had the courage to stand in front of the ancient desolate beast. Once the battle began, Yi Yun would end up running around in a pathetic state before he would be sent flying by the desolate beast after tens of seconds.

They never expected for Yi Yun to draw out a bow. What was he doing? Could he be wanting to attack the ancient desolate beast?

Previously when Gongsun Hong faced the ancient desolate beast, he had drawn his sword, but that was to use his ‘Sweeping Figure Sword Steps’. However, for a bow, they had never heard of any movement techniques that were used in conjunction with a bow.

“Fool!” Lin Yu shook his head. A fool who only knew how to go into reclusive training and with no actual combat experience even lacked the basic knowledge of himself.

Yi Yun actually wanted to shoot at the desolate beast that even Gongsun Hong did not dare to attack. It was unknown if his mind was unclear and if he was just abandoning himself to despair in this dire environment.

444 - : Yi Yun Makes His Move

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Yi Yun drew his bow, the ancient desolate beast seemed to feel Yi Yun’s provocation. WIth a roar, it charged at Yi Yun!

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted as he leaped up. He somersaulted mid-air as if he was a tree leaf that was being moved up by the wind.

Whew!

The ancient desolate beast swept past Yi Yun, while Yi Yun continuously flipped. His body had rubbed past the ancient desolate beast’s back, avoiding its attack! Even the bone spurs on its back was swept past Yi Yun’s face by a hair!

Yi Yun had dodged the ancient desolate beast’s first attacking pounce!

Oh? He dodged it?

People were stunned. They never expected the kid to be this agile. They had thought that even if Yi Yun managed to dodge, it would be in a very sorry plight. They did not expect him to dodge the direct attack, and even dodge the energy fluctuations as well.

“This is just the beginning. Soon, the ancient desolate beast will open its third eye. When that happens, the kid will die.”

The Shentu youth said for he was unwilling to accept the situation.

At that moment, Lin Fengyue said to Yi Yun, “The desolate beast’s back is its blind spot. Try to hide there!”

Lin Fengyue actually had good intentions. He was not jealous of Yi Yun. As one of the few people of the younger generation just second to Lin Xintong, Lin Fengyue had his own pride. He was greatly appreciated by his family, and his position was even higher than Yi Yun’s.

For a martial family, top martial geniuses would definitely have much higher statuses than Desolate Heaven technique geniuses. Martial arts were a family’s fundamental that supported everything, while the Desolate Heaven technique was just a service for martial arts.

Under these circumstances, Lin Fengyue and Lin Xiaodie actually did not wish to see Yi Yun die terribly.

However, Lin Yu was different. Hearing Lin Fengyue’s words, Lin Yu sneered and mocked in his heart, “What’s the fucking point of warning him!? He just managed to dodge the first attack. It’s still early.”

Yi Yun gave a friendly smile at Lin Fengyue’s goodwilled advice. Lin Yu frowned when he saw Yi Yun smile even amidst the storm-like attacks.

This kid…

“Roar!”

The ancient desolate beast pounced once again. Yi Yun somersaulted in the air and managed to dodge it again!

It was like Yi Yun’s body was a leaf. The wind force from the ancient desolate beast’s attack had blown Yi Yun up.

The ancient desolate beast’s speed became faster, and the wind force also became stronger. Yi Yun was also blown up even faster, and vice-versa, he would also become slower.

Yi Yun’s movements looked very light and simple. He did not dodge one bit more or one bit less. It made people unsure if he was calculating his movements properly or if he just had good luck every time in his risky dodges.

“Eh?”

Gongsun Hong’s eyebrows slowly moved up as he looked astonishingly at Yi Yun. His eyes lit up unnaturally. Dodging once or twice did not explain anything, but to do it repeatedly proved that Yi Yun’s movement technique was ingenuous.

The elites present were not worthy of Gongsun Hong’s attention, and Yi Yun was naturally the same. However, Gongsun Hong never expected Yi Yun to have some skill. This ability was almost similar to Lin Yu’s. It was pretty impressive for a Desolate Heaven Master apprentice, who put in a lot of effort into the Desolate Heaven technique, to be at Lin Yu’s level.

At that moment, the ancient desolate beast roared as it opened its third eye.

“It’s opening its eye!”

The Shentu youth sneered. Quite a number of them could withstand the ancient desolate beast’s attacks before it opened its eye. However, once it opened its eye, all of them would nearly be defeated instantly. It was on a completely different level.

At the moment the ancient desolate beast opened its third eye, Yi Yun raised his Tai Cang Bow. He was waiting for this particular moment.

When the ancient desolate beast opened its third eye, it was also in its most powerful form, but it was also when it revealed its weakness.

Without it opening its third eye, Yi Yun could do nothing to it. He could only dodge like Gongsun Hong and company, but now, Yi Yun could test his idea. What lied behind danger was opportunity!

Grasping the Tai Cang Bow tightly, Yi Yun opened his energy vision. The cold metallic touch in his hand seemed to have a blood connection with Yi Yun. This was a good bow built by a Tai Ah Divine Kingdom master. The bow’s body was made of Tai Cang metal essence. Once Yuan Qi was injected into it, its hardness and toughness would increase greatly. The more Yuan Qi injected, the harder the Tai Cang Bow became, making it harder to pull, but also increasing its strength!

The Tai Cang Bow may be nothing when placed in the Tian Yuan world, but once the bow was infused with Yuan Qi, it could be as strong as its user. It could withstand all of Yi Yun’s energy, amplifying Yi Yun’s power to its extreme!

The ancient desolate beast charged at Yi Yun as it opened its big mouth. Yi Yun did not dodge as he stared straight at the ancient desolate beast. He pulled the Tai Cang Bow open and shot a cold arrow!

Back when Yi Yun first chose a weapon, he had a strange affinity with bows. Back in the Tai Ah Divine City, an insignificant figure like Yi Yun had used the bow to obtain a primordial herb!

“What is he doing!?”

Seeing Yi Yun suddenly not move, as if he was going to clash with the ancient desolate beast, everyone was shocked!

Yi Yun’s movement technique was much better than they had imagined. Although people like the Shentu youth and Lin Yu had biased tendencies, believing Yi Yun would be eliminated once the ancient desolate beast opened its third eye, those who were objective believed that if Yi Yun were to use all his strength, he could pass the trial despite heavy injuries. But they never expected that Yi Yun would suddenly have such death-seeking behavior!

“Is he courting death?”

“He’s mad!”

In a split second, people did not have time to exclaim. The ancient desolate beast’s fangs had already come crashing down on Yi Yun’s head, but at the moment the ancient desolate beast was about to close its jaws, Yi Yun released his bowstring, shooting the arrow!

“Peng!”

A clear twang of the bowstring echoed, and like a dragon’s roar, resounding in one’s ear.

The Wind Chasing Arrows formed a divine beam, shooting straight into the ancient desolate beast’s mouth!

Yi Yun’s arrow was guided using his energy vision. It may look like it was being simply shot into the ancient desolate beast’s mouth, but its angle and speed was extremely well calculated. No ordinary person could emulate it.

Yi Yun’s target was a crystal at the back of the ancient desolate beast’s head.

It was the ancient desolate beast’s core, and it was the thing manipulating the beast’s energy source.

It was the true form of the ancient desolate beast’s third eye!

The third eye in the middle of its eyebrows was actually just a projection of the crystal. If Yi Yun had shot the third eye, it would be useless, because the crystal’s energy was all concentrated in its third eye.

Only by shooting its true form could it be killed in one hit!

Seeing the arrow about to hit it, the ancient desolate beast was shocked!

Its reaction was extremely fast. It closed its mouth and bit on Yi Yun’s arrow!

There was no way Yi Yun would let it have its wishes. There was only one chance, because this opportunity would never arise again!

“Radiant Sun Qi, explode!”

A phantom image of the Tang Valley appeared behind Yi Yun. At the moment he shot the Wind Chasing Arrow, he had injected Radiant Sun Qi into the arrow, and it exploded at that moment.

The Wind Chasing Arrows emitted a divine beam, and it accelerated like a meteor. Just before the ancient desolate beast closed its mouth, it had already entered its mouth.

The arrowhead pierced into its flesh, sealing its throat with one arrow!

“Peng!”

The whole four foot long arrow sank in. Even the arrow’s fletching could not be seen. The ancient desolate beast’s body suddenly paused. It stopped one foot away from Yi Yun.

Yi Yun held the Tai Cang Bow and exchanged glances with the ancient desolate beast in close proximity. Yi Yun could clearly feel the terrifying aura that the ancient desolate beast emitted from this distance. Its ferocious fangs and cold eyes gave Yi Yun an extremely oppressive feeling.

“He shot the arrow into its mouth?” Gongsun Hong was stunned for a while, but then shook his head, “It’s useless with it entering its mouth. The oral flesh may be weak, but against the ancient desolate beast, it will also not be its weakness. Its tongue is covered in metallic needle-like hangnail, it’s impossible to shoot through it…”

Gongsun Hong was sure that a terrifying desolate beast at this level could not be taken down with usual weak spots like its eyes, oral cavity or belly.

However, just before he finished speaking, the ancient desolate beast suddenly trembled violently. Its body that was composed of energy began changing. This lasted for a few seconds, and hearing a “Peng” explosion, the ancient desolate beast exploded into a rain of light before disappearing…

Gongsun Hong, who was always calm even if he saw a mountain collapse in front of him, was dumbfounded with his mouth agape when he saw this scene. His face completely changed!

What!?

The rain of light, which was still wantonly dispersing as if a divine miracle had come down from the sky, seemed to be mocking Gongsun Hong’s blind confidence and ignorance. Gongsun Hong opened his mouth slightly, unable to close it for a long while…

445 - : One Arrow to Seal One’s Throat

CKtalon  CKtalon

After successfully killing the ancient desolate beast, Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief. When all the developments happened as he expected, allowing him to kill the ancient desolate beast as he planned, this sense of accomplishment was quite strong.

At that moment, after the ancient desolate beast disappeared, it transformed into energy light droplets that resembled rain. It rained down on Yi Yun, covering him within. It made him look like a god that had descended down onto the mortal plane.

The young elites nearby were completely dumbfounded, regardless of them having managed to pass the bridge or not.

Just a while ago, many of them were envisioning Yi Yun’s failure, and how they would kill him, in exchange for the Shentu family clan’s rewards.

But now, reality had given them one tight slap!

A number of them had barely managed to last on the bridge, receiving serious injuries, but even so, they were very happy about their results. As for the remaining people who did not pass the trial, they had either been swept away by the ancient desolate beast, or given up before stepping on the bridge.

Looking at Yi Yun again, the “unlucky person” who they were thinking of killing, had actually…managed to shoot the ancient desolate beast to death with one arrow shot after he arrived on the bridge!

This was a heaven and earth difference. It was too ridiculous!

Was this kid even human?

People swallowed mouthfuls of saliva as they felt fear. They were happy that they were protected by the Great Empress mystic realm’s laws, for it might not be them killing Yi Yun, but Yi Yun killing them!

The people who had the greatest reaction would be Lin Yu and the youth from the Shentu family clan.

Lin Yu was battered out of his senses. His face was pale, as if his parents had just died.

Previously, he had compared himself with Yi Yun in all sorts of aspects. With Yi Yun being appreciated by Matriarch Lin, and him showcasing his unparalleled talent in the Desolate Heaven technique, martial arts and actual combat had become the only thing that Lin Yu felt he was superior to Yi Yun in. After all, in the Tian Yuan world, strength was of utmost importance. The status of the best Desolate Heaven Master in the Tian Yuan world was incomparable to the strongest person.

But now, Lin Yu’s only sense of superiority had completely shattered. He was inferior to Yi Yun in the Desolate Heaven technique, his backer was inferior to Yi Yun, and now, even his strength was inferior to Yi Yun!

One can imagine the setback Lin Yu felt to be completely overshadowed by a bumpkin from the Backwater East when he was a child of a large family clan!

As Lin Yu was on the verge of collapse, Yi Yun disappeared from his view.

Yi Yun had used his movement technique to shoot out like an arrow in a particular direction. In the blink of an eye, he had flown a hundred meters away.

Oh? What is he doing?

People were stunned. As they were still immersed in the shock of Yi Yun killing the ancient desolate beast, they had not reacted in time.

“Retrieving his arrow?”

A youth was stunned. He watched puzzledly as Yi Yun picked up the arrow a hundred meters away. It was the Wind Chasing Arrow that Yi Yun had shot out previously.

Picking up an arrow he shot? Was he that poor?

Yi Yun’s Wind Chasing Arrows were of course top grade items in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, but in the eyes of the Tian Yuan world, it was definitely not considered a good arrow.

Yi Yun was not poor at all now, especially after robbing Shentu Nantian and the Thousand Hand Granny. Amongst the younger generation in their teens, he could be said to be a tycoon.

Yi Yun of course did not care for one Wind Chasing Arrow. He had purposely flown so far away to pick up the Wind Chasing Arrow was not because of the arrow, but…the ancient desolate beast’s crystal!

Just now when Yi Yun killed the ancient desolate beast, there was utter chaos. People were still shocked by the death of the ancient desolate beast, so they did not notice a crystal had flown out from its body. Even if they noticed it, they did not have Yi Yun’s energy vision, so they would not have been able to tell what was unusual about the crystal.

Now, Yi Yun was using the excuse of picking his arrow to keep the crystal into his interspatial ring without anyone knowing. As he had used his body as concealment, no one noticed it throughout this whole time.

At the split second Yi Yun stored the crystal, he saw clearly that it was a crystal the size of a thumbnail. It looked like a desolate bone relic refined using a special mystic technique.

In the world of warriors, desolate bone relics were the most efficient source of energy. It could be used to power large arrays, and drive airships, etc.

There was no doubt that the ancient Great Empress had left behind a large amount of desolate bone relics in the mystic realm when she set it up.

To prevent the energy inside the desolate bone relic from slowly disappearing over time, there was definitely a large array in the mystic realm used to gather Heaven Earth Yuan Qi so as to nourish the desolate bone relic.

And the whirlpool of the God Burial Abyss had sucked in limitless amounts of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, so under the nourishment of such Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, the desolate bone relics in the mystic realm had become even purer and of higher quality!

Under such circumstances, Yi Yun definitely would not miss out on such a desolate bone relic.

“He is after all a person from the Backwater East, he can’t change his miserly nature. He can’t even bear to part with a low quality arrow.”

The youth from the Shentu family clan gritted his teeth as he spoke. Although Yi Yun had shot the desolate beast to death in one shot, something even Gongsun Hong could not do, caused him to feel great fear, he would still take every opportunity to tarnish Yi Yun’s reputation. This was also understandable.

About a hundred meters away, Yi Yun seemed to notice something. He chuckled and gave the Shentu youth a deep glance.

And this glance made the Shentu youth’s face turn pale white. He subconsciously took a step back.

After he killed the ancient desolate beast, the pressure Yi Yun gave to others was too great.

“This kid!” The Shentu youth swallowed several mouthfuls of saliva as his voice trembled.

“There must be a mistake somewhere!” He thought viciously. He could not believe that Yi Yun was both a Desolate Heaven technique genius and a martial arts genius at the same time.

And at that moment, a divine beam fell from the sky!

This beam was colorful, and similar to the beam that shot on Gongsun Hong from before. However, its color was more vivid and its intensity was many times stronger!

“That is the…Empyrean Mark!”

People exclaimed as they felt envy and jealousy.

Yi Yun had easily passed the first trial. He had completed it more perfectly than Gongsun Hong, so how could he not receive an Empyrean Mark?

The divine beam condensed on Yi Yun’s arm, forming a tattoo.

The tattoo looked like beautiful scales closely spaced together.

“This…”

As they looked at Yi Yun’s arm, their eyes went into a daze.

Was this really an Empyrean Mark? There was too many!

Gongsun Hong only had one Empyrean Mark imprinted on him.

But on Yi Yun’s arm, it was a whole segment of Empyrean Marks!

This made many of the young elites present hold their breaths. In just that few seconds, there were already more than twenty Empyrean Marks, and it did not seem to have an end. The difference was too great!

Yi Yun’s trial was naturally better than Gongsun Hong’s, but it was not to the point of such a huge gap.

“There’s almost 30!”

People’s lips twitched as they saw the beautiful Empyrean tattoo on Yi Yun’s arm. They wished they could have it for themselves, unfortunately, the Empyrean Mark was only usable by the person himself. Even if others cut off Yi Yun’s arm, it was also useless.

Amongst the people, Gongsun Hong’s expression was sullen as he looked at Yi Yun’s arm.

He had only one Empyrean Mark. It was originally a mark of pride for him, but now compared to Yi Yun, this single Empyrean Mark had become a mockery and humiliation for him!

Gongsun Hong had always been the center of attention, but now in the Great Empress mystic realm, he had completely been put down by Yi Yun.

He had proposed the viewpoint that the ancient desolate beast was undefeatable, and he had followed this rule, and had passed the trial in a seemingly perfect manner.

However, his perfection had not lasted very long before it was mercilessly crushed by Yi Yun.

Now, with the huge number difference in Empyrean Marks, it was already clear that he had barely passed the trial. And the only person to have perfectly passed the trial was Yi Yun alone!

This setback made the proud Gongsun Hong, who had been accustomed to impressing others, very uncomfortable.

“I didn’t expect that the ancient desolate beast’s weakness was in its mouth. This kid’s luck is too good to shoot at the ancient desolate beast’s weakness with one arrow, killing it in one blow.”

“If I knew where its weakness was, then I could have killed the ancient desolate beast. It would be very easy. Just one sword Qi would suffice!”

Gongsun Hong was unwilling to accept the fact that he had been trampled on by Yi Yun as he said with a deep voice.

He would rather die than believe that Yi Yun’s attacking power exceeded his. And in fact, the arrow that Yi Yun shot didn’t even look special.

Then that could only show that Yi Yun’s luck was good. He had managed to kill the ancient desolate beast due to luckily hitting its weakness.

446 - : Ancient relic

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was the last cultivator, so after he defeated the ancient desolate beast, the bridge of light trembled before completely disappearing. The only thing remaining was the divine beam from the heavens that landed on Yi Yun’s body.

After about thirty seconds, all the light condensed on Yi Yun’s arm, becoming Empyrean Marks. These Empyrean Marks were colorful and they were like dragon scales arranged nicely together, looking very beautiful.

All the people present were warriors with extraordinary eyesight. With a glance, they could tell how many Empyrean Marks Yi Yun received. There was a total of… 36!

“So many!”

Seeing the Empyrean Marks on Yi Yun’s arm, Lin Yu’s eyes turned red with envy. As long as Yi Yun could enter the Great Empress’ vault, all those Empyrean Marks could be exchanged for a tremendous opportunity by Yi Yun!

Why is this happening!?

In the Lin family, Yi Yun had been greatly appreciated by the Matriarch. Lin Yu believed that the Great Empress mystic realm, a place that tested one’s martial arts, would be his stage, but who knew that he would end up being inferior to Yi Yun.

He had specially used a mystic technique and barely passed the trial after enduring severe injuries. In contrast, Yi Yun had passed without a single injury, and he had obtained a large number of Empyrean Marks. This difference was staggering.

“That kid’s luck is so good for him to bet correctly!” Gongsun Hong looked at the 36 Empyrean Marks on Yi Yun’s arm as he said in a gloomy voice.

At that moment, Gongsun Hong was in a bad mood.

Beside Gongsun Hong, there was a youth who followed his lead and echoed, “Some people tend to aim for a desolate beast’s eyes or mouth, thinking that is where its weakness is. Actually, against real big ancient desolate beasts, this action is very dumb, especially when attacking the mouth. The person could be crushed into pieces because of this!”

“Who knew that the Great Empress mystic realm had such a rudimentary setting, to put the desolate beast’s weakness in its mouth. We have overestimated this mystic realm!”

Gongsun Hong did not respond to his lackey’s words, but his expression revealed that he had silently agreed to those words.

Yi Yun only chuckled slightly when he heard this, nor did he explain anything.

He had indeed used trickery to attack the ancient desolate beast’s weakness, but without the guidance of the energy vision, there was no meaning to attacking the mouth of the ancient desolate beast.

Gongsun Hong refused to admit defeat due to his arrogance, and instead, he chose to look down on the Great Empress mystic realm. With such thoughts, he was bound to suffer eventually.

Upon thinking about this, a playful smile suffused on Yi Yun’s lips. He naturally wished to see the situation of a person who had good relations with Shentu Nantian and who wanted his life to be down on his luck.

In this trial, Yi Yun had already obtained 36 Empyrean Marks and one ancient relic.

Injecting his mental energy into his interspatial ring, he saw the mysterious crystal floating in his interspatial ring. Yi Yun was raring to find a spot where he could examine the usage of the ancient relic without anyone seeing it.

At that moment, the Great Empress mystic realm made an announcement. Everyone who had passed the first trial could carry on to the next level.

And those who were eliminated would be sent out of the Great Empress mystic realm collectively in 15 minutes.

After hearing this, many of the young elites who had failed felt depressed. They had hoped to broaden their horizons by entering the Great Empress mystic realm, but reality was cruel. These people did not even pass the first round, so it was a huge setback for them.

Of course, there were people who also looked forward to the end of the trial. For example, the fat youth who attempted the trial first. He had his arm torn off by the ancient desolate beast, and now, the broken arm was turning blue from a lack of blood flow.

The fat youth’s face was also pale as his lips quivered. He had endured two hours of torture, and he was nearing his limits.

Now, he only wished to rush out as soon as possible, returning to his Xu family and be treated by his Xu family elders because there might still be a chance for him to save his arm.

Or else, his martial path would come to an end. Geniuses who lost an arm would be more inferior to second-class warriors.

…

At that moment, outside the Great Empress mystic realm, in the huge God Burial Abyss, there was sea water being swallowed continuously.

In the turbulent seawater, there were people from various family clans and sects waiting here.

Only a fraction of the people from the various large factions who came entered the mystic realm to search for treasures, and the rest were left outside to receive their people.

Juniors who had failed would be eliminated by the Great Empress mystic realm, so without the elders receiving them, these juniors would be sucked into the God Burial Abyss, and smashed into pieces.

Many of the Elders from the various factions were feeling uneasy. According to the Shentu family clan’s jade scroll, most of the people who failed the trials would be severely injured, but there were also deaths.

The youths from these various factions, who had entered the Great Empress mystic realm, were all painstakingly selected elites. Death of any one of them would be quite a big loss to these large factions.

“According to the jade scroll, the first trial’s elimination will happen after 3 hours. It’s still early…”

An elder from the Shentu family clan said, but at that moment, the entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm began trembling. It was as if the surface of an area of water had been hit by a falling rock.

“Oh? Has the first trial already ended? So soon?”

People were alarmed and surprised. However, they were not careless. Many of the Elders focused and prepared to receive the juniors from their factions.

On the Lin family’s side, Matriarch Lin had her full attention on the entrance.

She did not enter the Great Empress mystic realm, and she knew that the Shentu family clan had made the news public, luring more than ten factions to enter the Great Empress mystic realm. The Lin family knew deeply that even if they entered the Great Empress mystic realm, there were very low chances of getting anything good, so only Elder Huowen took four or five Elders into the Great Empress mystic realm. As for the remaining Elders of the Lin family, including Matriarch Lin and Elder Tianzhu, they stayed outside the mystic realm.

With such a strong lineup, they could also greatly protect their Lin family’s juniors.

As the entrance’s trembling grew more intense, a youth was ejected out of it finally.

It was a young girl. When she was ejected out, her hair was disheveled, and she looked quite pathetic.

As her hair and blood was covering her looks, it was hard to tell who she was. However, many of the Elders present were fully focused, so with a scan, they could tell the girl’s identity.

A woman dressed in red from her faction flashed forward immediately, saving her from the intense turbulent water flow.

A warm energy surged over, isolating the suction power of the God Burial Abyss. At the same time, the woman dressed in red took an elixir out to feed the girl, so as to let her recuperate.

Although someone from her side had been eliminated, the woman dressed in red was not too upset as the girl was not seriously injured. She would be fine after some treatment.

447 - : The Eliminated Ones

CKtalon  CKtalon

After the girl, one cultivator after another were ejected out of the Great Empress mystic realm.

Matriarch Lin and Elder Tianzhu looked at each other as they focused intensely.

They were most concerned about Yi Yun’s safety.

“Fengxian, as Yi Yun comes from the Backwater East, he is not suited to the Tian Yuan world. He is very likely to be eliminated in the first trial. When he gets ejected, you should catch him, while I will be responsible for being vigilant of the surroundings, so as to prevent the Shentu family clan from attacking us without any regard!”

The “Fengxian” Elder Tianzhu was referring to was Matriarch Lin.

The name, Lin Fengxian, had not been used for a very long period of time. Those who had the qualification to call that name in the Lin family were the three Grand Elders only.

Matriarch Lin nodded. Amongst all the other big factions present, the Shentu family clan was the only one that left a Grand Elder outside to receive their people. The other factions had sent in their most powerful Elders into the Great Empress mystic realm so they could obtain more opportunities.

With Elder Tianzhu pinning the Shentu family clan down, there would not be any problems. If they really began fighting, it would definitely be a life-and-death struggle. Matriarch Lin did not believe that the Shentu family clan would pay such a heavy price just for a junior like Yi Yun.

The entrance of the Great Empress mystic realm flashed with streams of light as one cultivator after another were ejected. Up till now, there was not a single disciple from the Shentu family clan who had appeared.

This situation made many of the elders of the Shentu family clan very pleased.

“Ze Ze Ze, the situation is not bad. I believe Tian’er will scale new heights with this entry into the mystic realm. With the previous experience, he can go even further and obtain more opportunities!”

A sinister voice sounded out, it was the Thousand Hand Granny.

The Thousand Hand Granny had not entered the Great Empress mystic realm either. She looked at Matriarch Lin from far away and she sneered with a face full of mockery when she saw Matriarch Lin’s concentrated expression.

At that moment, the entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm flashed and a person wearing the Lin family’s clan clothing was ejected.

The person’s body was covered in blood and his body was mangled. Matriarch Lin’s pupils constricted and she appeared beside the Lin family disciple almost at the same moment, protecting him.

It was a man in his twenties. His clothes were tattered and his hair disheveled. His chest and abdomen had been penetrated and blood was flowing everywhere.

Matriarch Lin clasped the man’s wrist and her expression immediately changed.

Dead…

Momentarily, Matriarch Lin went into a daze. A fresh life, one of the most outstanding people in the Lin family’s young generation, had died just like that.

“Lin Ping is dead?”

Elder Tianzhu’s voice sank and his expression turned ugly. As a Grand Elder, he was in training most of the time and he seldom dealt with the matters of the Lin family, but he had a rough understanding of the situation of the most outstanding juniors.

Lin Ping’s talent was not only inferior to Lin Xintong. He was even inferior to Lin Fengyue and Lin Xiaodie as well.

However, he had always worked hard. His training was almost to the point of self-mutilating. He had used hard work to barely force himself into being one of the best amongst the Lin family juniors. But even so, he was the last person who obtained a place for the Great Empress mystic realm trial.

It was unexpected that he had died in the short timespan of entering the Great Empress mystic realm.

“Saber wounds!”

Matriarch Lin said as her voice turned cold.

Lin Ping’s body was covered with wounds. Some of them were left behind by desolate beast claws, but the fatal ones were those left on his abdomen. They were all saber wounds!

“What!?”

Upon hearing Matriarch Lin’s words, Elder Tianzhu’s anger rose. He thought that Lin Ping was too weak, resulting in him dying in the Great Empress mystic realm. He could still accept that, but upon hearing that there were saber wounds, he began to suspect that Lin Ping had been killed by the other family clans!

Elder Tianzhu slowly turned around to look at the Shentu family clan. His eyes were filled with killing intent!

The people from the Shentu family clan only sneered.

The Thousand Hand Granny sneered, and said eccentrically, “Why? Just because of a fatal saber wound, you are suspecting us? Who knows if that Lin Ping’s strength was so lacking that he could not withstand the difficulty in the Great Empress mystic realm, so he was killed by sword and saber puppets!”

“Furthermore, even if he was killed by someone with a saber, how can you be sure that it was done by my Shentu family clan?”

The Thousand Hand Granny gave a reckless laugh, as she took pleasure in their misfortune.

However, it was unlikely for Lin Ping, who had claw and saber wounds, to face desolate beasts and sword and saber puppets in the same trial. Besides, none of the other youths from the other family clans that were eliminated were in a similar situation.

Elder Tianzhu did not say a word as he silently looked at the Thousand Hand Granny.

The Thousand Hand Granny’s heart sank. She would still fear being stared at by a Grand Elder of the Lin family. Furthermore, Elder Tianzhu’s intent in his eyes made her feel the pressure.

And at that moment, a black-robed Elder stepped in front of the Thousand Hand Granny, enduring the pressure emitted by Elder Tianzhu.

This black-robed elder was the Shentu family clan’s Grand Elder. He was tall and his body frame was very broad, but he was very thin. He looked like a skeleton dressed in a long robe.

With the black-robed elder present, the Thousand Hand Granny immediately felt the pressure decrease.

The Thousand Hand Granny again recovered her fearless position as she sent a provocative and mocking gaze at Elder Tianzhu and Matriarch Lin. It was clear what her gaze meant, “Even if he was killed by us, what can you do? If you have the ability, come fight us!”

“That bitch!” Matriarch Lin was extremely angry. With her personality, it was rare for her to use such words to curse.

Elder Tianzhu’s face sank as he ignored the Thousand Hand Granny, he looked at the broad-framed Shentu Elder, “Shentu Jue, it looks like your Shentu family clan has decided to declare war on our Lin family?”

Seeing how Elder Tianzhu’s words were to the point of drawing swords, Shentu Jue only lightly responded, “You don’t have to threaten me. From the relic trial, what your Lin family did to my Shentu family clan’s Elders is sufficient for us to go to war. However, we aren’t fighting yet because both you and I are worried that others will take advantage of the situation.”

“But… in the mystic realm, life and death is determined by the heavens. Elder Tianzhu, you can’t be so naive to think that your Lin family disciples and my Shentu family clan disciples will be helping one another to pass the trials together in the mystic realm?”

Shentu Jue’s voice had a bizarre penetrative power. It did not contain any Yuan Qi in it, but it caused one’s eardrums to resonate, causing slight pain in the ears.

Elder Tianzhu’s eyes squinted slightly and shouted out a “Fine!” Anyone could hear the killing intent in his voice.

“You are right, there is life and death in the mystic realm. Then I shall see, who will have the last laugh amongst my Lin family and your Shentu family clan’s disciples!”

“Haha!” Shentu Jue roared with laugher, “I do not know where you get the confidence from. Do you think your Lin family disciples, who are not familiar with the Great Empress mystic realm, will be able to stand out with more than ten other factions in there? Are you basing it on a single Lin Xintong? Her talent may be good, but she is still young, so how can she compare with Tian’er?”

Shentu Nantian was Shentu Jue’s direct descendant, and he was the one he appreciated the most. He did not believe that the young Lin Xintong was able to compete with Shentu Nantian in the mystic realm.

If the Lin family disciples were smart, they would give up early. If they were not injured, they would not need to be afraid of being sneaked up upon. In this case, they could leave the Great Empress mystic realm safely, without any deaths.

However, if they were to try their chances by being reckless, there was a possibility they would all be wiped out!

Elder Tianzhu did not speak. He was also unable to determine how far the juniors could go. It all had to depend on them.

There was no meaning to argue further with Shentu Jue and the Thousand Hand Granny, because they had to concentrate and receive the other Lin family juniors, especially Yi Yun.

At that moment, a short fat youth was ejected out of the Great Empress mystic realm. This youth’s situation was very miserable. He had lost an arm, and as he had lost a lot of blood, the spatial manipulation around him and the forceful power of the God Burial Abyss was not something he could withstand. He fainted immediately.

However, as he fainted, he still grasped his broken arm firmly.

“Guo’er! Guo’er!”

On the Xu family’s side, a woman suddenly shouted. She seemed to be an immediate family member of the youth, but to use “Guo’er” as a name made everyone’s face look odd. It felt too endearing for a youth who had such a wretched look to be called Guo’er.

“It’s now the turn for the 16+ year old group to be eliminated. Ze Ze Ze! I want to congratulate your Lin family in advance, for receiving an additional corpse!”

The Thousand Hand Granny mocked with her horrible-sounding voice.

The 16+ year old group was the group Yi Yun belonged to. The so-called additional corpse was naturally referring to Yi Yun’s corpse.

The Thousand Hand Granny knew of Shentu Nantian’s arrangements. In her opinion, apart from having a black heart and having some talent in the Desolate Heaven technique, Yi Yun was nothing special. As the Great Empress mystic realm depended on true ability, his fanciful tricks were useless.

As long as Yi Yun was eliminated, he would be killed by the people who were arranged by Shentu Nantian!

She was looking forward to Lin Fengxian’s expression at that moment.

Matriarch Lin did not respond as her face turned sullen. At that moment, one junior after another was ejected by the Great Empress mystic realm.

These people were mostly 16+ years old, so it was indeed the youth group’s turn.

Matriarch Lin was waiting. The Lin family had a total of four 16+ youths. It should be no problem for Lin Fengyue and Lin Xiaodie to pass. As for Lin Yu and Yi Yun, it would be no surprise for them to be eliminated.

As time went by, the number of people who were eliminated increased. There were two Shentu family clan disciples amongst them. These two were 17 years old and they were not classified into Yi Yun’s group.

It was no big deal having two people receive slight injuries. The Thousand Hand Granny glanced at them and gave a extremely nasty smile.

These two people were the two weakest people in the Shentu family clan that came on this mystic realm expedition. They were eliminated with light injuries. This result made the Thousand Hand Granny very satisfied. Compared to the Lin family’s corpse, they were in a much better shape.

448 - : The Death of a Youth

CKtalon  CKtalon

After about seven minutes, a third person from the Shentu family clan was eliminated. She was a 20+ year old female. The Thousand Hand Granny’s face slightly twitched when she saw this girl eliminated.

This girl’s name was Shentu Yinxiang. She had extraordinary martial arts talent since a young age. She was adopted by the Shentu family clan, and her surname was changed to Shen Tu.

As a child, she grew up with Shentu Nantian, and she was destined to become Shentu Nantian’s concubine in the future.

Originally, for this expedition to the mystic realm, Shentu Yinxiang traveled together with Shentu Nantian. She was responsible for protecting and helping him. So the Thousand Hand Granny had some expectations for Shentu Yinxiang, hoping that she could go far together with Shentu Nantian.

However, she was unexpectedly eliminated from the outset.

This made the Thousand Hand Granny frown. This girl was usually quite capable, but when she was really needed, she had failed. She was trash in in the Thousand Granny’s eyes.

“How’s Tian’er?”

The Thousand Hand Granny ignored Shentu Yinxiang’s injuries and asked about Shentu Nantian first.

“Yinxiang was useless, I was unable to help the young master… ” Shentu Yinxiang hurriedly swallowed a pill as she said with guilt, “Young Master passed the trial perfectly. He surprised everyone. Not only did he take the shortest time, but he was not injured at all. Also, he received the Great Empress mystic realm’s reward, the Empyrean Mark.”

“The Empyrean Mark?” Hearing Shentu Yinxiang’s words, the Thousand Hand Granny smiled happily, “It’s understandable for him to receive the Empyrean Mark. It shouldn’t be too difficult for Tian’er. How many did he get?”

“Five. I counted them very carefully.”

“Well done!” The Thousand Hand Granny was feeling more and more pleased. She no longer found fault with the future concubine of Shentu Nantian in front of her. “If that’s the case, then let’s forget about your failure. Your abilities are limited, and Tian’er doesn’t need your help. In the last Great Empress mystic realm’s trial, Tian’er had obtained quite a number of Empyrean Marks. He had received three marks in the first trial, but in the end, he only needed a few more to open the Great Empress’ vault.”

“But this time, Tian’er received five marks in the first trial. It looks like the Great Empress’ treasures will belong to Tian’er.”

The Thousand Hand Granny’s voice was very loud as she did not conceal it at all. Many Elders from the various factions heard this clearly. They had all seen the Shentu family clan’s jade scroll, so they knew what the Empyrean Mark meant.

They were envious of Shentu Nantian receiving five Empyrean Marks.

“That old thing is getting carried away!” On the Lin family’s side, Matriarch Lin said angrily. She was feeling some regret for not crippling the Thousand Hand Granny back then.

Now, the Shentu family clan were doing well in the trials, while the outlook for them in the trials seemed grim. This made Matriarch Lin feel anger brew in her heart.

Sensing Matriarch Lin’s gaze, the Thousand Hand Granny sneered. After the relic trial, she hated the Lin family to the bone. She could not wait to raze the Lin family down to the ground, killing every single one of them.

“Lin Fengxian, do you think your Lin family will be able to receive the ancient recipe that can heal that little witch girl? What a joke! If 2-3 of the 10 juniors from your Lin family can return alive, it would be impressive. Today’s expedition into the Great Empress mystic realm will be the beginning of the decline of your Lin family. There will be a day when my Shentu family clan will erase your Lin family from the Tian Yuan world!”

The Thousand Hand Granny’s tone was filled with killing intent, while Matriarch Lin’s eyes turned cold. The time for the Lin family and the Shentu family clan to come to bloody blows had come.

She didn’t have a futile war of words with the Thousand Hand Granny. She was waiting to receive her Lin family’s juniors, so she had to be fully concentrated, so she could prevent the Shentu family clan from sneaking up on them when she saved a person.

However, after another 7-8 minutes, the spatial fluctuations of the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance’s grew weaker. It had been a while since the juniors who had failed were ejected out of the mystic realm.

This made Matriarch Lin think. Since she had not seen Lin Yu or Yi Yun, could it be that the both of them had passed?

“There’s no one left. Maybe Yi Yun won’t come out. Could it be that only one of our Lin family’s juniors was eliminated in the first trial?”

Only Lin Ping from the Lin family’s ten juniors had been killed. The other nine were not seen.

The Thousand Hand Granny snorted in response to the Lin family’s Elder’s naive thinking. As the elimination of the Great Empress mystic realm had not ended, Yi Yun was bound to be ejected sooner or later.

She knew Shentu Nantian’s arrangements very well. She was eager to see the scene of Yi Yun having died a horrible death.

However, as time passed, the spatial fluctuations of the mystic realm’s entrance had gradually calmed down. No one was ejected. The Thousand Hand Granny’s old face also slowly froze.

“They really passed!”

Elder Tianzhu and Matriarch Lin exchanged looks. They were overjoyed deep down. There was nothing much to say about Lin Yu because he was a young elite nurtured by the Lin family, so it was not surprising for him to do well.

However, Yi Yun was a youth who came from the Backwater East and he had spent a lot of time and energy on a secondary focus, the Desolate Heaven technique. Under such circumstances, he could actually pass the first trial?

These results and his talent were simply stunning.

“Stop dreaming.” At that moment, the shrill voice of the Thousand Hand Granny could be heard again. “Do you really think that the remaining 9 people from the Lin family can pass the trial, especially a little bastard like Yi Yun? Let me tell you, there are many ways to die. Some leave corpses, while there are also times when a corpse will not be left behind.”

“For example… After being hacked to bone dust, even if he was ejected by the Great Empress mystic realm, it would just be dust that won’t catch the eye. Which one amongst you can recognize the little bastard in that form?”

The Thousand Hand Granny’s words made Matriarch Lin’s heart sink. For warriors, it was a simple task to destroy a person’s corpse after killing them.

She tilted her head slightly and looked at the young cultivators who had been eliminated.

These people were all 16+ in age. Matriarch Lin’s memory was very good, so she could remember the few people who had entered the mystic realm with Yi Yun. According to the Great Empress mystic realm’s rules, once they entered, they would be grouped together with cultivators of the same age.

These people had to know of Yi Yun’s situation.

That included the fat youth, who had lost his arm and was addressed as “Guo’er” by the woman. At that moment, he had woken up from his comatose state. He happened to hear the fierce exchange of words between Matriarch Lin and the Thousand Hand Granny.

The Thousand Hand Granny had mentioned Yi Yun in her last few sentences. Because of this, the fatty realized that the reason behind the conflict between the two important figures of the Shentu family clan and the Lin family was not only because of the two family’s hatred for each other, it also had a lot to do with Yi Yun.

Yi Yun…

Thinking of this monster, the little fatty, who was still lying in the arms of the woman, twitched his fat face. That kid was too weird. It was so weird that it caused fear in others. And what made the little fatty fear the most was that he had actually thought of killing Yi Yun before.

Thankfully, he had not made a move, or he would probably have said goodbye to his fat body in the Great Empress mystic realm!

And when he heard the Thousand Hand Granny say that Yi Yun would definitely be eliminated by the trial, and then be dismembered and hacked into ashes, the fatty blinked his tiny eyes. His expression was extremely odd.

As for the others who were in the same group as Yi Yun but were eliminated, they had similar expressions.

“You reminded me.” The Thousand Hand Granny noticed Matriarch Lin’s gaze and then said to those youths who had been eliminated, “I know that Tian’er had promised a reward. Now, Tian’er is still in the trials and he hasn’t come out. I’ll help him hand out the rewards. Who amongst you helped in the process of killing that little bastard Yi Yun? Poking with a knife or stabbing with a sword, any one of those can get a reward from me. As long as it’s real, all of you will get it.”

The Thousand Hand Granny’s voice was husky but loud. With her injecting Yuan Qi into it, it easily entered everyone’s ears.

She wanted to use an insolent method like that to trample on Lin Fengxian’s face, giving the Lin family a serious setback.

However, what surprised the Thousand Hand Granny was that none of the eliminated youths had come forward to receive their rewards. Instead, they were all looking at her weirdly.

“Oh? What’s the meaning of this?”

The Thousand Hand Granny was finding it weird. She had a slight sense of foreboding. It was as if the situation was not as she thought it was…

“That… We didn’t harm Yi Yun… ” The fatty was the first to speak.

The Thousand Hand Granny was shocked, as the sense of unease in her heart grew more intense.

Matriarch Lin also looked at the little fatty.

Sensing Matriarch Lin’s gaze, the fatty hurriedly said, “Granny, please don’t get me wrong. I never had the intention to deal with Young Master Yi Yun, nor did I covet any reward.”

The fatty was fast to make things clear. He was already afraid. He had his arm torn off by the terrifying ancient desolate beast in the short while he was up, and yet Yi Yun had defeated it using one arrow.

Although people like Gongsun Hong thought that Yi Yun had some dogshit luck, and he happened to hit the ancient desolate beast’s weakness, this fatty did not have similar thoughts. Yi Yun was too odd. He did not wish to be remembered as the fatty who wanted to kill him to obtain rewards when Yi Yun matured one day.

Hence, he used this occasion to make his stance clear. He had even changed his salutation to Young Master Yi Yun, which made it even clearer.

Matriarch Lin naturally noticed the fatty’s fear in his words. She was curious and asked, “What happened to Yi Yun?”

“He… Uh… He perfectly passed… Not only was he not injured, he even killed the ancient desolate beast guardian. And because of this, the Great Empress mystic realm rewarded him with the Empyrean Mark… ” The fatty was feeling a bit helpless. He had done so badly with his arm being torn off, so he naturally felt uncomfortable speaking of Yi Yun’s achievements.

“Empyrean Mark!?” Matriarch Lin’s eyes lit up. It was a great pleasant surprise. She thought that it would be very impressive for Yi Yun to pass. She never expected that he would obtain the Empyrean Mark!

“Yi Yun received the Empyrean Mark?” Elder Tianzhu also spoke. As the Lin family’s Grand Elder, he would not have paid much attention to a genius who had obtained the Empyrean Mark, but for a person who could obtain the Empyrean Mark in martial arts and had exceptional Desolate Heaven technique talent at the same time, it was something that would move him.

“Yes… and he received quite a number.” The fatty’s expression was bitter as he spoke.

“How many?” Matriarch Lin asked hurriedly.

“This… ” The fatty scratched his head and said uncertainly, “It was like… Uh… more than 30… ”

“How… How many!?”

Matriarch Lin was completely shocked. Even Elder Tianzhu was completely petrified from the shock. They could not believe their ears!

449 - : Come and Get Your Rewards

CKtalon  CKtalon

“More than thirty!?”

The Thousand Hand Granny yelled, nearly biting her own tongue.

People looked at each other, feeling a bit dazed. The Empyrean Marks were especially precious. It would be impressive for a person to obtain two-three marks.

Amongst the different factions, their juniors had also obtained Empyrean Marks, but they had less than a handful. Yet this damn fatty said that Yi Yun received more than thirty marks, did he think Empyrean Marks were freely sold on the streets!?

Especially those who had entered the mystic realm but were eliminated, failing the first round. When the fatty said that Yi Yun obtained Empyrean Marks as easy as picking them up, how could they accept it?

“Little fat bastard, what nonsense are you spouting!?”

“Damn fatty, have you woken up!?”

Many family clans’ younger generation were indignant as they scolded him.

The scolding from these people came from all directions. The little fatty was initially a bit taken aback after being questioned by so many people, but then he got angry. He did not mind people calling him “little fatty”, but he hated people calling him “little, fat bastard” or “damn fatty”.

Little fatty felt angry and immediately shouted his curses, “You bunch of trash, do you think others are like you just because you can’t do it? Yi Yun obtained more than thirty Empyrean Marks, I saw it with my own eyes!”

The little fatty was willing to jump out because he knew that those who had been eliminated in the first round were all weak trash. He was not afraid to offend them, as not one of them were stronger than the others.

Those who were scolded by the little fatty who had lost his arm, immediately were like cats who had their tails stepped on when they heard him call them trash. They had already felt a blow to their self-esteem after being the first to be eliminated, so they were extremely furious.

Just as the argument was about to begin, a person beside the little fatty, another large faction elite who had been eliminated with him stood forward.

A girl said, “It was 36. I counted very carefully. There was no mistake.”

The girl said and sighed, as if she was sighing over the difference between her and Yi Yun.

Following that, a few youths also confirmed it. There were in total eight youths, all from different family clans and factions. Now, with all of them giving the affirmation, these elites could not have collectively counted wrongly. Besides, there was no meaning for them to gang up to play a joke on the masses.

As such, Yi Yun had really obtained 36 Empyrean Marks!

Upon realizing this, everyone fell into a daze. All of them looked like they had seen a ghost, especially the people from the Shentu family clan. Their faces were the ugliest.

Is that possible?

The Thousand Hand Granny’s face was distorted. Her sparse white hair stood up, and with her stiff skinny body she looked like a tombstone with overgrown grass sticking out.

She had previously patted herself on the back when she found out that Shentu Nantian had obtained five Empyrean Marks, and she was also overjoyed over the chance to see the terrible state of Yi Yun’s corpse. However, in a blink of an eye, reality had given her a heavy blow. Her old face had been smacked to pieces. Yi Yun was not dead, and his results had trumped everyone. What was originally not a bad result from Shentu Nantian, was not even in the singles digit of Yi Yun’s number!

Her intestines were all twisted together as she grit her yellow teeth, “Impossible! There must be a reason! This kid can’t have such talent. He must have used a loophole!”

The Thousand Hand Granny was very sure. Even the people from the Lin family were amazed by this, not to mention the Elders from the Shentu family clan.

Shentu Nantian represented the standard of a top genius in the Tian Yuan world, so if Yi Yun’s talent was similar to his, they might have become shocked, but could still accept it. However, it seemed impossible that Yi Yun could leave such a huge gap between them…

“Junior. Tell me. How did Yi Yun pass the first trial?” The person who spoke was the Shentu family’s Grand Elder Shentu Jue. He was like a skeleton draped with a layer of skin and his face was gloomy. No one could tell what he was thinking.

Shentu Jue’s words contained his will and seemed to have some magical power to it. It made the youth who heard his voice answer him obediently, “Senior, the matter was like this. The first trial we encountered was to pass a bridge guarded by an ancient desolate beast. The others only dodged the ancient desolate beast’s attacks, but Yi Yun found the ancient desolate beast’s weakness and killed it in one hit…”

“He found its weakness?” People were stunned. ” Yi Yun alone found the weakness?”

The person who spoke was an internal Elder of the Li Fire Sect. He stared at the youth who spoke, for he felt discomfort in his heart. He knew that the number one person of the last three years in his sect, Gongsun Hong was grouped together with Yi Yun. His trial was of similar difficulty as Yi Yun’s.

However, Yi Yun managed to find its weakness, yet Gongsun Hong did not?

“Yes, Young Master Hong said that Yi Yun’s luck was good. It was by luck.” The youth said truthfully.

By luck?

As it was not seen with their own eyes, it was hard for them to tell if it was really by luck. However, it was true that Yi Yun was extraordinary. After all, this mystic realm was created by the ancient Great Empress, so it could not have such big flaws.

“So that is how it is.” The Thousand Hand Granny’s expression turned sinister as she spoke hatefully, “That little bastard’s eyes can see through energy. He must have used it to find the ancient desolate beast’s weakness!”

The fact that Yi Yun had energy eyes was not something many of people present knew. So when she said this, people were astonished.

“This little bastard is best at being sneaky. To think that he really managed to find a loophole. However, that would be all. The Great Empress mystic realm will not have loopholes for him to exploit all the way.”

…

After all the failures had been transported out of the Great Empress mystic realm, a huge pillar of light fell from the boundless sky in front of Yi Yun, Gongsun Hong and company.

This pillar of light was like a divine sword. It had split the endless white plains into two!

People were alarmed. They saw the white endless plains slowly separating from each other as if a large stage curtain was being pulled apart. And behind the curtain, was another completely different world.

Seeing this world, be it Yi Yun, Gongsun hong, Lin Xiaodie or Lin Yu… All of the young elites were stunned.

This world looked like a ruin, it was immense, and above the land were countless numbers of wreckages. There were broken buildings, bones of dead desolate beasts. There were also fragments of magical weapons and armor.

All the wreckage was swept up by an unknown force, gathering into a terrifying storm. And in the core of the debris storm, there was a faint black tower that pierced towards the sky. It was a great distance away from where Yi Yun and company stood.

This tall tower looked like a divine pillar that held the heavens up. It was vast, ancient and exuded a infinitely powerful aura.

And the place where Yi Yun and company stood was thousands of meters up in the sky. They stood in a gap that seemed to be like a tiny window high up in the sky. Through this tiny window, they could see the vast and mysterious world.

And what made their heart palpitate, was the twelve one-foot-wide bridges right in front of the tiny window. They stretched out into the sky, to the limits of one’s vision, disappearing inside the vast debris storm.

These bridges had no support. They were like rainbows stretching across the sky! Far into the distance, where the fierce storm was brewing, the bridges were also shaking due to the storm, as if they would break at any time.

Seeing this scene, people were amazed. The visual impact of this scene was too great.

Gongsun Hong’s expression was dignified as he said solemnly, “I guess that this leads all the way to the faraway tower.”

Gongsun Hong’s words made everyone look at each other. The bridges were too narrow. And they were suspended amidst that strange storm. It could not be seen well nor could their perception probe it.

As for the tall tower in in the horizon, it was too far away. As such, these bridges were probably much longer than they imagined.

At that moment, the cold voice of the Great Empress mystic realm sounded out in everyone’s ears, “Step onto the bridge to reach the God Advent Tower and open the second level’s trial!”

“God Advent Tower? That black tower’s name is the God Advent Tower?”

Gongsun Hong squinted his eyes and looked at the black tower in the horizon.

God Advent! A tower where Gods appeared!

What would the tower have inside of it to have such a name?

Although passing the bridge was not the second trial, but seeing the horrifying storm in the distance, it was probably not going to be an easy task.

If they slipped off the bridge, something horrible might even happen.

As for using their own strength, or magical items to help them fly, it seemed impossible. All the elites present could faintly feel a powerful force field in this mysterious world. It was a force that was distorting space itself!

450 - : God Advent Tower

CKtalon  CKtalon

“There are twelve bridges here. Everyone choose one and go!”

Gongsun Hong said. He then leaped up and, like a brisk swallow, floated about a hundred feet out before steadily landing on one of the bridges in the middle.

He looked back at everyone, his gaze momentarily stopping on Yi Yun, “It is your turn now.”

Yi Yun clearly felt the warring spirit in Gongsun Hong’s eyes.

Yi Yun could understand Gongsun Hong’s thoughts. He was a proud person, so he could not accept that he had been completely overshadowed in the first trial. Besides, Gongsun Hong believed he was the strongest person in the group. Gongsun Hong was indignant having lost to Yi Yun who had used trickery.

He wanted to win the number one place back.

“Let us go on up.”

The young cultivators leaped onto the bridges. Some were full of confidence, while others were very careful.

Yi Yun was also one of them. When Yi Yun landed on the bridge, he could feel many gazes landing on him.

Clearly, Yi Yun’s performance in the first round had attracted too much attention. Although people no longer thought that Yi Yun would be easily eliminated, no one believed that he would achieve any more amazing results.

Yi Yun was unaffected by this hostility because they could not attack him inside the Great Empress mystic realm.

On the bridge, the strong winds blew. Gongsun Hong was in the lead. He was using Sweeping Figure Sword Steps, so three of his afterimages were in front of him, paving the way. More than a hundred sword Qi beams were flying around. These sword Qi cut through the wind, reducing the pressure on Gongsun Hong. This resulted in him being able to proceed easily without needing to spend much effort.

This scene made many people secretly horrified. Even Yi Yun felt that Gongsun Hong’s abilities were indeed exceptional.

And Gongsun Hong was older than Yi Yun by a bit. If Yi Yun really fought Gongsun Hong, he was not sure who would win as there was no way of estimating. He had several hidden killer moves, but Gongsun Hong, who was the best amongst the internal disciples of the Li Fire Sect, probably had quite a number of killer moves as well.

“Ah!”

At that moment, there was a shrill scream. The storm in front of them exploded and a two-meter long black shadow charged from the storm, heading straight towards Gongsun Hong who was leading the way!

This black shadow suffused a metallic sheen. It looked like a wolf, but there was a pair of metallic wings on its back, allowing it to fly freely in the storm.

Metallic desolate beast!?

Gongsun Hong was alarmed, but he was strong and he had fast reactions. While he shrank backward, three sword Qi beams whistled forward!

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

The sword Qi cut the metallic desolate beast at its four limbs, and soon, it was torn apart!

“Peng!”

The corpse of the metallic desolate beast exploded.

Gongsun Hong gave a sigh of relief. If his reactions were not fast, the metallic desolate beast would have succeeded in its attack. The results would have been disastrous.

The metallic desolate beast’s speed may be fast, but its defenses were inadequate. As long as one dodged its attack, it was not difficult killing it.

Gongsun Hong was secretly rejoicing. At that moment, a light dot separated from the remnants of the metallic desolate beast, landing on Gongsun Hong’s arm.

Gongsun Hong only felt a prick on his arm. The light dot entered his skin, and became a tiny pattern, like a tattoo.

“Oh? This is…”

Gongsun Hong was slightly surprised. What was this?

Everyone’s eyes landed on Gongsun Hong’s arm. The Shentu family clan’s youth pondered for a while before saying, “Young Master Hong, this tattoo looks like a small portion of an Empyrean Mark.”

The Shentu youth’s words reminded Gongsun Hong. He compared the tattoo with an Empyrean Mark on his arm and indeed, he noticed some similar patterns on the Empyrean Mark.

Gongsun Hong was overjoyed. This could mean that killing every metallic desolate beast would reward him with a tiny portion of the mark. These portions would slowly form a full Empyrean Mark.

Then if this went on, as long as he killed enough desolate beasts, he could obtain a new Empyrean Mark.

It seemed like there were plenty of opportunities to earn Empyrean Marks in the Great Empress mystic realm.

Upon thinking of this, Gongsun Hong glanced at Yi Yun. Yi Yun had only 36 Empyrean Marks, so Gongsun Hong felt he could catch up with Yi Yun eventually.

“So this bridge actually is also an opportunity!”

“I wonder how many desolate beasts needed to be killed in order to obtain an Empyrean Mark. From the size of the small tattoo, it probably needs tens of desolate beasts to form one.”

The elites present quickly made their analysis. It was clear that the further one was in front, the easier it was to fight a desolate beast This also meant more Empyrean Marks. But it was also more dangerous. If one was careless, it was possible that they could fall off the bridge.

It was definitely not a simple task to kill enough desolate beasts to form one Empyrean Mark.

“There are so many martial geniuses in the Tian Yuan world. If I don’t fight for it, I will vanish amongst the crowd. I have risk it!”

A youth from a large family clan jumped forward and chased after Gongsun Hong.

“I have the same thoughts as well!”

The Shentu family clan’s youth chuckled and charged forward as well.

Behind him, Lin Xiaodie and Lin Fengyue also kept up. Even Lin Yu wanted to give it a try.

“Yi Yun, are you going forward?”

Lin Xiaodie looked at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun smiled and said, “I’ll be watching first.”

Just now, when the metallic desolate beast charged at Gongsun Hong, Yi Yun had instantly turned his energy vision on. He had probed the body structure of the metallic desolate beast.

It was not a real desolate beast, it was a metal puppet. It was made of metal whose shape was changed by the ancient Great Empress using arrays and energies.

Its body had an extremely small energy crystal core. It could not be compared to the ancient relic that resided in the huge desolate beast from before.

Besides, Yi Yun had discovered that the metallic puppets did not have any weakness. One had to use absolute power to kill them.

As such, Yi Yun could no longer resort to trickery. So he decided to observe first.

“The Great Empress mystic realm considers every aspect. It can’t just test one’s judgment. Although I have the Purple Crystal, I cannot always rely on it to find weaknesses to obtain the core heritage of the Great Empress mystic realm… ”

Yi Yun secretly thought. Although he had perfectly completed the first trial, he was still very serious about the situations he encountered in the future.

He could not be reckless. He had to carefully analyze the situation, so as to find a path to the Great Empress’ vault amidst the Great Empress mystic realm that was fraught with danger.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun’s speed naturally slowed down. In contrast, many young elites had charged forward, including Lin Yu.

“Yi Yun, you won’t always have good luck!”

Seeing Yi Yun not intending to rush forward, Lin Yu gave a scornful laugh. He then plunged into the debris storm.

Yi Yun looked at Lin Yu’s back without any expression. What sort of figure was the ancient Great Empress? One had to pay a sufficient price in order to obtain great rewards in the mystic realm she created. It was definitely not a place filled with easy benefits for the picking.

…

Gongsun Hong was extremely powerful. He was rushing at the front and he had unsheathed his sword. He was fully using his Sweeping Figure Sword Steps, so there were 36 sword Qi avatars in front of him.

Every place the avatars passed, the sword Qi flashed past.

“Peng!”

Gongsun Hong’s sword Qi hit another metallic desolate beast and it was torn apart!

After the metallic desolate beast died, it formed an energy tattoo that engraved itself on Gongsun Hong’s arm.

Gongsun Hong took a deep breath. He no longer had any joy in his eyes. Compared to the complete Empyrean Mark, the two tattoos he had earned so far combined were far from it.

This way, to form a complete Empyrean Mark, he had to kill about 30-40 metallic desolate beasts. This would consume large amounts of Yuan Qi, and when he was exhausted, he probably would not even be able to form two Empyrean Marks.

This could not work!

Gongsun Hong was considered to be in a better state. Behind Gongsun Hong, there were people already struggling to move forward. Resisting the storm was not easy, so fighting the metallic desolate beasts in the storm was even more difficult. If they were not careful, they would fall off the bridge.

Wo! Wo! Wo!

The storm roared and it became even more intense. People were already approaching the core of the storm. More and more desolate beasts arrived here.

“Roar!”

A beast roar sounded out like thunder. A bridge on one side vibrated violently, as if it was going to completely tear apart.

On this bridge, a youth cried out as his body was hit by a tremendous force!

“That is!?”

The pupils of people constricted. They saw a huge eagle, that was more than a hundred feet in length, flap its wings, sending the youth flying!

The eagle’s wings were as sharp as knives. The youth’s body was covered in blood, dyeing the sky red. It was shocking.

“Ah–”

The youth screamed but his body was caught in the turmoil of the storm. He was like a kite that had its string cut off. His voice was shredded by the storm as it became staccato.

“He’s dead?”

People looked at each other. They did not know what the youth’s outcome would be, but they felt a chill.

And at that moment, the huge eagle no longer attacked anyone else after sending the youth flying. It flapped its wings and flew off.

“Terrifying… ”

People secretly gave a sigh of relief. They were still shocked out of their wits. A desolate beast of that grade was not something they could handle.

In the area around the core of the storm, there were not only desolate beasts like the metallic wolves. There were many types of desolate beasts, with varying sizes and strength.

Some desolate beasts would not take the initiative to attack the youths. But if one was to accidentally provoke them, then the outcome would be like that youth killed by the eagle.

“When we attack the desolate beasts in the storm, not only do we need to withstand the pressure from the storm, we still need to distinguish which desolate beasts we can’t defeat in such a chaotic environment. If we attacked indiscriminately, there is possibility of death… ”

Many of the youths had ugly expressions. Such a trial was too difficult.

It was a simultaneous test of strength, insight, reaction and stamina.

What made people most speechless was that according to what the Great Empress mystic realm said, this was not even a trial. This was just a passage from the first trial to the second trial.

A passage itself was already so difficult!

Many people looked at the Empyrean Marks on their arms that were not even a fifth done and they had the mind to retreat.

It was very difficult to obtain even a single Empyrean Mark in the Great Empress mystic realm!

The thoughts they had before were too naive.

451 - : Twelve Bridges

CKtalon  CKtalon

The youth that fell off the bridge had long disappeared into the storm. No one knew what his fate was. Would he be transported out of the Great Empress mystic realm? Or would he just die like that?

The younger the person was, the more they feared death. A youth retreated cowardly. He said with a pale face, “Forget it, I’ll just cross the bridge steadily. At least, I will be able to see what’s inside the God Advent Tower… ”

With one person taking the lead, more people began retreating. They could ensure their safety if they stayed behind and not attack the beasts. As such, the pressure would be borne by Gongsun Hong and company.

Many young elites believed that there would be even more opportunities in the God Advent Tower. The Empyrean Marks obtained from the storm were of little value. Not only could they get only a few, they were also difficult to obtain.

Lin Yu was one of the people who retreated.

Lin Yu was at least self-aware. He did not dare compete with Gongsun Hong, for he would be courting death if he went in front.

Returning back to his original position, he noticed that Yi Yun was still slowly walking behind everyone else. From the beginning to the end, Yi Yun had not gone to the front.

The killing was intense at the front, but he looked like he was not involved with it. There was a pleasant and relaxed look on his face.

This made Lin Yu’s mouth twitch hard. This kid! Others were breaking their necks fighting, but here he was, appearing like he was sight-seeing.

Lin Yu thought that he could show his strength this time and overshadow Yi Yun, but he ended up with a figurative black eye. Not only did he obtain anything, he had ridiculed himself. This made Lin Yu so mad that his intestines began to twist.

Why was he so unlucky!?

Yi Yun was not overtly concerned with Lin Yu’s thoughts. He may look relaxed, but he was constantly observing his environment. In the storm, Yi Yun had his energy vision which allowed him to look even farther.

At that moment, in front of the group, there was only a few people left. They included Gongsun Hong, Lin Xiaodie, etc.

Even the Beast Control Sect’s youth, who carried a bag on his back, had retreated. He was confident in his strength, but he had suffered too many injuries in the first trial.

In the Great Empress mystic realm, the people who passed any trial would be healed by the Great Empress mystic realm’s energy. However, the healing effects were limited. Only a small portion of the injuries would be healed, so having too many injuries would leave them with no choice.

“It’s also good that that bunch of trash have retreated.”

Panther Lady licked her nails and hissed. As such, she could have more opportunities to kill desolate beasts, obtaining the Empyrean Mark.

“With them retreating, how many can you get?” Gongsun Hong said lightly. Panther Lady was shocked and she was left speechless.

“I am not proving my strength by walking out in front, I’m doing it for the real benefits. However, these rewards are too little.”

Gongsun Hong said this and carried on with his sword out. Amongst the whole group, Gongsun Hong had killed the most number of desolate beasts.

But even so, the Empyrean Mark on Gongsun Hong’s arm was only about 70% formed. After killing so many desolate beasts and consuming so much Yuan Qi, he had gathered less than one Empyrean Mark. It was too little!

“Low-grade desolate beasts give a really small reward.”

Gongsun Hong squinted his eyes and looked at the blurry figures of the desolate beasts in the storm. The desolate beasts he killed were mostly the metallic wolves with wings. Those low-grade desolate beasts were easy to kill, but the amount they contributed to forming the Empyrean Mark was pathetic.

“If this carries on, I’ll probably only form two complete Empyrean Marks when I reach the God Advent Tower. It’s meaningless. If I can kill a high-grade desolate beast, for example, the huge eagle that attacked the youth from before… ”

Gongsun Hong was not satisfied with the turtle-speed pace of accumulation. He wanted to take a risk. The huge eagle desolate beast was extremely strong. If he could kill one, he could probably obtain a few Empyrean Marks as a reward.

But… could he kill such an existence?

Gongsun Hong did not have any confidence. The difficulty of the Great Empress mystic realm was too high. In front of the ancient Great Empress, many of the peerless geniuses of the Tian Yuan world were considered ordinary people.

Gongsun Hong did not know if the huge eagle had any weaknesses. Even if it had one, he did not know where it was. He did not expect himself to be as lucky as Yi Yun.

“Luck! Hmph!”

Gongsun Hong turned around and glanced at Yi Yun. His eyes flashed cold. The Great Empress mystic realm was too unfair! Yi Yun was so timid, and yet, he had obtained 36 Empyrean Marks as a reward. However, after Gongsun Hong had desperately killed so many, he had only obtained about one and a half Empyrean Marks.

It was a heaven and earth difference. This did not make any sense!

As Gongsun Hong was thinking, he heard a dull growl in the storm. He was surprised and focused his gaze in the direction of the growl. In the storm, there was a fuzzy shadow.

The shadow slowly drew closer allowing Gongsun Hong to see it clearly. It was about 70-80 feet high and it looked like a huge tiger. Its body was covered with countless numbers of lightning bolts.

Its fangs were as long as lances and its claws were extremely sharp. They reflected cold beams.

“Oh? It’s the ancient desolate beast we encountered in the first trial!”

Gongsun Hong’s eyes lit up. This desolate beast was identical to the ancient desolate beast Yi Yun killed from before. It was only slightly smaller in size.

It was apparent that there were many desolate beasts of every type in the Great Empress mystic realm. They were distributed at different points.

There was no doubt that this ancient desolate beast’s strength was many times stronger than the metallic wolves. They were not on the same level at all.

If the ancient desolate beast was killed, there would definitely be an amazing reward. It could perhaps compare with what Yi Yun had received!

Upon thinking this, Gongsun Hong felt his heart palpitate. The most important thing was that he already knew where the weakness of the ancient desolate beast was. It was… its mouth!

“Oh? It’s the desolate beast guardian from the first trial!”

On the bridge, some of the young elites also discovered the huge tiger and shouted out.

However, they were far behind Gongsun Hong, and they had discovered the desolate beast later than Gongsun Hong. When they noticed it, Gongsun Hong had already exploded his Yuan Qi, in preparation to make attack it.

“Finally, I can obtain a large reward. The Heavens are really helping me!”

Gongsun Hong gave a long laugh. After being repressed for so long, he had finally had a reversal in luck. The desolate beast guardian in front of him was already in the bag!

Since he knew where the ancient desolate beast’s weakness was, he had nothing to be afraid of. Even Yi Yun could kill it in one strike, let alone him?

“Cha!”

His long sword stabbed out, cutting through the storm, emitting a jarring sharp shriek.

Behind Gongsun Hong, many people had already seen what was happening. They were extremely jealous, especially the elites like Panther Lady. They were all confident that they could instantly kill the ancient desolate beast. But due to the great distance and their slow reaction, it was already too late for them to vie for it with Gongsun Hong.

“He got it!”

Panther Lady said indignantly, but at that moment, Gongsun Hong’s sword had already stabbed his sword towards the ancient desolate beast!

The ancient desolate beast was angered by Gongsun Hong. It roared as it opened its mouth to bite Gongsun Hong.

“I was waiting for this opportunity!” Gongsun Hong was overjoyed. He had purposely attacked the ancient desolate beast’s head so the ancient desolate beast would open its mouth to bite him. By doing so, its weakness would be exposed!

Gongsun Hong screamed loudly and a bright red light appeared on his sword. As a genius of the Li Fire Sect, he was most proficient in the fire elemental laws.

Piercing Inferno!

Although he was confident, Gongsun Hong did not hold back. He used a killer move that he seldom used.

Gongsun Hong’s Yuan Qi was gathered on the tip of his sword. The sword Qi and the flames roared, forming a thin inferno sword beam about the thickness of a pinky finger. This was the appearance of highly condensed fire elemental Yuan Qi.

This straight sword Qi flew directly into the ancient desolate beast’s mouth.

“Die!”

Gongsun Hong’s face lit up. His inferno sword Qi had successfully entered the ancient desolate beast’s mouth!

“Boom!”

An immense explosion rang out, as flames stirred in the storm. A sea of flames emerged in front Gongsun Hong.

For such a thin sword Qi to produce such a earth-shattering scene when it exploded made the surrounding people secretly horrified. Gongsun Hong’s offensive power was too strong!

This terrifying inferno attack was not something any one of them could resist.

“He managed to kill an ancient desolate beast! The award he receives will probably be the same amount as Yi Yun’s!”

“Such a pity. If I was walking in front at that moment, it would have been great. But even if I was walking in front, I would not have been able to vie with Gongsun Hong.”

Such thoughts flashed across the people’s minds. However, before they could say anything, their expressions were suddenly frozen.

They looked disbelievingly at the inferno storm in front of them. The storm had been pushed aside by a certain energy, while a claw surrounded by lightning bolts swiped down!

The speed of the claw was too fast. As it was concealed by the inferno storm, it had suddenly appeared, causing people to fail to react in time.

“What!?”

Seeing the huge claw attacking him, Gongsun Hong’s expression greatly changed!

The ancient desolate beast that he thought he had killed had launched a deadly attack at him without any warning. It was as if the sword attack from before had not managed to hurt it at all!

How could this be possible!?

“Ah!”

Gongsun Hong let out a cry as he retreated as fast as he could. At the same time, he used his Sweeping Figure Sword Steps!

However, he had used his movement technique only after he saw the ancient desolate beast attack, so he had already lost the upper hand.

Cha!

A blade like claw swiped across Gongsun Hong’s chest. The Yuan Qi force wind set off by the claw tore through Gongsun Hong’s protective Yuan Qi like paper.

Following that, the wind force broke through Gongsun Hong’s flesh without any impedance. His chest was lacerated and seven or eight ribs were broken. Even his right lung had been cut open. Blood sprayed out like water. The powerful blow had sent his body flying backward.

Why… !?

Gongsun Hong’s face was pale. His face was full of disbelief.

Both he and Yi Yun had attacked the ancient desolate beast’s mouth.

Yi Yun had killed the desolate beast, but he ended up with this outcome?

Can anyone tell me why?

Gongsun Hong’s mouth was covered in blood. He was screaming in his heart. And not far from Gongsun Hong, people were stunned seeing this scene. Their mouths gaped, and did not close for a long time.

What… the hell… happened?

452 - : Tell Me What This Is

CKtalon  CKtalon

People never expected that Gongsun Hong would be heavily injured by the ancient desolate beast’s claw attack. They thought that Gongsun Hong would receive plenty of rewards after easily killing the ancient desolate beast.

Panther Lady, who was jealous of Gongsun Hong for striking first, had now turned pale. She did not know what to do.

She was glad that she had not attacked, because her outcome would probably be worse than Gongsun Hong’s.

Realizing this, many of them subconsciously glanced over at Yi Yun. At that moment, Yi Yun was dawdling right at the back of the group. He was a hundred feet behind Lin Yu and company, who were already lining at the back. He did not look like he was in the Great Empress mystic realm to compete for opportunities, but rather here to mess around.

However, even so, Yi Yun began to appear mysterious in the eyes of many of them. They originally believed that Yi Yun managed to kill the ancient desolate beast out of luck, but now, with Gongsun Hong attempting the same thing with disastrous effects, people were shocked. They did not know what sort of method Yi Yun had used to kill the ancient desolate beast.

“Senior brother Hong!”

Seeing that Gongsun Hong was about to fall off the bridge and into the vast storm, a youth dressed in a flaming robe took out a rope-like magical item from his interspatial ring. He wanted to throw the magical item at Gongsun Hong to save him.

However, at that moment, the ancient desolate beast roared and carried on charging straight at Gongsun Hong!

It extended its sharp claws and, with purple lightning bolts surrounding it, grabbed at Gongsun Hong’s head!

Its move made the flaming robe youth’s face turn white. He did not dare make a rescue. He was not sure if he too would end up incurring the wrath of the ancient desolate beast by trying to save Gongsun Hong. If he was attacked as well, then he would only end up dying with Gongsun Hong.

Gongsun Hong was just a fellow disciple. How could Gongsun Hong’s life be more important than his?

“Ka-cha!”

The lightning flashed and the serpent-like, purple bolts seemed to stick close to Gongsun Hong’s face. The ancient desolate beast was overwhelming. Its immense pressure caused people to retreat.

Amongst the people retreating was Yi Yun. Although he was already at a sufficient distance, his retreating speed was much faster than anyone else.

This made many of them speechless. What the heck was this kid doing here?

Actually, when Yi Yun retreated, his hand was already pressing on his interspatial ring. His mental energies had locked onto the Tai Cang Bow.

He could attack at any time, but… didn’t the fun just begin? How could Yi Yun save a person like Gongsun Hong who was thinking of taking his life?

It was already not bad that he did not kick Gongsun Hong while he was down.

Of course, this was also because of the rules of the Great Empress mystic realm, which prevented Yi Yun from attacking Gongsun Hong. If that wasn’t the case, and if Yi Yun wanted to be evil, he did not even know his bottom line.

Having suffered a heavy blow, Gongsun Hong’s eyes flashed fiercely. He bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood essence. As his blood essence burned, a strange fog appeared on Gongsun Hong’s face. It looked a bit sinister!

“Ha!”

Gongsun Hong shouted as his bones began to emit crackling sounds. His chest, which was heavily injured, was slowly beginning to heal due to a strange energy,

Accompanying that was the squirming of Gongsun Hong’s muscles. The veins on his forehead also began to bulge out one by one!

“Oh? He still has something up his sleeve?”

Yi Yun was shocked. He thought that Gongsun Hong would definitely be eliminated, he never expected that, even when Gongsun Hong was at the end of the rope, he could still use such a mystic technique to temporarily restore his battle power.

People from many of the large sects had mystic techniques as an insurance. These mystic techniques were mostly demonic cultivation techniques, so they caused significant damage to one’s body. However, who would care about that in a life-threatening situation?

“Whew!”

Gongsun Hong reached out with his hand as a thick flame whip was thrown out from the middle of his palm, wrapping tightly onto a bridge.

The flame whip became taut like a rope. From the fact that Gongsun Hong was already able to control flames well enough to condense them physical items, it clearly showed how deep his insight into the fire elemental laws was.

The power of the fire elemental laws abruptly stopped Gongsun Hong’s body from falling further down.

And at that moment, the ancient desolate beast lunged forward. Gongsun Hong’s pupils constricted, burning his life energy and using a mystic technique, he grit his teeth and used the Sweeping Figure Sword Steps.

“Whew Whew Whew Whew!”

More than ten Gongsun Hong sword Qi avatars appeared. These sword Qi avatars were torn apart by the ancient desolate beast with a claw attack, causing a burst of Yuan Qi.

However, at that moment, Gongsun Hong pulled on the flame rope, causing it to rapidly shorten. Gongsun Hong’s body shot up like an arrow. As he resisted the terrifying storm around him, he flew towards a bridge!

The target area he flew towards was the far end of the group. It was close to where Yi Yun was!

This direction included Yi Yun, Lin Yu and four other cultivators. Other than Yi Yun, they were all relatively weak.

“Fuck!”

Lin Yu cursed vulgarities. Clearly, Gongsun Hong was thinking of diverting the danger!

At that moment, a saber had already appeared in Yi Yun’s hand. This saber was completely red in color. There was a life-like ghost head engraved onto the saber’s handle which looked extremely evil.

This was the treasured saber Yi Yun had obtained when he robbed the Thousand Hand Granny, Blood Red Lotus!

Yi Yun’s handled matters quickly. Aiming at Gongsun Hong’s flame rope, he cleaved down with his saber without any hesitation.

Momentarily, a faint blood light flashed and murderous intent surged. This was the blood Qi the Blood Red Lotus had naturally. It would emerge automatically even without Yi Yun stimulating it.

At that moment, Yi Yun was worried about the Great Empress mystic realm’s rules. However, if he was just cutting Gongsun Hong’s rope, but not attacking Gongsun Hong’s actual body, this should probably not be a violation of the no-killing rules, right?

“You!”

Gongsun Hong’s eyes turned blood red. He looked at Yi Yun full of murderous intent.

Although Gongsun Hong’s body was still flying upwards due to inertia, he still needed to withstand the terrifying storm under the bridge. Once Yi Yun severed the rope, he would have nowhere to act his force on, which would result in his body dropping backward again!

However, why would Yi Yun care about Gongsun Hong? He slashed cleanly with his saber.

Get lost!

“Cha!”

The flame rope broke with a snapping sound!

The long rope was like a broken bowstring. With the sound breaking boom, it rebounded back at Gongsun Hong!

Gongsun Hong’s eyes seemed to be exploding. The flame whip was originally sent by him, so of course it could not hurt him. With a wave of a hand, he absorbed the flame energy, but at the same time, his body was pulled by the storm. His speed reduced and he dropped downwards once again!

And at that moment, the ancient desolate beast had already realized that it had been fooled by the sword Qi avatars. It chased after Gongsun Hong with even greater rage.

Gongsun Hong was facing imminent danger, and with Yi Yun withdrawing fuel from a boiling cauldron, he no longer had any methods left but to bite his own tongue and burn a mouthful of blood essence once again.

He forcefully gathered Yuan Qi and forced out the mystic technique for a second time. He had already hurt his core vitality, but he could not care less.

“Whew Whew Whew Whew!”

Four flaming whips were shot out by Gongsun Hong. They locked onto a bridge. But this time, Gongsun Hong avoided the bridge Yi Yun was on. However, he still chose a direction where there were people lining at the back.

Sou!

Gongsun Hong rapidly shot up and flew towards a bridge.

Yi Yun was slightly stunned. Gongsun Hong had suddenly shot out so many flame whips, so it was impossible to cut all of them.

In a split second, Gongsun Hong had landed on the bridge!

He gave Yi Yun a murderous glance. And with his body moving, a light beam covered his body, and the next moment, he had completely disappeared.

“Huh!?”

They were all suddenly stunned. Gongsun Hong suddenly disappeared into thin air. Was this invisibility?

Illusion techniques?

Yi Yun knew. Gongsun Hong may have disappeared, but in his energy vision, Yi Yun could still see Gongsun Hong clearly.

This illusion technique was not related to fire-elemental laws. Gongsun Hong had several hidden techniques. As a top under-18 disciple in the Li Fire Sect, Gongsun Hong was indeed very powerful. Even in such a situation, he could still survive!

“Roar!”

A deafening roar sounded. The ancient desolate beast followed Gongsun Hong and leaped onto the bridge!

Its huge body could fill 12 of the bridges placed side by side, so the huge impact caused the bridge to violently shake, causing the elites present to not be able to stand steadily.

Their expressions changed. In the first trial, they had not received any interference, yet it was still extremely dangerous to face the ancient desolate beast.

Now however, in the terrifying storm, with their strength restricted, they had no way of escaping when facing this ancient desolate beast!

453 - : Withdrawing Fuel from a Boiling Cauldron

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Where did Gongsun Hong go!?”

Many of the cultivators were alarmed. In this situation, Gongsun Hong had used an illusion technique to disappear in front of everyone’s eyes.

And the ancient desolate beast had also lost sight of Gongsun Hong.

Although the ancient desolate beast was strong, its perception, reaction, speed and other factors were largely limited.

For example, now, Yi Yun could see Gongsun Hong clearly, but the ancient desolate beast could not find Gongsun Hong. As such it also lost its target.

Yi Yun was not in the least surprise about this. When the ancient Great Empress created this ancient desolate beast, she had limited a lot of its abilities. If she had placed a desolate beast that was flawless in every aspect as a guardian for the first trial, then probably no cultivator would be able to pass it.

When the ancient desolate beast could not find Gongsun Hong, its gaze switched to other cultivators. And that included Yi Yun.

The ancient desolate beast growled as it slowly approached. In the middle of its forehead, its third eye had already opened. There were purple lightning bolts surrounding this eye. The blazing divine light hurt the eyes of the cultivators.

Pressure!

People held their breaths. No one dared to breath out as they were afraid that any extraneous move would cause them to become the next target of the ancient desolate beast. On the bridge in the storm, most would be given a death sentence if they were targeted by the ancient desolate beast.

They did not have life-saving means like Gongsun Hong.

“Gongsun Hong, that bastard!”

Many people began cursing in their hearts. Gongsun Hong had attacked the ancient desolate beast in a bid to earn Empyrean Marks, but after he caused trouble, he hid himself, letting them bear the brunt of it.

This shameless method made many cultivators feel hate and disdain.

However, now was not the time to think of this. The crux of the issue was how to avoid this calamity.

The ancient desolate beast growled as it slowly approached them.

There were three people that were immediately facing the ancient desolate beast, Lin Xiaodie, Panther Lady and the youth that was from the Li Fire Sect just like Gongsun Hong.

“Heh, my luck sure is bad.”

Lin Xiaodie wiped her nose. She never expected for the ancient desolate beast to choose the direction facing her.

Although Lin Xiaodie said she was unlucky, she was not panicking. She touched her interspatial ring and stared at the ancient with eyes lit up. Clearly, she was planning to have a round with the ancient desolate beast.

As one of the top young geniuses of the Lin family, Lin Xiaodie was not to be trifled with.

As for Panther Lady, her expression was much uglier. She glanced at the Gongsun Hong’s junior brother, and noticed his face was pale. He was at a loss what to do.

“Trash!”

Panther Lady cursed in her heart. Gongsun Hong sure was cold blooded. With his junior brother before the desolate beast’s jaws, he had no intention of appearing.

At that moment, the ancient desolate beast roared and charged towards the three of them!

Its speed was extremely fast. It opened its jaws, its fangs and claws were used together to attack the three people simultaneously. Its body was humongous, so it could easily launch an attack on three bridges.

Lin Xiaodie was in the middle of the three. Her eyes flashed and leaped backward. At the same time, she pulled out a sword from her interspatial ring. Sword Qi rang as they protected her body!

Naturally, she did not dare to confront the ancient desolate beast head on. She had many combat techniques that allowed her to circle around the beast, as well as an ingenious movement technique. She could handle the current situation temporarily.

Boom!

The bridge began to shake violently. The three people dodged at the same time when the ancient desolate beast attacked. Lin Xiaodie leaped up high into the sky and flew above the ancient desolate beast’s head. Panther Lady stepped aside and rolled on the floor. The youth from the Li Fire Sect was most miserable. His body was bruised by the fluctuations of the ancient desolate beast’s attack. He nearly fell off the bridge.

“So tricky!”

In the air, Lin Xiaodie clenched her sword tightly. She did not know what to do next either.

Dragging this any further was not an option. She had considered attacking the desolate beast’s mouth, but she knew that since Gongsun Hong had failed at it, she would probably also end up failing if she tried.

While Lin Xiaodie was still unsure of what to do, all of a sudden, a golden beam appeared in the corner of Lin Xiaodie’s eye!

“Whew!”

A golden beam flashed past her at an incredible speed, heading straight for the ancient desolate beast’s mouth!

Lin Xiaodie had first felt the sharp and strong air fluctuations coming from the golden beam. When it grazed past her, her cheeks felt pain. Only then did she hear the ear-piercing shrill.

And at that moment, a tremendously fierce and potent pure Yang Qi exploded from the golden beam. It accelerated and entered straight into the ancient desolate beast’s mouth!

“Boom!”

The golden beam immersed deep in. At that split moment, Lin Xiaodie saw it clearly. It was an arrow!

It was a four-foot long arrow that was less than the thickness of a pinky finger. It had shot straight into the mouth of the desolate beast that was two storeys tall. This out of proportion blow was like sticking a needle into a tiger.

However, when the ancient desolate beast was hit, its body suddenly stopped. It stopped from its frenzy attacking state…

It’s ferocious aura became like a deflated ball, then it suddenly disappeared.

Following that, the killing intent and luster in its fierce eyes disappeared. Its body began to tremble violently. The lightning energy stripes began to change in color and shape. This lasted for a few seconds, and right after hearing a “Peng” explosion, the ancient desolate beast exploded into a rain of light before disappearing…

“Died? It died again!”

Seeing the energy rain scattering in the sky, people stared straight at the scene as their throats twitched.

This scene seemed very familiar.

They realized something, and slowly turned their heads with great difficulty. They looked at Yi Yun, who was at the rear of the group. Yi Yun had just shot the arrow. The bowstring on the Tai Cang Bow was still shaking gently, issuing a vague twang.

He flipped his hands and stored the Tai Cang Bow in his interspatial ring. The entire process seemed relaxing.

Seeing Yi Yun’s movements, many of them swallowed mouthfuls of saliva as a very odd look appeared on their faces.

This wasn’t shooting an ancient desolate beast to death, this was like shooting a rabbit to death!

Back when Gongsun Hong met with failure after attacking the so-called ‘weakness’ of the ancient desolate beast, people began to suspect that Yi Yun’s attack had been sheer luck. On the surface, the ancient desolate beast’s weakness indeed seemed to be inside of its mouth, but it was probably extremely well-hidden. Even if one attacked the desolate beast’s mouth, it was not enough to kill it.

And now… Yi Yun had once again killed the ancient desolate beast easily. This proved that killing this ancient desolate beast was indeed as easy as turning his hand. This was a crushing blow to the pride of many of them.

This blow was actually the second one…

They were absolutely no match for the ancient desolate beast, and could hardly survive in front of it, but when Yi Yun killed it, it looked as simple as someone slaughtering chickens and dogs. This was too abnormal!

454 - : A Familiar Scene

CKtalon  CKtalon

After killing the ancient desolate beast, Yi Yun saw a bright point of light, shining from within the scattering rain of light.

It was another ancient relic!

Only some of the strong desolate beasts in the Great Empress mystic realm had such an ancient relic within their body’s energy core. It contained huge amounts of energy.

Yi Yun’s body flashed and his body pierced through the sky, catching the ancient relic in hand.

He naturally would not miss such a benefit.

“Eh?”

People were shocked when they saw Yi Yun pick something up while withstanding the storm.

“Is it a treasure?”

People were alarmed. Did a treasure drop from the ancient desolate beast? They had not noticed that before.

“What is the matter?”

The item disappeared with Yi Yun wiping his ring without any exaggeration. This made many of them curious.

The treasures within the Great Empress mystic realm was naturally not a small amount. And they only realized it now..

“This ancient desolate beast dropped a treasure after it died. Then there must have been a treasure inside the desolate beast from before. Yi Yun must have taken that one away as well.”

People recalled the scene when the first ancient desolate beast was killed, Yi Yun had flown out, hundreds of feet away. Back then, they did not know what Yi Yun was doing.

Now, they learned that Yi Yun had already obtained two treasures.

Many of them were jealous, but also helpless, upon realizing this.

Although they coveted the treasures, no one dared to reveal this in front of Yi Yun. They were in no way able to handle such a fearsome person who managed to consecutively kill two ancient desolate beast, despite the methods he had used.

The way people looked at Yi Yun now contained some fear.

At that moment, a divine beam of light pierced through the storm from high up in the sky, illuminating Yi Yun’s body.

This divine beam condensed onto Yi Yun’s arm, forming into a purple tattoo. It was a Empyrean Mark!

“Empyrean Mark, he got another one!”

Seeing the tattoo appear on Yi Yun’s arm, it was unknown what many of them were feeling.

However, this time, only one Empyrean Mark condensed on Yi Yun’s arm. If there were another 36 marks, then the blow to the many young elites present would probably cause them to give up on this Great Empress mystic realm trial.

“Just one Empyrean Mark. It looks like the Great Empress mystic realm is very strict with its settings. If not, just finding a weakness of an ancient desolate beast, and then killing sufficient numbers of ancient desolate beasts would result in a large number of Empyrean Marks. If that happened, then the trial would lose its meaning.”

Yi Yun guessed. The Great Empress mystic realm tested various aspects of cultivators.

Finding the weakness of an enemy was just a test of a cultivator’s insight and judgment, so there could not be too many rewards.

Now, Yi Yun had 37 Empyrean Marks. His existence in the group had immediately become extraordinary.

When people looked at Yi Yun, their expressions were quite ugly. Just four hours ago, these people were in discussions of how to kill Yi Yun to receive the rewards, but now, they were all praying that they would not to fall in Yi Yun’s hands.

“This sick…” The youth with the bag from the Beast Control Sect gritted his teeth and transmitted his voice to Panther Lady, “Didn’t they say that he was a Desolate Heaven Master apprentice, and came from the Backwater East? Why is he so powerful?”

The Beast Control Sect youth realized that he was not only weaker than Yi Yun, even the opportunities he could obtained inside here were incomparable to Yi Yun’s. And in the end… for Yi Yun, martial arts was just a secondary focus. In the Desolate Heaven technique, Yi Yun was a peerless talent too.

It was really an exasperating comparison.

Panther Lady shook her head. She did not want to pay attention to Yi Yun. The more she did, the greater a setback she felt.

“Gongsun Hong, that scum. Don’t let him fall into my hands!”

Panther Lady swore. She had transferred her hate onto Gongsun Hong. Just now, when Gongsun Hong led the ancient desolate beast to attack Yi Yun, Yi Yun had cut his flaming rope. As a result, Gongsun Hong had changed directions, implicating her.

If not for Lin Xiaodie being implicated as well, Yi Yun would definitely not have made his move so quickly. Then, she would have been in real danger.

Looking around, Gongsun Hong had seemingly disappeared into thin air. Ever since he hid with his illusion technique, he no longer had any plans to appear again. In fact, Gongsun Hong no longer had the face to show himself.

After failing so horribly with the ancient desolate beast, he had only managed to escape the crisis by using a mystic technique and the despicable means of diverting the danger. In the end, the formidable desolate beast had been easily killed by Yi Yun.

With Gongsun Hong’s pride, how could he accept that?

…

“Little Brother Yi Yun, thanks!”

As the group began to make their way forward, Lin Xiaodie said while grinned at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun halted in his steps and glanced at Lin Xiaodie. He then lightly said, “Even if I did not make a move, you should have been able to avoid the ancient desolate beast’s pursuit, right?”

“Indeed I could, but it would have been troublesome.” Lin Xiaodie flung her long hair and smiled, “It would also have forced me to use some mystic techniques. Then it would no longer have been worth it.”

After the encounter with the ancient desolate beast, people lacked interest in killing the desolate beasts in order to obtain Empyrean Marks.

They had gone all out to kill desolate beasts, yet all they had killed were low-grade desolate beasts. On the other hand, Yi Yun had killed a super desolate beast with a single arrow. The gap between them was frustrating.

The stormy winds continued to howl. People focused on handling the desolate beasts in the storm. Under normal circumstances, they would dodge when possible. If they could not dodge, they would kill it.

As such, the group walked for two hours.

The storm became weaker. People raised their heads. Not far ahead, there was the expansive God Advent Tower. It was like a black pillar that towered over the horizon. Its wide base seemed to cover the entire horizon.

In the middle of a world of ruins, filled with storms, stood such an enormous divine tower. This scene made people distraught.

And at that moment, people could see that the surroundings of the God Advent Tower were covered in faint threads. These threads went out in all directions, disappearing into the vast storms.

People drew their breaths upon seeing this scene.

They realized that the countless threads were actually bridges!

And the bridges they had used to approach the tower were just a small number out of the numerous bridges.

Maybe, every bridge was attached to another spatial entrance. And maybe every spatial entrance had a corresponding trial.

Upon thinking of this, people marveled at the vastness of the Great Empress mystic realm.

In the presence of this ancient Great Empress, who had left a name for herself through the ages, they were indeed tiny.

“This God Advent Tower might be a magical weapon that the ancient Great Empress used when she was still alive.”

Lin Fengyue suddenly said when he looked at the God Advent Tower. People were stunned upon hearing this.

A Magical weapon?

This humongous divine tower was the ancient Great Empress’ magical weapon?

This sounded unbelievable, but it was highly possible after some careful thought!

455 - : Magical Weapon

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the participants approached the God Advent Tower, they could feel the powerful aura it emitted clearly.

As they were covered with the aura, the terrifying storm in the world became weaker, till it eventually disappeared.

When they were right in front of the God Advent Tower, the participants looked up. The top of the tower was like a sharp pin, piercing the black sky.

Seeing this scene, they felt an inexplicable pressure. It was as if the God Advent Tower exuded a demonic presence, making them feel jumpy.

“What sort of person was the ancient Great Empress… ?”

Yi Yun squinted his eyes. As he explored the Great Empress mystic realm, he got a greater understanding of the scariness of the ancient Great Empress.

For the mystic realm to have such a vast setup, it already far exceeded the power level of people like the Shentu Patriarch.

The Shentu Patriarch and the Lin family’s Grand Elders were nothing in front of the ancient Great Empress.

And such a figure had left behind very limited records in history. People only knew she had naturally terminated Yin meridians, and she became a peerless Great Empress after she joined up her terminated meridians with unfathomable strength.

No one knew anything about her, things like what she did in her life, or whether she was evil or not. People did not even know where her final resting place was. Was she murdered or did she break through the confines of this world, going into another world?

The ancient Great Empress was filled with mystery and the unknown.

Maybe, one could gain some basic insight of the Great Empress’ secrets inside the God Advent Tower?

With this in mind, Yi Yun walked down the long bridge and arrived at a small square in front of the God Advent Tower.

The square was made of black stone. When he stepped into the square, Yi Yun could feel his blood boiling faintly.

He looked at Lin Fengyue and Lin Xiaodie subconsciously. He realized that they had slightly surprised expressions. Clearly, they had the same feeling.

Yi Yun looked at the ground. The black stone was a material that he did not recognize. It was likely that even after a long time, there wouldn’t be a single mark on the rock surface despite the passage of time.

The floor tiles were as dark as ink. In the middle, there were mysterious dark red patterns. The patterns looked like blood patterns had solidified in the tiles.

It could even be made of a certain biological creature’s blood.

Yi Yun felt that the feeling of his blood boiling was most likely due to the stone. These mysterious blood patterns had resonated with the blood in his body.

“Someone is coming.”

Lin Fengyue suddenly said. Yi Yun’s heart thumped, because at that moment, he could also feel a powerful aura approaching.

He looked up and there were about a dozen people walking over from the storm.

These people were clearly older. They were aged from 27 to above 30.

And walking in front of them, there was a person Yi Yun was very familiar with, Shentu Nantian.

Yi Yun looked at Shentu Nantian and Shentu Nantian did likewise. When he saw Yi Yun, he was first surprised and shocked. Following that, his face sunk as murderous intent appeared in his eyes.

“You are still alive!?”

Shentu Nantian’s voice was cold. His gaze swept past Yi Yun and moved behind him. Behind him was the youth that came from the Shentu family clan and he had a terrible expression.

Shentu Nantian had given him the task of killing Yi Yun. But now, Yi Yun had appeared in front of the God Advent Tower completely fine.

“Trash!”

Shentu Nantian squeezed the word out from his teeth. The Shentu family clan disciple behind Yi Yun looked bitter. He felt that he was not Yi Yun’s match at all.

He could only transmit his voice, “Young Master, we were tricked by this kid. His strength is really scary. He has been playing the sucker. Back then… ”

The Shentu youth gave an account of Yi Yun’s performance, and he exaggerated it at certain points to Shentu Nantian. He also emphasized how the ancient desolate beast that nearly killed Gongsun Hong was killed by Yi Yun with one arrow.

However, after he finished speaking, Shentu Nantian only sneered, “I said you are trash, yet you don’t believe it. That Gongsun Hong is also a retard!”

“Ah?”

The Shentu youth was stunned. He did not know the meaning behind Shentu Nantian’s words.

At that moment, Shentu Nantian ignored the youth. He then looked at Yi Yun and said with a sinister voice, “You obtained 37 Empyrean Marks?”

Shentu Nantian’s words attracted the attention of everybody. At that moment, they had just passed the first trial. They naturally knew the value of Empyrean Marks, and they also knew how crazy a concept 37 Empyrean Marks meant.

“What?”

Everyone was stunned as they looked at Yi Yun in alarm. He had obtained 37 Empyrean Marks? Was that even possible?

“You used your energy eyes to find the ancient desolate beast’s weakness and you killed it with one hit! It might look simple, but the angle of the attack and the strength of the attack were all very precise. It isn’t that you are that strong. It is just that your ability just happens to be suitable for the first trial.”

“Yet some idiots think that by imitating you, they will be able to attack the ancient desolate beast’s weakness as well. In the end, they suffered, and they were fucking lucky to not have died from it.”

Shentu Nantian then turned his head to look somewhere into empty space. He said with a sneering tone, “Gongsun Hong, stop hiding. Come out!”

With Shentu Nantian’s strength, how could Gongsun Hong’s illusion technique hide him from his eyes?

The space turned volatile. Hearing Shentu Nantian’s words, Gongsun Hong felt his blood surge up. He was extremely embarrassed.

Despite his identity, he had been scolded in public as a fool, yet he had no way of refuting it.

Energy eyes? What was that?

Gongsun Hong did not know anything about Yi Yun’s energy vision, but Shentu Nantian remembered this deep down. He had stumbled because of Yi Yun’s ability. Hence, when the Shentu youth described how Yi Yun passed the trial, Shentu Nantian immediately thought about Yi Yun’s energy vision.

“You think you can depend on your energy eyes to pass the trials later on? It’s good that you were lucky to pass the first trial. This way, I can kill you with my own hands!”

Shentu Nantian said with a sinister voice. Yi Yun frowned slightly. With a wolf staring at him from behind, this feeling was naturally very uncomfortable.

As for how Yi Yun had passed the first trial, Shentu Nantian had hit the nail on the spot. Compared to Gongsun Hong, Shentu Nantian was an enemy who knew him very well. But the crux of the issue was that Shentu Nantian’s cultivation level was too high. Yi Yun was in no way Shentu Nantian’s match.

The gap between the two was extremely great. This difference gave Yi Yun no choice but to be on high alert. If Shentu Nantian seized the opportunity, he would be doomed for eternity.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s heart thumped. He turned his head and looked nearby. He saw a girl dressed in white slowly walking to the square from the storm.

The storm that could tear rocks gently blew the white-dressed girl’s clothes and hair. Her movements were like flowing water, relaxed and composed.

When the girl landed on the black stone square, her feet was not stained by the dust.

Lin Xintong!

Yi Yun’s mouth curled upwards. He smiled because he felt an inexplicable feeling of peace seeing Lin Xintong in this situation.

456 - : Enemies Meet

CKtalon  CKtalon

Even after experiencing the first trial of the Great Empress mystic realm and undergoing the long bridge and fierce storm, Lin Xintong’s clothes were still as white as snow. She still looked composed and calm.

And not far behind Lin Xintong was another youth. This youth was not very tall. As Lin Xintong was quite tall amongst women, this meant that the youth was shorter than Lin Xintong by just a bit.

The youth wore a plain grey gown. His skin was dark and his hair messy. He looked like a humble farmer.

After stepping onto the square, the swarthy youth smiled with an amiable look.

“Oh? There are only two people?”

Seeing that there was no one else behind Lin Xintong and the swarthy youth, they were surprised. According to their experience, every individual group would have 10-20 cultivators. After some people were eliminated, there would be at least half left, but now, in Lin Xintong’s group, there were only two people who reached the God Advent Tower?

“Hehe, we met a group of ancient desolate beasts that went crazy, so it was quite tragic. I only barely scraped through.”

The swarthy youth could read what was on everyone’s mind as he explained while scratching his head.

When people heard that, they were secretly horrified. Met a group of ancient desolate beast that went crazy?

The Great Empress mystic realm’s trials adjusted their difficulty according to the cultivators’ age. The desolate beasts that Lin Xintong met were clearly even more fearsome than the three eyed desolate beast. What sort of scene was a group of these terrifying existences going crazy like?

However, Lin Xintong and the swarthy youth had passed the calamity safely.

Lin Xintong was understandable as she had absolute talent. It was no surprise for her to clear the level, but who was the swarthy youth?

People began to focus on the youth. His gray gown was dirty and it was torn in certain parts, seemingly due to it being ripped open by desolate beasts. His face and arms had blood marks. His hair was also messy like an abandoned bird’s nest. His miserable appearance was on the other side of the scale to the white as snow Lin Xintong.

“This guy must have barely passed the bridge.”

“He must have had good luck… ”

Some people secretly whispered.

They found it hard to believe that a person that looked so ordinary, who would not be able to be distinguished when in a crowd, was stronger than them.

People did not wish to focus too much on the youth, so they turned towards Lin Xintong.

As a young lady with natural Yin meridians, Lin Xintong did not receive much attention in the Tian Yuan world. Despite her high talent, she only had a lifespan of 500 years. She was destined not to have a great impact in the future.

There were some large family clans that wished to enter a marriage alliance with the Lin Family clan through Lin Xintong. And they also only wanted Lin Xintong to be their family’s most talented junior’s cultivation intercourse partner.

As a girl with natural Yin meridians, even if her cultivation level was not very high, obtaining her virginity was also a good opportunity. In their eyes, that was the biggest value of Lin Xintong.

However, Matriarch Lin’s love for Lin Xintong had prevented their intentions from materialising.

However, when the marriage alliance between the Shentu family clan and the Lin family failed, and set off a major storm, Lin Xintong began to receive more and more attention from the large factions.

With the appearance of the Great Empress mystic realm, it was not entirely impossible for Lin Xintong to join up her naturally terminated meridians.

Even if the chances were slim, once Lin Xintong joined up her terminated meridians, she would became a hot figure in the Tian Yuan world. She could even result in a change of the order of affairs in the Tian Yuan world.

This was a great opportunity for the Lin family, and it was at the same time, likely to cause disaster.

For a peerless Great Empress to appear, they needed a significant amount of fate. Even if Lin Xintong joined up her naturally terminated meridians, it was actually hard to tell if the Lin family had sufficient heritage to allow Lin Xintong to mature!

If the Lin family lacked such fate, it could be destroyed as a result of Lin Xintong. It was like how the beautiful tusks of elephants resulted in their slaughtering.

The period before Lin Xintong fully matured was the most dangerous period for the Lin family. The Lin family would require a strong ally and partner to rely on.

Hence, many factions were tempted. If they could replace the Shentu family clan and ally with the Lin family, there would be several benefits.

“Yi Yun, you also arrived.”

As all the youths were focused on Lin Xintong, Lin Xintong looked at Yi Yun who was at the corner of the square. Her faint smile seemed to show her being happy for Yi Yun who managed to reach the square.

The smiling Lin Xintong looked like a blossoming flower in the sun.

Lin Xintong’s personality was naturally indifferent. She seldom spoke or smiled. Many people felt jealous of her unique attitude towards Yi Yun.

To them, Yi Yun was too lucky. He had obtained 37 Empyrean Marks in the Great Empress mystic realm, and he had also received the favor of Lin Xintong.

What allowed this bumpkin from the Backwater East to receive all this luck!?

Seeing Lin Xintong and Yi Yun’s interaction, Shentu Nantian squinted his eyes. He felt anger rise up, nearly exploding his lungs and heart.

In the Great Empress mystic realm, he couldn’t do anything to Yi Yun due to the mystic realm’s rules.

He hated this rule to the extreme at that moment. If he could freely use his powers, he could brutally kill Yi Yun and then ravage Lin Xintong without thought.

The anger from the relic trial had formed a mental demon. If he did not kill Yi Yun and fuck Lin Xintong, it was impossible for him to vent his anger.

Taking a deep breath, Shentu Nantian forced himself to not think about the traumatic experience. He hid the coveting of Lin Xintong and the hate for Yi Yun. He pretended to not know them. Instead, the swarthy youth had attracted his attention.

“Who are you? Which faction do you come from?”

There was nearly about thirty people gathered in the square. They pretty much spanned across all the factions that came to the Great Empress mystic realm.

Shentu Nantian was curious about the swarthy youth’s identity. He had noticed the other factions’ young elites’ reaction to the youth. They were surprised and amazed to see the swarthy youth. Clearly, they did not know him.

That was to say, this swarthy youth did not belong to any faction.

This situation was extremely odd.

“Hehe.”

The swarthy youth only gave a gruff smile. He ignored Shentu Nantian as if he did not hear him.

This made Shentu Nantian’s face sink. This kid had ignored him.

“Are you deaf?”

Ever since he suffered a major blow at the Lin family’s relic trial, Shentu Nantian had been oversensitive. He was prone to anger. In the Shentu family’s residence, he had repeatedly punished his servants severely just for tiny mistakes.

Now, the swarthy youth had once again provoked Shentu Nantian’s anger.

However, the swarthy youth completely ignored Shentu Nantian. He had a silly smile on his face, revealing his pearly white teeth. He gave people the impression of a silly person who was delirious.

However, how could a delirious person reach this point?

457 - : Swarthy Youth

CKtalon  CKtalon

This dark skinned youth caused people to be secretly horrified. He completely ignored Shentu Nantian and he had a mysterious background. No one could tell where he came from and how he had entered the Great Empress mystic realm.

Yi Yun also paid attention to this dark-skinned youth. He realized that the swarthy youth’s eyes would sometimes land on him intentionally and he would give off a friendly smile. This made Yi Yun feel strange. Did this youth have any relationship with him?

He tried recalling, but he did not remember meeting such a person.

“Odd… ”

Yi Yun frowned slightly but didn’t put too much thought into it.

“I heard from them that you earned 37 Empyrean Marks in the first trial.”

Lin Xintong walked over to Yi Yun with a smile. There was an inexplicable glint in her eyes. Thirty-seven Empyrean Marks were quite exaggerating indeed.

“It was just by chance.” Yi Yun shrugged, “Shentu Nantian was right. I did use my energy vision to exploit a loophole. If I used my real abilities, I would not know what sort of results I would have gotten.”

“The energy vision is also your ability. Others cannot compare to it. I only received nine Empyrean Marks.”

While Lin Xintong was speaking, Yi Yun glanced at her white wrist. Beautiful Empyrean Marks were lined neatly there like plum blossoms.

Nine…

Yi Yun touched his chin. He was very surprised because this was an impressive number.

Gongsun Hong had only obtained one!

Of course, if Yi Yun had not interfered, Gongsun Hong would have obtained one or two Empyrean Marks on the bridge. By the time he reached the God Advent Tower, he would probably have three Empyrean Marks. And that would have been the limit.

But that was only a third of Lin Xintong’s Empyrean Marks!

Lin Xintong did not use any loopholes to obtain so many Empyrean Marks. She had used her actual strength.

At that moment, the last few people who were on the bridges arrived at the square.

Everyone was gathered.

Ka Ka Ka…

At that moment, people heard a sound behind them. They looked back and saw that the countless number of bridges that were connected to the God Advent Tower were fading into the storm, disappearing from view.

In a blink of an eye, the entire God Advent Tower became a lone island in the storm.

Following that would be the second trial.

The people standing here were elites from different factions. They sized each other up with warring intentions in their expressions. They were each other’s rivals. In this trial, it was unknown how many more people would be eliminated.

Yi Yun could feel many hostile stares. He scrunched up his eyebrows. As the saying went, one isn’t afraid of being bitten by lice once there were too many, so he was no longer bothered to care.

Lin Xintong glanced at Yi Yun. Seeing Yi Yun’s reaction, a smile appeared on her face, “You are now someone quite influential.”

“I sure don’t want to be one.” Yi Yun felt helpless. Ever since the Shepherd Boy invaded the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the number of enemies he had gained increased.

At that moment, the God Advent Tower suddenly emitted a rumbling sound.

The black stone square began vibrating. The expressions of many of the geniuses changed.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A towering pillar suddenly sprang up from the black stone square.

This pillar was simply primitive. It contained a rugged air to it. When people focused on it, they were amazed. The entire pillar was studded with relics.

And one could tell from the powerful energy fluctuations emitted by the relics that they were no ordinary items.

Yi Yun was secretly amazed. Although these ancient relics were inferior to the one he had obtained from the first energy desolate beast, they won in terms of quantity. If he could obtain them…

Yi Yun could not help to have such an idea. However, this was just a random thought of his. The huge pillar was filled with runes and arrays, and it was also part of the God Advent Tower, so the energy it emanated resonated with one another. With his strength, even if he activated the Purple Crystal, it would be very difficult for him to extract the energy from the relics.

At that moment, a beam shot out from the huge pillar. It formed a door of light in the black stone square.

The door of light was about a hundred feet tall. The energy fluctuations from it gave people a sense of oppression. No one knew what was behind the door of light.

Many of the geniuses present observed it for a while before they stepped through the door of light.

They had quite a daredevil attitude.

People entered one by one, including Shentu Nantian. After he entered, the Shentu family clan’s disciples followed him.

“Let’s go in as well.” Lin Xintong said.

Behind Lin Xintong were all the disciples from the Lin family. Lin Yu did not do anything out of the norm. He knew himself. He got here due to luck.

Although Shentu Nantian had said that Yi Yun had good luck too and he had perfectly completed the first trial by using his energy vision to find a loophole, Lin Yu still did not think he had the right to mock Yi Yun.

Their combat abilities were similar, so there was no point in mocking the other. And the energy vision was Yi Yun’s ability, which he did not have!

Lin Xintong was the first to step through the door of light. Her figure flashed and she appeared to fly through like an elegant butterfly.

Yi Yun was just about to follow when he heard laughter. He turned his head slightly to see the swarthy youth from before. Yi Yun had no idea when he came beside him. He was still giggling in a silly fashion.

The swarthy youth had very thick lips. When he smiled at Yi Yun, he would reveal two rows of white teeth. If they were not in the Great Empress mystic realm, where only capable elites could reach to this point, Yi Yun would have suspected that the person beside him was mentally challenged.

“Do I know you?” Yi Yun could not help but ask.

“No… but I find you very interesting.” The swarthy youth continued his silly giggle. This answer clearly did not satisfy Yi Yun.

Since the swarthy youth was unwilling to speak, Yi Yun did not bother to give it much thought. He took in a deep breath and walked through the door of light.

At the split moment of him going through the door of light, Yi Yun felt like something swept past his body, as if his body had been scanned.

This feeling made him feel very uncomfortable.

After stepping through the door of light and looking at the surroundings, Yi Yun was there alone. The people that had entered before had all disappeared.

An entirely separate space!

The ground was empty and it was a boundless gray. There was nothing at all. The grayness seemed to have no end, and it gave him a strange sense of oppression.

Suddenly, Yi Yun heard the explosive sound of Yuan Qi. He immediately touched his interspatial ring and turned around abruptly. He had unsheathed the Blood Red Lotus!

While in the Great Empress mystic realm’s trials, there was danger at any turn. Yi Yun was already on full alert.

Yi Yun saw that behind him, there was a dimensional crack in space. A handsome man with a hideous look walked out of the spatial fissure.

And when Yi Yun saw who the man was, his expression changed.

He was… Shentu Nantian!

458 - : The Second Trial

CKtalon  CKtalon

In front of Yi Yun, Shentu Nantian slowly walked towards him. His facial expression was the sinister and ruthless one that Yi Yun was familiar with.

Every step he took was abound with murderous intent. It was extremely oppressive.

Yi Yun held his breath as he clenched the Blood Red Lotus in his hands tightly.

“Haha! You still want to struggle?” Shentu Nantian unsheathed a sword and pointed the tip right at Yi Yun’s eyes. “Yi Yun, I have been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. I have finally waited for this day. I will cripple you of your martial arts and imprison you. I’ll use the most merciless techniques in this world to torture you!”

“Oh?”

One of Yi Yun’s eyebrow ticked up. He was extremely sharp with his perception. He realized that the Shentu Nantian in front of him may be the same in terms of speech and looks to the one in his memory, but… he was lacking something. That was, he was lacking the real Shentu Nantian’s strength.

The “Shentu Nantian” in front of him may be emitting tremendous murderous intent and aura, but his strength could be barely estimated by Yi Yun. He was much weaker than real Shentu Nantian.

This was just an illusion?

This thought flashed past Yi Yun’s mind. He opened his energy vision and with that, he realized that the person in front of him wasn’t human, he was a figure of light formed completely from energy.

“So this is the second trial’s test.”

The Great Empress mystic realm did not have memory of Shentu Nantian, so the only explanation was that the Great Empress mystic realm had used Yi Yun’s memories to form a phantom image of Shentu Nantian.

The person who appeared in this trial was the cultivator’s mental demon!

Although Shentu Nantian was not considered to be a mental demon of Yi Yun, Yi Yun had to admit that back in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, everything that Shentu Nantian did to Jiang Xiaorou and to him made him feel tremendous hate for Shentu Nantian. Back then, he had sworn to kill Shentu Nantian.

And Shentu Nantian’s continuous threats of crippling Yi Yun’s cultivation and imprisoning him to torture him was quite a terrifying matter.

In the energy vision, the phantom Shentu Nantian had no weaknesses. Yi Yun could not use any tricks because this was a battle based on actual skill.

Yi Yun did not know the profoundness of the Great Empress mystic realm. He was not sure if it could display a portion of Shentu Nantian’s real strength. If it could, Yi Yun wanted to see what skills Shentu Nantian had.

At that moment, the phantom Shentu Nantian gave off a sinister smile. And the next moment, he disappeared.

His was extremely fast. He stabbed with his sword right at Yi Yun’s dantian!

Shentu Nantian’s attack contained a vibrative power. Once he successfully stabbed, Yi Yun’s dantian would definitely explode. One strike would cripple his cultivation.

Danger!

Yi Yun did not know what would happen in real life if his cultivation was crippled in the illusion. He did not dare take the risk. He treated this illusion realm’s battle as a real fight with Shentu Nantian. Besides, his opponent’s strength far exceeded his. This meant that he could not go easy at all.

“Boom!”

Behind Yi Yun, Radiant Sun Qi exploded, forming the Tang Valley’s phantom image. Radiant Sun Qi was injected into the Blood Red Lotus in his hand!

The Blood Red Lotus had tasted the blood of countless numbers of people, so it emitted a thick blood Qi to it. Blood was in itself a Yang-elemental object, so this blood Qi mixed with the pure Yang Qi only complemented one another.

Slashing his saber, a red wave appeared. In the gray space, a blood Sun appeared out of nowhere!

“Chi La!”

Shentu Nantian’s sword beam was torn apart. The red saber beam from Yi Yun did not lose its momentum. It pierced straight into Shentu Nantian’s body.

Saber Truth’s 32 Words – Killing At Its Core!

After a long period of training, Yi Yun’s had achieved mastery in the insight gained from the saber tomb. It was perfectly harmonious with his martial Dao.

Besides, using Killing At Its Core with the Blood Red Lotus made the attack even more powerful with the Blood Red Lotus’s killing intent’s support.

Saber beams flashed wantonly as Shentu Nantian’s body was slashed. No blood flowed out from his wounds, but replacing blood were numerous Yuan Qi light dots.

Shentu Nantian’s body was thrown backward by a few hundred feet. Even though his body had been penetrated by the saber beam, he still seemed fine.

“Wo! Wo! Wo!”

Heaven Earth Yuan Qi gathered from Shentu Nantian’s surroundings, flowing straight into his body.

With the energy restoring him, Shentu Nantian’s wounds quickly recovered. He looked at Yi Yun with a cold and sinister smile.

“Yi Yun, your attack was too weak. You are destined to die!”

Shentu Nantian walked towards Yi Yun with his sword in hand. The expression and words made Yi Yun have an impression that the person in front of him was the real Shentu Nantian.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and touched his interspatial ring with one hand. An azure sword appeared in Yi Yun’s hand. It was… Shentu Nantian’s sword!

Seeing this sword, Shentu Nantian’s expression changed as his killing intent grew more intense!

“That’s my sword!”

Shentu Nantian said deeply as if he was provoked.

Seeing Shentu Nantian’s expression, Yi Yun was secretly alarmed. Everything in the illusion realm was too realistic.

…

As Yi Yun was having a life and death battle with Shentu Nantian in the illusion realm. In another door of light, Shentu Nantian was also undergoing his own test.

He was in a similar independent space. It was also a boundless gray land.

However, in this test, the scene was completely different.

Standing in front of Shentu Nantian was a youth dressed in azure clothes. He was holding an azure sword in his hands, with a mocking smile on his face.

This youth had the looks of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was Shentu Nantian’s nightmare!

“That’s my sword!”

Shentu Nantian’s eyes were blood red. Even though he knew it was a test in an illusion realm, he could not suppress the anger in his heart when he saw Yi Yun attacking him with a sword that previously belonged to him.

“So what if it’s your sword? It is mine now.” An evil curl appeared by the corners of Yi Yun’s mouth. He flicked the sword’s shaft lightly, issuing a “Weng” sound. It sounded like a dragon’s roar.

“This sword is not bad. I will use your sword to stab you in the heart. But… killing you just like that would be too easy on you. Before that, I will slowly torture you. Just like after the relic trial in the Lin family’s dungeon. However, back then, I needed to use a trash like you to exchange for the Great Empress mystic realm’s information, so I only beat you up brutally and fed you a bit of the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill. I was too easy on you…”

“The next time, I will cut all your body’s meridians and let you have a taste of death by dismembering and destroy your heart.”

“To think a trash like you wants to kill my sister and make her into an elixir? My sister is the Desolate race’s royal family’s Successor. Why didn’t you piss a pool of water to see what you look like? You are ridiculous!”

“And you wanted to marry Lin Xintong? Lin Xintong is a proud daughter of Heaven and would be a peerless Great Empress in the future. As for you, after you were partially crippled by me, you were picked up by the Shentu family clan like a piece of trash. Do you think you are worthy as a worthless dog? You are a toad lusting after a swan’s flesh! Lin Xintong will eventually be mine. Her pure Yin body’s primordial Yin will also belong to me. Hahahaha!”

Yi Yun’s recklessly laughed and his face was full of mockery. He looked at Shentu Nantian as if he was a previously vanquished opponent. This gaze of his pierced through Shentu Nantian, making him feel pain. With his high stature, he had been fucked so badly by a bumpkin from the Backwater East.

Shentu Nantian’s face twitched as veins began protruding on his forehead one by one. Even if whatever the Yi Yun in front of him said was actually his own imagination, he was now completely lost in the illusion. He had fallen in too deep.

The Great Empress mystic realm’s illusion realm was mysterious in every aspect. Just a slight loss of focus would result in people forgetting that they were in an illusion. They would succumb to their mental demons, thinking that it was reality.

“Die!”

Shentu Nantian roared loudly with his eyes red. Behind him, auspicious looking light of all colors condensed behind him.

These rainbow-colored lights condensed into phantom images. There was a lush grassland with a spirit tree growing on it. A spring then appeared in front of the spirit tree.

And beside the spring, a figure wearing a green gown appeared. He looked like a scholar.

This was Shentu Nantian’s Aspect Totem. It was called Transcendent Immortal Paradise!

Back at the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven technique tea session, Shentu Nantian had conjured his Aspect Totem at the critical moment when he was displaying his ancient Desolate Heaven technique.

Back then, the scholar dressed in green held a folding fan. He was reciting poems and drawing pictures in that immortal paradise. He looked like a successful scholar who had accomplished a lot at a young age.

But this time, he looked completely different. The scholar’s face was full of sinisterness and hideousness. His body was covered in black gas. It did not match the immortal paradise around him!

This was no scholar, it was a ferocious ghost that had possessed the scholar!

Yi Yun was Shentu Nantian’s mental demon. The experiences in the Lin family’s dungeon was the greatest ridicule Shentu Nantian had ever experienced in his life!

Shentu Nantian could hardly maintain his clearness of mind in an illusion with Yi Yun. As such, his Aspect Totem had also changed!

459 - : The Battle Across Spatial Dimensions

CKtalon  CKtalon

The second trial of the Great Empress mystic realm was not only a test of one’s strength, but it was also a test of one’s mental demons.

A warrior’s martial life could be as long as a thousand years or even a hundred thousand years. Countless numbers of things could happen during this period. And they would tend to form mental demons of all sizes.

Even a venerable monk would have a mental demon. For example, in the past, the 18 Emperor Arhats from the Daming Temple that had prevailed for a long time in the Tian Yuan world had mental demons as well.

A few disciples survived the destruction of the Daming Temple and the siege of countless Buddhist followers were. However, due to the bloody massacre, they also had mental demons deeply implanted.

The higher a warrior’s cultivation level was, the stronger his mental demons were. The more obsessive and persistent the warrior was, the more stubborn the mental demons would be.

When warriors were about to breakthrough in their martial arts realms, or undergoing reclusive death training, if their mental demons raged, it could result in them suffering a cultivation deviation. The consequences were extremely serious.

Shentu Nantian was one of the many cultivators, who had participated in the Great Empress mystic realm, with the most serious mental demons. The Yi Yun formed from his mental demons was too strong!

“Boom!”

In the illusion realm, phantom Yi Yun was armed with a sword, slashing at Shentu Nantian’s Transcendent Immortal Paradise!

Sword Qi flared as beams of light rained down.

This Transcendent Immortal Paradise was not only Shentu Nantian’s Aspect Totem, it was also a domain of Shentu Nantian. As long as his Transcendent Immortal Paradise was not destroyed, he would receive an increase in strength inside it. He was the master of that domain.

However, the phantom Yi Yun’s simple slash of the sword caused a crack to form in Shentu Nantian’s Transcendent Immortal Paradise.

“Kill!”

Shentu Nantian roared loudly as he arrived in front of phantom Yi Yun. He stabbed with his sword that was burning with a purple flame. This was no ordinary flame, it was a mutated fire that came from a different world!

The veins on Shentu Nantian’s face protruded violently as murderous intent flared.

He had completely treated the illusion in front of him as the real Yi Yun. He could not wait to kill him to receive satisfaction!

…

…

Bam!

Outside the door of light, in the black stoned square in front of the God Advent Tower, a youth was suddenly ejected.

When he first came out, he was still yelling while brandishing his weapon. But soon, he regained clarity of mind. He realized he had returned to the black stoned square.

The youth was covered in sweat. After feeling a sense of loss, a look of indignation and disappointment appeared on his face.

He had been eliminated.

And looking at his surroundings, there was no one else. He was the first to be eliminated.

Thinking back to his experience in the God Advent Tower, it was completely unbearable. He had relived a most horrible event in his childhood. It was his worst nightmare.

And in the God Advent Tower, it had been perfectly restored. He mistakenly believed that he had returned to his childhood and he was suffering that horrible event once again.

There was no other way. It was too difficult for him to conquer his mental demons.

It was quite a setback for him to be eliminated first.

At that moment, the door of light stirred, and another figure was ejected.

The youth quickly focused and realized that the person who had been eliminated right after him was the idiotic swarthy youth from before.

Sensing another person’s gaze, the swarthy youth turned his head around and gave the other youth a fatuous smile.

The youth suddenly felt vexed. This swarthy youth did not feel any embarrassment or indignation from being eliminated early. His happy look made the youth speechless.

It was probably as what the dark-skinned kid said from before, he had passed the bridge due to luck.

Since he had relied on luck, he was probably satisfied that he managed to last a while.

However, seeing this swarthy youth’s relaxed look, he did not look like he had been in a big battle. He had probably not even spent an additional ounce of strength to last a little bit longer. He had actually lost to such a person…

Following that, more and more people were ejected from the door of light. A majority of people were still frantically brandishing their weapons when they were ejected. It was only after a while before they regained clarity of mind. With a pale face, they revealed regret or fear on their faces.

The Great Empress mystic realm was too strange. The things it conjured were the things that they feared most or the people they hated greatly. If they were not careful, they would succumb to the illusion and find it difficult to extricate themselves.

At that moment, Lin Yu was ejected from the door of light. His body was covered in sweat and his legs were weak. But after he came out, he immediately surveyed his surroundings.

Seeing that nearly half of the elites had been ejected, Lin Yu felt relieved.

He had been desperately struggling to achieve better results at this test. Now, it appeared that his efforts were not in vain.

But at that moment, Lin Yu suddenly discovered that Yi Yun was not amongst the people who had been ejected. Lin Yu, who was just feeling relaxed, suddenly felt terrible.

Lin Yu found an empty spot to sit down with a gloomy face.

People were ejected from the door of light one after another. About five minutes later, Yi Yun was also ejected.

“Oh?” Yi Yun immediately recovered the moment he appeared on the square.

When he was engaging in battle with Shentu Nantian in the illusion, he had gone all out, but Shentu Nantian’s strength kept rising. He did not appear to have his Yuan Qi depleted at all.

But due to Yi Yun’s calm mind, and his energy vision, he was never influenced by the illusion realm. He was not like the other elites who were attacking desperately. He calmly handled his battle, searching for Shentu Nantian’s weakness before attacking.

This way, Yi Yun felt that he had pushed himself to his limits in the battle.

But even so, when Shentu Nantian’s strength rose to a certain level, Yi Yun was still defeated, and he was subsequently ejected from the door of light.

Yi Yun knew that what the Great Empress mystic realm conjured was not the real Shentu Nantian. Shentu Nantian was even stronger than his phantom.

This made Yi Yun feel a greater sense of caution.

In the Great Empress mystic realm, the threat that Shentu Nantian imposed on him was too great.

“This kid.” Lin Yu gave a complicated glance at Yi Yun. The hope of impressing Matriarch Lin at this Great Empress mystic realm’s trial was completely dashed.

There should have been no luck component to this test, yet he had lasted shorter than Yi Yun.

Yi Yun noticed that several gazes swept across his body. One of them was the swarthy youth who stared intently at him.

He looked over, but the swarthy youth did not conceal it. He carried on staring at him and revealed a somewhat silly smile.

“Weirdo… ” Yi Yun could only give the dark-skinned youth such a title.

Immediately following Yi Yun, Lin Xiaodie and Lin Fengyue were respectively ejected from the door of light.

Although Lin Xiaodie was sweating profusely when she was ejected, there was still a smile on her face. Lin Fengyue’s eyebrows were knitted together, as if he was not satisfied with his performance.

Almost at the same time, the youth with the bag behind his back and Panther Lady were ejected. The two looked at each other. Panther Lady gave a cold grunt before walking to a corner while licking her lips.

At that moment, there were only a few people still in the door of light. They included Gongsun Hong, Lin Xintong and Shentu Nantian!

“I wonder who will last till the end.”

“It will definitely be our Young Master Nantian.” A youth from the Shentu family clan said proudly.

460 - : The Battle of the Mental Demons

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Shentu family clan disciples had absolute confidence in Shentu Nantian. Seeing that more than 90% had been eliminated, and the fact that Shentu Nantian still remained unseen, made them even more confident.

At that moment, the door of light flashed again. Another person was ejected and fell to the ground before rolling a few times.

Using his sword as a support, he stood up. His expression was grim and full of murderous intent. It was as if he was about to attack once again.

That person was… Gongsun Hong!

“Oh? This is…”

Gongsun Hong did not realize it immediately when he was ejected out onto the black stoned square. Only when he saw that there were many people staring at him, and especially when the young elites from the Li Fire Sect rushed up to congratulate him, did he realize where he was.

“Haha, Junior brother Hong is indeed mighty. You manage to last till now before coming out.”

“He is our Li Fire Sect’s triennial number one martial artist after all!”

The Li Fire Sect geniuses’ congratulations made Gongsun Hong slightly hesitate, but he instantly came around.

Inspecting his surroundings, Gongsun Hong realized that a large majority of people had been eliminated before him.

“So I actually lasted for a long time.”

Although Gongsun Hong did not reveal it on his face, he was actually very satisfied with his performance. It looked like he did a remarkable job at this test!

This was what should be considered normal.

Gongsun Hong had always had full confidence in his talent. However, he had received numerous setbacks ever since he came to the Great Empress mystic realm. He even began to have doubts whether he really was a top genius or not.

And finally, the results he obtained in this test finally gave him confidence.

Gongsun Hong observed his surroundings and spotted Yi Yun amongst the crowd.

After seeing Yi Yun, Gongsun Hong heaved a sigh of relief. He could not help it as the corners of his mouth curled upwards, revealing a mocking and complacent smile.

He was just unlucky in the first trial.

In the second trial, when it was a test of real skill, a person like Yi Yun revealed his flaws. And in comparison, he had been exceptional.

At that moment, the door of light flashed again as a few more people were ejected. Amongst these people Yi Yun saw a person, Shentu Ya.

This thin youth had left a deep impression on Yi Yun. His eyes constantly emitted a feeling of ruthlessness.

These people had lasted a long time, so the moment they appeared, the disciples from their own factions came forward to give them their congratulations.

Up to now, in the Great Empress mystic realm’s second trial, about 30 minutes had passed since the first person was eliminated.

And that person had only lasted less than 15 minutes inside the trial. That was to say, the people who had yet to come out had lasted nearly three times that of the first person to be eliminated.

The longer it was, the more it made people anticipate.

The people from the Shentu family clan, especially the followers of Shentu Nantian were beaming with pride. The fact that there was no sign of Shentu Nantian meant that their future big brother would be even more powerful. As a result, they would also receive even more benefits.

“There’s only Shentu Nantian and Lin Xintong left.”

Someone suddenly said. After everyone surveyed the surroundings, they realized it was indeed the case.

Yet another 15 minutes passed. Up to now, the second trial had been going on for an hour.

Shentu Nantian and Lin Xintong were still inside the door of light.

People looked at each other as they were amazed. They were still not out after such a long period of time?

They had experienced the trial of the mental demons. As time passed, the mental demon would become even stronger. It was hard to imagine how strong the mental demons Shentu Nantian and Lin Xintong were facing after such a long period of time.

“They’re actually lasting for such a long time…”

In the corner of the square, Yi Yun touched his chin. He did not know what Lin Xintong’s mental demons were. As for the mental demon Shentu Nantian was facing, could it be himself…?

In the door of light, he had battled against Shentu Nantian, while Shentu Nantian could have fought with him.

This scenario made Yi Yun have an odd feeling.

And at that moment, the door of light flashed. Shentu Nantian was the first one to be ejected out of the final two people.

“Big brother Nantian!”

Shentu Nantian’s followers were quick to react. They rushed up to receive Shentu Nantian.

It was impressive for him to have lasted for an hour! There was no idea to how many rewards he would receive!

However, when they saw Shentu Nantian’s appearance, they were dumbfounded…

They saw Shentu Nantian slam heavily into the ground. His face was completely black and his body was stiff. His hair was disheveled and there was a layer of ice crystals on his hair. Blood was pouring out of his nostrils and ears.

Seeing this scene, they found it hard to imagine what Shentu Nantian had experienced in the door of light.

Those followers were momentarily at a loss at what to do. Shentu Nantian rolled his body as he sprawled on the ground and began retching.

However, after retching for a long time, nothing came out.

The few followers were watching on dumbfoundedly. They did not speak a word. Shentu Nantian’s present appearance was too different from his glorious return in their imaginations. He was even inferior to Gongsun Hong. Even that rascal Yi Yun, he may not have lasted very long, but when he was ejected from the door of light, he still looked very decent.

“Big brother Nantian, are you alright?”

A lackey quickly took out a pill from his interspatial ring, hoping to feed it to Shentu Nantian.

This lackey happened to be the Shentu youth who was constantly thinking of killing Yi Yun when he was grouped together with him in the first trial.

He was most attentive to Shentu Nantian. He was absolutely obedient.

However, when Shentu Nantian saw the Shentu youth hand over a pill to him, his eyes immediately turned red.

Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill!

In the second trial, he was eventually captured by Yi Yun, and had then been fed more than ten Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pills!

That horrible experience had assaulted Shentu Nantian’s vision, making him still immersed in his mental demons. His mind was still not clear.

The present Shentu Nantian was very close to suffering a cultivation deviation.

Want to feed me a pill again!?

Shentu Nantian suddenly roared and punched the Shentu youth in his abdomen. With a terrible cry, the Shentu youth spat out a mouthful of blood as he flew out like a kite with a broken thread.

However, after Shentu Nantian made his attack, a ray of light shot down from the Great Empress mystic realm. This ray of light enveloped Shentu Nantian’s body completely, restricting his entire body.

This was a result from the mystic realm’s rules. No one was to attack another, or else they would be restrained and temporarily have their strength constrained.

In fact, already when Shentu Nantian was punching out, his strength had been quickly constrained. If not, with his strength, the 16+ year-old youth would have been killed by Shentu Nantian’s single punch.

“Ah!”

With his entire body restrained, that ray of light tightened Shentu Nantian’s flesh. With a deep snort, Shentu Nantian crashed to the ground.

The surrounding lackeys were stunned. They never expected to see such a scene.

They quickly backed away, keeping their distance away from Shentu Nantian. They allowed Shentu Nantian to struggle under the punishment for violating the mystic realm’s rules.

Only after a while did Shentu Nantian slowly regain clarity of his surroundings.

He realized that he had returned to the black stoned square.

Shentu Nantian had a solid foundation. However, in the second trial, his soul had received a backlash due to his mental demons, due to them being too strong. He was unable to extricate himself from it, but once he came out of the illusion realm, he quickly regained control of himself.

All the experiences he had, was just a test…

Thankfully it was just a test.

Shentu Nantian heaved a sigh of relief. His forehead and back were dripping with cold sweat.

In the illusion realm, the experiences he suffered seemed extremely real. It was just like the real thing. He had been inhumanely tortured again and again. Whatever he feared the most would happen even more often.

Seeing that Shentu Nantian had returned to normal, the surrounding lackeys dared to come forward, “Big brother Nantian, are you alright…?”

“Big brother Nantian, you managed to last the second longest amongst everyone. It’s so amazing!”

He lasted long?

It was indeed very long. Nearing the end, he had been chained up by Yi Yun, and then started a long period of devastation and torture.

Just thinking about it almost made Shentu Nantian go crazy.

After he was fed more than ten Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pills, his dantian was destroyed. Then, all of his meridians were smashed to pieces and his flesh was then carved up. Finally, the eggs of heart dismembering worms were sprinkled into his wounds, as he underwent the torture of having his heart dismembered.

Finally, he was castrated by Yi Yun.

He suffered so much torture before, in the end, he died unwillingly.

And when he died, he was finally ejected out of the illusion realm. And that was the end of his second trial.

To Shentu Nantian, everything that happened in the mental demon realm was absolutely real. Such torture could push a person past the brink of mental collapse if his cultivation was lacking.

461 - : Inhumane Torture

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shentu Nantian had come out. Although his situation seemed to be the worst amongst all the participants, his results should be not bad with him lasting so long, right…

Many people had such thoughts, but up to now, the Great Empress mystic realm did not provide the results of evaluation.

After another 15 minutes, Shentu Nantian’s punishment from the mystic realm slowly disappeared. At that moment, the Shentu youth who spat out a huge mouthful of blood due to Shentu Nantian’s punch, ran over to Shentu Nantian attentively. He helped Shentu Nantian heal, but this time, he did not dare hand a pill to him, in case Shentu Nantian mistook the pill for a Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill.

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun sighed. The henchman sure was doing a good job.

But… Yi Yun turned his head to look at the huge crystalline relic pillar. Why hasn’t Lin Xintong come out yet?

It was already more than an hour. The time she had already spent in the second trial was five times longer than the person who spent the shortest time.

Many people could not help but discuss in whispers. Some people suspected Lin Xintong had an accident inside.

…

At that moment, in the door of light…

There was a lush green forest. Lin Xintong was lying on the grass in the forest. Her white dress was spread across the grass like a blooming white rose.

Unlike many others, Lin Xintong did not encounter any enemies when she entered the door of light. She seemed to be having a long dream.

In the dream, she returned to her childhood days. She withstood the exclusion and mockery of her cousins and the indifference from her uncles and aunts.

Even so, she persisted with her beliefs. She swore to find a way to join up her meridians.

She cultivated nonstop as she continuously matured. She did not miss out on any hope. She explored the Great Empress mystic realm. In the mystic realm, she underwent numerous trials, and just as she was about to gain the recognition of the Great Empress, she failed at the last hurdle!

The chance for her to join up her terminated meridians was like missing a golden opportunity at an arm’s length.

And after that, she tried again and again, but she failed all of them.

With the passage of time, 500 years passed as she ushered in the last moments of her life.

500 years passed by in a flash. Her peerless elegance and talent was about to wither.

With naturally terminated meridians, Yin Qi entered her body, as her life flickered like a candle in the wind. Just as she was experiencing death, for some unknown reason, she suddenly woke up. Only then did she realize that whatever that had just happened was a dream…

She was still 18+ years old. Whatever she had just experienced may seem absolutely real. It was like a life she would live in the future, however, it was a dream after all.

She opened her eyes and she was surprised to discover a youth standing in front of her with a smile.

That youth was handsome and he had deep eyes. He gave off a temperament that was neither good nor evil. It just gave her a strange feeling when she looked at him.

“… Because of this, I had an idea that might sound like a joke. I want to join up your naturally terminated meridians… ”

The youth said. His voice was bordering on illusion and reality as it entered Lin Xintong’s ears.

“Yi Yun… It’s you… ”

Lin Xintong’s mouth lightly moved. This name seemed to be buried deep in her memories. It was so deep that she nearly could not remember it.

She tried hard to recall before remembering the time in the Cloud Wilderness, deep in the Desolate Human Valley. Under the bright moon, the youth dressed in linen clothes said to her with an extremely serious gaze, using his somewhat childish voice to make a promise…

Even back then, he was just an ordinary youth from the vast wilderness. He was so ordinary that with what he knew, he could not understand the heaven and earth difference between the two of them…

Lin Xintong’s mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts. Many scenes from the past flashed past her eyes. In a blink of an eye, she recalled the celebration party held in the Lin family. Under the lights, the youth had seriously said the words he had previously said to her…

His promise was also her belief.

“Your fate, I will fight for it for you…”

The youth opened his mouth again. This voice pulled Lin Xintong back to reality. She saw that the youth was holding a metallic box in his hands. Dusty runic lines were engraved on the metallic box.

He took an ancient scroll out of the metallic box. It looked so ancient that it did not seem to belong to this space-time dimension.

“This is the ancient recipe to join up your naturally terminated meridians. I found it!”

The youth said, his voice with a hint of excitement and agitation.

“Found it?”

Lin Xintong felt a light sense of relief. Her heart was overjoyed, but… she could faintly feel that something seemed wrong. However, the thirst of joining up her naturally terminated meridians made her miss the incongruous spots.

Together with the youth, she searched for the materials in the ancient recipe. They traveled across mountains and lands, into the lakes and seas. They entered deep into mystic lands that few people tread. It even included the God Burial Abyss and the Untraversable Sea, lands of no return…

Finally, they found all the materials and refined the ancient relic that could join up her terminated meridians.

After she ate it, her pure Yin body could not handle the intensity of the energy as her body ached.

She experienced the torturous pain for seven days and seven nights. She thought that she was going to die, and at the final moment, the youth hugged her.

There was the purest and richest pure Yang Qi inside the youth’s body. It was like the Sun.

Her body was covered in sweat and she was no longer clear headed. In this situation, she and him complemented Yin and Yang. Following that, her body’s chaotic Yin and Yang energy inexplicably reached a wonderful balance. As a result, her meridians were completely opened up.

She had obtained the power she had always dreamed of. From then on, she traveled the world with him, cultivating to great success.

Even later on, they left the continental land of the Tian Yuan world, and reached an even broader world. They became the strongest existences in this world again, becoming gods, having the same age as the universe.

She did not know for how many years she was immersed in this illusion. After she experienced countless joys and sorrows, she suddenly awoke at a certain moment.

She opened her eyes and she was surprised to find herself lying on a black square.

It had been too long, which resulted in her needing to take a long while to recall this square. After she experienced the first trial, and crossed the stormy bridges, she had arrived at this square.

On this black stoned square, she began her second trial.

Yes, I underwent the trials of the Great Empress mystic realm. This is the opportunity for me to use my own strength to obtain the Great Empress’ heritage and join up my terminated meridians…

She looked around and there were many people already gathered on the square. They were all looking at her with astonishment…

Amongst them was the youth that had appeared in her dream…

Recalling everything from the dream from before, a strange feeling arose in her heart.

It was just a dream…

Lin Xintong shook her head. Dreams had to end…

Lin Xintong supported her body as she tried to stand up, but at that moment, a cold voice seemed to suddenly ring in her ears…

“Dreams, may never end… ”

“Peng!”

With the sound of glass shattering, the scene in front of Lin Xintong’s eyes, the black stoned square, the astonished crowd and that youth shattered. They turned into countless fragments before disappearing. And Lin Xintong found herself lying in a forest.

She was lying on the grass in the forest. Her white dress was spread out across the grass like a blooming white rose.

But her black hair had turned white just like her dress as a result of the Yin Qi entering her body.

Her white hair spread out, becoming part of the white rose.

She closed her eyes, with her eyelashes slightly trembling. Each distinct eyelash formed a layer of crystalline ice.

Her skin also became somewhat like crystal. Her fingers had completely become transparent like crystal.

Cold, too cold…

She could feel the biting cold. This cold came from her meridians, spreading throughout her body, finally turning into crystalline ice as it continued to spread.

She felt that she was about to die. The natural Yin meridians from her body produced frost Yin Qi which would eventually devour her body.

So, I never woke up…

To travel the world hand in hand with him, having the same ages as the moons and suns, all of them was just an illusion formed at the end of my life, just before I died…

Including the Great Empress mystic realm, it was also a dream…

It could even be possible that approaching the time of my death itself was a dream?

Then will I “wake” up from that dream? After I “wake” up, will it still be a dream?

When is it a dream, and when is it reality?

Will the layers of dreams in a dream continue on all the way… Will I be lost inside them, forever unable to wake up?

The crystalline ice gradually covered Lin Xintong’s body. The beauty from it made it hard for anyone to wish to desecrate it, but at the same time, it had an eerie sense of silence.

This silence was completely out of place from the surrounding lush and vibrant forest…

462 - : Dream Within a Dream

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, Lin Xintong had nearly turned into a beautiful lifeless ice sculpture. Below her body, there was a patch of green gas that was being affected by the Yin frost Qi. It turned into crystalline ice, and it was shattering from the cold.

With the last bit of her strength, she slowly moved her hands that no longer had any feeling with great difficulty. Her slender fingertips were covered in crystals as she gently picked an ice flower up.

Such a ordinary but beautiful nameless flower had been implicated by her, resulting in certain death…

A teardrop fell from the corner of her eyes and it quickly froze into a ice crystal. Then it fell onto the grass.

Sound became even more distant as the scene in front of her seemed to blur.

She knew that she was reaching the end of her life…

At the moment of near death, countless numbers of scenes flashed past in her mind before finally stopping on the youth’s determined and slightly childlike face.

Thinking back on her 500-year-old life, she had spent all her life working hard to extend it, but all she got was failure…

Maybe, the events of her holding his hand to travel the world were the most beautiful memories in her entire life.

However, with the most beautiful memories from a dream, that was probably a type of tragedy.

But what could she do?

Beauty was usually not something one needed to explore if it was reality or an illusion.

Thus, if she explored it deeply, many of the beautiful events would end up bursting like a bubble.

She laughed. Maybe, at the last moment of her life, that smile would be frozen for eternity…

In the haze, she heard a sound in her ears. She tried hard to open her eyes, but her surroundings were a blur. However, far into the distance, under a huge green tree, there was a white figure.

Sunlight pierced through the leaves as it scattered downwards, landing on the grass like gold fragments, while the grass was dotted with leaf shadows…

The figure looked like a woman. She was strolling in the woods, like she was walking along the river of time. Although she did not seem far away from Lin Xintong, they actually belonged in different space-time dimensions.

She looked at her, but no matter how wide she opened her eyes, the person’s face was a blur. Only her tall and excellent figure left an exceptionally clear image on Lin Xintong’s retina.

“You are… ”

Seeing that person, her heart that had been frozen began beating once again. Her blood began flowing once again.

She had a feeling that she had a blood connection to that figure, as if she knew her from a previous life.

Could she be… the ancient Great Empress?

This thought flashed past Lin Xintong’s mind. It was a strange idea, but she did not know why she was so sure about it.

But at that moment, the elegant figure slowly walked towards her. She gradually walked all the way till she was right in front of Lin Xintong…

The figure stretched out her hand. Her fingers were light to the touch as she tapped lightly on Lin Xintong’s forehead.

“Obsession is the path to dreams, but it is also the source of pain.”

“Maybe you can inherit my will to carry on down that path, completing the mission I did not… ”

The cold voice rang in Lin Xintong’s mind. Was this the ancient Great Empress’s voice transmission?

Following that, with a shattering sound, the sound of crystal shattering, the ice crystals on Lin Xintong’s body completely shattered. The world she was immersed in also began falling apart. The forest, grass, ice flowers slowly disappeared…

…

Lin Xintong suddenly felt her body jolt as she woke up.

This jolt was a feeling she often experienced as a child. Back then, she had yet to begin practicing martial arts. As she was born in the Lin family, and was experiencing the pressure from having naturally terminated meridians, she never could sleep well. She would often fall into sleep and then jolt awake.

Was she having nightmares again?

Lin Xintong opened her eyes as her vision gradually become clear. The first thing she saw was the gray sky of the Great Empress mystic realm.

She reached out and touched the ground beneath her body. It was cold but rough black stone. It had a faint feeling of blood Qi, and it was very real to the touch.

Many people crowded around her. They were looking at her with amazement and shock.

Some of these people were familiar to Lin Xintong. She recalled… that they were the cultivators who had entered the Great Empress mystic realm with her.

This is the Great Empress mystic realm trial…

Lin Xintong remembered once again. She searched the crowd and finally found the youth in azure clothes not far away.

His nose bridge was high, and the corners of his mouth curved upwards. His dark but slightly unkempt hair covered a portion of his eyes, but it could not hide his bright eyes.

His eyes were too clear. In the clearness, there was a faint tinge of slyness.

It was the pair of eyes she was familiar with. It was very familiar in her dreams.

He was smiling at her, and it was from genuine delight.

“You finally came out. Do you know how long you were in there?” The youth transmitted with Yuan Qi as it sounded in Lin Xintong’s ears.

Of course Lin Xintong did not know, but she did not shake her head. She was looking at the youth in front of her seriously. She was not at all concerned with the answer to the youth’s question.

What she was concerned with was whether this world was real. This was because every time she woke up, the world would be extremely real, but in the end, it was all a dream.

This time… it can’t be a dream again, right?

“It has been four hours.”

Yi Yun said. Other than Lin Xintong, Shentu Nantian had spent the longest amount of time at one hour. The next three hours were spent waiting for Lin Xintong, but no matter how long they waited, she did not come out until now. This was the reason why everyone was shocked when they saw Lin Xintong appear.

However, what may seem like an extremely long period of time sounded incredibly short to Lin Xintong.

Just 4 hours?

In the dream, she probably had experienced more than 20 million years…

Lin Xintong stood up and glanced back. The door of light had already closed. As for the metallic pillar that was filled with crystalline relics, it was still sparkling.

At that moment, people looked at Lin Xintong with a strange light. They did not know how many Empyrean Marks she would obtain after spending such a long time in the trial.

Was it time to inform them of their individual results?

As this thought appeared in people’s minds, the pillar sent a blinding flash out suddenly. A golden light dome shot out of the pillar as it spread out rapidly, coming straight at everyone.

“Peng Peng Peng!”

There were continuous explosive sounds as many cultivators were sent flying by the light dome.

However, nothing happened to many cultivators when they were hit by the light dome. They felt like a wind had blown across them. The force had made them retreat a few steps, as the golden light dome carried on moving across.

“What’s the matter!? It hurts!”

A small number of the cultivators on the black stoned square were sent flying as they slammed to the ground. Their bodies hurt greatly. The feeling of the light dome hitting their bodies felt no different from being hit by a desolate beast.

When they got up, they saw that the light dome was enclosing the rest of the cultivators like a huge bowl. And the others had been isolated outside the light dome.

Seeing this scene, they were dumbfounded.

They quickly realized that they had been eliminated…

Only the people in the light dome had passed the trial.

Looking around, many of them were the first to be ejected by the door of light. It seemed like those who lasted longer in the door of light had a higher chance of passing.

But this was not right, because in the light dome, there was a thin, black figure. He was not very tall and he looked extremely normal. He looked like a mud monkey.

“It’s that dark-skinned kid!”

“He passed too?”

Many people felt speechless. The swarthy youth was the second person to be ejected by the door of light, but why did he pass? What was the reason?

Many people were unhappy. The swarthy youth seemed to feel the indignant feelings that these people had as he turned his head around and gave them a silly smile.

With him smiling, it made the rejected cultivators even angrier.

He could pass the trial with his bearing, for crying out loud!

A silly fellow like him was actually stronger than them?

People found it unacceptable.

Amongst the people who had been eliminated was Lin Yu.

Being isolated outside the light dome, Lin Yu was feeling depressed. He sat on the black stoned square as he looked dully at the lucky ones inside the light dome. He was not concerned about the dark-skinned youth, but he was concerned another youth in the light dome, Yi Yun.

“He passed…”

Lin Yu did not know what he was feeling momentarily. He was returning to his family clan as a failure, so his frustration was understandable.

463 - : Virtual Figure

CKtalon  CKtalon

No one bothered about the failures. The people in the light dome had already successfully passed the second trial, but they were not satisfied. To many amongst them, they did not want a simple pass, they wanted to see their end result.

The Great Empress mystic realm would have an results evaluation after every trial.

Passing the trial was just the minimum requirement. If a person barely passed from beginning to end, he was destined not to obtain the Great Empress’ heritage, nor would he be able to enter the Great Empress vault.

“I wonder what my result will be…”

Shentu Nantian looked at the crystal pillar. It was most likely that the second trial’s results would be displayed on the pillar in front of them.

Shentu Nantian was counting on the second trial’s results to turn things around!

For the first trial, Shentu Nantian was actually quite satisfied with his performance, but compared to Yi Yun, his results were a joke.

“The second trial, end of the preliminary test!”

At that moment, the cold voice echoed in the square. People were stunned. What? Preliminary test?

The mental demons trial was just a preliminary test? Then, there was another test? What would the next test be?

The Great Empress mystic realm seemed to have expected their questions as the voice carried on, “The second trial, the topic of the main test, cultivation!”

Cultivation?

The participants were confused, and at that moment, information was sent into the heads of every cultivator. They finally understood the entire process of the second trial.

Actually, the second trial had just begun!

The preliminary test was a test on mental demons. It was to assess how the cultivators could handle their mental demons. For a warrior who wanted to climb to the peak of martial arts, it was naturally important for them to be able to withstand their mental demons.

But for a future peerless Great Emperor, mental demons were not the most important.

To become a Great Emperor, two things were essential, talent and fated luck.

Fated luck was hard to test. As for talent, it was the speed of cultivation to a large extent.

Under a normalized situation, letting every cultivator in the Great Empress mystic realm use the various resources in the mystic realm to cultivate and then compare whose strength had increased the most!

This was the real second trial!

As for the mental demons test from before, other than testing the cultivator’s handling of their mental demons, there was another point, and that was for the Great Empress mystic realm to record everyone’s present strength level.

After the cultivators entered the door of light, they had faced real illusion formations which could test everyone’s strength.

Even Lin Xintong had experienced battles in the illusion formations in her dreams.

“So it’s a test of cultivation speed!”

“There’s still such a test… Then, it will last a very long time, right?”

People never expected the Great Empress mystic realm to set up such a test which was surprising.

“Cultivation speed… that is my talent. I have never feared competing in talent.”

Shentu Nantian chuckled as he was brimming with confidence. Gongsun Hong, Panther Lady and several other geniuses also had absolute confidence in their talent.

They began cultivating at an early age, and they had advanced rapidly. Their peers could never catch up with them.

At that moment, the cold voice echoed again, “Your cultivation site will be the God Advent Tower! Now, each of you will be given a talent strength rating!”

“Now, on the crystal pillar, use your blood to write your name!”

As the voice spoke, the crystal pillar suddenly flashed as the numerous crystals on the pillar began to shine from top to bottom.

Seeing the crystal pillar, a majestic youth laughed loudly, “Writing my name and get a strength ranking. Hahaha! I like that!”

He was already eager to try it.

Talent strength rating? Yi Yun rubbed his chin. He had undergone a similar test during the Jin Long Wei selection. It was done by considering the combination of one’s strength and age. With the same strength, the younger person would have a higher rating.

Of course, this time the standards were completely different the Jin Long Wei selections.

The Great Empress’s standards were naturally much higher.

And at that moment, the crystal pillar’s sparkling lights slowly dimmed down. The rays eventually formed bloody characters on the crystal pillar.

These words were written in a complex but unsophisticated manner. It was the most ancient font in the Tian Yuan world. However, the young elites present knew how to read ancient books, so they could recognize it.

The words went from bottom upwards. They were:

“Knight”! “Grandmaster”! “Soul”! “Sage”! “Shura”! “Canonized God”!

There were a total of six words. People could vaguely understand that these were the titles of the talent ratings the ancient Great Empress used!

Clearly, the higher the titles, the higher the talent.

People looked at the top titles of “Shura” and “Canonized God” with fiery eyes.

The ancient Great Empress’s titles did not have “Emperor” in it, so no one knew what the standard was. Even if there was an “Emperor” title, the “Emperor” used by the Great Empress was probably different from the current standard of Great Emperor, so there was no value as a reference.

To know one’s strength, one had to write one’s name down.

“I wonder what my rating would be?”

Shentu Nantian looked at the titles right at the top as his eyes exuded ambition and desire. Of course he wanted to obtain “Shura”, as for “Canonized God”, he too knew that it was very difficult to obtain.

What sort of figure was the ancient Great Empress? The standards she imposed were extremely elusive.

Maybe, just getting a “Sage” would be very impressive.

And at that moment, there was a person who eagerly rushed to the crystal pillar. This person was the majestic youth who had laughed loudly just now.

“Everyone, I, from the family of Song will go first! Haha!”

The majestic youth cupped his hands at his surroundings and laughed loudly as he used a dagger to cut his palm. Then, he waved his hand and he was in no way stingy with his blood as he wrote his name on the crystal pillar with his bloody palm. Every word was the size of an alms bowl. It was written very majestically!

If this was not a crystal pillar passed down from ancient times and it was made of ordinary metal, the metal would probably be pierced through with the strength he was writing his words with!

After he wrote down his name, the crystal pillar flashed. The flow of light gathered behind the youth’s name, as if it was forming a word.

However… no matter how the light shined, the flow of light could not form a shape. After a while, this flow of light seemed to lose its inhibitions and then, it dissipated. Finally, there was nothing left behind the majestic youth’s name.

“Oh?”

The majestic youth was stunned momentarily. He had not managed to react in time to how high his rating was.

But at that moment, the Great Empress mystic realm’s cold voice echoed, “Strength grade: None! Talent rating: Failed to meet the mark!”

What!?

The Great Empress mystic realm’s voice seemed to be like a bolt of lightning striking the majestic youth’s body. His body went stiff for he was completely dumbfounded.

Failed to meet the mark!?

464 - : Failed to meet the mark

CKtalon  CKtalon

“I actually failed to meet the mark?”

The majestic youth muttered as if he could not accept reality. It was too great of a blow.

The Great Empress mystic realm could give out six different titles as evaluations. All the cultivators present knew the prowess of the ancient Great Empress, so no one had any hopes of obtaining the highest title, including the majestic youth.

However, he did not even obtain the lowest title of “Knight”, let alone one of the higher titles like “Sage” or “Soul”.

No rating was given to him because his strength was too terrible!

“Haha, your Heavenly Light Island sure got embarrassed!”

Someone mocked from within the crowd. They were rivals of the Heavenly Light Island. Although they mocked him as the majestic youth had made a fool of himself, it still made people understand that the standards of the ancient Great Empress were more exaggerated than they had imagined!

“Let me do it!”

This time, a girl came forward. She was naturally confident enough in herself to step forward.

However, no miracle happened after she wrote her name in blood on the crystal pillar. Her evaluation was also ‘Failed to meet the mark’.

With that, everyone turned a bit dumbfounded. Those who were laughing at the majestic youth also shut up at this point.

With two people consecutively obtained such results, this made them have a deeper understanding of the difficulty that lied in the evaluation.

They were all proud children of heaven, and were the top figures in their own factions, yet when they came to the Great Empress mystic realm, they only received setbacks.

“I do not believe it. Was the martial arts culture so much stronger in ancient times?”

A black-dressed girl said with a frown. She was Panther Lady.

Next to Panther Lady stood another woman dressed in black. She looked somewhat like Panther Lady, but her body was even more voluptuous. She was also more mature than Panther Lady, as she was Panther Lady’s elder sister.

“I will give it a try!”

Seeing Panther Lady’s elder sister stepping forward to give it a try, everyone looked forward to it. Many of them knew this woman. Her talent was higher than that of Panther Lady, so she was definitely one of the best amongst them.

The black-dressed woman used her sharp nails to slash open her palm, writing down her name.

The ancient relic’s light beams gathered towards the black-dressed woman’s name. As the flow of light beamed, in the end, it did not disperse this time, and instead slowly formed a shape, before gradually forming a complex word…

Seeing this scene, everyone’s eyes lit up.

With the black-dressed woman’s talent, there was finally an evaluation!

People stared unblinkingly. With a benchmark, they would have the ability to compare themselves to it.

“Knight!”

When the words formed in front of everyone’s eyes, people turned silent. The black-dressed woman was only a Knight…

Those whose strength was inferior to the black-dressed woman momentarily lost any courage to step forward.

“Young Master Nantian, amongst everybody, you and Lin Xintong have the highest talent. If it is you, you should obtain a pretty good evaluation from the mystic realm, right?”

Someone said to Shentu Nantian.

The moment he said that, everyone’s eyes immediately fell onto Shentu Nantian.

Shentu Nantian was one of the top figures in the Tian Yuan world. His evaluation would be very persuasive.

As long as they knew Shentu Nantian’s evaluation, they would have a good idea over what their result would be.

Shentu Nantian slightly frowned. He too did not know what sort of results he would obtain. And at that moment, a black figured flashed. A thin youth had jumped over to the crystal pillar like a monkey as he giggled, “I’ll try it first! Ha!”

People gave a closer look to see that it was the swarthy dark youth that came from unknown origins.

“That bumpkin! Is he trying to mess things up? Who does he think he is!?”

Many people cursed. This swarthy youth gave others the impression of a clown. He was even inferior to Yi Yun.

The swarthy youth turned a deaf year to the mockery of the people. As he smiled, he bit his finger and wrote down his name on the crystal pillar in a slow fashion.

His words were not neat. The strokes were all jagged, like a crab’s crawl.

And the most important thing was that the words he wrote were not only ugly, no one could recognize it.

“What word is that?”

The young elites present were knowledgeable, but they still looked at each other. No one could read it.

“He could not have written it wrongly, right?”

Someone mocked.

Yi Yun narrowed his eyes. For a person to reach this point, he naturally could not have written his name wrong. This swarthy youth’s identity was getting more and more intriguing.

Although the swarthy youth’s words were weird, the flow of light from the crystal pillar still gathered behind the name.

Yi Yun held his breath. He was interested to know what the swarthy youth’s talent was.

However, to Yi Yun’s surprise, after the flow of light flashed a few seconds, it dissipated.

Evaluation results: Failed to meet the mark!

“What?”

Yi Yun was shocked. He had a feeling that this swarthy youth was no ordinary person. This was what he felt, maybe because of his sensitivity to energy.

In his mind, this swarthy youth’s talent should have exceeded “Knight”. He even thought that it might exceed it by more than one grade. However, the result only left Yi Yun scratching his head.

Was he mistaken?

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I didn’t expect it to be this hard…” The dark-skinned lad scratched his head as he retreated with a silly laugh. However, he was not sad at all, and in fact said with an open mind, “I’ll just treat it as throwing out a brick so as to draw pieces of jade! Ha!”

“That idiot! His head must have been kicked by a donkey!”

Some people could not bear to watch him.

“He is just playing to the gallery. There is no lack of such people. There is no need to care about him!”

“For us to participate in this expedition with this dark-skinned kid and reach this point means our evaluation is about the same. It is so disgraceful…”

A bunch of elites like them had the same strength as such a retard.

“This kind of person gets more excited the more you talk about him. Young Master Nantian, please show us what you got!”

“That’s right, young master. Go up and open our eyes!” The Shentu youth from before who wanted to kill Yi Yun chimed in excitedly.

However at that moment, Shentu Nantian swept over him with a gloomy gaze.

Shentu Nantian did indeed not have much confidence in this talent’s evaluation. If it was in the past, Shentu Nantian would have been somewhat confident, but now…

Half a year ago, Yi Yun fed him the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill, causing a great deal of damage to his strength. Even though he had used many treasures, he had not fully recovered.

Others were improving and their cultivations were skyrocketing by the day.

Shentu Nantian however had yet to recover his strength. In the past 6 months, he had only recovered about 80%.

“I have been nourished for so long after all… Even though it is not my peak standard, I should still be much stronger than the others.”

Shentu Nantian took a deep breath and walked before the crystal pillar. With two fingers, he slashed his palm and began writing his name.

His words were elegant and contained sword Qi. It was as if every stroke was carved out by a sword.

465 - : Playing to the Gallery

CKtalon  CKtalon

After his name was written, Shentu Nantian felt uneasy but also felt anticipation.

The light began to gradually form together behind the words ‘Shentu Nantian’, as it condensed into a blurry word, which looked like…

“Grandmaster”?

Shentu Nantian’s eyebrow ticked up. He wasn’t overjoyed, nor was he overly disappointed. It could only be considered neutral.

“Grandmaster” was only one level higher than the black-dressed woman from before. It was not considered amazing.

No one knew how much difference “Soul”, the title one rank higher that “Grandmaster” was from “Grandmaster”. Maybe the difference was huge, resulting in no cultivator present being able to exceed “Grandmaster”.

After all there were only six ranks. If each rank spanned a wide range, then even when two people had quite a big difference in talent, they might still be given the same rank.

“If it was not because of that kid…I might have reached ‘Soul’…” Shentu Nantian thought hatefully.

At that moment, the “Grandmaster” word was beginning to become clearer. It had already determined Shentu Nantian’s talent.

But…at that moment, Shentu Nantian’s heart skipped a beat as his body instantly froze. A faint black gas appeared on Shentu Nantian’s face.

This black gas seemed like a tiny venomous snake. It appeared and faded away on Shentu Nantian’s face very quickly as it hid away beneath Shentu Nantian’s skin again.

Shentu Nantian did not discover the sudden appearance of the black little snake. The others did not see it either, as they did not have the ability to see it.

Only Yi Yun could see it clearly.

“It’s that evil energy?”

Yi Yun was slightly stunned as he rubbed his chin with an odd expression.

Half a year ago, Yi Yun had noticed the evil energy within the Great Empress relic. He had used the Purple Crystal to control that energy and sent it into Shentu Nantian’s body.

Yi Yun also did not know what sort of harm it would bring to humans other than depleting one’s lifespan. Anyway the test subject was Shentu Nantian, so Yi Yun was very happy to see the evil energy go loose.

At this Great Empress mystic realm, when Yi Yun saw Shentu Nantian again, he felt an additional violet demonic aura to Shentu Nantian. It was as if he had practiced some demonic powers.

This aura was likely due to Yi Yun’s torture on Shentu Nantian, resulting in a great mental change. However, it could also have been caused by the evil energy.

Now, when Shentu Nantian was testing his talent, Yi Yun saw the evil energy appear once again. With him opening his energy vision, he could see the tiny black snake, which no one else could see, swimming within Shentu Nantian’s body like a spiritual being.

It penetrated through Shentu Nantian’s brain, following down across his spinal cord and into his dantian. As it circled around his dantian, it would take away a portion of Shentu Nantian’s vitality in an unnoticeable fashion…

Yi Yun felt that the little black snake had grown a lot stronger compared to half a year ago. However, it had yet to grow sentient. Its consumption of energy and growth was all following its natural instincts.

Under this situation, Yi Yun could still use the Purple Crystal to control it and extract it from Shentu Nantian’s body. But of course, Yi Yun would definitely not do that.

As the tiny black snake appeared without anyone noticing, the word on the crystal pillar had an extraordinary change!

What had nearly been formed as “Grandmaster” turned blurry once again. The strokes dispersed like tadpoles.

“Oh?”

Shentu Nantian was stunned as he stared helplessly. The dissipated light gathered once again, but this time, the word was no longer the same!

The word was…”Knight”!?

Shentu Nantian was stunned. He could not believe what he was seeing.

The word became clearer. It was very obvious it was “Knight”!

It went from “Grandmaster” to…”Knight”!

What!?

Shentu Nantian momentarily felt like he had been struck by lightning as he froze completely in front of the crystal pillar.

“Knight!”!

My talent is just the lowest “Knight”!?

Shentu Nantian could not accept this reality. All his blood flowed rapidly, surging towards his face.

How can I only be a “Knight”? There must be a mistake! It clearly formed the word “Grandmaster” in the first place, why did it change!?

Shentu Nantian’s blood surged. He even wanted to unsheath his sword and slash at the crystal pillar!

Of course, he did not have the guts to do so.

“Even Shentu Nantian is a ‘Knight’!”

“He just missed entering the next rank by a bit. This crystal pillar’s standards are too high.”

People discussed as they had mixed emotions.

Many amongst them were gloating. If one of the top geniuses in the Tian Yuan world, Shentu Nantian was not that much stronger than them, then they had nothing to be sad about.

“Amazing! Amazing!” At that moment, the swarthy youth suddenly jumped up in the crowd, “This Young Master Nantian sure is different. He nearly reached ‘Grandmaster’! Applause! Applause!”

As the swarthy youth spoke, he clapped his hands with joy. However this applause sounded like nothing but ridicule in Shentu Nantian’s ears.

“Kid, you are courting death!”

Shentu Nantian’s eyes turned red as he glared at the dark-skinned kid who was clapping. If not for the Great Empress mystic realm’s rules restricting him, he really wanted to cut off the head of such a fool.

The swarthy youth jumped up in fright and no longer dared to clap. His somewhat silly appearance resulted in many people snickering.

Of course, they were not really laughing at the swarthy youth, but at Shentu Nantian.

“Hmph!”

Shentu Nantian snorted coldly. As he left the crystal pillar, he looked deeply at Yi Yun with cold killing intent. Clearly, Shentu Nantian blamed his failure at the evaluation results on the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill fed by Yi Yun.

However, how could the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill have such a strong effect?

Yi Yun chuckled. He never expected the evil energy to be so powerful. It made Yi Yun recall some of those mythical novels about demons which would leech onto a person’s body like a parasite, sucking up their blood and soul. This tiny black snake was even more terrible than a normal demon. It could consume the host’s vitality and Yuan Qi without the host knowing. It had even forcefully reduced Shentu Nantian’s talent.

“What was in that Great Empress relic? Could it be that one of the most critical materials used in the relic was obtained inside the Great Empress mystic realm by the Shentu family clan? Otherwise, how could it be so weird?”

From the notes of the Desolate Heaven Master who only wished to cure the Great Empress’ terminated meridians, the ancient Great Empress had not consumed the relic. Then from ancient times to now, the only people who consumed the Great Empress relic were Shentu Nantian and Yi Yun.

Of course, Yi Yun had absorbed the essence of the Great Empress relic, while Shentu Nantian had to bear the evil side of it.

Others adventured, while Yi Yun took the loot. When Yi Yun adventured, others would be the shield.

This was Yi Yun’s principle.

It was shameless, but very useful. It was an even greater joy when the person used as a shield was not a very good person.

466 - : As I adventure, you be a shield

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s eyes followed Shentu Nantian as he walked back to his position. From the beginning, Yi Yun was focusing on the black energy within Shentu Nantian’s body.

Yi Yun suspected that as time went by, this energy would become stronger, and might even slowly evolve until it obtained sentience, thus becoming a real life.

And when it was strong enough, it could in turn swallow Shentu Nantian!

This sounded incredulous, but it was not impossible.

After it swallowed Shentu Nantian, what would it become? Would it keep entering other people’s bodies to devour their vital force?

If it kept growing, to what extent would it grow? Could it one day threaten a Great Emperor?

An evil energy contained within an ancient relic eventually growing to the point of becoming a threat to a Great Emperor sounded unbelievable.

However, if the material used to create the ancient relic came from the Great Empress mystic realm, then it would not be surprising.

Something weak would slowly grow. For example, Yi Yun had grown from an ordinary mortal, and could possibly grow to what could exceed a Great Emperor in the future.

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun interfaced his mind with the Purple Crystal, and delved deep into Shentu Nantian’s body with his spiritual energy.

Yi Yun’s target was of course the evil energy.

“Si…!”

Suddenly being surrounded by the Purple Crystal’s power, the evil energy seemed to receive an electric shock. It suddenly started slamming all around in Shentu Nantian’s dantian, before it entered Shentu Nantian’s flesh and organs, without any obstruction.

The evil energy was very sensitive to the Purple Crystal’s powers. It was on full alert, but it was far from being able to withstand the Purple Crystal’s powers.

After a little struggle, the evil energy slowly gave in. It was unable to escape the Purple Crystal after all.

The evil energy’s abnormal motions in his body made Shentu Nantian frowned. However, he had only felt his stomach have a slight moment of discomfort, and did not take it to heart. However, it was how Yi Yun was constantly staring at him that made Shentu Nantian annoyed.

He felt that Yi Yun was mocking him.

“Little bastard! The things you did to me, I will return them to you a hundredfold some day. Not only will I cripple your cultivation, I will also castrate you and smash and throw your balls to feed the dogs.”

Shentu Nantian’s illusion was that he was castrated by Yi Yun in the mental demon test. Although it was only an illusion, and his own imagination, the setback from losing his male potency nearly made Shentu Nantian go crazy.

It involved his dignity as a man, so naturally Shentu Nantian blamed this on Yi Yun, hoping to repeat this event on Yi Yun.

Against Shentu Nantian’s threat, Yi Yun chuckled. He was no longer bothered by Shentu Nantian as he walked towards the crystal pillar.

Everyone had to write their name at this crystal pillar, so Yi Yun did not mind if he did so sooner or later.

The moment Yi Yun went up, it immediately attracted the attention of many, “It is that kid!”

“Shentu Nantian just received an evaluation of Knight, and now no one dares to go forward. He sure has the guts.”

“It is not considered daring. The mystic realm’s evaluation is so demanding. Even a failing to meet the mark evaluation is nothing to embarrassed about. I guess that if you or I were to go up, we will also fail to meet the mark…”

In their eyes, Yi Yun’s strength was a bit fuzzy.

Yi Yun was a bit similar to the swarthy youth. They were both unpleasing to the eye.

The swarthy youth was unpleasant due to his foolishness, as for Yi Yun, they were enviable to the point of death at him obtaining so many Empyrean Marks.

If it was Lin Xintong who had obtained so many Empyrean Marks, they would not have said anything as she was strong. She had lasted the longest in the mental demons test amongst them. It was fearsome just thinking about it. As for Yi Yun, he had only come this far by tricks using his energy vision!

Of course, after Yi Yun passed the mental demons test, people had to accept the fact that Yi Yun’s talent was not that weak.

Cha!

A long sword suddenly appeared in Yi Yun’s hand.

When the sword appeared, the blade automatically unsheathed itself as it slashed across Yi Yun’s palm with a cold flash.

“Such a good sword?” Many of the others noticed the moment of brilliance. This sword was an excellent item.

Amongst them, Shentu Nantian’s eyes had immediately turned red!

It was his sword!

In the mental demons test, Yi Yun had used his sword to battle him. Now, Yi Yun took out this sword in front of everybody, so the amount of provocation Shentu Nantian felt was understandable.

The others present also had their looks turn odd as they turned their heads towards Shentu Nantian. Seeing Shentu Nantian’s expression dark, their guesses were confirmed.

“I already said that it looked familiar. It really is Shentu Nantian’s companion sword.” Gongsun Hong sneered in his heart.

“Shentu Nantian sure is miserable. Not only did he embarrass himself in the Lin family, he even lost his companion sword.”

People transmitted their voices in discussion. At that moment, Yi Yun wrote his name on the crystal pillar.

Before Yi Yun tunneled through dimensions, his writing was neither good or bad. It was just average.

However, after tunneling through dimensions, especially after he entered reclusion in the sword and saber tombs, the words Yi Yun wrote looked more divine in nature. He was unable to prevent the sword and saber Dao from entering his strokes. Every stroke contained the feeling of a saber beam or sword shadow. They had an oppressive aura to them.

As the light gathered, it began to emit dots of light behind Yi Yun’s name.

Yi Yun watched the light dots and was greatly looking forward to it. He wanted to know what kind of level he was at.

The mystic realm’s evaluation was unlikely to include the Purple Crystal’s powers as the Great Empress mystic realm was unable to detect the presence of the Purple Crystal.

Then this test would be aimed at Yi Yun’s present strength and talent. Of course, a large portion of Yi Yun’s current strength came from the Purple Crystal.

At that moment, the light dots were gradually forming a word. Anyone with sharp eyes could tell what the word was.

“That word is… actually “Knight”?

Many of them said in surprise.

They were very surprised as Yi Yun had actually obtained the evaluation of Knight.

“I actually have the same rating as that kid…”

Shentu Nantian was feeling very depressed. The mystic realm’s evaluation was too vague. The same level ranged across strong and weak. He himself almost managed to obtain “Grandmaster”.

Those who were graded as failed to meet the mark looked at Yi Yun with complex expressions. This kid was stronger than them, and he was just having martial arts as a secondary focus. He had another profession as a Desolate Heaven Master, and apparently his Desolate Heaven technique talent was peerless!

Under these circumstances, what reason did they have for mocking Yi Yun’s background?

“Is it Knight…”

Yi Yun was not really disappointed. After all, he knew his situation very well. He had begun cultivating too late, and came from the Cloud Wilderness. Even the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom from later was in no way comparable to the Tian Yuan world.

He started late and had insufficient resources, so even with the Purple Crystal making up for it, he was still not comparable to the real monsters of the Tian Yuan world.

However at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly felt a abnormal movement in his dantian as a blast of uncontaminated and powerful pure Yang energy surged out from his dantian, entering into every corner of Yi Yun’s body.

Oh?

Yi Yun was slightly stunned. He even felt that the Aspect Totem that was hidden in his body was triggered, as if it would be summoned out any moment.

“Could it be… the pure Yang energy I absorbed from the Great Empress relic has yet to be fully absorbed?”

Yi Yun checked his body from within and realized that there was a portion of pure Yang energy hidden in his body that had yet to be absorbed.

There was not a lot of this energy, and now it was brought out clearly because of the crystal pillar.

Yi Yun immediately understood that this crystal pillar had the ability to dig into every person’s hidden energy.

Previously when Shentu Nantian was standing in front of the crystal pillar, the evil energy within his body had been stimulated by the crystal pillar.

By triggering a cultivator’s potential, the crystal pillar could inspect their talent, and together with every person’s performance in the mental demons test, it could give an overall rating.

When the pure Yang energy inside Yi Yun’s body was stimulated by the crystal pillar, his pure Yang body was also accentuated.

In the Cloud Wilderness, Yi Yun’s talent was considered normal, or even bad. However, after evolving his body into a pure Yang body, Yi Yun’s talent underwent an earth-shattering change.

Especially after he absorbed the Great Empress relic’s pure Yang energy, Yi Yun’s pure Yang body was almost at the brink of the large success stage. It was also quite rare to have such a body in the Tian Yuan world.

As Yi Yun’s pure Yang body was revealed, the word “Knight” that had almost formed suddenly trembled and dissipated!

“Oh?”

People were shocked. Before Yi Yun, the majestic youth who was first up, had also nearly formed a word before the word collapsed.

Yi Yun’s situation was similar to his.

“Haha, what a pity. He’s lacking just a bit to be labeled as ‘Knight’, but he fell short of it.” On the Shentu family clan side, a follower of Shentu Nantian laughed.

If Yi Yun’s rating was similar to Shentu Nantian, where could they place their Shentu family clan’s face?

Shentu Nantian also heaved a sigh of relief. He felt a bit better in his heart.

“There is nothing to be proud of.” Shentu Nantian said coldly, “I am just higher than the kid by one rank only. What is there to be proud about. It is a disgrace!”

With Shentu Nantian saying that, a few lackeys immediately said, “Big brother Nantian, the Great Empress mystic realm’s appraisal is fuzzy. Although there is a difference of one rank, it itself is a huge gap!”

Just as the lackey finished saying this, he froze. He looked at the crystal pillar behind Shentu Nantian like he had seen a ghost. His mouth was agape and his eyes wide.

Seeing the lackey’s expression, Shentu Nantian felt like his heart had been punched mercilessly by someone.

He turned around and saw that, on the crystal pillar, a new word had appeared behind Yi Yun’s name. It was…

“‘Grandmaster’? How could that be!?”

Shentu Nantian’s mind went black. Yi Yun obtained the evaluation of “Grandmaster”?

However, it was yet over. The word “Grandmaster” quickly blurred again. Shentu Nantian was just about to heave another sigh of relief, thinking that it would change back to “Knight” once again.

However, the order of changes in the strokes nearly suffocated Shentu Nantian. The number of strokes increased as it became more and more complicated. It was no longer the simple strokes of “Knight (士)”, but in fact looked like… Soul (魂)!

467 - : Yi Yun’s Evaluation

CKtalon  CKtalon

Soul?

“Impossible!”

Shentu Nantian’s eyes went red. That word was like a demon that climbed out from Hell. It was deep blood-red in color as it nearly swallowed him.

Others were also stunned. “Soul” was two ranks higher than “Knight”. Especially with the Great Empress mystic realm giving such fuzzy evaluations, every increase in rank was something amazing.

Seeing the “Soul” become clearer and clearer as it was about to condense into shape, people held held their breaths.

However, just as it was about to form, it collapsed. The remaining light dots condensed back into “Grandmaster”.

This word was already fully formed. The strokes were clear and is was apparent that it had been decided upon.

“Grandmaster”!

This was Yi Yun’s final result, however with it nearly changing into “Soul”, it made people understand that Yi Yun’s talent was nearly enough to reach “Soul”. This was no ordinary “Grandmaster”.

Seeing this scene, Lin Xintong revealed a look of surprise. She turned her beautiful eyes and looked deeply at Yi Yun. She had guessed that Yi Yun would obtain good results, but she never expected that it would be to such an extent.

“Not Soul, but Grandmaster…” Gongsun Hong wanted to say words like ‘thankfully it was like that’, but just as the words reached his lips, they got stucked.

Even if it was Grandmaster, it was still the highest evaluation given by the Great Empress mystic realm up to now. Gongsun Hong was in no way confident that he would obtain a better evaluation than Shentu Nantian.

Other people also shut their mouths. Shentu Nantian’s lackeys all looked like they had swallowed a pound of arsenic. Previously, they said that with Shentu Nantian being one rank higher than Yi Yun, the evaluation itself had a huge gap.

Now the situation had been reversed. It was Yi Yun who was one rank above Shentu Nantian.

They felt their faces hot and blushing, as if they had been slapped in the face twice.

“Big brother Nantian, that should not be right. You lasted for so long in the test, and you were in it so much longer than Yi Yun. How can your evaluation be lower than his? Could the Great Empress mystic realm have made a mistake…” A lackey said.

However, before he could finished speaking, Shentu Nantian interrupted him through gritted teeth, “Shut up!”

Shentu Nantian was furious just mentioning the length of time he had spent in the mental demons test.

He had lasted very long, but he was not battling, he was being tortured!

In the later half of the test, he had been tortured to the point of having a worse than death experience. Yi Yun had used all kinds of brutal methods on him. These methods were all imagined by Shentu Nantian. He was naturally cruel and was good at tormenting others. He had tasted the methods he had come up with, which nearly broke him with everything he feared coming at him.

Originally, Shentu Nantian thought that regardless of the reason, lasting the longest was a fact. If others could not endure longer than him, then their results would clearly be weaker than his. Now however, from the looks of it, the length of time was just bullshit!

Shentu Nantian was not dumb enough to question the Great Empress mystic realm. He was also unsure of how Yi Yun obtained the ranking of “Grandmaster”.

“Grandmaster rank…” Yi Yun rubbed his chin. He was a bit surprised himself.

It was likely thanks to his pure Yang body. Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun glanced at Shentu Nantian with a smile suffusing on his lips.

His pure Yang body was all thanks to Shentu Nantian. If Shentu Nantian had not spent such a great cost in obtaining the Great Empress relic, Yi Yun’s pure Yang body would not have come so close to perfection.

If Shentu Nantian knew what was on Yi Yun’s mind at that moment, he would probably vomit three catties of blood.

At that moment, Lin Xintong had slowly walked over to Yi Yun. She blinked her beautiful pair of eyes and looked deeply at Yi Yun. She whispered, “You always give me surprises. Every time I see you after a long time, it is as if you have changed to another person. It is like you have remoulded yourself.”

After parting in the Cloud Wilderness, Lin Xintong believed she understood the strength of Yi Yun. However, two years later, when she met Yi Yun again in the Tian Yuan world, he had transformed into a Desolate Heaven Master, and his talent in the Desolate Heaven technique was even better than hers.

With Yi Yun going into reclusive training for half a year, he had again obtained such dazzling results in the Great Empress mystic realm’s tests.

If this went on, it would be unimaginable what Yi Yun could achieve given another 8 or 10 years!

“Miss Lin sees me as if I changed, but when I see Miss Lin, I have never been able to see through you. I have no understanding of Miss Lin’s realm.”

Yi Yun said in a self-deprecating tone but Lin Xintong shook her head, “If this goes on, you will probably catch up with me in a few years time.”

As Lin Xintong spoke, she slowly took out a sword, “Since you say cannot see through me, then let me test it.”

With Lin Xintong’s remark, everyone’s hearts skipped a beat. It was Lin Xintong’s turn.

Shentu Nantian’s face twitched. His expression was a bit ugly. Gongsun Hong and others were also a bit nervous.

With Lin Xintong’s talent, there was no idea what sort of ranking she would obtain!

Lin Xintong slashed her sword across her white fingers, causing blood to flow out. With a flick of her fingers, that blood drop seemed to have a spiritual essence to it as it landed on the crystal pillar, forming Lin Xintong’s name.

The delicate, gentle and graceful words were just like her.

After she wrote her name, the light immediately began gathering.

This time, the title formed extremely fast.

Everyone knew that Lin Xintong had great talent, so her title was definitely not something simple. They just did not know what it was.

Yi Yun watched by the side. He saw the beautiful Lin Xintong looking indifferent. It was as if she was not bothered about the evaluation that was about to appear. She did not seem to be sad or rejoicing like others.

Just her temperament was something that few could match, not to mention her talent.

The word rapidly evolved. As Lin Xintong did not have any hidden energy within her body, the word for Lin Xintong did not have any midway changes like Shentu Nantian or Yi Yun. It went straight to the point.

The light beams of the relic slowly condensed into complex patterns, as it became clearer and more obvious.

That is…

People held their breaths as they tried their best to open their eyes widely.

“Soul!”

The word that burned into one’s retinas appeared behind the name, Lin Xintong.

“She’s actually a ‘Soul’! Higher than ‘Grandmaster’ by one rank!” Throats moved up and down. It was amazing! Yi Yun’s result was already crazy enough, but Lin Xintong exceeded Yi Yun!

Why was this happening? This evaluation was too much of an exaggeration!

People could feel a heavy blow on them. Many of them were not even a “Knight”. Why was the gap between them so big, despite them being first class geniuses in the Tian Yuan world?

Besides, people knew that Lin Xintong had naturally terminated meridians. If her evaluation was already this terrifying with her naturally terminated meridians, then how far could she go once her naturally terminated meridians were joined up?

There was nothing stopping her from becoming a terrifying existence like the ancient Great Empress!

They were only exploring the Great Empress mystic realm. As they were not strong enough, they could not explore much. However, Lin Xintong might even be able to create a heritage land just like this Great Empress mystic realm in the future.

This gap was indescribable!

When Yi Yun saw this result, he was alarmed and amazed. He said heartfeltly, “Congratulations Miss Lin. Even with the ancient Great Empress’s standards, your talent is different in her eyes. I was originally thinking of helping you find the cure to your naturally terminated meridians in the Great Empress mystic realm. However, it now seems that you alone is sufficient.”

Lin Xintong shook her head gently, “Yi Yun, you do not know what I experienced in the mental demons test. I might have used a trick to obtain such an evaluation.”

“Actually, my current talent is far from enough. You know, this crystal pillar has six ratings. Now, I’m only third from the back. There is still ‘Sage’, ‘Shura’ and ‘Canonicalized God’ above. Those are existences that exceed my imagination. The ancient Great Empress’s heritage will probably not be given to someone third from the last, someone with that result will probably not be made a successor…”

468 - : Grandmaster and Soul

CKtalon  CKtalon

To be ranked third from the last did sound quite bad.

This made Yi Yun wonder what sort of people could be ranked “Shura” or “Canonized God”?

Lin Xintong’s talent was the highest amongst all the people Yi Yun had seen so far. Furthermore, she was determined and dedicated in her pursuit of martial arts. However, she was only a “Soul”.

In the history books, there were only descriptions of the ancient Great Empress. They were about how powerful she was, but as for how fearsome she was, there were no records to use as reference.

This was because the ancient Great Empress was indisputably the number one person of her generation. No one could compare to her.

Now, using the God Advent Tower’s standards, Yi Yun could tell that the ancient Great Empress was a lot stronger than the most extreme descriptions of her in the history books. Her strength probably far exceeded the understanding of the Tian Yuan world.

After Lin Xintong, there were many people who went up for their evaluation. After a dark horse like Yi Yun’s evaluation and Lin Xintong’s exaggerated evaluation, some people still carried a glimmer of hope that they might luckily obtain a high evaluation.

However, they were all disappointed.

After Lin Xintong, the Great Empress mystic realm resumed its harshness.

A large number of people obtained evaluations of: Failed to meet the mark!

Figures like Gongsun Hong, who valued their pride greatly, only went up to the crystal pillar with jittery feelings once a lot of the participants were done with their evaluations.

As an extremely prideful person, it was a great psychological test to complete a test that he did not have much confidence in and in full view of others.

Gongsun Hong took a few deep breaths before cutting his finger to write his name down.

However… there was no miracle…

Gongsun Hong received a ‘Knight” evaluation.

Seeing the “Knight” text appear, Gongsun Hong had indescribable feelings.

From Shentu Nantian’s situation, he was at most a “Knight” considering how his talent was lacking compared to Shentu Nantian, so the evaluation was reasonable. However, Gongsun Hong found it hard to accept as it was frustrating when compared to Yi Yun who he had despised in the past.

Other than Gongsun Hong, people like Panther Lady and the youth with the large bag on his back, obtained the evaluation of “Knight”. However, just as the evaluations were almost done, an incident happened.

Two people obtained “Grandmaster”!?

These two people had gone up together and they were clearly together. They were dressed in gray long robes that were embroidered with a blood-red crescent. However, most people were unsure which faction the logo symbolized.

“Another ‘Grandmaster’, and there are two of them! Where did these two guys come from?”

People were alarmed. There were really all sorts of hidden dragons amongst them. Two people, who they did not know, had obtained the evaluation of “Grandmaster”.

“They… ”

Lin Xintong’s eyebrows ticked up as she glanced at them with an odd look.

From a certain point of view, obtaining the evaluation of “Grandmaster” was not that surprising. If Shentu Nantian had not been screwed over by Yi Yun, he would definitely have obtained the evaluation of “Grandmaster”.

However, with two “Grandmaster” evaluations obtained consecutively from two people from the same faction of unknown origins, it was weird.

“Yi Yun, I think something is amiss… ” Lin Xintong transmitted her voice. Yi Yun faltered slightly because he had the same feeling.

This opening of the Great Empress mystic realm was like a heavy rock thrown into a pool that had agitated the dragons and snakes that were lurking in the depths of the pool. It was like there was a riotous revelry amongst the dragons and snakes.

Yi Yun could not tell if it was a blessing or a curse with the appearance of these people.

“All the evaluations have been completed. Now, you may enter the God Advent Tower and begin cultivating!”

The cold voice of the Great Empress mystic realm echoed in everybody’s ears. At the same time, the crystal pillar also slowly sank into the ground and the black stoned square was restored.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A low dull voice echoed as the entrance to the God Advent Tower slowly opened. Seeing this scene, people held their breaths.

As the stone door opened, it was like opening a door to another world. A vast mysterious aura surged out of the entrance.

It was as if passing through the stone door gave the participants access to all sorts of Great Dao and understandings.

People suspected the God Advent Tower to be a huge treasure left behind by the ancient Great Empress. No one knew what was inside.

Everyone was full of anticipation as they were about to enter the God Advent Tower. After all, this round was cultivation. The Great Empress mystic realm might provide them with cultivation resources.

Since they were cultivation resources left behind by the Great Empress, it was bound to be extraordinary.

If they were free to use it, they would benefit greatly!

“Let’s go in!”

Shentu Nantian was the first to walk through the stone door. He did not wish to stand on the black stoned square any longer. He was eager to cultivate in the God Advent Tower and prove himself with cultivation.

After Shentu Nantian, the others also entered the God Advent Tower.

The stone door to the God Advent Tower seemed to have a silver membrane lining it. It quivered gently and was like a layer of moving mercury.

When Yi Yun passed through the silver membrane, he felt a cold sensation assault him. Following that, he entered a dim great hall.

The cultivators who had entered before him were all gathered here.

A hundred foot tall black statue stood in the middle of the great hall.

The statue looked ancient and solemn. It was carved in the form of a woman wearing soft armor. She held a long sword with the sword tip angled towards the ground, exuding an indescribable divine aura, as if she was a god herself.

When people focused on the statue’s face, they were surprised that no matter how much they focused, they were unable to see her face clearly. It was as if the face of the statue was blurred in an unknown space-time dimension.

“Mysterious statue… ”

“It’s just a statue, yet, it contains laws that we find difficult to comprehend.”

The cultivators began to discuss the statue. Standing in front of the statue, they felt like the statue was moving upwards in a limitless fashion. It was like a mountain peak that could not be scaled, making them feel tiny.

“Maybe, this is the ancient Great Empress’ statue.”

Yi Yun transmitted his voice to Lin Xintong. Lin Xintong nodded, “It’s her… I can feel it.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was stunned as he looked at Lin Xintong with surprise.

“In the mental demons test, I had felt it… ”

Lin Xintong said faintly. As she recalled the experience in the test, she felt mixed emotions. That was not just a test, it was also a journey for her soul.

In that repeated life cycle that seemed real and fake, dream or awake, she had obtained too much inspiration.

These inspirations could be considered a precious gift given to her by the Great Empress mystic realm.

469 - : Entering the Tower

CKtalon  CKtalon

Behind the huge statue, there was a row of wooden bookshelves. The wood was of an unknown species. It had spent countless numbers of years without decaying, resulting in it having a thick ancient aura to it and a feeling similar to metal.

On the bookshelves, there were rows of dusty jade scrolls.

Seeing these jade scrolls, an idea flashed in everyone’s minds. Jade scrolls in a mystic realm made it easy to bring to mind cultivation technique manuals.

If they were cultivation technique manuals left behind by the ancient Great Empress, their values would be imaginable.

However, despite everyone eyeing them, no one dared to go forward rashly. They were worried about any possible restrictions. However, nothing changed even when they stood in front of the bookshelves.

Some people gathered their courage and picked a jade scroll up. After they carefully sank their mind into it, they were… greatly disappointed after seeing the content.

The contents of the jade scrolls were historical records about people and events. It had nothing to do with martial arts tradition.

With the passage of times, they could not fully understand many of the ancient words in the jade scrolls. Even so, they could infer something from some of the words.

“So the ancient times were like this… ”

Yi Yun was quite enchanted by it. At that moment, the Great Empress mystic realm’s cold voice echoed once again, “Now, the cultivating begins!”

The moment the sentence came to an end, the bookshelves in front of them separated. An intense beam of light shot out as people squinted at it. In front of them, there was a space that had been sealed for a long time. Inside this space, there was a long stone staircase leading up into the sky.

This stone staircase winded around like a long snake. At the end of the stone staircase, there was a door the size of a palm. The light beam had shot out of that door.

Many cultivators looked at each other. They were curious as to what was at the end of the stone steps, through that door.

“There isn’t only one door of light. There is another door even higher up!”

No one knew who said that. As people focused their vision, they realized that the winding staircase reached a higher spot. There was another door of light there as well.

This door looked to be the size of a thumbnail as it was located very high.

And this door was not the end. The cultivators present had extremely good eyesight. They could see there was another door even higher up, but this door was the size of the eye of a needle.

This staircase seemed to be a gateway to heaven. It did not seem to have an end. At every specific location, there was a shimmering door of light.

Some cultivators could not bear it any further as they gingerly started to walk up the stairs.

These stone stairs were blocks of stone floating midair. They had no support. When walking on it, people could feel the stone steps swaying.

The stone staircase was very long, but when a portion of the cultivators reached a certain height, they felt a resistive force.

This force prevented them from going any further.

Oh? What happened?

They were alarmed. Was this another test? Could they only proceed by overcoming the resistive force?

However, those who felt the resistance was only a portion of the cultivators. People like Yi Yun, Lin Xintong, Shentu Nantian and company could proceed smoothly.

Many of those restricted were confused.

At that moment, the Great Empress mystic realm’s cold voice echoed again, “The God Advent Tower has six levels! The higher the level, the more cultivation opportunities there are!”

“If you want to enter the God Advent Tower or reach a higher level, you need to obtain the recognition of the God Advent Tower!”

“This recognition will come from the results of your cultivation. Or, it will come from the evaluation from your mental demon test!”

“Cultivators who obtained the evaluation of “Knight”, can enter the first floor of the God Advent Tower! directly”

“Cultivators who obtained the evaluation of “Grandmaster”, can enter the second floor.”

“Cultivators who obtained the evaluation of “Soul”, can directly enter the third floor.”

“And so on!”

When the participants heard this, they were dumbfounded. This…

They looked at each other, especially those cultivators who had obtained “Failed to meet the mark”. They were at a loss as to what to say.

Although they had passed the mental demons test, they could not even enter the door!?

“There are six levels to the God Advent Tower. The Great Empress mystic realm gives six evaluation titles. Then, ‘Canonized God’ must correspond to the top level!”

Yi Yun thought to himself. Trying to see the highest point of the staircase, anything past the third level looked a blur no matter how good his eyesight was.

“People with the title of ‘Canonized God’ can enter the highest level of the God Advent Tower, but those who obtain the recognition of the God Advent Tower and enter its highest level might not have the strength of ‘Canonized God’.”

Beside Yi Yun, Lin Xintong transmitted this using her Yuan Qi.

Yi Yun nodded. He suspected that people with the title of ‘Canonized God’ would directly inherit all the heritage and treasures of the Great Empress. They were existences that exceeded their imagination. There was no need to carry on with the trials and tests, nor did they need to obtain the recognition of the God Advent Tower.

Since the God Advent Tower had set up an assessment, as long as one passed, one could reach the next level. As such, Yi Yun believed that Lin Xintong and him would be able to reach higher levels by cultivating.

At that moment, a rumbling noise echoed from behind them. The path out of the tower had been sealed. It was likely that it would only open at the end of the cultivation trial.

They could not guess when that would be.

However, since this trial was testing one’s cultivation, it would take at least a few months, or else, how could the effectiveness of cultivating be tested?

It could even be longer…

Suddenly, many of the cultivators who were evaluated as “failed to meet the mark” panicked. If they could not get out, nor enter the first level of the God Advent Tower, were they going to wait foolishly in the confined space for such a long period of time?

“Look, there are pictures on the steps!”

Someone suddenly said. People quickly looked down and under the dim lighting, they could see that there were murals periodically on the steps.

These murals did not seem to be eye-catching. But once they noticed it, it was difficult for them to turn their eyes away from them.

More and more people stood in front of the murals and began to stare at them carefully.

The drawings in the murals were of figures with a variety of actions.

“Are these… cultivation charts?”

A youth said after staring at the murals for a long time.

The figures in the murals were not very clear. They all looked different and they were of both genders.

“Could these people be the Great Empress’ disciples?”

Someone suddenly said. Back then, the ancient Great Empress was said to have set up a large sect. As for what happened to the sect, it was not clearly documented in the books.

Since there was a sect, many disciples were definitely recruited. These disciples might not have been personal disciples of the ancient Great Empress, but they might have learned something from the ancient Great Empress.

470 - : Entry Qualifications

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The carvings on the steps must be relatively common martial arts in the God Advent Tower.”

Yi Yun judged the level of the heritage on the murals. For a large sect, other than the heritage for the core disciples, there were all sorts of martial arts obtained from all over the world.

Cultivating these martial arts might not lead to an illustrious future, but under normal circumstances, it was an accumulation of a sect’s wealth. It would then be distributed to the outer sect disciples.

Yi Yun gave a cursory glance. He felt that the martial arts on the murals had a certain value to them. If he could completely understand them, it would definitely help him on his martial path, but it was not worth spending large amounts of energy and time to do so.

The trial in the God Advent Tower was testing one’s cultivation speed. Yi Yun was thinking of obtaining a great deal of progress within a limited time so he could receive a higher ranking.

The Great Empress mystic realm was a trial, but it was also a land of opportunities.

These elites who entered the Great Empress mystic realm were here to search for opportunities. And the God Advent Tower they were in was a possible opportunity for all the cultivators present.

Yi Yun’s idea was to maximize this opportunity to its fullest extent.

Yi Yun wasn’t the only one thinking like this, many people also had such thoughts. Those who did not obtain the title of “Knight” were pondering on how to gain insight into the murals on the steps, so they could obtain an opportunity to enter the God Advent Tower.

Those who obtained the title of “Knight” were thinking of their chances to reach a higher level in the tower.

People like Shentu Nantian and Gongsun Hong leered at Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. They had already lost to the two of them at the starting line. In order to obtain good results in this trial, they had to rise up to the level of the tower they were at!

“Let’s go to the first level!”

Shentu Nantian waved his hand. The few people from the Shentu family clan, who had obtained the title of “Knight”, followed Shentu Nantian towards the door of light at the end of the staircase on the first floor.

Gongsun Hong and company also followed closely behind. They also knew to discern. They did not wish to waste too much time on these stairs. It was not worth expending a lot of energy researching core heritage left behind for failures.

Everyone had similar thoughts. Their footsteps became faster and faster. Several “failed to meet the mark” cultivators looked at them with envy as they walked towards the door of light.

Those who had been eliminated were also the proud children of heaven from various factions. They did not give up so easily and they seized every second to begin researching the murals.

“Yi Yun, let’s go as well,” Lin Xintong said softly. Ever since she met Yi Yun again, the both of them had paired up.

At the beginning, Shentu Nantian was livid about this, because Lin Xintong had almost become his woman. However, after some time, Shentu Nantian felt resigned. He could not afford to be angry or he would die from anger.

Yi Yun nodded as he and Lin Xintong strayed behind the group.

Lin Xintong walked very slowly. This path was just a staircase to a destination for others, but to Lin Xintong, this was a staircase to her life.

If she could not walk to the end, her life would wither and die like a flower at the end of its lifespan.

Yi Yun naturally knew the significance of this expedition to the Great Empress mystic realm for Lin Xintong. He only accompanied her quietly and said no more.

However, as Yi Yun and Lin Xintong walked more than ten steps, an inconspicuous light stream suddenly flashed past the corner of Yi Yun’s vision.

This light stream attracted Yi Yun’s attention.

“Eh?”

Yi Yun was slightly stunned as he stopped suddenly.

“What’s the matter?” Lin Xintong also stopped as she looked at Yi Yun curiously.

Having had the Purple Crystal for such a long time, Yi Yun’s sensitivity to energy fluctuations had reached an incredible level. Yi Yun knew that the light stream he saw was light coming from energy.

Yi Yun rubbed his chin as he looked around. His eyes were locked onto about ten joined up murals not far away.

At first glance, the murals he was looking at did not seem to be unusual in any way, but… Yi Yun knew that the way that these murals had been carved was different.

These ten or so murals were most likely carved by a different person compared to the other murals. It was likely carved by a peerless expert personally.

During the process of carving, that peerless expert had left behind nomological marks in his strokes. These laws recorded hidden source of energy origins. This energy remained undissipated despite such a long period of time.

“Is there a problem with the drawings?”

Lin Xintong was surprised. She understood Yi Yun’s character. Yi Yun would not make a big fuss of meaningless things. The mural that could make him stop was definitely something unusual.

“Maybe… ” Yi Yun was not sure.

The Great Empress mystic realm was too complicated. Yi Yun felt that there were traps everywhere in the Great Empress mystic realm.

In the first trial, people believed it was a test of a cultivator’s movement techniques and sense of danger. However, Yi Yun discovered the trial was to test the cultivator’s ability to assess an enemy’s weakness.

Next, for the bridge, people like Gongsun Hong, who thought too simply of the ancient desolate beast, ended up suffering.

As for the second trial, with the mental demons test, the test was extremely strange. It was difficult to tell what was real and what was fake. Even a proud daughter of heaven like Lin Xintong had fallen into a dream that she could not wake from, unable to extricate herself.

And when they finally completed the ordeal of the mental demons test, the Great Empress mystic realm told them that the mental demons test was just an evaluation of their strength. The second trial was really a test of everyone’s cultivation speed.

Trials that caught people off guard made Yi Yun deeply feel that the ancient Great Empress had used countless methods when designing the Great Empress mystic realm. Hence, it was not strange for her to put an extremely good heritage amongst martial arts of not much value.

People believed that the murals on the staircase in the tower was prepared for the eliminated, so there would be few who would focus on them.

Even Yi Yun and Lin Xintong did not believe that these martial arts were of much value.

With a pearl amidst a pile of sand, to obtain it, not only would one need fated luck and opportunity, one also needed to constantly and carefully observe their surroundings at every moment as well as having judgment that exceeded others!

When Lin Xintong and Yi Yun stopped in their steps, Shentu Nantian who was leading his group also stopped. Although he looked to be in a hurry to enter the tower, his perception was actually constantly locked onto Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. He knew the moment they made any abnormal movements.

“Big brother Nantian, what’s the matter?”

A few lackeys realized Shentu Nantian had turned back. They also turned back and saw that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had stopped in their steps, as if they were researching something.

“Those two idiots actually started looking at the murals on the steps for those failures. Haha. They even covet such petty benefits. It’s like picking the sesame but losing the watermelon!”

A lackey said with a laugh, but Shentu Nantian’s expression turned heavy as he coldly said, “Why is an idiot like you following me? If you were that smart, your ranking would have exceeded the two of them!”

After receiving a good scolding from Shentu Nantian, the lackey choked and did not dare say another word.

“You, go take a look. See what the little bastard is researching on that step!”

Shentu Nantian actually wanted to go himself, but he could not pull his face down to go. Hence, he instructed a lackey to investigate. This way, he could preserve his face, and not lose out either.

471 - : Yi Yun’s Discovery

CKtalon  CKtalon

When they heard Shentu Nantian’s orders, two of his lackeys could only move towards the end of the group to crane their necks.

Seeing Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, they felt awkward. The Tian Yuan world was a world where strength was of utmost importance. Previously, they had flaunted themselves in front of Yi Yun, but now, the facts had proven that Yi Yun was much stronger than them. Hence, they did not have the guts to face Yi Yun when they were near him.

At that moment, Yi Yun was focused on studying the drawings on the ten over exotic murals. As for the two lackeys coming over to watch, he did not react in any way other than giving them a glance.

The two lackeys stood behind Yi Yun in an awkward manner. Their gaze passed through Yi Yun onto the murals as they tried to decipher the drawings.

However, no matter how much they stared, they could not decipher anything.

They were ordinary-looking murals and they looked no different to the ones they had seen before. Yet, Yi Yun had been standing here for a long time.

“Big brother Nantian, that kid seems to be pretending to act mysterious. There’s nothing special about them at all.”

The two lackeys transmitted their voice to Shentu Nantian, but Shentu Nantian frowned and silently cursed “Trash!”

He would rather be wrong than sorry, so he walked towards Yi Yun.

The moment Shentu Nantian moved, he immediately attracted a lot of attention. Quite a lot of people followed Shentu Nantian to join in the bustle.

“Yi Yun… ”

Lin Xintong’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. These people were as irritating as flies.

Yi Yun did not say anything. Up till now, he could not tell what the secret behind the ten over exotic murals was, so he was not afraid that it had attracted the attention of others.

Shentu Nantian gave a sidewards glance at Yi Yun as he fixed a calm and cool smile. However, this smile was deliberately forced by Shentu Nantian to emphasize that he had not lost to Yi Yun previously.

“You can actually study murals meant for eliminated people for such a long time?”

Shentu Nantian said lightly. However, his gaze was constantly fixed on the ten over exotic murals. For a proud person like Shentu Nantian, even if he had to be forced to follow behind someone’s ass, and pick up his leftovers, he would still maintain his superior appearance.

Yi Yun chuckled as he lightly said, “No one will stop you even if you want to see it. Why are you so hypocritical?”

After saying that, Yi Yun began to leave, as if he had lost all interest in the ten over exotic murals.

Shentu Nantian was stunned for a moment. This kid just left like that. Was he playing him for a fool?

“Deliberately acting mysterious!”

Shentu Nantian cursed. Although he suspected Yi Yun was deliberately pretending to have made a discovery to amuse himself through him, Shentu Nantian still looked carefully and seriously at the ten over exotic murals from beginning to end. He even released his perception to research them over and over again.

At that moment, he no longer cared what others thought of him. Obtaining an opportunity was worth more.

However, after staring at them for more than 30 seconds, where he went through the ten over exotic murals a few times, Shentu Nantian was disappointed. There was nothing special about the murals.

This made Shentu Nantian increasingly believe that he was hoodwinked by Yi Yun.

He looked up and saw Yi Yun accompanying Lin Xintong as they were almost at the end of the staircase and were about to enter the first level.

“Fuck, that slut!” Shentu Nantian cursed angrily. “I was tricked by that kid. Maybe he wants to be the first to enter the tower and obtain the opportunities in the God Advent Tower.”

“We need to catch up!”

Shentu Nantian waved his hand as the rest charged up the stairs with him. They were afraid to be left behind. What if there was something awesome in the God Advent Tower?

“Yi Yun… They are coming up as well.” Lin Xintong said to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun did not not mind, “There’s no need to bother with them.”

At that moment, he had already reached the end of the staircase. Here, the door that looked to be the size of a palm finally revealed its true nature. It was extremely large, allowing tens of people standing side-by-side to enter.

Through the large door, there was a bright grand hall. This grand hall did not have the simple, ancient styling of the Great Empress mystic realm. Instead, it looked luxurious and opulent.

There were 12 coiling dragon pillars in the grand hall. They reached high up into the dome. There were many divine stones and relics embedded within the pillars. Those relics were likely to be the sources of energy for the grand hall’s array.

“The beam of light from the door must have been emitted by these relics.”

Yi Yun said. He was marveling at the Great Empress mystic realm’s grandness.

After Yi Yun and Lin Xingtong entered the grand hall, Shentu Nantian and company had also rushed in. hurriedly They were afraid that they would lose out.

Seeing the opulent grand hall, everyone was taken aback.

If they could take the relics away, it would be an unimaginable wealth for the factions of these cultivators.

However, the relics were embedded in the coiling dragon pillars. There was a protective array on the surface of each pillar, so they could only look at the relics.

In the middle of these 12 coiling dragon pillars, there was a purple-gold altar. There were ancient metallic disks arranged on the altar. There were various complicated runic lines engraved on the metallic disks.

They were disk arrays from the ancient Great Empress’ era!

Although they had been created a long time ago, there were still colorful streams of array runes flowing around the disk arrays. This meant that they could still be activated at anytime.

People were agitated. It seemed like the opportunities on first level of God Advent Tower were sealed in these disk arrays.

Yi Yun hesitated slightly before reaching out to touch the disk arrays.

“Careful!”

Lin Xintong cautioned from the side.

Yi Yun shook his head, “It’s alright.”

Yi Yun’s fingers gently tapped one of the disk arrays. Instantaneously, Yi Yun felt like he had disturbed a calm water surface. Ripples began to appear in the empty void.

The disk array began to rotate slowly as it projected a immense image.

It was that of a vast sea. This seawater appeared light red in color.

“Untraversable Sea!”

People were alarmed. It was most likely that this sea was the Tian Yuan world-surrounding Untraversable Sea, which had no Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

The red sea water was endless. Although it was a disk array’s projected image, the people present felt like they were floating above the Untraversable Sea as they looked down at the sea.

This visual impact was indescribable.

At that moment, a large number of bubbles appeared on the surface of the seawater. There was no end to the bubbles. The larger ones were the size of houses. It alarmed many.

A huge black figure appeared underneath the water’s surface.

“What is that?”

People could not help but retreat a few steps. Although they knew that whatever they saw was an illusion, the repressive feeling was still extraordinary.

Finally, the black figure broke through the water’s surface. It was a behemoth that resembled a roc. Its body was at least 50 kilometers wide. When it rose out of the water, large amounts of water poured downwards like waterfalls. Seeing this, it was as if a mountain had suddenly appeared on the surface of the water.

472 - : God Advent Tower’s First Level

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Is it a desolate beast? A desolate beast of the Untraversable Sea!?”

The cultivators looked at each other and they were extremely alarmed. To many people, the Untraversable Sea was extremely mysterious. Even Great Emperors could not travel deep into it, so no one knew what was in the depths of the Untraversable Sea.

Now, what was the rank of the huge roc that had appeared? Was it a primordial true spirit?

The cultivators could not tell. As far as they knew, primordial true spirits were the highest rank of desolate beasts. They did not know if there were any ranks above that.

After the roc appeared, a divine beam flashed in the sky. This divine beam split space itself.

A black-armored warrior armed with an ancient bronze lance rushed out of the tear in space.

The intense murderous Qi formed a large path in the sky. The black-armored warrior was riding a black war horse. The war horse’s eyes were blood red. Lightning and fire flowed around its hooves. It looked like a legendary nightmare beast.

The war horse neighed as it stepped on the murderous Qi path. It galloped midair while the black-armored warrior held his lance, charging straight at the roc.

It was a battle!

When people saw this scene, they were stunned. A black-armored warrior, a lance and a horse were fighting a primordial behemoth of unknown ranking?

The black-armored rider was tall and stout. The lance was a heavy lance, but against a behemoth roc that was 50 kilometers wide, it was as inconspicuous as a needle to a human.

How could one harm the roc with such a weapon?

Just as this idea flashed in the cultivator’s minds, the black armored warrior made his move. As he rode the war horse, his charging speed also increase. Like a meteor, he charged onto the roc’s back.

He suddenly stabbed his war lance. Just one attack caused the void to tear. The powerful strength caused the Untraversable Sea to form huge waves. The sea water sank in, becoming a canyon of the ocean. This strike had split the Untraversable Sea!

This also revealed the rest of the behemoth roc’s body that was lurking in the sea.

“Cha!”

The black-armored warrior’s strike had pierced the roc’s body. At that moment, the world went silent as a huge, bloody hole appeared on the roc’s back. A stream of blood spewed out like an erupting volcano, shooting straight into the clouds!

When everyone present saw this scene, they felt their hair stand up. A strong sense of life and death seemed to assault them.

That strike had clearly pierced the roc, but everyone felt that it pierced them.

They could not dodge. Even their bodies were locked in place by the aura. They could not move one bit! Their blood flow and heart beats were affected by the strike.

Everything in front of them disappeared, leaving only the attack trajectory of the long lance that had pierced through the world. It was like a black lightning bolt that had filled the entire sky. It made them feel like they were in a lightning prison that made it impossible for them to breathe.

The surface of the sea was already dyed scarlet from the roc’s blood. It looked shocking.

“Terrifying!”

Panther Lady grunted and retreated a few steps. With this retreat, she immediately felt like she had come out from the immersive feeling.

Her face was pale and her body trembling slightly and uncontrollably.

No one knew what the black-armored warrior’s cultivation level was. Maybe he was not a Great Emperor. Instead, it could be said that he was far from Great Emperors like the Shentu Patriarch could compare with.

To be able to witness a battle of such a level was great help to their understanding of martial arts. This was indeed a great opportunity.

However, the laws in the move were too profound. The juniors from the various factions could not decipher any profound mystery from it. Now, they could not even bear the images of the disk array.

Behind Panther Lady, several people also retreated with their heads covered in sweat.

They included Shentu Nantian and some of his lackeys. It was easier for Shentu Nantian to endure this pressure, but he too did not understand much from it.

The level of the battle far exceeded his realm.

“What a terrifying person. What a terrifying desolate beast. What are their identities or existences?”

The black-armored warrior was clearly not the ancient Great Empress. Why was his image left behind in the Great Empress mystic realm?

According to the records, there were few peerless Great Emperors who appeared in the history of the Tian Yuan world. And in any generation, there would only be at most, one. Most of the time, not a single peerless Great Emperor existed.

Then… What was the cultivation level of the black-armored warrior? Was he not even worthy of the title of a peerless Great Emperor?

“What a terrifying person. What a terrifying strike. We aren’t even a match for that horse of his, let alone him.”

In Shentu Nantian’s eyes, a look of shock still remained.

Not only juniors like them, even if Elders from their family clans saw such an attack, they would find it amazing!

If one could gain even a tiny bit of insight from that attack, their strength would increase by leaps and bounds!

However… that seemed too difficult.

Shentu Nantian was shocked from seeing the images from before. As for anything else, he did not manage to see through a thing.

“Oh? Lin Xintong… ”

Shentu Nantian looked at Lin Xintong, still dressed in that white dress that was whiter than snow. It seemed like up to now, she was still immersed in the disk array’s projection. Her hand was still clenched tightly on her sword as her body was tense.

About 6 seconds later, Lin Xintong had no choice but to close her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, there was a glimmer of intelligence in them. It was a pensive look.

It seemed like she had gained some insight.

“This woman… ” Shentu Nantian frowned slightly. Compared to another monster like her, he was constantly pressured. He was unsure if Lin Xintong had really gained any insight. This unknown gave him immense pressure.

“There are other disk arrays!”

There were many disk arrays on the altar. At that moment, Shentu Nantian did not stand on ceremony. He wanted to be first at choosing a disk array most suitable for himself.

Seeing Shentu Nantian rushing to the altar, others piled on. They wanted to search for a disk array suitable for them. At least, the weapon had to be the same.

“Yi Yun, aren’t you going to choose one?” Lin Xintong asked.

Yi Yun rubbed his chin as he said while deep in thought, “Miss Lin, aren’t you curious as to who the black-armored warrior is? He might have lived in an era around the Great Empress. Then, why aren’t there any records of him in the history books?”

“Is he a friend of the ancient Great Empress? Disciple? Master? Or maybe… enemy?”

Yi Yun felt that the Great Empress mystic realm not only left behind the ancient Great Empress’ heritage, it also contained the secrets of the ancient Great Empress.

That was probably… the secret history of the ancient era.

An immensely huge roc that lived in the Untraversable Sea and a black-armored warrior with an ancient lance in hand while riding a nightmare beast. What sort of roles did these existences place in the ancient era?

Yi Yun was had such thoughts, but at that moment, in an unnoticed corner amongst the group, a strange glimmer flashed in the eyes of the swarthy youth as he looked at the image disk arrays…

473 - : Roc

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the opulent grand hall, the dark-skinned youth was like a ghost, watching everybody.

Around him, light rays were slightly distorting, causing his body to be completely hidden.

The dark-skinned youth’s original evaluation was “failed to meet the mark”, but no one knew how he obtained the recognition of the Great Empress mystic realm in such a short period of time.

The swarthy youth’s gaze swept past the two “Grandmaster”-titled gray-robed youths. Then he looked at Lin Xintong, and finally, his eyes landed on Yi Yun for a long period of time.

When he stared at others, there was no reaction from them, but when he focused on Yi Yun with a foolish smile appearing on his lips, Yi Yun suddenly looked in his direction.

“What’s wrong?” When Lin Xintong saw Yi Yun turn his head, she asked curiously.

Inside the grand hall, other than the coiling dragon pillars and the altar, there was nothing else. Could Yi Yun have noticed something?

Yi Yun glanced at a corner not far away. It was completely empty, with nothing there.

Yi Yun frowned slightly. He was very sensitive to energy, and there was clearly an invisible energy source in what was otherwise an empty spot.

There’s a person?

Yi Yun had such a thought, but soon, he turned his head back. He did not carry on looking. He did not know who the person was. Since he was standing there without Shentu Nantian’s detection, it meant that person’s strength was no doubt far above Yi Yun’s.

For a figure like this who intended to hide, no one knew what motives he had. Regardless, Yi Yun would not carry on looking at him, or he would be discovered by the other party.

“He noticed?”

The swarthy youth was somewhat surprised by Yi Yun. He did not know if Yi Yun’s cursory glance was just coincidence. He did not think that with a cultivation of a junior like Yi Yun would be able to discover his presence.

At that moment, Shentu Nantian and company had begun selecting disk arrays.

Many disk arrays were being triggered, giving rise to a wide variety of scenes.

Not every disk array documented an expert’s battle with desolate beasts. Some of the disk arrays contained the mysteries of the laws, or training sessions of ancient Great Emperors and battle scenes.

These ancient Great Emperors were extremely powerful, but they were much weaker than the black-armored warrior from before.

This was most obvious from the fact that when the various cultivators watched the disk arrays, the pressure they felt was not as strong as the first one.

The pressure was smaller and the laws were not as profound. They could barely gain any insight into something.

This made many overjoyed.

And at that moment, the Great Empress mystic realm’s emotionless voice echoed, “Everyone of you are given an hour to choose two disk arrays. After they are chosen, the altar will be sealed off by arrays.”

“Oh? Only two can be chosen?”

The cultivators were slightly stunned. Many of them felt a sense of pity being unable to return with all the treasures after entering a treasure land.

And only two could be chosen. How should they choose?

There were many disk arrays, so there was no need to be afraid of the ones they wanted to be snatched away. However, one hour was a very short amount of time.

This choice was extremely important. Not only did it have to matter with the opportunities they obtained, it also affected the results of this trial. If they did not choose well, their expedition in the Great Empress mystic realm would came to an end.

People like Gongsun Hong and Shentu Nantian were extremely cautious and hesitant.

After Shentu Nantian saw the black-armored warrior’s disk array images once, he watched it again. In the vast Untraversable Sea, the terrifying pressure that came from the appearance of the huge roc and the black-armored warrior was something Shentu Nantian had trouble enduring. Even if he could barely endure a few seconds of it, he could not understand a thing from the mystery of the black-armored warrior’s attack. The difference was too great.

This disk array…

Shentu Nantian was not willing to let the black-armored warrior’s disk array go, because the disk array was extremely valuable. However, it was too difficult. If he recklessly chose it, not only would he not understand a thing, he would waste a choice.

After repeatedly weighing the benefits, Shentu Nantian finally gave up on the disk array.

Many people had similar thoughts to Shentu Nantian. The disk arrays on the altar were all of an extremely high realm. If they spent too much time and effort on something, they might end up with nothing.

And if they chose a weaker disk array, and manage to gain some insight from it, it would also be very useful for them.

The successive trials, the perverse difficulty and bizarreness of the Great Empress mystic realm had already made many of these people take a step back.

They were no longer greedy, and they only wished to obtain something.

Only that was real.

At that moment, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were also selecting their disk arrays.

Yi Yun watched the scene of the black-armored warrior fighting with the huge roc repeatedly. That striking lance attack was indeed full of murderous Qi.

Ultimately, Yi Yun also chose to give up on that disk array.

Seeing Yi Yun being aware of the overwhelming odds against him, Shentu Nantian chuckled, “Why? You were rated as a ‘Grandmaster’ by the Great Empress mystic realm, yet you don’t dare to chose that disk array?”

Shentu Nantian teased.

Yi Yun coldly glanced at Shentu Nantian. At that moment, Lin Xintong whispered to Yi Yun, “Shentu Nantian is provoking you! Ignore him.”

“It’s nothing,” Yi Yun shook his head, “This disk array is good, but it is not suitable for me.”

The black-armored warrior used a lance in the disk array, while Yi Yun’s choice of weapons were sabers and swords. Naturally, he would not choose it.

Yi Yun triggered the disk arrays on the altar one by one. The various images made Yi Yun shake his head.

Only when he triggered a certain disk array did he see the vast Untraversable Sea once again.

Above the Untraversable Sea, the black-armored warrior who was riding the black nightmare war horse, appeared once again.

He held a long lance in his hands and the war horse was galloping through the sky with flames paving its route. He seemed to be breaking through the void, as if he would enter another world.

Seeing the black-armored warrior, Yi Yun quivered as he held his breath.

And at that moment, another figure appeared above the sea. He slowly appeared while riding the waves.

This person was dressed in azure clothes. He held a gourd in one hand, and a five-foot long azure sword in his other.

“Hahahaha!”

Seeing the black-armored warrior, the person in azure roared with laughter. His laughter caused the water waves to turn chaotic as he did so in an unrestrained manner.

The black-armored warrior stopped, he got off his war horse and looked at the azure-clothed person.

Following that, without a word, ‘Sou’!

The azure-clothed person attacked him. His long sword whistled and an azure flash that flashed across the sky flew towards the black-armored warrior!

“That sword move!”

Seeing this sword slash out, Yi Yun unwittingly took a step back. A flash appeared in his head.

This sword technique was… something he had seen before!

The sword beam cut through the world.

All the cultivators present could feel the hair on their bodies stand up. A strong sense of danger to their lives was felt.

At the moment the sword slashed out, they felt like their bodies were restricted. Their breathing and heartbeats stagnated. It felt like the sword attack was like an electric shock!

Yi Yun’s response was different from the others. He was inexplicably shocked. Everything in front of his eyes had disappeared, leaving only an azure flash of lightning that had become the only thing in the world.

The sword beam seemed to have broken through the confines of space and time, coming from the nothingness of the ancient era.

Pure Yang Sword Palace!

What had appeared in Yi Yun’s mind was the sword attack that had separated a world itself outside the Pure Yang Sword Palace. It looked similar to this attack!

Only… the sword attack at the Pure Yang Sword Palace was even more terrifying. It was even more immense, as if it was the supreme law of the Universe…

When Yi Yun realized this, he felt a tiny tremble from the interspatial ring on his finger.

A mysterious but ancient sharp feeling spread a coldness from Yi Yun’s finger into his bloodstream.

Yi Yun knew that this was Sword Intent!

And this Sword Intent was coming from the broken sword in his interspatial ring!

When Yi Yun entered the Pure Yang Sword Palace, he had obtained the rusty broken sword, and he suspected that it was left behind by the owner of the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

Yi Yun believed that other than him, no one had previously opened the Pure Yang Sword Palace. Then… why did the azure-clothed person’s sword attack contain a trace of the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner’s attack’s charm?

It couldn’t be that the azure-clothed person was the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner’s disciple, right!?

Yi Yun shook his head. It was impossible. The Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner was not from the Tian Yuan world. He came from another world, and the realm of his existence was too high, so how could he have taken in a disciple from the Tian Yuan world?

How did this azure-clothed swordsman know the sword attack of the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner then!?

Who was this azure-clothed swordsman? Historically, in an era around the time of the ancient Great Empress, Yi Yun could not remember any records of this azure-dressed swordsman.

474 - : A Sword Attack Previously Seen Before

CKtalon  CKtalon

It was not only Yi Yun, even Shentu Nantian and the others were filled with curiosity over the disk arrays in the Great Empress mystic realm. In which era did the events recorded in the disk array happen?

Was this really the Tian Yuan world?

Why were there so many experts in the ancient times?

The black-armored warrior was already perverse enough, and the azure-clothed swordsman’s strength seemed to be vaguely greater than the black-armored warrior’s.

This was completely unbelievable. There was no reason for the history books not to record such terrifying existences in them.

At that moment, the images from the disk array had disappeared. Shentu Nantian and the others all felt the terror from the sword attack even though it was just an image.

After the sword beam disappeared, everyone exhaled. Shentu Nantian wiped the cold sweat off his forehead.

He was also a sword user. The images in the disk array were something he looked forward to. If he could use such an attack, the position of the head of the Shentu family clan was nothing. The entire Tian Yuan world would easily fall into his hands.

Be it the Lin family, or Yi Yun, he could destroy them all. He could make Lin Xintong his female slave as well.

Of course, this was just him thinking. Shentu Nantian knew his ability. He was far from being able to gain insight into the disk array’s sword attack.

As he was giving it some thought, he saw Yi Yun pick up the disk array that he had previously placed down. With Yi Yun keeping it, Shentu Nantian was stunned.

The others also looked at Yi Yun with surprise.

What was Yi Yun doing? Did he want to take the disk array?

“Yi Yun, you… ”

Even Lin Xintong was alarmed with Yi Yun’s choice. She had also seen the images in the disk array. She felt that with her own perceptivity, it would be very difficult for her to learn anything from the images.

Yi Yun may have been outstanding, but he was limited in his martial arts realm. Could he have had some special insight with that disk array?

Lin Xintong knew that Yi Yun would usually not do something that he was not confident in. And if that was the case, Lin Xintong found it a bit hard to imagine.

“This kid is up to something again.”

Shentu Nantian frowned. He was already at the brink of a nervous breakdown because of Yi Yun. He would have an ominous feeling from Yi Yun’s every move.

“What else can he be up to? This kid must have gone out of his mind!”

Beside Shentu Nantian, a few of Shentu Nantian’s followers jeered. In their opinion, Yi Yun might have obtained the title of “Grandmaster”, which seemed impressive, but he was not the only one with that title. Furthermore, there was also Lin Xintong who had obtained “Soul”.

Even Lin Xintong did not seem to have the courage to choose such a difficult disk array.

Yi Yun was being too presumptuous.

However, Shentu Nantian frowned even more after hearing their words. If Yi Yun was so dumb, could he have come so far?

Clearly, he wasn’t.

In the confrontations Shentu Nantian had with Yi Yun, other than Shentu Nantian being triumphant over Yi Yun in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, he had received setbacks from Yi Yun again and again in the Tian Yuan world.

The Desolate Heaven technique tea session, the relic trial and now, the Great Empress mystic realm.

Previously, he had looked down on Yi Yun and this caused him to suffer.

Yi Yun had an endless number of strange means, which made Shentu Nantian struggle to handle him. Now, Shentu Nantian was like a frightened bird that would be startled by the mere twang of a bow-string.

Yi Yun was clearly much weaker than him, but Yi Yun’s every move made Shentu Nantian’s eyelids twitch and they gave him worries.

Could it be that the kid had discovered something in the disk array?

From Shentu Nantian’s point of view, Yi Yun was not only deceitful, the Great Empress mystic realm was filled with traps, so anyone with blind confidence would end up suffering.

Who knew if the Great Empress mystic realm had left something hidden in the disk arrays?

It was possible that the ancient Great Empress was testing their courage. It could be a test of them being daring enough to face the great pressure and aura of ancient Great Emperors.

With these thoughts in mind, Shentu Nantian felt his mind turn into a mess.

The azure-clothed swordsman’s disk array was taken by Yi Yun, so he could no longer choose it. His eyes turned once again to the disk array with the black-armored warrior who rode the nightmare beast.

This disk array…

Initially, Shentu Nantian had an urge to choose this disk array, but he lacked the courage. Now, seeing Yi Yun choose the azure-clothed swordsman’s disk array, Shentu Nantian was tempted once again.

If the disk array selection was really a test of courage, he had to bet on it. He might even get lucky with his bet…

If he did not succeed in his bet, it was something that he could afford. After all… he could choose another disk array.

With this idea planted in his mind, it began to grow rapidly like weeds.

People tend to have hopes to get high returns with small stakes. Warriors were no exception.

At that moment, Shentu Nantian was like a gambler. He looked at the black-armored warrior’s disk array in indecision.

“Why? You were rated as a ‘Knight’ by the Great Empress mystic realm, yet you don’t dare to chose that disk array?”

Yi Yun’s voice suddenly rang in Shentu Nantian’s ear. Shentu Nantian’s face sank. These words were previously said by him to Yi Yun just a moment ago. Now, Yi Yun had just changed a single word and used it on him.

“Provoking me?”

Shentu Nantian chuckled. The more he was being provoked, the more he felt that there was something amiss.

Yi Yun must have seen something. His goading might have been a way to hide it.

However, Shentu Nantian still made his decision carefully. He had already chosen one disk array out of the two. He was still hesitant over the second one.

As time passed, Yi Yun had also chosen the second disk array.

This disk array was not as shocking. It was just a disk array that demonstrated the pure Yang laws. The laws in the disk array would be very stimulating for Yi Yun.

Most people had already made their selection. Shentu Nantian, who had not made a move yet, attracted a lot of attention. As the hour was almost coming to an end, the Great Empress mystic realm’s cold voice echoed once again, “The altar will be closed in thirty seconds.”

There was only thirty seconds left. Shentu Nantian gritted his teeth and looked at the few disk arrays he had eyed previously. With less than 10 seconds left, Shentu Nantian kept the black-armored disk array with determination!

He might have regretted choosing this disk array, but if he did not choose it, he would immediately regret it.

In this day and age, those who survived were the bold, while those who starved were the meek. He has not made many large bets in his life. If he did not make this bet, he might miss out on a large opportunity!

“Young Master, you… ”

Shentu Nantian’s lackeys were all alarmed. Shentu Nantian had actually chosen the disk array that was so difficult…

Yi Yun glanced at Shentu Nantian with surprise. What was this guy thinking? Did he choose that disk array because I chose an extremely difficult disk array?

The others were stunned seeing Shentu Nantian’s choice.

“What is Shentu Nantian doing?”

“Shentu Nantian and Yi Yun have both chosen a disk array of a battle between top ranked Great Emperors. Are they both mad!?”

475 - : A Gambler’s Psyche

CKtalon  CKtalon

The many cultivators present acknowledged Lin Xintong’s superiority, but compared to Yi Yun, they felt that they were just slightly weaker than him. And compared to Shentu Nantian, everyone else had the evaluation of “Knight”, so no one believed the other was better.

No one could believe that Shentu Nantian and Yi Yun had chosen the disk arrays that they did not even dare touch. The two of them were completely mad.

“They will suffer. Let’s not talk about gaining insight from those two disk arrays, just enduring the pressure from the peerless Great Emperors is impossible. They will definitely suffer for trying to bite off more they can chew.”

People discussed it over voice transmissions. Many of them had similar thoughts. They were all waiting to see Shentu Nantian and Yi Yun fail.

And at that moment, a blinding flash of light emitted from the altar. Soon, there was a rumbling sound as the entire altar sank downwards.

The cultivators only felt a flash of light and felt a distortion in the space-time fabric. When they opened their eyes again, they realized they were alone in an independent space.

Looking around, there was no one else as they were alone.

They had all been isolated from one another.

It was not surprising on further thought. Those cultivators who had entered the first level were allowed to take two disk arrays, which meant they could try to gain insight from both both of them. If many of them were together, they could exchange the disk arrays amongst themselves. If this happened the so-called choice would lose its meaning.

At that moment, Yi Yun had also been sent to an independent space. However, what faced him was different from the others.

Above the independent space he was in, there was a door to the outside. Yi Yun looked up and he saw a rainbow-like staircase outside the door, leading to a higher spot.

At the end of the staircase, there was a door about the size of a palm. The door shot out white beams of light. It was clearly the entrance to the second level of the God Advent Tower.

The second floor of the God Advent Tower…

Yi Yun narrowed his eyes. The opportunity on the first level of the God Advent Tower was to let cultivators choose two disk arrays to gain insight on. What was in the second level of the God Advent Tower?

Since he had already obtained the evaluation of “Grandmaster”, he could enter the second level. It was not something that Yi Yun would miss out on.

He had to see what resources each level had before making overall arrangements.

Yi Yun kept the two disk arrays. Alone, he went up the stairs. When he reached the end of the staircase, the scene he saw outside the door to the second level shocked him.

The door to the second level was not very big, but beyond the door, there was a vast world full of desolate lands.

The wide expanse of desolate lands was covered in green grass and black rocks. It stretched out to the horizon.

On the desolate lands, there were fluttering white clouds. As the distance was too great, the clouds seemed to hang low. He could faintly see some unknown desolate beasts flying through the clouds.

“This is the God Advent Tower’s second level?”

Yi Yun was shocked. This looked like another world.

Yi Yun thought it was an illusion, but when he switched to his energy vision, he realized that everything around him was real.

Especially those desolate beasts flying in the sky, from the energy fluctuations emitted by their bodies, they were not puppets powered by energy crystals. They were bodies with real flesh and blood.

Living desolate beasts?

Yi Yun found it unbelievable. There was not a single desolate beast that could survive for so long to the point of surviving from the moment the Great Empress mystic realm was created.

Unless… this world was so wide enough for desolate beasts to thrive in it and produce offspring.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun was inexplicably alarmed. The ancient Great Empress had inserted such a vast world into the God Advent Tower?

Or could it be that the God Advent Tower’s second level door was just a spatial dimensional entrance to another world?

Then where was this world? Was it still the Tian Yuan world?

No matter what means the ancient Great Empress had used, Yi Yun still found it incredible. She really had the ability to reverse heaven and earth.

Yi Yun leaped down from the second level’s entrance. His body moved downwards like a falling star as wind whistled past his ears.

Far into the distance, Yi Yun could see the desolate beasts hiding in the mountains. He suddenly realized that the second level of the God Advent Tower might be a place to train.

Disk arrays were obtained in the first level, and the second level was for him to gain understandings and to cultivate.

And the endless numbers of desolate beasts in the desolate plains were the targets for actual combat.

“What a rich Heaven Earth Yuan Qi!”

When Yi Yun landed, he took a deep breath. He felt every pore on his body open up. It was extremely comfortable.

He surveyed his surroundings. He was currently on a cliff. This cliff was about a thousand feet high. Yi Yun looked down the cliff and he saw clouds gathering below. Halfway up the cliff, there was a rocky cave.

Yi Yun leaped down and in the air, he continuously leveraged his body. Like a soaring eagle, he landed in the rocky cave.

Yi Yun sat cross-legged and he took out the two disk arrays he obtained from the first level and placed them above his two knees.

By injecting energy in them, the scenes in the disk arrays began to slowly appear…

The vast Untraversable Sea and the battle between the azure-clothed swordsman and the black-armored warrior…

Yi Yun stared widely as he looked at the two people above the water surface. The two peerless Great Emperors were equally mysterious and equally powerful.

Yi Yun did not know why they were fighting nor did he know what history was behind it. However, he could tell that the black-armored warrior and the azure-clothed swordsman were not sparring, they were having a life and death battle!

The azure-clothed swordsman seemed to be unconventional and unrestrained, but when he saw the black-armored warrior, the killing intent that he emitted greatly stifled Yi Yun.

A sword attack was enough to cut through the world!

Yi Yun was shocked. Although he had extraordinary understanding of the sword Dao, it was still difficult for him to bear such an impressive sword aura!

Even Lin Xintong would hardly be able to bear it, let alone Yi Yun.

He could not look at the sword beam directly, which made it even impossible for him to figure out the profoundness of the sword attack.

It was a sword attack that far exceeded the realm Yi Yun was in.

Yi Yun’s heartbeat accelerated as his mouth gasped. When the sword beam slashed, he felt as if his chest was being ripped open.

With a thought, Yi Yun took the Pure Yang Sword Palace broken sword out of his interspatial ring.

It was ancient and simple, but it was covered in rust. It was as if it had been buried in the ground for a long time. He even felt like it would fall apart from decay while holding it in his hand.

While holding the broken sword, a trace of coolness spread into Yi Yun’s body from the broken sword.

Yi Yun activated the disk array once again.

This time, Yi Yun was inexplicably more calm.

The azure-clothed swordsman’s earth-shattering attack separated the Untraversable Sea once again. Yi Yun widened his eyes as he constricted his pupils while trying his best to see the profoundness behind the attack.

The sword beam stung his eyes like a needle poke, but even so, Yi Yun continued staring and tried his best to watch it.

He wanted to see the sword profoundness in that sword attack clearly!

476 - : God Advent Tower’s Second Level

CKtalon  CKtalon

The intense sword beam was a thousand times more dazzling than sunlight. Yi Yun’s eyes teared as his eyes turned red. Even the blood vessels around his eyes began to bulge like worms.

The sword scar Yi Yun saw in the Pure Yang Sword Palace slowly started to overlap with the azure-clothed swordsman’s attack. That strong impact left Yi Yun panting.

Slowly, he began to mimic the sword attack in the images, using the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s broken sword.

Before the alliance tournament in the Tai Ah Divine City, Yi Yun had managed to see the memory of the broken sword by chance.

In that memory, he saw the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner battling a bronze giant.

That earth-shattering strike he had seen split apart a world itself, and also beheaded the bronze giant.

However, that scene lacked the sword intent that resided within the attack. Now however, in that disk array, the sword intent of the azure-clothed swordsman still remained. This sword intent began to overlap with the scene from Yi Yun’s memory.

The broken sword emitted a sound like a dragon’s roar, while Yi Yun’s hands trembled. He could hardly control it!

“What a terrifying sword intent!”

This sword intent caused the broken sword to sound out, and it also put Yi Yun’s body under intense pressure.

The other cultivators did not dare choose such a disk array. The main reason was because they could not withstand this pressure.

If Yi Yun did not have the broken sword in hand, and if he had not been previously exposed to the shocking sword scar at the Pure Yang Sword Palace, then he would never have dared to recklessly use his eyes to look at the azure-clothed swordsman’s sword attack. It would have caused him serious injuries.

After watching the disk array’s scenes for nearly an hour, Yi Yun felt that he could no longer take it. The sword intent within the disk array’s images seemed to stab at Yi Yun’s eyes, causing them to burn. If he carried on looking, his eyes would no longer be able to bear it.

Yi Yun kept the disk array. He could not be foolhardy while practicing martial arts. Like a good bow, if it was strung too tightly all the time, the bowstring would eventually snap.

Yi Yun looked up. The entrance into the second level of the God Advent Tower could be seen clearly in the sky.

Locking on to the entrance, Yi Yun suddenly leaped up.

“Peng!”

The rock beneath Yi Yun’s feet collapsed as he soared straight up into the sky like a hawk!

Yi Yun leaped directly up ten thousand feet. Reaching out his hand, he held onto the second level’s entrance and entered it.

As such, Yi Yun returned to the long staircase that led from the first level to the second.

Yi Yun looked up once again. The staircase carried on upwards, all the way to the third level of the God Advent Tower.

The third level of the God Advent Tower was a place only Lin Xintong was qualified to enter.

At that moment, Yi Yun was still unable to enter it. He needed to obtain the recognition of the God Advent Tower.

Then how was the recognition earned?

After gently rubbing his nose tip, Yi Yun strode forward towards the third level of the God Advent Tower.

There were about a few thousands steps from the second level to the third. When Yi Yun covered about a third of the distance, he felt a resistance.

Every step he took would expend a large amount of Yuan Qi.

Very suddenly, Yi Yun felt something locking onto him. Raising his head, he saw an azure-clothed youth standing with his arms crossed not far away. He was blocking the way.

This azure-clothed youth’s looks and body shape looked very similar to Yi Yun’s. It was like a mirror image of Yi Yun.

“Oh?” Yi Yun stopped in his steps.

The azure-clothed youth looked at Yi Yun and, in a deadpan manner, said, “You can enter the third level by defeating me.”

“Defeat you?” Yi Yun smiled, “It looks like I will gain the recognition of the God Advent Tower if I defeat you?

“Saber, sword, spear, halberd. Choose any weapon!” The azure-clothed youth did not answer Yi Yun’s question and only coldly stated the rules.

“Sword.”

With that thought, a sword appeared out of thin air into his hand. This was a weapon formed from energy. It seemed like he was only allowed to use the energy weapon from the God Advent Tower so as to reflect the outcome of his cultivation in this test.

This had little effect on Yi Yun. Even if Yi Yun used the broken sword, he would find it difficult to utilize its true power. He could only do that if he gained insight into the profound sword intent in the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner’s sword attack.

When Yi Yun received the weapon, the azure-clothed youth also received one. He too had a sword in his hand.

Yi Yun was trained in both sword and saber, but he had never dual wielded them before.

Yi Yun was more skilled in the saber. He could use all sorts of different moves with a saber. For the sword however, he only knew a few moves. These moves were all killer moves and extremely powerful. Once they were used, he would expend Yuan Qi extremely fast.

Yi Yun was guessing that this test would not be that easy to pass, so he immediately chose the sword.

With the sword in hand, Yi Yun’s eyes flashed, “Kill!”

Without any restraints, Yi Yun slashed out with his sword. He tried his best to inject the sword intent from the sword tomb from his own understanding, as well as that faint profoundness from the Pure Yang Sword Palace into his sword attack!

This concept seemed to be like that of a god that had graced the lands, showing disdain on all life!

Yi Yun had practiced martial arts for a few years and he had not slacked off for even a day. He had spending most of his time cultivating or practicing the Desolate Heaven technique ever since he came to the Tian Yuan world. When he competed with others, it was a competition in the Desolate Heaven technique. Thus, he had not fought a real battle with weapons for a long time.

Now, Yi Yun wanted to test his own strength.

“Ding!”

The swords clashed. Yi Yun’s deathblow had been blocked by the azure-clothed youth!

The swords sounded out as the azure-clothed youth retreated a step. As his foot hit the ground, it was as if he took root, preventing Yi Yun from making any further progress!

“Two attacks. I will only use two attacks. If you can block them, then you can enter the third level.”

As the azure-clothed youth spoke, his aura exploding from his body. He seemed to suddenly become infinitely tall. He was like a mountain.

“The first attack!”

The azure-clothed youth brandished his sword and slashed forward. His sword seemed to turn into a gigantic sword Qi phantom image that shot out into the sky.

This sword seemed like a rainbow that pierced through the sky, and was surrounded by numerous sword Qi as it slashed at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted as he lifted his sword to meet it!

He knew that this attack was no trifling matter. He had to use all his strength against it.

Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was circulated to an extreme as a sonorous cry was heard immediately after. A three-legged Golden Crow shot out into the sky!

The Golden Crow spread its wings as plumes of flames rose. The staircase from the God Advent Tower’s second floor to third floor immediately became a fiery world of flames.

Yi Yun had conjured his Aspect Totem!

“Boom!”

The two swords clashed and like the collapse of mountains and rivers, Yi Yun’s pure Yang sword Qi collided with the azure-clothed youth’s sword attack.

The azure-clothed youth blurry, azure-colored sword beam far exceeded Yi Yun’s imagination. His pure Yang sword Qi continuously shattered as the azure-clothed youth’s sword Qi remained intact as it came at Yi Yun without any resistance!

Yi Yun could no longer dodge, so he lifted his sword to block it.

“Peng!”

Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi exploded as his body was sent flying backward. He felt as if he had been hit by a large mountain. Feeling tightness in his chest, he spat a mouthful of blood.

Yi Yun flew backward a thousand feet before landing about a thousand steps below. Leaning against the sword, he managed to stabilize his body.

So powerful!

A tinge of horror flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes as he looked over at the azure-clothed youth in the distance.

After he was injured by that attack, his blood was chaotic and his organs seemed misplaced.

The azure-clothed youth stood upright with his sword in hand. Although he was a figure formed from energy, he seemed to have intelligence. As he looked at Yi Yun, his eyes seemed to be one of surprise. It seemed like he was surprised with Yi Yun’s strength.

He pondered before lightly saying, “It can be considered as you blocking this attack!”

According to the Great Empress mystic realm’s rules, as long as he did not collapse, he would considered to have passed. He would then obtain the recognition of the God Advent Tower.

“Next will be the second strike! If you can still stand, then you can enter the third level!”

The azure-clothed youth raised his sword and was intending to attack again. However, Yi Yun shook his head. After some moments of silence, he turned to walk to the second level entrance of the God Advent Tower.

He had been seriously injured by the sword Qi from the previous strike, resulting in spitting a mouthful of blood, so how could he block the next strike?

The second attack was most likely even more powerful. Yi Yun did not have confidence in being able to withstand it. And even if he did, it would be meaningless. Would he really be considered to have passed if he barely made it through suffering serious injuries and being durable?

This was not what Yi Yun wanted. He wanted to pass perfectly!

“I will challenge you again in ten days!”

After saying that, Yi Yun leaped and jumped down from the second level entrance of the God Advent Tower!

…

While Yi Yun was fighting the azure-clothed youth, there was another person also challenging his limits in another confined space on the first level of the God Advent Tower.

He was Shentu Nantian.

Yi Yun was challenging his own combat limits, while Shentu Nantian was challenging the limits to his cultivation.

477 - : The Third Level’s Test

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shentu Nantian had already been in this confined space for a day and night, but he still remained in meditation.

Cultivation was not something that could be rushed. To become a peerless Great Emperor, not only did one need extraordinary talent and fated luck, one also needed to have the mindset to harden oneself.

Before reading an ancient supreme martial art work, one need a bath and incense. This was not some useless ritual but to condition one’s mind to its optimal state.

Shentu Nantian was doing exactly that right now.

As Shentu Nantian entered an ethereal state, he opened his eyes and slammed down with one hand as the black disk array floated in the air and began to slowly rotate.

Injecting his energy inside, the images within the disk array immediately appeared.

The huge roc appeared and following that the black-armored warrior stabbed with his lance while riding the nightmare beast!

Seeing this lance appear, Shentu Nantian’s pupils constricted. He felt like there was an invisible hand pinching his heart, causing it to stop beating. He felt his blood stagnate!

“Endure, I must endure!”

Shentu Nantian said to himself in his heart.

His head was covered in sweat as he grit his teeth and clenched his fists. His fingernails stabbed into his palms, causing them to bleed.

Just watching the disk array itself might have been the Great Empress mystic realm’s test of a cultivator’s courage.

Shentu Nantian was aspiring to become a peerless Great Emperor. This aspiration needed the support of great courage.

The things that appeared out of a small disk array were just illusions and phantom images. So what?

“Ah!”

Shentu Nantian roared while facing the sky. His Yuan Qi was circulated to an extreme as the blood vessels on his neck bulged. His eyes were also injured by the lance beam, and blood flooded out from the corner of his eyes!

However, when the lance pierced through the void and into the large roc’s body, Shentu Nantian could no longer withstand the immense pressure and spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Peng!”

Shentu Nantian’s body was flung backward as he slammed heavily onto a wall.

He wiped the blood of the corner of his mouth as his face was pale as a sheet of paper.

In what was just about 30 seconds, it was as if he had experienced an intense battle. Not only had he been greatly drained, he had also suffered serious injuries.

However, he had not been able to see anything in the disk array’s images clearly.

Without being able to see anything clearly, it would be even more difficult to talk about gaining insight into it.

Shentu Nantian took a deep breath and retrieved a healing relic from his interspatial ring as he began to regulate his breathing.

If there was a will, there was a way. The path of martial arts was to open up a new path out of the void when one reached a dead end.

This process would be met with endless dangers, difficulties and restrictions. Only by hacking through thorns and thistles and charging ahead without fear would one succeed.

This required great perseverance, great fated luck as well as unparalleled talent. If not, with the billions of warriors in this world, why had there only been a handful of peerless Great Emperors since ancient times?

Shentu Nantian reminded himself of this as his mind began to calm down.

“I will climb to the peak of martial arts. What is this tiny bit of difficulty?”

After Shentu Nantian slightly recovered, he picked up the black disk array once again…

…

As the passage of time flowed, day after day, people from the various large factions were waiting outside the Great Empress mystic realm in the raging sea tide.

Those Elders who had entered the Great Empress mystic realm to search for treasures came back out tens of days ago.

They had thought that the Great Empress mystic realm’s trials would last from slightly more than ten days to a month, but two months had already passed. Yet, there was still no sign of this bunch of most outstanding elites.

This made the elders of several family clans worry.

“The Great Empress mystic realm’s second round is to test one’s cultivation speed. Who knows how long they will be cultivating…”

Matriarch Lin was unable to feel relaxed as she stared at the entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm.

Previously, when Lin Yu and company were eliminated, they mentioned the real content of the second trial when they came out. It was a test of cultivation.

When warriors cultivate, a year was considered short, and three to five years was also not considered to be long.

During this period, they had to wait here. If not, when the juniors came out, without mighty personnel receiving them, then they might be torn to pieces by the God Burial Abyss’s swirling.

The gigantic vortex was something even the Elders from the various large family clans did not find it easy to withstand.

Ten days or so was fine, but to last for two months with the continuous tearing force of the swirling, that would be a major test of their endurance and temper.

Some people even decided to set up an array on the seabed so as to supplement them in enduring the pressure.

There were some younger Elders who treated the wait in the God Burial Abyss as a form of cultivation. They used the vortex’s pressure as a way to temper their Yuan Qi.

However, slowly, even they could not endure this any further. This was because the God Burial Abyss’s vortex was becoming more terrifying. The vortex’s tearing force was increasing in strength!

In each large family clan, several Grand Elders joined forces to take turns to power the array so as to withstand the tremendous pressure.

Now, two and half months had passed. The end to the Great Empress mystic realm’s trials seemed far and distant. This worried many of the family clan’s Elders.

According to the trend, in another two or three months time, the God Burial Abyss’s tearing force would reach a level so strong that the Grand Elders from the various factions would not be able to withstand it.

It the juniors who were in the trials still did not come out by then, then they would have no choice but to leave the God Burial Abyss.

And when that happened, the juniors from the various factions would be sucked into the God Burial Abyss upon being sent out of the Great Empress mystic realm, resulting in them being smashed to pieces!

Those that were still within the Great Empress mystic realm were the top elites from every large faction. Once they were lost, it would be a heavy blow to all the factions present.

Now, some of the factions were beginning to regret this endeavor. If they knew about this earlier, they would not have brought their juniors to participate in this Great Empress mystic realm expedition.

Time passed as another few days went by. Every day, there were Elders from various factions looking anxiously at the Great Empress mystic realm entrance. They were waiting for the juniors from their factions to appear.

Now, they no longer wished for their juniors to have any outstanding performances. They only wished that they would be eliminated early.

In the Li Fire Sect camp, an outer sect Elder, who looked much younger, was standing by the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance. He was waiting to receive Gongsun Hong. He was Gongsun Hong’s uncle. For his family to finally produce such a good seedling, it was not acceptable to have Gongsun Hong die in such a muddleheaded fashion.

As he was on tenterhooks, he inadvertently happened to glance at the huge black vortex in the God Burial Abyss. However, this glance made him feel like he was struck by a bolt of lightning. He was completely stunned!

What… What was going on?

Separated by layers, that young Elder saw an unforgettable scene!

The dark and distant God Burial Abyss was half buried in the bottom of the sea. A huge hemisphere was exposed. It was a black hole which was also the location of the black whirlpool.

However, at that moment, on that distant and black hemisphere with a diameters of tens of thousands of kilometers… a huge eye covered in a black vortex had silently appeared!

Or it could be said that the black vortex that was tens of thousands of kilometers wide had turned into an eye!

It was like the eye of a beast. The eye was amber in color with a spindle-shaped vertical pupil. At the moment he saw the eye, that young Elder’s heart stopped beating. It was as if his soul had frozen.

He completely lost the ability to think. An eye had filled the entire black vortex?

What… is that thing?

478 - : God Burial Abyss’ Shocking Change

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the young Elder was looking at the huge eye in the black vortex, the other Elders from the other factions had also sensed the change in atmosphere.

As they looked at the God Burial Abyss one by one, all of them seemed to turn into floating spirits, as they lost their ability to react.

The indescribable scene was shocking. The huge eye that was tens of thousands of kilometers wide spanned the entire God Burial Abyss. It had appeared out of the blue and it did not cause anything strange, but it was this weird feeling that made them feel strange.

On the seabed, the place that the Elders from the various factions were standing in seemed to turn into a graveyard.

They stood there like haphazardly arranged tombstones.

They felt their bodies’ Yuan Qi stagnate as they were locked on to by that eye that was as black as the endless starry night. Their souls were also frozen. They could not even move a single muscles!

What sort of eye was it? It was cold, vast and it seemed to be an eye of the Heavens that belittled every living thing in the world.

As the people looked at it, they felt their tinyness come out of the bottom of their hearts. They were one of the strongest figures in the Tian Yuan world and they were able to do formidable tasks, but now, against this mysterious and terrifying existence, they felt like they were no different to ants.

The eye remained for about thirty seconds before it slowly disappeared.

The faces of all the Elders present were as pale as a sheet. They felt as if they had died once after being stared at by the gigantic eye for thirty seconds.

The terrifying eye seemed to see through their souls.

What was that thing?”

They had hardly recovered from the shock. When they faced the gigantic eye, they really felt that they were helpless against it. It seemed like if the eye wished, it could have killed all of them.

“It should have been an illusion, or it might be a projection of an eye. It can’t be a real eye. If there was such a big eye, how big would its body be? It could probably be as big as the Tian Yuan world!”

The Tian Yuan world was immensely vast. It was unbelievable for a living thing to be the size of the Tian Yuan world.

If it was just a projection of an eye, they could still fathom it.

But even if it was a projection, the terrifying existence hidden in the God Burial Abyss still made many of the Elders from the various factions shudder with fear.

After all these years, nothing was heard from anyone who entered the God Burial Abyss. They had all disappeared. It could even be the case that they were killed by that eye!

For such a terrifying existence which was hiding not far from them, it made them extremely afraid. If that sort of existence came out, would they all die here?

Besides, the black vortex’s tearing force was growing stronger. This made the Elders worry even more that if the God Burial Abyss had an unexpected event, they would no doubt be greatly endangered.

…

At that moment, on a cliff in the second level of the God Advent Tower, Yi Yun was sitting cross-legged. In front of him, there was a crystalline relic floating in midair. This relic was the one Yi Yun had obtained in the first trial after killing the ancient desolate beast.

There was a total of two ancient relics. Yi Yun had kept both of them and now, as he was cultivating in the God Advent Tower, it was perfect for him to use the ancient relics.

Yi Yun’s spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal as he absorbed the pure Yuan Qi inside the relic constantly.

Now, Yi Yun’s body was a pure Yang body. After undergoing repeated marrow cleansings, and with the transformation of the pure Yang Qi, Yi Yun really felt that he was slowly being reborn. His body was already extremely compatible with energy.

The energies in these ancient relics spread throughout Yi Yun’s body without any resistance. It gathered in his dantian and accumulated together.

The dantian laid the foundation of the Yuan Foundation realm, while the Dao Seed was planted on the Yuan Foundation. Yi Yun’s Yuan Foundation realm had improved again.

Feeling the Yuan Qi in his body being abundant, to the point of flooding, it was like it would gush out at any moment. Yi Yun slammed his hand and the disk array immediately floated up. The battle scenes of the black lanced warrior and the azure-clothed swordsman appeared once again.

Over the months, if he only cultivated, Yi Yun would find it difficult to defeat the azure-clothed youth. He needed to gain more insight from that sword attack,

Sou! The azure beam flashed as it appeared again. The broken sword that was placed across Yi Yun’s lap also immediately emitted a dull buzz. The sword trembled as it used Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi to surge.

With the ancient relic’s energy support, Yi Yun did not blink once. Previously, he could last for an hour, but now, Yi Yun did not even know how long he had been watching it.

The scenes from the disk array with the azure-clothed swordsman using the sword attack filled his eyes. In his mind, the terrifying sword scar at the Pure Yang Sword Palace once again appeared as it slowly merged with the azure-clothed swordsman’s sword attack.

Yi Yun involuntarily grabbed the broken sword and began brandishing it. However, this time, he could not brandish it properly. It was extremely difficult, as if something was preventing him from brandishing it.

This was because his insight into the sword intent was not deep enough, and his understanding of the sword Dao was not complete.

These things formed a membrane causing the brandishing of the sword to be at best, have a inkling of that sword attack. However, it still failed to come close to the essence.

“Hahahaha!” The azure-clothed swordsman laughed recklessly as the voice was emitted from the images.

Seeing the azure-clothed swordsman laugh, Yi Yun recalled the words left behind on the Seven Kills Stone Pillar at the Pure Yang Sword Palace by its owner. Those seven “Kill” words were startling!

“Establishing the Seven Kills Stone Pillar, announcing my will! Waiting for the future, when the heavens collapse, the non-existence of the universe, me as the world, control over life and death, destroying the cycle of reincarnation, obtaining the souls of everything, casting my sword, spilling my immortal blood, to slaughter all evil demons! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!”

Yi Yun remembered the words engraved on the stone pillar at the Pure Yang Sword Palace clearly.

Every word and their strokes contained a concept to it. Yi Yun’s memory of them was still fresh.

Yi Yun replayed the scenes in his mind repeatedly. It was as if he had gained some enlightenment from it.

One of the Dao of the sword, following one’s heart, following one’s character!

It was different from the Dao of the saber. It was lacking in killing and the momentum of advancing courageously, and it had more of one’s original character and heart.

The sword attack from the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner and the azure-clothed swordsman came from their hearts.

The azure-clothed swordsman was unconventional and unrestrained, while the killing intent engraved on the Seven Kills Stone Pillar by the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner contained infinite hate to the point of destroying all of existence.

All of these were the original intents in the hearts of the azure-clothed swordsman and the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner!

Their killing intent and their insight of the martial path and even their characters were embedded in the sword attack. It could be said that the sword attack contained their lives as well as their understanding of martial arts.

Yi Yun placed the broken sword on his lap and he began to recall his own life in his mind.

Having just transported into the Cloud Wilderness, he began cultivating after discovering the Purple Crystal. He met Lin Xintong at night. He had outstanding performance at the Divine Kingdom’s selection, and he saw Jiang Xiaorou being taken away as well as him being imprisoned…

There were all sorts of experiences having come to this world as they appeared in Yi Yun’s eyes. There was joy and sadness, as well as the insights he had gained from learning martial arts.

This process carried on for an unknown length of time when Yi Yun’s eyes suddenly flashed as he leaped up and slashed with the broken sword in his hand!

This sword attack was accompanied by him crying out loud. It was as if it was released along with all his thoughts in his mind, as he ruthlessly slashed forward!

At that instance, there was brilliance!

Cha!

A terrifying sword beam appeared above the lands as if a god’s sword had split the land apart!

The rocks and mud crumbled for this strike’s aura was indomitable. The sword beam was blinding and it extended into the horizons, leaving behind an astonishing huge sword scar!

This sword mark was like a deep ravine, permanently scarring the land.

At that instant, Yi Yun felt that the membrane that had accompanied the strike had been torn apart!

Yi Yun looked at the huge sword scar in front of his eyes as they twinkled with excitement.

“I’ve succeeded!”

He had finally been able to reproduce some of the profound charm behind this sword attack. Just this strike alone was enough for him to stand his ground in the Tian Yuan world!

Yi Yun took a deep breath as he looked at the entrance to the God Advent Tower.

Leaping up, the rock beneath Yi Yun’s feet collapsed as he leaped ten thousand feet onto the entrance of the second level of the God Advent Tower. Again, he proceeded forward on the staircase leading to the third level of the God Advent Tower.

As he strode forward, his heart was burning with fighting spirit.

After covering a third of the staircase, the azure-clothed youth appeared once again to block his path.

He stood upright with a sword in hand on a high spot on the staircase, looking down on Yi Yun.

“You came again?” The azure-clothed youth said lightly.

The corners of Yi Yun’s lips suffused a smile as he calmly said, “Make your move!”

479 - : Understanding Swords

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing Yi Yun unsheath his sword, the azure-clothed youth chuckled, “You managed to handle my two attacks several days ago. You could have entered the third level back then, but you chose not to. Instead, you have coming again and again to challenge me. What is that for?”

“Handle your attacks?” Yi Yun shook his head, “It is at most being able to withstand your attacks, and not handle them. In this Great Empress mystic realm, you are like my shadow. A portion of your sword Dao comes from me, so you are like my mirror. With you, I can also see my own flaws.”

As Yi Yun spoke, his aura expanded. Seeing this scene, the azure-clothed youth looked taken-aback. Having not seen Yi Yun for two days, he could feel that Yi Yun’s aura had a tiny change. It seemed to contain an indescribable sharpness.

“You aren’t satisfied handling two of my sword attacks? Could it be that you want to defeat me?”

Hearing the azure-clothed youth’s words, Yi Yun laughed, “Why shouldn’t I try?”

As he spoke, a clear cry was heard from within Yi Yun’s body. A flaming Golden Crow shot up into the sky and appeared behind Yi Yun. It looked like an ancient fire-elemental tribe’s totem.

“Defeat me?” The azure-clothed youth’s eyes flashed. In the God Advent Tower, being able to barely withstand every level’s test was not easy, yet Yi Yun wanted to defeat him? Such ambition alarmed him,

“Interesting! Then come! Let me see your ability!”

The azure-clothed youth attacked. It was the same two attacks. The tests the other cultivators were experiencing were the same too. They all faced the same respective two attacks.

However, these two attacks had given numerous young geniuses a crushing defeat.

“The first attack!”

Flipping his blade, the azure-clothed youth sent out a golden sword Qi.

This sword Qi was extremely swift and fierce even making an ear-piercing sound as it passed through the staircase of the God Advent Tower covering it in a golden sheen!

Facing this attack, Yi Yun held his breath and focused. In his eyes, that attack seemed to suddenly slow down.

Yi Yun knew very well that this attack’s momentum was terrifying. It came from the powerful energy the azure-clothed youth had.

However, even so, this sword attack lacked a certain profound charm.

Compared to the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner or the azure-clothed man who wore a wine gourd on his back, their sword attacks were completely different from the azure-clothed youth. Their sword attacks contained their heart of the sword. It was their life experiences as well as manifestation of their own characters.

As for the azure-clothed youth in front of him, he was like a reflection of Yi Yun. Even though he had intelligence and could chat with Yi Yun, he was only an illusion formed from energy.

His sword attack lacked a certain trace of profundity. This caused his sword to lack a certain charm.

Such a sword attack was strong, but it was not terrifying.

Upon understanding this, Yi Yun retreated as the Golden Crow behind me let out a long cry as it charged towards the azure-clothed youth’s sword beam!

“Oh? You aren’t using your sword!?”

The azure-clothed youth was shocked. Against his first attack, Yi Yun did not slash out despite holding a sword in hand. Yi Yun was only using his Aspect Totem to block the sword attack.

“Presumptuous!”

The azure-clothed youth changed his attack trajectory as it slashed through the void and directly hit the Golden Crow’s body!

The Golden Crow spread its wings. Its wings were as sharp as blades as it impacted the azure-clothed youth’s sword beam.

“Boom!”

A strong wind blew as golden energy beams were sent out flying in all directions like sharp swords. It caused the stone pillars of the God Advent Tower to rumble.

A startling wound appeared on Yi Yun’s Golden Crow Totem’s chest. Its feathers were in a mess as if it was seriously injured.

However, the Aspect Totem was just a condensation of energy and laws. Under the continuous provision of pure Yang energy from Yi Yun’s body, the Golden Crow Totem’s wounds slowly began to recover.

As long as Yi Yun was not lacking in energy, the Golden Crow Totem was like an undying phoenix. It could be revived continuously.

“Xiao!”

The Golden Crow gave a long cry as it spread its wings and flew up into the sky. With that Yi Yun sprung up and sword’s blade faced the sky as he slashed!

“Oh? He really blocked it!?”

The azure-clothed youth was alarmed. However, he was just an energy-based lifeform. He did not have any fear. Flipping his sword’s blade again, he slashed out his second attack.

This strike had an even more terrifying momentum. All the energy within his body was injected into that attack. The sword beam shot towards the horizon as if a galaxy was falling down from the skies!

This sword beam rushed towards Yi Yun with an indomitable momentum!

At that moment, Yi Yun’s blood was rushing. His fighting spirit was burning and it spewed up like a volcano. He clenched the sword tightly as he slashed downwards!

His beliefs and intentions were all injected into the sword, causing his sword to have a soul to it!

“Boom!”

Two sword beams clashed violently as the sword beams shattered. Like countless arrows shooting out, it caused the void to tremble.

Under this intense strike, Yi Yun’s palm tore as blood splattered. A strong sword Qi stabbed into his protective Yuan Qi causing all his meridians to be injured. His organs also suffered a pain similar to that of being stabbed by needles.

His body was also injured by the shattered sword Qi. His clothes were torn and numerous wounds appeared underneath each tear.

However, at that moment, the sword in Yi Yun’s hands continued moving amongst the sword beams as it moved straight towards the middle of the azure-clothed youth’s eyebrows!

The sword tip pierced through skin and golden energy flowed out like spewed blood.

Yi Yun and his sword had charged straight before the azure-clothed youth after he endured the shattered sword beams!

This attack had defeated the guardian of the God Advent Tower’s third level!

“You have won.” The azure-clothed youth said lightly. “To be able to defeat me, you are not only at the rank of ‘Grandmaster’. For this trial, your results are brilliant.”

After the azure-clothed youth said that, his body exploded with a “Peng”.

He transformed into uncountable light drops of golden rain. In this rain of light, a golden ancient relic appeared like a dropping gem.

Yi Yun caught the ancient relic. This ancient relic was completely crystal clear. Compared to the one he obtained from the ancient desolate beast previously, the quality was even better.

This secretly shocked Yi Yun. The Great Empress mystic realm was a super treasure land. Ignoring the heritage, cultivation techniques, mystic techniques and manuals within the Great Empress mystic realm, the ancient relics that were used to maintain the energy puppets was a huge amount of wealth in itself.

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun felt anticipation. He clenched his fists as he headed towards the third level of the God Advent Tower.

He had previously obtained the rights to enter the third level of the God Advent Tower, but only now did he really choose to step through it.

The moment Yi Yun raised his foot, a beautiful light beam shot down from the sky onto his body.

This light beam was warm and seemed familiar. With a thought, Yi Yun immediately realized that this…was the Empyrean Mark’s light beam. He had once again obtained Empyrean Marks.

He had obtained the reward of Empyrean Marks after defeating the third level’s guardian. However, Yi Yun did not know how many he would obtain.

480 - : Breaking past the Guardian

CKtalon  CKtalon

The light beam shooting down from the sky grew more intense. As the light beam entered the skin on Yi Yun’s arm, the Empyrean Mark slowly began to appear.

One after another beautiful scales like those of a dragon appeared.

These dragon scales condensed and became denser. Yi Yun’s skin began to feel slightly numb and painful, but it felt comfortable.

After the light beam disappeared, Yi Yun made a simple count. Defeating the guardian of the third level had given him 18 Empyrean Marks in one go. Added to the 37 Empyrean Marks from before, Yi Yun now had a total of 55 Empyrean Marks.

Seeing the Empyrean Marks on his arm, Yi Yun sighed.

When he had managed to withstand the attacks of the third level’s guardian, he did not receive a single Empyrean Mark. However, by defeating it, he had obtained 18 Empyrean Marks.

55 Empyrean Marks was a number that left Shentu Nantian and company in the dust when they first entered the Great Empress mystic realm. It sounded like a lot, but Yi Yun knew that he had obtained so many because he had completely met the Great Empress’ requirements, whereas Shentu Nantian and company were too lacking.

His trials were not all done perfectly. At best, it could be said that he had fulfilled the Great Empress mystic realm’s rules at certain times.

As such, when he finally entered the final treasure vault of the Great Empress mystic realm, the number of Empyrean Marks he had was probably insufficient.

His road ahead was still long.

The God Advent Tower was likely the most important part of these trials. It was also where the opportunities were.

Yi Yun made a decision that he would put in his best effort on this path to attain perfection. Only then could he gain the recognition of the ancient Great Empress.

Yi Yun moved forward slowly on the staircase before reaching the third level of the God Advent Tower.

Yi Yun looked inside through the door to the third level

The third level of the God Advent Tower was a sealed grand hall.

“The first level was a grand hall, the second level was a vast desolate world, while the third level changed back into a grand hall…”

Yi Yun lightly faltered as he stepped through the door.

He surveyed his surroundings, hoping to see Lin Xintong. However, the third level’s grand hall was empty. Lin Xintong was nowhere to be found.

From the circumstances, either Lin Xintong had left the third level or the third level of the God Advent Tower was isolated individually. In here, everyone would only see themselves and not meet each other.

The grand hall of the third level was not as opulent as the first level’s. In contrast, it had a solemn feeling to it.

The grand hall’s floor tiles seemed to be made of the same material as the square outside the tower. The tiles were made from a stone that was black like ink. Stepping upon them made him feel a surge of blood Qi coming towards him.

Yi Yun circled around a few pillars. In the center of the grand hall hung a painting.

This painting was hung on a granite wall. After such a long period of time, the paper had already begun to turn yellow. However, the person in the picture remained clear and distinguishable.

Upon seeing the picture clearly, Yi Yun was stunned, “This is…”

The man in the picture was sitting on the ground, with his back leaning against a tree. One of his legs was straight while the other was arched like a bridge.

His left elbow was placed on the raised knee, and his right hand was holding a wine gourd. He was gulping down wine. Beside him, his sword was stabbed into the ground diagonally. The blade of the sword was even stained with blood.

This picture was drawn roughly. The way the strokes were drawn made it seem like it was by an art master in an unrestrained manner after he was drunk. It was drawn wilfully in one go after dabbing into ink.

Seeing this painting, Yi Yun could not tell what was on his own mind.

The azure-clothed man in the picture was the azure-clothed swordsman who had fought the black-armored warrior in the disk array images he watched previously.

The sword blade was stained with blood, proving that the azure-clothed swordsman had just undergone a huge battle. He was very likely to have killed his enemy.

And following that, he was in no way concerned about the large battle that he had just experienced. Instead, he sat alone on the grass plains leaning against a tree. He watched the wilderness and began drinking, quick to settle grudges.

What sort of unconventional and unrestrained life was this?

Yi Yun stopped before the picture and looked at it for a long while. He had chosen the disk array with the scenes of the azure-clothed swordsman in the first level, and now he had seen the azure-clothed swordsman’s picture on the third level of the God Advent Tower.

Was this a coincidence, or was it due to him choosing the azure-clothed swordsman’s disk array that resulted in seeing this painting?

Yi Yun could not figure it out. The Great Empress mystic realm contained all sorts of mysteries.

Ignoring the ancient Great Empress’s impressive methods, just the way she thought and the planning she put into the mystic realm alarmed him.

“This picture might be useful to my understanding of the sword…”

Yi Yun rubbed his chin. He decided to stop looking at the picture temporarily. He proceeded behind the granite wall and here he saw a row of bookshelves.

The ancient wooden bookshelf remained standing after so many years. It seemed to have witnessed the long history of the Great Empress mystic realm.

Yi Yun walked before the bookshelf and saw rows of sealed jade scrolls on the bookshelf.

He randomly choose one and sank his perception into it. Inside the jade scroll were extremely ancient words. The complicated strokes made them seem very obscure.

“Green Water Sutra!”

Yi Yun saw three words the moment he opened the first jade scroll.

Was this a cultivation technique manual?

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed. The Green Water Sutra sounded like a name of a water-elemental based cultivation technique. Could it be that all the jade scrolls on the bookshelf were manuals of cultivation techniques?

Yi Yun picked up a few other jade scrolls.

“Leisure Sword Sutra”!

“Spiritual Invisibility Mystic Book”!

“Star Gathering Manual”!

Every jade scroll had the name of a cultivation technique. Some of them were movement techniques, attacking moves and other sorts of manuals.

The ancient Great Empress had left her cultivation techniques in the third level of the God Advent Tower?

Yi Yun suddenly had such a thought. At that moment, the Great Empress mystic realm’s cold voice echoed once again, “You have four hours to choose any two manuals! After that, the granite walls will be sealed shut!”

Four hours!

Yi Yun was dismayed. It was too short.

It was barely fine with an hour to choose disk arrays. Just by watching the images in the disk arrays, he was able to decide if he could withstand the pressure from the images. He was also able to affirm that the things in the images was something suitable for him to cultivate.

However…for choosing manuals, it was no easy task.

He needed to read at least half of each manual to decide if it was suitable for himself. As for knowing if he could master it, he had to read the second half of the manual to know the difficulty.

And each of these manuals was abstruse. To understand even a single scroll was not easy.

“Just to choose a manual in the Great Empress mystic realm is a form of challenge and test. How is it possible to finish reading so many manuals in four hours?”

Yi Yun frowned. However, as the rules were set by the ancient Great Empress, he had to abide by them.

With only four hours, he quickly picked up the jade scrolls and browsed through their contents.

If the manual contained a clear bias towards a law like the five-elemental laws or natural laws, they were immediately abandoned by Yi Yun.

He cultivated the pure Yang laws. Since the laws were not a match, there was nothing worth reading.

If the weapon was not right, he didn’t read it!

If the cultivation technique itself was not profound enough, he didn’t read it!

If the content was too short, he didn’t read it!

There were too many cultivation techniques, so to increase his selection speed, he could only use such a rough heuristic as a filter. Maybe some cultivation techniques might be short in content, but they were equally profound, however, Yi Yun could not care about that.

He had already used up two hours, yet, he had yet to find a cultivation technique suitable for himself.

Seeing that he still had more than half of the cultivation techniques left, Yi Yun had no choice by to increase his speed further.

This test was indeed tiring.

It tested a cultivator’s eyesight, distinguishing ability, analyzing ability and perceptivity!

A cultivator’s ability to cultivate well could also be seen from being able to speed read a manual.

Yi Yun began to read faster and faster. The abstruse words seemed to flash past Yi Yun’s mind, while he began to choose what was most suitable for himself.

Every manual he saw, be it whether they were suitable or not, or whether Yi Yun decided to choose it or not, its location and rough contents were remembered by Yi Yun.

This made it easy for him to make a choice later. This was also a great test on Yi Yun’s memory.

Another thirty minutes past, as the deadline approached. There was slightly more than an hour left.

Yi Yun’s forehead began to sweat. The Great Empress mystic realm’s collection was too rich. There was almost nothing lacking.

Ever since Yi Yun came to the Tian Yuan world, he had come into contact with some cultivation technique manuals of the Tian Yuan world. He felt that many of the manuals the large factions of the Tian Yuan world used were related to the manuals from ancient times. They were probably even developed from these manuals.

There were some cultivation technique manuals which was much more superior to the copy spreading in Tian Yuan world.

This might have been because after being passed down over so many years, the cultivation technique manuals began to become incomplete or lost.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun read with greater focus.

Another thirty minutes past, leaving an hour.

Yi Yun did not spend the time to wipe his sweat. He still had a quarter of the manuals he had not read. He had a good grasp of time, so he could probably finish reading all the manuals before the time was all.

And at that moment, when Yi Yun picked up a blood-red jade scroll, his hands suddenly froze.

“Oh? This is…”

Yi Yun was alarmed. This jade scroll did not record a cultivation techniques or a set of moves, but was an Aspect Totem mystic technique. It was a required mystic technique that warriors used to condense their Aspect Totem.

However, there was nothing too alarming about it except its name. It happened to be the “Myriad Beast Totem”!

481 - : Third Level of the God Advent Tower

CKtalon  CKtalon

Back in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, Yi Yun found a remnant ancient copy in the best library in the Tai Ah Divine City. The first page of the ancient remnant was similar to the first part of the jade scroll in front of him.

In the Tai Ah Divine City’s library, the “Myriad Beast Totem” was only a thin twelve page book, but now, the amount of content in the jade scroll had increased by tens of times.

“So many!?”

Yi Yun gasped. He knew how powerful the “Myriad Beast Totem” was. After he cultivated the “Myriad Beast Totem”, he had killed a Golden Crow species, resulting in him being able to conjure a Golden Crow Aspect Totem from then on.

The Golden Crow Aspect Totem was extremely powerful. It helped Yi Yun defeat the number one genius in the Yun Long Divine Kingdom, Bai, while he was still in the Purple Blood realm, allowing him to obtain first place in the alliance tournament.

The Golden Crow Aspect Totem came from the “Myriad Beast Totem”.

The remnant copy of the “Myriad Beast Totem” was already so powerful. With the complete version having a lot more content than the remnant “Myriad Beast Totem”, how powerful would it become?

Yi Yun only pondered over it for a few seconds before keeping the “Myriad Beast Totem”.

For the Great Empress mystic realm to have the “Myriad Beast Totem”, it seemed like a coincidence, but it was also no coincidence at all.

The “Myriad Beast Totem” remnant in the Tai Ah Divine City was an original ancient remnant copy, so it wouldn’t be a surprise for it to come from the same period as the ancient Great Empress.

In the Great Empress mystic realm left behind by the ancient Great Empress, there were all sorts of cultivation technique manuals stored in it. Having one “Myriad Beast Totem” scroll was reasonable.

Besides, when he saw the disk array images from before, which had the azure-clothed swordsman with the wine gourd on his back demonstrating his sword intent that looked so similar to the terrifying sword scar at the Pure Yang Sword Palace, Yi Yun suspected that the Great Empress mystic realm was closely related to Fallen Star Gate.

And the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had established itself near Fallen Star Gate.

When the country was established, for the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family to find remnant copies of cultivation techniques that the ancient Great Empress had also found in nearby ancient ruins was also nothing surprising.

Regardless, Yi Yun had definitely chosen this “Myriad Beast Totem”.

Following that, with slightly less than an hour left, Yi Yun sped up and finished browsing through all the cultivation techniques on the shelves.

At the final moment, a manual caught Yi Yun’s eye.

It was a movement technique manual.

Typically, the value of movement technique manuals were not comparable to cultivation technique manuals or Totem mystic technique manuals. They were even worse than attacking moves.

However, Yi Yun still chose a set of movement technique manuals, as they had a strong relation with the cultivation techniques Yi Yun learned. Mastering it would be double the results with half the effort.

The collection in the Great Empress mystic realm was complete in all sorts of varieties. Yi Yun never expected to find manuals so suitable for himself.

The movement technique’s opening page was an introduction to the manual. It was also this introduction that caught Yi Yun’s eye.

This manual was not created by a person from a world in which the Tian Yuan world resided. He came from a foreign world.

The person who created this manual was sitting quietly in the mountains one night when he suddenly saw a Golden Crow fly across the sky.

At the moment the Golden Crow appeared, what was dark night became bright day. The radiant moon that was hanging in the sky became like the flaring sun, high up in the sky.

In a blink of an eye, the Golden Crow covered thousands of kilometers in the sky before breaking through the void and disappearing.

After that, the bright day lasted for two hours before the brightness slowly dissipated. The Sun in the middle of the sky also became a moon once again.

This scene gave the foreign world expert a lot of insight. As a result, he reclused himself for many years before creating this set of movement techniques, calling it “Golden Crow Sun Shift”.

Pure Yang-elemental based movement technique manuals were rarely seen. This movement technique could be said to be tailored made for Yi Yun.

This made Yi Yun sigh from the bottom of his heart. The collection of the ancient Great Empress was too abundant. There were hundreds of manuals and a large number of warriors would be able to find something that was suitable for themselves.

With two manuals in hand, the time was up.

At that moment, a faint beam scattered down from the top of the God Advent Tower. As the bookshelf was covered in the light, and it slowly disappeared.

Yi Yun knew that it was being hidden by an illusion array.

With two manuals in hand, Yi Yun was exceedingly gratified. There was no need to talk about the “Myriad Beast Totem”. The “Golden Crow Sun Shift” could be said to be timely. Yi Yun’s movement techniques were currently not considered to be outstanding. Previously, with the large success stage of Minute Subtlety, no one at the same cultivation realm could surpass him in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. However, Minute Subtlety was just a trick and it was weaker than laws.

Now, with the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” filling the deficit, Yi Yun’s movement would increase once again.

Yi Yun left the third level of the God Advent Tower. He did not challenge the fourth level and instead, he returned to the second level of the God Advent Tower.

The second level of the God Advent Tower was a vast and desolate world.

There were large numbers of desolate beasts inside which could provide him with actual combat, and cultivation.

In the beginning, Yi Yun only used the second level to gain insight into sword Dao, and he did not deeply investigate the world, so he did not fully utilize the second level of the God Advent Tower. However, now was the best time to do so.

…

When Yi Yun had entered the third level of the God Advent Tower to choose his cultivation technique manuals, many people were still working hard to enter the second level of the God Advent Tower.

The difficulty of going from the first level to the second level was not fixed. The older the cultivator was, the harder the test they faced.

Different people faced different tests. What they saw was completely different.

The God Advent Tower was unique to everyone. If 10,000 people came in, they would see 10,000 different scenes.

At that moment, a person was facing a trial that was different from anyone else.

At the third level of the God Advent Tower, in a different sealed space that looked like the same as the grand hall Yi Yun was in, a white dressed figure was sitting before an ancient painting quietly.

This girl was Lin Xintong.

She was the only person qualified to enter the third level of the God Advent Tower from the beginning amongst all the cultivators.

The painting in front of Lin Xintong was hung on a granite wall.

Previously, when Yi Yun came into the third level of the God Advent Tower, he too had seen a similar granite wall. There was also a painting on that wall.

However… the painting Yi Yun saw was the unrestrained azure-clothed swordsman. The azure-clothed swordsman in the painting had just undergone a life and death battle, and he was leaning on a tree as he drank wine.

However, what Lin Xintong saw was completely different. At the same spot, the painting she saw was of a simply clothed woman.

This woman’s long hair was disheveled. Her clothes fluttered in the wind and she could only see the back of the woman. The woman was barefooted and she was walking on thin air with the tip of her toes.

Below her feet was an entire snow plain!

Every step the woman made, an ice lotus would bloom under her foot.

Many ice lotuses bloomed on the snowy plain, and a sword was floating behind the woman. It was accompanying this woman like it had a spirit.

The entire painting was drawn using very meticulous strokes. The woman was drawn very realistic. It was almost impossible to tell that it was fake.

Lin Xintong had her eyes closed. She had been sitting in front of the picture for a very long time…

482 - : Learning the “Myriad Beast Totem” again

CKtalon  CKtalon

As time passed, Lin Xintong remained motionless. A layer of blue ice crystals formed on her eyebrows and her hair. The ice crystals were like sapphires that resembled flowers used for decoration.

On the first level of the God Advent Tower, Lin Xintong had chosen disk arrays that were suitable for herself. She did not gain many insights from the two disk array arrays, but the painting on the third level of the God Advent Tower made Lin Xintong feel something. As such, she sat in front of the painting and entered an ethereal state.

No Law, No Shape, No Void, No Me.

This was a form of epiphany, it was something that came by not searching for it.

An unknown amount of time passed and very faintly, Lin Xintong’s eyebrows moved. Following that, she opened her eyes, revealing her clear glass-like eyes.

“Thank you for the senior’s guidance… ”

Lin Xintong looked at the figure in the painting and said softly before giving a respectful bow.

The painting contained the figure of the ancient Great Empress.

In the God Advent Tower, across millions of years, in the painting and outside the painting, the air emanated by Lin Xintong’s body seemed to faintly resembled the ancient Great Empress’.

She stood up with her sword in hand and then walked towards the fourth level of the God Advent Tower without turning back.

In the epiphany she was having just moments ago, Lin Xintong saw many scenes, and amongst them, it included a portion of the ancient Great Empress’ memories.

It turned out that… the God Advent Tower was not created by the ancient Great Empress. It was an opportunistic item that the ancient Great Empress had obtained.

Back then, the ancient Great Empress had climbed up the God Advent Tower slowly just like Lin Xintong.

“I want to be like the ancient Great Empress. If I want to change the destiny of my naturally terminated meridians, I need to follow her footsteps.”

Lin Xintong said quietly in her heart and she climbed the staircase.

In front of her, there was a distant door of light. That was the entrance to the fourth level of the God Advent Tower.

As she walked up the staircase, Lin Xintong’s mind was abnormally calm. At a certain point, she lifted her head and looked forward. Not far from her, there stood a white-dressed girl with a sword.

The white-dressed girl’s looks and figure were extremely similar to Lin Xintong. It was like Lin Xintong was looking into a mirror.

She was the God Advent Tower fourth level’s guardian.

Only by defeating her would Lin Xintong be able to step into the fourth level of the God Advent Tower.

“Make your move!”

Lin Xintong said lightly.

The white-dressed girl looked at Lin Xintong and their gazes met. They could see their own reflections in each other’s eyes.

After a long while, the white-dressed girl gently shook her head, “I never expected that you already have an air like hers… ”

“Oh?” Lin Xintong’s eyebrows moved slightly. She was quite surprised at the words the white-dressed girl just said. She expected the white-dress girl to be a guardian without any intelligence or soul, yet, she had said such a thing to her.

“You mentioned ‘her’? It looks like you are not just an energy life form that obeys orders…”

As Lin Xintong spoke, the white-dressed girl sighed lightly and kept her sword. She said faintly, “You have already made up your mind to join up your terminated meridians and control your own destiny… You have a sword in your heart, while I have no sword in my heart. I can’t block you.”

“Go, but even if you pass me, the fourth level will not be too easy for you.”

The white-dressed girl said before her body exploded with a “Peng”, turning into a rain of light as she dissipated.

What was left behind was a divine light that fell from the sky, shining on Lin Xintong’s body.

This light finally formed on Lin Xintong’s arm, becoming a beautiful set of Empyrean Marks.

With a simple count, there was a total of… 18 Empyrean Marks!

The 18 Empyrean Marks made Lin Xintong feel that she was one step closer to obtaining the recognition of the Great Empress mystic realm.

She walked up the stairs into the four level of the God Advent Tower. Standing in front of the door of light, Lin Xintong stood there silently for a while before stepping through the door without any hesitation.

The door of light flashed and it did not obstruct her in any way.

Upon entering the door of light, Lin Xintong felt like she had arrived in a new world.

In front of her, there was an endless land sealed in ice. She heard the cold winds blow and all that entered her eyes was white snow.

It seemed like the world had Lin Xintong as the only living thing.

This snow world was covered in endless snow plains, and for some reason, it seemed to give people a deep sense of despair.

At that moment, a gentle voice echoed in Lin Xintong’s ear, “Child, go on. I can’t give you your path. You have to use the sword in your hand to slash a path out.”

This gentle voice echoed in Lin Xintong’s ears, making her feel an unexplainable sense of calm.

Lin Xintong inhaled deeply and she looked far into the distance. There was no end to the icy plains. The pressure and sense of despair hovered above the icy plains and it became more intense.

It was like her naturally terminated meridians. There was no way of abandoning it no matter how hard she tried.

The icy plains… were something the ancient Great Empress had walked on herself in the past?

Lin Xintong then resolutely stepped onto the icy plains.

Ever since she was young, she knew that if she wanted to go further and live on, she had to put in work that was a hundred times more than others.

Even so, the result was not guaranteed.

The cold wind blew and it was like spinning flying daggers that flew at Lin Xintong. These gusts of cold wind brought along with them a wanton energy surge. It was not something that any ordinary warrior could withstand.

Lin Xintong powered up her Yuan Qi protection to endure the cold wind. In an instant, Lin Xintong felt the pressure.

Her Yuan Qi was depleted extremely fast, and under these circumstances, Lin Xintong knew that she could not go far.

The icy plains were endless. She might not even reach the horizon that she could see even when her Yuan Qi was emptied out.

This seemed like… an impossible challenge…

When her Yuan Qi was completely depleted resulting in her using body just being in such a terrifying icy plains, what would happen?

The Great Empress mystic realm had the danger of death. Lin Xintong did not know what would result from the failure of this trial, but she still proceeded without hesitation…

The ice bound her and pierced straight into her bones. They were like sharp sword Qi that was slashing at Lin Xintong’s exquisite face. She did not have any expression, nor did her footsteps slow down one bit because of all these reasons.

With a white dress and a sword, she proceeded alone.

Like the white-dressed girl said, with Lin Xintong determined to join up her naturally terminated meridians, she already had a sword in her heart.

Step by step, if one looked from high up in the air, Lin Xintong appeared extremely tiny in the snowy plains. The footsteps she left behind were quickly erased by the cold wind…

Although she was strongly determined, her Yuan Qi was not increasing due to her determination. There was no miracle as her Yuan Qi slowly decreased, as she became unable to withstand the cold wind.

Finally, a gust of cold wind pierced through Lin Xintong’s protective Yuan Qi and entered her body.

This gust of cold wind immediately seeped into her meridians and blood vessels, straight into her marrow.

The bone-biting chill made Lin Xintong’s face suddenly turn white.

She could clearly feel that this gust of cold air had stimulated her naturally terminated meridians, causing the frost Qi in her body to increase and slowly consume her vitality.

483 - : The Beautiful Figure in the Icy Plains

CKtalon  CKtalon

Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians were like a dead knot in her life. They had taken root in Lin Xintong’s body, entrenched in every muscle. Usually, it would be hidden, but once it was nourished, it would grow and engulf Lin Xintong’s vitality.

Now, with the frost Qi constantly entering Lin Xintong’s body, she felt colder and colder. As for her natural Yin Meridians, they were like weeds that had been nourished by the rain, as they grew crazily.

Lin Xintong’s footsteps immediately slowed down.

Cold, the biting cold reached deep into her bones, and it reached her bone marrow.

She shrunk her thin body and looked up. The icy plains were so vast they seemed to have no end.

She recalled the test of the mental demons. The dreams that repeated themselves seemed to never come to an end.

Other than the second dream in which she held hands with that youth to tour the world until she found a method to join her terminated meridians up and finally accomplished a great cultivation level that she had the age of the Sun and Moon, the other dreams were filled with endless death and repression.

Her “waking up” again and again was met with her realizing that she was still in a dream. The dream realm was endless, preventing her from knowing when she was dreaming or awake.

That sense of despair was probably similar to what she was experiencing right now…

Behind Lin Xintong, high in the sky, there was a faint figure that was looking at her lonely figure on the icy plains.

Lin Xintong sensed the figure and she gently turned around. And at that moment, the figure dissipated in the wind.

Following that, a wispy female’s voice echoed in Lin Xintong’s ears, “These icy plains are like the terminated meridians in your body. If you only rely on your body’s Yuan Qi, you will not be able to last till the end. However, if you were to burn your vitality, you can go even further, but you might die early. Have you thought it through?”

Lin Xintong’s eyebrows trembled, “You are… ?”

The figure that had suddenly appeared in the wind was somewhat similar to the ancient Great Empress in the painting she saw on the third level of the God Advent Tower, however… there was something different…

This figure was not in a dream or in a painting. She really existed in this world.

She was the only other person amongst the cultivators Lin Xingtong had seen in the God Advent Tower.

“I am the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit.”

The woman’s cold voice transmitted through the wind.

“Item Spirit… ” Lin Xintong understood. Yes, for such a divine item, it naturally had an Item Spirit. “If I pass through these icy plains, will I see the opportunity to join up my terminated meridians?”

“No!” The female voice said coldly, “But it can let you get closer to that step.”

Just closer only?

Lin Xintong lightly sighed. Her white dress was like snow and it seemed to merge as one with the icy plains around her. Her black hair scattered downwards on her jade-like face. As she closed her eyes tightly, her eyelashes trembled slightly, as if they were pixies in the snow.

Closer? Then let me be closer to it!

Lin Xintong tightened her thin clothes. Enduring the stormy cold, she proceeded without hesitation.

The path of martial arts had no set paths. It was through a warrior’s strong determination to blaze a way through all manner of obstacles and courage to proceed that opened a new path forcefully.

Once embarked on the journey, there was no regrets…

…

In the second level of the God Advent Tower, it was a vast desolate lands!

“Xiao!”

A sharp cry echoed in the sky like a phoenix’s call. A dazzling light shot out from a mountain, and in this light beam, there was an azure-clothed youth’s figure. He was making steps on the void and appearing like a flash of lightning.

This azure-clothed youth was Yi Yun. The movement technique he was using was the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” that he had obtained from the third level of the God Advent Tower.

Typically, people who cultivated the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” would need at least half a year to get a foothold in the skill. And that was the speed of proud children of heavens.

However, Yi Yun had a close to perfect pure Yang body, and his pure Yang cultivation technique was in the large success stage. Together with the help of the Purple Crystal, cultivating the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” was done at an extraordinary pace.

His body left a golden beam in the air as he landed on a mountain. He used the mountain peak to shoot up into the sky again!

His body was like the blazing Sun rising in the East in an unstoppable manner!

After cultivating the “Golden Crow Sun Shift”, Yi Yun’s speed was no longer the same as it was in the past.

While he was moving with extreme speed, Yi Yun’s eyes were as fast as lightning as he spotted a metal-winged eagle flying in the sky.

In this desolate land, many desolate beasts had their own territories. The metal-winged eagle was the lord of this small piece of sky. It was making its inspection here, and now, a tiny human being had suddenly appeared in its territory, undermining its authority.

The metal-winged eagle went into a rage as it cried out and charged at Yi Yun.

The metal-winged eagle was proficient in speed. When it flew in the sky, it was like a black bolt of lightning. Its two wings were like blades that could split a mountain!

Seeing the black-winged eagle charging at him, Yi Yun’s eyes flashed. With a flip of his hand, the Tai Cang Bow appeared in his hands. He used his movement technique in the air and increased his speed. It was like his body had merged into a blazing sunbeam!

“Xiao!”

The metal-winged eagle reached out with its sharp claws and clawed at Yi Yun. Yi Yun strung his arrow and pulled his bow midair. The arrow he was using was the Wind Chasing Arrow. This was an arrow made by a bow-and-arrow family clan of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. However, placed in the Tian Yuan world, it was very normal. However, at that moment, with Yi Yun’s pure Yang energy injected into the arrow, the arrow condensed into a Radiant Sun divine beam as if it had raised to a new grade of arrows.

Peng!

The bow string’s vibration caused the clouds to scatter!

The Wind Chasing Arrow flew and with Yi Yun’s pure Yang laws embedded in it, it was like a falling star that pierced through the void.

The terrifying sharp sound resounded throughout the sky. This arrow moved at an unbelievable speed towards the metal-winged eagle!

The metal-winged eagle was still maintaining a pose of charging at Yi Yun, but when the arrow flew pierced its body, its body, which was equivalent to divine metal, exploded in midair!

Whew!

After the Wind Chasing Arrows pierced the metal-winged eagle, it flew another 5 kilometers, past a valley and eventually hitting a mountain.

Boom!

A tumultuous explosion could be heard. After Yi Yun’s arrow pierced through the metal-winged eagle, it had made a huge hole in the mountain!

The profoundness in that arrow could only be described as — fast!

When Yi Yun used the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” to push his speed to an extreme, and stringing the arrow and adding that speed onto the Wind Chasing Arrow, the power of the arrow that he shot out had reached an unimaginable level!

Even Yi Yun himself was shocked seeing such a terrifying arrow. His body circled midair and then, he grabbed the metal-winged eagle’s corpse before flying down.

Boom!

The metal-winged eagle’s corpse slammed heavily onto the ground. Yi Yun landed gently and his spiritual energy interfaced with the desolate beast’s corpse. As he closed his eyes to concentrate, he began powering the skill he had obtained on the third level of the God Advent Tower, “Myriad Beast Totem”!

The complete “Myriad Beast Totem” had a lot more than what Yi Yun had previously learned. These also explained many of the questions Yi Yun that previously had.

Using the Purple Crystal to condensed a desolate beast mark was of course doubling the results with half the effort, but the flaws in the mystic technique itself were not something the Purple Crystal could make up for.

But now, with the complete “Myriad Beast Totem” jade scroll, this was no longer a problem.

484 - : Golden Crow Sun Shift

CKtalon  CKtalon

After he finished reading the first few core techniques of the “Myriad Beast Totem”, what was most important for Yi Yun was that he learned the method to evolving his Golden Crow Totem.

With the Purple Crystal Origins, it was not a distant objective.

The Purple Crystal activated and according to the description in the “Myriad Beast Totem”, Yi Yun extracted the Power of Desolates from the metal-winged eagle. Soon, a fist-sized beast mark appeared. It was a lively-looking little beast and its body emitted rich pure Yang energy as it quickly flew into Yi Yun’s dantian.

The metal-winged eagle did not have any obvious nomological elemental properties. Its Yuan Qi was not as effective as pure Yang Yuan Qi to Yi Yun, but the effects were not that different.

Feeling his “Myriad Beast Totem” improve a tiny bit and his pure Yang body and Aspect Totem also obtaining a tiny bit of nourishment, a look of satisfaction appeared on Yi Yun’s face.

The complete version of the “Myriad Beast Totem” was not limited to one Totem form. One could cultivate to the point of several Totems. The “Myriad Beast Totem” recorded that to cultivate this mystic technique, one had to kill ten thousand primordial strains so as to condense an Aspect Totem.

The “Ten Thousand” in here was just a fake number. It wasn’t really ten thousand. As to how many were needed, it depended on the situation.

If one killed a primordial true spirit, it was equivalent to more than ten or sometimes, dozens of primordial strains.

And primordial true spirits were not the highest ranked desolate beasts. There were desolate beasts that were stronger than primordial true spirits, but that was a realm that Yi Yun could not even imagine.

In fact, even if a warrior, who cultivated the “Myriad Beast Totem”, had the ability to kill primordial true spirits, he might not be able to condense a beast mark. Killing many desolate beasts, but not being able to condense the beast mark was also useless.

Of course, Yi Yun did not need to consider such a situation. All he needed to do was to kill a sufficient number of powerful desolate beasts. As for condensing the beast mark, he had the Purple Crystal.

“I wonder what power would result when I fully master the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’, and I wonder how many Aspect Totems I can condense… ”

Whether the “Myriad Beast Totem” was cultivated properly was mainly based on the number of Aspect Totems.

According to the jade scroll, cultivating three or four Aspect Totems was considered excellent, while five to six Aspect Totems was a result of a proud child of heaven. Seven to eight Aspect Totems would be the results of a peerless Great Emperor.

As for having even greater numbers the higher one went, the jade scroll did not indicate it. It only said that the “Myriad Beast Totem” had unlimited potential.

The problem was that this technique was difficult to learn and difficult to master, but it was a Totem mystic technique with broad prospects.

After absorbing the metal-winged eagle’s beast mark, Yi Yun proceeded around the desolate lands at a fast pace. He held the Tai Cang Bow, and he tried his best to find pure Yang desolate beasts and absorbed their beast marks.

With the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun was fast and accurate at finding desolate beasts.

Desolate beasts were extremely inclined to attack. Once they discovered Yi Yun, they would move to kill him. This world’s desolate beast species were very different to the desolate beast species in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Using his energy vision, Yi Yun roughly estimated the strength of the desolate beast, so as to prevent himself from tripping up.

After covering quite a distance in the desolate lands, a magnificent and primitive mountain appeared in front of Yi Yun. This large mountain had thick foliage and it was luxuriantly green. Every tree was extremely large and they pierced through the clouds. The circumference of the each trunk was probably the combined arm span of tens of people.

Just watching the mountain from outside, Yi Yun could feel the extremely pure Yuan Qi fluctuations inside. There was probably a very strong existence hiding inside.

Yi Yun did not know how powerful the desolate beasts that were in the second level of the God Advent Tower were. Since it was just the second level, it should not have any sure-death dangers, right?

These days, Yi Yun slowly noticed that the second level of the God Advent Tower was not endless. It had a boundary, and this mountain in front of him seemed to be the center of the second level’s world.

After a slight dilemma, Yi Yun leaped up and flew into the large mountain.

After going over the mountain’s peak, Yi Yun entered a valley.

This valley seemed to be a huge crack in the ground. Under the crack, hot air rose. Yi Yun looked down and he could faintly see the churning lava.

What was strange was that the lava was not dark red in color, but it was close to a shimmering white. It looked like molten silver.

“Oh? This valley… ” Yi Yun was surprised. He could feel that the lava was not ordinary. What it emitted was not fire-elemental Yuan Qi, it was extremely thick and rich pure Yang Yuan Qi.

It felt like the lava had flowed down from the Sun!

Yi Yun knew that the Sun itself was liquid in nature. Its core was extremely hot, and if that was the case, it would be too shocking.

“I cultivate in the pure Yang laws, and I meet a pure Yang Yuan Qi lava river. This is too much to be a coincidence.”

Yi Yun guessed that it was specifically because he had cultivated in pure Yang laws that he encountered an extremely rich pure Yang energy place in the second level of the God Advent Tower.

The Great Empress mystic realm was comprehensive. The scenes encountered were different and depended on the person. There were countless amounts of opportunities. The point was whether one could discover it.

Yi Yun shuttled through the valley as he activated the Purple Crystal to freely absorb the pure Yang energy. At the same time, he searched for desolate beasts to kill. Most of the desolate beasts here were pure Yang desolate beasts, so it suited Yi Yun well.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly heard a sharp bird cry in the air.

With a flash of his body, he appeared below a large tree as he looked up.

He was taken aback with this look.

In the clouds, a group of flying desolate beasts were flapping their hundred foot long wings that were made of muscle. As they moved downwards, just the wind stirred up by them would prevent anyone from standing properly. The visual impact was extremely terrifying.

When these desolate beasts charged downwards, they circled around a mountain peak as if they were eager for action.

“What’s the matter?” Yi Yun leaned his body close to the tree and he controlled his breathing so that he could not be discovered by those desolate beasts.

He could feel that the desolate beasts were extraordinarily powerful.

He carefully stretched his neck out and looked at the spot the desolate beasts were circling.

That was the tallest mountain peak of the mountain. The source of the Yang energy lava came from this mountain peak. At the top of the mountain peak, there were a lot of rugged ancient trees. These ancient trees were extremely large and tall. They seemed to be in symbiotic relations as their tree branches were intertwined, but they had very few leaves. The tree bark was red like fire and each of them looked like the legendary Fusang divine tree.

Sunrise from Tang Valley, Roaming across the World

Ten Suns from Fusang, Who Masters Pure Yang!

When Yi Yun was cultivating the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”, there was such a general principle.

Legends said that the Fusang tree grew where the Sun rose.

It was unknown in how many tens of thousands of years that people had not stepped foot on this mountain.

Upon thinking about this, Yi Yun looked at the flying desolate beasts in the air again. He suddenly discovered that the desolate beasts actually looked like Golden Crows!

The only difference was that they did not have the feathers of Golden Crows, and they looked more ferocious.

Realizing this, Yi Yun suddenly had a thought. This place…

Yi Yun seemed to figure out something as he opened his energy vision and everything around him entered his eyes.

Faintly, Yi Yun felt that in the depths of the mountain peak, there was a tremendous energy fluctuation. The pure Yang energy that came out in waves seemed to come from that energy source.

Could it be… a treasure!?

Yi Yun held his breath.

Yes! The first level of the God Advent Tower had image disk arrays! The third level had cultivation technique manuals!

Then what did the second level of the God Advent Tower have?

Originally, Yi Yun thought that the second level of the God Advent Tower was just a training ground. By finding any cultivation manuals or image disk arrays in the third or first level, one could come to the second level of the God Advent Tower to cultivate.

One could fight the desolate beasts here to train oneself and increase one’s strength.

He had never thought that the second level of the God Advent Tower contained such a huge opportunity. And to find it, it was a test of one’s observational skills and fated luck!

“I see… If not for finding the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’ which required me to return to the second level for training, I might have missed out on this opportunity!”

At that moment, Yi Yun was reflecting on the layout of the ancient Great Empress’ realm. Typical cultivators would be in a race against time when they entered the God Advent Tower. They wanted to increase their own strength in the shortest possible time. Who would think of searching the entire second level of the God Advent Tower while cultivating, especially when this world was so vast?

Besides, even if they searched, they might not find anything.

This not only depended on a cultivator’s searching ability and judgment, it also depended on fated luck! And these two points were key in undergoing dangers in a mystic realm.

485 - : Fusang Desolate Valley

CKtalon  CKtalon

After hesitating for a while, Yi Yun moved while keeping his body close to the ground. With the trees and the vegetation on the ground acting as concealment, he quickly approached the tall mountain.

Riches were where danger laid. He naturally wanted to take a look at what the opportunity in the second level of the God Advent Tower was.

Every level of the God Advent Tower was meticulously designed by the ancient Great Empress. Every cultivator who entered it would face a world that corresponded to themselves. They were left to wander in it, but as to what depth they could reach, it all depended on themselves.

This test could be said to be a test of every cultivator’s potential and ability to grow, pushed to the limits.

“Xiao— Xiao—”

At that moment, there were more and more flying desolate beasts gathering in the sky. These desolate beasts flew over from all directions and gathered around the mountain’s peak.

The air flow caused by the flapping of their wings was like a tiny tornado. The sound it emitted caused pain in Yi Yun’s ears.

The closer Yi Yun got, the more careful he became. His entire presence, including his breathing, had been repressed.

The desolate beasts in the sky looked special. They had mouths like sharp sabers and these mouths were filled with sharp teeths, their eyes were also blood-red.They were shocking to behold.

This tall mountain was probably the place where they rested.

This made Yi Yun feel odd. The valley that flowed with pure Yang lava, containing fiery Fusang trees, and the strange birds in the air, really gave one the feeling of the Tang Valley, Fusang and the Golden Crow.

As Yi Yun was pondering upon this, a strange bird in the air suddenly let out a ear-piercing cry as it opened its sharp beak and charged downwards!

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted and, subconsciously, he dodged behind a large tree. The strange bird’s goal was clearly not Yi Yun. When it charged into the woods, the tall trees seemed to be hit by a tornado as they began to vigorously shake. Many tree branches broke as the trees split in two.

In just a few seconds, the strange bird’s figure appeared once again.

Pu! Pu!

It flapped its wings to return back to the crowd of birds. And in its claws was a huge python. This python was about 20-30 meters long. Its body was blood-red in color and its body emitted a thick fire-elemental Yuan Qi, but now, it had been torn in two by the strange bird.

The snake’s blood splattered as the strange bird carried the heavy python’s corpse as it flew towards the tall mountain’s peak.

It was not only that single strange bird, several strange birds in the air had also caught their prey. Their claws were as thick as the arm span of an adult. Two of these claws could easily capture an elephant.

After they caught their prey, they did not eat them, instead they brought their prey back to their lair.

Were these strange birds preparing for a celebratory feast?

Yi Yun suddenly had such a thought. Without any hesitation, he followed them to the highest mountain’s peak. Finally, Yi Yun saw that all the strange birds had landed on one of the cliffs of the mountain peak.

The lava valley that meandered began from that cliff and flowed straight down. It felt like this cliff was the source of the lava in the valley.

The closer Yi Yun got to the cliff, the more he felt the rich pure Yang Yuan Qi. The temperature here was as high as a furnace.

After leaping across some rocks that were burned red from the flames, Yi Yun saw a white-colored lake.

This lake did not contain water, it contained burning hot lava.

This lava did not bubble and was instead very calm. However, this calmness made him become filled with apprehension. It was hard to believe how high the temperature of the lava was.

Above the lava lakewas a protruding piece of rock. This rock was extremely magical. It was soaked in the pure Yang lava, yet, it did not melt at all.

There was a total of over twenty rocks that formed a circle. In the middle of these rocks, Yi Yun saw a red lotus in the hot lava!

This red lotus had about seven to eight thin tubers. They reached out from the lava and had four to five round leaves that looked like large umbrellas. In the middle of these leaves, Yi Yun saw a red lotus flower and a seedpod. In the seedpod were some crystalline objects, the lotus seed.

“What is that?”

Yi Yun held his breath. For a red lotus to take root and grow in hot lava, that had a temperature that was hard to estimate, it grew by absorbing pure Yang energy.

Without a doubt, this was a treasure.

The treasure Yi Yun previously sensed using his Purple Crystal’s energy vision was this red lotus growing in the lava.

“It has already produced lotus seeds. The lotus seed is the fruit of the red lotus, so it might be that the red lotus is already ripe for picking…”

Such a treasure growing in pure Yang lava was by no doubt a huge opportunity for Yi Yun. Once he ate it, his cultivation level should increase by leaps and bounds, and it could even result in his pure Yang body reaching a harmonious perfection.

However, the problem was, how was he going to obtain it?

Yi Yun frowned slightly. Around the lava lake, there were no objects that could conceal him. If he were to rush out to pick the lotus seed, he would definitely alarm those strange birds.

Yi Yun had never seen these birds before, but from his energy vision, Yi Yun could clearly tell that they were powerful. It was unlikely that he would be able to handle one, what’s more a group of them!

Besides, they were adept at flying and they were very fast. Yi Yun might not be able to escape fast enough.

Yi Yun looked up and saw four to five of the strange birds perched on the cliff in a high spot. Their eyes were as sharp as eagles as their gazes were locked onto the vicinity of the lava lake.

Very clearly, these strange birds were guards, and they were specifically in charge of being on watch.

With alert strange birds present, it was impossible to for Yi Yun to take advantage of the strange birds’ resting or hunting to pluck the lotus seed.

“These strange birds sure are careful.”

Yi Yun knew that, during the growth of treasures, the treasures were usually accompanied by terrifying desolate beasts who guarded them closely. When these desolate beasts discovered the treasure, they would take it for their own. When the treasure matured, they would enjoy it.

The more precious the treasure, the stronger the desolate beasts guarding it would be. Weak desolate beasts could never be capable at protecting it.

The feeling of not being able to obtain the treasure in front of him was an excruciating feeling.

Yi Yun hid behind a rock as he observed and waited.

He saw that, not far from the lava lake, there were a bunch of strange birds gathering together.

They had piled up the prey that they previously captured together and were now surrounding the prey in a circle.

They extended their 20-30 meter wide wings and prostrated themselves. Their wings overlapped each other, as if they were undergoing some form of ritual.

And at that moment, there was a sharp cry. Yi Yun looked over at the source of the noise and saw a huge cave in the hundred meter tall cliff. There were a bunch of protruded rocks around the cave, and rocks were covered in various desolate beast bones.

A bird’s nest?

Yi Yun knew that birds of prey, like eagles, liked to create their nests on cliffs. It seems like these strange birds have a similar behavior, but their nest was just too big. The entrance to the cave alone was about 20-30 meters wide.

At that moment, a strange bird flew out from the cave. Yi Yun felt his heart sink as he saw this strange bird!

486 - : Red Lotus

CKtalon  CKtalon

The strange bird that came out of the nest was about 7-8 meters long. It was much smaller than the other strange birds, however its eyes were golden in color and it even had three claws.

These claws were the symbol of a three-legged Golden Crow. Although this strange bird was obviously not a Golden Crow, it was still three-legged, which proved that its bloodline was extremely close to that of a three-legged Golden Crow. It was a lot stronger than the other strange birds.

Seeing this three-legged strange bird appear, Yi Yun’s expression became even uglier. He could feel that this three-legged strange bird was the leader of this group of strange birds. Its energy was more than ten times that of the other strange birds. This made it even more impossible for him to handle them all.

It would probably take an instant for that three-legged strange bird to rip him to pieces.

Also, its speed was definitely extremely terrifying!

With the strange bird leader here, how was he going to pick the lotus seeds?

Yi Yun felt speechless. The Great Empress mystic realm had given him such a good opportunity, but he was helpless at obtaining it. The difficulty was just too great.

Yi Yun believed that his strength was already at the top amongst people of his own age, but he did not dare pick the red lotus in front of him.

If it was anyone else, it would be even more in vain.

Picking the lotus seed was like seeking one’s own doom. If Yi Yun did not pick it, he would feel indignant about it. As such, he hid behind a large rock and entered a dilemma.

And at that moment, Yi Yun saw the three-legged bird that came out of the cave fly down. It flew to the center of the circle formed by the other strange birds and began inspecting the prey they caught.

“Tributes?”

Yi Yun first thought was that the other strange birds had caught prey to pay tribute to this leader bird, but later on, he realized he had guessed incorrectly.

The three-legged strange bird used its claws to spit open a prey’s corpse. From the preys’ corpse, it grabbed its heart.

The red heart was covered in flowing blood, and later on, the three-legged strange bird brought a meter long desolate beast bone from somewhere. It then used the top half of the bone as a container and let the blood in the prey’s heart flow out and filled the bone cup to the brim.

“Extracting the blood from the heart?”

Yi Yun was in awe. The blood from the heart was the essence of all the blood in a desolate beast’s body. What was this three-legged strange bird collecting the blood from the heart for?

After it obtained the blood from all the preys’ heart’s, the three-legged strange bird suddenly flew towards the lava lake. It then used its sharp claws to easily extract a few lotus seeds from the lotus seedpod.

Seeing this scene, Yi Yun’s heart sank. The strange bird had taken all the matured lotus seeds away.

For a treasure at such a rank, it was probably not easy to pick it, including its tubers, in one go. Its tubers may be invulnerable to the slashing from swords and sabers. Besides, with so many strange birds watching, Yi Yun did not have the confidence in doing so.

It would have been pretty impressive if he obtained a few lotus seeds, but now, all the matured lotus seeds had been plucked away by the three-legged strange bird.

The three-legged strange bird placed the lotus seeds into the bone cup and then carried the bone cup into the cave on the mountain cliff.

That cave that was situated on the cliff was an even clearer target. It even had the strange birds’ leader guarding it. Yi Yun turned speechless upon seeing this. It was now even more difficult to obtain!

“This strange bird extracted the lotus seeds and the blood from the heart. It even used a desolate beast’s clavicle bone as a cup. What is it doing?”

Yi Yun felt that the three-legged strange bird was probably not going to simply drink the desolate beast’s heart’s blood, if not, with a desolate beast’s nature, they would eat the raw meat and drink the blood. They could just swallow it down, so what was the point of the bone cup?

For a desolate beast like the three-legged strange bird, it would not have been an easy task to create a container. Using a bone cup to drink blood would be extremely taxing for it, it did not have to do so.

However, regardless of what the three-legged strange bird wanted to do, Yi Yun was helpless. With his strength, he could not do a thing in such a strange bird’s territory.

After the three-legged strange bird disappeared, only then did the other strange birds complete their odd rituals as they began to feast on the prey on the ground.

Tens of strange birds rushed forward and immediately, flesh and blood were sent flying. Yi Yun noticed that, even when these strange birds ate, the few strange birds in charge of being on alert on the cliff did not relax at all. They remained behind to care for the lava lake. Only after the other strange birds were done eating would a few other strange birds fly towards the mountain. They then changed shifts with the few strange birds guarding on the top level.

“So strict!” Yi Yun was completely speechless. They were just a bunch of birds, yet the management of their lookout post was similar to humans. It felt impenetrable.

What was he to do?

…

At the same time as Yi Yun was unable to obtain the treasure despite seeing it, in a sealed space in the first level of the God Advent Tower.

Shentu Nantian had already been wasting his time, sitting there for a few months.

His face was pale, his long hair was disheveled and his eyes seemed sunk in.

Over the past few months, he challenged the disk array images left behind by the black-armored warrior again and again. To him, it was a trampling to his body and soul.

Now, Shentu Nantian no longer had the look of a gentleman. The corner of his eyes were covered with blood stains, which made him look like a demon.

Shentu Nantian was extremely ambitious. And indeed, he worked very hard and put in all of his effort and expended his physical capacity. He ignored the effects on his soul and the backlash on his body from the disk array’s images so as to gain insight from this disk array. As long as he grasped the profound charm of the move, then his strength would suddenly increase by leap and bounds.

However, at that moment, Shentu Nantian had still not figured out the nomological principles in the attack that the black-armored warrior used.

Shentu Nantian felt indignant. He had not been able to see the laws in the disk array he chose. This was equivalent to wasting one of the opportunities in the Great Empress mystic realm.

How could Shentu Nantian accept this?

Again and again, Shentu Nantian tried continuously. He ignored the fact that his eyes were bleeding. He remained staring at the battle between the black-armored warrior and the Roc, despite the skin on his face seemingly being carved by a knife, forming blood marks.

Bam!

No miracle happened. At the moment the lance beam slashed through the horizon, Shentu Nantian was once again sent flying backward.

“Peng!”

Shentu Nantian crashed into a wall as his nose and mouth were covered in blood.

Shentu Nantian was feeling anger in his heart. He believed that Yi Yun had likely found the solution. How could he take losing to Yi Yun, once again, lying down?

“Ah!”

Shentu Nantian let out a crazy cry. He suddenly unsheathed his sword and began to slash the empty void like crazy.

He felt a great sense of defeat as a result of the disk array.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Sword beams poured out in all directions and lasted for nearly a minute. When Shentu Nantian finally calmed down, the ground and walls surrounding him were covered in overlapped sword scars.

These sword scars were not left behind because they had cut into the Great Empress mystic realm’s walls. In fact, the Great Empress mystic realm’s walls were impregnable. These sword scars were left behind because the sword Qi lingered without dissipating.

“This is…”

Shentu Nantian was stunned. These sword Qi were sharper than usual. They even contained a hard to describe sharpness and forcefulness. This was a form of sword intent. It was as if, after being suppressed for so long, his indignation and anger had transformed into a sword intent from the explosive feelings he had from despair!

Sword Intent was the will of the sword Dao. When Shentu Nantian was able to fully inject his will into the sword, then he could display the sword intent.

This result made Shentu Nantian shocked. If it was during normal times, at his peak, the sword Qi he produced was stronger than what he did now, but it lacked in a such forceful sword intent.

“To think about it, I should not have been able to last for so long, but now, I am still standing here…” Previously, all of Shentu Nantian’s thoughts and focus had been gathered on the disk array, while he did not focus on his body. However, now, he suddenly realized that, imperceptibly, his energy had been greatly tempered. The most important thing was that under the tough training for the last few months, his soul energy and determination had greatly increased.

For a swordsman, these two points were very important.

“Hahaha!” Shentu Nantian suddenly laughed recklessly after a short moment of pause. “Yes, although I did not manage to gain insight from the disk array, it has given me an opportunity to hone myself. These few months of cultivating was greatly beneficial for me. I have cultivated for more than twenty years and my Yuan Qi is thick. I have no lack in moves, but when it comes to sword intent and soul power, those are indeed my weaknesses. Now however, they’ve been enhanced!”

Shentu Nantian was overjoyed. This was an unexpected outcome. It was something that came by not searching for it!

He looked at the disk array left behind by the black-armored warrior once again. This disk array far exceeded his realm, so despite giving his best, he could not see the attack in any way, so he had to give up.

However, he guessed that Yi Yun would not have gained much from the move used by the black-armored warrior. Yi Yun’s gains were probably also in the realms of soul and determination. He was definitely not weaker than Yi Yun.

“I already said so, how can I be inferior to that kid!?”

Shentu Nantian was filled with fighting spirit. He had lagged far behind Yi Yun at the previous trial, but he believed that he would slowly catch up.

Shentu Nantian had already made his decision. In the future, regardless of what Yi Yun chose, he would make the same choice. This way, he would definitely not suffer.

Shentu Nantian walked out of the sealed space and looked up at the path that led to the second level of the God Advent Tower. He then strode up.

“This time, I am sure that I can obtain the recognition of the God Advent Tower and enter the second level!”

487 - : At One’s Wit’s End

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the desolate plains of the God Advent Tower’s second level, Yi Yun moved through the woods at an extremely fast speed. He was using the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” to rapidly move in the woods for his target was… a deeper part of the second level.

Yi Yun greatly wanted the lava lake’s red lotus, but no matter how much he calculated, he felt that it was impossible to succeed with his present strength. The flock of strange birds was an obstacle that Yi Yun could not cross.

The strange birds did not even rest deep into the night. They only stared at their territory with eyes that resembled green lamps.

Under such a situation, Yi Yun no longer wanted to waste time here. However, he did not plan on giving up the red lotus in the lava lake. He was taking a step back temporarily. He carried on exploring the second level of the God Advent Tower because he already had a plan to snatch food from the jaws of a tiger, but this plan needed a chance.

Now, Yi Yun was searching the second level to search for this chance.

At the same time, Yi Yun wanted to grab the opportunity to increase his strength. Only with powerful strength could impossible tasks become possible.

Yi Yun kept his energy vision activated and he ran towards the deep ends of the second level.

With the Purple Crystal, he could see every energy fluctuation in the desolate lands. There was no hiding from him.

As he proceeded stealthily, he ambushed and killed desolate beasts. As several days passed, Yi Yun still could not find such a chance and with that, Yi Yun had come to the end of the second level of the God Advent Tower…

These days, Yi Yun had traveled around the second level freely. He had covered the entire region of the second level. He roughly knew that this world was several thousand kilometers in radius. The lava lake with the red lotus was right in the center, while, Yi Yun was now at the deepest end of the world.

According to Yi Yun’s experience, the deepest ends of a world should be a place where powerful desolate beasts gathered. This was also the reason why he came here.

Yi Yun looked around, he saw a continuous stretch of mountain peaks. The tall mountain range stretched out to a certain spot where it suddenly disappeared. It was like a giant dragon had sliced the mountain range, leaving a smoothed flat surface.

Yi Yun guessed that this piece of land might have belonged to a part of another world. It was later carved out by the person who created this mystic realm and placed inside the God Advent Tower.

If that was the case, the slash that could split the lands was indeed terrifying.

However…compared to the shocking sword scar at the Pure Yang Sword Palace, it was still lacking by quite a bit. The sword scar still left behind an indescribably profound charm despite experiencing countless numbers of years. It was alarming.

Yi Yun used his movement technique to enter the mountain range.

He quickly discovered that although the mountain range in the deepest part of second level should have several powerful desolate beasts gathered there, the actual situation was that there was not many desolate beasts in the mountain range. Even if there were any, they were not very powerful. Yi Yun could handle them with his own strength.

This made Yi Yun slightly disappointed. Maybe, in this world, only the strongest desolate beasts were gathered at the central lava lake. As for other places, be it the deepest ends of the world or its boundary, the desolate beasts there were not very strong.

Yi Yun did not give up. He extended his energy vision to its maximum range and suddenly Yi Yun discovered that there seemed to be a red figure swaying in a small mound ahead of him. This red figure gave off a strong energy fluctuation.

“Oh? This is…” A strange light flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes.

He looked far ahead and he pushed his energy vision to its limits. He saw what the red figure was. It was a herbal plant. It looked quite similar to the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng Yi Yun had previously caught.

“Another treasure?”

Yi Yun was stunned. There were two treasures in the second level of the God Advent Tower?

The red herbal plant’s quality seemed to be much more inferior to the red lotus in the lava lake. But if taken out into the world, it was definitely an item that various large factions would covet.

Yi Yun hesitated slightly. He carefully observed his surroundings as he secretly approached it.

Faintly, Yi Yun could smell a strange fragrance.

The herbal plant’s fragrance had such great range?

Yi Yun was a bit alarmed. He estimated that he was more than five kilometers away from the herbal plant, yet he could smell its fragrance?

The unknown herbal plant grew alone in front of a mountain wall and gently swayed with the wind. The strange fragrance also diffused with the wind.

Similar treasures were likely to be protected by desolate beasts, so Yi Yun became extremely careful. As he was five kilometers away from it, very suddenly, Yi Yun’s heart froze. A feeling of extreme danger seemed to engulf him.

He jerked backward and held his breath while being focused. He completely hid his presence and he seemed to become one with the rocks and trees around him.

He was prone down on the ground and he looked forward. He had felt something lock onto him for a split moment.

Oh? That is…

In Yi Yun’s energy vision, he saw a unparalleled powerful energy source that alarmed him.

And this terrifying energy source surprisingly came from inside the huge mountain.

Using one’s naked eyes, the huge mountain seemed to be covered in a brown plant. It did not seem to be anything special.

However, using his energy vision, Yi Yun could clearly see the actual body of this mountain.

It was…a extremely large desolate beast.

It had folded its four limbs and it was prone on the ground. It was like a huge turtle.

It looked like it was sleeping, but Yi Yun knew that it was not sleeping at all. The unknown herbal plant that resembled the Heaven Purple Yang Ginseng was growing beside the desolate beast’s mouth.

Another desolate beast guardian? Every treasure on the second level of the God Advent Tower had a desolate beast protecting it, so how would cultivators obtain them easily?

Yi Yun had such a thought, but soon, he rejected that thought.

That’s not right!

Yi Yun saw that the unknown herbal plant was connected to a long vine. The long vine grew from the huge turtle desolate beast’s forehead, and it was hanging like a lantern.

Upon seeing this carefully, Yi Yun’s limbs froze.

Bait!

This “herbal plant” was just bait. If one went to pluck it foolishly, they would probably become food for the large turtle.

Yi Yun really wanted to curse. The first time he found the red lotus, it was protected by a flock of strange birds. Now, after great difficulty, he found a strand of a “treasure”, yet it was a death trap!

The opportunities on the second level of the God Advent Tower were fraught with dangers.

The test established in the Great Empress mystic realm was too difficult. If a cultivator was not extremely careful, it was practically committing suicide by hastily exploring this mystic realm.

However, the path of martial arts was fraught with countless difficulties. The number of geniuses who fell midway was too much to count.

The feeling of danger never went away. Yi Yun knew that this large turtle was not something he could handle. However, he did not leave. He remained prone behind a large boulder and he waited like a hunter.

488 - : The Sliced-off World

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was observing the giant turtle.

Since the ancient God Advent Tower had left a treasure behind in the God Advent Tower’s second level, there must have been a way to take it away. And it was probably not limited to a single method.

He just needed to find one of the methods. Now, he was searching for such an opportunity.

As time passed, some small birds and small beasts who were unaware of the situation treated the huge desolate beast like a real mountain mound. They perched and rested on it. However, this huge desolate beast did not move one bit. It was as if it was a real mountain.

About two hours later, a huge desolate beast that resembled an elephant appeared from the woods from another mountain peak.

This desolate beast’s strength was clearly stronger than the desolate beasts Yi Yun had encountered in the mountain range.

When the elephant-like desolate beast appeared, it was quickly attracted by that unknown “herbal plant”.

It hesitated for a while before slowly approaching the mountain. It was not fast and it was on high alert while walking over. It constantly probed the possible dangers around it. Yi Yun could see that this desolate beast had intelligence. It knew there was no such thing as having free things fall into one’s lap. Suddenly seeing a herbal plant with extremely rich energy was in itself a very strange affair.

About a few hundred meters from that “herbal plant”, the elephant-like desolate beast suddenly noticed something and stopped.

Following that, it carried on proceeding as it could not withstand the lure of the herbal plant.

When it was at a distance of about tens of meters away from the “herbal plant”, the elephant-like desolate beast suddenly charged and stretched out its long trunk to grab the herbal plant. It looked like it was trying to grab the herbal plant with the fastest speed possible and then return to a safe spot before it would slowly enjoy it.

However, this only sealed its fate. The moment its long trunk touched the herbal plant, a black crack that looked like a cave on the mound suddenly opened up. A warm breath poured out of the black crack.

It was the huge turtle desolate beast’s mouth. Its teeth were like long humongous lances and it was a startling sight!

Inside the huge mouth, there was a blood-red tongue. Although it was a tongue, its tip had grown a strange snake head.

“Sou!”

The large, thick tongue moved extremely fast. When it shot out, it was like a dazzling red beam as it immediately wrapped around the elephant and pulled it straight into the deepest parts of the black crack.

The elephant-like desolate beast let out a short scream before turning silent.

Ka-cha!

Ka-cha!

Yi Yun heard a hair-raising sound of shattering bones. The huge turtle desolate beast’s body gently moved a bit as it ate the elephant-like desolate beast whole!

Terrifying!

Yi Yun finally understood why there were not many desolate beasts in this mountain range, and why there were so few strong ones. Probably most of the desolate beasts had already entered the huge turtle desolate beast’s stomach.

How much could a large desolate beast the size of a small mountain eat? A large elephant was probably not even enough for a meal…

“If it were me, I wouldn’t even be enough to fill the crevices of its teeth.”

Yi Yun was slightly scared after the event. Ten of himself would just be a tiny dish for such a terrifying desolate beast. Once he was wrapped by the red tongue, he was doomed.

Seeing this huge turtle desolate beast made Yi Yun recall the Long Gui true spirit the Shepherd Boy rode on when he attacked the Tai Ah Divine City.

However, when the Long Gui true spirit stood up, it was even taller than the Tai Ah Divine City which stood on a foundation at a height of a hundred thousand feet. It was bigger than the huge turtle desolate beast in front by him by more than a hundred times. That was a terrifying existence that could destroy the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, it was far above what this huge turtle desolate beast could compare with.

The Long Gui true spirit was no doubt terrifying, but…previously when Yi Yun was imprisoned by Shentu Nantian, he knew that the Long Gui true spirit had a huge weakness. It was…slow!

Shentu Nantian had imprisoned him for ten days as he was sure that the Long Gui true spirit could not rush to the Chu Prefecture City in such a short period of time. Without the Long Gui true spirit, the Shepherd Boy was nothing to be feared.

Regarding the Long Gui true spirit, Shentu Nantian was indeed right. Unfortunately, he had underestimated the Shepherd Boy’s strength.

Speed…

Yi Yun took a deep breath. For a desolate beast of such an immense size and with a heavy turtle shell on its back, it was reasonable for it to be slow.

However, the huge turtle desolate beast had a red tongue which moved as fast as lightning, so he had to be careful.

Yi Yun had just learned the “Golden Crow Sun Shift”, and with it, Yi Yun had the means to survive in front of the huge turtle’s mouth.

Maybe…he could succeed!

Yi Yun’s breathing slowly sped up. He had a crazy plan which he could not help but think of gambling on!

He dared to make such a gamble not only because of “Golden Crow Sun Shift”, but because Yi Yun believed that the Great Empress mystic realm did not give impossible missions.

There was always a chance that he needed to grab on to.

After figuring this out, Yi Yun stood up. He did a crazy action. At a distance of more than five kilometers from the huge turtle desolate beast, he strung his Tai Cang Bow and pulled the bow open. The cold Wind Chasing Arrow was aimed at the huge turtle desolate beast’s mouth, which was the black crack on the mountain mound.

With death on the line, Yi Yun’s blood flow sped up, but his mind was abnormally calm. Success or failure depended on this!

“Peng!”

Yi Yun released his hand and the bowstring hummed, while the Wind Chasing Arrow shot forward!

The arrow pierced through the air, it was like a divine beam. With Yi Yun’s pure Yang energy, it entered the huge turtle desolate beast’s mouth.

“Boom!”

The energy exploded in the huge turtle’s throat. The huge turtle’s massive body shook violently as soil and plants started to trickle down.

“Roar!”

The huge turtle desolate beast let out a furious roar. It had been angered by Yi Yun’s arrow entering its throat!

It had lain in the deep ends of the second level of the God Advent Tower for tens of thousands of years. It was the absolute lord of the land and it had never suffered before!

It raised its huge head and its gray-colored eyes opened as they locked onto Yi Yun!

A puny human had caused it pain and injured it. It had shot an arrow into its soft throat.

Without a second of folly, Yi Yun stored his Tai Cang Bow away and ran off!

This was a race with Death. He used all his strength, conjured his Aspect Totem and used the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” movement technique. It was like he had transformed into a flying Golden Crow and shot through the sky!

“Roar!”

The huge turtle roared. How could it permit a puny human who injured it to escape? It finally moved its four huge limbs that had laid dormant for hundreds of years and it began to chase after Yi Yun!

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The huge turtle began to run. The ground quaked as its four limbs alternated in movement. With every step it took, it would leave behind a huge footprint that looked like a dried up lake.

Large swaths of forest were toppled. Trees were smashed and dust sprung up!

Yi Yun ran with all he got. Following behind him was a huge turtle the size of a small mountain. The dust cloud that was stirred up looked like a long dragon. This scene was quite a magnificent sight!

489 - : A Gamble

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had never tried being in such a crazy scene, with him running crazily in front, while a huge desolate beast was chasing him!

’Golden Crow Sun Shift’ gave Yi Yun unparalleled speed, but he did not lower his guard. As he ran, he swallowed a desolate beast relic so that he could have sufficient energy in his body.

He was right in his thinking, speed was indeed the Achilles’ heel of the large turtle desolate beast. But even so, its speed was still alarming when it ran despite its huge body.

It spared no effort in chasing after Yi Yun. Actually, the distance didn’t open up, it was slowly closing.

So fast!?

Yi Yun was alarmed. For such a large beast to have such terrifying speed was heaven-defying!

He did not turn his head because he could use his energy vision to probe the large turtle desolate beast’s every move.

At that moment, Yi Yun saw the large turtle desolate beast open its huge mouth, and in its mouth, a dark red poisonous python moved like a whip!

“That’s bad!”

Without giving any thought, Yi Yun leaped high up!

At the same time, the poisonous python shot out like lightning. The poisonous python opened its jaws and attempted to swallow Yi Yun!

The length of the tongue inside the large turtle desolate beast’s mouth far exceeded Yi Yun’s imagination. It attacked from such a long distance!

A tongue that needed about 10 people hugging it to encircle it may look thin compared to the large turtle’s body, but swallowing Yi Yun was an extremely easy task.

“Xiao!”

Behind Yi Yun, his Golden Crow Aspect Totem soared up into the sky. Like a burning Sun rising from the horizon, Yi Yun seemed to be merged with that burning sun as he quickly transformed into a beam of light. There was no way of seeing his body!

“Ka-cha! Ka-cha!”

The large turtle’s tongue kept close to the ground and swept forward. While doing so, it broke hundreds of large trees. Some of the large trees were either split in the middle or uprooted. Large amounts of soil and rocks were sent flying into the sky, but they were lit up by the Golden Crow’s flames. In an instant, the sky became a fiery sea as countless fire raindrops rained down. The sight was extremely magnificent, like star constellations crashing to the ground!

And in this explosive, rumbling rain of fire, Yi Yun charged out like a resurrected phoenix from the ashes, seeking life in the midst of death!

The large turtle desolate beast was irritated when it missed. It brandished its tongue and continuously tried to stab Yi Yun with it. Its destructive power was too terrifying. The tongue was like a brandished divine whip as it crashed into the lands, causing great disorder!

Flames rose and the burning air formed a strong wind. The surrounding stones and dust were roused by the strong wind. With the large turtle’s tongue swinging around violently, the land was swallowed by a thick smoke.

In the sky, fiery rain rained down, while the land was covered in smoke and dust.

The large turtle completely lost sight of Yi Yun. It was after all not a human expert. Humans had strong souls, so they could use their spiritual energy to lock on to their targets.

As for the large turtle, it mainly relied on its eyes, nose and its perception of energy.

However, Yi Yun was too small a target. Especially with him concealing his presence and camouflaged in the pure Yang fiery rain, be it his body or his body’s energy fluctuations were completely hidden.

The large turtle slowly stopped. Running crazily with its massive body drained its energy very quickly. And the energy required was equivalent to eating several large desolate beasts, so it decided not to chase Yi Yun anymore.

It finally stopped.

It was extremely furious that a puny human had undermined its authority and injured it, but it could do nothing. The only thing it could do was roar angrily at the billowing smoke.

However, it made no difference. It believed that the ant-like human had long escaped.

As the large turtle faded its roar, it planned on returning. It wanted to return to its territory. A cowardly ant was not worth it for it to go to arms.

Just as the large turtle turned around, it suddenly halted. It looked disbelievingly at a place not far away. About five kilometers away, the puny human appeared once again. He was standing on a mountain cliff that had mostly collapsed. He was holding a black bow, and an arrow was strung!

The large turtle desolate beast stared widely. With its slow brain, it did not have the time to figure out what the human was planning on doing, before…

“Peng!”

The bowstring emitted a sound like muffled thunder as the Wind Chasing Arrow carried Yi Yun’s pure Yang energy through the air, shooting straight at the large turtle desolate beast’s eye!

At a distance of five kilometers, the Wind Chasing Arrow did not waver in its trajectory as it struck the large turtle’s pupil!

“Boom!”

A tremendous explosion from all the energy injected into the Wind Chasing Arrow exploded at the large turtle desolate beast’s eye!

Although the large turtle desolate beast closed it eye in time, the force from the explosion still caused it pain. After the explosion dissipated, blood flowed out of the corner of its eye!

It was once again injured. Although this injury was nothing to it, it was completely incensed!

“Wu–ao–”

The large turtle looked up to the sky and let out a terrifying roar. Like an intense shock wave, it spread out in all directions and sent the clouds in the sky flying!

It had been provoked by that human time and again, so how could it tolerate it!?

It ran at Yi Yun once again. It spat out the long python-like tongue as it stabbed towards Yi Yun.

Without any hesitation, Yi Yun turned and escaped!

He did not want to clash with the large turtle directly because that was courting death.

As such, Yi Yun ran, while the large turtle chased him.

The large turtle’s body was immense and its stamina was weak compared to Yi Yun. In the beginning, Yi Yun was encountering incessant danger. Any mistake would result in him being smashed to pieces by the large turtle’s tongue. As time went by, with the large turtle’s physical strength expended, Yi Yun was already feeling great ease.

He continue running and provocating. When the large turtle chased him, he ran. When the large turtle wanted to leave, he would shoot an arrow. This harassment continued.

Yi Yun’s arrows were specially aimed at the weakest spots of the large turtle. He shot wherever it hurt.

Yi Yun’s arm strength was not lacking to begin with, and with his pure Yang energy injected into the arrows, every arrow’s power could shatter a mountain peak. Even though the large turtle’s hide was tough and its flesh tough, it still felt pain when its weakest spots were hit by such a tremendous attack.

Using this method, Yi Yun pulled the large turtle for a few thousand kilometers. The large turtle was nearly on the brink of mental collapse.

It had never seen such a cheap and damaging human. Its anger had reached its maximum.

At that moment, the large turtle was like a mobile volcano. It could explode at any moment!

Seeing the large turtle in this state, the culprit, Yi Yun, knew that it was about time.

The intelligence of desolate beasts’ was originally not high, and with a raging desolate beast, its destructive power would be terrifying only when it moved through instinct.

Such a massive object would become a terrifying war tank that could destroy anything.

490 - : Large Turtle’s Fury

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, in the lava lakeat the center of the second level of the God Advent Tower, the flock of strange birds had just finished another round of hunting.

They piled the prey they had caught together. Tens of strange birds overlapped their wings and formed a circle. Once again, they began their odd ritual.

And at that moment, their leader appeared.

It flew down from its “throne” on the cliff and circled in the air a few times before retracting its wings and landing in the middle of the flock of strange birds as it enjoyed the worship of its lackeys.

It did not stand on ceremony as it extracted the dead preys’ heart’s blood, filling up a bone cup. Just as it was about to pick up the bone cup to fly back to its nest, it suddenly felt something amiss.

The sticky hearts’ blood in the bone cup gently rippled forming wave after wave of concentric circles. The ground… was slightly trembling!

What was happening?

The three-legged strange bird was a bit dull. With its intelligence, it could not understand why the ground was trembling immediately. It turned its head slightly and looked far into the distance.

What it saw made it completely dumbfounded. It saw a massive large turtle failing its limbs as the turtle charged at itself!

While this large turtle was running, it constantly brandished its long red tongue which disarrayed the ground.

The entire ground was filled with dust and flames. There was no way to tell what was happening in the dust cloud.

In fact, Yi Yun, who was hidden inside the dust cloud had already used the Purple Crystal to conceal all his energy. The strange three-legged bird may have extremely sharp eyes, but its perception was much weaker, so how could it discover Yi Yun’s presence?

Desolate beasts, especially strong ones, were extremely territorial.

The three-legged strange bird had long treated the mountain range around the lava lakeas its territory. It did not allow other strong desolate beasts to entering it.

“Xiao— Xiao—Xiao—”

Tens of strange birds let out a ear-piercing wail. They gathered together, spread out their wings and opened their blade like mouths. Using this method, they tried to warn the large turtle desolate beast to stay away.

However, the large turtle desolate beast had already been provoked by Yi Yun again and again, and it was already in a frenzy state. So why would it care about the strange birds’ warning?

Even when it was calm, with its pride, it would have never spare a thought for these strange birds.

Seeing the large turtle desolate beast approaching them, the strange birds were angered as they all charged up into the sky to face their enemy.

They believed that the large turtle desolate beast was targeting their red lotus!

The red lotus in the middle of the lava lakewas their treasure. No matter what desolate beast wanted to rob them of their red lotus, they would kill them all!

The large turtle desolate beast moved closer and large swaths of Fusang trees were toppled by the large turtle!

Pieces of wood flew into the sky like rolling waves. The large turtle desolate beast was about to reach their lava lake!

The strange birds could no longer tolerate it any further. Having entrenched here in the lava lakefor so many years, there were other desolate beasts who wanted to steal their treasure. The large turtle in front of them was also given the same classification.

The leading three-legged strange bird let out a scream! This was its attack signal!

Tens of strange birds charged at the large turtle!

Although the strange birds were large in size, they were still small compared to the large turtle. Besides, the large turtle was covered in heavy armor, so it was in no way afraid of the attacks from the sharp claws.

“Dang! Dang! Dang!”

The strange birds’ metallic claws and wings swiped at the large turtle as they emitted a metallic sound, but the large turtle was in no way injured.

However… for a prideful existence like it to be provoked by an ant-like human and suddenly, having a flock of sparrows coming out of nowhere, the brewing volcano within the large turtle finally erupted!

In a frenzy state, how could the large turtle consider if the strange birds were enemies or allies of Yi Yun? As long as something blocked its path, it would kill them all, not leaving a single one of them alive!

“Roar!”

The large turtle roared as it shot out its blood-red tongue as fast as lightning!

“Phuah! Phuah!”

Two strange birds were consecutively bitten by the snake head on the tip of the thick tongue.

The snake head on the tip of the tongue had an alarming bite. Furthermore, it had dreadful venom that caused the strange birds that were bitten by it to immediately rot, turning into a pool of blood!

At that moment, Yi Yun had long hidden in a corner. He saw this scene with his own eyes and he felt fear.

The red python on the large turtle’s mouth had such dreadful venom? If he had touched a bit of it, he would probably already been reduced into a pile of white bones…

A living creature that was a combination of a turtle and snake reminded Yi Yun of the Black Turtle. The divine beast, Black Turtle had a dragon’s head and a turtle’s body, with a snake coiled on its back. Although the large turtle in front of him was definitely weaker than the Black Turtle, it gave off a strange feeling with the snake in its mouth.

Seeing two strange birds die, the three-legged strange bird let out a clear cry. This cry echoed into a far distance and immediately, the trees in the surrounding woods began to shake. One after another, strange birds rose up from the woods!

These strange birds spread out their wings and flew in unison as they blocked out the Sun. They were like a mass of dark clouds.

With the shadows of the strange birds projected downwards, the sky seemed to dim a bit. Yi Yun’s rough count was that there was at least a hundred strange birds flying in the air!

Out of the more than hundred strange birds, a portion of them were larger in size than the typical strange bird. Their beaks were even longer and there were about a dozen of them. Clearly, their strength was greater than the normal strange birds, and they were only second to the leading three-legged strange bird.

Yi Yun was secretly amazed while watching on the side. With more than a hundred, it was no wonder this flock of strange birds could occupy the central area of the second level of the God Advent Tower and managed to monopolize the red lotus.

This amount of strength was something any other desolate beast species could not compare with in the second level.

With a huge enemy before them, the strange birds went out in full strength, but even so the strange birds’ sharp claws and metallic wings were unable to break through the large turtle’s defenses.

The large turtle roared and he spat out his blood-red tongue like a venomous sword. One after another, strange birds were pierced through by the tongue! As the strange birds were torn apart, their corpses fell to the ground as blood dyed the sky!

A lone strange bird could be easily killed by the large turtle in an instant. However, the number of strange birds was too great, especially with a terrifying existence like the three-legged strange bird present.

When the large turtle spat out its tongue to pierce a strange bird, the three-legged strange bird took this opportunity and shot out like a bolt of lightning!

Cha!

It brandished its three metallic claws and grabbed at the large turtle’s tongue!

Using its momentum, the three-legged strange bird’s attack was frightening. It managed to slice a small piece of the large turtle’s tongue off!

Blood spurted out as the large turtle felt pain. It let out a painful wail.

And at that moment, the three-legged strange bird cried sharply and opened its beak to spit a fiery ball of light at the large turtle.

The three-legged strange bird was after all a pure Yang-elemental desolate beast, so it condensed its pure Yang energy to use a long distance attack!

With the three-legged strange bird taking the lead, the dozen or so larger strange birds also opened their beaks and launched a ball of light as an attack!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Large number of light blobs smashed onto the large turtle, causing an intense explosion.

Instantaneously, the mountains trembled as soil and rock collapsed. Large swaths of Fusang trees were annihilated!

The battle had reached its most intense stage. With the three-legged strange bird’s lead, the flock of strange birds launched their counter attack at the large turtle!

Yi Yun had no intentions of marveling such an intense battle. It was the perfect time for Yi Yun to make his move at this stage!

He eyed the cliff. At that moment, the sentries on the cliff were no longer present. At the moment the battle began, the three-legged strange bird’s sharp cry was a signal for the strange birds to put on a massive offensive.

Yi Yun had exhausted his abilities to draw a ferocious creature to another just for this moment!

He used the Purple Crystal to conceal his presence and charged towards the mountain cliff…

Yi Yun’s first choice was not the red lotus in the lava lake, but the strange bird’s nest at the top of the mountain cliff.

He knew that after the strange bird gathered the lotus seeds and the blood from the desolate beasts’ hearts, it had brought it all back into its nest.

Yi Yun wanted to know what the flock of strange birds were up to in that nest.

Maybe there were even extra lotus seeds left inside the nest.

To prevent being discovered, Yi Yun clinged tightly against the rocks as he proceeded quickly. Very quickly, he arrived below the cliff. When he looked up at the strange birds’ nest, it was about a hundred feet high.

Yi Yun could easily reach that height with a jump, but to remain hidden, Yi Yun chose to climb the rock wall on the back of the cliff. Like an agile lizard, he moved extremely fast up the cliff.

Soon,Yi Yun reached a position level with the strange birds’ nest. Only then did he flip himself from the back of the cliff to the front.

Whew!

Using the time to blink an eye, Yi Yun entered the birds’ nest. The black shadow that disappeared the next moment was not discovered by any desolate beast.

Yi Yun unsheathed his sword. Although it was unlikely that there were any strange birds left in the cave, it was always wise to be careful. Yi Yun had long activated his energy vision. Everything in here could be seen by him.

Outside the cave, there were still the intense battling sounds from two desolate beast lords. Yi Yun turned a deaf ear towards it. His speed was extremely fast as he reached the deepest ends of the cave in a few strides.

The strange birds’ nest was about a hundred foot deep. Along the way, Yi Yun saw several bones of desolate beasts. Many of the bones were in pieces after being chewed on. Bone powder was scattered on the ground while there were signs of blood splattered on the rocks.

This was practically a slaughter house.

At that moment, Yi Yun felt an unparalleled intense energy fluctuation in the Purple Crystal’s vision.

The source of the fluctuation came from the deepest end of the cave.

Here, in the darkness, Yi Yun saw a large turtle shell. This turtle shell’s diameter was about two meters across and it was overturned on the ground. A large portion of the turtle’s shell had been sliced away, leaving the carapace, which was perfect for a huge bowl.

More than half of the turtle’s shell was covered by desolate beast hide. Beside the turtle shell, there were some bone cups made from the bones of desolate beasts.

There were remnants of fresh blood on the bone cups. It was the blood from desolate beasts’ hearts.

Yi Yun realized that the three-legged strange bird must have collected the hearts’ blood and stored it in the turtle shell.

Yi Yun pulled the desolate beasts’ hide away, and what he saw was a strange scene.

He thought that the turtle shell was filled with fresh blood, but the scene of smell of blood smashing into his olfactory nerves did not happen. Instead, Yi Yun smelt a fragrance.

He looked down and he saw that at the bottom of the turtle shell, there was a scattered pile of red glass beads. They were crystalline like precious stones…

491 - : Entering with the Opportunity Arising

CKtalon  CKtalon

“These beads are…”

In his energy vision, Yi Yun could see that the source of the pure Yang energy fluctuations in the cave came from these beads.

There was a total of twelve beads, and each one was crystal-clear and red in color. They looked like the most flawless blood spirit stones.

“Could it be… that these beads are the red lotus’ lotus seeds?”

Yi Yun recalled the scene from before. The three-legged strange bird had picked the red lotus’ lotus seeds and then soaked them in large amounts of heart’s blood, taken from the desolate beasts. It then brought the lotus seeds back into the cave.

Now, Yi Yun had found these beads, and the quality of the pure Yang energy they contained was far greater than the lotus seed he saw before. This confirmed Yi Yun’s guess.

Now, according to the situation, it was likely that the three-legged strange bird had used the heart’s blood from the desolate beasts and soaked the lotus seeds in it. Many of the desolate beasts killed by the strange birds were pure Yang-elemental in nature, so the blood in their hearts contained the right essence.

Although they were all pure Yang beasts in nature, the desolate beasts were all of different species, had different properties and understood different laws. In contrast, the red lotus’ lotus seeds could perfectly absorb these energies and merge them into themselves.

This made the pure Yang energy, contained within the lotus seeds, become even purer and more balanced.

“To think that this strange bird has such intelligence…”

Yi Yun was a bit surprised. He knew that humans would soak lotus seeds in wine. By doing so for a few years, it had the effect of invigorating one’s Yang energy after consumption. He never expected for the three-legged strange bird to soak the lotus seeds in blood. As for the blood coming from the hearts of desolate beasts, it was of course much better than wine. It was more suitable for a red lotus that yearned for blood.

Seeing these lotus seeds, it was unknown for how many years they had been soaked in it. It was also unknown how many desolate beasts had been sacrificed for this absorption during this period.

The three-legged strange bird had indeed put in a lot of effort.

Yi Yun guessed that the strange bird had stored the lotus seeds here and planned to use them later to help it complete its evolution. Many desolate beasts could evolve their bloodline during their maturation process.

This leader bird had already evolved to the stage of having three legs, and from many years of breathing in the essence of this world, and absorbing pure Yang energy, to eventually swallowing these pure Yang lotus seeds, it could grow feathers and look increasingly similar to the ancient Golden Crow.

“Strange Bird Bro, you sure worked hard. I really benefited from you this time. Thanks.” Yi Yun silently muttered and then moved quickly. In a blink of an eye, all the pure Yang relics in the turtle shell had been sent into his interspatial ring.

The world had such rules. The strange birds hunted numerous desolate beasts, and collected the blood from their hearts to nourish the blood lotus seed.

As for Yi Yun, he stole the blood lotus seeds, making the strange birds do all of that for naught.

The billions of living things in this world were fighting to grow and become stronger. During this process, there was no distinguishment of good and bad, only between strong and weak.

Survival of the fittest was the law of this world.

After keeping the lotus seeds, he closed the turtle shell and quickly left the cave, He paused for a moment at the mouth of the cave. Only when he knew that no desolate beasts noticed him did he cling to the rock wall and disappear in an instant.

Yi Yun circled to the back of the mountain cliff once again. This was a visual blind spot for all the desolate beasts present.

He jumped down from the mountain cliff and the wind blew in his ears as he landed without startling the dust beneath his feet.

Not far away, the strange birds and the large turtle’s battle had become increasingly bloody. The large turtle’s tongue had already been lacerated by the strange birds’ sharp claws.

The large turtle no longer dared to easily spit out its tongue, or its tongue could be severed by the strange birds along with its root.

At that moment, the large turtle was in a much more pathetic state than when Yi Yun first saw it. Its body was ridden with wounds and the plants and mud on the turtle’s shell had all been destroyed.

Its neck, head and legs were covered in wounds, burn marks and claw marks. They were nearly uncountable.

However, the strange birds paid a terrible price for this. At least a third of the strange birds had been bitten to death by the large turtle. Some of the strange birds’ corpses had been dissolved by venom, while some were pulled into the large turtle’s mouth for it to chew on to replenish its stamina.

Now, the large turtle’s mouth was filled with blood. It was flowing down like a red waterfall!

This blood was a combination of the large turtle’s and the strange birds. The Fusang woods had already been dyed red by blood. Mud was mixed with flesh and blood, turning the area into a blood-red marsh!

With the battle reaching such a stage, it was a shocking sight!

The strange birds and the large turtle were the lords of the second level of the God Advent Tower. There was probably going to be a victor determined today, which would then decide who was the absolute dominator of the second level!

At that moment, Yi Yun’s main objective was accomplished. He could already leave, but he was not planning on leaving.

Not far away, there was a constant production of strange bird corpses. They were good stuff.

Although the rule to condensing an Aspect Totem was that one needed to kill a desolate beast with one’s own hands to condense a beast mark, just using the strange bird corpses as materials to refine into pure Yang relics was also a very good choice.

Yi Yun was tempted for a while before finally abandoning this thought. The reason was that if he wanted the strange bird corpses, he needed to approach the battle ground. The flock of strange birds had very sharp eyesight. If he were to steal the corpses, it was likely that he would be discovered.

It was not worth it.

Hence, Yi Yun turned his gaze towards the lava lake. Inside the lava lake, the red lotus was blooming splendidly as it tasted blood. Instead of alarming the red lotus due to the killing between the desolate beasts, the blood rain and bloody wind was in fact the best nourishment it liked.

Yi Yun slightly sighed. His current position was about a few thousand feet away from the red lotus. The position of the red lotus in the lava lakewas different from the strange birds’ nest. There was nothing to conceal him. Be it charging forward or picking the red lotus, both of them required time. To do it in broad daylight made it very likely for him to be discovered by the strange birds.

If that happened, the outcome would be disastrous. The three-legged strange bird could even give up on the large turtle and charge at him, disregarding everything.

And with its speed, Yi Yun did not have confidence in escaping.

It was a tough problem for him to safely pluck the red lotus.

With some hesitation, several ideas flashed past Yi Yun’s mind, but they were all rejected one after another. Finally, he decided to gamble on one!

Yi Yun did not rush directly at the red lotus for that was courting death. He used the mountain cliff’s blind spot to conceal himself as he ran down the mountain.

Yi Yun used his movement technique and in less than a minute reached his destination.

In front of Yi Yun was a deep valley. At the bottom of the valley was flowing lava!

This lava valley was connected to the lava lake above the mountain.

After some hesitation, he jumped off from the top of the valley!

He followed the inclined cliff and jumped around a few times before clinging onto a boulder. He was just above the surface of the lava flow. Here, the lava was just a few meters away from Yi Yun. The bright white lava was silently flowing. The rolling heat wave felt like a flame that was roasting Yi Yun’s face. The heat was smothering!

“I cultivate pure Yang laws and can control pure Yang energy. With the Purple Crystal protecting my body, I should be able to dive into the lava!”

Yi Yun muttered to himself as he released his hand from the boulder and jumped towards the lava lake!

492 - : Yet another Dangerous Move

CKtalon  CKtalon

The instant his body came into contact with the lava, Yi Yun circulated his Yuan Qi to the maximum. At the same time, he interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal to protect his whole body.

“Dong!”

The lava was sticky and heavy. When Yi Yun jumped in, there was not a single splash. Very quickly, his whole body sank into the deep depths of the lava.

The terrifying burning sensation overwhelmed him as Yi Yun felt his protective Yuan Qi being swallowed quickly.

The temperature of this lava was definitely not something that ordinary lava could match.

Besides, the lava was not only hot, it also contained chaotic pure Yang energy. Pure Yang energy was the energy of the Sun. Typically, when a warrior was struck by such an energy, their protective Yuan Qi will instantly shatter, causing their organs and meridians to burn, and finally, not leaving a tiny bit of bone residue.

However, Yi Yun had a pure Yang body. He was also circulating pure Yang Yuan Qi in his body. As he had the same type of energy and his understanding of pure Yang laws, he could prevent his body from burning up in the lava valley.

However, Yi Yun still found it very difficult.

Compared to the pure Yang energy in the lava, Yi Yun’s pure Yang Yuan Qi was like a small boat in the ocean. It could be capsized by a wave at any moment.

The deeper he went into the lava valley, the higher the temperature. Yi Yun chose a level of about three meters deep. This depth was sufficient enough to hide his body, and the pressure and temperature was relatively easier to handle.

His body’s Yuan Qi was being quickly depleted, so he had to hurry.

The lava was extremely heavy and highly resistive. It was also moving downstream, so with the tremendous energy surging at him, it was extremely tiring swimming upstream. Yi Yun ended up clinging to the rock walls of the valley and climbed up towards the lava lake like a gecko.

Yi Yun’s choice of location was about tens of meters away from the lava lake, so he very quickly reached the mouth of the lava lake by moving upstream.

Yi Yun held his breath as his heart raced. The three-legged strange bird was still battling the large turtle. Their every clash caused the earth to tremor.

Under this situation, not a single one of the strange birds could discover Yi Yun, who was hiding inside the lava.

Gu! Gu! Gu!

The lava was moving, with the subterranean flow turbulent.

Yi Yun had finally entered the lava lake!

The moment he entered the lava lake, Yi Yun could feel that the temperature here was much higher than the lava valley. His protective Yuan Qi was depleting even faster.

Yi Yun estimated that he could hold on for about 15 minutes at most.

Below the lava lake, even with Yuan Qi protecting him, all he could see as he opened his eyes was whiteness, it was too blinding!

Yi Yun opened his energy vision and using it, he sensed where the red lotus was.

In the energy vision, it was camouflaged with white pure Yang energy everywhere. However, right in the middle of the lava lake, where the red lotus was, the pure Yang energy was even more intense. It was like a gushing Sun. As usual, Yi Yun easily locked onto it.

Yi Yun was about hundreds of feet away from it.

“I need to hurry!”

At that moment, Yi Yun could no longer cling to the wall to proceed. He had to swim to the middle of the lava lake. He did not have any idea of backing off, so gathering a large amount of energy, he accelerated towards the middle.

Thankfully, the lava flow in the lava lake was relatively stable. It was not as fast as the valley.

As the distance to the red lotus shortened, the temperature of the lava lake increased.

When Yi Yun reached the center, he had less than 60% of his Yuan Qi left. And this amount of energy was needed to support his return.

Yi Yun did not dare to delay any further and began plucking the lotus!

Yi Yun looked down and saw that the red lotus’ roots were extremely long. It stretched deep down and at the bottom of the lava lake, there was a protruding boulder. The red lotus was growing on the top of this boulder, the lotus root had grown inside it, becoming one with it.

After a bit of hesitation, Yi Yun pulled out the Red Lotus Saber from his interspatial ring.

In terms of quality, Shentu Nantian’s sword was not inferior to the Red Lotus Saber. However, for cleaving, a saber was more suitable than a sword.

In the lava, the Red Lotus Saber emitted a strange blood-red glow. It seemed to contrast beautifully with the red lava. As a saber that was collected by the Thousand Hand Granny, it naturally would not be melted by the lava.

With the saber in hand, he thought of the Saber Truth’s 32 Words and slashed at the red lotus’ roots!

“Dang!”

The red lotus’ roots let out a clear resounding sound. Yi Yun felt like he had slashed a metal rod and he had not severed the root at all.

Yi Yun’s heart sank. It was really strong!

He had guessed that a treasure like the red lotus would not have roots that could be severed easily. If he had tried plucking the red lotus on the lava lake’s surface, he would not have succeeded immediately. And that would be courting death as he would be treated as a snack by the three-legged strange bird early on.

And even though he was beneath the lava lake’s surface, Yi Yun did not dare to make too much movements. Although he could still use more powerful saber moves, he could not guarantee that there would not be any motion on the lake’s surface, nor could he prevent the red lotus from not shaking.

With the three-legged strange bird’s alertness, it was bound to notice.

Since he could not do it forcefully, Yi Yun gritted his teeth and looked at the long root stem. He then dived deeper into the lava lake.

Success and failure was at stake!

When Yi Yun swam down, the temperature of the lava rose up like a straight line. The lava at this depth had already changed into a strange red-golden color. He could not tell that there was a high temperature, but Yi Yun could feel his skin cracking from the dryness and his meridians were feeling pain.

This was Yang toxins.

When pure Yang energy became too strong, to warriors whose realm was insufficient to handle it, it would become highly toxic.

Using the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun changed the Yang toxins in the lava into traces of pure Yang energy. Those that he could not change, he diverted away. However, the Yang toxins were too intense, so they still slowly entered Yi Yun’s meridians.

His Yuan Qi was depleting faster and faster, and there was only about 50% left. By using the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun’s mental energies were also depleting quickly. Once he could not take it, he would not be able to go back.

Yi Yun focused fully and he did not retreat. He steadily swam towards the boulder and finally, he reached the top of the boulder. Only then did Yi Yun see what this boulder was.

It was uniform and it looked like black glass. It had a bright luster that contained pure Yang energy. It was extremely hard. For it to be soaked in the lava lake for eons, and letting it burn day and night under the pure Yang fire, even if it was just a piece of muddy rock could be refined into real gold.

The boulder itself was already a treasure and it could be refined into a weapon.

If it was any other time, picking up such a boulder would be a great opportunity, but to the present Yi Yun, it only made him speechless.

He had to split apart such a hard boulder!

With the Red Lotus Saber in hand, Yi Yun could feel a cold frost Qi that seemed to lower the temperature of the surrounding lava by a tiny bit.

“What a good saber!” Yi Yun felt. That old hag’s treasured saber did not disappoint him.

Dang!

Yi Yun slashed his saber and hit the boulder with sparks appearing. The blade of the Red Lotus Saber was not damaged in any way, but only a white mark was left behind on the surface of the black boulder.

“This rock is too hard!” Yi Yun frowned. This had exceeded his expectations and at that moment, his Yuan Qi was becoming lesser.

Yi Yun injected pure Yang energy into his saber. Saber Truth’s 32 Words! Killing At Its Core!

The powerful saber move was slashed three times!

“Dang! Dang! Dang!”

Sparks flew but as Yi Yun was deep down inside the lava lake, be it noise or Yuan Qi fluctuations, they were all isolated by the extremely heavy, energetic lava.

The three-legged strange bird and the large turtle, who were in an intense battle, did not notice anything. Nor could they think that a weak human was in the lava lake stealing a treasure right from their mouths!

After the three saber strikes, a small notch was finally formed on the boulder. Some rubble fell off, but this notch was only a few inches wide. The red lotus’ roots were still buried deep in the boulder.

Yi Yun was in a hurry. He had only about 40% of his Yuan Qi left. He still wanted to return.

Considering his speed, if he wanted to completely slash the boulder apart and extract the red lotus, it was impossible to do so in 15 minutes. He could not last that long.

He could not extract the red lotus even if his Yuan Qi was completely exhausted.

Did he have to give up after reaching this stage?

At that moment, an idea flashed in Yi Yun’s mind. With a thought, he flipped his right hand and a rusty broken sword appeared in his hand.

This broken sword was the one that Yi Yun obtained in the Pure Yang Sword Palace. It looked like a piece of scrap metal that would decay at any moment.

However, when it appeared, very strangely, Yi Yun suddenly felt his body lighten. The depletion of his Yuan Qi was also instantaneously slowed down.

It seemed that a large amount of the pure Yang energy had been absorbed by the broken sword…

This is…

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed. After Yi Yun obtained this broken sword, other than using it to gain insight into sword Dao, he had nearly never used it before. As the broken sword contained an extremely mysterious profoundness, it made it very difficult for Yi Yun to power it. And the second reason was that Yi Yun did not want others to discover his broken sword, or it might put his life in peril.

However this time, with the broken sword in hand, Yi Yun could feel that he had a faint blood and Qi connection to the broken sword. This seemed to be a change ever since he gained some insight in the azure-clothed swordsman’s sword intent.

This made Yi Yun overjoyed. Now, he had to rely on the sword!

With the broken sword in hand, Yi Yun did not have time to contemplate. With the sword, he slashed at the boulder.

Cha!

With a crisp sound, Yi Yun’s broken sword slashed through without any resistance!

Using more strength, Yi Yun slashed a deep cut through the extremely hard, glazed black boulder.

Yi Yun was overjoyed as he slashed with one sword attack after another. Big chunks of the black boulder was slashed apart!

At the same time, Yi Yun opened his energy vision and made sure to see the red lotus in its entirety, including the parts underneath the boulder, so he didn’t cut through its roots.

Finally, Yi Yun’s final slash removed a huge chunk of black rock and he saw a lotus rhizome hidden beneath the boulder. It was the red lotus’ root!

It’s done!

After all the effort, where he kited the large turtle and risked his life to enter the birds’ nest to extract the lotus seeds. And then making a desperate attempt to dive into the lava lake to pluck the red lotus, finally, all the treasures were now in his hands!

493 - : Stealing a Treasure right from their Mouths

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun increased the speed of his attacks with the broken sword. With the rock trembling, the cracks began to expand and the red lotus’ lotus rhizome was completely revealed.

The lotus rhizome was about as thick as a child’s arm. It was covered with channels that looked like crystal-clear blood vessels on the surface. It had a jade like texture.

Being pressed for time, Yi Yun did not hesitate. He reached out, grabbed the lotus rhizome and pulled it out!

It was finally in his hands!

Yi Yun used his Yuan Qi to form a protective layer and he placed the red lotus in a herbal box that he had prepared earlier on. Next, he put it inside his interspatial ring.

Following that, Yi Yun rushed out of the lava lake without any delay. He began moving towards the lava valley.

While returning, Yi Yun only had less than 30% of his Yuan Qi left. He used all his strength to swim. Thankfully, he was moving downstream this time, so it was less tiring.

About 5 minutes later, about a few hundred meters away in the lava valley. With a splash, Yi Yun’s head finally appeared out of the lava flow. He then climbed out to one of the banks with a great deal of effort.

He laid down on the hot rocks with his face up and gasped. His Yuan Qi had been completely depleted!

The hot sulfur smell of the lava assaulted his nose and entered his lungs. It was a bit choking, but this odor made Yi Yun feel a strange sense of excitement. This adventure in the second level of the God Advent Tower was extremely rewarding!

He sat up, swallowed a bone relic and began to meditate to begin his slow recovery.

The battle far in the distance was still continuing. Yi Yun had to adjust his condition to cope with a possible crisis.

And at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly heard a shrill scream. It was from the three-legged strange bird!

The scream was cloud-piercing and rock-splitting. It formed a terrifying shock wave that spread out in all directions!

Ka-cha!

The rocks below Yi Yun cracked open when they were hit by the shock wave.

Even Yi Yun’s face turned white from the shock and a trickle of blood flowed out of his ears.

What a terrifying scream!

Yi Yun was secretly alarmed. The three-legged strange bird was too strong. Its sharp scream was so powerful even from a great distance. It caused the weak him to feel pain in his ears. If he was a weaker warrior, his organs could have been destroyed from the shock wave.

After the sharp scream, screams were heard one after another as they bombarded Yi Yun’s ears. It was quite clear that the three-legged strange bird had already noticed the disappearance of the red lotus.

It was a matter of time before they discovered the disappearance of the red lotus. With so many strange birds in the sky, although they were all battling the large turtle, they still had so many pairs of eyes.

At that moment, Yi Yun no longer dared to continue his meditation. Who knew what the strange bird would do with it in it’s crazy state?

He had already recovered about 20-30% of his physical strength. He quickly and silently climbed the valley’s walls.

As he hid behind a boulder, he looked at the battlefield.

Yi Yun was greatly alarmed when he saw it.

In the sky, the three-legged strange bird’s body had completely changed into a red-golden color. Its body’s surface was burning with pure Yang flames as it launched thunderstorm like attacks on the large turtle!

The area was covered in pure Yang flames, with fiery clouds everywhere. There was no end in sight!

As for the large turtle, its body was charred black. Its head was bloody and its tongue had been severed by the three-legged strange bird!

There was only a broken tongue in the large turtle’s mouth. The snake’s head had already gone missing. Without the long tongue with a snake head, it could not launch any attacks.

But… the large turtle was no simple opponent. The strange bird’s situation was also extremely terrible. The three-legged strange bird may seem to be extremely powerful at the moment, but Yi Yun discovered using his energy vision that the energy in the strange bird’s body was chaotic. It was already in an unstable state, as if it would explode at any time.

To defeat the large turtle, the three-legged strange bird had probably overdrafted its vitality. Besides, it was covered in wounds and these wounds were most likely bites from the large turtle’s tongue.

And Yi Yun knew that the large turtle’s tongue contained venom.

With the venom entering the three-legged strange bird, it was bound to leave a noticeable impact on it.

If they carried on fighting, the two top overlords of the second level of the God Advent Tower would pay a terrible price. It was likely that one side would die, and the other side would have overdrafted their vitality, dying due to its heavy injuries shortly.

The two overlords was aware of this possibility. But at that moment, with the three-legged strange bird discovering the disappearance of the red lotus, it entered a frenzy state, losing its rationality. On the contrary, it was the large turtle that was feeling fear.

In the beginning, it had been angered by Yi Yun. And now, while battling the three-legged strange bird, it had received multiple setbacks, and it was already completely awake.

Although its was slow in its head, it was very sensitive to the fear of death. Previously, when it attacked without any regard, it was because it felt that it was the overlord of the second level, and it could nonchalantly kill any ants that blocked its path. But now, it discovered that something was amiss.

It did not want to die for no reason here. It did not want to die with this strange bird that had clearly gone mad.

The large turtle was already beginning to retreat.

As it fought, it retreated and began to escape down the hill.

Seeing this scene, Yi Yun knew it was time to evacuate. With the large turtle gone, the frenzied three-legged strange bird would probably rip the entire mountain apart.

Although the large turtle and the three-legged strange bird were seriously injured, which meant that it was the best opportunity to kill them, after some weighing of his own strength, he was far from being able to match the two super desolate beasts. It was like an egg thrown against a rock even if he battled them while they were injured .

A pity!

Yi Yun shook his head. He looked at the soaring three-legged strange bird in the air. It had used all the pure Yang energy in the radius of dozens of kilometers. This desolate beast that had grown up by the lava lake and had circulated the pure Yang essence over the years would definitely be of great help to Yi Yun’s “Myriad Beast Totem” if he killed it and obtained its beast mark. It could even help his Golden Crow Aspect Totem to evolve. However, the three-legged strange bird was too strong, so Yi Yun could only watch.

Yi Yun quietly returned to the lava valley. He jumped into the lava once again and moved with the lava flow downstream.

The lava flow’s speed became more turbulent the lower it went. As such, Yi Yun was moving very fast.

However, at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly felt his hair stand. He felt a cold killing intent at that very instant as it swept across him!

Now, Yi Yun was in the searing hot lava stream, but the killing intent made Yi Yun’s blood freeze!

Could this killing intent come from the three-legged strange bird!?

This thought flashed past Yi Yun’s mind. He felt that it was impossible, but the source of the killing intent came from the three-legged strange bird’s direction!

The strange bird managed to find him under such circumstances?

In the second level of the God Advent Tower, there was only Yi Yun. The only thing on this mountain that could threaten Yi Yun was the three-legged strange bird.

No matter if that was the case, Yi Yun knew that the moment he was discovered, there was certainly no room for escape.

494 - : Red Lotus in Hand

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun could only take a gamble. As he held his breath, he dived deeper into the lava and he seem to lack any presence like an ordinary piece of rock.

At the same time, he used the Purple Crystal to conceal all his energy. Especially the energy fluctuations of the red lotus were hidden by the Purple Crystal through layers.

With Yi Yun’s presence concealed, even his protective Yuan Qi was contracted to the point of maintaining it by the surface of his skin.

He could constantly feel the burning sensation through his skin. Even with the Purple Crystal absorbing the Yang toxins, Yi Yun’s skin was still lacerated by burns from the lava.

Yi Yun endured the pain and remained motionless.

At the moment Yi Yun completely immersed himself in the lava, the three-legged strange bird had soared past the valley Yi Yun was in. It scanned the lava valley with its sharp eyes.

At that moment, the three-legged strange bird was extremely irritable. It was anxious to find the missing red lotus. As such, it didn’t even have the mood to chase the fleeing huge turtle.

With its unsophisticated intelligence, the three-legged strange bird had worked out that a living creature had stolen the red lotus while it was battling the large turtle.

With Yi Yun using the Purple Crystal to conceal his presence completely, the three-legged strange bird failed to find Yi Yun. It flew past the lava valley. The anger it had nowhere to vent turned into a explosive shot of pure Yang energy. Everywhere it passed, large amounts of rock was blown up. The Fusang trees that were already in a pathetic state was now a ghastly sight.

Yi Yun drifted for a while in the lava flow until his Yuan Qi was fully exhausted once again, then he peaked his head out.

The lava was extremely hot. Just that short amount of time caused Yi Yun’s body to be covered with burns. Blood seeped from his cracked skin.

Yi Yun ignored his injuries and he hurriedly swallowed a desolate bone relic. He then stuck close to the walls as he ran down the mountain. In his energy vision, Yi Yun saw that the three-legged strange bird had begun flying further away. Hence, he no longer needed to dive in the lava and suffer.

While running, Yi Yun used the Purple Crystal constantly to seal any energy fluctuations from his body. As such, the three-legged strange bird’s killing intent no longer swept pass Yi Yun.

This made Yi Yun suspect that the three-legged strange bird could use its sensitiveness to energy or some other mysterious connection to lock on to the red lotus’ position. If not, it could not have rushed all the way to where he was in the beginning.

“I have already put away the red lotus, so how did it sense it?”

Yi Yun was secretly alarmed. Desolate beasts, especially powerful desolate beasts, had mysterious strength and abilities that exceeded his understanding, so it was not strange. This made Yi Yun a bit scared. With the connection between the three-legged strange bird and the red lotus, if not for the Purple Crystal shielding it, he was unsure of what the outcome would be.

To be safe, Yi Yun took the red lotus and dashed for more than 500 kilometers away in one breath.

Here, Yi Yun saw a tall and vast stretch of mountains. The mountain range was covered in dense and lush vegetation. This was a primeval forest that took tens of thousands of years to form. With the leaves and branches interlocking, light could not shine through.

If a person were to enter here, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack if one wanted to find him.

Like a agile cat, Yi Yun entered the forest and moved quickly through it. Very soon, he reached a valley deep in the forest.

The valley was covered in mist all year long. The vegetation was also very lush, and it was the best place to hide.

Yi Yun chose a deep spot in the valley, and retrieving the Blood Red Lotus Saber, he slashed and quickly created a path.

Yi Yun used a large boulder to block the entrance to the passage. Then he used a few disk arrays he had exchanged for back in the Tai Ah Divine City to create an illusion array. These illusion arrays were more than sufficient to fool desolate beasts.

As he mined a path, Yi Yun reached somewhere deep underground. Here, he dug out a stone room the size of about a hundred feet.

In this way, Yi Yun was situated in a completely sealed underground cave. He then used the Purple Crystal to isolate the energy fluctuations in the underground cave. This way, he did not need to worry about his safety.

In here, Yi Yun first quietly meditated to heal. After about a day, he was finally rejuvenated completely. Only then did he retrieve the medicine box that contained the red lotus from his interspatial ring.

The herbal box that contained the red lotus was no ordinary item. It was the relic box that the Shentu family clan used to contain the Great Empress relic back then.

Shentu Nantian had used Everlasting Purple Gold and a top refiner master to manufacture this box. It could be said that its value was comparable to a city… but after Yi Yun tortured Shentu Nantian, this valuable relic box came into Yi Yun’s hands.

With the Everlasting Purple Gold medicine box, the herbal essence of the red lotus would not dissipate in any way.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and opened the medicine box.

A dark red beam immediately escaped.

In the dark cave, the red lotus was like a bonfire.

Yi Yun was stirred by this. The red lotus was quietly lying inside the medicine box’s silk satin. Every petal looked like a sculpted red crystal. The veins on its surface were clear and a pale gold color flowed through them.

Its roots were like jade and like glass as well. In the darkness, it seemed even more colorful.

After the red lotus appeared, the entire cave’s temperature increased. The surrounding moist soil was also quickly baked dry.

After some hesitation, he finally closed the Everlasting Purple Gold medicine box. The red lotus was intact, and he could not bear eating it.

He decided to first eat the red lotus’ lotus seeds.

To the present Yi Yun, a tiny portion of a treasure of this grade was sufficient for his absorption.

With a flip of his right hand, Yi Yun took the lotus seeds he extracted from the strange birds’ nest out of his interspatial ring. These lotus seeds had been soaked in desolate beasts’ hearts’ blood for an unknown period of time. The pure Yang energy in them could cause an awakening of the Golden Crow’s bloodline in the three-legged strange bird.

A treasure of this grade could cause such a heaven-defying effect on such a powerful desolate beast, so for Yi Yun, the benefits that would come out of it were unimaginable!

“This time, I wonder to what realm my strength will grow to… ”

As Yi Yun looked at the lotus seed that was full of Yuan Qi, he breathed out lightly. He was not in a hurry to swallow the lotus seed. Instead, he first began to circulate the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”.

Pure Yang Yuan Qi flowed in Yi Yun’s meridians. As Yi Yun’s aura increased layer by layer, the Tai Ah Sacred Technique began to complete one circulation after another. The Tang Valley, Fusang phantom image appeared behind Yi Yun. His Golden Crow Totem also appeared as it flickered behind Yi Yun.

All of the energy fluctuations were isolated by the Purple Crystal.

The current Yi Yun was like a piece of jade glowing in the dark while hidden deep in the mountains.

With everything prepared, and with a thought, Yi Yun pulled a lotus seed with his Yuan Qi and put it in his mouth.

The moment the lotus seed entered his mouth, it immediately became a pure source of pure Yang Yuan Qi.

This feeling was like he had swallowed a big gulp of pure Yang lava.

The lava went down Yi Yun’s mouth, into his throat, before flowing to all corners of his body!

The surface of Yi Yun’s skin also became red like fire suddenly!

His meridians began to emerge under his skin as they sparkled with red or gold fiery lights.

Two flashes of reddish-gold lights appeared at the bottom of Yi Yun’s eyes. His present appearance looked like his body would spontaneously go up in flames at any moment, reducing him to ashes.

The pure Yang Yuan Qi was too pure! Too forceful!

“Weng— Weng—”

The pure Yang Yuan Qi was surging like an inferno, it began to burn Yi Yun’s body.

Yi Yun was like a sword placed in an inferno, turning red from the heat!

Yi Yun endured the violent pure Yang energy. The sweat that came out of his body immediately evaporated. His lips slowly cracked from dryness, but his eyes revealed that of excitement.

The feeling of being burned by pure Yang flames was excruciating, but it was also a very joyful experience!

It was like drinking a glass of hard liquor. If it burned, then let it burn fiercely. And Yi Yun wanted to use this fierce fire to refine himself into a good sword!

Yi Yun did not protect his dantian. Instead, he was absorbing the pure Yang energy constantly and letting it burn.

Yi Yun’s meridians were constantly parched and they were even on the brink of breaking. Meridians were very important to a warrior in their strive towards martial arts. Once they were damaged, it was very hard for them to recover. It was difficult to heal them even if all sorts of treasures were consumed, hence, warriors were like birds who treasured their feathers in the same way they cherished their meridians.

However, now, Yi Yun was using such a brutal method to burn them!

The pain in his meridians made Yi Yun’s mouth twitch. One meridian after another was burned and it was a shocking sight.

Yi Yun clenched his fist and gasped heavily. It was still not enough!

He opened his mouth and with a flick of his fingers, the second blood lotus seed entered his mouth!

For a treasured sword to be refined, it had to go through thousands of stages of tempering. Stopping midway would fall short of completion!

Before finishing absorbing the first wave of energy, the second wave of energy surged over like a tidal wave. Under such a fierce impact, some of Yi Yun’s meridians started to break.

Yi Yun’s eyes were red. Pure Yang energy was accumulating in his body! It was expanding!

However… it was still not enough!

With determination, he grabbed a handful of lotus seeds. There were about seven or eight of them and he stuffed them into his mouth. For a divine sword to be forged amidst fierce fire, it was all a gamble!

With seven to eight lotus seeds entering his stomach, terrifying pure Yang energy exploded once again!

Only by having the Purple Crystal to control the situation did Yi Yun dare to be so crazy. But even so, when the pure Yang energy exploded like a earth-shattering tsunami, Yi Yun’s body could no longer take it. It began to collapse!

With his meridians burnt, they had turned black. It was like a slight touch would cause them to become flying ash.

Yi Yun’s body shivered. The unlimited heat spurt out from all his orifices and pores. The heat which was emitted also brought evaporated blood along with it. This resulted in Yi Yun appearing to be covered in a blood mist. The scene looked fearsome.

Yi Yun gritted his teeth. He felt his consciousness was slowly slipping away. He could only hold on to the final bit of clarity in his head, so he would not be completely destroyed.

As time went by, under his fuzzy state, Yi Yun did not know how much time had passed. He felt that everything around him had turned distant. He could only feel the coolness the Purple Crystal in his heart as it gently swirled.

As he felt he was almost dying, a faint warmness sprouted from deep within his body.

This warmness was full of vitality. It was like spring water that resulted after ice melted. Wherever it passed, it brought new life!

“Ka Ka Ka!”

All of Yi Yun’s blackened meridians began to crack as the warmness flowed past them. Layers of black skin fell off as they were washed away by the warmness.

After the black skin peeled off, what was revealed underneath was jade-like new meridians…

As more and more black skin peeled off, impurities accompanied them as they were discharged from Yi Yun’s pores. Very quickly, Yi Yun’s body was covered in a sticky substance.

Previously, when Yi Yun underwent marrow cleansing, his body would also discharge a black sticky substance, but this time it was different.

The sticky substance in the past were just impurities in his body, but this time, the sticky substances were the fragments of his old meridians. Yi Yun’s meridians had imperceptibly been renewed!

The new meridians intertwined like beautiful jade coral. They were wider than his original meridians. Their energy capacity was now even greater.

Even Yi Yun’s dantian also had an amazing change. His dantian had been widened and the energy in his dantian had bound together, becoming crystal clear.

The pure Yang fire was a destructive force, but after destruction came new life.

When wildfires burned down plains in one year, seeds that were underneath the scorched earth would sprout out with greener grass in the second year.

Life and destruction were intertwined and they were inseparable from one another.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly felt enlightened. His body had obtained new life. This was the change of being reborn.

The new life after destruction was the profound charm of pure Yang.

Pure Yang body!

I have finally obtained a pure Yang body!

This was a perfect pure Yang body!

495 - : Obtaining New Life

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ever since Yi Yun began cultivating pure Yang laws, together with the support from the Purple Crystal and the accumulation of all sort of opportunities, Yi Yun had finally obtained a body greatly coveted by many geniuses in the Tian Yuan world.

Yi Yun checked his inner body and he discovered the Yuan Foundation in his dantian had become broader. In his Yuan Foundation, pure Yang energy was gathered together and was faintly condensing into one.

Yi Yun knew that once the energy in his body condensed into one, it would become a seed for the martial arts laws. That was the next realm after the Yuan Foundation, Dao Seed.

“My cultivation level has improved by so much!”

Yi Yun was surprised. Back when he absorbed the Great Empress relic’s Yuan Qi in the Lin family, and then went into reclusive retreat for half a year, his cultivation level was approaching the late-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm.

But now, after the arduous training in the God Advent Tower, and with him insisting on one vigorous effort, he had obtained a perfect pure Yang body. This made Yi Yun’s cultivation level directly skip past the late-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm and directly into the peak of the Yuan Foundation realm.

Now, Yi Yun was only 16 years old.

When Yi Yun was around 13 years old, his progress in cultivation level was not very fast as he began martial arts late. He was even lagging behind other geniuses his own age.

But now, a late-stage Yuan Foundation realm warrior at 16 years old had a very exaggerated cultivation speed even in the entire Tian Yuan world. This left many elites in the dust.

“The peak of the Yuan Foundation realm. Just one more step will be the Dao Seed. And this Dao Seed realm allows one to be called a lord in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, known as a Human Lord. However, when I enter the Dao Seed realm, my strength will be better than that of any Human Lord in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.”

Yi Yun was very confident in his strength. After a series of opportunities, he too wanted to know how high his strength had reached.

Having just entered the peak of the Yuan Foundation realm, Yi Yun’s cultivation level was still not stable. He was not in a hurry to exit the temporary cave, so he meditated in it so he could consolidate his cultivation level.

While Yi Yun was in reclusive meditation, the door of light to the fourth level of the God Advent Tower was suddenly perturbed.

A black figure appeared in front of the door of light and slowly walked through it.

Originally, there was only Lin Xintong alone on the fourth level of the God Advent Tower, but now, there was another person who had quietly obtained the recognition of the God Advent Tower and entered the fourth level!

After entering the fourth level, the person licked his lips and a trace of excitement could be seen on his face.

What he faced was not a snowy plain, but a dark red hall. Around the hall stood seven sculptures. These sculptures were carvings of demons or deities. All of them look bloodthirsty and they had a murderous air to them. This filled the entire hall with killing intent!

“Interesting… ”

The figure completely walked through the door of light. The hall before him made him sense something. He gently wiped his interspatial ring and he retrieved a scimitar from it.

At that moment, he suddenly heard a “Peng” sound behind him.

The door of light had disappeared.

The entire hall was completely sealed as the figure was completely trapped inside the hall.

He was in no hurry as he looked around. Soon, his eyes locked onto a sculpture. This sculpture was carved in the form of a goddess of war. She wore armor and there was a pair of wings spread out behind her.

Suddenly, the figure grinned and revealed two rows of shiny white teeth.

As he grinned, a fuzzy white-dress female’s figure slowly appeared. She quietly stood in front of the goddess of war’s sculpture and a pair of indifferent eyes locked onto the figure in front of her.

The white-dressed female was the God Advent Tower ‘s Item Spirit and guardian that had appeared in front of Lin Xintong previously.

The figure was not surprised when the white-dressed female appeared. When he focused his gaze on the goddess of war’s sculpture, he had already noticed her.

“Nice to meet you!”

The figure said with a scoff. He was the silly dark-skinned swarthy youth that had accompanied Yi Yun and company into the Great Empress mystic realm. His actions were mysterious and puzzling.

The white-dressed female was silent as killing intent slowly gathered.

Feeling the white-dressed female’s killing intent, the swarthy youth opened his mouth to reveal a silly smile. As he looked around, he said without concern, “Seven Kills Hall, are you planning on making this my grave… ?”

The white-dressed female said coldly, “You actually know that this is called the Seven Kills Hall… For you to pretend to be a cultivator to infiltrate this trial, is your goal the God Advent Tower? What a joke.”

“Haha!” The swarthy youth laughed, “You are just an Item Spirit, yet you have the nerve to chide me. When I first appeared amongst the cultivators, you did not even discover me. Now that you have opened the God Advent Tower, let me in, and only discovered me at that moment… Now, it is too late!”

“How many years has it been since the God Advent Tower had an owner, kept down in the God Burial Abyss? Now, it should be removed!”

Facing the white-dressed female, the swarthy youth felt no fear. The corners of his mouth curved up as he revealed an evil smile. A demonic cold beam flashed from the scimitar in his hand.

“The audacity of ignorance!” The way the white-dressed female looked at the swarthy youth was like that of a dead man. “If you did not enter the God Advent Tower, I might have not done anything to you, but now that you have entered the God Advent Tower, everything in here is controlled by me. Killing you is as easy as turning one’s hand.”

As a divine item, the God Advent Tower had numerous array restrictions inside it. Once these array restrictions were activated, it would become a very terrifying killing array.

There was no doubt that the swarthy youth would be killed by the huge array inside the God Advent Tower.

As the white-dressed female gently waved her hand, a chilly-looking sword appeared in her hand. However, she did not brandish her sword, because with a thought, the seven sculptures around her began to rumble and shake!

The eyes of these sculptures emitted a stunning light beam. Their skins of stone slowly peeled off as they stood up one by one. They were alive!

The sculptures in the Seven Kills Hall was one of the restrictions of the God Advent Tower. The restriction the white-dressed female had activated was only just the tip of the iceberg of the numerous restrictions the God Advent Tower had. She had endless means of killing any enemy that entered the God Advent Tower.

However, faced with the activated restriction, the swarthy youth was in no hurry. It was as if everything that happened around him had nothing to do with him.

A cold beam flashed in the white-dressed female’s eyes. The calmness of the swarthy youth made her feel odd, but he did not make her afraid. With a thought, runic seals appeared above the ground of the Seven Kills Hall. She had activated other restrictions as well.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

The seven sculptures walked towards the swarthy youth with weapon in hand. At the same moment, the runic seals on the ground sealed off the surrounding void, causing the hall to become a prison.

And in the middle of the prison, there was no trace of panic on the swarthy youth’s face. His looked at the white-dressed female with an amused expression.

At that moment, the white dressed female’s expression suddenly changed.

This is…

Very suddenly, a deep chill inexplicably surged towards her, causing the white-dressed female’s soul to almost be frozen…

496 - : New Realm

CKtalon  CKtalon

What?

The white-dressed female felt some apprehension as she subconsciously took a step back.

At that moment, the eerie smile of the swarthy youth and the appearance of a terrifying frost Qi of an unknown origin that filled the area made the white-dressed female feel a sharp, tight feeling in her heart.

She suddenly realized something as she extended her perception out. It went past the God Advent Tower, throughout the Great Empress mystic realm and, all the way out of the Great Empress mystic realm.

The white-dressed female saw a scene that made her soul freeze…

She saw the cold, heartless giant eye that had silently emerged in the middle of the huge black whirlpool in the God Burial Abyss tens of thousands of kilometers away.

The eye filled that black whirlpool that was tens of thousands of kilometers wide. The feeling was that of a star having transformed into an eye.

It did not have a shred of emotion and it seemed to come from the gods, as it disregarded all living creatures of the world.

After the giant eye appear, the eternal black whirlpool became even deeper and terrifying. It was like a terrible storm that was brewing.

The white-dressed female could clearly feel the vibrations and the roar of the sea. She could also clearly see the frightened faces of the Elders from the various large factions about tens of thousands of kilometers away from the God Burial Abyss.

To them, this was no doubt like that of a scene from the apocalypse.

At that moment, a black beam of light shot out of the eye. This beam of light did not seem to have any shape or form. Nothing could stop it as it shot out of the eternal whirlpool through the void. As it ignored the barrier of the Great Empress mystic realm, it shot straight at the God Advent Tower!

Weng!

A wide and thick black beam completely enveloped the God Advent Tower!

The entire tower began to shake!

At that moment, all the cultivators could feel that the spaces they were in were trembling. However, they did not know the reason. They thought it was just an earthquake of the mystic realm. After some slight probing to no avail, they no longer cared as they carried on with their individual cultivation.

No one knew that at this very moment, the God Advent Tower was experiencing a crisis of unknown magnitude.

“Peng!”

After the black light enveloped the God Advent Tower, the seven sculptures that were activated by the restrictions all stopped attacking the swarthy youth. They lost the ability to move.

Even the runes on the ground of the Seven Kills Hall also began to fade as they quickly disappeared.

The prison that had sealed the swarthy youth was completely opened. With the scimitar in hand, the swarthy youth grinned at the white-dressed female.

“I’ve already said. It is time for this God Advent Tower to find an owner. If your owner was still around, the God Advent Tower would be absolutely powerful in her hands. Unfortunately… she is no longer here. There’s only you, an Item Spirit left. How much of the power of the God Advent Tower can you bring into play? You wanted to activate the God Advent Tower’s restrictions to destroy me? Haha, what a joke! A beam from the Divine Master is enough to sever the connection between you and the God Advent Tower!”

The swarthy youth laughed evilly. With a pale face, the white-dressed female gently shook her head and muttered, “The Eye of Destruction! His power has already been restored to such a degree!?”

“The power of the Divine Master is something that you can not estimate!” The swarthy youth looked proudly, “If you are willing to submit to me, I can spare your life. You can then carry on being the Item Spirit of the God Advent Tower. After all, you are an intelligence evolved by the God Advent Tower over countless numbers of years. I also do not wish to wipe your existence because the God Advent Tower will also lose some of its spirituality. It is extremely difficult to nurture another Item Spirit… Should you, consider it?”

The swarthy youth said enticingly.

However, after hearing the swarthy youth’s words, the white-dressed female’s face remained cold and the killing intent in her eyes increased!

The swarthy youth shook his head in regret, “A wise man submits to fate. If you submit, you can obtain endless benefits from the Divine Master. Although you are an Item Spirit, you can cultivate too. Isn’t it much better than wasting yourself defending an owner-less dead tower… ?”

When the swarthy youth said that, his figure suddenly flashed. Like a wolf, he charged at the white-dressed female. His face emitted endless killing intent!

His body also exuded a dark light and behind him, a strange blood moon appeared. It was his Aspect Totem, Blood Moon!

At the moment the Blood Moon appeared, it merged into his scimitar. At the swarthy youth’s cultivation realm, it was already very easy for an Aspect Totem to enter his body.

The swarthy youth threw the scimitar in his hand. As it shot out strange bursts of red beams, it flew towards the white-dressed female’s neck!

Before finishing his words, he had suddenly launched his attack. Clearly, he did not expect to successfully persuade the white-dressed female!

The white-dressed female’s pupils constricted and like a feather, her body drifted back. At the same time, she swung her sword down!

Dang!

The terrifying force of the impact caused the white-dressed female’s body to tremble. Her sword was glowing with an ice-blue beam, but this beam had been shattered by the rotating scimitar!

The scimitar was like a wheel of death as it constantly approached the white-dressed female.

And at the same time, the swarthy youth himself appeared instantly in front of the white-dressed female like a ghost. He put both his hands out. In the spaces between his ten fingers, there were eight long needles! Each needle was nearly a foot long and they were completely blood red in color. There were strange runes engraved on them and their tips were a strange blue color. It made anyone who saw them shudder.

Accompanying the swarthy youth’s ghost-like moves, the long needles were stabbed at the white-dressed female’s eyes and temples!

“You are just an Item Spirit. After severing your connection with the God Advent Tower, how are you going to fight me!?”

The swarthy youth laughed out loudly as he launched his storm-like attacks!

Cha!

Coordinating his attacks with the scimitar, a sharp sonic boom echoed as the swarthy youth’s needles stabbed directly into the white-dressed female’s forehead

Oh!?

The swarthy youth felt some apprehension as he did not feel any resistance when the needles broke through the flash.

After image!?

At that split moment, a dazzling sword beam suddenly appeared in the swarthy youth’s vision. The entire blood red hall was illuminated by this sword beam. This beam contained a dense coldness to it, as the blue frost marks spread out in all directions from the ground to the walls.

Without any thought, the swarthy youth leaped forward.

Cha!

At the moment the swarthy youth leaped, where he was standing was completely frozen. A bone-biting chill spread out. After this sword attack, the Seven Kills Hall disappeared. The dark red tiles and the seven sculptures all disappeared.

The swarthy youth and the white-dressed female had appeared in a vast ice and snow world.

The ice slushed as the wind blew. frost Qi reached deep into the spinal cord!

The swarthy youth put his hand out and the revolving scimitar flew back into his hand as if it had intelligence.

He looked at his surroundings as the corner of his mouths suffused an evil smile, “I never expected that you could still control the God Advent Tower to a small extent by changing where we were. Do you think that this space is more suitable for you to fight in?”

497 - : Blood Moon

CKtalon  CKtalon

The cold wind in the frosty plains was biting to the bone. Yet, the cold wind did not have much impact on the swarthy youth.

As he approached the white-dressed female, a black sea appeared behind him. In this black sea, there was a giant whirlpool, as a Blood Moon hung above the whirlpool and it slowly wobbled.

This phenomenon was the scene of the God Burial Abyss, and the Blood Moon was the swarthy youth’s Aspect Totem.

With a scimitar in his hand, the swarthy youth took steps to close the gap between him and the white-dressed female.

“If you can control the God Advent Tower, I’m naturally not your match. But now, your connection with the God Advent Tower has been severed by the Divine Master. You have nothing to use against me. You are just an Item Spirit. Your sword and your body are just modeled from energy.”

As the swarthy youth spoke, the Blood Moon merged into his body. When his killing intent surged out, he no longer looked silly in any way, instead, he looked like a ferocious demon king!

Compared to warriors, energy-based Item Spirits were extremely limited in their combat ability.

The white-dressed female did not speak. She only looked at the vast icy plains. She gently clasped her hands and placed it on her chest, while her body began to emit a dim light.

The light was rainbow-colored. It looked like a dream-like illusion as it radiated in all directions.

With that, the entire God Advent Tower began to tremble gently.

Seeing this scene, the swarthy youth was taken by surprised. He took a step back. Traces of icy cracks appeared in the icy plains all around him.

“Impossible… The Divine Master has isolated your connection with the God Advent Tower, how can you possibly… power the God Advent Tower?”

He was anxious and doubtful. For this plan, the Divine Master had prepared for tens of thousands of years, while he was the executor of the plan. If he succeeded, he would be given a Heavenly Demon transference. That would be a paramount opportunity.

And if he failed, he would be stripped of his soul and all his energy by the Divine Master. That would be something more terrible than death!

At this critical moment, the swarthy youth roared out and charged at the white-dressed female. His body transformed into a black beam of light while the evil demonic scimitar slashed straight at the white-dressed female’s forehead.

“Dang!”

An explosive sound echoed. The white-dressed female was like an incarnation of snow and ice. In the void in front of her, a beautiful hexagonal ice flower appeared out of thin air. This ice flower had blocked the swarthy youth’s attack.

But after this attack, the ice flower had already cracked!

A ferocious beam flashed in the swarthy youth’s eyes. As he roared, he brandished his scimitar a second time. With the Blood Moon’s power, the blinding blood beam dyed the endless snowy plains red.

“Ka-cha!”

The ice flower cracked apart, as if it could no longer withstand the swarthy youth’s attack.

However, under the protection of the ice flower, the white-dressed female’s expression remained calm. Her inner self was ethereal. She did not even give the blood-red scimitar a glance, as if whatever was happening in front of her had nothing to do with her.

The threat of death was in front of her, yet the white-dressed female still had her hands clasped on her chest, as if she was in a most pious solemnity.

The scimitar slashed down again and again as snow was sent fluttering around with a strange redness. It was as if they had been dyed red by blood.

Even so the white-dressed female remained unmoved. She was like a goddess going through salvation in the snow…

…

The tremors the God Advent Tower experienced grew in intensity. Far outside the Great Empress mystic realm, in the rapid flows of the eternal whirlpool, the Elders from the various large factions were all looking at the entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm in a daze.

The God Advent Tower’s tremors had already caused the entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm to vibrate.

“What is going on? What is happening!?”

First, it was the huge eye of a god that had appeared in the God Burial Abyss, and next, intense tremors from the Great Empress mystic realm could be felt, yet they did not know what was happening.

Now, even the Grand Elders from the various large factions were somewhat panicked. Be it the Great Empress mystic realm or the God Burial Abyss’s whirlpool, their power was something they could not withstand. Once something happened, they would be pulled into the God Burial Abyss and die horribly!

Some people were even considering on leaving!

And at that moment, there was a sudden loud boom. They saw that in the void not far away, it was as if a giant sword had cut a tear open in the spacetime fabric. The two sides rapidly tore apart as endless amounts of seawater was pulled into this space time vortex, causing a huge oceanic storm!

“Careful!”

Someone shouted. In front of this terrifying force, they were like tree leaves in the middle of a storm. They could not even control their own bodies.

Even with Death approaching, no one knew why a sudden change had happened to the Great Empress mystic realm and the God Burial Abyss.

As the Elders of the various factions lost control of their bodies and were about to be swallowed by the vortex, a giant pagoda suddenly appeared from the spacetime fissure.

This pagoda was not real, it was just a phantom image condensed from energy. With the appearance of the pagoda, it swept all the stormy forces in the neighboring space. Like a divine mountain that fell from the Heavens, it moved in a suppressing fashion to the eternal whirlpool.

The giant pagoda pulled along all the turbulent torrents in the direction of the eternal whirlpool with it. This scene was like one from the apocalypse.

At the instant the pagoda appeared, many of the Elders felt like they were going to black out. Their heartbeats stagnated and their blood seemed to freeze. All the surrounding Yuan Qi around them was pulled by this force, while their dantian were in chaos.

Some of the weaker ones even had blood trickling out of the corner of their mouths.

This bizarre scene was like a supreme power of god. It made many of the legendary figures in the Tian Yuan world feel an immense shock!

The pagoda crashed into the eternal whirlpool. In the whirlpool, the eye opened once again. One could feel a hopeless sense of death and quietness from its apathy.

Boom!

The base of the pagoda stabbed straight into the pupil of the giant eye!

Ka-cha!

A brilliance flared out from the pagoda as a terrifying frost Qi spread out in the sea.

Countless of turbulent torrents were frozen by the frost Qi, forming a thousand kilometer wide glacier!

This glacier spread out in all directions. Surrounding the eternal whirlpool, the swirling arms that raged nonstop were frozen!

When everyone present saw this scene, they felt an inexplicable horror. The eternal whirlpool had been frozen?

It was a terrifying torrent that could even pull in a Great Emperor, yet it had been frozen?

It was too appalling if this was mentioned elsewhere.

The glacier spread outwards for hundreds of kilometers before stopping close to where the legendary figures were. The phantom image of the pagoda had already disappeared. The giant eye had been sealed by the glacier. They could no longer see it.

The eternal whirlpool’s torrent had stopped. Everyone looked at each other like stone sculptures. The sudden turn of events had made them lose the ability to think.

What unforeseen event had happened in the Great Empress mystic realm?

And at that moment…

In the second level of the God Advent Tower, in the desolate world Yi Yun was in, above the lushy valley, there was a contortion in the spacetime fabric. A white-dress figured flew out of the spacetime contortion. She was the white-dressed female who was battling the swarthy youth.

Her figure had already turned partially translucent. She seemed extremely weak. Her pair of indifferent but beautiful eyes had also seemed to lost their spirit.

She stopped in the air for a few seconds. Finally, she saw the underground cave that Yi Yun was hiding. With a flash, she flew towards the entrance of the underground cave…

498 - : God Advent Tower Phantom Image

CKtalon  CKtalon

Hundreds of meters underground, in the stone cave, Yi Yun had been sitting here quietly for a long time.

Traces of pure Yang flames escaped from the pores around his body. They curled and rose up like golden butterflies. After flashing for a few seconds, they would then disappear into nothingness.

What was once a dark stone chamber was now covered in a layer of golden red light due to the illumination of the flames.

Under the illumination, Yi Yun was seated cross-legged. He appeared calm, but in his body, pure Yang Yuan Qi was being circulated in a frenzied manner.

Every circulation resulted in pure Yang Yuan Qi accumulating in Yi Yun’s dantian. It made Yi Yun’s cultivation level even stronger as his foundation became even more solid.

Now, having just entered the peak of the Yuan Foundation, it was the moment where Yi Yun’s cultivation level and strength would increase by leaps and bounds.

From the peak of the Yuan Foundation to the Dao Seed, it required a large amount of accumulated energy, to complete the condensation of the nomological seed.

As Yi Yun was in complete concentration in his cultivation, a white-dressed female appeared in front of him without a sound.

The hundreds of meters depth along with the illusion arrays Yi Yun had set up was not enough to prevent the white-dressed female from reaching him.

Yi Yun felt something and suddenly opened his eyes. Seeing the white-dressed female appear less than three meters away from him, Yi Yun’s hair stood up. At almost the same time, he leaped backward and unsheathed his Blood Red Lotus Saber!

“Who are you!?”

In this environment, a sudden appearance of a ghost-like female was too odd. Anyone would break out into cold sweat from the shock.

However, despite being alarmed, Yi Yun was in no panic. He did not feel any killing intent from the white-dressed female.

The white-dressed female remained silent. She only looked at Yi Yun and let out a soft sigh.

The sigh was filled with indescribable emotion. It made one feel an inexplicable sense of pity. With a thought, Yi Yun asked, “You come from the Great Empress mystic realm?”

For her to easily find this hidden cave that he created, and appear before him without setting off any arrays, other than the Great Empress mystic realm’s guardian or an energy-based lifeform in charge of the next test, there was no other possibility.

“You guessed correctly. I… am the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit.” The white-dressed female said in a cold and clear voice.

Despite Yi Yun already having some guesses, when he heard the white-dressed female say this, he was alarmed. He thought that the white-dressed female in front of him was similar to the energy lifeform mirror he had met when going from the second to third level of the God Advent Tower. He never expected her to be of such an influential existence, the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit.

After the ancient Great Empress, the God Advent Tower no longer had an owner. Now, the Item Spirit was the operator of the God Advent Tower. Anyone could see that this white-dressed female was currently the actual master of the Great Empress mystic realm.

How could this identity not alarm Yi Yun?

He did not know why the white-dressed female had come to him. With the power she controlled, and from her position, he was just a tiny figure.

“You seem injured?”

Yi Yun tried to sound her out. He realized that the white-dressed female was not in good shape. From the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, her energy form was extremely unstable. It looked like it would collapse any moment.

An Item Spirit of a powerful divine artifact should not be in this state.

“Yes,” the white-dressed female said faintly. “As an evil race has entered the God Advent Tower, I activated the energy sealed in the God Advent Tower’s extreme frost icy plains by my master. This energy is exceedingly large, and I had to use my body as the media to drive it, causing my energy to be seriously expended. I need to enter deep slumber… or else, my body will break apart.”

What? Evil race?

Yi Yun was baffled. What was the evil race?

With such terrifying restrictions in the Great Empress mystic realm, and the God Advent Tower, a divine artifact that was used to pin the seas, it had still been infiltrated by an evil race?

What identity was the evil race? Were they from the Desolate race?

Could it be… that the earthquake from before had something related to what the white-dressed female said?

The white-dressed female ignored Yi Yun’s questions and continued, “Before I go into deep slumber, the remaining energy left in the Great Empress mystic realm will support the continuation of the trials. But this amount of energy can only last for a few more months. When the energy is exhausted, all the opportunities and treasures in the mystic realm will be sealed. Correspondingly, the restrictions and rules will be ineffective… ”

The white-dressed female’s words made Yi Yun’s heart sink. The treasures would be sealed, and the restrictions and rules made ineffective?

If that was the case…

All sorts of ideas flashed past Yi Yun’s mind. The news the white-dressed female brought was quite shocking, which prevented him from thinking in detail.

“Then why did this senior come to me?”

Yi Yun did not understand why the white-dressed female had come looking for him just before she entered her deep slumber, while the rules of the Great Empress mystic realm were on the brink of being made ineffective. He had never come into contact with the white-dressed female before.

The white-dressed female said, “In accordance to my master’s standards, be it you or that girl named Lin Xintong, both of you do not have the strength to inherit my master’s heritage… but, the performance of the both of you in the trials surprised me. But you surprised me the most.”

“That girl is currently walking in the extreme frost icy plains. I previously said that a portion of my master’s energy was sealed in the extreme frost icy plains. That girl is following in the footsteps of my master.”

“That path is nearly impossible for her to complete. If I had the strength, I could guide and protect her. When she can not endure it, I can shield her from the frost Qi from the extreme frost icy plains.”

“However… I am currently too weak. If I use any more energy, it will cause my body to break apart. I need to enter deep slumber… As for that girl… she has made up her mind. She wants to reach the end of the extreme frost icy plains, but I am no longer able to protect her … If she is alone, she might die in there.”

What!?

Hearing the white-dressed female’s words, Yi Yun was alarmed. Lin Xintong was about to die in the extreme frost icy plains?

“Go look for her. Past the third level, you will appear in the icy plains in the fourth level. You can choose to bring her back, or the both of you can attempt to traverse the icy plains and obtain the master’s approval…”

“What I want to say is… By then, I’ll already be in deep slumber. The extreme frost icy plains will become a land filled with death. If both of you insist on going ahead, you might walk into an abyss that will become a road of no return.”

Once the white-dressed female said this, her body began to fade as her voice turned more ethereal.

Yi Yun was filled with questions. He still wanted to ask more, but the white-dressed female only let out a faint sigh. Before she disappeared, the final words she said was, “There’s no time… ”

There’s no time?

Yi Yun did not know if she was referring to the so-called evil race or about him saving Lin Xintong.

At that moment, he had no time to think it through carefully, nor did he dare to delay. With the Blood Red Lotus Saber in hand, he shattered the rocks and leaped out of the underground cave. Following the long underground passage, he charged forward!

499 - : Entrust

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Boom!”

In the dense woods of the second level of the God Advent Tower, the ground ruptured and Yi Yun dashed out of the hole.

Time was of the essence. He did not know what was happening to Lin Xintong at this moment. From the meaning behind the white-dressed female’s words, Lin Xintong’s situation was probably very terrible.

The extreme frost icy plains sounded like a place filled with extreme Yin Qi and frost Qi and Lin Xintong had natural Yin Meridians. Her body was filled with Yin Qi and it was severe enough to devour Lin Xintong’s vitality.

Yi Yun still recalled the first time he made skin contact with Lin Xintong, he could feel the ice-cold feeling of water. The icy plains was probably a place that Lin Xintong found difficult to handle. Once the frost Qi in her body was invoked, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Pure Yang Qi was burning throughout Yi Yun’s body. The flames slowly condensed to form a giant Golden Crow phantom image. With the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” movement technique’s support, Yi Yun’s speed reached its maximum.

“Boom!”

Yi Yun rushed out of the God Advent Tower’s second level, and went straight to the third level. Yi Yun had already passed it, so there were no obstacles. However, when Yi Yun reached the fourth level, an azure-clothed youth’s image appeared in front of Yi Yun.

The white-dressed female had already entered her slumber. Under the support of the residual energy, the Great Empress mystic realm continued running. If he wanted to reach the fourth level, he had to obey the God Advent Tower’s rules.

Despite seeing the azure-clothed youth, Yi Yun did not stop. He charged straight at the azure-clothed youth.

With the “Golden Crow Sun Shift”, Yi Yun was like a burning meteor, and his momentum was overwhelming!

“Oh? You… ” The azure-clothed youth possessed intelligence. It seemed like he never expected a cultivator to have such unstoppable momentum. Yi Yun did not even say a single word after seeing him, and he attacked him suddenly.

However, the azure-clothed youth did not panic. Holding a long sword, he slashed forward. His sword Qi was like a bamboo that surged out from his anger.

Yi Yun did not dodge. Facing the sword, he pulled his Blood Red Lotus Saber out.

The saber truth, pressing forward with indomitable will! This was a perfect match with his overwhelming momentum at this moment!

With a revolution of the blade beam, it surged as it brought Yi Yun’s pure Yang Qi along with it!

The Saber Truth’s 32 Words – Reigning Supreme!

“Boom!”

The sword beam and saber beam clashed as a terrifying pure Yang Qi exploded. It caused the azure-clothed youth’s sword Qi to shatter. It was like a vast pure Yang river charging at a wooden raft.

The azure-clothed youth was alarmed. He quickly retreated and slashed his sword horizontally. However, before the azure-clothed youth’s second attack was even finished, Yi Yun’s Aspect Totem had rushed forward with its wings spread out.

Golden Crow, lacerating the Universe!

Golden-red flames spread crazily out, causing the staircase between the third and fourth level of the God Advent Tower to be completely covered in it. From afar, the burning flames could be seen meandering in the air above the staircase, like a golden-red flame dragon!

This was the power of a single strike of the Golden Crow Aspect Totem ever since Yi Yun’s pure Yang body was perfected!

The sword-wielding youth’s azure-clothes were stained with blood. Moments ago, the saber Qi and the pure Yang energy had penetrated his energy-based body.

As for Yi Yun’s body, it had became one with the saber beam as it pierced through the azure-clothed youth.

At this moment, Yi Yun was following the burning staircase, running straight for the fourth level of the God Advent Tower!

Seeing Yi Yun’s back, the corners of the azure-clothed youth’s lips curled into a smile. Following that, his body quietly dissipated into streams of light as it returned to the God Advent Tower…

Now, Yi Yun had already rushed to the fourth level of the God Advent Tower.

The door of light revolved and with a flash of his body, he charged in. Once he entered the door of light, Yi Yun immediately felt a terrifying frost Qi surge around him.

This frost Qi gave the feeling of being slashed by sharp sword Qi. It entered straight into his bone marrow!

His body was sensitive to this as he subconsciously took a step back and immediately circulated pure Yang energy in his body.

“Phew!”

Pure Yang energy gushed out of his Dantian as Yi Yun’s body burned with pure Yang flames.

The flames of pure Yang were the strongest and most vigorous flames in the Universe. And Yi Yun’s pure Yang body could maximize the power of the pure Yang flames.

This aura was the nemesis of the extreme frost Qi. A lot of the snow and ice immediately evaporated when they entered a range of a foot around Yi Yun. The frost Qi that had enveloped around Yi Yun had mostly dissipated as he felt his body turn warm.

Yi Yun looked up and saw the endless icy world. In this icy plain, countless numbers of ice bits were lifted up by the cold winds, and the sounds were like knives engraving a piece of glass. It was ear-piercing.

Yi Yun did not know which direction to head in. Although he had the Purple Crystal’s energy vision that could locate Lin Xintong, there was a limit to the energy vision’s range. It was not possible for him to use it to search such a vast icy plain.

Yi Yun could only estimate, under normal circumstances, where Lin Xintong would head after appearing from the entrance. Facing the icy plain, it was likely that she would choose the direction directly opposite the entrance. This was a choice most people would choose.

It was unknown if he would find Lin Xintong if he went in this direction. He still needed to depend on luck.

Realizing this, Yi Yun’s heart also sank. After all, the icy plains were too big. Once there was any slight deviation in direction, there was no way of finding Lin Xintong.

If that happened, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Yi Yun gritted his teeth. After locking on to a direction, he was about to run through the icy plain, but suddenly, something flashed in his mind.

Yi Yun stopped. He saw that on the icy plains, sunlight was scattering downwards, and had caused the ground to turn silver. With the silverlight joining together, it extended into the distance like a track. It flashed and disappeared on the icy plains.

This track was similar to the direction Yi Yun originally intended to go on, but there was a slight deviation.

Oh?

Yi Yun was surprised. The silver light was giving him directions?

Yi Yun immediately realized that it was most likely something done by the white-dressed female. Before she entered her slumber, she had left behind a tiny restriction in the fourth level of the God Advent Tower. Once he stepped in here, the restriction would be activated. This way, he could be led precisely.

With the thought in mind, Yi Yun realized that amongst all the cultivators, the white-dressed female had attached the greatest importance to Lin Xintong. This was probably due to Lin Xintong’s natural Yin Meridians.

To Tian Yuan world warriors, natural Yin Meridians were a curse. But to the white-dressed female, natural Yin Meridians was probably a mark of a peerless Great Emperor…

With the guide, Yi Yun no longer hesitated. As he was about to run through the icy plains, another thing flashed in his mind.

This thought made Yi Yun feel a cold murderous intent.

He shivered, but he could faintly tell that on the endless snowy plain, there seemed to be endless blood spreading on it. The blood covered his vision and in this endless redness, a curved Blood Moon was born as it slowly rose…

This scene lasted for a few seconds before disappearing. This made Yi Yun break out into cold sweat.

From the newly-risen Blood Moon, he could feel a suffocating evilness and killing air to it.

“Be careful of the Blood Moon… ”

A simple sentence was transmitted into Yi Yun’s brain. It was the white-dressed female’s voice. Clearly, it was also a restriction she left behind in the fourth level of the God Advent Tower.

“Blood Moon?”

Yi Yun paused for a while. The killing aura that had suddenly permeated everything just now was too real. It even made Yi Yun suspect that this icy plains was the place the white-dressed female had exchanged blows with the so-called evil race. The white-dressed female had used the evil race’s real aura to leave behind the final restriction.

The reason was to tell him the evil race’s signature before entering her slumber…

However, even so, it was too vague.

Yi Yun had no idea what the Blood Moon represented, nor did he know what race the evil race was. Where did they reside in the Tian Yuan world?

Shaking his head, Yi Yun did not think any further. He only silently remembered the feeling of this presence before he stepped onto the icy plains with determination.

The evil race was something of the future, and with his strength, it was unlikely that he could play a role in such a huge matter. At this moment, the most important thing to him was to save Lin Xintong.

500 - : Guide

CKtalon  CKtalon

Deep in the icy plains…

Compared to the icy plain’s entrance, this place was even lonelier and colder.

Lin Xintong did not know how far she had gone. She only walked forward one step at a time. Every footstep she imprinted on the ground disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The blue glacier beneath her feet was covered in thick snow and a fluttering ice storm billowed around her. This vast icy plain seemed to have no end to it.

In this land of despair, she was like a lone snow lotus that was whistling through the cold wind. Her existential presence was slowly wiped away, as if she was being swallowed by the icy plains.

Her Yuan Qi was mostly depleted, with just a tiny amount left. It was like a lone candlelight that fought back the dark night. Her eyelashes, neck and fingers which held her sword were all covered in a thin layer of crystal clear ice.

This layer of ice did not come from the icy plains, it came from her naturally terminated meridians which she could no longer suppress.

Besides the surface of her body, ice crystals had already begun to form in her internal body such as her meridians and her blood vessels.

However, Lin Xintong still carried on proceeding forward. Her bright eyes showed disregard for life and death.

Lin Xintong was already determined to continue with her naturally terminated meridians. Be it fear, pain, death or despair, nothing could stop her, even if her remaining lifespan was cut short.

As the white-dressed female said, once Lin Xintong made up her mind, there was a sword in her heart.

At that moment, Lin Xintong had walked for a very long while. She was using the last ounce of Yuan Qi to protect her heart. She carried on following the path the ancient Great Empress had previously traveled with great determination. The distance she had covered had long exceeded the white-dressed female’s expectations. Furthermore, she was still moving forward.

Sometimes, determination allowed people to exceed their limits and go beyond what they were capable of.

If this went on, no one could guess how far Lin Xintong could go.

The strong wind was still howling. It was like a countless number of revolving blades were slashing her body. Lin Xintong moved forward alone in the vast icy plain as the snowy storm swallowed her frail and slender body…

And at that moment, a looming figure slowly appeared behind Lin Xintong in the snowstorm.

This figure’s speed was much faster than Lin Xintong. He moved silently as the chilly winds passed through his body without resistance. He was like a ghost without a body.

“Found her… she’s indeed here.” The eyes of the figure locked on tightly to Lin Xintong’s back. As he hid his presence, there was no way of her detecting him.

He was the swarthy youth that had been killed by the white-dressed female.

The final strike of the white-dressed female was powered by the energy sealed in the God Advent Tower by the ancient Great Empress. Such a strike was not something the swarthy youth could withstand, but the main target of the white-dressed female was the giant eye beneath the God Burial Abyss, which was also the Divine Master that the swarthy youth called.

As for the swarthy youth, he had been hit by it as a side-effect. His body was destroyed as a result, but his soul and will did not dissipate even after his body was destroyed. This was something the white-dressed female never expected.

The white-dressed female believed that she killed the swarthy youth. As she was about to enter her deep slumber, she had made her final arrangements for Lin Xintong as she was concerned for her safety. This was also to allow Yi Yun to save Lin Xintong, but the preparations she made for Lin Xintong had inadvertently exposed Lin Xintong’s position to the swarthy youth.

The swarthy youth’s soul had followed the clues to find Lin Xintong.

“Bitch, you think you can destroy my entire being? My soul has been refined by the Divine Master. Once my body is destroyed, my soul will automatically generate a Yin specter! Although I have lost my body, my spiritual energy still remains. Now that you have gone into deep slumber, this God Advent Tower has lost its protective power. I will take this God Advent Tower and return to the God Burial Abyss and let the Divine Master remodel my body!”

“As for… that girl named Lin Xintong… Hehe!” The Yin specter looked at Lin Xintong. A greediness flashed deep in its eyes. “She is a pure Yin body, which is a great nourishment to a Yin specter like me, but now… I will not swallow her flesh and blood. I need a body to implement my plans. Although this is a body of a woman, it would not be a problem to use it temporarily! After I take over her body, the Divine Master will reconstruct my body in the future, then I will swallow her flesh and blood as a tonic to nourish my Yin specter’s soul.”

The swarthy youth muttered to himself. Thinking of the white-dressed female who had destroyed his body, his eyes flashed with hatred. “Bitch, since you destroyed my body, the successor you had painstakingly handpicked will become my flesh and blood. It will be the end of your master’s heritage!”

The swarthy youth slowly approached Lin Xintong as the greed in his eyes became more intense.

He would use Lin Xintong to slowly swallow all the cultivators in the God Advent Tower and absorb their flesh and blood. These elites was the best sort of nourishment for a Yin specter. By swallowing them, he could greatly enhance his own strength.

With that strength, he just needed to wait for the remaining energy in the God Advent Tower to be completely depleted, then the God Advent Tower would follow his will!

Thinking of this, the corners of the swarthy youth’s mouth curled to reveal a sinister smile. This plan looked simply perfect!

As the distance between the swarthy youth and Lin Xintong decreased, he was planning to pounce from behind and directly wipe her sense of being. However, at the instant he launched his sneak attack, he felt a bone biting frost Qi attack him. It was like an invisible sword was pointed at his eyebrows. It gave him no choice but to stop.

This sharp sword Qi figuratively caused his hair to stand as his soul embodiment felt the pain of being pricked!

Oh? This is…

The swarthy youth discovered that the girl’s will was so firm that it exceeded his imagination. The sword intent he felt was actually the powerful will of Lin Xintong.

How was it possible that a girl, who was on the brink of collapse like a lamp about to expire with its oil expended, could possess such a powerful will?

What the swarthy youth sensed was that her soul was like an icy moon that hung above the icy plains. It was gentle but it emitted a bright aura that did not seem like it would change for all eternity.

A young girl whose cultivation level was just at the Dao Seed realm could have such strong willpower?

Now, having lost his body, he had also lost his offensive power. Even his soul had been severely injured.

All he could rely on was his willpower. To possess Lin Xintong’s body, it was a battle of willpower. Against this girl who looked so weak, the swarthy youth suddenly lacked confidence. He felt that if it really came down to it, he probably could not beat the girl.

If that happened, he would not only fail at possessing her, he might be annihilated!

501 - : Yin Specter

CKtalon  CKtalon

Willpower was after something that existed in the foundation of a body. Once the body declines and dies, the willpower will also slowly diminish, unless it was like the swarthy youth, whose soul had been refined into a Yin specter before losing his body. His life was no longer a combination of body and soul. A Yin specter’s ghostly spirit resides in a piece of flesh. Under these circumstances, the swarthy youth’s soul could exist even after leaving a physical body.

A normal human would have fuzzy willpower when seriously injured and they might even fall unconscious.

The swarthy youth did not dare to clash with Lin Xintong directly with willpower, but he could severely injure Lin Xintong’s body, making her lose her consciousness.

In the icy plain, the snowy wind was ceaseless. Lin Xintong needed to constantly use Yuan Qi to protect her body, but having gone so deep, most of her Yuan Qi was depleted.

“Just a little bit of effort, and your body will be mine.”

The swarthy youth’s eyes were like those of a venomous serpent. He gave Lin Xintong a deep glance like he was watching a delicious prey.

With that, the swarthy youth’s figure slowly merged into the ice and snow, as if he melted.

The specter energy from his body became more intense. This specter energy gradually spread out to form a black door of light.

A technique of summoning ferocious ghosts.

The swarthy youth gently touched the black door of light as it increased in size. It was like an entrance to Hell. One red-eyed ferocious ghost after another rushed out of the black door while snarling.

They did not have any real bodies. But when they appeared, the ice and snow around them swept towards them, covering their bodies…

…

Wu Wu…

The cold wind howled. Lin Xintong was still proceeding forward.

Suddenly, her body, which had nearly frozen, paused. She gently looked up and under the snowy storm, her indifferent eyes looked at her surroundings. Her eyelashes and eyebrows were already covered in frost.

She remained silent as her pale, slender fingers touched the hilt of her sword.

More than ten shadows appeared around her in the raging snow.

These figures were slowly approaching her.

They were all large in size and they were covered in white fur. Their footsteps were heavy, and they gave one a feeling of extreme danger.

Lin Xintong held her breath. She was already a spent force, and for her to encounter these snow monsters under these circumstances, it was no doubt a disaster for her.

There were desolate beasts in the icy plains?

Lin Xintong stood with her sword. In the snowstorm, she was like a beautiful ice sculpture.

The black figures drew near as Lin Xintong realized that they were not desolate beasts. They were formed from ice and snow. Even their fur was formed from snow.

Despite having a body formed from ice and snow, their eyes emitted a red glow. They gave off a feeling of extreme evil.

Without any words, the snow monsters attacked!

A huge claw slammed at Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong’s heart sank as she saw the claw about to hit her head. Forcefully gathering energy, she stabbed her sword in an oblique angle.

Cha!

The sword cut through the snowstorm and stabbed the large beast’s claw!

The snow and sword Qi clashed as Lin Xintong’s sword issued out a squeaking voice as it bent from the the impact with the claws.

It was a peerless sword, and usually, combined with Lin Xintong’s pure Yin Yuan Qi, it was all-conquering. But at that moment, as Lin Xintong was extremely weakened, this attack failed to slice the huge beast’s claw off.

The large beast roared as it opened its jaws and tried to bite Lin Xintong!

Without any room for retreat, Lin Xintong forced out a wisp of blood essence. At the cost of burning her vitality, she forcefully gathered strength and imbued her sword with her vitality, causing it to emit a blinding pale blue light!

Puah!

The attack went through smoothly as the large beast’s claw was sliced off. Immediately following that, its neck was also penetrated. Its massive body suddenly stopped as its motions froze, and then with a loud bang, it crashed onto the snowy plain!

Ice crystals rolled off its body as the snow monster quickly disintegrated before disappearing as a form of Yin gas.

After using this attack, Lin Xintong was gasping heavily. Blood was seeping out of the corner of her mouth. She smiled gently, but the smile contained sadness.

Just one strike had consumed her vitality and it had provoked her terminated meridians. The pure Yin frost Qi that was sealed in her body could no longer be suppressed!

Her condition was extremely terrible. It was to the point where she had no available Yuan Qi left to use. Every sword attack she used that had any destructive power, needed to burn her vitality. She could no longer withstand it.

Not far away, the swarthy youth who was hidden in the snowstorm laughed evilly as he saw this scene. Although he did not have a body, it was not a problem to deal with a Lin Xintong who was a spent force.

“Kill them, carry on killing them. I want to see how long you can last. This way, your body will become mine!”

…

“Where did these snow monsters come from?”

Lin Xintong’s fingers, which were grasping her sword, were trembling. When she killed the monster, she did not feel and lifeforce of the monster. It was like a puppet.

Furthermore, the extremely evil aura made Lin Xintong suspect that these snow monsters were not trials set up by the God Advent Tower.

At that moment, in the snowstorm, another seven to eight blurry figures appeared around Lin Xintong. The number of snow monsters increased from more than ten to more than twenty of them.

Lin Xintong’s heart sank bit by bit. Ignoring the more than twenty huge beasts, even if she slashed out another ten or so attacks, her life would be completely expended. Then, that would be the end of her life.

Am I really going to die here…?

Seeing these snow monsters, Lin Xintong looked indifferent. The snow monsters circled around her, blocking her path forward. The only path left was behind her.

Lin Xintong looked behind through the corner of her eyes. But eventually, she did not retreat. Instead, she lifted her foot and stepped forward.

She walked towards a huge beast. From the moment she stepped onto the icy plain, she had strengthened her conviction that regardless if she encountered anything, she would never retreat.

And at that moment… she had no reason to retreat. If she turned and ran away, the snow monsters would chase her. If they attacked from behind her, that would be something that she absolutely could not handle.

Since that was the case, she could only search for that near-impossible chance of living amidst certain death…

…

The snowy plain was boundless. As the snowstorm was intermixed with ice fragments, it moved in the air at incredible speeds wantonly, emitting sharp whistling sounds.

Under this terrifying speed, even a steel plate would be pierced to form a sieve.

Yi Yun arduously proceeded through the snowy plain. The pure Yang energy in his body burned as it protected his body and it continuously melted the snow and ice around him.

Yi Yun’s sense of direction was extremely strong. Ever since the white-dressed female gave him the original directional guidance, he had moved in a straight line ever since.

However, even if Yi Yun was not wrong in his direction, Lin Xintong’s direction might have had changes. The vast icy plain and the endless snowstorm made it very difficult to find a person, but to lose sight of someone, it would be extremely simple.

If he wanted to find Lin Xintong, he had to speed up. He had to chase up to Lin Xintong before she changed directions or before she went too far.

“I should have been walking for four days… ”

Yi Yun muttered to himself. There was no day or night in the icy plain. Even with a pure Yang body, Yi Yun’s speed was also very slow.

The longer he took, the more worried he became. This meant that it was even more likely for him to miss Lin Xintong.

It was not easy for Yi Yun to endure the drain of being in the icy plains either. And in the past two days, Yi Yun had continuously maintained his energy vision, which also overdrafted his mental strength.

But even so, he did not discover anything with his energy vision. If Lin Xintong was nearby, her body’s energy fluctuations would appear in his energy vision like a conspicuous spark in the night.

Yi Yun frowned as he slowed down his pace. After swallowing a relic, he slowly recovered the stamina that he had depleted.

Even while resting, Yi Yun did not close his energy vision.

In the snowstorm, the energy vision was the only thing that Yi Yun could rely on to find Lin Xintong. If he had missed Lin Xintong just when he closed his energy vision, he would certainly regret it greatly.

And at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly felt something as he let out a light gasp.

He discovered, that in his energy vision, there were sporadic energy fluctuations hidden beneath the snow. The energy fluctuations were extremely weak, and they would not have been discovered if he did not look carefully.

It was naturally impossible to be Lin Xintong, but it was still unusual for it to be in the icy plain.

After some hesitation, Yi Yun slowly walked over.

He crouched down at the spot where there were traces of energy fluctuations. Using his hand to brush aside the snow, he discovered a red ice crystal beneath the snow.

The crystalline red ice crystal gave off a light bloody smell. The energy fluctuations came from this.

Blood!?

Yi Yun’s heart tightened. This red ice crystal was formed from blood freezing over!

According to the white-dressed female, Lin Xintong should have been the only person in the fourth level of the God Advent Tower. Then, could this blood belong to Lin Xintong?

If Lin Xintong could not bear the frost Qi in the icy plains, then it should have been her natural Yin Meridians acting up, causing her dantian to freeze. She should not have bled from injuries!

Yi Yun took a deep breath. His brain was in a mess as he gently rubbed his forehead to calm himself down.

Bleeding meant injury. Then, Lin Xintong had likely encountered an enemy or desolate beasts. The latter was good, as it could be a test of the God Advent Tower, but if it was the former…

Could the enemy in the fourth level of the God Advent Tower be the evil race mentioned by the white-dressed female?

If Lin Xintong, who was like a candle in the wind, met the evil race… Yi Yun did not dare to imagine the consequences!

Standing up, he looked far into the distance. In his energy vision, Yi Yun saw a faint energy fluctuation that spread into the distance as it meandered off into the snowy plain.

It was the mark of blood!

Yi Yun’s limbs turned cold suddenly. He no longer cared about resting. He followed the trail of blood!

The pure Yang energy in his body burned and behind Yi Yun, a Golden Crow spread its wings as it rushed into the sky while giving a clear cry!

All the snow billowed in front of Yi Yun and turned into a white mist instantaneously. As for Yi Yun, he was like a burning golden flame flew that through the mist.

Wait for me!

502 - : Traces of Blood

CKtalon  CKtalon

The resistance from the snowstorm was extremely strong. The way Yi Yun burned his pure Yang energy without any heed, it was depleting his Yuan Qi even faster.

However, at that moment, he no longer bothered about it as he was extremely anxious.

Especially when he followed the traces of blood to discover a blood pearl, which was a large amount of frozen blood.

Here, Yi Yun also saw strange corpses.

These corpses had already merged into the icy plains. It was as if their bodies were formed from the ice and snow.

Only then did Yi Yun recall that when he first discovered the trace of blood, there were also similar corpses around. It was because they were too similar to the ice and snow that he was not able to distinguish them.

“What sort of monsters are these?”

Yi Yun frowned. These ice plain snow monsters did not resemble desolate beasts. He missed a few corpses previously and he did not have much of an impression. But these few corpses still contained a lingering evil energy fluctuation.

The energies were slowly dissipating and they were most likely going to disappear eventually. This proved that not much time had passed since they fought Lin Xintong.

And Lin Xintong’s injuries seemed to become even more serious after this battle.

Yi Yun seemed to be able to tell that the overworldly maiden was now stepping on her own dripping blood as she fought a path ahead of her.

Weakness, loneliness, but firmness and decisiveness.

At Lin Xintong’s peak, it was probably not difficult for her to kill these snow monsters. However, she was severely injured. Her Yuan Qi was probably depleted already. She was battling by burning her vitality.

Realizing this, Yi Yun became even more anxious. He expanded his energy vision to its fullest extent and his pure Yang energy was burned together with his vitality.

He dashed forward on the snow plain like a burning meteor!

Yi Yun’s figure sped across the snow. And at that moment, Yi Yun sensed a weak fluctuation in his energy vision!

Yi Yun only felt his chest tighten. The energy fluctuation was very weak. It was like a candle that was flickering its last in the wind, and it was about to be extinguished at any moment.

Suddenly, this energy fluctuation intensified, and quickly, it dimmed again.

Yi Yun’s heart was now at his mouth as he clenched his fists. All his mental energies were locked onto this little fluctuation.

After the energy fluctuation dimmed, it went from a candle light to that of a point of starlight, but still, it remained unextinguished!

It was Lin Xintong!

Yi Yun was familiar with Lin Xintong’s energy fluctuation. There was no way he would make a mistake about it. At that moment, she was left with the last bit of life in her.

“Wait for me!”

Yi Yun bit his lips as his speed exploded in all aspects!

The Golden Crow roared and a fierce snowstorm was swept in front of Yi Yun and immediately turned into steam. Below Yi Yun, the snow was swept up by pure Yang energy as it rolled wantonly, like a ice dragon that followed Yi Yun!

Yi Yun could already see Lin Xintong with his naked eyes!

In the flying snow, her white dress was stained with blood, like a withered red plum in the snow…

“Chi!”

A sword beam flashed. Another snow monster fell under Lin Xintong’s sword.

Lin Xintong’s sword was moving slower and slower.

Battling the snow monsters caused Lin Xintong to reach the end of her life. These snow monsters had no fear of death and they had unlimited strength. Even their bodies were extremely tough, and they seemed inexhaustible as they kept emerging from the snow.

Lin Xintong moved much slower than the snow monsters. She had managed to last this long using her deeper understanding of laws. She had saved every last drop of vitality she burned with every attack she used to kill a snow monster, however, the outcome was long decided.

Her vitality was already at its limits, while the snow monsters surrounding her did not seem to lessen.

Lin Xintong did not stop in her footsteps. As she proceed forward, she killed. This was a path she paved with her own blood.

Another snow monster pounced at her, as Lin Xintong pierced through its head with an attack. However, as Lin Xintong’s movements were slow, the snow monster’s final attack before it died managed to scratch Lin Xintong’s shoulder. Blood immediately stained her white dress.

There were already many wounds like it on her slender body.

As warm blood flowed out, they quickly froze. Lin Xintong felt that her body temperature was like that blood. It was constantly flowing away and freezing.

Lin Xintong’s eyes looked indifferent and lifeless. It was as if she had seen through life and death.

She raised her head and looked forward. At that moment, a bigger black figure appeared in front of her in the snowstorm.

After losing large amounts of blood, and her life at its end, Lin Xintong’s vision was already unclear. The black figure she saw was just a fuzz.

In fact, all along this path, all she saw was blurriness. She used such a vision and her fighting instinct to come to this point.

Boom! Boom!

The black figure’s footsteps were extremely heavy. Every footstep caused the ground to tremble, causing countless amounts of ice and snow to be thrown up.

Lin Xintong quietly looked at the huge snow monster. It was on all fours as it ran towards Lin Xintong with its hurried and heavy-sounding footsteps.

Lin Xintong slowly lifted her sword up.

This was likely her last attack. She had long reached the limit to her limits. She had held on up to now just with her willpower and tenacity. She was likely going to die here.

“What a pity. I probably won’t be able to walk out of this icy plain. I won’t be able to see the scene the ancient Great Empress saw when she walked out of this icy plain back then. It is really… regretful… ”

Lin Xintong’s heart had no fear, there was only regret.

She felt that it was a pity that she could not see the peak of martial arts, nor could she see the reversal of her fate.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

As the giant snow monster came closer to Lin Xintong, not far from Lin Xintong, a windstorm formed from pure Yang flames was rolling towards Lin Xintong at an even faster speed!

“Oh? What!?”

On the snowy plains, in the void, a phantom figure, who no one could see, saw a giant fireball formed from pure Yang flames appear. He was momentarily stunned.

The swarthy youth was hidden there. He was prepared to draw in his net and possess Lin Xintong the moment she lost consciousness. However, at that moment, an unexpected turn of events had occurred.

He saw Yi Yun’s face and a look of shock appeared on his face.

It’s him!?

From the moment he entered the Great Empress trials, the swarthy youth had paid special attention to Yi Yun. He had frequently looked at Yi Yun because he had sensed Yi Yun’s potential.

His essence was a Yin specter. The swarthy youth was more sharp in his ability to sense energy and a warrior’s vitality compared to any of the cultivators or the legendary figures of any of the large factions.

The reason why he thought highly of Yi Yun and repeatedly observed Yi Yun was not because he admired Yi Yun, but because he was planning to use Yi Yun’s body as his next body!

After all, the Yin specter was his actual self, and the body was just a shell. It was no different from clothes.

However, even if he knew Yi Yun’s potential, he never believed that Yi Yun’s strength could threaten him. On the contrary, Yi Yun’s arrival was gifting him with a perfect body!

“What an opportune time. I never expected you to come as well. You are the body that suits me the best! After I eat up that girl and absorb her flesh, blood and pure Yin energy, I will possess you!”

503 - : A Line Demarcating Life and Death

CKtalon  CKtalon

The swarthy youth, who was hidden in a warped space, locked onto Yi Yun with his crimson eyes. The door to Hell, which summoned the ferocious ghosts, was spinning behind him.

After discovering Yi Yun, the swarthy youth no longer cared about Lin Xintong.

Previously, he had been careful not to actually kill Lin Xintong. If her body was greatly destroyed, then there would be no point in possessing her body.

However, now, with him eyeing Yi Yun’s body, Lin Xintong’s body was just food for him, so her death meant nothing to him anymore.

His attention moved onto Yi Yun. He no longer controlled the snow monsters that were surrounding Lin Xintong.

As a result, even more snow monsters pounced towards Lin Xintong like a bunch of hungry ghosts. Their attacks became even more aggressive, disregarding any consequences.

The reason why Lin Xintong had been able to last so long was because these snow monsters had been restrained in their attacks, but now, she was powerless to resist.

Far in the distance, Yi Yun held his breath when saw the scene of the snow monsters pouncing towards Lin Xintong.

At this very moment, everything that happened before Yi Yun was like a flash, but similarly, his perception of the environment reached an extreme point. Even the falling snow became infinitely clear in his vision.

Boom!

The three-legged Golden Crow behind Yi Yun suddenly flapped its wings!

His vitality was burning, and in the blood essence flowing in his pure Yang body was a fire seed that was of extreme purity. Once lit, it immediately caused the golden flames on the surface of Yi Yun’s body to burn even more violently. His entire being became more like the burning Sun as he frantically rushed towards Lin Xintong!

10,000 feet!

5000 feet!

1000 feet!

Such a great distance was covered in the blink of an eye!

Yi Yun’s vision was tightly locked onto Lin Xintong’s figure.

The swarthy youth who was hidden in warped space was taken aback upon seeing this.

He never expected for Yi Yun to reach such speeds in such a bone-chilling environment.

Pure Yang body? He actually has a perfect pure Yang body?

After a moment of surprise, the swarthy youth was immediately overjoyed. A pure Yang body made him even more satisfied. Such a body had high affinity with energy!

Once he was credited with meritorious deeds, he would need to enter the God Burial Abyss to receive the Heavenly Demon transference from the Divine Master. For that, he needed a high quality body as not waste the energy transference, which also would allow for his power to improve by leaps and bounds.

Accordingly, a pure Yang body was extremely strong in true energy and Yang energy, so it was extremely difficult to possess.

“Seeing that you want to save that girl, I’ll make sure that you won’t be able to do so. When you see her die with your own eyes, there will be a hole in your heart and spirit, which will allow me to swoop in!”

As the swarthy youth muttered to himself, his lips curled into a cold sneer.

With a thought, two black figures came out of the door to Hell behind him. And at the same time…

Bam! Bam!

Two consecutive explosive sounds were heard as two giant snow monsters rushed out of the snowstorm from Yi Yun’s two sides.

These two snow monsters were two times bigger than the typical snow monsters. Their snow fur expanded as their bodies emitted terrifying murderous and frost Qi as they charged towards Yi Yun!

The two snow monsters raised their massive claws while they flickered with ice-cold blue light. Their claws seemed to be burning with a type of cold fire, and with an overwhelming force, they struck towards Yi Yun!

Ka-cha!

As the pressure surrounding Yi Yin spiked greatly, wind from the claw spread out wantonly, causing the ice layer on the ground to emit a crunching sound as cracked lines began to appear.

The ice layer beneath Yi Yun was pushed down a notch.

“You can’t save her, and instead you will die here. Die!”

The swarthy youth’s thoughts suddenly entered Yi Yun’s mind. His body was hidden in the void which caused the thoughts to appear to come from the snow monsters.

When the two snow monsters were hindering Yi Yun, about a few hundred feet away, even more snow monsters charged towards Lin Xintong.

Their bloody claws were about to land on Lin Xintong’s body! Those strikes would definitely spell certain death for her!

At that moment, Lin Xintong was like a withered flower. Seeing the momentum aura from the snow monsters surging at her, she did not dodge in anyway. She held her sword in hand. This final sword attack seemed like it would use up all the brilliance of her remaining life.

She had undergone sadness in life, but she was resplendent with death.

That momentarily scene seemed to freeze for an eternity in Yi Yun’s eyes.

It was as if time had been slowed down indefinitely. The flying Yi Yun was moving through the sky and flames, and through the gaps between the two monsters’ claws beside him, he could see a depressing scene of blood diffusing through his vision.

As time slowed down indefinitely, a sword suddenly appeared in Yi Yun’s right hand!

This sword appeared in a natural manner, as if it was always in Yi Yun’s hand. It was like a part of him.

It was rusted and stained with spots of blood that had dried up. Its blade was broken in the middle and it looked as if it had undergone countless numbers of years.

The Golden Crow spread its wings as the flames roared. In Yi Yun’s eyes, it was as if two stars had exploded!

He made his move!

This sword attack came from the heart. It was as if at that very moment, an azure-clothed swordsman’s phantom image had vaguely appeared behind Yi Yun, and then it merged with Yi Yun’s sword attack…

The power of one sword severed the heavens!

A vast, pure Yang sword beam condensed into a vast ocean, the terrifying sword Qi slashed wantonly at the glaciers.

Peng Peng Peng!

With numerous ice fragments exploding, the pure Yang sea engulfed downwards. The two snow monsters by Yi Yun’s side were the first to be bear the brunt of the force. With a tremble of their bodies, their bodies, which were formed from snow and ice, were unable to resist the pure Yang Yuan Qi explosive force and directly exploded into pieces!

The sword wind did not reduce in momentum. Wherever it passed, a stunning sword scar was left behind on the icy plain, as ice fragments shot out from two sides!

The distance of a few hundred feet were covered instantaneously!

“Boom!”

A terrifying explosion engulfed a five kilometer radius of the void, causing endless amounts of water to be evaporated.

The snow monsters that were surrounding Lin Xintong were engulfed by the pure Yang flames!

Hot! Intense! Burning! It was as if the Sun had descended!

To these snow monsters, be it their bodies formed from snow and ice, or the Yin specter spirits that resided on the bodies, neither could withstand such an impact. In an instant, their bodies burned as pure Yang energy invaded their bodies, turning the Yin specter evil spirits into nothingness!

“Wu Wu! Ao Ao!”

The Yin specters cried out painfully, like there were countless numbers of evil spirits being burned by True Samādhi Fire. Pure Yang beams shot out from their eyes and ears. This was the explosion of pure Yang flames from within their own bodies!

During the explosion, their bodies were dismembered and, in a few seconds, they turned into a puddle of foul water, which then immediately evaporated, turning into nothingness!

The power of Yi Yun’s sword attack had developed to this point! The group of snow monsters evaporated, leaving not a single drop of water.

In the pure Yang storm, Lin Xintong’s body was dyed red with blood. Her eyes were vacant as her vision was a blur. Her vitality had been overdrafted.

She seemed to sense something as she gently turned her head over, using her eyes, which could no longer focus, to look in Yi Yun’s direction.

She gave a deep glance at Yi Yun, as if she wanted to see this scene clearly, but eventually, she collapsed from the lack of strength. Her tattered white dress spread out on the snow and ice, as blood and snow mixed together…

504 - : Withered

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the snow storm covered the sky, the heaven and earth was like a desolate wasteland.

Yi Yun arrived beside Lin Xintong the very moment she collapsed. He held up her thin body in his arms.

Her body was very light, and there was not a shred of body temperature left in her. Her body was now as cold as ice.

Her life force was slowly pulling away from her body. She closed her eyes tightly as her long eyelashes were speckled with bits of ice.

Blood and ice crystals began forming on the surface of Lin Xintong’s body. She was like a ice fractal that could shatter at any moment as she was extremely weak.

Yi Yun held onto Lin Xintong as he silently stood in the snow-filled ground. He placed one hand on Lin Xintong’s meridians, as meridians were the channels that allowed for energy to flow in a warrior. Using the Purple Crystal’s sensitivity to energy, Yi Yun could clearly understand the situation with Lin Xintong’s meridians.

This probe made Yi Yun’s heart sink.

Lin Xintong’s condition was terrible.

Only a very tiny bit of life force was left in her. Even in the Lin family, even with the best healing grounds, with all sorts of good medicine that could be used to treat Lin Xintong’s meridians, they were unlikely to be able to make her fully recover.

Besides, this was in the extreme frost icy plains. The chill from the wind was biting to the bone. Even Yi Yun found it difficult to heal her with a pure Yang body that could withstand the chilling winds.

As for Lin Xintong, with her natural Yin Meridians, she was in a worse off state. The frost toxins had spread in Lin Xintong’s body, and her flame of life could be extinguished at any moment.

Seeing Lin Xintong’s pale and almost transparent, but beautiful face, Yi Yun felt a throbbing pain.

The God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit had already gone into her slumber and could not help them. They could only rely on themselves.

Thinking of Lin Xintong’s final moment with her confused look, Yi Yun did not know what to feel. If he could not think of a way, then this would become the last thing Lin Xintong saw of this world…

Yi Yun gently pinched Lin Xintong’s hand as he carefully injected pure Yang energy into her body to protect her heart.

This was the only thing Yi Yun could do.

However, Lin Xintong had burned too much of her life force. If he wanted to wake her up, just this bit of pure Yang energy would be insufficient…

As he carried Lin Xintong, he remained silent in the snow. He now had two options. One was to proceed forward and retrace the steps the ancient Great Empress had previously taken.

The second option was to retreat, leave this extreme frost icy plains and return to the third level of the God Advent Tower.

If he chose to proceed, it was bound to be fraught with difficulties. With Lin Xintong having lost consciousness and with her life being so vulnerable, Yi Yun had to continuously inject pure Yang energy into her body to maintain her life. Under these circumstances, the difficulty for Yi Yun to completely traverse the extreme frost icy plains was imaginable.

As for retreating…

Yi Yun knew how far the distance was if he retreated. It had taken him four days to traverse the distance. If he carried Lin Xintong and walked the distance back, it would take at least six days.

Yi Yun did not know if Lin Xintong could last for another six days, and even if she did, what was he to do when he returned to the third level of the God Advent Tower?

She had lost her vitality, and there was no way of replenishing it.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and sat cross-legged in the snow.

Regardless of which choice he decided on, he needed to recover his stamina now.

Just now, that sword attack Yi Yun slashed out, that was his strongest attack. However, that attack greatly expended Yi Yun’s stamina.

Yi Yun knew very well that the battle had not ended…

At that moment, in the sky, a few hundred feet away from Yi Yun.

A pair of blood-red eyes were staring at Yi Yun like a vulture.

The swarthy youth was hidden in the void, his expression extremely ugly. Behind him, the door to Hell, which he had summoned, had shattered. He had even received a backlash from the sword Qi!

Once a Yin specter lost its body, it would become extremely weak. Yi Yun’s final strike was devastating. Those snow monsters were connected to the swarthy youth’s soul. So, with them being completely destroyed, without any residue left, that had dealt a severe blow to the swarthy youth!

“How could this be possible…”

The swarthy youth could not believe that Yi Yun’s strength had reached such a terrifying extent.

Even if Yi Yun had a pure Yang body, and had a great advantage while fighting snow monsters on the snowy plains, he should not have been able to destroy more than twenty snow monsters in one strike, not to mention causing the swarthy youth to be injured.

This had exceeded the swarthy youth’s comprehension.

“Oh? This kid’s cultivation level has reached… the peak of the Yuan Foundation realm!”

Only then did the swarthy youth notice Yi Yun’s cultivation level. To be at the peak of the Yuan Foundation realm at the age of sixteen, this cultivation speed was too fast. And when the swarthy youth recalled, although he found Yi Yun’s potential stunning, he had not noticed him to have such a perfect pure Yang body. This meant that Yi Yun had a fortuitous encounter in the God Advent Tower.

This luck made him jealous.

“I thought he would be an easy catch, who knew that he would become such trouble. I need to deliberate this further. I am currently only a Yin specter. My soul’s Yin energy is too great and in front of pure Yang sword Qi, I will be unable to put up any resistance. Without a body’s protection, I will very quickly turn into nothingness!”

The swarthy youth was like a lurking venomous snake. He was waiting for an opportunity. He noticed that after Yi Yun’s strike, Yi Yun’s breathing rhythm had greatly weakened. It was an opportunity for him to make a move.

“That girl! She is the kid’s weakness. If I attack and destroy that girl, that kid will definitely do everything he can to protect her. This way, he will probably become confused, and once his body is severely injured, that will be the best time for me to strike.”

The swarthy youth carefully planned as an evil smile suffused on his lips. However, before this, he needed to drain Yi Yun’s stamina.

This was not a difficult thing for him to do. As a Yin specter, he could summon evil spirits to aid him in battle.

These evil spirits did not have great offensive power, but them being killed would not cause any backlash to his essence.

However, if Yi Yun wanted to destroy these evil spirits, he would need to use his pure Yang energy every time. This would greatly drain Yi Yun.

Once Yi Yun’s stamina was reduced to 40% or lower, then he could strike.

With a thought from the swarthy youth, one invisible evil spirit after another appeared around him out of nowhere. With a Yin wind billowing, they flew towards Yi Yun.

“Hmph, if not for that bitch protecting the God Advent Tower, my body would still be intact. If so, taking care of this kid would be extremely easy. I wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble!”

The swarthy youth muttered to himself through gritted teeth. He hated the white-dressed female to the bone.

And while those evil spirits were charging towards Yi Yun, suddenly, the swarthy youth realized that Yi Yun’s figure had turned blurry.

Oh!?

The swarthy youth was alarmed. This was…

In contrast with Yi Yun’s blurred figure, Lin Xintong was still in Yi Yun’s arms. However, what was holding onto Lin Xintong’s body was not Yi Yun’s arms, but a blob of pure Yang energy!

No good!

The swarthy youth was greatly shocked. Just as he was about to move forward, he heard a “Peng” sound…

A broken sword, burning with pure Yang flames, pierced through his body right through his chest…

The swarthy youth looked incredulously at the rusty broken sword before his eyes. This scene did not look real no matter how much he looked at it…

How could… this be?

505 - : Heart Piercing

CKtalon  CKtalon

The broken sword was old and simple. Its blade, which was covered in rusty stains, burned with pure Yang flames. These pure Yang flames were able to suppress evil Yin energy to the greatest extent.

Chi! Chi! Chi!

The swarthy youth could clearly hear the burning sound of his body. A huge hole, that could be seen with the naked eye, slowly formed on his body as large amounts of Yin specter energy was overwhelmed by pure Yang flames, burning into nothingness.

W…Why…

The swarthy youth grabbed the broken sword and his face severely distorted. As his chest burned with the pure Yang flames, he felt an unbearable pain!

As a Yin specter, physical pain was nothing to him, but the pain that came from one’s soul was magnified by several times, making him feel like on the brink of collapse!

The swarthy youth turned his head with difficulty. His soul-based body seemed to turn into rust as it became extremely difficult to move.

“You…”

In the swarthy youth’s vision, which was rapidly turning into blur, he saw a youth dressed in azure clothes wielding a broken sword.

The powerful pure Yang energy and the top movement technique, Golden Crow Sun Shift made Yi Yun’s speed momentarily reach an extreme. The swarthy youth, who had become a Yin specter, was not strong in the first place, which caused him to be unable to dodge Yi Yun’s deadly strike!

“How…how…did you discover…me…”

The swarthy youth opened his mouth with great difficulty. The pain from his chest and the feeling of impending death made his voice dry and weak. It was as if just saying a few more words would cause his body to completely collapse.

However, he still wanted to ask because he did not want to die not knowing how. He could not figure out how, since his soul body was made of a Yin specter, he should have been able to perfectly conceal himself, so how did Yi Yun discover him and lock onto his actual position?

“If those are your last words, it sure is boring.”

Yi Yun’s lips curled into a sneer. He slowly twisted his sword as the blade turned vertical and aimed towards the swarthy youth’s head.

“Wait…Wait!”

The swarthy youth’s mouth emitted a trace of black gas. Yi Yun’s inconspicuous-looking ancient sword gave him extreme fear. With death imminent, he was filled with despair and indignation.

“Spare…Spare my life, I can…”

Before the swarthy youth could finish his words, Yi Yun slashed upwards with his sword!

“Chi La!”

Yi Yun’s attack began from the swarthy youth’s chest and followed the central axis of his body, splitting his body apart. It split his neck, followed by his chin, nose bridge, middle of his eyebrows till the top of his head!

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!”

The swarthy youth’s soul let out a sharp but bitter cry. His body was split into two. Large amounts of black-colored flames spewed out from his body as the flames wantonly burned.

The flames swallowed his soul-based body. His expression was completely distorted within the flames. It was like sacred fire burning a wraith, and the scene was filled with shrieks!

Yi Yun had already taken a step back as he coldly watched this scene. He opened his energy vision and locked onto the surrounding energy fluctuations. As a Yin specter, the swarthy youth naturally caused energy fluctuations. Yi Yun did not want him to use any method to escape under his nose.

As the flames soared into the sky, the swarthy youth’s cries turned softer and softer. The soul energy had nearly vanished.

Although he killed the swarthy youth, Yi Yun did not relax in any way. He did not know the origins of the swarthy youth. The white-dressed female, which was the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit, did not mention many things before entering her slumber.

A mysterious opponent who could threaten the Great Empress mystic realm to the point of stealing a divine item like the God Advent Tower… He had only been repelled through the sacrifice of the white-dressed female to the point of her needing to enter her slumber and using a sealed energy of the ancient Great Empress.

Such an existence was clearly not something a faction like the Shentu family clan could compare with.

Faintly, Yi Yun could feel the Tian Yuan world turn dark. The last words the white-dressed female had said before entering her slumber, “There’s no time” also made Yi Yun worried.

Seeing the dissipating black gas in the sky, Yi Yun’s Aspect Totem burst out from his body with a thought. The Golden Crow spread its wings and its flames burned all the black gas cleanly.

The swarthy youth was strange in every sense of the word. Although Yi Yun had stabbed him to death with one strike, he was unsure if his life was completely destroyed or not.

To be safe, he burned all the evil energy completely, and all the residue energy was absorbed by the Purple Crystal. He believed that no matter how strange the swarthy youth’s life form was, it was impossible for him to revive from the dead after doing so.

After completing all of this, Yi Yun landed on the icy plains. Although Yi Yun was not at the Dao Seed realm yet, just the Golden Crow Totem and the Golden Crow Sun Shift movement technique allowed him to float in the air using pure Yang energy. This was not considered a difficult task for him.

At that moment, Lin Xintong’s body was covered in snow on the icy plain. Her face was pale, like a frozen goddess.

Seeing Lin Xintong in such a state, Yi Yun felt slight pain in his heart. He bent down and carried her. Upon touching Lin Xintong’s body, Yi Yun felt like he was holding onto a piece of ice that very moment.

Lin Xintong’s body temperature had completely dissipated. The only life left in her was deeply sealed within. There was a possibility that she would never wake up…

In the howling snowstorm, Yi Yun stood there quietly in his azure-colored clothes.

Seeing the vastness of the land, he was like speck of snow in a chaotic turmoil set on the stage of a large icy plain. Lin Xintong and his body appeared infinitely small…

A youth was holding onto to a young lady, facing the entire world…

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly felt a bit dazed. He did not know where the goal was in this vast snowy plain…

Yi Yun sighed. It was a heaven defying path when warriors practiced martial arts. This process was fraught with numerous dangers, loneliness and suffering, causing unknown numbers of warriors to die on the path of martial arts. Maybe, the root of all this motivation came from the unwillingness to be tiny.

A mortal’s life was just a few decades before they returned to dust.

After hundreds of years, looking back at history, there were billions of lives, so why would a passed away mortal matter?

To be equal to the Heavens and Earth and to control one’s fate…That was the wishes of warriors.

These thoughts flashed past Yi Yun’s mind before he opened his eyes once again. He was no longer lost. As he carried Lin Xintong, he slowly moved forward while braving the snow.

The flurry of snow before him prevented him from seeing clearly.

Amongst the choices of proceeding forward or retreating backward, Yi Yun’s final decision was to continue tracing the path the ancient Great Empress had previously traversed!

Although Lin Xintong’s condition was extremely terrible, Yi Yun still held a glimmer of hope in his heart. Maybe, when he walked out of the icy plains, there might be something that could change all of this…

Yi Yun used his body’s pure Yang Yuan Qi to wrap Lin Xintong and himself. At the same time, Yi Yun constantly infused Yuan Qi into Lin Xintong’s heart, so as to maintain her life.

A perfect pure Yang body’s Yuan Qi brought some warmth to the cold as ice Lin Xintong. Although her face was as pale as ever, but when the pure Yang energy circulated within Lin Xintong’s frozen and dried up meridians, there was a faint budding of life coming from deep within her life force.

The eyelashes of Lin Xintong, who was unconscious, gently trembled…

506 - : Choice

CKtalon  CKtalon

At the moment when her life was in danger, when the unconscious Lin Xintong was engulfed by both extreme frost as well as pure Yang energy, a tiny pulse appeared deep within her consciousness.

She felt like she had opened her eyes.

Wu Wu…

What faced her was still that icy plain. The snowstorm still whistled in the air in that timeless and unchanging icy plain.

This is…

Lin Xintong was puzzled. She remembered that in her previous breath, she was still battling those snow monsters. And when she was at her limits, with her vision blurring, a person had saved her from the line demarcating life and death. The power of that one strike was indomitable. Her vision had been filled by a golden-red flame, and after that, she lost consciousness…

However, now, everything had disappeared. She was once again standing on the icy plain alone.

That figure…

Lin Xintong did not see clearly, but she could not help but think of a person…

However… how did he appear in her own trial. And even if he came, how did he have such great power?

Was that scene just an illusion of the icy plain?

Or was what she was seeing now just an illusion.

Lin Xintong shook her head and no longer thought about it. With the bone-biting chill blowing at her, she could not help but tightened her collar.

So cold…

The snowstorm here could directly freeze a person’s blood.

As the snowstorm became more violent, her vision was also affected. She could not even see beyond a footstep.

Lin Xintong felt that her Yuan Qi, as well as her vitality, had unknowingly been completely consumed. Here, on the snowy plain, she… she could not move a single step.

She looked down and did not know when ice crystals had begun to spread up her legs, as they froze her legs to the icy surface.

This…

Lin Xintong’s face turned pale as the ice spread upwards from her feet. If this carried on, she would very quickly freeze over.

She would become an ice sculpture in the snowy plain.

The frost Yin energies within her Yin Meridians were also triggered, causing her to be unable to resist in any way.

Just as she felt lost, suddenly a hand stretched out in the snowstorm, and held her cold palm.

Lin Xintong was stunned. She felt that the hand contained a warm energy. This energy was now streaming into her body without any end, giving her dried up meridians new life. It was like warm spring water, flowing across a frozen and dried up riverbed…

With this energy, the ice beneath Lin Xintong’s feet slowly melted..

She was pulled by this hand, as she took one step after another in a forward direction.

You are…

Lin Xintong tried her best to see the figure’s back, but he was hidden in the snowstorm. It was all a blur.

He was just walking in front of her, blocking the wind for her. His steps were very stable, and the warmth that spread from his palm gave Lin Xintong’s cold body a trace of warmth.

Momentarily, Lin Xintong had an indescribable feeling. In this vast and lonely world that made people despair, she had already acquiesced that she would die here, but then a hand appeared abruptly. There was also this figure.

A surge of warmth arose in her heart.

The path of martial arts was a lonely one. And when she was at her loneliest, to have someone accompany her would allow her for to be more determined with her original beliefs.

This hand led her to walk a long distance.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As they proceeded further into the icy plain, the sounds of the violent winds became like thunder. It did not sweep up snow, but pieces of ice fragments.

These ice fragments contained frost Yin, and not only was it extremely painful when it hit her body, it was like a maggot residing in her bone, constantly sucking away her body’s warmth.

Lin Xintong looked forward. That figure was still walking. Most of the ice fragments were burdened by the figure.

The warmth from his palm continued.

However, Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians could no longer be suppressed. A coldness spread from within her body, becoming one with the external world’s frost Qi.

Lin Xintong felt her footsteps becoming lighter. Her body seemed to distance itself away from her as she looked at the hand of the figure holding her. A layer of ice crystals extended out from her sleeves and covered her white wrist, before gradually spreading to her fingers.

The feeling of death approached once again.

Was this an illusion she saw just before dying?

Lin Xintong gave a gently sigh. She could no longer tell the difference between dream and reality. However… it was probably not important anymore…

In the end, she was still unable to reverse her fate.

However, the figure in front of her did not let go. He pulled her and obstinately proceeded forward…

Lin Xintong’s footsteps became slower and slower. The ice crystals now reached her fingers. Even the hand stretched out by that person could no longer provide her with warmth.

Just as her life was about to leave her body, Lin Xintong tried her best to see clearly the figure in front of her. All she wanted was a glance, but… she still could not see anything clearly…

“Is it… really you…”

…

Yi Yun was holding Lin Xintong in his arms and had now traveled an unknown distance. He felt Lin Xintong’s breathing gradually weaken. It was as if her life was slowly approaching its end.

However, as her breathing weakened, her eyelashes began to constantly vibrate gently. It was as if she was trying her best at opening her eyes to look at him.

However… her eyes never managed to open up…

Yi Yun tightly held Lin Xintong as his pure Yang energy constantly circulated. However… he realized that with Lin Xintong’s life force gradually weakening, the pure Yang energy could no longer be injected into Lin Xintong’s body…

The icy plain seemed boundless and without end.

Without being able to see his destination, his Yuan Qi slowly depleting and him holding on to a body that was slowly losing its life, everything seemed hopeless…

Yi Yun was silent as he obstinately carried on walking. He had already reduced his Yuan Qi consumption to its lowers. There was only a thin layer of pure Yang Yuan Qi that lined their bodies’ surface to withstand the cold wind, however, the main consumption came from maintaining Lin Xintong’s life force.

The further he went, the harder it became to resist the snow storm in the icy plain. Lin Xintong’s body temperature had reached an extreme low. Yi Yun felt like he was holding onto a light ice sculpture.

Very suddenly, Lin Xintong’s life force jerked. He could clearly feel that Lin Xintong’s life force suddenly weakened greatly. Her meridians were beginning to form ice crystals, and even her heart, which he had wrapped his Yuan Qi around, was being eroded by the frost Qi!

If this went on, in less than three minutes, Lin Xintong’s life force would be completely eroded!

“Naturally terminated meridians…”

Yi Yun understood that this was Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians. With her body severely injured like this, and in an environment like this icy plain, there was no longer any way to suppress her terminated meridians as it broke out.

Maybe, at that moment, he had to gamble it all…

Yi Yun took a deep breath as he took out a medicine box from his interspatial ring. This medicine box burned with a thick flaming aura despite being out in the icy plain.

The medicine box contained the red lotus Yi Yun had plucked in the second level of the God Advent Tower!

Using the red lotus to treat Lin Xintong’s terminated meridians was a gamble. Yi Yun did not know what the outcome would be, but now, he had no other choice.

507 - : Warmth

CKtalon  CKtalon

The red lotus Yi Yun obtained grew in a pure Yang lake. Every lotus seed itself was like a concentrated pure Yang flame. Each of them was like a fire seed that contained extremely pure but violent pure Yang energy.

Yi Yun did not know what would happen if an injured Lin Xintong would eat the red lotus’ seeds.

Her meridians were terminated and they were now frozen, making them extremely fragile. With Lin Xintong’s Yuan Qi completely drained, and her vitality nearly depleted, what would happen if a pure Yang flame burned within her body? Yi Yun did not dare to think about it…

However, Yi Yun had no other choice, he would see Lin Xintong’s last bit of life force disappear if didn’t do anything.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and opened the medicine box.

A rich pure Yang gas surged out of the medicine box. The extreme frost icy plain’s frost Qi was momentarily expelled by the pure Yang energy, causing the cold in the area to be greatly dispersed.

Yi Yun did not take the complete red lotus out. In the Everlasting Purple Gold medicine box, the red lotus could be preserved.

Yi Yun was really unwilling to use such a plant, that had undergone millions of years of nourishment from the heavens and earth before producing such treasures, and make it into an elixir or swallow it.

Yi Yun took a few lotus seeds out from below the satin. These lotus seeds had been soaked in pure Yang desolate beast’s blood by the three-legged strange bird, and they were akin to pure Yang elixirs themselves. The pure Yang energy was extremely rich, and one could see and feel the intense burning sensation brought forth by the seeds with the naked eye.

Even if a warrior in good physical shape consumed a strong medicine like the lotus seeds, they would probably suffer great pain. They might even die an explosive death, let alone Lin Xintong…

Holding onto the lotus seeds, Yi Yun was in a dilemma. The chances of saving Lin Xintong’s life were too slim.

He glanced at Lin Xintong. In that short period of time, Lin Xintong’s face had turned even paler. Her skin had turned even more transparent. There were ice crystals already formed on the skin on her long, beautiful neck. Her body temperature had reduced even more.

Without any time to think, Yi Yun gritted his teeth and slipped a lotus seed gently through Lin Xintong’s pale lips…

At that moment, Yi Yun’s mental strength was extremely focused. His energy vision was firmly locked onto all the meridians in Lin Xintong’s body.

He did not dare to let her swallow the lotus seed, so he placed the lotus seed in her mouth. He then used the Purple Crystal to manipulate the lotus seed’s energy and carefully let it flow into Lin Xintong’s body.

It was also only because Yi Yun was familiar with pure Yang laws and had a divine item like the Purple Crystal that allowed him to forcefully suppress the violent pure Yang energy in the lotus seed. The energy followed Yi Yun wishes as it diffused into Lin Xintong’s meridians bit by bit.

Pa… Pa…

When the pure Yang energy flowed into Lin Xintong’s meridians, the frozen solid ice crystals quickly melted. But immediately following that, Lin Xintong’s meridians were burned by the pure Yang energy. The lotus seed’s pure Yang gas and Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians began to go to war with Lin Xintong’s body as a battlefield!

Lin Xintong’s meridians had been frozen and they had lost their strength, and now, with a violent force surging through them, many parts of her meridians began to crack.

Seeing this scene, Yi Yun’s heart tightened as he held his breath.

That’s bad!

Although he had guessed such a possible outcome, Yi Yun still felt terrible when he saw Lin Xintong’s meridians crack in front of his very eyes after pure Yang energy flowed through her meridians.

He grabbed Lin Xintong’s hands as pure Yang Yuan Qi streamed into Lin Xintong’s body, however, this was useless. The meridians in Lin Xintong’s cracked even more. Pain was visible on her pale face, and her ice-crystal laden eyebrows also scrunched up.

“No! This won’t work!”

When Yi Yun saw Lin Xintong in pain, he was extremely worried. If this carried on, it would spell certain death for Lin Xintong in the next few seconds!

“She does not have any Yuan Qi and her meridians are weak. She cannot absorb the lotus seeds herself. The lotus seeds are like poison to her!”

Yi Yun was feeling anxious. He was nearly on the brink of giving up…

However, when he thought of watching Lin Xintong die in his arms, he felt extremely sad and terrible.

As long as her life force was not extinguished, it meant that there was still a glimmer of hope. He needed to grab it. He needed to calm down while Lin Xintong was bordering on the line of life and death.

He only had a few seconds to find a lifeline amongst all the routes that led to death!

“Wait… Wait! If she can’t digest the lotus seeds herself, maybe I will be able to digest it for her. After I absorb the lotus seed’s pure Yang energy, I can use my body as a medium to transfer it to her. This way, the lotus seed’s violent energy will be borne by me, and the energy that I transfer to her will be gentlest and the purest pure Yang energy!”

This idea suddenly flashed in Yi Yun’s mind.

He immediately used the Purple Crystal to seal the energy of the lotus seed residing in Lin Xintong’s mouth. He then took another lotus seed out of the medicine box and ate it himself.

With the lotus seed entering his mouth, it was like lava flowing into his stomach. With the Purple Crystal’s manipulation, the pure Yang energy within immediately exploded out!

Even though Yi Yun already had a perfect pure Yang body, his meridians still felt an immense amount of pressure from the large amounts of pure Yang energy that surged out of the lotus seed in such a short period of time.

However, at that moment, he could not care any less.

He was only finding the explosive pure Yang energy to be too slow!

Yi Yun’s body temperature quickly rose. The pure Yang energy moved along his meridians into his body’s 360 acupuncture points, and then it escaped out of his pores and acupuncture points.

In the snowy plain, one could faintly see curling steam rise from Yi Yun’s body. When the snow approached him, it immediately melted.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and opened his arms to tightly hug Lin Xintong!

Lin Xintong’s body was as cold as ice, but Yi Yun’s body was hot like fire. He was using his body to transfer heat to Lin Xintong.

In the boundless and vast snowy plain, a frozen but perfect girl was being hugged by Yi Yun. Their figures appeared extremely tiny in such a vast world…

Yi Yun warmed Lin Xintong in this manner. They endured this cold world, hoping to reverse her cruel fate.

Pure Yang energy emitted out of Yi Yun’s acupuncture points and silently flowed into Lin Xintong’s acupuncture points. It then flowed through her meridians and spread throughout her body. It gave a trace of warmth to her frozen meridians.

After Yi Yun’s absorption and transformation, the pure Yang energy became gentle and calm. Finally, Lin Xintong’s fragile meridians could barely withstand it.

Lin Xintong’s body gradually softened in the steaming pure Yang energy. Her body temperature was also slowly returning to normal.

To let Lin Xintong absorb the pure Yang energy better and to have their acupuncture points match, Yi Yun’s arms slowly passed through her clothes as he hugged her smooth back.

Yi Yun hugged Lin Xintong tightly in this manner. He felt that by hugging Lin Xintong’s back like that, it was like he was touching warm jade. This made Yi Yun’s heart flutter, and he could not help but feel a gentle charm.

Lin Xintong’s chest was also tightly in contact with Yi Yun’s chest. Her soft, delicate virgin body gave Yi Yun a very special feeling.

In the snowy plain, hot air rose as the pure Yang gas emitted by Yi Yun’s body increased, covering Yi Yun and Lin Xintong completely.

Beneath them, snow constantly melted to the point of forming a small pool. The water in the pool was steamed by the pure Yang gas, making it very warm. It was like a hot spring.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong soaked themselves in this hot spring as their bodies were intertwined with each other.

Yi Yun’s nose was filled with the fragrance of Lin Xintong’s body. This situation made Yi Yun’s blood flow even faster.

With a beautiful girl in his arms, it was impossible if Yi Yun did not have other thoughts. He took several deep breaths to suppress any impulses in his heart. Although he was not a gentleman, he would definitely not take advantage of her in such a situation.

Besides, Lin Xintong was still not out of danger. The pure Yang energy absorbed by Yi Yun was only transmitted through acupuncture points. Only a very tiny portion of flowed into Lin Xintong’s body.

With another thought, Yi Yun took the medicine box out and swallowed another lotus seed. Following that, he even took the entire red lotus out and placed it in the heated pool.

The red lotus originally grew in a lava lake. So although the tiny heated pool had relatively little pure Yang energy, the red lotus still silently stretched out its branches and leaves. Its roots also slowly sank deep into the ice layer beneath the pool…

The strong vitality of the red lotus greatly exceeded Yi Yun’s expectations. Even in the icy plain, it still emitted rich pure Yang gases, which also helped recover Lin Xintong’s life force.

With this, it made Yi Yun even more unwilling to refine the red lotus into an elixir. After all, he had perfected his pure Yang body, so there might be a suitable place in the future for him to plant the red lotus and constantly extract lotus seeds from it.

After Yi Yun ate the second lotus seed, even more pure Yang gas was emitted. The red lotus was a heavenly treasure and it had helped Yi Yun obtain a pure Yang body. The pure Yang energy it contained was without a doubt extremely pure and strong. It was enough to suppress the frost Qi in Lin Xintong’s naturally terminated meridians.

As more and more snow melted, the hot spring pool also grew bigger. Lin Xintong’s clothes were already completely soaked.

Lin Xintong’s clothes were originally a bit tattered from the battles from before, and now with it being soaked, it revealed some of her extreme beauty…

In this vast world, this hot spring in the middle of the snow seemed to become the one and only thing in this world. Yi Yun hugged Lin Xintong and at that moment, their bodies and hearts were stuck together, without a shred of space between them…

With the pure Yang energy transferring between their bodies, Lin Xintong’s breathing became more and more uniform, as if she had fallen asleep.

Seeing Lin Xintong sleeping beautifully, Yi Yun inexplicably calmed down. He silently hugged Lin Xintong and no longer had any other thoughts.

It seemed that the current scene would continue indefinitely, until eternity…

508 - : The Merging of Hearts

CKtalon  CKtalon

After an unknown period of time passed, the eyelids of Lin Xintong, who was in deep sleep in the hot spring, began to jump gently.

In her dreams, Lin Xintong was experiencing a completely different scene…

She was constantly walking through the cold biting wind. In front of her, there was that obstinate figure that pulled her along. Lin Xintong’s internal frost Qi could no longer be suppressed. The moment she tried to let her fingers go, so as not to be a burden for the figure… heat suddenly came from that figure’s palms. It caused her body to tremble and it was extremely painful.

She felt like she was being burnt to death by the heat, but at that moment, the figure suddenly turned around and embraced her.

His arms were strong and forceful. He tightly embraced Lin Xintong, as if he wanted to merge her body into his.

Lin Xintong was at a loss momentarily. Ever since she was young, she had never been hugged by a man in this fashion.

The moment he had hugged her, the heat suddenly turned very mild. It surged into Lin Xintong’s body, flowed through her meridians and spread throughout her body…

This heat moved through her meridians like a warm spring breeze, causing her frozen body to once again wake up…

In this way, her life force recovered bit by bit. Her flames of vitality burned once again…

It seemed the snow surrounding her had blown away, as it became warmer and warmer…

Lin Xintong tried her best to open her eyes. This time, she saw the figure’s looks clearly. It made Lin Xintong feel incredulous. His looks were really gradually becoming clear in her vision.

She finally saw clearly…

…

…

As her eyelashes slightly trembled, Lin Xintong opened her eyes.

An azure-clothed youth’s figure turned from blurred to clear.

That familiar feeling, that familiar back…

Yi Yun…

Lin Xintong’s heart was filled with all sorts of emotions. The moment she woke up, she knew that she was still in the icy plains. The scene of her being pulled by a figure was just a hallucination she had experienced due to her near-death experience…

And in her dream, the figure that accompanied her all along and did not give up on her till the very end. The figure that appeared with the burning golden-red flames and slashing with a sword before she went unconscious, all of these merged with the Yi Yun in front of her.

It was still the endless icy plain, and it was still the ever-howling snowstorm, but she was now in the middle of warm spring water, being tightly hugged by Yi Yun.

She had never been so close to a male before. She saw her clothes in disarray, with her clothes soaked in water, turning translucent that it made her perfect body seem somewhat unhindered…

Even Lin Xintong, who was always unperturbed, felt a red glow in her cheeks. Her heartbeat and blood flow accelerated.

She was unable to accept this closeness immediately.

She subconsciously wanted to push Yi Yun away, but just as she raised her jade-like arms, she gently lowered them. She knew that it was Yi Yun who had pulled her back from the gates of Hell, twice.

Her vitality, that had been severed, recovered all because of Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi. He had embraced her to transfer Pure Yang Yuan Qi into her dried up and frozen meridians.

Being embraced by Yi Yun and feeling Yi Yun’s breathing, Lin Xintong felt an inexplicable sense of peacefulness. Especially the pure Yang energy that Yi Yun’s body continuously transferred to her, it was extremely appealing to Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong remained silent. She did not say a word as she quietly enjoyed the warmth and peacefulness in this endless snowstorm.

She looked at Yi Yun and could not help but reveal a smile. In this smile, her face was still red that flushed with the spring water. It was beautiful and exquisite.

Only… while she was smiling, a trail of tears rolled down the corner of her eye. It quietly dropped down and seemed to be lost between a liquid and a gas.

She did not know why she was crying. In her memories, she had not had the feeling of crying in a very, very long time…

Before Yi Yun appeared, reality and dreams were intercrossed with each other, causing her to be unable to distinguish which was a dream, and which was a reality.

However, the figure, that had withstood the snowstorm, and did not abandon or leave her till the very end when she was on the brink of death, was here.

Also, that hand that gave warmness, and pulled her up from the deep ice abyss bit by bit, was here.

For such a long period of time, she had walked on her martial path in solitude.

Saddled with naturally terminated meridians, she had been marginalized and ostracized by others since she was young. However, she never gave up on looking for the opportunity to reverse her fate, even if the hopes were extremely slim.

She steadfastly stood with her pride. That strong determination did not match her external appearance, and she nearly never accepted the help of others.

She was after all a human. Never once had a person really entered her inner world. But now, in Yi Yun’s arms, she inexplicably felt it. She never expected that to have someone accompany her and, to help her when she was in despair, would be really blissful.

“You are awake… ”

Yi Yun had been looking forward to Lin Xintong waking up. But when she really woke up, Yi Yun felt extremely embarrassed. He did not know how to explain such an explicit scene to her.

Seeing Yi Yun’s reaction, Lin Xintong smiled gently.

She felt that the pure Yang energy emitted from Yi Yun’s body seemed to resonate faintly with the pure Yin energy in her body. There was an integrative balance, which made her feel reluctant to separate from Yi Yun.

Pure Yin and pure Yang were complementary existences in the laws of the world.

Lone Yin did not lead to birth and solitary Yang did not allow growth. It was a natural thing for Yin and Yang to integrate with each other.

This also caused Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to feel an innate appeal with one another. If they could become one, the Yin and Yang Yuan Qi would resonate, giving infinite benefits to the two of them.

Ignoring intercourse cultivation, just them being in skin contact made them feel nourished by the other’s Yuan Qi. In Lin Xintong’s Yin Meridians, there was a warmth spreading throughout them, causing the frost Qi in her body to dissipate greatly. As for Yi Yun, he felt his Radiant Sun Qi become even more compact. Even a faint Golden Crow phantom image appeared behind him.

The two of them looked into each other’s’ eyes. Lin Xintong’s gaze became more and more gentle.

Thinking back to the experiences she and Yi Yun encountered, she was filled with emotion.

Who would have thought that the Cloud Wilderness youth she had met back then had taken step after step to reach this point and this very scene today?

From meeting in the Cloud Wilderness to reuniting in the Lin family’s mountain range, to the Desolate Heaven technique tea session and then that night’s banquet and relic trial…

Finally, it was this expedition to the Great Empress trial.

Lin Xintong realized that her feelings for Yi Yun had changed in a silent fashion…

This change made Lin Xintong panic in the beginning, but slowly, she calmed down.

She was a very independent and obstinate girl. Although she was indifferent, once she had a firm belief, she would face all obstacles head on with her original intentions.

She never regretted things that she had set her mind to.

The two of them did not speak much. But in this lonely and cold world, they hugged each other tightly, warming each other.

The martial path was lonely. It was a source of great happiness if one found a confidant.

509 - : Awakening

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were in this world of ice and snow, where snow fluttered in the sky. But the two of them were sitting in a boiling hot spring. If they put their hands out, they could touch the frosty ice that was not far away. This scene was quite mesmerizing.

The spring water was clear, and a mist floated above the water surface as steam continuously rose. As Yi Yun hugged Lin Xintong from behind and felt Lin Xintong’s soft body, he felt a slight throb in his heart.

He could not see Lin Xintong’s expression, he could only see her reddening ear. The hot air Yi Yun breathed out landed on Lin Xintong’s crystal clear ears that were like red jade. It tickled Lin Xintong’s ears and her heart sped up slightly.

Lin Xintong had never experienced such a scene, causing her body to instinctively attempt to distance herself from Yi Yun. However, as the aura emitted by Yi Yun’s body still had the natural attractiveness of Yin-Yang energy, it made Lin Xintong reluctant to do so.

She slowly closed her eyes as her long and curved eyelashes slightly trembled like a black butterfly’s wings dancing in the cold wind.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong stayed there for about five hours. In total, Yi Yun ate three red lotus seeds. He continuously digested all the pure Yang energy in the lotus seeds and transferred a portion of the energy to Lin Xintong. This way, Lin Xintong’s frost Qi due to her body’s naturally terminated meridians was finally suppressed.

Lin Xintong’s cultivation level was higher than Yi Yun’s. The reason why she nearly died was not because of the injuries inflicted on her by the snow monsters, nor was it because of the terrifying frost Qi in the extreme frost icy plains, it was because the frost toxins in her naturally terminated meridians were agitated, with no way of suppressing them.

Now, the pure Yang energy had balanced out the frost toxins, so Lin Xintong had recovered.

However, the frost toxins were just temporarily suppressed. It was far from completely healing her naturally terminated meridians.

Gradually, there wasn’t any pure Yang energy being emitted out from Yi Yun’s acupuncture points. For some reason, maybe because of the pure Yang energy entering her body or something else, Lin Xintong’s face was still red. It added a rare innocence and cuteness to her usual otherworldly bearing.

These five hours of pair cultivation allowed Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to gain a lot of benefits. Yi Yun had just broken into the peak of the Yuan Foundation realm and he had absorbed too much of the red lotus’ pure Yang medicinal essence, so his cultivation level was not stabilized. And now, with Lin Xintong’s pure Yin energy’s nourishment, the energy in his dantian slowly stabilized, causing his cultivation level’s foundation to solidify.

As for Lin Xintong, there was no need to mention them. Besides bringing her back to life, she could faintly feel that her cultivation level had improved. She was getting close to breaking through to the next cultivation level.

Some time after the pure Yang energy slowly dissipated, Lin Xintong looked up. In her bright eyes, there was the reflection of Yi Yun’s figure.

“Yi Yun, how did you find me?”

In the vast icy plain, with the snowstorm hindering one’s vision, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. And Lin Xintong sensed that the God Advent Tower gave everyone a different mystic realm experience. It was quite unbelievable how Yi Yun managed to find her in the icy plain.

“It was the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit who told me of your whereabouts… ”

Yi Yun honestly told her of his experience in the God Advent Tower, including how he found the red lotus, which he described in rough detail.

When Lin Xintong heard how the white-dressed female faced a calamity in the God Advent Tower, forcing her to use the sealed energy left behind by the ancient Great Empress, her heart tightened, “What did you say? That swarthy youth actually had such a history? Senior Item Spirit had to enter deep slumber just to kill him?”

Lin Xintong had paid attention to the swarthy youth. He was mysterious and his abnormal demeanor had always made her suspicious.

If the swarthy youth was actually an energy life force that was protecting the God Advent Tower, Lin Xintong would not have been surprised. But she never expected that his identity was that of an unknown evil race that was plotting against the Great Empress mystic realm and the God Advent Tower!

“I don’t think so… ” Yi Yun shook his head, “That swarthy youth may be powerful, but he is far from needing senior Item Spirit to pay such a heavy price of using the sealed energy left behind by the ancient Great Empress. If I am not wrong, there is a silent supporter behind the swarthy youth. Maybe, senior Item Spirit was battling the mysterious supporter… ”

“And she also said, ‘Be careful of the Blood Moon’.”

“Blood Moon… ” Lin Xintong ruminated on this. These words made her think of a scene. “Yi Yun, do you remember, before we entered the God Advent Tower, our talents were ranked by the crystal column? There were six levels. The highest was ‘Canonized God’, followed by ‘Shura’, ‘Sage’, “Soul’, ‘Grandmaster’, ‘Knight’. ”

“Back then, I obtained the ‘Soul’ rating, while you obtained ‘Grandmaster’. I probably obtained a rating of ‘Soul’ because of my naturally terminated meridians… As for the others, they were ‘Knight’ and some even received ‘Failed to meet the mark’. However, under this situation, nearing the end of the evaluation, there were two others who obtained the same ‘Grandmaster’ evaluation as you!”

As Lin Xintong said this, Yi Yun naturally recalled them. These two people had gone forward together. Their whereabouts were a mystery, and they were dressed in gray robes. No one knew where they came from.

Now, with Lin Xintong suddenly mentioning this, Yi Yun had a sudden realization that there was a blood-red crescent embroidered on the two people’s gray long robes.

“Are you talking about the Blood Moon pattern on their clothes?” Yi Yun turned apprehensive. These two people were equally mysterious, and they had several similarities with the swarthy youth. It would not be strange if they came from the same faction.

“Yes… This should not be a coincidence. If that were the case, there might be a super faction that none of us knew about before. They are plotting something, and their intentions are probably not good. The Tian Yuan world might face a disaster.”

Lin Xintong frowned slightly. How did a super faction that was plotting against the Great Empress mystic realm appear? Could they be related to the ancient times? Or could they come from another world?

No matter what the situation was, it was not good news.

“Let’s go. The black-skinned youth may be dead, but there are still two others. We need to be careful. If only we can obtain the recognition of the ancient Great Empress… ”

Lin Xintong stood up in the hot spring. Her wet clothes were clinging to her skin. With her standing up, Yi Yun could see her mesmerizing back figure. There were all sorts of revelations from her body.

Lin Xintong also noticed this as her face turned slightly red. Using her jade-like arms to cover her body, she circulated her Yuan Qi and evaporated the water from her clothes.

Unfortunately, as she had natural Yin Meridians, her physical attributes leaned towards cold Yin, so it took her several seconds to finish evaporating the water.

So as to see no evil, Yi Yun turned his head with a bit of reluctance.

He coughed dryly and said, “Before senior Item Spirit went into deep slumber, she exhorted me to save you. I think, she thought highly of you, and already had thoughts of letting us get the recognition of the Great Empress… ”

510 - : Dark Clouds

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the vast icy plain, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong proceed forward through the snow. Yi Yun held Lin Xintong’s hand, and with their Yuan Qi complementing one another, it formed a perfect balance.

In this situation, Lin Xintong no longer felt unable to suppress the frost Qi in her body, with her vitality constantly devoured.

As they traversed deeper into the icy plains, the frost Qi became so rich it completely suppressed the pure Yang energy from the red lotus seeds. As a result, the two of them had to use their own Yuan Qi to fend off the cold.

Under such circumstances, they could still withstand without any difficulty. It even felt like Lin Xintong was strolling in the snow with Yi Yun.

Holding Yi Yun’s hand, Lin Xintong felt her mind at ease. She suddenly felt that her previous determination to change her fate by defying heaven, and insisting on her arrogance and loneliness was too stubborn.

She had never experienced the fact that having someone accompanying her, with someone to rely on was such bliss.

Maybe…This was a hint given to her by the extreme frost icy plains.

Her naturally terminated meridians meant that there was an overabundance of frost Yin energy in her body, with no way of removing it. When she reached 500 years of age, the frost toxins will act up and extinguish her flame of life.

And the method to join up her terminated meridians meant eliminating this frost Yin energy.

Lone Yin did not lead to birth and solitary Yang did not allow growth. This was a natural fact of the world, and the method to healing her of her frost Yin energy was likely Yin-Yang balance.

A year ago, the Great Empress relic that the Shentu family clan refined which they claimed to be able to heal her of her naturally terminated meridians was a pure Yang medicine.

Realizing this, Lin Xintong gave Yi Yun a deep glance. In her eyes, there was a look that was difficult to put into words. At that moment, the warm pure Yang energy flow that came from Yi Yun’s hands made Lin Xintong feel extremely comfortable.

They used a speed that was not considered fast to cross the vast icy plain.

The two of them held hands as if they were walking to the ends of the world.

After an unknown period of time passed, they saw a river in the icy plains.

Despite the extreme cold here, the river had not frozen. The river was flowing with blue river water like a jade belt.

And what was most stunning was that the opposite side of the river, was covered with blue and white flowers.

These flowers were extremely small. Their petals were as clear as icy glass. They swayed along with the cold wind, causing one to think of the legendary red spider lilies that could bring forth the memories of a newly dead soul.

“These flowers…” Seeing this scene, Lin Xintong was moved emotionally. “They are not real flowers, but flowers condensed from laws…”

Lin Xintong had a pure Yin body with naturally terminated meridians, so she was extremely sensitive to pure Yin laws.

She could identify the essence of these flowers with a glance.

“Fascinating. The nomological laws of the world are abundant in this river, resulting in the formation of the flowers. It is really magical.”

“Eh…there’s someone there.”

Lin Xintong was startled as she pointed in a direction. Yi Yun looked following her indication, and indeed, in the white and blue bed of flowers, he could see the faint figure of a woman.

The woman was dressed in a blue dress. Her long hair hung down and her feet were bare. Using the toes, she strolled through the air. Every step she made caused a bluish-white flower to bloom below her foot. Flowers quickly formed and it was as if all the bluish-white flowers on the opposite of the river was formed from the blue-dressed woman’s footsteps.

The woman did not seem to notice Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. She only moved upstream against the river’s waters at a slow pace, like she was walking upstream against a river of time.

This was…that picture!

Lin Xintong’s heart jumped. This scene was clearly the scene she saw in the picture at the third level of the God Advent Tower.

That human figure was that of the ancient Great Empress.

“Yi Yun, do you see that?”

Lin Xintong held Yi Yun’s hand, and wanted to follow the Great Empress’ figure.

Yi Yun nodded, “I see her, but it’s a blur. I can’t tell her looks clearly. Even her figure is only partially visible to me…”

Yi Yun felt that the ancient Great Empress’ figure was merged with the endless void, preventing him from seeing through it.

As for Lin Xintong, what she saw was a very clear scene. She could even see the ancient Great Empress’ expression. She seemed to be in deep thought, as she pondered over the mysteries of Heaven and Earth. Only, in the middle of her eyebrows, there was a hint of sadness and worry. It was quite disturbing…

Seeing the Great Empress’ figure, Lin Xintong seemed to be infected by her mood as she became frustrated too.

She took a deep breath and pulling Yi Yun by the hand, she chased after her.

Seeing Lin Xintong about to step into the blue river flow, Yi Yun’s heart jumped. The river looked strange, and who knew what would happen if they entered it.

However, he still chose to believe Lin Xintong, and followed closely behind her.

With both their feet in the water, there was a cool feeling. They were suspended in it and did not sink. In this manner, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong chased after the Great Empress while moving upstream.

The Great Empress’ figure walked very slowly, but what was strange was that the distance between them were maintained, being neither too far nor close.

This lasted till Yi Yun and Lin Xintong crossed the blue river, reaching the opposite bank.

Only then did Yi Yun see everything clearly. The bluish-white flowers on this side of the river were all different. Their petals were in a variety of shapes and were like the ever-changing clouds in the sky.

Maybe, every flower contained a different Dao. It was like the so-called “a Heaven in a Wild Flower”.

Gradually, the ancient Great Empress’ figure became increasingly fuzzy as if she was melting into the world before she disappeared into the void.

Yi Yun was alarmed. He seemed to feel something before he suddenly looked back. He was surprised to discover that on the other side of the river, the vast extreme cold icy plain had disappeared.

What replaced it was a picturesque sight.

The river’s waters churned and emitted a mesmerizing air. Both sides of the river were filled with flowers and grass. The air was filled with floral fragrance and there was a vibrant life everywhere.

Walking through the flora, Yi Yun could even see birds and butterflies shuttling through the flowers. However, they were not real, but formed from the natural laws.

This sudden change made Yi Yun feel incredulous. It was like the endless icy plain from before was an illusion of his.

If not for the remnant frost Qin in his body, Yi Yun even had doubts if he had really crossed that icy plain.

“We have finally finished traversing that icy plain. The lifeless icy plain was separated from this paradise by a river.”

Yi Yun marveled at the fascinating Great Empress mystic realm.

Beside Yi Yun, Lin Xintong mused, “I have some comprehensions. The icy plain we just traversed is extreme in cold Yin…And the lava lake you mentioned before where you plucked the red lotus was that of extreme Yang.”

“Be it pure Yang or pure Yin, they will result in a land of death. And on this other side of the river, it is filled with Yin-Yang energies. They are as one here, and in this way, the natural laws result in this vibrant scene…”

“This is probably what the greatest revelation given to me by the extreme frost icy plains…”

Yin-Yang balance was actually one of the most simple of reasonings. Despite people knowing such a simple reasoning, pushing this idea to the extreme was not that simple.

When pure Yin and pure Yang met each other, sometimes it would not be a Yin-Yang harmony, but it could result in conflict, which each killing the other.

“Oh? There’s a palace there!”

Lin Xintong pointed with her hand. Yi Yun looked over and indeed, he saw a palace surrounded by beautiful flowers and trees.

The palace was not magnificent, but it gave an exquisite feeling. It perfectly blended with the surroundings, giving one a harmonious and natural feeling.

“Let’s go over.”

Lin Xintong held Yi Yun’s hand and walked towards the palace. The God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit had previously said that after she traversed the extreme frost icy plains, she would obtain an opportunity that she deserved, which was a chance to reverse her fate.

And this sudden appearance of a palace made Lin Xintong feel like it was a summoning from deep within her heart…

511 - : Traversing the Icy Plain

CKtalon  CKtalon

The palace on the icy plain had stood here for an unknown period of time. However, despite it standing for a long period of time, the palace did not seem old. It was glistening brightly.

As Yi Yun and Lin Xintong moved closer to the palace, the palace’s large door automatically opened. And behind the door, there was a long red jade staircase.

Many of the furnishings here was carved out of jade, and they were really fitting of the phrase jade-like ethereal building.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong walked up the staircase. And on both sides of the staircase, there were many pillars.

On one of the pillars, Yi Yun saw a line of words; “The Azure Rainbow pierces the Blood Moon, Ice Cold Seals God Abyss”.

The font of the words was magnificent and they were written in an unrestrained manner. The stroke of each character was like a floating dragon.

In the words, there seemed to be the breath of gods circulating within them. It was as if a person had written them casually with a sword on a whim.

Below the words, there was a name left behind, “Stunning Rainbow Sword, Azure Yang Lord!”

“Azure Yang Lord?” Yi Yun could not help but subconsciously link the name to the azure-clothed swordsman he had seen in the disk array images.

“What a strong sword intent.” Lin Xintong’s weapon was a sword too, so when she saw the words, she felt her heart palpitate. However, following that, she frowned slightly, “Could this Blood Moon be the one senior Item Spirit mentioned… ?”

“It should be.” Yi Yun also gave a ruminating look.

He did not know if the Blood Moon was an organization or a person.

The Azure Yang Lord, who left the words behind, had clearly fought with Blood Moon before.

However, it was not known if the Azure Yang Lord was the azure-clothed swordsman in the disk array images. The sword-like strokes of the font were familiar to Yi Yun. The azure-clothed swordsman’s sword was like his person. They did things on a whim and to their own pleasure and desire.

If the azure-clothed swordsman was the Azure Yang Lord, how did his words appear here? Could it be that back when the ancient Great Empress established the Great Empress mystic realm, the azure-clothed swordsman was involved as well?

Blood Moon… be it a person or an organization, it had existed for a long time… maybe even too long.

Since the Great Empress mystic realm was established, no one knew how many tens of thousands of years had passed. This palace had quietly stood here and it had been empty for most of that time. It was unknown where the people, who had stayed in here in the past, had gone.

However, the Blood Moon had lasted from then all the way to the present. Now, it had once again appeared inside the Great Empress mystic realm.

The mystery and the hidden threat gave Yi Yun an ominous feeling.

Other than that, the words, Seal God Abyss made Yi Yun wonder…

Could the God Abyss be the God Burial Abyss… ?

Lin Xintong knew about Yi Yun’s experience in the past few levels of the God Advent Tower, so she naturally knew about the azure-clothed swordsman. She too was curious.

This palace still looked new despite all these years. And on the pillars, there was a faint energy fluctuation. Clearly, there was some array continuously maintaining this building.

After crossing the extreme frost icy plains and reaching this palace, according to the white-dressed female, this palace should be one of the highly regarded places in the Great Empress mystic realm. Yet, the Azure Yang Lord was able to leave behind his words here…

“Let’s go in.” Yi Yun said.

The answer to these questions could be inside the palace.

Inside the palace, there was nobody nor were there any sounds. Another door, that had been sealed shut for an unknown number of years, was slowly pushed open by Yi Yun as a cool air rushed out of the palace.

This air brought a feeling of sadness with it, causing Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to become a bit light-headed.

At the same time, there was a special energy fluctuation that was dissipating out from the palace.

Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal and Lin Xintong was a martial arts genius, so the both of them could sense this fluctuation.

Especially Yi Yun. Other than sensing the fluctuation, he could sense that there was a very sharp aura being emitting out of the palace. The aura was hidden in the fluctuations and it was locking onto the two of them.

Yi Yun’s immediately raised his alertness.

The Great Empress mystic realm was strange in all manners. Even this palace was not necessarily safe.

Inside the palace, it was empty. As they walked through it, they could clearly hear the slightest sound of breathing.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong carefully entered the palace’s interior and at that moment, they heard a cold voice echo, “Congratulations, cultivator. You have stepped into the fifth level of the God Advent Tower.”

Oh?

Fifth level of the God Advent Tower?

Yi Yun was stunned for a while. This was the fifth level of the God Advent Tower? Yi Yun and Lin Xintong exchanged glances as they were both momentarily surprised.

They had heard that cold voice many times before. It was not from the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit, it was the voice produced by an array.

Only when someone stepped in here would the array be triggered. At that moment, the cold voice continued, “The Great Empress vault is here. You have the qualifications to enter the three grand halls. The first hall is… Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Hall!”

Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Hall?

This strange name baffled Yi Yun. And at that moment, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong suddenly felt a transformation change in their surroundings. What was once a quiet and dark grand hall had now become a resplendent and magnificent divine palace.

The light emitted inside the divine palace was extremely blinding. The grand hall was wide and there were coiling dragon pillars erected all around the grand hall. These coiling dragon pillars collectively reached to the roof of the hall. And then, they became a dragon head that bent downwards. In the middle of the dragon head, there was a bow!

Around the bow, there were nine Suns that were extremely dazzling.

The bow’s length was extremely exaggerated. On the bow’s tips, there were two carved dragons, and on the back of each dragon, there was a sharp blade. The entire bow gave off a cold metallic luster. Its base color was golden without any impurities. However, there were several blood red patterns that circled the bow.

There were four ancient font words curved on the bow, ‘Sun Shooting Nine Deaths’.

“That is the name of the bow?”

Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow!

Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Hall!

The name of the bow was also the name of the grand hall. This was the first grand hall that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had the qualifications to enter. It seemed like this grand hall was prepared especially for Yi Yun!

Yi Yun knew that the God Advent Tower had intelligence. It prepared different opportunities for everyone.

Sun Shooting Nine Deaths…

According to legends, in ancient times, there were ten Suns in the sky that scorched the earth, causing no plants to grow. There were droughts and hardships for many years.

An ancient god held a divine bow in hand and shot down nine Suns, leaving behind one. That became the present Sun.

The name of the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow was likely due to this legend.

Yi Yun looked up at the bow. The faint sense of danger that had locked on to him had come from this bow. It was a bow that could make a human feel danger. The blood red patterns on it were like flowing blood, and if one took a second look, they might enter a trance-like state.

Yi Yun had no doubts that if a weaker warrior came here, just seeing the bow would make him lose his way, and he might even die from a blood surge.

“Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Hall. This grand hall is probably an opportunity prepared for me! I wonder what else there is other than the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow?”

512 - : Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the golden-red grand hall, Yi Yun leaped up and flew all the way to the roof of the hall and grabbing the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow.

Momentarily, a weight as heavy as a mountain passed into Yi Yun’s arm, causing his body to sink, making him fall down at high speed!

“Boom!”

Yi Yun landed heavily on the ground. His feet felt somewhat numb.

The bow was about as thick as a baby’s wrist, but its weight was so great that it needed Yi Yun to exert all his body’s Yuan Qi to to hold it up.

When Yi Yun lifted the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow, he felt a sharp pain in his arm. Looking down, he realized that the Empyrean Marks on his arm was quickly disappearing. In a few seconds, they had all disappeared.

“It’s all gone?”

Yi Yun was somewhat stunned. All the accumulated Empyrean Marks had been expended after collecting the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow. This was too fast…

At that moment, the voice echoed, “The Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow is one of the best treasures in the Great Empress mystic realm. The bow is made from the World Tree, and the red winding pattern on the bow is the blood of gods.”

“To get it, based on your performance in the trials before, it is not enough. But… with the large calamity approaching, Miss has decided on leaving some of the heritage for you before her slumber, wishing you will be able to amplify its actual worth.”

The voice was previously cold and without emotion, but now, it had hints of sadness in it.

“The opportunities in these three grand halls are prepared for you. Conduct yourselves well… ”

After the voice finished, its echos disappeared.

Miss? That was probably the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit…

Yi Yun stroked the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow. Indeed, he was lacking a bow at that moment.

As for the large calamity approaching, what did the voice refer to?

Yi Yun held the bow in his left hand and he retrieved a Wind Chasing Arrow with his right. After stringing the arrow, he could not pull the bow open despite using all his strength.

Such a heavy bow!

With a thought, pure Yang Yuan Qi circulated in Yi Yun’s body.

“Open!”

Yi Yun shouted. A faint Golden Crow phantom image appeared behind him and under the support of pure Yang laws, he finally managed to pull the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow open a tiny bit.

As he pulled the divine bow open, the bow’s body began to emit a pale golden light. This light gathered towards the bowstring, and it eventually converged on the Wind Chasing Arrow.

Suddenly, what was an ordinary Wind Chasing Arrow now seemed to be one charmed by the divine light. Its whole body flared with golden light as if it had gathered infinite energy.

“What terrifying energy.”

Yi Yun was shocked. A bow could actually cause an arrow to change in such a manner. Even normal metal could be charmed into divine gold!

And this was only him pulling it open a tiny bit. If he could completely pull it open, he did not know what scene laid in store for him.

Yi Yun kept the bow and he did not dare to shoot the arrow. He had a feeling that even if he had pulled the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow open just by a tiny bit, once he shot out the arrow, it would draw out all of his body’s energy.

Yi Yun could not help but touch the winding red pattern on the bow. The voice mentioned that this red line was actually the blood of gods. However, he had no idea what gods the voice was referring to. He could not help but think of the broken sword he had obtained from the Pure Yang Sword Hall. The broken sword was also stained with blood. That blood came from the bronze giant that had been slashed by the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner, and a few drops of blood were enough to corrode a divine sword…

“Yi Yun, look over here.”

Lin Xintong suddenly called out to Yi Yun. Yi Yun looked in her direction and he saw that in a side hall of the grand hall, there was a tall platform. On the tall platform, there was a golden book.

Yi Yun walked over and touched the book. The pages were thin, as if they were the edge of a blade. They were extremely sharp.

The front cover of the book had the words “Stunning Rainbow Sword, Azure Yang Lord” written on it. These words looked exactly the same as those carved into the stone pillar from before.

“It’s a handwritten book left by the Azure Yang Lord!”

Yi Yun flipped the book opened. What was contained inside was not a cultivation technique, it was an essay left behind by the Azure Yang Lord.

The Azure Yang Lord’s words were in the form of ancient text, and his font was that of a scribble. It was unconventional and unrestrained, so it was very difficult to identify the words. Yi Yun and Lin Xintong read it together and exchanged their thoughts on it before understanding a tiny bit of what was written.

However, just this tiny bit of information made Yi Yun and Lin Xintong shocked to the point of being speechless.

In the book, the Azure Yang Lord called the world that the Tian Yuan world was in the ‘Tian Yuan Little World’, and the Azure Yang Lord came from beyond the Tian Yuan Little World.

Yi Yun never knew what was beyond the Tian Yuan world, but he was aware that the Tian Yuan world was not the whole world.

Ignoring everything else, just the Purple Crystal Origins he had obtained far exceeded the power level of the Tian Yuan world.

He always wanted to know what the world beyond the Tian Yuan world was like.

And now, he finally caught a glimpse of it.

In the opening passage of the book, it described the origins of the Universe.

In primordial times, in the infinite Universe, out of the misty Chaos, twelve Great Worlds were born.

These worlds contained Heavenly Dao. The Heavenly Dao was supreme. In the Chaos, it gave birth to many Heavenly Gods, Ancestor Gods. And these gods were placed to be in charge of a Heavenly Dao.

It could be said that gods existed for eternity, but in reality… when an unimaginably long period of time had passed, even gods can die.

This way, the Ancestor Gods born from the Chaos slowly vanished. Races such as Humans, Fey, Demons and Desolate beasts appeared later, as they began to populate the twelve Great Worlds.

Their strength was far weaker than the fallen Ancestor Gods.

But even weak living things had the ambition to sit on the same level as the Heavens and the Earth.

Amongst these existences, martial arts slowly came to life. The essence of martial arts was the path that these weak existences used to control the cosmos.

After martial arts was born, the twelve Great Worlds became complex. Those who succeeded in their martial paths would create their own factions and call themselves kings, or some would go into reclusion in mystic realms, becoming wandering nomads.

For heritage and resources, there was no end to fighting. That era could be described as rogues of all kinds running wild!

From the beginning, there were conflicts that could not be prevented until the worlds began to unify.

In each of the twelve Worlds, a power emerged that could control their respective Worlds.

The masters of the twelve Worlds came from different races. Their powers were unfathomable, and they were usually the leaders of the strongest factions in their own world.

People assigned the title ‘Twelve Divine Emperors’ to the masters of these Worlds.

And the Worlds they controlled were called the ‘Twelve Empyrean Heavens’.

The Twelve Empyrean Heavens were…

Yang God!

Nine Spirits!

Immortal!

Five Elements!

Primordial!

Ten Thousand Fey!

…

As for the Azure Yang Lord, he came from the Yang God Empyrean Heaven!

The Divine Emperor that controlled the Yang God Empyrean Heaven was called the Yang God. The Yang God’s attainment in pure Yang laws reached the point of being equal to that of the cosmos.

In the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, other than the highest Divine Emperor, there were 72 Divine Lords!

These 72 Divine Lords were all powerful in standing. Their titles were fixed. As for the Azure Yang Lord, he was a Divine Lord and that was his title!

513 - : Twelve Empyrean Heavens

CKtalon  CKtalon

“So the Azure Yang Lord is one of the 72 Divine Lords of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven…”

The 72 titles of Divine Lord were not casual title conferments. According to the handwritten book, in primordial times, after the chaotic universe came to an end, the Ancestor Gods who controlled the Heavenly Dao were also annihilated.

And at that moment, the remaining Heavenly Dao laws left in the 12 Empyrean Heavens formed their own supreme Dao Marks without any restrictions from the Ancestor Gods.

In the Yang God Empyrean Heavens, there were 72 supreme Dao Marks that contained Great Dao laws.

Each supreme Dao Mark represented a certain Dao, and these Dao Marks were distributed to 72 Divine Lords. They became a Royal Seal that was the symbol and authority of a Divine Lord!

Only by controlling a Divine Lord Royal Seal would one truly be a member of the 72 Divine Lords!

The Divine Lord Royal Seal was extremely important for a Divine Lord. It was not only a symbol of their status, it was also a symbol of their power. A true Divine Lord would refine the Divine Lord Royal Seal into his body. He would then use his own blood to smelt it, allowing him to obtain great power from the Divine Lord Royal Seal.

Since ancient times, weal and woe came in pairs, so for such a powerful Divine Lord Royal Seal, there were naturally countless numbers of warriors who coveted it. Hence, in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, it was not an easy task to secure one’s position as a Divine Lord. It could invite challenges and assassinations from every direction.

“Who knew that the Azure Yang Lord was a top figure in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven.”

Although the book did not describe it in detail, Yi Yun did not need to think too much to know that every single one of the 12 Empyrean Heavens was filled with experts. They far exceeded the world the Tian Yuan world resided in.

Yi Yun now realised that the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner and the bronze giant he saw in an illusion were probably from one of the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

When Yi Yun flipped to the last page, he saw a token embedded in the book. There were the words “Azure Yang” on the front of the token, and the word “Token” on the back.

Token?

Yi Yun picked the token up. It was heavy and it felt cold. The material it was made from was neither metal nor jade. Yi Yun had never seen a material like it before. Maybe it came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

After removing the token, Yi Yun looked at the ancient book. There was a paragraph of text written where the token was embedded.

“Azure Yang Token. After refining it, one can enter the Azure Yang Palace and God Advent Tower freely!”

Oh?

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. This token had such an effect, and it was equivalent to this grand hall’s key.

With the token in his hand, Yi Yun could feel an energy fluctuation being emitted by the token. This fluctuation resonated with the arrays that maintained the grand hall.

“I see, with the token, I can control the arrays in this grand hall up to a certain extent.”

Yi Yun immediately understood it based on his senses.

“Yi Yun, when mighty ancient figures create an abode, they would usually set up a core item. Refining it would be equivalent to becoming half of the abode’s owner. You should refine this Azure Yang token.” Lin Xintong said while standing beside Yi Yun.

The Azure Yang Palace was one of the core spots in the Great Empress mystic realm. Just being able to enter it freely made the token’s value unimaginable. If it was taken out of the mystic realm, all the factions in the Tian Yuan world would covet it. If they knew that it was a token left behind by one of the 12 Empyrean Heavens’ Divine Lord, they would vie for it at all costs. The 12 Empyrean Heavens was a mysterious and distant existence to the Tian Yuan world’s factions.

Of course, Lin Xintong wanted such a treasure too. But she knew that it was with all of Yi Yun’s efforts that she had reached this level alive and allowed her to see the core of the God Advent Tower.

Ignoring the token, even if all the opportunities here were given to Yi Yun, she felt that it would only be right. Yi Yun had saved her life several times.

Besides, Lin Xintong had a special feeling towards Yi Yun. Lin Xintong felt that Yi Yun’s obtaining an opportunity was like her obtaining it herself.

“Oh, alright… We can use it together when the time comes.”

After Yi Yun spoke, he circulated his Yuan Qi and imprinted his blood and Qi onto the token. This way, Yi Yun and the token had a blood connection with each other.

As long as he wished, he could emanate his perception throughout the Azure Yang Palace and feel every trace of the energy fluctuations in the grand hall.

Yi Yun said, “The Azure Yang Lord not only left a handwritten book on the pillar. The token can also control the grand hall, allowing free access into the God Advent Tower. It looks like his relationship with the Great Empress was not a simple one.”

After reading the book, Yi Yun made some guesses. Could it be that the reason why nothing was heard about the ancient Great Empress was because she had gone to the 12 Empyrean Heavens?

No one could tell what had precisely happened when a long time had passed.

After the token was put away by Yi Yun, the array in the grand hall suddenly activated, causing a door of light to appear.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong looked at each other. Previously, the cold voice had said that they could enter three grand halls. Maybe what lied beyond the door of light was the second one.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong walked through the door of light hand in hand. They saw a flash of light in front of their eyes before they saw the scene change.

There was a small bridge over flowing waters and, a small building in the woods. Everything was covered in snow. It was like a crystalline paradise.

There were cups placed on a tea table and a zither placed inside a pavilion made it seem like someone still lived here. It was as if the owner had just temporarily left.

Yi Yun had the same feeling at the beginning, but very quickly, he realized there was an energy fluctuation. The scene before his eyes had been fixed on to a particular moment forever by an array.

“After the storm settles, let us stay here together for the rest of our lives.” Yi Yun saw a letter beside the zither.

The ink on it seemed like it had just been written. Even though there was no name was written on it, they could tell from the handwriting that it was left behind by the Azure Yang Lord.

“It looks like it was indeed as I suspected. Senior Azure Yang Lord should be senior Great Empress’ dual cultivation partner!”

Yi Yun recalled the words left behind by the Azure Yang Lord on the pillar, “The Azure Rainbow pierces the Blood Moon, Ice Cold Seals God Abyss”.

The first line of the poem referred to the Azure Yang Lord himself, and the second half referred to the ancient Great Empress.

As for the Great Empress mystic realm, it was most likely jointly created by the ancient Great Empress and the Azure Yang Lord.

“What a good pair of immortal-like partners… ”

Lin Xintong gently brushed her hand across the zither as a strange light flashed in her eyes.

They both had naturally terminated meridians, and she was successor designate. So although Lin Xintong and the ancient Great Empress had never made contact, there was an inexplicable sense of affection.

As she touched the zither, it was as if she could see the woman in solitude playing the zither in the snow. As for the Azure Yang Lord, he was sitting by her side at the tea table, drinking wine while enjoying the music.

Such a life was indeed enviable.

Lin Xintong’s heart could not help but look forward to this as she involuntarily glanced at Yi Yun.

“Looking at this letter, senior Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress were planning to return, but they never did. I wonder what they encountered.”

Yi Yun frowned slightly. For something that figures at the level of the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress could not settle, to the point of never returning, what had really happened probably far exceeded his imagination.

In the small building, everything was fresh and elegant. Even the flower vases were blooming with winter plums.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong walked lightly in the building out of respect for the ancient Great Empress and the Azure Yang Lord. They did not want to disturb anything in the building.

“Oh? Over there!” Lin Xintong pointed. In the Great Empress’ room, there was a simple and minimalistic book shelf.

It was easy to see everything in the building at a glance and there was nothing special. The bookshelf was filled with jade scrolls.

Yi Yun glanced at Lin Xintong and noticed the usually indifferent Lin Xintong breathing heavier. He knew that she could not feel calm at that moment.

She had shouldered too many things due to her naturally terminated meridians. She vowed to join her terminated meridians up and reverse her fate. And now, on the bookshelf, she might be able to find a hint of that chance. No matter how indifferent she was, she could not help but feel agitated at that moment.

At this instant, she suddenly felt her other hand being covered by another hand.

Lin Xintong glanced at Yi Yun as he whispered, “We have already reached this point. We will definitely find the method to join up terminated meridians left behind by the ancient Great Empress. It’s just a matter of time.”

“En!”

Lin Xintong nodded as she gently touched the jade scrolls on the bookshelf. The books and jade scrolls were not covered with a single speck of dust. It was as if someone had frequently cleaned them.

514 - : Azure Yang Token

CKtalon  CKtalon

After gently picking a few jade scrolls, Lin Xintong sank her perception into them. These jade scrolls were not collections of cultivation techniques, they were informal notes and insights gained while cultivating, all written by the ancient Great Empress.

The ancient Great Empress described a large part of her cultivation process for the first half of her life in the jade scrolls, as well as the laws she gained insight on when she broke through realms.

Although many things could be understood but not explained, with the experiences of predecessors laid out in front of them, many people could take fewer detours. Especially when Lin Xintong was like the ancient Great Empress. They both had naturally terminated meridians, so the both of them experienced some of the same difficulties while cultivating.

These things were of great value to Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong continuously flipped through more than ten jade scrolls. Her chest heaved gently because her heart was extreme perturbed.

The words in the jade scrolls were delicate but strong. Clearly, it was written by the Great Empress. Compared to the Azure Yang Lord’s words, the ancient Great Empress’ words were much neater, so Lin Xintong could read them more quickly.

While reading the jade scrolls, Lin Xintong found that a cultivation technique, “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was mentioned a lot!

This cultivation technique had accompanied the ancient Great Empress for life.

“The ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’… ”

Lin Xintong frowned. Suddenly, she realized something and looked at a box placed on the corner of the bookshelf. This box was made of wood, but it looked not much different to a cosmetic box. Lin Xintong gently opened it.

In the wooden box, there was a bluish-white ancient book. The ancient book was similar to the handwritten book left behind by the Azure Yang Lord. It was equally thin like a cicada’s wings, but it felt like metal.

Flipping the ancient book open, the first page was an introduction that described the origins of the ancient book.

When the primordial Universe was first created, it gave birth to the twelve Empyrean Heavens. There were mighty primordial figures who gained insight on the natural laws, slowly establishing martial arts heritages.

The ultimate martial art heritages were regarded by warriors in the twelve Empyrean Heavens as Divine Canons, which were supreme techniques that approached the Heavenly Dao.

Maybe, it was somewhat destined that the natural laws had a particular rule that only allowed one Divine Canon to approached the Heavenly Dao. After the long river of history, each one of the twelve Empyrean Heavens’ Divine Emperors had a Divine Canon each.

And the Divine Canon owned by the Yang God Empyrean Heaven was the “Yang God Manual”!

The Azure Yang Lord came from the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, so he had cultivated the first volume of the “Yang God Manual”. His martial arts also came from the “Yang God Manual”.

The “Yang God Manual” was the supreme Divine Canon for cultivating pure Yang laws. Even the Azure Yang Lord himself was extremely limited in gaining insight into the “Yang God Manual”. As for the ancient Great Empress, she had natural Yin meridians, so the cultivation techniques she cultivated were all pure Yin cultivation techniques.

No matter how good the “Yang God Manual” was, she was unable to cultivate it.

However, maybe the ancient Great Empress was not fated to die. The Azure Yang Lord was born with great fated luck. Because of this, other than cultivating the “Yang God Manual” in the twelve Empyrean Heavens, he had also obtained a remnant pages of a “Nine Nether Sacred Manual” in a mystic realm expedition.

And the “Nine Nether Sacred Manual” happened to be a supreme technique for cultivating the pure Yin laws.

In the past, although the Azure Yang Lord had obtained the “Nine Nether Sacred Manual”, he could not cultivate it, since he cultivated pure Yang cultivation techniques, and his body’s Yuan Qi was that of pure Yang.

This changed only when he came to the Tian Yuan world and met the ancient Great Empress.

The two of them fell in love. Although the Azure Yang Lord was the ancient Great Empress’ Dao partner, he was also her master.

The Azure Yang Lord handed the “Nine Nether Sacred Manual” to the ancient Great Empress.

However, the Azure Yang Lord probably did not realize that he had inadvertently allowed the accomplishment of a real peerless genius.

When he and the ancient Great Empress were in dual cultivation, the ancient Great Empress would refine the Yang God Yuan Qi that the Azure Yang Lord had from cultivating the “Pure Yang Manual”. Although she was unable to join her naturally terminated meridians up, she was still slowly being healed, allowing her to prolong her lifespan by a thousand years.

And a thousand years later, at the age of 1200, the ancient Great Empress sensed that her flames of life were gradually weakening. If she carried on, she would reach the end of her life, so she decided to enter reclusive death training which lasted for more than 90 years.

From the “Yang God Manual” and the “Nine Nether Sacred Manual”, she gained insight into a cultivation technique that belonged to her, the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

This “Great Empress Heart Sutra” cultivated both in pure Yin and pure Yang. It was a cultivation technique manual that combined Yin and Yang.

It was most suitable for her and the Azure Yang Lord to cultivate together.

The both of them cultivated it together and they finally succeeded. As such, the ancient Great Empress managed to break through the shackles of her naturally terminated meridians. With their cultivation technique mastered, she toured the world with the Azure Yang Lord!

When Yi Yun and Lin Xintong read up till here, they were shocked. It was unbelievable that the ancient Great Empress was able to merge supreme techniques like the “Yang God Manual” and the “Nine Nether Sacred Manual” together.

Such a genius was extremely rare. Even if one searched amongst the top geniuses in the twelve Empyrean Heavens, it was also difficult to find a person with such ability. To refine the heritage in the twelve Divine Canon for one’s own use, let alone the combination of Yin and Yang to create a cultivation technique!

“So this book is the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’… ”

Previously, at the relic trial, Shentu Nantian had a plan. His family clan’s Elders had obtained the description to the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” while seeking opportunities in the Great Empress mystic realm. As such, Shentu Nantian wanted to use Lin Xintong to cultivate the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. Even if he had succeeded in obtaining some superficial knowledge, it would greatly improve his cultivation level, and he could become the sovereign of the Tian Yuan world.

And throughout the whole Tian Yuan world, only Lin Xintong, who had naturally terminated meridians and a pure Yin body, could help him accomplish this.

As long as he mastered the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, he had nothing to do with Lin Xintong, be it the length of her lifespan, or whether she was dead or alive.

And now, right in front of Lin Xintong and Yi Yun was the complete “Great Empress Heart Sutra”!

This cultivation technique that was supreme in both Yin and Yang already far exceeded the martial arts heritage of the Tian Yuan world!

“Is this… the chance for me to join my naturally terminated meridians up… ?”

Lin Xintong’s fingers trembled, but she was in no hurry to flip the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” open. She straightened her dress and bowed deeply to the bookshelf three times.

When warriors trained in martial arts, they could disrespect the Heavens and Earth, they could have contempt for worldly etiquette, but they could not disrespect the predecessing sages. This was because the martial heritage that warriors cultivated were obtained only because of the predecessing sages who had gone through countless numbers of meditative thoughts and took on risk to test it to slowly develop them.

After the bowing, Lin Xintong respectfully took the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” out and she placed it flat on the desk.

When scholars read the books of sages, they would go through a ritual of burning incense and washing hands before flipping the book open. This was to calm one’s heart down, so that they could understand the meaning of the words of the sages.

It was the same with warriors. Lin Xintong meditated for nearly an hour in front of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” before opening her eyes.

When she opened her eyes, Lin Xintong’s gaze was completely calm. Even though a supreme canon that determined her fate was laid in front of her, she used a respectful and calm mood to slowly flip it open…

515 - : Great Empress Heart Sutra

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was beside Lin Xintong and they read this shocking heritage left behind by the ancient Great Empress together.

Without any exaggerations, it was the entire Great Empress mystic realm’s core.

It was the greatest wealth left behind by the ancient Great Empress.

The first volume of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was the general principles of the entire cultivation technique.

It described how Yang came before Yin. And when Yi Yun saw the Yang-elemental law’s general principles, he was stunned, for what was written was —

“Sunrise from Tang Valley, Roaming across the World, Spreading Light Onto World, Brilliant Glorious Magnificent Luster, Ten Suns from Fusang, Who Masters Pure Yang…”

The paragraph might sound obscure, but these words, that were full of charm, were extremely familiar to Yi Yun.

These were… the general principles of the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”!

The general principles behind the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” were the same as the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”’s principles!?

Yi Yun’s first reaction was that it was impossible. Although the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” was quite an impressive heritage, when compared to the level of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, it was far from it. If the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” was such an amazing heritage, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom would have been destroyed by the evil factions in the Tian Yuan world.

Clearly, the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” was not to the point where it would cause the various factions from the Tian Yuan world to covet it. Then what was this?

“Yi Yun, I also noticed… Although I never cultivated the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, while I was in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, I had browsed through a little of the core heritage of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, that included the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ and the ‘Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist’. The general principles of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ do indeed look extremely similar to those of the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’!”

Years ago, when Su Jie took Lin Xintong to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, she had once sparred with Yi Yun using the “Dragon Rib Tiger Bone Fist”. Lin Xintong’s attainment in martial arts greatly fascinated Yi Yun.

“Oh? Only the first 72 words of the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ and the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ are the same! After that, it differs.”

Although Yi Yun had only mastered the first few volumes of the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”, he had also seen the complete “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”. So now even with his eyes closed, the entire “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” could appear in his mind.

The “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was even more profound than the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”.

“The ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ comes from the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’. Actually, in terms of profoundness, it is far from it… However, the two cultivation techniques are definitely related. It’s no wonder that the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was used as the cornerstone of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Despite the test of time, it allowed the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom to flourish for millions of years!”

Indeed, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had existed for quite an excessive period of time. It was located in the Backwater East, far from the Tian Yuan world and far from conflict. It had witnessed the rise and fall of several factions in the Tian Yuan world.

“What is the origin of the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’? How did it appear in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?” Lin Xintong asked Yi Yun. Although the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” was only a small portion of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, it was still quite surprising for Lin Xintong. There were so many family clans and large factions in the Tian Yuan world, but none of their core cultivation techniques had any similarities to the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

“In the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, it was popularly rumored that the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was created by the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s founding Emperor, and it was constantly tweaked by successive Emperors. But according to what I know, the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’ was actually a remnant that the founding Emperor found in a mystic realm. Later on, based on his own understanding of martial arts, he finally named it the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’.”

What Yi Yun said was information he had obtained in the Tai Ah Divine City.

“Mystic realm… What mystic realms are there in the vicinity of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom?”

“From what I know, north of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, in the Divine Wilderness, there are two mystic realms. One of them is the Meteorite Abyss. However, the warriors of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom are unlikely to have opened it. As for the second mystic realm, it is within the Tai Ah Divine City, and it is known as the sword and saber tomb!”

“I have entered the sword and saber tomb before. A long time ago, when the Tai Ah Divine City was established, the two tombs had been robbed empty. The cultivation techniques, manuals and treasures in it had disappeared. There were saber and sword marks left on the sword and saber tombs’ walls. These marks were extremely exquisite. It contained supreme sword and saber Dao for people to gain insight in them.”

“And according to what I know, even figures as strong as the Shentu Patriarch would not be able to carve something like them… ”

When Yi Yun said this, an idea lit up in his head as he carried on, “Right! About a year ago, the Desolate race’s Empyrean King, Shepherd Boy, once led a desolate beast army to the Tai Ah Divine City, forcing the Tai Ah Divine City’s cultivators to be transported away. Finally, the Tai Ah Divine City fell! And when the Shepherd Boy’s army arrived, the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord had asked the Shepherd Boy why he was destroying the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. The Shepherd Boy’s answer was:

“Because I have something to do… I do not truly want to destroy Tai Ah, but unfortunately, the few countries around the Divine Wilderness are hindering me from doing what I want to do. As such, I can only annihilate!”

Yi Yun’s memory was very good, so he could repeat whatever the Shepherd Boy had said ad verbatim.

When Lin Xintong heard this, her eyebrows ticked. When the Shepherd Boy attacked the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, she was being forced into marriage by the Shentu family clan. So she was in reclusive training, hence, she did not know about things happening in the Backwater East.

“To do something, he was willing to destroy the trillions of lives in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. What could it be… Could it be… to find Jiang Xiaorou?”

Lin Xintong naturally knew that Yi Yun’s sister was from the royal lineage of the Desolate race.

Yi Yun shook his head, “No! It was just a coincidence that my sister, Jiang Xiaorou, happened to be in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. The Shepherd Boy probably did not know that in the beginning. So the thing he wanted to do was not to find my sister. It seems like it was a bigger matter.”

“The Shepherd Boy had said, ‘All sorts of natural living things support the survival of humans, yet, humans have never reciprocated that to the Heavens. Humans have accepted the gifts from nature, but what they consider is forever their own interests. You have extracted from nature without constraint, and with your trillions of people, you have extracted even more. To survive, are you not killing living beings every second and every moment? And the numbers you kill are far greater in number than the number of humans.”

“The world is heartless, it treats everything as lowly beings. In front of a stronger power, humans are no different from pigs and dogs. You can kill other living beings because you are strong. If other living beings kill you, it is because they are stronger. Not only you, even large worlds can collapse… formation, existence and then destruction, it is all a part of the Heavenly Dao.”

Back then, when Yi Yun had heard the Shepherd Boy’s words, he only felt that the Shepherd Boy was justifying his actions, and he did not think too much about it.

But now, while trying to understand his words in detail, he realized something strange.

Recalling the moment before he had to save Lin Xintong, the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit had said the words “There’s no time”.

Something that needed the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit to use the sealed energy left behind by the ancient Great Empress to repel the enemy.

A mysterious faction that plotted against the God Advent Tower, and from the same mysterious faction, came the swarthy youth who had entered the God Advent Tower using an unknown method…

Amongst all this, was there a connection?

Recalling the array images in the second level of the God Advent Tower, in ancient times, the proud and overbearing Azure Yang Lord had annihilated the black-armored warrior with a sword attack!

A sword attack that split the seas, two sword attacks that broke the Heavens, and three sword attacks to annihilate the moon and the sun. He was really unrivaled and he could not be looked down upon!

The Azure Rainbow pierces the Blood Moon, Ice Cold Seals God Abyss…

Blood Moon…

Be careful of the Blood Moon…

Was the Blood Moon a symbol of a calamity?

With all these linked together, it made Yi Yun feel that this was the indication of a storm that was slowly brewing…

However, he found it difficult to guess what had happened in ancient times.

Besides, in ancient times, the martial arts heritage were clearly much stronger than it is now. In the period that the ancient Great Empress existed, the overall strength of warriors was clearly on a different level to what it is now.

Logically, martial arts should improve with civilization. But the fact was that in the Tian Yuan world, martial arts was taking steps backward, with each generation weaker than the last…

These massive doubts made Yi Yun feel a sense of foreboding. It seemed like an invisible demonic hand was slowly reaching out towards the Tian Yuan world!

“Miss Lin, I recall something. When the Shepherd Boy conquered the Tai Ah Divine City, he did not lead his desolate beast army to flatten the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. This was most likely due to my sister’s objection, but certainly, that was one of the goals of the Shepherd Boy. And also one of his main goals had been accomplished when he conquered the Tai Ah Divine City. The Shepherd Boy’s desolate beast army had stayed in the Tai Ah Divine City for a long period of time, with no one having any idea what he was doing there.”

“The Tai Ah Divine City may have a lot of resources, but those things are nothing that a figure at the level of the Shepherd Boy would eye. Other than the sword and saber tomb, I can’t think of anything else he would eye.”

“What is most bizarre is that a few days after the Shepherd Boy occupied the Tai Ah Divine City, there was a strong violent purple beam that shot up in the direction of the Tai Ah Divine City. Following that, purple clouds covered the sky! Even the Cloud Wilderness, which was millions of kilometers away, also had the same scene! Back then, after being rescued by the Shepherd Boy, I was thinking of escaping to the Cloud Wilderness. I witness the scene. The purple clouds that shrouded the sky… ”

When Yi Yun said this, something lit up in Lin Xintong’s head!

“Purple Clouds’ Birth… Are you talking about the Purple Clouds’ Birth? I have seen that scene before too!”

Back then, Lin Xintong had accompanied Su Jie to the Cloud Wilderness precisely because of the Purple Clouds’ Birth in the Cloud Wilderness! Su Jie believed that it was an opportunity that could join up Lin Xintong’s terminated meridians, so he rushed there together with Lin Xintong.

And it was because of going to the Cloud Wilderness that they met Yi Yun.

“That’s right. It was Purple Clouds’ Birth! You should know that several years ago, due to the engagement with Shentu Nantian, you had to leave the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Your master had entered a mystic realm in the Cloud Wilderness together with his old friend, Marquis Wenyun. In the end, an incident happened in the mystic realm, causing Senior Su Jie to be trapped in there. Only after the Shepherd Boy attacked the Tai Ah Divine City and the purple beam from the Tai Ah Divine City shot up did the Purple Clouds’ Birth appear once again in the Cloud Wilderness. This also allowed Senior Su Jie to be released!”

“And I was attracted by the Purple Clouds’ Birth that resulted in me meeting Senior Su Jie. This allowed me to follow him to the Tian Yuan world and meet you for the second time!”

“Because of the Purple Clouds’ Birth, Senior Su Jie had brought you to the Cloud Wilderness, and he also entered a mystic realm. As such, our meeting was also because of the Purple Clouds’ Birth. And also because of the Purple Clouds’ Birth, Senior Su Jie escaped from the mystic realm, bringing me out of the Cloud Wilderness, for us to meet again! All of this seems like destiny… ”

When Yi Yun described all that had happened in the past few years, Lin Xintong felt an inexplicable chill.

She never wanted to succumb to fate. Although she had natural Yin Meridians, it had never weakened her determination to defy fate.

However, when her fate was intertwined with ancient times, something that the ancient Great Empress and Azure Yang Lord failed to resist had extended to the present, befalling on Yi Yun and herself!

In ancient times, the Azure Yang Lord who cultivated pure Yang laws, and the ancient Great Empress with naturally terminated meridians probably stood in front of this very bookshelf as well.

And now, Yi Yun who cultivated pure Yang laws and her with naturally terminated meridians were also standing here. This coincidence seemed like an invisible hand of fate that was arranging things in the dark…

Maybe… she and Yi Yun were to repeat the fate from ancient times?

Then, what was their fate?

516 - : An Unseen but Definite Fate

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun, let’s not think about those questions for the time being. Regardless of the matter, increasing our strength is what matters most.”

Although the Desolate race’s Shepherd Boy’s motives were unknown, and the mysterious faction behind the swarthy youth made Lin Xintong worry, at that moment in time, she and Yi Yun were unable to change anything because they were too weak.

Not only them, even if it was the entire Lin family, they would be helpless against a tsunami that could engulf the entire Tian Yuan world.

For a warrior, his own strength was of utmost importance. If Yi Yun and Lin Xintong could match the ancient Great Empress and the Azure Yang Lord in terms of strength, then they too, would not be at a loss against any shocking turn of events.

“Miss Lin, you are right. Let’s focus on studying the heritage left behind by the ancient Great Empress, so as not to let down senior Item Spirit!”

Yi Yun nodded and he was about to carry on reading the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, but Lin Xintong’s ears turned slightly red. After some hesitation, she said softly, “In the future, you can just call me Xintong.”

Lin Xintong had a cold personality ever since she was young. She did not like to speak or laugh. From the age of 12, after she matured into a young lady, she had never been addressed so intimately by a person of the opposite sex. The feeling she gave people was that of solitude, making it difficult for any male to get close to her. Even those who treated Lin Xintong as their ideal lover would subconsciously be very courteous towards her when they met her. It was any normal person’s reaction.

However, now, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had reached this point because they had trusted each other. Their relationship was already extremely close, so for the first time, Lin Xintong felt that the salutation, “Miss Lin” seemed to be pretty distant.

“Eh… Alright then… ” Yi Yun was a modern person in his previous life, so he did not care much about propriety, so he naturally accepted this form of salutation.

“Xintong, let’s carry on reading the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’.”

“En.” Lin Xintong nodded. With martial arts mentioned, the ripples in her heart quickly calmed down. As Yi Yun said, she could not let the ancient Great Empress’ heritage down.

The “Great Empress Heart Sutra” required a man and a woman to cultivate it together, combining Yin and Yang.

On the woman’s side, she focused on a pure Yin cultivation technique. When cultivating it, her whole body would emit frost Qi that would flow through all her meridians. It could really be described as extreme Yin!

Yin was not just simple coldness, it was something that would drain one’s Qi, blood and flame of life. When Yin reached an extreme, it did not mean coldness, it represented darkness and death…

Even if a warrior, strong in both Qi and blood, let such extreme Yin Yuan Qi flow through his body, his body would find it difficult to bear. Finally, his flame of life would be extinguished, causing him to die.

And since Lin Xintong had natural Yin Meridians, it was something impossible for her to bear.

Similarly, when the man cultivated the cultivation technique, it focused on pure Yang. It was the “Pure Yang Manual” that represented the supreme grand Dao. Once it was cultivated, pure Yang fire would circulate in his meridians, and his 36,000 pores would spit out burning pure Yang energy. Even peerless geniuses in the Pure Yang Empyrean Heaven would find it difficult to bear it when cultivating the “Yang God Manual”. Furthermore, with the ” Yang God Manual” being extremely profound, it was nearly impossible to master it!

Yi Yun had a perfect pure Yang body and he had the Purple Crystal Origins to help him. So he naturally had an advantage over the typical geniuses when cultivating the “Pure Yang Manual”.

However, it could not fix the problem of his cultivation level being too low. This was like a toddler who just begin to walk, trying to push a thousand-pound boulder. Even though the toddler had great talent, he was still unable to push the boulder and he might even injure himself.

This was the reason behind lone Yin did not lead to birth and solitude Yang did not allow growth.

Hence, it was destined for the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” not to be separately cultivated by a man and a woman. They needed to unite Yin and Yang. When the female’s Yin energy reached an extreme, the male would use his abundant Yang energy to neutralize it. When the male’s body was burnt with Yang energy, the female would rejuvenate him with clean Yin energy.

By helping each other, the two would work together to push through their difficulties.

However, for the two to help each other, there had to be physical contact. Having their palms in contact was just the beginning.

The deeper they cultivated in the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, the more contact there was between them.

People who practiced martial arts had 360 acupuncture points. These acupuncture points had to be matched correspondingly. When cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, both the man and the woman had to allow free flow between their acupuncture points.

This meant that contact between their bodies could not be avoided. If they transmitted Yin and Yang energy through empty space, it would still work, but there would be a lot of transmission loss.

One had to know that when cultivating martial arts, especially when cultivating a top-grade cultivation technique like the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, one could fail even if he tried his best. Failure could happen easily, so everything had to be done to one’s best…

Seeing this description, Lin Xintong had a strange feeling in her heart, however she was naturally calm and cool. Previously, when she understood the essence of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, she already had some expectations and she was mentally prepared.

Besides, Lin Xintong already treated Yi Yun as a lifelong friend. She could still accept such things.

However, when she flipped over to the second volume of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, the cultivation technique went one step further.

At that moment, both the man and the woman who were cultivating, had to constantly purify the Yin and Yang energy within their bodies. What was already pure Yin and Yang Yuan Qi had to be purified once again, which was a qualitative change.

According to the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, when pure Yin accumulated to an extreme, it could give rise to a life that would have a spirit.

When energy formed a spirit, it was no longer something trivial. It meant that it had a life of its own. It was on a different level to the natural laws.

Taking the Purple Crystal as an example, the Purple Crystal could freely control energy that did not have any life. But against energies with life or spirit, no matter how powerful the Purple Crystal was, it could not rob it from them freely.

The ancient Great Empress had named this spiritual pure Yin energy the ‘Jade Marrow Spiritual Energy’!

Similarly, the pure Yang energy which formed a spirit was named by her as the ‘Nine Yang Spiritual Energy’.

The Jade Marrow Spiritual Energy and Nine Yang Spiritual Energy were the essence of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

When the male-female duo, who were cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, produced these two energies, they had to transfer it to their partner before they could carry on cultivating.

However, controlling these two energy with spirits was extremely tough. Although Yin and Yang had a mutual attraction, they were after all, opposites. It needed constant guidance to merge them bit by bit.

When the energy had life, it also meant they were sentient. It needed the two energies to come into contact, and let them accept one another. However, this was extremely difficult.

At that moment, just being in contact through palms and acupuncture points was useless.

To let these two energies come into contact and cling together, it needed a further step, such as energy transference through their mouths. It even needed the two to be naked, and it might even need them to hug without any clothes separating them.

Upon seeing this, no matter how calm Lin Xintong was, she was no longer able to read it calmly.

Her chest began to rise and fall. A redness began to slowly appear on her jade snow-like face, spreading all the way to her ears.

Yi Yun was standing beside Lin Xintong, and he happened to see Lin Xintong’s red ears.

Her red exquisite ears were so beautiful that one could not help but love them.

He realized that although Lin Xintong seldom spoke or laugh, she had an interesting and cute side to her.

Lin Xintong actually seldom turned red from embarrassment. Even though she had previously been in close contact with Yi Yun at the hot springs, to Lin Xintong who had never been in a relationship, it was definitely something preposterous. However, Lin Xintong only had a faint redness on her face then.

However… Lin Xintong’s tiny ear was the only thing that betrayed her indifferent expression. It indicated its owner’s thoughts, and it showed that she was certainly far from being as calm as her expression.

As for Lin Xintong herself, it seemed like she did not notice this…

For example, now, she did not turn her head to look at Yi Yun. Facing the undisguised description in the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, she still could appear calm. She was still using her white fingers to flip the pages one by one…

Seeing this rare but cute side of Lin Xintong, Yi Yun could not help but feel a strange feeling rise up within him.

Especially when he thought of the explicit scenes described in the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, it made Yi Yun’s heart beat even faster.

As time passed by, Lin Xintong and Yi Yun stood there with their bodies close to each other. Together, they read what was a restricted book to Lin Xintong, but at the same time, it was a supreme sacred technique.

In this serene scene and the snow-covered small building, there were simple tea cups. The gentle wind that swept past the zither gave the atmosphere a very strange but warm feeling.

As a normal man, Yi Yun had to admit that although he appeared very thoughtful or did things because of “objective reasons” on the surface, in his heart, he felt that if such things really happened, they were definitely miraculous events that he exceedingly welcomed.

Especially with Lin Xintong, Yi Yun seemed to have an intrinsic attraction that was like pure Yin and Yang’s natural attraction to each other. This could also be described as the extreme point of man-woman relationships…

…

However, skin-to-skin contact was not the end to dual cultivation. The term dual cultivation originally referred to man and woman having intercourse, exchanging Yuan Qi to rejuvenate one another, so as to allow a breakthrough in their respective cultivations.

As for the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, in the third volume, there was no way of going around this problem.

In fact, although the ancient Great Empress and the Azure Yang Lord were one in mind, and had already affirmed that they were each other’s partner for life, both of them were dedicated to martial arts. They were people without sexual desires, so they were lukewarm towards sexual matters. What they strived for was supreme martial arts. The two found a connection because they had similar goals.

When they both cultivated the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, they had worked blindly together, but when the Yin-Yang integration reached an extreme, some things could not be avoided…

At this point, the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” made it clear that to reach the extreme point of combining Yin-Yang as one needed the man and the woman to become one.

Upon seeing this, Lin Xintong could no longer maintain her facial composure. Before reading the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, she had conditioned herself to be calm. However, that no longer had any effect. As such, in about half the time she used to take to read a page, her white fingers had already flipped to the next page. Then, she slightly clamped up as she stood there beside Yi Yun, unsure whether to turn her head…

517 - : Yin-Yang Integration

CKtalon  CKtalon

Up to this point, they had read about 60% of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. The remaining 40% mentioned the details on the cultivation after Spiritual Energy was created. As for anything that had to do with Yin-Yang integration regarding the Spiritual Energy, it was inseparable from dual cultivation.

What made Lin Xintong’s ears become even redder was that the dual cultivation written in the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” also paid close attention to postures as well as energy circulation.

The energy circulation was fine, but the dual cultivation postures made Lin Xintong extremely embarrassed.

In fact, several martial arts manuals would include cultivation formulas along with the actions the person learning it should perform. Some manuals would even draw out human figures, indicating what a warrior needed to do.

Although the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” did not do so, the descriptions with the Yin-Yang energy circulation was already explicit enough for Lin Xintong to understand the postures needed for dual cultivation.

Some of the postures themselves were nothing much, but if she did them in front of Yi Yun, then things would be different.

For an otherworldly girl, who was usually proud and indifferent, to do these actions was a challenge of Lin Xintong’s sense of shame.

The more she read, the more Lin Xintong found it difficult to accept. This caused her breathing to become chaotic as she became more and more embarrassed. Finally, she could no longer bear it further and snapped close the ancient book.

The simple cover was very well textured, so no matter how she looked at this classic canon, Lin Xintong found it hard to imagine that it was such a forbidden book from its cover.

She took a deep breath as she tried her best to calm herself.

Her back faced Yi Yun for another 30 seconds before she was finally able to appear without that clamped up and embarrassed expression. Only then, did she slowly turn towards Yi Yun.

It appeared as if she had never seen the explicit contents and nonchalantly told Yi Yun, “The content towards the end of the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ requires a very high standard in cultivation level. I do not think we can cultivate it, so let us not look at it for the time being. There is no point in biting off more than we can chew. Let us slowly cultivate with the beginning content first.”

“Well… Xintong, you are right.”

Seeing Lin Xintong’s reactions, Yi Yun found it very interesting. Of course, with Lin Xintong already in such a predicament, Yi Yun would definitely not laugh out and make her more embarrassed.

He answered with the same calm and confident tone, “Alright, I can cultivate at any time.”

“Yes.”

Lin Xintong nodded, and subconsciously touched her slightly hot ears, and picked up the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

The cultivation of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was a gradual process. Before nurturing a Spiritual Energy, there was no need for real dual cultivation. Lin Xintong could still accept these things.

Just as Lin Xintong picked up the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, another door of light appeared in this elegant small building.

The cold voice previously said that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had the right to enter three grand halls. The second door of light clearly led to the final grand hall.

The Great Empress mystic realm’s final rewards for Lin Xintong and Yi Yun were few in variety. There were no elixirs or pills. As for weapons, there was only the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow. The most important thing was the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, which was the core of the Great Empress mystic realm.

Elixirs and weapons were after all foreign objects. Only one’s own acquired strength was key.

Now, what could the opportunities that lied in the final grand hall be?

Lin Xintong and Yi Yun looked each other in the eye before they walked through the door of light, hand in hand.

The moment they passed through the door of light, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong felt an intense Yuan Qi fluctuation.

It was more appropriate to call this grand hall a stone chamber. Its interior was very simple. There was a stone table and a few stone benches. After such a long period of time, these stone furnitures were still very clean, with not a speck of dust on them. It was unknown if there was an array protecting this place, or if the Item Spirit cleaned it.

The stone chamber had a side chamber. Upon entering this side chamber, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were stunned upon seeing the scene within.

This side chamber was much bigger than Yi Yun’s imagination. In the middle of the side chamber was a large futon. The futon was about four to five meters in diameter, and was about half a meter thick.

Despite a long time having passed, this futon was still spotless.

“This futon is made of silk from the Nine Revolutions Silkworm. This silk is soft and lustrous. It is invulnerable to water and fire and dust free. It will forever appear as new. Furthermore, with the arrays protecting it, this futon will still remain the same even after a hundred million years.”

As Lin Xintong spoke, Yi Yun could not help but touch the large futon. Upon touching it, it was smooth and cool. It was like touching spring water that flowed from the mountains.

Although the futon was made from the silk of the Nine Revolutions Silkworm, it was not the reason why Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were stunned. They were stunned because, not far from the futon, there were two extreme spots joined together.

On one side was a lava pool that was 10 meters in radius.

It was unknown how deep this lava pool was. The lava in it was quiet and calm. It gave off a golden sheen. Just approaching it made one feel an extremely hot and terrifying pure Yang energy surge towards them. Even Yi Yun, who had a pure Yang body, was shocked over this.

Clearly this lava pool was many times hotter than the lava lake Yi Yun had seen in the second level of the God Advent Tower!

Jumping into such a lava pool was a huge challenge.

And on the other side of the lava pool, there was an ice bed that was 10 meters in radius!

This ice bed was entirely blue in color, and it was crystal clear. It was like a huge piece of blue, cold jade.

What was most bizarre was that, in the blue ice, there were many things sealed within.

There were flora and fauna, creatures of all kinds. There were even mountains, lakes and rivers.

It was like a miniaturized world that had suddenly been frozen in ice. This made it seem like all life and landscapes in this world maintained the same state as they had before they were frozen.

Ignoring the mountains and rivers, looking at the various fauna, some of them were the size of a speck of dust, but when Yi Yun focused with his eyes, and with careful observation, he could see wings, eyes and even scaly textures…

They were lifelike!

“These are not true living things, nor is it a world sealed in the ice bed. It is conceived by the natural laws when pure Yin accumulates to an extreme.”

Lin Xintong touched the ice and the biting chill transmitted the feeling of pure Yin laws to her.

The mighty force of nature was magical. The Universe was created out of nothing. From chaos and nothingness, out came a huge world that was splendid in every way. There were astronomical bodies, water bodies, wind, rain and lightning. There was all sorts of living things, as well as intelligent life.

And these lives and forces of nature created ever-changing but magnificent wonders, creating beautiful civilizations.

And all of this was controlled by the most essential laws. They evolved slowly from chaos over a long period of time.

After the ice bed possessed the laws, it had the power of creation. Who would dare to doubt that, after an infinite amount of time, this ice bed would not give rise to a real world?

“This is really a spectacular place. Both pure Yin and pure Yang, extreme cold and heat are intertwined with each other. After millions of years, they still have not canceled each other out, and they are still distinct from one another. An array that can maintain all of this is really unbelievable. It seems impossible to catch up to the ancient Great Empress and the Azure Yang Lord’s understanding of the Yin-Yang laws.”

Yi Yun sighed from the bottom of his heart. Without a doubt, this third grand hall was actually a chamber for practicing martial arts!

Practicing in this stone chamber could be said to have double the results with half the effort.

The pure Yang lava pool and the extreme cold ice bed could allow their cultivation techniques to improve at a rapid pace!

As for the futon in the middle, that was the place Yi Yun and Lin Xintong could use when they had to exchange their energies, as well as when they needed to undergo dual cultivation.

Lin Xintong clearly was aware of this. Looking at the large futon made by the Nine Revolutions Silkworm’s silk, her ears turned slightly red, as her mind could not help but think of strange things.

Now, Yi Yun already had the Azure Yang token that allowed him free access into the Great Empress mystic realm and the God Advent Tower.

With the Azure Yang token, he could enter this chamber to duo cultivate the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. This chamber would become a private place that belonged to the two of them.

By duo cultivating here, no one could disturb them.

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun suddenly had a thought. He took out the Everlasting Purple Gold medicine box from his interspatial ring. Upon opening the medicine box, a surge of pure Yang energy as well as a intoxicating fragrance emitted out. In the medicine box was the red lotus Yi Yun had plucked in the second level of the God Advent Tower.

“It’s it…”

When Lin Xintong saw the red lotus, she felt a sense of familiarity. In the extreme cold icy plains, Yi Yun had already told her that it was the lotus seeds of this red lotus that had saved her life, and this was the first time Lin Xintong saw the red lotus.

“Xintong, this red lotus is a heavenly treasure. It was born in a lava lake in the second level of the God Advent Tower. It had grown by absorbing the essence of the Heavens and Earth for countless numbers of years. It was not easy for it to grow, and we are indebted to it. I plan on growing it here.”

The Everlasting Purple Gold medicine box could perfectly preserve the red lotus’ vitality. However, as Yi Yun constantly plucked seeds from the red lotus, the luster in its rhizome had slightly diminished.

Although it was only a herbal plant, but due to all sorts of reasons in the past, Yi Yun could not bear refining it into an elixir.

Then, letting the red lotus take root here would not only purify the pure Yang energy in the chamber, it could also allow for him to pluck its seeds when they matured once more. It was a treasure that could be used to supplement his pure Yang energy. It was killing two birds with one stone.

Since this chamber would become a Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s private world in the future, this red lotus would be a luxurious but also practical potting plant for the two of them.

“Alright.”

Yi Yun’s thoughts were consistent with Lin Xintong’s intentions.

As such, Yi Yun took out the red lotus from the Everlasting Purple Gold medicine box and placed it into the lava pool.

Upon entering the lava pool, the red lotus seemed like a fish that had returned to water after a long period of time. It quietly stretched out its long roots deep into the lava pool.

The lava pool was of a much higher quality than the lava lake in the second level of the God Advent Tower. This red lotus had lived for a long time, so it had some intelligence. Coming to this new land of growth made it overjoyed. It greedily absorbed the vast and supreme pure Yang energy into the lava pool, and the flowers it bloomed after were vivid like fire.

Seeing the red lotus coming back to life, and looking better than ever before, Yi Yun was very pleased. He turned towards Lin Xintong and said, “Xintong, time is of the essence. Let us begin cultivating now.”

518 - : Extreme Yin and Yang

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Cultivate?” Lin Xintong was momentarily stunned, “We are beginning right now?”

She subconsciously glanced at the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” book in her arms. At that moment, her heart was like a young, prancing deer. Although she had already made the mental preparations to cultivate this forbidden book, she still felt somewhat flustered when she was told to begin immediately.

“That’s right, this chamber clearly is prepared for us to cultivate the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’. We can first master a tiny bit of the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ before we leave the God Advent Tower.”

Lin Xintong subconsciously nodded. Thinking back on the initial contents inside the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, they were relatively easy to accept. They were only going to be in physical contact through their limbs, and not to the point of cultivational intercourse.

She sat cross-legged on the large futon, while Yi Yun sat across from her.

“Xintong, what is your cultivation level?”

Using his Heaven’s Eye and Purple Crystal Origins, Yi Yun had an estimate of Lin Xintong’s cultivation, but since he had not reached Lin Xintong’s level, he was still not very clear on it, so he decided to confirm it with Lin Xintong.

“I am at the initial stages of the Dao Seed realm. Actually if I wished, I could break into the mid-stages of the Dao Seed realm.”

Many martial arts elites would suppress their cultivation level so as to consolidate their strength.

This naturally had its reasons. However, there were peerless elites throughout history that left people in the dust, with their cultivation rapidly progressing, causing their contemporaries to fall far behind.

“Then what about Shentu Nantian?”

Yi Yun asked again. Yi Yun still did not know what Shentu Nantian’s cultivation level was. Back in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, when he first met Shentu Nantian, Shentu Nantian was a savior that came from a top faction of the Tian Yuan world. Even the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s Emperor would have to be courteous to him. Compared to him, Yi Yun’s strength and status was too far away. He did not even have the right to know what Shentu Nantian’s cultivation realm was.

However, right now, things were different. Yi Yun’s strength had intangibly increased at an unbelievable pace. And his status was that of a core disciple in the Lin family. He had won the high opinion of the Lin family’s Matriarch, so compared to Shentu Nantian, the only difference between them now was their age.

“Shentu Nantian is at the peak of the Dao Seed realm. He is just short of entering the next realm.”

“The peak of the Dao Seed realm? Then compared to you, Xintong, the difference is not that great.” Shentu Nantian was much older than Lin Xintong, and there was only the difference of two smaller realms, so Yi Yun thought nothing of it.

Lin Xintong said, “I guess so… Actually, this is firstly because once a warrior enters the Dao Seed realm, one’s cultivation speed slows down a lot. Secondly, my cultivation speed is indeed faster than Shentu Nantian. At the same age, my cultivation realm had exceeded his.”

“Shentu Nantian’s cultivation focuses on stability. His foundation cannot be more solid. The reason why Shentu Nantian became famous in the Tian Yuan world was because of his firm and steady cultivation. He is incomparable in combat capacity amongst people of his age when talking about fighting someone beyond his level. Back when Shentu Nantian first entered the Dao Seed realm, he defeated a rival family’s peak-Dao Seed realm warrior at a martial arts competition, causing him to gain fame in just one fight.”

“He beat a peak-Dao Seed at the early stages of the Dao Seed realm?” Yi Yun rubbed his chin. It looked like Shentu Nantian indeed had some ability for him to enjoy such a status amongst the younger generation of the Shentu family clan.

However, this year, Shentu Nantian had no lack of suffering. It would already be pretty good if he recovered his strength.

“Xintong, I plan on accumulating Yuan Qi and break through to the Dao Seed realm here in the God Advent Tower.”

When Lin Xintong heard this, she was alarmed, “You want to break through to the Dao Seed realm now?”

Yi Yun was just sixteen years old. Amongst the geniuses in the Tian Yuan world, breaking through to the Dao Seed realm before twenty was already an extremely fast speed. For example, Shentu Nantian, who emphasized a stable cultivation, broke through to the Dao Seed realm at the age of twenty-one. If Yi Yun successfully broke through, he would be faster than him by five years!

That would not be something trivial.

Yi Yun said, “To plant a Dao Seed on the Yuan Foundation, the Dao Seed is actually the condensation of laws. It then depends on the nomological insight one has. I cultivate the pure Yang laws and already have a perfect, pure Yang body. Furthermore, cultivating the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ that is derived from the ‘Yang God Manual’ and the ‘Nine Nether Sacred Manual’, which are top cultivation techniques of the 12 supreme great Dao, the pure Yang Dao Seed I condense will definitely not be poorer in quality.”

“That may be so, but…” Lin Xintong frowned. In her impression, even the most famous figures that appeared in the Tian Yuan world’s history did not dare to break through to the Dao Seed realm at such a young age. This could cause latent danger in one’s future martial arts cultivation.

However, Yi Yun only shook his head at Lin Xintong’s concerns. He said, “When senior Azure Yang Lord gave a broad description of the 12 Empyrean Heavens, Xintong, do you think the peerless elites in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven would wait till they are in their twenties before condensing their Dao Seed?”

When Yi Yun replied with a question, it made Lin Xintong’s heart quiver slightly. She glanced at Yi Yun in surprise. Indeed, the elites of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven would definitely far exceed the Tian Yuan world’s warriors be it in terms of cultivation speed or insight into laws. They would definitely not stay in the Yuan Foundation realm in their twenties.

However this was not the reason that caused Lin Xintong’s heart to fibrillate. The reason was that, when Yi Yun said those words, he had already subconsciously placed himself on the same level as the Yang God Empyrean Heaven’s elites.

Yi Yun was not even considered a warrior from the Tian Yuan world. He was born in the Backwater East, in a place called the Cloud Wilderness. Even in the Cloud Wilderness, he was just a poor civilian. He was arguably beginning from the world’s most remote and insufferable desolate wilderness.

Despite that, he still had such ambition and drive.

“You are right. My outlook was too narrow. I was born from the Lin family and although I have naturally terminated meridians, I had never yielded to fate. I believed my heart was determined, but on this matter, I am not as good as you.”

The Azure Yang Lord’s handwritten book had mentioned the Yang God Empyrean Heaven which was something Lin Xintong greatly yearned for. She was determined to climb to the peak of martial arts, so how could she narrow her outlook to a tiny Tian Yuan world?

Lin Xintong flipped to the first volume of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” in front of Yi Yun. After some hesitation, she gently lifted up her arm, and her palm came into contact with Yi Yun’s.

The sleeves of Lin Xintong’s dress were wide, so when she raised her arms, from Yi Yun’s angle, he could see into her sleeves. The white jade-like arms reaching out deep into the sleeves made one reverie them.

Yi Yun could even faintly see a eye-catching gecko cinnabar in the inner side of one of her jade-like arms. It was like a beautiful birthmark.

Yi Yun knew that this was a chastity mark. In a large family clan like the Lin family, they would feed a special gecko some cinnabar powder, turning its body red. Later they would smash it and insert it into the young girl’s body, making it a chastity mark.

The chastity mark would never fade naturally. Only when she had intercourse with a man would it disappear.

This little gecko cinnabar on her arm was like a red plum blooming in the snow. It was extremely beautiful.

As usual, Lin Xintong’s palms were as cold as water. They were soft as well, as if there were no bones. In contrast, Yi Yun’s palms were like burning fires. When their palms came into contact, there was a strange feeling.

Yin-Yang energy blended at their palms. Both of them had extremely good physiques and high perception. There was nothing obstructing them when cultivating the first volume of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, so their cultivation levels rapidly progressed.

Slowly, according to the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”‘s description, Yi Yun’s hands moved up along Lin Xintong’s white arms, moving into Lin Xintong’s loose sleeves.

Yi Yun gently touched Lin Xintong’s tender upper arms. His fingers had reached Lin Xintong’s armpits and the flanks of her torso.

This was a sensitive spot for women, so when Yi Yun’s hands reached this point, the inexperienced Lin Xintong could not help but become nervous. This was because, if Yi Yun’s hands moved even a tiny bit forward, he could grab the jade peaks on her chest.

The feeling of his hands approaching yet not coming into contact with her made Lin Xintong’s breathing speed up. Due to her slight nervousness, small goosebumps appeared on her arms.

Yi Yun, who was in meditation, could not help but open his eyes. When cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, his Yuan Qi was blending with Lin Xintong’s, so any abnormal changes in her body could be felt by him.

Seeing steam being emitted from Lin Xintong’s body, with her face slightly red and her clothes slightly damp, it would be a lie to say that he did not have any impulsive thoughts. However, Yi Yun had previously received all forms of “education” from the internet in his previous life, whereas Lin Xintong had never even held the hands of a man other than Yi Yun. So in terms of state-of-mind, she was naturally incomparable to Yi Yun.

“Xintong, your breathing is a bit chaotic. If this goes on, we will not be able to master this level.”

Yi Yun had pondered for a moment before using a Yuan Qi transmission to communicate with Lin Xintong. When cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, they could not speak or they would fail.

Lin Xintong was greatly embarrassed. She secretly blamed herself for being useless. It was just the first volume of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, yet Yi Yun could calmly circulate his energies and cultivate with an innocent heart.

As for herself, she was feeling unsettled at that moment, thinking of those shameful things. If Yi Yun knew, she would have nowhere to hide her embarrassment.

After these thoughts flashed in her mind, Lin Xintong forcefully calmed her heart. She endured the burning sensation on both sides of her chest as she circulated her pure Yin energy to work with Yi Yun.

Their bodies’ Yuan Qi circulated wave after wave, becoming more and more pure.

Almost every two hours, Yi Yun could feel a transformation of his Yuan Qi. This terrifying speed of his Yuan Qi being increased greatly surprised Yi Yun.

The “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was indeed a heritage manual that was derived from supreme great Dao. It was something that far exceeded the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”.

However, since the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” came from the same source as the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, this allowed for Yi Yun’s Radiant Sun Qi to perfectly fit with the cultivation of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. This was a pleasant surprise for Yi Yun.

What Yi Yun did not expect was that in his body, the frost cold energy inside the Purple Crystal had a strange change as he was cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

This energy was from the frost toxin that the Purple Crystal condensed after he was forced to eat a Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill by Shentu Nantian.

And now, this frost toxin was slowly infusing itself into the pure Yang energy, as the Yin energy began to blend together.

519 - : Gecko Cinnabar on Jade Arms

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill itself was not poison. It was an extremely oppressive frost-based supplement. If one was cultivating in extreme frost cultivation techniques, and one’s cultivation level was high enough, one could resist the frost toxins in the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill, then it would only be beneficial to consume the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill.

However, for Yi Yun, who was lacking in cultivation level, and a injured Shentu Nantian, eating the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill was equivalent to eating a deadly poison.

Back then, Yi Yun had used the Purple Crystal to control the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill’s frost toxins and sealed it all within the Purple Crystal. It was ranked alongside the energy essence, the Pure Yang spirit, that he had obtained at Fallen Star Gate.

This frost-based energy conflicted with the laws Yi Yun practiced, so he was unable to use it all this time. However, now, it was slowly merging into Yi Yun’s meridians, becoming a part of Yi Yun’s energy.

Actually, compared to treasures like the red lotus’ seeds, the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill’s frost-based energy was much lower in quality, but everything was difficult in the beginning. Yi Yun was currently cultivating what was equivalent to both Yin and Yang at the moment, so the Seven Noxious Divine Yin Pill’s frost toxins were equivalent to giving Yi Yun a hand. It allowed him to harmonize with the pure Yin energy that came from Lin Xintong. It gave the feeling of obtaining double the results with half the effort.

The more the two cultivated, the smoother it became. From her initial tense state, Lin Xintong began to slowly calm her mind and conscientiously duo cultivate with Yi Yun.

After all, having reached this point together, Lin Xintong was already committed to Yi Yun.

Under the circumstances, her body no longer rejected being close to Yi Yun. While duo cultivating with him, although it did not reach the point of them becoming one physically, there was however no gaps or barrier between the two of them on a spiritual level.

Helping Yi Yun increase his strength and letting him mature step by step to the point of becoming a peerless Great Emperor, and then head towards the 12 Empyrean Heavens and becoming a lord, was something Lin Xintong looked forward to. She was willing to help Yi Yun reach that step.

Upon thinking of this, Lin Xintong invested more in the dual cultivation.

Actually, the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” highly recommended that both dual cultivation partners have similar cultivation levels. This way, there could be a perfect balance between Yin and Yang. However, currently, Lin Xintong’s cultivation level was a realm higher than Yi Yun’s.

Commonly, during dual cultivation, the partner whose cultivation level was weaker would benefit more from the dual cultivation.

Hence, at the beginning of the cultivation, Lin Xintong was already prepared to provide more pure Yin energy to Yi Yun, allowing him to obtain more benefits.

As for the pure Yang energy she got from Yi Yun, she restrained herself in a relative fashion. She want to give priority to increasing Yi Yun’s strength, and as Yi Yun wished, to break through to the Dao Seed realm as soon as possible.

However, when they really began cultivating, Lin Xintong realized that she had been looking down on Yi Yun.

Although Yi Yun’s cultivation level was weaker, the pure Yang energy in his body was like a vast ocean. Wave after wave, it surged over without a break. It was as if it was infinite.

Despite continuously cultivating for so long, the pure Yang energy in Yi Yun’s body did not seem to weaken.

This made Lin Xintong extremely alarmed. It was impossible for a peak-Yuan Foundation realm warrior to have so much energy in his body. At this speed of cultivation, his dantian should have been drained dry.

But with the fact before her, Lin Xintong began to carefully observe. She soon discovered that the cultivating Yi Yun seemed to blend with the surrounding environment.

In the pure Yang pool not far away, there were tens of pure Yang streams condensed together. It was like an invisible pure Yang river that flowed in the air, as they constantly flowed into Yi Yun’s body.

Even the red lotus that was planted in the pure Yang lava pool was also swaying its seedpod, transmitting an even higher quality of pure Yang energy to Yi Yun.

This red lotus had intelligence. It seemed to be grateful for Yi Yun not refining it into an elixir, and he had even planted it in a pure Yang treasure land that surpassed the second level of the God Advent Tower. Hence, when Yi Yun was cultivating, it was willing to contribute the pure Yang energy accumulated within its body.

This situation allowed Lin Xintong to understand, that although Yi Yun was at the peak of the Yuan Foundation realm, and he could not have much energy in his body, he could constantly replenish his energy from his surroundings, allowing his body’s energy to reach a balance. So he could cultivate indefinitely.

Under the circumstances, the help Yi Yun provided to Lin Xintong was also pretty impressive.

This terrifying energy absorption speed alarmed Lin Xintong. Using this ability to cultivate the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, Yi Yun was able to do so at a rapid pace, and it made her envious.

“Is this the effect of a perfect pure Yang body……? Maybe even a typical perfect pure Yang body isn’t as heaven defying as this…”

Lin Xintong knew that Yi Yun had already attained a perfect pure Yang body. Although she had never seen a perfect pure Yang body before, she had a pure Yin body, and that was on par or even better than a perfect pure Yang body. She believed that even she could not do so when she was at the peak of the Yuan Foundation realm.

Even now, her absorption speed of the extreme Yin energy from the ice bed was not as fast as Yi Yun’s.

“To think that he is such a cultivating genius. It is no wonder he came so far, and is slowly catching up to Shentu Nantian… ”

Lin Xintong felt that Yi Yun had most likely encountered an unknown opportunity. However, she did not plan on investigating it. She was happy with the opportunity and growth that Yi Yun enjoyed. She sincerely hoped that he would become her cultivation companion on the path to the peak of martial arts.

While they were cultivating, time had passed without them realizing.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong sat there silently for more than ten days and night, without rest.

The two of them had entered the No Law, No Shape, No Void, No Me ethereal state. They were dedicated to this amazing classic canon.

The reason why Yi Yun could endure such intensive cultivation was firstly because of his perfect pure Yang body, and secondly because of the Purple Crystal Origins.

With the Purple Crystal Origins, Yi Yun’s body was like a whirlpool that constantly absorbed the pure Yang energy from the cultivation treasure land.

Yi Yun’s dantian was like a reservoir. Water flowed in and it was extracted. During this process, the reservoir was constantly being dug and deepened. Unknowingly, he was getting closer and closer to condensing a nomological seed, and coming closer to the boundary of the Dao Seed realm.

While Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were engaging in dual cultivation, in the other parts of the God Advent Tower, there were other changes…

Some cultivators were more sharper began to sense that the restrictions in the God Advent Tower were weakening.

“Oh? What’s the matter? My mirror virtual image isn’t as strong as before?”

On the stairs in the God Advent Tower that led from the first level to the second level, a cultivator muttered to himself. Over the period of several months, he had challenged the second level’s guardian a countless number of times. He was unable to withstand the two attacks from the guardian, causing him to be a bit dispirited.

After all, Yi Yun, who was together with them, had the qualifications to enter the second level of the God Advent Tower immediately. As for Lin Xintong, she had the qualifications to enter the third level of the God Advent Tower.

Compared to those two monsters, they were far from them.

“Maybe it is not the mirror image becoming weaker, but me becoming stronger… ” The cultivator found a reason to make himself happy. Filled with fighting spirit, he continued to challenge the second level’s guardian.

However, not everyone felt good about themselves like him.

“It has weakened again. If this carries on, I will quickly enter the third level of the God Advent Tower!” Shentu Nantian who had encountered the same thing. He was very sure that it was not him becoming stronger, but the guardian becoming weaker.

There was definitely something sinister due to the anomaly. Shentu Nantian did not know why there was such a change in the God Advent Tower, but no matter what, the guardian weakening was a good thing. This way, he could obtain even more opportunities.

Many cultivators had a similar mentality to Shentu Nantian.

But…

When the God Advent Tower’s trial arrays stopped working, the God Advent Tower itself would begin sealing.

Since the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit had entered her slumber, she was no longer able to preside over the God Advent Tower’s trials. Then, she would naturally not let to allow people who did not meet the mark to take the God Advent Tower’s opportunities and treasures freely.

With the trial halted, the treasures were naturally sealed away.

Hence… after a few more days, when Shentu Nantian, Gongsun Hong and company had passed the guardian’s test by withstanding the mirror image’s attack test, to the point of even defeating the mirror image, they had finally reached the third level of the God Advent Tower.

When that happened, they were dumbfounded, because all they saw was an empty grand hall.

There were only bare walls and a dome roof. There was not a single thing…

Shentu Nantian frowned seeing this. He knew that the Great Empress mystic realm was strange in every aspect. Back when the ancient Great Empress had set up this mystic realm, she had spent countless amounts of thought to design the traps in here.

If he was deceived by the external appearances, he would get nothing.

“This grand hall looks empty, but maybe it is just a smoke screen. There might even be some profound mystery going on in here.”

It was no wonder Shentu Nantian had such thoughts. He probably would never even dream that a swarthy youth had caused the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit to use a sealed energy left behind by the ancient Great Empress, causing her to enter deep slumber. Thus giving her no choice but to terminate the trials.

To Shentu Nantian, ever since he entered the Great Empress mystic realm, there were opportunities everywhere. It all depended on his ability to find them.

Especially after entering the God Advent Tower, the variety of opportunities made him envious.

The God Advent Tower was a huge treasure vault. The benefits inside were uncountable. It was a pity that he had only obtained a tiny part of it.

This prevented Shentu Nantian from being content!

He believed that Yi Yun had received benefits that had likely exceeded his.

This made his jealousy towards Yi Yun increase.

“The first and second level of the God Advent Tower were filled with opportunities. I have also obtained some of them. I am now on the third level of the God Advent Tower, yet it gives me a confusion array. How can I give up? I will definitely find the opportunity in the third level. The harder it is to find, the more valuable the opportunity is!”

Thinking of the things he had gained in the first and second level, Shentu Nantian could not help but feel slightly excited. In the past few months in the God Advent Tower, the insights and benefits he gained far exceeded that of when he was in the Shentu family clan in terms of speed!

Now, the empty third level of the God Advent Tower not only did not frustrate Shentu Nantian, it ignited his fighting spirit. He foresaw that there was a stunning opportunity waiting for him.

520 - : Restrictions Sealed

CKtalon  CKtalon

Time passed without them realizing. Lin Xintong and Yi Yun had now been in their reclusive retreat for five months.

Five months did not seem like a very long period of time.

However, if two people stayed together alone in a chamber, and faced each other all day, many things would happen.

These small things would change a person’s state of mind in a very subtle manner.

For example, sleep. The two of them would duo cultivate for ten to twenty days. After cultivating, they would have a spiritual overdraft and be completely exhausted. Even meditating was no longer enough for them to recover, so they could only enter deep sleep.

The two of them would sleep in the large futon without changing their clothes. It was also considered sharing a bed.

Also, take bathing for example. Actually, warriors could choose to not eat and maintain their lives with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. This way, they would not be contaminated. They could really be described as otherworldly. At the same time, martial art practitioners would be dust free. As recorded in the scriptures, “Fragrant skin, as wonderful as lotus, not contaminated like water.” Under such circumstances, warriors did not need to bathe.

However, Lin Xintong was a person who liked cleanliness. Especially after duo cultivating with Yi Yun, her body would be drenched in sweat. Her clothes would stick to her body, even though she could evaporate the sweat using Yuan Qi she disliked the feeling.

Hence, she would always bathe after each session of cultivation.

She had a bath bucket in her interspatial ring. As for bathing water, Lin Xintong could condensed the water Yuan Qi present in the environment.

The two of them stayed in the chamber and every time Lin Xintong bathed, it was in the main hall, just a few steps away from Yi Yun. There was a stone wall in between them which did not even have a door.

The sound of water would be clearly heard by Yi Yun. The atmosphere was one of ambiguity.

Under this situation, although the two of them had no substantive contact as male and female, Lin Xintong was slowly beginning to accept Yi Yun.

After all, this level of ambiguity was too much for Lin Xintong, but towards Yi Yun, she could still accept it.

Three months in, Lin Xintong and Yi Yun’s cultivation in the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was reaching the end of the first stage.

A cultivation technique at the level of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was very impressive even at just the first stage. However, the further they went along in the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, the more contact there would be between man and woman.

For example, just the end of the first stage meant that both of them had to use both hands to press on each other’s 108 acupuncture points. According to a demanding and complicated order, they had to transmit and blend the Yin-Yang Yuan Qi. There could not be any mistake or else they would fail.

For example, there was nothing much about the Tian Fu and Tian Quan points that were on the arms.

However, points like the Ling Hui, Shen Cang, Tian Xi points, they were located at Lin Xintong’s chest. That was too sensitive.

If it was at the beginning of cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, Lin Xintong would absolutely not be able to accept this degree of bodily contact.

Now however, after three months of being together, she had barely made the requisite mental preparations.

Yi Yun sat on the futon and had already taken off his shirt, leaving him bare-chested.

When cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, it required both of them to be one in both flesh and soul. There was to be no obstruction between their acupuncture points.

It was best if both man and woman took off all their clothes.

However, Lin Xintong only took off her outerwear. She was still wearing a thin layer of silk. She still struggled to face Yi Yun naked. That was also something that would have made Lin Xintong overly embarrassed, which would cause chaos in her body’s Yuan Qi circulation, thus affecting the cultivational effects.

Actually, the clothing Lin Xintong wore was very thin. The barrier between the two of them was extremely minute, so there was not too big of a hindrance to completing the first stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

Lin Xintong sat across from Yi Yun. Previously, she had already calmed her heart and believed that she could face it with a calm mind and complete the cultivation without any mistakes. However, when she really began, she still suffered from some shortness of breath.

“Shall we begin?”

Yi Yun had gathered his body’s Yuan Qi and was preparing to make his move. Lin Xintong slowly nodded her head…

At the beginning of the cultivation, Yi Yun’s hands would follow Lin Xintong’s arms, stretching all the way to her armpits and then press on the acupuncture points at Lin Xintong’s shoulder. He would then slowly transmit pure Yang energy to her.

As for Lin Xintong, she would embrace Yi Yun’s back and press on the Zhi Yang point on his spine. This was a key acupuncture point when both of them cultivated the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. It was a channel for pure Yang Yuan Qi to flow.

At the same time, the Tan Zhong point at their chests had to be matched. Their bodies’ contact made Yi Yun clearly feel the elasticity and softness by his chest.

Yin-Yang Yuan Qi circulated in a prescribed order between Lin Xintong and Yi Yun. Lin Xintong suppressed her embarrassment and focused on the cultivation.

Pure Yang energy transpired as frost ice froze and melted. The melted ice gathered on Yi Yun’s firm skin, forming tiny droplets of water. At the same time, they stayed on Lin Xintong’s body, drenching her already thin clothes.

With her clothes sticking to her body, it perfectly outlined Lin Xintong’s slim but unyielding figure.

Slowly, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong changed their poses. Yi Yun hugged Lin Xintong from behind. The Zhong Ting acupuncture point by his chest stuck close to Lin Xintong’s back where the Zhi Yang point was. This way of energy transference was even more direct.

At the same time, Yi Yun’s fingers flickered across Lin Xintong’s neck, gently moving downwards…

Wherever his fingers brushed across, a layer of tiny goosebumps would appear on Lin Xintong’s skin.

This touch made Lin Xintong speed up her breathing and at the same time, feel ripples in her heart.

This feeling that came from the throbbing of her heart did not affect the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” cultivation. Instead, it promoted the Yin-Yang integration between the two of them due to the throbbing that was a result of emotions.

Lin Xintong could not help but close her eyes. Her eyelashes gently trembled. She gave Yi Yun free reign in letting his chest stick close to her back…

In Lin Xintong’s mind, she was recalling the various encounters she had had with Yi Yun…

From meeting in the Cloud Wilderness, to reuniting in the Tian Yuan world. If they were only considered friends during this period, then later on, at the Desolate Heaven technique tea session and the Shentu family clan’s Relic Trial, where Yi Yun solved Lin Xintong’s dilemma and revealing the Shentu family clan’s conspiracy, he had saved her life once. Then at the celebratory party, the promise Yi Yun made to her caused Lin Xintong to feel indescribable sincerity.

In this vast universe, Lin Xintong, who had naturally terminated meridians, had faced the world alone. She did not rely on anyone, except for Yi Yun. Due to his Purple Crystal Origins, he was the only one, and also the only person who could tug at her naturally terminated meridians as well as her lonely heart.

This was also why Lin Xintong dreamed of Yi Yun joining up her naturally terminated meridians during the mental demons test in the Great Empress mystic realm, resulting in them keeping each other company forever.

If all of this only planted a seed of emotion in Lin Xintong’s heart, then at the extreme frost icy plains, when Yi Yun had appeared as Lin Xintong was at her weakest, pulling her out of despair, that was the moment that made the seed in Lin Xintong’s heart sprout, filling her entire heart.

Be it when they were sharing the hot springs in the endless snowy plain, or them currently being in the chamber, the intimate contact between the two of them had made Lin Xintong wholly give her heart to Yi Yun.

At that moment, Lin Xintong had a heartfelt emotion towards Yi Yun. Her hands moved through Yi Yun’s armpits and gently stroked his steaming hot back.

With their pure Yang and pure Yin bodies, which were excellent physiques as a foundation, coupled together with the Purple Crystal’s catalytic properties, the thick Yin-Yang energy in the chamber seemed to be further refined.

In the room, a reddish-golden pure Yang dragon appeared behind Yi Yun.

And behind Lin Xintong, pure Yin energy condensed, forming into a beautiful, ice-blue phoenix.

With the golden dragon and the ice phoenix appearing, it was the purest energies of the most essential laws that resulted in these phantom images, formed from Yuan Qi. They continuously entered Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s body, opening up their acupuncture points and meridians.

This made their strengths increase at an astonishing speed.

Previously, Lin Xintong had suppressed her cultivation level so as to consolidate her foundation, but now, she was unable to suppress it any further. The essential Yuan Qi expanded in her dantian as it condensed under Lin Xintong’s Yuan Foundation where the Dao Seed was, causing the crystalline Dao Seed to become even clearer.

“Peng!”

With a soft sound, it was as if something shattered. Lin Xintong’s cultivation level had already risen to the mid-stages of the Dao Seed realm at this very moment.

She could have reached this step a long time ago, but now, with the catalytic push from the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, it made this breakthrough of hers even more perfect.

And this was not the end. The pure Yin grand Dao nomological seed also became more and more pure in the following seconds. Lin Xintong’s cultivation level was continuously increased, all the way to the peak of the mid-stages of the Dao Seed realm before it gradually slowed down. She was just a step away from the late-stages of the Dao Seed realm.

Compared to Lin Xintong, Yi Yun had an even greater transformation.

Yi Yun’s face, neck and his naked upper body had all turned fiery red in color.

The blood vessels beneath his skin protruded upwards. His blood vessels were flowing with golden light, as if it was not blood that was flowing within, but sparkling, melted, divine gold!

Yi Yun’s meridians began to tremble as wave after wave of hot air spewed out from his acupuncture points and pores.

As for the surrounding Yin-Yang Yuan Qi, they formed into a faint whirlpool that gathered towards Yi Yun’s dantian!

The pure Yang energy was like a vast ocean surrounding Yi Yun.

As for the pure Yin energy, it was like a river pouring into the sea. Yi Yun’s Yuan Foundation in his dantian was continuously expanding outwards.

The Yuan Foundation was like a tiny world in a warrior’s body. Although it was within the dantian, there was still space within it, with various sizes depending on the warrior.

The Yuan Foundation was a warrior’s martial arts foundation. Practicing martial arts stressed one’s solid foundation. Many geniuses willingly suppressed themselves at a realm, so as to not break through unless their Yuan Qi could no longer endure the suppression. This way, their foundation would be further reinforced.

As for the degree of consolidation of their foundation, most of the time it depended on the expansiveness of the Yuan Foundation.

The wider the foundation, the more it could support a magnificent martial peak!

521 - : Small Success in the Heart Sutra

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s Yuan Foundation was already much larger than a typical warrior of the same level by several times. Even Shentu Nantian’s Yuan Foundation when he was at the peak of the Yuan Foundation realm was only about 60-70% the size of Yi Yun’s.

And now, with pure Yang and pure Yin energies continuously being injected into Yi Yun’s Yuan Foundation, it began to expand like crazy!

At that moment, Lin Xintong, who was connected with Yi Yun on a spiritual leve, sensed this change. She looked on in great alarm as Yi Yun’s Yuan Foundation was rapidly expanding.

In just tens of seconds, Yi Yun’s Yuan Foundation increased by two times in size!

And it was still growing. At the same time, beneath the Yuan Foundation, extremely unadulterated pure Yang and Yin energies were gathered. Inexplicably, a nomological seed was being formed.

Dao Seed realm!?

Seeing this scene, how could Lin Xintong not know what was happening? What was happening to Yi Yun was the precursor to breaking through to the Dao Seed realm.

The “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was indeed a top level cultivation technique that was extremely close to a supreme Great Dao. Despite Yi Yun having only mastered the first stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, it had already given him heaven-defying benefits.

Breaking through to the Dao Seed realm required him to do it in one go. And the condensing Dao Seed required large quantities of energy. Many Yuan Foundation realm warriors would prepare for this for years by accumulating energy, but even so, they could still end up having their Yuan Qi shatter, causing them to fail in condensing their Dao Seed.

The danger of failing would naturally not affect an elite like Yi Yun. However, at the critical moment, the more supple and pure the energy there was, the higher the quality of the condensed Dao Seed would be. Lin Xintong naturally would not allow for Yi Yun to have any lack in energy, which would cause him to have flaws in the Dao Seed that he condensed.

She immediately circulated her Yuan Qi and gave him her fullest support.

At the key moment in Yi Yun’s breakthrough, Lin Xintong no longer cared about the embarrassment between man and woman. She removed her sweat-drenched piece of clothes and hugged Yi Yun with her naked body.

When his manly body, which was emitting a burning Yang-elemental aura, touched her body without any obstructions between them, Lin Xintong jolted.

This was a kind of touch that she had never experienced. Under the catalysis of the Yin-Yang laws, it felt extremely marvellous.

Very quickly however, Lin Xintong suppressed the palpitations in her heart. She began to fully focus on circulating her pure Yin energy so as to constantly transmit it to Yi Yun.

At the key moment of Yi Yun’s cultivation, she wanted to guarantee that Yi Yun would form a Dao Seed under the most perfect environment. It was not allowed for there to be room for any mistakes!

As time passed, Yi Yun entered a completely ethereal state. The two of them faced each other naked as they elevated as a result of the Yin-Yang interaction. In the chamber, numerous lively energy-based phantom images appeared due to the laws.

In a daze, Yi Yun also felt Lin Xintong’s soft but firm body against his, as well as her body fragrance.

This feeling made him feel like he was being covered in the purest of spring waters when his body was burning up. It was an extremely comfortable feeling.

Yi Yun momentarily sensed that something had happened, but he did not have a single perverted thought. He fully focused on gathering the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi as well as planting the Great Dao nomological seed in his Yuan Foundation.

Yin-Yang Yuan Qi first condensed into a liquid as it slowly became purer. The light that circulated within seemed like it was crystallizing into a gem.

With the pure Yang Yuan Qi as a base, the pure Yin energy circulated around the pure Yang energy. Like an ice-blue snake, it encircled the pure Yang energy.

Seconds changed to minutes. As Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was too immense, the quality of the Dao Seed he condensed was even higher, but the energy required for it was naturally even greater.

Now, all it lacked was a bit more, if it did not get more he would not succeed.

Lin Xintong, who was already as one in spirit with Yi Yun, knew of the changes in Yi Yun’s Yuan Foundation. She took a deep breath and twined her arms around his neck.

Then, as she circulated her Primordial Yin energy, she summoned her courage and kissed Yi Yun’s burning hot lips.

This deep and emotion filled kiss caused their lips to sentimentally lock onto one another.

Lin Xintong had a perfect, pure Yin body and natural Yin Meridians, causing her body to have a trace of a young girl’s perfect Primordial Yin.

This energy was different from pure Yin energy. It was a form of life force energy that belonged to Lin Xintong.

It would be passed on to the male the first time she had intercourse with a male. However, through her first kiss, she could also pass a tiny bit of her Primordial Yin energy to Yi Yun.

This energy, which was a life force essence, may not be as powerful as pure Yin energy, but it had the effect of giving the finishing touch. It gathered towards Yi Yun’s dantian.

At that moment, it was like resplendent but impenetrable lava put under extreme pressure, as Yi Yun’s pure Yang Dao Seed finally grew in his Yuan Foundation!

Lin Xintong’s Dao Seed was like a resplendent water crystal, Yi Yun’s Dao Seed however was completely different. It was like a fiery divine rock. It constantly emitted unadulterated energy. This energy condensed in all directions, forming a reddish-golden flame.

This flame would accompany Yi Yun’s flame of life, and would carry on burning without end.

And around the divine rock, inside the unadulterated reddish-golden color, there was a layer of tiny, blue ice crystals. These ice crystals were adorned on the divine rock, looking like beautiful snowflakes.

This was the condensation of pure Yin energy. It was the essential pure Yin laws that came from cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. It also came from Lin Xintong’s Primordial Yin energy.

“Boom!”

Yi Yun’s energy exploded. An alarming aura spewed out and the long screech of a Golden Crow sounded out. A three-legged Golden Crow’s phantom image shot out from behind Yi Yun, up to the chamber’s ceiling, turning into rolling, reddish-golden clouds.

At that moment, the chamber seemed to expand out infinitely, becoming a world governed by pure Yang laws.

And Yi Yun was the center and sovereign of this world!

Lin Xintong knew that this was the external projection of Yi Yun’s Yuan Foundation realm. This also symbolized the end for Yi Yun in the Yuan Foundation realm. He had finally stepped into the Dao Seed realm.

Dao Seed realm!

Lin Xintong held Yi Yun’s hands, and when Yi Yun opened his eyes, there seemed to be a pair of scorching Suns burning in his eyes.

And in the core of those Suns, there was a faint ice-blue phoenix flying.

Although Yi Yun cultivated the pure Yang laws, extreme Yang could give birth to pure Yin. This was the extreme of the Yang-elemental laws!

By having Yin-Yang harmony, one could avoid the bottleneck of how solitary Yang did not allow growth. This made Yi Yun’s starting line in cultivation be at a distance that left many elites in the dust.

Besides, he and Lin Xintong had just now perfectly mastered the first stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”!

A supreme cultivation technique of this level would give them greater benefits in the future the earlier they cultivated it.

For Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to master the first stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” at the Yuan Foundation and Dao Seed realm, it was not only because of their talent and excellent physique, but also because of the aid they received from the Purple Crystal Origins.

522 - : Condensing the Dao Seed

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Xintong, thank you!” Yi Yun said softly to Lin Xintong while he looked at her. He naturally knew everything she had done for him during his breakthrough.

Although he could still break through to the Dao Seed realm without Lin Xintong, the Dao Seed that he condensed would not have been as perfect then.

Noticing Yi Yun’s gaze, Lin Xintong jumped in panic. She knew that she was no longer wearing anything now after helping Yi Yun break through.

Although she felt bashful, she was in no way distraught. She stretched out her long, jade-like fingers and tapping lightly into the air. A series of ice fragments rapidly started to condense between them. In just a few seconds, these ice fragments became a blue ice curtain, blocking Yi Yun’s line of sight.

Yi Yun gave a dry cough. With his perception he could still easily bypass the ice screen, but he did not do so. Many things would be better if they followed nature’s course.

Lin Xintong’s body was covered in sweat. She did not put her clothes back on but instead picked up her clothes, stood up and left. Looking at her back, Yi Yun could see her smooth and flawless back, as well as her long, straight legs. They were like a jade sculpture made out of fine white tallow jade.

Her crystalline bare-feet lightly entered the bath bucket. When her fairy-like toes submersed themselves into the clear water, they were like pearls entering a mountain spring.

Lin Xintong was currently in a very good mood because Yi Yun had condensed a perfect Dao Seed. His breakthrough destined him to have limitless achievements in the future.

Lin Xintong knew very well that any Empyrean King in the Tian Yuan world, including figures at the level of the Shentu Patriarch, were all far inferior compared to Yi Yun back when they condensed their own Dao Seed.

She had never imagined that she would be this happy for another person’s achievements in martial arts.

In fact, these few months of dual cultivation with Yi Yun had been the happiest days of her life.

In her childhood, Lin Xintong had suffered the indifference and mockery of others. Her young heart lived in a luxurious yet uncaring Lin family, where she had to fight and struggle. She had gone through all of that alone, but although she did not feel that her life was a sad one, it was absolutely nothing she would call a happy life.

Later on, when her physique was more and more appreciated, especially after seeing the hope of her joining up her naturally terminated meridians, the sudden change in attitude by the Lin family was evident. A person like her grandaunt, a person who only cared about utility, was constantly attentive towards her. However, such an attitude only made Lin Xintong feel the coldness of a large family clan, as well as her own loneliness.

However, this only lasted up to the point when she was with Yi Yun, a person who she could really give her heart to, who made Lin Xintong experience unprecedented warmth and happiness.

Furthermore, not only had Yi Yun’s strength increased. Her naturally terminated meridians had also been improved. Lin Xintong could clearly feel that, with the pure Yang energy entering her body, the Yin-based energy that threatened her life had weakened.

It was not destroyed, but the Yin-based energy began fusing with the pure Yang energy, becoming an energy that was beneficial to her body.

This made Lin Xintong rejoice.

The fate that had pressured her for her entire life had finally been unwoven bit by bit, and Yi Yun played a huge role in that.

Every time she thought of this, Lin Xintong would reveal a knowing smile.

She lathered up the clear water and began cleansing her white, flawless body. On the other side of the chamber, Yi Yun could hear the joyful sound of water splashing.

Almost at the same time, Yi Yun gave a knowing smile. After cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, although he and Lin Xintong were able to remain restrained, that perfect fusion of their spirits was intoxicating.

When cultivating, his feelings for Lin Xintong also became even more unadulterated. This was not something sex could bring about, but a joy on the spiritual level.

He was finally at the Dao Seed realm. If he was still in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, the Dao Seed realm would give him the title of Human Lord, and he would have been made a high ranking noble.

Those who became Human Lords in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom were considered to have accomplished a great achievement if they did so at 30-40 years old. Once upon a time, Yi Yun felt like this was far from his reach after seeing those mighty nobles.

He had previously sworn to achieve this, and now, Yi Yun had finally realized his wish.

Furthermore, Yi Yun’s Dao Seed realm, was far from what any Tai Ah Divine Kingdom Human Lord could compare with. Just using his age as a contrast, he was just 16 years old!

The Dao Seed realm was just a tiny step on Yi Yun’s martial path, but this had an extraordinary meaning for Yi Yun.

While Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were duo cultivating in the chamber, enjoying the double joy of their strength increasing and the love between man and woman, outside the chamber, in the other levels of the God Advent Tower, a large number of cultivators were suffering through their days.

At the beginning of the God Advent Tower trials, when the cultivators heard the rules of the trials, they had already guessed that the trials would take a long time, but no one had expected for it to last this long.

The God Advent Tower was a treasure land, so it was a wish beyond the cultivators’ wildest dreams to cultivate in here. Even if it were 5 years, they would still be happy to do so. The cultivation techniques, disk array images, the insight in cultivation techniques and even spiritual herbs they could find would allow for their strength to have a qualitative leap.

However, there were abrupt changes midway.

The restrictions in the trials had become weaker, to the point of them completely disappearing.

Every level of the God Advent Tower became empty grand halls.

When the cultivators faced these grand halls, they were still full of ambition. Many of them believed that this was a test from the God Advent Tower. After all, the God Advent Tower had all sorts of transformations, and many of those were things they found inconceivable. So it was not strange for it to suddenly have emptiness.

The cultivators looked forward to finding the opportunities that would allow them to soar.

For example, Shentu Nantian meditated in the middle of the grand hall, hoping to gain insight on the possible “Dao” that existed there. As for Gongsun Hong, he knocked everywhere on the walls, hoping to activate a hidden array restriction.

In the end, Shentu Nantian sat there for an unknown period of time, to the point of his body nearly growing grass, yet he did not gain insight into anything.

As for Gongsun Hong, he tinkled around, knocking everywhere for a month to the point of losing his sense of touch in his arms. Yet, he did not discover any changes in the bare walls.

Gongsun Hong was dumbfounded. He did not know what was going on in the stone room he was in. As for Shentu Nantian, he still had his fighting spirit. Since trying to gain insight failed, he tried a different method. He unsheathed his sword and slashed wantonly in the grand hall.

He guessed that the stone room was testing his offensive strength. When his offensive strength reached a certain level, he would trigger a hidden door in the walls, allowing him to gain opportunities.

However, the result was Shentu Nantian trying in vain for another month. His Yuan Qi had been depleted countless numbers of times, yet he did not manage to leave a single mark on the walls.

Shentu Nantian refused to have his beliefs shaken. In the remaining time there, he tried every method he could think of. He used the swordplay he knew, heart sutras, the insight gained from the first level of the God Advent Tower, ancient Desolate Heaven techniques, knowledge in arrays and various other things. Yet, all he met was failure, failure, followed by more failures.

In this way, he spent half a year in the third level of the God Advent Tower…

During this period of time, all he faced was an empty room, yet despite all of his various attempts, he found nothing!

It was imaginable what sort of torture and setback a person would suffer.

Shentu Nantian was going crazy. At this point, he had already sensed that something was amiss.

Especially before this, he had discovered that not even the third floor of the God Advent Tower, even the original first and second floor of the God Advent Tower had become empty rooms.

The mystic realm’s trial probably had a problem!

However, Shentu Nantian still remained in the God Advent Tower. It was not because he was strong-willed and unwilling to give up, but because he could not get out!

From the moment the power of the restrictions weakened, the God Advent Tower was sealed, preventing anyone from exiting.

This was also the period of time originally set for the trial by the white-dressed female. Back then, the white-dressed female had already paid a lot of attention to Lin Xintong. She was testing if Lin Xintong had the qualifications to inherit the Great Empress’ heritage.

With the incident happening later, causing the white-dressed female to go into deep slumber, she could only set the time for when the God Advent Tower would open. As for anything else, it all depended on Lin Xintong and Yi Yun themselves.

Actually, to warriors, half a year was not a long period of time. A simple reclusive retreat was similar in length.

However, the crux of the issue was that they were in the God Advent Tower. They were now worried if the Great Empress mystic realm’s array had turned faulty, or if it had even run out of energy. If so, would they be stuck in the God Advent Tower forever?

However… their worries were unfounded. This day, the time that the white-dressed female set for the God Advent Tower to open arrived…

The cultivators in the God Advent Tower felt the huge God Advent Tower tremble, and following that, a door of light appeared in front of each one of them.

They were surprised and immediately had hope ignite in their hearts. When they attempted to pass through the door of light, they realized they had returned to the black stone square. This made them overjoyed!

They were finally out!

After being trapped for half a year, not only had the restrictions stopped running, even the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the God Advent Tower was not as rich as in the outside world. This situation caused their cultivation speed to greatly slow down.

“We are finally out! What the hell happened?”

Shentu Nantian was extremely flustered. He had originally thought of this as a large opportunity. However, in hindsight, although his strength had increased by leaps and bounds in the first and second level of the God Advent Tower, after being trapped in the third level of the God Advent Tower for half a year, he had nearly not done a thing during that long period of time.

Averaging the two periods of time, his cultivation progress was in no way faster than it would have been in the outside world.

Many cultivators were discussing their experiences. Their experiences were similar to Shentu Nantian. This made Shentu Nantian firmly believe that something had gone wrong with the Great Empress mystic realm!

“Is there not enough energy… or could the arrays have turned faulty? Indeed, the ancient Great Empress had created this mystic realm so long ago, so it is not weird if something crops up. She is after all a human and not a god. It is already pretty impressive for her to do this.” As Shentu Nantian said this, many people agreed.

As people discussed, Shentu Nantian suddenly thought of something. He glanced around and did not see Yi Yun nor Lin Xintong.

This little bastard still hasn’t come out?

523 - : Bliss and Joy

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Have the trials ended? Then how are we to enter the vault to receive the inheritance and treasures of the Great Empress mystic realm?”

After being released, many of the cultivators did not rejoice about no longer being imprisoned until their deaths, instead they talked about not being able to receive the treasures. They selectively chose to ignore the point that, even if the Great Empress mystic realm’s trials did not end, they would not have the ability to receive the recognition of the Great Empress mystic realm. The treasures and inheritance no longer had anything to do with them.

“Such a pity…”

A person shook his head with an indignant, sighing expression. It was as if he thought would become the successor of the Great Empress if the trials had carried on.

These elites of the Tian Yuan world were arrogant all along. They would never admit to their failures, so the end of the trials ended up becoming their excuse.

“No fate with the the treasures…?” Shentu Nantian sighed deeply. He had already waited for 30 minutes, yet, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had not yet appeared.

“Where are they?”

Shentu Nantian slightly frowned. Not only had Yi Yun and Lin Xintong not appeared, the other two mysterious people, who had strange auras and were dressed in gray robes, had also disappeared.

As well as that swarthy youth!

Quite a number of people had disappeared.

Shentu Nantian’s surrounding lackeys also noticed this. One of them laughed out heartily, “Hahaha! For them to climb so high, who knows if the higher levels of the God Advent Tower trials were too tough? That idiot, Yi Yun, might have been eliminated during the trials, or might even have died!”

Before the lackey finished speaking, Shentu Nantian had already given him a stern stare. The lackey’s voice immediately got stuck in his throat.

“Shut up!”

Shentu Nantian said in an irritated manner. He pushed the hindering lackey away and walked straight to the middle of the black stone square. The black stone pillar that had been used to evaluate their talent was there.

Shentu Nantian gave it a glance. His name was still engraved on the stone pillar, and behind his name was the word “Knight”.

As for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, the words “Grandmaster” and “Soul” were respectively behind their names.

Despite entering the God Advent Tower for such a long period of time, the cultivators’ ranks had not undergone a single change. Furthermore, the black stone pillar’s glow had clearly darkened. It seemed like it had lost its energy.

According to Shentu Nantian’s original guesses, after they came out, the black stone pillar would evaluate them again, giving them a new title rank. Through the new evaluation, everyone’s trial results would be decided. However, there was nothing now. The test of their cultivation speed had lost its meaning.

The Great Empress trials had apparently really ended…

“What a waste. My strength has increased so much in the second level of the God Advent Tower. If the trials did not stop midway, I would have obtained even more opportunities entering by the third level of the God Advent Tower. If re-evaluated, my results would have been very good.”

Shentu Nantian muttered to himself. Although he was confident in himself, compared to Lin Xintong and Yi Yun, he was lacking in confidence.

At that moment, he had an ominous premonition. Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s disappearance made Shentu Nantian suspect that the two of them had entered the Great Empress’ vault. Had they
obtained the benefits before the trials ended, resulting in them not coming out?

Or, could it even be possible that the reason behind the Great Empress trials stopping was because Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had obtained the recognition of the Great Empress mystic realm? And since the successor had been chosen, there was no longer a reason in carrying on with the trials?

Although Shentu Nantian had to admit that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s talent exceeded his, he refused to believe that had they reached the point of obtaining the recognition of the ancient Great Empress.

However, there was no way to distinguish the facts. There had to be a reason why Lin Xintong and Yi Yun had not come out. He was not naive enough to believe that the two of them had died. It was most likely because they had entered a treasure land!

Upon having such thoughts, Shentu Nantian’s eyes went red with envy.

They had all been trapped in a stone chambers and had been waited in them, doing nothing for half a year, yet that adulterous pair had obtained heavenly benefits?

“I must find the two of them and think of a way to take their things away!”

Shentu Nantian was furious as he heavily punched the black stone pillar.

“Peng!”

With an explosive sound, Yuan Qi exploded. The stone pillar had a dark glow. There was no reaction, and looked like a common rock.

At that moment, in the chamber at the fifth level of the God Advent Tower, Yi Yun could “see” this scene.

Ever since he refined the Azure Yang Token, Yi Yun obtained a portion of control over the God Advent Tower. He could freely enter the fifth level of the God Advent Tower and could control a small number of the restrictions. However, these restrictions had already been made ineffective due to the energy depletion.

“Shentu Nantian and company have come out.”

A few months had passed since Yi Yun and Lin Xintong perfectly mastered the first stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had used this period of time to cultivate in the second stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. Yi Yun had also constantly consolidated the nomological seed in his Yuan Foundation. Now, he could be considered as having firmly entered the early stages of the Dao Seed realm.

Be it Yi Yun or Lin Xintong, the both of them had experienced a quantum leap in their strengths.

“Oh?” Lin Xintong, who was meditating, opened her eyes,”The trial is ending?”

“Maybe there is another month or two… Now, it is just the end of the God Advent Tower trials. If I am not wrong, after the end of the God Advent Tower’s trials, senior Item Spirit would have prepared other trials to continue testing us. However, with senior Item Spirit in deep slumber, there is no way to carry on with the trials. These people can only idly wait until the time for the Great Empress mystic realm’s trial to run out, before they will be automatically sent out.

“Then what about us?” Lin Xintong wiped the sweat from her forehead and asked softly.

“With the Azure Yang Token, we can leave this place freely, so we are not in a rush. We still have room to improve in the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’. We can temporarily stay in the chamber cultivating. With our strength increased, we would have the confidence to face any situation. Besides… I actually also want to know what is on the sixth floor of the God Advent Tower…”

The Great Empress mystic realm gave out sixth titles as evaluations. They were, “Knight”, “Grandmaster”, “Soul”, “Sage”, “Shura” and “Canonized God”.

The six titles corresponded to the six levels of the God Advent Tower. Now, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had already entered the fifth level.

Here, they had already received the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, which was clearly the core inheritance left behind by the Great Empress and the Azure Yang Lord. The Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow was also likely an item from the Great Empress’ vault. Even the cultivation chamber for the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” and the residence of the ancient Great Empress was situated in the fifth level of the God Advent Tower.

This made Yi Yun curious. If all the core items were here on the fifth level, then what was there in the sixth level of the God Advent Tower?

It could not be empty, right?

“The sixth floor… Can we go in?”

“I do not know…” Yi Yun shook his head as he looked at the Azure Yang Token in his hand. He had just inserted his perception into the Azure Yang Token, and from that tiny token, he had sensed a large region of the God Advent Tower.

Yi Yun felt that he could control the restrictions in a portion of these regions, but he was unsure if he could enter them, or what would be there after entry.

He planned on investigating all of these places before leaving the Great Empress mystic realm.

As Yi Yun was thinking, his expression suddenly changed.

“Oh?” Lin Xintong saw Yi Yun’s reaction, and subconsciously touched her interspatial ring. “What is the matter?”

Yi Yun’s expression sank. “It looks like.. We will not be able to carry on cultivating, but.. That is good too!”

…

…

Outside the God Advent Tower, Shentu Nantian looked up. He stared at the black stone pillar and sighed gently. No one knew what he was thinking about.

The few lackeys of Shentu Nantian had been rebuffed previously by him, so none of them dared to probe him.

They could tell that their boss was in a very bad mood.

As for the people from the other factions, they were also standing idly around. With the Great Empress trial ending, they could only idly wait. As for what Shentu Nantian wanted to do, or his thoughts, none of them dared to ask. This was because none of them was Shentu Nantian’s match.

Time passed as Shentu Nantian stood in front of the stone pillar motionless.

He was sensing the changes in the Great Empress mystic realm…

The Great Empress mystic realm’s trial had already ended. The arrays, which were supported by energy, had already stopped working. Then, were the rules of the Great Empress mystic realm also impossible to maintain?

Then did that mean that many of the rules were no longer valid?

As Shentu Nantian carefully probed with his perception, he discovered that his body was now lacking a certain pressure…

In the Great Empress mystic realm, what suppressed Shentu Nantian the most was the rule of not being able to attack one another. And now, that rule no longer seemed to exist with the Great Empress mystic realm’s energy depleted…

Upon realizing this, Shentu Nantian’s heart beat wildly.

If that irritating rule was void, didn’t that mean that he could do as his pleased with his strength?

His back was facing all the cultivators, but a sinister smile appeared on the corner of his lips.

This… was something testable!

His perception darted backward and swept across all the cultivators. These cultivators were still idly chatting or meditating. None of them knew of Shentu Nantian’s intentions.

Without any warning, Shentu Nantian suddenly turned around and sent out a palm strike!

“Boom!”

With an explosive sound, Yuan Qi exploded. A strong force wind from Shentu Nantian’s palm came surging forward. And his target was the Lin family’s Lin Lang!

“What!?”

Lin Lang, who was meditating, suddenly opened his eyes. At that moment, the palm wind howled and was already before him. There was no way of dodging it!

The sudden turn of events prevented Lin Lang from thinking carefully. However, as an elite of the Lin family, he quickly reacted. He pushed his palms forward fiercely and retreated at the same time.

“Peng!”

The Yuan Qi exploded three feet in front of Lin Lang. Lin Lang felt his arm tremble. A few bones fractured. With a dull grunt, he flew backward, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

“Lin Lang!”

Not far from Lin family, the other disciples of the Lin family instantly charged forward to support him!

Disregarding the Lin family’s disciples, the sudden turn of events even surprised all of the other cultivators. What was going on!?

524 - : The Disappearance of the Rules

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Shentu Nantian! You!”

Lin Xiaodie looked angrily at Shentu Nantian. At that moment, Shentu Nantian nonchalantly lowered his head and looked at his palm that had made the attack. A grin appearing on his face.

“My guess was not wrong. The rules of the mystic realm have disappeared along with the ceasing of the arrays’ functionality!”

“What a pity… I wonder when that little bastard Yi Yun and Lin Xintong will come out. If they entered the treasure vault, I cannot do anything about them.. But if they do come out, I can take that opportunity to seek revenge. I can maim them of their martial arts and grab the opportunities they obtained in the treasure vault!”

Shentu Nantian slowly turned his palm into a fist, causing his knuckles to crack.

Ever since he entered the Great Empress mystic realm, he had been suppressed by the rules. Now, he could finally use his strength!

He sneered as he lifted his head and looked towards the cultivators from the Lin family.

Before this, quite a few of the Lin family’s cultivators had been eliminated. Other than Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, there were only four others left.

These people included Lin Xiaodie and Lin Fengyue who entered the Great Empress mystic realm together with Yi Yun. The two others were Li Daoxuan and Lin Lang.

“I say, the few of you. What opportunities did you obtain in the God Advent Tower?” Shentu Nantian grinned as he walked towards them.

Lin Xiaodie, Li Daoxuan and Lin Fengyue were touching their interspatial rings. The injured Lin Lang was also gathering his Yuan Qi to stand up and was on high alert.

Originally, with the protection from the mystic realm’s rules, they were not afraid of Shentu Nantian, but his attack just now showed that the protections from the mystic realm had already become ineffective.

These few Lin family disciples were all sharp people. They immediately understood the meaning behind this. Momentarily, all of them were highly tensed up.

The protective rules of the Great Empress had very likely disappeared along with the array’s energies.

This was disastrous news. None of them were Shentu Nantian’s match!

“Give me all the opportunities you obtained. I’ll validate them for you to see if they are good or bad!”

Even just a tiny bit of opportunities obtained in the Great Empress mystic realm was not trivial. Shentu Nantian had already made it clear that he was going to openly steal it from them. Not only was he stealing, he was also planning on killing them!

Since the Shentu family clan had already lost all decorum with the Lin family, so what if they were murdered?

Since he could not kill Yi Yun or Lin Xintong, attacking the other Lin family disciples could also ease his hatred. Besides, he could only attack the Lin family. As for the other factions, Shentu Nantian was worried that they would join forces against him.

The four disciples of the Lin family formed a battle formation, but the eldest amongst them was only 23 years old. Even his cultivation level was below Shentu Nantian’s, so he was in no way Shentu Nantian’s match!

Shentu Nantian was one of the most astounding figures amongst the younger generation of the Tian Yuan world. He focused on slowly cultivating, causing his foundation to be extremely stable. This gave him a battle power that allowed for him to surpass others, who were at a higher level than him. No one his own age could compare with him!

Under these circumstances, even if anyone of them were at the peak of the Dao Seed realm, they would still not have any confidence in resisting Shentu Nantian.

“Hmph! You over-estimate yourselves!”

Shentu Nantian sneered and unsheathed his sword. Ever since Yi Yun took away his companion sword, he would recall the humiliation he received at the Lin family whenever he drew his sword. He felt extreme hatred.

And now, it was time for him to relieve that hatred.

“Hahaha, big brother Nantian, why don’t you let us take care of these small fries.” The other disciples of the Shentu family clan joined in.

However, Shentu Nantian waved his hand, saying, “I alone will be enough.”

“Are you handing over the opportunities now? Or should I kill you first, then wipe the mental marks from your interspatial rings and search them one by one?” Shentu Nantian enjoyed this feeling of being able to do as he pleased due to his strength. His strength was practically the highest amongst everyone present. He himself was aweing to others.

And before entering the God Advent Tower, the Shentu family clan had sold their information, as well as come to an agreement with the other factions to attack the Lin family.

“What do we do? We are probably not his match…” Amongst the four, Lin Lang transmitted his voice using Yuan Qi.

“There is no other way except to fight to the death!” Lin Xiaodie coldly said. “Even if we hand over the items in our interspatial ring, he will definitely not let us off! He probably has already decided on killing us!”

Lin Xiaodie had already sensed the killing intent in Shentu Nantian’s eyes.

Shentu Nantian laughed out loud, “Little beauty, you sure are clever. You are quite strong, and you are pretty. What a pity if I were to kill you! Actually I can spare your life. I have a dual cultivation technique which requires a talented young lady to be my sex slave. It seems you are still are a virgin. Why don’t I offer you a way out? Yield before me and swear under the punishment of a mental demon to be my sex slave, then I may consider sparing you.”

“Pui!” Lin Xiaodie spat, “Go find a bitch to duo cultivate with!”

How could a proud girl like Lin Xiaodie become a sex slave of someone else? It would have been worse than death.

And how could Shentu Nantian not realize this? The frivolous words he had said were just to tease Lin Xiaodie, as well as trample on the Lin family’s dignity.

It was because Yi Yun and Matriarch Lin had caused Shentu Nantian to hate the Lin family too deeply!

“Refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit!” Killing intent appeared in Shentu Nantian’s eyes. He circulated his Yuan Qi and was about to slash out with his sword, but at this very moment, he froze!

“Huh!?”

Shentu Nantian abruptly turned around and looked at the void not far from him. More than ten golden dots of light had appeared out of nowhere as they circled, becoming bigger instantly. In the middle of the light dots, a door of light appeared.

A young man and woman slowly stepped out from the door of light.

The young lady was wearing a white dress. Her disposition was extraordinary and her looks were as pretty as the moon hanging in the night sky.

As for the young man, his eyebrows were like swords and his eyes like stars. His face seemed to have been chiseled by an axe and he was dressed in an azure long robe. He looked like a scholar, but he was holding a bow in his hand. The longbow was golden in color, with several blood red patterns that circled around it. On the bow’s tips, there were two carved dragons, and on the back of each dragon, there was a sharp blade.

One look and one could tell that the bow, with its extraordinary aura, was a divine bow. It gave the scholarly youth a more terrifying air to him.

“Yi Yun! Lin Xintong!”

Seeing the pair of youths appear, Shentu Nantian was surprised for a moment before he became overjoyed!

These two had appeared at just the right moment.

He was still upset that he could not find them, but now, they had come knocking on his door!

“Hahahaha!” Shentu Nantian laughed wildly. He was extremely excited.

His hatred for Yi Yun had already turned into a mental demon that could no longer be vanquished. He thought of revenge day and night.

However, he was unable to seek revenge as Yi Yun was being protected by the Lin family.

What made Shentu Nantian feel even worse was that he realized that the talent of a poor commoner like Yi Yun had surpassed his own!

Shentu Nantian was extremely proud, so he could not believe it. However, with the facts before him, he was afraid that once Yi Yun matured, in a few decades, he would no longer be Yi Yun’s match!

He never expected for the chance of a reversal to be here.

As for Lin Xintong, she was a pain in Shentu Nantian’s heart. He had already treated her as his woman, yet she had slipped through his grasps.

“Yi Yun! Sis Xintong! Why did you appear now?” When Lin Xiaodie and company saw Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, they were worried. They believed that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s trial had just ended, resulting in them coming out at this coincidental moment.

Them appearing now was like sending sheep into a tiger’s mouth.

“The Great Empress mystic realm’s protective rules are no longer effective!” Lin Fengyue transmitted his voice to Lin Xintong as a warning.

Shentu Nantian had already guessed what their exchange was. At that moment, warning them was useless.

“Instead of going to Heaven, you choose to barge into Hell!”

Shentu Nantian no longer cared about Lin Xiaodie and company. He turned around and walked towards Lin Xintong and Yi Yun.

He still faintly looked up to Lin Xintong, but as for Yi Yun, he was someone trivial. Yi Yun was just a poor commoner who was half his age.

The cultivators from the other factions felt jealous upon seeing this scene.

Lin Xintong and Yi Yun had originally been evaluated to have the best talents. They had not come out after such a long time, which could mean that they had receiving additional benefits. However, from the looks of it, these things would clearly be swallowed up by Shentu Nantian alone.

525 - : Meeting of the Enemies!

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun faced the approaching Shentu Nantian on high alert. He had discovered that the rules had become ineffective, so with the lives of Lin Xiaodie, Lin Fengyue and company in danger, he had no choice but to prematurely exit the chamber. In fact, now was not the best time for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to exit. There was still a lot of room for their strengths to increase, and once they came out, they would face a very complicated situation.

Besides the life-and-death enemy like Shentu Nantian, they also had to deal with the other cultivators. About 90% of them were enemies.

After Yi Yun and Lin Xintong appeared, many people guessed that they had treasures on them. No one knew what would happen if this carried on.

The only thing they could rely on was the shock and awe of their strength.

Yi Yun grasped the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow tightly. With a tiny step back, a Wind Chasing Arrow appeared in his hand.

Upon seeing this scene, Shentu Nantian laughed. Clearly, he was mocking Yi Yun for overestimating himself. However, at that moment, he suddenly made an “En” sound.

His cultivation level was higher than Yi Yun, so he could clearly read Yi Yun’s cultivation level. He was surprised to discover that Yi Yun had condensed a Dao Seed!

“Dao Seed realm! Slightly less than a year ago, he was at the peak of the mid-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm, but now he has already condensed the Dao Seed!?”

It was an incredible leap to go from the peak of the mid-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm to the Dao Seed in just ten months. No one present could do so.

Immediately, everyone looked at Yi Yun in shock.

The sharp increase in strength in this short period of time usually had only one possibility, that was, he had to have eaten some divine medicine.

As for obtaining an incredible cultivation technique to be the reason for the leap in strength, this possibility did not occur to the cultivators present as it was too abnormal.

No matter how incredible a cultivation technique was, it was unlikely to have such heaven-defying effects. And the more heaven-defying the cultivation technique was, the harder it would be to master.

Within such a short period of time, and with Yi Yun’s cultivation level being so low, even if he obtained an incredible cultivation technique, as a Yuan Foundation realm warrior, it would be impossible for him to master it in less than a year.

This made people even more assured of their belief that Yi Yun had eaten some heavenly treasure that allowed his cultivation level to make such a quantum leap. However, such an increase had its advantages and disadvantages. When one’s cultivation level increased too fast, there would be other aspects that could not keep up. Their foundation would not be stable, leaving to adverse consequences in the future.

Such a warrior would not only meet a bottleneck in his future cultivation, his strength would also be inferior to a warrior on the same level as himself.

The most effective way of using a heavenly treasure was to work hard at suppressing one’s cultivation level after consuming it. There was no rush to level up, instead one should ponder over the laws. Only after engaging in practical combat over time, allowing one’s body to slowly absorb the energy, would one naturally increase one’s strength.

What a waste.

Many of them were jealous, but also felt a sense of pity. Such a heavenly treasure had been destroyed by an retard like Yi Yun. It was really like the destruction of Heaven’s property.

“No matter how much help you get, you won’t have any achievements.” Shentu Nantian’s eyes sank. “To think that the Great Empress mystic realm let an idiot like you obtain opportunities. I wonder what the ancient Great Empress was thinking! Although the divine medicine has been eaten by you, if I were to use your blood to refine into elixirs, I can still extract the medicinal essence. As for you… Lin Xintong…”

Shentu Nantian turned towards Lin Xintong and a deviant sparkle appeared in his eyes. The remaining words were said using a Yuan Qi transmission into Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s ears, “I will make you regret ever betraying me. I will wipe away your martial arts, and make you become a sex slave cultivating companion and then suck you dry of your Primordial Yin!”

Shentu Nantian’s words made Yi Yun’s face sink, “Using blood to refine into elixirs…”

How could Yi Yun forget the first time he met Shentu Nantian, when Shentu Nantian discovered Jiang Xiaorou’s identity as being one of the Desolate race, the first thing he wanted to do was to use Jiang Xiaorou’s blood to refine into a Desolate race blood pill.

And now, he wanted to refine him too, and was even coveting Lin Xintong. He and Shentu Nantian had already reached an irreconcilable point

“Accept your death!” Shentu Nantian suddenly leaped up and his muscles bulged. Powerful Yuan Qi surged through his meridians, causing his body to emit the sound of thunder!

To have thunder, which vibrated the eardrums of others, emit from the circulation of his Yuan Qi, made people again understand how powerful Shentu Nantian was.

Ignoring his insight into the laws, just the terrifying amount of Yuan Qi he had was several times that of a warrior at the peak of the Dao Seed realm. How was one to block this?

“This kid is finished. What a pity that the treasures on him and that delicate, pretty babe will belong to Shentu Nantian!” People were envious of the benefits Shentu Nantian would obtain.

No matter how high one’s talent was, it was impossible to compensate for the absolute gap in cultivation levels. No matter how much of a genius one was, without the time for him to mature, it was also useless!

In a split second, Shentu Nantian, who was in the air, seemed like a hawk eyeing its food. He slammed down with his palm towards Yi Yun!

This attack had a powerful aura. Shentu Nantian did not need to use such powerful strength to defeat Yi Yun, but he was afraid that the others would snatch the food from his jaws, so he wanted to suppress Yi Yun at an incredible speed, and then shackle Lin Xintong up and ravage her slowly, so as to prevent any external variables.

Crackle!

Purple lightning flashed. Shentu Nantian’s right hand was enclosed by purple lightning, It became a shimmering lightning blade as he slashed it down at Yi Yun!

Shentu Nantian focused on the Lightning laws!

Wind, Snow, Thunder and Lightning were each one of the ‘power of the Creator’ laws. Lightning was close to pure Yang. This was also why Shentu Nantian tried all he could to gain Lin Xintong so that he could duo cultivate with her.

Once his lightning was nourished by Lin Xintong’s pure Yin bloodline, his strength would have had a sharp increase!

In that split second, Yi Yun was surrounded by a sea of lightning. The lightning intertwined and trapped Yi Yun and Lin Xintong within. There was no way for them to dodge at all!

At the moment when Shentu Nantian’s right hand, which was in the form of a blade of lightning, was about to hit Yi Yun’s head, Yi Yun made his move!

He did not draw his saber or sword, but with the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow in hand, he used it as a weapon and slashed it at Shentu Nantian!

On the ends of the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow, there were sharp blades. The Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow was a divine weapon that had been a part of the Azure Yang Lord’s collection. The quality of the blades on the bow were far better than any weapons the cultivators present possessed!

Seeing Yi Yun use his bow as a weapon, Shentu Nantian laughed maniacally. A bow was used to shoot arrows, but to use it as a pole to beat others, wasn’t this just courting death?

“Die!” Shentu Nantian growled loudly. The terrifying lightning surged downwards in an indomitable fashion, clashing straight with the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow!

At that moment, Yi Yun’s pure Yang laws exploded. Vast amounts of pure Yang energy, which were following the circulation patterns of the first stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, were injected into the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow. The bow seemed to suddenly come alive. In the vast sea of lightning, it looked like there was a divine dragon shuttling through its lightning domain!

Ang!

What seemed like a dragon’s roar sounded. The purple lightning bolts that filled the sky were swept up by the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow! It was like an invisible energy whirlpool that sucked up all the lightning. This was a nomological suppression as the pure Yang laws Yi Yun cultivated was one level higher than the laws cultivated by Shentu Nantian!

“You are the one dying!”

Yi Yun roared and an irresistible sharp aura around him became like a divine sword. His stance shot to unprecedented heights!

With the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow in hand, the purple lightning and pure Yang energy that were swept up were slashed towards Shentu Nantian!

What!?

Shentu Nantian felt his body slow down. Seeing the purple sea surging towards him, the energy that once belonged to him had been driven away by the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow, now being sent right back at him.

Shentu Nantian’s pupils constricted. He had never encountered such a situation, nor could he believe that such a situation could appear because of Yi Yun!

He had no time to consider. With his hand on his sword’s hilt, he slashed out with his sword!

Sword Qi roared and lightning spread in all directions!

In the sky, the purple sword and the golden bow clashed without any fancy developments. Energy exploded!

“Boom!”

A terrifying energy wave was sent out in all directions. Cultivators who were not strong enough, were sent flying by the immense force. Their blood were in turmoil from the tremor!

Even Shentu Nantian himself felt his arms go numb due to the impact. He had nearly dropped his sword.

Raging pure Yang energy rushed into Shentu Nantian’s body. All of his meridians were in pain, as he was sent flying by the powerful impact!

“Peng!”

Shentu Nantian slammed heavily into the crystal stone pillar. He felt a sharp pain in his back, but with Yuan Qi protecting his body, it was not that serious.

At that moment, he could not waste time checking on his injuries. He looked on in disbelief at Yi Yun. He saw that, although Yi Yun had retreated a few steps and had used the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow to stabilize his body, he did not seem to be in overdraft.

How could this be!

Shentu Nantian yelled in his heart. The scene before him nearly made him wonder if he had once again entered the mental demon realm, meeting the mental demon form of Yi Yun in his nightmares.

How could Yi Yun, who was just sixteen years old, be able to send him retreating? His cultivation was higher than Yi Yun’s!

Although Shentu Nantian had not used all his strength, that should definitely not have been the outcome.

He could not believe that this was true.

Shentu Nantian was not alone. The other cultivators present looked at his scene in inexplicable horror. Their faces were frozen and their mouths were slightly agape. They were like eastern zombies who had been frozen by a talisman. They were motionless.

Other than the purple lightning rolling in the sky, the entire black stone square had become like a silent graveyard. A few cultivators, who were standing close by, had been sent flying. They crawled up in pain as they revealed terror stricken eyes.

“Is that really…really Yi Yun?”

Lin Xiaodie, who was previously extremely worried, muttered to herself. She had entered the Great Empress mystic realm together with Yi Yun and came all this way together with him. Beside Lin Xiaodie was Lin Fengyue, who did not know whether to nod or shake his head. He had also become speechless from the shock.

A sixteen year old had suppressed Shentu Nantian despite the huge difference in cultivation level. Furthermore, Shentu Nantian was one of the most illustrious elites in the Tian Yuan world. His combat ability, compared to people at the same level, left them in the dust. However, with this scene happening before them, it was hard to believe that this was real.

526 - : Purple Lightning, Swimming Dragon

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shentu Nantian had been sent flying by Yi Yun’s single strike. He was alarmed but he did not feel fear as he had previously not been using all of his strength.

Yi Yun’s progress was terrifying. It made Shentu Nantian increasingly determined that Yi Yun must have obtained a great benefit in the Great Empress mystic realm. This benefit might even be the real heritage of the ancient Great Empress!

Upon thinking of this, Shentu Nantian’s heart palpitated. If he could obtain this heritage, then it was extremely likely that he would become a peerless Great Emperor. When that happened, the entire Tian Yuan world would be his.

This was very likely the largest, and most important, chance in his life!

If by killing Yi Yun, he could obtain the ancient Great Empress’ inheritance, then he could soar rapidly!

After understanding this, murderous intent started to emit from Shentu Nantian. At that moment, where his fate was to be determined, the battle power the mad Shentu Nantian used, far exceeded anything he had shown in the past.

“Yi Yun, be careful. Shentu Nantian was careless in that strike just now. He is becoming serious now.” Lin Xintong’s voice transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ears.

Yi Yun nodded. He too could tell that Shentu Nantian’s aura had transformed. Killing intent could be seen in his eyes. When Shentu Nantian stared at him, it was like the stare a desolate beast, which had been starving for months, gave to a prey .

“Yi Yun, today is the day of your death! Do you think that just because you have become stronger, it means you can do whatever you want? You are really stupid! To expose your treasure in front of everyone, you will definitely not be able to leave this place alive!” Shentu Nantian stabilized his body and took another step forward. His sword trembled, and lightning flashed instantly. Above the square, there were snakes of electricity winding around with rumbling thunder.

Many cultivators felt a painful tingle in their skin. They quickly retreated. Those who were weaker even had to use their Yuan Qi to protect their bodies in order to carry on standing in this lightning domain.

Behind Shentu Nantian, the phantom image of a small world appeared. In this small world, an azure-clothed man that looked similar to Shentu Nantian appeared. He was holding a sword and purple lightning was crackling around him. At the top of the phantom image’s head, there was a blue bead that was the size of a fist. There were thousands of lightning bolts emitting from the bead, covering Shentu Nantian in layers.

“Oh? “What’s that?”

Upon seeing the lightning bead, people were astonished. This phantom image of a small world and azure-clothed man was Shentu Nantian’s Aspect Totem: Transcendent Immortal Paradise.

Back at the Lin family’s Desolate Heaven technique tea session, Shentu Nantian had previously showcased his Transcendent Immortal Paradise. However, after Shentu Nantian obtained some opportunities in the Great Empress mystic realm, he had further deepened his insight into the Lightning laws. It made his Transcendent Immortal Paradise Aspect Totem to look even more terrifying.

Especially that lightning bead, it was something new even to those who knew Shentu Nantian well.

“That is a Lightning Spirit…”

Someone amongst the cultivators said. A Lightning Spirit was an essence condensed out of lightning energy. Previously in Fallen Star Gate, Yi Yun had obtained a Pure Yang Spirit by chance.

That Pure Yang Spirit was extremely effective. It made Yi Yun’s most ordinary body into a pure Yang body.

At that moment, Shentu Nantian’s Lightning Spirit’s quality was not poorer than Yi Yun’s Pure Yang Spirit. Typical Dao Seed warriors would find it difficult to refine it, but Shentu Nantian had managed to perfectly merge the Lightning Spirit into his Aspect Totem. This meant that Shentu Nantian’s body was no longer ordinary. His affinity with Lightning was extremely high. Although it could not reach a standard like Yi Yun’s pure Yang body, it could still be said to be rare.

Many powerful warriors had hidden cards. Shentu Nantian naturally had his own. However, now against Yi Yun, it was time for him to reveal all of his hidden cards!

The Lightning Spirit became more and more powerful. With a violent explosion of Yuan Qi, it was as if a bright purplish-blue sun had appeared out of thin air. One would feel pain in their eyes if they looked at the radiating light with one’s naked eyes.

Seeing such the alarming aura coming from Shentu Nantian, many cultivators could not help but retreat. They had a hunch that this battle would be extremely intense and might even cause harm to innocents.

Yi Yun was powerful, but Shentu Nantian had been famous for a long period of time. He was an influential person amongst the younger generation of the Tian Yuan world. His extreme power had taken root in the hearts of many. To these people, once Shentu Nantian became serious, it would be hard to tell what the outcome of the fight would be with Yi Yun, who had only increased his strength because of an opportunity.

“Yi Yun, I will make sure you lead a living death!”

In Shentu Nantian’s eyes, it was as if a lightning bolt flashed. His entire person was like an embodiment of lightning. His aura greatly expanded and, as he spoke, he approached Yi Yun step after step.

Yi Yun sneered and did not say a word. At this point, the both of them were already sworn enemies. Even if Shentu Nantian did not want to kill him, he would still want to kill Shentu Nantian!

Swish!

The Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow appeared. Yi Yun held the bow in his left hand and with his right hand, he yanked the bow string open!

As a divine weapon left behind by the Azure Yang Lord, even though Yi Yun had condensed the Dao Seed and had mastered the first stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, he could only pull the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow open by a tiny bit.

With the Wind Chasing Arrow in hand, although it was an ordinary arrow from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, with golden pure Yang energy gathered onto it, the arrow emitted chaotic golden beams. Even if one stood far from it, the hot aura from it would make one feel a sweltering heat wave.

At the end of the arrow, the dancing pure Yang energy formed a long arrow feather. It was jumping by Yi Yun’s side while burning.

Yi Yun’s entire person seemed to become one with the bow and arrow.

Lightning and flames clashed in the square. The surging Yuan Qi caused the surroundings to howl.

“Die!” Shentu Nantian roared. Lifting his sword, he mercilessly slashed down at Yi Yun. The Aspect Totem phantom image behind him also raised its sword and did the same actions as Shentu Nantian.

Instantaneously, all of the lightning was gathered together. The sword in Shentu Nantian’s hand seemed to be the center of a whirlpool as it gathered all the lightning, forming into a purplish-red sword of lightning that resembled blood.

This lightning sword was thin, but the vast amounts of Yuan Qi it had made it difficult for people to breathe.

The cultivators once again retreated in horror, but Yi Yun took a giant step forward. His eyes were like a saber. Behind him, the phantom image of a giant Golden Crow Totem appeared!

With half a year gone by, the Golden Crow Totem behind him had increased by more than ten times in size after Yi Yun mastered the first stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

The moment the Golden Crow Totem appeared, it shrieked and shot up into the sky. The Golden Crow spread out its wings, its wingspan was now 30-40 meters wide. It covered the whole square!

The spewing red flames was like waves of blood as they wantonly rolled around!

Seeing this scene, many of the cultivators were dumbfounded. This was an Aspect Totem? This was too much!

“How is it so big!?”

Someone exclaimed. A Golden Crow Totem that had a wingspan of 30-40 meters already enshrouded the small world phantom image behind Shentu Nantian. This oppressive feeling was too powerful. A few amongst them were also warriors at the early stages of the Dao Seed realm. Their Aspect Totems were at best 7-8 meters. This gap between them was like an eagle against a sparrow.

People had no time to speak for at that moment, Yi Yun’s fingers had released!

Peng!

With an explosion sound, the bow string trembled violently. The Wind Chasing Arrow had been shot out!

Si!

Like a fire dragon’s long cry, the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow emitted a wide beam of light. The moment the arrow left the bow string, it was accompanied by a long golden tail as it screamed forward.

Even though the people around the Wind Chasing Arrow were not Yi Yun’s target, they felt their heart palpitate. It was as if the arrow was pointed at their eyebrows. Some of the weaker cultivators was burned by the pure Yang energy. They felt their blood stream go into chaos. Their hair even started emitting a burnt smell. Their skin was also cracked from the dryness.

With hot waves rushing about, it met without an opposition. The arrow shot out by Yi Yun clashed without any gaudy display with the lightning encrusted sword of Shentu Nantian.

Boom!

After a tremendous explosion, it was as if the world momentarily went silent.

From this intense energy collision, the Wind Chasing Arrow shattered into countless numbers of fragments!

The Wind Chasing Arrow was, after all, an ordinary arrow. It could not withstand such a powerful impact. However, even though it was shattered, the fragments still carried the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow’s energy. This energy remained without any dissipation. With indomitable momentum, they shot straight forward!

The force shot out as it expanded out in all directions.

Everyone’s eyes were flooded with a golden color. Their ears were filled with the roaring of thunder. Those who were weaker had the energy enter their bodies, causing injuries to their meridians!

Deng! Deng! Deng!

Yi Yun retreated with more than ten steps. His blood was surging and turbulent. A strand of blood seeped out from the corner of his mouth.

Shentu Nantian’s cultivation level was, after all, deeper than his own. The lightning sword Qi that erupted after he used the Lightning Spirit came with a sovereign aura. It was unstoppable.

After using all his strength to pull the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow open, Yi Yun no longer had much Yuan Qi left to withstand the force with. This was a result in the gap between their cultivation levels.

As for Shentu Nantian, he similarly retreated greatly from the clash. He knew the power from that strike would definitely injure Yi Yun heavily. That was an attack not any Dao Seed realm warrior could withstand, what more Yi Yun who was at the early stages of the Dao Seed realm.

However, after retreating by more than a hundred feet, the confidence in his smile froze suddenly. He watched helplessly as the golden fragments were shooting out from the explosive storm like flaming meteors!

Despite the explosive storm being so violent, it did not change the trajectories of the fragments in any way. They shot at him at an incredulous speed!

In a split second, Shentu Nantian bit the tip of his tongue and forcefully twisted his body. However, the speed of the fragments was too terrifying! They were so fast that they were silent!

Cha!

His protective Yuan Qi was torn apart like paper. Although Shentu Nantian had forcefully avoided having his vitals hit, the golden beam still pierced straight through his left arm and shoulder!

Hundreds to thousands of fine fragments brought along with them blood mixed with minced meat out of Shentu Nantian’s back!

Abruptly, Shentu Nantian’s face turn as pale as paper!

What bow was this? Even with the arrow shattering, it could still have such terrifying power!?

527 - : An Indomitable Arrow

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shentu Nantian’s left shoulder had already turned into a bloody mess. The numerous minute fragments had extremely destructive powers with the support of the pure Yang energy. Even though Shentu Nantian’s body was tempered, it had become riddled with holes like a bee’s hive.

At the instant Shentu Nantian landed on the ground, he ate a medicinal pill. At the same time, purple lightning was circling around his left shoulder. The lightning streams was stimulating Shentu Nantian’s flesh and blood, letting it regenerate continuously.

“Using lightning to heal?”

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun was quite surprised, but he immediately understood. Although lightning was the master of destruction, it too had the ability to give life. In primordial periods, when the world was just formed, there was no life in the world. There were only erupting volcanoes with high temperatures and endless lightning.

The lightning struck the ancient seas, forming the most primeval tiny organisms.

By using lightning to heal, it meant that Shentu Nantian’s understanding of lightning laws had reached the point of both life and death. This attainment far exceeded people his own age.

“To think that he can use lightning to heal. No wonder Shentu Nantian can become famous in the Tian Yuan world, with no rival in the same cultivation realm as him.”

The elites present were all able to discern it. Seeing the way Shentu Nantian healed himself, they also understood the profoundness in it.

However, it was the same Shentu Nantian, who had profound insight into the laws as well as being unrivaled amongst people at his own cultivation realm, that had been pierced by Yi Yun with an arrow, giving him such a severe injury.

Was this something a sixteen or seventeen year old could do? Was this something a warrior at the early stages of the Dao Seed realm could do?

Just thinking of Yi Yun’s age and cultivation level made many of the elites here want to commit suicide. It was too frustrating!

“Maybe, Yi Yun has already reached an abstruse realm… All of you know that back when the stone pillar evaluated us, there were six rankings. If we include ‘failed to meet the mark’ as one of the rankings, there were seven! For us to be able to stand here, including Shentu Nantian, we just managed to obtain the rank of ‘Knight’ that barely made the mark. There are still five other rankings above that. The top ‘Sage’, ’Shura’ and ‘Canonized God’ which no one obtained, it is hard to imagine what sort of realm they are… ”

“If a ‘Sage’ level person were to fight Shentu Nantian, what would the fight be like? What if it was a ‘Shura’ or ‘Canonized God’? Maybe Shentu Nantian would be killed instantly?”

In the crowd, a cultivator suddenly said this. When everyone heard this they were shocked, and no one spoke again.

They were all elites and they had grown up in an environment where they were shrouded in countless amounts of halos. They believed that they were the most outstanding group of people from the Tian Yuan world, and they could become an Empyreal King, or maybe a person at the level of a Patriarch.

Previously, in the Great Empress mystic realm, they had also seen the ranking titles of “Sage”, “Shura” and “Canonized God”. They subconsciously believed that the people who could obtain such titles only existed in legends or imaginations.

But now, the truth was placed before them.

Yi Yun was probably one!

This was like giving them a sudden notice that they were at the bottom of the ladder of all the young elites. Above them were realms that were unattainable or incomprehensible to them. It was easy to understand what a blow this was to them.

“Do you think… that Yi Yun has already obtained the ranking of ‘Sage’ or ‘Shura’?” Someone asked in a disbelieving manner.

“Who knows…That realm has already exceeded our comprehension. Although it is quite frustrating, it has to be said that we are frogs in a well, and have always been… Hai!”

An elite sighed. Many of them could not accept this. They were already youths that stood at the peak of a generation. However, they were still far from a genius as decided by the ancient Great Empress. Was this a limitation of the times?

It was quite counterintuitive that the ancient times were more developed in martial arts than present times.

However, there were people who focused their eyes on Yi Yun after realizing this. Greed and killing intent hid deep in their eyes.

Although Yi Yun’s genius level was high, due to his cultivation level and age, he was not invincible. In his fight with Shentu Nantian, although Yi Yun had severely injured Shentu Nantian, he too had been injured.

For Yi Yun to have his present strength, it was very obvious that it was due to the ancient Great Empress’ heritage. And as a lone tiger was inferior to a pack of wolves, as long as they killed Yi Yun, this heritage would be theirs. When that happened, they could get rid of the limitations of their generation. This was a huge temptation for many of the cultivators present!

They were waiting for an opportunity to kill Yi Yun!

There were more and more people with such thoughts. They contacted each other through Yuan Qi transmissions, developing plans to kill Yi Yun.

Hence, the killing intent on the black stone square increased!

Lin Xiaodie, Lin Lang and company also felt the killing intent. They held their breaths and they were highly tensed. The situation had reached an extremely tense moment.

Once Yi Yun was defeated, they would be devoured by this bunch of people, without a single bone left!

When that happened, the younger generation of the Lin family would be completely wiped out. This would be a blow that the Lin family could hardly withstand.

Under this murderous veil, Shentu Nantian grinned. When he and Yi Yun revealed their strengths, he had already expected such an outcome. To reveal a treasure in public was extremely stupid.

Shentu Nantian looked at Yi Yun as if he was looking at a dead man.

As for Yi Yun, who was enveloped by the killing intent, he was only looking at Shentu Nantian in an indifferent manner. After the intense battle between the two of them, there was a short silence.

Shentu Nantian was healing, while Yi Yun was regulating his blood flow. With a single pull of the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow, it had expended Yi Yun’s energy greatly. If he had not mastered the first stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, just shooting that single arrow would have sucked all of his Yuan Qi!

“That bow… ”

Shentu Nantian stared at the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow. This was without a doubt a top grade treasure that Yi Yun had obtained from the Great Empress’ vault.

He noticed that Yi Yun had only pulled a tenth of the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow.

Just a tenth was already so terrifying! One had to know that when a bow was pulled open, the further back it was, the harder it was to pull open. It was hard to imagine what sort of power would arise from fully pulling open the bow.

If the bow was in his hands, the effects would not be so limited!

Upon thinking this, Shentu Nantian’s eyes turned red. So many treasures and inheritance had fallen into Yi Yun’s hands! This was really an unfair world!

With the sword in his hand tremble, Shentu Nantian roared. Instantaneously, lightning flashed and thunder cracked. A blinding electric snake illuminated the entire square. It opened its huge jaws, spat out bluish-purple lightning and bit at Yi Yun.

Shentu Nantian could tell that although the bow was powerful, Yi Yun was unable to pull the bow open many times with his cultivation level!

As long as Yi Yun did not pull that bow, he was not that afraid of Yi Yun.

The purple snake roared as more power erupted from Shentu Nantian. He wanted to take advantage of the period where Yi Yun could not pull the bow open a second time, and finish Yi Yun in one go!

The lightning power throughput and the illuminated black stone square made the entire atmosphere feel monstrous!

Shentu Nantian was covered in swimming electric snakes as if he was an embodiment of lightning! His sword made the hair of many people present stand. Their eyes could not directly look at the horrifying electric snake. It was as if a second look would burn their eyes.

Seeing the electric snake coming towards him, Yi Yun had a cold expression. With a flip of his right hand, the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow disappeared and an azure sword appeared.

Yi Yun recalled the disk array’s image of the scene where the Azure Yang Lord slashed at the black-armored warrior in his mind. Somehow, the sword in Yi Yun’s hand had already formed a spiritual compatibility with him.

After mastering the first stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, Yi Yun’s insight into that sword attack had deepened, and he could use it even more adeptly!

His slashed out with his sword which was surging with pure Yang energy. A golden pure Yang flame shot out from his sword, it was like a flying dragon that broke through the horizon.

The flames crackled as a heat wave surged! Behind Yi Yun, a Golden Crow with a wingspan of tens of meters roared. Like a vast ocean, pure Yang energy flooded the entire black stone square!

The cultivators present around Yi Yun felt their Qi activities locked on. They could not help it as their hair stood up. They instantly felt a strong sense of endangerment to their lives.

Some of the cultivators, who were only at the Yuan Foundation realm, even felt their heart beat stagnate. They could not breathe, and they could not help but feel like kneeling on the ground!

They were inexplicably horrified as this scene looked familiar. Back on the first level of the God Advent Tower, while they were browsing through the disk arrays, they had seen one of the disk arrays. In the disk array, there was an azure-clothed swordsman with a wine gourd. He had slashed a similar attack at a black-armored warrior!

A sword attack that could split the seas was something that none of them could face!

As it was so powerful, it was deeply engraved in their memories. Hence, when Yi Yun used this attack, they immediately realized that it was very similar to the sword attack that the azure-clothed swordsman had used!

Although it was far less powerful, it had the charm of that attack. It was similarly difficult for them to face it!

They suddenly recalled that back when everyone chose two disk arrays, Yi Yun had chosen the disk array with the azure-clothed swordsman! People believed that Yi Yun was biting more than he could chew, but now… with the appearance of this sword attack, they were made aware that Yi Yun… had really mastered that attack!

What was going on? A kid that came to the Tian Yuan world from the Backwater East had such terrifying talent?

In a split moment, Yi Yun’s sword attack had already clashed with Shentu Nantian’s lightning Yuan Qi!

Chi La!

It was as if the sky was forcefully split apart. Yi Yun’s sword attack was like a irresistible crushing force. It split the purple electric snake open from head to tail!

The sword Qi’s momentum was overwhelming as it carried vast amounts of pure Yang energy with it. It swirled the countless amounts of purple lightning and cleaved at Shentu Nantian’s head!

What!?

Shentu Nantian was greatly alarmed. He immediately bit his tongue tip. As he was rapidly retreating, he spat blood essence onto his sword. At the critical moment, he had burned his body’s essential blood and Qi.

He swiped his sword out to block, but he only felt an irresistible force surging over.

“Ding!”

With a clear snapping sound, the sword in Shentu Nantian’s hand broke!

Although he had managed to withstand the main blow of the sword attack, with the remnant sword Qi, Shentu Nantian’s protective Yuan Qi could no longer withstand it.

His body violently trembled as he spat out a mouthful of blood and his body flew.

528 - : Sword Qi Breaks the Void

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Boom!”

Shentu Nantian slammed heavily into the black stone pillar. Like the sword Qi, his meridians were shattering and he felt great pain in his back.

His mouth was covered in blood as his body slipped down the black stone pillar.

“Ding!”

With a clear sound, the sword blade that was snapped by Yi Yun crashed onto the ground at a fast rotating speed. However, the tiles of the black stone square were extremely strong, so when the blade hit the ground, it bounced up again. It spun on the ground at an extremely fast speed, causing many cultivators to retreat in shock. They were afraid that they would be injured by this broken blade that still had sword Qi within.

“Terrifying!”

Seeing this scene, many of the cultivators present felt their backs go cold. Yi Yun was too terrifying. The azure-clothed swordsman’s power was at least at the level of a peerless Great Emperor. Yi Yun had managed to master a peerless Great Emperor’s sword move from just using a disk array!?

The more profound a sword move was, the harder it was to learn. Many top swordsman in the Tian Yuan world would be stuck on gaining insight into a particular Sword Intent, eventually dying of regret.

However, only about half a year had passed since Yi Yun had obtained the disk array. Yi Yun still had to train in the God Advent Tower as well as cultivate the Great Empress’ inheritance. How much time could he have to gain insight on the sword move in the disk array video?

He could even master it under such circumstances?

Genius, freak! These terms were no longer sufficient in describing Yi Yun.

Some people even suspected that Yi Yun was a peerless Great Emperor reincarnated.

People focused their gazes on Yi Yun, and they noticed that his face had gone a lot paler. His breathing had also weakened.

Be it the arrow shot using the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow, or reproducing the Sword Intent from the Azure Yang Lord, it had greatly exhausted Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s current situation was that his cultivation level was unable to match his cultivation techniques and insights.

With a cultivation level at the early stages of the Dao Seed realm and even if his Yuan Foundation was ten times larger than typical warriors, he was still unable to support shooting an arrow using a divine weapon like the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow. Similarly, he could not completely demonstrate the Azure Yang Lord’s Sword Intent.

“Although he has been having the upper hand all this while, it seems… he can’t carry on anymore… ”

Many elites present naturally had great discernment. They noticed the change in Yi Yun’s breathing.

“He is after all limited by his cultivation level. He cannot sustain such a powerful move. Although Shentu Nantian cannot beat Yi Yun, he is after all a top warrior at the peak of the Dao Seed realm. Even a camel dying of hunger is bigger than a horse. If he can drag this out, Yi Yun will also be left half-dead. But… We probably cannot wait any longer… ”

In the crowd, a thin youth coldly stared at Yi Yun.

His skin was sallow and he looked sickly. His drooping eyes were cold and deep, and he looked like a venomous serpent hiding in the corner.

His name was Shentu Ya, and he was one of Shentu Nantian’s most powerful competitors in every aspect in the family clan.

Shentu Ya had previously met Yi Yun several times. His fame in the Shentu family clan was just second to Shentu Nantian. However, a lot of his fame came from his sinister character. He was bloodthirsty and he tended to kill people and their entire families. He did not leave anything or anyone alive.

Originally, Shentu Ya was hoping that Shentu Nantian and Yi Yun would both end up injured, allowing him to run away with the benefits. But from the current situation, once Shentu Nantian lost his ability to fight, they would be lacking the best shield. He did not have any confidence facing Yi Yun alone.

“Young Master, your intentions are?” Shentu Ya also had a follower who asked him through a Yuan Qi voice transmission.

“Let’s make our move first. Let’s kill Yi Yun just like we killed that Lin family disciple from before!” A cold beam flashed and disappeared in Shentu Ya’s eyes. Previously, he had killed a Lin family disciple, named Lin Ping. His corpse had been ejected out of the Great Empress mystic realm. It made the Elders of the Lin family extremely sad and angry. However, they never expected that Lin Ping was not killed by Shentu Nantian, but by Shentu Ya.

Shentu Ya very quickly informed a few cultivators through secret Yuan Qi voice transmissions. These cultivators had already shown intent on killing Yi Yun the moment they entered the Great Empress mystic realm.

They had vowed to fight the Lin family along with the Shentu family clan on penalty of a mental demon. Furthermore, Shentu Nantian had offered a reward before entering the mystic realm that whoever killed Yi Yun would obtain a reward.

These cultivators, who were tempted by the reward, had already made it clear that once Yi Yun was eliminated, they would make their moves on Yi Yun after he lost the protection from the Great Empress mystic realm’s rules. They would not spare any effort in leaving him without a body.

However, with the way the situation developed, what they had said originally became a massive joke.

These people, who had previously coveted the reward by killing Yi Yun, were extremely worried. They were now the weaklings. With the Great Empress mystic realm’s rules disappearing, the next thing that would happen was Yi Yun killing them!

If they asked themselves, in the event of them being in Yi Yun’s position, would they let themselves off? Revenge and treasures from killing them would be obtained, so who would let this chance go?

They were already out of choices.

Not only that, the ancient Great Empress’ inheritance that Yi Yun had obtained was an item of their dreams. That inheritance far exceeded this era. Once they obtained it, they would very likely become the sovereign of the Tian Yuan world. They would lead their family clans to become the number one family clan in the Tian Yuan world.

Who wouldn’t want such a great advantage?

As the saying goes, human beings die in pursuit of wealth and birds die in pursuit of food. With a peerless opportunity in front of them, even if they knew blood would spill as a result of them fighting for it, there was still no way for them to curb their greediness!

These people had already subconsciously touched their interspatial rings. They were waiting for an chance to make a sudden joint attack.

Amongst these cultivators, there were many who were at the Dao Seed realm. As Tian Yuan world elites, these Dao Seed realm warriors may be inferior to Shentu Nantian, but their power was still extraordinary. The power they had was very terrifying if they attacked together.

If possible, Shentu Ya greatly wished that he could kill both Shentu Nantian and Yi Yun together.

As many people were waiting for the opportunity to kill Yi Yun, the eyes of Shentu Nantian, who had burned his blood and Qi, had already gone red from bloodlust.

His body was encircled by lightning. It went from bluish-purple to a pale blood red color.

Blood red lightning contained the power of Qi and blood. It was mainly used to kill.

“Yi Yun, I want you to die!”

Shentu Nantian and Yi Yun were already mortal enemies. After being beaten up by Yi Yun, whose cultivation level and age was lower than him, it caused the pangs of jealousy in him to burn. His self-esteem had been severely damaged. Shentu Nantian was already going crazy from the numerous setbacks.

Shentu Nantian’s entire Yuan Qi was accompanied by the power of blood and the Qi shot up into the sky. It formed a rolling red cloud!

“Sacrificing my blood, refined into evil lightning, the sword of heavenly punishment. Kill!”

Shentu Nantian lifted his sword high up. All his blood was burning as the power of lightning of the world gathered on his sword!

Seeing this scene, Yi Yun flipped his right hand. The azure-colored sword disappeared, and it was replaced by a rusty broken sword.

At that moment, Yi Yun no longer cared about revealing the broken sword. Compared to the Great Empress’ inheritance, this broken sword was unable to attract anyone’s attention.

The hatred he had amassed was more than enough. It wasn’t lacking a broken sword.

529 - : A Hiding Venomous Serpent

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Crackle!”

Thunder roared as Shentu Nantian’s sword came slashing down. This was the ultimate sword move that he had gained insight on: Sword of Heavenly Punishment!

When the sword was swiped downwards, an endless sea of lightning appeared in front of Yi Yun!

The blood red divine lightning was like a blood pool from hell. It devoured everything!

Yi Yun remained calm. All sorts of images flashed past in his mind. The scene of the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner slashing that world-shocking attack, and the figure of Azure Yang Lord’s slashing that uninhibited and free sword attack.

Everything gathered onto Yi Yun’s sword!

The ancient broken sword seemed to open a gulf through space-time, with a blinding sword beam appearing out of the void from ancient times!

Swish!

Yi Yun’s sword beam slashed through the lightning sea!

At that moment, Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was completely drained. This battle with Shentu Nantian had already used Yi Yun’s essential life force power in order to continuously attack three consecutive times at full power!

The lightning was overwhelming, but the sword Qi was indomitable.

A broken sword had been stabbed straight at Shentu Nantian’s navel!

At that instant, Shentu Ya, who was like a hiding venomous serpent, roared out suddenly from the crowd. He drew out a white bone saber from his interspatial ring and leaped forward!

“Attack!”

Six Dao Seed realm warriors, including Shentu Ya, attacked!

They put all they had in them, and they had chosen to strike after Yi Yun attacked with all his strength!

Being covered by violent sword Qi, once Yi Yun succumbed to the sneak attack, he might receive a backlash from his own sword Qi. He could even be carved into pieces by the sword Qi!

The moment that Shentu Ya chose was extremely opportune and sinister.

Yuan Qi of all colors covered the horizon as complex laws came down on him like a torrent of rain!

Not far away, Lin Xiaodie, Lin Fengyue and company could not help but shout out in alarm. Who could withstand the combined attack of so many Dao Seed realm warriors?

Ignoring the fact that Yi Yun was fighting Shentu Nantian, and that he no longer had any strength left, even if he was prepared for the attack, he might not have been able to withstand it!

His life was on the line!

And at the same moment, Lin Xintong, who had been forbearing while standing beside Yi Yun, made her move!

Ever since Yi Yun and Shentu Nantian began fighting, no matter how intense the battle was, Lin Xintong had remained motionless and speechless. Now, she had finally made her move!

Lin Xintong flew up. With her white dress and sprawling dark hair, she looked like a fairy coming down to the mortal world from Heaven.

She brandished her sword and star-filled galactic arms fell from the Heavens. All the star light was gathered on Lin Xintong’s sword.

With frost Qi bursting forth, infinite snow and ice spread out in all directions with Lin Xintong as the center.

The black stone square was frozen. A frozen lotus quickly bloomed on the black stone. Those cultivators, who did not make a move, retreated in fear as they were attacked by the frost Qi.

Just the afterwind of the sword Qi had so much power. Not only was it extremely powerful, the sword Qi contained the nomological insights of Lin Xintong. The snow that covered the ground were interspersed with worldly laws!

With Lin Xintong attacking, that sword attack seemed to be the only thing that existed in the world. It stabbed straight at Shentu Ya.

“Huh!?”

Seeing Lin Xintong move, a cruel glimmer flashed in Shentu Ya’s eyes.

This woman is courting death!

He had not forgotten Lin Xintong, but he believed that with six Dao Seed realm warriors attacking together, they could destroy anyone!

“I’ll grant you your wish to die!”

Shentu Ya roared loudly. Behind him, a phantom image of a three-headed hell hound appeared. This was Shentu Ya’s Aspect Totem.

Legends said of a three-headed hell hound that guarded the gates to Hell. Besides being evil and bloodthirsty, it was extremely strong.

With the three-headed hell hound supporting him, a vast sea of blood suffused out of Shentu Ya’s saber beam. This saber beam and Aspect Totem seemed invincible.

However, the moment the blood red saber beam appeared, another infinite ice-blue galactic arm fell from the sky. It enshrouded it like a waterfall.

Extreme frost Yin, annihilation… emptiness… silence…

The three-headed hell hound was covered by the ice-blue galactic arm. Its body abruptly froze as it let out a forlorn cry. As for Shentu Ya’s saber beam, it slashed into the frost ice sea and was immediately frozen by the endless frost Qi. Blood froze, turning into red ice crystals.

His vitality was quickly depleting as ice began covering his skin. The expression on Shentu Ya’s face changed.

What!?

What was devouring him was not just simple frost Qi. This frost Qi was not only cold, it also devoured one’s life force!

His flame of life was quickly weakening and extinguished. His vitality was also quickly depleting. It was as if time had sped up hundreds of times. He could see himself aging rapidly with the naked eye.

“What sort of sword attack is this!?”

Shentu Ya wanted to shout, but his voice had already been devoured by the silent power. The moment the sound waves appeared, it disappeared in the power of silenceness, turning into nothingness.

With this, in a silent world with a ice-blue sea, it not only shrouded Shentu Ya, it also shrouded the five cultivators behind him.

Ice crystals had already formed on all of their bodies. As for their moves, they had been annihilated the moment they were immersed into that star-filled sword beam.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

Shentu Ya’s expression was frozen. A layer of ice completely covered him. His body was completely frozen.

His sallow and twisted face and his thin and slightly short body were forever sealed in ice!

The three-headed hell hound also disappeared with a pathetic cry. Lin Xintong appeared in front of the frozen Shentu Ya like a divine goddess.

“Cha!”

With a flash of a sword beam, no one saw where the sword had been stabbed. No blood was spilled, but Shentu Ya’s eyes turned dim quickly after the attack. His life had been removed and his dantian destroyed.

He’s dead!?

After many of the cultivators surrounding the black stone square saw this scene, their pupils constricted. They were appalled!

Two attacks. She had only used two attacks!

One to seal them in ice, and one to annihilate!

Shentu Ya, whose cultivation level was at the mid-stages of the Dao Seed realm, only ended up being instantly killed by Lin Xintong, whose cultivation level was the same as his!

This impact was too great on their hearts. Lin Xintong’s power was so terrifying that it led them into despair!

Not only Shentu Ya, the other five Dao Seed realm warriors behind him had been trapped by the Nine Nether frost Qi, with no way of escaping!

Their sword beams and laws vanished in front of the pure Yin laws that far exceeded theirs. They did not manage to do a thing.

Lin Xintong’s expression was cold. She brandished her sword as she flew towards the five Dao Seed realm warriors.

“Wait… Wait!”

The five Dao Seed realm warriors were scared ashened. At the moment of their deaths, no matter how bright their futures and lives would be, they would all turn to dust. The fear in their hearts were obvious!

“Don’t attack, I have something to say… ”

Someone shouted, but Lin Xintong’s sword heartlessly fell!

Lin Xintong’s hands were seldom stained with blood, but she was never benevolent. At that moment, there was only one word that needed to be used when facing these people, who had attempted to sneak up on Yi Yun, hoping to gain benefits — Kill!

“I’ll fight it out with you!”

Noticing that Lin Xintong was not going to spare them, a cultivator roared as he brandished his saber at Lin Xintong. However, his saber slashed into nothingness, as Lin Xintong’s figure seemed to pass through him like smoke.

His body suddenly froze. A sword had slashed through his body, but it did not leave a single wound. Not a single drop of blood flowed out. It was like a dove shuttling through smoke.

A strike without a mark had caused the cultivator’s eyes to lose its glimmer…

530 - : Starlight Befalls

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Peng!”

With a crisp sound, the dead Dao Seed realm warrior slammed to the ground. His corpse was quickly covered by ice, while Lin Xintong floated past him with her sword in hand.

The present scene made one’s heart palpitate. The large black stone square was covered in blue ice crystals. There was snow fluttering in the sky as well as the star-filled galactic arm that fell from the heavens.

Lin Xintong, who wore white from top to bottom, was like a fairy from heaven. Her body surged with blue Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Her clothes fluttered while she brandished her sword. Her sword beams were like water, each one killed a person!

What seemed like decisive killing instead gave one the feeling of an ethereal fairy. She stood there without any worldly cares, while her clear eyes were like an autumn lake.

Killing seemed like an indescribable beauty in her hands.

Such a Lin Xintong made no one have the courage to oppose her.

At this very moment, on the other side of the battlefield, a deafening boom was heard. It was as if a sun had risen from the black stone square.

The radiant sun beamed and it was surrounded by blood red lightning. It stood in contrast with the frost ice on the other side of the square.

One side was pure Yang flames, while the other side was pure Yin frost ice. The entire black stone square was split into two regions with Yin and Yang. It was a shocking scene.

Many cultivators were alarmed beyond words. The flames and lightning on the other side of the square naturally came from Yi Yun and Shentu Nantian’s battle.

In such a grand battle scene, having Yin and Yang stand completely opposite and close to each other was something never heard of before. What was most frightening was that when the two contrasting laws interweaved with one another, it did not result in a strong conflict amongst the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, it was a perfect coexistence.

This was simply unbelievable.

Yi Yun against Shentu Nantian was a battle of an early stage Dao Seed realm warrior against a peak Dao Seed realm warrior. Despite the nearly one huge realm in difference, it did not seem to bring any advantage to Shentu Nantian.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

The blood colored lightning was slashed apart in large tracts. The broken sword didn’t meet any resistance as it cut through the divine lightning!

Shentu Nantian’s eyes were blood red. The blood vessels on his face and neck protruded like earthworms.

“Yi Yun, you took too many things from me. I want you in pieces!”

At that moment, Shentu Nantian seemed to have fallen and it was like he was driven into a corner. From his hate, he was willing to sacrifice himself to kill Yi Yun!

With his blood essence burning, Shentu Nantian’s power of Qi and blood intensified. It was as if he was going to explode in the next moment.

Yi Yun’s gaze was awe-inspiring. He was also giving it his all!

This battle was to end the feud between him and Shentu Nantian!

Shentu Nantian had not only harmed Jiang Xiaorou previously, he had also pushed Yi Yun to the brink of a life and death crisis. He had seriously injured Yi Yun and caused Yi Yun to descend into despair a few times.

Furthermore, Shentu Nantian made Yi Yun feel a deep sense of powerlessness. That was a feeling of not being able to hold his fate in his hands due to his powerlessness. He could only helplessly watch as people, who were most important in his life, died for him. It was a tragedy that he experienced despite putting down his dignity to plead.

For a warrior, strength was everything. The weak were bound to suffer. Although Yi Yun knew this long ago, Shentu Nantian had made him understand it more deeply.

For today’s battle, Yi Yun did not want to rely on Lin Xintong in his fight against Shentu Nantian. He wanted to independently find his destiny through his own hands. There had to be a beginning and an end.

From the beginning in the Cloud Wilderness to him soaring in the Tai Ah Divine City, everything that Shentu Nantian made him experience… All of that was cast into that broken sword by Yi Yun.

Dao of the sword, following one’s heart, following one’s character!

The death blow came from his heart. In that sword, not only did it contain the insights that swordsmen had in martial arts and swords, it also included their nature and life.

When Yi Yun slashed out, what he presented was not only the insight of the Sword Dao charm he had gained from the disk array, it also included releasing all the thoughts in his heart.

Pure Yang energy that exploded like a flood merged with Yi Yun’s conscience, causing Yi Yun’s attack to reach an extreme point!

Resplendence spread to the horizons!

Crackle!

More and more of the blood colored lightning was slashed apart. The broken sword was unstoppable. Eventually, the entire lightning domain was completely split apart. Shentu Nantian’s lightning laws could no longer resist against Yi Yun.

“Ah!”

Shentu Nantian let out a loud cry. Behind him, his Aspect Totem phantom image appeared!

That azure-clothed phantom image, looked no different from Shentu Nantian himself. It conjured the lightning energy within the blood cloud and attacked Yi Yun!

However, Yi Yun was unmoved by this. His sword beam carried on without a single pause.

Chi La!

The broken sword had torn Shentu Nantian’s Aspect Totem phantom image apart! The azure-clothed Shentu Nantian’s body was twisting as it began to crack!

However, the broken sword’s momentum did not decrease as it stabbed directly towards Shentu Nantian’s heart!

Shentu Nantian’s lightning domain had been split apart, and even his Aspect Totem had been destroyed. He could only watch helplessly as Yi Yun’s sword came stabbing towards him. He was powerless to block it.

Pure Yang energy sealed space as Shentu Nantian’s Qi activities was locked on to. Without anywhere to hide, he stared widely as the broken sword was magnified infinitely in his eyes.

At that moment, time seemed to slow down. What was an extremely fast sword looked like it was still in Shentu Nantian’s eyes. He could even feel that the rust on the broken sword was left behind after blood dried…

Will my blood also become a part of the rust when it drips on to the sword?

Will my body be pierced through? Will my life also end with this sword?

Shentu Nantian found it incredulous. This scene looked surreal. It was like he was trapped in a mystic realm with his mental demons. He was experiencing everything like when he faced a mental demon-like Yi Yun.

How could this be!?

Shentu Nantian’s soul screamed.

He learned martial arts from a young age. His talent was heaven-defying. He had used up all the best resources the Shentu family clan had and he was labeled as the number one genius of the Shentu family clan in a millennial!

Ever since he perfected his cultivation technique, and reached the large success stage in his lightning laws, he had been nearly invincible against people in the same realm as him. He was famous throughout the Tian Yuan world.

He was hallowed in many aspects and he was extremely promising. How could such a brilliant and mighty him be killed by a young and unknown kid like Yi Yun?

Years ago, Yi Yun was just an ant in his eyes, someone who he could crush to death easily.

An ant could also kill him? How was this possible?

Yes! This was just a mental demon. It was an illusion from the beginning. Maybe it was another mental demon trial set by the Great Empress mystic realm.

“Mental demon! They must all be mental demons. I must not be disturbed by them. I must destroy the source of the mental demons by hacking the little bastard into thousands of pieces so as to completely destroy this mental demon! I… ”

Just as Shentu Nantian’s soul screamed, his soul’s voice stalled right there and then.

“Puah!”

The sound of a weapon piercing flesh could be heard. Shentu Nantian’s body became motionless. He felt his chest burning, as if a flame had surged within it. It was a burning pain.

He looked down and saw a rusty broken sword completely embedded in his chest.

Terrifying energy mixed with sharp sword beams pierced through Shentu Nantian’s chest, and gushed out from his back. Pure Yang Yuan Qi spewed out wantonly, bringing a faint blood mist along with it that spread out tens of meters. It was like a faint but transparent red waterfall.

Shentu Nantian grabbed the broken sword as Yi Yun’s figure was completely reflected in his pupils. Blood began to slowly flow out of the corner of his mouth…

He laughed bitterly.

His eyes were filled with despair, unwillingness, hatred and disbelief…

His hands slowly increased in strength. Shentu Nantian firmly seized Yi Yun’s sword. Blood spurted out of Shentu Nantian’s palm, but he did not seem to notice it. He was using all of his strength to grab the broken sword, to the point of the bones in his hands being sliced apart by the broken sword.

The bitter smile on his face became more intense, as it gradually turned into madness.

My era, the era that belonged to me… was ending just like that?

My throne, the throne of being the sovereign of the Tian Yuan world was being… destroyed just like that?

Shentu Nantian looked at Yi Yun. His eyes were completely filled with blood. In the last moments of his life, Shentu Nantian’s state of mind had been completely twisted and it went into madness!

“No!”

Shentu Nantian screamed out loudly. He was unwilling to accept the fact!

He had extreme ambition. He had desires that exceeded more people. He had the dedication to achieve it. He had reached the peak of his life through unscrupulous means, but now, all of it was being destroyed as blood gushed out!

Blood flowed out of the corners of Shentu Nantian’s eyes. His fingers, which had used too much strength, had been cut off by the broken sword!

He felt everything in his surroundings gradually fade away. Only the sound of his heart beating was extremely clear in his ears.

“Peng! Peng! Peng!”

Again and again, his heart thumped with great difficulty. Every beat made him experience the pain of a penetrated heart on the sword’s blade.

Yi Yun’s sword had already completely pierced through Shentu Nantian’s heart!

Yi Yun looked at Shentu Nantian with an indifferent look. He coldly said, “This is not your era. It has never been… ”

Shentu Nantian looked at Yi Yun viciously. His gaze looked like he wanted to eat Yi Yun’s flesh and drink Yi Yun’s blood.

“Little bastard… Back then, I… should have dismembered your heart… then for your sister… I would have… ”

Shentu Nantian was already having difficulties talking. His voice was trembling and staccato. Just as he was halfway in his speech…

“Boom!”

With an explosive sound, Yi Yun’s pure Yang Yuan Qi exploded. It moved along the broken sword and surged into Shentu Nantian’s body. It caused all his meridians to be destroyed. Even his dantian exploded. The martial Dao Seed that was buried deep in his dantian had cracked from the vibrations!

This meant that Shentu Nantian’s cultivation had been completely crippled!

With Yi Yun’s strength, crippling a dying person’s cultivation was nothing difficult.

Yi Yun suddenly pulled the broken sword out. With another bout of blood spewing out, nearly all of the blood in Shentu Nantian’s body had run dry.

Shentu Nantian violently shook and fell.

“Peng!”

Shentu Nantian crashed onto the black stone square like a dead dog. Behind him, blood drew a faint red line that spread on the warm black stone and onto the blue ice surface.

Shentu Nantian’s eyes were enraged. His breathing had not completely ceased. He was still resisting death with intense hatred and unwillingness. This was really what it meant to not be able to close his eyes at the hour of his death.

Yi Yun put his broken sword away and lightly landed in front of Shentu Nantian. Shentu Nantian’s enraged eyes could only see Yi Yun’s feet.

“The enmity between us has ended today.”

Yi Yun said this sentence lightly and no longer cared about the dying but undead Shentu Nantian. He turned around and left…

531 - : Ending the Feud

CKtalon  CKtalon

With his heart penetrated and blood running dry, and because Shentu Nantian had burned his blood essence desperately, now his flame of life was gradually extinguishing. His life had come to an end.

Shentu Nantian stared widely and deadly at the black stone ground. And those black stone tiles were the last thing in the world he saw…

As an unscrupulous man, who resolved to be the formidable ruler of the Tian Yuan world, he died with his ambition and immense hatred, unable to accept his death.

Despite how brilliant they were in life or how much destructive power they held, as long as martial arts practitioners died in a mystic realm, they would usually die horribly like a wild dog. This was probably the woe of being a warrior.

In Shentu Nantian’s surroundings, many cultivators witnessed Shentu Nantian’s death and fell into silence.

Shentu Nantian, a figure who had upstaged so many people in the Tian Yuan world, had died in the Great Empress mystic realm. He had died at the hands of Yi Yun.

A person at the early stages of the Dao Seed realm killing a genius at the peak of the Dao Seed realm. Yi Yun was now immensely terrifying. If he was given another thousand years, it was unimaginable what he would achieve!

Many people who had feuds with Yi Yun became nervous. Yi Yun would very likely take advantage of the situation to kill them.

After all, Yi Yun killing Shentu Nantian and obtaining the Great Empress’ inheritance was something not to be flaunted.

Just killing Shentu Nantian was not that much. The Lin family was not afraid of the Shentu family clan. It was at most a war. However, regarding the Great Empress’ inheritance, that was an extremely sensitive matter!

Once the news of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong obtaining the Great Empress’ inheritance was made known, the various family clans in the Tian Yuan world might attack Yi Yun and the Lin family. If that happened, Yi Yun was bound to die an ignominious death!

In this situation, would Yi Yun choose to kill them, in order to silence them?

At that moment, there were only about 5 disciples left from the Shentu family clan. Their hands were clammy as they were nervous to an extreme.

One of the Shentu family clan’s disciples had undertaken the trials together with Yi Yun. He was most afraid for he had previously repeatedly ridiculed Yi Yun. He had indicated that once Yi Yun was eliminated, Yi Yun would be horribly killed by him. He had even threatened to use a disk array to record the process of killing Yi Yun, so Shentu Nantian could enjoy it.

Just thinking of what he had done back then made his legs tremble.

Yi Yun looked at Shentu Nantian’s corpse. His perception deeply probed his dantian and soul. After confirming his death, he took out a red lotus seed from his interspatial ring and ate it.

Ever since he planted the red lotus in the fifth level of the God Advent Tower’s cultivation chamber, there would be no lack of red lotus seeds.

However, the red lotus was a treasure after all. It took an extremely long time to produce the lotus seeds. It required it to condensed a large amount of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, so the red lotus seeds were still very precious to Yi Yun.

However, the situation was now critical. In his battle with Shentu Nantian, Yi Yun had expended a lot of his energy. Under this situation, with him and Lin Xintong having the Great Empress’ inheritance, there were many cultivators present with unknown schemes. It was even possible that people would be gang up on them!

Other than that, there were two people with the Blood Moon symbol. It was unknown where they were as they had not appeared yet.

Yi Yun was very afraid of those two mysterious people.

Hence, Yi Yun made the decisive choice to eat a red lotus seed. After he consumed it, a surge of pure Yang energy arose from his dantian. The energy he expended was quickly replenished.

Using such a pure Yang-based treasure to supplement Yi Yun’s stamina, the effects under the additional of the the Purple Crystal’s help, could be described by heaven-defying.

Yi Yun scanned his surroundings. After breaking through to the Dao Seed realm, he could generally judge the strength of all the people present. These cultivators were the top figures from the various factions. A few of them may be inferior to Shentu Nantian, but they were not that far off.

Yi Yun’s gaze stopped for a short moment on a few people. If they joined forces, it would not be easy even if he and Lin Xintong fought together.

If the two of them killed all of them, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong would definitely have to expend a great deal of effort. At that moment, once the two mysterious people, who had disappeared, appeared, the consequences would be disastrous.

The atmosphere froze momentarily. After Lin Xintong killed the sneak attackers, she had returned beside Yi Yun. The two of them stood together, facing the crowd.

Not only Yi Yun and Lin Xintong felt the pressure, the other cultivators also felt an immense pressure!

Many people were considering if Yi Yun and Lin Xintong would silence them so as to protect the secret of them obtaining the Great Empress’ inheritance.

However, to the crowd, as long as Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were not mad, they would not do that. If they really killed everyone, how were they to explain it when they exited?

The forces behind them were all waiting outside the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance. If all of them died in there, and only the disciples from the Lin family came out, then anyone could tell that something was amiss. The Lin family was bound to be attacked en masse.

The situation became more and more complicated. And at that moment, a few Shentu family clan disciples began to secretly transmit their voices, “Everyone, what are you hesitating for? That Yi Yun does not have much stamina left. There’s only Lin Xintong left. If all of us attack, is there any grounds to fear a woman!?”

“There are so many treasures! They have received them all. As long as we kill them, we can leave all the treasures for you! And that chick, Lin Xintong. She has a pure Yin body. If you had obtained her Primordial Yin, it would have greatly benefit your cultivation. Now with her improved powers, she would be the best cultivation slave. With her beautiful looks and body, are you not tempted by such a supreme entity? There’s no need to mention the feeling of enjoying her, right?”

A few disciples of the Shentu family clan constantly tried bewitching the crowd.

However, none of the cultivators present acted rashly.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s opportunities may be tempting, but one had to have the bravery to obtain it. The powers Yi Yun displayed was already extremely terrifying, while Lin Xintong was even more unfathomable.

If it really came to blows, they had no confidence. Optimistic calculations would say that half of them would die. There was no way of knowing if they would win.

Furthermore, even after a Pyrrhic victory against Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, another bout of cruel killing would happen, and blood would flow like rivers after the Great Empress’ inheritance was obtained!

It was unknown if the final winner would survive after all the factions attack upon exiting the Great Empress mystic realm…

With so many people hesitating, the Shentu family clan’s disciples were increasingly worried, “Everyone, indecision invariably leads to trouble! With such an amazing opportunity in front of you, if you do not grasp it, you will definitely regret it in the future! That Yi Yun is no longer a threat after his battle with our young master! The amount of energy he has left is negligible, but if you give him enough time to recover, he might recover his peak combat power in a few hours. It would be too late if we decide to attack then!”

A few disciples of the Shentu family clan spared no effort to tempt the masses. As they transmitted their voices, they also paid attention to Yi Yun. They tried their best not to appear abnormal, however, at that moment, a sharp sound abruptly echoed!

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Red golden light beams pierced through the air and they moved at an inconceivable speed.

People retreated in terror, and the first to be hit were the disciples from the Shentu family clan. They only saw the golden light coming over, and they had no time to react.

In an instant, their minds went blank. The power and speed of the golden light far exceeded their realms.

“Peng! Peng! Peng!”

After a few consecutive explosive echoes, a few people was hit by the golden beams like immovable targets! They did not even have the time to issue a scream. Their bodies were sent flying backward by the immense power.

The reddish-gold light beams penetrated their bodies. On their backs, near the location of their hearts, a burst of blood rained out!

The blood rain was carried forth by the golden beams and they flew tens of meters away. It formed a red mist in the sky and it was immediately evaporated by the pure Yang flames!

“Ding Ding Ding!”

Four arrows had been shot as they were mercilessly nailed to the black stone pillar before exploding into pieces!

And a few people flew up high like broken sacks, before crashing heavily to the ground.

Blood filled the black stone square. Their bodies twitched and their faces were pale. They stared widely at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was standing more than a hundred feet away. He was dressed in azure-colored clothes. He held a bow in his left hand, with his hands by his side. He was expressionless, as if he had never moved.

The lives of the Shentu family clan disciples were rapidly dissipating. Before they died, their eyes were that of confusion. Were those arrows shot out by Yi Yun?

He had just had a huge battle with Shentu Nantian. Did he not expend a great deal of stamina… ?

Why… Why did he still have such terrifying power… ?

Until their deaths, these few Shentu family clan disciples still did not see the motions of Yi Yun shooting the arrows. Deep fear filled their hearts.

The azure-clothed youth before them was like a god of killing.

The disciples of the Shentu family clan breathed their last one after another. Yi Yun held the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow. The sharp blades on the two ends of the bow reflected a cold beam of light.

These Shentu family clan disciples were all Yuan Foundation realm warriors. The difference in strength between them and Yi Yun was great. Yi Yun just needed to use an extremely tiny amount of Yuan Qi to kill them instantly when shooting with the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow.

Murder at a speed that was like a sudden clap of thunder and which left no time for one to cover one’s ears made many cultivators’ faces turn ashen from fright. Just now, not only did all the disciples of the Shentu family clan that were killed not see Yi Yun shooting the arrows, the other cultivators who were below the Dao Seed realm also only saw golden beams. Then they saw the few people who were hit fly backward and what followed was a blood mist and Yuan Qi explosion.

This method of killing made many quiver in their minds!

This meant that Yi Yun could kill them in an instant. As long as they were below the Dao Seed realm, it did not matter how many of them there were!

Only those cultivators at the peak of the Dao Seed realm could maintain their calm under such circumstances.

They looked at each other as their faces went livid. Yi Yun had probably guessed what the Shentu family clan disciples were up to, or he might have never planned on leaving anyone from the Shentu family clan alive. They were not surprised that the Shentu family clan’s people were killed. However, for him to do it so cleanly made their hearts go cold.

Did he hold back during his intense battle with Shentu Nantian or did he have a frightening rate of recovery? He used less than five minutes to recover a considerable amount of stamina after killing Shentu Nantian?

No matter which one of them it was, they were equally terrifying.

He was decisive in his killing and his strength was astonishing. Such an opponent was daunting.

By doing this, Yi Yun not only killed the evildoing characters who were secretly scheming, he also created an absolute deterrent. Many warriors, who were at the peak of the Dao Seed realm, had also abandoned their intentions. None of them dared to make a move against Yi Yun anymore.

532 - : Shock and Awe

CKtalon  CKtalon

The atmosphere over the black stone square was tense. Yi Yun and Lin Xintong stood facing the crowd of cultivators. A few Dao Seed realm cultivators were standing at the forefront of the crowd.

“Xiaodie, Lin Lang, come over here.”

Lin Xintong said to Lin Xiaodie and company. The few of them walked over to behind Lin Xiaodie and waited in a prepared stance. From the numbers, it was completely out of proportion, comparing the both sides. However, just Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were enough to make everyone dread them.

At that moment, a tall, thin and tanned cultivator in his thirties walked forth from the crowd.

“Everyone, let us put down our weapons first. Let us negotiate!”

The lanky male’s cultivation level was also at the peak of the Dao Seed realm. His strength was not much worse than Shentu Nantian’s. What he said was somewhat convincing to the cultivators. After all, to those cultivators, who were weaker, a mighty figure like the lanky male was a protective charm against Yi Yun.

Yi Yun faltered slightly, but he did not put down the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow in his hand. He lightly said, “Just say whatever you want to say.”

The lanky man flashed a smile, as if he was using this method to lighten the atmosphere. “Young Master Yi, I almost never submit to others. I did not even submit to Shentu Nantian, but against you and Fairy Lin, I can only say that I am fully in awe and submission.”

“I have lived for thirty years and respect heroes the most and I admire outstanding people, especially the peerless figures written about in the ancient records. I have always yearned to be like them. As for you and Fairy Lin, it is insufficient to describe the two of you as a phoenix and dragon pair. In time to come, the both of you are very likely to become like those written about in ancient records!”

“Although I have to admit that I am very envious of the inheritance that you have obtained, and really wish to seize it through murder, but I need to have my life to actually obtain it, right? I also know that the both of you do not want the news of this to be spread. Once the Tian Yuan world knows that the Great Empress’ inheritance has been obtained by the two of you, it will be a disaster to both you and the Lin family.”

“However, if you were to silence us, that would not be an easy task either. Let’s ignore our strength, for even if you manage to kill all of us, when you exit the mystic realm, it would not be an easy task to account to the factions we belong to!”

The lanky male slowly said. This person was well versed in the art of speaking. His words had complimented Yi Yun and Lin Xintong in a subtle manner, so as to show a sign of good faith. At the same time, his words were frank and did not conceal any of his inner thoughts.

“Then?” Yi Yun asked in a deadpan manner.

The lanky man said, “What I want to say is that I do not plan on fighting for this opportunity. The Great Empress’ inheritance may be good, but it is not something that I am blessed to enjoy. It is a hot potato. Once blood lust blinds us all, a bloody brawl would be set off in just this mystic realm. There will be few survivors left. And once we leave, it will result in a greater massacre. It might result in rivers formed of blood. If my Xue family is unlucky, it might even be destroyed at that point!”

“What I said would be things you and Fairy Lin will face. I can only wish you good luck.”

“In the pugilistic world, warriors would encounter numerous enemies, however no one likes to constantly face enemies everywhere. To bury the hatchet and become friends would be the best outcome. Unfortunately, there are many times when friends will back stab each other, catching people off guard.”

“Young Master Yi has expended a great deal of Yuan Qi, so I believe that if a few of us at the peak of the Dao Seed realm were to join forces, we would be able to handle you. However, when Young Master Yi completely recovers, if you were to fight together with Fairy Lin, and sneak up on us, it is very likely that the few of us would die there and then.”

The lanky man’s words were reasonable. Yi Yun nodded slightly, “So, you mean?”

“What I want to say is that since we are having a truce, I suggest we sign a soul contract. Before leaving the Great Empress mystic realm, Young Master Yi and Fairy Lin are not allowed to attack us. At the same time, after we leave the Great Empress mystic realm, we would keep the fact of Young Master Yi obtaining the inheritance an absolute secret. How about it?”

This made Yi Yun think. This proposal could not be any better.

Yi Yun also did not want to begin a mass slaughter. As for keeping the Great Empress mystic realm’s news a secret, Yi Yun knew very well that this matter was not something that could be concealed.

The soul contract was not omnipotent. There were many methods the Elders of the large factions could use to crack a soul contract signed by juniors like them. The news of them obtaining the Great Empress’ inheritance would be leaked out sooner or later.

However, Yi Yun also did not count on staying alive by getting these people to keep the secret. After refining the Azure Yang Token and being able to freely enter the Great Empress mystic realm, Yi Yun already knew of another entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm. He and Lin Xintong could exit smoothly without any trouble.

Of course, the lanky man knew that there was no way of concealing the truth. The reason why he suggested this proposal was also to befriend Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

Just as he said, to befriend someone after burying the hatchet was the best outcome.

As long as the two did not die in the future, they would become peerless Great Emperors. If it was impossible to murder them to seize the treasures, then befriending them would be the second best outcome. It was also a consolatory result.

“Alright!” Yi Yun agreed.

As for the other cultivators, they had no rights to oppose. Without the lanky man’s support, they would very likely be killed if they refused.

“Let us sign the contract!”

As Yi Yun spoke, a faint beam fell from the sky towards the black stone square. It shrouded Shentu Nantian as well as the corpses of the other Shentu family clan disciples.

After these corpses were illuminated by the beam, they slowly turned transparent and then quickly disappeared.

Upon seeing this scene, everyone was momentarily stunned. They quickly understood that these corpses had been sent out.

In the Great Empress mystic realm, as long as one died, then one’s corpse would be sent out of the mystic realm. This was one of the Great Empress mystic realm’s rules.

With many of the mystic realm arrays failing, many of the rules were no longer in effect, but unexpectedly, this rule was still preserved.

However, Yi Yun was not surprised by this.

This was the rule that ensured the exit of the mystic realm, so naturally it could not disappear. Before the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit entered her slumber, she had likely, especially, left enough energy to support the mystic realm’s exiting rules. Without this rule, these cultivators would have been trapped in the mystic realm their entire lives.

If Yi Yun and Lin Xintong did not choose to finish traversing the extreme frost icy plains, then they would be trapped to death like the rest. Of course, the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit would not let that happen.

Many of them, not only Yi Yun, realized this. This made them heave a sigh of relief.

It seemed like as long as they waited, they would still be able to leave the Great Empress mystic realm. This was good news. They had suffered from being trapped in the God Advent Tower for half a year.

“We will probably be able to leave shortly.”

Many people had such thoughts. At that moment, Yi Yun waved to Lin Xiaodie and company as he transmitted his voice, “Follow me. Xintong and I have words to exhort you…”

…

At that moment, outside the Great Empress mystic realm, many of the Elders from the various large factions were still guarding the entrance of the mystic realm in the God Burial Abyss’s underwater turmoil.

Since their respective juniors entered the Great Empress mystic realm, they had been waiting here for more than ten months.

To these Elders who had lifespans of thousands to tens of thousands of years, ten months were like the time it took to snap one’s finger. They could pass through this time in one meditation sitting.

However, they had gone through tribulations in what was a short period of time. They had withstood a tremendous test.

About half a year ago, the God Burial Abyss had a sudden, abnormal change. Tens of thousands of kilometers away, deep in the whirlpool, a huge eye had appeared. The eye was frightening. It made anyone who saw it feel like their soul was being sucked in.

With the eye’s appearance, the eternal whirlpool’s suction power also crazily increased. It conjured a terrifying black storm on the seabed.

The Elders of the various large factions, who were high ranking figures in the Tian Yuan world, also struggled to withstand the storm. They were nearly sucked into the whirlpool.

Once they were sucked into the eternal whirlpool, then they were bound to die without a proper burial ground. Ever since ancient times, even peerless Great Emperors could not come out after entering the eternal whirlpool.

At the moment when the Elders of the large factions could no longer cope, out flew a phantom image of a pagoda from the Great Empress mystic realm. This gigantic pagoda pulled all the turbulent power in the surroundings and crashed down onto the eternal whirlpool.

It had forcefully halted the eye!

Despite the clash at this level happening tens of thousands of kilometers away, it still gave off immense pressure and created shockwaves that reached the high ranking figures of the Tian Yuan world. Many of them even received internal injuries.

Thankfully, from then on, the eternal whirlpool eased up. The eye disappeared and the pagoda phantom image was also no longer seen.

The power of the underwater storm had weakened so it was no longer as difficult to endure as before.

However, these Elders never expected that they would end up waiting for half a year after this. And yet, not a single cultivator had been sent out from the Great Empress mystic realm.

Such a long period of time far exceeded their initial expectations. It caused many of them to worry. Could some accident have happened after the mysterious eye appeared and the clash between the eye with the pagoda phantom image that stemmed from the Great Empress mystic realm? Could the juniors, still in the Great Empress mystic realm, have suffered unexpected consequences?

These young elites were geniuses that the various large factions had spent great amounts of resources to develop. They were the future hopes of these factions. If they met with an accident, then it would be an incalculable loss.

Many of the Elders of the large factions could not help but feel worried. Now, they were not hoping that their juniors would obtain anything amazing from the Great Empress mystic realm. All they wished for was for them to return safe and sound.

During this half year period, not a single Elder from these factions dared to leave. Without them to receive the juniors, the juniors would not be able to resist the terrible underwater storm.

As their waiting time increased, more and more people suspected that these juniors had been killed by that heaven shaking clash.

However, no one expected that on this day, the entrance of the Great Empress mystic realm suddenly had a disturbance. It was as if something was going to be sent out.

The sudden change made everyone light up after such a long period of inactivity.

“The mystic realm’s entrance has been activated. It looks like someone is coming out!” An elder stroked his beard and said joyfully.

Finally!

They had waited for so long, and finally someone were coming out.

Apparently, these juniors were still able to survive despite that terrible collision.

533 - : Compromise

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It has been more than half a year. I wonder, with them coming out this time, will it be the end of the trials?”

All of the Elders could not help but look forward to it. After undertaking such a great risk and waiting this close to the God Burial Abyss, it was time for them to reap the harvest.

The opportunities in the Great Empress mystic realm were no trifling matter. They did not expect for their own juniors to really gain the recognition of the Great Empress, but if their juniors could obtain just a tiny bit of the final inheritance, it would greatly benefit their family clans.

Under these circumstances, everyone held their hopes up. After all, their juniors had stayed so long in the mystic realm. Even if they did not obtain the best opportunities, it could not be that bad.

“I wonder if Tian’er will come out this time…”

On the Shentu family clan’s side, a broad-framed elderly person opened his resting eyes as he looked towards the entrance into the Great Empress mystic realm.

He was the Shentu family clan’s Grand Elder, Shentu Jue.

For the trials, the Shentu family clan had sent the most outstanding elites from their family. Shentu Nantian was the family’s best genius in a thousand years, so the most attention and expectations were given to him.

The returns the Shentu family clan would obtain in the Great Empress mystic realm depended on Shentu Nantian.

Beside the Shentu family clan’s Grand Elder, the Thousand Hand Granny’s old face was brimming with a complacent smile. Shentu Nantian was the Thousand Hand Granny’s direct descendant. In this world, quite a number of people will always think that their children were the best in the world. The Thousand Hand Granny was such a person. Besides, Shentu Nantian was indeed very outstanding. In the Thousand Hand Granny’s opinion, no one in the younger generation of the Tian Yuan world could surpass Shentu Nantian.

The Thousand Hand Granny said, “If the juniors coming out this time is the last batch, then Tian’er will definitely come out. However, if it is not the last batch, then Tian’er will definitely carry on remaining in the Great Empress mystic realm for the trials, until the final moment. With Tian’er’s abilities, although he might not obtain the final inheritance of the Great Empress, amongst all the cultivators who enter, Tian’er’s opportunities would likely be one of the best.”

“Once Tian’er comes out, the future of our Shentu family clan will become even more secure in the Tian Yuan world. The others will not even be able to envy us!” As the Thousand Hand Granny spoke, she glanced at the surrounding Elders from the various factions. She could not hide the superiority complex in her eyes.

Especially for the Lin family. She hated the Lin family to the bone. For this entry into the Great Empress mystic realm, she knew that Shentu Nantian had secretly arranged for all the Lin family disciples to be killed. Lin Ping, who had previously been killed, was just the appetizer.

Sensing the Thousand Hand Granny’s glance, Matriarch Lin’s expression turned sullen. Their gazes clash as if Yuan Qi had collided.

“Prepare to take in the corpses of your family’s disciples, as well as the corpse of that little bastard Yi Yun!” The Thousand Hand Granny sneered. With the conflict reaching such a point, she couldn’t even be bother to use a Yuan Qi transmission.

The words spoken by the Thousand Hand Granny was met with a cold beam from Matriarch Lin’s eyes. “Do not think that my Lin family does not dare to do anything to your Shentu family clan. If you really cross my bottom line, I will make your Shentu family clan’s blood flow like a river!”

Matriarch Lin’s words were sharp. She was already fully prepared. In the past ten months, she was constantly worried for Lin Xintong, as well as Yi Yun.

Shentu Nantian would definitely target Yi Yun in the mystic realm. Yi Yun, whose cultivation level was only at the Yuan Foundation realm, was easily threatened by the other juniors from the Shentu family clan, what more Shentu Nantian.

“Watch out. Be wary that they sneak up on us at the final moment!”

Elder Huowen and Elder Tianzhu transmitted their voices. The Lin family had occupied a corner far in the distance outside the God Burial Abyss. They maintained a distance from the Shentu family clan. Both sides were constantly wary against each other.

At that moment, the energy fluctuations of the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance became more intense. Suddenly, with a beam, a figure was ejected.

He wore an azure-colored shirt. There was a symbol embroidered on his back. It was the Shentu family clan’s emblem.

It was a Shentu family clan disciple!

“He is out!”

The eyes of a green-shirted Elder from the Shentu family clan lit up. He had already circulated his Yuan Qi and isolated the eternal whirlpool’s dreadful stormy currents. He was prepared to catch the Shentu family clan disciple, however as he was moving, he stopped abruptly. His expression completely froze up.

Other than the green-shirted elder, many important figures from the surrounding large factions were greatly shocked. Their eyesights were extraordinary, so the moment the figure appeared, everyone could see clearly the figure’s looks. He was like a broken sack that was thrown out. Although the Shentu family clan’s Elder had inhibited the storm, the seawater was still turbulent. However, the figure did not have the slightest struggle or motions in the sea.

He is dead!?

People immediately realized this. The person who was ejected was a corpse!

“Tianyue!”

The green-shirted elder held onto a body with no signs of life. He was completely stunned.

The deceased was named Shentu Tianyue. His talent amongst the younger generation of the Shentu family clan was extremely high. Although he was inferior to Shentu Nantian, he was still a favorite amongst a few of the family clan’s Grand Elders. During this Great Empress mystic realm expedition, Shentu Tianyue was expected to achieve great things. Even if he did not receive anything, he should not have died in the mystic realm.

A promising junior was dead…

How could that be?

The green-clothed elder was momentarily in denial. The Thousand Hand Granny’s expression had already turned extremely ugly. Her smile had been wiped off. She used a cold voice and said, “Do not worry. The mystic realm is fraught with dangers. To err is human. Tianyue’s death should be an accident. Our Shentu family clan have sent so many elites on this expedition. The others should have a pretty good harvest. If Tianyue knows of this in the netherworld, he would die in peace.”

The Thousand Hand Granny shook her head. She indicated for a law-enforcer of the Shentu family clan to use a coffin to keep Shentu Tianyue’s corpse. And at that moment, the entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm flicked once again.

A second figure was ejected.

This person was also dressed in the Shentu family clan’s uniform. The moment he appeared, the people from the Shentu family clan tensed up. They immediately used their perception to check his breathing. This check made their expressions have a greater change.

The second Shentu family clan disciple that was ejected was also a corpse!

“What is going on!?”

Amongst the crowd, flames seemed to burn in Shentu Jue’s eyes. With the two people consecutively ejected being from the Shentu family clan, and them being corpses, made it unusual!

“Let me see!”

With a flash of Shentu Jue’s body, he appeared beside the two corpses. With a simple probe, his face sunk. “Arrow wounds!!”

The two of them were killed by a bow and arrow.

There were still lingering Yuan Qi and nomological fluctuations in their wounds. This was definitely not deaths caused by the mystic realm’s machinery, but seemed like they were killed by a cultivator.

A cultivator who used a bow and arrow…

Shentu Jue began recalling who was the most likely person who could have kill their Shentu family clan’s disciples. Before he could come to a conclusion, another two figures were ejected from the mystic realm’s entrance. These two bodies were also corpses!

Up to now, not a single ejected person was alive!

This time, one of them was from the Shentu family clan, while the other was from the Li Fire Sect. It was a Dao Seed realm elite from the Li Fire Sect.

The expressions on the Elders from the Li Fire Sect turned ugly. It cost a great deal to nurture a Dao Seed realm genius. Losing one was a great loss for the Li Fire Sect.

“No wounds… How did he die?”

The Elders from the Li Fire Sect were also people with great knowledge. However, they could not instantly figure out how their disciple had died.

This Li Fire Sect Dao Seed realm genius had died under the hands of Lin Xintong. The move Lin Xintong used was derivative of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. Such a profound cultivation technique far exceeded the knowledge of the Li Fire Sect Elders.

Lin Xintong had killed them with a sword, but did not leave a sword wound. She had used pure Yin laws to extinguish their flames of life!

Four corpses had come out consecutively. As for the next person to be ejected by the mystic realm completely put the Shentu family clan’s Elders into a frenzy. This corpse was thin and from the sallow-skinned face, he was Shentu Ya, just second to Shentu Nantian amongst all the Shentu family clan’s younger generation!

“Even Ya has died?”

Shentu Jue’s protruding bony old face turned even more ferocious.

Shentu Ya’s abilities were undisputed. Besides, he was decisive in his killing and was cruel in his methods. Anyone would die first before Shentu Ya.

At this point, it was already very clear that someone had specifically targeted their Shentu family clan!

All of the Shentu family clan disciples had been killed in one blow!

Other than Shentu Ya, they all had arrow wounds.

Amongst all the cultivators who entered the Great Empress mystic realm, there were not many people who used a bow and arrow. Shentu Jue could only think of a few people.

As for the nomological fluctuations lingering in the corpses…

Shentu Jue carefully examined them as his wrinkles on his face became even more pronounced.

When warriors were killed, there would be residual nomological energy surrounding the wounds. It could remain for a short period of time. People with great attainments in the laws could even infer what the laws the murderer cultivated in. They could even deduce the level of insight the murder had in the laws. As such, they could eventually find the real murderer.

However, Shentu Jue was unable to figure it out instantly while facing these corpses.

The person who left these wounds had a terrifying insight into the laws. Just one strike caused the nomological energy to invade their dantian and organs. It caused their meridians and acupuncture points to be destroyed! Shentu Jue did not even understand what methods could do this.

“So powerful!”

The Elders from the other factions were also probing the corpses from afar. Since the deceased were not from their factions, they were just watching on with bemusement. Some even nonchalantly passed sarcastic remarks.

“This murderer sure is powerful. In my opinion, the murderer’s strength far exceeds the level of a junior. It is very likely that these people were killed at the same moment. Ze Ze! There was no way to resist the one hit deathblow. The difference in strength was too great.”

Many people discussed with a mocking attitude. When Shentu Jue heard this, he was like a brewing volcano that would erupt violently at any moment!

534 - : A Blow

CKtalon  CKtalon

Before entering the Great Empress mystic realm, the Shentu family clan had already formed an alliance with the other factions by signing a soul contract.

Now however, with the Shentu family clan’s juniors murdered, the Elders from the other factions felt a sense of schadenfreude. Firstly, this was because all the large factions in the Tian Yuan world were at odds against each other, be it openly or secretly. No one wanted the other to succeed. Secondly, back when the Shentu family clan sold the information to the Great Empress mystic realm, they had ripped off all of the other family clans, so there was some resentment in many of the family clans.

Up to now, it was still unknown if the value of the Great Empress mystic realm was worth what they paid.

Hence, with the Shentu family clan now in such a dire state, the other factions began to mock them as well as make sarcastic remarks. No one stood forward to show any empathy.

This made many Elders from the Shentu family clan become even angrier. They were on the brink of exploding.

At that moment, amongst the Shentu Elders, Thousand Hand Granny suddenly screamed. She pointed at the Lin family and viciously said, “It is them. It must be the little bastards from the Lin family who killed our people!”

There was no need to mention the vendetta between the Lin family and the Shentu family clan. In the Great Empress mystic realm, the faction that was most likely to target the Shentu family clan was the Lin family.

Although the other family clans did not have good relations with the Shentu family clan, they were still bound by the contract between them and the Shentu family clan. If they violated the contract, they would be punished by the soul contract. As such, it was unlikely that anyone of them would risk it to massacre the Shentu family clan’s disciples.

The most likely people to have done such a thing was the Lin family.

The four consecutive corpses, especially Shentu Ya’s death, were completely unacceptable for the Shentu family clan.

Upon hearing the Thousand Hand Granny’s words, the green-clothed elder, who had caught the corpse, looked coldly at the Lin family and said in a deep voice, “Lin Fengxian, my great grandson died in the mystic realm today, I want you to answer for it!”

Immediately, the atmosphere became tense. The Shentu family clan and the Lin family had been guarding against each other for the ten months they were near to the eternal whirlpool. The hostility accrued between them was too much. At that moment, it had reached an extremum and was about to break out at any moment.

When that happened, the clash between the two family clans in the Tian Yuan world was something the other factions would greatly desire.

On the Lin family side, Elder Tianzhu had already silently placed his hand on his sword’s hilt.

Matriarch Lin slowly scanned the faces of the Shentu family clan, and sneered, “Answer for it? You are speaking without any proof. To accuse my Lin family’s disciples of killing your disciples, yet you want me to answer for it?”

“Accuse? Hmph!” The Thousand Hand Granny’s shrill voice was ear-piercing. Her thin and old body was trembling from anger, “Other than the Lin family, who else could it be!?”

Thousand Hand Granny pointed to the arrow wound on one of the corpses. The corpse previously had a cultivation level at the peak of the Yuan Foundation realm, and was about to break into the Dao Seed realm. The Thousand Hand Granny had previously favored this junior, and wanted to nurture him to aid Shentu Nantian, but now, with him shot dead with an arrow, this hope had crumbled.

Matriarch Lin roared with laughter, “Why? Just because of a fatal arrow wound, you are suspecting us? Who knows if that underachieving disciple’s strength was so lacking that he could not withstand the difficulty in the Great Empress mystic realm, so he was killed by bow and arrow puppets! Furthermore, even if he was killed by someone with a bow and arrow, how can you be sure that it was done by my Lin family?”

When Matriarch Lin said these words, Thousand Hand Granny’s old face twitched. Her features were all twisted together. What Matriarch Lin said were the same words she had previously said.

More than half a year ago, when a Lin family junior, named Lin Ping was killed, the Thousand Hand Granny had used those words to mock the Lin family.

Now, Matriarch only changed a few words, and returned them intact. How could the Thousand Hand Granny not be incensed?

The Thousand Hand Granny’s face sank. She stretched out her right hand. On her dry hands that resembled chicken feet, a faint black glow suffused. Even her nails turned black. It was as if she was about to attack at the very next moment.

“Other than your Lin family, all the other family clans have signed a soul contract with the Shentu family clan. This arrow wound still has remnants of pure Yang laws. That is all positive proof! I know that the little bastard, Yi Yun, uses a bow and arrow. He also cultivates in the pure Yang laws!”

“Oh? From what you say, that indeed sounds reasonable.” Matriarch said in an agreeable fashion. She then said, “I will do a proper investigation. If that was really what happened, I will punish those aggressive juniors from the family clan. I will punish them by getting them to reflect on it for a hundred days as a way to answer to the Shentu family clan. But…”

When Matriarch said this, she suddenly switched gears and frowned, “I do not really understand. How can Yi Yun, a sixteen-year-old youth with a cultivation level at the mid stages of the Yuan Foundation realm kill three of your juniors with a bow and arrow, whose cultivation levels have reached as high as the Dao Seed realm?”

Matriarch Lin’s words were full of sarcasm, however she remained frowning, as if she was being extremely serious. For a moment, many of the Elders from the surrounding family clans could not help but laugh aloud.

Thousand Hand Granny’s face turned deep red. She was dying to tear Lin Fengxian’s body apart!

However, she also knew that once they made their move, it would reach an irremediable state. They and the Lin family would end up suffering serious losses, allowing others to benefit from it. If that happened, then no one would be able to receive the remaining few juniors of the Shentu family clan, including Shentu Nantian, when they came out of the mystic realm.

Be it the God Burial Abyss’s storm or the Elders from the other family clans, who were eyeing their treasures, any of them could cause Shentu Nantian to die on the spot.

“Lin Fengxian, do not be in a hurry! The corpses that come out might just be a small portion. Do you think that your Lin family will have no casualties? Do you think that little bastard, Yi Yun will be able to survive? What a joke! So, you do know that the little bastard is only at the mid-stages of the Yuan Foundation realm? Do you think he was able to kill three of our Shentu family clan disciples? Stop dreaming! For him to be able to leave those arrow wounds on our disciples, it must have been because he sneak attacked them when both sides were warring against each other!”

“Other than that little bitch, Lin Xintong, who else can you talk about in the Lin family? Even that little bitch, Lin Xintong, is far from a match against Tian’er! Wait and see. Wait till Tian’er sends out corpse after corpse of your Lin family disciples!”

The Thousand Hand Granny said these words with a deluge of killing intent. And as if answering the Thousand Hand Granny, the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance began to flash. Someone was going to be sent out again!

The Thousand Hand Granny jerked her head and looked towards the entrance. At that moment, she was dying to see the miserable outcomes of the Lin family disciples. She wanted to see Yi Yun torn apart. She wanted to see the scene of Lin Xintong being forcefully robbed of her Primordial Yin by Shentu Nantian before being killed.

At that moment, other than the Thousand Hand Granny, Matriarch Lin also turned nervous. She may have said those previous words with confidence, but deep in her heart, she was worried about the Lin family juniors. They were, after all, too young. It was a fact that they were no match for Shentu Nantian.

The beams of light around the entrance grew more intense. Finally, with a flash of white light, a bloody corpse with tattered clothes, and a pierced chest was ejected!

Compared to the previous four corpses, this corpse was clearly in a worse state.

The corpse’s hair was disheveled, concealing his looks. It prevented others from seeing who it was clearly. However, when it appeared, a rush of seawater pulled away the disheveled hair, finally revealing a face that was as pale as wax paper.

The expression on the face was ferocious and brought with it an intense indignant look. His facial features were all twisted together. He looked grim and terrible. It could be imagined that he died with a great deal of pain and resentment.

Upon seeing this face, the Elders from all factions felt their hearts miss a beat. Their faces were completely stunned.

Thousand Hand Granny was the one closest to the corpse. It was as if she had been struck by lightning. Her bent body seemed to turn rigid!

She stared wide eyed at the corpse. In her dirty yellow eyes, her pupils dilated. The blood vessels around her eyes appeared at a rapid pace. It caused both of her eyes to turn completely red!

Time seemed to stop as the corpse slowly drifted in the sea. The Thousand Hand Granny’s body was completely rigid. Her heart was pounding crazily. The blood vessels under her dried skin began to protrude up greatly. It made her thin body seem like there were worms crawling all under her skin.

“No——!”

The Thousand Hand Granny let out a shrill scream as her body violently trembled.

“Puah!”

A mouthful of blood sprayed out. A red blood arrow shot through the seawater under her infinite hatred!

Shentu Nantian, her most outstanding offspring, a once in a millennium genius, a son of Heaven who could become the head of the Shentu family clan in the future, had died in the Great Empress mystic realm!

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!”

The Thousand Hand Granny screamed out loudly as she carried Shentu Nantian’s corpse in her arms.

On the Shentu family clan’s side, Shentu Jue narrowed his eyes. Cruel beams of light shone out from his eyes!

Shentu Ya’s death was already unacceptable. Shentu Nantian’s death made the Shentu family clan go even crazier!

With a flash, Shentu Jue appeared beside Shentu Nantian’s body. With his hand stretched out, he said after a probe, “Sword wounds!”

He looked up and stared at the surrounding family clan Elders. He was like a wounded beast that was about to flare up at any moment.

Who killed Shentu Nantian?

No one knew.

At that moment, even the Lin family Elders were looking at each other, let alone the Shentu family clan.

Matriarch Lin’s face looked puzzled. With Shentu Nantian dead, it couldn’t really have been Yi Yun who killed him, right?

“It is unlikely that it was done by our Lin family. However, this matter is very strange. These corpses were clearly killed by someone and not due to the mystic realm’s trials. If it was not done by our Lin family disciples, who could it be?”

Elder Tianzhu muttered to himself. He did not have time to think, for at that moment, a few more corpses floated out from the Great Empress mystic realm!

These corpses all belonged to the Shentu family clan as well!

Upon seeing this scene, Shentu Jue’s body trembled.

Dead! They were all dead!

Other than those weaker disciples, who were eliminated more than half a year ago, the remaining strongest and most talented disciples of the Shentu family clan had now all died.

Completely wiped out!

Why was there such an outcome!?

535 - : Completely Wiped Out

CKtalon  CKtalon

With all their disciples completely dead and the murderer nowhere to be found, Shentu Jue’s anger was understandable.

There was no proof that showed that it was done by the Lin family either. There was no way Shentu Jue would believe that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had the ability to do so. However, Shentu Jue’s intuition told him that even if it was not done by the Lin family, it was largely related to the Lin family.

Or it could be said that with, such a huge matter happening, the Shentu family clan had to find an outlet to vent.

The Elders of the Shentu family clan stared at the Lin family. The atmosphere was suddenly tense as if a battle would break out soon.

Other than the Shentu family clan, there were three other large factions who had lost disciples. The people who had died were Dao Seed realm geniuses.

These factions could still accept the situation with just one or two disciples dead. As for the matter of pushing the blame onto the Lin family, they refused to believe that so many Dao Seed realm geniuses had been defeated by a few Lin family disciples.

The situation was impossible to resolve. At that moment, no one was speaking as they were wary of each other. A bloodbath could erupt at any moment.

Elder Tianzhu’s face turned sullen. Suddenly, he felt something like a voice transmission entered into his ears.

It was the voice transmission used by the Lin family in the event of an emergency.

Oh? What was this voice transmission?

…

While the Elders of the large factions were about to fight because of the appearance of a few corpses, the scene in the Great Empress mystic realm was completely different.

Yi Yun, Lin Xintong, and the other cultivators may have already talked it out, but Yi Yun knew that if he did not settle the matter of the Great Empress’ inheritance properly, it would result in a future bloodbath.

Yi Yun scanned all the cultivators present and said, “I know that all of you are concerned about the Great Empress inheritance I have. Unfortunately, the matter is different from your expectations. I did not obtain the complete inheritance of the Great Empress. I only obtained a cultivation technique named the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’.”

“The ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ is a core cultivation technique created by the ancient Great Empress. However, this cultivation technique is not something that anyone can cultivate. The ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ is a cultivation technique dealing with both Yin and Yang. It requires a man and woman to enter dual cultivation. The man has to have a perfect pure Yang body, while the woman has to have a perfect pure Yin body, even to the point of having natural Yin Meridians. In this world, to find two people with these physiques, who will be suitable for cultivating the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’, is probably not that easy.”

The cultivators present all cultivated different laws. As for those who focused on pure Yang laws and had a perfect pure Yang body, there was not a single one, let alone finding a woman suitable for them to duo cultivate with.

Many of them had already heard of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” from Shentu Nantian. From the fragmentary records in the ancient texts, their intuition told them that Yi Yun was speaking the truth.

“This kid is saying this to make the malicious people, who are coveting the Great Empress’ inheritance, give it up.”

The cultivators present could understand the secondary meaning behind Yi Yun’s words.

“Even if we cannot cultivate the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’, he probably has other things on him, as evidenced from that bow.”

The cultivators discussed amongst themselves with Yuan Qi transmissions. They did not believe that Yi Yun had only obtained a single “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

Although Yi Yun could not hear these discussions, he could roughly guess what they were saying. He said in a solemn but slow tone, “The ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ is extremely profound and intricate, so Lin Xintong and I have already decided to enter reclusive training in the Great Empress mystic realm for a hundred years in order to grasp it. In addition, Lin Xintong and I have decided to sever our relationship with the Lin family!”

When Yi Yun said these words, all the cultivators present were suddenly taken aback.

Reclusive training for a hundred years?

Sever their ties with the Lin family?

People looked at each other. Quite a number of people looked at Lin Xintong, but she remained silent. By doing so, she was silently agreeing with Yi Yun’s words.

This decision was a result of Yi Yun’s discussion with her through a Yuan Qi transmission.

Be it the so-called hundred years of reclusive training or the severance of their relations with the Lin family, it was all a form of protecting the Lin family.

Now, Lin Xintong and Yi Yun had killed more than ten elites. Furthermore, with them obtaining the Great Empress’ inheritance, their identities were extremely sensitive. It was inappropriate for them to return to the Lin family.

The Lin family was already a first class faction in the Tian Yuan world, but there were too many first class factions in the Tian Yuan world. It was nothing much to offend the Shentu family clan alone, but once several factions targeted them and jointly attacked the Lin family, the Lin family was very likely to end up being destroyed.

By severing their ties with the Lin family and entering reclusive training in the Great Empress mystic realm for a hundred years, this would make it meaningless for these family clans to attack the Lin family.

Of course, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong would not really remain in the Great Empress mystic realm for a hundred years of reclusive training. A warrior’s growth was not simply a result of reclusive training. It required lots of experiences that toughened them, as well as battles. Only through these did one’s outlook develop and expand. These things could not be obtained in a safe, reclusive environment.

Lin Xintong and Yi Yun were only using this method to tell people that they would not be returning to the Lin family for a few hundred years.

When people heard of Yi Yun’s decision, they also understand what he meant. Momentarily, everyone had different thoughts and intentions. If Lin Xintong and Yi Yun really went into hiding forever, they really could not do a thing.

And if their family clans really attacked the Lin family, it would be extremely unwise. Not only would they not gain any benefits, but once Yi Yun and Lin Xintong matured and became peerless Great Emperors, they would return and pay them back. When that happened, their factions would collapse as a result.

“This Yi Yun actually managed to think of such a method. He resolved what would have been a bloodbath against him without even batting an eyelid. However… since he is able to do so, does that mean that he can control the Great Empress mystic realm and is free to enter and leave whenever he wants?”

The man surnamed Xue figured this out from Yi Yun’s words. If that was the case, then wouldn’t the Great Empress mystic realm become like Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s garden? With the Great Empress mystic realm backing them, who could go against them?

They originally thought that once Lin Xintong and Yi Yun came out, there would be a battle for the inheritance, causing their deaths, but from the looks of it, it was unlikely that would happen.

The man surnamed Xue was jealous but helpless about it. For a sixteen-year-old person to kill Shentu Nantian, and a daughter of Heaven, who had unfathomable powers and was likely to become the second ancient Great Empress, as long as they had time, it was inconceivable to what extent they would mature into.

From the looks of it, it was better to befriend them now!

Many people had similar thoughts.

And at that moment, Yi Yun waved at Lin Xiaodie and company, and said, “Follow me.”

After saying that, Yi Yun walked towards the God Advent Tower. Lin Xiaodie and company looked at each other and naturally followed. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, they stepped into the God Advent Tower’s entrance, and following that, the entrance slowly closed.

Seeing this scene, the crowd were increasingly convinced that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had obtained the ability to control a portion of the arrays in the Great Empress mystic realm, allowing them free access.

This made many of them turn red with envy. Even though Yi Yun and Lin Xintong really had not obtained all the opportunities within the Great Empress mystic realm, with the passage of time, all of these things would likely end up in their hands anyway!

536 - : Resolution

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Lin Xiaodie, Lin Lang, Li Daoxuan, Lin Fengyue!”

In the God Advent Tower, Lin Xintong looked at the four Lin family elites. The four of them could tell that Lin Xintong was planning on leaving a message with them.

With Lin Xintong and Yi Yun temporarily leaving the Lin family, while it was out of having no other choice, they would lose the protection of the family clan and would have to roam the Tian Yuan world independently. Their cultivation resources and their own safety would depend on themselves. To Lin Xiaodie and company, this was quite a depressing matter.

Lin Xintong said, “Tomorrow, Yi Yun will send all of you out. In a while, pass the words I say about the trials to the family’s Elders in its entirety.

Lin Xintong began telling Lin Xiaodie everything that she and Yi Yun knew about the Blood Moon.

The God Advent Tower, Blood Moon as well as the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress from ancient times, and the battles they had with the mysterious enemy were matters that were exceedingly complicated. Lin Xintong and Yi Yun could hardly make any headway out of it. However, from projections, it was very likely that the Tian Yuan world would face an upheaval in the future.

Like the rising wind that forebodes the coming storm, every time there was an upheaval in the Tian Yuan world, it would cause the collapse and shuffling of the existing factions, giving rise to new factions.

If this upheaval was drastic enough, it was unknown if the Lin family could survive it.

There would be a higher chance of victory if they made preparations early.

When Lin Lang and company heard what Lin Xintong had to say, they were aghast. There was a mysterious organization that was plotting against the Great Empress mystic realm in this world?

Previously, they had never heard of such an organization in the Tian Yuan world. For a long time, although the large factions like the Lin family and the Shentu family clan could not be considered the best in the Tian Yuan world, they were at least top-class factions.

However, from the looks of it, the Lin family was far from close to such a faction.

How could such a faction exist with such obscurity in the Tian Yuan world for such a long period of time without their knowledge?

“But…How are we to send out the information?”

In the Great Empress mystic realm, with Lin Xintong and Yi Yun’s strength, they were naturally safe. However, things would be completely different once they left the mystic realm. The soul contract that bound the juniors was not something they could rely on with the Elders from the various factions coming into play.

“Yi Yun will naturally send you out. The Great Empress mystic realm’s exit is not only limited to the one by the eternal whirlpool. However, you have to swear that you are not going to tell the location to anyone.”

While saying that, Lin Xintong glanced at Yi Yun, who gave an approving nod.

Lin Fengyue and company may be on their side, but Yi Yun could not completely trust them. The Great Empress mystic realm had a lot of exits. The exit location, which Yi Yun was sending them to, was the least concealed one. As for the other exits, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong would keep them close to their hearts. That will be the path they would use to leave the Great Empress mystic realm. If other factions set up an ambush at the aforementioned exit in the future, the consequences would be disastrous.

In the next couple of hours, Yi Yun, Lin Xintong, Lin Fengyue and company separately entered their meditation. Later on, Yi Yun activated the Azure Yang Token, causing a door of light to open in the God Advent Tower.

This door of light directly led out of the Great Empress mystic realm.

“Go and diligently cultivate. In the future, take care of the Lin family and Matriarch Lin.” Lin Xintong exhorted them as Lin Xiaodie and company nodded. They then took a large stride through the door of light.

With a flash of white light, they felt like the space around them was tearing. The next moment, they had arrived above a vast sea.

This sea had seawater that was light red in color. It was the color of blood mixed with water. The water surface was calm like red jade. There was not even an inkling of a wave.

The surroundings were lacking in Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Looking around, there was endless red sea that extended thousands of kilometers out. There was not a single piece of land.

“It is the Untraversable Sea.”

Lin Fengyue said. The Tian Yuan world was surrounded by the Untraversable Sea that even Great Emperors could not cross. They had been sent to a spot above the Untraversable Sea. There was no way to get their bearings. If they were too far from land, their situation would be extremely horrible.

Thankfully, they had their family clan’s emergency voice transmission tokens. This token was a magic item that was refined by spending a sizable amount of resources. It was never used unless the situation was critical.

For this Great Empress mystic realm expedition, all the core disciples of the Lin family were given such emergency tokens. All they needed to transmit their voices across a distance of the Tian Yuan world was to crush the token. It would also allow for the Lin family elders to locate them.

The plan after Lin Xintong sent them out was to use the emergency voice transmission token to inform the Lin family.

With important issues at stake, Lin Xiaodie and the three others crushed a voice transmission token and used their thoughts to send a message out, along with a Lin family passphrase.

“Lin Xintong and Yi Yun had already obtained a portion of the Great Empress’ inheritance. They are safe, so do not be worried. The other cultivators will be sent out of the Great Empress mystic realm shortly. As the matter is sensitive, which could result in disputes, we beseech all Elders to leave the God Burial Abyss so as to avoid any bloodshed. After sending us back to the family clan, we have something important to report.”

Near the God Burial Abyss, Elder Tianzhu, Elder Huowen and Matriarch Lin received the emergency message simultaneously. All three were momentarily stunned.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had obtained a portion of the Great Empress’ inheritance!?

Instantly, all three of them exchanges glances. They could see shock and pleasant surprise glistening in each other’s eyes. None of them expected for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to succeed. Didn’t this also mean that there was a possibility of Lin Xintong being cured of her naturally terminated meridians?

Once females with naturally terminated meridians had their meridians join up, they were bound to skyrocket, becoming a peerless Great Empress. Furthermore, with Lin Xintong obtaining the Great Empress’ inheritance, it would be impossible to imagine what sorts of achievements she would attain in the future.

However, great danger accompanied great opportunities!

The question now was if the Lin family had requisite fated luck and heritage to nurture a peerless Great Empress.

The slightest mistake could cause the Great Empress’ maturation process to fail, leading to her death. And if that happened, the entire Lin family would be accompany her in death.

“We are returning to our family clan.”

Elder Tianzhu transmitted his voice. Several Lin family Elders were still puzzled. Why were they leaving without receiving Lin Xintong and company?

“Let us go!”

While speaking, Elders Tianzhu and Huowen had already begun to retreat. The other Elders could only follow with their heads filled with questions.

Previously, the Shentu family clan was confronting the Lin family. When they saw the Lin family retreating, they were also momentarily stunned. What was the Lin family doing?

“Are they afraid to fight? So they are escaping?”

A Shentu family clan Elder said in astonishment. However, it was obvious after some thought. Were they abandoning their younger generation?

While the Shentu family clan were confused over the situation, they watched on as the Lin family withdrew tens of kilometers away. With that, the upper echelons of the Lin family began moving extremely quickly, and once the eternal whirlpool’s pressure lessened, they boarded a spirit airship, leaving the area at full speed.

Even up to the point of everyone in the Lin family disappearing beyond their perception, the upper echelons of the Shentu family clan were still in a dazed state.

“What are they really doing?”

The Shentu family clan’s Elders looked at each other. Shentu Jue’s expression was extremely sullen. He did not believe the upper echelons of the Lin family were cowards. They would not abandon their juniors because of the fear of a fight.

However, no matter how he pondered over the matter, he could not understand the reason behind the Lin family’s actions.

As for chasing after the Lin family, that would be a joke. They did not have the ability to beat the Lin family to begin with. If they chased after the Lin family hastily without being aware of the situation, they might enter an ambush. Furthermore, with so many family clans and factions eyeing them, chasing after the Lin family could result in irreparable consequences.

“What do we do now…” An Elder asked.

The other factions were still waiting in order to receive their faction’s juniors. With the Shentu family clan’s juniors all dead, were they going to wait here foolishly?

The Elder’s question pricked Shentu Jue where it hurt. He did not even know how he was to explain their family clan’s utter failure. Was he to say that their family clan’s elites had entered the mystic realm to search for treasures, yet returned dead without a single treasure?

“Lin family!”

Shentu Jue clenched his thin and wide palm into a fist. His nails lodged deep into his palm. He had to investigate to the bottom of this matter!

“We will stay guard here. When the cultivators from the other factions exit, I will ask them how Tian’er died!”

Shentu Jue did not believe that the reason behind the complete wipe out of their juniors was solely attributed to the Lin family.

The Lin family juniors definitely did not have such strength, but even so, this matter definitely involved the Lin family.

Maybe it was a sneak attack, or maybe they had taken advantage of the situation when the Shentu family clan disciples were in peril. It could even be some evil scheme!

537 - : Family Clan Voice Transmission

CKtalon  CKtalon

The large whirlpool at the God Burial Abyss was timeless. More than half a year ago, the God Burial Abyss had returned to a calm state after the appearance of the gigantic eye. In it, one could see eternity and a darkness that made one despair. It gave off the feeling that it would devour everything in existence.

Another month had passed since the Lin family left the God Burial Abyss.

During this past month, the Elders from the various large factions waited anxiously. They feared that their wait would be met with the same outcome as the Shentu family clan, where piles of corpses would appear.

Only on this day did the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance sparkle once again, as if the entrance was opening once again.

“Finally, it is ending!”

The Elders from the various large family clans looked up. They had finally arrived at the moment of their harvest after waiting for nearly a year.

The strobing light beams increased in intensity, and finally a red beam flashed. Two figures were ejected out of the Great Empress mystic realm.

The legendary figures of the Tian Yuan world that were lying in wait looked carefully at the figures, but their expressions had a drastic change. The two people who came out looked extremely hideous!

They were dressed in tattered gray robes and their hair, which resembled weeds, had thinned to the point of having slightly more than ten strands of hair. The flesh on their faces were already in a state of decay. Their skin was failing as they emitted the same smell as rotting corpses.

The two looked like they had crawled out of coffins.

“Who are you!?”

Facing these two living zombies who suddenly appeared, all the legendary figures of the Tian Yuan world were on high alert. From their looks, they did not look like cultivators who had entered the Great Empress mystic realm. However, since they came out from the mystic realm, could they be monsters from within it?

“Their bodies seem to have died, but their spirits are still alive. It is unimaginable that they can still power these two bodies that have nearly lost all life. If a normal person had such a body, they would have been long dead.”

A legendary figure from a faction said. He noticed that on each of the people’s tattered gray robes, a red crescent was embroidered.

Although their robes were tattered, the two crescents remained as red as fresh blood. It was quite a stunning sight.

“It is the Laws of Time…”

Said an elderly person whose hair and eyebrows were already snow white. This person had a high cultivation level, and also had a good understanding of the nomological properties of Time.

The Laws of Time were extremely profound. Amongst the martial heritage in the Tian Yuan world, there were few who focused their analysis on the Laws of Time. Those who could gain insight into the mysteries of Time were always extremely gifted geniuses.

“Laws of Time?”

Many people looked at the white-browed elder puzzledly.

“These two people have traces of the Laws of Time on them. If I am not wrong, they have previously been trapped inside a time seal. In the seal, time moves at a rapid pace. It may be a few short months outside, but inside, they would have experienced tens of thousands of years. This made their bodies rapidly age and their bodies rot. This is a cruel way of killing someone after mastering the Laws of Time. As the people who succumb to the Laws of Time will experience tens of thousands of years of solitude, with them eventually dying of age, this entire experience is enough to make a person collapse and lose their sanity.”

“For them to still survive without dying from a mental breakdown is fascinating!”

If they had become like that due to the Laws of Time, then it was possible that they were once young trial-takers!

A trial-taker in this state was equivalent to being crippled, but many Elders were worried that they belonged to their own family clan. Hence, they began to focus on their clothes, so as to infer their origin.

However, the gray robe with blood red crescents embroidered on it clearly did not belong to any of the factions among them.

Where did they come from? Did the Shentu family clan invite others to the Great Empress mystic realm’s trials?

Many people paid attention to the expressions of the Shentu family clan Elders, but from their lost looks, clearly they did not know a thing about these two unknown figures.

“Can you understand what I say? Who are you?”

Shentu Jue asked. His voice was infused with Yuan Qi, which made it very powerful. Any typical junior would feel their blood circulation speed up as they were unable to withstand the power from Shentu Jue’s voice.

Shentu Jue was using such a method to exert pressure on the two living zombies. However, the two remained oblivious to his voice. Their dark eyes, which lacked any life, seemed to cause the hearts of people to palpitate.

“Do you know this person? Tell me how he died!”

Shentu Jue pointed to Shentu Nantian’s corpse. Although a month had passed, Shentu Nantian had a powerful cultivation level, and with the protection of relics and drugs, his body showed no signs of decay. In fact, it looked like it was bustling with life.

In Shentu Jue’s point of view, just the Lin family alone did not have the ability to kill Shentu Nantian. As for the other factions, as they had signed a soul contract with the Shentu family clan, they would not have harmed Shentu Nantian.

So, these two living zombies that suddenly appeared, were the most suspicious ones!

After the two gray-robed people looked at Shentu Nantian’s corpse, their eyeballs suddenly moved. In their sunken and dried eye sockets, their bloodshot eyeballs moved in a strange way. It felt like they were incapacitated zombies who had suddenly come to life.

Although the people present were legends of the Tian Yuan world, they were also horrified when they saw the two living zombies.

Without a word, the two gray-robed people suddenly walked towards Shentu Jue. To be precise, they drifted over.

The surging waterflow in God Burial Abyss’s whirlpool did not seem to affect them. The two gray-robed people did not seem to make any other unnecessary movement, but drift forward in an upright manner. They moved completely like ghosts.

Shentu Jue was after all a Grand Elder of the Shentu family clan. He had seen all sorts of bizarre scenes so with a sullen face, he remained silent as his perception locked onto the two gray-robed men.

Only when the two gray-robed men closed the distance with Shentu Jue did people realize that they were not charging towards Shentu Jue, but Shentu Nantian!

The two of them had already appeared before the dead Shentu Nantian.

“Corpse…. I want….”

One of the gray-robed men spoke. His voice was hoarse and unpleasant to the ears. It sounded like a dying nightbird.

“What!?”

Upon hearing that they wanted Shentu Nantian’s corpse, Thousand Hand Granny jumped to stand before Shentu Nantian’s corpse like a reflex, “Both of you are courting death!”

The two gray-robed men remained silent. One of them suddenly shot out a black beam of light. Shentu Jue used his Yuan Qi to wrap the black beam and stopped it.

Focusing on it, it was a black jade slip. On the jade slip was a complex “Alliance” word.

By sinking his perception into it, Shentu Jue immediately knew what it was.

“Martial Alliance’s relic jade slip?”

In the Tian Yuan world, there were many top class factions. These factions would risk bloodshed to vie for wonderlands and resources. To obtain an advantage in these wars, some factions would ally amongst themselves, forming an alliance.

And amongst them, the largest and most important alliance was the Martial Alliance in the center of the Tian Yuan world.

To dare name themselves the Martial Alliance without any euphemistic words proved the strength of the alliance.

The Martial Alliance usually only accepted sects, seldom family clans. In the Alliance, they had a standardized currency of desolate bone relics and elixirs. As for the relic jade slip, it recorded the number of relics one possessed.

With the relic jade slip in hand, one could exchange for a corresponding number of relics according to the relic jade slip at the Martial Alliance headquarters.

This black relic jade slip was enough to exchange for ten 8th grade relics or one 9th grade relic.

The value of a 9th grade relic was extremely large. In the Martial Alliance relic vault, one could even find 9th grade relics that could extend the lifespan of a warrior by a tiny bit!

This was a great temptation for Shentu Jue.

To extend a Great Emperor’s lifespan by a few decades was an impressive feat.

Shentu Jue was immediately tempted. He valued Shentu Nantian mostly as a result of his own interest and not because of emotions. Shentu Nantian was already dead, so his corpse was of no value to Shentu Jue. It was definitely a good deal to use his corpse to exchange for a 9th grade relic from the Martial Alliance.

The two mysterious people were too generous to exchange a 9th grade relic for a Dao Seed realm junior’s corpse. This made them appear even more mysterious.

“What do you want the corpse for? Are you planning on possessing it?”

The bodies of the two gray-robed men were already dead. Only their minds were alive, so for them to cure themselves, the only method available for them was possession. A perfectly preserved genius’ corpse that still maintained a hint of vitality was most suitable.

Hearing that Shentu Jue was already moved, the expression on Thousand Hand Granny’s face changed. Her status was far lower than Shentu Jue’s, so she was completely powerless to prevent him from doing so.

One of the gray-robed men nodded in a wooden fashion. With a flick of his finger, the black jade slip entered Shentu Jue’s hand.

After scanning it with his perception to ensure the authenticity of the black jade slip, Shentu Jue was in a good mood. He handed Shentu Nantian’s corpse over to the two living zombies.

The two people grabbed Shentu Nantian with their nearly-rotten hands. One of them pinched Shentu Nantian’s chin and opened his mouth.

The two living zombies looked grim. Even if a coward had died, just being grabbed by them could cause him to come back to life from fright.

The living zombie, who pinched open Shentu Nantian’s jaw, began to emit a plume of black gas from his body. This black gas was accompanied by the stench of a rotting corpse. The expansive seawater was not enough to insulate people from that disgusting smell.

This black gas slowly seeped into Shentu Nantian’s skin as Shentu Nantian’s body was slowly being possessed.

“It’s a Yin specter!”

Most of the legendary people of the Tian Yuan world present were knowledgeable. They recognized that the two living zombies’ souls had been refined into Yin specters.

Yin specters were no longer human. They carried on surviving in a half-human and half-ghost form. A benefit of this was that it allowed for them to live even longer, and to the point of existing without a body.

The swarthy youth that had his body destroyed by the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit was also a Yin specter. He had previously tried to sneak up on Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

“So they are Yin specters. No wonder they can remain alive even with their bodies rotting. Shentu Nantian’s corpse will become the new vessel for these Yin specters.”

538 - : The Blood Moon Duo

CKtalon  CKtalon

As they watched these two living zombies grab Shentu Nantian, they began to feel pity for him. What was once a proud son of Heaven had succumbed to such a state where even his corpse could not rest in peace. His body had been exchanged by Shentu Jue for his own interests. It was quite sorrowful.

However, the world of warriors was cruel. To survive in the pugilistic world, it was necessary for them to abide to the rules.

As Shentu Nantian’s corpse had more and more influx of the black gas, his skin began to turn into a strange, blood red color. The redness increased in saturation until it covered all of his body.

The living zombie, which was emitting the black gas, knew that the time had come when he saw this. He began the final steps of the possession.

The two mysterious people had entered the Great Empress mystic realm to help the swarthy youth plot against the God Advent Tower. However, the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit had activated the ancient Great Empress’ power, repelling the gigantic eye hidden within God Burial Abyss. Only then did she regain control of the God Advent Tower.

As a result, the two mysterious men and the swarthy youth had lost their protection.

The final outcome had the swarthy youth’s body destroyed by the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit. His soul was also severely damaged before he was eventually killed by Yi Yun.

As for the two of them, their situation had been even worse. Before the Item Spirit entered her slumber, she had used the God Advent Tower’s restrictions to trap the two of them in a time seal so as to destroy them. However, it was unexpected that they would last to the point of the God Advent Tower losing all of its energy without dying.

Now, the bodies of the two of them was in a state of decay and on the verge of collapse. They were in an urgent need to change bodies, or else their Yin specter would slowly be drained of their spiritual energy, leading to their deaths.

After the black gas was fully emitted, the rotting body lost its final support and began to disintegrate. Its eyebrows had completely decayed, leaving only two dark eye sockets behind.

At the same time, Shentu Nantian, who had been possessed, slowly opened his eyes. There was a glimmer of light in his eyes.

However, the glimmer in these eyes was completely different from Shentu Nantian’s. It was one that was evil and sinister. It also meant that Shentu Nantian’s body had a new owner.

The revived “Shentu Nantian” clenched his fists as he tried to adapt to the new body.

There was a gaping hole in Shentu Nantian’s chest as his heart had been pierced through. However, he looked at it with a grim expression as if he did not mind at all.

The surrounding legendary figures of the Tian Yuan world could not help but gulp. What sort of figures were these zombie-like people? They could use such a heavily injured body after possession?

However, considering that they survived with bodies that were previously in an extremely rotten state, which were no different from a buried corpse, Shentu Nantian’s body with a pierced heart was much better.

“That woman!”

“Shentu Nantian” grit his teeth as he looked at the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance. Intense killing intent burned in his eyes. He had been trapped by the Item Spirit for tens of thousands of years, so his hatred for the Item Spirit was imaginable.

“Alright, it is over. We need to return and report this. The Great Empress’ inheritance has been inherited by that boy and girl. This matter is of great importance so we need to let the Divine Master know as soon as possible.”

The other living zombie used his Yuan Qi to transmit his voice. After he finished speaking, he chose another young elite’s corpse that had previously been killed by Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

The deceased was at the Dao Seed realm. Although his talent was inferior to Shentu Nantian, the mysterious person could only make do with it due to extenuating circumstances.

He paid a sufficient price to buy the corpse and began the second round of possession.

The crowd present looked at each other. No one stopped them, including Shentu Jue. Although he originally suspected that Shentu Nantian’s death had something to do with these two living zombies, he did not plan to pursue the matter, for these two people were too strange. They gave him an ominous feeling.

The appearance of the two people and the gigantic eye that had appeared in the middle of God Burial Abyss, had cast a dark cloud over their hearts.

While the second mysterious person was finishing his possession process, no one knew that within the body of “Shentu Nantian”, a wisp of black colored energy was silently rising from within “Shentu Nantian”‘s dantian, and followed his broken meridians upwards.

This black colored energy was like a winding small snake. It silently swam towards the soul sea of “Shentu Nantian”.

The soul sea was where the Yin specter resided…

This silent black energy remained undetectable. It had already been lurking in Shentu Nantian’s body for a while. Previously, none of the Empyreal King Elders of the Shentu family clan were able to discover its presence.

However, if Yi Yun was here, he would be able to discover this black energy immediately.

It was the evil energy which Yi Yun had planted in Shentu Nantian’s body a year and a half ago!

This energy was extremely strange. Back at the relic trial, if not for Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal energy vision, he would not have been able to extract it from the Great Empress relic.

The evil energy back then had not matured. With the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun could easily control it.

Yi Yun had planted this evil energy in Shentu Nantian’s body purely out of evil intent. He wanted Shentu Nantian to suffer as well as shorten his lifespan.

Later on, in the Great Empress mystic realm, when Yi Yun met Shentu Nantian, he once again tried controlling the evil energy with the Purple Crystal. It still remained viable.

Later one, when Shentu Nantian was killed by Yi Yun, Yi Yun no longer focused on the evil energy within Shentu Nantian’s body.

Yi Yun did not realize anything special about that energy. After all, it had only survived in the Great Empress relic. And the Great Empress relic was refined by the Shentu family clan according to the Great Empress recipe. It was unlikely that the evil energy would be extremely powerful, no matter how highly ranked the recipe was.

However, the fact was that one of the bones, amongst the materials used by the Shentu family clan to refine the Great Empress relic, came from the Great Empress mystic realm…

The Shentu family clan did not know that this black looking and half-decayed bone, which was placed beside the Great Empress recipe, was a mysterious, ancient evil bone…

At that moment, “Shentu Nantian” was watching his companion taking possession of the corpse. He was standing guard.

All of a sudden, he felt a faint chill. This chill made his heart skip a beat. He focused and tried to probe for the origin of the chill with his perception. However… He failed to detect anything. The chill had already disappeared, as if it had never existed.

“Shentu Nantian” frowned. His probe was to no avail, so he could only explain it away as him not adapting well to the new body.

After all, he was extremely weak due to the severe injuries caused by the time seal and him possessing a new body. He lacked the ability to detect the attack of the evil energy.

This evil energy silently entered where his soul resided. Its body began to split up into numerous thin filaments as it took root inside the soul sea, as it began to slowly grow.

It was like a sprouting seed. It was still very weak, but before long, it would be able to devour everything within the soul sea…

539 - : The Evil Transformation

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Great Empress mystic realm trial lasted for a full year before it finally came to an end.

However, all of that no longer had anything to do with Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. They did not intend on exiting to begin with.

At that moment, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were standing on a white jade staircase. In front of them, there was a heavy ancient door.

The door was made of some unknown cast metal. The surface was covered with elaborate patterns and engravings.

The left side of the door had a carving of a Radiant Sun, and on the right, there was a Frost Moon carving.

This door was the entrance to the sixth level of the God Advent Tower.

It was also the last level. As for what was inside, Yi Yun had no idea.

“I can’t open it.”

In front of the door, Yi Yun shook his head. Despite having the Azure Yang Token in hand, he couldn’t open the door.

Standing beside him, Lin Xintong looked at the two engravings on the door carefully. She gently reached out her fingers and swiped her fingertips across the carvings.

After a while, Lin Xintong said, “The surface of the door has an array embedded on it. This array is also the door’s lock. Maybe it requires for us to cooperate in order to open it.”

Lin Xintong’s words caught Yi Yun’s attention. He focused and touched the Radiant Sun on the left side of the door with his palm.

The Radiant Sun engraving was quite similar to the Radiant Sun picture of the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”. Of course, the profoundness was on a much deeper level.

When he sank his perception into the Radiant Sun engraving, Yi Yun slowly came into contact with the array’s core. He too began to understand the principles behind it.

The Radiant Sun and Frost Moon array needed to be injected with pure Yang and pure Yin energy to power it. Only then would the array activate, opening the door to the sixth level of the God Advent Tower.

From the looks of it, access to the first five levels of the God Advent Tower could be obtained through tests. Only the sixth level was different. It probably required one to cultivate the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” up to a certain realm before entry was allowed…

With a slight hesitation, Yi Yun tried injecting his energy into the Radiant Sun engraving.

As for Lin Xintong, she took the hint and also placed her hand on the Frost Moon engraving.

They placed one hand on the array, while they used the other to hold hands.

Their minds were one, with Yin and Yang complementing each other.

Pure Yang and pure Yin energy surged into the door. The ancient patterns were lit up one by one.

Momentarily, the ancient bronzed color door began to vibrant with flowing light. The two engravings, the Radiant Sun and the Frost Moon seemed to come to life. In the world of the engravings, it seemed like shadows were cast, as if it became a real world. As the Radiant Sun appeared, plumes of cloud began to fill the sky. When the Frost Moon rose, it brought a vast star-filled sky with it…

Alternating scenes of Yin and Yang appeared one after another until 70-80% of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s Yuan Qi was drained. Sweat began to appear on their foreheads, however, the door door remained tightly sealed. It did not look like it had any intentions of opening.

Finally… when the two ran out of energy, with their Yuan Qi depleted, the splendid light figures that had surrounded them disappeared. The shiny array patterns also began to darken. The white jade staircase returned to darkness, as if nothing had happened.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong looked each other in the eye. They were helpless. Lin Xintong sighed and shook her head, “We are still far from the mark. Our strength is far from enough to open the door.”

“Indeed… ”

Yi Yun stopped the outflow of pure Yang energy and he was somewhat indignant.

What was in the sixth level of the God Advent Tower? If he could really open it, he might obtain a few means to protect himself against the upcoming upheaval of the Tian Yuan world…

…

While Yi Yun was looking at dejectedly the door to the sixth level of the God Advent Tower, about hundred a millions kilometers away, another similar scene was happening. There was a long staircase, and a figure was slowly moving up the staircase…

It was a vast piece of land. In the middle of it, there was a large and magnificent altar. This altar was completely black and it was thousands of feet high. The altar’s stone pillars were not smooth, they were completely covered in bumps of various sizes. The bigger ones looked like winding dragons, while the small ones were like the fingers of a baby.

These bumps were not just for decoration, they were bones that were casted into the altar.

From the countless numbers of bones, there was the aura of nomological energy. They were not ordinary bones, they were bones of powerful desolate beasts, or even bones of mighty figures from ancient times.

This was an altar built from divine bones!

In the middle of the altar, there was a long and straight staircase. The staircase emitted a red glow, as if it had been washed by blood.

The staircase led from the peak of the altar to the bottom. It was like a red waterfall that loomed downwards.

A woman’s figure was slowly walking up the staircase as she headed to the top of the altar…

Around the woman and the altar, there were countless numbers of desolate beast gathered on the land. They were all witnessing this scene quietly.

Amongst these desolate beasts, the large ones were like mountains, while the small ones were like ants. There seemed like an infinite number of them as they reached far into the horizon. Even to the ends of one vision, one could only see a dark mass up to the fog in the distance. The figures of the desolate beasts were also hidden in the fog. There was no end to be found…

None of the desolate beasts, be they powerful primordial true spirits or weak common poultry, made a single sound. They were gathered around the divine bone altar in veneration. Their expressions were that of awe, and each one of them appeared like statues.

The woman was wearing a thick, dark red long robe. She held a cane that was about half an average person’s height. The cane was like a sharp pick. The top was slightly rough, while the other end was thin and sharp. On the top of the cane, there were unknown Totems engraved on it.

The long cape hanged down behind the woman and she was dragging it up the staircase. There were Ancient Totems engraved on the cape. The woman’s black hair cascaded down like a waterfall behind her, covering the Totems…

The woman had a slender physique. Her lips were bright red and in the middle of her eyebrows, there were three cinnabar dots. They seemed to add an indescribable quality to the woman’s bearing.

She was like a blooming red plum in the world. Her magnificence was suffocating.

When looking at her, it could not help but make people think of the poem, “The blood that stains the lands avowed, how doth it rival the crimson dot by thy brows…”

This woman was not even in her twenties, and her name was…

Jiang Xiaorou.

She was the most important woman in Yi Yun’s life. Even if Yi Yun was standing here, he might be lost in thought for a moment before he could recognize his elder sister…

Compared to that simple and elegant girl in the Cloud Wilderness, the present Jiang Xiaorou seems to have been reborn.

Step after step, she climbed the staircase to the altar. In the middle of the girl’s eyebrows, there was an inexplicable hint of melancholy. Her steps also began to subconsciously slow down…

Amongst the countless numbers of the desolate beasts, there stood people from the Desolate race. They too were also watching this scene.

“Rou’er, why the hesitation?”

At that moment, a kind and pleasant voice rang in the girl’s ears.

“Nothing, Mother.”

Jiang Xiaorou shook her head gently. The melancholy in the middle of her eyebrows disappeared as a result. She clenched her cane and continued to walk to the top of the divine bone altar.

540 - : Cinnabar Dots

CKtalon  CKtalon

As Jiang Xiaorou moved up the divine bone altar, a red line appeared in the horizon far away. Following that, red clouds that stretched out several thousand kilometers came sweeping over. It dyed the sky above the vast lands blood red in color.

As the red clouds hung low, it was as if sticky blood would start to pour down to the ground at any moment.

In the vast lands of the Divine Wilderness, there was a woman with an unsurpassed beauty of a generation. She was watching this scene from afar.

This woman’s looks were somewhat similar to Jiang Xiaorou’s. It lacked the childlike air Jiang Xiaorou had, but that had been replaced by matureness and charm.

She was watching Jiang Xiaorou’s every move and expression. She found it impossible to relax in her heart.

Throughout the endless years, the Desolate race had always been burdened by a mission that belonged to the Desolate race. However, their bloodline had slowly weakened ever since ancient times.

Now, the power they possessed was not much compared to the past.

Every generation’s Desolate King needed to obtain the recognition of the divine bone altar, which would allow their ancient bloodline to be awakened on the altar.

However, not every generation’s Desolate King would meet with success. There were occurrences of Desolate Kings failing to meet the mark in the history of the Desolate race.

Furthermore, even if the bloodline was awakened, there was the early stages of awakening, the deep stages of awakening, as well as a perfect awakening. There were various degrees to the awakening, and there were drastic differences between them.

With the passage of time, few of the Desolate Kings for the past tens of millions of years had been able to awaken their ancient bloodline to the deep stages. It might have been a result of the divine bone altar losing its energy.

The woman with an unsurpassed beauty of a generation had previously awakened the deep stages of her ancient bloodline several thousand years ago. When she commanded the Desolate race, not only was she powerful, she was also open-minded and receptive. She was a good leader.

However, two decades ago, an incident caused her to become severely injured. Her bloodline was weakened as a result.

Although she remained powerful, the weakened bloodline made it difficult for her to spur the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit. And this was extremely crucial to the Desolate race.

In this turbulent world, their Desolate race’s inheritance could be destroyed overnight if they lacked the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit.

For Jiang Xiaorou to climb onto the divine bone altar in order to attempt to awaken her bloodline before she was twenty years of age, was something never before seen in the past millions of years.

As Jiang Xiaorou was too young, it would be almost impossible for her to complete this ritual. However, she had to do so, because… they no longer had time left.

“Queen, what are you worrying about?”

Beside the woman, an azure-clothed youth said respectfully. This youth was the one who led his army to the Tai Ah Divine City, as well the one who saved Yi Yun, the Shepherd Boy.

The woman nodded slightly and sighed, “Worried… as well as feeling my heart ache. Rou’er was separated from me at a young age. She grew up alone in the Cloud Wilderness, enduring the hardships of mortals. It was not easy for us to reunite, but I was not able to show her much love. Instead, I have to make her walk up the divine bone altar, so as to carry the mission of our Desolate race on her shoulders…”

“Rou’er’s body is special. Although she is young, it is possible for her to gain the recognition of the Sacred Spirit and become a real Desolate Queen… However… the pain in her heart makes me unable to feel at ease.”

Upon hearing the woman’s words, the Shepherd Boy hesitated slightly. After weighing his words, he said, “Queen, may Qing Kui venture a bold statement. That youth named Yi Yun has continuously remained on the Successor’s mind… Because of their separation, it has made the Successor seldom smile…”

“Yi Yun…” The woman gasped but slowly shook her head. “Over the past few years, I have also gotten to know some of his actions. If he was an ordinary person, it would not be a problem to bring him here to reunite with Rou’er. However, this child is no ordinary person. We cannot expect for him to remain in the Desolate race quietly and properly. Besides, in the future, he is bound to stir up a storm. I have a hunch that if Rou’er has too much to do with him, it will attract a scourge.”

“Back then, I was bent on traveling alone which resulted in me suffering. This is also something I am worried about. Some things are difficult to avoid even if you make an active decision to avoid them…”

As the woman spoke, she gave a faint sigh. And at that moment, Jiang Xiaorou had already walked to the top of the divine bone altar.

She raised the Totem bone cane high up with her hands. Her wide sleeves drooped down, revealing Jiang Xiaorou’s white porcelain arm. It was extremely eye-catching against the contrasting red clouds that covered the sky.

Wu Wu…

A violent wind began to blow.

Jiang Xiaorou’s long hair and red long robe were thrashing in the wind. A vast, bleak and chilly aura spread throughout the lands almost instantly.

All the desolate beasts began to tremble when the aura surged over. They seemed to sense something as they began to raise their heads and looked towards the divine bone altar.

The sound of the wind grew louder and more intense, to the point that it sounded like thunder!

The red clouds were rolling in the wind, like a tidal surge.

In the midst of the violent blowing winds, the cape behind the girl, who stood alone high up on the altar, fluttered. Her cane was pointing to the skies, as if she was commanding the wind to fly her up to the clouds.

Hum Hum Hum!

The endless red clouds that extended several thousand kilometers began gathering towards the divine bone altar under Jiang Xiaorou’s actions. A giant red swirl formed in the clouds as endless Power of Desolates gathered within. It formed a violent energy sea!

At that moment, Jiang Xiaorou’s expression was solemn. Her blood seemed to turn hot from an ancient beckoning.

The three cinnabar dots on her forehead began to glow. High in the air, the red clouds converged and began to swirl down towards her. From afar, it looked like there was a huge funnel in the sky.

Jiang Xiaorou began to sing the ancient scriptures of the Desolate race. The syllables of the scripture condensed into bright red textual charms. They circled the surroundings. The Totem on the bone cane in her hands seemed to have come alive as well.

Finally, the red clouds in the sky fell onto Jiang Xiaorou’s slim body. Her pretty but small figure was engulfed by the endless color of blood. The bleak and chilly aura that flooded Heaven and Earth also changed as an awful atmosphere replaced it

The desolate beasts surrounding the divine bone altar could not help but lower their already prostrated bodies. They seemed terrified by this immense power.

The red clouds became more and more turbulent. In contrast, Jiang Xiaorou’s figure was weak and slender like a feather.

Despite being shrouded by endless amounts of Power of Desolates, Jiang Xiaorou’s eyes still remained very calm.

At that moment, she was neither thinking about the Desolate race, nor was she thinking about the ancient bloodline within her that was about to be awakened. She was recalling bits of her past.

Previously, in the Cloud Wilderness, she had lived the life of a poor lass. She worked hard daily and even worked late into the night. Despite doing so, she still had to worry about food.

Such hard times were completely unbearable. However, when she recalled it, there was that tiny bit of happiness…

Back then, Yi Yun was her everything. He was the spiritual sustenance she used to carry on living.

She was happy for Yi Yun when he grew. She had been overjoyed when Yi Yun became a member of the Jin Long Wei.

She had originally believed that she would live a blissful but ordinary life as she watched her younger brother become successful. Although she wanted to silently support him, fate was ever so bizarre. There came a day where she stood on a divine altar, surrounded by endless hordes of desolate beasts, burdened with a mission that felt so distant and unfamiliar…

She had obtained a supreme status, but this was not what she wanted.

Now, while standing on top of the altar, the only thing she could feel was an indescribable feeling of loneliness…

541 - : Ritual

CKtalon  CKtalon

Phew—Phew—

Strong winds blew while the red clouds tumbled in various directions wantonly. In the red clouds, Jiang Xiaorou’s body was slowly being lifted up. Her hair and clothes began to flutter.

There was such a vast amount of Power of Desolates between Heaven and Earth that throbbed intensely were like a heartbeat. They resonated with the blood within all of the desolate beasts that were present.

Some desolate beasts raised their heads and looked at the beautiful girl soaked in the red sea in the sky. At that moment, the slender lass was like the center of the world.

Slowly, numerous blood strands began to emanate towards Jiang Xiaorou inside the tumbling red clouds.

The growls of uncountable numbers of ancient desolate beasts seemed to be mixed in with the heavy howling wind.

The cold killing intent that inundated the skies made Jiang Xiaorou recall the day at the Chu Prefecture City. When her bloodline and identity was revealed, that mild-mannered man had suddenly turned ferocious like a beast. The killing intent he manifested was suffocating.

And facing that enemy, with no hopes of beating him, Yi Yun still resisted while risking his life. He had put down his pride, but anything he did was completely meaningless…

Boom!

As the red clouds sudden moved, Jiang Xiaorou stretched her arms out flat. She immersed herself in the energetic baptism. Her body seemed to be the connection point between the energies of Heavens and Earth.

The red clouds were tumbling around her, while the blood strands gathered around her, forming into a blood red Totem.

Swirls, flitting.

Jiang Xiaorou began to spin above the divine bone altar, in the middle of Heavens and Earth.

The Totems increased in number as they covered Jiang Xiaorou’s body. They looked fanciful and pretty.

Her cheeks were filled with complex patterns. They looked like tattoos as they emitted a faint, red glow under her snow-like skin.

Jiang Xiaorou closed her eyes as she buried her memories deep into her heart. When she opened her eyes again, there seemed to be lightning discharging from her gaze.

Pa! Pa!

Jiang Xiaorou began to tap into the empty air with the bone cane. Every tap caused thunder to resound in the red clouds.

Her blood began to boil at that moment. The power of her Qi and blood now merged with the power of Heaven and Earth!

Boom!

The red clouds dispersed out in all directions.

The violent winds abruptly came to a halt. The Power of Desolates sea also ceased its actions. Everything seemed to quiet down, revealing a deep blue sky.

All the desolate beasts held their breaths as they were prostrated on the ground. There were even desolate beasts who were gently trembling.

In the vast sky, behind the girl who seemed to be standing on the top of a cloud, a pair of giant eyes quietly appeared.

This pair of eyes seemed like a window that had suddenly opened in the sky. They were thin and long, but red. They seemed to have an air of indifference as they projected from the sky.

The Totem lines on Jiang Xiaorou’s body became even brighter. She slightly raised her beautiful head and her original pair of bright black eyes suddenly turned red in color as well, resembling the heartless red eyes behind her!

Jiang Xiaorou indifferently swept her eyes forward. The desolate beasts that met her gaze showed fear as they lowered their heads to the ground.

Numerous desolate beasts prostrated themselves before Jiang Xiaorou as well as that pair of gigantic eyes behind her!

“Sacred Spirit!”

Seeing the gigantic eyes in the sky, the unsurpassed beauty of a generation far off in the distance was relieved.

Jiang Xiaorou had not only awakened her ancient bloodline, she had even made the Sacred Spirit’s phantom image appear. It was equivalent to receiving the recognition of the Sacred Spirit!

Her daughter had not disappointed her, but… Had she disappointed her daughter instead?

The beauty shook her head gently. The gaze she used to look at Jiang Xiaorou was filled with both love and guilt.

High in the sky, Jiang Xiaorou was silent. She held the bone cane in hand, while behind her, the pair of gigantic eyes began to slowly reveal its entire bodily form.

It was a colossal head. It covered almost all of the space between the Heavens and Earth. Just the head alone was taller than the highest mountains in the Divine Wilderness!

The Sacred Spirit’s phantom image turned clear, one could now see its nose, mouth and sharp teeth.

Its main body was that of a gigantic fox. Its body was covered in fiery-red fur. Every strand of fur was like a towering divine tree.

Behind it, in the endless sky, six tails which resembled red dragons were waving about. These six tails were like divine fires that screamed upwards into the sky. The other end of the tails seemed to be located somewhere even higher than the skies.

The Sacred Spirit slowly lowered its head in front of Jiang Xiaorou.

Jiang Xiaorou’s body flew higher and higher until she reached the Sacred Spirit’s forehead. She then landed gently in the middle of the Sacred Spirit’s eyebrows.

At the blood fox Sacred Spirit’s forehead, there were three cinnabar dots that were identical to Jiang Xiaorou’s. They excluded a mysterious and ancient aura…

At that moment, Jiang Xiaorou, who stood on the top of the Sacred Spirit’s head, was worshiped by the billions of desolate beasts present. She had now obtained the recognition of the desolate beasts completely and had become the new Desolate Queen of this generation!

…

While this grand ritual was happening in the Divine Wilderness, outside the Great Empress mystic realm, the geniuses that had been trapped in the mystic realm for about a year had finally come out.

The Elders of the large factions had longed for this day until their eyes protruded and their necks stretched out long.

They had waited for this very moment!

“It was not easy. The wait first ended with a pile of corpses, then two living zombies. Finally, our wait has been rewarded with living people.”

“That is right, the trials have finally ended!”

“It has been about a year. I wonder what opportunities these juniors have obtained.”

While many were full of anticipation, Shentu Jue’s face was sullen.

With everyone out, he could finally figure out how Shentu Nantian had died.

Who was the person that had the guts and strength to kill all of the Shentu family clan’s members?

Shentu Jue wanted to know the cause behind Shentu Nantian’s death, while the upper echelons of the other factions were also asking about the opportunities obtained in the Great Empress mystic realm.

However, many juniors spoke hesitantly about these, as if they were hiding something.

The Elders present were all very knowledgeable people. As expected by Yi Yun, they quickly discovered that their juniors had signed a soul contract.

“What? What kind of person has the power to force so many of you to sign a soul contract?”

“Were there other hidden players in this expedition to the Great Empress mystic realm?”

The Elders present began to discuss as Shentu Jue coldly grunted and said, “It is understandable! An enemy that can completely wipe out my Shentu family clan cannot be a junior that entered the mystic realm to participate in the trials. There must be some other existence. It looks like there were a lot of unexpected circumstances in the Great Empress mystic realm trials!”

“Especially the Lin family. They are furtive in their actions. Up to now, not a single one of them has appeared. It is very likely that they were involved in the plot to murder the elites of my Shentu family clan. Maybe they sneakily attacked my Shentu family clan disciples when they were injured, striking them while they were down!”

Shentu Jue gnashed his teeth. And at that moment, a few juniors had their soul contracts removed. Removing soul contracts on people below the Dao Seed realm was nothing difficult for Empyreal King experts.

“That… That…”

A few juniors looked at Shentu Jue. They felt fear facing the killing intent exuding from the elder’s body.

“Tell me, how did my Shentu family clan’s disciples die?” Shentu Jue’s voice was crisp. The sound waves entered straight into the ear. “More than half a year ago, a gigantic eye appeared in the eternal whirlpool. Did you discover any strange phenomenon in the mystic realm that may have something to do with this? Was the death of Shentu Nantian and Shentu Ya a result of the appearance of this eye?”

An eye in the eternal whirlpool?

A few juniors looked each other in the eye and were at a loss, “More than half a year ago, we were in the God Advent Tower. We did not notice any phenomenon like an eye. As for Shentu Nantian’s death…”

A junior gulped a mouthful of saliva and said very carefully, “He was killed by Yi Yun… Yi Yun shot an arrow and slashed twice with a sword. Then, Shentu Nantian died…”

“Also, the other Shentu family clan disciples were also shot to death by Yi Yun, with an arrow each…”

“Oh yes, Shentu Ya was not killed by Yi Yun. He tried to sneak up while Yi Yun and Shentu Nantian were battling, but he was then slashed by Lin Xintong who was guarding him by the side… There were many people who participated in this sneak attack. It included the Li Fire Sect as well as the Hong Association. They too were slashed by Lin Xintong.”

Upon saying this, the juniors suddenly saw Shentu Jue’s flesh twitch. The blood vessels on his forehead were raised and his eyeballs were protruding. It was a very frightening look.

Besides Shentu Jue, the other Elders of the other family clans were dumbfounded when they heard this.

There were more and more juniors who had the soul contract removed. However, no one objected to what was said. Clearly, the sequence of events did not veer too far off from what they said!

All the cultivators, including Shentu Nantian, had been killed by Yi Yun and Lin Xintong? What the hell was going on?

“What did you say!?”

Shentu Jue roared as his eyes turned bloodshot!

A few juniors jumped up in fright. Against Shentu Jue, the pressure they experienced was too great. They hurriedly said, “What we said is the truth. Shentu Nantian was slashed to death by Yi Yun. The others were shot to death by Yi Yun. He shot those arrows at once. They were all dead in the blink of an eye. As for the specifics we did not see it clearly. If you want to know the details about how the Shentu family clan disciples died, you can ask the Dao Seed realm cultivators, they should have been able to see it clearer than us.”

The few juniors hurriedly distanced themselves from the topic. At that moment, Shentu Jue’s expression was completely distorted. His face kept twitching.

After asking several cultivators, he received the exact same answer.

Shentu Nantian and company had really all been killed by Yi Yun and Lin Xintong! People from the Li Fire Sect and the Hong Association found it hard to believe.

However, the facts were placed before them. They could only choose to believe it.

“Impossible! It must be that the little bastard, Yi Yun, and that little slut, Lin Xintong, colluded with someone behind the scenes! They sneaked up on Tian’er and company and hurt them in the guise of someone else!”

By the time Shentu Jue and company had accepted the facts, Thousand Hand Granny screamed. She found it impossible to believe that Shentu Nantian, to whom she had attached such great importance, could be killed by a young Yi Yun who had come from the Backwater East’s Cloud Wilderness. This was an insult to Shentu Nantian!

At that moment, the warrior with the surname Xue, who had been the one to negotiate with Yi Yun about signing the soul contract, rolled his eyes at Thousand Hand Granny. He lightly said, “Granny, you really are overthinking it. Back then, we were all present. Everyone saw it. There was no one behind the scenes. As for sneak attacks, there was one. Unfortunately, those who tried to sneak attacked were not Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, but Shentu Ya and company…”

“This… This…”

The Thousand Hand Granny retreated a few steps in a powerless manner. She seemed to have lost her wits. The scene of the tragic look on the dead Shentu Nantian’s face once again appeared before her eyes.

In the past, she had always believed that Yi Yun had used insidious means, which allowed him to entrap Shentu Nantian at the relic trial.

This time however, in the Great Empress mystic realm, Tian’er, who had made the adequate preparations to kill Yi Yun, had instead been killed by Yi Yun with his true strengths?

Why was this happening!?

542 - : Desolate Queen

CKtalon  CKtalon

The outcome of this trial was bizarre. Many of the large factions of the Tian Yuan world present found it incredible that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were able to kill Shentu Nantian as well as several Dao Seed realm warriors.

As many of the young elites were pressed by their family Elders, they began to narrate everything that had happened within the Great Empress mystic realm.

They started from the beginning of the trial, to the number of Empyrean Marks Yi Yun had obtained, until the mental demon trial, followed by the God Advent Tower…

The news about the evaluation criteria set up by the ancient Great Empress at the black stone square, which went from “Knight” to “Canonized God”, shocked everyone.

Many factions found it hard to accept that the peerless geniuses they had painstakingly nurtured were only of such a low rank in the eyes of the ancient Great Empress. Some of them even failed to meet the lowest rank…

This made many of the legendary figures realize the difficulty of the Great Empress mystic realm’s trials.

However, despite such a high degree of difficulty, they were informed that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong managed to obtain the recognition of the ancient Great Empress inside the God Advent Tower. They had obtained a portion of the Great Empress’ inheritance!

This was simply unbelievable.

And from the looks of it, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had already mastered a portion of the Great Empress’ inheritance, or else their cultivation level and power would not have increased by such leaps and bounds.

Logically speaking, the higher grade a cultivational inheritance was, the harder it would be to master. Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had only received the inheritance roughly half a year ago, so how did they manage to master it so quickly?

“We are returning to our family clan!”

An Elder said with a grim face. Many Elders were envious and jealous of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. They had busied themselves so much, sending the most outstanding elites within their factions to participate in the mystic realm trials, but they only ended up being eliminated, with nothing to show for it all.

The frustration in their hearts was understandable.

There was no longer any meaning in remain here. Many people from the various factions had left, however, there were still a few family clans remaining as they eyed the Great Empress mystic realm.

They secretly sent their people to watch the surroundings of the Great Empress mystic realm. They wanted to see if they could locate Yi Yun’s whereabouts.

Even though they had heard their young elites say that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong was planning to remain in reclusion in the Great Empress mystic realm for a hundred years, there was still some doubts coming from these family clans. They also hoped that they would be lucky.

Assigning people to stand guard was, after all, not something that cost them much…

Similarly, the Shentu family clan was not planning on leaving.

Shentu Jue and company had already accepted the facts, but they were still simmering with anger, with nowhere to vent it.

Not only had Yi Yun foiled their scheme against the Lin family, they had also been forced to reveal the Great Empress mystic realm publicly because of him. He had also caused all of their elites to be wiped out in the Great Empress mystic realm. Their family clan’s successor, Shentu Nantian also died tragically. It was hard to even try to describe their terrible losses.

For this Great Empress mystic realm’s trial, they had been the organizer as well as the discoverer, but they had ended up as the biggest loser!

“Yi Yun! Lin Xintong!” Shentu Jue’s expression was gloomy. The aura he silently emitted caused the surrounding swirling storms to stagnate.

Beside Shentu Jue was Thousand Hand Granny, who was now battered out of her wits. She suddenly trembled and raised her head, revealing her bloodshot eyes. She snapped, “The Lin family must have known about this matter earlier on. This must be why they left prematurely! We must make the Lin family pay! Didn’t Lin Xintong and Yi Yun also kill several young elites from the other family clans? We can form an alliance and charge against the Lin family, wiping them all out!”

“Wiping them all out?” Shentu Jue coldly grunted and said in a heavy tone, “Did you not hear it just now? Yi Yun and Lin Xintong have already declared that they have cut their ties to the Lin family inside the mystic realm. If I am not wrong, after the Lin family returns to their territory, they will definitely begin defensive preparations, as well as announce that they are severing relations with Lin Xintong and Yi Yun!”

“It is likely that Lin Xintong and Yi Yun will not return to the Lin family for the next few hundred years. With the Lin family not having the Great Empress’ inheritance, how can coercing the other factions to attack and decimate the Lin family be easy? Against a large family clan with a deep heritage, who is also well-prepared, even if we manage to gain victory, we would also suffer heavy losses. Then, in the future, once Yi Yun and Lin Xintong have matured and become peerless Great Emperors, the two of them might come back and settle the scores. When that happens, all the factions involved in the attack against the Lin family will suffer!”

“Who would want to do such a rewardless task?”

“As for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong killing the other family clans’ disciples, it might be quite regretful to have a few young elites dead, but that was in a mystic realm. It is expected that there will be death in mystic realms. Those who were killed can only blame themselves for being weaker than others. Furthermore, they were the ones who launched a sneak attack first. Reason was not on their side. As long as the Lin family pays a sufficient amount of reparations, these factions will not lose face, and might not even try to seek redress on this matter ever again!”

“Under these circumstances, what use is there for us to go to against the Lin family!?” Shentu Jue snorted coldly and flicked his sleeves heavily.

The Shentu family clan had lost a great deal of their future elites. If they forcefully went to war with the Lin family, resulting in many of the older generation dying, and with their juniors gone, then the Shentu family clan’s foundation really would be shaken. It was even possible for them to completely collapse!

Although Shentu Jue was furious, he did not let it get to his head. He still weighed the interests of the family clan.

As for the grudge over Shentu Nantian and company’s death…

“Thousand Hand, take some people and stay guard around this area. Yi Yun must know of other exits. If you are able to find them, make them die miserably!” Shentu Jue waved his hand. He seemed like he was unwilling to think about this matter that had given him a great setback.

Thousand Hand Granny nodded her head grimly. Her wrinkled eyes emitted a ferocious flash that resembled a vulture’s.

A hundred years was not long for a warrior like her!

She had to tear Yi Yun apart so as to appease the hatred in her heart!

…

Half a month later, above a vast and empty land in the Tian Yuan world.

A lone towering peak stood here. It reached high up into the clouds and resembled a gigantic sword that fell from the sky and stabbed into the ground. From afar, one could feel a faint sword aura emanating from it, causing one’s breathing to stagnant.

The mountain winds whistled. Not a tiny bit of green could be seen on the mountain peak. It was filled with grayish-white boulders.

This mountain peak was extremely famous in the Tian Yuan world, as it was home to the headquarters of the number one organization of the Tian Yuan world, the Martial Alliance.

There was only one extremely steep path up the mountain. It was as if it had been shaved off by swords or sabers. It reached up high into the sky. Just the slightest mistake would cause one to lose one’s footing, with the result of one’s body being smashed to pieces.

A typical warrior could feel the pressure coming from the peak just by looking at the mountain path. This inadvertently caused them to feel fear.

At that moment, on the long mountain path, two tiny figures were quickly scaling the mountain.

Amongst these two figures, one of them was a youth with a face covered in blood. The other one had a gaping huge hole in his chest, together with a ruthless and sinister expression that belonged to Shentu Nantian!

The two of them were the Yin specters that had the Blood Moon mark on them…

543 - : End of the Trials

CKtalon  CKtalon

The two Yin specters ran up Skyward Path. They would occasionally encounter people from the Martial Alliance; however, strangely, none of these people managed to discover them. It was like they did not exist.

The Martial Alliance’s headquarters was situated at the end of Skyward Path.

The headquarters was a magnificent stone tower. It was simplistic in style and towered above the low-lying dark clouds which were rumbling with lightning.

The two Yin specters entered straight into the highest level of the stone tower.

It was dim inside the stone tower. There was only a single bean-sized torch illuminating the empty tower.

Upon entering the stone tower, it was as if the outside world became isolated from them, leaving only a dark and silent space as well as that tiny bit of light. In this space, it seemed like life and time did not exist. Even the concept of space did not seem to exist. It was as if everything had come to a halt in here.

The moment the two Yin specters entered the stone tower, they fell to the ground and revealed an extremely placatory look, “Lord Sacred Ambassador, as subordinates, we have failed in our mission, please punish us.”

The two knelt on the ground and remained silent for a long period of time. Deep in the grand hall, there was a tall figure wearing a heavy long robe. He slowly walked out from the darkness.

His looks were concealed by the shadows in the grand hall. One could only faintly discern a light red scar in the middle of his eyebrows. The scar seemed to radiate with a burning flame.

If the House Heads of the various large factions of the Tian Yuan world were here, they would immediately identify this person with the fire scar. He was the reigning Alliance Leader of the Martial Alliance!

He led several large factions in the Tian Yuan world. He had absolute authority in the Tian Yuan world and his power was unfathomable!

“The two of you entered the Martial Alliance’s headquarters directly in such a rush. There are many human experts here. With your cultivation levels, even if you use your Yin specter illusion magic, you could still be easily noticed. This would lead to unnecessary suspicion!”

“May the Sacred Ambassador forgive us. It is because of the sudden turn of events that these two subordinates need to report it to the Divine Master with such urgency!” The two Yin specters lowered their bodies even more.

The Divine Master they mentioned was sleeping deep within God Burial Abyss. These two Yin specters did not have the right, or ability, to see the real Divine Master.

In fact, the Divine Master was practically a legend to them. They only had the right to meet the black-robed Sacred Ambassador standing before them.

The Divine Master’s orders were all conveyed through the black-robed Sacred Ambassador, who was also the Martial Alliance’s Alliance Leader.

The Martial Alliance had existed for a very long time. Over tens of millions of years, the Martial Alliance had taken deep root in the Tian Yuan world. It had matured to become a terrifying faction that was affiliated with various sects in the Tian Yuan world.

As for the Alliance Leader of the Martial Alliance, he was designated only when the former Alliance Leader was near his deathbed.

Every Alliance Leader had mysterious backgrounds. Other than the former Martial Alliance’s Leader, no one knew where they came from. Over time, people began to believe that every Alliance Leader would secretly nurture a successor. Before the successor was revealed, his identity was kept completely confidential.

The man with the burning scar remained expressionless, making it impossible for one to tell if he was happy or angry. He slowly said, “The two of you entered the Great Empress mystic realm while aiding Black Specter. Now, Black Specter’s soul jade slip has already shattered, while both of you are in such a state… Speak. What happened? How did the power of the Divine Master’s Eye of Destruction get cut off by the God Advent Tower?”

With the Eye of Destruction that appeared out of the God Burial Abyss mentioned, the two Yin specters became even more placatory. They were absorbed by fear at the mention of the Eye of Destruction, as well as the Sacred Ambassador before them.

The Yin specters bowed their heads and recounted everything that had happened in the Great Empress mystic realm.

The black-robed Sacred Ambassador listen in silence. It was impossible to read his thoughts from his eyes. Only when the Yin specters mentioned that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had obtained the recognition of the Great Empress mystic realm, as well as them inheriting a portion of the Great Empress’ inheritance, did his expression change.

“That woman actually managed to find a successor? Hmph! It is useless. What can two young successors do? They no longer have the time…”

The black-robed Sacred Ambassador muttered to himself as he turned around and began walking back towards the deep recesses of the grand hall.

Seeing the black-robed Sacred Ambassador take his leave, the two Yin specters said with their knees still on the ground, “Lord Sacred Ambassador, over the past few years, the Desolate race has already begun preparations. They have unsealed several of the seals in the ancient Divine Tomb. The former Desolate Queen has also relinquished her position to a new Desolate Queen. They have probably summoned their Sacred Spirit. We are bound to have a war with them. What should we do?”

“The Desolate race? Summoning their Sacred Spirit?” The black-robed Sacred Ambassador stopped in his steps and said coldly, “We do not need to do a thing. We just need to wait.”

The black-robed Sacred Ambassador sneered. His gaze seemed to penetrate the grand black hall as it extended past the entire Tian Yuan world, all the way to the red Untraversable Sea…

The seawater of the calm Untraversable Sea that resembled death, turned redder the farther one went.

It was unknown when seven mountain peaks had suddenly appeared out of empty and endless Untraversable Sea, which was impossible for a Great Emperor to cross.

These seven pure black mountain peaks stood erect like black giants. However, if one looked carefully, one would discover that a few of the mountain peaks resembled human forms, especially the one in the middle. It looked like a man, dressed in black battle armor with his hand seemingly holding a lance.

In contrast with the calm sea water, at the foot of these divine mountains, a dark red vortex formed. The Untraversable Sea was experiencing something different from the Tian Yuan world, which was still experiencing daytime. Above the seven mountain peaks was a clean-washed night sky with flickering starlight.

The vast star-filled galactic arm spread across the sky, shining, together with the moonlight, onto the black-stoned mountain peak. The light seemed like countless blades that were polishing the fuzzy black armor on the man, making its texture turn clearer…

A few hundred million kilometers away, the black-robed man in the Martial Alliance’s grand hall seemed to witness this scene. The corners of his mouth began to suffuse a deep smile.

The Black-armored Demon Gods were about to awaken.

The Black-armored Demon Gods were indestructible and had unlimited strength.

Millions of years ago, the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress had failed to completely destroy them!

When the seven Black-armored Demon Gods were reborn, nothing in this world could stop them!

…

The Black-armored Demon God mountains in the Untraversable Sea permeated a murderous atmosphere that could cause chaos in the world, but at that moment, the face of a Black-armored Demon God was just an image in the disk array that Yi Yun was holding…

Ever since Yi Yun obtained the disk array from the first level of the God Advent Tower, he had been constantly trying to further his insights up to now.

The sword attack that the Azure Yang Lord used to defeat the black-armored warrior, was filled with endless charm.

Previously, Yi Yun had laid the necessary foundations for this attack at the Pure Yang Sword Palace. He had managed to see some of the charms of this sword attack, but it still could not compare with the present him. After Yi Yun began to cultivate in the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, he started to gain even more insight every time he studied this sword attack.

Outside the Great Empress mystic realm, there was already a rising wind foreboding the coming storm. Although Yi Yun did not know what had happened outside, he could faintly feel that a large calamity was about to come…

544 - : Large Calamity

CKtalon  CKtalon

The moon and the sun alternated shifts as time passed. The storm caused by the Great Empress mystic realm had been made known throughout the Tian Yuan world. When people heard of the “six realms” ranking of geniuses by the ancient Great Empress, they knew that the children of Heaven from the various large factions were just broken halberds buried in the sand when placed in the Great Empress mystic realm. And under this situation, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, who came from the Lin family, managed to obtain the Great Empress’ inheritance.

The Great Empress’ inheritance was no trifling matter. All the large factions coveted it, but they were helpless about it. After the Great Empress’ trials ended, they could not even get through the door.

As for the Lin family, they had long since distanced themselves from Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. It would not be wise for anyone to attack the Lin family.

In this way, the seasons changed, and slowly, there were a lot fewer family clans who were still coveting the Great Empress mystic realm. Only the Shentu family clan, who were still brooding about it, would constantly send their family clan’s legendary figures to the Untraversable Sea for patrols, hoping that they would find traces of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

However, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had seemed to vanished. Many people believed that they would remain in reclusion in the Great Empress mystic realm for a few decades. It was unknown how powerful they would be when they finally came out.

Year after year, five years had now passed since the Great Empress mystic realm’s trials ended.

To warriors, five years was not a long period of time, but it was enough to make them slowly forget some things. For example, the gigantic Eye of Destruction that had suddenly appeared in the eternal whirlpool, which made one’s soul feel like collapsing just by facing it.

As time passed, the fear many large factions in the Tian Yuan world had for the eye slowly diminished.

After all, the God Burial Abyss was synonymous with mystery. The strange phenomena that appeared from it was not something unacceptable. From the looks of it, the eye did not seem likely to exit the eternal whirlpool, so it was unlikely for it to affect their foundations in the Tian Yuan world.

However, for Yi Yun, five years was a long period of time.

He was, after all, still young. His life had just begun. For a young elite, five years was enough to make his strength progress greatly.

This year, Yi Yun turned 21 years old. He had cultivated diligently for five years, but his progress in his cultivation level was not fast.

His cultivation level was only at the peak of the middle-stages of the Dao Seed realm. He was just one step short of entering the late stages of the Dao Seed realm.

The reason why his cultivation level progressed slowly was not because Yi Yun wanted to strengthen or consolidate his foundation.

Yi Yun believed that even if he had reached the peak of the Dao Seed at the age of 21, he would still have a perfect foundation.

The reason why Yi Yun’s cultivation level was slow to progress was because he was using most of the time to study the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, as well as the sword Dao of the Azure Yang Lord.

The “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was, after all, a supreme technique that was derived from the “Yang God Manual” and the “Nine Nether Sacred Manual”. To reach the large success stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, they needed complementary Yin-Yang to cultivate Nine Yang Spiritual Energy that had life. Yi Yun and Lin Xintong used their extremely compatible bodies to master the first stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” quickly, but it was no longer that easy to cultivate the second stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

To give life to their Yuan Qi, they needed to transform the pure Yang energy into Nine Yang Spiritual Energy, while the pure Yin energy had to transform into Jade Marrow Spiritual Energy. Their bodies not only needed great affinity with energy, they also had to have the insight and opportunities to do so.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were not lacking in terms of perceptivity. However, opportunities were not easily chanced upon.

This needed their energy to obtain a trace of spiritual consciousness that could not be obtained from searching for it. After Yi Yun and Lin Xintong gained Nine Yang Spiritual Energy and Jade Marrow Spiritual Energy, they could begin cultivating the third stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. As for the third stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, it was even harder to master. It even needed Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to really become as one.

Their bodies had a natural attraction to each other. The more they cultivated, the more spiritual their Yuan Qi became. Then, when they finally made the final step, the benefits they obtained would be greater.

At that moment, Yi Yun was suspended above the lava pool, one of his legs folded while the other was tip-toeing on the red lotus which was floating on the lava pool’s surface. He was respirating pure Yang energy.

As for Lin Xintong, she was sitting cross-legged on the frost ice bed. She was working in concert with Yi Yun from far. Yin and Yang energies were circulating between their bodies.

Yi Yun raised his arms gently as two blobs of Yuan Qi, one gold and one blue began to transform around his body. This was pure Yin and pure Yang energy. Lone Yin did not lead to birth and solitary Yang did not allow growth. In the past five years, Yi Yun had already started cultivating both Yin and Yang.

The two blobs of Yuan Qi transformed. The pure Yang energy was clearly more powerful than the pure Yin energy. It sometimes transformed into a Golden Crow, at other times, a flood dragon. It could even become a Black Turtle, a flying dragon-snake, a fierce tiger, an eagle…

The creatures that appeared were a depiction of life. The manifestation of Yuan Qi was the first step to forming life.

In these five years, the Radiant Sun Qi that Yi Yun cultivated from the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” had been completely absorbed and transformed by the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”‘s pure Yang energy. It became the basis for nurturing Nine Yang Spiritual Energy…

However, Yi Yun still failed to make that final step.

Up to now, Yi Yun had attempted it countless number of times.

Usually when such a bottleneck was encountered, going out on a training trip was a good choice.

Warriors, especially young elites, could not be content with remained safe. If they continuously trained in reclusion they would encounter a bottleneck over time.

When that happened, a training trip or venturing into a mystic realm would provide them with opportunities that could let them gain insight or have a break through in one fell swoop.

Now, this phenomenon has begun to appear after they had remained in reclusion for five years.

As for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, they could not leave the Great Empress mystic realm this early. They had to master, at least, the second stage of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

Without being able to travel outside, Yi Yun could only explore inside the God Advent Tower.

With the Azure Yang Token, Yi Yun could open the God Advent Tower’s second level’s vast wilderness world, or the fourth level’s extreme frost icy plains.

He and Lin Xintong had explored these two worlds several times, but they did not gain much from it.

Today, they came to the third level of the God Advent Tower. The third level of the God Advent Tower was a grand hall filled with cultivation technique manuals.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had previously chosen cultivation techniques in this grand hall so they had also seen this place before.

However, they both stopped in their footsteps when they arrived here today.

“Oh? This is…”

In front of them, there were portraits hung on the walls of the grand hall.

The two portraits had been seen by Yi Yun and Lin Xintong separately.

One of them was the Great Empress’ portrait. The plainly dressed woman in the portrait only revealed her back. Her long hair was disheveled. Her clothes fluttered in the wind as she walked on thin air with the tip of her barefooted toes.

And below her feet was a vast extreme frost icy plains. With every step the simply-dressed woman made, an ice lotus would bloom under her foot.

As for the other portrait, it was that of the Azure Yang Lord.

The Azure Yang Lord was sitting on the ground, with his back leaning against a tree. One of his hands was holding a wine gourd. He was gulping down wine. Beside him, his sword was stabbed into the ground diagonally. The blade of the sword was even stained with blood.

The two portraits, with one beautiful and the other unruly. It gave off a strange feeling when they were placed together.

Upon seeing these two portraits, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong suddenly thought of something. At that moment, they had a different feeling…

545 - : Five Years

CKtalon  CKtalon

The strokes that were used in the ancient Great Empress’ portrait were exquisite and precise. The portrait’s style was aesthetically beautiful. It looked like it was sculpted bit by bit by a peerless and talented woman’s meticulous techniques.

As for the strokes that were used in the Azure Yang Lord’s portrait, they were rough and broad. The portrait’s style was unruly, like it was drawn by a licentious painting master who drew it haphazardly after a few drinks.

The two painting styles stood in contrast and it was clear that they were drawn by different people.

After entering the God Advent Tower, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had seen these two portraits. Back then, they could feel the charm behind their respective portraits, and they sat in front of them to ponder, gaining a lot of insight as a result.

However, today, after Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had cultivated the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, seeing these two portraits again gave them a completely different feeling.

Yi Yun felt that the two portraits were most likely drawn by the ancient Great Empress and Azure Yang Lord themselves respectively. The paint strokes contained the laws that they cultivated.

As Yi Yun looked at them, he subconsciously became engrossed into them and he went into a trance. He then saw a scene of the vast Untraversable Sea, with the Azure Yang Lord flying through the air, with sword in hand.

The Azure Yang Lord held a wine gourd in one hand and a sword in the other. He slashed at a black-armored warrior causing a Qi beam to flash past the sky.

This time, the scene Yi Yun saw was much more lifelike than the scenes he saw in the disk array. It was as if the scene was happening before his very eyes.

It was really an attack that split the seas, annihilating both demons and gods!

However, just as Yi Yun was silently trying to gain insight into the sword attack, very suddenly, the Azure Yang Lord, who had killed the black-armored warrior, seemed to suddenly sense something and looked backward. He was looking straight at Yi Yun.

Then, he erupted into laughter that resounded through the world!

This was a scene not seen in the disk array at all. And this glance of his made Yi Yun feel distraught and his mind went blank.

The Untraversable Sea in front of him turned blurry. His thoughts seemed to be transported through infinite space-time, retracing the rivers of history, until he reached a mysterious world…

…

In an ancient Divine Kingdom, there was a grandiose palace that towered above the clouds. The walls of the palace were lined with pictures of the Sun, Moon and stars. It exuded a stately and dignified aura.

In a square in front of the palace, a troop of golden-armored guards lined two sides of a road. They remained motionless like a series of golden towers. They exuded a domineering aura.

Yi Yun came to this strange world abruptly. The sudden change that resulted in this new scene alarmed Yi Yun greatly. Ignoring the magnificent palace, just the guards of the palace made him stagger.

The strength of these guards was unfathomable!

However, strangely, these guards appeared oblivious to Yi Yun’s appearance.

At that moment, there was a dragon’s roar. Yi Yun turned to see twelve flood dragons pulling a jade spirit airship. The spirit airship slowly stopped and four palace maidens pulled the curtain open. A beautiful woman carried a baby in swaddling clothes and walked out slowly.

This baby was plump, and in his bright eyes, one could see an endless glow flashing in them. It was clear that he was extremely intelligent.

Upon seeing this baby, Yi Yun was stunned. He felt that the baby’s demeanor was somewhat similar to his. He even had a feeling that he was the baby.

“Why am I seeing these scenes?”

Yi Yun was like a bystander as he quietly watched the magnificent scenes go by. The ancient palace, the powerful guards and the flood dragons that pulled a spirit airship. Finally, there was a peerless beautiful woman who carried a baby in her arms.

It was easy to tell at a glance that this was a Divine Empire and a land of gods. Be it the woman or the baby she held in her arms, they were both of noble birth. They were figures blessed by the Heavens.

Yi Yun felt like he was experiencing another life of himself. This situation resembled the experiences of the mental demon trial.

A different life cycle gave him different thoughts…

…

“Congratulations to His Sacred Majesty. The 12th Prince was born accompanied by a purple misted sky. He has a perfect pure Yang body. His constitution is extremely gifted, and he is fated to have spectacular achievements in the future!”

“Due to His Sacred Majesty’s wisdom, our Great Qian Dynasty is experiencing a Golden Age. Now our Empire at its most powerful point, with tributes sent from everywhere. Now, the various Princes and their sons and daughters are esteemed talents amongst people. Now with the 12th Prince revealing inklings of being a Saint, our Great Qian Dynasty is bound to be illustrious in the future.”

The chaotic voices from the officials rang in Yi Yun’s ear. Yi Yun had been transformed into the baby in the woman’s arms. He was watching the world through the eyes of the baby.

In the grand hall, on the throne high above, there was a dignified man. His looks were a bit fuzzy.

His body exuded a majestic aura that was as brilliant as the radiant Sun. It made people unable to look straight at him.

At that moment, the man laughed. He was very pleased with the birth of the 12th Prince. Clearly, he had high hopes for this child.

As time passed, the child began to slowly grow.

Yi Yun slowly transformed from being a bystander to being child. He experienced the child’s life, and he watched the world from the child’s perspective.

He accompanied the child as he cultivated on the martial path and gained nomological insights. No matter what cultivation technique it was, he could memorize and easily understand them.

The Great Qian Dynasty had numerous outstanding talents. They were all earth-shattering and extremely powerful figures. They took turns to give the child pointers and gave him all the aid they could.

The child’s strength increased very quickly. At the same age, he far exceeded extremely powerful people. People only spoke highly of him.

From his birth to growth, and to his martial arts practicing, it was smooth sailing for this child. He was undoubtedly leading a charmed life.

Slowly, he grew up. He had a forthright attitude and he revelled in a Bohemian lifestyle. He befriended heroes all around the world and he was praised by all.

The position of the Sacred Emperor of the Great Qian Dynasty was not hereditary. Since ancient times, it was passed to the most capable person. However, as the 12th Prince was too outstanding, the position of the Sacred Emperor was naturally his.

As such, the ruling Sacred Emperor abdicated his throne for someone more capable and he went into reclusive cultivation.

The 12th Prince inherited the throne and he became the youngest monarch of the Great Qian Dynasty in history.

On the tenth year after he became the Sacred Emperor, he met a woman like it was written in the stars.

She was a peerless woman who was beyond rebuff. She appeared in the Great Qian Dynasty like a bright moon. She had both beauty and brains.

Her background was not stunning. She came from a small sect, but this made it even more impressive. It was simply unbelievable for a young girl to have such talent, coming from a small sect.

That year, the 12th Prince was at the peak of his life. He helmed an ancient country and he was all powerful and highly-spirited. He was matchless against peers his age.

Daughters of Heaven that usually rebuffed others ended up chasing him, but he was never smitten by them.

It was only until he met her that he was smitten, that girl that was as beautiful as the bright moon.

Her name was Bai Yueyin.

She was different from those girls. Her mundane background gave her an indescribable charm. She was quiet and thoughtful. She did not have a shred of arrogance in her. Instead, she always had a smile that resembled the warm spring on her face.

He began discussing martial arts with her. Bai Yueyin’s knowledge and understanding of martial arts greatly surprised him. After all, she came from an ordinary background, it was very rare for someone like her to have such knowledge.

This way, he subconsciously fell in love with Bai Yueyin deep down.

546 - : Previous and Present Life (One)

CKtalon  CKtalon

After several years of courting, the 12th Prince finally became a couple with Bai Yueyin.

Soon after, a grand marriage ceremony was held.

The marriage ceremony was spectacular. The Great Qian Capital held a feast for 12 days. Ancient countries and divine sects from all over the world sent envoys to send their congratulations.

There were numerous elites and this grandeur prevailed for some time.

After the marriage, the 12th Prince and Bai Yueyin devoted themselves to martial arts. Bai Yueyin was limited by her origins, so even though she was an amazing genius, she was constrained by resources and inheritance. However, after tying the knot with the 12th Prince, they were no longer a problem.

Bai Yueyin could learn the best heritage and enjoy the best resources possible. Even the small sect that Bai Yueyin originally came from developed astoundingly. It eventually became the number one sect in the Great Qian dynasty.

Bai Yueyin was extremely talented in martial arts. After making up for her lack of inheritance and resources, her strength increased by leaps and bounds. Soon, she was a daughter of Heaven who was without match against peers her own age. Eventually, her cultivation level was not much worse than the 12th Prince.

She and the 12th Prince would occasionally spar against each other, so they progressed together and their cultivation levels increased at a rapid pace.

Shortly after that, the two were given the titles, Sacred Emperor and Sacred Empress. One of them was unconventional and unrestrained, as he helmed the ancient country, while the other was modest and open-minded, as she was like a mother to the country.

The both of them were not only astonishingly powerful, they were also wise and astute. They were praised by the people.

Later on, at a martial tea session organized by several ancient countries, the Sacred Emperor and Empress attended the event. Their peerless and astounding strength impressed everyone at the tea session, as they displayed the Great Qian country’s absolute sovereignty!

At that moment, people believed that the 12th Prince had reached his life’s peak. And in fact, things that happened later caught people unaware.

Several years later, when the 12th Prince and Bai Yueyin traveled together, they entered a mystic realm known as the Sinkhole. Space was in chaos in there. Many elites had fallen there. It was a place many powerful figures in the world did not dare to enter.

The 12th Prince had always been prideful and uninhibited. He traveled in the Sinkhole as he wished, worrying his convoy.

Under these circumstances, something out of the blue happened as space-time went into chaos in the Sinkhole. It caused the 12th Prince to be separated from his convoy!

This terrified his subordinates. They searched for him to no avail. This lasted for two years, but they still failed to find him.

They had no choice but to leave some people behind to stay guard, as they returned to the Great Qian country.

This unexpected turn of events separated Bai Yueyin and the 12th Prince.

After Bai Yueyin returned to the country, she took care of the Great Qian country using her status as Sacred Empress. The entire country remained in good shape. Everyone commended Bai Yueyin on her ability to undertake this responsibility despite being a woman. It was a blessing that the Great Qian country had a Sacred Empress like her.

But even so, the disappearance of the Sacred Emperor made the citizens worried.

As such, twenty years passed.

Everyone believed that the Sacred Emperor had died in the Sinkhole.

However, as people began to get used to the lack of a Sacred Emperor, he returned.

Not only did he return alive, he returned with his cultivation level increased by leaps and bounds!

He had managed to find a stunning treasure as well as two supreme Great Dao remnant manuals in an ancient ruins in the Sinkhole!

He had mastered a tiny portion of these two supreme Great Dao remnant manuals. This caused his strength to have a qualitative leap!

It could be said that it was his destiny to defy the Heavens!

With the Sacred Emperor’s return, the whole country celebrated.

However, before people could set up the banquets to celebrate, they received some sensational news that shocked the entire country.

In the Central State Divine Territory, an older generation Divine Lord was near his death. Before he died, according to the Divine Territory’s regulations, the next Divine Lord of the Great World had to be decided.

All the citizens of the Central State Divine Territory, were qualified to become a Great World’s Divine Lord regardless of their age or sex! They just needed to meet the requisite power requirements and to not have done heinous acts.

When the Sacred Emperor heard of the news, he was already heading towards the Central State to vie for the position of the Great World’s Divine Lord!

A Great World’s Divine Lord held a Divine Lord’s mark. They were legendary existences.

Although the Great Qian Empire had been established for a long period of time and had controlled vast territories with billions of people under its wing, it had never produced a Great World’s Divine Lord!

An Empire that was bigger than the Great Qian country by tens or hundreds of times was needed. Furthermore, it needed the country’s luck to accumulate to an extreme before there was a minute chance of that happening!

Although everyone in the Great Qian country felt admiration and loved their Sacred Emperor, very few were optimistic about his vying for the position of the Great World’s Divine Lord.

It was too difficult. Those competing with the Sacred Emperor were peerless elites. They were figures that far exceeded their comprehension!

As they were concerned about their Sacred Emperor, many citizens traveled to the Central State Divine Territory. They wanted to witness the full glory of the event.

However, the competition of a Great World’s Divine Lord was mysterious and grand. Ordinary people had no chance to come into contact with it.

The people who stayed around the Central State Divine Territory only saw the sky light up. There was endless Heaven Earth Yuan Qi flowing in the skies, forming gigantic waves. It enshrouded the Central State, as if a terrible battle had appeared in the sky over the ancient country.

This battle lasted for more than ten days and nights. The battle was in a state of chaos and darkness!

The people didn’t know the state of the battle. They only knew that on the 13th day, their Sacred Emperor had returned.

He was wearing a long tattered gown. He stood alone between the Heavens and Earth with his sword alone!

He had won. He had been victorious against his numerous competitors and he had obtained the position of the next Great World’s Divine Lord!

Throughout the Great Qian country, people cheered as they seethed with excitement!

From then on, he was no longer the Sacred Emperor of the Grand Qian country. He was also the Central State Divine Territory’s Great World’s Divine Lord — Azure Yang Lord!

His surname was “Jian (sword)”, and after becoming the Azure Yang Lord, people called him Jian Qingyang (Sword Azure Yang)!

A country’s Sacred Emperor as well as a Great World’s Divine Lord. He held the Divine Lord Royal Seal. At this point, Jian Qingyang’s life had reached his highest point!

However, the position of a Great World’s Divine Lord also implied a great challenge.

In ancient times, after the Ancestor Gods, who controlled the Heavenly Dao, were annihilated, the Heavenly Dao laws which crumbled into nothingness permeated throughout the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

These Great Dao laws spontaneously formed a supreme Dao Mark. Every Empyrean Heaven had 72 Dao Marks. They were controlled by the 72 Great World Divine Lords and they were also known as the Divine Lord Royal Seals.

By refining a Divine Lord Royal Seal into one’s body, one would obtain matchless strength.

The power of the same genius with and without the Divine Lord Royal Seal was highly disparate!

And the higher one’s cultivation level went, the harder it was to improve it. The gap between two martial arts realm was usually a chasm that was impossible to cross.

The Divine Lord Royal Seal made others envious!

At the same time, people also found out that Jian Qingyang had managed to find a treasure and two supreme remnant copies of an inheritance in the Sinkhole.

The two inheritance were the “Yang God Manual” and the “Nine Nether Sacred Manual”!

The two inheritance were extremely remarkable.

In the 12 Empyrean Heavens, every Empyrean Heaven had its own supreme Great Dao. That was something predestined, or it could be said to be a Heavenly Dao law.

Every law had a Divine Canon that approached a Heavenly Dao.

Rumor has it that the 12 Divine Canons were created by the 12 Primordial powers who created the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

There were also rumors that the 12 Divine Canons were condensed after endless amounts of time after a Primordial Ancestor God died…

People were more inclined to the latter that the 12 Divine Canons were the result of the condensation of the Heaven and Earth Great Dao.

No matter which one was correct, the preciousness of a Divine Canon was indubitable!

547 - : Previous and Present Life (Two)

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jian Qingyang had a great treasure on hand, along with two remnant copies of ancient manuals. He also controlled the Divine Lord Royal Seal. Hence, there were many people who eyed his treasures and position.

Jian Qingyang was always open-minded. He was unrestrained by conventions and he dedicated himself in the pursuit of martial arts. He also befriended heroes from all around the world.

Towards friends, he was generous and he would help them without needing anything in return.

Against enemies, he was firm and resolute in killing them. He never went soft and he would slaughter them without hesitation!

Time proved Jian Qingyang’s strength. It also proved that he had the ability to hold on to the position of Azure Yang Lord. Slowly, the number of people who challenged Jian Qingyang decreased.

Correspondingly, the people, who dared challenge him, were also stronger!

Finally, one day, a peerless figure came to the Central State Divine Territory.

The Central State was a territory of the Human race, but the person challenging Jian Qingyang was from the Fey race.

He was from the Western Seas and he was well known in the Western Seas as a figure who would one day become a Fey God.

In the 12 Empyrean Heavens, the Human race and the Fey race did not have a harmonious relationship. Throughout history, they had large scale wars. Although the two races were now largely at peace, there were always minor conflicts.

As for the position of a Great World’s Divine Lord, it was not restricted to anyone from the Human or Fey race.

The person with the necessary power would obtain the recognition of the Heavens and Earth, allowing the person to be in command of the Divine Lord Royal Seal.

The Divine Lord Royal Seal was a symbol of racial pride.

Now, a peerless figure from the Fey race had arrived in the land of Humans, with a bid to take the Divine Lord Royal Seal away, so how could the Human race endure this?

When Jian Qingyang received the news, his eyes blazed with fighting spirit as he felt an indescribable sense of excitement.

He had heard of the peerless figure who came from the Fey race. His name was Sha Hongxue, he given this name because of his red hair. He had a mane of beautiful red hair which were intermixed with several silver threads.

Sha Hongxue was extremely famous amongst the Fey race in the Western Seas. If he was described by a sentence, it would be: “I’m most eccentric in Millenniums!”

He was an absolute eccentric!

In fact, Jian Qingyang was also an eccentric. However, despite being eccentric, he was a straightforward person who liked to befriend people. He was also approachable to his citizens.

On the other hand, Sha Hongxue was different. He was eccentric to the bone, which made him devoid of friends. Even the Fey race geniuses of the Western Seas were nothing in his eyes.

Very soon, the eccentric Sha Hongxue did something that was extremely consistent with his character. This peerless figure of the Fey race stood on the tallest divine mountain in the Central State Divine Territory and made his challenge that contained pure Yang laws.

When he finished writing the challenge proposal, gold beams shone, as the text flew downwards forming words that spanned hundreds of thousands of kilometers. It extended across the entire sky of the Central State Divine Territory!

The contents of the challenge specified that the Fey race was challenging the Human race. The time and location of the battle was specified clearly!

Numerous citizens of the entire Central State Divine Territory saw the challenge spread out across the sky.

Immediately, the news proliferated rapidly. This peerless figure of the Fey race was too arrogant!

In many ancient countries of the Central State, countless numbers of human elites were furious. They found Sha Hongxue extremely arrogant because he was a Fey race member who challenged them at their doorstep with the text sprawled across the sky of the Central State.

He even wanted to bring the Divine Lord Royal Seal back to the Fey race, and that was completely unacceptable!

In the Central State Divine Palace, Jian Qingyang saw it all. The fighting spirit in his eyes grew in intensity.

He was an extremely confident person. The more eccentric and powerful the opponent was, the more excited he was!

Furthermore, he was about to break through to a completely new realm with the “Yang God Manual”. His power would increase by leaps and bounds, so it was an opportune time for Sha Hongxue to make his challenge. Jian Qingyang wanted to use Sha Hongxue’s blood to write the legend of his invincibility!

This upcoming battle attracted numerous unparalleled Humans as spectators. It included many giant figures of the Fey race. All of them arrived at the Central State.

About one month before the stipulated date of the battle, there were already a large number of people who had arrived in the Central State. Just the number of the famous figures numbered tens of thousands. As for ordinary warriors, the numbers were uncountable.

At the same time, Jian Qingyang went into reclusion. Although he was arrogant, it was built on the foundation of his absolute strength. He was never blindly complacent.

His opponent was very powerful and this was a battle was one that he was not allowed to lose.

It was the home ground of the Human race, with billions of people watching. How was he going to answer to his citizens if he was defeated by someone from the Fey race?

Besides, once he lost, he would also lose the Divine Lord Royal Seal. From then on, the Central State Divine Territory would lose control of the seat of a Great World’s Divine Lord. It would be taken over by the Western Seas’ Fey race!

It would be an absolute disgrace to the Central State Divine Territory as well as to the Human race!

Jian Qingyang was determined not to let the Divine Lord Royal Seal be lost by him.

This battle could be said to be the most important battle in his entire life!

However, Jian Qingyang did not believe that he would lose. It was almost a done deal that he would break through to the next realm of the “Yang God Manual”, because… back at the Sinkhole, other than the “Yang God Manual” and the “Nine Nether Sacred Manual”, he had obtained a great treasure.

It was a broken sword. To be precise, it was a tip of a sword.

This sword tip was about a foot long. It was rusted and it looked like a piece of junk. However, from Jian Qingyang’s insight into the sword Dao and the pure Yang laws, he recognized the sword tip to be something extraordinary!

The reason why he remained in the Sinkhole for two decades was not only to gain insight into the “Yang God Manual”, it was also to use this sword tip to gain sword Dao insights.

Now, be it his sword Dao or pure Yang laws, he had reached an absolutely exceptional realm.

If he made the breakthrough this time, his strength would reach unimaginable heights!

When that happen, no matter how strong or eccentric Sha Hongxue was, he would not be his match!

The Divine Lord Royal Seal would be destined to remain in the Central State, and the Great Qian dynasty. It would remain in the hands of Jian Qingyang!

As such, after Jian Qingyang accepted the challenge, he chose to go into reclusive training.

Under the immense pressure of the battle, he wanted to use it as an opportunity for him to break through!

To ensure that he would succeed in his breakthrough, Sacred Empress Bai Yueyin went into reclusion together with Jian Qingyang, so as to aid his breakthrough to the final realm.

Jian Qingyang’s cultivation was initially not very smooth, but thanks to Bai Yueyin’s help, in which she gathered endless amounts of pure Yang energy, she managed to aid Jian Qingyang’s control of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

He and Bai Yueyin had been together for a long time and they had cultivated together all along. Bai Yueyin’s understanding of his martial cultivation was as good as his.

About three days before the battle, Jian Qingyang’s cultivation reached a critical moment.

At that moment, his insight into the pure Yang laws had reached an extreme. He entered an ethereal state in which he was in no way to be disturbed. However, as he was tightly sealed in a cultivation chamber, and with Bai Yueyin’s protecting him, Jian Qingyang had no worries about such things.

Jian Qingyang sat in the Central State Divine Palace’s chamber, while completely focused without any distractions. Pure Yang energy was spewing out from his pores, and after every complete circulation, he would absorb it back into his body. The entire chamber was shimmering with divine light.

Jian Qingyang had a serene expression as he closed his eyes tightly. He could feel that he was about to break through at any moment. He just needed to accomplish it in one concerted effort…

However… He never expected that at the moment he was making his breakthrough…

“Cha.”

A soft reverberation of a sword’s slash echoed. Jian Qingyang, who was in an ethereal state, nearly did not hear it. When he sensed the sword Qi coming at him, the feeling of pain had already come surging like a tidal wave from his chest!

At the most critical moment of his life, a cold sword had been sent straight through his chest…

He was in no way prepared for this. He wasn’t even completely aware of it…

And as such… a sword pierced through his chest!

Jian Qingyang opened his eyes in disbelief. Pure Yang energy exploded out of his body, tearing apart his clothes and skin and created chaos in the chamber. The energy in his body went into disarray, as it burst through his meridians, causing blood to spurt out of his mouth.

And in the midst of this chaotic energy flow, standing before Jian Qingyang was that familiar figure. Her hair was fluttering in the wind as she revealed her ice-cold but moon-like beautiful face. It was one which he was extremely familiar with, yet, it now looked no different than that of a stranger…

The woman he had held on to countless numbers of times was holding a sword. And the other end of the sword had already appeared behind his back, right through his heart!

Bai Yueyin, his wife… actually ended his life at his most critical moment?

The air flow in the chamber remained turbulent. He sat there completely bloodied. However, Jian Qingyang did not seem to hear the thundering sounds, nor did he feel the pain his body was experiencing. In his eyes, all he saw was the cold eyes of Bai Yueyin. He only saw her sword being slowly pulled out of his heart.

As her sword was pulled out, Jian Qingyang seemed to feel that his soul was being repeatedly extracted by the sword.

Suddenly, he reached out his hand and grabbed the sword’s blade that was stained with the blood from his heart. His lips trembled as blood constantly flowed out.

“Why… ?”

Jian Qingyang’s voice was trembling. He felt like he was having a nightmare at that very moment, but it was a dream that he could not wake up from.

He desperately wanted to know the reason. Even in death, he also wanted to know the reason.

Why did she stab her sword at him?

But… the absolutely beautiful white-dressed woman did not say a single word…

548 - : Sword Tip

CKtalon  CKtalon

The blade cut through his flesh and the resulting pain was excruciating. However, it was far from the pain that Jian Qingyang felt from the bottom of his heart.

At that moment, Jian Qingyang felt that his world had completely shattered. His pride, his unrestrained life and his infinitely glorious martial future, were all gone.

Everything was completely smashed into pieces with that attack!

He was always highly-spirited, and he never knew grief, but now the corner of his eyes cracked as if his soul was slowly leaving his mortal shell.

He grabbed the sword tightly, while his palm bled profusely from the cut…

“Why……!? Tell me why…”

He continued repeating his words.

The white-dressed woman looked at Jian Qingyang. Her lips moved slightly, as if she had something to say, but eventually, all she did was let out a sigh.

“Chi!”

The sword was pulled out fully, resulting in a spray of blood.

The blood splattered on Bai Yueyin’s white clothes like blossoming plums.

From the beginning to the end, Bai Yueyin did not say a word.

Jian Qingyang fell to the ground as blood pooled around him. With his power, even with a sword having pierced through his heart, and him suffering the wanton surge of the pure Yang energy in his body that destroyed a large number of his meridians, he still did not completely lose his combat power.

However, at that moment, he had forgotten to heal himself.

He had led a high and mighty life, and he had never met his match. He might have mused of the idea of him collapsing under the sword of an enemy, but he never believed that when the day came, the person who stabbed him was the woman he loved the most.

Bai Yueyin left. She did not continue attacking the severely injured Jian Qingyang.

She took with her that rusted sword tip, but she did not take Jian Qingyang’s interspatial ring.

In Jian Qingyang’s interspatial ring, there were the “Yang God Manual” and “Nine Nether Sacred Manual” remnant manuals.

Jian Qingyang watched helplessly as Bai Yueyin deactivated the restrictions as she exited the chamber. From the beginning to the end, he was completely distracted out of his wits. He did not say another word, nor did he stop her…

He was like a complete fool.

Bai Yueyin took that mysterious sword tip with her, but she could not have done such a ruthless act to him just for that sword tip.

This was because Jian Qingyang was willing to share everything with Bai Yueyin, be it the “Yang God Manual”, the “Nine Nether Sacred Manual” or that mysterious sword tip.

In fact, up until today, Bai Yueyin had already seen the “Yang God Manual” and “Nine Nether Sacred Manual” remnants. She had already memorized the two supreme Great Daos.

As for the sword tip, if Bai Yueyin wanted to gain insight from it, Jian Qingyang would give it to her without any hesitations. And if Bai Yueyin really wanted to take possession of the sword tip, she could have taken the sword tip and take flight.

Furthermore, if Bai Yueyin requested for it, Jian Qingyang could even gift the sword tip to her.

She absolutely had no need to do so…

Jian Qingyang was unable to figure it out. He seemed to be completely dazed as he sat in the chamber for three days and nights.

Blood stained the ground. Jian Qingyang was obsessed to know why Bai Yueyin had done so. It made him go crazy!

No one in the entire Central State knew of the events in the chamber. Neither did they know that the Sacred Empress had left the Central State, disappearing without a trace…

Such a shocking turn of events could not change certain things. Jian Qingyang still held his battle of destiny with the Fey race’s elite, Sha Hongxue.

This battle was an extremely important battle to the Human race of the Central State.

Even several large Human Race Divine Territories neighboring the Central State were concerned about the outcome of this battle.

It was a glorious battle between the Human and Fey race. To a large extent, it would reveal who was stronger amongst the elites of the Human race and the Fey race in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven.

Jian Qingyang sat in the chamber until the day of the battle.

He could not miss the battle… even though his meridians had not completely recovered, and having failed in his breakthrough…

However, he still had to face the battle challenge.

He had already lost the woman he loved the most in his life, so he could not lose his martial path.

At Wanshi mountain, the venue of the battle, Jian Qingyang and Sha Hongxue hovered high in the sky as they faced each other.

Under the eyes of many, Sha Hongxue drew out a long saber. The handle was as long as a lower arm, and it was made up of a grayish-white spinal bone. The saber was thin and long, and it looked like a long blood-colored leaf blade.

The battle began!

Before the battle, Jian Qingyang had suffered greatly both physically and mentally. However, when the battle began, he had completely changed to another person.

In his eyes, there was only fighting spirit and his opponent!

This battle was earth-shattering. Vast swaths of land were reduced to canyons by the saber and sword Qi. Snow-capped mountains that pierced through the clouds melted into piles of sand under the pure Yang energy.

The battle was extremely intense but the final result was… the defeat of the Azure Yang Lord!

His body was penetrated by Sha Hongxue’s 12 slashes of the saber as his blood stained the sky!

With his powers exhausted and his meridians blocked, Jian Qingyang slammed heavily to the ground. A former invincible legend, a former Great Qian Dynasty’s legendary person of the Central State Divine Territory had fallen in such a manner…

He had lost, and it was a crushing defeat. He had also lost his future.

The first half of his life was one of high-spiritedness and heroism. He controlled great power and overwhelmed the world with his strength. He was admired by countless heroes and he had numerous women falling for him.

However, all of this went down the drain with his defeat in battle!

Sha Hongxue did not kill Jian Qingyang. Instead, he spared him.

However, Jian Qingyang’s future was already bleak…

The citizens of the Central State were extremely disappointed with the battle outcome!

Heroes that rushed to the Central State could only sigh!

As for the mighty figures of the Fey race, they only issued derision!

As for the Fey race elite, Sha Hongxue, he was high-spirited and he looked down at Jian Qingyang in the form of a victor. A dismissive smile appeared on his face.

“So what if I spare your cheap life? You can challenge me at any time. As for the distance between us, it will only grow further!”

As Sha Hongxue said this, he gored through Jian Qingyang’s chest and made a sudden pull!

With the soft sound of bone and flesh tearing, Jian Qingyang felt his body tremble greatly. An excruciating pain assaulted his senses, as if his heart had been pulled out by Sha Hongxue!

His face was as white as a sheet as he looked powerlessly at Sha Hongxue.

At that moment, Sha Hongxue was holding a bloody metallic mark. It was the Divine Lord Royal Seal condensed from pure Yang Heavenly Dao!

The Divine Lord Royal Seal that Jian Qingyang had refined into his body had now been forcefully pulled out of his body by Sha Hongxue!

Jian Qingyang felt that this pull of Sha Hongxue was like his backbone being ripped out him!

“The title of Azure Yang Lord shall henceforth be mine! Hahaha!”

Sha Hongxue erupted into a tumultuous laughter. With a wipe of his hand, he injected his perception into the Divine Lord Royal Seal. At the same time, Jian Qingyang’s soul sea quaked as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

At that moment, the seal he left on the Divine Lord Royal Seal had been forcefully wiped off by Sha Hongxue. From then onwards, the Divine Lord Royal Seal had changed owners!

Around the battleground, numerous Human race warriors witnessed this scene. They felt their hearts ache as they could only sighed.

On the home ground of the Human race, they watched helplessly as a Fey race elite took off with the Divine Lord Royal Seal, becoming a Great World’s Divine Lord. This sense of defeat was imaginable.

But there was no one who could stop this scene as none of them was Sha Hongxue’s match!

They looked at Jian Qingyang and helplessly shook their heads. With this, a legend had collapsed!

549 - : The End of Brilliance

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jian Qingyang was defeated. When a son of Heaven appeared in an invincible form, defeating opponent after opponent, the countless amounts of praise and worship he accrued would completely collapse the moment he was defeated. People inevitably said things like “Jian Qingyang was not that great after all” in private.

A person, who accomplished nothing all his life, would be praised by others whenever he became a hero or accomplished a feat.

However, a person, who was already a top hero at his peak, would only be met with derisive ridicule after being defeated and humiliated.

People were accustomed to celebrating a failure’s victory, but they could not tolerate a constant winner’s failure.

Furthermore, Jian Qingyang’s defeat was too tragic. He had been defeated by the Fey race, and he has lost the glory that belonged to the Human race.

Jian Qingyang dragged his wounded body away from the battlefield. As a failure, he could not wash away the humiliation even if he died to atone for his failure.

He had lost his position as Azure Yang Lord and his glory. He was severely injured and his meridians were mostly destroyed. His cultivation level had also dropped drastically, and he still needed to endure the betrayal of the woman he loved the most…

Jian Qingyang has reached the lowest point in his life.

Although he was still the Great Qian country’s Sacred Emperor, he never returned to it.

He left and wandered alone.

In the past, Jian Qingyang had a wide circle of friends, with numerous people receiving favors from him.

Cultivation techniques, elixirs, fiefs, cultivation caves… He had given out countless treasures, but after Jian Qingyang’s misfortune, the friends from his past subconsciously chose to alienate him…

Although, these friends also seem to express concern for Jian Qingyang, their wandering eyes and repeated words that did not commit to anything made Jian Qingyang realize that it was time for him to leave.

When he provided grace to others, he had never expected anything in return. Furthermore, they could not help him either.

However, he never expected that the fickleness of human nature would reach such a point.

Jian Qingyang did not grieve over this, all he did was sigh…

Maybe, his life had been too smooth. It was so smooth that he had lost his way amidst the glory. Only up to then, when he suffered a serious setback, did he jerk awake from his foggy mist.

He found a quiet place to meditate and heal himself. His injuries were too severe that even cracks appeared on his Dao foundation. It took him several decades before he managed to join up his broken Dao foundation and meridians. However, his strength failed to restore to its peak.

Coming so far, he recalled of a place that allowed him to go so far, the Sinkhole.

The Sinkhole had existed for so long that it could no longer be verified. Legends said that the Sinkhole was actually a broken universe.

It was a broken world left behind when their present world’s nomological Ancestor Gods were annihilated.

It was vast, so vast that it stretched across all 12 Empyrean Heavens.

In the Sinkhole, space-time was in chaos. Even the strongest figures would easily be lost deep in the Sinkhole.

However, there were still many warriors of the 12 Empyrean Heavens who explored the Sinkhole as it was too large and too hidden. It existed from primordial times until then, with many reclusive figures opening up immortal caves in the Sinkhole. There were plenty of treasures that were nurtured from the absorption of the worldly essence under the Sinkhole’s exotic environment.

Hence, it was very easy to obtain opportunities by adventuring in the Sinkhole.

Previously when Jian Qingyang went missing, he had obtained the “Yang God Manual”, the “Nine Nether Sacred Manual” and the broken sword tip.

Jian Qingyang returned back to the Sinkhole, hoping to seek the opportunities he might have missed out upon.

However, he never expected that he would end up lost in the chaotic space in the realm.

Back then, he was able to exit the mystic realm, but now the laws governing it had changed, so he could no longer find his way back!

Getting lost in the Sinkhole was extremely dangerous. Since ancient times, unknown numbers of heroic figures from the 12 Empyrean Heavens were trapped to death in the Sinkhole as they got lost!

Jian Qingyang was facing a similar problem, but he did not despair. After experiencing tumultuous ups and downs, Jian Qingyang’s attitude was already completely different from before.

He searched for an exit in the chaotic space, but he failed to find one. However, he managed to find something that astonished him.

It was a world that was sealed.

And that world was… the world that contained the Tian Yuan continent!

Yi Yun was following Jian Qingyang’s will all the way until this point. At the moment Jian Qingyang crossed into this world’s entrance, for some reason, the long dream state abruptly came to an end, waking Yi Yun up from his silence!

Yi Yun gasped heavily. He felt a terrible migraine appear as his body was covered in cold sweat.

This dream was very long. It was so long that he felt like he was experiencing the life of Jian Qingyang himself!

“Yang God Manual”… “Nine Nether Sacred Manual”… So those two supreme mystic technique’s remnant manuals were obtained by Jian Qingyang from the Sinkhole. Later on, they were given to the ancient Great Empress, allowing her to create the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

And that rusty sword tip!

It was immediately apparent to Yi Yun that the broken sword tip that Jian Qingyang had obtained was the other part of the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner’s broken sword!

The sword had been broken into two pieces. He had obtained the portion with the hilt, while Jian Qingyang obtained the other half.

Yi Yun took the broken sword out of his interspatial ring subconsciously. The rust covered the sword as if it was stained with the blood of gods.

This sword was extremely mysterious. After Jian Qingyang obtained the broken sword, he later chanced upon the Tian Yuan world. That was clearly not a coincidence.

However, Yi Yun never expected that the Tian Yuan world was sealed in the Sinkhole.

A large world was sealed just like that?

Yi Yun did not have any idea about the person who sealed this world. He thought of the owner of the Pure Yang Sword Palace…

If it was the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner, then leaving the other half of the broken sword in this sealed world was not surprising.

This also explained why Jian Qingyang’s sword move in the disk array he obtained in the first level of the God Advent Tower contained the charm of the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner’s attack.

Because of the existence of the broken sword, both their sword moves could be said to share the same strain.

This also allowed Yi Yun to easily succeed while trying to understand Jian Qingyang’s sword move.

“The Azure Yang Lord sure is a tragic figure… ”

Yi Yun shook his head. As Yi Yun had experienced the Azure Yang Lord’s life, the betrayal the Azure Yang Lord experienced as well as the failure in his battle against Sha Hongxue were all felt by him. The doom and despair he felt were enough to cause a person with a weak will to commit suicide.

However, the Azure Yang Lord managed to bear it all. Not only did he do so, a few decades after his recovery, he could even gain enlightenment, returning back to his unrestrained character.

Such a hero was rare in this world.

However, there was still an obsession the Azure Yang Lord had that he could not let go for life. He wanted to know why Bai Yueyin betrayed him…

550 - : Sealed World

CKtalon  CKtalon

Just as Yi Yun was morosely contemplating the Azure Yang Lord’s experiences, he inadvertently saw Lin Xintong standing in front of the ancient Great Empress’ portrait not far away from him. Her eyes were tightly closed as her eyelashes fluttered.

After a long while, she slowly opened her eyes. She had an emotive glint in her eyes.

It was like she had just abruptly woken up from a dream. The moment she opened her eyes, she looked around her surroundings before suddenly looking at Yi Yun.

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s familiar face, Lin Xintong felt slightly relieved.

Yi Yun could not help but hold Lin Xintong’s hand, “What’s the matter?”

Lin Xintong looked like she was still immersed in her previous dream. She said, “I saw the ancient Great Empress as I followed her, experiencing her life.”

Yi Yun was surprised. Lin Xintong had experienced the same thing he did.

He looked at the two portraits and said, “The two portraits might contain the two seniors’ will. I also saw the Azure Yang Lord’s life.”

Lin Xintong slowly walked over and stretched out her hand to touch the ancient Great Empress’ portrait. The portrait of the Great Empress walking across the icy plains alone made her sigh, “The ancient Great Empress’ past and her childhood were very much alike mine. She was really a wonderful woman.”

With that said, Lin Xintong slowly described all of the ancient Great Empress’ life that she had seen.

They both had natural Yin Meridians, so the ancient Great Empress had also suffered from discrimination in her childhood.

She came from a large martial family. The family clan’s status in the Tian Yuan world far exceeded the Lin family. It could be said that they were filled with numerous talents and countless elites.

Although the ancient Great Empress was a direct descendant of the family line, it became a tragedy for her to be born in such a family clan with her natural Yin Meridians.

A genius destined to die young had no value from the beginning.

The ancient Great Empress understood the fickleness of the world and the fickleness of human nature. Growing up through adversity, her character was like a blooming flower in the snow. She was cold and tough.

She never abandoned any hopes to join her terminated meridians up. She left her family clan and traveled everywhere. In a deserted mountain in the vicinity of the Untraversable Sea, she discovered a grass hut. And in there, she met the Azure Yang Lord who was living in reclusion here.

“So the Azure Yang Lord lived here in reclusion after arriving in this world.” Yi Yun listened carefully. The life of the Azure Yang Lord he experienced ended the moment the Azure Yang Lord entered this world.

Now, through Lin Xintong, he found the subsequent events out through the ancient Great Empress’ perspective.

The entrance that connected the sinkhole to the Tian Yuan world was the eternal whirlpool. When the Azure Yang Lord crossed into this world, he came through the eternal whirlpool.

However, after coming to this world, the Azure Yang Lord realized that he had been trapped here. He found it very difficult for him to use the eternal whirlpool to return to the sinkhole. He also found it very difficult to find the path that could lead him back to the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

The Azure Yang Lord lived in seclusion near to the Untraversable Sea so as to carry on finding the path back. The horrifying suction power deep in the eternal whirlpool made him believe that it was not easy finding the path back. And even if he could return to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, he would end up going in circles in the sinkhole without any way of telling the direction.

He slowly searched, refusing to give up.

And it was during this time that the Azure Yang Lord met the ancient Great Empress.

Back then, the Great Empress was dressed in white, just like in the portrait. She was like a beautiful blooming flower standing alone in the snow. The moment the Azure Yang Lord saw the ancient Great Empress, he could tell that she had naturally terminated meridians.

But he could not find any traces of self-pity in her eyes.

It was as if this woman would never back down, even if the path ahead was filled with death. Instead, she would use the sword in her hand to open a path up for herself.

This unyielding character of hers made the Azure Yang Lord see himself.

He also saw an inkling of Bai Yueyin’s shadow…

The Azure Yang Lord cherished talent. Because of this reason, and also because the young Great Empress had some similarity to Bai Yueyin, he made the first move to get to know her. He did not know why that he would do so to a girl he met coincidentally in a strange world. He gave her pointers on martial arts and later on, he took her in as a disciple.

When the ancient Great Empress first saw this man, she also felt that he was no ordinary person. Later on, the Azure Yang Lord taught her pure Yang cultivation techniques which far exceeded any existing martial arts in the Tian Yuan world.

The ancient Great Empress came from a top family clan and she had seen countless numbers of manuals. However, the cultivation techniques taught by the Azure Yang Lord were something she had never heard or seen before.

This made her see a glimmer of hope in her still unsuccessful search for a way to join her terminated meridians up.

She diligently cultivated, and with her being extremely talented, she advanced rapidly by cultivating the pure Yang cultivation technique.

As for the Azure Yang Lord, he was even more amazed. He was originally hoping to have another person to chat with through his life of solitude. But he never expected that a casual action of his resulted in him becoming more and more shocked.

The ancient Great Empress was an absolute genius!

In the beginning, the Azure Yang Lord only planned on teaching the ancient Great Empress some ordinary cultivation techniques. However, when he saw the ancient Great Empress’ unparalleled talent in martial arts, he also began to really guide the ancient Great Empress.

It was such a pity for a martial arts genius to end her martial path due to her terminated meridians.

In the end, the Azure Yang Lord gave her the “Yang God Manual” that he obtained from the sinkhole. And after the ancient Great Empress mastered it, he taught her the “Nine Nether Sacred Manual” as well.

The ancient Great Empress’s strength rapidly increased. At the same time he witnessed the ancient Great Empress’ increase in strength, the Azure Yang Lord felt that his state of mind was gradually changing. It seemed to rediscover the vigor he once had.

He slowly rediscovered his past self. Carefree, unbridled and without restraint.

The ancient Great Empress’s cultivation level slowly increased to an incredible level. It had already far exceeded the standards of the Tian Yuan world.

After a period of time, the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress traveled to the mainland. They toured the mortal realm and witnessed the world changing with time.

When the ancient Great Empress’ strength exceeded many elites of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, she once again did something that made the Azure Yang Lord absolutely speachless.

She managed to create the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” from the two supreme remnant manuals!

Maybe it was the naturally terminated meridians that had given her her achievements. Her complete obsession with joining up her terminated meridians allowed her to gain such amazing achievements. The “Great Empress Heart Sutra” could be said to be a rare treasured manual of the world!

The Azure Yang Lord had always led a proud life. He originally believed that a woman who could amaze him was only to Bai Yueyin. He never expected that in his life, he would see a woman who exceeded Bai Yueyin.

The ancient Great Empress’s mental temperament, talent and tenacious character deeply moved the Azure Yang Lord. As for the Azure Yang Lord’s openness and strong sense of righteousness, he opened the closed heart of the ancient Great Empress.

The two of them kept each other company like a pair of immortal couples. It was an envious affair.

However, in the Azure Yang Lord’s heart, he still had an obsession. He still wanted to return to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. He wanted to regain the glory that was once his. He wanted to ask Bai Yueyin why she had betrayed him.

It was like a knot in his heart. If he did not untie it, the Azure Yang Lord would never feel at ease.

As such, the Azure Yang Lord explored the eternal whirlpool several times in search of the return path to the sinkhole.

He joined hands with the ancient Great Empress as they explored deeper and deeper. Slowly, the Azure Yang Lord discovered that in the eternal whirlpool, there was an ancient enchantment.

This enchantment was extremely hidden, but the enchantment contained an extremely powerful energy. This energy did not seem like it was formed naturally.

If it was created by a mysterious person, then the strength of this mysterious person, who could leave such an energy behind, made the Azure Yang Lord secretly alarmed.

The Azure Yang Lord found it hard to believe that such a figure would appear in a tiny world with a low level of martial arts. What was his purpose here?

Could he have come from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, and had entered this place by accident while exploring the sinkhole?

This thought made the Azure Yang Lord feel a sense of rapport with the person. He really wanted to know what the mysterious person had experienced, and where he was currently.

However, the Azure Yang Lord sensed that even though the enchantment was very powerful, it had existed for a long period of time. So it was a lot weaker than what it was in the past.

The powerful energy in the enchantment had also been greatly weakened.

This energy was very mysterious, yet, he found it somewhat familiar…

Subtlely, the energy was calling out to him…

This surprised the Azure Yang Lord greatly. Why would an enchantment in this tiny world have an energy that he was familiar with?

However, no matter how hard he thought and tried to recall, he could not remember where this energy could have come from or where he had previously encountered it.

551 - : Daughter of Heaven

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Azure Yang Lord could not curb his urge to crack the enchantment. He felt that something in the enchantment was extremely important to him.

Besides, the existence of the enchantment was most likely connected to the entrance that linked this world to the sinkhole.

If the Azure Yang Lord wanted to return to the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, he naturally needed to figure the secret behind the sinkhole out…

The enchantment had existed for too long, and its layout largely contained the pure Yang Great Dao. Since the Azure Yang Lord cultivated pure Yang laws himself, he found the coincidence very unusual.

He drew inspiration from the Great Dao contained in the enchantment. From the eternal whirlpool, he gained insight into the laws within the enchantment. He matched it against the “Yang God Manual” he cultivated, and he slowly understood several key points.

As such, he stayed in the God Burial Abyss’s eternal whirlpool, and in a blink of an eye, seven years had passed.

During those seven years, the ancient Great Empress accompanied the Azure Yang Lord as she helped him expound on the laws.

She cultivated pure Yin laws, which were the complete opposite, and as such, she gave the Azure Yang Lord a lot of inspiration.

Time passed, and after many years and many attempts by the Azure Yang Lord, he managed to crack the powerful ancient enchantment.

During this period, with his attempts at cracking the enchantment, the Azure Yang Lord’s cultivation level also increased.

The hard work paid off eventually, as the Azure Yang Lord finally succeeded seven years later. By joining forces with the ancient Great Empress, he managed to crack the ancient enchantment open.

At the moment he cracked the enchantment open, the Azure Yang Lord felt a terrifying energy backlash. His body quaked as he vomited blood.

In the enchantment, he did not encounter any opportunities that he was familiar with. All he saw was the phantom image of a gigantic eye.

The eye’s gaze was cold as if it treated everything in the world with indifference.

Both the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress were stunned. Just as they couldn’t understand what was happening, a terrifying energy shot out of the gigantic eye, straight into the clouds!

The energy penetrated the Untraversable Sea, and then the Tian Yuan world, and then it broke past the Heavens!

The world’s sky… began to crack and crumble!

This was what it really meant by ‘heaven crumbling and earth shattering’. The Azure Yang Lord witnessed gigantic cracks appearing in the blue sky with his own eyes, then large tracts of “pieces of the sky” fell!

These “pieces of the sky” fell onto the land, smashing mountains and truncating rivers. It destroyed several ancient martial inheritances!

Be it mortals or warriors, in front of this apocalyptic energy, they appeared minute. Their lives were like tiny water drops in a turbulent storm. They were all destroyed!

Instantly, the entire Tian Yuan world was filled with large amounts of death and injury!

The Azure Yang Lord was startled!

He knew that the “pieces of the sky” that fell from the sky was not the “sky”. The sky was endless without a boundary after all. It was not like a ball that surrounded the Tian Yuan world.

The shattered “pieces of the sky” were actually another enchantment! It was a larger enchantment that enveloped the entire Tian Yuan world!

This huge enchantment had sealed the world in which the Tian Yuan world resided in!

And it was this enchantment that prevented the Azure Yang Lord from finding the passage back to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Logically speaking, with the Azure Yang Lord’s cultivation level, he could completely travel the cosmos with his body, moving through numerous worlds.

The Azure Yang Lord could not figure out who had the ability to seal a world with an enchantment that lasted for such a long period of time. The amount of effort required was immense!

And why did he do all of this?

The enchantment was destroyed, and the balance of nature in the world had toppled. The residents of the Tian Yuan world were either dead or injured. It looked like a scene from Armageddon.

The Azure Yang Lord witnessed everything.

He felt his mind tremble as he turned breathless. He sensed that his action of cracking the ancient enchantment open had resulted in all that had happened!

What he found in the God Burial Abyss was not an ancient opportunity, it was a box that sealed an evil demon!

The existence of the God Burial Abyss was actually due to an ancient mighty figure, who sealed an evil demon in the world where the Tian Yuan world resided!

This world was just a vessel.

The God Burial Abyss was the place where the seal resided!

And he used fourteen years to open the box himself, releasing the evil demon that was hidden inside!

The calamity had lasted for a full month before it gradually stopped. The Azure Yang Lord was speechless for a long period of time after seeing the world that had been mostly destroyed.

He had only wanted to return to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, but he had caused such a tragedy…

He finally understood why he felt a calling from the enchantment. He sensed a familiar energy which was actually a lure by the evil demon. He had unknowingly fallen into a trap.

With the world seal removed, the Azure Yang Lord could feel the Yuan Qi that came from beyond this world. He could even feel that he could use his own strength to travel the cosmos and find a path in the vast universe back to the 12 Empyrean Heavens…

But… he probably could not go back…

…

“With the enchantment removed, this world is already linked to the outside world. I should be happy, but now… I have made a grave mistake!”

Facing the ancient Great Empress, the Azure Yang Lord lamented.

If he left, this world would crumble. Furthermore, the ancient existence that was sealed in the God Burial Abyss had unfathomable strength. If it fully appeared again, it could even cause a tragedy to the 12 Empyrean Heavens!

The Azure Yang Lord believed that even at his peak, he was definitely no match for this ancient existence.

He used fourteen years to help the gigantic eye break through the core of the array. The one who really broke this world’s seal was the eye itself.

The ancient Great Empress did not say a word as she stood quietly behind the Azure Yang Lord.

No matter what the Azure Yang Lord’s decision was, she would support it.

Before this, the Azure Yang Lord wanted to return to the 12 Empyrean Heavens to question Bai Yueyin, and the ancient Great Empress had silently helped him find the path back to the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Now, the Azure Yang Lord wanted to correct his wrong. The ancient Great Empress would also stand by his side to battle on, regardless of the cost!

After the gigantic eye completely destroyed the seal that enveloped this world, it entered a quiet state. It seemed like all the energy it had gathered had been consumed with that one attack!

The Azure Yang Lord sensed that although the world’s seal had been destroyed, the gigantic eye still had not completely escaped the restraints of the God Burial Abyss’s eternal whirlpool.

The God Burial Abyss itself was also a seal!

Back when the Azure Yang Lord first arrived in this world and saw the God Burial Abyss, he saw a black beam shooting out of the God Burial Abyss like a pillar that supported the heavens. It shot straight at the Tian Yuan world like it was supporting the entire Tian Yuan world.

Back then, the Azure Yang Lord thought that the beam supported the suspended continent of the Tian Yuan world, but now, he realized that it was completely not the case.

The Tian Yuan world was actually suspended above the eternal whirlpool!

When the Azure Yang Lord realized this, he flew up into the sky and enveloped the entire Tian Yuan world with his perception.

At that moment, he suddenly realized that the vast, floating continent above the eternal whirlpool and the Untraversable Sea was actually in the shape of a regular square.

Such a regularized shape was thick and even. Furthermore, deep in the continent, there was a faint Dao charm circulating it.

This was definitely no original piece of land.

The Azure Yang Lord suddenly realized the Tian Yuan world continent was itself a magical item!

It could be a squarish disk array or a chess board. And the role of this gigantic magical item was to suppress the God Burial Abyss!

Upon realizing this, the Azure Yang Lord was shocked.

What was buried under the God Burial Abyss?

To ensure that the existence was sealed, the mighty ancient person who created the seal did not only limit it to sealing this world. The person had even set up the God Burial Abyss ancient array, and used such a gigantic magical item to completely suppress the ancient array!

Such a method was probably something that no one could compare with even when placed in the 12 Empyrean Heavens!

And it was because of the layers of seals that it managed to restrain the terrifying eye, preventing it from escaping even after the enchantment had been destroyed.

But… it was just a matter of time.

The Azure Yang Lord felt that he could not wait any longer. He had already caused great loss to the Tian Yuan world, with countless creatures dying. He needed to do something so as to right his wrong before the gigantic eye was fully freed.

However, just as the Azure Yang Lord was thinking of finding a way to seal the ancient evil demon, seven mysterious people appeared in front of the Azure Yang Lord.

The seven people were dressed in large black cloaks. Below the cloaks were black-armor engraved with mysterious patterns.

Their bodies emitted ancient horrific auras…

552 - : The Origins of the God Burial Abyss

CKtalon  CKtalon

The faces of the seven cloaked figures were hidden. Only indistinct pairs of glowing red eyes could be vaguely seen. Their gazes were cold and indifferent as they stood there like statues.

Just from the aura alone, the Azure Yang Lord knew that these seven were not from this world. He was certain that they had come out of the ancient enchantment.

Although the ancient eye had cracked the enchantment, it seemed to end up consuming too much energy, resulting in it entering a deep sleep. On the other hand, these seven people were not human. They were the evil demon’s guardians, and were named Demon Disciples.

The reason why the seven Demon Disciples came to the Azure Yang Lord was to make him one of them, to make him the eighth Fiend Disciple, a Fiend Disciple of the Human race.

They promised a lot, but all of these promises sounded extremely harsh in the Azure Yang Lord’s ears.

The Azure Yang Lord was already suffering from having greatly sinned by causing the huge destruction onto the Tian Yuan world. So the moment the seven Demon Disciples opened their mouths, a murderous intent emitted from the Azure Yang Lord’s gaze!

Since they were messengers of the ancient existence, they deserved to die!

There was no need to speak, all that mattered was to battle!

The Azure Yang Lord’s was always true to himself, and the ancient Great Empress, who was always silent, had already silently conjured an ice lotus beneath her feet.

The Azure Yang Lord’s sword was unsheathed.

The ancient Great Empress’s figure was like a snow fairy as she floated forward.

The two worked together in the battle, fighting two against seven!

However, the seven black-armored warriors were extremely powerful. Every attack they made contained nomological charms that were completely different from this world. With the seven of them fighting alongside each other, the battle with the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress was really world changing.

Even the people in the Tian Yuan world, who were ignorant of the ongoings, looked at the sky in shock and fear.

The entire sky was filled with black clouds and bolts of lightning. There was also a thick blood red color amidst it. It felt like the sky would shed blood at any moment.

The Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress was at a disadvantage against the black-armored warriors. However, with the two of them cooperating, neither side could overpower the other. Eventually, several of the seven black-armored warriors were injured, while the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress were seriously injured. Without being able to carry on the battle, they could only retreat.

After the Azure Yang Lord retreated, the seven Demon Disciples did not return to the eternal whirlpool. They instead began killing several martial family clans and sects in the Tian Yuan world. They made people submit to them, as for those who did not, they were killed on the spot.

They threw the murdered warriors into the eternal whirlpool as a sacrifice and food for the evil demon.

It seemed like it was a form of sacrificial offering that would make the ancient existence inside the whirlpool recover faster.

In time, the Tian Yuan world was overwhelmed by murder. People had to fend for themselves.

The lands disintegrated, but there were courageous and righteous warriors who would rather die than submit.

However, not everyone were like that. Against such a terrifying existence, some people began to suspect that the world was changing. The existence sealed within the eternal whirlpool was about to reign supreme.

Their era was about to be overturned and buried.

With the apocalypse coming, the ugliness of human nature was revealed. Some people, in order to become stronger, to survive, or to seek revenge against those who towered above them, were willing to become traitors.

In this way, the seven Demon Disciples began to expand and develop their own faction.

As for the Azure Yang Lord, at that moment, he discovered the Desolate race.

The Desolate race and the Human race had always drawn a clear line between themselves. They did not interact with each other.

To the Human race, the Desolate race’s existence was not only ancient and mysterious, they were also extremely dangerous.

By the time the Azure Yang Lord discovered the Desolate race, the situation had already deteriorated to the point where nearly all martial arts of the Tian Yuan world had been destroyed. On the other hand, the Desolate race’s strength was still preserved almost perfectly.

The Azure Yang Lord gained the approval of the Desolate race’s Desolate King back then, allowing for him to become their leader.

With the enchantment cracked, the Demon Disciples went rampant. The world was on the brink of destruction. It was not only a tragedy for the Human race, but for the entire world.

The Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress, led the Desolate race as they launched a counterattack against the Demon Disciples and their faction.

Every battle caused blood to flow like rivers. It resulted in countless numbers of death and injuries!

And during this process, the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress cultivated the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” together. Every dual cultivation they partaked in allowed for them to break through time and again. Their minds became one as their strength increased.

As for the seven Demon Disciples, they were ultimately no match for the combined forces of the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress. After a bitter final battle, the faction established by the Demon Disciples was uprooted. The seven Demon Disciples were also killed one by one, after the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress paid a heavy price.

After this huge battle, be it the Tian Yuan world or the Divine Wilderness’s Desolate race, they were all in a disastrous state, people were plunged into an abyss of misery.

It was unknown how many martial arts inheritances, which had been passed down for ages, were severed. Many large family clans who had hundreds of thousands of years of inheritance, had been completely destroyed and left with no descendants.

Seeing the miserable outcome of the war, the Azure Yang Lord sighed.

His life was full of ups and down!

In the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, he was previously high-spirited and was the ruler of a country. He then became a Great World’s Divine Lord, receiving the admiration of the people.

Then, he was betrayed by his wife in his cultivation chamber. At Wanshi mountain, he suffered a devastating defeat while battling against Sha Hongxue. After losing everything, his friends from the past began to drift away from him. He traveled alone and entered the sinkhole, eventually losing his way back…

After coming to this world, he fell for the scheme in the whirlpool, making a grave mistake that was nearly impossible to redeem.

His life could only be described as extremely bleak…

However, amidst this continuous sequences of failure and misery, he met her. She was a girl with naturally terminated meridians, but she had never abandoned the opportunity to reverse her own fate.

Whether he was down or had suffered failure, no matter if he had made a grave mistake causing the deaths of billions, or him unsheathing his sword to engage in a bloody battle with the seven Demon Disciples…

She always silently followed behind him, never abandoning him.

If he wanted to roam the world, she would accompany him to travel the world. If he wanted to engage in a bloody war, she would accompany him in battle. Through it all, she had never complained once.

She was like a star in his bleak life that illuminated everything.

The Azure Yang Lord realized that it did not really matter whether he returned to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. What was most important was to cherish the person before him.

So what if he washed away the disgrace of his defeat back in the Central State Divine Territory?

So what if he unwinded the obsession and indignance he experienced from Bai Yueyin’s betrayal?

With a woman accompanying him to the ends of time, what else was there to wish for?

However, by the time he understood all this, it was already too late…

The Tian Yuan world’s calm was just on the surface. The seven Demon Disciples had just been suppressed. They appeared to be undying and indestructible. They would eventually awaken again in the future.

Furthermore, the terrible evil demon in the eternal whirlpool was just temporarily asleep. Since the enchantment had been cracked, once it woke up, the Tian Yuan world would experience a real apocalyptic catastrophe.

The Azure Yang Lord knew that he was running out of time.

The enlightenment he received in his heart was already sensed by the ancient Great Empress who was silently accompanying him.

The two of them began the final preparations.

Together, they established the Great Empress mystic realm. They left their inheritance in it, hoping that a successor would inherit their unfinished mission in the future.

In the Great Empress mystic realm, the Azure Yang Lord moved the grass hut, where he first met the ancient Great Empress, in its entirety.

In the grass hut, one of them brandished a sword while enjoying alcohol, while the other played the zither and sang. They were like an immortal couple.

The Azure Yang Lord’s uninhibited life was filled with ups and down. Having felt both extreme happiness and sadness, he knew how difficult it was to earn happiness.

If he could make this moment last forever, that would be a blissful matter…

However, be it the Azure Yang Lord or the ancient Great Empress, they knew that these days were not going to last.

They had a tacit understanding, as they experienced the last moment of warmth together, cherishing their every breath.

However… they eventually had to bring an end to all of this.

After leaving the grass hut, the Azure Yang Lord left behind a paragraph of text, solely wishing that he and the Great Empress would be able to lead ordinary lives, sticking with each other until their hair turned gray.

Only if all of this ended.

After that, the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress entered the eternal whirlpool hand in hand, so as to mend the already broken seal.

The memory ended there, for none of them ever returned…

Lin Xintong had already awoken at that moment. She did not know what had happened after that. She had no idea if the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress had been killed by the existence within the eternal whirlpool or… if they had used their lives to form an enchantment in order to seal the evil demon…

Thinking back to the ancient Great Empress and the Azure Yang Lord’s lives, the great sorrow and joy filled them with emotions.

And now, she and Yi Yun had inherited their inheritance, and also their legacy.

553 - : The Seven Demon Disciples

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong stood before the two portraits, silent and in deep thought.

Just now, while they were each within their own lengthy dream, they had each experienced the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress’ lives. They had used the ancient couple’s eyes to see this world, and to understand the Yin-Yang laws.

This was a rare opportunity for both Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

Both of them looked each other in the eye. They felt they had deepened their understanding of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, and if they were to begin cultivating now, it would not take long for them to succeed in cultivating the Jade Marrow Spiritual Energy and the Nine Yang Spiritual Energy.

“Who would have thought that the Tian Yuan world had such a secret. The world we are in is just a sealed vessel, and the eternal whirlpool in the God Burial Abyss is the core of the seal. The Tian Yuan world is just a huge magical item, so as to suppress and seal…”

Yi Yun still remembered the first time he arrived in the Tian Yuan world. It was floating above the Untraversable Sea, and it had smooth edges that were steep cliffs. From afar, they looked like infinite divine walls that lay across the horizon.

Back then, Yi Yun was struck by the magnificent appearance of the Tian Yuan world, only now did he realize that it was a magical item!

“The ancient evil demon within the God Burial Abyss is too terrifying. Just to seal it again, even the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress never returned after they left… They eventually failed to complete the seal, and now, this mission has landed on our shoulders…” Lin Xintong sighed. There was some hesitation in her eyes, but she was also a lot more determined.

In the Great Empress mystic realm, she had found the way to join up her naturally terminated meridians. The ancient Great Empress was like a master to her. Naturally, she could not let down the important task entrusted by the ancient Great Empress. Besides, the Lin family was in the Tian Yuan world, be it Su Jie or Matriarch Lin, they were the dearest people to Lin Xintong, other than Yi Yun. She could not sit idly by while the Tian Yuan world was destroyed.

Lin Xintong turned towards Yi Yun. She noticed he was silent and had his eyes closed, as if he was digesting all that he had seen. After a long time, he whispered, “Xintong, let us go, to that place. I believe we can now enter it.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he walked out the hall which was at the third level of the God Advent Tower. Lin Xintong silently followed him. She followed in the footsteps of the ancient Great Empress who followed the Azure Yang Lord so many years ago.

The two of them moved up the staircase. They walked slowly, step by step.

They passed by door after door of light. It took them a full hour before they arrived before the sixth level of the God Advent Tower.

This was the top level of the God Advent Tower.

Back when they came here the first time, the door was tightly shut and stood motionless.

After cultivating for five years and experiencing the ancient Great Empress and Azure Yang Lord’s lives, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong once again stood before the door, but their mentalities were completely different from before.

They looked each other in the eye as they placed their palms on the door.

“Bam!”

Both their Yuan Qi exploded!

The complex ancient patterns on the heavy door began to light up one by one. Pure Yin and Yang laws surged between their bodies.

The glow emitted by the ancient door began to grow in intensity as it illuminated the entire God Advent Tower.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong circulated their energies to a maximum, as their Yin and Yang energies interwove in the void, forming a Great Dao picture.

The ancient door seemed to melt as it echoed a “Ka Ka” sound. Finally, the two sides of the heavy door slowly opened up from the middle.

Ever since entering the Great Empress mystic realm, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had spent six years in it. After six years, they managed to step into the last level of the God Advent Tower. Finally, on this day, the God Advent Tower had opened up to them completely!

Boom!

The door fully opened, and as if a piece of dusty history was pushed apart, a primordial aura surged out before they could even enter.

It seemed like there was a pair of eyes in the space behind the door, which traversed across the sea of time and was watching them from a distance.

It seemed like a whisper was coming from behind the door. It was unknown whose voice it belonged to. The flittering sound, was like if it was calling out to someone, or telling a story no one knew.

This special feeling made Yi Yun and Lin Xintong hold their breaths. Yi Yun sensed that something in it was resonating within him.

He took a deep breath and, while holding Lin Xintong’s hand, slowly walked through the door.

Inside, it was surprisingly quiet.

They were the first to step into this space that had been sealed for so many years. It was just a quiet room.

In front of them there was a wooden table, placed above some bamboo mats.

The wooden table was smooth and remained dustless. The table’s wooden texture was apparent to the eyes and there was a cyan light coming from a lamp flickering above it. The tiny bit of light was like starlight in the dark night.

It was unknown for how many years the lamp had been lit. It was as if the owner of this room had never left.

After looking at the wooden table, Yi Yun could not help but walk up to it.

Back then, it was most probably that the Azure Yang Lord sat on the bamboo mat…

Yi Yun sat down, and in a trance, the voice he previously heard as a whisper echoed in his ears once again. It was as if an invisible figure was sitting there, just like him, reciting a poem.

This was not Yi Yun’s hallucination, but an actual voice.

The Azure Yang Lord was gone, but his aura from back then and his voice still remained undissipated. Even though it had been so long, it still could manifest in this chamber.

This proved how deep and profound the Azure Yang Lord’s understanding of the laws was.

And such a person was helpless against the terrifying existence beneath the eternal whirlpool…

Yi Yun looked at the wooden table while deep in thought. A black disc, which was not very eye-catching, was placed on it. Other than that, there was a cotton bag nonchalantly left beside it as well.

Yi Yun picked up the black disc and instantly, an intense resonance happened. Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was hauled by it as it erupted. The circular disc lit up and projected an image.

The image was a mini tower.

“It is the God Advent Tower,” Lin Xintong exclaimed.

Yi Yun was also surprised. This circular disc had projected the God Advent Tower, and by carefully sensing it, he was even more surprised.

The circular disc was the core disk array of the God Advent Tower!

With the Azure Yang Token in hand, Yi Yun sank his perception into the disk array. Suddenly, he felt his perception spread across to every corner of the God Advent Tower. Everything within the God Advent Tower was now at his fingertips.

This feeling was extremely wonderful.

“This is where the core of the God Advent Tower is?”

Lin Xintong clearly guessed it as she asked.

Yi Yun nodded, and a hint of excitement could be seen in his eyes.

Previously, the inheritance he obtained only controlled a tiny portion of the God Advent Tower, but with this disk array, he would be able to completely control the entire God Advent Tower!

As long as he refined this disk array, he would become the true master of the God Advent Tower!

The God Advent Tower was not just a place of trials, it was also an immortal cave, as well as a magical item.

When Yi Yun was sufficiently strong, he and Lin Xintong could power the God Advent Tower, sealing the Sun and Moon, suppressing the mountains and rivers!

Then, no matter what enemies they encountered, they would be able to completely seal and suppress them!

554 - : The Sixth Level

CKtalon  CKtalon

On the wooden table, beside the God Advent Tower’s disk array, there was a cotton bag that was left behind by the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress. And beside the cotton bag, there was a carved lacquer wooden box.

Yi Yun could faintly sense that the items in the wooden box and cotton bag were extremely extraordinary.

Previously, people had guessed that there was a Great Empress vault in the mystic realm. And if he was not wrong, this was probably the vault.

However, the vault was too different from what people guessed.

The treasures in the vault only numbered a few, but each treasure was extremely precious.

Yi Yun opened the wooden box. After millions of years, the first opening of the box emitted a faint ice-blue runic pattern. As an icy mist rose, it hazed up the void.

Yi Yun focused his eyes and he saw that in the wooden box, there was a hairpin.

The hairpin looked like it was carved out of crystal. On one end of the hairpin, there was a life-like blue jay carving that looked extremely intricately carved. And the other end was covered with profound-looking runic lines.

This hairpin was apparently a treasure.

Yi Yun looked at the hairpin and he felt that the gaze that he sensed while standing outside the door came from this hairpin.

The hairpin, when in hand, somehow made him feel like he was being watched…

Yi Yun sank his perception deep into the hairpin and he realized that it contained the aura of the ancient Great Empress. The pure Yin laws that the ancient Great Empress cultivated were after all not the same as what Yi Yun cultivated, so he found it difficult to thoroughly understand the profoundness in it.

“This hairpin is a treasure left behind by the ancient Great Empress. Xintong, you can refine it.”Yi Yun handed the hairpin over to Lin Xintong, to which she nodded and took the hairpin.

The hairpin’s aura was something Lin Xintong could not understand either. She could vaguely sense that the ancient Great Empress had left behind a lot of Dao charm and insights within the hairpin.

This made the hairpin have some spiritual quality to it, resulting in people feeling like they were being watched.

Ignoring that the hairpin could be used as a Dao item itself, just wearing it alone would allow one to gain insight into the charms within. It was a very big opportunity for Lin Xintong.

After the hairpin, Yi Yun turned his attention to the small cotton bag.

The cotton bag was about the size of a palm and it was light in his hand. When Yi Yun sank his perception in, he realized that the cotton bag contained a vast independent space within it.

It was a Cosmos Bag.

The Cosmos Bag was similar to interspatial rings, and it was used to store treasured items.

However, several interspatial rings had a limited lifespan. According to the quality of the ring, after tens of thousands of years, the space within the interspatial ring would destabilize, and it would eventually crumble completely.

However, the Cosmos Bag in Yi Yun’s hand would not. Even after billions of years, it would also not be destroyed.

Since the Cosmos Bag was now ownerless, when Yi Yun sank his perception in, he could easily open it.

The space within the Cosmos Bag was very large. It was thousands of times bigger than the interspatial rings Yi Yun possessed. However, it was largely empty except for one item.

The item was about seven feet tall. It stood vertically and it looked like a stone statue used for carving.

The surface of the stone statue was covered with beautiful runic patterns that resembled flames.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s understanding of the pure Yang laws was extremely deep. He just needed one look to realise that these flame-like runic patterns were because this piece of stone had been placed in a pure Yang land. After millions of years, the pure Yang Great Dao had naturally formed runic patterns on it.

Yi Yun had some thoughts as he gently touched the stone with his hand.

The stone was heavy and hard, but the instant Yi Yun’s fingers touched it, several cracks appeared on its surface!

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

A barrage of soft cracking sounds echoed as the number of cracks increased and turned clearer. They looked like spider webs.

“Oh?”

Lin Xintong was alarmed. The strange stone was naturally a precious treasure to be placed here, but why did it crack the moment Yi Yun touched it?

“No worries!”

Yi Yun waved his hand, as he stared intently at the strange stone. His understanding of the pure Yang laws were naturally deeper than Lin Xintong’s. Since it was a divine item that was the outcome of being born in a supreme Yang land, he knew what was going on.

The number of cracks increased and they became bigger. After a few seconds, golden light shot out from the cracks.

These beams formed a rainbow in the sky and it was absolutely gorgeous.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

Accompanying the golden light, the external layers of the cracked stone began to peel off.

The moment the external layers landed on the ground, they became white dust and scattered across the ground.

Lin Xintong could not help but squint as the beams were too intense.

Finally, all the external layers of the stone had fallen, and an odd item landed on the ground.

The odd item was about three feet long. It was completely smooth and it looked like a fetus curled in its mother’s womb…

It was dark gold, it looked extremely heavy and it had a metallic texture, so how did it look anything like a fetus?

“What is it?” Lin Xintong could not help but ask.

“A divine item nurtured from an extreme Yang land… ” Yi Yun gently touched the dark gold item as he carefully sensed the Dao patterns within it.

In this world, examples of extreme Yang lands were the deepest depths of pure Yang lava, or in the cores of special stars.

The pure Yang energy in these areas were strong beyond imagination. Even a mighty master skilled in pure Yang laws might burn to ashes if they entered such a place.

However, there were divine items that could absorb the essence of its surroundings and gradually form itself.

After millions of years of pure Yang energy’s refinement, these precious treasures reached an unfathomable level of quality and value.

“If I’m not wrong, this is Draco First True Gold!” Yi Yun explained for he knew more about pure Yang Dao than Lin Xintong.

“Draco First True Gold!” Lin Xintong was stunned. As she looked at the precious item again, a glimmer appeared in her eyes. A divine item of this grade was equivalent to a legend.

A strange stone that absorbed the essence of the world as it refined itself in an extreme Yang land would form a natural Dao rune that resembled the most primal nomological form. The strange stone then refines itself into True Gold.

This was the so-called “golden touch”. The Draco First True Gold was the extreme point of having experienced the golden touch.

“This sort of material is a real gem. If it is used to cast into a weapon, it would create a divine artifact. Unfortunately, it’s too difficult to refine it!”

Lin Xintong shook her head gently. Whether it was her or Yi Yun, it was not possible for them to refine the Draco First True Gold.

How could a natural divine item that was formed after being refined in pure Yang divine infernos in an extreme Yang land be refined by the two of them?

“This sort of item is very valuable, but we can’t use it for the time being… ”

As Lin Xintong said that, Yi Yun stood in front of the Draco First True Gold in deep thought. He gently touched the Dao runes on the surface of the Draco First True Gold. After a long while, a strange glimmer appeared in his eyes.

He said happily, “There’s no need to refine it. I know how to use it. It is already a divine item that has been tempered by extreme Yang infernos. It’s value is unimaginable!”

555 - : Draco First True Gold

CKtalon  CKtalon

Hearing what Yi Yun said, Lin Xintong looked at him in surprise. She did not understand such a divine item.

“Xintong, if I am not wrong, this Draco First True Gold was obtained by the Azure Yang Lord within the sinkhole. He knew what it was, but did not hastily refine it into a weapon. Instead, he placed it on the top level of the God Advent Tower, and used the God Advent Tower’s large array foundation to slowly nourish it. This is because the Azure Yang Lord had already realized what was so special about the Draco First True Gold.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he touched the Dao runes on the Draco First True Gold, so as to confirm his hypothesis.

He carried on saying, “The Draco First True Gold is a result of precious stone. It had experienced millions of years under pure Yang Heavenly Dao, eventually turning from stone into gold. The Draco First True Gold is also the extreme point of having experienced the golden touch. When the Draco First True Gold carries on existing in a extreme Yang land, it will absorb pure Yang, evolve and be able to sense the Heaven and Earth. Gradually, the True Gold will give birth to flesh and blood.”

“When that happens, the Draco First True Gold itself might possess life. In the future, once the Draco First True Gold comes to life, its body will possess a Dao body divine fetus, which would be a peerless person of excellence.”

Lin Xintong was stunned hearing what Yi Yun said, “You mean… the Draco First True Gold before us has already produced a body of flesh and blood!?”

“It is likely that it has happened from my sensing.” Yi Yun said in a certain manner.

In the middle of a precious stone was the Draco First True Gold.

In the True Gold was a body of flesh and blood.

This was equivalent to a divine body, formed naturally from the laws of Heaven and Earth. It showcased the miraculous power of creation.

“If there really is a body of flesh and blood within the True Gold, then refining it into a weapon would be too wasteful.” Lin Xintong shook her head. She knew that from Yi Yun’s confidence, he had already found a way to use this precious stone.

Yi Yun said, “Of course, if my guesses are correct, when the Azure Yang Lord obtained the Draco First True Gold, it had already given birth to a body of flesh and blood, but it was still not mature so it was unable to achieve the Azure Yang Lord’s goals.”

“The Azure Yang Lord left it here in the top level of the God Advent Tower, to let it be nourished by the large arrays for millions of years. While pure Yang energy was provided to it, some extreme Yin energy was also injected into it, causing Yin-Yang to complement each other, resulting in a peerless Dao fetus!”

“With at least millions of years of nourishment, this Dao fetus has already taken form, and before it was conceived, the Azure Yang Lord left behind a spiritual imprint in the Dao fetus. With this spiritual imprint, once the Dao fetus takes form, it will become an excellent avatar.”

Yi Yun was this sure because he had already sensed the Azure Yang Lord’s spiritual imprint within the Draco First True Gold Dao fetus.

If not for the spiritual imprint, the Draco First True Gold Dao fetus would take much longer than a few million years to form its own intelligence.

And once the spiritual imprint was planted, this Dao fetus would be of one mind with the Azure Yang Lord. And the Dao fetus’ own intelligence would not be formed.

However, with the Azure Yang Lord disappearing into the eternal whirlpool, together with millions of years having passed, the Azure Yang Lord’s spiritual imprint inside in the Dao fetus had already completely withered.

A thread of consciousness could not exist without the fires of life supporting it, especially after leaving its main body for so long.

“Yi Yun, according to what you said, if you plant your consciousness into the Dao fetus, wouldn’t the Draco First True Gold become an avatar of yours?”

Lin Xintong had realized what Yi Yun was hinting at. Once Yi Yun had the Dao fetus as an avatar, it would be extremely beneficial for Yi Yun.

Disregarding the insights gained from understanding the laws, just the Dao fetus’ strength alone would be extremely powerful.

Yi Yun nodded, “Yes, this Dao fetus is a grand legacy left behind by the Azure Yang Lord for people of the future.”

When the Azure Yang Lord headed into the eternal whirlpool in the God Burial Abyss to seal the ancient existence, the Draco First True Gold had not taken form. It was just too slow for such a mysterious treasure to take form. It could neither be sped up, even in a time enchantment. As time enchantment isolated themselves from the normal arrow of time, they would also isolate the Draco First True Gold’s ability to sense the Heaven and Earth Heavenly Dao.

The Azure Yang Lord could not wait for the millions of years to pass, hence, he simply left the Draco First True Gold here, giving people of the future an opportunity.

Now, after millions of years later, the embodiment had taken form by the time Yi Yun and Lin Xintong arrived here.

The Draco First True Gold was an extreme Yang object and could only be refined by Yi Yun. If Lin Xintong used her pure Yin energy to control this embodiment, she would likely injure herself.

Yi Yun placed his hand on what looked like the forehead of the Dao fetus, as he branched out a bit of his consciousness, injecting it into the Draco First True Gold.

Deep inside the True Gold, a fetus’ meridians, organs and blood vessels had already formed. Yi Yun’s consciousness followed the meridians and planted itself in the Draco First True Gold Dao fetus’ soul sea.

With Yi Yun’s consciousness entering it, the withered consciousness left behind by the Azure Yang Lord had completed its mission. It began to turn to ash like an already decaying piece of dead wood…

Sensing the Azure Yang Lord’s consciousness dissipating, Yi Yun was filled with emotions. A peerless figure of an era was turning to ashes in such a way. It was unknown how many excellent people had been buried in this magnificent Great World.

Yi Yun faced the Dao fetus and gave it a deep bow.

This bow was to respect the Azure Yang Lord’s magnificent martial arts and his character, as well as the kindness for leaving an inheritance for people of the future.

Yi Yun’s consciousness embedded itself deep inside the Dao fetus’ soul sea, as they slowly integrated as one.

With the split consciousness having a new body, it could sense the world through this body. This feeling was rather magical.

At that moment, the Draco First True Gold Dao fetus began to emit a dazzling divine light that was made up of gorgeous colors.

The Draco First True Gold slowly melted.

True Gold that was born from a extreme Yang land melted by itself, even though a martial arts master would find it difficult to refine.

The melted True Gold slowly condensed into lumps of dark golden armor.

A youth that looked very similar to Yi Yun appeared out of the golden light!

This youth was only similar to Yi Yun because he wasn’t completely in human form. Many parts of his body were not made of flesh and blood, but instead made of dark Draco First True Gold.

After all, for the initial incarnation of an avatar, this body had not completely evolved.

Yi Yun used his thoughts to control this external body. Bit by bit, he repaired the body, turning the Draco First True Gold into flesh and blood.

This repair was actually just on the surface.

The Draco First True Gold had not fully developed a body of flesh and blood, at least half of it was still True Gold.

Over time, once all of the Draco First True Gold was transformed, resulting in the avatar’s complete form, then it itself would become an extreme Dao body.

Yi Yun could even use this extreme Dao body to gain insight into the laws, resulting in a multiplication effect.

“Fascinating.”

Yi Yun’s thoughts had already switched to his Draco First True Gold avatar. He slowly clenched his fists and used the vision of his avatar to look at his true body.

Since his true body and avatar were mentally interlinked, it was equivalent to him having dual vision.

556 - : Refining the True Gold

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had gained control of the Draco First True Gold avatar and clenching his fists, his knuckles immediately issued out a “Ka Ka Ka” sound.

The body born from Draco First True Gold may be said to be of flesh and blood, but in terms of defense, it was still much better than the Draco First True Gold itself.

Not only that, if it was just Draco First True Gold, then although it was an excellent material to store pure Yang energy in, it was still just metal without life. It was unable to gain insight into Great Dao laws and sense the Heaven and Earth.

However, a body of flesh and blood was different. After gaining an avatar, Yi Yun felt as if his consciousness was connected to the world through it!

This feeling was extremely marvelous. Although the Purple Crystal could connect with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, and was even more marvelous than the Draco First True Gold, the feeling the Purple Crystal gave Yi Yun was that it was just living in Yi Yun’s heart temporarily.

The Purple Crystal was a divine item, and unfortunately, Yi Yun had still not managed to completely refine it. As a result, Yi Yun was unable to fully control it. Up to now, Yi Yun could only use a fraction of the Purple Crystal’s powers.

However, the Draco First True Gold avatar was different. After implanting a portion of his consciousness into the avatar, this body came under Yi Yun’s complete control.

In this way, this body could connect to Heaven and Earth. The feeling it gave Yi Yun was completely different!

“What a incredible divine body Dao fetus! It is perfectly compatible with pure Yang energy. It is just that I feel that the body is empty. I am feeling so hungry!”

Yi Yun was trying to adapt to this new body. As the avatar was just born, the essence of the Heaven and Earth the Draco First True Gold had absorbed over billions of years, was all used to produce its body of flesh and blood.

And now, the body could perfectly connect to the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, but its meridians and dantian were completely empty. It did not absorb any Heaven Earth Yuan Qi at all.

A divine body Dao fetus could have a perfect connection with Heaven Earth energy, but now, its body was void of energy. This made Yi Yun feel extreme hunger.

It was like he was a strong man who had not eaten for four or five days.

A strong man, who reached the limits of his hunger, would feel that he could completely finish an entire roasted lamb if there was one before him.

Yi Yun presently felt that he could swallow a tiny Sun in one gulp if there was one before him!

“Let us go!”

With a simple sentence, Yi Yun grabbed the Cosmos Bag and walked out of the sixth level’s door.

He took great strides down the staircase, into the fifth level’s cultivation chamber in the God Advent Tower.

Yi Yun could not wait a moment longer. With his Draco First True Gold body, he jumped into the lava pool!

The lava pool was also very deep. Previously, Yi Yun could immerse his true body inside the lava pool, but due to the constraints brought about by his cultivation level, he had to constantly expend Yuan Qi while inside the lava pool. If he stayed in there for too long, he would need to leave the pool to take a break.

However, the Draco First True Gold avatar had no such problem at all.

The Draco First True Gold itself was born in a place of extreme Yang!

The energy quality contained within those extreme Yang lands may not be as pure as the pure Yang lava pool here, but the degree of harshness there was probably several times stronger than in the pure Yang laval pool. Even a peerless figure like the ancient Great Empress would find it difficult to last in such a place!

And the Draco First True Gold was able to temper itself in this kind of place for billions of years, so it was imaginable how powerful it was!

It could be said that it was probably very difficult to find something that could destroy the Draco First True Gold in the Tian Yuan world.

The moment he entered the lava pool, Yi Yun was like an extremely thirsty and hungry desolate beast who had jumped into a pool of nectar. He began to gulp down and feast.

“Buzz!!”

Large amounts of pure Yang energy surged into Yi Yun’s avatar, causing a huge vortex to appear in the lava pool. The terrifying power wantonly circulated as Yi Yun’s body was like a bottomless pit. Even the red lotus was being pulled along, causing it to stay away from Yi Yun in fear.

Originally, the red lotus was thankful to Yi Yun, and often complemented Yi Yun’s cultivation. Whenever Yi Yun required pure Yang energy, the red lotus would take the initiative to provide him some. However, this time, it converged the energy within its body and hid away.

The red lotus could not be blamed as the way Yi Yun’s avatar absorbed pure Yang was too intense. Furthermore, with the Draco First True Gold being a Heaven grade treasure, it made the red lotus feel dread.

The Draco First True Gold born out of an unknown extreme Yang land had a quality that naturally far exceeded that of the red lotus. This was also a repression from their energy differences.

The energy vortex lasted for 30 minutes as massive amounts of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi surged into Yi Yun’s avatar.

Even the cultivation chamber turned thin with pure Yang energy due to Yi Yun’s feast. This depletion could be recovered in a few days, but to be able to do this greatly alarmed Lin Xintong. After all, previously, when she cultivated with Yi Yun, no matter how much they tried, they were never able to reduce the cultivation chamber’s energy at all.

Finally, Yi Yun sensed that his Draco First True Gold avatar’s energy had reached its limits.

“Crackle!”

The Draco First True Gold avatar’s joints issued an explosive sound like golden rocks clashing into each other.

“Boom!”

Lava burst out as Yi Yun leaped out of the pure Yang lava pool!

“Hahaha!”

With energy flowing through his own body, the feeling of being quenched made Yi Yun laugh out loud. It felt too good!

Such powerful pure Yang energy gave Yi Yun a feeling like he was an erupting volcano. He could not help but want to engage in a huge battle to relieve himself in delight.

“What power. The defensive power is invincible. This avatar is too powerful!”

Yi Yun looked at the Draco First True Gold avatar with an excited glow shimmering in his eyes.

The Draco First True Gold avatar was absolutely extraordinary just on defense alone. Who could destroy a body made from Draco First True Gold?

As for endurance, that was needless to say. It was a divine body Dao fetus. It could connect to Heaven Earth energy, and store immense amounts of pure Yang Yuan Qi in its body. It was a tireless fighting machine.

However, in terms of offensive power, the avatar depended on Yi Yun’s actual cultivation level. After all, an attack depended on one’s insight into the laws and understanding of the moves, as well as the progress in cultivation technique.

This was something that could not be separated from Yi Yun’s true body.

“Yi Yun, this avatar is truly a most valuable treasure!”

Lin Xintong was happy for Yi Yun.

Yi Yun laughed, “Yes, back then the Azure Yang Lord left such a divine item for us. I will only have this Draco First True Gold avatar. As for other things, Xintong, you can have them!”

The treasures in the sixth level were mainly the Draco First True Gold avatar, the essence-filled jade hairpin that belonged to the Great Empress, as well as the disk array that controlled the God Advent Tower.

Amongst the first two treasures, due to the limitations of Yin-Yang laws, they had to be respectively divided amongst Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

However, the last God Advent Tower’s core disk array could be refined by either Yi Yun or Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong shook her head and took out the God Advent Tower disk array from her interspatial ring, “Yi Yun, I think it is better if you refine it. The Azure Yang Token has already been refined by you, it will complement this disk array. You have to completely refine both to be able to fully control the God Advent Tower.”

As Lin Xintong spoke, she handed the disk array into Yi Yun’s hands. Noticing that he was about to refuse it, Lin Xintong said again, “Yi Yun, do not argue with me on this. If not for you, be it at the relic trial from back then, or in the extreme frost icy plains later, I would probably have died a few times. I might even have fallen into Shentu Nantian’s hands with a fate even more miserable. And now, not only am I treating and healing my naturally terminated meridians, I have also obtained the Great Empress’ inheritance. My future martial path will be extremely broad. This was all thanks to you. Meeting you has been my good luck.”

“If, in the future, you are able to become a mighty figure like the Azure Yang Lord, or even surpass him, then I will also be like the ancient Great Empress. No matter what your decisions, I will silently follow and support you.”

Lin Xintong’s words came from her heart. She was always proud and cold, seldom revealing her emotions. However, now, with her suddenly saying such words, Yi Yun felt his heart turn warm.

He quietly put away the God Advent Tower’s core disk array and took Lin Xintong’s hands, softly saying, “Xintong, meeting you has also been my good luck.”

557 - : Energy Converges Into Body

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun sat in the lava pool and Yuan Qi circulated through his body as he gathered it towards his palm where he was grabbing the God Advent Tower’s core disk array. Yuan Qi was being continuously injected into the disk array.

Instantly, the disk array emitted bright rainbow colors that looked extremely gorgeous.

Lin Xintong silently waited by the side, watching everything.

Under the holy light’s illumination, it bathed the youth, making him look like a son of God.

Lin Xintong was filled with mixed emotions seeing this scene. Who would have thought that the ordinary youth she had met back in the Cloud Wilderness would achieve so much? He had even given her life and such a massive opportunity.

This was maybe arranged by the heavens that she and Yi Yun would inherit all the inheritances left behind by the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress perfectly.

By inheriting their inheritance, they had also inherited their unfulfilled wishes, but… Lin Xintong believed that they would not relive the Azure Yang Lord and ancient Great Empress’ lives.

The holy light lasted for a full fifteen minutes. Yi Yun’s forehead was filled with sweat as the veins on his neck begin to slightly protrude.

Refining the core disk array required tremendous amount of mental strength. Thankfully, Yi Yun’s mental strength was much stronger than warriors on the same level as him. After consuming nearly 90% of his mental strength, he finally refined the core disk array.

The disk array had already turned into a stream of light, disappearing into Yi Yun’s dantian.

With the core disk array in his body, Yi Yun could immediately sense every change in the God Advent Tower with a thought. It was as if the God Advent Tower had become a part of him.

What a wondrous feeling!

Yi Yun was pleasantly surprised. He knew that if he wished, he could even power the God Advent Tower to make it slowly fly up!

The God Advent Tower was now truly his magical treasure!

Yi Yun opened his eyes and he had complete control over the God Advent Tower. He also knew the situation regarding the God Advent Tower.

The God Advent Tower itself was an immortal cave!

It was a place where a mighty figure could live and cultivate. It could also be used as a spiritual boat, allowing him to travel long distances. It could even travel through the vastness of space, as well as tour through different worlds.

Other than these two points, the God Advent Tower could be used as a magical weapon against enemies.

It was most common for a tower-shaped weapon to kill an enemy through suppression!

With a tower crashing down and sealing an enemy, it could suppress everything!

If a figure at the level of the Azure Yang Lord used the God Advent Tower, he could seal thousands of peerless experts and suppress billions of mortals at once!

And as long as he sucked an enemy into the God Advent Tower, there were hundreds of ways to deal with them.

There were several large arrays in the God Advent Tower, for example; killing arrays, illusion arrays, trapping arrays as well as time seals.

They could be used to arbitrarily imprison, kill and refine opponents.

Previously, the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit had activated the time seal, turning the two Blood Moon members, who had infiltrated the God Advent Tower, into living zombies. If it was not for the Item Spirit having to deal with the Eye of Destruction in the God Burial Abyss, resulting in her entering her slumber, it would have been a breeze for her to power the God Advent Tower to kill the two Blood Moon members.

However, the God Advent Tower was a treasure that far exceeded Yi Yun’s strength. Although he had become the God Advent Tower’s owner, he was unable to completely expound its power.

To use the God Advent Tower as a weapon against enemies was too difficult. There were too many large arrays, so Yi Yun was limited in using them. And to use any one of them would result in extraordinary power being amplified, it was extremely consuming on Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi.

What Yi Yun could now do was fly the God Advent Tower, making it his mobile fortress.

As for controlling the God Advent Tower to traverse the void and tour the different worlds, that was still impossible.

Even so, the God Advent Tower was still a treasure that could greatly increase his strength. And with the passage of time, Yi Yun’s strength would gradually increase, and the functions of the God Advent Tower would become more obvious!

“Xintong, we have fully explored the Great Empress mystic realm, and we have also inherited all of the ancient Great Empress and Azure Yang Lord’s inheritance. It is time for us to leave,” Yi Yun said to Lin Xintong after refining the God Advent Tower’s core disk array.

“”Yes, it’s time to leave. It’s already been six years. I wonder what the situation is like outside… ”

Upon saying this, a slight worry could be seen in Lin Xintong’s beautiful eyes.

Over the years, Lin Xintong’s heart was filled with all sorts of emotions.

She was worried about the Lin family. Although Yi Yun had put in place several arrangements, allowing the Lin family to retreat safely from the Great Empress mystic realm trials, cutting off relationships with them so as to draw a line, and shut themselves off,

Lin Xintong was still very worried about the Lin family.

In addition, Lin Xintong was also worried about the ancient existence sealed in the God Burial Abyss. She was wondering if there had been any changes over the past few years.

Years ago, the seven Demon Disciples had formed a large faction by establishing an organization named “Blood Moon”.

Although the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress had allied with the Desolate race to destroy the “Blood Moon”, Lin Xintong knew that “Blood Moon” had not completely been destroyed. They had only gone dormant.

After millions of years, it was hard to imagine what the current situation of “Blood Moon” was.

All these made Lin Xintong find it difficult to just remain in the God Advent Tower.

Although they were prepared to exit, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong still needed to make their final preparations.

In the third level of the God Advent Tower, there were several cultivation and mystic techniques!

The rule back then was for every cultivator to choose two cultivation technique. Yi Yun had chosen the complete totem mystic technique, “Myriad Beast Totem” as well as a movement technique manual, “Golden Crow Sun Shift”.

The techniques stored in the third level of the God Advent Tower were collected by the Azure Yang Lord and the ancient Great Empress. A large number of them came from the Yang God Empyrean Heaven!

Back then, the Azure Yang Lord had obtained numerous cultivation techniques having killed his enemies in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven as well as exploring mystic realms.

These cultivation techniques could even be a core inheritance of large sects in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven.

There were even some that were ancient manuals that came from ancient mystic realms. Although their value were inferior to the “Yang God Manual” and the “Nine Nether Sacred Manual”, they were also things that would make many Yang God Empyrean Heaven warriors go crazy over.

Amongst the cultivation techniques, other than those of little value, the others all had their own effects. Back then, although the Azure Yang Lord focused on pure Yang laws, he had also chosen to cultivate a few of them to complement his own energies.

Now, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were making the final preparations by choosing to cultivate a few of these cultivation techniques.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong screened through the manuals for a long time before Yi Yun removed a jade slip from a bookshelf solemnly. The jade slip’s name was the “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book”!

One could find it extremely domineering just from the name, as if it would pick the stars and change the Sun.

But in fact, this cultivation level was not used to increase one’s combat ability, nor was it used to refine one’s cultivation level or insight into laws.

It was just a complementary mystic technique. There was only one role, which was to change one’s appearance, as well as the soul’s aura and mark of life. They could all be changed, preventing others from recognizing the person.

It was a disguise technique.

Even the trajectories of stars and the heavens could be changed, this proved how powerful this mystic technique was.

Even someone a few realms higher than the person wearing the disguise would not be able to see through it.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong could no longer appear in public. So before they went out, they first needed to create a secret identity.

Cultivating this “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book” was a necessity.

558 - : Star Transference Heaven Changing Book

CKtalon  CKtalon

It was a summer morning. The vast sea surface was calm while a layer of mist shrouded above it. Occasionally, there would be a few school of large fish traversing across the surface of the sea at extremely fast speeds, causing wave breaks in the water surface.

The Untraversable Sea was the sea surrounding the Tian Yuan world, but in fact, when warriors mentioned the Untraversable Sea, they were mostly referring to the vast sea region to the north and west of the Tian Yuan continent.

The deeper one went into that region of sea, the thinner the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi would become. Even marine life became extremely rare the further one went. Even warriors at the Empyreal King realm would not receive the supplement of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi when they flew through this region, so naturally they did not dare to venture too deep. This was the true meaning of “Untraversable”.

As for the waters near the Tian Yuan world, although they were conjoined with the Untraversable Sea, they were in fact given different names by warriors, for example, the Misty Fey Sea.

The Misty Fey Sea was to the south of the Tian Yuan world and covered hundreds of thousands of kilometers. The sea was perennially covered in a layer of mist, and all one could see from afar was the mist.

The Misty Fey Sea was extremely dangerous as terrifying sea fey inhabited these waters. The mist and the Fey gave were what gave the sea its name.

Actually, these sea fey were basically forms of terrifying desolate beasts. They could easily crush a spirit boat and devour the warriors in it. As a result, the several small sects, which took up residence near the Misty Fey Sea, feared this aquatic region.

However, even if they were afraid, they still needed to go out to sea.

At that moment, above a small island in the Misty Fey Sea, there were more than ten yellow-dressed warriors. They were all about seventeen years of age. A white cloud was embroidered onto the collar of their clothes. This was the symbol of the White Soaring Sect’s core disciples.

To become a core disciple proved that these youths were pretty talented.

Amongst the youths was a purple-clothed man, who was in his forties or fifties. His collar was embroidered with three white clouds. He was the team leader of these young disciples.

The youths hid behind the island’s reefs as they stared unblinkingly at the foggy sea.

“Master Uncle Zhou, we have been in ambush for an entire night. Is the Fey Luring Pill we prepared not good enough to attract the sea beasts?”

A 16 year old, big-eyed girl with an oval face asked the purple-dressed team leader.

The purple-dressed man shook his head, saying, “Do not be hasty. Our Fey Luring Pill may not be of good quality, but that is not because our sect cannot produce a high quality Fey Luring Pill. It is for safety reasons. We came into the deep seas for a training experience so it is extremely dangerous. If the quality of the Fey Luring Pill is too high, it might attract a sea beast that we may be unable to handle, that would be big trouble!”

“No, this Fey Luring Pill is enough to attract some desolate beasts, like the bloodthirsty sharks or the heaven-runic sea serpents. As long as they fall into the trap, you can join forces to deal with them. It will give you rewards as well as increase your battle experience. I will watch by the side, so that there will not be any accidents. If we accidentally lure some deep sea behemoth, even I will be helpless.”

The purple-dressed man shook his head with a wry smile. This region of sea was not safe!

However, no matter where it was, the cultivation of warriors could never deviate from killing desolate beasts. Be it refining desolate bones into relics, or killing desolate beasts to condense an Aspect Totem, they had to do so.

The sects in the Tian Yuan world all relied on their surroundings. Those sects in landlocked areas would naturally go deep into the vast expanse of mountains, marshes or jungles in the Tian Yuan world for exploration. As for those small sects that lined up along the shore, they could only take the risk to fight at sea.

White Soaring Sect was such a small sect.

Although they were a small sect, that was just a relative term. If they were to be placed where the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom was, they would considered a top faction.

The group of people patiently waited at the island until it was close to noon. Yet, not a single desolate beast had come. The purple-dressed man found this unusual. Typically, deep in the Misty Fey Sea, there were large quantities of sea beasts, and they were actually very powerful. However, why did they now wait for nearly 18 hours without seeing a single one?

“Oh? Why do I feel as if something is wrong here!?”

Zhou suddenly said. He had previously not sensed it, but now, upon careful inspection of the area, he suddenly realized that the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi around the region had thickened greatly. Not only had it thickened, it was also very pure. Although there were some treasure lands deep in the Misty Fey Sea, they would not result in such purity.

The young disciples were confused as they had no idea how to respond to their Master Uncle.

“What is that?”

Zhou’s eyes suddenly lit up. As he squinted his eyes, he looked deeply into the Misty Fey Sea.

The afternoon fog had mostly dissipated, so they could now see even further. What they saw was that, on the azure sea surface, there was a blue vortex spinning at a height of 70-80 feet.

This vortex was not very obvious. Without using their perception, it was very difficult to even detect it.

However, the vortex was not sucking anything in, it was actually spitting Yuan Qi out. The thicker and purer Heaven Earth Yuan Qi that they previously detected was clearly a result of the spewing from this vortex.

“What is going on, could a treasure be appearing?”

Zhou felt his heart tighten. For a treasure to suddenly appear in the sea was not something out of the question. However, the moment a treasure appeared, it was a huge opportunity. If the treasure was extremely valuable, their White Soaring Sect would experience a quantum leap.

Zhou was feeling excited, however, it did not last for long. Instead, his heart quickly went cold as a sense of extreme danger flooded his heart.

He sensed a terrifying Power of Desolates fluctuation in the sea beneath the vortex. Furthermore, it was filled with large quantities of murderous intent.

Deep sea Sea Beast!

Zhou held his breath. A gigantic shadow could be seen lurking beneath the surface of the sea!

“Master Uncle Zhou, what is the matter?”

The careful oval-faced girl could not help but ask after noticing Zhou’s change in expression.

Zhou’s expression turned solemn as he rapidly said with a deep voice, “Converge your presence, and do not make a sound!”

He should have realized that if a treasure appeared, it would very likely attract sea beasts. It was no wonder no sea beast cared about their low quality Fey Luring Pill. It was because a phenomenon was happening in the deep sea. However, it was unknown what sort of treasure would appear, but from the looks of it, it was likely not destined to be theirs, for they were still very far from their sect, so it was impossible for reinforcements to rush here in time.

Zhou no longer had time to feel a sense of regret. What was most important now was to secure his and the young disciple’s lives.

At that moment, even more Heaven Earth Yuan Qi began to spew out as the vortex grew in intensity, to the point where it could be seen with the naked eye.

A few golden points of light condensed in the sky as they spun. Between the dots of light, they formed a purple membrane of light.

The membrane of light rapidly expanded, and became a screen a few dozen feet tall. The aura of spatial laws resonated around the screen of light.

What is… happening?

559 - : Misty Fey Sea

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the screen of light scintillated, the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi became thicker, as if it was condensing into a liquid.

At that moment, under the sea, a huge shadow slowly approached. It was like the sea surface was sprayed with a layer of ink.

“What’s that!?” A White Soaring Sect disciple noticed it, but he said it through a Yuan Qi transmission, as he was afraid to make a noise.

This terrifying beast was definitely not a sea beast like a bloodthirsty shark. It was a massive behemoth.

“Splash!”

Large amounts of sea water separated and splashed out like a waterfall. A huge black head emerged out from the surface of the sea.

The black head was covered in seaweed, barnacles and seashells. No one knew how deep it came from.

The moment it opened its eyes, it was like the black gigantic rock had two glimmering points that gave shivers to people.

Around this head, there were several grayish black snakes that resembled flood dragons. They were wantonly sprawling around in the seawater, setting off even more strong waves.

Seeing this scene, Zhou’s pupils constricted as he broke out into a cold sweat!

Eight Limbed Sea Dragon!

All the other disciples of the White Soaring Sect turned pale.

“Eight Limbed Sea Dragon, is it really the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon?”

The oval-faced girl’s lips were white as she muttered to herself. She had heard of this terrifying monster as it was recorded in several of the sect’s books.

In the Misty Fey Sea, the “Fey” was actually referring to the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon.

The Eight Limbed Sea Dragon was not a dragon, it was a gigantic octopus. Its eight tentacles were like flood dragons in the sea. Not only was it extremely destructive, there was a pair of jaws on the ends of each tentacle.

The eight tentacles gave rise to the name of Eight Limbed Sea Dragon!

Only the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon could attack the spirit boats of the neighboring small sects, causing tragedies to the boats and people!

The Eight Limbed Sea Dragon was definitely an overlord of this region of sea. As for the bloodthirsty sharks the White Soaring Sect was hunting, they were like plankton to the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon.

The low-grade Fey Luring Pill would not have attracted such a horrifying existence. The Eight Limbed Sea Dragon was attracted by the surging Heaven Earth Yuan Qi that usually accompanied a treasure that was about to appear!

Zhou’s blood seemed to freeze.

He felt that the terrible luck he was experiencing had reached an extreme. He encountered a treasure’s appearance the first time he brought a team of disciples out into the deep sea, and now, they encountered this monster that was lured here!

Under the pressure of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon, he did not dare to escape. The Eight Limbed Sea Dragon was extremely bad tempered. It would kill all humans and it was extremely fast, so escaping was equivalent to suicide!

However, if they stayed here, from the keen senses of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon, they might even have been discovered by it, do there was nothing left for them to do but wait and die!

Upon realizing this, Zhou broke out into a cold sweat.

At that moment, the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon suddenly opened its mouth. It’s massive body seemed to have escaped the surface of the water, causing water to splash up into the sky, obscuring one’s sight. It seemed like it was trying to devour the energy vortex.

The powerful energy fluctuations caused Zhou and company’s perception to be completely cut off. They could no longer sense what was happening.

“Boom!”

There was an explosion in the water, causing a resounding boom, as the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon returned back to the sea surface. The Eight Limbed Sea Dragon’s tentacles were still waving and it seemed like it had failed to devour the energy vortex!

However, the next scene alarmed Zhou.

No one knew when a young man and woman floating high in the sky in the layers of water mist had appeared!

The man looked like he was in his twenties. He had a cyan band on his head and he looked very ordinary. He looked like a mortal scholar.

As for the woman, she was wearing a long turquoise dress. There was a thin veil that made it hard to see her face. However, just from her figure and discernible facial contours, it was easy to guess that she was a peerless woman.

Could this couple, that suddenly appeared above the sea, be here for the treasure?

Seeing the young couple against the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon, weren’t they going to end up being killed by the large mouths of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon?

Zhou held his breath. His life was already in peril, so he could not spare the effort to care about the sudden appearance of the couple.

To him, younger generation core disciples of even a large faction in the Tian Yuan world, let alone their small sect, would not be the match for the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon.

The couple, who suddenly appeared in the air, was also slightly taken aback when they saw this scene.

However, they only seemed like they never expected to encounter such a situation. They did not seem to panic at all.

“Yi Yun, what’s the matter? This octopus seems to be coming at us… ” To be attacked after having just appeared out of the Great Empress mystic realm, Lin Xintong was quite surprised.

Yi Yun said, “Maybe it was attracted by the energy emitted by the Great Empress mystic realm. For safety’s sake, I had chosen the exit farthest away from the Great Empress mystic realm main entrance. It’s millions of kilometers away, and since it took a long time to open the exit, the pure energy from the mystic realm dissipated out. So it’s not surprising that it attracted this desolate beast!”

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had been in reclusion in the God Advent Tower for many years. They had expected that the large factions in the Tian Yuan world would not abandon the Great Empress’ heritage. The mysterious Blood Moon organization might also do something unfavorable to them.

These people would definitely set up layers of posts near the Great Empress mystic realm to keep track of their appearance. They might even set up a large array that spanned thousands of kilometers. As long as there was a spatial Yuan Qi fluctuation, they would immediately flock to it!

Under this scenario, as long as they used a portal to enter the Untraversable Sea, their positions would be discovered.

Then, using the Star Transference Heaven Changing skill would be meaningless as their identities would still be under suspicion.

Hence, Yi Yun decided to choose the farthest exit.

Tens of millions of kilometers away, all the way to the southern waters of the Tian Yuan world made it meaningless even if the Blood Moon was extremely powerful. They could not sense a region that spanned tens of millions of kilometers with a large array. And even if they did, it would be meaningless above such a massive sea, as there were countless numbers of warriors being transported through space. It was impossible for them to track each and everyone of them.

To be transported to this exit, Yi Yun had consumed a large amount of energy and he took a long time to open this exit. As such, the mystic realm’s energy that emitted was naturally a lot more.

The energy from the Great Empress mystic realm was extremely pure and refined. The sparse Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and Power of Desolates the Untraversable Sea was nothing in comparison.

To the sea beasts in the Untraversable Sea, who were accustomed to the lacking amounts of energy and grew up over long periods of time, such thick Heaven Earth energy was naturally a supplementary item that they had never seen before.

Hence, it was understandable that the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon had mistaken it for a treasure appearing.

560 - : Exiting the Great Empress Mystic Realm

CKtalon  CKtalon

“A sea beast and more than ten people hiding on the island not far away,” Facing the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon, Yi Yun was not too worried. With a scan of his perception, he had a complete understanding of his environment.

And at that moment, the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon had already surfaced. The gigantic pool-like eyes stared at Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, revealing slight fear and cruelty!

It sensed that the couple that had suddenly appeared seemed to be a result of the extremely pure Heaven Earth energy. If it devoured the two of them, its strength would increase by leaps and bounds, and might even allow it to evolve!

Although this couple gave it a great sense of danger, the temptation of evolution made it unbearable. Its eight tentacles appeared out of the water and they flew at Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. The mouths on the ends of the tentacles opened their jaws as if they were huge pythons that were hunting!

“Fellow Dao-ist, be careful! That’s a Eight Limbed Sea Dragon. It can topple the sea and it is not something you can handle! It’s best that you hurry and escape!”

At that moment, a Yuan Qi voice transmission rang in Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s ears. It was from Zhou.

Zhou seemed to have his heart in his mouth. The reason why he risked informing them was not out of purely good intentions, it was because he did not want them to just die in vain in the stomach of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon.

If Yi Yun and Lin Xintong sensed the powerfulness of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon and ran, they would be able to attract the attention of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon. According to the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon’s temperament, it would not let its prey run, so it would chase them.

Then, Zhou would be able to take the opportunity to escape with his sect’s juniors.

As for the unknown treasure, Zhou did not harbor any thoughts on it. He had no doubt that the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon had already discovered them. It was ignoring them because it was attracted by the treasure and that unlucky couple.

Once he tried to risk his life to touch the treasure, he would incur the wrath of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon, then, he would die a terrible death.

Zhou had already issued a kind alert. He thought that even if the couple did not believe his words, they would at least open up a distance to prepare their defense. At least, they would not stick to the water surface where the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon was. This was equivalent to them being sent into the eight mouths of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon!

However, the next scene made Zhou speechless. After hearing his voice transmission, the youth in his twenties only gave him a slight glance and then, he proceeded to ignore him.

Next, he unhurriedly took a golden bow out of his interspatial ring.

This bow was decorated with dragons and phoenixes. It looked gaudy, but they were mostly useless decorations that were offensively conspicuous.

In Zhou’s impression, such a bow was usually used by scions of rich families during their hunting to act in pretense. A real bow that killed was usually brilliant on the inside, and simple on the outside. All the sharpness and murderous intent was contained in the bow, and it would be earth-shaking the moment it struck!

“These two idiots aren’t running?” Zhou was extremely worried, “They are going to kill us. Whatever, let’s split up and escape separately. We can’t wait any longer!”

Zhou had already categorized Yi Yun and Lin Xintong as foppish people who had never seen bloodshed. These people were ignorant of the world, thinking they were invincible by being able to beat a few people back at home. They were bound to be end up in a terrible state in the outside world.

Of course, the price that they would pay would be worse. They would most likely bury themselves in the stomach of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon, and they were not even useful at delaying time.

If they did not escape now, they would not have any more chances.

Upon hearing that they were to escape separately, all the faces of the White Soaring Sect disciples turned slightly pale. The meaning meant: try to have as many survive as possible.

Especially the oval-faced girl had been scared white. She was like a frightened rabbit. She was still young and her speed was slow. There was almost no doubts that she would be eaten as prey! At that moment, her senior brothers, who usually chased after, her lowered their heads. At the brink of life and death, no one could really disregard their lives for her!

“Ready. The moment I give the command, run!” Zhou said. At that moment, a furious roar erupted from the sea. Like a mountain collapsing, the sea shot out like a shockwave, blowing a layer of thick water mist that seemed to form a water wall!

Clearly, the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon had turned furious when it saw Yi Yun take out a weapon!

The final concerns it had disappeared as it roared furiously. Its eight tentacles were like flood dragons that appeared from the sea as it came attacking at Yi Yun and Lin Xintong!

Immediately, sea water splashed up causing towering waves!

In the midst of the gigantic waves, Yi Yun remained expressionless. With the bow in hand, he stringed an arrow.

Pulling open the bow, shoot!

“Peng!”

With a light sound that did not seem earth-shattering, Yi Yun had seemed to have casually shot out an arrow.

The arrow on the bowstring had already turned into a brilliant golden beam of light as it flew out.

The arrow’s speed was extremely fast like a burning flame. Instantly, it sank into the forehead of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The eight tentacles attacked out with the momentum it possessed!

But at that moment, a glaring divine light suddenly flared out of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon’s forehead that had been shot by Yi Yun!

The divine light illuminated the surroundings in an overwhelming manner!

The eight thick tentacles were also cut off with the appearance of the divine light!

Large swaths of blood sprayed after the tentacles were stripped off and flew into the sky, dyeing the sunlight red!

The gigantic octopus began to violently tremble. Its huge head began to ignite into a reddish-gold inferno. The intense burning made it seem like a Sun had appeared in the sea!

The rays of light shot out, basking Zhou’s face red.

Seeing the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon burning in flames, with its eight tentacles ripped off, he gaps and his eyes lost its focus.

Beside him, the White Soaring Sect disciples were transfixed as their mouths gaped slightly, without being able to close them.

In their eyes filled with disbelief, they saw the young man keep the bow and watch the golden flames soar into the sky. He was unimpressed as if what he did was a trivial matter.

Throughout the entire process, the clothes of the bow-wielding youth and the woman beside him were not drenched with any of the water, let alone even move. Even the woman’s veil was not lifted by the wind.

It was as if everything that had just happened happened in a different spatial-temporal plane!

Zhou was completely speechless. This wasn’t killing a Eight Limbed Sea Dragon, it was killing a small octopus to make into octopus balls. It was as simple as that!

At that moment, Zhou felt his heart tighten for he noticed that the bow-wielding man had glanced at him and then flew over to him slowly.

Immediately, Zhou felt his mind tighten up as his face went pale!

561 - : Suppression

CKtalon  CKtalon

To Zhou, an existence that could casually shoot the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon to death far exceeded the limits of his imagination.

Such a malefic existence only needed a thought to kill him a hundred times, so he did not have any intention of escaping in front of him. The White Soaring Sect disciples, who were behind him, would also have no hopes of making a narrow escape. It was useless even if they all dispersed and ran.

Upon realizing this, Zhou suddenly had an idea and he decided to take the initiative to meet Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

Since such important figures wanted to meet him, how could he let them come over? Naturally, he had to take the initiative to go forward instead and leave a favorable impression. Perhaps, they would spare him.

After all, the treasure that had suddenly appeared might not be valuable to such an important figure, and they might not silence them because of it.

“Those of you who are here, shouldn’t you hurry up and follow me!?” Zhou said to the White Soaring Sect disciples whose faces had turned ashened from shock.

These youths were shivering in their hearts. They could no longer consider their fears as they bit their lips and followed Zhou.

Noticing that the group was taking the initiative to come over, Yi Yun slowed down.

“Greets to the two seniors!” Zhou bowed a junior’s greeting.

The man before him looked ordinary, but the girl, in her turquoise dress and fluttering hair, had her facial features covered by a veil. Only a pair of watery eyes could be seen. She had the demeanor of a fairy, which made people feel ashamed of one’s own ungainly appearance.

He did not know what sort of figures Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were. In a warrior’s world, there were people whose ages could not be guessed. These two may look young, but they might be reclusive experts.

Seniors?

Yi Yun rubbed his chin and a odd expression appeared on his face. Ever since Yi Yun and Lin Xintong stepped into the sixth level of the God Advent Tower, about half a year had passed.

As such, Yi Yun had remained in the mystic realm for nearly seven years.

He was now 23 years old. Before he entered the mystic realm, he was often addressed as “Kid” or “Junior”. Now that he was being addressed as “Senior”, he found it odd.

However, he did not correct Zhou, but instead asked, “Who are you people?”

“Answering the senior’s question, this lowly person is from the White Soaring Sect. This trip into the sea is to allow my sect’s juniors to gain some battle experience.” Zhou immediately answered. He was not counting on the White Soaring Sect to have any deterrent effect. Even the White Soaring Sect’s Head was not the match to the couple in front of him.

“White Soaring Sect… ”

Naturally, Yi Yun did not know of such a small sect. Small sects and family clans in the Tian Yuan world were as many as the number of grains of sand on a beach. Furthermore, the area they were in right now was a very remote place.

“Alright… you don’t have to be nervous,” Yi Yun chuckled after seeing Zhou’s forehead covered in sweat, “The two of us are a Dao couple that was in seclusion in the depths of the Untraversable Sea. We have not left our seclusion in many years, but suddenly, we had the intentions to come back out into the world to tour the Tian Yuan world and search for opportunities so as to make a breakthrough.”

“We husband and wife couple have no idea about the Tian Yuan world now, so tell me, what’s the situation with the Tian Yuan world now?” Yi Yun played on Zhou’s misunderstanding and he claimed to be a cultivator from far away.

There was a huge number of such people in the waters around the Tian Yuan world. Typically, they would occupy a spirit island and begin reclusive cultivation, ignoring the world.

This sort of people could have both high and low cultivation levels. It was anyone’s guess, so it was best used as an identity for people with unknown origin like Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

As he spoke, Yi Yun wanted to prove his words. He glanced at the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon’s corpse he had just killed. With a thought, he nonchalantly formed a seal.

The Eight Limbed Sea Dragon was already floating on the surface of the sea. Its massive body was like a little mountain. The upper half was burnt while the lower half was blood red.

Yi Yun’s seal that he formed nonchalantly caused the massive body to tremble.

A beam of light shot out of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon’s forehead into Yi Yun’s hand.

This beam of light formed into a shape in Yi Yun’s hand. It looked like a tiny octopus, which was the beast seal of the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon!

Yi Yun was cultivating the “Myriad Beast Totem”. The Eight Limbed Sea Dragon’s beast mark could help him in forming his Aspect Totem by a tiny bit, so there was no harm in forming one.

Seeing Yi Yun nonchalantly forming such a perfect beast mark with a technique he knew nothing of, Zhou was even more humbled. He also believed Yi Yun’s words.

He finally understood that the fluctuation in the spatial laws were most likely due to the two of them traversing the void from far away to the Misty Fey Sea.

Warriors, who were able to grasp a bit of spatial laws and do spatial teleportation, were understandably powerful.

He carefully said, “Answering the senior, the large factions in the Tian Yuan world are separate, so the situation is stable… ”

“Stable?” Yi Yun secretly heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing that. He was afraid that the Tian Yuan world had already broke into war. For example, the appearance of Blood Moon would probably lead to great losses of life.

“Yes, especially under the Martial Alliance’s leadership. Previously, the Martial Alliance hid their capacities and they had little presence, but in recent years, the Martial Alliance has performed several huge matters. First, they held a martial tea session for the entire Tian Yuan world. All the human experts were rewarded. Following that, they formed a few mystic realm expeditions. Those factions who participated in it reaped huge benefits. It made people green with envy!”

When Zhou said this, he felt a silent regret. His White Soaring Sect was naturally ineligible to participate in a mystic realm expedition of such calibre.

“Martial Alliance?” Yi Yun paid attention to this news, but he did not have many suspicions.

“Yes, the Martial Alliance has several treasures. Especially the pills it can give to several mighty figures that would extend their lives. It made many legendary figures of the large factions come in droves for them!”

Zhou clicked his tongue. It was a pill that extended one’s lifespan. Old people, who had extremely high cultivation levels but neared the ends of their lifespan, would do anything for such a pill!

“Longevity Extending Pills… ” Yi Yun faltered slightly. It was not easy for the Tian Yuan world at its level of civilizational progress to refine longevity extending pills for Empyreal King realm experts.

At least, the Shentu family clan and Lin family had no such ability, unless they found an invaluable treasure.

And according to the man’s words, it seemed like the Martial Alliance was able to produce such pills in bulk?

This matter seemed unusual!

Unless, they had elixir refinement inheritance that far exceeded the level of the Tian Yuan world. If that was the case, the background of the Martial Alliance was intriguing.

Furthermore, with the Blood Moon about to appear in the coming years, for the Martial Alliance to suddenly increase its activity, it made it possible that the two parties were closely related. After all, the Blood Moon was also a Human race organization.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong looked each other in the eye. Lin Xintong also slightly nodded. Clearly, the two of them were already suspicious.

562 - : Situation in the Tian Yuan World

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Xintong, in your opinion, are there any pills that are cheap to make but are able to extend lives?” Yi Yun asked Lin Xintong. Pills that extended lives were extremely important. With Longevity Extending Pills, the Martial Alliance had a lot of say in the Tian Yuan world. It could command several large factions in the Tian Yuan world, and few would defy them.

Lin Xintong contemplated for a moment and then transmitted her voice, “I don’t know of such a pill previously, but if it were the 12 Empyrean Heavens, the Empyreal Kings of the Tian Yuan world are nothing. If some pills are able to extend a warrior’s life at the expense of cutting their martial progress or stimulate a low level warrior’s life potential, it is nothing surprising. In the 12 Empyrean Heavens, very few people would use such live extending pills. However, in the Tian Yuan world, the older warriors would not mind such things. Their martial progress would usually have come to an end.”

Yi Yun nodded slightly after hearing Lin Xintong’s analysis.

With the Longevity Extending Pills in hand, along with forming a martial tea session and leading many large factions to explore mystic realms, the Martial Alliance accumulated its power in a constant fashion. This was not good news.

Yi Yun then looked at Zhou and asked, “Are there any other major happenings? For example, the Desolate race… Did you hear of any abnormal behavior from them?”

The Desolate race and the Human race were sworn enemies before the Azure Yang Lord came to the Tian Yuan world.

Later on, when the Desolate race fought the Blood Moon, they had rushed into the Tian Yuan world, causing blood to flow like rivers!

The Azure Yang Lord should have handed the mission of guarding the God Burial Abyss to the Desolate race. They were to prevent the ancient evil demon buried deep within the God Burial Abyss from appearing again.

However, after millions of years, it would be hard to say if this mission for the Desolate race endured the test of time.

And even if they abided with their mission, it was not optimistic as to how much of a role the Desolate race could play in the calamity.

“Desolate race? Those savages haven’t been idle. Their actions these past few years haven’t been small. Maybe before long, they will invade the Tian Yuan world. However, it doesn’t matter. Under the leadership of the Martial Alliance, these savages would be fine if they didn’t come. But if they do, they will never return to where they came from!”

Upon mentioning the Desolate race, Zhou turned excited. Clearly, the hatred the Human race had for the Desolate race had deeply rooted itself.

Yi Yun sighed. He knew this was something inevitable.

Ignoring the fact that the Desolate race and the Human race did not have amiable relations, especially after millions of years, the historical facts had already been destroyed. With the Blood Moon gradually controlling the Human race, wouldn’t history be fabricated by people from the Blood Moon?

This made Yi Yun understand why there were so few records regarding the ancient Great Empress after she disappeared. This was also the reason why Lin Xintong did not know how the ancient Great Empress joined up her naturally terminated meridians.

This was a preposterous matter considering she was an absolutely peerless Great Empress with unfathomable power.

Only after the Shentu family clan discovered the hidden Great Empress mystic realm did a small number of people know more about the ancient Great Empress. At that moment, the hidden Blood Moon could no longer stay hidden. They resorted to sending mysterious figures in the organization to scheme against the God Advent Tower.

Even the Eye of Destruction that had been sleeping in the God Burial Abyss had been startled because of this!

From the looks of it, the historical records regarding the ancient Great Empress had been deliberately erased by the Blood Moon.

And no one knew of the massive war that happened tens of millions of years ago. As for the Azure Yang Lord, he had disappeared in the river of time. He was not even found in any sect’s historical records.

Tens of millions of years ago, history was in much greater detail and martial arts civilization was even more brilliant. But after that apocalyptic war, no one knew how many martial arts inheritances were severed. With the Blood Moon’s deliberate manipulation, it caused this world’s martial arts civilization to slowly weaken…

Yi Yun figured out all sorts of things. Many of his questions had been answered.

“Do you know if any top faction in the Tian Yuan world had recently suffered?” Yi Yun asked this naturally to find out about the Lin family’s situation!

Lin Xintong’s pupils shrunk as she subconsciously clenched her fingers. Even though the Lin family did not leave good memories for Lin Xintong in her early years, she did not wish for her family to suffer a catastrophe.

“No,” Zhou shook his head, “The past few years have been very calm in the Tian Yuan world. No large faction has made any abnormal moves, but as for the future… it will be hard to tell… ”

“Oh? Why?” Yi Yun’s eyebrows tensed just after he heaved a sigh of relief.

“It’s this… And also something I’ve heard… ” Zhou lowered his voice, “Senior, you may not know, but I heard that several years ago, a few of the top factions in the Tian Yuan world joined forces to explore the God Burial Abyss. Near the God Burial Abyss, there was an incredible mystic realm. I heard that it was the tomb of a peerless Great Empress, but after they explored it for a while, guess what happened?”

Zhou seemed to be relieved after guessing that Yi Yun would not kill him, so he began to keep Yi Yun guessing, “According to rumors, a gigantic eye appeared in the God Burial Abyss! It occupied the entire God Burial Abyss. When Empyreal Kings looked at it, they felt their soul sea crumble. It was no trifling matter!”

“This eye has been termed ‘Eye of Destruction’ by the people of the Tian Yuan world. Following that, this matter did not come to an end… In the following few years, the storm around the God Burial Abyss became even more horrible. No one dares to approach it. Even the Patriarchs of those large family clans would not be able to do so either. Then… something flew out of the God Burial Abyss!”

Zhou’s words made Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s hearts tense up.

“What flew out of the God Burial Abyss?”

“I do not know the details either. I heard that it was filled with murderous intent, but it was an item that brought about great opportunity. Some people said that… it was the blood that flowed out from the Eye of Destruction…”

“Blood!?”

Yi Yun was stunned. That ancient evil demon bled?

“Who knows? I heard that when the Eye of Destruction emerged, a gigantic pagoda came crashing down on it, hurting the Eye of Destruction. If the Eye of Destruction was severely damaged, it would not be surprising for it to bleed.” Zhou’s words made Yi Yun’s expression sink.

The Eye of Destruction was injured by the God Advent Tower?

Yi Yun found it unlikely. Logically speaking, the contingency preparations left behind by the ancient Great Empress and the Azure Yang Lord in the God Advent Tower would not be able to injure the mysterious ancient evil demon no matter how powerful it was.

However, Yi Yun was unsure how great the injuries were inflicted on the Eye of Destruction by the Azure Yang Lord and ancient Great Empress after they sacrificed themselves millions of years ago in that huge battle.

Undoubtedly, the Eye of Destruction was currently extremely weak or it would have broken through the enchantment, nor would it have been repulsed by the final power left behind by the ancient Great Empress and the Azure Yang Lord.

What did it mean for the Eye of Destruction to bleed?

Seeing Yi Yun interested in this matter, Zhou added on, “Senior, you may not know, but that Blood of Destruction is no trifling matter! Rumors say that the Eye of Destruction has already become a god. Think about it, who would not want a god’s blood!?”

“However, two portions of Blood of Destruction have already fallen into the hands of the Martial Alliance, so no faction dares to vie for it.”

“However, the Martial Alliance’s Alliance Leader has said that the Blood of Destruction might appear once again, but their Martial Alliance would no longer vie for it to prevent public outrage. If that is the case… no one knows how many large factions would be involved in it. It might trigger huge bloodshed in the Tian Yuan world!”

563 - : Blood Of Destruction

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The first two Blood of Destruction portions landed in the Martial Alliance, but now they have announced that they would no longer vie for it?” Yi Yun was stunned when he heard Zhou’s words.

If the Martial Alliance was really related to Blood Moon, or the Martial Alliance was controlled by Blood Moon, then why would the Martial Alliance let the Blood of Destruction enter in the Tian Yuan world and also announce that they would no longer vie for it?

This could only be explained only if he had guessed wrongly, that the Martial Alliance had nothing to do with Blood Moon. However, then how were the Longevity Extending Pills explained… ?

“Yi Yun, I feel like there is a conspiracy hidden in this matter.” Lin Xintong suddenly transmitted her voice which was met with a nod from Yi Yun.

They faced opponents with unfathomable power with their return back to the Tian Yuan world. They were only two, and their strength had not fully matured, so the only thing they could rely on was that the enemy was in the open while they were hiding in the shadows.

“You can leave.” After asking what he needed to know, Yi Yun waved his hand, indicating that Zhou could leave.

Zhou felt relieved and hurriedly said, “Yes, yes, Senior! Rest assured that the news of Senior’s appearance will not be leaked by me, Zhou. We will disappear immediately.”

As Zhou spoke, he conjured a flying item and led his White Soaring Sect disciples away in a fleeing manner.

Only after they flew more than 50km did the White Soaring Sect disciples heave a long sigh of relief. Many of the cowardly ones were already covered in cold sweat.

The pressure they experienced facing Yi Yun and Lin Xintong was too great.

“Those two asked so many detailed questions. Could they also be planning on vying for the Blood of Destruction?” A disciple asked curiously.

Zhou hesitated before saying, “Whether they do or not is not a concern for people at our level. The matters that happened today are not to be leaked! Got it?”

“Yes!” The White Soaring Sect disciples responded. Seeing peerless figures like Yi Yun and Lin Xintong was very stimulating for them. Only with such power were they be able to see the definition of leading a free life…

…

Jade Spirit Mountains, Lin family residence.

The entrance of the Lin family was covered with patches of bamboo forests. Looking down from above, there were buildings looming in the distance. As wind blew, the sea of bamboo would issue a fascinating rustling sound.

The distance between the Misty Fey Sea and the Lin family was tens of millions of kilometers, but after their cultivation level increased, this distance was nothing much for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

On receiving the news that the Tian Yuan world remained in a calm state, Lin Xintong’s worry for the Lin family had greatly eased. However, she still wanted to see it with her own eyes to understand the Lin family’s actual situation.

Now, with seven years having passed and with their appearances completely changed, they just needed to be a bit more careful to not disclose their identity.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong hid within the bamboo forest and overlooked the Lin family’s territory. There was peace and quiet in the Lin family.

Lin Xintong’s eyes revealed a yearning, she stared at the familiar buildings and mountain peaks as the memories of her past came flooding back.

She slightly sighed, saying, “I wonder how the Matriarch is. Over the past few years, the Lin family must have put up with a lot of pressure… In fact, we were naturally safe cultivating in the Great Empress mystic realm, but the Lin family probably had to withstand a lot of it.”

“Yes… but the Lin family’s strength should not be underestimated. Any faction that wants to overthrow the Lin family would have to pay a nontrivial price. No one would do anything under the circumstances where there are no benefits.”

Yi Yun believed that as long as people believed that he and Lin Xintong were hiding in the Great Empress mystic realm, the Lin family would be safe and sound.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong flew through several regions around the Lin family in a hidden manner. At that moment, there was a sudden burst of Yuan Qi fluctuation not far from them.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong stopped. The next instant, their figures had already disappeared into the thick jungle.

A short distance away, a few young disciples wearing the uniform of the Lin family landed. These people had most likely returned from a training expedition from outside. They looked fatigued from the journey.

A short youth cursed with an undaunted look, “What bad luck! The Shentu family clan scum has lost a generation of young geniuses, yet they came to join in the training at Jishou mountain. They are trying to give us a hard time in every aspect! If not for us being careful enough, they might have even have attacked us if they had the chance to do so!”

A young lady who looked older replied, “There’s no other way out. The Shentu family clan had to get some dogshit luck to be propped up by the Martial Alliance. Now, we can only bear with it patiently, and not be the ones creating conflict with other factions… ”

“Elder Sister Qing’er is right.” echoed another youth.

This group of young Lin family disciples included Lin Qing and 6 other teenage boys and girls.

Warriors needed to endure the test of harsh environments out in the world to grow. Battling and hunting desolate beasts was a must. However, ever since the Great Empress mystic realm expedition seven years ago, the Lin family disciples had to be careful every time they went out, because the Lin family had too many enemies!

And what was amazing most of all, was that the Shentu family clan, who had the biggest grudge with the Lin family, was valued by the upper echelons of the Martial Alliance. They were given many resources, including several Longevity Extending Pills!

This not only made the Shentu family clan slowly recover its strength, it had also given it power and prestige amongst the several large factions.

Upon hearing the exchange between the Lin family disciples, Lin Xintong frowned slightly. Although the Lin family had announced that they had cut ties with her and Yi Yun, it did not have much meaning. Everyone knew that this was a self-preservation method the Lin family was employing. The large losses they suffered in the Great Empress mystic realm were still blamed on the Lin family.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong followed these Lin family disciples and quickly, they arrived at the Lin family mountain’s entrance.

Usually, there were Lin family disciples guarding the Lin family mountain entrance. However, there was another group of people gathered outside as well.

When Lin Qing and company approached the entrance, a few figures appeared from that group of people, blocking their path.

Lin Qing frowned slightly and had a look of disgust on her face as she stopped in her footsteps.

“It’s you again!” Lin Qing said coldly as she suppressed her pangs of fury.

A scholarly dressed man in his thirties came forward. He was waving a fan in his hands as he smirked, “That’s right, Miss Qing’er. We meet again. I can’t help it, for I’m doing errands for the Martial Alliance, so I’m compelled to do so. I’m so busy that I have no time to cultivate!”

This scholarly person was named Gongsun Yang. He was a member of the Li Fire Sect, and a senior brother of Gongsun Hong.

Although Gongsun Yang complained about doing errands for the Martial Alliance, there was no lack of flaunting in his words.

Over the past few years, the Martial Alliance had been gaining more and more momentum as the resources they distributed increased. If one could enter the Martial Alliance and take up a post in it, and get the recognition of the superiors, one’s future path in cultivation would be smooth.

Lin Qing coldly snorted, clearly not intending to say anything more to this man.

“Alright, the esteemed lot of you, according to the rules, I have to ask where you went, and of course, check your interspatial rings as well as your luggage.” Gongsun Yang said with a smile. It was as if he was talking about a very kindly matter.

“Check our interspatial ring and luggage? Gongsun Yang, don’t go too far! When we left, you stopped us and asked us all sorts of questions. Now, you are reaching out for a yard after taking an inch!” The youth who had previously suffered the injustice was once again inflamed by Gongsun Yang’s words.

He stood forward and shouted that., “Gongsun Yang, you are after all in the Lin family’s territory. Don’t you go too far!” Another girl was also extremely furious. Over the years, things were made difficult for the Lin family.

“What are you talking about? Isn’t the Lin family’s territory past this mountain entrance? You haven’t entered it yet, so how can you consider it to be the Lin family’s territory? To do the body search here is I, Gongsun Yang, giving my due respects for the Lin family. Furthermore, I’m just doing a routine inspection. This is an order from the Martial Alliance.”

“Miss Qing, I’m also being considerate for you. You should know that at the Great Empress mystic realm, several factions are searching for Yi Yun in a bid to seek revenge for their dead family clan disciples. I’m also worried that when you leave the Lin family’s premises, you would use some method to contact Yi Yun. If that is the case, you might be incriminated in the future… ”

Again, Gongsun Yang resorted to using the Martial Alliance as his trump card. His words were taking advantage of the situation.

The Martial Alliance awed people. Ignoring the treasures that the Martial Alliance controlled or the Longevity Extending Pills that many legendary figures of the large family clans coveted, just the strength of the Martial Alliance was extraordinary!

Several years ago, at a martial tea session, the disciples and legendary figures under the Martial Alliance’s banner demonstrated their prowess, suppressing the crowd. It caused many large factions to lose the will to be angry.

Then, the Martial Alliance’s Alliance Leader’s strength was definitely unfathomable!

The Martial Alliance had the capital to overwhelm others through force!

When Lin Qing heard the Martial Alliance mentioned, she coldly snorted, “Martial Alliance? Don’t think I’m ignorant. It’s just a few sects along with the Shentu family clan sowing discord in the upper echelons of the Martial Alliance, confounding black and white, and fooling the Elders of the Martial Alliance. Hence, coming up with restrictions and the monitoring of our Lin family, allowing you despicable people to have greatness thrown onto you!”

Lin Qing’s rage echoed in the mountains. Yi Yun and Lin Xintong remained silent after hearing it.

It was probably not the Shentu family clan and those unlucky sects, who had suffered in the Great Empress mystic realm, that were fanning the flames from the side. It was the Martial Alliance itself targeting the Lin family. They were just using the Shentu family clan as a guise.

Under such a situation, the Lin family could only properly give in and make the necessary concessions. As long as it didn’t cross the Lin family’s bottom line, the Lin family did not want to enter conflict with so many large factions.

“The Martial Alliance is powerful… and it has slowly encroached into the minds of people. Even the Lin family disciples, who face these artificial obstacles, believe that the Martial Alliance’s Elders are being fooled. Actually, the Martial Alliance is the faction that is most concerned about the Great Empress mystic realm’s inheritance! If our whereabouts are compromised, the consequences will be unthinkable!”

Yi Yun transmitted his voice to Lin Xintong.

If the Martial Alliance was being controlled by Blood Moon, or was even a part of Blood Moon, then it naturally hated the ancient Great Empress and the Azure Yang Lord to the bone. As their inheritors, they would definitely be sought out to be killed!

564 - : Making Things Difficult

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun, what do we do now?” Lin Xintong could not think of any good ideas as the enemy was too strong.

Yi Yun faltered slightly as he said, “Now, the Blood Moon has definitely put us on top of their killing list. However, with the ‘Star Transference Heaven Changing Book’, it won’t be easy for them to find us. We should first take our time before making a decision. We should start investigating the Blood of Destruction.”

The sudden appearance of the Blood of Destruction cast a dark cloud over Yi Yun’s mind. It was impossible for the Martial Alliance to allow something that was termed ‘the blood of gods’ to reach the Tian Yuan world.

While Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were communicating through Yuan Qi transmissions, Lin Qing and company had caved in in front of the Lin family’s mountain entrance.

How could one not bow to the circumstances? This was also what the Lin family Elders had exhorted the juniors to do. They had to endure as much as possible.

Now, the Lin family had offended several large factions and they had been targeted by the Martial Alliance. The Lin family disciples, who traveled around in the Tian Yuan world, were extremely careful. Even a drop of a tree leaf made them fear for their heads.

“My interspatial ring is here. I’m warning you Gongsun Yang. Times and situations change. Be sure not to cross the line. Who knows what will happen in the future!”

Lin Qing had no choice but to hand her interspatial ring to him. With their senior sister taking the lead, the other youths had to hand over the rings as well even if they were extremely unwilling.

“Miss Qing’er, what you say isn’t right!” Gongsun Yang slowly shook his fan, and hung his trademark scholarly smile, “Miss Qing’er, I’m just serving the Martial Alliance. Everything is just a routing inspection. Why do you make it sound like I’m forcing you? I’m doing it for your own good. Now, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong are the focus of the Martial Alliance, so it’s best if Miss Qing’er draws a clear line from them!”

As Gongsun Yang spoke, he began to rummage through Lin Qing’s interspatial ring.

He deliberately slowed his motions. He even took the items in Lin Qing’s interspatial ring out one by one. There were pills, relics, cultivation technique manuals, weapons and disk arrays…

These things were not precious, but Lin Qing’s face turned red. She felt humiliated.

Later on, Gongsun Yang began to take female clothing out of Lin Qing’s interspatial ring, such as skirts, tunics and sleeveless waistcoats.

Many of Gongsun Yang’s lackeys laughed the moment they saw this.

“Hahaha! Fragrant! Really fragrant!” A few lackeys even took deep sniffs, as they made exaggerated motions of smelling Lin Qing’s dress, as if they were reveling in Lin Qing’s bodily fragrance.

Gongsun Yang scolded with a smile, “You worthless bunch, have some decency! I’m here working. I wonder if there’s anything hidden in these clothes. For example, that little bastard Yi Yun bringing out some cultivation technique manual from the Great Empress mystic realm… ”

“Haha, Young Master, you are right. What about her undergarments? You must check them as well! Some inheritance might be very small, and they might be hidden in there!”

The group of lackeys let out a lewd laugh. The eyes of the Lin family disciples turned red as they reached the limits of their anger.

Lin Qing clenched her fists and emitted killing intent from her eyes. Her undergarments were all placed underneath her outerwear. If Gongsun Yang carried on rummaging through it, he would definitely take them out.

How could a lady allow her undergarments to be rummaged through in public? That was no different from her being stripped naked in public.

“Gongsun Yang, if your hands make another move, I’ll kill you!”

Lin Qing’s hand was already placed on her sword’s hilt. She was carrying her companion sword as she did not place it in her interspatial ring.

Gongsun Yang looked at Lin Qing and sneered, “Miss Qing’er, I’m doing this for your own good. Didn’t your Lin family already draw a clear line with that demonic couple, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong? Many factions do not believe in it, so I’m allaying the suspicions for you. Furthermore, you are also not my match… ”

“Only if Yi Yun and Lin Xintong come out of the Great Empress mystic realm can they arouse my interest. As for the other Lin family disciples, hehe, I can’t take them seriously at all.”

Gongsun Yang completely ignored Lin Qing’s threat. He was in his thirties, and his cultivation level was much higher than Lin Qing’s. And in terms of his combat ability against people his own level, he far exceeded Lin Qing, so what was there to be afraid of?

“What nerve! If Yi Yun and Senior Sister Lin comes out of reclusion, they would destroy you with a finger!”

Lin Qing snapped. Although the Lin family had announced that they had cut all ties with Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, all of the Lin family disciples knew that it was an expedient measure. In private, the Lin family disciples idolized Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

In the future, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were likely to become a peerless Great Emperor and Great Empress respectively. What sort of glorious scene would it be for the Lin family when two peerless Great Emperors appeared!?

“Yi Yun? Lin Xintong? Hahaha!” Gongsun Yang erupted with laughter, “Do you think that as long as your Lin family waits to the point of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s exit from reclusion, your Lin family will increase in strength and soar?”

“You are so naive! I’m not afraid to tell you, that it’s alright if Yi Yun and Lin Xintong do not come out of seclusion. However, the moment they come out, they would definitely die horribly! They have offended so many large factions and the Martial Alliance as well. They have long been passed the death sentence! The power of the Martial Alliance is nothing you can imagine!”

“So what if Yi Yun and Lin Xintong are geniuses? In front of the Martial Alliance, they are nothing but ants. Ignoring the important figures in the Martial Alliance, even the young geniuses of the Martial Alliance might not be people Yi Yun or Lin Xintong can match!”

“The Martial Alliance has set up a Heavenly Dao Union that controls several impressive mystic realms and inheritance! There are countless numbers of geniuses within them, do you know? Tsk! And, I, Gongsun Yang also had the chance to be selected into the Heavenly Dao Union for cultivation!”

“When the time comes, I wouldn’t even be bothered to glance at people like you. And even if Yi Yun and Lin Xintong appear, so what? I’ll still defeat them!”

As Gongsun Yang spoke, he casually threw the interspatial ring to his lackeys beside him, “Have fun with this!”

A lackey smiled lewdly as he carried on rummaging for the undergarments in the ring.

Lin Qing’s eyes turned cold.

“Cha!”

With the sound of wind breaking, Lin Qing attacked!

A four feet long azure sword moved like an azure snake as it stabbed at the throat of the lackey standing beside Gongsun Yang. However, Gongsun Yang was already prepared and with a hand, he grabbed Lin Qing’s sword!

“Peng!”

Gongsun Yang’s right hand emitted a reddish fiery glow. His hand was encased in flames, while Lin Qing’s sword was deadlocked by him!

“Zhi Zhi Zhi!”

Lin Qing’s soft sword began to twist under the immense power, but the blade still could not escape from Lin Qing’s palms!

He grabbed a sword with his bare hands without leaving any wounds on it!

This was a move cultivated by Gongsun Yang, named “Inferno Metal Melting Hand”. It used the fire and metal elemental laws of the five elements as its foundation. Against opponents weaker than him, he could use his bare hands as weapons. And if his opponent’s weapon was even more inferior, he could use his own fire-elemental Yuan Qi to melt his opponent’s weapon!

565 - : Humiliation

CKtalon  CKtalon

The flames carried on burning. As Gongsun Yang held Lin Qing’s sword, a relaxed smile hung on his face. He was 10 years older than Lin Qing, so unless one was a peerless genius, it was impossible to bridge the gap.

“Tsk, Miss Qing’er’s temper sure isn’t good!”

Gongsun Yang laughed without restraint as he increased his strength and a raging flaming Yuan Qi surged into Lin Qing’s sword. The sword began to tremble so vigorously that Lin Qing almost let go.

She bit her lips and used all her strength to hold on to her sword. This sword of hers was not of good quality, but it had accompanied her since her childhood, so she had an emotional attachment to it. However, now, she felt an unbearable heat wave coming from the sword in her hands, as her eyes turned misty with a layer of tears.

The injustice!

She had never felt such a grave injustice in all her life!

She knew that there were several elders around the Lin family’s mountain entrance. They could see this scene, but they did not appear.

They could not be blamed. This was because the Li Fire Sect and several other large sects also had Elders in the vicinity. If an elder of the Lin family appeared, they would appear as well. If a fight started, it would result in the Lin family suffering eventually.

Being bullied by others, and her strength being inferior than theirs made her feel helpless!

The several Lin family disciples behind Lin Qing could no longer bear it and they were about to make their moves.

As for Gongsun Yang’s lackeys, they naturally could not to be outdone. In terms of strength, the Li Fire Sect was stronger than the Shentu family clan, and they surpassed the Lin family.

“Why? Are you making your move?” The corners of Gongsun Yang curled upwards. He felt secure with the strong backing he enjoyed. He also knew that the Lin family would not dare to make a move.

At that moment, far away in the bamboo forest, Yi Yun had seen everything. His gaze turned cold. He pressed one hand on his interspatial ring…

“Yi Yun, what are you doing?” Lin Xintong transmitted her voice when she noticed Yi Yun’s action.

Yi Yun shook his head, “Since we are determined to go against Blood Moon, we need to appear anyway. It doesn’t matter if it’s a few days early.”

Lin Xintong took a deep breath. Seeing the Lin family disciples insulted, how could she feel at ease? However, due to the circumstances, she was also out of options.

She exhorted Yi Yun, “Don’t cause too much trouble, in case it brings trouble for the Lin family.”

“Don’t worry. I know myself.” As Yi Yun spoke, he had already walked out the forest.

The disguised Yi Yun was tall and thin. He was plain-looking and his face was the kind that no one would recognize if he was thrown in a crowd of people. He was wearing a black shirt with a bamboo hat and his stance gave him a sharp air of mystery.

At that moment, the situation in front of the Lin family’s mountain entrance was all set for a showdown. With Yi Yun suddenly appearing, everyone was stunned.

“Who!?” Gongsun Yang shouted. Yi Yun gave a sidewards glance at Gongsun Yang, but he simply ignored him.

Oh?

Gongsun Yang frowned. He had been enjoying an elevated position for a long period of time. He now had the chance to enter the Heavenly Dao Union for training, and he was naturally arrogant. To be met with such contempt made his heart burn with anger.

Momentarily, he forgot about making things difficult for Lin Qing. His inspection of Lin Qing was not really part of his errand for the Martial Alliance, it was his own intention to smack the Lin family’s face, as well as take liberties with a genius girl of the Lin family.

Yi Yun glanced at everyone present and said nonchalantly, “I come from the Southern Sea. On a lone island in the Southern Sea, I’ve been practicing saber techniques. After mastering it, I am peerless in the way of the saber. As such, I came into the heartlands, hoping to defeat all the young elites of the heartlands so I can obtain the title of Saber Saint! I heard that the Lin family’s sword techniques are legendary, so I came especially to challenge them.”

By saying this, not only were the people from the Li Fire Sect stunned, even the people from the Lin family were stunned as well.

Who was this guy? Wasn’t he too erratic? To say that he was peerless in the way of the saber? He wanted to challenge all the elites of the Tian Yuan world alone?

“Hahahaha!”

The warriors from the Li Fire Sect roared with laughter. Under normal circumstances, people who dared to say such words were complete idiots.

Especially when this guy said that he came from the Southern Sea.

What sort of place was the Southern Sea? The Southern Sea was in the southern region of the Untraversable Sea and there were only a few small islands in the Southern Sea, which were remote lands of savages. The further one went into the Southern Sea, the thinner the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was, which resulted in a lack of treasures.

How could such terrible environments give birth to a genius?

An idiot who came from such a place probably had beaten a few small tribal clans, hence, he thought that he was invincible. So how could he imagine the terrifying power of the family clans of the heartlands?

“What are you laughing at?” Yi Yun looked towards Gongsun Yang and said dismissively, “I came here to terrorize the Lin family and challenge their geniuses. You don’t seem like someone from the Lin family at all, so go hide in the corner! Don’t be an eyesore for me!”

As Yi Yun said those words, his eyes glistened with a sense of pride while he took on a supercilious demeanor.

Far away, Lin Xintong suddenly felt like laughing after seeing Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was too immersed in his role. She knew Yi Yun’s motive. The reason why he said those words and took on such an expression was to prevent people from suspecting that he was related to the Lin family. If not, it would bring trouble for the Lin family.

Hearing Yi Yun’s derision and seeing Yi Yun’s eyes of contempt, Gongsun Yang could no longer smile. How could he endure such insults?

“Who are you!? How dare you speak to me like that!? Do you know who I am!? I pity an indigenous person from the Southern Sea. Even if I were to tell you my identity, you would not even understand it! Killing a person like you is an insult to my status as a person who can enter the Heavenly Dao Union! However, since you insist on dying, I’ll grant it to you! If I want to kill you, no one in heaven or on the earth can save you!”

As Gongsun Yang spoke, he released Lin Qing’s sword and without a weapon, he punched at Yi Yun’s face!

His hands were still burning with a reddish flame as a heat wave explosively surged forward!

One’s facial features would be burnt to a crisp if they were struck in the face by this attack!

However, against Gongsun Yang’s “Inferno Metal Melting Hand”, Yi Yun only sneered, “You? You aren’t even worthy of me unleashing my saber!”

Yi Yun also put his hand out to strike Gongsun Yang. His actions could only be described as being extremely arrogant.

Gongsun Yang laughed from extreme anger. He found it incredulous to think that there was such a fool in this world whose stupidity would kill himself. His Inferno Metal Melting Hand could break metallic weapons, so engaging in direct contact with naked flesh would just turn his opponent to ashes!

“Be careful of the flame!”

Seeing that Yi Yun was not going to avoid it, Lin Qing hurriedly sent a voice transmission. Although the strange man who suddenly appeared seemed crazy, he had rescued her after all, so Lin Qing did not wish for him to end with a fatal outcome.

However, before her voice transmission ceased, Yi Yun’s hand had already clashed with Gongsun Yang’s!

“Ka-cha!”

Their fingers collided and red flames exploded. The ground beneath them sunk as a large amount of sand turned into lava!

In the God Advent Tower, Yi Yun had bathed in the pure Yang lava pool daily, so how could Gongsun Yang’s tiny bit of fire-elemental laws amount to anything?

Yi Yun grabbed Gongsun Yang’s hand and grinned, “Jumping out with just this bit of skill? I was wondering how powerful you were.”

The sudden change of events caught Gongsun Yang off-guard. He expected Yi Yun’s hand to be burnt to a crisp from the flames that his hand was emitting. But now, Yi Yun appeared to not feel a thing. Instead, a terrifying energy and wanton Yuan Qi came surging into his hand.

“You… you… ”

This energy was too powerful, he felt like his hand was breaking!

Before Gongsun Yang could finish his words, Yi Yun shook his right hand, as if he was flinging a snake that he had caught!

“Crackle!”

A series of bone cracking sounds was heard as Gongsun Yang cried out terribly. The hand that Yi Yun had grabbed burst at all the joints and his arm dislocated. It was now limp without any strength left in it!

And at that moment, Yi Yun did not go easy on him. He grabbed Gongsun Yang’s flailing arm and pulled him over like a little child. Following that, Yi Yun used his other hand to slap Gongsun Yang’s face.

“Pa!”

With a snap, Gongsun Yang cried out and crumbled to the ground.

Half of his face had been smashed by Yi Yun. A shocking bloody palm print was embedded on his face.

However, Yi Yun did not stop. He pulled Gongsun Yang up again, and gave him a backhand slap.

This slap hit the other half of Gongsun Yang’s face. With another clear snap, the sound reached deep into everyone’s ears!

Gongsun Yang vomited a mouthful of blood as a few of his teeth dropped out!

“You… You… ” Gongsun Yang was completely dazed from the hits. His voice was trembling as he tried to say something to Yi Yun.

But at that moment, Yi Yun raised his hand again…

“Wait… Wait… ”

Gongsun Yang opened his mouth again, but Yi Yun’s palm came crushing down on him and then, Yi Yun gave him a flurry of slaps!

“Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!”

There were continuous slapping sounds as Yi Yun hit Gongsun Yang’s face on both sides. Each slap landed on either side of Gongsun Yang’s head, and his head shook like a rattle.

Blood was continuously flowing from his face as teeth shot out of his mouth along with minced meat.

After a few seconds, Gongsun Yang’s face was completely unsightly. Even his skin had been ripped off by the slaps!

On the sides, Lin Qing as well as the other Lin family disciples watched with widened eyes.

“What the hell… happened?”

What sort of person was this saber user from the Southern Sea? How could he be so powerful?

Gongsun Yang liked to brag, saying that he was powerful enough to compete with Yi Yun and Lin Xintong without feeling a hint of embarrassment. He was, in fact, one of the top few figures in the Li Fire Sect in terms of strength. If he was in the Lin family, very few people of his age could defeat him.

How could he be beaten so badly by a person of unknown origin!?

That person did not unsheathe his saber as he said! He had forcefully incapacitated Gongsun Yang’s Inferno Metal Melting Hand, and he held Gongsun Yang like a tiny child and did as he pleased. The difference in strength was not trivial!

It was apparent that this saber user, who could ravage Gongsun Yang so easily without unsheathing his saber, was really peerless in the way of the saber. It no longer seemed like an exaggeration that he could challenge all the genius elites of the Tian Yuan world.

This gave the Lin family disciples a feeling of bumping into an ordinarily-dressed man on the street, who claimed, in a crazy manner, that he was the emperor. And when they finally checked, they realized that he really was the emperor!

There was such a person in the islands in the Southern Sea?

The Lin family disciples were extremely surprised. As for Gongsun Yang’s lackeys, they were all stunned with fear of the malefic Yi Yun. Not one of them dared to save their boss and they could only watch as their boss was brutally beaten up by Yi Yun.

Just as Yi Yun was brutally beating Gongsun Yang to the point of him almost dying, a fierce voice sounded from a distance, “Vile little spawn, stop!”

566 - : Face Smacking

CKtalon  CKtalon

The roar came rolling like thunder from the distance.

Yi Yun however, turned a deaf ear to it and did not stop. He continued to slap Gongsun Yang until his body turned limp, as if he had turned boneless. He was then tossed aside like a dead dog.

After doing that, Yi Yun turned around to face the person rushing over.

There were a total of three people. Two of them came from the Li Fire Sect, while the last person wore a yellow robe with the Shentu family clan’s family emblem on it, which made it apparent that he was from the Shentu family clan.

Ever since the Shentu family clan reached the point of irreconciliation with the Lin family, the Shentu family clan would join in on any matter that had to do with the Lin family, even if there was not a single benefit.

These people looked like they were in their fifties. When they flew over, their stance was aggressive and looked like they were about to skin Yi Yun alive.

Yi Yun had been undergoing reclusive cultivation in the God Advent Tower for seven years and had greatly increased his strength. With him having the Purple Crystal as well as having opened his Heaven’s Eye, he could easily tell their cultivation level.

Their cultivation realms were above the Dao Seed realm, in the Yuan Opening realm.

The martial cultivation path first emphasized the five stages of training one’s body to lay the foundation, before they started gathering Qi in their body.

When their blood contained purple Qi, and their marrow had become fully red, they would have reached the Purple Blood realm.

And upon reaching the peak of the Purple Blood realm, a warrior could lay the Yuan Foundation to cross over into the Yuan Foundation realm.

The Yuan Foundation realm was the beginning steps of one’s martial path. The nomological seed planted within the Yuan Foundation was the Dao Seed realm.

Once the Dao Seed germinated, it would break open the Yuan Foundation and slowly mature until it became a Heavenly Dao tree that reached the heavens.

And the initial stages of the germination of the Heavenly Dao tree, the process of the Dao Seed breaking out of the Yuan Foundation was known as “Yuan Opening”.

Causing the Dao Seed to germinate was not a simple task. Although warriors were able to condensed a nomological seed, they might not be able to germinate their sole Dao Seed throughout their entire lives as a result of their Yuan Foundation not being solid enough, or their nomological seed being of too low a quality.

Such a Dao Seed was also known as a dead seed.

To be able to let the Dao Seed germinate to break through the Yuan Foundation realm and step into the Yuan Opening realm, proved that they were the best amongst those at the Dao Seed realm.

If a Yuan Opening realm expert was placed in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, that person would be known as a Sage.

The billions of people in the entire Tai Ah Divine Kingdom might not even be able to produce a single Sage in a period of a few hundred years.

And even if one appeared, they would usually barely be able to break out of the Yuan Foundation, forever ceasing their progress at the early stages of the Yuan Opening realm.

However, even so, they would still be considered mighty figures who were equal to the Divine Emperor of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. They could establish an ancient family clan and ensure that their family clan would enjoy prosperity perpetually.

As for the Tian Yuan world, there were numerous experts there and was not something the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom could compare with. Even so, Yuan Opening warriors were still not common in the Tian Yuan world and were considered important figures who could dominate in certain aspects.

For example, Yi Yun had previously killed an Eight Limbed Sea Dragon in the Misty Fey Sea, saving several White Soaring Sect disciples. The White Soaring Sect was one of the most famous factions within that region, but their Grand Elder was only at the mid-stages of the Yuan Opening realm.

Such a Grand Elder was enough to create a deterrence, and such a cultivation realm would allow for one to become guardian of a sect.

As for those who could really exceed the Yuan Opening realm, they were known by commoners as Empyreal Kings!

Factions, who had Empyreal Kings, were definitely the top powers in the Tian Yuan world. They included the Lin family, the Li Fire Sect and the Shentu family clan.

In these family clans, the number of Empyreal Kings were few and far between. Back when Shentu Nantian laid a trap in the Chu Prefecture City by using Yi Yun to lure the Shepherd Boy, he had invited an Empyreal King, the Myriad Empyreal King.

The Myriad Empyreal King had joined forces with many Yuan Opening realm experts to fight against the Shepherd Boy, but they still ended up being annihilated by the Shepherd Boy. Even the Myriad Empyreal King had been killed by the Shepherd Boy, and because of this, Shentu Nantian had lost a lot of prestige in the Shentu family clan.

Later on, Shentu Nantian could have once again consolidated his position in the family by marrying Lin Xintong, but his plans were subsequently destroyed by Yi Yun. He was then thrown into the Lin family’s dungeon to suffer brutal torture and he even had all of his wealth robbed clean. Finally, the Shentu family clan had to pay a price to get Shentu Nantian back.

At this point, Shentu Nantian had been completely discredited. His final bet was placed in the Great Empress mystic realm, but this time… he even lost his life.

Yuan Opening realm warriors had a certain status in the Shentu family clan, and were able to take on the responsibilities of an Elder. Even Thousand Hand Granny was just at the peak of the Yuan Opening realm.

These years, Thousand Hand Granny had been leading the Shentu family clan’s people to patrol around the eternal whirlpool in the Untraversable Sea. She used all of her wealth to set up several large arrays, so as to monitor a fifty thousand kilometer radius around the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance. Not even the slightest disturbance could be hidden from her eyes.

She swore to find traces of Yi Yun, and was no different from a mad demon now.

As for this Elder, who had been sent to the Lin family by the Shentu family clan, his responsibility was to monitor the Lin family’s activity. He was in the early-mid stages of the Yuan Opening realm.

“Vile little spawn! I ordered you to stop, are you deaf!?”

The Li Fire Sect’s exterior Elder was filled with murderous intent. He had been the one to shout at Yi Yun to stop, but Yi Yun had completely ignored him. How could he tolerate a junior ignoring him?

He stared at Yi Yun. As a Yuan Opening realm warrior, he had long since opened his Heaven’s Eye, and also had a technique to see through people.

Although Yi Yun was mysterious and seemed to use some mystic technique to conceal his cultivation level, making it look seemingly false and real at the same time, this Li Fire Sect Elder could still sense that Yi Yun’s cultivation level definitely could not exceed the Yuan Opening realm. He just had amazing talent.

If that was the case, then Yi Yun was just a junior.

“Brother Gongsun, why bother wasting words with him. Just capture him and send him to the Li Fire Sect for disposal!”

The Shentu family clan Elder said and was about to attack Yi Yun. And at that moment, an old man’s voice was heard from the Lin family’s mountain entrance, “Everyone, please wait!”

Everyone looked towards the sound and saw a pudgy middle-aged man with round, small eyes flying out from the Lin family’s mountain entrance.

He may be fat, but his speed was amazingly fast. With a fast walking pace, he had already arrived.

He was the exterior Elder in charge of the Lin family’s security. It was not appropriate for him to appear in a conflict between juniors, but now, with the opponent’s junior beaten up, and the older ones appearing, he had not choice but to appear.

“Everyone, please do not be rash. What is the matter?”

The pudgy, middle-aged man took on the role of peacemaker. With his harmless looks, it made him seem like a nice person.

However, Yi Yun noticed a trace of Schadenfreude in the pudgy middle-aged man’s eyes when they landed on Gongsun Yang’s terrible state.

To be repressed by several factions, along with the Martial Alliance, for so many years, there was no doubt that the Lin family members were all angered.

“Fatty Qiao, stop acting the fool. Someone from my Li Fire Sect has been beaten up so badly at your Lin family’s mountain entrance. Your Lin family must answer to our Li Fire Sect on this matter!” The Li Fire Sect Elder said angrily.

The pudgy middle-aged man was named Lin Qiao. He was in charge of the Lin family’s security, so it was natural that he knew the Li Fire Sect Elder who was monitoring them.

567 - : Yuan Opening Realm

CKtalon  CKtalon

Despite Gongsun Yang and company misconduct at the mountain entrance of the Lin family, it could easily be seen how high-handed the Li Fire Sect was by demanding an answer from the Lin family over the beating.

Lin Qiao’s fat face twitched a few times but he did not answer.

The Shentu family clan Elder standing beside the Li Fire Sect Elder said, “Brother Gongsun, we can settle scores with the Lin family in time to come. First we should catch this brat and bring him back for a good questioning!”

As the Shentu family clan Elder spoke, his eyes were turning and he already had crooked ideas.

He found it unbelievable that a native from the islands from the Southern Sea would be able to defeat Gongsun Yang so easily. However, with the facts happening in front of him he had no choice but to believe it. Hence, he began to suspect that this native had found some amazing opportunity in the Southern Sea islands.

It was not surprising for a warrior to possess opportunities. In fact, many Tian Yuan world geniuses had their own secrets.

Typically, an important figure would not covet the opportunities of a junior. However, not everyone had such a bottom line.

Furthermore, this Shentu family clan Elder was technically not an important figure. Although his cultivation level had reached the mid-stages of the Yuan Opening realm, he was no longer young. He had depleted his potential and would not be able to reach even the late stages of the Yuan Opening realm, not to mention becoming an Empyreal King.

At that moment, the sudden appearance of Yi Yun, who came from the Southern Sea, with such amazing strength made him ponder about the chances of finding a treasure on this brat.

If he were to bring Yi Yun back and interrogate him and failed to find any treasure, it was alright. For Yi Yun had no background and was just a young genius from the barren Southern Sea. Killing him would not leave any future troubles.

“Oh? You plan on…” The Li Fire Sect Elder realized the intentions of the Shentu family clan Elder.

“Hehe, bringing him back for interrogation, and if all else fails, a soul search might even allow for me to find some treasure? When that happens, we can split it evenly amongst the three of us.”

The Shentu Elder said nonchalantly. He was a greedy man and, although he coveted Yi Yun’s treasure, he never thought of the possibility of Yi Yun possessing a treasure so valuable that it would make the three of them fight against each other for it.

“Alright.” The Li Fire Sect Elder’s face turned solemn as he touched his interspatial ring with a hand. Murderous intent had been ignited in his heart.

“Lin family clan, I originally wanted to settle the scores with you since my Li Fire Sect disciple got injured at your Lin family’s mountain entrance, but I am too lazy to fuss over it. So forget it, I am taking this Southern Sea savage away.”

With the Li Fire Sect Elder’s being overbearing, the Lin family disciples turned worried.

With Yi Yun heavily injuring Gongsun Yang, he had rescued them from a tough situation and as well as allowed them to vent their anger.

It could be said that Yi Yun was stepping up for them.

However, now, they could not sit idle watching helplessly as Yi Yun was taken away on their territory.

“Elder Qiao, hurry and stop them.”

“Right, that Southern Sea guy saved Senior Sister Qing. It is alright, even if you ignored us being bullied, but with an outsider stepping up for us, are you going to watch as these old Li Fire Sect bastards cripple him?” An upright Lin family youth said in a displeased manner. He knew that Lin Qiao had been at the mountain entrance from the start of it all. He should have seen everything that had happened clearly, but he would not appear unless it was the last resort.

And at that moment, Lin Qiao was also lamenting in his heart.

He also did not wish to act in this manner, but it was an order from the top.

Why would such an unlucky matter happen when it was his turn to hold down the mountain entrance? As for the sudden appearance of the Southern Sea genius, he had already reported it to the upper echelons. There was not much distance, so even if he did not report the matter, once the matter turned serious, Lin family experts would rush here.

All he needed to do now was to delay the matter. If the news of the Southern Sea guy being taken away was spread, people would criticize their Lin family as being extremely cowardly. Not only did their family members suffer indignities, even when others stood up for them and were about to be beaten to death, the Lin family still stood idly by.

This would be an extremely severe blow to the Lin family’s reputation.

And at that moment, the Li Fire Sect Elder suddenly turned his head and said to another Elder behind him, “Junior brother, cripple that little bastard directly!”

With those words said, the middle-aged man dressed in black behind him attacked straight away!

And at the same time, the Li Fire Sect and Shentu family clan Elders pounced at Lin Qiao!

Lin Qiao’s strength was the strongest amongst the four of them, but with two of them working together, they would be able to ward him off.

They were planning on using lightning methods to directly cripple Yi Yun and forcibly take him away!

“Oh?”

Lin Qiao’s expression changed. Seeing two Elders attacking him together with an attacking stance like a surging tide, he could not dodge nor retreat as there were Lin family juniors behind him. He was forced to meet them head on.

And at that moment, the last Li Fire Sect Elder had already appeared before Yi Yun. He stretched out his arms and a terrifying suction force originated from him. The surrounding sand and gravel, and even the bamboo in the distance, were embroiled by this suction power, forming a huge vortex!

Yi Yun’s body was enshrouded within the vortex. He was suddenly lifted off from the ground.

Engulfing laws?

Yi Yun was alarmed. Engulfing laws were rare in the Tian Yuan world. One would be extremely powerful the moment one mastered it.

It was surprising that this old man, who had depleted all his potential and was stuck in the mid-stages of the Yuan Opening realm for life, had such means.

Indeed, no Yuan Opening expert was to be underestimated!

However, against the Engulfing law attack, a tumultuous fighting spirit flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes.

He stabilized his body in the turbulent energy flow and forcefully retreated!

“Chi La!”

Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi, as well as his shirt, was torn apart by the Engulfing power, revealing his firm muscles’ contours.

With energy tearing across his flesh, there was a burning pain. However, Yi Yun gave out a long roar that pierced straight into the clouds.

“Clang!”

A katana was unsheathed and with a roar, Yi Yun slashed with his saber, a slash that could split the mountains and divide the sea!

This attack contained the saber intent he had learned from the saber tomb, as well as the sword move from the Pure Yang Sword Palace. It could be said that it was a saber attack that was exclusively Yi Yun’s.

Peerless Saber Dao, pressing forward with an indomitable will!

“Ka-cha!”

Yi Yun’s saber slashed onto the Li Fire Sect Elder’s Engulfing vortex. An intense burst of energy shot out and the energy the Li Fire Sect Elder gathered directly exploded!

What!?

The black-dressed middle-aged man was astonished. At that moment, his mind went blank.

He was an Elder of a top faction in the Tian Yuan world. Even though he was an exterior Elder, he was definitely not someone who a junior could resist!

How could a sect’s Elder not be able to take down a junior?

What was this Southern Sea brat’s cultivation level? Was he really just a Dao Seed realm warrior?

He did not have time to think about it too carefully, for at that moment, Yi Yun’s blade had flipped and was stabbing at his throat after breaking through the Engulfing vortex!

“Courting death!”

To be forced to this point by a junior made him feel both shame and anger!

He gathered Yuan Qi and a staff appeared in his hands like a ghost. With both hands holding the staff, he smashed down at Yi Yun’s saber!

Usually, a staff would have the advantage against a saber, but Yi Yun’s saber momentum was indomitable. Like a surging wave, it crashed down completely. There were no cracks to slip through, nor was there a way for any resistance!

“Boom!”

Like a thunderclap, Yi Yun’s saber Qi slashed at the Li Fire Sect Elder’s protective Yuan Qi.

A terrifying impact surged over as wanton Yuan Qi entered his body. With a cracking sounds, the Li Fire Sect Elder’s protective Yuan Qi began to shatter!

Peng!

With his Yuan Qi exploding and the saber blade slicing through his body, a wisp of blood splattered out.

The Li Fire Sect Elder grunted and quickly retreated. After retreating continuously for more than ten steps, he clutched the wound on his chest. With the other hand holding the staff, he slammed it into a boulder to stabilize his body!

“You… How is it possible?”

This Li Fire Sect Elder looked at Yi Yun in disbelief.

At that moment, Yi Yun was holding a blood stained katana. Large swaths of his shirt had been torn apart. His chest and abdomen were filled with blood lines. This was left behind by the Engulfing laws that tore across his flesh.

He had forcefully gone up against the Engulfing law in the clash from before. All of his energy had been gathered onto the saber blade, allowing for him to defeat his enemy with one strike!

Although Yi Yun did not gain much of an advantage in the clash from before, his opponent was an expert from the older generation.

This was Yi Yun’s first time fighting an Elder from a top Tian Yuan world faction head on!

Not only did he not lose, he had even taken the advantage!

How could the surrounding Li Fire Sect and Lin family disciples not be astounded upon seeing this scene?

To juniors, they were separated from their family clan Elders by a vast ravine that was impossible to cross. And now, this Southern Sea guy had managed to cross this vast chasm. As a member of the younger generation, he used his own strength to injure an expert from the older generation. Was this real?

Ignoring the juniors present, even Lin Qiao and the other two Elders from the Li Fire Sect and the Shentu family clan were momentarily dumbfounded. They even forgot to continue exchanging blows.

The shock from Yi Yun’s attack was too great. Someone from the younger generation matched someone from the older generation!

“Is he really a junior?”

Someone asked in disbelief. Some people might have special cultivation techniques or beauty techniques which allowed them to look like youths even with tens of thousands of years of age under them. Some people suspected Yi Yun was such a case.

However, Lin Qiao rejected this theory. He knew very well that Yi Yun’s strength was that of the Dao Seed realm.

If an old man, who lived thousands of years, had the ability to leapfrog the Yuan Opening realm with the Dao Seed realm, then how was it possible that he remained in the Dao Seed realm? He would probably have become an Empyreal King!

This implied that he was indeed a junior!

Yi Yun gently touched the blood on his saber tip as he revealed a slight smile, “So this is the blood of a Sage…”

Yuan Opening realm… This was equivalent to a Tai Ah Divine Kingdom Sage!

And today, the tip of his saber had been stained with the blood of such a figure!

As Yi Yun looked at the blood, his eyes emitted a trace of fighting spirit.

Back when he was in the Cloud Wilderness, he was still desperately cultivating for a position in the Jin Long Wei. He had been forced to death’s doorstep a few times by Lian Chengyu.

And at that time, Sages were like unattainable myths to Yi Yun.

Now, he already had the ability to fight against Sages!

568 - : Crossing the Vast Ravine

CKtalon  CKtalon

As Yi Yun looked at the Li Fire Sect Elder, a smile suffused on his lips. Coming to the Tian Yuan world with Lin Xintong to battle the Blood Moon, they had employed the identity of being peerless elites from overseas.

And as an overseas genius, Yi Yun had already determined his personality. That was him being publicly uninhibited and extremely proud. He emitted a stance of him being the only thing worthy in the world.

As such, he separated the original impression he gave people of being quiet and contemplative.

Yi Yun slowly wiped the blood off the edge of his saber as he glanced sideways at the Li Fire Sect Elder, and said lightly, “So much for the Yuan Opening realm!”

This sentence was filled with contempt and scorn. It made the Li Fire Sect Elder’s old face redden!

“Junior, you are courting death!” His heart was burning with anger. The staff in his hand had already begun to bend as a result of his tremendous power.

The staff had a great deal of flexibility and it could store energy. Once he fought with it, just the trembling force it emitted was very terrifying.

As the staff was bending, the Li Fire Sect Elder’s body surged with increasing Yuan Qi. His body seemed to become a bottomless hole as he wantonly absorbed the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi from his surroundings.

Anyone could tell that he was about to go all out!

Initially, he had taken Yi Yun lightly because he thought that Yi Yun was just a junior.

Now, he was planning to use everything to take Yi Yun down.

At that moment, Yi Yun gently flicked the blood stains off his sleeves. He did not even look straight at the Li Fire Sect Elder, and he did not take him seriously.

This kind of insolence that came from the bone made the surrounding juniors speechless.

This person sure was confident enough. One had to know that in their first exchange, Yi Yun did not retreat unscathed. He had been lightly injured. Now, with the Li Fire Sect Elder about to go all out as a Yuan Opening expert, it would be truly terrifying. It was very likely that an arrogant person like Yi Yun would end up suffering.

Yi Yun nonchalantly held the saber in his hand as his eyes burned with fighting spirit.

Having been in reclusion in the Great Empress mystic realm, Yi Yun had spent a majority of his time pondering over the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. But his cultivation level had already reached to the late-stages of the Dao Seed realm.

As a twenty-three-year-old late-stage Dao Seed realm warrior, he had already pulled away from his peers in the Tian Yuan world. Furthermore, Yi Yun had combat capabilities that far exceeded warriors on the same level as him.

For a Dao Seed realm practitioner to battle a Yuan Opening realm warrior, there was one large realm separating the two. But in Yi Yun’s hands, he had changed the impossible to possible.

“Take him down. This guy is too terrifying! By having bred enmity here today, once he seeks revenge in the future, we will not be his match at all!” The Shentu Elder transmitted his voice. The three Elders came to a unanimous agreement. Just now, they had already expressed their intention to kill Yi Yun as well as taking him back to the Li Fire Sect for torturous interrogation.

This sort of murderous grudge was always eye for an eye in a warrior’s world. There was no other path.

Naturally, they would not sit idly for their deaths, so they had to kill Yi Yun!

Three Yuan Opening realm Elders transmitted their voice through Yuan Qi and they attacked at the same moment without any warning!

Once a Yuan Opening realm expert made his move, they would have a stance that seemed to carry the earth and was like a surging sea.

These three were in the middle of their lifespans, and they had already expended all their potential. There was no way for them to advance further in their martial path, but the Qi and blood within them had not weakened. With the three of them bolstered by their Qi and blood, their Yuan Qi exploded like a volcano eruption as it wove together, causing the ground to tremble!

“Trouble!”

“Retreat! Quickly retreat!”

Be it the juniors from the Lin family or the Li Fire Sect, their expressions all changed when they saw this scene. A battle at this level would tear them to pieces if they were embroiled in it!

How could a junior withstand such a terrifying attack!?

“These people… don’t even care about their faces anymore!”

In the storm, Lin Qiao could clearly see that the three old men at the Yuan Opening realm were about to attack a junior jointly. They were bullying him with their ages and with their quantity. Furthermore, it was a sudden sneak attack with no warning. They attacked with all they had right at the beginning. This was to ensure that Yi Yun was killed, even if they lost all face!

With the situation developing to this step, Lin Qiao could no longer ignore it. He pushed out his palms as Heaven Earth Yuan Qi flared, forming a large lake in the void.

This was the water-elemental laws that Lin Qiao cultivated. He used water that could engulf anything to stop the trio’s momentum, however, as he was slow in his attack, and he was going one against three, his strength was not up to the mark.

The three Elders’ attacks had already reached Yi Yun.

The Shentu Elder’s face was ferocious and murderous intent was revealed, “Who cares about face? The victor is king. Junior, die!”

“If there’s someone you would like to blame, blame yourself for being so overbearing and arrogant!”

Between the two Li Fire Sect Elders, a staff and a saber came falling downwards. Since they had already lost all face, it was of utmost priority for them to kill Yi Yun, regardless of the means.

This storm like attack was not something a Dao Seed realm junior could withstand, or it would be far beyond common sense!

Seeing the trio’s attack about to land, Yi Yun smiled in the eye of the storm, “To be so shameless to this stage, you guys are the best.”

At the moment of life and death, he actually managed to smile.

Everyone witnessed this smile and they were stunned. Could this madman have the ability to block the combined strike of three Yuan Opening realm warriors?

In a blink of an eye, no one had the time to think too deeply. They only saw Yi Yun smiling in the storm before he suddenly turned into a blur, eventually turning into emptiness.

After image!

At the moment Yi Yun smiled, he had already used his extreme movement technique — Golden Crow Sun Shift!

Yi Yun demonstrated a peerless technique, which was previously collected by the Azure Yang Lord. As fast as the wind or lightning, there was no way to confidently find his location.

“Oh!? He dodged them?”

People were shocked. It was impossible for Dao Seed realm warriors to forcefully resist the attacks of three Yuan Opening realm Elders.

However, to even manage to dodge the trio’s attack was already unbelievable.

An attack from a Yuan Opening expert would carry the heaven and earth powers with it, locking all corners in the void, so how could it be easy to dodge?

And with the three of them joining forces, they were tight and flawless. They had already blocked off all the possible directions that Yi Yun could escape through!

The laws began to shine as Yuan Qi flared. Yi Yun simply tossed and twisted within the scene. His figure was erratic and seemed to pass through any hole!

Such a terrifying movement technique stunned everyone. A movement technique like that far exceeded the limits of a Dao Seed realm warrior, and it was a scene that kept the eyes fully occupied.

Only a Yuan Opening realm warrior could follow Yi Yun’s movements. As for Dao Seed realm warriors, all they saw were after images. They simply could not find anyone.

It was really a terrifying but gorgeous movement technique!

Even though Yi Yun’s movement technique was graceful, the three Elders were experienced in combat. Like a maggot deep in the bones, they chased Yi Yun, having never opened up a distance between them!

“Naive!”

“How can our moves be dodged by the likes of you?”

The three Elders worked hand in hand, as they resisted the interference from Lin Qiao. Slowly, they closed the gap between them.

But in their hearts, they were feeling shocked by Yi Yun’s movement technique.

This guy was not to be left alive!

This idea became firmly embedded in their minds!

569 - : Ignoring Face

CKtalon  CKtalon

As their combined attacks came closing in, and they felt they were about to corner Yi Yun at any moment and succeed in killing him, a sudden turn of events happened!

The expressions on the three Elders immediately changed.

“You vile little spawn!”

“Despicable!”

“Courting death!”

The three Elders roared angrily because at that moment, Yi Yun had suddenly rushed into the crowd of young Li Fire Sect disciples!

How could the young Li Fire Sect disciples’ speed compare to Yi Yun’s speed?

When the three Elders began their fight with Yi Yun, the Li Fire Sect and Lin family disciples had retreated. However, now, Yi Yun had rushed into the Li Fire Sect disciple mass, and he used them as meat shields!

“You bunch of old fogies really have facial skin thicker than the Tian Yuan world continent. To fight three against a single me, and yet you say I’m despicable? In terms of shamelessness, I’m really left far behind in your dust.”

As Yi Yun dodged, he even had the mood to ridicule them.

These Li Fire Sect disciples were also geniuses nurtured by the sect at great costs. Although they were inferior to Gongsun Yang, they were also losses that the sect could not afford!

“Everyone, help shield me, thanks!” Yi Yun laughed loudly as his laughter echoed through the clouds. He was extremely unbridled and eccentric!

Yi Yun did not have any favorable impressions for these Li Fire Sect geniuses. Just them previously making things difficult for the Lin family disciples together with Gongsun Yang, and taking liberties with Lin Qing and even encouraging Gongsun Yang to cripple him was already enough reason for Yi Yun to use them as shields.

“You!”

“Damn it!”

As they were embroiled in the energy storm, these Li Fire Sect geniuses glared furiously at Yi Yun.

However, they had no other way!

Yi Yun’s strength far exceeded theirs. Even the comparison of a firefly and the radiant moon was insufficient to describe it.

However, not everyone had the same realization.

One of the Li Fire Sect disciples, who shouted the most and had eyes burning with killing intent towards Yi Yun, suddenly flung his hand out at Yi Yun’s back. Three poison needles flew out, flying straight at Yi Yun’s back!

In his opinion, Yi Yun was powerful, but he was still busy dodging the combined attacks of the three Elders, so how could he pay great attention to his surroundings?

By sneak attacking in the chaos, it would be extremely easy. Furthermore, the poison needles were extremely well hidden so they could not be easily discovered.

As long as it caused a slight problem for Yi Yun, allowing the three Elders to kill Yi Yun, he would have accomplished a meritorious task!

However, just as the poison needles flew out from his hand, Yi Yun’s back seemed to grow eyes.

“Whew!”

Yi Yun’s figure disappeared right in front of his eyes. The three poison needles lost their target and instead, they flew towards the Shentu family clan’s Elder!

What?

The Li Fire Sect disciple was momentarily stunned, and at that moment, he felt his back turn cold. All the hair on his body stood upright as he felt enshrouded by fatal danger. That feeling was like a primordial fierce beast had suddenly appeared behind him and it was glaring at him.

This sort of fear and killing intent held his heart in an icy grip. He did not dare look back.

“Are you considering death? I’ll send you to it!”

As if a whisper from Death itself, it echoed in the Li Fire Sect disciple’s ears. Accompanying that was a sharp pain in his back. It was like he had been kicked by someone. A strong force transferred to his body as his body involuntarily flew out!

And right in front of him was the storm-like attacks from the three Elders!

The flying needles he had shot had already been shot down by the immense Yuan Qi emitted by the three Elders. But now, he had become the first human shield to take on the attacks of the three Elders!

“Careful!”

“Make way!”

The three Elders shouted together, but under the power of Yi Yun’s kick, how could the Li Fire Sect disciple dodge?

The two Li Fire Sect Elders were furious. Their attacks were about to land on this young disciple!

Grievance!

They felt a great grievance!

If they killed a disciple from their sect, they would break a sect rule, and it would greatly affect their prestige in the sect.

The news of three Yuan Opening realm Elders teaming up against a Dao Seed realm junior, not being able to kill him immediately, and allowing him to use their own sect’s disciples as shields but not being able to stop their attack and kill their own sect’s disciple accidentally, would probably cause the various large factions in the Tian Yuan world to laugh their heads off!

The two Li Fire Sect Elders naturally could not bear this responsibility. Their attacks had subconsciously slowed down, as they took the initiative to hold their Yuan Qi back.

However, the Shentu family clan Elder was already completely immersed in the act of killing!

He swore to kill Yi Yun at any cost.

“Peng!”

With an explosion, the Li Fire Sect disciple did not even have the chance to scream out as he was hit by the Shentu Elder’s palm. His body tore apart, as it burst into a rain of blood and minced meat.

“Ah!”

A Li Fire Sect disciple shouted in alarm. For a fellow disciple to die so horribly, they mourned the loss of their friend.

But at that moment, Yi Yun had already appeared amongst them, while the Shentu family clan Elder’s aggressive aura came surging over!

“Both of you, if we don’t kill him today, he will definitely kill us in the future!” The Shentu Elder shouted and attacked without mercy!

The two Li Fire Sect Elders were momentarily stunned. This sudden change of events forced them to weigh the pros and cons of killing Yi Yun or to give up on killing him in a tenth of a second. It was impossible for them to make a calm decision.

Often a time, people would do things on a spur of the moment.

And now, the Shentu family clan Elder had already gone completely mad!

“Tornado Tyrant Clouds!”

The Shentu Elder struck as his blood surged through his body, causing an immense tidal force. His Yuan Qi began to condensed into a black primordial desolate beast as the void began to tremble!

“Ah! Ah! Ah!”

Screams sounded one after another. How could the Li Fire Sect disciples withstand such an attack as they were quickly embroiled in the attack? Their bones and muscles burst and some even exploded with their limbs flying in all directions!

Rain of blood fell as limbs flew amidst the destruction. It was a horrible sight!

And within the rain of blood, Yi Yun was having a stroll through the blood. He was light-footed and he did not leave a single trace. He was tethering on the borders of the Shentu Elder’s killing blow!

It was just a tiny gap, but it was something that was impossible to bridge.

The Shentu elder was going mad!

If the two Li Fire Sect Elders had joined him in the attack, they would definitely have been able to kill Yi Yun. However, by stopping midway, they failed just as they were clinching victory. By only him attacking alone, he had killed about nine people in a split second. However, all he killed were Li Fire Sect disciples!

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!”

The Shentu Elder roared angrily as he gathered Yuan Qi to forcefully chase Yi Yun. However, the eyes of the other two Li Fire Sect Elders had already turned red. How could they allow the Shentu elder to slaughter their disciples?

After all, these disciples might not become Empyreal Kings in the future, but a number of them had the chance to be nurtured into Yuan Opening realm warriors!

To a sect that placed considerable weight on its own interest, them as Yuan Opening warriors, who had expended all their potential, were not that much more valuable than these young disciples. If they were to be held accountable, they would not be able to bear the brunt!

As such, even if they successfully killed Yi Yun, they would be severely punished by the sect. The Li Fire Sect rules were extremely strict.

Furthermore, what if Yi Yun had some other means, causing them to not be able to kill him, resulting in them paying an even greater price?

570 - : Internal Strife

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing their own disciples die a horrible deaths, the two Li Fire Sect Elders turned worried.

“Shentu Shan, I am demanding you to stop!”

“Shentu Shan, you have gone mad!”

The two Li Fire Sect Elders rushed towards the Shentu family clan’s Elder from both sides. How could they sit idly by as their own disciples were being killed?

“Peng!”

The three Elders’ Yuan Qi clashed, causing Shentu Shan’s attack to dissipate.

At this point, their original agreement to kill Yi Yun together had completely fallen apart.

And from the beginning to the end, Yi Yun did not do the unbelievable act of fighting one against three. He had only used the young Li Fire Sect disciples as meat shields to mitigate the attacks.

“Fools! You really are foolish!” Shentu Shan, who had to stop in his attacks, roared in anger, “If we do not take the opportunity to kill him now, once we set free a tiger back into the mountains, we will only breed calamity for our future!”

“Hmph! The ones who died are not from your Shentu family clan. Naturally you will not be punished. You will be fine killing that kid regardless of the costs, but we will be severely punished. Our cultivation levels might even be crippled!”

The ugliness of the two Li Fire Sect Elders’ faces had reached an extreme point. The things that happened today were impossible to mollify. With so many of the sect’s disciples dead, they, as Elders, would have to bear the responsibility when the sect investigated this matter.

And this result was because of Shentu Shan. On this matter, how could the two Li Fire Sect Elders not feel any hatred?

Just as it was about to end up in infighting amongst the three Elders, a cold flash appeared in Yi Yun’s eyes. He slashed out like a venomous snake!

His body instantly merged with his saber. One with the Saber!

And his target was Shentu Shan, right in the middle of the three!

With Shentu Shan just finishing his attack, he had lost all momentum. Having used up his energy from the attack, his defense right now was at its weakest.

If two evenly matched opponents fought against each other, when one party finished an attack, the other party would also have expended a significant amount of energy, hence, both parties would be in similar situations. To attack or fend required accumulating energy again.

However, now, Yi Yun had barely spent any energy and had been waiting for the chance to attack a fatigued enemy. The accumulation of energy Shentu Shan previously used had failed to gain him any advantage. As a result, the gap between their energy reserves were huge.

Furthermore, Yi Yun’s strength exceeded that of Shentu Shan!

With Yi Yun’s saber attack slashing out, his entire being seemed to transform into a beam of light as it merged into the saber beam!

Within Yi Yun’s body, his Aspect Totem screeched!

Yi Yun’s Aspect Totem was the three-legged Golden Crow.

However, while concealing his identity, he could not let the Golden Crow Totem within his body rush out, just seeing his Aspect Totem would result in people imagining and feel suspicious. And sometimes, just a bit of suspicion was enough!

The Golden Crow burned and boiled Yi Yun’s blood.

When warriors reached a certain realm, their Aspect Totem could merge into their flesh and blood, creating a fusion with their body.

At this point, Yi Yun might not have reached such a realm, but he could still let his Aspect Totem expound its amazing offensive strength within his body.

With this slash of Yi Yun, it extracted all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the vicinity. The air seemed to condense onto the sharp saber beam as it whistled, finally forming into a gigantic saber image in the void!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

The land was torn apart by the saber beam, sending up geysers of soil and gravel. Shentu Shan was the first to bear the brunt of the attack as the terrifying saber beam came towards him!

“Damn it!”

Seeing the saber beam about to hit him, he found his Yuan Qi completely expended from his previous attack. There was no way for him to resist!

And at that moment, the two Li Fire Sect Elders beside Shentu Shan were stunned. Their first choice of action was to dodge!

The three of them had already expended a considerable amount of energy, but if they had joined forces they would be able to withstand an attack from Yi Yun.

However, they chose to ignore Shentu Shan.

After all, the three of them were not considered friends. With Shentu Shan killing a few Li Fire Sect geniuses, there was already a feud between them.

However, they did not let Yi Yun kill Shentu Shan. At the same moment as they dodged, they exploded their Yuan Qi and attacked towards Yi Yun!

Abandoning Shentu Shan and taking the opportunity to kill Yi Yun was the optimal choice. If they could kill Yi Yun, then they could answer to the losses they had suffered today and would also have eliminated a future danger.

The two of them attacked together. One of them used his Engulfing laws and formed a powerful vortex to lock onto Yi Yun. The other person was covered in flames as he became a burning meteor as he charged towards Yi Yun!

“Huh!?”

Yi Yun frowned. His sudden attack at Shentu Shan was like a sudden clap of thunder which left no time for one to cover one’s ears. He was confident that he could severely injure Shentu Shan with one strike and even take his life.

However, at that split second, the two Li Fire Sect Elders managed to react in time and made the right choice.

If his saber made a hit by disregarding everything else, he would definitely severely injure Shentu Shan, but his own life would be at stake!

With two Yuan Opening realm warriors joining forces, Yi Yun found it difficult to completely escape without harm since he could not reveal many of his hidden cards.

And at that moment, his attack had already been sent out, and all his Yuan Qi had been condensed on the saber itself. So to pull back his saber was easier said than done!

The two Li Fire Sect Elders had chosen to respond with an attack at the best moment!

In a split second, Yi Yun flung his hands and the saber trembled as it carried with it vast amounts of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, whistling out from Yi Yun’s hands!

As for Yi Yun’s body, he used the recoil from throwing his saber to retreat backward quickly. He used his “Golden Crow Sun Shift” movement technique and at an incredible speed, moved with unpredictability. He forcefully shrugged off the Li Fire Sect Elder’s Engulfing law lock down.

“Peng!”

Yuan Qi exploded as the katana Yi Yun threw out broke through Shentu Shan’s energy shield.

The saber blade pierced through and brought with it an indomitable momentum that could not be withstood!

“Ah!”

Shentu Shan roared and gathered all his energy, hoping to block Yi Yun’s strike!

However, the difference in energy was too great. Hearing a crisp sound that sounded like glass shattering, Shentu Shan’s protective Yuan Qi was pierced through by Yi Yun’s saber!

The blade then pierced into his body as blood splattered out. The blade had penetrated the right side of his body and had obliquely stabbed into his lungs. With a large Yuan Qi explosion, it caused his right shoulder to tear. His scapula shattered as his arm nearly tore off!

He gave out a miserable cry and slammed to the ground heavily. His face pale as a sheet!

And at that moment, Yi Yun was met by the two Li Fire Sect Elder’s combined attack. With the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” movement technique’s support, he managed to avoid most of the offensive power.

“Boom!”

Energy exploded as Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi stirred. As for his body, he borrowed the powerful recoil to fly high into the sky like a kite!

His Yuan Qi and blood had turned chaotic as he suffered slight internal injuries.

However, he did not stop. He made use of the momentum to go higher as he shot up straight into the sky.

With the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” movement technique fully powering him, Yi Yun was like a eagle with its wings spanned out widely as it flew. He then disappeared into the clouds.

571 - : Forcefully Charging In

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Damn it!”

“Don’t you escape!”

The eyes of the two Li Fire Sect Elders had turned red. The moment they saw Yi Yun disappearing into the clouds they immediately chased after him. If they let Yi Yun escape today, how were they to have any face left?

However, Yi Yun’s speed was too fast. His “Golden Crow Sun Shift” movement technique was from the private collection of the Azure Yang Lord, and was most suitable for Yi Yun to cultivate. It could even said to have been tailored made for Yi Yun.

After chasing him a distance for a while, the two Li Fire Sect Elders had no choice but to stop.

This was because they could no longer find him in their perception domain.

Actually, just from Yi Yun’s speed, they could tell visually that there was no chance for them to keep up with him.

For a Dao Seed realm junior to battle three Yuan Opening realm Elders and then manage to escape unscathed. And not only that, he had also chopped off Shentu Shan’s arm, as well as cause the death of eight young Li Fire Sect disciples.

Finally, they had to watch helplessly as he disappeared without being able to do anything!

It was preposterous!

Once this matter was spread, it would certainly burst the stomachs of people from laughter.

The two of them were extremely depressed. When they returned, their faces were blacker than pot bottoms.

What happened today could be said to be the biggest humiliation in their entire life.

Not to even mention that, in the future, Yi Yun might come seeking revenge on them. To be targeted by such a monster, in a few years, Yi Yun would be able to kill them like cutting melons or chopping vegetables.

Furthermore, Yi Yun might not even need to do anything. They would probably be punished the moment they returned to their sect.

Having lost eight young geniuses of the sect, they would be charged with failure to protect their juniors. In addition, they had lost face for the Li Fire Sect. Others would say that their Li Fire Sect Elders were trash for they had been played in the hands of a Dao Seed realm junior.

With the Li Fire Sect’s strict sect rules, they could not imagine the consequences.

It was too aggravating!

“El… Elder…”

A few Li Fire Sect disciples were silent. The impact Yi Yun had on them was too great. And with their fellow disciples dying horribly in front of their eyes, their bodies torn apart, causing blood and minced meat to splatter everywhere, this visual impact had scared them out of their wits.

Those who had died were not weaker than them. The only difference was that their luck was worse.

If the wheel of bad luck had turned onto them instead, the dismembered corpses on the ground would be them.

For them to rely on luck just to survive against a junior like themselves, while under the protection of the Elders, was a blow that they could not accept.

“All of you shut up!”

A Li Fire Sect Elder shouted. His fierce gaze swept across the ground to the twitching Shentu Shan on the ground.

It was completely unbearable to look at this fellow’s state. The right half of his body had nearly been torn apart. An arm had nearly broken off. Although, with miraculous pills, he could still join the arm back, it was impossible to fully recover in less than half a year.

However… the two Li Fire Sect Elders clearly would not allow for Shentu Shan to return to his family to treat his injuries.

With eight of their sect’s geniuses dead, someone had to bear this responsibility.

Bringing the murderer back to their sect would allow for them to suffer a lighter punishment. If the Shentu family clan wanted him back, they would naturally have to pay a price.

“Damn it!”

A Li Fire Sect cursed in his heart. He suddenly slammed his palm on Shentu Shan’s dantian. Yuan Qi surged into Shentu Shan’s body as it eventually sealed his heart.

Shentu Shan’s body trembled as his gave a furious look, “You.. You!”

He had already sustained serious injuries, and now his cultivation level was sealed. When the Li Fire Sect Elder’s Yuan Qi entered his body, it had caused his weakened body to suffer a second blow.

Now, he was like a wretched stray, with no ability to resist.

“Take him away! I will bear the brunt if there is anything!” The Li Fire Sect Elder stared at Shentu Shan. He could not be bothered to say anything more as he ordered the Li Fire Sect disciples to drag him away.

In his opinion, Shentu Shan was most likely crippled. The Shentu family clan might even abandon him as compensation to the Li Fire Sect.

The Li Fire Sect Elder naturally could not be bothered to be courteous with such a person.

As such, this unlucky Shentu Elder was dragged away.

“No one is to say anything about what happened today, got it!?”

The other Li Fire Sect Elder shouted. It was an agonizing sight for them to end up with this outcome after three of them attacked a junior.

Although it was because the junior was vicious and did not defeat the three of them face on, but had used schemes and sneak attacks, people would not care about that as all they would see was the outcome.

Once this matter was spread in the Tian Yuan world, how were they supposed to stay in the martial circles? How were they supposed to remain in the Li Fire Sect?

“But…”

A few juniors subconsciously glanced in the direction of the Lin family.

Outside the Lin family mountain entrance, there were more than ten young Lin family disciples, Lin Qiao as well as two Lin family Elders who had just arrived, who had witnessed this scene.

And from the looks of it, Lin Qiao was transmitting his voice through Yuan Qi to inform the two newly arrived Elders of all that had happened.

From their expressions, they were clearly shocked by Yi Yun’s performance.

Immediately, the Li Fire Sect Elder felt a headache.

With so many people aware of the matter, it was naturally difficult to curb the spread of the news.

He frowned, and although he was extremely unwilling, he bit the bullet and walked towards the Lin family.

He was contemplating on how to persuade them to keep a secret, for example a soul contract, but it was not easy to let the Lin family obediently abide to his wishes…

“Cough, cough…”

The Li Fire Sect gave a few dry coughs. The three Lin family Elders were slightly stunned seeing his reaction, as they guessed his intentions.

For a young man to force two Li Fire Sect Elders into such a predicament and causing Shentu Shan to reach a state beyond redemption due to a momentary error, was too frightening!

Not only was his talent shocking, his timing in battle was equally stunning!

He could react instantaneously against a siege of three Elders and used an ingenuous movement technique to temporarily dodge them. And when he was in a situation of not being able to match them, he had used the Li Fire Sect disciples as meat shields to resolve his crisis. He had then taken the opportunity to forcefully charge in, injuring Shentu Shan despite two other Elders attacking him. And even so, he still managed to escape unscathed. To be able to do so was amazing!

“Brother Qiao, I let a joke be displayed before you.”

A Li Fire Sect Elder said awkwardly. Usually, he was aggressive and flaunted his prowess before Lin Qiao.

However, now, he had to eat humble pie. The moment he went forward, he took a position of a weakling, making him feel extremely aggrieved.

However, he had no other way. He could ignore his shame, but he could not ignore the Li Fire Sect’s reputation. If he curbed the news, it would look better for the Li Fire Sect on the surface. Then, it would be easier to brush away the fact that they had lost a few young disciples.

After all, for a large sect like the Li Fire Sect, when their power reached such a level, reputation was extremely important.

This would also allow them to receive a lighter punishment when they returned to their sect.

“Brother Gongsun, what is the matter?”

Lin Qiao’s eyes smiled, as it narrowed into a slit.

Seeing the Li Fire Sect and Shentu family clan in this predicament, he was overjoyed in his heart. What had happened today was really a pleasant surprise with full of climaxes.

It felt splendid. As he was watching the fight, he nearly gave his kudos to the mysterious young man.

“That… About the matter just now…”

Before the Li Fire Sect Elder finished speaking, Lin Qiao interjected and feigned ignorance, “Oh? The matter just now? Don’t you worry! I have already recorded a video of everything and submitted it to the upper echelons of the family. To prevent this matter from becoming unmanageable, the family clan has already informed a majority of the Lin family disciples to rush here! Brother Gongsun, please rest assured. We will definitely be cleaning up the battlefield in a proper manner!”

Lin Qiao deliberately said these words to disgust the Li Fire Sect Elder, whom nearly choked on those words.

He did not notice the sarcasm in “cleaning up the battlefield”, he only paid attention to the first words Lin Qiao had said…

“Already… informed the entire family clan?”

The two Li Fire Sect Elders blinked their eyes as they momentarily were at a loss.

572 - : Escaping Unscathed

CKtalon  CKtalon

The two Li Fire Sect Elders were most afraid of the knowledge of the incident being spread. People who caused the Li Fire Sect to lose face would definitely not be spared.

As for Lin Qiao, he said that he recorded a video and informed a large number of Lin Family disciples.

How many people of his family clan did he need to inform for “cleaning up the battlefield”?

Counting all warriors of the Lin family, excluding the mortals by the exterior perimeter, there were about ten thousand of them. How could they inform so many people!?

The two Li Fire Sect Elders were not fools. They understood that Lin Qiao was intentionally embarrassing them, but they could do nothing about it.

Previously, they could use the support from the Martial Alliance to put on airs at the Lin family, but now, with them being forced by the situation, they could only be submissive.

“Brother Qiao, did you really record a video?” A Li Fire Sect Elder probed.

He felt that Lin Qiao was blackmailing them, and under normal circumstances, how could anyone be bothered to record while watching an exciting battle? Were they just too free?

Besides, it was impossible for Lin Qiao to guess from the beginning that the bold Southern Sea kid actually had the ability to fight Yuan Opening realm warriors, and cause them to suffer greatly! Under such circumstances, did he really use a video disk array?

However, under the Li Fire Sect Elder’s probe, Lin Qiao slowly took a black video disk array out of his interspatial ring.

He seemed to have guessed their thoughts and he purposely took a disk array out. He swayed the disk array in front of the Li Fire Sect Elders and used an extremely indifferent tone, “For me, I usually have to watch the Lin family door. As for martial arts, I don’t have much future in it. I can’t even improve if I train, so it’s so boring while I sit by the mountain entrance. Hence, I have some hobbies that others don’t like, such as collecting video disk arrays and record my daily life… ”

“Just now, I saw a Dao Seed realm junior fighting a Yuan Opening realm warrior, and I really recorded it due to my hands turning itchy. The quality is still pretty high in definition. As for the quality of the disk array, it’s impeccable. Both of you, do you want to see it?”

Lin Qiao had a round face, and when he spoke, his eyes constantly blinked. It made people, who saw him, feel like they want to beat him up.

The two Li Fire Sect completely lost their will to be angry. According to what Lin Qiao said, it was extremely possible. After all, at their age, training in martial arts was pointless, so it was common for them to find some other hobbies.

As for the shameful video, if it was played in full view of others again, they could no longer hold on to their faces.

They hurriedly said, “There’s no need, there’s no need. Brother Lin, excuse me… ”

The two Li Fire Sect Elders could only eat humble pie and invite Lin Qiao to a corner like he was a god.

After this, none of the juniors present knew what they were discussing about. They only knew that the negotiations lasted a very long time, and that the two Li Fire Sect Elders paid a heavy price to obtain the disk array.

This was because when the two of them walked away, their expressions was that of their hearts feeling the pinch. All the juniors present saw this clearly.

As for Lin Qiao, just a look at his smiling expression showed one that he had ruthlessly ripped the two Li Fire Sect Elders off.

And when the two Li Fire Sect Elders returned to their sect and watched the video disk array, they immediately flew into a rage!

There was no video of their fight with the Southern Sea kid on the disk array. What was recorded was just miscellaneous stuff, such as the teasing of furry animals.

These furry animals were well liked by rich, mortal families. Few warriors liked them, but from the darn fatty’s dreadful smile in the video, he obviously looked like he was having a good time.

“That darn old fool!” Such a video disk array was completely blackmail.

“I’ll never spare him!” One of the Li Fire Sect Elders crushed the disk array out of anger. Just thinking of the huge price they paid to exchange for this item and what had happened in the day made him feel like vomiting blood out of anger.

The other Li Fire Sect Elder was also so angry that his intestines were all twisted together. However, when he heard that the other Elder wanted to seek revenge on Lin Qiao, he could only suppress his anger to stop him, “Have you not disgraced yourself enough? If we were to make a ruckus at the Lin family, wouldn’t we be acknowledging that fact that it happened!?”

“Now, it’s best that we think of how to deal with the sect’s punishment!”

The battle today definitely could not be covered up. They had to give an honest account to the sect.

And just thinking of the punishment from the sect made the two Elders feel some bitterness. They might not even be able to seek revenge on Lin Qiao, because they might be punished severely, and imprisoned for a thousand years, living to a ripe old age without being freed!

By the time that happened, settling scores with Lin Qiao would be pointless. As for the matter of Lin Qiao scamming them, they definitely would not dare report it to the sect, because the sect would think that they were incorrigibly stupid. Their punishment would only be worsened.

They could only suffer in silence.

Just thinking of the scoundrel Lin Qiao made the two Li Fire Sect Elders quiver with rage.

There was no other way out. It was like despite having their teeth knocked out, they still had to swallow them, so they bit the bullet and went to meet the upper echelons of the sect!

The two Li Fire Sect Elders tried to cover up the matter as much as they could in order to reduce their punishments, and they had done a lot of arrangements. However, the news was still leaked out eventually. After all, there were too many people who knew about it.

Quickly, many of the large factions neighboring the Lin family got wind of a Southern Sea genius saber user, who at the Dao Seed realm, who managed to withstand the combined attack of three Yuan Opening realm Elders from the Li Fire Sect and Shentu family clan. They also knew of how he caused the Li Fire Sect to lose about eight geniuses, and even seriously injured a Shentu family clan Elder.

A young and brash Dao Seed realm saber user had blocked three Yuan Opening realm warriors alone!

To compare Shentu Nantian from the past to such a genius, he would appear extremely average. It was like comparing a firefly with the radiant moon.

However, after some proliferation of the rumor, it was doubted by many. When did the Tian Yuan world have such a genius? Could the savage lands of the Southern Sea produce such a figure?

Many people specifically went to the Li Fire Sect and Shentu family clan to confirm the matter. The Shentu family clan did not respond and the Li Fire Sect categorically denied it!

What battle? What death of juniors? None of that happened!

Because of that response, more people found the rumour fictitious

After all, it was quite ridiculous for a Dao Seed realm junior, who came from the Southern Sea and had no background, to be able to trouble three Yuan Opening realm Elders.

Seeing was believing, so for such rumors that went beyond common sense, the first reaction from people was disbelief. The young elites were especially dismissive of it. Something they couldn’t do was accomplished by a Southern Sea savage? Wasn’t that a mockery to them?

There were people who guessed that the rumors were spread by the Southern Sea kid so he could earn some fame. Such despicable behavior made them find him shameless.

Hence, these rumors was treated as a joke.

These matters no longer had anything to do with Yi Yun. With his Golden Crow Sun Shift, after he retreated in a relaxed manner, he and Lin Xintong arrived under a waterfall…

573 - : Lin Qiao’s Video

CKtalon  CKtalon

The mountain reached high above the clouds, as mountain springwater crashed down from a thousand feet. The waterfall was not very wide nor was the water moving at a fast speed. It was just from a high distance that made it seem like a jade belt was floating in the wind.

On a rock beneath the waterfall, Yi Yun was sitting crossed legged, while Lin Xintong was behind him. With a hand pressed lightly on Yi Yun’s back, and by circulating her Yuan Qi once, she fully probed Yi Yun’s meridians and dantian injuries.

They were just minor injuries and they were no big deal.

Lin Xintong slowly injected her pure Yin Yuan Qi into Yi Yun’s body, healing him bit by bit. With their Yin and Yang Qi complementing one another, it was a simple task to healing his injuries.

Yi Yun felt like fresh spring water was flowing into his meridians, as it slowly nourished his wounds.

As Lin Xintong treated Yi Yun’s injuries, she said, “Yi Yun, you were in such a rush to fight one against three Yuan Opening realm experts. It was too dangerous. If they ignored the lives of the Li Fire Sect disciples, and were bent on killing you, the consequences would be unthinkable.”

If the situation like Lin Xintong had described happened, with Yi Yun being forced into a corner, he would either be severely injured or would have to reveal some of his hidden cards.

For example, a divine weapon like the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s broken sword which he had previously used in public. Now, if he used it again, it would be very easy to expose his identity.

Yi Yun said, “I have a clear idea about it. Some things can’t be used, but the Blood Moon doesn’t know about some of the divine items we obtained from the God Advent Tower, so they can still be used. Even if they attacked me by disregarding everything else, it wouldn’t have been a problem for me to completely evade them.”

Over the past seven years, Yi Yun’s strength had increased so much that he did not have an idea where he stood. By battling three Yuan Opening ream Elders, he could test his strength. He had previously wondered when he could fight Sages in a direct battle, and today, at the age of 23 years old, he had managed to do so.

If he returned to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom at that moment, he was completely qualified to become the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord!

Lin Xintong could guess what was on Yi Yun’s mind and she smiled. Her palms were still gently placed on Yi Yun’s back as she continued healing him.

To Yi Yun, this injury was nothing, but Lin Xintong still meticulously healed every meridian that was injured with extreme care.

Yi Yun gently closed his eyes as he enjoyed the wondrous feeling of the Ying-Yang energy exchange. He said, “Xintong, although we have the ‘Star Transference Heaven Changing Book’ supporting our return to the Tian Yuan world this time, we still need to be careful. We cannot let the Blood Moon link our current identities to our original identities. Maybe it is not best for the both of us to travel together… ”

When Yi Yun said this, he also sighed. He naturally wished to travel together with Lin Xintong.

However, as a man and woman duo, it was quite outstanding. And their strength far surpassed the elites of the Tian Yuan world. Besides, Yi Yun’s performance was already unexpected. If he appeared together with Lin Xintong, this would inevitably make people suspect that they were the successors of the ancient Great Empress and the Azure Yang Lord.

If the Blood Moon were to be suspicious, it would be very dangerous.

Lin Xintong gently pulled her hand back and said sadly, “I have the same thoughts. It might be alright if we don’t appear, but with us appearing, the Lin family might suffer as a result of it. I have already made my decision to take a trip to the Divine Wilderness!”

“Divine Wilderness?”

It struck Yi Yun because the Divine Wilderness was extremely vast. There were even terrifying primordial true spirits lurking in its depths

Training in the Divine Wilderness was extremely dangerous, but with Lin Xintong’s abilities, it was likely for her to cope.

A warrior’s training experience was firstly to open up one’s horizons and perceive the Heaven and Earth, so as to find inspiration in martial arts in a constantly changing environment. Secondly, it was to hone one’s skills in actual combat, and to constantly experience head-on battles with strong enemies.

In the Divine Wilderness, there was no lack of the two points. Besides, the Divine Wilderness was far from the Tian Yuan world, so Lin Xintong’s whereabouts would be difficult to discover.

“Yes, I’m going to break into the Yuan Opening realm… ” Lin Xintong said softly, as if it was a very common matter.

The Yuan Opening realm was to many Tian Yuan world geniuses the last realm in their entire lives. To break through into the Yuan Opening realm was significant. People would even invite friends to join in a breakthrough ceremony.

But to Lin Xintong and Yi Yun, the Yuan Opening realm was nothing at all. Breaking through into the Yuan Opening realm was no different to breaking through into the Dao Seed realm. The only thing they needed to be careful about was to do it steadily and lay a solid foundation.

“Yuan Opening realm..” Yi Yun lightly gasped. When warriors practiced martial arts, small realm gaps were not huge. For example, although it was not easy for a mid-stage Dao Seed realm to fight a late-stage Dao Seed realm, it was still not shockingly amazing.

But for a large realm gap, it was a heaven and earth difference. The gap of going from the Dao Seed realm to the Yuan Opening realm could be said to be an insurmountable vast ravine.

Even for the top geniuses of the Tian Yuan world, who perfected their Dao Seed realm and deliberately suppressed their own cultivation levels by laying a solid foundation, it was still impossible for them to beat the weakest Tai Ah Divine Kingdom Sage, who barely managed to break through into the Yuan Opening realm.

To be able to escape unscathed would already be something that one could be proud off.

Hence, once Lin Xintong broke through into the Yuan Opening realm, her strength would surge. It was impossible to say what she could achieve!

Yi Yun was also full of anticipation regarding his matter.

Yi Yun said, “Xintong, since you are going to the Divine Wilderness, I’ll remain in the Tian Yuan world. I want to investigate what the Blood Moon is plotting. I already have some preliminary plans.” As Yi Yun said this, his eyes flashed with a strange glimmer.

Be it the entire Tian Yuan world’s safety, the people most important to him, or the unfulfilled behest of his benefactor, the Azure Yang Lord, Yi Yun had to fight the Blood Moon.

It was not easy to lurk in the dark and destroy their plans, but it was not impossible.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong stayed for a few more days under the waterfall.

Finally, Lin Xintong flew towards the Divine Wilderness, while Yi Yun flew towards the southern part of the Tian Yuan world continent. Before he began his plans, he first had to do something. He had to completely draw a line between his present identity with the original Yi Yun.

Actually, the “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book” was a peculiar disguise technique.

A low grade disguise technique could change one’s external looks which warriors could see right though. Slightly higher grade disguise techniques would not only change one’s looks and facial features, they could even change one’s body shape, such as fat to thin, tall to short. However, even such a change could not change a person’s aura. A true master would be able to see through it.

However, the “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book” transformed a person from one’s basic origins of life. It could cause the person to be born again, as if they were reincarnating. Even the soul’s aura would change as a result.

Furthermore, it could even change one’s bone age. Unless one had mystic realm prohibitions like the Great Empress mystic realm, any typical bone age detection method would not be able to tell Yi Yun’s actual age!

It would be very difficult to see through such a mystic technique.

Back then, when the Azure Yang Lord traveled the Yang God Empyrean Heaven freely, he found this mystic technique in the sinkhole. He did not use it, but he kept it anyways. He never expected for it to play such a critical role for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong in this day and age.

However, although the “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book” did not have any flaws, what was worrisome was that the Blood Moon would suspect Yi Yun under no evidence.

And the sole reason would be because both of them were peerless geniuses. That would be problematic.

Hence, to completely change his identities, Yi Yun had to do something first, which was to change his Aspect Totem!

The “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book” could allow Yi Yun to be reborn, but it could not change Yi Yun’s Aspect Totem form. Hence, Yi Yun had to change it himself! The Golden Crow Totem from before was too eye-catching, and it was the symbol of Yi Yun.

Once an Aspect Totem was formed, the basic form was fixed. Even if one’s Aspect Totem evolved, the connection to its original could still be seen. It was impossible for others to change Aspect Totems.

However, Yi Yun cultivated the “Myriad Beast Totem”. It was an extremely special Totem mystic technique. Just using the “Myriad Beast Totem” to change his Aspect Totem’s form was not difficult at all!

574 - : Temporary Parting

CKtalon  CKtalon

To cultivate the “Myriad Beast Totem”, one needed to kill large numbers of top grade desolate beasts to form their Aspect Totem. The so-called “ten thousand” number was actually fictitious.

Warriors who cultivated the “Myriad Beast Totem”, could change the form of their Aspect Totem, or they could even produce different types of Aspect Totems. Every Aspect Totem form could constantly absorb and condensed Power of Desolates, gradually improving and evolving itself.

With the Aspect Totem evolving, every different Aspect Totem could give a particular boost to the cultivator. For example, it could give the cultivator greater speed, greater offensive power, or an improvement in a particular law.

Yi Yun’s Golden Crow Totem allowed Yi Yun to grasp and use pure Yang laws better.

Now, Yi Yun wanted to choose another Totem. Although it was just a temporary measure to match the change in his identity, Yi Yun was definitely not going to be perfunctory about it. He wanted to choose a powerful Aspect Totem so that there was value in nurturing it.

After all, one needed a lot of effort to nurture an Aspect Totem. Although he could enjoy greater boosts to his overall strengths with more Aspect Totem forms, the difficulty of nurturing them would increase. It could lead him to become a jack of all trades, with losses outweighing the gains.

…

Ten days later, Yi Yun came to the southernmost tip of the Tian Yuan world. About 50,000 kilometers far into the Untraversable Sea, it went past the Misty Fey Sea and into a region of sea called the Myriad Calamity Sea.

The Myriad Calamity Sea was a land fraught with dangers. At the southern end of the Tian Yuan world, several small sects would treat this region of sea as out of bounds. Even Elders from the sects did not to dare venture into the Myriad Calamity Sea, not to mention juniors from sects. There were sea Fey lurking in the deepest depth of the Myriad Calamity Sea. If they were on land, they could easily destroy a sect.

“Myriad Calamity Sea… This sea is actually very different from many sectors of the Untraversable Sea.” Yi Yun looked at the sea and the gloomy sky hanging above it. The seawater was a dark black color, while the seawater in other sectors of the Untraversable Sea was a blood red color.

However, the dead silence of the Myriad Calamity Sea was similar to that of the Untraversable Sea. The entire sea surface was motionless. It was as quiet as a tomb.

“Let’s see what’s here.”

Yi Yun took out an extreme-grade Fey Luring Grass. He got it from one the interspatial rings of one of the elites he killed back in the Great Empress mystic realm. The quality of the extreme grade Fey Luring Grass was excellent. It was in a different league to the Fey Luring Pill the people from the White Soaring Sect used back when he met them.

The moment the Fey Luring Grass was taken out, it emitted a strange smell. This smell emanated deep into the black sea water.

Yi Yun sat cross-legged above the water surface and waited quietly. He spread his perception out and locked onto his surroundings. Any change in the Myriad Calamity Sea could not escape Yi Yun’s perception.

After nearly an hour, a gigantic shadow slowly emerged under the black sea surface.

Yi Yun knew that in the past few minutes, there were six sea Fey who had arrived underneath the sea surface. However, after a confrontation between the sea Fey, only one of them remained. It was the strongest amongst the six, and it had won the right to devour the Fey Luring Grass.

Boom!

A gigantic and ferocious mouth, filled with the smell of blood, opened up on the water surface. It went straight for the Fey Luring Grass.

This sea Fey was a giant turtle. Its neck was hundreds of feet long. It revealed dense rows of sharp teeth when it opened its gigantic mouth.

Yi Yun recognized the turtle to be a Bone Eroding Turtle. From the name “bone eroding”, one could guess that this type of turtle was highly toxic. It could erode one’s bone. Be it its blood or the saliva on its teeth, they were all extremely toxic.

The Bone Eroding Turtle’s emitted a fierce gaze as if it wanted to devour both Yi Yun and the Fey Luring Grass. To it, both a human elite and the Fey Luring Grass were extremely nourishing.

However, just as the Bone Eroding Turtle stretched out its neck with its jaws wide open, a cold beam flashed across its murderous eyes before it could swallow Yi Yun.

Bam!

The Bone Eroding Turtle’s mouth was slashed right open from the middle. Its neck opened, splitting into two, and as blood gushed out its head, it slumped back into the sea in a disjointed sort of way. In a blink of an eye, the sea was dyed red by the fresh blood.

The moment the Bone Eroding Turtle’s corpse landed on the water surface, the sound of the surface of the water breaking came from behind Yi Yun.

A Shadow Shark leaped out of the water and took advantage of the moment to sneak up on Yi Yun.

This Shadow Shark was one of the six desolate beasts who had swum alongside the Bone Eroding Turtle. It was extremely savage, but it was apparently low in intelligence. It could not sense the terrifying power contained within Yi Yun’s tiny body.

“Cha!”

There was another cold flash as the Shadow Shark’s body stopped midair. Immediately following that, a shower of bloody rain pattered down!

Yi Yun slanted his long saber towards the sea surface. Fresh blood dripped down his blade onto the sea surface, mixing with the sticky blood that was already there.

When the other four desolate beasts saw this scene, they fled in fear. Yi Yun allowed them to leave and he did not chase after them.

He was not interested in these desolate beasts as they didn’t have much value in condensing his new Aspect Totem.

He casually did a few hand seals to extract the beast marks from the two sea Fey. He then fed them to his Golden Crow Totem as supplements.

Following that, Yi Yun activated the Fey Luring Grass again, letting its smell spread even further.

There were numerous sea Fey in this area. Even the Eight-Limbed Sea Dragon was nothing when placed in the Myriad Calamity Sea.

Yi Yun stood there with the Fey Luring Grass in hand, and he was as an eye-catching as a bright beacon in the middle of the night.

However, the blood in the seawater and the corpses of powerful sea Fey became a cautionary warning. Although the Fey Luring Grass was extremely tempting, all it attracted were mostly sea Fey with low intelligence like the Shadow Shark.

Yi Yun was not in a hurry. He stayed above this sea for a few days. He was a patient hunter. He knew that human experts may even take several years to find a primordial herb or to hunt a primordial strain they needed.

It was nothing for him to stay here for a few days.

As time passed, the sea Fey that Yi Yun had killed were all used to condense beast marks and used as supplements to his Golden Crow Totem. Over the days, the Golden Crow Totem also became more life-like, but the second Totem still did not show signs of appearing.

Slowly, even low intelligence desolate beasts like the Shadow Sharks seemed to deplete in numbers.

Yi Yun frowned slightly. He looked at the Fey Luring Grass in his hand and he was pondering. Although the quality of the Fey Luring Grass was extremely good, it was still not enough. Thinking back to the moment when he and Lin Xintong came out of the Great Empress mystic realm, he had attracted the Eight-Limbed Sea Dragon. With that, an idea emerged in Yi Yun’s mind.

Maybe… he could attempt to open the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance here?

The Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance was just locked onto a general area. It was not impossible for him to shift it here.

575 - : Myriad Calamity Sea

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Myriad Calamity Sea was notorious for its dangers. Many powerful desolate beasts lurked within its deep waters.

To these desolate beasts, the temptation emitted by the Fey Luring Grass was not that great…

However… if the pure Yuan Qi from the Great Empress mystic realm was to be used instead, that would be a different matter.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and shot directly down, like a meteor, into the sea. The seawater was separated on two sides under the Yuan Qi impact. With this, Yi Yun went 100,000 feet deep down into the sea.

This depth had tremendous water pressure and resistance. All of this was quite a burden on Yi Yun’s body. While withstanding this kind of pressure, Yi Yun’s offensive and evasive abilities would be greatly reduced.

However, Yi Yun could only take this risk because the most horrifying desolate beasts lurked in the deepest parts of the sea.

When common warriors encountered sea beasts of this level, they would be powerless against them above the sea surface, what more under the sea. Hence, to choose to be underwater was almost equivalent to suicide.

Even for Yi Yun, if he encountered a desolate beast that was equivalent to a peak-Sage, he would have no chance of winning. He might not even have the chance of escaping.

Yi Yun acclimatized his body to its peak and spread his perception all around. He was alert to any sudden dangers. After making sure there were no desolate beasts in a 50-kilometer radius, Yi Yun interfaced his mind with the God Advent Tower disk array and slowly opened the Great Empress mystic realm.

Opening the Great Empress mystic realm from such a distance required him to expend large amounts of Yuan Qi. Yi Yun swallowed an ancient relic and used all of his pure Yang energy to gradually open the Great Empress mystic realm entrance through a great deal of difficulty.

In the dark depths of the sea, a faint light appeared and slowly increased in size, as it formed a purple vortex.

Under the huge pressure, the seawater began to swirl around rapidly, as it surged towards the vortex.

A beam of light burst out and pierced through the hundred thousand feet thick sea water, past the sea surface and into the sky.

A large door of light appeared in the deep depths of the Myriad Calamity Sea. The entrance to the Great Empress mystic realm was now completely opened.

Yi Yun was not afraid of others discovering his opening of the Great Empress mystic realm entrance in the deep depths of the Myriad Calamity Sea, where no one trod. He was free to do as he pleased.

As the door of light enlarged, the pure Heaven Earth Yuan Qi from the Great Empress mystic realm slowly began to emanate out of the entrance.

It has begun!

Yi Yun interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal and activated his energy vision, as he locked onto every change in the surrounding sea.

With the energy vision, no matter how dark it was, Yi Yun could easily see any sign of disturbance within a 50-kilometer distance. The more powerful a desolate beast was, the greater its energy fluctuations would be, hence, they could not escape Yi Yun’s perception.

It could be said that Yi Yun’s perceptual acuity under the sea exceeded that of underwater desolate beasts.

Deep in the Myriad Calamity Sea, there were not as many sea beasts as compared to the surface of the sea. From the dark and silent depths, slowly, Yi Yun noticed three figures appearing in his energy vision.

They had been attracted by the pure Heaven Earth Yuan Qi from the Great Empress mystic realm. Yi Yun could see these gigantic black figures clearly, but he did not recognize them.

The Untraversable Sea was too deep and too vast. The desolate beasts that lurked deep within it were numerous in species. And some of these desolate beasts might never surface, so it was normal for people not to know of them.

The three underwater desolate beasts before Yi Yun were about tens of meters to a hundred meters long. He had never seen any indication of these desolate beasts in the records he had read. Maybe in the long history of the Tian Yuan world, there were people who had seen these sea beasts, but those witnesses had already died within the sea beasts’ bellies. Without them returning, they naturally could not record down their sightings for the future.

Although he did not recognize these desolate beasts, Yi Yun could sense how terrifying they were from the powerful energy fluctuations emanated by them.

Yi Yun measured his strength against them. He felt that if he faced a desolate beast head on, he could handle it, but if the three sea beasts attacked him together, Yi Yun could only escape.

Compared to these three deep sea desolate beasts, the Eight Limbed Sea Dragon Yi Yun shot to death was nothing.

Yi Yun touched his interspatial ring gently and pulled out the rusty broken sword. He did not make a move but patiently waited.

The three sea beasts did not move either. They surrounded Yi Yun from three corners, forming a triangle.

These three undersea overlords clearly had a high intelligence. They could tell that something was amiss about the sudden rich Heaven Earth Yuan Qi appearing underwater. They were not only wary of Yi Yun, they were also wary of the other sea beasts.

If these sea beasts really fought against each other, it would be hard to tell who would win.

And the more careful these sea beasts were, the more difficult they were to handle.

Yi Yun silently waited as he tightly clenched the broken sword in his hand. He had also taken out the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow. It was hanging on his left shoulder, ready to shoot out an arrow at any time.

Of course, the power of the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow was greatly weakened underwater.

The three undersea overlords slowly revolved around Yi Yun. This processed lasted for 15 minutes, after which, they suddenly stopped.

This was not the prelude to them attacking, on the contrary, they began to slowly recede.

The three massive sea beasts suddenly retreated. And this retreat went far into the distance. The unusual circumstances made Yi Yun’s heart sink.

He saw a black shadow, that was a lot smaller in size, approaching from the deep depths of the Myriad Calamity Sea.

It was because of this sea beast, which was smaller in size, that the three undersea overlords retreated!

In his energy vision, Yi Yun clearly saw that this black figure was about slightly more than ten meters wide. It had two heavy black claws and a black scaled tail. On its robust body, there were nine snake-like long necks. Every neck grew a head.

These nine heads were all in different shapes. Some of the heads had a single horn. Some of the heads grew three eyes. Some had long sharp fangs as teeth.

Some of the nine heads had single eyes or three eyes, but all eyes were now staring at Yi Yun.

The sound that resembled a baby crying came from this undersea beast.

Yi Yun held his breath for he recognized this desolate beast! He found it unbelievable.

The Azure Yang Lord had left behind several books, and Yi Yun had seen the records of this desolate beast. In the Tian Yuan world, deep in the Untraversable Sea, there were powerful nine-headed hydra desolate beasts. The moment a hydra was born, it would be at the level of a primordial strain. As it matured, it would become a primordial true spirit that even Empyreal Kings would find difficult to withstand.

And amongst the hydras, there was a very small number who could awaken their ancient bloodline, evolving into the next stage, Nine Neonate.

The black figure before his very eyes was a Nine Neonate!

The moment a Nine Neonate was born, its strength would be weaker than a hydra, but instead, its growth allowed it to far exceed a hydra.

With time, when a Nine Neonate truly matured, it would become an existence that could destroy the world.

However, not every Nine Neonate could mature.

Such a powerful desolate beast’s growth and evolution could attract Heavenly Tribulations.

A Nine Neonate had a need to constantly devour heavenly materials and absorb the essence of the world to increase its strength so as to resist the Heavenly Tribulation.

If it could not withstand it, the Nine Neonate would be struck to death by the tribulations, turning into ash.

However, in the Tian Yuan world, there were not enough heavenly materials, so it was easier said than done for a Nine Neonate to evolve there.

In the history of the Tian Yuan world, there was no record of a Nine Neonate that managed to truly mature. Hence, Yi Yun did not expect that, in the Untraversable Sea, there was a Nine Neonate.

He originally thought that Nine Neonates would exist in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

As such, for a hydra in the Untraversable Sea to evolve into a Nine Neonate was not a blessing but a curse.

And if it was in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, this evolution would be no trifling matter. If such a Nine Neonate was intentionally domesticated, and a supply of heavenly materials were provided to it, then giving it sufficient training experience and opportunity, the Nine Neonate could even survive nine Heavenly Tribulations, becoming a Nine Tribulation Nine Neonate. Then it would become a true divine beast which could compete with True Dragons and True Phoenixes.

“Nine Neonate… To think that I would encounter a Nine Neonate deep in the Myriad Calamity Sea…”

At the same moment of feeling pleasantly surprised, Yi Yun also felt that he had a great crisis on his hands.

The Nine Neonate was extremely powerful. If it were a Nine Tribulation Nine Neonate, killing him would be as easy as killing an ant. There was no doubt about it. Of course, it was impossible for a Nine Tribulation Nine Neonate to be born in the Tian Yuan world. It was like how a normal small mortal village would not produce a Great Emperor.

Yi Yun clenched his broken sword and Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow tightly. He was extremely nervous, for this battle would be him facing the strongest opponent in his life!

576 - : Nine Neonate

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Nine Neonate slowly drew closer. However, about 5000 feet away from Yi Yun, it stopped. It quietly observed Yi Yun and the Yuan Qi that was being spewed out the Great Empress mystic realm.

With the Nine Neonate’s intelligence, it could already tell that the sudden appearance of the Great Empress mystic realm was dubious, but… it could not withstand the temptation of the pure Yuan Qi. After all, for it to grow, it required substantial amounts of heavenly materials.

If not, once its Heavenly Tribulation came, it would end up in ashes.

And now, its Heavenly Tribulation was already drawing near.

In the dark depths of the sea, it glared at Yi Yun. There were a total of 19 eyes on its nine heads. The eyes were either in an eerie green or blood red color. Its eyes were all extremely cold.

From its perception, this human was not extremely powerful, but this human had a special body. The smell emitted from the human’s body was very attractive.

Slowly, the Nine Neonate was about a thousand feet away from Yi Yun. From this distance, even without the energy vision, Yi Yun could see the Nine Neonate’s shape with his naked eye from the light emitted by the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance.

This was a young Nine Neonate. There was a blood red streak across its body. This marking emitted a faint glow, and Yi Yun knew that this was a vitality pattern that was related to the Nine Neonate’s evolution.

Once this pattern fully matured, it would instigate a Heavenly Tribulation.

After being tempered by the Heavenly Tribulation, this pattern would become a Dao pattern that gathered Heaven Earth Great Dao within it. With such a Dao pattern, it would cause the Nine Neonate’s strength to make a quantum leap.

A Nine Neonate could have at most have nine Heaven Earth Dao patterns in its life.

And the Nine Neonate before Yi Yun had not experienced a single Heavenly Tribulation.

A Nine Neonate that had not experienced a Heavenly Tribulation could not control the laws of nature, so its threat was much smaller. However, just the powerful physique of the Nine Neonate was already frightening.

The three undersea overlords from before had retreated the moment this Nine Neonate appeared.

Yi Yun quickly analyzed the situation. And at that moment, the Nine Neonate suddenly attacked.

A sharp scream, that resembled that of a baby’s, went straight into his ear. The high pressure seawater around Yi Yun began to resonate strongly from the scream, as if it was boiling.

Intense pressure enveloped him from all sides as the sea water condensed a sharp sword that stabbed at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun focused his gaze. In the sea, there was no room for him to dodge.

With his Yuan Qi surging, he formed a Yuan Qi protective layer around his body.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Thunder-like thuds could be heard!

The seawater tumbled around as it swirled around Yi Yun in a crazy fashion, as if it had become a giant whirlpool.

Yi Yun found it hard to stand in the middle of the whirlpool. His body was sparkling with golden radiant sun beams. Deep in the dark sea, his presence was extremely eye-catching.

Sou!

At that moment, a shadow pierced through the chaotic seawater rapidly.

A cold lone eye appeared from the seawater as it glared at Yi Yun intently.

One of the Nine Neonate’s head had forcefully hit out at Yi Yun. Its serpent mouth opened up as a black tongue whipped at Yi Yun.

Despite a fishy smell being immediately blocked by his Yuan Qi, it still managed to assault his olfactory senses. This fishy smell was highly toxic. It would cause the people who smelled it to have a splitting headache and block their meridians, resulting in them losing the ability to resist.

Yi Yun gathered Yuan Qi and burned his pure Yang Yuan Qi. Pure Yang was best at subduing poisonous gases, so instantly, all the toxic gas was burned into cyan smoke by pure Yang Yuan Qi!

Just after Yi Yun finished dissipated the toxic gas in his body, the Nine Neonate’s serpent tongue pierced into the whirlpool like a bolt of lightning, and penetrated Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi!

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted. So fast!

The water droplets that got stirred up from the tongue’s penetration were like projectiles that could kill!

Dang!

Feeling death draw close, Yi Yun used the broken sword to parry the serpent’s tongue. Pure Yang Yuan Qi surged out from his body as he evaporated the water droplets.

The serpent’s tongue was invulnerable, but Yi Yun still managed to parry it with the tiny broken sword, as a clear, rasp sound of the sword’s clashed echoed out.

Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was immediately extracted out like a tidal flood. The hand that held the sword went numb.

A huge, circular ripple moved away, with him being the center of it and far into the distance.

The moment the fish far away met the ripple, they immediately turned in massive clouds of blood.

Just an attack from the serpent’s tongue was so terrifying!

“Retreat!”

Yi Yun immediately retreated.

Just as he left his spot, a shadow stabbed at where he was an instant ago. The head was held high up, and its gaze was cold. The single horn on the top of its head emitted an evil yet sharp aura.

“That was a narrow escape!” Yi Yun focused his gaze. The Nine Neonate’s attacks came like a barrage and were as fast as the blink of an eye. If he had been struck a moment ago, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

In just a few seconds, Yi Yun had already walked the tight rope between life and death twice.

If this carried on, it was unlikely he would emerge from this fine!

Yi Yun’s perception looked onto the Nine Neonate. After the terrifying beast realized that the puny human was still alive after two of its attacks, it was also somewhat surprised.

However, it did not hesitate in its attack one bit. It swung its thick tail, bringing with it a large swath of seawater. The speed of the water flow formed a underwater hurricane under the high pressure deep sea. The hurricane surrounded Yi Yun as a terrifying tearing force attacked him.

Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi was nearly torn apart while within the hurricane. The moment an opening opened up in his protective Yuan Qi, his body would have no way of resisting such a force.

The Nine Neonate’s body reappeared within the whirlpool from time to time, its gigantic eyeballs staring at Yi Yun whenever it appeared.

Sou!

One of the Nine Neonate’s heads suddenly charged into the whirlpool!

A golden beam flashed. At the moment the Nine Neonate’s head appeared, Yi Yun had pulled open his Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow and shot out an arrow. The pure Yang Yuan Qi shot right at the Nine Neonate’s long neck.

Feeling the pain, the Nine Neonate gave out a deafening scream as the sea water turned turbulent.

Yi Yun’s ears immediately began to bleed.

However, he ignored it, and with a sudden twist of his body, he pulled the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow once again within the whirlpool.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three consecutive golden beams!

Every beam hit the Nine Neonate’s head that had probed inside the whirlpool.

The Nine Neonate’s body began to toss around as it kept screaming.

The horrible sound waves spread out a few hundred kilometers far. Countless numbers of fish were torn to pieces by this sound wave. Even some sea beasts 50 kilometers away could not endure the sonorous sound wave, as they died from their organs rupturing.

Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi was agitated as several bloody wounds appeared on his body. The fingers and arm that he used to pull open the bow string had already shown signs of tearing, with blood bleeding from his wounds.

Shooting the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow consecutively was a huge burden on Yi Yun’s arm.

And although the Nine Neonate had been injured from being hit thrice by the arrow, its injuries were less severe than Yi Yun’s.

The one who was the most injured from Yi Yun’s attack on the Nine Neonate was Yi Yun himself!

Such an astounding physical defence made it quite hopeless.

Yi Yun gritted his teeth while his body was covered with blood. Taking advantage of the moment the Nine Neonate retreated, he suddenly circulated his Yuan Qi, and used the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” movement technique to retreat.

He moved towards the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance!

In front and behind him, the seawater had split apart, as the other heads of the Nine Neonate also aimed at him.

Yi Yun pushed his Golden Crow Sun Shift to its limits and at the critical moment, his body managed to fade into the door of light!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Great Empress mystic realm’s door of light endured all the attacks. Although the Nine Neonate was extremely powerful, it did not manage to rock the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance.

The moment, he passed through door of light, Yi Yun immediately took out an ancient relic and swallowed it.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth as he looked towards the door of light. His eyes glimmered with fighting spirit.

The true battle had just begun. At a 100,000 feet deep under the sea, Yi Yun knew he was no match for the Nine Neonate. His first choice of the battleground was the Great Empress mystic realm!

Only here did he have the chance to battle the Nine Neonate!

However, the Nine Neonate had a certain level of intelligence. If Yi Yun faded through the door of light right at the beginning, the Nine Neonate might not chase after him. Yi Yun had fought the Nine Neonate once, resulting in him being injured so as to completely infuriate the Nine Neonate.

When the strength Yi Yun displayed was not the Nine Neonate’s match, yet by wounding it, it would very likely chase him due to rage.

This was Yi Yun’s plan, and also the greatest reliance Yi Yun banked on to dare to fight alone in the Myriad Calamity Sea!

577 - : Luring the Enemy In

CKtalon  CKtalon

Deep in the sea, the Nine Neonate stared intently at the door of light with its 19 eyes. It was infuriated.

This human had not only made it suffer, it had also caused it to lose a portion of Qi and blood. The Nine Neonate would have to eat several heavenly treasures just to replenish what it loss.

In the Untraversable Sea, this region of sea was barren enough. The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was relatively thin, so for it to find a heavenly treasure?

Difficult!

Most of the time, the desolate beasts of the Untraversable Sea would rely on absorbing the worldly essence or draw energy from the bodies of the desolate beast they feast on, to help their growth.

And now, the Nine Neonate’s Heavenly Tribulation was around the corner. It could not waste a single ounce of energy, so it was accumulating energy so it could tide over the first calamity of its life. It was also because of this, that it rushed over here from the deep depths when it sensed the pure energy.

It never expected that its hunt had failed, and instead, it ended up losing large amounts of energy.

How could the Nine Neonate tolerate this?

The Nine Neonate stared at the Great Empress mystic realm entrance with indignation. It could sense a rich Heaven Earth Yuan Qi fluctuation coming from the entrance.

It had better intelligence than the average desolate beast, so it could sense a possible danger from the entrance and it was not as safe as the Untraversable Sea it was familiar with. However, if it did not enter, the loss it suffered would make it indignant. And the accumulated energy it had was not enough to withstand the Heavenly Tribulation.

Instead of waiting for the Heavenly Tribulation to strike it to death, it was better for it to stake a bet.

The Nine Neonate screamed as its massive body caused the seawater to split into a white line, and it charged into the Great Empress mystic realm’s entrance.

Weng!

The Nine Neonate felt dizzy as it was being transported through space. Instantly, the scene before its eyes changed. It went from the high pressure deep sea into the Great Empress mystic realm.

The Nine Neonate was not prepared for this.

Although it had intelligence, it had never left the deep sea.

In the deep sea, the pressure the Nine Neonate experienced was immense. But now, with sudden teleportation to the Great Empress mystic realm, if it was a desolate beast that was lacking in power, it would instantly explode into flesh fragments.

Even though the Nine Neonate had a strong body and it was not afraid of the sudden change in pressure, the sudden pressure gradient caused its blood vessels to enlarge as large amounts of blood flowed into its brain. This caused its mind to go blank momentarily.

At that moment, there was a sharp whistle that suddenly appeared out of nowhere!

A blinding golden beam came tearing through space from one side.

It was a pure Yang arrow condensed from Yuan Qi. It flew forward while a terrifying sonic boom followed its wake.

With the atmosphere torn apart, the arrow burned in flames as it shot straight into the Nine Neonate’s chest.

About 200 feet away from the Nine Neonate, Yi Yun was standing there with the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow in hand!

He shot that arrow.

He had gathered energy for a while and he had fully powered the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, and gathered the powerful pure Yang energy over to form an arrow that resembled the Sun on the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow. To pull the bowstring open required immense amounts of energy, and this nearly ripped the muscles on Yi Yun’s arm apart.

However, even at the point of having to shoot the arrow, he was still waiting!

He was waiting for the moment that the Nine Neonate appeared in the Great Empress mystic realm!

He had experienced the terrifying offensive power of the Nine Neonate, and he had escaped into the Great Empress mystic realm on the brink of death. But he did not back away immediately. Instead, he calmed down and waited for the right moment to launch a sneak attack.

As the difference in strength between Yi Yun and the Nine Neonate was too great, he could not miss any opportunity to truly injure the Nine Neonate.

Peng!

The bowstring’s bounce brought with it a powerful reverberation, cutting Yi Yun’s fingers in the process, and causing blood to splatter.

However, he did not feel the pain as his eyes were lit. He was staring intently at the arrow!

If a head of the nine heads of the Nine Neonate was cut off, another will appear to takes its place. Hence, the target Yi Yun chose was the Nine Neonate’s heart!

And at that moment, the Nine Neonate, who had just regained its consciousness, had no way of dodging this arrow.

It let out an angry roar!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The arrow penetrated its chest, and there was a Yuan Qi explosion in the Nine Neonate’s body, with tremendous amounts of pure Yang energy spreading out. The Nine Neonate’s flesh was mangled and scales flew around. Yi Yun’s arrow had broken through the perverse bodily defense of the Nine Neonate. The arrow had embedded itself in the Nine Neonate’s body!

Blood began to spew out as pure Yang flames surged into the sky and they wrapped the sky!

The Nine Neonate repeatedly cried in the flames.

The sound was akin to a billion babies crying. The terrifying sound waves emanated in all directions for five hundred kilometers!

This was in the Great Empress mystic realm. If it was the Tian Yuan world, an entire city could crumble from the sharp bellows of the Nine Neonate. Every lifeform in the city would be flattened into smithereens by this sound wave!

“Terrifying!”

Yi Yun was already prepared and he had used his Yuan Qi to enshroud his entire body. However, he still felt like he was a tiny boat in a squall while in the sound wave’s region of influence. It constantly pounded him, making his organs feel like they had turned to sauce. This force made him spit a mouthful of blood out.

It was already like this fighting in the Great Empress mystic realm. If Yi Yun was in the deep sea, he had no chance of winning.

Although the Nine Neonate had its chest pierced by the arrow, this injury was nothing with its substantial vitality.

Yi Yun was also well aware of this. After he shot the arrow, he did not stop.

With a long roar, he charged at the Nine Neonate with the nameless broken sword in hand.

A sword beam flashed like lightning and slashed through the inferno, flying at the wound on the Nine Neonate’s chest.

Sou!

The sword beam was silent, but when it sank into the wound at the Nine Neonate’s chest, it instantly changed into thousands of needle-like sword Qi that pierced the Nine Neonate’s flesh.

The nine heads of the Nine Neonate stood erect. Every head showed its pain and anger.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The Nine Neonate’s smashed around, lashing its tail crazily. The Great Empress mystic realm’s land was extremely robust, but after receiving such an impact, it also gently trembled.

However, at that moment, Yi Yun had already distanced himself. He did not even take a look at the outcome of the sword attack.

By the time the Nine Neonate recovered from its shock, the hateful human had already disappeared from its surroundings. This infuriated it even more.

However, the Nine Neonate had keen senses. It sensed Yi Yun’s breathing from the air and locked on towards that direction, and chased after him.

The Nine Neonate had never endured such serious injuries. This human had really irritated it!

Yi Yun hurriedly escaped as he pushed the Golden Crow Sun Shift to its limits. He did not even stay for a single moment.

He could hear the rumbling noises that were behind him as danger fast approached him.

Although he had escaped fast enough, the Nine Neonate’s speed on the ground was still extremely terrifying.

And from the pressure that he experienced, he knew that the Nine Neonate was determined to kill him at all costs.

Yi Yun did not even turn back. He circulated his Yuan Qi to his limits and controlled a disk array with his mind, as he summoned the God Advent Tower.

Boom!

A huge tower fell from the sky and landed before Yi Yun!

With Yi Yun’s present strength, he was still unable to use the God Advent Tower as an attack, but it was not a problem for him to control its flight.

Sou!

Yi Yun had entered the God Advent Tower!

578 - : Battling the Nine Neonate

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the furious Nine Neonate chased Yi Yun, it did not stop despite seeing Yi Yun enter the God Advent Tower. It rushed into the God Advent Tower immediately!

At that moment, the Nine Neonate had stirred up its primitive beast-like instincts. There was no more intelligence left. All it wanted to do was to swallow Yi Yun up!

“Boom!”

The injured Nine Neonate smashed into the God Advent Tower’s staircase. However, the staircase stood motionless, instead, it caused the Nine Neonate to hurt all over.

The God Advent Tower was extremely spacious, and the materials used to refine the God Advent Tower were extremely strong, and its strength was boosted by array techniques. Although the Nine Neonate’s destructive power was great, it could not cause a stir in the God Advent Tower. As such, Yi Yun let it enter the God Advent Tower without any worries.

After the infuriated Nine Neonate entered the God Advent Tower, its nine heads turned around, as 18 of its 19 eyes scanned every corner of its surroundings.

However, it did not discover any trace of Yi Yun.

The enraged Nine Neonate lashed its tail, sweeping across the area indiscriminately, hoping to level the place. However, when its tail hit the ground or walls, they remained intact. Not even a mark was left on them. On the contrary, the scales on the Nine Neonate were lacerated and blood spewed out.

Anger!

The Nine Neonate’s eyes were blood red. As it wandered in the grand hall, it roared. It body was like a simmering volcano, ready to erupt at any moment.

Suddenly, the Nine Neonate looked up and stared at the door of light that gave passage to the second level of the God Advent Tower.

That human’s presence seemed to come from that door of light!

A flash of ferocity lit up in the Nine Neonate’s eyes as it immediately charged towards it.

…

At that moment, on the fifth floor of the God Advent Tower, Yi Yun appeared in the familiar Yin-Yang cultivation chamber with a fluctuation of a door of light. The door of light behind him disappeared immediately after.

This cultivation chamber was where Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had spent 6 years in together.

“Now, I can temporarily relax.” Yi Yun’s face was pale. He wiped the blood of his mouth. He had walked the tightrope of death a few times just to finally reach this result.

Not only the door of light behind him, even the entrances to the God Advent Tower and the Great Empress mystic realm had closed just a moment ago.

The Nine Neonate had been locked in the God Advent Tower by him.

According to his senses, the Nine Neonate had already appeared in the God Advent Tower’s second level’s desolate lands. And after it crossed through the first door of light, Yi Yun had sealed the door shut.

The Nine Neonate was trapped in the second level. There was a vast expanse of space in there, allowing the Nine Neonate to go crazy in there.

With a thought, the God Advent Tower’s a hologram from the disk array that he had refined hovered in front of Yi Yun. With a gently graze across the disk array with his fingers, a stream of light emitted out of the disk array.

Following that, Yi Yun no longer bothered about the Nine Neonate. He sat down on the ground with his legs crossed, before gently closing his eyes…

…

In the desolate lands of the God Advent Tower’s second level, the Nine Neonate was shuttling through it at a rapid pace.

Its appearance made many desolate beasts shiver in fear. They hid in their own caves and they did not dare to move.

The Nine Neonate raged on the ground, anxiously looking for traces of Yi Yun.

When it just entered, it could still sense Yi Yun’s presence coming from somewhere in here, but in a blink of an eye, Yi Yun had completely disappeared without a trace.

This extremely agitated the Nine Neonate.

A plankton-like existence that it could devour easily had inflicted such serious injuries on it. Yet, after chasing him so far, it had not been able to find a trace of him.

With the Nine Neonate’s intelligence, it slowly sensed that it had been fooled by the puny human!

It destroyed everything in front of it in rage. It charged around, but suddenly, it entered a stretch of desert.

This desert was endless, and it was extremely hot. When it entered the desert, the Nine Neonate seemed to be lost. When it looked back, the desolate lands behind it had disappeared.

It remembered that it had just rushed into the desert, and logically speaking, it could still see the road back to the desolate lands. However, it was as if the desert had suddenly expanded, replacing the original desolate lands.

The Nine Neonate felt that something was amiss. Now, it was furious and panicking. It began to bellow and run.

It felt an instinctive fear of this desert. It wanted to escape from it, but no matter how long it ran, there was no end to the desert.

As time passed, there was no trace of the human, and the Nine Neonate’s wounds did not recover.

Blood kept flowing, dyeing the yellow sand red. The pain in its chest lingered, with no signs of reduction.

The Nine Neonate was stunned as doubt appeared in its eyes. Its body had an amazing recovery rate, and in principle, the wounds should have recovered, but they had not yet recovered.

As the Nine Neonate pondered about it, it opened its nine mouths and sucked in the air.

As long as it absorbed enough worldly essence, its wounds would quickly recover.

Desolate beasts which reached a certain level, as well as humans who reached a certain cultivation realm, could avoid eating anything. They could even survive even without breathing.

Their bodies possessed powerful self-healing abilities, allowing them to heal many injuries by themselves.

But this scenario had a premise. That was, one had to be able to interface with the Heaven Earth energies.

Warriors expirated Yuan Qi, while desolate beasts absorbed the worldly essence. This was the source of the energy that powered their lives.

If this connection was severed, even the strongest warriors and most fearsome desolate beasts would slowly lose the energy within their bodies. Their life force would grow weaker, and eventually they would die from a lack of energy.

This was the same principle as how mortals starved to death.

And it was because of this, that the Untraversable Sea was given its name. If one went far into the Untraversable Sea, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi would become increasingly thinner. Then without energy complementing or supporting a person, even a Great Emperor would be powerless against it. Once a person lost all his energy, he would lose every magical power he possessed.

Hence, the Nine Neonate, who had lived in the Untraversable Sea for all its life, was so tempted by the pure energy in the Great Empress mystic realm. With this energy, it felt it could successfully survive a Heavenly Tribulation.

However, now, when it opened its mouths in an attempt to absorb the worldly essence from the desert, it froze. Its 19 eyes stayed fixed in their sockets.

It was stunned for a moment before it stretched out its necks once again, trying to suck in the air.

A wind howled as sand dunes were moved by the Nine Neonate’s suction. The sand on the ground began to fly.

However, what it wanted to absorb did not exist.

This world had air, sky and yellow sand, but it didn’t have a single ounce of Heaven-Earth energy!

Blood was still gushing out of the Nine Neonate’s chest. Without energy, its wound would heal even slower as its body’s energy and blood kept depleting. It would only feel weaker over time.

But even at the deepest ends of the Untraversable Sea, there would be a tiny amount of Heaven-Earth energy. The Nine Neonate never expected that it would enter such a treacherous place!

An unprecedented sense of danger immediately enveloped the Nine Neonate. This powerful desolate beast felt fear. As it ran frantically over the vast lands, it stretched out its nine heads high up. The serpent mouths constantly opened, in an attempt to find Heaven-Earth essence.

However, all of this was to no avail…

…

Exactly seven days passed as the Nine Neonate was still running around searching.

At that moment, it no longer could be bothered with Yi Yun. All it wanted to do was leave this desert of death.

For the past seven days, it could only maintain its life using the accumulated energies within its body.

There was not much energy left in its body as it became hungrier. The scales on its body began to dull. Its aura had also weakened drastically.

Now, as it crossed a sand dune that it had gone past countless number of times, in search for a way out of the desert, a twinkle of light appeared. The dot of light expanded rapidly into a door of light as pure energy emanated from it.

The nine heads of the Nine Neonate immediately twisted towards it.

It saw a human with a golden bow in his hand, walking out slowly from the door of light.

It was that human!

The 19 eyes of the Nine Neonate turned red immediately. The anger it had pent up for seven days instantly exploded!

It could faintly sense that this human had lured it into the desert. And this human definitely knew of the way out of the desert!

579 - : Desert of Death

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun stood upright, and his Yuan Qi stirred while he was holding the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow.

Seven days of healing allowed him to fully recover to his peak condition. And he had even slightly improved himself compared to before.

The life and death battle with the Nine Neonate helped Yi Yun gain new insight into his own martial arts.

When the Nine Neonate saw Yi Yun, its eyes stared so widely that they looked like they were going to crack apart!

It was this human who caused it to be pushed to the brink!

It was desperately in need of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Devouring this human would give it some replenishment!

Sou!

The Nine Neonate pounced on Yi Yun.

“Die!” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up as he pulled the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow open, shooting a pure Yang arrow!

The arrow shot straight at the Nine Neonate’s heart.

The Nine Neonate now feared the arrow. Noticing the arrow flying at it, it hurriedly dodged. It knew that if its body had another wound, its condition would take a turn for the worse, and the consequences were unthinkable.

At the moment the Nine Neonate dodged, Yi Yun drew the unnamed broken sword and slashed out!

Instantly, the brilliant sun above the desert seemed to infuse in Yi Yun’s sword as a sword beam sent a tear across the Nine Neonate’s body!

The Nine Neonate roared out frantically as energy surged out. Its nine heads opened their respective jaws as fiery flames, icicles and purple lightning spewed out!

The Nine Neonate was a darling of the Heaven-Earth laws. Each of its nine heads controlled one of nine laws.

These nine laws consisted of the five elements, “Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth”, as well as the natural laws, “Wind, Rain, Thunder, Lightning”.

There were exactly nine!

Having struck once, Yi Yun retreated immediately. The Nine Neonate’s frantic attacks put immense pressure on his protective Yuan Qi. It caused his blood to turn turbulent as he sustained minor injuries.

However, the Nine Neonate had sustained greater injuries. Yi Yun had opened up a deep gash on its chest!

Another wound was added to the already injured Nine Neonate’s body.

“We’ll battle another day!” Yi Yun laughed loudly as he leaped into the sky, before disappearing.

“Ah!”

The Nine Neonate screamed sharply. Its huge body began to hover as it attacked Yi Yun. However, Yi Yun’s disappearance caused its thick tail to sweep through empty space!

He had disappeared!

The Nine Neonate stared widely. This plankton had disappeared in front of its very eyes!

It was feeling enraged as it crazily attacked the void where Yi Yun disappeared. Sand dunes were toppled as it left behind claw marks in the vast desert.

However… it quickly forced itself to calm down. It knew that without the Heaven-Earth essence supplementing it, wasting energy was equivalent to suicide. Its wounds would become even more severe as its lifeforce gradually weakened.

…

At that moment, Yi Yun had already returned to the fifth level of the God Advent Tower. He checked his injuries and he could not help but sigh. The Nine Neonate was really too fearsome. It still could have such great offensive power despite being weakened so drastically.

He sat down cross-legged and swallowed a relic.

“Once I’ve recovered, I’ll look for you again.” Yi Yun closed his eyes.

Three days later, Yi Yun appeared in front of the Nine Neonate once again.

This time, the Nine Neonate was further incensed.

It had long been waiting for Yi Yun to appear.

However, Yi Yun used the same tactics. He shot an arrow and slashed at it with his saber, before using his movement technique to leap into the door of light that appeared in the void.

The vast land was covered in Yi Yun’s saber scars and the Nine Neonate’s blood.

The Nine Neonate was extremely mad, but… it was powerless.

This time, the Nine Neonate did not even rage. It knew that it was useless.

Two days later, Yi Yun appeared for the third time.

While fighting against the Nine Neonate, Yi Yun was inflicted with fewer injuries. His recovery speed was also speeding up. The time gap between his battles with the Nine Neonate also shortened.

As for the Nine Neonate, its injuries had become more severe, and it began to lack energy in its battles.

It was an overlord of the Untraversable Sea, a ferocious desolate beast of the seabed, and even without any Heaven Earth Yuan Qi supporting it, it was still a force to be reckoned.

However, this human came and went as he pleased. The movement technique he employed when he left was strange. He came without warning and left without a trace. And his attacks were becoming more powerful.

The Nine Neonate was intelligent, it had already sensed that this human was completely probing its attacks and laws, so as to improve his sword and saber techniques.

Hence, his attacks were becoming more powerful by the day.

Eventually, Yi Yun could visit it twice a day.

There were even times when he rested for an hour before appearing in front of the Nine Neonate again.

The Nine Neonate went from angrily waiting for Yi Yun to appear to slowly hoping that Yi Yun would not appear, and then finally, to the point of feeling anxious and fearful the moment Yi Yun was about to appear.

When Yi Yun finally appeared once again, it had already slumped on the ground.

“Oh? Have you given up on resisting?”

Yi Yun held the unnamed broken sword in his hand as he hovered in the air, whereas the Nine Neonate was slumped on the ground. None of its nine heads moved.

“Have you succumbed to your fate?”

Yi Yun landed in front of the Nine Neonate. One of the Nine Neonate’s heads turned and looked at Yi Yun with its sole eye. Its gaze was blank, without any glimmer in it.

Yi Yun pondered a while before throwing a relic to the Nine Neonate.

However, the Nine Neonate did not even look at it.

“You don’t even want a chance to replenish your Yuan Qi?” Yi Yun rubbed his chin.

The Nine Neonate was clearly on its last breaths, and not only so, it had completely lost all its will to fight.

It also knew that swallowing the relic was pointless. How could this crafty human, who had all sorts of unscrupulous means, give it liberation?

It was already afraid of Yi Yun and it only wished for death.

Even if Yi Yun slashed his saber on its neck, it could not be bothered to move one bit.

Yi Yun stood in there and watched the Nine Neonate who had lost all ability to resist. However, he did not enjoy the pleasure of a victor in his heart.

The reason why the Nine Neonate landed in his hands was that of the coercion of the Heavenly Dao after all.

The nine Heavenly Tribulations were like nine curses that restrained it. It forced the Nine Neonate to constantly need to grow and mature.

It spent its entire life in the Untraversable Sea looking for heavenly treasures to devour, so it could express its potential. And because of this, it had taken all sorts of risks.

As a result, it had risked entering the God Advent Tower and landed in the hands of Yi Yun who was much weaker than it.

The Nine Neonate had been fighting hard all its life, but even so, the heavenly treasures that could be found in the Tian Yuan world were not enough for it to successfully survive a Heavenly Tribulation.

It was of royal descent amongst the nine-headed hydra species, but due to being born in a wrong world, it was destined to end in tragedy.

Yi Yun could somewhat see a hint of himself on this Nine Neonate.

He too was being forced by his life circumstances. He had to grab every chance to improve his strength, or he would end up in ashes.

Yi Yun walked to the nine heads of the Nine Neonate while holding the nameless broken sword in his hand. This sword had previously killed gods, and it would be extremely easy to kill a Nine Neonate who had lost its energy with it.

However, Yi Yun did not plan on killing it.

Typical Totem mystic techniques required the beast to be killed in order to condense the beast mark.

However, there were two types of beast mark recorded in the “Myriad Beast Totem”. One was a Beast Mark of Death, while the other was… the Beast Mark of Life!

580 - : Beast Mark of Life

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Beast Mark of Death was identical to other Totem mystic techniques. It was achieved by killing a desolate beast, extracting the essence of life from it and merging that life essence into one’s body. Previously, when Yi Yun killed the Golden Crow species, he had used the Beast Mark of Death to condense his Aspect Totem.

In fact, the “Myriad Beast Totem” remnant copy that the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom had only had the procedure regarding the Beast Mark of Death.

However, in the God Advent Tower, after Yi Yun obtained the complete “Myriad Beast Totem”, he found another procedure to condense a beast mark, that was the Beast Mark of Life.

Under the situation of not killing a desolate beast, but condensing it into a Beast Mark of Life, the entire desolate beast’s spirit, soul, Qi, and blood would merge with his body.

In a certain way, this was similar to a Contract Beast. After beastmasters tamed a spirit beast, they could form a contract with the beast, keeping the spirit beast in their bodies. They could then summon their Contract Beasts in battle when required.

The difference between a Beast Mark of Life and a Contract Beast was that the refined desolate beast would never be able to recover its form as a desolate beast. It would become another form of life, similar to Item Spirits and Sword Souls.

After a Beast Mark of Life merged into a refiner’s body, the refiner would obtain many benefits. He could draw upon the desolate beast’s strength and a small portion of its nomological properties. Furthermore, the refiner could constantly nurture the desolate beast that was in Beast Mark of Life form.

With the desolate beast becoming stronger, the cultivator’s strength would correspondingly increase as well.

There were many more benefits that could be derived from the Beast Mark of Life than from the Beast Mark of Death. But in comparison, a condensed Beast Mark of Life had numerous limitations.

Beast Marks of Death could be condensed from killing tens of thousands of primordial strains and develop thousands of them.

However, a person, who cultivated the “Myriad Beast Totem”, could only form three Beast Marks of Life.

In the small success stage of the “Myriad Beast Totem”, he could condense one. Two, when in the large success stage, and three when it was completely mastered.

The “Myriad Beast Totem” was an extremely profound and intricate totem mystic technique, so it was not easy to completely master it.

Hence, every Beast Mark of Life allocation was very valuable to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun chose the Nine Neonate only after deep consideration.

A young Nine Neonate may not be powerful, but it had potential to grow.

If he could let the Nine Neonate Beast Mark survive its nine Heavenly Tribulations, this Nine Neonate Beast Mark would grow into a terrifying one!

However, it was too difficult to nurture a Nine Tribulation Nine Neonate. It might not even be possible in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. The price to pay was extremely large, so even the mighty figures in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven might fail to do so.

However… Yi Yun believed that human effort was the deciding factor.

As long as he had perseverance, fated luck, and hard work, even an ordinary mortal had the chance to become a peerless Great Emperor.

Furthermore, Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal Origins.

The Nine Neonate had the potential to grow, so from this point alone, it was already enough for Yi Yun.

“Nine Neonate!” Yi Yun stood in front of the Nine Neonate’s centermost head. The huge head was slumped on the ground, but its three eyes were looking at Yi Yun.

“You were born in the Tian Yuan world. The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi there is impoverished, so the heavenly treasures it produces are lacking in number. It is nearly impossible for you to survive the Heavenly Tribulations!”

The Nine Neonate did not understand human speech, but with Yi Yun’s spiritual communication, it understood what Yi Yun meant.

Although it was indignant, it had to admit that the human was right.

Trapped in the Tian Yuan world, it was like a carp in shallow waters, impossible for it to transform into a divine dragon.

“Your first Heavenly Tribulation is nearing, and there’s no chance for you to survive it. As nine-headed hydra royalty, who has awakened your ancestors’ bloodline, are you willing to just turn into ashes this way?”

When Yi Yun said this, the Nine Neonate became agitated. It contorted its weak body as if it was extremely emotional.

Yi Yun’s words had hit the indignation that the Nine Neonate was feeling on the head.

As nine-headed hydra royalty, it was meant to enjoy infinite glory as a king amongst its species.

But now, its blood had turned into a catastrophe. A Nine Neonate who could not mature was even weaker than an ordinary nine-headed hydra. It had no standing amongst the nine-headed hydra species.

How could it feel reconciled for it to be labeled as a low-class desolate beast while being that of royalty?

“I give you two choices. One, I’ll kill you, and then refine you into a Beast Mark of Death, becoming my second Aspect Totem. Two, you yield to me and be refined into a Beast Mark of Life. You will carry on surviving in the form of a beast mark.”

“When the time comes, I will nurture you and let you tide through each and every Heavenly Tribulation to become stronger. Maybe you will lose some dignity and freedom, but you will live on, and you might even become a Nine Tribulation Nine Neonate!”

“You can leave the Tian Yuan world, and travel the cosmos to see different things and experience a wider world. You will witness the millions of years of history developing before your very eyes, as you become a top existence of this world!”

Yi Yun described the magnificent future. It was his promise to the Nine Neonate, as well as a goal he set for himself.

The Nine Neonate turned silent. What Yi Yun described was what it had yearned for.

Yi Yun was in no hurry. He stood beside the Nine Neonate and silently waited for its decision.

The Nine Neonate’s 19 eyes opened and 19 gazes landed on Yi Yun. It seemed to be discerning if this human could create the miracles he said.

Although the Nine Neonate had little contact with humans, it could still tell that the human in front of it had terrifying talent and potential.

After a long while, Yi Yun sensed that the animosity in the Nine Neonate’s spirit had disappeared.

Yi Yun knew that this meant that the Nine Neonate had agreed. Even if it was unwilling, it was the best choice that it could make at the present moment.

Some desolate beasts would rather choose their dignity over life.

However, the Nine Neonate would not do so, not because it was afraid of death, but because it… was indignant!

It felt indignant that it would silently die despite having such a powerful bloodline.

Seeing the Nine Neonate agreeing to him, Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief. Although he had already decided that even if the Nine Neonate did not agree to it, he would still refine the Nine Neonate into a Beast Mark of Life, the effects as a result of that were inferior to a willing Nine Neonate.

After all, to nurture a Nine Neonate required its cooperation.

He adjusted his mind and formed hand seals one after another as they covered the Nine Neonate.

These seals slowly condensed on the Nine Neonate, deeply imprinting themselves on it to form profound looking Dao patterns.

The Dao patterns spread and covered the Nine Neonate’s entire body. Finally, the Nine Neonate emanated a reddish-gold light.

In the light, its body gradually reduced in size till it was the size of a baby’s palm before it entered Yi Yun’s body.

With that, a beautiful nine-headed hydra tattoo appeared on Yi Yun’s arm.

He had successfully refined a Beast Mark of Life!

The moment the Nine Neonate merged into his body, Yi Yun felt his blood begin to boil. An immense amount of energy surged through his body as his body slowly transformed. The nomological seed buried deep in his Yuan Foundation seemed to move from this amount of energy, and it appeared to begin to slowly sprout!

581 - : Yielding

CKtalon  CKtalon

The moment the nomological seed sprouts and breaks out of the Yuan Foundation, that was the Yuan Opening realm.

The Yuan Opening realm was still a distant matter for the present Yi Yun. However, there were many talented Dao Seed realm warriors whose nomological seeds had already accumulated energy and had hints of germination just before breaking through.

Once the Yuan Foundation was broken out of, the seed would rapidly grow into a towering divine tree.

So although Yi Yun was far from breaking out of the Yuan Foundation, his nomological seed had already accumulated an alarming amount of energy,

The increase in cultivation level was one aspect, but the Beast Mark of Life gave Yi Yun even more benefits, such as a boost to his physical body.

The Nine Neonate beast was a nine-headed snake that had awakened its ancient bloodline. Its body was strong, and it was not something that humans could compare with.

Previously, in the battle with the Nine Neonate, Yi Yun had shot at it with the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow several times, but all he got in return of slightly injuring the Nine Neonate was his fingers being cut by the bowstring. He did not even manage to fully penetrate the Nine Neonate’s body. Even the arrow did not fully embed itself in the Nine Neonate.

This showed how abnormal the Nine Neonate’s defensive power was.

Now, having refined the Nine Neonate into a Beast Mark of Life, Yi Yun had only received a tiny boost from the beast mark, but it was a quantum leap for his physical body.

“Pi Pi Pa Pa!”

Yi Yun clenched his fists as all his veins began to bulge out. His bones issued continuous explosive sounds. He could not help but shout from this pleasant feeling he experienced.

It was too comfortable. It seemed like he had endless energy and he needed to vent it.

With a roar, he punched out.

“Boom!”

This punch was not powered with any laws, it was just his physical strength alone. The moment his fist made impact with a sand dune, the entire sand dune exploded causing sand to rain down from the sky in a dense manner.

In terms of his bodily strength, Yi Yun had never been very strong.

For speed, he had the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” movement technique, so his speed was very fast.

For laws, he cultivated pure Yang laws, and he had a minor focus on pure Yin laws. Yin-Yang laws were considered Great Dao laws, the level of profoundness was above the five-elemental laws.

For offensive strength, Yi Yun dual cultivated sabers and swords, and he also had the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow.

As for cultivation techniques, he had the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, which came from supreme Great Dao manuals, so it was obvious.

However… in contrast, defense was Yi Yun’s weakness.

During fights, he needed to initiate his protective Yuan Qi to cover his entire body. If a sword pierced his head, Yi Yun would die.

With his physical defense lacking, he had to be careful at all the time, preventing him from being able to fight in a free manner during battles.

And now, after merging the Nine Neonate beast mark, Yi Yun’s body had begun to transform. With the Nine Neonate’s growth, Yi Yun’s body would become even stronger.

“It’s time to leave.” From the time Yi Yun came to the southern sea to conquering the Nine Neonate, as well as fully merging the Beast Mark of Life into him, he took a month’s time.

“Before I absorbed the Nine Neonate beast mark, the Nine Neonate was about to experience a Heavenly Tribulation. With its current level, there’s no way for it to survive it. It was doomed to die. If the Nine Neonate beast mark is destroyed by the Heavenly Tribulation, then there’s no way of nurturing this beast mark anymore, and I’ll be back to square one.” Yi Yun muttered to himself. He naturally would not allow such a thing to happen.

He wanted to search for heavenly treasures for the Nine Neonate so it could tide over the Heavenly Tribulation. At the same time, he wanted to investigate the schemes of the Martial Alliance.

Yi Yun opened an exit and flew up into the sky, before disappearing from the Great Empress mystic realm.

…

…

In the eastern regions of the Tian Yuan world, there was a city. It was built on a towering tree, and it was known as Heaven Martial City. From afar, the gigantic tree looked like the scene of two people fighting. And at the roots of the gigantic tree, as well as its branches, there were many warriors standing there or mediating.

Many of them had stayed here for long periods of time. Their goal was to gain some insight from the images generated by the gigantic tree.

This gigantic tree had existed many years before. Now, it looked like it had died, but it did not wither.

Such a divine tree was said to be formed naturally from Heavenly Dao. Later on, an Empyreal King built a city here, naming it Heaven Martial City.

The Heaven Martial City was the biggest city closest to the Martial Alliance in the Tian Yuan world. The Martial Alliance was not open to anyone, so the Heaven Martial City became a place for many Tian Yuan world warriors to gather.

Many sects and factions in the Tian Yuan world had set up branches in the Heaven Martial City. With more people, there were a greater turnover of treasures. The Heaven Martial City was also the most important trading location in the Tian Yuan world.

The Treasure House established in the Heaven Martial City was famous to many mortals.

In a mountain forest a distance away from Heaven Martial City, there was a white flash. Following that, a figure walked out of a door of light.

Yi Yun landed gently on the ground. His destination was Heaven Martial City!

As a city closest to the Martial Alliance, there were many organizations of the Martial Alliance in it. Hence, this place became Yi Yun’s first destination.

Before arriving here, Yi Yun had done some research of Heaven Martial City beforehand.

Tens of millions of years ago, the ancient Great Empress had traveled around the Tian Yuan world, and in a notebook she left behind, she had previously mentioned this divine tree. She had even reviewed it, but the ancient Great Empress did not mention the city. It was most likely that the city was built after the Great Empress’ era.

There were countless numbers of warriors in the Heaven Martial City. There were many warriors training in the surrounding mountains and forests also.

Yi Yun flew towards the Heaven Martial City and he met a few groups of cultivating warriors. These warriors were mostly in the Yuan Foundation realm, so they could not even detect Yi Yun’s aura, let alone see his figure.

As Yi Yun proceeded, he observed these young warriors. Many of them came from the various factions of the Tian Yuan world, but some of them wore black martial suits, and on them, there were embroidered Blood Moon logos.

The Blood Moon logo was extremely striking to Yi Yun. Clearly, these people came from the Martial Alliance.

These people may not be directly related to the Blood Moon, and were just exterior members, but even so, they enjoyed a certain status amongst the cultivators.

Yi Yun could sense that many people were extremely deferential towards them.

Amongst the many warriors, Yi Yun saw a small team of about eight young warriors. They were dressed in bright colored clothing, and from their direction of travel, they were also heading to the Heaven Martial City.

Yi Yun stopped and looked at their clothes, they turned out to be people from the Li Fire Sect.

The Li Fire Sect could be considered as an accomplice of the Shentu family clan. They stationed themselves with the Shentu family clan outside the Lin family, and they monitored the Lin family’s actions. However, eight young disciples were killed as a result of Yi Yun’s actions.

In this team, there was a young warrior who dressed very nicely. He was saying to a female warrior in his team, “After killing another two more desolate beasts and letting you absorb two beast marks, we will need to rush to the Heaven Martial City. Martial Uncle Gongsun will not be happy about our tardiness.”

“What’s there to fear? However, Martial Uncle Gongsun wants to join in the Treasure House’s event this time. If we get back early, he might even let us follow him to widen our horizons. I heard that there will be many heavenly treasures that no one has ever heard of.” The female warrior said in excitement.

The young warrior smiled and he said in a self-satisfied manner, “Those are nothing. The main star of the show this time is a Longevity Extending Pill! Many Elders from large sects, and even Grand Elders are coming in person, all for this Longevity Extending Pill. Just looking at it can increase a year’s lifespan!”

“Really?” The female warrior’s eyes lit up. Was it possible to increase one’s longevity just by looking at it? Then she had to go to the Treasure House to take a good look.

Soon after, when she saw how her senior brother was unable to hold back his laughter, she knew that she had been fooled. The two began to quarrel, and they finally embraced each other. Their training experience this time had included having a clandestine love affair.

Yi Yun, who was hidden in a corner, no longer paid attention to the couple. However, their conversation made him frown slightly.

Longevity Extending Pill!

This could only be used by low level warriors. It extended one’s lifespan by severing one’s future martial path. It was not valuable in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, but it was coveted greatly by numerous people in the Tian Yuan world.

Just by selling it generously at the Treasure House, the Martial Alliance was able to win over the people’s support.

Yi Yun let out a light gasp. The Martial Alliance had existed for too long, so it would be very difficult to topple it!

582 - : Heaven Martial City

CKtalon  CKtalon

With Heaven Martial City in front of him, he could see the towering divine tree. The gigantic tree’s trunk was as thick as a mountain, and on its branches, there were vines that wound around mountains in all directions.

No one knew how many tens of thousands of years these vines had existed. Despite the elements, they remained as strong as ever, not rotting one bit.

On the gigantic tree, there was a vast expanse of flat land with numerous pavilions on it. The streets were filled with people, and the crowd was bustling.

“Entry is one low-ranked relic per person!”

The moment Yi Yun arrived to the entrance, the guards demanded and entry tax from him.

A low-ranked relic was nothing to Yi Yun. But if it were warriors from some desolate land, a relic was enough to transform their bodies fully and change their fate.

After all, back then, Lian Chengyu went through a great deal just to obtain a piece of desolate bone. And despite the cost of sacrificing the lives of many of his tribesmen, the quality of the desolate bone relic he obtained from refining the desolate bone through backward methods was not even comparable to a low-ranked desolate bone relic.

To receive one relic per person, with a countless number of people entering each day, the amount of wealth obtained over thousands of years was very substantial.

And Heaven Martial City was controlled by the Martial Alliance, so this wealth also flowed into the Martial Alliance.

One could imagine that over these years, the foundation which the Martial Alliance had built up was immeasurable.

Not only that, the road-side stalls and shops in Heaven Martial City were all taxed. There were auction houses established here which similarly charged a fee.

And the biggest trade center, the Treasure House, was directly set up by the Martial Alliance.

In the Treasure House, there were large amounts of heavenly treasures sold. Their prices were 20-30% higher than the normal trade value in the market.

But even so, there were still large numbers of warriors who traveled from all corners of the Tian Yuan world to buy the items they needed from the Treasure House.

Firstly, it was because the Treasure House had a full range of items. Many of the items were priced so high that there was no market, but they could be found in the Treasure House.

Secondly, the Treasure House was reputable and the items were guaranteed to be genuine, so there was no fear of being cheated.

As a result, people were willing to spend a bit more.

Just as Yi Yun was about to pay the relic, he heard a clear voice that came not far from him, “Ah? So expensive!?”

Yi Yun turned around and saw a guard stopping three people at another entrance fee collection point. They consisted of; a youth dressed in animal skin, a young man in his twenties and a 16 or 17 year old blossoming girl.

The exclamation came from the girl.

“We are a group of three, doesn’t that mean we need to pay three relics?” The girl amongst the three was embarrassed. She was dressed in cyan-colored clothes and she had a floral scarf over her head. She exuded a rural village girl’s delicate charm, but from her shabby appearance, she looked slightly haggard.

From their shabby dressing or their manner of speech, it was easy to tell that these three people did not come from a large faction. The elites of large factions were always adorned with one or two treasures, and they wore nice clothes. Those who wore the clothes of mortals most likely came from unimportant backgrounds.

The Heaven Martial City guard glanced at the three people in disdain. By collecting relics here every day, he had seen warriors from all over the Tian Yuan world, so he was impatient with warriors who dragged their feet by being unwilling to pay.

“This is the Heaven Martial City’s rule. Everyone has to comply with it. If you can’t pay a relic, then you can’t to enter!” After the guard said this, he impatiently waved his hand, “Stop blocking the way. There are many people behind you. Next!”

The three people were pushed to one side. The youth in his twenties smiled obsequiously and tried to be in the good books of the guard, “Brother Guard, my dear Brother Guard, please calm down. We come from a small area, so we did not know the rules.”

“Ah Yu, hurry up and pay the relic.” The youth urged the girl.

The girl gritted her teeth as she tightly clenched the cyan-clothed bag hanging on her body.

This girl did not even have an interspatial ring. A bag that mortals used was not only inconvenient to carry around, its capacity was not large. It was imaginable how tiring it was to carry these things while traveling long distances.

“Elder sis… ” The youth dressed in animal skin tugged at the girl. The youth was not very tall. His skin was dark, and his facial features looked average.

The girl felt the pinch in her heart as she grabbed the bag. She turned to the youth and said, “Ah Niu, it’s alright. Our trip here is to bring you to Heaven Martial City. Our family clan might be small and unable to nurture you, but out of good luck, you have such good qualifications. It’s worth it to invest the entrance fee for you. Besides, don’t we still have a herb? After selling it, we will also be somewhat wealthy. When that happens, it’s nothing to buy my dear little brother some pills and relics. As long as you amount to something, it is better than anything.”

The youth, who was addressed as Ah Niu, knew that the girl was putting a front to put him at ease. He bit his lips and did not say a word. However, one could see the stubbornness in his eyes.

He knew very clearly that his elder sister had put in a lot of effort into this trip to Heaven Martial City. And these relics were a large amount of the family clan’s fortune.

It could be said they were staking it all on him!

“So it’s a brother-sister duo… ” Yi Yun sighed lightly. As he looked at the girl’s expression, his mind could not help but recall his time back in the Cloud Wilderness, especially the humiliated expression of Jiang Xiaorou when she pleaded to obtain food for him.

That girl had sacrificed a lot for her younger brother, and this made Yi Yun miss his own elder sister, Jiang Xiaorou.

“Let me pay your city entrance fee.” Yi Yun suddenly said. Yi Yun would not bother about strangers. Everyone had their own difficulties, and with the world so big, he could not care about everyone. However, Yi Yun was filled with emotions when he saw this sister-brother pair.

When he opened his mouth, the guard gave Yi Yun a stunned look. As for the youth in his twenties behind the siblings, he was slightly taken aback before he looked pleasantly surprised, “This esteemed brother sure is chivalrous. Aiyah… You are really making us feel embarrassed. We come from a humble background, so our wealth embarrasses us. For you to spend on us, we are really so thankful… ”

Before the youth finished his words, he was interrupted by the girl.

“That… Thank you to the generous sir, but we can’t accept your relics.” The girl answered very seriously. Beside her, the youth in animal skin also blinked with his dark but bright eyes. Clearly, he endorsed the actions of his elder sister.

To not receive generosity that came out of nowhere was not a matter of face, but one of human principle. This was what their deceased parents taught them.

Yi Yun was stunned for a moment. He was quite surprised by the siblings, but as a result, he had a favorable impression of them.

He smiled gently and said, “Alright, I was being reckless.”

He nonchalantly said that before keeping the relics. He believed that even if the youth did not soar in the future, it was likely he would amount to something.

Suffering a bit now was nothing!

“This… Erh… ” The youth in his twenties, that had accompanied the siblings, wanted to stop him, but he was too late. He was naturally upset and he was naturally grumbling about the foolishness of the siblings in his heart.

At that moment, the girl had taken out two low-ranked relics from her cloth bag. These two low-ranked relics looked to be polished clean, but their quality was the lowest of the low. It was probably refined by a rookie Desolate Heaven apprentice.

The guard looked at such relics in disdain, but he patiently accepted it.

Following that, the guard looked towards the youth in his twenties.

However, the youth looked on helplessly at Yi Yun, “That… This esteemed brother, do you think… ”

His meaning was very clear. The siblings might have rejected it, but he did not, so he could still be helped.

Yi Yun did not have any good impression towards this youth. Although a relic was worth nothing to him, he would not give it to such a person.

Yi Yun entered the city directly, leaving the youth standing there, stunned.

Very soon, Yi Yun heard from behind him, “Aiyah, look what you have done! I can’t afford the city entrance fee!”

“Ah Yu, if not for me leading the way, both of you might not know how to get to the Heaven Martial City. Besides, after entering the city, aren’t you hoping that I will introduce Ah Niu to a large sect? You need me to find a place for you to sell the herb too, right? Without me, won’t you be flying blind? I might not have done anything meritorious, but I had put in some hard work. Are you expecting me to pay this kind of petty money?”

“Cousin, you can’t say such words. You wanted to come to the Heaven Martial City yourself. Along the way, we have spent a lot of money. In the future, when Ah Niu enters a sect, there are further expenditures… ”

“Are you fussing over that bit of money of yours I spent enroute? In the future, when I succeed, even a bit of resources I give you is enough for you to break through to the Yuan Foundation. When that happens, you can return home veiled in glory. Alright, if we want to enter the city, hurry up and pay so as to not block the people behind us, or Big Brother Guard will urge us again… ”

As Yi Yun carried on moving forward, the voices of the three people turned distance. He stopped suddenly and turned back to take a glance. He saw the girl named Ah Yu, red in the face as her eyes seemed to be welling with moisture…

Finally, she bit her lips and used her snow white hands to reach into her cyan bag after some hesitation…

Yi Yun let out a light sigh and stopped watching them.

The world was filled with anguish.

Everyone ate the same five grains and expirated the same Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, however, everyone’s character was different.

This matter that Yi Yun encountered was just a trifling matter on his martial path, but it made him reflect.

Other than reclusive training, endless killing and exploring mystic realms, warriors also needed to have some ordinary reflection.

By seeing human suffering, birth, death, illness and old age, and even experiencing the great sorrows and joys in life, was a part of martial arts.

Using a sword, one could form one’s “Heart of the Sword”, while those who used sabers, could gain insight into saber intent.

For instance, the Azure Yang Lord’s sword Dao was a result of merging the ups and downs of his life’s joys and sorrows. And all of that was what Yi Yun lacked.

His previous life was mediocre and unexciting, but after his reincarnation, he had experienced the poverty of the Cloud Wilderness. And he had experienced the life and death setback at the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. However, that was not enough.

He needed even more experience, a longer life filled with even more sorrow and happiness.

583 - : Entering the City

CKtalon  CKtalon

Heaven Martial City was a flourishing city. The moment Yi Yun entered the city, he was given a map of Heaven Martial City.

The map indicated the various regions of Heaven Martial City.

Towards the south of a city, there was a trading area, with shops set up along the city lanes. In turn, there were all sorts of people here, both good and bad. It was not uncommon for there to be cases of fraud. One could only blame oneself for a lack of discerning skill if one was cheated while trading here.

The northern part of the city was owned by the Martial Alliance. It was usually heavily guarded, preventing people from entering if they had no good reason.

In the middle of the northern and southern regions of the city was the Treasure House.

It was also the tallest building in Heaven Martial City, and it was located in the very center of the city!

As for the eastern and western regions of the city, they were lands belonging to large sects or residences of important figures in the Tian Yuan world.

Heaven Martial City was only built on the gigantic tree, so it did not cover a huge area, resulting in the property prices to be staggering. A normal Yuan Opening realm warrior would not be able to afford a mansion in Heaven Martial City despite using his entire fortune.

Those who could own property in Heaven Martial City were either wealthy tycoons in the martial world or were famous Yuan Opening realm warriors. They were the best amongst the Yuan Opening realm.

Of course, there were no lack of Empyreal Kings who settled in the Heaven Martial City. And no matter where, experts at the Empyreal King realm were considered feudal overlords, respected by the people.

Yi Yun booked a room in an inn in Heaven Martial City, which cost five low-ranked desolate bone relics a day. It made Yi Yun sigh, this was certainly not something the sibling pair could afford. The differences between people in this world was too large.

“I’ll go to the Treasure House first!” Yi Yun had things to do in his trip to Heaven Martial City. His first stop was the Treasure House.

As the largest trading platform in Heaven Martial City, the Treasure House building was extremely striking in the city. It was a pagoda more than ten storeys high and it looked very palatial.

Flying was forbidden in Heaven Martial City, so one had to walk through the city lanes to reach the Treasure House. And these city lanes were where the most of the trading happened in the Tian Yuan world. There was a countless number of warriors going in and out every day.

After Yi Yun entered the city lanes, he did not pay much attention to them. Despite there being many shops and stalls here, displaying all sorts of interesting and strange merchandise, Yi Yun guessed that there were most likely nothing he needed despite the quantity. The level of the treasures available was not much use to him.

And deeper into the city, other than looking at the various merchandise, he also got to see many warriors from all over the Tian Yuan world. The cultivation techniques, laws and weapons they had were all different. It was quite an amazing sight.

As he casually toured through the streets, Yi Yun noticed that some shops had a sign hanging on them, saying what sect or family clan they were form.

Many powerful family clans and sects in the Tian Yuan world had set up shop here.

Firstly, they could sell the resources found by their disciples or sell products manufactured by them, such as relics or cultivation techniques.

Secondly, these shops could be used for the acquisition of goods required by the family clan.

Yi Yun casually browsed through the shops before stopping in front of a store.

“Lin family!”

On a plaque hanging above a store’s door, there was a large “Lin” character. It was the Lin family’s store.

However, the store was cold and lonely. Most of the shelves in the store were empty, and there was no one tending to the shop, as there were no customers.

And on both sides of the shop…

Shen Tu!

Li Fire!

When Yi Yun saw the signboards and symbols of the Shentu family clan and the Li Fire Sect, he immediately understood that these stores were previously properties owned by the Lin family, but now… a large portion of the commercial property had been occupied by the Shentu family clan and Li Fire Sect. It was unknown why they had left the Lin family a small empty room.

Maybe it was because the Lin family absolutely refused to let go of the last store they owned, or it was even likely that when the Shentu family clan and Li Fire Sect split the Lin family’s stores evenly, there was only this store left. They decide to leave it there, without touching it, even letting the Lin family’s signboard stay.

The signboard was covered in a layer of dust, and with the empty shelves, it looked like a scene filled with decline. This empty room had become a mockery of the Lin family.

Many people, who came to Heaven Martial City, would recall the bustling scenes back when the Lin family set up shop in Heaven Martial City. And compared to the current situation, they could understand what falling from grace looked like.

Yi Yun let out a sigh. With the Lin family being restricted and marginalized, with them even having problems entering and exiting their territory, how could they spare the effort to take care of the shop in Heaven Martial City?

“Oh? A wanted poster!”

On both sides of the Lin family store, there was a wanted poster. And the alleged criminals on the wanted posters were Yi Yun and Lin Xintong!

“Reward for capturing Human race traitor, Yi Yun and witch girl, Lin Xintong! These two people have colluded with the Desolate race. They used sinister tricks to sneak up on and kill many geniuses of the Shentu family clan, Li Fire Sect, Beast Control Sect and Totem Mystic Clan in the Great Empress mystic realm! They plotted to steal the Great Empress vault that originally belonged to the geniuses of the various large sects as well as the Great Empress’ inheritance!”

“The Great Empress’ inheritance is a treasure of the Human race, but now, it had been acquired by despicable means. If the Great Empress were to know of this in her afterlife, she would not stand for it!”

“Yi Yun and Lin Xintong have stolen the important treasures of our Human predecessors, and they seeked refuge with the Desolate race. And by using the Desolate race, they are planning to destroying our Human race’s inheritance in the Tian Yuan world, and then dominate the Tian Yuan world. Their nefarious plots have to be curbed!”

“Henceforth, the Martial Alliance is putting up this notice to recruit all martial practitioners and heroes to apprehend Yi Yun and Lin Xintong! Anyone able to provide hints to the Martial Alliance or any of the above family clans and sects will be awarded with ten Longevity Extending Pills, 10,000 supreme-grade relics and entry into the Heavenly Dao Union as an internal disciple.

“If anyone can kill the two, maim their limbs or destroy their dantians, the rewards will be increased ten times. Entry into the Heavenly Dao Union as a core disciple will be given!”

“In addition, Yi Yun has an elder sister, Jiang Xiaorou. She is a witch girl of the Desolate race. The rewards are the same if any clues are provided or if her death is caused!”

“Note: Yi Yun and Lin Xintong have the Great Empress’ inheritance and treasures of the Great Empress vault. If you can kill them, the Martial Alliance would not take a single bit of the treasures!”

“Other than that, Yi Yun has a perfect pure Yang body, with pure Yang blood and pure Yang soul. His body is of great value.”

“As a perfect pure Yin body, Lin Xintong would be perfect to be used as a cultivation slave.”

“Jiang Xiaorou is of royal descent from the Desolate race, so her bloodline is special, allowing the refinement of perfect Desolate pills.”

“These three people are enemies of the Human race. They were inhumane or they might be the devils in disguise. Such people should not be treated with respect, so they can be dealt with through any means!”

“Mission of the Martial Alliance, Shentu family clan, Li Fire Sect, Beast Control Sect, Totem Mystic Clan!”

Portraits of Yi Yun, Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou were placed beside the long wanted poster.

Human race traitor?

Used sinister tricks to sneak up on and kill many geniuses of the various large sects and stole the Great Empress’ inheritance that originally belonged to the geniuses of the various large sects?

Stealing the Great Empress’ inheritance, seeking refuge with the Desolate race, and planning to massacre the Tian Yuan world, severing all the inheritance of the various large sects in the Tian Yuan world?

Nice… really nice!

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted as his gaze shot at the wanted posted like an arrow.

After the Azure Yang Lord and ancient Great Empress died, the Blood Moon had taken root in the Tian Yuan world. Over the millions of years, the faction they controlled was already entrenched in the Tian Yuan world. By instigating conflict between the Desolate and Human race, the Human race had slowly come under the control of the Martial Alliance. As for his sister, she had become a witch girl.

Previously, when Yi Yun came out of the Great Empress mystic realm, he was only concerned for the Lin family’s safety. He had not asked about the situation regarding himself or Lin Xintong. He did not know why so many factions, including the Li Fire Sect and Shentu family clan were blatantly standing guard at the Lin family’s entrance, inspecting the Lin family disciples.

Now, he understood the reason.

It was because the Martial Alliance had confounded black and white, and had pushed all the blame on them!

No one in the Tian Yuan world knew of the Martial Alliance’s plot. Furthermore, with their status being extremely high in the Tian Yuan world, and with them controlling vast amounts of resources, it was equivalent to them controlling the attitude of the Tian Yuan world.

Whatever they said was the truth!

Many people were envious or jealous about him and Lin Xintong obtaining the Great Empress’ inheritance. But now, with the Martial Alliance making such claims, the geniuses from large family clans, who refused to submit to anyone, would have long believed that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had used despicable tricks to obtain the recognition of the Great Empress mystic realm.

As for the rewards offered by the Martial Alliance, they were worth going insane for!

Other than keeping the Great Empress mystic realm’s treasures and inheritance, they were even given Longevity Extending Pills from the Martial Alliance and given treatment akin to core Heavenly Dao Union disciples. Who wouldn’t be tempted by this?

And to make it even more attractive, the Martial Alliance had even incited the various factions of the Tian Yuan world to not treat them as humans. Pure Yang blood! Pure Yang soul!

As for Lin Xintong, she was to be freely used as a cultivation slave with a pure Yin body.

As for Jiang Xiaorou, who was of royal descent, her blood could be used to refine into supreme-grade desolate pills…

Yi Yun clenched his fists tightly as killing intent increased in his eyes.

Throughout his life, he hated when his enemies did two things. First was to touch his loved ones, and second was to take over public opinion, framing him and preventing him being liberated of his accusations!

Previously, Shentu Nantian had done one of the two.

However, the Martial Alliance had done both!

The Great Empress mystic realm’s main entrance was most likely filled with people from all the various large factions, waiting for Lin Xintong and him to come out, just like standing by a tree stump waiting for a hare.

If not for the Great Empress mystic realm’s exit in in the far southern sea, the consequences would be disastrous if they were discovered by these people!

Blood Moon…

Yi Yun gritted his teeth. He swore to slowly uproot this faction with his own hands!

In addition… Yi Yun scanned the sects listed after the Martial Alliance. Shentu family clan, Li Fire Sect, Beast Control Sect, Totem Mystic Clan…

Yi Yun burned these names into his memory.

Many of these factions already had deep seeds of discord with Yi Yun. Back then, they had clashed in the Great Empress mystic realm. Genius disciples from these factions had coveted the inheritance gained by Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, and they had tried to rob them of it through murder, but they ended up being killed by Yi Yun.

Now, they distorted the facts by saying that Yi Yun had used despicable means to kill geniuses of their sects, stealing the inheritance that originally belonged to them.

They were really shameless!

As Yi Yun was looking at the wanted poster, he suddenly heard a voice behind him.

“My friend, haha, looks like you are a hot blooded person too!”

584 - : Wanted Poster

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun turned around and saw a man with a long face. He was smiling while watching Yi Yun, as if he was laughing at Yi Yun’s reaction.

“Back when I saw the wanted poster, I was infuriated too. That Yi Yun and Lin Xintong are human scum! But speaking of which, that little babe, Lin Xintong looks pretty good. The wanted poster says she has a pure Yin body, and she could be a top grade cultivation slave. It would be thousands of times better than those supplementary concubines!”

The long-faced man said as he gave Yi Yun an expression any man would understand.

The killing intent in Yi Yun’s eyes disappeared immediately. He slowly buried it. He had to hide his feelings of anger from before, but this other person had treated it as the outrage of a hot-blooded youth.

“Fire emblem, someone from the Li Fire Sect… ”

Yi Yun narrowed his eyes and immediately identified the long-faced man’s background. He was in the vicinity of the Li Fire Sect’s store, so he was naturally from the Li Fire Sect.

“This esteemed brother, how should I address you?” Yi Yun smiled at the man and asked with an amiable voice. No one could feel the coldness contained within it.

“Haha, I’m Gongsun Lai. I’m the general manager of the Li Fire Sect’s Man-ranked store in the Heaven Martial City. I seem to notice that your foundation is quite solid, so it’s also fated that we can get to know each other. How about it, do you want to come to my Li Fire Sect store to take a look?” The man said proudly.

He was in his thirties, and the Li Fire Sect had a few stores in the Heaven Martial City, so for him to be in charge of one store meant that he had some ability.

He had noticed that Yi Yun’s foundation was solid and he seemed to have some strength, which was the reason why he was being so courteous. For a businessman like him, having wide connections was good of course. By getting to know a person by exchanging a few words, who knew if he would be of use in the future? Even if the other party did not live up to expectations, they would still be able to give him some business.

If it was any ordinary person, he would not have bothered.

“Alright!” Yi Yun agreed immediately.

From his calm look, the man could not tell what he was thinking. He even cheerfully talked to Yi Yun about the wanted poster. He had noticed that Yi Yun seemed interested in it, and one of the best tactics a businessman employed was to appeal to the customer’s preferences.

“Speaking about the devil pair of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, they are definitely scum amongst scum. They caused harm through despicable means, causing the deaths of many geniuses of my Li Fire Sect. Now, we have set up a formation at Untraversable Sea. It could be said to be an extensive net that has a radius of 5000 kilometers. Even a fly would not escape the eyes of our Elders. Once that devilish pair appears, they will definitely be apprehended!”

“What a pity… that I can only take care of a few shops in Heaven Martial City, and can’t go to the Untraversable Sea. If not, getting some credit in their apprehension would be great. Hahaha! Let’s not talk about the Great Empress’ inheritance and the rewards, just the little babe, Lin Xintong… Ze Ze!” The man said with a perverted look.

He was lecherous and with his business acumen, he felt that talking about women and saying sexual jokes would easily close the distance with men. Unfortunately… he was completely wrong this time.

“Right, I still have not asked for this esteemed brother’s name?” Gongsun Lai asked Yi Yun.

Yi Yun smiled and said lightly, “My surname is Jiang, as for my name… I haven’t used it in a while. When I was in the Southern Sea, I only had a title… ”

Yi Yun changed his surname to his elder sister, Jiang Xiaorou’s surname.

When the man heard Yi Yun say that he was involved in the Southern Sea, he could not help but raise his eyebrows. The Southern Sea was a remote and desolate region. Most people from there lacked ability. Could it be that he had made a mistake and that this black-clothed youth’s only saving grace was his outward appearance?

If that was the case, why was he wasting time speaking to him?

As the head of a Li Fire Sect Man-ranked store, there was no reason for him to waste time pandering to such trash.

“What’s your title?” The man asked in a perfunctory manner, but he already lacked interest in his heart.

“My title is… Jiang Yidao (One Saber). This is because amongst the warriors of the same realm as me, no matter who it is, I never need to strike with my saber a second time. All I need is one saber strike, and my opponent will be defeated.” Yi Yun answered very calmly, as if he was mentioning words like “I just ate” in passing.

When the man heard it, he stared widely at Yi Yun.

This rascal! Could he be a retard?

The long-faced man had seen many eccentric people in the past. Many geniuses that came to Heaven Martial City were especially insolent. As a businessman, he would usually carefully accompany them, and pander to them.

However, these eccentric people usually had true ability.

As for the rascal in front of him, his outfit just looked average. And for Yi Yun to come from some nook and cranny like the Southern Sea, it was alright if Yi Yun was not worldly in his views, but it was preposterous for Yi Yun to brag in front of him.

He could neglect Yi Yun’s bragging, but for Yi Yun to do so while being so calm and as if a matter of fact?

Jiang Yidao?

Are you fucking kidding me!?

Do you really think you are some big shot!?

The man immediately felt like he had done something extremely foolish to speak with a retard for so long.

He was no longer interested in Yi Yun. At that moment, he suddenly thought of something and smile, “Southern Sea… I recall something. I was wondering why it’s so familiar. Just recently, a retard went to the Lin family and injured a few of our Li Fire Sect disciples who were patrolling the Lin family, and then, he proceeded to brag about it!”

“He said that he had used his Dao Seed realm cultivation level to defeat the combined attacks of three Yuan Opening realm Elders that came from my Li Fire Sect and Shentu family clan. Are all you Southern Sea warriors so unworldly? For a Dao Seed realm to battle against three Yuan Opening realm Elders and still win? It’s so funny. Hahahaha!” The man began to roar with laughter. His words were meant to deride Yi Yun.

Weren’t you bragging? Then let me tell you what sort of people warriors of the Southern Sea were. One retard after another!

“Dao Seed realm defeating the combined attacks of three Yuan Opening realm Elders?” Yi Yun was amused hearing this.

This man clearly did not know that this so-called rumor was true. Although the man was the general manager of a store and had certain standing, he was nothing compared to a core disciple of the Li Fire Sect!

All the core disciples were cultivating in the Li Fire Sect, so how could they be sent to take care of business?

Hence, the man was completely unaware of the confidential information held by the Li Fire Sect.

To prevent losing face to the Tian Yuan world, the Li Fire Sect had already locked down all information. Even several exterior Elders did not know of the matter, let alone exterior disciples.

Dirty linen was not to be aired in public. The other disciples of the Li Fire Sect naturally laughed their heads off when they heard such a rumor after their sect denied this matter.

However, no matter how the man mocked him, Yi Yun appeared calm. He was clearly not putting it to heart.

The man was a bit stunned seeing this. Either this rascal’s skin was too thick, or he had reached a whole new realm of stupidity. Couldn’t he tell that he was mocking him?

What a top grade fool!

585 - : Jiang Yidao

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the long-faced man was thinking, he suddenly heard a sound coming from a shop.

“Dear Sir, this mysterious rock was dug up especially by us from inside a deep cave. The cave was extremely dangerous and abnormal. It is unknown how many years this mysterious rock has been buried underground. It cannot be ordinary! No matter what item it is refined into, or what research it is used for, it will be extremely useful, but you are only giving me twenty low-ranked relics for it? Isn’t that too little?”

This voice sounded extremely familiar to Yi Yun. As he had a good memory, a simple recall identified the voice to belong to the man who was in his twenties, out of the trio who he met when he entered Heaven Martial City.

Yi Yun’s raised his eyebrows as he looked inside.

He saw three figures standing at a counter inside a bright hall. A fist-sized dark golden rock was placed on the counter. And across the counter sat a round shopkeeper in his forties.

This fat shopkeeper was dressed in a resplendent ingot costume. He was holding a white smoke pipe made out of desolate bone in his hand. The thumb ring on his hand was made out of Heaven Frostwater Jade. His clothes stood in sharp contrast to the three shabbily dressed customers.

At that moment, the shopkeeper squinting his eyes. He was not looking at the rock on the counter, but was instead sizing up the girl name Ah Yu as well as the youth named Ah Niu.

He was not calculating the value of the rock, but was curious as to what sort of encounter allowed for the trio to manage to dig up such a rock.

This sort of rock was rare, even in Heaven Martial City, so he too could not fully recognize it.

However, there was a similar rock that had appeared in Treasure House in the past. However, that rock’s size had been as big as a millstone, while this rock was about the size of a fist. Also, the color was slightly different.

Back then, the millstone-sized rock at Treasure House was sold at an astronomical price, as for this piece of rock… he was unsure.

However, it was definitely worth more than 20 low-ranked relics.

However, the more valuable such a rock was, the more he could not reveal his desire for it. This would make the seller alert, and make them suspect of him swindling them.

Especially that young man, who chattered non-stop, he had a glimmer of greed in his eyes. He had even previously transmitted his voice, telling the shopkeeper to lower the price and from that, give him a rebate.

Such a person, who was unscrupulous just for his own benefits, thinking he was being clever, but he too did not know the true value of the rock.

The shopkeeper could make good use of this person, but this made it more pertinent to not appear tempted.

Putting on a play with him to get the rock in hand through deceit was what was important.

“I will measure it.”

The fat shopkeeper said as he lazily opened his eyelids.

A clerk beside him grabbed the rock and threw it on a small, shallow golden tray. This rough handling of the rock made the girl wince.

The moment the dark gold rock landed on the golden tray, the tray immediately lit up, sending a burst of light. It completely bathed the rock in light. In this light, every pattern on the rock could be seen clearly.

The dark gold color began to shimmer on the rock’s surface. It looked like the highest grade gems of the mortal realms. The patterns were runes, formed by nature, and were very profound. As for right inside the rock, it was a complete darkness. There was no way of seeing through it.

However, the man in his twenties was focusing his gaze on the tray that analyzed the rock, without leaving it from his sight. He knew that this tray was called the Heaven’s Eye Compass. It was a magical treasure that could distinguish treasures, and was extremely valuable. The Li Fire Sect was too rich. If he had the opportunity to join them, it would be great!

The girl and the youth beside her, Ah Niu, were staring intensely at the rock on the tray. Very soon, the light dimmed.

The fat shopkeeper gave a glance and then said nonchalantly, “The light dimmed, so the value is average. Twenty two low-ranked relics. This is the highest price I can give. It is up to you if you want to sell or not.”

Although the results of the Heaven’s Eye Compass was ordinary, the fat shopkeeper knew that the Heaven’s Eye Compass had limitations in its analysis.

Upon hearing this price, Ah Yu’s eyebrows frowned. She actually did not know the value of the rock, but believed that it should be invaluable.

The price of 22 low-ranked relics greatly disappointed her. However, there really was no special transformations during the magical treasure’s measurement of the rock.

“Why don’t we go elsewhere and ask?”

The girl shook her head. Only by going elsewhere and getting quotes from others would she be convinced.

However, the cousin beside her began to worry. Just now, the fat shopkeeper had already transmitted his voice, promising him five low-ranked relics as a rebate.

He naturally wanted to close this trade. Since the rock had been appraised, and was not some marvelous treasure, him being able to earn a tiny bit from it was not bad.

He immediately transmitted his voice, “Ah Yu, just now what I said was to scam the shopkeeper. The price of twenty two relics really is not low! It is just an ordinary gem. It might be precious to mortals, but to warriors, it has typical usage. With my years of experience, can I be wrong? Besides, I would not scam you. Past this village, there will not be another shop like this!”

However, her cousin’s voice did not change the girl’s mind.

This rock was obtained by risking her and her brother’s life before they managed to dig it up. To dig this rock, Ah Niu had to climb up a steep cliff, and he had even injured himself. She was heart-broken over this for a long period of time.

Initially, she planned on using the money she obtained from selling the rock to buy pills and relics for Ah Niu. If not for discovering this rock and digging it out, she would not have made the firm decision of bringing her brother, Ah Niu to Heaven Martial City with her cousin.

However, if the rock was only sold at the price of 22 low-ranked relics, then all her plans would fall through. On the way here, they had already spent 10 low-ranked relics.

From just entering the city, to finding a place to stay made Ah Yu deeply aware of the expensive prices of Heaven Martial City. It was a place warriors like them, who came from remote places, could not survive.

“Sis, let us go.”

Ah Niu noticed her sister’s expression, and saw her hands trembling. He immediately grabbed the rock and pulled his sister’s arm in an attempt to leave.

Upon seeing this scene, the fat shopkeeper frowned.

How could he let a deal that was in the bag escape his grasps?

He looked towards the young man in his twenties.

The young man immediately put on a flattering smile and stopped the stubborn youth, “Young children do not know any better. They think their rock is something awesome. Let me speak to them.”

With that said, the young man pulled the sibling aside and whispered, “Ah Niu, what are you doing!? Ah Yu, can you discipline him!? Where do you think you are? This is the Li Fire Sect’s shop! The Li Fire Sect is a extremely powerful sect, we cannot offend them.”

Ah Niu disliked this cousin of his as he turned his head away, saying, “We did not offend them, we just are not selling to them.”

“Ah Yu…” The young man looked towards the girl again and gave an annoyed look. “The two of you are always so obstinate. Do you think if you go elsewhere, you will sell it for a better price? The Treasure House is big, but they would never allow rural people like us to enter. They would not even think anything of what we have! The stores in these area have similar prices. The Li Fire Sect has done business all these years, and they have a reputation to uphold. Do you think they will scam minor figures like us!?”

As the young man was urging them, a jovial voice sounded, “Hahaha, this young brother. How old are you?”

586 - : Mysterious Rock

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon hearing this voice, the trio looked towards the door and saw the long-faced man walk into the shop with a smile.

He was the general manager of this Li Fire Sect shop.

He was dressed fabulously and his body was covered in treasures. Just a simple pendant he wore was worth several hundred low-ranked relics.

Although the two siblings did not know him, they could feel a pressure coming from the long-faced man.

He was a person with prominent status.

As the girl had this thought, she saw the arrogant-looking fat shopkeeper turn respectful to the long-faced man.

“Young Master Lai, I gave an additional two low-ranked relics because I pitied these two siblings. Yet, they were ungrateful, I am really… Hai!”

The fat shopkeeper gave an expression of being doubted despite his kind grace, while shaking his head.

He knew that with Gongsun Lai’s discernment abilities, he would long since have seen the value of the rock; hence, he began to put on a play with him.

The long-faced man gave a dismissive look, “Old Luo, you are in the wrong. The way our Li Fire Sect do business, we must also do kind deeds while pursuing profits. A mere look at this siblings, and you would know they have come from afar… They likely come from an average background. Are you here in Heaven Martial City to search for your martial path?”

The long-faced man had been in business for many years, so he could guess the siblings’ purpose in Heaven Martial City at a glance. It was not any wonderful ability, because he had seen numerous people like them over the years. They would come from some rural place, and would sell off all of their assets before coming to Heaven Martial City to chase their dreams at all costs, but in the end… most of them ended in misery!

The siblings before him would likely end up the same, besides… they also had a mysterious rock that they lacked the capacity to protect.

This was not something good for them.

This was how the long-faced man came to this conclusion as his smile turned warm. Taking this mysterious rock away from the siblings was in a way averting any disaster that might later befall them because of it.

This was also a reflection of his own words, The Li Fire Sect would do kind deeds while pursuing profits in business.

“Hey, Sister, it is that generous sir.”

The youth saw Yi Yun standing behind the long-faced man…

From the matter of entering the city, the siblings had a good impression of Yi Yun. With Yi Yun standing behind the long-faced man, the siblings assumed they were friends. Since birds of a feather flock together, and Yi Yun was a nice person, willing to help the weak, then the long-faced man was likely not bad himself. They subconsciously felt a little more trust towards the man.

“Yes, to be honest with this young master, I brought my brother out because of his good talent. I wish for him to enter a large sect to learn their crafts.”

“Oh?” The long-faced man’s smile was that of approbation. He said, “Not bad. To have a martial heart despite coming from poor origins. This sort of intent is rare and deserving of praise. It seems that this little brother has pretty good talent. Let us do this. I will introduce you to enter the Li Fire Sect to become a Li Fire Sect disciple. However, I need to make it clear first that although you have good talent, your origins have limited your growth. You have already been surpassed greatly by warriors your age. Although I can admit you into the Li Fire Sect, you will not be able to become an official disciple. You can only start from being a Miscellaneous Chores disciple. You might even become the servant of an official disciple. However, if you can prove your worth in the future, there is a possibility you can become an official disciple.”

The moment he said those words, the siblings were momentarily at a loss. Enter the Li Fire Sect?

That was a top sect in the Tian Yuan world.

In a sect, there were many cultivation techniques, numerous resources and deep foundations. It could not be any better if one entered one.

They had never even dared to think of entering such a large sect before now.

Although it would only be a Miscellaneous Chores disciple, it did not matter. There was still the possibility of becoming an official disciple.

As long as hard work was put in, there would be a chance.

The girl held her younger brother’s hands in excitement. The youth’s eyes were lit up. He swore to work hard to make something out of himself.

“Young Master, we…”

The girl stopped mid-sentence again, as the long-faced man roared with laughter, “Haha, you don’t have to be so excited. This is what you deserve. Your brother’s talent is passable and enough to become a Miscellaneous Chores disciple, after that, it will all depend on him in the future. Old Luo…”

As the man spoke, he turned towards the fat shopkeeper, “It was not easy for this pair of siblings to get the rock. So take it in and pay them a hundred low-ranked relics from the books.”

The shopkeeper looked embarrassed when the long-faced man said those words, but he still accepted the order.

However, just as Old Luo was about to keep the mysterious rock, a hand pressed down lightly on the rock.

The fat shopkeeper was stunned and looked up, as he saw Yi Yun’s smiling face.

“What’s the meaning of this?”

The fat shopkeeper paused for a moment as he looked towards his boss. He was still unsure what Yi Yun’s relationship with his boss was.

However, from the long-faced man’s expression, he knew that Yi Yun was no friend of his boss.

“Nothing really. I am just interested in this rock and want to buy it. To be able to exchange this mysterious rock for a spot as a Miscellaneous Chores disciple and a hundred low-ranked desolate bone relics is such good business, so count me in too!”

The siblings were startled when they heard what Yi Yun said. They could read in between the lines.

The fat shopkeeper’s face sank as the long-faced man’s eyes emitted a cold gaze. This kid was here to mess things up. He had clearly already noticed something special about the mysterious rock.

“Who do you think you are? I was just courteous with you beforehand, and you are already crossing the line? Sales depends on a chronological order. Do you know what this place is?”

Moments ago, the long-faced man had already begun to deride Yi Yun. He had already wasted his breath on a madman from the Southern Seas who claimed himself as Jiang Yidao. If not for the siblings suddenly appearing, he would have chased Yi Yun away.

Now this kid actually dared to leap onto a god’s head to make trouble. He was courting death!

“I know, it is merely a shop of the Li Fire Sect after all.”

Yi Yun said indifferently. His tone showed how little value the Li Fire Sect had in his eyes.

“After all? Hahaha! That’s so funny!” The long-faced man turned wrath into laughter. To think this Jiang Yidao was so arrogant despite knowing about the Li Fire Sect. People from the Southern Seas really had shallow world views.

“The ignorant are fearless. You savage from the Southern Seas with shallow world views. You may have heard of the Li Fire Sect, but you do not know how big the Li Fire Sect is. A tiny figure like you is not even considered an ant before the Li Fire Sect. Where did you get the courage to come here and cause trouble!?”

The savage lands in the Southern Seas was not much better than the Backwater East.

The young man in his twenties, who was standing behind the long-faced man, was stunned when he heard this. He originally thought Yi Yun was someone formidable. He never expected him to come from the savage lands in the Southern Seas. Then, he was not much better than them. In fact, in terms of where they originated from, he was inferior to them. Yi Yun was so generous likely because he had received a windfall and thought of himself as a rich man.

Upon coming to this conclusion, the young man felt discontented. Life was so unfair for such a savage to obtain such an opportunity. Why couldn’t he be the one to encounter a chance to become rich?

It was not easy for him to get the opportunity to cling onto the Li Fire Sect, but this savage had appeared to mess up the situation.

Upon saying this, the young man said, “Hey, you rascal from the Southern Seas, you might want to buy the rock, but I don’t want to sell!”

Just as he finished saying those words, the girl pulled him back, “Cousin, what are you doing!? This generous sir helped us before.”

“What do you mean help? Didn’t you not accept it?” The young man said without any care. He was still taking the city entrance fee to heart!

“You are mistaken. The rock is ours. It is not up to you!” At that moment, Ah Niu stood forward from the girl’s side and spoke up.

“You!” His cousin stared at him and became worried.

The long-faced man narrowed his eyes. He looked coldly at the youth named Ah Niu.

“Then who are you selling to?”

The long-faced man suddenly spoke. Yi Yun also looked towards Ah Niu.

Yi Yun appreciated this youth, but the choice was up to him. He was after all the owner of the mysterious rock. If he chose the Li Fire Sect, then Yi Yun would have nothing to say.

Ah Niu took a deep breath. He could sense that the long-faced man was definitely not a person of goodwill.

It was very likely that he was intentionally deceiving him. All of this could be a scam from beginning to end. If he really entered the Li Fire Sect, he might really end up only becoming a servant.

However, the faction behind the long-faced man was too terrifying.

Ah Niu glanced at Yi Yun and saw him looking indifferently. He was also watching him make his own choice.

He knew that by holding down the mysterious rock to prevent the trade, Yi Yun was warning him. Against such a massive entity like the Li Fire Sect, a young man from the Southern Seas probably experienced quite a bit of treasure, yet… he still spoke up to warn him…

To risk danger to warn a stranger was not something any ordinary person would do. An Niu felt gratitude towards Yi Yun.

“I…” An Niu looked towards his elder sister, but she did not speak a word. She only nodded, clearly letting her younger brother make the decision.

The long-faced man hung a smile on his lips. Although he had been exposed by Yi Yun, just using the Li Fire Sect was enough pressure to force their hand. He did not believe this pair of siblings from rural places dared to rebel against the Li Fire Sect.

However, just as he revealed a smile, it froze.

This was because the backward-looking youth dressed in animal skin minced his words, “I have changed my mind. I am not selling the rock.”

“Huh!?”

The long-faced man’s eyes squinted. Not selling?

In Heaven Martial City, there were trading rules. Even though the Li Fire Sect was a powerful force, they could not blatantly rob treasures from others, or it would affect their reputation. No one would dare come to their shops if news of such an incident spread.

However… the Li Fire Sect’s area of influence was not limited to Heaven Martial City! There was no good outcome in offending the Li Fire Sect.

Upon hearing the youth’s decision, Yi Yun smiled and said, “Little brother, since you are not selling, why not sell to me?”

This mysterious rock was still pressed under Yi Yun’s hand. He picked up the rock easily since the fat storekeeper had a weak cultivation level, so he could not stop him.

“This…” Ah Niu pursed his lips and said softly, “This elder brother, actually.. I do not know how much this rock can be sold for…”

He spoke honestly. At that moment, there was no reason to hide.

Yi Yun smiled and said casually, “As for the exact value, I cannot estimate it well myself. However… I will definitely not take advantage of you. I will temporarily pay the price of ten Empyrean relics. If it is proven in the future that the price is higher, I will make it up to you.”

What?

The fat storekeeper froze. He even forgot to put the desolate bone smoke pipe back into his mouth.

Empyrean relics?

He couldn’t have heard wrongly, right?

The long-faced man’s expression also froze.

Although he could tell that the mysterious rock was worth something, he was also not sure of its exact value.

As for Yi Yun, he had immediately offered ten Empyrean relics.

He was actually that rich? And the crux of the issue was, where did he get the Empyrean relics?

587 - : Leaping onto a god’s head to make trouble

CKtalon  CKtalon

Desolate bone relics were important resources used in cultivating martial arts amongst Tian Yuan world warriors. Be it cultivation or breaking through cultivation realms, there was no lack of uses for them.

Usually, the basic currency used was low-ranked relics. These were actually relics that did not make the mark. They were not even a grade and were typically produced by Desolate Heaven apprentices or the lowest grade Desolate Heaven Masters. These would only be effective when used by Mortal Blood or Purple Blood realm warriors. Those people still stuck in the stages of body strengthening were usually treated as mortals.

Further up the rankings, there were inferior-grade, common-grade and superior-grade relics. These were used by Yuan Foundation realm or Dao Seed realm warriors.

For a top sect like the Li Fire Sect, geniuses within the sects, like Gongsun Hong, would usually cultivate while using superior-grade relics.

These three relics did not have an exact exchange ratio, as different relics had different qualities. If one needed to really exchange between them, there was a need for appraisal and a fair agreement between mutual parties before the exchange was made.

The exchange ratio was usually in the tens, and seldom exceeded a hundred.

However, when there was really a need to exchange in practice, it was easy to exchange a higher grade relic for lower grade relics, but to exchange lower grade relics for higher grade relics? Difficult.

This was because those warriors, who were rich and were at a high enough cultivation realm, did not have any uses for low grade relics. So there was no need for them to make the exchange. Those who did these exchanges were usually major merchants, who needed to make change while doing business. Typically, they would sell it on the black market and raise the prices as high as possible.

As for relics that ranked above superior-grade relics, they were supreme-grade relics.

Supreme-grade relics were also known as Sage relics. They were used by Yuan Opening realm warriors, and could even be used all the way until one broke through to a higher realm, eventually becoming an Empyreal King.

Previously, the rewards offered for killing Lin Xintong and Yi Yun by the Martial Alliance were supreme-grade relics!

And above supreme-grade relics was the highest grade of relics, known as Empyrean relics!

These sort of relics were typically Empyreal King level. Maybe a few of the best peak-Yuan Opening realm Desolate Heaven Masters could refine them. The materials used were the rare treasures that had to be sought for everywhere in the Tian Yuan world.

Every Empyrean relic refinement in a furnace only produced ten a time. These sort of relics were used for the cultivation of Empyreal Kings. Using a supreme-grade relic for a typical Empyreal King’s cultivation would already be ineffective.

Each Empyreal King was an anchors of a top faction in the Tian Yuan world. Hence, to many large family clans, Empyreal King relics were extremely precious resources. It could be said to be an accumulation of their heritage.

Even at the lowest exchange rates, an Empyrean relic could at least be exchange for more than a billion low-ranked relics. And in fact, there was no way for such an exchange to occur. What use was there for a billion low-ranked relics?

This astronomical figure made Ah Niu, Ah Yu and the young man in his twenties dumbfounded.

With their knowledge of the world, they found it hard to image such a bewildering mass of fortune.

Yi Yun placed the relics on the table. Ah Niu and Ah Yu were stunned. As for their cousin, the young man, he was staring straight at it. He nearly even drooled.

The ten relics shimmered in rainbow colors. They emitted a dream-like glow, and this was to him, the most beautiful thing in the world.

He couldn’t even help but sniff in deeply. To be able to breathe in the smell of such a relic in his life allowed him to die without regrets!

The ten relics were laid out in a line on the counter. Yi Yun’s wealth was undeniably massive!

Previously, he had robbed the Thousand Hand Granny and Shentu Nantian, taking away all their assets, however, those were just nothing but a drizzle.

Yi Yun’s real wealth came from the Great Empress mystic realm.

Back then, when the ancient Great Empress and the Azure Yang Lord left their inheritance behind, they had also left a vast amount of wealth in the God Advent Tower.

Within the God Advent Tower, there were hundreds to a thousand large arrays. They required large amounts of Sage relics and Empyrean relics, or even higher grade relics to function.

As these relics maintained the large arrays, they also used the arrays to gather the Heaven Earth essence to power themselves. Over millions of years, not only did they not lose energy, in fact, they became even purer.

These relics were used as the energy source for these arrays, so Yi Yun could not take them away.

However, there was a small portion of relics that did not play an important role. Yi Yun could bring these out the God Advent Tower. Even scooping off a tip of the iceberg, these relics were already an unimaginable wealth on their own.

Just speaking of the Empyrean relics, Yi Yun had chose the ones of the worst quality, but they were already top grade in the Tian Yuan world!

As to say that these Empyrean relics would stir up a storm in the Tian Yuan world, that was unlikely.

Although Empyrean relics were very valuable, those Empyreal King Patriarchs of various large factions would actually use a hundred of them in a year if they really cultivated.

Empyrean relics were considered wealth to them, but not true treasures.

People who were envious of Empyrean relics would mainly be Yuan Opening realm warriors. And if these people schemed against Yi Yun, he would not worry that much.

Hence, Yi Yun took out these Empyrean relics without hesitation. However, in the eyes of the long-faced man, the scene was completely different.

He had been running the Man-ranked store for many years, but he had never seen people use Empyrean relics to buy items. Under normal circumstances, people who came to Man-ranked stores were warriors below the Yuan Opening realm. Who of them would use Empyrean relics as currency?

True Empyreal Kings would directly go to the Treasure House’s guest level. There were dedicated important figures at Treasure House who would tend to them. It was common to see Empyrean relics in Treasure House.

“These… are all top grade quality!”

The fat storekeeper’s eyeballs began to rotate from all the staring as he opened his dried mouth.

As for the long-faced man, his gaze was staring straight at the ten Empyrean relics on the table.

He had previously thought the self-claimed Jiang Yidao was purely a mad savage and idiot from the Southern Sea. However, in front of the ten Empyrean relics, his eyes began to flicker to the point of them dropping out of his sockets.

This Southern Sea savage really had the goods!

To come up with ten Empyrean relics in one shot, did he dig out some Empyreal King’s ancestral grave!?

The long-faced youth did not believe Yi Yun had the ability to earn so much wealth. It was likely that he had explored a certain mystic realm in the Southern Sea, and made a fortune doing so!

He glanced at Yi Yun, and noticed the indifferent look on Yi Yun’s face, as if he had just taken out a handful of stones.

This idiot probably did not know the value of Empyrean relics. To think he splurged on it so freely!

In this world, there were many poor people who had limited worldly horizons. When they fell into a windfall, they would correspondingly be wallowing in money, but their worldly horizons did not receive any improvement. This sort of people were pure suckers. They would quickly dissipate all their wealth because they got carried away with their wealth. As such, they would also lose the concept of wealth.

The long faced man categorized Yi Yun as such a person. For such a person to obtain the legacy of an ancient Empyreal King’s treasures was an effrontery to that Empyreal King!

If such precious inheritance entered his hands, he was confident that he could breakthrough to the Yuan Opening realm! When that happened, he too would be a sect Elder. Then, would he be assigned to Heaven Martial City to run the business?

Those core sect disciples who had despised his martial talent would then have to suck up to him! He would be able to walk with his head held high and experience a total change in his life!

The more the long-faced man thought about it, the more he felt a burning sensation in his heart as he began to be tempted by greed.

588 - : Empyrean Relics

CKtalon  CKtalon

Only now did Ah Yu and Ah Niu experience a rude awakening. Ah Yu said with a trembling voice, “These… are these for us?”

This amount of wealth was so much that her mind had gone blank.

To poor warriors, this amount of wealth was ridiculous. With these, their lives as siblings would be completely different. Ah Niu would be able to enjoy the same perks as descendants of large family clans, such as nourishing his body and cultivate good cultivation techniques, without leaving any hidden injuries.

When Ah Niu then become someone mighty, they would be able to lead good lives in the future. There was no fear of others bullying them again.

However…

“Sis… We cannot.. accept these relics…”

Ah Niu said with great difficulty as he bit his lips.

Although he was stunned by the Empyrean relics, and had fantasized the changes this vast amount of wealth would bring him, he slowly calmed down. Although he was young, he knew the principle of how a man gets into trouble because of his wealth.

Such a large sum of wealth was not something he and his sister could bring along. Once he left Heaven Martial City, their lives would be in danger!

Oh?

Yi Yun glanced at Ah Niu and showed eyes of appreciation.

Although the principle of how a man gets into trouble because of his wealth was simple, when great wealth befell a person, not everyone could still remain calm.

“You don’t want them? Are you silly!?”

Ah Yu’s cousin suddenly shrieked. He had been completely immersed in his fantasies of wealth. He wanted to use this wealth to establish a sect, taking in talented and beautiful girls to be his maidservants or concubines and lead a luxurious and palatial life.

However, when he heard Ah Niu’s rejection, he stared straight and pounced towards the Empyrean relics. He said incessantly, “He is a young child without any good sense. I will decide for him. This rock shall be sold to you!”

With riches before him, this person had already lost his head. Other than the relics before his eyes, he cared for nothing else!

However, just as he was about to touch the Empyrean relics, he felt a powerful force surge at him, blocking him from moving further. It caused him to retreat several steps. With a stagger, he nearly fell to the ground.

The cousin was stunned before he recovered. He saw Yi Yun looking at him without emotion, but his eyes flashed with a trace of disdain.

“You…”

The cousin swallowed a mouthful of saliva. He had been in a euphoric mood, but it had now cooled down significantly.

This Southern Sea savage looks down on me!

You only got lucky, and made a fortune. What is there to be arrogant about!?

If not for that fucking luck of yours, you would be inferior to me!

He was having such thoughts and started feeling more depressed. Why would such a savage get those Empyrean relics? Heaven is so unfair. It would be so good if he was the one who got those things. Supreme-grade pills, supreme-grade women, majestic palaces… That kind of life would be awesome!

Although he felt a grudge against Yi Yun, the cousin was still hoping to depend on Yi Yun to get rich. He suppressed his anger and put on a smile on his face. He obsequiously said, “Aiyah, look at me. I was too much in a rush. I was overjoyed for Ah Yu and Ah Niu and lost my sense of propriety. I should just let you complete the deal, after all, it is such a huge matter.”

Yi Yun gave him a stern glance and ignored him.

He only looked towards Ah Niu and Ah Yu, saying, “Keep it.”

“Thank you to this big brother’s kind intentions, but we cannot accept it…” Ah Niu looked at the Empyrean relics in envy, but he still firmly shook his head.

He greatly wished for those relics to change his life and lead a good life with his sister. However, he was too weak. These relics were things he could not hold on to.

Yi Yun said easily, “Do not worry. You can keep the relics. In Heaven Martial City, I will ensure the safety of you two. After this, I will bring you to Treasure House. These relics cannot be protected by the two of you, but you can spend them, and then it will no longer be a problem.”

“Your name is Ah Niu, right? You have very good talent. It is not lacking compared to the geniuses of large sects, unfortunately, you were born from a poor background, which delayed your cultivation time. Besides, you have eaten too many low quality herbs. A lot of foul Qi has accumulated within your body. If this carries on, your martial path will be unlikely to have much success.”

“However, I know there are certain wonder medicine that can allow for you experience a rebirth and cleanse your marrow. They can be used by low-level warriors without any side effects. These sort of medicines can remove the foul Qi accumulated after birth, and improve on one’s constitution. It will let your cultivation talent improve another level! When that happens, entering a large sect would be an easy task!”

“As for the remaining fortune, you can purchase mortal treasures for your sister, allowing for your sister to practice martial arts as well. Her lifespan can then go beyond a thousand years. I do not have such wondrous drugs for low-level warriors, if not, I would have given them directly to you.”

“As long as you finish spending the ten Empyrean relics, and exchange them for pills and eat them, then those large factions would not scheme against you. Catching you would be useless then. What do you say?”

When Yi Yun took out the relics, he had already decided on such a plan. There existed wondrous medicine that allowed for low level warriors to cleanse their marrows and improve their talent, they were just very expensive.

Back then, Yi Yun’s talent was very average. He had used top grade treasures to slowly improve his body, until he owned a perfect pure Yang body. His cultivation talent today had long since surpassed the Tian Yuan world’s elites.

As for drugs that extended a mortal’s lifespan, there were even more of those. A mortal’s life potential was not developed, so to extend their lives was much easier than extending the lives of Empyreal Kings.

“This…” Ah Niu’s lips wavered. Yi Yun’s idea was feasible!

However, if he ate so many top grade pills at once, it would be such a waste…

However, with him being so weak, there was indeed no other better method.

Ah Niu looked towards Yi Yun and felt sincerely grateful towards him. He had no idea what the worth of this rock was after obtaining it.

Yi Yun could have bought it with just a tiny bit of benefit, but he instead offered to pay ten Empyrean relics.

Yi Yun did not scam weak people like them. This was not something an average person would do.

Ah Niu said softly, “Actually… you do not really need to pay so much for this rock.”

Yi Yun gave a light smile. These pair of siblings were simple and kind. Even in the face of enormous wealth they had never seen before, they could still maintain their original intentions. It was a very valuable trait.

“It is alright. This is what you deserve. I might even have taken advantage of you.”

Yi Yun’s horizons were already above the Tian Yuan world’s Empyreal Kings. Since Empyreal Kings would not go crazy over Empyrean relics, to Yi Yun, these relics were nothing much.

However, that mysterious rock would serve great purpose.

Just as Ah Niu was planning to hand to mysterious rock to Yi Yun, suddenly a sneer echoed, “Are you still sleeping? Or are you treating as if we don’t exist?”

Ah Yu and Ah Niu were startled as they turned their heads towards the long-faced man.

Yi Yun also narrowed his eyes as he looked towards him.

The long-faced man said his eyes cold, but with a smile, “You have not asked if we are agreeable to it?”

This was ten Empyrean relics, a large sum of wealth. Wasting it on trash that had missed the opportune time for cultivation for marrow cleansing?

That was practically destroying Heaven’s property!

In the long-faced man’s opinion, he was already looking up to him by making a person like Ah Niu a Miscellaneous Chores disciple in the Li Fire Sect!

These Empyrean relics and that mysterious rock should all belong to him. Only in his hands would they be able to reveal their true value!

Ah Niu already hated this long-faced man for he had mistaken this smiling tiger, who was filled with nefarious ideas, as a good man.

He gritted his teeth and said with his anger suppressed, “Why would we need to get your agreement in selling our rock?”

Although he said it firmly, Ah Niu revealed a disturbed expression. After all, he was on the Li Fire Sect’s territory, and compared to the Li Fire Sect, they were too weak.

The long-faced man gave a teasing smile as he said in a laid-back manner, “Your rock? Are you mistaken? Haven’t you just sold the rock to my Li Fire Sect? Trying to get money from both sides for a single item, aren’t you too greedy? This mysterious rock is already property of the Li Fire Sect. These ten Empyrean relics should be handed over to me. As for you, I can still help you. I can let you report to the Li Fire Sect and become a Miscellaneous Chores disciple. If you work hard in the future, you still have a chance to become a official disciple. Isn’t entering a large sect your dream?”

The long-faced man gently needed his wrist and gave a condescending look to Ah Niu, as he gave a face full of mockery.

The Li Fire Sect may be powerful, but in Heaven Martial City, fighting was prohibited unless for special reasons, if not, they would receive punishments. These shops of theirs had to consider this, but…

With sufficient benefits before it, those did not matter. Furthermore, as long as a reason for making a move was found, then there would be no problem!

The long-faced man’s eyes glimmered as he had such thoughts.

Ah Yu and Ah Niu’s faces turned flushed. They had never seen such a shameless person ever!

The trade from before was not closed. How did this rock become his? And he had turned the tables on them and said they were greedy?

That youth in his twenties began to panic. Was money flying away?

Not only so, it seemed… like something was going to happen!

Ah Yu turned nervous, “This is Heaven Martial City. Are you going to violate Heaven Martial City’s rules to rob us in broad daylight?”

Ever since Heaven Martial City was established a long time ago, there had been very few incidents of forced robbery. It was taboo.

“Haha!” The long-faced man laughed, “I am doing my business properly, what do you mean violate Heaven Martial City’s rules?”

He waved his hands, and the fat shopkeeper behind him understood, as he shouted, “Close the doors!”

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The shop’s doors were closed!

Following that, the fat shopkeeper shouted again, and several stout men dressed in security uniforms appeared behind the long-faced man. These people were wardens of the Li Fire Sect, in charge of the Li Fire Sect store’s security.

Every warden had an aura full of vitality. Their breathing were restrained, and their eyes looked fierce. It was clear at a glance that they were martial arts masters!

It was imaginable how powerful they were at maintaining security for a Man-ranked Li Fire Sect store.

With a group of experts standing in a line, the sense of oppression given off by them was imaginable.

589 - : Man gets into trouble because of his Wealth

CKtalon  CKtalon

Against so many guards, the girl’s cousin immediately turned pale. Ah Niu’s heart sank. He had never seen so many experts back in his family clan, and each and everyone of them far exceeded him in strength. He could feel the pressure.

“What do you want to do?”

Ah Yu held her breath as her heart began to beat rapidly. Were they going to plunder them for their wealth? Was there still any law here?

“Hur Hur, do not worry. These guards may look a bit fierce, but they are not planning on doing anything to you. Just now, we already closed our deal. A hundred low-ranking relics and sending you to my Li Fire Sect as a Miscellaneous Chores disciple. These people are here to escort you to my Li Fire Sect. I am a man of my word.”

The long-faced man did not dare murder someone within Heaven Martial City, and to answer to the public and to be on the side of reason, he was indeed going to send Ah Niu and Ah Yu to the Li Fire Sect.

However, once they reach the Li Fire Sect, it would no longer be up to this pair of siblings. It would be wishful thinking for them to think that they would live peacefully as Miscellaneous Chores disciples in the Li Fire Sect, for the moment they entered, they were very likely to be tortured to death.

And for the Li Fire Sect causing someone’s death, that was no different from stepping on an ant, so who would care?

Ah Yu, who had also came to this realization, turned tragically pale.

“Don’t… Don’t pull me in… This has nothing to do with me!” Ah Yu’s cousin, who was standing beside her, suddenly jolted from his beautiful dream. He sensed that once the long-faced man lost all decorum with them, he would be silenced. Killing two was no different from killing three.

It is all that idiot, Jiang Yidao’s fault. If not for him, he could still survive, but now… he was probably doomed!

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun sneered, “You finally cannot hold it in anymore?”

He had long since expected things to turn into such a situation. In fact, he was waiting for this to happen. From the moment the long-faced man insulted Lin Xintong, Yi Yun had already wanted to settle scores.

“From what you just said, are you treating my Li Fire Sect as a tortoise? I can endure this? You cannot expect me to watch on helplessly as someone behave atrociously within my Li Fire Sect’s territory, and then remain indifferent, right?” As the long-faced man spoke, the strong warriors silently surrounded Yi Yun and company.

This situation made Ah Niu and Ah Yu panic and feel angry.

The long-faced man standing in the middle smiled and looked extremely calm and confident. He formed a sharp contrast with Ah Yu and company’s unease.

“You violated the trading rules, and tried to sell one item to two parties. I did not hold it to you, and will even fulfill my side of the deal. I will send you to the Li Fire Sect, which is already extremely generous. As for you…”

The long-faced man looked towards Yi Yun, and an overpowering sense of greed flashed in his eyes, “You Southern Sea savage dared to make a mess inside my shop. The use of force is prohibited in Heaven Martial City, but, if someone causes trouble, such as…”

As the long-faced man spoke, he suddenly punched out, the force from his fist smashing into a shelf, causing it to explode. The things inside scattered onto the ground.

The herbs within were all damaged.

“Ze Ze! Take a look. You were unhappy that this pair of siblings sold the mysterious rock to us and thus wanted to cause trouble with my Li Fire Sect, and destroyed things inside my shop…”

“When the Li Fire Sect does business, we value the principle of how amiability attracts riches, but if someone causes trouble, we will definitely act. An arrogant savage like you daring to come to my Li Fire Sect to destroy things, even if I accidentally kill you, Heaven Martial City’s Lord Zhang would understand. However… disrupting the calm of Heaven Martial City still requires me to treat Lord Zhang to tea, so as to amend my misdoings.”

His words sounded indifferent, but Ah Yu and company could tell that the long-faced man was hinting that he knew the person in charge of Heaven Martial City, and that there was some friendship between them.

This was not surprising, since the Martial Alliance was in charge of Heaven Martial City. Any place with humans responsible for it, there would be nepotism.

For the Li Fire Sect to be in cahoots with Heaven Martial City’s in-charge, was something extremely normal.

If… the long-faced man gave Lord Zhang some benefits, such as a few Empyrean relics, to sweep the matter under the rug, it would not be surprising!

Rules were set by people. In this world, it was not uncommon to see people bullying others while disregarding the rules as long as things were properly covered up, with noone knowing of it.

If the Li Fire Sect messed up the store and insisted that small figures like them were responsible for the mess, who would know the truth?

Upon thinking of this, Ah Yu’s petite body began to tremble from both grief and indignation.

As for Ah Niu, he clenched his fists tightly that his nails lodged into his palm, causing it to bleed.

He was too weak! If he was stronger, how could he have been bullied? Now, he was under the mercy of others!

“Actually… I really do not want to do anything to you. If you obediently hand over the rock, and make a statement, by being a witness, I can let you leave.”

The long-faced man smiled as he looked towards Ah Yu and Ah Niu. He took out a video disk array. He was planning to doing the necessary steps to cover up the matter. At the same time, he took out a bunch of low-ranked relics and threw them.

Ding Ding Dang Dang!

The low-ranked relics scattered on the floor, rolling towards the siblings’ feet.

“A hundred relics. If there are more, keep the change. I am an honest business man after all.” The long-faced man said with a smile.

The fat shopkeeper also sneered as he looked at the siblings who were rooted at their spots and said, “Hurry up and pick them up.”

Ah Yu and Ah Niu did not move. They only felt like their eyes were about to bleed. And at that moment, someone moved.

Ah Yu’s cousin hung a terrified and fawning smile while squatting down to pick up the relics.

“I will pick them. I will pick them. Thank you to the Lord’s gift. The rock is yours. We do not want it. I will scram once I have picked up the relics. Please do not kill me…”

To stoop to this level, he really did not want to die!

“Hahahaha, a wise man submits to fate. As for you, Jiang. Why not help pick them up. Ze Ze, what Jiang Yidao. What a joke. Did you not say you did not need to use a second saber strike against anyone?”

The long-faced man roared with laughter. He wanted to rob Yi Yun of the opportunities he had obtained in the Southern Sea. How could a person who could take out ten Empyrean relics not have any opportunities!?

Yi Yun chuckled. He gently tapped the floor with his feet and four relics seemed to be infused with energy and were caught by Yi Yun when they bounced up with a “Ceng” sound.

He had really picked up a few relics.

With these relics, which were mixed with impurities, in hand, Yi Yun began to slowly play with them, “That is when unsheathing my saber against elites at the same realm as me. Do you know what elites are? For trash, I usually do not even need to use my saber.”

“Huh!?”

The long-faced man’s flashed coldly. He never expected that at that moment, the Southern Sea savage would dare to say such provocative words.

He could tell that Yi Yun was roughly in the Dao Seed realm, and his own men were all in the Dao Seed realm as well!

In Heaven Martial City, other than a Yuan Opening realm Elder holding the ground at the Heaven-ranked store, the other Li Fire Sect stores were run by peak-Dao Seed realm disciples.

As for the wardens in their stores, they were all in the Dao Seed realm. Although their talent was lacking, they were masters at joint attacks with formations!

By setting up a formation, their strength would multiply! This was sufficient for Heaven Martial City, which had relatively good security.

A Dao Seed realm warrior like Yi Yun from the Southern Sea, apparently did not know the terrible power of a top faction in the Tian Yuan world. He probably thought that he could fight people above his realm in the Tian Yuan world just like he could in the Southern Sea.

He was foolish to the extreme.

The long-faced man pulled out a scimitar from his interspatial ring. With a flash, a cold beam reflected in all directions. “Do you know how Southern Sea savages typically die in the Tian Yuan world? Let me tell you. They usually die from their foolishness. Today, I will kill you and feed your corpse to the dogs, then no one will know the truth!”

As the long-faced man said, he stepped forward and slashed his scimitar straight towards Yi Yun’s neck.

At the same time, the guards behind the long-faced man moved. They came Yi Yun with the intent to kill from all directions.

The long-faced man led the charge. His position may seem dangerous, but it was actually the safest. The guards behind him had already set up a joint formation, and the long-faced man was centered right in the core of the formation.

At the core of the formation, he could gather the power of the twelve guards, giving him the most powerful offense and defense.

In this state, the long-faced man felt that he was invincible. If God was in the way, he would slaughter him. If Buddha stops him, he would slaughter him too!

The power of the twelve guards gathered towards his body as his body’s joints began to give off explosive cracking sounds. The large amounts of energy made him feel extremely comfortable, he could not help but cry out loud!

“Meet your death!”

The long-faced man loudly roared as the saber beam turned extremely resplendent!

However, at that instant, before Ah Yu and Ah Niu even had the time to exclaim, a few golden, divine beams pierced through the long-faced man’s saber beam.

These divine beams did not look very eye-catching, but their speeds were extremely fast. They instantly brushed past the long-faced man’s body.

Oh!?

The long-faced man’s pupils constricted as his ears buzzed!

These few beams of light were like sharp needles. It felt like they were stabbing his eyes, making his eyes go blind, giving him an inexplicable headache!

However, this feeling only lasted for a hundredth of a second before it disappeared.

The long-faced man broke out into cold sweat as the saber beam he slashed out was somehow broken!

He still had not pulled himself together. It felt like he had already died, but when he checked his body, it seemed like.. he was not really injured?

He heaved a sigh of relief. What just happened?

He looked towards Yi Yun, who did not seem to have moved at all. He was not even sure if the move from before had been sent out by Yi Yun.

Just as this thought appeared in his head, he suddenly heard continuous “Peng Peng Peng” sounds coming from behind him!

He turned his head and immediately turned pale.

The twelve guards behind him had lifeless expressions. Foam was coming out of their mouths as they began to fall down one after another like dominoes.

In a blink of an eye, the guards were lying on the ground in disarray. In the entire shop, there was only him and the fat shopkeeper left on the Li Fire Sect’s side!

“Wh… What!?”

The long-face man stared on with wide eyes. He still did not know what had happened!

“You!”

He turned his head towards Yi Yun, and noticed that Yi Yun was still playing around with the four low-ranked relics in his hand, but now…the four relics were covered in blood…

Relics mixed with impurities are not crystal clear, but after these relics were dyed in blood, they turned red like a blood rubies.

590 - : Blood-dyed Relics

CKtalon  CKtalon

What… just happened?

Seeing the bloodied relics, the long-faced man’s face immediately turned ashen!

This Southern Sea savage… Could he have used those four relics to kill the twelve guards in his store!?

How is that possible!?

He had gathered all of the power of the twelve guards, so the formation’s tiny weak point was actually the twelve guards.

However, even so, it should be impossible for someone to use a few low-ranked relics to instantly kill twelve guards!

“Peng!”

At that moment, there was a deafening sound as a shelf crashed to the ground, scattering all of its items on the floor.

It was because the fat shopkeeper’s legs had turned limp from fright. He had planned to run, but in his haste, he collided into a shelf.

“Mur… Murder… Don’t come forward… If you come… I… I’ll report to the officials…”

The fat shopkeeper was just a Purple Blood realm warrior. He had only reached this realm by eating pills and had never really practiced any martial arts. He had never seen such a scene, so with twelve Dao Seed realm warriors dying instantly in front of his eyes, without him even knowing how they died, he had wet himself from fright.

Seeing Yi Yun walk over, he was already speaking incoherently. As for his hands, he was still holding onto a token. This was a token used to alert the officials when one was in danger in the city. It had not been used for years.

However, even while watching Yi Yun walk towards him, his fat hands continued trembling and did not dare to crush the token.

Yi Yun stepped on the fat shopkeeper’s hands with a deadpan expression.

“Ka-cha!”

The sound of broken bones could be heard as the fat shopkeeper squealed like a pig in a slaughterhouse. His hand had been crushed as easily as a broken twig by Yi Yun.

“Ah Ah Ah, don’t kill me…Don’t kill me…I am just a shopkeeper…This has nothing to do with me!”

The fat shopkeeper was already in tears. The alert token in his hands had already tumbled to the ground and was picked up by Yi Yun.

“Now you recall that Heaven Martial City does not permit murder? However, I am a law-abiding citizen. I did not kill these people at all. I only maimed them of their soul sea.”

In that split instant, Yi Yun had shot out four desolate bone relics, blasting through the soul seas of those guards, annihilating their souls.

They were considered brain dead, but still alive, with no perception at all. There was no real difference from dying.

“And you…”

Yi Yun looked towards the long-faced man who was trembling.

“You…”

The long-faced man’s face was covered in sweat. He had never seen such a terrifying person. He could not gather the courage to resist. His eyes quietly glanced towards the door of the shop!

After the doors were locked, they had been automatically sealed shut by an array. He wanted to forcefully break through the array and rush out into the streets to scream for help.

To chase after someone on the streets of Heaven Martial City in a bid to kill was a heavy charge. It would definitely alert Heaven Martial City’s law enforcement team.

However, just as he had this thought, Yi Yun suddenly disappeared before him!

Almost at the same time, a black shadow appeared right in front of him. Yi Yun seemed to instantly teleport, as if Death himself had arrived!

“Ah!”

The long-faced man did not even have time to scream when a “Peng” sound exploded!

Yi Yun had pressed his palm on the long-faced man’s dantian. With the Yuan Qi exploding from his palm, it meandered along the long-faced man’s dantian, and surged through his meridians.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

Like the sound of fried beans, the long-faced man’s dantian and meridians were completely destroyed!

His cultivation had been completely crippled!

His muscles and tendons had also been broken and torn apart by Yi Yun. He would not be able to walk, and would have to spend the rest of his days bedridden.

For a warrior who could previously travel just about anywhere, this outcome was a hundred times more tragic than death!

The long-faced man vomited a large mouthful of blood. His body quivered, a result of his muscles involuntarily contracting after they were destroyed. When he realized what had happened to his body, his face turned ashen!

A life worse than death! In a blink of an eye, he had gone from a Li Fire Sect manager of certain status, to a cripple that would live a living death.

“I said that I was a law-abiding person. Since you cannot kill in Heaven Martial City, I kept you alive.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he threw the bloodied relics in his hands at the man’s long face.

“I am returning these to you. I have returned the relics you have given. Treat it as me returning the merchandise. This rock is still mine!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he picked up the mysterious rock, and then glanced at the fat shopkeeper.

Just this glance contained the intent of Yi Yun.

“Boom!”

The fat shopkeeper felt his ears experience a deafening roar as his mind went blank. He then passed out immediately.

His soul had been severely injured by Yi Yun’s intent. When he woke up, he too would be a retard.

Yi Yun had crippled everyone in the Man-ranked shop in a short period of time.

Only then did he turn to face Ah Niu and Ah Yu.

Everything that happened before happened in only a few seconds.

The youths, that came from a poor background, were completely dumbfounded upon seeing such a scene.

Previously, when they entered the city, Yi Yun had taken the initiative to speak to them. They only felt that Yi Yun was generous and good-willed.

As for Yi Yun’s clothing, they were also very common. It was unlike the sons of Heavens from large family clans, who covered themselves in treasures.

With Yi Yun’s young age, they never expected that Yi Yun would have such terrifying strength.

A person with such strength usually had an extraordinary background. These sort of people did not need to use the common gates into Heaven Martial City, for there would be dedicated entrances with people welcoming them.

However, Yi Yun had mixed in the crowd, and looked nothing special.

To Ah Niu and An Yu, Yi Yun was like the legendary reclusive masters that hid himself in the city.

“Big Brother Jiang, you are…”

Ah Niu and Ah Yu looked at Yi Yun with their emotions going through upheavals. Ah Niu was especially agitated after seeing Yi Yun’s moves.

The long-faced man had taken advantage of the situation and had held their lives in his hands. From that, he deeply understood how powerless he was, in which he could be slaughtered according to their whims.

He had wanted to have the power of an overlord and mercilessly beat up the long-faced man.

However, he was currently unable to do so.

Yi Yun however, had easily accomplished everything Ah Niu had desired. It seemed as easy as wiping away spider webs.

This was extremely impressive and filled him with admiration and adulation.

“We have to go. The Li Fire Sect will quickly discover the situation here.”

In Heaven Martial City, many shops sold valuable treasures, so to prevent theft or robbery, some family clans would set up arrays in the head office to monitor the situation at the branches.

For such a serious matter to happen in a Man-ranked branch, the Li Fire Sect’s Heaven-ranked branch would be quick to notice.

The person in charge of monitoring the array would report to the Li Fire Sect Elder, which would not take long to arrive.

Including Heaven Martial City itself, they would discover some conflict happening here. The action they did here before had already sparked some Yuan Qi fluctuations, and very quickly, law enforcement teams would lock onto this shop.

To erase all traces of what happened here to not let them discover that it was done by Yi Yun, was impossible.

591 - : Great Disparity

CKtalon  CKtalon

Since he knew there was no way of covering up the matter, Yi Yun did not bother to do so. He just walked out of the store openly, not afraid of anyone.

Although Yi Yun was not bothered, Ah Niu and Ah Yu were too weak. If he fought the people that rushed here from the Li Fire Sect’s Heaven-ranked shop, the siblings were most likely going to be affected. Especially Ah Yu, who was practically a mortal. She was too weak.

With a wave of his hand, Yi Yun used a wave of Yuan Qi to cover Ah Yu and Ah Niu.

Following that, he kicked the door to the shop open and strode out.

The moment the door opened, many people on the streets looked over.

A while ago, although the Li Fire Sect’s shop closed its doors, many warriors on the streets already discovered that something odd was happening in the shop.

They were also curious as to what sort of person dared to fight the Li Fire Sect.

Now, when they saw a person walk out, those who had been loitering outside all looked inside the shop.

In these people’s point of view, anyone who dared to cause trouble in a Li Fire Sect shop, forcing the Li Fire Sect to come to arms, would probably be a corpse by now.

However, when the door opened, they were completely dumbfounded.

Inside the store, it was in utter chaos. There were more than ten people lying all around in a half-dead fashion. There were Li Fire Sect emblems embroidered on their clothes. Their shelves and goods were scattered all over the floor.

All this was taken in by them as a young man walked out of the shop in a stately manner.

Who is this person?

The crowd of onlooking warriors were all shocked.

The Li Fire Sect shop closed its doors, but they ended up getting destroyed?

And the young man, who walked out, dared to cause trouble in a shop set up by the Li Fire Sect in the Heaven Martial City? And yet, he could walk out in such a stately manner… ?

What sort of things did he eat to get guts like that?

Yi Yun completely ignored the onlookers as he strode into the crowd. Yi Yun’s footsteps were not fast, but the space between his legs seemed to shorten. In a few casual steps, he had traversed a distance of a few streets away from the crowd, and he had disappeared from the crowd’s view.

At that moment, another figure tumbled out of the shop and rushed out.

“Hero, wait… wait! Don’t leave me behind!” Ah Yu’s cousin said with a terrified look. Tears were streaming down his face.

Now, he was feeling extremely terrified. Yi Yun had instantly offended the entire Li Fire Sect!

The Li Fire Sect was a gigantic entity. The people who were beaten by Yi Yun were small fry that did not have much standing in the Li Fire Sect, so it was not a big deal that Yi Yun had defeated them.

After beating these small fry, what if a Li Fire Sect Elder came looking, then what would happen?

Ah Yu’s cousin was already too frightened to keep imagining what would happen next. Now, all he could count on was Yi Yun.

He never expected that Yi Yun had taken Ah Niu and Ah Yu with him, but he had completely ignored him.

Hence, Ah Yu’s cousin could only desperately chase him with tears and piss flowing…

Yi Yun took the siblings away from the city region and to a large inn in the eastern sector of Heaven Martial City.

This inn was called the Six Swords Inn and it was opened by the Tian Yuan world’s Six Swords Alliance.

The Six Sword Alliance was also a large organization that had a long history in the Tian Yuan world. It was formed by a total of six sects and family clans that used sword arts.

The Six Swords Alliance was inferior to the Martial Alliance. Especially in recent years, the Martial Alliance was becoming more and more powerful. Slowly, it had taken control of the world, with no one daring to defy it.

As such, the Six Swords Alliance could only stay low.

Although it was impossible for the Six Swords Alliance to compete with the Martial Alliance, with the Martial Alliance’s intention of “using virtue to conquer the world”, it could not have conflicts with organizations similar to the Six Swords Alliance.

Yi Yun stately walked into the Six Swords Inn and booked two high class rooms.

One night cost three inferior-grade relics, this made Ah Niu and Ah Yu feel the pinch.

Ah Niu’s cultivation method up to this point was to sparingly use low-ranking relics that did not even make the cut. He had never been able to indulge in using inferior-grade relics, but now… three were spent for a night in an inn, so how could he not feel the pinch?

“Big Brother Jiang, you are letting us stay here?”

Ah Yu realized Yi Yun’s intention. She believed that after Yi Yun destroyed the Li Fire Sect’s shop, he would quickly leave Heaven Martial City.

However, Yi Yun had no intention to leave, and instead, he took up accommodation in Heaven Martial City.

Wasn’t this him waiting for people from the Li Fire Sect to come for him?

“Hero, hero! Why are you still staying here!? We are in big trouble, we need to run!”

Ah Yu’s cousin managed to catch up to Yi Yun, panting. He was covered in sweat and he was dead tired. He was completely dumbfounded when he saw Yi Yun preparing to stay at the Six Swords Inn.

If he didn’t escape, were they just going to sit here and await death!?

Of course, Yi Yun was like a life-saving straw that he needed to grasp onto, so he did not dare say such a thing. He was in a feverish state like ants on a hot brick, with no idea what to do.

Yi Yun could not even be bothered to answer this fickle cousin who sailed wherever the wind blew.

Want to run? This was taking things for granted.

To take two of them away, unless he took the God Advent Tower out, they would still be chased even after they left the city. Why not stay in the Six Swords Alliance’s inn? At least they would not dare to destroy this shop. So on this matter, Yi Yun was indifferent. It was safer for Ah Niu and Ah Yu to live in the inn.

Yi Yun estimated that in less than an hour, the Li Fire Sect would come looking for him.

To be ruthlessly stomped on in their own territory, how could the Li Fire Sect let this go after being shamed to such a great extent!?

…

Yi Yun was not wrong. After the Man-ranked Li Fire Sect shop got into trouble, the main store quickly learned of the matter!

The first reaction of the Li Fire Sect was that of shock. This was Heaven Martial City. There was actually a person who dared to mess things up, and destroy their Li Fire Sect shop? Was that person mad?

The Li Fire Sect hurriedly sent out a group of men to the destroyed Man-ranked shop. Seeing the sorry state of the shop, their faces turned extremely ugly.

Not only was the store smashed up, even the people inside had been crippled!

This was stepping on their Li Fire Sect’s face under the watchful eyes of the public!

“Their soul seas have been destroyed. All of them have been turned into retards! The one still conscious has been crippled!” The Li Fire Sect warden in charge of investigating the shop said with his face solemn after a probe.

“This is the downtown area. There’s people everywhere. To do this in broad daylight, they sure have tremendous guts!” Another Li Fire Sect warden said.

He looked at the long-faced man who had been completely crippled with a cold gaze, “What happened? Why did someone cause trouble? How did the grudge occur? How many people did they have?”

The long-faced man only had half a breath left. Seeing his Li Fire Sect people rush over, he was feeling an upheaval of emotions as tears streamed down his cheeks.

In times of despair, when people saw a life-saving straw, their inner emotions would be on the precipice of collapse.

“Sa… Save me.” The long-faced man climbed over with great difficulty. He used his bloodied hand to tug at one of the men’s pants. He looked with tremendous hope at the Li Fire Sect’s wardens and said with a trembling voice, “My dantian’s Yuan Qi is… is about to dissipate. Save me… ”

The long-faced man wished for the sect to give him some divine medicine that could join up his meridians and restore his torn muscles. He did not wish to recover his original strength. He was content with just recovering a tiny bit of it.

Upon hearing the long-faced man’s request, the two wardens flashed a look of contempt.

He still wanted to be saved and keep his Yuan Qi despite being crippled?

He was too naive.

It was not impossible to save him, but it would cost a great deal of heavenly treasures. That was a big price that even the entire Li Fire Sect would feel the pinch.

It was not even worth it to pay such a price to save a core disciple, what more a exterior disciple who only did business and had no future?

However, in the presence of so many people, not only where there people from the Li Fire Sect, there were also outsiders watching. They could not reflect the coldness of a large sect, or they would be criticized as being cold and heartless.

The two wardens lightly said with a few perfunctory words, “We will naturally treat your wounds. Now, tell us what had happened. To dare touch our Li Fire Sect, we will demand ten times the payback!”

A warden said as his eyes flashed coldly!

No one dared to touch the Li Fire Sect. They were a super faction that no one dared to offend in the Tian Yuan world. Furthermore, they had relations with and the support of the Martial Alliance, so whoever dared touch them could only prepare to be annihilated!

592 - : Ten Times the Payback

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, Heaven Martial City, Treasure House.

Treasure House was a pagoda building that had twenty-two floors. Usually, the first twenty floors were used for business, but the twenty-first and twenty-second storeys were used to welcome important guests.

At the twenty-first storey of Treasure House, in a large hall, there were all sorts of valuable treasures placed there.

These treasures were brought and placed in the Treasure House from all over the Tian Yuan world. Some were for sale, while others were gifts from various large factions to the Martial Alliance.

A few years ago, the Martial Alliance was a large faction, but it had never been able to be receive gifts from the various large factions of the Tian Yuan world.

But now, with the Longevity Extending Pills in hand, various large factions were scrambling to be in the good books of the Martial Alliance.

And slowly, people discovered that the Martial Alliance had actually hidden a lot of its strength.

A typical alliance organization like the Six Swords Alliance was formed by six factions that used sword arts. The main combat power of the Six Swords Alliance were the six factions themselves. As for the Six Swords Alliance itself, it did not have much offensive power.

However, the Martial Alliance was different. In the past few years, especially with the Martial Alliance organizing several large-scale events, such as the martial arts meet and exploration of mystic realms, people began to discover that the Martial Alliance’s heritage far exceeded their imaginations.

The Martial Alliance seemed to be secretly nurturing a faction of its own.

As to how many people this faction had, or what the cultivation realms and strength of these people were, no one knew.

Such a faction was filled with mystery.

People knew almost nothing at the beginning. They only knew that they had the Blood Moon as their emblem.

And later on, even the entire Martial Alliance began to use the Blood Moon as an emblem. And with the Martial Alliance opening itself, it began to take in disciples from various large sects, for them to enter the Martial Alliance for cultivation.

Heavenly Dao Union was thus born.

As a result, the Martial Alliance had slowly evolved into a sect.

However, it was different from a traditional sect.

A typical sect would take in disciples, but prevent them from betraying the sect. If they joined other factions midway, they would be severely punished or even maimed of their cultivation.

However, the Martial Alliance did not mind. Their sect’s disciples were free to enter other sects.

Such generous terms tempted the elites of many large factions.

They could preserve the foundations of their original sect and enter the Martial Alliance, becoming a member of the Heavenly Dao Union.

In the Heavenly Dao Union, as long as you had talent, you were treated the same whether you were a chivalrous person, a favored child of Heaven or a sea-faring pirate.

One could obtain the Martial Alliance’s cultivation resources using one’s own strength.

As for the cultivation resources the Martial Alliance possessed, it was superior to any family clan in the Tian Yuan world!

Under such circumstances, who wouldn’t want to enter the Heavenly Dao Union?

This was something where there was everything to gain, but nothing to lose. Of course, even though it was attractive, the requirements of the Heavenly Dao Union were extremely demanding. Many elites nurtured painstakingly by large family clans were rejected when they attempted to enter the Heavenly Dao Union.

In the Treasure House’s large hall, a middle-aged scholarly person, with more than ten people attending to him, was admiring the treasures sent from the various large factions of the Tian Yuan world.

However… from the calm look on his face, there was probably nothing that caught his eye.

And on a table not far from him sat a pillbox.

However, this unremarkable-looking pillbox was something that many people coveted because inside the pillbox was a treasure made the eyes of Patriarchs of many large factions turn red — Longevity Extending Pills!

A single Longevity Extending Pill was sought after on the market for astronomical prices, but there was none to be bought. Such an item was only to be used for oneself. No one would sell it.

To obtain a Longevity Extending Pill, all the large factions had put in a lot of thought into it.

And at that moment, the people accompanying the middle-aged scholarly person were chief figures sent from various large factions to Heaven Martial City.

One of them included a Li Fire Sect Elder, Gongsun Ding.

Beside Gongsun Ding, there were two genius Li Fire Sect disciples, Gongsun Zhi and Gongsun Yang.

Two months ago, it was rumored that Gongsun Yang was seriously injured by a mysterious person at the Lin family. The rumors even went as far as saying that two Li Fire Sect Elders had jointly attacked this person with a Shentu family clan Elder, but they ended up letting the person escape easily, and they ended up suffering to a tiny extent.

This matter was completely denied by the Li Fire Sect.

The rumor did not sound credible to begin with, and later, when people saw Gongsun Yang, who had been rumored to be crippled, appear fine in front of others, these rumors began to subside.

No one knew that the Li Fire Sect had spent numerous treasures just to heal Gongsun Yang’s wounds. And even so, Gongsun Yang had not fully recovered.

He looked fine on the surface, but he still had internal injuries that had not completely recovered.

He had followed his sect’s Elder to meet the middle-aged scholarly person to obtain his appreciation for entry into the Heavenly Dao Union.

A spot in the Heavenly Dao Union was something that many elites coveted. It was something worth the desperation and prayers for.

At that moment, the middle-aged scholar happened to walk in front of the treasures sent from the Li Fire Sect. Elder Gongsun Ding deliberately let Gongsun Yang introduce the treasures, in a bid to let Gongsun Yang leave an impression on the middle-aged scholar.

It was a rare opportunity. Gongsun Yang introduced the treasures eloquently as he showed off his insight into the world’s various treasures that peppered his speech.

Whenever the middle-aged scholar asked a question, Gongsun Yang would answer in great detail as if he had been injected with stimulants.

For this, he had prepared for several days to obtain an exhaustive understanding of all these treasures.

“You know quite a lot.” The middle-aged scholar evaluated him lightly. This made Gongsun Yang feel like he had received a great deal of rewards. He was immediately overjoyed but he kept a humble tone and said, “Thank you for Lord Ambassador’s praise. This junior’s knowledge is still limited. If it’s possible, I wish to receive a guidance or two from the Lord.”

Gongsun Yang’s words was an obvious hint to let the middle-aged scholar give him a chance at entering the Heavenly Dao Union. Only by entering the Heavenly Dao Union, could he obtain the middle-aged scholar’s guidance.

The middle-aged scholar only chuckled in response to this and he did not reply. However, a sneer sounded from beside him.

This sneer clearly imbued the derision of how Gongsun Yang was like a toad lusting after a swan’s feathers.

Oh?

Gongsun Yang stared. At such an occasion, in the presence of so many important figures where everyone was amiable, with compliments flowing between each other, someone was so presumptuous that he sneered!

He gritted his teeth and looked over, and he noticed that the person who sneered was a handsome-looking young boy.

This young boy looked to be seventeen or eighteen. Although he was young, no one dared to think lightly of him as he was a member of the Heavenly Dao Union. Furthermore, he was highly appreciated in the Heavenly Dao Union.

This youth was clearly arrogant to a certain degree for him to emit such a mocking sneer in this situation. Clearly, he did not think much of Gongsun Yang.

However, no matter how much Gongsun Yang raged in his heart, he did not dare to say a word.

His stature was inferior!

The youth was a blessed child of Heaven from the Heavenly Dao Union. He was young with unlimited prospects for his future. As for Gongsun Yang, he still needed to use all sorts of schemes just to get into the Heavenly Dao Union. The difference was imaginable.

Towards the insolence of the handsome youth, the middle-aged scholar did not reprimand him in any way. It was as if he did not hear it as he continued to look at the treasures.

“This darn kid dares to look down on me!”

Gongsun Yang clenched his fists tightly and suppressed the anger from the humiliation he suffered.

Just as the middle-aged scholar was about to look at the next faction’s treasures, Gongsun Yang’s expression suddenly changed!

Beside him, Gongsun Ding’s expression also sank suddenly.

A moment ago, their voice transmission token had sent news that they found incredulous.

The news was sent to them by a Li Fire Sect warden, who said that a Man-ranked shop set up by their Li Fire Sect had been destroyed!

And the manager, shopkeeper and guards of the shop were all crippled without exception!

How… could there be such a thing?

Gongsun Ding found it hard to believe. Who could have such guts!?

The minute changes between him and Gongsun Yang was sensed by the middle-aged scholar. Although he gave off a breezy feeling, he was very cognizant of the thoughts and emotional changes of all the people around him.

He lightly glanced at Gongsun Ding and said, “Did something happen?”

“This… ” Gongsun Ding frowned. The shameful news of their Li Fire Sect’s shop being destroyed was not something he wanted to mention in front of a Martial Alliance Ambassador.

“Just some small matter. Someone cause trouble in our Li Fire Sect’s shop.”

“Trouble?” The middle-aged scholar chuckled. If it was some typical trouble, it would not have caused Gongsun Ding’s expression to change so drastically.

However, he did not expose him. Instead, a thin man’s expression beside the middle-aged scholar turned sullen.

He was the steward of Heaven Martial City, and he was the so-called “Lord Zhang” previously mentioned by the long-faced man.

This “Lord Zhang” was in charge of security in Heaven Martial City. Now, with the Martial Alliance’s Ambassador here, he naturally did not feel good about there being a major security lapse in Martial Alliance that he administered.

After an exchange with Gongsun Ding through a Yuan Qi transmission, he already knew what had happened.

A large faction’s shop being destroyed during an Ambassador’s visit was preposterous.

Gongsun Ding said, “With the Ambassador here, we need to resolve the matter quickly. Send Gongsun Zhi and Gongsun Yang to handle it!”

“Since that’s the case, take my token and a team of law enforcement to bring the culprit to justice.” Zhang transmitted his voice and passed his token to Gongsun Ding without a trace.

“Leave and settle the matter quickly.” Gongsun Ding transmitted his voice.

Gongsun Yang held the token. He was already enraged because of the derision he endured from that handsome youth, and now, someone had embarrassed their Li Fire Sect.

All of this was soon known by the middle-aged scholar.

As for the handsome youth, he had already guessed that something was amiss, just like the middle-aged scholar. He was watching them with an amused expression.

This resulted in Gongsun Yang feeling even angrier.

He had to kill the culprit immediately and hang the person’s corpse for all to see! He had to let everyone know what it was like to offend their Li Fire Sect. He also wanted to let the handsome youth know that he, Gongsun Yang was someone not to be trifled with.

At that moment, the middle-aged scholar looked at the gifts and said without even lifting his head, “You have been discussing for so long. Why, is the matter troublesome?”

The handsome youth also revealed a sneer on his lips.

“Replying to Lord Ambassador’s question, it’s just some trifling matters. It will be settled cleanly and immediately. Lord Ambassador, you don’t have to worry about it. Take a little rest, for this junior will be back soon.” Gongsun Yang said these words with great aplomb, to Gongsun Ding’s satisfaction.

Amongst the large factions that decided on leaning towards the Martial Alliance, the Li Fire Sect was strong, but they were nothing special.

Gongsun Ding even believed that if this sudden turn of events really became serious, it was possible that it was something good.

For example, the troublemaker actually had a strong faction backing him, or he would not have been so arrogant.

If that was the case, destroying such a faction could also reflect the power of the Li Fire Sect.

593 - : Hanging a corpse for all to see

CKtalon  CKtalon

Only 15 minutes had passed since the incident when Gongsun Zhi and Gongsun Yang arrived at the Man-ranked store that had been destroyed.

When dozens of people from the Li Fire Sect and the law-enforcement team arrived with a forceful stance, the bunch of onlookers dispersed.

In Heaven Martial City, the law-enforcement team’s dignity was extraordinary. Heaven Martial City rarely had trouble, and once there was trouble, with the law-enforcement team’s deployment, the matter would be settled easily in an overwhelming manner!

Especially now, the law-enforcement team was aided by men from the Li Fire Sect. This matter would definitely be resolved very quickly, and the person who had caused the trouble was doomed.

Seeing the messy scene and more than ten Li Fire Sect disciples lying on the floor like dead pigs, Gongsun Yang pinched his wrists, as a cold beam flashed in his eyes. He thought that the warden, who reported the matter to him, had exaggerated matters, but from the looks of it now, the real situation was worse!

More than ten people were crippled almost instantly. What boldness!

“Young Master Zhi, Young Master Yang, you must speak up for this subordinate!”

Seeing Gongsun Yang and Gongsun Zhi, and especially with Heaven Martial City’s law-enforcement team, the long-faced man crawled over with great difficulty as tears streamed down his face.

Seeing the long-faced man, a look of contempt flashed on Gongsun Yang’s face. He coldly said, “Trash!”

Beside Gongsun Yang, Gongsun Zhi smiled and asked, “What sort of people beat you into such a state? Where did they go?”

The long-faced man spat out blood and described Yi Yun’s looks through great difficulty as well as the cause of the incident.

Of course, he would not have said how he had been tempted by greed. Instead, he pushed all the blame to Yi Yun.

He now found hope. There was that tiny twinkle of hope that would allow him to be saved by the sect. As for Yi Yun, he eagerly awaited to see his corpse being placed before him.

“They went back on their word on a good that was sold? He even dared to snatch by force? This person is deserves death!”

Gongsun Yang loosened his neck as it issued “Bba Bba Bba” sounds. He had previously recuperated for two months and he was thinking of taking part in some activities!

It was perfect with someone sending himself to his doorstep!

They quickly knew of Yi Yun’s destination — Six Swords Inn.

“Tsk, do you think that the Six Swords Inn can shelter you? Such naivety. Let’s finish this thing that does not have its eyes open!”

As Gongsun Yang spoke, he glanced at the moaning long-faced man on the ground. He coldly said, “Bring him along so we can find that person!”

Gongsun Yang and Gongsun Zhi led the men and marched with astounding mightiness to the Six Swords Inn.

As they passed through the streets, there was intense killing intent and fanfare. They attracted the attention and following of numerous warriors.

Gongsun Yang walked right in front. His face was sullen, and a sneer hung on his mouth.

Previously, the troublemaker had walked through the Li Fire Sect shop’s main door openly and left arrogantly. Many people were watching by the doors.

Now, he wanted to teach that person a lesson and let everyone see that person’s horrible state. Not only did he want to brutally teach that person a lesson openly, he also wanted to hang that person’s corpse up for all to see.

Only then could they restore the reputation lost by the Li Fire Sect. It would also let the people of Heaven Martial City notice him, Gongsun Yang. He did not want to be treated like air.

In a blink of an eye, Gongsun Yang had a few hundred people following him. And at that moment, the Six Swords Inn was already in front of them.

“The law-enforcement team is here! What’s the matter?”

The guests in the inn’s lobby all had surprised looks on their faces.

The moment Gongsun Yang stepped through the door, he held up a token, “The Li Fire Sect and Heaven Martial City law-enforcement team have come here to capture the perpetrator, Jiang Yidao! Jiang Yidao, come out and prepare for your doom!”

At that moment, there were already many onlookers here to watch the bustle. They told everything that had happened to the inn’s guests who were still ignorant of the matter.

These people were immediately speechless. From the formation of the Li Fire Sect, this person named Jiang Yidao was doomed. However, it was his own fault for offending the Li Fire Sect.

“Jiang Yidao, you dared to beat me up. Come out and meet your doom!”

The long-faced man had shouted at the top of his voice. As he used too much strength to shout, his wounds began to hurt. However, at that moment, the pain was nothing to him anymore.

All he wanted was to get vindication!

He hated Jiang Yidao to the bone. Now, with someone backing him, he wanted Jiang Yidao to pay a price that was ten times more painful!

Seeing this stance, the shopkeeper of the inn hurriedly came to Gongsun Yang and company.

This shopkeeper represented the Six Swords Alliance. Although he was courteous to the law-enforcement team, he was not excessive in his humility, “Everyone, it’s fine for you to execute your mission, but please do not destroy my Six Swords Alliance’s inn. And please try not to let the guests of my Six Swords inn see blood, so it doesn’t disturb them.”

“Don’t worry. I will naturally drag Jiang Yidao out before beating him up.” Gongsun Yang smiled and said it nonchalantly. He was not that worried about the Six Swords Alliance.

“Right, I wonder which room that Jiang Yidao is hiding in?” He asked again.

Be it Gongsun Yang or the people present, they all believed Jiang Yidao had come to the Six Swords Inn to hide from woe. Now seeing such a large formation, he was definitely holed up in his room, fearing to take a step out.

The shopkeeper also had an understanding of the matter, and he immediately sent his worker to find out about the situation. Hearing Gongsun Yang’s question, he turned to look at the staircase.

At that moment, the man who had been sent to check on the matter ran down the stairs.

“How is it? Which room is he hiding in?” Gongsun Yang gently flicked his sleeves.

The man glanced at Gongsun Yang, and then he looked at the shopkeeper before taking a gulp of saliva, “He… He’s not in his room”

“Oh? He has already escaped?” Gongsun Yang’s expression turned sullen.

“N… No. That guest is drinking tea on the second floor’s lounge.”

“Drinking tea?” Gongsun Yang stared straight at him.

He and a bunch of people had come with some a imposing stance, but this embolden person still had the mood to drink tea?

Did he not know that his doomsday was here?

The bunch of people thundered up the stairs. Thankfully, the staircase of the Six Swords Inn was wide and it was made of extraordinary materials. If not, with so many warriors rushing up it, it would have collapsed.

The moment they reached the second floor, all the tea drinking customers had dispersed to the side. Hence, without the long-faced man’s identification, there was an azure-clothed young man, who was holding a teapot in hand, sitting alone in a corner of the tea restaurant. He was slowly stirring the tea, and drinking it without any worries.

A tea drinker like him would appear very normal, but in the current situation, his leisurely drinking looked extremely arrogant.

Gongsun Yang and Gongsun Zhi were stunned seeing this scene. Gongsun Zhi laughed from extreme anger, “Waiting for us to come? What guts!”

Gongsun Yang also wanted to curse, but just as the words reached his mouth, they got lodged.

From his present angle, he could only see Yi Yun’s back and a little bit of his side profile. For some reason, this figure suddenly gave him a familiar feeling.

Have I have seen this person before?

594 - : Waiting for You to Come

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was seated beside a window in the corner of the restaurant. Despite hearing the people from the Li Fire Sect and law-enforcement team coming, he still sat at his spot without moving.

The people’s imposing arrival at the Six Swords Inn was long detected by Yi Yun. However, he still sat there, quietly waiting for their arrival.

He also knew that Ah Niu and Ah Yu were on the third level of the Six Swords Alliance’s inn. As for Ah Yu’s cousin, his face had turned ashen from fright. He was trembling all over and he was constantly trying to drag Ah Yu and Ah Niu to flee in the chaos.

As for the Li Fire Sect and law-enforcement team, they were angrily staring daggers at him. The onlookers were also waiting for a good show to be put on. There were people constantly pointing at him, saying words like “arrogant” and “haughty”.

As the center of this vortex, Yi Yun appeared to not have anything to do with it. He gently covered the teapot.

What he looked like right now was someone who had enjoyed success from a young age, and a mighty scion who had led a charmed life.

His gaze was that of arrogance. It could even be described as him considering everyone beneath his notice.

Many scions would behave like that because their strength far exceeded their peers from a young age. With them coming from superior origins, they were already accustomed to being the center of the world, and as such, they thought that everyone was beneath their notice.

Hence, when they came to travel the world, they would be arrogant like Yi Yun was now.

Yi Yun had led two lives. His first life was mediocre and unexciting. In this second life, he originated from the Cloud Wilderness, and he had experienced all sorts of hardship. Later on, although he went to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, he was only in the beginning stages of his martial path there. He was extremely weak, he had to be careful all the time, and he could not be too ostentatious.

And later, after the Shepherd Boy invaded the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, and with Shentu Nantian’s appearance, Yi Yun had to tread on thin ice with every step. But even so, he still nearly got tortured to death by Shentu Nantian!

Later on, when he came to the Tian Yuan world, he found himself in the middle of a huge game between some large factions.

In such a life, Yi Yun had to keep himself low. Other than the occasional pulling of strings in the background, he gave people the impression that he someone who was always very steady and calm.

But in fact, deep in Yi Yun’s bones, he had to suppress the blood of a youth because he was too weak!

Be it his previous life or his present life, he had always yearned to become a top figure and be a free spirit, leading a life unworried about anything! That was the real pleasure of life!

Now, he had changed his identity, and his strength had increased by leaps and bounds. He had sufficient strength and hidden cards on his hand to carve his own fate. As such, the restrained blood in him was now unbridled!

Warriors had to suffer hardship and experience numerous life and death encounters. If they were not careful, they would lose their lives. They had to restrain their desires and endure lonely decades of reclusive training. Wasn’t all this for them to lead a free life and do as they pleased when their power succeeded on reaching unprecedented heights!?

Everything in the world depended on one’s preference.

To do as the heart pleased!

“Pa!”

Yi Yun put down his teacup. The clear song of crisp porcelain reverberated in the tea restaurant. It was as if the ground trembled slightly, but even so, the teacup did not shatter.

Many people were startled. There were even some who retreated back a step. However, they were enraged in the next moment for their overreaction.

He had just slammed his teacup, so what was there to panic about?

“What’s there to act about!? Death is awaiting you!”

Gongsun Zhi and Gongsun Yang did not say a word. However, the long-faced man beside them had shouted due to his emotional upheavals.

He wished that this person, who had turned him into a cripple, would be hacked into pieces in front of him. Besides, with someone backing him, how could the long-faced man keep his calm?

He pointed at Yi Yun’s figure and said to Gongsun Yang, “Young Master Yang, it’s that kid! Kill him!”

Kill?

Gongsun Yang’s eyelids twitched. The figure in front of him looked more and more familiar. It made him think of someone.

That person in his memories that had caused a huge psychological scar in his heart. That was the first time he had been grabbed by someone and nonchalantly beaten up in his entire life.

Right, beaten up, and not sparring. The difference between their strengths were too great…

This even made Gongsun Yang question his life. They were both at the Dao Seed realm and they were both geniuses. Why could the gap be so huge?

After two months of recuperation, Gongsun Yang finally walked out of his shadows, but who knew that just as he wanted to show off prominently so he could relieve himself of his repressed feelings, why did he have to encounter a figure that gave him such a strong sense of familiarity?

Just as he wanted to make sure, the long-faced man somehow got strength from somewhere and he held the upper half of his body upright. He excitedly pointed at Gongsun Yang and said arrogantly to Yi Yun, “You savage who hasn’t seen the world. Do you know who this is? He is a genius of my Li Fire Sect’s younger generation, Young Master Gongsun Yang! With Young Master Yang’s talent, he can enter the Heavenly Dao Union soon. For a hillbilly like you, this is something you wouldn’t even be able to process.”

“I urge you to not to resist. Obediently wash your neck clean and prepare for death. Maybe our Young Master Yang will show you mercy and let you look good in death!” The long-faced man’s voice entered everyone’s ears. He touted Gongsun Yang so hard, because he knew of his status in the Li Fire Sect.

If Gongsun Yang entered the Heavenly Dao Union, he would have a lot of say. As long as this life-saving straw was grabbed onto, the long-faced man might be saved if Gongsun Yang put in a few good words to the upper echelons of the Li Fire Sect.

Upon hearing the long-faced man’s touting, Gongsun Yang still did not know how to react. He was a person who liked to be touted in front of the masses. However, that familiar figure made Gongsun Yang feel a lack of confidence.

At that moment, he did not stop the long-faced man from speaking further. He felt that things could not be so coincidental.

“The Tian Yuan world is so big, I don’t believe I will meet him a second time… ”

As Gongsun Yang had such thoughts, he gained a bit more confidence and thundered, “Kid, you caused trouble at the Li Fire Sect shop. Today, I will fix you!”

Just as Gongsun Yang finished saying those words, the tea-drinking figure turned slightly sideways and said, “Oh? How do you plan on fixing me?”

Weng!

This voice was like a voodoo charm that seemed to hasten his death. Gongsun Yang immediately stared at him blankly.

This voice… could it be…

And at that moment, the long-faced man had an extremely distorted expression, “It looks like you won’t shed a tear until you see the coffin! You insolent person who thinks you are invincible, let our Young Master Yang teach you how to be a proper person. Let a Southern Sea savage like you know what it means to be sitting in a well and looking at the stars!”

Southern Sea! The ominous feeling in Gongsun Yang’s heart grew in intensity!

At that moment, the figure finally turned his head. That familiar face made Gongsun Yang entire body tense up.

It was really him!

Gongsun Yang only felt like he had been struck by a bolt of lightning. He felt his entire body go numb.

The internal injuries he was suffering immediately started to ache.

Gongsun Yang’s face twitched, but everyone’s eyes were focused on Yi Yun so no one noticed it.

The long-faced man was still clamoring. The members of the law-enforcement team were still rubbing their fists.

As for Gongsun Yang, he seemed to have turned into stone. He did not even say a word.

Back then, he knew that even his sect’s Elders had suffered under the hands of this person!

595 - : Enemies Fated to Meet Again

CKtalon  CKtalon

Two Li Fire Sect exterior Elders and a Shentu Elder, totaling in three Yuan Opening realm Elders.

In the Tian Yuan world, it was already an impressive feat to reach the Yuan Opening realm. For example, the Li Fire Sect only had eight people who had reached the level of Empyreal King. And most of them were at the early stages of Empyreal King.

To step into the mid-stages or to be above the mid-stages, they would be Patriarchal figures.

Yet, three Yuan Opening realm Elders failed to apprehend Yi Yun despite combining their efforts. Instead, eight Li Fire Sect genius disciples were killed as a result, while Yi Yun managed to escape unscathed.

The two Yuan Opening realm Elders were punished with 500 years in the dungeons.

A person like Yi Yun was definitely someone they could handle!

Their numbers and forceful stance were just for show, because Gongsun Yang clearly knew that all of them were nothing in front of Yi Yun.

The law-enforcement team from Heaven Martial City may have a few Yuan Opening realm law-enforcers holding the ground, but they did not partake in settling a trivial matter of trouble-making in the Li Fire Sect shop.

Gongsun Yang froze on the spot and he broke out into a profuse cold sweat. He was having a terrible headache from the dilemma that faced him. With so many people watching and him having boasted, he never expected that the trouble-maker was this jinx!

He was completely at a loss as to how to react.

Many people were waiting for him to apprehend Yi Yun, but Yi Yun was still sitting in the lounge drinking his tea in a calm and composed manner.

“Senior brother Yang, why are you zoning off? Let’s capture this person and report back quickly!”

Beside Gongsun Yang, Gongsun Zhi said. He previously thought that once they found Jiang Yidao, they would take him down like a sudden clap of thunder which left no time for anyone to cover one’s ears, before crippling him. But for some reason, Gongsun Yang stood there motionless for nearly a minute.

He did not make a move, nor did he give any orders.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly stood up.

Gongsun Yang’s heart missed a beat the moment Yi Yun stood up. He found his palms were damp with sweat, and his lips were pale. He had the urge to just escape, but with so many people watching and him putting so much emphasis on his reputation, how could he run?

And of all times, the long-faced man held his body up after noticing Gongsun Yang was late to giving out his orders. He laughed as he spoke for Gongsun Yang, “You are still so arrogant with death looming. It looks like you really won’t shed a tear until you see your coffin. Since you asked just how we will fix you, I might as well tell you.”

“Our Young Master Yang said that he would not only cripple your cultivation and torture you to death, he will even hoist your corpse in front of our shop to display it to the public, exposing it for seven days!” The long-faced man said with a touch of twisted pleasure, as he glanced at the onlookers.

These onlookers had previously been standing at the entrance of the shop looking in, while pointing at him in his wretched state.

This made him feel extremely unhappy. Now, he said it loudly for everyone on the second floor to know that Jiang Yidao’s act against him would result in an outcome more than ten, no, a hundred times worse than his injuries!

Gongsun Yang only wished that he could slap the long-faced man to death at that moment. With the jinx in front of him, he could forget that the long-faced man was being over-talkative, but why did he have to involve him in every sentence!?

“Senior brother Yang, what should be said has been said. It’s time to make our move.” Gongsun Zhi said without much consideration. Although the long-faced man had said it in a highly conceited manner like he was intoxicated by success, it was nothing much. They wanted to show everyone the outcome of offending the Li Fire Sect.

Gongsun Zhi glanced at Gongsun Yang, but… for some weird reason, Gongsun Yang still did not intend to do anything. On the contrary, his eyes were flickering, and his face had an ugly expression on it. All his muscles seemed to turn stuff.

What’s wrong with Senior brother? Could it be that the internal injuries from before were acting up?

Previously, Gongsun Yang being beaten half to death by Yi Yun was of course covered up by the Li Fire Sect, but lots of people knew about Gongsun Yang’s injuries.

Gongsun Yang only lied that he had encountered a near-death experience while exploring a mystic realm which resulted in those injuries.

This made Gongsun Zhi believe that Gongsun Yang’s injuries were not completely healed.

And at that moment, Yi Yun walked towards the law-enforcement team!

Gongsun Yang’s heart began to pound loudly like a drum. Sweat oozed from his forehead as he pressed his hand on his sword’s hilt. He began to tremble slightly, for he was already really nervous!

“Why? You haven’t recovered from your wounds yet?” Yi Yun asked.

Gongsun Yang felt an increase in the humiliating anger in his heart and he wished that he could tear Yi Yun to pieces, but he knew that if he rushed Yi Yun, he would only end up in a tragic state.

“What’s wrong?”

“That Southern Sea savage is being so arrogant, why isn’t that Li Fire Sect disciple doing anything?”

At this point, many could tell that something was amiss, as they began to whisper.

Gongsun Yang previously said that he would drag Yi Yun out and beat him up. From his light tone, it would definitely have been a single stunning blow. They all wanted to witness the impressive feat of a Li Fire Sect genius.

Now, with Jiang Yidao already initiating the provocation, Gongsun Yang still did not make a move. And what were the “wounds” he mentioned?

Gongsun Yang felt that all eyes were on him, and he could hear the private discussions around him. He felt like crumbling there and then.

How would he himself dare to make a move?

Seeing Gongsun Yang’s inaction, Gongsun Zhi was certain that his senior brother had suffered a relapse of his old injuries.

‘Forget it, I’ll do it.’

Gongsun Zhi had such thoughts. He was already unhappy with Jiang Yidao’s arrogance, and especially with him daring to walk towards them slowly.

He had seen arrogance, but never that much arrogance!

He took a step forward and unsheathed his sword!

“There’s no need for my senior brother to take care of a Southern Sea savage like you! Kid, you are too arrogant, let me carve you into a human pole with my sword!”

Peng!

Like a silver bottle shattering, dozens of cold beams shot out of Gongsun Zhi’s sword tip, as they stabbed towards Yi Yun from different angles.

His sword attack had sealed off every angle from which Yi Yun could dodge in. Every sword beam contained immense power, so strong that it forced the onlookers to retreat when they felt the frost Qi!

Gongsun Zhi did not attack Yi Yun’s vital points. He wanted to lop Yi Yun’s limbs, ears and nose off.

“Junior brother, you… ”

When he saw this scene, Gongsun Yang’s expression drastically changed. Before he could even open his mouth to stop him, Gongsun Zhi had already made his move. There was also no indication before he made his move.

When Yi Yun saw the sword beams coming at him from all directions, he smiled.

He did not draw his saber, he simply threw the tea water from the cup in his hands.

The tea water was infused with Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi. They shot out with golden beams and every droplet was like a tiny Sun.

“Oh?” Gongsun Zhi raised his eyebrows.

He wanted to use tea water to block sword beams? Was he mad?

With his Yuan Qi surging forward, the sword beams became even sharper.

This person would pay a tragic price for his arrogance and stupidity!

However, when the sword pierced into the curtain of water, it was like it had entered a turbulent vortex.

Energy surged over in swaths, as the sword beams failed to penetrate it.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The sword beams dissipated as Gongsun Zhi cried out in alarm. He found it hard to stabilize his body in the resonance of such power, causing him to retreat many steps back.

The tea water pierced through the sword beams and directly splashed onto his face.

This tea water contained pure Yang Yuan Qi as well as Yi Yun’s insights into the laws. The temperature was unusually high, so with the tea water hitting his face, the pain was like thousands of needles pricking him.

“Ah!”

Gongsun Zhi covered his face and let out a tragic scream, while his body tumbled in the air as it flew backward.

“Boom!”

Gongsun Zhi slammed into five tea tables causing tea sets to crash to the ground.

Just a cup of tea water had sent Gongsun Zhi flying. The onlooking warriors were waiting for Gongsun Zhi to take Yi Yun down, but after this scene, they were completely dumbfounded. The entire tea restaurant had turned silent.

596 - : Irrevocably Committed

CKtalon  CKtalon

A cup of tea water had shattered the all encompassing sword beam, and it had even injured a genius nurtured by the Li Fire Sect!

The onlookers were all warriors. They knew very well that although it looked like ordinary tea water, it was infused with extremely terrifying power. That was no tea water, it was a river of molten lava compressed together!

Thick! Heavy! Unrivaled!

When a spray of tea water had so much energy infused in it, it was powerful enough to shatter sword beams!

By being able to do this, this no doubt showed the great difference between Gongsun Zhi and that Southern Sea youth.

“Who is he?”

“He looks so young, but he’s actually some old monster!”

Yi Yun’s strength appalled everyone. In their minds, only those old people who lived for thousands of years and had the ability to make themselves look youthful could have such power.

However, there were some people present who could faintly detect Yi Yun’s cultivation level. They shook their head, and one said, “Not at all. He is a young man. His cultivation level is at most at the peak of the Dao Seed realm. A person at that cultivation level would be considered to have a slow cultivation speed if he was thirty years old.”

People began discussing it as Yi Yun was approaching closer.

Gongsun Zhi’s face was covered in blood. He was both surprised and angry. However, he could not do anything against Yi Yun whose strength was on a completely different level than his.

He held his face as blood continuously flowed through his fingers.

He looked angrily at the long-faced man who was sprawled at a corner. He really wished that he could stomp him to death.

Why did he offend such a person!?

As for the long-faced man, he was already dumbfounded. His slightly yellow horse face had now turned into a wax paper-like color. It was as ugly as it could be.

“Im… Impossible… ”

The long-faced man was still mumbling to himself. It was like a kid who had brought reinforcements with him after being beaten up. Despite countering with inflammatory words, he was still brutally beaten up again. As such, he could not accept it.

“Stop, don’t you move another step forward! We are Heaven Martial City’s law-enforcement team! On behalf of the Martial Alliance, we uphold order in Heaven Martial City. You have violated Heaven Martial City’s laws by causing trouble in the city. You destroyed a shop and injured law-enforcers. No matter who you are, you will be punished!”

At that moment, a hooked-nose man standing beside Gongsun Yang said coldly.

He stood in front of Yi Yun and pressed one hand on his weapon.

Despite knowing Yi Yun’s strength, he did not lack one bit of confidence in front of Yi Yun.

“I advice you to give up resisting and cooperate with us law-enforcers. If you remain defiant, one more charge will be added on, and then you will be seeking your own death!”

In Heaven Martial City, the law-enforcers enjoyed success in every endeavor. Sometimes, it was not because the law-enforcers were strong, it was because the people being captured did not dare resist, as they were afraid of a worse outcome.

As a result, law-enforcers became accustomed to using their authority to deter enemies.

Ever since the Martial Alliance’s authority had increased, there were extremely few people who dared to openly go against them and cause trouble.

Cha!

The hooked nose man pulled out a token from his interspatial ring.

The token shone with golden beams as it exuded a strange energy fluctuation.

“With the Heaven Martial Token here, are you not submitting yourself to punishment!?”

The leader of the law-enforcement team shouted. And at the moment of him shouting, Yi Yun gently flung his hand.

“Whew!”

Yi Yun had flung the tea cup in his hand!

Previously, he had poured tea water, but this time, he had thrown a tea cup!

“You!”

The hooked nose man jumped in fright. He was planning on frightening Yi Yun, but clearly, it was ineffective.

Previously, the tea water thrown by Yi Yun was extremely horrifying. This time, despite him throwing a tea cup, the hooked nose man did not dare to act a moment slower. As he retreated quickly, he unsheathed the saber in his hand.

“Clang!”

He brandished the saber as it emitted cold beams. The shiny saber beams roared forward like a tsunami!

Naturally, the hooked-nose man had excellent strength for him to become a leader of a law-enforcement team in Heaven Martial City.

With him brandishing his saber, the saber beams extended like a metallic wall without any weak spots!

But…

The tea cup that contained Yi Yun’s pure Yang Yuan Qi seemed to suddenly become as heavy as a mountain. The saber beams that had formed a wall had been forcefully suppressed downwards.

“Peng!”

With the light beams torn apart, the tea cup exploded from the great energy impact.

However, Yi Yun’s power was too strong. Although the tea cup had shattered, it did not lose its momentum.

It formed dozens of tiny porcelain fragments and they carried on flying towards the hooked nose man!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

The fragments slashed through the air as they emitted a piercing screech.

The hooked-nose man received a shock as he gathered Yuan Qi to slash his saber a second time, hoping to shatter the fragments, but… it was already too late.

“Ah!”

The hooked nose man screamed loudly as he flew backward with great momentum.

The porcelain shards pierced through his protective Yuan Qi. Many of the tiny fragments had exploded into dust, and they no longer had any destructive power, but there were about seven large shards that pierced his flesh!

Blood splattered!

The hooked-nose man slammed heavily to the ground, breaking a solidly manufactured staircase made of Thousand Leaves Metal Tree open, and rolled down from the second floor!

Boom!

The hooked-nose man crashed heavily on the first floor’s ground and he tumbled a few times, overturning a few tables before he managed to stop.

Immediately, the whole scene fell silent. No one spoke again.

In the beginning, it was possible to explain how Jiang Yidao succeeded in his attack because of Gongsun Zhi’s underestimation of his enemy.

However, for the second time, the hooked-nose man had already seen Yi Yun’s strength and he had used all his strength from the beginning. However, Yi Yun had managed to send him flying with a tea cup, which was enough to explain the situation.

This Jiang Yidao was too terrifying! Was there such a strong Dao Seed realm warrior in this world?

Yi Yun had thrown his tea water and then thrown his tea cup. Now, his hands were empty, and he had arrived in front of the group of people with a surging aura.

With Gongsun Zhi and the hooked-nose man taken care off, there was only Gongsun Yang left!

“You… you… ”

Gongsun Yang’s face was covered in sweat.

At that moment, if there were not so many people watching, and that his every move had to do with the Li Fire Sect’s reputation, he would have definitely ran away!

If this madman fought him again, he would be crippled again. Then, the sect might not pay the huge price of healing him again. He was lucky the first time because the sect wanted to cover up the news.

This time, there was no way to conceal the news.

“Clang!”

Gongsun Yang drew his sword and pointed it at Yi Yun. However, his sword tip was trembling slightly. Clearly, Gongsun Yang was extremely afraid at that moment.

How could he not be scared? With such a malefic jinx, it was not impossible for him to be the fifteenth person to be crippled after the fourteen people in the Man-ranked shop!

To a blessed son of Heaven like Gongsun Yang, who had a bright future ahead of him, being crippled was an extreme pain. It was more horrifying than death.

597 - : All Things Under Heaven are Weapons

CKtalon  CKtalon

The atmosphere in the Six Swords Inn turned tense.

Gongsun Yang took one step after another backward. Only then did people realize that Gongsun Yang had probably recognized Jiang Yidao from the beginning. This way, the various abnormalities he displayed could be explained.

“You have recovered from your injuries?” Yi Yun said with a sarcastic smile.

“Ye… Yes… ” Gongsun Yang subconsciously responded from his nervousness.

“Oh? It looks like your Li Fire Sect paid quite a heavy price to heal you. I wonder if they will be able to heal you this time.” Yi Yun sized up Gongsun Yang as he approached him.

Almost instantly, Gongsun Yang felt his scalp tense up, and a chill surged from his feet to his head.

From Yi Yun’s tone, he was planning on crippling him once more!

When the surrounding warriors heard their conversation, they were left breathless. From the looks of it, Jiang Yidao had previously been in conflict with the Li Fire Sect, and he had even brutally beaten Gongsun Yang.

Despite brutally beating a Li Fire Sect genius, he was still standing here fine and dandy?

Immediately, those warriors looked at Gongsun Yang with complex expressions.

Many of them had joined the crowd due to the commotion from the streets. Yet, they ended up witnessing the high-spirited Gongsun Yang turn ashen in a blink of an eye, so afraid that he did not dare to do anything.

With a mighty assemble of dozens of people, they were given a thorough beating with just a cup of tea cup and the tea water that was in it.

At that moment, there was no one who dared to challenge Yi Yun. Yi Yun slowly moved his hand onto his saber’s hilt.

Upon seeing this scene, Gongsun Yang felt his soul escape him!

He had witnessed Yi Yun’s saber techniques. Besides, without Yi Yun using his saber, he had already defeated two people. If he used his saber, wouldn’t he really be crippled!?

Immense fear gripped Gongsun Yang immediately.

At that moment, he could no longer care about his reputation. Without much thought, he immediately shouted, “Hold on! Don’t move! Don’t move!”

Gongsun Yang threw his sword, and under everyone’s watchful eyes, said with a pale face, “I surrender.”

He was surrendering without a fight?

The spectators were both surprised and filled with mixed emotions.

What sort of person was Gongsun Yang? As a core disciple of the Li Fire Sect, he had the chance to enter the Heavenly Dao Union. This sort of person was naturally arrogant, and he would not easily succumb to others.

But now, despite the strength Jiang Yidao displaying being only the tip of the iceberg, it was sufficient enough to force Gongsun Yang to surrender without a fight.

This was extremely shameful to a genius and it could even create mental demons, making them lose confidence in their martial path.

However, there was nothing else he could do under such circumstances.

If he insisted on fighting, Gongsun Yang would have to risk being crippled. As a warrior, this was a risk he couldn’t take.

With Gongsun Yang surrendering, Gongsun Zhi glanced at Yi Yun and turned silent.

As for the hooked-nose man, he gritted his teeth and he did not even let out a whimper.

As a leader of a law-enforcement team, the shame he experienced was no less than what Gongsun Yang experienced.

In Heaven Martial City, he had arrested many people. Every time, it was easy and they allowed him to do it in an awe-inspiring manner.

But this time, he ended up being steamrolled by the criminal. The amount of depression derived from it was understandable.

“Let us go!” The hooked-nose man said with a nasty tone. Before he left, he gave Yi Yun a hateful glance. The gaze was indignant and sinister.

Clearly, the hooked-nose man was planning to get a law-enforcement Elder to take Jiang Yidao in. Even if Jiang Yidao was all powerful, he would have to succumb!

Wait and see. To offend my law-enforcement team, you are doomed. When you fall into my hands, you will know what’s awaiting you!

As such thoughts lingered in the hooked-nose man’s mind, his subtle facial expressions were reflected in the eyes of Yi Yun. He immediately knew what the hooked-nose man was thinking.

In fact, it was understandable for a law-enforcement team leader to have such thoughts.

Yi Yun chuckled. He said nonchalantly, “Has anyone told you that your nose is ugly?”

“Oh?”

Words that made no head or tail stunned the hooked-nose man.

His nose looked sinister and ruthless, and this fierce look added to his murderous aura. However, who would dare to mock his looks when he was a law-enforcement team leader? They would only compliment him on his looks, adding more magnificence to his bearing.

Just as he wanted to respond angrily, Yi Yun made a move!

“Peng!”

The wooden boards beneath Yi Yun’s feet exploded as his body turned into a red beam of light. In a thousandth of a second, he had appeared in front of the hooked-nose man as if he had teleported!

The hooked-nose man did not have time to exclaim. Yi Yun’s single punch had already swept the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi up from the surroundings and it came crashing down like a mountain, hitting the hooked-nose man!

“Peng!”

The impact of the single punch was like that of a meteorite. The hooked nose man screamed as his body flew out!

This time, his body broke through the Six Swords Inn’s main door, and flew onto the street like a broken gunny sack.

He felt his entire being was in ruins. Yi Yun’s punch had hit his face, causing his hooked nose to collapse!

The hooked-nose man’s nose was now dented into his face. A fist mark appeared on his face, and blood was surrounding the mark. He was beyond recognition.

As his body twitched, the surrounding law-enforcers rushed over to him and helped him up.

These people now looked at Yi Yun as if they were staring at the devil.

“Just treat it as me giving you some cosmetic surgery. You don’t have to thank me.” Yi Yun pulled his fist back and gently pressed it, issuing “Ka Ka Ka” sounds.

He had controlled his strength and he did not really maim or kill the hooked-nose man.

He wanted to stir up conflict, but not to a point where the conflict could not be smoothed over.

Upon seeing the hooked-nose man in such a state, tears were beginning to well up in Gongsun Yang’s eyes.

This team leader must have been accustomed to being cool and awesome, but this time, he had snookered himself. He wanted to forcefully retrieve some pride by saying some tough words, but Jiang Yidao was not one who would approve of that. As a result, the hooked-nose man ended up in such a tragic state!

Why was he so unlucky!? He had been beaten up by the malefic jinx at the Lin family area, and now, in Heaven Martial City, he had suffered again!

He knew the domineering stance that came with his arrival and the malicious words of hanging Jiang Yidao up on the city walls had crossed the line with the malefic jinx.

He would not let them off easily.

After some thought, Gongsun Yang took his interspatial ring off and said, “Sorry for disturbing Young Master Jiang from drinking his tea. It was our bad. Here is some compensation, please treat it as a gift.”

When he took his interspatial ring off, Gongsun Yang’s mouth twitched as he felt the pinch.

The interspatial ring contained resources that he had saved up through great difficulty. It also included treasures that he had obtained while out on training expeditions.

Beside Gongsun Yang, Gongsun Zhi’s eyelid twitched before he took his interspatial ring off.

With two interspatial rings placed in front of him, Yi Yun raised his eyebrow. He was quite surprised.

He never expected them to have the foresight. In fact, he had no plans on really killing them. He could act wantonly in Heaven Martial City, but he could not cross the bottom line.

Beating a law-enforcement team leader was nothing much, but if he had killed him and his team, that would be completely different.

Seeing the interspatial rings placed on the table, Yi Yun walked over and picked up a ring under Gongsun Yang’s fretful eyes.

With a scan, Yi Yun knew what was inside.

These two people’s wealth didn’t have much value to Yi Yun.

“Why are you two so poor despite coming from the Li Fire Sect?”

With Yi Yun saying this, it made the cheeks of Gongsun Zhi and Gongsun Yang twitch. To be jawed on by Yi Yun in such a manner, their faces were already burning. They could do nothing but endure.

“Although you are poor, your attitudes are not bad. Scram.”

Yi Yun waved his hand, as he turned around to walk towards the Six Swords Inn.

Gongsun Yang and company were feeling extremely aggrieved. They had come with such a forceful stance, but they had to run away dejectedly. They even had to leave their interspatial rings behind.

Gongsun Yang took a few deep breaths and then took his voice transmission token out.

He thought that the day he was beaten up by Jiang Yidao at the Lin family area was the most humiliating day of his life!

But who knew that today’s humiliation was worse than that day’s!

598 - : Leaving in Defeat

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, in Treasure House, the Ambassador from the Martial Alliance was still being attended to by the important figures of Heaven Martial City. He was still inspecting the various treasures gifted to him by the various large family clans.

The family clan Elders were eloquent in their introductions to the treasures. They also mentioned several legendary stories which made it quite interesting.

Until…

“Oh?”

The Li Fire Sect Elder Gongsun Ding suddenly received a transmission message. He first believed that Gongsun Yang had taken the troublemaker to task, and he was reporting on the completion of his mission, but upon listening to it…

“How is it? It has already been settled, right?” Beside Gongsun Ding, Lord Zhang from the law-enforcement team said leisurely. However, before he finished talking, his own transmission token had also lit up.

Upon hearing the news, Lord Zhang’s stared blankly.

What?

His people had been driven back with injuries?

Despite the euphemistic report from the law-enforcement team, just the fact that the hooked-nose man was beat up into such a wretched state that he could not even speak and had to let one of his subordinates make the report was enough to completely dumbfound Lord Zhang.

Their Heaven Martial City’s law-enforcement team went to arrest a criminal, but they ended up being trounced to a pulp?

This was… preposterous!

“What’s wrong?” The Martial Alliance Ambassador turned his head and asked Zhang.

Zhang’s face turned ugly. Previously, with the Ambassador here, and the occurrence of a security problem did not reflect well on him, and now, with the law-enforcers getting beaten up by the criminal while doing their job, how could he not be ashamed?

However, he knew that it was useless trying to conceal the matter. There was no need for the Ambassador to investigate the matter as it would automatically reach his ears.

He could only bite the bullet and say, “Responding to the Lord Ambassador, this subordinate’s law-enforcement team headed to Six Swords Inn to enforce the law, but the criminal was arrogant and beat up my men. He is still on the loose, and it might need this subordinate to go in person.”

“Oh?”

The middle-aged scholar was slightly stunned. He was also a bit surprised that such a thing had happened. However, he was just surprised. The Martial Alliance was extremely large, and it had its power spread throughout the Tian Yuan world. Heaven Martial City was just one of the cities under the Martial Alliance, so even if the city was very big, it was not extremely important to the middle-aged scholar.

It was a trivial matter to him that the Heaven Martial City law-enforcement team, which was set up by the Martial Alliance, had been brutally beaten up. It was not to the point of violating the dignity of the Martial Alliance, or pushing him to the brink of anger.

“Interesting. Your men from the law-enforcement team have to pay attention to increasing your strength.” The middle-aged scholar nonchalantly said it without putting too much thought to it. At the same time, he subconsciously glanced in the direction of the Six Swords Inn.

This glance was just on a exploratory whim. As Lord Zhang from the law-enforcement team mentioned the Six Swords Inn, it had attracted the middled-aged scholar’s attention.

After all, the Six Swords Alliance had been repressed so badly in recent years that it was quickly dissolving. Some of the six member factions of the Six Swords Alliance were already planning on joining the Martial Alliance.

The middle-aged scholar wanted to see if the troublemaker was someone from the Six Swords Alliance. He wanted to know if the person had deliberately stirred up trouble because he was dissatisfied with the dissolution of the Six Swords Alliance.

However, what the middle-aged scholar saw from the glance stunned him.

How could that be… ?

…

At that moment, in the Six Swords Inn, Yi Yun had returned to his room and he was looking at Ah Niu, Ah Yu and their cousin standing in the corridor.

Ah Yu’s cousin knelt down on the ground with a thud.

“Hero Jiang, this little me was blind and ignorant. Please do not take whatever actions this little one did to heart!”

This youth was one shameless person who bullied the fainthearted but feared the stouthearted.

He previously thought that Yi Yun would be taken away by the law-enforcement team, but now, Yi Yun’s display of his strength dumbfounded him. It had already exceeded the scope of his understanding. He was worrying that the offensive actions he did previously would make Yi Yun unhappy, so he quickly knelt down and pleaded.

Yi Yun could not be bothered with this youth at all as he said to Ah Niu, “In a while, there should be some people coming. Hide in the room and do not come out. I might not be a match for the person that comes this time. When this matter is settled, I will take you to Treasure House to buy pills!”

“The pills that you’ll be buying will improve a portion of your body. Using too much would be ineffective. But even so, it would let your talent rise to the standards of a large faction’s elite. It would be no problem for you to join any powerful faction of the Tian Yuan world after that.”

Pills that improved one’s physique was most effective towards a person with a weaker physique. Upon reaching a standard level, pills that could result in any effect became more and rarer, and the efficacy would slowly decrease.

It was like a malnourished child who only ate grain and vegetables. An occasional piece of meat allowed them to turn a healthy pink, and grow a strong body.

However, if a child who was already very well-nourished, even if delicacies were fed to him daily, he would only end up getting fat. There was no way for him to grow taller or muscular.

“Thank you Big Brother Jiang.”

Ah Niu also knelt down. His eyes gleamed with sincere gratitude. He knew that at Yi Yun’s realm, there was nothing he could do to help Yi Yun. However, if Yi Yun requested anything of him, he would rush to do it without even frowning!

“You don’t have to thank me. Just work hard on cultivating.”

As Yi Yun said this, suddenly…

Oh?

At that instance, he felt a slightly chilly perception scan across him. It penetrated deep into his body, as if it was completely seeing through him.

Who!?

Yi Yun’s hand immediately pressed on his interspatial ring.

He was not surprised to be suddenly spied on. With the Martial Alliance in charge of Heaven Martial City and him being so flamboyant in his dealings by defeating the law-enforcement team, he would naturally attract the attention of the Heaven Martial City’s important figures.

However, he never expected that there was a person with extraordinary strength in Heaven Martial City.

“Interesting… ” A faint voice rang in Yi Yun’s ear.

Moments later, that perception receded back like the tide.

Yi Yun felt apprehensive as he looked towards Treasure House. As if separated by layers of space, he looked the middle-aged scholar in the eye.

“Hur, he is actually a young man. I really never expected it!”

The middle-aged scholar’s interest was piqued. Previously, his reaction was mild despite the Elders from various large factions introducing all sorts of treasures to him.

However, he was excited seeing Yi Yun.

He thought that a person who made trouble with the Li Fire Sect and had beaten the law-enforcers was a Yuan Opening realm warrior, that was not surprising.

However, when he scanned him with his perception, from the residual energy fluctuations in from the battle, and comparing all the guests of the Six Swords Inn, and from Ah Niu and his cousin’s conversation, the middle-aged scholar was sure that Yi Yun was the culprit.

A young man with such strength greatly surprised the middle-aged scholar.

Besides, the moment he scanned him with his perception, Yi Yun had discovered it immediately. Not only that, Yi Yun managed to lock on to his position!

This point alone made the middle-aged scholar even more excited.

“Interesting, really interesting!”

The middle-aged scholar had said the words ‘interesting’ three times, stunning the people surrounding him. They did not know what he was talking about.

“I must definitely meet such an interesting person in person!”

599 - : Grabbing Attention

CKtalon  CKtalon

Go in person?

Upon hearing the Martial Alliance’s Ambassador’s words, everyone looked at each other.

The law-enforcement team’s Lord Zhang tried probing, “Lord Ambassador, it can’t be that you want to meet that criminal?”

Zhang had noticed that the middle-aged scholar had said those words after looking in the direction of the Six Swords Inn. It seemed like what garnered his interest was Jiang Yidao, who had caused trouble at the Li Fire Sect shop.

A puny junior like him actually managed to pique the interest of Martial Alliance’s Ambassador so much that he wanted to meet him in person?

Zhang was a bit stunned, while the Li Fire Sect Elder was a bit dumbfounded.

The middle-aged scholar had used the word ‘interesting’ as an evaluation, but he did not appear angry. This situation did not bode well.

“Criminal?” The middle-aged scholar chuckled, “Using the word criminal is a bit of a hyperbole. A young man tends to enjoy success from young, so he can be flamboyant in a way, so it is reasonable.”

Young man?

Upon hearing this term, the handsome youth, who had been accompanying the middle-aged scholar all along, frowned.

From the middle-aged scholar’s tone, the person who defeated Gongsun Yang and company was a young man?

From the looks of it, this young man clearly was stronger than trash like Gongsun Yang. Furthermore… he had managed to make the middle-aged scholar say the words “interesting”.

So he is interesting… ?

The handsome youth knitted his eyebrows and subconsciously cracked his knuckles.

The middle-aged scholar noticed this small movement, but ignored it. He carried on speaking to Zhang, “A young man tends to get angry quickly. Furthermore, your law-enforcers have always been tough and rough in your mannerisms. The Li Fire Sect probably had a few bouts of arrogance, so it’s easy for there to be conflict. Him beating your men up in a spur of the moment is also something normal.”

Normal?

Gongsun Ding was dumbfounded.

Their Li Fire Sect’s Man-ranked shop had been destroyed and more than ten people were crippled. Even the law-enforcement team leader that went to investigate was beaten to a pulp.

Yet, the middle-aged scholar’s comment on this was… ’normal’?

If this came from someone else’s mouth, Gongsun Ding would have blown his top.

However, what else could he say when it came from the Martial Alliance’s Ambassador’s mouth?

“Lord Ambassador, if we do not mete out punishment on this matter, in the future, our law-enforcement team… ” Zhang said while being placed in a difficult position. He could tell that from the tone of the middle-aged scholar that he was not interested in pursuing the matter. Instead, the young man had piqued the interest of the middle-aged scholar.

This was not good news. How was his law-enforcement team to uphold its dignity after this?

The middle-aged scholar said, “Meting out punishment is necessary. It is not good for a young man to be reckless and domineering due to his own abilities. There is a need to admonish him.”

When the middle-aged scholar said those words, it left Gongsun Ding completely speechless.

Just “admonish”?

For a fight to break out in Heaven Martial City, it was a great offense to Zhang and Gongsun Ding’s dignity. However, to the middle-aged scholar, it was like children fighting. He did not put it to heart at all.

“Elder Gongsun, you don’t have to take it too badly. I will naturally give you the necessary reparations. Since your shop has been smashed, I will let you open another one.” The middle-aged scholar said lightly. To a figure at his level, maiming more than ten Li Fire Sect guards, who did not have good talents, was nothing. Just giving them another shop was more than enough in compensation.

With the middle-aged scholar saying this, Gongsun Ding and Zhang could only follow him to the Six Swords Inn, no matter how unwilling they were.

Just after they exited Treasure House, they encountered a few people looking embarrassed.

Leading them was Gongsun Yang.

The hooked-nose man and Gongsun Zhi had already disappeared. Gongsun Zhi was still alright because he had only suffered light injuries. As for the hooked-nose man, his nose had cratered into his face, and he was completely unsightly.

Only Gongsun Yang was lucky enough to escape only by abandoning his dignity to plead, along with an interspatial ring.

Hence, Gongsun Yang could return to report alone.

Upon seeing the middle-aged scholar walking in his direction, Gongsun Yang became flustered. He had gone with a domineering stance to take care of a Southern Sea savage, but his entire team ended up being driven back. He was too embarrassed to even stand here.

“Lor… Lord Ambassador.” Gongsun Yang gave a salute while biting the bullet.

The middle-aged scholar lightly nodded and he did not say a word. However, the handsome youth behind him sneered. He sent a voice transmission, “What trash. Returning like a stray dog.”

You!

Gongsun Yang stared at him as his face turned red!

This handsome youth was already so arrogant just because he was a member of the Heavenly Dao Union. He had mocked him more than once!

How could he take this lying down anymore?

“Enough!” At that moment, Gongsun Ding’s Yuan Qi transmission rang in Gongsun Yang’s ears.

Although the handsome youth had only used a voice transmission without opening his mouth, from Gongsun Yang’s reaction, and him leering at the handsome youth, how could Gongsun Ding not guess what had happened.

In fact, not only Gongsun Ding, the middle-aged scholar had also noticed it, but he did not say a word.

Gongsun Ding was also helpless against the handsome youth’s mockery.

“Don’t you feel ashamed enough? If you had defeated the savage, would all this have happened? Causing our Li Fire Sect to be mocked!?”

Gongsun Ding transmitted his voice while being exasperated at Gongsun Yang’s failure to live up to his expectations. Gongsun Yang had bit his lips so much that they nearly tore, but he was out of options.

He had no means of refuting Gongsun Ding’s words.

He could only follow the crowd dejectedly. He hated the handsome youth to death, and he also hated Jiang Yidao who had trampled on him twice.

The entire group were all experts, so although they appeared to walk slowly, in a less than a minute, they had already gone from Treasure House to the Six Swords Inn.

“Is this it?”

The middle-aged scholar stood in front of the Six Swords Inn, with his hand behind his back. He gave off an inspiring aura. The pedestrians who passed by glanced at him.

Even though they did not know who the middle-aged scholar was, they could sense that this person was no ordinary person.

The Six Swords Inn’s door had already been smashed by the hooked-nose man. The entire inn was in disarray, and with a commotion to watch, there were still people around. However, everyone subconsciously avoided the middle-aged scholar. It made where he stood rather empty.

The middle-aged scholar only waited and he did not step in.

And at that moment, an azure-clothed youth walked out of the messy Six Swords Inn with a saber in his hand.

This youth looked very ordinary, and he was the kind of person that didn’t stand out in the crowd. However, his body exuded a crisp aura that made people apprehensive.

This youth was naturally Yi Yun who was using the “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book”. With such a fascinating mystic technique, his looks, aura and even bone age could be changed. Furthermore, the arrogance he exuded made it very difficult for people to link this genius who had undue confidence in his own ability, to Yi Yun who had disappeared about seven years ago.

The middle-aged scholar and Yi Yun exchanged glances.

Is it him… ?

Yi Yun sensed a familiar aura from the middle-aged scholar. The probing energy that previously gave him a chill came from this person apparently.

600 - : Meeting

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What’s your name?” The middle-aged scholar asked Yi Yun while looking at him.

Yi Yun went silent for a moment before saying in a deadpan manner, “Jiang Yidao!”

“That is your title. I’m asking for your name.”

On the way here, the middle-aged scholar had heard about the proclamation by Yi Yun that he never needed to use a second saber attack against a genius at the same level as him.

This tidbit was quite interesting to him.

Yi Yun said without batting an eye, “That title is my name. If there is ever a moment when I am unworthy of this title, then a name would be useless to me.”

The middle-aged scholar eyes narrowed slightly before he laughed lightly, “Indeed, the young are brash.”

Gongsun Yang, who was by the side, gritted his teeth when he heard this. This Jiang Yidao fucking didn’t know who his father was or what his surname was anymore!

He had seen many overbearing people in his life, but this was the first time he had seen someone’s overbearingness reaching such a degree.

This person dared to say such flaunty words in front of the Martial Alliance’s Ambassador and he had just injured people in Heaven Martial City, brutally beating the law-enforcers up.

Yet, despite these circumstances, he remained so overbearing? Who did he think he was?

Gongsun Yang only wished that Yi Yun would offend the Martial Alliance’s Ambassador, eventually earning him a slap that sent him to his death.

However… the next sentence that the middle-aged scholar said made Gongsun Yang nearly bite through his tongue.

The middle-aged scholar clapped his hands gently and said slowly, “It is normal for people with talent to be arrogant. I like such people. However, if you lack the talent… then being so overbearing is just foolishness. If you show me what you are worth, I can let you enter the Heavenly Dao Union.”

Heavenly Dao Union!

The moment Gongsun Yang heard this, he felt a trepidation in his heart. He had gone through so much effort and he hasn’t even entered that organization yet. But now, this valuable vacancy was given to Jiang Yidao by the middle-aged scholar?

A person who had destroyed their Li Fire Sect’s shop, and a criminal who deliberately caused trouble in Heaven Martial City had managed to get such an opportunity, while he himself…

The middle-aged scholar’s words made Gongsun Yang turn listless. He could not accept this fact.

At that moment, many Elders from the large factions, who stood beside the middle-aged scholar, had a vague premonition of this possibility when the middle-aged scholar continuously used the word “interesting” to describe Yi Yun.

Although what had happened was not to their liking, they were also not too surprised.

Only Gongsun Ding’s face turned ashen. He found it unacceptable. This kid, who had ruthlessly smacked their Li Fire Sect’s face, could enter the Heavenly Dao Union, making him feel like he was a joke to the people surrounding him.

However, in front of the middle-aged scholar, he did not dare to express his slightest objection.

“Heavenly Dao Union?”

When Yi Yun heard the middle-aged scholar’s words, an undetectable strange beam flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes.

Yi Yun was not surprised that he had the qualifications to enter the Heavenly Dao Union. His talent was more than enough to gain him entry.

In fact, from the beginning, Yi Yun had already considered such a scenario.

Using his own strength, he would draw the attention of Blood Moon, so he could enter the Heavenly Dao Union.

And in the Heavenly Dao Union, he would have more routes that could aid his interaction with the core secrets of the Heavenly Dao Union.

However, Yi Yun never expected that everything would go so smoothly.

Although he had received the qualifications, Yi Yun did not agree immediately. With his young, arrogant persona, he would be doubted by others if he immediately accepted such solicitation. That was not his persona’s style.

“Go through a test to enter the Heavenly Dao Union?” Yi Yun smiled, “You think I want to enter the Heavenly Dao Union? I know of it. It’s a place which many attempt to enter by all means.”

“But that is even more reason for me to lack interest in entering such a place. How can there be such a good deal in the world? You provide resources and inheritance, and as long as someone has talent, they can enter and cultivate there? Benefits all around?”

“In this world, no one does things without benefits. I will definitely need to pay a corresponding price for the benefits I obtain when entering the Heavenly Dao Union!”

After Yi Yun said this, the middle-aged scholar narrowed his eyes again, as an indescribable strange beam flashed in his eyes.

However, a cold flash appeared in the eyes of the handsome youth behind the middle-aged scholar, “What are you saying!?”

As a proud Heavenly Dao Union member, he could not tolerate letting Yi Yun slur the object of his pride.

“How my Heavenly Dao Union acts is not up to an ant like you to question!”

While speaking, the handsome youth took a step forward. A long sword appeared like a ghost in his hand, and he pointed the sword tip at Yi Yun’s eyebrows.

“You said that you never need a second saber attack against geniuses your own age. If someone forces you to use the second saber attack, you wouldn’t even need a name. Then, if you can’t even win with a second saber attack, or even be defeated, are you even planning on not living on?” The handsome youth said coldly. He could not stand Yi Yun’s overbearingness.

Although he too was overbearing, he still remained respectful in front of the middle-aged scholar. He did not dare to cross the line, but this savage thought too highly of himself for he even belittled the middle-aged scholar.

“Despite being at the early stage of the Dao Seed realm, you actually dare to leap levels to battle me?” Yi Yun chuckled, “It has always been me leaping levels to battle others. I have never seen someone leap a level to fight me!”

This handsome youth was only about seventeen years old. He was famous for having a high cultivation level and extraordinary insights into the laws at his young age.

But in the eyes of Yi Yun, that was nothing.

“Oh?” The handsome youth’s gaze sharpened immediately.

He did not think lowly of Yi Yun. Regardless of everything else, Yi Yun’s cultivation level was higher than his, so it would be very difficult to leap levels to defeat such a genius!

If Yi Yun was at the same cultivation level as he was, with the handsome youth’s personality, he would have already made his move.

“Hur!”

At that moment, the middle-aged scholar said, “How my Martial Alliance acts does not need to be explained to a member of the younger generation like you. But since you asked, I will also talk about it. Tian Yuan world might look peaceful now, but in fact, there is a turbulent flow underlying us. A calamity is about to break out.”

“Tens of millions of years ago, there was such a calamity. It destroyed whatever martial arts civilization the Tian Yuan world originally had. The repercussions of this calamity were far-reaching, and they far exceed your imagination. It caused an unknown number of martial arts heritages to be severed. Not only martial arts heritage, even the historical records were left in vestiges.”

“Such a calamity might not happen again in the future… but the Desolate race that glares at us with covetous eyes, and the gigantic Eye of Destruction lurking in the eternal whirlpool may very likely be the cause of the calamity!”

“With so many premonitory signs, my Martial Alliance naturally had to do something. We established the Heavenly Dao Union, and brought the inheritance accumulated over tens of millions of years out so we could nurture a batch of Empyreal Kings, or even peerless Great Emperors. This is not for my Martial Alliance, it is for the Tian Yuan world. It is for the Tian Yuan world’s warriors, the commoners, all living things under the sky and for the entire Human race!”

The middle-aged scholar’s words echoed in a radius of several kilometers. His voice was powerful with bold undertones.

Many surrounding warriors could not help but give their kudos when they heard it.

Indeed, the instigatory words he said easily stirred the hearts of people.

“It’s not easy on the Martial Alliance!” An old man sighed, “Over the tens of millions of years, the Martial Alliance has always been keeping a low profile, with no intentions of hegemony. But in recent years, they had no choice but to rise up. Other than the Martial Alliance, I believe no one else can shoulder this responsibility!”

The gigantic Eye of Destruction that had appeared in the eternal whirlpool had shocked the entire Tian Yuan world. With a calamity before them, the Human race needed a leader. And the Martial Alliance was the best choice.

“This young man is too brash. To think that he questioned the Martial Alliance, he really doesn’t know the good in people’s hearts.”

The crowd’s comments naturally aligned themselves with the Martial Alliance, isolating Yi Yun.

Seeing this scene, the handsome youth turned prideful and sneered, “Like a knave who uses his own yardstick to measure the motive of an upright man, you only have such capabilities. Give me another three years, because when I step into the late stages of the Dao Seed realm, defeating you will be no different from slaughtering a chicken!”

Against the one-sided onslaught at him, Yi Yun did not say a word. He appeared as if he did not know how to respond to the middle-aged scholar’s words.

Yi Yun knew very well that if he remained rebellious in front of the middle-aged scholar, he would end up in a tragic state.

“Why? Are you not speaking?” Seeing that Yi Yun had clearly been repressed, the handsome youth asked arrogantly as his tone turned aggressive.

“You have only obtained some opportunities in the Southern Sea, yet you think so highly of yourself. To think that you dare question the acts of the Martial Alliance. What a joke! The Martial Alliance’s foundation and the responsibility it shoulders far exceed your imagination. You only managed to defeat a few clay chickens and pottery dogs, and you think you are invincible?”

When the handsome youth said those words, Gongsun Yang nearly blew his top.

Clay chickens and pottery dogs?

Wasn’t this referring to him!?

Yi Yun narrowed his eyes as he looked towards the handsome youth, “What’s your name?”

“You do not need to know my name. Just call me Jian Wushuang (No Second, Sword).” The handsome youth said coldly.

Jian Wushuang?

Yi Yun was stunned before he immediately realized that this person had just come up with this name. It was a plagiarized version of his name.

Only one sword attack, never the second, hence Jian Wushuang (No Second, Sword).

It was a mockery of his own title.

Compared to his straightforward title, the title of Jian Wushuang was clearly more pretentious. This was probably a result of the handsome youth’s character. This person naturally wanted a name that sounded more poetic.

“It is quite a skill to imitate the moves of others, but you even imitate a title? Are you saying that you do not need to use a second attack against people of your own cultivation level?” Yi Yun asked with a smile.

The handsome youth said lightly, “In three years, you can try me.”

“Three years? There’s no need. I can suppress my cultivation level to the early-stages of the Dao Seed realm.” The moment he finished saying that, everyone sensed Yi Yun’s aura rapidly repres.

Soon, he had suppressed his cultivation level to the early-stages of the Dao Seed realm, just like the handsome youth.

Early stages of the Dao Seed realm against early stages of the Dao Seed realm!

Upon seeing this scene, everyone’s eyes lit up.

Yi Yun had only suppressed his cultivation level, but his insights into the laws were difficult to suppress. The battle would turn meaningless if he had completely suppressed his nomological insights.

Most of the time, battles between young geniuses was a competition of their insights into the laws!

From a certain point of view, the person who repressed his cultivation level still held an advantage. It was because of this that one could tell who was the stronger of the two.

601 - : Invitation

CKtalon  CKtalon

They are going to fight!

Gongsun Yang, who had been suffering from the pangs of anguish, was pleasantly surprised when he saw this scene.

Be it Jiang Yidao or Jian Wushuang, Gongsun Yang felt an extreme hatred for them. All he wanted was for the two of them to end up dicing each other in an internecine struggle.

Now, this fight made him overjoyed.

He would be able to vent his anger regardless of who the vanquished was!

When the middle-aged scholar saw this scene, he was also full of smiles. He did not plan on stopping them as he needed to witness Yi Yun’s strength.

“I have already suppressed my cultivation level, but laws can’t be suppressed. I will not use my Aspect Totem, so in that way, I would not be taking advantage of you.”

With Yi Yun saying that, Jian Wushuang’s eyebrows narrowed.

“What nerve!”

Clang!

Jian Wushuang suddenly brandished his sword and attacked without warning!

At the same time as he made his move, his body was enshrouded in bright lightning bolts.

Crackle!

Jagged bolts of lightning wantonly forked around him like countless snakes. The handsome youth practiced the thunder-elemental laws.

Amongst the Natural laws of Wind, Rain, Thunder, and Lightning, the thunder element had the greatest offensive power!

Chi!

The sword beam carried a thunder strike that seemed to rip the sky in half. The sharp sound of an explosion reverberated through the clouds, piercing the eardrums of the onlookers.

A figure that moved like the wind, and a thunderous sword beam could be seen. Jian Wushuang was in no way incautious with his attack. Although he spoke arrogantly, he knew that Yi Yun was not someone easily warded off.

Sou!

The pointed sword tip conjured sharp Yuan Qi as it approached Yi Yun’s face!

At that moment, Yi Yun moved.

A saber flash appeared before transforming into a thousand saber flashes. They streaked across space-time, and they appeared in front of Jian Wushuang in a blink of an eye.

With a saber flash against a sword beam, the perturbed Yuan Qi caused circular ripples to spread out to its surroundings.

If these ripples hit an ordinary Dao Seed realm warrior, they would be seriously injured, if not totally destroyed.

Peng!

An explosive sound suddenly echoed.

At that moment, Jian Wushuang only felt an immense force that was unrivaled approaching him. It made his body recede in succession!

As for Yi Yun, after he slashed out that attack, he put his saber back into his sheath!

Oh?

He had caused Jian Wushuang to retreat?

People were shocked. A saber had released a thousand saber flashes and sent Jian Wushuang retreating. This already proved how powerful Yi Yun was.

If it was considered a spar, this was equivalent to winning by half a move!

Yi Yun’s title was Jiang Yidao. He had proclaimed that if he produced a second saber attack, then he would not even use that title.

Hence, he had sheathed his saber.

But even so, Yi Yun had won!

Jian Wushuang felt extremely humiliated after being sent retreating. Especially when he saw Yi Yun sheath his saber, he felt an overwhelming sense of ridicule and indignance.

The difference of half a move was actually not a huge difference. A moment of carelessness, or a failing to express a move to its peak standard could result in losing by half a move. It was extremely normal.

“You think that is considered as defeating me?” Jian Wushuang gave out a clear cry!

Keng!

Like a lightning bolt’s explosive blast, more than a thousand sword beams bloomed out.

A thunderous cloud that spat out lightning bolts appeared behind Jian Wushuang. And out from the cloud came a purple thunderous bird that spread its wings out!

This was Jian Wushuang’s Aspect Totem!

Originally, when Jian Wushuang saw Yi Yun not using his Aspect Totem, he decided not to use his as well, but now, he had to rein in his pride, and summon his Aspect Totem!

By summoning his Aspect Totem, it would bridge the nomological gap that arose from the age differences between them. This way, it was considered a fair fight!

Under the augmentation of the thunder-lightning power, Jian Wushuang’s sword seemed to gain a certain spiritual intelligence. It was engulfed in Yuan Qi and amidst the flashes of lightning, Jian Wushuang stabbed at Yi Yun.

“Die!”

Jian Wushuang charged at Yi Yun with an indomitable force.

However, Yi Yun exceeded everyone’s expectations by not drawing his saber despite the sword nearing him!

When the onlookers saw this, they were momentarily stunned. This…

When peerless elites sparred, their lives were on the line. Especially in a battle where anger had arisen, it was all about fighting with one’s all. It was very common for one side to kill the other.

Previously, Jiang Yidao had won by half a move, but it could not be said that he had completely suppressed Jian Wushuang. Furthermore, Jian Wushuang had just conjured his Aspect Totem, increasing his strength greatly!

If Jiang Yidao did not draw his saber because of what he had boasted previously in such a situation, it would be too dangerous!

In the blink of an eye, no one had the time to think too deeply.

At that moment, a loud and sonorous howl rumbled from the sky!

In the sky, the thousand saber flashes that Yi Yun had sent out had not dissipated yet. Instead, they slowly changed their direction and converged together!

Oh? This is…

People were alarmed. Typically, once a saber flash was sent out, it would mostly dissipate after a strike. The remaining would then disappear along the strike’s trajectory.

A scene of saber flashes converging together once again before their eyes was rarely seen.

In just a thousandth of a second, the thousand flashes had merged into one!

Weng!

The atmosphere was torn apart, as the saber flash finally condensed into a golden saber beam that was without parallel.

This saber beam an indomitable aura to it. It was like an avalanche that came roaring down on Jian Wushuang’s thunderous cloud!

The purple thunderous bird in the thundering cloud screeched. It spread its wings and followed the sword beam slashed out by Jian Wushuang to meet the golden saber beam head on!

Peng!

The lightning bolts shattered while a resounding blast happened. Yi Yun’s saber beam remained unchallenged.

The look in Jian Wushuang’s eyes changed. His Yuan Qi was being drained rapidly, as his sword beams scattered in the sky while his body quickly dodged within the lightning bolts.

However, no matter how much he expended his Yuan Qi to dodge, the saber beam seemed to home in on him. Eventually, it reached his chest.

This was the second time the saber flash had attacked him, yet he could not block it!

Jian Wushuang retreated again and again, and finally, he had no choice but to gather another bout of Yuan Qi so as to slash out his third sword attack!

As for Yi Yun, his saber was still in its sheath. He had only sent out one saber attack from the very beginning!

With no way of avoiding it, Jian Wushuang could only forcefully face it head on!

However, Jian Wushuang’s third sword attack was done in a haste, so how much Yuan Qi could he have gathered?

Bam!

With a loud boom, Jian Wushuang was immediately struck by the saber beam. His protective Yuan Qi immediately shattered as he let out a grunt before flying backward, while spitting out a mouthful of blood!

And from the place he flew out from, the saber beams left long marks on the ground, as if it had been burnt to a crisp.

Jian Wushuang’s body tumbled for a few hundred feet before he slammed into a shop’s signboard. Only by using this reactionary force did he manage to forcefully stabilize his body!

“Zhi——”

Jian Wushuang’s sword hit the ground, leaving a long trail of sparks!

One of his hands held his body off the ground, in a half-kneeled position before he managed to fully stabilize his body.

He wiped the blood from the corners of his mouth as he gave Yi Yun an alarmed stare.

One saber move. Indeed, he had only used one saber attack!

He had been defeated!

No matter how indignant Jian Wushuang was, he had to admit defeat!

Yi Yun flipped his hand and the saber disappeared into his interspatial ring. He looked at the handsome youth and said lightly, “It’s best that you use your original name. You can’t use that name.”

602 - : Yi Yun’s Saber Attack

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You… ” Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Jian Wushuang, who was already injured, nearly spat out another mouthful of blood from this provocation.

“It’s best that you use your original name. You can’t use that name.”

This sentence resonated in Jian Wushuan’s head. He had never felt so humiliated in his life.

He had made up that title so as to mock Yi Yun, but who knew that after being defeated by Yi Yun with one saber attack, this title would become a joke.

Not only Jian Wushuang, even the onlooking warriors were at a loss as to what to say.

Jiang Yidao was too overbearing.

Many people were tempted to rush in and beat him up.

However… how could they win?

Furthermore, although Jiang Yidao was overbearing, what he said was the truth. Be it his title or the words he said to Jian Wushuang, no one could retort it.

“Not a bad saber attack at all!” The middle-aged scholar said with his hands behind his back. He looked at Yi Yun with a faint smile, “Being able to show off your ability and act in undue confidence because of your talent is both good and bad. Your ability and confidence can let you lead a high-spirited life. With each and every victory, it would coagulate this sure-win notion into your bones, forming a forceful stance of yours.”

“As such, your strength can increase by leaps and bounds, with nothing to stop it! But this invincible stance will not last forever. There will be one day when you fail. And at that time, the higher you climb, the worse the fall. And when that happens, you will lose your edge.”

“Lose my edge?” Yi Yun glanced at the middle-aged scholar and he only chuckled once, while having a nonchalant expression.

The air he gave off made the onlookers shake their heads.

“He is too arrogant. There are so many geniuses in the Tian Yuan world. Since ancient times, many geniuses have been born who were considered kings of their generation, but these geniuses might fail to fully mature. Many of them failed midway.”

“What sort of experience does the Martial Alliance’s Ambassador have? To think he doesn’t listen to such advice. I think that this Jiang Yidao would soon meet failure!”

“He may be a good piece of jade, but… it can’t be polished!”

People began discussing. However, Yi Yun stood in the middle of the crowd, turning a deaf ear to everything.

“You seem indignant about it?”

The middle-aged scholar gave a beaming smile, “This largeness of this world exceeds your imagination. Let’s not talk about things far away, just the Heavenly Dao Union is enough to open your eyes!”

“Heavenly Dao Union?” Yi Yun lightly flicked his cuff and said nonchalantly, “After all that incessant drivel, aren’t you just trying to arouse my interest in the Heavenly Dao Union?”

When Yi Yun said this, the crowd turned speechless.

Arouse his interest?

There were people who yearned to enter the Heavenly Dao Union but they could not. Did this person think he was the son of God!?

However, the middle-aged scholar was not annoyed. He shook his head and said, “The Heavenly Dao Union is established on the Martial Alliance headquarters’ Greatsword Mountain. It is up to you to enter. I will not insist.”

Yi Yun laughed, “If what you said is true, that I would broaden my horizons by entering the Heavenly Dao Union, then there’s no harm doing so. However, if there is some soul contract needed for entering the Heavenly Dao Union, then forget it. I won’t do it.”

Yi Yun said those words in an extremely insolent tone, causing the surrounding people to roll their eyes.

So what if he was a genius? He was just a Dao Seed realm warrior. Do you think you are a peerless Great Emperor!?

But even so, the middle-aged scholar was not provoked, he smiled while rubbing his hands. “Don’t you worry. There are no soul contracts. You will be free in everything you do.”

After the middle-aged scholar finished speaking, he turned around and left. The surrounding entourage glanced angrily at Yi Yun before leaving with mixed emotions.

Especially Gongsun Ding, whose face was as black as the bottom of a pot. As for Gongsun Yang, he was like a shriveled eggplant, as if he would never to recover from his setback.

He had hoped that Yi Yun and Jian Wushuang would engage in an internecine struggle, but the difference in strength was too great. The irritating fool, Jian Wushuang may have been beaten, but Yi Yun had become even more arrogant. He actually spoke to the Martial Alliance Ambassador in such a provocative manner. Even though Yi Yun had obtained the right to enter the Heavenly Dao Union, the thing that he had always dreamed of, Yi Yun still showed complete disinterest, as if him entering the Heavenly Dao Union was giving them face.

The amount of depression Gongsun Yang was feeling was imaginable.

“In ten days, I’ll be waiting for you at Greatsword Mountain!” At the moment the middle-aged scholar’s figure disappeared, an ethereal voice transmission entered Yi Yun’s ears.

Yi Yun did not display any anxiety or enthusiasm to the Heavenly Dao Union spot that countless Tian Yuan world elites coveted. He turned around and strode into the Six Swords Inn, returning to his room.

After closing the door, Yi Yun quietly sat on the bed.

His facial expressions slowly calmed down as he looked completely different from the Jiang Yidao that considered everyone beneath his notice.

“Heavenly Dao Union!” Yi Yun muttered the name.

As he previously mentioned, he suspected that there was a purpose behind the establishment of the Heavenly Dao Union.

From Blood Moon’s standpoint, why would they use their own resources to nurture elites of the various large factions in the Tian Yuan world?

There was probably a nefarious plot hiding behind the existence of the Heavenly Dao Union. Those elites, who joined the Heavenly Dao Union, might not end up well.

It was just that Yi Yun wasn’t sure what Blood Moon was trying to do.

The Martial Alliance was a faction that Blood Moon used to showcase themselves on the surface. It had been established and running for years, but now, with the Martial Alliance making their move, they managed to quickly establish their authority in the Tian Yuan world.

With the Longevity Extending Pills, inheritances and resources that might have come from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, it was not difficult for the Martial Alliance to accomplish all of this.

The Martial Alliance was too attractive. Even if the Heavenly Dao Union did not do any recruitment, there would naturally be numerous geniuses who tried to enter by all means.

In addition, in all other aspects, the Blood Moon was enjoying great success.

Although Yi Yun did not believe anything the middle-aged scholar said, Yi Yun knew that the so-called calamity was probably not far off.

“I’ll first enter the Heavenly Dao Union!”

Yi Yun calmed his heart and expirated Yuan Qi. His energy circulated slowly according to the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

The chaos that happened in the Six Swords Inn was talked about in the days that came in Heaven Martial City.

Yi Yun stayed in the Six Sword Inn, but no one came to challenge him.

The process of how Yi Yun defeated Jian Wushuang was spread throughout Heaven Martial City.

Maybe there were people who were jealous, so Yi Yun’s image in the rumors were not that good. Some people said that not only was Jiang Yidao strong, he was also impudent and he had terrible moral standards. Once defeated by him, not only would you suffer the humiliation of defeat, you would even be mocked by him. Just that overbearing attitude of his was enough to waver your martial heart, or make you question the meaning of life.

As the rumors proliferated, Yi Yun’s image turned into one of a young demon lord. Some elites fantasized about defeating Yi Yun, to become famous in one battle, but none of them had the courage to do so.

Yi Yun did not care about all of this. Instead, the Six Swords Inn that had been smashed not only did not pursue the matter, it even waived Yi Yun’s lodging. All sorts of spiritual food was provided free of charge to him on a daily basis.

It was not a lot of money, but it also reflected the attitude of the Six Swords Inn. This was a result of his strength as Yi Yun’s future achievements were limitless.

As for Yi Yun, he fulfilled his promise and took Ah Niu and Ah Yu to Treasure House to buy all sorts of divine medicine that could improve talent.

As for the youth in his twenties, his mind went blank seeing them spend the Empyrean relics. However, he did not dare to have any greedy thoughts. After all that had happened, he was completely apprehensive of Yi Yun. He did not dare to say a word while following him.

“If I have the chance to return the favor, the two of us will certainly not shrink away.” Ah Niu and Ah Yu said solemnly.

Now, they were too weak and they were unable to return the favor to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun waved his hand, while he suggested a few large factions that included the Lin family for the siblings to go. It was up to them to choose, for he believed that these large factions would be happy to take them in.

It was also time for Yi Yun to leave Heaven Martial City.

At Treasure House, he bought some herbs and relics that were suitable for the Nine Neonate.

These relics barely caught Yi Yun’s eye. He also heard that there were even better treasures that were kept in the Martial Alliance.

To take elites in, the Martial Alliance did not sell these treasures, but used them to nurture these geniuses.

While leaving Heaven Martial City, Yi Yun stopped by the towering divine tree.

Yi Yun glanced at the divine tree that resembled two peerless experts fighting. He felt an intense and chilling murderous intent surge at him.

He tensed up and with a cold breeze blowing across him, he suddenly regained his focus.

“A true divine tree.” Yi Yun stared at it deeply. Although the Tian Yuan world was just a sealed world, it was a place with amazing traits.

Yi Yun moved forward. His body pranced around the path, and soon, he disappeared onto the cloud-shrouded path…

603 - : The Designation of Young Demon Lord

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun arrived at Greatsword Mountain exactly on the tenth day.

Greatsword Mountain’s peak pierced the clouds, making it impossible for birds to traverse it. While standing on the base of Skyward Path, Yi Yun looked up at the mountain peak, his eyes glaring with icy coldness.

Blood Moon was at the peak of the mountain.

These people wanted him, as well as Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou, dead. Yet, they did not know that he was now right before their very eyes.

By stepping into Greatsword Mountain, his entry into the Heavenly Dao Union would be fraught with dangers. However, Yi Yun had already made up his mind.

He wanted to enjoy the Martial Alliance’s resources and treasures, and in turn, rain disaster on them.

Yi Yun’s goal was very clear. He was here to cause destruction.

Of course, there was no free lunch in this world. The Heavenly Dao Union definitely had its motives, and Yi Yun knew this all too well.

As Yi Yun began scaling the mountain through the Skyward Path, the wind grew stronger, to the point that it was as if he was in a squall. Steep cliffs bounded the path on its two sides. If a person lacked the requisite cultivation level, he would easily be swept away, crashing to the bottom of the mountain.

Yi Yun used his movement technique, and the flow of Yuan Qi within his body allowed for him to treat it as if it were flat ground.

At that moment, a few figures suddenly appeared in front of him.

“Oh” Through the strong winds, he discovered some people who did not wear the attires of the Martial Alliance. They were likely young elites from other factions.

Yi Yun could hear the conversations of some of them.

“Our applications to join the Heavenly Dao Union had been approved for days, but only now can we officially join the Heavenly Dao Union. It is such a rare opportunity.”

“That is right. The list of new recruits into the Heavenly Dao Union has already been publicized. I had been waiting at the bottom of Skyward Path for everyone. Since our family clans are friendly with each other, we should take care of each other when we get in.”

“With so many geniuses gathered in the Heavenly Dao Union, an alliance is necessary, else it will be difficult to survive.”

Upon hearing their conversation, he immediately understood the situation.

Today was the day the Heavenly Dao Union took in a new batch of geniuses. It was the official date of recruitment.

Back then, when the middle-aged scholar transmitted his voice, telling him to meet in ten days, he had not specified it only for Yi Yun.

These people’s attires were embroidered with different family clan emblems. Taking a glance at them, he noticed a familiar emblem, Totem Mystic Race.

Back in the Great Empress mystic realm, Panther Lady, who Yi Yun met, was from the Totem Mystic Race.

And later, in Heaven Martial City, the wanted poster that targeted him, which he had seen, included the Totem Mystic Race in its inscription.

This proud son of heaven of the Totem Mystic Race was a young man. His face was covered in a mysterious tattoo. It was the Totem Mystic Race’s runic mark.

As Yi Yun sized them up, they also noticed that there was an additional person behind them.

The Totem Mystic Race’s man turned around with a glance, “Who is that?”

“He looks young, and he does not wear the attire of the Martial Alliance. He should be the same as us and is here to join the Heavenly Dao Union. I know less than half the people on the list of new recruits into the Heavenly Dao Union, and I have never seen him before.”

These people did not hide their conversations from Yi Yun.

“Friend, why not speak your name? Which family clan are you from?”

A few people asked Yi Yun.

Everyone who joined the Heavenly Dao Union were competitors to one another. These people had already formed an alliance amongst themselves to share the benefits. Towards a stranger, all of them were wary, but they also wondered if there was a chance of forming an alliance with him.

Unfortunately, they did not expect that Yi Yun would just move through them after giving them a glance.

Yi Yun could not be bothered to answer these people, especially people from the Totem family clan. This family clan was involved in the death warrant for Lin Xintong, Jiang Xiaorou and himself, so it was already nice of him not to cause them harm from the shadows.

Yi Yun’s movement technique was adroit, so moving through them was just a matter of a blink of an eye.

By the time they were brought to their senses, Yi Yun’s figure was far ahead of them.

“This person!”

The man from the Totem family clan was immediately infuriated.

“What impudence!”

“He is too arrogant!”

This person had ignored them and had passed through them despite their questions.

All of them had their family clan’s emblem embroidered on their clothes, yet this person had ignored them, by doing so he was belittling their family clans as well.

“Chase after him!”

These people looked at each other and were furious.

They wanted to chase up to Yi Yun, not to argue with him, but because of the competitive streak young elites had.

Yi Yun did not even turn his head. He could not be bothered with them and only used his movement technique to move forward in the squall like it was flat ground.

He did not deliberately increase his speed, but as he was too powerful, he quickly left the young geniuses in his dust.

“He is so fast!”

The people behind him could only stare on. One of them, who had a weaker cultivation level, was already panting from a lack of Yuan Qi.

This path up the Greatsword Mountain was a small entry test. In this squall, the higher one went, the more draining it was on one’s stamina.

They wanted to strive for vindication, but they realized that they were being left behind, and their protective Yuan Qi were being shredded by the fierce winds. As for Yi Yun, he had long since disappeared.

“He specializes in movement techniques.”

“This person is too arrogant. Just because he has an advantage with his movement technique, he desperately charged forward, just to get the better of us. He sure is childish in his hope to prevail against others!”

“Tsk! He is just young and aggressive! Everyone has their own fortes, so it is nothing to be proud of!”

These people said in indignance. They seemed to have forgotten of their own hopes of “prevailing against other”. Only when they realized that they could not beat him did they take on a pure and lofty stance that such competition was meaningless.

Less than an hour later, Yi Yun managed to arrive at the peak of Greatsword Mountain after traversing the Skyward Path.

With Yi Yun’s speed, he could have taken less than five minutes to scale the mountain, but he had been delayed because the mountain peak was covered with arrays!

He turned back to look at Skyward Path, as he quietly thought to himself that the path was a good cultivation ground. If an ordinary warrior climbed it and continuously practiced his movement technique, his Yuan Qi would become denser.

Looking around him, a part of the peak of Greatsword Mountain was a large but flat stony platform. Just after Yi Yun finished scaling the mountain, he landed precisely on this stony platform.

At that moment, there were quite a number of proud children of heaven gathered on the stony platform. Upon Yi Yun’s arrival, many of them darted a glance at him.

Their glances consisted of a hint of wariness and scrutiny.

Although it was calm and peaceful, Yi Yun could feel a sense of animosity coming from the numerous geniuses.

As these geniuses came from various large sects or family clans, there was an intricate and complex network of relationships between them.

Yi Yun scanned the crowd. Back at the Great Empress’ mystic realm, only people of the younger generation from a small number of family clans had gathered. Now however, the gathering had expanded to people from all over the entire Tian Yuan world.

Despite that, they were no different than a smaller number to Yi Yun.

At that moment, the people from before, including the man from the Totem family clan, finally arrived.

The moment they reached the platform, they immediately looked for Yi Yun.

And when Yi Yun sensed their gazes, he only gave a nonchalant glance back and did not mind them further.

“This rascal!” The young man from the Totem family clan looked at Yi Yun with displeasure. This conflict was not something serious, but it was enough to make him want to settle scores with Yi Yun.

Yi Yun only cared about himself before finding a spot to sit down to meditate.

However, at that moment, he felt something. A certain baffling chil rose up from his heart, giving him a fight or flight response!

This is…

Yi Yun immediately opened his eyes!

He sensed an extremely familiar aura, but he could not figure out where he had encountered such an aura at that very moment.

This made Yi Yun ponder. After he practiced martial arts, his memory had been superb. He had an eidetic memory, so even if he had previously seen an unimportant person once, he could recall if he thought about it deeply. This time however, he could not recall where he had encountered it before.

What could it be…

Yi Yun scanned his surroundings. Many of the elites present were silently discussing through voice transmissions in sporadic groups, or meditating alone. Nothing seemed odd.

Yi Yun did not know if the person who had given him such a mysterious feeling was within this group of people.

Yi Yun made a note to be careful. Since this was the Martial Alliance’s headquarters, he could be said to have entered the tiger’s den. The moment his identity is exposed, the consequences will be unthinkable!

604 - : Greatsword Mountain

CKtalon  CKtalon

More and more people gathered at the square of Greatsword Mountain. Although Yi Yun looked calm on the surface while meditating, he was actually constantly alert towards his surroundings.

After a few other batches of paragons arrived, it was already noon. The Sun hung high in the sky, but when its rays shone down, it appeared weak. It was as if the Sun’s rays had been greatly dispersed by Greatsword Mountain’s solemn aura.

“Oh? There is someone…”

Yi Yun suddenly frowned. He sensed that, at a spot about dozens of meters away in front of him, there was a slight Yuan Qi fluctuation. Yi Yun could feel a furtive observation coming from that spot.

However, when he scanned at it with his eye, the spot only had a lone stone pagoda, with nothing else surrounding it.

Yi Yun narrowed his eyes, for he sensed that there was something special about the stone pagoda.

“Is it an array?”

Yi Yun closed his eyes to sense it. The energy fluctuation seemed to conceal itself within a distorted space-time, and felt like an array.

Hence, Yi Yun opened his Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

Under the energy vision, nothing could hide for everything could be seen at a glance!

In the energy vision, there was no stone pagoda. Where the stone pagoda stood there was actually a palatial grand hall.

And on the two sides of the grand hall there stood two demonic stone sculptures. On the top of the grand hall, there was a signboard with the three words “Demon God Hall” written on it!

There were four youths wearing the Martial Alliance’s attire beneath the signboard as they pointed towards the crowd.

These four people looked like Heavenly Dao Union’s elites.

Their cultivation level were also at the Dao Seed realm. By standing within the array, no one could detect them.

At that moment, a short youth pointed towards Yi Yun.

The reason why Yi Yun had sensed the furtive observation from before was due to being pointed at by this short youth. If not for that, Yi Yun would not have immediately seen through the array set up on the Martial Alliance’s Greatsword Mountain array, no matter how sensitive he was.

“He is that guy, right?”

The short youth pointed at Yi Yun and said in a derisive tone.

“Right, that is him. He looks ordinary and countrified.” A tall youth, who was standing beside the short youth, said while laughing.

“Eh, why is he looking over here?”

Just as they were discussing Yi Yun, Yi Yun had looked at them.

However, the tall youth was in no way bothered even while looking straight into Yi Yun’s eyes. He said in a very assured manner, “What can he see!? It is merely a coincidence. This illusion array was set up by an Empyreal King array master. Do you think that he can see through it!?”

The few of them took the array’s concealment for granted and began criticizing Yi Yun, and did not mince their words in any way.

Being able to criticize, peep and mock the paragons that entered the Heavenly Dao Union without them knowing, gave them an indescribable feeling of superiority.

Yi Yun silently circulated the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. He was unable to hear their conversation because his perception could not penetrate through an illusion array set up by an Empyreal King.

However, with the energy vision, he could see their mouths clearly. As such, even though their voices were isolated by the array, Yi Yun could lip read every single word they said.

Despite hearing these malicious conversation, Yi Yun remained unmoved as he carried on meditating.

“This Jiang Yidao does not look special in any way. To think Lord Ambassador gave him such a high evaluation.”

“Do not look down on him. He managed to defeat Junior brother Wuhen with one saber attack.”

“Wuhen is too young and too arrogant. It is not surprising for him to suffer under Jiang Yidao’s hands. If it were me, he would definitely be the one suffering!”

“Hehe, you might not be able to beat him. However, his days won’t be smooth sailing. Although Lord Ambassador had given him an exception to enter the Heavenly Dao Union, his character is too overbearing. The upper echelons of the Heavenly Dao Union will not allow such a person to exist. No matter who it is, they have to be obedient upon entering the Heavenly Dao Union. If not, wouldn’t it be a smack to the Elders’ faces? Wait and see, for there will be times when he will suffer. We can just enjoy the show when that happens!”

“Just watching a show is too boring. As a Southern Sea savage, he is not familiar with other family clans or sects. When he gets repressed to the point of being left high and dry, we can take the opportunity to ‘help’ him. He might even be overwhelmed by our kindness till he shed tears of gratitude. We might even get some benefits as a result.”

As they spoke, they began to guffaw.

Following that, they stopped talking about Yi Yun as they changed topics to talk about the women who were about to enter the Heavenly Dao Union. They even began to evaluate each girl’s looks and figures. It was full of debasement and sexually degrading remarks.

With the isolation from the array, it was another form of thrill to these youths as they frivolously talked about the proud ladies.

Yi Yun was in no way interested in this.

He only silently made the decision to remembered them, especially the tall and short youths.

Just as Yi Yun was planning on closing his energy vision, his heart suddenly sank.

He saw a few figures stride out from the black stoned great hall.

And those youths, who had been gesticulating at the elites present, under the “Demon God Hall” signboard, immediately wiped their frivolous expressions and turned respectful the moment they saw these figures.

“Lord Inspectors!”

The youths began to bow.

The figures they bowed to all had very powerful auras. The moment they walked out the God Demon Hall, a powerful surge of demonic energy rushed out in a manner that caused apprehensions.

Among those few, the leading person wore a dark, golden face mark. His aura was gloomy and terrifying. In front of him, the youths, who previously had sharp tongues, were so afraid that they did not dare to breathe.

The golden masked man coldly looked at the young elites gathered on the square.

These young elites were still grouped up in threes and fours. They were either privately speaking through voice transmissions or meditating. They were oblivious to all of this.

Except one person… Yi Yun!

Yi Yun took a deep breath as he narrowed his eyes.

He did not look straight at the golden masked man, but locked onto this person using the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

He finally knew where that familiar chilly feeling came from.

That feeling came from this person!

Coldness, evil, cruel. This aura…

It was that evil energy!

Yi Yun was enlightened. Back when he uncovered the treacherous plot the Shentu family clan scheming against the Lin family, he had extracted evil energy, that could rapidly cause a life to age, from the relic.

This evil energy was extremely strange. Back then, all the Lin family Elders failed to detect its existence, but it was controlled by the Purple Crystal.

Back then, Yi Yun sinisterly implanted this evil energy into Shentu Nantian’s body which no one discovered. Following that, when Yi Yun killed Shentu Nantian, he left the evil energy inside Shentu Nantian’s corpse.

And now… On this masked man’s body, Yi Yun actually felt the existence of that evil energy!

It was just that, compared to the past, this evil energy had undergone a bizarre transformation. This transformation was what made Yi Yun unable to link the cold and evil feeling to the evil energy in the beginning.

605 - : Masked Man

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Lord Inspector, this is the latest of batch of geniuses from various family clans and sects who are joining the Heavenly Dao Union.” A sallow-skinned man with eyes that lacked luster said in a deep voice.

The masked man nodded. As the man spoke, he was already observing the crowd of geniuses.

Ever since the Heavenly Dao Union was established, with the Longevity Extending Pills, the numerous resources, and with the condition that there was no need to abandon their own sects and family clans, it attracted numerous geniuses. Some future household heads or sect leaders, who were secretly nurtured by their respective factions, even joined the Heavenly Dao Union.

“Almost all of the Tian Yuan world’s geniuses are basically here.” The deep-voiced man carried on.

The power of the Martial Alliance could now be said to be unprecedented.

At that moment, the golden-masked man took out a token.

With a bright flash from the token, the array immediately became ineffective. When the light dimmed, the palatial black-stoned grand hall suddenly appeared in front of the crowd.

Upon seeing this scene, the geniuses, who were waiting, were taken by surprise.

Especially when they saw the golden-masked man and the few peoples behind them, they were even more appalled. They were on the platform, but they had not discovered that their surroundings were shrouded by an array. They also did not know that these people were standing not far from them, observing them.

The auras emitted by these people made the geniuses present tense up. The masked man had a full face mask on. It even obscured the eyes. The features of the dark, gold mask were only a few simple lines, but it exuded a cold and eerie feeling.

By looking at those narrow holes that replaced the mask’s eyes, it felt like their breaths were being drawn out.

“It’s the Martial Alliance.”

“They must be important figures from the Heavenly Dao Union that are responsible for receiving us.”

Just as these geniuses were about to stand up and pay their respects, the people behind the masked man suddenly attacked!

Multiple sharp saber beams came falling from the sky and instantly covered the entire area!

“How could this be!?”

“Why are they suddenly attacking!?”

The elites immediately shrunk their pupils as they dodged or tried to withstand the beams.

Some tried resisting hurriedly after a moment of panic, but they failed to completely withstand them, and immediately cried out.

One of the people that Yi Yun encountered on the way up Skyward Path had been struck by the Yuan Qi and was sent flying backward, while mangled flesh and blood spilled out of his chest’s cavity.

And when this Yuan Qi flew at Yi Yun, who was meditating, remained motionless before sending a punch straight at it.

Bam!

The Nine Neonate’s strong body and strength collided with the golden Yuan Qi. As the golden flash vanished, the Yuan Qi shockwave was immediately dissipated

“What… What the hell is this!?”

“My hand is broken. They are too ruthless in their attacks.”

Many of the injured geniuses whined.

There was no forewarning before the sudden attack, and the attacker’s cultivation levels were much stronger than theirs, so how was it possible for them to withstand it?

These elites thought that some important figure had arrived and they were trying to greet them. They hoped that they could leave a good impression on them, getting better treatment in the future or even a bit more resources.

However, what awaited them was just a Yuan Qi blast.

After the Yuan Qi dissipated, these people saw the situation in the square. A majority of the geniuses had been swept away by the Yuan Qi blast, and some of them were even covered in blood.

However, there were a few of them who managed to resist the attack. From the looks of it, they did so with ease.

There were about seven or eight of such people. They were all elites, but the difference in strength was too great!

Amongst these seven or eight people, there was only one young man who was sitting on the ground in a corner, meditating. He looked ordinary and he carried a saber on his back.

The other elites were all standing, but he was still sitting!

Before the Yuan Qi blast, he was sitting on the ground meditating, and he had just finished his meditation! His clothes were dustless as if the blast from before was a breeze gently caressing him. He barely felt it.

“It’s that rascal we met on the way up the mountain!”

The people from the Totem Mystic Race recognized Yi Yun. On the way up Greatsword Mountain, they had taken the initiative to befriend Yi Yun, but he ignored them. Due to Yi Yun’s belittlement of them, they were very displeased.

They believed that Yi Yun was only good at his movement technique, allowing him to leave them in the dust on the way up Greatsword Mountain. But from the way things were looking now, Yi Yun was a lot stronger than them.

In the attack from before, one of them was seriously injured, while the others were also in miserable states. They were not on the same level as Yi Yun.

This made them look at Yi Yun with extremely complicated expressions.

Yi Yun’s present strength allowed him to resist a Yuan Opening realm warrior without him revealing any hidden cards that could expose his identity. Yi Yun himself could not estimate how strong he was if he really played all his cards.

In fact, Yi Yun looked forward to having a battle that he could fight to his heart’s content.

“That person is a saber user…”

A few elites beside Yi Yun noticed the saber on Yi Yun’s back. Despite him being a saber user, him having such a vicious fist attack attracted their attention.

Even those elites, who had withstood the attack with ease, glanced at Yi Yun and secretly made a mental note of him.

At that moment, the golden-masked man at the door of Demon God Hall coldly said, “Anyone who is wounded can leave.”

“What!?” These elites were stunned. Someone asked subconsciously, “Leave? To where?”

The situation had already made them faintly sense what was about to happen, but they could not accept it.

“Isn’t that nonsense? Of course, go back to wherever you came from. You have been eliminated!” The tall youth, who had previously derided Yi Yun while hiding in the array, chuckled.

Eliminated!?

Many of the elites were stunned when they heard this word!

They had employed painstaking means to obtain the qualifications to enter the Heavenly Dao Union and they were feeling high-spirited. But now, they were being sent back just after arriving at the Martial Alliance?

They never expected that the sudden attack from before was a test.

They had never heard of an entry test when entering the Heavenly Dao Union!

The faces of those who failed to avoid the attack immediately turned ashen.

They could not accept it!

“Tsk! This round of recruitment by the Martial Alliance is several times bigger than the previous one. Do you really think that all of you can enter the Heavenly Dao Union? Such naivety!”The tall youth said with a gloating sneer.

These new geniuses had suffered a disastrous outcome just as they were about to enter the Heavenly Dao Union. From hope to despair, and their ambitions being shattered, this gave the tall youth the pleasurable feeling of Schadenfreude as well as augmenting his superior status.

However, he noticed Yi Yun as well. He was quite displeased that Yi Yun had easily passed the test.

Against a person who was ostentatious and was also better than him, the youth was filled with jealousy. He wished that he could see Yi Yun suffer a crushing defeat.

606 - : Entry

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Go back? My application passed, and I traveled a long distance to get to Greatsword Mountain. I will not accept you turning me back!” An injured genius said with his face beet red.

The golden masked man turned towards the genius youth and did not say a word. Suddenly, a swift and forceful sinister aura passed through the mask and surged forward. It was as if a pair of cold and sinister eyes was staring right at that genius.

This genius’ eyes immediately turn glazed, and when the glazed blankness left his eyes, his eyes were transfixed with terror.

Interacting with that strange energy made him feel like he had a near death experience. He did not dare speak a single word.

“I… I’ll be leaving now… right now… ” The youth muttered with a face as white as a sheet.

When the other indignant people saw this genius’ actions, they could vaguely guess what had happened. Although they remained disgruntled, they did not dare to protest.

They had spent a lot of effort to join the Heavenly Dao Union, but now, they had been sent packing the moment they arrived at the peak of Greatsword Mountain. It was very difficult for them to accept it…

And at that moment, Yi Yun slowly stood up.

He quietly looked at the masked man and narrowed his eyes.

He had already open his energy vision. He could completely perceive that evil energy.

He previously believed that the evil energy was lurking in the golden-masked man’s dantian, and it would slowly feed on his vitality. However, it would be several hundred years later before it would really do anything.

But now, by the looks of it, that was not the case!

In the energy vision, Yi Yun could clearly see that the evil energy had rooted itself deep in the golden-masked man’s brain.

In a sense, the evil energy was already in control of the masked man’s soul sea. Once it acted up, the masked man might be controlled by the evil energy.

As if sensing Yi Yun’s gaze, the masked man turned to look at Yi Yun.

The cold but empty expression from the golden mask gave people an inexplicable sense of horror.

“Is there anyone else who is unconvinced?” The golden-masked man’s gaze landed on Yi Yun.

With the “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book”, Yi Yun did not possess a single flaw in his disguise.

The golden masked man could not see through Yi Yun, but Yi Yun could see through the other with his energy vision!

He was surprised to find a familiar face underneath the mask…

Shentu Nantian!?

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted. His first reaction was that it was impossible!

In the Great Empress realm, he had killed Shentu Nantian with his own hands. How could a dead person rise from the dead?

Yi Yun had confirmed that Shentu Nantian was dead.

Rising from the dead was impossible even for the Blood Moon!

Oh?

Yi Yun suddenly realized something. He had a vague feeling that the person in front of him only had the same looks as Shentu Nantian, however, the air he gave off was completely different.

As Yi Yun were sworn enemies with Shentu Nantian, Yi Yun knew Shentu Nantian very well. It was easy to change one’s looks, but it was much harder to change one’s aura.

Hence, the top grade disguise techniques required one to change one’s aura.

Of course, the “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book” far exceeded such a category.

“He might not be Shentu Nantian, yet, he looks exactly like Shentu Nantian. Could it be that a soul is possessing Shentu Nantian’s corpse?”

When Yi Yun thought of this possibility, he realized that even a small mole that Shentu Nantian had was on the same spot as the person in front of him, so clearly this was Shentu Nantian’s body. And with the evil energy residing in his body, it gave this theory greater weight.

The soul that had possessed Shentu Nantian’s body did not sense the presence of the evil energy. By foolishly possessing it, it had become influenced by the evil energy!

And Yi Yun could only think of two people who could possess Shentu Nantian. They were the two Blood Moon members who had entered the Great Empress with the swarthy youth. They were Yin specters, so it would be very common to change their bodies!

With all these indicators, Yi Yun had already guessed what had happened.

However, Yi Yun did not know what sort of strange transformations the evil energy had undergone. Why did it grow so much in just a few years?

Yi Yun hesitated slightly as he sank his perception into the Purple Crystal. He activated the Purple Crystal’s vision to its limits as he probed deep into the origins of the evil energy’s transformation.

And at that moment…

Whew!

The evil energy that had pervaded the masked man’s soul sea seemed to receive a stimulation as it suddenly shrunk!

From this contraction, Yi Yun realized that the evil energy had split into numerous filaments and it had infiltrated the entire soul sea of the masked man.

Now, all the filaments were being withdrawn.

These filaments were extremely thin, like hyphae. And the evil energy was like a parasitic mushroom. It spread out its numerous hyphae, deep into the masked man’s soul sea, and it absorbed his energy without a trace!

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun felt a chill. This scene was indeed eerie!

The evil energy very quickly shrunk into a ball.

It had become very alert.

Yi Yun understood that it had sensed the existence of the Purple Crystal when he probed it with his energy vision.

The Purple Crystal was the nemesis of all energy.

The Purple Crystal was the arch enemy of such an evil energy. Just sensing a tiny bit of it was like a mouse encountering a cat. This was a repression that came from a survival instinct.

However, Yi Yun had only used his energy vision to probe it. The aura that came from the Purple Crystal was still too veiled. The evil energy had still not evolved into a living organism. It only had its instincts, but no intelligence. When the Purple Crystal’s repression disappeared, the evil energy slowly restored itself to its original calm state.

Soon after, it silently stretched its energy filaments out and with an extremely slow speed, spread them throughout the masked man’s soul sea.

And throughout all this, the masked man did not seem to discover any of this!

The cold and eerie masked man and the evil energy that resided in his soul sea.

One was animating a corpse, while the other was lodged deep in the soul sea, silently devouring energy. This combination gave one the chills.

At that moment, the golden masked man’s gaze had moved away from Yi Yun.

With no one daring to object, the masked man sneered, “Very good.”

The tall and short duo behind the masked man understood his intentions. They walked towards the square with a smile hanging on their faces. They checked the injuries of the people present. Anyone who was injured by the Yuan Qi blast would be sent down Greatsword Mountain, no matter how minor the wound was!

Those geniuses that were eliminated were sent down the platform with resignation and a sense of indignant.

They had come here in high spirits, but now, it was more humiliating than those whose applications had failed.

“Now, all those who are still standing on the platform, you have passed the test and you can formally join the Heavenly Dao Union. However, don’t assume that you can sit back and relax. In the world of desolate beasts, only the strongest desolate beasts have the right to enjoy the best food. In the world of us warriors, in the Heavenly Dao Union, we follow the same principle.”

607 - : The Strange Evil Energy

CKtalon  CKtalon

The geniuses present did not react to the golden masked man. The law of the jungle was an extremely common principle in the martial world. To train in martial arts, warriors had to compete with one another. It was very normal for the weak to serve as prey for the strong.

This also suited the intentions of these geniuses. Everyone wanted to become the strongest!

“While cultivating in the Heavenly Dao Union, there are times when your lives will be at stake. If you are afraid, you can quit now!”

After the golden masked man said that, he scanned the geniuses present.

“No one wants to quit? Very good! Then let me congratulate you on becoming the new members of the Heavenly Dao Union.” After he finished speaking, he turned around and said, “Follow me.”

The masked man’s footsteps were neither fast nor slow, but with only a few steps, he covered a great distance.

When the geniuses saw this, they went after him.

A few of them were lacking in their movement techniques, so they had to use their cultivation techniques so as to catch up.

The black-stoned grand hall was the entrance to the Martial Alliance. After passing through it, a large region of buildings came into view.

The peak of Greatsword Mountain was very wide. Looking far into the distance, they got the feeling as if they were on the same level as the heavens themselves. It was quite a stunning experience.

Amongst the buildings, there were tall stone pagodas that seemed to be akin to swords, standing erect above the ground, a sharp aura rushing out from them.

The golden masked man led them to a stone pagoda and then stopped.

These stone pagodas looked like small hills from afar, but they were palatial when seen from up close. Standing before these pagodas, they could feel a heavy oppression coming from the giant stones that were used to make these buildings.

“This will be where you will stay. As new Heavenly Dao Union members, you will receive privileges of the Heavenly Dao Union from now on. There are arrays set up inside the stone pagodas that gathers the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi of this area to form a pure and dense, endless stream. It is also a top cultivation ground.”

The golden masked man’s words lit up the geniuses’ eyes. These cultivation grounds were much better than where they came from. Which was all thanks to the exquisiteness of the arrays set up within the stone pagoda.

However, Yi Yun was uninterested. These stone pagodas were far worse than the Great Empress mystic realm.

“In addition…”

As the golden masked man’s words paused, he brought the new Heavenly Dao Union members to another stone pagoda.

There were many stacks of shelves within the stone pagoda, filled with various relics, cultivation techniques, jade scrolls, weapons, treasures. It was dazzling, and too much for one’s eyes to feast on.

“This is where you exchange treasures in the Heavenly Dao Union. Take a look yourselves!”

The golden masked man said nonchalantly.

The geniuses present had seen all sorts of treasures, cultivation techniques in their own family clans. Some large factions even had similar treasuries.

There was everything one could wish for when it came to cultivation technique manuals, weapons and pills!

Hence, when they saw this dazzling array of exhibits, these proud children of heaven were not impressed. They did not react too drastically.

Quite a number of people walked forward from the crowd and began to nonchalantly flip through the jade scrolls on the wooden shelves.

At the beginning, they were just doing so casually.

However, slowly, their expressions changed.

“Eh? This cultivation technique ensures that you will become an Empyreal King once it is mastered?”

A girl who was in her twenties was stunned when she saw the introduction of an Internal Heart Sutra.

In the Tian Yuan world, Empyreal King was an impressive title. It was even higher than that of Sage.

In a large faction, there would only be a handful of people who were Empyreal Kings.

Once they were given the title of Empyreal King, they would be considered to be amongst the top cultivators within the entire Tian Yuan world!

This girl had her doubts and flipped the Internal Heart Sutra open and began reading.

The cultivation technique jade scroll before her eyes were protected by an array, so she could not read the full thing, but she was able to preview a small portion of the first volume.

This girl was a paragon herself, and had amazing perception.

The moment she read the contents of the cultivation technique, she was deeply attracted by it.

“Fascinating!”

The girl exclaimed, attracting the attention of numerous people.

And following that…

“To be in control of the power of space. This is… a cultivation technique for the spatial dimension laws!”

Another gasp sounded out not far from the girl.

Spatial dimension laws!

In the Tian Yuan world, spatial dimension laws were extremely mysterious. It was extremely rare to hear of someone cultivating in spatial dimension laws. Even if they did, they often only scratched the surface and went no further.

This was because there were too few techniques that allowed for one to cultivate the spatial dimension laws in the Tian Yuan world!

And because there were so few techniques, they were classified as confidential amongst the various large family clans, preventing them from spreading out of the family. It was very difficult for any ordinary person to come into contact with it. This caused the spatial dimension laws to be synonymous with mystery.

“It must be a fake…”

Many people refused to believe it. They gathered around to take a look. From the description of the laws within the jade scroll, it was clearly not made up. The scroll contained the description of Great Dao, making their hearts palpitate.

“It is real!”

Someone said with utmost belief. These elites were all people with great discernment. They could tell what was genuine and what was fake.

And following that, they discovered many cultivation techniques that assured the ability to become Empyreal Kings. They also discovered manuals that described the spatial dimension laws, as well as other shocking inheritances.

These inheritances had never before been seen in the other large factions of the Tian Yuan world!

“Incredible. How does the Martial Alliance have all of these treasures?”

“Just a few of these manuals alone would cause a top faction to feel envious when brought out into the world!”

Many were alarmed. Although the Martial Alliance has existed for a long time, it had always maintained a low profile. Now, despite it coming forward into the world, few people had a deep understanding of them.

From seeing these manuals, they felt as if their eyes had been opened.

Furthermore, they were curious as to why the Martial Alliance had never taken them out in the past, despite having such a heritage.

While listening to them talk, the golden masked man sneered and said, “The cultivation techniques and treasures you see before you are only a portion of the Martial Alliance’s foundation heritage. There is no faction in the entire Tian Yuan world that can compare with our Martial Alliance. You may be wondering where these inheritances came from.”

When the masked man said this, he paused. The elites present pricked up their ears. They were indeed curious.

“You might have heard that, in ancient times, martial arts enjoyed a golden age. During that era, there existed numerous elites, and also many splendid heritages!”

“The Tian Yuan world of that era was filled with sacred grounds and numerous experts. Amongst the best, there was someone like the ancient Great Empress…”

When the masked man said this, the elites present were enlightened.

The ancient Great Empress absolutely exceeded any faction’s Patriarch in the Tian Yuan world. She was of a completely different level!

As for that golden age of martial arts, people could only speculate about it due to the loss of history. There were few who really understood what had happened in that era.

Yet, from what the masked man was saying, there clearly was such a golden age!

“You probably did not imagine that our Martial Alliance descended from that ancient golden era. We are the only human faction to have survived from that ancient golden era, and as such, we have a great store of ancient heritage that the rest of the Tian Yuan world does not have!”

When the masked man said these words, he said it with great gusto as the words reverberated in all the elites’ ears.

What?

A faction that had survived from the ancient golden era?

How old could it be?

608 - : Ancient Heritage

CKtalon  CKtalon

Many elites looked each other in the eye, and felt… disbelief.

The ancient golden era of martial arts had been severed for unknown reasons, but the Martial Alliance had managed to survive all that time?

Since they had so much heritage in store, why did they keep the heritage all these years, never making it public?

The eyes of the geniuses lit up as their breathing sped up.

Their intuition told them that something the masked man said was problematic, but… with the heritage in front of them, they checked it and its authenticity was real.

Even if it was not like how the masked man described, there was no doubt that they had a store of heritage from the ancient era. The heritage owned by the Martial Alliance definitely exceeded what any large faction in the Tian Yuan world had.

Such heritage was enough to tempt them!

As for them, they had already become members of the Heavenly Dao Union. Which is to say, they too had a chance to obtain such heritage. Upon realizing this, they became excited.

“Why was the ancient martial knowledge severed? Why did you sit on this heritage for millions of years without releasing anything, causing our human martial knowledge to deteriorate so much?” Someone could not help but ask.

The masked man sneered and said, “The ancient martial knowledge was ended due to the calamity I mentioned. As for why this heritage was never released, I have no need to explain!” The coldness in the masked man’s voice caused the questioner to shrink back, he no longer dared to ask anything else.

Yi Yun sneered.

The deterioration of the Tian Yuan world was probably what the Blood Moon wanted. If a peerless Great Emperor like the ancient Great Empress appeared again, the Blood Moon would encounter all sorts of difficulties. Their entire organization might even be destroyed!

Only with the deterioration of the Tian Yuan world could the Blood Moon use their so-called “foundational heritage” to do as they pleased in the Tian Yuan world.

After all, without the Eye of Destruction supporting them, the Blood of Destruction were just mere pawns.

“How can we obtain these heritage?” A genius could not help but ask.

Everything was sealed in an array. They could only see a portion of the contents, and it was probably something that would not be easily given to them.

The masked man said, “Desolate beasts need to hunt in order to get food. It is the same for you. With the best delicacies in front of you, it will all depend on your own ability to obtain them!”

“This.” With a flip of golden masked man’s hand, a blood red piece of jade appeared on his palm. “This is a Blood Jade. It is something only our Martial Alliance possesses. In the Martial Alliance, Blood Jade can be used to exchange for these cultivation techniques, weapons and treasures.”

Blood Jade!

The eyes of many geniuses turned into a blade-like narrow slit. They were all focused on that tiny piece of jade.

“Can it also be exchanged for something from the ancient heritage?” Many people asked with bated breaths.

The golden masked man chuckled. “The ancient heritage is the Martial Alliance’s core secret. Allowing you to join the Heavenly Dao Union is the Martial Alliance’s contribution towards the upcoming chaos. If you want the ancient heritage, don’t you think that’s being too greedy?”

Oh? No access to them?

The hearts of the elites present sank slightly.

“However.” The golden masked man suddenly said, “It’s not impossible to obtain the ancient heritage.”

“In this world, there is no benefit that comes without rhyme or reason. To obtain the core secret of the Martial Alliance, you will have to pay a price!”

“In the Martial Alliance, it is split into the Heavenly Dao Union and the Heavenly Blood Union. The Heavenly Blood Union is where the true core lies! To become a Heavenly Blood Union member, you will have to bind yourselves to a soul contract to pledge allegiance to the Martial Alliance, only then would you become directly related to the Martial Alliance.”

Yi Yun narrowed his eyes. Heavenly Blood Union… Isn’t that Blood Moon? And to bind oneself with a soul contract… ?

It was most likely that one could never escape from the Martial Alliance’s soul contract once it was bound. Using the ancient heritage as bait, they lured these geniuses in.

And these people did not know that the reason for the ending of the ancient martial civilization and how those ancient heritage entered the hands of the Martial Alliance was all orchestrated by the Blood Moon.

Seeing the geniuses looking hesitant, the masked man added on, “Don’t worry. You do not need to abandon your existing sects or family clans when you become a Heavenly Blood Union member.”

“You can still work in service of your existing faction, but you have still to pledge lifelong loyalty to the Martial Alliance. You are not to betray it and you have to perform missions for the Martial Alliance. However, you can be rest assured that the Martial Alliance would never send you to do fatal missions. These will also be written in the soul contract.” Upon hearing the masked man’s words, the elites present turned restless.

The ancient heritage not only needed Blood Jade to exchange for it, they also needed to join the Heavenly Blood Union!

Although they had not seen the soul contract’s details, even if one used one’s knees to think, they would realize that the restrictions of the Heavenly Blood Union were definitely much harsher than those of the Heavenly Dao Union!

Joining the Heavenly Blood Union meant losing a lot of freedom.

To warriors, soul contracts were things that weren’t easily signed. They had to think very carefully before doing anything that had to do with soul contracts!

At that moment, everyone understood everything.

The matter about joining the Heavenly Dao Union without needing to sign any soul contract or fulfill any obligations was actually a lie.

This was because the thing the Martial Alliance placed weight on was the Heavenly Blood Union!

The Heavenly Dao Union was just a preparatory reserve, so the Heavenly Blood Union was the goal!

To put it bluntly, the establishment of the Heavenly Dao Union was in fact just a trap.

However, the Martial Alliance did not force anyone. They had only put out bait, but joining the Heavenly Blood Union was voluntary.

Everyone had the right to choose. Either one wanted absolute freedom or endless resources.

Especially those… ancient heritage!

With the ancient heritage before their eyes, many of the geniuses were tempted.

They did not want to bind themselves to a soul contract, but they also wanted the heritage… If they could learn a few parts of the ancient heritage, they could become Empyreal Kings or Patriarchs.

As a result, their lifespans would be greatly extended several times. They would become influential figures of the Tian Yuan world!

On the contrary, although they were proud, they knew themselves. With their talent, most of them would cease to progress after the peak of the Yuan Opening realm.

A warrior’s cultivation was fastest before their hundredth birthday.

But after a hundred years, their life’s potential would slowly deplete. With various bottlenecks, they could be left stuck in a certain realm, with no way to improve.

Many people could not cross the vast chasm that separated the peak Yuan Opening realm and an Empyreal King!

Many people were in a dilemma.

How should they choose?

Freedom was valuable, but at times, strength was even more alluring!

At that moment, a few people suggested to look at the contents of the soul contract. This proved that they were already tempted.

Regardless of anything, it was best to read the contents of the soul contract first. They could give up if they could not agree to it.

The masked man waved his hand, causing blood-red contract to appear out of thin air, in front of one of the elites who asked.

The people around him immediately gathered to read it.

Their hearts were in a fierce struggle.

There was no such thing as a free lunch. To reap the harvest, one had to pay the price.

Yi Yun only looked on in disinterest as the scene unfolded in front of him.

Soul contract…

The Blood Moon did not want the Human race to become strong, so they kept the heritage of ancient times away. And now, even though the Blood Moon was implementing its plans by finally taking the heritage out, the heritage was given to only those who signed a soul contract.

Besides, Yi Yun suspected that the soul contract had been tampered with!

An ancient faction, and one that was strongly hostile to the Tian Yuan world, would not trust anyone. How was it possible to expect that their contracts were fair?

Furthermore, with the Blood Moon’s abilities, it was probably not difficult for them to prevent these elites from realizing that the contracts had been tampered with!

When Yi Yun thought of this, he secretly shook his head.

He had already saw this coming. The Blood Moon’s goals in forming the Heavenly Dao Union were not that pure and simple. And what had been revealed was probably the tip of the iceberg.

Yi Yun nonchalantly flipped through the treasury’s cultivation technique manuals.

A few manuals indicated the number of Blood Jade required for them to be exchanged for.

Many of the ancient manuals were limited to Heavenly Blood Union members to exchange for.

And there were some manuals that did not have a limitation, but Heavenly Blood Union members could exchange it for a much cheaper price. The difference in prices were several times lower, and sometimes, lower by ten times!

Under such circumstances, those geniuses, who did not join the Heavenly Blood Union, would probably find it hard to survive.

The treasury’s heritage indeed exceeded the existing heritage of the Tian Yuan world.

Some of them were ancient heritage, and some of them even came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

However, they couldn’t be compared to the collection of the Azure Yang Lord.

The Azure Yang Lord was once an illustrious figure of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, so he was nothing that these evil demon pawns could compare to.

Hence, Yi Yun was not tempted by any of these heritage.

Furthermore, Yi Yun cultivated the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. It was derived from Supreme Great Dao that originated from the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Although Yi Yun was not tempted, these elites could not help but be tempted. Especially when they realized that the soul contract did not seem as bad as they had imagined…

There were already some who could not repress their temptations in the crowd. However, they could not make up their minds to stand forward.

Many people were waiting, waiting to see how others chose.

609 - : Heavenly Blood Union

CKtalon  CKtalon

Many of the elites were indecisive about joining the Heavenly Blood Union.

The masked man did not hanker them either. The Heavenly Blood Union never forced anyone. There would always be others willing to join even if they didn’t. The Heavenly Blood Union had no shortage of people.

On the contrary, this high-handed means tempted the elites even more. Even if they were not tempted before, after seeing the strength of those who joined the Heavenly Blood Union increase, they would naturally be unable to withstand the great contrast. They too would then scramble to join.

“Having just joined the Heavenly Dao Union, we will first give you a hundred Blood Jade. However, any future Blood Jade earned will depend on yourself.” The golden masked man said before clapping.

At that moment, a figure walked out from the recesses of the stone pagoda.

This person was carrying a blood-red jade box.

This person looked in his twenties. He was dressed in white, and a fierce aura emitted from his whole body. It was as if he was a sword, emanating sword Qi that threatened others.

Upon seeing this person, Yi Yun was surprised.

Gongsun Hong?

He never expected to meet someone he knew from the Great Empress mystic realm…

Back in the Great Empress mystic realm, Gongsun Hong had intentionally used Yi Yun as a shield, but he ended up being hoodwinked by Yi Yun. That was how their enmity was forged.

It was quite normal for Gongsun Hong to join the Heavenly Dao Union. He had performed well in the Great Empress mystic realm, so it was reasonable for him to pass the Heavenly Dao Union’s tests.

Compared to his previous self in the Great Empress mystic realm, the current Gongsun Hong gave off a completely different feeling.

“It’s the Li Fire Sect’s Gongsun Hong. I know him!”

Other than Yi Yun, quite a number people present recognized Gongsun Hong. Although Gongsun Hong was inferior to Shentu Nantian amongst the younger generation of the Tian Yuan world, he was still a famous figure.

“Haha, dear Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters, Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters. I feel honored to see everyone here! Also congratulations on joining the Heavenly Dao Union!”

As Gongsun Hong spoke, he opened the blood-red jade box in his hands. He looked very confident and one could feel a faint sense of superiority from his speech.

After the jade box was opened, there were rows of red jade stones that were the size of corn kernels. Every hundred jade stones was stringed together.

These small jade stones were apparently Blood Jade.

Every new disciple would obtain a string of Blood Jade.

At that moment, the tall youth standing beside the masked man, who had previously derided Yi Yun in the array, introduced him with a chuckle. “This is Junior Brother Gongsun Hong. In the next year, he will be responsible for taking you around.”

“Taking us around?”

When the elites heard this, they were stunned. Gongsun Hong was on the same level of standing as them. Some of them believed that their talent was not worse than Gongsun Hong’s, yet they were being taken around by a kid after just entering the Heavenly Dao Union?

They were naturally indignant against Gongsun Hong. However, since it was an arrangement by the Heavenly Dao Union, they did not say anything further.

“If that is the case, we will need to rely on Junior Brother Gongsun to take care of us.”

A few people who had just entered the Heavenly Dao Union said lightly, clearly insincere.

Upon seeing this scene, Gongsun Hong laughed without a word. The tall youth chuckled and said nonchalantly, “I know you are indignant. Firstly, Junior Brother Gongsun Hong will just teach you the rules of the Heavenly Dao Union, and not martial arts. Secondly, even if we let Junior Brother Gongsun Hong to teach you martial arts or cultivation techniques, he probably has the qualifications to do so. Junior Brother Gongsun Hong has joined the Heavenly Blood Union for three years now, and during this time, his performance has been excellent. He has already cultivated several ancient heritage from the Heavenly Blood Union. Now, his strength has increased by leaps and bounds, and he can no longer be compared to his past self!”

Heavenly Blood Union?

When they heard this, they looked at each other. So Gongsun Hong had joined the Heavenly Blood Union and cultivated ancient heritage. It was no wonder his aura was so formidable and the reason for his self-confidence.

“I think, you must be wondering how do you obtain Blood Jade. In the Heavenly Dao Union, there are many ways to obtain Blood Jade. For example, joining the Heavenly Blood Union. You will receive a one time reward of a thousand Blood Jade. Or you can pass some trials of the Heavenly Dao Union to obtain Blood Jade. And there is also… defeating an old member of the Heavenly Blood Union to obtain a corresponding amount of Blood Jade as a reward. Especially defeating the old member that brings you around, the rewarded will be increased, which is to say… defeating me!”

When Gongsun Hong reached the end of his sentence, his voice changed and a formidable force swept through the venue.

The hearts of people sank. At that instant, the formidable sword Qi that erupted from Gongsun Hong had pierced straight at their eyebrows.

Such an overpowering presence made the elites present frown.

This Gongsun Hong was a bit overbearing!

However, for him to say this, he naturally had the necessary abilities to do so! If not, his bombast at such an occasion would be utterly shameful if his face got smacked here!

“With Gongsun Hong joining the Heavenly Blood Union and cultivating the ancient heritage for three years, his insight into the laws has probably exceeded ours greatly.”

When cultivation heritage reflected the difference in effective combat power, it was usually down to the insight into the laws.

When warriors practiced martial arts, they would eventually have to manipulate the powers of Heaven and Earth. If the cultivation technique was weak, the power of their moves would naturally be limited.

Although the elites present were prideful, they knew that against Gongsun Hong, they were unlikely to win!

“For the Martial Alliance to let Gongsun Hong lead us, it must mean that Gongsun Hong’s strength is stronger than we thought.”

“To obtain Blood Jade, one of the ways is to defeat senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union. The Martial Alliance is clearly trying to make it the strength of the senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union clear to us!”

Many geniuses discussed privately through Yuan Qi voice transmissions.

If they wanted to obtain the Blood Jade, they had to battle the senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union, and once they were defeated, these elites would realize the gap between the Heavenly Dao Union and the Heavenly Blood Union. That would then strengthen their resolve to join the Heavenly Blood Union.

This was the goal of the Martial Alliance.

Many people figured this point out. For the Martial Alliance to let a Heavenly Blood Union member like Gongsun Hong to hand out the Blood Jade, it was clearly to let the new members to see the edge that the Heavenly Blood Union had.

They were not afraid that one would not feel tempted when one saw the gap in strength.

Knowing that Gongsun Hong’s strength was certainly exceptional, and with the Blood Jade as reward, many people could not repress their feelings. Someone asked, “Junior Brother Gongsun, you previously mentioned that the third method of obtaining Blood Jade. If we defeat you, how many pieces of Blood Jade would we receive?”

Someone wanted to make a move.

“The number of Blood Jade received is different depending on the which senior member of the Heavenly Blood Union you defeat. Defeating me gives you a thousand Blood Jade!” Gongsun Hong said, “However… Every challenge of a Heavenly Blood Union member requires a hundred Blood Jade! Regardless of the outcome, this hundred Blood Jade is not refunded.”

“Oh? We still have to purchase the right to challenge?”

When they heard this, they were all put into a dilemma. They had just entered the Heavenly Dao Union and they only had a hundred Blood Jade. Once they lost, they would be left penniless.

And winning only gained them 900. However, it was probably not easy to win!

The masked man watched this from the sidelines without uttering a word. He allowed Gongsun Hong to control the situation.

Letting the senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union battle the newly recruited Heavenly Dao Union geniuses was considered a hazing process. Only by doing so would they be able to quickly break their spirits, showing them of the benefits to joining the Heavenly Blood Union.

“Haha!” Upon seeing everyone’s dilemma, Gongsun Hong laughed. “Having just entered the Heavenly Dao Union, it’s best to cultivate earnestly. As for defeating me… the easiest method is to join the Heavenly Blood Union. After exchanging a few manuals from the ancient heritage, and with me being young, through the combination of other aspects, all you Senior Brothers and Sisters still have the advantage.”

Oh?

Upon hearing Gongsun Hong’s words, the elites present did not feel good.

Advantages obtained from the combination of other aspects?

Wasn’t that just the advantage due to age? To put it bluntly, he was saying that they were old, so who would enjoy hearing that?

“This Gongsun Hong is taunting us just because he is young. Such arrogance!”

Many people could not stand seeing this. Amongst them, Gongsun Hong was really considered young. So if an older person really fought a younger person and still lost, it would be indeed shameful!

“This Junior Brother Gongsun, I wonder how old are you?”

At that moment, a voice suddenly resounded from the crowd. Everyone turned back to take a look. The person who spoke was Yi Yun!

Yi Yun’s words attracted the attention of many people. Even the masked man glanced at Yi Yun.

“Unfortunately, I am only 24 this year.” Gongsun Hong said proudly. This age was extremely young amongst the people here!

“24? That sure is young. Compared to Junior Brother Gongsun, I feel ashamed. I’m older by Junior Brother Gongsun by three years. What a waste of my years.” Yi Yun shook his head and sighed.

In fact, Yi Yun’s real age was 23, one year younger than Gongsun Hong.

However, he had used the “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book” to change his age. If not, a coincidental age of 23, which was the same as Yi Yun, could arouse the suspicion of the Martial Alliance.

Furthermore, if Yi Yun had such strength at the age of 23, it would be too monstrous. Yi Yun was afraid that his act would be too preposterous, making the Martial Alliance find it “unacceptable”.

“Haha, this brother is too modest. Being older than me by three years isn’t much. If you were to join the Heavenly Blood Union now and work hard at chasing up, these three years can be completely wiped. Maybe this brother’s talent is astounding and you can progress rapidly when cultivating the ancient heritage. Maybe in a year, this brother will be able to catch up.” Gongsun Hong said without haste, as if he was giving Yi Yun some pointers.

However, Gongsun Hong said those words taking it all for granted. He was in no way feeling arrogant. That was how he really thought. It was the confidence that was a result of the Heavenly Blood Union’s inheritance.

“Junior Brother Gongsun makes a great point! I indeed am interested in joining the Heavenly Blood Union. I think I still have a chance to make up the three years. However… if you say to catch up with Junior Brother Gongsun in one year, that’s thinking too highly of me. Junior Brother Gongsun has already cultivated in the ancient heritage for three years, and I believe that your strength has reached an unfathomable stage. Your insight into the laws must be at the acme of perfection. I definitely cannot compare myself to you.” Yi Yun said it with a ‘modest and learning’ attitude.

His words pleased Gongsun Hong, but Gongsun Hong said, “Here, here. This brother is being overly modest. I wonder which faction this brother comes from? It looks like this brother has a solid foundation and is promising. You might even enjoy double the results with half the effort by cultivating the ancient heritage.”

610 - : The Experienced Member of the Heavenly Blood Union

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Junior Brother Gongsun, you are putting me on a pedestal. The talent endowed to me is nothing much, and I come from humble origins. How can I have the ability? The Heavenly Blood Union’s ancient heritage must be supreme techniques. I really want to learn it, and I wish for Junior Brother Gongsun to give me some advice. I want to see the extraordinary power of the ancient heritage! I am willing to pay the hundred Blood Jade to broaden my horizons. It will also let the elites present to witness the excellence of the ancient heritage, so as to join the Heavenly Blood Union together!”

The meaning behind Yi Yun’s words was that he was willing to pay the price of a hundred Blood Jade so as to witness the power of the ancient heritage. If the ancient heritage was powerful, he would naturally join the Heavenly Blood Union, but if that wasn’t the case, he would not necessarily join.

Gongsun Hong’s mouth formed an arc. He was confident that he could “broaden” Yi Yun’s horizons, fully convincing him of his prowess.

As a leader of this new batch of Heavenly Dao Union members, it was one of his duties to demonstrate the power of the supreme inheritance of the Heavenly Blood Union and attract them into joining.

Having a battle with the Heavenly Dao Union members was the best way of demonstrating that.

Gongsun Hong was initially afraid that these Heavenly Dao Union members had their misgivings about the hundred Blood Jade, and they would be afraid to challenge him. If that was the case, it wouldn’t look good on him.

With someone leading the pack, that was the best.

“Haha! I won’t call it advice. However, the ancient heritage I cultivated is indeed quite powerful. I can only demonstrate a tenth of its power, but it’s already no trifling matter. Since this brother wants to try, I won’t be holding back.” As Gongsun Hong spoke, he pulled out a long sword.

As for Yi Yun, he slowly pulled out his saber.

“Junior Brother Gongsun must be joking. Any simple move from the ancient heritage Junior Brother Gongsun cultivated would probably be extraordinarily powerful against me. However, I will do my best.” As Yi Yun said that, he held the saber in an exaggerated and uncouth manner.

Just this manner of handling made Gongsun Hong chuckle in his heart. This person’s saber technique did not look up to mark. It did not resemble anything like a saber technique from a Tian Yuan world top faction. He looked like the way he had described himself, that he had come from humble origins.

“I will use a move from my Heretic God’s 36 Swords. Watch it well!” As Gongsun Hong spoke, he attacked.

He was determined to show off. This move was actually the most gorgeous attack that Gongsun Hong had cultivated.

When he slashed his sword, 36 sword shadows appeared with a flash of light. Every sword shadow was a flying sword that was controlled by Gongsun Hong’s aura. From the way the sword beams’ interleaved to form Dao and Truth, they had formed a profound formation!

The Heretic God’s 36 Swords was in essence a sword formation!

“Oh, such a move?”

The elites present were all people capable of discernment. From the way the 36 swords moved, they had an general understanding of the profoundness behind this attack.

By using a sword to establish a sword formation, it would be able to demonstrate the power of a sword formation. It was quite fascinating!

As expected of an ancient heritage!

“Sword formation?”

Yi Yun had spent seven years in the God Advent Tower and he had read through many of the heritage left behind by the Azure Yang Lord.

Although Yi Yun did not have time to master all of the heritage, after reading through them, he had a general level of understanding. This resulted in Yi Yun’s extraordinary level of discernment. He could tell at a glance the approximate level of Gongsun Hong’s move.

Maybe in the ancient Tian Yuan world, this Heretic God’s 36 Swords was not a bad technique, however compared to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, this sword technique was nothing remarkable!

With a thought, Yi Yun used the Purple Crystal Origins to see through all the energy flows of the sword formation!

By being able to see energy and knowing its fundamental form, Yi Yun could immediately tell that Gongsun Hong could only demonstrate a tiny portion of the sword formation’s power. Due to the various limitations in Gongsun Hong’s strength, cultivation level and insights, the sword formation he demonstrated was not perfect. There were many flaws!

After Yi Yun cultivated the sword technique from the Pure Yang Sword Palace, his understanding of Sword Dao had far exceeded Gongsun Hong’s.

At that instant, Yi Yun was unable to immediately figure out the most accurate manner to crack the sword formation. However, locking on to a few weak spots in the sword formation was extremely easy for Yi Yun!

Seeing the sword about to hit him, Yi Yun held his saber with his two hands and sliced upwards.

Compared to Gongsun Hong’s gorgeous sword moves, Yi Yun’s saber technique looked too simple. It was like a butcher chopping and splitting bones.

This…

People stared with their eyes wide. Previously, many people had seen how Yi Yun had displayed his strength in the entry test. Yi Yun was definitely not weak, but such a corresponding move looked too perfunctory. How could he win?

Gongsun Hong smiled. He felt that the battle was already over. Although his opponent wasn’t strong, he could still defeat him in one strike, which was enough to stun the crowd.

Just as he was about to hit Yi Yun with his sword attack, his expression suddenly changed.

Oh!?

Yi Yun’s saber attack was indeed very normal, but… Yi Yun was too strong. Just this simple saber attack was injected with the power to flip mountains!

At the instant the saber beam met the sword beam…

Ka-cha!

With a clear snap, the sword beams that was flying in the air, interweaving Dao and Truth all shattered!

“Crackle!”

With a series of explosions, the saber beam proceeded forward in an all-conquering fashion. And a series of chain reactions happened to the sword beams as they all began to shatter!

Yi Yun’s saber attack had attacked a weak spot of the sword formation, allowing it to proceed forward in an indomitable fashion, all the way to Gongsun Hong!

What?

Gongsun Hong was greatly alarmed. He never expected that his sword formation would be broken in such a devastating manner.

He forcefully gathered Yuan Qi and slashed his sword out to block, but as the saber beam was too fast, it was already too late for Gongsun Hong.

“Peng!”

Gongsun Hong’s protective energy was directly shattered as he screamed. His body was slashed by the saber beam from his shoulder to his ribs. His clothes burst open and the blood flew out!

He was sent flying like a kite with a broken thread, slamming heavily into one of the walls of the stone pagoda before bouncing off it.

Gongsun Hong had been overthrown. Blood was coming out of the corners of his mouth as he was completely stunned.

He had subconsciously believed that Yi Yun was not strong, and he had demonstrated his most gorgeous attack so as to dazzle everyone. His cultivation in the Heretic God’s 36 Swords was actually not deep enough.

However, who have thought that a country bumpkin like person like Yi Yun had managed to slash the Heretic God’s 36 Swords formation open with one saber attack?

How could this be possible!?

Gongsun Hong was filled with disbelief. Not only Gongsun Hong, even the new recruits of the Heavenly Dao Union were dumbfounded. Their mouths were agape as their throats twitched. It was as if they had been petrified.

This included Yi Yun as he fitting entered a ‘shocked’ state. It was as if he never expected his saber attack to be this strong.

He looked at his saber in a daze and then, he looked at Gongsun Hong, muttering, “Isn’t the ancient heritage very powerful……? How can it be broken by this “Pig Slaughtering Saber” attack of mine?”

Yi Yun had a look of innocence.

However, when the other Heavenly Dao Union members heard what Yi Yun said, they immediately felt their stomachs churn, especially Gongsun Hong, who had nearly vomited another mouthful of blood.

Pig Slaughtering Saber?

What was the name of his attack again?

There were some powerful moves that were named like things of the mortals. They sounded second rate, but it was not surprising. After all, there were some experts who created such moves that liked to keep a low profile.

For example, there were movement techniques like “Flying Over the Grass” and “Reed Traversing Rivers”. There were also body cultivation techniques called “Muscle Tendon Forged Bone Punches”. Some profound cultivation techniques might have lowly names, but they were just reserved, and they could still be used.

But… Pig Slaughtering Saber…

Just from hearing this name made many speechless. What sort of mighty figure would name his saber move as Pig Slaughtering Saber?

Could that mighty figure’s ancestor be a butcher?

Furthermore, the name of the attack could belittle itself, but it even cursed the opponent. Wasn’t anyone who ever got slashed by the saber attack become a pig?

611 - : Pig Slaughtering Saber

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Junior Brother Gongsun, are you alright!?”

Seeing Gongsun Hong sent flying by a single saber attack, the tall and short duo rushed over to check on Gongsun Hong’s condition.

Gongsun Hong was actually not seriously injured, but he looked terrible. Yi Yun’s saber beam was too sharp, so Gongsun Hong’s white robe was turned to shreds from his collar to his crotch. It was to the point that if he did not hold on to his robe, he would have exposed himself when standing up.

When many of the female disciples saw this scene, they felt embarrassed and subconsciously turned away.

Gongsun Hong’s face flushed like a pig’s liver! If Yi Yun’s saber had focused its attention at the spot between his legs, Gongsun Hong may not have been left impotent, but his lifeblood would have been injured. When that happened, he would become famous in the Martial Alliance.

“You… you… ”

Gongsun Hong gritted his teeth and looked at Yi Yun, but Yi Yun had a ‘none of my business’ look on his face. This made Gongsun Hong speechless as he stared.

In a fair fight, losing just meant that you were inferior. He could not seek revenge on Yi Yun as a result.

Yi Yun hurriedly said, “Junior Brother Gongsun, are you alright? I noticed how powerful your attack was and how gorgeous it was, it was something I could not resist. So I slashed out madly with all I had. I never expected Junior Brother Gongsun to deliberately efface yourself. I never expected you to be hit by the saber beam, resulting in such a situation.” Yi Yun said in a sincere fashion. Gongsun Hong’s intestines twisted together when he heard the phrase ‘deliberately efface’.

He gritted his teeth and said, “It’s not deliberately effacing, but I used a move I was not familiar with just now. I only mastered a tiny portion of that Heretic God’s 36 Swords move. I was too careless. Let us have another go. I will use my most powerful combat strength!” Gongsun Hong said with his face flushed.

Many geniuses, who were watching by the sidelines, began to despise him. In a fight between warriors, defeat meant defeat. How did being careless matter? Are you going to say that you were careless when you died while out exploring mystic realms after encountering dangers? Would you be revived as a result?

However, since this was the Martial Alliance’s territory, Gongsun Hong represented the Martial Alliance’s Heavenly Blood Union, so it was not appropriate for them to say it out loud.

“Heavenly Blood Union members do not seem as strong as expected.”

“Ancient heritage may be good, but it all depends on yourself on how well you can cultivate it.”

“Right… I think we still need to seriously consider it. The ancient heritage are cultivation techniques from tens of millions of years ago after all. It might not be the case that it is compatible with the present martial arts system… ”

Many people began having such thoughts.

Many things in this world were decided based on the results of success or failure. Their decision to join the Heavenly Blood Union would not be affected as a result of Yi Yun defeating Gongsun Hong, but at least, upon seeing Yi Yun’s strength, it had calmed these geniuses down. They would ponder over it more as they weighed the advantages and disadvantages of binding themselves to a soul contract.

Not entering the Heavenly Blood Union did not mean that they would be inferior to those from the Heavenly Blood Union!

“Another time?”

Upon hearing Gongsun Hong’s words, Yi Yun was stunned and he was a bit hesitant. It was as if he did not have any confidence battling Gongsun Hong a second time. He touched his saber and said, “If Junior Brother Gongsun wants another round, I can wait for you. But until then… ”

Yi Yun paused upon saying this as he glanced at Gongsun Hong’s embarrassing state. He said in awkwardly, “Why doesn’t Junior Brother Gongsun change his clothes first?”

The moment Yi Yun said that, a female disciple could not help but laugh.

Gongsun Hong’s face was so red that one would think that he was bleeding. Ever since he came out of the Great Empress mystic realm, this was the most shameful day he had experienced!

He gritted his teeth and said, “Don’t be smug… My second attack will use all my strength!”

Gongsun Hong was indignant. Just as he wanted to battle Yi Yun again, a cold voice suddenly echoed.

“Enough, you have already lost!”

This voice reverberated strongly causing the frolicking atmosphere to cool down immediately.

With everyone shutting up immediately, they all turned to look over. The person who spoke was the masked man.

The masked man looked at Yi Yun, but his cold and unchanging mask did not reveal a single expression.

Yi Yun looked right into the masked man’s eyes calmly. He was not afraid of him.

“You… are really not bad!”

The masked man gave such an evaluation without head or tail. Such an evaluation prevented people from guessing what the masked man’s emotions were. They felt that it was not genuine.

The Martial Alliance clearly intended to let the senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union teach the newcomers a lesson, but with Yi Yun coming forward to cause trouble, he had smacked them in the face right there and then!

A battle that was meant to showcase the power of Heavenly Blood Union’s senior members ended up turning into a joke. Even if Yi Yun did it unintentionally, this situation would definitely displease the masked man extremely.

“This kid is quite daring! He offended the Heavenly Blood Union the moment he entered.”

“I couldn’t understand his saber attack from before, but it can’t be as simple as what it seems. He is an expert, and he might be intentionally playing the pig to eat a tiger.”

The elites present were also guessing, that with Yi Yun’s strength so strong, it was most likely that he had made a fool of Gongsun Hong.

“Lord Inspector, I can still fight… ” Gongsun Hong said indignantly.

However, the masked man shouted out coldly, “Leave!”

Gongsun Hong’s paused. He could only obey the order while swallowing his pride.

He shot an angry glance at Yi Yun. He had lost to Yi Yun because of deliberately trying to dazzle, so he was indignant at his loss.

“You have very good discernment!” The masked man evaluated Yi Yun.

Others might not be able to tell, but he could. In that split moment when Yi Yun attacked, he had locked on to the weak point of Gongsun Hong’s attack. This allowed him to defeat his opponent in one strike!

The Martial Alliance believed that the Heretic God’s 36 Swords was one of their secret techniques, so outsiders definitely did not know anything about it. So it was impossible that this youth had previously seen the manual of the Heretic God’s 36 Swords.

This meant that the youth’s perception and discernment had reached an extremely horrifying standard. He could tell, in a hundredth of a second, where the weakness of Gongsun Hong’s attack was.

How could such a person not be able to tell the difference in strength between Gongsun Hong and himself?

From the beginning to the end, this person had treated Gongsun Hong as a fool.

A newcomer that could make a fool out of a senior member of the Heavenly Blood Union piqued the interest of the masked man.

The way he looked at Yi Yun, hidden beneath the mask, was like him watching a delicious prey.

In the masked man’s opinion, Yi Yun was too cocky, and he did not know himself nor knew how big the world was.

This sort of person, who thought himself as clever, nonchalantly making a fool of others, was easily doomed while regarding himself as infallible!

No matter how high a frog could jump, it could never jump out of the deep well it was in.

“You are destined to become my prey… ”

The mouth of masked man curled upwards underneath the mask. So what if you don’t sign a soul contract? Even if you don’t join the Heavenly Blood Union, you will never escape my grasp!

612 - : Prey

CKtalon  CKtalon

All of the masked man’s expressions were hidden beneath his mask. His mask, with its hollow holes, looks extremely cold and ruthless on the surface.

To the geniuses present, the pressure the masked man gave off was immense. Even his praise made them feel as if their hearts were in their mouths.

“Two thousands Blood Jades as your reward! I appreciate youths with talent.”

As the masked man said, a follower beside him carried a jade box over.

When it was opened, one could see 29 strings of Blood Jade neatly lined within. As for the other 900 Blood Jades, they were the reward from defeating Gongsun Hong.

To start off with 2900 Blood Jade right away, Yi Yun’s wealth was more than all of the other newcomers added up.

Many geniuses turned envious on seeing this. These Blood Jades could be used to exchange for large amounts of ancient heritage and treasures.

“From today and onwards, each and every one of you will receive a corresponding Blood Jade salary. Initially, you will receive ten Blood Jades monthly. If you join the Heavenly Blood Union, you will receive fifty Blood Jade monthly instead.”

“In the Heavenly Dao Union, there are a variety of trials. By passing them, you will obtain a corresponding number of Blood Jade as reward, your salary will also increase. And for the same trial, a Heavenly Blood Union member is rewarded five times that of a Heavenly Dao Union member!”

“Your salary will constantly accumulate. If you become a core member of the Heavenly Blood Union core, it would not be surprising for you to receive a thousand Blood Jades monthly. However… if you lose to a newcomer in battle, just like Gongsun Hong just did, then… the reward given to that newcomer will be deducted from your salary, and you will receive double the penalty!”

The masked man said coldly. Then, he looked deeply at Yi Yun and gave a insidious chuckle before turning around and walking away.

The penalty will be two times that of the reward value?

Many of them were secretly horrified. Yi Yun defeating Gongsun Hong won him a thousand Blood Jades, ignoring the challenge cost.

In that case, Gongsun Hong was going to have 2000 Blood Jades deducted from his salary?

It could be guessed that Gongsun Hong’s salary was not that high. This was quite a disastrous loss for him.

Yi Yun played with the Blood Jades in his hand. He was not interested in cultivation techniques, but… the treasures of the Martial Alliance were not bad. It would be stupid to not use them.

However, Yi Yun also knew that it was not going to be that easy to take advantage of the Martial Alliance.

It was not too much to describe this place as a dragon’s watery lair and a tiger’s den.

After the masked man left, Gongsun Hong had still not left.

He was completely overwhelmed with humiliation and feeling the pinch he was in!

That was 2000 Blood Jades!

Just thinking of it made Gongsun Hong’s heart ache and bleed. He finally understood that he had been treated as a retard by Yi Yun earlier.

He was no match for Yi Yun, and even if he had gone all out from the beginning, it was unlikely that he would win.

“Kid, what’s your name!?”

Gongsun Hong gritted his teeth as he asked Yi Yun.

Yi Yun glanced at Gongsun Hong and said, “I do not use my name, but I do have a title, Jiang Yidao.”

Jiang Yidao?

Gongsun Hong’s eyebrows pricked up. He had engaged in reclusive training in the Heavenly Dao Union for the past few years, so he did not know of such a person.

Although Gongsun Hong did not know of them, the newly recruited geniuses into the Heavenly Dao Union were very familiar with the name Jiang Yidao.

This was a very famous name in recent months.

Regarding Jiang Yidao’s strength, the rumors were quite forbidding. However, the children of heaven present had only heard the rumors and were yet to be convinced.

Now, after witnessing Yi Yun’s strength with their own eyes, they were somewhat convinced.

“He is Jiang Yidao?”

“He really only attacked with one strike…”

People looked at each other and were secretly aghast.

Although Gongsun Hong did not know of Jiang Yidao, from the crowd’s discussion, he knew that Jiang Yidao was not some nobody.

“Jiang Yidao, your name is very overbearing. Do you think you are strong just because you defeated me? The Heavenly Blood Union has existences that far exceed your imagination. I am nothing in the Heavenly Blood Union. Compared to them, you are nothing. Soon, you will be taught a lesson.”

Gongsun Hong said with a derisive tone.

However, the elites present did not agree with Gongsun Hong’s mockery.

Were there existences in the Heavenly Blood Union that could casually defeat Jiang Yidao?

One had to know that before Gongsun Hong entered the Heavenly Dao Union, he was already famous in the Tian Yuan world.

He was not the top genius, but he was one of the best.

There were even more monstrous people above Gongsun Hong, but it would not have been a highly disparate.

In the eyes of many, Jiang Yidao’s talent was already at the peak. No one believed there could be people more monstrous than Jiang Yidao.

Furthermore, a typically genius became famous in their youth, such as Gongsun Hong. Everyone had heard at least a little of him.

Occasionally, there would be geniuses who suddenly appeared that no one knew of, and that was normal.

However, for large number of geniuses to suddenly appear out of nowhere made no sense.

From what Gongsun Hong implied, the Heavenly Blood Union was filled with experts, and there were large numbers of geniuses that far exceeded Gongsun Hong. How was that possible?

They could not have appeared out of nowhere. Then, where did they come from?

Could it be that the Martial Alliance had secretly established a mystic realm, and nurtured them within it?

People were finding it strange, and a large number of people refused to believe him. They only felt that Gongsun Hong was being a sore loser by saying those words after suffering defeat. He wanted to find a way to regain his reputation.

Gongsun Hong could tell what everyone was thinking.

As such, he sneered. “The eyes of ants are forever restricted to the tiny bit of path ahead. How do you know how vast the world is? In the Heavenly Blood Union, there are a bunch of Reincarnators. The strongest ones amongst them number nine. They far exceed your imaginations. To them, you are all nothing!”

When Gongsun Hong threw that sentence at them, they were stunned.

Reincarnators?

Warriors could be reincarnated after practicing martial arts?

By starting everything from scratch, but having the memories of their previous life, that would be too heaven-defying. It felt impossible.

Seeing the stunned faces of the crowd, Gongsun Hong turned proud. “Yes, reincarnation! The Heavenly Blood Union has a supreme technique which can also be considered the first-ranked divine technique ‘Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique’!”

“Unfortunately, with your qualifications, you can only see the introduction. You do not even have the right to exchange for it!”

Gongsun Hong’s tone carried a strong sense of superiority. However, when matched with his tattered clothes, it appeared quite amusing.

“Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”?

Yi Yun’s eyebrows pricked up. Such a technique was roughly mentioned in the Azure Yang Lord’s collection.

Gongsun Hong’s words had aroused the interest of several people. Such a cultivation technique sounded extremely horrifying in power. If one could be reborn through reincarnation and keep one’s memories, that would truly be defying the heavens!

Even if they did not learn it, just witnessing it would be nice.

Furthermore, they might lack the qualifications now, but who knew if they might have it in the future.

Many of them had their eyes lit up and could not help but search in the treasure for this “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”.

Gongsun Hong gave a disdainful laugh before leaving the treasury.

Before leaving, he gave Yi Yun a cold glance.

This hatred did not bother Yi Yun. It did not matter if he offended others while in Jiang Yidao’s identity. The original Yi Yun identity had enemies all over the world.

After Gongsun Hong left, the elites present began browsing through all the treasures. Soon, someone found the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”.

“It is there!”

The person who found the manual could not help but cry out.

Everyone immediately headed in the direction of the sound.

The “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique” was placed on the third level of the treasury, which was also the highest level.

Its position was very prominent. It was right in the middle of the third level, which was also the reason why someone quickly discovered it.

Yi Yun also walked to the third level out of curiosity. He too wanted to see the true face of this mystic technique.

This mystic technique was sealed in a dark gold metallic box. The box was sealed in an array.

Many of the cultivation techniques in the treasury allowed them to preview the first page, but this cultivation technique did not even allow a preview of a single word.

Other than the box, there were only a few introductory words.

Yi Yun noticed that only core Heavenly Blood Union members were eligible to exchange for this mystic technique. And the cost of exchanging it was an astronomical price.

100,000 Blood Jade was only enough to exchange for the first volume. As for the subsequent volumes, it became more and more expensive.

Furthermore, having enough Blood Jade was not enough, one had to make a contribution to the Heavenly Dao Union.

From the stringent exchange conditions, many people secretly shook their heads.

This was too ridiculous.

Just joining the Heavenly Blood Union required them to sign a soul contract.

But for hundreds of thousands of Blood Jade and to provide a contribution to the Heavenly Dao Union was not something any typical person could achieve.

Basically, this mystic technique was just a beautiful mirage. It was something one can look at only.

“To think that there exists such a supreme technique. I really want to take a look. A page would do.”

A pretty girl could not help but say.

Reincarnation sounded very tempting. This was not only an accumulation of strength once again, it was a rebirth of life.

To women, who loved their beauty, returning to young womanhood after dying from old age, which girl wouldn’t be moved by this?

However, Yi Yun only shook his head secretly.

There was no free lunch in this world. If there was such a heaven-defying cultivation technique, how could the Azure Yang Lord mention it in passing? He would have described it in detail. And in the description, one would be able to tell his admiration of such a cultivation technique.

In fact, according to the Azure Yang Lord, such reincarnation cultivation techniques were often limited in many ways.

For example the mystery of birth.

When being reincarnated, a large amount of memory would be lost. A portion of people would lose a bit of their personality after the reincarnation. Although they did not completely become another person, they were not the entirely their original person.

Other than that, cultivating in such reincarnation cultivation techniques, not only did it not extend one’s life, it would in fact shorten it instead.

Every reincarnation would shorten one’s lifespan. The more one reincarnated, the faster one would die.

In fact, reincarnation cultivation techniques were just overdrawing on one’s life potential.

Before a hundred years of age, warrior’s had tremendous amount of life potential, allowing them to cultivate at the fastest speed. The benefits of a reincarnation technique was to stimulate one’s life potential to the greatest extent. It would allow a warrior who originally could only reach the Dao Seed realm to break through into the Yuan Opening realm. And those limited to the Yuan Opening realm to become Empyreal Kings.

This was also the reason why some people chose reincarnation cultivation techniques and trained to become a Reincarnated person. As they would have a lot of memory in their youth, it would allow for them to be somewhat invincible.

“The Martial Alliance has such a reincarnation cultivation technique. If they are nurturing warriors and all of them choose to reincarnate in a particular era, then that can explain how this group of people were unknown in the past.”

Yi Yun took a deep breath. For Reincarnators to choose the present era also meant that the scheme the Martial Alliance had been laying down all these years was slowly coming into fruition.

613 - : Reincarnators

CKtalon  CKtalon

Reincarnators were synonymous with mystery and power in the Heavenly Dao Union.

Once a person was born, he would possess large amounts of martial experience, insights into laws, the only thing left to do was to break through cultivation realms.

And to break through cultivation realms, all one needed was to possess a solid foundation, then, everything else would flow naturally.

All of the Reincarnators cultivated at an extremely fast speed.

Some of the Reincarnators in the Heavenly Dao Union had not only reincarnated once, some would have reincarnated three, four or even five times!

The accumulation of multiple reincarnations, with some spacing it out tens of thousands of years to hundreds of thousands of years, have all decided to appear in this era!

Their understanding of the laws and the Heavenly Dao were constantly increased and strengthened.

Warrior at the early stages of the Dao Seed realm had nomological insights that reached the standard of peak-Yuan Opening realm warriors, and ever closing in on Empyreal Kings!

Amongst warriors of the same realm, they were synonymous with the word invincible.

To be invincible amongst the same realm, only they could live up to that title!

The Martial Alliance did not hide the existences of the Reincarnators. Before this, the senior members of the Martial Alliance had all witnessed sparring between the Reincarnators. The terrifying scene was still fresh in their minds, even today.

It was also that sparring that made many of the senior members of the Heavenly Dao Union give up their final obstinance as they signed a soul contract and entered the Heavenly Blood Union.

Just that alone made the Heavenly Blood Union gain a few dozen new members!

Gongsun Hong also joined the Heavenly Blood Union at that moment.

Having witnessed the power of the Reincarnators, Gongsun Hong was full of admiration towards their powers. It had really stirred his heart!

Hence, this was the reason why Gongsun Hong mentioned the Reincarnators after losing to Yi Yun. Other than trying to win back some face, it was also because he adored Reincarnators too much.

He treated the Martial Alliance’s Reincarnators as his goal. He dreamed of contributing to the Martial Alliance, allowing him the opportunity to cultivate the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”. Once he managed to cultivate this supreme technique, he would at least be canonized an Empyreal King, or become a Patriarch, or even… exceed that realm!

In the Tian Yuan world of the past, the achievement of reaching Patriarch of a faction was nearly the peak.

As for exceeding a faction’s Patriarch, that was wishful thinking. However, many geniuses now had a different starting point. With ancient heritage, this was no longer impossible!

The elites who joined the Heavenly Dao Union all had their ambition. With such opportunities before them, and having witnessed so many miracles, it was very difficult for them to not waver from their original persistence.

Humans are easily infected by their environment. Once they are affected by the choices of people around them, it became more natural to join the Heavenly Blood Union.

Sacrificing freedom for overwhelming power was not an unacceptable matter.

Hence, in the month after Yi Yun joined the Martial Alliance, there were already more than ten geniuses, who had joined the Heavenly Dao Union together with Yi Yun, who chose to enter the Heavenly Blood Union.

There were more and more people joining the Heavenly Blood Union. Although Yi Yun defeated senior member, Gongsun Hong once he entered the Martial Alliance, smacking his face right on the spot, that only slightly impeded the elites’ decision. It did not have any fundamental impact.

Yi Yun did not mind so many people joining the Heavenly Blood Union, nor did he have much thoughts on it. Under the circumstances which involved an entire worlds catastrophe, the death of a few geniuses was in fact trivial.

Everyone had to pay the price of their choices.

…

Early in winter, a bout of snow fell on Greatsword Mountain. The mountain was cold and windy, and the northern winds blew around like flying sabers and swords.

“Gong—Gong—Gong—”

On Greatsword Mountain, a bell suddenly rang. The resounding sound of the bell pierced through the chilly wind and the storm, into every Heavenly Dao Union members’ ears.

“Jiang Yidao, the Blackstone Trial has begun!”

When Yi Yun was meditating within a room, he suddenly heard a shout come from outside.

A youth who lived beside Yi Yun was calling out to him.

This youth was named Wei Chiwei. He was younger than Yi Yun, and did not have a prominent background. He came from a second-grade faction in the Tian Yuan world, but for him to be able to join the Heavenly Dao Union meant he was nothing trivial.

Wei Chiwei was similar as Yi Yun. He too refused to join the Heavenly Blood Union. However, Yi Yun did not know for how long this would continue.

Yi Yun walked out his stone house.

In the Martial Alliance, only the Heavenly Blood Union members were entitled to a stone pagoda, which had a huge array that ensured rich and pure Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, making it a perfect cultivation environment.

As for those ordinary members who did not join the Heavenly Blood Union, they could only live in such stone houses. The facilities were simple and the concentration of Yuan Qi was average.

Although Yi Yun was famous in the Heavenly Dao Union, he could only live in such a simple stone house. Furthermore, his residence was one of the poorer locations amongst the ordinary Heavenly Dao Union members.

Other than that, ordinary members received all sorts of limitation in the various cultivation resources and trial arrangements. As for Yi Yun, as the unspoken leader of the ordinary members, he had been given special “care”.

Yi Yun received a variety of unfair treatment.

This was all deliberately done by the senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union.

The arrangements of many trials were moderated by the senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union. These people naturally disliked Yi Yun.

In fact, four months ago, when Yi Yun first joined the Heavenly Dao Union, defeating Gongsun Hong in one saber strike, the senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union were already hostile to him.

This kid with savage origins had smacked the faces of the senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union the moment he stepped foot on Greatsword Mountain. This involved the matter of face.

It was extremely shameful that senior members were inferior to new members!

The senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union wished to “educate” such a arrogant newcomer, to let him know that there were heavens beyond heavens, people beyond people.

However… Yi Yun was too strong.

Everyone knew Gongsun Hong’s strength, but Yi Yun had defeated Gongsun Hong in one saber strike.

Even though Gongsun Hong had insisted that he was careless and lost to Yi Yun because he wanted to dazzle, and said that if he fought Yi Yun with all he had, the outcome was at best a 40-60.

Those that believed in Gongsun Hong’s words were in the minority. People did not even know if “60” in the so-called “40-60” mentioned by Gongsun Hong belonged to Gongsun Hong or Yi Yun.

Gongsun Hong may have boasted, but since he never challenged Yi Yun again, the truth was already very evident.

Yi Yun was very strong and a newcomer. So if the senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union wanted to teach Yi Yun a lesson, they had to battle him, but there were no benefits to that.

If they could easily beat Yi Yun, they would have done so, but the chances of losing to Yi Yun was high. And once they lost, a large amount of their salary would be deducted and they would shame themselves. So who would do such a thing?

The matter of Yi Yun making a fool out of Gongsun Hong made him famous in the Martial Alliance. He was obviously acting the pig to eat a tiger, but he had completely fooled Gongsun Hong. It was best not to provoke such a person who was full of nefarious tricks. Being defeated by him might even result in their downfall!

Hence, for several months, Yi Yun cultivated in peace. No one messed with him, instead, those Heavenly Dao Union members who joined at the same time as Yi Yun were bullied by the senior members.

Many battles often had Blood Jade rewards on the line. These newcomers, especially those newcomers who insisted on not signing a soul contract were bullied horribly.

Human nature was as such. After the senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union chose to sign a soul contract, they had a certain kind of psychological wish to make everyone sign the soul contract like them.

This way, they could achieve psychological balance.

Usually, they would not target the newcomers who joined the Heavenly Blood Union, only the lives of those who delayed their joining of the Heavenly Blood Union were made difficult.

These days, Yi Yun kept a low profile. He did not go around smacking faces and challenging others. Since he did not know what the next step the Martial Alliance was planning on, he chose to keep a low profile.

His strength was constantly increasing, and his cultivation level was now nearing the peak of the Dao Seed realm.

To cultivate to this realm, even Yi Yun did not know how much hidden power he had. This was because ever since he finished his reclusive training in the Great Empress mystic realm, the only time he had gone all out was to spar with Lin Xintong. And Lin Xintong was not someone you could measure using common sense. Compared to the Tian Yuan world, Yi Yun did not know how far he could go.

“I am coming.”

The meditating Yi Yun took a deep breath and picked up the saber beside him.

This saber was five feet long. It was a katana, and the blade was long and narrow, matchless in its sharpness.

The saber’s name was Ancient Dust. Yi Yun had exchanged for it from the Martial Alliance’s armory with Blood Jades.

The saber was worth 1500 Blood Jades.

To the Tian Yuan world, this saber was considered top-notch.

Up to now, Yi Yun had the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow and a mysterious broken sword. But in terms of sabers, Yi Yun did not have a very good one.

Previously, Yi Yun had always been using the Blood Red Lotus Saber he had robbed from the Thousand Hand Granny. It was not bad, but after changing his identity, he naturally could not use the Blood Red Lotus Saber.

Now, the Ancient Dust Saber in Yi Yun’s hand exceeded the quality of the Blood Red Lotus in many ways.

Yi Yun was already very proficient with the Ancient Dust Saber after using it for four months.

With the Ancient Dust Saber in hand, Yi Yun strode out the stone house.

After he walked out and saw Wei Chiwei, Yi Yun frowned.

Wei Chiwei was a youth with delicate skin, but now, on his neck, there was a slanted hideous wound that spread all the way down, past his neckline.

And Wei Chiwei’s face had already turned purplish-black. Clearly, he had just been beaten up by others just a while ago.

614 - : Blackstone Trial

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What happened to you?”

Yi Yun asked Wei Chiwei after seeing his miserable state.

Wei Chiwei touched his neck. On it, there was a scar caused by a saber that had not even scabbed. He cursed, “That bunch of bastards were brutal in their attacks!”

As the masked man said, the Martial Alliance followed the law of the jungle. The strong were considered kings, while the weak were eliminated.

In the Martial Alliance, members were allowed to challenge each other. The loser would have a portion of their salary deducted, while the winner would receive rewards from the Martial Alliance.

Due to the existence of such an award, it was common for warriors to fight in the Martial Alliance.

A person who won successively would be given a strength rating, resulting in a higher monthly salary.

Under such rules, one had to be extraordinarily strong to survive. An example of that was Yi Yun.

If not, one had to form cliques to provide each other with mutual protection.

And the Heavenly Blood Union and the members who had not joined the Heavenly Blood Union were the two largest natural factions.

The former’s strength was no doubt much stronger than the latter!

Hence, those who did not join the Heavenly Blood Union, such as Wei Chiwei, suffered through their days.

They were beaten up daily, and the beatings were ruthless. It was not uncommon to have a wound that pierced through one’s body.

Yi Yun shook his head secretly. The atmosphere in the Martial Alliance was as such.

With multifaceted pressures and the temptations of power, the number of people who joined the Heavenly Blood Union increased.

“You never thought of joining the Heavenly Blood Union? It is just a soul contract, you are not being sent to die. It should not be hard to accept such a thing, right?”

Yi Yun casually asked, but Wei Chiwei shook his head. “I just do not like being forced to do things by others. If I wanted to join, I would have naturally joined. If I do not want to join, no one can force me to do so. I come from a humble background, and it is in no way comparable to a large family clan. I practice martial arts so as to settle vengeances quickly, so that I will become strong enough to be master of my own destiny. If I were to practice martial arts and become enslaved by others to become strong, then that would be having the order reversed.”

“I would rather not cultivate in such a path of martial arts!”

“If I really cannot survive in the Heavenly Dao Union, I will just leave!”

Wei Chiwei was at a young age, and his face still gave off a childlike feeling. However, the words he said slightly surprised Yi Yun.

He had never noticed this youth who lived in the neighboring stone house. He never expected for Wei Chiwei to have such thoughts.

Indeed, warriors practiced martial arts so as to control their own fate. If their lives were controlled as a result of practicing martial arts, that would be kind of sad.

“Let us go. To the Blackstone Trials.”

Yi Yun said lightly. Yi Yun had a good impression of Wei Chiwei. He did not want such an aspiring youth to be destroyed by the Martial Alliance.

“Alright!”

Wei Chiwei’s eyes lit up when the Blackstone Trials were mentioned.

The Blackstone Trials was the most important trial in the Martial Alliance. It was an incredible opportunity for warriors.

The Blackstone Trials were held once every three years. Ever since the establishment of the Heavenly Dao Union, it had only happened twice.

The Martial Alliance would bestow a lot of rewards in every Blackstone Trials. With the opportunities from the trial itself, many cultivators benefited greatly from it.

Technically, it was not yet time for the third Blackstone Trials, but for some unknown reason, it had been pushed forward.

Furthermore, the upper echelons of the Martial Alliance had spread the news that this trial was different from the rest. It could be said that this trial would be the most special trial, in both the past and future of the Martial Alliance history. It was going to be unprecedented!

For the upper echelons of the Martial Alliance to use the word “unprecedented” to describe the trial, one could easily imagine how special it would be.

Many were looking forward to this “special” trial.

And amongst those doing so, Yi Yun was included as well.

However, he was not interested in the rewards. Instead, he wanted to know what the Martial Alliance was scheming. Only by completing his investigations could he find an opportunity to cause trouble behind the Martial Alliance’s back.

As he had this in mind, Yi Yun looked up towards the peak of Greatsword Mountain. On the towering mountain peak, there seemed to be a layer of Blood Qi slowly rising. It was filled with ferocity and killing intent…

On the way, Yi Yun encountered quite a number of Heavenly Dao Union members.

Everyone was excitedly discussing what the “unprecedented” Blackstone Trials could be. Other than that, some of them would occasionally mention a huge event that recently occurred in the Tian Yuan world.

That was…

’Blood of Destruction’ had once again floated out from the eternal whirlpool.

When Yi Yun first came out of the Great Empress mystic realm, he had asked someone from a small Southern Sea sect, the White Soaring Sect. He had heard him mention the ’Blood of Destruction’.

It was suspected that this blood was blood that came from the gigantic eye.

The two drops of Blood of Destruction, which previously appeared, had both been obtained by the Martial Alliance.

And now, the Martial Alliance had promised to not be engaged in the bid for the Blood of Destruction. Hence, many large family clans in the Tian Yuan world had been involved in the competition for the blood.

Furthermore, there were three drops of Blood of Destruction that flowed out. Various large factions had gone crazy competing for them, and as such, many people had been killed.

After all, it was very likely to be blood of an ancient god. Who knew what one could use it for. Maybe just absorbing a drop would allow for one to become a peerless Great Emperor!

When Yi Yun heard these discussions, he frowned.

Blood of Destruction… What exactly is that thing?

The gigantic ancient demon within the eternal whirlpool, could it really bleed?

It was unknown what would happen if such a thing was really absorbed…

With these thoughts in mind, Yi Yun had unknowingly arrived at a large platform on Greatsword Mountain. All the geniuses participating in the Greatsword Mountain had to first gather here.

When Yi Yun and Wei Chiwei arrived, the platform had already been filled with people.

There was a distinct boundary between the Heavenly Blood Union and the Heavenly Dao Union members. Each group had gathered to one side each.

The Heavenly Blood Union members were significantly higher in numbers than the ordinary members. They took up a larger area on the platform as a result.

As for those ordinary members, they were pushed into a tiny corner. Having been repressed by the Heavenly Blood Union for a long time, they had started to lack confidence. Be it resources or face, they did not dare compete with the Heavenly Blood Union. And it was also true that they could not compete against them.

“It is Wei Chiwei. That foolish kid is here. Haha!”

Not long after Yi Yun and Wei Chiwei arrived on the platform, a derisive laughter was suddenly heard.

Upon hearing the voice, Wei Chiwei’s gaze turned cold as he suddenly turned his head.

Standing not far from him were two men and a woman.

The two men were stout in figure, while the woman was petite.

One of the men was carrying a thick, large saber. He was flaunting his saber at Wei Chiwei.

“Kid, from your eyes, it seems you are indignant. How about it? Shall we have another fight?”

The man with the saber said derisively. Wei Chiwei’s voice faltered before he turned speechless. Previously, he had been wounded by this saber-carrying man. Their strengths were in no way on the same level. Another fight with him would only end up with him being beaten up.

The Heavenly Dao Union was as such. One could only bear the humiliation if one was inferior.

And at that moment, Yi Yun turned around and looked towards the person speaking.

The saber-carrying man wanted to carry on put down Wei Chiwei, but when he saw Yi Yun, his expression immediately turned ugly.

“It is Jiang Yidao!”

“The guy who defeated Gongsun Hong.”

“Is he not the leader amongst the ordinary members?”

Yi Yun never said that he was the leader, but since he was the strongest and most talented out of the ordinary members, and had defeated a Heavenly Blood Union member, he naturally became the number one person amongst the Heavenly Dao Union ordinary members.

They did not dare to offend Jiang Yidao. This person was arrogant and quite famous. Not only Gongsun Hong, they also knew what had happened in Heaven Martial City. Back then, a Heavenly Blood Union member had been defeated in one saber strike by Jiang Yidao, who had suppressed his cultivation level and forgoed the use of an Aspect Totem!

The few of them stopped talking as they shrunk into the cloud, afraid to be targeted by Yi Yun.

However, although these people felt fear, it did not mean all the Heavenly Blood Union members felt fear.

A few senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union looked coldly at Yi Yun, with a hint of disdain in their eyes.

Yi Yun was very strong, but Yi Yun was only one person. He was nothing compared to the Heavenly Blood Union.

Furthermore, these senior Heavenly Blood Union members were extremely confident in their strength. If they really fought with Yi Yun, they did not believe that they would lose.

“This Jiang Yidao still does not know what is waiting for him this time.”

“Hmph, being a maverick in the Martial Alliance will eventually make him suffer. Who does he think he is? He is just a junior with a bit of talent. He is nothing in the eyes of the upper echelon of the Martial Alliance!”

At that moment, as people were talking, there was an inexplicable feeling covering the entire platform suddenly. It was as if in a flash, there was a fragrance that assaulted their nostrils…

615 - : Flowery Fragrance

CKtalon  CKtalon

“A flowery fragrance?”

Yi Yun scrunched up his nose and turned his head to look in the direction from where the fragrance was coming from. The flowery fragrance was very strong. It made people feel subtly intoxicated.

There were beams of light flashing in the sky, as layers of flower petals scattered on the ground. A white figure landed on the platform while its clothes fluttered.

The petals surrounded this person’s body. However, they were not real flower petals, they were light beams condensed from laws.

Flower petals condensed from laws could have such true flowery fragrance?

This scene was shocking.

When the white-clothed person turned around, Yi Yun was slightly stunned when he saw what the person looked like.

It was different from what he expected it to be. The white-clothed figure was a man. He was carrying a folded fan, and his facial features were intricate and perfect. His skin was delicate and white. Even women would feel ashamed in comparison.

The man scanned the crowd on the platform with his pair of narrow eyes. His gaze swept past Yi Yun as well, and when their eyes met, he smirked, revealing a sinister-looking smile.

After that single glance, he no longer looked at Yi Yun again.

“This person… ” Yi Yun frowned.

He could feel that the other party’s cultivation level wasn’t high, but the aura he gave off was immensely powerful. Also, there were Dao fluctuations coming from his body. This was a manifestation of his profound understanding towards the Dao and Truth.

“It’s Lord Feng Ming!”

“It’s just the Blackstone Trials and Lord Feng Ming actually came. Usually, he wouldn’t come, so why… ”

The Heavenly Blood Union members all looked very respectfully at the white-clothed man.

The white-clothed man look liked he was in his twenties. He was part of the same generation as the rest, but… air and feeling he exuded, made it seem like he was someone from the senior generation. They were not on the same level.

“Feng Ming?” Wei Chiwei, who was standing beside Yi Yun, was very surprised. “I know that person. He is a Reincarnator!”

Oh? Reincarnator?

Yi Yun slightly narrowed his eyes.

By cultivating the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique” and reincarnating several times, such a person could accumulate talent and insight into the Dao, so it was not a surprise that he would have such a bearing in his twenties.

“Perfect Dao Seed realm… Just slightly higher than me by a small realm. This small difference in cultivation level is nothing much to me. I wonder how my strength compares to his.”

Yi Yun had such thoughts. If anyone heard his thoughts, they would have thought that he was crazy.

Even though Yi Yun had defeated Gongsun Hong using one saber strike, when compared to Reincarnators by others, he was considered to be a firefly in front of a radiant moon. There no comparison in their hearts.

One was a immortal reincarnated, while the other had the body of a mortal. Was there any comparison?

“Invincible amongst people of the same realm. You have to have some ability to dare make such a claim, but compared to the 12 Empyrean Heavens… ”

Yi Yun recalled the Azure Yang Lord’s description. The Blood Moon were like gods to the eyes of the people of the Tian Yuan world, but in the eyes of the Azure Yang Lord, they were nothing.

As for everyone else other than Yi Yun, even the stubborn Wei Chiwei looked at Young Master Feng Ming with reverence and envy.

To them, Lord Feng Ming’s position was unattainable. In many ways, it even made people suffer from an inferiority complex.

After Feng Ming appeared, there more three figures flew out. Two of them were men and the other was a woman. When they appeared, every step of theirs landed on empty space, but Dao patterns would appear when that happened.

Water and Fire, Wind and Lightning. The male and female in front cultivated two laws.

As for the last person, he had a well-proportioned body. His toned muscles were very apparent. He had a resolute look, and every step he made caused a tiny ripple in the void. It was as if he was walking on water.

Light warped around this person’s body. The warping was not because of the light itself, it was because the spatial dimensions around this man was curved.

Spatial dimension laws!

People looked at him with burning desire in their eyes This was the spatial dimensions law that was pretty much lost in the Tian Yuan world. And in the Martial Alliance, there were such ancient heritage kept.

And only in the Martial Alliance was there such spatial dimension laws heritage!

Immediately, many people, who had joined the Heavenly Blood Union, felt privileged. They felt lucky to be born in this era, and to be allowed to enter the Heavenly Blood Union. This gave them a chance to cultivate such ancient heritage.

If they could learn the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique” and obtain the heritage of the spatial dimension laws, then no matter how profound the spatial dimension laws were, they would still have a lot of time and youth to learn it.

This way, they too could become a figure like an Reincarnator, becoming the strongest cultivators in the Tian Yuan world!

Those who joined the Martial Alliance were bound to have their ambitions, let alone the Heavenly Blood Union members. Even Wei Chiwei’s gaze became one with burning desire when he saw the stout man.

He was envious!

Who wouldn’t envy such powerful strength?

“You want to learn it?” Yi Yun noticed Wei Chiwei’s reaction and asked casually.

“Yes… ” Wei Chiwei took a deep breath before speaking.

“However… What isn’t fated to be mine, isn’t mine.”

Wei Chiwei knew very well that many Heavenly Dao Union members went crazy and envious over these ancient heritage. And for that, they paid a huge price several times. This was just human nature.

In such an environment, it was most likely that most people would make such a choice.

However, even if the heavy prices were paid, the hopes of obtaining these heritages were still very slim.

Four people appeared on the platform consecutively, and they were all Reincarnators.

The strong were worshiped in a martial world. To those elites from large factions, they could only be deferential when encountering people who had strength that far exceeded theirs.

After the four Reincarnators, another person flew onto the platform.

That person wore a mask and had a cold aura.

He was familiar to Yi Yun. He was the masked man who possessed Shentu Nantian’s body.

As an Inspector of the Martial Alliance, the masked man’s position was equivalent to the four Reincarnators. The five of them stood in a row, with an overbearing aura.

“Dear Junior Brothers and Sisters.” Young Master Feng Ming had a faint smile. He walked in front of everyone and said with a soft and pleasant voice. His words felt like a gentle Spring breeze.

The Heavenly Dao Union members below the platform had a huge gap in identity compared to him, yet he appeared to be approachable. This made many of them grow fond of Young Master Feng Ming.

“These Blackstone Trials will be a golden opportunity for some of you. This trial will not exist in the next millennium.”

“It might be called a trial, but it is actually a mission. For this, the Heavenly Blood Union will reward you handsomely, and one of the rewards include the ‘Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique’. Anyone who contributes greatly can obtain it.”

“Oh!?”

The Heavenly Blood Union members immediately stared with widened eyes when they heard this.

“’Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique’”?

This cultivation technique’s power was without a doubt high. The elites present were all filled with awe towards the Reincarnators in the platform, but not all of them were convinced.

Some people believed that if they obtained a cultivation technique like ’Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique’, they too would be able to get that far, or even be better than those Reincarnators.

This included the ordinary members who did not join the Heavenly Blood Union, their eyes had lit up. They longed for the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”, but they did not wish to forgo their freedom.

A large part of the reason was because it was not guaranteed that they would obtain what they wanted even if they were to join the Heavenly Blood Union.

And now, the opportunity was here.

Compared to the other elites, Yi Yun was naturally unmoved. What he was concerned about was that the trial was a mission as Feng Ming had said…

What sort of mission would it be?

As if answering Yi Yun’s question, Feng Ming said again, “Today, standing here, I’ll be choosing a vanguard! What you would be doing might even concern the fate of the Tian Yuan world.”

When Feng Ming said that, the crowd was stunned.

The fate of the Tian Yuan world was involved?

This must be a joke. As members of the younger generation, how could they shoulder this responsibility?

Many were in disbelief, but Feng Ming carried on. “I know you are doubting me. But when the Blackstone Trials begin, the doubts in your heart will be removed.”

“Furthermore… for this Blackstone Trials, as the concerns are grave… it only allows people from the Heavenly Blood Union to participate. The Heavenly Dao Union’s ordinary members are not to participate in it. Those who wish to participate can only do so by joining the Heavenly Blood Union.”

When Feng Ming said this, the crowd was stunned.

Especially the Heavenly Dao Union’s ordinary members. All of them were dumbfounded.

After talking so much about the Blackstone Trials and with their appetites whet, you then say that only Heavenly Blood Union members could participate in it?

Many ordinary Heavenly Dao Union members found it unacceptable!

The treatment these people received when they first joined the Heavenly Dao Union was not that different to the Heavenly Blood Union members. And now, the gap had increased to an exaggerated point. Furthermore, the tensions between the ordinary members and the Heavenly Blood Union members were becoming more highly strung. There were constantly conflicts. They had had enough of it.

They did not wish to obtain a top reward like the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique” in the Blackstone Trials they looked forward to. They would have been satisfied with some ordinary rewards.

But now, they were not even given a chance. They were prohibited from joining!

With such an obvious contrast between the Heavenly Blood Union members and the ordinary members, the Heavenly Blood Union members naturally felt superior.

They began to feel that their decision to join the Heavenly Blood Union was wise. They were very pleased seeing the ordinary Heavenly Dao Union members were in a dilemma.

At that moment, Feng Ming spoke again. “I previously mentioned that this mission is highly critical. Without a soul contract, we cannot guarantee that everyone will be loyal. If anyone were to betray because of personal greed, the results would be disastrous.”

It was common for people to kill and plunder in mystic realms. To prevent that, the Martial Alliance enforced the signing of a soul contract. And for that, people also found it reasonable.

“Hence, those members who insist on not joining the Heavenly Blood Union, you can choose to form a security force. You will be stationed on the perimeter of the Blackstone Trials. Those locations require sentries… ”

When Feng Ming said this, the ordinary members of the Heavenly Dao Union were extremely unsettled.

Others could adventure for rewards, but they became guards? Based on what!?

“Young Master Feng Ming, I want… to join the Heavenly Blood Union… ”

At that moment, an ordinary Heavenly Dao Union member gritted her teeth after long deliberation. She was a girl in her twenties. She did not look pretty, but she had quite a disposition.

With the first, there would be the second.

“I’ll join… ” Another person said in an hesitant manner. Upon seeing this scene, the rest were also tempted.

Maybe they should not have been so adamant right from the beginning.

616 - : Tempted

CKtalon  CKtalon

Humans were easily influenced, leading to a herd mentality. After a few began to join the Heavenly Blood Union, there were more and more people who made the same choice.

Even Wei Chiwei, who was beside Yi Yun, was visibly in a dilemma as he tried to make his choice.

However, he still shook his head eventually. He sighed and said, “Maybe… it is time that I leave the Heavenly Dao Union… ”

“Oh?”

Yi Yun was slightly stunned, “Why? Aren’t you tempted by all those opportunities?”

“I am.” Wei Chiwei looked yearningly at the Heavenly Dao Union’s treasury, but he still shook his head. “What doesn’t belong to me will never belong to me. I’m wondering… even if I sign the soul contract and join the Heavenly Blood Union, will I really obtain the ‘Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique’… ?”

Wei Chiwei looked perplexed. As he looked at the excited and enthusiastic crowd, he found it somewhat unreal.

With great temptations put in front of people, many would be blinded by them.

Wei Chiwei did not think that the Martial Alliance was problematic, but he still had a persistent feeling that he should not join the Heavenly Blood Union.

This was just an intuition he had.

“For these Blackstone Trials, all those who have joined the Heavenly Blood Union will obtain an ancient mystic technique. It can increase your strength in a short timespan, so as to ensure that complete the mission. This mystic technique is also one of the more valuable mystic techniques in the Martial Alliance. You will only receive the first volume, but that is already priceless.”

“Although the effects of the mystic technique are obvious, it will not cause any harm to your body. You will notice it while cultivating it. This is also considered to be your reward!”

The masked man standing beside Young Master Feng Ming said.

His remarks caused quite a stir.

They naturally wanted to learn an ancient mystic technique; especially an extremely valuable one.

“That good?”

The Heavenly Blood Union members stared with widened eyes. The treatment they were receiving was way too good. Usually, to exchange for an ancient heritage, they would require large amounts of Blood Jades.

“What is the mission this time? For them to promise such handsome rewards, there might be some danger!”

Some people were worried about this, but someone said with a scorn, “Return is proportional to risk. How can there be huge returns without any risks in this world? There are many mystic realms where no one knows what is in them. It’s most likely that a large number of people who enter a mystic realm and die. But even so, many warriors would still rush in desperately, in order to obtain a piece of that opportunity. We are just participating in the Blackstone Trials. If you are so cowardly, you might as well not be a martial arts practitioner.”

The person said with a cold tone, to which the person, who spoke before, did not refute.

Compared to those mystic realms, the Blackstone Trials was indeed safer. If so many elites, nearly all of whom came from the large factions of the Tian Yuan world, perished in a trial, how was the Martial Alliance to answer to the entire Tian Yuan world? It did not seem beneficial to the Martial Alliance.

With this thought in mind, more and more people were determined to join the Heavenly Blood Union.

However, there were a few who chose not to join.

Yi Yun looked around, and there were seven people including himself.

These people either liked a free and unfettered life, or had their own resolve. If not, they had their doubts on the Martial Alliance’s motives. As such, all of them made this choice.

“Are you not joining?”

Young Master Feng Ming looked at these people and heaved a gentle sigh, as if feeling sorry for them.

“Sorry, I’m not joining. And… I want to quit the Heavenly Dao Union.”

At that moment, Wei Chiwei spoke. One could still see the gruesome wounds on his body, so compounded with those words, it made him seem quite miserable.

Over the months, the ordinary members of the Heavenly Dao Union had discovered that the treatment they received compared to the Heavenly Blood Union was getting more disparate by the day. They were also increasingly ostracized by the Heavenly Blood Union.

And the upper echelons of the Martial Alliance turned a blind eye towards this, acquiescing such conflict to proliferate.

Although these people still had a chance to obtain precious resources in the Heavenly Dao Union, they did not wish to endure it any further.

“I want to quit.”

“I too am quitting.”

The remaining few began announcing their intentions.

At this point, it seemed liked quitting the Heavenly Dao Union was the only other option.

Either you joined the Heavenly Blood Union or you quit. There was no third choice.

Quit?

Yi Yun turned silent. He noticed that when these people wanted to quit, there was a chill that suddenly emanated from the platform…

With a thought, Yi Yun shook his head and said, “Forget it, I’m quitting too!”

All seven of them quit the Heavenly Dao Union!

The masked man on the platform watched all this unfold in front of him in silence.

“Have you decided?” Feng Ming asked, as his disappointed look became more apparent.

No one, including Yi Yun, spoke.

“What a pity… ” Feng Ming shook his head. “I admit that for these Blackstone Trials, there is indeed a bit of danger. If you are not careful, you might die. So I can understand why you aren’t joining… ”

“Everyone has their own aspirations, so I won’t be holding you back. However… with the Human race on the brink of a calamity, our Martial Alliance created the Heavenly Dao Union to prepare for the calamity.”

“Junior Brothers and Sisters, with you using our Martial Alliance’s resources and cultivating our Martial Alliance’s heritage when you previously joined the Martial Alliance, it could be considered as having received benefits from us. Armies are maintained for years, but used on a single day. I never expected that you would quit at that moment… ” Feng Ming said his words in a slow and unperturbed manner.

Immediately, those Heavenly Blood Union members began to look disdainfully at the seven people.

Many of them were conversing in private.

“Those people are such ingrates!” Someone said in disdain.

“Ingrates devoid of gratitude, having enjoyed the resources prepared for the ambitious members of the Human race, but end up becoming cowardly and refusing to contribute!”

“I’m ashamed to be associated with them.”

People began to say such things. In the crowd, Gongsun Hong sneered at Yi Yun. He stretched out his hand without any concealment and gave Yi Yun a thumbs down.

This was a gesture of extreme provocation and contempt. Gongsun Hong did this in front of everyone, it was mainly because he had been defeated so terribly by Yi Yun. He had disgraced himself utterly by losing to one saber strike. He knew that he was not Yi Yun’s match, and that he had no chance of seeking revenge in the short term. As such, he took this opportunity to vent his anger.

“Jiang Yidao, so what if you have a bit of martial talent? You are cowardly and short-sighted. You might have defeated me before, but you are just a tiny bump on my martial path. In less than a year, you will be left in my dust. I will trample on you and carry on climbing up my martial path. To me, you are just a stepping stone that I will eventually step on. Your existence is solely for my growth.”

Gongsun Hong had a sneer on his face as he did not disguise his voice. He was declaring his determination to surpass Yi Yun so as to wash away his shame.

If Yi Yun had entered the Heavenly Blood Union, people would have thought that Gongsun Hong was just engaging in fool’s talk.

But now… Yi Yun had quit.

Now, people felt that what Gongsun Hong said was correct. A cowardly person like Jiang Yidao was not suitable for martial arts.

Towards Gongsun Hong’s provocations, Yi Yun only smiled. He did not give a response but he looked at the upper echelons of the Martial Alliance on the platform. His right hand was already pressing on his Ancient Dust Saber…

617 - : Quitting

CKtalon  CKtalon

The seven people including Yi Yun left the platform under the disdainful eyes or looks of pity from the Martial Alliance members.

“A bunch of cowards.”

“Those people are not fit to practice martial arts. They are deserting just because of a mystic realm with a bit of danger. Although they are temporarily safe, this running away without fighting will probably lead to mental demons.”

People discussed as they watched the seven people leave.

The remaining people carried on being picked by the Reincarnators on the platform. They were being mobilized for the mission.

Thinking of the resources they could obtain, and the heritage each one of them would receive before the mission, they were feeling extremely excited.

Yi Yun returned to his residence and packed his things. Actually, there was nothing much to pack. All his items were in his interspatial ring, and the most important cards he had were all sealed in the God Advent Tower.

At that moment, there was a knock on his door.

Wei Chiwei had brought the other five youths who were determined to leave the Martial Alliance to the door.

The six people looked at Yi Yun. As the strongest amongst all of them, Yi Yun was their unspoken leader.

Yi Yun glanced at the six people. Right in front was a bald youth. He had a stout figure and his cultivation level was at the peak of the Dao Seed realm. Behind him, there were two girls who looked alike. They were both slim, petite and cute. They looked like they were sixteen or seventeen years old. They were twin sisters.

Several twins had similar martial arts talent. The environment they were brought up in were similar, so their strengths were always very similar.

The last two people were tall and thin. They were people of little words.

“Senior Brother Jiang, what are you going to do?” Wei Chiwei asked.

“What else can we do? We should leave Greatsword Mountain first.” Yi Yun said nonchalantly.

“Senior Brother Jiang, my family clan is nearby. Why don’t you go to my family clan to rest for a few days before deciding on your next step?” A beautiful voice called out. It was one of the twins.

Yi Yun turned his head and he saw the girl who had just spoken turn a bit embarrassed. She said with a flushed face, “I come from the Chu family. I’m Chu Qing’er and this is my twin sister, Chu Ke’er.

The Chu family was a newly risen family that was located in the central regions of the Tian Yuan world. Although its history was average, its recent developments were quite astounding.

Yi Yun chuckled and said, “We need to able to reach the safety of your family first before we can talk about anything else.”

“Oh?”

Yi Yun’s words stunned those around him.

What were those words supposed to mean?

“Senior Brother Jiang, are you saying that the Martial Alliance won’t let us go?”

A few of them looked at each other, somewhat in disbelief. They were already determined to quit the Martial Alliance. What would the Martial Alliance forcefully keep them? They couldn’t imprison them or even kill them, right?

Yi Yun did not answer. It was a silent acknowledgment.

“Senior Brother Jiang, are you overthinking it? The Martial Alliance has been emphasizing on using virtue to obtain conquest of the world all these years. They have been just in their matters, and they have distributed resources. They also gave up quite a bit of benefits in the mystic realm expeditions organized by them. Why would they attack us? If this news was made known, wouldn’t that destroy the Martial Alliance’s image? This would affect their virtuous image, and besides, keeping us behind is not beneficial to them… ” The bald youth said in disbelief while stroking his chin.

Chu Qing’er and Chu Ke’er also rolled their watery eyes and looked at Yi Yun with curiosity.

“I’m just guessing. If I guessed wrongly, that would be for the best.”

Yi Yun did not explain. When Wei Chiwei mentioned that he would withdraw from the Heavenly Dao Union, he had clearly felt a wave of killing intent.

And that killing intent came from the masked man.

The cold and subtle killing intent was hidden in the masked man’s aura. It was very difficult to detect.

Clearly, the masked man would not allow them to leave, at least, not Yi Yun.

Maybe, the Martial Alliance was already at the stage where it would be tearing off its facade, and begin to implement their plans…

“Senior Brother Jiang. Although the Martial Alliance has always been forcing us, they have still given quite a bit of cultivation resources to us. Could it be that they can’t bear to part with that tiny bit of resources and are going to attack us for it?” Wei Chiwei said with his eyebrows frowned.

He always believed Yi Yun’s words, but no matter how hard he thought about it, he could not think of a reason for the Martial Alliance to attack them.

“That I wouldn’t know.” Yi Yun only gave an indifferent smile. “Maybe they only want me to stay, or maybe that includes all of you. The ones that are stronger will be safer if you don’t follow me, so weight you own risks. However… if you follow me, I cannot guarantee you your safety.”

After saying that, he took his things and climbed down the mountain.

The rest were momentarily stunned. “It can’t be that exaggerated… ”

“Senior Brother Jiang, wait for us.”

The female twins naturally followed Yi Yun. They did not even consider the choices that Yi Yun had given them.

The others also followed them. They all felt that Yi Yun’s thoughts were too pessimistic and dark. What motives did the Martial Alliance have to attack them?

The few of them used their movement techniques and rapidly passed through the Greatsword Mountain’s storm and had reached the foot of the mountain without harm.

At that moment, the bald youth took out a spirit boat. “Let us use the boat. It can save us our strength.”

“Alright!”

The seven were all youths, and having been edged out of the Martial Alliance, they felt like they were sufferers who could commiserate with each other. As such, they also became a lot closer in a way.

The spirit boat flew at an extremely fast speed. It didn’t take long to fly thousands of kilometers. At this distance, the tall Greatsword Mountain had disappeared over the horizon and could no longer be seen.

Everyone felt assured. The Martial Alliance did not stop them after all. Senior Brother Jiang was just over thinking things.

“It looks like we are safe.” Chu Qing’er heaved a sigh of relief. She patted her undeveloped breasts, while her little face glowed red.

“I think the seven of us can agree that we have shared weal and woe. Why don’t we become sworn brothers and sisters?” Wei Chiwei’s eyes lit up as he thought of an idea.

The other heard it and found that it was a good idea. They were all talented people, so even if they left the Martial Alliance, they still had promising futures ahead of them. By entering an alliance, there were benefits for everyone of them.

The six people all looked at Yi Yun. If they were really to become sworn siblings, Yi Yun would naturally be the eldest and also the most important person. If he did not agree to it, then it would be meaningless.

Yi Yun was expressionless, as if he had not heard Wei Chiwei’s suggestion. He looked out of the spirit boat’s window, and patches of white clouds swept past the window.

At that moment, Yi Yun spoke. “It seems like our boat has been wandering on the same spot for a long time.”

Yi Yun’s words stunned everyone. What!?

Their boat had been moving straight all the time. The speed was also extremely fast and they had long flew out of the Martial Alliance’s confines. Yet, Yi Yun said they were wandering on the same spot?

“What’s the matter?” The bald youth immediately checked the core array of the spirit boat, but there was no problem with it.

“There’s no need to check. The spirit boat is fine, it’s just that… we have entered a large array.” Yi Yun said lightly as he pressed on his Ancient Dust Saber hilt.

“Entered an array? Could it be… ”

Everyone’s expression changed. They had never realized that they had entered an array. Just as the bald youth was about to speak, they felt a extremely cold aura coming from above, enveloping the entire boat.

The bald youth felt his body turn cold as his expression changed drastically. Only now did he really sense what Yi Yun had said, and the enemy was already in front of them!

618 - : Killing Intent

CKtalon  CKtalon

The seven people on the spirit boat suddenly felt the intense killing intent.

It was cold, evil and powerful. It gave them the chills.

They did not know who the attacker was, but from the terrifying aura, and with the ability to set up such a large array, which they did not even have an inkling of, it meant that the person’s strength was on a completely different level to theirs!

The bald youth and Wei Chiwei were highly strung up as beads of perspiration appeared on their foreheads.

As for Chu Qing’er and Chu Ke’er, their petite faces were pale as sheets of paper.

“Who is it? The upper echelons of the Heavenly Dao Union?” The bald youth’s voice trembled.

An aura with such intense killing intent probably was not as simple as keeping them behind… If it really were the upper echelons of the Heavenly Dao Union, how could they resist? Wouldn’t they be slaughtered by them?

“Senior Brother Jiang!”

Chu Qing’er looked at Yi Yun. She never expected that what he said had happened!

They did not believe him previously. But only now, when the enemy had trapped them in a large array, and with overflowing killing intent, did they have no choice but to believe him.

And what made the few of them most surprised was that Yi Yun had already expected this, yet he chose not to join the Heavenly Blood Union. Instead, he calmly left Greatsword Mountain with them.

Up to now, there was no sign of panic from him.

Yi Yun was now holding on to his saber’s hilt, with his perception radiating in all directions. Although he was alert, he was in no way afraid.

“You already knew that they would attack us, yet you left just like that… It can’t be that you think that you can fight against the upper echelons of the Heavenly Dao Union, right!?” The bald youth asked Yi Yun in disbelief.

Yi Yun was indeed strong, but against the upper echelons of the Heavenly Dao Union, there was no way other than death. They were completely on a different level!

Yi Yun glanced at the bald youth and said lightly, “Of course I can’t deal with the upper echelons of the Heavenly Dao Union, but do you really think that against a bunch of juniors like us, the Heavenly Dao Union’s upper echelons would gather?”

Gather?

The bald youth swallowed mouthfuls of saliva. Was there a need to gather? One would be more than enough!

At that moment…

“Peng!”

With a loud explosion, everyone felt a powerful tearing force before a violent explosion occurred. The valuable spirit boat exploded into pieces in midair!

Energy and Yuan Qi wantonly surged around. Such a terrifying blast made them feel like their bodies were being torn to shreds.

Their spirit boat had been shredded by a huge force!

“Ah!” Chu Qing’er screamed.

She was the weakest amongst the seven people. She was only at the peak of the Yuan Foundation realm, so she was unable to withstand such a blast, let alone fight others.

Just as she felt her body was being torn to shreds, a light curtain formed from Yuan Qi shinned down and enveloped her.

“Peng Peng Peng!”

A barrage of explosive sounds echoed as the violent forces bombarded the Yuan Qi light curtain before shattering.

Chu Qing’er paled. She had managed to escape unscathed.

She was yet to recover from her shock as her chest heaved up and down.

She looked at Yi Yun with her pale face.

“Thank… Thank you Senior Brother Jiang… ”

At that moment, Chu Qing’er was in a panic. The turn of events was too abrupt. She had grown up in a large family clan, and although she was not a sheltered flower in a greenhouse, she had not experienced many life and death battles. So there was no way that she could withstand such a scene.

It was already not bad for a sixteen year old girl to not be frightened out of her wits under such circumstances.

“Take care of yourselves. I won’t be able to attend to all of you in a while.”

Yi Yun did not want to involve these people, but if he did not bring them along, once they were targeted by the Martial Alliance, they would only die tragically.

It was a wise choice not to join the Heavenly Blood Union, but they had to pay the price for this choice.

If there was anything to blame, it was them joining the Heavenly Dao Union in the first place.

At that moment, space began to curl in a strange way in front of them, forming a black spatial door.

Four white figures walked out of the spatial door.

These four white-clothed people wore airy robes. They were thin and their looks were distorted and pale. They looked like ferocious ghosts.

“Spatial dimension laws!”

“White Guards!”

The bald youth and Wei Chiwei shouted at the same time.

The White Guards was responsible for the execution of penalties in the Martial Alliance. They were cold, heartless and they had astonishing strength.

However, the White Guards commonly seen looked very normal. They were a far cry from the strangeness of these people!

These four people did not look alive in any way. Their bodies exuded an aura of death, which made one’s hair stand on end.

“We are in trouble. They are White Guards who have knowledge of spatial dimension laws. Also, they seem even stronger than the White Guards we usually encounter. Spatial dimension laws… are mysterious beyond measure. They can tunnel through the void, and open spatial doors easily. We don’t have a single shred of hope in escaping!”

The bald youth felt despair. The White Guards were already terrifying, yet these guards in front of them knew spatial dimension laws. What could they do!?

“Spatial dimension laws are not that terrifying.”

Yi Yun shook his head lightly. Spatial-Temporal dimension laws were powerful, but in the 3000 Great Dao, they were second level laws.

As for Yin-Yang laws, they too were on the second level, so there was not much a difference.

But in the Tian Yuan world, spatial dimension laws were appalling. That was because nearly all the spatial law heritage had been severed in the Tian Yuan world. This caused the Tian Yuan world warriors to not understand it at all, nor know how to deal with it.

This resulted in them being restrained when they fought an opponent who was well-versed in spatial dimension laws.

The four White Guards looked coldly at the seven people. A beam that burned like fire appeared in their dark green eyes.

“For your blasphemy against the Divine Master, die!” A White Guard said.

His voice was extremely husky and cold. It did not sound anything like a human’s voice.

Chu Qing’er and Chu Ke’er curled their hands together as their hair dripped with sweat.

Wei Chiwei held a spear and the tip of the spear began to tremble.

What Divine Master? What blasphemy? What was that all about!?

“Are you really from the Martial Alliance?”

Their strange words and voices made Wei Chiwei suspect if they were really from the Martial Alliance.

“Don’t waste your breath. They are not living people, but… Corpse specters!” Yi Yun wielded his Ancient Dust Saber, as a cold flash shimmered from the blade.

Throughout his contact with the Blood Moon, he begun to discover that a portion of the Blood Moon’s fighting force were not living people.

They were Yin specters, Corpse specters and other spiritual bodies refined from souls or bodies.

The greatest benefit of these spiritual bodies was the ability for them to go into deep hibernation. They could be awoken when needed. This resulted in many benefits. One, they could accumulate power and erupt at a moments notice. Two, the organization will be more hidden. This was also the reason why the Blood Moon’s heritage was able to last for tens of millions of years without others knowing.

It was an organization that was formed by many hibernating Yin specters and Corpse specters buried underground in coffins.

And the handful of living people in Blood Moon had fully penetrated the Martial Alliance. They existed in the form of the Martial Alliance. A large number of people in the Martial Alliance did not even know that the Martial Alliance was being controlled by the Blood Moon.

Only a handful of members from the upper echelons knew this.

And even now, many agents of the Heavenly Dao Union did not know that they were not loyal to the Martial Alliance, but to the Blood Moon.

The soul contracts they signed were most likely also signed with the Blood Moon!

These people probably thought that the Heavenly Dao Union they were part of was used to help the Human race survive the calamity.

“Not living people?” Wei Chiwei was stunned.

His impression of Yin specters and Corpse specters was that they were evil entities. Only an evil power would nurture such things.

Although the Martial Alliance was overbearing, it was an orthodox faction after all. How could it nurture these evil spiritual beings?

Yi Yun ignored Wei Chiwei. He looked at the spatial door behind the four Corpse specters and shook his head lightly. “You came, yet you remain hidden. To only send four Corpse specters, I guess you think fighting me is beneath you and you want to subdue me with the Corpse specters.”

Yi Yun had a light smile on his face. This was the Martial Alliance’s upper echelon’s confidence and pride.

In their eyes, he was just a junior with pretty good talent, and he was not worth their attention.

“Hum Hum Hum… ” The four Corpse specters suddenly emitted a shrilling wail.

They charged at Yi Yun together!

A cold wind blew as it was accompanied by the wails of thousands of ghosts. Large number of ghostly bodies flew out from the Corpse specter. The whole sky turned dark!

These ghosts were the living spirits that the Corpse specter had consumed during its refinement process. They were filled with indignant resentment.

The resentment spread out and impacted the soul sea!

Wei Chiwei and company felt their heads were splitting apart in the ghostly blast, and they were unable to resist. They felt despair and they were already standing there waiting for their deaths.

And at that moment.

Clang !

A clear saber resonance echoed like a dragon’s roar, as the high pitch reverberated their eardrums!

At that instant, Wei Chiwei and company felt like thousands of morning bells were ringing and hammering their eardrums. The loud sounds sank into their hearts, jolting them awake.

Next, all they saw was a cold flash. In this dark sky, enshrouded by ghosts, it was as if the galactic stars had fallen from the night sky!

A saber flash had split the heavens and earth.

“Peng! Peng! Peng!”

There were continuous explosions as the dead souls flying in the sky burst into essences. The saber’s momentum was indomitable, piercing through everyone of them.

Cha!

A slash had split the void!

The four Corpse specters did not manage to avoid it in time and they were hit!

The two bodies right in the middle exploded into countless pieces of black and white fragments.

A large part of the other two Corpse specters were sliced off. Their bodies tumbled backward and they were severely injured!

“Huh!?”

After Yi Yun’s attack, a cold voice suddenly echoed in the void. This voice was filled with surprise and shock.

“You actually… have been hiding so much?”

The spatial fluctuations grew in intensity as a black-robed man slowly walked out of the spatial door.

He stood midair, emitting a terrifying aura. He was like a overlord that had descended from the darkness.

He wore a dark gold mask with five holes for its cold, heartless facial features!

And behind this person was a thin, wilted man. He looked at Yi Yun like he was watching his prey, revealing a sinister smile.

Upon seeing these two people, the corners of Yi Yun’s mouth curled up. They had finally appeared. And it was not one, but two people.

619 - : Saber Resonance

CKtalon  CKtalon

When they saw the two men suddenly appear, Wei Chiwei and company felt their hearts sink!

“Inspectors!”

They did not expect the entrants to be the Heavenly Dao Union’s Inspectors.

The masked man was one of the people with full authority in the Heavenly Dao Union. Other than the Reincarnators, who enjoyed a high status, all the other elites who joined the Heavenly Dao Union were subject to the masked man’s jurisdiction.

And the White Guards, who were in charge of maintaining order in the Heavenly Dao Union and guarding the treasury, were under the masked man’s jurisdiction as well!

“To actually get the Inspectors to handle us personally. This… This… ” The bald youth’s voice trembled.

He could not comprehend it. They were just a bunch of juniors. Even in the Heavenly Dao Union, they were considered the weaker ones since they did not receive heritage from the Heavenly Blood Union. Especially the Chu sisters. As they were only sixteen years old, they had yet to break through to the Dao Seed realm. They were considered the youngest of the Heavenly Dao Union members.

A bunch of people like them were stopped by the Inspectors personally because of their wish to withdraw from the Heavenly Dao Union?

That made no sense!

Unless… The masked man was here for Senior Brother Jiang?

They then looked at Yi Yun. It was no wonder that Yi Yun had previously said that they might be targeted if they followed him. However, if they did not follow him, they might have been dealt with by the Martial Alliance. However, it wouldn’t have be done by the masked man personally.

“What is the reason? What does the Martial Alliance want to do?”

The six people were nervous and distraught. Under such circumstances, they could not play a single role and they could only resign themselves to fate.

Yi Yun stood upright midair with his hand holding the Ancient Dust Saber.

The masked man looked at Yi Yun coldly without saying a word. As for the thin and wrinkled-looking man beside him, he suddenly gave an ear-piercing eerie laughter.

“Do you think you can resist us? What a joke!”

The thin man shook his head. He leisurely pulled out a pair of sharp claws from his interspatial ring.”From the day you entered the Heavenly Dao Union, you have been my prey. It’s been nearly seven years. It sure was a long wait… ”

“Seven years?” Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat!

Seven years ago, he had entered the Great Empress mystic realm. And this man said that it had been nearly seven years. What did it mean?

Could it be that his identity had been exposed?

Upon thinking about this possibility, Yi Yun tensed up. However, he did not reveal anything unusual on the surface.

“I actually wanted you to continue growing for a bit longer. Unfortunately, you didn’t think things through and you wanted to leave the Heavenly Dao Union. You have disappointed me greatly.”

“You are only at the Dao Seed realm, yet you can battle a person at the Yuan Opening realm. Ze Ze Ze! Your body sure is perfect. It makes me feel a little unwilling to eat you up now.”

As the thin man spoke, he put the claws on the back of his palms and a greedy look glinted in his eyes. He knew about Yi Yun’s history against the Li Fire Sect. Dao Seed against Yuan Opening was crossing a vast chasm. No typical Tian Yuan world elite could do that.

However, if it was a Reincarnator, that would be nothing.

As Yi Yun faced the thin man who looked at him with the eyes of a snake looking at a prey, Yi Yun thought of something.

Body?

Could it be… ?

Yi Yun opened his energy vision and looked at the thin man. Yi Yun sensed that this thin man’s body was void of vitality.

The body was dead, but the soul was strong. He was most likely a Yin specter.

Yin specters were not considered living beings, they were spiritual bodies refined out of a soul.

The masked man was also a Yin specter.

The two of them came here as a pair and one of them had mentioned something about events seven years ago. When he thought of this, an idea flashed in Yi Yun’s mind.

He figured it out. If he had not guessed wrongly, the thin man and the masked man were two of the three Yin specters that had entered the Great Empress mystic realm seven and a half years ago!

The swarthy youth had been killed by him.

As for the other two Yin specters, they were sealed by a God Advent Tower array controlled by the God Advent Tower’s Item Spirit. It resulted in their bodies being destroyed, nearly causing their deaths.

And after they left the Great Empress mystic realm, the masked man had possessed Shentu Nantian’s corpse, returning to life.

As possessing Shentu Nantian’s body was not something glamorous, the masked man wore a mask so as to prevent it affecting the Martial Alliance’s open and esteemed image.

As for the thin man, he was the third Yin specter.

He targeted him and he wanted to possess his body!

The “nearly seven years” that the thin man said had also coincided with the end of the Great Empress mystic realm’s trials.

After figuring this out, he was relieved. It was fine as long as his true identity was not exposed. If not, he would not only attract two Yin specters, he would also attract the true master of the Blood Moon!

“Your body, hand it over!” The thin man suddenly yelled out and charged at Yi Yun!

The masked man stood behind the thin man with his hands behind his back. Although he did not make any moves, he was secretly controlling the array to seal off the surrounding space.

An area with a five kilometer radius had long been isolated from the outside world. Even if the battle was earth-shattering, no one from the outside world would know.

And this was just what Yi Yun wished.

He knew that he needed to reveal a bit of his hidden cards in this battle. And this revealing of his hidden cards and the terrifying strength he had that exceeded warriors at the same level as him was sufficient enough to let others suspect his true identity.

He naturally could not allow such a risk to exist.

With a saber flash’s flicker, a cold beam flashed as a Yuan Qi shield emanated, completely surrounding Wei Chiwei and company suddenly!

“Senior Brother Jiang?”

Wei Chiwei and company were stunned. In the Yuan Qi light curtain, they could not see anything that was happening outside. Their perceptions could not penetrate it either.

“Senior Brother Jiang is protecting us?” Chu Qing’er was stunned.

The bald youth shook his head. “How is that possible… He can’t even fend for himself, how can he protect us!?”

They did not even have the time to use Yuan Qi to communicate. After the light curtain enshrouded them, it flew far away from the battlefield.

Yi Yun naturally wasn’t self-sacrificing himself, he wanted to prevent them from seeing his true strength.

Anyone who witnessed this fight had to die!

“With death at your doorstep, you still have time to care about others?” The thin man laughed loudly. With a wanton cold flash, his claws came down on Yi Yun’s head.

As this claw came swiping down, the surrounding space completely twisted and stretched, forming a spatial prison, locking Yi Yun in it!

It was spatial dimension laws!

The thin man had used the laws that the Tian Yuan world warriors considered mysterious and profound.

Yi Yun stood in the middle of the spatial prison and with a deep thought, all his energy burst out.

Nine Neonate!

“Ang!”

A high-pitched scream that sounded like a dragon’s roar could be heard. The clothes on Yi Yun’s upper body burst open. An enormous nine-headed hydra tattoo could be seen on his perfectly toned muscles.

With the Nine Neonate’s roar, the nine-headed hydra tattoo transformed into a large Nine Neonate phantom image. With the terrifying power augmenting around him, the Ancient Dust Saber in Yi Yun’s hand began to tremble violently.

It was as if there was too much power imbued within it. The Ancient Dust Saber could no longer bear it and it wanted to vent out this power.

Slash!

Yi Yun slashed out with his saber without any fanciful attacks.

Crackle!

Yi Yun had cleaved the spatial prison open, ripping it apart!

The blade beam carried on forward and flew at the thin man’s claws!

“Huh!?”

The thin man was greatly surprised. He never expected Yi Yun to break through the spatial prison. He thought that he could easily defeat Yi Yun in one strike.

As the energy surged like a landslide or tsunami, there was no time to consider. Yi Yun’s saber had already clashed with the thin man’s claws.

“Boom!”

Yuan Qi exploded and a shockwave bloomed out. The thin man felt an enormous force surge at him. The claw shadows and the saber flash shattered at the same time as his body was sent backward by this force.

At the same time, Yi Yun also flew in the opposite direction.

The two of them flew a few hundred feet backward before stabilizing themselves midair.

“You… ” The thin man looked at Yi Yun with eyes filled with shock. “Who are you!?”

It was impossible for a Dao Seed realm warrior from the Southern Sea, who was not part of any sect, to possess such power!

620 - : Two Yin Specters

CKtalon  CKtalon

There was definitely something suspicious about this. Due to such this anomaly, Yi Yun’s identity had already begun to arouse the suspicions of the thin, and the masked man. However, they did not link Jiang Yidao with Yi Yun.

In fact, even if they were to think of Yi Yun, they did not believe that Yi Yun would have such terrifying combat power.

The two of them were after all Yin specters from the Tian Yuan world. It was impossible for them to imagine the level of the supreme Great Dao of the 12 Empyrean Heavens, nor would they know that Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal in his body. There was no way of knowing what the result from the combination of the Purple Crystal with supreme Great Dao would be…

“This Jiang Yidao must possess a great secret!”

The masked man turned cold. At that moment, no matter what Yi Yun’s identity was, they had to subdue him.

By using a Evil Spirit Heart Devouring Technique to force his confessions, they could possess Yi Yun, and thus keep all his secrets and his body as their own!

“Let us attack together with all our strength. We have to take over this person’s secret.”

“These geniuses are the organization’s ‘property’. We are now acting privately to help you obtain a perfect body, as well as secretly taking possession of his secrets, and that is a violation of the rules. We have to be quick, for any undue delay could bring trouble!”

The two Yin specters were prepared to attack together!

The masked man had already taken off his mask, revealing a pale and sickly face.

This face was Shentu Nantian’s.

The masked man did not know that Yi Yun had known Shentu Nantian for a very long time.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

The muscles of “Shentu Nantian”, who had just taken off his mask, began to violently vibrate. Sharp pieces of bone pierced through his skin as they burst out from his body.

“Shentu Nantian”‘s eyes slowly turned deep purple in color, blood-red patterns appearing along the corners of his eyes and face.

As he transformed, “Shentu Nantian”‘s aura began to crazily increase. He was about to go all out.

And beside “Shentu Nantian”, then thin man was also transforming.

His muscles were rapidly expanding and turning black, his body becoming bigger in size as his joints began to crackle. In a few seconds, he went from a thin man to a demonic creature.

At that moment, Yi Yun still had many hidden cards he had yet to used, but he did not want to validate how powerful he would be when he used them all. The two Yin specters before him were monsters that had lived for many years. They slept deep underground, so how could they not have any hidden tricks?

Just like the two Yin specters, Yi Yun did not want any trouble from undue delays either. He did not want the Martial Alliance, which was about 5000 kilometers away, sensing any changes in this area. If that were to happen, he would be in danger.

Yi Yun sank his thoughts into his body and interfaced with the Purple Crystal. In the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, he could clearly see the energy flow within the two Yin specters.

“Hahahaha!”

The demon, who originally was the thin man, suddenly roared with an insolent laughter. “It has been a while since I felt so good. Although I used a bit of my Yin specter Essence, this bit of loss is nothing in exchange for a splendid secret.”

The thin man exchanged glances with “Shentu Nantian”. The two of them had lived for a long time and were skilled at attacking together. Under their joint attacks, their strength was four times that of their individual strength.

However, at the moment as they were about to attack, “Shentu Nantian”‘s expression suddenly changed!

In that instant, a sharp pain came from his soul sea. It was as if his soul was twisting in pain causing him to gasp as his facial muscles began to violently twitch!

“Oh?”

The thin man was stunned for a moment as he looked back at “Shentu Nantian” with a puzzled look.

“What’s wrong with you?”

The thin man asked, but “Shentu Nantian” was in no state to answer. The color in his eyes was constantly changing, and his muscles were contracting. A strange black gas also started circling around his body.

The thin man was stunned. Was this an old wound acting up? There had not been much fighting in recent years, he should not have such an injury.

He could not think too carefully, for at that moment…

“Ah!”

A loud shrill resounded as a gigantic three-legged Golden Crow phantom image shot out from behind Yi Yun.

Pure Yang energy exploded like ten suns scorching the skies!

Terrifying energy flooded the sealed array, impacted the edges of the array, causing the large array to nearly tear apart!

“Oh? This is…”

The thin man was greatly alarmed. He turned to look at the Golden Crow phantom image behind Yi Yun. This phantom image… was also an Aspect Totem!?

This young man had two Aspect Totems?

With Golden Crow Sun Shift, Yuan Qi exploded as Yi Yun came attacking the thin man with the Ancient Dust Saber in hand.

At that moment, “Shentu Nantian” was already convulsing. He had lost all ability to fight. Their combined techniques had collapsed onto itself!

The thin man had no time to care about “Shentu Nantian”. With a shout, a demonic phantom image erupted out of his body. It was a gigantic blood-colored skull and it bit at Yi Yun’s three-legged Golden Crow!

“Die!”

The blood-colored skull spun madly while the black body of the thin man appeared to be covered in dense cobwebs channels.

The blood-colored skull clashed with Yi Yun’s saber beam!

Pure Yang energy was a natural suppressant for evil energies, however with the thin man using all of his strength, even though a large amount of the evil energy was melted into nothingness, more evil energy came from the thin man’s body, constantly replenishing it.

“Three-legged Golden Crow. This aspect totem…”

The thin man’s mind raced. Seven years ago at the Great Empress mystic realm, he had seen a similar totem come from Yi Yun. And the pure Yang energy that this Golden Crow emitted was very similar, but much more powerful!

“Could it be…”

Golden Crow Aspect Totems were already quite rare, and for it to appear on two peerless geniuses, it was easy to make the link between them. How could there be such coincidence in this world?

“You are Yi Yun!?”

The thin man was not completely sure. Could Yi Yun really have come out from the Great Empress mystic realm? Furthermore… not only did he have such strength, he had also infiltrated the Heavenly Dao Union, and had been making waves in the territory he was in charge of?

This…

The thin man found it incredulous. As a Yin specter, he was extremely sensitive to a person’s aura. People in disguise could not trick him, yet, he could not see through Yi Yun.

At that moment, there was no reason for Yi Yun to answer the thin man. With the saber beam shattering, he flipped his wrist and a rusty broken sword appeared in his hand.

The moment this ancient but dilapidated broken sword appeared, it seemed to melt in the radiant Sun. The rust on the sword seemed to burn. The rust were the aftereffects left from when the blood of gods had stained the sword!

“Die!”

Yi Yun coldly roared as he slashed down with his sword!

Upon seeing the broken sword, the thin man’s pupils quickly contracted. At that moment, he knew without a doubt that Jiang Yidao was Yi Yun!

In the Great Empress mystic realm, Yi Yun had previously used this broken sword to kill many!

After Yi Yun came out of the Great Empress mystic realm, he actually had the guts to infiltrate the Martial Alliance!

The thin man grit his teeth. He did not need to possess Yi Yun’s body. Just killing him and reporting back to the Martial Alliance alone would be a meritorious task!

“You absolutely have… no idea of death!”

The thin man began to circulate all of his evil and sinister energy as the blood-colored skull roared. Yi Yun’s sword stabbed right in the middle of where the skull’s eyebrows would have been.

The sword Qi pierced right through as the blood-colored skull was cleaved all the way through!

While the blood-red evil energy dissipated, Yi Yun’s sword Qi was also quickly corroding!

The thin man’s expression turned grave. He never expected for Yi Yun to have become this strong.

At that moment, he was fighting Yi Yun alone and was not his match. And behind him, “Shentu Nantian”, who was meant to aid him, was in an extreme pain for some unknown reason.

Under such a situation, he did not wish to be embroiled in a battle with Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s appearance was a matter of great importance. He was thinking of a way to deliver this news.

However, he was busy battling Yi Yun at that moment, which was making it difficult for him to focus on sending out the news.

The thin man transmitted his voice to “Shentu Nantian”, “Jiang Yidao is Yi Yun. I’ll hold him back, you inform Greatsword Mountain! If we do not get rid of him now, it would be unthinkable how much he will grow in a few years!”

The thin man’s voice transmission was fast and in a hurry. In his opinion, even if “Shentu Nantian” was in terrible pain, it would not be difficult for him to send the message.

However, he did not receive any response to his voice transmission.

Diverting a tiny bit of perception to look at “Shentu Nantian”, the thin man’s heart immediately sank.

“Shentu Nantian” was already tortured to the point of looking inhuman.

The pale “Shentu Nantian” was now desperately strangling his own neck. His bloodshot eyes were protruded and seemed like they were the reaching the limits and would soon explode.

His face exuded a thick air of death. It looked like a corpse that had been dead for a long time.

His throat was emitting a hoarse voice, but it could no longer make a sound. A grayish-black energy flow was flowing out of his ears and back into his nostrils.

This grayish-black energy brought with it an extremely sinister and evil air of death. Even as a Yin specter, the thin man found the energy extremely sinister.

“Roar!”

“Shentu Nantian” suddenly roared to the heavens like an ancient desolate beast’s roar. As he opened his mouth, more black energy flowed out!

“What is… going on?”

The thin man’s expression changed. Yi Yun’s attacks were so powerful that he could no longer hold on any further. And his partner was now undergoing a horrifying transformation.

With strong determination, he burned another 20% of his Yin specter Essence!

With his massive amount of Yin specter energy, he managed to forcefully resist Yi Yun’s attack. At the same time, he took out a voice transmission token from his interspatial ring!

This voice transmission token was able to pass on information to distances millions of kilometers away. Even if the surroundings were a huge sealing array, it could not prevent the voice transmission.

“The Great Empress mystic realm successor, Yi Yun, has appeared six thousand kilometers southwest of Greatsword Mountain!”

The thin man quickly recorded his voice into the voice transmission token. However, just as he was about to crush it…

“Boom!”

A loud explosion resounded as his protective Yuan Qi shattered. The thin man felt his body tremble and a sharp pain coming from his chest!

Black blood splattered everywhere as pieces of flesh flew.

A sharp, black-color claw had penetrated right through his chest from behind…

621 - : Evil Energy Awoken

CKtalon  CKtalon

Black gas revolved around this claw which was now covered in blood. The claw was sharp and now had some pieces of flesh adhered to it. It exuded an evil energy.

This evil energy was even more evil than his own aura.

Black blood was flowing out of the thin man’s mouth as he held onto the claw and looked back in disbelief.

Behind him was “Shentu Nantian”, with a head full of white hair and ashen face. He stared at him with deadly eyes, which were no longer white.

“Shentu Nantian”‘s facial expressions was like that of a ferocious beast, as if he had lost all reason.

“You actually…”

The thin man began to cough violently as bouts of black blood came out from his mouth.

He never expected for his partner to suddenly go crazy and attack him from behind!

He had used all of his strength to resist Yi Yun’s attack and had not left any defence behind himself. This resulted in “Shentu Nantian” being able to strike successfully, destroying his body.

“Cha!”

With a flash of a sword beam, another fatal strike came. Yi Yun appeared, like he had teleported in front of the thin man, and stabbed at his heart!

Flames burned on the broken sword, as it burned the thin man’s black flesh. The pungent smell of a burning corpse started to emit.

The thin man’s expression turned lifeless. He looked at the broken sword which was embedded in his body and then moved his eyes along the hand holding the sword, then onto Yi Yun.

Yi Yun looked cold as he gently took the voice transmission token from his hand.

“Phew–”

Plumes of flame rose as the pure Yang inferno melted the token into liquid.

After ending this possible trouble, Yi Yun did not put an end to him. He powered his pure Yang Yuan Qi and sealed the surrounding space, forming a large pure Yang inferno grid of light.

Yi Yun knew that the thin man before him only had his body destroyed. His Yin specter was still alive, which Yi Yun would naturally not allow to escape.

“What was the reason… why?”

The thin man’s eyes were filled with anger and indignance. There were too many cataclysms in this battle. Up till now, he still did not understand what had happened to “Shentu Nantian”.

Although he did not understand, he was convinced that everything had something to do with Yi Yun. Especially now, with Yi Yun preventing all routes of escape, there was no luck for him to rely on.

He looked venomously at Yi Yun and said through his teeth, “I want you to die with me!”

“Whew!”

A black beam shot out from the thin man’s eyebrows. At the end of the beam was a black skull, and it was shooting straight towards Yi Yun’s eyebrows!

Yi Yun knew that this black skull was the thin man’s Yin specter itself!

This Yin specter knew there was no hope of surviving and thus wanted to charge into Yi Yun’s soul sea.

If Yi Yun was not strong enough, he could be directly possessed by the thin man.

In fact, Yi Yun was very powerful both physically and mentally. The thin man knew it was impossible to directly possess Yi Yun who was in peak condition. He wanted to charge into Yi Yun’s soul sea to self-destruct, dying together with Yi Yun!

However, Yi Yun had already prepared for this. He pulled the sword before him and quickly retreated.

“Boom!”

A series of pure Yang Yuan Qi explosions retarded the black skull. In an instant, there was a scream. Clearly, the weak Yin specter was already injured.

With Yi Yun prepared, the Yin specter’s self-destruction naturally would not succeed.

Just as Yi Yun was about to destroy the Yin specter…

“Ah!”

A ear-piercing shrill resounded from “Shentu Nantian”. With his face ashen, and his eyes deadly pale, “Shentu Nantian” suddenly opened his mouth to reveal a row of sharp teeth.

“Whew!”

Black energy shot out from “Shentu Nantian”‘s mouth, straight at the flying skull!

The black energy enveloped around the skull, which was the size of a finger segment. No matter how the skull struggled, it could not escape its grasp.

In just a few seconds, the skull was completely devoured by the black energy.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Yi Yun heard a series of screams as the black energy strands emanated from the black evil energy, stabbing into the skull as it began extracting the Yin specter energy from the skull!

With the skull wrapped within it, the evil energy flew into “Shentu Nantian”‘s mouth!

“Shentu Nantian” closed his mouth as if nothing had happened.

Yi Yun was alarmed seeing this scene!

He had powered the Purple Crystal to awaken the evil energy that occupied “Shentu Nantian”‘s soul sea. However, he never expected that, after the evil energy was awoken, not only did would devour the Yin specter that resided in “Shentu Nantian”‘s body, like a dove stealing a magpie’s nest by controlling “Shentu Nantian”, it even managed to divert a bit of evil energy to devour the Yin specter in the thin man’s body as well!

Now, the thin man’s Yin specter energy had been swallowed by “Shentu Nantian”‘s body and was slowly being digested!

This situation was completely unexpected by Yi Yun.

And at that moment, “Shentu Nantian” turned his head over, looking hatefully at Yi Yun. His face was grim and his eyes exuded endless killing intent.

He pinched his bloody claws as if he were to attack at the next second.

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun understood that the “Shentu Nantian”, who was controlled by the evil energy and had taken the initiative to attack the thin man, was not fully under his control. The evil energy wanted to kill the thin man itself so as to devour the Yin specter energy within the thin man’s body.

It wanted to become stronger!

Energy that had its own thoughts, made it very strange!

However, no matter how strange it was, it could not escape the control of the Purple Crystal.

Back when Shentu Nantian was still alive, this energy had been restrained fully by the Purple Crystal. Its existence was completely hidden, so well that even the Lin family Grand Elders did not notice it. It was eventually easily extracted by Yi Yun from the Great Empress relic.

Today, it had grown a lot more, but it was still useless!

The Purple Crystal was the origins of all the energy that belonged to the Universe. Towards this evil energy, it had absolute control.

With a thought, Yi Yun interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal. The Purple Crystal’s powers emanated and enshrouded “Shentu Nantian”‘s body like a giant web.

As it was enveloped by the Purple Crystal’s power, “Shentu Nantian”‘s body shrunk as it revealed its instinctive fear.

He did not dare attack Yi Yun but looked at Yi Yun apprehensively. The evil energy had an instinct to survive. It could sense that Yi Yun, who possessed the Purple Crystal, could easily subdue it, so it had to yield to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun looked at “Shentu Nantian”. To be precise, he was using his energy vision to look at the evil energy within “Shentu Nantian”‘s body.

This evil energy had already completely taken over “Shentu Nantian”‘s soul sea. It had spread out across Shentu Nantian’s entire body in threads, deeply rooting itself in every inch of his meridians, controlling his body completely.

Energy that could slowly devour a Yin specter’s soul, and then finally fully dominate a body and control it, sounded unbelievable.

622 - : An Intrinsic Suppression

CKtalon  CKtalon

The evil energy gave Yi Yun a chill from the bottom of his heart. In “Shentu Nantian”‘s soul sea, the evil energy’s threads had weaved a large cocoon. In the cocoon, there was a small skull. It was the thin man’s Yin specter itself.

At that moment, the small skull was desperately struggling and roaring in pain, but with each thread being lodged deep in it, its energy was slowly being devoured.

This scene gave him the creeps.

“Odd… ” Yi Yun narrowed his eyes. He looked at the evil energy. A human’s soul energy itself contained memories.

The basis of some soul-searching mystic techniques was to shatter a human’s soul before forcefully reading the information one needed.

Although such soul-searching techniques were cruel, they were not considered to be evil techniques. Many so-called orthodox warriors also cultivated it.

As such, as the evil energy was absorbing the soul’s energy, it would also devour some memory fragments.

These bits and pieces of memory fragments slowly gathered together before merging into the evil energy. It would slowly form into a personality.

And that was its consciousness.

Yi Yun believed, that given enough time, the evil energy would be able to slowly grow and become more and more powerful. Once it had intelligence like a normal person, the Purple Crystal would no longer be able to control it.

If it continued to devour souls and other lives, it could become a disaster for the Tian Yuan world.

If Yi Yun had not entered the Heavenly Dao Union and came across the possessed “Shentu Nantian” and this maturing evil energy, all of that may very likely have come true.

However, now with the evil energy discovered by Yi Yun, he would not allow such a thing to happen. He had already decided to refine this energy to control it, allowing him to use it exclusively.

Yi Yun stood in front of “Shentu Nantian” and studied the energy flow within “Shentu Nantian”‘s meridians. Slowly, he powered the Purple Crystal up in a bid to control the evil energy in “Shentu Nantian”.

The Purple Crystal created an energy vortex, trapping the evil energy within it.

The evil energy began to struggle desperately!

“Shentu Nantian”, who was controlled by the evil energy, suddenly clenched his fists. Black gas swirled around his hand, as it condensed to form a black claw shadow. “Shentu Nantian”‘s eyes turned scarlet. He opened his mouth, revealing gruesome fangs.

“Roar!”

Under threat by the Purple Crystal, “Shentu Nantian” suddenly roared and attacked Yi Yun!

Yi Yun looked indifferent as he aimed and smacked on “Shentu Nantian”‘s forehead!

“Bam!”

With a loud ring, “Shentu Nantian”‘s body trembled and turned limp.

At that instant, the Purple Crystal’s energy surged into “Shentu Nantian”‘s soul sea, dissipating the evil energy!

The Purple Crystal continuously resonated, and the purple-colored energy vortex was like a huge mill. It rotated in “Shentu Nantian”‘s soul sea, grinding the evil energy into pieces, and then destroying it.

This process destroyed that tiny bit of self which the evil energy managed to form.

As long as the evil energy did not produce self-consciousness, it was not sufficient enough to cause fear.

About 15 minutes later, all of the evil energy in “Shentu Nantian”‘s body had been ground to pieces by the purple-colored vortex once.

However, this was not enough. Yi Yun wanted to control this evil energy completely and use it for himself.

After a slight hesitation, he split a bit of consciousness and shot it right between “Shentu Nantian”‘s eyebrows.

He wanted to control “Shentu Nantian”‘s body completely.

Nearly seven years ago, Yi Yun had discovered three important treasures on the sixth level of the God Advent Tower. A jade hairpin was given to Lin Xintong, while the second was the core array of the God Advent Tower, which Yi Yun refined for himself.

As for the third most important treasure, it was the indestructible Draco First True Gold Dao fetus.

Back then, Yi Yun had branched out a bit of his consciousness to refine the Draco First True Gold Dao fetus into an avatar of his.

And now, he planned on branching a bit of his consciousness out to control the evil energy.

As long as his consciousness was there, he could monitor the evil energy’s developments, and, completely make it into another one of his avatars. It was similar to the Draco First True Gold avatar. However, this time it was not a physical avatar, but an energy avatar.

When Yi Yun’s consciousness charged into “Shentu Nantian”‘s soul sea, it did not encounter any resistance. Previously, be it the evil energy, “Shentu Nantian”‘s soul or that little skull, all of them had already imploded in the energy vortex.

When Yi Yun took up residence in “Shentu Nantian”‘s soul sea, he merged the bit of consciousness he branched out with the evil energy and this made Yi Yun suddenly feel a suffocating frost Qi that rose up from his feet.

Although he had only branched out a bit of his consciousness, once it merged with Yi Yun’s main body, Yi Yun could still experience all the feelings his branched soul had.

This evil energy was indeed evil and strange. It was unpredictable in what would happen if it was to mature even further.

But now, with him controlling it, it could even become a major help in the future.

As Yi Yun had such thoughts, he suddenly realized something.

Oh?

What surprised Yi Yun was that when his consciousness merged with the evil energy, he “saw” the memories that belonged to the evil energy.

The evil energy had not developed intelligence, so these memories were all very scattered and fuzzy. And when Yi Yun carefully read them, he was surprised to find that this was not the memory that belonged to the evil energy, it was the memories that it had devoured.

Nearly all the memories came from the Yin specter who possessed Shentu Nantian’s corpse.

As for the second Yin specter, the thin man, his Yin specter soul had just been devoured by the evil energy, so there was not enough time for it to absorb its memories.

“So that is the case. The evil energy can devour memories, and eventually, turning them into its own personality.”

Yi Yun determined his guess, but now, it was not time to consider this. Yi Yun was more concerned with the Yin specter that possessed Shentu Nantian’s corpse. He wanted to know what memories it had.

This directly related to the war that Yi Yun was declaring on the Blood Moon.

If he did not understand the Blood Moon, he would be like a tiger trying to devour the heavens when fighting the Blood Moon. There would be no incisive point of attack.

The first Yin specter’s memories that the evil energy devoured were mostly fuzzy. Many memories were in fragments.

However, it was much better than soul-searching techniques. Those could only get a general gist of the memories.

It was impossible to use soul-searching techniques to obtain the method of cultivating any cultivation techniques. These general pieces of memory were insufficient to restore the insight into laws or Heavenly Dao, which were all very mysterious and profound.

Of course, Yi Yun could not cultivate a Yin specter cultivation technique by reading the Yin specter’s memories. Although Yi Yun found memory fragments related to spatial dimension laws or “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”, they were all too fragmented to be of any use.

The first thing Yi Yun wanted to know was the matters pertaining to the Heavenly Dao Union.

“So the formation of the Heavenly Dao Union is for such goals… ”

“So the Blood of Destruction is also a conspiracy.”

“That soul contract indeed has problems… ”

“So the so-called “Blackstone Trials” are the prelude to the Blood Moon’s final plans… ”

Although they were all fuzzy memories, it still caused Yi Yun to gasp after reading all of it.

623 - : Yin Specter Memories

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Yin specter’s memories allowed Yi Yun to gain an understanding of Blood Moon.

Yi Yun originally imagined Blood Moon to be a massive hidden organization, but it was difficult for him to imagine how such a massive organization could hide itself so well, without anyone knowing anything about it.

Now, Yi Yun understood it all.

First, the Blood Moon was not as massive as Yi Yun thought.

The upper echelons of the Blood Moon only had ten people. These ten people had extraordinary powers. They were the decision makers of Blood Moon and they had terrifying combat power.

Amongst the ten, six of them usually presided over the Martial Alliance. They included the Martial Alliance’s present Alliance Leader and three Grand Elders.

In the tens of millions of years, the Martial Alliance were at times powerful and at times weak. There were a few changes in name during this period. There was even a gap of 15 million years in which the Martial Alliance had intermittently disappeared from the world.

The Martial Alliance had not lasted for tens of millions of years as they publicized.

In fact, it was not easy to pass down heritage for tens of millions of years. Many heritage and family clans would usually exist for hundreds of thousands of years before encountering an accident that would immediately cause their severance or destruction. This was especially common in the competitive Tian Yuan world. Those that had more than a million years of heritage were all impressive ancient family clans.

Yet, the Blood Moon was able to smoothly pass down the heritage all because of Yin specters and the Reincarnation Grand Technique!

By abandoning a body, a Yin specter would possess a lifespan that far exceeded that of a typical warrior. Especially with a Yin specter entering hibernation deep underground, the passing of life would almost stop. A Yin specter with a profound cultivation level could even hibernate for a hundred million years without dying.

There were very few Blood Moon members that actually walked the earth.

There was even a period of 15 million years where there was not a single member of Blood Moon that walked the earth.

More than 90% of the Blood Moon members were Yin specters. They hibernated in an extreme Yin and cold location. They remained hidden underground for tens of millions of and they used the evil spiritual energy within to nourish their souls, giving them nearly eternal life.

As long as there were Yin specters hidden, they could wake a portion of Yin specters over certain time intervals, allowing them to maintain the passing down of the Blood Moon’s heritage.

Although the Yin specters had extremely long life spans, they had a huge weakness.

Their weakness was that their true bodies were only souls that required possession to walk the world.

A Yin specter in soul form could not use any cultivation techniques, nor could they use the laws. Only by possessing a body would they have combat strength.

And the strength of the Yin specter after possession depended on the Yin specter itself and the talent that the possessed body had.

The greater the talent the possessed body had, the higher affinity his body had with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. This allowed the Yin specter to be able to use greater energy, so the power of the laws they demonstrated would be even stronger.

As for the strength of the possessed body and their understanding of the laws, the Yin specters could not use it no matter how high a cultivation level they were.

As the Yin specters were extreme Yin and cold, filled with the air of death, after they possessed a body, they would quickly overdraft the body’s vitality. Hence, Yin specters would only target young people for possession. As such, their bodies could be used for a longer period of time.

Yin specters, who completed possession, could not cultivate. Their strength was fixed after they completed the possession, and there was no way to improve on it.

Only by hibernating would these Yin specters be able to absorb the evil Yin energy of the Heaven and Earth to slowly improve their strength.

This was the greatest weakness of Yin specters. They were not strong enough.

Yin specters with this amount of strength were not enough to command such a powerful organization.

Hence… Blood Moon had another sort of people — Reincarnators.

Reincarnators were different to Yin specters. Through many rounds of reincarnations, their insight into the laws and accumulation in understanding of cultivation techniques allowed them to be invincible amongst people of their level. They did not encounter bottlenecks in their cultivations. From Sage to Empyreal King to the level of Patriarchs of various large factions, there were even quite a number that could exceed the Patriarchs.

The Reincarnators were extremely powerful. Whenever they appeared, they would have executive control of Blood Moon.

However, Reincarnators faced another problem. They had short lifespans.

The “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique” that the Reincarnators cultivated was not a top mystic technique in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. There were too many side effects in cultivating it. Every reincarnation burned a portion of their life force. As such, the combined lifespan of a Reincarnator was just a tiny fraction of an ordinary warrior at the same realm.

However, as many amongst them had cultivation levels that exceeded the level of a faction’s Patriarch, their cumulative lifespan would be a hundred thousand and a few could reach hundreds of thousands.

Thus, the time that these Reincarnators remained alive became very valuable.

After every reincarnation, they would typically spend a long period of time as an unconscious spiritual soul. They would return to the Heaven and Earth, waiting for their next reincarnation.

The entire Blood Moon was mostly formed by Reincarnators or Yin specters. By working together, they ensured that Blood Moon could be passed down for tens of millions of years. Furthermore, no one realized the nature of the organization.

Over the many years, what people saw of the Blood Moon was just the power they displayed on the surface.

Now, the Blood Moon was about to proceed with its plans, so the Reincarnators had all appeared at the same time.

The ten upper echelon members of the Martial Alliance were Reincarnators who had completed their reincarnation a few thousand years or even ten thousand years ago. Each of them had strength that exceeded a faction’s Patriarch.

Other than these ten people, Blood Moon had about 30 Reincarnators who had recently completed their reincarnation. As their cultivation period was short, their cultivation realms were limited and they could not act independently.

There were about ten amongst them who were below the age of 25. These young Reincarnators were all gathered in the Heavenly Blood Union. For example, Young Master Feng Ming was one of them.

As these Reincarnators possessed extraordinary strength, they become the objects of idolization amongst the Heavenly Blood Union members. It was because of Young Master Feng Ming and company that so many elites joined the Heavenly Blood Union.

Other than these Reincarnators, there were dozens of Yin specters who had completed their possessions. They were also active in the Heavenly Dao Union, Greatsword Mountain and other places to carry out their duties.

Amongst them, “Shentu Nantian” and the thin man, as well as the swarthy youth, who previously appeared in the God Advent Tower, were some of the stronger Yin specters.

They were nearly the core strength of the present Blood Moon.

Which is to say, the true Blood Moon members only numbered about a hundred.

As for the rest, they were just Martial Alliance members. Although they worked for the Blood Moon, they did not know that the Martial Alliance had always been controlled by the Blood Moon, nor did they know the Blood Moon’s goals.

However, the Blood Moon’s true strength was far more than that.

The Blood Moon still had plenty of Yin specters who were hibernating in a extreme Yin and cold location. These Yin specters had even been in hibernation since the ancient calamity tens of millions years ago, having never awakened.

These Yin specters that were so ancient had hibernated for so long, allowing them to be nourished by the location they slumbered in. They were already very powerful, and much more powerful than the Yin specter that possessed Shentu Nantian.

And where this extreme Yin and cold place was where the Heavenly Dao Union’s “Blackstone Trials” were being held at!

624 - : Blood Moon’s Secret

CKtalon  CKtalon

To Blood Moon, the “Blackstone Trials” was an important step in their plan.

And after obtaining the memories from the Yin specter that possessed Shentu Nantian’s corpse, even if Yi Yun did not have a thorough read of the plan, he could guess that Blood Moon had established the Heavenly Dao Union to gather a batch of geniuses. They were fattened like pigs to be slaughtered by nurturing their bodies to be suitable for Yin specters to possess.

The entering of the Heavenly Dao Union was itself a tragedy for the Tian Yuan world’s geniuses.

Now, Blood Moon’s so-called “not exist in the next millennium” or “unprecedented” Blackstone Trials was to send the geniuses, who were somewhat nurtured, to the extreme Yin grounds, so that they could be possessed by the hibernating Yin specters.

And as they had signed a soul contract, there was Heavenly Dao curse sealed deep in those genius’ souls, so it would be difficult for them to even resist.

In the extreme Yin lands, there were of course no opportunities. The so-called risky but filled with opportunity “mission” as well as the how it would concern the fate of the Human race and the Tian Yuan world, was actually just for them to be possessed.

Blood Moon was planning on possessing every single genius. When that happened, they would naturally lose all decorum with the Tian Yuan world.

However, Blood Moon would not care for that. This plan, that had spanned tens of millions of years, had now reached the stage where they would reel in the nets.

All the power that Blood Moon had gathered in that extreme Yin area would appear all in one day!

But, Blood Moon was not without opponents. Its greatest opponent was the Desolate race!

The Desolate race had battled Blood Moon for a long time, but Blood Moon had been hidden for a long time. They hid deep in the Tian Yuan world, so the Desolate race could not destroy them.

Furthermore, Blood Moon’s true core was the extreme Yin land where numerous Yin specters were hibernating. Blood Moon called that area the “Soul Tomb”.

The Soul Tomb was an independent space. It was extremely important to Blood Moon. If the Soul Tomb was destroyed, all the Yin specters hibernating in it would turn into nothingness. That was a blow that Blood Moon could not bear.

The Soul Tomb was Blood Moon’s weakness.

The Yin specters hibernating in the Soul Tomb lacked any combat power before they possessed a body. If a mighty figure from the Desolate race, such as the Shepherd Boy, entered the Soul Tomb, Blood Moon’s Yin specters could not fight him.

In the tens of millions of years, Blood Moon had used various methods to ensure the safety of the Soul Tomb. They hid the location of where the Soul Tomb was, preventing people from knowing where the extreme Yin place was.

However, there was no perfect secret. The Soul Tomb’s location could not be kept hidden forever. Over the tens of millions of years, the Desolate race had infiltrated the Human race repeatedly, allowing them to track the Yin specters, eventually inferring, predicting and searching for where the extreme Yin land was. Eventually, the Desolate race managed to find the Soul Tomb.

However, Blood Moon had set up large amounts of preventive measures around the Soul Tomb.

Blood Moon had set up numerous large arrays surrounding and inside the Soul Tomb. The layers of large arrays interleaved amongst each other, making it like a maze. Even if the Desolate race had numerous experts, it was also extremely difficult for them to crack so many large arrays.

Furthermore, within the large arrays, there was one ancient array pattern that came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens. This array was common in the 12 Empyrean Heavens and it was often used in a heritage mystic realm of some legendary figure. It’s purpose was to limit one’s bone age.

When peerless figures in the 12 Empyrean Heavens left their heritage behind, they naturally wanted their heritage to be inherited by a youth with enormous potential, so that they could push the heritage to their full potential, eventually becoming their successors.

They definitely did not wish for old fools that had lived for tens of millions of years, especially their rivals, to take the cultivation techniques and treasures that they had accumulated all their lives away, giving them a free meal.

At that moment, an array pattern that limited the bone age was extremely useful.

The Soul Tomb used an array pattern like that as a defensive measure. It was perfect to use this ancient array pattern in the Soul Tomb.

Firstly, the ancient array pattern only limited bone ages. The Yin specters were just souls, and they lacked bodies, so they did not have any “bone age”. So they were not restricted and they were free to exit and enter.

Other than that, the Soul Tomb required some elites to be sent in from time to time as the Yin specters’ bodies.

As these elites seldom never exceeded the age of forty, they too were not limited by the bone age restrictions from the ancient array pattern, and they were free to enter.

However, the mighty figures of the Desolate race, such as the Shepherd Boy, could not enter the Soul Tomb.

The Desolate race was unable to crack the ancient array that came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, so if they wanted to send people in, they could only do so with the younger generation.

However, there were all sorts of large arrays like Trap Arrays, Killing Arrays and Illusion Arrays in the Soul Tomb.

The grounds also bred various Yin Souls or Killer Ghosts.

These things were not easily handled by the Desolate race’s younger generation.

Under such circumstances, even if the Desolate race’s mighty figures were able to crack the exterior arrays of the Soul Tomb and send their juniors in, there was a high chance of the juniors dying.They might be killed by the ghosts or trapped in the large arrays, eventually feeding the Yin specters, or get possessed by the Yin specters when they were near the ends of their lives!

It could be said that this ancient array pattern that restricted bone age was a masterstroke of Blood Moon. It both ensured the safety of the Soul Tomb, and it also allowed the Soul Tomb to continue to play its role in the grand scheme of things. It would not exclude the bodies that were needed for possession.

Under such circumstances, even if the Desolate race knew the exact location of the Soul Tomb, they still had no way of doing anything about the Soul Tomb over the tens of millions of years.

They could only watch Blood Moon members use the Soul Tomb as a base camp, creating a steady stream of Yin specters, bringing chaos to the world.

“So that is how it turned out to be. Blood Moon has hidden itself so deeply that it exceeded my expectations.”

Yi Yun muttered to himself. Using the Yin specter’s memories, he finally knew how this organization survived. He was previously curious as to how such a powerful organization could hide so well without anyone knowing.

Now, he understood the reason.

After understanding the various secrets of the Blackstone Trials, Yi Yun naturally would not allow the “Blackstone Trials” to continue any longer.

He planned on destroying this trial and dealing a heavy blow to Blood Moon!

For this, Yi Yun already had a plan.

Actually, the Yin specter that possessed Shentu Nantian was one of the commanders of the “Blackstone Trials” as a Heavenly Dao Union Inspector.

Young Master Feng Ming and the other three Reincarnators were all commanders.

After Reincarnators reincarnated, their bodies were reborn, so their bodies’ bone age started from zero. So a young Reincarnator could also pass through the Soul Tomb’s ancient array pattern.

There was no doubt of the enormous power of the Reincarnators. With the Reincarnators and Yin specters overseeing the Blackstone Trials, and the Heavenly Blood Union geniuses having signed a soul contract, Blood Moon did not believe that there would be any accidents.

However, no matter how well they planned, they never predicted the existence of Yi Yun. After all, to Blood Moon’s upper echelons, even if Yi Yun had obtained the Great Empress’ inheritance, he was not considered powerful. He was just a junior with somewhat good talent. He was far from threatening the entrenched Blood Moon.

625 - : Soul Tomb

CKtalon  CKtalon

After understanding Blood Moon’s background, Yi Yun gathered all the Yin specter fragments in Shentu Nantian’s soul sea.

These Yin specter fragments had been blasted to pieces and it had lost its own consciousness. By gathering them together, Yi Yun could restore the aura of a Yin specter to this body.

After putting the mask back on, the Shentu Nantian controlled by Yi Yun was no different from the masked man from before.

Yi Yun pinched his throat gently to utter a sound. It was deep and husky, exactly like the masked man when he was previously alive.

Yi Yun was proficient in the “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book”, so with a top disguise technique from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, he could freely change his voice, looks, aura and even his lifeforce.

This allowed Yi Yun to imitate the masked man without any flaws.

Furthermore, by gathering the residual Yin specter soul fragments, his Yin specter aura was completely authentic.

Coupled with the fact that the body he was using was the Yin specter’s original body, and how he used a portion of the Yin specter’s memories, even if the thin man Yin specter was revived, he would not be able to see through Yi Yun’s disguise.

Yi Yun controlled “Shentu Nantian”, and slowly clenched his fists. The black fingernails were lingering with the air of death.

This new avatar brought Yi Yun new strength.

“Hahaha!

The “Shentu Nantian” that was controlled by Yi Yun suddenly gave a maniacal laugh. It was extremely wicked and sinister, and it even surpassed the original “Shentu Nantian”.

“Very good!”

“Shentu Nantian” loosened his neck as it issued cracking sounds.

He suddenly waved his hand, causing a storm to surge.

Ka-cha!

With an explosion, a huge Yuan Qi shield not far away shattered!

There were six youths being protected by the Yuan Qi shield. They were all looking in horror towards the sky.

They were Wei Chiwei, the bald youth and company that Yi Yun had isolated with Yuan Qi.

“We are doomed… ”

Looking at the ferocious-looking masked man in the sky, and his demonic laughter, their hearts sank.

“Are we going to die… ?”

The twins, Chu Qing’er and Chu Ke’er, held their hands together tightly as their faces paled.

Their youth had just blossomed, and they still had their loving parents in their family clans, as well as younger siblings who were waiting for their return. They obviously did not want to die.

Death was an absolutely terrifying thing to everyone.

“Senior Brother Jiang!”

Noticing that Yi Yun was beside the masked man, like he had been completely restrained, Wei Chiwei could not help but shout out. Senior Brother Jiang might look fine on the surface, but it was very possible for him to have suffered serious internal injuries.

At that moment, the masked man suddenly waved his hand as a terrifying spatial vortex wrapped around the six of them. They struggled as they were lifted up into the sky, but to no avail.

The difference in strength was too large.

“The moment you enter the Heavenly Dao Union, there is no turning back. You are given two choices. Either you sign a soul contract, or you die!” The masked man said in a sinister voice filled with killing intent.

When the six people heard that, they were filled with despair. They would not be able to escape this disaster.

By doing so, the Martial Alliance was definitely not a benign entity, but how could they possibly resist?

“Senior Brother Jiang, you… ”

Wei Chiwei looked at Yi Yun. For Yi Yun to be standing there, did he also sign a soul contract too?

Yi Yun looked at Wei Chiwei with a calm expression. These six people would naturally be free to go if it went according to Yi Yun’s original plans.

However, from the masked man’s memories, his trip here to stop Yi Yun and company was to only give them two options. Either they signed soul contracts or they would be killed!

However, while the masked man was carrying on this assignment, he had secretly brought the thin man along. The masked man had been partners with the thin man for many years and had eyed Yi Yun’s body. He had planned on letting the thin man possess it.

When the masked man and the thin man lost their original bodies in the Great Empress mystic realm, the masked man had possessed Shentu Nantian’s corpse. It was considered a very good body, but the thin man never had received a suitable body. Without much scrutiny, he had possessed a large family clan’s elite, but the possessed elite’s talent was not considered to be at the pinnacle. It could not bear the Yin specter’s air of death.

This resulted in the thin man quickly withering. His body thinned like firewood, and his facial color turned sallow. He looked like a youth that had prematurely aged, and was ever close to a coffin.

The thin man wanted to secretly possess Yi Yun, leaving the best body for himself, but he never expected to have the tables turned on him by Yi Yun, eventually killing him.

Now, the thin man had died and the masked man’s consciousness had been destroyed by Yi Yun. Hence, the news of the thin man coming with the masked man for this matter was unknown to anyone else. It would not arouse any attention to Yi Yun killing the thin man.

However, if the six were allowed to leave for no good reason, that would be unacceptable.

After returning to the Heavenly Dao Union, Yi Yun would not be able to explain himself. After all, the masked man’s strength should be sufficient enough to bring all of them back. Now, six of them had managed to escape, but only Yi Yun was brought back? What was the meaning behind this?

Also, if the six people were to return, they would complain about the Heavenly Dao Union to their family clans, and this might startle and alert the enemy.

At that moment, if the Heavenly Dao Union began to become suspicious and investigate Yi Yun, then him controlling the masked man had the risk of being seen through.

Yi Yun could not be penny-wise, pound foolish.

Although he knew that by taking the six people back to the Heavenly Dao Union to participate in the Blackstone Trials, it would be sending them into a fiery abyss once again, it was not as important as disrupting the Blood Moon’s plans or the safety of the Tian Yuan world. Yi Yun was very cognizant of his priorities.

Furthermore, even if he took the six people into the Blackstone Trials, they might not necessarily perish. There would be some danger, but Yi Yun was confident he could protect them.

“I have already signed a soul contract. If you trust me, sign it as well. This soul contract may have some inequities, but they aren’t too problematic. The Martial Alliance has gone to such extreme measures due to special policies during a special time.”

“Also, I can ensure that I will have a way of lifting the soul contract in the future.”

Yi Yun transmitted his voice to the six people using his Yuan Qi.

These six people had to sign the soul contract. If they did not sign and did not return to the Heavenly Dao Union, it would be very troublesome. Yi Yun could not risk his identity being uncovered. Yet, he could not kill or free those who did not sign.

“You have a way of lifting the contract?”

Wei Chiwei was stunned. Jiang Yidao actually said that he had a way to lift the soul contract established by the Martial Alliance?

How was that possible?

“If you trust me, sign it. I believe that there is no other way. You only have one life. Do not doubt the masked man’s words. He really will kill you. By staying alive, there will be hope. I promise that I will bring you out safely in the future.”

Yi Yun transmitted his voice again.

The six people looked at each other as they struggled to decide.

Yi Yun had created too many miracles in the past, but they were doubtful that he could lift the Martial Alliance’s contract or even resist the Martial Alliance.

“I’ll sign… ”

Wei Chiwei took a deep breath as he said that with great difficulty. He was the only one amongst the six people who was nearing on having blind trust with Yi Yun.

“Then… we… will also sign.”

Chu Ke’er and Chu Qing’er said while biting their lips.

They were unwilling to part with their parents and younger siblings. They did not wish to die at all, so with Wei Chiwei spearheading it, their decision became a lot easier.

Upon seeing this situation, the remaining three helplessly chose to sign the contract as well.

No matter what the future beheld, Yi Yun was right with one thing. There was only one life. Staying alive meant hope, but nothing will be left once they were dead.

Although they had signed a contract unwillingly, according to the Martial Alliance’s rhetoric, a calamity was soon to befall the Tian Yuan world. When that happened, it was even likely that the Martial Alliance would be destroyed in the calamity, so they still might regain their freedom.

“Very good!” The masked man laughed sinisterly. With a wave of his hand, six black soul contracts floated in front of Chu Qing’er and company.

The moment the six contracts appeared, they were burnt completely to a crisp.

“Sign it!” The masked man said with an aggressive tone.

“You… ”

Wei Chiwei and company were stunned. The moment the contract appeared, it was completely burnt. They did not have the opportunity to even take a look at the contents. Although they knew that it would be useless even if they had seen it.

“You do not have the right to choose or amend it. You can only choose to sign it or die!” The masked man said with his murderous intent surging.

Wei Chiwei and company were filled with hatred, but they could only bite their fingers to shed a drop of blood to sign the loathsome soul contract.

As they dripped their blood, the blood was consumed by the black fire, while the six felt humiliated and indignant.

However, they did not know that the contents of the soul contract had already been changed by Yi Yun.

As he was short on time, Yi Yun only changed the most critical point. The soul contract stated that they be loyal to the Martial Alliance, but that was changed by Yi Yun to his own name. Of course, Yi Yun would not force these six people to fulfill a silly contract like this, so it did not affect them even after signing it.

626 - : Signing a Soul Contract

CKtalon  CKtalon

Greatsword Mountain, Heavenly Dao Union.

Ever since the initiation of the Blackstone Trials two days ago, all of the Heavenly Blood Union members were filled with anticipation for the trials.

Especially this morning, with a few Reincarnators presiding over matters, the members were taken into the treasury and they were given the privilege of choosing one mystic technique that could improve their strength. This made the elites’ morale run high.

One of the Reincarnators was Young Master Fengming.

Usually, every appearance of Young Master Fengming had a bearing of an extraordinaire, like he was the center of the world. Even the Martial Alliance’s Inspectors showed some deference to him.

But this time, Young Master Fengming was behind someone dressed in black. He was tall and stout, his eyes sparkled like the stars in the sky.

Standing there, he did not give people the feeling of suppression, nor did he have a stunning aura. However, strangely, he seemed to be standing in a different space-time dimension. It made people feel like he was unreal when they looked at him. It was as if they were just seeing some ancient image.

This black-dressed man was the strongest Reincarnator in the Heavenly Dao Union. He was Young Master Zhulong!

Amongst the strongest people in the Heavenly Dao Union were nine Reincarnators. And amongst the nine, there were four young masters who were the strongest.

These four young masters were: Young Master Zhulong, Young Master Qiongqi, Young Master Fengming, Young Master Sheji!

The four young masters, Zhulong, Qiongqi, Fengming, and Sheji were named after divine beasts of the dragon, Chi, phoenix, and snake respectively. These names were quite ostentatious, but people did not disagree with the names as they were indeed phoenixes and dragons amongst people.

Young Master Fengming was ranked third amongst the four. He had looks that were better than a woman’s. He was always dressed in white clothes with a folding fan in hand. He looked both male and female at the same time, that might mislead people into thinking that he was a lady with rare beauty disguising as a man.

The fourth was Fairy Sheji. She was a real woman, and she always wore a veil. Her figure was voluptuous and she had ample breasts. Her hips were curvy and perky, and her eyes could be described as deep and soulful, eyes that a man could get lost in.

Ranked second amongst the four young masters was Young Master Qiongqi. He was completely different to the handsome and beautiful Young Master Fengming and Fairy Sheji. Young Master Qiongi had a small build and he was thin. His skin was slightly black and his eyes were deeply recessed. He looked a bit sinister and ruthless, but it could be said that he was not ugly. He just looked extremely odd, making others not want to take a second look at him.

As for the first young master amongst the four, Young Master Zhulong, his whereabouts were always a mystery. This was also the first time many of the elites had seen him despite having been in the Heavenly Dao Union for such a long period of time.

“He is Young Master Zhulong… ”

As people looked at the black-dressed leader of the Reincarnators, they were all secretly in awe. They had only seen Young Master Fengming fight the other three young masters. And he was really invincible amongst people of the same level, completely unstoppable.

However, just from Young Master Fengming’s respectful attitude towards Young Master Zhulong, it was easy to guess that the gap between them was not trivial.

It was difficult to imagine how powerful Young Master Zhulong was.

As everyone was about to choose a cultivation technique, the treasury’s door opened. A masked man dressed in black brought Yi Yun, Wei Chiwei, and company into the treasury.

The masked man still had that eternal cold and an empty expression on his mask, and behind him, Yi Yun, Wei Chiwei, and company were wearing tattered clothes and they looked quite nonplussed.

Wei Chiwei was feeling humiliated and indignant, while the bald youth was filled with despair towards the uncertain future that lied ahead of him. As for the Chu twin sisters, they were crying in quite a pitiable state.

“Oh? Why did these people come back?”

The people from the Heavenly Blood Union looked at Yi Yun and company in surprise.

“Jiang Yidao and the other six deserted because they were afraid to risk their necks despite the Human race being on the precipice of danger. I was planning on giving up on these cowards, but I received orders from the Martial Alliance headquarters that deserters were not to be tolerated!”

“At the same time, the Martial Alliance headquarters have informed their families that under various forms of pressure, the seven of them have chosen to return and they are now Heavenly Blood Union members.” The masked man slowly said with his usual sinister tone.

Upon hearing this, the questions that the people from the Heavenly Blood Union had were answered.

So, Yi Yun and company had been forced to sign the soul contract due to various forms of pressure and they had now joined the Heavenly Blood Union as well?

Henceforth, the way the crowd looked at the seven people immediately turned to that of despise and derision.

“So you came running back dejectedly due to various forms of pressure. Such complete lack of shame.”

“To think that they spoke so certainly about their decision to leave the Heavenly Dao Union. Now that they have joined the Heavenly Blood Union, they sure are so deserving of approbation.”

The crowd crowed with derisive pleasure right in front of their faces.

After Wei Chiwei heard this, he clenched his fists tightly as a vein protruded out from his arm.

The eyes of the Chu sisters were welling with tears. The two of them had outstanding talent in their family clan, and they had reached the perfect Yuan Foundation realm at just sixteen years of age. They had never received such humiliation before.

“It’s not that, we… ”

The two girls said with an aggrieved and red face. They nearly bit through their lips but they were unable to explain.

First, they had signed a soul contract and they believed that they could not betray the Martial Alliance. They did not dare speak the truth, and even if they did, it was useless.

They only had speculations about the Heavenly Dao Union and they lacked the evidence that the Heavenly Dao Union was a sinister organization.

As for the Martial Alliance informing their family clans, they might have really done so, but they had probably twisted the facts.

As for the reason why the Martial Alliance was hiding the facts, the six of them were completely unaware of it. Under such circumstances, what else could they say?

“To desert previously out of fear, but then return now, do you even have any shame!?” Gongsun Hong looked at Yi Yun and gave an unbridled laugh. He was feeling extremely good. So what if Jiang Yidao was stronger than him? Wasn’t he still being humiliated by himself?

The only thing to blame was his own actions for being so timid, with a mind unbecoming of a warrior.

“I actually wanted to diligently cultivate and surpass you one day. Who knew that you were a scum that does not even have the courage to escape? It is so shameful for me to use you as a goal!”

After being repressed by Yi Yun for so long, Gongsun Hong had a feeling of exaltation.

Beside Gongsun Hong, a few Heavenly Blood Union members who had good relations with him echoed in unison.

Everyone felt Yi Yun and company were too silly. If you had known that it would come to this, why did you act that way in the first place?

If they had joined the Heavenly Blood Union earlier, they could enjoy more resources. Now, with them returning, not only was it shameful, they had also lost precious amounts of time. It was so silly that it made them burst out with laughter.

“Lord Inspector, Jiang Yidao, and company may have returned to the Heavenly Dao Union, but we are ashamed to be associated with them!” Gongsun Hong suddenly stood forward from the crowd and pleaded.

As he spoke, he sneered at Yi Yun. Times and situations change. A few months ago, you probably didn’t expect this would happen to you when you played me for a fool!

“Senior Brother Gongsun is right. We are ashamed to be associated with them. Please separate them from us during the Blackstone Trials. At least, it would not affect us if they desert us during a situation.”

Another person stood forward. Yi Yun found the voice familiar and when he took a glance, he laughed.

The second person who stood out was someone he was familiar with. Back at Heaven Martial City, Yi Yun had destroyed the Li Fire Sect’s shop and caused quite a bit of trouble, resulting in him battling a Heavenly Dao Union genius who claimed to be “Jian Wushuang”.

The person who stood forward to support Gongsun Hong was none other than this “Jian Wushuang”.

When Yi Yun came to the Heavenly Dao Union, “Jian Wushuang” had avoided Yi Yun as best as he could, afraid to meet him. He was afraid of this malignant star, making Yi Yun nearly forget that this “Jian Wushuang” he had previously brutally beaten up was also in the Heavenly Dao Union.

Only today when Yi Yun was being sidelined did he step forward to add insult to injury.

When he saw Yi Yun laugh, “Jian Wushuang” felt extremely unhappy.

“To think you can laugh at that moment. There’s truth in the saying that a dead pig isn’t afraid of boiling water. That face of yours is thick enough to be used to create armor.” “Jian Wushuang” mocked. However, no matter how much he mocked, Yi Yun only smiled while looking at him. This strange smile made “Jian Wushuang” feel inexplicably afraid.

At that moment, the masked man spoke. “Since all of you have such a request, then we will let the seven form an independent team!”

The words the masked man said were naturally controlled by Yi Yun. He also could not be bothered to be grouped with a bunch of idiots like them. Of course, when they eventually reached the Soul Tomb’s core, all of them would definitely meet again.

However, the masked man’s announcement troubled the other six.

The Chu sisters desperately widened their eyes before letting their tears flow down. Wei Chiwei, a hot-blooded youth below the age of twenty was also gritting his teeth tightly, as he suffered the immense humiliation.

They were going to be ostracized for the Blackstone Trials.

Although they were forced to sign a soul contract, they were still isolated and discriminated against by the senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union.

627 - : Four Great Young Masters

CKtalon  CKtalon

“These people are going too far in their bullying!” In a corner on the third level of the treasury, Wei Chiwei said angrily to Yi Yun.

He had been ostracized previously when he was a Heavenly Dao Union member. He was then pursued when he refused to sign a soul contract, and now, after enduring the humiliation to sign the soul contract, he had been mocked and despised when he returned to the Heavenly Dao Union.

And the only thing he could do was endure it without being able to leave. As a result, the grievance he suffered was imaginable.

However, Yi Yun only smiled when Wei Chiwei aired his grievances, nor did he say anything. He remained calmed and composed while choosing various treasures in the treasury. He had earned some Blood Jade before, and with the Blood Jade awarded to him for joining the Heavenly Blood Union, he spent it all. After all, it would be a waste not to use the Martial Alliance’s resources.

Furthermore, if he did not use it now, there would be no more chance to do so in the future.

“You exchanged so many relics? Are you planning on using this trial to increase your strength, so that you can easily complete other missions in the future? Senior Brother, I’m not trying to dampen your enthusiasm, but although we have joined the Heavenly Blood Union, we are still being discriminated against. Those people hate us, so even if we contribute meritoriously, they will probably not give us the corresponding rewards.” Wei Chiwei said angrily.

Yi Yun did not explain further. After he finished spending all the Blood Jade, he left the treasury.

There were still more than ten days left before the Blackstone Trials began, so Yi Yun simply left Greatsword Mountain. After becoming a Heavenly Blood Union member, he obtained the right to greater freedom. Blood moon was not afraid that those people who had signed soul contracts would betray them.

Yi Yun kept flying until he arrived at a remote part of the Untraversable Sea.

There were strong winds that created towering waves. There were no inkling of boats when he looked around.

Yi Yun landed on a giant rock. His eyes burned with an intelligent glimmer.

He took a jade box out and after opening it, bright and colorful light flowed out, as Yuan Qi shot towards the sky.

Sitting in the jade box were ten ancient relics that he had taken out from the God Advent Tower. There was also a Dao fruit that Yi Yun had exchanged for from the treasury.

The Dao fruit he had obtained from the treasury was nothing much, but any of the ten ancient relics would cause the heart of any member of the Heavenly Blood Union to race.

The ancient relics were a lot better than the Empyrean relics that a typical Tian Yuan world Empyreal King would use to cultivate. A typical elite would not have the qualifications to use such a relic. They might only use a relic of slightly lower quality when they were trying to break through to another new realm. And even that was quite extravagant.

As he looked at these treasures, he activated the Purple Crystal. A purple vortex began to form from his body as the ancient relics’ energy was quickly absorbed. The Dao fruit was also drained dry in a blink of an eye.

Yi Yun planned to reach the perfect Dao Seed realm in one fell swoop, as a form of preparation for him to break through to the Yuan Opening realm.

The ancient relics quickly dimmed. The amount of energy the Purple Crystal absorbed was so much that even Yi Yun’s Yuan Foundation,that was ten times wider than a typical Tian Yuan world warrior’s, could not contain it.

The Purple Crystal purified the large amount of energy, removing the essence from the dregs.

In an instant, Yi Yun’s energy quickly rose. The sea surrounding him was stimulated by this energy, causing the waves to surge and rise, as water sprayed everywhere.

Even so, there was still too much energy. The excess energy was fed to the Nine Neonate beast mark dormant in Yi Yun’s body.

With the influx of energy, Yi Yun felt the nomological seed buried in his Yuan Foundation become more resplendent and compressed, as if it was about to germinate slowly.

His Dao Seed realm had already broken past the late-stages, reaching the perfection stage.

And at that moment, Yi Yun took a dark red mysterious rock out of his interspatial ring.

The mysterious rock did not appear brilliant, but it had faint nomological patterns circulating on its surface.

Months ago, Yi Yun had bought this mysterious rock from the siblings, Ah Yu and Ah Niu in Heaven Martial City, resulting in him coming into conflict with the Li Fire Sect.

Back then, Yi Yun had used the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, so he was able to confirm the value of the mysterious rock much better than the long-faced youth from the Li Fire Sect.

In this Universe, its primordial state was a state of Chaos. In essence, Chaos was energy. As the energy transformed into Yin and Yang, it also established space-time, before the five elements appeared. The Heaven and Earth was split, resulting in Wind, Rain, Thunder and Lightning, eventually giving rise to all living creatures.

However, not all sorts of energy could transform into matter. Some energy would condense together, forming Chaos Stones.

Chaos Stones were priceless treasures.

This was because it was the energy formed when the Universe was in its most inchoate state. It was the ultimate energy of Origins.

And after the five elements were formed, the energy would have already transformed into its various types. These energies would disperse across the Heaven and Earth, contaminated through various means, and they would be far from the pure state they were in back when the Universe was in its inchoate state.

There were records of Chaos Stones in the Azure Yang Lord’s notes. As they were very few in number, and contained both energy of Origins and the universe’s most fundamental laws, they were were extremely precious.

However, the mysterious rock in Yi Yun’s hand was not a Chaos Stone.

Chaos Stones were too rare. Even if the entire Tian Yuan world was searched, there might not even be a Chaos Stone.

What Yi Yun was holding was a World Stone.

It was a primordial rock condensed from energy when the world the Tian Yuan world resided in was initially formed. It was a lot poorer in quality than a Chaos Stone in both energy of Origins and law of Origins, but it was still extremely valuable.

World Stones numbered quite a lot in the first place. But over time, they would deplete in number. Only in mysterious lands could such primordial stones be found. The siblings, Ah Niu and Ah Yu, had managed to find one by chance.

In the large Universe that the 12 Empyrean Heavens resided in, there were many worlds. Each world’s birth would leave World Stones behind.

In the 12 Empyrean Heavens, desolate bone relics and World Stones could be used as currency. However, people would only use World Stones to buy priceless treasures, as they were simply too rare.

As for the even more precious Chaos Stones, no one was willing to spend them.

Yi Yun placed this World Stone in between his eyebrows. He took a deep breath as the energy of Origins in the World Stone flowed into Yi Yun’s body. It meandered along his meridians straight into his dantian.

Instantly, Yi Yun felt his body turn light as if his body and mind was being purified.

This absorption lasted for four hours. With the Purple Crystal harmonization, Yi Yun felt like his body had changed into a body of energy, without any impurities.

His cultivation level had already broken past the late-stages of the Dao Seed realm and he had reached the perfect Dao Seed realm. He was only half a step away from the Yuan Opening realm.

Just as Yi Yun was about to finish, the Nine Neonate beast mark’s aura opened up suddenly. A black air flow that resembled a tornado burst out from its body, shooting straight to the heavens!

It had absorbed a large amount of energy that Yi Yun could not fully absorb, and at that moment, the energy had completely merged with it!

During the process of the Nine Neonate merging with the energy…

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A black airflow stirred the skies, as thick black clouds began to gather from all directions.

Lightning forked throughout the whirling clouds! Large bolts of lightning that were as thick as water buckets flashed.

Yi Yun narrowed his eyes as he looked at the thunder clouds in the sky.

He knew that this was the Nine Neonate’s Heavenly Tribulation!

The Heavenly Tribulation had finally arrived. Originally, it had nothing to do with Yi Yun, but now as the Nine Neonate’s owner, he too would suffer the Heavenly Tribulation.

The wind grew stronger as the waves became more turbulent. Under the powers of Heaven and Earth, all the living creatures in the sea hid under rocks or kept close to the seabed and they did not move one bit.

This was because of the killing aura of the Heavenly Dao. Since the Nine Neonate was going against the Heavens by cultivating, it was to be wiped out.

Ang!

The Nine Neonate roared as it transformed into an Aspect Totem behind Yi Yun, and it raised its nine heads high.

Boom!

The first bolt of lightning suddenly streaked down from the clouds!

The black sky seemed to lower and it appeared to be squeezed together with the tumultuous black sea. And in between them, there were huge bolts of lightning that illuminated the sky and ocean when they snaked down.

After being zapped by the lightning, Yi Yun immediately felt his skin tingle in pain.

The Nine Neonate did not dodge, and instead, it took the initiative to receive the bolt of lightning.

Ka-cha!

The current flowed through their bodies as the Nine Neonate and Yi Yun suffered the electric strike together.

Yi Yun’s body was already a body of extreme pure energy. When the lightning entered his body, he felt that his body was in pain, but every cell in his body seem to come alive and began respiring Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, as well as the power of the Heavenly Tribulation.

This lightning Heavenly Tribulation tempered Yi Yun’s body and soul, suppressing his thoughts and intentions. However, despite the pain and suppression, Yi Yun felt like there were extremely mysterious things annihilating and creating in the lightning bolt.

Lightning was a destructive power, but it was a power that created as well. It was rumored that life was first born when lightning struck the ocean in the past.

Yi Yun closed his eyes as he began to experience the power of the Heaven and Earth.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Lightning bolts came crashing down in succession.

Even the massive Nine Neonate was as tiny as an ant under the horrific power of the Heavens.

However, it still held its heads high. It even took the initiative to welcome that power, and roared in anger!

Its body was struck again and again. Its nine heads were already covered in blood with black burn marks everywhere on its body.

When desolate beasts cultivated their paths, they would experience Heavenly Tribulations. When warriors cultivated martial arts, they would also be defying the Heavenly Dao.

Yi Yun stood in front of the Nine Neonate as its roared angrily at the Heavens.

Bam!

A huge deafening explosion!

The lightning was shattered, turning into numerous tiny electric currents!

Yi Yun did not draw his saber or resist it. He completely immersed himself in the pouring lightning!

Ka-cha!

The rock beneath Yi Yun’s feet exploded as the sea engulfed his body, but the water was immediately evaporated.

All of Yi Yun’s clothes were reduced to ashes. His hair was disheveled while he felt numb throughout his body. He was bleeding over all as well.

However, the Nine Neonate behind him was in a more miserable state. It was the cause of the Heavenly Tribulation, so it was subject to most of the Tribulation lightning. Every bit of flesh was burnt crisp, and its skin began to peel off, revealing large tracts of bloody flesh…

The lightning struck them for a total of fifteen minutes with a total of nine strikes before the lightning clouds in the sky slowly dissipated.

The sky turned bright again as Yi Yun took a deep breath. Tribulation lightning was really extraordinary. It was no wonder that Nine Neonates could not mature in the Tian Yuan world.

Even the Nine Neonate he nurtured was seriously injured by the Tribulation lightning despite all the treasures he had given to it.

And this was only the first Heavenly Tribulation. Although it had nine Tribulation lightning strikes, all of them were about the same in strength. If the Heavenly Tribulations in the future were stronger with every strike, that would be hell.

Despite the process being painful, the Tribulation lightning brought immense benefits with it. Other than the Nine Neonate completing its first evolution, allowing it to become more powerful, as the owner, Yi Yun had tempered his body with the Tribulation lightning. As he checked his insides, he was surprised to find that his already perfected pure Yang body… had a slight change!

628 - : Dao Seed Perfection

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the boundless Divine Wilderness, there were vast chains of mountains and endless valleys. Deep within the Divine Wilderness stood a large altar. The altar was constructed from a numerous amount of bones. These bones protruded out, emitting an ancient and primal aura.

This altar had already existed for a countless number of years. Not far from this altar, in a palace, there was a red-dressed lady who had spent her days there.

The young lady had delicate body contours, and in between her eyebrows, there were three cinnabar dots. Her facial features looked they had been carved from jade, and her skin was as white as snow. Her beauty was unparalleled.

She was sitting in front of a window of a dark hall in the palace, hugging a small furry, red fox. The fox was revealing a look of enjoyment and comfort.

At that moment, footsteps could be heard inside the dark hall. A azure-clothed man approached the lady and knelt down with one knee.

The young lady glanced at the azure-clothed man and said softly, “Is it time to embark?”

“Yes.” The azure-clothed man said reverently.

He was the Shepherd Boy, who had led the billions of desolate beasts, and nearly wasted the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

As for the red-dressed young lady, she was Yi Yun’s elder sister, Jiang Xiaorou.

Seven years ago, on the divine bone altar, she had awoken her ancient bloodline, becoming the Desolate Queen. However, the Shepherd Boy was still accustomed to addressing Jiang Xiaorou as Successor.

When Jiang Xiaorou returned to the Desolate race, she knew that she had to shoulder a life mission. She resisted it initially, but she had to save Yi Yun because he had been imprisoned by Shentu Nantian.

The condition for the Shepherd Boy to rescue Yi Yun was for her to cut off all relations with the Human race, and become the Desolate race’s Successor.

Jiang Xiaorou had a unique blood line and she had been acknowledged by the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit. In the recent tens of millions of years of history, the Desolate race’s ancient bloodline had thinned. It was extremely difficult for an era’s Desolate King to obtain the acknowledgment of a Sacred Spirit.

In the seven years, Jiang Xiaorou’s temperament had turned more melancholic and quiet.

However, when Jiang Xiaorou stood up with the little fox in her arms, picking up the bone staff beside her, a sacred and divine aura seemed to linger around her body.

Even the Shepherd Boy could not help but feel reverent towards this aura, like a subordinate to a king. He no longer showed the care a senior gave to a junior.

“If that is the case, let us proceed.” Jiang Xiaorou said softly as her tall body moved forward.

She walked out of the hall with a scarlet cape lining her back.

Outside the hall, there was a behemoth mount that had been waiting. A beautiful woman in plain clothes stood near the behemoth and looked at Jiang Xiaorou.

She looked somewhat similar to Jiang Xiaorou, she was the previous Desolate Queen.

“Mother.” Jiang Xiaorou gave her a slight bow.

The plainly dressed woman looked lovingly at Jiang Xiaorou and sighed gently. “Rou’er, in the three days, it will be when the Yin atmosphere in the Soul Tomb is at its weakest in ten thousand years. We, the Desolate race, have chosen this period of time to enter the Soul Tomb, so as to awaken all the Yin specters hibernating in it.”

“Our race has been nurturing geniuses for more than a decade, and now, it is time to put them to use.”

As the plain-clothed woman spoke, large flying behemoths rose in the sky behind her. On these behemoths, there were many Desolate race elites riding on them in full battle gear.

The Desolate race long knew that the Blood Moon had established the Heavenly Dao Union, and they were very aware of the goals of the Heavenly Dao Union. As such, the Desolate race nurtured a batch of “Skyfox”, mainly to counter the Blood Moon’s Heavenly Dao Union.

The trip to the Soul Tomb was tens of millions of kilometers long.

The Desolate race knew where the Soul Tomb was a long time ago, and they knew that the Soul Tomb was the Blood Moon’s main breeding ground. However, with the Soul Tomb’s protective arrays, as well as the Yin energy gathered in it, the Desolate race could not do anything to the Soul Tomb.

And now, only Jiang Xiaorou in the entire Desolate race could lead the “Skyfox” to battle the Blood Moon!

However, the Reincarnators that the Blood Moon had were too powerful. This trip to the Soul Tomb placed Jiang Xiaorou in a land of extreme danger!

Just a single mishap could result in Jiang Xiaorou dying in the Soul Tomb.

The plain-clothed woman could not bear doing this, but she was left with no choice.

Jiang Xiaorou made a slight leap and stood on the behemoths head. As she gently waved her bone staff, the behemoth flew up into the sky. Instantly, numerous behemoths flew up into the sky behind her. Their fully extended wings could cover the sky!

Jiang Xiaorou’s behemoth led the group at the front. Strong winds blew against Jiang Xiaorou’s long hair, but she remained calm, her eyes were resolute. She kept flying towards the arctic barrens far towards the north.

Watching Jiang Xiaorou’s back disappear over the horizon, the plain-clothed woman stood there for a long moment in silence.

Only when all the behemoths disappeared did the plain-clothed woman mutter to herself. “Rou’er, you must return safely… ”

…

In the far north, there were sprawling giant mountains where no vegetation grew. They were covered in black boulders.

It was difficult for birds to cross past the peaks and troughs. A black wind whistled through the valley, sounding like a wailing ghost. The black wind smelled pungent, like a toxic smoke that killed anything without leaving a trace.

Over the tens of millions of years, this was a land of extreme danger that no one traveled to.

It was an extremely cold place, filled with massive amounts of Yin Qi. If mortals stayed here, they would be quickly drained of their life force due to the Yin Qi, dying slowly.

Even warriors here would have their energies slowly drained, becoming weaker over time.

Hence, this land towards the far north was uninhabited.

And in the cast northern arctic, the central point where the Yin Qi was the strongest was called the Soul Tomb by the Blood Moon.

Phew–Phew–Phew–

A group of flying beasts appeared above the Soul Tomb.

Desolate race elites were riding on these flying beasts. And the flying beast that led the group was about the size of a small hill. And a red-dressed young lady stood on its head.

Jiang Xiaorou held her bone staff in hand and looked down from from the beast’s head. “This is the Soul Tomb?”

The Shepherd Boy’s figure appeared behind Jiang Xiaorou and said, “Yes, Successor. This toxic smoke is also an array. It blocks the entrance to the Soul Tomb as well as its true appearance.”

The Soul Tomb was massive and its entrances stretched across the far north. They were numerous and as complex as an underground tunnel of ants.

As there were so many entrances, the Blood Moon could not let Reincarnators guard these entrances.

The Blood Moon did not have many Reincarnators in the first place, so there was no way to guard all of the entrances.

As for Yin specters and other servants of the dead, they were much weaker than the best Reincarnators, so using them to guard the Soul Tomb’s numerous entrance was meaningless, This was because they could not defend against a Desolate race mighty figure like the Shepherd Boy.

With the passage of time, the Blood Moon did not even deploy people to guard the Soul Tomb. Not only that, due to its age, the toxic smoke array had already weakened greatly. For such a large Soul Tomb to constantly power an array, the amount of energy consumed every year was massive.

“So it is an array. Due to its age, it has already weakened.” As Jiang Xiaorou spoke, she gently patted the flying beast beneath her.

This flying beast looked at the ground and looked grotesque. However, the moment Jiang Xiaorou gave it a glance, it let out a sharp shrill and flapped its wings!

These pair of wings swept up what seemed like a hurricane as dust was lifted and the mountains trembled.

The black smoke that hung over the mountains dissipated, revealing the true appearance of the Soul Tomb.

On a large mountain, there was a deep mountain cave that had its entrance sealed by a blood-red light screen.

“To protect the Soul Tomb, the Blood Moon has set up an ancient large array that limits one’s bone age. Successor, I cannot accompany you in, and I can only let you lead our race’s geniuses inside.” said the Shepherd Boy. He was filled with resentment that he had to let the young Desolate Queen face the Blood Moon’s base alone.

“Alright, I got it.” Jiang Xiaorou looked away. Her voice was faint, like a breeze.

Usually, there was a thick amount of Yin Qi in the Soul Tomb. There were evil spirits and zombie kings lurking within. They were tens of thousands of years old or even a hundred thousand years old. They were not interested in the hibernating Yin specters, but they loved to devour living beings. To youths, these zombie kings were too powerful, so it was extremely dangerous to enter recklessly.

Even the Blood Moon did not wish to encounter these zombie kings when they brought the Heavenly Dao Union members in. If that happened, those bodies might have been drained dry by the zombie kings before they were delivered to their destination.

Hence, they would choose the day when the Yin Qi was the weakest in ten thousand years to enter the Soul Tomb.

On this day, the ten thousand year old zombie kings would be in slumbering hibernation. It was the best time to enter the Soul Tomb.

Jiang Xiaorou looked up at the sky. As the sky above the Soul Tomb was affected by the aura of death, it was dark and repressive.

“It’s time to leave.” Jiang Xiaorou said lightly.

Behind Jiang Xiaorou, the “Skyfox” elites were all extremely loyal to the Desolate race. They loved and adored Jiang Xiaorou.

They also knew that their entry into the Soul Tomb was very likely one of no return, but no one deserted her.

Jiang Xiaorou opened her arms as her wide sleeves fluttered in the wind, like a leaping red flame. As for the white bone staff in her hand, she pointed it at the sky.

A mysterious power immediately gathered above her bone staff.

Winds began to swirl from all directions as the flying beast beneath her growled.

The wind was gathered into a unit by the bone staff and following a smile from Jiang Xiaorou—

Boom!

A wind column suddenly rushed skywards at the black clouds.

As if the sky was pierced, bright, warm sunshine came shinning through the hole.

Jiang Xiaorou lowered her bone staff and she just walked past the beast’s head. As if she was walking on a pavement of sunshine, she walked towards the large entrance of the Soul Tomb…

629 - : Skyfox

CKtalon  CKtalon

At the same moment the “Skyfox” led by Jiang Xiaorou entered the Soul Tomb, in the recesses of the Martial Alliance, a pair of eyes opened in a dark grand hall. A man dressed in a black heavy robe was standing in front of a evil demon’s sculpture.

The black-robed man’s appearance was concealed by shadows. There was a light red scar in between his eyebrows, which seemed to radiate with a burning flame.

This person was the current Alliance Leader of the Martial Alliance, and he was also the strongest Reincarnator in Blood Moon currently. And he was currently the person with executive control over the Blood Moon.

“The Desolate race has begun taking action… ” The black-robed man suddenly said.

The Martial Alliance did not seal all of the entrances into the Soul Tomb, but when someone entered the Soul Tomb, they would trigger the arrays in the Soul Tomb, immediately alerting the Martial Alliance.

Behind the black-robed man stood a figure. He was stout and he had sword-like eyebrows and eyes that shimmered like the stars. He was the leader of the Heavenly Blood Union’s four masters, Zhulong.

“Got it.” Zhulong responded lightly.

Despite being in the presence of the Blood Moon’s executive power, Zhulong did not need to show any servitude. In the Blood Moon, Zhulong’s position was also very high.

Zhulong had as many as four reincarnations. He had previously stood at the pinnacle of the Tian Yuan world, and he had even been in control of the Martial Alliance once. He was once a peerless figure as well.

Now, Zhulong was only weak because he had reincarnated recently. It was just a matter of time before he became as powerful a figure as the flame-scarred man.

Standing in the grand hall, Zhulong may be young, but his forceful stance was in no way much weaker.

“They are just like moths flying into fire.” Zhulong did not care for it. “I’ve heard that the Desolate race has done a lot of preparations in recent years, nurturing many youths, but in my opinion, they are nothing but food for the Yin specters. Only the new Desolate Queen is capable of arousing a tiny bit of my interest.”

When Zhulong mentioned Jiang Xiaorou, his eyes flickered with a glimmer of mockery. If he could refine the new Desolate Queen into a blood pill, it would definitely aid him in breaking through to another new level!

“You are right. In the tens of millions of years, it is time for us to end this vendetta with the Desolate race. It’s about time for your Heavenly Blood Union to set off!” The flame-scarred man said lightly.

Zhulong turned and left the grand hall. He did not care about the Desolate race. Over all these years, the Desolate race knew of the Soul Tomb’s location, but so what?

The Desolate race was proficient at controlling beasts, but the array that limited the bone age in the Soul Tomb worked not only on humans, desolate beasts were also limited as well. Only young desolate beasts could enter the Soul Tomb, and the combat powers of these young desolate beasts were completely trivial.

Furthermore, Blood Moon had used all their hidden cards. It was the tens of millions of years of heritage. The Desolate race was bound to fail!

…

Deep in the night, in the vast and endless Divine Wilderness.

There was a region that no one had ever set foot on in a million years. It was completely silent, as if it was a paradise, a land of immortals.

However, there were no living things nearby. It was like a land of death.

And at that moment, in this land of death, there was a crystal-clear pool of water. A young girl dressed in white with skin white as snow was sitting cross-legged on the water surface.

Her dress was sprawled across the water surface, but it did not turn damp.

There was a breeze blowing across the water surface, lifting the girl’s long hair. She looked like a fairy that lived in solitary.

She was Lin Xintong.

After leaving the God Advent Tower, Lin Xintong and Yi Yun had separated, and she headed to the Divine Wilderness alone. She trained herself deep in the Divine Wilderness, so as to gain insights into the Heavenly Dao.

Without her realizing, it had been already been about half a year.

In such a long period of time, Lin Xintong’s “Great Empress Heart Sutra” had already reached an extremely high level. She had even manage to cultivate a trace of the “Jade Marrow Spiritual Energy” described in the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

One had to know that the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was pretty much tailor-made for Lin Xintong. With a pure Yin body and natural Yin Meridians, Lin Xintong’s cultivation of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was much faster than Yi Yun’s.

At that moment, under the heavens where a lone moon hung, from where she was sitting, silver light circulated around her, weaving through her hair and body.

Examining closely, these strands of silver light were connected to the sky.

With these strands gathering together, they formed a faint band of light, which poured down from heaven. It was as if the stars were flowing down like a river.

The light band emanated far towards the heavens, as if reaching the moon in the air and all the tiny stars.

This region was perennially without sunlight, and it was only illuminated by the moon and stars.

The Yin Qi here may be far less intense than the Soul Tomb located in the far north, but it was extremely pure.

The Soul Tomb’s Yin Qi contained a trace of evilness. It nourished ghosts, zombie kings and Yin specters. It would devour a person’s life force, causing them to turn weak and die.

As for the Yin Qi in this miraculous land, it was soft and cold like spring water. It would not nourish evil ghostly beings, but only nourish Yin-elemental treasures, creating pure Yin energy crystals.

Of course, unless it was a warrior who cultivated in the pure Yin laws, one would not be able to withstand the Yin Qi. Even extremely powerful desolate beasts would not be able to do so.

Lin Xintong was born with naturally terminated meridians, and she would not be injured by this. It was a perfect place for her to cultivate in.

The moonlight and starlight here was the energies of extreme Yin. By absorbing these energies here, Lin Xintong’s gaining of insights and cultivation increased by the day.

The Divine Wilderness was too large, and there were many places that went beyond one’s imagination. Many of these places had never been stepped on by humans, but Lin Xintong had used her understanding of pure Yin laws as well as her acute awareness of the extreme Yin energies in the world to find a sacred land like it.

As Lin Xintong was cultivating and respiring the Heaven Earth Yin Qi, a tiny transparent bird that emitted a faint light flew towards Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong’s eyelashes trembled as she opened her eyes. Lifting her hands, the bird landed on her slender, white fingertips.

The little bird slowly dissipated, while the corners of Lin Xintong’s mouth revealed a faint smile.

“Yi Yun… ”

The transparent bird was Yi Yun’s voice transmission charm. Although Lin Xintong and Yi Yun were separated by tens of millions of kilometers, there were still special voice transmission charms that could cross such long distances.

Furthermore, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s voice transmission charm was much better in quality. It could travel hundreds of millions of kilometers, let alone tens of millions of kilometers. This voice transmission charm could also pass the message in seconds.

It was a charm refined by the ancient Great Empress. With her cultivation level, even something casually refined by her was extremely non-trivial.

Not only could it span a large distance, the energy fluctuation from the acoustic waves were extremely minute, nearly imperceptible.

“Land towards the far north, Soul Tomb?” Lin Xintong’s eyelashes fluttered. The Great Empress’ voice transmission charm could pass on large amounts of information. Yi Yun gave the location of the Soul Tomb as well as its numerous entrances in detail.

All of this information naturally came from the masked man’s memories.

Lin Xintong looked towards the north.

Land towards the far north…

Lin Xintong softly leaped up, as her foot stepped on the water surface, and then floated away. The only thing left on the pool was a circular ripple slowly expanding…

630 - : Divine Wilderness Voice Transmission

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the land of the far north, Yin wind blew in all directions.

In the middle of a deep mountain range, a dark purple beam of light suddenly flashed. With that, an intense Yuan Qi fluctuation spewed out in various directions.

After the beam of light dispersed, a group of youths appeared in the cold and desolate valley.

These youths were the members of the Heavenly Dao Union. They had entered a teleportation array from Greatsword Mountain, beginning their Blackstone Trials.

In the desolate valley, there was an eerie glow, with Yin Qi suspended in the air everywhere.

“What thick, evil aura. This is a land of death… ”

“Where are we?”

The moment the Heavenly Blood Union members came out, they looked around, trying to guess where they were.

Yi Yun looked down at his feet. This teleportation array was made it convenient for Blood Moon members to travel to the Soul Tomb. This mountainous region looked very hidden. Even if someone came here, they might not be able to find the traces of the teleportation array amongst the black rocks.

“This is the land of the far north.” Young Master Fengming’s voice sounded.

With that, everyone was stunned. Before setting off, they did not know what their destination was.

The Martial Alliance had kept this trial absolutely confidential.

“To think that is the land of the far north. We were teleported that far?”

Many youths subconsciously looked at the teleportation array they had just walked out of in disbelief.

The land of the far north was already out of the Tian Yuan world, it was the northern most part of this Great World.

They instantly traversed a distance of tens of millions of kilometers.

This teleportation array was too powerful. It could teleport so many people at the same time, and it could cover such a large distance. These elites were all people with considerable knowledge. They knew that from the factions they came from, even the most powerful teleportation array those factions had was not even a tenth as powerful as this one.

These people who had joined the Martial Alliance began to feel the deep heritage that the Martial Alliance had the longer they stayed in it.

This also filled them with anticipation for this Blackstone Trials. It gave them absolute confidence in their future martial path.

As long as they clung onto the Martial Alliance, they would definitely be able to go far.

“The land of the far north has been labeled as this world’s bone burial grounds. It’s too cold and desolate.”

The land of the far north was sparse in Yuan Qi. It was a land that very few people dared to tread. Even the number of desolate beasts were extremely few. On the contrary, large numbers of Yin spirits were nourished here. These Yin spirits loved to devour the raw flesh of humans, making it extremely dangerous.

However, at that moment, the elites present did not care for that danger, they felt excited instead.

They were all proud people, and they were bountiful in energy and vigor.

“The location of this training trial is a vestige we discovered.” Young Master Fengming said.

A vestige in the land of the far north definitely was filled with large amounts of ghostly spirits. It was extremely dangerous, but riches came from taking risks. So if it was not such a place, how could they be given great rewards?

Young Master Fengming unlocked the array that sealed the entrance to the Soul Tomb.

Yi Yun scanned the Reincarnators. There were six of them present, but only Young Master Fengming of he four great young masters was present. As for Young Master Zhulong, Fairy Sheji and Young Master Qiongqi, they were nowhere to be seen.

“Oh? Where did those people go?”

Yi Yun began thinking. For such an important mission, those people would definitely not be absent.

At that moment, the array had been fully opened. The entrance to the Soul Tomb finally appeared. The eerie and mysterious entrance seemed to lead into another world, causing the group of youths to be filled with anticipation.

The people entered the Soul Tomb orderly, with Yi Yun mixed with them.

At the back of the group, Yi Yun controlled the masked man to follow behind him.

As the Heavenly Dao Union’s Inspector, the masked man definitely needed to participate in the Blackstone Trials.

And since the masked man was a Yin specter himself, he was not restricted by the bone age array’s limitation. Furthermore, his body was Shentu Nantian’s, so it was still within the limitations, and he was unaffected.

As the seven people were placed right at the end of the group, the masked man was walking behind Chu Qing’er and Chu Ke’er. The two sisters were trembling with fear, as they felt like a demon was walking behind them. They did not even dare turn their heads.

At that moment, Yi Yun had finally crossed through the Soul Tomb’s entrance. There was membrane of light that was blood red in color. It was extremely sticky, as if it was a layer of blood.

Yi Yun had gathered a lot of information regarding the Soul Tomb from the masked man’s memories, as the masked man had been deep in slumber in here for millions of years.

However, when he entered the Soul Tomb in person, he still felt quite overwhelmed.

The Soul Tomb was pitch black. There was a fire torch right in front of them, but the light from the torch was concealed by a layer of gray mist.

This gray mist was a result of the extreme accumulation of Yin Qi and evil aura, condensing to form a liquefied mist.

Although the mist was thick, when they spread out their perception, all the warriors present could see everything clearly. In the Soul Tomb, the most obvious landmark was a moon hanging high in the sky.

And this moon was not yellow in color, it was a deep blood-red color. The moon was big and round, and it seemed to be bigger than the moon from the Tian Yuan world.

The blood moon hung high in the sky. Yi Yun knew that Blood Moon had gained its name from the Soul Tomb’s blood moon. This was their symbol.

In this independent space, everyone was curious as to how there was a blood moon. And at that moment—

“Ah!”

A ear-piercing shrill echoed. In front of the group, two Yin souls charged forward suddenly. They targeted and attacked the few Heavenly Blood Union members walking at the front.

Those Heavenly Blood Union members were cream of the crop amongst their peers. After a instant of flustering, they immediately reacted.

Instantly, saber beams flashed as sword Qi cut through the air. Four elites joined forces to kill the two Yin souls!

With a Yuan Qi explosion, a great amount of the gray mist dissipated. The two Yin souls dissipated into nothingness, leaving behind flying ashes.

“Powerful.” A few people behind these Heavenly Blood Union members praised.

“Haha, it was nothing.” The few people said modestly.

At that moment, Young Master Fengming nodded his head as he said in a very pleased manner. “For this trial, the number of Yin souls and zombie spirits killed will account for the results of this trial. It will decide your rewards, so work hard.”

When Young Master Fengming said this, it immediately roused the passions of the people.

They came to this mystic realm naturally for the opportunities.

Immediately, many elites surged forward, hoping to kill more Yin souls.

“The few of you, line the back.” Someone said to Yi Yun.

“You.. ” Wei Chiwei stared. Since the number of Yin souls killed was part of the scoring criteria, if they hid behind the large group of people, they would be left with nothing.

“Haha, for the group of you, lining the back is the best choice. It’s safe there!” Someone said in a eccentric manner, mocking Yi Yun and company for their desertion.

As these people spoke, they charged deep into the Soul Tomb, leaving behind Wei Chiwei, the bald youth and company. They were all feeling humiliated. The trials had not begun, but they had already been labeled as failures. They had been ostracized from the core.

“Senior Brother Jiang, what should we do?”

Wei Chiwei looked helplessly at Yi Yun. In the warrior’s world, what mattered was one’s strength. Since they were too weak, they had no way of resisting.

Yi Yun was the strongest amongst them, yet, he had been subdued by the masked man, resulting in him signing a soul contract. Furthermore, with the elites before them, there were Reincarnators leading all of them. Since they were not as strong as them, they could only suffer in silence.

“All of you can just follow them. Don’t worry too much. I’ll be right back.” As Yi Yun said this, he turned around and headed in another direction.

In the Soul Tomb, the paths were complex like a maze. To prevent them getting lost, they stayed close to the large group. As for Yi Yun, he chose to head in another direction.

This made Wei Chiwei and company stunned. “Senior Brother Jiang, what are you… “

The few of them did not have the opportunity to react before Yi Yun’s figure flashed and disappeared into the darkness.

They wanted to stop him, but they were not fast enough. Furthermore, the masked man was standing behind them. He did not do a thing, as if he did not mind Yi Yun leaving the group.

Looking at the masked man’s cold and expressionless mask, Wei Chiwei and company held their heads down, not daring to speak a word.

“Let’s go too, but let’s hope that Senior Brother Jiang will be able to catch up with us.”

The six of them were helpless, so they could only proceed along with the main group.

…

In the darkness, Yi Yun used his movement technique, and traveled at an extreme fast speed. In the Soul Tomb, there were branches and dangerous spots. There were places that were sprawling with zombies, and the smell of rot. There were places that naturally formed a confusion array. The moment one entered them, they would be confused, with no way of exiting.

With the masked man’s memories, Yi Yun traversed through the Soul Tomb in an adept manner.

He crossed several places that were littered with bones, and finally, he felt a familiar and long-awaited aura…

631 - : Entering the Soul Tomb

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the eerie and pitch black Soul Tomb, the gray mist lingered. There were jagged boulders everywhere, as well as bones scattered above and arounds the boulders. And in such a setting in the Soul Tomb, a beautiful figure stood there. The gray mist dissipated naturally around her, not contaminating her one bit. Her clothes were white as snow, and she was a huge contrast in this gray colored world.

She stood there in the dark Soul Tomb, waiting for Yi Yun’s arrival, with a light smile on her face.

“Xintong… ”

Upon meeting Lin Xintong again, Yi Yun was filled with mixed emotions. He never expected that his reuniting with Lin Xintong would be in such a Yin Qi filled Soul Tomb.

The two of them had voice transmission charms with them, so despite this maze like Soul Tomb, they could still precisely locate each other

After being separated for so long, Lin Xintong’s appearance did not change one bit. Only her aura had become more mellow, full and restrained. She stood there like a weak aristocratic young lady, but the dust and evil aura could not affect her purity and exquisiteness.

Seeing Lin Xintong in such a state, Yi Yun had sensed that Lin Xintong’s cultivation had greatly improved. Although her cultivation realm had not changed, her insights into the Heavenly Dao and the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” had reached an extraordinary point.

“Xintong, your ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ has improved once again. Back in the God Advent Tower, my cultivation of the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ was inferior to yours, and now, the gap between us is even greater.”

Lin Xintong smiled gently, saying, “The ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ was originally created by the ancient Great Empress with natural Yin Meridians. With my body being the same as hers, it definitely has its advantages cultivating it. As for you, in this half a year, although your insights have not increased much, your strength has increased quite a bit.”

Ever since he entered the Martial Alliance, Yi Yun had subdued the Nine Neonate beast mark, and he had undergone one Heavenly Tribulation with it. His cultivation level had also risen to the Dao Seed realm of perfection. His strength had indeed increased greatly.

Yi Yun held Lin Xintong’s hand and laughed. “As for how much my strength has risen, I really do not know. However, we will quickly have a chance to verify it in this expedition to the Soul Tomb.”

With Blood Moon entering the Soul Tomb this time, there were Reincarnators leading the group. Amongst the Reincarnators were the four young masters. In their previous lives, they were figures who stood at the pinnacle of the Tian Yuan world.

From the masked man’s memories, Yi Yun even knew the names of the four young masters in their past lives.

Yi Yun greatly wished to battle those four people.

…

As Lin Xintong was reuniting with Yi Yun, in the Soul Tomb nearly 500 kilometers away, there was another woman who was extremely important to Yi Yun — Jiang Xiaorou.

A distance of about 500 kilometers was nothing on the surface, but in the Soul Tomb, due to the maze-like geographical layout, and with various Yin Qi and evil aura interspersed within, their perception was limited to a very tiny range. Hence, a few hundred kilometers was sufficient to isolate all external information.

Under Jiang Xiaorou’s leadership, the Desolate race had arrived in the Soul Tomb two days before the Heavenly Dao Union.

Although the Soul Tomb had powerful zombie kings, they were already in hibernation, leaving behind small Yin souls and zombies. They posed no threat to the Desolate race, but due to the complex layout of the Soul Tomb, there were all sorts of naturally formed mazes and illusionary levels. With the Desolate race elite’s strength, it was still very simple for them to traverse the Soul Tomb.

“Successor, we have already walked for two days. We should have found the core area, but we have not found where the Yin specters hibernate.” A red-haired youth bowed and said to Jiang Xiaorou.

This red-haired youth was named Chen Fei. He was Jiang Xiaorou’s escort leader and he was deeply loyal to Jiang Xiaorou.

On the way, Chen Fei was responsible setting up marks to prevent them from retracing paths they had previously walked.

They used an array disk to lock onto a direction. In the two days, they should have covered more than 500 kilometers, which was sufficient enough to reach the Soul Tomb’s core. And according to the information that the Desolate race had previously uncovered, the core of the Soul Tomb was where the Yin specters hibernated. However, they had found nothing.

Jiang Xiaorou’s eyebrows frowned slightly. She had anticipated the Blood Moon had definitely made sufficient preparations and it would be a bitter battle. There was even a high chance of death.

However, she never expected that they had not found where the Yin specters hibernated even at this point in time, let alone crack the array that protected the hibernation grounds or kill the guarding servants.

“We seem to have been retracing our steps… ” Jiang Xiaorou suddenly said.

Chen Fei was stunned as he shook his head. “Impossible… In the paths before, I made marks. We never went down paths we had marked before. Besides, the array disk has always been indicating one direction… ”

The compass disk array used by the Desolate race was an extraordinary item. It was a superior magical item that could crack many illusion arrays.

However… most of the time, even the best magical items and disk arrays depended on who the user was.

Despite Chen Fei’s strength being pretty good, he was naturally much weaker than the Martial Alliance’s Reincarnators.

“Give me the disk array!” Jiang Xiaorou did not give him a chance to explain and took the disk array from Chen Fei’s hands.

Once Yuan Qi was injected into the disk array, it glowed. The direction it indicated was still the same direction that the Desolate race “Skyfox” had always been heading in.

There did not seem to be any problems, but at that moment, a cold beam flashed from Jiang Xiaorou’s eyes. She threw out her right hand, and with a sharp crack, a long black whip swept out.

“Pa!”

The air seemed to be torn apart by the whip as it hit the void, with a blue flame exploding out!

Jiang Xiaorou’s fingers were nimble. With a tug and pull, the long whip, that was like a snake, instantly recoiled back, bringing something with it.

It was an array flag!

“This is… ”

Chen Fei was alarmed. And behind Jiang Xiaorou, the other “Skyfox” members were stunned.

With the array flag uprooted, the surrounding space seemed to ripple like water. The layers of gray mist that emanated the surroundings disappeared, leaving behind a vast valley.

Within this valley, there was a gigantic white bone that lay across the ground. It looked like the bones of a humongous snake, that had wrapped all the young elites of the Desolate race in it.

And on the head of the white bone snake sat a woman with a voluptuous figure.

The woman’s skin was like jade, and she only wore a short veiled cloth that covered her chest. Her stomach was revealed and on her navel, there was a deep blue gem sparkling. Her face was covered by a purple veil, revealing a pair of eyes. These eyes looked like lakes, with all sorts of sceneries contained in them.

Such a beautiful woman was sitting on the gigantic snake head, giving off an odd and sinister feeling.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The girl suddenly clapped. “Impressive! The Desolate race’s new Desolate Queen was said to have less than ten years of cultivation, but to have such acute awareness to uproot my array flag, you really have extraordinary talent. Hur Hur Hur Hur!”

The woman suddenly laughed seductively while speaking mid-sentence. Her smile seemed like flowers had bloomed and filled the air. The upheavals of her chest made it extremely alluring.

“Who are you?” Jiang Xiaorou’s eyes turned cold as she looked at the enchantress.

“Hehe, I have reincarnated several times. I change my name every iteration, so those names no longer have any meaning. I only have a title that never changes. People call me Fairy Sheji!”

“Sheji… So you are Sheji. Nice tactics you have, witch girl. Your array has trapped us for two days!”

Jiang Xiaorou clenched the array flag that her whip had pulled back. She did not reveal any happiness at cracking the array. In the past two days, they had either been walking in circles or had walked along a path designated by Sheji.

Although she had finally cracked the array, she had been fooled for quite an extended period of time.

This caused Jiang Xiaorou’s heart to be covered with a cloud of despair. Blood Moon’s Reincarnators seemed to be stronger than what they expected.

“I’m a witch girl? Ze Ze Ze!” Sheji shook her head. “I’m really sorry, in the eyes of the people, I’m a fairy. As for you, you are the witch girl. Hur Hur Hur Hur!”

632 - : Beautiful Figure in the Soul Tomb

CKtalon  CKtalon

The representatives of the Desolate race and Blood Moon, one was the Desolate race’s new Desolate Queen, while the other was a mysterious Reincarnator. For the two women to meet inside the Soul Tomb, there was no point in speaking, they could only battle.

“Successor, let me test her out.” Chen Fei requested while standing beside Jiang Xiaorou.

The Desolate race did not have any idea about the powers of the Reincarnators.

The Desolate race only knew that Blood Moon had the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”, and that people who cultivated in it were able to reincarnate several times. As for who was a Reincarnator? They did not know.

Every reincarnation of Blood Moon’s Reincarnators were kept a secret. Over the tens of millions of years, there were large periods of time where Blood Moon was just conserving its strength, there would only be one or two Reincarnators who stepped foot on the world at those times. Other times, there might even be none.

These Reincarnators were very weak when they had just been reborn. They needed to cultivate all the way from the beginning again, and in their childhood, an adult at the Purple Blood realm would be able to easily kill them. If they were to die at that time, it would be quite a loss.

Hence, in the millions of years of Blood Moon dormancy, every Reincarnator would keep a low profile. Many Reincarnators even carried on staying reserved, even when their cultivation succeeding in reaching a powerful stage, causing them to be the top figure in the Tian Yuan world. The Desolate race had no way of knowing who was a Reincarnator, and the true strength of these Reincarnators was very mysterious. Even the Reincarnators themselves did not know each others’ hidden cards and limits.

Under such a situation, Jiang Xiaorou battling Sheji would no doubt be quite risky.

With Chen Fei fighting first, he could help Jiang Xiaorou probe Sheji’s strength. At the same time, he also transmitted his voice to get the “Skyfox” members to prepare a large battle formation.

Any single “Skyfox” member had a typical combat ability, but when in a large battle formation, their combat ability would be extraordinary. If it was possible, Chen Fei wanted to attempt killing the witch girl Sheji in one swift attack.

However, Jiang Xiaorou shook her head and transmitted her voice. “Chen Fei, stand down. She definitely has something to fall back on for her to dare appear here. How can she be easily killed by all of you? As for all of you, temporarily do not do anything, just be alert of the surroundings. I feel that… there is someone close to Sheji…”

“I also do not hope to restraining Sheji. I just want to see what strength Reincarnators have in their youth.”

Jiang Xiaorou was dressed in a long red robe and her eyes burned with fighting spirit. It was completely different from the young lady in the Cloud Wilderness ten years ago.

Although Sheji could not hear Jiang Xiaorou’s voice transmission, she could roughly guess what Jiang Xiaorou had said to Chen Fei.

As she smiled seductively, she removed the veil that obscured her face.

Under the veil was an extremely charming and amorous face. There was a faint mole at the corner of her mouth, giving her that additional touch of charm.

“Let me test the strength of the present era’s Desolate Queen.” Sheji lightly laughed. And at that moment, the gigantic snake bones beneath her began trembling. With the resonating sounds, the snake bones that had been buried underground, probably for tens of thousands of years, emerged out of the ground.

“Peng! Peng!”

With two consecutive pings, the empty eye sockets of the snake bones suddenly burned with two faint green flames, as if they were irises.

The Desolate race’s elites subconsciously took a few steps back when they saw this. In the Soul Tomb, the most terrifying thing was the evil Yin Qi, especially the zombie kings who had been sleeping within here for tens of thousands of years.

And now, Sheji was able to control one of the zombie bones in the Soul Tomb?

“Pa!”

Jiang Xiaorou cracked her whip while sending it out. Her expression remained unchanged. On the whip, light condensed together, forming an azure phoenix.

The phoenix spread its wings and charged straight at the snake bones.

The gigantic snake roared, spitting out large amounts of intense green flames. The moment the azure phoenix entered the flames, its wings tore through the flames as if its wings were blades.

“Oh?” Sheji’s eyes lit up and immediately gave a seductive laugh. As she flicked her ten fingers, about a dozen of bone spikes flew forward.

These bone spikes sparkled with a blinding frost light as they whistled through the air, stabbing the phoenix’s body.

“Si!” The phoenix’s wings shook, brushing the bone spikes away. Following that, it continued in its attack at Sheji.

Against this scene, Sheji was in no way flustered.

The corners of her mouth curled up, revealing a charming smile. “Explode!”

With her saying that, the bone spikes scattered on the ground exploded, forming plumes of green smoke.

The phoenix was enveloped by the smoke and quickly corroded.

The glimmer in Jiang Xiaorou’s eyes dimmed, she brandished her whip, emitting light flashes while dissipating the toxic smoke around her.

At that moment, Sheji’s eyes became serious again. Pointing at the gigantic snake. “Go!”

Boom! The gigantic snake’s massive body moved like lightning and came coiling around Jiang Xiaorou.

Sheji revealed a sinister smile. She intended to take advantage of the moment when Jiang Xiaorou diverted her attention when the phoenix was injured. By being coiled up by the snake, she would be squeezed to her death.

She wanted to know if the people from the Desolate race would still look at that her like she was still some goddess after that beautiful figure of hers was squeezed into meat pulp.

Seeing this scene, Chen Fei and the other “Skyfox” members turned worried. “Successor, be careful!”

Jiang Xiaorou’s soft body looked too frail compared to the ferocious looking, white-boned, gigantic snake.

The gigantic snake’s motions caused the mountains to vibrate. Rubble was continuously falling. The smaller pieces were about the size of a fist, while the larger ones were as big as a grinder.

The rubble all contained terrifying evil auras, giving off a suppressing feeling.

The “Skyfox” members had no choice but to avoid or shatter the rubble falling at them. However, amongst the falling avalanche, the red-dressed Jiang Xiaorou hovered motionlessly in the middle of the air, in the center of the gigantic snake’s coiled body.

Suddenly, she extended her hands slowly, causing her large sleeves to flutter in the air. It looked like she was going to be blown along with the wind.

A tone that sounded like it came from ancient times, but exuded an air of mysterious wonder, came out from between her lips. At the same time, it also seemed to be emitted from the wind around her. At that moment, a trace of azure energy flow began to circulate around her body.

“Unnecessary tricks! Go! Kill her!” Sheji strengthened her control of the gigantic snake.

Even if Jiang Xiaorou had some other techniques, with the gigantic snake’s oppressive strength, she would definitely be injured!

However, at that instant, the azure energy was injected into the gigantic snake’s body, causing Jiang Xiaorou and the gigantic snake to connect.

The green flames that had taken hold in the place where its eyes used to be, suddenly flickered. The gigantic snake that had attacked with a formidable momentum seemed to be agitated by the azure energy, and immediately following that, its speed gradually decreased until it stopped.

Sheji was momentarily stunned. What was going on?

She continuously tried to take control of the gigantic snake but to no avail. Its head only constantly shook, as if it was struggling.

Jiang Xiaorou flew before the gigantic snake. In front of the gigantic snake’s head, she looked extremely minute and weak, however, her aura was like that of the gigantic snake’s ancestor. It caused the gigantic snake to not even dare raise its ferocious head.

“What? This is…” It was not random for Sheji’s name to contain the word “She” (snake). She had the power to control snakes. With her understanding of the Spiritual Death laws, Sheji was even able to control snake bones by injecting her own energy into them.

However, she never expected that it would suddenly turn ineffective today.

“Is it strange?” Jiang Xiaorou stretched out her hand to touch the gigantic snake’s head, while smiling at Sheji, “My race’s connection with desolate beasts is through the spiritual soul. This snake may be dead, but as it is buried in this Soul Tomb, its soul has not dissipated after death. Although it has been so many years, even if the spiritual soul might have weakened a lot from when it was alive, that is already sufficient for me.”

As Jiang Xiaorou spoke, she stepped onto the snake’s head. The snake’s body immediately trembled and the green flames in its eye sockets now burned faintly. It no longer resisted, on the contrary, it raised its head, lifting Jiang Xiaorou up.

Following that, the snake looked at Sheji with surging killing intent.

Upon seeing this scene, Sheji felt her heart go cold. This set of snake bones was not randomly chosen by her. In the past million years, she had once come to the Soul Tomb in one of her past reincarnation’s youth. She had particularly chosen this set of snake bones and refined them, but today, it had been so easily robbed away by Jiang Xiaorou?

Even the members of the Desolate race were stunned and had widened eyes, let alone Sheji. None of them could believe what had unfolded in front of their eyes.

Indeed, the Desolate race used their ability to connect with the spiritual soul to control desolate beasts, but… just with that tiny bit of lingering soul, she was able to control a desolate beast that had been dead for so many years?

This subverted what they had known all along. If it were them, they would not be able to control a desolate beast that recently died, let alone a desolate beast that had died that long ago.

Jiang Xiaorou’s control was heaven defying!

Seeing Jiang Xiaorou approach while on the snake, Sheji was momentarily flustered. Her eyeballs subconsciously moved, looking towards a corner in the void.

This unobvious glance was noticed by Jiang Xiaorou’s acute eyes. Indeed, there was another person hiding here…

Faintly, Jiang Xiaorou had felt as if she was being observed secretly.

“Interesting… really interesting. I originally thought that she was a Desolate race genius that had the ability to awake her ancient bloodline, but it seems that it is not the only thing…”

“This sort of bloodline is really fascinating…”

A voice muttered to itself in the darkness. His aura was completely hidden within the darkness, making it difficult for Jiang Xiaorou to accurate pinpoint the person’s actual position.

633 - : Snake Bones

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although they never expected Jiang Xiaorou to have such strength and ability, when the “Skyfox” members saw Jiang Xiaorou suppress Sheji completely, they felt extremely excited.

This was the first time that they witnessed their Desolate Queen enter combat with Blood Moon, and the outcome filled them with pride. Immediately, they felt even more loyalty and reverence towards Jiang Xiaorou.

Seeing the reactions of the “Skyfox” members, Sheji suddenly laughed loudly while Jiang Xiaorou slowly approached her.

She laughed like flowers exploding into dispersing petals, with her back bent over. The only thing was that while she was laughing, her pair of eyes were still looking sinisterly at Jiang Xiaorou.

“You witch girl, what are you laughing at!?”

Chen Fei felt frustrated hearing her laugh. He was considering if he should suddenly activate the battle formation, and destroy the witch girl with lightning speed.

At that moment, Jiang Xiaorou suddenly looked towards the side where Sheji was standing, which was also where she had previously glanced. She said, “Since you are here, why are you hiding? Come on out! You will come out sooner or later.”

Jiang Xiaorou’s voice sounded full of confidence. She had already decided that she could beat Sheji alone, and the person hiding in the dark would definitely not stay idle.

When Sheji heard Jiang Xiaorou’s words, she was alarmed. She never expected Jiang Xiaorou to have already made the discovery.

The void remained silent. And only after some time did a derisive voice sound out. “What high spirits, but… You really have the rights to be so domineering. This strength of yours completely depends on your bloodline. There’s really no second person with it. That’s alluring.”

As the person spoke, the void suddenly fluctuated, as a spatial dimension door appeared out of thin air.

From within out came a blacked-dress man. There was not only one, but two…

One of them was thin and he did not look good. His eyes were deeply recessed and he had an insidious aura, giving one an extremely unpleasant feeling.

As for the other man, he was standing behind the first person. He was stout and he had a calm aura. Although he stood in the void, it gave people the feeling that he did not exist at all.

Jiang Xiaorou was alarmed to discover that her perception could penetrate that person completely, yet she could not discover his existence. That was to say, if Jiang Xiaorou was to close her eyes, she would not have sensed this person before her.

This made Jiang Xiaorou’s heart palpitate. The sensation she had felt all along was the thin man. As for the stout man, she had never sensed him from the beginning…

At that moment, the thin, insidious-looking man spoke. He looked at Sheji and said in a queer manner, “Sheji, you took the initiative to request for the assignment, saying you wanted to behead the beautiful new Desolate Queen. I thought you could do it alone, but why did you end up in such a miserable state?”

The insidious-looking man gave a mocking look as he made his biting remark.

Sheji only sneered at the derisive remark. She said indignantly, “You have been hiding in a corner from the beginning, and yet, you think so highly of yourself? Do you think that you are a lot stronger than me?”

“Hehe, we haven’t seen each other in quite a number of reincarnations. You probably really do not know how power I, Qiongqi am.” As the insidious man chuckled craftily, he spoke with confidence.

Jiang Xiaorou quietly looked at the two of them, without minding them too much. She really cared about the stout man that had not spoken a word.

This person gave a very terrifying impression.

He was quietly watching Jiang Xiaorou too as a smirk formed. “Stop quarreling. It’s best to end the battle quickly to prevent prolonged trouble. I feel that someone else has also entered the Soul Tomb.”

The stout man was the leader of the four young masters, Young Master Zhulong. What he said was with absolute authority.

“Oh? There are others?” Fairy Sheji and Young Master Qiongqi were slightly alarmed. There were alerting arrays in the Soul Tombi. Although it was not difficult to enter the Soul Tomb, they would still be the first to be informed if someone entered it.

They did not know that Yi Yun was familiar with the layout of the alerting arrays in the Soul Tomb. He had informed Lin Xintong on how to avoid triggering them early on. And after entering the Soul Tomb, she did not veer away. This also eliminated the possibility for these people to discover Lin Xintong.

“It’s just a premonition. However… my premonition is seldom incorrect.” As Zhulong spoke, his eyes never left Jiang Xiaorou. He said to Jiang Xiaorou, “Meeting you is an opportunity for me. I want your blood line.”

Zhulong’s words were calm and nonchalant. It was as if he was narrating something that was taken for granted.

When the Desolate race elites heard this, they were all infuriated.

Who did this person think he was to speak so boastfully!?

Towards the Desolate race elites, Jiang Xiaorou was a goddess in their hearts, a sacred being that was not to be insulted.

Yet this ignoramus, who did not know the meaning of life and death, wanted to encroach on the Desolate Queen’s blood line!

And to want a Desolate Queen’s blood line only had a few methods. Either he devoured her or transplanted the blood essence, did dual cultivation or used her blood to refine into pills.

And with the Blood Moon and the Human race, the most common technique towards a Desolate race member, who had awoken the ancient blood line, was to use the latter method, which was refining their blood into Desolate pills!

How could they tolerate someone from using their Desolate Queen as an ingredient for refining pills?

“Brothers, set up the formation!”

Chen Fei’s voice was filled with killing intent. All the “Skyfox” members immediately gathered together. Each individual “Skyfox” member might be weak, but when they formed the large formation, their strength was completely on a different level. And no matter how strong Zhulong was, he was only one person. As for the remaining Qiongqi and Sheji, Jiang Xiaorou could handle them herself. It was unlikely she would be defeated so quickly in a one versus two situation.

Chen Fei refused to believe that with so many people in their “Skyfox” in a large formation would fail to defeat one person.

Towards the blasphemy dealt to Jiang Xiaorou, the Desolate race elites were all furious. Immediately, formation flags were taken out by them, forming a line!

The large formation they set up required 49 formation flags.

There are 50 numbers in Da Yan, but the use is only 49, leaving the Grand One unused.

The so-called Da Yan was to predict the changes of the world. As for the Grand One, it was Taiji. As it was forever unchanging, it was not used.

The Da Yan formation of the Desolate race’s highlight was its infinite transformations, preventing it from being seen through!

Chen Fei had absolute confidence in the Da Yan formation.

Furthermore, the Da Yan formation was sufficient with 49 people, but to prevent members in the formation dying midway, there were in fact 64 “Skyfox” members. The other 15 were backups.

Such a formation could not be said to be weak.

However, just as the Da Yan formation was about to be set up, Zhulong remained standing with his hands behind his back in midair. He watched nonchalantly at all this, as if he was not bothered by the Da Yan array.

This made Chen Fei’s heart sink. How could this Zhulong be so confident?

However, he still believed that it was impossible for Zhulong alone to match their sixty strong team.

“Kill!”

Just as Chen Fei was about to activate the formation with a formation flag in hand, there was another strong fluctuation in space. Behind Zhulong, a 100 feet wide spatial dimension door slowly opened.

A group of youths, who despite clearly having experienced numerous battles before this, walked out of the spatial dimension door with excited expressions. However, when they saw the scene before them, they were immediately stunned.

Clearly, they did not expect to see so many people on the other end of the spatial dimension door.

“Heavenly Dao Union!” Chen Fei’s eyes narrowed as his heart sank suddenly.

634 - : Bitter Encounter

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Where is this? Who are these people…?”

The Heavenly Blood Union members that suddenly appeared were all stunned by the scene in front of them.

They noticed that the people here were clearly from two opposing camps.

They had seen Young Master Zhulong, Sheji and company before, so they knew them as the leaders of the Heavenly Dao Union. And across Young Master Zhulong were people dressed in attires that gave off a savage feeling.

On the gigantic white bone snake, there was a beautiful woman dressed in red, who immediately attracted their attention.

Many of them quickly found this beautiful woman familiar…

Young Master Fengming’s voice boomed. “All Heavenly Blood Union members, the Desolate race’s Desolate Queen, witch girl Jiang Xiaorou is here! To those who kill her, you will be rewarded ten Longevity Extending Pills, 10,000 supreme-grade relics and you will bestowed with the title Blood Union Ambassador, as well as the complete ‘Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique’!”

The Heavenly Blood Union members could not process his sudden words in time, and only felt his voice resounding in their heads.

Longevity Extending Pills, supreme-grade relics and the complete “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”! These rewards stimulated their senses.

And the words Jiang Xiaorou immediately lit up in the Heavenly Blood Union members’ minds.

It’s that Desolate race witch girl!

They recalled the contents of the wanted notice, and they had all seen Jiang Xiaorou’s portrait before.

“Everyone, we have received news earlier on that the Desolate race’s young elites would enter this mystic realm. The most critical part of this trial is to defeat the Desolate race elites and kill Jiang Xiaorou. This will be a chance for you to make a name for yourself.” Young Master Fengming’s voice sounded calm.

Although he did not sound fervent or excited, it was filled with enticement that bewitched the Human race elites. Just the rewards in the wanted notices for killing Jiang Xiaorou were extremely alluring, let alone the rewards for the Blackstone trials.

The Desolate race had been opposed to the Human race for many years. The Desolate race’s Desolate monarch was always the Human race’s sworn enemy. If they could kill a young Desolate monarch, then they would definitely make a name for themselves in the Tian Yuan world!

Who didn’t want such a thing?

“Hehe! Don’t destroy Jiang Xiaorou’s corpse. If you are lucky enough, you might also get a portion after her corpse is used to be refine into desolate pills. That sure is good stuff.” Young Master Qiongi added on while chuckled sinisterly. His eyes were filled with a ravaging greed when he looked at Jiang Xiaorou. “Ze Ze, it’s really such a pity to do that to such a beauty.”

In the eyes of the humans, this peerless beauty, Jiang Xiaorou represented the allure of desire, fame and strength.

When Chen Fei and the other “Skyfox” members saw this, their eyes turned cold. Killing intent rose from their hearts as they wanted to kill all the people in front of them!

In the eyes of the Humans, the members of the Desolate race were no different to desolate beasts. They would not treat them as equals, or even consider them as intelligent lifeforms.

In fact, in the eyes of the Desolate race, the Human race were also arch enemies.

The division between “us” and “them” was irreconcilable!

Upon seeing this scene, Jiang Xiaorou sighed slightly. She was the only person present who had lived amongst the two races. However, she was powerless to alter the animosity between the two species.

In this world, intelligent species were always greedy and cruel.

In fact, human nature was arguably evil. Some people were inclined to kill people of their own species. After gaining pleasure from doing so, they would then plunder the riches of others for themselves. Some people killed thousands to make ghost summoning banners, seizing young ladies as cultivating slaves, and even doing despicable acts on young girls…

Many a time, when these people released their deviant inhibitions, they would resort to anything while acting fanatically.

However… due to the prohibitions of morality, and the laws and rules established by large factions in this world, many people could only strongly suppress the evil in their hearts.

But this suppression would be lifted without any worries when it was another species in question.

As they were not of the same species, they could vent the evil in their hearts. They would not be considered cruel and bloodthirsty while engaging in those atrocities. On the contrary, they could be proud of it. For example, they would not be criticized if they infiltrated the Desolate race’s grounds, taking large numbers of Desolate race young ladies as cultivation slaves.

From a certain point of view, the conflict between the Human and Desolate race was not completely engineered by Blood Moon. It was a result of the natural instincts between two intelligent lifeforms, wishing to vent the corrupt nature in their hearts.

Warriors possessed powerful strength, and the process to obtain that was fraught with danger and difficulty. Hence, when these people possessed immense strength, they would not think of doing heroic deeds, but instead, they wished to enjoy in debauchery. They wanted to use their strength to create their own kingdom, allowing them to bully and suppress others freely. They wanted to control the fate of others.

Hence, although these people had been deceived by Blood Moon, they were not completely innocent!

Jiang Xiaorou felt a sense of despair thinking of this. She didn’t even bother telling the human elites of Blood Moon’s nefarious plot as it was meaningless.

“If you want to come, go ahead.”

Jiang Xiaorou was expressionless. Her peerless beauty seemed unstained like a sacred and pure fairy.

“Kill her! After that, we will kill human traitor Yi Yun! We will let the siblings unite in hell!”

“There’s no need to go easy on the vile Desolate race. There’s no need to talk about fairness and morality.”

The Heavenly Blood Union began attacking as various vibrant colors of powerful sword shadows and saber flashes enveloped the sky when they attacked Jiang Xiaorou.

Jiang Xiaorou did not even blink. Her expression was still as water, but at that moment, Chen Fei, who had been waiting, ever ready, lifted his formation flag. The Desolate race’s elites had already gathered enough energy, activating the Da Yan formation!

Boom!

The Desolate race’s elites disappeared from sight. Faintly, the mountains trembled as a gigantic Skyfox appeared behind Jiang Xiaorou.

This Skyfox was immense in size, like a tiny mountain. Its eyes were sharp and penetrative. It was filled with anger!

This was the Skyfox conjured by the Da Yan formation. Chen Fei stood in the core of the formation, but his position was constantly changing. As long as more than half the Desolate race’s elites remained alive and well, the Skyfox would be indestructible.

Against the sword shadows and saber flashes from the humans, the Skyfox gave a furious bellow. It stretched out its sharp claws and attacked them!

Although the claw was just a phantom image, it looked extremely lifelike, even its fur texture could be seen clearly.

“Careful!” A Heavenly Blood Union genius exclaimed.

They could sense the immense power in the attack. The strong suppressive feeling made their hair stand. The group of people that had been locked onto by the Skyfox’s claws immediately retreated, but how could they dodge in time?

The Da Yan formation was the strongest formation that the juniors of the Desolate race’s younger generation could use. Furthermore, the humans were hastily attacking, while the Desolate race members were poised to strike!

The Skyfox’s claw whistled through the air.

It was too fast! It exceeded the elites’ reactions.

The Skyfox’s strike contained all the anger from the Desolate race’s elites. Its power far exceeded the Heavenly Blood Union members’ expectations.

Boom!

Power of Desolates exploded as energy wantonly surged out. The Yuan Qi blast sent out by the humans were torn through as the Skyfox’s claw swiped across the group of humans. Its spear-like sharp claws directly grabbed five people!

These five people’s protective Yuan Qi turned like paper pulp in front of the power of the sharp claws. There was no way for them to resist. Terrible screams were immediately heard as some of their necks were broken, or they had their chests ripped open. Blood spurted everywhere!

“Junior Brother Sun!”

“Third Brother!”

The severely injured humans had relatives or friends in the Heavenly Dao Union. Seeing them being dealt with a fatal blow, the eyes of their close ones immediately turned red.

Ever since they entered the Soul Tomb, they had been engaged in battle, killing numerous Yin souls, but none of them were injured or killed. But here, they had suffered massive injuries and deaths right from the beginning in the fight against the Desolate race.

These people were elites of the various large factions of the Tian Yuan world, so every death was an extremely great loss.

“Don’t panic.” At that moment, Zhulong’s voice rang in everyone’s ears.

His voice was calm and steady, and it had been immediately transmitted.

“The Desolate race’s Da Yan formation maybe be powerful, but if you were to gather energy and set up a formation, you would be able to easily resist it. As for the people who have been sacrificed. Don’t worry. They are not dead yet.”

As Zhulong spoke, he waved his hand and the five severely injured Heavenly Blood Union members were pulled over to him. Their devastated bodies were locked onto by an amorphous energy, while their expressions looked like they were in extreme pain.

“Souls, come over!” Zhulong shouted clearly.

The bodies of the five suddenly convulsed as their souls were extracted by a baffling energy from their heads, forming soul marks.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

“I don’t want to die!”

The few souls struggled. Although their souls had left their bodies, they still possessed thoughts.

Upon seeing this scene, people were stunned.

One of them was even beheaded, yet Zhulong was able to keep their spiritual souls?

“With the ‘Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique’, this might not be the end of you. I will keep your spiritual souls. If there are meritorious contributions, you can cultivate the ‘Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique’, keeping your spiritual souls for reincarnation. From then, you would be Reincarnators!” As Zhulong spoke, he waved again, keeping their bodies.

“Reincarnate the spiritual souls?” The miserable souls that remained intact under the energy felt extremely excited hearing this.

They still had a chance to become Reincarnators? Although it was a pity abandoning their original bodies, it might be a blessing in disguise if they became Reincarnators.

However… they did not know that people who had lost their bodies could never cultivate the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”.

Zhulong prevented their souls from dissipating not by using the Spiritual Soul laws, but Spiritual Death laws.

To save a person on the brink of death was too difficult, but it was a lot easier by using Spiritual Death laws. However, the only fate awaiting these people was not reincarnation, they were to become Yin specters.

As for their bodies, they would be stored to become Yin specter vessels. The effects would just be slightly worse than possessing a live person.

“Seek revenge for our companions. Destroy the Desolate race, kill Jiang Xiaorou!”

“Brothers, set up the formation!”

The human elites quickly recovered from their daze. After the Desolate race’s Da Yan formation made its first strike, it was still reconditioning itself, preparing for its second strike.

Young Master Qiongqi suddenly leaped up.

“The nerve you get with some trivial witchcraft.”

He held a chain hook in hand, and he was planning on attacking while the Da Yan formation was reconditioning itself, killing several Desolate race geniuses.

And at the moment he charged at the Skyfox, a long whip blocked his path.

Young Master Qiongqi turned to see Jiang Xiaorou looking coldly at him. “Your opponent is me.”

“You want to block a few Reincarnators yourself?” Sheji sneered.

The Da Yan formation’s power was sufficient to handle the Heavenly Blood Union members, but it was impossible for Jiang Xiaorou to battle the few Reincarnators alone.

“Why do you want to die so soon?” Sheji laughed.

Jiang Xiaorou sighed lightly and said extremely calmly. “Life is short, so what’s there to be afraid of death? For you to live such lives is a tragedy in itself.”

635 - : Da Yan Formation

CKtalon  CKtalon

All the members of the Desolate race already expected war to break out in the Soul Tomb. Everyone who entered the Soul Tomb was determined to fight to the death, including Jiang Xiaorou.

Jiang Xiaorou only knew that Yi Yun did not exit the Great Empress mystic realm ever since he entered it seven years ago.

Now, Yi Yun was probably still in reclusive training in the Great Empress mystic realm, and Blood Moon had already put an astronomical bounty on his head.

After Yi Yun inherited the ancient Great Empress’ inheritance, he was at the top of Blood Moon’s kill list.

All Jiang Xiaorou wished for was for Yi Yun to stay in the Great Empress mystic realm for a century. She hoped that he would only come out when he had the absolute power. And hopefully when that happened, Yi Yun would have the ability to fight against what he was up against.

And during this century, Jiang Xiaorou was determined to fight alongside the Desolate race to the death.

However, Jiang Xiaorou was just an ordinary woman. She did all this not because she wished to bring salvation to all life under the heavens. She did not have such sublime pursuits.

She only battled for her loved ones. In her life, she only had two relatives. One of them was Yi Yun, while the other was her mother.

To battle two Reincarnators, Sheji and Qiongqi, alone, it was bound to be a bitter fight.

Furthermore, there was the unfathomable Zhulong amongst the Reincarnators!

As he watched the battle unfold, Zhulong stood with his hands behind his back, while five plumes of fire floated around him, as if he was not one bit worried.

These plumes of fire were the spiritual souls of the Heavenly Blood Union members that had been killed by the Da Yan formation. Their souls were being condensed under the Spiritual Death laws. Not only had they not dissipated, they could also spectate the battle.

This greatly bolstered the confidence of the Heavenly Blood Union members.

People were bound to be afraid of death, and now, with something to fall back on, they were a lot more braver in their fight.

They could now disregard their lives, and even if they sacrificed themselves, by contributing meritoriously, they could even become Reincarnators.

Jiang Xiaorou even felt derision coming from the five burning souls.

These five people were waiting for the Reincarnators and the Heavenly Blood Union members to seek revenge for them. They wanted to see the Desolate race elites completely devastated, and to witness Jiang Xiaorou being used to refine pills.

Jiang Xiaorou took a deep breath as she clenched the long whip in her hand. Her aura constantly rose till she looked like a lofty mountain that could not be looked straight at.

Divine patterns began to appear on Jiang Xiaorou’s face.

They were the Sacred Spirit’s divine pattern. Back when Jiang Xiaorou climbed up the divine bone altar, she had gained the recognition of the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit when she awoke her ancient blood line.

And a portion of the Sacred Spirit’s strength had been left in Jiang Xiaorou’s blood line.

“Successor!”

The moment Chen Fei saw Jiang Xiaorou’s face etched with divine patterns, Chen Fei clenched his fists tightly as he felt his heart ache.

Although the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit’s strength was immense, it could not be used easily.

Especially with Jiang Xiaorou having cultivated for such a short period of time, her cultivation level was still insufficient to use the Sacred Spirit’s strength without care, despite having a heaven defying blood line. Every use of the Sacred Spirit’s strength would greatly drain Jiang Xiaorou of her Qi and blood.

It was equivalent to burning her life essence.

Chen Fei did not feel pleasant seeing Jiang Xiaorou burn her life essence to battle.

Chen Fei clenched his teeth and looked at the Heavenly Blood Union members hatefully. He clenched the bone sword in his hand.

“Kill! Kill them all!”

…

As the Desolate race elites were engaging in an intense battle with the Heavenly Blood Union members, there were still many human geniuses who lined the back, having not crossed through the spatial dimension door.

There were a lot more Heavenly Blood Union members than the Skyfox members. Furthermore, when they entered the Soul Tomb for the training experiences, they had split into several small teams.

Birds of the same feather flock together, so in the Heavenly Blood Union, those people with the advantages naturally grouped into a small team together.

These small teams walked right in front of the procession.

The front lines gave them greater opportunities to kill Yin souls, allowing them to receive better results for the trial, and in turn, better rewards.

As for the marginalized Heavenly Blood Union members, they could only pick up the scraps along the back.

As for the worst team, it was no doubt the small team formed by Wei Chiwei, the Chu sisters and company.

Their small team only had seven people, but their main leader, Jiang Yidao was not around. As for the remaining six people, their strength was relatively weaker. They were ostracized to the point of not even having scraps left.

They were nearly five kilometers behind the first group.

And the worst thing was that a malignant star was following them.

The masked man that struck terror in their hearts was just following behind them, and he had been doing so all along!

In the hearts of the six, this masked man was even more terrifying than ferocious ghosts.

It was a test of the six people’s mental strength to traverse through the eerie and dark Soul Tomb while being tailed by a ferocious demon.

Especially with Chu Qing’er and Chu Ke’er’s more timid temperament, whenever the masked man walked too close to them, they would feel their backs go cold, as their hair stood up. They felt their stomachs churning just from the walking.

“Why is this malignant star constantly following us!?”

“We have already signed a soul contract, and we cannot betray the Martial Alliance. What’s the point of following us constantly? If he wants to follow someone, he should do it to those with nepotic relations with the Martial Alliance. Gongsun Hong and company are practically the sons of the Martial Alliance!”

Wei Chiwei and company grumbled in their hearts. They found the masked man’s intentions completely incomprehensible, but they did not dare to ask.

Just thinking of the haunting ghost following them made them feel restricted in everything they wanted to do.

At that moment, they arrived at a spatial dimension door. The Heavenly Blood Union members from before had all passed through this spatial dimension door.

The six people dawdled as they did not have any intention of entering. They had already expected the outcome of the trials. They were destined to not even have scraps left for them.

And at that moment, an energy shockwave passed through the spatial dimension door, causing their faces to ache slightly.

“Oh? There’s a battle in front of us?” Wei Chiwei was stunned momentarily.

For the energy shockwave to pass through the spatial dimension door, the battle had to be intense.

The other Heavenly Blood Union members were filled with excitement whenever there was a battle, but Wei Chiwei and company only wished to keep their distance from the battle.

Seeing the masked man follow behind them, they had no choice but to unwilling walk through the spatial dimension door.

Just as they entered the spatial dimension door, they felt a terrifying gust of tumultuous wind blow at them. Even though the six of them were prepared beforehand, they were struck by the strong wind, pushing them back. As for the weaker Chu Qing’er and Chu Ke’er, they were sent flying by the wind.

“What happened?”

The six of them were alarmed. There were only Yin souls along the way and the fights were quite trivial, but why was it so intense this time?

When they finally managed to regain their footing, the six of them were even more stunned seeing the scene in front of them.

The battle in front of their eyes was even more intense than they had anticipated!

The Heavenly Blood Union members were already swarming out in full strength. They had formed several battle formations, engaging in a brutal fight with the other party.

The conflict had resulted in massive destruction and a rising death toll on both sides, and the scene looked extremely horrific.

What caught their attention the most was the spot in the middle of the intense conflict. A red-dressed young lady was standing on a gigantic white boned snake.

She held a whip in hand, while facing the Martial Alliance’s Reincarnators and more than a hundred Heavenly Blood Union members!

Her hair was sprawling and blood flowed down the corner of her mouth. She looked like a red plum that had been soaked in blood. She emitted a forlorn but beautiful aura.

“Who is she?” Wei Chiwei and company did not immediately put a name to the red-dressed lady.

However, standing behind them, the masked man who had been expressionless and silent all along, stood there stunned when he saw the red-dressed lady.

Through the cold mask, he used his expressionless eyes to look at the red-dressed lady. Time seemed to stop at that very moment.

Elder Sis? Jiang Xiaorou…

636 - : Red Plum

CKtalon  CKtalon

The moment Yi Yun saw Jiang Xiaorou, he felt his heart palpitate. It had been about a decade since he had been separated from Jiang Xiaorou at Chu Prefecture City in a life-and-death situation.

Just thinking about the ten years filled Yi Yun with mixed emotions. He never expected to reunite with his elder sister in the Soul Tomb today.

Since Jiang Xiaorou had returned to the Desolate race, the people she was leading were definitely the elite members of the Desolate race.

It was easy to guess her goal for appearing in the Soul Tomb with so many elite members of the Desolate race. They were here to fight Blood Moon.

As for Jiang Xiaorou’s opponents…

The four Reincarnators, especially Zhulong, had extremely terrifying strength.

Yi Yun did not expect Jiang Xiaorou to be able to battle against four alone.

“Yi Yun, what’s the matter with you?”

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s expression change, Lin Xintong asked. Although they had reunited in the Soul Tomb, they did not plan on immediately rushing to battle Blood Moon. They were planning on waiting for Blood Moon to arrive in the area where the Yin specters were hibernating before making their move, destroying all the hibernating Yin specters.

“We’ll talk along the way!” Yi Yun directly grabbed Lin Xintong’s soft hand, and began flying through the Soul Tomb!

The Soul Tomb was filled with complex geographical features that made it like a maze. There were also the naturally formed illusion arrays suffused with Yin aura. Even though Yi Yun was familiar with the Soul Tomb’s layout, his speed was still a lot slower compared to him traveling on the surface.

…

…

“You six deserters have actually come?” When Wei Chiwei and company appeared at the battlefield, a Heavenly Blood Union team beside them said in a reproaching manner.

“Step up!”

These Heavenly Blood Union team members put a Yuan Qi barrier around Wei Chiwei and company.

At that moment, there were strong energy storms wantonly traversing around the valley. With the Heavenly Blood Union teams’ Yuan Qi barriers pressing against each other, it made it difficult for them to keep their footing.

For the bald youth, he could still fend for himself in the chaos due to having a higher cultivation level.

As for the Chu sisters, they were just too young. The amount of time they had cultivated had not been long, so although their strength exceeded people their age, they were far weaker than the senior members of the Heavenly Blood Union.

The two sisters screamed in alarm as they were nearly swept away by the energy storms.

And at that moment, the members of the Desolate race had finally prepared a new round of their primary attack. Both sides were already completely immersed in the act of killing, so they no longer cared about who was part of the Heavenly Blood Union. They blasted energy shockwaves indiscriminately.

All the Desolate race elites were determined to fight to the death, so their fighting spirit was vehement. Together with the Da Yan formation, even though the Heavenly Blood Union had a lot more members than the Skyfox members, they were still a force to be reckoned with.

“Ang!”

A gigantic Skyfox phantom image roared under the blood moon. The storm exploded as the Skyfox opened its ferocious mouth and bit at the Heavenly Blood Union members.

The wanton winds swept through the valley as an immense attractive force tore through the void. The Chu sisters, who were barely able to resist, completely lost the ability to resist against this explosive Power of Desolates!

They exclaimed in the storm, as their frail bodies got whipped by the storm.

“That’s bad!”

Standing beside the Chu sisters, Wei Chiwei stretched out his hand in alarm trying to grab them, but he only managed to grab Chu Ke’er’s sleeve.

“Chi La!”

The sleeve tore, revealing Chu Ke’er’s beautiful arm. Even clothes made from Heavenly Silk could not withstand the immense power.

“Oh no!”

Wei Chiwei was unable to fend for himself, so he no longer had the ability to save the Chu sisters. He could only watch helplessly as the sisters got swept towards the Skyfox’s enormous mouth.

The two lively girls had not even killed a single Yin soul ever since they entered the Soul Tomb. Wei Chiwei mourned for the beauties that were about to die at such a young age, considering that they were in the same boat.

In the storm, the Chu sisters’ faces were pale. They were completely filled with trepidation. The only thing they could do was tightly grasp each other’s hand while they waited for the death that was approaching them.

Their two small hands were both cold, grasping each other with complete despair.

However… just as they were certain that their fates had been sealed, an extremely cold energy wrapped around them. This energy was fearsome and infused with killing intent. It made them shudder from the cold.

But when this energy came down like a torrent, the surging Power of Desolates became like a bucket of water being poured into the sea, quickly dissipating.

The storm weakened, as the two sisters were awe struck. They were unsure what had happened, but, they could not waste the chance. They gritted their teeth and circulated all their energy. Boom!

The storm was forcefully torn apart, as the Chu sisters dropped from the sky, slamming heavily onto the ground.

They were still clinging on to each other’s hands. Their palms were all covered in cold sweat.

They had survived!

They had really survived!

The two sisters hardly recovered from their shock. They did not know where the sudden cold energy that saved their lives came from.

“Great!” Wei Chiwei heaved a sigh of relief.

Anything that swept into the terrifying Skyfox’s mouth was bound to be reduced to dust. He did not want to see these two pretty and young girls turn into a mess of blood and flesh. A miracle had saved them.

“Who saved us?”

The two sisters looked back to find the person who saved them. The energy, that was cold enough to nearly froze their souls, was still fresh on their minds. However, when they glanced behind, all they saw were Heavenly Dao Union members fending for themselves. These people definitely could not spare the effort to save them.

The only person who looked unphased was the Heavenly Dao Union’s Inspector, the masked man.

Recalling the cold energy, it was really somewhat similar to the masked man’s… Could it be… ?

A thought like this struck the Chu sisters but they quickly rejected it. Their legs turned weak with just a stare from this malignant star and they would thank their lucky stars if he didn’t kill them, so how could he save them?

If not for this malignant star, they would not have needed to sign the soul contract and enter the Soul Tomb.

The battle reached its climax as the Skyfox’s mouth bit at the front lines of the Heavenly Blood Union. Vast amounts of Power of Desolates came surging causing all of these human warriors to bleed from all their orifices! The protective shield they had collectively created was about to shatter!

Although the entire Desolate race’s strength was inferior to the Heavenly Blood Union, they were a lot more united. Furthermore, due to their beliefs and honor, they were determined to fight to the death. This allowed about sixty of them to suppress the more than hundred Heavenly Blood Union members.

As for the human trial-takers, their main concern was the rewards at the end of the trial.

They only wanted to accomplish meritorious deeds in order to obtain the manuals of various techniques. In this battle, their own safety was first amongst their concerns. As long as they conserved their own combat power, it was more likely for them to accomplish greater meritorious deeds.

As for their companions, other than friends, the others were just acquaintances. To put it bluntly, they were competitors, so it was not necessarily a bad thing for their competitors to die.

As for the battle’s outcome, they were not worried at all. There were seven Reincarnators present. Furthermore, with the four young masters around, how could they lose? Young Masters Fengming and Zhulong had not even made a move yet!

Conserving their strength to get a chance at beheading Jiang Xiaorou was the most important thing.

The Skyfox roared. The of the Heavenly Blood Union that comprised of slightly more than ten people could barely resist any further. Just as the Yuan Qi protection was about to shatter, which would inevitably cause them to be devoured by the Skyfox, a black beam flashed through the void.

People only saw Young Master Zhulong wave his hand suddenly before slowly putting it down…

637 - : Zhulong Makes a Move

CKtalon  CKtalon

The black beam shot out the moment Young Master Zhulong waved his hand!

Whew!

The beam of light tore through the void.

No one could see what that black beam was.

It was just too fast! It left no room for anyone to react.

This beam did not shoot at the Skyfox, but instead, it shot towards a vast energy projection on the back of the Skyfox.

Cha!

With a shrill whistle, the void began fluctuating, forming waves of ripples emanating out. These ripples instantly shattered, and spread open in a web like manner, causing the entire mass of the energy projection to explode!

A deep grunt was heard amongst the chaos, as a person directly fell down from a high altitude.

Peng!

The figure landed on the ground. He used his hands and knees to support his body, so as to not completely tumble. However, his face was pale and he was covered in sweat.

It seemed like he was experiencing an excruciating pain. His fists were clenched tightly, to the point of his finger joints turning white. He gritted his teeth tightly.

“Chen Fei!”

“Senior Brother Chen Fei!”

Upon seeing the person who had been struck, all the Desolate race members in the large formation felt their hearts sink.

The person who had been struck by the black beam was the leader, Chen Fei!

There were more than sixty “Skyfox” members. The Da Yan formation required 49 people, and the extras were reserves. However, Chen Fei’s position was very difficult to fill.

Chen Fei steered the core of the Da Yan formation, and he was the most important person amongst the 49 people. The others may be able to barely fill his position, but their strength was much weaker than Chen Fei. If it was them, the strength of the Da Yan formation would be at least reduced by half.

If that was the case, it was no longer possible for them to repress the Heavenly Blood Union members.

And the most chilling fact was that… the person who had attacked was Zhulong! From the beginning of the battle, he had his hands behind his back. He had only waved his hand, sending out his only strike.

And just this single strike struck directly at the weakness of the Da Yan formation!

He clearly saw through the flaw of the Da Yan formation, dismantling it in one strike!

Since the beginning, the Desolate race’s Da Yan formation had only launched four primary attacks, which was enough for Zhulong to see through it. This was the strongest formation that the younger generation of the Desolate race could use.

Zhulong’s power and acute perception made it difficult to muster the courage to battle him!

In contrast to the Desolate race, when the human warriors saw this, their morale greatly increased.

“Impressive. As expected of Young Master Zhulong!”

“Brothers, it’s time to attack. The Desolate race’s formation has been torn apart. That bunch of trash is nothing to be afraid of. Spare no one!”

Having been repressed by the Desolate race since the beginning of the battle, the human warriors felt their anger stifled, but now, they could vent it all out.

Kill! Kill! Kill!

Their eyes turned red from killing intent as all sorts of sword Qi, spear beams and saber flashes poured down from the sky, blanketing everything!

As for the Desolate race’s elites, they were greatly weakened with Chen Fei down.

Although someone had rushed to replace Chen Fei’s position, the Da Yan formation’s strength had drastically decreased. It was barely held together by the Desolate race.

‘”Puah!”

Chen Fei kneeled on the ground, vomiting a mouthful of silver blood.

His eyes were glazed, and his pupils were dilated. He felt that the black beam that had struck him was like a black hole that devoured everything. It was devouring all of his lifeforce, flesh, blood and energy.

If this carried on, he would die!

If he died, the collapse of the Da Yan formation was just a matter of time.

And once all the Skyfox perished, their Queen…

Chen Fei looked up and focused his eyes as hard as he could to make out Jiang Xiaorou.

At that moment, Jiang Xiaorou was emitted an ancient aura. The ancient divine patterns etched on her face already had the color of blood. It was as if every single blood vessel was trembling gently.

The longer she used the energy from her ancient bloodline, the closer she was to her limit.

And surrounding Jiang Xiaorou was a total of five Reincarnators!

This included two of the four young masters, Sheji and Qiongqi.

The Heavenly Blood Union had many Reincarnators, and there were nine strongest ones, including the four young masters. The other five Reincarnators were not to be belittled.

Especially with Sheji and Qiongqi combining forces with the other three, they could take turns attacking and defending. The two circled around, working with great teamwork. Bit by bit, they depleted Jiang Xiaorou’s stamina.

And every attack of theirs would be aimed at Jiang Xiaorou’s weak points. If they failed to garner a hit, they would immediately retreat.

In consecutive rounds of intense battles, Jiang Xiaorou was already covered in wounds. Even activating the energy from her ancient bloodline was insufficient to bridge the gap of her battling five alone.

“This babe sure is a challenge. She’s really formidable at resisting. It will be such a waste to refine her into pills! I might as well put her to good use in bed to supplement myself. Hahaha!”Qiongqi laughed lewdly.

Beside him, a whiskered beard Reincarnator joined him in laughing. They had parried off all of Jiang Xiaorou’s attacks, so it was just a matter of time before their victory.

Jiang Xiaorou paid no attention to Qiongqi’s obscene words. Her expression was cold and calm. Even though Chen Fei had been seriously injured, resulting in the Desolate race elites and herself entering a grave situation of life and death, it did not cause Jiang Xiaorou to exhibit any emotional upheavals.

She brandished her whip, as an azure energy transformed into four large primordial desolate beasts.

A hundred feet long Vermilion Bird flapped its wings, dancing in the valley, blazing a trail of fire.

The Vermilion Bird switched directions mid flight, while a White Tiger roared, an Azure Flood Dragon swirled through the air, as the Black Tortoise pressured the lands!

The primordial desolate beasts conjured from Jiang Xiaorou’s single strike were the embodiments of the Four Symbols’ divine beasts.

The Four Symbols’ divine beasts were the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Turtle of the North. Although what Jiang Xiaorou conjured were not true divine beasts, they were still extremely powerful!

The Vermilion Bird spread its wings as the Azure Flood Dragon made a long roar, while the White Tiger pounced! Three of the four desolate beasts charged at Qiongqi and Sheji.

The final Black Tortoise went to the side to repress the remaining three Reincarnators!

“Your attack may be strong, but how hard is it to resist it with the five of us cooperating?” Qiongqi sneered.

He and Sheji used their own techniques, wishing to withstand this strike. At the same time, the other three Reincarnators were putting in all that they had. However, just as they were about to strike the four desolate beasts that approached them, the Four Symbols’ ancient desolate beasts combined together from their respective directions!

What!?

The expressions of the five Reincarnators changed.

It had happened in an instant, so they could not react at all. The combined Four Symbols desolate beasts transformed into a gigantic inferno sphere as it rolled down!

Its target was Qiongqi!

By attacking different people, splitting the energy apart was inferior to combining as one to attack a single person.

At the same moment, Jiang Xiaorou’s wrist flicked as she gathered her Yuan Qi to crack her whip forward. The whip’s shadow formed a wall, trapping Qiongqi within, causing him to be isolated from the rest!

“Courting death!” Qiongqi shouted weirdly as he threw out the chain in his hand which shot out like a meteor towards the Four Symbols desolate beasts!

He hurriedly retreated simultaneously!

Boom!

A terrifying turbulence swept the surroundings. The surrounding cliffs were reduced to dust, as boulders rolled down!

Qiongqi cried out as he was thrown back by the energy shockwave, splattering blood all over!

And beside him, Sheji, who did not manage to rush over in time, was in a somewhat miserable state as well.

Jiang Xiaorou had managed to forcefully severely injure Qiongqi in a one versus five situation!

Upon seeing this scene, Zhulong frowned. “Utter trash!”

Such a battle outcome was displeasing.

638 - : Cracking the Da Yan Formation

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What’s the point of all of you if someone can be injured while fighting five against one?” Zhulong’s said coldly.

Amongst the Reincarnators, he clearly had the highest authority. When reprimanded by him, Qiongqi and Sheji accepted it silently. The other three Reincarnators were filled with even greater trepidation. It was as if they were afraid that Zhulong would put the blame on them.

They were all Reincarnators, but their differences in strength were huge. After all, anyone who mastered the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique” was a Reincarnator, but all their talents were different from one another. The number of reincarnations also influenced their actual strength.

Zhulong looked at Jiang Xiaorou, whose hair was disheveled and she had blood seeping from the corners of her mouth. The ancient patterns on her face were shimmering as if they had a life of their own.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

Zhulong began clapping as he looked at Jiang Xiaorou.

“What a marvelous genius. Compared to you, most of my Heavenly Dao Union’s members are not even worth mentioning. Unfortunately… I will still have to destroy you.” As Zhulong said this, the space behind him began to fluctuate, as a crack appeared out of the void.

“Roar! Roar!”

From the spatial crack came a beast’s roar. It was as if space had sealed a primordial desolate beast in it.

As the spatial crack grew in size, people could see several bloodthirsty eyes through the crack.

“Bam! Bam! Bam!”

There were consecutive explosive sounds. The primordial desolate beast that was trapped in the crack used its claws and sharp fangs to tear the boundaries of the spatial door. Very soon, it escaped from the spatial crack.

People finally saw it clearly. It was a three-headed hellhound that was the size of a house!

The hellhound was covered in blackish-red fur. It was like a boulder that had been baked red hot in lava. All the six eyes on the three heads of the hellhound were staring at Jiang Xiaorou!

“It seems that you could control snake bones that have been dead as long as there’s a slight vestige of a spiritual soul. Then, I want to know if you can control this hellhound.” Zhulong said with a teasing smile at Jiang Xiaorou.

Jiang Xiaorou stood on the top of a black mountain peak. She clenched her whip as her beautiful eyes flickered coldly.

Zhulong was naturally confident by summoning this hellhound and saying those words.

But even so, Jiang Xiaorou still wanted to have an attempt at it.

Zhulong may be confident, but Jiang Xiaorou was confident as well. Her ability to communicate with beasts far exceeded that of a typical member of the Desolate race.

With a thought, her spiritual soul energy condensed in the middle of her eyebrows. She shot out her intentions like an arrow, straight into the hell hound’s head!

However, Jiang Xiaorou felt her heart miss a beat when she entered the hellhound’s soul sea.

This beast’s soul sea was like a molten hell. There were Yin souls wailing while swarming everywhere. There was wanton murderous intent everywhere.

Peng!

Jiang Xiaorou’s intentions directly exploded in the hellhound’s soul sea, sending a backlash at her, causing her body to momentarily freeze. An unnatural redness appeared on her face.

When the Desolate race attempted to control desolate beasts, if they lacked the power or were weak ordinary members of the Desolate race, they would receive a backlash from the desolate beast’s soul when trying to control things beyond their level like a primordial strain.

However, this had never happened to Jiang Xiaorou. She had even obtained the recognition of the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit. With the energy of the Sacred Spirit stored in her body, Jiang Xiaorou was the Divine Wilderness’s Queen. All the Divine Wilderness’ desolate beasts had to bow before her.

“What a pity.” Zhulong shook his head. “You sure were stubborn. Unfortunately, this three-headed hellhound is an ancient life form that comes from the God Burial Abyss. It is not an ordinary desolate beast from the Tian Yuan world, so how can it be controlled by you?”

When Zhulong said this, not only Jiang Xiaorou, even the members of the Desolate race and the Human race’s trial-takers were completely stunned. An ancient life form that came from the God Burial Abyss?

There were ancient life forms in the God Burial Abyss?

The God Burial Abyss was synonymous with an unfathomable land in the hearts of the residents of the Tian Yuan world. No matter who entered the God Burial Abyss, they were bound to never return. Now, they were all greatly shocked when they heard from Zhulong that the God Burial Abyss had ancient life forms in it.

How powerful would an existence surviving in the God Burial Abyss be!?

“Kill her!” Zhulong coldly gave the order.

The hellhound roared and charged at Jiang Xiaorou.

“You attack too!” Zhulong said to Fengming.

All the Heavenly Blood Union’s cream of the crop were to attack with all they had. Zhulong wanted to finish Jiang Xiaorou in the shortest amount of time.

“Alright!” Fengming gave a sinister chortle.

He held a metallic folding fan and charged alongside the hellhound at Jiang Xiaorou.

At the same moment, Sheji made her move too. The two humans and beast attacked in a triforce formation!

After many consecutive intense battles, Jiang Xiaorou’s stamina was greatly drained. Furthermore, with her injuries, she still had to fight one against many. She was on the brink of life and death!

“Lotus Flowers!” Fengming shouted clearly as he suddenly opened his folding fan.

Numerous flower petals flew out from within.

Every one of these flower petals was about the size of an infant’s palm. Thousands of flower petals gathered in the sky, forming a gigantic lotus flower!

Compared to Sheji, who had been embroiled in a prolonged battle with Jiang Xiaorou, Fengming had been watching from the sidelines all along. He was in top form, and he used all his strength the moment he attacked. The pink lotus flower enshrouded even the black mountain beneath Jiang Xiaorou’s feet.

The lotus flower began to revolve and the petals became sharp as blades and came slicing towards Jiang Xiaorou from bottom to top.

Ka Ka Ka!

The lotus flower’s sword Qi reached her before the lotus flower. The black mountain was diced into pieces of all sizes easily by the interspersed lotus flower sword Qi, resulting in the rubble to roll down!

And at the same time, the hellhound had pounced over. It did not know any laws, but with its extremely powerful body and sharp claws, it swiped at Jiang Xiaorou’s head!

With two pincer attacks coming from top and bottom, while Sheji augmenting them, Jiang Xiaorou’s was in grave danger!

At that very instant, Jiang Xiaorou bit her tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood essence!

While burning her blood essence, she also activated the Sacred Spirit’s power!

Four Symbols Formation!

Jiang Xiaorou cried out, as four ancient desolate beasts conjured around her.

Vermillion Bird, White Tiger, Azure Flood Dragon, Black Tortoise!

The four desolate beasts roared and charged at the three-headed hellhound and Fengming!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

An energy explosion resulted in a brilliant rainbow of colors appearing, illuminating the dark valley. It even outmatched the blood moon in the sky!

The light completely engulfed Jiang Xiaorou, Sheji, Fengming and the three-headed hellhound!

“Successor!”

Upon seeing this light, multiple blood strands appeared in Chen Fei’s eyes as if they were cracking!

His organs had all been devastated by Zhulong’s black energy. Although he was suffering an excruciating pain, he no longer could care for his injuries. All he did was worry for Jiang Xiaorou.

Every time the Four Symbols Formation was activated, it would greatly drain Jiang Xiaorou’s Yuan Qi. She could basically only use it once in a battle.

However, Jiang Xiaorou had used the Four Symbols Formation a second time and nearly without a break.

By burning her blood essence and overdrawing on the Sacred Spirit’s power, Jiang Xiaorou was no longer taking the outcome in consideration.

Peng!

The final energy blast in the rainbow light exploded out, shooting out in all directions.

“Wu Wu… ” The hellhound whimpered as it got thrown out by the energy blast.

Fengming was also sent into retreat. His clothes were torn and his Qi and blood were in chaos, preventing him from gathering Yuan Qi temporarily.

He was alarmed. He never expected that Jiang Xiaorou still had such appalling combat strength under such a situation. She had managed to stop his combined attack with the three-headed hellhound.

After all, Jiang Xiaorou was more adept at controlling beasts. If there was a powerful beast for Jiang Xiaorou to control, it was unimaginable how powerful she would become.

Jiang Xiaorou stood on the black mountain that had been mostly shaved off. Her clothes were stained with blood and her face was pale!

After burning her blood essence, she was depleted of her Qi and blood. This was the result of Jiang Xiaorou’s face being pale.

And at the same time, Jiang Xiaorou’s Yuan Qi was nearly completely expended. The situation could not be any worse.

She held a bone staff on one hand. The sharp end of the bone staff was embedded deep into the rock, while the gem on the other tip shimmered with a bewitching sanguine glow.

It was as if she was using the bone staff to support her body from collapsing.

“Successor!”

Chen Fei bit his lips open. He felt hate. He hated himself for being so weak. He failed at the simple task of being the core of the Da Yan formation. He was severely injured in just one strike from Zhulong. This resulted in Jiang Xiaorou having to resist all the Reincarnators alone.

…

“This witch girl seems to be at the end of the road.” Someone whispered from the human side.

Jiang Xiaorou’s strength alarmed them. But now, with her Yuan Qi nearly completely depleted, she no longer seemed that terrifying.

At that moment, Gongsun Hong amongst the crowd turned and secretly transmitted his voice to the team of eight he led. “Let us take this opportunity to attack together in a battle formation to kill Jiang Xiaorou!”

“Ah? Attack? Us?” The members were momentarily stunned.

“That witch girl is like a candle in the wind. Don’t forget of the rewards we will receive for killing her.”

Just mentioning the rewards they could receive from killing Jiang Xiaorou made them envious. Right, the rewards!

Not only were there rewards, there was the opportunity to make a name for themselves. After the three-headed hellhound and Fengming’s attack, she was greatly exhausted, so it was the best opportunity for them!

“Attack!” Gongsun Hong shouted.

His shout also brought many Heavenly Blood Union members out of their daze.

Yes, what were they waiting for? It was the best opportunity for them to kill Jiang Xiaorou now. The other Desolate race members were just small fries. So what if they killed so many of them? The rewards wouldn’t be any higher.

“We should attack as well. Kill that Desolate race witch girl!”

“We cannot let them do it first!”

In a blink of an eye, there were twenty Heavenly Blood Union members attacking at the same time. These were the cream of the crop amongst the Heavenly Blood Union. Some of them formed battle formations, while others attack alone. Immediately, there were saber flashes, sword shadows, and spear beams all attacking at one target.

When they saw this scene, the Desolate race’s elites turned furious!

These humans were despicable by taking advantage of Jiang Xiaorou’s perilous state!

“We swore to protect the Successor to our deaths!”

“We’ll fight it out with them!”

With Chen Fei down, the Desolate race’s Da Yan formation had been greatly weakened, but with the determination of dying for a greater cause, their combat power was greatly amplified.

The Da Yan formation activated once again as the gigantic Skyfox appeared, howling towards the sky.

And just as the Skyfox was about to pounce forward, Zhulong waved his right hand lightly.

“Whew!”

A second black beam flashed. It tore through the sky and short right at the Da Yan formation’s core.

The scene of Chen Fei being injured repeated once again. A white-dressed female in her twenties, who was situated in the core, grunted as she fell it, like a white butterfly that had a broken wing.

Blood splattered everywhere as the girl’s face turned white, while she was in a breathless state.

“Senior Brother… Chen Fei… I…”

The white-dressed female used her arms to support her body while she coughed out a mouthful of blood. She looked apologetically at Chen Fei. She was ashamed of herself. She had not managed to deliver a strike after taking over Chen Fei’s position and she had also failed to protect their queen.

“Sending yourselves to the death with the exact same formation. Do you think you can use this formation to cause wanton destruction? What foolishness!” Zhulong’s cold voice rang.

He had seen through the Da Yan formation, so it was extremely easy for him to crack it.

Be it the severely injured Chen Fei or the white-dressed female who replaced him, Zhulong no longer looked at them. To him, they were no different to corpses.

“Hahaha! Young Master Zhulong is impressive! He’s invincible!”

“Let us finish her, etching our names in history!”

The twenty human warriors charged at Jiang Xiaorou, with Gongsun Hong leading the pack. With a long roar, he stabbed at Jiang Xiaorou’s snow-white neck.

Seeing victory at hand, Gongsun Hong revealed a sinister smile. But at that moment, a divine beam illuminated the skies.

The divine beam tore through the sky like a shooting star. Even the blood moon in the sky was concealed by the divine beam!

Oh!?

People were alarmed. And next, they heard a thunderous rumble as the divine beam shot right at the twenty people!

That was… an arrow!

The divine arrow was indomitable. The twenty people that charged forward wanted to kill Jiang Xiaorou, but due to the immense danger the arrow posed, they felt their hair stand and their backs turned cold!

If they carried on their attack with their backs facing the arrow, they would receive a tragic end!

“Block it!”

About a dozen people at the back turned around. The saber beams and sword shadows that were meant for Jiang Xiaorou were also shot out at the arrow beam!

These elites treasured their lives deeply. They were still hoping to become Reincarnators and Great Emperors of the Tian Yuan world. So how could they be willing to die here?

But as people turned around, there were people still heading forward. It was the team led by Gongsun Hong.

“Hahaha, let them block it. They can block it behind us while we take the Desolate race witch girl’s head!”

Gongsun Hong was in the forefront, so his position was the safest. Furthermore, with the meat shields behind him, and the dozen of them combining forces to defend, even if the Desolate race had taken the opportunity to launch a sneak attack, they would definitely be able to resist it.

While others defended against the attack, he would gain all the credit. He would no doubt be the greatest winner!

Gongsun Hong was greatly pleased. Just as his sword was about to land on Jiang Xiaorou’s body, he heard explosions behind him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Heavenly Blood Union members cried out tragically. What looked like a luscious attack to them was nothing that they had expected. When they clashed with the arrow beam, it was like a piece of snow meeting the brilliant sun, melting immediately!

Sword beams and saber flashes shattered as the arrow’s divine beam carried on forward without resistance.

Those that were on the peripherals of the divine beam’s path were immediately injured severely, covering them with blood!

It was too fast!

It was so fast that they failed to react in time. They only felt a blinding light in front of their eyes, and at the next moment, the arrow beam had passed them.

In an instant, the dozen people behind were left scattered!

These people scattered like marbles in all directions. And in the center point of the dispersion, the arrow beam whistled through the air, shooting straight at Gongsun Hong.

What!?

There was boundless killing intent imbued in the arrow beam behind him. Only at that moment did Gongsun Hong receive the rude awakening.

Block it!

Gongsun Hong roared out. His team of eight people immediately entered a battle formation.

However, it was too late.

Their battle formation’s protective shield was shattered in an instant. It was like glass being shattered by a hammer.

The first human warrior to feel the brunt of it cried out tragically as the arrow beam penetrated his stomach. He was immediately split into two as his body could not resist such immense power!

The others were slightly luckier, but they were still injured by the light beam. They were sent retreating midair.

The arrow beam shot straight at Gongsun Hong.

With his life on the line, Gongsun Hong wailed and he used more energy than he could usually muster. He circulated his Yuan Qi, forming a slanted protective shield.

Gongsun Hong knew that if the arrow beam struck it perpendicularly, his shield would no doubt be shattered, resulting in him experiencing the full brunt of the arrow’s attack. He would be diced into pieces, dying without a whole body.

And a slanted shield could greatly reduce the attack’s power, allowing him to survive.

Peng!

When the arrow beam struck the slanted protective shield, the shield immediately shattered as Gongsun Hong felt a surge of energy hit him! The arrow beam did not lose any momentum, as it carried on pushing Gongsun Hong backward!

His right arm had been sliced by the wanton Yuan Qi when his protective shield shattered. His arm was completely torn apart as a result.

Ah!

Gongsun Hong gave out a heart-wrenching cry. His arm had been sliced to pieces, so it was impossible to join it back. And he knew very well what it meant to a warrior who lost one arm.

Despair!

Pain!

Unbelievable!

Just a sudden attack caused him to lose an arm in this trial. How was it possible!?

“Boom!”

The divine beam pierced through the black mountain, about a hundred feet beneath Jiang Xiaorou’s feet. Although it penetrated the mountain, it did not injure Jiang Xiaorou in any way.

After it pierced through the black mountain, it did not lose its momentum. It carried on far into the darkness, and struck a mountain five kilometers away, resulting in a tumultuous explosion!

A shockwave rippled outwards, causing the ground to rumble. Smoke and dust scattered everywhere as rocks tumbled down!

To think an arrow’s power could reach such a stage…

Upon seeing this terrifying attack, everyone, be it the human warriors or the Desolate race warriors were stunned.

Their impression of such a terrifying attack was that it could only be the result of a battle array formed from a large group of people.

Could there be a third faction that had entered the Soul Tomb?

Just as people were feeling alarmed, someone saw a young male standing on a mountain peak about five kilometers away. He held a golden bow in hand, and he stood erect like a pole on the mountain.

And beside him was a beautiful young girl dressed in white.

The two of them seemed to be standing in an alternate space-time universe, despite it only being a distance of five kilometers. It was quite a shock to the senses.

Was that arrow shot by the bow-wielding youth?

Had he managed to launch such an attack alone? How was that possible?

“So it was them who caused me to lose an arm.” Gongsun Hong’s face was pale as he said through gritted teeth.

He could only hold the right arm that had been torn off. He was furious and he felt extreme hate. How could he not feel hate towards the arrow that had severed his martial path?

“He destroyed my life. I must seek revenge… Wait, no, I can still reincarnate!”

When he suddenly thought of this, Gongsun Hong heaved a sigh of relief. Reincarnation… As long as he obtained the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”, it would no longer matter if his body was in shambles.

Meritorious deeds. I need to do meritorious deeds! I need to obtain the recognition of Young Master Zhulong.

Just as these thoughts were flashing through Gongsun Hong’s mind, he suddenly heard someone say, “Isn’t that the bow-wielder Jiang Yidao?”

The warriors had extremely good eyesight. Although it was far away and the lighting conditions were bad, they could still see the duo’s looks.

One of them was Jiang Yidao, and the other person was a peerless woman they did not know.

“What!? Jiang Yidao?”

Gongsun Hong was completely stunned. Jiang Yidao had defeated him with one saber attack back when Jiang Yidao had entered the Heavenly Dao Union, causing him to lose all face.

“How could it be him? How could he be this strong? And I thought he only uses a saber!?”

Everyone knew Jiang Yidao had extraordinary strength, but they never expected him to be so powerful.

An arrow he shot out could not even be resisted by twenty Heavenly Blood Union members!

“Jiang Yidao?” Zhulong looked at Jiang Yidao and frowned.

Ever since Zhulong appeared in the Soul Tomb, this was the first time he frowned. Previously, he looked calm and indifferent, as if everything was within his control.

“You have hidden a lot… I have to admit, your appearance has given me quite a surprise.”

Zhulong also knew of Jiang Yidao early on. Zhulong even knew that before joining the Heavenly Dao Union, Jiang Yidao had managed to retreat unharmed from the combined attacks of the Li Fire Sect and Shentu family clan’s Yuan Opening Elders. It was heaven-defying to do this at the Dao Seed realm.

Including this time, with Jiang Yidao’s appearance, it was appalling how a single arrow of his managed to break through the combined attack of twenty Heavenly Blood Union members.

However, Zhulong did not mind too much about these two points. He had seen even more heaven-defying geniuses in the Tian Yuan world’s long history.

Zhulong’s so-called “given me quite a surprise” was because of the… soul contract!

Not only Zhulong, even Wei Chiwei, and company, who had been forced to sign the soul contract, were all dumbfounded.

How could Senior Brother Jiang still attack Gongsun Hong? Wasn’t this a betrayal of the Martial Alliance…?

According to the soul contracts rules, it was most likely that they would be reduced to dust once they showed signs of betrayal!

And at that moment, Jiang Yidao was standing completely fine five kilometers away. Could the soul contract have lost its effects?

“Should I be honored to be given the evaluation of ‘surprise’ from you?”

Yi Yun held the golden bow in hand and walked forward in mid-air. There was boundless energy circulating around his body while pure Yang flames burned around Yi Yun, illuminating the darkness whatever it touched.

This scene caused many of the human warriors to shudder with fear.

There were many things to ponder about. Firstly, the soul contract had lost its effects on Jiang Yidao. Secondly, Jiang Yidao, who always used a saber, had suddenly used a bow. Furthermore, his arrow shooting technique was frighteningly good!

What sort of person was this Jiang Yidao?

Zhulong chuckled and said lightly. “There are indeed very few people in this world that can surprise me.”

As he said, he turned his head and looked towards a corner in the valley. Although he had a smile on his face, his eyes looked cold.

“What do you think? Third Inspector… Shouldn’t you give me an explanation?”

The third Inspector Zhulong mentioned was the masked man!

At that moment, the masked man was the center of attention of everyone present.

A hundred pairs of eyes looked over as the masked man stood there unnerved. His cold and expressionless mask sent chills up their spines.

Wei Chiwei, the Chu sisters, and company were standing closest to the masked man. Zhulong’s words gave them a fright.

Could the soul contract that the masked man gave to Jiang Yidao be problematic? Could he also be betraying the Martial Alliance?

639 - : Divine Beam Tears through the Sky

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Why? Are you not going to speak?”

The masked man’s silence made Zhulong’s gaze turn even colder.

“Third Inspector, you are responsible for the signing of the soul contracts with all the Heavenly Dao Union members. Previously, when people betrayed the Martial Alliance, it was you who chased them down. If I remember correctly, Jiang Yidao was one of those who escaped… ”

Despite being interrogated by Zhulong, the masked man only said calmly, “There are no means of removing the soul contract, but it might be possible that the Desolate race’s Queen has such means. I can’t answer your question.”

“Remove?”

Zhulong’s brows pricked up. Indeed, soul contracts were categorically powerful or weak. A powerful soul contract could bind even peerless Great Emperors, while for the weak soul contracts that usually bound juniors, they could easily be removed by their seniors.

However, the Martial Alliance’s soul contract was extraordinary. To remove it?

Difficult!

Zhulong was unconvinced that such a person lurked in the present Tian Yuan world.

However, if it was the Desolate race’s former Queen, Jiang Xiaorou’s mother, Zhulong was unsure if she had the ability to remove the soul contract.

Zhulong stared at the masked man, as if his gaze penetrated him. However, the masked man remained calm, and he was not one bit flustered.

Yi Yun knew that even if he made the masked man give a reasonable explanation, it was still impossible for him to be cleared of all suspicions by Zhulong.

However, it no longer mattered. In the Soul Tomb, he was bound to engage in a bloody battle with Zhulong.

“Jiang Yidao, you traitor!” Gongsun Hong suddenly shouted.

He had an old grudge with Jiang Yidao, and now with new grudges piled on after his arm was destroyed by Jiang Yidao, his hate for Jiang Yidao had reached unprecedented heights.

“To think a shameless wretch like you has submitted to the Desolate race. You attacked the Martial Alliance to save the Desolate race’s witch girl! Why? Have you become the Desolate race’s son-in-law? Were you smitten by this witch girl? To bend over just like that, be wary of all your male vitality being sucked dry by the Desolate race’s witch girl, eventually becoming a dry corpse. Hahaha!”

“However, you won’t have the chance of becoming a dry corpse. To not know the meaning of death, and act so absurdly in front of Lord Zhulong, today will be the day of your death. I’m waiting to see your cultivation crippled, and suffer death by dismembering of the heart. Then your soul will be extracted to be tortured for a millennium!” Gongsun Hong cursed.

Only in this situation, with so many Reincarnators present and Zhulong’s protection did Gongsun Hong dare to curse Yi Yun so blatantly.

He had been reduced to a wretched state by Jiang Yidao to the point of having his lungs burst from anger. This anger that was penting up had already formed a mental demon in him. Be it his future cultivation or breaking through realms, they would all be affected.

He knew that he was no match for Jiang Yidao, so he could only place his hopes on Zhulong torturing Jiang Yidao through various methods.

“You… ”

Yi Yun looked at Gongsun Hong, as his eyes suddenly flashed with killing intent, “Die!”

When Yi Yun said that single word, he suddenly strung the bow and shot out an arrow!

“Peng!”

The bowstring trembled with a tumultuous explosion!

Yi Yun was too fast. Nearly no one saw how he pulled the bow open. All they saw was a blinding divine beam. All the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi from the surroundings was swept up by this arrow!

The arrow emitted a dazzling golden glow that seemed like a streaking sun!

Gongsun Hong was greatly alarmed. He never expected Yi Yun to ignore the many Reincarnators present, shooting an arrow past all of them to destroy him!

The arrow beam was too fast and Gongsun Hong had no time to react. At that moment, a bellow resounded in the valley.

“Audacious!”

As the arrow was enroute to Gongsun Hong, a black figure appeared out of nowhere, grabbing the arrow!

At the same moment the black shadow appeared, a black dragon roared behind him.

The black dragon opened its jaws and swiped its claws. The scales on its body were like black gemstones that looked extremely lifelike.

Zhulong!

Everyone was shocked. Zhulong was the one to make a move?

“Ha!”

Zhulong grabbed the golden arrow like an osprey grabbing a swimming golden fish. No matter how the golden arrow tried to inch forward, it could not escape Zhulong’s palm.

“Boom!”

The energy in the golden arrow exploded as the arrow was destroyed. Then the black dragon behind Zhulong opened its jaws, devouring all the golden energy.

And at that moment…

Swish!

A saber beam flashed past, much faster than the arrow beam from before.

The time between the arrow beam and the saber beam was separated by less than a thousandth of a second. Zhulong was astonished because it was already too late for him to stop the saber beam.

The saber beam whistled as it slashed at Gongsun Hong!

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Seeing the saber flying at him, Gongsun Hong’s pupils constricted. He knew that it was impossible for him to withstand the saber attack. He bit his tongue, burning his blood essence as his Yuan Qi exploded so as to dodge to the side!

However… it was too late!

Or it should be said that the saber beam was too fast. It far exceeded Gongsun Hong’s dodging speed. Even though he had made the best choice immediately, it was still meaningless.

“Cha!”

Gongsun Hong’s body clammed up. His expression froze completely as the saber beam pierced through his chest!

Gongsun Hong was completely stunned. He looked at his chest in disbelief.

A heart wrenching blood gash streaked across his chest to his armpit, as pulsing arteries pumped blood out of the gash.

“Peng!”

The bottom half of Gongsun Hong’s body slid off, falling in a curious, disjointed way. He had been split into two by Yi Yun’s saber attack!

“Ah… Ah… ” Gongsun Hong cried out in pain. The moment he opened his mouth, blood gushed out.

His two halves fell as Gongsun Hong looked at Zhulong in despair. Zhulong was his only lifeline.

All he saw was Zhulong’s sullen face as he suddenly waved his hand.

“Whew!”

Gongsun Hong’s soul was forcefully extracted by Zhulong, as it was reduced into a ball of light that hovered in his hand.

“Lord, save me, save me… ” Gongsun Hong uttered with a miserable-sounding voice.

The body he had tempered for more than two decades was completely destroyed. He had no other option. He had to cultivate the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique” or this would be the end of him.

Zhulong ignored Gongsun Hong as he looked at Yi Yun.

He was holding Gongsun Hong’s soul in one hand, while the other hand was still grabbing the arrow Yi Yun had just shot out. By now, the arrow had mostly exploded, leaving a tiny portion in his hand.

Everyone looked at Yi Yun too.

Although Zhulong managed to easily halt Yi Yun’s certain fatality shot, he was unable to stop Yi Yun’s second attack. The saber beam reached its destination at almost the same time as the arrow, resulting in Yi Yun killing Gongsun Hong in front of Zhulong’s very eyes!

In all the battles before, Zhulong could be said to be overweening with unfathomable strength. This could be seen from him cracking the Desolate race’s ultimate technique, the Da Yan formation or him summoning an ancient life form from the God Burial Abyss.

But now, against Jiang Yidao, Zhulong had fallen for his small scheme.

“Nice saber attack!”

Zhulong looked at Yi Yun and threw away the broken arrow in his hand. He took a black glove out of his interspatial ring, and slowly put it on…

640 - : Slash and Kill

CKtalon  CKtalon

For Yi Yun to kill Gongsun Hong in front of everyone, it was considered smacking of all the Reincarnators’ faces.

As Reincarnators, they were invincible amongst people their age, but today, they had failed to protect Gongsun Hong from Yi Yun under the watchful eyes of so many people.

“Who is this person?”

The Desolate race elites were all dumbfounded. They did not know who this person was. He had suddenly appeared and caused wanton destruction, saving them from certain doom.

Members of the Desolate race looked similar to humans, but when someone cultivated to a certain realm, it was possible for people to tell which race the person belonged to. For example, back in the Chu Prefecture City, Shentu Nantian had managed to identify Jiang Xiaorou as a member of the Desolate race.

The Desolate race elites were certain that Jiang Yidao was human, but why would a human help them?

As for the human warriors, they were still discussing Yi Yun’s strength. They couldn’t believe that he could be so strong despite not being a Reincarnator.

Some people were even secretly comparing Yi Yun with Fengming, Qiongqi and company. They even believed that Yi Yun looked slightly stronger.

The reaction of the Heavenly Blood Union members did not escape the eyes of Qiongqi, Fengming and company. This caused them to frown.

“This kid is being too overbearing.” Qiongqi narrowed his eyes as he spoke.

He had recovered a great deal from his wounds. Standing beside him, Fengming and Sheji were not feeling very pleasant either. Yi Yun’s two consecutive attacks may appear shocking, but he had done it through a sleight of hand.

Yi Yun’s first arrow was indeed powerful. He had managed to scatter twenty Heavenly Blood Union warriors, and seriously injure many of them, but it was not necessarily very difficult to achieve that.

These twenty Heavenly Blood Union members did not have uniform cultivation levels due to the differences in their ages. Furthermore, their original target was Jiang Xiaorou, and they had been forced to defend due to Yi Yun’s arrow. It was not difficult for Sheji or Fengming to defeat the combined efforts of these twenty people.

As for the second attack, Yi Yun had killed Gongsun Hong under the protection of Zhulong through a trick. He had hidden a saber beam behind the arrow beam. This resulted in there being no time for Zhulong to stop it by the time he noticed it.

Seeing the human warriors present being stunned by Yi Yun, as if he was invincible, how could Fengming, Sheji and company feel good?

True strength needed an actual fight to determine who was stronger. It was nothing impressive fighting against weaklings or using sleight of hand to take advantage of the situation.

“Let me test him! I’ll reduce some of this kid’s impressiveness.” Fengming was the first who could not stand idle. His condition was the best amongst the three Reincarnators.

“Young Master Fengming, be careful. Don’t fight from a close distance for it can be dangerous.”

A Reincarnator, who wasn’t in the ranks of the four great young masters, reminded him without much thought. He had good intentions, since Yi Yun’s strength was still unknown. Compared to Fengming, Yi Yun still seemed stronger.

However, when these words landed in Fengming’s ears, it caused a tug in his heart.

“I know perfectly well. There’s no need to remind me!”

Fengming never planned on clashing with Yi Yun head-on. He wanted to test Yi Yun’s strength from a distance, but this was not something someone of lower stature than him needed to expound on.

How could he, as a Reincarnator, be weaker than a junior like Jiang Yidao? He was unconvinced.

“Pa!”

With a clear crack, Fengming spread his folding fan as flower petals circled around him while his Yuan Qi escalated.

But at that moment, a dull voice echoed from beside Fengming:”Stand down. You are not his match.”

This voice did not have any hint of politeness, but Fengming did not retort because he clammed up while his lips trembled. This was because the person who spoke was Zhulong.

Fengming looked at Zhulong, feeling humiliated. He could berate other ordinary Reincarnators if they warned him, but he could not say anything if it was Zhulong who did it.

“I… was just trying to test his strength.” Fengming tried explaining, but when he saw Zhulong’s cold demeanor, he did not dare speak further.

“You won’t be able to test anything.” Zhulong did not give Fengming any face.”I will personally handle Jiang Yidao. That guy’s stance is too formidable and he doesn’t think anything about others. He thinks he is invincible and that no one in our Heavenly Blood Union can stop him.”

Fengming lost the will to be angry when Zhulong said he would personally fight. Even though he was disgruntled, he had to trust Zhulong’s judgment.

“You, Sheji and Qiongqi are to lead the other Reincarnators to kill Jiang Xiaorou and the Desolate race devils, so as to unnerve Jiang Yidao.” Zhulong’s intuition told him that Jiang Xiaorou was extremely important to Jiang Yidao.

Previously, the fact that Jiang Yidao killed Gongsun Hong with one saber attack might not only have been due to the grudge between the two of them, it was mostly because he had taken advantage of her situation, by attacking her while she was injured. Furthermore, he had insulted Jiang Xiaorou, resulting in fatal trouble befalling him.

Jiang Yidao and Jiang Xiaorou both shared the same surname, which made it difficult for Zhulong to not think of the relationship between the two.

“Kill the members of the Desolate race? Fine by me!” Fengming’s eyes lit up.

Killing the Desolate race members was as easy as slaughtering poultry.

He had hated the Desolate race for a long time.

Zhulong and Yi Yun exchanged gazes, becoming the center of attention amongst everyone present.

Zhulong was going to fight?

No one expected Zhulong to personally handle Yi Yun.

Zhulong wore a strange black glove, which he had just retrieved. People felt their gaze being sucked in by the glove, which caused them to fear looking at it any longer.

Zhulong began to walk towards Yi Yun on a path of empty air.

Black flames began to emit from Zhulong, and strands of black lines emanated out from the black flames. These lines increased in number and they finally condensed into a web of light in the sky, enclosing Yi Yun and Zhulong in a region that had a radius of a few kilometers.

Sealed enchantment?

People were shocked because they felt that the region sealed by the sphere of black lines seemed to isolate its interior from everything else. It was as if it was in a different dimension of space-time, with Yi Yun and Zhulong looking like illusions.

At the same moment, Zhulong’s killing intent locked onto Yi Yun.

“Roar!”

Beside Zhulong, the black-red three-headed hellhound from before appeared. Its fur was glowing as it stared at Yi Yun with its ferocious red eyes.

Yi Yun felt like he was facing a primordial beast when Zhulong’s killing intent locked onto him. This was the first time he was facing such an opponent ever since his strength had greatly increased.

After the Great Empress mystic realm, Yi Yun had never experienced an intense battle.

His expression turned serious, but his heart burned with fighting spirit. He too wanted to take the opportunity to test himself, to know how strong he currently was.

And at that moment, his eyes flashed coldly. He saw Sheji, Fengming and Qiongqi slowly creep towards Jiang Xiaorou from three different directions.

At that moment, Jiang Xiaorou was already pale and weakened from using the Sacred Spirit’s power twice and burning her blood essence. She was doomed if the three experts attacked her.

“Protect the Successor!”

“This bunch of despicable people!”

The Desolate race’s elites were furious. This group of people were taking advantage of the moment Yi Yun was distracted by Zhulong to attack Jiang Xiaorou.

“Without the Da Yan formation, you are just a bunch of useless beings. Are you even worthy of blocking us?” Sheji could not help but leer at the Desolate race elites while speaking sarcastically.

“Just a bunch of ants. I’ll squish them easily!”

Qiongqi swung his chainhook in circles. The hook was covered in blood, making the weapon look like a torture device, both brutal and gory.

At that moment, the human elites felt bolstered. Momentarily, they ignored Yi Yun and Zhulong’s battle. In their opinion, Yi Yun was strong, but Zhulong was even stronger. A person, who had reincarnated several times and had become a Great Emperor several times, could not be understood logically.

What they were most concerned with was Jiang Xiaorou.

If they killed Jiang Xiaorou, there was a huge reward awaiting them.

“Brothers, let us attack too. We can not lose out in killing the Desolate race devils!”

“Right, all these Desolate race devils are equivalent to rewards. When that traitor Jiang Yidao is killed by Lord Zhulong, we can also strive hard to wipe out the rest of the Desolate race devils!”

Many human warriors laughed sinisterly at Jiang Xiaorou. Such an alluring beauty without any strength to resist them was about to be devastated by them.

Seeing the enemy approach, the Desolate race elites surrounded Jiang Xiaorou, all determined to fight to the death.

They could not defend against the nearly hundred human warriors, let alone the many Reincarnators present. The probability of winning this battle was approaching zero.

It was fine if they died fighting, but their Desolate Queen had been recognized by the Sacred Spirit. If she were to die here, it would just fill the Desolate race warriors with anger and indignance.

A Desolate race girl, who looked to be about seventeen years old, replaced the core position of the Da Yan formation.

Having lost two people who could steer the core of the Da Yan formation, the Desolate race’s combat power had greatly weakened.

As for the girl who was steering the core, she completely lacked the ability to power the Da Yan formation. She could only burn her blood essence to put up a desperate fight.

Just as the young members of the Desolate race were about to sacrifice themselves when the Heavenly Blood Union members approached, a light wind blew suddenly. A white-dressed woman, whose face was covered by a veil, landed in between the Desolate race and Human race while her dress fluttered.

She held a sword in hand, with the tip pointing downwards. Her toes landed on the ground, but she wasn’t stained by any of the dust.

The white-dressed woman was none other than Lin Xintong who had come to the Soul Tomb.

After intensive cultivation in the God Advent Tower and gaining insight in the Divine Wilderness, Lin Xintong had never had the opportunity to use her full strength over all these years.

“Your opponent is me.”

Lin Xintong faced a hundred human elites and six Reincarnators with a sword in hand alone. However, her voice was clear and nonchalant, as if she was not concerned with anything that was happening in front of her.

“Who is she?”

The human elites were only focused on Yi Yun, and they did not pay much attention to Lin Xintong who was behind Yi Yun.

“Wench, you are courting death!” Qiongqi said in a queer manner.

They were planning on fighting Yi Yun, but had been unceremoniously put down by Zhulong. This caused them to feel greatly indignant.

They could forget about them being disallowed to fight Yi Yun, but now against some weaklings, they were stopped by some white-dressed wench.

And from the wench’s tone and expression, she did not think much about them. It was unbearable!

641 - : Taking Advantage of the Situation

CKtalon  CKtalon

Fengming was not infuriated when Lin Xintong obstructed him. Instead, he found it amusing. He could forget the fact that he was no match for Yi Yun, but who was this woman? How dare she act so audaciously?

Yi Yun, who had suddenly appeared this year, revealing an incomprehensible strength was already suspicious enough. Could the woman in front of them be another peerless genius? If there were so many geniuses hidden in the world, then geniuses would no longer be rare.

Fengming laughed without any civility. “What day is it? Why are there so many people thinking that they are invincible. Do you know how the word ‘death’ is written for you to hold so many of us off?”

Sheji also laughed. “Little girl, how old are you. Are you even twenty?”

They shared the same gender, but Sheji had lived three lives. So in her eyes, Lin Xintong was just a little child.

For a junior girl to have a demeanor of an immortal, and say things like “your opponent is me”, it was extremely laughable.

“Today, let this elder sister teach you how big the world is and what true strength is like!” Sheji cried and suddenly attacked.

Her figure blurred, as she split into three figures, who attacked Lin Xintong from three different angles!

At the same time, a gigantic azure snake appeared behind Sheji. It was her Aspect Totem and it was opening its jaws to bite at Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong appeared calm and nonchalant towards Sheji. She did not emit any terrifying aura. She only nonchalantly lifted her hand and lightly tapped her sword.

Every tap she made resulted in a white snowflake appearing on the tip of the sword.

Lin Xintong did it a total of four times, conjuring four snowflakes. From the beginning to the end, she did not emit any surging Yuan Qi. It was calm and peaceful, as if she was not brandishing her sword, but she was just drawing with a brush on an invisible piece of cloth, dabbing and drawing out white flowers.

“Such a move?” Sheji harrumphed coldly. The gigantic azure snake behind her spat out a toxic mist, and at the same time, the three Shejis attacked together. One of them held a sword, another held a lancet, while the last one held Emei daggers.

The three different weapons also proved that the figures that Sheji formed were not after-images. They were true avatars.

This was one of the high grade divine techniques from the Martial Alliance’s treasury. Yuan Qi was condensed to form a temporary avatar, who could aid in her battles.

Yuan Qi whistled as it interweaved to form a large web. She was planning to use sword Qi and blade beams to shatter the four snowflakes that Lin Xintong had produced completely.

But when the pretty but weak-looking snowflakes clashed with the sword Qi and blade beams, an expected explosion did not happen. Each of the four snowflakes contained different Heavenly Dao laws. The structure of the snowflake formation intercrossed to form an array pattern.

The four snowflakes was like a mini-array. It contained the condensation of pure Yin and water-elemental laws. Not only was it extremely Yin and cold, it was also extremely heavy. It was like four hundred-thousand snow mountains compressed to a point.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

Sheji’s sword Qi and blade beams froze in place, turning into ice crystals.

And behind Sheji, the toxic mist that the gigantic azure snake had spat out also froze to become a white ice wave.

The frost aura surged forward, and froze everything it passed!

Sheji was greatly alarmed. At this point, she knew that she was no match for this girl at all. She forcefully stopped her attack and tried to retreat.

However, the ever-burgeoning frost aura was like a maggot that clung on to her, impossible to shake off.

Out of the four snowflakes, three of them struck Sheji’s three figures. As for the final snowflake, it struck the gigantic snake behind Sheji.

Only then did people know the reason why Lin Xintong had conjured four snowflakes. It was prepared for the three Shejis and her Aspect Totem. There was not one bit more, showing her absolute confidence!

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The moment that the snowflakes made contact, a boundless frost Qi exploded, forming ice.

Sheji’s two Yuan Qi avatars were frozen, and slowly dissipated into Yuan Qi ice crystals in the frost ice.

Her Aspect Totem did not last much longer. After it was sealed in ice, it immediately disintegrated. Sheji grunted as her face turned white. Although warriors could conjure an Aspect Totem after it was disintegrated again, they would receive a spiritual backlash as a result, hurting their soul sea.

But now, it was not as trivial as a backlash. Lin Xintong’s final ice crystal was already in front of Sheji’s body.

“Careful!”

Behind Sheji, Fengming realized that Sheji was about to be defeated, so he charged forward.

With a snap, he opened his folding fan, and there were numerous flower petals on one side of the fan. With a flick of his hand, he threw all the flower petals out.

The flower petals twirled around in the air, like sharp blades. It sliced through the frost Qi and shattered the ice crystals.

A tumultuous colliding sound echoed. In the powerful explosion, the snowflakes shattered, and all the frost Qi condensed in them surged out!

Ice disks shot out in all directions. Fengming used his folding fan to block it, while Sheji circulated her Yuan Qi to protect her body.

However, the ice disks that blasted in all directions contained too much energy. A portion of them pierced through Sheji and Fengming’s protective Yuan Qi.

Peng!

Their protective Yuan Qi had been shattered and the two of them were sent flying back. They were covered in injuries as blood kept gushing out.

They did not suffer very serious injuries and with their cultivation levels, they could quickly stop the bleeding. But to be thrown back by four inconspicuous snowflakes in front of so many people, it was too humiliating.

They were all extremely proud people, and they held high posts in the Heavenly Dao Union. They were respected and idolized by many human elites, but today, they had been defeated so badly. How could they accept that!?

“How can she be so strong!? Who is that girl!?”

Sheji’s expression twisted. She refused to believe that Yi Yun was triumphant in everything, but now, even a woman, who seemed like a flower vase he brought around as a cultivation partner, was so powerful.

The white-dressed female’s strength was not much weaker than Yi Yun’s.

What was going on with this world? How could there be so many powerful and unheard of monsters that appeared so suddenly?

“Qiongqi, why are you standing there watching? Attack together.” Sheji said exasperatedly.

Qiongqi was still in a daze. When he suddenly heard Sheji’s words, he immediately fell into a dilemma. He had not recovered from the internal injuries that Jiang Xiaorou dealt to him. He could act like a fox assuming the majesty of a tiger, but if he really faced such a monster, he was completely incapable of fighting her.

“And all of you. Snap out of it and quickly set up a formation!” Sheji exhorted the Heavenly Blood Union members.

However, this exhortation caused quite a number of Heavenly Blood Union members to subconsciously take a step back.

They felt fear even before the battle began. They were already completely stunned by the power contained in Lin Xintong’s four snowflakes.

That woman was amazing. Her strength was completely unreasonable. They felt thankful that they did not charge forward recklessly, if not, they would probably already be corpses!

The ice crystals could even injure Sheji and Fengming, so if they had landed on them instead, they would definitely have been reduced to a griddle.

642 - : Four Snowflakes

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon seeing this scene, Fengming frowned. That bunch of trash would fall over each other when it came to benefits, but now, all of them started retreating at the first sign of trouble.

However, Fengming knew clearly that it was pointless pinning his hopes on the Heavenly Blood Union members. They were not the white-dressed woman’s match as the gap in strength was too great.

“Who is this woman? How can there be such a person in the Tian Yuan world?” Sheji’s eyes flashed coldly.

The woman in front of her was dressed in white, and together with her sword, she looked like an inviolable fairy that had descended from the heavens. Her simple and elegant composure, as well as her being stronger than a Reincarnator despite not being one, overwhelmed Sheji with jealousy. She yearned to destroy Lin Xintong immediately.

“With that woman here, it’s probably impossible for us to take down Jiang Xiaorou.”

The six Reincarnators and the hundred Heavenly Blood Union members were likely no match for the white-dressed woman and slightly over fifty Desolate race elites.

Behind Lin Xintong was Jiang Xiaorou in her blood-red dress. Her face was pale and there was a smudge of red by the corner of her mouth. She looked like a beautiful flower that had bloomed in the eerie Soul Tomb. It was quite a saddening but beautiful scene.

Jiang Xiaorou supported herself with the bone staff while looking at Lin Xintong’s back.

She was already prepared to fight to the death. She was unafraid of death, but she never expected that a couple would save her while she was at Death’s doorstep. The two of them were astounding people, a dragon and phoenix amongst people.

Jiang Xiaorou did not recognize Lin Xintong who was in front of her. But when she looked at the bow-wielding youth, she had a baffling sense of familiarity for some reason.

She took a long while to recall, but… the bow-wielding youth’s aura was clearly very unfamiliar to her, completely not matching the one in her memory…

“Who are you? Do I know the both of you?” Jiang Xiaorou questioned with a voice transmission.

She was already greatly drained and wounded after using the Sacred Spirit’s power twice, but she still remained calm.

Lin Xintong sighed. Back when she met Yi Yun in the Cloud Wilderness, Jiang Xiaorou was just an ordinary girl in the Cloud Wilderness.

But now, Jiang Xiaorou was becoming ever prettier, and she already had the bearing of a Desolate Queen.

Such a peerless woman could be considered a perfect piece of art.

Unfortunately, Blood Moon had treated her like prey. It was as if killing such a perfect and invaluable lady by beheading her was the greatest joy and achievement to them.

“I think it’s best for you to hear him tell you himself.” Lin Xintong’s gentle voice entered Jiang Xiaorou’s ears.

Hear him tell me?

These words affirmed Jiang Xiaorou’s belief that she knew this bow-wielding youth.

Could it be… ?

A thought arose in Jiang Xiaorou’s mind, and it was this thought that made her heart stop beating for a moment.

Jiang Xiaorou could not help but give Yi Yun a deep look. He had a completely unfamiliar appearance and completely alien aura, but that pair of eyes made her soul gently tremble…

…

While Lin Xintong was fighting the Reincarnators, Zhulong remained standing in the sealed enchantment while coldly looking at Yi Yun. It was as if the intense battle happening nearby had nothing to do with him.

Outside, many people were looking at Zhulong and Yi Yun. The outcome of the battle between the two of them was of utmost importance. If Zhulong was no match for the combined forces of Yi Yun and that white-dressed woman, then it was no longer about receiving rewards for these Heavenly Blood Union members. It came down to them leaving here alive!

These people had joined the Heavenly Blood Union for many years, and the fact that Zhulong was extremely powerful was entrenched in their hearts, but no one had seen Zhulong fight before, so they were unsure how powerful he really was.

“You are very good!” Zhulong suddenly said these words, causing no one to be able to guess his thoughts. “You deliberately schemed to enter the Heavenly Dao Union, not for the resources within, but to destroy the Heavenly Dao Union, right?”

Zhulong’s words resounded in the valley. Many Heavenly Blood Union members shuddered in fear when they heard this. Some of them had considered this point already. Jiang Yidao, who was about their age, was actually scheming against the Martial Alliance… How much ambition and strength was needed to accomplish this?

Some people even suspected that Jiang Yidao was not even a young man, or it would be too terrifying.

“I would not say it was a deliberate scheme, it was one of the Reincarnators amongst you who took the initiative to invite me to the Heavenly Dao Union. So I was just meeting one ruse with another.” Yi Yun said sarcastically. “There’s no need to say anymore nonsense. Make your move. Gongsun Hong is already dead, and you shall be next!”

The moment Yi Yun said that, killing intent surged from his body!

He had a feud with the Blood Moon originally, and when he saw Jiang Xiaorou for the first time in so many years, Yi Yun’s heart felt like it had been pierced.

Jiang Xiaorou had been seriously injured in her battle with the Blood Moon, resulting in her having to burn her blood essence.

“You are really confident of yourself. Do you think you can definitely win?” Zhulong shook his head as his fingers tapped lightly. In the void, space began to fluctuate, and a transparent crystal appeared out of thin air, just above Zhulong’s palm.

This crystal was lustrous, and right in the middle of the crystal, there was a dark red liquid that was sealed within. It was a drop of blood.

The drop of blood was extremely heavy. It seemed to have a pulse, causing the core of the crystal to gently palpitate. Even the beams of light around it were slightly distorted by this drop of blood.

“That blood… ”

Yi Yun’s eyebrows pricked up. He could sense extremely powerful energy coming from the blood, and he even felt slightly disturbed.

Zhulong lifted the crystal above his head as he admired the drop of blood. It was as if he was entranced by the drop of blood. He began muttering, “I have lived for many years. I was the first generation’s Blood Moon. The Demon Disciples’ power flow in my body. To all of you, the first generation of Blood Moon are no different from gods!”

Gods?

Upon hearing this form of address, Yi Yun sneered, “What makes you think so?”

Zhulong ignored Yi Yun’s sarcasm as he stroked the crystal with his finger gently, splitting it into two.

“This is the Blood of Gods. It’s the most precious divine object in this world. There exist four drops now, and I happen to have one.”

Blood of Gods?

Yi Yun’s heart shuddered. He naturally remembered hearing about the “Blood of Gods” that had appeared from the God Burial Abyss when he first came out of the Great Empress mystic realm. Some people guessed that it was the “Blood of Destruction” that flowed out from the gigantic Eye of Destruction win the God Burial Abyss.

The “Blood of Destruction” was being vied for by many factions in the Tian Yuan world, resulting in the destruction of small sects, causing blood to flow like rivers.

Yi Yun had even heard of some news regarding the Blood of Destruction just before coming to the Soul Tomb.

Regardless of the rumors or where the blood came from, most importantly, Yi Yun was able to confirm that there was an astonishing amount of energy coming from that drop of blood.

At the same time, under Zhulong’s control, the drop of blood floated towards the middle of his eyebrows.

It seemed like he was about to absorb the drop of blood.

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed.

Cha!

A saber beam streaked across the dark sky, traversing thousands of feet, straight at Zhulong’s head!

He naturally did not wish to see Zhulong successfully absorb the strange drop of blood.

Zhulong only lifted a hand in order to parry the saber strike.

The black gloves he wore shimmered with a black glow. Following that, Zhulong used one hand to grab Yi Yun’s saber strike!

Both of their auras were terrifying as killing intent surged to the heavens!

Boom!

Yi Yun’s saber clashed with Zhulong’s hand.

Silver light fractured, as black light shimmered. Even the sealed enchantment could not fully seal off the collision of Yuan Qi.

The people nearby felt their hair stand as they could not help but retreat.

Zhulong managed to ward off the saber strike, but just as the fractured saber beam dissipated, Zhulong’s pupils constricted.

Jiang Yidao had traversed the distance of a thousand feet instantly, and he had appeared in front of him. Before his first saber’s momentum was completely lost, his second saber strike had already arrived!

“Courting death!” Zhulong boomed.

The saber beam that was slashing at him was ten times more blinding than the first one!

Yi Yun’s figure was in the saber beam. He did not put up any defenses. All he did was to press forward offensively.

The saber truth, pressing forward with an indomitable will!

An offensive attack that pressed forward without any regard might have flaws, but if the saber was fast and powerful enough, then flaws would no longer be flaws.

This was because the opponent would first need to fend off the saber, before countering.

The saber beam illuminated the valley. The dark clouds that filled the sky was slashed apart by the saber Qi, revealing the bright blue sky.

At that moment, quite a number of people could not help but think of the origins of Jiang Yidao’s name.

He never needed a second saber attack while killing others.

Previously, no one had seen what it looked like if Jiang Yidao made a second strike.

But now, against Zhulong, Jiang Yidao had slashed out a second and third saber strike.

643 - : Blood of Gods

CKtalon  CKtalon

Every attack of Yi Yun’s was stronger than the previous one. The bombardment was like surging waves, dispersing the dark clouds as a result. There were golden beams filled with killing intent flaring everywhere in the sky.

As he kept up his barrage of rapid attacks, Yi Yun’s pupils constricted into vertical slits, resembling needles. He aimed at a certain spot of redness in the air, which was the floating drop of blood!

With pure Yang energy exploding, Yi Yun aimed at the red drop of blood and slashed at it!

“Ding!”

A crisp crack echoed as if space itself had been shattered. However, Yi Yun was surprised to realize that he did not manage to split the drop of blood apart!

“Huh!?”

Yi Yun saw the drop of blood change shape slightly before returning to normal. He could sense a formidable force field surrounding the drop of blood. He had only struck the force field that was protecting the drop of blood.

When energy was compressed to a certain limit, it would generate a force field, and it was this force field that Yi Yun failed to split apart.

“The Blood of Gods is within my grasps, yet you think that using such a method can prevent me from merging with the drop of blood? Such naivety… ”

With a flick of his fingers, the drop of red blood flew towards the middle of Zhulong’s eyebrows.

“Chi Chi Chi!”

The crackle of a raging inferno reverberated. The flesh on Zhulong’s forehead quickly corroded after it came into contact with the drop of blood.

Zhulong’s facial muscles twitched violently as the drop of blood completely merged into his forehead.

“Boom!”

A violent energy blast was unleashed in all directions from the middle of Zhulong’s eyebrows. The sealed enchantment also began to tremble violently as Yi Yun was sent retreating.

Yi Yun could see traces of red blood spreading out from the middle of Zhulong’s eyebrows like a web. When his flesh merged with the emanating strands of blood, it slowly began to turn red and glow, as if it was burning in flames.

The dark red flames quickly covered Zhulong’s body as he suddenly roared like a primordial behemoth. The sound waves propagated outwards in a spherical waveform, visible to the naked eye. Layers of earth were lifted up by the shock wave, forming rolling waves of dirt that surged in an undulating manner. Wave after wave billowed into the sky, destroying everything in their path as they shook the mountains.

When the shock wave gushed past the surrounding humans and Desolate race warriors, they felt their organs twist in turmoil. Those who had lower cultivation levels immediately felt faint as they collapsed to the ground, blood flowing from their ears.

However, those warriors, who had collapsed to the ground from their injuries caused by the soundwave, were not feeling unhappy. In fact, they were overjoyed.

“Young Master Zhulong! Young Master Zhulong has finally revealed his true strength!”

Zhulong, who had always held back, was known to be powerful. So it was a sight to witness and understand his true strength.

“That Blood of Gods is rumored to be the blood bled by the Eye of Destruction in the eternal whirlpool. That Eye of Destruction occupies the entire God Burial Abyss. It’s unimaginable what sort of entity that is!”

Young Master Zhulong’s strength was unfathomable to begin with, and now, having merged with the Blood of Gods, he probably would obtain a portion of energy from the Eye of Destruction. Even if it was just a tiny bit of energy, it came from an existence like the Eye of Destruction that already far exceeded their imaginations.

“It’s been awhile since I experienced this strength… ”

Zhulong looked at his hands. The strands of blood on his body kept emanating towards his wrist, and infusing into his black gloves. And on the ten fingertips of the gloves, long claws popped out, it was cold-cast.

“Such nostalgia… ” Zhulong clenched his fists. After he merged with the Blood of Gods, his voice turned deep and heavy. Every word he said resonated with echoes.

“Firstly…” When Zhulong said this, there was a burst of killing intent as he abruptly chopped with his palm!

“Swish!”

A crescent-shaped energy blade shot out from Zhulong’s palm. The energy blade seemed to split the sky asunder, but its target was not Yi Yun, nor was it Lin Xintong, it was… the third Inspector, which was also the masked man Yi Yun was controlling!

“Huh!?”

Yi Yun’s split off consciousness was within the masked man’s soul sea. When he saw the crescent-shaped energy blade coming towards him, he quickly turned serious, as he controlled his avatar to quickly retreat!

However, Zhulong’s attack was too fast. The energy blade contained terrifying killing intent that was completely locked onto the masked man. There was no chance for him to dodge, so he could only forcefully withstand that attack!

The masked man flipped his hand and took out a white-boned sickle from his interspatial ring. Before he could strike out with his sickle, it had already clashed with Zhulong’s energy blade.

“Boom!”

The powerful aftershock sent the masked man flying backward!

A fiery rupture uproared from where the energy blade’s tip met the ground, ploughing open a huge chasm.

“Boom!”

The masked man crashed into the side of a mountain together with the crescent-shaped energy blade. The impact from the explosion sent chunks of boulders down the mountain side.

The masked man’s arms fractured, while the white-boned sickle in his hand broke into two. The wanton energy sent a sickening jolt through his body. Several of his rib bones were broken. His mask had also fallen off, revealing a mangled, bloody face.

Shentu Nantian’s body was not considered an excellent one. After Shentu Nantian was killed, it was first possessed by a Yin specter, then it was taken hold by the evil energy. With the various injuries from all his past battles, this body was already in ruins. Now with the fatal blow from Zhulong, the body was in a mess internally. It was completely maimed.

“Ah— Ah— ”

In the masked man’s soul sea, the split off consciousness that Yi Yun had left in it did not depart. He could sense the evil energy hidden in the masked man’s soul sea growl and roar angrily. Although the evil energy lacked intelligence, it possessed instincts. With its “habitat” destroyed, it was naturally incensed.

However, Yi Yun suppressed the evil energy, preventing it from charging outward.

This evil energy was still in an inchoate state, so Yi Yun did not want it to be revealed in front of Zhulong. Zhulong was indeed powerful, and with him absorbing the strange Blood of Gods, it was difficult to estimate how strong he had become.

The evil energy was still under the control of the Purple Crystal, so with an order from Yi Yun’s consciousness, it fell dormant.

As for Shentu Nantian’s body, it was completely in shambles. The body spat out large amounts of blood and organ bits. In the eyes of the human warriors, this body of Shentu Nantian was not going to live on further.

Zhulong’s single fatal blow at the third Inspector made the crowd feel apprehensive.

The masked man was a cruel and merciless person in the hearts of the Heavenly Blood Union members. He was the capricious administrator of the Heavenly Blood Union, yet now, he had been instantly disposed off by Zhulong.

Had Zhulong already determined that the masked man was a traitor? Was he not afraid of making a mistake?

“This trash is being controlled by you?” Zhulong said slowly as he looked at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was slightly stunned when he heard this. He never expected Zhulong to figure out the masked man’s betrayal, let alone his control of the masked man.

Zhulong sneered and said, “You have concealed so much. With your strength, how can the third Inspector have the ability to forcefully make you sign a soul contract? That itself is a problem. Furthermore, there is a faint spiritual connection between you and the third Inspector… ”

Zhulong was extremely perceptive. He may not have discovered the evil energy, but when Yi Yun used the Purple Crystal to control the evil energy, he had to use a bit of spiritual energy, and it was this tiny amount that Zhulong managed to detect.

“I don’t like people playing with puppets in front of me, and I abhor a snake hidden amidst my men. You have killed the true third Inspector already, right!?”

The third Inspector was being controlled by Yi Yun?

The Heavenly Blood Union members were rendered speechless by Zhulong’s words.

They found it difficult to believe that the feared third Inspector, who always had an aura of austere gloominess, had been killed by Jiang Yidao and controlled as a puppet.

Could it be that the actions of the third Inspector towards the punishments, rewards and orders to the Heavenly Blood Union members were all Jiang Yidao’s intentions?

Who was this Jiang Yidao? How did he have such inconceivable abilities?

644 - : Merging

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Senior Brother Jiang… managed to take control of the third Inspector when he was pursuing us. We thought that Senior Brother Jiang had succumbed to the third Inspector, but it was the third Inspector who had become Senior Brother Jiang’s puppet!”

Wei Chiwei recollected the sequences of the masked man’s pursuit of them. The surging killing intent emitted by the masked man when he chased after them was not something that could be faked. There was no need for Yi Yun to have done that.

Later on, they were sealed in the large array, with their perception cut off. It prevented them from knowing anything that happened outside. When they came out, they received the news that Yi Yun had signed a soul contract. Furthermore, Yi Yun got them to sign the soul contract as well.

From the looks of it, Yi Yun had managed to gain control of the masked man outside the array.

How did Jiang Yidao have the means to control a top expert?

“Senior Brother Jiang had long controlled the masked man, so he must have tampered with the soul contract. No wonder he could ignore the soul contract now. From the looks of it, the soul contract we signed is also fake.”

Wei Chiwei and company realized this and they heaved a sigh of relief. They could not escape from the soul contract once it was signed.

“Could the person who saved us be the Inspector controlled by Senior Brother Jiang… ?”

The Chu sisters looked at the devastated body of the masked man which was covered in black blood. Recalling that sinister aura, it was indeed no different to the masked man’s…

…

The third Inspector was killed in one move, depicting the increase in strength that Zhulong received after absorbing the Blood of Destruction.

At that moment, Zhulong was hovering in the sky as his aura constantly increased. His muscles swelled up as his joints cracked with explosive sounds. Unperceptively, Zhulong’s body had grown in height, making him taller than Yi Yun by a head. A dark red blood trace spread out from the middle of his eyebrows, like channels that circled all around his body.

He looked like a lofty mountain that could not be looked straight at. He was high and mighty, as his aura suppressed everyone.

“I have killed that chess piece of yours. Next, it shall be you.”

After he finished speaking, Zhulong suddenly moved. His aura recessed, as the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in a fifty kilometer radius rumbled!

“Sou!”

Zhulong traversed a distance of a thousand feet in an instant, and punched at Yi Yun. This was his first meaningful attack!

All the eyes of the Heavenly Blood Union members lit up. As long as Zhulong beat Jiang Yidao, they could easily overcome and wipe out the Desolate race members!

The echo from the explosive sound caused their skin to turn numb. And before they were cognizant of their physiological response, Zhulong had already appeared in front of Yi Yun!

It was too fast!

At that instant, the space around Yi Yun was receding, forming a spatial cage that trapped Yi Yun within it.

Zhulong possessed power that far exceeded anyone Yi Yun had previously met.

This was the power of the Blood of Gods?

“Clang!”

Yi Yun brandished his saber, as all of his Yuan Qi exploded. Behind Yi Yun, a black Nine Neonate phantom image appeared. The nine heads roared at the heavens!

With his Aspect Totem conjured, and through the augmentation of the pure Yang powers with the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” as a foundation, the Nine Neonate totem imbued itself in the Ancient Dust Saber, and it was shot out by Yi Yun’s slash.

“Roar!”

The Nine Neonate roared and collided with Zhulong’s fist. In the overwhelming explosion, the Ancient Dust Saber vibrated violently. The pressure dealt to the Ancient Dust Saber was not something it could withstand!

Yi Yun obtained the saber from the Heavenly Blood Union’s treasury. Although it was not some peerless divine weapon, it was still a top weapon in the Tian Yuan World. However, there were signs that the saber was failing to withstand Zhulong’s immense strength.

“Ka-cha!”

Zhulong grabbed The Ancient Dust Saber. While wearing the black glove, his five sharp claws lodged onto the Ancient Dust Saber’s blade tip.

Without a doubt, the black glove was a supreme-grade treasure whose quality far exceeded Yi Yun’s Ancient Dust Saber.

“Zhi Zhi Zhi!”

The Ancient Dust Saber issued a series of twisting metal sounds, as if the saber was about to be forcefully ripped apart by Zhulong!

This amount of strength was terrifying!

“This is your strength?” Zhulong laughed wantonly.

As his face was covered in strands of blood lines, it made his smile look extremely ferocious.

“Break!”

Zhulong tightened his grip. But at that moment, Yi Yun infused all his Yuan Qi into the Ancient Dust Saber, causing the saber to become as hard as divine metal.

The saber truth, pressing forward with an indomitable will!

“Cha!”

The Ancient Dust Saber was pulled out. As it rubbed across Zhulong’s black gloves, it emitted an ear-piercing screech.

A saber’s solidness not only depended on the saber’s material, it also depended on the saber-bearer’s strength and his insight into the saber Dao.

Yi Yun had forcefully used his own strength to preserve the Ancient Dust Saber. He managed to retreat with his saber intact.

Upon seeing this scene, Zhulong was slightly stunned at first before he sneered.

Although he failed to break the Ancient Dust Saber, the blade tip had been damaged. The saber was supported by Yi Yun’s saber intent. Once Yi Yun’s saber intent weakened, the saber would also shatter.

However, how could Yi Yun ensure his saber intent would constantly be strong against Zhulong’s powerful attacks?

“Die!”

Zhulong shouted as he charged at Yi Yun. His charge was accompanied by whistling thunder.

Zhulong punched a second time, and this one was much more powerful and terrifying than the first.

Yi Yun’s surroundings sealed him a spatial prison once again, preventing him from evading. As Yi Yun saw the punch reach him, he focused and became one with the saber!

Break!

“Ka-cha!”

Yi Yun forcefully slashed the spatial prison open. He flew out with his saber, while Zhulong’s punch followed, landed in thin air!

“Boom!”

Like a meteorite crashing into the ground, a mountain a hundred meters away experienced the brunt of the shock wave from Zhulong’s punch.

The ten-thousand-foot-tall mountain rumbled. Its middle cratered from the immense shockwave, leaving behind a gigantic punch mark.

Next, the mountain began to collapse as rocks rolled down, while a plume of dust sprung up, covering the sky.

The gigantic mountain collapsed with a tumultuous boom, causing the ground to quake as a result.

The warriors who were watching from afar were stunned when they saw this. The Soul Tomb’s environment was special. The rocks here had been nourished by the Yin aura over tens of millions of years, making the rocks here much harder than those outside the Soul Tomb.

However, a mountain composed of such rocks had collapsed from Zhulong’s punch. And his punch did not even strike the mountain. There was a distance of a hundred meters separating them!

If it was a person who had bore the brunt of the strike, what would be that person’s outcome? It probably was not enough to describe him as perishing utterly.

“Too powerful!”

“If Jiang Yidao is hit by a punch, the outcome would be obvious!”

The Heavenly Blood Union members felt their blood boil from watching this.

Who could withstand such power? What could Jiang Yidao do? He might have heaven-defying talent, but he was not a Reincarnator who had lived several incarnations!

If they had strength similar to Zhulong, how liberating would that be?

If they mastered the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”, then their strengths would also increase multifold. Even if they were not as strong as Zhulong, as long as they had 5-10% of his strength, it was enough!

645 - : Yi Yun Battles Zhulong

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You broke my spatial prison open?” Zhulong looked down at Yi Yun while hovering high in the sky. He was not bothered that Yi Yun had managed to dodge his second punch.

“You are very fast. Unfortunately, in my area of influence, speed is meaningless. If you want to defeat me, you need to be able to withstand the pressure of my area of influence, and face me head on. If not, defeating me is impossible.”

As Zhulong spoke, countless black bolts of lightning circulated in the surrounding space. Zhulong and Yi Yun were previously enclosed in a large sealed enchantment, but now, the enchantment was beginning to shrink.

With the enchantment shrinking, its intensity also grew stronger. Slowly, Yi Yun could sense that the surrounding space around him was turning viscous.

The space seemed to begin possessing mass. The heavy space permeated the surroundings, resulting in beams of light to be distorted when they crossed this space.

“Oh? This is… ”

Yi Yun was surprised. He spread his perception out, but there was nothing around him.

“Are you surprised?” Zhulong opened up his arms as he indulged himself in the viscous space. He seemed to be lord of this space, where he was in control of everything.

“An absolute void is not necessarily devoid of matter. Space itself is a formation of energy. It can dominate and create life, and it can also dominate and annihilate life. When it is condensed into an extremity, it will distort. It will restrain everything within it like gravity, preventing anything from escaping. This is just a very small aspect of spatial dimension laws… ”

Spatial dimension laws were extremely mysterious to Tian Yuan world warriors.

Canonized material that described space and time were hard to come by. But from hearing what Zhulong had to say today, the Heavenly Blood Union members present felt their hearts palpitate.

Such a mysterious power made their blood boil.

Zhulong’s power was already terrifying enough. He had the physical strength to twist and break a treasured weapon of the Tian Yuan world, and he was well-versed in spatial dimension laws. He was the epitome of invincibility.

Even Yi Yun found this spatial area of influence extremely mysterious, let alone the Tian Yuan world warriors.

He still had a long path ahead, so fighting against experts who were similar in strength aided his growth.

“With space already sealed, how are you going to dodge this time?” Zhulong’s energy began to combust. The energy on his body surface presented itself as gray flames. As the flames gathered behind Zhulong, it slowly formed into a black coiled dragon.

The black dragon revealed its teeth and brandished its claws, while emitting a deep growl.

This black dragon’s scales, claws and beard were extremely lifelike, as if it was a real black dragon.

It was a Torch Dragon, which was also Zhulong’s Aspect Totem.

Zhulong, who had conjured his Aspect Totem, increased his strength several fold!

“Heaven Incinerating Dragon’s Inferno!”

Zhulong punched out, while the Torch Dragon phantom image behind him imbued itself into his fist. The grayish-black inferno consumed its surroundings like plumes of dark clouds gathered together, torching the Heaven and Earth!

Yi Yun was fully focused on taking on the punch. As the space around him became more viscous and twisted, it made it impossible for him to evade Zhulong’s attack.

Yi Yun roared as the Nine Neonate Aspect Totem behind him augmented itself into his body, allowing his strength to instantly increase!

The saber truth, One With the Saber!

Whew!

The saber blade forcefully broke the distorted space open, while also sending a saber beam that was like a hundred-feet-wide golden waterfall that fell downwards at Zhulong’s fist.

Ka-cha!

An intense collision erupted as two terrifying shockwaves merged together to form a violent stormy blast. This blast was compressed within the twisted space, and it grew in strength as it was being compressed.

Just like the air that was being forcefully compressed in a balloon, it finally exploded when it reached its limits!

“Boom!”

The distorted space was largely dissipated as a spherical shock wave shot out. Yi Yun felt a tremendous force hit him like he was being by a mountain. He felt a sharp pain in his organs as he was sent flying backward.

“Ding!”

With a crisp sound, a series of blue frost-like patterns began appearing in the middle of the saber in Yi Yun’s hands, before it shattered!

As he experienced the powerful impact, Yi Yun could no longer use his saber intent to preserve the Ancient Dust Saber. As such, his saber had reached the end of its life.

“First, I’ll destroy your saber, then I’ll take your life!”

In the stormy blast, Zhulong roared with laughter. The Torch Dragon phantom image behind him roared and charged at Yi Yun!

A Torch Dragon was a legendary divine beast that could create seasonal winds just by breathing. As for the Torch Dragon Aspect Totem condensed by Zhulong, although it was not the result of condensing a divine beast’s beast mark, his Aspect Totem still possessed the powerful stance of a divine beast.

As Yi Yun was sent retreating by the shock wave, the Torch Dragon Aspect Totem rushed after him.

Unfortunately, Yi Yun had just attacked, causing his Yuan Qi to greatly weaken. Furthermore, his Ancient Dust Saber had already shattered.

Ka Ka Ka!

The space behind Yi Yun began to coagulate, sealing off any room for Yi Yun’s retreat. This gave him no choice but to face Zhulong’s Aspect Totem directly.

“Die!”

Zhulong’s killing intent was surging, and his strike was not something that Yi Yun could dodge at all.

As the Torch Dragon widely opened its mouth to devour Yi Yun, he decided to abandon the shortened Ancient Dust Saber. He levelled his arms as he used his chest to directly meet the strike!

This pose was undoubtedly suicidal.

“Oh? Have you succumbed to your fate?”

Just as this thought arose in the minds of everyone, they suddenly heard a sharp screech emit from Yi Yun’s body.

A reddish-gold firebird flew out of Yi Yun’s chest, charging straight at the Torch Dragon totem.

This firebird’s wingspan was more than a hundred feet wide. It was covered in fiery feathers and had three legs. It was a three-legged Golden Crow!

After cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, Yi Yun’s pure Yang laws had improved greatly. This also caused his Golden Crow Aspect Totem to completely remould itself. Its power was completely different from the past.

A Torch Dragon and a Golden Crow.

The two powerful Aspect Totems danced in the air, and clashed with each other without any gaudy display.

Boom!

These impacts far exceeded the Yuan Qi storm blast that had previously been compressed to its limits!

Under this jarring impact, the sealed enchantment that Zhulong set up trembled violently. There were even terrifying blast waves that tore off a portion of the enchantment, piercing outwards like sharp swords!

They numbered more than ten, and these blast waves contained unimaginable power as a result of being highly compressed!

“Careful!” Someone exclaimed.

However, it was too late, because the blast waves were too fast. In the instant they saw it, it had already streaked towards the horizons.

An unlucky human warrior had been stabbed by a blast wave.

Puah!

The person’s body broke up into pieces. He did not even bleed, because all of his blood had been scorched dry in a thousandth of a second.

After the blast wave penetrated the human warrior, it did not lose any momentum. Wherever it passed, mountains would be left with a gaping hole, and a wide chasm opened up beneath it. It had an indomitable momentum!

These blast waves were energy trapped in the enchantment, a product of the combined blast of Yi Yun and Zhulong, so how could a common elite be able to withstand it?

Upon seeing this scene, everyone were appalled as their faces turned white.

The only reason they survived was not because they were strong, but because they were lucky. After all, there were only about a dozen blast waves. They were standing a distance away, and they weren’t in any of the blast waves’ trajectories. They definitely could not dodge them, nor could they withstand them. They would only be reduced to shreds!

Such terrifying energy was produced from within the sealed enchantment. So without a doubt, at the moment of the explosion, it was a hell where even gods could be slayed inside the enchantment.

If they had been in it, they would definitely be reduced to ashes!

Then what about Zhulong and Jiang Yidao?

“How is the battle?”

“Is Jiang Yidao dead?”

People looked at the sealed enchantment, which were riddled with about a dozen holes, despite not having recovered from their shock. At that moment, the energy within the enchantment was still chaotic, preventing them from seeing things clearly.

Only after some of the energy dissipated did they manage to barely make out Zhulong’s figure.

He was still hovering midair, but his hair was slightly disheveled.

At that moment, he was looking at the embers of the pure Yang flames within the space, as if deep in thought.

Suddenly, he laughed. “Golden Crow Aspect Totem. It seems I have heard about this somewhere… ”

646 - : Torch Dragon versus Golden Crow

CKtalon  CKtalon

An Aspect Totem was a warrior’s trademark. Although not every warriors’ Aspect Totem was different in form from another’s, it would not be easy to find warriors who had similar Aspect Totems, unless they cultivated in similar cultivation techniques, had similar physiques and condensed the same beast marks.

The Aspect Totem behind Yi Yun was a three-legged Golden Crow, which was a very rare Aspect Totem in the Tian Yuan world. It was nearly synonymous with being Yi Yun’s personal trademark.

Today, Yi Yun’s conjuration of the Golden Crow Aspect Totem naturally caused Zhulong to make the connection.

The chaotic blobs of light slowly dissipated within the sealed enchantment as Yi Yun’s figure entered the crowd’s vision.

He was hovering in midair, his clothes now slightly tattered. Other than that, there was nothing different about him. Even the compressed, violent blast within the sealed enchantment had failed to injure Yi Yun.

Zhulong narrowed his eyes as he stared at Yi Yun, as if he was trying to penetrate Yi Yun with his gaze.

The Golden Crow Aspect Totem alone was not enough to confirm that Jiang Yidao was Yi Yun, but with Jiang Yidao being a peerless genius aswell, there was pretty much no doubt about it.

As for the white-dressed woman accompanying Yi Yun, it was beyond all doubt that she was Lin Xintong.

“So it is the two of you. Yi Yun… Lin Xintong… No wonder the two of you would save the Desolate race’s devils. What a joke…”

Zhulong’s words resounded in the ears of many Heavenly Blood Union members, causing all of them to fall stunned.

Jiang Yidao was Yi Yun?

In fact, a number of them had already made the connection when they saw the Golden Crow Aspect Totem.

Zhulong’s words just confirmed their speculations.

“It really is Yi Yun!”

Yi Yun, who was in reclusive training in the Great Empress mystic realm, came out this fast? And his strength was so ridiculously strong after emerging?

“Who knew that Jiang Yidao would be Yi Yun. Jiang Yidao’s bone age was twenty-six, while Yi Yun is actually about twenty-two years old, younger than Jiang Yidao.”

To have such strength at twenty-two years old made people of the same age despair. Just looking at Yi Yun’s back would cause them to lose the confidence to walk on the path of martial arts.

If he combined forces with Lin Xintong, would there be anyone in the entire Tian Yuan world who could stop them in another decade?

“So what if he is strong? He does not know how to endure and hide. He will still die. If he hid in the Great Empress mystic realm, no one could have done anything to him, but now, with him emerging… how can the Martial Alliance spare him?”

“He was forced to use his Golden Crow Aspect Totem in the Soul Tomb, revealing his identity. Even if he manages to escape from Lord Zhulong, he will definitely be doomed once the news spreads when we leave the Soul Tomb.”

Many of the Heavenly Blood Union members present yearned for Yi Yun to die.

Yi Yun’s inheriting the ancient Great Empress’ inheritance made them jealous. And now, with his strength being so ridiculous, not only was he invincible amongst people his age, even people from the older generation might not be able to beat him. If such a genius peer did not die, they would suffer from the pressure dealt to them.

Furthermore, Yi Yun had betrayed the human race by submitting to the Desolate race, giving them a reason to punish him.

“So it is that traitor! I was wondering why a human would save the Desolate race devils. This sort of person should be brought back to the Martial Alliance and have his cultivation maimed, and then suffer death from a dismembered heart. His corpse should be hung on in the Martial Alliance’s square and paraded!”

After Yi Yun’s identity was revealed, many Heavenly Blood Union members yearned for Yi Yun to be immediately killed. However, on the other side of the battlefield, under the blood moon, Jiang Xiaorou, who was dressed in red, had tears streaming down her face.

“Yun’er, it really is you…”

Jiang Xiaorou muttered to herself. Having been separated for a decade, they ended up meeting in the perennially dark Soul Tomb, facing the Blood Moon with their lives on the line. It was quite a regretful feeling.

Seeing the tears in Jiang Xiaorou’s eyes, Lin Xintong empathized with her.

When she met Yi Yun in the Cloud Wilderness, she clearly understood the living environment in the Cloud Wilderness. It was imaginable how deep their feelings for each other was as a pair of siblings who had relied on each other in the Cloud Wilderness.

“Miss Xiaorou, your body is still weak. It is best if you meditate and try to recover. Do not be too agitated as you do not need to worry about Yi Yun.”

“Thank you, Miss Lin.”

Jiang Xiaorou and Lin Xintong knew of each other, but they had never met prior to this.

Today was the first time they met. Both had close relationships with Yi Yun, and were equally peerless in beauty…

…

Having his identity revealed was something Yi Yun had already expected. He never planned on hiding his identity within the Soul Tomb.

He decided to refrain from disguising himself, and immediately removed the “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book”. Immediately, Yi Yun’s face flashed as his body began to grow taller. His joints began to crack as his facial muscles began to shrink, causing his facial features to turn more handsome, and his eyes brighter.

In just a few seconds, Yi Yun returned to his original looks, transforming into a handsome youth who had an extraordinary bearing.

“He is Yi Yun. He does look like the portrait in the wanted poster, but there is something different…”

The wanted poster might have drawn Yi Yun’s facial features, but many of the details in the portrait had been drawn to purposely uglify Yi Yun, making him look like a despicable person.

Now however, when they saw Yi Yun in person, when matching his strength and bearings to his facial features, it gave them a feeling of looking at a hero of orthodox origin, a dragon amongst men.

Even many of Yi Yun’s enemies could not help but admit that such a youth was definitely the best outstanding talent in the Tian Yuan world.

“It really is you. That’s right, I should have long guessed that it could only be you!” As Zhulong looked at Yi Yun, the blood traces on his body shimmered, as if blood was flowing from the middle of his eyebrows and into the surroundings.

“There was really no effort wasted in searching for you! You could have safely remained in reclusive training in the Great Empress mystic realm for decades, or even a century. Although long periods of reclusivity could hinder your martial path, it would be better than lacking in strength now and being killed by me.”

“Since you have emerged, how can I let down such a grand gift. Today, your life, as well as the inheritance you inherited, shall all be mine!”

As Zhulong spoke, his body surged with Yuan Qi, causing his long hair to stand up in the Yuan Qi tempest.

Around him, space began to condense and distort again. The sealed enchantment, which had more than ten pierced holes due to the blast waves, were mended, and grew in strength.

From afar, people could clearly see the boundary of the sealed enchantment. It was like a gigantic black egg shell, and everything within it seemed to be isolated in its own unknown space-time.

“Ka!”

Zhulong clenched his fists, the sounds of his knuckles cracking under the black gloves resounding.

“My fist has already broken your saber. Next, I shall break your spine!”

Yi Yun only faintly smiled while facing the black fist Zhulong had lifted up.

With a flip of his hand, a rusty broken sword appeared in his palm.

“Cut the crap, make your move.”

647 - : No More Hiding

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Sword?” Upon seeing the rusty, broken sword in Yi Yun’s hand, Zhulong chuckled. He naturally knew that Yi Yun dual cultivated in both sabers and swords, and that he also knew archery.

He even knew that Yi Yun had a crappy, broken sword. Back during the trials of the Great Empress mystic realm, Yi Yun had used the broken sword to kill Shentu Nantian.

All of this had naturally been described by the young elites that left the Great Empress mystic realm.

Yi Yun’s strength was too strong amongst the young elites present in the Great Empress mystic realm, so they were extremely shocked about it. However… a Reincarnator like Zhulong did not find it remarkable when he listened to their description.

Reincarnators had reincarnated many times, so their pride was extremely high, so how would it be easy for juniors to strike fear into their hearts?

“Your saber was exchanged from the Martial Alliance’s treasury, and has already been broken by a single punch from me. As for your sword… Is that your sword?”

Zhulong looked disdainfully at the broken sword in Yi Yun’s hand.

He would not have belittled a weapon taken out by Yi Yun. He had previously guessed that the broken sword must have been obtained by Yi Yun in the Great Empress mystic realm, but today, he realized that the sword lacked any luster, and had even rusted.

Zhulong had lived for many years, so he had extensive knowledge and experience. He was confident of his judgment. He believed that he could identify what was extraordinary when it came to treasures, despite its age.

However, Zhulong did not think highly of the sword in Yi Yun’s hand.

A peerless divine weapon might lose its luster, but it was impossible for it to rust. Even if a divine weapon broke and lost a lot of its spirituality, the weapon’s material should still be top-grade.

Such materials should remain lustrous, despite the passage of millions of years, so it should not look so unbearably bad.

For example, the black glove on Zhulong’s hands was named Heaven’s Punishment. It came from an Abyss World, different from the Tian Yuan world. It had existed for so long that it had been forgotten. It even exceeded Blood Moon’s own history.

Over such a long period of time, Heaven’s Punishment still contained extremely powerful energy.

As for Yi Yun’s broken sword, it was completely not up to par.

For the sword to be in such an old and terrible state, it meant that Yi Yun’s sword must have experienced a devastating attack, causing the materials to destroyed, resulting in it rusting due to not being able to bear the passage of time.

No matter how powerful an ancient treasure was, if its materials were destroyed, then it would be no different from scrap metal.

An abandoned ancient treasure picked up in the Great Empress mystic realm was probably useful against trash like Shentu Nantian. However, it definitely could not withstand a blow in front of him.

It was simply courting death to use such an ancient treasure to fight against him.

“I will break your sword, along with your body!”

“Yuan Energy Battle Embodiment!”

The distorted space around Zhulong compressed once again, as it formed a layer on his body’s surface.

Gravity, space and energy mixed together, forming a force field that clung closely to Zhulong’s body.

“Oh? This is…”

Yi Yun was slightly surprised. He had never before seen such divine techniques as those employed by Zhulong. It was completely different from the field Yi Yun had cultivated in. The path of martial arts had 3000 Great Dao, with numerous variations amongst the laws.

The force field tremored, forming silk-thin, gray-colored flames which rose up from Zhulong’s body. His strength and aura constantly increased, resulting in an augmentation that exceeded 20%.

Yi Yun could tell that this was a combination of a mystic technique and laws that caused the strength augmentation.

Blood Moon was an ancient organization, and in fact, the core of Blood Moon, which was labeled as the first generation Blood Moon, only had three people.

They were the actual overseers of Blood Moon, and Zhulong was one of them.

The best resources of Blood Moon as well as the best inheritance, which accumulated for tens of millions of years were only used by these three.

The other people, be they Reincarnators or Yin specters, were just their subordinates who served them.

For example, Zhulong’s attainment in spatial dimension laws far exceeded that of any other Reincarnator. The main reason was because Zhulong had previously obtained a “Realm Stone”.

A “Realm Stone”, was a foundation rock of a world. A small world’s existence has its foundation, which was a Realm Stone. It was the core of a small world.

Zhulong had managed to refine a small world’s Realm Stone, causing his understanding of spatial dimensional laws to reach a terrifying level.

“Dragon Indra Overlord Blood!”

Zhulong punched out, as his speed reached his limits!

From the beginning of his battle with Yi Yun, every attack of Zhulong’s was stronger than the previous one. Yi Yun faced his attacks seriously, without being careless in any way.

With the broken sword in hand, the shocking sword scar he saw at the Pure Yang Sword Palace appeared in his mind.

“Kill!”

Yi Yun slashed out with his sword. Behind him, the Golden Crow and the Nine Neonate flew up, merging into the sword beam. Sword beams torrented down, destroying anything in its path. The void that had turned distorted and viscous around Yi Yun, was torn apart as the broken sword penetrated through it, stabbing straight at Zhulong’s fist!

Zhulong was wearing Heaven’s Punishment on his hand. Treasures like gloves were extremely difficult to forge.

Heaven’s Punishment was definitely one of the best treasures in Blood Moon’s armory.

The glove-wearing fist seemed like a black hole as it absorbed all the surrounding light.

As for Yi Yun’s broken sword, it was dark and lacked luster.

“I will break your sword and your arm!” Zhulong roared as his first hit the broken sword.

“Boom!”

The distorted space began to ripple, Yuan Qi shooting out in all directions. Wherever they hit, they would open large chasms in the ground or cleave off tall mountains.

The Heavenly Blood Union members present had all retreated in shock. Thanks to the previous dozen blast waves, which killed a Heavenly Blood Union member, they had already pulled back. If they had not, there would be now be a greater death and injured count.

Zhulong’s expectation of his fist blowing through Yi Yun and his sword did not happen when they made the resounding contact. Instead, he felt a tremendous force pass through his arm. The broken sword was unimaginably hard.

No matter how good a treasured glove was, it was still soft. So in a head-on clash, how could it beat a sword?

“Ka-cha!”

With a crisp crack, Zhulong’s expression changed. He felt an excruciating pain coming from his hand. His right finger joints had fractured during the impact!

How could that be!?

Fracturing a finger bone was a trivial wound to a warrior, as it could be recovered in a day or two.

However, in an intense battle, who would give one the time to heal?

Zhulong’s heart sank, for he could not believe that the broken sword in Yi Yun’s hand was a divine sword.

Despite the sword having rusted, which was a trademark of destroyed pieces of metal, how could it be so powerful?

During that instant, Zhulong did not have the time to ponder over it carefully. With a twirl of his body, Yi Yun slashed his broken sword at Zhulong’s neck!

As his sword slashed forward, it ignited endless pure Yang flames in the void between them.

“Courting death!”

Zhulong angrily growled as he waved his left hand, grabbing Yi Yun’s sword.

By wearing Heaven’s Punishment, holding a saber or sword was a trivial thing; however, when Zhulong grabbed Yi Yun’s sword, a searing pain was inflicted on his palm. The sword seemed like it was going to split his palm apart!

648 - : Yi Yun’s Sword

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What sort of sword is this!?”

Despite wearing Heaven’s Punishment, it was still not enough to withstand the sharpness of the sword.

A sword’s sharpness was not only determined by the sword’s physical sharpness, it also depended on the Sword Intent contained within the sword.

Some ancient divine swords could only have their Sword Intents sealed when placed in a scabbard. The moment it was drawn out of the scabbard, just a look at the sword could be enough to inflict injuries on someone, despite not touching its blade.

This nameless ancient sword was as such.

For someone to use his hand to grab the blade of a sword of that would reign sovereign amongst swords, it was an act of blasphemy towards the ancient sword.

Without needing Yi Yun to power it with his Yuan Qi, the ancient sword automatically began to vibrate, and the Sword Intent condensed within it surged out. Despite being separated by Heaven’s Punishment, Zhulong’s palm was slashed by the Sword Intent. Gashes forming as blood turned his palm crimson!

“What!?”

Zhulong’s expression changed. His left hand subconsciously released the sword like a mortal touching a hot surface.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s hand suddenly jerked, pulling the broken sword away!

“Cha!”

The sword’s blade slid across Zhulong’s palm as Sword Intent shot out in all directions. With a sudden vibration, the black glow from Heaven’s Punishment lost its luster.

Zhulong’s left hand was trembling, underneath Heaven’s Punishment, his hand’s tendons and bones had all been severed!

And at that moment, Yi Yun raised his sword again. On the ancient broken sword, the specks of rust began to emit a faint glow.

These rust specks was actually the blood of a Bronze Ancient God, which had stained the broken sword. The Bronze Ancient God’s blood had merged with the sword, and with the passage of time, the sword had turned into its present state. The rust itself was not a mark of the metal being destroyed, but was a container of the immense power and laws stored within the blood!

Yi Yun’s present realm was still insufficient for him to use the laws contained within, but it was still enough for him to be able to dominate in the Tian Yuan world.

As he slashed out, the sword whistled towards Zhulong. Sword beams spewed out, tearing open the distorted void.

As Zhulong saw the sword blade approaching him, he no longer dared to use his hand to block it. With a roar, his Yuan Energy Battle Embodiment was pushed to its limits, causing a visible curtain of black light to form on the surface of his body. At the same time, Zhulong retreated rapidly!

“Peng!”

The broken sword slashed onto Zhulong’s protective, black light membrane and shattered it immediately. The wanton sword winds created from the slash tore apart the chest armor Zhulong was wearing.

Zhulong was sent flying backward, like a kite with a broken thread, but Yi Yun did not give Zhulong the chance to make any alterations. With the broken sword in hand, he chased after Zhulong.

As sword beams shot forward, they constantly tore apart the distorted void that curbed Yi Yun’s speed. The broken sword clung tightly onto Zhulong, as every attack stabbed at Zhulong’s throat.

As Zhulong retreated, he endured the pain coming from his hand and punched out.

“Torch Dragon’s Nine Death Punches!”

Zhulong punched out nine times, the force from his fist exploding midair. However, he no longer dared to make contact with the strange broken sword.

Zhulong, who did not dare to fight head on and had injuries on his hands, was forced into retreat by Yi Yun!

“Boom!”

While retreating, Zhulong smashed into a mountain behind him, causing the thousand feet mountain to turn into smithereens!

As rubble scattered around like a wanton storm, Zhulong charged out from within the rubble, his hair disheveled.

Yi Yun chased straight after him and loudly said, “Did you not say that, in your spatial area of influence, if I do not fight you head on, I would definitely lose? Now, despite me fighting you head on, you constantly escape. It’s so boring.”

Yi Yun showed no mercy as he ridiculing Zhulong by using his own words from before, smacking his face directly.

Yi Yun was using this method to force Zhulong to face him head on.

Despite being able to break open the distorted space with the broken sword, Yi Yun would still be slowed down in the spatial area of influence. It prevented him from perfectly using “Golden Crow Sun Shift”, making it very difficult for him to kill Zhulong!

Yi Yun’s derision made a vein pop up on Zhulong’s forehead, but he did not lose his mind because of Yi Yun. He was very clear-minded. The broken sword was too odd. If he used a long range weapon, he could still put up a fight, but with the Heaven’s Punishment…

This sort of weapon for empty fists was restraining him too much. Since he could not directly parry the attacks, how was he to defeat Yi Yun?

Zhulong suppressed his embarrassment and carried on dodging Yi Yun’s sword, but in the eyes of the Heavenly Blood Union members, it was a completely different matter.

All they saw was Zhulong being chased by Yi Yun as he was being beaten up. He looked pathetic.

This made all the Heavenly Blood Union members stare on with eyes widened and mouths open. In their hearts, Zhulong was synonymous with undefeatable. He represented the mysteriousness and invincibility of the Martial Alliance.

However, now… the redoubtable figure they worshiped was being suppressed so badly by a junior like Yi Yun.

They were jealous and furious at Yi Yun, wishing for him to be maimed of his cultivation, then tortured to death, with his corpse strung up for all to see.

However… the anticipated scene of Zhulong crippling Yi Yun did not happen. Instead, the Human race’s traitor was close to crippling Zhulong.

Some of the meticulous human warriors had already discovered that the way Zhulong clenched his fist looked unnatural. This implied that Zhulong’s hand was probably injured, and his injuries were likely quite severe!

If Zhulong was defeated by Yi Yun, what would happen to them?

To keep things under wraps, Yi Yun would probably silence all of them!

Just thinking of this made many of them panick.

Some people were considering escaping, but the Soul Tomb, it was a completely sealed space. Escaping? It was easier said than done! Furthermore, there was also Lin Xintong guarding by the side. This white-dressed woman’s strength would definitely exceed their imaginations.

“Peng!”

When Zhulong could no longer retreat, he broke through the sealed enchantment’s boundary!

The black membrane shattered. Once out of the spatial force field, the distorted space would no longer be an obstacle to Yi Yun’s speed. Then Yi Yun’s ability to chase would definitely increase several fold.

With the “Golden Crow Sun Shift” movement technique, Zhulong, who was not adept at speed, was definitely no match for Yi Yun.

“Meet your end!”

Yi Yun knew deeply that it was because Zhulong had underestimated him was the reason why he ended up receiving those injuries to his hand. And to a fist user, having his hands injured meant losing a large portion of his combat ability. Taking advantage of a situation was Yi Yun’s battle principle.

Sword beams appeared once again as the two-foot long, broken sword stabbed straight at Zhulong’s heart!

And at that moment… Yi Yun, who was flying forward from the sword’s momentum, felt his body suddenly sink. The space surrounding him coagulated again as a strong suction force began to tug at his body, causing him to slow down.

Oh? What?

Yi Yun’s heart sink. At that moment, he saw the red blood traces that emanated all over Zhulong’s body seem to burn once again. His eyes were now bloodshot, as if he had used a mystic technique!

The spatial restrictive force was too powerful, preventing Yi Yun from easily escaping it.

“You have really infuriated me. Even if I have to hurt my cultivation level, I will annihilate you. I shall let you witness the ultimate profoundness of the spatial dimension laws I cultivate!”

“Alternate Dimension Tomb!”

Zhulong flew upwards in anger as a dark spatial door appeared out of nowhere behind Yi Yun. It slowly opened, and within the spatial door was a void of emptiness. No one knew where it led to. The immense suction force came from the spatial door, restricting Yi Yun.

649 - : Alternate Dimension Tomb

CKtalon  CKtalon

This universe contained countless numbers of spatial dimensions.

Some of these spatial dimensions could give rise to Great Worlds, allowing all sorts of sentient life to mature vibrantly in it.

However, there were spatial dimensions that were empty and desolate. These dimensions only contained endless amounts of rubble and dust. They were as quiet as cemeteries.

Zhulong’s Alternate Dimension Tomb was such a dead spatial dimension. After finding it, he had seared its location into his dantian, allowing for him to use spatial dimension laws to open up a tunnel to this space. By sucking an enemy into it, the enemy would forever be stuck in this alternate dimension, floating around endlessly, until his death.

However, it was extremely difficult for Zhulong to open this spatial tunnel with his abilities. He needed to use a mystic technique that would harm his body in order to accomplish it.

Behind Yi Yun, the spatial door to the void grew in size. It was like a primordial desolate beast’s gigantic mouth, opening up to swallow Yi Yun.

Yi Yun felt himself being grappled by numerous tentacles of invisible energy, as if his body was stuck in a quick sand, preventing him from easily moving.

“This move…”

Yi Yun’s heart sank as he used the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, burning pure Yang Yuan Qi within his body.

“Whew!”

With a wave of his hand, a flaming rope, formed from pure Yang Yuan Qi, shot out. It tore through empty space like a sharp arrow before twirling itself around a large mountain.

However, just the instant it took to do so was enough to let the flaming rope break through the mountain, due to the immense suction.

A gigantic mountain was torn into two by the flaming rope.

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Dozens of flaming ropes shot out from Yi Yun’s body. Some wrapped themselves around gigantic mountains, while others shot into the ground. Every flaming rope gave Yi Yun the ability to resist. With his absolute strength, Yi Yun forcefully resisted the suction force from the Alternate Dimension Tomb.

He barely managed to withstand its power.

Yi Yun was secretly alarmed by Zhulong’s attack. Spatial dimension laws were indeed profound and intricate, and it was surprising for such a move to exist.

The Alternate Dimension Tomb fell short of fully devouring Yi Yun.

And that tiny bit of resistance was enough to cause a fatal blow. This was because Zhulong could not withstand using this force for long. Once he failed to hold out, he would lose completely.

Seeing the two parties in a stalemate, the Heavenly Blood Union members turned nervous. They were afraid of Zhulong losing to Yi Yun.

As for the other side, Jiang Xiaorou felt her heart race even faster. She looked unblinkingly at Yi Yun. She did not know how she could carry on surviving if something happened to Yi Yun now after reuniting with him after a decade.

And at that moment, from a mountain peak far away, Lin Xintong flew up.

Although she believed Yi Yun was likely to endure longer than Zhulong, she could not tolerate the word “likely”. She wanted to deny any possibility for Yi Yun succumbing to an incident.

If the two of them were battling, and Yi Yun suffered a heavy blow, it would just be an injury.

However, if he was sucked into the alternate dimension, then she could not guarantee that Yi Yun would be able to return.

Lin Xintong brandished her sword, causing ice-blue Yuan Qi to emanate out like a mist from within her body, blanketing the surroundings. The vapor in the air froze up, forming numerous blue ribbons.

Lin Xintong was about to make her move.

When the Heavenly Blood Union members saw Lin Xintong fly, they were momentarily stunned.

Right, Yi Yun still had a partner!

Although they were unsure of Lin Xintong’s strength compared to Yi Yun’s, it would probably be as easy as slaughtering poultry when it came to them.

Zhulong already found it relatively demanding battling Yi Yun, so together with Lin Xintong…

Even if Lin Xintong’s strength was inferior to Yi Yun’s, it was unlikely for Zhulong to withstand their combined efforts.

Despite knowing this, no one dared to step forward to stop her. What a joke. With their strength, they would only be courting death if they tried to stop Lin Xintong.

The blue ribbons fluttered as a sword beam flashed. Lin Xintong flew towards Zhulong like a fairy that was ascending towards the moon.

Upon seeing this scene, Zhulong’s expression changed. He naturally could not divert any strength to resist Lin Xintong at that moment.

His expression immediately turned ferocious.

“Do you think you can send me to my doom just like that? Stop dreaming!”

As Zhulong spoke, he suddenly bit his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood essence. At the same moment, the area in between his eyebrows, which emanated blood traces around his body, spat out a crimson flame.

Zhulong burned his blood essence on top of the foundation of him using his mystic technique, causing his strength to instantly increase!

“Oh?”

Lin Xintong’s eyes tuned focus as she felt a hint of danger. She too did not expect for Zhulong to still had such an ace in his hand at such a moment.

Zhulong had lived for many years and was a first generation Blood Moon. The numerous life-saving hidden techniques he had surprised Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong naturally did not let Yi Yun’s life be risk by allowing Zhulong to use his final tactic.

She lifted her sword high up as Heaven and Earth energy gathered on her sword. In the skies above her, stars appeared out of nowhere, emitting twinkling starlight.

The radiant sun was Yang, and the moon and stars were Yin. The power of the stars was one of the powers Lin Xintong had gained insight on while in the Divine Wilderness.

“Rising of Wind from a Moon Halo, Fluid like Stars!”

Lin Xintong attacked. When she slashed out, it was as if the star-filled galactic arm crashed down from the sky, sending a silver waterfall surging at Zhulong.

Zhulong became demented against Lin Xintong’s attack. “Die, all of you!”

The spatial dimension energy compressed within his body instantly exploded. The entrance to the alternate dimension behind Yi Yun abruptly exploded!

This was an expansion of space itself. Its speed was unbelievably fast, with no way to evade it.

Yi Yun had resisted the suction power from the alternate dimension.

However, now, with the alternate dimension expanding, it devoured Yi Yun!

It was relatively easy to resist, but with the spatial dimension rapidly expanding and devouring…

In an instant, the surrounding mountains, black rock and land, all disappeared. Replacing them was the endless void of darkness. Even the full moon in the sky had been devoured, being utterly pitch black.

Oh!?

Yi Yun was alarmed. This alternate dimension could expand and swallow him?

Realizing that he had entered the alternate dimension, Yi Yun did not feel any fear, but felt something amiss. If Zhulong really had such means to send him into the alternate dimension, then why didn’t he not do so earlier? Even if a mystic technique was forcefully used together with the burning of blood essence, Zhulong was likely willing to do so if he could finish off Lin Xintong and himself.

However, Zhulong had only used it at the final critical moment. Either it was a attack that caused them to perish together, or there was a weakness in this alternate dimension!

Yi Yun immediately spread his spiritual energy in all directions.

“Xintong! Sis Xiaorou!”

The spatial dimension had expanded too rapidly in an indomitable manner. Yi Yun was certain that this massive alternate dimension had probably devoured a large expanse.

If that was the case, Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou had also been devoured by the alternate dimension!

Yi Yun was most concerned about these two women. They were the most important people in his life.

Thankfully, Yi Yun sensed Lin Xintong’s perception a second later.

The laws of the alternate dimension were extremely strange. Despite them being very close to one another, they could not see each other and could only communicate through spiritual energy. And through their spiritual energy, they felt like they were separated by a large distance.

650 - : The Devouring Spatial Dimension

CKtalon  CKtalon

Zhulong was definitely a thorny opponent.

His comprehension of spatial dimension laws far exceeded Yi Yun’s expectations. After all, he had lived through several incarnations, and had plenty of time to ponder over the laws.

Zhulong’s attainment in spatial dimension laws had actually surpassed what he could display. He could not display everything he understood from the laws due to his present cultivation level.

“This is a spatial dimensional maze.”

Yi Yun was on high alert as he made sure to pay attention to everything around him.

“Where’s my sister?” Yi Yun asked Lin Xintong. After all, at the moment they entered this alternate dimension, Lin Xintong was closer to Jiang Xiaorou.

“My perception has been following her all this time!” Lin Xintong said.

Since Yi Yun had handed Jiang Xiaorou to her, she naturally would not allow any mishaps to happen to Jiang Xiaorou.

In fact, when the alternate dimension began to devour everything surrounding it, Lin Xintong had immediately flew towards Jiang Xiaorou.

Now, she was actually very close to Jiang Xiaorou.

“Xintong, protect my sister well.” Yi Yun quickly transmitted his voice through his spiritual energy.

Although he was worried about Jiang Xiaorou and worried if this alternate dimension was a drastic, final technique that Zhulong was using to perish together with him, Yi Yun remained extremely calm. With Jiang Xiaorou’s safety in Lin Xintong’s hands, he did not stress over it, nor could he. He needed to consider where the alternate dimension’s weakness was.

The alternate dimension was just endless darkness and emptiness. As Yi Yun spread out his perception, he discovered a lot more people.

These people were either the members from the Desolate race or Heavenly Blood Union members.

The warriors of the Desolate race were alarmed when the alternate dimension suddenly appeared. Some of them were worried about Yi Yun and Zhulong’s battle. Some were even looking for and calling out to their Queen, hoping to try their very best to ensure Jiang Xiaorou’s safety.

On the other side, the Heavenly Blood Union members became excited after a moment of panic. The scene in front of them was clearly Zhulong’s strongest move. This move was extremely powerful, causing an alternate dimension to devour the space that they were in.

If Yi Yun was thrown into the deepest recesses of this alternate dimension, causing him to be lost in it until his death, that loneliness that accompanied his death was definitely more miserable than directly killing him.

However, these people were also in the alternate dimension. They were somewhat panicking because they worried that they had been implicated by this final attack, resulting in them accompanying Yi Yun in death.

These people looked around, searching for their companions, especially the Reincarnators such as Young Master Fengming, Fairy Sheji and company. They were the core members of the Martial Alliance, so it was unlikely that they would be abandoned even if Zhulong used a mystic technique.

As long as they found the Reincarnators and followed them, they would be able to leave.

As these people were thinking, a few of them suddenly felt a spatial suction enshroud them. Before they managed to react, they found themselves sucked through a spatial dimensional tunnel.

During the spatial transference, they felt giddy and their ears rang. A few seconds later, they slammed to the ground.

The group of people slammed to the ground in quite a wretched state. The discomfort brought about by the violent spatial transference gave them a headache.

When they opened their eyes, they noticed that they had arrived in a vast land riddled with black rock. High in the sky hung the blood moon. This familiar scene… Wasn’t this the Soul Tomb?

“This is the Soul Tomb? We are back!”

The Heavenly Blood Union members who returned to the Soul Tomb were overjoyed.

Although they spent an extremely short amount of time in the alternate dimension, the endless darkness and loneliness surrounding them in that strange spatial dimension, as well as the fear of not being able to return, was still fresh on their minds.

More and more people were teleported out to the Soul Tomb, including the Reincarnators like Young Master Fengming and company.

With a more careful look, this place was no longer where Yi Yun battled Zhulong. The location had changed.

After entering and exiting the alternate dimension, they had been collectively teleported elsewhere.

“Where’s Yi Yun? Has that traitor died?”

“Is he sealed in that alternate dimension?”

Upon seeing the Reincarnators, the Heavenly Blood Union members began to bombard them with a flurry of questions. If Yi Yun had died, they too could heave a sigh of relief.

Fengming, Sheji and Qiongqi did not respond because they too did not know. They had been sucked into the alternate dimension along with the rest of the Heavenly Blood Union members momentarily before being teleported out. There was no difference between them and the other Heavenly Blood Union members.

“Of course Yi Yun has been sealed in the alternate dimension. Even if he’s not dead, he’s not far from it. At least, it won’t be easy for him to come out. If not, what was the point of Lord Zhulong burning his blood essence to activate his final attack? Was it just to specially teleport us?” A Heavenly Blood Union member said with confidence.

When the others heard this, they too found it highly plausible.

The price of Lord Zhulong’s final attack was obviously nothing trivial. After battling Yi Yun for so long, Zhulong probably had an estimation of Yi Yun’s strength. If this alternate dimension was useless against Yi Yun, then what was the point of using that attack?

At that moment, there were more and more people teleported to this area of the Soul Tomb. They were all Heavenly Blood Union members, while the Desolate race had all been filtered.

This caused the Heavenly Blood Union members to feel greatly at ease. It appeared that Zhulong had used a killer move to trap all the enemies, and they had been saved.

…

At that moment, in the alternate dimension, Yi Yun spread his perception in all directions. He realized that the Heavenly Blood Union members that his perception had caught traces off had instantly disappeared after being sucked into a spatial dimensional tunnel.

This is…

Yi Yun’s heart sank. He clearly knew that the Heavenly Blood Union members were bodies nurtured carefully by the Blood Moon. They were “riches” that were to be possessed by the Yin specters, and the main goal of the Blackstone Trials was to send these bodies to the Yin specters, so Zhulong naturally could not abandon those Heavenly Blood Union members.

Now, with the Heavenly Blood Union members slowly disappearing, they were most likely being sent out of the alternate dimension, returning to the Soul Tomb.

How could Yi Yun watch idly as they escaped? With a thought, he interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal. In the corner of the alternate dimension, a gray energy was toiling around. It seemed like a sliding black snake that was spitting out its tongue in the darkness.

This was the evil energy that Yi Yun controlled. After the masked man was killed by Zhulong, Shentu Nantian’s body was devastated, and this evil energy had secretly emanated outwards, to no one’s notice.

But now, under Yi Yun’s control, the evil energy traversed through the alternate dimension.

“Shu!”

The evil energy entered a Heavenly Blood Union member’s body.

This Heavenly Blood Union member was a moustached youth in his twenties. He felt his tummy turn cold the moment the evil energy entered his body. But before he could react to it, he felt the heaven and earth undergo an upheaval the next moment. He was sucked into the spatial dimension tunnel, and he was thrown into another area in the Soul Tomb.

After rubbing his giddy head, the moustached youth looked around and he saw many Heavenly Blood Union members, including Reincarnators, gathered here.

This was an extremely special valley.

In the valley, there were stone pillars that rose up. Each of the stone pillars had a thick base and thin top. There were prolate spheroids indented outwards on each stone pillar, like large gray cocoons. Some of the cocoons were even moving slightly. It was unknown what was inside the large cocoons.

“Where am I?” The moustached youth gave a look of puzzlement.

At that moment, in the alternate dimension, Yi Yun, who saw this scene through the evil energy, felt his heart sink!

“So it has finally begun… ”

Yi Yun took a deep breath as his eyes flashed coldly. The Blood Moon had finally revealed their fangs…

He knew that this special area that contained numerous large cocoons was the land where the Yin specters slumbered!

651 - : Land of Slumber

CKtalon  CKtalon

The goal of the Heavenly Blood Union partaking in the Blackstone Trials was to awaken the slumbering Yin specters. After reading the memories of the masked man, Yi Yun knew that there were hundreds of Yin specters in the Soul Tomb. Some of them had even been lying in slumber for tens of millions of years.

The ancient Yin specters that lay in slumber for tens of millions of years were sealed in a blood rock. They absorbed the Heaven Earth Killing Qi and extreme Yin powers from the Soul Tomb while laying in the long slumber. This allowed them to possess extremely terrifying strength. Compared to those ancient Yin specters, the masked man was a lot weaker.

The masked man was one of the Yin specter executives that were frequently sent out to complete missions. The ancient monsters and ancestors of the Yin specters remained in slumber for cultivation.

If these Yin specters were awoken en masse, Blood Moon’s strength would soar immediately.

Yi Yun naturally would not sit idle for that to happen.

“Yi Yun, the alternate dimension that Zhulong created might not be as powerful as we expect. The spatial barriers in here are slowly weakening.” Lin Xintong’s voice transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ear.

After she found Jiang Xiaorou, she began searching for a method to break the alternate dimension open.

Lin Xintong began to sense that the spatial energies in the alternate dimension were gradually depleting. If this trend continued, the spatial dimension would collapse after a period of time.

“It is weakening.” Yi Yun also noticed it. He was extremely calm at that moment with his perception spreading everywhere, allowing him to sense each quantum of spatial energy and its dynamics.

“Maybe Zhulong was not planning on using this alternate dimension to bury all of us. He does not have the strength to forcefully hold us back in one fell swoop. He is only using this method to trap us, and safely teleport the Heavenly Blood Union members away. Once the Heavenly Blood Union members are possessed by the Yin specters, his mission would be accomplished. And at that moment, Zhulong would be able to lead those ancient Yin specters in an attack. He might even wake the zombie kings sleeping in the Soul Tomb. He would then be able to wipe all of us out in here.”

In the Soul Tomb, there were many spiritual souls and zombie kings. The reason why Blood Moon and the Desolate race chose to enter at that moment was because the worldly Yin Qi here would weaken. As such, those terrifying existences would also fall into slumber.

And Yi Yun knew that some of the ancient Yin specters had the ability to control the spiritual souls, and they even had the ability to form a spiritual connection with the zombie kings.

If a few zombie kings were woken up, it would be impossible for Lin Xintong and himself to take so many Desolate race members out of the Soul Tomb.

Yi Yun said, “We cannot wait any further. I suspect that this is not a alternate dimension. It is actually just a spatial maze. Let me attempt at breaking the spatial barriers.”

The weakening of the spatial dimension’s energy made Yi Yun suspect that the alternate dimension set up by Zhulong was just a fake spatial dimension. Zhulong did not have the ability to transport Yi Yun, Lin Xintong, Jiang Xiaorou and company to a distant, parallel spatial dimension.

A true parallel spatial dimension would have existed for billions of years, so how could the spatial energies in it decrease in such a short period of time?

Hence, Yi Yun guessed that Zhulong was using his spatial laws to construct a spatial dimension maze, trapping everyone in the spatial maze.

With the passage of time, this spatial maze, that did not have any additional energy maintaining it, would eventually dissipate away.

“Break this spatial maze open? Can you do it?” Lin Xintong found it difficult. Although it was not a true alternate dimension, it was set up by Zhulong by forcefully using a mystic technique on top of burning his blood essence after all.

Yi Yun’s strength was most likely stronger than Zhulong in his normal state. However, if it was to compete with Zhulong after using his mystic technique, then it would be a close match.

Furthermore, Yi Yun did not use spatial dimension laws, so to break through a spatial dimension maze would require brute force.

It was too difficult to use brute force to suppress laws, what more laws that Zhulong understood over many incarnations.

Lin Xintong believed that a large number of Empyreal Kings in the Tian Yuan world did not have this ability. They needed to at least wait till the spatial dimension maze experienced a few days of energy depletion.

“I’ll give it a shot. As long as there’s sufficient energy, it is possible. Xintong, gather the Desolate race’s members by your side. Do not miss anyone out. When the spatial dimension is opened up, the surging force would be tremendous. The rubble in the spatial dimension can even cause a spatial storm. Those who lack strength will be reduced to pieces.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and he began circulating the Heart Sutra, as he entered a ephemeral state.

“Alright.” Lin Xintong would not doubt Yi Yun’s words. She immediately began gathering the Desolate race, who were scattered throughout the spatial dimension maze.

It was not a simple task as the spatial dimension maze distorted perceptions and paths, resulting in Lin Xintong having to spend quite a substantial amount of energy to search an area.

Thankfully, many Desolate race members were gathered together. As long as one of them was found, the others would not be too difficult to find, allowing them to find a huge group of them.

Slowly, there were more and more Desolate race members beside Lin Xintong. After a simple count, everyone was gathered.

“Combine forces to defend?”

After Chen Fei was seriously injured, the person in charge of leading the Desolate race was a twenty-year-old called Yue Lu. The Desolate race worshiped the strong, so in front of the powerful Lin Xintong, Yue Lu was extremely courteous. “Then why are we going to defend?”

“Yi Yun is planning to break the spatial barriers open and he is afraid of harming all of you.” Lin Xintong did not explain any further.

When Yue Lu heard this, she felt palpitations in her heart. Break open the spatial barriers?

How tough and resistant was a spatial barrier? Was Yi Yun planning on using his absolute attack to crack it open?

However, now was not the time to question Yi Yun’s methods. Yue Lu asked, “Do you want our help?”

“You would not be of much help, so just taking care of yourself would do.” Lin Xintong shook her head.

Yue Lu was rendered speechless as she said helplessly, “Alright then… ”

The Desolate race members began to form protective energy shields. However, they wondered about the efficacy of this method. They might be able to last long with a protective shield, but what if breaking the spatial barrier failed?

Lin Xintong injected her own power into the protective energy protection powered by the Desolate race members. Immediately, the protective energy rapidly increased.

“We are ready!” Lin Xintong transmitted her voice to Yi Yun.

At that moment, Yi Yun was sitting in the middle of the spatial dimension maze. When he heard Lin Xintong’s transmission, he suddenly opened his eyes. His gaze was like lightning bolts shimmering in a dark spatial dimension.

As he pressed downwards, the broken sword that laid across his lap, disappeared, returning to his interspatial ring.

With the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” circulating, all of Yi Yun’s Yang Qi gathered in his dantian, and it was compressed even further.

As he accumulated more and more energy, it was all stored in the Purple Crystal. The Purple Crystal began to resonate violently, and behind Yi Yun, a Golden Crow and a Nine Neonate phantom image appeared.

Two Aspect Totems were conjured together!

When this energy was circulated to its limits, a golden beam shot into the sky from Yi Yun’s head!

The two Aspect Totems flew around, and they found themselves circling into a lustrous halo.

The Golden Crow shrieked, while the Nine Neonate roared. The golden light that shimmered seemed like a golden path.

The spatial dimension’s energy began to rotate as a golden spatial dimension door appeared out of nowhere, and increased in size.

“Boom!”

With a large explosion, a divine pagoda emerged from the skies out of the spatial dimension door!

652 - : Tearing the Void

CKtalon  CKtalon

This divine tower was majestic, like a mountain peak that could not be scaled. It came suppressing downwards while spinning.

With it suppressing downwards, numerous cracks appeared throughout the void!

Divine light flashed, illuminating the surroundings. The sounds of Sanskrit chants emitted out from the divine tower, while mysterious runic seals condensed around it, continuously increasing greatly in number.

In just an instant, the black void was filled with condensed, golden runic seals. Even the members of the Desolate race beside Lin Xintong saw this miraculous scene.

Outside their energy shields, there were golden runic seals blanketing the area, as if there were golden dragonflies fluttering in the air.

This is…

The elites of the Desolate race were all extremely shocked. This was the first time they saw light ever since they entered this alternate dimension. Inside this spatial maze, space was distorted, preventing two people, who were separated by two to three meters, to pinpoint each other’s existence.

“There is a golden tower in the distance!”

A Desolate race youth suddenly shouted out.

The crowd looked out and indeed, they saw a shining golden divine tower on the horizon, far off in the distance.

The divine tower seemed to be infinitely far away, yet they could still see it despite the distance. For some reason, it gave them a jolt in their hearts.

The spatial forces distorted the spatial maze, even light was obstructed by it. However, under absolute strength, the divine tower’s light was able to disperse the darkness.

Suddenly, the “golden dragonflies”, dancing in the air, flew towards the divine tower.

The “dragonflies” moved very quickly, forming strands of golden lines, illuminating the entirety of the dark void!

Many members of the Desolate race stared dumbfoundedly at the pretty scene happening before their eyes. It was as if this dark and lonely alternate dimension had been given life.

“Boom!”

Uncountable numbers of golden runic seals entered the tower, causing the divine tower to emit a blinding light that resembled the radiance of the Sun.

At that instant, pure Yang energy dispersed the darkness and the distorted spatial energy. The spatial maze began to tremble, and with a “Ka Ka Ka”, cracks began to appear in the space itself. They grew in number as they spread out everywhere like a web.

With an explosive ring, the spatial barriers collapsed in large swaths. At the instant the spatial barriers exploded, the spatial energy lost its nomological bindings and began to separate out, forming an energy storm that blasted out in all directions!

Outside the spatial barriers, there were mountains and valleys that were torn to shreds by the spatial storms. Large boulders were reduced to fragments and then further split until they turn into dust!

As the terrifying storm surged, it heavily collided with the protective energy shields jointly raised by the Desolate race members.

The energy shields violently trembled, the expressions of the Desolate race members turning pale as they saw boulders the size of hills around them turn to dust.

This was a complete annihilation and it was happening before their eyes. It was a powerful assault on their visual senses.

The people present felt fear from seeing this. Moments ago, they had been suspecting the efficacy of raising a protective energy shield, but now, when they imagined themselves being alone in the energy storm, they could see that they would have been destined to be reduced to dust.

They were also thankful that Lin Xintong was present. With Lin Xintong’s energy infused into their energy shields, it made it much easier for them to resist the storm.

“This Zhulong’s strength… is indeed terrifying.”

As Lin Xintong looked at the energy storm, she was well aware that most of the energy from the energy storm did not come from Yi Yun, but from the spatial barriers, which was part of Zhulong’s strength.

A Reincarnator’s strength could not be underestimated. Yi Yun had previously defeated Zhulong because of his weapon’s advantage. The divine broken sword was highly effective against Zhulong’s Heaven’s Punishment.

At that moment, the golden tower, hovering above the horizon, was slowly beginning to disappear. The energy storm also lessened in strength, allowing Lin Xintong to remove the energy shields.

Seeing the last flicker of light disappear from the golden tower, Lin Xintong let out a sigh of relief. She naturally knew that the golden tower was the God Advent Tower.

Yi Yun had obtained the God Advent Tower in the Great Empress mystic realm, and now, Yi Yun finally had the ability to use it.

Even though Yi Yun could only use a tiny portion of its power, it was still a beginning worthy of being a pleasant surprise.

As the spatial storms ceased, the spatial maze completely shattered. Yi Yun kept the God Advent Tower and landed on a black mountain peak with his face pale.

Other than an immortal cave, the God Advent Tower was also a weapon. Its greatest effect was to suppress.

The God Advent Tower was the perfect tool to suppress and shatter space.

However… just using it for few seconds caused Yi Yun to feel mentally exhausted, and drained of his stamina. The exhaustion he felt from this was far greater than that from the battle with Zhulong.

Using the God Advent Tower was still a very tough task for the Yi Yun at present. If he wanted to use it to kill his enemies, it would be even more difficult. After all, his enemies would not give Yi Yun the time he needed to activate the God Advent Tower. Furthermore, the speed of the God Advent Tower when it was controlled by him was not fast enough, so it would be very difficult to strike his opponents with it.

“If I break into the Yuan Opening realm, it should be much easier for me to use the God Advent Tower.”

As Yi Yun had such thoughts, he became more eager to break through to the Yuan Opening realm.

As these thoughts flashed past his head, he suddenly saw a girl’s red dress flutter on a mountain not far from him, looking towards him with watery eyes.

The black pupils were bright and pretty, but they also betrayed the tears in them…

“Sis Xiaorou…”

Seeing Jiang Xiaorou’s pale face, Yi Yun felt shaken. They had experienced a decade of separation, without him knowing anything about how Sis Xiaorou led her life with the Desolate race.

His figure flashed as he flew towards Jiang Xiaorou.

Traversing the distance between two mountain peaks was done in an instant…

He opened up his arms as he tightly embraced Jiang Xiaorou.

He buried his head in Jiang Xiaorou’s long hair, indulging in Jiang Xiaorou’s breathing. This long-awaited feeling made him choke as he nearly teared up.

While resting on this delicate yet warm shoulder, Yi Yun could even faintly feel her collarbone. Hugging Jiang Xiaorou was like hugging a roll of silk.

However, it was this delicate shoulder that had carried him home when Yi Yun first arrived into this world, weak and suffering from excruciating hunger.

It was this shoulder that shouldered the responsibilities as the family’s breadwinner in the food-scarce Cloud Wilderness. She worked overnight creating arrows and leather armors, in order to exchange for tiny bits of rations.

She had quietly suffered and endured the bullying in the Lian tribal clan.

Previously, Yi Yun nearly thought he was to be forever separated from Jiang Xiaorou in Chu Prefecture City.

Only today, when he experienced that familiar yet gentle touch from embracing Jiang Xiaorou tightly was he reminded that everything was over. Their futures were still within their own grasps.

Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou embraced each other under the crimson moonlight coming from the red full blood moon above the mountain peak.

No one in the area spoke. Everything was silent, only the cold wind in the Soul Tomb blowing emitted a rustling sound…

653 - : Reunion

CKtalon  CKtalon

Despite reuniting after a decade, Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou did not have the time to engage in reminiscence. They were still in the Soul Tomb, and facing the hostile Blood Moon. Against so many Yin specters that were about to awake, they needed to immediately head to the Yin specter’s slumbering grounds, and destroy everything within it.

There were layer after layer of defenses for the protection of the Soul Tomb, making it extremely secure.

The large array outside the Soul Tomb isolated the interior from the outside world. In the slumbering grounds of the Yin specters, there were spatial mazes and numerous illusion arrays hidden with them. Even the entrance to the Yin specters’ slumbering grounds changed frequently. Even with the masked man’s memories, it would be very time consuming to pinpoint the exact location of the slumbering grounds.

Thankfully, Yi Yun had anticipated this. He had sent the evil energy to possess a Heavenly Blood Union member, so as to create a mark.

This mark was like a flame burning in the darkness, which helped guide Yi Yun to find the Yin specters’ slumbering grounds in the complicated arrays quickly.

“Leave ten people to take care of the injured. The rest are to follow me.” Yi Yun gave an order that was above doubt.

The Desolate race had mixed feelings when it came to Yi Yun. They knew that Jiang Xiaorou had a younger human brother, and she had sacrificed greatly for him back then. Even the condition for Jiang Xiaorou to fully integrate herself into the Desolate race’s world was for the Shepherd Boy to risk his life to save Yi Yun.

Because of that, the Desolate race’s youth had their reservations over Yi Yun. Some of the younger males were even jealous of Yi Yun.

However, with Yi Yun’s strength today, he had managed to convince all of them. It became a matter of course to listen to the orders of Yi Yun, someone of a different species.

…

At that moment, in the Yin specters’ slumbering grounds, many Heavenly Blood Union members were looking at the tall, erect stone pillar, as well as the huge cocoons embedded in it, with fascination.

What was this place? What were those gigantic cocoons?

“Lord Fengming, why have we been teleported here? Has that traitor, Yi Yun died?”

Just as a few Heavenly Blood Union members were inquiring about Yi Yun’s situation, there was suddenly a distortion in space before Zhulong appeared.

At that moment, the cobweb blood lines in the middle of Zhulong’s eyebrows had disappeared, and what replaced them was a scar that looked like a flame that had been burning.

A number of the elites present had previously met the Martial Alliance’s Alliance Leader at the martial tea session organized by the Martial Alliance. They recalled that the Martial Alliance’s Alliance Leader also had a similar flaming scar in the middle of his eyebrows.

They realized that the scar was a result of augmenting oneself with the blood of gods.

Zhulong’s face was slightly pale, and his aura had weakened a lot more, as if he was ill.

His lips moved slightly as he transmitted his voice to Fengming.

“I have to crush the second Life Slip?” Fengming was stunned.

When Zhulong and the other Reincarnators entered the Soul Tomb, they were given a total of three Life Slips, which were used to communicate with headquarters.

The Soul Tomb was an independent world, and due to the ancient array set up outside, it made it very difficult to transmit messages out.

This was similar to the Great Empress mystic realm. To pass a message out of the completely sealed Great Empress mystic realm was an extremely difficult task for any of the large factions in the Tian Yuan world.

The Soul Tomb was similar to the Great Empress mystic realm, so messages could not be exchanged even by Blood Moon.

However, there were special Life Slips that could barely transmit some information.

These Life Slips were quantum entangled. By crushing one Life Slip, the other would sense it, and shatter as well.

The three Life Slips Zhulong had each had their own meaning. Crushing the first Life Slip meant: Everything went smoothly. The mission is about almost completed.

Crushing the second meant: The team encountered unforeseen circumstances, and are engaging in intense battle.

As for the last Life Slip, it meant that the mission had completely failed.

To Blood Moon’s Reincarnators, having to crush the second Life Slip despite being tasked to execute such a simple mission, along with such a strong lineup and a drop of the blood of the gods was quite unacceptable. This uncertain outcome was too much for Fengming, Qiongqi and Sheji.

“Lord Zhulong, was the alternate dimension you set up in the end was not enough to finish Yi Yun? Do you think he has the ability to break through the spatial dimension array?” Fengming was unwilling to crush the second Life Slip as it was too embarrassing.

“You can treat it as me having a life and death battle with Yi Yun. I have some understanding of his strength, and my alternate dimension should be able to trap him… ” As Zhulong spoke, he frowned slightly.

Although it was unlikely that there would be problems with his inference, he just needed to trap Yi Yun for a few hours in the alternate dimension for them to successfully complete the possession.

As long as the Yin specters were revived, everything would be in place. However, Zhulong had an ominous sense for some reason.

“If that is the case, there’s no need for Lord Zhulong to worry. Ignoring the fact that Yi Yun might not be able to crack the alternate dimension open, even if he does break it open, it would be almost impossible for him to find our location in the chaotic illusion arrays. I have already changed some of the settings of the illusion and spatial arrays along the perimeter. Yi Yun will not be able to crack the array within four hours!”

Fengming was confident that even if the masked man, who had betrayed the Blood Moon, drew a complete picture of the Soul Tomb’s interior, it would still be extremely limited in helping Yi Yun find the Yin specters’ slumbering grounds.

“Lord Zhulong, why don’t we first crush the first Life Slip? Taking ten thousand steps back, even if Yi Yun has the greatest of abilities, and come to spoil our plans, it would not be too late to crush the second Life Slip.”

At that moment, Sheji also spoke up.

Zhulong nodded his head slightly. It was still a viable choice.

With a wave of his hand, Fengming crushed the first Life Slip.

Seeing the Life Slip turn to dust and scatter away with the wind, Fengming nodded with satisfaction. He then turned to the Heavenly Blood Union members present.

There was a faint hint of greed in his eyes, like a snake watching its prey.

However, he hid his thoughts extremely well. He still looked as gentlemanly as usual.

Seeing Fengming look over, the present Heavenly Blood Union members could not help but ask, “Lord Fengming… Has that traitor, Yi Yun died or not? Also, what is this stone pillar and those large cocoons?”

“Yi Yun?” Fengming sneered, “Yi Yun is now trapped in an alternate dimension. Although he will not immediately die, he is already at death’s doorstep. In a few hours, when we jointly open the seal, releasing the final hidden powers of the Martial Alliance, it will be a simple task to kill Yi Yun.”

The hidden powers of the Martial Alliance?

Everyone was stunned hearing this. They were both alarmed and overjoyed. The Martial Alliance was already so strong, yet it still had hidden powers?

Indeed, this organization that had lasted for tens of millions of years had an inheritance that exceeded one’s imagination.

654 - : Life Slips

CKtalon  CKtalon

“So that’s what happened, we can feel assured now. That traitor Yi Yun should not be allowed to die easily.”

“Right, that sort of person should have his soul extracted and body destroyed. His soul should be tortured for a century before his soul is completely annihilated.”

“What are the hidden powers of the Martial Alliance? I’m really looking forward to seeing them.”

Upon hearing Fengming’s words, everyone relaxed and they were somewhat elated.

Fengming had a slithering smile filled with deception and bad intentions hidden behind his generous face. He opened his trademark folding fan and he began to fan himself gently. He pointed at the stone pillars behind him and said, “Are you curious as to what these cocoons are? Let me tell you now that these cocoons are the hidden powers sealed by the Martial Alliance!”

“Oh?” Everyone looked at the large cocoons with their eyes lighting up.

“That is it? No wonder we were brought here.”

“What could be the Martial Alliance’s hidden powers?”

Many people looked forward to it, but there were a few people who were secretly afraid, such as Wei Chiwei, the Chu sisters and company.

The six of them were considered traitor accomplices with Yi Yun’s “betrayal”.

They believed that they would be ostracized by the Martial Alliance, or even be killed. However, not only were they not being questioned, they were even teleported here by the Reincarnators.

And up to now, none of the Martial Alliance’s Reincarnators bothered about them, as if they were thin air.

Fengming said, “The seals on the large cocoons have been in place for a very long time. The seals need to be simultaneously removed, so your help will be needed.”

“Now, I’ll read out names, and that person is to go to a designated cocoon to meditate!”

“First, Fang Yunhai… ”

Fengming began reading out names. Every warrior whose name was read out was led to a large cocoon by Qiongqi or Sheji.

These people began meditating near their respective cocoon, somewhat at a loss.

Every large cocoon in the Yin specters’ slumbering grounds contained a Yin specter with varying strengths.

The Blood Moon assigned a corresponding body according to the respective Yin specters’ strength. By doing so, they could produce the strongest combat strength.

It took a total of 30 minutes before all the names were read out, including Wei Chiwei, the Chu sisters and company.

They were each assigned to a corresponding large cocoon.

Sitting above their respective large cocoons, the Chu sisters could sense a faint evil aura coming from the cocoons, sending shivers down their back.

What was this all about? Why were they given the opportunity to participate in the final plan?

They looked at Wei Chiwei and the bald youth. The two of them also looked uneasy, as if they were sitting on a large cocoon that contained a powerful primordial beast.

“Alright, the removal of the seals will also allow you to be correspondingly rewarded. So work hard and release our Martial Alliance’s final hidden powers. This is the final goal of this Blackstone Trials!” Fengming said those words with a gentle and mild voice, and it had an extremely rousing effect.

The rewards handed out by the Martial Alliance had always been the pursuit of the youths present over all these years.

“Carefully feel the seal in the large cocoon near you. Inject as much energy as possible into it so you can remove it!” Fengming gave the order.

Everyone sent their perception into their respective large cocoons to sense the existence of the seal.

Many people did so without any doubts, and they began to inject their own Yuan Qi into the large cocoons without any reservations.

However, there were a very small minority who had their reservations about this.

In the Soul Tomb which was fraught with dangers, injecting large amounts of energy into the cocoons, which would weaken themselves, was not a safe thing to do.

Besides, the method needed to remove the seals made them hesitate. What was sealed in the cocoons? Was it a weapon? Or was it some ancient life force?

It was something sealed tens of millions of years ago, and it was still as strong as ever? Then, was it dangerous for them to be so close to it?

But at that moment, it was meaningless to think about all of that. After all, they had signed a soul contract, so they could not openly disobey the Martial Alliance’s orders.

Seeing their peers trying their best to inject their own Yuan Qi into the cocoons without any reservations, these people also began to compete with them. They did not wish to fall behind, all because of the rewards promised by the Martial Alliance.

Over all these years, they had enjoyed many perks from the Martial Alliance. They were extremely sensitive to the word ‘rewards’.

As time slowly passed, many of them gradually began to be covered in sweat. As a result of draining their energies, they began to suffer from the after-effects.

Zhulong remained expressionless. As for Fengming, a smile suffused on his lips while he had his arms crossed in front of his chest.

He was estimating the energy depletion progress of everyone. The more energy they drained, the more energy would be given to the Yin specters sleeping in the cocoons, allowing the possession to go more smoothly.

“Begin.” Zhulong transmitted his voice.

“Alright!”

Fengming, Sheji and Qiongqi stood in a trigram formation. While Fengming looked calm,Sheji looked expressionless and Qiongqi’s eyes flashed.

The three of them joined forced to condense several array runes.

These array runes began to ripple forward like water waves. When the array runes touched the cocoons embedded in the stone pillar, the cocoons absorbed them immediately.

Once the array runes touched the surface of the cocoons, the cocoons seemed to come alive. Faint red light emanated from the cocoon and flickered.

One could even see inside some of the smaller cocoons due to the translucent stone pillar. It looked like there was a soul swimming around in them.

“Is the seal about to be released?”

Seeing Fengming, Qiongqi and Sheji begin to “help” them remove the seals, everyone worked even harder to inject their energies, wishing that they would be the first to release the seal.

But at that moment…

“Ah!”

A Heavenly Blood Union member gave a tragic cry. He suddenly felt an excruciating pain in his head, as the cocoon beneath him suddenly seemed to transform into a demon that was devouring everything. He was originally the one injecting energy into the cocoon, but now, the cocoon had begun to initiate the absorption of his body’s energy.

Not only was it absorbing energy, it was also absorbing his spiritual soul’s power through the energy connection!

Although the bodies of warriors were strong, their spiritual souls were extremely weak. Once it was injured, it was very difficult to treat it.

However, his spiritual soul’s power was being absorbed!

There was no way to resist the powerful suction. The cocoon seemed to transform into a avaricious primordial desolate beast that devoured everything!

“What’s going on!?”

As the suction increased in intensity, the Heavenly Blood Union member’s face turned pale. He had a twisted expression as the pain of his soul sea being forcefully torn apart made it seem like ripping his hair would give him greater comfort. He only wished that he could tear his head open so he could forcefully sever the connection.

He was terror-stricken as he felt his life force being rapidly depleted. If this carried on, he would probably die!

“Save me! Please save me!” He shouted for help.

But at that moment, he was met with the tragic cries of others.

In fact, these cocoons had array traps in them. With the three Reincarnators controlling them, the Heavenly Blood Union members were unable to withstand them in their extremely weak states.

Furthermore, there were direct spiritual attacks coming from the Yin specters in the cocoons!

“Lord Zhulong! Lord Fengming!”

At that moment, many of the Heavenly Blood Union members present sensed that all of this was instigated by the Martial Alliance, but they refused to accept the facts. While grabbing on to their last hopes, they wished that everything that was happening was due to an abnormal result of the cocoons laying dormant for too long, something that the Martial Alliance did not expect would happen.

They treated Zhulong, Fengming and company as the final life-saving straw. They stubbornly refused to believe that these people were the conspirators behind all this, because if that was the case, they were undoubtedly doomed.

However, the hopes of these naive youths were very quickly shattered heartlessly.

As Zhulong looked at all this, he appeared cold and distant. As for Fengming, a smile hung on his face, as if he was enjoying everything that was happening before his eyes.

During the next fifteen minutes of struggling, many of them experienced the cycle of fainting, but were again awoken by the agonizing pain that came from their souls. This cycle repeated several times.

Only then did Zhulong begin to speak slowly. “It takes time to build an army, but a moment to deploy them. Now, it time for you to be deployed. To awaken the Yin specters sleeping in the Soul Tomb, your bodies are the best vessels for the specters. There is no need to resist, as it would only give you more pain. It is meaningless.”

“The human races calamity is about to begin, and you shall be on the forefront of it all. You can contribute towards the calamity, and be remembered by history. Your bodies will also be put to even greater use under the hands of these future pioneers. Maybe in the future, your bodies will become gods. You should now feel honored for that possibility in the future… ” Zhulong said with a frank and calm tone, as if everything said was a matter of fact.

However, when these words landed in the Heavenly Blood Union members’ ears, it left them cold and hanging, as if they had received a jolt.

Their last hopes had been destroyed!

The Yin specters sleeping in the cocoons were about to take possession of their bodies. And their souls will be food for those Yin specters, as soulful nourishment!

In the future, their bodies will appear in another form, and the people in control of their body would no longer be themselves, but some evil souls!

Just thinking of these souls, which controlled their bodies, appear in their daily lives, deceiving their friends and family, enjoying their women, made many Heavenly Blood Union members tremble with rage!

What was even more infuriating was that Zhulong mentioned that their bodies would be put to greater use under the hands of future pioneers.

They should feel… honored!

Honor?

It was preposterous!

Cold sweat drenched the faces of many of them as they gritted their teeth. Their organs were all twisted together from rage.

Could this order be passed down from the upper echelons of the Martial Alliance? The Blackstone Trials was a trap from the very beginning?

They were only chosen for their bodies. Even the Heavenly Dao Union’s existence was for this day.

They were like pigs reared to be slaughtered?

“Zhulong! Do you know what you are doing? My family will not let this go easily!”

“The Martial Alliance might be powerful, but it will be destroyed if it incurs public outrage!”

“You will die very terribly!”

Many of the Heavenly Blood Union members present began to issue deafening threats, but Zhulong turned a deaf ear towards all of this.

655 - : An unfolded map reveals a dagger

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the battles continued in the Soul Tomb, tens of millions of kilometers away, in the Untraversable Sea…

On the surface of the calm but dead silent Untraversable Sea, seven pure black mountains stood erect at the end of the vast nothingness.

These seven mountains were the shape of humans.

The middle mountain was the shape of a man wearing black battle armor with a lance in his hands.

Instead of calling it a mountain, it was better to describe it as a sculpture.

Silver starlight fell from the sky. Although it was still daytime in the Tian Yuan world, there was perennial darkness in this area where the seven divine mountains stood.

Starlight seemed to pool together like water, before flowing into the middle mountain.

And while the mountain’s runic patterns was being illuminated by the starlight, the black-armored god of war was receiving a baptism of starlight, becoming ever clearer.

These seven mountains were the seven Demon Disciples from tens of millions of years ago.

As for the middle mountain, if Yi Yun was here, he would immediately recognize the lance-wielding black-armored warrior as the one who fought the Azure Yang Lord in a video disk array that he saw in the God Advent Tower more than seven years ago.

In the video projection, the Azure Yang Lord’s astounding sword attack had given Yi Yun a lot of insights.

As for the black-armored warrior, although he had been defeated by the Azure Yang Lord, his mightiness left a deep impression on Yi Yun.

Today, a group of black-robed people came to the vicinity of where the black-armored warrior divine mountains stood.

On their robes, there was a blood moon embroidered on their chests.

They were Blood Moon’s Reincarnators, and they were the upper echelons of Blood Moon as well.

The person leading them had a flaming scar on his forehead. He was a first generation Blood Moon member, and he was also the Martial Alliance’s Alliance Leader, and he was currently the person with executive control over Blood Moon!

There were a total of thirteen people. At that moment, they looked solemnly at the black-armored warrior who had already fully-actualized.

“If this carries on, the Black-armored Demon God will immediately awaken… ” A Reincarnator said as he looked at the Black-armored Demon God’s sculpture.

Tens of millions of years ago, the seven Demon Disciples were sealed by the Azure Yang Lord. But with the immense amount of time, the Heaven Earth powers and the energy from the cosmos were constantly weakening the seals. Furthermore, seven years ago, when the Eye of Destruction appeared beneath the eternal whirlpool, the stirring of the Eye of Destruction sped up the Black-armored Demon God’s awakening.

The Black-armored Demon God’s awakening was long planned by the upper echelons of Blood Moon, and it was something they looked forward to. However… now was not the time.

“Set up an array formation to seal the Black-armored Demon God’s powers. Let him sleep for a period of time… ” The man with the flaming scar on his forehead said.

His words stunned a few Reincarnators who had existed for less than a million years. “Seal the Black-armored Demon God’s consciousness? Why… ?”

Over all these years, Blood Moon had been laying dormant in the Tian Yuan world. They had built up the Yin specters and developed the Reincarnators, all for this day. Now with the Black-armored Demon God about to awaken, everything would be set in place once he did so. The Desolate race was definitely no match for the Black-armored Demon God.

But now… the Alliance Leader had given the command to temporarily seal the Black-armored Demon God’s consciousness?

And the few people standing beside the Alliance Leader did not seem surprised at the command, as if everything was only right and proper. It baffled some of the Reincarnators though.

“Wouldn’t the Black-armored Demon God’s awakening speed up the Divine Master’s return to this world?”

Someone could not help but ask. Blood Moon was an organization, and also a religion. As for the Blood Moon congregation’s addressing of “Divine Master”, it was the “God” of Blood Moon’s religion.

“Awaken?” The man with the flaming scar shook his head and he did not give an explanation.

But a thin man beside him smiled and said, “The Divine Master has never broken the seal open since ancient times. Tens of millions of years ago, He had been sealed by Jian Qingyang once again. It is not so simple for the Divine Master to completely awaken and break the shackles of His confinement.”

“Besides… Why would we invite a God here to worship Him, and willingly be His slave?”

“Oh?”

The moment the thin man said those words, it stunned the everyone else.

What did this mean?

The thin man carried on. “Our Blood Moon organization was established by the seven Demon Disciples, tens of millions of years ago. Its establishment was just to resist Jian Qingyang and the Desolate race army.”

“To put it bluntly, us as Blood Moon are just the Demon Disciples’ tools. Blood Moon of the past was far more powerful than it is now. But after the war with the Desolate race and the long passage of time, the Blood Moon has become what it is now. There are only Reincarnators and Yin specters, continuing on through endless sleeping… ”

“Do you still think it’s not enough being their tools? Now, the Eye of Destruction is still sealed, and the seven Demon Disciples are asleep, yet you want to awaken them to carry on becoming their tools? Or do you want to establish a new order, and become the overlords of this world yourselves?”

The thin man’s words quaked the hearts of the Reincarnators. Become the overlords of this world themselves?

They had never thought so far ahead, but if they gave it careful thought, Blood Moon’s purpose may have continued on for tens of millions of years, and they knew of Blood Moon’s past and mission. But over the million years of reincarnation, they had never heard Blood Moon mention the revival of the seven Demon Disciples or allowing the Divine Master to escape from the seal.

It appeared as if the upper echelons of the Blood Moon had ulterior ambitions a long time ago.

Indeed, they were just chess pieces used tens of millions of years ago after all. The Eye of Destruction was not a benefactor of theirs, so why should they render any service to Him?

“That seal… ” Someone asked anxiously.

They did not know how secure the seal in the eternal whirlpool was. If the Divine Master could awaken by Himself, they would be doomed.

With that, the man with the flaming scar said, “Tens of millions of years ago, the seven Demon Disciples underestimated Jian Qingyang. The Divine Master had just awoken back then, and he was still restrained by the ancient seal. Yet, He attracted Jian Qingyang and that woman, who dealt a serious blow to the Divine Master after entering the eternal whirlpool together. In addition to the ancient seal, the Divine Master’s consciousness was injured… Seven years ago, the Divine Master’s projection appearance was just a stimulative reflex from the opening of the Great Empress mystic realm…”

“Now, this is the moment I have been waiting for. If there is a God in this world, it is sufficient for Him to be done by us.” As the man with the flaming scar spoke, his eyes flickered with ambition.

Tens of millions of years ago, when the seven Demon Disciples had entered their slumber, and the Eye of Destruction was being sealed, he had gained control of Blood Moon. But he no longer had the plans on reviving the seven Demon Disciples.

He wanted immense supreme power for himself, a position to dictate everything!

Now, the opportunity was here.

And in the tens of millions of years, the Black-armored Demon God that was about to awaken from the tempering of starlight, would become an important part of his plan.

To dominate this world required absolute power.

He did not want to revive the Demon Disciples, he wanted to become a Demon Disciple himself, becoming just as powerful as the Demon Disciples were tens of millions of years ago.

He had used this long period of time to nurture and empower many Yin specters.

With the Yin specters’ powerful souls and the combined powers of the Yin specters, he could set up an array formation to wipe out the Black-armored Demon God’s consciousness that had not fully awoken. Then, everything would be perfect and flawless.

656 - : Black-armored Demon God

CKtalon  CKtalon

A thick, dense evil specter energy covered the slumbering grounds of the Yin specters in the Soul Tomb.

This place was supposed to be dark, with the red moon’s light masked by dust, but there was an eerie ghostly blue fire that swirled around.

“Zhulong! Fengming! All of you are crazy. Killing us is equivalent to declaring war on every faction in the entire Tian Yuan world!”

“The Martial Alliance may be strong, but it is just a slightly bigger faction. It cannot defeat the entire Tian Yuan world. Let us go!”

All the Heavenly Blood Union members were being restricted by the large cocoons’ arrays. They were shouting crazily in the beginning, but towards the end, the fear and excruciating pain had drained them of their willpower.

They could not resist due to the restrictions from the arrays. Furthermore, with something from the large cocoon trying to crawl into their brains, that sense of helplessness and the splitting pain in their heads was indescribable.

“Let… Let me go. I have always been loyal to the Martial Alliance. I… signed… a soul contract… ”

Slowly, some of them finally bent over, and began pleading to Zhulong.

Zhulong remained expressionless towards this. As for Qiongqi, he enjoyed listening to this. The corners of his mouth curved up and said with a teasing tone, “The cries while struggling in pain sure is a fantastic sound.”

“Don’t worry. Your pain will come to an end quickly. The prolate spheroidal large cocoons beneath you are called Soul Cocoons. The things inside them will end your suffering, and finally merge with you, bringing great strength to your bodies. Are you excited?”

“Listen. Something is coming out from inside.”

“Sha Sha Sha… Sha Sha Sha…”

This sound was extremely ear-piercing. It was as if something sharp was crawling through rocks, sending an itch down to the bone.

“Ka-cha!”

A Soul Cocoon beneath a Heavenly Blood Union member opened up, as if it had been cut open. Following that, a long black worm crawled out.

The long worm was about the thickness of a finger and it was cylindrical in shape. It was covered in a black carapace, while its head and eyes were dark red in color. It had dozens of thin and short feet. The sound before seemed to come from its feet rubbing against the Soul Cocoon’s stony surface.

The black worm used its feelers to gently touch the Heavenly Blood Union member’s head. The touch made him shudder all over.

“Soul Devouring Worms consume spiritual and Yin souls as food. It cannot devour the Yin specters that are sleeping in the Soul Cocoons due to an array’s protection. But the Soul Devouring Worms use the Soul Cocoons as their nest. The remnant spiritual soul energy after they devour Yin souls within the Soul Cocoon is the best supplement for the Yin specters… ” Qiongqi laughed sinisterly.

The Heavenly Blood Union member was already terror-stricken, and more than a dozen of these worms had crawled out from the Soul Cocoon beneath him. They began to crawl towards his brain through his ears!

The long, black worms that were as thick as fingers made him feel like his ear canal was about to burst open while they crawled inside. As the Soul Devouring Worms laboriously crawled deep inside, their sharp feet tore through skin and flesh, causing large amounts of blood to flow out.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

The Heavenly Blood Union member let out a blood-curling scream. This method of death was not inferior to death by heart-dismembering.

Right after the Soul Devouring Worms crawled into the youth’s ears, a cold, Yin energy began to spread from the tips of his limbs throughout his body.

That was the Yin specter that slept in the Soul Cocoon. It had finally awoken, and it was beginning to enjoy the delicacy awaiting it.

A soul sea chewed through by a Soul Devouring Worm made it even easier to possess.

The Soul Devouring Worms and the Yin specter entered the body almost at the same time. As the Heavenly Blood Union member’s body started to twist, he foamed from his mouth, as his eyes rolled back, leaving only the white in his eyes.

Seeing the Heavenly Blood Union’s terrible state, the human warriors present felt a jolt through their hearts.

As warriors, some of them were not too afraid of a simple death, but dying in such a horrible manner challenged their psychological baseline.

Especially many of the pretty young girls were scared out of their wits. Their rosy cheeks had now turned as pale as a sheet.

They did not wish to die, especially not becoming fodder for such terrifying worms. They did not want their beautiful bodies to become ugly, possessed by Yin specters and wantonly abused.

At that moment, Chu Ke’er, who was beside Wei Chiwei, was almost on her last breaths. Her cultivation level was very low, so she could not endure such devastation.

As for her elder sister, Chu Qing’er, her situation was not any better. She was drenched in sweat, as her hair clung to her forehead.

The most terrifying thing was that she was no longer in control of her body. It was impossible to use her energy to commit suicide.

…

In the middle of the few stone pillars, there was a gigantic Soul Cocoon, at least twice the size of other Soul Cocoons. No Heavenly Blood Union member was arranged to be placed on this Soul Cocoon.

In this largest Soul Cocoon, there lay an ancient Yin specter. Its strength was extremely high, and it was the earliest first generation Yin specter.

Zhulong had planned to place Yi Yun in this spot. As his talent was outstanding, it was extremely suitable for his body to be the vessel of the ancient Yin specter.

However, Yi Yun was too monstrous. Ignoring the idea of possessing him, just his appearance would lead to a calamity.

As for arranging others to be possessed by this ancient Yin specter, Zhulong found no one suitable. The other Heavenly Blood Union members’ bodies were insufficient to fully bring out the ancient Yin specter’s strength.

Hence, Zhulong left this spot empty, allowing the strongest ancient Yin specter to carry on its slumber. He was waiting for the upper echelons of Blood Moon to cripple Yi Yun first before using his body as the ancient Yin specter’s vessel.

However, just a moment ago, a Life Slip on Zhulong’s body shattered.

Zhulong could use the Life Slip to transmit information from the Soul Tomb outside, and similarly, the outside world had the ability to transmit information to Zhulong.

The Life Slip that shattered meant that accidents had happened in the revival plans of the Demon Disciples. It urged Zhulong to quickly bring the Yin specters in the Soul Tomb to the Untraversable Sea, so as to help the upper echelons of Blood Moon control the array formation.

Zhulong knew that tens of millions of years ago, the first generation Blood Moon which included himself, had chosen the Black-armored Demon God as their target, slowly wiping off the consciousness of the Black-armored Demon God.

Back then, when the seven Demon Disciples engaged in a massive battle with the Azure Yang Lord, the seven Demon Disciples had been sealed by him, entering an extremely long slumber.

This slumber might even last more than hundred million years.

The Black-armored Demon God received the heaviest injury to his soul sea. Blood Moon had even suspected that the Black-armored Demon God had lost his consciousness.

Tens of millions of years ago, Blood Moon’s mission was to save the seven Demon Disciples. However, when they saw the seven Demon Disciples lose most of their power, the upper echelons of Blood Moon started feeling tempted.

Working for others was not as good as controlling the world. This was probably human nature.

Zhulong frowned as he looked at the Life Slip that had shattered in his hand. He did not know what accident had happened in the Untraversable Sea.

After a short hesitation, he grabbed a youth from the Heavenly Blood Union members who had relatively good talent, and directly threw him on the Soul Cocoon that contained the ancient Yin specter.

And this person coincidentally was the “Jian Wushuang” who had fought Yi Yun in Heaven Martial City.

657 - : Yin Specters Awaken

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Jiang Wushuang” had always been loyal to the Martial Alliance. He had been proud of being a member of the Heavenly Blood Union. But now, he had been violently thrown onto the largest Soul Cocoon. His body began to convulse as he suffered an excruciating pain in his soul. He felt like the evil spirit in the Soul Cocoon had already begun invading his body, devouring his spiritual soul bit by bit.

“Lord… Zhulong… ”

“Jian Wushuang” lay in the Soul Cocoon in a weak and limp state. He stretched his hands out weakly towards Zhulong, as his fingers trembled.

He refused to believe that the Martial Alliance, who he had been always loyal towards to the point of abandoning his family clan to forever join the Martial Alliance, would now treat him in such a manner.

Seeing the cold and distant Zhulong and the hideous Qiongqi, who was enjoying all of this, “Jian Wushuang” let out a tragic laugh. He derided how pathetic and stupid he was.

Qiongqi sneered as he glanced at Jian Wushuang, before turning to ask Zhulong, “This pretty boy is just a bit better than those trash. Will his body do?”

Zhulong shook his head, “We need to attempt it even it’s not suitable. We have to take all the ancient Yin specters out of the Soul Tomb this time.”

As he spoke, he waved his hand casually, and plumes of soul fires flew out from his black sleeves.

This soul fires were the Heavenly Blood Union members that had been killed in the battle with the Desolate race.

Gongsun Hong, who had been killed by Yi Yun, was also one of the soul fires.

With his body destroyed, Gongsun Hong yearned to cultivate the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”, allowing himself to have a brand new body, so as to fulfill his aspirations and ambitions.

Gongsun Hong was still a bit stunned when he was thrown out into the slumbering grounds of the Yin specters.

There were stone pillars and strange stone cocoons here. As for those Heavenly Blood Union members, they were now all pinned to gigantic cocoons, either struggling or crying out in pain…

Seeing their twisted expressions, it was as if they wished for a quick death.

What… was this?

Gongsun Hong was dumbfounded. This was also part of executing the mission? It did not seem like it.

Then, as he looked at the Reincarnators from the Heavenly Blood Union, the cold Zhulong, the smirking Sheji, the savage and malefic Qiongqi… Gongsun Hong suddenly felt a cold intent surge at him, causing his spiritual soul flame to tremble.

He had a strong sense of unease.

“Lord… Lord Zhulong… What is this about… ?”

Gongsun Hong was panic-stricken, as he felt that the Zhulong standing in front of him was like an ancient evil demon.

Zhulong calmly said, “I was planning on refining all of you into Yin specters, nurturing you for future use, but there is now no more time. So… I will have to let you down by making you soul food for the Yin specter, allowing the ancient Yin specter that has been sleeping for tens of millions of years to quickly recover its peak strength.”

As Zhulong, he grabbed Gongsun Hong and the other Heavenly Blood Union members and threw them at the gigantic Soul Cocoon where “Jian Wushuang” was.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Gongsun Hong let out a tragic scream. However, he was just a spiritual embodiment, so how could he resist? His spiritual soul flame as well as the other Heavenly Blood Union members were swept up by an immense force, as they slowly merged into the Soul Cocoon, and the Soul Devouring Worms devoured them.

By then, a Yin specter had completely merged itself into a Heavenly Blood Union member’s body.

A youth in his twenties stood up from the Soul Cocoon, but his footing was unstable as his expression looked vacant.

His eyes had already turned crimson red.

He suddenly grabbed a few bloody black worms from his ears, and with a crushing sound, squeezed them to pieces. He then threw the wriggling corpse on the ground, crushing them flat.

The first stage of this youth’s possession was completed, but the Yin specter was unable to fully control this body, resulting in him still being in a dazed state.

Qiongqi laughed. “Cheers to your waking up! How does this new body feel?”

Fengming, who was beside Qiongqi, also said, “Hurry and get acclimatized, so as to control this body perfectly. There are serious matters awaiting us.”

There were waves of trouble during the Blackstone Trials, and after a prolonged period of time, the first Yin specter had finally awoken. As such, in less than an hour, all the Yin specters would awaken, then everything would be set in stone.

When they thought about this, Qiongqi and Fengming heaved a sigh of relief.

However, at that moment, Zhulong’s expression suddenly changed. He felt a sense of danger surge at his heart, causing his body to freeze up!

“Dodge!” Zhulong shouted deeply.

“What?” Fengming, Qiongqi and Sheji were stunned momentarily.

“Dodge!” Zhulong roared angrily.

At the same time, his body suddenly leaped up as he flew upwards. As for Fengming, Qiongqi and Sheji, although they were slower by half a beat, they flew in all directions just in time.

“Boom!”

A deafening explosion echoed. The entire slumbering ground of the Yin specters, valleys and stone pillars trembled. In the space where Zhulong, Fengming and company were standing, it looked like glass that had been smashed by a hammer. Large pieces of spatial barrier fragments had peeled off, as a golden divine tower flew out of a spatial hole, suppressing the heaven and earth!

“This is… ” Zhulong and the other three Reincarnators were alarmed.

A divine tower had smashed through the spatial maze surrounding the Yin specters’ slumbering ground?

The spatial maze was extremely hidden, so how could it be discovered by others, and shattered in one strike?

After the spatial barrier was shattered, it formed a spatial tornado storm. The spatial storm was heading towards the stone pillars, which would cause the Yin specters that had not awakened to be destroyed by the storm.

Zhulong loudly roared and punched out!

“Peng!”

Zhulong’s fist wind impacted the spatial storm, causing it to explode, dissipating into nothingness.

The spatial barriers surrounding the Yin specters’ slumbering ground were far weaker than the alternate dimension barrier that Yi Yun had previously broken open.

If not, Zhulong would have found it very difficult to resist the spatial storm, leading to many Yin specters to perish in the spatial storm. And correspondingly, Yi Yun would have consumed a great amount of stamina if he wanted to break open a more powerful spatial barrier.

Just as Zhulong’s punch smashed through the spatial storm…

“Whew!”

A sharp whistle tore through the air, as a golden beam streaked across the darkness, straight at Zhulong. It was an arrow!

Zhulong’s pupils constricted when he saw the arrow!

“Yi Yun! It’s really you!”

Be it the aura that accompanied the arrow, or the pure Yang laws imbued within the arrow, they convinced Zhulong that it was undoubtedly coming from Yi Yun. He did not immediately understand what method Yi Yun had used to be able to so quickly escape from the alternate dimension, and find the Yin specters’ slumbering grounds through the layers of spatial dimensional mazes.

The threatening arrow’s attack did not give Zhulong the time to ruminate over it. He gritted his teeth and dodged sideways.

He had not recovered from the injuries from overdrafting his blood essence, so he was currently in an extremely terrible condition. Furthermore, he had just dissipated the spatial storm. Since he had just finished his move and having used up his energy, it was impossible for him to withstand Yi Yun’s arrow.

The arrow brushed past Zhulong’s shoulder, tearing through Zhulong’s protective Yuan Qi.

After the arrow shot past Zhulong, the arrow unbelievably changed its angle just before it collided with a mountain. This slight change made it face the Yin specter that had just awoken!

This Yin specter was still in a daze. Before it could fully control its new body, it already saw the arrow fly at it.

“Ah!”

The Yin specter let out an angry growl, but its body was unable to keep up with its soul. Since it was unable to use the energy in the body, and it was even still repressing the resistance that came from the body’s owner in the soul sea, it was unable to dodge immediately.

The golden arrow was too fast, and with it unable to block, the arrow penetrated its body!

“Boom!”

The newly born Yin specter exploded from the arrow’s strike, as its body split into pieces, even shattering its soul!

Dead!

The Yin specter who had suddenly been killed, the golden explosion as well as the golden tower that suppressed the heaven and earth attracted everyone’s attention.

At that moment, the golden tower was still spinning, but began shrinking in size. And out from the shattered space came Yi Yun who was engulfed in pure Yang golden flames. He held a bow in his hand as he walked out. And following behind him were two beautiful ladies, dressed in red and white. They were Jiang Xiaorou and Lin Xintong.

658 - : Tearing the Void Again

CKtalon  CKtalon

To all of the Heavenly Blood Union members, who were struggling in pain while lying prostrated on the Soul Cocoons, Yi Yun, who appeared with the two peerless ladies, was similar to a heavenly king that came from the heavens.

If one did not consider his relationship with the Heavenly Blood Union members present, his appearance was like that of a heavenly king coming to save his people. However, the fact was that Yi Yun was previously accused of being a traitor. Many of the Heavenly Blood Union members had hated Yi Yun and disgruntled with him. With jealously, in addition to the new and old grudges, this resulted in many hoping that Yi Yun would die.

Even the alias Yi Yun used to enter the Heavenly Dao Union, Jiang Yidao, was ostracized by the Heavenly Blood Union members. Just before entering the Blackstone Trials, many people had even derided, scolded and mocked Yi Yun for being cowardly and inhumane. He had chosen to escape when faced with a trial that would greatly impact the survival of the Human race. He was then only forcely brought back by the masked man.

After all this derision and scolding, these previously highly-spirited elites, upon meeting Yi Yun in the Yin specters’ slumbering ground, were now in such pathetic states.

As for Yi Yun, he apparently already knew of the nefarious schemes of the Martial Alliance. Yi Yun’s quitting was probably a result of these schemes.

However, later on, Yi Yun had gained control of the masked man and returned to the Heavenly Dao Union, joining the Blackstone Trials. All of this was to completely destroy the Martial Alliance’s scheme. Just thinking of these things made many of them falter. They had no place to hide their shame. Just thinking about their previous actions made them label themselves as incorrigible idiots.

Now, although they did not know the Martial Alliance’s goals, they knew that the Martial Alliance was not some benign organization.

The price the Martial Alliance needed to pay for killing all of them in the Soul Tomb, was to become enemies with the entire Tian Yuan world! Therefore, the most likely outcome was that the Martial Alliance planned to use their martial prowess to enslave the entire Tian Yuan world!

The level of brutality and evil by such actions was probably worse than that of the Desolate race!

“Young Master Yi… save… save me…”

A Heavenly Blood Union member stretched out his hand, imploring Yi Yun to save him.

As warriors, they were outstanding amongst peers in their own age, so they were naturally arrogant.

Now however, he was in too much pain. Under the threat of a death, the torture of his soul sea and the Soul Devouring Worms tearing through his ear canal, all of his arrogance had vanished.

He did not want to die for no reason in this land that never saw the light of day. He did not want to become food for the Yin souls. He wanted to survive. He wanted to return to his family clan, expose the Martial Alliance’s nefarious schemes.

“Young Master… Young Master Yi, I was dumb… I maligned you… But we were duped… Save me…”

Many elites, who had always been smug, began to plead for Yi Yun’s help. They knew that the only person that could save them now was Yi Yun.

“These people really have thrown away all of their dignity.”

A Desolate race girl, who replaced Chen Fei to lead the “Skyfox”, said disdainfully from behind Yi Yun.

“When one’s life is under threat, dignity becomes extremely extravagant. Besides, the pain they are experiencing in their soul sea is unimaginable by us. Yi Yun, save them. Their lives can be put to good use.” Lin Xintong said.

To overthrow Blood Moon, they first needed to expose Blood Moon, and these people were the best witnesses.

“Got it.”

With the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow in hand, Yi Yun pulled open the bow string. He did not string an arrow, but used pure Yang energy as arrows.

Pure Yang flames condensed together at Yi Yun’s fingertips, forming into six pure Yang arrows!

“Peng!”

The bowstring twanged, and the first targets of the arrows that shot out were Wei Chiwei, the Chu sisters and company.

Since the six of them had followed Yi Yun’s lead, their safety was to be ensured.

“Stop them!” Zhulong yelled in exasperation. Not far behind him, Sheji, Fengming and Qiongqi charged forward.

Aspect Totem phantom images conjured up behind them. There was a gigantic serpent, a firebird and a ferocious tiger with wings on its back.

At the same moment as these three people moved, Lin Xintong also moved. Her dress fluttered as starlight fell from the skies, dispersing the gloomy mist while gathering on Lin Xintong’s sword.

Lin Xintong slashed out her sword, like a surging river splitting the sky in two. On the surging river, a phantom image of a simply dressed woman appeared, briskly walking on the river, as if she was chasing time itself as it was receding away.

Sheji, Fengming and Qiongqi’s Aspect Totem phantom images were swept up in the surging river, as numerous ice crystals froze on them, the three Aspect Totems began to struggle violently.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The Aspect Totems that were condensed from energy, froze and cracked in the frosty ice.

Lin Xintong brandished her sword with an indomitable slash.

The expressions of the three changed greatly as they used their respective means to defend themselves. However, Lin Xintong’s sword beam was too sharp and too quick. The laws imbued within the beams came from the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, they were profound and intangible.

“Ah!”

Qiongqi tragically cried out as his stomach was pierced through!

Amongst the three of them, he was the weakest. It was not because he had a low cultivation, but because he had been injured in his fight against Jiang Xiaorou. He had not yet recovered, so he was unable to withstand Lin Xintong’s attack.

Qiongqi’s expression twisted as he held his stomach in pain. Not a single drop of blood flowed out from his wound. Instead, numerous ice crystals began to form on his wound, and they grew, along his meridians, towards his limbs.

Qiongqi’s face turned pale, as he knew deeply that if the ice crystals pervaded his meridians, he would undoubtedly lose all combat ability. If his meridians were severed, a large portion of his cultivation would be crippled.

Just a single slash was this powerful?

Lin Xintong had never shown her true strength, but now, from the looks of it, she was not any weaker than Yi Yun. It was likely that they were equal in strength!

While Lin Xintong caused the three Reincarnators to retreat from a single slash, severely injuring Qiongqi in the process, Yi Yun’s energy arrows had flown in front of Wei Chiwei, the Chu sisters and company.

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

The six energy arrows stabbed straight into the large cocoons.

Yin specters were just Yin souls. Before having a body, they had no combat ability other than being able to possess. They were like turtles without their shells.

And pure Yang energy was the most effective energy against Yin and evil spiritual beings. With the pure Yang arrows entering the Yin specters’ nest, it was a fatal blow towards the Yin specters who had yet to finish possessing a body!

“Chi!”

Azure smoke emitted out of the Soul Cocoons that were shot. One could hear the faint but miserable cry of the spiritual souls.

These six Yin specters were severed from their connection with Wei Chiwei and company. They were either severely injured, or reduced to nothingness from Yi Yun’s arrows!

“Ah!”

With the connections suddenly severed, Wei Chiwei, Chu Ke’er, Chu Qing’er and company rolled off the Soul Cocoons, slamming heavily onto the ground in a utterly helpless manner.

However, they had managed to keep their lives!

Yet, the impact on their soul seas was probably not recoverable without a few months of recuperation.

“Senior Brother Jiang, I have to thank you again. We are truly useless…”

Wei Chiwei said with a falter. He was accustomed to calling Yi Yun Senior Brother Jiang. The Chu sisters were also pale, they looked at him with gratitude but also felt ashamed. They felt that they had been too burdensome.

Yi Yun only gave them a light smile, indicating for the six of them to not take it to hard. Following that, he pulled the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow open, and this time, twelve pure Yang energy arrows appeared on the bowstring.

The energy arrows were aimed at the Soul Cocoons. With the bowstring pulled open, Yi Yun’s expression turned cold and penetrating, as if he was a peerless god of war.

659 - : Pure Yang Energy Arrows

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Whew!”

The moment Yi Yun released his fingers, the twelve energy arrows flew out. The incorporeal Yin specters were like sitting ducks in front of the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow as they were unable to withstand Yi Yun’s attacks.

If a pull of his bow could shoot out twelve arrows and severely injuring or even killing twelve Yin specters, it would just need Yi Yun a few pulls of his bow to destroy all the Yin specters in the slumbering grounds.

Hence, Zhulong could not sit idle while watching this happen. The moment Yi Yun pulled his bow open for a second time, Zhulong moved. With Heaven’s Punishment in hand, he punched at Yi Yun’s energy arrows!

In the prior, intense battle with Yi Yun, Zhulong’s hands had been injured, and he was still in the midst of recovering. Furthermore, the effects of using a mystic technique and overdrafting his Qi and blood had yet to be diminished.

Although his punch still possessed an extremely astounding aura, Yi Yun’s keen senses told him that this aura was much weaker than before.

“Boom!”

Zhulong’s fist collided with all the energy arrows that Yi Yun shot out. As the energy arrows exploded, the pure Yang energy contained in them gushed out, causing pure Yang flames to soar upwards.

At the same moment that Zhulong shattered the energy arrows, Yi Yun made his move. With the pure Yang broken sword in hand, he charged straight at Zhulong.

Yi Yun’s two Aspect Totems, the Golden Crow and Nine Neonate appeared behind him, as his sword beam streaked across the void.

Lin Xintong followed closely behind Yi Yun.

Lin Xintong was dressed in clothes white as snow, and as she brandished her sword, a lake appeared behind her from out of nowhere. The lake was a deep blue color, with the sparkling waves emitting an indescribable frost Qi. Far in the distance, a radiant moon hung above the lake, sending forth a watery glow.

As Lin Xintong’s sword was augmented with the frost moon’s illumination, it came screeching at Zhulong.

As the Yin specters were undergoing their revival process, every second counted. Since Lin Xintong no longer needed to protect Jiang Xiaorou, she joined forces with Yi Yun to kill Zhulong in the shortest amount of time in a two against one situation.

With both swords used in unison, one was Yin and another was Yang!

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had been cultivating together for a number of years, and they had been cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” together. Although the laws they cultivated were complete opposites, they complemented each other. Their combined strength was not just a simple case of addition.

Instantly, Zhulong felt the pressure increase! Behind him, there were the unrevived Yin specters. Without any room to retreat, he could only desperately drain his energy to punch again and again.

“Help me!” Zhulong bellowed. Behind him, Fengming, Sheji, Qiongqi and the other Reincarnators could only summon their courage to charge forward. Previously, they had the Heavenly Blood Union members helping them, but now with all of them engaged in the possession process, they could only count on themselves to withstand Lin Xintong and Yi Yun’s attack.

They knew very well that only by enduring until a majority of the Yin specters were revived would they be able to turn the tide of the war. If not, they were definitely doomed.

A multitude of sword beams flashed, some consisting of solar rainbows, while others were frosty lunar rivers. The vicissitudes of Yin and Yang seemed ever triumphant!

“Ah!”

Qiongqi, who had been suffering from his injuries, was the first person to succumb. His curved Yuan Qi was shattered by the sword beams as he let out a terrible cry while flying backward.

Beside him, Sheji was injured by Lin Xintong’s sword Qi once again. The frost Qi on the blade tip slashed Sheji’s wrists open, freezing her palms immediately, and they seemingly became as brittle as ice crystals.

The frost Qi meandered up, Sheji’s arm causing her expression to change. As she retreated, she began circulating her Yuan Qi to withstand Lin Xintong’s frost Qi, however to no avail. The frost Qi, which seemed indestructible, forcefully broke through Sheji’s meridians, and spreaded towards Sheji’s heart.

This indomitable frost Qi contained the nomological insights of Lin Xintong.

As she realized this, she knew charging forward again was no different from flinging herself at Death. Although it was needed to delay them until the Yin specters were revived, she still needed to survive up to that point.

Without Sheji and Qiongqi, Fengming and Zhulong found it harder to resist!

Fengming could only serve the purpose of causing some confusion, as the combined attacks of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were mostly shouldered by Zhulong alone.

Zhulong bit the tip of tongue and struck out with fist shadows that filled the sky.

Although he was still injured, and fighting one against two, Zhulong’s attacks were not to be belittled. He had managed to forcefully slow Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s sword Qi down.

“Die!” Zhulong roared as all the muscles on his face twitched. He charged at the duo without any regard.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong remained calm, as their swords interweaved together, sending out their second strike!

Boom!

The convergence of pure Yang and pure Yin once again surged at Zhulong.

As Zhulong was midway through his charge, his energy rapidly depleted. A torrent of sword Qi assaulted his protective Yuan Qi. He was like an exhausted fish swimming upstream against rapids, and he was nearing his limit.

Peng!

Zhulong’s protective Yuan Qi began to crack as the first fractures began to form. With a crisp snap from his right hand’s fingers, his fractured fingers that had yet to fully recovered once again ruptured.

His charge also came to a momentary stop!

In a life and death battle, even a fraction of a second of hesitation could result in a complete reversal in the outcome. Furthermore, he was facing the combined efforts of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong in battle!

Zhulong’s heart immediately sank for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s sword beams were already in front of him!

Yi Yun’s sword was like the blinding radiant sun, while Lin Xintong’s sword seemed like the calmest gentle breeze.

However, the sense of imminent danger that accompanied the sword beams resembled the terrifying blood pools in the pits of hell. The wails of numerous people permeated the wind that surged at Zhulong!

In this blood-red hurricane in front of him, Zhulong was like a tiny boat futilely battling the elements in the sea. He would be overwhelmed and destroyed in an instant!

Dodging was out of the question as Zhulong bellowed and punched with both fists, slamming into Lin Xintong and Yi Yun’s sword beams!

Zhulong could barely manage resisting against one person, but now with two…

“Boom!”

A deafening ring reverberated in Zhulong’s ears.

The boom was a result of the violent energy that accompanied the two sword beams that had ripped his flesh open, exploding in his body.

As energy flushed out, Zhulong’s shoulders had already exploded into two plumes of bloody red mist. The powerful impact sent him flying backward. After slamming to the ground, he slid for another thousand feet, leaving behind a deep ravine in the ground!

Zhulong finally came to a stop when he crashed heavily into a stone pillar where some Yin specters slept. He only felt a tremble along his back, as black blood gushed out from the corner of his mouth!

Zhulong’s face had turned pale. The two sword beams had stabbed into his hands through Heaven’s Punishment, causing all the joints in both his hands to fracture!

Yi Yun held the broken sword in his hand which was still dripping with fresh blood. However, the fresh blood did not remain on the rusty blade, the broken sword absorbed the blood instead.

Without any hesitation, Yi Yun brandished the pure Yang broken sword and struck once again!

The time it took to traverse a distance of a thousand feet was nothing but an instant to Yi Yun. In the blink of an eye, his blade had stabbed straight at Zhulong’s eyebrows.

“Die!”

Taking advantage of his perilous situation!

Yi Yun’s sword surged with killing intent. A golden blast of wind transformed into a roaring golden wave that reached a thousand feet in height, as if it could drown mountains that littered the lands.

Against this terrifying aura, Zhulong suddenly felt a deep chill. He felt his death approaching!

Time seemed to slow down, as absolute despair made Zhulong go ballistic.

“You want to kill me? I’ll perish together with you!” Zhulong bellowed in a craze. He was disgruntled! He had reincarnated so many times, and every incarnation he had allowed him to lord over numerous people. He stood on a precipice over all those people, enjoying their worship, and the fear they felt towards him.

As for Yi Yun, he was just a young genius in his twenties. How could he compete with him!?

“Die… Die… Die… Die!” Zhulong burned his blood essence as he was engulfed in flames formed from his blood and Qi. Inside the red inferno, he punched with his left hand that wore Heaven Punishment, seemingly sending a thick blob of blood straight at the roaring blood wave!

“Boom!”

This punch was sky-trembling and earth shaking!

But at the same moment, Lin Xintong also made her move.

Her spiritual energy had locked onto Zhulong’s energy circulation a while ago. At the instant Zhulong punched without any regard, Lin Xintong’s sword Qi had entwined itself around Zhulong’s punch beam like an exquisite winding river.

Yin and Softness always accompanied each other. The pure Yin laws that Lin Xintong cultivated were imbued in her sword, and they were best at overcoming hardness with softness.

This sword beam’s aim was not to kill, nor was it to directly clash with Zhulong’s punch beam. Instead, it was to redirect, conquering the unyielding with a tiny bit of force!

Zhulong felt his fist lighten as his energy seemed to rapidly diminish like a receding tide. The force from his fist had been redirected away by Lin Xintong!

With the force from his fist greatly reduced, how was he going to resist Yi Yun’s sword?

Amidst the chaotic freedom of random energy pulsations, an ancient blade emerged, tearing through the pure Yang flames silently, and then piercing through the burning blood and Qi.

What seemed like an ordinary and unsophisticated sword was actually judgment from the heavens.

When it slowly stabbed at Zhulong’s heart in an indelible fashion, Zhulong widened his eyes.

Disgruntledness, hatred and disbelief… There were too many feelings contained within Zhulong’s eyes.

‘”Puah!”

With a crisp ring, the energetic explosions around him were nothing much, but they were infinitely clear in Zhulong’s ears.

His chest felt a searing heat, as his heart was penetrated by the broken sword. Each pulsation of his heart seemed to become a struggle against the blade, and every contraction of his heart caused large amounts of blood to gush out.

As blood spurted out from his wound, Zhulong grabbed the pure Yang broken sword with one hand, while his other hand was clenched tightly in a fist.

“You… You… ” Zhulong’s lips quivered as he stared deadly at Yi Yun. His eyes had turned blood red from hatred.

With the broken sword in hand, Yi Yun exerted some force with a twist of his wrist, causing pure Yang Yuan Qi to surge out of the broken sword, flooding out to Zhulong’s limbs, burning his meridians and blood along the way.

Zhulong’s body convulsed violently as his pupils lost their focus. Yi Yun had already turned a blur in his vision.

The twisted pure Yang broken sword had diced his heart.

“Killing me… will make you pay the price. Blood Moon’s inheritance… ”

Zhulong’s lips trembled. Every word he said caused more blood to seep out from the corner of his mouth. However, before he could finish his sentence, the pure Yang broken sword had been swiped across his neck.

“You can die already.” Yi Yun said those words nonchalantly with an expressionless face.

Slowly, he wiped the blood off his blade.

Zhulong’s head jerked sideways as his throat seemed to open. His head fell back, eyes staring. They looked at the dark clouds and the blood moon in the sky, having died with everlasting regret.

660 - : Zhulong’s Doomsday

CKtalon  CKtalon

Under the combined forces of Lin Xintong and Yi Yun, Zhulong was killed. Fengming, Sheji and Qiongqi were dumbfounded as they watched this.

Zhulong was dead!

As a first generation Blood Moon, Zhulong was actually one of the leaders of the upper echelons of Blood Moon. But now, he had been killed by the duo after just completing a reincarnation due to not having fully recovered his strength and cultivation level.

The moment Zhulong died, the remaining Reincarnators were like sheep waiting to be slaughtered. There was no way for them to survive.

As Reincarnators, they had a bright future ahead. In their previous lives, they were accustomed to be in control of the lives of others. But now, their lives were in the hands of others.

However, Yi Yun ignored the trio at that moment.

The Yin specters’ possession was about to complete, so if he were to delay any further, more and more Yin specters would be revived. These Yin specters might not be able to immediately control their new bodies fully as they had been in deep sleep for too long. They needed time to fully regain consciousness.

“Separate all the human warriors’ mental connection with the Yin specters!” Yi Yun said to the Desolate race warriors behind him.

At that moment, Yi Yun was a formidable god of war in the minds of the Desolate race warriors. They were utterly convinced by his killing of Zhulong with Lin Xintong.

The moment he gave the order, the Desolate race warriors charged forward like a surging tide. Sheji, Fengming and Qiongqi could only watch by the sides idly, as they were completely helpless to resist, nor did they dare to.

Although these Desolate race’s Skyfox members lacked strength, they were sufficient enough to deal with the unrevived Yin specters. They charged at the stone pillars like a pack of wolves, forcefully and violently pulling the human warriors from the large cocoons.

The human warriors lamented. Their soul seas were enduring the assaults from the Yin specters, giving them splitting headaches. Amongst some of them, there were even Soul Devouring Worms wriggling endlessly in their ears. Hence, the additional feeling of being thrown to the ground was not a pleasant feeling.

The saved human warriors looked at the Desolate race warriors, who were previously their foes, with complicated expressions.

They never expected that the outcome of the Blackstone Trials would end up like this. They had nearly been harmed to death by Blood Moon, but they were eventually saved by the Desolate race.

Many people, who were exonerated from their suffering, looked up at the hovering and Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow wielding Yi Yun with mixed emotions.

At that moment, with the bow in his left hand, he shot arrows consecutively!

Pure Yang energy arrows tore through the darkness, penetrating several Soul Cocoons.

With a crisp “Chi Chi Chi” sound that was intermixed with the wails of spiritual souls in pain, large numbers of Yin specters were burned by the pure Yang flames.

“Ah!”

A Yin specter broke out of a Soul Cocoons as it could no longer withstand the searing pure Yang flames!

This Yin specter was like tumultuous blue flame. And one could faintly see a human face with a painful expression in the flames.

It charged straight at Yi Yun without any regard!

Yin specters did not have any bodies, nor could they use energy. However, this Yin specter had the means to make a final attack, possession.

If the spiritual soul power of a warrior to be possessed was much weaker than the Yin specter’s, the Yin specter could directly possess the warrior’s body. But if the difference was not great, it would lead to an internecine struggle, and the most extreme outcome would be the Yin specter vaporizing, while the warrior became a retard.

This Yin specter had been slumbering for tens of millions of years. It had yet to possess a body, but it had fully awakened. It knew that if it did not kill this human, all of them would be reduced to nothing.

It also knew that the human in front of it was very powerful and that it was impossible for it to possess the human with its own strength. Hence, it released its soul power to let the Yin specters who were struggling in the surrounding Soul Cocoons to combine efforts to attack Yi Yun.

“Hum Hum Hum— Hum Hum Hum— ”

The shrieking of the wind combined with the angry wails was a result of large numbers of Yin specters charging out of the Soul Cocoons to attack Yi Yun.

Some of these Yin specters were like gigantic skulls, while some were like demons that crawled out of the depths of hell. Some of them had yet to recover their consciousness, only having basic instincts of possession. Under the blue Yin specter’s summoning, they charged forward without any fear of dying!

If so many Yin specters charged into Yi Yun’s soul sea, no matter how powerful his spiritual soul was, it would be impossible for him to endure so many spiritual attacks. However, how could Yi Yun give the Yin specters a chance to approach him?

With a thought, the Golden Crow behind him let out a sharp shrill as it spread its wings. It then embraced Yi Yun with its wings like a ball of sun.

Pure Yang flames were best at subduing evil Yin powers. The first few Yin specters that charged at him were like moths flying at a bonfire. Their spiritual bodies were engulfed by the flames, as they were reduced to cyan smoke.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

From where Yi Yun was, one energy arrow after another was shot in all directions. It was like the Sun that emitted endless golden light. Wherever the energy arrows passed, they would penetrate the Yin specters, burning a large black hole through their incorporeal bodies.

Momentarily, the entire valley was filled with the ghostly wails.

Without being able to use energy, even the ancient Yin specters could not approach anywhere close to Yi Yun.

As long as they were unable to close the distance, they were unable to invade Yi Yun’s soul sea, and the only thing that awaited them was to be destroyed.

However, these ancient Yin specters had slept in the Soul Tomb for tens of millions of years, resulting in their spiritual souls to extremely powerful from the Soul Tomb’s evil Yin nourishment. Even though they were burned by the pure Yang flames and had energy arrows penetrating their incorporeal bodies, the Yin specters did not die. Instead they began to gel together once again.

At that moment, with a thought, Yi Yun waved his hand.

In a corner of the valley, an inconspicuous Heavenly Blood Union member’s body jolted. A black energy emerged from the top of his head.

This energy, which contained an evil Yin aura that far exceeded the Yin specters, floated towards Yi Yun.

It was the evil energy that Yi Yun controlled using the Purple Crystal.

Back when the masked man took possession of Shentu Nantian’s corpse, his soul sea had been invaded by the evil energy. Without him knowing anything, the evil energy’s energy strands had emanated throughout the masked man’s soul sea, consuming the masked man’s spiritual body without a trace.

This extremely strange energy had the ability to devour spiritual energy.

And what was most astounding was that it was constantly maturing.

Now, Yi Yun’s control of this evil energy was equivalent to rearing tigers.

Yi Yun wanted to use this energy for himself, but he was fully aware that this energy could one day escape from his control.

However, with the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun restricted the energy greatly. With just a thought, he could wipe away the tiny bit of consciousness that the evil energy had generated over a long period of time.

As long as it lacked consciousness, this energy was nothing to be afraid of.

Now, to kill the Yin specters, Yi Yun released the evil energy. Immediately, this energy was like a wolf that entered a flock of sheep, as it began to crazily devour the Yin specters!

661 - : Feeding and Nurturing

CKtalon  CKtalon

The black evil energy was like an anaconda devouring elephants. It absorbed large amounts of Yin soul energy, resulting in a black hurricane to form midair.

The strange energy seemed to be the ultimate weakness of the Yin specters. It swirled around in the air, dancing to the sharp screams emitted by the Yin specters around it.

Yi Yun could sense the pain that the Yin specters were suffering, as well as the excitement of the evil energy that he was nurturing.

The Yin specters in the Soul Tomb had been accumulated over thousands or even millions of years by Blood Moon, and today, the evil energy was like a whale opening its mouth wide to devour all of them.

If Yi Yun were to bear the spiritual soul energy contained within them, he would have instantly turned into a retard. There was no one in the entire Tian Yuan world who could withstand a spiritual soul surge like it.

However, the evil energy did not possess intelligence, so it was naturally not afraid of such a surge. It gathered and condensed all the Yin specters’ energy, but it was unable to digest it immediately.

The evil energy may be strange, but its speed of growth was not outrageous. It had used several years to absorb the masked man’s Yin specter soul, and now in the Soul Tomb, there were even more powerful Yin specters, so it could not digest all of them in a short period of time.

The scene of massive numbers of Yin specters being devoured entered the eyes of the Reincarnators, humans and Desolate race warriors. They were alarmed watching this, but they did not know what the strange energy that Yi Yun released was.

In fifteen minutes, the last Yin specter was absorbed by the evil energy.

With a wave of his hand, the evil energy followed Yi Yun’s arm and flew into his body, sinking deep into his dantian, as it was sealed by the Purple Crystal.

At that moment, the land began to tremble. Some of the boulders on the mountain peaks began tumbling down, crashing heavily.

“Oh? This is… ”

This scene was met by shock. The earthquake gave people the feeling that the valley was about to collapse.

However, Yi Yun remained unmoved. His eyes turned to Zhulong’s corpse.

Inside Zhulong’s body, Yi Yun could sense an indescribable, powerful energy source using the Purple Crystal.

This energy was sealed in Zhulong’s heart, but it did not merge with Zhulong’s body.

Zhulong’s flesh and blood was wrapped around the energy source. There were blood vessels covering the surface of the energy source, receiving energy from it. But even so, the amount of energy that Zhulong could use was the tip of the iceberg. It was nothing to the energy source.

After killing Zhulong, Yi Yun naturally would not forget this energy source.

Pressing his hand on Zhulong’s left chest, Yi Yun interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal, and extracted it!

‘”Puah!”

A gaping, bloody hole exploded in a mixture of flesh, bones and blood on Zhulong’s chest. Slowly, a drop of bloody liquid floated out of the bloody hole.

Yi Yun saw that the bloody liquid was clearly the “Blood of Gods” that Zhulong had absorbed in the battle before. It was the mysterious bloody liquid that came out of the eternal whirlpool apparently.

When the drop of blood landed on Yi Yun’s palm, its surface tension remained, preventing it from dispersing. It was also extremely heavy, making Yi Yun feel like he was dragging a mountain in his hand.

“This drop of blood is fascinating.”

Beside Yi Yun, Lin Xintong found it unbelievable. Even the space around the drop of blood was distorted.

With a few taps of her finger, tiny amounts of ice crystals froze midair, slowly gathering to form a large ice crystal that sealed the drop of blood.

The drop of blood that was sealed in ice was pulsating like a heart.

“Keep it. This drop of blood might be useful in the future.”

As Lin Xintong spoke, Yi Yun nodded and put the ice-sealed Blood of Gods into his interspatial ring.

Following that, he also took Zhulong’s interspatial ring.

After finishing this, Yi Yun raised his head to look at Sheji, Qiongqi and Fengming.

Against the threat of death, Fengming could no longer maintain his calm demeanor. As for Qiongqi, he subconsciously retreated as if he wanted to escape. However, he also knew that in front of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, the possibility of escaping was null.

“What… do you want to do… ?” Sheji said with her face pale, no longer having the usual air of sultriness and charm.

With a slight falter, Yi Yun looked deeply at Qiongqi, who was jittering amongst the three. He suddenly said, “You can die first!”

As he spoke, Yi Yun slashed out with the pure Yang broken sword!

He was too fast. The distance of a hundred feet was instantly traversed as he appeared in front of Qiongqi’s eyes!

Against the fatal blow that suffused with killing intent, Qiongqi was overwhelmed with terror.

He knew that he was not Yi Yun’s match, but with life on the line, he went ballistic. He let out a heart-wrenching scream and clawed at Yi Yun’s chest!

On the brink of death, he wanted to break Yi Yun’s bones and injure him even though he knew that it was impossible for him to kill Yi Yun.

Against Qiongqi’s swipe, Yi Yun twisted the blade – sharp edge always downwards – resulting in a sword beam that seemed like a waterfall that fell from heaven, as he pulled it across in one diagonal, savage slice!

Puah!

Both Qiongqi’s hands were severed by the sword beam, as pulsing arteries pumped blood out of his stumps.

His strength was far from Yi Yun’s to begin with, and with him being injured by Jiang Xiaorou, he was no match for Yi Yun at all.

With another twist of his blade, Yi Yun’s sword pierced straight through Qiongqi’s throat!

Qiongqi’s mouth gaped, as it spurt out blood. However, his tonsils and vocal cords had all been severed by the pure Yang broken sword, so not a single sound came out.

He slumped to the ground in a kneeling position with his back curved like a shrimp. His eyes eyes stared wide, but he did not succumb to death immediately.

To Reincarnators, their souls could reincarnate when their bodies died. However, they needed to prepare a complete mystic technique array in advance to ensure that their souls would not dissipate during the reincarnation process.

Once a human’s soul lost the protection of its body, it would become so weak that it could spontaneously evaporate.

It was of course impossible for Qiongqi to reincarnate. His soul had been forcefully sealed in his corporeal body by Yi Yun. The only fate that he had was to wait for the death of his body before he could die too.

“You deserve death for all the evil deeds you have done!” Yi Yun said coldly.

From the masked man’s memories, Yi Yun knew that in Qiongqi’s life, he had perpetrated every conceivable heinous crime possible in every reincarnation he did. He had perverted inclinations, so his misdeeds included killing his birth parents after his reincarnation, as well as raping and killing young ladies. He killed large numbers of mortals so as to refine the materials needed for Yin specters.

In the Soul Tomb, Qiongqi had also taken every opportunity to sneak up and severely injure Jiang Xiaorou. He was bent on killing Jiang Xiaorou.

Hence, amongst the three, Yi Yun killed Qiongqi first.

Seeing Qiongqi killed by Yi Yun, Fengming and Sheji felt chills. Their lives were now completely in the hands of Yi Yun.

“As for all of you, I can let you live if you sign a soul contract.”

Blood Moon’s Reincarnators were deserving of death, but it was just a matter of severity.

However, Yi Yun had clashed directly with Blood Moon now. He alone was not enough. He needed to form an alliance with others, including the powers of the Tian Yuan world’s family clans, so he could topple Blood Moon.

662 - : Deserving of Death

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Sign a soul contract?”

When Sheji and Fengming heard Yi Yun’s conditions, they felt bitter. Back when they forced numerous Heavenly Dao Union members to sign soul contracts, they had never expected the day of them signing soul contracts would come.

When they saw the soul contract Yi Yun produced, Sheji and Fengming’s faced turned white. The soul contract was too demanding.

The soul contracts that the Heavenly Blood Union members signed prevented them from attacking the Martial Alliance or disobeying orders issued by the upper echelons of the Martial Alliance. And these orders had their restrictions, at least not ones that would directly send them to their deaths.

Although signing such a contract resulted in additional intangible restrictions, it was still an acceptable outcome.

However, the soul contract that Yi Yun gave Sheji and Fengming to sign could be said to be a soul contract between master and slave.

Back in the Great Empress mystic realm, Yi Yun had obtained a great deal of inheritance from the Azure Yang Lord. On the second level of the God Advent Tower, there was a wide collection of books that came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Various mystic techniques, cultivation technique, movement techniques, pill refinement techniques and Desolate Heaven techniques were available.

The “Star Transference Heaven Changing Book” Yi Yun used to disguise himself came from this collection.

And the soul contract that Yi Yun chose to use this time also came from the library on the God Advent Tower’s second level.

As the Azure Yang Lord’s collection, this soul contract naturally was not easily removed. Once it was signed, the soul contract would result in Sheji and Fengming’s thoughts being monitored, preventing them from generating any thought of harming Yi Yun, or Yi Yun would be immediately notified, causing them to pay a tragic price.

They were also not given any leeway to resist Yi Yun’s orders. They could not even refuse an order for them to die.

Such a demanding soul contract made Sheji tremble. Once signed, she would end up as Yi Yun’s female slave.

“I… I… ”

Sheji could not accept it. As a warrior, she had a sense of pride, but she was disgruntled to just die in the Soul Tomb that never saw the light of day. This placed her in a miserable dilemma.

Yi Yun did not persuade Sheji and Fengming any further when he saw their reactions, as he said, “I will give you only one chance. I will give you the time it takes twenty breaths to consider. After that, either you choose death or to sign the soul contract. All of you are of little value and importance to me, so I do not want to waste my breath.”

“I just do not like being betrayed by others. As for you thinking I would use this soul contract to cause you to do some tortuous things, then you are overthinking it. All of you are not worth me going through the trouble.”

“In the future, when my strength reaches a brand new platform, resulting in your strength becoming completely trivial, I will naturally not hold you back. I can return your freedom. The decision is yours. Furthermore, ten breaths of time have already passed!”

Yi Yun spoke very quickly, causing Sheji and Fengming’s hearts to palpitate from hearing his words.

They were only given the time it took twenty breaths to make such an important decision, and nearly half the time was spent with Yi Yun talking.

Indeed, Yi Yun did not need to fret too much about killing them. Yi Yun only gave them the time it took twenty breaths, anymore was just a waste of time and completely not worth it.

As for what Yi Yun said at the end, it was not a matter of debate for Sheji and Fengming. According to Yi Yun’s growth in strength, the day of their “strength becoming completely trivial” was not too far away.

Finally, due to the pressure that came with the threat of death, Sheji and Fengming obediently signed the soul contract.

At that moment, the tremors in the entire valley began to intensify, as large numbers of rubble rolled down the mountains.

“What’s the matter?” Lin Xintong asked.

Many of the human and Desolate race warriors were panicking.

Yi Yun sensed the wanton evil Yin aura in the surroundings and said, “This slumbering ground of the Yin specters is the core of the Soul Tomb. Blood Moon had set up an array formation in the Soul Tomb, and the slumbering grounds is the array’s core. When I destroyed those Yin specters a while ago, I also destroyed the array’s core, causing large amounts of Yin Qi to surge outwards. This caused a material change in the Soul Tomb. We need to quickly leave this place, because it will be bad if we awaken the guarding servants or zombie kings sleeping in here.”

The Blackstone Trials was organized when the Yin Qi within the Soul Tomb was at its weakest, during the slumbering periods of the zombie kings. Now, with the Yin Qi turning dense, the sleeping zombie kings could wake up.

“Let’s go!” Yi Yun waved his hand.

Many of the human warriors had yet to recover. They were still in a daze from the Yin specters’ attempts at possessing their soul sea. Their souls had been inflicted with damage and they were extremely weak.

Physical injuries were bearable to warriors, but injuries to the soul was a terrible misery.

Before they were even given the chance to take a breather, or consume any pills, they had to escape. It was an arduous torment that the men and women from the large family clans had to endure.

However, no one dared to grumble at that moment in time. They knew very well that any additional piece of nonsense they said might result in Yi Yun abandoning them heartlessly.

If they succumbed to their injuries and could not keep up with Yi Yun, they too would be abandoned.

Just thinking of the conflicts they previously had with Yi Yun, it was already good that Yi Yun did not kick them while they were down, so who would dare grumble?

And at that moment, a weak voice rang in Yi Yun’s ear. “Ta… Take me… I do not want to stay… here… I… ”

This voice sounded somewhat familiar as Yi Yun turned to take a look. He saw a spiritual soul flame float out of a large Soul Cocoon.

Yi Yun recognized it to be Gongsun Hong’s spiritual soul.

After Yi Yun destroyed Gongsun Hong’s body with one strike, Gongsun Hong’s soul had been extracted by Zhulong for safekeeping. Zhulong had planned on refining Gongsun Hong’s soul into a Yin specter, but due to the Life Slip shattering, he changed his mind and fed Gongsun Hong’s soul as soulful food to the Yin specter.

Now, despite a significant portion of Gongsun Hong’s soul having been devoured by the Yin specter, it had not completely vaporized, surprising Yi Yun.

He had probably lasted this long all from a single indignant thought. Unfortunately, Gongsun Hong’s remnant soul was not something that even a god could save. He could still be refined into a Yin specter if he had a complete soul, but now, he could not even become a Yin specter.

As a martial arts genius, who was previously the number one disciple in the Li Fire Sect’s martial competition, he had a bright future ahead of him. He could have a lifespan of tens of thousands of years, enjoying a position of stature and power, with a bevy of concubines. However, due to his ambition, his greed of disregarding everything to climb higher caused him to end up in such a tragic state…

This was actually a misery in itself.

“Let’s go!”

Yi Yun ignored Gongsun Hong and gave the order.

The spatial hole that opened up due to the God Advent Tower’s attack still remained. The group of people followed Yi Yun and rushed towards the Soul Tomb’s exterior.

Yi Yun specially instructed the Desolate race warriors to take care of people who had good relationships with him like Wei Chiwei and the Chu sisters.

As for the others, they could only count on their own luck.

During the process of them exiting the Soul Tomb, they encountered various dangers such as sneak attacks from Yin souls. Of course, they did not need to fear them when in peak condition, but now… they could only blame their own luck if they died.

The paths in the Soul Tomb were like a maze, but with Yi Yun’s memory, he led the group through it.

There were even times when he would slash his sword to open a new path.

Yi Yun walked in the very front, like the tip of a sword and indomitable. Any Yin souls or Killer Ghosts would be reduced to nothing in front of Yi Yun.

As a large portion of the ghostly beings were dealt with by Yi Yun, it alleviated the pressure on the people behind. If not, with the Heavenly Blood Union members being so weak, the death count would probably have surged.

In such a fashion, Yi Yun led the group of people for a total of four hours. With a final slash of his sword, he cleaved at a spatial barrier that was not considered too firm. As a ray of sunshine tore through the hole in the spatial barrier, it illuminated the faces of everyone.

Although it was a weak ray of sunshine, it undoubtedly was a sign of the warm sun from the outside world.

Many people even had the urge to tear up.

They were finally out!

The group rushed out through the spatial barrier desperately. They touched the rough stony cliffs of the outside world. Despite there being just a trace of warmth from the sunshine that barely illuminated the dark skies, and it being the extremely cold far north, a sense of longing surged in the hearts of many.

The expedition into the Soul Tomb was too repressing and tortuous. All of them had believed that they would be buried in that land of death. Even when they saw the outside world, they still found it unreal. They had a feeling like they were given a second shot at life.

They had finally survived…

Many of their companions had turned to bones in the Soul Tomb.

There were no opportunities or rewards for the Blackstone Trials. There was no ladder to heaven that allowed them to ascend, it was only a trap and death. The only reason they survived was not due to their strength, but because of their good luck. Those who lacked luck, had turned to ashes in the Soul Tomb, along with their ambition…

663 - : Exiting the Soul Tomb

CKtalon  CKtalon

Deep in the Untraversable Sea, Seven Demon Mountains.

For thousands of years, endless amounts of starlight had carved the edges of Seven Demon Mountains. Despite the waves crashing repeatedly into the riffs, Seven Demon Mountains still remained erect.

Their existence was extremely mysterious. Over the annals of history, there were Empyreal Kings in the Tian Yuan world who wished to probe the deep depths of the Untraversable Sea to figure out its secrets. However, when they passed by, they failed to discover Seven Demon Mountains.

Even if they saw them, they would not be able to tell anything special about these black rocks.

However, Seven Demon Mountains were extremely unusual today.

The Untraversable Sea in a 5000 kilometer radius around Seven Demon Mountains, which should have been light red in color had now turned deep blue.

Looking into the distance, the Untraversable Sea was a boundless expanse of blue water.

However, floating above the deep blue water surface, there was a gigantic array. What seemed like the supposed redness in the sea water was coagulated in the array, causing every runic pattern of the array to look extremely red.

Right in the middle of the circular array was Seven Demon Mountains. To be accurate, the center was the middle mountain of Seven Demon Mountains, a Black-armored Demon God.

At that moment, the starlight swarmed down from the heavens, illuminating this Demon Mountain. This allowed people to vaguely make out the phantom image of a tall man sealed in the Demon Mountain.

This man was like a mountain peak himself. He wore ancient black armor and he held a black lance. A bundle of long hair was tied up in his helmet, and his eyes looked as bright as lighthouses in the sea.

As the array flickered, it absorbed the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi from its surroundings, sealing this mountain.

The black-armored man had a stern expression, but he remained motionless. Despite standing there, he caused people to shudder right to their very souls.

Not far from the red array stood the Reincarnators, and upper echelons of Blood Moon.

One of them was the person with executive control over Blood Moon, the current Martial Alliance Leader.

He was now wearing a black long robe, and his feet were stepping on the large array’s blood runes. The star-shaped scar in the middle of his eyebrows was shimmering again and again.

He was controlling the array, trying to wear down the black-armored man’s final consciousness.

For tens of thousands of years, he had been doing this.

Back then, when the Azure Yang Lord established the seven seals to seal the seven Demon Disciples, his goal was to use the endless passage of time to slowly wear the seven Demon Disciples’ consciousnesses away.

However, the seven Demon Disciples were too powerful. It probably needed an additional period of time amounting to tens of millions of years for their consciousness to completely disappear. However, the Martial Alliance Alliance Leader could no longer wait any further.

This matter was of utmost importance, so he was fully focused. However, beside him, the other Reincarnators faced the Black-armored Demon God with flustered expressions and uncertainty.

They were afraid.

Even though the Demon Disciple was sealed, just facing him struck fear in their hearts.

“Why are you panicking!?”

The Alliance Leader coldly bellowed. “No matter how strong the Black-armored Demon God is, he has already been sealed for tens of millions of years. Furthermore, it is a seal created by Jian Qingyang. This seal can wear spiritual souls and consciousness down. Just sealing a Tian Yuan world warrior for a few years would be enough to reduce him into a walking zombie.”

“The Black-armored Demon God’s spiritual soul is ancient, allowing him to endure the effacing caused by the seal, but it is extremely contrived. Over the long periods of time, his spiritual soul’s strength has been constantly weakening.”

“Now, his aura may be powerful, but the amount of consciousness he possesses can nearly be neglected.”

The Alliance Leader would meticulously check on the Black-armored Demon God’s consciousness every incarnation he had.

His consciousness had clearly weakened a bit every ten thousand years.

And in the world-shaking battle tens of millions of years ago, the Black-armored Demon God had been stabbed in the heart directly by the Azure Yang Lord.

This sword had inflicted an extremely serious injury on the Black-armored Demon God.

Despite so much time having passed, that sword wound remained on the Black-armored Demon God’s chest. There was even a sword gash on his chest armor.

After being reprimanded by the Alliance Leader, the Reincarnators forcefully calmed their nerves and carried on contributing their strength to maintain the array.

The bright red array was like a gigantic miller which was grinding away the Black-armored Demon God’s consciousness bit by bit.

However, it was going too slow.

If a primordial desolate beast, which was in deep slumber, was stabbed in the heart, it might be instantly killed. But if a wound was inflicted on it, slowly letting it bleed itself away, it might still eventually wake up in a weakened state.

“Lord Sacred Ambassador, it has been a while since Zhulong’s trip to the Soul Tomb happened. According to our plans, he should have awakened all the Yin specters in the Soul Tomb yesterday. He should have arrived in the Untraversable Sea today through a teleportation array, but up to now, there has been no news from him… ”

These Reincarnators lacked the confidence, mainly due to the disappearance of Zhulong.

Upon hearing the inquiries from the Reincarnators, the Alliance Leader’s expression turned sullen.

With both of them being first generation Blood Moon, the Alliance Leader and Zhulong had a mysterious mental connection, and now, that mental connection was becoming weaker and weaker.

There were only two possibilities for such a situation to occur.

The first reason would be Zhulong abandoning his present body and beginning his next reincarnation.

The second reason would be Zhulong had been killed!

With the situation at hand, the Alliance Leader refused to believe that Zhulong would choose to reincarnate at such a critical moment. Furthermore, it was not that simple to reincarnate. It required a lot of preparation, and Zhulong reaching a sufficiently high cultivation level.

Then the only possibility was the second one. Zhulong had been killed…

Just thinking of this possibility made the Alliance Leader feel a wrench in his heart.

Killed!

As first generation Blood Moon, Zhulong was one of the backbone of Blood Moon’s organization. The Alliance Leader also had a brotherly affection with Zhulong.

Now, Zhulong had been killed…

Who could kill Zhulong despite all the array protections in the Soul Tomb?

The Alliance Leader could not figure it out. He knew Zhulong’s strength very well. Although the Desolate race’s Jiang Xiaorou had a peerless bloodline, her strength was mainly on the control of desolate beasts, so she was definitely no match for Zhulong.

It had to be someone else who had killed Zhulong. Who could it be?

The Alliance Leader was vexed. All his machinations were now in a perilous state with Zhulong’s death and the failure of the Yin specter army to appear.

The Black-armored Demon God temporarily sealed in the array would definitely be revive. It was impossible to prevent it.

The Alliance Leader’s plan was to use the array set up by the Azure Yang Lord and tens of millions of years, along with the Yin specter army’s soul devouring abilities to wipe out the Black-armored Demon God’s consciousness. After that, the Alliance Leader would then carry out his final reincarnation under the guard of the other Reincarnators and Zhulong.

By abandoning his original body to undergo a reincarnation, he would take over the Black-armored Demon God’s body.

To Reincarnators, the strongest thing was their souls. After numerous reincarnations, the potential of their souls had been expended. As for their bodies, they would obtain a new one every time. They were fated to abandon their old bodies after every reincarnation, so they did not put too much effort into tempering their bodies, so it was not a heart-wrenching event to abandon their bodies in every incarnation.

And the new body the Alliance Leader would obtain was the Black-armored Demon God’s. With powerful life force, not only could it extend his overall life span that had been shortened from his repeated reincarnation, it would also result in a quantum leap in his strength.

That reincarnation would be more similar to possession. However, it was a special possession that combined the usage of the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”.

But now…

Zhulong was dead!

Instantly, the Alliance Leader experienced immense pressure!

He had already made the first step, and there was already no room for regret. Once the Black-armored Demon God awoke with a tinge of consciousness, it would be able to sense what the Alliance Leader had been doing over the tens of millions of years.

And his outcome would be obvious. He would not be able to hide because just as he had a mental connection with Zhulong, the Black-armored Demon God, who created Blood Moon, also had a mental connection with the Alliance Leader.

With the mental connection, he would be able to find him, and the outcome would be death!

He could no longer turned back. However, without the Yin specters’ aid, how was he to wipe away the final consciousness the Black-armored Demon God had with the array he had?

664 - : No Room For Regret

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, in the land of the far north, outside of the Soul Tomb.

The dim sun hung high in the sky. All the Heavenly Blood Union members who had escaped death were rejoicing over their escape from the Soul Tomb.

They were pigs reared to be slaughtered by the Heavenly Blood Union. The so-called Blackstone Trials was actually just sending them to the slaughtering grounds to be slaughtered. They had been destined to die, but now, they had survived because of Yi Yun.

Instantly, Yi Yun became the focus of attention for all of the Heavenly Blood Union members. Furthermore, he was so immensely powerful that there was no way to stop his momentous rise. He was bound to soar high up in the future, becoming a figure that could rival the peerless Great Empress.

Just thinking of Yi Yun’s future gave many people ideas. Although befriending Yi Yun at that moment to get him to aid them in the future was unlikely, it would at least prevent any grudge or animosity with him.

“Young Master Yi, no words can adequately express my gratitude for your help. It will be remembered by me, Sun Li.”

“Young Master Yi, I’m Nanjian Ping from the Nanjian family, and also the successor of the Nanjian family. Although I’m of little worth and lack strength, I have some authority in the south. In the future, if Young Master Yi requires someone to do menial chores, feel free to command me.”

After many of them recovered a bit physically and the pain from their soul sea soothed, they began expressing their good-willed intentions towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun scanned these people. He could tell that some of them were truly grateful. Most of the elites present were not evil by nature. Naturally, they had jealous and selfish emotions, but that is how it is to be human. The past animosity towards Yi Yun was mainly due to the propaganda spread by the Martial Alliance.

There was also a tiny minority who thanked Yi Yun insincerely. However, Yi Yun did not mind this.

He said, “All of you are to return to your factions as soon as possible. Work separately and use teleportation arrays to achieve the fastest speed possible. Those who know how to disguise themselves, do so. Try to choose routes with the fewest amount of people, do not let others discover you!”

“I cannot guarantee that Blood Moon will not chase after you to silence you, so it is best to err on the side of caution. It would be wise to contact your factions now and tell them of what has happened so that they can send people to receive you!”

Yi Yun’s words reminded the bunch of geniuses.

Yes, previously they were not worried since there was no way to transmit any information out of the Soul Tomb.

Now, however, Blood Moon had probably already received the news and wanted to silence them!

It was not difficult for them to contact their factions the moment they came out of the Soul Tomb. Many of the Heavenly Blood Union members were the elites of their respective factions. To avoid any unexpected circumstances, they had special means of contacting their respective factions. At that moment, they took out their precious voice transmission charms or jade slips, in preparation to contact their factions over distances that spanned tens of millions of kilometers.

“Young Master Yi, you aren’t a human traitor, right? Also, what is Blood Moon plotting?”

A Heavenly Blood Union member who wanted to transmit his voice asked Yi Yun. He wanted to construct what he wanted to send using the voice transmission jade slip according to Yi Yun’s response.

Yi Yun looked at Jiang Xiaorou who was beside him and whispered, “Sis Xiaorou, why don’t you do it…”

As the Desolate race’s new Desolate Queen, it was most suitable for Jiang Xiaorou to explain the situation.

Previously, Jiang Xiaorou did not mention a single word of Blood Moon’s scheme because it was pointless. No one would believe her.

However, now, everything was different.

“Alright.” Jiang Xiaorou nodded. She no longer looked as resolute and lonely as she did back when she was teetering on the brink of life and death. Instead, she had the cuteness and ruddiness of a young lady in her prime. Due to Yi Yun’s return, and her bringing the Desolate race’s Skyfox back safely, she was completely filled with happiness.

“Then… let me explain everything to everyone…”

Jiang Xiaorou’s words were short and simple. Soon, she explained everything that had happened.

When she mentioned how Blood Moon had destroyed large amounts of historical records tens of millions of years ago, concealing what happened back then, as well as large amounts of inheritance, the Heavenly Blood Union members present immediately became stunned with disbelief.

Even though they now knew that Blood Moon was evil, they found it difficult to believe the historical events that happened tens of millions of years ago. They found it difficult to accept that the animosity that separated the two races was all due to such a reason, which reversed all preconceptions they possessed.

Is this true?

“It is your choice whether to believe it or not. I have finished explaining and you should leave. Return to your respective factions and try to convince your elders and grand elders. By gathering the Tian Yuan world’s forces, it should not be difficult to topple Blood Moon.”

“Besides, you might not know this, but the treasury established by Blood Moon in the Heavenly Dao Union is just a tiny portion of its inheritance. Tens of millions of years ago, the Tian Yuan World’s martial civilization was nearly destroyed in that huge war. Blood Moon back then was even more powerful than it is now. There were elite members of Blood Moon lost during the war.”

“However, their elites may be dead, but the accumulated wealth they have still remains.”

“Inheritance, pills, relics, etc. Tens of millions of years ago, it was an era of destruction. Many large factions were vanquished, and quite a large portion of the accumulated wealth of these vanquished factions fell into the hands of Blood Moon. If that was not the case, how do you think the Blood Moon has so much wealth to offer you as rewards, or the gifts to the various factions in the Tian Yuan world, so as to buy them over?”

Jiang Xiaorou’s words were extremely thought-provoking and tempting. By saying it this way, many people’s eyes lit up.

Yes! The Martial Alliance’s foundation was unimaginably deep!

Although the Martial Alliance had always been a large faction, people did not find it much more powerful than factions like the Li Fire Sect, Shentu family clan or the Lin family.

It was only seven years ago, when the Martial Alliance suddenly rose up, that they made an impression on people with their immense strength.

And if one thought carefully about it, a great deal of the power they seemed to possess was a result of their riches, while the remaining reason boiled down to the Martial Alliance’s core experts that numbered one or two!

It was because the Martial Alliance had a great heritage that they made people feel that they were powerful!

And when they analyzed the Martial Alliance’s strength, other than the Martial Alliance’s Alliance Leader and his right and left-hand men, the other members of the upper echelons of the Martial Alliance were not much more powerful than their own faction’s Grand Elders.

Then, how could such a faction, without ridiculous power, obtain so much wealth and ancient inheritance?

Especially with things like the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique” and Longevity Extending Pills, it completely exceeded the martial civilization the Tian Yuan world currently had.

Probably, only Jiang Xiaorou’s explanation of the Martial Alliance robbing everything from ancient times made sense!

That was immense amounts of wealth and ancient inheritances. If they obtained them…

Just thinking of this made them extremely excited.

If they could freely pick from a large treasury that had collected large amounts of ancient martial inheritance and wealth over tens of millions of years, what sort of scene would that be?

A youth in his twenties immediately shouted fervently, “Fairy Jiang is right. Blood Moon’s wealth is nothing but ill-gotten gains obtained by robbing the Tian Yuan world. We should eradicate Blood Moon and take back the riches. All of that should be reasonably put to use so as to push the Tian Yuan world’s martial frontier to the next stage!”

“That’s right, to think Blood Moon controlled the Martial Alliance to make a fool of us. They have to be eradicated. The treasures they have robbed should be returned to everyone! When that happens, the Tian Yuan world would welcome a new martial golden age!”

Many Heavenly Blood Union members echoed. Their voices even seemed to have a tone of righteousness.

However, Yi Yun knew very well that this was the greed in their hearts.

The Martial Alliance was originally an orthodox organization. With it being powerful and mysterious, no one dared to covet thoughts against it. Even if they had such thoughts, it was very difficult to get the rest of the Tian Yuan world to cooperate with them.

However, things were different now, considering how it was advantageous to shove a falling wall. The present Heavenly Blood Union members could not determine the veracity of Jiang Xiaorou’s words, but it was already established that Blood Moon was evil.

It was natural to eradicate evil. Furthermore, the evil faction contained immense riches!

Although it was mentioned as returning the riches to everyone, who didn’t want to possess all of it for themselves?

Jiang Xiaorou was using the greed in their hearts to divert their attention away from their doubts towards her words over to the hatred for Blood Moon.

This agitation was clearly very effective.

As the saying goes, a man’s wealth is his own ruin by causing greed in others. Furthermore, Blood Moon itself was at fault.

“We cannot delay matters. Let us go!”

“We should act separately. Transmit the information as we go, so that all respective factions will appear in force. They can then attack Blood Moon and receive us at the same time.”

“My family clan is beside Heaven Martial City. I might as well get my family clan to activate the family’s elites to attack Heaven Martial City, preventing Blood Moon from having time to target us.”

As these elites spoke, they bade farewell to Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou, flying off in all directions. As they flew, they crushed their voice transmission charms or jade slips!

Rainbow beams of light shot out, transmitting all sorts of information within…

665 - : Greed

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the past decade, various large factions had subconsciously accepted the Martial Alliance as the leading faction in the Tian Yuan world. After all, the Martial Alliance possessed items they coveted. Be it the Longevity Extending Pills or their ancient inheritance, they made the factions, that posed as ancient entities, turn red with envy.

Under such circumstances, there was nothing to doubt about the Martial Alliance’s authority.

People also accepted the reason the Martial Alliance gave for its rise in power. They believed that the Martial Alliance was going to lead the Tian Yuan world to tide over the coming calamity, as well as allow the Tian Yuan world’s martial civilization to return to the glory days of ancient times.

And today, many factions were still considering what gifts they should send the Martial Alliance during a Tian Yuan world martial tea session, organized by the Martial Alliance a month later. However, suddenly they received the voice transmission jade slips from their respective juniors.

These long distance voice transmission jade slips were extremely costly to produce, so it was not something to be used frivously, unless in an emergency. The various large factions treated the jade slip’s content very seriously, so when they finished hearing it, they were completely stunned.

The descriptions regarding the Martial Alliance in the jade slips alarmed them greatly!

There were even many Heavenly Blood Union members who directly suggested that their family clans should ally with nearby factions so as to attack the Martial Alliance. As long as the Tian Yuan world’s factions allied, the Martial Alliance would be no match.

Of course, the attack on the Martial Alliance had to be done at lightning speed. If not, the other factions could attack the Martial Alliance first, preventing them from obtaining the treasures hidden in the Martial Alliance.

Besiege the Martial Alliance?

Rob the Martial Alliance of all their resources and riches?

The jade slip’s information was just too shocking, so much that even though it was news transmitted by their own juniors, many members of the upper echelons of these large factions could not immediately accept the content within.

Many factions chose to first monitor the situation. They secretly contacted other factions that they were friendly with, and after probing, they learned a fact.

All the Heavenly Blood Union members had transmitted the same information to their own factions. They had indeed been plotted against by Blood Moon!

As it was a matter of great importance, many large factions, who were friendly with each other, began to act. They gathered together, discussing the storm that was about to happen.

In history, there had been super factions that managed to dominate the world, but due to various reasons, they would be besieged at their peak, causing them to crumble overnight!

And compared to the large factions that had appeared and perished in history, the Martial Alliance did not seem that much stronger.

Two days later, the factions that were further north had received their Heavenly Dao Union disciples. These people had put on disguises and used teleportation arrays to rush back, day and night without stop.

When they described it in person, the information provided became even clearer than the content in the jade slips. With more than a hundred Heavenly Blood Union members confirming this matter unanimously, it definitely could not be fake.

However, the large factions of the Tian Yuan world refused to easily believe in the descriptions the Desolate race provided.

The idea of division between “us” and “them”, was irreconcilable entrenched within their hearts.

They could temporarily ignore the Desolate race. Furthermore, they did not need to consider cooperating with them. Many of the Tian Yuan world factions were planning on annexing the Martial Alliance.

Once such an ancient existence was destroyed, it was unknown how many treasures they would leave behind, so it was enough for them to rise up against them.

Factions began to secretly form alliances. As more and more alliances were established, many factions sent the strongest combat powers their factions possessed to ensure that the war would end in their favor.

Failure was not an options! Although the Martial Alliance was just a slightly larger organization, attacking it gave people the feeling of revolting to usurp power.

Finally, there were people who could not hold back any further.

One evening, on Greatsword Mountain, far in the western sky, more than a thousand warriors charged in a mighty formation.

These warriors looked like small black dots in the horizon, but increased in size at an alarming speed. In less than a minute, they had already arrived in front of Greatsword Mountain.

These people were dressed in various uniforms, clearly indicating that they came from different factions.

After the first batch of warriors arrived, another batch of more than thousand warriors came from north of Greatsword Mountain.

While traveling here, they had formed battle formations. These battle formations were their faction’s cornerstone abilities. The disciples that were responsible for setting up the battle formation had undergone years of training and thus also had great teamwork.

Following that, warriors from various factions rushed over one after another from other directions.

Soon, Greatsword Mountain was surrounded from all directions!

In fact, the war against the Martial Alliance had been planned for days. Many factions were monitoring the situation. So when the first faction made its move, the other factions that could arrive in time all made their moves as well!

Hence, a few thousand people had quickly gathered around the Martial Alliance’s Greatsword Mountain!

The terrifying aura simmered in the horizons as beams of divine halos shot down from the sky. These people included many old freaks, who had been in reclusion, from the various large factions.

These old freaks had already given up authority in their family clans and instead began reclusive cultivation, in a bid to extend their lives. They would only act if their family clan encountered dangers, or if important matters happened.

And now, the reason why many of them acted was not only because of the future of their family clans, but the immensely attractive Longevity Extending Pills. That was sufficient reason enough to stop their reclusion.

More than ten such old freaks of this level had appeared.

Heaven Earth Yuan Qi surged through the sky and lands.

These Patriarchs, or grand elders, who had been in reclusion for long periods of time, all had serious expressions, as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

They did not know how powerful the Alliance Leader was. According to what the Desolate race said, he had been born tens of millions of years ago, and was a terrifying figure to have reincarnated up to now.

Such a person would require a great deal of effort to destroy. It was even possible that they could perish if they were careless.

“Dear fellow martial practitioners, are you gathered here to destroy my Martial Alliance?”

A man dressed in gray robes appeared.

When the various large factions were preparing to besiege the Martial Alliance, the Martial Alliance had already discovered their actions.

However, they did not do anything despite discovering it. The surroundings of the Martial Alliance was monitored, so if the Martial Alliance had chosen to abandon Greatsword Mountain and escape. It was equivalent to telling the Tian Yuan world’s large factions that they were afraid. The outcome would be even more disastrous. They could be attacked during their escape attempt.

A majority of the Martial Alliance were only the Martial Alliance’s subordinates. They did not know of the existence of Blood Moon, and were kept in the dark.

However, there were also a considerable number of people who were true Blood Moon members.

These people were the nucleus of the Martial Alliance’s strength.

666 - : Besieging the Martial Alliance

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Blood Moon members left behind to guard Greatsword Mountain had informed the Alliance Leader the moment the various large factions came attacking, asking for his advice.

However, the Alliance Leader did not return to preside over the situation. He had important things to do, so he only informed the Blood Moon politburo that he was in reclusive death training and that once he made a breakthrough, he could wipe out the Tian Yuan world alone!

As for the other Blood Moon members, the orders the Alliance Leader gave them was to guard Greatsword Mountain!

And if possible, they were to defend until he returned.

Amongst the Blood Moon members, some of them were Yin specters who had been personally refined by the Alliance Leader. There was a mental connection between these Yin specters and the Alliance Leader, so they would execute his orders.

As for the others, they lacked the fortitude.

Defend? What were they to use to defend?

Against the gray-robed man’s question, an elder sneered from the clouds. “Destroy the Martial Alliance? Hehe! You still dare to call yourself the Martial Alliance? The organization known as the Martial Alliance has long since been secretly controlled by you Blood Moon. You have concealed the facts about the great war that happened tens of millions of years ago, distorting the truth and privately hoarding the martial inheritances that should belong to the Tian Yuan world. Furthermore, you even attempted to sacrifice all of the elites in the Tian Yuan world a few days ago, all for your nefarious schemes. To think that you have the shame to address yourselves as the Martial Alliance? Such an evil cult is enough reason for people to destroy it!”

The elder’s voice was loud and clear as it resounded like thunder from the sky.

Momentarily, many members of the Martial Alliance turned dumbfounded upon hearing this. Many of them did not know anything about the relationship between the Martial Alliance and Blood Moon. They suspected the words the elder said, but was still unsure of what had happened.

As for the opposing side, many people from the large factions were filled with fighting spirit. Although it was a battle, they all had their own selfish reasons. It could be said to be a plundering battle, but with reason on their side, they could plunder with their hearts at ease.

“Attack and break through the mountain entrance!”

The elder bellowed. Although the Martial Alliance’s protective array was extremely formidable, how could it withstand the attacks from so many mighty figures?

Up in the sky, the old freaks from various sects attacked together. As nine-colored beams tore through the sky, the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi exploded into chaos, turning the scene into one that resembled Armageddon.

“Boom!”

Under the powerful combined forces, Greatsword Mountain began to tremble. As the entrance’s array began to fracture, a few Martial Alliance members, who remained too close to the arrays, suffered as their organs were being torn apart due to the tremors. They vomited large mouthfuls of blood! As for those with weaker cultivation levels, their organs were reduced to a messy mix of blood and flesh after their meridians were severed from the turmoil!

“Charge, leave no one alive!”

An elder transmitted his voice from the clouds. Since time immemorial, human wars were bloody and cruel. A typical extermination of a faction usually meant that no stone was left unturned, so as to prevent any future repercussions!

Thousands of warriors charged into Greatsword Mountain like a swarm of locusts.

These people were the Tian Yuan world’s cream of the crop. As they attacked together, the sky was filled with thundering clouds amidst an inferno sea.

The mighty figures of the various factions from the Tian Yuan world did not show any mercy. As they swarmed forth, not a single life was spared in their path.

The Martial Alliance, which had previously enjoyed a magnificent existence, was now reduced to a pile of corpses after the slaughter from the various large factions.

“You are courting death with your blasphemy against the Divine Master!” A Blood Moon Yin specter roared, however he was met with a saber beam.

“Go to hell to find your Divine Master!”

With the saber beam forming a curved arc, it sliced off his head. Even the soul residing within his head exploded as well.

“Gululu!”

With the head landing on the ground, the Yin specter’s eyes stared widely, dying with everlasting regret.

The Yin specters, that were used to staying behind the Martial Alliance, were limited in strength. They were usually responsible for the daily affairs of the Martial Alliance. The truly powerful Yin specters were all sleeping within the Soul Tomb. However, these powerful Yin specters had all been destroyed by Yi Yun. Blood Moon had suffered disastrously from the battle within the Soul Tomb!

The killer stepped onto the rolling head with one leg before pouncing towards the Greatsword Mountain’s peak.

Far in the distance, about fifty kilometers away, a man and two women were watching all of this happen from a black mountain peak.

These three people were Yi Yun, Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou.

They were here to witness the Martial Alliance’s destruction, but they knew very well that the Martial Alliance was going to be easily destroyed, but it would not be so simple to wipe out Blood Moon.

“There aren’t any experts. The true experts of Blood Moon are not on Greatsword Mountain. The people left behind here are either auxiliary members or Martial Alliance members who died cluelessly.

Yi Yun quickly figured out the situation. The people left behind on Greatsword Mountain were just sacrifices.

They were likely used as dummy targets to divert attention…

Yi Yun did not know what the true master of Blood Moon was doing. According to information obtained from Fengming and Sheji, Yi Yun only knew that the revived Yin specters were meant to be brought to a certain location in the Untraversable Sea so as to complete a task.

However, the Untraversable Sea was too vast and the exact location was not known by Fengming or Sheji.

Now with all the Yin specters dead, the plans the Blood Moon had could no longer be executed, but… the disappearance of the upper echelons of Blood Moon while the Tian Yuan world besieged Greatsword Mountain cast a cloud over Yi Yun’s head.

He was not expecting the upper echelons of Blood Moon to die in this slaughter, but dealing a severe blow to Blood Moon was also something he would love to see.

“Yun’er, what should we do now.”

Jiang Xiaorou asked softly. As she looked at the battle in the distance, Blood Moon’s remnant forces were completely wiped out.

Without a leader or any expert holding down Greatsword Mountain, and facing enemies more than ten times stronger than them, the battle outcome was imaginable.

“Let us leave first. Increasing our strength is of utmost importance. I plan on breaking through to the Yuan Opening realm!”

After cultivating the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, he had accumulated enough and it was time to make a breakthrough.

As long as he had sufficient strength, he could cope with shifting events by sticking to a fundamental principle.

“Yes.”

Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou agreed and accompanied him as they flew up and far into the distance.

Along the way, they also saw many onlooking warriors in the distance. It even included former Heavenly Blood Union members.

These Heavenly Blood Union members had signed a soul contract with the Martial Alliance. And since the soul contract restricted them from attacking the Martial Alliance, as well as not allowing them to disobey any non-fatal orders of the Martial Alliance, they could only be onlookers.

Yi Yun, Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou disappeared over the horizon. At that moment, the various Tian Yuan world large factions of course realized that Blood Moon did not have any reasonable resistance. However, they did not care about this and still slaughtered everything in their path!

A group of people charged towards the Martial Alliance’s core palace, afraid of being behind others.

A path of slaughtering led to a path of blood. The Martial Alliance, which was used to conceal Blood Moon, had existed for tens of thousands of years, over numerous disjointed periods of time, had finally met the day of their destruction today.

667 - : The Martial Alliance’s Destruction

CKtalon  CKtalon

The battle that destroyed the Martial Alliance lasted for half a day.

The ancient organization may have existed for such a long period of time, but its destruction happened in such a short span of time, making it quite a reflective and sorrowful event.

At that moment, the elders of the large factions that had destroyed the Martial Alliance had arrived at the treasury. The Martial Alliance’s treasury was sealed in an array, but how could such an array withstand the combined attacks of the various grand elders from the Tian Yuan world’s major factions?

The array crumbled and then the elders and legendary figures of the Tian Yuan world entered the treasury.

As the resistance they faced was nothing intense, and the true upper echelons of Blood Moon were no longer on Greatsword Mountain, it worried the elders who entered the treasury. Could Blood Moon have secretly removed the treasures in the treasury?

Under the existing situation, the elders did not have their hopes up. However, when they charged into the treasury, they were finally able to confirm that there were still large amounts of treasure stored in the treasury.

There were ancient heritage in the form of jade scrolls, pills, relics and Longevity Extending Pills that they desired!

However, the top two levels of the treasury had been completely emptied.

They did not find the most essential inheritance like the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”.

However, even without those, just the first few levels of the treasury was enough to make the large factions turn red-eyed.

Since time immemorial, it was easy to invade a fort collectively, but the splitting of the war trophies was after the successful invasion was always a problem. There were no lack of accounts in history where a number of sects collectively destroy a large sect, but then, they would end up in another war when it came to the dispute of splitting the resources or spiritual lands.

“Everyone!” A white-haired woman spoke to the crowd that faced the treasury. “I suggest we first seal the treasury. Every faction will send one person to negotiate the distribution of the treasures. Other than pills, relics and Longevity Extending Pills which are one-time consumable items, there are ancient heritage that should be shared amongst the factions of the Tian Yuan world, right?”

The moment the old woman spoke, man people slightly faltered. Distribution of the treasures was indeed a problem.

The Martial Alliance’s treasury was no trifling matter. In front of such enormous benefits, especially the Longevity Extending Pills and the ancient heritage that would allow their factions to soar, no one was unmoved.

The negotiations would likely take months without any agreement.

In the end, there might even be another war to decide on the matter.

“The Martial Alliance is gone. However, the upper echelons of Blood Moon have not been eradicated. They are not a tiny threat towards us. I suggest that all the major factions in the Tian Yuan world should form a Elder Consortium to lead the Tian Yuan world collectively. First, it will be in charge of distributing the treasures in the treasury, and secondly, it would be responsible for destroying Blood Moon, so as to exterminate them completely.”

Another elder stood forward to speak up. The number of members in an Elder Consortium formed from the various large factions was naturally extremely important to each faction.

“An Elder Consortium formed by us to lead the Tian Yuan world? Have any of you considered Yi Yun?” Someone suddenly said this in the crowd, causing the atmosphere to turn livid.

Yi Yun!

That person was an anomaly in the Tian Yuan world.

Especially with Lin Xintong beside him, who had extraordinary strength. If the two of them combined forces, along with Jiang Xiaorou, he naturally had sufficient strength to enter the Elder Consortium.

Alternatively, Yi Yun might not even think anything of the Elder Consortium and completely disregard the decisions made by the Elder Consortium. This naturally made many feel uncomfortable.

“Ignoring the Elder Consortium, just a portion of the treasures in the treasury should belong to Yi Yun. Don’t forget how many people he saved from the Soul Tomb. Those are the most promising juniors from all our factions.” Someone in the crowd said.

The people present were all important figures of the various large factions. Their every decision would stir up the Tian Yuan world.

Distribute the treasures?

Upon hearing this, many people frowned.

In their hearts, Yi Yun was an unpredictable factor. In fact, no one present wished to see Yi Yun become stronger.

Towards the present Yi Yun, most of them did not feel grateful to Yi Yun for saving their juniors, they were feeling dread!

A person who was overly powerful could upset the existing balance.

If this person was kind hearted and without a care in the world, then that would be fine. However, if he was a ruthless person who acted wantonly, that would result in a disaster.

No one wished that their own family and lives would be in the hands of another.

“Yi Yun has a Desolate race sister, Jiang Xiaorou. Are you sure that after Yi Yun joins the Elder Consortium, he would stand on the side of the human race? In my opinion, his relationship with the Desolate race is closer. In the Soul Tomb trials, other than saying that Yi Yun saved the human race’s geniuses, you can also say that he was there just to save his sister.”

At that moment, a stout elder spoke. He was dressed in a blue robe and he had gray long hair. His sword-like eyebrows shot out diagonally while his eyes burned like torches.

This person was the strongest person in the Shentu family clan, the Shentu Patriarch.

Years ago, he had injured the Shepherd Boy with his Divine Wheel attack that remained in the Shepherd Boy’s body for a decade without being completely removed.

Later on, the vendetta between the Shentu family clan and Yi Yun intensified.

And the Shentu family clan learned a few days ago that Yi Yun had appeared in the Shentu family clan. He had killed Zhulong together with Lin Xintong, and his rise was no longer stoppable. The one faction in the entire Tian Yuan world that was most afraid of Yi Yun’s rise had to be the Shentu family clan.

Of course, there was another faction that was not too much different. That was the Li Fire Sect.

The Li Fire Sect’s grand elder spoke up. “Everyone, I believe many of the factions you stand for have had unpleasant experiences with Yi Yun in the past, or even feuds. For example, those who entered the Great Empress mystic realm together with Yi Yun, as well all those family clans that signed their names on the Martial Alliance’s wanted poster. And those who suppressed the Lin family, and factions that kicked them while they were down. The number of factions that did that probably is not a small number… ”

“Have anyone of you realized that at this speed, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, who have inherited the Great Empress’ inheritance, will not need much time to reach a terrifying step where they can be the true masters of the Tian Yuan world? The combined forces of the duo would not be difficult for them to reach the ancient Great Empress’ realm. When that happens, we would be like fish on the chopping block, at their mercy.”

The Li Fire Sect’s grand elder engaged in demagoguery.

No matter who it was, no one wished to see a person who could decide their fate or lives.

However… it was also impossible for them to lean towards the Li Fire Sect and Shentu family clan’s position. On Yi Yun’s imminent rise, many people would rather befriend him.

If they were to offend Yi Yun at that moment, revenge could be sought on them, and it was a consequence that they could not bear.

As the elders of the large factions were in deliberation, a flash occurred in the Great Empress mystic realm. Yi Yun, Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou appeared in the closed off world…

668 - : Dread

CKtalon  CKtalon

To Yi Yun, the Great Empress mystic realm was an absolutely safe haven.

The Great Empress mystic realm was completely sealed off, and Yi Yun had absolute freedom in controlling its entrances and exits. Hence, without his consent, it was impossible for Blood Moon to enter the Great Empress mystic realm. It was a world that belonged to him.

“Is this the vestige remains of the ancient Great Empress… ?”

High in the sky tens of thousand feet high, there was a small arch that resembled a floating window. Jiang Xiaorou stood there watching the bridges that seemed to hover midair like ribbons.

The bridges led to a mysterious, mist-shrouded world. And Jiang Xiaorou could sense an air of ancientness and vastness from that world.

Jiang Xiaorou already knew that Lin Xintong and Yi Yun had experienced trials in this mystic realm more than seven years ago. Yi Yun had even walked on the bridges, undergoing a variety of challenges on them.

Eventually, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had obtained the inheritance left behind by the ancient Great Empress in the God Advent Tower.

Yi Yun had only given Jiang Xiaorou a brief description of the trials, but Jiang Xiaorou knew that it was actually trials fraught with danger due to the Yin specters’ entry.

“Let us go in.”

Yi Yun led Jiang Xiaorou and Lin Xintong to a black stone square. In the past, this ancient square was where the God Advent Tower stood erect, but today, the God Advent Tower had already been taken by Yi Yun.

With a thought, a tiny six-storey pagoda flew out of Yi Yun’s dantian.

The tiny pagoda rotated midair, and it rapidly expanded, making it the size of a heavenly pillar.

The gigantic divine pagoda landed on the black stone square, while beneath it, the three of them looked as tiny as worms in front of a towering divine tree.

Yi Yun and the two women walked hand in hand into the God Advent Tower.

After Yi Yun obtained the Great Empress’ inheritance, he believed that Jiang Xiaorou too could enter the God Advent Tower and upgrade her strength.

Although Jiang Xiaorou had a unique bloodline, her strength was mostly reflected by her ability to control desolate beasts. In terms of her own body’s strength, she was still weaker than Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

To warriors, the most important thing was their own strength.

“Sis Xiaorou, on the first and third levels of the God Advent Tower, there are visual array disks of battles left behind by antecedents, as well as large quantities of manuals and mystic techniques. I will enter reclusive training together with Xintong now. Sis Xiaorou, after you browse through those manuals and gain some further insight, I’ll give you the core teachings of the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’.”

The “Great Empress Heart Sutra” was the most important piece of inheritance that the ancient Great Empress left behind. Since it was an inheritance, it definitely needed to be passed on. After Yi Yun inherited the inheritance, he too had the responsibility and qualifications to pass it down.

He chose Jiang Xiaorou to be another inheritor of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” because he believed that she would not be a disgrace to the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

Although Jiang Xiaorou’s physique and bloodline leaned towards Yin and Softness, she did not have naturally terminated meridians. Her cultivation speed of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” would naturally not be as fast as Lin Xintong’s blazing speed in cultivation.

“Okay.” Jiang Xiaorou looked at Yi Yun while she felt a rush of bliss. Without Yi Yun, she really would be at a loss of as to what to do.

Jiang Xiaorou stepped onto the first level of the God Advent Tower, while Yi Yun and Lin Xintong entered the God Advent Tower’s fifth level where the cultivation chamber filled with ice and fire was. They had spent six years of their lives in here previously.

“Let us begin.”

“Alright.”

Lin Xintong smoothed her lips as she took off her stainless white dress gently. She then sat opposite Yi Yun, and engaged in contact with him…

Back when Lin Xintong was cultivating arduously in the Divine Wilderness, Yi Yun had entered the Heavenly Dao Union. Their separation lasted for half a year, but now they were reunited. As Lin Xintong embraced Yi Yun, she felt a long-awaited sense of fullness in her heart. She was a very independent woman and she did not make it a habit to rely on others. However, while she cultivated relentlessly in the Divine Wilderness, she faced the cold moon and endless desolate plains alone. This made her feel a sense of emptiness at times, as if she needed something to feel her heart to the brim.

Lin Xintong slowly realized that the feeling was the longing for Yi Yun. That feeling was something faint, yet, it kept churning in her heart, with no way of brushing it off.

Now, while hugging Yi Yun and experiencing his breathing and being, that sense of emptiness was slowly filled to the brim.

Lin Xintong was not a woman who was good at expressing herself. She only hugged Yi Yun and listened to his heart beating and remained silent.

Yi Yun also hugged Lin Xintong and experienced Lin Xintong’s silk-like smooth skin that was as cool as refreshing springwater. He did not think about anything, nor consider Blood Moon or his future, let alone consider the cultivation of his cultivation technique.

Even so, the worldly Yin-Yang energy still circulated between the two of them automatically.

This circulation was not controlled by Lin Xintong or Yi Yun.

The two of them had completely emptied their minds, allowing the Yin-Yang energies to circulate according to their natural order, and its natural order was in the greatest harmony with Heavenly Dao laws.

This was because the circulation of Yin Yang energies was a Heavenly Dao itself.

And as their hearts neared each other, it allowed the pure Yang and pure Yin to harmonize in perfection.

As Yin and Yang converged, a Taiji picture formed in the chamber. It was not drawn by human means, it was a Taiji symbol naturally formed from the world’s Yin and Yang energies.

Unknowingly, the two of them had entered a “No Law, No Shape, No Void, No Me” ethereal state.

Every cell in their bodies seemed to possess a life of its own as they automatically respirated the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. The pair were different from other warriors who used their bodies’ acupuncture points to absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, and then transmit the energy through their meridians into their limbs.

As the two of them embraced, their bodies were tempered by the energies, becoming even purer, without a single impurity.

Time become nothing but an afterthought and they lost their sense of time. There were only the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and Yin-Yang energies that were constantly accumulated in Yi Yun’s and Lin Xintong’s bodies.

This accumulation slowly reached the maximum point which their respective dantians could withstand.

The Yuan Foundation in their dantian was compressed again and again.

However, the remaining Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was still too dense and intense to the point of them deliquescing in a fog above the Yuan Foundation.

At the same time, the nomological insights that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong possessed slowly gathered together, forming worldly runes. These runes then gathered together to form clouds.

When the Yuan Qi density reached its apex, it could no longer remain suspended in the layer of clouds. Instead, it formed precipitation that fell down.

As the Yuan Qi raindrops came pattering down, it nourished the Yuan Foundation soil.

These energetic raindrops slowly seeped down into the Yuan Foundation, and surged towards the Dao Seed that was buried in the Yuan Foundation.

With laws as clouds, and Yuan Qi as rain, descending on the Yuan Foundation, the Dao Seed was nourished.

In this manner, the duo’s Dao Seeds in their Yuan Foundations were nourished under the energetic rain, and they began to slowly sprout.

A crystal clear sprout broke out of the seed’s exterior as it grew upwards bit by bit.

The tiny sprout was as transparent as a crystal, but its surface was carved with nomological runes, making it look extremely profound and intricate.

As the soil on the Yuan Foundation was slowly pushed apart by the sprout, this process of breaking open the Yuan Foundation was known as Yuan Opening.

Once the Dao Seed fully sprouted, and the sprout broke out of the soil, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong would officially enter the Yuan Opening realm.

669 - : Dao Seeds Breaks the Yuan Foundation

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the God Advent Tower, as Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were engaged in a warm, enveloping embrace, they forgot the passage of time.

Breaking through to the Yuan Opening realm required an immense quantity of Yuan Qi. This amount of Yuan Qi could not be completely stored in their dantian, and instead, it needed to be accumulated over a prolonged period of time. Typical warriors would usually spend an entire decade or two just to break into the Yuan Opening realm.

In Lin Xintong and Yi Yun’s Yuan Foundation, the Dao Seed sprouts continued growing under the Yuan Qi’s constant nourishment, becoming even taller.

Surrounding the two of them was dense Yuan Qi. Above their heads was a cloud layer formed from Yuan Qi and laws. The Dao Seed sprouts’ phantom image appeared from within their dantians, they seemed seemed to envelop the two of them.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong seemed to be develop and grow along with a small world that recently came into existence. Their bodies were like primordial rocks that gave life. Every breath and heartbeat they took was the frequency at which the world grew.

Their respective Dao Seed trees grew taller, in step with their breathing. They stretched out their tender foliage, respiring that world’s Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. After some time, the sprouts slowly matured into tree saplings.

Many people’s Yuan Opening realm would only reach such a stage. Their Dao Seed’s tree would expend all the energy after just breaking into the Yuan Opening realm, so they would come to a stop at this point.

However, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong went much further than that.

They carried on with their eyes closed.

In the worlds in their bodies, all the clouds gathered together, resulting in rumbling thunder and flashing lightning. Instantly, what seemed like a scene of an immortal’s paradise became one that looked like the apocalypse.

And in this apocalyptic world, the tiny tree sapling showed no fear to the lightning, nor was it uprooted by the ravaging winds. Instead, it began to rapidly grow.

One feet, two feet, five feet, ten feet, twenty feet!

The tree sapling grew into a large tree, as its leaves became ever more lush. Every leaf was shaped differently. Some looked like tiny cauldrons, others looked like swords and some looked like the eight trigrams.

Although the Dao Seed’s tree that Yi Yun produced was already two storeys high, in fact, his Dao Seed tree was still just a sapling.

The size of the sapling determined how high the Dao Seed tree could grow in the future.

The Dao Seed tree could grow a hundred times, a thousand times, or even ten thousand times till it pierced through the clouds, forming a path to the heavens.

Boom! Boom!

A bolt of lightning flashed, striking the Dao Seed tree.

And at that moment, two sharp screeches accompanied two shadows as they appeared from Yi Yun’s body.

One was the Golden Crow, while the other was the Nine Neonate.

These two phantom images circled around the two large trees that interweaved each other, before charging into the clouds, so as to face and resist the lightning.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong dual cultivated the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. One of them was pure Yang and the other was pure Yin, but despite that, they could aid one another when they were breaking through to the Yuan Opening realm. Even their Dao Seed trees were intertwined.

They wound around each other, but they were separate, independent beings.

A snow-white lotus flower flew out of Lin Xintong’s body. It fluttered in the wind and it spun around the two large trees, constantly emitting a frosty-ice aura that protected the two trees.

The two trees stood erect in an intertwined fashion as if they were the center of the world.

The Golden Crow and Nine Neonate circled around the tree trunk, while the snow lotus began blooming on the tree’s canopy.

Every leaf was formed from Yuan Qi as a result of the abundant Yuan Qi present. As long as the Dao Seed tree did not die, it would constantly provide Yuan Qi to the leaves.

Yi Yun opened his eyes, and his eyes seemed to flash with both lightning and fire. Even when he stretched his body, his joints would emit a sound that resembled a muffled thunder.

At that moment, Lin Xintong also opened her eyes. Her eyes looked like a deep lake, and one could seem to see snow lotuses littered across the lake. Her aura was extremely holy and sacred, as if any living creature that saw her would be put to shame.

Yuan Opening realm! Yi Yun clenched his fists as he experienced the surging Yuan Qi in his body!

From this moment onwards, other than increasing his strength, just Yi Yun’s cultivation realm alone allowed him to enter the top ranks of human warriors in the Tian Yuan world.

And from this moment onwards, warriors would possess a long life. Breaking through to the Yuan Opening realm was like being reborn. The Dao Seed tree in their bodies was a reflection of their limbs, and the leaves’ veins were all their meridians. As such, even the weakest Yuan Opening realm warrior would have a lifespan of about ten thousand years. And for peak Yuan Opening realm warriors, their lifespans could even reach tens of thousands of years.

As the Dao Seed tree absorbed and produced Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, the Yuan Opening warrior would have nearly endless amounts of Yuan Qi.

Furthermore, the Dao Seed trees produced by Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were even more terrifying. They seemed earth-shattering, from the moment they appeared, they had already formed the ghostly image of a small world.

“This breakthrough probably took us two or three years…” Yi Yun tenderly helped Lin Xintong wear her clothes as he spoke.

Breaking through to the Yuan Opening realm was extremely time consuming.

Using a decade was already considered fast. Those who lacked the talent might even need to go into reclusion for twenty or even thirty years.

The main reason was that the Dao Seed tree required a long period of time to grow from a sapling.

Ignoring a tree, just a tiny blade of grass took a year’s time to go from sprouting to withering.

And most warriors did not accumulate enough Yuan Qi in their Yuan Foundation. After the Dao Seed tree sprouted, the first month would cause all their Yuan Qi to be depleted. The future growth of the Dao Seed tree would have to rely on the accumulation of time.

During this period, if a person lacked Yuan Qi and his foundation was insufficient, there was a high chance of a breakthrough failure. The Dao Seed tree’s sprout would wither due to a lack of energy. Then, they would have to start all over again.

To the Tian Yuan world’s warriors, no one could afford such failure. This was equivalent to destroying most of their martial path.

This was the reason why most young juniors in the Tian Yuan world would choose not to break through to the Yuan Opening realm. They were halt at the peak of the Dao Seed realm until they were fifty or sixty years old. Some times, some might even wait till they were a hundred years old.

This was because the amount of time that the breakthrough took was too long and the process was too difficult. Without enough accumulation in foundation and nomological insight, they did not dare attempt the breakthrough.

During the past two or three years, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong continuously increased their strength while in reclusion. They were completely cut off from the external world, so they did not know what had become of the Tian Yuan world.

However, before going into reclusion, Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou had already separately informed the Lin family and the Desolate race to be on the alert and conserve their strength.

“Let us go.” Yi Yun said while looking into Lin Xintong’s eyes as she returned his gaze.

On the sixth floor of the God Advent Tower, Jiang Xiaorou was sitting in a small building in a bamboo forest. An ancient aura lingered around her body, and sitting on the wooden platforms in front of her were parts of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”.

Yi Yun had only woken once in the past three years, and that was to pass the “Great Empress Heart Sutra” to Jiang Xiaorou.

Jiang Xiaorou had extremely high perception. She used two years to pass the first five levels of the God Advent Tower, and finish reading all the canonical material. She had also chosen some that suited her cultivation.

Jiang Xiaorou, who had been recognized by the Sacred Spirit and had the best bloodline in the Desolate race, was definitely a peerless genius. Furthermore, in the Azure Yang Lord’s massive collection, there were quite a number of canonical manuals that were not meant for humans. There were no records of such canonical manuals in the Desolate race, so when Jiang Xiaorou saw this, she was naturally delighted.

Today, Jiang Xiaorou suddenly sensed something as she opened her eyes.

The moment she opened her eyes, an extremely sacred aura was emitted from her body.

The small building in the bamboo forest was perennially covered in snow. However, when that aura swept past the snow, it was like a gentle spring breeze that immediately melted the ice. Lush green grass grew while flowers bloomed.

Jiang Xiaorou sat in the middle of the flowers with a smile on her lips, resembling a fairy that walked out of the forest. She was like an embodiment of the most pure and pretty creation formed by the Heaven and Earth. She made anyone who saw her feel a sense of endearment and admiration.

“The both of you have broken through to the Yuan Opening realm.” As Jiang Xiaorou looked at Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, who had appeared in front of her, she sensed their auras and gave a delighted look.

They had broken through to the Yuan Opening realm in just three years, showcasing their absolute genius. The aura emitted from their bodies was extraordinary. Them appearing hand in hand, made them appear like a lovely couple that would make people swoon.

Yi Yun looked at Jiang Xiaorou and broke out into a smile. “Sis Xiaorou, you have broken through as well.”

Jiang Xiaorou’s aura had an ancient air to it. As the cultivation of the Desolate race was different to the humans’, Jiang Xiaorou was not considered to be in the Yuan Opening realm, but she was in a realm close to it.

“Shall we go out?” Jiang Xiaorou asked.

“Yes, the outside world is ever-changing. Now that we have already broken through, it is time to leave the Great Empress mystic realm.” Yi Yun said.

“I wonder how the Tian Yuan world is now.” A hint of worry appeared in Lin Xintong’s eyes.

When they entered reclusion, the Alliance Leader had already gone missing. It was unknown what he had been doing over the past two to three years.

670 - : Attaining Yuan Opening

CKtalon  CKtalon

After leaving the Great Empress mystic realm, Jiang Xiaorou separated from Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong headed for the Lin family together, while Jiang Xiaorou returned to the Desolate race. She was worried about her mother after not seeing her for three years.

Lin Xintong was slightly perturbed as well. If the Blood Moon’s Alliance Leader appeared again, it was very likely for him to stir a bloody storm in the Tian Yuan world. And all Lin Xintong could do before this was to warn the Lin family. The moment the Tian Yuan world faced disaster, they were to immediately abandon the Lin family’s stronghold, and take the promising offspring of the family into the Divine Wilderness to seek shelter.

Of course, Lin Xintong knew that such cautionary measures were meaningless. If there was really a disaster that the Tian Yuan world could not resist, the thought of a successful escape was just blind hope.

Only when Lin Xintong and Yi Yun returned to the Lin family and saw that everything was peaceful did Lin Xintong finally heave a sigh of relief.

It was great that the family was safe and sound.

The moment Lin Xintong and Yi Yun entered the Lin family’s mountain entrance, they were immediately recognized by the disciples guarding the entrance.

“Miss! Young Master Yi!”

The entrance guards were youths in their twenties. They were extremely excited seeing Yi Yun and Lin Xintong appear hand in hand.

Over the past few years, news of what Lin Xintong and Yi Yun had done had already proliferated.

The scene of them combining forces to kill Zhulong in the Soul Tomb was vividly described, becoming something that made the Lin family youths feel proud.

The Lin family of the past had suffered all forms of humiliation because of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong being considered traitors of the human race. Things were also made difficult for them because of the Martial Alliance. But now, the Lin family had become an extraordinary existence in the entire Tian Yuan world. Over the years, many family clans began to make amendments to the Lin family.

The juniors of the Lin family were all treated with respect when they were out of their family grounds. All these benefits they physically experienced were due to Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

“Miss, the Matriarch has been waiting for you all this time. Make haste to see her.” The youths said, and eagerly led the way.

Seeing these passionate members of her clan and the familiar family, Lin Xintong felt a faint sense of warmth in her heart.

A family clan… might be utilitarian at times, making it seem cold and aloof, but it would not make a person feel lonely. Especially when the family clan had the Matriarch who loved her so deeply.

…

The return of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong was treated as a spectacular event for the Lin family. For this, the Lin family specially held a grand banquet to welcome them back.

A few large factions that had friendly ties with the Lin family also sent a few of their important figures to attend the banquet, bringing gifts for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. As for those family clans that had average relationships with the Lin family, they were not even invited.

This made many family clans feel uneasy.

They could not guess the Lin family’s attitude. They did not know if the Lin family planned on settling scores after having waited for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to rise up.

When a faction became strong, it would need to expand its lands. Even if Lin Xintong and Yi Yun were nice people who were at peace with all mankind, was it the same with the Lin family?

It was rare for the Lin family to have such an opportunity, so how could it not take the opportunity to expand?

And expansion was bound to infringe on the interests of other major factions. Either their territories would be appropriated, or people would be annexed.

The large factions in a five hundred thousand kilometer radius of the Lin family were all at risk. It was unknown when they would need to uproot themselves or even become a part of the Lin family.

On the second day of celebrations, someone sent an invitation. It was to invite Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to Greatsword Mountain, so as to discuss the destruction of Blood Moon’s remnants, as well as discuss on matters about the development of the Tian Yuan world’s martial culture.

It was signed the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium.

“Greatsword Mountain? Tian Yuan Elder Consortium?” Yi Yun was momentarily stunned.

Greatsword Mountain was previously the stronghold of Blood Moon, and now, it seemed to have been replaced by the “Tian Yuan Elder Consortium”.

“It is an organization formed by the current major factions in the Tian Yuan world. Although it is publicly meant to maintain the Tian Yuan world’s peace and advance its martial arts, it is actually just a method for these family clans to protect themselves and to separate themselves from Blood Moon. In the past, they had thoughts of inviting you and Xintong to the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium, but both of you had already entered reclusive training.” The Matriarch, who was sitting beside Yi Yun, explained.

At the homecoming banquet, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong each sat on one side of the Matriarch.

“I see… ” Yi Yun faltered slightly. After a war, victors tend to form an organization that belonged to them, hoping to establish a new order that was in their favor.

However, it was too early to sound the trumpets of victory for this war. It was too naive to think of splitting the benefits left behind by Blood Moon.

“Since they have sent an invitation, there is no harm to going.” Yi Yun answered the messenger immediately.

On the side, the Matriarch frowned. Only when the messenger left did the Matriarch say with a deep voice, “Greatsword Mountain is no longer the what it was in the past. Their invitation might even be a trap. Many factions do not wish to see the both of you mature.”

Yi Yun understood what the Matriarch said. It was most likely a treacherous plot, but he said, “I understand what Matriarch has alerted me to. Don’t worry, I have a grasp of the situation.”

What Yi Yun dreaded the most was Blood Moon’s actions. As for the Elder Consortium, Yi Yun did not care too much about it.

And he was not very optimistic about this Elder Consortium fighting Blood Moon. However, using it as an open target to attract Blood Moon would most likely be effective, since they were the most visible target.

…

After the end of the welcoming banquet, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong headed to Greatsword Mountain.

The liaison agents sent by the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium had already prepared teleportation arrays along the way. So, in two hours, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong traversed the distance of five million kilometers, allowing them to see Greatsword Mountain that towered into the clouds.

In just three years, Greatsword Mountain looked completely different. Many of the buildings that the Martial Alliance left behind had been demolished, and replacing them was a gigantic pagoda that reached out into the skies on the peak of Greatsword Mountain.

It was nothing difficult for warriors to construct such a magnificent building on the peak.

Very clearly, this gigantic pagoda was the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium’s headquarters.

Yi Yun glanced a few times at the gigantic tower and he realized that the pagoda somewhat resembled the God Advent Tower in the Great Empress mystic realm. It was unknown what intentions the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium had for them to build it in this shape. Were they envious of the God Advent Tower?

Outside the gigantic pagoda, there were several large and powerful arrays set up. The knowledge of these arrays were mostly obtained from the ancient canonical manuals left behind by Blood Moon, so they were extraordinary in strength. Furthermore, this was the headquarters of the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium, so it was not impossible to lay an ambush under the gigantic pagoda.

Upon seeing the gigantic pagoda, Lin Xintong’s eyebrows ticked up as she said, “Are we going to enter just like that?”

Yi Yun opened his energy vision and he saw right through the gigantic pagoda’s array all the way to its energy source. After his cultivation level increased greatly, Yi Yun could use the Purple Crystal’s powers to see through powerful arrays. It was nothing too difficult for him.

In a few seconds, he managed to understand the situation of the powerful arrays before saying, “We will enter just like that!”

671 - : Elder Consortium’s Invitation

CKtalon  CKtalon

With this, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong walked into the gigantic pagoda calmly. On the first level of the pagoda, there was a teleportation array. The moment they entered it, a flash took them to the top level of the pagoda. Here, there was a large hall, but it was simply furnished. There was a black round table, and on its perimeter, there were chairs with metallic textures that were placed around it. Every chair was riveted to the ground and its position represented a corresponding stature and position.

The moment Yi Yun entered the hall, he saw a few seats that faced the entrance directly. In accordance with tradition, the seats in the middle that faced the entrance were the seats of supreme power and honor. And at that moment, three of those seats were empty.

Around it, there were more than ten Tian Yuan world legendary figures sitting in random spots. Everyone had different expressions on their faces. Many of them gave a smile when they saw Yi Yun come, but there were others who reacted coldly. After a brief glance at the two of them, they returned to their what they were doing prior to their arrival.

Yi Yun did not think much about these people’s response. As for those people who smiled at him, only the Heavens knew if they would kill and rob him on the spot.

Soon, Yi Yun sensed a piercing gaze coming from amongst the legendary figures of the Tian Yuan world. With a thought, he looked over and he saw a green-robed middle-aged man wearing a jade ring sitting on a seat that was just beside the emptied three seats of honor. His eyes were squinted while he looked at Lin Xintong and Yi Yun.

Although he looked like a middle-aged man, Yi Yun could tell that he was actually an old freak. This was because Yi Yun could sense very little life left in his body.

For an old person to maintain a youthful appearance, it was due to a trick to maintain eternal youth. In fact, the length of a warrior’s lifespan did not have much to do with their looks. Many female warriors, who greatly cherished their beauty, would look extremely beautiful and young up till their final years. They would ignore the great costs and even sacrifice a bit of their energy to maintain their youthful appearance. However, in the last one or two years of their life, they would rapidly age. Just before their death, their skin will be wrinkled, with thinning white hair and grim yellow teeth.

Upon noticing Yi Yun cross gazes with the green-robed man, Lin Xintong transmitted her voice to Yi Yun. She said, “Yi Yun, that green-robed middle-aged man is the Shentu Patriarch.”

Shentu Patriarch?

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed. So he was Shentu Patriarch. By being able to sit in close to the central seats of power, his strength was clearly not weak.

In fact, Yi Yun could not sense the Shentu Patriarch’s cultivation level.

It was a realm above the Yuan Opening realm, the Heaven Ascension realm.

As warriors practiced martial arts to train their bodies, they would go from the Mortal Blood realm to the Purple Blood realm. On the basis of having strong physical bodies, they would lay the Yuan Foundation, plant a Dao Seed in the Yuan Foundation, and grow a Divine Tree from the Dao Seed. And this Divine Tree will constantly grow till it pierced through the divine clouds, straight into the Heavenly Dao, paving the road to Heaven Ascension.

Hence, the next realm after the Yuan Opening realm was called Heaven Ascension.

In the Tian Yuan world, there were very few people who could attain the Heaven Ascension realm. Even the geniuses from the major factions, who qualified to enter the Heavenly Blood Union, and were now undergoing normal development, would have less than a 1% chance of attaining the Heaven Ascension realm.

These people were titled Empyreal Kings, Great Emperors or Patriarchs in the Tian Yuan world. They were important figures, who stood at the very peak of the Tian Yuan world, holding the lives of billions of people in their hands.

And the standard of measuring a top faction in the Tian Yuan world was whether a Heaven Ascension figure held the ground in that faction. For example, the Li Fire Sect and the Shentu family clan had such Patriarchs that allowed them to enjoy such a placing.

Due to the loss of ancient heritage and the limitation of resources, if a Tian Yuan world warrior wanted to break through into the Heaven Ascension realm, not only would he need heaven-defying talent, he would need a certain amount of luck. Typically, just reaching the early stages of the Heaven Ascension realm would expend a top faction’s fated luck and heritage that had been accumulated for more than a hundred thousand years, or even a few hundred thousand years.

And if one wanted to reach the middle stages of the Heaven Ascension realm? That was too difficult!

Taking the Shentu Patriarch as example, Yi Yun determined that his cultivation level was only at the early stages of the Heaven Ascension realm. However, he was one of the stronger ones amongst the early stages of the Heaven Ascension realm.

As there were very few Heaven Ascension realm experts in the Tian Yuan world, many warriors would be given the title of Empyreal King even before they reached the Heaven Ascension realm, such as when they were half step into the Heaven Ascension realm. After all, an Empyreal King was just a complimentary title. It was worth nothing to label a half-step Heaven Ascension expert as an Empyreal King, Patriarch or Great Emperor.

Hence, there were more titled Empyreal Kings than the actual number of Heaven Ascension realm experts in the Tian Yuan world. And to juniors, these Empyreal Kings’ cultivation level was too high and not something they could understand. No one knew who was truly in the Heaven Ascension realm or half-step into the Heaven Ascension realm.

As for the Shentu Patriarch, he had entered the Heaven Ascension realm for tens of thousands of years, which was why the Shepherd Boy failed to defeat Shentu Patriarch.

As Yi Yun looked at Shentu Patriarch, he too looked back at him. He was gently stroking his chin while squinting his eyes. His gaze spoke volumes.

No one knew what this elder, whose family clan had a grudge with Yi Yun and killer of his favorite grand child, Shentu Nantian, was thinking.

“Yi Yun, it looks like the invitation from the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium doesn’t possess pure intents. If I’m not wrong, the person sitting beside the Shentu Patriarch is the Li Fire Sect’s Li Fire Grandma.”

Upon hearing Lin Xintong’s words, Yi Yun shifted his gaze slightly. Sitting beside Shentu Patriarch was a thin, wizened woman. She wore simple gray clothes. Her white hair was tied up into a bun in a sloppy manner, held up by a wooden hairpin.

Be it her simple clothes or the style of the wooden hairpin, it all looked very antiquated. If not for Yi Yun being extremely powerful, allowing him to see through her cultivation level, she would have looked no different to an old granny in an ordinary rural village. If she was thrown into a remote village, no one would have been able to spot her.

When Yi Yun and Lin Xintong entered the hall, Shentu Patriarch at least looked over and sent piercing stares. As for the old woman, she was holding a teacup, slowly drinking her tea, as if Yi Yun and Lin Xintong weren’t there.

It was hard to imagine that the Li Fire Sect, who this old woman belonged to, had a vendetta with Yi Yun.

In this crowd of old freaks who had disparate motives and thoughts, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong sat down in the middle of these old freaks in a natural and poised manner.

However, the atmosphere turned cold. Other than a few legendary figures, who wanted to befriend Yi Yun, exchanging pleasantries with Yi Yun, the others remained silent.

Slowly, everyone turned quiet. Those who had greeted Yi Yun also stopped speaking. As the atmosphere in the hall became more solemn and quiet, till it became nearly oppressive, three people walked out of a side hall.

Two men and a woman walked straight to the middle seat of the round table.

When the three of them looked at Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, one of the men and the woman smiled, while the other man remained expressionless.

Yi Yun slightly faltered. Without a doubt, these three people were the principals of the Tian Yuan World’s Elder Consortium!

672 - : Heaven Ascension

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun did not know about the strongest figures in the Tian Yuan world beforehand. The location of these people were always a mystery. Some of them would devote themselves to reclusive training or searching for means to extend their longevity.

Some of their reclusive training could even be reclusive death training. They might even enter certain lands and not appear for ten thousand years. Hence, the outside world had no idea if they were alive or dead.

Yi Yun did not recognise the three people who had suddenly appeared.

However, Lin Xintong knew a lot more about the Tian Yuan world than him. Although she had never met the three people before, from their appearance and aura, she was able to guess their identities.

The truly legendary figures in the Tian Yuan world were actually only these few people.

Amongst these three people, the man in the man-woman duo wore a black long robe, while the woman wore a white long robe. The clothes were same in everything other than color. Even their appearances looked similar. The man had handsome features and he looked like a gentleman in his forties. The woman had a full buxom and snow-white skin. She was a beautiful young woman.

These two people who were dressed very similar were not siblings they were husband and wife.

They lived in an offshore island, known as Sanctuary. There were arrays established around Sanctuary. When other experts passed by, they would fail to detect Sanctuary’s existence. It was ethereal and like a mirage.

And this married couple resided in Sanctuary.

Their cultivation levels were at the early stages of the Heaven Ascension realm. However, their auras were slightly stronger than Shentu Patriarch’s. Although they were all at the same early stages of the Heaven Ascension, due to various differences, it was not surprising for there to be some difference in strength.

Furthermore, this couple was proficient at attacking together. The moment they used the mystic technique together against a foe, even an expert at the middle-stages of the Heaven Ascension realm would not necessarily gain much advantage over them.

As for the last person, he was an old man dressed in a long robe. He was extremely tall, at least one head higher than many of the Tian Yuan world legendary figures. He was skinny, and together with his height, he gave off a horrifying feeling like he was simply a skeleton wrapped up in skin.

Lin Xintong recalled that the legends of the Tian Yuan world called him the Sovereign of the Eventide.

His cultivation level was at the middle stages of the Heaven Ascension realm. He was very likely the only warrior in the Tian Yuan world, other than Blood Moon’s leaders, who had entered the middle stages of the Heaven Ascension realm!

The Sovereign of the Eventide had appeared in this world as early as a hundred thousand years ago. However, about tens of thousands of years ago, he had disappeared. It was unexpected that he was still alive all those years.

Seeing the Sovereign of the Eventide’s physical condition, although his vital potential was fully depleted, his life force was in no way weak. No one knew how many more years he could live on for.

Blood Moon’s appearance and destruction had made many of these true experts, that had not walked the planet for a very long time, appear again. Be it the ancient heritage or the Longevity Extending Pills, they were all extremely alluring to them.

Furthermore, in the treasury left behind by Blood Moon, that was just a small portion of the existing treasures. The most critical treasures were lost, including the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique” that everyone coveted.

No one present knew the contents of cultivation limitations of the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”. If there was no age limitation, then maybe they too could cultivate it?

Lin Xintong transmitted her voice, and in a very short amount of time, she informed Yi Yun of the three people’s identities.

In fact, their identities were unimportant to Yi Yun. Yi Yun could not care any less about their past, all he cared about was their present strength and whether they were friend or foe.

The three people sat in the most central spot along the round table. The black-robed Sovereign of the Eventide raised his eyes and glanced at Yi Yun. His eyes were dark, as if they were bottomless vortices that led to another dimension.

“I believe your female partner beside you has already informed you who the three of us are.” The Sovereign of the Eventide said in a deep voice.

Although he could not hear Lin Xintong’s transmission, he could sense the faint acoustic energy fluctuations.

“However, let me introduce myself. I am the Principal of the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium. Junior, you are a smart person, so I will not throw out high-sounding perfunctory words. The Tian Yuan Elder Consortium has two goals. The first is to find the treasures left behind by Blood Moon. Every single one will be distributed to people accordingly to their efforts and status. Second, it is to establish a new order so as to maintain the future balance amongst the major factions of the Tian Yuan world, so as to fend off any possible invasion of the Desolate race!”

The Sovereign of the Eventide’s voice was not loud, but the words he said were highly impactful that caused one’s eardrums to reverberate.

Yi Yun silently listened to him. He was not at all surprised about it. These people would never give up on the treasures. Ignoring the “Heavenly Dao Reincarnation Grand Technique”, just the Longevity Extending Pills were not enough to satiate them. They definitely wanted to know the refining mystic technique used to produce Longevity Extending Pills.

As for the Desolate race, the humans considered the Desolate race alien. They had been hostile for many years, so there was no way for both sides to live in peace.

The human race refused to trust the Desolate race, and similarly, the Desolate race did not trust the human race either!

“Then?” Yi Yun asked calmly.

“Joining the Tian Yuan world’s Elder Consortium is only limited to Heaven Ascension realm experts, but we decided to invite you and Lin Xintong to become members of it. When we eventually find the complete Blood Moon treasures, we would naturally distribute some to you, according to your contributions and posts.

“OK.” Yi Yun’s reaction was cold and listless. He knew the matter that the Sovereign of the Eventide raised was that simple. Furthermore, he did not think highly of Blood Moon’s treasures.

He knew that the Sovereign of the Eventide’s suggestion of letting him and Lin Xintong join the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium was not just to give them benefits.

Yi Yun slightly looked at the Sovereign of the Eventide before saying, “And then?”

Against Yi Yun’s cold and calm response, the Sovereign of the Eventide frowned slightly. He had enjoyed a high stature for a prolonged period of time, so he naturally did not like a junior appearing as if he had everything under his control in front of him.

The Sovereign of the Eventide said, “Junior, if you are willing to join the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium, we wish that you would abide to the Elder Consortium’s rules. After joining, there is one rule and that is to not kill one another. It includes not supporting the faction behind you in their attack on other factions that the other members of the Elder Consortium belong to!”

“Is that so… I see!” Yi Yun laughed out loudly. “This will also need a soul contract to be signed, right!?”

The Elder Consortium’s rules had to be abided by everyone, so naturally, a soul contract needed to be signed or it would mean nothing

But in fact, this rule was targeted Yi Yun. Everyone present dreaded Yi Yun, afraid that after he fully matured, he would be able to dominate the entire Tian Yuan world. When that happened, no one would be able to stop him.

Seeing Yi Yun’s smile, the Sovereign of the Eventide’s expression turned gloomy. Yi Yun was too presumptuous in front of him. He admitted that he might not be Yi Yun’s match in the future, but now, Yi Yun had yet to fully mature.

“Of course a soul contract has to be signed!” Shentu Patriarch spoke. He stared at Yi Yun with a cold gaze.

673 - : The Goal of the Elder Consortium

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Signing a soul contract again?” Yi Yun laughed as he shook his head.

“Why? You plan on not signing?” Beside Shentu Patriarch, a gray-clothed Li Fire Grandma slowly drank her tea and she looked at Yi Yun with a gaze that spoke volumes.

Yi Yun did not care about this old woman and he said in a very nonchalant tone, “Signing a soul contract, making me never attack all of you. That is the true goal of this Elder Consortium. Why didn’t you say the main point earlier? Was there a need to beat about the bush?”

“But as a deal, there should be some mutual benefits. And in the soul contract that you produce to restrict me, what benefits do I get if I agree to it?”

“This is not a deal.” Li Fire Grandma’s voice turned cold. “This is letting you join the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium. And joining the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium means abiding to the Elder Consortium’s rules! You and Lin Xintong will obtain two seats. Do you know how many major factions would pay to have those two seats? Only you are unwilling to join, saying words of insult!”

Against the Li Fire Grandma’s reprimanding, Yi Yun shook his head slowly. “Granny, you sure got engrossed in acting. I’m not a young child, so why are you acting? The so-called permission of letting Xintong and I join the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium is just a sham, but indeed, you were right on one thing. I can’t be bothered to join this Elder Consortium. What are you basing on for me to abide to your rules? As for you, you will have to produce some benefits that makes the mark. Is it that so-called Blood Moon treasures which you would give a tiny piece of it to me after it is found? What sort of benefit is that? That benefit… I’m very sorry, but I really don’t think much of it.” Yi Yun spoke with no holds barred.

When the legendary figures of the Tian Yuan world heard this, their expressions turned ugly. Even the elders of major factions, who planned on befriending Yi Yun, gasped.

The way Yi Yun spoke was too arrogant.

“Nice! Nice! Just as what I said!” Shentu Patriarch stared at Yi Yun as killing intent surged out. “Did all of you hear that? I mentioned it before that this person is arrogant and vicious. He has a mean personality, and he likes to stab people in the dark. Yet you choose not to believe my words. You even thought that he would obediently sign the soul contract and contribute to the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium? Now do you know how ridiculously wrong you were?”

Clearly, before Yi Yun’s arrival, there was an internal debate amongst the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium on how to deal with Yi Yun. People like Shentu Patriarch, naturally wanted to kill Yi Yun before he managed to fully mature. But a majority of the people still wanted to negotiate with Yi Yun. It was not because they did not dread Yi Yun, it was the exact opposite. It was because they dreaded Yi Yun too much. If they failed to kill him, they would be killed by Yi Yun in the future!

Hence, despite Yi Yun being in control of the Great Empress mystic realm and having the peerless inheritance from the ancient Great Empress that countless number of people coveted and dreaded, no one made a move on him while he was sitting there.

They were still on the sidelines, weighing the possibilities.

Yi Yun scanned his surroundings and he could sense that killing intent had arose in some of the legendary figures present. He sighed and said, “What tragedy. The remnants of Blood Moon have not been vanquished. In the near future, they will set off a bloody storm in the Tian Yuan world, and all you can think of now is to engage in internecine struggles. Prevention is better than cure, don’t you know that the true disaster comes from the original owners of Greatsword Mountain where you are currently sitting on?”

Yi Yun shook his head in his heart. He did not think that they were shortsighted, he thought that they had yet to recognise the terror that Blood Moon could bring about. As for the Desolate race’s description of Blood Moon’s past, these people did not believe one bit. Hence, they had highly underestimated Blood Moon.

And to people like Shentu Patriarch, Yi Yun’s rise in power was not much better than Blood Moon’s rise in power. In fact, it was worse.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Shentu Patriarch laughed. “What ignorance this boy has. To keep expounding on a disaster. Do you really think you are a clairvoyant, allowing you to see the future?”

“As for the remnants of Blood Moon… Hmph!”

As Shentu Patriarch spoke, he gave the Sanctuary couple a glance.

The black-robed man of the couple slowly stood up. Previously, when Yi Yun and the other legendary figures of the Tian Yuan world were jumping at each other’s throats, they remained on the sidelines. They did not comment or make any special expressions.

Now with the black-robed man standing up, his expression remained indifferent. He wiped across his interspatial ring and said in a calm voice, “While I was crossing the Untraversable Sea, I happened to come across this… ”

As he spoke, ten beams of white light flew out from the black-robed man’s interspatial ring.

The white beams suspended midair, and as the lights faded, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were able to see that they were ten white rectangular objects. The objects were wrapped up in chains. No one knew what material they were made off, but the objects looked like… coffins!

Ten coffins?

As the black-robed man waved his hand, the chains opened up automatically with rumbling noises. The coffins’ lids were also opened.

Inside the coffin were ten corpses!

These corpses were all dressed in black robes. And on the left breast of the black robes, there were embroidered blood moons.

Although these ten people were dead, they still exuded an alarming aura. This aura lingered around them, making their corpses appear to possess life.

The corpses of many peerless experts would remain seemingly immortal even ten thousand years later. And when their bodies eventually decayed, the bones left behind would be crystalline like jade. Some of them might not even decay even hundreds of millions of years later.

Very clearly, the ten corpses were experts when they were alive!

Especially the person in the middle. He had a large build and his black hair seemed like a torrential storm, filling the entire coffin. In the middle of his eyebrows, there was a flame-shaped scar that radiated outwards.

Upon seeing this person, Yi Yun was slightly alarmed. In his battle with Zhulong, Zhulong had absorbed the Blood of the Gods, resulting in a flame-shaped scar that radiated outwards appearing in the middle of his eyebrows. It felt like his forehead was corroded from the Blood of the Gods.

This person had also used the Blood of the Gods, meaning that he too was definitely a first generation Blood Moon.

And from his aura, it was far more powerful than Zhulong. It meant that he had reincarnated a long time ago. All these led Yi Yun to think of one person, Blood Moon’s executive controller!

“He’s dead?”

Yi Yun was alarmed. He never expected to see Blood Moon’s executive controller’s corpse here.

This corpse was clearly not fake. Such a powerful body was definitely a peerless expert’s. Trying to cheat him by killing an expert, whose strength was similar to Blood Moon’s executive controller, was too great a cost. And in the entire Tian Yuan world, there was probably no such person.

“I believe you have already recognized who he is. Indeed! He is the Blood Moon Alliance Leader. He is already dead. Not only is he dead, even his henchmen are all dead! Hence, you worrying about the remnants of Blood Moon causing a disaster is nothing but a joke!” Shentu Patriarch said in a mocking tone, “Yi Yun, I know what is on your mind. What you are thinking is just imagination. The Tian Yuan world has a threat lurking, the Blood Moon Alliance Leader, and no one here present might be his match in strength. So we need to rely on you, allowing you to mature to resist the Blood Moon Alliance Leader. Then you will have no fear!”

“Unfortunately… He is already dead. Your plan has been dismantled. Now, you are just a threat to us, not the savior of the world. Once you mature, you might even be worse than Blood Moon!”

674 - : Ten Corpses

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was surprised with the Blood Moon Alliance Leader’s death. He could not immediately figure out the oddity that pervaded the matter, but he was sure that this matter was not as simple as it seemed. And at this point, Yi Yun no longer had much time to think further. Shentu Patriarch was aggressive in forcing Yi Yun to sign the soul contract. With a wave of his hand, the soul contract was put in front of Yi Yun. It was a black desolate beast hide. There were complicated rune words carved on the beast hide, and there was a faint green flame swirling and burning around the desolate beast hide.

With just one glance at this desolate beast hide and the rune words carved on it, Yi Yun knew that this soul contract must have cost the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium a great price to produce.

The Tian Yuan Elder Consortium knew that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s future achievements were limitless. If the soul contract was not powerful enough, it could not restrain the two of them.

“What a good soul contract.” Yi Yun sneered.

This soul contract was jointly produced by top Tian Yuan world factions. By using a mystic technique, a complete primordial true spirit’s hide was refined and shrunk down. Various treasures produced the special ink to carve the runic words.

The entire process required the participation of various large family clan’s legendary figures. All of them were the cream of the crop and they were also the members of the Elder Consortium. One of them was Shentu Patriarch.

The entire Elder Consortium only had one expensive soul contract. It was prepared for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. The soul contracts signed by others were different. They could not afford to use such a valuable contract.

Yi Yun chuckled when he saw this soul contract. Back in the Heavenly Dao Union, Blood Moon had forced him to sign a soul contract. It was much less powerful than this soul contract. These people were really willing to sacrifice so much to produce it.

“And if I choose not to sign?”

Yi Yun’s voice turned cold. Lin Xintong, who was beside him, also silently held her sword.

The atmosphere immediately turned tense.

“This soul contract does not have any restrictions on your freedom. It is only to guarantee our safety. Why do you not want to sign it?”

An elder, whose face was covered in tattoos said with a hoarse voice. He came from the Totem Mystic Clan. This faction also did not have good relations with Yi Yun and the Lin family.

“What an interesting logic. So I must sign something that does not restrict my freedom? Do I live for you? Furthermore, signing a soul contract means binding a lock on my soul. A permanent soul contract especially is no trifling matter. So how can it be possible that it would not result in a shred of restraint on my soul?”

As Yi Yun stood up, Lin Xintong followed to stand alongside him. Typical warriors would be reluctant to sign a permanent soul contract. Having a permanent lock on their bodies, no matter how loose, would make them uncomfortable. Furthermore, it was unnecessary for Yi Yun to yield.

The soul contract prevented members from attacking one another. In the future, Shentu Patriarch would have no fear. Even if he did something that provoked or disgusted Yi Yun, Yi Yun would not be able to do anything with him. Yi Yun naturally would not accept such a condition.

“It looks like you don’t plan on signing it.” Li Fire Grandma shook her head, as if she was pitying Yi Yun. “Yi Yun, you enjoyed success at a young age, so it is inevitable that you will have some pride. However, you need to know that something is easily broken if it’s too rigid. I will not go into the pros and cons. You should know them yourself… ”

“You are right. I naturally know the pros and cons, which is why I’m not signing it. I personally hate signing soul contracts, especially permanent soul contracts. If not, there wouldn’t be the battle at the Soul Tomb!” Yi Yun ignored Li Fire Grandma’s soft threat that had hidden agendas. He then looked at the other Tian Yuan Elder Consortium members. “Do all of you have the same thoughts?”

A portion of Elders present had the intentions to befriend Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. However, this befriending was due to the dread that they felt towards Yi Yun. They naturally knew that being friendly would not result in Yi Yun helping them in the future. All they hoped was that Yi Yun would not attack them in the future.

If the soul contract was signed, it would be efficacious forever.

“Young Master Yi, your words are too harsh. I naturally stand on your side. However, signing the soul contract is a rule established by the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium. Although I have the intention to support you, I’m unable to prevent it.” A rotund old man said with a laugh.

This was a typical wishy-washy comment. He clearly did not want to offend both sides. All he wished was for people like Shentu Patriarch and Li Fire Grandma to fix Yi Yun.

“Young Master Yi, if you are unsatisfied with the conditions, it is still possible to… ” Someone added on.

Yi Yun sneered. He pulled the pure Yang broken sword out of his interspatial ring and nonchalantly sliced the negotiating table.

Cha!

Without using any strength, the stone table, made out of extreme frost black rock, was sliced into like tofu.

“My condition is very simple. I am not signing!”

When Yi Yun said those words, the atmosphere turned more solemn immediately.

Amongst the Tian Yuan world Elders, with the Sovereign of the Eventide as head, many people began to emit killing auras. They had clearly lost their patience.

The killing aura intensified and the entire venue was surging with energy like a tsunami. If a Dao Seed realm warrior was standing here, just being hit by the killing aura would cause his organs to rupture and kill him.

Shentu Patriarch narrowed his eyes as he looked at Yi Yun. He said solemnly, “Is that your answer? What a pity… for I’m afraid it’s not up to you!”

Shentu Patriarch was the first to stand up. His killing intent had locked onto Yi Yun. “Everyone says that Yi Yun has exceeded the martial realm of the Tian Yuan world, and he can easily leapfrog a full realm, or even a realm and a half. Some even say you would definitely become a peerless Great Emperor. Today, let me ascertain how true those rumors are!”

Shentu Patriarch’s words denigrated Yi Yun. He did not doubt if the rumors were exaggerated, but he only said what was most believable.

He was not looking down on Yi Yun, it was because he had absolute confidence in his strength.

Yi Yun did not care about Shentu Patriarch’s threats. “You old thing, who has lived for 70 or 80 thousand years, knows no shame by challenging me, a Yuan Opening realm junior. Your age is thousands of times mine. Your cultivation level is also one full realm higher than mine. To think you have the face to ask me how truthful those rumors are. I’m really impressed by your degree of shamelessness! I’m not sure how my strength compares to yours, but in terms of shamelessness, I’m really left in your dust!”

Yi Yun curses were extremely biting. He had rained down curses on Shentu Patriarch, but what he said were all facts!

Ignoring Shentu Patriarch, even many of the legendary figures sitting there felt ashamed for Shentu Patriarch. This battle was really disgraceful.

“Cut the nonsense. Since you are already so shameless, I’ll take you on to the end. Whoever who wants to fight, feel free to come!”

The moment he finished speaking, he turned around and with a leap, he flew out of the gigantic pagoda’s window. From the Greatsword Mountain peak that pierced the clouds, he followed the tall, hanging cliffs like a roc that had its wings fully spanned and he flew towards the distant sea of clouds.

675 - : Refusal

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Yi Yun flew out, Lin Xintong followed closely behind.

Below the cliffs of Greatsword Mountain, a mist lingered, making it seem like a immortal’s paradise. As the Yi Yun and Lin Xintong shuttled through the mist in the form of black and white figures, they appeared like an immortal couple.

As their figures disappeared, Shentu Patriarch’s expression turned grim.

“That little bastard thinks he is invincible!”

Shentu Patriarch gritted his teeth. After having been repeatedly rejected and mocked by Yi Yun, he was completely infuriated. He enjoyed being powerful all his life, so when had he ever suffered such indignity from a junior. Furthermore, Yi Yun’s attitude was one that completely dismissed him.

Such insolence made Shentu Patriarch wish to skin Yi Yun alive.

“Sou!”

Shentu Patriarch flew out of the gigantic pagoda, and the group of legendary figures followed behind him.

They flew midair hundreds of thousands of feet high. As they looked far into the distance, there were fields, lakes and rivers beneath them. It was extremely picturesque.

Yi Yun landed on a nameless mountain peak.

The mountain was lush with vegetation, and the strange stones that littered the ground were like beasts, while the ancient pines resembled dragons. There was a waterfall that came crashing down from the mountain peak. It was like a white band of water that fell thousands of feet, with a tumultuous sound of water rushing.

Yi Yun stood on this lush green mountain, waiting for Shentu Patriarch.

In less than 30 seconds, Shentu Patriarch landed on the mountain peak. As he scanned the scenery around him, he sneered. “This sure is a beautiful place. Are you choosing this as your burial ground?”

Yi Yun shook his head with a laugh. “I’m still young, so don’t you worry about me. As for you, you have lived for 70 or 80 thousand years. Your end is nearing, so it’s pertinent for you choose a nice spot for your eternal, peaceful rest.”

Yi Yun specially targeted people’s weaknesses in his cursing. Lifespan was one of the biggest pains that those old freaks like Shentu Patriarch had!

They indeed did not have much lifespan left.

“Courting death!”

Shentu Patriarch was incensed. His energy surged out, and before the Elder Consortium’s legendary figures arrived, he was already planning on attacking Yi Yun.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

The mountain peak beneath Shentu Patriarch began to tremble. A terrifying aura began to envelop the surroundings. The trees on the mountain were influenced by this energy, and they began to violently contort and twist.

The large trees began to grow. Massive tree roots seemed to drill outwards from the ground like pythons. The entire forest seemed to enter a frenzy state.

Shentu Patriarch clearly was proficient at wood-elemental laws. It was considered a relatively rare law.

And at that moment, the other legendary figures of the Elder Consortium had arrived. Realizing that the battle had already begun, they watched with anticipation. All of them were curious about Yi Yun’s strength.

“Yi Yun… ”

Beside Yi Yun, Lin Xintong transmitted her voice. He understood what was on her mind and said, “Just stand by a corner and watch. Just beware of those old guys suddenly sneaking up on me. I alone am enough to deal with Shentu Patriarch.”

If Yi Yun and Lin Xintong combined forces, their strength was not as simple as addition.

“Alright.”

Lin Xintong nodded. They both cultivated the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”. Furthermore, with her body being more suitable than Yi Yun for the cultivation of the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, Lin Xintong was not weaker than Yi Yun. However, over these years, Lin Xintong only quietly followed behind Yi Yun. She seldom stood forward to say anything. Everything had Yi Yun as the center of the situations in her life. She would only attack if there was a necessity. Her character was like this. She had a warm and soft appearance that resembled water, but once she decided on something, she would pursue it single-mindedly.

As the mountains trembled, numerous gigantic trees shot up into the sky. Even the thousand-foot waterfall was enveloped by the rapidly growing tree branches. In a moment, the entire mountain peak was sealed in a sea of gigantic trees.

And a divine tree phantom image appeared behind Shentu Patriarch.

This divine tree was rooted to the ground, and its crown reached into the heavens.

“Twang!”

Shentu Patriarch moved and with a cursory grab, he grabbed a long spear which appeared out of thin air. He then charged at Yi Yun.

He was extremely fast, like a divine tiger pouncing through the woods. As he stabbed with his spear, a trembling buzz formed while he pierced through the air!

And at that moment, Yi Yun was trapped in the gigantic tree enchantment. The gigantic tree’s branches sealed every direction, preventing Yi Yun from dodging.

With a flip of his hand, Yi Yun held the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow. With energy as arrows, a pure Yang divine arrow went whistling forward.

“Whew!”

The arrow ignited a sea of fire behind it. As the pure Yang flames burned, it was as if a Sun was crashing into the world. Large tracts of trees were lit up. These gigantic trees, which were as solid as divine metal, could not resist the pure Yang inferno!

“Boom!”

Shentu Patriarch’s spear clashed with Yi Yun’s arrow. In the intense collision, it caused the ground to tremble. Numerous gigantic trees were uprooted as a result, they splintered midair before being burnt to a crisp by the pure Yang flames!

Shentu Patriarch was alarmed. He was forced to take a step back. Although he did not suffer from this clash, he was using a spear, while Yi Yun shot an energy arrow.

A spear should have a large advantage against a flying projectile, yet, he failed to gain anything from that.

And at that moment, Yi Yun came charging with the pure Yang broken sword in hand, swiping it straight at Shentu Patriarch’s head.

The sword beam seemed to tear away at a withered stump, and it seemed to crash down like an enormous waterfall. Instantly, whatever area the sword beam flashed past, all the gigantic trees would splinter. Even the thousand-feet waterfall far into the distance was sliced by the sword beam, cutting the water flow!

The gigantic tree enchantment had been forcefully torn apart!

However, the sword beam did not lose any momentum and it was already in front of Shentu Patriarch’s eyes!

At that moment, Shentu Patriarch had expended a lot of effort just to withstand Yi Yun’s energy arrow. He felt horror when he saw the sword beam slash at him after the enchantment was broken!

He had not gone easy during this battle. He knew Yi Yun’s strength was extraordinary, but there was a gap in cultivation level. Furthermore, he believed that his insight into laws far exceeded Yi Yun, he wanted to bring Yi Yun to a standstill with one strike. He would then mortally wound Yi Yun with a speed that was like a sudden clap of thunder which left no time for one to cover one’s ears.

As long as he wounded Yi Yun, he would prove that Yi Yun’s strength was not much. He was far from having matured. This way, he could combine forces with the few members of the Elder Consortium that were hostile to Yi Yun. It would be much easier killing Yi Yun in that case.

However, he never expected that Yi Yun’s bow and sword were so powerful!

Now, with the sword beam about to reach him, Shentu Patriarch no longer had any other thoughts. With a bellow, he brought his spear in front of him, hoping to deflect the attack back to its source.

“Ka-cha!”

A frightening explosion echoed as the battle turned the world upside down. The mountain peak that was littered with gigantic trees was forcefully sliced off. As millions of pounds of rock flew up, they shattered midair, turning to powder!

As a violent wind blew, the pure Yang inferno spread, forming a gray mist that shrouded the sky!

And in this strong collision, Shentu Patriarch was sent flying backward. He crashed heavily into a shaved cliff dozens of meters tall.

“Boom!”

Like a meteorite hitting land, the shaved cliff collapsed. Gravel of all sizes caved down and rolled all over!

Crackle!

The falling rocks exploded almost at the same instant. With a spear in his hand, Shentu Patriarch stood amidst the rock ruins. His hair was disheveled, and his face was stained with blood. His clothes were tattered in many spots.

He was not seriously injured, but his appearance looked wretched!

676 - : Battling Shentu Patriarch

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shentu Patriarch and Yi Yun had clashed twice during their battle, but Shentu Patriarch was clearly overwhelmed by Yi Yun.

Shentu Patriarch emerged from the rubble and at that moment, he was filled with rage and shock. He knew that Yi Yun was not easy to deal with, but he had never expected Yi Yun’s strength to reach such a terrifying extent.

Shentu Patriarch had enjoyed the ability to have nature at his beck and call all his life. He had never been humiliated in public in such a way. With extreme anger, he shook the spear in his hand as the divine tree behind him melded into his spear. At that moment, Shentu Patriarch seemed to be fully integrated with the land beneath him. He was like a tree that was rooted into the land.

The entire mountain with its entire forest as well as all the flora in the surrounding region that spanned a five hundred kilometers seemed to establish an invisible connection with Shentu Patriarch.

These plants absorbed Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, and through the seismic network, they constantly provided energy which gathered in Shentu Patriarch’s body!

As an old freak that had lived for tens of thousands of years, Shentu Patriarch had some unique secret skills.

“It’s the ‘Creation Sutra’ that Old man Shentu cultivates. It links the energy of all that is created and absorbs the Yuan Qi from them to augment himself. If it wasn’t for him being at Death’s doorstep, Old man Shentu would not use this move!”

Some of the legendary figures present knew Shentu Patriarch a long time ago, and they had seen Shentu Patriarch’s best skills.

“With the use of ‘Creation Sutra’, it might allow him to take back some of the advantage that he lost.”

Shentu Patriarch, who was currently on the battleground, was in a wretched state. This battle’s outcome was not something that many had anticipated.

The people present all knew Shentu Patriarch’s strength. Amongst the Heaven Ascension realm experts, Shentu Patriarch was definitely considered one of the stronger ones. However, his tree enchantment had failed to leave any impact on Yi Yun. Instead, his spear attack had been easily overcome by Yi Yun.

This reflected the fact that amongst the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium members, more than 70% of them were not Yi Yun’s match.

They did not like such a conclusion. Even though they did not wish to enter a conflict with Yi Yun, they also wished that Shentu Patriarch would defeat Yi Yun, or at least, he should not lose too badly.

If not, it would imply that they could do nothing to Yi Yun at this point in time. If Yi Yun was given some more time in the future, then no one would know how much his strength would grow!

As the energy grew more intense, immense amounts of Yuan Qi flowed through the seismic network and condensed into a gigantic hand in front of Shentu Patriarch.

The gigantic hand grabbed at Yi Yun. This hand had a vast and majestic aura, as if it was an embodiment of Heavenly Dao.

Against Shentu Patriarch’s ‘Creation Sutra’ strike, Yi Yun hovered a hundred meters in the air. With the broken sword in hand, he gently reversed his blade.

To Yi Yun, a battle with Shentu Patriarch was a process in which he could test his own strength.

After breaking through to the Yuan Opening realm, Yi Yun wanted to know how strong he had become!

“Ka-cha!”

Like a mighty explosion that thundered from heaven, the moment that the pure Yang broken sword was brandished, it swept up the worldly pure Yang energy. It resulted in whirlwinds sweeping through colorful immense clouds that were lit up by lightning.

The “Great Empress Heart Sutra” cultivation technique surged in Yi Yun’s body. Yi Yun seemed like a sun hanging in the sky. And with that, Yi Yun slashed his sword at Shentu Patriarch.

The sword came slaying down, ripping through the fabric of space, as if it became the only thing in the world. As the heavens began to shatter, a sword beam seemed to break through the confines of space and time, coming from an ancient era.

Everyone stared with widened eyes. Seeing the reverberations in the sky, this was definitely a top matchup in the entire Tian Yuan world.

Shentu Patriarch, who was using his specialty attack, versus Yi Yun, who was bound to become a peerless Great Emperor.

This strike was sufficient enough to decide the victor, and it could also tell the difference in their strength!

The surrounding crowd, including Heaven Ascension realm warriors, began to retreat in the face of such a collision. They also conjured their protective energies to withstand the shock wave. After all, an energy impact of such a degree would definitely result in a terrifying explosion.

However… when the sword beam clashed with the gigantic Heavenly Dao Hand, the explosion they were expecting did not happen. The stunning sword beam ripped through Shentu Patriarch’s gigantic hand without stopping!

Chi La!

The gigantic hand that emitted a vast, ancient aura had been split into two from top to bottom!

What!?

Everyone stared widely. The energy explosion that they thought would resemble the collision of stars did not happen. Instead, Shentu Patriarch’s “Creation Sutra” had been wrecked.

Yuan Qi surged wantonly as pure Yang flames burned, engulfing the heavens and earth!

The white clouds in a five hundred kilometer radius dispersed, while the gigantic Heavenly Dao Hand perished in the inferno sea.

The sword beam did not lose momentum after tearing through the gigantic Heavenly Dao Hand as it went straight for Shentu Patriarch’s head!

Shentu Patriarch’s pupils constricted. He wanted to dodge this earth-shattering strike, but at that very instant, he felt his surroundings being pulled taut by an immense and terrifying energy. It was like a cage locking him in!

There was no way for him to dodge!

Shentu Patriarch bellowed and he put his spear in front of him to ward off Yi Yun’s strike. As to how much he could ward off, or whether he would be killed immediately, it was all an unknown!

Under such a situation, Yi Yun naturally did not go easy. Even though he needed allies to face Blood Moon together, against a person like Shentu Patriarch, he naturally would want to directly kill him if given the opportunity, to guard against future trouble!

“What insolence!”

At that moment, a roar echoed. From the legendary figures watching nearby, a tall black figure flew out. He held a large seal and threw it at Yi Yun’s sword beam!

This black figure was the Sovereign of the Eventide!

As the strongest person in the Tian Yuan world, he needed to protect Shentu Patriarch. If the older generation was all killed by Yi Yun, it would cause chaos!

The seal was like a black mountain. As it disintegrated and suppressed the void, it slammed heavily onto Yi Yun’s sword beam!

Be it a seal or spear, they were considered to be heavy weapons, and against a sword, they had an advantage.

However, when the seal slammed into the sword beam, the expected explosion of the sword beam did not happen. Instead, in the intense collision, the seal trembled as if it had hit an invisible spatial barrier. Furthermore, the sword beam accelerated downwards!

“Ka-cha!”

The sword had ripped open the land. The mountain peak that Yi Yun was standing on had now been split into two!

A sword scar ran right from the mountain peak down its mountain sides, causing about a dozen gigantic ravines to open up. As for the sword scar, it extended all the way down, entering deep into the ground, opening up what could be hundreds of thousands of feet.

As for Shentu Patriarch, he stood not far from the sword scar ravine. His clothes were torn and his hair disheveled. His face had an unusual paleness to it.

He had been defeated, thoroughly defeated.

He knew that he had just visited Death’s door. If it wasn’t for the Sovereign of the Eventide’s strike that shifted the sword beam at the very last moment, diminishing a portion of the impact, would he have died after being struck by the sword?

It was unpredictable!

Shentu Patriarch subconsciously tightened his grip on his spear, as he felt his palm turn cold.

The taste of near-death was something that he had never experienced in a very long time. He had almost forgotten what it felt like.

And today, he had experienced it once again from Yi Yun, a junior who had cultivated for less than thirty years!

677 - : The Taste of Near-Death

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing how his attack had failed to have any outcome, Yi Yun frowned slightly. He indeed had the intent to kill, and if possible, he wanted to finish the old fool with that attack.

However, the Sovereign of the Eventide had stepped in, deflecting Yi Yun’s sword.

With Sovereign of the Eventide in the way, killing Shentu Patriarch was difficult.

Although Yi Yun did not fear the Sovereign of the Eventide, if he were to attack him, it would be equivalent to making all the legendary figures in the Tian Yuan world his enemy. Those people would definitely not sit idle as Yi Yun killed each member of the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium one by one.

Yi Yun also did not wish for Lin Xintong and himself to engage in a life and death battle with so many people.

“Yi Yun, you sure are extraordinary!”

Sovereign of the Eventide looked at Yi Yun as his eyes sparkled. When his seal smashed into Yi Yun’s sword beam, it made him astonished at Yi Yun’s strength despite the short moment of contact.

A weapon like a seal’s offensive methods was either “suppressing” or “smashing”. It should have been easy for Sovereign of the Eventide to smash through a sword beam.

However, Yi Yun’s sword beam seemed to thrive endlessly. It seemed like it had an immortal strength to it, making Sovereign of the Eventide think he had hit a divine mountain in his previous strike.

Sovereign of the Eventide knew that for a sword beam to not shatter from such a smash, it was due to the Sword Intent augmenting the sword beam.

The Sword Intent was too powerful, causing the sword beam to condense without dissipating.

For Yi Yun to have such strength and swordplay made him apprehensive.

Although Sovereign of the Eventide did not think that he was inferior to Yi Yun, he still lacked the absolute confidence that he could keep Yi Yun behind.

Defeating an opponent and keeping an opponent behind were two completely different things. Furthermore, there was Lin Xintong not far away.

Just thinking of him having to face the combined forces of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong gave Sovereign of the Eventide a headache. He was even somewhat afraid to face such a situation. The two of them were a Dao couple, so how could a couple like that not have any combined attack skills?

As such, getting the group of them to force Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to sign a soul contract was already out of the question.

Other than Sovereign of the Eventide, the others also become cognizant of this point.

With Yi Yun not signing a soul contract, it was like a recumbent tiger by their sides, making them uneasy.

Now, it was already unrealistic to shackle the tiger. The only method they had left was to fawn over the tiger, serving it meat, so that it would not attack them.

Instantly, many people changed their minds. Those legendary figures, who had the intention to befriend Yi Yun, rushed forward at that moment to congratulate him.

They flew into the air and surrounded Yi Yun.

“Young Master Yi is truly impressive! To battle the Heaven Ascension realm at the Yuan Opening realm, that is crossing a full realm. In the future, when Young Master Yi achieves Heaven Ascension, who knows what strength will be like!” A middle-aged looking man said with a smile.

“News of today’s battle will quickly proliferate throughout the Tian Yuan world.” Beside the middle-aged looking man, an old man echoed.

“I wonder when Young Master Yi will have the time. I, Xue Yushan, have always had the intentions to visit the Lin family. If Young Master Yi is free, I will get my disciples to prepare some small gifts.”

A group of people gave their compliments. Of course, it was unknown how many of them had genuine feelings.

Yi Yun did not take those compliments at heart. He knew very clearly that without the great power he possessed today, these group of people would have gnawed at him, leaving not a single bone left. The Great Empress heritage would be robbed from his corpse. These old fools could even begin fighting each other just for the Great Empress heritage.

Yi Yun did not care much for their sweet words that had swords hidden in them. He gave a few perfunctory responses and instead, the more fawning a person was, the more he was wary of that person. This sort of person was most likely to strike a man when he was done.

After the short exchange, Yi Yun suddenly turned his head and looked at the Sanctuary couple not far away.

From the moment Yi Yun came to the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium, the couple had not indicated their stand. They were not overly passionate towards Yi Yun, nor did they appear hostile.

Yi Yun had good feelings towards the couple.

He cupped his hands at the Sanctuary couple’s male. “Island Lord, I have a few questions, and am hoping that Your Excellency would answer.”

“Oh?” The Sanctuary Island Lord was slightly surprised. He smiled and said, “Little Brother Yi, go ahead and speak.”

“It’s this, I would like to ask about the location where Your Excellency found the ten Blood Moon corpses?”

The Island Lord naturally had the greatest authority regarding the ten Blood Moon corpses.

He said, “The Sanctuary Island I reside in is deep in the Untraversable Sea. One day, I sensed a heaven-earth energy fluctuation far off. It even resulted in strange worldly phenomena, as if some law was being shattered. I thought a treasure had appeared, so I went searching together with my wife. What we found was a major scene of destruction.”

“The red color in the entire Untraversable Sea in a radius of five thousand kilometers had disappeared, turning a deep blue. There were remnants of energy flow and laws in the air. This was likely due to a large explosion prior.”

“If I am not wrong, there was likely some form of a formation array set up there previously. Unfortunately, the formation array failed for some reason and it directly collapsed, causing the change in the heaven and earth laws.”

“I searched the vicinity for traces of the explosion and I discovered the ten Blood Moon corpses. Some of the corpses were no longer whole. I originally suspected that these people had set up a formation array to reincarnate en masse, but I could sense the traces of soul fragments from the corpses, so it apparently didn’t resemble reincarnation.”

“I was not sure if all of them could not reincarnate, but I was sure that a large number of them were truly dead. I believe this has lowered the threat of Blood Moon to its minimum.”

“A formation array’s explosion?”

Yi Yun frowned slightly. He found it hard to believe this explanation.

It was not only Yi Yun. The other Tian Yuan world’s Elders also felt that something was amiss in the situation. However, the facts were before them, and indeed, there were ten dead Reincarnators. It was impossible to say that they had faked their deaths as the corpses were in the Sanctuary couple’s hands. The Tian Yuan Elder Consortium had even constructed ten soul-sealing coffins to seal the corpses in them. They believed that it was impossible for the Reincarnators to be resurrected under such a situation.

Furthermore, they knew that in the Soul Tomb’s Blackstone Trials, the core of Blood Moon, the strongest Yin specter army had been completely destroyed. This was undoubtedly a major blow to Blackstone Trials.

With a spate of setbacks, it was hard to imagine that the remnants of Blood Moon could stage a comeback.

“Why? Does Little Brother Yi think there’s a problem?” The white-dressed female of the Sanctuary couple asked. She was an extremely beautiful young woman, and her voice had a cheery tone. It was an extremely pleasing voice.

“Blood Moon is not that easily destroyed… ” Yi Yun said with certainty.

“Oh? What is the reason?”

“I don’t know, it’s just a feeling…”

Yi Yun knew the history of the Blood Moon more than anyone present. He also understood the horrifying effects of that ancient great war more than them. He indeed lacked the evidence, and everything was just his hunch.

678 - : The Awe of Strength

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Feeling?” When the man from Sanctuary heard Yi Yun say that, he smiled. Something just from feeling alone did not sound reliable, but to warriors, feelings were not something that they should brush away.

Many warriors had fated luck augmenting them. Sometimes, due to the fated luck, they would enjoy a blessing of the mind, allowing them to make the best choice at critical moments.

“There is reason for Little Brother Yi to be worried, but we do have our precautions as well. These ten corpses have already been sealed in soul-sealing coffins by me. I have set up various arrays and I used a Realm Stone to suppress them. So even if they have extraordinary abilities, it is impossible for them to be revived. And in a few days, if my research comes to naught, I will destroy the corpses so as to prevent any future trouble.” After he collected the ten corpses, he too found the matter amiss. He wanted to figure out how the ten Blood Moon members died through their corpses.

After Yi Yun heard his words, he slightly faltered and said, “The matter is not so simple. That will be all that I shall say. Everyone, please be careful and all the best.”

Yi Yun also knew that it was pointless saying anything else in this situation. He bade them farewell immediately.

Hand in hand, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong left as their figures flashed away nearly instantly in the azure sky.

After watching Yi Yun and Lin Xintong leave, Sovereign of the Eventide’s eyes flashed. At that moment, he was not considering the threat of Blood Moon, but the threat that came from Yi Yun.

Blood Moon looked like it had suffered a serious setback and it might have already been completely destroyed. However, the threat from Yi Yun was very real. In less than ten years, he would have the ability to dominate the entire Tian Yuan world.

All of their lives would then be held in Yi Yun’s hands.

At that moment, Shentu Patriarch, who was stained with blood, flew into the crowd. When Yi Yun was around, he was too humiliated to show his face. Now that Yi Yun had left, he could no longer suppress his feelings.

“You can laugh all you want about the insult that I experienced today, but I want to give a word of caution. Yi Yun’s rise is already unstoppable. Those who have old grudges with him, don’t think optimistically. Everyone has already seen it, when I was battling him, his final strike was clearly trying to take my life. If it wasn’t for Sovereign of the Eventide saving me, I would have lost my life. This is my advice!” Shentu Patriarch said hatefully.

When everyone heard it, they did not speak a word. All of them had indeed felt the killing intent in Yi Yun’s final attack. It was a strike that did not hold back.

Shentu Patriarch’s gaze scanned them as he said solemnly, “Everyone, don’t think that he just has the intent to kill me, and has no intentions towards you. Many amongst you had offended the Lin family and Yi Yun back then. To seek revenge on that useless grandson of mine, Shentu Nantian, he hid his identity in front of Nantian and he did not expose any of his hatred. From this, you can tell what sort of personality he has. After that, with strength so much inferior to Nantian, he tortured Nantian terribly step by step. The Lin family throwing Nantian into the dungeons was also his work. Finally, in the Great Empress mystic realm, he finally killed Nantian! How can you not be afraid of such a person? He might not be doing anything to you now, but in the future… Hehe, that will be hard to tell.”

Shentu Patriarch knew that he had thoroughly offended Yi Yun. If he tried empathizing, he too would want to uproot any potential trouble and kill himself if he was Yi Yun.

That was human nature!

Those who did not have many grudges with Yi Yun, were still hoping to engage in self-preservation or even befriend Yi Yun. Shentu Patriarch would not sit idle as he waited for Yi Yun to murder him.

Upon hearing Shentu Patriarch’s words, many people revealed a look of dread. All of them had an idea of what Yi Yun did to Shentu Nantian. It was indeed quite scary.

Back when Shentu Nantian wanted to put Yi Yun to death in the Chu Prefecture City, Yi Yun was like an ant-like figure to Shentu Nantian. Who knew that in a few years, Shentu Nantian would end up dying under the hands of Yi Yun.

Towards such a Yi Yun, trying to curry favor with him could not put them at ease. The best method was of course to kill him. However, Yi Yun was too powerful. Shentu Patriarch nearly died under his hands, and Sovereign of the Eventide also failed to befriend him.

They wanted to kill Yi Yun, and probably by only setting up a formation array beforehand, and gathering the forces of many Elders would they be able to stop Yi Yun from escaping. But even so, it might succeed. And if their assault on Yi Yun failed, the outcome would be unthinkable.

How could Shentu Patriarch not know what was on their minds? He sneered and said, “All of you are trying to play it safe. When you get hunted one by one, it will be too late to regret!”

After finishing, Shentu Patriarch flicked his sleeves and left. He did not plan on leaving Greatsword Mountain so as to prevent Yi Yun from attacking him. He wanted to enter reclusion to heal his wounds. Regardless of how overbearing Yi Yun was, he would not attack Greatsword Mountain, or it would mean that he was truly challenging the entire Tian Yuan Elder Consortium.

As for those Elders, he did not believe that they would play it safe all the way. Yi Yun was constantly growing and the threat to them was getting bigger. They would eventually break.

After a few Elders heard Shentu Patriarch’s words, they exchanged glances and said, “Let’s gather again in a few days.”

They needed time to consider. Yi Yun’s threat was great, but to lose decorum with Yi Yun was too risky. If Yi Yun began to seek revenge on those family clans, it would not be too late for them to make a decision then.

And those family clans who could receive retaliation, such as the Totem Mystic Race, they really could not sit still.

“Shentu Patriarch is right. We have to get rid of Yi Yun as soon as possible. He refused to sign the soul contract this time, revealing his ambition.” The family clans that were worried about being retaliated upon had decided on privately convincing the family clans that had cordial relationships with them. They might as well ally with other Elders rather than sit idly waiting for death. There was a possibility of successfully killing Yi Yun, and if they waited till Yi Yun was completely invincible, they would only be sheep for the slaughter.

On Greatsword Mountain, the family clan’s Elders left one by one, with various thoughts on their minds.

And five thousand kilometers away.

“Yi Yun, what do you think Blood Moon is trying to do?” Lin Xintong asked.

“I don’t know.” Yi Yun shook his head. He too was puzzled.

Lin Xintong said, “Regardless of what Blood Moon wants to do, we need to upgrade our strength as fast as possible. Other than Blood Moon, we need to watch out for those family clans. These people are most volatile. Even if your strength has temporarily awed them, it would actually mean that you are a great threat to them. They will probably not feel at ease if they do not get rid of us.”

“These people won’t be able to stir up a storm.” Yi Yun said nonchalantly. He did not think anything of people like Shentu Patriarch. They might have some combative power if they combined forces, but Yi Yun would not give them the opportunity to combine forces to kill him.

And those people were all scheming people, so how could they truly cooperate fully?

“Yi Yun, let’s return to the God Advent Tower and carry on cultivating.” Lin Xintong said with a smile. She was holding hands with Yi Yun, and a warmth came from Yi Yun’s palm.

The two of them flew towards the Untraversable Sea hand in hand.

679 - : Threat

CKtalon  CKtalon

In a blink of an eye, a few months had passed since the gathering at Greatsword Mountain.

And during this period, the news of Yi Yun rejecting an Elder spot at Greatsword Mountain, refusing to sign a soul contract, and defeating Shentu Patriarch had proliferated throughout the Tian Yuan world.

The warriors who learned of this news still remembered the warrant from back then. Once upon a time, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had been identified as human race traitors, accused by all, and hated by everyone.

Many young warriors had fantasized of finding traces of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to provide to the Martial Alliance to gain merit.

Unexpectedly, in a blink of an eye, the Martial Alliance became the conspirator lurking in the Tian Yuan world, and Yi Yun had become the hero who destroyed Blood Moon’s plans. He had even battled Shentu Patriarch without losing. Such a battle outcome was amazing!

Towards a matter that sounded like an ancient legend, many young geniuses were completely envious about it, some even felt excited about it.

Martial arts practitioners pursued a pleasurable life just like what Yi Yun was experiencing.

In the Tian Yuan world, numerous youths began to set Yi Yun as their goal. Even though the seniors of various large factions purposely played down the matter, averting the promotion of Yi Yun. Slowly, Yi Yun became an idol in the hearts of the Tian Yuan world’s younger generation. He was the embodiment of absolute power.

Who didn’t want to be like Yi Yun, having great accomplishments at a young age?!

Of course, in such a situation, the most ashamed entity was the Shentu family clan.

On Greatsword Mountain, Shentu Patriarch could even hear people discuss Yi Yun, and the content sounded extremely harsh on his ears.

“I can’t wait any further. If I wait any longer, I will truly have no chance to survive. Yi Yun will definitely kill me!”

Shentu Patriarch knew that Yi Yun was not some benevolent saint very clearly. He was firm and resolute in his killing. How could he endure a potential threat?

In a warrior’s life, no one could guarantee that their lives would be smooth-sailing. They had to constantly maintain their peak conditions.

For example, Yi Yun may be strong, but he would still experience injuries or feel weak after breaking out of reclusive training. Yi Yun would not allow a venomous snake to lurk around him as it could bite at him at any time. The smart choice was to completely eradicate potential threats.

As time passed, slowly, Shentu Patriarch constantly contacted Elders of other factions to come to Greatsword Mountain. He then began to discuss with these people in Greatsword Mountain’s large formation array.

Shentu family clan sent many confidants to the family clans that had old grudges with Yi Yun. They constantly roped in allies and looked for help.

They already planned on setting up a large formation array at Greatsword Mountain, to lure Yi Yun into a trap.

On this matter, Sovereign of the Eventide also took an attitude of silent acquiescence. He had even secretly provided help and benefits for this array.

To Sovereign of the Eventide, Shentu Patriarch and company were like a knife in his hand. If they failed, it did not matter if his knife broke. He would not be involved.

Soon, Shentu Patriarch managed to gather ten Heaven Ascension realm legendary figures. Their factions all had offended Yi Yun before. Even these people had their concerns, and they could not force themselves to risk their lives to fight Yi Yun.

The root of the problem was because of the success rate. They really did not have much chance of success.

The ten legendary figures gathered at Greatsword Mountain. This was temporarily the safest place, at least they did not need to worry about being assassinated by Yi Yun.

As things dragged on, a few months passed. Shentu Patriarch knew deeply that with each passing month, Yi Yun’s strength would constantly grow.

He was a bit worried, but it seemed like Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had disappeared once again. They were not in the Lin family, and their whereabouts were unknown.

As time dragged on, the more they lacked in confidence.

These days, Shentu Patriarch felt like he was sitting on pins and needles. He felt like being in Greatsword Mountain was like being imprisoned. If he could not kill Yi Yun, he could only wait to face the gallows.

Sooner or later, Yi Yun would have the adequate strength that could defy all the rules. When that happened, he would personally attack Greatsword Mountain and take his life.

And this period of time would definitely not exceed a decade. It was very hard to accept, knowing when his death was coming.

As he was tortured by his upcoming death, Shentu Patriarch even thought of taking the initiative to attack the Lin family so as to provoke Yi Yun, forcing him to attack Greatsword Mountain.

However, even if Shentu Patriarch felt that such a crazy idea was doable, the others did not have the courage. It really had the feeling of moths charging into the fire.

On this day, Shentu Patriarch was in a cultivation chamber trying to mull over profound techniques. He knew that in a head on fight with Yi Yun, the chances of winning were slim. He could only use a mystic technique that overdraft his body’s potential to bridge the difference in strength.

The ancient heritage left behind by Blood Moon had no lack of such mystic techniques. Usually they were skills that damaged the enemy and dealt almost the same damage to oneself. However, these were like timely gifts for Shentu Patriarch.

Just as Shentu Patriarch was entering reclusion to mull over the profound techniques, he suddenly felt his eyelids twitch. Following that, he had an inexplicable sense of anxiety.

When the eyelids of mortals twitched,it was due to a physical reflex, but to warriors, it was not the same.

When their eyelids twitched, either it was when luck came or the premonition of danger.

“What’s the matter?” Shentu Patriarch’s heart skipped a beat as he immediately stood up and quickly exited the cultivation chamber.

At that moment, on Greatsword Mountain, there were a few of Shentu Patriarch’s allies. The other Tian Yuan Elder Consortium members had mostly returned to their own factions.

The few people still on Greatsword Mountain sensed something amiss and they gathered in the square in front of the Elder Consortium’s gigantic pagoda.

On the square, they felt a surge of strong wind as the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi turned turbulent. This scene made them worry. What was happening?

The wind on the peak of Greatsword Mountain was definitely not naturally formed, it was conjured by energy. It blew at their faces like knives, giving them no choice but to conjure their protective Yuan Qi.

A faint killing intent emanated through the air as Shentu Patriarch’s expression turned increasingly solemn.

He had a strong sense of unease!

Yi Yun? Was he here to kill him!?

Shentu Patriarch found it hard to believe. It was unlikely that Yi Yun would be this arrogant. Although he was strong, he had not fully matured. If he were to attack Greatsword Mountain, it was publicly attacking the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium’s members. It was equivalent to being an enemy of the entire Tian Yuan world!

It was unlikely that Yi Yun had the power to dominate the Tian Yuan world, and if he angered all the large factions, they could combine forces and kill him at all costs. Then, there would probably be no place for him in the Tian Yuan world.

“Who is it!?”

Shentu Patriarch held his spear in hand and began to form a battle formation with the other Elders.

At that moment, it was already dusk. The sun in the western sky emitted a faint golden glow, illuminating Shentu Patriarch’s face. Even his spear was basking in this layer of golden light.

Very suddenly, Shentu Patriarch saw a blood-red color appear in the horizon. He was certain that it was not a cloud dyed crimson by the setting sun.

The blood-red color slowly spread out and emanated towards Greatsword Mountain constantly. It seemed to increase in density and it was shocking to the senses.

From the blood-red color, Shentu Patriarch could sense an intense murderous intent from it. It was as like a sea of blood that had slaughtered millions of lives!

Drops of sweat begin to fall from Shentu Patriarch’s forehead. It did not seem like Yi Yun, then who or what was it?

“Inform Sovereign of the Eventide!”

Shentu Patriarch turned more and more anxious. He had never felt such a feeling before. Beside him, a few legendary figures already felt that this matter was of great importance. They took out their voice transmission jade slips, but at that moment, Shentu Patriarch suddenly leaped up like a cat that had its tail stepped on. He turned back!

At that very instant, he had sensed a terrifying killing intent behind him, as if a primordial behemoth had appeared behind him!

The other legendary figures also followed Shentu Patriarch in turning back, and then they suddenly froze. This was because the terrifying aura and fear pervading their bodies made it hard for them to move.

They saw, on the tip of the gigantic pagoda they just came out from, a monster dressed in black armor standing there. It was unknown if he was man or ghost. He wore a tattered cape behind him that fluttered with the wind. His arms were as long as a human’s body, reaching down to the top of the pagoda.

This monster had only one bloodshot eye. As the single eye stared at them, it made their hearts nearly stop!

They could sense a tremendous aura coming from this monster. It was not due to awe or from his forceful stance. It was like a hare facing a eagle in the sky. It was a level of suppression that came from the difference in life’s natural order!

This suppression made their blood and energy almost impossible to flow.

What sort of thing… is he!?

680 - : The Demon God in the Sunset

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shentu Patriarch and the other legendary figures had not experienced such a feeling in a long time. Even when they first came into contact with martial arts, the feeling of facing a desolate beast hundreds of times more powerful than them paled in comparison to what they were feeling now.

The black armored monster stared at them in silence. No feelings could be seen from his only eye, only indifference. The way he looked at them was as if he was looking at a bunch of ants.

As the strong winds howled, his black hair fluttered behind his head. The blood-red color in the distance seemed to sweep over like the tides, meeting the monster’s body. On the peak of Greatsword Mountain, it formed a gigantic vortex.

Shentu Patriarch and company seemed to see destruction caused from the eyes of the monster. It was a bloody crimson color, a hundred times more intense than the blood cloud.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

As intense as violent drum beats, their heart beats echoed in Shentu Patriarch and company’s ears. It was as if their hearts were about to leap out from their throats.

“Who the hell are you… ?”

Shentu Patriarch’s voice trembled as he slowly crushed the voice transmission jade slip, and at that moment, his pupils suddenly constricted!

The monster had disappeared from the tip of the pagoda!

The empty pagoda tip made everyone feel their scalps tingle!

These legendary figures immediately conjured their protective Yuan Qi!

With the fluctuation of Yuan Qi, the flashes of their protective Yuan Qi lit up… Pu!

A red beam appeared, and a long, spear-like hand suddenly appeared through a legendary figure’s chest. This Heaven Ascension realm Elder’s mouth opened slightly as he stared widely. He slowly lowered his head in disbelief, looking at his chest.

On the end of the hand were dark claws, finger tips stained with blood and flesh, dripping incessantly to the ground. His protective Yuan Qi had torn away like paper, not putting up a single bit of resistance.

Bam!

As the hand was retracted, blood sprayed through the air.

This legendary figure was thrown outwards like a gunny sack, falling to the ground, fate unknown.

The other legendary figures looked at the monster with their faces pale. With the monster standing in front of them, it was more than ten feet taller than them.

His exterior appearance was that of a human, but it felt like there was completely no humanity in him.

His strike did not result in any Yuan Qi fluctuation. It was a simple attack, primal in nature, yet, it had killed a legendary figure so simply.

This monster slowly walked over to another legendary figure, who hands turned clammy. He felt like the air and space itself were being compressed, making him unable to move.

“Help me!” He shouted as his Yuan Qi exploded, sword serving as a conduit while energy gathered on his sword tip.

A tremendously powerful strike seemed to instantly turn daylight into night. And in the darkness, this life-yearning strike slashed at the monster like Armageddon-causing meteorites crashing downwards.

The monster did not dodge and it watched as the sword stabbed at his chest.

Boom!

When the sword beam struck the monster’s body, his tall figure was instantly enveloped by the sword beam.

But at that moment, a hand stained with warm blood reached out of the sword beam, grabbing hold of the legendary figure’s neck.

Dang! The legendary figure’s sword fell to the ground as his legs were lifted off from the ground, legs constantly kicking in a struggle.

Shentu Patriarch and company watched in horror at this scene as the legendary figure appeared as powerless as a baby in front of the monster. Finally, with a simple clench of the monster’s five fingers, the sound of spine-tingling cracks were heard.

Puah!

Blood sprayed out of the legendary figure’s mouth, and in the mist of blood, his head slumped down in an odd, disjointed manner, body convulsing.

His neck had been forcefully twisted off!

The monster turned back indifferently to look at the rest.

“We will fight it out with you!”

Shentu Patriarch bellowed. There was no room for escape in front of the monster, the only thing they could do was give their all!

Various energy beams shot out. Even the incomplete array, which was meant for Yi Yun, was activated by Shentu Patriarch.

Despite such an earth-shattering offensive, there was not a single trace of Yuan Qi fluctuation coming from the monster. His methods of killing were like squishing ants to death, extremely simple and direct.

Legends fell one after another. In their eyes, one could see terror, disgruntlement and despair.

They had been cultivating in martial arts for tens of thousands of years, standing at the peak of the Tian Yuan world, their every move affecting billions of lives. They were existences all warriors coveted.

Yet in front of such a monster, they felt like they were ordinary warriors facing themselves.

The difference was too great!

Despite giving their all in their offense, it was to no avail. The monster’s expression did not change one bit.

Pa!

A broken spear fell to the ground. It had been split apart by the monster, and beside the spear was a crushed voice transmission jade slip…

Shentu Patriarch opened his mouth wide, grabbing his torn apart chest while staring deadly at the monster.

The monster was in heavy armor, with a tattered cape behind him. His muscles were taut and hard like divine metal. He had one red eye, while in his other eye socket, it looked like a stone, as if he was blind. His facial features were hidden in the shadows of his helmet. It was all a blur, preventing anyone from seeing clearly.

At that moment, a shadow appeared over Shentu Patriarch’s head. A large black foot came crashing down, and like a piece of straw, Shentu Patriarch was trampled by this foot, his sternum shattering!

Kacha! The entire square began to crack apart with his single stomp, cracks spreading out like numerous cobwebs.

Shentu Patriarch stared widely at the sky. His eyes lost focus as he could no longer breathe. A pool of blood slowly gathered beneath that barefooted foot…

…

The rumbling of Greatsword Mountain and the turbulent Yuan Qi that resulted from the intense battle on the mountain peak alarmed many major factions’ disciples stationed at Greatsword Mountain.

They usually did not scale Greatsword Mountain’s peak, but now, even the defensive arrays around Greatsword Mountain’s pagoda had been shattered by the monster’s single stomp.

These disciples still were unaware of what had happened as they rushed over, looking at the peak.

Many elite disciples were gathered at Greatsword Mountain, especially the Shentu family clan, Li Fire Sect, etc. As they were afraid of Yi Yun’s retaliation, many of the family’s geniuses took up residence at Greatsword Mountain.

People looked up at the tall pagoda, and watched the blood cloud that hung over their heads.

They saw a figure beneath the cloud. He was like a savage dressed in heavy armor, with tattered clothes underneath.

The savage was looking down, as if he was stepping on something.

And when they managed to discern the “thing” that he was stepping on, the young elites present, especially the Shentu family clan’s disciples felt a jolt through their bodies!

That person’s face was covered in blood. His facial features were completely twisted, while his body convulsed. Yet, they managed to recognize that it belonged to Shentu Patriarch!

A Patriarch, one of the strongest figures in the Tian Yuan world had been trampled to death by a savage?

A cold feeling rose up from their feet. At at that moment, the savage slowly looked up. A heartless single eye looked at this bunch of youths…

At that instant, everyone felt like their lives no longer belonged to them!

681 - : Greatsword Mountain Dyed Red

CKtalon  CKtalon

The sky above Greatsword Mountain was enveloped in a blood red color for a full day and night. It only began to gradually disperse only the next dusk.

At that moment, a few figures flew over from far away, and leading the group was Sovereign of the Eventide.

Sovereign of the Eventide looked at the tall mountain peak from afar. It was completely silent throughout the mountain.

Without even needing to take a look, he scanned with his perception and he knew that the entire mountain was now a land of death. All the disciples who had all resided in Greatsword Mountain had died!

The square on the mountain peak had cracked and there were traces of blood everyone, but the corpses of Shentu Patriarch and company could not be found.

The younger generation’s corpses were scattered everyone, while the legendary figures’ corpses had disappeared.

Beside the pools of blood, there were remnants of weapons and enchanted treasures.

Sovereign of the Eventide saw a broken spear, and beside it, there was a piece of shattered jade strewn across the ground. It was the voice transmission jade slip that had been crushed.

Sovereign of the Eventide crouched down to pick up the spear. As one of the most powerful figures in the Tian Yuan world, Shentu Patriarch’s spear might not be the best one in the Tian Yuan world, but it was not that much different from the best.

Especially after destroying Blood Moon, with the acquiring of the Blood Moon treasury, Shentu Patriarch was given a material known as Mystic Cloud Crystal. It took him two years to slowly merge the Mystic Cloud Crystal into his spear, allowing its quality to increase to the next level.

Yet, such a spear had been forcefully broken.

The ends of the broken spear showed no traces of it being cut through by a weapon, instead, it showed that it had been torn apart using one’s bare hands. How much strength was required?

Actually, when Shentu Patriarch was being killed, he had already crushed the voice transmission jade slip. He did not have the opportunity to transmit his voice, but Sovereign of the Eventide could hear the sounds that came from the battle.

The entire battle broke out abruptly, but it lasted for a very short time. In such a short period of time, Shentu Patriarch and the other legendary figures that stayed behind at Greatsword Mountain, a total of six people, were completely annihilated. Not a single one escaped!

Ignoring the fact that the six of them combined were not the match of the enemy, they couldn’t even could escape separately in different directions… Their opponent’s strength was completely horrendous.

“What killed Shen Tu?” An elder frowned.

He could not think of anyone in the entire Tian Yuan world who had such strength.

Sovereign of the Eventide took a deep breath as his expression turned ugly.

It was impossible for Yi Yun to be the murderer. With Yi Yun eliminated, Sovereign of the Eventide could only think one one entity, Blood Moon!

Upon thinking of Blood Moon, the Sovereign of the Eventide felt his heart jump. What happened to the ten corpses?

He hurriedly took out his voice transmission voice slip, so he could communicate with the Sanctuary Island Lord.

Sovereign of the Eventide was afraid that the ten corpses had come alive. If that happened, the Sanctuary couple would be in danger.

Although Sovereign of the Eventide had always yearned for the couple to die, so that he could be without threat, now with a formidable enemy in front of them, all of the warriors in the Tian Yuan world were on the same boat. If the boat were to sink, they would all be doomed.

Just as Sovereign of the Eventide crushed the voice transmission jade slip, he suddenly turned his head. He saw a black and white figure quickly flying towards him in the overcast sky.

The two traveled at an extremely fast speed. From the horizons, they had appeared in front of Sovereign of the Eventide in the blink of an eye.

The two figures were the Sanctuary couple.

It was natural for the couple to learn about what happened at Greatsword Mountain.

“How are the corpses?” Sovereign of the Eventide immediately asked.

“See for yourself!”

As the Sanctuary Island Lord flung his hand out, ten soul-sealing coffins flew out from his interspatial ring, lining up in the sky.

Ka Ka Ka!”

The coffins opened one after another.

Upon seeing the interiors of the coffins, Sovereign of the Eventide gasped.

The ten corpses had not disappeared, but they had undergone a tremendous change. There were no signs of the corpses coming alive, but… they had all decayed!

The ten corpses had completely rotted, emitting a foul stench. The Blood Moon Alliance Leader’s corpse was considered fine, as the rate of decay was not that fast, but the other nine had already been decomposed to bone.

Even the corpses of mortals would not decay so fast in a warm, humid environment when buried underground, what more the corpses of warriors that could be preserved for tens of thousands of years.

Now, these ten corpses had undergone a drastic change overnight!

Sovereign of the Eventide’s heart sank. The rotting of the corpses and the appearance of a Demon God that had happened at the same time, clearly, it was not a coincidence.

The Sanctuary Island Lord sighed and said, “It seems that Little Brother Yi Yun wasn’t wrong. We underestimated Blood Moon. Although it is unknown what means they have employed, I have a hunch that a major disaster is about to befall the Tian Yuan world, just like the apocalypse that happened tens of millions of years ago.

The apocalypse?

No one present had experienced the apocalypse that happened tens of millions of years ago. Even the history books did not have records of it. People found the calamity unreal and distant. As for what it was like, no one knew.

The legendary figures present felt like they were being pressed under a boulder as their breathing turned heavy.

It was not be surprising that an existence, which could easily annihilate them, could destroy the Tian Yuan world.

“It’s already meaningless to talk about this. So what if Yi Yun expected that Blood Moon had other tricks up their sleeve? Would he be able to destroy such a terrifying existence?” Upon mentioning Yi Yun, Sovereign of the Eventide frowned. Yi Yun was a thorn in his side.

“Yi Yun definitely won’t be able to destroy it, but if he’s given a few hundred years, or even a thousand years, he will approach the ancient Great Empress’ cultivation realm. Then he might be able to accomplish it… ”

“A few hundred years? A thousand years?” Sovereign of the Eventide sneered. “By then, we would probably all be killed. So what use is it for him to destroy such a terrifying existence?”

“Of course there is a use.” The Sanctuary Island Lord looked up the sky. His eyes reflected the star-filled sky… “In a thousand years, you and I might be killed by that monster, but someone will survive in the vast Tian Yuan world, unless that existence has the ability to completely destroy an entire Great World… ”

“As long as someone lives on, humans will carry on existing. Several thousand years later, they will prosper again. Rebirth after being destroyed is just like the cycle of death and rebirth.”

Upon saying this, he lowered his head and looked at Sovereign of the Eventide and said lightly, “The Tian Yuan world does not only have us.”

Sovereign of the Eventide was dumbfounded momentarily as he never expected the Sanctuary Lord Island to suddenly give such a speech.

In a warrior’s life, they would be able to go anywhere as they pleased, taking charge of the cycle of death and rebirth, living as brightly as the moon and sun, and as old as the heaven and earth. Who cares if the world collapsed after death?

…

As the Tian Yuan world’s legendary figures were panicking in chaos with the appearance of the Demon God, Yi Yun, who was in reclusion in the Great Empress mystic realm, suddenly opened his eyes

He took out an Information Stone. A tiny crack had appeared on it. Upon seeing this, Yi Yun frowned. He knew what would come had come.

682 - : Ten Rotten Corpses

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were flying above the Untraversable Sea sticking close to the sea surface. The strong airflow that came as a result of their motion split the surface of the sea, leaving white foamy waves in their wake.

Before Yi Yun entered his reclusion, he had left an Information Stone with the Lin family. He and Lin Xintong held a corresponding piece of an Information Stone, so as long as one shattered, the other would crack as a result.

Yi Yun exhorted them to crush the Information Stone if any breaking news occurred in the Tian Yuan world, and he would receive the news as well.

Now that the Information Stone had cracked, despite having expected it, a strong ominous feeling rose up in Yi Yun’s heart. He did not know what was awaiting him.

In four hours, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had arrived at the Lin family.

The entire Lin family was on full defense, awaiting the enemy.

Disciples guarding the Lin family’s entrance took Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to the courtyard where the Lin family’s Grand Elders discussed matters.

A granite house with green tiles stood in the courtyard that was about a hundred feet in radius. At that moment, there were hundreds of Lin family disciples gathered around it.

There both people young and old that were prohibited from entering the courtyard, but Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were directly taken in.

All the important figures of the Lin family were gathered in the courtyard. Either they were the Lin family’s Elders or the genius elites of the younger generation. There was also Matriarch Lin who sat beside a stone table in the middle of the courtyard.

Beside the Matriarch, there were three elders. Yi Yun had met two of them back at the Great Empress mystic realm trials, as for the third, it was obvious who he was. The three people were the Lin family’s three Grand Elders.

Amongst the three Lin family Grand Elders, only one of them had broken through to the Heaven Ascension realm by his own efforts. As for the other two, they only reached the level of half step into Heaven Ascension before using endless amounts of treasures to forcefully push their cultivation level into the Heaven Ascension realm. As for things like nomological insight, they did not manage to keep up, so their strength was much worse.

The leading member of the three Grand Elders sat in the middle of the stone table. He was an old man with sallow skin and squinty eyes and he was somewhat ugly.

The moment Yi Yun and Lin Xintong appeared, the elder stood up, “Come over here, have a sit quickly.”

Beside the stone table, there were already spots left for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

In front of Yi Yun, even the Lin family Grand Elders would not demand the propriety expected for a senior. News of the battle between Yi Yun and Shentu Patriarch had proliferated throughout the Tian Yuan world, and Shentu Patriarch’s strength was stronger than any of the Lin family Grand Elders, yet he had been defeated by Yi Yun, and even came close to being killed!

The elder knew that with Yi Yun’s strength, all of them in the Lin family added up would not be his match.

Even so, Yi Yun did not ignore propriety since he was indebted to the Lin family. After giving a junior’s bow, he hurriedly asked, “Seniors, what happened?”

The elder did not speak, but took out a disk array. With some energy injected into it, scenes appeared from the disk array.

“Not a long while ago, Greatsword Mountain was annihilated with many dead. As to how Greatsword Mountain was annihilated, no one knows. As for what is recorded on the disk array, watch it yourself!”

The projection flickered, revealing a gigantic mountain. The mountain hung high in the sky, and carved on the mountain cliff were the words — Mystic Void Mountain!

Yi Yun had heard of the large sect known as Mystic Void Mountain. Their sect’s main peak was suspended midair due to a magnetic array. This large sect also had a Heaven Ascension realm Grand Elder who held down the ground.

However, when it appeared in the visual disk array, Yi Yun had a hunch that things would not go well for the sect…

Very quickly, the sky turned dark and a tall figure covered in black armor appeared along in horizon. He approached quietly like a ghost.

Upon seeing this figure, Yi Yun’s body trembled, “It’s him!”

“Who!?”

The Lin family Grand Elder’s eyes flickered. With a hand pressing on the visual disk array, the picture was put on pause.

Yi Yun faltered and said, “Black-armored Demon God!”

Yi Yun had obtained a visual disk array in the first level of the God Advent Tower. The scenes of the Azure Yang Lord slashing at the Black-armored Demon God had allowed Yi Yun to gain insights into the Sword Dao. He naturally would not make a mistake after watching the visual disk array numerous times.

In fact, the Black-armored Demon God that appeared in the sky was different in exterior appearance than the one in the visual disk array. After all, he had been destroyed by the Azure Yang Lord’s single sword strike and he had been sealed in the Demon Mountain for tens of millions of years. With accumulation of various factors, he had a completely different look.

It was also this reason why the youths, who had entered the Great Empress mystic realm with Yi Yun, did not manage to recognize the Black-armored Demon God despite catching a glimpse of the Black-armored Demon God through the visual disk array.

However, the aura that emanated from the Black-armored Demon God was not something Yi Yun could be wrong about, despite it being a record in a visual disk array!

“Who is the Black-armored Demon God?” Matriarch Lin asked solemnly. Knowing the monster’s origin might allow them to come up with a means to counter it.

Yi Yun immediately explained the history he had seen in the God Advent Tower to the Grand Elders and the Matriarch. After confirming the identity of the Black-armored Demon God, everyone from the Lin family felt their hearts go cold.

The Black-armored Demon God came from the eternal whirlpool, one of the seven Demon Disciples that destroyed the world tens of millions of years ago.

His strength was probably beyond the comprehension for many of the people present.

A Lin family Grand Elder sighed and said, “I never expected that. What should we do?”

As the elder spoke, he gently pressed the visual disk array, and the projection began to move again.

The visual disk array contained the Black-armored Demon God’s slaughtering of Mystic Void Mountain!

It was a complete disaster. The Mystic Void Mountain disciples powered the formation array by the entrance, launching intense attacks on the unwelcomed guest. With Mystic Void Mountain’s Grand Elder presiding over it, such an attack was enough to destroy Heaven Ascension realm experts. Yet, in front of the Black-armored Demon God, the attacks were like clouds that passed through him, not harming him one bit.

The gap was too large!

The Black-armored Demon God charged into the crowd and he was like a giant trampling a bunch of ants to death. They were lifeforms on completely different levels, no one had the ability to hinder him at all!

Even the Mystic Void Mountain’s Grand Elder, a Heaven Ascension realm warrior, did not manage to put up a fight in front of the Black-armored Demon God.

He killed the Grand Elder without any fanciful moves. He did not use any laws, just using absolute speed and strength, appearing before the poor old man nearly instantly.

With a crisp sound, the poor old man’s protective Yuan Qi, including his chest was pierced , splattering blood everywhere.

However, it did not end. The next scene alarmed Yi Yun and Lin Xintong greatly.

They saw the elder, who had his chest pierced through by the Black-armored Demon God’s arm, being held up in the air by an invisible force before his body began to shrink, again and again.

Finally, a seven feet tall elder was shrunk to the size of a finger segment. Following that, the tiny-sized elder was absorbed into the Black-armored Demon God’s armor and sealed in the armor.

“What!?”

Yi Yun was stunned. What was that magical power!?

683 - : Armor’s Seal

CKtalon  CKtalon

For a person who was seven feet tall to be sealed in a piece of battle armor, it was definitely through the use of spatial dimension laws. However, Yi Yun had never heard of such a method of sealing people in battle armor.

If he wasn’t wrong, the Black-armored Demon God was using this method to gain strength.

He was injured, and very badly at that. Be it the Azure Yang Lord’s sword strike or because he had been sealed for tens of millions of years, they had all caused his life force to be like a flickering candle in the wind.

Furthermore, with one of his eyes completely petrified, this made Yi Yun even more confident of his theory.

The Black-armored Demon God was not as strong as what he seemed to be.

Hum Hum Hum…

As the Mystic Void Mountain’s legendary figure was drawn into the armor, a ghostly wail echoed from the Black-armored Demon God’s armor.

It sounded like a few suffering souls were wailing within.

Upon hearing these wails, Yi Yun had a thought as he faintly felt a familiar presence…

“Shentu Patriarch!”

Yi Yun suddenly realized that Shentu Patriarch and company, who were thought to be dead, were most likely sealed in the armor.

Yi Yun knew that after Greatsword Mountain was destroyed, only the corpses of the younger generation were left behind, while the corpses of the legendary figures had all disappeared.

If they did not die, but were sealed by the Black-armored Demon God, then everything could be explained.

“The Black-armored Demon God is using such a technique to absorb power… ” Yi Yun said with a solemn voice, his face grim.

“In the battle tens of millions of years ago, he must have suffered a serious injury… Now he might look strong, but his life force and spiritual force in his body is unstable. It might even very likely collapse from inside out!”

Lin Xintong watched the projection’s Black-armored Demon God intently. The power that the Black-armored Demon God exhibited could be described as that of invincibility, so it was very difficult for people to believe that it was possible that he would collapse.

“Then what do we do? Should we grab the opportunity to set up a massive formation array to kill him while he is weak, hoping to spark off the collapse of his life force?” A Lin family Elder asked without much confidence. No matter from what angle the scene was looked at, the Black-armored Demon God looked undefeatable. However, they had no understanding of the Black-armored Demon God. Their past experiences were useless. As for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong who had entered the Great Empress mystic realm, they understood a lot more.

“That is equivalent to suicide… ” Yi Yun immediately rejected the thought.

Despite the Black-armored Demon God being severely injured, the remaining amount of strength he had was still terrifying. Yi Yun did not have any hopes of beating him even if he was to attack him with Lin Xintong.

As for the unstable and chaotic spiritual energy and life force in the Black-armored Demon God, it was possible for them to collapse, but Yi Yun didn’t know the method to trigger that.

If he were to charge together with Lin Xintong, that was equivalent to betting with their lives. He had to ensure victory before making any moves.

And before that, the only choice available to him was avoidance.

“Then, isn’t the Tian Yuan world doomed?” The Grand Elder, who posed the question, asked dejectedly.

No one was looking at the visual disk array anymore. The only thing that was shown was a one-sided slaughter. After the death of the Mystic Void Mountain’s Grand Elder, the remaining disciples may have turned distraught, swearing to fight to the death, but in front of the Black-armored Demon God, ants were still ants. He did not change at all even if they were fighting to the death.

“The situation may not be that bad yet. All of you should withdraw first.” Yi Yun suddenly said this, stunning everyone from the Lin family.

Withdraw?

The Lin family had established themselves on this piece of land for tens of thousands of years, establishing a family clan through painstaking efforts over generations. Now, they were to withdraw?

However, other than withdrawal, they had no other method.

However, where were they to withdraw to?

“Then what about you and Xintong?” Matriarch Lin asked with concern. She could faintly sense that Yi Yun had other plans from the way he said it.

“I have something else to do.” Yi Yun said without much thought. With the appearance of the Black-armored Demon God, he only felt things were unfortunate, but he was not in panic.

This scene was completely different from more than a decade ago when the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom he resided in had experienced the beast horde or when he was harmed by Shentu Nantian, as well as being forcefully separated from his elder sister Jiang Xiaorou.

At that time, Yi Yun was weak, with no place to reside in and faced an unknown future. Although he was resolute and determined, there was no avoiding feeling a bit at a loss.

But today, Yi Yun already possessed immense strength. He had Lin Xintong by his side and he had the Great Empress mystic realm.

Even against the Black-armored Demon God, he did not lack the ability to resist.

“Yi Yun, what are you planning to do? Don’t tell me that you and Xintong are planning to fight the Black-armored Demon God by yourselves?” Matriarch Lin’s voice was filled with worry.

From Matriarch Lin’s standpoint, even if they abandoned the Lin family’s grounds or the Lin family was slaughtered by the Black-armored Demon God, it was something she could accept. However, she could not accept anything happening to Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. They were the Lin family’s hope and the future of the Tian Yuan world.

“Matriarch, rest assured. I’m cognizant of that.” Yi Yun’s voice remained calm and in an intangible manner, he gave people a sense of confidence.

“Young Master Yi, you suggested withdrawing, but where should we withdraw to?” A Lin family Elder found the future unpromising.

The Black-armored Demon God was already threatening the entire Tian Yuan world. He was like a killing machine without any consciousness. Greatsword Mountain and Mystic Void Mountain were not the only two factions that were destroyed by him, there were also large numbers of human warriors that had been slaughtered by him.

Wherever he passed, rivers of blood formed with massive numbers of lives extinguished.

This was an unprecedented calamity, and there was nowhere to hide.

“Withdraw to the Divine Wilderness, to the Desolate race!” Yi Yun said without any hesitation.

Desolate race?

Upon hearing these words, everyone was stunned.

The human race and the Desolate race had been sworn enemies for tens of millions of years. The two races were separated by the vast Divine Wilderness and it was a long journey. There had been numerous disasters throughout history, but even those exiled human forces did not think of withdrawing to the Desolate race.

However, Yi Yun was different. People knew Yi Yun’s elder sister, Jiang Xiaorou was the new Desolate Queen of the Desolate race. And there was no need to doubt Yi Yun’s relationship with Jiang Xiaorou, because Jiang Xiaorou would do anything for Yi Yun without any hesitation.

Furthermore, in the Soul Tomb, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had saved the Desolate race elites. Putting aside Jiang Xiaorou, Yi Yun had extremely high prestige amongst the Desolate race.

All of these reasons added up meant that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had a unique position amongst the Desolate race!

Even if the human race and the Desolate race were like unmixable elements like fire and water, with Yi Yun present, his will and orders would ensure the acceptance of the Lin family by the Desolate race.

Upon thinking of this, people had indescribable thoughts.

In a period of seven years in the past, the Tian Yuan world’s human race had the Martial Alliance as its leader. They were nearly about to go to war with the Desolate race. People were certain the Desolate race would bring havoc to the Tian Yuan world, while Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were considered traitors of the human race. They were hated by countless numbers of people, and people hoped that they were hacked to death.

But now, the true calamity of the Tian Yuan world had arrived. There was nowhere in the Tian Yuan world that they could reside in. The Desolate race that was on the other side of the distant Divine Wilderness had instead turned into a unstained land.

Withdrawing to the Desolate race was also the best choice to preserve the family.

It was quite ironic how many large family clans of the human race had to eventually seek asylum from the original enemy.

As for the Desolate race, they could accept the people brought by Yi Yun, but for those brought by other humans, it was hard to tell if they would accept them!

They might even be rejected at the door!

At that moment, the visual disk array finished its projection. Yi Yun pressed down on the disk array and said, “The Lin family’s mortals and low-level warriors are to evacuate. There are no teleportation arrays in the Divine Wilderness, so we won’t be able to take so many people. Low level warriors might not end up as the hunting goals of the Black-armored Demon God. As for all the important personnel of the Lin family, I will lead them to the Divine Wilderness. After you are settled, Xintong and I will leave the Divine Wilderness to do something important.”

In a few words, Yi Yun finished explaining the appropriate response plan that the Lin family had to take up while facing this disaster. It was very simple, but it was extremely effective.

His confidence had infected them.

When they first saw the Black-armored Demon God appear, destroying one faction after another in an indomitable fashion, they felt that the end of the world had arrived. Even the revered legendary figures felt despair.

But now, with Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s return, they calmed down. They suddenly seemed to have a backbone supporting them. The matter was not as terrible as it seemed. They still had hope!

684 - : Response Plan

CKtalon  CKtalon

The vast Divine Wilderness was endless in expanse. There were very few traces of humans deep in the Divine Wilderness, but today, all the experts of the Lin family had entered the Divine Wilderness in a mighty formation.

The distance from the Tian Yuan world to the Divine Wilderness was extremely great. Furthermore, after entering the Divine Wilderness, there were no more teleportation arrays, so it would take at least a month to proceed forward.

The Lin family had acted in accordance with Yi Yun’s instructions by evacuating all the mortals and low-level warriors in the family. They were divided into groups, taking some of the family’s riches as they reluctantly left the Lin family’s grounds.

As for the Lin family’s experts, they accompanied Yi Yun and Lin Xintong into the Divine Wilderness.

It was relatively easy for this group of experts to navigate through the Divine Wilderness with Yi Yun and Lin Xintong leading the way. Ignoring the primordial strains that filled the entire Divine Wilderness, just trying to find the Desolate race in the Divine Wilderness was extremely difficult. Humans did not know where the Desolate race resided, so if they were to get lost and enter a dangerous area of the Divine Wilderness, it would be extremely dangerous for them.

Over tens of millions of years of accumulation, the Divine Wilderness had many lands fraught with great danger. A human race’s Heaven Ascension realm warrior might even suffer great losses if he brought his family’s younger generation into such places.

Heaven Ascension realm warriors may be strong, but they could only barely withstand a primordial true spirit from the Divine Wilderness. Without any preparations or a map of the Divine Wilderness, going deep into the Divine Wilderness without thought would result in disastrous outcomes.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong may be familiar with the Divine Wilderness, but they couldn’t identify all the danger zones. However, when they reached a distance of five hundred thousand kilometers into the Divine Wilderness, they saw a group of people covered in tattoos riding fierce beasts charging towards them.

Yi Yun could tell from far that they were the Desolate race’s garrison troops in the Divine Wilderness. In the vast Divine Wilderness, the Desolate race had several garrison troops, guarding various spots in the Divine Wilderness.

These garrison troops were not easily dealt with. Even if they did not have experts amongst them, they could mobilize the primordial strains in the Divine Wilderness or take advantage of the danger zones in the Divine Wilderness to attack the enemy. The combat power they wielded was extremely terrifying!

And such small garrison troops were distributed throughout the Divine Wilderness. Their locations were hidden and there were so many of them. They were mutually coordinated and they had great strength.

In the Soul Tomb, the Desolate race was not the human race’s match, but the moment they were in the Divine Wilderness, they were like Flood Dragons entering the sea. They were the absolute sovereigns of the Divine Wilderness.

A Desolate race at the Yuan Opening realm was already extremely terrifying in the Divine Wilderness, and for a Desolate race Great Emperor like the Shepherd Boy, his power in the Divine Wilderness was even more horrifying.

In the war between humans and Desolate race, the humans had always been more on the defensive since ancient times. Basically, no human would dare to attack the Divine Wilderness, they would only cross swords with the Desolate race on human territory.

The reason why the Desolate race could withstand the human race for tens of millions of years was a result of its deep heritage. Even if all the family clans in the Tian Yuan world joined forces to attack the Divine Wilderness at all costs, there was still a chance of them being completely wiped out!

Of course, if the Desolate race attacked the Tian Yuan world en masse, they too would lose the advantage by leaving their territories.

The group of Desolate race garrison troops moved extremely fast. They traveled like a gust of wind. They were barebacked and covered in tattoos, having an aggressive stance.

The Lin family Elders could tell that it was not any ordinary Desolate race garrison troop. Their aura was extremely powerful and the person leading them was even more terrifying.

The Lin family experts secretly held their weapons tight. Although they did not believe a battle would break out, it was always better to be vigilant.

However, the Lin family did not expect that from a few kilometers away, these people would leap off their beasts and walk forward, respectfully saluting Yi Yun.

“The Desolate Queen has given her orders, we have waited here for a long time to welcome Young Master Yi!”

Yi Yun had obviously informed Jiang Xiaorou before bringing the Lin family into the Divine Wilderness, and all the Desolate race garrison troops that littered the Divine Wilderness were ordered to receive Yi Yun.

The Lin family heaved a sigh of relief. They were also amazed at Yi Yun’s standing amongst the Desolate race. The Desolate race was very courteous to Yi Yun. The leader of the garrison troops was probably similar to a General in the Desolate race. Not only did he come in person to receive Yi Yun, he had even dismounted several kilometers away and walked forward to salute Yi Yun.

“Sorry for troubling you, General.”

Yi Yun returned the salutation. With the Desolate race leading the way, they could enter the deep reaches of the Divine Wilderness, without any worry for danger.

As Yi Yun was leading the Lin family to seek asylum with the Desolate race, a bloody wave was set off in the Tian Yuan world.

Wherever the Black-armored Demon God went, all the warriors there were slaughtered.

The weaker warriors were easily killed by the Black-armored Demon God, while the strongest ones were sealed in the Black-armored Demon God’s armor, enduring endless torment.

The Black-armored Demon God did not have any emotions. He hardly spoke and when he killed, he was always expressionless. It was as if he was mowing grass when he killed a bunch of people.

He was elusive and he traveled exceedingly fast. He could appear deep in the Tian Yuan world, and a few hours later, he could appear on the boundaries of the Tian Yuan world. His every appearance was accompanied by a blood cloud that filled the sky. This blood cloud was like nearing death and despair to the Tian Yuan world warriors. No matter where they escaped, they could not hide from the blood cloud’s cover.

One sect or family clan after another were flattened and destroyed. Some of these family clans had been handed down for hundred of thousands of years or even more than a million years. Sacred or holy grounds were dyed red with blood, becoming zones of death.

The Tian Yuan world’s family clans had never imagined that a single life form would one day threaten their entire existence.

In front of death, many people turned afraid, resulting in many family clans beginning to flee.

They abandoned their family’s foundation and spiritual lands that they had accumulated for years. With their family’s fortunes and the important disciples of the family, they began migrating.

With the entire family migrating, they fled in all directions, but nowhere in the Tian Yuan world was safe. There was nowhere for them to go. Some of them escaped to the Divine Wilderness, but without the Desolate race leading the way, it was also unsafe for them to escape into the Divine Wilderness.

In fact, many family clans had encountered the Black-armored Demon God while migrating and it only ended with a massacre!

The Black-armored Demon God seemed to have an ability to find mighty people in this vast world.

Of course, in the ailing Tian Yuan world, there were valiant human warriors who teamed up against the Black-armored Demon God or stayed behind to protect their family clans, fighting to their last.

However, their efforts were like smashing a rock with an egg. Staying behind to protect their family clans was the same as waiting for death. However, even though they knew that they would have a bitter end, these people still faced it head on.

Humans were a complex life form. They had their jealousy, machinations, betrayal, and contempt. But in troubled times, there were many who would sacrifice their lives for justice. They achieved honor by martyring themselves. They were willing to sacrifice themselves, at the expense of their lives for freedom and all life.

The entire Tian Yuan world was covered in blood, with an atmosphere of tragedy and despair resonating throughout. Many sects or family clans that enjoyed a lustrous past turned empty overnight, becoming ruins. Corpses laid strewn across the ground, being torn apart by wild dogs and wolves.

No one entered Greatsword Mountain either. A brilliant, sacred ground of the past was now immersed in complete silence. At night, a cold wind would howl, bleak and desolate.

685 - : Entering the Divine Wilderness

CKtalon  CKtalon

In a distance of a fifty thousand kilometers, which stretched into the Divine Wilderness, there were no humans around. Deep in the Divine Wilderness, the Desolate race and desolate beasts enjoyed a peaceful coexistence. Their location was unknown and nearly no human had stepped foot in the Desolate race’s territory.

But today, in one of the altars in a valley, a soft glow suddenly appeared.

After the glow dissipated, a large group of people appeared on the altar. These people were of all ages and genders. The moment they appeared, they immediately looked around nervously and curiously. They were the members of the Lin family.

At that moment, there were many members of the Desolate race standing near the altar.

From afar, Yi Yun spotted Jiang Xiaorou. She was dressed in a long, red gown. She held a bone staff in hand, and in the middle of her eyebrows, there were cinnabar dots. She really had the bearing of a queen. And beside Jiang Xiaorou was Chen Fei, who had been in control of the Skyfox formation array core back in the Soul Tomb.

The Desolate race dressed differently to the humans. Many men were bare-chested with all sorts of runes tattooed on their bodies. Their necks and arms were covered in ornaments made of beast teeth and bone.

As for the women, they mostly wore white fur. Feathers were pinned through their hair, and their eyes look beautiful and sharp, with some wild charm in them.

“Yun-er!”

Upon seeing Yi Yun safe and sound, Jiang Xiaorou experienced a heartfelt joy.

“Sis Xiaorou.” Yi Yun stepped forward to hold Jiang Xiaorou’s hand.

“My mother has been waiting in the Grand Palace for you. She has something important to tell you.” As she spoke, she turned to Lin Xintong. “Miss Lin, follow my people and they will settle your family clan first. I’ll be back in a while with Yun’er.”

“Alright.” Lin Xintong nodded her head. With that, Jiang Xiaorou began to instruct her people on the accommodations needed for the Lin family’s residence.

The Lin family was worried that they would suffer while living under someone else’s roof, but the Desolate race was extremely hospitable to the Lin family. They specially arranged a palace as the Lin family’s residence and they had even allocated a few members of the Desolate race to serve the Lin family.

After the Lin family took up residence, Jiang Xiaorou took Yi Yun to the Desolate Queen Hall. Chen Fei and company respectfully followed the duo. All the Desolate race members were respectful towards Lin Xintong and Yi Yun. As the Desolate race worshiped the strong, news of the Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s performance in the Soul Tomb had proliferated in the Desolate race. Towards the duo, the members of the Desolate race, especially the youth, were filled with heartfelt respect.

Yi Yun accompanied Jiang Xiaorou as he stepped into a teleportation array. Chen Fei controlled the array and he began to utter profound and abstruse chants that sounded like the howling of the wind. Very quickly, the altar emitted a glow, enveloping the people on it.

With a flash, Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou appeared in front of a magnificent palace. This palace looked unsophisticated but solemn. In the strong, howling winds, Yi Yun saw a few gigantic primordial desolate beasts that were as large as mountains lingering not far from the Grand Palace. There was a powerful aura that emitted from these desolate beasts, and without a doubt, they were primordial true spirits.

They were the protectors of the Desolate race’s Grand Palace.

The human race had several legendary figures at the Heaven Ascension realm. In comparison, there were few experts in the Desolate race that were at an equivalent level. However, with these primordial true spirits, the strength of the Desolate race far exceeded the humans.

Upon entering the Grand Palace, Yi Yun saw Jiang Xiaorou’s mother.

She was dressed in a long, bluish-purple robe as she sat on a throne. Beneath her feet proned a tiger. Of course, it was not any ordinary tiger, it was a powerful desolate beast that had a pure bloodline.

This woman had a dignified beauty of aristocracy. The passage of time had not left any traces on her body. Standing beside Jiang Xiaorou, they looked like a pair of sisters.

“This junior, Yi Yun, sends his greetings to senior.” Yi Yun bowed to Jiang Xiaorou’s mother. The Desolate race had previously saved him from Shentu Nantian in the past. Although the Desolate race had ulterior motives for doing so, Yi Yun still appreciated it.

As the woman looked at Yi Yun, she sized him up with a smile hanging on her face. After looking at Yi Yun for about thirty seconds, she said softly, “So you are Yi Yun, you are really a dragon amongst men. In the past decade or more, I have heard Xiaorou mention you several times. I actually did not wish for Xiaorou to have anything to do with you, but it seems like I was wrong back then… ”

With the former Desolate Queen saying those words, Jiang Xiaorou gave a knowing smile. She was naturally very happy that her mother had changed her attitude towards Yi Yun. In the future, she would be able to accompany Yi Yun.

Yi Yun said, “Thank you, Senior. This junior has undergone all sorts of hardship with Sis Xiaorou. So no matter what happens in the future, this junior will definitely face it alongside Sis Xiaorou.”

Yi Yun did not blame the Desolate race for his forceful separation with Jiang Xiaorou. To the Desolate race, humans were not to be trusted.

The former Desolate Queen gave a faint smile before sighing. She said, “The Black-armored Demon God has appeared once again, whipping up a blood storm throughout the Tian Yuan world. Although the Desolate race and the Human race are enemies, this is also a calamity for my Desolate race… Today, I’m meeting you also about this matter… ”

“I believe… you should already know about how strong the seven Demon Disciples are. You even probably know that the Black-armored Demon God is severely injured and that the life force and spiritual energy within him is unstable, right?”

“Yes.” Yi Yun nodded. He was also planning on getting some enlightenment from the former Desolate Queen. He wanted to know what this powerful woman, who ruled the Desolate race, planned on doing in this disaster.

The former Desolate Queen said, “Yi Yun, the reason why I’m calling Xiaorou and you here is not to give you any advice, but to tell you of Xiaorou’s origins. It is also something to do with her father. The reason why I forbade Xiaorou from having any relationship with you was also actually due to her father… ”

Yi Yun was stunned at the twist in the former Desolate Queen’s words.

He expected the woman to discuss how to deal with the Black-armored Demon God with him, but he never expected her to mention Jiang Xiaorou’s father.

Yi Yun had no inkling of understanding regarding Jiang Xiaorou’s father. He had even pondered why Jiang Xiaorou had the surname Jiang.

Back in the Lian tribal clan, Yi Yun had heard Jiang Xiaorou reminiscing about her youth. She seemed to live in a large family clan in the past, and he had not heard of Jiang Xiaorou talking about growing up with desolate beasts. Hence, Yi Yun had guessed that Jiang Xiaorou’s father might be human.

However, over the years as Yi Yun traveled the Tian Yuan world, he had not heard of any large family clans with the surname Jiang in the Tian Yuan world. There were a few weaker family clans of the same surname, but they did not seem to have anything to do with Jiang Xiaorou.

Yi Yun looked at Jiang Xiaorou’s mother, waiting for her to proceed with her story.

The woman sighed, as if recalling the past, giving her all sorts of mixed emotions.

“Yi Yun, before talking about Xiaorou’s father, let me ask you first. When you entered the Great Empress mystic realm and understood many of the secrets of the ancients, have you ever considered leaving this world?”

Leaving this world?

Yi Yun was stunned. He knew what leaving this world meant. It meant heading for the Twelve Empyrean Heavens!

In fact, after Yi Yun and Lin Xintong obtained the Great Empress mystic realm inheritance, they had talked about heading to the Twelve Empyrean Heavens before.

The more they understood the secrets of the ancients, the more the two of them felt that the world they resided in was too small. Lin Xintong was not a person who wished for normalcy. She had a resolute heart for martial arts. When she learned about the Twelve Empyrean Heavens, knowing about the twelve supreme Great Dao, she yearned for it greatly. As for Yi Yun, he had also thought about heading to the Twelve Empyrean Heavens after his cultivation reached its limits in the Tian Yuan world.

Yi Yun nodded his head silently.

The former Desolate Queen was not surprised as she said, “My invitation for you here today was not to discuss about dealing with the Black-armored Demon God. First, I’ll tell you about the route that leads to the Twelve Empyrean Heavens, which is also a route of retreat… ”

The route leading to the Twelve Empyrean Heavens?

Upon hearing the words of Jiang Xiaorou’s mother, Yi Yun was alarmed.

Yi Yun knew that the world the Tian Yuan world resided in was actually a sealed ground. Even the Tian Yuan world itself was a gigantic enchanted treasure used to suppress the eternal whirlpool.

It was by chance that the Azure Yang Lord arrived in the Tian Yuan world back then. And it was because of the Azure Yang Lord that the primal enchantment of the Tian Yuan world shattered.

As a result, this world and the exterior world, where the Twelve Empyrean Heavens was, had means of communicating with each other again.

However, Yi Yun had no idea on how to go from the Tian Yuan world to the Twelve Empyrean Heavens.

He never expected that Jiang Xiaorou’s mother knew the way.

686 - : Jiang Xiaorou’s Birth Origins

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had first heard the former Desolate Queen mention Jiang Xiaorou’s father before she talked about a route that led to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. This allowed Yi Yun to make the connection and suddenly realize a possibility…

“Senior, you mean… Sis Xiaorou’s father actually came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens?”

Yi Yun deduced. He looked at Jiang Xiaorou and but he noticed her complicated expression. Clearly, she already knew about her father’s life.

The former Desolate Queen nodded and said, “That’s right… Past events hundreds of years ago now seem like they were lifetimes ago in retrospect… ”

As the former Desolate Queen spoke, she gently shook her head with grief and lamenting expression.

Jiang Xiaorou gently walked over to hold her mother’s arm. She silently comforted the former Desolate Queen through such a method.

Yi Yun quietly listened, waiting for the former Desolate Queen to tell the story of the past.

“Everything begins about 600 years ago… ” The former Desolate Queen lovingly touched Jiang Xiaorou’s hair and said with a faint voice, “I met Xiaorou’s father 600 years ago. He came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, but he was not as powerful as you would imagine, being able to dominate the Tian Yuan world easily. On the contrary, he was severely injured, with his meridians broken, and highly probable that his martial path would be completely severed.”

“He came from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven of the 12 Empyrean Heavens. He was a member of the ancient Fey race, and they were engaged in war. He was injured in the war, and he came to the Tian Yuan world while escaping death.”

“Later on… I met the seriously injured him and took care of him. He had a special aura that attracted me, and later on, we fell in love. He told me that he came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens and I knew his background was to be kept a secret. He was too seriously injured, and he did not have the means to protect himself in this world. The moment someone knew of his background and coveted the inheritance and treasures that came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, it was very possible for the tragedy of people murdering and plundering him to happen.”

“I was about to inherit the position of Desolate Queen back then. According to the Desolate race’s rules, as the successor to the Desolate Queen, I could not marry a person from a different race… And back then, he came from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, and no one knew he was an ancient Fey race member. As he concealed his identity, people thought that he was human.”

“And you know that humans are the arch enemies of the Desolate race.”

When the former Desolate Queen spoke up to this point, Yi Yun nodded. As the Desolate Queen, it was necessary to ensure that the bloodline of the Desolate race was pure blooded. It was possible for the offspring of the Desolate Queen to inherit the position of Desolate Queen next. But if the Desolate Queen married a human, a member of the Desolate race’s enemy, how could they appease the Desolate race masses?

“The clan did not agree with my decision, so I insisted on forging my own path. The clan imprisoned me, and back then, I was stubborn and rebellious. I escaped and hid from my clan’s pursuers. In the end, I left the Desolate race and went to the Tian Yuan world. I cut off all ties with the clan, lived with him in the Tian Yuan world. As such… the clan could not do anything to us.”

‘We hid our identity, and through our own strength and a few loyal servants who came with me when I left the Desolate race, we set up a small family clan in a remote area of the Tian Yuan world. That was the Jiang family. The goal of establishing the family clan was to search for resources to treat his injuries. Of course, the Tian Yuan world’s resources were limited when it came to healing him. He used more than 500 years, but he still failed to join up all of his meridians.”

“By then, I was already pregnant… ” When the former Desolate Queen said this, she looked lovingly at Jiang Xiaorou. She was from a different race from Jiang Xiaorou’s father, and since it was not easy for the ancient Fey race to reproduce, it was even more difficult for him to produce an offspring with the Desolate race.

It could be said that Jiang Xiaorou’s birth was an accident which Jiang Xiaorou’s father did not expect.

“It was very difficult for me during my pregnancy with Xiaorou. The pregnancy lasted many years before I entered labor. And the labor process made me endured extreme pain, it nearly caused me to drop in a cultivation realm.”

The stronger a life, the stronger the blood line, and the more difficult the pregnancy and labor were. For weaker life forms like insects or mice, their labor was much simpler.

This seemed like a law of nature, limiting the proliferation of powerful life forms, so it could maintain nature’s balance.

“When Xiaorou was born, rainbows filled the sky. Her bloodline was extremely powerful, exceeding any preceding Desolate Queen of the Desolate race. This is also why she successfully obtained the recognition of the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit… ” Upon saying this, the former Desolate Queen looked at Jiang Xiaorou, who was beside her, with eyes full of love and gentleness.

“However… when Xiaorou reached the age of one, her father left… returning to the 12 Empyrean Heavens… ”

Returned?

Yi Yun was momentarily stunned.

“Yes… return… He did not belong to this world after all. In this world, he managed to repair 80% of his broken meridians and he was unable to make a full recovery. Besides, his family clan had a mission for him to complete, so he had to return. He said that once everything was settled, he would return to this world, taking me and Xiaorou away.”

Upon saying this, the former Desolate Queen shook her head gently. It was not that she did not believe Jiang Xiaorou’s father’s promise, but nothing was a certainty in this world. Who could accurately predict what would happen in the future?

Just like how she would have to face the calamity brewing in the eternal whirlpool after she returned to the Desolate race. Who would know what the outcome would be?

The 12 Empyrean Heavens were too far from the Tian Yuan world, and the round trip was definitely not easy. Jiang Xiaorou’s father had said that he had to settle everything before he would come back for the duo, but could he really successfully settle those matters? If they were such simple matters, would he have been forced to this world after having all his meridians severed?

Hence, when Jiang Xiaorou’s father left, the former Desolate Queen was mentally prepared to not see his return.

The former Desolate Queen did not elaborate on the separation, but Yi Yun knew that she had probably experienced painful struggles.

“Then how did Sis Xiaorou end up in the Cloud Wilderness?” Yi Yun asked again.

The color of sadness disappeared from the former Desolate Queen’s eyes and a coldness replaced it. “The Jiang family we established was in the territory of another large faction of the Tian Yuan world. We never wanted to vie for anything in the Tian Yuan world and we always kept a low key. We stayed out of the large faction’s ways, but I never expected that even with such a low-key life, disaster still struck us.”

“Some things are that coincidental. That faction’s Patriarch was out searching for herbs. He had a spirit beast that could find treasures and sense the seismic networks to find divine herbs. When the Patriarch arrived at the spirit mountain where the Jiang family was living in seclusion, he failed to find any primordial herb using his spirit beast, but instead he found Xiaorou. The treasure-seeking spirit beast had sensed the extraordinary bloodline from Xiaorou’s body.”

“And the Patriarch had failed to find any satisfactory treasures and instead, he intended on using Xiaorou as a herb. And you probably have guessed who this person was. He was Shentu Patriarch.”

“That is also the reason why I later left the Tian Yuan world and returned to the Desolate race. That is also the reason why Qing Kui led the Divine Wilderness’ beast horde, charging into the Tian Yuan world, severely weakening the Shentu family clan… ”

“Although my Desolate race is more powerful than the Shentu family clan, being far from the Divine Wilderness, and being besieged enemies from all corners of the Tian Yuan world, it was also difficult to completely annihilate the Shentu family clan. They were rooted in the Tian Yuan world and they had many allies. Furthermore, the beast horde’s movement had a wide target. So anytime they found things amiss, they would escape in advance.”

So that was the reason.

Yi Yun’s eyes turned cold. It was no wonder Shentu Nantian wanted to refine Jiang Xiaorou into elixirs back when he first saw her. So all of this was a result of Shentu Patriarch.

But now, the Shentu family clan was completely destroyed. From their arrogance and dominance of plundering children back then to the utter collapse of the family clan now.

The former Desolate Queen added, “Xiaorou’s birth had expended too much of my energy and life force. When I encountered Shentu Patriarch, my life force had not completely recovered. Besides, I’m a member of the Desolate race. If I had a primordial true spirit beside me, I wouldn’t have been afraid of a few Shentu Patriarchs, but I naturally could not bring a primordial true spirit into the Tian Yuan world.”

“Finally, it ended in disaster. In the battle, I could only end the battle with Shentu Patriarch with a tie. And by then, Shentu Patriarch had discovered that we were members of the Desolate race. This ignited the greed in his heart, and he wished to capture me as well.”

“He summoned all the Shentu family clan members in the vicinity. And the Shentu family clan had half-step Heaven Ascension realm experts and plenty of allies. As reinforcements rushed over from all directions, the tiny Jiang family I established was naturally no match.”

“The Jiang family was destroyed and I could not take care of Xiaorou during the battle. An old, faithful servant took Xiaorou away in the chaos. As for what happened after that, I do not know. Xiaorou was also unconscious then, and she had already forgotten about it as she was still young.”

“When the old servant escaped, she was already severely injured. She was also pursued by the Shentu family clan, so I was afraid that I would never see Xiaorou for the rest of my life… I never expected that the old servant managed to escape into the deep desolate lands under the Shentu family clan’s pursuit, allowing Xiaorou to survive. For Xiaorou to end up living in the desolate lands, that old servant has probably passed away… ”

The former Desolate Queen was filled with grief upon saying this. The old servant that had died was an old granny that took care of her through her youth. She never expected that her moment of rebellion caused the old granny, that was so loyal to her, to die in the Cloud Wilderness, without even her bones being found.

687 - : Jiang Family’s Disaster

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the deep and dark Grand Palace, the ground was lined with heavy black rocks. In between the black rocks, there were bits and pieces of beast bones. Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou followed the former Desolate Queen through a blackstone corridor. Weak fluorite lights hung on both sides of the wall.

“It’s here.”

The former Desolate Queen pushed a heavy stone door open, and through it was a vast hall. On the ground, there was a foot-tall altar with a six-pointed star formation carved on the altar.

The formation’s runes were twisted like tadpoles, and it looked very simple. After taking a look, Yi Yun felt that it was different to the grand teleportation array that he expected.

He turned to look at the former Desolate Queen, and asked with some uncertainty, “Is this the ancient teleportation array that Senior Jiang used in the past to return to the 12 Empyrean Heavens from the Divine Wilderness?”

According to Yi Yun’s imagination, such a teleportation array should take up a large amount of land, just like the trademark divine bone altar of the Desolate race.

However, the teleportation array in front of him was just a hundred feet wide. Compared to a teleportation array that could traverse the endless universe, it did seem a bit small.

The former Desolate Queen knew what was on Yi Yun’s mind. She nodded and said, “It is it… however, it will not allow you to traverse the universe.”

“The 12 Empyrean Heavens and the lower realm have several spatial nodes connecting them together. A spatial node can link up two locations far apart. Through these spatial nodes, you can reach the 12 Empyrean Heavens.”

“Originally, the Tian Yuan world was a sealed world and all the spatial nodes were sealed. However, ever since tens of millions of years ago, the seal over the Tian Yuan world was released, resulting in the opening of those spatial nodes. The purpose of this teleportation array is to send you to a spatial node that links the Tian Yuan world to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. The distance isn’t that far. The true long distance is from the endless void past that spatial node.”

“Teleportation arrays are built by people, but those spatial nodes are formed by the natural laws of the universe. The spatial node can teleport you a further distance, but it does not expend too much energy. It itself is a law.”

When the former Desolate Queen said this, Yi Yun sighed after hearing it. The universe’s laws were profound and mystical. Naturally formed spatial nodes connected the far reaches of the universe.

If warriors wanted to obtain a full understanding of those mystical laws, a lifetime worth of pondering would probably be a drop in the bucket, while those who could truly grasp a portion of the Heavenly Dao could be considered kings and emperors in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. They were existences that supported the lives of all beings.

“Mother, it isn’t that simple to travel through the spatial node, right?”

Although Jiang Xiaorou already knew about her father’s life, the teleportation array that her father used to return to the 12 Empyrean Heavens from the Divine Wilderness had been sealed in an underground hall by her mother. She did not know the exact location and this was the first time she had seen it.

“It’s indeed not easy.” The former Desolate Queen nodded. “With your present strength, it’s impossible for you to pass through the spatial node. In the spatial node, there are lots of spatial storms. The moment you enter, you will encounter all sorts of danger. The destination is also hard to grasp. If you lack the appropriate strength, you might be torn to shreds by the spatial storms, or be forever lost in the spatial turbulence, unable to orientate yourself.”

When the former Desolate Queen said this, she looked at Yi Yun. “Yi Yun, the reason why I brought you and Xiaorou here is to tell you the location of the ancient teleportation array. I wish that there will be a day you will take Xiaorou out of this world, and into the 12 Empyrean Heavens.”

The former Desolate Queen’s words stunned Yi Yun.

“This world is an abandoned land of death… Xiaorou inherited my Desolate race and ancient Fey race’s bloodline, resulting in extraordinary talent. I can stay behind in this land of death, carry on fulfilling my mission, leading the Desolate race to explore, and survive in this land of death, eventually finishing my lifespan. That would be enough as I would have been accountable to the Desolate race. I do not want Xiaorou to stay here, wasting her life… ”

As the former Desolate Queen slowly said those words, Jiang Xiaorou tightly grabbed her, momentarily at a loss as to what to say.

Yi Yun felt his heart being repressed. “Senior, you say that this world is a land of death?”

“A world that seals the ancient Demon God has long been sacrificed and abandoned by the ancient gods. If not for Azure Yang Lord entering this world through the sinkhole by mistake tens of millions of years ago, this world would have been forever isolated from the 12 Empyrean Heavens. We would all be like frogs in a well, never knowing how vast the exterior world is.”

“Even later on, when Azure Yang Lord released a few seals, the number of spatial nodes that appeared were pathetically few in number. There were probably one or two. To the 12 Empyrean Heavens, this world is probably like an ants’ nest hidden in some mountain, difficult to find. Over the tens of millions of years, the number that have come from the 12 Empyrean Heavens to this world through the spatial node are probably extremely few in number… ”

What the former Desolate Queen said was all her own speculation. However, she knew the history regarding the Azure Yang Lord very well. She had also lived with Jiang Xiaorou’s father, who had truly come from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, so her speculation was probably very close to reality…

…

After bidding farewell to the Desolate Queen, Yi Yun felt his heart heavy.

The Tian Yuan world was just a land of death abandoned by the ancient gods? Yi Yun always had the intentions to head to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. The former Desolate Queen said that he lacked the strength currently. Then, it was probably enough when he reached the Heaven Ascension realm.

As for the Black-armored Demon God that suddenly appeared…

Yi Yun shook his head. Before he left, the former Desolate Queen had exhorted Yi Yun numerous times to not seek the Black-armored Demon God.

The Black-armored Demon God was engaging in a massacre in the Tian Yuan world, drawing on the life force of massive numbers of the dead, so he could restore his life and soul that was about to collapse.

Amongst those killed, many of them had perpetrated every conceivable crime, and they were deserving of death. However, there were good people and innocent commoners as well. It wasn’t Yi Yun being cold blooded, it was just that he was indeed no match for the Black-armored Demon God. Even if the Black-armored Demon God was extremely weak, with the possibility of his soul collapsing, Yi Yun did not possess the ability to cause his soul to collapse.

Before having sufficient strength, Yi Yun could only hide in the Divine Wilderness to wait. He was in great need of time.

After returning to the Lin family’s residential grounds, Yi Yun saw a figure with fluttering clothes in the distance.

It was a stretch of granite hills. The bright moon hung in the sky, sprinkling down it’s cool brilliance. Lin Xintong was dressed in clothes as white as snow. She stood silently on the granite hill, under an ancient pine tree.

In the late night, as if a dark blue curtain was thrown over the sky, the arms of the galaxy could be seen. It reached down to the horizon, and it seemed to cross Lin Xintong’s body. Water-like starlight traced her body, dripping down her long hair. They seemed to be one with Lin Xintong. At that moment, all her pores were open, as she expirated the endless amount of starlight that she could.

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun felt his heart jolt. Lin Xintong cultivated pure Yin laws. And by absorbing the starlight and the Yin energy from the moon, it was the derivation of the laws she cultivated.

Seeing Lin Xintong cultivate and in deep thought was always such a picturesque beauty. It caused people to sink in imperceptibly.

Such beauty not only came from Lin Xintong herself, it also came from the Dao she gained from meditation. Under the moon, Lin Xintong and the Dao she understood formed a perfect unity, as if she was one with the heaven, giving a very harmonious feeling.

Dao was nature, furthermore, nature and harmony resulted in beauty.

Yi Yun’s lips quivered. His voice traveled through the night wind, entering Lin Xintong’s ears. “Xintong, follow me. I’ll take you somewhere… ”

688 - : Ancient Teleportation Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the brilliant moon in the sky, across a vast desert, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong flew together, hand in hand.

The Desolate race’s location in the Divine Wilderness was extremely concealed. Even the Lin family that used a teleportation array to arrive there did not know where they were. If they were to leave, it was also impossible for them to find the Desolate race again.

However, Yi Yun was different. As a person being trusted unreservedly by Jiang Xiaorou, Yi Yun not only knew where the Desolate race was located in the Divine Wilderness, he even had Jiang Xiaorou’s token, allowing him to activate any of the Desolate race’s teleportation arrays located in the Divine Wilderness.

Just a while ago, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had gone through a teleportation array, traversing millions of kilometers.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had flown together for more than two hours. Using his memory, Yi Yun was constantly recalibrating his position.

Throughout the course of their flight, the temperature of the surrounding environment slowly rose.

It was late in the night, but the temperature was already comparable to that at noon. This abnormal change made Yi Yun happy because he knew that he had found the destination of his trip.

The Divine Wilderness was too vast, and Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had just come out from deep in the Divine Wilderness. Even though Yi Yun had come here before, it was not easy to find its exact location.

“Yi Yun, where are we going?” Along the way, Lin Xintong did not speak a word until now, because the temperature was rising. Lin Xintong could vaguely see a dark red haze far in the horizon. It looked like a dancing flame.

“We are going to Meteorite Abyss.” Yi Yun answered as he recalled the past. It had been more than ten years.

More than a decade ago, he had entered the Divine Wilderness for training. He entered Meteorite Abyss and then went to Fallen Star Gate, right at the core of Meteorite Abyss. He then found Pure Yang Sword Palace in Fallen Star Gate.

“Meteorite Abyss?”

Lin Xintong’s eyebrows twitched, and she had a pondering expression. “I’ve heard of that place.”

Meteorite Abyss’ existence was no secret. In fact, in the world where the Tian Yuan world resided, there were many unique places. Meteorite Abyss was one of them, but it did not have a distinguished reputation.

This was because Meteorite Abyss had a difficult to explain pure Yang fire that burned for tens of thousands of years to no end. But if these mighty figures entered Meteorite Abyss, other than finding some fire-elemental primordial strains or primordial herbs, there was not much reward.

In terms of danger, Meteorite Abyss was nothing compared to the eternal whirlpool beneath the Tian Yuan world. So other than a minority of Yuan Opening experts, no one else would explore Meteorite Abyss.

Meteorite Abyss was itself a huge crater. It was surrounded by cliffs. Yi Yun led Lin Xintong down the cliffs, as they went straight to Fallen Star Gate, deep in Meteorite Abyss.

At the core of Meteorite Abyss, Fallen Star Gate was buried deep underground, reaching thousands of meters deep. It was an independent underground world.

A falling star had crashed in the world, resulting in its name, Fallen Star Gate. Of course, Yi Yun knew that the so-called falling star was actually the fragment of the world where the Pure Yang Sword Palace resided.

As for what realm the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner was, Yi Yun could not predict it.

However, after Yi Yun entered the Great Empress mystic realm, and saw the Azure Yang Lord’s sword attack in the visual disk array, he realized that the Azure Yang Lord’s sword attack contained the Sword Dao of the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner.

Back then, before the Azure Yang Lord had experienced the betrayal of his love, and had lost his position as Azure Yang Lord, he had entered a sinkhole, happening to chance on the traces of the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner.

Not only did Azure Yang Lord receive the Sword Intent from that strike, he had also discovered the other half of the pure Yang broken sword. It was also because of his discoveries that eventually strayed into the world where the Tian Yuan world resided.

The same strike, in the hands of the Azure Yang Lord, lacked the power of the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner.

Back then, when the Pure Yang Sword Palace killed the Bronze Ancient God, it was really a strike that chopped a Great World off.

Such a magnificent scene made Yi Yun guess something. He had previously guessed that since the world that the Tian Yuan world resided in was sealed by the ancient gods, could those so-called “ancient gods” have anything to do with the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner?

As for the bronze ancient giant that was killed by the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner, could he be the same entity as the one sealed in the eternal whirlpool?

If the bronze giant, that was killed by the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner, had been sealed in the eternal whirlpool, there would be many questions that would be answered.

These thoughts resonated in Yi Yun’s mind, but no matter what the truth was, they were too far from Yi Yun.

“Fallen Star Gate, is this where you are taking me?”

Lin Xintong was well-learned. She even knew about the core of Meteorite Abyss which was Fallen Star Gate.

“It’s here. Back then, I discovered an ancient sword palace in Fallen Star Gate. However, I was only able to look around the exterior of the sword palace. I couldn’t even enter the depths of the sword palace.”

Sword palace?

Lin Xintong was momentarily stunned. And at that moment, she and Yi Yun had reached the deep depths of Fallen Star Gate, entering the inferno sea.

Yi Yun knew pure Yang laws and he had the Purple Crystal. It was extremely easy for him to enter the inferno sea. Later on, Yi Yun activated the Nine Nine as One array in the deepest depths of Fallen Star Gate, opening the door to the independent world.

When she saw the ancient bronze door open, feeling the forceful power from the door, as if it contained the worldly energy that came from universe’s origins of Great Dao, Lin Xintong was completely stunned.

To think that such a forbidden land had a sealed world. And in this world stood an ancient sword palace?

Around Lin Xintong, there were endless colorful flames that curled towards the door, as if a hundred phoenixes were flying to the sun.

As Lin Xintong stood in the middle of this vast energy, her hair began to fly up. As she looked at the world, she saw mountains truncated off, dried up rivers, as well as immortal palaces that had collapsed and a countless number of ruins.

It was a broken world, a world chopped off forcefully by a mighty figure.

At the ends of the world, Lin Xintong could see a mountain peak that pierced the sky like a blade. On the mountain peak stood a mysterious immortal palace. That was the only immortal palace that was still intact in this broken world.

The immortal palace emitted a faint glow. When Lin Xintong accompanied Yi Yun in his flight towards the immortal palace, she saw the large sword scar behind the immortal palace. The sword scar seemed to separate this world into two.

More than a decade ago, Yi Yun had entered the Pure Yang Sword Palace, awakening the Sword Spirit guarding the sword palace. It had told Yi Yun back then that if he really wanted to enter the depths of the Pure Yang Sword Palace, he had to first understand the Sword Intent left behind by the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner. Back then, the Sword Spirit believed that it was too difficult for Yi Yun to gain any insight into the Sword Intent. It did not have any hope.

Yi Yun also knew that back then that it was impossible for him to pass the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s test. But now, after more than ten years later, Yi Yun had once again appeared, hoping to attempt at entering the inner sanctum of the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

689 - : Returning to Meteorite Abyss

CKtalon  CKtalon

Without mentioning the inner sanctum of the Pure Yang Sword Palace, just outside it, there were several vestiges that one could comprehend from on the mountain.

A Seven Kills Stone Pillar that was suspected to be the work of the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner contained an intensely powerful Sword Intent.

Established Seven Kills Stone Pillar, announcing my will! Awaiting the future, collapse of Heavenly Dao, the non-existence of the universe, me as the world, control over life and death, destroying the cycle of reincarnation, obtaining the souls of everything, casting my sword, spilling my immortal blood, obliterating evil demons! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!

The stone pillar emanated a staggering amount of killing aura that prevented people from looking at it straight. There were fifty-six words and every single word had a deep concept within it. If any insight could be gained from it, it would be a stunning opportunity.

Lin Xintong was also a sword user, so the moment she saw the Seven Kills Stone Pillar, she could not move her eyes from it.

However, it was unfortunate that her Heart of the Sword and her cultivation level prevented her from looking straight at Seven Kills Stone Pillar for long. The Sword Intent in the stone pillar nearly caused her slashing injuries.

After about thirty seconds of looking, Lin Xintong felt as if her eyes were being stabbed by needles that resulted in excruciating pain.

In front of Seven Kills Stone Pillar, there was a black stone statue. The statue was carved in the form of a tall and large middle-aged man. As for who the sculpture was supposed to be, Yi Yun did not know. He felt that it had to be the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner, but years ago, the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner that he saw in the dream-like state was somewhat different from this person.

“Let’s enter first. There’s no hurry to trying to comprehend it.”

With Yi Yun saying that, Lin Xintong nodded. She followed Yi Yun to step in front of the Pure Yang Sword Palace. The simple entrance had signs of it having experiencing a long passage of time, yet, it still contained powerful sentiments that was quite alarming.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong stood in front of the door, and with a flash, they were sucked in directly.

There was no test of their comprehension towards Sword Dao to enter the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s first door. Back then, Yi Yun had easily entered, and he found the pure Yang broken sword in the hall behind the door.

This sword had accompanied Yi Yun all the way to now, helping him to fight off his enemies numerous times.

“Senior Sword Spirit? Senior Sword Spirit?” Yi Yun called out in the large hall.

More than ten years ago, Yi Yun had entered the Pure Yang Sword Palace, awakening the Sword Spirit that guarded the large hall. Back then, the Sword Spirit was extremely weak. It only exchanged a few words with Yi Yun before returning to its slumber. It had also said that once it entered its slumber, it would not know when it would wake up again.

The hall remained empty, with no response from the Sword Spirit.

Yi Yun called out a few more times before sighing softly. The Sword Palace’s Sword Spirit was probably too weak. He also did not want to disturb the Sword Spirit’s slumber, so he stopped in front of the second large door in the hall.

It was this large door that sealed off Yi Yun’s path into the inner sanctums of the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

As for what was inside the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s inner sanctums, Yi Yun had no idea.

In fact, the first time he came to the Pure Yang Sword Palace, other than receiving the broken sword, as well as gaining some Sword Intent from the sword scar outside Pure Yang Sword Palace, he had not received any other opportunities.

Furthermore, the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner was the strongest expert in Yi Yun’s current knowledge of the world, a power far exceeding his comprehension in scope. The immortal cave left behind by him must have treasures that went beyond his imagination.

Yi Yun stood in front of that mysterious ancient door that seemed to seal another world behind it.

He did not know how to open the door, but according to what the Sword Spirit said, a test of his insights into Sword Intent that was necessary to enter the inner sanctums of the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

However, how was his degree of Sword Intent comprehension going be measured? It couldn’t be him brandishing his sword to slash at the door, right?

The Sword Spirit was already deep in slumber. Without anyone to ask, he could only search by himself.

“Xintong, go outside the Sword Palace, and try to study the Seven Kills Stone Pillar and the sword scar. I’ll be here to search for a way to enter the inner sanctums of the sword palace.”

When it came to the “Great Empress Heart Sutra”, Lin Xintong’s attainment was naturally higher than Yi Yun.

When it came to pure Yang and pure Yin laws, their insights were most likely about equal.

But when it came to Sword Dao, Yi Yun was superior to Lin Xintong. Lin Xintong came from the Lin family, and throughout her growing years, the heritage and outlook she received was restricted. She did not come into contact with any profound Sword Dao, while Yi Yun had the Pure Yang Sword Palace, so it was completely different.

If he could not figure out a way to enter the inner sanctums of the Pure Yang Sword Palace, then keeping Lin Xintong here would be pointless since she would also not be able to figure anything out.

He might as well let Lin Xintong stay outside the Pure Yang Sword Palace to comprehend the Seven Kills Stone Pillar and the sword scar. It was more beneficial for her.

“Alright.”

Lin Xintong exited the Pure Yang Sword Palace, leaving Yi Yun alone in the large hall.

Yi Yun was momentarily at a loss. He did not know where to begin. He silently circled the hall once, eventually stopping at the door leading to the second level. He stood there motionlessly for a very long time.

As he looked at the door, he slowly got engrossed with it.

The door was made of an unknown material. It appeared to be like metal or stone, but it wasn’t both either. And the door’s surface was not smooth. It had a slight texture to it, like water streaks.

As Yi Yun grew more and more focused, the water streaks turned more and more obvious. Slowly, it spread in all directions, swallowing Yi Yun.

With a bright flash, Yi Yun felt his surroundings suddenly change. As he looked around him, he realized that he was no longer in the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s hall. He had come to a vast world of whiteness.

The world was blank, resembling flickering lights. And in the lights, there was a white figure. As Yi Yun focused his eyes, the white figure looked like a white dragon!

White dragon?

Yi Yun was slightly stunned. Before he could clearly see the white dragon’s looks, it had shrunk into a ball. As the light focused together, the white dragon transformed into a white-dressed youth.

The white-dressed youth held a white sword of light. His build was very similar to Yi Yun, and he had handsome features. However, on careful look, it did not seem possible to see what he looked like clearly.

“You are… ”

Yi Yun held his breath. He could sense a killing aura from the sword-wielding youth.

Without a word, the white-dressed youth suddenly attacked.

With the white sword of light in hand, he slashed out. The sword beam from this strike was like a river that led to the heavens, completely filling the sky before it poured down at Yi Yun!

Yi Yun was alarmed. He was already on the alert before this, so he instantly made his move!

He slashed out with the pure Yang broken sword. Behind Yi Yun, his Golden Crow Aspect Totem screeched.

If the white-dressed youth’s sword was like a river of stars falling from the sky, then Yi Yun’s sword was a Golden Crow charging into the sky, burning the heavens!

Boom!

The two sword beams clashed, resulting in a tumultuous tremble, shaking the universe. The youth’s sword beam was too powerful, so despite Yi Yun’s Golden Crow charging through the river of stars by hundreds of thousands of feet, it could not reach the end. The limitless sword beam extinguished all of Yi Yun’s sword Qi!

Yi Yun was awed as he forcefully gathered energy, slashing his sword horizontally, producing his second strike!

“Chi La!”

The sword beam was like a waterfall, splitting the sword Qi river apart!

The powerful sword Qi produced by the youth surged down like river water on either side of Yi Yun, hitting the ground.

As the ground trembled, it hit Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi. The intense energy caused Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi to crack slightly.

However, just as Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi was about to shatter, his sword Qi was also exhausted, finally coming to a stop.

Yi Yun exhaled. He looked at the youth who was still standing straight with sword in hand. His blade was tilted diagonally to the ground as if he had not moved.

What a powerful strike!

Yi Yun’s heart quivered. He could tell that the amount of energy contained in the youth’s strike was not that much, and it was even weaker than his.

What he was truly strong at was in his Sword Intent. The strike he produced had an undying aura. No matter how much energy was in the slash that he produced, it would be gradually dissipated.

The white-dressed youth looked at Yi Yun and suddenly said, “Go back, you are unqualified.”

His voice was cold and arrogant, with a tone of unwavering doubt.

When Yi Yun heard this, his heart sank. Unqualified?

Without a doubt, the white-dressed youth’s strike was a test. As the Sword Spirit said, only one who had sufficient comprehension of Sword Dao would one be able to enter the inner sanctums of the Pure Yang Sword Palace, or else they would be turned away at the door.

More than ten years ago, Yi Yun had been turned away at a door. And more than ten years later, Yi Yun had gained insight into various Sword Dao laws, and his cultivation realm had greatly increased. But at his first return to the Pure Yang Sword Palace, the answer of the first stage was… unqualified!

Yi Yun puffed with a sigh. It was impossible to say that he was not depressed, but he was not discouraged. Ever since he came to this world, he had started in the poor and backward Cloud Wilderness. He too had nothing back then, without any strength to do a thing.

But slowly, he took step after step, walking out of the Cloud Wilderness, achieving what he had today.

He said to the white-dressed youth, “I will come again. My insights into Sword Dao may be insufficient at present, but there will be a day when I will have the qualifications to step here.”

The youth gave Yi Yun a cold look and said without a trace of emotion, “You have no special affinity with swords. Hard work is only futile. You might not know that your age has already surpassed the requirement. Go back. You won’t be able to pass the test, nor are you suitable!”

The youth was completely unreasonable. His coldness was itself a form of arrogance.

And he indeed had the qualifications to be arrogant.

Yi Yun frowned. This youth had predicted his future achievements, so how could he be convinced?

His future martial path was to be decided by himself. However, at this very moment, he was indeed no match for the youth. He had no other options since he said that he was unqualified.

He took a deep breath and he was about to exit this world, but at that moment, a weak and old voice echoed.

“Wait a moment, let him stay… ”

“Oh?”

The youth frowned and looked at the void not far away.

There, water streaks appeared out of thin air, slowly coagulating, forming the vestige of an elder.

The elder was dressed in gray, looking like he was approaching death as he seemed extremely weak. He looked at the white-dressed youth and said once again, “Let him stay.”

Yi Yun was very familiar with this voice. He knew that this gray-dressed elder was the Pure Yang Sword Palace Sword Spirit that he had encountered in the Pure Yang Sword Palace more than ten years ago.

690 - : You’re Unqualified

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Sword Spirit, who had entered deep slumber years ago, had awoken once again.

However, it was still as weak as ever. Sleep could only slow its decline, but it could not recover its energy.

The Sword Spirit’s words did not seem to change the youth’s decision. He insisted, “According to our Master’s standards, he does not have the qualifications to stay.”

“The Master’s standards… ” The Sword Spirit sighed and shook his head. “That standard is too high… To be at the large success stage of Sword Intent before the age of twenty, and to comprehend the Heart of the Sword before the age of hundred… ”

“This standard was indeed set by our Master, but it was established based on the 12 Empyrean Heavens back then, provided that one had a powerful master, and had perfect heritage. In this lower realm, how can there be such things… In this desolate land, to have such a successor is already great luck… ”

“Chibai, we do not have much time left. Even if we rely on sleep, it will just extend our lifespans by a few million years or ten million years. Do you really believe that we will be able to find a successor who can be at the large success stage of Sword Intent before the age of twenty in that period of time?”

The white-dressed youth might look young, but in fact, the amount of time that he had lived was not much shorter than the Sword Spirit. It was because the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s companion sword had been broken, causing the Sword Spirit to be severely injured. As such, he had to sleep in the Pure Yang Sword Palace, which made him look even weaker. As for the white-dressed youth, he was the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s Temple Spirit. Although his lifespan was longer than the Sword Spirit’s, it was not that much longer.

The gray-dressed elder’s words made the youth frown. He was arrogant and cold. To him, the rules set by the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner was everything.

And in fact, the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner had never thought of leaving the Pure Yang Sword Palace in a lower realm. It was easier said than done finding a successor in the lower realm.

Seeing the youth not speak, the Sword Spirit looked at Yi Yun. More than ten years ago, he had understood Yi Yun’s strength very well. Back then, Yi Yun had never used a sword, yet, now, he had today’s achievements. Although he had not completely reached the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s standards, with his background and the amount of time he had been practicing martial arts, the achievements he had attained was stunning.

“Although you have failed to meet the owner’s standards, for tens of thousands of years, we have only managed to wait for you. Tens of millions of years ago, the Pure Yang Sword Palace received a visitor. He cultivated pure Yang laws and he was a sword user. It could be said that his talent was excellent, but unfortunately, he was too old. He far exceeded the upper limits of the age demanded by our Master. He already had his own Sword Dao and Martial Dao. His life potential had also been mostly used up. It was very difficult for him to inherit the inheritance. So, we gave up on him… ”

“As for you, you can be considered to be a piece of white paper. Although your foundation is weak, it has a lot of room for growth. For us to manage to wait for your arrival, we probably do not have time left to carry on waiting… ”

The Sword Spirit’s words stunned Yi Yun.

What? Tens of millions of years ago, another person had come to Pure Yang Sword Palace?

Yi Yun knew that discovering and entering the Pure Yang Sword Palace was not easy. Even Yi Yun himself, together with the Purple Crystal, managed to break through the Nine Nine As One array through a certain amount of luck to enter this world.

That person had the ability to enter the Pure Yang Sword Palace and cultivated pure Yang laws and swords… Could he be… Azure Yang Lord?

On careful thought, it could only be him.

Even the Azure Yang Lord had been rejected by the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun was secretly horrified. However, upon careful thought, it was understandable. If the Azure Yang Lord was a beautifully piece of wood carving, the wood carving was already formed, so it was very difficult to change it any further.

As for himself, he came from a poor background. In all the cultivation he had, a lot of standards never reached a proper level, yet he was still a uncarved, rough piece of wood. He still had a lot of room for growth.

The Sword Spirit had already decided on Yi Yun, but the white-dressed youth was still frowning. He seemed like a perfectionist. Picking a successor that did not match his ideals caused a knot in his heart.

As the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s Temple Spirit, he naturally had a greater right to decide on a successor.

He refused to choose Yi Yun, but he also had to admit that the Sword Spirit had a point.

He looked deeply at Yi Yun and he did not wish to speak to Yi Yun any further. He turned around and left.

As his figure turned dim, he disappeared into the white and empty void.

Yi Yun gave a wry smile. The Temple Spirit could not even be bothered to speak to him.

“Don’t mind him. Chibai and I are far from what we were in the past. We just want to see this piece of world vibrant once again. We are indignant about it while lingering on our last breaths. My sleep is not for recovery. It is just to extend the tiny bit of useful time in the lifespan that I have left to find a successor. Although I don’t have any hopes, I still have the hope that maybe one day, this divine palace will be restored to its former glory, even if the chances are a tenth… ” As the Sword Spirit spoke, he sighed.

He had decided on Yi Yun, while the youth had reluctantly acquiesced to this.

As such, Yi Yun’s identity as successor was decided.

“Senior, I have a question. How far am I away from the standards of the Sword Palace’s successor?” Yi Yun wanted to know the gap that he had. He wanted to know what it meant to “be at the large success stage of Sword Intent before the age of twenty, and to comprehend the Heart of the Sword before the age of hundred”.

The Sword Spirit said, “Sword Dao is one of the 3000 Great Dao in martial arts. A warrior’s understanding of Sword Dao is divided into realms by itself. However, in this world, due to the limitations of its heritage, it does not have any system of Sword Dao, nor is there any divisive realms in Sword Dao.”

The realms of the sword begins with gaining insight into Sword Intent, followed by condensing one’s Heart of the Sword, then tempering one’s Sword Soul, and finally creating the Heavenly Dao of the Sword.”

“In these four large realms, there are smaller realms dividing them, being the Initial Stage, Small Success Stage, Large Success Stage and Perfection. There aren’t many realms, but just breaking through one realm is extremely difficult. Those who consider themselves Kings in the 12 Empyrean Heavens are usually in the Initial Stages of Sword Soul. As for the final Heavenly Dao of the Sword, that is our Master’s realm. Even our Master failed to reach the peak of Sword Dao.”

“Of course, the path of martial arts number in the thousands. Sword Dao is just one of them, and there is no need to specifically choose the Sword Dao. Other Great Dao can equally allow a person to reach the position of a mighty expert. As for your current realm in the way of the sword, you are barely considered to be at the Small Success Stage of Sword Intent… ”

The successor of the Pure Yang Sword Palace was required to reach the Large Success Stage of Sword Intent before the age of twenty, or achieve Heart of the Sword before the age of hundred.

Yi Yun was already twenty years old when he entered reclusion in the God Advent Tower. He had already failed the first condition, but Yi Yun wanted to achieve the second condition of cultivating the Heart of the Sword before the age of hundred.

The white-dressed youth’s disregard for himself was because he was weak. Although Yi Yun had nothing to say about that, he still felt like he was suppressing some anger in his heart.

He had been painstakingly cultivating for more than ten years and he had yet to meet the criteria of the Pure Yang Sword Palace. He only became the “better than nothing” successor because Chibai and the gray-dressed elder had little lifespan left.

However, Yi Yun would not sell himself short because of this.

His path was still long. He had come from the Cloud Wilderness where he could not even have a meal. There was no point even mentioning the geniuses from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, just a genius in a small family clan in the Tian Yuan world was enough to show the huge disparity.

He had come from the lowest possible background, taking step after step to this day. He might be lacking in qualifications now, but it did not mean that he was any less or that he would be inferior all his life.

He was unable to decide on his starting point, but how far his ending point could go to, it was all decided by him.

When the Sword Spirit saw how quickly Yi Yun swept away the dark clouds in his heart, he also nodded silently.

As a swordsman, to cultivate one’s Heart of the Sword, one had to persevere and move forward fiercely.

With one’s heart bent on martial arts, seeking one’s Dao, only such a person had the true qualifications to pursue martial arts.

“Follow me, I’ll take you into the inner sanctums of the Pure Yang Sword Palace.” The Sword Spirit said.

Just as he finished speaking, Yi Yun was faced with blurriness. After a moment of haziness, he was standing in front of that large door once again, as if he had never taken a single step.

And at that moment, the runes on the door began to light up. It began to tremble, rumbling as it opened. The Pure Yang Sword Palace that had been sealed for countless numbers of years had finally opened for Yi Yun…

691 - : The Realms of the Sword

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the Sword Spirit walking in front, they stepped through the large door of the sword palace. The light from inside the door fluctuated, forming curtains of light. Passing through this curtain of light felt like going through thin layers of mercury.

“Junior, the sword palace is divided into a few major parts. Although you have barely obtained the recognition of Chibai and me, according to the rules that Master set, you lack the qualifications to enter a large number of zones in this sword palace. Now, you can enter the Dao Enlightenment Hall and Heavenly Construct Hall. Dao Enlightenment Hall is the core of the sword palace, and now, I’ll take you there.”

As the Sword Spirit spoke, he passed through the final curtain of light. When all the light disappeared, Yi Yun’s vision suddenly opened. He found himself on a grassland.

There was lush grass everywhere and it seemed boundless. There were white clouds floating in the sky, and the bright sun shined. Winding rivers meandered around the grasslands, as the river water reflected the sunlight, scattering it in like emerald fragments.

This grassland was an independent space. Many immortal palaces and caves might appear like a small hill from the outside, but upon entering, they were a world of their own. Those ancient mighty figures who could refine such immortal residences could even refine an entire small world in the immortal residence. Together with various large arrays that gathered Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, it would fill this tiny world with spirituality. It was possible to plant herbs and rear spirit beasts in them. It was really like one’s very own world.

The vast grass plains had wormwood that was not higher than one’s knee. They grew very close together, and despite existing for so long, they resembled an army. They did not grow in a haphazard manner, which was quite amazing.

And in the middle of this grassland, Yi Yun saw a tree.

This was an ancient tree, and when Yi Yun saw what it looked like clearly, he was utterly amazed.

This tree was not tall, it was only about twice the height of a person. The roots looked ancient and strong, as they twisted around, looking like a old coiled dragon.

The tree’s canopy was not dense. It had very few leaves, and they were even easily countable if one wished. However, the shape of the leaves were all very special. They looked like tiny swords.

The leaves were green and they rustled gently in the wind, reflecting the warm sunlight. It was as if every leaf had a life of its own.

“This tree… ”

Before approaching this ancient tree, Yi Yun could already sense its extraordinariness.

“This is a Dao Tree.” The Sword Spirit said. “It has existed for so long that it is impossible to validate how long it has been alive. When Master discovered it back then, it had already condensed a Dao. In this world, there are odd worldly items. They were born in the primal chaos, and they were nearly born at the same time as Great Worlds, or even the universe.”

“After their appearance, they would condense the Heavenly Dao, and over many years, become God Spirits.”

“This Dao Tree you are looking at is a God Spirit.”

God Spirit? Yi Yun was stunned. What was a God Spirit? It was quite vague.

The former Desolate Queen had said that the ancient gods had sealed the world that the Tian Yuan world resided in years ago, but Yi Yun guessed that so-called ancient God Spirits were just more powerful warriors.

“Why do you say that this Dao Tree is a God Spirit? Is it very powerful?” Yi Yun asked. The first impression that a God Spirit gave was immense power. Only the strong could become a god.

The Sword Spirit said, “This Dao Tree is indeed powerful, however to what extent its power is, I do not know. This is because over the many years, I have never seen it make a move…”

Oh?

Yi Yun was dumbfounded. “It’s powerful, but it doesn’t make a move? Why is that so?”

“It might because there is nothing in this world that requires it to make a move. It doesn’t have any consciousness, it’s just standing here in between the Heavens and Earth.”

“It doesn’t have any consciousness?”

Yi Yun was even more dumbfounded. When he first heard that the Dao Tree was a God Spirit, he thought that it could transform, such as changing into the shape of a human. As for generating consciousness, that was nothing spectacular. Even some primordial herbs that grew in the Divine Wilderness could produce some elementary consciousnesses after a prolonged period of time.

However, as a God Spirit, the Dao Tree did not have any consciousness at all.

The Sword Spirit sighed and said, “The ways of the world are full of vicissitudes, and in it, there is the grief at separation and joy in union, the suffering of life and death. No matter how thick a history book is, it would not be able to record everything down. However, it is such infinite matters of the past that can pass by with a finger snap. In one’s old age, while looking back at the past, only then would you feel like everything was ephemeral.”

“For the Dao Tree to not be able to produce consciousness is actually an advantage for it. As such, it would not be lost in the kindness and enmity of the mortal world, reaching the true state of being without joy or sorrow.”

“What’s considered the thoroughly awakened domain is not to see through the ways of mortals, it is to have a heart like that of the Heavens and Earth, with one’s Dao the same as nature. It is because of these that this Dao Tree can condense its body into Dao, becoming a God Spirit.”

The moment the Sword Spirit said those words, it made Yi Yun shocked and distraught. To have one’s heart like that of the Heavens and Earth, with one’s Dao the same as nature… What the Sword Spirit said seemed to be a truth in itself.

What was said was not a cultivation technique, nor was it some secret manual, but just coming to understand it made Yi Yun feel like his own Dao heart had turned clearer.

This was the philosophy of the Dao Tree becoming a God.

“So… ” The Sword Spirit carried on saying, “The Dao Tree might be powerful, but it is not because it is powerful that allows it to be called a God Spirit. It is a God Spirit because it had condensed the way of the Heavenly Dao, or it could be said that it itself is a Great Dao. It has existed for such a long period of time, far exceeding Chibai’s or my lifespan. And in the future, when the both of us die, it would carry on existing, all the way till the Dao that it had condensed is extinguished.”

“As for how long that will take, I do not know. Even if it might not be the same age as the Heavens and Earth, it is probably not that far off… ”

When the Sword Spirit finished saying this, he looked at Yi Yun. “If you are able to condense your Great Dao, casting your life into a Dao itself, then the Heavenly Dao is you, and you are the Heavenly Dao. You will then be able to share the same age as the Heavens and Earth, enjoying eternal life… This is also the realm of Eternal Life that most of the mighty figures of the 12 Empyrean Heavens pursue, but… ”

When the Sword Spirit said this, he shook his head. “It’s too difficult! Humans have emotions, so it is very difficult for them to completely blend with the Heavenly Dao. They would not be able to be like this tree. It does not have consciousness, it doesn’t have joy or sorrow, existing forever.”

“Thank you Senior for your teachings.” Yi Yun said humbly.

He followed the Sword Spirit and walked towards the front of the tree. As he looked up, the sky looked like it was filled with exquisite greenery, as if tiny green emerald swords were dancing in the sky.

This vast piece of land was full of indescribable laws and, comprehension. It was after all a divine tree. Not even a divine tree, even a piece of dead wood would be tempered over many years by the Great Dao, nourishing the ground into divine soil.

“Junior, this Dao Tree is the core of the immortal palace. And it is because of this Dao Tree that it’s called Dao Enlightenment Hall. Sitting under this Dao Tree will let your understanding of Dao improve by leaps and bounds. Seeking Dao enlightenment here for three days is equivalent to seeking Dao enlightenment outside for a year. Back then, Master sought Dao enlightenment here too!”

Dao Enlightenment Hall…

Only now did Yi Yun know the origins of the Dao Enlightenment Hall. Indeed, how could it not be fast sitting under a God Spirit that was condensed from the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth?

The Sword Spirit added on. “The Dao Enlightenment Hall is for you to seek Dao enlightenment, as for Heavenly Construct Hall, it has treasures that Master left behind. You can choose according to your preference one enchanted item meant for Heaven Ascension realm experts. When you break through to the Heaven Ascension realm, you can choose others. This opportunity is hard to come by, so cherish it well!”

692 - : A God Spirit

CKtalon  CKtalon

With that, Yi Yun sat under the sword palace’s Dao Tree.

It was a God Spirit, the Dao that it contained was not something understandable by mortal means. Although it was said that seeking Dao enlightenment in Dao Enlightenment Hall for three days was equivalent to seeking Dao enlightenment in the mortal world for a year, it was based on being able to fully gain enlightenment inside here.

This required extraordinary perception.

“How much enlightenment do you think he will gain?”

As Yi Yun was meditating quietly, the white-dressed youth had appeared behind the gray-dressed Sword Spirit. The Sword Spirit had asked the question without even turning his head.

“If he can gain a tiny fragment of enlightenment, it would already be pretty good. As for letting the Dao Tree resonate, such as the rustling of leaves, that is impossible… ”

The white-dressed youth shook his head gently. Yi Yun’s starting point was too low. Cultivating in the world where the Tian Yuan world resided, due to the limitations of one’s outlook, and all sorts of nomological insight, Yi Yun was just at the beginning stages. As for the way of the sword, Yi Yun had never gone through any systemic practice. All the insight he gained were just a fragmentary Sword Intent.

This Sword Intent was naturally stunning in the world where the Tian Yuan world resided, but it was far inferior compared to the true supreme Great Dao.

And this Dao Tree was such a supreme Great Dao. Even if Divine Lords from the 12 Empyrean Heavens sat here, they had to quieten down their hearts to carefully seek enlightenment just to gain a tiny beat. This far exceeded Yi Yun’s realm and knowledge.

“For a baby, who has just learned to crawl, suddenly forced to learn how to jump, he will naturally fall very badly.” Chibai shook his head and left.

The gray-dressed elder did not say a word. He only looked at Yi Yun with a sparkle in his eyes that no one could understood.

The Dao Tree had a total of 3000 leaves. Every leaf contained a different Dao.

When a Dao-enlightenment seeker sat under the tree to gain enlightenment, the Dao Tree would resonate only if he truly gained some insights.

When one’s insights reached an extraordinary realm, the Dao Tree’s leaves would rustle in the wind, as if responding to the Dao-enlightenment seeker’s pursuit of enlightenment.

And if it went another stage further, people whose enlightenment were even deeper could even make the leaves generate phenomena. The surface of the leaves would be hallowed in light as every vein in the leaf would light up. This was the glow condensed from Great Dao, and that would be extremely rare.

The more insight one gained, the stronger the glow would be. However, even such a phenomena was a very difficult outcome even for the geniuses that come from the major factions of the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

When the glow reached its extremes, it will spontaneously condense into Dao runes, circulating around the Dao Tree in a dance, with the sounds of chanting. That sound was a result of the condensation of Great Dao, and the Dao runes would even land, and condense in the Dao-enlightenment seeker’s body. This was a peerless opportunity for the Dao-enlightenment seeker.

This was one realm further ahead, and even peerless elites would fail to become such Dao-enlightenment seekers.

Of course, the gray-dressed elder did not have such expectations to find such a successor. That was something nearly impossible.

…

Yi Yun ignored the Sword Spirit’s focused attention, because his mind was completely immersed in the process of seeking enlightenment.

Sitting under the Dao Tree, he felt like everything around him had distanced away from him. His body seemed like it was immersed in a vast ocean.

Every drop of seawater was a condensation of Dao.

His eyes were tightly closed together, but another pair of “eyes” slowly opened.

Warriors could use their “heart” to view the world, also known as Eye of the Heart. By using one’s Eye of the Heart to view the world, one could communicate with the Heaven and Earth, and seek enlightenment in Dao.

And Yi Yun’s Eye of the Heart not only had his insights, because in his heart was the Purple Crystal sleeping. The Purple Crystal was already a part of Yi Yun’s body. With the existence of the Purple Crystal, by using his Eye of the Heart to view the world, it was also viewing the world through the Purple Crystal.

In the Purple Crystal’s vision, he was surrounded by colorful streams of light. And in these streams of light, there were sparkling Dao runes darting through the light in a fleeting fashion.

Above Yi Yun, the ancient tree towered into the heavens. It was extremely tall. It was much taller than the actual body of the Dao Tree Yi Yun saw.

As the breeze blew, the leaves rustled. Yi Yun could hear the sound that every single leaf produced very clearly. This Dao Tree was fully integrated with the Heaven and Earth. It was the Heaven and Earth itself, and Yi Yun was outside this world. He was just a passerby.

Thousands of years of life and death passed with a finger snap. Not only humans, even the other billions of lifeforms were just passers-bys to the Heaven and Earth.

Yi Yun listened to the wind and to the rustling leaves, as his thoughts were fully immersed in the Purple Crystal.

Suddenly, Yi Yun seemed to have a pair of eyes that could penetrate through everything as his gaze landed on the Dao Tree.

There were runic patterns on every lead on the Dao Tree which Yi Yun saw very clearly. Yi Yun could even use his vision to penetrate the tree bark, and see the growth rings in the trunk.

This was something even elites from the 12 Empyrean Heavens could not do.

The ancient tree rings circled again and again, a condensation of Great Dao itself.

Over countless years would one tree ring be formed.

“Three thousand tree leaves, 108 tree rings.”

Yi Yun saw through it all, but when he tried to see the energy flow trajectories in the tree rings and the Dao runes they contained, he felt like his spiritual energies were rapidly depleted.

This had never happened before. Back then, Yi Yun had used his Purple Crystal’s energy vision to see through all Origin energy flows, and the rules that governed the flow of energy were laws themselves. Hence, Yi Yun could easily see through the Great Dao laws. It was the same back in the sword tomb and the Great Empress mystic realm.

However, today, Yi Yun found his spiritual energy failing to hold up while watching the energy flow.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and cut the Purple Crystal’s energy vision off. He was in no hurry.

Even if he saw it once clearly, with enough time, he would be able to see the 3000 leaves and 108 tree rings in their entirety.

As the Dao charms gently flowed, the breeze blew at the tree leaves, emitting rustling sounds of Great Dao. This was the truth of Life, and everything that the Dao Tree had seen while standing here for the endless ages.

Yi Yun immediately felt his body being impacted by a surge, as if he was in the rolling rivers of time. Without being able to do a thing, he rolled away.

The more a passer-by peeped, the more he would not be able to withstand the accumulated insights over the endless years.

As the waves tumbled, after an unknown period of time, Yi Yun recovered his spiritual energy again and again. He struggled to peep, seeing each leaf’s Dao runes sporadically.

Seeing them clearly was one thing, but to gain any insights from them was very difficult!

Yi Yun suddenly understood that a passer-by was just a passer-by. The amount of insights gained would be extremely limited. It was all borrowed from the Dao Tree.

Seeking enlightenment through the Dao Tree’s Dao, and seeing through the Dao Tree’s runic patterns did not mean that it would become his own.

Then what should he do?

Yi Yun suddenly recalled the time he cultivated the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”. He had used the Purple Crystal to see through the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique”‘s picture of the sun.

The “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” may be low in quality, but after Yi Yun entered the Great Empress mystic realm, he learned that the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” had a tinge of connection with the Azure Yang Lord. And the Azure Yang Lord’s Dao came from the “Yang God Manual”, and the “Yang God Manual” was truly one of the 12 supreme Great Dao formed at the very beginning of the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Although the “Tai Ah Sacred Technique” was no longer worthy for Yi Yun to gain any further insights into it, the method that Yi Yun used to gain the insights from the picture of the sun back then was not necessarily unusable. And that was… copying.

693 - : Eye of the Heart

CKtalon  CKtalon

By using the energy he controlled to copy again and again, he could copy the Dao runes that he saw.

When the Dao runes were completely copied, by bringing it into his life, it would become his own Dao.

“The Dao Tree has been in existence for billions of years. It has made its body the Dao itself, while I have the Purple Crystal. Why don’t I try making the Purple Crystal turn into a Dao Tree itself? When that happens, I will be Dao itself too. The Dao charms I produce could even be used for others to gain insight in… ”

Yi Yun suddenly came up with this idea. This idea was extremely crazy. Even the Dao lords of the 12 Empyrean Heavens were in constant pursuit of this realm.

To have one’s body be Dao itself was seemingly just a legend. Although countless numbers of people pursued it, in the entire history of the 12 Empyrean Heavens, no one had succeeded in doing so.

Yi Yun’s cultivation level was still very low, yet he had suddenly came up with such an idea. And after that, he could no longer repress this idea, as it started to grow wildly like weeds.

If others were to know of his idea, they would mock him. However, with the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun could control all the energy in the Heavens and Earth, so that might not be an impossibility…

He controlled his own energies, slowly condensing Dao runes.

As he looked at the Dao Tree’s leaves, again and again, Yi Yun immersed himself gradually.

He felt like he had become the leaves himself. And he sensed the lushness of the Dao Tree and the blowing breeze.

His thoughts slowly emptied out. Tree leaves sprouted in spring, and wilted in autumn. Their lifespans were as short as human. Tree leaves did not experience sadness or pain, they would just gently move along with the wind.

It was unknown how much time passed as Yi Yun sat silently under the tree. Other than the occasional breeze ruffling through his hair, he did not move one bit.

The Sword Spirit was still waiting in Dao Enlightenment Hall. He sat in meditation, occasionally opening his eyes to glance at Yi Yun. However, Yi Yun was sitting there like a statue, with nothing changing.

The white-dressed youth would come take a look at Yi Yun once in awhile. Seeing Yi Yun sitting there meditating without any signs of progress and there not being any phenomenon from the Dao Tree, he too was a bit disappointed.

Although he did not think highly of Yi Yun, Yi Yun was still considered to be the successor of the Pure Yang Sword Palace. He still wished Yi Yun would have some improvement, at least so that he would not embarrass his Master when Yi Yun went out into the world.

However, up to now, he did not know if Yi Yun had gained any insight, or how much was gained.

“It’s already been three months. Although it’s said that three days in Dao Enlightenment Hall is equivalent to a year, that means he has been seeking enlightenment for 30 years.”

The white-dressed youth shook his head, while the gray-dressed Sword Spirit said with a smile, “You also know that that only by gaining some insight would it really be three days as a year. And in fact, no matter who sits below the Dao Tree, they would forever not attain the speed of three days as a year. Such high speed of gaining insight would be not bad if they can maintain it for ten days.”

“Let’s just watch and see what the situation is when he wakes up.” The Sword Spirit was very optimistic, however, the youth did not not possess such a good mood. He said, “Without any phenomenon from the Dao Tree, so what if he wakes up?”

As the sun set and rose, the clouds gathered and dispersed. The grasslands that the Dao Tree grew on were just normal and ordinary life forms. Yi Yun saw the insects and worms in the grasslands spend their short lives, as new wild grass sprouted out from the soil, as the cycle of life persisted. In a state of no sorrow or joy, Yi Yun silently watched all of this.

He seemed to be a piece of leaf himself, living the life of a leaf. As Autumn came, the leaf turned yellow and with a gust of wind, he swayed and fell from the Dao Tree towards the ground.

In the process of separating from the Dao Tree, Yi Yun saw his body and the Dao Tree clearly. It seemed like he had instantly gained a lot of knowledge.

His mind was clearer than ever, as the vast Heaven and Earth suddenly seemed to expand. Yi Yun slowly regained consciousness during the falling process. He saw himself approaching the ground, and finally… he landed gently on the ground.

The feeling of being down-to-earth was also the end of Life. Hence, Yi Yun opened his eyes…

The world returned to Yi Yun’s vision once again. It was still that grassland, and still that old tree with coiling dragon-like roots. However, in Yi Yun’s eyes, everything was no longer the same…

“He has awoken!”

The Sword Spirit’s eyes lit up. He had waited for a long while, and finally, he had waited to the day that Yi Yun awakened.

“He has finally awoken.” The youth sighed. He immediately looked at the ancient Dao Tree behind Yi Yun, hoping to see some phenomenon from the Dao Tree. Although he knew that the chances were extremely slim, he still subconsciously took a look.

The ancient tree was as before, without any reactions. There was no halo formed from Great Dao, nor were there any Dao runes or chanting sounds.

Even the Dao Tree’s leaves did not rustle despite the breeze.

There was no phenomenon…

Although he had expected it, such silence and calmness was quite depressing.

The youth kept his spirits up forcefully, hoping to ask Yi Yun what insights he had gained, but at that moment, his gaze suddenly froze.

He saw… under the gentle breeze, a leaf connected to the Dao Tree slowly fell like a falling leaf in Autumn.

It left the tree branch simply and like a green butterfly, it fluttered in the wind, and after a few spirals, it dropped towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun did not lift his head, as if he already knew about the leaf.

He gently raised his hand, with his palm facing up. With that, the leaf gently landed in the middle of Yi Yun’s palm.

This scene was similar to when he was seeking enlightenment, where Yi Yun’s body was a leaf. At the final instant of his life, he had landed on the soil. It was light and silent. This was the falling leaf’s return to its maker.

However, this simple scene stunned the white-dressed youth completely. And beside him, the Sword Spirit also stood up immediately.

The two of them remained motionless like sculptures, looking at the fallen leaf in Yi Yun’s hand.

The Dao Tree shedded a leaf?

The Dao Tree had 3000 Dao Leaves, which had never changed in all these years. In fact, years ago, the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner had used the grassland where the Dao Tree grew as a blueprint to construct the Pure Yang Sword Palace. And back then, the Dao Tree already had 3000 Dao Leaves, all the way until now…

The Sword Spirit looked at the tree’s crown, and he realized that on the tree branch, a tiny shoot had sprouted up to replace the fallen leaf.

The shedding of one Leaf was met with the birth of a sprout. This was something that he had never seen despite the endless years he had been guarding the Dao Tree.

But today, it had happened.

It was naturally not a coincidence that the fallen leaf fell into Yi Yun’s palm.

Yi Yun’s Dao-enlightenment seeking did not cause the Dao Tree to exhibit any phenomenon, except for the shedding of a leaf. Why did this happen?

Be it the Sword Spirit or Chibai, the Temple Spirit, they were not true lifeforms. Their understanding of Dao were established the moment they came into existence. It was the Dao insights that their creator gave to them.

They could not understand why the Dao Tree shedded a leaf.

At that moment, Yi Yun gently pinched the leaf’s petiole, as the lead slowly swirled in Yi Yun’s hand like a tiny fan.

Falling… Birth…

Yi Yun looked up to the bud on the tree branch and he gently held the leaf in his palm. Although it had withered, the leaf was still as green as ever…

694 - : Fallen Leaf

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What exactly happened… ?”

The Sword Spirit looked at the fallen leaf in Yi Yun’s hand and murmured. He was still in shock.

As for the white-dressed youth, he had taken brisk steps forward to stand in front of Yi Yun.

“Let me take a look!”

Without any explanation, the youth stretched out his hand to grab Yi Yun’s leaf. It wasn’t that he was trying to steal it from Yi Yun, it was because this matter was too unbelievable. However, this action of his made his palm feel an intense burning sensation, as if the leaf was a ball of fire. When he grabbed the leaf, his palm was burnt.

The youth’s facial muscles twitched and he could only retract his hand.

He stared frustratingly at the leaf. The Dao Tree was spiritual, so the Dao Leaf was spiritual too. He could not touch the Leaf apparently because he had not gained the recognition of the Dao Leaf.

However, Yi Yun was a young man whose Sword Dao had only reached the Small Success Stage of Sword Intent. To euphemistically put it, he was a genius of a lower realm. To put it bluntly, he was a country bumpkin. Yet, he had gained recognition of the Dao Leaf.

As for himself, he was an immortal residence’s guardian Item Spirit. And the immortal residence he resided in was one of the top residences in the entire universe. This Dao Tree was a divine tree that was the foundation basis of this immortal residence.

Even being an immortal residence’s Item Spirit, he could not even pick up the foundational divine tree’s leaf. But Yi Yun, a country bumpkin, had caused the leaf to fall, automatically drifting into his palm.

How could this difference not make the youth feel a setback?

“You… How did you do it… ”

The youth seemed to not be able to accept the fact.

“Senior, I do not know either.” Yi Yun said very innocently.

Yi Yun naturally knew what had happened. Actually when the Dao Leaf fell, even Yi Yun was slightly surprised himself. He never expected that the enlightenment of a falling leaf’s life that he obtained in the spiritual world would be reflected in reality when he opened his eyes. The Dao Tree’s leaf had really fallen.

However, Yi Yun knew that the fact that the Dao Tree would wilt a leaf was most likely not because of him, but because of the Purple Crystal.

As the Purple Crystal, a worldly divine item that could control energy, was in his body, the Dao Tree’s falling of a leaf was for the Purple Crystal.

The Purple Crystal was originally equivalent to a Heavenly Dao, or it could even represent the highest Heavenly Dao laws. As for the Dao Tree, it was an amalgamation of Heavenly Dao, so the fallen leaf was not pursuing him, but Heavenly Dao.

This Dao Tree was unitary, but every leaf had their own lives. The leaves themselves would make their own choice when seeking Dao.

For a leaf to shed, and a bud to sprout, the Dao Tree did not have a reduction in leaves. The fallen leaf was like a child growing up, and leaving their parents, walking to the outside world.

With a thought from Yi Yun, the Dao Leaf suddenly merged into his body. He could clearly see that the Dao Leaf was like a piece of ice crystal that had fallen into water. It slowly melted, initially only having the middle veins left, and following that, the veins disappeared as well…

The leaf had merged into his bloodstream, and traveling through his bloodstream, entered his heart. That was where the Purple Crystal was located.

The Purple Crystal did not block the Dao Leaf. As such, the Leaf successfully entered the Purple Crystal, reforming once again in the Purple Crystal.

The emerald and crystal-like Dao Leaf was like the most beautiful jade carving, silently floating in the Purple Crystal’s space.

With a gently breeze blowing across, the Dao Tree’s branches swayed gently, rustling in the wind. It was as if it was responding to Yi Yun, and also bidding farewell to the departing Dao Leaf.

Yi Yun looked up at the Dao Tree above him. The sparse, green leafs were like crystals. There were 3000 Dao Leafs, each equivalent to the 3000 Great Dao. Although the Dao Leaves were small, they contained the truths behind the Heaven and Earth.

“It merged with him… ”

Upon seeing the Dao Leaf merge into Yi Yun’s body, the white-dressed youth’s mouth twitched slightly. Naturally, he could not trace where the Dao Leaf went to after it merged into Yi Yun’s body.

He could easily see through Yi Yun’s body’s energy flow, but he could not see the Dao Leaf or the Purple Crystal. These two existences far exceeded the confines of his perception.

“What… What’s your name?”

The youth asked Yi Yun’s name. In the past, as he was arrogant, he did not even ask for Yi Yun’s name.

But now, his arrogance was completely wiped out by this leaf.

Although he was powerful, he was after all an Item Spirit. He could not seek Dao enlightenment. Although the Dao Tree had grown in the Pure Yang Sword Palace, it did not belong to the Pure Yang Sword Palace. The youth also had no control over the Dao Tree.

In fact, all these years, the youth had always worshiped the Dao Tree as if it was a God. If it wished, the Dao Tree could leave anytime. In the future, even if the Pure Yang Sword Palace was destroyed, the Dao Tree would remain immortal, still existing in this world.

“Answering the Senior’s question. This junior is Yi Yun.” Yi Yun bowed and said with a deferential attitude.

However, Yi Yun’s deference made the youth turn embarrassed. In a world of warriors, success gave one a seat of honor. For Yi Yun to obtain the Dao Tree’s recognition and at such a young age, he was bound to have a promising future.

As for him, he was just a Item Spirit. He might at best live another ten million years. Ignoring the fact that his strength would not increase, and it might even decrease, this comparison with Yi Yun made it obvious who had the upper hand.

The youth knew his limitations. So under this situation, he could no matter put on airs in front of Yi Yun no matter how arrogant he was.

He said, “You do not need to bow to me. Since I have recognized you as the Master’s successor, once you have sufficient strength, you will have full control of the sword palace. Then, you would be the next owner of the sword palace, and also my Master.”

“When that happens, it will be me bowing to you.”

The youth looked at Yi Yun with a look that had changed from embarrassment to anticipation.

He anticipated Yi Yun’s growth, to become a Supremacy of a new generation, dominating the world. When that happened, he could rest easily, changing into Origins energy and dissipate.

“Senior, you speak too highly of me. This junior’s martial path has just begun. I still need to rely on Senior’s advice. As such, Senior is this Junior’s teacher.”

Yi Yun’s attitude was modest. He knew that his martial path was still long and far. The Purple Crystal could aid him, but he could not completely rely on the Purple Crystal.

“I am not worthy of being your teacher.” The youth quickly shook his head. “Your teacher is my Master.”

Although the youth was arrogant, he had heartfelt respect and loyalty to the sword palace’s owner.

At that moment, the gray-dressed elder walked over. The way he looked at Yi Yun was also one filled with promise.

“Your body is filled with mystery. I can’t see through your future, but although you have entered Dao Enlightenment Hall, the other places in this immortal palace still have restrictions left behind by Master. Even Chibai and I have no means of manipulating it. I believe that you would not be able to enter those places for now.”

“I’ll bring you to Heavenly Construct Hall, for you to pick two treasures that you want. They should play some role in your growth… ”

“Thank you, Senior.” Yi Yun naturally did not expect that he could gain control of the entire Pure Yang Sword Palace after gaining a Dao Leaf in Dao Enlightenment Hall.

As for the treasures in Heavenly Construct Hall, he looked forward to it eagerly.

Originally, the gray-dressed elder had said that he could only be given one treasure meant for Heaven Ascension realm warriors, but now, he was allowed two.

The original one treasure was probably a rule set by the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner, as for the second treasure was probably an additional gift from the Sword Spirit.

695 - : Dao Leaf Seeking Dao

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Heavenly Construct Hall, which was used to store all sorts of treasures in the Pure Yang Sword Palace, was connected directly to Dao Enlightenment Hall’s entrance.

The gray-dressed elder held on to Yi Yun’s arm, and with a direct leap through space, they arrived in Heavenly Construct Hall.

Heavenly Construct Hall’s interior space spanned tens of meters in radius. In the middle of the hall stood a twenty-meter-tall pyramid. The pyramid was completely pale gold in color and it was made of an unknown material. It gave off an air of mystery.

“The treasures are stored in that pyramid. The treasures used by Heaven Ascension realm warriors are all in the first level. Send your consciousness into it and you will see the treasures inside. Below every treasure, there is an introduction to it.”

“Alright.”

Yi Yun sank his consciousness in, and immediately, a scene of the first level of the treasure pyramid appeared before his eyes. All sorts of treasures were floating, countless in number, and it was quite a dazzling sight.

The treasures in the Pure Yang Sword Palace were nothing that the Tian Yuan world could compare with.

Especially with the treasures that Yi Yun was looking at, they were suitable for Heaven Ascension realm warriors. Just any item placed in the Tian Yuan world would result in a huge stir. Of course, now with the Black-armored Demon God slaughtering everything in his path, even if these people really scrambled for the treasure, it would not result in any large-scale killing.

Yi Yun looked at each treasure one by one. There were too many treasures, as they were all collected by the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner throughout his life.

Inferno Sword. The blade was tempered using pure Yang fire, with a pure Yang spirit cast in it. Every slash would produce billowing flames, and it was extremely domineering. The blade was six foot long, and it resembled a spear.

Yi Yun recalled the Thousand Army Saber that he used in the past, and it was somewhat similar in style. However, he already had the pure Yang broken sword, so he did not consider the Inferno sword for the time being.

The weapons stored within Heavenly Construct Hall were not limited to swords. There were sabers, spears and halberds to name a few.

And other than weapons, there were all sorts of enchanted items.

For example, Black Hellion Charm. It was a curse charm with a demonic spirit sealed in it. A warrior could use his blood to summon the demonic spirit to possess his body, releasing extremely powerful combat strength, even to the point of being able to battle someone a realm higher than him. However, after the demonic spirit exited his body, the warrior would become extremely weak. It could even result in the demonic spirit taking advantage of his weakness, devouring the warrior as its food.

Such evil objects existed in Heavenly Construct Hall too. The collection of the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner was not particular about separating good and evil.

Yi Yun looked at other things again. There were a wide range of treasures. There were some that strengthen souls, and others that could absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Comparing Blood Moon’s treasure collection with the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s Heavenly Construct Hall was like a village’s tycoon’s treasures against a royal palace’s treasury. It was simply on completely different levels.

“Heretic Bloodsaber. Becomes stronger after tasting blood. This is practically a saber specially used to kill.”

“Wind Howling Flag, triggers heavenly lightning, augmenting one’s body to make one exceedingly fast. This is also good. I have Nine Neonate and I am in need to trigger lightning. This flag is suitable for me.”

These two items tempted Yi Yun, but he was in no hurry to choose. But very soon, Yi Yun saw a treasure that he could not pry his eyes away from.

Thousand Snow Domain! Upon casting, like snow fall, all the enemies enveloped in the Thousand Snow Domain will be endlessly torn apart by the snow flakes, leaving only their skeletons.

And the Thousand Snow Domain killed enemies not based on frost-ice laws, but… flying sabers!

There were a total of 999 flying sabers, that composed the domain. The flying sabers would dance in the air, like countless snowflakes. Together with the caster’s body being like a flying saber, there were a total of a thousand flying sabers, giving it its name!

When enemies confined in the Thousand Snow Domain saw the beautiful snowflakes, it was also simultaneously their doom.

The reason why the Thousand Snow Domain was collected by the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner was because of its extraordinary power. Even in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, it was considered a top skill.

And casting it was extremely demanding. It required the caster to have extraordinary spiritual power and energy control. If not, how would it be easy to control 999 flying sabers?

With so many flying sabers conjured to kill an enemy, poorly controlling it could cause the entire domain to collapse, revealing a huge flaw. It was equivalent to stretching out one’s neck to be chopped off.

And once the Thousand Snow Domain was mastered, it would truly make him unstoppable amongst people at his cultivation realm. Even if he had to kill someone whose cultivation realm was higher, it would also be very simple.

This treasure was made up of 999 flying sabers, but it was only considered one enchanted item. It could be taken away as a set.

Every one of the 999 flying sabers were half a foot long and they were supreme-grade sabers. They were all made of the same material, and they were made in one setting by a refining master. Such a set of flying sabers were extremely difficult to produce, and it had a ridiculously high value.

After all, to make so many flying sabers in one sitting was extremely demanding on the refining master. If there was any mistake in the refinement, then this set of flying sabers would no longer be considered perfect.

Although the Thousand Snow Domain’s requirements were demanding, Yi Yun was best at energy control. Every flying saber was augmented with Origins energy, so it would be as easy as moving his fingers controlling them with the Purple Crystal. This was a flying saber array that was tailored for Yi Yun.

Below all the flying sabers of the Thousand Snow Domain, there was a Thousand Snow Domain saber manual.

Yi Yun browsed through it slightly and he felt a sense of affinity. Yi Yun was one who dual cultivated in both sword and saber. He too had gained insights in Saber Intent. Although in terms of attainment, it was weaker than Yi Yun’s insight into Sword Intent. That was because when it came to swords, Yi Yun had entered the Pure Yang Sword Palace and seen the Azure Yang Lord display his swordsmanship. He had better teachers, so he gained more insights.

As for saber techniques, other than entering the Saber Tomb, he had to figure things out himself.

Yi Yun continued reading the saber manual of the Thousand Snow Domain. Yi Yun was pleasantly surprised to see that in the later half of the saber manual, the producer of the Thousand Snow flying sabers had left methods that described how to produce and advance the Thousand Snow flying sabers behind.

The Thousand Snow flying saber’s creator was a person given the title of Artisan God in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. According to the creator’s account, the Thousand Snow Domain was a saber manual found in an ancient ruin. Although it was very powerful and had ingenuous moves, he himself was not a saber user. Hence, he had never used the Thousand Snow Domain before.

Only later in his life when his cultivation level and insights into Dao reached a bottleneck, signifying that he would no longer be able to breakthrough, he placed all his efforts into refining items. He attempted creating a variety of divine weapons, and also took the opportunity to produce the 999 Thousand Snow flying sabers.

The Thousand Snow flying sabers was an amalgamation of the refiner’s top refinement skills, but the materials used were not top grade. This resulted in the Thousand Snow flying saber having room for upgrading.

As for how to upgrade the Thousand Snow flying sabers, the refiner had also recorded it in the saber manual.

Yi Yun took a deep breath for he really wanted this set of flying sabers. Just the amount of time spent looking at the Thousand Snow Domain exceeded the cumulative time of him looking at the other treasures.

Yi Yun resisted the impulse to immediately choose the Thousand Snow Domain, and he carried on looking. He saw a few more treasures, but although they were supreme-grade, they were still much more inferior to the Thousand Snow Domain.

And at that moment, Yi Yun’s eyes swept past an item, causing him to pause slightly. This treasure was also very tempting to him.

696 - : Thousand Snow Domain

CKtalon  CKtalon

The second item that caught Yi Yun’s attention was very unique. Compared to the 999 Thousand Snow flying sabers, it was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.

The Thousand Snow flying sabers was gorgeous and dazzling. It was a product of an Artisan God, and it was accompanied by a top-grade sutra. There was no doubt to its power. But looking at this enchanted item, it was extremely simple, and it looked unremarkable.

It was a piece of dead wood, about the length of an adult’s arm, and it was as thick as a thumb.

This dead wood looked like commonly seen dead twigs in forests at a first glance. However, just taking a more careful look would instantly make one discover how different it was.

As Yi Yun looked at this piece of dead wood, he felt like his heart was gradually being attracted to it. If he took another look, countless images would seemingly appear in front of his eyes. There was the passing of spring, and the arrival of autumn, with grass wilting and leaves turning yellow…

It seemed like they were the memories of the dead wood.

Yi Yun immediately recalled the Dao Leaf that he received under the Dao Tree. This dead wood was quite similar to the Dao Leaf, but it was also different. The Dao Leaf withered, but it also had new life. As for this dead wood, Yi Yun could only see death.

It was a strange piece of dead wood. What kind of treasure was it?

Yi Yun looked at the dead wood’s introduction and it alarmed him slightly.

The dead wood was called Death Soulwood. It was originally an ancient enchanted tree that had lived for so long that no one knew how old it was. One day, a Demon God died on the tree. The demonic blood that flowed out from the Demon God splattered on the enchanted tree, corroding it.

After the enchanted tree was corroded by the demonic blood, it eventually lost its vitality, becoming a piece of dead wood.

And this piece of dead wood happened to be obtained by the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner. He found it extraordinary, and he wanted to hire an Artisan God to create an enchanted treasure out of the dead wood.

He believed that with the Death Soulwood being stained with the demonic blood, and it being the remnants of an enchanted tree, the enchanted treasure produced would definitely be exceptional.

However, he never expected that his bosom friend Artisan God only said one line after looking at the Death Soulwood for a long while. “Decayed wood cannot be carved (an intractable person cannot be taught).”

The Artisan God did not wish to transform the Death Soulwood, and gave it back to the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner.

He was initially puzzled, but after pondering about the profound meanings in the Death Soulwood in meditation, he felt that the Artisan God’s words contained some philosophical truth. After some contemplation, the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner gave up the thought of carving the dead wood.

Hence, he placed this dead wood in the first level of the Heavenly Construct Hall.

The Death Soulwood came from remarkable origins, and it was a lot more valuable than many of the treasures in the first level of Heavenly Construct Hall. The only reason why it was placed on the first level was because it was neither a weapon or an enchanted treasure. It was very difficult to use against enemies.

However… this treasure that seemed to lack any offensive or defensive abilities had a special value in Yi Yun’s eyes. It could be said that its importance was not any weaker than the Thousand Snow Domain to Yi Yun.

After seeing the Thousand Snow Domain and the Death Soulwood, Yi Yun had already decided on the two treasures. However, Yi Yun still finished looking through all the treasures in the first level.

Yi Yun had originally thought that there would not be any other item that would spark his interest, but just as he was about to finish browsing through all the treasures, he discovered an item that caught his eye.

It was a formation skill, called God Confining Lock.

The core of God Confining Lock was a disk array the size of a palm. It was refined by an Array Master from the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

To use the God Confining Lock, seven experts with nearly equal strength were needed to power the formation array. Once the formation skill was activated, it would be like a complete entrapment. If the participants of the array were strong enough, it could entrap and kill Demon Gods.

Yi Yun was actually not interested in such enchanted treasures that needed many people to be deployed. It could not raise Yi Yun’s strength and it was of not much value. Yi Yun was also not the leader of a sect, so how could he easily find six powerful experts to aid him?

But now, the situation was somewhat different. If he had this God Confining Lock array, it would make the situation against the Black-armored Demon God much better…

However, if he were to give up the Thousand Snow Domain or Death Soulwood for this God Confining Lock… then the price was too much. It was something that Yi Yun definitely did not want.

Without needing to talk about the Thousand Snow Domain, as a powerful killing move, it was what Yi Yun was lacking at the moment. Yi Yun was very lacking in attacking techniques.

As for the Death Soulwood, it contained indescribable profoundness. Yi Yun had a premonition that choosing this Death Soulwood would aid him greatly in his future martial path.

He did not want to give up any of the two items.

“Are you done choosing?”

After Yi Yun spent four hours to browse through all the treasures in the first level of Heavenly Construct Hall, the Sword Spirit asked Yi Yun.

The selection of treasures also allowed one to see another’s mental disposition. With so many treasures in front of him, it was very easy to be dazzled by them, making it hard to decide.

At times, warriors who lacked the disposition might even abandon what suited them the most just to choose a better treasure.

The gray-dressed Sword Spirit and the white-dressed youth were both waiting to see how Yi Yun chose.

This first treasure selection in Heavenly Construct Hall was very important to Yi Yun. The treasures of Heavenly Construct Hall, even those in the first level, were all astonishing items.

The treasures in the Heavenly Construct Hall’s first level were all considered foundational, but foundational items did not necessarily mean they had little value.

“I’ve chosen. The first item is… Thousand Snow Domain! Yi Yun said firmly.

The gray-dressed Sword Spirit and the white-dressed youth looked each other in the eye and frowned slightly. Thousand Snow Domain…

It was obviously an extremely powerful killing move, but it was a flying saber array. Both of them were also worried that Yi Yun was too haphazard in what he learned, which could be a waste of time.

“The Thousand Snow Domain is extremely demanding on the cultivator’s spiritual energy and energy control. To perfectly use the Thousand Snow Domain, it requires a lot of practice… ” The white-dressed youth said.

He was still hoping for Yi Yun to focus on Sword Dao. This was also the path that the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner had taken. Just Sword Dao alone was enough for Yi Yun to ponder over.

“This Junior naturally understands what Senior is implying, but… this Junior will still choose the Thousand Snow Domain.”

Yi Yun was resolute in his decision. Others might spend large amounts of time and energy to master the Thousand Snow Domain, but Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal. Each of the 999 Thousand Snow flying sabers had Origins energy. It was completely effortless for Yi Yun to control it. So how could he miss out on such a technique.

Besides, Yi Yun did not want to completely duplicate the path that the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner took. Although he was powerful, but Yi Yun had his own understanding towards his martial path. He wanted to take all the advantages of his predecessors, and go down a path that belonged to himself. If he were to forever follow behind someone, he would be living in the shadows of others.

“If that is the case, alright… ” The Sword Spirit endorsed Yi Yun’s choice. “Then what is the second item you’re choosing?”

Yi Yun turned silent upon the Sword Spirit’s inquiry. He was somewhat hesitant, but finally, Yi Yun still said, “I choose the Death Soulwood!”

“Oh? Death Soulwood?”

The white-dressed youth was stunned. He did not expect Yi Yun to choose the Death Soulwood.

697 - : Death Soulwood

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Are you sure you want to choose the Death Soulwood?” The white-dressed youth put his hand out as a gray beam of light shot out from the pyramid, landing in his hand.

This beam of light transformed into the Death Soulwood and it hovered an inch above the youth’s palm.

“I’m sure.” Yi Yun nodded.

The white-dressed youth and the gray-dressed Sword Spirit found it quite surprising. Although the Death Soulwood was extremely valuable, it was not an enchanted item. From a certain point of view, it had no practical value, and it could not directly increase Yi Yun’s strength.

“Could it be that you chose the Death Soulwood because of the concepts it contains?” The Sword Spirit asked.

The concepts in the Death Soulwood were difficult to put into words. When the Artisan God evaluated it with the words “decayed wood cannot be carved”, it was because if he wanted to refine the Death Soulwood into an item, it was very likely he would destroy the concepts in the Death Soulwood. He felt like it was a destruction of heavenly property.

And precisely because the Artisan God did not have a very good understanding of the concepts in the Death Soulwood, it was impossible for him to use them when refining it into an item.

“This Junior has indeed gained some insights from it.”

Yi Yun looked at the deadwood as images of him meditating under the Dao Tree appeared in front of his eyes. The sprouting of a leaf, its growth, it turning yellow and eventually its withering…

He reached out his hand to hold onto the Death Soulwood and felt like his life force froze, as if he had experienced death.

This feeling did not make Yi Yun panic. Instead, he meticulously experienced the runic patterns on the Death Soulwood, indulging the feeling of his life force being frozen bit by bit.

The Death Soulwood was completely different to the Dao Leaf that he had obtained before.

The Dao Leaf came from the Dao Tree that existed before the primal chaos. It contained exquisite laws, but these laws were in all form and variety. It made it very difficult for Yi Yun to make a huge improvement in any particular law. But for the Death Soulwood, it contained Death and Withering concepts.

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s reaction, the Sword Spirit was slightly surprised. “Despite immersing yourself in the Death Soulwood’s near-death concepts, you still remain so calm. I can tell that you indeed have a very deep understanding in the laws contained within it. It is very suitable for you.”

A treasure that could be used to gain enlightenment was very precious.

The Death Soulwood may not be an enchanted item, but if Yi Yun could gain any insight from it, then it would be more valuable than any other treasure. They were after all mere worldly possessions. Only one’s strength was essential.

Yi Yun chose the Thousand Snow Domain and the Death Soulwood. It could be considered as him choosing the two most suitable treasures in Heavenly Construct Hall for himself. Furthermore, the two treasures’ value was extraordinary.

“Thank you, Seniors.”

After receiving two treasures and his understanding of the laws upgraded, Yi Yun bowed and thanked the Sword Spirit and the youth.

The youth said, “It was all earned by yourself. They are also heritage left behind by Master. We are just their guardians. However, you can only explore a very tiny portion of the sword palace. In the deeper sanctums of the sword palace, there are restrictions set up personally by Master. If you manage to obtain the Heart of the Sword before the age of 100, you will be able to enter the deeper sanctums.”

The Pure Yang Sword Palace was an immortal residence left behind by one of the strongest experts in the ancient 12 Empyrean Heavens. It was obviously not easy to gain control over it. Yi Yun’s current strength was far from being able to control the Pure Yang Sword Palace. This was something Yi Yun knew himself.

“Seniors, this Junior wants to know if the number of items that this Junior can retrieve from Heavenly Construct Hall is a rule set by the sword palace owner?”

When Yi Yun asked this question, the Sword Spirit and the youth pricked up their eyebrows. This sentence of his seemed to imply that Yi Yun was not satisfied with only having two treasures.

“Why? Do you think there’s not enough treasures for you?” The youth spoke without beating about the bush. “Choosing one or two items from Heavenly Construct Hall is indeed a rule set by Master.”

“With the rule set in place, it is first to tell the successor who enters the sword palace to not be too reliant on external items. It is essential to possess true strength yourself. If you have too many external items, that would affect your practice in martial arts! There’s another consideration that might not sound nice. Even if the successor of the sword palace has their talent recognized, it is hard to say what sort of character he has. Furthermore, the path of martial arts is fraught with danger. It is not surprising for one to die midway. Master only has that much in his collection. If one person took everything from it and if he betrayed his teacher or died midway, then those treasures would be good. There would not be any left for future successors.”

Upon hearing the white-dressed youth’s words, Yi Yun nodded. Character and dying midway were considerations that the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner had to take into account back then. The rules he set up were very reasonable!

“Seniors, don’t worry. Since this is a rule set by the sword palace’s owner, this Junior will not go too far and trouble you Seniors. However, there is one treasure in Heavenly Construct Hall that is very important to this Junior. Junior wishes to take it away, not for myself but to borrow it.”

“This Junior wants to borrow an array technique. It needs many people to cooperate to power it. It doesn’t allow this Junior to rely on external items. Furthermore, this Junior swears that he will return this item in three years. As such, the second situation would not occur. What do Seniors think about this?”

Yi Yun had eyed the God Confining Lock array earlier on. This array could be used to deal with the Black-armored Demon God, but to Yi Yun, it could only be used once or twice in the final battle. It would then be useless after that.

To waste a choice for something that could be used once or twice was not worth it.

And if it could be borrowed and then returned, then it would be the best of both worlds.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s request, the youth and the Sword Spirit were somewhat surprised. Indeed, if the array was to be borrowed, it was not in conflict with the two points that the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner worried over.

“The array technique that you want to borrow should be the God Confining Lock array, right?”

Yi Yun nodded at the Sword Spirit’s question. There were not many array techniques in the first level of Heavenly Construct Hall, so it was easy to guess what he wanted.

“You are going to use it to fight against the seven Demon Disciples from the eternal whirlpool?”

The Sword Spirit knew about the seven Demon Disciples’ appearance. However, the survival of all life in the Tian Yuan world was nothing important to him.

“Yes!” Yi Yun nodded. Upon saying this, he added. “Seniors, if this Junior did not guess wrongly, the existence sealed under the God Burial Abyss’s eternal whirlpool has to do with the sword palace’s owner, right?”

Yi Yun mentioned the speculation he had on his mind.

In the entire Tian Yuan world, only the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner had equivalent strength to the Eye of Destruction sealed under the eternal whirlpool.

The mighty figure that sealed the Eye of Destruction was also most likely the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner.

As Yi Yun spoke, he was focused on the Sword Spirit and the youth’s reaction. However, the two of them remained unperturbed and they were calm as usual.

“You are right. The existence in the eternal whirlpool indeed has a huge relationship with Master.” The youth said with a sigh. “If not for that existence, Master would not have died so early… ”

“Oh?” Upon hearing the youth’s lamenting, Yi Yun was slightly alarmed.

At that moment, the Sword Spirit sighed and said, “Right at the beginning of the formation of the Universe where the 12 Empyrean Heavens reside, the Heavenly Dao and the Ancestor Gods were born out of the chaos. They dominated everything in the Universe.

“However, there were so many living beings in this Universe. The story of the past that they had with the Ancestor Gods cannot be described in words. In summary, in ancient times, the strongest experts amongst the sacred beings wanted control over their fates, so they went to war against the Ancestor Gods.”

“The war in ancient times was completely heaven and earth-shattering. The participants were not limited to my Master. There were many peerless experts from the 12 Empyrean Heavens back then. All of them had a common endeavor and finally defeated the Ancestor Gods that ruled the worlds back then, allowing them to create a new order.”

“And amongst these Ancestor Gods, the strongest King of the Gods had an immortal body. There was no way to kill Him. Finally, the mighty figures of the 12 Empyrean Heavens could only split the King of the Gods’ body and seal them separately.”

“Back then, 33 Great Worlds were chosen to be the sealing containers of the God King.

“The God King’s body was also split into 33 parts. They are: eyes, ears, nose and mouth, head, hands, legs, forearms, upper arms, thighs, calves, the five visceral organs, the six bowel organs, the brain, the spinal cord and torso.”

The 33 parts were sealed in 33 Great Worlds. Every world’s seal was set up personally by an ancient mighty figure. It was an enchanted item constructed from a Heaven-Earth Divine material used to seal!”

“As for the Tian Yuan continent itself, it was the large enchanted item used to suppress the God King’s body part. And the part of his body suppressed is the God’s right eye!”

“The Ancestor God’s left eye is known as the Eye of Creation, while its right eye is known as the Eye of Destruction.”

“This Eye of Destruction is also the gigantic eyeball which appears in the eternal whirlpool, spanning thousands of kilometers in radius!”

698 - : Eye of Destruction

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The gigantic eye in the God Burial Abyss’s eternal whirlpool is really only a single eye?”

Yi Yun was alarmed. He knew that the eye that appeared in the God Burial Abyss was about ten thousand kilometers in diameter. From tens of thousands of kilometers away, people only saw an eye and found it as big as a star.

Yi Yun originally believed that there was an ancient demon sealed in God Burial Abyss and it had only revealed itself in the form of an eye. But now, he was informed that it was actually the right eye of the ancient Ancestor God!

Just a single eye had such power. It was hard to imagine what sort of power an ancient Ancestor God had. How spectacular and grand was the battle in ancient times?

Just this thought shocked Yi Yun!

“If that is the case, in the worlds including the world that the Tian Yuan world resides in, the only significance of their existence is to seal the ancient Ancestor God… ”

The Sword Spirit nodded and said, “That’s right. The Tian Yuan world is one of the 33 chosen worlds. The reason these worlds were chosen because they are large and stable enough, and their locations are remote.”

“Stable world? Remote location?” Yi Yun frowned slightly. It seemed that it was indeed not easy for him to leave the Tian Yuan world to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. “The ancient Ancestor God was sealed separately but isn’t there the fear that one day, He would come back to live again?”

“If it’s fortune, then it isn’t a calamity, and if it’s a calamity, then it can’t be avoided. The Ancestor God was born at the beginning of the Universe. He is equivalent to Heavenly Dao. If the Heavenly Dao destines something to happen, then it would be very difficult to prevent it! However… just those puny Demon Disciples aren’t enough to release the ancient Ancestor God’s Eye of Destruction.”

The Sword Spirit and Chibai were not too worried about the Black-armored Demon God’s appearance.

As long as they did not affect the God Burial Abyss’s seals, then they would be unperturbed even if all the life in the Tian Yuan world was wiped out.

“Yi Yun, if you really want to borrow the God Confining Lock array, we can lend it to you. However… I still want to advise you. It is best not to mess with those ancient existences. You are too young. Compared to their long lives, your age is nearly negligible. The Tian Yuan world is just one of the lower realms under the 12 Empyrean Heavens. The lives here compared to the Universe are as tiny as dust.”

The Sword Spirit wished Yi Yun to undergo honing experiences, but too dangerous experiences were not optimal. On the long path, a genius had to take, there were too many who died. He did not want a fine successor to be lost just like that.

“Seniors, rest assure. This Junior would not mess with that malignant star for no reason. Without absolute confidence, I will only lay dormant and cultivate. This Junior is only borrowing the God Confining Lock for exigent purposes.”

Yi Yun was, after all, a person who had crossed worlds. It was impossible for him to have the determination to swear to protect the Tian Yuan world.

Many innocent lives were taken by the Black-armored Demon God and for this, it was against Yi Yun’s conscience. But as he was limited in strength, he could do nothing about it.

“Alright. It’s best that you understand that. No matter when strength is fundamental!”

Upon saying this, the Sword Spirit took out the set of flying sabers of the Thousand Snow Domain. He then passed them to Yi Yun, including the Thousand Snow Domain’s technique methods.

The Thousand Snow flying sabers were all stored in a belt.

This belt was itself an interspatial enchanted item. It was only five feet long and it could hold 999 flying sabers.

Yi Yun nonchalantly took one flying saber out. The blade was grayish-white in color and it did not have a metallic texture. Instead, it resembled jade.

Yi Yun knew that the Thousand Snow flying sabers were not made out of metal. It was the Artisan God, who killed a Dragon Devouring Divine Shark in the sinkhole in ancient times, that created them. He then used the Divine Shark’s teeth to construct them.

Although the Dragon Devouring Divine Shark was said to be dragon devouring, it did not devour true dragons, it devoured flood dragons. But even so, such ancient Divine Sharks were still terrifying.

A Divine Shark had a mouth full of teeth and it came from the same origins. By especially choosing from the teeth to construct the 999 flying sabers, the sabers were all connected spiritually, making them extremely powerful.

However, when the Artisan God created this set of flying sabers, it was never meant for himself, so he did not put too much thought into it. If he had added more top-grade materials into the flying sabers, this set of flying sabers would be more exceptional in quality. And if that happened, even Yi Yun would have a problem controlling this set of flying sabers.

Even with the Purple Crystal in his body, controlling such powerful flying sabers was also extremely demanding on Yi Yun.

After taking the three treasures, Yi Yun thanked Chibai and the Sword Spirit once again before walking out of the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

After more than half a year, this was the first time that Yi Yun stepped out of the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

Outside the sword palace, facing the ruined world under the peak, Yi Yun took a deep breath. After gaining enlightenment of a Dao Leaf’s life, he now had a transcendental feeling, as if he himself had experienced a life that went from birth to death.

At that moment, in front of the Seven Kills Stone Pillar, Lin Xintong was sitting cross-legged in silence. She was trying to gain insights into the Sword Intent left behind by the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner. Despite existing for so many years, the Sword Intent had remained as sharp as ever. Back then, when Yi Yun first came to the Pure Yang Sword Palace, he had spent ten months just to understand the Sword Intent.

Yi Yun did not disturb Lin Xintong. He stood quietly in front of the Seven Kills Stone Pillar, and gently looked at the peerless beauty.

Much later, Lin Xintong sensed something and she slowly opened her eyes.

Instantly, Yi Yun could feel a cold inkling of Sword Intent from her watery eyes. The Sword Intent was like a cold wind or icicles. Just one glance could make someone feel as if their souls were frozen.

However, Yi Yun also understood Sword Intent. When the cold Sword Intent came in front of him, it automatically dissolved.

Lin Xintong looked at Yi Yun, and after more than half a year, Yi Yun still looked the same, but his bearing had changed greatly.

The way he stood there was as if he did not exist. It made people not help but blink their eyes to confirm what they saw. Some warriors, who had deep insight into the laws, would be harmonious with the Heaven-Earth Great Dao, making them seem to be integrated with the Heaven and Earth.

Yi Yun had clearly reached that stage.

This made Lin Xintong happy from the bottom of her heart. She knew that Yi Yun had gained a lot from the sword palace.

Yi Yun also looked at Lin Xintong in admiration. Back when he was outside the Pure Yang Sword Palace trying to gain insights, he had the Purple Crystal, allowing him to see the energy flows in the Seven Kills Stone Pillar and the shocking sword scar. Lin Xintong did not have that ability and she had to rely on her own perception.

Lin Xintong exceeded him when it came to perception.

“Xintong, it’s been more than half a year and you have already figured out your own Sword Intent. This Sword Intent should be frost-ice Sword Intent, right… ?”

Now, Yi Yun had a deep understanding of Sword Intent, so not only did he sense the Sword Intent from Lin Xintong’s body, he could also sense the properties of the Sword Intent.

The Sword Intent left behind by the Pure Yang Sword Palace was pure Yang in nature, and it was completely opposite to the laws that Lin Xintong cultivated. It did not seem like it would be useful for Lin Xintong, but in the Great Dao laws, Yin and Yang supplemented each other with extreme Yang producing Yin. Lin Xintong had used this point to comprehend a Sword Intent that suited herself from the pure Yang Sword Intent.

It sounded easy, but it was difficult to accomplish. It required extraordinary perception to be able to draw parallels from inference.

Lin Xintong looked at Yi Yun and smiled lightly, “Yi Yun, it seems that you did not only stop at gaining insights into Sword Intent, and you have gone another level higher. It seems that I need to work harder. I can’t fall behind you.”

“Another level higher, not really.” Yi Yun shook his head. The higher level of Sword Intent was the Heart of the Sword. Yi Yun now was only at the Large Success Stage of Sword Intent. He was still quite far from being able to condense the Heart of the Sword.

“Xintong, it’s time that we leave.”

Yi Yun had gained a lot when he entered the Pure Yang Sword Palace. Now, it was time to leave the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

Although the Dao Enlightenment Hall in the Pure Yang Sword Palace was good, it was difficult to maintain a high speed of comprehension while seeking Dao enlightenment in the Dao Enlightenment Hall.

The first entry into Dao Enlightenment Hall indeed could be described as having a year’s worth in the outside world while gaining enlightenment inside for three days.

But slowly, when all the things that could be comprehended were finished, the remaining Great Dao would usually be abstruse. To gain new insights, it needed the warrior to gain experience and accumulation. It was impossible to complete everything in one sitting.

Previously, when Yi Yun first began his Dao-seeking enlightenment, the white-dressed youth did not believe that Yi Yun could gain much out of it. He believed Yi Yun would awake after meditating for two or three days.

Later on, Yi Yun ended up meditating for nearly seven months. He even caused the Dao Tree to drop a leaf. This far exceeded the time a typical warrior would take to gain enlightenment. Hoping to gain more insight would be more haste, less speed. Even though Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal, he still needed time and experience to digest the Dao lines that he had copied.

As such, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong left the Pure Yang Sword Palace. They flew out of Meteorite Abyss, and they flew towards the teleportation array set up by the Desolate race in the Divine Wilderness.

The Divine Wilderness was vast, so for ease of travel, the Desolate race had set up a teleportation array for entering and exiting the Divine Wilderness. The locations of these teleportation arrays were highly confidential, but Jiang Xiaorou had given the detailed map of the teleportation arrays to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was heading towards an important teleportation array that the Desolate race had set up around the perimeter of the Divine Wilderness. It could reach straight into the Desolate race’s grounds.

However, when Yi Yun and Lin Xintong came to where the teleportation array was, Yi Yun’s heart strung up.

The region around the teleportation array was a long stretch of mountains, but it seemed like it had suffered a major earthquake. Cracks had opened up in many mountains, and the rivers were dried up.

The array that was set up deep in the mountains to hide the location of the teleportation array was also torn apart. In the air, a faint scent of killing aura lingered, making Yi Yun apprehensive.

“What happened?” Lin Xintong’s heart tightened up as she could smell the faint smell of blood in the air.

“Let’s go!” Yi Yun’s expression turned serious as he held Lin Xintong’s hand and rushed to the source of the killing aura while holding his breath.

In a blink of an eye, he had gone past a split mountain and he saw a hellish scene.

A teleportation array had completely exploded. Dismembered corpses and blood was everywhere around it!

Yi Yun’s face sank as the dismembered corpses were those of the Desolate race and desolate beasts. Gigantic desolate beasts were dismembered, and large quantities of blood dyed the ground that stretched for miles. The smell of blood wafted dozens of miles out.

To ensure the security of the teleportation array, the Desolate race had left guards here to protect it. There were many of these guards, who were equivalent to Yuan Opening realm human warriors, holding the ground. In addition to the numerous primordial strains guarding this location, the defensive capabilities were extremely high.

But now, they had been wiped out!

699 - : The Destroyed Teleportation Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon seeing the Desolate race’s teleportation array in such a state, Yi Yun’s heart tightened. He did not know how the hidden Desolate race teleportation array had been razed to the ground.

Black-armored Demon God?

At that moment, this could only be done by the Black-armored Demon God. It was unlikely that the Human race would oppose the Desolate race when their lives and deaths were on the line.

Yi Yun became extremely uneasy when he thought of the Black-armored Demon God. Could the Black-armored Demon God have abandoned the Tian Yuan world and gone to the Divine Wilderness?

Yi Yun was unsure why that was so. He had previously seen from the disk array images that the Black-armored Demon God was slaughtering and drawing Heaven Earth Yuan Qi at the same time. Even some of the mighty figures of the Tian Yuan world were sealed in his armor.

The Black-armored Demon God was doing so most likely because of his serious injuries. He needed to mend his soul and life force that was about to collapse at any time.

If the Black-armored Demon God carried on his slaughter in the rich and dense Tian Yuan world, just killing one martial family clan would allow him to replenish even more energy.

But… Had he abandoned the Tian Yuan world and gone to the Divine Wilderness?

The Divine Wilderness was sparsely populated and it was low in resources. There was a single soul in sight for hundreds of thousands of kilometers. The Desolate race was few in number and their whereabouts were a secret. Why did he come to the Divine Wilderness?

“Yi Yun, this teleportation array should have been forcefully opened… ”

Lin Xintong carefully investigated the shattered teleportation array, and she came to such a conclusion from the energy fluctuations in it.

Some powerful existences, who knew spatial dimension laws, could indeed forcefully use a teleportation array and be transported to the other end through the void. If he was powerful enough, he could even cause the teleportation array to crumble while passing through!

Lin Xintong believed that the teleportation array in shambles in front of them was likely a result of that situation.

And of all things, this teleportation array directly led to the Desolate race in the core of the Divine Wilderness!

Just thinking of the Desolate race’s core residence, the Lin family’s elites, as well as Jiang Xiaorou, were all there. If the Black-armored Demon God went there…

Yi Yun’s heart sank. Lin Xintong did not dare to think either. How could the Desolate race and the Lin family withstand the Black-armored Demon God?

“It has been a long time since the Black-armored Demon God traveled through the teleportation array… ”

The blood that covered the ground was slowly turning black. The blood of warriors was not easily susceptible to decay, but now, the blood had turned black, indicating that a long period of time had passed. It was reasonable after all. Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had been cultivating in the Pure Yang Sword Palace for more than half a year. Coincidences would not occur with them coming out on the same day the Black-armored Demon God traveled through the teleportation array.

“Damn it!” Yi Yun clenched his fists as his knuckles trembled. “I should have left an Information Stone, so Sis Xiaorou could crush it to inform me in times of danger.”

Yi Yun was feeling regret. He and Jiang Xiaorou had supported each other in the Cloud Wilderness, and they had undergone a few life and death separations. If Jiang Xiaorou was killed by the Black-armored Demon God, he did not dare to imagine the scenario. He had sought enlightenment in the Pure Yang Sword Palace, losing track of time. He never imagined that this situation would occur.

Lin Xintong sighed, “Leaving the Information Stone would be useless. When the Black-armored Demon God traveled through the teleportation array, this teleportation array was already destroyed. We would not have made it in time coming from the Pure Yang Sword Palace. Besides… even if we could get there in time, Miss Jiang would probably not crush the Information Stone at that moment.”

The Black-armored Demon God was too powerful. With Jiang Xiaorou’s feelings for Yi Yun, she would rather face the Black-armored Demon God alone than implicate Yi Yun.

“I know… ” Yi Yun said with a deep and solemn voice. His expression was slowly turning very terrifying. An air of killing intent began to emanate from his body. Even Lin Xintong felt breathless while immersed in the killing intent around Yi Yun… She had never felt such a terrifying killing intent from Yi Yun’s body.

Without a word, Yi Yun suddenly shot into the sky and flew towards the Desolate race!

The teleportation array had been destroyed, so they naturally could not use it. They could only use their own bodies to traverse the Divine Wilderness, crossing tens of millions of kilometers!

Yi Yun was extremely fast. All the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was gathered towards Yi Yun. With this energy augmenting him, he was like a burning shooting star. Everywhere he passed, the atmosphere was torn apart, causing tumultuous rumbles that resembled thunder!

A terrifying aura radiated in all directions. The powerful pressure cracked the land open, swept towering trees away and cut off rivers.

While traveling, the primordial strains who felt his aura trembled. Even primordial true spirits avoided the suppressing aura.

Yi Yun passed through with an indomitable momentum. As for Lin Xintong, she was following close behind. As she looked at Yi Yun charging ahead of her, she was slightly astonished. She nearly could not keep up with his speed.

After seeking enlightenment in the Pure Yang Sword Palace, Yi Yun seemed to have integrated with the Heaven and Earth.

As the two of them shuttled through the air silently, Yi Yun’s expression was solemn and the atmosphere was extremely repressive.

Lin Xintong was also very worried for Matriarch Lin. It was Lin Xintong and Yi Yun who had suggested for the Lin family to seek refuge in the Divine Wilderness. If the Lin family was slaughtered as a result, Lin Xintong would feel great remorse.

The distance that spanned tens of millions of kilometers did not need more than a few days at the blazing speed that Lin Xintong and Yi Yun were traveling at. The closer they approached the Desolate race headquarters, the more nervous Yi Yun and Lin Xintong felt.

Reason told them that the Desolate race and the Lin family were probably finished because it was impossible for them to fight the Black-armored Demon God. However, without seeing the outcome, they still held that tiny bit of hope…

Finally, the two of them arrived at the Desolate race’s territory.

Ruins!

It was all ruins as far their eyes could see!

The glorious and grand Desolate race divine palace of the past now lay in ruins. Arrays were in shambles, and there were still remnants of a brutal Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the air.

Yi Yun’s heart turned cold. The Desolate race headquarters gathered the strongest forces of the Desolate race. It was definitely not the work of the humans to be able to cause such destruction. It could only be the Black-armored Demon God.

Yi Yun had a deadpan expression, but killing intent emerged from his body once again. Beside Yi Yun, Lin Xintong had a feeling that the present Yi Yun was like a Demon God. If the Black-armored Demon God appeared, Yi Yun would have been a fair match for him.

“Yi Yun, don’t worry. There aren’t that many corpses here… The situation might not be as bad as we think.”

There were not many corpses scattered around the Desolate race ruins. The few primordial true spirits that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong saw who guarded the Desolate race’s Grand Palace were dismembered, and large amounts of blood dyed the ruins crimson.

As for other places, there were few corpses scattered around. There were indeed not many. It was much fewer in number than the Desolate race army stationed in the Desolate race headquarters from Yi Yun’s recollections.

With a scan using his consciousness, every spot in the ruins was enveloped in Yi Yun’s perception.

He was probing the situation underneath the destroyed palace. There were tumbled boulders that crushed many members of the Desolate race. Amongst them were Lin family disciples. Their bodies were badly mutilated and they had probably died immediately from a terrifying explosion.

Although the faces of these corpses were unidentifiable, according to the remnant energy fluctuations in the corpses, Yi Yun could analyze their strength back when they were alive, and from that, infer their identity.

From these corpses, Yi Yun did not find any important figures of the Lin family, nor did he see many Desolate race elites.

If these people died, the energy fluctuations from their bodies should have been stronger.

This made Yi Yun’s heart calm down a bit. There was still hope!

700 - : The Desolate Race Attacked

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun very quickly finished searching through all the ruins with his perception. He did not find a dead Jiang Xiaorou, nor did he discover Jiang Xiaorou’s mother.

Yi Yun knew Jiang Xiaorou too well. If Jiang Xiaorou was trapped in the ruins, Yi Yun would not even need to identify her by her looks. Just her aura was enough to quickly let him find Jiang Xiaorou.

It was inevitable that he previously could not help but imagine a scene of Jiang Xiaorou covered in blood with no signs of life. Just this thought made Yi Yun feel like choking.

But now… this terrible scene had thankfully not happened. Yi Yun felt as if a large stone was lifted off his chest a little.

“Sis Xiaorou might very well be alive!”

Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief. As long as Jiang Xiaorou was not here, there was still hope!

“They managed to escape?”

Lin Xintong was also pleasantly surprised. She had also seen few corpses around the Lin family’s residence. Matriarch Lin, whom she worried about the most, was most likely still alive.

Lin Xintong found it hard to imagine how the Lin family and the Desolate race managed to escape from the hands of the Black-armored Demon God. According to what she knew, the Desolate race and the Lin family had no means of withstanding him.

The Black-armored Demon God had used the teleportation array to directly appear in the heart of the Desolate race. What happened next was most likely a massacre.

Under such a situation, having a few people from the Desolate race and Lin family escape was pretty good. And from the looks of it, the Desolate race and Lin family managed to survive relatively well in this disaster. It was completely a miracle.

Of course, it was now not the time to consider this. They had to first find out where the Desolate race and the Lin family went.

“Xintong, let us search carefully. Something must have been left behind.”

Yi Yun entered the collapse palace, while Lin Xintong flew into the Lin family’s residence. They began to search for any clues left behind.

With disaster suddenly befalling them, the Lin family and the Desolate race should still leave some clues for Lin Xintong and Yi Yun even while fleeing.

No matter how chaotic the fleeing was or how tight time was, it was not to the point of not being able to do this tiny gesture.

Very soon, Yi Yun found a map jade slip in the ruins. It was very easy to find because it was placed in Jiang Xiaorou’s palatial bedroom. Although the bedroom had collapsed, some of its structure remained intact.

On the jade slip, there were remnants of Jiang Xiaorou’s aura!

Yi Yun’s heart tightened up as he stretched out his hands, splitting the collapsed roof above the bedroom open.

Boom!

Rocks and dust scattered everywhere as a jade slip shot out of the dust cloud, landing on Yi Yun’s hand.

As he injected his consciousness into the jade slip, Yi Yun held his breath.

There was a very messy map inside the jade slip, and on the corner of the map, there was a mark.

Behind the map were the words—

“Yun’er be careful.”

The words were nearly illegible, and it was probably left behind by Jiang Xiaorou in a hurry. Yi Yun’s heart relaxed. With the arrival of the Demon God and in their fleeing, Jiang Xiaorou had no means of telling him anything else. Just a simple sentence contained all of Jiang Xiaorou’s feelings.

Sis Xiaorou should be fine…

The hope in Yi Yun’s heart grew. He knew that the map in the jade slip indicated where the Desolate race and the Lin family fled to.

The mark on the map was a teleportation array used by the Desolate race to a secret location. Previously, Jiang Xiaorou had informed Yi Yun of all the locations of the Desolate race’s teleportation arrays, hence Yi Yun knew where it was.

If someone did not know where the teleportation arrays were located on a map, even if someone received the jade slip, they would not know where the Desolate race and the Lin family had escaped to. Jiang Xiaorou had done this to be safe.

“Xintong, I found it.” Yi Yun transmitted his voice to Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong left the Lin family ruins and flew to Yi Yun’s side. The Lin family did not understand the Divine Wilderness much after all, so it was not easy to leave anything behind in their haste.

Lin Xintong did not understand a thing when she looked at the map. However, she did not ask what the map represented, but asked Yi Yun, “Are we leaving now?”

She was also anxious to confirm the safety of Matriarch Lin.

“Yes, let’s go now. We must be careful of not being tracked.”

“Being tracked? You are talking about the Black-armored Demon God? That can’t be… ” Lin Xintong was stunned. She found it impossible that the Black-armored Demon God would track them. According to the Black-armored Demon God’s actions in the past, he would directly attack to kill the moment he discovered them.

Yi Yun nodded and said, “Just to be sure. I had always believed the Black-armored Demon God was just a killing machine, but maybe we do not fully understand him. I never expected that the Black-armored Demon God could use the Desolate race teleportation array to find the Desolate race’s residence. For the Black-armored Demon God to abandon the resource-rich Tian Yuan world to the sparse Divine Wilderness puzzles me.”

Yi Yun did not know what the Black-armored Demon God was plotting. Yi Yun had even believed that the Black-armored Demon God lacked any intelligence. From the moment the Black-armored Demon God appeared, he had only been engaged in wanton killing, killing everything alive that he saw.

He was completely like a killing puppet that did not have any intelligence.

Yi Yun knew that the Black-armored Demon God was injured by the Azure Yang Lord and he had been sealed for tens of millions of years. His soul had been inflicted with a great deal of trauma.

And before the Black-armored Demon God appeared, Blood Moon had seemingly conspired against the Black-armored Demon God. As for what actually happened, or if the Black-armored Demon God’s soul was irreversibly damaged, Yi Yun did not know.

Now with the Black-armored Demon God in such a mental state, Yi Yun also did not know if he had intelligence or just killing instinct.

“Alright… ” Lin Xintong nodded.

Being careful was never wrong. She did not know what means the Desolate race and the Lin family had used to escape the Black-armored Demon God’s grasp. Even if they managed to escape once, it did not mean that they could escape a second time. She did not dare take the risk.

Due to the long-distance travel of them flying tens of millions of kilometers, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were also tired. So they rested in the ruins for an entire day.

Late at night on the second day, the sky above the Divine Wilderness was filled with stars and a crescent moon. Yi Yun and Lin Xintong flew away from the Divine Wilderness’s palace ruins.

Yi Yun opened his energy vision in the air. After seeking enlightenment in the Pure Yang Sword Palace, Yi Yun’s spiritual energy had improved once again. By using the Purple Crystal, he could easily see everything in a tens of kilometer radius.

Although the Black-armored Demon God was powerful, it definitely was no match for a worldly divine item like the Purple Crystal. He definitely could not escape the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

After confirming that there were no powerful life forces around them, Yi Yun led Lin Xintong and flew to a small teleportation array placed around the palace.

This teleportation array was not damaged. Using it, they traversed a distance of about 5000 kilometers. After that, Yi Yun destroyed the teleportation array. He then locked onto a particular direction and traveled at super speed ahead.

The two figures very quickly disappeared in the starry night sky…

The land that they escaped to, which Jiang Xiaorou had marked, was about a few million kilometers away from Yi Yun’s present location. It was located in deep mountains and marshlands. The location was hidden and remote. Yi Yun knew that this place was originally the Desolate race’s prison!

701 - : Refuge

CKtalon  CKtalon

Divine Wilderness, in the remote mountains.

If one was to say that the Divine Wilderness was a place where very few humans resided, then the remote mountains deep in the Divine Wilderness was where even the Desolate race did not come often.

There were millions of mountains here, in a long winding range. There were lakes in between the mountains that resembled seas.

Other than that, the remote mountains also had vast swamps, deep valleys as well as miasma-filed lands where many powerful beasts lay dormant.

The remote mountains, that was filled with all sorts of mythical creatures, was considered a terrifying area of the Divine Wilderness. Without the Desolate race that could communicate with desolate beasts, even a human Empyreal King would have to be careful in a place like this. Once they chance upon a large scale beast horde, there was even the risk of death.

The remote mountains was a distant place for penal servitude in the Divine Wilderness. Members of the Desolate race, who had committed crimes, would be banished here.

Other than that, there were also other races detained here.

And of course that included humans.

Humans and the Desolate race were sworn enemies. After human warriors were captured by the Desolate race, they would naturally not be released back to the Human race. Most of them would be imprisoned in the remote mountains, never to leave again.

And it was such a remote and secret place that had become the temporary shelter of the Desolate race.

Due to a large number of Desolate race members settling in here, the prison cells that were there originally were removed. Many of those who had been held prisoner were also given temporary freedom.

Of course, they would not escape either. The remote mountains had arrays sealing them in. Furthermore, with desolate beasts lurking around, the chances of successfully escaping were very low.

At that moment, these prisoners, who had been “chased” out of their cells, were all gathered in front of a pasture.

This was a desolate beast farm established by the Desolate race. The pasture covered fifty thousand kilometers and they reared all sorts of desolate beasts. These desolate beasts had been domesticated by the Desolate race, and they were used by many of the Desolate race elites as mounts.

In ancient times, when the Desolate race and Human race battled, the Desolate race army would ride such beasts to lead their crusade against the Tian Yuan world. Most of the combat strength of the Desolate race army came from their desolate beast mounts. Furthermore, with some desolate beasts accompanying them in their charge, their battles had an indomitable momentum.

Many of the prisoners in the remote mountains needed to engage in labor. And one of those included caring for the desolate beasts.

At that moment, in the desolate beast farm, an azure-clothed scholarly man was nonchalantly sitting on a lone rock. He was looking at a dozen desolate beasts not far from him.

These desolate beasts were all primordial strains. They were irascible and when prisoners fed them, there was a chance of the prisoners being injured.

However, in front of the azure-clothed scholar, these primordial strains appeared rather tame. They did not growl and they only lowered their heads to eat meat obediently.

As they wolfed down large pieces of meat, the primordial strains’ mouths were covered in blood.

The azure-clothed scholar only looked at all of this calmly. He had a learned bearing, and compared to these ferocious desolate beasts in front of him or the vast remote mountains around him, he appeared very out of place.

“The world is changing… ”

The azure-clothed scholar sighed. Over the past few days, he had seen the Desolate race army withdraw into the remote mountains. Many of them were injured, while the most powerful members of the Desolate race all had solemn expressions on their faces. Clearly, the situation was worse than they originally expected.

A few days ago, the azure-clothed scholar had also listened in to the Desolate race members who had withdrawn to the remote mountains in which they explained the reason for their fleeing.

This was because the Tian Yuan world was currently undergoing a terrible catastrophe. A powerful Black-armored Demon God, who exceeded the strength of the Tian Yuan world and the Desolate race, was engaged in a massacre. With just him alone, he was causing a bloody storm in the Great World. Wherever the Black-armored Demon God went, life would be extinguished, with nothing spared.

Many people guessed that the Black-armored Demon God would likely grow in strength, and become so strong that he could destroy the Tian Yuan world and the Desolate race’s martial civilization.

That was definitely an outcome of a calamity.

“I wonder how the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom is… Have the citizens of the Divine Kingdom been slaughtered by the Black-armored Demon God… ?” The azure-clothed scholar muttered to himself and looked worried.

This azure-clothed scholar was the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord.

More than ten years ago, the Desolate race had opened a pathway from the Divine Wilderness into the Tian Yuan world. As such, the Tai Ah Divine City was destroyed by the Desolate race, and all the strongest figures in the Tai Ah Divine City, including the City Lord, were captured.

It was impossible for them to resist the Shepherd Boy. Furthermore, the Shepherd Boy had led a huge army of desolate beasts, and there was even a primordial true spirit that was no weaker than a human Empyreal King.

It was definite that the city would be overrun.

Not even the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord, even the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royalty, who were stationed along the Divine Kingdom’s border had been captured in large numbers.

This included two kings and two princes, as well as a princess of the royal family who had the beauty to topple countries.

As the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royalty was captured by the Desolate race, the country was greatly eviscerated, causing the country’s strength to decline greatly.

And those members of the royal family who were captured, as well as the mighty figures of the Tai Ah Divine City, had all been imprisoned for more than a decade. They were isolated from the outside world and they did not know anything that had happened, nor know if the Desolate race had ever taken the fight to the Tian Yuan world.

Only today, when the Desolate race fled into the remote mountains did they get some information regarding the outside world.

So in the past decade or so, the outside world had undergone upheavals!

They knew that the Desolate race had a new Desolate Queen. She was young and she had obtained the recognition of the Sacred Spirit, inheriting the throne.

They also knew of a hidden organization, Blood Moon in the Tian Yuan world. They were known as the Martial Alliance on the surface, but they were actually an important chess piece that had instigated the ancient war tens of millions of years ago.

With the Blood Moon overthrown, many of the Elders from the Tian Yuan world’s major factions formed a Tian Yuan Elder Consortium, so as to maintain a new order in the Tian Yuan world, as well as put up a fight against the Black-armored Demon God, but it was to no avail.

Now, the Black-armored Demon God had attacked the Divine Wilderness, but the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord did not derive any pleasure from their misfortune. If possible, he wished that the Desolate race could destroy the Black-armored Demon God, while he carried on living out his life in the remote mountains. He did not wish for the Tian Yuan world, especially the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s inheritance, to be destroyed, or to see numerous citizens being slaughtered by the Black-armored Demon God, causing rivers of blood to flow…

Just as the azure-clothed scholar was worrying about the future of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, an old man walked up behind the azure-clothed scholar and said, “City Lord, the Desolate race has sent someone, asking us to go over.”

Although they had been imprisoned for many years, those who came from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, were still accustomed to calling the azure-clothed scholar City Lord.

And the old man who called out to the City Lord was the one Elders of the Tai Ah Divine City, Cang Yan.

Back in the Tai Ah Divine City, Elder Cang Yan was a person who had an attitude of frivolous defiance. Despite his imprisonment of more than a decade, he was still living quite a leisurely and carefree life in the remote mountains. He had food and drink here, and this place had abundant primal Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. No one abused them either, so other than not being able to leave the remote mountains, it was actually nothing to Cang Yan.

“The Desolate race wants us there?” The azure-clothed scholar was surprised before he shook his head with a wry smile. He said, “For the Desolate race to flee to this area, they are probably at the end of their ropes. They are probably thinking of combining all forces, not even leaving out us prisoners imprisoned in the remote mountains. Together, we have to fight against the Black-armored Demon God, and will probably promise our freedom. However, against the Black-armored Demon God, what role can we play?” The azure-clothed scholar said with a self-deprecating tone.

The Tian Yuan world’s Elder Consortium was powerless against the Black-armored Demon God, so they had no means of even putting up a resistance.

Cang Yan still had an indifferent attitude as he laughed, saying, “City Lord, why do you keep sighing? Isn’t it just a Black-armored Demon God? Even if I can’t beat him, I’ll also take a bite at him. Even if he is called a Demon God, he’s just a single entity. Can he really destroy the entire world by himself? Now, we might not be his match, but there will be someone who will eventually be able to destroy him. I heard in recent years, a peerless genius appeared in the Tian Yuan world. At a young age, this kid was already on equal footing with many of the big figureheads in the Tian Yuan world. It sounds completely outrageous from the sound of it.”

“According to what the Desolate race said, this kid not only played an important role in subverting Blood Moon, he is also the hope that to defeat the Black-armored Demon God. If I had a say, in a few hundred years, this kid might finish the Black-armored Demon God!”

The remote mountains were void of information. Cang Yan had recently heard of a terrifying youth appearing in the Tian Yuan world. He was initially very alarmed as the information sounded unbelievable. It completely overturned everything he knew.

However, all the Desolate race who escaped to the remote mountains had said the same thing, so slowly, Cang Yan could only believe it with a pinch of salt.

“Hopefully… I wish this peerless genius was not fabricated by them… ” The azure-clothed scholar said as he shook his head.

He had naturally heard of this news, but he refused to believe it.

When people faced times of hardship, they needed a hero. Even without a hero, people would create one, as heroes brought hope to people.

The azure-clothed scholar suspected that the sudden appearance of a genius was to make people have confidence. He would be what kept people going, that as long as they remained resilient, one day, this hero would defeat the Black-armored Demon God.

But was this true?

This person definitely existed to be portrayed as a hero, but to say that he had such fearsome power at such a young age, the azure-clothed scholar found it unbelievable. Many rumors were often exaggerated.

702 - : Old Acquaintances

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the remote mountains, a magnificent Desolate race palace stood erect.

This palace was an enchanted companion treasure of the former Desolate Queen. She could keep and take it anywhere she wanted. As such, this palace was brought to the remote mountains. As for the other palaces that were not refined into enchanted treasures, they were left in ruins back in the original territory of the Desolate race.

At that moment, there were already large numbers of warriors gathered in the Desolate race’s palace’s meeting hall, numbering more than ten thousand.

Amongst these people, there were not only members of the Desolate race, but also people from the Human race.

When the Tai Ah Divine City City Lord and Cang Yan arrived at the meeting hall, they were started when they saw the scene. They were previously held in prison deep in the remote mountains, so they had only heard some murmurs about what had happened in the external world. They only believed that the Desolate race had retreated into the remote mountains, and they did not really know that there were so many members of the Human race gathered here.

From the looks of these humans, they were most likely from major factions in the Tian Yuan world. Even the Human race had withdrawn to the remote mountains?

“City Lord!”

“Uncle Yang!”

After the Tai Ah Divine City City Lord walked into the crowd, they were received by a few people. The two in front were dressed in biege long robes. The two of them were kings of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, and following right behind them was a girl in her twenties. She was a princess of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

As for the others, they were the Elders of the former Tai Ah Divine City, including Elder Jian Ge.

With the calamity before them, the prison rules were no longer upheld. These people were for all purposes, practically freed.

“The people involved in the meeting are all inside. Only people at the peak of the Dao Seed realm can enter.”

A few of the Desolate race guards stopped a large number of warriors outside the meeting hall. As for the Tai Ah Divine City City Lord and company, their cultivation level was high enough. They were led into the grand hall by the Desolate race’s guards.

As they walked through, there was a solemn atmosphere lingering in the air. The birth of the Black-armored Demon God gave all of them an apocalyptic feel.

“Former Backwater East’s Tai Ah Kingdom’s Yuan Opening realm warriors have arrived.”

The Desolate race guard said a sentence to simply introduce the azure-clothed scholar and company’s identity. Be they once a City Lord or a member of royalty, that did not matter. To be in this meeting hall, only their cultivation level and strength mattered.

The azure-clothed scholar also knew that no matter what status they held in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, that was actually negligible here.

The guards outside the meeting hall, pushed the door open with deadpan expressions.

As the azure-clothed scholar and company walked into the grand hall, they were met with a wide room. There was a round table in the middle with more than twenty people sitting around it. These people all had powerful auras and they gave off a strong repressive feeling.

Even at that moment, despite them already converging their auras, they still made anyone who glanced at them palpitate in their hearts.

Without a doubt, these people were the strongest figures of the Desolate race and the Human race. They were figures given the title of Empyreal Kings.

And what was most surprising was that amongst this group of strong warriors, there was a girl who looked like she was in her teens. She sat high above on a seat of honor and she held a bone staff that was engraved with runic patterns. She wore a red long dress and she had three cinnabar marks on the spot in the middle of her eyebrows. She really had the unsurpassed beauty of a generation.

The girl’s aura was clearly weaker, but her bearing was no less weaker than any of the mighty Empyreal King figures present.

“She should be the new Desolate Queen… ?”

The Tai Ah Divine Kingdom contingent secretly thought. They had recently heard news of the new Desolate Queen, that she was young in age, but she had a bloodline that was unparalleled. She had obtained the recognition of the Sacred Spirit, inheriting the position of Desolate Queen.

As for what past this girl had, they did not know.

“The new Desolate Queen sure is exceptional… ”

The azure-clothed scholar exclaimed in whispers. For the girl in red to not lose out in her aura despite being amongst so many mighty figures, this alone was quite amazing.

Her strong bloodline meant that her life force was a level higher. A powerful life meant that even if her cultivation level was not high enough, her aura would not be much weaker.

However, it was such a peerless beauty that led so many members of the Human race and Desolate race’s Empyreal Kings, as well as so many of the primordial true spirits gathered in the remote mountains. Despite having so many powerful existences present, they could do nothing against the Black-armored Demon God who would come.

The atmosphere in the meeting hall was extremely heavy. People were not in a panic, but they were silent. These peerless figures were all waiting, waiting for the moment where the final judgment of their lives was determined.

After the azure-clothed scholar and company arrived, they were left standing on the outer perimeter of the meeting hall. Inside, only about twenty people sat down, all Empyreal Kings. As for the Yuan Opening realm warriors, they could only stand as there were too many people.

The azure-clothed scholar also knew that in this calamity, the role they could play was nearly negligible. The upper echelons of the Desolate race had probably mentioned in passing to release all the prisoners in the remote mountains’ prisons, and they did not put it much at heart.

The hall was quickly filled with people and soon, they numbered in the hundreds. The people present were at least at the peak of the Dao Seed realm, but not every peak-Dao Seed realm warrior could enter. They had to be the peerless geniuses nurtured by large factions.

“Everyone, today in this meeting hall, we have gathered the most elite force of both the Human and Desolate race. The purpose of gathering everyone here today needs no saying. It is to discuss the final moment, and how we are to deal with it.”

The person who spoke was Jiang Xiaorou’s mother, the former Desolate Queen, and also the true person who decided on matters in the Desolate race.

As she spoke, the former Desolate Queen glanced at a couple sitting beside her.

They were the highest-level decision makers in the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium, the Sanctuary Island couple. Back then, it was also them who had discovered the corpses of the upper echelons of Blood Moon who had fled.

There was another decision maker in the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium, the Sovereign of the Eventide. He was the only person in the Tian Yuan world who managed to reach the middle-stages of the Heaven Ascension realm, but he did not appear.

About half a year ago, there were droves of factions from the Tian Yuan world who escaped into the Divine Wilderness.

Like the Lin family, many large Tian Yuan world factions realized that the Divine Wilderness was much safer than the Tian Yuan world.

To those factions seeking refuge, the Desolate race did not turn them away. The Desolate race knew that the entire world was on the brink of death. They had to put aside the differences regarding their species. They could not watch these large factions die without doing a thing, letting the Black-armored Demon God drain the Tian Yuan world of its strength.

At the same time, the Desolate race could not let these factions enter the Desolate race’s headquarters. If that happened, the Desolate race headquarters would have too many experts gathered, which might lead to them being a target of attack of the Black-armored Demon God. That was equivalent to suicide.

Hence, many of the fleeing Human race factions could only hide in various enclaves in the Divine Wilderness.

Eventually, the Black-armored Demon God still came to the Divine Wilderness. The vast Divine Wilderness with its large swaths of forests and mountains was nothing in the eyes of the Black-armored Demon God. He could easily find any of the hiding spots of the refugees in the Divine Wilderness.

The massacre that continued made people feel hopeless.

Many refugee factions were either destroyed or escaped further into the depths of the Divine Wilderness…

703 - : Distinguished Elites Gathered

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Human race was not the Desolate race after all. By residing in the Divine Wilderness, they could not avoid coming into contact with all sorts of powerful Desolate beasts. The deeper they went into the Divine Wilderness, the more powerful the desolate beasts they encountered were.

Under such circumstances, even if they were not found by the Black-armored Demon God, they would still suffer heavy casualties. Hence, many human factions slowly gathered in the remote mountains, and this place was their final destination.

But now, even this final destination was facing a deadly threat.

They were faced with two choices.

Fight! Or flee!

When these choices were brought up in the hall, the mood turned into a depressing one.

Fighting meant a fight to the death. Many people lacked the courage, especially when there was no hope of victory.

As for fleeing, where else could they go?

They were already in the remote mountains of the Divine Wilderness. Beyond the Desolate race’s sphere of influence, the surroundings were filled with primordial desolate beasts. Escaping through it was not easy!

Furthermore, they were still facing the threat of being hunted by the Black-armored Demon God. The Black-armored Demon God seemed to have astral methods. Although he was one person alone, he seemed to be able to appear in any place instantly. It was almost impossible for people, who were hunted by him, to survive.

“Your Majesty. Previously in the battle between the Desolate race and the Black-armored Demon God, I was lucky to witness something. I wonder if the your race’s gigantic Skyfox, which managed to withstand the Black-armored Demon God’s attack using its own power by activating the Desolate race’s divine bone altar, is still able to fight?”

When the Black-armored Demon God attacked the Desolate race’s headquarters, no one from the entire Desolate race, Lin family, or the handful of experts from other factions in the Tian Yuan world, were any match for the Black-armored Demon God.

Against the Black-armored Demon God, they were not even comparable to eggs striking a rock.

Without a doubt, it would have been a massacre.

Without any morale to fight, they were only thinking of how to escape. And just at the moment many people were in despair, a gigantic Skyfox appeared.

Back then, when the human warriors saw the Skyfox, they were either distraught or alarmed.

The Skyfox had gigantic eyes that looked as clear as a lake, and it had a look of apathy in its eyes.

Its body seemed to cover the Heavens and Earth. It had six tails that resembled six flood dragons, and they were as red as fire. They waved in the sky like shiny divine flames that roared into the sky.

The human warriors had no idea what it was. And when the Desolate race warriors saw the Skyfox, despite the Black-armored Demon God attacking them and with their lives at stake, all of them knelt down, bowing to the Skyfox.

This Skyfox was the Sacred Spirit that protected the Desolate race.

Many years ago, not long after Jiang Xiaorou joined the Desolate race, she had obtained great power and awoken her bloodline, becoming the new Desolate Queen. It was largely attributed to Jiang Xiaorou completing the rites on the divine bone altar, receiving the recognition of the Desolate race Sacred Spirit.

Even the young team of geniuses, who were nurtured by the Desolate race and entered the Soul Tomb to battle Blood Moon, were also known as “Skyfox”.

The Skyfox was a symbol and totem of the Desolate race.

However, the Skyfox usually slept in the Divine Wilderness. Ignoring human experts, even many of the former Desolate Queens had never managed to see the Skyfox in person.

For a Desolate Queen to see the Skyfox appear was her luck, or they were like Jiang Xiaorou who had obtained the Skyfox’s recognition.

The Human race did not know of the Skyfox’s existence. To many of the Desolate race, the Skyfox was nearly a legend.

The Skyfox was mysterious and powerful. Although it protected the Desolate race, it was not subservient to the Desolate race’s orders. The Skyfox had never appeared in the multiple battles between the Desolate race and the Human race.

To the Desolate race, the Skyfox was their most primordial God.

But in fact, only the Desolate Queens knew that the Skyfox was a young fox brought to and left behind in the Tian Yuan world by the Azure Yang Lord tens of millions of years ago.

This Skyfox that protected the Desolate race came from a place in the 12 Empyrean Heavens known as Sinkhole. It had been injured in its youth and it was rescued by the Azure Yang Lord.

Later on, it had accompanied the Azure Yang Lord to this world. In the war tens of millions of years ago, the Skyfox was still weak and it did not participate in the battle. Later on, with the Azure Yang Lord leaving, the Skyfox stayed behind in the Divine Wilderness.

Instead of saying it protected the Desolate race, it was actually protecting whatever the Azure Yang Lord left behind.

Over the tens of millions of years, it was loyal only to the Azure Yang Lord. However, the tragic thing about it was that it grew in a lower realm. It could not absorb the worldly essence of the 12 Empyrean Heavens, and it lacked the heritage of the Skyfox race. This meant that it could never reach its life’s potential.

It was just like the Nine Neonate born in the lower realm which could not survive the nine Heavenly Tribulations. The Skyfox was facing a similar fate.

Over tens of millions of years, it was already very old.

Its life had been spent in the Divine Wilderness. The vast Divine Wilderness that was beyond a mortal’s imagination was like a tiny pond to the Skyfox.

A koi that grew up in a pond would never transform into a divine dragon.

The Skyfox was a God Spirit of all the desolate beasts in the Divine Wilderness. It only silently watched over them. Only when the Black-armored Demon God attacked the Desolate race did it enter the battle.

Even for members of the Desolate race, it was the first time that they witnessed the Skyfox fight.

Its power was shocking. It could use Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, and the moment it battled, it brought about tumultuous changes.

With the Skyfox’s strength, not only did the Desolate race send the Black-armored Demon God retreating, they had even injured him!

This was the first time that the Black-armored Demon God was injured after its appearance!

After the Black-armored Demon God retreated, this allowed the Desolate race and the Lin family to be saved. A number of disciples were killed in the Black-armored Demon God’s first wave of attack. As for the majority of their elites and experts in their clans, they had sufficient time to retreat to the remote mountains.

The reason they had retreated was because the Skyfox had received injuries…

It was too old.

In the lower realm, its powers and lifespan were restricted. Even in the past million years, it had been sleeping, and its life was slowly coming to an end…

Even if it kept sleeping, it could not survive for long. And this appearance in the battle had greatly expended a lot of its vitality.

The Skyfox now was already extremely weak. And although the Black-armored Demon God had been repelled, the former Desolate Queen’s intuition told her that he would slowly recover and return once again in a relatively short period of time.

“The death of my race’s Sacred Spirit is approaching, so it probably will not be able to participate in any more battles.”

The former Desolate Queen shook her head. Her words also immediately made the hearts of the human warriors, who had pinned their hopes on the Skyfox, sink.

“It can’t participate in a battle just because it’s dying? But at this point in time… ” A human legendary figure said his sentence midway. He was implying how that with the survival of the Human and Desolate race on the brink of destruction, with numerous people sacrificing their lives in battle, he wished that the Desolate race would also sacrifice something if possible.

Upon hearing this legendary figure’s words, the former Desolate Queen frowned slightly.

“My race’s guardian Sacred Spirit is not a desolate beast tamed by my race. It is our race’s God. In the past tens of millions of years, it has watched over our race, and it has done enough. I have no right to let my race’s God to sacrifice itself for my race. There is no need to mention this matter again!”

This legendary figure’s words made the former Desolate Queen a little irritated.

Sacrifice was easier said than done. When one had to really sacrifice himself for a noble cause, very few people present could really do it.

“If that is the case, then we can only retreat… ” A legendary figure said as he gave a wistful glance at Jiang Xiaorou. During the Black-armored Demon God’s attack of the Desolate race’s headquarters, a small detail had surprised him greatly that he had secretly kept his mind on.

704 - : The Sacred Spirit’s Protection

CKtalon  CKtalon

Are we still left with no choice but to withdraw?

A retreat was equally something that made many of the warriors present have a heavy feeling in their hearts. It was unknown how many people would survive in this act of withdrawal.

Even so, there was always hope. If they were to fight to the death and without the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit, there was probably a few who would survive.

A few Human race legendary figures exchanged looks and they came to a unanimous decision to flee. There was no other way.

They would attempt to escape into the deep depths of the Divine Wilderness as far as they could go.

An Empyreal King from the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium stood forward and said to the former Desolate Queen, “Your Majesty, my race has decided on evacuating this premises. To ensure all of our survival, we plan on splitting up to move in multiple directions. We wish the Desolate race would work with us by splitting up too. Every group would both have members of the Desolate race and the Human race. In this way, we can take care of each other on our fugitive paths.”

The Empyreal King’s mention of taking care of each other was actually just the Desolate race taking care of the Human race. This was because the chances of survival of the Human race escaping through the Divine Wilderness was very low.

The desolate beasts did not care if the Human and Desolate race were on the brink of destruction. They would attack humans the moment they saw them, treating these human warriors like food.

They had to have powerful members of the Desolate race following them. They could not be too weak either, for they needed to be able to communicate with the primordial desolate beasts that filled the Divine Wilderness, so as to ensure their safety.

However, the former Desolate Queen rebuffed the human expert’s suggestion. “Sorry, I am afraid that I cannot agree to your suggestion!”

The former Desolate Queen had an unquestionable tone, with no room for discussion.

When the legendary human figures heard this, they were momentarily stunned. The Desolate race did not plan on dividing their forces to go with them? Then how were they going to flee?

Even those Empyreal Kings, who could have a relatively easy time entering and exiting the Divine Wilderness, did not want to waste their strength fighting primordial true spirits. Furthermore, Yuan Opening realm warriors lacked the ability of self-preservation. There was no need for the Black-armored Demon God to kill them, for a large number of them would likely end up in the bellies of the primordial desolate beasts in the Divine Wilderness!

“Your Majesty, what do you mean by this?” A legendary figure from the Human race frowned. “Don’t you agree that we should split up while escaping, and instead we are to go as one? Wouldn’t it be a clean sweep if the Black-armored Demon God catches up to us!?”

“You misunderstood what I meant.” The former Desolate Queen shook her head. “I do not plan on my people to escape with you.”

Oh!?

The former Desolate Queen’s words made many of the legendary figures of the Human race have an ugly expression.

“Your Majesty, at this point in time, can’t you let go of the differences of race? Are you bound on seeing us Humans die?”

“Is Your Majesty planning on abandoning the principles of righteousness so as to see all of us die in the Divine Wilderness?”

One legendary figure after another turned anxious. Some of the more grumpy ones were already furious. The Desolate race was abandoning them? Wasn’t this adding insult to injury!?

The former Desolate Queen did not respond. At that moment, an elder from the Desolate race stood forward and said calmly, “You have all misunderstood us. Our race is not abandoning the Human race, we have already come to a unanimous decision to fight the Black-armored Demon God. If you want to leave, you are free to leave!”

What!?

The elder’s words stunned many of the human warriors.

Fight the Black-armored Demon God?

The Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit was already injured, so what else did the Desolate race have to fight the Black-armored Demon God. Wasn’t this equivalent to suicide?

Furthermore, the crux of the issue was that the death of the Desolate race would implicate them. How were they to flee in that case?

A young genius from the Human race stood up anxiously and said, “It’s alright if you are determined to fight to the death. However, by doing so, aren’t you pulling us to join you in death? This is a form of abduction. You are forcefully binding us to your war chariots, forcing us to fight for you. Your Desolate race may want to uphold the glory of your race, but we don’t have the obligation to!”

As he was anxious, the genius spoke without mincing any of his words. He was still young and he did not want to die here.

The moment he said those words, it immediately made many of the warriors from the Desolate race find it jarring.

Who did this person think he was?

“Shut up!” At that moment, the Sanctuary Island’s Island Lord spoke. This shout contained the will of an Empyreal King. The young junior, who spoke mindlessly, immediately turned pale from the shout. With a grunt, he took several steps back and immediately lacked the courage to speak.

He did not dare to rebut the Sanctuary Island Lord’s reprimand.

“This lad is young and foolish and he has been rude to Your Majesty. Please forgive him!” The Sanctuary Island Lord said humbly and courteously. Even the Desolate race felt deep respect for the Sanctuary Island couple.

He was strong and modest. He was easily well-liked.

“The Desolate race’s determination to fight is naturally your race’s freedom. We do not have the right to interfere. Furthermore, your race has no obligation to protect my race. Escorting my race to escape is a kind act, and not escorting is simply to be expected. After all, our race’s escape into the Divine Wilderness was our race’s choice. It was not an invitation to your race.”

“But… ” When the Sanctuary Island Lord said this, he switched gears and carried on, “I have something that I do not understand. What is the reason for the Desolate race to want to fight the Black-armored Demon God to the death?”

When the Sanctuary Island Lord asked this, the former Desolate Queen turned silent.

Sitting beside the former Desolate Queen, Jiang Xiaorou had a complicated look. She looked at her mother, wanting to speak but she decided against it.

In fact, she never knew about her mother’s decision prior to this meeting. Only when her mother said that they were to fight to the death did she know. Her heart had skipped a beat and guessed something bad.

This guess made her feel repressed, nearly suffocating.

At that moment, she felt that she had to say something so as to make things clear.

However, just before Jiang Xiaorou opened her mouth, a legendary figure of the Human race spoke up first. He was the one who had previously witnessed the Black-armored Demon God’s invasion of the Desolate race’s headquarters.

At the moment he was shocked by the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit’s power, he was puzzled about a particular detail in the battle. That was at the moment the Black-armored Demon God appeared, breaking through the Desolate race palace’s defensive array, he had reached out his hand, forming a gigantic black hand, grabbing at Jiang Xiaorou!

Jiang Xiaorou had no way to resist him and she was immediately lifted into the air!

If he wished, a simple squeeze would have killed Jiang Xiaorou. However, the Black-armored Demon God, who had always been bloodthirsty, did not do so. Instead, he seemed to want to take Jiang Xiaorou away.

And at that moment, the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit appeared and engaged the Black-armored Demon God in combat!

The Sacred Spirit’s attack saved Jiang Xiaorou. During the battle between these two terrifying existences, the shockwaves from the battle were extremely terrifying. The legendary figure believed that this would spell certain death for Jiang Xiaorou who was in the middle of these two existence’s battle. However, he never expected Jiang Xiaorou to miraculously survive.

For this to happen, it only meant that these two existences had deliberately avoided harming Jiang Xiaorou.

The Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit was extremely powerful, and it was able to call on the worldly Power of Desolates, allowing it to send the Black-armored Demon God in retreat.

The Black-armored Demon God was injured. Just as he was about to flee, he reached out his hand once again, hoping to abduct Jiang Xiaorou before he escaped.

To be distracted during a battle and forcefully abduct Jiang Xiaorou was an extremely risky maneuver. It was even more so when facing the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit.

Hence, the Black-armored Demon God revealed a flaw in his movement, allowing the Skyfox Sacred Spirit to injure him once again. As such, he had no choice but to retreat in defeat.

However, this scene was imprinted into this legendary figure’s mind.

The Black-armored Demon God was clearly seeking Jiang Xiaorou!

Hence, during this meeting between the Human and Desolate race that debated on the topic of whether they should flee or fight, this legendary figure stepped forward and asked, “Your Majesty, I have something that I want to know. The reason why the Desolate race is planning to fight to the death, has it got to do with the new Desolate Queen? If I didn’t guess wrong, the Black-armored Demon God seemingly wanted to capture the new Desolate Queen? And it is likely because of this reason that the Desolate race cannot split up and escape, and have to fight the Black-armored Demon God to the death. If not, the moment you split up, your race’s warriors would have no chance of withstanding the Black-armored Demon God!”

When the legendary human figure said this, it started many of the people present.

The Black-armored Demon God was planning on abducting Jiang Xiaorou? As such, the Desolate race had to fight to the death? Was this true?

Everyone’s eyes suddenly landed on Jiang Xiaorou.

Jiang Xiaorou’s body slightly turned stiff. She gently lowered her bone staff, with her face turning slightly pale…

705 - : The Desolate Race’s Decision

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although others did not know, as the person in question, Jiang Xiaorou knew it very clearly. Just before the Black-armored Demon God arrived at the Desolate race headquarters, she had felt an invisible energy locking on to her.

This energy suddenly grew more intense the moment the Black-armored Demon God appeared.

It was an energy that was extremely difficult to describe. It was as if there was a superior but cold life staring at her from a different, invisible space-time dimension.

And following that, the Black-armored Demon God made his move against Jiang Xiaorou. With his irresistible powers, he had captured Jiang Xiaorou. At the moment she was caught by his energy, Jiang Xiaorou felt like her life was no longer hers. If it wasn’t for the Sacred Spirit’s appearance, she would never have been able to come back alive.

Hence, Jiang Xiaorou was sure that the Black-armored Demon God was targeting her.

This was also most likely the reason for the Black-armored Demon God to appear in the Divine Wilderness. After all, the Divine Wilderness was sparse in population. Even if there were quite a few refugees gathered here, in terms of overall warrior density, it was inferior to the Tian Yuan world. The Black-armored Demon God could achieve a higher efficiency in killing people in the Tian Yuan world.

However, why did the Black-armored Demon God want to catch her? Jiang Xiaorou could not figure it out.

At that moment, Jiang Xiaorou was already the focus of the entire meeting hall.

Jiang Xiaorou was not afraid of death, but she did not wish to implicate her race or her mother because of herself.

Jiang Xiaorou exhaled before standing up.

Her originally pale face had returned to normal. She said, “Regarding the Black-armored Demon God and myself, I will give everyone an answer.”

With Jiang Xiaorou saying that sentence, everyone else in the meeting hall looked at Jiang Xiaorou with odd expressions.

Jiang Xiaorou did not deny it, which was enough to prove that the likelihood of this matter was true.

They did not know why the Black-armored Demon God wanted Jiang Xiaorou, but without a doubt, it was due to Jiang Xiaorou’s existence that they were unable to withdraw.

Were all these people going to perish together just because of this one person?

They could ignore it if the entire Desolate race perished, but to let the Human race perish along with them?

Many people had such thoughts in mind, but they did not say it out aloud.

“Your Majesty, is this matter true?” A Human race elder asked.

The former Desolate Queen’s gaze was cold. She did not answer the elder’s question but instead retorted, “Why? If it’s true, do you plan on letting me send my only child to the Black-armored Demon God?”

The former Desolate Queen’s words were aggressive, making the elder displeased, but he momentarily choked up. He gritted his teeth for a moment, before saying with an ugly expression, “It seems that your esteemed race has made the decision. For your daughter-mother duo, for your survival, you plan on ignoring all principles and send this world’s elite forces to their death? We can forget our Human race, as you have no obligations to care about us, but what about your Desolate race? As Desolate Queen, are you planning on letting your race perish along with your daughter?”

The elder’s words were extremely venomous. When he said those words, the atmosphere in the meeting hall turned tense.

Many warriors of the Desolate race were already standing up. As for the human warriors, they had subconsciously pressed down on their interspatial rings.

Actually what the human elder said was on many humans’ minds.

Wasn’t it ridiculous to sacrifice an entire race just for a girl!?

Shepherd Boy stood silently in front of Jiang Xiaorou. His gaze was locked onto the human elder who had just spoken. His eyes were filled with murderous intent.

“Uncle Qing!” Jiang Xiaorou held onto Shepherd Boy.

There were many Human race experts present. Although it was impossible for them to fight, by causing a racial rift, it would be extremely disadvantageous to the future resistance against the Black-armored Demon God. This was something Jiang Xiaorou did not wish to see.

“Sorry, I spoke without thinking it through, but good advice is usually jarring to the ears. What I said was true. If your Highness were to let your entire race perish because of a girl, I don’t think that is justifiable!”

After all, this was the Desolate race’s territory, so the human elder did not dare insist too firmly. However, despite him apologizing, he did not mean to take back his words.

The former Desolate Queen pressed her hand on the table. A slight chill was revealed from her beautiful face.

She had yet to make the necessary arrangements on this matter, but the matter had already been pointed out by a legendary figure from the Human race at the meeting. She was, without a doubt, placed in an extremely disadvantageous position.

Jiang Xiaorou remained silent. At that moment, what else could she say?

She could sense that every human present gave her a gaze that resembled a needle.

When their lives were at stake, people found it difficult to accept perishing en masse in order to save a young girl’s life.

“You said that I’m ignoring the principles of caring for my race?” The former Desolate Queen sneered while standing up. “I might as well tell all of you that the Black-armored Demon God is indeed eyeing Xiaorou, and I have already guessed the reason.”

When Jiang Xiaorou was locked onto by the Black-armored Demon God, Jiang Xiaorou’s mother had already thought of the reason. The world was so large, filled with numerous geniuses. Why would the Black-armored Demon God eye Jiang Xiaorou?

The only possibility was that it had to do with Jiang Xiaorou’s father.

Jiang Xiaorou’s father, who came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, was not an ordinary mortal. The child he left behind might have something that the Black-armored Demon God needed!

However, the former Desolate Queen would not explain these things. If Jiang Xiaorou’s father was mentioned, then there would be even more people who would plot against Jiang Xiaorou.

“Have you not thought that capturing Xiaorou would necessarily be helpful for the Black-armored Demon God? Not long after, the Black-armored Demon God will return once again, and when that happens, the Black-armored Demon God would be even more powerful than now! Handing my daughter over to him will lead to disastrous consequences!”

The former Desolate Queen may love Jiang Xiaorou, but she was the Desolate Queen after all. She could not simply sacrifice her Desolate race just for Jiang Xiaorou. She had her own reasons.

“What your Highness says makes sense, but… forgive me if I’m being straight. Even if what your Highness suggests is true, we actually also have other means of avoiding this scenario… ”

A legendary human figure said and looked with a strange gaze at Jiang Xiaorou.

This gaze came with a hint of malice and pity. He did not finish his sentence, but the meaning from his words was very clear.

His words implied destroying Jiang Xiaorou completely!

If the Black-armored Demon God would become stronger after obtaining Jiang Xiaorou, then wouldn’t destroying Jiang Xiaorou prevent that possibility?

On the brink of life and death, to carry on surviving, killing a talented young girl to prevent a inferred possibility was not a difficult choice.

After all, the entire Tian Yuan world already had so many ruined family clans, with numerous people dead. What was one more?

Of course, the decision lay in the hands of the Desolate race.

Many of the Human race experts looked at Jiang Xiaorou indifferently. They were waiting for the former Desolate Queen’s decision.

They knew that this was a difficult decision, but with the survival of their race in question, it would force the former Desolate Queen to make a decision.

Pressure!

Even though she had encountered all sorts of situations and she had been ruling over the Desolate race for many years, the former Desolate Queen felt immense pressure at the moment.

She could ignore the Human race, but for the people of her Desolate race…

“Your Majesty, I, Qing Kui, am willing to follow your Highness to die in battle!”

The Shepherd Boy was the first to speak with a resolute voice. No one doubted that he would die for the Desolate race and Jiang Xiaorou without any hesitation.

However… Qing Kui was not everyone in the Desolate race.

Even if all of them did the same, the former Desolate Queen would not let the entirety of her people perish for Xiaorou.

They had the right to live on. They were not born for the royal family, nor were they meant to die for the royal family.

“Your Majesty, why don’t we end it here today… ”

At that moment, the Sanctuary Island couple stood up. “We cannot interfere in your esteemed race’s internal matters. However, since your esteemed race’s Sacred Spirit is unable to fight, then even if those remaining were to fight to the death, the chances of victory are slim. Hence, I wish your esteemed race will weigh the consequences. Of course, I wish that your esteemed race will have a better choice.”

The Sanctuary couple looked at Jiang Xiaorou with complicated expressions. They stopped speaking and finally only shook their heads.

They felt very sorry for this beautiful, young girl.

Her bloodline had given her powerful life and strength, but it was a curse that brought her many disasters. As for Jiang Xiaorou being left in the Cloud Wilderness, and how she was nearly refined into a pill in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, they had all heard of these matters.

And now, she was eyed by the most terrifying Black-armored Demon God, who wanted to capture her. Her fate was one of death.

No matter how the Desolate race chose, the final outcome might be impossible to change.

If Jiang Xiaorou was destroyed, then it naturally meant her death. However, even if they were to fight it to the death, Jiang Xiaorou’s outcome would probably be her being abducted by the Black-armored Demon God.

It was likely that shortly after, the Tian Yuan world would be faced with the destruction of their race, and the news of the young Desolate Queen dying.

“My race needs to think of what to do as well. We shall bid you farewell first.” The Sanctuary Island couple said.

They spoke tactfully, but from the human elder from before as well as the other human experts leaving with ashen expressions, it was clear that these people did not wish to fight alongside the Desolate race.

If the Desolate race insisted on fighting to the death, they would rather leave at the risk of dying in the bellies of desolate beasts.

706 - : The Curse of a Bloodline

CKtalon  CKtalon

At dawn, just as the first ray of sunshine shot out from the east, the remote mountains were still shrouded in endless morning fog. The fog was thick and dense, and it covered the mountains, lakes and trees, blurring everything. The fog lingered without dispersing, causing the remote mountain’s weather to become especially cold.

Shrouded in the morning fog, inside a modest-sized room in the Desolate race’s palace.

Jiang Xiaorou was sitting in front of a bronze mirror. She was dressed in a thick red long robe, and she was slowly combing her hair.

The mirror reflected her beautiful face, and the bit of cinnabar in the middle of her eyebrows was beautiful, but it brought with it a tinge of sadness.

As Jiang Xiaorou looked at the mirror, her eyes were still the replaying scenes inside the meeting hall yesterday. The Human race’s geniuses looked at her with hatred, while the Sanctuary Island couple gave her a look of pity…

Jiang Xiaorou did not mind too much about the Human race.

But for the Desolate race, she couldn’t not mind.

To protect her, it required the entire Desolate race to fight the Black-armored Demon God to the death. In the words of the Human race, that was equivalent to severing heritage and the flames of life.

The Black-armored Demon God seemed to be able to extract the powers of the strong by killing them, and as a result, strengthen himself. If that was the case, the more experts killed by him, the more terrible the situation would become.

Jiang Xiaorou sat in the empty room with a deep sense of loneliness.

She was like a person cursed by the Heavens.

At that moment, the door was pushed open, as Jiang Xiaorou’s mother walked in.

She did not say a word, and neither did Jiang Xiaorou turn back.

She quietly took the comb in Jiang Xiaorou’s hand, and while holding a tiny lock of Jiang Xiaorou’s hair, she began combing her hair bit by bit.

Her motions were very slow and the comb silently glided down her smooth, black hair. As the strands of hair split into tracks after tracks, they resembled stripes of black silk.

“Mother… I want to go to the divine bone altar.” Jiang Xiaorou, who had her back towards her mother, suddenly spoke. Her voice was soft, but it caused the former Desolate Queen’s hands to tremble. She let go of the comb which glided down Jiang Xiaorou’s smooth hair like flowing water till it dropped to the floor.

‘Pa’, the walnut wood comb dropped to the floor with a very soft sound, but it sounded very clear in this quiet room.

The Desolate race’s divine bone altar was a place used by the Desolate race for worshiping and sacrifice.

For worshiping, Jiang Xiaorou had done it once, and from that time, she was recognized by the Sacred Spirit.

As for sacrifice… that was to let the sacrificed person give all their blood and life, as well as their soul for sacrifice. With that, the outcome could be imagined.

Jiang Xiaorou’s wish to go to the divine bone altar was naturally not for worship.

She had been eyed by the Black-armored Demon God, and she had nowhere to go. Even if she committed suicide, her corpse might still be found by the Black-armored Demon God. She did not know if this might lead to terrible consequences.

Since she was dying, she might as well die more thoroughly. By sacrificing all her soul, blood and life, the Black-armored Demon God would receive nothing.

Mother, Shepherd Boy, the citizens of the Desolate race and Yun’er… She did not want to implicate them which could result in their deaths.

If the Desolate race chose to flee, they could still leave behind some flames of life. And if they chose to fight to the death and get wiped out, then she would be a sinner.

Behind Jiang Xiaorou, the beautiful former Desolate Queen, who was dressed in a long robe, pressed down on Jiang Xiaorou’s hair. After a moment of silence, she articulated each word clearly, “Mother will not let you die.”

She could not watch her daughter being made a blood sacrifice. She had already abandoned the original territory of the palace grounds. Did they have to once again abandon the remote mountains and escape deeper into the Divine Wilderness?

Getting every member of the Desolate race to hide throughout the deep mountains, leaving behind flames of life? However, could these ‘flames of life’ truly be reignited in the future?

“The Sacred Spirit can still battle one more time… ”

What the former Desolate Queen said was what the Sacred Spirit had said the previous night itself. However, the former Desolate Queen knew that this battle would probably the battle that would consume all of the Sacred Spirit’s life force.

“However… ” Jiang Xiaorou still wanted to say something, but the former Desolate Queen only pressed down on Jiang Xiaorou’s shoulder.

“Xiaorou, even if you die, the outcome will not change. Indeed, it will result in some of those people dragging out an ignoble existence, but what we want is not to just merely live on!”

The former Desolate Queen said as she held on to Jiang Xiaorou’s hands, and walked out the palace.

Today, there was a meeting in the meeting hall. The Human race was waiting for the Desolate race’s decision.

The decision was to fight or to take flight.

However, when Jiang Xiaorou reached the meeting hall, she was stunned.

At that moment, on the square, there were large numbers of Desolate race warriors gathered on it.

These Desolate race warriors had experienced a great escape not long ago, and many of them were still injured.

However, they still came here, wearing battle armor with their weapons in hand. They surrounded the entire meeting hall.

They were all battle-hardened warriors after years of training in the Divine Wilderness. Even if many of them did not possess a high cultivation level, their bodies’ embodied a killing aura. The glory of their race was already rooted deep in their bones, giving rise to a sure-win belief.

The group of Desolate race warriors numbered only in the thousands, but the stance of these people caused the surrounding morning fog that spanned tens of kilometers to disperse.

With the morning fog dispersed, Jiang Xiaorou could see that far in the deep mountains, there were shrouded black shadows. They were primordial true spirits lurking in the deep mountains.

They let out low growls which sounded like resounding thunder, causing one’s blood to rush.

These primordial true spirit seemed to have sensed that a war was coming. They were gathered here, waiting to face the upcoming final battle.

“All of you… ” Jiang Xiaorou could not calm her heart. She noticed that even the Skyfox team members were gathered on the square.

And leading them was Shepherd Boy.

Last night, Shepherd Boy had mobilized the Desolate race’s army. With his prestige amongst the Desolate race, he could easily rally multitudes with one call.

“Your Majesty, the Human emissaries are waiting in the hall for you.” Shepherd Boy said lightly.

At that moment, he did not say words like fighting to the death, but instead, he used his actions to express everything.

Jiang Xiaorou was momentarily dazed. She looked deeply at all the warriors on the square, and she nodded her head forcefully.

…

At that moment in the meeting hall, the legendary figures of the Human race had ugly expressions.

Although the gathering of the Desolate race’s army seemed like they were prepared to face the Black-armored Demon God, they had also surrounded the meeting hall.

Other than that, there were many primordial true spirits far in the distance, staring fiercely over.

Although they were not weak, with the Sanctuary Island couple being able to produce extremely terrifying combat power when they joined hands, this was the Desolate race’s territory after all. Their hearts were still beating like drums. No one knew if the Desolate race would suddenly turn rash and do something without considering the consequences.

“The Desolate race is here.” The Sanctuary Island’s Island Lord said lightly.

He was looking far into the distance through a window. No one knew what he was thinking.

What they had to face, eventually had to be faced.

…

At the moment the former Desolate Queen and Jiang Xiaorou stepped into the meeting room, the former Desolate Queen felt Jiang Xiaorou’s body freeze up, with her face also turning extremely pale.

“Oh? Xiaorou?”

The former Desolate Queen’s heart tightened.

Jiang Xiaorou took a deep breath and subconsciously held her chest. At just that instant, she had felt a powerful spiritual force lock on to her.

Is it the Black-armored Demon God… ?

Jiang Xiaorou turned her head and looked far into distance, up at the sky and murmured, “He saw me… ”

707 - : Warriors Gather

CKtalon  CKtalon

The remote mountains was known to have millions of mountains. Not only were there many mountain peaks, they were all extremely tall. A mountain peak might span tens of kilometers in radius, and it would not be surprising for it to be more than a hundred thousand feet tall.

This caused the remote mountains to be deep and vast. Even with a map, trying to find a hidden location masked by arrays was not easy.

At that moment, on a snowcapped mountain, sunlight was illuminating an area of perpetual ice and snow, reflecting silvery beams of light.

The temperature here was so chilly that saying water droplets would immediately freeze was not enough. However, to a couple, who were wearing thin clothes, they were unfazed and they did not appear cold at all.

The male looked like he was a youth who was 16 or 17 years old. He was dressed in black and he was handsome, while the girl was dressed in clothes whiter than snow. Her clothes fluttered in the cold wind, making her look like a snow lotus in full bloom.

This couple were Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, who had flown for two full days before arriving in the remote mountains.

“It’s here?”

Lin Xintong stood on a tall mountain overlooking the remote mountains. All she saw was endless mountains stretching past the horizon. In the foggy mist, everything far in the distance looked as small as pebbles.

“It’s here, but it’s also not easy to find their exact location.”

Yi Yun had obtained a rough map from Jiang Xiaorou of this area previously. After all, Jiang Xiaorou would not have expected Yi Yun to have to search for them in the remote mountains on his return, so why would she have specially given Yi Yun a detailed map of the remote mountains?

Lin Xintong frowned slightly. “The Desolate race should also have set up a location-hiding array. It wouldn’t be easy for us to find them!”

“It’s alright. That location-hiding array is useless against me.”

As Yi Yun said this, he flew up from the snow mountain. As he flew, he opened the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

With the Desolate race’s ability to set up arrays, the location-hiding array they set up naturally could not hide from the Purple Crystal.

And in the Pure Yang Sword Palace, Yi Yun had received a breakthrough in his insights towards Heavenly Dao. His spiritual energy had also improved, so with the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, Yi Yun could search through vast regions in just a few seconds.

He had a general idea of where the Desolate race’s camp was, so it was just a matter of time before he found it.

As such, Yi Yun searched for two hours, and suddenly he froze and let out a surprised “Eh” sound.

“Oh? What?” Lin Xintong had outstanding perception, but despite her trying her best to search, it was fruitless.

Yi Yun paused for a moment before murmuring, “It’s true that… you can meet each other anywhere in the world. I never expected, I never expected… ”

Yi Yun’s reaction made Lin Xintong baffled. She asked, “Who did you see?”

Yi Yun remained silent for a while, but his facial expression turned from amazement to nostalgia. He then faintly said, “I saw a few old acquaintances. They were my beloved mentors more than a decade ago. That period of time sure was memorable… ”

The time back in the Tai Ah Divine City was considered an extremely blissful period for Yi Yun.

In the city, he was improving by the day. He had competitive rivals as well as beloved mentors, who were both master and friend. He also had friends and partners who fought alongside him.

Yi Yun of the past had simple thoughts. It consisted only of constantly becoming stronger. Once he became powerful enough, he could be made king or take on high positions. Not only would he be able to let his sister lead a good life, it would also ensure that his sister and himself would have a sufficient status in life.

Although Yi Yun had the ambition to rise to the peak of martial arts when he was fifteen or sixteen, it was mostly just because he wanted to control his destiny and lead a better life.

From the Cloud Wilderness, Yi Yun had endured being poor, difficulties and hunger. Seeing how his sister, Jiang Xiaorou skimped on her own food and clothing for him and experiencing intense humiliation, he had a strong desire to change his fate.

And the Tai Ah Divine City gave Yi Yun everything he wanted. That was really a period in which he received happiness after experiencing suffering.

All sufferings have their reward, it was the fortunes in life.

With his own strength, Yi Yun had obtained everything. He slowly became the shining star of the Tai Ah Divine City, but those high-spirited days did not last long. The sudden catastrophe caused Yi Yun to be embroiled in the swirling arms of a world’s disaster.

From then on, Yi Yun separated from Jiang Xiaorou, and he also bade farewell to his simple and peaceful days.

He constantly battled and trained. The most primordial bliss that was originally conceived in his heart slowly disappeared. Replacing it was the wish to defy and conquer fate.

Such a change might not seem beautiful, but to Yi Yun, this was also an important step in his life.

It was only a tiny portion because he still had a long life left.

“Beloved mentors?” Lin Xintong was surprised.

“Let’s go! We should seek them, and it’s very likely that they know where the exact location of the Desolate race is!”

…

In the remote mountains, in an Ice River Valley.

This valley was surrounded by mountains hundreds of thousands of feet tall. The mountains’ melted ice and snow gathered here, forming a large icy river, giving it its name.

At that moment, beside the icy river, there was an azure-clothed scholar dressed in battle armor, walking upstream along the river.

Beside him, there was an elder with a sword on his back and a comely maiden.

These two people were Elder Jian Ge and Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal princess, Yang Qingyun.

Last night, they, as people from the Tai Ah Divine City, were assigned to take on the task of being first-hand alerters.

They were summoned to the army, so they naturally had a mission to fulfill. With the Black-armored Demon God coming at any moment, guard patrol was indispensable.

They knew that once war broke out, they as precautionary warriors might die in the remote mountains.

Although they would die in battle in a different race’s army, the enemy they faced was an enemy of the entire world, so it was also their Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s enemy.

Hence, they did not resist the duties or the upcoming war.

However, with their lives at risk, not everyone could be like the azure-clothed scholar, remaining calm and composed. For example, Yang Qingyun found it difficult to handle her emotions.

“I wonder how Father and Mother are… ” Yang Qingyun sighed slightly, worried over her own country.

However, they were now hidden in the deepest depths of the Divine Wilderness and they had long lost contact with the Tian Yuan world. Even the upper echelons of the Desolate race did not know the situation with the Tian Yuan world, let alone the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom in the Backwater East.

“Haha, your Highness, you don’t have to worry. Our Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, when compared to the large family clans of the Tian Yuan world, does not have many experts. Unless we were really unlucky, the Black-armored Demon God would completely ignore the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.”

At that moment, a muffled voice said.

Yang Qingyun looked up and saw an old man in a biege-colored shirt. He was chewing on some roasted fish from an unknown source, and he walked over from upstream to meet up with them.

The roasted fish in his hands was all black, but he still ate merrily.

This elder in black was Elder Cang Yan. He too was assigned to the task of being an alerter.

However, to Yuan Opening realm warriors, for a task of being vigilant, they did not need to put too much effort to patrol around their guard posts.

Using Cang Yan’s words, if the Black-armored Demon God really came, even if they were fully vigilant while ready to battle, or if they were shitting in the toilet, it would not change the result of them being killed. Of course, the pretext was that the Black-armored Demon God would be interested in killing them.

Hence, their so-called role of being “alerts” was actually just waiting to be killed. Once they were killed, the Desolate race would receive news of it, allowing them to start precautionary measures.

And since that was the case, they might as well be more relaxed. They should eat and drink as they wished. Sighing or lamenting would not change the fact that the Black-armored Demon God would arrive. The outcome would be the same being happy and worry-free, so since their days were numbered, why not be more merry?

Cang Yan was waving his hand at the azure-clothed scholar and Elder Jian Ge, when he suddenly felt something. He looked sideways and saw a black-dressed youth and white-dressed girl far in the sky. They were flying quickly…

In the beginning, Cang Yan only thought of them as two young elites from the Tian Yuan world, but when he was able to discern their looks, especially that young man’s looks, he was completely stunned. His mouth opened wider and wider. Even the fish he was chewing halfway fell out, staining his clothes black, without him realizing it.

This kid… Could there be a mistake!?

708 - : Meeting Old Acquaintances

CKtalon  CKtalon

Cang Yan never expected to meet Yi Yun under such circumstances. In fact, Cang Yan’s memory of Yi Yun was only up to the moment that Yi Yun left the Tai Ah Divine City.

After that, Tai Ah Divine City was overrun by Shepherd Boy in a day. Cang Yan and the rest of the Tai Ah Divine City Elders were captured. From then on, they lost their source of news. As for the feud Yi Yun had with Shentu Nantian, Cang Yan did not know a thing.

In the Tai Ah Divine City Elders’ impressions, those geniuses who left the Tai Ah Divine City had a bleak future. The Desolate race swept through the Backwater East, and as geniuses of the Human race, they had yet to mature fully. They were like tiny seedlings that had to face a terrifying storm. The chance of them being destroyed was very high.

And now, deep in the Divine Wilderness, in the remote mountains, Yi Yun rode the winds as he approached them. He was dressed in tidy clothes and he had a beauty accompanying him. He appeared to be in pretty good shape.

“Kid, you are here as well!”

To meet again in a foreign land, and to see his most outstanding former student, Cang Yan was delighted. He strode forward to welcome him and just as Yi Yun landed, Cang Yan gave him a heavy pat on his shoulder.

“Hahaha! I knew that this kid wouldn’t die that easily. How are you? From your looks, you went to the Tian Yuan world? You came to the remote mountains together with a Tian Yuan world faction?”

The remote mountains were too deep in the Divine Wilderness. In Cang Yan’s impression, it was impossible even for Tai Ah Divine City’s Elders to traverse the Divine Wilderness into the remote mountains, let alone the members of the younger generation.

Then, the most likely reason was Yi Yun had followed a particular large faction from the Tian Yuan world, and he was led here by the Desolate race.

More than ten years ago, at the moment the Desolate race invaded the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, with Yi Yun’s cultivation level, it was an extremely difficult task for him to go from the Backwater East to the Tian Yuan world. Cang Yan never expected that Yi Yun managed to do it, and from how he looked, he should have been thought highly of by a large faction in the Tian Yuan world. He most likely led a pretty good life, or he would not be brought to the Divine Wilderness for refuge.

To be born in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom and to cause a stir in the Tian Yuan world was definitely not easy. After all, the Tian Yuan world’s family clans had very high standards.

Behind Cang Yan, Yang Qingyun also looked at Yi Yun.

She was also feeling quite surprised. As a princess of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, she had naturally heard of this peerless genius, Yi Yun.

“So he is Yi Yun. Back then, he was the number one person of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. He was even stronger than Third Brother.”

Yang Qingyun’s Third Brother was one of the cream of the crop amongst the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s royal family. However, compared to Yi Yun, he was much more inferior.

Yang Qingyun was curious as to what Yi Yun’s strength was now. In her imagination, Yi Yun was already so powerful back in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Now, having gone to the Tian Yuan world, and going through training in the Tian Yuan world, his strength must have improved greatly. He might even be quite a famous genius amongst the Tian Yuan world’s younger generation. If that was the case, Yi Yun would have won a lot of face for their Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

“It’s been more than ten years. Yi Yun, your looks haven’t changed a bit… ”

Reuniting with Yi Yun, the azure-clothed scholar could only sigh. Their separation had been more than ten years, but Yi Yun had only grown a little taller. He still looked like when he was still a teenager. The scenes of their separation was still vivid in their eyes, but now, the situation was completely different.

The Tai Ah Divine City already ceased to exist. Furthermore, with the sudden appearance of the Black-armored Demon God, the entire Human race was facing a great disaster.

“Yi Yun greets City Lord, and greets Senior Jian Ge.”

Yi Yun bowed to the azure-clothed scholar and Elder Jian Ge. Beside Yi Yun, Lin Xintong also followed suit and bowed a junior’s greeting.

Actually, with Lin Xintong’s status, she was completely on a different level to the people from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. There was no need for her to bow.

However, these people were Yi Yun’s seniors, and as she was Yi Yun’s Dao partner, and as husband and wife, she naturally needed to bow when Yi Yun bowed.

The azure-clothed scholar and Elder Jian Ge noticed Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong’s eyes were like autumn water, and her skin was ice-like jade. She had a face that was as beautiful as the moon, and she did not seem to belong to this world. Much stranger was that such a peerless woman did not seem to be contaminated by the world, yet she gave off a calm aura, as if she was one with nature.

Such a girl was truly amazing.

Behind the azure-clothed scholar, Yang Qingyun could not help but take another glance at Lin Xintong. She roughly guessed that Lin Xintong was a proud daughter of Heaven that came from a particular large faction in the Tian Yuan world.

Such a peerless woman came from a honorable background, and he was worthy of admiration.

“This lady is… ?” The azure-clothed scholar smiled and asked Yi Yun.

He noticed the details of Lin Xintong’s bow that accompanied Yi Yun’s. Clearly, this white-dressed girl had a deep relationship with Yi Yun.

This excited Cang Yan. The little rascal back then that he thought highly of not only did well in the Tian Yuan world, he even got a large faction’s daughter of Heaven as a wife?

The large factions of the Tian Yuan world had extremely large amount of resources and they had rich heritage. Marrying such a wife would allow him to fight on thousands of years in the future. This disciple of his really lived up to his expectations!

Actually, Lin Xintong might have gone to the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, but she had only attended an old friends’ gathering with Su Jie. At the banquet, she met a few princes, and she was pursued by them. As for Cang Yan and company, who were in the Tai Ah Divine City, they naturally had never seen Lin Xintong.

“Eh?” The azure-clothed scholar exclaimed suddenly.

Previously, due to the joy and reflection over reuniting with Yi Yun once again, he did not specially pay attention to Lin Xintong’s cultivation level. Now, he realized that he could not see through Lin Xintong’s cultivation level.

There was a nomological aura swirling around Lin Xintong’s body. It gave people the feeling that there was a cloudy mist surrounding her, preventing others from seeing through it.

This woman…

The azure-clothed scholar was slightly taken aback. And at that moment, Cang Yan and Jian Ge also noticed that not only could they not see through Lin Xintong’s cultivation level, even Yi Yun’s cultivation level was specious.

Yi Yun’s body did not have a persistent lingering nomological aura. Compared to Lin Xintong, Yi Yun was even more simple and easily approachable.

But even so, Cang Yan and Jian Ge still could not sense how strong Yi Yun’s cultivation level was. Such a scene made Cang Yan find it extremely strange.

“Kid, which faction in the Tian Yuan world did you enter? Did you cultivate some cultivation technique that conceals your cultivation level?”

The first thing Cang Yan thought of was that Yi Yun was using some mystic technique to hide his cultivation level. With the Tian Yuan world’s heritage, such mystic techniques were not rare.

As for it being their difference in cultivation level, resulting in him unable to see through Yi Yun’s cultivation level, Cang Yan never thought of it. Cang Yan himself was at the Yuan Opening realm. Only if Yi Yun reached the Heaven Ascension realm would he not be able to sense it.

As for the Heaven Ascension realm, that was already the peak in the entire Tian Yuan world. The Tian Yuan world’s Heaven Ascension realm warriors were all old freaks that had lived for tens of thousands of years. So with Yi Yun’s age, it was of course impossible.

Yi Yun’s cultivation level was indeed still at the Yuan Opening realm, but the laws Yi Yun comprehended and the cultivation techniques he cultivated far exceeded Cang Yan’s comprehension. The difference in laws made them appear to be warriors on completely different dimensions. He was beyond their comprehension.

This made Cang Yan unable to see through Yi Yun’s cultivation level.

Yi Yun chuckled and said, “This junior can be considered to be a member of the Tian Yuan world’s Lin family. The girl beside me is Lin Xintong, she too is from the Lin family.”

709 - : Unable to See Through

CKtalon  CKtalon

Tian Yuan world’s Lin family? Lin Xintong?

“So you are Lin Xintong… I have heard of your name!” Yang Qingyun suddenly spoke out.

Although she had never seen Lin Xintong, she knew that more than ten years ago, Lin Xintong had visited the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Furthermore, she had caused quite a stir amongst the upper circles of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom.

She was extremely talented and she had outstanding bearing. She was a disciple of a Sage-ranked Desolate Heaven Master, so of course, she attracted the attention of people.

She had everything, talent, looks, bearing and standing. Such a perfect girl naturally caused many of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom princes to pursue her.

They were infatuated with Lin Xintong. Even the Divine Kingdom’s Crown Prince wanted to marry Lin Xintong, so she could be Crown Princess.

However, at that time, the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s princes only knew Lin Xintong’s identity as a Sage’s disciple. They did not know that Lin Xintong actually came from the Tian Yuan world’s Lin family.

Cang Yan and Jian Ge had lived for long enough, so they had a general idea of the Tian Yuan world’s factions. They had heard of the Lin family before. It was one of the top factions in the Tian Yuan world.

For Lin Xintong to come from the Lin family, and from her looks, she appeared to be one of the elites of the Lin family’s younger generation. Then naturally, Lin Xintong was not someone that the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom’s princes was worthy of. So their pursuits from back then became a joke.

But now, Lin Xintong was beside Yi Yun. And from the looks of their relationship, even if they had not become a Dao couple, it looked very promising!

Just thinking of this, Cang Yan and Jian Ge looked forward to it greatly. They did not dare to ask about their relationship, and they only wished that Yi Yun would soon be together with Lin Xintong.

In that way, Yi Yun would truly enter the Lin family. That would great fated luck. All the resources and heritage accumulated over the years by the Lin family would be extremely beneficial to Yi Yun’s growth.

“So it’s Miss Lin. Qingyun has long heard of Miss Lin’s fame. Seeing you today, the descriptions I heard of Miss Lin were far from a tenth of what Miss Lin is.”

To Yang Qingyun, Lin Xintong was too amazing. Of course, this was because in the past ten or so years, Lin Xintong was completely reborn. Compared when she was touring the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, Lin Xintong was slowly joining back her naturally terminated meridians, and she had the charm of the ancient Great Empress.

Back then, so many princes chased after Lin Xintong, but they would never have imagined that it was a grassroots youth like Yi Yun, who came from the Cloud Wilderness, who managed to win her heart.

Lin Xintong was not good with words, so towards Yang Qingyun’s praise, she only smiled and she did not say anything.

“This Lin Xintong really is… ” Jian Ge and the Tai Ah Divine City City Lord exchanged looks. Although they could not see through Lin Xintong’s cultivation level, just from the fluctuations of her nomological aura, it was already extremely terrifying. Such a peerless woman had strength and talent that were unfathomable. She was no doubt from a large family clan from the Tian Yuan world.

Now, they felt that the large factions of the Tian Yuan world were much more powerful than they originally imagined. Just a junior like Lin Xintong already caused them to feel apprehensive.

At that moment, Yi Yun said, “Senior Cang Yan, City Lord, this junior wants to go to the Desolate race’s camp. I wonder if you seniors can help guide this junior?”

After reminiscing old times with Cang Yan and company, Yi Yun was already a lot more assured. From the looks of it, the second attack from the Black-armored Demon God had not come. If not, the mood would not be that relaxed.

With Cang Yan leading the way, Yi Yun did not need to search by himself, and he could meet Jiang Xiaorou much sooner.

“Oh? You haven’t been to the Desolate race’s camp? Alright, I’ll take you there.”

Cang Yan thought that Yi Yun had followed the Lin family and lived in the outer perimeter of the remote mountains, which was not something odd.

On the way, as he had reunited with Yi Yun, Cang Yan was so happy that he appeared like he had drunk alcohol. He kept chatting with Yi Yun using his Yuan Qi transmission.

“Kid, you sure are capable to be able to enter the Lin family. This old man has heard of the Lin family when I was in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. That is a great martial art family.”

“To be able to enter the Lin family is a rare opportunity. You must cultivate well and grab hope of this opportunity. In the future, you will soar and reach the Heaven Ascension realm. This is much better than when you were in the Tai Ah Divine City.”

“And that beauty beside you, you must hold her right and marry her. Not only will you have a beauty in your arms, you can even lessen your struggles by a few thousand years!”

Cang Yan’s voice transmission did not stop at all. Yi Yun was at a loss whether to laugh or cry hearing him. However, as he heard old man Cang’s exhortations, he felt a warmth that he had not felt in a long time.

The old man was still the same. Yi Yun felt like he had returned to a time more than ten years ago. Old man Cang would tell him many things to consider at the sword and saber tomb, as well as in the library when he was choosing his totem mystic technique.

That feeling was really a cherishable memory now that he thought of it.

Hence no matter how old man Cang rambled on, Yi Yun only quietly listened. He would at times nod and answer with a few words.

“Senior, you can be rest assured. I will naturally work hard in my cultivation. Besides, my current strength has already improved very quickly. If you were to see it, you should be quite surprised.”

Hearing Yi Yun’s words, Cang Yan laughed out loud. “Kid, when have you not given me a huge surprise. I know your strength increases fast, so what if it’s fast? This old man is already mentally prepared, so don’t you be complacent. Hahaha!”

Be it Yi Yun entering the sword and saber tomb for cultivation, and how he came back after training outside in the Divine Wilderness, as well as the outcome of the battle with the Yun Long Divine Kingdom, it had shocked Cang Yan at that moment. Hence, Cang Yan was already accustomed to Yi Yun’s strength increasing by leaps and bounds. This time, he too was hoping to see Yi Yun’s maturing.

It was unfortunate that the Black-armored Demon God was attacking. Yi Yun’s environment for maturing was not too good, and even the Lin family’s current situation was bad. If they could survive this calamity, the path for Yi Yun was limitless. He would definitely become a person who could cause waves in the Tian Yuan world.

As the few of them chatted along the way, they finally arrived at the Desolate race’s camp.

From far, Yi Yun could see the primordial true spirits and Primordial Species lurking in the deep mountains. The massive desolate beasts stood between the Heavens and Earth. They would from time to time emit a deep growl that sounded like thunder that shocked people.

There were thousands of Desolate race elite warriors gathered in the square surrounding the meeting hall. With war coming, these elite warriors exuded an aura that formed an invisible force field that blew the clouds in the sky away.

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up when he saw this. What a good bunch of soldiers.

The battle against the Black-armored Demon God was not something that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong themselves could handle. He had to rely on the strength of others.

Yi Yun looked at the meeting hall, and with the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, he could tell who was inside at a glance.

Sis Xiaorou!

Although he had guessed that everything was fine, only when he saw Jiang Xiaorou sitting in the middle of the meeting hall, dressed in red, with her hand holding a bone staff and other than looking a bit pale, she seemed fine, Yi Yun was completely relieved.

Sis Xiaorou was safe. That was great.

Yi Yun rejoiced and he began walking towards the meeting hall.

Yi Yun’s actions stunned the Tai Ah Divine City City Lord. “Yi Yun, you want to go to the meeting hall? The upper echelons of the Desolate race and the Human race emissaries are having a meeting. You might not be able to enter.”

In the previous meeting, it was a discussion on the strategies to deal with the Black-armored Demon God, so other large family clan’s geniuses and Yuan Opening realm warriors were invited. But for this second meeting, it was to decide whether to fight or take flight. The requirements were a lot more stringent. Even the Tai Ah Divine City City Lord was not qualified to enter.

Yi Yun said, “It’s fine.”

As he spoke, Yi Yun was already in front of the meeting hall’s square.

710 - : A long-awaited warmth

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing how Yi Yun was walking towards the Desolate race warriors who were guarding the meeting hall, the azure-clothed scholar, Cang Yan and company were stunned.

Cang Yan and company were members of the Human race after all. In their impression, the Desolate race and the Human race did not have much courtesy between them. Once they were offended, they might be killed without any forgiveness.

Yi Yun did not seem to walk fast, but he actually only took a few steps to arrive on the square. The thousands of elite Desolate race warriors guarding this zone immediately stopped Yi Yun and Lin Xintong when they saw them.

They sized up Yi Yun and said, “Who are you? The Desolate Queen is discussing matters with the Human race now, entry is forbidden!”

These Desolate race warriors were not members of the Skyfox team, so they naturally did not recognize Yi Yun.

“Kid, what are you doing? If you are so rash and careless, be careful of being captured. If anything happens, the Lin family can’t protect you.”

Cang Yan hurriedly came forward. He had been imprisoned by the Desolate race in the remote mountains for more than a decade, and prison discipline had been inculcated in him. Who knew what would happen if they ran afoul with the Desolate race.

The current situation was that even though more than ten large family clans from the Tian Yuan world were gathered together, they were considered relatively weaker than the Desolate race. Even the strongest people in the Tian Yuan world, the Sanctuary Island couple, were equally vulnerable in front of the Desolate race, let alone the Lin family. None of them would dare cross the Desolate race.

Cang Yan was just about to pull Yi Yun away when Yi Yun smiled and touched his interspatial ring.

With a flip of his hand, Yi Yun took out an ancient bronze token, and waved it in front of the Desolate race soldiers.

Yi Yun did not need to explain anything to those Desolate race warriors who blocked his path. He just needed to take the token given to him by Jiang Xiaorou out.

The simple token was engraved with three ancient Desolate race characters, and the back had a lifelike six-tailed Skyfox engraved on it.

Upon seeing this token, the few Desolate race warriors were shocked.

Desolate Queen Token!?

This was a token only the ruling Desolate Queen was qualified to give. Throughout the Desolate race, people who had the Desolate Queen Token were people on the level of the Shepherd Boy. And this male youth in front of them did not look like he was a member of the Desolate race from his clothing, and he looked more like a member of the Human race. He actually had a Desolate Queen Token?

The Desolate Queen Token was something that these Desolate race warriors never had the chance to see in person before. They had only seen pictures in books. With their status, it was not easy to come into contact with a Desolate Queen Token.

However, they knew that the Desolate Queen Token was not fake. Once the Desolate Queen Token was taken out, it would resonate with the bloodline of the Desolate race members. It was a reverence and awe that came from the difference in life’s natural order when facing the Desolate Queen!

The few Desolate race warriors did not say another word and they bowed towards the Desolate Queen Token.

Seeing the Desolate Queen Token was like meeting the Desolate Queen in person. Other than Desolate race Empyreal Kings, all of them needed to bow.

“You are… ”

After the bow, a person who looked like the team leader of the Desolate race warriors asked Yi Yun politely. He had a rough idea already. For a human to have the Desolate Queen Token, he had to be the Desolate Queen’s younger brother, Yi Yun.

As the Desolate Queen’s brother, with Yi Yun also being extremely powerful, and him saving Jiang Xiaorou and the Skyfox team in the Soul Tomb, Yi Yun enjoyed great prestige amongst the Desolate race. He was equivalent to royalty in the Desolate race, no less inferior to Shepherd Boy.

Besides, Yi Yun was even younger. His future was limitless, hence Yi Yun had already become the idol of many Desolate race warriors, especially the younger warriors.

“Can I enter now?” Yi Yun asked.

“Of course! Of course!”

The few Desolate race warriors hurriedly made way and guided Yi Yun. They were extremely polite and from the looks of it, they wished that they could get a sedan chair to carry Yi Yun over.

This respect towards Yi Yun was from their heart, and not due to the deference derived from the Desolate Queen Token.

And behind Yi Yun, Cang Yan and Jian Ge were completely dumbfounded when they saw this situation.

Even the azure-clothed scholar, who always looked calm, seemed to have his words stuck in his throat, unable to speak a word.

“This… What’s going on?” Yang Qingyun’s mouth opened up like the size of a small quail egg. Her eyes were fixed on the token in Yi Yun’s hand. That Token was so magical?

What sort of token was it, and how did Yi Yun have it? To be able to have and use such a token, what sort of status did Yi Yun have in the Desolate race?

She naturally knew that this token was not stolen or picked up, or Yi Yun would not have used it.

Yang Qingyun felt like her brain wasn’t big enough to process all of this. She could not figure it out.

The Desolate race was the strongest superpower in this world. Although the Human race and the Desolate race seemed to be equals, that was only when they were considered in their entirety. In fact, the various large Human race factions were independent from one another and they continuously fought each other. As for the Desolate race, they were almost monolithic. Under such circumstances, not a single Human race’s faction could compare to the Desolate race!

Amongst the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom people, Cang Yan was the most impatient person. At that moment he was surprised, curious and excited. He could not help but rush over to Yi Yun’s side and whisper, “Yi Yun, quickly tell me. Where did you get that token from?”

Cang Yan was previously imprisoned for more than ten years. The Desolate race, who appeared impersonal and fierce, had suddenly turned respectful towards them. Although they were only being respectful to Yi Yun, Cang Yan decided to be the fox that assumed the majesty of the tiger, as it did not prevent Cang Yan from having a psychological climax.

For a lowly prisoner of more than ten years, wasn’t it exciting to be able to suddenly walk with his head held high?

Besides, the way Yi Yun took out the token so calmly and casually waved it made the curiosity in Cang Yan’s heart itch like a monkey’s bottom.

Cang Yan knew that although the Lin family enjoyed an extraordinary status in the Tian Yuan world, they were also nothing much under the Desolate race. They would definitely not be able to receive such an important token.

Yi Yun smiled and said casually, “This token is because I have some relations with the Desolate race. I received it more than half a year ago, and I didn’t know it was so good to use.”

When Jiang Xiaorou gave him the token, it was to make things convenient for Yi Yun. After all, the number of Desolate race members who knew Yi Yun only added to about a hundred. This would prevent Yi Yun from encountering any problems when traveling amongst the Desolate race.

Yi Yun did not think too much about this token that made things more convenient. Only today did he know that such a token was extremely rare in the Desolate race. If not, the guarding Desolate race warriors would not have guessed his identity just based on the token.

The casual explanation that Yi Yun gave nearly made the few Desolate race warriors in front of him stumble when they heard him.

He was the present Desolate Queen’s brother, and the person that the Desolate Queen cared about the most. You call that some relations with the Desolate race?

The Desolate race warriors were quite speechless. However, they would not complain about what Yi Yun said. Was there any reason for soldiers to shoot their mouth when an emperor was speaking?

“You have relatives in the Desolate race?” When Cang Yan heard this, he was completely dumbfounded.

Jian Ge and Yang Qingyun were also stunned. How did Yi Yun, a human, have a relative in the Desolate race?

Besides, what sort of relative of Yi Yun was this? How could a typical relative have such an important token? And to have the right to give it to Yi Yun?

Yang Qingyun was also extremely curious. Just as she wanted to ask Yi Yun, they suddenly heard an explosive boom from the meeting hall. A divine beam shot up into the sky, piercing through the meeting hall’s dome. In the sky, it formed a gigantic ancient beast phantom image. It was an Aspect Totem!

Oh?

Yi Yun was surprised. What just happened in the meeting room?

711 - : Desolate Queen Token

CKtalon  CKtalon

The ancient beast Aspect Totem had two wings on its back, and it was in the form of a tiger. It ran amok high in the sky, and its eyes were like two divine beams of lightning that streaked through the void.

The Desolate race warriors present felt distraught when the tiger’s gaze landed on them. The tiger totem had an extremely strong aura, and when it spread out its wings, it covered the entire sky above the meeting hall!

An Aspect Totem of a Heaven Ascension realm human expert?

Yi Yun recognized it immediately. Human warriors, who reached the Heaven Ascension realm, could merge their Aspect Totems into their bodies and also summon them as well.

An Aspect Totem when fully displayed, would push a human Empyreal King’s aura to its maximum.

Such situations usually happened in battle.

And in the meeting hall in front of him, the Human and Desolate race were just negotiating. Although they had serious differences about whether to fight or take flight, Yi Yun did not believe the two races would fight regardless of the reason. They would suffer losses before the Black-armored Demon God came if that was the case.

However, now with the Aspect Totem summoned, it clearly meant that the negotiations in the meeting hall were extremely intense!

“Roar! Roar! Roar!”

At that moment, in the long stretches of mountains in the distance, there were earth-shaking roars.

The primordial true spirits lurking there produced a stunning roar.

Seven gigantic shadows the size of mountains appeared. They stood up in a formidable fashion. There were a Giant Python, a Divine Turtle and a Musical Dragon amongst them!

A terrifying aura dispersed the haze. Compared to the Heaven Ascension realm human’s Aspect Totem, that aura was exceedingly powerful!

A confrontation of this level was something that most warriors had never witnessed in their lives.

Even the Tai Ah Divine City’s City Lord was struck by this scene.

“Yi Yun, are you sure you want to enter now?” The azure-clothed scholar said in alarm as he looked at the tiger totem in the sky.

The powers of a Tian Yuan world Heaven Ascension realm expert was truly terrifying.

In the eyes of the azure-clothed scholar, the meeting room was probably on the cusp of a breakdown. The Desolate race and the upper echelons of the Human race were comparing their strengths and competing against each other. Under such a tense situation, it was inappropriate for the bunch of them to enter the meeting hall.

However, Yi Yun had already moved a foot and walked into the inner sanctums of the meeting hall without a word.

With the Desolate Queen Token in his hand, Yi Yun was met without resistance.

Behind Yi Yun, Jian Ge and Cang Yan were both shuddering with fear. Such a situation exceeded their original imaginations. Compared to the two powerful forces of the Human and Desolate race, as Yuan Opening realm warriors without any background, they were nothing.

Yi Yun carried on striding forward, without batting an eye. His body had an indescribable stance that made it seem like the scene in front of him did not matter.

Such a Yi Yun caused Cang Yan to hesitate for a moment. Just a moment ago, the feeling that Yi Yun gave him was still simple and amiable. It was not much different to more than ten years ago. It was as if he was still his junior, that green youth who had first entered the Tai Ah Divine City.

But now, the Yi Yun who was striding into the meeting hall suddenly seemed to change.

Such stance and confidence left a shocking impact that was beyond description.

Behind Yi Yun, Yang Qingyun looked at his back, without knowing what to feel. She felt that this young man was full of mysteries. What sort of person was he?

The corridor of the meeting hall was not that long. The inner sanctum was approaching, while Cang Yan and Jian Ge felt a tremendous energy surging behind the door. If their cultivation levels were too weak, opening the door suddenly might cause the surging energy to pour out, injuring them.

And at that moment, Yi Yun had nonchalantly grabbed hold of the door’s handle.

“Zhi——”

The door was loudly opened. Terrifying pressure surged out and Yi Yun’s clothes and hair blew around due to the aura, yet he stood firm on the spot, not moving one bit.

Inside the hall, there were two distinct sides. There were the legendary figures of the Human race and the Sanctuary couple on one side, while the former Desolate Queen and Shepherd Boy formed the other side!

These people looked at Yi Yun together with gazes that contained the will and powerful spiritual energies of Empyreal Kings. Such Empyreal King’s spiritual energy was sufficient enough to send primordial strains fleeing in fright.

As for Yi Yun, he faced such attention calmly.

But behind Yi Yun, Cang Yan and company turned pale. As Yuan Opening realm warriors, the pressure of being noticed by so many Empyreal Kings was obvious!

Before they could think too carefully, a few voices echoed out from the circular table in the middle of the hall.

“Yi Yun!”

“Yun-er!”

The legendary figures of the Human race were surprised about Yi Yun’s sudden appearance.

As for the Desolate race camp, Jiang Xiaorou was pleasantly surprised and worried after seeing Yi Yun.

Their expressions were vividly seen by Cang Yan and company and they were momentarily dumbfounded. Yi Yun’s appearance caused all these top members of the Human and Desolate race to have such great a reaction?

Yi Yun scanned every Human race expert present. The person who had conjured the Aspect Totem was an elder in black. Yi Yun had an impression of him. Back at Greatsword Mountain, when the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium invited Yi Yun, this elder was present as well.

At that moment, the black-dressed elder was hovering midair. The energy was emitting from his body as all his hair flared. If it wasn’t for the meeting hall’s protective array, the walls and the dome of the meeting hall would have been blown apart by the elder’s energy!

Yi Yun looked at the black-dressed elder, as he looked back at Yi Yun.

Against Yi Yun, the black-dressed elder turned weak!

Previously at Greatsword Mountain, he had witnessed Yi Yun’s terrifying combat strength. Even a figure as strong as Shentu Patriarch could not resist Yi Yun.

Even the Sovereign of the Eventide, the Tian Yuan world’s strongest expert could not have a temper in front of Yi Yun. Even if the Sovereign of the Eventide was unhappy with Yi Yun, he could only let him be.

Not even the Sovereign of the Eventide, even Shentu Patriarch was someone that the black-dressed elder felt much stronger than him!

He was absolutely no match for Yi Yun. Besides, there was Lin Xintong beside Yi Yun and she was not necessarily weaker than Yi Yun!

Looking at Yi Yun in the eyes, the black-dressed elder felt fear. For some reason, it felt like a suppression that came from a difference in life’s natural order. Yi Yun’s gaze seemed to be a deep black hole as if his soul was about to be sucked in.

This made him have a vague feeling that just in this period of half a year, Yi Yun had now reached a point beyond his understanding!

Such a monster really grew in strength rapidly. No one could bolster the courage to face him.

“What’s the matter? Can’t we sit down and discuss?” Yi Yun said these sentences lightly.

And these sentences were filled with mysterious laws. Laws went in hand with the speech.

A simple sentence that sounded like a morning bell resonated in the black-dressed elder’s ear. With a tremble, all his aura was dissolved just from a sentence from Yi Yun. His energy drained out in all directions, and it quickly dissipated.

And the ancient beast Aspect Totem that was baring its fangs also began to rapidly shrink like a deflated ball!

The Aspect Totem was spiritual. Against Yi Yun, the ancient beast had also lost its formidable stance. It very quickly entered the black-dressed elder’s body and disappeared.

The black-dressed elder’s expression was extremely ugly. The forceful stance he developed was destroyed by a simple sentence from Yi Yun!

As he looked at Yi Yun, about to say something, he lacked the confidence to say it.

This youth was too terrifying, so terrifying that he did not dare face him.

In what sorts of laws did he gain insight? Why did he have such unfathomable strength?

Yi Yun did not look at the black-dressed elder anymore but at the Sanctuary Island couple. He said with a smile, “What is the matter of discussion? Why is the scene so intense?”

He nonchalantly walked towards the negotiation table. There was a seat that was emptied when the black-dressed elder moved to display a show of force by hovering in midway.

And now, Yi Yun had imposingly sat down near the table, taking up that seat.

The black-dressed elder was quite dumbfounded. He was an Empyreal King. Ever since he broke through to the Heaven Ascension realm, no matter what the occasion was, or when it was, there was no reason for him to stand, but now… his seat had been taken by Yi Yun, leaving him only to stand.

This was a great loss of face for him, but he was out of options. No matter how bold he was, he would not dare to chase Yi Yun away.

Towards Yi Yun’s inquiry, the Sanctuary Island couple only smiled, while the Island Lord, surnamed Ying, said, “It’s just a small dispute. It’s nothing intense.”

With his reply, the entire mood in the venue changed.

From Yi Yun’s appearance, a few simple words of his caused the tense situation, which was at the point of them coming to blows, to reverse suddenly.

The imposing aura that came from an Empyreal King disappeared. The Yuan Qi flow that was surging violently to the point of breaking through the meeting hall had disappeared. The scene turned peaceful and natural. Be it the Human race or the Desolate race, they all exercised great restraint.

And where Yi Yun sat at the round table seemed to become the center of the meeting hall.

Everyone, be they the Human race’s leaders, the Sanctuary Island couple, or the former Desolate Queen, they were all looking at Yi Yun, waiting for him to speak.

And at that moment, Cang Yan, Jian Ge, the azure-clothed scholar as well as Yang Qingyun were still standing at the entrance of the meeting hall.

The four of them had expressions like they had seen a god in the middle of the day.

They were in complete shock. What… What had just happened?

The Yi Yun in front of their very eyes was not even thirty years of age. No matter which faction he was placed in, he was considered a member of the younger generation.

Coming out of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, if he was in a first-class power in the Tian Yuan world, and rose up amongst the younger generation, becoming the number one person amongst the younger generation, that in itself was a miracle.

But now, he actually… managed to disperse a human Empyreal King’s aura with a sentence, and he was on equal footing with the Sanctuary Island couple?

And there was even a hint of respect that the Sanctuary Island couple had for Yi Yun. This far exceeded the comprehension of Cang Yan and company.

Cang Yan had originally said that every time he did not see Yi Yun, his return would show him strength that pleasantly surprised him. With them not seeing each other for more than ten years, even if Yi Yun’s strength had improved tremendously, Cang Yan would have been psychologically prepared, and he would not be too surprised.

But now… Yi Yun was on an equal footing of the most exalted figures in the Tian Yuan world, the Sanctuary Island couple. A simple sentence reversed the tense mood in the meeting hall. Cang Yan said he would not be surprised, but now, he was so surprised that he thought he was dreaming.

Yi Yun… What sort of person was he?

712 - : Laws went in hand with the speech

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Yi Yun took his seat, the black-dressed elder stood on the side like a wooden stake.

His expression was extremely ugly. Previously, Yi Yun had said to him, “What’s the matter? Can’t we sit down and discuss?”

However, after Yi Yun said that, the black-dressed elder didn’t even have a place to sit.

With so many people in the room, other than the Empyreal Kings sitting in the middle, they were surrounded by peak-Yuan Opening realm warriors. Everyone was looking at the black-dressed elder, making him feel very embarrassed.

At that moment, the former Desolate Queen waved her hand, indicating to the Desolate race guards to bring a chair over and place it beside Yi Yun.

Seeing the chair being brought over, the black-dressed elder’s face relaxed. With a cold grunt, he was about to take the seat. But to his surprise, Yi Yun gently pressed down on the chair’s armrest and waved to Lin Xintong.

“Xintong, come over here and take a seat.”

Oh?

The black-dressed elder was startled. His foot that had just moved forward suddenly froze.

He watched as Lin Xintong, in her white dress, slowly walk over. In the dark hall, she was like a fairy walking in the dark night.

At that moment, the black-dressed elder was much closer to the chair. He just needed to take two steps to reach the chair before Lin Xintong, but…

He did not have the guts!

It was not that the black-dressed elder was afraid that Yi Yun would do anything to him. Under the current circumstances, he could ignore the aura that was released by Yi Yun to suppress others, but there was no way that he could start a fight.

The real reason why the black-dressed elder lacked the courage was because of Lin Xintong, who was slowly walking over.

Every step of Lin Xintong formed nomological runic patterns under her feet. Her strength was long unfathomable.

She was usually low-key, and she followed behind Yi Yun most of the time. She seldom made moves, and she had never shown her prowess.

The black-dressed elder knew deeply that he was absolutely no match for Lin Xintong.

In a warrior’s world, the strong were respected. Under such circumstances, the second chair was only right for Lin Xintong.

How would he have the guts to compete with Lin Xintong? Without strength, if he were to bite the bullet and fight Lin Xintong over the seat, even members of the Human race would think that he was not qualified.

Hence, he could only watch helplessly as Lin Xintong calmly sat beside Yi Yun.

The black-dressed elder’s face had turned completely black.

At that moment, Cang Yan and company, who had witnessed all of this not far away, finally understood one thing thoroughly. It was a matter that seemed completely unimaginable and unbelievable.

That was that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had extraordinary status. Even their strength, for some particular reason, had reached the peak of the standards of the Tian Yuan world!

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had not only been given Empyreal King titles already, and they were amongst the cream of the crop amongst Empyreal Kings. In front of the two of them, the black-dressed elder could not even bring himself to make a fuss.

Just as the black-dressed elder was feeling extremely embarrassed, the former Desolate Queen gestured to a Desolate race soldier, who slowly brought a second chair over.

This chair was only placed at a corner by the meeting table.

“Mystic Tiger Immortal, you don’t mind sitting over there, right?” The former Desolate Queen said nonchalantly.

There was a lazy and derisive smile hanging on her face. Mystic Tiger was the black-dressed elder’s title. It was obtained from the form of his Aspect Totem.

The former Desolate Queen did not have a good impression of this black-dressed old man.

The black-dressed elder grunted. He was about to flick his sleeves to leave, but he knew that if he were to leave in a fit at that moment, it was even more shameful. Besides, the negotiations between the Human and Desolate race were not over.

He could only endure the grievance that he had and sit down. However, he no longer had the formidable stance to break out his Aspect Totem.

“Mystic Tiger. Don’t mind it. We are now more vulnerable. So what if we let them be all high and mighty at this meeting. Besides, the Black-armored Demon God is about to arrive soon. Jiang Xiaorou has been locked on to by the Black-armored Demon God, and she basically has her name struck off from the Book of Life and Death. So how long can the Desolate race remain haughty? Besides, would that Yi Yun ignore Jiang Xiaorou? If he doesn’t, I want to see how he protects her!”

While the black-dressed elder was feeling aggrieved, a Yuan Qi transmission echoed in his ears.

The person who transmitted the voice was another Tian Yuan Elder Consortium member.

More than half a year ago, Yi Yun had been invited to Greatsword Mountain, and he had witnessed Yi Yun’s strength. He naturally did not wish Yi Yun, who would easily be in control of his life, to mature.

Mystic Tiger snorted and transmitted his voice, saying, “You are right. I want to see how much longer they can remain haughty. That Desolate race witch girl won’t be able to live past the next few days. If only the Desolate race and Yi Yun would perish together!”

As Mystic Tiger had such thoughts, he hatefully glanced at Yi Yun. If Yi Yun perished in an internecine struggle, Yi Yun, the Desolate race and the Black-armored Demon God would all be destroyed in one go. It would be a joyous occasion.

Of course, he was only thinking. He knew very well that the Black-armored Demon God’s strength was tremendously strong. It would be nearly impossible for Yi Yun and the Desolate race to perish together with him.

Yi Yun could sense Mystic Tiger’s animosity. After gaining Dao-enlightenment in the Pure Yang Sword Palace, Yi Yun felt that everything around him was in his control. He did not even need to look over with his eyes.

“Young Master Yi, ever since our separation at Greatsword Mountain, it has been less than ten months. Yet to meet Young Master Yi today again, your strength have improved once again. It’s really unbelievable.” The Sanctuary Island’s Island Lord spoke to Yi Yun politely.

As Yi Yun conversed happily with the Sanctuary Island couple, he engaged in a voice transmission with Jiang Xiaorou.

He had to understand the background of the negotiations. In a few words, Jiang Xiaorou had told him everything that had happened.

When he heard that Jiang Xiaorou was being locked onto by the Black-armored Demon God, Yi Yun’s heart tightened. “Sis Xiaorou, why is the Black-armored Demon God locking onto you?”

“I do not know either.” Jiang Xiaorou sighed. She felt her own existence brought the Desolate race and Yi Yun a great deal of trouble.

For Yi Yun to arrive in the remote mountains now, Jiang Xiaorou inevitably felt happy, but she also felt even more worried.

Back when the Black-armored Demon God invaded the Desolate race’s headquarters, they had only managed to escape with the Sacred Spirit’s resistance.

Back then, Jiang Xiaorou had left a message to Yi Yun before evacuating, telling Yi Yun their direction of escape.

But following that, the situation had changed. The Black-armored Demon God followed closely behind and it had locked onto Jiang Xiaorou. This caused the Desolate race to begin their second escape. At that moment, Jiang Xiaorou did not wish for Yi Yun to be in the remote mountains.

Up to now, Jiang Xiaorou could faintly feel the Black-armored Demon God’s vague spiritual lock onto her. Maybe in the next second, the Black-armored Demon God would suddenly arrive!

The Human race could also sense that the Black-armored Demon God’s next attack would happen in the very near future. Hence, their negotiations with the Desolate race had turned so intense.

The Human race had no way to request the Desolate race to do anything for them, but it was not like the Human race did not have anything.

713 - : Embarrassed

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Human race gathered in the remote mountains were quite a force to be reckoned. If the Human race could aid the Desolate race, then there might be a slim chance for the Desolate race to resist against the Black-armored Demon God, and turn the tables.

For a group of weaklings to face a mighty force was analogous to a herd of sheep resisting a tiger. Under normal circumstances, no matter how many sheep went forward, they would all end up dead. The differences between the two was an insurmountable gap. It was not something that volume could make up for.

The Human and Desolate races were in a similar situation against the Black-armored Demon God.

In a direct clash between a herd of sheep with a tiger, they were bound to fail!

The only thing that could narrow the gap between the two was to gather the weaklings’ powers together, and that was with an array formation!

With a top array formation technique, the sheep’s energy could be gathered together, causing harm to the tiger.

In the field of formation arrays, the Human race had a greater attainment in it than the Desolate race.

The Desolate race was adept at controlling desolate beasts, while the Human race had greater attainment in alchemy and array formations. Besides, they had a Cosmic Infinite Array, whose level in array formation refinement far exceeded the the Tian Yuan world’s Human race’s standards.

The Cosmic Infinite Array came from Blood Moon, and it was an array formation passed down since ancient times.

In its most powerful form, it needed eight Empyreal Kings and 64 Sages to control it.

Once it was activated, it could stir the cosmos and cause disturbance in the Yin and Yang!

In the Divine Wilderness, the Human race had once used the Cosmic Infinite Array against the Black-armored Demon God by activating it with five top Human race powerhouses. Although it failed to injure the Black-armored Demon God, it had managed to trap the Black-armored Demon God for a period of time, saving the lives of the factions’ elites.

The Desolate race craved this array formation greatly!

Without the array formation, a group of unfocused Desolate race experts entering a head on clash with the Black-armored Demon God would just be charging to their deaths.

However, how could the Human race agree to the Desolate race’s request?

This Cosmic Infinite Array contained very profound and intricate nomological Dao runes. To produce a replica? Difficult!

Especially with the Black-armored Demon God running amok, it became even more important.

This array was the crutch that the Human race was relying on to resist the Black-armored Demon God, so how would they be willing to hand it over to the Desolate race?

The Desolate race suggested that they were willing to send a Desolate race Empyreal King and a primordial true spirit to send the Human race out of the remote mountains, and ensure their safety. And this array formation was just to be borrowed.

But even so, the Human race scoffed at it. Borrow it? What if the array flags and array disks were destroyed by the Black-armored Demon God?

By leaving behind the Cosmic Infinite Array, that was equivalent to handing over the sharpest knife in their hands. Ignoring their future clashes with the Black-armored Demon God, this would cause the Human race to lack the ability to resist the Desolate race as well.

Hence, there was a conflict surrounding the terms and conditions.

Against the Black-armored Demon God’s battle, regardless of the outcome, the Desolate race would make the greatest sacrifice. As for the Black-armored Demon God, it was not only the enemy of the Desolate race, but also the enemy of the Human race.

The former Desolate Queen could imagine how when they were fighting the Black-armored Demon God to the death, the Human race would be hiding by the side watching the fight in a joyous manner. They would look forward to such a battle, hoping that the Desolate race would destroy the Black-armored Demon God, while losing all the elites in their race.

The former Desolate Queen knew about the Human race’s thoughts, so how could she just watch her own people die for the Human race?

They were Desolate race. For their mission, honor or Jiang Xiaorou, they could fight to the death, but why should the Desolate race sacrifice for the benefit of the Human race? There was even the possibility of them taking the opportunity to wipe out the Desolate race after a victorious battle.

The Tian Yuan world’s Cosmic Infinite Array was the terms proposed by the former Desolate Queen.

The Human race could leave, and the Desolate race would send Empyreal Kings to escort them, so as to ensure the safety of the Human race, but the Cosmic Infinite Array had to be left behind.

The intense disagreement resulted in the legendary human figures springing back. They were at an impasse, because the legendary human figures proposed even more conditions for exchange.

And these conditions were things that the Desolate race could not accept.

What the Human race needed now most was combat strength, so as to ensure that they would survive.

They suggested that three Desolate race Empyreal Kings should control three primordial true spirits to fight for the Human race.

To bind these Desolate race Empyreal Kings, a soul contract was naturally needed. And this was not just any ordinary soul contract. It was the most overbearing kind that was as close to a slave contract, which could control one’s thoughts.

Only with such a contract would the Human race feel assured, or the conditions would become empty clauses.

With three Desolate race Empyreal Kings and three primordial true spirits, it was equivalent to the joining of three Empyreal King level experts. It could barely make up their loses. Their array refinement masters were also studying the Cosmic Infinite Array. In the future, they might be able to make a replica. Although it would not be as powerful as the original one, they might be able to set up a few and use them.

And this condition had annoyed the Desolate race. Be it the Desolate race or the Human race, an Empyreal King was a mighty figure that stood up high, being able to rule over a race’s destiny.

So to let an Empyreal King be a slave?

That was an insult!

Besides, by losing three Empyreal Kings and three primordial true spirits, it would result in it being a much more difficult battle against the Black-armored Demon God.

So how could the Desolate race agree to it?

What made the Desolate race and the former Desolate Queen unable to accept and be infuriated was that amongst the three Empyreal Kings that the Human race requested to be enslaved, Shepherd Boy’s name was top on the list!

They actually had their sights on Shepherd Boy!

Shepherd Boy was a supernatural existence amongst the Desolate race, second to the Desolate Queen. He was extremely loyal and he had fought the Tian Yuan world for the Desolate race and retrieved Jiang Xiaorou. He had great achievements in battle with all sorts of honors bestowed to him.

Be it the members of the Desolate race, the former Desolate Queen or Jiang Xiaorou, they did not treat Shepherd Boy as an ordinary member of the Desolate race.

Even externally, to the humans, Shepherd Boy’s name was extremely famous.

By listing Shepherd Boy, the Human race clearly did not only covet Shepherd Boy’s strength, they also had the intention to seek revenge!

By letting the extremely proud Shepherd Boy become their slave was more tormentous than killing him.

The former Desolate Queen flatly rejected this request.

However, the Human race’s response was extremely adamant. By not agreeing to this request, there was no need for the discussion of the array disk.

At the beginning of the dispute, Shepherd Boy had remained silent, listening to the debates from both sides.

He had lived for a very long time. He had seen how numerous people had looked at him with gazes filled with hate or fear. There was once that he was the representation of the Desolate race amongst the Human race. He was terrifying, powerful and unsympathetic.

Such a Shepherd Boy, be it himself, or others, would never believe that he would be willing to be a slave.

But now, after the debate went on for an hour, to the point of a complete breakdown in negotiations, Shepherd Boy suddenly stood up.

He minced his words clearly and said, “Only I alone will sign the contract, and I will fight for you for a thousand years.”

He did not say much, but the words that Shepherd Boy said were not something that simple.

Shepherd Boy had bowed down.

With the existence of a foreign enemy, the Desolate race could not destroy the Human race who had the Cosmic Infinite Array, so as to rob them of the array disks. Then… the only way was to compromise.

For a Desolate race Empyreal King like Shepherd Boy, who treated his honor like his life, he would rather die in a glorious battle than sign a enslaving contract, becoming a puppet of the Human race.

But now, for Jiang Xiaorou and for his race, this was the first time Shepherd Boy had lowered his proud head in more than tens of thousands of years. He had to endure such a great humiliation.

Jiang Xiaorou and the former Desolate Queen had mixed emotions to Shepherd Boy’s yielding. This pain was indescribable.

However, the Human race did not appreciate the Shepherd Boy’s sacrifice.

This was because just Shepherd Boy’s combat power alone was not worthy enough for a Cosmic Infinite Array that could gather the Human race’s Empyreal King’s powers.

At that moment, the former Desolate Queen had reached her limits and she was on the brink of flaring up.

As for the Human race, they did not wish to be outdone. Mystic Tiger Immortal suddenly released his Aspect Totem, pitting himself against the Desolate race!

This Aspect Totem was just a show of force. Mystic Tiger was hinting that if all decorum was broken, they would not rule out the use of extreme tactics, and they might even use the Cosmic Infinite Array.

Such internal strife was something neither the Human race or the Desolate race could endure!

And at that moment, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had appeared. The mood also changed suddenly with their appearance.

Towards the Human race, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong absolutely had the terrifying power to destroy the balance of power.

The Human race did not expect Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to remain neutral at that moment, or even lean towards them. That was even worse than dreaming in the day.

If Yi Yun and Lin Xintong combined forces, it was difficult to tell how powerful they would be. Even if the Human race used the Cosmic Infinite Array, it would be useless against the two of them, as setting up the array required time!

And if Yi Yun and Lin Xintong joined forces with the Desolate race, they would definitely not be given the time!

714 - : Shepherd Boy’s Compromise

CKtalon  CKtalon

“So that’s the reason… No wonder the disagreement turned so intense.”

After hearing Jiang Xiaorou’s narration of the dispute prior to his arrival, Yi Yun was not one bit surprised.

When it came to the brink of a race’s survival, it was very common for two large factions to fight so they could survive.

And a formation array was indeed the best weapon that a weaker party could use to withstand a stronger party. If not, Yi Yun would not have raised the question of borrowing the God Confining Lock after choosing the “Thousand Snow Domain” and “Death Soulwood”.

It was only because Yi Yun’s nomological insights were too amazing that made the Sword Spirit and Chibai violate the rules set by the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner, resulting in the God Confining Lock being given to Yi Yun as a gift and loan combination.

Now, Yi Yun had the God Confining Lock in hand, so he had the confidence resisting the Black-armored Demon God. If not, the Black-armored Demon God basically could only be fought by Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. Others as strong as Shepherd Boy could hardly be effective.

“Yun’er, the situation was roughly like that.” After updating him with the most recent ongoings, she felt that her heart was heavy.

“Yun’er, I have previously discussed it with my mother. The Desolate race is determined to fight to the death. We do not want to flee again, and even if we all die fighting, we need to at least slice off a piece of meat from the Black-armored Demon God. Although we are determined to fight to the death, that is just a decision of the Desolate race’s upper echelons. We cannot put our Desolate race’s bloodline all to waste here. The Desolate race still needs to continue on… ”

“However, after the battle with the Black-armored Demon God, even with the best outcome, the Desolate race will suffer heavy casualties. With the race’s experts sacrificed, under such a situation, if the Human race finally destroyed the Black-armored Demon God that had been heavily injured by us, they might very well turn on the Desolate race. And if that happened, the Desolate race would not be able to put up any resistance.”

“The mutual hatred between the Human and Desolate race runs too deep. They would not give up this chance, and only you and Miss Xintong have the ability to ensure that the Desolate race’s lineage will carry on… Listen to Sis’ advice, don’t stay behind in the remote mountains. Now that you are back, if you get embroiled in this war and if there is any mishap, the consequences would be disastrous. My mother and I will give you all the heritage accumulated by the Desolate race for tens of millions of years. You and Miss Xintong are the future hope of this world. You are also the future guardian of the Desolate race. If our fight was to no avail, then only you and Miss Xintong have the chance of killing the Black-armored Demon God in the future. Sis really doesn’t want you to lose the forest for the trees just because of your emotions, dying in this world and ruining the Desolate race’s future. If you were to die here, it is a loss we cannot afford… ”

All of this was said earnestly by Jiang Xiaorou. She really did not wish for Yi Yun to stay behind.

But the moment she thought of separating with Yi Yun, Jiang Xiaorou felt a throbbing pain in her heart that made it hard for her to breathe. Unfortunately, she was now like a tiny bird being locked onto by a hawk. She was destined to not accompany Yi Yun, flying far away with him.

This was her destiny.

If possible, Jiang Xiaorou did not wish for so many Desolate race warriors to die for her.

However, be it her mother or the Desolate race warriors, they were already determined to fight to the death. Under such circumstances, if she were to say anything more, it would only weaken the soldiers’ morale.

With the advent of a disaster, although it was not as bad as wiping out all life in this world, as this world’s strongest group of people, there had to be some people who would pay the price so they could protect their race’s heritage.

“Yun’er, are you listening to me?” Seeing how Yi Yun did not respond, Jiang Xiaorou was anxious.

Yi Yun smiled and said, “Sis Xiaorou, my strength has vastly improved with my present return. Besides, over all these years, I have accumulated large amounts of treasures. These treasures are extraordinary, and I just lack the opportunity to be used in the Tian Yuan world, as there are no opponents in the Tian Yuan world currently that are worthy for me to use these treasures.”

Yi Yun spoke very confidently. There was no need to speak about the current him. Just a year ago, no one in the entire Tian Yuan world could threaten Yi Yun.

“Now, against the Black-armored Demon God, I can test out my ultimate combat strength. Sis Xiaorou, don’t worry. Even if I can’t beat him, I have the confidence of escaping.”

Yi Yun’s words did not seem to contain any tension that would come from the impending face-off with a monstrous enemy. Instead, it sounded very relax.

Yi Yun had already put in all his efforts preparing for nearly a year, all for this battle. Initially, Yi Yun was in no rush to face the Black-armored Demon God in a head-on battle. He could slowly cultivate and slowly grow. But now, Jiang Xiaorou was targeted by the Black-armored Demon God, so Yi Yun decided to take this opportunity and test out his ultimate combat power. Even if he was not the Black-armored Demon God’s match, Yi Yun believed that he could safely escape.

With the God Advent Tower, as long as he sucked Jiang Xiaorou into it and flew away with the God Advent Tower, then where could the Black-armored Demon God go in order to chase Jiang Xiaorou? It was even possible that his spiritual connection would be severed.

“Yun’er, I said so much to you, yet you aren’t listening… ”

Seeing how Yi Yun completely did not put her words at heart, Jiang Xiaorou was at a loss as to what to say. She knew Yi Yun very well. She also knew that it was impossible for Yi Yun to just watch her fight to the death.

Her proposed idea of Yi Yun protecting the Desolate race’s lineage was reasonable and it was indeed necessary. But even so, she had failed to persuade Yi Yun.

And at that moment, the Human race had already been waiting for quite a while. As Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou were engaged in a transmitted conversation, the human warriors present were waiting, waiting for his leanings.

They knew that Lin Xintong listened to Yi Yun, so Yi Yun was the ultimate arbiter. For the negotiation, he was extremely important, and he had the decisive say. His right to decide was a result of his strength.

“Young Master Yi, you should roughly know about the situation. So, I wonder, what is your decision?” A legendary human figure could not bear it any longer and asked Yi Yun.

Yi Yun only smiled and he did not speak a single word. His smile made it very hard for the humans to fathom his thoughts. They didn’t appear overbearing. Because against Yi Yun, they had nothing to put up a fight with him.

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s reaction, Mystic Tiger’s face sunk. He could tell that Yi Yun was deliberately acting mysterious.

Mystic Tiger said in a cold tone, “Yi Yun, I know that you are very strong, but don’t think that you can use your strength to rule over everything. The Cosmic Infinite Array is not just a set of array flags and an array disk. It has a special operational method. It was previously recorded on a jade scroll, but now, it is stored in our heads. It is an array handed down since tens of millions of years ago, and the array logic is profound and abstruse. Without the operating methods, it would be useless even if you obtain the array disk!”

“Besides… the array disk has a self-destructing component!”

Mystic Tiger had already offended Yi Yun, so he was not afraid. Hence, he had to be the one who said those threatening words.

He was warning Yi Yun not to use his strength to forcefully rob the Cosmic Infinite Array off them, for Yi Yun would receive nothing if he did so.

Upon hearing Mystic Tiger’s words, Yi Yun laughed. Having designs on your Cosmic Infinite Array? You sure think too highly of yourself.

715 - : Warning

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What are you laughing at?” When he saw Yi Yun laugh, Mystic Tiger felt discomfort all over. Yi Yun was not even thirty years of age, and when compared to human Empyreal Kings, who counted their ages in the tens of thousands of years, this young junior was not even enough to be described as a suckling child.

For a suckling kid to produced such a smile in front of him, how could Mystic Tiger feel comfortable?

“Young Master Yi, now that you have arrived at the remote mountains to save the Desolate race and Fairy Jiang, that courage is highly commendable. Furthermore, Young Master Yi is accomplished at such a young age, and you have extraordinary strength. You are truly a hero of the Human race. Then, I shall represent the Human race and compromise.”

At that moment, another legendary human figure spoke up. He was afraid of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s strength, and he had already come to a unanimous agreement with the other Tian Yuan Elder Consortium members through Yuan Qi voice transmissions.

“If Young Master Yi wants the Cosmic Infinite Array, then we have two conditions. The first is Shepherd Boy. On this point, Shepherd Boy has already agreed to it, so I will not make it any harder. As for the second condition, I wish for Young Master Yi and Fairy Lin to promise, using a soul contract, that after the Black-armored Demon God is vanquished, the both of you will never attack the factions that we belong to. As long as you assent to these two conditions, the Cosmic Infinite Array’s array flag and its usage methods can be taken by Young Master Yi.”

Towards Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, the humans still had their reservations. Now, they had raised this condition once again. In their opinions, although this condition limited Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, the limitations weren’t that great. It was something easily agreeable.

As for the first condition, Shepherd Boy had agreed to it himself, so it was not difficult.

However, the humans never expected that the conditions that had ‘little room for resistance’ made Yi Yun look at the speaking Elder like he was looking at a fool.

“It’s just a few crappy flags left behind by Blood Moon. In my eyes, it’s just trash. You are using that stuff to strike a deal with me? Have you all fried your brains while escaping into the Divine Wilderness?”

Yi Yun’s sudden words not only stunned the human warriors, even the Desolate race warriors were momentarily dumbfounded.

No one knew who created the ancient array tens of millions of years ago was. Blood Moon was only the preserver of the ancient array, yet such a profound ancient array had been described as a few crappy flags by Yi Yun?

Jiang Xiaorou was momentarily at a loss as to what to say. As for the former Desolate Queen, she too looked in alarm at Yi Yun. As time passed, she was more aware of what had happened to Yi Yun. She knew that he may be young, but he was not an insolent or arrogant person.

Be it in the God Advent Tower or the Soul Tomb, Yi Yun had managed to open a bloody path amidst his competitors and enemies, becoming the ultimate victor. All of these proved that point.

Such a person caused the former Desolate Queen to be inclined to believe in his words.

She did not speak and she allowed Yi Yun to represent the Desolate race. She did not know what Yi Yun was planning.

As for the legendary human figures, after being mocked by Yi Yun in such a manner, they did not dare to rise up. Yi Yun’s strength made them lack the courage to retort with a taunt.

In their hearts, they believed that Yi Yun said those words to forcibly act awesome.

A human elder said coldly, “Young Master Yi, you are probably just trying to weaken our negotiating chips by deprecating the Cosmic Infinite Array so badly. This tiny trick of yours is completely meaningless. Since you can’t accept our conditions, then don’t covet the Cosmic Infinite Array. Alright then, we shall leave. I believe that there is already no need to carry on this negotiation.”

As the human elder spoke, he stood up, preparing to leave.

As he got up, he observed Yi Yun’s reaction.

This feeling was like a mortal buying merchandise from a vendor. He might be unhappy with the vendor’s offer price, but he was also reluctant to part with the merchandise. Hence, he would pretend to walk off, but he was in fact waiting for the vendor to change his mind to keep him there.

This human elder was indeed hoping for Yi Yun to change his mind. To get him to really rebuff Yi Yun was not something he could stomach either.

After all, the human race was afraid of Yi Yun. If through the use of the Cosmic Infinite Array, they could get Yi Yun to sign a soul contract and ensure the peaceful coexistence between Yi Yun and themselves in the future, it was worth it.

However… the human elder was disappointed.

Yi Yun’s hands were still nonchalantly placed on the meeting table. He was only looking coldly at the elder who pretended to leave. It was a look of “well go, I won’t send you off”.

“What about the rest of you? Are you planning on leaving together with him?”

Yi Yun looked at the other legendary human figures, and he was completely unworried about them leaving.

These legendary human figures were momentarily at a loss as to what to say. They could even make concessions towards their original conditions, such as not needing Shepherd Boy to sign a soul contract.

They never expected that Yi Yun did not even bother negotiating, and let them all leave.

“Alright! Alright! How true it is that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers.” Mystic Tiger glared at Yi Yun as his moustache quivered. “I want to see how you can carry on acting tough in a few days time! Having not seen the Black-armored Demon God, you will never imagine how terrifying he is. Those newborn calves, who aren’t afraid of a tiger, only end up dying in the tiger’s belly. Yi Yun, when you face the Black-armored Demon God, you will know how arrogant and stupid you were today!”

As Mystic Tiger spoke, he flicked his sleeves and walked away.

And behind him, Yi Yun slurred, “You don’t have to worry if I will die in the tiger’s belly. But I have to admit that in a few days when I face the Black-armored Demon God, even if I’m no match for him, I have quite the confidence that I can escape. I have plenty of time. I can slowly drag it out. Once the danger of the Black-armored Demon God is over, I will personally go to your, Senior Mystic Tiger’s doorstep. Oh… I forgot to ask. Senior Mystic Tiger, what faction do you belong to?”

As Yi Yun spoke, he scanned the Desolate race present. He only knew from the former Desolate Queen’s words that the black-dressed elder’s name was Mystic Tiger. As for what his identity was, Yi Yun did not know a thing.

“You… ”

Yi Yun’s words caused Mystic Tiger Immortal’s footsteps to falter. His expression turned extremely ugly.

Just Yi Yun’s present strength was enough for them to fear him, let alone a few years later.

As for visiting him personally? When Yi Yun became the number one person in the Tian Yuan world, he might even be comparable to the ancient Great Empress. Who would dare to let him make a ‘personal visit’?

This was a unmarred threat. Mystic Tiger’s faction was also a top level faction in the Tian Yuan world. He may run, but his territory and faction could not be hidden. Once Yi Yun had the absolute strength, it would be extremely simple for him to destroy Mystic Tiger’s faction!

“Yi Yun… If you do anything to my faction, all the large factions in the Tian Yuan world will feel insecure. When that happens, it will be equivalent to you making a move on the entire Tian Yuan world’s Human race. Do you really want to go against the world?”

Mystic Tiger knew that he could not overthrow Yi Yun based on strength, so he highlighted the entire Tian Yuan world, hinting to him that he would become the enemy of all.

“Are you threatening me?” Yi Yun laughed. “Do you think I’ll be afraid just because you mention the world? Why don’t you threaten the Black-armored Demon God? Why don’t you ask him why he dares to make a move against the entire Tian Yuan world, and why does he dare to become the enemy of all?”

“What a joke. The Black-armored Demon God has been destroying heritage and slaughtering lives. All of you just flee on sight, and now, even before the Black-armored Demon God has arrived, you are already discussing on how to escape.”

“As for me, I’m more merciful. As a result, you start staring at me, imposing all sorts of conditions on me!!”

“Why don’t you raise conditions with the Black-armored Demon God? Why don’t you gather the ‘world”s forces to destroy this ‘enemy of the all’, the Black-armored Demon God?”

“To those merciful to you, you think that they are easily bullied. To those who are forceful, you feel scared. What sort of meaning do the lives of such people like you have?”

Yi Yun’s words was right to the point and they were extremely biting. When the humans present heard this, their faces turned flushed. They did not know how to refute him.

Yi Yun compared himself to the Black-armored Demon God. He was too insolent!

Although the humans present all believed that Yi Yun was still greatly lacking compared to the Black-armored Demon God, but as long as Yi Yun survived this calamity, in the future, his strength could indeed reach that stage!

Yi Yun carried on. “All of you have not understood the gravity of the situation. Today, I’m not here to negotiate with you, nor do I need to negotiate. I’m only informing all of you. For the next invasion of the Black-armored Demon God, if you were to join forces with the Desolate race in battle, I will remember your contributions. If not, you are free to leave! The Desolate race will not send a single soldier or peon to escort you safely out of the Divine Wilderness. How many of you can survive will be up to your own destinies.”

“And once the crisis of the Black-armored Demon God is over, the Tian Yuan world will be in ruins. There will be a need to restore order. As for how this order will be decided… ” As Yi Yun said this, he dragged out his tone. “I don’t dare to say that I’ll rule over the new order of the Tian Yuan world, but I will at least be able to influence it at 80 or 90%. And that is something I admit I’m capable of.”

“Rest assured, I will not kill the innocent. It’s just that the gridlock in the Tian Yuan world has existed for too long. It is time to destroy it and rebuild it again. And when that happens, whether the top factions continue being prosperous or be dispersed and replaced, I didn’t think it is right for me to decide on it. But now, all of you have brought me to make a decision.”

By saying these words, he sounded extremely domineering. It was a spirit of ruling the world. When the humans present heard this, their hearts twitched, unsure as to what to say.

As for the Desolate race, when they heard Yi Yun’s words, they felt their spirits raised. This negotiation was doomed and difficult to negotiate. But now with Yi Yun here, he had dispersed Mystic Tiger’s forceful stance with a simple sentence. He couldn’t even be bothered to raise conditions, and he refused to accept any conditions of the Human race.

He had made the Human race leave the Cosmic Infinite Array behind unconditionally, and even wanted them to stay behind to fight alongside the Desolate race to the death.

What was might? This was might!

716 - : Might

CKtalon  CKtalon

The moment that Yi Yun mentioned ruling and deciding on the distribution of powers in the Tian Yuan world, the atmosphere in the meeting hall reached a stalemate.

When the Human race negotiated with the Desolate race, despite the Desolate race being stronger, they held a weaker position as they were looking for the Human race’s help.

However, Yi Yun had completely flipped the tables.

With strong and mighty means that no one expected, he caused every single human to turn speechless.

As for the Desolate race, they did not speak a word ever since Yi Yun arrived. They only moved two chairs over.

As for Cang Yan, Jian Ge, the azure-clothed scholar and company standing by the periphery of the meeting hall, they were at a loss as to what to say. They had already sensed that Yi Yun held a high position and he was very powerful. However, they never expected that he was so powerful that he could threaten all the factions in the Tian Yuan world. This far exceeded their level of understanding.

“Why? Aren’t all of you leaving? Is there anything left for you to say?” Yi Yun was aggressive. He knew that there was no way to move these old fools through persuasion. It was also meaningless to be submissive in the negotiations.

Leave?

All the legendary human figures were infuriated, but for them to turn and leave was something that they did not dare to do. They had already lived for tens of thousands of years. Although the natural end for them was not near, it was already impossible for them to break through to another realm and extend their lifespan.

If they could have eternal life, they would only care for themselves. However, with no hopes for eternal life and before they entered their graves, they would put their efforts into the future generation as well as heritage. They wanted their bloodline and heritage to continue thriving far into the future.

Every legendary human figure greatly minded the faction that was under their care.

“Yi Yun!” Mystic Tiger took a deep breath. He found it difficult to suppress the rage that he was feeling. “You want to rule over everything? Fine! Very fine! You are powerful and mighty! But all of this is established on absolute strength. You have not fully matured, yet you are so insolent. Aren’t you being too full of yourself!? How old are you!? What sort of cultivation level are you at!? You don’t even think anything of the Black-armored Demon God? Your tone is as if you are guaranteed to kill the Black-armored Demon God, and to enfeoff the world, rewarding people based on their contributions. Who do you think you are? If you can kill the Black-armored Demon God, you are a peerless Emperor! If you can’t kill him, then you are just a joke!”

While Mystic Tiger spoke, he had a ferocious expression on his face. Yi Yun’s threats made him nearly go crazy!

He had lived for very long, and he was accustomed to enjoying an elevated status. Usually, any junior would be respectful towards him, but now, he was threatened by a junior in such a way, yet, he had to endure the threat. How could he not be infuriated?

Mystic Tiger’s words were actually what was on many of the human’s minds.

Yi Yun was powerful, but could he truly escape from the Black-armored Demon God? He had disappeared for more than half a year ever since the Black-armored Demon God appeared.

Yi Yun had never had a direct clash with the Black-armored Demon God, so how could he know how terrifying the Black-armored Demon God was?

“Young man, don’t be so insolent. Arrogant people tend to die due to their arrogance.”

Another legendary human figure spoke. Against Yi Yun’s threat, the humans began their retaliation.

Yi Yun could not even be bothered with them.

“Are you done? You can’t beat me, so you root for the Black-armored Demon God, who slaughtered your immediate bloodline, your grandchildren and chased you out of your territories, to kill me? So this is your martial path? Pathetic!”

Yi Yun’s every word was biting and harsh to the ear, so much so that the legendary human figures present had no way to rebut.

Counting on their enemy to kill an enemy was indeed pathetic.

Many of the legendary human figures could no longer stand the humiliation, and they were about to leave the meeting hall, but at that moment…

Phew—

A dark and cold aura enshrouded them without warning.

Before the Human race and Desolate race warriors could react, they felt like they had crashed into a icy chasm.

The cold aura was biting to the bone, as if it was about to freeze the flowing Yuan Qi and blood in their meridians.

This is…

Everyone was alarmed. This meeting hall had a protective array. What sort of sudden aura was this?

Many looked at Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. Some of them suspected that such terrifying aura came from Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

However, seeing how Yi Yun was frowning slightly, this had likely nothing to do with him.

Could it be… ?

Upon sensing the intense aura, many people shuddered.

Was it the Black-armored Demon God!?

The aura was extremely suppressing. It was so powerful that people felt like they were turning limp. Yang Qingyun, who had a weaker cultivation level, as well as the Desolate race maids in charge of services in the meeting could not withstand it at all. Their faces turned pale as they shivered all over.

Upon seeing this, Yi Yun split out a bit of his aura and injected it into Yang Qingyun and the Desolate race maids, allowing them to withstand the terrifying aura. If not, the Yuan Qi in their bodies could even freeze up, so much to the point of their dantian shattering from frost.

“Thank… Thank you… ” Yang Qingyun said with a trembling voice. With her trembling lips, she felt as helpless as drifting in a storm.

“The Black-armored Demon God is coming!?”

In the meeting hall, be it the Human race warriors or the Desolate race warriors, they were all nervous and distraught. The moment the Black-armored Demon God arrived, it would be a bloody storm. Yet, they had not made preparations to go to war.

The Black-armored Demon God…

Yi Yun interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal and he spread his perception in all directions. Everything around him turned transparent.

Immediately, far into the distance, Yi Yun saw a pair of red eyes. It appeared mounted in the dark space, staring right at him.

Upon feeling these eyes stare at him, Yi Yun felt his heart tighten! He felt like every inch of his skin was being pricked by a needle.

Yi Yun was already certain that the other party was no doubt the Black-armored Demon God!

Through this gaze, Yi Yun could sense the Black-armored Demon God’s soul.

Cold, powerful, brutal and a hint of chaos.

His spiritual energy was extremely unstable. It was like there were dozens of spiritual energy turbulences rampaging. And every strand of spiritual turbulence was sufficient enough to destroy a Human race Empyreal King’s soul sea.

In this way, Yi Yun exchanged stares with the Black-armored Demon God through this unknown space-time.

And at that moment, the people in the meeting hall sensed that Yi Yun was facing the Black-armored Demon God directly. He was enduring most of the aura that the Black-armored Demon God enshrouded the meeting hall with!

“Yi Yun!”

“Yun-er!”

Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou immediately turned tense. No one expected that the Black-armored Demon God would suddenly traverse across space-time at that moment, projecting his spiritual energy over.

“Yun’er, the Black-armored Demon God has locked onto you!” Jiang Xiaorou said anxiously. She had once been locked onto by the Black-armored Demon God’s spiritual energy. She knew very well what it felt like.

And in fact, back in the Desolate race headquarters, the aura that the Black-armored Demon God produced when locking onto Jiang Xiaorou, was not as powerful.

Jiang Xiaorou never expected that this meeting would have such an outcome. Yi Yun had been locked onto by the Black-armored Demon God. That was the worst news possible!

717 - : Demon God Killing Order

CKtalon  CKtalon

“I’m being locked onto by the Black-armored Demon God? To be able to lock his spiritual energy onto me through such a distance, what sort of magical power is that?”

Jiang Xiaorou’s words made Yi Yun’s heart wince. He could indeed feel the cold spiritual energy from the Black-armored Demon God forming a mysterious connection with his body at this very moment.

It was most likely an extremely powerful spiritual energy law.

Could it be that the Black-armored Demon God had been using the spiritual connection with Jiang Xiaorou to watch the situation in the meeting hall?

Just thinking of this tightened Yi Yun’s heart. This Black-armored Demon God was indeed not trivial!

After the Black-armored Demon God’s spiritual energy firmly locked onto Yi Yun, the pressure that enveloped the meeting hall slowly weakened, and shortly after, it disappeared like the receding tide.

Everyone felt their bodies lighten. Their bodies’ Yuan Qi and blood flow were no longer repressed.

The Demon God had left.

After the pressure completely disappeared, people were sweating profusely. The pressure was too great, making them feel like the Black-armored Demon God would arrive at the very next moment and begin another massacre.

“What a close call! I thought that the Black-armored Demon God was coming.”

“Fortunately, he left. He must not have recovered from his injuries. He extended his presence mainly because of Yi Yun.” A human elder said as his eyes landed on Yi Yun.

Actually, even if Jiang Xiaorou did not mention it, the people in the hall had already realized that the spiritual energy pressure from the Black-armored Demon God was mainly concentrated on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was the focus of the Black-armored Demon God’s enveloping spiritual energy.

“Yi Yun has been spiritually locked onto by the Black-armored Demon God!”

The legendary human figures quickly realized this fact. This was similar to Jiang Xiaorou, and it was equivalent to appearing on the kill list of the Black-armored Demon God.

“It is most likely that the Black-armored Demon God has been monitoring the meeting through means beyond our comprehension. Yi Yun’s arrogant remarks must have incurred the Black-armored Demon God’s wrath. Indeed, if I were the Black-armored Demon God, I would not let such an insolent genius, who might one day threaten myself, exist.”

Yi Yun had been aggressive and insolent with his words. Other than threatening many factions amongst the Tian Yuan world, he did not even seem to show any fear towards the Black-armored Demon God.

“Haha!” Mystic Tiger laughed. There was an obvious sense of schadenfreude in his laughter.

“What did that kid just say? Something like when facing the Black-armored Demon God, even if he was no match for him, he would have quite the confidence at escaping. And something like him having plenty of time and he can slowly drag it out. Unfortunately, he has been targeted by the Black-armored Demon God, what time does he have left?”

“With the present situation, does he still have thoughts of ruling over the Tian Yuan world’s new order? He even said that he could influence the new order by about 80 or 90% and that it was something that he admitted he was capable of. Now, with Death at his doorstep, what arrogance is there left for him? Hahaha!”

Mystic Tiger was soothed in his heart. Many of the legendary human figures had been completely repressed by Yi Yun’s aura and arrogance a moment ago. They were infuriated with nowhere to vent their anger. They could not do anything to Yi Yun, but the Black-armored Demon God could.

Anyone knew how to brag. Behind the Black-armored Demon God, you could say anything that disparaged the Black-armored Demon God. But now, with the Black-armored Demon God marking you with a kill order, how are you to carry on with your charades?

“Being overly-arrogant indeed doesn’t let you live long. This Yi Yun basically caused his own death. Just a momentary slip of the tongue gave him a spiritual lock on by the Black-armored Demon God. He will definitely be pursued by the Black-armored Demon God till the ends of the world in the future. He’s doomed!”

The legendary human figures privately discussed this matter through voice transmissions. They naturally did not dare say such things openly in front of Yi Yun.

Actually, they too were afraid that after Yi Yun was killed by the Black-armored Demon God, the Black-armored Demon God would slaughter the world.

The best outcome was that Yi Yun would heavily injure the Black-armored Demon God before being killed, then that would be perfect.

However, what made Mystic Tiger and company surprised was that they did not see any flustered or panicked expressions on Yi Yun’s face.

Yi Yun was only silent and he had not spoken a single word.

He did not look at the humans, but instead, he quietly sat at his seat. He looked at his palm, like he was considering something.

“What is this kid up to?”

“Ignore him. We can just leave. Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou have been targeted. This battle is already inevitable for the Desolate race and Yi Yun.”

As the legendary human figures left, it was surprising that the Sanctuary Island Couple remained.

The two of them looked at Yi Yun and they did not disturb his thoughts.

In fact, ever since Yi Yun appeared in the meeting hall, other than the couple exchanging a few pleasantries with Yi Yun, they barely spoke.

Towards the Human race’s departure or their conditions, the two of them did not express any of their views.

Yi Yun looked up and glanced at the Sanctuary Island couple. For the two of them to stay behind, it was apparent that they had something to tell him. However, he did not engage in conversation with them. He had something important to do.

The Black-armored Demon God was locking onto him using a spiritual mark. It was a connection that reached across space-time. After the planting of the lock, the Black-armored Demon God could precisely locate him at any time.

This spiritual mark was after all just a form of spiritual soul energy.

As long as it was energy, Yi Yun was not afraid. He had the Purple Crystal Origins that controlled energy. A divine item like the Purple Crystal could absorb and manipulate energy, even if it came from the Azure Yang Lord, let alone the energy condensed by the Black-armored Demon God.

As such, as long as Yi Yun carefully examined it, he would have the ability to dispel the energy.

However, what Yi Yun was thinking wasn’t about dissolving this energy.

He had the God Advent Tower and several hidden cards up his sleeve. He was already planning on fighting the Black-armored Demon God. Even if the Black-armored Demon God did not lock onto him, he would also not escape. There were no effects from being locked onto, so Yi Yun wasn’t afraid at all.

What was on Yi Yun’s mind at the moment was how the spiritual soul energy lurking in his body was constantly connected to the Black-armored Demon God. This allowed the Black-armored Demon God to lock onto him, but then, could he use this faint link to travel upstream and lock onto the Black-armored Demon God’s location instead?

With the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun felt that it was not something difficult!

If the legendary human figures knew about his thoughts, they would be absolutely stunned, rendering them speechless.

Typically, if someone was locked onto by the Black-armored Demon God, it was equivalent to a death sentence. It would be not bad if one could welcome death. Others, who were more resolute, would think of means to wipe away the mark planted by this god of death. But just think of the Black-armored Demon God’s power, could his killing mark be so easily wiped off?

However, Yi Yun, who could use the Purple Crystal to wipe out this killing mark, not only did not do so, he even wanted to follow the vines to the melon, and find the Black-armored Demon God, taking action against the Black-armored Demon God.

Such a crazy idea was probably something that the Desolate race would not accept if they knew about it, let alone the Human race. Was he afraid of not dying earlier?

This thought of Yi Yun’s was not made at a spur of a moment. Finding his enemy’s location definitely had its benefits.

As for what to do after the Black-armored Demon God was found, it will depend on the situation of how injured the Black-armored Demon God was at the moment.

Be it the Human race or Desolate race warriors, they were all thinking of how the Black-armored Demon God would come with a forceful stance after he recovered from his wounds.

But Yi Yun’s take on the matter was why not take the initiative to attack as compared to waiting for a prepared Black-armored Demon God, which would mean fighting him at his peak?

718 - : Going Against the Flow

CKtalon  CKtalon

The thought of finding the Black-armored Demon God lingered in Yi Yun’s mind. He meditated for a full fifteen minutes before he figured out where the energy mark was in his body. He was in no rush to go against the flow to locate the Black-armored Demon God.

He looked up at the Sanctuary Island couple.

“Is there something that the two of you want to discuss with me?”

The couple looked each other in the eye as the man smiled and said, “It’s actually nothing important. The both of us were actually leaning towards retreating from the remote mountains with the Human race. It is not because we were afraid to die, but we felt that it was meaningless to make pointless sacrifices.”

“However… with Young Master Yi and Fairy Lin returning this time, it seems that there will be an intense battle. Since Young Master Yi is so confident, I’m actually quite curious. After discussing it with my wife, the two of us have decided to stay behind as witnesses to Young Master Yi’s grand battle with the Black-armored Demon God. This is probably the battle that has the highest chance of seriously injuring the Black-armored Demon God. The two of us do not wish to miss such a battle. And by staying behind, we might give some insignificant help.”

The Island Lord, surnamed Ying, touched on the matter lightly, and he slightly surprised Yi Yun. The Sanctuary Island couple was actually planning on staying to fight to the death.

He was confident that he could escape from the Black-armored Demon God, but the Sanctuary Island couple might not have the means. There was the danger of dying if they stayed behind!

As members of the Human race, to fight alongside the Desolate race at the risk of death, this had won a lot of goodwill with Yi Yun.

If one talked about fearing Yi Yun, the Sanctuary Island couple were the least afraid of Yi Yun. The couple were without kin and they were completely isolated. They lived in seclusion at Sanctuary Island and it was not a large faction. They were like as unworldly as the wild stock or floating clouds. Even if the factions of the Tian Yuan world were ruled and distributed by him, it would not affect them.

“Thank you for being so understanding of the correct principles.” Yi Yun clasped his fists. He was a person who would settle scores with his enemies, but he too was a grateful person. He had noted the Sanctuary Island couple’s goodwill.

“Since we have now forged an alliance, I wonder if Young Master Yi plans on informing us of your ideas? From Young Master Yi’s expression, I feel like Young Master Yi already has an idea of how to handle the situation.” The Sanctuary Island Lord asked.

He noticed how Yi Yun looked calm from the beginning. He did not have the panic that should have resulted from having a mark planted on him. Although he did not think that Yi Yun could do anything to the Black-armored Demon God’s mark, since Yi Yun wasn’t afraid, then it meant that he had plans and preparation towards facing the Black-armored Demon God in a life-and-death battle.

If it wasn’t for this, Yi Yun would also not have categorically rejected the humans’ conditions, and shrugged off the Cosmic Infinite Array.

The Sanctuary Island couple had decided on staying behind to fight to the death, so it was reasonable to make such a request.

However, the matter of how the Purple Crystal could control the Black-armored Demon God’s spiritual energy was not something that Yi Yun wanted to explain, he pondered for a moment before saying, “I originally had a plan, but after tonight, the situation might change. So, I plan on waiting for an outcome before making it clear to the two of you.”

The Sanctuary Island couple was surprised. With regards to the Black-armored Demon God, even if it were a few nights, there shouldn’t be any changes, what was one more night?

However, since it was said by Yi Yun, the Sanctuary Island couple looked each other in the eye before nodding. One of them said, “If that is the case, the both of us shall await the news.”

“Alright then. The debate had gone on for a long while today. The both of you must be tired, so have an early rest and recharge yourselves.” Yi Yun said politely.

The Sanctuary Island couple could tell that Yi Yun had something to say to Jiang Xiaorou and company. So with a smile, they stood up and said, “Then we shall take our leave first.”

The former Desolate Queen summoned two maids, who respectfully led the Sanctuary Island couple out of the hall.

As long as they fought alongside them, members of the Human race would receive the respect of the Desolate race.

After the Sanctuary Island couple left, Jiang Xiaorou came in front of Yi Yun. She was worried and feeling terrible. She planned on persuading Yi Yun to go far away. But now, Yi Yun had been locked onto by the Black-armored Demon God.

She believed in what Yi Yun said about being able to escape from the Black-armored Demon God, but now with the Black-armored Demon God locking onto him, it would be useless even if he could escape.

After escaping, no matter which ends of the planet he was on, he would be quickly found by the Black-armored Demon God. It was like a maggot in a tarsal bone that could not be removed.

Yi Yun was strong, but was he strong enough to escape from the Black-armored Demon God time and time again?

“Sis Xiaorou, there’s no need to worry. Actually, I already have a plan. The Black-armored Demon God’s lock onto me actually has little impact. Instead, it has given me a chance.” Yi Yun said.

“What chance?” The former Desolate Queen and Jiang Xiaorou were surprised. This matter was something that anyone would try to avoid as hard as possible, yet, Yi Yun had said that it had given him a chance.

Even Lin Xintong’s eyes flickered. She too did not know what Yi Yun was up to.

“Senior Qing Kui.” Yi Yun suddenly looked at Shepherd Boy.

Although his present status and strength was above Shepherd Boy, Yi Yun still owed him his life from before. So up to now, he was still extremely respectful to Shepherd Boy.

Shepherd Boy nodded and said, “Young Master Yi, please speak.”

“I wonder if Senior Shepherd Boy is willing to accept the transference of the mark planted by the Black-armored Demon God on me to you?” From Yi Yun’s previous rumination, he had made a decision. He wanted to use the spiritual mark planted by the Black-armored Demon God and find him by following the vine to the melon. However, he could not bring the spiritual mark with him when approaching the Black-armored Demon God, or it would alert the enemy.

Hence, this spiritual mark needed to be born by someone. And this person had to stay behind when he went into action. A typical warrior could not bear the spiritual pressure of the Black-armored Demon God. The person most suitable here was Shepherd Boy. He was resolute and trustworthy.

Shepherd Boy was momentarily surprised before saying immediately, “You can transfer the Black-armored Demon God’s spiritual mark?”

Be it the former Desolate Queen or Jiang Xiaorou, they were completely dumbfounded when they heard this. The Black-armored Demon God’s spiritual mark was extremely powerful. Just removing it was almost impossible, and he wanted to transfer it to another person? Was it possible?

“I’ll give it a try. I also do not know if it is possible. As long as Senior Qing Kui agrees, then I can begin now. After the battle with the Black-armored Demon God, I will naturally remove the spiritual mark from Senior’s body.”

Yi Yun did not say it with certainty. If it was removing a tracking mark, it was much easier compared to transferring the mark.

“I naturally am willing. Then, can you also transfer the mark on Her Majesty’s body?” Shepherd Boy hurriedly asked.

He was loyal to the Desolate race and he would not hesitate to die for Jiang Xiaorou.

Yi Yun said, “Senior, rest assured. This tracking mark is not a problem at all. Not only can I transfer it, I can also wipe it away. However, if I were to do that now, it might alert the Black-armored Demon God.”

Yi Yun never put the tracking mark at heart. As for Jiang Xiaorou’s safety, he was also not worried. He had the God Advent Tower.

With a few words, Yi Yun lessened the tension of the situation. His confidence and calmness infected many of the people present. It caused the solemn atmosphere of every man fighting to the death to become not as daunting.

“Oh yes, Senior Qing Kui, Your Majesty. These… are my mentors and friends from the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Back when Tai Ah Divine City was invaded, they were captured and they have been held in the remote mountains for more than ten years. Now, they have been conscripted into the Desolate race army… ”

As Yi Yun spoke, he walked towards Cang Yan and company.

Cang Yan, Jian Ge and Yang Qingyun were already at a loss as to what to say. Whatever happened today went beyond their understanding.

Yi Yun not only possessed the status of being the leader of the Tian Yuan world, he had also become the backbone of the resistance against the Black-armored Demon God. What seemed like a hopeless situation seemed to be alleviated with his appearance. There was a feeling of hope.

To be able to reverse the situation of the world while engaging in gaily chatter, Yi Yun had become such a figure in less than twenty years time. It was truly remarkable.

719 - : Alliance

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ever since Cang Yan, Jian Ge and company were locked up in the remote mountains, they had led secluded lives. They did not know what had happened all these years. As for the Desolate race, they had also forgotten about them.

Later on, when they were conscripted into the Desolate race army, their freedom was limited, and they were fated to die under the hands of the Black-armored Demon God.

And because of Yi Yun, a Cloud Wilderness youth who had entered the Tai Ah Divine City more than ten years ago, they had regained their freedom, and they had also receive unprecedented treatment from the Desolate race.

This made Cang Yan, Jian Ge and company feel as if they were in a dream.

They were sent to the Lin family’s domain.

These days, the Lin family enjoyed an outstanding status in the remote mountains. They did not join the Human race’s alliance, but the various factions of the Human race would visit the Lin family on a daily basis in continuous streams.

The Lin family had produced Lin Xintong, a proud daughter of Heaven that would one day become a peerless Great Empress as well as Yi Yun, a prospective son-in-law who was in no way weaker than Lin Xintong. Without any surprises, the Lin family would one day become the number one faction in the Tian Yuan world. No faction would dare to offend such a family clan.

“Your Majesty.”

After settling in Cang Yan and company, Yi Yun looked at the former Desolate Queen.

“Yi Yun, I really have to thank you this time.” The former Desolate Queen looked lovingly at Yi Yun. Jiang Xiaorou’s brother was indeed remarkable. At today’s meeting, if it wasn’t for Yi Yun, no one knew how it would have developed.

“Your Majesty, I have an array formation here that I’ll be passing on to you.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he took out the God Confining Lock array’s array disk and array flags.

“Array formation?”

When the former Desolate Queen heard this, she was delighted. So Yi Yun also had an array formation, no wonder he could reject the Human race in such a manner.

There were 81 array flags in the God Confining Lock array. They were all sealed in the central array disk.

This array disk was about a square foot in size. When the former Desolate Queen received it, she did not find anything special about it.

However, she understood that for Yi Yun to produce this array formation, it had to be extraordinary. It might even greatly exceed the Cosmic Infinite Array.

“Xintong, you stay with the Desolate race to study this array. Senior Shepherd Boy, please follow me.”

Yi Yun took a deep breath. As he spoke, for precautionary measures, he had used the Purple Crystal to isolate the surrounding energies. He did not know when the Black-armored Demon God would recover from his injuries, so he had to make haste.

“Alright!”

Shepherd Boy looked calm, while on the other side, Jiang Xiaorou and Lin Xintong were worried. From Yi Yun’s words, they could tell that Yi Yun was planning something, and he was about to go into action.

“Yun’er, are you going to make a move on the Black-armored Demon God now?” Jiang Xiaorou asked.

“Yes, if there’s no surprises, I’ll be going tonight.”

“In such a rush? Are you going in alone?” Lin Xintong’s eyebrows pricked up slightly. She believed that she would accompany Yi Yun.

If the two of them joined forces, their combat strength would be even stronger.

Yi Yun said, “Xintong, the responsibility of the God Confining Lock array is yours. Me going alone is enough. I’ll be even more flexible this way. It’s better to do it sooner than later. If the Black-armored Demon God has recovered from his wounds, then there will be no meaning for me to go.”

“Xintong, you organize the Desolate race’s experts and practice the God Confining Lock array overnight. Be prepared for the Black-armored Demon God to attack at any time. The battle might happen not too far away.”

In a few words, Yi Yun had readied the battle instructions.

No one questioned Yi Yun’s ideas. They could only follow them at this point in time.

With that, Yi Yun went into a cultivation chamber with Shepherd Boy. Be it the conversation from before or the transference of the energy mark, Yi Yun isolated all possible forms of probing with the Purple Crystal.

After six hours, Shepherd Boy came out of the cultivation chamber with a weary expression. The spiritual energy of the Black-armored Demon God had been transferred into his body.

And when the spiritual energy was transferred by Yi Yun, Yi Yun also used the faint spiritual connection to roughly locate the Black-armored Demon God.

Yi Yun had guessed that the Black-armored Demon God was sleeping. With the Purple Crystal’s perception, the Black-armored Demon God’s spiritual energy was maintaining a weak state most of the time.

Yi Yun did not know what would happen during his sneak attack on the Black-armored Demon God. But even if it did not achieve the desired effect, it was definitely better than facing the Black-armored Demon God at his peak condition.

Late into the night, Yi Yun shot up into the sky and flew far away from the remote mountains. After that, a miniature pagoda flew out of his body.

The miniature pagoda was spinning in front of Yi Yun, and following that, Yi Yun’s body constantly shrunk till he was sucked into the miniature pagoda.

Yi Yun hid himself in the God Advent Tower, and then directed the God Advent Tower in the direction of the Black-armored Demon God’s hiding location.

By doing this, it was a matter of precaution. Yi Yun did not know if the Black-armored Demon God was able to be aware of his presence while treating his wounds. With the God Advent Tower’s array protecting him and the Purple Crystal’s energy isolation, this double level of insurance made Yi Yun believe that there would be no problems.

With that, a miniature pagoda shuttled through the night sky.

After Yi Yun flew out of the remote mountains, he flew tens of thousands of kilometers until he came to a spot above a pine tree forest.

High in the sky, the light rays around the God Advent Tower distorted slightly as it was hidden with array techniques. It disappeared under the moonlight, with no one being able to detect the God Advent Tower’s presence.

Yi Yun used his perception to bypass the God Advent Tower and he looked at the pine forest beneath him.

He could vaguely sense that the Black-armored Demon God was hidden here, but as for the actual location, Yi Yun had no way of confirming it.

Since the Black-armored Demon God was recuperating, he had to conceal himself. If not, in the Divine Wilderness where there were numerous primordial true spirits, if one primordial true spirit was attracted to him, it might affect his recuperation process even if it could not harm him.

The Black-armored Demon God’s powers were unfathomable. With him having the intention to hide, no ordinary person would be able to find him. However, Yi Yun was different. He had the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

Under the energy vision, nothing could hide!

With Yi Yun’s cultivation level and nomological insights improving, his energy vision could already encompass more than 50 kilometers. If he was patient enough, he would not take more than four hours to scan through the vast pine forest.

The moonlight flowed down like water as the pine forest remained silent. In the pine forest, there was a clear mountain stream flowing. It meandered around with all forms of bends, with a source high in the sky. It looked like a haven of peace.

Without any murderous intent or gathering of Yin energy, there was only the occasional breeze that rustled the forest. A thin layer of moonlight seemed to transform into a silver mist that slowly flowed through the forest.

Just from this scene, it was hard to believe that this was the hiding spot of the Black-armored Demon God.

However, Yi Yun did not have any doubts as he searched area by area.

Soon, he discovered a strange spot in the pine forest. There were almost no desolate beasts in this pine forest. Other than the sound of the clear spring water flowing, it was as silent as a cemetery, giving people a shuddering feeling.

720 - : Late Night Sneak Attack

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun looked down from high in the sky and he discovered that there were nine rivers in the pine forest. These nine rivers winded around and they eventually converged in the center of the pine forest.

Here, there was a lake that wasn’t very large. It looked like a beast’s eye from high in the sky.

The nine rivers constantly provided it with spring water, but this lake was less than a kilometer in radius. There was no outlet, so it was unknown where the water flowed to.

After watching it for a while, Yi Yun suddenly had a feeling that the nine rivers were like nine flood dragons that revolved around a dragon pearl.

This is…

With a sudden thought, Yi Yun probed his perception underground!

Previously, Yi Yun’s energy vision was radiated in all directions so as to search the pine forest quickly. But now, Yi Yun reduced the scope of his energy vision. Most of his spiritual energy was used to probe underground.

With his energy vision constantly going deeper, Yi Yun’s heart jumped when he saw the scene underground. What looked like a tranquil pine forest actually had underground network of Yin roots. Every Yin root corresponded to a river. The rivers meandered and they eventually came together.

And that lake was where all the underground Yin roots eventually converged. The lake was extremely deep. Instead of calling it a lake, it was better of describing it as a well!

This well-like lake extended deep underground, becoming the gathering point of the Yin energy. This made Yi Yun shudder because he felt like this lake was a passage to the underworld.

“So that is the reason. This strange land gathers all the Yin killing energy of the ground together. The Divine Wilderness is so vast, so it’s no surprise that such a place exists. And for the Black-armored Demon God to actually find such a place, he used it as a place for his recuperation.

The Black-armored Demon God’s energy leaned towards Yin killing energy. It was not limited to the Black-armored Demon God, even Blood Moon was the same. Back then, the reason they chose the Soul Tomb as the Blood Moon’s core was all for this reason.

By recuperating under this Yin Spring, the Black-armored Demon God could achieve double the results with half the effort.

Yi Yun closed his eyes, and he carefully extended his energy vision into the deepest depths of the lake. And indeed, he sensed distorted spatial dimensional laws.

The Black-armored Demon God was hiding in a warped space in the deep lake.

But even such a warped space could not block Yi Yun’s probe. He finally ‘saw’ the Black-armored Demon God.

The Black-armored Demon God had a majestic build. He was completely naked and his black hair sprawled down, covering his back.

He was dark-skinned and it was like divine metal that had been tempered thousands of times. Muscles with trenchant looking lines entwined around him like a dragon.

The Black-armored Demon God’s muscles looked like they would burst at anytime, but surprisingly, they did not look jarring. In fact, his body’s proportions were perfect. From top to bottom, his body was filled with the beauty of strength.

In front of the Black-armored Demon God, he had taken off his black armor and he had arranged it in a human form.

The empty helmet was facing the Black-armored Demon God, like the armor had a life of its own.

The Demon God had taken off his armor!

When generals were leading battle campaigns, they would never take off their armor while leading the troops, resting or sleeping. They would remove their armor only when they were injured.

As Yi Yun looked at the Black-armored Demon God, he seemed to see the scenes of the Black-armored Demon God wearing his armor, ruling the world in battle.

However, the Black-armored Demon God was not a general in charge of the world, he was a demon that slaughtered all sentient beings. He was filled with the stench of blood and death!

As Yi Yun observed the Black-armored Demon God, he had converged all his aura. But even so, Yi Yun noticed that the Black-armored Demon God had suddenly opened his eyes at one point in time.

They were a pair of black eyes with a touch of crimson seemed like a ghostly fire in the darkness, emanating coldness in all directions.

The Black-armored Demon God definitely could not sense the Purple Crystal’s presence, but the battle instincts of the Black-armored Demon God woke him up.

However… when he probed his surroundings with his spiritual energy, he did not discover a thing. With the Purple Crystal and the God Advent Tower’s double protection, there was no way that he could discover Yi Yun.

Under these circumstances, even with the Black-armored Demon God’s battle instincts, he eventually quietened down.

There was no way for him to stop his recuperating process just because of a feeling that suddenly appeared and that disappeared just as quickly.

He still had many things left to do.

And at that moment, Yi Yun was like a patient hunter, waiting high above the lake.

Through his energy vision, Yi Yun could see the Black-armored Demon God’s energy flow clearly.

The Black-armored Demon God was indeed injured. The wounds left behind by the Sacred Spirit had not only injured his physical body, but it had also wounded his soul sea.

In the Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea, Yi Yun could sense extremely chaotic spiritual energy, like his condition was extremely unstable.

Yi Yun was waiting… waiting for the critical moment in the Black-armored Demon God’s recuperation.

Be it seclusion for breakthroughs or circulating their cultivation techniques for healing, warriors needed an absolutely safe place. At times, they would even need people to protect them. This was because they could not be disturbed at a critical moment. If not, they would suffer the backlash of their energies. If it was any more serious, they might even suffer a Qi deviation.

Yi Yun was waiting precisely for that opportunity, allowing him to severely injure the Black-armored Demon God!

Time slowly passed as the bright moon set in the west. The eastern horizon suffused a glowing layer as the stars in the night sky dimmed. It was nearly dawn…

The Black-armored Demon God had already completely ignored that unknown sense of foreboding. He was completely immersed in his recuperation, and now, he was undergoing a critical step in his healing process. He was fixing the wounds in his soul sea, wiping out the chaotic energy flows from his soul sea bit by bit.

A human’s soul sea was the weakest. Even the Black-armored Demon God was no different.

In the energy vision, Yi Yun spotted his chance as his eyes lit up!

Now was the time!

After waiting for hours, Yi Yun had constantly kept himself in peak condition. All his energy was poised to strike, all for this very moment.

His ’Great Empress Heart Sutra’ circulated as his Yuan Qi exploded. His two powerful Aspect Totems, the Golden Crow and the Nine Neonate appeared in the sky.

For the strike after converging his strength for so long, Yi Yun did not use his sword, but instead, he used… the God Advent Tower!

Even if his strength improved greatly, Yi Yun was still unable to fully control the God Advent Tower. In a true face off, Yi Yun could not use the God Advent Tower at all. He would be like a three year old child waving a sledgehammer. It would be slow and it would be unable to strike anyone. It would also be extremely draining.

But now, to strike a fixed target, the God Advent Tower was most appropriate. The force of the entire God Advent Tower slamming down was much more powerful than the pure Yang broken sword.

Boom!

The God Advent Tower mercilessly came slamming down, collapsing the void.

There was a tumultuous explosion on the surface of the Yin lake, as endless amount of lake water flew up into the sky. The God Advent Tower kept falling straight down, slamming the Black-armored Demon God right at the bottom!

Yi Yun had used all his strength for this strike without holding back. He knew that he only had one chance to strike with the God Advent Tower! And if he fought with the pure Yang broken sword, it would be difficult for him to produce power of this scale again!

721 - : Yin Spring

CKtalon  CKtalon

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The pressure that came crashing down with the God Advent Tower fracturing the Yin lake. The lake’s water brought with it unquantifiable amounts of mud and stone, surging in all directions. It formed a gigantic mud wave that had the power of the torrential tide.

It was a mystical land formation created naturally by the laws of Creation. The land itself was protected by Yin energy, but even so, soil was still soil. How could it withstand the God Advent Tower’s strike?

Before the God Advent Tower reached the Black-armored Demon God, he felt a terrifying pressure surging at him!

The Black-armored Demon God was at a critical stage of his reclusive recuperation. With his existence greatly threatened, the Black-armored Demon God had to forcefully wake up despite being immersed in an ethereal state!

Oh!?

To be interrupted from his ethereal state, Black-armored Demon God was enraged but alarmed.

He abruptly opened his eyes, with his face having an unnatural paleness to it. Instantly, he felt his energy backlash against him. But at this point in time, the tremendous danger he sensed forced him to ignore the chaotic spiritual energy in his soul sea.

He looked up and he saw the black bottom of the God Advent Tower crashing downwards. The wanton aura seemed to be a strike straight at his soul!

He was alarmed. This feeling…

It was a familiar feeling. An impact that he had once felt and feared deeply was embedded deep in his memories. Having been sealed for tens of millions of years had caused his mind to be a blur. Many things were nearly forgotten.

But now, that sudden sensation made him remember something.

That man and that woman!

And that pagoda! That sword!

Tens of millions of years ago, he had been suppressed by the divine pagoda, and pierced through by a sword. Now, that scene was repeating itself.

Although this feeling was much weaker compared to tens of millions of years ago, it still made the heavily injured Black-armored Demon God suffer from his chaotic soul sea!

The God Advent Tower strike at a hidden pain in his heart.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

The Black-armored Demon God let out a blood-curling scream, as he used all his energy to forcefully repress the injuries that his soul and body were suffering. As the entire lake exploded, he grabbed the black lance beside him!

Boom!

The lance pierced through the void. There was no energy fluctuation, but a surging ‘force’ came with this simple stab.

It was like the Heaven Earth Yin energy gathered by the nine Yin flood dragons was condensed together by the Black-armored Demon God’s lance.

The lance and the divine pagoda clashed together without any gaudy display. The entire lake collapsed!

The God Advent Tower was forcefully stopped, and it was even sent backward!

Yi Yun’s soul was directly connected to the God Advent Tower. The divine strength that the Black-armored Demon God had exerted was enough to cause his body to shudder. Yi Yun’s organs writhed, making him suffer internal injuries.

Terrifying!

Yi Yun turned stern. The Black-armored Demon God was too powerful. Despite striking him while he was recuperating, he was still able to withstand his God Advent Tower’s attack!

“Who!?”

A horrifying voice erupted from the bottom of the lake. The already turbulent flow of water burst upwards once again with this roar.

Ever since the Black-armored Demon God appeared, he had only engaged in massacre after massacre. He did not speak a word, like he was a demonic lord who did not have any intelligence or emotions. But today, he spoke.

The ancient tones he used was very different to the language the present Tian Yuan world used.

It was a result of Yi Yun and the God Advent Tower’s appearance that had awoken the memories buried deep in the recesses of his mind. It made him extremely agitated.

This ear-splitting voice resounded throughout the heavens and earth.

At that moment, Yi Yun could not care about his injuries. With a wave of his hand, he retrieved the God Advent Tower.

And almost at the same time…

“Boom!”

An explosion occurred at the Yin lake’s opening, completely destroying it, as the barebacked Black-armored Demon God charged up. With a black lance in hand, his eyes were like an ancient desolate beast. Just looking into his eyes made one feel like one’s soul would be injured.

“It’s you!?”

The Black-armored Demon God spoke with a loud but succinct voice, which Yi Yun found difficult to comprehend.

He could sense that the Black-armored Demon God’s voice was filled with alarm and disbelief.

The Black-armored Demon God knew Yi Yun, and that he was on his kill list. He had locked onto Yi Yun’s position, but he had never expected Yi Yun to suddenly appear above the Yin lake, precisely locating the spot where he was recuperating.

And what was even more unexpected to him was that Yi Yun actually had the God Advent Tower. That divine pagoda that was once held in the hands of that man in ancient times was now in Yi Yun’s hands.

He was that man’s successor!?

The Black-armored Demon God’s eyes flashed with killing intent. “Die!”

As he brandished his lance, he stabbed it straight at Yi Yun!

This attack didn’t have any fanciful moves, but it caused space to lock up, preventing anyone from dodging!

However, Yi Yun was already prepared. He did not move, nor did he try to escape the sealed space. The God Advent Tower spinned above his head before landing over him, enclosing Yi Yun within it.

“Boom!”

The God Advent Tower suddenly quaked as the Black-armored Demon God’s lance stabbed it. The thunderous impact could crush mountains, but it did not leave a single mark on the God Advent Tower, leaving it flawless.

Although the God Advent Tower was unharmed, Yi Yun, whose consciousness was connected to it, still experienced a tremendous amount of force.

Even with the God Advent Tower protecting him, Yi Yun still felt his soul being injured. The intense force sent the God Advent Tower flying backward.

This suited Yi Yun’s intentions, as he used the momentum in his favor as he controlled the God Advent Tower to fly far into the distance!

After his sneak attack, he immediately retreated.

Naturally, he did not plan to have a head on clash with the Black-armored Demon God. Every attack of the Black-armored Demon God was extremely terrifying. If they were to land on him, it would immediately tear him apart.

“Trying to escape?”

Seeing Yi Yun about to retreat, the Black-armored Demon God was enraged. With the lance in hand, he chased after Yi Yun.

However, at that moment, his body convulsed as his expression turned ugly.

As his body trembled, bloody cracks appeared on the muscles of his upper body. His body was about to crack!

However, as his body was cracking, his muscles were also recovering as fast as the eyes could see.

He was injured.

He was originally in recuperation, and he had been sneak attacked by Yi Yun. He forcefully struck back, but his two attacks were fruitless. This greatly exacerbated his condition.

If he were to carry on chasing Yi Yun, his injuries would worsen.

And the crux of the matter was that Yi Yun had the God Advent Tower!

By hiding in the God Advent Tower, it was the best protection for Yi Yun.

However, the God Advent Tower was not invincible. Once the God Advent Tower’s energy was drained of its energy, its protective arrays would turn ineffective. This would allow the Black-armored Demon God to enter the God Advent Tower and kill the hiding Yi Yun.

However, how could the current him drain the God Advent Tower’s protective array of its energy?

The Black-armored Demon God’s face turn ashen as he watched the God Advent Tower fly far away.

He split out a piece of his spiritual energy so he could tag the God Advent Tower.

The God Advent Tower was a treasure that the Azure Yang Lord brought from the 12 Empyrean Heavens. The moment it used its concealment array, the Black-armored Demon God would not be able to detect the God Advent Tower’s presence.

He needed to confirm the location of the God Advent Tower.

However… just as his spiritual energy landed on the God Advent Tower, he felt a tiny prick in his soul sea.

Oh!?

He was astonished to realize that the connection between his spiritual energy and his main body had been severed.

That human had a way to deal with his spiritual energy?

722 - : Injuring the Demon God

CKtalon  CKtalon

After the spiritual energy was devoured by Yi Yun’s use of the Purple Crystal, the God Advent Tower quickly disappeared from the Demon God’s vision. And immediately after that, the God Advent Tower’s concealment array was activated, and with that, Yi Yun and the God Advent Tower disappeared in thin air!

The Black-armored Demon God watched as the God Advent Tower disappeared. He could not detect the God Advent Tower despite extending his perception, making his face turn ashen.

His lips twitched gently. His muscles were still cracking and healing. As blood flowed out of the cracks on his flesh, and on the surface of his naked muscles, it did not coagulate. Instead, it was absorbed by his skin. It was like his flesh was like a sponge, never wasting a single ounce of blood or energy.

This sort of body was termed a Seamless Body 1 . The 360 acupuncture points were cultivated perfectly, allowing him to freely absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Yet, not a single acupuncture point would let energy leak out. His body itself had no weakness, be it in terms of recovery and endurance, they were absolutely phenomenal!

In the Tian Yuan world, a Seamless Body of such quality had never been recorded in the historical books, as it was something that could not be trained. Even in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, such a body was the envy of numerous warriors.

“The God Advent Tower has appeared. It’s that man’s successor… ” The Black-armored Demon God said with a deep, low whisper while the muscles on his face were twitching violently.

Yi Yun’s appearance made him feel that there was a crisis on his hands!

Such a crisis awakened some of his consciousness. It made a portion of his memories resurface from the depths of his mind once again.

“Ah!” The Black-armored Demon God suddenly held his head. The excruciating headache and the turmoil of his soul sea made the Black-armored Demon God experience even more pain than what his originally damaged soul sea was experiencing.

The Black-armored Demon God suddenly lifted his eyelids and he looked into the void with eyes turning crimson from the blood vessels exploding behind his retinas. It was like he was looking at the God Advent Tower despite being separated by space-time. His eyes were filled with killing intent.

It was that person from just now that brought him this pain!

“Kill!” The Black-armored Demon God repeated those words with his ancient tone.

Despite Yi Yun’s disappearance, the Black-armored Demon God was unsure if Yi Yun would return or not.

And at that moment, he was seriously wounded. His soul sea was in chaos, and he needed immediate healing. If not, his condition would only become worse.

Although his Seamless Body did not allow him to lose blood or energy, for a Seamless Body to constantly repair his flesh and meridians, it required energy,

“Sou!”

The Black-armored Demon God’s body sank downwards suddenly as he rushed back into the Yin lake.

“Splash!”

Water from the Yin lake flew upwards. What was previously less than a kilometer in radius had now been expanded to over five kilometer in radius due to the battle from before. And the water level of the lake had been greatly reduced.

Even so, the Yin lake was still connected to the land’s Yin roots. Yin killing energy was gathered here and this was still considered to be a healing shrine for the Black-armored Demon God.

“He is injured too.”

The Black-armored Demon God postulated that Yi Yun could no longer power the God Advent Tower again, and he would not appear again.

Besides, Yi Yun did not have a Seamless Body, and he would need at least a day or two to recover. And in this amount of time, although insufficient for him to heal completely, it was enough for him to recover to 60-70%. That was enough.

With 60-70% of his strength, the Black-armored Demon God was confident that he could prevent Yi Yun from escaping.

Even if Yi Yun entered the God Advent Tower, he could also lock the God Advent Tower down.

Although the defenses of the God Advent Tower were a force to be reckoned with, once it was locked down, he could slowly drain the God Advent Tower’s protective array, and when that happened, it was impossible for Yi Yun to escape.

The Black-armored Demon God was not fully awoken. His brain was filled with chaotic memories and thoughts, but the killing intent for Yi Yun was extremely clear.

The Black-armored Demon God released his 360 acupuncture points, connecting them to the land’s nine Yin roots, and he began his recuperation.

And at that moment, thousands of kilometers away.

“Boom!”

The God Advent Tower smashed deep into a mountain’s belly!

The God Advent Tower’s concealment array automatically activated and completely concealed the hole that had been smashed open.

After that, Yi Yun sat in the cultivation chamber on the 5th level of the God Advent Tower. With his spiritual energy interfaced with the Purple Crystal, he made a perfect connection with Heaven Earth energy.

Phew—Phew—

Heaven Earth Yuan Qi flooded from all directions, and it swirled right into the Purple Crystal, forming a gigantic Yuan Qi vortex.

The God Advent Tower itself had an array that gathered Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, but no matter how powerful that array was, it was far inferior to the Purple Crystal Origins.

And a warrior in it was also limited in his ability to absorbing the energy gathered by the God Advent Tower.

However, with the Purple Crystal inside Yi Yun’s heart, it could be said to be one with him. With the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun’s body was even more perfect than a Seamless Body.

He could control every ounce of energy in his body. With sufficient energy provided to him, the injuries to his meridians healed rapidly.

Yi Yun entered an ethereal state as he felt every inch of his vessels and meridians. Every flow of energy harmoniously followed the Purple Crystal’s laws. It was the truth of the Heavenly Dao.

Under such circumstances, in about six hours, Yi Yun had recovered about 80-90% of his strength.

It was enough!

The meditating Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes.

He did not need to fully recover. The combat power he currently possessed was sufficient enough to power the God Advent Tower.

Again!

“Boom!”

The God Advent Tower broke through the mountain and formed a stream of light as it flew into the horizon.

Yi Yun used the same strategy and activated the God Advent Tower’s concealment arrays and the Purple Crystal. With the double layer of protection, not a single shred of his energy or aura leaked out. With that, he successfully arrived above the Yin lake.

Six hours was enough for the Yin lake to return to normal. To prevent himself from alerting the enemy, Yi Yun did not even use his energy vision to look at the Black-armored Demon God.

The Black-armored Demon God was extremely sensitive. The moment he was being peeped at, even if through the energy vision, it was something he could sense. He might have thought that it was an illusion the first time, but he would definitely not shrug it off this time.

Hence, Yi Yun only shut his eyes to concentrate. He slowly sensed the flowing killing Yin energy in the lands.

He instantly determined that the nine killing Ying energies were gathered in the central point beneath the Yin lake. Without needing to probe, Yi Yun knew that the Black-armored Demon God was located at the core.

For a powerful being like the Black-armored Demon God, he could only treat his wounds here.

Yi Yun flew out of the God Advent Tower, and like the last strike, he could use the God Advent Tower for his first attack and it was his only chance.

Buzz—

The God Advent Tower began spinning as Yi Yun’s “Great Empress Heart Sutra” circulated to its limits.

Xiao—

Roar—

The roar of two distant ancient beasts echoed as the Golden Crow and the Nine Neonate charged out of Yi Yun’s body, conjuring pure Yang Heavenly Fire and pure Yang Heavenly Thunder to fall from the sky!

One of the two divine beast totem was engulfed in heavenly fire, while the other was baptized in heavenly thunder!

Boom!

The God Advent Tower crashed down like the stars, creating a suppressive force!

With a powerful energy wave surging downwards, deep in the Yin lake, the Black-armored Demon God, who had recovered only about 30-40%, abruptly opened his eyes.

What!?

That familiar killing aura, that familiar Heaven Earth energy.

It’s him again!?

The Black-armored Demon God was shocked. It had only been six hours. Yi Yun had also suffered from an energy backlash. But now, he could recover in such a short period of time, and attack once again. Yi Yun’s recovery speed exceeded his Seamless Body!?

723 - : Seamless Body

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Boom!”

Before the Black-armored Demon God could give it any thought, the God Advent Tower had broken through the lake’s surface, stirring a tremendous explosion.

As immense hydraulic pressure repressed downwards, the bottom of the black pagoda was already thirty feet above the Black-armored Demon God’s head.

“Roar!”

The Black-armored Demon God let out a deafening roar as the meditating him grabbed the black long lance beside him, and his joints issuing cracking sounds. He stabbed upwards with his lance!

“Dang!”

The sound of a horrifying collision echoed as the God Advent Tower was sent flying upwards by the Black-armored Demon God’s single blow!

But at the same time, the Black-armored Demon God, who was in the midst of recuperation, was now suffering from his muscles being on the brink of collapse. Blood was spurting out as the huge impact caused him to sink deep to the bottom of the lake!

It appeared as if this Yin lake was bombarded by meteorites. Large amounts of mud, rocks and water evaporated due to the wanton energy. The Black-armored Demon God was pushed tens of meters deeper into the ground.

“Peng!”

The bottom of the lake exploded as the Black-armored Demon God charged out with disheveled hair and his lance in hand.

Having his recovery interrupted meant that the past few hours of meditation had been for naught!

The Black-armored Demon God appeared above the Yin lake, his eyes as red as blood while he was in a frenzied state!

He was extremely infuriated, but when he searched for traces of Yi Yun, all he saw was a tiny pagoda along the horizon. And in a split second, the tiny pagoda disappeared from his vision.

This time, Yi Yun had fled even faster. Yi Yun knew that he was no match even for a severely injured Black-armored Demon God. Hence, after his strike, Yi Yun immediately escaped. He would not even stay behind to see the results of his attack.

“Human!”

The Black-armored Demon God’s long hair stood up like an enraged beast.

He was obviously much stronger than Yi Yun, yet, Yi Yun had chosen to strike him with his most powerful blow at the moment that he was healing his wounds. And he would immediately flee, ignoring the outcome of his efforts. All Yi Yun wished was to interrupt his recovery, letting him experience the backlash of energy. However, he could do nothing to Yi Yun despite him employing such a battle strategy.

This made him incensed.

However, Yi Yun was already long gone. Although the Black-armored Demon God was furious, he was in a dilemma as to whether to chase Yi Yun.

To him, Yi Yun was just a lowly being, even if he had inherited the Azure Yang Lord’s heritage.

In comparison, the Azure Yang Lord… he was a great Empyrean Heaven’s Divine Lord.

In the entire Yang God Empyrean Heaven, there were 72 Divine Lords, and the Azure Yang Lord was one of them!

Tens of millions of years ago, the Black-armored Demon God had been sealed by the Azure Yang Lord. For that, he had nothing to say. As the difference in strength was too great, being sealed was just an expected outcome.

However, Yi Yun was a human of a lower realm. He had, through some form of dumb luck, obtained the Azure Yang Lord’s inheritance.

And despite obtaining a Yang God Empyrean Heaven Divine Lord’s inheritance, this Yi Yun only used the God Advent Tower to launch sneak attacks. He did it time and time again, escaping after each strike, never to face him directly in battle. Such a combat strategy was disgusting and shameless.

If he were to chase Yi Yun, the Black-armored Demon God would have to pay a great price. He had not recovered from his wounds and he would expend his life force’s essence. He had been sealed for tens of millions of years, and his life force essence had been greatly consumed. Although he had been engaging in mass slaughter in the Tian Yuan world, plundering the life force of those he killed… it was still insufficient!

Those lowly lives had equally weak life force and they were even impure. After refining away the impurities, there was not much left to replenish his draining life force essence.

“Boom!”

The Black-armored Demon God retreated back into the Yin lake. And at that moment, Yi Yun had returned to the mountain belly thousands of kilometers away.

He had suffered some injuries in this round of sneak attacks, but they were lighter than the last.

Controlling the God Advent Tower was still quite a considerable and difficult task for Yi Yun. It was like a child swinging a sledgehammer. The recoil from just slamming the hammer on an anvil would cause the child to feel numb in the arms and his blood surging.

Yi Yun grasped all the time he had and he used the Purple Crystal to recover his Yuan Qi.

The Black-armored Demon God remained vigilant. As he recuperated, he split a bit of his consciousness, causing his healing to slow down.

He was constantly probing the Yin lake’s surroundings, and he did not fully focus on healing. But when he was distracted probing, Yi Yun would not come. And just as the Black-armored Demon God reduced his probing, and began the critical stage of healing his soul sea’s injuries, Yi Yun appeared once again.

He seemed to have a special ability at perceiving things, by striking decisively at the instant that the Black-armored Demon God could not be disturbed!

It was the God Advent Tower again. It was another sneak attack!

Boom!

The Yin lake exploded, rocking the mountains.

This time, Yi Yun fled even faster. He did not even take a look and he fled far away.

Three consecutive sneak attacks allowed Yi Yun’s control of the God Advent Tower and his familiarity with the Black-armored Demon God to increase.

This was also what allowed him to successfully finish his sneak attacks.

And such changes were apparently noticed by the Black-armored Demon God.

He felt that although this human was weak, he was like a little worm that was constantly harassing him, and from that, find a method to give him the most painful bite.

And it turned out, he was staying still at the same spot to cooperate with him!

These Yin roots collected the Divine Wilderness’s Yin energy, and the Black-armored Demon God had not found a second place better than this land of recuperation. If he were to leave, the Black-armored Demon God would find it harder to restore his life force essence.

His sea soul was already in chaos, and he had been injured by the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit. Now, his essence was unstable, and it was on the brink of collapse!

He had killed so many warriors in the Tian Yuan world, but the energy he had plundered was impure. All of that had little real effect!

If he could not stabilize his life force essence in one sitting, in the coming days, he will slowly be drained of his essential force. There will come a day when his life force essence was too weak, so weak that it could not support his powerful body, which will eventually result in his body cracking and falling apart!

A Seamless Body was powerful, but it needed a powerful life force essence to support it.

The Black-armored Demon God did not wish to leave, and he could not leave this spot because of a puny human. That would be an insult to his proud life.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

The Black-armored Demon God roared with his ancient tone. The next time, he would make sure that the human was to come, but never leave.

He did not split his consciousness this time. But instead, he locked onto his surroundings with a thousand kilometer radius. He may not be able to detect the concealed God Advent Tower, but before it struck, it had to pool the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, and at the same time, its concealment array would turn ineffective.

He had been at the critical moment of his healing the past few times, so not only was he slow to react, he had to risk the danger of an energy backlash. So it was very difficult to kill Yi Yun at the instant that Yi Yun conjured the God Advent Tower.

But now, the Black-armored Demon God decided to forgo his healing temporarily and concentrate on killing Yi Yun. This time it was different.

With his strength and his comprehension of the laws, he could tunnel through the void to arrive in front of Yi Yun at the moment he made his move. He could then deal Yi Yun a killing blow!

724 - : The Demon God’s Wrath

CKtalon  CKtalon

The struggle between the Black-armored Demon God and Yi Yun had ensued as time passed. The Yin lake was the stage for the gamble, and the vast Divine Wilderness didn’t have a single soul in thousands of kilometers. The battle between an ancient Demon God, and a new-age son of Heaven was staged in such a lonesome manner.

The Black-armored Demon God was originally Yi Yun’s target for a sneak attack. But now, he had become the hunter. He was patiently waiting, waiting for his prey to appear.

However, his wait was far longer than what the Black-armored Demon God expected.

Dusk, going late into the night with stars filling the sky, till the moon set in the west, and the sun rose. A day and a night had passed.

Yet, Yi Yun had never appeared.

The Black-armored Demon God was still waiting. At times, he would feel pain from his chaotic soul sea. He had not recovered from his injuries, and his life force essence was gradually weakening. However, Yi Yun, who used to appear every few hours, seemed to have disappeared.

Even so, the Black-armored Demon God was very patient. He had managed to wait for tens of millions of years, so what was this tiny wait?

He was like a black rock at the bottom of the lake, completely still and silent. In the dark bottom of the lake, only his eyes remained could be seen, emitting with a ghostly red glow.

And at that moment, above and away from the Yin lake, Yi Yun had already silently arrived at a spot less than five kilometers away from the Yin lake.

He was in the God Advent Tower, and the God Advent Tower was hidden in the void, not even leaving the slightest trace.

Yi Yun was similarly waiting.

He knew about the horrors of the Black-armored Demon God. In front of the ancient Demon God, he had nearly no capability to face him directly.

The Black-armored Demon God could suffer from his attacks time and time again, but for Yi Yun himself, the consequences would be disastrous if he were to be struck once by the Black-armored Demon God.

He could do things right a hundred times, but he could not make a single mistake. He had to be extremely cautious.

The three sneak attacks from before had always been chosen at the critical moment of the Black-armored Demon God’s healing process.

And to determine that instant, Yi Yun had used his energy vision. He had used the Purple Crystal’s ability to sense Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Whenever Yi Yun noticed how the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi would surge towards the Black-armored Demon God’s body, that was the best opportunity for him to attack.

And now, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi flow had already slowed down. The Black-armored Demon God was not recuperating.

As such, there were only two possibilities. Either the Black-armored Demon God had stopped his recuperation and had laid an ambush for him, or the Black-armored Demon God was gone.

Would the proud ancient Demon God leave his healing shrine just because of an ant harassing him?

Yi Yun found it unlikely. Then, the most likely possibility was that the Black-armored Demon God was lurking at the bottom of the lake!

With the Black-armored Demon God prepared, the odds were against Yi Yun.

Yi Yun silently retreated from the Yin lake.

He chose one of the nine Yin roots and tunneled straight into it!

Boom!

The ground shattered as Yi Yun tunneled a few kilometers downwards. There was a gigantic underground Yin river that had biting cold water.

With these Yin roots gathered together, it formed an extreme Yin wonderland like the Yin lake.

The God Advent Tower soaked in the Yin river, and the arrays in the pagoda radiated a forcefield. As such, if the Black-armored Demon God came to attack Yi Yun would sense it and have enough time to react.

Yi Yun flew out of the God Advent Tower. As he strolled in thin air, he looked at the rolling Yin river with a smile suffused on his lip.

A wonderland deep in the Divine Wilderness was truly extraordinary.

The Black-armored Demon God was already prepared for a slaughter and he was waiting for Yi Yun to walk into his trap. And since Yi Yun that knew he was no match for the Black-armored Demon God, he began to machinate against the nine Yin roots.

Since ancient times, there were peerless mighty figures who could refine divine rivers into enchanted treasures. Yi Yun had seen similar records in the Azure Yang Lord’s codex.

“Path to the Netherworld”! “Ghost maps”!

By refining the path to the Netherworld, and refining the ghostly rivers, they could become one’s ultimate treasures.

Yi Yun did not possess the ability to deprive the world of its power. But to refine these nine Yin roots, it was something that he believed he could do.

The nine Yin roots were part of the pure Yin laws. Although Yi Yun focused on pure Yang laws, the ’Great Empress Heart Sutra’ was itself a mystic codex that combined Yin and Yang as one.

Yi Yun cultivated the ’Great Empress Heart Sutra’ together with Lin Xintong, so he already had sufficient understanding of pure Yin laws.

“Black-armored Demon God, since you are recuperating in this Divine Wilderness wonderland, I’ll refine these nine Yin roots of yours. I’ll adopt full measures against you and see how you are going to recuperate then.”

With Yi Yun stretching out his hand, a stream of frost Yin energy gathered in his hand, eventually condensing into a strange piece of dead wood.

This block of dead wood did not have any luster, and it looked like it would fall apart from decay at any moment.

This was the Death Soulwood that Yi Yun obtained from the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

This block of Death Soulwood was originally an ancient enchanted tree that had lived for so long that no one knew how old it was. Due to a Demon God dying on the tree, the demonic blood that flowed out of the Demon God splattered on the enchanted tree, corroding it, finally reducing it to this piece of dead wood.

Back when the Pure Yang Sword Palace obtained this piece of deadwood, he had given it to an Artisan God, hoping to create an enchanted treasure out of it. But he was met with a rejection with the reason being “decayed wood cannot be carved”.

Although it was said that “decayed wood cannot be carved”, it did not mean that it was useless, and because the special laws and concepts contained in the enchanted piece of wood were too valuable. Any carving or refinement would destroy the concepts within.

The Death Soulwood’s value far exceeded the Thousand Snow Domain that Yi Yun obtained and it was simply invaluable.

It would be difficult for Yi Yun to use this treasure against enemies, but it had many spectacular uses.

Such as now…

The moment the Death Soulwood appeared, Yi Yun’s aura changed.

Half a year ago, Yi Yun stayed in the Pure Yang Sword Palace to seek Dao enlightenment. He had transformed into a Dao Tree’s Dao leaf himself, personally experiencing the Dao leaf’s life, from its germination to growth to withering.

When Yi Yun withered from the branch stem, he had gained insights into his own Dao.

And as a gift from the Dao Tree, Yi Yun had sensed that Dao leaf, which withered alongside Yi Yun’s withering.

Now, with the Death Soulwood in hand, Yi Yun slowly displayed the deepest concept that he had gained from the Pure Yang Sword Palace — Withering Concept!

Yi Yun chose the Death Soulwood not because of its great value, but because its concepts matched him the best.

Withering, ruin, decay… the flourishing and faltering of plants, the separation of people through death. Every being had the moment it would wither, nearly impossible to escape from samsara and destruction.

Yi Yun had been practicing martial arts for more than a decade. He had learned the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’, gained insights in the Sword and Saber Tombs, cultivated in the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’, entered the Pure Yang Sword Palace and obtained the inheritance of the God Advent Tower.

The nomological insights and cultivation techniques throughout his martial path far exceeded the standards of the Tian Yuan world. To this world’s warriors, just gaining a tiny bit of insight to the cultivation techniques that Yi Yun cultivated in was enough to set them for life.

But for Yi Yun, what he cultivated was insufficient.

This was because… despite these cultivation techniques, canonical manuals, laws being absolutely amazing, they had something in common. That was… that they were all created by someone else.

If he walked down the path of others, no matter how well he did, he would at best reach the height that others had previously attained. It would be hard for him to breakthrough, and conquer himself.

Only by walking down a path that he created himself, and understanding a new Dao for himself would he be able to reach that abstruse, true peak of martial arts.

725 - : Withering

CKtalon  CKtalon

As Yi Yun was suspended above the Yin river, he gently touched the textured surface of the Death Soulwood.

The aura of Withering and Death twirled between Yi Yun’s fingers. It was like he saw the lush, verdant appearance of this enchanted tree back when it stood between the Heaven and Earth.

It went through numerous days, with other plants flourishing and faltering. Yet, in just a single night, it withered and died as a result of being covered in demonic blood. It was like it had seen through the luxuriousness of the world, seeing through the years of vicissitudes, and then finally, extricating itself from all of that.

A life of flourishing ended with withering overnight. This was the Dao that the block of wood eventually formed.

The Death Soulwood flew out from Yi Yun’s hands and it slowly sank into the Yin lake.

It happened without a sound, nor was there a single ripple.

The concept of withering emanated, allowing itself to be carried by the river flow.

The withering of a tree was like the death of humans, and the drying up of rivers.

The Death Soulwood began to absorb the Heaven Earth Yin energy that flowed through the Yin river.

However, despite absorbing so much Yin energy, the Death Soulwood remained dead and silent.

In contrast, the Yin root was drying up at a speed that the naked eye could notice.

As the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi decreased, it was slowly truncated.

Comparatively, for a divine item at the level of the Death Soulwood, severing a Yin root in the Divine Wilderness was just too simple.

One source of the Yin lake’s energy had now disappeared. What was once nine Yin roots was now eight.

With the use of the Death Soulwood and the concept of Withering, Yi Yun had forcefully caused this Yin root to wither and dry up.

The withered Yin root transformed into a black wisp of air that tossed and turned in the air, like a small flood dragon.

With a wave of his hand, Yi Yun put the black flood dragon in the Death Soulwood.

This black flood dragon may be an embodiment of the Yin root, but it did not contain much Heaven Earth Yin energy. It was more a concept and law.

If Yi Yun extracted all the Heaven Earth Yin energy at once, the Black-armored Demon God would quickly discover it. However, if the concept and law was extracted, then on the surface, the Yin root might not have any changes as the Heaven Earth Yin energy in the Yin lake was still as dense as before.

However, what Yi Yun had done was equivalent to removing the naturally formed array runes of the Yin lake’s array formation. Without its essence, the drying up of the Yin roots was just a matter of time.

After Yi Yun kept the Yin root, he entered the God Advent Tower and he flew to the next Yin root without any delay.

He planned to draw in all the nine Yin roots, and refining them into the Death Soulwood.

Maybe, these nine Yin roots could form an array formation in the Death Soulwood.

Array runes and array concepts were part of a law itself. As long as one comprehended the law, one could control the world as an array.

And at that moment, deep at the bottom of the Yin lake, there was no change despite the disappearance of the Yin root.

This Yin lake was formed from the world’s power of creation. It was the product of tens of millions of years of accumulation. The nine Yin roots were like the nine pillars of support of the Yin lake. Severing one root would not have disastrous consequences, unless all of them were severed, only then would the Yin lake collapse.

And at that moment, the Black-armored Demon God had long severed his connection with the Yin lake so he could concentrate on the incoming sneak attack by Yi Yun, stopping his recuperation.

The Black-armored Demon God was not familiar with the concept of Withering. The gaps between laws were like hundreds of thousands of mountains separating them. Furthermore, with his perception with the Yin lake severed, the Black-armored Demon God had no way of sensing what Yi Yun was doing, nor would he know that the nine Yin roots around him were withering and drying up

Yi Yun’s non appearance became a competition of patience for the Black-armored Demon God. He breathed slowly and evenly. His body would constantly produce tiny cracks that slowly healed. He was like a timeless stone structure that was completely silent.

For the Black-armored Demon God, who was used to spending tens of millions of years, a few days of wait was just like a blink of an eye. He had the sufficient patience.

The Yin lake remained calm, while Yi Yun had silently arrived at the second Yin root.

Taking the Death Soulwood out once again, he slowly extracted the second Yin root’s law and concept.

These nine Yin roots were independent, but at the same time, they were interlinked. The combination of the nine Yin roots formed a large array formation that gathered the Heaven Earth Yin energy.

Yi Yun extracted one root after another, but he did not incur any changes in the Heaven Earth Yin energy.

And the Black-armored Demon God was still waiting in the heart of the Yin lake. It was like he had become one with the Yin lake, preventing one from telling them apart.

As Yi Yun took root after root away, the Heaven Earth laws were gradually changing, but it did not present any qualitative changes.

If Yi Yun were to stop at this point, the Yin roots he had extracted would still not recover. And in hundreds of years, this large array would gradually dry up and eventually disappear.

Finally, Yi Yun arrived at the final Yin root.

This Yin root was like a blood vessel of the land, and it was also the last blood vessel left in this vast piece of land.

“Death Soulwood, go!” Yi Yun conjured the Death Soulwood.

After absorbing so much Yin energy, this enchanted piece of wood had a tiny change in appearance.

The moment it was conjured, the Yin root seemed to freeze. The smell of death lingered, slowly devouring the Yin root.

With the final Yin root being extracted, it was equivalent to the complete collapse of the Yin lake’s nine pillars!

The Heaven Earth array formed naturally by the law of Creation crumbled!

“Oh?” The Black-armored Demon God suddenly opened his eyes as a red beam of light flashed past his eyes.

He sensed the ground rumbling

What had happened?

Suddenly, the mountains and rivers quaked. The entire Yin lake began to dry up quickly to the naked eye. Even the surrounding plants were withering along with it!

The Heaven Earth Yin energy was dissipating rapidly.

The Withering concept emanated as it radiated in all directions!

The nine Yin roots’ withering caused the vast piece of land to also wither with them!

If humans or desolate beasts were to die, their blood would become dry and their flesh would decay. Even their bones would eventually return back to the earth.

But for the death of a piece of land, the river flow and spiritual veins would dry up. The life of this piece of land would be exhausted, and any plant that was rooted in this piece of land would wither.

“Oh!?” The Black-armored Demon God suddenly stood up. The Yin lake had already dried up beneath his feet. The ground was rapidly drying up and splintering, with cracks appearing at the bottom of lake.

What happened!?

The Black-armored Demon God was alarmed as he rushed out of the withered Yin lake. He emanated his perception around him, connecting himself to the nine Yin roots.

Suddenly, he was dismayed to see that the nine Yin roots had been completely severed.

The Yin roots had withered from within. This excellent healing shrine was finished.

It was that human!? What did he do!?

How could the Black-armored Demon God expect Yi Yun to have an enchanted piece of wood like the Death Soulwood? He was also unable to understand the mysterious concept of Withering that Yi Yun had.

A Withering concept was sufficient enough to make the nine Yin roots to wither, and cause the land to wither together with them.

The concept of Withering was extremely rare. This was a Dao that Yi Yun managed to figure out completely by himself. It was a Dao that the Black-armored Demon God had no idea about!

Hence, the Black-armored Demon God had no way of sensing it when Yi Yun had made all of this happen!

726 - : The Land Withers

CKtalon  CKtalon

This was the first time that the Black-armored Demon God was in such a rage ever since he had woken up after tens of millions of years. When he slaughtered thousands of lives in the Tian Yuan world, he always did so in a deadpan manner. This was because those lowly life forms were not worthy of stirring his emotions at all.

But now, because of Yi Yun, the Black-armored Demon God had suffered setbacks and had become frustrated.

While consecutively attacking three times, Yi Yun had grasped the perfect opportunity and chose the points at which he was weakest, at the moments where he could not be disturbed, preventing him from using any of his strength!

As for the fourth face-off, the Black-armored Demon God had even given up treatment, and he had dedicated himself to hunting Yi Yun, but he was only met with such a bizarre outcome.

All the nine Yin roots had been extracted by Yi Yun, and the Black-armored Demon God only had a rude awakening of this fact in the final moment.

A proud life form like him had been hoodwinked by such a lowly human!

The Black-armored Demon God’s chaotic soul sea was churning as his eyes emanated a cold killing aura!

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

The Black-armored Demon God let out an angry roar as the land trembled, causing landslides and killing beasts and birds! These lives could not withstand the concepts that the Black-armored Demon God’s angry roar contained. The moment they were struck by the Black-armored Demon God’s killing aura, their bodies disintegrated into a mess of flesh and blood!

The Black-armored Demon God hovered midair, as his disheveled hair fluttered. He had his lance in his hand, while numerous bitter-looking faces appeared on his armor. It was like they were about to tunnel out of the armor. These suffering souls were the warriors that the Black-armored Demon God had killed and sealed. Only those warriors with sufficient strength were qualified to be sealed in the Black-armored Demon God’s armor. Amongst them was Shentu Patriarch.

As the blood aura emanated and killing aura diffused, the Demon God’s wrath caused the sky to change color!

Yi Yun, who was in the God Advent Tower, immediately felt a strong surge of pressure!

At that moment, Yi Yun was a huge distance away, more than five thousand kilometers. But, he could still sense the remnants of the Black-armored Demon God’s might.

At the instant that Yi Yun extracted the last Yin root, he immediately entered the God Advent Tower and retreated far away.

He knew deeply that by destroying the Black-armored Demon God’s healing shrine, it was equivalent to forcing the Black-armored Demon God out. This way, the Black-armored Demon God would definitely want him dead.

As Yi Yun controlled the God Advent Tower, he converged all energy fluctuations and activated the God Advent Tower’s concealment array. He quietly hid in the void.

As for Yi Yun himself, he held the Death Soulwood in his hand and shut his eyes.

There were nine tiny, black flood dragons twirling around the Death Soulwood. These were the Yin energy laws that Yi Yun had extracted.

Sensing these nine Yin energy hovering around the Death Soulwood, Yi Yun suddenly had a feeling that this Death Soulwood would also mature alongside him, becoming a powerful treasure of his.

Unfortunately, the Death Soulwood was still too mystical for him at the moment. Although he had relied on the Death Soulwood and used the concept of Withering, he still could not gain the true intent of the Heavenly Dao contained in the Death Soulwood.

And now, after absorbing the Yin energy laws, the Death Soulwood’s aura became even more profound. It was like taking a few more looks at it would cause one’s consciousness to sink right in it. Once someone was immersed in the Death Soulwood, their life would be gradually drained, and by the time they realized that they would already be mostly on the brink of death.

The Death Soulwood was a strange wonder. It was now slowly harmonizing with Yi Yun, and other than Yi Yun himself, no one could hold the Death Soulwood in hand. That would only cause their life to rapidly drain.

Yi Yun concentrated on comprehending the Death Soulwood and refining the nine Yin roots. He was in no hurry to engage in a showdown with the Black-armored Demon God.

The outcome he wanted was to harass the Black-armored Demon God time and time again, attacking when he least expected it, causing the Black-armored Demon God to become more and more irritated and crazy so that he would not have time to recuperate.

When his soul was extremely chaotic beyond measure, while he slowly matured and gained strength during the battles, he would be able to face the Black-armored Demon God eventually.

However… The proud Demon God would not allow Yi Yun to repeatedly provoke him…

In the eyes of the Black-armored Demon God, Yi Yun was just a lowly life form. Not only had he hoodwinked him, he even dared to hide in the vicinity, enjoying his reactions.

“Die!”

The Black-armored Demon God brandished his lance forcefully. Instantly, the sky changed color once again, as mountains exploded, splitting the land apart and rocks tumbled! The Land spanning thousands of kilometers immediately flipped! The Demon God’s enraged strike was enough to destroy the lands and shock everyone!

In the God Advent Tower, Yi Yun turned stern when he sensed the Demon God’s wrath.

Despite being thousands of kilometers away in the God Advent Tower, he could still sense the surging aura. The energy fluctuations were still tremendous despite the distance. However, Yi Yun only quietly endured the surging energy and he did not activate the God Advent Tower’s arrays to withstand the blow of the energy wave.

If the surging energy was to be reflected by the God Advent Tower’s defensive arrays, just a tiny amount would allow the Black-armored Demon God to sense it.

For an existence at the level of the Black-armored Demon God, every ounce of energy he radiated was tied to himself. This attack he sent out was a probe to find Yi Yun.

This secretly alarmed Yi Yun. He knew that the Black-armored Demon God was very strong, but Yi Yun did not expect that despite him being injured, his attack could still destroy large swaths of land spanning thousands of kilometers. The Black-armored Demon God was trying to locate his position from the reflection of his radiating energy.

This technique gave him quite a shock.

After the Black-armored Demon God struck, the muscles on his body began to split, causing blood to flow out of them. This not only made the Black-armored Demon God look extremely pathetic, it also made him look more terrifying!

As he looked at the void around him, the Black-armored Demon God’s eyes turned cold and furious.

His large scale attack failed to find the God Advent Tower, let alone Yi Yun.

He knew that the human was definitely hiding. Even if he continued attacking despite his injuries, the human would ignore it. He could even deactivate the God Advent Tower’s arrays, and let the surging energy pass through the God Advent Tower. Even if he was slightly injured, he would not appear either.

So crafty, yet timid like a mouse!

The Black-armored Demon God gripped his lance tightly. That weak human was maddening. He had never encountered such an opponent that dealt his cards in an erratic fashion. He was also extremely careful and he did not reveal any flaws. He was extremely shameless in his martial arts and character!

Why did the wild and intractable, yet proud Azure Yang Lord, choose such a wretched person as his successor!?

The Demon God scanned his surroundings coldly. Suddenly, he locked his gaze in a particular direction.

That direction… the Black-armored Demon God remembered that he had locked onto a Desolate race girl who had the bloodline of someone from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, and he had also locked onto Yi Yun.

Yi Yun and that Desolate race girl were in once place, and appeared to have a close relationship.

The Black-armored Demon God was extremely prideful. He did not want to have a confrontation with a lowly life form here, and be continuously teased by that lowly life form.

His wrath naturally would be born by someone.

The Black-armored Demon God looked in that direction as a sinister smile suffused on his lips.

Let me see if you can continue hiding in silence after I kill that Desolate race girl and everyone in the Desolate race!

727 - : Patience

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Black-armored Demon God’s killing intent melted into a blood mist that locked onto the Divine Wilderness as it emanated throughout the world.

When the Black-armored Demon God used all his strength, just passing above those weaker desolate beasts was enough to cause their bodies to explode, turning into mangled bloody messes. Powerful primordial strains lay prostrate on the ground as they trembled.

This was the huge difference that came from the difference in life’s natural order. In front of a life form of the Black-armored Demon God’s level, they did not even dare look up.

Boom!

This was the sonic boom the Black-armored Demon God emitted when he was flying. It was tumultuous like thunder, and with a sudden boom, he would disappear into the distance.

And in the God Advent Tower, Yi Yun, who was prepared to receive the Black-armored Demon God’s second attack’s aftermath, frowned.

Heaven Earth Yuan Qi… The surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had been suddenly drained. It had formed an air current and it was directed in a particular direction in the distance.

It was the Black-armored Demon God!

“Has he given up on me?” Yi Yun sensed that the Black-armored Demon God had left. The extremely fast speed that he was traveling at and his powerful aura were enough to sweep away all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, causing this region to nearly become a vacuum.

Yi Yun felt that something was amiss. The Black-armored Demon God would not give up so easily.

Such a proud life form would smash any puny life form that had angered him.

However, the Black-armored Demon God had indeed left. He did not conceal his departure. The mighty Demon God did not need to be bothered to use such means to trick Yi Yun out.

However, for the Black-armored Demon God to leave at that moment, could it be…?

Yi Yun’s breathing stalled as he felt an ominous feeling.

Oh no!

Yi Yun immediately controlled the God Advent Tower and flew back above the Yin lake. The land, that was formerly a land of death, was now in ruins.

From the cracks that dived deep underground, a red mist surged out. It was the Demon God’s killing aura. This place was not only a land of death, it would soon become a land that no living creature would approach in the future.

Yi Yun had no time to sigh as he looked at his surroundings.

The land had been ravaged. A scorch mark on the land extended into the distance.

And in the sky over where the trail led, there was a bloody line. It was piercing to the eyes and it looked like a tidal wave that was rolling far away.

Killing aura!

That was the manifestation of the Black-armored Demon God’s killing aura. In the Tian Yuan world, wherever the blood cloud arrived, it was the arrival of a massacre. Whenever people mentioned the blood cloud, their expressions would drastically change as they would tremble without fail.

The blood cloud represented the Black-armored Demon God in the Tian Yuan world. It was an indication that he was about to begin his massacre.

And that direction…

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted as he felt his a heavy blow on his heart!

That was the direction of the area where the Desolate race was hiding. It was where Jiang Xiaorou and Lin Xintong were!

The Black-armored Demon God had not given up. He had only turned his spearhead and diverted his killing intent to Jiang Xiaorou!

The Black-armored Demon God had already locked onto Jiang Xiaorou. He had made her a target, and now, as retaliation against Yi Yun and to make him appear obediently, he decided attack Jiang Xiaorou immediately!

The blood cloud seemed to cover the sky, extending hundreds of thousands of kilometers. And wherever the Black-armored Demon God passed, the land beneath it would be ravaged, a wipeout of all life. Under such circumstances, it no longer mattered if there was a spiritual lock or not.

The Black-armored Demon God’s pressure seemed to envelop the entire Divine Wilderness. As he proceeded forward without any resistance, no matter how the Desolate race hid, they would not be able to escape from the Black-armored Demon God.

“Black-armored Demon God!” Yi Yun immediately activated the God Advent Tower as he stared at the red line along the horizon. He followed it at an extremely fast speed!

The God Advent Tower’s speed was pushed to the extreme by Yi Yun. It issued a screeching sonic boom midair. The powerful airflow tore apart trees and sent soil splashing.

The God Advent Tower pierced through the chaotic aura and continued flying forward!

Hurry! Faster!

Compared to the Black-armored Demon God’s full speed, Yi Yun was still slower!

And at that moment, in the Desolate race’s territory.

Panshi was an elite warrior of the Desolate race. He happened to be on duty today.

The Divine Capital had 18 elite squads patrolling at every moment in time. He led one of those squads.

And today, there was nothing different.

Panshi and his Desolate race warriors were riding desolate beasts and they arrived at the top of a hill.

He first looked far into the distance. The Divine Wilderness was filled with endless mountains and was silent.

Then, Panshi looked at the ground and quickly scanned through it.

Suddenly, a disdainful smile appeared along the corners of his mouth.

It was those humans…

Upon Yi Yun’s return, he had rejected the Human race’s request in their negotiations. These members of the Human race were beginning to leave.

Now, Panshi was seeing the first human group leave.

They had chosen a direction and they were slowly entering the Divine Wilderness.

After the negotiations failed, the Human race did not obtain anything from the Desolate race. The expressions of their legendary figures had turned purple from Yi Yun’s sarcasm.

However, not every member of the Human race planned on leaving.

Amongst the Human race, there had their differences. A group of humans was led by the Sanctuary Island couple, who had decided to fight alongside the Desolate race.

Most humans feared the future reprisal of Yi Yun and they also feared the desolate beasts in the Divine Wilderness. Although they were inclined to leave, they found it hard to make up their minds.

A final small group of people, which was those who were determined to leave, believed that staying behind to resist the Black-armored Demon God was just sending themselves to their deaths.

Instead of dying now, they might as well risk the danger and leave. At least, there would be a chance.

In front of Panshi was the humans who were eager to leave the Desolate race.

From their point of view, due to Yi Yun’s willful act, the Desolate race was doomed. They naturally did not wish to stay here any longer, sacrificing their lives along with the Desolate race.

As for Yi Yun… These people were now wishing that Yi Yun could deal a severe blow to the Black-armored Demon God before he died.

These people probably accounted for a fifth of the total number of humans. The others were still hesitating or planning. Be it evacuating or fighting to the death, there was a need for a plan.

These people who were in a hurry to leave were led by Mystic Tiger Immortal. With him leading these elites, traversing the Divine Wilderness was not too big a problem.

Amongst all the humans, Mystic Tiger Immortal was the one who hated Yi Yun the most. He had lost face and suffered humiliation, so he naturally wanted to leave early.

Panshi saw these people look back at the Desolate race’s campgrounds. Their eyes were filled with a look of schadenfreude like they were looking at a bunch of people that were about to die.

“Those people are really infuriating!” A Desolate race warrior said angrily.

Panshi said nonchalantly. “It doesn’t matter. Let them leave. Our life and death battle does not need those people anyway.”

“Indeed.” The other Desolate race warriors nodded.

They watched as the humans left.

“If we leave in this direction, we can put a distance between us and the Desolate race campground and Yi Yun. When the Black-armored Demon God attacks, we will be hiding in the Untraversable Sea,” said Mystic Tiger Immortal.

Yi Yun had threatened to demolish his family clan’s power and kill all his descendants. Hence, by bringing away all the elites, Mystic Tiger Immortal wanted to see what Yi Yun, who had to fend for his life, could do.

As they entered the Divine Wilderness, the Desolate race campground was left far behind them.

At that moment, a young disciple of a large faction looked up into the sky and suddenly narrowed his eyes slightly.

He seemed to see a red line that had appeared on the horizon.

728 - : Blood Aura Covers the Sky

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What’s that?”

The young disciples were momentarily dumbfounded. At that moment, many others had discovered the red blood line on the horizon, including Mystic Tiger Immortal.

And that red line was expanding at an alarming speed.

“What is it!?”

Everyone was alarmed. Their eyes widened in a split second, that red line had become a red cloud that enveloped them. And in the rolling red clouds, a pair of cold, red eyes was casting its gaze down at them!

“Black-armored Demon God!”

Mystic Tiger Immortal was overwhelmed by terror!

Why… why was he so fast!?

Mystic Tiger Immortal was completely dumbfounded. From the moment the negotiations failed to their decision to leave, only two to three days had passed.

They had to plan their evacuation route and made preparations needed for evacuating, afterwhich they gathered their people. It was already considered quite fast.

Yet in such a short period of time, the Black-armored Demon God was here!

Wasn’t he still recuperating?

For an existence the level of the Black-armored Demon God, he had a powerful life force, but as such, he would require a relatively large amount of energy to heal.

In just two or three days, he had finished recuperating and come to kill?

Where was Yi Yun? Where did Yi Yun go?

Mystic Tiger Immortal was about to go crazy. He was almost about to leave the remote mountains. He was just a few steps short. However, just these few steps had become a natural cliff that was impossible to cross!

The Black-armored Demon God was too fast. Although Mystic Tiger Immortal was a few realms higher than his family’s disciples, he had failed to discover the Black-armored Demon God any earlier than them.

The difference was too great! In front of absolute strength, Mystic Tiger Immortal and his family clan’s disciples were no different to powerless mortals.

They were all easily overcome, too weak to withstand a single blow!

Why did this happen!?

Mystic Tiger Immortal felt his body turn cold. Escape? It was too late!

A deep feeling of despair flashed in his heart. The geniuses around him had pale faces and their bodies were frozen stiff! With the blood cloud above them, the pressure was immense. This was not just fear of death, but the result of an instinctual fear of the Demon God who was a life form several levels higher than them.

As the blood cloud towered above them, their bones began to emit cracking sounds as they failed to withstand the pressure. The ones with weaker cultivation levels were already bleeding from all of their orifices!

The Black-armored Demon God’s cold gaze swept over them.

He did not even stop. All of them were like ants that did not matter to him.

The Desolate race’s camp was just in front, and Jiang Xiaorou was in there.

He first wanted to kill Jiang Xiaorou and then slaughter the Desolate race.

As for these ants, there was no need for him to do a thing. As long as he flew past them, the immense pressure that resulted from the blood cloud would be enough to slaughter a large number of them!

As for those who were lucky to survive, the Black-armored Demon God could not be bothered to care about them. He did not mind letting them rejoice over their survival.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As the blood cloud rolled over, this group of humans died tragic deaths due to the blood cloud’s pressure!

As long as they were below the Yuan Opening realm, no matter if they were a peerless genius or at the peak Dao Seed realm, they all perished!

These so called elites and proud children of heavens of large family clans had been attended to by numerous people during times of peace. Now, they had all exploded into mangled messes of flesh and blood under the indomitable pressure!

It took an instant to go from an elite to a mangled mess!

Although the young geniuses died tragically, Mystic Tiger Immortal had survived. He was a human Empyreal King and although he was greatly inferior to the Black-armored Demon God, he would not be reduced to a mangled mess from just the pressure.

Other than Mystic Tiger Immortal, there were a few Elders of the Mystic Tiger family clan who had survived as well.

The pressure had just swept past them. Although a large number of people had died tragically, they had managed to survive and they felt disbelief.

And at that moment, the Black-armored Demon God had already flown past their heads, and he did not seem to have any intention of stopping.

The Black-armored Demon God was sparing them?

They were pleasantly surprised. They had managed to avoid death!

However, at that moment…

Oh!?

The Black-armored Demon God suddenly stopped and his eyes swept past Mystic Tiger Immortal.

With a large number of humans dead, Mystic Tiger Immortal and the remaining survivors naturally stood out. And even though the Black-armored Demon God did not plan on paying attention to this bunch of ants, he now noticed them.

He looked at Mystic Tiger Immortal, causing his heart beat to turn stagnant. He did not even dare to move.

This human…

As the Black-armored Demon God had failed to recuperate, his soul was still in chaos. However, he had an impression of this human. Back when he locked onto Yi Yun, this person was beside him.

The Black-armored Demon God did not know the details of the negotiations between Yi Yun and Mystic Tiger Immortal, nor did he even care about it. However, he knew that this person had been in the same room with Yi Yun, then it must mean that he was closely related to Yi Yun. And even if they were not closely related, they had to at least know each other.

And for the Black-armored Demon God, he hated Yi Yun so much that anyone related to Yi Yun had to die.

The Black-armored Demon God’s eyes locked onto Mystic Tiger Immortal and he stabbed his lance at him!

Seeing the lance expand in his pupils, the tremendous pressure and horror caused Mystic Tiger Immortal’s Yuan Qi to seemingly freeze.

Mystic Tiger Immortal widened his eyes in despair. He had just sensed that the Black-armored Demon God seemed to ignore them. If that was the case, they would have temporarily escaped this disaster.

But he never expected the Black-armored Demon God to turn his sight on him the very next moment. And his eyes were filled with rage!

The Black-armored Demon God always killed people with a cold expression. What did he do to incur the Black-armored Demon God’s wrath?

Mystic Tiger Immortal had no time to think. In front of the Black-armored Demon God’s true strength, he could only bellow and attack with all he had… Pu Chi! The lance stabbed through Mystic Tiger Immortal’s body like he was made of paper! As for Mystic Tiger Immortal’s attack, it had failed to cause any obstruction to the Black-armored Demon God.

Around Mystic Tiger Immortal, those Elders who had luckily survived screamed in unison. Just the aftermath of the blow caused them to explode into a mist of blood, not even leaving them with a complete corpse.

Boom!

A horrific burst of energy exploded. Not a single member of this first batch of escaping humans had survived under the Black-armored Demon God’s lance!

Only a few people, including Mystic Tiger Immortal, retained remnants of their consciousness.

And these soul remnants and consciousnesses were grabbed by the Black-armored Demon God with a single grab.

Mystic Tiger Immortal’s soul condensed into a spiritual soul halo, and Mystic Tiger Immortal’s face emerged from it. He had a twisted expression, looking extremely painful.

The Black-armored Demon God waved his hand with a deadpan expression and directly absorbed the souls of Mystic Tiger Immortal and the other Elders of the Mystic Tiger family clan into his armor.

Inside the armor, Mystic Tiger Immortal’s face emerged. He was in pain and he had a ferocious expression, with a look of disbelief.

And this scene was witnessed by Panshi and company at the top of the hill!

It was not accurate to say witnessing, for all of that had happened in the blink of an eye.

The previous moment, the blood cloud that filled the sky rolled over, and in the next moment, the Black-armored Demon God’s lance had pierced through Mystic Tiger Immortal!

Panshi and company stared with their eyes widened. Their bodies turned cold like they were icicles.

Before they could react, the Black-armored Demon God was already looking at them!

729 - : Mystic Tiger Immortal’s Death

CKtalon  CKtalon

The stern and horrific eyes seemed to be able to kill people with just a look!

Facing the Black-armored Demon God, Panshi only felt two boiling streams of liquid flowing down the sides of his face. It was blood. His eyes had already been burnt by the surge of the Black-armored Demon God’s killing aura.

The Demon God’s power was not something that anyone could lay their eyes on!

Sou!

The Black-armored Demon God moved, and flew over Panshi and company. As the billowing blood cloud descended, the mountains collapsed!

The desolate beast under Panshi let out a wail before it burst, its body disintegrating!

The blood that was flowing slowly looked blurry to Panshi as he stood in the pool of blood. He raised the spear in his hands high up while trembling.

He knew that there was no way for him to escape. There was no need for the Black-armored Demon God to do a thing against them, as they would be killed by the pressure of the blood cloud. Many humans much stronger than them had died in such a manner.

Since he knew he was going to die, Panshi did not want to meaninglessly end up like a pile of rotten meat. He only wished he could strike out once, burning his soul as a warrior in the process, so he could die gloriously in battle!

Panshi could barely make out the Black-armored Demon God passing overhead.

Boom!

Like a resounding thunder, it rang in his ears.

In that the instant the Black-armored Demon God passed by, the world collapsed. Everything as far as Panshi could see and hear collapsed.

Panshi’s body was completely frozen.

His spear was lifted up, but he had failed to stab it.

Panshi’s life force had completely disappeared. His flesh was crumbling, leaving his armor and skeleton standing there. His eye sockets were now empty, and his soul had dispersed. A white bony hand could be seen grabbing a spear tightly. The spear tip was pointed in a particular direction, with a cold sparkle on it, seemingly frozen for eternity.

Up to his death, Panshi’s mouth only managed to open slightly. However, he failed to make a sound, almost shouting that sentence he wanted to shout so badly—

The Demon God is here!

Behind Panshi, those Desolate race warriors had also exploded!

However, their deaths were not meaningless.

Although Panshi wanted to attack, even before they began their patrols, they already knew that in front of the Black-armored Demon God, it was impossible for them to have any chance of struggling.

Their patrol was not meant to discover the Black-armored Demon God in advance and send warning signals. Instead, it was meant for them to use their flesh and blood to ignite a burning flame… at the cost of their lives.

More than ten flames lit up.

Ka-cha! Ka-cha!

In the Desolate race’s campgrounds, a row of Life Slips amongst the thousands of life slips suddenly shattered at the same time!

The former Desolate Queen suddenly opened her eyes.

These Life Slips were spiritually connected to her mind. As such, she was immediately notified about the shattering of the Life Slips.

The former Desolate Queen’s heart tightened.

Wu—!

A simple but bleak bugle could be heard echoing throughout the Desolate race campground.

This bugle would only be blown for one reason. There was only one thing that it represented.

The Black-armored Demon God is coming!

The war bugle!?

Throughout the remote mountains, all the Desolate race members, regardless whether they were resting or patrolling were alarmed when they heard the sound. They all rushed towards the Desolate race Palace.

In the days before, the Desolate race had gone through countless drills.

This time, although they were alarmed and nervous, they did not panic.

“He’s here… That was fast. I wonder how Young Master Yi is.” The Sanctuary Island couple couple, who were meditating, opened their eyes. The woman sighed. This battle was most likely one that would be a life and death separation for them, or even one that might kill them both.

However, since the couple had made their decision, they would not regret it.

“Dong’er, let’s go.”

“Alright.”

The couple held each other’s hands and flew towards the Desolate race Palace. Alongside them, there were large numbers of human warriors. To die in battle in a barren place like the remote mountains was equivalent to dying outside their homelands, but they had no choice at this point in time. It was all for the continuation of their families.

The former Desolate Queen arrived at a hall. At that moment, the hall was empty except for Jiang Xiaorou, who was sitting quietly under a Skyfox sculpture. And not far away from her, Shepherd Boy was also sitting on the ground, watching over her.

Inside the Skyfox sculpture was the sleeping Sacred Spirit of the Desolate race.

When the former Desolate Queen entered the hall, Jiang Xiaorou had already opened her eyes. “Mother.”

“The bugle has sounded… ”

The former Desolate Queen looked at Jiang Xiaorou’s calm but determined face, and felt her heart ache.

“Yes.” Jiang Xiaorou nodded gently. The Sacred Spirit was still sleeping after being wounded. When the Black-armored Demon God approached with all his strength, it had sensed the tremendous danger and had forcefully woken itself up from its slumber.

The Black-armored Demon God’s pressure locked onto the Divine Wilderness, and the Sacred Spirit itself was a single entity with the Divine Wilderness lands. This was the final showdown between two ancient existences.

Thinking back to her worship at the divine bone altar many years ago, with the Sacred Spirit acknowledging her, it was like that had happened yesterday. Jiang Xiaorou sighed. The sacrifice that was destined was a reluctant choice for her.

“Yun’er… Nothing bad must happen to you… ” Jiang Xiaorou whispered before standing up. Her brightly colored dress opened up like a blooming rose.

Yi Yun had taken the initiative to strike at the Black-armored Demon God and he had gone searching for him. But now, the Black-armored Demon God was approaching with immense murderous momentum.

Jiang Xiaorou’s heart was cold. She felt trepidation, but at that moment, as the Desolate race’s Queen, she could not think about those things. This was a battle with the life and death of the Desolate race on the line.

When Jiang Xiaorou walked out of the hall, her emotions had returned to normal.

Jiang Xiaorou’s behavior made the former Desolate Queen relieved.

Having no fear and being totally calm was indeed characteristics that proved that she was her daughter. Only then could she be supported by the Desolate race, and obtain the acknowledgment of the Sacred Spirit as Queen.

“Yun’er will be fine.” Jiang Xiaorou muttered to herself once again. She said it with a firm tone, like she was exhorting herself.

Yi Yun had promised her, and he always fulfilled whatever he promised her.

Just at the moment Jiang Xiaorou said that sentence, her eyes looked past the palace. Across the palace’s square, all the way to the horizon, there was an endless killing intent emanating there…

“He is here.” Jiang Xiaorou said.

The patrol team that sacrificed themselves was only a few thousand kilometers away from the Desolate race’s campground. This distance was one that the Black-armored Demon God could cross in an instant.

Jiang Xiaorou’s long hair flowed backward. She looked exquisite and alluring. But now, outside the hall, the sky was filled with blood clouds.

The blood clouds had arrived in an instant, enveloping the entire Desolate race campground!

After hearing the bugle, people had just managed to rush over to the palace from their residences.

Yet by the time they arrived, they saw that the blue sky above their heads had gone.

The blood cloud was as thick as blood plasma, like it would drip down at any moment.

Those legendary figures and Desolate race Empyreal Kings began forming Yuan Qi shields, protecting the weaker geniuses in it.

But even so, the geniuses felt their blood and Qi turn chaotic the moment that the blood cloud descended. Many of them were shivering. Against a Demon God that could destroy everything, the young them were just too insignificant.

730 - : The War Bugle

CKtalon  CKtalon

Weng!

Outside the Desolate race palace, a translucent hallowed membrane spread out rapidly like a gust of wind, blowing everything away.

Even the red cloud that covered the sky was torn apart by the hallowed membrane and it was weakened.

It was the Desolate race’s protective array. With this array, the desolate race could withstand the Black-armored Demon God’s pressure.

As the array was activated, the blood cloud began to surge. The true battle had yet to begin, but the sky had already changed colors.

The Black-armored Demon God was inside the cloud!

Everyone saw a stocky man in heavy armor and a lance in his hand. He stood on the top of the blood cloud, like a god that ruled the world.

He was indomitable and invincible. Under his pressure, people felt their backs turn cold. His cold eyes seemed to be staring at every single one of them.

“That was too fast. We haven’t even made any plans on what to do yet… ”

A group of humans, who were inclined to escape the remote mountains, but had not made the decision, were currently feeling lost. They thought that they still had the time to consider, but they never expected the Black-armored Demon God to suddenly appear.

Now, the entire Desolate race campground was locked onto by the Black-armored Demon God. Regardless of where they escaped to, it would be a dead end. They could only bite the bullet and prepare for battle.

Facing the Demon God’s dominance, against the repression from the difference in life’s natural order, people had their Yuan Qi suppressed, like any movement would result in them being instantly killed!

Even in the Desolate race’s array, this feeling was unavoidable!

At that moment, the sound of intricate and gentle footsteps could be heard from the palace. The heavy palatial doors opened automatically as Jiang Xiaorou approached it. Following that the red-dressed Jiang Xiaorou appeared with her black hair from inside the ancient hall. A desolate and ancient aura seemed to linger around her.

Jiang Xiaorou held a bone staff in one hand, while her back was straight. Every step she took was slow, but she still walked out of the hall with determination.

“You… ”

The Black-armored Demon God’s gaze locked onto Jiang Xiaorou!

An intense pressure surged over, engulfing Jiang Xiaorou!

It was well-known how terrifying the Black-armored Demon God’s pressure was. Typical young elites would burst into a mangled mess of flesh and blood the moment they came close to his pressure.

As for Jiang Xiaorou, she managed to withstand the Black-armored Demon God’s gaze.

Jiang Xiaorou was strong, but compared to a freak like Yi Yun, or human Empyreal Kings, she was much weaker. Logically speaking, she would not have been able to look so calm under the Black-armored Demon God’s gaze.

However, she was exceptionally calm. She wore a red dress with wide sleeves, a black tasseled belt, and had no makeup, except for two dark red highlights that flared towards the ends of her eyes. Every blink of her eyes seemed to open a window to a star-filled universe, but she also seemed like a glamorous yet cold Skyfox.

When typical warriors felt repressed by the Black-armored Demon God, it was a result of their bloodlines and the difference in life’s natural order. But for Jiang Xiaorou, the blood that flowed in her body was a powerful bloodline that came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens. With the support of her bloodline, it allowed her to remain calm in front of the Black-armored Demon God.

“Good!”

The Black-armored Demon God grinned and spoke with an ancient tone. Only very few Desolate race Empyreal Kings, who knew of the ancient language that aged tens of millions of years, could understand.

“For me to lock onto you, it was because of your bloodline. I originally wanted you to be my successor.”

“With such a bloodline, you were born to fight. Unfortunately, you were born in this barren land. It is alright even if you are currently so weak. The potential of your bloodline is immense. Wasting two or three decades do not matter. As long as you sever ties with this weak race, you will become the strongest war spirit under me, killing for me and conquer the 12 Empyrean Heavens!”

The Black-armored Demon God’s words resounded throughout the world. The Desolate race Empyreal Kings, who understood this ancient language, were all dumbfounded with shock!

Become the Black-armored Demon God’s successor!?

So the reason why the Black-armored Demon God had originally locked onto Jiang Xiaorou was not to kill her, but because he eyed her bloodline. She wanted Jiang Xiaorou to become his successor!

This… was too shocking!

Many people looked at Jiang Xiaorou. Be it the Desolate race or the Human race, they were weak lowlifes like ants to the Black-armored Demon God. However, the Black-armored Demon God had placed such great importance on Jiang Xiaorou.

“Make your choice. Follow me, and I will provide you great power, but… to express your sincerity, you have to slaughter these two lowly races. Agree, and you will become the strongest war spirit. Disagree, and I will destroy you!”

The Black-armored Demon God’s tone was ferocious. As he had been angered by Yi Yun, when he first came to the remote mountains, he had planned on annihilating Jiang Xiaorou.

But now, after seeing Jiang Xiaorou withstand his pressure directly, her powerful bloodline made his chaotic and mad soul sea calm down. He felt it was too much a pity to destroy Jiang Xiaorou.

Jiang Xiaorou did not understand the Black-armored Demon God’s ancient words, but the Sacred Spirit had conveyed the meaning behind his words.

Her eyes scanned the crowd and suddenly, she raised her head towards the sky. With that, she also raised the bone staff in her hand.

Wu—!

A wind rose up!

A sudden gust of wind blew around the area. Although the pressure that everyone was feeling did not reduce, they felt the ground beneath their feet thicken. Although the pressure was intense, they were still able to stand firmly.

This is…

Everyone looked at Jiang Xiaorou and they noticed that behind her, a gigantic Skyfox phantom image had appeared!

This Skyfox cast its eyes on the world. Every strand of fur that it had was the size of a small tree. It had six tails and it seemed like a divine fire that reached out into the skies, dancing and burning.

Sacred Spirit!

It was the Sacred Spirit!

The moment that the Desolate race warriors saw the Skyfox appear, they felt their fighting spirit boil. The fear they had, and how they lacked confidence when facing the Black-armored Demon God was immediately reduced greatly.

The Sacred Spirit was with them. The gust of wind was because the Sacred Spirit had made its move!

The Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit was already seriously wounded. It could not even appear with its actual body. It could only reside in Jiang Xiaorou’s body, using her body as a vessel for its combat strength!

Only Jiang Xiaorou’s bloodline would allow the Sacred Spirit to leverage its strength to the maximum.

With the bone staff in hand, Jiang Xiaorou pointed it at the Black-armored Demon God. The tip of the bone staff flickered wantonly with a cold beam.

And at that moment, Jiang Xiaorou was augmented with the Sacred Spirit’s powers. Her strength and aura was enhanced without any limits. She was like a towering mountain whose peak could not be seen. Although she couldn’t be compared to the Black-armored Demon God, she was able to withstand the blood cloud. For the young geniuses of the Desolate race and Human race, she held up the sky!

This strength…

As everyone looked at Jiang Xiaorou, they were startled, even if they knew this was the power of the Sacred Spirit.

However, other than Jiang Xiaorou, none of them could withstand the Sacred Spirit’s augmentation.

This was a terrifying girl. If she managed to survive this disaster, her future was limitless.

“Hahahaha!” The Black-armored Demon God suddenly laughed hysterically. He suddenly brandished his lance as the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi five thousand kilometers around him began to flow crazily because of his motions.

“It seems that that is your answer. You have rejected me. Fine! Do you think that you can use a tiny spirit fox from the Sinkhole to resist me? A tiny fox, that grew up in this abandoned world, and only experienced two Heavenly Tribulations, is not even worthy to be my mount!”

Boom!

At that moment, the blood cloud in the sky tumbled and billowed.

The Black-armored Demon God looked at Jiang Xiaorou and grinned with a sinister smile!

“I’ll kill you now. Although it’s a pity, but drinking your blood will heal most of my injuries!”

731 - : Demon God Successor

CKtalon  CKtalon

Not many could understand the conversation between the Black-armored Demon God and Jiang Xiaorou, but from the transmissions between the legendary figures of the Desolate race, they got to learn the contents of their conversation.

The content was alarming to them.

The Black-armored Demon God was currently the Tian Yuan world’s strongest warrior and he was unrivaled. He killed Empyreal Kings like he was cutting through grass. What sort of scene would it be if one became the Black-armored Demon God’s successor?

Not only that, the Black-armored Demon God had also mentioned a place that they found alien. The 12 Empyrean Heavens!

Very few of the legendary human figures had seen any mention of this place in books. It represented a wider world, a world with higher martial arts.

However, everyone knew that with the Black-armored Demon God’s savage personality, he would not be considerate to a disciple he took in. The war spirit he mentioned probably was to make Jiang Xiaorou his weapon, one that would fight only for his sake, and with no other thoughts.

However, the other choice would then be death. Besides, it was a death that the Black-armored Demon God would personally execute.

Right in front the Black-armored Demon God’s pressure, whose heart wouldn’t feel a sense of trepidation?

The Black-armored Demon God’s aura grew stronger as Jiang Xiaorou took a deep breath. Her aura also rose another notch as the Skyfox phantom image behind her suddenly rose up into the sky, facing the Black-armored Demon God on the same level.

The Sacred Spirit’s cold pair of eyes were identical to Jiang Xiaorou’s. It was the embodiment of the Sacred Spirit, and it was also a manifestation of Jiang Xiaorou’s will, it was one with Jiang Xiaorou.

“Since you want to drink my blood, then come get it!” Jiang Xiaorou’s voice was clear as it resounded through the world, clearly entering everyone’s ears!

“Hahahahaha!”

The Black-armored Demon God erupted into laughter. His voice was cold and cruel and it shook the world, constantly echoing. People immediately felt their eardrums hurting and all their blood turned chaotic like their bodies were about to burst open.

Those legendary human figures began injecting greater amounts of Yuan Qi into the protective shields, but they were only able to withstand a portion of the terrifying pressure. Even they themselves shuddered from the laughter and had their Yuan Qi suppressed.

It was too terrifying. Jiang Xiaorou and the Black-armored Demon God’s terrifying momentum were wantonly facing off each other. One stood on the ground, while the other stood in the clouds. The clash of their aura emitted numerous lightning sparks that seemed to tear through the world.

“Then die!” The Black-armored Demon God’s killing aura was released. Ever since he awoke, he had met two arrogant people. One was Yi Yun and the other was Jiang Xiaorou.

Amongst these two, one was insidious and crafty by sneakily attacking him, while the other did not know what was good for herself and thought too highly of herself, and dared to reject him.

These two people were going to be killed by him!

Accompanying his roar, the lands suddenly trembled. Outside the Desolate race’s protective array, mountains began rupturing as boulders started crashing down!

The moment the roar echoed, the Black-armored Demon God’s lance was suddenly stabbed towards Jiang Xiaorou. Immediately, the blood cloud in the sky swirled and a violent wind howled, the heaven and earth seemed to be compressed together.

It was just a simple lance, but at this point, in everyone’s eyes, this lance was infinitely huge. It was like it was the only thing that existed in the world and it was looming over their heads.

Without being able to dodge, let alone withstand it, how could humans stand up to something that resembled the forces of nature?

The Human race geniuses involuntarily trembled under such an impressive show of force. They had no doubts that the residual power of the Demon God’s lance was enough to instantly turn them into smithereens. They would be left without bodies and their souls might even be destroyed in the resulting storm.

Even the legendary human figures found it bleak. With such a powerful Demon God, even if they were to join forces, how much change was possible?

He was too powerful, there was no way to beat him!

“Roar!”

Against the Demon God’s attack, the Skyfox Sacred Spirit behind Jiang Xiaorou issued an angry growl.

The mighty sound waves dispersed the Black-armored Demon God’s roar!

At the same time, Jiang Xiaorou lifted the bone staff and gently waved it at the Black-armored Demon God.

Her actions looked very gentle, but at the same time, the Skyfox Sacred Spirit behind her was moving its six tails, gathering the Power of Desolates and using the power of the Divine Wilderness, it struck out at the Black-armored Demon God’s attack!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The land trembled! Distant mountain peaks crumbled instantly!

This was simply the most extreme show of force. This erupting power and Jiang Xiaorou’s gentleness formed a strong contrast, yet they strangely merged together.

“Bam!”

The first clash between both parties resulted in remnant shock waves instantly flattening the ground around them. What were once mountainous regions were now forcefully flattened into plains!

The world changed colors!

It was blocked!

Before people had any time to react, the Black-armored Demon God had already struck a second time with his lance.

The terrifying energy collision twisted space itself, as the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was already extremely chaotic.

The Black-armored Demon God’s second strike was still in full force, one that could destroy the world.

As the Black-armored Demon God laughed boisterously, his boldness mounted as the battle progressed.

His body had already fractured into tracks of wounds, with blood seeping out of them wantonly.

However, the flowing of this blood did not seem to weaken or slow his attack. Instead, it stimulated him to become even crazier.

He had not recovered from his injuries, and this was all due to Yi Yun’s harassment and sneak attacks. But it was alright, even if he was injured, annihilating the Desolate race and Yi Yun was more than enough!

It was impossible for these lowly life forms to put up a struggle in front of him!

Boom!

The Skyfox Sacred Spirit suddenly turned ethereal, and Jiang Xiaorou’s face turned pale.

The Sacred Spirit was unable to hold on!

Members of the Desolate race felt their hearts tightened as their expressions changed.

The Sacred Spirit was originally seriously injured. It had forcefully woken itself up, and it was barely sustaining itself.

Under the Black-armored Demon God’s ravaging attacks, it suffered a relapse from its injuries and it quickly approached its limits.

The Sacred Spirit was old. It had lived for tens of millions of years, and it could not undergo its third Heavenly Tribulation, so it was already approaching its death.

The legendary human figures felt their hearts sink.

The Sacred Spirit wasn’t able to hold on anymore?

“Where’s Yi Yun? Where did Yi Yun go?” Someone asked.

Although they thought of Yi Yun as a huge threat, the Human race was accustomed to relying on Yi Yun, even if their logic told them that against the terrifying Black-armored Demon God, even if Yi Yun appeared, nothing would change.

“Yi Yun went to search for the Black-armored Demon God prior to this. Now with the Black-armored Demon God here, Yi Yun has yet to return.” A legendary human figure said.

They were informed of the news prior to this.

What?

Yi Yun went searching for the Black-armored Demon God? And now with the Black-armored Demon God here, did Yi Yun fail to find him? Or was he already…

People did not dare to think any further. Why did he search for the Black-armored Demon God before this? Wasn’t that simply courting death?

…

“Hahahaha!” The Black-armored Demon God could not stop laughing. He could sense the Sacred Spirit weakening. If this carried on, in just a while, he could kill Jiang Xiaorou.

The Black-armored Demon God aimed at Jiang Xiaorou’s head and ruthlessly stabbed once again.

“Die!”

However, at that moment, a fleeting series of shadows flashed. A stunning sword beam, as cold as the luminous moon, like a blooming snow lotus, stabbed at the Black-armored Demon God silently.

Boom!

The Black-armored Demon God immediately sensed it as he instantly pulled back the lance that he had stabbed towards Jiang Xiaorou!

Ka Ka Ka!

The lance did not strike that figure, but instead, it struck a closed snow lotus bud.

This snow lotus clashed with the lance and immediately bloomed. Instantly, frost Qi surged out, and the frost crystals quickly traversed down the lance!

732 - : Snow Lotus

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It’s Lin Xintong! Lin Xintong has made her move! Is she attacking the Black-armored Demon God alone?”

Seeing the snow lotus appear, people already knew that it was Lin Xintong.

Previously, when everyone faced the Black-armored Demon God, there was no need to even mention taking the initiative to attack because just withstanding his killing aura was extremely difficult for them. However, Lin Xintong had single-handedly attacked the Black-armored Demon God with her sword.

Was she sick of living?

Whew!

Lin Xintong stabbed with her sword. This was an attack that contained everything she had. All her laws, concepts and insights were in that attack.

The snow lotuses were pure and flawless. The petals were crystalline, and they was condensed from all her martial efforts to date.

Lin Xintong’s original target was directed at the Black-armored Demon God’s back, where his heart was.

However, the Black-armored Demon God’s reaction was just too fast. He could change his posture and move at anytime he wanted despite attacking with all she had. With a sweep of his lance, he struck Lin Xintong’s sword.

“Peng!”

The sword vibrated vigorously as the ice crystals shattered, melting into rain. All of Lin Xintong’s protective Yuan Qi quivered intensely, as numerous cracks began forming.

“Xintong!”

Not far away was the Lin family and when they saw this scene, their hearts nearly stopped beating. Matriarch Lin’s face was pale as her hands trembled.

Lin Xintong was the hope of their Lin family. Even if the entire upper echelons of the Lin family died, Lin Xintong was not to die.

“Ka-cha!”

The snow lotus protecting Lin Xintong also exploded, as ice crystals scattered in all directions. After it struck the Black-armored Demon God, it shattered completely, but it failed to do him any harm.

Lin Xintong’s attack was to save Jiang Xiaorou. Even though Jiang Xiaorou was augmented by the Sacred Spirit, she was unable to withstand the repeated assaults by the Black-armored Demon God.

“You want to die in her place? Fine, I’ll grant you your wish!”

The ice crystals on the Black-armored Demon God’s lance were still spreading to the point that his hands were covered in ice. However, he did not care, and he instead revealed a sarcastic smile.

He knew that the white-dressed female in front of him had an important relationship with Yi Yun.

Anyone with ties to Yi Yun was to die!

He wanted to see Yi Yun grief-stricken, and then kill Yi Yun after that. The Black-armored Demon God was fully confident about his speed. He believed that even if Yi Yun noticed his departure at the first moment of notice, he would only be met with a pile of corpses even if he charged here at full speed.

“Go to hell!”

With the lance in hand, the Black-armored Demon God stabbed his lance at Lin Xintong’s heart.

This strike was without any gaudy display, nor did he use any Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. It was just a simple stab, yet, everyone knew that this strike contained a horrifying ’momentum’ that was indomitable!

If it wasn’t for Lin Xintong, the other legendary human figures would probably be bearing the brunt of this momentum, with their bodies completely crumbling.

“Peng!”

At that instant, Lin Xintong’s protective Yuan Qi shattered into droplets of lights. Her body had lost all protection!

In front of the Black-armored Demon God, even stars could be crushed, let alone flesh?

Yet, at that moment of definite doom, Lin Xintong indifferently lifted her sword, and stabbed it straight at the Black-armored Demon God’s throat without any fear!

A death blow just before her death?

Everyone seeing this was stunned. People felt pity just as the lance was about to hit its target. Even the hostile factions against Yi Yun did not wish to see Lin Xintong die. As for the upper echelons of the Lin family, their hearts seemed to have shrunk from worry.

The Black-armored Demon God’s physical defense far exceeded any weapon. Lin Xintong’s deathblow would definitely not harm him, and instead, if Lin Xintong were to be stabbed in the heart by the lance, it would spell certain death for her. No one was able to withstand the Black-armored Demon God’s frontal attack!

Guaranteed death with a single strike. There was no other way about it!

At that split instant, just as people could only watch helplessly as the lance stabbed at Lin Xintong…

Weng!

Heaven Earth Yuan Qi exploded, as the endless blood cloud in the sky was penetrated. Twelve golden beams of light shot down from blood cloud.

The golden beams’ speed was extremely fast, and nearly instantly, they flew at the Black-armored Demon God’s body.

Ka Ka Ka!

The Black-armored Demon God’s body and lance were all twined around by the beams of light!

People managed to clearly make out that the twelve golden beams of light were actually twelve chains!

The golden chains, about the thickness of a baby’s wrist, had penetrated the blood cloud, allowing the rays of the sun to illuminate the chains, making it blindingly bright.

Ancient runes on the golden chains began to emerge, like they were dictating an ancient Order, one that was able to seal demons and lock gods!

This chain was…

People were alarmed, and at that moment, before they could give it further thought, Lin Xintong’s sword had already stabbed at the Black-armored Demon God’s throat. As for the Black-armored Demon God’s lance, it was completely bound by the chain’s Order!

Cha!

The sword pierced through. The Black-armored Demon God’s skin was extremely tough, and he managed to use just his muscles to withstand Lin Xintong’s strike!

The immense impact caused the soft sword to bend, and as for the Black-armored Demon God’s throat, it had only been stabbed by just a bit before the sword could no longer proceed!

A few drops of the Demon God’s blood flowed out, staining the cold sword blade red.

A cold beam flashed in Lin Xintong’s eyes, with frost Yin energy exploding from her sword. Lin Xintong had already circulated the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ to its limits. Through the Black-armored Demon God’s tiny wound, extreme Yin energy surged right into his body!

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

A few drops of the Demon God’s blood froze into red gems. Even the Black-armored Demon God’s wound had begun freezing. However, beneath the Black-armored Demon God’s red eyes there was a grin.

“God Confining Lock? I never expected that you would secretly set up the God Confining Lock formation array that allowed you to appear so fearless. It looked like you were seeking death yourself, but you managed to save that red-dressed girl and injured me after that.”

As the Black-armored Demon God looked at Lin Xintong, his entire body was trapped in the God Confining Lock, and it did not seem like he could move.

This array…

The legendary human figures were amazed seeing how it suddenly appeared to trap the Black-armored Demon God.

God Confining Lock array? What array was this? Where did the Desolate race obtain this array from?

The moment that this array was activated, it seemed like the world was resounding with sacred murmurs of chanting, that even reduced the pressure that the blood cloud gave to the people. The God Confining Lock array had not only trapped the Demon God, it had even sealed the Demon God’s terrifying strength, killing aura and Yuan Qi in his body.

This feeling was extremely apparent, and it astonished many people.

Ever since the Black-armored Demon God had appeared, the Human and Desolate race had always been repressed. This counterstrike, seemed… to be able to temporarily stop the Black-armored Demon God!

In fact, when Jiang Xiaorou was possessed by the Sacred Spirit, and at the moment that Lin Xintong made her move, the God Confining Lock was already being secretly cast. It was activated by the former Desolate Queen, Shepherd Boy and many legendary Desolate race figures.

This array left behind by Yi Yun was the greatest thing that these legendary Desolate race figures would rely on to resist the Black-armored Demon God.

Jiang Xiaorou and the Sacred Spirit had appeared to fight together, not to achieve any outcome with the Black-armored Demon God, but to give them time to activate the array.

The Black-armored Demon God had arrived too soon, which meant that they had no time to prepare.

However, Jiang Xiaorou and Lin Xintong’s attacks gave the time for the array to be successfully activated!

Between the Heavens and Earth, shimmering golden chains that looked like they sprouted out of the Heavens and Earth, chained up the Black-armored Demon God’s four limbs!

733 - : God Confining Lock

CKtalon  CKtalon

“To my surprise, you actually have this array formation.” The Black-armored Demon God said with a deep voice.

The God Confining Lock array could be traced back to ancient times.

The so-called ancient times was not tens of millions of years ago, when the Azure Yang Lord fought the seven Demon Disciples, it was an era even further back. It was back when the mighty figures of each race in the 12 Empyrean Heavens fought the ancient Ancestor God.

Back then, each race gathered more than a hundred mighty warriors and set up the God Confining Lock array, resulting in 3000 God Confining chains to shoot out. Even the Heavenly Dao itself could be temporarily sealed.

That was what a true God Confining Lock was.

But now, the God Confining Lock used by the Desolate race was a simplified version, and of course accordingly, the simplified version of the God Confining Lock array’s operating requirements were lower. If not, it would not be something that the members of the Desolate race could operate.

“What a waste of a heavenly treasure. If such an array formation were to be placed in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, it would be extremely precious. What a pity. With a bunch of trash like you, how are all of you able to allow this array to display its greatest strength?” The Black-armored Demon God said with a sneer.

As he spoke, his joints cracked as his muscles swelled up. Blue veins began to appear all over his body like crawling earthworms.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

Many cracks began to appear on the Black-armored Demon God’s muscle as blood spewed out!

His injury-ridden body did not seem like it could withstand his redoubtable power.

Every time he used his energy, it was a major depletion of the Black-armored Demon God’s life force essence.

However, he did not mind. He allowed his blood to flow as he laughed maniacally.

Lin Xintong felt her heart palpitate. Retracting her sword, she quickly retreated backward!

“Ka-cha!”

The golden chain that twined around the Black-armored Demon God’s lance suddenly snapped, causing golden light to spew wantonly which was followed by a thunderous explosion!

The Black-armored Demon God managed to free his lance, as the remaining energy shattered the void.

This amount of force was horrifying. If Lin Xintong had retreated any slower, she would probably be seriously injured or even dead.

He broke through just like that!?

The legendary human figures, as well as the legendary Desolate race figures who were powering the array were all alarmed.

This array was so profound and the Black-armored Demon God had even said that the array formation was extremely precious even in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Yet, such an array formation failed to completely trap the Black-armored Demon God?

A pale Jiang Xiaorou looked at the Black-armored Demon God as her gaze turned weak.

“Ha!”

The Black-armored Demon God roared as the remaining eleven chains vibrated. The runes on the chains flickered rapidly. They lit up and dimmed at times, like they were about to rupture at any time.

The Black-armored Demon God held his lance in one hand, and forcefully pulled with the other hand!

A terrifying power was transmitted through the eleven chains!

Boom!

Heaven Earth Yuan Qi surged in all directions as the energy that the Black-armored Demon God injected into the chains exploded. The land trembled as the Desolate race Palace sunk deeper, and it looked like it was about to collapse!

A few legendary Desolate race figures were thrown out of the four corners of the palace. All of them looked pale, like they were suffering from internal injuries.

The God Confining Lock’s array disk emerged in the Palace’s core, flashing occasionally with golden runes.

The runes’ power flowed through the eleven chains, but the chains had not been broken yet!

However, despite the God Confining Lock not being completely broken apart, the legendary Desolate race figures that powered the formation had been forcefully pulled out, and they looked extremely miserable.

“Hahahaha! Trash!” The Black-armored Demon God looked at the miserable state of these legendary figures as he laughed maniacally.

Upon seeing this scene, the glint in Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou’s eyes dimmed.

The Human race and the Desolate race could not help but shudder, especially those legendary Desolate race figures who had been pulled out. They could feel the deep sense of helplessness and powerlessness.

He was too strong. Even if he was confined by eleven chains, the Black-armored Demon God still remained unrivaled!

He was able to be so arrogant because he had the means to do so. There were numerous mighty figures present here, all warriors that stood at the pinnacle of the Tian Yuan world. But at that moment, even if they all joined forces, they would still be no match for an injured or even imprisoned Demon God!

There was no way of obtaining victory. Under the current circumstances, the Demon God was still as terrifying as ever!

Many people felt their hearts turn cold.

But at that moment, two figures suddenly flew forward.

These two figures came from the Human race.

After that, a few figures joined the two figures and flew into the sky.

“It’s the Sanctuary Island couple!”

“It’s our Seniors!”

The Human race geniuses exclaimed in unison.

The Sanctuary Island couple held hands while hovering midair. They silently looked at the Black-armored Demon God.

A few other legendary Human race figures also stared straight at the Black-armored Demon God.

The corners of the Black-armored Demon God’s mouth suffused a sneer. “There are more who are sick of living?”

With the caliber of these people, the number that stood forward were the number who died.

Although the Black-armored Demon God was still trapped by the eleven chains, his lance was already freed. From the way he freed himself and brutally pulled the legendary Desolate race figures out, it was obvious that nearing the Black-armored Demon God was still suicidal.

So what if the legendary human figures attacked, what could they do?

The Black-armored Demon God did even bother with them. As long as he continued freeing himself from the remaining eleven chains, he could slaughter everyone including Jiang Xiaorou and Lin Xintong. He wanted to use their blood to dye his lance red.

At that moment, with a deep growl, the chain around his left leg began to tremble violently.

“Bam!”

Countless ancient runes shattered. Another chain of the God Confining Lock had broken!

With this chain shattering, everyone’s hearts began to undergo violent trepidations.

“The Black-armored Demon God is indeed tough, but we will not sit idle either! We have escaped so much, and today, the Desolate race has managed to set up an array to temporarily restrain him. Besides he is also injured, if it remains hopeless under such a situation, then if we were to carry on fleeing, there will be no hope of us eliminating him in the future.”

The Sanctuary Island couple said loudly. With that, the two of them took out an array disk, as all their Yuan Qi was let loose!

“Set up the array formation! Do not let him break free from the God Confining Lock any longer!” The Sanctuary Island couple shouted loudly.

The other legendary human figures did not speak as they released their Yuan Qi as well.

A powerful burst of energy instantly formed a sea of Yuan Qi midair.

And following that, the array disk emitted a black light, as the small array disk became like an bottomless whirlpool, absorbing the entire Yuan Qi sea.

The legendary human figures continued injecting their Yuan Qi into the array disk, while the array disk was connected to the Sanctuary Island couple. The couple’s aura rose constantly, and soon, they reached a terrifying stage.

“Another array formation?” The Black-armored Demon God scanned the legendary human figures. “Cosmic Infinite Array? That’s probably what you are capable of.”

This was an array formation used by the Azure Yang Lord against the seven Demon Disciples tens of millions of years ago. It also came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, so the Black-armored Demon God naturally knew about it.

He stopped trying to release himself from the shackles of the God Confining Lock, and instead, he pointed lance and swung it at the legendary human figures.

Even though he was facing two arrays, he still remained as calm as ever.

734 - : Redoubtable Strength

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Looking at us with contempt?”

When the legendary human figures saw how the Black-armored Demon God was behaving, they felt pangs of fiery in their hearts. They knew that the Black-armored Demon God was terrifying, but now, despite him being trapped in the God Confining Lock, he still thought nothing of them, disparaging them completely.

“Everyone!” The Sanctuary Island Lord said with a deep voice from within the worldly array, “We have all practiced martial arts for years, enduring the loneliness associated with reclusive training and the dangers that accompanied mystic realms. We have gone through all kinds of hardship. Other than fighting against fate, it is because we are unwilling to lead ordinary lives, and do not want to waste our lives!”

“One strike! I only want one strike! We need to produce a domineering stance!”

As he spoke, his Yuan Qi surged. His hair stood up, and in between his eyebrows, a flame was burning.

Beside him, his partner’s black dress was also fluttering, as she pushed her energy to the limits.

At that moment, the Sanctuary Island couple had actually chosen to burn their blood essence!

This…

Seeing the Sanctuary Island couple’s actions, the legendary human figures were stunned. Although they had made the difficult decision of staying behind to fight the Black-armored Demon God, most of them only hoped to seriously injure the Black-armored Demon God, so as to allow their lineage to continue.

But to burn one’s blood essence?

That would drain one’s life span.

The legendary human figures were naturally unwilling to burn their blood essence.

But at that moment, with their lives on the line, they were pushed to the edge of the cliff. If they were defeated, it was equivalent to death!

Compared to the elders, who did not have much lifespan left, the Sanctuary Island couple’s life force and potential were much higher than theirs. Yet, they did not hesitate to burn their blood essence, what more them?

Humans were beings that were easily influenced by their surroundings.

They were selfish at times, but at times, they might have righteous ardor and turn fearless.

Instantly, all the legendary human figures, who were powering the Cosmic Infinite Array, burned their blood essence.

“Boom!”

As blood and Qi surged into the sky, a golden array seemed to flip the cosmos!

Mountains crumbled as the world shook.

The Cosmic Infinite Array was naturally not as abstruse as the God Confining Lock.

However, despite the God Confining Lock being powerful, the legendary Desolate race figures could not let it live up to its potential.

As for the Cosmic Infinite Array, although it was a few notches weaker, the legendary human figures were able to bring most of the Cosmic Infinite Array’s power into play. As such, the difference was no longer that great.

With the Sanctuary Island couple as the lead, the Cosmic Infinite Array seemed to transform into a small world itself.

As the human geniuses on the ground looked up, they were all holding their breath as they watched with great concern. Their eyes reflected a redness that was a result of the burning blood and Qi in the sky.

These were their seniors, their Patriarchs. They were human warriors who stood at the peak!

“Black-armored Demon God!” The Sanctuary Island couple roared.

As the voices reverberated through the air, the Cosmic Infinite Array began to spin with a loud rumble. It suddenly smashed itself at the Black-armored Demon God!

It seemed to blot out the sky and cover up the earth. It was like an entire world falling down from the sky, smashing heavily at the Black-armored Demon God’s head!

Everyone’s gaze followed the Cosmic Infinite Array’s fall. Although they did not partake in it, their breaths stagnated and they felt their blood tossing and turning. It was like they were a part of that attack!

It was a strike that contained the Human race’s willpower.

Seeing this scene, the Black-armored Demon God finally stopped looking at them with contempt.

He roared as his body began tearing apart and blood spurted out everywhere!

In the blood that sputtered out, the black lance was like a Black Dragon that emerged out of water, stabbing forcefully!

“Die!”

The lance was aimed straight at the Cosmic Infinite Array’s core!

Two of the strongest powers at that moment in time clashed right into each other without any fancifulness!

Weng!

Instantly, everyone felt like all sounds had disappeared from their ears. The lighted scene in front of their eyes had disappeared, and it was replaced by a screen of red blood. It was an oppressive Yuan Qi.

It wasn’t truly silent, but at that moment, due to the immense destructive force, they had temporarily lost their sense of hearing despite their Yuan Qi protecting them!

The light that appeared as a result of the clash did not disappear. Instead, because of the crazy burst of energy, it caused space itself to distort.

What happened? Everyone stared with widened eyes.

Suddenly, the wanton energy was swept away.

The Black-armored Demon God’s figure appeared. His hair was disheveled, and his arm was covered in blood. He was standing midair.

The energy had been sucked into the lance.

The black lance had pierced right through the Cosmic Infinite Array’s core!

The Sanctuary Island couple was right in the middle and they had burnt their blood essence. The couple, who had been augmented by the array’s powers, had suffered a blow that resembled being struck by a mountain.

The Sanctuary Island Lord was slightly further in front. His sternum had shattered, and the right arm that held a sword had burst into a mist of blood!

As for the other legendary human figures, they also experienced an immense impact. Those who were slightly weaker had their organs completely smashed, and they were in critical conditions!

The Human race had paid a bitter price to produce the strongest strike and they finally seriously injured the Black-armored Demon God. At that moment, the Black-armored Demon God’s body had suffered from repeated injuries. The surface of his body was completely cracked. There was nearly nowhere on his skin that was still intact. And the healing of his wounds was slowing down too.

A chance!

In front of the Desolate race Palace, the legendary Desolate race figures were giving their all to power the God Confining Lock array. Ten of the divine chains of Order were confining the Black-armored Demon God.

Above the Palace, the Skyfox’s phantom image turned a faint red, while Jiang Xiaorou flew up and stood on top of the Skyfox phantom image’s head.

The Skyfox’s fur was fluttering where its long ears were. The bit of cinnabar in the middle of Jiang Xiaorou’s eyebrows had also turned vermilion.

Her forceful stance as well as the Sacred Spirit Skyfox’s aura was increasing rapidly. When this aura reached its peak, Jiang Xiaorou raised her bone staff and suddenly began to chant profound ancient words. The Heaven and Earth seemed to experience a cataclysm!

The ground quaked, as if the land’s life force and immense history, as well as the souls of all the flora and fauna, was rising up from deep underground, surging right into the Skyfox’s body.

Its shape was rapidly increasing. As the long hair behind Jiang Xiaorou fluttered, she gathered an ancient aura that made people want to pay homage to her.

Everyone could tell that this was the most powerful strike that the Sacred Spirit could produce at the cost of burning its life!

“Oh?”

Upon seeing the Sacred Spirit’s state, the Black-armored Demon God showed his first look of surprise.

As for the Human race and the Desolate race continuously attacking him without any break in between, he was furious!

“Aw!!”

The Skyfox howled and charged at the Black-armored Demon God!

The Black-armored Demon God screamed as he raised his lance to face the attack. The black lance pierced through the Skyfox’s head!

As for the huge Skyfox phantom image, it also pierced through the Black-armored Demon God’s body!

The result of the terrifying impact radiated in all directions, as the red clouds in the sky were pushed to greater heights. Branched lightning lit up the tenebrous sky. Buzzing and hissing, they trembled with the anger of being shackled to the sky since time began, causing the world to turn silent!

Everyone could even feel the ground suddenly sink down!

In the sky, the blood clouds had dispersed and the killing aura had vanished.

The Black-armored Demon God’s hair was disheveled as his arm drooped low.

As for Jiang Xiaorou, she was holding the bone staff to support her body. Her face was pale. Even the bit of cinnabar in the middle of her eyebrows had turned dim. She had clearly pushed all her strength to its limits.

And behind her, the Sacred Spirit’s phantom image was so blurry that it nearly disappeared. The huge Skyfox’s head looked down on the world from high in the air. It had a nonchalant and calm expression, like it was experiencing a faint sense of nostalgia.

People could sense that the Skyfox was bidding farewell to this world.

735 - : Sacred Spirit’s Nirvana

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Sacred Spirit had expended all of its energy. The Skyfox, which was nearing the end of its life, had been injured. And compounded with it burning its life force, it struck out its final strike before its death.

The Desolate race warriors felt terrible about this. Their Sacred Spirit came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, and it had silently protected the Divine Wilderness for tens of millions of years. Now, it died in battle for the Desolate race.

They were upset over the Sacred Spirit’s death, but the battle was still ongoing. They had no time to hold a memorial ceremony for the Sacred Spirit.

The Sacred Spirit’s phantom image turned increasingly faint, as it was about to disperse at any moment.

At that moment, even the human warriors felt an explicable sense of sorrow, let alone the Desolate race.

Against a calamity that could destroy the world, all prejudice, and the hatred between the races no longer mattered.

“All of you… ”

Suddenly, a low and raspy voice echoed from the sky. The Black-armored Demon God’s hair was disheveled and he was covered in blood. Several cracks had even appeared on his black armor.

However… his aura was still exceedingly powerful. In fact, his killing aura was even more intense!

“All of you have completely infuriated me. All of you are to die. Die!”

The Black-armored Demon God roared. His body looked like it was made of blood only. The rate at which his muscles were recovering was much slower, and his life force was getting closer and closer to eventual collapse.

However, he still was a god of death. His terrifying combat powers made the Human and Desolate race despair.

Unrivaled!

This was an enemy no one could defeat. They had used every means they had and each strike had consumed their life force, expending all that they had!

Now, the Sacred Spirit was dead. All the legendary human figures were grievously injured, yet the Black-armored Demon God still had ravaging killing intent!

Despair!

Every warrior could only feel a strong sense of despair at that moment.

There were still ten chains twined around the Black-armored Demon God’s body. As he held onto his bloody lance, he suddenly reached out and grabbed his armor.

He grasped his armor tightly!

And with that…

Wu Wu Wu Wu!

A shrilling and ghastly wail echoed as numerous souls appeared from the Black-armored Demon God’s armor as they writhed in pain.

The souls had twisted faces and miserable expressions. Their spiritual soul flames were dim, and they were filled with despair.

They were the warrior souls that had been sealed in his armor.

Amongst these souls, a large number of them were Yuan Opening realm human experts, and even quite a number of human Empyreal Kings!

After being killed by the Black-armored Demon God, their bodies were devastated, while their souls were trapped, experiencing endless pain. Yet, they still managed to retain their thoughts back when they were alive.

Amongst them was Shentu Patriarch and Mystic Tiger Immortal.

Nearly a year ago, Shentu Patriarch was killed by the Black-armored Demon God and his soul had been sealed in the armor. He had endured such extended period of torture to the brink of collapse!

As for Mystic Tiger Immortal, he had been killed only a short while ago. Although his body was dead, he realized that he still possessed his consciousness. Other than feeling extreme fear, he still had fantasies, hoping that he would one day be able to escape from the Black-armored Demon God’s armor, possessing a body and carry on living.

Mystic Tiger Immortal and Shentu Patriarch had been grabbed simultaneously by the Black-armored Demon God. Previously, while they were in the armor, they knew about the intense battle happening outside. They even had a vague understanding of the details of the battle.

Now that Mystic Tiger Immortal was suddenly released, he felt extremely excited seeing the outside world.

As for Shentu Patriarch, he seemed to regain a bit of hope from his despair.

“Wu Wu Wu… Save… Save me…”

“Save me!”

Mystic Tiger Immortal pleaded for help with great difficulty. He could see the Sanctuary Island couple and the Desolate race’s Desolate Queen.

Just thinking of his soul undergoing the torture in the Black-armored Demon God’s armor made him turn crazy from the pain.

Now, the Desolate Queen and the Sanctuary Island couple had become the only people that could save him.

“It’s Mystic Tiger Immortal… ”

Some people recognized Mystic Tiger Immortal. Although he was in soul form, as a human Empyreal King, his aura was still extraordinary. Anyone who was familiar with him could recognize him.

“Didn’t he lead his family clan in a bid to escape? Why was he also killed?”

“That scum escaped faster than anyone else. Now that he has been killed and his soul trapped, he wants us to save him? To save him, we need to approach the Black-armored Demon God. That is sacrificing our lives in exchange for his half-dead soul. He can dream on!”

People say in a disgruntled manner. At that moment, even the Human race despised a lowlife like Mystic Tiger Immortal, let alone the Desolate race.

“Save me!”

Mystic Tiger Immortal shouted in pain, yet everyone ignored him. And at that moment…

Swish!

The Black-armored Demon God lifted his hand, and forcefully put a large handful of tortured souls into his mouth.

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!”

The souls that were bitten by the Black-armored Demon God let out wails of pain as they were being eaten by the Black-armored Demon God!

The moment the souls entered his body, they dissipated immediately, turning into pure soul energy that he absorbed!

This is…

People looked in shock at the Black-armored Demon God and felt their hearts go cold. The Black-armored Demon God had stored souls in his armor, and at that moment, he was absorbing the soul energy to recover his power!

They had no way of preventing the Black-armored Demon God from eating the souls and they could only watch helplessly.

“All of you shall die!” The Black-armored Demon God’s eyes were filled with killing intent!

“Peng! Peng! Peng!”

A series of sounds resounded as soul after soul exploded as they were devoured by the Black-armored Demon God.

When Mystic Tiger Immortal and Shentu Patriarch saw this scene, their souls turned cold and they felt unfathomable despair.

It was not as horrifying as if they were just being killed. Now, not only had their bodies been destroyed, their souls would also be dispersed, turning into energy for him. This way of dying was extremely horrible!

However, after the Black-armored Demon God ate 80% of the warrior souls, he suddenly stopped.

By a stroke of luck, Mystic Tiger Immortal and Shentu Patriarch were spared.

For the Black-armored Demon God, these souls were enough for his treatment.

Visible blood and Qi rapidly emanated through the Black-armored Demon God’s arms, as blood lines appeared, before they rapidly spread throughout his body.

The Black-armored Demon God’s chest rose and fell violently as the red blood lines quickly covered his entire body. They glowed intermittently, and even reached his pupils. Like a layer of totem runic patterns, it spread all over his body, making the Black-armored Demon God look even more demonic!

The Black-armored Demon God’s wounds were slowly recovering as his muscles bulged. Like divine metal, his bones began to issue explosive sounds, with each one sounding like tumultuous thunder.

“Ah! Ah! Ah!” sounds came out of the Black-armored Demon God’s throat as his eyes looked extremely frenzied.

His soul sea was originally in a mess, and now with him suddenly devouring large amounts of souls that could provide nourishment to his body, the large quantity of memory fragments also surged into his body, stimulating his soul sea, and making his soul sea even more unstable.

However, at that moment, the Black-armored Demon God was on the brink of madness. He did not care about this at all.

The Black-armored Demon God suddenly lifted his head and looked at everyone with a feverish gaze. It made these people seem to hear a resounding boom in their ears that came from their pounding heartbeat.

736 - : Devouring Souls

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the eyes of everyone, the Black-armored Demon God was currently in a completely frenzied state.

“What… really just happened?”

People were shuddering in fear. Although the Black-armored Demon God’s flesh had healed, his soul was still clearly in chaos. His spiritual mind was acting like it was in a tumultuous storm.

“His soul sea absorbed many soul fragments. Although those human warriors were weak, their combined soul energy is no trifling matter. The crux of the matter is that the Black-armored Demon God is heavily injured. When he first came, he was already in a seriously injured state, so he is unable to withstand the energy.” Lin Xintong muttered midair.

She was proficient in pure Yin laws, so she was extremely perceptive of the Black-armored Demon God’s spiritual condition.

“He was seriously injured when he first came?” People were stunned as many of them did not realize that. Even a seriously injured Black-armored Demon God was so terrifying?

“Wasn’t he recuperating before this? Why did he come to attack us before he recovered from his injuries?” A legendary human figure asked.

Upon hearing this question, Lin Xintong took a deep breath. “This is probably the work of Yi Yun… ”

Yi Yun?

The legendary human figures were stunned. Yi Yun made the Black-armored Demon God forgo his recuperation to attack the remote mountains?

How did he do that?

“Where’s Yi Yun, could he have already… ?”

From Lin Xintong’s words, Yi Yun clearly had met the Black-armored Demon God prior to this.

It was hard to believe that Yi Yun alone managed to escape, despite facing the Black-armored Demon God.

Yi Yun was strong, but the Black-armored Demon God was even more terrifying. He could fend the combined forces of the Desolate race and the Human race, two divine arrays, as well as the Sacred Spirit’s strike that consumed its life force alone. Yet, all of that failed to do much to the Black-armored Demon God. He was an existence who was impossible to resist against by human means.

At that moment…

“Ding-Dang!”

The Black-armored Demon God grabbed a God Confining Lock chain that bound his right leg. Ka Ka Ka! With his hands, he ripped at it in two different directions.

Golden runes immediately exploded into flashes. The legendary Desolate race figure responsible for that God Confining Lock chain immediately felt a heavy blow. His face was pale as he tried his best to hold on.

The Black-armored Demon God’s muscles bulged on both his arms and he revealed a grin.

As a series of “Ka Ka” sounds issued, golden runes suddenly exploded as that God Confining Lock chain was forcefully ripped apart!

That legendary Desolate race figure immediately felt his body quiver, as he spat out a mouthful of blood. His face turned as white as a sheet of paper, while black blood flowed out of his orifices.

With the God Confining Lock chain broken, that legendary Desolate race figure was also seriously injured.

Seeing the Black-armored Demon God rip the God Confining Lock apart with his bare hands, everyone trembled with fear.

The Black-armored Demon God looked at another chain, and with a swing of his lance, he smashed at it.

“Ka-cha!”

Yet another God Confining Lock chain was severed!

The legendary Desolate race figure manning this chain immediately suffered internal injuries. Even the skin on his face ruptured as blood spurt out all across his body. While trembling, he still tried to stabilize the God Confining Lock chain, but his strength fell short of his wishes.

“I’ve already said that all of you are going to die!”

With four of the God Confining Lock’s chain severed, a third of the array was cracked, making it unable to restrain the Black-armored Demon God any further!

As the Black-armored Demon God twisted his neck, the veins on his body began to squirm.

With a grab of his hand, he threw the remaining 20% of the human warriors souls back into his armor, saving it for future rations.

It was not because he could not bearing eating these souls, but he did not want to give his chaotic soul sea further injuries.

“Hua la!”

The chains tightened. After losing four God Confining Lock chains, the God Confining Lock array was no longer perfect, and it was impossible to prevent the Black-armored Demon God from moving forward.

With his lance in hand, he approached Jiang Xiaorou step by step!

“Your blood… give it to me!”

The Black-armored Demon God wanted to devour Jiang Xiaorou’s blood. For those souls, not only were their energies impure, they were also harmful to his soul sea if he ate them. But Jiang Xiaorou’s blood contained powerful energies and it was extremely suitable to help him.

“Rou’er!”

The former Desolate Queen’s face turned white as she stood beside Jiang Xiaorou. Shepherd Boy also stood in front of Jiang Xiaorou. They were preparing to fight to the death.

Abruptly, the sunlight that dawned upon the lands dimmed slightly.

At that moment of crisis, people raised their heads in astonishment. They realized that the sun in the sky had disappeared, as it was covered by a gigantic snow lotus.

Around the snow lotus, absolute darkness emanated from it. People could even see faint stars as a result.

As the starlight showered down, it augmented Lin Xintong, increasing her aura steadily. With that, she pointed her sword tip at the Black-armored Demon God!

With Jiang Xiaorou’s life on the line, Lin Xintong had no choice but to make her move!

However, everyone had previously seen Lin Xintong use all her strength in an attack, yet it had failed to injure the Black-armored Demon God. She had nearly been killed by the Black-armored Demon God.

No matter how strong Lin Xintong was, it was impossible for her to withstand a single strike of the Black-armored Demon God. Even a graze might deal her serious harm!

“You want to die in her stead again? You managed to escape the last time, but this time, I’ll kill you first!” The Black-armored Demon God roared as he brandished the lance in his hand!

A strike without any gaudy display stabbed through the thousands of starlight rays in the sky as it flew straight at Lin Xintong.

“Xintong!”

On the Lin family’s side, Matriarch Lin’s creased face turned pale.

The members of the Desolate race also felt extremely nervous. The Black-armored Demon God was originally charging at Jiang Xiaorou, so Lin Xintong was forced to make her move just to save Jiang Xiaorou. If Lin Xintong died as a result of this, they would feel greatly indebted to the Lin family.

“Ka-cha!”

The black lance stabbed straight, clashing with Lin Xintong’s sword beam.

The starlight gathered, augmenting the sword beams, but even so…

Peng Peng Peng!

The sword beam began to shatter, and in this disproportionate showdown, the black lance beam’s momentum was indomitable. The empty void was pierced, causing violent tremors!

Unstoppable!

Seeing the black lance beam about to penetrate Lin Xintong’s body, no one could bear to watch any further.

And at that moment, Lin Xintong’s eyes flashed. She tapped lightly with her toes and every step she made midair produced a lotus flower.

Lotus flowers bloomed, they were beautiful and holy.

The lotus flower was a concept. Although it was not as powerful as pure Yin and Yang, it still contained an inexplicably profound mysticism.

Lin Xintong stepped through the void, with each step producing a lotus flower. The way she moved did not seem fast. Each step could be seen clearly by others, and they could even see the process of the lotus flower blooming.

But strangely, the lance beam that was about to pierce Lin Xintong was always just short of doing so. It failed to reach Lin Xintong!

As Lin Xintong retreated, the black lance beam chased closely behind her. Under the Black-armored Demon God’s full power, even though Lin Xintong had displayed an exquisite lotus flower concept, the lance beam was drawing closer to Lin Xintong, and it nearly penetrated Lin Xintong’s neck!

On the brink of death, Lin Xintong remained extremely calm, like there was no lance pointing in her direction.

Her toes tapped again, as Lin Xintong shrunk her body backward. And at the same time, an incredibly fast divine beam shot out from behind Lin Xintong!

Lin Xintong did not even look back, as her figure shrunk into that divine beam!

“Boom!”

The black lance clashed with the divine beam, causing the void to collapse. Before a tumultuous explosion could be heard, its sound waves were devoured by the void’s cracks, causing silence in the world!

People looked in astonishment as a miniature pagoda that was six stories tall spun midair. This miniature pagoda was the one that shot that divine beam of light, and Lin Xintong had used her lotus flower concept to retreat into this miniature pagoda!

737 - : Lotus Flower Concept

CKtalon  CKtalon

After being struck by the Black-armored Demon God’s lance beam, the six-storey miniature pagoda flew backward. As it spun rapidly mid-air, it also grew in size rapidly.

Boom!

The divine pagoda crashed down, suppressing the Divine Wilderness, standing erect with an indomitable spirit!

That pagoda!?

People looked at the divine pagoda that had suddenly appeared with astonishment. Many of them knew that it was the God Advent Tower that came from the Great Empress mystic realm, and it was owned by Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun!?”

“It’s Yi Yun! He had previously faced the Black-armored Demon God directly, but he still managed to survive!”

With the Black-armored Demon God attacking the remote mountains, and with the knowledge that Yi Yun had launched a sneak attack on him, people were beginning to suspect that Yi Yun had been killed by the Black-armored Demon God.

But now, the God Advent Tower had appeared, and it had blocked the Black-armored Demon God’s strike!

As people recalled the lotus flower concept that Lin Xintong used from before, she had clearly sensed Yi Yun’s arrival and she knew the God Advent Tower was flying in her direction. Hence, she had retreated the moment she dealt her blow, taking shelter immediately afterward in the God Advent Tower. This made the Black-armored Demon God’s attack fall short. The couple had great teamwork between the two of them.

Seeing the God Advent Tower undamaged and Lin Xintong taking shelter in the God Advent Tower, Matriarch Lin heaved a sigh of relief.

“Xintong cultivates the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ together with Yi Yun, so they probably have a telepathic link between themselves. They already detected each other’s presence from not far away. Hence, Xintong could attack the Black-armored Demon God in such a manner. She really gave this pile of old bones a fright.”

As Matriarch Lin looked at the God Advent Tower, she became even more fond and appreciative of Yi Yun.

Even though the Black-armored Demon God was on a rampage, and she knew that Yi Yun’s appearance did not mean that he was the match for Black-armored Demon God, she felt an inexplicable sense of contentment.

“You have finally arrived!” The Black-armored Demon God looked at the God Advent Tower as he roared out with laugher. “The God Advent Tower is a momento of the Azure Yang Lord. Do you think that I can’t do a thing with you hiding in the God Advent Tower?”

The God Advent Tower’s defenses were astounding, and with the Black-armored Demon God’s power, even a frontal assault on it would be parried.

But…

The God Advent Tower was able to withstand the Black-armored Demon God’s attack all because of its arrays.

As a mobile immortal residence, the God Advent Tower was made out of extremely strong refined materials. However, without the support of energy and arrays, it was just a dead object.

A dead object definitely could not ward off the Black-armored Demon God.

If Yi Yun did not launch a counteroffensive and was continuously attacked by the Black-armored Demon God, in time to come, the energy in the God Advent Tower’s arrays would be expended. When that happened, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong would only be left for the slaughter for the Black-armored Demon God!

“Are you still going to hide like a tortoise inside the God Advent Tower? No problem, I’ll kill all these people first!”

Yi Yun had really come, which also showed how much Jiang Xiaorou meant to him. Now, Yi Yun was hiding in the God Advent Tower, while Jiang Xiaorou was on the other side, with the Black-armored Demon God in between them.

It was impossible for Yi Yun to bypass the Black-armored Demon God to save Jiang Xiaorou.

“Since you aren’t coming out, then watch me drink her blood. Once I recover a bit of strength, I’ll shatter your tortoise shell.”

The Black-armored Demon God sneered as he looked at the God Advent Tower before turning to Jiang Xiaorou.

Yi Yun was here now, making the Black-armored Demon God’s thirst of killing Jiang Xiaorou even stronger. He wanted Jiang Xiaorou, a beautiful woman, to die a horrible death.

“Rou’er!” The former Desolate Queen stood in front of her.

People immediately woke up from the shock the God Advent Tower had given them.

Although Yi Yun had appeared at such a critical point in time, he was still unable to change the battle situation. They were still in the midst of grave danger!

And it seemed like… Yi Yun had, for some reason, angered the Black-armored Demon God!

Seeing the Black-armored Demon God abandon the God Advent Tower, and swaggering over to Jiang Xiaorou, everyone felt their hearts turn cold. The Black-armored Demon God did not only want to kill Jiang Xiaorou, he also wanted to kill everyone present.

They had led a life of hardship in order to pursue their martial paths. Yet now, they could only be like sheep waiting to be slaughtered. They had no means to strike back and it was pathetic.

The Black-armored Demon God raised his lance as a forceful stance gathered on its tip. The Yuan Qi throughout the world rapidly gathered as he drew closer to Jiang Xiaorou, his stance cumulating in strength.

If he struck out, the former Desolate Queen and Shepherd Boy had no means of withstanding it. They would only be reduced to smithereens.

What were they going to do? People looked at Jiang Xiaorou and then they looked at the God Advent Tower.

They felt that if they were put in the position of Yi Yun, it was extremely difficult to make a choice.

And at that moment, the God Advent Tower flashed with a golden brilliance, as a Golden Crow phantom image descended. As Yi Yun stood on the Golden Crow’s back, he appeared at the top of the God Advent Tower.

He looked at the Black-armored Demon God, with the pure Yang broken sword in his hand. He pointed the rusty blade straight at the Black-armored Demon God!

“Yi Yun came out!”

People held their breaths. From what they knew, Yi Yun’s strength was not much different to Lin Xintong’s.

Lin Xintong was clearly no match for the Black-armored Demon God, so it was impossible for Yi Yun to step forward to defeat the Black-armored Demon God.

There was no need to even mention victory, even withstanding a single strike of the Black-armored Demon God’s lance was extremely difficult!

“Yun-er!”

Seeing Yi Yun come out of the God Advent Tower, Jiang Xiaorou felt her heart tense up.

Yi Yun would be much safer in the God Advent Tower, but once he came out, he would be placed in an extremely dangerous situation.

Upon seeing Yi Yun appear, the Black-armored Demon God grinned viciously. He abandoned Jiang Xiaorou and approached Yi Yun.

“What foolishness. To die for a woman.” The Black-armored Demon God mocked.

As he raised his black lance, a massive amount of energy surged out the tip of the lance. Around Yi Yun, space began to suddenly tighten. It was like a cage entrapping him within.

“Seal!”

The Black-armored Demon God let out a deep growl. In between him and Yi Yun, a black screen of light appeared, enveloping the two of them in it.

“A sealed enchantment!” Someone exclaimed.

The Black-armored Demon God had used a portion of his energy to set up a sealed enchantment. This sealed enchantment could temporarily seal a region of space, preventing Yi Yun from escaping. And the God Advent Tower was outside the sealed enchantment!

The Black-armored Demon God did this to prevent Yi Yun from being able to dodge his attacks and escape back into the God Advent Tower.

This made everyone’s hearts tighten even more. With Yi Yun unable to escape back into the God Advent Tower, he was also sealed in the enchantment. It seemed like he had to withstand the Black-armored Demon God’s blow!

Up to now, no one had been able to withstand a frontal blow that the Black-armored Demon God produced!

Without even needing to look at the light curtain, Yi Yun could see the strength of this sealed enchantment easily with the Purple Crystal’s energy vision. He could attack and break through the light curtain, but the Black-armored Demon God would not give him the chance to do so.

As Yi Yun looked at the Black-armored Demon God, he suddenly sneered, “Your body is still bleeding!”

The Black-armored Demon God had suffered a severe hit on his vitality. Even though he had consumed a large number of souls that had provided him with energy, they were still very limited.

After ripping away four God Confining Lock chains, he had depleted a lot of his energy.

Yi Yun could still see that the God Confining Lock chains, which had lost most of their efficacy, were still twined around the Black-armored Demon God. If the Black-armored Demon God was at his peak condition, he could have ripped all the God Confining Lock chains apart. Why would he leave them entwined around him?

Despite the Black-armored Demon God looking extremely powerful and invincible, Yi Yun could tell that this was actually his weakest moment. It was also the chance for him to defeat the Black-armored Demon God!

“Since I came, I never planned to hide. Instead… I’m here to put you down under my sword!”

Yi Yun’s voice resounded through the remote mountains. The Golden Crow beneath his feet also let out a loud shrill that rumbled through the Heaven and Earth!

738 - : Yi Yun vs Demon God

CKtalon  CKtalon

Put the Black-armored Demon God under his sword?

What Yi Yun said stunned both the Desolate race and Human race. Put the Demon God down? This was the Black-armored Demon God that neither Lin Xintong, the Sacred Spirit nor two powerful arrays could do a thing against.

“You want to put me down? Hahaha!”

The Black-armored Demon God suddenly roared with laughter. He had crossed swords with Yi Yun several times and he had a rough gauge of Yi Yun’s strength. All Yi Yun could do was sneak up on him while he was recuperating.

“What a joke. Back when I was recuperating, whenever you sneaked up on me, even a simple counterattack of mine could injure you through the God Advent Tower. You sure have the nerve to make such a bold statement of putting me under your sword!”

With that, the Black-armored Demon God attacked. The lance in his hand looked simple and lusterless, but it was a peerless divine weapon.

The Black-armored Demon God’s attacks were always simple sweeps or stabs, yet such simple moves remained unrivaled.

But now, the Black-armored Demon God’s lance was stabbing straight at Yi Yun’s heart.

There was an enchantment sealing Yi Yun’s surroundings, isolating him from the God Advent Tower, so there was no room for retreat. Even if he could retreat, Yi Yun would not do so either. He knew deep down that this was the best opportunity to kill the Black-armored Demon God. Once he missed it, the opportunity would not come again!

That instant, time seemed to slow down for Yi Yun.

The scene of the Azure Yang Lord slashing at the Black-armored Demon God from the disk array in the Great Empress mystic realm kept replaying in his mind.

In the disk array’s images, the Black-armored Demon God was holding a lance and he was riding a divine horse, yet he had been destroyed by the Azure Yang Lord with one sword strike!

That single sword strike was like an azure lightning bolt that pierced through the Black-armored Demon God!

Tens of millions of years ago, the Black-armored Demon God was at his peak, and he was far more impressive than he was now.

That strike…

He just needed to produce a hundredth of that strike’s power!

‘Back then, the Azure Yang Lord had destroyed the seven Demon Disciples when they were at their peaks. I can only kill one of them, and he is already severely injured. If I can’t destroy him, wouldn’t attempting to voyage through the 12 Empyrean Heavens be a joke?’ Thought Yi Yun

With the pure Yang broken sword in his hand, he felt his mind being enriched. An indescribable will was augmented on the pure Yang broken sword. This was Yi Yun’s Sword Intent, which was much stronger than the Sword Intent he previously had.

The realms of the sword were divided into gaining insight into Sword Intent, followed by condensing one’s Heart of the Sword, then tempering one’s Sword Soul, and finally creating the Heavenly Dao of the Sword.

Yi Yun spent nearly a year to gain Dao-seeking enlightenment in the Pure Yang Sword Palace and he had already reached the large success stage of Sword Intent. And now, he was already beginning to reach for the threshold of condensing his Heart of the Sword.

Heart of the Sword was also a warrior’s temperament. It was not a sword technique, it was a sublime will of Sword Dao.

Pressing forward with indomitable will and irresistible force!

Si Si Si—

Behind Yi Yun, the Nine Neonate and Golden Crow phantom images appeared at the same time. A beam tore through the void, missing the black lance, stabbing straight at the Black-armored Demon God’s throat!

Oh!?

Upon seeing this situation, people felt their hearts quaking!

When warriors exchanged blows, it was one party launching an attack while the other first tried to parry it, before thinking of a way to destroy his opponent.

But now, Yi Yun’s attack was not for defending, it was offensive!

He had deliberately not dodged the Black-armored Demon God’s lance so he could stab at the Black-armored Demon God’s throat!

The Black-armored Demon God’s powerful attacks made people shudder with fear. Just withstanding his attacks was nearly impossible. Yet, Yi Yun did not even dodge. It was almost like an attack with no return.

“He is about to be pierced through by the lance. Is he trying use death in exchange for a strike?”

“The Black-armored Demon God’s offensive strength is just too formidable. If Yi Yun’s sword beam were to clash with the lance directly, the sword beam would definitely shatter. It would not harm the Black-armored Demon God at all, so he avoided the lance, but to do that would result… ”

People held their breaths. Even if Yi Yun did not care for himself and wanted to exchange death for causing injury with that one strike, what sort of harm could it cause the Black-armored Demon God?

The Black-armored Demon God not only had terrifying offensive strength, his defenses were also phenomenal!

“Yun-er!”

Jiang Xiaorou’s heart stalled. She helplessly watched as the Black-armored Demon God’s lance had already stabbed into Yi Yun’s chest.

The Black-armored Demon God grinned. “You want to die with me? You aren’t worthy!”

“Ka-cha!”

The black lance pierced through Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi as it ripped like paper, leaving no suspense.

Just as it seemed like the lance was about to penetrate Yi Yun’s body…

Sou!

From Yi Yun’s dantian, a stream of light flew out and faced the Black-armored Demon God’s lance.

In that instantaneous flash, the stream of light rapidly increased in size, turning into a youth dressed in pale gold robes. The youth’s looks resembled Yi Yun greatly, like they were made from the same mold. The only difference was that his skin had a pale gold luster, like his skin had a metallic texture.

The moment the youth appeared, he welcomed the Black-armored Demon God’s lance. With a wave of his hands, a series of shiny projectiles shot out of his body. The projectiles were…flying sabers!

999 flying sabers danced through the air in a chaotic fashion, like snow had just fallen from the sky!

This was Yi Yun’s Thousand Snow Domain!

Boom!

The flying sabers clashed with the black lance, causing terrifying shock waves to burst outwards. Despite the momentum of the Black-armored Demon God’s lance reducing, it still heavily slammed into the pale gold youth’s chest.

The youth’s body quivered as he smacked the black lance before flying backward.

And at that moment, the terrifying energy in the black lance exploded out, sweeping through the surroundings. Even the enchantment that the Black-armored Demon God created burst open and collapsed!

Under such an energetic storm, Yi Yun’s body transformed into a stream of light and streaked towards the youth in pale gold robes. After Yi Yun’s body merged into the youth’s dantian, he disappeared.

Boom!

The youth was like a mountain that had been struck. His body fell, smashing through a mountain.

As gravel thundered down, it buried the youth deep underground.

What is this…?

Seeing this scene, everyone was dumbfounded.

Even Jiang Xiaorou was completely baffled. Who was the youth dressed in pale gold robes that resembled Yi Yun so much?

How was Yi Yun after withstanding that strike? Was the youth dead?

People turned extremely anxious. And at that moment, someone suddenly shouted, “Look at the Black-armored Demon God’s neck!”

With the exclamation, everyone looked over and saw the Black-armored Demon God holding his black lance in one hand, while his other hand was clasping his neck.

In between his fingers, dark red demonic blood flowed out.

He was injured!

Yi Yun’s strike had reproduced the charm of the Azure Yang Lord’s strike from back then. At that instant, he had even reached the threshold of the Heart of the Sword.

In order to let the strike’s offensive power reach its limits, Yi Yun had avoided the Black-armored Demon God’s lance beam. All his Sword Intent had surged right at the Black-armored Demon God’s weak spot!

One sword strike to seal the throat!

The Black-armored Demon God slowly removed his hand. There was a wound the thickness of a finger left behind on his neck.

Although the wound was small, it was very deep. Around the wound, his flesh was squirming, like it was attempting to fix itself.

However, there was an undying Sword Intent lingering around the wound. It was constantly tearing the wound open!

The Sword Intent was difficult to extinguish, and it constantly caused damage over time.

739 - : One Sword Strike to Seal the Throat

CKtalon  CKtalon

“That is the Azure Yang Lord’s Sword Intent… You… ”

The Black-armored Demon God’s eyes were filled with murderous intent. Although Yi Yun’s strike was extremely powerful, it was far from being able to kill him.

However, that attack had damaged the essence of his life force once again. The undying Sword Intent left behind by Yi Yun’s blade made him recall the strike that had destroyed his demonic soul tens of millions of years ago.

This made his soul sea, that was on the brink of collapse, turn even more chaotic!

And at that moment…

Boom!

The collapsed mountain exploded as rocks that weighed millions of pounds were sent flying before melting due to an intense heat wave.

A three-legged Golden Crow flew up high into the sky, and on its back, stood a youth dressed in a pale gold robe.

This youth had a cold expression, and 999 flying sabers were circling around him.

Who was he!?

The Black-armored Demon God’s lance had been weakened by that person’s saber array, but it had still managed to stab into his pale gold chest. Yet, for some inconceivable reason, he did not die!

He did not even suffer any serious injuries, at least not on the surface.

“You are… an avatar!?” The Black-armored Demon God stared at the youth with shining eyes.

For it to look identical to Yi Yun and be used as some form of enchanted treasure stored in Yi Yun’s dantian, the only thing it could be was Yi Yun’s avatar.

How did Yi Yun obtain such a powerful avatar, considering the fact that he had cultivated for less than three decades?

It had managed to endure one of his blows without dying! It was not even seriously injured!

The youth did not respond. He had clear-cut and well-defined, handsome facial features.

The robe around his chest had been pierced through by the Black-armored Demon God’s lance attack.

But now… pale gold Heaven Earth energy gathered together, which mended his robe.

The robe had a metallic feel to it and there were exquisite and mysterious-looking runes embroidered on it. Wearing it gave the youth an air of majesty, like he was a king from ancient times who had stepped foot into the rivers of time.

Swish!

A stream of light flashed as Yi Yun’s actual body flew out of the youth’s dantian.

He was holding the pure Yang broken sword in his hand. After taking a glance at the damages his avatar had received, he heaved a sigh of relief. The Draco First True Gold avatar’s defensive strength was truly impressive.

Back when Yi Yun had entered the God Advent Tower, he had passed the God Advent Tower’s tests and went to the highest level together with Lin Xintong.

There, Yi Yun had found a few paragon treasures.

One of them was the disk array controlling the God Advent Tower. After Yi Yun refined it, the God Advent Tower had become Yi Yun’s immortal residence, which he could bring along with him.

As for the second item, its value even exceeded the God Advent Tower.

It was a Cosmos Bag, and there was a seven foot stone sculpture stored in it. The sculpture were crass, but there were pure Yang Great Dao runic patterns engraved on the surface through natural processes.

After Yi Yun touched the stone sculpture, it cracked, revealing the Draco First True Gold avatar! (Yi Yun obtained the avatar in Chapter 555. As it’s been a while, you might have forgotten it)

Draco First True Gold could only be formed in extreme pure Yang lands, such as in the core of some mysterious star, through absorbing the pure Yang essence of the Heavens, Earth and the divine items of the world.

What was formerly a precious stone was refined into True Gold, and that was Draco First True Gold.

Draco First True Gold could be used to produce divine sacred weapons, and it had a value impossible to measure. What was even more valuable than Draco First True Gold was when it produced flesh and blood after spending a countless amount of time in an extreme Yang land.

From a precious stone transforming to True Gold, and from True Gold spiritually metamorphosing into a Dao body divine fetus.

Not only was its defensive strength comparable to Draco First True Gold, it could also interface with the Heaven and Earth, allowing it to gather Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. It was the epitome of a naturally formed perfect Yang body.

Back when the Azure Yang Lord received this divine item in the Sinkhole, he had planned on refining it into an avatar. However, it required a long period of time.

The Azure Yang Lord had placed the Draco First True Gold avatar at the top level of the God Advent Tower and he used the entire pagoda’s arrays to nourish the avatar, slowly refining it to take form.

Unfortunately, before the Draco First True Gold avatar took form, the Azure Yang Lord had passed on.

After tens of millions of years, when Yi Yun came to the God Advent Tower, the Draco First True Gold had already successfully taken form. Yi Yun left a spiritual imprint in the Draco First True Gold, making it his avatar.

Ever since Yi Yun came out of the God Advent Tower, the Draco First True Gold had been hidden and cultivating inside his dantian.

Yi Yun and the avatar were one and the same person. Whatever laws Yi Yun received insight on, his avatar would receive the insight as well.

After Yi Yun obtained the Thousand Snow Domain, he had given it to his Draco First True Gold avatar, letting his avatar cultivate it for use.

Back then, when Yi Yun came out of the God Advent Tower and fought in the Soul Tomb, Yi Yun was only facing Zhulong, who had yet to achieve his cultivation peak after reincarnation, so there was no need to use it. Only now, against the Black-armored Demon God, in this final showdown where Yi Yun was no match for the Black-armored Demon God, did he have to rely on the Draco First True Gold avatar, as well as the God Advent Tower.

Indeed, Yi Yun’s actual body had no means to withstand the Black-armored Demon God’s strike. That black lance would bore a hole through him easily.

However, the Draco First True Gold avatar was different. Its body was a peerless weapon in its own right. Compared to the Black-armored Demon God’s lance, it was far more stronger.

“This avatar is not something that the Tian Yuan world can have. Was it left behind by the Azure Yang Lord as well?”

The Black-armored Demon God stared at Yi Yun with scarlet eyes that protruded out slightly.

The wound on his neck emitted a wisp of black gas as the Sword Intent left behind by Yi Yun had been mostly eliminated. His wound was finally beginning to recover.

But at that moment, the Black-armored Demon God had suffered a heavy blow from both the Sacred Spirit and the two powerful arrays. Before Yi Yun came, the Black-armored Demon God’s vitality was extremely weak. It was very difficult to use that bit of vitality to heal his wounds.

The Black-armored Demon God suddenly grabbed at his armor.

Wu Wu Wu Wu!

A large number of souls were pulled out of the Black-armored Demon God’s armor and amongst them were Shentu Patriarch and Mystic Tiger Immortal’s souls!

Previously, the Black-armored Demon God had deliberately left the souls of the human Empyreal Kings aside, but now, against Yi Yun and his Draco First True Gold avatar, the Black-armored Demon God had already decided on devouring all of the remaining souls.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Shentu Patriarch and Mystic Tiger Immortal were struggling vigorously after being pulled out a second time.

They could also see Yi Yun and his Draco First True Gold avatar, and even had a general idea of the astonishing clash between Yi Yun and the Black-armored Demon God!

However, they could not be bothered to understand why Yi Yun possessed such terrifying power because their lives were in danger!

“Hu!”

The Black-armored Demon God sucked in a large batch of souls through his mouth. One could hear the sad and shrill wails as the souls were devoured.

The pain derived from having their souls devoured was an agony that no human could endure.

Seeing that they were about to be sucked into the Black-armored Demon God’s mouth, Shentu Patriarch and Mystic Tiger Immortal felt despair as they screamed crazily.

“Yi Yun! Save me!”

“Save me!”

Mystic Tiger Immortal and Shentu Patriarch were on the brink of collapse, yet Yi Yun did not make a move. Despite Yi Yun not having any feelings of pity towards the two of them, Yi Yun naturally did not want to see the Black-armored Demon God recover.

Unfortunately, at the moment that the Black-armored Demon God devoured this souls, he had already set up a force field to protect himself. To destroy that force field in a short period of time? Difficult!

740 - : Draco True Avatar

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Wu Wu Wu… ”

The tragic wails of souls echoed as Mystic Tiger Immortal and Shentu Patriarch were both sucked into the Black-armored Demon God’s mouth. They didn’t even get to struggle as their souls were completely destroyed.

On the Human and Desolate race front, they shuddered seeing this scene. These legendary human figures had died an extremely tragic death.

After devouring the souls of human Empyreal Kings, blue veins began to bulge out of the Black-armored Demon God’s forehead. His eyes were like that of a wild beast, as his soul sea became even more chaotic.

Yi Yun quietly watched all of this as the Black-armored Demon God received damage after damage. In addition to him overdrawing on his life essence several times, it moved his life closer and closer to its end. If all this went well , the final straw that broke the camel’s back would appear.

As for Yi Yun, he just needed to hold out till that straw appeared, causing the Black-armored Demon God’s life force to collapse, resulting in his complete destruction!

“Die!” The Black-armored Demon God said this word through gritted teeth as he forcefully brandished his lance.

Swish!

The world turned dark as rays of light were distorted. The Spatial dimensional forces instantly turned chaotic.

Spatial dimension laws?

People were alarmed because up to now, the Black-armored Demon God had almost never used laws. His offensive strikes were always simple stabs or sweeps. It was probably because there was no need for him to use laws.

But now, the Black-armored Demon God had conjured up the spatial dimension power, and the power began to envelope the pale golden robed Yi Yun.

He wanted to separate Yi Yun’s actual body from his avatar!

Once his avatar was separated, Yi Yun’s actual body had no way to withstand the Black-armored Demon God’s frontal assault.

Seal!

As space began to seal, Yi Yun’s heart sank. With a flash of his body, before the space enclosed fully, he charged into his avatar’s dantian! Naturally, he would not allow his actual body to be separated from his avatar by the Black-armored Demon God.

“Twang!”

As the lance moved forward, it was augmented by spatial dimensional forces. As the ground and mountains got twisted by the distortions of space itself, they began to crack and crumble.

The Black-armored Demon God’s strike was aimed straight at the middle of the Draco First True Gold avatar’s eyebrows!

Sha! Sha! Sha!

The Thousand Snow flying sabers flew out of the avatar’s dantian. The 999 flying sabers merged as one, and they stabbed at the Black-armored Demon God’s lance.

However, the Black-armored Demon God’s lance was too powerful, and with it augmented by spatial dimensional forces, it was not something that the Thousand Snow Domain could withstand.

Boom!

A gigantic energy explosion happened as a storm stirred up, concealing the sky and sun. Nearly all the rays of light were swallowed by it, as it became an empty, black void.

“Careful!”

The Human and Desolate race warriors were terrified of this storm.

In front of the Black-armored Demon God, they were just too weak.

To prevent further harm, the Human and Desolate race Empyreal Kings set up enchanted seals to block the storm.

And at that moment, the Black-armored Demon God’s lance had struck the Draco First True Gold avatar!

With a violent tremor, the avatar flew backward as it spat out a mouthful of blood. Even though it had a Draco First True Gold body, it too had received a great deal of damage after receiving two consecutive heavy strikes!

“Refine!”

The Black-armored Demon God struck out a second time as spatial dimensional forces shot out and directly enveloped the Draco First True Gold avatar. The avatar which, had flown backward, was like a bug stuck to a spider’s web. It was restricted midair by the spatial dimensional forces!

“Ding!”

The Thousand Snow flying sabers began to slash at the spatial dimensional forces, severing the chains formed from spatial laws. However, even more spatial dimensional energy surged over, and like a massive net, there was nowhere for him to escape to.

“No matter how many treasures you have, without the strength supporting them, it will still be useless!”

The Black-armored Demon God was in control of Yi Yun’s avatar. A gigantic black hand was conjured as it tried to grab the spiritual sea of Yi Yun’s avatar!

The gigantic black hand had a sinister and cold air to it. There were ghastly wails emitted from it, and it was full of a killing aura.

“Yi Yun, careful, he is trying to wipe away your avatar’s spiritual imprint!”

Amidst the storm, the Sanctuary Island’s Island Lord shouted, so as to warn Yi Yun.

Although the Draco First True Gold avatar’s defensive strength was crazily strong, it still needed to be controlled by Yi Yun. If its spiritual sea was torn apart, then the spiritual imprint left behind on the Draco First True Gold avatar would be forcefully wiped away by the Black-armored Demon God. If that happened, not only would Yi Yun suffer a serious blow to his spiritual being, the Draco First True Gold avatar would also become ownerless and the Black-armored Demon God could control!

Then, Yi Yun, who was still hiding in the Draco First True Gold avatar’s dantian, would have obvious consequences!

As the avatar was already restricted by the Black-armored Demon God, the gigantic black hand was just in front of his eyes. It would strike in just an instant!

And at that moment…

“Boom!”

There was a tumultuous sound, like the nine heavens had collapsed. A divine pagoda came crashing down from the sky, right at the Black-armored Demon God!

Oh!?

The Black-armored Demon God’s facial expression sank. The God Advent Tower was a mobile treasure that the Azure Yang Lord brought from the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Its offensive strength was too horrifying, so even though it could not display a hundredth of its power, it was enough to injure him.

The Black-armored Demon God, who had already been severely injured, would be pushed to the brink of collapse if he received the God Advent Tower’s strike.

If the Black-armored Demon God carried on attacking the avatar, it would take at least a few seconds to wipe out Yi Yun’s spiritual imprint. By then, the God Advent Tower would have long smashed onto his body.

“Scram!”

His black lance stabbed upwards, striking the base of the God Advent Tower.

“Ka-cha!”

The lance quivered violently as the impact from the God Advent Tower caused it to bend. The Black-armored Demon God had used a lance to forcefully withstand the God Advent Tower!

Whew!

At that moment, a white figure charged out of the God Advent Tower, as icy-blue snowflakes suddenly appeared in the sky, fluttering beautifully through the sky.

With a sword in hand, Lin Xintong slashed down from top to bottom!

A white sword beam came crashing downwards like a thousand foot waterfall!

The Black-armored Demon God’s pupils constricted as all the muscles on his body bulged!

“Ha!”

He roared out loudly as his bulging muscles began to crack. All of the Black-armored Demon God’s energy exploded as he swung his lance, causing the black lance to bend back into shape. The God Advent Tower was deflected upwards by the lance!

The Black-armored Demon God had used his terrifying strength to fling the God Advent Tower away!

This scene made people shudder. The Black-armored Demon God was too terrifying. Yi Yun, who had the Draco First True Gold avatar and God Advent Tower, was fully suppressed in front of the Black-armored Demon God, and he was in critical condition!

“Die!”

The Black-armored Demon God was covered in blood. After he flung the God Advent Tower away, he did not even manage to take a breather, as he charged straight at Lin Xintong!

Just flinging the God Advent Tower away had drained a great deal of the Black-armored Demon God’s energy. Having used up most of his energy, he did not have the momentum any further. He was at his weakest, but even so…

“Peng Peng Peng!”

The lance stabbed forward as white sword beams began to shatter in sequence. The thousands of snowflakes fluttering in the sky were also shattered as the black lance was aimed straight at Lin Xintong’s neck.

Lin Xintong’s black pupils reflected the cold lance tip. At the moment of life and death, she remained extremely calm as she circulated the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ to its limits. Pure Yin began to surged in her terminated meridians!

The full power of the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ could only be released by Lin Xintong with her pure Yin and terminated meridians!

Cha! Cha! Cha!

Her sword came surging down like a blanketing snow storm, clashing with the black lance time and time again. It cut the Black-armored Demon God’s flesh open, and at the same time, Lin Xintong quickly retreated!

Lin Xintong’s ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ was also no match for the Black-armored Demon God.

741 - : Sword Strikes like Fluttering Snowflakes

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Black-armored Demon God was indomitable. As his muscles were bombarded by Lin Xintong’s sword Qi, the sword Qi were shattered relentlessly. His black lance was locked onto Lin Xintong as it drew closer to her!

And at the same time, the God Advent Tower was being restrained by the Black-armored Demon God using spatial dimensional forces. The Black-armored Demon God feared the divine pagoda. While battling Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, he had to divert a large portion of energy to restrain the God Advent Tower. If not, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong could hide in the God Advent Tower at any moment. He would then have to expend a great deal of life force just to completely drain the God Advent Tower’s arrays of their energy.

He withstood the sword Qi as his damaged body was still draining his life force. But even so, he still wanted to kill Lin Xintong in one fell shot!

As long as he killed either Lin Xintong or Yi Yun, then the other would be much easier to kill.

However, how could Yi Yun sit idle and watch Lin Xintong being killed?

Xiao—

The Golden Crow screeched forward with Yi Yun standing on its back!

The Draco First True Gold avatar was injured and Yi Yun had stored it in his dantian. Now, Yi Yun was pointing the pure Yang broken sword straight at the Black-armored Demon God!

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had no means to have a frontal clash with the Black-armored Demon God. Their hearts were telepathically connected, so with both of them tying him down, they enjoyed great teamwork!

“Hmph!”

The Black-armored Demon God sneered. He knew what was on Yi Yun’s mind. Yi Yun planned on using that strike to force him to defend, hence, saving Lin Xintong.

The Black-armored Demon God knew that if he were to stop his attack to respond to Yi Yun, Lin Xintong would be out of danger, then he would have endured Lin Xintong’s sword Qi for nothing.

Just Lin Xintong alone wasn’t much trouble, but with the God Advent Tower and with Yi Yun and his avatar combining forces with Lin Xintong, leaving Lin Xintong alive would spell disaster for the future.

He decided to kill Lin Xintong, even at the cost of being struck by Yi Yun’s sword!

With his mind made up, the Black-armored Demon God’s black lance did not lose any momentum!

Upon seeing this scene, the Human and Desolate race warriors, especially the Lin family, felt their hearts shrink. The Black-armored Demon God had decided on killing Lin Xintong, and for Yi Yun’s strike, so what if it landed on the Black-armored Demon God? He could not save Lin Xintong at all, and it probably would be very difficult for it deal any serious damage to the Black-armored Demon God!

The Black-armored Demon God completely ignored Yi Yun and just as Lin Xintong’s life was on the line, Yi Yun held his breath. His eyes flashed with phenomenological images of the growth of thousands of living beings, and the withering of plants.

“Whew!”

A piece of deadwood shot out of Yi Yun’s Dantain. It was the Death Soulwood!

The Death Soulwood flew up into the sky and behind Yi Yun, a phantom image of a divine tree condensed.

The divine tree looked lush initially, but then it instantly dried up. As a countless number of leaves fell, they looked like butterflies of death.

Withering… The falling of leaves was withering, the drying up of trees was withering and the death of people was also withering…

Yi Yun injected the Withering concepts that he understood from the Pure Yang Sword Palace into his sword. This was the first Sword Dao that Yi Yun created for himself!

Withering Sword Dao. Withering with a single sword strike!

Yi Yun’s blade aimed straight at the Black-armored Demon God’s eyebrows.

The strike contained an air of death and withering, but on the surface, it did not look like anything special. Even the sword Qi was very stable and calm, like it did not possess any lethality.

“Oh? You think of harming me without using the Azure Yang Lord’s Sword Intent?”

The Black-armored Demon God grinned. Tens of millions of years ago, he had nearly been destroyed by the Azure Yang Lord’s attack. He feared the Azure Yang Lord’s Sword Intent the most.

As for a Sword Dao created by Yi Yun himself, he was not worried about it at all.

Boom!

All of Lin Xintong’s Sword Qi was shattered by the lance, and Lin Xintong’s slim body quivered vigorously. Her face was pale as she looked at the storm swept up by the black lance that was about to annihilate her completely. And at that moment, Yi Yun’s sword had reached the Black-armored Demon God’s head.

The sword tip tapped lightly in the middle of his eyebrows, like it was a strike that could not deal any damage.

Weng!

The Withering concept burst out, like it was a bleak autumn scene. It flowed from the middle of the Black-armored Demon God’s eyebrows straight into his soul sea.

Although it looked like a weak bundle of energy, the moment it entered his soul sea, the Black-armored Demon God’s life force rapidly withered!

Oh!? The Black-armored Demon God was alarmed.

The Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea was already on the brink of collapse, and he was currently at his weakest. A weak life force was just like a withering tree.

At that moment, the Black-armored Demon God was like a blighted piece of wood. If he experienced the withering of his life, the damage would increase even more.

It was an extremely rare concept, created by Yi Yun himself. Even the Black-armored Demon God had never experienced it before. Hence, he was momentarily at a loss as to how to dissolve it.

As his spiritual energies were rapidly disappearing, the Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea was drying up and shrinking. The excruciating pain made the Black-armored Demon God let out a blood-curling scream.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

He clenched his head, while his body shot out like a meteor. He was struggling violently, trying to dissolve the Withering concept that Yi Yun had shot into his soul sea.

And at that moment, the surging storm was still in front of Lin Xintong!

After losing the Black-armored Demon God as its energy source, the storm was much weaker, but Lin Xintong alone, would find it very difficult to withstand it.

Yi Yun gathered his Yuan Qi as the Draco First True Gold avatar, which was injured, shot out of his dantian.

999 flying sabers shuttled through the void as the Thousand Snow Domain came crashing down, creating a spiraling flying saber tornado!

Lin Xintong also bit the tip of her tongue and circulated the ’Great Empress Heart Sutra’, forcefully striking out.

With the Thousand Snow Domain and Lin Xintong’s fluttering snowflakes combined, they harmoniously broke the Black-armored Demon God’s storm apart.

Yi Yun took the opportunity to charge forward and grab Lin Xintong by the waist. The two of them passed through the void in a sideways fashion, finally dodging the core of the storm.

Boom!

The storm exploded, while Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were already far away from it. Although they experienced a portion of the aftermath, they did not receive any serious injuries.

The Black-armored Demon God’s attack was too terrifying. Even if they had used all that they had, just experiencing one of his attacks put them into such a pathetic state, with their lives on the line.

“Black-armored Demon God… ”

Yi Yun glanced at the Black-armored Demon God, and he saw him holding his black lance in one hand, while his other hand was grabbing his head. He seemed like he was in a frenzy!

The withering that began from his soul sea was equivalent to the blighting of his soul. It was an inhuman torture for the Black-armored Demon God, who didn’t have much life force left.

Pain that came from the soul was difficult to bear. Previously, the legendary human figures, who had their souls absorbed by the Black-armored Demon God, had experienced a similar pain. Now it was the Black-armored Demon God’s turn to experience it.

“Ah… ”

The frenzied Black-armored Demon God slashed out with his lance, as the few remaining blood clouds in the sky were swept up. A storm began to wantonly brew in the clouds, while snakes of lightning flashed.

The entire world seemed like it was torn apart by this void, as mountains began to crumble. The Desolate race’s protective array began to shatter like flaking pieces of paper. There were Human and Desolate race warriors, who were too close to the fallout, that were torn into shreds.

Under such power, lives with weak strength were just ants.

“Xintong, let us attack together!”

He had to take advantage of the Demon God’s perilous situation! At that moment, Yi Yun could not care about those young warriors of the Human and Desolate race who fell victim to the storm. With the Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea in chaos, slashing out that lance attack meant that he had just finished his move and having used up his energy, he was at his weakest. This was the best opportunity to kill the Black-armored Demon God!

742 - : Withering with a single sword strike

CKtalon  CKtalon

As Yi Yun and Lin Xintong combined forces, the Yin and Yang energies in their bodies blended together. Because of them combining forces, the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ experienced a harmonious reconciliation, resulting in a qualitative change in strength.

As the starlight showered down from the nine heavens, they flowed onto Lin Xintong’s sword. As pure Yang flames surged, Yi Yun imbued the pure Yang broken sword with the flames. The entire Divine Wilderness’ Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was, at that moment, surging turbulently over.

Swords used in unison!

Weng!

The two swords tore through the Heavens and Earth, as they slashed at the Black-armored Demon God at the same time!

The Black-armored Demon God, who was currently suffering from his chaotic soul sea, surprisingly did not block or dodge the two strikes. The blades slashed across his body, as his muscles cracked apart, leaving two dreadful gashes!

As blood splattered, the Black-armored Demon God’s eyes turned ferocious.

“The both of you are not strong enough to kill me!” The Black-armored Demon God suddenly roared. Ignoring the blood oozing out of his body, he turned around suddenly and threw his black lance at Yi Yun, who was flying backward after having successfully attacked.

Whew!

The black lance was like a black, punishing lightning bolt from a god. It tore through the void, as it shot straight at Yi Yun’s back where his heart was!

This lance was formidable, as it was injected with all of the Black-armored Demon God’s strength. The terrifying penetrating force seemed like even the Tian Yuan world could be penetrated with just this one strike!

There was no way that Yi Yun could resist it with his body. Even the Draco First True Gold avatar would be severely injured if it resisted this attack, whatmore Yi Yun himself!

And at that moment, the Draco First True Gold avatar had previously used the Thousand Snow Domain to tear the spatial dimension storm apart. It was still a good distance away from Yi Yun himself, so there was no time for it to return to save Yi Yun.

As for the God Advent Tower, it had been bound by the spatial dimensional forces that the Black-armored Demon God produced before. There was no way that Yi Yun could hide inside it.

He had to face the strike directly!

The black lance contained an extremely terrifying ‘forcefield’. It had locked on to everything, so there was no way to dodge as such a powerful forcefield couldn’t be broken through. Even if he broke through, it would be too late!

Yi Yun!

The black lance came flying at him like a divine arrow of death. People held their breaths as they saw this scene unfold in front of them. The Black-armored Demon God had even thrown his weapon. In a battle between warriors, it was taboo to let go of one’s weapon. Once it was let go, it meant that that person was going for broke!

Who could withstand a strike from the Black-armored Demon God when he was going for broke!?

The Human and Desolate race warriors tightened their hearts. Jiang Xiaorou’s heart stopped beating, and as for Lin Xintong who was right beside Yi Yun, she could only watch helplessly. Similarly, she had been bound by the ’forcefield’, so there was nothing she could do. Lin Xintong, who was usually calm, felt extremely anxious at that moment. Her watery eyes were filled with worry and fear. She could not imagine Yi Yun dying.

In a split second!

Against this strike, Yi Yun’s heart turned cold as death approached!

At this point in time, he could only take a gamble.

He twisted his body and he faced the black lance head on. With the pure Yang broken sword in his hand, a green beam flew out of his dantian!

It was a leaf.

A tiny tree leaf that was an inch in size was in no way eye-catching. The tree leaf’s surface was interlaced with rows of runic patterns that contained the Great Dao of the world.

It was the Dao Tree’s leaf.

Billions of years ago, at the birth of the Universe, the Dao Tree had been born out of Chaos. Its existence preceded the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner.

The Dao Tree’s 3000 Dao Leaves represented 3000 Great Dao. On every Dao Leaf, it was a sublimation of the way of the Heavenly Dao, as such, this Dao Tree was itself like a God.

A green leaf that seemed negligible moved towards the indomitable black lance.

“Boom!”

The black lance struck the middle of the Dao Leaf!

It was a collision with unbalanced proportions. People did not realize what the black lance had collided with at the beginning. Only when the black lance’s forcefield weaken, like it had crashed into a divine mountain, did people realize that there was a leaf at the tip of the lance!

A leaf managed to withstand the Black-armored Demon God’s lance!?

Rumble! Black lightning flashed as spatial dimensional forces surged. All of the Black-armored Demon God’s energy had surged out, as the unassailable lance was like a black flood dragon, forcefully charging forwards.

As for the Dao Leaf, there was Dao and Truth interweaved with Heaven and Earth laws. The profound divine runes interleaved to form a large net that resisted the black lance’s momentum.

For peerless mighty figures, a grain of sand could suppress the land, while a tree leaf could cover the skies!

To do all of this required Heaven and Earth laws.

“Buzz——”

The nomological net deformed as mysterious and profound runes began to imprint themselves on the cold lance.

“What!?”

The Black-armored Demon God was alarmed. He did not know where Yi Yun had obtained that leaf. Although he was well-learned, he had never seen a Dao Tree born during the time of Chaos.

He only knew that the leaf was extraordinary!

“You want to stop me with just a leaf?”

The Black-armored Demon God roared as all his muscles began to split outwards. His long hair began to flare up behind him.

He flew towards the black lance and he wanted to punch at the lance’s pole, so it could shatter the nomological net completely!

However, at that moment, Yi Yun’s avatar rushed over with the Thousand Snow flying sabers. Under the Thousand Snow Domain, there were countless numbers of saber flashes that resembled snow.

At the same time, Lin Xintong also began to brandish her sword, causing snow lotuses to bloom mid air!

Lin Xintong along with Yi Yun’s avatar slashed the spatial dimension forces that bound the God Advent Tower apart!

Boom!

With the God Advent Tower released from its shackles, it started suppressing straight away like a divine mountain, smashing right at the Black-armored Demon God!

At the instant that the God Advent Tower was smashed downwards, Yi Yun rapidly retreated with all his might. Although the Dao Leaf’s nomological properties were intricate, Yi Yun had to expend energy to power the Dao Leaf. Similarly, the God Advent Tower required Yi Yun’s energy as well!

By using two paragon treasures consecutively, Yi Yun felt like his life force was being completely drained!

“Be defeated!” Yi Yun roared angrily. He knew that the Black-armored Demon God’s life force was nearing on collapse, but his situation was not much better than the Black-armored Demon God’s. He was much weaker than the Black-armored Demon God, and to power such powerful laws and treasures, his Yuan Qi was being depleted like a broken dam.

His cultivation level was limited after all. With such a cultivation level and such excessive expenditure of his energy, even with the Purple Crystal Origins constantly absorbing Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to replenish his energies, he was also on the brink of being completely exhausted.

He had to quickly defeat the Black-armored Demon God, if not, the first to not hold out would be Yi Yun himself!

Boom!

With the lance no longer in hand, the Black-armored Demon God had no weapons to use. To everyone’s surprise, he used his large arms that were like tempered divine metal to forcefully hug the God Advent Tower’s base!

As the God Advent Tower came suppressing downwards, the impact was unrivalled. As the Black-armored Demon God hugged the God Advent Tower, he slammed heavily into the ground!

Seeing the Black-armored Demon God being struck down, the Human and Desolate race warriors felt their hearts beat loudly while their blood boiled.

He had managed to parry it!

Yi Yun had managed to parry the Black-armored Demon God’s invulnerable strike, and he had powered the God Advent Tower to slam him downwards!

“Everyone, attack!” The Sanctuary Island couple shouted.

They could tell that it was already extremely difficult for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to do all of this. They had to take this opportunity to help Yi Yun. This was also the best opportunity for them to strike the Black-armored Demon God!

743 - : A Leaf to Cover the Skies!

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Sanctuary Island couple flew high into the sky as the other legendary human figures followed closely behind. They once again began to power the Cosmic Infinite Array, by burning and consuming their blood essence!

They had expended too much of their energies, and only by burning their blood essence and life force could they have the strength to attack the Black-armored Demon God.

At that moment, even though they knew that overdrawing their life force would cause irreparable harm to themselves, and might even decrease their cultivation realm, these legendary figures could no longer care about that.

If they didn’t kill the Black-armored Demon God, they would all die. Their heritage, their families and race would all be finished.

At the same time as the human experts attacked, the Desolate race’s Empyreal Kings, including Shepherd Boy and the former Desolate Queen, attacked as well. They powered the God Confining Lock once again as burning blood and Qi shot up into sky.

After this strike, they would definitely have their cultivation realms greatly reduced, but this was the only opportunity to kill the Black-armored Demon God, hence their desperate actions.

The God Advent Tower came crashing from above, while the human and Desolate race’s Empyreal Kings released a strike at the cost of burning their life forces.

“Boom!”

Energy surged as it exploded in midair. It was like the sun had descended down onto the mortal realm, causing the Divine Wilderness’ lands to crater inwards, as millions of tons of rock were evaporated instantly by the energy’s high temperature.

The void was torn apart, and just the resulting shockwave alone was terrifying. It caused the attacking Human and Desolate race Empyreal Kings to suffer broken meridians and ruptured organs.

They were seriously wounded, and many of them were nearing the limits of their vitality. This strike had greatly reduced their lifespans.

This was a strike that combined the strength of the Human and Desolate race, all for one last desperate struggle!

They were already left without any power to carry on fighting, so this strike had to kill the Black-armored Demon God.

Up in the air, Yi Yun’s energy was severely depleted. As for Lin Xintong, she had been injured by the Black-armored Demon God, and she was no longer able to participate in the battle.

Boom!

The God Advent Tower slammed into the ground, forming a huge crater as the pagoda bore deep underground. The suppressive force of the God Advent Tower was immense, as it broke through the lithosphere, causing magma to spew out!

Yi Yun’s face was pale. After having to engage in intense battles again and again, especially having used the Dao Leaf, he had used a law that far exceeded his present cultivation realm. This drained too much energy. Now, he was using the Purple Crystal to rapidly absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi so as to recover his energy. However, he could no longer control the God Advent Tower for the time being.

Yi Yun using the God Advent Tower was like a child swinging a giant axe around. Although the power was immense, Yi Yun was still unable to fully wield it after all. Every time he attacked with the God Advent Tower, it would drain a tremendous amount of energy.

Now, half the pagoda was immersed in magma, and Yi Yun could not easily summon it back. However, his connection with the God Advent Tower was still crystal clear. As long as he recovered a bit more Yuan Qi, he would be able to retrieve the God Advent Tower.

However, the main problem was… the Black-armored Demon God!

Everyone was looking at the gaping hole in the ground. Its diameter stretched hundreds of thousand feet out, and looking far into the distance, the hole stretched all the way to the limits of their vision. Amidst all this was a faint blood-colored smoke lingering around the hole.

At the bottom of the gigantic pit, there was flowing magma. The magnificient God Advent Tower was now half submerged into the magna, and only the top levels could be seen.

Was the Black-armored Demon God dead?

People held their breaths. If the Black-armored Demon God did not die, they really had no idea how they were going to carry on fighting.

“Bloop!”

Gases emerged out of the magma, forming dark red magma bubbles as they burst one by one.

Everyone’s heart tightened as they stared intently at the magma’s surface.

As the bubbles increased in number, they also increased in size as an intense amount of killing aura began to surge out of the magma.

Everyone’s heart sank. Was the Black-armored Demon God not dead yet?

Yi Yun tightened his grip on the pure Yang broken sword, as his gaze landed on the magma lake like two electric beams.

“Boom!”

The magma lake exploded as a stalwart man, who was covered in blood, charged out. His muscles were ruptured, while his armor had cracked. The flesh on his two arms were mangled, while one could see a bloodied bone in his forearm. It could be said that he no longer looked human.

Black-armored Demon God! He was still alive!?

The Black-armored Demon God had only one eye left. His blood-red eye was filled with a chaotic and violent killing aura, as his gaze swept across everyone present. He said with a slur, “Die… Die… All of you shall die!”

People felt despair. They had attacked him at the cost of falling a cultivation realm, yet it was ineffective against such an enemy. They had lost all morale.

The Black-armored Demon God suddenly looked at Jiang Xiaorou.

His gaze was surging with a hint of greed.

“Blood… give your blood to me!”

The Black-armored Demon God stretched his hand with the revealed bone out. He wanted to grab Jiang Xiaorou and suck her dry of her blood so as he could recover his strength!

The Black-armored Demon God was very close to collapsing!

“Die!”

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun shouted from high up in the sky. His actual body held the pure Yang broken sword, while the Thousand Snow flying sabers were circulating around the Draco First True Gold avatar!

He and his avatar each wielded sword and saber weapons respectively, as they transformed into a gold and pale gold energy stream.

Sword and saber beams poured down from the sky!

At that moment, Yi Yun consumed all his energy and he decided to go for broke, risking his life on it!

“Roar!”

An angry growl, that sounded like a primordial beast, roared from the Black-armored Demon God’s chest. It did not sound anything like that a human could produce.

The terrifying sound waves burst out in all directions, as the magma lake exploded!

The Black-armored Demon God had already lost his lance, so he clenched his fist and punched at Yi Yun!

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

The Black-armored Demon God punched at Yi Yun at the risk of falling apart!

Although it was a strike from a spent force, with him using all his strength, the power was comparable to him attacking with his lance from before!

No one could withstand the Black-armored Demon God’s direct blow!

However, at that moment, Yi Yun remained resolute and he appeared to have no fear!

Boom!

The saber and sword beams collided with the Black-armored Demon God’s fist beam!

The magma began to churn as the land cratered once again. A terrifying shock wave radiated out, leaving destruction in its wake.

The immense recoil caused Yi Yun’s arms to fracture!

Ka-cha!

Yi Yun’s right hand, which was holding to his sword, was now bending in a peculiar angle. However, the fist’s momentum did not decrease, and slammed straight at Yi Yun’s sternum!

And at that instant, the Draco First True Gold avatar flashed in front of Yi Yun, withstanding most of the impact for Yi Yun.

Even so, Yi Yun’s sternum was fractured, damaging his heart and lungs. If not for the Draco First True Gold avatar, Yi Yun would probably have died right there and then!

Yi Yun flew backward as he spat out a mouthful of blood!

His sword had tapped on the Black-armored Demon God’s forehead, while the avatar’s saber had stabbed at the Black-armored Demon God’s heart.

The combined attack of the 999 flying sabers may have lacerated the Black-armored Demon God’s heavily damaged body, but it still failed to penetrate his body.

As for the pure Yang broken sword, the wound left behind by the strike was even shallower. The defensive strength of the Black-armored Demon God’s skull was much stronger than his chest muscles.

“You can’t kill me!”

The Black-armored Demon God was in a frenzied state. On his forehead, the spot where Yi Yun pricked with his sword did not have much blood flowing out. However, strangely, there was a strand of black gas condensing around it, before it slowly sank into the wound…

This strand of black gas seemed to be even more sinister than the Black-armored Demon God’s killing aura…

744 - : One Final Desperate Attempt

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun knew that his final strike would not be able to penetrate the Black-armored Demon God’s skill, hence he had added the ’evil energy’ that the Purple Crystal controlled on the sword.

This evil energy had entered the Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea at the moment Yi Yun pricked him!

Ever since Yi Yun entered the Heavenly Dao Union, and took control over Shentu Nantian’s corpse, the evil energy had once again been in Yi Yun’s control.

The evil energy was adept at devouring and possessing souls. Back then, it had devoured the masked man, allowing Yi Yun to make the masked man his puppet and read his memories, eventually destroying Blood Moon’s ‘Blackstone Trials’ plans.

Back then, the evil energy had grown a lot. After that, in Blood Moon’s Soul Tomb, Yi Yun had used the evil energy to devour all the sleeping Yin specters!

After devouring so many Yin specters, the evil energy was greatly enhanced.

Of course, no matter how much the evil energy had grown, trying to use it to devour the Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea was wishful thinking.

But it was different now. The Black-armored Demon God was a spent force, and his soul sea had reached the brink of collapse multiple times, and he had suffered heavy blows.

At that moment, the relatively weak evil energy was the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

Yi Yun had resorted to using the God Advent Tower, the Draco First True Gold, the Death Soulwood and the Dao Tree’s Dao Leaf. He had used every means he had, yet he failed to kill the Black-armored Demon God, but he had managed to push him to the point of being a flickering candle in the wind. Finally, the evil energy, that was best at devouring souls, had been injected into the Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea!

Yi Yun flew backward in an uncontrollable fashion. There were sounds of his bones cracking all over his body as his muscles ruptured, splattering blood everywhere!

Yi Yun could no longer attack anymore!

“Die!” The Black-armored Demon God was like a mad demon as he lifted his fist, in preparation to chase after Yi Yun.

Everyone’s heart sank when they saw this. It’s over!

Yi Yun was flying backward with no strength left to fight. And although the Black-armored Demon God looked heavily injured, he still had a surging killing aura, there was no question about the difference in strength.

Probably that one hit would kill Yi Yun, who had no way of defending himself!

And they would be killed following that!

Despair!

Everyone felt despair rise up their hearts. Was today the end of the world?

Just as everyone felt a deep sense of despair, the Black-armored Demon God, who was flying towards Yi Yun at a high speed, suddenly trembled, before he sank downwards abruptly. He nearly fell into the magma lake.

“Ah Ah Ah!” The Black-armored Demon God suddenly screamed.

His attack on Yi Yun stopped as a result as he felt like his head was about to burst apart!

The Black-armored Demon God could sense a dark energy squirming in his soul sea and biting at it!

This energy was devouring his soul power, and combining it into its own strength.

Yi Yun!

What did he just do!?

The Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea was already on the brink of collapse, and it was just a mess of fragments.

Now, the evil energy was inside his soul sea, biting at it, immediately causing his soul sea, that was about to collapse, to begin stirring.

The pain coming from one’s soul sea was a thousand times worse than physical pain. Even the Black-armored Demon God found it unbearable.

“Get out! Get the hell out!” The Black-armored Demon God’s eye was blood red, as his twisted expression writhed in pain. He began waving his fist randomly, attempting to force the evil energy inside his soul sea out. However, that energy was like a maggot. Although it was much weaker than his soul power, it was extremely cunning. It sank deep into his soul sea, and bit on it, refusing to come out!

Although tigers were strong, sometimes an extremely small parasite that drilled into their brains, would make them fall into madness!

“Dissipate! Dissipate! Dissipate!”

The Black-armored Demon God roared as he tried to dissipate the evil energy. However, every time he used his soul power, his soul sea would crumble a bit more. If this went on, his soul would collapse, leading to his death before he dissipated the evil energy.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Space surrounding the Black-armored Demon God began to rip apart as surging energy swept up into a storm.

At that moment, anyone who approached the Black-armored Demon God would be instantly annihilated into dust.

“What’s wrong with the Black-armored Demon God?”

The Human and Desolate race warriors had seen that Yi Yun seriously injured, while the Black-armored Demon God was chasing him for the kill. They thought everything was over.

But now, there was a twist, as the aggressive Black-armored Demon God had suddenly fell into great pain.

“He has received an attack on his soul sea.” The Sanctuary Island Lord said.

He was extremely sensitive in his spiritual perception. He did not know what Yi Yun had done, but he could sense how unstable the Black-armored Demon God’s mental situation was.

“An attack on his soul sea? Yi Yun has such means?”

“Has the situation reversed?”

Everyone held their breaths as they stared intently at the Black-armored Demon God. At that moment, they were already too weak to fight. Yi Yun and Lin Xintong could no longer launch any more attacks either. Everything depended on whether the Black-armored Demon God’s soul would collapse.

Yi Yun managed to stop his body not far away. As he held on, his eyes focused on the Black-armored Demon God. Indeed, he was too weak to carry on fighting at that moment. He had staked everything on the evil energy.

Suddenly, the Black-armored Demon God raised his head in extreme agony. His fervent gaze locked onto Yi Yun.

“You!”

Then he charged right at Yi Yun again, before screaming in excruciating pain once again.

The evil energy was being controlled by Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal, so it began to devour the Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea at an even faster pace.

“Damn it! Damn it!”

The Black-armored Demon God wished that he could tear Yi Yun apart.

He felt his soul sea was in extreme chaos once again. Under this situation, he would not be able to hold on.

There was only one way to dissipate the evil energy. He had to let his soul sea enter a slumber.

Only by entering a slumber would he be able to summon powerful soul power to slowly repair the injuries to his soul sea. Only then, would he be able to devour the black energy.

And this process would not take long. It would take a few decades only.

However, after he entered a slumber, he would lose touch of the external world, and lose the ability to protect himself.

When that happened, even those so-called legendary figures of the puny members of the Human and Desolate race would be able to kill him bit by bit, let alone Yi Yun.

“To think a bunch of ants wants to kill me. Such wishful thinking!”

How could the Black-armored Demon God let these ants bit him to death, considering his esteemed life?

He needed to enter slumber, but he too needed to protect himself.

There was no time left. He had to enter slumber immediately!

The remaining energy he had left was to protect his slumbering body. If he wanted to kill Yi Yun, with Yi Yun controlling the evil energy to give him a backlash, they might end up dying together!

“Ah!”

With a roar, the Black-armored Demon God suddenly punched out.

In the empty void, profound laws appeared as it gathered on the Black-armored Demon God’s fist.

A black crack tore open beneath the Black-armored Demon God’s fist.

This was another dimension. It had been punched open by the Black-armored Demon God through the use of spatial dimensional laws.

745 - : Spatial Seal

CKtalon  CKtalon

Once this alternate dimension closed, although it was located in the Tian Yuan world, no one would be able to locate it, unless there was someone who had a deeper mastery of spatial dimension laws than the Black-armored Demon God.

However, it was impossible for there to be such a person in the Tian Yuan world.

Amongst them, the person who knew spatial dimension laws the most didn’t even have 0.01% of the Black-armored Demon God’s comprehension.

The Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea could no longer withstand the evil energy ingestion. He had to immediately enter a slumbering state, and before that, he planned on entering this space, sealing him in it, so he could protect his body.

These puny humans could still live a little longer while he entered his slumber.

“Be sealed together with me!” The Black-armored Demon God endured the pain from his chaotic thoughts, and grabbed at Yi Yun.

The spatial crack behind the Black-armored Demon God was increasing in size, like a giant mouth. It locked the surrounding space!

And at that moment, Yi Yun and the Black-armored Demon God were both above the magma lake, and Yi Yun felt like he was about to be sucked into the spatial wormhole!

He was seriously wounded and he had no way to break free from the spatial wormhole. The Black-armored Demon God’s attainment in spatial dimension laws far exceeded Yi Yun’s.

As the spatial crack expanded rapidly, it pulled at Yi Yun.

There was no way to escape!

Yi Yun felt alarmed. At that moment, he could not control the God Advent Tower. The Thousand Snow flying sabers also could not tear through the spatial wormhole. He did not have much energy left in him.

The Black-armored Demon God grinned at Yi Yun.

The Black-armored Demon God did not care about those ants from the Human race. When he woke up once again, those ants would just become his food.

However, Yi Yun was different. He was the Azure Yang Lord’s successor. He originally thought that Yi Yun was just a shameless person. But then, after the intense battle from before, with Yi Yun using all sorts of different techniques, it made him see the potential that he possessed.

The Black-armored Demon God would not allow such an enemy to keep growing outside.

He needed to enter slumber for a few decades. By the time he woke up again, Yi Yun might be able to grow to a point where he could face him in true battle, so how could he allow this to happen?

The Black-armored Demon God decided to seal himself with Yi Yun.

In the sealed dimension, Heaven Earth Yuan Qi would be completely cut off, without a tinge of it left. Yi Yun would not be able to heal himself, let alone cultivate.

As such, by the time the Black-armored Demon God healed his soul sea, even if he would be extremely weak after his slumber, he would still be able to kill Yi Yun easily. With one less threat of Yi Yun, by the time he came to the Tian Yuan world in peak condition, there would only be Lin Xintong left. It was nothing to fear.

As everything happened so fast, when they saw the spatial crack about to devour Yi Yun, many people were greatly alarmed. Yi Yun had been sucked into the spatial crack!

“Yun’er!” Jiang Xiaorou’s expression changed. She was too far away, and she was unable to do anything in time.

“Yi Yun!”

Lin Xintong was closest to Yi Yun. She slashed out with her sword, hoping to sever the spatial dimensional forces and release Yi Yun. However, her sword beam was engulfed by the spatial wormhole. There was no way that she could sever it.

Seeing Yi Yun about to be swallowed by the black hole, she flew towards Yi Yun and held his hands.

“Xintong, you… ”

Yi Yun was alarmed. He wanted to push Lin Xintong away, but her hands held onto him firmly. She wanted to pull Yi Yun out.

However, her injuries were worse than Yi Yun, so there was no way that she could pull him out.

“Hahaha!” The Black-armored Demon God roared with laughter. His face was still writhing in pain, but he managed to say, “To think that there is someone throwing herself into danger. What foolishness! Even better, the both of you shall be sealed together. In twenty years, I’ll kill the both of you, then there will be no one left in this world that can hurt me one bit!”

The Black-armored Demon God’s voice was distorted by the spatial storm as his body retreated into the spatial crack. As the blood and Qi swirled, bolts of lightning were emitted. And instantly, the black hole shrunk, and in a blink of an eye, it changed into a black spot in the sky.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s bodies also disappeared along with the black hole.

“Xintong!” Matriarch Lin and the rest of the Lin family turned aghast at seeing this.

They could only watch helplessly as the two most promising youths of the Human race disappeared in the spatial seal, with their life or death uncertain.

The sky was cloudless for thousands of miles as calm was restored.

If not for how the ground looked like it had collapsed with destruction everywhere, the calmness would make people think that nothing had happened. It was like everything was just a nightmare.

Some of the young human geniuses looked blankly into the sky and felt their bodies go limp. It was like all their strength had been drained away.

The Black-armored Demon God’s monstrous and murderous actions had destroyed the Human and Desolate race’s arrays, leaving the Empyreal Kings seriously wounded. Under such a situation, they had seen their peers evaporate into bloody clouds when they were hit by the shock waves. Their hearts were full of despair, thinking that they would definitely die.

However, they never expected that, Yi Yun, a young man who was about their age, had managed to engage in such an intense battle with the Black-armored Demon God. It could be said that there was a moment in time that they were nearly equals.

They did understand what had happened during the final moments. They did not know of the evil energy, nor did they know that the Black-armored Demon God was opening an alternate dimension so as to protect himself during his slumber.

They only saw Yi Yun and Lin Xintong disappear with the Black-armored Demon God… No one knew if they would return or not.

The Sanctuary Island couple, as well as the rest of the Empyreal Kings, were extremely worried.

However, with their strength, attempting to break through the void to search for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong was undoubtedly wishful thinking.

“What did the Black-armored Demon God say before he disappeared?” A legendary human figure asked. The Black-armored Demon God used an ancient language, so they could barely understand the simpler words.

The Black-armored Demon God could use their mental fluctuations to understand their words, but they did not understand what the Black-armored Demon God was saying.

“The Black-armored Demon God said Lin Xintong was throwing herself into danger. He would seal Lin Xintong and Yi Yun together, and kill them in twenty years. Then, there will be no one left in this world that could hurt him one bit.” A Desolate race Empyreal King said with a heavy tone.

His words made everyone’s heart turn cold!

Many of them did not know what had happened at the end. But now, they understand that it was a spatial cage that had appeared at the very end. And the Black-armored Demon God had intended for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong to be sucked into it.

What were they going to do?

Everything was in the Black-armored Demon God’s control. In twenty years, the Black-armored Demon God would appear once again…

They did not dare think any further.

“Young Master Yi and Lady Lin are undoubtedly a dragon and phoenix amongst people. They will not die to easily.” The Sanctuary Island couple said as they looked into the void.

Instead of saying this was their judgment, it was better to say that it was them expressing their hope. And their words clearly could not comfort many. That was because the final strike was mediated by the Black-armored Demon God, while Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had clearly been hit by it.

After entering the alternate dimension, that was the Black-armored Demon God’s home ground. The Black-armored Demon God was adept at controlling spatial dimension laws, while Yi Yun and Lin Xintong did not know much about it. How were they able to defeat the Black-armored Demon God?

In front of the Desolate race palace that had nearly completely collapsed, Jiang Xiaorou raised her head to look at the spot where Yi Yun disappeared.

“Yun-er… ”

Jiang Xiaorou’s face was pale. As she looked at the empty void, it was like her gaze penetrated the void.

In the whistling wind, a sandstorm blew across the ruined land, but Jiang Xiaorou’s vacant gaze remained locked onto that spot.

Inside the rumbling magma lake, the God Advent Tower remained standing there. In the final moment, Yi Yun was completely exhausted, and he was stuck in the spatial worm hole, so he could not even take the God Advent Tower away.

Without the God Advent Tower, and with Yi Yun being completely unfamiliar with the alternate dimension, how was he able to resist the Black-armored Demon God?

Jiang Xiaorou’s heart sank bit by bit.

The former Desolate Queen looked at Jiang Xiaorou, while her heart ached for her.

“The two of them will definitely return alive.” The former Desolate Queen said.

“Definitely… ” Jiang Xiaorou repeated it, like she was trying to fortify her confidence.

Those human Empyreal Kings, the young human geniuses, as well as the Desolate race’s warriors all looked up into the sky, regardless of their race or status.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s figures during their battle with the Black-armored Demon God were still deeply impressed in their eyes…

746 - : Uncertain Life or Death

CKtalon  CKtalon

The apocalypse was finally over. This battle had dealt a heavy blow to the Human race, the Desolate race… as well as the entire world.

The Human and Desolate race had lost numerous elites. The Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit had died fighting, while Shepherd Boy, the former Desolate Queen and many legendary Desolate race figures were eviscerated. Many of them had suffered a drop in cultivation realm, and they would not be able to recover in a short period of time.

The Sanctuary Island couple were in a similar situation.

However, other than grief, a dark cloud hung over the Human and Desolate race. All of them knew that the end of the apocalypse was just temporary. The Black-armored Demon God would still return, and the period of time was limited to twenty years…

They still had twenty years to breathe freely, but what could they do during these two decades?

Nurture a successor to resist the Black-armored Demon God? That would be a joke.

Break through the void to search for Yi Yun and the Black-armored Demon God’s traces? That amounted to wishful thinking.

It seemed like they could not do a single thing. In twenty years time, the Black-armored Demon God would return to the Tian Yuan world and the Divine Wilderness, and having been restored to his peak condition, they would be nothing but ants in front of him.

They had nowhere to escape, nor did they have any tricks that they could use. All they could do was await death.

Only unless Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were still alive. Only unless they managed to kill the Black-armored Demon God while inside the alternate dimension!

However, the likelihood of that was very low. They also knew that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong did not know any spatial dimension laws.

Spatial dimension laws were considered a heritage of the 12 Empyrean Heavens, and with its immense power, it was something that few people in the Tian Yuan world knew.

Once the Black-armored Demon God set up spatial dimension laws to open up an alternate dimension, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong would very likely be trapped in a spatial dimension maze, with no way of getting out.

“Yun-er… ” Jiang Xiaorou sighed.

Although she firmly believed Yi Yun could return, she still felt extremely worried deep in her heart.

She wondered how Yi Yun was, after being sealed in that alternate dimension…

…

At that moment, in a dimmed alternate dimension, spatial dimensional forces suddenly warped as Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had arrived.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were readying themselves to fight the Black-armored Demon God to the death. But with a flash in front of their eyes, they had seemed to traverse an immense distance in a split instant. They then appeared in this silent world, where there was no sign of the Black-armored Demon God.

Yi Yun was alert of his surroundings. He used his nearly depleted energies to prepare for any unexpected situations, but there was nothing out of the ordinary in this void space. He couldn’t even sense the presence of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, and his perception could not be spread out.

Yi Yun frowned as he thought about the Black-armored Demon God’s words. He did not know much about the language, but through the fluctuations of the Black-armored Demon God’s mind processes, he had a rough idea of the Black-armored Demon God’s intentions.

It seemed like the Black-armored Demon God planned on sealing them in this spatial dimension.

“Let’s look around.”

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong flew through the void. They slowly explored the ends of this space. It was a confined space, and they were surrounded by spatial dimensional barriers that resembled curtains that stood in between the Heavens and Earth.

The black barriers were thick and dark, and they looked like a mess of Chaos. Their perception could not penetrate it, and just touching it made them feel like they had entered an intricate and confusing spatial maze.

Their perception would turn faint, and the once they probed too far, the perception would be lost, with no way of recovering it.

This spatial dimension seal… was truly weird!

Yi Yun took a deep breath. The Black-armored Demon God had used spatial dimension laws to seal the boundary, and he had set up a spatial maze outside. All of this was done to completely seal Lin Xintong and him inside. Unless they were proficient in spatial dimension laws, there was no way of escaping.

“It looks like the Black-armored Demon God is determined to seal us in here. In the future, when his strength is restored, he will then kill us.” Lin Xintong said softly. Although she was in such a gloomy situation, she did not appear afraid at all. She did not regret her choice of ignoring all consequences to enter this sealed space with Yi Yun. She did not even mention this matter, let alone talk about regret. The reason why she made the choice was, in her opinion, a very natural option.

Seeing Lin Xintong’s unpanicked look, Yi Yun felt somewhat guilty. “Xintong, you shouldn’t have been sealed in here with me in the first place.”

Lin Xintong shook her head gently.

“I couldn’t think of any other methods outside, so I might as well be together with you. Then, if we encounter anything, we will face it together.” Lin Xintong said lightly.

Her tone remained natural, like she didn’t find that it was a great sacrifice for her feelings, it was a natural choice.

Yi Yun felt touched as he silently tightened his grip on Lin Xintong’s hand.

At that moment, for Lin Xintong to be able to say those words so calmly, it gave him the feeling of fiery warmth and passion.

This kind of true feeling that resided in plainness, while they faced this difficult moment together, hand in hand, was even more precious.

“We cannot be trapped in here!”

Yi Yun took a deep breath as he said solemnly. He was saying this for Lin Xintong, as well as for himself.

“The Black-armored Demon God must be sleeping in another space. If… we can find him… ”

The space that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were in was not considered very vast. It did not have any Yuan Qi at all.

In the space, the both of them could not recover from their injuries, nor could they cultivate. It was equivalent to simply waiting for death.

They needed to escape or find the Black-armored Demon God.

Although they were sealed in an independent void, Yi Yun’s connection with the evil energy still remained.

He could faintly sense where the evil energy was located. However, there were layers of spatial dimension barriers separating him and the evil energy.

Yi Yun sensed that the evil energy was somehow being suppressed by the Black-armored Demon God. The evil energy was now sealed in a corner of the Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea, preventing it from devouring the Black-armored Demon God’s soul any further.

And the Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea had fallen into a state of silence. This meant that the Black-armored Demon God was in deep slumber. Through such a slumber, the injury to his soul sea would slowly recover. When the time came, the evil energy would not only fail to devour the Black-armored Demon God’s soul, it would instead be devoured by the Black-armored Demon God, and in turn, used to nourish his soul.

The Black-armored Demon God, who was deep in slumber, had no means to resist. This was the best opportunity to kill him!

But what preceded that… was finding him!

Yi Yun looked at the black spatial dimension barrier. There was no Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, so Yi Yun was unable to heal himself, thus, he would constantly remain in a weak state. He did not know spatial dimension laws either, so even though he could vaguely know where the Black-armored Demon God’s location was through the evil energy, Yi Yun could not do a thing.

If he had the God Advent Tower, he could still power the God Advent Tower with all his strength, and use its terrifying impact to smashed through the spatial barriers.

However, the God Advent Tower was isolated outside the alternate dimension. Even if he had it in hand, with him currently being extremely weak and, being completely devoid of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, he could not control the God Advent Tower at all!

In twenty years time, once the Black-armored Demon God woke up, not only would they die. Jiang Xiaorou, the Desolate race, the Lin family, all of them would be slaughtered and destroyed.

Twenty years… He had to seize this twenty years and use it properly!

He had no room for retreat, and he could only proceed forward. Even if there was no path in front of him, he had to find a path!

747 - : No room for retreat

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The Black-armored Demon God should be completely asleep and he can’t resist at all. As long as we find him, we can kill him!”

Yi Yun tightened his grip on Lin Xintong’s hand. Although it seemed like they were faced dead ends, all they needed to do was carefully analyze the situation. They only needed to do two things.

Firstly, they had to grasp spatial dimension laws! Secondly, they had to recover their strength, and it would be best if they could make a cultivation realm breakthrough, so they could control more powerful energies,. They would then be able to gain dominance over spatial dimension laws and forcefully break through the thick spatial barrier!

There was no one to guide them for the first point. Without any inheritance to learn from, how was one to gain nomological insight independently? That was truly as difficult as ascending the heavens.

As for the latter point, this dimension did not have any Yuan Qi. Simply eating pills or relics restored impure Yuan Qi. This made it difficult for them recover to their peak states. And to attempt at making a breakthrough in cultivation realm, so they could control more powerful energies, that was something even more impossible.

As Yi Yun was ruminating over possible actions, Lin Xintong moved towards the spatial barrier. She stared intently at the spatial barrier’s energy flow, slowly pondering over its mysteries.

Just using a spatial barrier and its energy flow to gain insight into the mysteries within was an extremely difficult method. It required extraordinary perception.

Although Lin Xintong had very good perception, she had a lacking foundation. Her horizons were limited, and she was much worse when compared to the 12 Empyrean Heavens’ elites. If the elites of the 12 Empyrean Heavens could not gain any insight of spatial dimension laws from a spatial barrier, then it would be even harder for Lin Xintong to do so.

But even so, Lin Xintong still proceeded without hesitation to try to understand the cold spatial barrier. She concentrated intently and was extremely meticulous.

Lin Xintong seldom said any words that voiced her feelings or resolve. Instead, she would just face all difficulties and obstacles together with Yi Yun, like it was a matter of course. She never lacked the courage to wield her sword to cut through a thorn-filled path together with Yi Yun.

Just like a decade ago, Lin Xintong had been given a death sentence with her naturally Yin Meridians. Despite there being no means to join her terminated meridians up, she still silently fought against her fate, never giving up.

Lin Xintong stretched her hand out as she gingerly touched the black spatial dimension barrier. As her slender fingers gently tapped on it, ripples began to appear on the black screen, like the surface of water.

On these ripples, she could see numerous runes flicker.

These runes had formed a lock, sealing the black screen. This was a lock that the Black-armored Demon God had left behind.

That was to say, if Yi Yun and Lin Xintong wanted to charge out of this independent space, not only would they have to gain insight into spatial dimension laws and break through the spatial barrier, they had to also crack open the runic lock that the Black-armored Demon God left behind.

Difficult! Difficult! Difficult!

Yi Yun breathed gently as his gaze was absorbed by the black screen. All he saw was deep black.

However, the Purple Crystal began to activate at that moment, allowing him to see the profoundly formed energies. They were like chains intertwined with each other.

The Purple Crystal’s vision could see through the origins of energy. Back in the saber tomb, Yi Yun had managed to gain insight using the Purple Crystal.

It was the same this time.

Although spatial dimension laws were extremely abstruse, in the Purple Crystal’s vision, the trajectories of spatial energy was extremely clear.

However, being able to see things clearly did not mean comprehension.

The saber tomb’s text were a form of inheritance, so being able to see it clearly meant comprehension. This was like making a replica of a key. Once he could see it clearly, just copying it, would produce a similar key.

But for the spatial energies contained in the spatial barrier, they were the most primitive Heavenly Dao laws. Trying to comprehend his own version of Dao from it was equivalent to looking at a lock. He needed to first understand the principles behind opening a lock, before he could consider creating a key. That was more than a hundred times harder.

However, Yi Yun did not know the principles behind opening a lock, nor did he have anywhere to learn it from.

Yi Yun swallowed a superior-grade relic in front of the spatial barrier and sat down. As he stared intently at the spatial barrier, the surging gray spatial energies appeared like bobbing water waves to him. Their flow trajectories looked perfect and harmonious, containing a mysterious charm.

Seeking enlightenment was a dull and lonely process, especially went it came to gaining insight to such a profound Dao like spatial dimension laws. It was made even more obscure and arduous.

There were 3000 Great Dao in martial arts constituting a wide variety. Warriors would usually be able to gain insight into a very limited number of Dao throughout their entire lives.

These Dao were of different grades.

The highest were the Great Dao of Origins.

There were very few types of Great Dao of Origins. They exceeded all the other laws and they were the most difficult to gain enlightenment on, as well as the most difficult Dao to master.

Other than the difficulty of making any breakthroughs while meditating over the Great Dao of Origins, just trying to find manuals or heritage that described the Great Dao of Origins was nearly impossible. Any manuals that could describe such Dao was a rare treasure!

For example, ’Chaos Dao’ was a Great Dao of Origins!

One level lower were the Great Dao of Supremacy.

The Yin and Yang Dao that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong cultivated were Great Dao of Supremacy.

Now, the spatial dimension Dao that they were trying to understand, or Chrono Dao, Life and Death Dao or Immortal Dao were all Great Dao of Supremacy.

Trying to independently gain insight to a Great Dao of Supremacy was extremely difficult.

Yi Yun also did not know how far he could go in his enlightenment. Many a time, getting stuck at a point during enlightenment could leave one stuck for more than a decade.

As for Yi Yun, it was a race against time. If he could not beat it, it meant death.

And at that moment, Yi Yun realized that there were dots of light shimmering on his body in the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

These dots of lights looked like luminous jewels in the night as they sparkled.

Oh?

Yi Yun understood something and naturally knew what the dots of light were. Stretching his hand out, the dots of light landed on his palm.

Dao Leaf!

This Dao Leaf had withstood the Black-armored Demon God’s strike, saving his life.

Although the Black-armored Demon God’s attack was extremely powerful, it was nothing compared to the Dao Leaf. It did not even leave a mark.

This was only right, but what made Yi Yun astonished was that this Dao Leaf could emit such bright light, despite there being no Yuan Qi fluctuations in this completely isolated alternate dimension. It was expirating Origins energy, and it was unknown where this energy came from.

Although this alternate dimension was isolated from everything else, it could not isolate Dao. Its existence and itself was a part of Dao.

Yi Yun looked at the Dao Leaf. The sparkling lights emitted by the Origins energy could only be seen through the Purple Crystal’s vision. The Heavenly Dao runic patterns formed veins on the Dao Leaf, and the energy was flowing through it like the flow of blood.

The Dao Tree that was born out of Chaos embodied the 3000 Great Dao, and within all of that, it contained the Chaos Dao.

As for the other Great Dao of Supremacy, including spatial dimension Dao, Yin-Yang Dao, etc, they were naturally a part of it. It had become a part of the Dao Leaf’s runic patterns!

As he held onto the Dao Leaf, Yi Yun took a deep breath as his eyes sparkled with a strange twinkle.

“Not long ago, you separated yourself from the Dao Tree to follow me. I will not be an insult to you! I’m sorry for nearly having my confidence shaken just now.”

Yi Yun grasped the Dao Leaf tightly. Indeed, he did not have spatial dimension heritage, but he had the Dao Tree’s lead that accommodated the 3000 Great Dao. This was one of the sources of Heavenly Dao. With the Dao Leaf, it was equivalent to having the best spatial dimension heritage!

With the Dao Leaf in hand, why would he need to have his confidence shaken?

Back in the Pure Yang Sword Palace, Yi Yun had sat quietly underneath the Dao Tree, gaining insight into the Withering Dao by himself. Furthermore, it was the Withering Dao that came from the Dao Tree of Chaos!

Now, inside the spatial barriers formed by the Black-armored Demon God, he did not believe that he could not gain any insight into spatial dimension Dao!

748 - : The Light in the midst of Darkness

CKtalon  CKtalon

Three months had passed since Yi Yun was sucked into the alternate dimension.

In the past three months, the area where Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had disappeared was constantly guarded, as people hoped that they would escape from the alternate dimension. Unfortunately, after so many days, this place remained quiet and tranquil. There was not a single spatial dimension ripple.

The dense blood clouds that had gathered there had long dispersed. The remote mountains were restored of its peace, but… it was littered with collapsed mountains. The huge pit in the ground that had a diameter of five kilometers indicated how intense the battle was three months ago.

At the bottom of the pit, there was still magma that had yet to cool down, making it resemble a volcano’s mouth. However, the God Advent Tower, which was previously immersed in the magma lake, had been pulled out.

Without Yi Yun’s control, the God Advent Tower had shrunk down to ten feet in size. It began absorbing Heaven Earth Yuan Qi so as to replenish the energy it had consumed during the battle.

The Desolate race had fished the God Advent Tower out and they had sealed it inside the palace. Without Yi Yun, no one could control the God Advent Tower. The Desolate race hoped that Yi Yun would be able to return safely in twenty years time, and regain control of the God Advent Tower, so the world could truly tide through the apocalypse.

However, everyone knew that for all to happen was equivalent to a miracle.

On this day, the Sanctuary Island couple led the Human race, as they planned to leave the Divine Wilderness.

The Desolate race had already prepared two Empyreal Kings to escort them back to the Tian Yuan world.

In the battle with the Black-armored Demon God, the legendary Human and Desolate race figures had all suffered seriously. Many of them dropped in cultivation realms. It was unlikely that they would recover before the battle in twenty years.

It was fated that the second apocalypse in twenty years would be even more tragic.

For this, the legendary figures felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

Actually, they also knew that even if they recovered to their peak states, it would still be useless.

Whether they recovered their peak states or not just meant the difference between a smaller or bigger ant in front of the Black-armored Demon God.

This truly gave them a helpless sense of sadness.

“Sanctuary Island Lord, take care!”

The former Desolate Queen led the legendary Desolate race figures to bid farewell to the Sanctuary Island couple. In the battle three months ago, the legendary human figures had sacrificed a great deal as well. Without them, the Desolate race’s sacrifice would be even worse. At the critical moment, the legendary human figures had attacked, slowing the Black-armored Demon God’s offensive down.

“Your Majesty, we will return to the Divine Wilderness in 19 years time. Regardless of the outcome, we will face it together.” The Sanctuary Island Lord sighed.

At that moment, his heart was heavy. The period of twenty years was like the wait for receiving their death sentences…

When the time came, how would the world turn out?

Just as the Sanctuary Island Lord was thinking…

“Boom!”

An explosion sounded out from the Desolate race’s palace. Plumes of black Yuan Qi shot up into the sky!

Everyone was alarmed as they looked back. The Desolate race’s palace had been attacked!

What is the meaning of this?

The former Desolate Queen’s heart sank, as she sped towards the area where the explosion was. The Sanctuary Island couple followed closely behind.

The few of them arrived at the explosion nearly instantly. They saw the palace in ruins as it had been blasted apart by Yuan Qi. Amongst the destroyed walls, a Yuan Opening Desolate race Elder lay on the ground covered in blood. All his meridians had been severed and his dantian was destroyed. He had been killed!

“Elder Qingyue!”

The former Desolate Queen was enraged as she looked around but she saw nothing.

“God Advent Tower! Someone has stolen the God Advent Tower!”

The former Desolate Queen’s expression immediately turned extremely ugly. This palace was where the God Advent Tower was sealed in. Someone had broke into the palace in broad daylight, killing a Desolate race Elder, stealing the God Advent Tower away!

“What did you say?” When the Sanctuary Island couple heard the former Desolate Queen’s words, they were infuriated. “Young hero Yi’s battle with the Black-armored Demon God had saved the Desolate race and Human race. Because of that battle, his survival is still unknown, yet someone took this opportunity to rob Young hero Yi of his treasure?”

One had to know that companion treasures of warriors were imbued with a spiritual imprint. Without the owner around, and the treasure obtained by someone else, slowly refining it would wipe the treasure of the imprint. After all, a spiritual imprint was no match against an expert.

Just thinking of how someone took advantage of Yi Yun being sealed to forcefully wipe out the imprint he left on the God Advent Tower, made many legendary Human and Desolate race figures furious.

Yi Yun was separated from the God Advent Tower by a spatial barrier, so his control of the God Advent Tower was extremely weak. To fish in troubled waters was an extremely despicable act.

“Let’s split up and chase after that person. We cannot let that person succeed.” The Sanctuary Island Lord said angrily.

He had a hunch that this was done by a human. The Desolate race was united by a Queen, and they had the religion of the Sacred Spirit. They were much more united than the Human race, so it was unlikely that they would steal what was in their care.

And for a human to do such a thing at that moment made the Sanctuary Island Lord furious.

“Chase after him!”

Shepherd Boy was the first to fly out. His body transformed into a blue beam of light, as he moved extremely fast.

Shepherd Boy could sense the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi fluctuations so he could chase after that person.

For a person who could instantly kill a Yuan Opening realm Elder, it had to be a Heaven Ascension mighty figure.

For a Heaven Ascension realm expert to escape at high speeds, he would naturally leave behind Yuan Qi fluctuations.

Behind Shepherd Boy, the Human and Desolate race experts chased closely behind by using the Yuan Qi fluctuations. Everyone in this group was extremely powerful. Even though they had been injured in the battle with the Black-armored Demon God, they still had their speed. After they chased a few thousand kilometers, the Yuan Qi fluctuation began to dwindle till it finally disappeared.

A bunch of legendary figures saw Shepherd Boy, who was the first to fly off, standing still alone mid air not far from them.

There was no trace of the person who had stolen the God Advent Tower.

“The Yuan Qi fluctuations ended here!” Shepherd Boy said with a frown.

The Sanctuary Island Lord’s face turned ashen.

“Preposterous!”

Previously, there were many legendary Human figures who chose not to fight the Black-armored Demon God. For that, the Sanctuary Island couple did not think much of it. After all, everyone had their own thoughts. In the eyes of many, remaining in the remote mountains to fight the Black-armored Demon God was equivalent to dying in vain. Hence, they had the right to leave.

But now… Someone had stolen the God Advent Tower that Yi Yun left behind in front of them. This behavior was too despicable!

“This person is extremely powerful. I couldn’t keep up.” Shepherd Boy said as he shook his head.

He was indignant as Yi Yun had saved the Desolate race and Jiang Xiaorou. Yet, he could not even protect the God Advent Tower that Yi Yun left behind.

If he could not find the God Advent Tower, regardless of whether Yi Yun was alive or dead, he felt ashamed to face Yi Yun.

“This matter is likely done by a human. I’m really ashamed. I will answer to all of you.” The Sanctuary Island Lord said with a sigh.

He had a guess who was the one who robbed the God Advent Tower, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Then we will trouble the Sanctuary Island Lord. The God Advent Tower is of great importance, so please do it with great urgency.”

The former Desolate Queen was clueless about how to retrieve the God Advent Tower, so she could only rely on the Sanctuary Island couple. However, she knew that with the Sanctuary Island couple injured, their cultivation levels had deteriorated. They might not be able to recover their peak conditions, and to search for the God Advent Tower in the vast Tian Yuan world? Difficult!

“Your Majesty, don’t worry. Although a treasure separated from its owner can have the imprint wiped off easily, the God Advent Tower is no ordinary treasure. Regardless of who wants to wipe away Young Master Yi’s imprint, it wouldn’t be that easy.” The Sanctuary Island Lord said, before he bade the Desolate race farewell, and embarked on the return journey back to the Tian Yuan world…

749 - : Fishing in Troubled Waters

CKtalon  CKtalon

Tian Yuan world, Umbriferous Divine Palace.

It was a black palace situated at the bottom of a dark valley.

This valley was perennially covered in darkness, without seeing light. It would usually be dimmer in valleys, so the interior of the Umbriferous Divine Palace was pitch black. Mortals would not be able to see their fingers in front of them.

But in the Umbriferous Divine Palace, warriors were able to easily see around them.

At that moment, in a large hall in the Umbriferous Divine Palace’s core, there was a hexagonal altar. A miniature six-storey pagoda was placed on the altar.

This small pagoda was Yi Yun’s God Advent Tower!

Now, the God Advent Tower was completely sealed in the Umbriferous Divine Palace.

Around the God Advent Tower, dark red runes would occasionally appear in the hall. Energy waves would follow this runes and be transferred into the miniature pagoda. Every energy flow brought with it a dark red glow. The glow pulsed like flowing blood in veins.

This was a blood sacrifice array. The goal of setting this array was to wipe the imprint that Yi Yun had left on the God Advent Tower away. It was best way to wipe an imprint away using intense blood, Qi and killing aura.

Dozens of black-robed monks stood around the blood array. They were chanting ancient curses as their voice runes turned into demonic energies that were injected into the array before being injected into the God Advent Tower.

And in the middle of the array, the God Advent Tower stood there in a lusterless state, silently experiencing everything that being was done to it.

After leaving the Great Empress mystic realm, the God Advent Tower had lost the support of the Great Empress mystic realm’s arrays. Now, it was only Yi Yun’s enchanted treasure.

And without Yi Yun around, the God Advent Tower didn’t have any intelligence. It would not retaliate against enemies that violated it. Hence, this bunch of people dared to slowly refine the God Advent Tower. If Yi Yun was around, a simple rumble of the God Advent Tower was enough to shock the black-robed monks into meat paste.

Now, the refinement of the God Advent Tower wasn’t going very smoothly.

The arrays in the God Advent Tower were extremely profound and intricate. It was impossible to understand the array formations, so what they could only do was slowly deplete the God Advent Tower’s array formations of their energy.

The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in this Umbriferous Divine Palace was isolated by the blood array. Without Heaven Earth Yuan Qi being provided to it, the God Advent Tower had no way of replenishing its energy.

And in the battle with the Black-armored Demon God, the God Advent Tower had been greatly depleted of energy. It was the best opportunity to refine the God Advent Tower.

“I don’t believe that with twenty years, I won’t be able to deal with a dead object.”

A gray-robed man enveloped by black gas walked out of the Umbriferous grand hall. His skin was pale, and there was a strange cursed seal on the middle of his eyebrows. He looked extremely sinister.

“Refining this pagoda twenty-four hours a day, without a single break, only until the pagoda’s energy is drained completely. If you are able to do that, I will reward you generously. If you can’t, then none of you are worthy of living!” The gray-robed man said with a cold voice.

These black-robed monks were nurtured in the Umbriferous Divine Palace. They had been taken in since they were young, and they were death knights loyal to the Umbriferous Divine Palace.

The Umbriferous Divine Palace was a mysterious faction in the Tian Yuan world, and its owner was considered the number one person in the Tian Yuan world, Sovereign of the Eventide.

One year ago, the Sovereign of the Eventide and the Sanctuary Island couple had established the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium. They had invited Yi Yun, and the Sovereign of the Eventide had targeted Yi Yun unfairly, intending to get Yi Yun to sign a soul contract which promised to never attack the Tian Yuan world’s factions when he one day became strong. However, Yi Yun ignored him completely and it even turned into a fight. Shentu Patriarch had fought Yi Yun, and he had nearly been killed by him!

Finally, if not for the Sovereign of the Eventide interfering, Shentu Patriarch would have been destroyed by Yi Yun!

Although the Sovereign of the Eventide saved Shentu Patriarch, he could do nothing about Yi Yun, and he had to let Yi Yun leave freely.

At that meeting, the Sovereign of the Eventide became enemies with Yi Yun.

Later on, when the Black-armored Demon God appeared, the Sovereign of the Eventide had disappeared. In the Divine Wilderness’s remote mountains battle, the Sanctuary Island couple led the legendary human figures in battle. But as the number one human, the Sovereign of the Eventide did not show up…

From the moment that the Black-armored Demon God appeared, the Sovereign of the Eventide had vanished. Only now did he appear, but only to steal the God Advent Tower.

If Yi Yun was here, he would probably find it hard to recognize the Sovereign of the Eventide.

This was because, back at Greatsword Mountain, Yi Yun saw the Sovereign of the Eventide as a thin old man, and he looked like a walking zombie.

But now, the Sovereign of the Eventide was a middle-aged man with pale skin. He looked a lot different.

The Sovereign of the Eventide had eyed the God Advent Tower for a long time ago. Now, with Yi Yun sealed, it was the best opportunity for him to obtain the God Advent Tower.

The only problem was that refining it was extremely difficult.

At that moment, a red-dressed girl walked into the hall and knelt down on one knee in front of the Sovereign of the Eventide.

“Congratulations to the Lord for obtaining the God Advent Tower. However… in twenty years, I wonder how the Lord will handle the appearance of the Black-armored Demon God?”

This red-dressed girl was also groomed by the Umbriferous Divine Palace since she was young. She was loyal to the Sovereign of the Eventide, but she knew that over all these years, despite the Sovereign of the Eventide hiding his true strength, and even if he obtained greater strength through the God Advent Tower as his personal treasure in twenty years time, he would still… be powerless against the Black-armored Demon God.

“Black-armored Demon God?” The Sovereign of the Eventide sneered. “He is an ancient Demon God that had lived for tens of thousands of years. Even if his current strength is less than 1% of its original self, it is not something that we can handle. That bunch of foolish people even thought of killing the Black-armored Demon God. That is completely absurd!”

“Thankfully, Yi Yun was dumb enough, hence, giving me this opportunity. Now that Yi Yun is lost in the alternate dimension’s maze, and doesn’t even know spatial dimension laws, there is no way that he can come out. It would be useless even if he knows that I’m refining the God Advent Tower. I also have no plans on fighting the Black-armored Demon God. This Tian Yuan world is considered an abandoned world, but in fact, there are spatial nodes that connect it to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. With the God Advent Tower, I should be able to use those spatial nodes to head to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. As for the appearance of the Black-armored Demon God in twenty years, what would that have to do with me? As long as I’m in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, who cares if the Tian Yuan world perishes! When the time comes, those idiots in the Tian Yuan world as well as that barbaric race in the Divine Wilderness will all die.” Sovereign of the Eventide said with a grin.

Of course, this was all on the premise of him refining the God Advent Tower! As he looked at the God Advent Tower, he waved his hand gently, and a huge squarish seal flew out of his interspatial ring. The squarish seal shimmered with a pale gold luster and looked extremely heavy.

The seal hovered mid air, and it spun with a buzz as it emitted black beams of light in all directions.

“Suppress!”

Waving his hand downwards, the seal slammed heavily on the God Advent Tower!

“Dang!”

A crisp metallic collision sounded, as the altar shook vigorously, like it could not withstand the impact. However, the God Advent Tower remained still. Instead, the pale gold seal was sent flying away!

The Sovereign of the Eventide took a deep breath. The more powerful the God Advent Tower was, the more excited he became. Only such a treasure was worth him putting in so much effort.

A voracious smile appeared at the corner of his lips as he muttered to himself in a deep voice. “What a good treasure, but no matter how good a treasure is, it is just a treasure and it is dead. Without your owner present, I’ll smash down on you a hundred times a day. I want to see how long that array of yours can last!”

750 - : The Pagoda Stealer

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the alternate dimension where the Black-armored Demon God was sealed, Yi Yun sat quietly in meditation. A green leaf floated not far away from him. As the green leaf spun, it fluttered through the void slowly, entering the spatial barrier at times before appearing once again.

A spatial barrier that could isolate Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was completely ineffective against the Dao Leaf.

As the Dao Leaf entered the spatial barrier time and time again, Yi Yun’s consciousness followed the Dao Leaf as he experienced the spatial dimensional powers in the spatial barrier, so he could be enlightened on spatial dimension laws.

The spatial dimension laws in the Dao Leaf were far closer to the Origins of spatial dimension powers than the spatial barrier. It was formed out of the Chaos when the Universe first was formed. Back then, heaven and earth had yet to appear and space itself had yet to form.

The Universe began from Chaos before Yin-Yang and space-time formed. Finally, the five elements appeared, forming all matter.

The spatial dimension laws of Chaos could be said to be the essence of spatial dimensions.

Hence, when the Dao Leaf flittered through the spatial barrier, the power of the spatial dimension’s barrier would even open up, like it was evading the Dao Leaf. Wherever the Dao Leaf passed, there would be energy flow left behind. All this could be clearly seen in Yi Yun’s energy vision.

For Yi Yun to have the Dao Leaf and the Purple Crystal at the same time, this unique method of Dao-enlightenment was truly unrivaled.

Unfortunately, this method of Dao-enlightenment could not be shared with Lin Xintong.

The Dao Leaf had fallen for Yi Yun, while Yi Yun had been sitting under the Dao Tree for more than half a year to seek enlightenment. Furthermore, it was done in the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

Now, even though Lin Xintong could see the Dao Leaf, the insights in the Dao Leaf could not leave as deep an impression on her as much as Yi Yun.

However, Lin Xintong’s perception was surprisingly good. She was extremely focused on her martial path. Even if gaining insight in her present situation was extremely difficult, she did not falter one bit.

Suddenly, Yi Yun frowned and opened his tightly shut eyes. It was like two lightning beams that flashed in the dark alternate dimension.

“God Advent Tower!?” While Yi Yun was in a mystical state of meditation, he suddenly sensed the abnormal changes to the God Advent Tower.

It seemed like someone was attacking and refining the God Advent Tower.

He had been pulled into the alternate dimension by the God Advent Tower, while the God Advent Tower had been left behind with the Desolate race. No one in the Desolate race would use this treasure, what more attempt to refine the God Advent Tower.

Yi Yun guessed that something had happened to the God Advent Tower. Someone had used some trick to steal it from the Desolate race.

Now, that person was trying to wipe the imprint he had left in the God Advent Tower away.

As the possessor of the God Advent Tower, his spiritual connection with the God Advent Tower had weakened a lot due to the spatial barrier. However, he was the first to realize it when someone attempted to refine the God Advent Tower.

Regardless of who that person was, it was impossible for that person to take it for himself. That was the Azure Yang Lord’s enchanted treasure. It was not something that anyone could refine, however… the spiritual imprint he had left in the God Advent Tower was different.

If that person kept draining the God Advent Tower’s arrays of their energy, and by cutting the provision of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, the God Advent Tower would not be able to replenish its energy. Then, the energy in the God Advent Tower’s arrays would slowly dissipate, and it would not be able to protect the spiritual imprint that he left in the God Advent Tower.

When that happened, his spiritual imprint would be forcefully wiped away. This would cause non-trivial damage to Yi Yun’s soul.

Things went from bad to worse. Yi Yun took a deep breath and he ignored the God Advent Tower. He shut his eyes once again.

Despite knowing of something happening, it did not cause any changes to his mental wellbeing.

It was useless being anxious while trapped in the alternate dimension. The only thing he needed to do was gain insight into the spatial dimension laws, so he could finish the Black-armored Demon God!

…

In the Umbriferous Divine Palace.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A deafening explosion happened again and again.

The Sovereign of the Eventide had once again put his pale gold seal away and looked at the undamaged God Advent Tower.

He would slam on the God Advent Tower every day and night. The blood sacrificial array was also constantly in a circular motion, but this was an extremely slow way of draining the God Advent Tower of its energy. If this went on, it would take them at least another seven or eight years before they could fully drain the God Advent Tower of its energy.

Back then, in Yi Yun’s fight with the Black-armored Demon God, the Black-armored Demon God had attempted to break through the God Advent Tower’s array, but he did not do so. Instead, he used spatial dimensional forces to bind the God Advent Tower. This was because breaking through the array required a long period of time.

And compared to the Black-armored Demon God’s strength, the augmentation of the Sovereign of the Eventide’s pale gold seal and the blood sacrificial array were inferior to the aftershocks of the Black-armored Demon God’s blow.

Although the God Advent Tower was drained of a great deal of energy, the remaining energy could be described as being as massive as an ocean.

It was extremely difficult for the Sovereign of the Eventide to use such methods to drain the God Advent Tower of its energy.

The Sovereign of the Eventide was beginning to feel impatient. After all, there was still the threat of the Black-armored Demon God. He needed to speed things up.

If he could increase the pale gold seal’s offensive strength, it would be much easier to drain the God Advent Tower of its energy.

And for this to happen, the Sovereign of the Eventide had long figured out a solution. This was also the second thing that the Sovereign of the Eventide thought of doing!

After taking another look at the God Advent Tower, the Sovereign of the Eventide revealed a sinister smile. With a flash of his figure, he disappeared from the Umbriferous Divine Palace.

His goal was the Desolate race!

And at that moment, in the Desolate race’s territory.

After having the God Advent Tower stolen under their eyes, many members of the Desolate race were furious. They also felt that they had let down Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had saved the Desolate race, yet they could not even protect Yi Yun’s treasure well.

However, they also knew that the person who stole the God Advent Tower was a Heaven Ascension realm expert. Even the Shepherd Boy and the Sanctuary Island Lord had failed to catch up to that person. So even if they were furious, they could not do a single thing.

Here, they could only guard the void where Yi Yun had disappeared. They longed for the day where Yi Yun and Lin Xintong would return, despite knowing their hopes were extremely slim.

On this day, the remote mountains were enjoying good weather. The fog of war had dispersed, but the entire Desolate race’s territory was enshrouded by a dark shadow.

Jiang Xiaorou was silently sitting in front of the Sacred Spirit’s statue.

Ever since Yi Yun had disappeared, she had been sitting there day and night in arduous cultivation.

In a warrior’s world, strength was everything.

Jiang Xiaorou had heard from her mother that she possessed this world’s strongest bloodline. She had just been unable to develop the full powers from her bloodline at the moment.

If she possessed enough strength, would she have been helpless when the Black-armored Demon God attacked the remote mountains? That she eventually had to see Yi Yun get sealed in the alternate dimension, without knowing what had happened to him?

Jiang Xiaorou had been meditating in front of the Sacred Spirit’s statue for more than a month. Today, Jiang Xiaorou felt her heart suddenly tingle. She felt a deep ominous feeling.

She suddenly opened her pair of beautiful eyes. This was…

She held the bone staff in her hand tightly as she got up. Suddenly…

Ka Ka Ka!

The sound of crisp cracking echoed in Jiang Xiaorou’s ears. In front of Jiang Xiaorou, a series of cracks had appeared on the Sacred Spirit’s statue.

The Sacred Spirit statue that had existed for tens of millions of years… had suddenly shattered today. What was going on?

Jiang Xiaorou felt a sense of doubt and anxiousness. She crushed a voice transmission charm, sending the news of the Sacred Spirit statue shattering.

Now, nearly all the Desolate race’s Empyreal Kings were gathered in the remote mountains. Informing all the legendary Desolate race figures of the situation was the safest option.

Jiang Xiaorou took a deep breath as she walked out of the hall with her bone staff in hand.

751 - : Statue Shatters

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Jiang Xiaorou walked out of the Desolate race palace, she saw that in the remote mountains, the endless marshlands and stretches of collapsed mountains were covered by a dark cloud.

A man in black robes hovered high in the sky, and behind him were some of his followers.

This black-robed man gave people a very cold feeling. After his appearance, it was like the sky had darkened greatly as a dark, sticky energy seemed to permeate the void. It was from the Laws of Darkness!

“Who is he?”

Jiang Xiaorou was stunned and she felt a deep sense of unease. And at that moment, the former Desolate Queen, Shepherd Boy, and many legendary Desolate race figures had rushed over.

Seeing the black-robed man in the sky, their hearts sank.

The former Desolate Queen was flying high in the sky and when she saw the black-robed man, she could vaguely sense his cultivation level. It was at the peak of the middle-stages of the Heaven Ascension realm, and it was even closing in on the late-stages of the Heaven Ascension realm!

The peak of the middle-stages of the Heaven Ascension realm?

In the entire Tian Yuan world, including the Divine Wilderness where the Desolate race resided, the number of experts that had attained the Heaven Ascension realm were extremely few. And most of them were nearly at the early-stages of the Heaven Ascension realm. For example, the Sanctuary Island couple were only at the peak of the early-stages of the Heaven Ascension realm. The two of them were proficient in the art of joint attacks, and by combining forces, they had the offensive strength of the middle-stages of the Heaven Ascension realm.

As for a middle-stage Heaven Ascension realm expert, there was only one. He was the Sovereign of the Eventide!

The Sovereign of the Eventide was the strongest figure in the Tian Yuan world, so although the former Desolate Queen had never met the Sovereign of the Eventide, she knew that he was supposed to look like an old man. He did not resemble the middle-aged man in front of her.

However, having differing looks was not enough to say that they were two different people, especially when this middle-aged man cultivated the Law of Darkness, which was the same as the Sovereign of the Eventide!

“You are the Sovereign of the Eventide?”

The former Desolate Queen had a cold expression. During the battle in the remote mountains, both the Human and Desolate race had paid a heavy price. Many of the legendary Human and Desolate race figures had burned their life force essence, dropping in cultivation realms, as well as dying in battle.

Yet, the Sovereign of the Eventide never appeared. As the only middle-stage Heaven Ascension realm warrior in this world, he definitely knew about the intense battle in the remote mountains. However, he did not appear during the battle, and now that the calamity was temporarily put on hold, he had appeared.

The moment he appeared, he came with unkind intentions. This made the former Desolate Queen think of the theft of the God Advent Tower more than ten days ago. This made her facial expression sink.

“It’s you who stole the God Advent Tower!?”

To be able to kill a Yuan Opening realm Desolate race Elder in an instant, and rely on his speed to evade a bunch of legendary Human and Desolate race figures pursuing them, there were not many that could do that in this world. The Sovereign of the Eventide was highly suspicious!

“Hahaha! Your Majesty, please don’t malign me. After the Black-armored Demon God appeared, I went into reclusive training and I hoped to make a breakthrough in my cultivation realm, so I could provide a bit of strength to save this world. Unfortunately… after I exited reclusion, I heard that the Black-armored Demon God had been repulsed by Yi Yun as well as the Human and Desolate race experts and now, the Black-armored Demon God has sealed himself. I find it such a pity that I missed the battle in the remote mountains!”

“I’m also very impressed by Young Master Yi’s fabulous display of his skill during the battle in the remote mountains. I would love to protect the God Advent Tower left behind by Young Master Yi, so how could I steal it?” The Sovereign of the Eventide said with a plausible tone.

Regardless, Yi Yun’s battle with the Black-armored Demon God had temporarily saved the Tian Yuan world and the Divine Wilderness. Now, many family clans had returned to their family clan’s territories. The legendary human figures, who had personally experienced the battle in the remote mountains, were full of praise for Yi Yun, including the Sanctuary Island couple who were even more so. Hence, Yi Yun enjoyed great prestige in the Tian Yuan world now.

Even though the Sovereign of the Eventide was considered the strongest figure in the Tian Yuan world, he did not dare openly admit to the great crime of stealing the God Advent Tower.

As long as the Sovereign of the Eventide refused to admit it, then no matter how much suspicion the Human or Desolate race had for him, it would be useless.

“This despicable person.”

The former Desolate Queen was enraged. The Sovereign of the Eventide was too shameless.

“You came here today, striking our Desolate race’s Divine Bone Altar. Is that a declaration of war against us?”

Below the Sovereign of the Eventide was the Desolate race’s Divine Bone Altar.

The Divine Bone Altar was an important treasure of the Desolate race. Back then, Jiang Xiaorou had done her worshiping on top of the Divine Bone Altar, awakening her ancient bloodline, eventually obtaining the recognition of the Sacred Spirit.

Now, the Desolate race’s headquarters had been moved to the remote mountains, so the Divine Bone Altar had naturally been moved here.

A while ago, the Sovereign of the Eventide had struck the Divine Bone Altar, activating the arrays in it. This also alerted the legendary Desolate race figures to rush here.

“Hahaha! Your Majesty, what are you saying? Why would I declare war on the Desolate race? In the face of a calamity, before the Black-armored Demon God is destroyed, the Human race and Desolate race have to stay united.”

“I came here today because I have an ancient Desolate bone relic recipe in my hands. It is an ancient mystic relic that can help my cultivation go one step further. However, the materials needed to refine this relic are extremely scarce. In the entire Divine Wilderness, even killing a few primordial true spirits would not be enough, so I came here today for the Sacred Spirit’s corpse. I never expected your esteemed race to bury the Sacred Spirit’s corpse beneath the Divine Bone Altar. I wanted to borrow the Sacred Spirit’s corpse to refine a cauldron of relics, but I didn’t expect a protective array to be residing on the Divine Bone Altar, so I inadvertently activated the array. Sorry for disturbing all of you.”

As the Sovereign of the Eventide said this, he nonchalantly cupped his hands at the legendary Desolate race figures, like he was doing something trivial.

However, these words enraged the Desolate race immediately when they fell into their ears.

Sacred Spirit’s corpse! This Sovereign of the Eventide dared to covet the Sacred Spirit’s corpse!

The Sacred Spirit was a religion to the Desolate race. It had protected the Desolate race for tens of millions of years, and it was equivalent to their God.

If it wasn’t for the Sacred Spirit in the Desolate race Headquarters several months ago, the Desolate race would probably have been wiped out.

And following that, in the battle in the remote mountains, the Sacred Spirit had burned the last of its life force, dying in battle for the Desolate race. The Desolate race had buried the Sacred Spirit underneath the Divine Bone Altar. But now, a human wanted to use its corpse to refine into relics!

Was this even tolerable?

Immediately, swaths of murderous intent locked onto the Sovereign of the Eventide. As the atmosphere turned tense, many legendary Desolate race figures were already tempted to attack him.

Seeing the Desolate race reacting like that, the Sovereign of the Eventide shook his head, like he felt distressed.

He said, “All of us are martial arts practitioners. In twenty years time, the Black-armored Demon God will return once again. Yet, you have the intention to kill me now? This is very disappointing for me.”

“Yi Yun and Lin Xintong are already dead. You have burned your blood essence, dropping in cultivation realms. There is no way for you to withstand the Black-armored Demon God. In twenty years, who is going to face him in battle?”

“Back then, the Sacred Spirit of your esteemed race burned its life force to strike the Black-armored Demon God. That was such a respectable act, and the Sacred Spirit’s sacrifice was no doubt to save the Divine Wilderness and kill the Black-armored Demon God completely. Unfortunately, the Black-armored Demon God is still alive, while Yi Yun and Lin Xintong have failed as well.”

“I think that if the Sacred Spirit is aware of this in the nether world, it would wish that it could provide the last bit of warmth hope. Against the Black-armored Demon God, I’m sure the Sacred Spirit is willing to give up its corpse. Now, the strongest warrior in this world is the lowly me. If I were to make a breakthrough, there might be a tiny bit of chance that I will be able to lead all of you to kill the Black-armored Demon God, and let all of you survive.”

752 - : Sacred Spirit’s Corpse

CKtalon  CKtalon

The legendary Desolate race figures never thought that a person could be so shameless. The Sovereign of the Eventide had failed to steal the Sacred Spirit’s corpse and he had activated the Divine Bone Altar’s arrays as a result. Yet, he stood there, all high and mighty, like he was on a moral high ground and he even reprimanded them.

It was like the Sovereign of the Eventide was doing this for all life under the skies, while the Desolate race appeared selfish.

The legendary Desolate race figures were tempted to attack him, but at that moment, a crisp voice resounded beneath the dark clouds.

“Yun’er will not die.” Jiang Xiaorou, with her bone staff in hand, stood in front of the Desolate race Palace. As the cold wind blew, Jiang Xiaorou’s red dress fluttered about. She stood in great contrast against the dark sky.

The Sovereign of the Eventide was slightly surprised as he turned his head around and looked at Jiang Xiaorou. “I know you. You are Yi Yun’s Desolate race sister, right? I understand the yearning in your heart, but unfortunately… ” The Sovereign of the Eventide shook his head. “The time you spent cultivating martial arts is short, so you are limited in your realms. You can’t understand the terrifying complexities of the spatial maze set up by the Black-armored Demon God. There is a vast difference between the understanding of spatial dimension laws amongst the Tian Yuan world and Divine Wilderness warriors and the Black-armored Demon God’s. Although my strength might not match up to Yi Yun, I happen to be one of the few people in this world that understand spatial dimension laws. But even I would be forever lost if I were to be sealed in the Black-armored Demon God’s spatial maze.”

Jiang Xiaorou looked coldly at the Sovereign of the Eventide. She said slowly but with a forceful tone, “Indeed, I do not understand the terror of the Black-armored Demon God, but I know that even if I were to hand you the Sacred Spirit’s corpse, and even if you were to break through by a few realms, you would still be like manure in front of the Black-armored Demon God! Yun’er could force the Black-armored Demon God to seal himself. As for you, all you could do was flee before the Black-armored Demon God arrived. You were like a mouse tunneling into a hole to hide. Hoping that you would withstand the Black-armored Demon God in twenty years time? I rather hope that the Black-armored Demon God would commit suicide!”

Jiang Xiaorou got to the truth with her pertinent remarks. She voiced out what many of the legendary Desolate race figures were thinking.

The Sovereign of the Eventide’s eyebrow pricked up as he narrowed his eyes to look at Jiang Xiaorou.

And at that moment, the legendary Desolate race figures were already transmitting voices amongst themselves. They were prepared to attack!

They believed that the God Advent Tower was in the Sovereign of the Eventide’s hands. And they had to protect the object that Yi Yun had left behind by all means!

“Hur!”

The Sovereign of the Eventide sneered. “You want to set up a battle formation to fight me? How would I allow that!?”

Upon saying this, the Sovereign of the Eventide moved. He long knew about the God Confining Lock that the Desolate race had. As the God Confining Lock array was extremely draining on the legendary Desolate race figures, and having used it twice during the battle with the Black-armored Demon God, many legendary Desolate race figures had suffered a drop in their cultivation realms. Now, it was unknown if they could successfully activate such an array.

Even if they could, the setting up of the God Confining Lock array required time. Such an array could only be effective if it was set up in advance for a known incoming invader. With the Sovereign of the Eventide suddenly coming, how would he watch idly as the legendary Desolate race figures setup the array?

The Sovereign of the Eventide flew straight at the former Desolate Queen. He knew that the God Confining Lock’s array disk was in the former Desolate Queen’s hands!

“Suppress!”

A squarish pale gold seal flew out of the Sovereign of the Eventide’s hands. The seal flickered with a black glow as it came suppressing down on the former Desolate Queen!

“Your Majesty!”

A blue beam flashed from beside the former Desolate Queen. Shepherd Boy had rushed forward to face the Sovereign of the Eventide!

Shepherd Boy was extremely talented, and his strength was one of the top few amongst the Desolate race. However, due to his bravery in the battle against the Black-armored Demon God a few months ago, he was greatly drained, so he was currently in a weak state.

“A pearl grain of rice dares to compete with a moon’s luminosity?”

The Sovereign of the Eventide sneered and with a revolution of the pale gold seal, it came smashing down on the Shepherd Boy.

“Boom!”

Black Yuan Qi exploded out in all directions. The blue beam was shattered immediately as the Shepherd Boy grunted. He had been sent into retreat by the pale gold seal, and that strike had damaged his meridians.

The Sovereign of the Eventide was already the strongest warrior in this world, so Shepherd Boy was not his match, to begin with. Now, the Sovereign of the Eventide was at his peak, while Shepherd Boy was in a trough. In this waxing and waning situation, the difference between their strengths was even greater.

“Die!”

The Sovereign of the Eventide controlled the pale gold seal as he suppressed it downwards like a mountain. He aimed it at the Shepherd Boy’s head. He had already decided on fleeing into the 12 Empyrean Heavens, so he did not mind a deadly feud with the Desolate race. If killing all the legendary Desolate race figures allowed him to obtain the Sacred Spirit’s corpse, he would choose to do so without hesitation. As for when the Black-armored Demon God appeared once again, the Sovereign of the Eventide couldn’t even be bothered if there was anyone who could resist him.

Seeing the pale gold seal about to smash downwards, with Shepherd Boy’s life on the line, the legendary Desolate race figures felt their hearts tightened. The former Desolate Queen waved her hands, and out of the sleeves of her robe, a squarish array disk flew out. It was the God Confining Lock array.

At that moment, the array disk flashed with golden beams of light. The array disk flew up to the Sovereign of the Eventide’s head and the other legendary Desolate race figures had flown at the Sovereign of the Eventide, with great teamwork. They were already prepared to work alongside the effects of the array disk to seal the Sovereign of the Eventide.

If the Sovereign of the Eventide carried on attacking Shepherd Boy, it was very likely that he would be sealed to death by the God Confining Lock.

“Oh? The array was set up so fast?”

The Sovereign of the Eventide frowned. Of course, he wouldn’t exchange his life for the Shepherd Boy’s life. At the same moment that the pale gold seal came crashing down, the Sovereign of the Eventide flew high up into the sky to escape the scope of the God Confining Lock array.

“Boom!”

The pale gold seal slammed heavily into Shepherd Boy’s arm as he had crossed it in front of his chest to forcefully block the strike. Although it was a hasty blow, it had still fractured Shepherd Boy’s bones!

“I’ll spare your life temporarily!”

As he was afraid of the God Confining Lock, the Sovereign of the Eventide kept far away from it.

“Roar! Roar! Roar!”

The furious roars of primordial true spirits echoed from the Desolate race Palace’s surroundings. The primordial true spirits that protected the Desolate race Palace were rushing over!

Controlling desolate beasts was one of the most important battle techniques that the Desolate race had. Although these legendary Desolate race figures had suffered a drop in cultivation realms, the primordial true spirits would still remain a challenge for the Sovereign of the Eventide. Furthermore, with them about to finish setting up the God Confining Lock array, this made the Sovereign of the Eventide realize that he could not stay here for long.

“Fall of the Eternal Night!”

With a long hum from the Sovereign of the Eventide, black Yuan Qi surged out of his body, creating an explosive force field!

The sticky power of Darkness enveloped the remote mountains.

All the legendary Desolate race figures were enshrouded within.

“Careful!”

Everyone felt alarmed. This was the Sovereign of the Eventide’s domain!

Warriors could use their energies to form a domain and demarcate a space. They would then become a master of that space.

As they were immersed in the Darkness, the legendary Desolate race figures felt an inexplicable sense of despair, like their souls would forever reside in Darkness.

In front of the Desolate race Palace, Jiang Xiaorou was enveloped in the Eternal Night domain. She used her bone staff to support her body. Her face turned pale as her soul sea felt a sharp pain. It was so unbearable that it nearly made her lose consciousness.

“Break the domain first!”

The former Desolate Queen shouted. The legendary Desolate race figures teamed up and they were about to break the Sovereign of the Eventide’s domain open.

At that moment, a raucous laughter came from the Sovereign of the Eventide amidst the Darkness. “I’ll leave a gift with you. See you later!”

753 - : Gift

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Whew!”

The Sovereign of the Eventide blended into a black beam of light that shot towards the heavens at an incredible speed. His followers had also been wrapped up in the black light, disappearing along with him!

The Eternal Night domain had disappeared, reducing the suppressive feeling and sense of despair to the soul. The pressure that disappeared suddenly made the legendary Desolate race figures feel an excruciating pain to their soul sea instantly.

The Empyreal Kings were alright, but the weaker Desolate race young elites, including Jiang Xiaorou, were in terrible shape. They felt a strong sense of dizziness, the weaker ones even fainted straight away.

Jiang Xiaorou took a deep breath as she touched her chest, and her eyebrows furrowed.

She felt a tingling pain in her heart.

With the Sovereign of the Eventide gone, the legendary Desolate race figures were furious but they could not do a thing. The Sovereign of the Eventide had escaped just as they finished setting up the God Confining Lock array.

Although the God Confining Lock array was extremely powerful, it was not flexible. Typical arrays were used in a defensive manner, and with the Sovereign of the Eventide prepared for it, hoping to kill him after he flew into the array’s effective range was very difficult.

“That shameless person!”

The former Desolate Queen took a deep breath. She was considering on how to use the existing resources to kill the Sovereign of the Eventide, but under careful analysis, the Sovereign of the Eventide’s strength far exceeded anyone of them. Furthermore, the Desolate race had been forced to retreat to the remote mountains. Many of the legendary Desolate race figures were injured, while the Desolate race headquarters, that had accumulated in strength for tens of millions of years, had been destroyed by the Black-armored Demon God, as such it was abandoned. Under such circumstances, the Sovereign of the Eventide could nearly have total freedom to come and go. It was very difficult for them to prevent that from happening.

“Qing Kui, are you fine?”

The former Desolate Queen looked at Shepherd Boy. He was covered in blood with his face pale, and one of his arms was fractured.

He forced a laugh, saying, “I’m fine. I’ll recover after taking a few days of rest.”

Although Shepherd Boy said so, everyone knew that he was barely holding on. He had yet to recover from the injuries that he received from the Black-armored Demon God. With his blood essence greatly drained, and now, with new injuries added on, it was a problem if he could recover in the future. It might even cause irreparable damage to Shepherd Boy’s potential and lifespan.

“Qing Kui, Xiaorou and I owe you too much.” The former Desolate Queen sighed. All these years, the Shepherd Boy had been loyal. Regardless of the danger, he would be first in line to protect them. He had saved the Desolate race and Jiang Xiaorou more than once.

Shepherd Boy smiled again as he shook his head, about to say something. At that moment, a legendary Desolate race figure’s expression suddenly changed. He exclaimed, “Someone has fainted!”

“Huh!?”

After experiencing the loss of the God Advent Tower and the attack of the Sovereign of the Eventide, the Desolate race was on high alert. Having suddenly heard of people fainting, these legendary Desolate race figures rushed there immediately.

They spread their perception around the palace and they easily discovered the situation.

In fact, there was not only one person who had fainted.

More than a dozen young Desolate race elites had fainted. A simple check showed that these people had received a spiritual damage!

A black energy had entered deep into their soul seas, and spread out in all directions like a spiderweb, becoming one with their souls.

This is…

The former Desolate Queen felt alarmed and enraged. The black energy was filled with Darkness, and without a doubt, it was left behind by the Sovereign of the Eventide!

The Sovereign of the Eventide had realized that he was no match for the primordial true spirits and the Desolate race’s array, so he decided to retreat. However, before his retreat, he had cast a tremendously powerful Eternal Night domain. This Eternal Night domain was not targeted at the legendary Desolate race figures because he knew that against so many legendary Desolate race figures, it was unlikely that the Eternal Night domain could have much effect. His target from the very beginning was the young Desolate race elites!

The Darkness-elemental energy had embedded itself into the young Desolate race elites’ souls as the Eternal Night domain expanded. It had merged with their souls and began devouring their spiritual energies!

It would not kill their young elites for the moment, but it would gradually weaken their souls. It was not difficult to remove the Darkness energy, but with the Darkness energy spreading out into numerous strands, it was tightly bound to the young elites’ souls. Wiping out the energy would inadvertently damage the young elites’ souls, and it might even turn them into retards.

And as for how to extract the Darkness energy? It probably would need someone whose attainment in Laws of Darkness were on a level approaching the Sovereign of the Eventide. And if one searched throughout the entire Tian Yuan world, there were not many legendary figures who cultivated in the Laws of Darkness. As for trying to find someone who surpassed the Sovereign of the Eventide, that was just a joke.

Instantly, the faces of the legendary Desolate race figures turned ugly. The Sovereign of the Eventide had attacked so many young elites in such a split instant, but the fact that he did not kill them was clearly a threat. It increased his chips for negotiation!

He was still eyeing the Sacred Spirit’s corpse. Probably only by handing over the Sacred Spirit’s corpse would the Sovereign of the Eventide agree to remove the Darkness mark on the young Desolate race elites.

The Sovereign of the Eventide had indulged into such madness.

The threat of the Black-armored Demon God still existed, yet he had done such a despicable deed to the Desolate race. He had ignored his status and attacked juniors. This was an act worthy of condemnation in the martial world.

“Oh no!” The former Desolate Queen’s body suddenly stiffened up. “Rou’er!”

With a flash, she rushed straight at Jiang Xiaorou. Having attacked so many young elites, it was impossible for the Sovereign of the Eventide to avoid Jiang Xiaorou. After all, Jiang Xiaorou was the Desolate race’s most important new Queen.

The group of legendary Desolate race figures felt their hearts tightened as they also rushed towards Jiang Xiaorou. They saw her face as white as a sheet. She was meditating on the ground, but despite not fainting, she was clearly not in a good condition.

The former Desolate Queen pressed her fingers on Jiang Xiaorou’s forehead and felt her meridians. This probe caused the former Desolate Queen’s heart to turn cold.

Jiang Xiaorou’s body was filled with more than a hundred black energy bodies!

The black energy bodies in other young Desolate race elites combined was not even a fifth of what Jiang Xiaorou had!

The Sovereign of the Eventide clearly knew about Jiang Xiaorou’s importance. Hence, he had placed the focal point on Jiang Xiaorou.

This was the so-called ’gift’ before the Sovereign of the Eventide left!

“Xiaorou… ” The former Desolate Queen’s eyes were moist. She had been in command of the Divine Wilderness for years, and as Desolate Queen, she was in control of the world’s strongest faction. However, today, she felt a stab right at the weakest spot in her heart.

Her love that ended in tragedy back in her youth with Jiang Xiaorou’s father. She later lost her daughter, causing Jiang Xiaorou to experience all sorts of difficulties in the Cloud Wilderness.

It was not easy for her to find Jiang Xiaorou again, but soon, they experienced the return of Blood Moon and the Black-armored Demon God. This made Jiang Xiaorou tether on the line of life and death.

Now that the calamity with the Black-armored Demon God was temporarily put on hold, it was the Sovereign of the Eventide’s turn. He had planted so much Darkness energy inside her body!

Seeing more than a hundred Darkness energy bodies, devouring Jiang Xiaorou’s life force like leeches, the former Desolate Queen could no longer stop herself from crying.

Enough. The Desolate race had already experienced too much. She and her daughter had already experienced so much.

Would the two of them really have to die, and the Desolate race be exterminated before all of this would come to an end?

754 - : Laws of Darkness

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Your Majesty… Do we really have to hand over the sacred remains of the Sacred Spirit?” A legendary Desolate race figure asked in a helpless manner.

The former Desolate Queen did not answer. She used all her remaining strength to hug Jiang Xiaorou like she wanted to merge her daughter into her own body…

She truly did not know how to resolve the situation. The Sacred Spirit had protected the Desolate race for tens of millions of years, sacrificing its life for the Desolate race, so how could she hand over the Sacred Spirit’s corpse?

The Sacred Spirit did not belong to the Desolate race, to begin with. She did not have the right to use the Sacred Spirit’s corpse to exchange for her daughter’s life.

At that moment, Shepherd Boy was standing beside her. He had a deadpan expression, but the look in his eyes was fearsome. Many legendary Desolate race figures present had known Shepherd Boy for years, but they had never seen him in such a murderous state.

“Give the order. Gather all Desolate race warriors who know Laws of Darkness in the palace. Also, inform Sanctuary Island Lord of this matter… ”

Shepherd Boy was a proud person, and unless necessary, he would never seek the help of others. But now, the solution to the damage caused by the Laws of Darkness was something probably only the Sanctuary Island couple could come up with. After all, in terms of nomological attainments, it was more of a forte of the Human race rather than that of the Desolate race.

…

By the time the Sanctuary Island couple received the news and rushed to the remote mountains, it had been twenty days.

No one could remove the darkness energy left behind by the Sovereign of the Eventide. It was an extremely damaging attack. The person, who originally created it, did it not for killing, but for torturing and threatening.

It was even possible that the person who created this attack was the Sovereign of the Eventide himself. Under such circumstances, how could he allow others to crack his Darkness energy so easily?

“Your Majesty, I apologize for I do not have a solution either.”

The Sanctuary Island Lord shook his head. A few legendary human figures, who had some understanding of the Laws of Darkness, had accompanied him, but they also shook their heads.

Towards such a scum that came from the Human race, these legendary human figures felt ashamed. However, they too were out of options. They had yet to recover from their injuries, and even if they had recovered, preventing the Sovereign of the Eventide from escaping was highly unlikely. Besides, from the Desolate race’s description, the Sovereign of the Eventide, who had restored his looks to that of a middle-aged man, seemed to have grown stronger.

“Sovereign of the Eventide has already gone against the tide and he no longer cares about the circumstances.” The Sanctuary Island Lord sighed. Back when he saw that the God Advent Tower was stolen, he had a hunch that it was possibly the Sovereign of the Eventide. Now, with facts in hand, this was an outcome that he did not wish to see. This was because, with his present strength, there was nothing he could do!

“I’m really sorry my strength is limited. I can’t crack Sovereign of the Eventide’s Laws of Darkness, nor can I capture him to force him to treat Fairy Jiang. In the future, the few of us will live in the remote mountains. Although we will not be able to handle the Sovereign of the Eventide, by contributing a bit of our strength, we should still be able to help you protect Fairy Jiang.”

Previously, the Sovereign of the Eventide had succeeded in planting the Darkness energy in Jiang Xiaorou’s body because he had caught the Desolate race off guard. Once they were on alert, especially with the Sanctuary Island couple helping hold the ground, then no matter how strong the Sovereign of the Eventide was, he could no longer wreak havoc in the Desolate race’s territory easily.

With the Sanctuary Island Lord expressing his intentions, the other legendary human figures also echoed in unison that they were willing to remain in the remote mountains.

Staying in the remote mountains was considered a form of sacrifice. This was because, in twenty years, the Black-armored Demon God would attack again. And the first spot he would attack was most likely the remote mountains!

“Thank you, everyone. The former Desolate Queen said with utmost gratitude.

Now, all they could do was take things one step at a time.

“Your Majesty, you do not need to worry too much. The energy left behind by the Sovereign of the Eventide may be despicable and unremovable, but it looks like it won’t be easy for it to easily devour Fairy Jiang’s life force… ”

After probing Jiang Xiaorou’s meridians for a long time, the Sanctuary Island Lord spoke.

He discovered that although the Darkness energy was devouring Jiang Xiaorou’s life force, the loss of her life force seemed to be slowly awakening the hidden power in her bloodline due to the catalytic effects of the Darkness energy.

Jiang Xiaorou’s bloodline was extremely extraordinary that even the Black-armored Demon God coveted it. In the words of the Black-armored Demon God, Jiang Xiaorou possessed the most valuable bloodline in this world. Back when he was seriously injured by Yi Yun, all he thought was to capture Jiang Xiaorou and drink her blood to treat his injuries.

It was obvious what the quality of the blood that could treat the Black-armored Demon God’s wounds was.

Such a bloodline gave Jiang Xiaorou her tremendous life force. Even now, despite her strength being extremely limited, her life force still existed, and it was not easy for the Darkness energy to devour it.

Furthermore, it seemed that slowly, the Darkness energy was repressed by Jiang Xiaorou’s life force.

“What terrifying life force… I really wonder what sort of person Fairy Jiang’s father is in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.”

“Maybe he is from some noble race… ”

The Sanctuary Island couple exchanged words. If Jiang Xiaorou’s hidden life force was continuously released, the Darkness energy bodies would not take her life for the time being. Of course, they would not be removed, but they would reside in Jiang Xiaorou’s organs and her soul, like maggots in a bone. This could be said to be a latent problem for Jiang Xiaorou.

And she would have to live through such days for the next two decades, before the Black-armored Demon God’s return. The thought of the Black-armored Demon God returning made people feel helpless…

As the Desolate race was not having any peace due to the appearance of the Sovereign of the Eventide, in the alternate dimension, Yi Yun’s insights into the spatial dimension laws were slowly reaching a certain degree of proficiency.

After cultivating for an unknown period of time, every time Yi Yun went into meditation, months would pass in a blink of an eye.

Every time he gained insight into a spatial dimension Dao for himself, he would match it to the runic patterns on the Dao Leaf, so he could compare them.

An incorrect understanding would be abandoned by Yi Yun. If it was correct, it would be ingrained in Yi Yun’s soul, becoming his own true Dao.

With the Dao Leaf as a standard of measure, the spatial dimension laws that Yi Yun understood were already approaching the Origins of spatial dimension very closely.

Compared to the Black-armored Demon God, Yi Yun’s understanding was still extremely shallow.

Although it was shallow, it was a lot more solid and correct as it was close to the essence of space itself. This meant that Yi Yun’s future attainment in Spatial Dimension Dao would be even higher.

One day, Yi Yun, who was in meditation, suddenly opened his eyes as he reached out to tear the void!

Intense spatial dimension forces surged as they gathered to form black bolts of lightning. As the snakes of lightning flashed, the void was torn apart.

A small flake of a layer in the spatial curtain had been forcefully torn out by Yi Yun!

He had torn the void!

This was the beginning steps of spatial dimension laws, but most people did so using weapons. They used powerful attacks, with the support of spatial dimension laws, to tear the void apart.

Tearing the void apart with one’s bare hands, even if it was just a tiny bit, was extraordinary. For Yi Yun to be able to do so, it was all from his understanding towards the laws. As for the amount of energy required, it wasn’t much.

“Yi Yun, you can already tear the void?”

Beside Yi Yun, Lin Xintong was astonished and delighted seeing this scene.

She had tried to gain Dao enlightenment together with Yi Yun. Her perception was extraordinary, and with it, she had managed to gain some insight into spatial dimension laws, but she was much more inferior to Yi Yun.

She never expected Yi Yun to be able to tear apart the void so quickly. If this carried on, it wouldn’t be long before they could leave!

755 - : Void Tearing

CKtalon  CKtalon

Spatial dimension laws were considered very important in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, but they were considered very difficult to learn.

By being proficient in spatial dimension laws, other than Void Tearing, the next stages were… Partitioning the Heavens, Spatial Slash, Void Transference, Teleportation, Refining Independent Spaces, etc!

The higher the difficulty, the more powerful it became. Ignoring everything else, just grasping Void Transference was extremely important in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. This was because the 12 Empyrean Heavens were extremely vast. Even if a peerless mighty figure wanted to travel between two Empyrean Heavens, he would also need to exhaust a great deal of time. By grasping Transference, he could quickly reach his destination.

However, many experts in the 12 Empyrean Heavens were unable to do Void Transference. If they wanted to embark on a distant journey, they would need to use teleportation arrays or sit in spiritual boats that possess Void Transference capabilities.

As for Refining Independent Spaces, the God Advent Tower or Pure Yang Sword Palace’s worlds were both independent spaces. This was an indispensable ability when refining advanced enchanted treasures. There were even fewer people that had such abilities. As such, when some peerless mighty figures wanted to refine their mobile enchanted treasures, they would have to hire the mighty figures, who knew spatial dimension laws, at high prices to open an independent space for them in the enchanted treasure.

Mighty figures, who had the ability to open up independent spaces in items, led an extremely comfortable life even in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Now, Yi Yun had only grasped Void Tearing, but to even tear the thick spatial barrier in front of his eyes apart was extremely difficult.

Yi Yun took his pure Yang broken sword out of his interspatial ring. He imbued spatial dimension laws into the pure Yang broken sword and he slashed at the spatial curtain!

“Cha!”

The blade tore through the void, as the spatial barrier cracked. However, after the crack appeared, it began to fade away at a speed visible to the naked eye. Spatial barriers had the ability to restore themselves.

Yi Yun had to tear it apart before the spatial barrier fully restored, but this was easier said than done.

By just slashing about a dozen strikes with his sword, Yi Yun already felt the energy deficit in his body, and he felt faint.

“Oh?”

Yi Yun frowned slightly. He knew that this was due to the impure energies in his body.

In this alternate dimension, Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had been isolated. So for all this time, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong would rely on the energies supplied to them through desolate bone relics, be it for their body consumption, healing or nomological meditation.

The more desolate bone relics they ate, the more impure the energies in their bodies were. This was inevitable.

After taking a deep breath, Yi Yun calmed himself again. Ever since he entered the Yuan Opening realm, the battles he went through and the insights he gained over the years, as well as the arduous cultivation in this alternate dimension, Yi Yun had long consolidated his realm. He could now greatly improve his cultivation level.

As long as he broke through the spatial barrier, he would be able to absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and make a breakthrough immediately.

But now, the spatial barrier had yet to be torn apart!

Yi Yun was in no hurry. He meditated quietly in front of the spatial barrier, while the Dao Leaf floated in front of him. The leaf veins shimmered with a golden glow.

“Open!”

Yi Yun roared as he slashed out with the pure Yang broken sword!

“Chi!”

The spatial dimension forces were severed by the pure Yang broken sword, as a large spatial rift a hundred foot long appeared in front of Yi Yun.

“It’s opening!”

Lin Xintong’s eyes lit up. Just producing a few more of such spatial rifts would cause the spatial barrier to collapse, however, at that moment…

With a crisp but nearly imperceptible chipping sound, an inconspicuous black charm seal shattered along with the spatial rift’s appearance, transforming into strands of black gas.

This black charm seal was embedded in the chaotic spatial dimensional forces, so it was difficult to detect it. So even though Yi Yun had some knowledge of spatial dimension laws, he could tell that something was amiss with this charm seal!

Yi Yun shuddered for a moment as he slowly lowered his broken sword.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Xintong asked.

“I seem… to have triggered the Black-armored Demon God’s trap, or it might be some form of alert mechanism.”

“Oh?” Lin Xintong was astounded. “Isn’t the Black-armored Demon God asleep? He can still wake up with the alert mechanism?”

Yi Yun shook his head. “It’s impossible that he can wake up as he pleases. If not, the Black-armored Demon God’s slumber would be like child’s play. The moment he enters deep slumber, he definitely cannot be awoken easily. If that happens, his soul might collapse immediately. Besides, I still have the evil energy left inside his soul sea!”

Yi Yun’s gaze was cold as he forcefully gathered Yuan Qi, slashing out again with the pure Yang broken sword!

In the alternate dimension, Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was isolated, so Yi Yun’s stamina was being quickly depleted. He lacked the energy required to tear apart the surrounding space.

“I’ll help you!”

Lin Xintong held onto Yi Yun’s hands, as a continuous stream of pure Yin Yuan Qi surged into Yi Yun’s body.

The two of them cultivated the ’Great Empress Heart Sutra’, so despite them not having much Yuan Qi left, and were relying on the impure Yuan Qi from desolate bone relics to sustain themselves, the Jade Marrow Spiritual Energy and Nine Yang Spiritual Energy that was in its truest Origins remained intact. This was the foundation of the ’Great Empress Heart Sutra’.

Lin Xintong and Yi Yun held hands as the Jade Marrow Spiritual Energy and Nine Yang Spiritual Energy slowly blended together. Yi Yun felt a refreshing feeling flowing into his body, like his nearly dried up meridians were being revived.

Another slash!

Yi Yun roared as all his body’s energy surged out without reservation.

Chi La!

The thick spatial barrier was split apart by Yi Yun’s strike. Following that, the spatial dimension forces sealed in the spatial barrier surged out like a storm. Even the spatial maze and array formation seals set up by the Black-armored Demon God were completely shattered!

Yi Yun’s muscles ruptured as the strike he just dealt was something his body could not withstand.

It was open!

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were delighted. Yi Yun’s strike had opened up a spatial passage, and after the spatial storm dissipated, what welcomed Yi Yun and Lin Xintong was an independent space!

This space was filled with a thick, evil aura. It belonged to the Black-armored Demon God!

Yi Yun focused his eyes as a stalwart man, dressed in torn armor, was floating in the void. His arms were around his chest, and his eyes were shut. He was deep in sleep.

This was the Black-armored Demon God!

“It’s him! Black-armored Demon God!”

Lin Xintong’s pupils constricted and the frost Qi in her sword surged. The Black-armored Demon God was indeed deep in slumber, and even though they had torn the spatial barrier apart, he remained asleep.

Maybe he knew what was going on, but he could not wake up immediately.

Take advantage of his perilous situation!

Yi Yun had charged at the Black-armored Demon God, and at the same time, the Draco First True Gold avatar in his dantian flew out. It wore a pale gold robe, and 999 flying sabers revolved around it. Thousand Snow Domain!

Yi Yun’s actual body flicked his hands, as the Death Soulwood began to spin in front of his body. The Withering domain immediately caused the murderous aura in this space to wither and die out due to the Death Soulwood.

“Die!”

Yi Yun shouted. Just as Lin Xintong thought he was about to kill the sleeping Black-armored Demon God, Yi Yun and the Draco First True Gold avatar flew past the Black-armored Demon God’s body.

“Oh?”

Lin Xintong was startled. But in a blink of an eye, Yi Yun and the Draco First True Gold avatar had flown a thousand feet away from the sleeping Black-armored Demon God. Here, the Thousand Snow Domain’s 999 flying sabers condensed into one, slashing into emptiness with Withering Sword Intent!

756 - : Breaking the Spatial Barrier

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Bam!”

A terrifying explosion tore up space completely as Yi Yun used spatial dimension laws to transfer the damaging energy into a spatial rift.

“Roar——!”

A terrible roar echoed out of the spatial rift caused the alternate dimension to tremble.

In the void, the sleeping ’Black-armored Demon God’ figure suddenly began to distort like a reflection on a water surface before it gradually disappeared!

“Phantom image?”

Lin Xintong was surprised, but she immediately understood that the sleeping Black-armored Demon God that she first saw was just an illusion. It could have even been a trap, used to attract attacks.

Once the Black-armored Demon God illusion was attacked, it might trigger some array restrictions, but Yi Yun had managed to see through all of this almost immediately. He had even found where the Black-armored Demon God was hiding. It was the place where Yi Yun and the Draco First True Gold avatar attacked!

The Black-armored Demon God would have never imagined that the sealed Yi Yun, who did not know any spatial dimension laws, would not only be able to tear apart the spatial barrier while he was sleeping but even precisely locate his true location!

Yi Yun could do this firstly because of the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, and secondly, because of his connection with the evil energy. As it was sealed in the Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea, Yi Yun knew its location very clearly.

Hence, even though the Black-armored Demon God’s true body was hidden in a spatial rift, he failed to escape Yi Yun’s fatal blow!

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!”

The Black-armored Demon God in the spatial rift roared crazily. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were blood red!

Yi Yun’s pure Yang broken sword had already penetrated the Black-armored Demon God’s chest. The Withering concepts had been injected, causing the Black-armored Demon God’s organs to begin to lose their vitality!

The Black-armored Demon God’s physical defenses were at their weakest while in slumber.

“You! You!”

The Black-armored Demon God spat out black blood as he grabbed Yi Yun’s pure Yang broken sword. “Pathetic life form, you want to kill me? I’ll kill you!”

The Black-armored Demon God was forcefully awoken from his slumber. His broken soul was once again dealt a severe blow and his life was on the verge of collapse.

The Black-armored Demon God had extremely great vitality. He had been sealed by the Azure Yang Lord for tens of millions of years, having weakened through all those years. His seriously damaged vitality had also received numerous attacks from Yi Yun.

However, no matter how great his vitality was, he was put in the most terrible of situations. He was completely within the boundaries of death!

“Whew!”

An ice lotus bloomed in the void as Lin Xintong appeared while riding a frost wind. With the sword in her hand, she stabbed into the Black-armored Demon God’s throat like a ghost!

This strike caused the Black-armored Demon God’s life to collapse completely!

At the same time, Yi Yun triggered the evil energy that the Black-armored Demon God had suppressed. It began to wantonly devour the Black-armored Demon God’s soul!

“Ah, ah, ah!”

The Black-armored Demon God roared in excruciating pain as he threw a punch at Yi Yun’s heart. If it hit its target, Yi Yun’s chest would definitely be penetrated.

Yi Yun flew backward and as he retreated, he threw the Death Soulwood in his hand.

“Whew!”

The Death Soulwood flew into the Black-armored Demon God’s chest like a javelin, embedding itself in the hole left behind by the pure Yang broken sword!

Puah!

Blood dyed the Death Soulwood, but it was rapidly absorbed by the Death Soulwood. This divine piece of wood had previously been dyed by a Demon God’s blood. It had absorbed it, resulting in its death. It embodied the concept of decline and withering. Back then, the ancient Demon God that died on the Death Soulwood was much stronger than the Black-armored Demon God.

The Death Soulwood was embedded in the Black-armored Demon God’s chest like a nail in a monster. The Black-armored Demon God’s life force was rapidly depleting.

His armor began to shatter, and his body began rupturing. Blood kept on flowing!

“You… ”

Just opening his mouth caused black blood to rush out. As the Black-armored Demon God looked at Yi Yun, his gaze looked like it wanted to penetrate Yi Yun.

“You want me dead, I want you to accompany me!”

The Black-armored Demon God enunciated each word bit by bit, as his teeth were stained with blood. At that moment, the Black-armored Demon God looked like a demon that had crawled out from Hell.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

The Black-armored Demon God roared as every inch of his muscles ruptured, causing chaotic energies to vent out of his body. These energies filled the alternate dimension, causing the spatial dimension forces to turn chaotic.

Ka Ka Ka!”

A visible crack appeared in space as it rapidly expanded.

Yi Yun’s expression changed. This was…

“Collapse!”

The Black-armored Demon God roared as the spatial boundaries began to explode and shatter, causing a terrifying spatial storm to surge around freely!

“I’ll make this alternate dimension completely explode. Let us be embroiled in the spatial turbulence at the boundaries of this Great World, forever drifting in it, experiencing eternal death!”

The Black-armored Demon God had already fallen into madness. As his energies were wantonly surging out, he revealed a ferocious and tragic laugh.

At the moment of his last laugh, the Black-armored Demon God’s life was completely extinguished.

Boom!

With an explosion, the Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea finally collapsed. The dissipating Black-armored Demon God’s soul was devoured freely by the evil energy. The Black-armored Demon God’s eyes turned dimmed as his body began to quickly lose its vitality.

This ancient Demon God that had existed for so long had finally been completely eliminated, dying at the hands of Yi Yun.

However, at that moment, the terrifying spatial storm began to sweep at Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

“Careful!”

Yi Yun’s expression changed greatly as he grabbed Lin Xintong’s hand, and held her by the waist. At that moment, Yi Yun was in a terrible situation. He injected the tiny Yuan Qi that was left in his body into the Dao Leaf, causing the Dao Leaf to shimmer. A transparent membrane of light enveloped him and Lin Xintong.

As the spatial storm came sweeping over, the membrane of light looked like a bubble in a storm. It looked like it would burst at any moment.

Yi Yun struggled to hold on, but his Yuan Qi had been greatly depleted. He could not control where to go in this spatial storm. He watched helplessly as this energy bubble was swept around by the spatial storm, floating in a haphazard fashion, it was beginning to enter deep into the spatial turbulence.

The deeper he went, the harder it was to return to the world where the Tian Yuan world and Divine Wilderness was.

Yi Yun was mortified. His insights into spatial dimension forces were just at the beginning stage. Although he could tear the spatial void, to return to the Tian Yuan world, he still needed more research.

But now, he and Lin Xintong had been thrown into the spatial turbulence, and the deeper he was, the harder it was to find the way back. And with time, it would be as the Black-armored Demon God said, they would be lost in the spatial turbulence, floating in space for eternity till their deaths.

Seeing themselves drifting farther away, Yi Yun’s heart turned cold. He found it very demanding to already support the energy membrane of light, let alone float upstream against the spatial storm.

Did the Heavens want me dead?

Yi Yun gritted his teeth. He was indignant, for he had just begun his life, so how could he die here!?

757 - : Killing the Demon God

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the storm raged on, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong began to drift deeper into its core. The membrane of light created by the Dao Leaf began to vibrate intensely, and it seemed like they would forever be lost in the void.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong held hands, and using their Yin and Yang energies, they maintained the membrane of light, preventing it from rupturing. However, if this carried on, it was equivalent to being sitting ducks.

Yi Yun was anxious. In this scenario with death assured, he could not think of any ways out.

What could he do? What?

Yi Yun’s mind raced with thoughts, and at that moment, he suddenly saw a shadow flash past in the turbulent spatial storm!

Oh? That is…

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed as he made out the shadow in the spatial storm clearly. It was actually a floating corpse… the dead Black-armored Demon God’s corpse.

The Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea had collapsed and it had been completely extinguished. However, his powerful body had managed to remain intact in the spatial storm.

Corpse… Black-armored Demon God’s corpse…

Yi Yun lit up his mind in a flash of brilliance. Yes, the Demon God’s corpse! The evil energy!

In the Black-armored Demon God’s soul sea, there was the evil energy, and it was taking advantage of his shattered soul sea, wantonly devouring his spiritual energies.

The evil energy had an uncanny ability to grow. Previously, it had devoured the masked man’s soul and many of the Yin specters in the Soul Tomb. It had absorbed all this soul energy to aid its growth!

The evil energy could not only devour soul energy, it could also control a soul unnoticed. Back then, the masked man from Blood Moon had been controlled by the evil energy, and it was eventually made into a puppet by Yi Yun.

With the masked man as a puppet, Yi Yun had even managed to read a portion of his memories. This allowed him to have a smooth experience during the battle in the Soul Tomb, allowing him to successfully crush Blood Moon’s plan.

Controlling puppets! Reading memories!

A crazy idea suddenly developed in Yi Yun’s mind. Since he could use the evil energy back then to make the masked man his puppet, then why couldn’t he do the same thing now? He could make the Black-armored Demon God his own puppet, right!?

The moment he had this idea, it began to take root in Yi Yun’s mind, as he got obsessed with the idea!

Puppet! It was a Demon God puppet!

The Black-armored Demon God was indeed powerful, but no matter how powerful he was, he was already dead!

After his soul sea collapsed, his powerful soul could only be used as nourishment for the evil energy.

By absorbing the Demon God’s soul, the evil energy could rapidly grow and even grow to the point of being able to control the Black-armored Demon God’s body.

As for the Black-armored Demon God’s body, it had been honed and it could be compared to a peerless enchanted object. However, without a soul supporting it, it was just a dead item. It was impossible to control it.

If he possessed such a Demon God puppet, then in the future, be it Yi Yun’s strength or his nomological insights, they would take a big step forward.

In addition to the Draco First True Gold avatar, he would then have a puppet and an avatar. Together with himself, they would be practically redoubtable!

Besides, the evil energy could obtain a portion of the original soul’s memories through its devouring. The Black-armored Demon God had deep knowledge of spatial dimension laws. But of course, these nomological insights could not be exactly replicated into Yi Yun’s brain through the evil energy, as the memories obtained through the evil energy were generally very vague.

But even so, they would give Yi Yun great inspiration and guidance.

The spatial dimension laws that Yi Yun understood at that moment were through trial and error. He lacked heritage, but with the Black-armored Demon God’s memories, it was equivalent to having a teacher.

With the Black-armored Demon God’s strength, leaving this void would not be a problem!

After all, this void was opened up by the Black-armored Demon God, to begin with!

If Yi Yun controlled the Black-armored Demon God, it was equivalent to holding the key to opening this space!

“We can go out!”

In the storm, Yi Yun said this anxiously as his eyes flickered with excitement.

“Oh?” Lin Xintong was surprised. At that moment, Yi Yun had begun interfacing his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal. His perception emanated, projecting itself onto the Black-armored Demon God’s corpse.

The suppression brought by the Purple Crystal had long left a deep impression on the evil energy. Probably no matter how powerful the evil energy grew, it would not be able to defy the Purple Crystal’s will.

It was a suppression that derived from the Origin of Laws!

“Come over here!”

Yi Yun waved his hand as the Black-armored Demon God’s corpse began to rapidly approach them in the spatial storm. Finally, the corpse entered the membrane of light, allowing Yi Yun to retrieve it successfully.

Devour! Devour the Black-armored Demon God’s soul! Completely control this body!

Yi Yun issued an order to the evil energy through the Purple Crystal. His life and everything he held dear now lay with the evil energy. With the Black-armored Demon God puppet, Yi Yun could even forcefully break through the void!

All this while, Yi Yun had used the evil energy to do many things. But similarly, the evil energy also relied on Yi Yun greatly.

By following Yi Yun, it had devoured all the Yin specters in the Soul Tomb, and now, it could devour the Black-armored Demon God’s soul, allowing it to grow rapidly.

It would take time for the evil energy to control the Black-armored Demon God’s body. By now, the spatial storm was gradually weakening as Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had already drifted deep into the void.

With Lin Xintong’s Jade Marrow Spiritual Energy, she nourished Yang with Yin, allowing Yi Yun to continuously maintain the light membrane through the Dao Leaf. The energy membrane looked like a gigantic, transparent egg in the void that enclosed Yi Yun and Lin Xintong in layers.

And the Demon God puppet underwent embryonic development in the gigantic egg…

Yi Yun believed that he could perfectly control the Demon God puppet in a few months time, at the most.

…

Time quickly went by, and in a blink of an eye, several months passed. As Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were refining the Demon God puppet, the Tian Yuan world was undergoing tumultuous changes!

Before the Black-armored Demon God entered his slumber, he had declared that he would back in twenty years, returning to the Tian Yuan world at his peak to slaughter all that lived under the heavens. Although the legendary human figures had intentionally concealed this matter to ensure stability, there were just too many people who knew of this matter. This news had proliferated in the Tian Yuan world!

Immediately, a sense of despair emanated throughout the Tian Yuan world!

The Black-armored Demon God’s appearance had swept the Tian Yuan world in an indomitable fashion. In twenty years time, he had threatened to return in peak condition. When that happened, who could stop him?

Didn’t that mean that everyone only had twenty years left in their lives?

The Sanctuary Island couple and some legendary human figures had announced news that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had only been sucked into the alternate dimension, and they had not died. They could still return in twenty years to battle the Black-armored Demon God.

However, very few people believed their words!

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were strong, but they were still far weaker than the Black-armored Demon God. How was being sealed with the Black-armored Demon God in an alternate dimension different from a mortal being locked in a cage with a tiger?

Was it even possible that they could survive? Without Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, there was no one who could stop the Black-armored Demon God!

And as people were feeling despair, a twist occurred. The Sovereign of the Eventide appeared, and he declared that he had found an escape route for all the warriors in the Tian Yuan world…

758 - : Crazy Idea

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the world that the Tian Yuan world resided, no one from the Human race or the Desolate race had a chance of surviving the Black-armored Demon God’s slaughter.

The so-called escape route was none other than the 12 Empyrean Heavens!

The legendary human figures of the Tian Yuan world had vaguely read records regarding the 12 Empyrean Heavens, but it appeared as a legend to them. Only when the Black-armored Demon God appeared did they learn new things, confirming the legend.

The legends said of the 12 Empyrean Heavens was a place with more resources, richer Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and a more brilliant world of martial arts. This was extremely alluring for the Tian Yuan world warriors!

The Sovereign of the Eventide claimed that whoever followed him could open up a passage to the 12 Empyrean Heavens with him. When the time came, he would use a mobile immortal residence to take these people away with him from the Tian Yuan world to the 12 Empyrean Heavens!

The moment this news came out, all the warriors in the Tian Yuan world were stunned.

A few felt hope appear in the midst of despair as they seemed to be unexpectedly rescued from a dreary situation. They thought about following the Sovereign of the Eventide to the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

However, there were people who did not believe the Sovereign of the Eventide at all.

Opening a passage to the 12 Empyrean Heavens? Was that so easy?

Even though the Sovereign of the Eventide was the strongest person in the Tian Yuan world, with his strength and his handful of followers, he was still a great distance away from opening a passage to the 12 Empyrean Heavens!

As for his mobile enchanted treasure, it was a question if it could really take people to the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Even if they followed the Sovereign of the Eventide in order to head to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, it might all end up as a ruse.

Many Tian Yuan world warriors had lived for hundreds, if not thousands of years. They would not easily trust others, even if the person who said this was Sovereign of the Eventide, the person who had the highest authority in the Tian Yuan world.

However, there were a lot of warriors who chose to believe the Sovereign of the Eventide. They might have had their doubts, but they believed that no one would be a match for the Black-armored Demon God in twenty years time. So at least, there would be hope by seeking refuge with the Sovereign of the Eventide and opening a path to the 12 Empyrean Heavens with him.

These people also knew that opening a path to the 12 Empyrean Heavens was extremely difficult. They might even turn into cannon fodder, but people could not just live on as sitting ducks. At least, it seemed that opening a passage was easier than killing the Black-armored Demon God.

Hence, as time went by, the number of Sovereign of the Eventide’s followers increased. There was even a small number of legendary human figures who had wavered.

The 12 Empyrean Heavens was too mysterious to the Tian Yuan world warriors.

At that moment, in the remote mountains. Desolate race palace.

The meditating Sanctuary Island Lord had also recently received news regarding the Sovereign of the Eventide.

This news made him frown slightly.

To protect the Desolate race, the Sanctuary Island couple, as well as a couple of legendary human figures, who shared the same values as the couple, had decided to live permanently with the Desolate race. As such, the Sovereign of the Eventide would not be able to wreak havoc in the Desolate race, but for the Tian Yuan world…

Without the Sanctuary Island couple and the legendary human figures, the Sovereign of the Eventide had no match in the Tian Yuan world. As the strongest person in the Tian Yuan world, it was easy for him to expand his power.

With the apocalypse approaching, people inevitably had a slavish mentality. Many of them would tend to seek refuge with the strongest person in the Tian Yuan world, the Sovereign of the Eventide. Besides, the Sovereign of the Eventide had indeed given a lot of people hope.

“Opening up the passage to the 12 Empyrean Heavens… What naivety. If it was that simple to open a path, it would have been opened up long ago!” The Sanctuary Island Lord said as he crushed a news jade slip.

The Sovereign of the Eventide had claimed to have found a secret spatial node, making it a hundred times easier to open up a passage, but the Sanctuary Island Lord refused to believe him.

Even if the Sovereign of the Eventide had really found a spatial node, his strength was likely insufficient to survive the long spatial storms before he arrived at the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Maybe it was for this reason that the Sovereign of the Eventide needed the God Advent Tower to protect him!

From the world where the Tian Yuan world resided in, nearly no human had traversed the distance to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Therefore, no one knew how dangerous it was!

It was a question whether the Sovereign of the Eventide could mind himself, as for taking his followers? How could it be possible?

“Eventide is expanding his power. I suspect he is trying to stir up a war between the Humans and Desolate race… ”

Behind the Sanctuary Island Lord, the former Desolate Queen walked over slowly. She had a heavy expression as she did not have an easy time recently.

With the Dark energy entering Jiang Xiaorou’s body, it made her bloodline’s energy extremely unstable. She did not know if Jiang Xiaorou would be able to hold on, and if so, how long.

As for the storm stirring the Tian Yuan world, the Sovereign of the Eventide had gathered a large number of minions, making the former Desolate Queen suspect that he was preparing for war.

If the Sovereign of the Eventide really was able to open up a passage from the Tian Yuan world to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, he did not need to consider the consequences of the Black-armored Demon God appearing again. He could let the Human race and Desolate race go to war for his goal, and none of this would affect him negatively.

“Eventide is no match for us.” The Sanctuary Island Lord said indifferently. Even though he and the legendary Desolate race figures were injured and suffered a drop in cultivation realms, they had many experts!

The Sovereign of the Eventide had amassed a large following, but his followers were of average strength. There were very few legendary human figures who sought refuge with the Sovereign of the Eventide.

“Even if the mighty figures of the Human race believe that Eventide has the ability to open a path to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, they would not blindly follow him. If war breaks out, many legendary human figures would stand on the Desolate race’s side.”

Right and wrong could be inferred and reason existed. The legendary human figures could at least be able to understand the reason, the only problem was whether they would act in accordance with reason.

However, the former Desolate Queen shook her head at the Sanctuary Island Lord’s words. “Eventide does not want to wipe us out, he only wants the Sacred Spirit’s remains. For your esteemed race’s legendary figures to stand on my Desolate race’s side, I am extremely grateful, but… the legendary human figures would only protect my Desolate race only in times of danger. But for them to risk injury or even consume their lifespans to protect a Sacred Spirit’s corpse doesn’t make sense… ”

The Sacred Spirit was the Desolate race’s totem. The Desolate race could give up their lives to protect a corpse because of their faith and as a form of reciprocation to the Sacred Spirit. But to the Human race, the Sacred Spirit was just a powerful desolate beast. Getting them to protect a desolate beast’s corpse did not make sense. Furthermore, just years ago, the Sacred Spirit, who had protected the Desolate race, was an arch enemy of the Human race.

“I do not know what Eventide is planning on doing, but if Eventide attacks, it is because he has the absolute confidence. This is because he knows very clearly how much combat strength we have. It is impossible for him to wipe us out, but to take the Sacred Spirit’s remains, he might still have the means to do so… ”

The former Desolate Queen sighed while shaking her head.

As the former Desolate Queen and the Sanctuary Island Lord were discussing the situation in the Tian Yuan world, in the land towards the far north.

“Swish!”

With a crisp sound, space began ripping apart as a black-clothed youth and a white-dressed fairy slowly walked out of the spatial rift.

Seeing this cold and desolate land, Yi Yun exhaled. He was finally back!

Destroying the Black-armored Demon God and breaking through the confines of space, they had walked out of the jaws of Death. Now, everything had finally passed.

759 - : Yi Yun Returns

CKtalon  CKtalon

“This is… the far north!”

Yi Yun had come here before. So with the place lingering with Yin Qi and filled with killing aura, he was able to recognize this place immediately.

The land of the far north was a long distance away from the Tian Yuan world and the Divine Wilderness. However, this distance could no longer deter Yi Yun, who had already grasped spatial dimension laws. He could reach the Divine Wilderness in a very short period of time.

“Zi Zi Zi!”

The spatial rift above Yi Yun began to emit black bolts of lightning as a stalwart, bare-chested man stepped out of the spatial rift. His muscles were sculpted like metal, and purple veins lined his muscles. It looked like a demonic totem.

After this stalwart man appeared, he stood respectfully behind Yi Yun. He was like a towering pagoda, emitting a fearsome and sinister gaze.

After subduing the Black Demon, making him his puppet, it was equivalent to Yi Yun having a super hitman. At the current stage, just this puppet alone had much greater combat strength than Yi Yun and his avatar combined!

Yi Yun was eager to try this puppet’s combat strength.

And just as Yi Yun had this idea, he suddenly felt a prick in his soul sea. It was a sting that disappeared in a flash.

Yi Yun’s expression sunk. The prick was a result of the God Advent Tower.

Over all this time, the person who had robbed the God Advent Tower had been trying to incessantly wipe away the imprint he had left in the God Advent Tower. And now… He finally managed to touch the imprint Yi Yun left behind in the constantly weakening defensive arrays in the God Advent Tower. Of course, this was still a long way from him being able to fully wipe away Yi Yun’s imprint.

Yi Yun sneered. He was interested to see who dared to covet the God Advent Tower while he was sealed in the alternate dimension!

“Xintong, let’s go. I want to see who it is.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he held Lin Xintong’s hand and began flying. Behind him, the Demon God puppet followed closely behind, just like it was Yi Yun’s super bodyguard.

“Whew!”

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, along with the Demon God puppet charged out of the land of the far north!

Yi Yun’s speed did not seem fast, but the space beneath Yi Yun began warping. It was really like he traveled five hundred kilometers a second!

…

At that moment, in the square in front of the Umbriferous Divine Palace, there were thousands of warriors gathered. These people were the followers of the Sovereign of the Eventide.

With the apocalypse impending, the Sovereign of the Eventide had become the messiah in the eyes of these people.

The thousands of warriors stood in a gigantic array. Their energies were constantly acquired by the array.

And in the core of the array, there was a six-storey pagoda the height of a person. It was floating there, with numerous blood-colored runes circling it.

These blood-colored runes were like leeches, absorbing the God Advent Tower’s energy.

And the array beneath the pagoda was producing new runes constantly, adding it to the array formation.

At a certain moment.

“Peng!”

With an explosion, all the blood-colored runes in the air exploded, disappearing into uncountable black specks of energy.

The God Advent Tower was unharmed, but around the God Advent Tower, the Eventide Monks who were controlling the array had turned pale from the energy backlash. Those with weaker cultivation levels even lost all their blood and Qi, as their bodies jolted.

Buzz——

The gigantic array trembled violently before it finally dimmed.

The Sovereign of the Eventide looked at the infinitely sturdy God Advent Tower with a calm expression.

It was still a while before the Black-armored Demon God would appear again. He had plenty of patience and having gathered so many followers, using the array to wipe the imprint that Yi Yun left behind would be ten times faster at the very least.

He believed that in time soon to come, the God Advent Tower would be his.

“Senior Eventide, this pagoda is the enchanted treasure that will protect us on our voyage to the 12 Empyrean Heavens?” Amongst his many followers, some, who had just joined, asked.

This was the first time they saw the God Advent Tower while witnessing the pagoda;s refinement process.

“This pagoda was left behind by Young Master Yi?” Someone else asked.

The news of the Desolate race losing the God Advent Tower had long proliferated, so all of them had caught wind of it.

“That’s right!” The Sovereign of the Eventide admitted frankly. “This is indeed the God Advent Tower left behind by Yi Yun! You probably know that I took the God Advent Tower away from the Desolate race!”

“Yi Yun had battled the Black-armored Demon God and he was sealed in an alternate dimension by him. Now, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong are likely dead!”

“Yi Yun is a member of our race, so the God Advent Tower he left behind is wealth that belongs to the Human race. As such, it should be returned to the Human race! However… the Desolate race took it for themselves, and what right did they have to do so? I was only taking back something that belongs to the Human race. I have never concealed this intention of mine!” The Sovereign of the Eventide said it as a matter of fact.

His words stirred up a number of his passionate followers as they cheered him, but there were a considerable number of people who maintained their silence.

Seeing these silent people, the Sovereign of the Eventide sneered. Over the past few days, the number of the Sovereign of the Eventide’s followers were rising dramatically, but many of these followers came only because of hope. They did not truly believe in him, nor were they loyal to him.

“Why? Do you expect that when the apocalypse begins, the Desolate race will protect you? We can only rely on ourselves.” The Sovereign of the Eventide said coldly.

He was speaking to those followers who were still on the fence. He wanted to refine the God Advent Tower as soon as possible and use these people to steal the Sacred Spirit’s corpse.

“Are Young Master Yi and Fairy Lin really dead?” A follower asked, unwilling to give up hope.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong enjoyed an extremely high reputation in the Tian Yuan world. Many people had heard of Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s tremendous strength and they hoped that the two were still alive and that there would come a day when they would defeat the Black-armored Demon God.

“Of course they are dead! The Black-armored Demon God possesses extraordinary strength and he is proficient in spatial dimension laws. The spatial dimension seal that he had set up is indestructible to anyone! My understanding of spatial dimension laws can be said to be the best in the Tian Yuan world, but when I went to the place where the Black-armored Demon God set up the seal, I could not even find the location of the alternate dimension. Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s understanding of the spatial dimension laws are greatly inferior to mine, so what do you think their outcome would be?” The Sovereign of the Eventide retorted with a rhetorical question.

The follower who asked previously remained silent. Indeed, no matter how strong Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were, there was nothing that they could do in such a situation. Besides, their great power was only relative to the people from the Tian Yuan world. In front of the Black-armored Demon God, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong could only be described as puny.

“Such a pity… ” Many people shook their heads and sighed. They were feeling sorry for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s demise. If they were able to mature further, they would have been able to prevent the apocalypse.

“A dead genius is no longer a genius. When people practice martial arts, they have to rely on themselves. If all of you can go to the 12 Empyrean Heavens and obtain ancient heritage, cultivating peerless martial arts, how negligible would the Black-armored Demon God be?”

“But to take you along with me to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, I need to first see your value. In time to come, I will establish a powerful faction in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. And you today will become a foundational cornerstone of this faction!”

760 - : Pagoda Refinement

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Sovereign of the Eventide’s words were extremely provocative.

To establish a faction after going to the 12 Empyrean Heavens and obtaining heritage from the 12 Empyrean Heavens was extremely tempting to the Tian Yuan world warriors, especially the younger ones.

They also knew that the strength levels of the 12 Empyrean Heavens far exceeded that of the Tian Yuan world. It would certainly be extremely difficult when they first arrived in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

However, they believed that the reason that the 12 Empyrean Heavens was powerful was that of its powerful heritage and rich resources. In the Tian Yuan world, they were limited by heritage and resources, destining them to mediocrity.

It was not because they were weak, it was because they were limited by external conditions.

As long as they were in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, they would be able to grow slowly and establish a small faction. By starting from scratch, it was still a possibility to develop it into something great.

“Today, I will take point here. The Umbriferous Divine Palace will be the place that I set off! In the next twenty years, I will conquer the Divine Wilderness Stage, so we can complete great things! Your future will depend on your choice and your striving. Your hard work will be remembered by me.

“When the forces are built up in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, I will reward you accordingly. All of you envy Yi Yun and Lin Xintong? That’s right, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong are powerful. But in the future, when you obtain the heritage of the 12 Empyrean Heavens, you would surpass them sooner or later. They are already dead, dying at the hands of the Black-armored Demon God who they couldn’t resist against. A dead genius is no longer a genius.”

“And when our faction is established, your children might be on par with Yi Yun in their twenties or thirties. Yi Yun and Lin Xintong are nothing at all!”

The Sovereign of the Eventide gave an impassioned speech, which roused the masses. Even the followers, who were still wavering, could not help but be engrossed in the future described by the Sovereign of the Eventide.

In times of despair, people needed beautiful fantasies, even if they knew that these fantasies might end up bubbles, bursting at any time.

However… for some reason, the audience were no longer excited. They stared blankly at the empty space above the Sovereign of the Eventide. Their eyes turned stiff as many people had expressions like they had seen a ghost in the day.

Astonishment, confusion, disbelief…

Oh!?

The followers’ reaction made the Sovereign of the Eventide pause. Everyone’s eyes were concentrated on a spot behind and above him. What had happened?

The Sovereign of the Eventide’s heart missed a beat. Could it be that something had appeared behind him? With his powerful perception, how could something strange suddenly appear behind him without him knowing? His perception range allowed him to lock onto a small bug even a radius of ten thousand feet.

“What is it!?”

The Sovereign of the Eventide jerked his head back suddenly. In the sky behind him, three figures had appeared out of thin air… These three people seemed to be distorted in the void!

A black-clad youth was nonchalantly sitting on the void. One of his legs was outstretched, while the other leg was bent in front of him. His left arm was casually placed on his knee. In his right hand, he held a strange-shaped tree leaf that was slowly rotating. The leaf veins were shimmering with a charming luster.

And behind the black-clad youth was a white-dressed girl. She held a sword to her chest, and with her cold expression, she seemed to have an outstanding air to her.

Finally, there was a tall, dark-skinned man, who had muscles as firm as divine iron that made him look like a metallic tower. He stood behind Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Only a silhouette could be seen as he looked fuzzy.

This stalwart man had a perfectly proportioned body, and although his muscles looked exaggerated, it did not give an endearing feeling. It was more of the beauty that came from the embodiment of absolute strength.

Upon seeing these three people, the Sovereign of the Eventide was completely dumbfounded. As a Sovereign, he was the strongest person in the Tian Yuan world and he had lived nearly a hundred thousand years. Now, because of these three people’s sudden appearance, his lips were trembling, and his face turned as white as a sheet.

He failed to recover even after several seconds. He could hardly believe everything he saw in front of him.

Yi Yun! Lin Xintong! As well as… the one that gave him a suffocating feeling…

The Black-armored Demon God!

And at that moment, the Black-armored Demon God’s aura was completely converged on himself. He was quietly following Yi Yun like he was an attendant to Yi Yun.

This… This…

Impossible! Impossible!

The Sovereign of the Eventide felt like his mind was crumbling. He could not believe what he was seeing at all.

“Black-armored Demon God! That is the Black-armored Demon God!?”

Amongst the crowd, someone suddenly yelled. Instantly, there was chaos throughout!

Many of them had never seen the Black-armored Demon God, as nearly everyone who saw the Black-armored Demon God had been killed. Wherever the Demon God passed, life would be extinguished!

However, there were still many people who had seen projection images of the Black-armored Demon God, so they were able to recognize him. And with the Demon God here, even though he had deliberately converged his aura, the pressure that came from the difference in life’s natural order still caused their blood and Qi to boil, and their hearts stop beating.

“That black-clad youth is Yi Yun. And there’s Lin Xintong as well! They… They are still alive, and furthermore, why are they together with the Black-armored Demon God!?”

People could not believe the scene in front of them. Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s return was already unbelievable. What made people wonder if they were dreaming the Black-armored Demon God behind Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

Weren’t they archenemies?

At that moment, the sitting Yi Yun gently put down the Dao Leaf in his hand. Without looking back, he said to the Black-armored Demon God, “Black Demon Puppet, go!”

With a simple thought from Yi Yun, the Black-armored Demon God moved. He turned around, and his eyes emitted a divine beam that exploded like lightning, tearing the void apart!

His aura also emanated as a result. Whoever came into contact with the Black-armored Demon God’s gaze felt a pressure press down on them. The warriors present felt that their blood was in chaos as their faces turned white. They nearly knelt down to the ground. As for those with weaker cultivation levels, they felt like their soul seas were collapsing!

It was too terrifying. It was definitely the Black-armored Demon God. Only the Black-armored Demon God could push their minds so close to collapse with a single look.

And at that moment, the Black-armored Demon God moved. His body transformed into a black flash of lightning, appearing instantly in front of an Eventide Monk.

This Eventide Monk was presiding over the array formation, and he was a slave of the Sovereign of the Eventide. His cultivation level had reached the Yuan Opening realm. However, at the instant the Black-armored Demon God moved in front of him, the pressure that followed seemed to envelop him like a storm. Under this pressure, the monk began to bleed from all his seven orifices while his pupils lost focus. His strength could not bear the frontal brunt of the Black-armored Demon God’s pressure.

The Black-armored Demon God put his hand out and grabbed the Eventide Monk’s neck before flying upwards, like an eagle catching mice.

The Black-armored Demon God flew towards Yi Yun and threw the Eventide Monk in front of him.

This Eventide Monk had unfocused eyes, and his soul sea already collapsed. With only a few breaths left, it was clear that he would not live.

761 - : Evening out Debts

CKtalon  CKtalon

This… This…

When the warriors in front of the Umbriferous Divine Palace saw this scene, they were all overcome with fear.

It was not in awe of the Black-armored Demon God using his aura to disperse a Yuan Opening realm expert’s soul sea, but that Yi Yun could so casually order the Black-armored Demon God like he was his war slave.

“Just now… Just now… ” A legendary human figures, who had lived more than ten thousand years, said with a stutter through his quivering lips.

Yi Yun had called him the… Black Demon Puppet!

Puppet?

Could the stalwart man be Yi Yun’s puppet!?

However… this stalwart man’s aura and his suppressive feeling made everyone certain that he was definitely the Black-armored Demon God!

Even if he wasn’t, he was definitely a terrifying existence not much different from the Black-armored Demon God!

Such an existence was causally ordered around by Yi Yun?

Black Demon Puppet… Black-armored Demon God…

Could it be…?

A legendary Tian Yuan world figure suddenly realized a crazy possibility. That was… Yi Yun had managed to refine the Black-armored Demon God into his puppet!

After some peerless figures died, it was possible for them to be refined into puppets.

When he proposed this idea, all the warriors present were flabbergasted.

How was it possible that Yi Yun had killed the Black-armored Demon God and then refined him into a puppet!?

They could no longer think carefully as Yi Yun and the Black-armored Demon God’s appearance placed a huge pressure on them. With their minds oppressed, it was difficult for them to have any thoughts.

Many of them, especially the older freaks that had lived more than ten thousand years, were now breaking out into a cold sweat!

Although they admired Yi Yun and marveled the battle of cosmic proportions that Yi Yun had with the Black-armored Demon God, they had sought refuge under the Sovereign of the Eventide for their survival and future!

They knew deep, down in their hearts, what sort of person the Sovereign of the Eventide was. The legendary human figures knew that his claim of Yi Yun being human, and how that meant that the God Advent Tower belonged to the Human race was something absolutely not in line with Yi Yun’s will.

With the Sovereign of the Eventide treating Yi Yun as an enemy, then by following him, it was equivalent to betraying Yi Yun!

What sort of outcome would it be, having betrayed Yi Yun?

They did not dare to think any farther. Maybe the younger ones would be better off. They were young and unaware of the truth, but for those of the Yuan Opening realm, or even those old freaks that had reached half-step into the Heaven Ascension realm, they were in for trouble.

Yi Yun ignored these people. He only coldly stared at the Eventide Monk in front of him. In fact, Yi Yun had arrived here a long time ago. He too had heard the Sovereign of the Eventide’s passionate speech. From that, he learned that the Sovereign of the Eventide had attacked the Desolate race and had stolen the God Advent Tower.

After the battle in the remote mountains, all the legendary Desolate race figures were injured and they had suffered a drop in cultivation realms. However, the Sovereign of the Eventide had been absent in battle, allowing him to perfectly preserve his strength. And it seemed that the Sovereign of the Eventide’s strength had increased compared to their initial meeting at the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium.

Under these circumstances, Yi Yun was very worried that the Sovereign of the Eventide had done something irreparable to the Desolate race.

Yi Yun grabbed the Eventide Monk with one hand, and he directly searched his soul!

The art of soul searching only allowed one to obtain vague information. For example, it was impossible to obtain any nomological heritage through this method.

However, for Yi Yun, that was already enough!

Instantly, whatever the Sovereign of the Eventide did to the Desolate race, including his attack on Jiang Xiaorou and using her as a threat, had been seen by Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s face sank all of a sudden. Murderous intent boiled around him as he locked onto the Sovereign of the Eventide with a cold gaze!

At that instant, people felt that Yi Yun was like a primordial divine beast. No one could stop him from killing anyone!

“You… are… so… deserving… of… death… !”

Yi Yun articulated his sentence word after word, embodying actual killing intent. He locked onto every part of the Sovereign of the Eventide’s body.

The Sovereign of the Eventide felt all the energy in his meridians retarded in their flow. He felt fear, a stifling fear.

In his long life, this was the first time that he had experienced so much fear. He knew that he was a life form not on the same level as Yi Yun.

And at that moment, the Black-armored Demon God stretched out his arm and swiped it across the void.

Crackle!

The void was ripped apart by the Black-armored Demon God as numerous lightning gathering around the spatial rift. A terrifying spatial storm began to sweep up.

A long lance that had black lightning winding around it flew out of the spatial rift, and into the Black-armored Demon God’s hand!

It was the Black-armored Demon God’s weapon. Back in his battle with Yi Yun, the Black-armored Demon God had thrown this weapon, dropping it in the Tian Yuan world. Finally, when the Black-armored Demon God entered his slumber, the black lance had disappeared into the void.

Now, with the Black-armored Demon God returning, a casual stroke to rip the void apart allowed him to retrieve his weapon.

With the lance in hand, the Black-armored Demon God’s gaze locked onto the Sovereign of the Eventide!

“Sou!”

The Black-armored Demon God moved. Like a tornado touching down, he charged at the Sovereign of the Eventide!

The terrifying aura restricted the Sovereign of the Eventide’s body. He faced the direct assault from the Black-armored Demon God with a pale face. His strength was being repressed, preventing him from using even 20% of his energy. And even if he could use all his strength, he was in no way a match for the Black-armored Demon God!

“Peng! Peng! Peng!”

With the explosion of blood and flesh, the lance’s suppression caused several Eventide Monks beside the Sovereign of the Eventide to turn into a mist of blood!

A single strike by the Black-armored Demon God was something that no one could withstand! Even Yi Yun had to use the Dao Leaf’s strength, or he would not have been able to withstand his attack.

The Sovereign of the Eventide roared as he bit his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood essence. At the risk of exploding his meridians, he finally broke through the restrictions of the Black-armored Demon God’s aura, allowing him to use the strength in his dantian.

He suddenly threw out a pale gold seal, slamming it at the Black-armored Demon God!

“Ka-cha!”

The pale gold seal, which had been tempered numerous time while being kept in the Sovereign of the Eventide’s dantian, had shattered. In front of the Black-armored Demon God’s lance, it was like loess that could not withstand a single strike!

The Sovereign of the Eventide’s facial features distorted as he spat out fresh blood. The attack that he burned his blood essence for had failed to hinder the Black-armored Demon God.

‘”Puah!”

The black lance did not lose momentum, piercing the Sovereign of the Eventide’s chest directly!

The Sovereign of the Eventide was dangling on the Black-armored Demon God’s lance after having been pierced!

He did not die, but he was grabbing desperately at the black lance’s body while trembling incessantly.

The Sovereign of the Eventide, who had a tall built, only reached the Black-armored Demon God’s chest. As the Black-armored Demon God stood in front of the Umbriferous Divine Palace, he lifted the Sovereign of the Eventide up with his lance.

At that moment, the Black-armored Demon God’s body was burning with black flames. He looked like an invincible evil demon that emerged from hell!

Upon seeing this scene, the people around could not help but tremble. The Sovereign of the Eventide, whose strength stood at the peak of the Tian Yuan world, had been in high spirits, announcing his dream of establishing a faction in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. But now, he was being dangled like a dead dog by the Black-armored Demon God on his lance. Resistance was futile.

That was the Black-armored Demon God, a terrifying existence that far exceeded the Tian Yuan world’s strength!

As for Yi Yun… He had killed the Black-armored Demon God and even refined the Black-armored Demon God into his puppet. Then, what sort of extent had Yi Yun’s strength reached?

762 - : A Piercing Lance Strike

CKtalon  CKtalon

Everyone shuddered in fear as they watched on, and Yi Yun gave the Sovereign of the Eventide a nonchalant glance. At that moment, the Sovereign of the Eventide’s pupils were lacking in will and he was foaming at the mouth. He was trying his best to look at Yi Yun, but his vision was turning blurry.

“You… you… ”

The Sovereign of the Eventide made an effort to open his mouth, but whatever he said was said in a staccato manner. As his lung had been pierced, it made it difficult for him to speak a word.

Yi Yun gave a cold sneer and said without any expression, “Destroy this place.”

Upon receiving the order, the Black-armored Demon God suddenly took a big step forward. Looking at the Umbriferous Divine Palace, he suddenly struck out with his lance.

The black lance was brandished around, with the Sovereign of the Eventide pinned onto it, like a dancing black flood dragon. The void was cut through and every stroke of the lance caused a spatial storm!

“Boom!”

The entire Umbriferous Divine Palace collapsed. The terrifying power had razed the Umbriferous Divine Palace to the ground, and even the gravel that flew up was turned into dust by the spatial storms, subsequently disappearing.

The Sovereign of the Eventide’s divine palace, that he had painstakingly built, was annihilated in a split moment.

However, the Sovereign of the Eventide was not yet dead. His body was covered in blood, his meridians were severed and his body was convulsing. The former strongest person in the Tian Yuan world now no longer looked human.

One reason why the Sovereign of the Eventide remained alive was that he had a strong vitality, and the second reason was that Yi Yun did not want him dead so soon.

He was human scum. While the Desolate race was desperately fighting off the Black-armored Demon God, and even many legendary human figures had made important sacrifices, he had turtled up. Only when the calamity of the Black-armored Demon God was temporarily put on hold did he appear once again. He even wanted to use the resources in the Tian Yuan world to escape to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, and by employing despicable means, he had used Darkness energy to nearly take Jiang Xiaorou’s life.

Yi Yun felt that it was too cheap to kill such a person directly.

“Eventide’s cronies, kill them all!”

Yi Yun gave another order. The Eventide Monks, as well as the direct subordinates of the Sovereign of the Eventide, felt their hearts turn cold when they heard Yi Yun’s announcement.

Some wanted to plead, while others tried to escape. There were even some Eventide Monks who wanted to put up a fight.

However, the Black-armored Demon God moved too fast. Before the Sovereign of the Eventide’s cronies could even react, more than a hundred black energy arrows shot out from the Black-armored Demon God, piercing their soul seas directly!

The energy arrows were imbued with the Black-armored Demon God’s spiritual pressure. As these people’s soul seas were directly shattered, they seemed to have their souls extracted instantly. They quickly went limp like rotten pieces of meat.

In just a few seconds, Yi Yun’s two lines had destroyed the entire Umbriferous Divine Palace!

It was the strongest faction in the Tian Yuan world, and it was also the most mysterious faction of them all. But it was now, all gone.

And at that moment, there were many followers, who had come to the Sovereign of the Eventide to seek refuge, standing in the vicinities of the Umbriferous Divine Palace ruins. These followers were covered in sweat and their faces were pale.

The Black-armored Demon God was too powerful. The entire Umbriferous Divine Palace, with all its mighty figures, including the Sovereign of the Eventide, had been destroyed almost instantly!

The terrifying Black-armored Demon God, as well as the yet to make a move, but definitely more powerful, Yi Yun!

In fact, regardless of Yi Yun’s strength, it made no difference to them. Destroying them was just a thought away!

A short moment ago, Yi Yun’s simple sentence of ‘destroy this place’ made them think that they were about to die!

However, the Black-armored Demon God had only destroyed the Umbriferous Divine Palace and the direct cronies of the Sovereign of the Eventide. They still had their lives for the time being, but it did not seem permanent.

Now, Yi Yun cast his gaze towards these people.

Everyone was distraught as they shook in fear. The double pressure from Yi Yun and the Black-armored Demon God caused them to nearly fall to their knees.

There were more than ten thousand warriors present. Yi Yun knew that a majority of these people had blindly followed the Sovereign of the Eventide. He knew that faced with the despair of the Black-armored Demon God appearing once again, they had no choice but to rely on the Sovereign of the Eventide, hoping that they could save their skin during this calamity.

However… Even so, they were accomplices of the Sovereign of the Eventide, so they were still guilty!

“All of you can be spared from death, but there is no sparing a punishment!” Yi Yun’s cold voice resounded everywhere.

With a thought, Yi Yun waved his hands, causing more than ten thousand golden runes to appear out of his hands. These golden runes were Yi Yun’s energy mark formed from his pure Yang energy.

These marks flew towards the warriors present and they descended on their faces, with one person per mark.

Following that, the pure Yang energy exploded!

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Some people cried out in pain, as their faces were burnt by the pure Yang energy, leaving behind a scar.

The marks burned by pure Yang energy seemed to be like brand marks in the mortal world, in which a mark was left behind on their faces using a molten piece of iron.

With Yi Yun’s comprehension of pure Yang laws, there was no one else in the Tian Yuan world who could match him. It was impossible to wipe away this mark, or even use disguise techniques to hide it.

Unless Yi Yun allowed removal, the marks would follow them for life.

To warriors who placed great importance in honor, this was definitely a lifelong disgrace!

It was easy to guess that with Yi Yun’s return, and the threat of the Black-armored Demon God removed, it was time for him to establish a new order. These people would be looked down upon by others because of the marks on their faces.

Regardless of the case, they had managed to have their lives spared.

“You can’t be spared a punishment. By leaving the brands behind, it is to warn you. In the future, I will leave the Tian Yuan world, and the method of removing the brand will be left to the former Desolate Queen. If you were to do good, rendering good service, she can remove your brands!”

By passing the method behind the brand to the Desolate race, it was also a form of deterrence to these people.

At that moment, Yi Yun waved his hand.

“Boom!”

The God Advent Tower began to tremble and it burst out of the array’s confines. Numerous runic patterns shattered as the God Advent Tower returned to Yi Yun before being put in his dantian.

Following that, the Black-armored Demon God also waved his hand to summon his black lance. At that moment, the Sovereign of the Eventide, who was in a deplorable state, was still hanging on the lance with scarcely any breath left. He looked utterly wretched.

The Black-armored Demon God flew up and he used his lance to lift the Sovereign of the Eventide up. Yi Yun planned on taking the Sovereign of the Eventide to the Desolate race, so he could redeem himself with his life in front of Jiang Xiaorou.

“Let’s go!”

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong transformed into streams of light, while the Black-armored Demon God followed closely behind.

They streaked across the skies, using spatial dimension laws to shorten the distance. In seconds, they had traversed hundreds of kilometers.

Seeing Yi Yun and company come and go so quickly, the warriors in front of the Umbriferous Divine Palace ruins were still lost in shock.

They had survived… Yi Yun did not kill them.

As they touched the brands on their faces, an excruciating pain reminded them that everything that just happened was not a dream.

Yi Yun was not dead. He has returned!

Not only was he not dead, his strength had also improved tremendously. People previously even had hope that Yi Yun did not die, allowing him to devote himself to cultivation so that he could kill the Black-armored Demon God in the future. But the current situation was that he killed the Black-armored Demon God in the alternate dimension, and even refined the Black-armored Demon God into his puppet!

The calamity in twenty years naturally no longer existed. They need not worry anymore, but… they were now burdened with a stigma.

However, this was of their own choice, so there was no one to blame.

763 - : Annihilating the Umbriferous Divine Palace

CKtalon  CKtalon

Divine Wilderness, in the remote mountains.

Ever since the Sanctuary Island couple and a number of legendary human figures had settled in the remote mountains, more and more mighty human figures came to the remote mountains through a passage built through the Divine Wilderness.

This place had become the front line command post in the allied war against the Black-armored Demon God.

They knew that in twenty years time, the Black-armored Demon God would appear again, so the Human and Desolate race certainly could not sit idle.

At that moment in time, the sun had yet to rise. The remote mountains were covered in clouds, as endless mist slowly rose up through the night, blanketing the mountains and valleys.

Under this mist, there was a palace and immortal abodes that spread for more than a fifty kilometers!

It was a residence built for warriors.

There was nothing in the remote mountains to begin with, but through the combined efforts of the mighty Human and Desolate race figures, a series of buildings in the palace compound with arrays had sprung up in a few short months!

With these arrays, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in a radius of tens of thousands of kilometers was gathered towards the remote mountains, supporting the cultivation of warriors!

Not only that, the Desolate race had rebuilt their most defensive array, with the Divine Bone Altar at its core. This array enveloped the entire remote mountains. The moment that this array was set up, it began to accumulate energy. As long as an enemy came attacking, the array would be activated, releasing all the energy that it had previously accumulated.

Of course, against the Black-armored Demon God, it was hard to tell how effective the array would be.

There were many warriors, and there were many arrays. To allow warriors to cultivate daily and to power these arrays would naturally consume a lot of resources. Hence, there would be a group of high-level Desolate Heaven Masters in the remote mountains who would refine all sorts of relics on a daily basis, giving them to the allied Desolate race and Human race army.

At the break of dawn, the mist was suddenly dispersed by the cries of warriors. In front of the palace compound, the aura from the Human race and Desolate race warriors’ cultivation swept up like a strong wind, dispersing all the clouds in a fifty kilometer radius.

As the clouds dispersed, the scene in the remote mountains could clearly be seen. More than ten thousand array flags were inserted into the ground of the Divine Wilderness. Each array flag was engraved with runic patterns, and as the strong winds blew the flags, they created a strong, fluttering sound.

For the weak to fight the strong, they could only rely on arrays to gather all their strength, a tactic that took advantage of their numbers so they could resist the strong.

“Ha! Ha!”

Earth-shaking roars echoed in the valley as the Human and Desolate race warriors were relying on their individual arrays to engage in an intense opposing combat exercise!

Instantly, all sorts of divine beams flashed as energy storms surged wantonly. The entire remote mountains began trembling!

Activating such large arrays expended a lot of energy and large quantities of relics. But in the face of the destruction of the Tian Yuan world and the Divine Wilderness, the various human race factions and the Desolate race couldn’t selfishly hid their possessions any longer. All sorts of valuable resources that were accumulated over millions of years were taken out without any delay and they were provided to the warriors.

“Weak! Too weak! What are all of you doing? Ten arrays burned up more than ten thousand relics in an instance. Look at the attack that all of you had just launched, the Yuan Qi efficiency was less than half!”

An azure-clothed youth hovered high in the air, as he watched the intense battle below. The azure-clothed youth was none other than Shepherd Boy, who was responsible for the daily training of the Human and Desolate race warriors.

In recent days, Shepherd Boy enjoyed extremely high prestige, even amongst the Human race warriors Although the Human race was unfriendly to the Desolate race, they too admired the strong. With his talent and powerful strength, Shepherd Boy had won over the human elites’ respect.

At that moment, the floating Shepherd Boy suddenly realized something as he moved downwards and landed on a mountain peak.

On the mountain peak, there was a palace standing on it. At that moment, in front of the palace doors stood a red-dressed girl who looked pale. She was Jiang Xiaorou.

Ever since the Sovereign of the Eventide’s Darkness energy was planted in her soul sea, Jiang Xiaorou had endured the erosion of her life force by this energy.

The feeling of having her soul sea eroded was excruciating, and yet, Jiang Xiaorou had endured the pain for nearly a year.

In the past year, Jiang Xiaorou had suffered all sorts of torture. The Sanctuary Island couple were helpless against this Darkness energy, and they initially believed that Jiang Xiaorou’s life force would be slowly expended, making her gradually turn weak to the point of being bedridden.

But unexpectedly, Jiang Xiaorou had managed to survive through it. Not only that, her bloodline and life force was constantly in a struggle against the Dark energy.

At that moment, Jiang Xiaorou’s cultivation level had been repressed by the Dark energy, so she did not experience any growth over the past year. But the power in Jiang Xiaorou’s blood, as well as her soul, was slowly strengthening. The Dark energy did not take down Jiang Xiaorou. If the Dark energy planted by the Sovereign of the Eventide was a rock and Jiang Xiaorou was a weed, then she was being pressed down by a rock. However, her life remained as firm and tenacious as ever, growing through the cracks in the rock and maturing with great difficulty.

“It’s the Desolate race’s Queen!”

Many of the human warriors, who were cultivating in the remote mountains, also saw Jiang Xiaorou.

They were deeply impressed by Jiang Xiaorou. They had heard of the Darkness mark planted in her. A frail girl like Jiang Xiaorou had managed to endure an attack from a peak middle-stage Heaven Ascension realm figure, and her life force was even being constantly honed and strengthened due to the presence of this energy. It could be said to be a miracle.

Jiang Xiaorou had created a miracle, so was it possible that another miracle would happen to them in the battle against the Black-armored Demon God in twenty years time?

Carry on practicing!

Even though they knew that the Black-armored Demon God was powerful, and they knew that their battle against the Black-armored Demon God was like an egg striking a rock, they still had to do their best!

Maybe, many of them would turn to ash in a second during the actual battle, despite their twenty years of hard work, endured through sweat and tears, or they might not even be qualified to touch the Black-armored Demon God’s weapon, but they wanted to devote all their lives for that instant.

Furthermore, they also knew that a traitor—Sovereign of the Eventide—had appeared from the Human race. At that moment, he was gathering followers en masse, and a war might break out before the Black-armored Demon God appeared.

With an indomitable enemy before them, it was extremely tragic for there to be infighting amongst the Human race…

Twenty years… Their destiny would be decided in these twenty years. They all had to do their best, and it might only be a slim hope. But they knew that if they didn’t do so, there wouldn’t be a trace of hope at all.

“Practice again!” Shepherd Boy shouted.

Every practice using the arrays was a huge expenditure, so they had to cherish every opportunity to practice with the arrays. If not, no matter how much accumulated resources the Human and Desolate race had, it would not be able to withstand such splurging!

Just as Shepherd Boy said those words, and the Human and Desolate race warriors were gathering their energies, two extremely thick pillars of Yuan Qi shot up into the sky. Suddenly, a blackish-red beam of light appeared along the horizon. This beam of light was incredibly fast, and even with Shepherd Boy’s deep and profound cultivation level, he did not discover it any earlier than the other younger warriors.

The black beam of light arrived at the Human and Desolate race’s training ground in a blink of an eye!

Boom Boom Boom! Energy exploded as space warped. People could barely make out that the black beam of light was actually the flight of three people. Their boundless aura had torn apart the void, and the two large Yuan Qi pillars of light had broken as a result of their powerful aura!

All the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was instantly drained from the Human and Desolate race arrays by the people’s flight in a split second!

This was the Heaven Earth energy gathered through large arrays built by tens of thousands of Human and Desolate race elites. Yet, it could not withstand the impact of the people’s aura!

Furthermore, this was just the aura from their flight, and not an aura from combat!

Who… are these people?

Shepherd Boy’s face changed as the Human and Desolate race elites prepared to stand their ground against a powerful foe. For there to be such a powerful existence, there was only one person they could think of… Black-armored Demon God!

However, wasn’t the Black-armored Demon God only going to appear again in about nineteen years time?

The people held their breaths as they intently looked up in the sky. And when they saw the figures of these people, they were alarmed. All of their expressions were twisted in ways more complex than the runic patterns on those array flags.

The tallest amongst the three figures was most eye-catching. He was a stalwart man, holding a lance and he was barebacked. Wasn’t he… the Black-armored Demon God!?

“Black-armored Demon God!?”

The Human and Desolate race warriors looked on in shock. Although they had already honed their minds to embrace death all this while, they still could not bear the sudden appearance of the Black-armored Demon God!

Facing the Black-armored Demon God, who had attacked them about a year ago and whose powerful aura from his flight was enough to break the energy pillar accumulated by the large arrays, their confidence crumbled, even if they were determined to fight to the death! It was such a terrifying enemy, whose power had far exceeded their imaginations!

But very quickly, something even more surprising happened.

In front of the Black-armored Demon God, there was a black-clad youth and a white-dressed girl.

Upon seeing these two people, everyone was shocked beyond words. Their minds went from despair to utter shock as they experienced mental fluctuations… Aren’t the two of them Yi Yun and Lin Xintong?

They are still alive? Furthermore… why are they with the Black-armored Demon God!?

764 - : Returning to the Desolate Race

CKtalon  CKtalon

Lin Xintong, Yi Yun, as well as the Black-armored Demon God! Furthermore… dangling on the Black-armored Demon God’s lance was a half-dead middle-aged man. After scrutinizing the man’s look, everyone was stunned. Isn’t that… the Sovereign of the Eventide?

The Sovereign of the Eventide was the strongest warrior in the Tian Yuan world and the Divine Wilderness! In recent times, the Human and Desolate race’s greatest enemy was the Black-armored Demon God, but the Black-armored Demon God had yet to appear, so they were wary of the Sovereign of the Eventide only. He wanted to use all the resources in the entire world to escape to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. He was like a venomous snake that lurked in the dark, threatening to bite them at any time.

But now, the Sovereign of the Eventide dangling on the Black-armored Demon God’s lance…

What… the hell… happened?

Had the Black-armored Demon God controlled Yi Yun and Lin Xintong, then kill the Sovereign of the Eventide?

The Human and Desolate race warriors were momentarily at a loss. Even Shepherd Boy, who was the Commander, was shocked.

He could clearly tell that the scene in front of him did not look like Yi Yun had been enslaved by the Black-armored Demon God. On the contrary, it looked like Yi Yun had enslaved the Black-armored Demon God because he was following Yi Yun.

The Black-armored Demon God had been subdued? Was that even possible?

The allied force’s array had its Yuan Qi columns broken as a result of Yi Yun and the Black-armored Demon God’s appearance. At that moment, the desolate bone relics were burning crazily in the array, but no one could care for them.

“Phew! Phew! Phew!

At that moment, more than twenty beams of light flew into the sky from all corners of the remote mountains.

The Sanctuary Island couple, the former Desolate Queen, as well as the legendary human and Desolate race figures, had all been stirred.

When the Black-armored Demon God came flying towards the remote mountains, with the terrifying pressure, as well as the momentum that drained the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi dry, how could they not have discovered the sudden change?

More than twenty Human and Desolate race Empyreal Kings were scattered everywhere in the sky with Yi Yun, who was clad in black and had chiselled facial features, in the middle. From top to bottom, there was a majestic and aggressive aura that lingered around him, causing apprehension in the people around him.

Beside Yi Yun was Lin Xintong in her snow-white dress, as well as the Black-armored Demon God, who was dangling the Sovereign of the Eventide on his lance!

The stalwart but horrific Demon God seemed to appear extremely respectful to Yi Yun.

“Sanctuary Island Lord, Your Majesty, it’s been a while.” Yi Yun casually cupped his fists and greeted them.

The Sanctuary Island Lord opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.

He pointed at the Black-armored Demon God and said, “That… is the Black-armored Demon God!?”

“Yes.” Yi Yun nodded his head, and said, “I was sealed in an alternate dimension and I was at the end of the rope. But in the final moment, I happened to gain some insights into spatial dimension laws by chance, allowing me to break the spatial barrier open. I then killed the Black-armored Demon God, and then refined his body into a Black Demon puppet. After all this, I returned to the Divine Wilderness.”

“As for the Sovereign of the Eventide, I have learned of the sins that he has committed in the past year. So I captured him, bringing him here so that he can repent for his sins.”

Yi Yun mentioned what happened casually, but when his words entered the ears of others, they were all dumbfounded.

Sealed into an alternate dimension, gaining some insights into the spatial dimension laws ‘by chance’!?

Spatial dimension laws were already extremely difficult to learn or master. Few people in the entire Tian Yuan world could do it. Furthermore, Yi Yun did not know any spatial dimension laws in the past, preventing him from being able to escape the alternate dimension. Yet, he had managed to gain some insights into the spatial dimension laws by himself, returning to the Divine Wilderness. This method of gaining insight into spatial dimension laws sounded like child’s play!

As for killing the Black-armored Demon God, refining his body into a Black Demon puppet… that rendered the legendary human and Desolate race figures even more speechless. They had been cultivating arduously for the Black-armored Demon God here, day in and day out. They were already determined to fight to the death. But on Yi Yun’s side… he had already killed the Black-armored Demon God, and he even refined him into a puppet!

As for finally dangling the Sovereign of the Eventide on the lance, that was considered nothing. With Yi Yun having the strength to kill the Black-armored Demon God, dangling a hundred Sovereign of the Eventides was nothing difficult, what more one!?

“Young Master Yi, you really are… ” The Sanctuary Island Lord attempted to say something, but he stopped himself midway a few times. He was completely at a loss how to express the feelings he harbored.

“Sanctuary Island Lord, Your Majesty, the Sovereign of the Eventide shall be left to you.”

As Yi Yun said that, the Black-armored Demon God swiped his lance, while the Sovereign of the Eventide let out a painful grunt. The wounds that sported black blood had been torn open once again as his body flew off the lance’s tip.

Being removed from a lance that was about the thickness of a baby’s wrist was excruciatingly painful. The Sovereign of the Eventide spat out blood and there was a tragic smile on his pale face. His dantian had been shattered by Yi Yun, and his cultivation was crippled. He was only left hanging on his last breath.

All he wished now was death, but Yi Yun deliberately left him alive.

“Eventide!” The Sanctuary Island Lord sighed.

For a mighty figure of a generation to come to such an end, he found it extremely regrettable.

He had the intention to give the Sovereign of the Eventide a quick death. But the way that the former Desolate Queen stared at the Sovereign of the Eventide, there was still a deep sense of hatred in her.

Even though the Sovereign of the Eventide’s outcome was currently so miserable, it could not resolve the hate that the former Desolate Queen had for him. Jiang Xiaorou had nearly lost her life because of him.

The former Desolate Queen waved her hand, sending dozens of seals to infuse themselves into the Sovereign of the Eventide’s body.

These seals repressed the vitality of the Sovereign of the Eventide, but they also prevented his death temporarily.

“Throw him into the dungeons!”

The former Desolate Queen directly threw the Sovereign of the Eventide downwards.

And at that moment, Yi Yun scanned the crowd and he saw a red-dressed figure standing on one of the tall mountains…

“Yun-er!” A crisp voice echoed.

Standing on a cliff, Jiang Xiaorou looked at Yi Yun with eyes brimming with tears.

Yi Yun had disappeared for a year, and during this time, Jiang Xiaorou constantly worried about him. Yi Yun had been sealed in an alternate dimension, with slim chances of survival. Even the Sanctuary Island couple, who said that Yi Yun would definitely return, did not believe their own words deep down.

As for Jiang Xiaorou, she was enduring the devouring of her life force from the Darkness energy, while waiting for Yi Yun’s return.

It was like she had returned to more than a decade ago, during their last few moments in the Cloud Wilderness. Yi Yun had gone to the Tao tribal clan to participate in the Jin Long Wei’s selection. As for Jiang Xiaorou, she had no choice but to hide deep in the mountains, afraid that the Lian tribal clan would look for her. She spent every day in a tree house in the mountains, waiting for Yi Yun’s return.

She even remembered that scene on that day so many years ago, where Yi Yun returned while riding a Jin Long Wei mount, dressed in a flying fish robe.

And because of his return, everything had changed.

“Sis Xiaorou… ”

Yi Yun’s figure flashed and he had already landed on the cliff, standing in front of Jiang Xiaorou…

It was over. At least in the world where the Tian Yuan world and the Divine Wilderness was, everything was over.

Yi Yun held Jiang Xiaorou’s hand. As the rays of the sun shone down on the remote mountains, it illuminated Jiang Xiaorou’s pale skin like dancing golden pixies.

The bit of cinnabar in the middle of her eyebrows bathed in the sunlight and it looked like a blooming red plum…

Yi Yun sensed that Jiang Xiaorou’s life force had not been weakened by the Darkness energy, and was relieved.

“Sis Xiaorou, I’ll help you extract the Darkness energy.”

With the Purple Crystal Origins, even if Yi Yun did not know the Laws of Darkness, it was still possible for him to do such a trivial thing.

However, Jiang Xiaorou shook her head as she softly said, “There’s no need. I will slowly make it disappear.”

765 - : Everything is Over

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Make it disappear?”

Yi Yun was momentarily surprised, but only then did he realize that although the Darkness energy lurking in Jiang Xiaorou’s body was constantly eating away at her life force, Jiang Xiaorou’s bloodline was also being stimulated by this external force, and it slowly experienced an awakening.

Jiang Xiaorou’s bloodline was powerful, so powerful that even the Black-armored Demon God coveted it. However, in the Tian Yuan world, due to a lack of heritage, Jiang Xiaorou’s bloodline failed to produce any heaven-defying effects.

But now, due to this Darkness energy, Jiang Xiaorou’s bloodline was beginning to develop a portion of its miraculous effects.

There was such a thing?

Yi Yun had originally been worried about Jiang Xiaorou. But now, due to the catalytic properties of the Darkness energy, it could be said that it was a blessing in disguise for Jiang Xiaorou.

In such a situation, there was indeed no need for him to do anything. If he allowed Jiang Xiaorou to use her own strength to swallow the Darkness bit by bit, it could be an opportunity for her.

Only Jiang Xiaorou could turn this catastrophe into an opportunity. If an ordinary person had been implanted with the Darkness energy, their life force would have been drained.

“Alright, Sis Xiaorou. If there is come a day when you don’t feel right, be sure to tell me.”

With the Purple Crystal Origins, Yi Yun could monitor the Darkness energy in Jiang Xiaorou’s body, so he was not worried.

Jiang Xiaorou nodded and whispered, “Okay.”

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly thought of something as he called out to the Sanctuary Island Lord.

“Island Lord Ying!”

“Is there something you want from me, Young Master Yi?”

In front of Yi Yun, the Sanctuary Island Lord spoke respectfully. Yi Yun had defeated the Black-armored Demon God nearly single-handedly, relieving the calamity of the Tian Yuan world and the Divine Wilderness. This feat made him worthy of receiving the respect and gratitude of every warrior.

“I want to call upon every legendary figure in the Tian Yuan world and the Divine Wilderness to have a convention. The venue shall be here in the remote mountains. I’ll trouble Island Lord Ying on informing everyone.”

Years ago, after Blood Moon was destroyed by Sovereign of the Eventide, he had held a convention at Greatsword Mountain, establishing the Tian Yuan Elder Consortium, in a bid to establish a new order in the Tian Yuan world.

Now, Yi Yun was holding a convention in the remote mountains, and this convention would not only be limited to the legendary human figures, the legendary Desolate race figures would also be attending.

For both the mighty figures of the Human and Desolate race to attend such a meeting, it was unprecedented.

“Alright!” The Sanctuary Island Lord agreed immediately. “I’ll immediately begin to pass on the news.”

After the Sanctuary Island Lord bade farewell, in a couple of hours, he and other legendary human figures used various transmission methods to inform the rest of the Tian Yuan world that Yi Yun had subdued the Black-armored Demon God, as well as how he handled the Sovereign of the Eventide.

In fact, previously when Yi Yun arrived at the Umbriferous Divine Palace, and destroyed it completely, there were already followers of the Sovereign of the Eventide who had spread the news of Yi Yun subduing the Black-armored Demon God.

However, as Yi Yun had grasped spatial dimension laws, his speed was too fast. Flying from the Tian Yuan world to the remote mountains just took an extremely short period of time. As such, the news had yet to proliferate.

Now, with both sides were spreading the news, with one faction spreading the news to ten, and ten to a hundred. Very quickly, the entire Tian Yuan world was shaken.

The Black-armored Demon God was dead!

The Sovereign of the Eventide, who wanted to escape to the 12 Empyrean Heavens and had caused strife, had been killed!

The Sovereign of the Eventide was nothing much, but the Black-armored Demon God was a knife that hung over their heads. The death sentence in twenty years meant a single path of death. Yet now, it had been shattered by Yi Yun.

Not only that, Yi Yun was even controlling the Black-armored Demon God. It was equivalent to subduing that knife and then using for himself!

Yi Yun’s strength already made him the strongest person in this world. Even Heaven Ascension realm experts were no match for Yi Yun.

Now, Yi Yun had even gained control of the Black-armored Demon God. This Black-armored Demon God puppet might even be more powerful than Yi Yun.

There was also the equally powerful Lin Xintong, who followed closely behind Yi Yun. Yi Yun’s wishes were Lin Xintong’s wishes. There was also no need to doubt Lin Xintong’s strength.

And there was the Desolate Queen Jiang Xiaorou from the Desolate race, she was Yi Yun’s elder sister, and the Desolate race looked up to Yi Yun for directions.

All these levels of relations made Yi Yun the absolute ruler of this world. Flipping his hand revealed clouds! Laying his hands brought rain!

Regardless of which superfaction it was, a simple word from Yi Yun and it would be destroyed in an instant. There was even no need for Yi Yun to do it himself.

As such, the large factions that previously had feuds with Yi Yun, such as the Shentu family clan, the Li Fire Sect, and the Totem Mystic Clan, were all trembling in fright!

Yet now, Yi Yun had called for an assembly of the Tian Yuan world and Desolate race legendary figures in the remote mountains. He had requested that all perfect Yuan Opening realm, half-step Heaven Ascension, and even Heaven Ascension realm warriors to participate in it!

Who would dare not to come to such a convention?

After the Black-armored Demon God was subdued, Yi Yun was already the sovereign of this world. Compared to the ancient Great Empress tens of millions of years ago, he was in no way worse!

Furthermore, Yi Yun was still extremely young. What sort of achievements would he receive in the future? It was unimaginable!

There was no doubt that in less than ten years, he would make a breakthrough in his realm. And then, even if he wanted to destroy the entire Tian Yuan world, it would probably wouldn’t be difficult, let alone one faction!

In that case, the remaining legendary figures of the Li Fire Sect and the Shentu family clan felt like the legendary figure convention in the remote mountains was like an execution ground. However, they still rushed to the remote mountains, and they did not dare to delay one bit!

Ignoring these few factions, even those factions who had no grudges with Yi Yun were having butterflies in their stomach.

A month later, the remote mountains.

After the Black-armored Demon God’s ravaging, a large number of Tian Yuan world and Divine Wilderness legendary figures had died, especially when it came to the Tian Yuan world, less than half were left.

There were only slightly more than twenty people at the Heaven Ascension realm. As for the half-step Heaven Ascension realm, there were about thirty. The Heaven Ascension realm was a threshold that many people had a bottleneck just before it, unable to make that final step past it. However, even so, they had been given the title of Empyreal King.

Below half-step Heaven Ascension, there were quite a number of perfect Yuan Opening realm warriors. They numbered more than two hundred, and adding all of them up, the number of legendary human figures that could come to the remote mountains numbered less than three hundred.

These three hundred people had used the teleportation arrays that the Desolate race set up beforehand to arrive in the remote mountains.

The venue of the convention was in the Desolate race Palace.

Now, these three hundred people were gathered in the external perimeter of the Desolate race Palace. This group of people was the people who controlled the entire Tian Yuan world’s order. If they joined forces, they were in control of more than 90% of the Tian Yuan world’s forces.

But now, all these important figures stood outside the Desolate race Palace in a respectful manner. They did not even dare to breathe out loud.

Residing in the Desolate race Palace, Yi Yun have free reign on deciding their lives and deaths. Not only that, the Black-armored Demon God’s aura leaked out of the Desolate race Palace faintly. Even though the Demon God had repressed his strength, the immense pressure that came about from the difference in life’s natural order caused them to feel breathless.

“Young Master Yi summons all of you in!”

At that moment, a legendary Desolate race figure walked out of the gates of the palace, inviting the legendary human figures, just like an Emperor summoning his retinue.

766 - : Legendary Figures Convention

CKtalon  CKtalon

The legendary human figures entered the Desolate race Palace one by one.

At that moment, the elders from the Shentu family clan and Li Fire Sect were all trembling in fear, and they had extremely ugly expressions.

Shentu family clan’s head, Shentu Patriarch was already dead, so the ones joining this meeting were only ordinary Shentu Elders.

As for the Li Fire Sect’s Grand Elder, who was an ugly old man, he was still alive. He was truly being very careful at that moment. He would take every step gingerly, afraid that he might shatter a brick tile on the ground, and when he opened a door, he was worried that he would break the handle.

The reason why he was so careful was seemingly because he was afraid that Yi Yun would casually come up with an excuse to kill him. Of course, he also knew that even without an excuse, Yi Yun could destroy him in one strike, and no one would champion his oppression.

At this occasion, with Yi Yun’s strength, he could completely rule over everything.

Even though he was extremely reluctant, he still had to meet Yi Yun. When the final door to the hall was open, the legendary human figures entered a vast hall that was hundreds of feet wide.

They saw Yi Yun sitting high at the seat of honor. Beside him was Lin Xintong, and behind him stood a man with squirming muscles, who looked like a gatekeeper that protected Yi Yun.

Black-armored Demon God!

Everyone held their breaths as this stalwart man was the Black-armored Demon God.

Now with Yi Yun sitting, while the Black-armored Demon God stood behind him, like some lackey, it was naturally because Yi Yun had refined him into a puppet.

Although they already knew about it, to truly witness it with their own eyes was shocking.

More than a year ago, just seeing this Demon God was like seeing Death. Everyone was panic and they would try to scatter in all directions.

A year later, the Black-armored Demon God had been subdued by Yi Yun, but they still trembled when seeing him and they felt the pressure.

This was like a mortal seeing someone else bring a ferocious tiger around, but this tiger was completely unleashed. It was hard for the mortal not to be afraid while sharing the same room with the tiger.

Surrounding Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were the legendary Desolate race figures. There was a big and long table in the middle of the hall. Those who could sit around the table were the Desolate race equivalent of Heaven Ascension realm figures, as for the other Yuan Opening realm equivalent warriors, they could only sit on the smaller side tables.

Shepherd Boy, the former Desolate Queen and Jiang Xiaorou were all sitting at the main table. At this convention, all the important figures of this world had gathered!

Although Yi Yun was a junior, many legendary human figures still bowed to Yi Yun.

“Our greetings to Young Master Yi.”

Many legendary human figures cupped their fists. In the world of warriors, the strong enjoyed the prestige, rather than one’s age.

“Sit.”

Yi Yun waved his hand very frankly, as all the legendary human figures sat down.

As a form of respect for Yi Yun and due to the pressure at the venue, many legendary human figures only sat on a third of their chairs. They maintained their bodies in an upright position.

“Young Master Yi sure is a talented young man. Back when the Black-armored Demon God appeared, none of our lives were guaranteed. All the heritage in the Tian Yuan world was also threatened with destruction. However, not only has Young Master Yi defused the crisis, he has even subdued the Black-armored Demon God. It is truly impressive.”

“For Young Master Yi to be able to free himself from the sealed space, that truly is an astonishing feat. All life under the heavens has to thank Young Master Yi. Young Master Yi has saved the entire Tian Yuan world, as well as the Divine Wilderness.”

The legendary human figures took turns to flatter him.

Most of this flattery was heartfelt. Yi Yun’s subduing of the Black-armored Demon God had allowed everyone to escape this calamity.

Although the stress of sharing a room with Yi Yun was not insignificant, they were similarly very grateful to Yi Yun.

“The Black-armored Demon God was also my enemy. He wanted to kill me, and kill the people around me, so I naturally have to engage in a life and death battle with him. There is no need to thank me,” Yi Yun said lightly in a very calm tone. “Today, I called upon all of you here to discuss a few matters… ”

“Please speak, Young Master Yi! We will definitely do our best.”

The leaders of a few surviving top factions immediately answered. With Yi Yun’s present position, was there a need to discuss with something that he commanded? That was practically a holy decree from heaven. Who would dare to defy it?

Yi Yun said, “The Human race and the Desolate race have been engaged in fighting for tens of millions of years. I do not wish to see this carry on any longer. For this matter, I have already talked to the Desolate race about it, and I have received the Desolate Queen’s agreement.”

“I plan on building a divine city on the boundaries of the Divine Wilderness. I will leave some heritage in the city. Be it young elites from the Human race or the Desolate race, they are free to enter this divine city for training. Those with excellent results will receive rewards in terms of resources. If you want to nurture your future generations, you can send the young geniuses of your clans or factions to this Divine City. Of course, the treasury in the divine city has to be provided by each and every one of you, as a form of reward for the future generations.”

The divine city that Yi Yun wanted to establish was a replica of the Tai Ah Divine City from before. Of course, compared to the Tai Ah Divine City, this new divine city would be several hundred times more powerful! Be it the resources, rewards, heritage or teachers, they were things that the Tai Ah Divine City could not match at all.

Yi Yun planned on providing the heritage that he had gathered over the years. A lot of it was from the collection in the God Advent Tower, and most of them came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens!

Of course, core heritage like the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’, or the Azure Yang Lord’s sword techniques, Yi Yun would not pass them down. He only left behind the heritage that was of little value to him. The effects of learning them wasn’t too much, and it was a waste of time. However, these heritages were much better than the original heritage in the Tian Yuan world!

As for rewards like relics, pills, weapons, Yi Yun did not plan on providing them. They were to be provided by the large factions in the Tian Yuan world.

By throwing this out there, which faction wouldn’t dare to bleed themselves dry to fulfill it? If Yi Yun was dissatisfied, their factions could very well be finished.

Besides, with this Divine City, it could nurture stronger talents in this world, and secondly, it allowed the Human and Desolate race elites to cultivate in this city. They could mix with one another, and no longer behave like how fire and water did not mix.

The heads of the various large factions all expressed their utmost support. From their looks, it was like these people wanted to rush to the boundary of the Divine Wilderness to build the city this very moment.

Yi Yun nodded and then said, “There is a second thing.”

As Yi Yun spoke, his gaze nonchalantly swept over the elders of the Shentu family clan and the Li Fire Sect.

Just this glance made the elders turn pale, as their heart beats stagnated.

They felt like they were sitting on pins and needles. They felt like Yi Yun’s gaze was like a god’s sword of punishment that was piercing them. They simply wished that they could become a rock or a pile of dog shit. At least in that case, Yi Yun would not focus on them.

“Shentu family clan… Li Fire Sect… Totem Mystic Clan… ” Yi Yun paused after saying this as he looked at the corresponding elders.

The elders from these named factions turned pale in the face. What was to come has come. Never in their wildest dreams would the Yi Yun, who they had added insult to injury ten years ago, had grown so fast. In a blink of an eye, he had reached the point where he dominated their lives and deaths!

Yi Yun did not speak, he just watched this group of people. The group of elders were sweating profusely. They did not know how Yi Yun wanted to dispose of them, and at that moment, every second felt like a year!

767 - : New Divine City

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Young… Young Master Yi… ” A timid Shentu family clan Elder almost rolled out of his seat. With what the Shentu family clan had done to Yi Yun, it would be no surprise if Yi Yun decided on completely wiping them out.

Yi Yun coldly glanced at the Shentu Elder who spoke. He was never a person who rewarded injury with kindness. These factions had kicked him while he was down, with the Shentu family clan and the Li Fire Sect being the worst. Of course, as Yi Yun was strong enough, he did not suffer any major losses. But what if he wasn’t strong enough? Then, his outcome would definitely be tragic.

Furthermore, Yi Yun wanted to head to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, so he did not wish to see any factions that had a grudge against him left in the Tian Yuan world.

Even though those people might be completely trivial to him, Yi Yun also wanted to put an end to the possibility that they would be able to stir any waves in the future.

“Your family clans and sects, from today onwards, dissolve them!”

With this said, every legendary figure widened their mouths. A simple sentence had dissolved five top ranked Tian Yuan world factions!

If this sentence was said during ordinary times and by any other person, it would have been a joke. The Sovereign of the Eventide could not have done it. Even if the Sovereign of the Eventide had said it together with the Sanctuary Island couple, no one would have heeded them.

However, Yi Yun had said it. In one breath, he was dissolving five top ranked factions, but no one dared to treat his words as a joke. There was no need to mention dissolving the five factions, if he really wanted to wipe them all out, he did not even need to move his hand to do so!

Amongst these factions, the most ancient one, the Totem Mystic Race, had already existed for millions of years. But now, this faction was probably going to become history in the Tian Yuan world!

“Young… Young Master Yi… ” A Li Fire Sect Elder’s voice trembled. A simple word from Yi Yun and his sect would no longer exist. It was too aggrieving!

“What? You don’t agree with it?”

As Yi Yun spoke, he looked coldly at the Li Fire Sect Elder who just spoke. Just this glance was enough to make the Li Fire Sect Elder shudder. He had no doubt that a single thought of Yi Yun was enough to reduce him to ash.

“If… If we were to dissolve our factions and clans, then our disciples… all of us, where do we go… ”

Yi Yun only declared that these factions were to be dissolved, but he did not wish for there to be a slaughtering. Although these factions had kicked him while he was down, many of the disciples of these factions were actually innocent. Those members of the upper echelons that made those decisions would be dealt with by the Desolate race through a trial. As for the junior disciples, they were guilty to begin with.

“Joining other factions would do. I will let the Lin family take a portion. It shall be the same with the accumulated resources of your sect as well.”

Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony. After these factions were dissolved, he planned on splitting their resources to the other factions. In this case, the few factions that were dissolved would gradually be assimilated by the other factions!

Of course, the Lin family would receive the largest slice of the pie. But if it took it too much, the Lin family would not be able to digest it. With too many external personnel joining, it would inevitably cause instability.

When Yi Yun said this, the Elders from the other factions were secretly pleased.

By dissolving five top factions in one go, it would be a huge pie. And now, Yi Yun was splitting the pie, letting everyone have a bite.

After all, there were only about 20–30 top ranking factions in the Tian Yuan world to begin with. After the Black-armored Demon God had wreaked havoc, some of these top ranked factions completely collapsed, while some were reduced to being second tier factions. Now, Yi Yun was removing five, so there were only slightly more than a dozen top ranked factions left in the Tian Yuan world. The landscape had completely changed.

In addition to Yi Yun taking a large portion of heritage out to establish the new Divine City, which allowed all family clans and other factions to send their young elites in for training, this was a good opportunity to rezone territory in the Tian Yuan world.

By grasping this opportunity, there was a possibility for them to become the second largest faction in the Tian Yuan world. Of course, the title of the largest faction would be left for the Lin family. With Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s support, even if the Lin family lay down and did nothing, they would definitely be the largest family clan in the Tian Yuan world.

…

The mighty figures who participated in this legendary figure convention had already made guesses as to what would happen before the convention began. This convention would most likely change the future situation of the Tian Yuan world and the Divine Wilderness.

Thinking through the entire convention, it only took about ten minutes. A few simple words from Yi Yun was enough to be fully implemented due to his authority.

In the next hundred years, the five named factions would slowly dissolve and would be divided. The young disciples of those factions would be absorbed and assimilated by other factions. Gradually, they too would lose their sense of belonging to their original factions, and they would be fully integrated into other family clans or factions, becoming a member of that family or faction.

Of course, that would be the epilogue.

At that moment, after the legendary figure convention, Yi Yun went to the inner sanctums of the Desolate race Palace.

Lin Xintong, Jiang Xiaorou and the former Desolate Queen were waiting there.

The calamity that the Tian Yuan world faced had finally subsided. The Black-armored Demon God had been subdued, while the Sovereign of the Eventide was dead. The factions that had a grudge with Yi Yun were dealt with. For Yi Yun and the Desolate race, this entire world could be said to be peaceful.

The former Desolate Queen had a feeling that she could heave a sigh of relief. However, when she looked at Jiang Xiaorou’s expression and then at Yi Yun, she knew that it was time for their separation.

“You plan on going to the 12 Empyrean Heavens?” The former Desolate Queen suddenly asked Yi Yun.

The Tian Yuan world was only a world that was used as a seal. It was equivalent to a container that sealed a Demon God. A sealed container was still a closed off world, even if the Azure Yang Lord had opened up a small opening tens of millions of years ago.

If Yi Yun wanted to grow stronger, he had to leave and see what the exterior world was like.

The 12 Empyrean Heavens had a unique allure for the Tian Yuan world warriors.

Actually, even the former Desolate Queen wanted to go to the 12 Empyrean Heavens to take a look. She wanted to see what sort of level true mighty figures and true brilliant heritage would be like. She hoped to see dazzling martial arts civilizations.

And also… the former Desolate Queen had the tiny, tiny hope of finding Jiang Xiaorou’s father.

Having been separated from Jiang Xiaorou’s father for so many years, the former Desolate Queen did not even know if he was dead or alive. She wanted to look for him, but she knew that with her potential mostly spent, it was very difficult for her to make any leaps in cultivation level, even if she were to go to the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

In the Tian Yuan world, she was a sovereign that ruled the Divine Wilderness, but in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, she was a small fry. She might even be killed instantly by others. In the vast 12 Empyrean Heavens, trying to find a person was equivalent to searching for a needle in a haystack!

And there was too many things that she needed to do in the Tian Yuan world. She had her mission that she needed to guard.

In her youth, she had been headstrong once. Now, she had passed that stage…

She still chose to silently protect the Divine Wilderness, and the members of the Desolate race. For the people who had spilled their blood on the wilderness, she could not abandon them…

“I indeed want to go to the 12 Empyrean Heavens.” Yi Yun nodded. “Your Majesty, may I take a look at the traces that Sis Xiaorou’s father left behind when he returned to the 12 Empyrean Heavens?”

Jiang Xiaorou’s father had fled to this world with serious injuries.

His origins were a mystery, but he gave Jiang Xiaorou an unparalleled bloodline. However, his background was something that even the former Desolate Queen knew little about.

768 - : Shentu Family Clan’s Outcome

CKtalon  CKtalon

Originally, Yi Yun was of the impression that when Jiang Xiaorou’s father left the Tian Yuan world, he would leave behind a complex and powerful teleportation array. He planned on using the teleportation array to find spatial nodes. Using the spatial nodes, he could cross the void to arrive in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

But when he arrived at the spot where Jiang Xiaorou’s father had left the Tian Yuan world, there was nothing there.

It was a hidden valley and in the valley, there was a thin layer of lingering mist. The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi around the area was not rich, and the only difference was that there was a bit of disorder in the spatial dimensional forces in the vicinity.

Spatial dimension disorder… meant that there could be a spatial dimensional channel in the area that had been sealed. With Yi Yun’s present understanding of spatial dimension laws, he felt like he could easily tear the void apart to enter the turbulence of space, and following that, find the spatial node.

However, having read a portion of the Black-armored Demon God’s memories, Yi Yun knew that traveling through spatial nodes was extremely difficult.

He had to make adequate preparations so that he would not get lost in the spatial turbulence.

Space travel was easier said than done. As for the Sovereign of the Eventide, Yi Yun did not believe that the Sovereign of the Eventide had the ability to reach the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

The Tian Yuan world’s warriors did not understand a thing about the 12 Empyrean Heavens’ spatial turbulence. The Sovereign of the Eventide’s best outcome was probably reaching a smaller world, relatively close to the Tian Yuan world, but it would be beneath the 12 Empyrean Heavens. If he was unlucky, he might end up getting lost in the spatial turbulence, unable to find a way out forever.

Yi Yun wasn’t in a hurry. He entered reclusive training in the valley, and as he meditated over the spatial dimensional laws, Lin Xintong joined him in meditation. They began making the final preparations for their trip to the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Now, Yi Yun’s nomological insights were solid enough, the only thing lacking was his cultivation level. However, with solid laws, the improvement of cultivation level was just a matter of time.

Seasons passed as Yi Yun spent a long time in the valley.

Not far from the valley, on the boundary of the Divine Wilderness, a magnificent divine city was erected.

The walls of this divine city were already 300–400 kilometers long.

The various major factions of the Tian Yuan world established divisions in the Divine City, while the former Desolate Queen used Yi Yun’s name, calling the city “Cloud (Yun) City”!

The heritage provided by Yi Yun, was all sealed in Cloud City’s treasury. Other than that, the resources provided by the major human factions, as well as the Desolate race, were also placed in Cloud City’s treasury.

The city became a holy land that every human and Desolate race genius longed for.

Many young elites would compete intensely just to receive the qualification to enter Cloud City. However, entering Cloud City was too difficult. Even geniuses from major factions, who gained the qualification to take Cloud City’s entrance exams, were eliminated in large numbers later on. The remaining could only become Cloud City’s normal cultivators.

Above normal cultivators, there were core cultivators, and the number of people who could become core cultivators numbered not more than ten annually. These ten people could enjoy the best resources and they were able to learn top heritage techniques.

The intensity of the competition when only ten people were chosen from the entire Desolate race and Human race was easy to imagine.

At that moment, in the vast Desolate Lands, a simply-clad girl and a youth, dressed in beast hide, were heading towards Cloud City.

There was a no fly-zone with radius of 500 kilometers around Cloud City. Everyone, regardless of them being Empyreal Kings or royalty, had to walk.

The beast hide-clad boy and girl were in a crowd and they looked inconspicuous.

However, if Yi Yun was here, he would have been able to recognize the two of them. They were the brother-sister duo that Yi Yun had first encountered in Heaven Martial City after coming out of reclusion from the God Advent Tower.

The elder sister’s name was Ah Yu, and the younger brother’s name was Ah Niu.

Back then, they took an invaluable World Stone to the Li Fire Sect, hoping to sell it. They were nearly scammed by the Li Fire Sect, before Yi Yun bought the World Stone from them. Hence, a conflict broke out with the Li Fire Sect.

After Yi Yun leveled a Li Fire Sect store, the conflict escalated, but it allowed Yi Yun to join the Heavenly Dao Union.

The World Stone was used when Yi Yun broke through to the perfect Dao Seed realm.

As for the siblings, they went to the Lin family to cultivate with Yi Yun’s recommendation.

Now, they were headed for Cloud City to participate in the city entrance exams!

They also knew that the Jiang Yidao, who recommended them to the Lin family, was actually Yi Yun, the one who subdued the Black-armored Demon God and killed the Sovereign of the Eventide!

They had met a figure that far surpassed the confines of this world, and he had even given them an opportunity. In retrospect, it all seemed like a dream.

Although they knew Yi Yun, Ah Niu could not use their relationship with Yi Yun to enter the Divine City, so he could only attempt the entrance exams.

Cloud City had been recruiting cultivators for the past few days. As such, it was packed outside Cloud City. The people who dared to come were elites from all corners of the world, and the chances of passing amongst these elites was one in ten thousand. Against these people, Ah Niu felt the pressure, but it also made the fighting spirit in him burn.

He wanted to use his own strength to enter Cloud City!

The Cloud City entrance exams had five rounds. Most people would be eliminated in the first round. People, who reached the second round, were already pretty impressive. Only those who passed the third round could enter Cloud City, becoming ordinary disciples. Those who passed the fourth round were made elite disciples. As for the fifth round, in the three years of Cloud City’s establishment, not a single person had managed to pass it.

“Passing the fourth round allows you to study laws with Empyreal Kings and enjoy all sorts of resources. I wonder what is it like to pass the fifth round. Is there a possibility of becoming Young Master Yi and Fairy Lin’s disciple?”

At the city gates, Ah Niu heard a youth beside him speaking. His expression looked like he was in reverie, as though he was fantasizing a beauty scene. If one could become Yi Yun’s disciple, it wouldn’t be trifling matter.

However, at that moment, someone dampened his enthusiasm by saying, “Stop dreaming. Let’s not even mention the fifth round, you can already count your blessings if you were to pass the second round. Furthermore, Young Master Yi has been meditating over laws in recent years, apparently to make the final preparations to head to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. The 12 Empyrean Heavens is something that even Fairy Jiang is temporarily unable to go. You expect Young Master Yi to take us in as disciples? Do you think he will take us to the 12 Empyrean Heavens? How is it possible!?”

Many people scoffed. Becoming Yi Yun’s disciple was impossible. However, it was rumored that passing the fifth round would give them the chance to learn top techniques left behind by Yi Yun, including a Dao map that Yi Yun wrote himself, as well as his insights. That was already extremely impressive.

Phew—

Hearing the conversations of these people, Ah Niu took a deep breath as he clenched his elder sister’s hand tightly. “Sis, I must enter Cloud City!”

He was also considered a person that Yi Yun had given pointers to. If he could not enter Cloud City even with that, then he would be too useless.

Just as Ah Niu was having such thoughts—

In the distant horizon, they suddenly saw a golden divine beam of light shoot up into the sky!

This divine beam of light was extremely thick, like a pillar that reached into the heavens!

In the beam of light, there were phantom images of a faint golden bird and a purple nine-headed hydra. They were dancing around with blue lightning bolts flashing around them. Every lightning bolt was like a god’s whip, producing an overpowering scene!

This is…

The young disciples, who were waiting to take the entrance exams around Cloud City, were all amazed. The divine beam came from the valley where Yi Yun was in reclusion. It was only several hundred kilometers away from Cloud City.

“It’s Young Master Yi! Young Master Yi is…”

Ah Yu and Ah Niu looked each other in the eyes before they saw the sky being torn apart by this beam of light. A black, gigantic swirling vortex opened up in the sky, and it looked like it had devoured the sun.

The vortex swirled slowly as the beam shot deep into the vortex. It was as though it led to another word, extremely deep and terrifying!

Was this the opening of a passage to the 12 Empyrean Heavens?

Everyone stared intently as they saw a faint tiny pagoda slowly spinning, and along with the golden beam of light, it flew into the vortex.

In less than a moment, the tiny pagoda was devoured by the vortex.

Lightning flashed as spatial storms churned. The clouds in the sky had been swept away, and the terrifying energy turbulence shook the hearts of people. Despite them being so far, they still found it hard to breath as their hearts stagnated.

This was the pressure that came from the power of Heaven and Earth, as well as the immense energy consumed when Yi Yun opened the spatial node.

This situation lasted for nearly a minute before the divine beam gradually weakened, turning thinner and thinner.

Following that, the vortex also slowly disappeared. The blue bolts of lightning sank into the vortex and it soon subsided.

Finally, only a thin beam of light was left, blurred in between the Heavens and Earth. It lasted for fifteen minutes before it slowly disappeared. Following that, calm was restored, as if nothing had ever happened.

“Young Master Yi… Has Young Master Yi left…?” Someone asked in a daze.

They had all heard that Yi Yun was apparently heading to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, but as to when, none of them knew.

And today, the sudden tearing of space and Yi Yun’s traveling to the 12 Empyrean Heavens happened all too suddenly. Yi Yun, having subdued the Black-armored Demon God and being equal to the ancient Great Empress, had left this world, headed for a even more vast world.

People thought about Yi Yun’s legendary life. It was truly like a fantastic dream.

At that moment, hundreds of kilometers away, a girl in a long red dress stood on a tall mountain, holding a bone staff in her hand. She remained silent after seeing the spatial vortex disappear in the sky.

Beside the girl, the former Desolate Queen, dressed in white, sighed as she said softly, “It’s time to go back Rou’er. Now is not the time. In time, you can also head there… ”

“Alright… ”

Jiang Xiaorou nodded her head gently, as she looked away…

769 - : Departure

CKtalon  CKtalon

The distance between the Tian Yuan world and the 12 Empyrean Heavens was beyond imagination. If one flew there directly, even 2–3 million years would not have been enough.

Through spatial nodes, distant spaces could be connected through spatial channels. As such, the distance would be shortened by a factor of 100,000. However, it would still take a long period of time to fly.

In the spatial turbulence, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong could not constantly rely on the God Advent Tower, despite having it.

This was because the moment that the God Advent Tower was summoned, its large size made it experience greater impacts from the spatial storms in the spatial turbulence. This would result in the rapid energy depletion of the God Advent Tower’s arrays.

Besides, in the spatial storms, trying to recharge the energy of the God Advent Tower’s arrays was not easy.

For the past few years, in order to prepare for his journey to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, Yi Yun had amassed large quantities of pills and desolate bone relics. While flying in the spatial turbulence, they would spend most of their time outside the God Advent Tower, using their own understanding of spatial dimension laws to shuttle through space.

Yi Yun’s insights into spatial dimension laws were naturally better than Lin Xintong’s. Holding her hand, he took up a spot in front of her, and together, they were like fishes that swam against the water flow. Lin Xintong followed Yi Yun. Although her nomological insights were slightly inferior, she just needed to handle the pockets of the spatial turbulence that Yi Yun missed out, so it was something that she could handle.

Whenever their Yuan Qi was greatly depleted, they would summon the God Advent Tower and rest in it for a while to restore their stamina.

Along the way, Yi Yun managed to see many worlds through the mazes in the spatial turbulence.

The worlds were of all sorts of sizes. Some were like the Tian Yuan world, a floating continent, while there were some that were round planets!

The smaller planets were about the size of the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, while the larger ones were several times larger than the world that the Tian Yuan world and Divine Wilderness resided in. They were massive giant planets hidden in endless space. Just a look at them was shocking!

Yi Yun knew that in these worlds, there was life — martial civilizations, sects and family clans. There were top geniuses and mighty figures, who were bestowed with the titles of Sages and Emperors!

Their martial arts civilization might be inferior to the Tian Yuan world, or they might even far exceed the Tian Yuan world!

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun had mixed feelings. The universe was large, far beyond the imagination of anyone. Just the Tian Yuan world alone was inconspicuous if placed in the various Great Worlds.

And above these worlds, there was the more brilliant 12 Empyrean Heavens. That was where true martial art heritage was vibrant. Even a corner of the 12 Empyrean Heavens was more terrifying than the Tian Yuan world.

“Yi Yun, I feel like I’m a frog in a well. Just by looking at these worlds, all of them are so magnificent and brilliant, especially those giant planets. Touring them wouldn’t be a waste of time, however, there are so many worlds… Even spending one’s entire life to travel through these places would be like a drop in the ocean… ” Lin Xintong sighed gently.

In the spatial turbulence, they could enter any of those worlds if they saw them. They just needed to open a spatial rift to do so. Back then, the Sovereign of the Eventide probably planned on using these worlds as springboards . He could recover his stamina in these worlds as he flew to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Of course, that would take him an extremely long period of time.

Yi Yun said, “Xintong, we do not need to travel to every world. We just need to conquer the most magnificent world.”

Yi Yun’s voice was filled with an indescribable feeling of confidence that slightly stunned Lin Xintong.

Conquer?

Yi Yun’s idea of conquering was to conquer the most magnificent world, giving them the freedom to traverse the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Instantly, Lin Xintong felt infinite lofty enthusiasm. After all, a warrior’s life was a fight against fate. She wanted to go to a bigger world, to gain control of her fate.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong shuttled through the spatial turbulence while cultivating along the way.

Traveling through the spatial turbulence was itself a form of training. By bearing the impact of the spatial turbulence, they could strengthen their cultivation levels. Searching for a path through the complex spatial turbulence allowed them to improve their nomological understanding.

And while resting in the God Advent Tower, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong would engage in dual cultivation of the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’.

With the passage of time, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s accumulation in laws and cultivation level finally allowed them to master the second stage of the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’, formally reaching the third stage.

This was a qualitative leap forward.

At the third stage, they could begin a complete integration as man and woman, the harmony of Yin and Yang.

To perfectly combine the long accumulated Nine Yang Spiritual Energy and extremely pure Jade Marrow Spiritual Energy, it needed Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s body to become one, which was also true dual cultivation.

In the dark God Advent Tower, Yi Yun’s muscular body and Lin Xintong’s soft and white body were buried opposite each other, their limbs entwined like they were joined in an embrace.

Their feelings for each other had reached a point where everything was natural.

Lin Xintong’s body was bathed in sweat, her wet hair clinging to her forehead. While duo cultivating the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’, the pure Yang energy would enter her body, causing her pure Yin body to feel an intense heat. This intense heat made her white porcelain body turn ruddy.

While engaging in dual cultivation, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s cultivation levels soared like a mountainous torrent, rising at a rapid pace!

From the Tian Yuan world to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, the journey was long and felt endless. While immersed in the double joy of sex and the improvement in strength, they found it irresistible.

Even the pure Lin Xintong could not remain indifferent under such pleasure. The excitement her body gave to her was indescribable.

Time slowly passed. What was an otherwise lifeless travel through the spatial turbulence was a trip filled with bliss and a strange debauchery for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. They traveled through space, hand in hand, watching the wonders of worlds that numbered in their thousands, enjoying the life of an immortal couple.

With that, five years passed.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong’s cultivation level had risen to the late stages of the Yuan Opening realm. With their strength greatly boosted, it instilled greater confidence in themselves for their travel to the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

However, the two of them never expected that after their strengths were greatly enhanced, a danger would befall them!

It was a black hole that suddenly appeared!

Black holes, which were hidden in empty space, were extremely terrifying objects as Yi Yun was unable to detect them.

When he felt his body being pulled in by an invisible force, as they were being dragged deep into an abyss, and how the golden pure Yang Yuan Qi beam he shot out disappeared strangely, Yi Yun broke out into cold sweat.

Under extreme distortions of space, black holes were formed. They could swallow up and distort light, preventing one from seeing them with the naked eye. Approaching them, without realizing their presence, meant facing great danger.

770 - : Trip Filled with Extreme Bliss

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Xintong!”

The black hole’s gravitational strength was too strong, and it sucked them in silently. Yi Yun immediately grabbed Lin Xintong’s hand!

Lin Xintong’s understanding of spatial dimension laws was weaker than Yi Yun, so it was naturally impossible for her to resist the black hole’s gravitational pull.

Now, they were truly at the end of the rope. Hiding inside the God Advent Tower led to a dead end as well, as they would be sucked into the black hole, along with the God Advent Tower.

“Yi Yun, let’s try to move backward again!” Lin Xintong turned anxious. At that moment, she could only inject all her Yuan Qi into Yi Yun’s body. By combining their strengths, they could use Yi Yun’s understanding of spatial dimension laws to break free from the bondage of the black hole.

With their lives on the line, Yi Yun’s mind churned quickly. They were like swimming in rapids, and behind them was a waterfall. The water flow was too fast, so regardless of how they swam, they were only sliding backward.

If this went on, it would be disastrous! Yi Yun clenched his fists. In about half a minute, they would be completely be locked onto by the black hole, and their deaths would be ensured!

But what if… he tore the void?

Yi Yun’s mind lit up with a flash of brilliance. They were still in the midst of the spatial dimensional turbulence, but the space here could still be torn open. However, in the vicinity of the black hole, due to the severe distortion of space, Yi Yun had no way of predicting what would happen when he teared the space open.

But at that moment, he no longer had time to consider any of the his options. He could only try his luck.

“Xintong, give me your strength… all of it!” Yi Yun shouted. Without any hesitation, Lin Xintong immediately circulated the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’. All her Yuan Qi surged into Yi Yun’s body like a torrential flood!

Yi Yun felt his dantian swell instantly, as though it was going to explode.

“Xiao!”

The Golden Crow and Nine Neonate’s phantom image appeared behind Yi Yun’s body simultaneously. At the same time, the Black-armored Demon God and the Draco First True Gold avatar were summoned by Yi Yun as well.

In a combination of avatar, puppet, along with all of Lin Xintong and Yi Yun’s strength, Yi Yun threw out the God Advent Tower!

Suppress!

The God Advent Tower struck the void. This was Yi Yun’s strongest attack!

Ka Ka Ka!

The space in the vicinity of the black hole contained greater amounts of energy. If this was the Tian Yuan world, Yi Yun’s strike would have caused the space to collapse. But now, it only resulted in tiny fractures and they were even quickly mending themselves.

“Demon God puppet!”

Yi Yun roared. The Demon God puppet, which had already spent a great deal of energy in the previous strike, struck the void with its lance in hand like a meteor bombardment!

Ka-cha!

The fractures expanded once again. However, they did not completely crack open. Yi Yun’s pupils constricted. And at that split second, he bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood essence and burned it.

Suppress it again!

The God Advent Tower’s second strike was augmented by the strength that Yi Yun obtained by burning his blood essence.

Time was too tight. In that short time window, be it Yi Yun, the Draco First True Gold avatar or the Demon God puppet, they had used a strength that their bodies could not withstand.

Boom!

Space finally completely shattered. Endless spatial storms swept up as Yi Yun held onto Lin Xintong’s hand. Using all their strength, they charged into the spatial turbulence!

As to what there was behind the spatial turbulence, Yi Yun did not know. But it was definitely better than falling into a black hole.

Yi Yun clenched his teeth while enduring the storm’s engulfment. He felt like his body was about to crack apart, while he put his Draco avatar and the Demon God puppet away.

The Draco avatar moved through Yi Yun’s will. If Yi Yun’s consciousness turned dull, he would not be able to move himself easily. So the Draco First True Gold avatar would naturally be useless as well.

As for the Demon God puppet, its body was extremely strong. Despite the impact from before, it could still move freely. But Yi Yun could not let the Demon God puppet stay by his side.

The thing controlling the Demon God puppet was actually the evil energy. In an extremely weakened state, he would not be able to control the evil energy. He needed to keep the Demon God puppet in his dantian, sealing the evil energy in the Purple Crystal. Only then would it be safe.

Yi Yun desperately held onto Lin Xintong’s soft hand, as he felt like he was a leaf, drifting in the storm.

The storm grew in intensity, while Yi Yun’s energy quickly depleted. He had just burned a large quantity of his blood essence. Being weak in both blood and Qi, it was very difficult for him to withstand the terrifying forces.

As his consciousness turned blurry, Yi Yun bit his tongue, using the pain to keep him awake. However… he still was unable to fight against the powers of the universe…

…

…

After an unknown period of time, as though he had a lengthy dream, Yi Yun opened his heavy eyelids with great difficulty. He felt like his eyelids were as heavy as lead, making it extremely difficult for him to open them fully.

His vision was still in a blur. He felt like he was still drifting through the void, and his body felt weightless.

In his stupor, he suddenly thought of something. His eyes opened up widely immediately as he broke out into cold sweat.

His hand was empty!

“Xintong! Xintong!”

Yi Yun subconsciously stretched his hand out to grab something, but all he caught was nothingness. Lin Xintong, who he was desperately holding onto before going unconscious, had disappeared!

Yi Yun turned his neck with great difficulty to survey the surroundings. However, he saw nothing as far as his vision could go. It was just black nothingness. There was nothing at all. He had been separated from Lin Xintong!

After being swept into the spatial turbulence, the both of them lost consciousness, and they must have been separated by the chaotic spatial dimensional forces.

How was he going to search for Lin Xintong in this vast emptiness?

And his body was now in a wretched state. Not only were his organs ruptured, many of his meridians had been severed. His body’s energy was nearly completely depleted.

It was difficult for him to fly, let alone talk about Void Tearing.

This endless sea of stars made distances between every world extremely far. In Yi Yun’s situation, trying to cross this sea of stars to another world was nearly impossible.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun’s heart turned cold. Now, trying to extricate himself from this spatial maze was a huge problem, let alone find Lin Xintong.

Yi Yun felt hatred. These hidden black holes in space were relatively few in the endless void, yet he had the bad luck to encounter one.

Being pulled into the black hole’s gravitational pull was something that he could do nothing about. Even warriors from the 12 Empyrean Heavens would be lost in it if they were not careful, let alone him!

Having been separated from Lin Xintong, and his body severely injured due to the spatial turbulence, he floated in the void without any form of resistance. The only thing that still had its strength conserved was the Demon God puppet, but Yi Yun did not dare to summon it easily so as to prevent him losing control of the evil energy.

At that moment, the only thing Yi Yun could do was rely on the Purple Crystal to absorb the minute amounts of Yuan Qi in the void, supplementing his exhausted energy.

But tragically, Yi Yun’s meridians and pores were like a sieve, making him lose 99% of the energy he absorbed into his body.

Trying to keep this energy required mending his meridians. But to mend his meridians, he needed even more energy. This made him fall into a vicious cycle. If this went on, Yi Yun did not know when he would be able to mend his body.

He had to find an area with rich Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, and slowly nurse himself back to health. However, where was he to find such a place?

Just as Yi Yun felt like he was at the end of the rope… he suddenly saw a red beam of light shoot at him. He could tell that it was a spirit cruiser.

771 - : Spirit Cruiser

CKtalon  CKtalon

Spirit cruisers were commonly seen in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. After all, not every warrior was proficient in spatial dimension laws or had the ability to do Void Transference.

If they needed to make long-distance space travel, they could only rely on spirit cruisers, using the arrays in the spirit cruiser to tear the void.

Yi Yun found it incredulous that he would encounter a spirit cruiser. He vaguely felt that he had stepped into the 12 Empyrean Heavens. The number of warriors in the 12 Empyrean Heavens numbered like the number of grains of sand in the Ganges river. But when it came to the space around the 12 Empyrean Heavens, the number of spirit cruisers were extremely few in number. He found it hard to believe that he had encountered a spirit cruiser as he reached the end of the rope.

And at that moment, the spirit cruiser had taken the initiative to fly towards Yi Yun. The spirit cruiser released an intangible energy that enveloped Yi Yun, slowly pulling Yi Yun towards itself…

At such a close distance, Yi Yun was able to see the spirit cruiser in its entirety. It was the shape of a shuttle, and it was light gray in color. In the middle of the spirit cruiser, there was a striking fiery red emblem. It was a burning flame.

That was probably the emblem of the faction that owns the spirit cruiser…

Yi Yun did not resist, allowing the energy to pull him towards the spirit cruiser.

In his present situation, resistance was futile. He did not know what sort of people were on the spirit cruiser, but he would take things one step at a time.

In the spirit cruiser, Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was a lot more richer and Yi Yun was isolated behind a light curtain. His mind was in a trance-like state, and he looked like he was in a coma.

But in fact, Yi Yun’s perception was using the Purple Crystal’s vision to pass through the light curtain, as he radiated it everywhere.

Vaguely, Yi Yun began to hear someone discussing something.

Their language was different to the Tian Yuan world’s, but it was quite similar to the language used by the Azure Yang Lord tens of millions of years ago.

Yi Yun had to use the fluctuations in their mental processes to barely understand the context of their conversation.

“Where did this young man come from?” A middle-aged man asked with a deep voice as he looked at Yi Yun who was bound by a light curtain.

“Just now, space around the Hundred Wraiths black hole tore apart, causing a small spatial storm. We came to investigate the situation and found this person. He was severely injured, so we saved him. It’s unknown if he was injured by the spatial storm… ”

Replying to the middle-aged man was a girl dressed in purple clothes. Her voice was clear and pleasant to the ears.

The middle-aged man shook his head and said, “This young man’s cultivation level is only at the Yuan Opening realm. If he were to be swept up into that sort of storm, he would have long been dead. You wouldn’t even see his corpse, let alone save him. He is probably a drifter in space. Maybe his spirit cruiser malfunctioned and he was lucky enough to be saved by you. Also… Fengling, you are just too kind. It’s best not to save strangers like him by bringing them onto the spirit cruiser. You have no idea what sort of person he is. Our mission is to patrol the Hundred Wraiths black hole. The spatial node it seals is connected to a sealed world, a world that is one of routes of retreat for our Luo clan. It’s especially important now, so remember our mission.”

The middle-aged man glanced at the purple-dressed girl with a deep, meaningful look before he turned around and left.

“Sorry, I will be careful next time.” The girl nodded. She took a glance at Yi Yun, and after confirming that he was still unconscious, she left.

Yi Yun was still immersed in white light. He felt empty-headed, and was slowly recovering his strength in his half-awakened state. He opened his eyes a few times and he saw the warriors on the spirit cruiser. Many of them wore a flame mark on their right breasts.

The Luo clan and that purple-dressed girl…

Recalling the middle-aged man’s words, he figured that the black hole he had encountered was probably called the Hundred Wraiths black hole, and it sealed a spatial node.

The middle-aged man had even said that the spatial node connected to a sealed world.

Without a doubt, the ‘sealed world’ was the world where the Tian Yuan world resided. Due to the existence of the eternal whirlpool, it was indeed a sealed world.

Yi Yun had used a spatial node from the Tian Yuan world to travel to where he was. According to the Azure Yang Lord’s memories, the world where the Tian Yuan world resided, was a vessel used to seal a Demon God. The number of spatial nodes connected to the 12 Empyrean Heavens were extremely few in number. There might only be one or two.

That was to say that by using this fixed spatial node to travel to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, it would always take him to a particular region in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

And the Luo clan they were mentioning…

Yi Yun recalled this name, as he could not help but make some connections.

Tens of millions of years ago, the Tian Yuan world’s seal was released because of the Azure Yang Lord. With that, one or two spatial nodes appeared. Then naturally, people from the 12 Empyrean Heavens could use those spatial nodes to travel to the Tian Yuan world.

However, as there were very few spatial node, the number of 12 Empyrean Heavens warriors, who went to the Tian Yuan world, were extremely few in number.

And thinking back to the strange girl he met in the Tai Ah Divine City…

That Luo Huo’er, she couldn’t be from the Luo clan, right?

However, upon careful thought, it did not seem like a coincidence. As there were only one or two spatial nodes, the spatial node linked two fixed spots, this region in the 12 Empyrean Heavens and the Tian Yuan World.

If this fixed exit was in the Luo clan, then it was not surprising that the Luo clan would use the hidden Tian Yuan world as a route of retreat.

Back then, when Yi Yun separated from the elvish girl, she had indeed said that she had come to the Tian Yuan world to seek refuge.

In the Tai Ah Divine City, she was a mystery for she never displayed her true strength.

The Tai Ah Divine City had three rolls of honor, the Heaven, Earth and Man. She was only ranked first in personal wealth, on the Man roll of honor.

As for the Earth roll of honor which ranked people’s battle rankings, as well as the Heaven ranking, which ranked the killing of desolate beasts, she had never appeared on them.

People guessed that Luo Huo’er had extraordinary strength, but she never showed it. She only brought a little maidservant named Dong’er with her, fooling around all day in the Tai Ah Divine City.

Although she looked as though she did nothing decent, the Tai Ah Divine City Elders treated her well, because of her mysterious and powerful background.

Her identity was a mystery, and even the Tai Ah Divine City City Lord did not know who she was. The person, who had introduced her into the Tai Ah Divine City, was extremely powerful and he seemed like a big shot.

But now to think of it, this so-called ‘big shot’ was probably a steward sent from the Luo clan to the Tian Yuan world.

It was very normal for a super clan, who used a hidden world as a form of retreat, to arrange for a steward to pave the way.

When the family clan was in trouble, and with their survival at stake, the family’s children could hide in this small lower realm and remain incognito. As such, they would be naturally safe.

If their family clan was destroyed, then their family’s descendants could still pass on their heritage. This was the role of the Tian Yuan world in the grand scheme of things.

When the Desolate race invaded the Tai Ah Divine City, the Luo clan did not do a thing. They chose to leave.

It was then when Yi Yun separated from Luo Huo’er.

The beast horde that Shepherd Boy led to invade the city would have been trivial for the Luo clan. If they acted, they could have destroyed all the desolate beasts, but they did not choose to do so. This was probably because they were facing enemies that were pursuing them.

By recklessly showing power from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, they would greatly increase the risk of being discovered by their enemies. Hence, the family clan had ordered for them to leave the Tai Ah Divine City while keeping a low profile.

772 - : Emblem of Fire

CKtalon  CKtalon

The spirit cruiser shuttled through the cosmos, but although it traveled at a high speed, in the vast cosmos, it felt as though it was not moving. It was like a dead branch floating in water in an extremely quiet fashion.

Yi Yun had already arrived in this spirit cruiser for several hours. When he woke up again, he realized he was sleeping on a soft depression. Below him was a thick mat. It was unknown which spirit beast’s feathers the mat was made of. It was extremely soft, and he was covered in a cotton quilt which was very warm.

At that moment, Yi Yun was already fully awake, but was only extremely weak. Having consumed his blood essence and then using power his body could not withstand, he had received a energy backlash. Following that, after entering the spatial storms, most of his meridians were severed, so his present situation was truly wretched.

If an ordinary warrior were in Yi Yun’s situation, it would be a question if they could even recover from those injuries. It was very likely to cause lingering problems in the future, affecting their martial paths.

However, Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal Origins, allowing him to constantly absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to repair his body. Furthermore, his body was a perfect Yang body, so he was not afraid that he could not join his meridians back up. He did not need to worry about this at all.

The only problem was Yi Yun having to spend a period of time being weak.

Inside Yi Yun’s dantian, the injuries the Draco First True Gold avatar and Demon God puppet received were much lighter, especially the Demon God puppet with a strong vitality. It nearly did not lose any of its combat strength. Yi Yun estimated that once he recovered 30–40% of his strength, he would be able to control the evil energy. Then, he would be able to summon the Demon God puppet, and not be afraid of losing control of it. This way, he would have the means to protect himself.

Now, Yi Yun was only worried about Lin Xintong. Having been caught up in the spatial vortex, it was unknown where Lin Xintong had gone.

“Eh, you have awakened?”

At that moment, a girl about 13–14 years of age with a round face walked into Yi Yun’s resting room. Her skin was white and she had rosy cheeks. She looked very cute.

The girl made a pot of tea after entering the room. Her dressing looked like she was a maidservant, but of course, that pot of tea was not prepared for Yi Yun.

“Yes, I have woken up…Thank you for saving me.”

Yi Yun said sincerely. If not for this spirit cruiser, he would probably be floating in space for 7–8 years, slowly recovering his injuries by absorbing minute amounts of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Although 7–8 years was considered a very short period of time for Yi Yun’s lifespan, but time was very precious in the first half of Yi Yun’s martial path.

Warriors had long lifespans, easily a hundred thousand years or a million years. However, they could only improve their cultivation realms fastest in their youth, when their life’s potential was at its fullest.

Many warriors would do it in one go and rush to the highest cultivation realm they could. Once their potential was exhausted at a particular realm, or if they encountered a bottleneck, then they would be stuck in that realm. In the hundreds of thousands of years in the future, their cultivation level realm would, at best, improve by one full realm. Unless they encountered a stunning opportunity, nothing surprising would happen.

The 7–8 years was not something Yi Yun could afford wasting.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, the maidservant began to giggle. “The way you speak sounds so funny.”

The maidservant felt as though she had discovered a new continent. Having arrived in the 12 Empyrean Heavens for the first time, Yi Yun did not know the 12 Empyrean Heavens’s language well. He could only use the memories of what the Azure Yang Lord used back in the Great Empress mystic realm; hence, the sentences he said were broken and sounded weird. But because of that, he was made fun of by this maidservant who still had a young child-like heart.

“If you want to thank, thank my Missus. She was the one who saved you,” The maidservant said, but suddenly thought of something, before carrying on. “My name is Tao’er. Stay here and rest. Our spirit cruiser will probably take another 4–5 days before returning.”

Seeing the maidservant carry the teapot away, Yi Yun hurriedly called out to her to stop her. “That…Miss Tao’er, I wonder where your Missus is. I want to meet her and thank her in person.”

Having been saved by others, meeting them personally to thank them was courtesy, besides the crux of the issue was…Yi Yun wanted to gather news about Lin Xintong.

After Yi Yun and Lin Xintong attained the third stage of the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had already begun developing a vague sense of telepathy between themselves. At distances very close to each other, they could vaguely sense each other’s presence.

But now, Yi Yun could not sense her at all. Without a doubt, Lin Xintong was not on the spirit cruiser.

But even so, Yi Yun wanted to ask the Missus the maidservant talked about. He wanted to hold on to the unlikely hope of being able to find Lin Xintong’s whereabouts.

“That isn’t necessary.” The maidservant nonchalantly waved her hand. “To speak the truth, our Missus might have saved you, but it’s just a trivial matter for her. She wouldn’t put her mind on it. My Missus is busily cultivating, and has many important things to do. I believe our Missus will not have the time to meet you.”

After the maidservant said with a giggle, she turned around and left.

Seeing the door close, Yi Yun sighed. Indeed, in his present state, he was like a refugee. He was injured from top to bottom. Tao’er’s Missus saved him only out of the kindness in her heart. As for thinking highly of him, that was impossible.

It was a question whether he would be able to meet the Missus while the spirit cruiser was out on a mission for 4–5 days. And even if he met her, she would most likely not help him find Lin Xintong.

“Xintong…nothing must happen to you.”

Lin Xintong’s nomological insight might be inferior to his, but her cultivation level was similar to his. Since he was fine passing through the spatial turbulence, Lin Xintong should be fine…

Yi Yun tried to consoled himself, and began to meditate. He was severely wounded, so he needed to take the opportunity to recuperate.

The spirit cruiser sailed through the cosmos, and the Luo clan seemed to be carrying out a mission. There were people entering and exiting the spirit cruiser on a daily basis.

After all, in the territory of others, Yi Yun did not probe what they were doing. He only stayed in the room, as if he had been forgotten. In the next few days, only Tao’er would occasionally appear in his room, to retrieve something or bring Yi Yun some spirit food.

As time went by, Yi Yun became rather familiar with the maidservant.

Although Tao’er was a 14–15 year old maidservant, she was already at the peak of the Purple Blood realm and was about to break through into the Yuan Foundation realm. Compared to the young elites in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom, she was already nearly a grade above them.

The maidservant wasn’t a scheming person. She told Yi Yun many things, and from their conversations, Yi Yun slowly had a general idea of the 12 Empyrean Heavens, or at least, he knew which of the 12 Empyrean Heavens he was in.

Back when Yi Yun planned on heading to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, he wanted to go to the Yang God Empyrean Heaven the most.

The Yang God Empyrean Heaven was the hometown of the Azure Yang Lord, where he rose up, becoming one of the 72 Divine Lords of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. Finally after being betrayed by his beloved woman, he lost his position as Divine Lord. He was then severely injured, affecting his cultivation level greatly. It could be said that he was left with nothing.

The Yang God Empyrean Heaven buried the Azure Yang Lord’s ambitions, and made him obsess over it. Even though the Azure Yang Lord met the ancient Great Empress, and fell in love with her, he never got rid of the obsession regarding the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. Only at his death, did he see through it all.

However, when the Azure Yang Lord slightly opened up the Tian Yuan world’s seal, revealing one or two spatial nodes. This spatial node linked not to the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, but the—

Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven!

773 - : Thousand Fey

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ten Thousand Fey!

Yi Yun took a deep breath. Yi Yun had roughly read through information regarding the 12 Empyrean Heavens from the records left behind by the Azure Yang Lord.

The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven was given this name because the rulers were from members of the Fey race.

There was a lot of Fey race of different forms. Their species numbered in the thousands, with all sorts of bloodlines!

And the Fey race was a race that valued bloodlines the most. The ones with strong bloodlines were born to be kings! The ones with weaker bloodlines were born to be mediocre, or even be tagged as slaves.

Yi Yun recalled that Jiang Xiaorou’s father was likely from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. After all, the Tian Yuan world’s spatial node led to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.

Or it should be said that Jiang Xiaorou’s father was a member of the Fey race in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven!

And it was because of this that he left such a powerful bloodline for Jiang Xiaorou.

“I wonder which exact race Jiang Xiaorou’s father is…” Yi Yun muttered to himself. Jiang Xiaorou was born in a lower realm, and without the Fey race’s inheritance, she could not develop the power of her bloodline. Instead, it should be said that Jiang Xiaorou’s blood line was in a sleeping state, and it was yet to be awoken. Compared to the long lifespans of the Fey race, the present Jiang Xiaorou was probably an infant.

Even though Jiang Xiaorou was so weak, her worshiping at the divine bone altar caused the Sacred Spirit that defended the Desolate race to descend, personally approving of Jiang Xiaorou.

In fact, the Sacred Spirit which protected the Desolate race was a Fey beast from the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

In the battle with the Black-armored Demon God, only Jiang Xiaorou could withstand the possession of the Sacred Spirit.

Finally, Jiang Xiaorou’s bloodline was coveted by the Black-armored Demon God. He lay a mark on Jiang Xiaorou’s body so as to obtain her bloodline.

If Jiang Xiaorou’s father was said to be a member of the Fey race, then everything could be explained.

After Yi Yun thought of this, he subconsciously looked at Tao’er and he could not help but size her up.

A fourteen-year-old girl could be said to be like a lotus bud, looking exquisite and cute.

Being suddenly sized up by Yi Yun, Tao’er’s face blushed as she fell into panic. “You… why are you looking at me this way?”

Yi Yun smiled. “Sorry, it was a rash action on my part. I was actually suddenly thinking about Miss Tao’er’s name. Are you related to the peach (tao) tree?”

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, plants could become Fey. For example, peach trees were plants that could very easily cultivate into a Fey.

Peach trees were spiritual. In the mortal world, there were thousand-year-old peach trees that were used to ward off evil spirits.

Besides, in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, many peach trees could absorb the spiritual energies of the Heaven and Earth, transforming into young girls.

In response to Yi Yun’s question, Tao’er spat out her tongue and said softly, “No. I’m human and my natural talent is very ordinary.”

“I see…” Yun’er nodded. He noticed that Tao’er’s face looked slightly lost. The position that humans had in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven was quite awkward.

The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven was ruled by the Fey race, and the Fey race were born with powerful bloodlines, so they had an advantage over the Human race. Furthermore, with the number of humans in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven being fewer in number, they were naturally disadvantaged.

Hence, humans did not enjoy a good status in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, for example Tao’er. She was not only human, her talent was also not outstanding. Under normal circumstances, she would not be able to lead a good life. For Tao’er to become a maidservant of a large clan was already a pretty good outcome.

…

Yi Yun traveled in the spirit cruiser until it began to make its return voyage. Suddenly, the Missus who saved Yi Yun appeared in Yi Yun’s room.

This Missus looked like she was 16–17 years old. But of course for warriors, when they broke through to a very high cultivation realm at a young age, they could maintain their 16–17-year-old appearances for several years, so appearance could not be used as a reference for age. Even Yi Yun himself looked like a 16–17-year-old youth.

The girl was dressed in a purple dress. Her eyebrows were smoky, and her eyes were like water. She looked like she had a special kind of temperament.

Was she a member of the Fey race?

From the purple-dressed girl’s body, Yi Yun could sense an aura different to humans.

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, the Human and Fey race could coexist peacefully, however, most of the powerful figures in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven were from the Fey race.

“Thank you to this lady for saving this lowly one. I wonder what this lady’s name is?”

Yi Yun cupped his fists and he thanked the purple-dressed girl from the bottom of his heart.

“Luo Fengling.” The purple-dressed girl answered tersely and simply. “You come from a lower realm?”

Yi Yun’s proficiency in the language of the 12 Empyrean Heavens was not well-practiced, so it was easy to tell.

Yi Yun nodded in admission.

“From which lower realm? Roughly where is the spatial node?” The purple-dressed girl asked again.

Hearing the purple-dressed girl inquire, Yi Yun hesitated slightly. He decided to hide the matter that he came from the Tian Yuan world.

Previously, he had heard the purple-dressed girl say that the world that the Tian Yuan world resided in was an important route of retreat for the Luo clan, mainly because the Tian Yuan world was hidden and difficult to be discovered.

Even if the route of retreat was not considered highly confidential, the Luo clan naturally did not want too many people to know. After all, they seemed to be at war with an unknown faction. In the intense battle in the past, even Luo Huo’er, a direct descendant had been evacuated to the lower realm, indicating how powerful their opponent was.

Under such circumstances, if Luo Fengling knew that he came from the Tian Yuan world, then to prevent information from leaking, what if she put him under house arrest?

Now, Yi Yun was seriously injured, and had no way to protect himself.

“Miss Luo, this lowly one comes from an obscure small planet. The planet’s martial civilization is limited, and as there’s lacking heritage in spatial dimension laws, this lowly one isn’t proficient in it. While traveling to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, this lowly one encountered a spatial storm, losing my way. If you want to ask me where the spatial node is, this lowly one does not know really know.” Yi Yun lied.

Luo Fengling nodded. Yi Yun was clearly a inconsequential warrior from the lower realm. Luo Fengling did not care much about he said, so she naturally did not have the mind to doubt him.

As for Yi Yun coming from the Tian Yuan world, Luo Fengling did not think of it. She did not believe that Yi Yun could pass through the Hundred Wraiths black hole’s Tian Yuan world spatial node.

“What’s your name?” Luo Fengling asked again.

“Yi Yun.”

“Alright, Yi Yun. My Luo clan is currently enrolling foreign races as disciples. Previously, my Luo clan experienced a massive war and suffered heavy casualties, so it is in need of revitalizing its strength.”

“I am attached to the Luo clan’s Fire Cloud State! The Fire Cloud State disciples came out venturing actually to search for non-Luo surname bearing disciples with superior qualifications to get them to join the Fire Cloud State!”

“You just came from a lower realm to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, and since you do not know your way or anyone, be it heritage or resources, it would be difficult for you to obtain them. Joining a large faction is a good choice.”

“In my opinion, for you to single-handedly have the ability to come from a lower realm to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven means that your cultivation foundation is considered acceptable. Your body was nearly in shambles, yet your life force hung on. Furthermore, in the past few days, you have actually recovered greatly, surprising me. If you wish, you can join my Fire Cloud State and become an external disciple!”

“However, I need to warn you that although my Luo clan beat our opponents in the previous war, we only forced them into retreat. It is unknown when they would make a comeback. When that happens, you might be involved in the war, and your life might be left up to fate. You have to consider carefully if you want to join my Luo clan’s Fire Cloud State.”

774 - : Luo Clan, Fire Cloud State!

CKtalon  CKtalon

After all the missions were completed, the Fire Cloud State’s spirit cruiser shot out a beam of light, tearing the void open. Following that, the spirit cruiser entered the spatial vortex and completely disappeared.

The spirit cruiser was a massive object. Back when Yi Yun was sucked into the spirit cruiser, he estimated that it was dozens of kilometers long.

It was unknown how many refining masters were needed to produce such a massive spirit cruiser. Furthermore, the cost was definitely extremely exaggerated. And for such a massive spirit cruiser to tear space in one strike to do spatial transference, that required vast amounts of energy. The relics that provided this energy was also a huge expense.

These thoughts flashed past Yi Yun’s mind. Having first arrived in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, he could only use certain external objects to roughly estimate the gap between the factions in the 12 Empyrean Heavens and the Tian Yuan world.

Yi Yun eventually opted to join the Luo clan as it was very beneficial for him. His body was in a terrible condition, so he needed a large faction’s protection to slowly recover his Yuan Qi.

Boom!

Space was torn open as the spirit cruiser successfully completing its Void Transference.

Through the cruiser’s window, all he saw was an endless red sea of clouds. He had previously heard Tao’er introduce this sea of clouds to him. It was said that this mass of clouds had existed for hundreds of millions of years and it had never dissipated before. The name of the Fire Cloud State was because of the rolling red clouds.

There was a giant planet floating in the midst of the endless red sea of clouds

The planet was blue in color, and about 80% of the planet’s surface was ocean. There was a dark red continent in the middle and it was the so-called Fire Cloud State.

The Fire Cloud State actually occupied a planet. All the seas on this planet, including the red clouds surrounding it was the territory of the Fire Cloud State.

As Yi Yun looked at this planet, it looked about a few thousand kilometers in diameter, roughly the same size as his home planet, Earth. In the vicinity of the planet, there were a large number of Fey beasts shuttling through the sea of clouds.

Perhaps due to the vast size of the world, these Fey beasts were much larger than the desolate beasts that Yi Yun encountered in the Divine Wilderness.

Yi Yun saw a golden fish about 500 kilometers long. Its shape was that of a fish, but it had dragon whiskers near its mouth. Every time it opened its mouth, it would suck and expel red clouds, like a volcano eruption. However, this was just its breathing.

Other than that, there were feathered creatures with colorful feathers. They were gigantic pythons with single horns that resembled either dragons or snakes. The dragon horses that pulled spirit boats were endless in number.

In comparison, although the spirit cruiser Yi Yun was massive in size, it appeared inconspicuous when placed in such a backdrop.

The spirit cruiser began to slow down. The closer they were to the Fire Cloud State, the more amazed Yi Yun became. Although he had heard Tao’er describe this to him, it was more shocking to see it for himself.

Compared to the Tian Yuan world and the Divine Wilderness, the Fire Cloud State was so much more flourishing.

The Fire Cloud State could not be considered big, as it was much smaller than the Tian Yuan world. However, in the Fire Cloud State, there were all sorts of floating immortal mountains, immortal palaces, spirit statues, spirit cruisers, etc. They seemed endless and it was a dazzling sight.

And the experts here were barely countable.

In the Tian Yuan world, Heaven Ascension realm warriors were already a dominating force. But in the Fire Cloud State, they were considered nothing much.

As Yi Yun rode on the spirit cruiser, it went straight to the middle of the Fire Cloud State.

There were endless immortal mountains here, and each immortal mountain was nearly ten kilometers high. Such tall immortal mountains had immense weight, but through the support of arrays, they were floating mid air. Such acts were impossible in the lower realms.

After the spirit cruiser flew past an immortal mountain, Yi Yun, together with Tao’er and Luo Fengling, took a small spirit boat that was deployed from the mothership, finally landing on the top of that mountain.

This immortal mountain was one that belonged to Luo Fengling.

Over the days, Yi Yun had learned from Tao’er that Luo Fengling was an influential figure amongst the younger generation in the Fire Cloud State.

Luo Fengling was from the Fire Cloud State’s Heaven Fire Hall, which gathered all the top talent amongst the younger disciples in the Fire Cloud State.

Of course, there were quite a number of such geniuses, numbering more than a hundred. Luo Fengling was one of them, and her position amongst the hundred or so elites was above average.

Luo Fengling’s advantage would be her young age. She was about Yi Yun’s age.

Now, Luo Fengling was at the perfect-Yuan Opening realm, higher than Yi Yun by a minor realm. She still had a long way to go and she had a promising future.

And for the older core disciples in the Heaven Fire Hall, their ages ranged in the hundreds. For warriors in the 12 Empyrean Heavens with long lifespans, they were still considered juniors despite being a few hundred years old.

When Yi Yun disembarked the spirit cruiser, accompanying him were three other young disciples, two man and a woman. They wore different clothes and they had different cultivation levels. These three people were the new disciples the spirit cruiser had recruited from the various smaller worlds.

Back then, the spirit cruiser had gathered about a hundred people, but only three of them were chosen by Luo Fengling. Including Yi Yun, there were four prospective disciples.

“The mountain beneath your feet is called Mt. Fengling and it was named after me. From today onwards, the four of you will be my followers!” Luo Fengling spoke simply. “I’ll first introduce myself. I’m Luo Fengling, a disciple of the Fire Cloud State’s Heaven Fire Hall!”

“Amongst the younger generation in the Fire Cloud State, there are two halls, namely the Heaven Fire Hall and the Earth Fire Hall. To put it plainly, the Heaven Fire Hall are personal disciples!”

“Every Heaven Fire Hall disciple has a mountain for themselves. The entire Fire Cloud State has a total of 108 Heaven Fire mountains, which also mean 108 Heaven Fire Hall disciples. The number is fixed so only after the loss of one would they be replaced!”

“Every Heaven Fire Hall disciple can recruit external disciples as stewards. When comparing steward disciples to other external disciples, it is easier for them to obtain resources from the Fire Cloud State’s Luo clan. At the same time, they have to do some miscellaneous chores.”

As Luo Fengling spoke, the steward disciples exchanged glances and nodded.

The Heaven Fire Hall disciples were elites of the Fire Cloud State’s younger generation. The elite’s main task was to cultivate, and with them in charge of a mountain, there were definitely many chores to handle.

On a mountain, there was all sorts of chores like resource allocation, the feeding of Fey beasts and the planting of herbs that needed people manning them. These matters naturally could not be done by the Heaven Fire Hall disciple themselves, so there was a need for people to serve these Heaven Fire Hall disciples.

That was the job of steward disciples.

In fact, steward disciples was a great job. They could follow a Heaven Fire Hall disciple, and at times, obtain resources that the Heaven Fire Hall disciple did not use. That itself was a great benefit for them, so many ordinary disciples yearned to become steward disciples.

“On Mt. Fengling, there will be many chores. But similarly, there will be greater opportunities. As long as you dedicate yourselves to cultivation, I will not treat you badly. In the future, if you display good cultivation talent, I would nominate you into the Earth Fire Hall. When you enter the Earth Fire Hall, you will be considered a true disciple of the Luo clan! Are all of you agreeable to that?”

As Luo Fengling said, she scanned the four.

There was nothing disagreeable about this matter. The other three yearned it greatly and even Yi Yun nodded his head slightly. His priority was to heal his injuries, and he did not mind where he was as long as it was safe. As a steward disciple, he would be inconspicuous so his safety would not be a problem. Mt Fengling was considered expedient.

775 - : Mt. Fengling

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun and the other three people agreed and chose to stay on Mt. Fengling. Luo Fengling was not surprised with their choice, as without any exaggeration, it was a good deal that numerous people dreamed of, so how could they refuse her offer?

At that moment, Luo Fengling suddenly glanced at Yi Yun. “You cultivate in pure Yang laws, right?”

Yi Yun had a perfect Yang body, but as he had suffered severe injuries, leaving most of his meridians severed, his pure Yang body was not obvious. But even so, Luo Fengling could sense Yi Yun’s attainment in pure Yang laws, hence, motivating her question.

After all, the Luo clan focused on fire elemental laws, which had its similarities with pure Yang laws.

“Yes,” Yi Yun nodded.

“Alright! Although I’m in charge of Mt. Fengling, I do not really deal with the chores at all. I need to enter reclusive cultivation to prepare for the Luo Divine Hall’s test. A typical reclusive cultivation of mine would be a year or two, so there will be many matters on Mt. Fengling that will be your responsibility. Yi Yun, since you are proficient in pure Yang laws, you should have some sense of fire-elemental materials. I’ll put you in charge of the procurement of materials and the management of Mt. Fengling’s material storehouse.

“As for Sun Lie, Dong Hu and Bai Wei, you will be in charge of rearing the Fey beasts. On Mt. Fengling, there are many Fey beasts, and they need to be let out to pasture and fed on a daily basis. This shall be your responsibility!”

Luo Fengling nonchalantly gave them instructions and she was about to enter reclusion!

Yi Yun did not mind Luo Fengling’s order, but he was slightly surprised by the ‘Luo Divine Hall’ that Luo Fengling mentioned.

Make preparations for the Luo Divine Hall’s test?

Fire Cloud State had two halls that took in young disciples—Heaven Fire Hall and Earth Fire Hall.

The Heaven Fire Hall was already considered the highest, as for the Earth Fire Hall, even though it was a secondary, those in it were still official disciples. In comparison, Yi Yun would just be an exterior disciple, and considered titular. Only by being outstanding would he be promoted to the Earth Fire Hall.

Clearly, the Luo Divine Hall was on a much higher level than the Heaven Fire Hall or Earth Fire Hall.

Yi Yun could not help but ask, “May I know what is the Luo Divine Hall test that Senior Luo mentioned?”

“Oh?” Luo Fengling’s eyebrows knitted slightly. Typical exterior disciples would hold their breaths when they saw her, and during any interaction, they would only receive instructions and not dare probe further. She did not expect Yi Yun to ask a question that had nothing to do with what she had instructed. Furthermore, from his appearance, he did not seem to fear her.

Luo Fengling answered Yi Yun, “The Heaven Fire Hall is where the most elite disciples from the Fire Cloud State gather. As for the Luo Divine Hall, it is the place where the top geniuses of the entire Luo clan gather. The Luo clan is extremely massive, and my Fire Cloud State is just one of the 196 states of the Luo clan. And above the 196 states, there is the Luo Divine Empyrean Capital occupied by the Luo clan’s royalty! This Luo Divine Hall is in the Empyrean Capital, a sacred land all disciples from the various states look forward to!”

When Luo Fengling said those words, she revealed a trace of longing. Entering the Luo Divine Hall was always Luo Fengling’s dream.

Yi Yun was secretly horrified hearing this. 196 states? Along with the Luo clan’s royalty… how massive was it!?

With so many states, and with each state having at least a hundred personal disciples, the competition was clearly immense.

Then Luo Huo’er… Could she be in the Empyrean Capital?

Yi Yun did not know Luo Huo’er’s actual identity in the Luo clan. According to what she said, the faction she was in was facing a disaster. As a direct descendant, she had been specially given protection and had been evacuated to the Tian Yuan world. Then, Luo Huo’er’s identity had to be something special.

Just the number of disciples in the peripheral 196 states was a massive number, so it was unlikely for the Luo clan to give all of them special protection.

However, Yi Yun could not ask Luo Fengling about Luo Huo’er. He could not explain how he knew of Luo Huo’er, and if it involved anything confidential, he might encounter trouble.

After Luo Fengling finished speaking, she ignored Yi Yun. She was in a rush for time, eager to begin her reclusive cultivation in a chamber.

“This reclusion of mine would take at least a few months. If you encounter any problems in your cultivation, you can ask me after I’m done with my reclusion to which I’ll answer you. Right, this relic is for you. It is good for healing your wounds!”

As Luo Fengling spoke, she flicked her finger, sending a crystalline relic towards Yi Yun which he caught.

The relic was warm and moist to the touch. Before Yi Yun had the chance to look at it, Luo Fengling had already disappeared.

And after Luo Fengling left, Sun Lie, Dong Hu and Bai Wei cast their gazes at Yi Yun simultaneously.

Their gazes had a malevolent hint in them.

Yi Yun’s job was to manage the material storehouse. The materials collected by Mt. Fengling were naturally very valuable, so while managing all of this, some less important materials would be of immense value for them.

The advantages of being in charge of the material storehouse as well as procurement was obvious.

It was definitely a gravy train.

As for them, their main task was to feed the Fey beasts!

Feeding the Fey beasts, letting them out on the pasture and cleaning the beast pens was hard work. Other than hard work, there was no benefit to it.

The differences between the jobs were huge!

Furthermore, Luo Fengling had even thrown a relic at Yi Yun for him to treat his wounds.

Looking at the relic in Yi Yun’s hand, the crystalline relic exuded a warm glow like jade. It was definitely a relic of superior grade.

This was a relic refined by the Luo clan, so even if Luo Fengling did not mind it, its value was immense for them.

After all, in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, there were a lot of mortals as well as warriors who lived in the lower echelons. They were born in the 12 Empyrean Heavens and with their ordinary backgrounds, they could not receive much resources. The competition they faced was greater than those faced in the lower realm, and at times, they were even worse off than the lower realm warriors!

They were naturally envious when they saw Yi Yun getting such a good job and having a relic in hand!

“I say, Kid! You come from the lower realms, right?” Just from listening to Yi Yun speak, they could roughly guess that Yi Yun was not an original resident of the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Yi Yun glanced at the person speaking. His eyes were slender and he had dark skin, he looked like the kind of person who refused to suffer any losses. His name was Sun Lie.

Yi Yun did not respond and he could not be bothered with such people.

Sun Lie chuckled and licked his lips, “Kid, it’s useless even if you don’t admit it. You probably came to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven just recently. The lower realms you come from is a land of savages. The strength of warriors there are negligible. Being able to come to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven makes you a general amongst dwarves.”

With him saying this, one of the youths beside him, who had a stocky build, roared with laughter. His name was Dong Hu.

“Kid, why are you so seriously injured? Were you beaten the moment you came to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven? Hehe! The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven isn’t like your hometown. In your hometown, you can walk anyway you like. But in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, you have to crawl. Being too arrogant will get you beaten, just like your present situation.”

“However, getting beaten is a good thing. At least, it will open your eyes. The environment we grew up in is not something you can imagine. So Kid, let this young lord take a look at that relic in your hand.”

776 - : Green-eyed

CKtalon  CKtalon

Dong Hu was eyeing the relic in Yi Yun’s hand. He was not afraid of the injured Yi Yun. Even if Yi Yun was not injured, he was not afraid of him since he had three people on his side. Furthermore, Dong Hu had grown up in a Fey race tribal clan that was located in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. Although the clan’s bloodline was average, members of the Fey race had naturally stronger bodies than humans, what more Yi Yun who came from a lower realm.

As for whether this matter would result in Luo Fengling’s unhappiness, Dong Hu was not worried.

A person like Luo Fengling was dedicated to cultivation. She came out of reclusion once every one or two years, and what she pursued was her entry into the Luo Divine Hall, becoming a powerful figure in the Luo clan. Compared to Luo Fengling’s martial path, the matters between them, the steward disciples, were completely trivial, so why would she care about it?

Even if Luo Fengling came out of reclusion, they might not even be able to meet her. And even if they met her, it was impossible for Yi Yun to complain to her. Has it ever occurred where a court maiden complains to the emperor after a fight amongst court maidens?

There were always competing interests between disciples in a sect, it was extremely common. Dong Hu even wanted to take a slice of Yi Yun’s pie — the responsibility over the procurement of fire-elemental materials — in a bid to obtain some benefits.

“Kid, it’s your first time here in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. Since you do not know your way around or don’t know anyone, you will be easily bullied. If not for that, you would not have been beaten up badly. I propose that you follow me and become my subordinate. I’ll promise your protection.” Dong Hu said with a chuckle. If this kid fell for it, he could help him feed the Fey beasts and leave the good procurement job for himself. He naturally did not mind protecting Yi Yun in that case.

In a faction like the Fire Cloud State, being alone was not easy. Taking in some minions allowed him to slowly prosper.

“Be your subordinate?”

Yi Yun played with the relic in his hand. In fact, Yi Yun did not care too much for the relic that Luo Fengling gave to him. If he was an ordinary late-stage Yuan Opening realm warrior, he would have cured most of his wounds by using this relic.

However, be it in terms of cultivation technique or nomological insights, including his Yuan foundation or Dao Seed, they were incomparable to an ordinary warrior’s.

The more powerful a warrior was, the stronger their vitality was, so it was more difficult for them to suffer injuries. Correspondingly, once they were injured, the cost of recovery was also greater.

Such a relic could not have much effect on the heavy injuries that Yi Yun had suffered.

Yi Yun’s recovery mainly relied on the Purple Crystal. For the past few days, he had relied on the Purple Crystal to heal himself on the spirit cruiser, so he had already recovered a bit of his strength.

Although he had recovered a bit of his strength, Yi Yun could not use Yuan Qi to do battle. This was because the moment he used it, his meridians would be activated, causing a relapse of his old injuries. He might get a thrilling experience by using a move or two, but Yi Yun would have to pay a greater price after that, so it was not worth it.

Although Yi Yun did not care about the relic, he did not plan on giving it to these villains.

“Your name is Dong Hu (Winter Tiger), I guess you were a tiger that gained sentience?” Yi Yun rebutted, causing Dong Hu’s face to stiffen. Immediately following that, his expression turned ugly.

The Fey race was split into three major categories — Heaven Fey, Earth Fey and Ancient Fey.

The Heaven Fey was the nobility of the Fey race. There were very few Heaven Fey in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, so they typically established large family clans, large sects or kingdoms.

For example, the Luo clan was a Heaven Fey.

All Heaven Fey species had a long history. Noble blood flowed in their bodies which could be traced to primordial powerful figures of the Fey race. However, the richness in their bloodline differed considerably amongst offspring from different families.

If one’s bloodline was rich enough, they could awaken the powers of the primordial Fey race as they matured. This would then be no trifling matter.

The Heaven Fey were a higher level of existence in the Fey race. Their appearances tended to resemble humans. The babies they gave birth to were in the shape of human infants, so other than the difference in bloodline, they looked almost identical. Only very few members with sufficiently powerful bloodlines could transform into an Ancient Fey. That would be their final combat form.

The second Fey race species was the Earth Fey, a species far inferior to the Heaven Fey.

They were actually originally beasts or plants. After experiencing a sufficiently long period of growth by absorbing the essence of the Heaven and Earth, they could suddenly achieve sentience one day. Slowly, they could cultivate in the Dao, eventually taking on human form.

They had equivalent intelligence as humans and they were considered half-human and half-Fey.

As Earth Fey bred, their numbers grew greatly, slowly resulting in the Earth Fey species.

The born offspring of Earth Fey would usually have beast-like characteristics. For example, the infants would have fangs, claws, fur, tails, etc. By slowly cultivating, they would completely transform.

Members of the Earth Fey had an innate inferiority complex when facing members of the Heaven Fey.

But compared to humans, they would have an innate sense of superiority.

The bodies of Earth Fey species were significantly stronger than human bodies, but… their perception was inferior to humans. To put it bluntly, their intellect was worse than humans, so in terms of the creation of heritage, learning cultivation techniques or matters regarding nomological insights, they were inferior to humans.

The final third race, the Ancient Fey, were actually ancestors of the Heaven Fey species. They came into being from the condensation of Heaven and Earth essence right at the beginning of the Universe’s formation. They were the first lives in the Universe, and they were an existence that were close natural gods.

The Ancient Fey had interesting legends to them. For example, Fey race legends speak of ancient Fey dragons or Bai Ze.

They could also produce offspring, but their ability to reproduce was dismal. The Ancient Fey were originally few in number, so as time went on, they turned nearly extinct.

Hence, when talking about the Fey race in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, only the Heaven and Earth Fey were typically mentioned.

The Fire Cloud State’s Heaven Fire Hall and Earth Fire Hall’s classification also came from a result of the Heaven and Earth Fey.

Dong Hu’s family clan belonged to an Earth Fey species. Furthermore, his ancestor was a tiger, who lived tens of thousands of years ago and achieved the Dao.

This was not supposed to be a history worth flaunting, and not only did Yi Yun allude to Dong Hu’s humble origins, he even used the words ‘tiger that gained sentience’ instead of ‘tiger achieving the Dao’.

This was implying that they as members of the Fey race, they were analogous to the spirits found in supernatural novels written by humans, so there was no way he could tolerate this.

Dong Hu was infuriated, while the girl named Bai Wei beside him began to chuckle. As she laughed at Dong Hu’s origins, she put on a look as though she was watching a good show, anticipating how Yi Yun would put an end to this matter.

Was Yi Yun not afraid of death? Why did he dare to offend Dong Hu and Sun Lie despite being so seriously injured? In the Luo clan, battles between disciples were usually intense.

Dong Hu gave a nasty look after he was mocked by Bai Wei. As he looked at Yi Yun, he said ferociously, “You lowly human, you even come from a lower realm. You have no right to mock my ancestor. This is the first time I, Dong Hu, have come to the Fire Cloud State. I have all this power but with no way to show for it. Today, I shall use you to establish my authority!”

As Dong Hu spoke, he grabbed at Yi Yun. His body was large and muscular, and the hair on his body was extremely thick. He looked just like a tiger!

The Earth Fey species may have poor perception, but their physiques far exceeded humans’. Especially with Dong Hu’s ancestor being a tiger that achieved the Dao, his physical strength was extremely terrifying!

As he watched Dong Hu charge at him, Yi Yun retreated and in an instant, he took five steps back.

Although Yi Yun had recovered slightly, he did not dare to freely fight with others because it might cause his old injuries to relapse.

Against Dong Hu’s claw, Yi Yun circulated energy to his dantian. “Whew!”

A beam of light shot out of Yi Yun’s dantian, straight at Dong Hu!

This beam of light was Yi Yun’s Draco First True Gold avatar.

Yi Yun himself was injured so he could not fight, but he had recovered a minimal amount of strength. He could already barely use the Draco First True Gold avatar. As for the more powerful Demon God puppet, Yi Yun was afraid that he would lose control of the evil energy, so he did not summon it out.

As for Dong Hu and company recognizing the Draco First True Gold avatar, it was something that he did not need to worry about. If it was a Draco First True Gold in its most primordial state, there might be some well-learned members of the Fey race in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven who could recognize it. However, Yi Yun’s Draco First True Gold had already metamorphosed into a body of flesh and blood. In addition to the Azure Yang Lord’s refinement for tens of millions of years, even if weaker mighty members of the Fey race saw it, they might not be able to recognize the material of the avatar.

In a blink of an eye, Dong Hu did not even manage to make out the beam of light, but he did not lose his offensive momentum.

“Bam!”

Dong Hu’s claw grabbed at the Draco First True Gold avatar’s chest, but before he could feel triumphant, he felt like he had grabbed a divine piece of metal. The force from his claw could not tear apart the Draco First True Gold avatar’s defenses.

“What is this?”

Dong Hu was alarmed. At that moment, the Draco First True Gold avatar punched Dong Hu straight in the face.

No matter how powerful Dong Hu’s body was, he was inferior to a divine material like Draco First True Gold. This punch resulted in a horrifying cracking sound.

Dong Hu’s vision turned black as his legs went limp. The immense momentum caused the tiles beneath him to crack, as he sunk into the ground.

“Oh? Such a hard head?”

Yi Yun was also slightly surprised. He believed that the Draco First True Gold avatar could smash Dong Hu’s skull to pieces with that punch. Even if the Fey race possessed a strong vitality, he would have to be bedridden for a month or two. He never expected that in that punch, the Draco First True Gold avatar felt an immense resistance. Dong Hu’s head could definitely be used as a hammer.

But even so, Dong Hu was in a daze from being hit by the punch and his mind was momentarily vacant.

The Draco First True Gold avatar leaped up at that moment and jumped right in front of Dong Hu, sending a flying kick at him!

This kick landed on Dong Hu’s face!

The Draco First True Gold avatar’s leg was too hard, so it smashed Dong Hu’s nose bridge in. Like a sandbag, Dong Hu’s massive body was sent flying by the Draco First True Gold avatar with a kick. But suddenly, the Draco First True Gold avatar grabbed the flying Dong Hu’s ankle and smashed him down into the ground!

“Boom!”

There was a resounding explosion as Dong Hu’s entire body was smashed into the ground. Many of his joints were broken, and he suffered ruptured organs and severed meridians. His injuries were probably not much lighter than Yi Yun’s.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Dong Hu screamed in the pile of rubble. Sun Lie and Bai Wei, who were watching by the sidelines, turned pale. They did not expect the sudden turn of events. The severely injured Yi Yun’s dantian, who looked as though he was at Death’s doorstep, had suddenly produced a malignant star that flew out of his dantian, brutally beating Dong Hu in the process.

“What is this thing? Is it a puppet or what?”

777 - : Establishing Authority

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What… is this thing… ?”

After being brutally slammed to the ground by the Draco First True Gold avatar, Dong Hu’s back was being held down under the Draco First True Gold avatar’s foot, causing him to spew blood out of his mouth.

Bai Wei and Sun Lie’s eyes were staring straight at the Draco First True Gold avatar that had suddenly appeared. He looked exactly like Yi Yun, with the only difference being the pale gold robe he wore. His skin looked like it had a metallic texture to it, somewhat different from Yi Yun’s.

“Avatar?”

Bai Wei’s tiny mouth opened as she found it extremely astonishing.

“How can it be an avatar? It has to be a puppet.” Sun Lie said with an ashen face.

There were many similarities between avatars and puppets, for example, they could both be used to kill enemies. There were also many puppets that were manufactured to look extremely lifelike, and there were unsurprising cases where it would look identical to its master.

An avatar could also look exactly identical to the original body, but there were two essential differences between avatars and puppets.

The first difference was strength and growth potential. An avatar’s strength was largely determined by one’s true body. Their nomological insights were identical, and the avatar could grow, cultivating like the true body. In contrast, the moment a puppet was refined, its strength would be fixed. At best, there could be some slight modifications in the future.

The second difference was the difference in importance between an avatar and a puppet. An avatar’s soul sea had a soul split from the warrior’s original body. As for a puppet, it had a spiritual imprint at best.

The loss of an avatar would deal a major blow to the original body’s soul sea, and it might even affect the person’s future success.

As for the loss of a puppet, it was actually just the lost of a treasure. With sufficient wealth, it was considered nothing.

Sun Lie believed that Yi Yun had summoned a puppet, mainly because an avatar, which had the ability to grow, required extremely valuable materials. It was difficult to find them, and it was extremely difficult to refine one!

The more valuable the materials, the longer it would take to refine an avatar. Typically, it needed a mighty senior to spend a long period of time to refine an avatar.

As for Yi Yun’s Draco First True Gold avatar, it was refined by the Azure Yang Lord personally. After the Azure Yang Lord died, it had been refined in the God Advent Tower’s arrays for tens of millions of years!

Sun Lie absolutely refused to believe that such a precious item would come into the possession of a warrior from the lower realm.

Furthermore, the strength of the Draco First True Gold avatar was too powerful, so Sun Lie could not accept that it was a junior’s avatar.

“Puppet? Even if it’s a puppet, it’s so powerful!”

As Bai Wei rolled her eyes, she looked at the Draco First True Gold avatar with intense jealousy, she coveted it greatly!

She had looked down on Yi Yun from the very beginning. Although her ancestor was a white peony that achieved its Dao, she felt a sense of superiority when she saw humans in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, especially humans from the lower realm. She thought of them as bumpkins with poor backgrounds.

Now, she was stunned to suddenly see a bumpkin nonchalantly produce a powerful puppet that was refined with superior techniques.

There were such good things in the lower realm? To refine such a puppet would definitely consume a lot of resources, yet this bumpkin had managed to obtain it.

It was a true waste of a treasure for a bumpkin to possess such a good item. Why wasn’t it hers?

Bai Wei felt an imbalance in her mind, she was even thinking of means to obtain this puppet.

At that moment, Dong Hu was still screaming on the ground. Having been beaten down to the ground by a human, he gnashed his teeth because it was too shameful.

“Little bastard, don’t you fall into my hands… ” Dong Hu’s mouth was full of blood and his nose had collapsed in, but he still squeezed out those malicious words from the gaps in his teeth.

The tiger species was a very aggressive species, they were the kind who would refuse to take a soft stance, even if they were beaten to a pulp.

“Oh?”

Yi Yun raised his foot and ruthlessly stepped on Dong Hu’s neck, preventing him from producing another sound.

“Gee, this ground sure is hard.”

As Yi Yun stepped on Dong Hu, he began to comment on the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s ground.

Yi Yun could tell that Mt. Fengling did not augment itself with too many arrays, yet this mountain was extremely firm. It was much firmer than the Tian Yuan world. If not, the Draco First True Gold avatar’s nonchalant throw would have definitely sent Dong Hu deep underground, and not just cause a human-shaped crater.

Other than that, the space here was more stable. A move that could tear through the void in the Tian Yuan world was not even able to distort space here.

Under such circumstances, if the battle between Heaven Ascension realm warriors was considered, they could cause the world to tremble while fighting in the lower realm, bringing chaos to their universe.

But in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, their battle would appear plain. It wouldn’t differ much from a battle between Yuan Foundation realm realm warriors.

“A large world born out of the chaos during the beginning of the Universe is indeed different.” Yi Yun said with amazement, but the strength in his foot did not loosen at all.

“It ends here!” Sun Lie spoke out. The species he belonged to had relations with Dong Hu’s species, so the two knew each other. “Kid, what are you doing? By brutally beating a fellow disciple, aren’t you afraid of being punished by the Fire Cloud State?”

The competition between Fire Cloud State disciples was intense, but if someone publicly killed a fellow disciple, it was a serious crime.

Sun Lie put forward the idea of a possible lashback in order to threaten Yi Yun, but Yi Yun took no such nonsense. While still stepping on Dong Hu’s neck, he said, “I have to stop because you say so? Who do you think you are!? Previously, when Dong Hu wanted to make a move on an injured me, you were standing by the side, deriving pleasure as though you were watching a show. Now, you suddenly thought of the Fire Cloud State’s rules? What a joke.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he finally lifted his foot. “Alright, since you want to stop me, then you can take his place to lie down here!”

Towards Sun Lie and Bai Wei, Yi Yun had no plans on letting them off. They were no different to Dong Hu, the only difference was that Dong Hu had acted first.

The Draco First True Gold avatar began walking towards Sun Lie and Bai Wei.

The duo’s expressions immediately turned ugly. They had witnessed the abilities of the Draco First True Gold avatar, and since they were on Dong Hu’s level, they were definitely no match for the Draco First True Gold avatar.

“Human, don’t you think that you can do anything you want because of a puppet. You were lucky to find a puppet in an ancient ruin, but a puppet can’t grow. In time to come, it will have to be abandoned!”

“The tides will change, now that you have offended all of us, when your puppet can’t keep up with our strength, you will suffer a miserable end!” Sun Lie threatened Yi Yun, hoping that this method could scare Yi Yun off. However, Yi Yun only sneered and nonchalantly said to the Draco First True Gold avatar, “Beat him down.”

“Boom!”

The ground behind the Draco First True Gold avatar exploded, as he transformed into a pale gold beam of light and charged at Sun Lie!

The Draco First True Gold avatar was extremely fast, so it instantly appeared in front of Sun Lie!

Sun Lie’s pupil’s constricted. With a flip of his right hand, a large saber had appeared. An intense flame burned on the blade as he slashed at the Draco First True Gold avatar. He also cultivated fire-elemental laws, and it was this reason that made it easier for him to enter Fire Cloud State!

“Die!” Sun Lie roared, but the Draco First True Gold avatar only lifted its right arm.

“Dang!”

An arm directly blocked Sun Lie’s blade!

778 - : Avatar? Puppet?

CKtalon  CKtalon

Sun Lie was also from a Fey race that was known for its strength. However, his saber strike that used all his strength had failed to even lacerate the Draco First True Gold avatar’s body of flesh.

Even the Black-armored Demon God had previously failed to take down the Draco First True Gold avatar, so what more Sun Lie?

“You!”

Sun Lie was alarmed and at that moment, the Draco First True Gold avatar had sent a punch straight into Sun Lie’s abdomen. With a quivering jerk, Sun Lie’s body bent like a shrimp.

The gastric juices in Sun Lie’s stomach spewed out from the blow, it was an excruciating pain.

“Little bastard!” Sun Lie cursed. Despite being beaten into such a wretched state, he refused to concede defeat. It was completely unacceptable for members from the Fey race species that enjoyed a strong sense of racial superiority to submit to a human from the lower realm.

Hearing Sun Lie’s invective, Yi Yun, who was standing far away, pricked up his eyebrow. This sort of person just needed to be beaten into submission.

Yi Yun stood motionless while the Draco First True Gold avatar began giving Sun Lie a brutal beating.

Although Sun Lie resisted, he was no match for the Draco First True Gold avatar. The saber in his hand was forcefully taken away by the Draco First True Gold avatar, and with a wipe from the avatar’s pale gold palm, pure Yang Yuan Qi devoured all the flames on the saber!

“Bam! Bam! Bam!”

The Draco First True Gold avatar sent out numerous punches, each one striking at Sun Lie’s abdomen. In a matter of seconds, Sun Lie went from spewing out gastric juices to spewing out blood.

With another strike from an elbow into Sun Lie’s back, Sun Lie felt as though his spine had fractured as he went limp and crashed to the ground.

The Draco First True Gold avatar grabbed Sun Lie’s ankle and with a throw, flung him on Dong Hu’s back.

Bam!

Dong Hu let out a tragic scream as he and Sun Lie were piled together in a heap.

The Draco First True Gold avatar placed his foot on Sun Lie’s back as Sun Lie’s body jerked abruptly. The blood spewing out of his mouth was like a fish blowing bubbles. Dong Hu, who was below him, suffered likewise. He felt that the Draco First True Gold avatar’s foot was about to break both their backs.

At that moment, the Draco First True Gold avatar made a flip with his hand, and retrieved a lance of unknown origin. He did not use the lance head, but the lance pole to smash the two of them at the same time!

Although Fire Cloud State banned the killing of fellow disciples, it was a gray area when it came to beating each other to a near cripple.

Having sustained serious injuries, they would have to recuperate for a year or so, definitely affecting their future cultivation.

This way, their ambitions and aspirations would become bursting bubbles. There was no need to talk about entering the Earth Fire Hall, they might even be kicked out because of poor performance.

“Stop… Stop beating… ”

Dong Hu groaned. Sun Lie’s body was also twitching all over, he was no longer bold enough to keep up with his invectives.

At that moment, Yi Yun only waved his hand, making the Draco First True Gold avatar stop.

Following that, Yi Yun looked at Bai Wei.

Bai Wei immediately turned pale, “I… I’m not saying anything at all. What do you want? As a man, even if redress has to be sought for any grievance, are you not even going to spare women?”

“Women?” Yi Yun gave a scornful laugh, “You are only a spirit monster. Even if you were really a woman, I will never hesitate to act against any provocations directed at me. But there was one thing you said right, I will seek redress for any grievance!”

As Yi Yun spoke, the Draco First True Gold avatar briskly arrived in front of Bai Wei and sent a slap at her!

Bai Wei screamed. The Draco First True Gold avatar’s slap was extremely fast, so even if Bai Wei could not block it, with her strength, she could have at least reacted and fought back.

However, she did not do so. Sun Lie and Dong Hu, who were stronger than her, had been beaten up brutally because of their resistance.

With a loud slap, Bai Wei was sent flying by the Draco First True Gold avatar!

Bai Wei slammed heavily into the ground. Her face swelled up, but compared to Dong Hu and Sun Lie, her injuries were the lightest.

However, Bai Wei felt immense humiliation from being slapped by Yi Yun.

With a hand covering her face, she groaned while lying on the ground. She could not do anything to Yi Yun because the puppet was too terrifying.

If she could steal the puppet, then she would obtain a power boost to her combat power. As for that human, he would be nothing at all, allowing her to knead him as she wished.

Bai Wei could not help but have such thoughts.

Yi Yun looked indifferently at Bai Wei, Sun Lie and Dong Hu.

He knew that although they verbally appeared to submit to him, they still hated him deeply in their hearts. However, with the Fire Cloud State’s rules, Yi Yun could not really kill the three of them because he would end up suffering heavy punishment.

Yi Yun did not take the matter of having a grudge with the fellow three disciples to heart.

The Fire Cloud State was just an expedient place for Yi Yun to recuperate from his wounds. As for Dong Hu and company, they were trivial to him. They were all at the Yuan Opening realm, and were not much different from Yi Yun. Compared to Tian Yuan world warriors at the same level, Bai Wei, Dong Hu and Sun Lie were indeed much stronger, but the gap between the trio and Yi Yun was too great.

Although Yi Yun came from the Tian Yuan world, he not only had the Purple Crystal, but he had also entered the Great Empress mystic realm and the Pure Yang Sword Palace, obtaining the top heritage from the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

And the three Fey race members in front of him were just Earth Fey from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. It was not incorrect to label them as low class Fey race.

Regardless of the number of geniuses in the 12 Empyrean Heavens or the number of experts there were, a few Earth Fey members that came from remote tribal clans would just be demolished by Yi Yun as the gap between them was too great.

When Yi Yun recovered from his injuries, the three of them would not even be worth mentioning.

With a thought, the Draco First True Gold avatar transformed into a stream of light and disappeared into his dantian.

After taking a glance at the trio, Yi Yun turned around and left.

Yi Yun did not plan on staying in the Fire Cloud State for long. He remembered the kindness that Luo Fengling showed him by saving him. In the future, when he left the Fire Cloud State, he would look for an opportunity to repay her kindness.

However… since it was the Luo clan, Yi Yun was also planning on going to the royal capital.

The Luo clan could be said to be a big clan, but it had established its own nation. Firstly, Yi Yun wanted to see Luo Huo’er, and secondly, if possible, Yi Yun wanted to find Jiang Xiaorou’s father.

Various factors seemed to indicate that Jiang Xiaorou’s father was in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. Jiang Xiaorou had grown up alone and she had suffered all her life. If he could help Jiang Xiaorou find her father, it would fulfill a wish of Yi Yun’s.

…

The next morning, moments after dawn, Mt. Fengling was still covered with a dense fog.

Yi Yun was dressed in azure-colored clothes, looking clean and simple. He sat cross-legged in the valley, enjoying the tranquility of the early morning in the mountains as well as expirating Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Mt. Fengling was considered an excellent spiritual ground. Recuperating here allowed him to obtain double the results with half the effort.

The relic Luo Fengling gave Yi Yun had already been eaten by him. What surprised Yi Yun was that the relic’s effect was much better than he expected.

The moment the relic entered his abdomen, it transformed into a warm flow that flowed to his every limb. Despite his meridians being severed, the energy in the relic could strangely flow along them.

779 - : Beating into Submission

CKtalon  CKtalon

Damaged meridians were very difficult for warriors to fix. The reason was that repairing the damage required the absorption of energy, but with the meridians severed, the pathways for energy flow were also severed. This resulted in a vicious cycle. Hence, warriors would typically take a long time to recover from their severed meridians. It could even affect their future cultivation. If their meridians were severed and their dantian destroyed, then it was almost equivalent to having their cultivation crippled. They would then return back to being a mortal.

With this recovery relic, it nearly halved the time Yi Yun needed to recover, pleasantly surprising Yi Yun.

“Luo Fengling’s relic has helped me quite a bit… ”

Yi Yun murmured to himself, but he knew that as a steward disciple of the Fire Cloud State, Luo Fengling would not have given him a very precious relic. The best relics were, of course, kept for Luo Fengling herself.

But even so, this relic’s effects gave him a surprise.

“It probably has to do with the difference in materials used for relic refinement in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven… ”

Yi Yun knew very well that when comparing the Tian Yuan world to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, other than the difference in Desolate Heaven technique heritage, the main difference would be the great difference in the materials used in the Desolate Heaven technique.

The Desolate beasts found in the Tian Yuan world were on a completely different level compared to the Fey beasts that lurked in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s mountains and lakes.

For example, the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit was a Fey beast that came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens. It had grown up in the lower realm, which was an inhibition to its natural talent. But even so, it had become the guardian of the Desolate race. All the primordial true spirits and primordial strains in the Divine Wilderness were subservient to the Sacred Spirit!

It had lived for tens of millions of years and even after being killed by the Black-armored Demon God, its corpse was coveted by the Sovereign of the Eventide. He wanted to steal it to increase his own cultivation realm, indicating how valuable the Sacred Spirit’s corpse was.

However, if the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit was placed in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, it would not have been anything spectacular.

Many Fey beasts in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven were hundreds or even thousands of times stronger than the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit!

What sort of results would happen when these Fey beast’s Fey bones or Fey cores were refined into relics? Even without any refinement, just grinding the Fey bones to powder and eating them might have wonderful effects!

As the best cook could not produce anything without grains, even the relics left behind by the ancient Great Empress in the Great Empress mystic realm were refined using the bones of desolate beasts in the Divine Wilderness. Similarly, they were incomparable to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s relics.

Hence, although Yi Yun obtained a large number of relics from the God Advent Tower, their main usage was to maintain the God Advent Tower’s arrays.

“The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Fey bone materials sure are impressive. Speaking about that, isn’t it my job to be in charge of the material storehouse? No wonder this job was coveted by Bai Wei, Dong Hu, and company. If one isn’t honest, it is indeed easy to reap a lot of benefits.”

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun walked towards the material storehouse.

In fact, the top materials stored in Mt. Fengling were carried by Luo Fengling personally. Whatever was stored in the material storehouse were just common materials.

These materials were rich in variety, and the material storehouse had a dedicated accounts book. The procurement of every material and warehousing were well-documented in it.

As Yi Yun walked to the material storehouse, he suddenly caught a whiff of a faint aromatic fragrance of relics. This gave him a thought as he traced the fragrant smell of the relic.

Yi Yun came to an elegant little courtyard, and in it, there was a 14–15-year-old girl refining relics.

Tao’er?

Yi Yun was slightly surprised. The person refining relics was Luo Fengling’s maidservant, Tao’er.

The relic-refinement process could not be disturbed, so Yi Yun stood in his spot and watched silently.

At that moment, Tao’er was in full concentration. Her tiny face was glowing red, and her forehead was covered in beads of sweat.

Beside Tao’er, there was a tiny red cauldron that was spinning.

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, the relic-refining tools used were slightly different to the Tian Yuan world. In the Tian Yuan world, they used disk arrays, but here, the main tool was a relic cauldron.

On the surface of the tiny cauldron, there were runic engravings that looked simple as they glowed with different intensities. All the materials were placed inside the cauldron, and by surrounding it with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, the materials were repeatedly refined.

Yi Yun could not help but open his Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

Be it the Tian Yuan world or the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique, as a Desolate Heaven Master, the most important thing was energy control.

And in his energy vision, Yi Yun could clearly see every detail in Tao’er’s control of energy.

However, Tao’er was only a Desolate Heaven apprentice, and she was only a beginner. She learned the most superficial Desolate Heaven techniques, So be it her hand seals or energy control, she was only very average.

The Fey bones and herbs in the cauldron were also the most common of materials. All of this could be seen just from the energy flow they emitted.

But even so, Tao’er was extremely careful with her every move. It could even be said that she was trembling with fear. More beads of sweat oozed out of the pores on her face, but despite being extremely meticulous, the Yuan Qi blob in the cauldron was beginning to spin out of control.

Yi Yun could see everything clearly through his energy vision; hence, despite him not knowing the hand seals of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, he could tell through the Purple Crystal that Tao’er had made many mistakes with her hand seals.

Indeed, moments later, with a ’Peng’ explosion, all the materials in Tao’er’s cauldron went up in smoke. The Fey bones were shattered and the bone ash flew out.

Thankfully, they were all low-level materials, so the explosion was not very powerful. It just blackened Tao’er’s little face and disheveled her hair.

“I failed the refinement again. I failed the refinement again.” Tao’er did not care about her disheveled hair as she looked completely frustrated and depressed. “Tao’er, can you be any dumber!? How many times have you failed?”

Looking at the material dreg in front of her and the toppled cauldron, tears could not help but well up in her eyes.

As a human, she was easily marginalized and despised in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.

Most resources were controlled by the Fey race in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. If a human wanted to gain success in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, they had to put in greater amounts of effort.

However, Tao’er’s talent was not good enough to gain special attention from the major factions for nurturing. She was just a maidservant, but because of her kind heart, she had been taken in by Luo Fengling. However, she could not rely on Luo Fengling all the time, since she was meant to serve Luo Fengling.

She knew that Luo Fengling’s goal was to enter the Luo Divine Hall. It was located in the Luo clan’s royal capital, a place where top geniuses in the Luo clan gathered. If Luo Fengling were to enter the Luo Divine Hall, she would also accompany her. The geniuses there would also bring their attendants. These attendants also had many things to do, so if she was too useless, she would be causing trouble for her Missus in everything she did. It would be better for her not to accompany Luo Fengling then.

With this thought in mind, Tao’er could not help but clench her tiny fist. “Tao’er come on, you can do it. You can’t hinder Missus. You can definitely do it.”

Unknowingly, she said out the words in her heart verbally.

After saying that, she suddenly came to realize that someone was standing behind her. Turning back, her face blushed.

“Brother… Brother Yi… ”

Tao’er stuck out her tongue and she was somewhat perplexed. She had failed in her relic refinement and she had been muttering to herself. All of that was quite disgraceful, so having all of that seen by Yi Yun naturally made her feel distressed.

780 - : Recovery Relic

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Brother Yi, have you been here for long?” Tao’er asked with a blushed face.

“Uh… I just came.” Yi Yun lied as he noticed Tao’er’s awkwardness.

“Okay, okay.” Tao’er easily believed Yi Yun’s words as she obviously heaved a sigh of relief. “Brother Yi, it seems as though you look much better now?”

Tao’er was not able to sense Yi Yun’s energy flow, but she had guessed from the color on Yi Yun’s face.

Yi Yun had been heavily injured prior to this. All his were organs ruptured, so if it were any ordinary person, they would have been dead. Tao’er did not expect Yi Yun to look so much better so quickly. His recovery speed was truly impressive.

“Yeah, Senior Luo gave me a recovery relic which was quite useful.” Yi Yun answered her casually.

Upon hearing this, Tao’er smiled, as though she was happy because of Yi Yun’s words. “The Fey pills or relics refined by the Luo clan are extremely famous, especially in the Luo clan’s royal capital. The best Desolate Heaven Masters in the Luo clan are there. They seldom provide their services, but if they were to refine an impressive relic, even the mighty Supremacy figures in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven would travel personally to obtain one from them!”

Tao’er mentioned this pridefully. Although she was human, she was still a member of the Luo clan and she felt pride about the Luo clan’s might.

However, there were few humans in the Luo clan. Furthermore, amongst the humans, one was weaker than the other, making them completely incomparable to the Fey race in the Luo clan. Although the upper echelons of the Luo clan had announced that members of the Human and Fey race were equal, it was still extremely difficult to implement it in practice.

There were many places in the Luo clan where the humans were ostracized and bullied. It was understandable because in a warrior’s world, the weak were naturally bullied.

And it was because of this reason that Tao’er felt such a natural affinity with Yi Yun, who was also human.

Since everyone was human, they were all in the same boat.

“Oh? The Luo clan has impressive attainments in the Desolate Heaven technique?”

When Yi Yun heard what Tao’er said, he recalled how Luo Huo’er focused on the Desolate Heaven technique back in the Tai Ah Divine City.

Back then, Luo Huo’er’s Desolate Heaven technique was extremely good, but… when she competed against Yi Yun in energy control, she had lost to the Purple Crystal-possessing Yi Yun. It caused Luo Huo’er to go into a fit of rage.

Now that he thought about it, the Desolate Heaven technique Luo Huo’er used in the Tai Ah Divine City was most likely to be different from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.

The quality of the desolate bones materials was bad, while the hand seals and Desolate Heaven technique heritage was different.

With these differences, Luo Huo’er had to nearly start from scratch. But even so, she had managed to master the local Desolate Heaven technique quickly.

And it could be said that the Tai Ah Divine City’s Desolate Heaven technique was something Luo Huo’er learned when she had nothing better to do while hiding in the lower realm as a fugitive. She could not use the Luo clan’s Desolate Heaven technique that she was proficient in as she would not be able to explain its origins. It could also risk exposing her identity.

Her Desolate Heaven technique, which she had learned in her free time, had complied with the lower realm’s rules. Yet she was able to defeat and dominate the Tai Ah Divine City’s elites in the Desolate Heaven technique. She only failed to match the energy control extraordinaire, Yi Yun.

“No wonder she was so unhappy back when I beat her.” Yi Yun muttered and smiled to himself.

Luo Huo’er came from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, and she was a direct descendant of the Luo clan. She was like a proud little cat, feeling superior over the lower realm’s Tai Ah Divine City warriors. She believed that the lower realm Desolate Heaven technique that she learned in her spare time was enough to dominate everyone else.

In Luo Huo’er’s heart, the people in the lower realm should have surrounded her, praising her for her beauty and peerless talent. Unfortunately, amongst this bunch of bumpkins, Yi Yun, who did not share the same thoughts as her, had appeared. His control of energy had defeated Luo Huo’er, something completely unacceptable for her. It resulted in her flaring up.

Yi Yun could not help but recall how Luo Huo’er had tried to entrap him after she had lost to him in energy control. Just thinking of how she ended up falling for her own trap could not stop the corner of Yi Yun’s lips from curling up.

He reflected on how time had truly flown. Who knew that more than ten years later, they would both appear in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven?

“Brother Yi, since your body isn’t well yet, drink some medicinal porridge. It’s made from spirit grain that I grow myself.” Tao’er took out a pot of porridge from her room and said with pride.

In Mt. Fengling, she had a lot of miscellaneous chores to do, so there was no time for her to cultivate. One of her chores included preparing spirit food for Luo Fengling, who was very particular about her daily three meals. Most of the dishes were cooked by Tao’er, so despite having a low cultivation level, she was quite good when it came to cooking.

Tao’er scooped a bowl of medicinal porridge for Yi Yun. Just the fragrance alone was enough to make one drool.

Not only did this bowl of porridge use spirit rice, but it also used a lot of herbs. It was very beneficial to the body when consumed.

After thanking her, Yi Yun drank a mouthful of the porridge. Indeed, it tasted excellent, and the moment the medicinal porridge entered his stomach, it transformed into a warm energy that made Yi Yun feel extremely comfortable.

However, Tao’er did not join him in eating the porridge. She faced her small cauldron and began working on her Desolate Heaven technique.

The originally red hot cauldron had cooled down by now, returning to its original black color. It did not look like a particularly good relic cauldron and it was probably very cheap. As for the materials, she tried to ration whatever she had.

Nurturing a high level Desolate Heaven Master required large amounts of valuable materials for practice. It was a huge expense. Hence, if one didn’t come from a famous institute of learning, it was very difficult to succeed as a Desolate Heaven Master.

Tao’er came from a poor background and not only her, even Luo Fengling was not considered to have come from a good background in the Luo clan before she showed her talent. She had relied on her hard work to come so far. An example of Luo Fengling’s diligence was how eager she was to enter reclusive training the moment she returned.

Tao’er understood her own situation very well. She knew that it was impossible for her to be a top Desolate Heaven Master, nor did she have such ambitions. She only wanted to keep up with her Missus. She wanted to be able to help whenever her Missus was refining relics. She would be satisfied if she did not cause trouble for her.

As Yi Yun watched Tao’er refine the relic, he noticed that there were a collection of books nearby. A few books were even flipped open. Taking a look at them, they recorded Desolate Heaven technique hand seals in them.

It was Desolate Heaven technique heritage from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.

Of course, the Desolate Heaven technique heritage that Tao’er got to come into contact with were the most basic of techniques, so there was no need to keep them confidential. Hence, the books were just casually placed there, allowing Yi Yun to take a cursory look.

Yi Yun could not help but pick up a book and began flipping through it.

His body had yet to recover, so it was impossible to cultivate. Since he had the free time, he felt that taking a look at the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique was quite a good choice.

Since the Luo clan’s attainment in the Desolate Heaven technique was impressive, then in the Luo clan’s royal capital, there would definitely be top Desolate Heaven technique heritage. If he had the chance to learn them, with the Purple Crystal’s help, Yi Yun would easily be an excellent Desolate Heaven Master.

As Yi Yun continued to read, he opened up his energy vision on a whim. As he read the book, he would match the information in it to Tao’er’s Desolate Heaven technique.

781 - : Luo Clan Desolate Heaven Technique

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Desolate Heaven technique that Tao’er studied was extremely superficial and easy to understand.

However, understanding it did not mean being able to perform it. It was like a perfect circle drawn in a book. It may look simple, but replicating it with one’s bare hands was difficult. It was a problem resulting in the poor control of one’s hand.

Likewise, the difficult part of the Desolate Heaven technique was precisely the control of energy. Although the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique’s heritage was far better than the Tian Yuan world’s, the basic steps needed for the Desolate Heaven technique were the same.

Like the Tian Yuan world’s Desolate Heaven technique, there were three steps, namely—

The first step, energy extraction. The second step, controlling the energy seal. The third step, forming the relic itself.

The first step was the basics in which the energy from within the Fey bones was extracted bit by bit. Many Fey bones contained great amounts of energy, making them more difficult to control. As a result, it was not easy to handle them as one pleased. If one was not thorough with extracting the energy, not only would it be a waste of materials, but the Fey bone relic would also not be refined properly.

As for the second step’s creating and controlling the seals, it was even more complex as there were too many hand seal techniques. There was already no lack of hand seals in the Tian Yuan world, so in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, the number of the Desolate Heaven technique hand seals were as many as the stars in the sky. Different elemental Fey bone energy had corresponding hand seals that best suited the energy in question. If one failed to do it well, one could easily end up dissipating the energy that they had worked hard extracting, resulting in an explosion.

As for the final step, forming the relic. It was relatively easier, but on the condition that the first two steps were done perfectly.

Furthermore, this ease was relative. There were also many techniques when it came to forming the relic, and each technique had different effects.

Since the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique had its similarities with the Tian Yuan world’s Desolate Heaven technique, and how Yi Yun’s perception was pretty good, Yi Yun was able to quickly understand the techniques described in the book. As he compared the book’s information with Tao’er’s performance, Yi Yun quickly realized that Tao’er was barely able to complete each step..

Tao’er’s cultivation level was limited, so it was very difficult for her to control the energy flow in the Fey bones. This caused flaws to appear during her relic refinement.

And the more careful she was with the seals, the more Tao’er was unwilling to abandon them. Noticing that the cauldron of materials were about to be refined into a mess, Yi Yun estimated that an explosion was just a matter of time.

“Tao’er, abandon the three seals you formed, now!”

Yi Yun suddenly spoke out, giving Tao’er a fright. The three seals on her hand had been painstakingly formed by her. Although she did not manage to control it perfectly, it was already a pretty impressive feat for Tao’er. She was about to diligently refine the three seals into the relic, but Yi Yun had told her to abandon them.

How could she be willing to?

Furthermore… in Tao’er’s impression, Yi Yun had just come to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven from a lower realm. How could he know anything about the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven techniques? That should be impossible…

Realizing that Tao’er was momentarily dumbfounded, Yi Yun repeated, “Follow my instructions and abandon them.” Yi Yun’s words were very decisive. “The three seals you condensed have a total of seventeen structural defects. If you mix them into the relic, not only will it not increase the efficacy, but it will also cause the energy to turn chaotic!”

Seventeen energy defects?

Tao’er was surprised. Even she did not know how many energy flaws there were in the seals that she had condensed, but Yi Yun had managed to instantly count all of them? This…

Tao’er found it a bit unbelievable, but she knew that the seals she condensed were very poor in quality. As such, the chances of her refining a successful relic was extremely low. And with Yi Yun informing her of that, Tao’er decided to harden her heart and believe Yi Yun. She might as well follow his instructions as a last resort.

With her hand relaxing, the three energy seals that had just been condensed were abandoned by Tao’er.

“Heaven Eminence seal, abandon!”

“Fire Willow seal, abandon!”

“Sun Moon seal, abandon!”

“Earth Howl seal, abandon!”

“Disperse all the mentioned seals and refine them again!”

At that moment, there were colorful seals flying above Tao’er’s cauldron. The marks Yi Yun mentioned had all been painstakingly condensed by Tao’er. But with a single instruction from Yi Yun, she had to disperse them and refine them again from scratch.

“But… ”

Tao’er was beginning to hesitate as she felt that her remaining Yuan Qi was likely insufficient for her to condense those seals again.

However, the resoluteness in Yi Yun’s instructions made her subconsciously listen to him.

Tao’er gritted her teeth and she destroyed all the seals Yi Yun mentioned.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The energy seals exploded into a beautiful rain of light. Although it was very pretty, Tao’er’s tiny face was like a prune as she felt her heart ache for them.

“Form the Heaven Eminence seal again. Extract twice the energy from before!”

Yi Yun began to guide Tao’er, but this time, she had to extract twice the energy from before, right from the onset.

Tao’er swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Twice the energy? She could barely control the normal amount of energy, wouldn’t twice the energy end up exploding?

“Follow my instructions. The energy flow on your right index finger, suppress it!”

With the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, Yi Yun was able to see every strand of energy that Tao’er was controlling clearly. Yi Yun could tell if there were any defects in each and every seal, and if there were any, where the defects were. He could even predict what the results of the defects were or whether it would cause the relic to explode or not.

As Yi Yun guided Tao’er, he would also immediately point out her errors or inadequacies.

“Stabilize your hand. Increase the energy output. Now’s the time. Form the seal!”

Yi Yun’s tone was not to be doubted, causing Tao’er to follow his instructions to a T. Finally, when her hands folded, the energy condensed together to form a beautiful blue seal that floated in mid air.

This was a ‘Heaven Eminence seal’!

The ‘Heaven Eminence seal’ was a seal that Tao’er found extremely difficult to condense throughout her Fey bone relic refinement process. It also happened that all the relics that Tao’er needed to refine required this seal, so it vexed her greatly.

But now, with this extremely beautiful ‘Heaven Eminence seal’ floating in front of her eyes with blue light shimmering, Tao’er found it unbelievable. Although she was bad at condensing the ‘Heaven Eminence seal’, she was still able to recognize the quality of the ‘Heaven Eminence seal’ when she formed it. It was definitely better than any ‘Heaven Eminence seal’ she had ever condensed before. And even more critically, this ‘Heaven Eminence seal’ had twice the energy from before, so the efficacy as a result of using this in the relic would naturally be much better!

“This was condensed by me?”

Tao’er muttered to herself as she was momentarily dumbfounded.

“Don’t be distracted. Next, Sun Moon seal!”

Yi Yun had singled out seven of Tao’er’s seals from before to be redone. The reason was because the quality of the seven seals Tao’er had condensed was too terrible. If they were forcefully used to condense the Fey bone relic, it would cause a chain reaction and end up disintegrating all the materials.

“Oh!”

Having been alerted by Yi Yun, Tao’er had a rude awakening. She hurriedly continued her remaining seals. She knew that she could not be distracted when employing the Desolate Heaven technique. If she were to shatter such a perfect Heaven Eminence seal due to her distraction, she would definitely be too deep for tears.

But why did this Brother Yi understand the Luo clan’s Desolate Heaven technique so well that he could immediately point out her flaws?

782 - : Guidance

CKtalon  CKtalon

Tao’er did not know how Yi Yun had managed to do it. Although she was limited in various ways, she knew that being able to accurately pinpoint her every mistake she made during her control of energy was an extremely difficult task.

Only Desolate Heaven technique grandmasters with rich experience, who often interacted with their disciples, would have been able to achieve this feat of guiding their disciples so well.

If it was any ordinary Desolate Heaven Master, or even any young genius from the Luo clan, they would only be good at the Desolate Heaven technique. But they lacked the experience to guide others. They might not be able to find the flaws during the energy controlling process, let alone guide others in real time during an actual execution of the Desolate Heaven technique.

Every advice that Yi Yun gave hit the nail on the head. Tao’er was not a dumb person to begin with, so under his guidance, she began to complete the seals that were considered very difficult for her. When she saw the seals that she previously found extremely difficult condense in front of her, Tao’er became more and more excited, her face glowed red with excitement.

Just a bit more, almost got it!

When all the seals were completed, the seals gathered together in a central core, finally condensing together. With a flash of light that looked like a dream-like color, the seals finally coagulated to form a relic the size of a longan.

“Boop!”

The relic fell into Tao’er’s hand. It still contained the warm flow of energy within it, making it somewhat scalding to the touch.

As Tao’er held this crystalline relic and felt the warmth it exuded, she felt as though she was in a dream.

This was condensed by me?

Tao’er’s heart began to thump loudly. Having joined the Luo clan a long time ago, she had some experience about the judgment of a relic’s quality. She was sure that not only had this relic been successfully refined, but it was also very well done.

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, there was a comprehensive evaluation ranking for relics. The same kind of relic was ranked based on the outcome of the refinement, and it went from poor, ordinary, refined, outstanding, transcendent, to spiritual emergence!

The higher the level of the relic, the harder it was to create a higher quality one. For example, the relics used by mighty Supremacies were already extremely valuable at the ordinary quality. Refined qualities were extremely rare.

But if it were a low level relic such as the one that Tao’er refined, a typical genius Desolate Heaven Master would be able to produce it at the outstanding quality.

Low level relics could be of the outstanding quality at best, while the qualities, transcendent and spiritual emergence were exclusive to high level relics.

Especially for spiritual emergence quality, it meant that the relic had evolved a spirituality in it to the point of it being able to absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and self-cultivate. This quality was something that low level relics could not possess.

Tao’er judged that the relic she had just refined was somewhere in between the quality of ordinary and refined.

This was a quality that she found unthinkable in the past. After all, she could not even refine a poor quality relic, she would usually end up exploding the cauldron and turning the materials into ash!

For her to be able to produce a relic in one go that even exceeded the ordinary quality?

It was something that Tao’er found unbelievable. As she thought over it, it was indeed possible. Her final seal was done in one fell swoop, and it was because of this that allowed her to have sufficient Yuan Qi to support her to the very end. Furthermore, a few key seals were done with twice the amount of energy, so it was natural that it would have a good quality!

Tao’er could not help but look at Yi Yun. Her eyes were filled with amazement and puzzlement, and even a sense of reverence.

Ever since she began learning the Desolate Heaven technique, all she obtained was frustration and dismay. She did not wish to leave her Missus, but her background caused her to experience struggles on her Desolate Heaven technique journey. But today, under Yi Yun’s help, she had managed to take a big step forward.

How could she not feel reverence for Yi Yun after he had given her such a huge opportunity?

“Brother… Brother Yi, how did you do it. Do you know the Luo clan’s Desolate Heaven technique?”

In Tao’er’s excitement, she could no longer speak properly.

Yi Yun shook his head and said, “Not really, but… aren’t your books placed beside you?”

Yi Yun waved the book in his hand. These low level Desolate Heaven technique methods were not confidential, so any Luo clan disciple could freely read through them.

And it was true that Yi Yun had managed to know what seals Tao’er had formed through his reading of the book. Using his energy vision, he was able to make the correct judgment to guide Tao’er.

Back when he just arrived in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, Yi Yun would have been floating in endless space for a very long time, wasting his time, if not for having been saved by Luo Fengling. And during his journey in the spirit cruiser, it was Tao’er who took care of him while his physical condition was terrible.

This gave Yi Yun a very good impression of this hardworking maidservant. Noticing how Tao’er was making many detours in her Desolate Heaven technique, he decided to guide her on a whim.

After hearing what Yi Yun said, Tao’er was completely dumbfounded. She blinked her large eyes, as though the Yi Yun in front of her was like a prehistoric divine beast.

He was able to guide her just from reading the book?

Tao’er’s cultivation level was only at the peak of the Purple Blood realm, many realms lower than Yi Yun. Due to the difference in realms, it would naturally result in different perception, insight and learning speed. What took Tao’er months to painstakingly learn, a higher level warrior could learn in days.

But even if the difference in cultivation level was acknowledged, it shouldn’t have been to the point of being able to easily guide her after flipping through a Desolate Heaven technique book. Furthermore, his guidance was perfect, allowing her to refine a Fey bone relic that exceeded ordinary in quality.

Tao’er gaped her small mouth, unsure of what to say. She could not help but take the book from Yi Yun’s hands, wondering if it was the same book that she read.

“Brother Yi, you must be a very good Desolate Heaven Master, right?”

Tao’er was in a daze for very long before she asked. She guessed that back when Yi Yun was in the lower realm, he must have been a top Desolate Heaven Master in his world.

Yi Yun smiled and said, “Not really. I mainly spent my time on cultivating. I do want to learn the Desolate Heaven technique, but due to a lack of time, what I have learned is limited.”

Yi Yun waved his hand. Ever since he came out of the Cloud Wilderness, he had been engaging in non-stop cultivation. Be it the threat from Shentu Nantian or the appearance of the Black-armored Demon God, they all gave Yi Yun a great sense of pressure.

Under the threat of life and death, how could he have the time to study the Desolate Heaven technique?

Now that he was in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, Yi Yun suddenly felt like he could relax.

Without a threat, he could lead a comfortable life, focusing on his cultivation, pondering over the laws and improve his cultivation realms.

After living a stressed life for so long, such a peaceful life was a kind of enjoyment.

Yi Yun was also thankful that he did not spend too much time on the Desolate Heaven technique. After all, the Tian Yuan world’s Desolate Heaven technique and even the ancient techniques, were far inferior to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s. Now that he had come to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, the Desolate Heaven technique he came into contact with actually meant rebuilding what he had learned from the past.

Upon hearing what Yi Yun said, Tao’er was at a loss for words.

He was so good despite only learning it so superficially?

Tao’er muttered to herself and suddenly felt frustrated. The gap between them was too huge.

Yi Yun could tell what was on Tao’er’s mind, so he said, “Your cultivation has just begun. I’ll need to recuperate in Mt. Fengling anyway, so I can also study some of the Luo clan’s Desolate Heaven technique. Since I have nothing to do these days, if there is any need, I can still help you with your energy control problems.”

When Yi Yun said this, Tao’er was overjoyed. “Really? Thank you Brother Yi!”

783 - : Relic Qualities

CKtalon  CKtalon

This was the first time that peace and quiet was restored to Yi Yun’s life ever since he left the Tai Ah Divine City. Every day he would wake up and sit on Mt. Fengling in the morning where he would watch the rising fog in the mountains and meditate.

At noon, he would return to his cabin, and on a table in the cabin, there would be spiritual food awaiting him, specially cooked by Tao’er.

On Mt. Fengling, Tao’er was only responsible for Luo Fengling’s meals, but since Luo Fengling was often in reclusion, it resulted in Tao’er having nothing to do most of the time. Being able to cook about a dozen meals a year was already considered a lot for her.

The reason why Tao’er studied the Desolate Heaven technique was partly because she wanted to accompany Luo Fengling and go far with her in the future, and partly to produce even better spiritual food.

While cooking spiritual food, if one knew the Desolate Heaven technique, they could process the ingredients, releasing all the beneficial Yuan Qi inside the food. It would result in the food being more easily absorbed and purer in energy as well.

Now, because of Yi Yun, Tao’er’s talent in cooking could once again shine. Tao’er put in a lot of effort for Yi Yun’s meals, because a master like Yi Yun was not easily found even if she tried looking.

Over the days, Yi Yun indulged in feasts. The spiritual food cooked by Tao’er was not only good for replenishing his Yuan Qi, they were extremely delicious as well.

Hence, even though Yi Yun had long reached the state of not needing to eat, he would soothe himself during lunchtime with the spiritual food prepared for him. He spent nearly an hour a day to enjoy the meal slowly.

Now, Yi Yun had mostly recovered from his injuries due to the spiritual and medicinal food, as well as the Purple Crystal’s conditioning. Even Yi Yun himself was surprised at the speed at which he recovered.

He originally thought that he would take months to recover. But now, only half a month had passed since he was rescued by Luo Fengling.

And when it came to recuperation, it was always the hardest at the beginning. The closer one was to a full recovery, the faster the healing would be as there were more meridians that had recovered and joined up.

Yi Yun estimated that in a couple of days, he would fully recover from his injuries, reaching his peak state.

After a spiritual food lunch, Yi Yun would browse through the Luo clan’s Desolate Heaven technique manuals in the afternoon and give Tao’er pointers. This was extremely helpful for Tao’er as the days went by.

However, the Desolate Heaven technique books that Yi Yun had access to were the basics of basics.

Over the past few days, Yi Yun had completed reading all the Desolate Heaven technique books he had access to. The only books that he was lacking were the ones that contained really high-level and profound methods.

“Brother Yi, those Desolate Heaven technique books are placed in the Fire Cloud State’s library. If you become a Earth Fire Hall disciple, you can borrow even more books.”

As days went by, Tao’er was more and more impressed by Yi Yun’s freakish talent in the Desolate Heaven technique. She also believed that being only be able to read those basic books was extremely unworthy of Yi Yun’s talents.

“Oh? Earth Fire Hall… ”

Yi Yun faltered slightly. In the Tian Yuan world, he did not have any time to study the Desolate Heaven technique, but now in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, he had plenty of time.

A warrior’s life was extremely long while Yi Yun’s life had only just begun. The Purple Crystal made learning the Desolate Heaven technique extremely easy, an opportunity people yearned for but had no chance at it. If he did not use it properly, it would be a great waste.

The Luo clan’s heritage was noted for its Desolate Heaven technique. Ignoring everything else, just the recovery relic that Luo Fengling gave to Yi Yun was enough to interest Yi Yun greatly.

That relic was naturally not very valuable, but the energy it contained could still heal his wounds by passing through his severed meridians.

What about a recovery relic that was even greater in value? It would be unimaginable how effective it would be for healing injuries.

Tao’er had also mentioned before that true top level relics were even coveted by the 12 Empyrean Heaven’s Supremacies and Divine Lords.

If he could refine such relics, then be it for personal usage or to exchange for treasures, it would be extremely useful for his martial path.

Yi Yun did not care too much for the Fire Cloud State’s Earth Fire Hall, but it was the beginning of his martial path in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Even though Yi Yun believed that he had unlimited potential, he was at present, just a Yuan Opening realm junior from a lower realm. As such, he had to take one step at a time. The Fire Cloud State’s Earth Fire Hall was just his first step.

Besides, Yi Yun also planned on going to the Luo clan’s royal capital. Becoming a core disciple of the Fire Cloud State was also one of the conditions he needed to fulfill in order to go there.

“How do I become a Earth Fire Hall disciple?” Yi Yun asked.

“Oh this, wow. For others it might be difficult, but it will definitely not be difficult for Brother Yi. Each of the 108 mountains of the Fire Cloud State has a chance to apply for an examination opportunity every year. Our Mt. Fengling has not used the chance this year, so we can just apply for it now.”

“When the time comes, someone from headquarters will come here to test all the steward disciples and miscellaneous chores disciples. You just need to meet their requirements. As for the examination, there will be many topics. As long as someone is sufficiently excellent in any one aspect, they will become a Earth Fire Hall disciple.”

“As for the Luo clan, it places greatest importance on a person’s strength and Desolate Heaven technique talent. Being good at any of those two would make you be valued greatly by the Luo clan. When you take the examination, you just need to pass the Desolate Heaven technique alone. Brother Yi, you will definitely pass it easily.”

When Tao’er knew that Yi Yun planned on becoming an Earth Fire Hall disciple, she was very delighted. As a maidservant, she was actually a miscellaneous chores disciple as well and she shared the same position as Yi Yun. However, as Tao’er had a close relationship with Luo Fengling, so she had an extraordinary status on Mt. Fengling.

For example, the application for the Earth Fire Hall test was typically submitted by the mountain’s owner, but Luo Fengling was frequently in reclusion, so the authority to submit the application was delegated to Tao’er.

Tao’er was extremely efficient. By night time, she had submitted the application to the Fire Cloud State’s main mountain.

And following that, the Fire Cloud State’s main mountain sent a Fire Cloud Decree.

The Fire Cloud Decree was naturally not only for Yi Yun, but for every steward disciple in Mt. Fengling. It also included Tao’er in the scope of the examination.

The decree was delivering by a ten thousand-year-old fire crane. When it flew above Mt. Fengling, it opened its mouth, shooting out the decree scroll. The decree scroll then exploded mid air revealing a series of text.

“In three days, there will be an Earth Fire Hall examination! All Mt. Fengling disciples are free to join!”

Upon seeing this row of text, the Mt. Fengling’s miscellaneous chores disciple, especially Dong Hu, Bai Wei and Sun Lie, were alerted to it, immediately causing excitement in Mt. Fengling.

There were about twenty miscellaneous chores disciples in Mt. Fengling, and most of the miscellaneous chores disciples had spent a long period of time here, so they knew the difficulty of the Earth Fire Hall examination. They knew that they were likely to fail, so they did not feel excited about it.

But Dong Hu, Bai Wei and Sun Lie were new to Mt. Fengling. They believed that being miscellaneous chores disciples in Mt. Fengling was a waste of their talent, believing that they had sufficient talent to become a higher level disciple. They only lacked the chance.

And now, the chance had befallen them. They did not know why there was this opportunity, but they believed that it was time for them to show their prowess, so how could they not be excited?

784 - : Injury Recovery

CKtalon  CKtalon

Over the past few days, a majority of the miscellaneous chores disciple in Mt. Fengling spent their days as per usual. After all, despite it being an opportunity, the application for such an examination could be done once a year, so it was not considered rare.

As for Yi Yun, he was even calmer. He would follow his morning routine of meditating in the mountains, having a good meal at noon, and then enjoy a leisurely life in the afternoon by reading books and giving Tao’er pointers.

“Brother Yi, the Earth Fire Hall examination is nearly here. All the cultivation grounds of Mt. Fengling have been occupied by the newcomers, Dong Hu, Bai Wei and company. Are you not going to cultivate?” Tao’er could not help but ask.

The main cultivation ground was located where Mt. Fengling’s spirit root was, but that was naturally used by Luo Fengling. There were a few remaining cultivation grounds left, but they were snapped up by the other miscellaneous chores disciples.

There was fierce competition amongst the disciples in the Luo clan. Basically, whoever had the ability would be the one to enjoy the resources. As for Yi Yun, he spent his days without competing for the cultivation grounds, he did not even take a look at them.

Yi Yun smiled and said, “My meridians have just healed, so there’s no hurry.”

The path of martial arts was difficult and long. Many geniuses worked very hard, so although Yi Yun was not as maniacal as Luo Fengling, he was never one to slack on his cultivation.

He only rested for a few days because of the injuries to his meridians, and while doing so, he enjoyed a peaceful life.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s explanation, Tao’er spat out her tongue, “Then, was the application submitted too hastily?”

“Not really, it’s timely.”

Yi Yun’s meridians had just recovered and his body was flowing with Yuan Qi. The feeling of energy filling his entire body felt extremely good.

For warriors, after they were accustomed to powerful strength, they would find it very uncomfortable when they were suddenly weakened.

Three days later, above the Fire Cloud State mountains, there was a loud resounding shrill, as a red beam streaked across the mountains.

Everyone on Mt. Fengling looked up and they saw a red dot the size of a pigeon’s egg in the sky. But in a blink of an eye, this red dot expanded rapidly and when it dropped towards Mt. Fengling, the red dot transformed into a 20–30 feet fire crane. Its two talons were as sharp as blades, so when it landed, it sliced through Mt. Fengling’s mountain rock like tofu.

When the crane spread its wings, it was wide enough to cover an elephant completely. Its feathers looked like they were on fire, making it look quite pretty.

Yi Yun knew that the Luo clan’s ancestor was a divine beast related to fire and because they had inherited its bloodline, it was very common to see fire-elemental Fey beasts in the Luo clan.

If the fire crane in front of him was placed in the Tian Yuan world, it might be inferior to the Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit, but it would definitely be one of the most powerful desolate beasts that ruled the Divine Wilderness.

The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s mountain rock beneath its claws were much stronger than the mountain rock of the lower realm. Although it was not difficult to split it apart, just the fire crane’s falling momentum was enough to slice it apart, showing how sharp the fire crane’s claws were.

Standing on the fire crane was a woman with a voluptuous figure. She was dressed in black, and there was a black veil covering her face. She looked cold and distant, making her look at odds with her sultry figure.

On the woman’s right breast, there was a black fire emblem. It indicated that she was one of the heads of the Luo clan’s Earth Fire Hall.

The woman looked young, but she was actually thousands of years old.

Even without using his energy vision to probe the black-dressed woman’s Yuan Qi fluctuations, Yi Yun could still sense that she was extremely powerful.

“Thank you for coming.” Tao’er stuttered. She did not know who this woman was or what her status was, but she knew that there would definitely be no harm in bowing.

The black-dressed woman floated down from the fire crane’s back and she used a pair of cold eyes to sweep across all the people present. Her voice was extremely cold as well, as she said, “Those participating in Mt. Fengling’s examination this year, are they all here?”

“Yes, they are.” Tao’er answered respectfully.

And behind Tao’er, there were a few miscellaneous chores disciple that had spent more than ten years on Mt. Fengling who were able to recognize the black-dressed woman.

Although Tao’er represented Luo Fengling on many matters regarding Mt. Fengling, in terms of experience and knowledge, she was inferior to those experienced people that had been around.

“It’s Fairy Black Bamboo.”

Someone transmitted his voice privately.

Fairy Black Bamboo had achieved the Dao as a black bamboo. She did not share the Luo name, but she enjoyed immense reputation in the Fire Cloud State. She usually disliked dealing with people, so for her to have such an impressive reputation, the only reason, other than her powerful strength, was because of the examinations she presided over. All of them were extremely harsh without any exceptions.

It even led to many disciples suffering serious injuries because of the examinations she presided over.

“Forget it. Since it’s Fairy Black Bamboo, then let’s not join in the fun… ”

There were a few people on Mt. Fengling who wanted to try their luck. They hoped that they could become miscellaneous chores disciples in the Earth Fire Hall, but they were now having second thoughts.

Even if a more generous head from the Earth Fire Hall presided over an examination, their chances were already extremely slim, what more Fairy Black Bamboo. Not only would they fail, they might also be severely injured.

“Alright.” The veiled woman lightly scanned everyone including Yi Yun. At that moment, there were people retreating backward with jitters. As for Dong Hu and company, they were desperately trying to squeeze forward. They pushed the other miscellaneous chores disciples behind, hoping to leave an impression on Fairy Black Bamboo.

Noticing Dong Hu, Bai Wei and Sun Lie’s excitement and anticipation, the other miscellaneous chores disciple mostly had a look of pity. People who had just arrived at the Fire Cloud State were usually filled with ambition, thinking that they were amazing. But very soon, they would suffer a setback and learn where they stood in this world.

No one alerted Dong Hu and company. The miscellaneous chores disciples did not have a harmonious relationship, so they only wished to see others suffer.

Yi Yun nonchalantly stood behind Dong Hu and company. As everyone else chose to collectively give up, there were only four people left participating in the examination.

The four people were all newcomers, so the scene immediately turned slightly odd.

Just the four of us?

Dong Hu was stunned momentarily, and he found it slightly weird. However, before he had time to ponder over it, Fairy Black Bamboo asked, “Do you have any questions regarding the examination’s rules?”

Naturally, Dong Hu and company did not know the rules, but they did not know where to begin when Fairy Black Bamboo asked them if they had any doubts.

Instead, Bai Wei rolled her eyes as a nefarious thought came to her. She asked, “Fairy, I want to know if puppets are allowed during the examination?”

When she asked this question, Bai Wei gave Yi Yun a glance. There was a hint of mockery in the corner of her eye.

“Puppets are external objects. Unless one is skilled in the Dao of puppets, allowing them to use puppets refined by themselves, puppets cannot be used!”

Fairy Black Bamboo’s words were within Bai Wei’s expectations. How could an examination allow someone to rely on external powers? Yi Yun’s puppet was naturally not refined by Yi Yun.

And of course, that was true. The Fire Cloud State naturally had a way to judge if a puppet was refined by the user himself, and for Yi Yun’s Draco First True Gold avatar, it was actually refined by the Azure Yang Lord.

“Then there are no more questions!”

Dong Hu laughed out loud as he rubbed his fists. Previously, the three of them had nursed a grudge after being brutally beaten up by Yi Yun’s puppet. Now they had a chance to settle scores.

785 - : Fairy Black Bamboo

CKtalon  CKtalon

Actually, when Dong Hu and company noticed the other miscellaneous chores disciples shrinking back in fear, they had also guessed that the Earth Fire Hall examination would be very difficult. However, so what if it was difficult? Wasn’t the path of martial arts about facing difficulties?

They were recruited after the Luo clan experienced a great war in a bid to replenish their numbers. In the past tens of thousands of years, the Luo clan did not hold such a mass recruitment of disciples that spanned hundreds of planets. They were the ones who shone out of the hundreds of planets.

Dong Hu, Bai Wei and Sun Lie were eager to try, but at that moment, Yi Yun was observing Fairy Black Bamboo. He found it interesting that Fairy Black Bamboo clearly cultivated in fire-elemental laws, but the feeling she gave, or the aura she had, felt extremely cold like ice. Could fire-elemental laws be cultivated in this manner? It was truly strange.

“Since there are no objections, I shall announce the details of the examination. Firstly, I’ll talk about my Earth Fire Hall. There are a total of a thousand people. And the disciples that participate in the examination in the Fire Cloud State come not only from the steward disciples from the 108 mountains, but also from exterior disciples that numbered even more. There would be more than 100,000 in total.

When Fairy Black Bamboo said this, even Dong Hu and company, who were brimming in confidence, felt their necks shrink and their hearts beat furiously like a drum.

Yes, as steward disciples from the 108 mountains, they were actually considered the lucky ones to be chosen from amongst the exterior disciples. That alone numbered a few thousand.

And even more disciples, who were not qualified to become a steward disciple of the Heaven Fire Hall, were allocated all across the Fire Cloud State. These people made up the majority of the exterior disciples.

Earth Fire Hall only numbered in the dozens, so the competition was intense.

Fairy Black Bamboo carried on, “The Earth Fire Hall’s examination has two types. The first is to accompany me to the Earth Fire Hall’s Relic Hall and undergo a Desolate Heaven technique assessment! The other is an assessment of strength which can be done here! Any charms, pills or puppets not refined by yourself, as well as external powers, are not to be used. Those, who are inadequate, it is best you quit early. Do not have any hopes of luck for you will be wasting my time.”

“Now, which examination would you choose?” Fairy Black Bamboo asked.

“Strength assessment!”

“The second one!”

Dong Hu and company spoke out. The Desolate Heaven technique assessment was extremely difficult, resulting in very few people being able to enter the Earth Fire Hall through the Desolate Heaven technique assessment. Furthermore, they did not know the Desolate Heaven technique either.

After Dong Hu was done speaking, he looked at Yi Yun. A teasing smile hung on his face as he waited for Yi Yun to make his choice.

Fairy Black Bamboo also looked at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun rubbed his chin. The test of the Desolate Heaven technique needed traveling to the Relic Hall? Indeed, the usage of the Desolate Heaven technique needed materials, array platforms, relic cauldrons and various other tools. Having the examination out in the open would affect the performance of some Desolate Heaven technique apprentices.

Yi Yun was indifferent as he did not care about the differences that these external conditions brought.

However, Yi Yun did not like trouble. An examination on the spot was easier, so he said, “I’ll also take the strength assessment.”

Be it the strength assessment or the Desolate Heaven technique assessment, Yi Yun did not mind any of them.

However, with him saying that, Tao’er was stunned. Brother Yi chose the strength assessment? Wasn’t Brother Yi supposed to participate in the Desolate Heaven technique assessment?

Brother Yi’s Desolate Heaven technique would definitely not be a problem, but in terms of strength… Brother Yi just recovered from his injuries, so is it really fine for him to have his strength assessed?

At that moment, Tao’er naturally did not dare say a word. Fairy Black Bamboo was already continuing on. “Alright, if everyone wants a strength assessment, it will save time. Report your bone age, and show off your strength in front of me. It can be nomological insights or sparring against each other. Things like cultivation techniques you cultivate can also be showcased as you please. As long as you attract me in any single aspect, you will have the qualification to carry on.”

The Earth Fire Hall did not have any explicit examination format. The examiners were given free reign on the assessments, and for that, the examinations that Fairy Black Bamboo presided over were always simple and brutal.

Yi Yun found it to be a refreshing method of assessment when he heard this. It was considered truly primal. He even believed that there would be a specially built array that they had to pass.

“We can spar against each other?” Dong Hu’s eyes lit up. He liked sparring a lot.

He was not proficient showcasing his nomological insights or cultivation techniques. As a member of the tiger species, he excelled in physical strength. The tiger species themselves acknowledged that they were inferior when it came to laws.

However, sparring was playing to his strengths.

He immediately looked at Yi Yun, his two eyes looked like a hunting dog that had seen its prey. This was a Heaven-given opportunity!

“Fairy, what happens if we injure the other party when sparring?” Dong Hu grabbed his knuckles and asked.

“The sword is blind, it is inevitable if one is injured because of a lack of strength.” Fairy Black Bamboo said coldly, but what she said made Dong Hu feel a sense of exuberance. Fairy Black Bamboo had implicitly said that it was fine even if he caused injuries.

In the upcoming assessment, he wanted to sever Yi Yun’s meridians and cause Yi Yun’s old injuries to relapse, putting him in bed for half a year.

“Brother Hu, you want to fight Junior Brother Yi? I think I should be the one.”

Noticing that Dong Hu wanted to fight Yi Yun, Sun Lie became anxious. Yi Yun was a human from the lower realm, and all his meridians were severed half a month ago as though he was about to die. Now, Yi Yun had probably not fully recovered from his injuries, so how could he give the chance of revenge to Dong Hu?

What if Yi Yun was crippled by Dong Hu, wouldn’t he not have the chance to beat Yi Yun up?

“Senior Brother Sun, Senior Brother Hu, both of you are close in strength, so both of you would be excellent sparring partners and you can put up a nice fight. This little sister of yours is weak, so leave Junior Brother Yi to me.”

Bai Wei interjected, in a bid to vie for Yi Yun too. This was the first time Yi Yun heard them refer himself as ’Junior Brother Yi’.

The three people competed over Yi Yun mostly due to having a grudge with Yi Yun. This was naturally obvious to the miscellaneous chores disciple and Tao’er.

Many people gave Yi Yun odd looks, unsure how Yi Yun had made the three of them his enemies.

The trio being at odds against Yi Yun was clearly a disadvantage for him. And from the way the trio looked, they would definitely not go easy on Yi Yun.

At that moment, Yi Yun spoke. He did not look at Dong Hu and company but he asked Fairy Black Bamboo, “If it’s sparring, how do we win the qualification?”

Fairy Black Bamboo said, “The final person standing will win the qualification if they end the fight fast enough.”

Fairy Black Bamboo answered. It was simple and brutal, but everyone was dumbfounded hearing this. It was not the final person who won, but the final person standing. This meant that the victor had to beat everyone down?

“Got it.” Yi Yun said.

Dong Hu and company were also surprised. This meant that the three of them still had to fight one another.

The way the three of them looked at each other also turned strange. They were competitors too! Dong Hu and company had their hidden techniques and now, they were planning on revealing them.

Regardless of that, they had to first get rid of Yi Yun!

“Yi Yun, let’s do it!” Dong Hu shouted as he suddenly attacked.

The bones in his body began to crackle as his figure increased in size. The clothes on his upper body had all burst, while his facial muscles turned distorted. His appearance became ferocious as tiger stripes began to appear on his body!

786 - : Sparring

CKtalon  CKtalon

Hu! Hu! Hu!

In addition to his body’s transformation, Dong Hu’s palms also transformed into tiger claws and they attacked with a rustling wind. Mixed in the wind from his palms was a faint tiger’s roar.

Dragons descended from clouds and while tigers leaped from winds. The moment Dong Hu attacked, he had used all his strength. His tiger claws were like a palm leaf fan, that sent out a wind that was extremely overbearing in strength. A simple slap of his could shatter boulders, so hitting a human would definitely shatter a human’s bones and sever his meridians.

Many of the Fey race would produced body features of their ancestors in battle. By stimulating the power of the Fey race’s bloodline, they could augment their combat strength. Previously, in the battle between Dong Hu and the Draco First True Gold avatar, the Draco First True Gold avatar was too dominating, resulting in Dong Hu being immediately smacked down. He didn’t even have the time to stimulate the power in his bloodline.

Without any explanation, Dong Hu had attacked Yi Yun. However, he was pissed when he saw Yi Yun’s expression. He wanted to see fear and panic in on Yi Yun’s face, but Yi Yun’s calm look irritated him greatly.

As Yi Yun looked at Dong Hu’s palms that were about to strike him, he wiped the interspatial ring on his right hand. Swish! Swish! Swish! A few cold beams of light flew out of Yi Yun’s interspatial ring.

These few flying sabers immediately met Dong Hu’s palms after they appeared.

The flying sabers looked nondescript, but they were extremely fast.

Phew! The cold beams tore through the void and they went straight for Dong Hu’s palms.

Dong Hu also noticed the flying sabers. They were considered speed-based weapons and they usually lacked strength. How much power could an insubstantial saber contain?

Dong Hu’s tiger claws had extremely strong defense and they were also the weapon of his choice. He planned on smacking the flying sabers into smithereens before shattering Yi Yun’s bones with a smack!

However, when Dong Hu hit the flying saber, there was only a dull thud. A tiger claw immediately turned bloody.

This small flying saber was too sharp!

Yi Yun remained expressionless. His Thousand Snow saber array was a top saber array, even in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Every flying saber came from the same source. His consciousness and Yuan Qi were all attached to every flying saber, so how could the attacks be weak?

Dong Hu had underestimated him and he had been overconfident.

Dong Hu’s expression turned ugly while he tended to his injured tiger claws. The sabers were too sharp. In order to clinch victory, he had to dodge the flying sabers and attack Yi Yun’s body!

“Roar!” Dong Hu roared angrily as a phantom tiger a hundred feet in size appeared behind him.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Yi Yun wiped his interspatial ring once again, causing more than a hundred cold beams to appear.

Upon seeing so many cold beams, Dong Hu’s pupils immediately constricted.

How can there still be so many!?

At that moment, Yi Yun had stretched out his hand and waved, “Go!”

More than a hundred cold beams attacked Dong Hu, who no longer had time to attack. He could only resist.

However, even as he used all his strength to resist, the flying sabers still left multiple bloody lacerations on his body.

“There are so many flying sabers!” Dong Hu began to feel fear. He found it a struggle to cope with more than a hundred flying sabers.

“However, to control so many flying sabers, it will definitely be a drain on his consciousness and Yuan Qi. This kid probably can’t last long!”

As Dong Hu resisted the flying sabers, he comforted himself, hoping to hold out after this wave of attacks.

However, at that moment, Dong Hu realized that there were even more cold beams around Yi Yun’s body! They were all flying sabers, and together with the ones that Dong Hu was facing, there was a total of 999 flying sabers.

Nearly a thousand flying sabers formed Yi Yun’s Thousand Snow Domain. In an instant, the temperature plunged as the sky seemed to be filled with dancing snowflakes. Dong Hu was completely enveloped by the snowstorm with no strength to resist.

This beautiful scene was like the snowfall in the mountains, but in it contained a fatal killing opportunity.

In the Thousand Snow Domain, every flying saber’s trajectory was different, but they perfectly combined into a ceaseless saber formation array. Even if one side was broken, this hole would be immediately mended.

Dong Hu believed that this saber array would be extremely draining on the consciousness and that Yi Yun could not last long doing so, but he never expected that not only was he able to manage it, but the number of flying sabers was also increasing!

Seeing the endless flying sabers accelerate, Dong Hu immediately felt his scalp go numb. He was initially struggling to resist, but as more and more lacerations appeared on his body, Dong Hu’s energy began to wane. His reaction speed also slowed down.

As a result, the dense snowflakes of the Thousand Snow saber array immediately opened up more wounds on his body. The white snow mixed with red blood appeared as Dong Hu struggled in the saber array.

Dong Hu came from the tiger species so his physical strength was far superior to others. However, as his body gradually became dyed with blood, his motions began to retard. The tiger stripes and fur on his body were turning into a mangled mess from the lacerations.

Yi Yun’s saber array did not lessen in any way. Instead, the flying snow appeared to become more and more aggressive.

Dong Hu wanted to break through the saber array to attack Yi Yun, but he could not get out of it. It was as though he was trapped in a blizzard. Yi Yun’s consciousness was controlling every single flying saber, so how could he allow Dong Hu to leave it?

A thousand flying sabers suddenly became one as it struck Dong Hu straight in the chest.

“Bam!”

Blood splattered as Dong Hu’s right chest was completely penetrated. His body was sent flying by the flying sabers as he made a resigned roar before his massive body collapsed to the ground.

His body was already riddled with hundreds of holes. Even a tiger’s body could not withstand such injuries.

After penetrating Dong Hu’s chest, the 999 flying sabers did a turn in direction and lodged themselves in a mountain rock.

“Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!”

Blood stained the mountains, while the flying savers lodged themselves in the rock. Around Dong Hu’s fallen body were numerous shiny sabers.

This scene sent a shudder down people’s spine, especially Tao’er. She subconsciously opened her mouth wide. She never expected that this elder brother, who always looked so mild and polite, would be so fierce and terrifying in battle!

However, there was no doubt that the flying saber array was extremely beautiful despite the fatal killing intent it possessed. It merged skill and power together like a form of art. And Yi Yun, who controlled the saber array did not even take a step from the beginning to the end. It was truly like the saying of devising strategies in a command tent to kill enemies five hundred kilometers away.

This was a vast difference compared to Dong Hu, who used his strength and body to engage in brutal battle.

“This saber array… ” Many miscellaneous chores disciple were staggered after seeing this battle. The difference was too great. As a human, Yi Yun was no doubt a top expert!

“Is Dong Hu alright? He wouldn’t die, would he… ?”

Some people worried for Dong Hu. Although killing an opponent in a fair assessment would result in a lesser punishment, there would still be one.

“It’s fine. Dong Hu doesn’t seem to have any crucial points harmed.”

Amongst the miscellaneous chores disciple, there were some with good eyesights. The flying sabers appeared to fill the sky, but when they landed on Dong Hu’s body, they would avoid his heart, brain, death points and other crucial spots. The 999 flying sabers were controlled with great precision in a terrifying manner!

For the tiger species with immense vitality, as long as they did not receive consecutive strikes on their crucial spots, they would not die even if Yi Yun beat them till they were rid of their skin. Of course, being bedridden was certain.

787 - : Snow-like Flying Sabers

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although Fairy Black Bamboo remained expressionless when she saw what Yi Yun had done, she was very astonished deep down. She knew how immense one’s energy control needed to be in order to control the saber array in such a manner. Every single one of the 999 flying sabers were augmented with energy, and it was because of this energy that the flying sabers were controlled so freely.

And to say that the saber array had avoided Dong Hu’s critical points was imprecise. To be precise, the saber array had attacked every spot on Dong Hu’s body except the critical points!

Dong Hu’s injuries were not as simple as superficial wounds. Many of his meridians had been severed!

These severed meridians would not result in any fatalities, but it was extremely difficult to recover from them.

This young man is very interesting!

Fairy Black Bamboo evaluated in her heart. As a member of the Fey race, the Luo clan was not sympathetic to the weak. Other than disallowing deliberately killing fellow disciples, the Luo clan would tacitly allow the competition of resources and cultivation techniques amongst the disciples.

Fairy Black Bamboo was similar too. She was cold, indifferent and she disregarded life. One could know this just from examining the examinations she presided over. Many disciples would not only fail, but they would also be seriously injured.

And it was now that Fairy Black Bamboo began to pay notice to Yi Yun.

From the moment that Yi Yun had made his move to defeating Dong Hu, only several seconds had passed.

At that moment, he stretched out his hand for a move.

“Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!”

The 999 flying sabers flew out of the mountain rock and returned to Yi Yun’s side while dancing randomly.

Following that, Yi Yun’s gaze landed on Sun Lie and Bai Wei.

He remembered Fairy Black Bamboo’s words. To win the qualification, he had to be the last one standing.

Dong Hu was down, so these two would naturally have to go down!

Upon coming into contact with Yi Yun’s gaze, Sun Lie and Bai Wei immediately felt their hearts sink while their faces turned pale.

The moment the Thousand Snow saber array appeared, they had been staring with widened eyes. Upon seeing Dong Hu fall, they knew that Yi Yun was definitely not a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

Now, the way that Yi Yun stared at them made them feel as though they were the lambs that were unable to put up a fight.

“Wait… Wait!”

Bai Wei hurriedly asked for a time out as she looked at Fairy Black Bamboo, hoping for her to stop the examination. The situation was apparent now. Yi Yun’s strength clearly far exceeded the three of them.

However, Fairy Black Bamboo did not say a word as she completely ignored Bai Wei’s gaze. It meant — the examination continues!

Before the examination began, Fairy Black Bamboo had said that those that lacked the ability were to quit early so as to not waste her time. Upon deciding to take the examination, they had to be prepared to be seriously injured!

Those miscellaneous chores disciple who knew of Fairy Black Bamboo’s infamy had withdrawn early on obediently, while the trio were filled with ambition because they were new. They thought highly of themselves and they eagerly participated in the examination thinking it was an opportunity, so how could they quit now?

Since they had made the choice, there was no way that they could ask for it to be stopped midway. Hence, Fairy Black Bamboo completely ignored Bai Wei’s gaze.

“There’s no other way out!”

Bai Wei clenched her teeth and stood together with Sun Lie.

“The rules did not say we can’t fight together. Let’s attack at the same time. One person will pin down the saber array while another will attack his body!” Sun Lie hurriedly transmitted his voice.

After having seen Dong Hu’s outcome, the duo were already lacking confidence. This human was ruthless. It was unknown how long it would take to recover from such lacerating wounds.

“Alright! You restrain the saber array and I’ll attack his body!” As Bai Wei said this, she directly attacked.

The Thousand Snow saber array was too terrifying, so Bai Wei admitted that she was definitely no match. As for Yi Yun’s body, she believed that it was still injured and he had yet to recover. As a human, his body shouldn’t be too strong, right?

Especially with Yi Yun appearing like a warrior that was adept at mental manipulation, the weakness of this kind of warrior was probably his body.

At that moment of time, Bai Wei could no longer care if her judgment was accurate or not. Her only choice was to attack Yi Yun’s body. It was the only chance for victory!

Seeing Bai Wei rush out, Sun Lie’s expression changed. That woman!

He did not dare withstand the Thousand Snow saber array, but since Bai Wei had already attacked, he could only bite the bullet. If he did not, it was equivalent to giving Yi Yun a chance to beat them all down.

Sun Lie gritted his teeth as he charged at Yi Yun’s Thousand Snow saber array.

“Ao woo!”

Sun Lie let out a long howl that didn’t seem human. A layer of black fur appeared on his body as his back began to bend, as though his spine was a bow.

His four limbs landed on the ground as fangs appeared from his mouth. His eyes turned green and in a blink of an eye, he had turned into a werewolf.

Sun Lie did not have any hope at tearing the saber array apart. He just wished to last a little longer. When Bai Wei defeated Yi Yun, there would be no one controlling the saber array, so it would fail without needing him to attack.

Seeing Sun Lie head towards the saber array and Bai Wei charging at him, Yi Yun naturally guessed at their intentions. However, he did not summon the Thousand Snow saber array to protect himself. Instead, he waited for Bai Wei’s arrival.

“Yi Yun! I’ll be returning that slap to you!” Bai Wei deeply remembered the humiliation of being slapped by a human in the first time in her life, and for that, she wanted to return it to Yi Yun a thousand times over.

Numerous flower petals appeared from her body. They looked extremely pretty, but their edges were as sharp as blades. Not only did she want to return a slap to Yi Yun, but she also wanted to disfigure Yi Yun.

Seeing the sky-filled petals whistling at him, a beam appeared in Yi Yun’s eyes as he slowly raised his hand and tapped gently while facing the flower petals.

Doop!

As though it was the sound of a water droplet dripping, a blast of air spread out. The flower petals that filled the sky were immediately disturbed by the blast. This scene looked like there was an invisible water surface filling the sky, with those flower petals seemingly land on the water surface. Following that, they bobbed as a result of the water ripples.

While bobbing up and down, the flower petals that filled the sky quickly withered at a visible speed!

Withering concept!

Even without relying on the Death Soulwood, Yi Yun’s demonstration of his Withering concept was enough to deal with Bai Wei.

The moment the Withering domain appeared, an aura of death was emanated. The sharp and matchless flower petals were unable to withstand the force of the death.

No matter how many new flower petals Bai Wei sent out, the moment they entered the Withering concept’s domain, they rapidly withered. In front of Yi Yun, it was as though they instantly experienced a life of drying up and withering before being blown by the wind into the mud and rocks on Mt. Fengling, eventually turning to dust.

Upon seeing this scene, Bai Wei turned aghast. What was going on?

If it was about Yi Yun fighting Dong Hu from before, she might have felt fear when he used the saber array to defeat Dong Hu because it was a move that she could understand. It was just flying sabers and mental control.

But now, a simple tap of Yi Yun’s finger, with him not appearing to use much energy, he had immediately dissipated her flower swords. Before she struck, her momentum had been dissipated!

“It’s time for you to fall as well!”

Yi Yun took a step and he instantly appeared in front of Bai Wei. A palm that was augmented by the Withering concept hit Bai Wei’s abdomen!

“Peng!”

Bai Wei’s body quaked as instantly, she felt an energy filled with silent death rush into her dantian. It was consuming her Yuan Qi, youth and even her life force!

This was an immensely terrifying power that made people despair. After being struck by Yi Yun’s palm, she felt as though she had lost all meaning to life.

788 - : There is no medicine for regret

CKtalon  CKtalon

Bai Wei slammed to the ground. The single hit from Yi Yun’s palm looked extremely light. Bai Wei did not fly too far away, but what followed was a shocking scene.

People saw strands of white hair on Bai Wei’s head. There were even wrinkles that began to appear on Bai Wei’s face.

This is…

Everyone stared with widened eyes as they felt a chill shudder down their backs!

Previously, they were already astonished to see the Thousand Snow saber array lacerating Dong Hu till he had no undamaged spot on his skin, but they did not have this shuddering fear. It was as though Bai Wei’s life had been stolen away by Yi Yun’s single strike!

The Withering concept used by Yi Yun could indeed devour the vitality of the victim, and it would leave only half of their life spans.

However, against Bai Wei, whose strength was massively inferior, just a simple Withering strike was enough to cripple of Bai Wei’s potential. That would also breach the rules of the organization.

The Luo clan encouraged competition amongst disciples, but it did not encourage maliciously crippling or killing fellow disciples. Hence, Yi Yun had shown mercy with this strike.

But even so, it caused Bai Wei’s vitality to suffer. It required a long period of nursing to recover and to slowly remove the wrinkles on her face.

However, Bai Wei was unaware of this, she was even unaware of what had happened to her body. Only when she saw the other miscellaneous chores disciples looking at her in disbelief did she realize that something had happened to her body.

“Your face… ”

Tao’er covered her mouth and could not bear but say. The moment this was said, Bai Wei immediately touched her face. For warriors, there was no need for mirrors, a scan of their perception was sufficient to inform them of their body changes.

“Ah!”

Bai Wei let out a sharp scream. As a woman, despite being member of the Fey race, she still cared for her beauty deeply.

Furthermore, youth implied potential. It implied how much one could achieve in the future. If she was old, what future did she have?

Bai Wei was completely distraught from shock. Her heart was on the brink of collapse, unsure if she could recover or not.

Upon seeing this scene, Sun Lie’s body was shaking all over.

He wanted to plead with Yi Yun, and he even thought of just lying on the ground without getting up. That would make Yi Yun literally the last person standing.

But at that moment, Sun Lie was in the middle of the saber array. Just a momentary lapse of concentration caused more than a dozen flying sabers to stab into his body!

Sun Lie’s defenses were much weaker than Dong Hu. He relied on a wolf’s speed and agility, but with the flying sabers hitting him, his motions immediately turned retarded. Following that, a large swath of flying sabers hit Sun Lie!

“Bam! Bam! Bam!”

A powerful impact caused Sun Lie to fly up before he slammed heavily into the ground with blood splattering everywhere.

At that moment, the only person left standing was naturally only Yi Yun!

Instantly, the entire venue turned silent.

The saber array had eliminated two people, while one palm strike was enough to push Bai Wei to the brink of mental collapse. Not only had Yi Yun won, he had won at a sufficiently fast speed as requested by Fairy Black Bamboo!

Furthermore, Yi Yun was ruthless!

When the other miscellaneous chores disciples saw how Yi Yun was being targeted by the trio, they sensed that there was a feud between them.

With the premise of a feud, it was necessary to be ruthless.

In addition, Yi Yun was ruthless in his attacks, but he did not violate any of the Luo clan rules. It was something that gave people the creeps.

This person was not somewhat to be trifled with!

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, be it competition or murder, they were more intense than the Tian Yuan world. Compared to humans, the Fey race was even more savage. In order to rob or kill, humans had to find a reasonable explanation to do so, but the Fey race was more direct. They robbed and killed as they wished.

In such a situation, if one was submissive and engaged in acts of kindness, it was more likely for them to be bullied. They might even die without knowing why. Only those who were vicious and decisive could lead a better life. They were even respected or revered.

As a human, Yi Yun would be discriminated in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, but because of today’s defeating of three people, and in such a brutal manner, no one dared to despise his identity as a human.

The strong were respected no matter where it was.

“This human will be entering the Earth Fire Hall?”

People discussed in whispers. With the strength that Yi Yun had shown, it was definitely sufficient for him to enter the Earth Fire Hall. Be it the saber array or the odd law, just any one of them was sufficient to qualify him.

Furthermore, Yi Yun did not appear to have used his true strength against Dong Hu and company. It was hard to tell how much hidden strength he still had.

This made many Mt. Fengling miscellaneous chores disciples look at Yi Yun with eyes of jealousy and enviousness. Yi Yun was destined to have a bright future, an entity with a completely different fate from them. So what if they were members of the Fey race while Yi Yun was a human? Strength was everything.

Yi Yun looked at Fairy Black Bamboo and waited for her reply.

Previously, Fairy Black Bamboo had said that by quickly defeating the other three, the person would win the qualification to carry on.

The words “carry on” implied that Fairy Black Bamboo might still have prepared another round of assessment.

“What was the law you used at the end?” Fairy Black Bamboo suddenly asked.

“Withering!” Yi Yun answered tersely.

It was nothing to tell others what sort of law it was. The only thing that needed to be concealed was the moves from the nomological transformations and the energy trajectories of the law.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s answer, the surrounding miscellaneous chores disciples were somewhat stunned.

Law of Withering? A simple palm strike caused the flower petals to wither to dust…

It sounded incredible. The Fey race disciples present had inferior nomological comprehension compared to humans. It was natural for them to be astonished when they suddenly heard of such a rare but profound law.

Ignoring the Mt. Fengling miscellaneous chores disciples, even Fairy Black Bamboo, who had lived for thousands of years, had yet to see the law that Yi Yun displayed.

The nomological Great Dao were numerous in number. This law was learned from the Dao Tree’s leaf. It was a Dao Tree that formed at the beginning of Chaos, when the Universe was still in its infancy. The laws of the Dao Tree was an embodiment of the Universe’s truth. And the Withering concept that Yi Yun gained insight into was deduced from that moment of the Dao Leaf dropping from the Dao Tree.

“Withering? Interesting.”

Fairy Black Bamboo nodded her head slightly. Her nodding was an extremely rare act of admiration.

“Alright, you have passed the examination. From now on, you are an Earth Fire Hall disciple!”

A single sentence from Fairy Black Bamboo was enough to determine Yi Yun’s status.

He passed?

Yi Yun faltered slightly, but he was not surprised. This was because the energy control and nomological concepts he revealed was sufficient. There was no need to participate in any further assessments. As for Fairy Black Bamboo, who was accustomed to saving time, she decided to skip this procedure.

“Follow me. I’ll take you to the Earth Fire Hall to obtain your identity token.”

As Fairy Black Bamboo said, she floated away.

Yi Yun was not excited after becoming an Earth Fire Hall disciple. It was something that was within expectations.

Yi Yun glanced at Tao’er and said, “I’ll be heading to the Earth Fire Hall first. Once I’ve settled in, I’ll come back to Mt. Fengling.”

789 - : Gaining Recognition

CKtalon  CKtalon

Luo Fengling’s Mt. Fengling was a distance away from the Fire Cloud State’s main mountain and this distance was not just filled with wilderness. Along the way, Yi Yun saw a few countries along with various mountain ranges and rivers, as he followed Fairy Black Bamboo.

Yi Yun’s eyesight was excellent, so even though he was flying high in the sky, he could clearly see how people led their lives in these countries.

He saw bustling cities with street hawkers lining the sides of crowded streets. Of course, there were martial houses and bodyguard escort services established in them as well. From the looks of it, they did not look much different from the mortal world in the Tian Yuan world.

The only difference was the numerous Fey race members in the cities that had yet to complete their human manifestations. These members of the Fey race had tails or fur on their bodies. Some even had human faces but Fey bodies.

“The Fey race has mortals too?”

Yi Yun asked Fairy Black Bamboo as he looked at the Fey race, who clearly were average in strength. His impression of the Fey race was similar to that of spirits found in legendary novels. Members of the Fey race who lacked strength could manifest themselves as humans?

“Yes.” Fairy Black Bamboo was still flying ahead of Yi Yun. Despite the strong winds blowing, it did not lift her veil at all. “First generation Fey race members are animals or plants who achieve their Dao to become Fey after absorbing the world’s essence, so they are naturally powerful. However, their offspring might not inherit their strength. Many Fey race bloodlines would become diluted over time. Eventually, it will make them ordinary and mortal. Such bloodlines would result in the birth of several Fey race mortals. Their strength is probably around the strength of humans at the body tempering stage.

“Although the Fey race values bloodlines, and a Fey race with a powerful bloodline will be stronger, there are always exceptions to anything. Some Fey race with normal bloodlines might, for various reasons or special opportunities, slowly strengthen themselves. They might even end up being stronger than Fey race with powerful bloodlines.

As she thought highly of Yi Yun, Fairy Black Bamboo patiently explained to Yi Yun to clear his doubts.

“So that’s how it is.”

Yi Yun nodded. A powerful Fey race having offspring with normal bloodlines was nothing out of the ordinary.

However, just like how people of ordinary birth were able to become a peerless Great Emperor, normal Fey race could also become mighty.

“It looks like although the 12 Empyrean Heavens has many mighty figures, there is no lack of mortals as well. Not everyone is strong.”

As Yi Yun pondered over it, they arrived at Fire Cloud State’s main mountain.

Seeing Fire Cloud State’s main mountain, Yi Yun was still somewhat shocked despite having been mentally prepared.

This mountain was not like any ordinary mountain which towered high into the sky. It was not considered tall, just about 100,000 feet tall. However, the land it covered was vast. It looked like it was a country itself.

On the mountain peak, there were long stretches of palaces as well as large spirit produce farms and herbal gardens. At that moment, the flowers were in full bloom, making it look like a colorful sea of flowers.

The melted snow on the mountain rushed down the mountain peak; it was not a tiny water stream, but a roaring river. The mountain was so massive that the melted snow could form massive rivers!

By the mountainside, the massive river was truncated, forming hundreds of waterfalls that had 10,000 feet drops. They roared down like charging white dragons, striking the rock beneath with tumultuous rumbles!

“This is Fire Cloud State’s main mountain? It’s huge!”

The number of palaces that Yi Yun saw was nearly uncountable. Furthermore, in between the palaces stood numerous towering ancient trees. They looked spectacular and from the scale of the palaces, it was no problem for 100 million people to live in them!

Yi Yun knew that the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s rock was much stronger than the lower realm. Hence, in order to construct such a palace complex, it would require immense riches. Only a warrior’s world was able to make constructions of such terrifying scale.

“There are so many palaces, can they all be inhabited?” Yi Yun could not help but ask. He knew that the number of mortal Fey race in the Fire Cloud State probably numbered above 10 billion, but the real Luo clan disciples were few in number. It seemed unlikely that all these palaces could be inhabited.

Fairy Black Bamboo said lightly, “The palaces are divided into many types. Other than the palaces of the Elders and deacons, the palaces below are where the Earth Fire Hall disciples stay. Every Earth Fire Hall disciple would be given their own palace complex.

“In the Fire Cloud State, there is no lack of mortal Fey that organize their own countries. However, the palaces that the Fey emperors of the mortal Fey countries live in can’t even compare to a Earth Fire Hall disciple’s palatial residence.” Fairy Black Bamboo said with a calm voice, but what she said shocked Yi Yun.

It was equivalent to saying that a palace that every Earth Fire Hall disciple was assigned was bigger and more luxurious than a mortal’s palace!

Of course, the luxury did not refer to material objects like gold and silver, but mostly arrays for cultivation. All sorts of treasures, vessels, and the palace’s construction material like timber and stone were all refined from valuable materials.

In the Fire Cloud State, every Heaven Fire Hall personal disciple was given a mountain, so although the Earth Fire Hall disciples were slightly inferior, they were still given palaces!

There were more than a thousand Earth Fire Hall disciples, which made it equivalent to more than 1000 palaces that were gathered together!

Adding the palaces owned by the Elders, deacons and the law-enforces, they formed the Fire Cloud State main mountain’s complex!

Upon noticing Yi Yun’s expression, Fairy Black Bamboo said, “Do you think there are too many palaces? Actually, that’s not true. The Luo clan has existed for nearly 100 million years. It has waxed and waned over this period, but it still managed to survive through the times. Although the Fire Cloud State’s history is shorter, it also has 50 million years. Even if it takes 10,000 years to build a palace, there would be an accumulation of 5000 palaces. So constructing such a palace complex is very easy.”

When Fairy Black Bamboo said this, Yi Yun drew a gasp. Yes, with a hundred million years or fifty million years of history, it was something easily mentionable. But to truly experience it, the length of time was almost impossible to imagine.

Over such a long period of time, a faction’s foundation and accumulated strength would reach a terrifying stage.

This palace complex was just a microcosm. The cost to constructing it was inevitably high or it would not have been able to withstand the tens of millions of years of elements. With so many palaces and so few disciples, allocating one palace to each Earth Fire Hall disciple was not considered an extravagant matter. If the palace was not used, it would only sit idle after all.

It was no wonder the miscellaneous chores disciples like Dong Hu, Bai Wei and Sun Lie were so eager to become Earth Fire Hall disciples.

They came from small tribal clans, and the moment they became Earth Fire Hall disciples, it could be said to be reaching the heavens in a single bound!

After all, it was the Fire Cloud State, the Luo clan’s Fire Cloud State!

Ignoring the Fire Cloud State’s Elders, just the Earth Fire Hall disciples already enjoyed a status much higher than a mortal Fey country’s emperor. This could be judged from the amount of resources consumed by the Earth Fire Hall disciples’ residence.

From mortals to warriors, it was like heaven and earth. This chasm-like gap was something that could not be closed just because of having the title of emperor! Just think about the difference in lifespans that differed by thousands of times, what more the difference in strength.

790 - : Fire Cloud State Main Mountain

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Yi Yun stood in front of the opulent palace complex that was assigned to him, he felt as though he had transformed into a princely aristocrat.

Be it in the Tian Yuan world or the Divine Wilderness in the past, although Yi Yun enjoyed a very high status, his standard of living was extremely simple, nothing like the luxurious life that was awaiting him.

Yi Yun looked up at the plaque hanging above the palace doors. On it, were three words written in large font — “Hua Yun Palace”. What a coincidence that his palace’s name also had the word “Yun”.

On Fire Cloud State main mountain, there were 2000 palaces prepared for the Earth Fire Hall disciples, nearly twice the number of disciples. As one of the 2000 palaces, Hua Yun Palace had been left vacant for very long.

At that moment, two rows of servants stood in front of Yi Yun. They were a mix of young men and women.

They were responsible for the daily maintenance and cleaning of Hua Yun Palace as well as serving Yi Yun’s daily needs.

Compared to the Heaven Fire Hall disciples, the number of servants the Earth Fire Hall disciples had were not fewer in number. The only difference was the servants of Hua Yun Palace had a lower cultivation level. There were many servants in front of Yi Yun, but they were all at the Mortal Blood realm which made them equivalent to mortals.

“In the future, this Hua Yun Palace will be your place of residence. This is your disciple token and the Earth Fire Hall’s information booklet.”

As Fairy Black Bamboo spoke, she waved her hand, sending a stream of light onto Yi Yun’s hand. It was an interspatial ring.

Anything handed to Earth Fire Hall disciples were stored in interspatial rings.

“Do you have any other questions?” Fairy Black Bamboo asked.

Yi Yun hesitated slightly as he considered his choice of words. Finally, he said, “Senior, this disciple wants to know, what is the fastest way of entering the Luo clan’s royal capital?”

Having existed for 100 million years, the Luo clan’s foundations were nearly unimaginable. Just a single Fire Cloud State had immense resources, it was sufficient to deeply shock Yi Yun when he saw the immensity of the Fire Cloud State main mountain.

However, a state of the Luo clan was definitely inferior to the royal capital!

The Luo clan’s royal capital was indeed a place so vast with brilliant prospects that it allowed much to be accomplished.

“Oh? You want to enter the Luo clan’s royal capital?” Upon hearing Yi Yun’s question, a glint flashed in Fairy Black Bamboo’s eyes. She understood the overtones in Yi Yun’s question, so she asked, “Why? Do you think that the Fire Cloud State is too small for your growth?”

When Fairy Black Bamboo said this, her eyes turned sharp, causing Yi Yun to falter slightly. With a smile, he said, “That is not what this disciple meant.”

It was not true that Yi Yun believed that the Fire Cloud State was insufficient for his growth. In fact, with the Fire Cloud State’s heritage, it was more than enough for a Yuan Opening realm warrior like him.

However, the higher one went in life, the less one would detest the largeness of the stage they were standing on. If he could go to the Luo clan’s royal capital, Yi Yun would definitely not give up the opportunity. There were naturally better opportunities there compared to the Fire Cloud State.

“I know what you are thinking. It is good to have such ambition, but do not aim for more than you can handle. You only beat three new miscellaneous chores disciples at Mt. Fengling. Do you think that with that, you are qualified to enter the Luo clan’s royal capital? You should know that the owner of Mt. Fengling, where you came from, Luo Fengling is also striving hard to enter the Luo clan’s royal capital. Furthermore, she is one of the best amongst the Heaven Fire Hall disciples. There are 196 states in the Luo clan, with numerous people like Luo Fengling. All of them share the same goal, cultivating hard without even a breather in a bid to enter the royal capital. Do you think you can beat all of them?”

Fairy Black Bamboo did not mince her words, living up to her harsh and demanding reputation. Many miscellaneous chores disciples had failed the examinations that she presided over. Besides ending up severely injured, they were also dealt a heavy blow to their confidence.

Fairy Black Bamboo was such a person. Young people, who did not know where they stood after having a bit of ability, would usually suffer a huge setback after taking her examinations.

Yi Yun did not respond to Fairy Black Bamboo’s sharp retort with any arrogant discourse. He only said, “What Senior said is true. This junior has no intentions of belittling the Fire Cloud State, but this junior believes that Fire Cloud State disciples who do not aim to enter the Luo clan’s royal capital would be stuck in the Fire Cloud State forever. I believe that even the Fire Cloud State does not want to nurture such disciples, am I right?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Fairy Black Bamboo’s eyebrows pricked up. “You sure are confident. You are right, the Fire Cloud State wishes to nurture people that can leave the Fire Cloud State, becoming figures who have nature at their beck and call in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. By saying this, do you think you are capable of doing that?”

Every word from Fairy Black Bamboo was aggressive, but Yi Yun did not lose his stand because of her. He said, “The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven is filled with the strong, so to have nature at one’s beck and call is naturally not simple. This junior does not know what his strength is worth in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, but everything needs to be vied for. What does Senior think?”

Yi Yun was steady with his words, with each one of them filled with confidence without any arrogance. Finally, Fairy Black Bamboo stopped aggressively questioning Yi Yun.

She shook her head and said lightly, “The royal capital is like a deep pool of water. The moment you enter the royal capital, you will inevitably set foot into its deep depths. Do not think that just the possession of some talent will allow you to flourish and prosper. The moment a big wave comes, your cultivation level is like a tiny boat in the waves, highly probable of capsizing in the big wave.”

Fairy Black Bamboo suddenly said something deep and meaningful, stunning Yi Yun slightly.

The royal capital was like a deep pool of water?

From the sound of it, it did not only seem to be referring to the myriad of geniuses and intense competition in the royal capital. She was implying something deeper.

Since Fairy Black Bamboo did not intend to elaborate on it, Yi Yun did not probe any further. He secretly kept it in mind.

At that moment, Fairy Black Bamboo said again, “Read the Earth Fire Hall’s booklet. If you obtain the recognition of the Spirit of the Earth Fire, I can arrange for you to enter the royal capital, but it will depend on your own skills as to whether you are able to.”

“According to the Earth Fire Hall’s rules, by passing my examination, you are considered to be an in-name disciple of mine. In twenty days, the Spirit of the Earth Fire will be at its strongest state. You just need to look for me when the time comes!”

“Spirit of the Earth Fire?”

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before saying, “Yes, Senior, this junior shall remember.”

After Fairy Black Bamboo was done speaking, she floated away.

She left Yi Yun alone holding the interspatial ring gently in his hand.

The servants were still standing by the side, awaiting Yi Yun’s instructions.

Yi Yun took a glance at them. These servants were mostly chosen from mortal Fey. The males were barrel-chested and muscular, while the females were either pure and pleasant-looking or had enchanting and sensual faces.

The number of servants that resided in Fire Cloud State main mountain probably numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

For mortal Fey, being able to enter the Fire Cloud State main mountain to serve the god-like strong was naturally a heartfelt desire and it was also an opportunity for them. Hence, the servants chosen by the Fire Cloud State were the most outstanding mortal Fey in terms of appearance and build. Those that failed in the looks department were barred from entry.

Yi Yun waved his hand and dismissed them, “Take your leave.”

“Yes.” The group of servants retreated with their backs bowed. This made Yi Yun chuckle to himself. This sure felt like leading a royal life.

791 - : Spirit of the Earth Fire

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the inner sanctums of Hua Yun Palace, Yi Yun sat at an old-fashioned Chinese square table that could sit eight people. He was looking through the items in the interspatial ring.

The front of the token he was given was engraved with the words ‘Fire Cloud Earth Fire Token’ and on the back was the word ‘Luo’ written in ancient 12 Empyrean Heavens script.

There was a simple set of clothes, a uniform that all Luo clan Earth Fire Hall disciples wore.

There was nothing special about these items, but there was a round stone that attracted Yi Yun’s attention.

The stone was crystalline and it exuded a strange energy fluctuation. Just holding it in his hand made his meridians seem to pulse.

World Stone?

Yi Yun knew about this stone. Back in Heaven Martial City, the siblings, Ah Niu and Ah Yu, had taken a World Stone to the Li Fire Sect in the hopes of selling it. They were nearly scammed by the Li Fire Sect before Yi Yun bought the World Stone from them, resulting in a conflict with the Li Fire Sect.

The World Stone was an ore that was created at the beginning of the Universe. It could also be formed at the formation of a world.

The Universe was in a state of Chaos to begin with, and in essence, Chaos was energy. As the energy transformed into Yin and Yang, it also split Heaven and Earth apart, resulting in Wind, Rain, Thunder and Lightning, eventually giving rise to all living creatures.

However, not all Chaos energy could transform into Yin and Yang or the five elements. Some energy would condense together, forming Chaos Stones.

Chaos Stones were priceless treasures. This was because it recorded the beginnings of the Universe, and the trajectories of Origins energy made it contain the most profound laws.

Weaker than Chaos energy was World energy. It was Chaos energy, so despite them deviating from the Origins, they were still valuable.

World energy evolved into the 12 Empyrean Heavens, turning into the Three Thousand Worlds.

Similarly, not all World energy could evolve into everything in a world. There would also be some energy that eventually condensed into World Stones.

The value of World Stones were much inferior to Chaos Stones, but they could still be used as a precious treasure for cultivation.

In the large Universe where the 12 Empyrean Heavens formed, there were many worlds. Each world’s birth would leave World Stones behind.

And even now, in the infinite Universe, there were new worlds evolving or emerging.

Similarly, there were old worlds collapsing or being destroyed, turning into endless energy.

So the production of World Stones could be said to be endless.

In the 12 Empyrean Heavens, World Stones were valuable mining resources that were fought over by major factions. The stones that were mined could be used as currency, allowing one to purchase priceless treasures.

For example, the valuable relics refined by the Luo clan royal capital’s Desolate Heaven masters would eventually be auctioned off in exchange for World Stones.

The Fire Cloud State provided each disciple with a World Stone in the form of a salary. In accordance with the Luo clan’s rules, every Earth Fire Hall was given one World Stone a year.

“This World Stone is better in quality than the one I obtained in the Tian Yuan world. Back in the Tian Yuan world, World Stones were extremely rare treasures. Most people could not even recognize it. Even the shopkeeper of the Li Fire Sect shop failed to recognize it.”

“However, in the 12 Earth Fire Hall, World Stones are plentiful. As the Great Worlds experience the long passage of time, they undergo life and death. Every birth of a new world would result in the formation of World Stones. It would become a large mineral deposit that can be mined. The numbers wouldn’t be small, so every Earth Fire Hall disciple can be given one a year.”

With a thousand Earth Fire Hall disciples, that meant a thousand World Stones in a year. Along with the Heaven Fire Hall disciples and the various Elders, the number of World Stones consumed a year would at least number ten thousand.

So many World Stones were just part of the normal operating expenses of one of the Luo clan’s states, the Fire Cloud State. If this was the lower realm, it was simply unimaginable.

As for the World Stones, that was just a portion of the resources that the Luo clan consumed.

With such resources and conditions, along with heritage that was hundreds of times better, it was no wonder the mighty figures produced in the 12 Empyrean Heavens far exceeded those of the lower realms.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun put the World Stone away. He began to read through the booklet which introduced the Earth Fire Hall’s rules and the perks of being a Earth Fire Hall disciple.

One of the perks included the most important thing — Spirit of the Earth Fire.

In fact, the reason why the Earth Fire Hall was given its name had much to do with the Spirit of the Earth Fire beneath the Earth Fire Hall. The Spirit of the Earth Fire was actually a Earth Fire Spirit. This Fire Spirit had existed for hundreds of millions of years, and had been quietly burning in the Earth Fire Hall’s main mountain.

“Spirit of the Earth Fire…”

The Spirit of the Earth Fire had two months a year when it burned the most intensely. Whenever that happened, many Earth Fire Hall disciples would mine its fire, using the Spirit of the Earth Fire to refine their bodies, meridians and acquire insight into fire-elemental laws.

The Fey race was naturally inferior to humans in nomological insight, but some powerful Fey with noble blood had a natural affinity with particular laws. And the Luo clan’s bloodline happened to be associated with fire-elemental laws.

Now, there were still a few days left before the Spirit of the Earth Fire burned at its strongest, so Yi Yun ignored all of this. He took the World Stone out and placed it in front of him to absorb it.

The World Stone contained the purest world energy, so with the Purple Crystal in Yi Yun’s body, it allowed him to absorb the world energy at a speed many times faster than typical warriors.

Wisps of energy were absorbed by Yi Yun, slowly expanding Yi Yun’s Yuan Foundation and nourishing the Dao Seed as well as the divine tree planted in it.

An unknown period of time passed as all the energy contained within the entire World Stone was absorbed cleanly by Yi Yun. Not a single ounce of energy was wasted. The energy had nourished Yi Yun’s body and was now flowing in his meridians.

“Young Master.”

A voice was heard from outside the door, making Yi Yun open his eyes.

Although he had been immersed in cultivation, he had split off a bit of his consciousness to monitor the outside world.

As his consciousness was projected outside the door, Yi Yun sensed an aura of a person at the Mortal Blood realm.

“Come in,” Yi Yun said.

The door was pushed open as a beautiful girl dressed in green walked in. This girl looked no different to a human, but the only thing that betrayed her race was a furry tail on her back that wriggled around.

Yi Yun’s memory was extremely good, so he had some impression of this girl. Her name was Hu’er, one of his servants.

“Young Master, in ten days time the most intense burning period of the Earth Fire Hall’s Spirit of the Earth Fire will end. In accordance with Young Master’s wishes, Hu’er is here to inform you.” Hu’er’s voice was sleek and soft. Although she was still young, the natural charm of the Fox race was already in an inchoate state. If this was a mortal world, it was sufficient to make kings of countries fall head over heels for her. They could even forgo their country for this beauty. This girl was still a fox pup, but if she had sufficient strength, even powerful warriors would be overwhelmed.

However, this level of charm did not affect Yi Yun in any way.

“I got it.” Before Yi Yun absorbed the World Stone, he had transmitted his voice to these servants to pay attention to matters regarding the Spirit of the Earth Fire.

792 - : World Stone

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was very interested in the Spirit of the Earth Fire. Previously, in the lower realm’s Fallen Star Gate, he had absorbed a pure Yang spirit. Back then, the pure Yang spirit was being devoured by an injured Golden Crow species. Yi Yun managed to kill the Golden Crow species and used the Purple Crystal to absorb the pure Yang spirit. Yi Yun’s pure Yang body had much to do with the pure Yang spirit.

Now in the Fire Cloud State, there was this Spirit of the Earth Fire which aroused Yi Yun’s curiosity. He wanted to know the differences between the Spirit of the Earth Fire and the pure Yang spirit.

“I’ll be going now.” Yi Yun stood up. With the World Stone’s energy completely absorbed, even Yi Yun’s Dao Tree had grown taller. It was even more lush with leaves.

From the late-stages of the Yuan Opening realm, he was already approaching perfection.

The girl, Hu’er, looked at her new master in astonishment. She had met him twice in total. The first time she saw him, she found him extremely powerful and like a sharp blade. Now weeks later, her master had grown even stronger. The aura he exuded was as deep as the ocean, making it seem extremely amazing.

The Earth Fire Hall was located at the peak of the main mountain, so from afar, the grandiose building appeared to stand in mid air because of the mist that shrouded it.

The Earth Fire Hall’s area was hundreds of times bigger than Yi Yun’s Hua Yun Palace, and likewise, it was many times bigger than a city in the mortal world.

“The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven sure is filled with amazing places.” Yi Yun could not help but sigh. Having first come to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, just the Fire Cloud State alone had widened Yi Yun’s horizons.

By then, Hu’er had already prepared a mount for Yi Yun.

After Yi Yun came to the Earth Fire Hall, a fire-elemental bird was assigned as his mount. It was an Inferno Gold Condor, whose plumage was completely golden in color. Its sharp talons looked like burning flames. When it stood up, it was about the height of a person and when it spread its wings, its wingspan was about ten feet wide.

This Inferno Gold Condor was a common bird seen in the Fire Cloud State, but it was relatively new to Yi Yun.

As he stepped onto the Inferno Gold Condor, it flew straight up into the clouds, passing over palace after palace. From afar, Yi Yun looked at the main hall of the Earth Fire Hall.

Soon, with a condor’s screech, the Inferno Gold Condor landed in a wide square. Here, the square floor was filled with tiles that were engraved with flame emblems. The Inferno Gold Condor, which could crush boulders with a swipe of its claws, landed heavily on the square, but it did not leave the slightest mark.

After Yi Yun jumped off the Inferno Gold Condor, it gave out a long screech and flew up. In a blink of an eye, it disappeared into the clouds.

“This is the Earth Fire Hall… ” Yi Yun looked at the palace in front of him.

Just the square along was staggering. Its edges seemed to connect to billowing clouds.

The square was bustling with people. From time to time, birds would land with their masters. Yi Yun learned from the booklet from before that other than the Spirit of the Earth Fire, the Earth Fire Hall also held numerous martial arts manuals. There were also armories and elixir storehouses in the Earth Fire Hall as well.

Being able to freely access the Earth Fire Hall was a great perk for the Earth Fire Hall disciples. This also showed how immense the resources that the warriors in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven had were.

Furthermore, this was only limited to the Earth Fire Hall disciples. If it was the Luo clan’s royalty, it was unknown how much top resources they enjoyed.

Yi Yun headed to the Earth Fire Hall’s entrance. He had been in the main mountain for almost two months, but this was the first time he came to the Earth Fire Hall. As he proceeded, he sized up the place and observed his surroundings.

Before coming, Hu’er informed Yi Yun that the Spirit of the Earth Fire was located in the middle of the Earth Fire Hall. So as Yi Yun observed, he walked straight towards the Earth Fire Hall’s center.

“That junior brother in front, please hold on. May I know if you are Junior Brother Yi Yun?”

Yi Yun immediately stopped when he heard the sudden voice call out to him.

He looked over and he saw two unfamiliar faces who had called out to him.

The man and woman duo did not look too old. The man was below the age of thirty and he looked burly in his animal hide clothing. The girl looked like she was 16–17 years old. She was dressed in short pink robes, with white boots on her feet. Her hair was tied up into a bun, while her watery eyes flickered. She looked petite and cute.

However, Yi Yun had gone into reclusion the moment he came to Earth Fire Hall, so he did not know the duo.

“Master Black Bamboo told us that we have a new junior brother. We have seen images of you.” The girl’s voice was very light and pleasing to the ears, as though it was the beautiful sound of a hundred larks. She sized up Yi Yun with a look of curiosity without concealing her taboo act. A girl like her was unworldly and pure, so she did not have the concept of shyness.

“We are also Master Black Bamboo’s in-name disciples. My name is Man Dao and she is Yun Qiao’er,” the man said.

“Oh, so it’s Senior Brother Man Dao and Senior Sister Yun, nice to meet you,” Yi Yun politely greeted back.

Upon hearing herself being called Senior Sister, Yun Qiao’er immediately turned excited. As she was young and was junior in ranking, being suddenly addressed as Senior Sister by someone who entered the tutelage later was something fresh to her. Her tiny face immediately turned excited and flushed red. Instantly, she became fond of Yi Yun.

“From the looks of your direction, you are also heading towards the Fire Spirit Palace. How many times have you been there?” Yun Qiao’er asked.

The place where the Spirit of the Earth Fire was stored was known as the Fire Spirit Palace.

“This is my first time here,” Yi Yun said.

“Oh? This is your first time? We have already come here thrice.” Yun Qiao’er spoke in a lively manner. “The Spirit of the Earth Fire only burns at its peak for two months a year. We have to take advantage of this time to mine the fire to refine our bodies and gain nomological insight. How can coming here once be enough?”

Yi Yun smiled slightly. “I was busy prior to this.”

“But there are only ten days left. What a pity… ” Yun Qiao’er was still finding it a shame for Yi Yun.

Man Dao said by the side, “Alright, Junior Brother Yi has his own considerations. Junior Brother Yi, since this is your first time here, you can follow us. The Earth Fire Hall is massive, so it’s easy to get lost.”

“That’s good.” Yi Yun did not object.

Between the duo, Man Dao was a man of few words, while Yun Qiao’er kept chattering nonstop. From her, Yi Yun learned quite a lot about the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven as well as matters regarding the Earth Fire Hall.

The duo found interest in Yi Yun because they were surprised about how Yi Yun became a Earth Fire Hall disciple so quickly after coming from a lower realm. This was even revealed in a slip-up by Yun Qiao’er.

People from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven had the impression that people from the lower realms were savages, so it was impressive if a ‘savage’ could attain such achievements.

Yi Yun constantly smiled while listening. Having just come to the Earth Fire Hall, he was unfamiliar with the place and people. Hence, it was still quite interesting to have the duo explain things to him.

“The Spirit of the Earth Fire is extremely abstruse. It is said that during the birth of the world where the Fire Cloud State resides, the lands naturally produced a first wisp of fire. It was a manifestation of the most chaotic fire-elemental laws. However, the exact profoundness of it cannot be described by words. You will need to witness it for yourself, Junior Brother Yi.” As Yun Qiao’er said, she revealed a cute smile. “That’s the Fire Spirit Palace in front!”

Yi Yun looked forward and he saw a magnificent door erected. There was a plaque that had the words ‘Fire Spirit Palace’ engraved on it. The three words were like leaping flames. Just taking an additional glance at it made one’s eyes seem to burn.

“—Luo Tianjun.”

The mark indicated that the three words were inscribed by Luo Tianjun. The three words he wrote contained an intense nomological and Yuan Qi fluctuation. It also made one find it hard to peel their eyes away from it.

“Luo Tianjun. I wonder who he is in the Luo clan… ”

Yi Yun muttered to himself and he was secretly amazed. Just the three words left behind contained a profound principle. This person, Luo Tianjun, was truly terrifying.

“Proceed with the registration over there and when you obtain an identity token, you can enter,” Yun Qiao’er said while pointing at a giant Spirit Mastiff lying by the door.

The Spirit Mastiff was covered in silver fur and it was massive. It lay there motionless, so if Yun Qiao’er did not point it out, Yi Yun would not have sensed that it was a living thing.

Before they made their way to the front of the Spirit Mastiff, there were already a few people in the midst of registration.

The person in front was dressed in spirit silk clothes. A white fur cloak that looked oily smooth rested on his shoulders, making him look rather resplendent. He went towards the Spirit Mastiff and politely said, “Lord Mu Ao, I am Yang Zishan from Ling Xiao Palace and I am here to register.”

Behind Yang Zishan, there were a few people who were similarly dressed. All of them were graceful in bearing, like scions in the mortal world.

Upon seeing these people, the chatty Yun Qiao’er immediately fell silent. Man Dao also slowed down his pace as his expression turned awkward.

The duo appeared to deliberately stand a distance away before their registration, as though they were waiting for Yang Zishan and company to be done with their registration.

Yi Yun could tell that Yun Qiao’er and Man Dao seemed to be afraid of Yang Zishan.

At that moment, Yang Zishan slowly turned his head behind and after seeing Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er, he revealed a smile that did not look like a smile. He said, “Isn’t that Man Dao… How is it? Have you recovered from the injuries sustained during your gambling fight with me? You are coming to the Fire Spirit Palace to mine for fire so soon?”

Yang Zishan did not give Man Dao any face.

Upon hearing Yang Zishan’s words, Man Dao’s expression turned ashen.

“Senior Brother Man Dao, do not fall for his tricks. If you were to fight him in a gamble while in a fit of rage, you will still lose.” Yun Qiao’er hurriedly tugged at Man Dao, whose face had flushed red.

Seeing Man Dao being stopped by Yun Qiao’er, Yang Zishan immediately revealed a cold sneer. At that moment, he turned his eyes to Yi Yun who was standing beside Yun Qiao’er. He asked curiously, “This is the first time we have met. Who are you?”

The Earth Fire Hall had a thousand disciples, but with a warrior’s memory, they could naturally recognize everyone. Hence, it was very striking to see a fresh face in Yi Yun.

“Junior Brother Yi, you can ignore him.” Yun Qiao’er hurriedly told Yi Yun.

“Oh? That means you are also a disciple of Fairy Black Bamboo?” Yang Zishan sized up Yi Yun and said, “I am a disciple of Elder Heaven Scorpio. Nice to meet you.”

Although Yang Zishan sounded polite, his eyes had a hint of aggression.

Yi Yun lightly clasped his fists and said, “Nice to meet you.”

“Junior Brother Yi, Elder Heaven Scorpio does not have a good relationship with our master, so you must be careful of Yang Zishan. He has been in the Earth Fire Hall for a long period of time. His cultivation level has already reached the late-stages of the Heaven Ascension realm and he is much more powerful than us!” At that moment, Man Dao’s Yuan Qi transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ears.

793 - : Fire Spirit Palace

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh? The late-stages of the Heaven Ascension realm?”

A strange glint flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes. A person at the late-stages of the Heaven Ascension realm was an entire realm above him!

If this was the Tian Yuan world, an opponent one entire realm above him was nothing. For example, the Sovereign of the Eventide, Yi Yun could have easily killed him without using his avatar or the Demon God puppet.

But here in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, what would be the outcome if he fought a person at the late-stages of the Heaven Ascension realm, one full realm above him?

Yi Yun had no idea. Although he was confident in his strength, he was not one to put on a supercilious act. The strength of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s geniuses was still an unknown to him. It was impossible to know without any probing attempts.

At that moment, Yang Zishan had already entered the Fire Spirit Palace, and it was Yi Yun and company’s turn to register.

Seeing Yang Zishan leave, Man Dao said in a straightforward manner, “Junior Brother Yi, sorry about that. I made a fool of myself in front of you.”

It was naturally an inglorious matter having lost a gambling fight with Yang Zishan. Of course, this had to do with Man Dao’s cultivation level being lower than Yang Zishan’s.

Man Dao was a person with a fiery temper to begin with. When he previously had a conflict with Yang Zishan, he was provoked, and having lost his reason, he made a bet that cost him three World Stones.

This made Man Dao feel the pinch in his heart for a long period of time.

“Victory and defeat are both common in battle. Losing once is nothing. However, Senior Brother Man Dao, you mentioned that our master, Fairy Black Bamboo, and Elder Heaven Scorpio are at odds with each other?”

“Yes,” Man Dao said with a nod. “Our master is only a few thousand years old. She became an Earth Fire Hall Elder in the past one hundred years, allowing her to preside over the Earth Fire Hall’s examinations. Our master’s examinations are strict and tough, so the disciples that come out of it naturally aren’t bad. The only thing is that not much time has passed since she began taking in disciples, so not only are there few disciples in number, but the amount of time for them to cultivate is also not much either. So in the Earth Fire Hall, we are considerably weak.”

“In fact, this has all to do with factionalism… ”

“Factionalism?” Yi Yun was surprised.

“That’s right. Actually, it has nothing to do with trivial figures like us. It has to do with the power-struggle amongst the Luo clan’s royal family. You probably didn’t know, but in the past hundred years, the Luo clan fought a huge war. The stage of war even went all the way to the royal capital and the Luo clan was nearly wiped out. Although the Luo clan eventually won, His Majesty, the Luo Emperor suffered serious injuries in the war, so there are plans for succession.”

“The few royal offspring that were designated for succession were evacuated during the war, but they were summoned back when the war was near its end. And the two most eligible people to inherit the throne are Prince Crimson Firmament and Princess Purple Spirit. They have each established their own factions.”

“Our master is subordinate to Prince Pingnan, and Prince Pingnan is a close associate of Princess Purple Spirit. And since Elder Heaven Scorpio is a subordinate to Prince Crimson Firmament, they are naturally at odds.”

A power-struggle between the royal offspring for the succession to the Luo empyrean throne?

Yi Yun was surprised to hear this as he asked, “Senior Brother Man Dao, you mentioned that the royal offspring, who were designated for succession, had been evacuated during the war. How many people were evacuated during the war?”

“How many could they evacuate? Just two.” Man Dao answered matter-of-factly. “Choosing a route of retreat isn’t easy. Furthermore, evacuating the successors to ensure the continuation of the bloodline is reasonable. However, if the entire royal family was evacuated, then how can they count on the Luo clan’s army to continue fighting the war?”

What Man Dao said was very reasonable.

Typically during the fall of a dynasty in the mortal world, only the princes were evacuated under the escort of loyal subjects. Many emperors would remain in the royal capital to be martyred.

If the emperor along with the entire royal family were to escape, how could they expect their subordinates to fight for them?

“In that case, could Princess Purple Spirit be Luo Huo’er?”

No wonder Fairy Black Bamboo had said that the royal capital was like a deep pool of water. After entering the royal capital, he would be swept up in the storm, and with his own cultivation level, it was easy for him to capsize.

So it had to do with the power struggles over the royal throne!

The throne of the Luo clan was extremely revered. It meant being a true overlord; what’s more, an overlord of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. It was completely incomparable to the lower realms!

Ignoring the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, even for a family clan in the Tian Yuan world, the succession of power was usually preceded by bloody storm-like tests. The throne of the Luo clan could only be more so.

As low-level disciples, they were automatically placed in a faction according to their masters’ allegiance. This was similar to mortal countries in which an examination candidate would automatically become a protégé of the examiner.

“Then what is the current situation regarding the struggle over the royal throne? Who has the upper hand?” Yi Yun asked using a voice transmission.

He wanted to know what situation Luo Huo’er was facing during this power-struggle.

Man Dao laughed and said, “I have no idea either. It’s a matter regarding the royal offspring, something we aren’t qualified to concern ourselves with. It’s better if we enter Fire Spirit Palace.”

Yi Yun gave up, seeing that he could not get anymore new information. It sure was a coincidence. After coming to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, he had taken Fairy Black Bamboo’s examination, resulting in him becoming related to Luo Huo’er once again.

However, Luo Huo’er was now a successor to the Luo clan’s royal throne, while he was just a new disciple in the Earth Fire Hall. One of them was in the Luo clan royal capital, while the other was in the Earth Fire Hall’s Fire Spirit Palace. The distance that separated them was huge.

“Lord Mu Ao.” Yun Qiao’er shouted with a clear voice while kneeling down.

Yi Yun turned his gaze towards the Spirit Mastiff and he could not help but feel curious.

This Spirit Mastiff did not seem like a living thing. He could not sense any breathing from its body, but its long silver fur and massive body made people feel a sense of trepidation.

Yang Zishan and Yun Qiao’er had both addressed this Spirit Mastiff as ‘Lord’, but it was unknown if this Spirit Mastiff was a desolate beast or a Fey race.

The moment Yun Qiao’er finished her sentence, Yi Yun felt a cold aura sweep across his body. In a trance, he felt as though he saw the Spirit Mastiff open its eyes that revealed a pair of pupils. Not only did they appear as though they had experienced the eternal passage of time, but they were also looking at him. However, on closer inspection, the Spirit Mastiff was still motionless. Its eyelids did not even move, let alone open its eyes.

This cold feeling also disappeared when he snapped out of the trance, but Yi Yun still felt like there was an eye staring at him from above.

He could only vaguely sense the penetrating gaze, but he could also sense that it was observing him.

“Alright, the registration is done. Let us go in.” Yun Qiao’er and company were clearly experiencing the same feelings as Yi Yun. However, since they had been to the palace thrice already, they were already used to it. Yun Qiao’er looked forward to the mining of the fire, so she eagerly went ahead of them.

“Junior Brother Yi Yun, you have to be careful!” Yun Qiao’er’s pleasant lark-like voice came from the front.

By the time Yi Yun passed through the Fire Spirit Palace’s door, he understood why Yun Qiao’er warned him to be careful.

From the outside, the Fire Spirit Palace looked no different from any other palace. However, upon passing through the door, there was only a ladder that reached down far beyond what the eyes could see. The two sides of the ladder had two bean-sized flames that stretched deep down into the deepest depths of darkness.

Yun Qiao’er’s figure flashed in front before she quickly disappeared in the darkness.

“The Spirit of the Earth Fire is at the bottom of the main peak.” Man Dao said while he was standing the side.

794 - : News of Luo Huo’er

CKtalon  CKtalon

On the way down the ladder, Yi Yun could still sense the persistence of the watching eye, but he simply ignored it. As he looked at the mountain rock that lined both sides of ladder, he noticed that the rock was dark red in color, as though it had been baked red by flames over eons. The texture felt like glass, and it was warm to the touch.

Furthermore, there were several ancient arcane symbols engraved on the mountain rock. These symbols, like the mountain rock, seemed to have existed from its initial birth. Just touching it allowed one to sense a primitive aura from eons ago.

If there was sufficient time, just cogitating these symbols would result in many benefits.

“These are array formations,” said Yun Qiao’er, who had slowed down her speed to wait for them. She had noticed Yi Yun stroking the runic symbols along the way.

“Are these used to suppress the Spirit of the Earth Fire? Or are these energy-gathering arrays?” When Yi Yun heard that they were array formations, he only thought of two possibilities. Array formations engraved in the Fire Spirit Palace were possibly either used to gather Heaven Earth Yuan Qi or used to confine the fire-elemental energy to prevent the energy from dissipating.

Yun Qiao’er shook her head and said, “No, it’s neither.”

“Then what is it used for?” Yi Yun was somewhat intrigued.

“We don’t know either. Too much time has passed, so maybe it is sealing something,” Yun Qiao’er said.

Yi Yun looked down into the darkness. What was sealed beneath the deep depths at the bottom?

It was unimaginable what could have been sealed since time immemorial or the person who had sealed it…

For ordinary warriors, just descending this ladder was extremely difficult. However, for Yuan Opening realm warriors and those above, this ladder was nothing.

When they reached the end of the ladder, their surroundings were suddenly revealed to their eyes. It was a vast hall, and the roof was a few hundred feet away from the bottom. And in the hall, there was a magma pond.

The magma pond was extremely wide. Red-hot magma was bubbling on the surface and occasionally leaping high into the air. Even at a distance from the magma pond, a rolling heat wave surged at them. Warriors, who lacked the requisite cultivation levels, would be burnt to a crisp just by standing here.

It was even likely for Yuan Opening realm warriors to get poisoned by the toxic flames if they spent too much time here.

Yun Qiao’er and Man Dao had just begun mining the sacred fire to temper their bodies and gain insights into fire-elemental laws, so their tolerance towards the toxic fire was not considered strong. Just standing there for a moment caused Yun Qiao’er’s face to glow red. As for Man Dao, his forehead was covered with a fine layer of sweat.

“Junior Brother Yi Yun, in order to resist the toxic fire here, you need to constantly circulate your Yuan Qi, so it is extremely draining. Typically, people can’t last for long so they will have to leave. This is your first time here, so you might not be accustomed to it. Let’s hurry up and… ” As Yun Qiao’er spoke, she heard Yi Yun take a deep breath.

She turned her head, only to be astonished to find that not only was Yi Yun withstanding the toxic fire, there was not even a single droplet of sweat on his face as well.

Yi Yun had a pure Yang body to begin with. Pure Yang could be said to be the flames that resided in the stars, it was a level higher than fire-elemental laws.

Just a pure Yang body was nothing much in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, but Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal. With the Purple Crystal naturally absorbing the toxic fire, it would convert the toxic fumes into pure energy that flowed through Yi Yun’s body. And in certain ways, by standing here, instead of feeling discomfort, Yi Yun actually felt mentally and physically refreshed.

“I cultivate in pure Yang laws.” Yi Yun rubbed his chin and explained when he saw Yun Qiao’er and Man Dao look at him.

When Yun Qiao’er and Man Dao heard this, they were even more baffled. If pure Yang laws could easily resolve toxic fire, then what sort of pure Yang laws were they? Wasn’t Yi Yun from a savage-like lower realm?

Despite being puzzled, they did not ask Yi Yun the mysteries of what he cultivated. After all, it involved his secrets.

“Junior Brother Yi Yun, that in front is the Spirit of the Earth Fire and it can only be described as extraordinary. The toxic fire produced by the magma here can’t even compare to 10–20% of the Spirit of the Earth Fire.”

Tracing Man Dao’s gaze, Yi Yun looked at the white flower in the middle of the magma pond. Of course, it was not a flower, it was a dancing flame.

There was a white flame that burned in the magma, and it was none other than the Spirit of the Earth Fire!

The Spirit of the Earth Fire was purer than the pure Yang spirit that Yi Yun had absorbed in the lower realm by more than a thousand times or even ten thousand times!

Although it was just a plume of fire, the energy contained within was enough to raze the Tian Yuan world to the ground.

“The Spirit of the Earth Fire has existed since the birth of this land. Unless the land is destroyed, it will never extinguish.” Man Dao followed up.

The Spirit of the Earth Fire was a manifestation of the Heaven and Earth fire-elemental laws and the fusion of fire-elemental laws. The Spirit of the Earth Fire’s existence was extremely special, so it was no wonder Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er were surprised by Yi Yun’s lack of fear towards the toxic fire.

Yang Zishan and company, who had arrived before them, had already occupied a corner to mine the fire.

Yang Zishan used both his hands to form a seal. Then, using his Yuan Qi, he split off a bean-sized fire spark from the Spirit of the Earth Fire, before bringing it in front of him.

It could be seen that just this tiny fire spark was producing heat waves in front of him. If not for using Yuan Qi to isolate the heat wave, his fur cloak would definitely have been burnt to a crisp.

Yang Zishan looked at the fire spark with a serious expression. He used Yuan Qi to carefully envelop the fire spark before opening his mouth.

Sou! The fire spark that was enveloped by Yuan Qi immediately flew into his mouth. Following that, Yang Zishan immediately sat down to meditate. Large amounts of hot vapor emitted from the top of his head. As he tightly closed his eyes, Yang Zishan’s body produced intense Yuan Qi fluctuations. Clearly, he was in the midst of absorbing the fire spark and gaining insight from it.

Yang Zishan was powerful, but he was also dedicated in his cultivation. Although he had noticed Yi Yun and company arrive, he did not distract himself by looking them in the eye.

Seeing Yang Zishan successfully mine the fire, Man Dao grunted unpleasantly before saying, “Let us begin as well. Junior Brother Yi, look at how it is done by us. Do not attempt it too easily. The Spirit of the Earth Fire is extremely dangerous.”

Yi Yun and the duo each took a spot. There were dozens of Earth Fire Hall disciples standing around the magma pond mining the fire. As Yi Yun observed them, he realized that the fire sparks they mined were even smaller. After they absorbed it, they would usually grimace in pain. In comparison, Yang Zishan was much more at ease.

Although Man Dao was displeased with Yang Zishan, the fire spark he mined from the Spirit of the Earth Fire was just the size of a sesame seed. And just accomplishing this covered his forehead with sweat. Slowly, he pulled the fire spark in front of him.

The burning heat wave was something that he could barely withstand.

Yun Qiao’er also sat on the ground as she began to concentrate on the fire mining.

After looking around him, Yi Yun realized through his observations that mining fire was indeed very difficult.

One needed to use Yuan Qi to separate a portion from the Spirit of the Earth Fire. If too much was isolated, the warrior might not be able to control it, causing the fire spark to explode. The toxic fire might end up causing a backlash, resulting in outcomes that ranged from feeling discomfort to being severely injured.

Hence, all the warriors were extremely careful when they mined the fire. Even Yang Zishan did not dare to mine much fire. As for Yun Qiao’er and Man Dao, the amount they mined was even less.

795 - : Mining Fire

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the successful mining of fire, one’s cultivation level and strength were non-trivial factors. However, the greatest factor was determined by one’s understanding of fire-elemental laws.

The deeper one’s understanding in fire-elemental laws was, the easier it was to mine the fire.

And the easier it was to mine the fire, the more fire-elemental energy could be obtained. This would then allow a person’s understanding towards fire-elemental laws to deepen and turn more profound, as well as steadily strengthen one’s cultivation level!

Hence, the Earth Fire Hall disciples’ fire mining of the Spirit of the Earth Fire became something extremely important. The strong would become stronger, while the weak would become weaker.

In fact, not only Earth Fire Hall disciples came here, even Heaven Fire Hall disciples would occasionally make the trip here to mine for fire.

At that moment, amongst all the disciples mining fire, Yang Zishan was the one that had the deepest understanding of fire-elemental laws. The fire spark he mined was the biggest and he was also the fastest to absorb it amongst everyone present.

That bit of fire spark had sunk into his dantian and it had been mostly absorbed by him.

At that moment, Yang Zishan suddenly opened his eyes and he looked at Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er. Man Dao was at a critical stage of his fire-mining process, so he was sweating profusely and persisting with great effort.

Although he could barely persist on, Man Dao steadily refined the Earth fire, eliminating the chaotic energies from it, so as to make it easy for absorption.

If this went on, Man Dao would succeed in his fire mining in about 15 minutes.

Beside Man Dao, Yun Qiao’er’s speed was slightly slower. The young lady’s cultivation level was lower than Man Dao’s to begin with, so it was a struggle for her as she barely held on. Her face was drenched in sweat.

Seeing the barely persisting Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er, a teasing smile suffused from the corners of Yang Zishan’s lips. It was as though he was waiting for something.

At that moment, the few Earth Fire Hall disciples beside Yang Zishan were also done with their fire-mining. They had become Earth Fire Hall disciples for quite some time now, so although they were considered to be lackeys of Yang Zishan, they were not much weaker than Man Dao in terms of strength. Anyone who could enter the Earth Fire Hall was no ordinary person.

“Senior Brother Zishan, why have you stopped? With Senior Brother Zishan’s strength, mining another eight or ten times wouldn’t even be a problem! Hahaha!” An Earth Fire Hall disciple that followed Yang Zishan around said to him with a smile.

The number of times one could mine fire was a close reflection of one’s strength. At Man Dao’s strength, he could do it three or four times at best, while Yun Qiao’er could only manage fewer. Two or three times would be her limit.

As for Yang Zishan, mining seven or eight times was indeed not a problem.

“Ha, I’ll continue mining for you to see. Speaking about it, I happened to learn a new technique in the past few days. I made a tiny improvement in fire-elemental laws, so let me show it to all of you.”

“Alright, please broaden my horizons!” The Earth Fire Hall disciples said in unison. Many of them were Elder Heaven Scorpio’s disciples, a result of his long tenure at Earth Fire Hall.

Yang Zishan chuckled and suddenly looked at Man Dao. Targeting the tiny bit of fire spark in front of Man Dao, he shouted, “I’ll let all of you see my new technique. Come, fire!”

Yang Zishan grabbed out at the air towards the fire spark in front of Man Dao!

The flickering fire spark, which was originally in front of Man Dao, suddenly began to vibrate intensely after Yang Zishan made a telekinetic grab at it!

The fire spark turned erratic as though it was being strongly attracted by a force. It began flying towards Yang Zishan.

“What?”

Man Dao, who was in the midst of desperately refining the Earth fire, suddenly opened his eyes. His forehead was covered in bean-sized sweat droplets. He watched the Earth fire that he was nearly done refining being snatched away by Yang Zishan.

“Yang Zishan, you!”

Man Dao stared at Yang Zishan with a furious gaze. Refining a fire spark consumed a great deal of Yuan Qi. Yet, it had been snatched away by Yang Zishan just as it was almost refined! So how could Man Dao not be enraged?

He could only mine three or four times per trip to the Fire Spirit Palace because he would end up drained of all his Yuan Qi by the end of it. Now, the fire spark had been snatched by Yang Zishan after he had finished consuming the Yuan Qi needed for one fire-mining attempt. It was equivalent to wasting one chance of his, so how could he take this lying down!?

But at the same moment his anger flared, Man Dao was also shocked. The Earth fire that he was almost done refining was equivalent to having a mark imprinted by him. It would have made it much easier for him to control the fire spark than Yang Zishan, but even so, it had still been snatched away by Yang Zishan.

This meant that Yang Zishan’s control over Earth fire far surpassed his.

“Trying to snatch my Earth fire, dream on!”

Man Dao was a hot tempered person, so he could not tolerate such acts. He grabbed at the Earth fire that had yet to float far away. It was situated closer to Man Dao, and along with him having refined it previously, his grab should in principle allow him to easily bring it back.

However, at that moment, a layer of red mist emitted from Yang Zishan’s palm. It was like rolling red smoke that enveloped the fire spark, segregating Man Dao’s nomological force from the Earth fire.

Following that, the Earth fire in Man Dao’s hands seemed to gain an intelligence. It started flying towards Yang Zishan on its own accord, as though it had its own consciousness and knew how to make a choice.

“Fire-Spirit Transmutation!”

Standing not far from Yang Zishan, an Earth Fire Hall disciple’s eyes lit up when he saw this scene.

Many disciples who were planning on continuing mining for fire stopped at that moment to watch the struggle.

Fire-Spirit Transmutation was to endow flames with a little spirituality, allowing the fire to seem to possess life. This was an extremely difficult to master fire-elemental law. From the looks of it, Yang Zishan’s mentioning of his tiny improvement in fire-elemental laws referred to Fire-Spirit Transmutation!

This wasn’t a ‘tiny improvement’, it was basically a qualitative leap in fire control!

Once the flame possessed some spiritually, then be it controlling the flame for an attack or the manipulation of the flame, there would be nothing in comparison!

Fire-Spirit Transmutation… The bastard, Yang Zishan, sure had the skills!

Man Dao clenched his teeth. This form of nomological fire control far exceeded his, so it was no wonder that Yang Zishan dared to snatch his fire.

Having a flame that he had mostly refined snatched away made Man Dao aggrieved, but what could he do? Refining Earth fire in the Fire Spirit Palace was meritocratic. It was not against the rules to snatch the flames of others, and you could only blame yourself for being weak if it happened to you.

However, under normal circumstances, nobody would deliberately snatch the flames of others. This was something that did not benefit oneself, but Yang Zishan and Man Dao were at odds with each other, or to be precise, Elder Heaven Scorpio and Fairy Black Bamboo were at odds with each other. The factional struggles were passed down from Elders to disciples!

“Haha, Man Dao, you sure are down on your luck to meet me today. Don’t think of mining any bit of fire sparks. If you are indignant about it, have a gambling fight with me!”

While competing with Man Dao over the control of the flame, Yang Zishan was still able to distract him by speaking. As for Man Dao, he was sweating bullets, so it was immediately clear who had the upper hand.

At that moment, Yang Zishan suddenly looked at Yun Qiao’er. The Earth fire in front of her was about 60–70% done, and she could barely persist.

Yang Zishan grinned and shouted, “Fire, come!”

He used his other hand and grabbed at the air, causing the Earth fire in front of Yun Qiao’er to immediately move. The second Earth fire also began floating towards Yang Zishan.

796 - : Fire-Spirit Transmutation

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ah!” Yun Qiao’er exclaimed as she widened her black eyes. She watched helplessly as she lost control of the Earth fire that she had painstakingly refined. It was already flying towards Yang Zishan.

“My Earth fire!”

Yun Qiao’er turned anxious as she hurriedly circulated her Yuan Qi in a bid to summon the Earth fire back. But she was much weaker than Man Dao, so how could she compete with Yang Zishan?

“You… You… ” Yun Qiao’er nearly became a weeping beauty. She had just joined the Earth Fire Hall, only a few days earlier than Yi Yun, so she had never experienced such bullying before. The intense competition between Earth Fire Hall disciples far exceeded Yun Qiao’er’s expectations.

“Yang Zishan! Do you still consider yourself a man after bullying a young lady?” Man Dao angrily cursed Yang Zishan, having realized that he could neither control his flame nor help Yun Qiao’er.

Yang Zishan guffawed and said, “Man Dao, why are you saying such retarded words? In a warrior’s world, there is only weak and strong. When has there been a consideration between men and women? If you are weak, shut up and take a good beating. Saying such words that are no different than a shrew shouting abuse on the streets will only make people look down on you.”

Once Yang Zishan said this, the surrounding Earth Fire Hall disciples began to laugh heartily.

The factional battle in the Luo clan had always been intense. Although the Luo clan knew of the situation, they ignored it and allowed it to proceed. After all, only competition gave birth to the strong.

“Come over!”

Yang Zishan tapped at the Earth fire that Yun Qiao’er refined, causing the second Earth fire to also seem to have a mind of its own.

The two Earth fire sparks were already completely under Yang Zishan’s control.

He joined his hands together, merging the fire sparks together. It went from two fire sparks to a small flame.

This small flame slowly floated towards Yang Zishan. It was already completely out of Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er’s control.

“Senior Brother Man Dao, I… ”

Yun Qiao’er was close to tears. She was naturally aggrieved having been bullied in such a manner. This was a flame that she had painstakingly refined. There was only a short period of time that the Spirit of the Earth Fire burned at its strongest every year. Missing it would greatly affect her cultivation progress.

Man Dao nearly crushed his teeth from gritting them. He hated himself for being useless. He had always treated this newly arrived junior sister as a true younger sister. He had taken care of her, hoping that she would not be bullied in the Earth Fire Hall, but now, he had implicated her.

At that moment, the small Earth fire flame was already in Yang Zishan’s hands.

After snatching Yun Qiao’er’s flame, Yang Zishan looked at Yi Yun. He said with a teasing tone, as though he was a cat playing with a mouse, “The newly arrived Junior Brother Yi, aren’t you going to mine for fire? Why don’t you try mining a plume once?”

Yang Zishan’s mockery caused all the Earth Fire Hall disciples around him to burst out into laughter. His intentions were clear — with him here today, none of Fairy Black Bamboo’s disciples were to mine for fire. If Yi Yun were to mine for fire, it would naturally be snatched away.

“Hey new kid, mine one.”

“Come on, do your best at mining. Don’t stand on ceremony!”

Yang Zishan’s junior brothers began booing as they poked fun at Yi Yun. From their point of view, Yi Yun was likely worse than Yun Qiao’er, so he was naturally nothing to speak of in front of Yang Zishan.

Upon seeing this situation, Yi Yun only smiled. He did not begin to mine the fire, but he said instead, “I’ll just take a look first. There’s no hurry.”

“What?”

Hearing Yi Yun speak such self-mocking words as though he was humiliating himself, Yang Zishan’s junior brothers all laughed hysterically.

This new kid sure was a wonder. It was inconceivable for him to say such words considering the circumstances. He even said that there was ‘no hurry’?

Man Dao’s face was already red. To be bullied this badly, he really wanted to charge up and engage in a huge battle.

However, he knew that the three of them put together were no match for Yang Zishan alone.

After grasping ‘Fire-Spirit Transmutation’ laws, Yang Zishan enjoyed a qualitative leap over his control over Earth fire. A sneer suffused on his lips as he looked at Man Dao who was full of killing intent.

“You want to fight? You can choose to have a gambling fight with me. I’ll give you a handicap of a hand!”

Yang Zishan knew that even though Man Dao was a hot-tempered and simple-minded person, Man Dao would not be stupid enough to bet with him again after losing a gambling fight with him previously. After all, the stakes were not small, something Man Dao could not afford to lose.

Hence, he deliberately provoked Man Dao by giving a hand’s handicap!

With this said, the surrounding Earth Fire Hall disciples around Yang Zishan immediately began to boo.

“This trash. Even if Senior Brother Zishan gives him a handicap of a hand, he would definitely not dare to accept it.”

“With just this bit of guts, if I had any say, he should just honestly go home and be a farmer!”

The bunch of Earth Fire Hall disciples began to sneer sarcastically. Man Dao clenched his fists tightly, causing the veins on his fists to bulge. At that moment, he was like a simmering volcano!

He was feeling hate, but he could still endure it!

He knew very well that after Yang Zishan gained insights into Fire-Spirit Transmutation, his strength had improved greatly.

In the previous gamble fight, Man Dao became deeply aware of the differences in their strength. He had not made any significant improvements recently, so if he were to truly battle Yang Zishan, he would still lose despite a handicap!

If he lost another match, not only would he lose all his possessions, he would also be ridiculed by Elder Heaven Scorpio’s disciples. He would be mocked for his stupidity and how he overestimated his strength. If that happened, his confidence would be destroyed.

He had to bear the humiliation he received today. He could not suffer in the future because of a fit of anger.

As Man Dao was being ridiculed while Yun Qiao’er looked pitiful, Yang Zishan was mostly done refining the Earth fire in his hands.

Yang Zishan was a person who liked to make his power be felt. In front of his junior brothers, and in front of his enemies, he showed off with boundless enthusiasm. Hence, he spared no effort to use ‘Fire-Spirit Transmutation’ laws. Although it was draining on his Yuan Qi, it also allowed him to refine the Earth fire at a faster speed.

In less than a minute, Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er’s Earth fire was about 80% refined by him.

Of course, Yang Zishan did not do it with great ease. ‘Fire-Spirit Transmutation’ was extremely draining on the body, but thankfully, as long as he refined this Earth fire, the energy within it would replenish his stamina, allowing him to continue mining for fire.

Noticing how things were pretty much over and that staying behind was only inviting humiliation on themselves, Man Dao gritted his teeth and said, “Let us go! Junior Brother Yi, I’m sorry. I wanted to bring you here to mine for fire and show you how it’s done but we ended up meeting my enemy. Not only did I not teach you how to mine for fire, but you also can’t mine it now.”

Man Dao sighed. Even a girl like Yun Qiao’er was not spared by Yang Zishan, what more Yi Yun? As disciples of Fairy Black Bamboo, there was no hope for Yi Yun to mine for the fire under Yang Zishan’s watchful eyes.

He planned on protecting Yi Yun and Yun Qiao’er, but with the way things had played out, he was truly a failure.

However, Yi Yun shook his head and he did not wish to leave. Instead, he said, “Senior Brother Man Dao, Yang Zishan’s Earth fire is almost done refining.”

Oh?

After a momentary shock, Man Dao turned to look at Yang Zishan. In order to play up his ability, Yang Zishan had worked hard at using ‘Fire-Spirit Transmutation’ laws, doubling the speed at which he refined the Earth fire, so it was nearly 90% done.

Yang Zishan was about to swallow the Earth fire into his stomach!

Man Dao did not know why Yi Yun said such a hanging sentence. Was he waiting for Yang Zishan to finish refining the Earth fire? What else could they do other than watch Yang Zishan show off?

In the moment that Man Dao was pondering over Yi Yun’s words, Yang Zishan was done refining the Earth fire.

With a laugh, he opened his mouth and he was about to swallow the Earth fire. He did not even bother wiping the sweat from his forehead.

The Earth fire was already in the bag.

At that moment, a wicked smile suffused on Yi Yun’s lips. He had waited so long, all for this moment.

He looked straight at the Earth fire that was about to be swallowed by Yang Zishan. With a thought, he interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal and targeted the plume of Earth fire.

Weng!

The Earth fire suddenly quivered. Having been attracted by the Purple Crystal’s power, it came to a halt immediately.

At that moment, Yang Zishan’s mouth had just closed, but because of the Earth fire stopping, it caused him to only swallow empty air.

“What?”

Yang Zishan was stunned as he did not know what had happened to the Earth fire. As for the other Earth Fire Hall disciples around him, they were also stunned momentarily. What was the profound reason behind Yang Zishan’s failure at swallowing the fire?

At that moment, Yi Yun stretched out his hand and gently waved at the Earth fire.

“Fire, come!”

“Whew!”

With a howl, the flame in front of Yang Zishan tore through the void. It flew hastily towards Yi Yun, like a rabbit that had escaped from its cage.

Yang Zishan stared with widened eyes. What was going on?

797 - : Fire, come

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Earth fire flew at an astonishing speed away from Yang Zishan as he instantly lost control over it. The turn of events alarmed Yang Zishan. He came to the Spirit Fire Hall for fire-mining every year in his long tenure at Earth Fire Hall, and he had done so numerous times, but he had never encountered such a situation!

Regardless of how much he powered his spiritual energy, he could not stop the Earth fire from escaping his grasp. Only after several seconds did the plume of Earth fire gradually come to a stop.

And when the Earth fire stopped, it caused Yang Zishan’s face to sink completely.

He saw a youth garbed in clothes that only newly recruited Earth Fire Hall disciples would wear. The youth had nonchalantly stretched out his palm, while the plume of Earth fire stably stopped above it, burning in absolute silence.

“Senior Brother Zishan, this… ”

The other Earth Fire Hall disciples were stunned. At that moment, they were able to tell that the flight of the Earth fire was obviously not done deliberately by Yang Zishan, it had been stolen by the new disciple from the Black Bamboo faction!

They had been cheering for Yang Zishan over his ostentatious moves, but they never expected that in a blink of an eye, before he was done flaunting his skills, he had a taste of his own medicine!

“Senior Brother Zishan must have been careless. As the Earth fire was done refining, he relaxed and lowered his spiritual control, allowing the rascal to take advantage.”

As a veteran in the Earth Fire Hall, Yang Zishan’s talent was top class in the entire Earth Fire Hall. If not, those people would not have chosen to be his lackeys.

Yang Zishan was outstanding, and he had even grasped “Fire-Spirit Transmutation” laws. But this made it even harder for them to believe that a veteran like Yang Zishan would lose to a newcomer. Furthermore, the other person appeared to be… human!?

“Your name is Yi Yun?” Yang Zishan stared at Yi Yun. He had previously heard Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er mention Yi Yun’s name, and he originally believed that Yi Yun was Man Dao’s lackey, so he did not even look at Yi Yun straight. He never expected to fail miserably at an easy task of absorbing the Earth fire at that instantaneous moment.

It was true that his spiritual control was at its most relaxed state the moment he was done refining the Earth fire, but even so, this kid should not have the ability to snatch the Earth fire that was already in his hands.

“Why ask when you already know?” Yi Yun gently stretched out his index finger as the tiny flame began to burn silently above his finger tip, like any ordinary flame.

At that moment, Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er, who were standing beside Yi Yun, were staring with widened eyes. Just like the other Earth Fire Hall disciples, they were watching the tiny plume of fire burning above Yi Yun’s finger tip with looks of disbelief.

Was this really a flame separated from the Spirit of the Earth Fire? Why did it appear so obedient?

Furthermore, it was obvious that Junior Brother Yi Yun came from the lower realm, so how could he have mastered such profound laws?

Although they had no clue aas to what was going on, Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er felt their pent-up anger be released when they saw Yang Zishan’s expression. Yang Zishan definitely never expected a newly recruited disciple to be able to snatch his Earth fire.

Man Dao laughed out loudly. “Yang Zishan, didn’t you previously say that newly-recruited Junior Brother Yi should ‘try mining a plume once’? This is the first time our newly-recruited Junior Brother Yi has come to the Fire Spirit Palace and it is also his first time mining for fire!”

Man Dao kept repeating ‘newly-recruited Junior Brother Yi’, and he deliberately emphasized ‘newly-recruited’ as an attempt to figuratively smack Yang Zishan in the face.

Weren’t you being awesome? But didn’t you end up getting cleaned up by a newly-recruited disciple?

Yun Qiao’er was also one who did not spare her words when reason was on her side. Having been bullied to near tears, how could she pass the opportunity to ridicule?

“Ze Ze Ze, didn’t all of you just tell Junior Brother Yi to ‘not stand on ceremony’? Now Junior Brother has done according to your wishes and really didn’t stand on ceremony. Shouldn’t all of you be happy? Speaking of which, why are all your faces looking so bad now? Are you sick?”

Yun Qiao’er’s words were harsh to the ear, stabbing at Yang Zishan where it hurt him the most. Yang Zishan’s face turned ashen.

“Fine! Fine! It’s indeed true that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, to be able to rob me of my flame at the instant that I finished refining my Earth fire, that sure is some talent!”

Yang Zishan was a person who liked to make his power felt. Having suddenly been smacked in the face by Yi Yun just as he was flaunting his powers was something he found intolerable.

He came from a prominent family and he had outstanding talent. Even in the Earth Fire Hall, he was the center of attention. All of this was something that he enjoyed greatly, but now, he had suffered in the hands of a disciple who had just come into contact with Earth fire. At that moment in time, Yang Zishan felt a hundred times more humiliated than what Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er had done felt moments ago.

“Senior Brother Zishan, show him something good!”

“That guy only caught you by surprise, he has no abilities!”

Yang Zishan’s lackeys immediately roared out.

Yang Zishan’s expression turned grim. He knew deep down that Yi Yun was not one to be trifled with, but he already had a tiger by the tail, so he had to persist on. He planned on using all his strength and push all his insights in fire-elemental laws to the extreme!

“Ha!” Yang Zishan roared out loudly as all the joints in his body produced snapping sounds. Small scales suddenly began appearing on his face, and his pupils turned spindle-shaped.

Snake!

Yang Zishan’s ancestor was a python that had achieved its Dao. Furthermore, he had ancestors with fire python bloodlines, so Yang Zishan had a natural affinity with fire-elemental laws.

“He is transforming just like that?” Man Dao was stunned. Yang Zishan was really going all out!

For Yang Zishan to transform in order to snatch Earth fire from Yi Yun, it clearly showed how powerful a rival Yi Yun really was. He could only snatch the Earth fire from Yi Yun by giving his all. He could only be appeased by doing so, or this matter would become a disgrace the rest of his life.

“Ah–”

A hissing sound that did not sound human at all came from Yang Zishan’s thoracic cavity. His body was burning in flames as he aimed at the flame above Yi Yun’s finger and suddenly tapped.

Fire-Spirit Transmutation!

A violent and dominating Yuan Qi surged into the Earth fire floating above Yi Yun’s palm.

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

The flame began to dance erratically as though it had been given a spirit by Yang Zishan.

Around Yang Zishan, many disciples had their eyes lit up.

It was still Fire-Spirit Transmutation! By giving the flame some spirituality, it would naturally bias itself to the person who had given it a spirit, Yang Zishan!

As for Yi Yun, since he was young disciple that recently arrived, how could he possess fire-elemental laws as profound as Fire-Spirit Transmutation?

“Fire, come!” Yang Zishan roared as he forcefully grabbed at the fire plume in Yi Yun’s hand.

The flame began to dance violently as though it was about to fly out of Yi Yun’s grasp.

Yi Yun looked at the dancing flame as a tiny sneer suffused on his lips.

Fire-Spirit Transmutation that gives the flame a spirit?

If you could truly bestow life to the flame, allowing this flame to turn into Fey, then the Purple Crystal would be powerless against it since the Purple Crystal could not control energy that possessed life.

However, bestowing life was equivalent to creating an intelligent creature, so how could it be that simple? Even peerless mighty figures lacked this ability. Only the Universe, with its infinite energy could produce life over hundreds of millions of years.

Now, it was just a trace of spirituality that was forcefully augmented by Yang Zishan. It was equivalent to Yang Zishan’s will, so for this Yi Yun did not care for it at all.

Spiritual energy burst forth from the Purple Crystal!

“Extinguish!”

The hand that Yi Yun held the Earth fire suddenly gripped into a fist!

Boom!

With an explosion, Yang Zishan’s consciousness that was contained within the flame was destroyed with Yi Yun’s grip.

Having his split-off consciousness wiped out, Yang Zishan grunted as his face suddenly turned pale.

At that moment, Yi Yun spread his hand again out as the Earth fire plume burned silently as usual above Yi Yun’s palm.

In Yang Zishan’s eyes, the flames danced, as though they were mocking him. This made his expression turn extremely ugly.

And beside Yang Zishan, the Earth Fire Hall disciples that had cheered Yang Zishan on were like roosters grabbed by the neck. They were lost for words.

How did he do it?

Yang Zishan had transformed and used Fire-Spirit Transmutation laws. It looked extremely powerful, while Yi Yun did not seem to unleash any powerful laws, so how did he destroy Yang Zishan’s Fire-Spirit Transmutation?

“That guy is a freak!” An Earth Fire Hall disciple murmured. Despite being reluctant, he had to admit the facts. Yi Yun had just entered the Earth Fire Hall and he was already this powerful during his first fire-mining. The Earth Fire Hall disciples had all experienced their first fire-mining. Back then, they had to be extremely careful and they had made repeated attempts. Some even failed several times before succeeding.

But for Yi Yun, not only was he mining for fire as though he was picking cotton, he had even directly snatched a plume of Earth fire from Yang Zishan. It was inconceivable.

798 - : Taste of One’s Own Medicine

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, Yang Zishan’s face sank so low that it looked like a falling water droplet. Having transformed and having used ‘Fire-Spirit Transmutation’ was already pushing his limits. It consumed a great deal of his Yuan Qi and with his consciousness and will that he attached to the Earth fire being wiped away, not only did Yang Zishan feel an energy deficit, but he also felt a dull pain in his mind.

As for Yi Yun, he appeared extremely relaxed… Yang Zishan hatefully looked at the fire plume in Yi Yun’s hand and he knew that he had embarrassed himself greatly today. If he continued to stay here, there was no way that he could win any face back and he would even have to continue enduring Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er’s ridicule.

Yang Zishan gritted his teeth and said softly, “We won’t be fire-mining today. Let us go!”

Having said that, Yang Zishan flicked his sleeves and left.

The disciples of Elder Heaven Scorpio looked at each other. They had to leave before they even began mining for fire?

However, the moment they saw Yi Yun looking at them with a faint smile that did not look like a smile, they felt their hearts jump from the wicked look he had.

“Let’s go. Even if we manage to mine any fire, it will be snatched by him. Senior Brother Zishan can’t even protect his Earth fire after using Fire-Spirit Transmutation, so it will be pointless even if we tried.”

“Waiting here stupidly will just be an embarrassment. Who knew that this newly recruited disciple would be this powerful. Since we are inferior, sigh… ”

These disciples shook their heads and sighed before they left.

Although they could not mine for fire today, there were still ten days left and Yi Yun could not be constantly here. Everyone would spend at least a few days to consolidate the results of their fire-mining, so they could always come again.

Fairy Black Bamboo had only become an Earth Fire Hall Elder relatively recently, so she did not have many disciples under her. As for Elder Heaven Scorpio, he was one of the Elders with the largest faction and he had numerous disciples under him.

The competition between warriors in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven was intense. Everything depended on strength. As Fairy Black Bamboo’s disciples were few in number, they were often marginalized and oppressed. Although Man Dao had joined the Earth Fire Hall for quite a period of time, this was the first day he managed to vent his anger and be elated.

Seeing Yang Zishan and company leave in a hurry, Man Dao laughed loudly from behind, “Scramming so quickly? What happened to all the majesty from before!?”

Yun Qiao’er also laughed and said, “With my Junior Brother Yi Yun here, it’s best you don’t come to Fire Spirit Palace, or you will only make a fool of yourself!”

Yi Yun watched as Elder Heaven Scorpio’s disciples left. Before Yang Zishan took his leave, his snakelike eyes looked at him with a vicious gaze, as though he had been stared at by a poisonous snake.

Yi Yun knew Yang Zishan hated him completely, but he did not mind. His goal was the Luo clan royal capital. Even the Heaven Fire Hall was not his goal, so an Earth Fire Hall disciple was naturally not worth his attention.

In a blink of an eye, Fire Spirit Palace was half-empty. The remaining Earth Fire Hall disciples did not have Elder Heaven Scorpio as their master so although they did not leave, they were somewhat flustered as they looked at Yi Yun.

No one knew if Yi Yun would snatch their Earth fire from them. This was not something that could be faulted on in the Earth Fire Hall. Whoever had the strength would naturally use their strength to bully others.

Yi Yun glanced at the dancing fire plume in his palm. In the pale redness, there was the slightest bit of whiteness in it. Even though it was enveloped in Yuan Qi, looking at it still allowed him to sense a tremendous amount of energy contained within the tiny fire plume.

It was unknown what would happen if he absorbed such a pure fire-elemental energy.

Yi Yun casually sat down beside the magma pond and faced the bubbling red magma and the hot gases that surged at him. Despite the hot gases being able to bake a warrior to death, Yi Yun appeared indifferent and at ease.

He opened his mouth and the fire plume immediately appeared like it had life in it. It immediately beelined into Yi Yun’s mouth.

Seeing Yi Yun begin to absorb his Earth fire without giving them a second look, the other worried Earth Fire Hall disciples finally relaxed. From the looks of it, Yi Yun was not a perverse tyrant.

They could continue mining for fire, but even though Yi Yun paid no attention to them, they still tacitly distanced themselves from him by retreating to another corner of the magma pond.

“We can continue fire-mining.” Man Dao said to Yun Qiao’er.

They quietly sat somewhere relatively far from Yi Yun, both as a way to stand guard for him as well as leave him a quiet space.

Boom!

The moment the Earth fire was absorbed into his abdomen and him closing his eyes, Yi Yun immediately felt a raging heat explode in his body. It was as though his dantian was consumed in burning flames.

If he was a person who was being exposed to fire-elemental laws the first time, absorbing such an Earth fire plume was no different to throwing himself into a fire for grilling. Furthermore, it was a grilling that began from the organs, so it was obvious how excruciating painful it would be.

This was a flame formed at the birth of a new world. It contained a trace of the world’s will when it was first born. And it was this will that made the Earth fire become so ferocious. When warriors absorbed the Earth fire, not only would they experience a burning sensation from the Earth fire’s energy, but their minds would also experience the impact of the world’s will.

In this state of suffering, one had to remain calm and concentrated. One had to guide the Earth fire to refine one’s body and also meditate over this trace of will and the fire-elemental laws. The absorbing of Earth fire was much more difficult than fire-mining.

As for Yi Yun, not only did he have a pure Yang body, but he also had the Purple Crystal. When this heat blasted throughout his body, it made him feel extremely comfortable!

The Earth fire’s heat surged out madly from his dantian, spreading to every corner of his body. The vicious fire toxins were directly absorbed by the Purple Crystal, leaving behind the purest fire-elemental nomological energy.

Yi Yun’s meridians were repeatedly being tempered as though they were being struck by a hammer. Although he had recovered from his serious injuries from before, he still had hidden injuries left behind in his meridians. It needed gradual nourishments to be healed completely, but now, under the impact of the Earth fire, all the hidden injuries in his meridians were healed.

At that moment, his meridians were like glass that had been tempered clean of its impurities. The hidden injuries disappeared as his meridians turned crystalline. Furthermore, they became increasingly tough.

A fire-elemental will that appeared at the birth of a world embedded itself in Yi Yun’s mind. Instantly, he felt as though he was immersed in a gaseous mass that was extremely cold. Darkness surrounded him.

His internals were extremely hot, but his external body was extremely cold.

This extreme contrast was difficult to bear.

And at that moment, it was as though his dantian could no longer withstand such a flame. The gaseous mass suddenly contracted before exploding!

Extreme heat was born from extreme cold, and it filled everything with a fire cloud after the explosion!

Yi Yun sensed a white light flash before his eyes as he immediately opened his eyes.

“That was… ”

It was likely a scene from the first birth of the Fire Cloud State. The Spirit of the Earth Fire was that ray of extreme heat that was born in the extreme cold right from the beginning.

Extreme Yin gives birth to Yang, extreme Yang gives birth to Yin…

Yi Yun recalled the scene from before and he immediately thought of Fairy Black Bamboo.

Fairy Black Bamboo clearly cultivated fire-elemental laws, but her aura was icy-cold.

Yi Yun had a pure Yang body, so he was extreme Yang, but when he duo cultivated with Lin Xintong in the Great Empress Heart Sutra, what Lin Xintong gave him was extreme Yin energy. By mixing and blending between pure Yin and Yang, they complemented each other.

Yi Yun felt that the scene he just saw seemed to introduce another side of fire-elemental laws to him.

He was surprised to learn that absorbing a tiny fire plume had not only mended his meridians, but it had also given him new insights into fire-elemental laws, astonishing Yi Yun. The Spirit of the Earth Fire was indeed extraordinary.

799 - : Fire-elemental Laws

CKtalon  CKtalon

With his pure Yang body and Purple Crystal, Yi Yun absorbed the tiny fire plume at an extremely rapid pace.

It could even be said that the bit of fire that Yang Zishan had refined was not even enough for his absorption.

After Yi Yun devoured all the energy in the Earth fire, he felt unsatisfied. Immediately, he cast his eyes on the white flame burning silently in the middle of the magma pond.

Spirit of the Earth Fire! Before this, Yi Yun had seen how the others had mined for fire, so now, it was time for him to mine it.

Yi Yun reached out his hand and made a grab. His Yuan Qi formed a claw mid air as it extracted a small fire plume. Typically when Yuan Qi approached the Spirit of the Earth Fire, it would experience a terrifying energy repulsion, but with the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun was able to control his Yuan Qi claw with extreme precision.

Yi Yun’s mining of fire could only be described as easy. The Earth fire he mined was much bigger than the one Yang Zishan mined from before. Others would usually only mine a tiny fire spark, but what Yi Yun mined was a fire plume the size of a pinky.

Actually, Yi Yun’s limit was far more than that, but one had to slowly chew during a meal. There was no need for him to swallow too much, as it would be more difficult to refine and absorb.

However, just this tiny bit of fire rendered many people speechless when they saw it.

He could really devour such a powerful plume of Earth fire?

Before they had the time to think any further, Yi Yun opened his mouth and swallowed the Earth fire.

Without taking a break, Yi Yun immediately embarked on absorbing his second Earth fire after his first.

Upon seeing this, many people gulped. He swallowed it just like that? That appeared too simple, so simple as though he was just eating a peanut. It was no wonder that he could snatch the Earth fire from Yang Zishan. From the looks of it, this youth’s affinity with fire-elemental laws far exceeded others.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Yi Yun felt as though there was magma bubbling in his body. The bubbling heat waves blasted every corner of his body, allowing his bones and meridians to be repeatedly tempered.

Boiling steam poured out of every pore on Yi Yun’s body as it enveloped him.

If a warrior without sufficient strength stood beside Yi Yun, he would have been instantly vaporized by the steam. His flesh and bones would be reduced to flying ashes.

In the rolling red mist, Yi Yun had his eyes tightly closed. His skin exuded a redness while his meridians and blood vessels were clearly visible. Furthermore, one could clearly see the pulsing flow in Yi Yun’s vessels.

During a tempering process, a blacksmith would strike at piece of a metal hundreds of times, sending sparks everywhere. And through that, a magnificent sword would slowly emerge from a red-hot piece of metal.

Now, Yi Yun was such a metal that was being tempered. His meridians were becoming tougher and as the impurities in his blood and body were expelled with the mist, Yi Yun felt his Yuan Qi becoming even purer.

Exhale, inhale. The surrounding Yuan Qi was flowing into Yi Yun’s body without end before it carried on being refined by the Earth fire.

The Purple Crystal was also helping Yi Yun in his absorption. An ordinary warrior could only absorb about 50% of the Earth fire’s energy, but Yi Yun could even convert the fire toxins into energy, absorbing them all.

Not a single bit of this tiny cluster of flames was wasted by Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s breathing became slower and slower, and every breath he took was like a whale sucking in air. He could take in a tremendous amount of Yuan Qi.

His bones also turned transparent like glass, as they revealed a translucent crystalline texture.

The surrounding Yuan Qi was absorbed by Yi Yun, leaving a vacuum behind. Even the fire toxins in the magma pond were being absorbed by Yi Yun.

Boom! Inside Yi Yun’s body, it was as though there was a raging river that was rumbling like thunder.

Both Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er heard the noise.

They opened their eyes and they traced where the sound came from and finally saw a red mist lingering around Yi Yun’s body. Furthermore, the mist were constantly spinning like a cyclone. As for Yi Yun, he was located in the eye of the storm.

The cyclone became more and more intense that even the Yuan Qi from the other corners of the Fire Spirit Palace was absorbed by Yi Yun.

Those Earth Fire Hall disciples that had distanced themselves immediately opened their eyes in astonishment, despite being in the midst of absorbing the Earth fire. They then looked at Yi Yun with expressions of extreme shock.

What was he doing?

The cyclone quickly reached dozens of feet high. If a cyclone was on a water surface, it could suck up large amounts of water to form a pillar, and it was known as a water spout.

And now, with the cyclone above the magma pond, it was sucking up large amounts of magma, forming a thick magma pillar. It looked completely shocking!

At that moment, Yun Qiao’er gasped quietly, “The Spirit of the Earth Fire!”

Everyone saw it. The rapidly spinning mist was slowly approaching the Spirit of the Earth Fire and fire sparks from the Spirit of the Earth Fire were constantly being absorbed into the mist.

Yi Yun’s body was like a bottomless pit. It constantly absorbed as though it was a melting pot that could absorb even more Earth fire.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The other Earth Fire Hall disciples also heard the rumbling noises coming from Yi Yun’s body.

Suddenly, with a loud screech, the rolling clouds dispersed as a shimmering gold figure flew out. It spread out its wings, as though it was blocking out the sky.

It was a three-legged Golden Crow!

And below the Golden Crow, a Nine Neonate flew up from below. Its nine heads appeared from time to time in the red mist in an extremely astounding manner!

The two Aspect Totems were also being tempered!

The appearance of the Aspect Totems was fleeting, and suddenly, all the red mist disappeared.

Yi Yun stood up with a satisfied look. Unlike before, his skin was much more supple. His entire being gave a feeling of harmony and perfection.

Man Dao was the first to react as he looked at Yi Yun with astonishment. “Junior Brother Yi Yun, you are already at the Yuan Opening perfection. You are almost entering the Heaven Ascension realm!”

Yun Qiao’er opened her tiny mouth as she was both shocked and envious. “Junior Brother Yi Yun, you just absorbed an Earth fire once and you have improved so much!”

At the Yuan Opening realm, every increment was not simple. Previously, they could sense Yi Yun’s cultivation level and although it was at the late-stages of the Yuan Opening realm, which was closing on perfection, it still required a long period of cultivation to make that final step.

But now, Yi Yun had only mined for fire once in Fire Spirit Palace, and he achieved perfection during the process of absorbing Earth fire.

And from the phenomenon that appeared before, Yi Yun’s Yuan Opening perfection was atypical. It was a true perfection without a single flaw. This made people feel a sense of flawlessness and perfection in him.

“This is really… ” Man Dao’s expression was as though he could not embody his feelings in a sentence. He had come to the Fire Spirit Palace numerous times, and although his strength was gradually rising, he had never experienced what Yi Yun had done — rising to the next realm in one go just using Earth fire.

“Sigh, it’s really exasperating to compare with others!” Man Dao said as he shook his head. He was a sincere and honest man by nature, but he had a lot of pride in him. However, in front of Yi Yun, he was in full admiration.

“Junior Brother Yi Yun… I’m already embarrassed calling you junior brother!” Yun Qiao’er looked at Yi Yun with sparkles in her eyes.

“It was nothing much. I was already not far from the Yuan Opening perfection realm previously. And apparently, I’m quite adept at absorbing Earth fire, so I managed to break through in one fell swoop.”

Yi Yun checked his body. The meridians that had been severed due to the spatial storms had not only fully recovered, but they had also turned as clear as crystal.

Yi Yun did not know how strong he had become and he was actually yearning to fight someone in real battle to test his true strength.

800 - : Yuan Opening Perfection

CKtalon  CKtalon

During the process of his breakthrough, Yi Yun only spent a short two hours absorbing the Spirit of the Earth Fire plume, but the amount of Earth fire that he had absorbed was more than the combined amount others absorbed over months.

Furthermore, at the moment he made the breakthrough, the cyclone that spun around the Spirit of the Earth Fire resulted in Yi Yun absorbing large quantities of Earth fire energy. Hence, there was no need for him to continue fire-mining for the day.

“This Spirit of the Earth Fire sure is arcane. Compared to the lower realm, the 12 Empyrean Heavens has countless arcane lands! Just the Fire Cloud State alone contains a large number of opportunities that are very beneficial for my current realm.”

Yi Yun was able to experience the scene of the Spirit of the Earth Fire being born along with the Great World, but he could not see clearly through the lingering fog.

However, he sensed that he had already built a foundation in fire-elemental laws.

After warriors increased their cultivation realms, the speed at which they could comprehend laws became faster. With the possession of the Purple Crystal Origins and the cultivation of pure Yang laws, Yi Yun cultivated fire-elemental laws at an extremely fast rate.

Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er were also done absorbing. Their nomological insights were limited, so they were unable to absorb too much Earth fire at one go.

“Are you also planning on leaving?” Yi Yun asked.

“Yes, yes. The next time Junior Brother Yi Yun plans on coming, remember to call us.” Yun Qiao’er hurriedly said.

She did not need to be worried about being ostracized or bullied if she came with Yi Yun.

Although Fairy Black Bamboo held a weaker position in the Earth Fire Hall, no one would bully someone who was strong enough. The strong could in turn be the ones bullying, so who would be dumb enough to charge up to get humiliated?

“Let’s go.”

After leaving the Fire Spirit Palace, Yi Yun sensed the gaze that had locked onto him disappear the moment he exited the door.

The huge Spirit Mastiff was still lying motionless by the entrance. The moment the invisible eye disappeared, Yi Yun took a glance at the Spirit Mastiff.

It did not even move its eyelids.

“Don’t bother looking at it, Lord Mu Ao has stayed guard here in the Fire Spirit Palace for tens of millions of years. No one has seen it open its eyes before.” Man Dao said.

At that moment, he faltered before saying, “Master Black Bamboo is aware that we have come out. She wants us to go over.”

Yun Qiao’er immediately turned uneasy. “Us? Why is Master looking for us?”

Ever since he came to Earth Fire Hall, Yi Yun had not seen Fairy Black Bamboo once. He never expected to be summoned all of a sudden.

Fairy Black Bamboo’s palace was located on the mountainside, built on a towering peak that looked like bamboo that pierced the skies. Looking from afar, clouds shrouded it, giving it a very sharp bearing. It was rather similar to Fairy Black Bamboo’s cold personality.

Three Inferno Gold Condors landed in front of the palace that was surrounded by bamboo. Even the palace was made of bamboo.

A single glance gave the impression that there were countless green swords embedded into the ground.

“This is only my second time here.” Man Dao said.

“This is my first.” Yi Yun said.

“Me too. Master rarely summons her disciples.” Yun Qiao’er was somewhat afraid. Her impression of Fairy Black Bamboo did not go past the examination that she had taken. Back then, she had suffered quite a bit.

The three people arrived in front of the palace, and very quickly, a humanoid bamboo joint the height of a human’s palm walked out. Its body was bamboo and its head was a bamboo leaf, but it wore clothes in a decent fashion.

Coming before the trio, it gestured a ‘come with me’ before it turned around and went in.

Yi Yun was quite surprised seeing this. However, Yun Qiao’er and Man Dao appeared to be accustomed to it. Clearly, such small Fey that had yet to fully transform was commonly seen in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.

The bamboo person brought them through the palace. Along the way, they encountered many black bamboo planted in the courtyard. As Yi Yun and company walked past them, they would sway with the wind and rustle their leaves as though they were greeting Yi Yun and company.

Yi Yun was quite secretly amazed. These bamboos clearly had a spirit in them. They were likely the bamboo that grew around Fairy Black Bamboo when she achieved her Dao, and they had been brought here by her.

The bamboo person left after leading them to a pavilion where Fairy Black Bamboo was waiting for them.

The trio saluted and said, “Greetings Master.”

“There’s no need for such pointless niceties. Feel free to take a seat. I don’t have those rules here.” Fairy Black Bamboo said.

The pavilion’s interior was lined with bamboo mats with a wooden qin placed on it. Fairy Black Bamboo was sitting in front of the qin on the bamboo mat.

“All of you just went to the Fire Spirit Palace to mine for fire?” After Yi Yun and company sat down, Fairy Black Bamboo looked at Yi Yun and asked with a smile.

Yun Qiao’er and Man Dao looked at each other in the eye and they were stunned. Their Master already knew? Did she know of the things that had happened?

Yi Yun nodded and said, “Yes.”

He recalled how there was the ever-present eye when he entered or departed the Fire Spirit Palace. Hence, he was not surprised that Fairy Black Bamboo knew of the ongoings. That eye was likely an existence that protected the Fire Spirit Palace.

Fairy Black Bamboo gave a deep, meaningful glance at Yi Yun before saying with a smile, “It was the Temple Spirit of the Fire Spirit Palace that informed me. Yang Zishan is already at the Heaven Ascension realm, yet you were able to snatch the Earth fire from him. That surprised me greatly! Later on, absorbing the Earth fire and elevating yourself to the Yuan Opening perfection realm was even better.”

Fairy Black Bamboo had a cold personality, so for her to praise Yi Yun repeatedly indicated how pleased she was with his performance.

Increasing his cultivation realm was nothing, but to be able to beat down Elder Heaven Scorpio’s arrogance was something that delighted Fairy Black Bamboo somewhat. Despite having an indifferent and aloof personality, Fairy Black Bamboo still did not enjoy the feeling of being repressed over the years.

After all, Fairy Black Bamboo had only entered the Earth Fire Hall for a relatively short period of time, resulting in her disciples to always be at the disadvantage. It was indeed remarkable for them to turn the tables this once.

“Tell me, what reward do you want.” Fairy Black Bamboo said.

In the Fire Cloud State, the competition between disciples was not only permitted, but they were also rewarded by their masters. Of course, that was assuming they won. If they lost, not only was there no reward, they might also be punished. For example, Yang Zishan had his Earth fire snatched by Yi Yun and he had suffered a spiritual injury. For this, Elder Heaven Scorpio would not only not stand up for him, but he would also punish Yang Zishan!

This was the Luo clan’s tradition!

Upon hearing Fairy Black Bamboo suggesting a reward, Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er looked at Yi Yun with envious eyes, especially Man Dao. He had been in the Earth Fire Hall for several years, so he knew that the number of times where Fairy Black Bamboo appreciated her disciples were few and far between. Furthermore, Yi Yun had only been here for less than two months.

Fairy Black Bamboo was an Elder of the Earth Fire Hall, so there was no lack of resources she had. Just anything she gave was enough for them disciples to enjoy.

“Cultivation technique, elixirs, weapons. What do you want? Just go ahead and tell me.” Fairy Black Bamboo said.

Yi Yun pondered for a moment before saying, “Master, you should know that this disciple came from a lower realm. Despite coming to the Fire Cloud State and having temporarily settled down, there is one thing that is constantly on this disciple’s mind.”

“Oh? What is it?” Fairy Black Bamboo was still as refreshing and light as ever when she asked slowly.

“This disciple passed by the Hundred Wraiths black hole on his way to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven and he happened to encounter a spatial storm, resulting in serious injuries and the losing of consciousness. Later on, this disciple was saved by Heaven Fire Hall disciple, Miss Luo Fengling’s spirit cruiser. But actually back when this disciple was swept up in the storm, there was another girl accompanying this disciple whose whereabouts are still unknown… ”

801 - : Meeting Black Bamboo

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had always been worrying about Lin Xintong, but as the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven was too large and space seemed infinite, it was impossible for him to locate Lin Xintong with his strength alone.

Now with Fairy Black Bamboo mentioning a reward, Yi Yun immediately raised the matter.

“There’s such a thing?” Fairy Black Bamboo was surprised before she frowned, “The space around the Hundred Wraiths black hole is weird and unpredictable. No one knows where the spatial storm that swept the both of you would lead to. Although I am an Earth Fire Hall Elder, trying to find a person in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven is like searching a needle in a haystack.”

Upon saying this, Fairy Black Bamboo paused before asking, “That girl, who is she to you?”

“She is this disciple’s Dao partner and her name is Lin Xintong.” Although Yi Yun had yet to marry Lin Xintong, in their hearts, they were each other’s Dao partner.

Fairy Black Bamboo frowned slightly, “I assented to giving you a reward, yet you make the request for me to look for your Dao partner. For this matter, I can only try my best to gather news for you. Don’t have your hopes up. Finding a person in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven is just too difficult.”

Fairy Black Bamboo’s personality was like a bamboo. It was aloof, but since she had given her word, she would definitely do her best to keep it.

“Thank you Master.” Yi Yun said.

At that moment, a bamboo person walked into the pavilion and quickly came in front of Fairy Black Bamboo.

Fairy Black Bamboo lowered her head as though she was listening to something.

Following that, she raised her head and said, “A guest of honor is coming, so take your leave first.”

Guest of honor?

Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er immediately stood up. For Fairy Black Bamboo to term the person a guest of honor, it was probably someone above the level of an Elder of the Earth Fire Hall. They did not know who it could be.

Yi Yun also planned on leaving together with Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er. However, after a moment of thought, Fairy Black Bamboo said lightly, “Yi Yun, stay behind.”

Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er were stunned and they again felt extremely envious.

Letting Yi Yun stay behind at such a time indicated how much Fairy Black Bamboo appreciated Yi Yun.

Yi Yun sat down on the bamboo mat once again, while Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er took their leave.

The moment the duo stepped out of the palace, they felt that the light from above was casting a large shadow over them.

Following that, a gigantic Fey beast with a dragon head and turtle body gradually descended from the clouds. The clouds seemed to hastily make way for it as they dispersed. Light was completely blocked out, turning the day into night.

The turtle shell that covered its entire body seemed like divine metal that had formed naturally from absorbing the essence of the heaven and earth. It was dark gold in color and it gave a very heavy feeling.

Its dragon head was raised high up and it looked extremely massive. Looking from afar, it looked like a floating island in the sky, a shocking scene.

Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er were members of the Fey race, so they could immediately sense the terrifying aura of the Fey beast.

Baxia! One of the sons of the dragon!

The true Baxia was a legendary primordial Fey beast. The one in front of them was impossible to be the pureblood primordial Baxia, but it definitely had an extremely pure bloodline of Baxia or it would not have been able to grow into such a massive and suppressive Baxia body!

It was one of the top noble existences amongst Fey beasts.

“Using Baxia as a mount? Who is this person… ?”

Yun Qiao’er muttered to herself. Just being under Baxia’s body made her want to pay homage to this Fey beast. It was a result that came from a higher level Fey race’s bloodline.

The person who could use this as a mount was definitely impressive.

“Baxia carries an immortal mountain on its back, and there is a pavilion on the immortal mountain!” Man Dao suddenly exclaimed in a low voice. He said it softly because there was an ancient emblem painted on the pavilion. It was like a shimmering flame.

“It’s the emblem of the royal family.”

Man Dao drew a gasp. This meant that the person riding Baxia was a member of the Luo clan royalty!

Royal family?

Yun Qiao’er was stunned. She had not joined the Luo clan for long, let alone have any contact with the royal family. People from the Luo clan royal family were like gods to her.

And for someone to have such a mount, even if they were from the royal family, they had to have a certain status in it. As for them, they were only ordinary disciples of the Earth Fire Hall, a division of the Fire Cloud State, which was one of the 196 states of the Luo clan. The person riding Baxia was an elusive existence to them.

Man Dao enviously said, “A person from the royal family has come to our Fire Cloud State, and Junior Brother Yi Yun is able to meet such an important figure. If he gains the favor of this important figure, just a little help from him would result in Yi Yun’s meteoric rise!”

Upon hearing Man Dao’s words, Yun Qiao’er could only nod her head without much thought. They were still working hard to enter the Heaven Fire Hall, but for Yi Yun, entering the Heaven Fire Hall was already something extremely easy. Now, he could even get to know an important figure from the royal family. Of course, the envy was unwarranted. They could only blame themselves for not being strong enough.

The two of them did not dare to take flight with the Inferno Gold Condors. Even if they wanted to, the Inferno Gold Condors were trembling under the presence of Baxia, afraid of even taking flight.

Man Dao and Yun Qiao’er retreated to a distant corner as they looked at the immortal mountain on Baxia’s turtle shell.

There were nine scantily-dressed beauties with snow-white skin holding silk in their hands as they floated down from the ornate pavilion on the immortal mountain.

Behind the nine girls, a tall white-robed man began descending as he took strides on thin air.

His clothes were embroidered with a bright red vermilion totem, and his aura was thick and intense.

The Luo clan had outstanding bearing and looks regardless of their sex. This white-robed man was also no exception. Although he was tall and well-built, he gave off an elegant feeling. He was like a scholar with an elegant bearing.

“Whew! Whew!”

Two black-robed figures appeared to the left and right sides of the white-robed man. Their facial features were a blur as there was a layer of smoke concealing them.

They were the white-robed man’s guards.

At that moment, Fairy Black Bamboo had already come to the entrance of the palace to welcome them. Yi Yun accompanied her by the side.

In Fairy Black Bamboo’s palace, other than those black bamboos and bamboo people, she did not have any other servants. Hence, the only person standing beside her was Yi Yun.

Looking at the Baxia above him, Yi Yun was also astonished. His heart jumped again when he saw the two black-robed people with fuzzy looks.

These two black-robed people were also members of the Fey race. Their aura gave him a baffling feeling, so even though he could see them with his naked eyes, it was as though they did not exist.

“Black Bamboo greets Prince Pingnan.” Fairy Black Bamboo bowed slightly, while Yi Yun slightly faltered. Prince Pingnan?

Before entering the Fire Spirit Palace to mine for fire, he had heard Man Dao mention of how the two royal offspring were vying for the throne that was to be handed down by the Luo Emperor in the Luo clan royal capital. One of them was Prince Crimson Firmament, while the other was Princess Purple Spirit. Yi Yun had basically confirmed that Princess Purple Spirit was Luo Huo’er.

As for Prince Pingnan, he was on Luo Huo’er’s side. Many princes and princesses were destined to have no chance with the throne, so they would choose to follow one of the heirs apparent. Although they would not be able to become the Luo Emperor in the future, they could still be conferred the title of King without any problems.

Prince Pingnan and Luo Huo’er were in the same camp, while Fairy Black Bamboo was a subordinate of Prince Pingnan.

802 - : Prince Pingnan

CKtalon  CKtalon

As Yi Yun looked at the elegant man, he did as what Fairy Black Bamboo did and gave a salute. “Greetings to the prince.”

Prince Pingnan glanced at Yi Yun and he did not think too much about him as he continued speaking to Fairy Black Bamboo.

“Fairy, you don’t have to be so polite. I happened to be free enough to come to the Fire Cloud State, so I took the opportunity to drop by and meet you. Your bamboo wine here is extremely fragrant and it is a rare gourmet wine. Ordinary people can’t even get a taste of it, so I wonder if a person like me has the chance to take a sip?” Prince Pingnan said with a smile.

His attitude towards Fairy Black Bamboo was extremely humble, surprising Yi Yun slightly.

As an Earth Fire Hall Elder, Fairy Black Bamboo’s status was naturally far inferior to Prince Pingnan. For her to be thought of so highly by him impressed the talent she had.

Yi Yun knew that Fairy Black Bamboo had only cultivated for a relatively short period of time and that she had only recently become an Elder of the Earth Fire Hall. Having been recognized by the upper echelons, she would be quickly promoted in the future.

Fairy Black Bamboo had a promising future, yet Elder Heaven Scorpio dared to target Fairy Black Bamboo. There was no other reason than because they were from different factions. They were destined to fight. Furthermore, the day that Prince Crimson Firmament inherited the throne, it would greatly affect Fairy Black Bamboo’s future in the Luo clan.

Fairy Black Bamboo smiled slightly and said, “It has already been prepared for the prince.”

“That’s great.” Prince Pingnan clapped his hands once and said with a laugh.

He spoke very casually and he did not have the airs of a prince. It was as though he was speaking to an old friend when he spoke to Fairy Black Bamboo.

As Prince Pingnan and Fairy Black Bamboo were speaking, the dragon-turtle behind Prince Pingnan suddenly flashed a golden brilliance, and following that, the gigantic dragon-turtle as large as an island shrunk in size rapidly. Its shape also began changing, and eventually, it transformed into a middle-aged man dressed in dark gold robes.

The middle-aged man was stubby, with a genial smile on his face, and by the ends of his mouth, there were two long dragon whiskers.

As for the immortal mountain that the dragon-turtle was carrying, it had flown off the turtle’s back and transformed into an enchanted treasure the size of a fist and then kept inside the stubby middle-aged man’s body!

Yi Yun drew a gasp seeing this. First, a large dragon-turtle was able to transform into a person, and secondly, even the immortal palace it carried was an enchanted treasure. If any of these were placed in the Tian Yuan world, they would have been simply incredible.

“Uncle Dragon also likes drinking wine, so let’s all enjoy it together!”

Although the dragon-turtle was Prince Pingnan’s mount, Prince Pingnan was still very respectful to his ‘Uncle Dragon’.

“Haha, I love drinking wine.” The stubby middle-aged man said as he followed Fairy Black Bamboo into the palace. As for Yi Yun, he followed them by the side. Be it Prince Pingnan or the stubby middle-aged man, none of them paid any attention to Yi Yun.

This was understandable. They only treated Yi Yun as Fairy Black Bamboo’s disciple or follower. Indeed, the duo did not need to pay any attention to his identity.

…

Moments later, in Fairy Black Bamboo’s bamboo building, Prince Pingnan, the stubby middle-aged man and Fairy Black Bamboo sat around an antique round table.

Fairy Black Bamboo sat carefully at the position meant for subordinates in a very upright manner. However, the stubby middle-aged man had already begun gulping down wine from the jug he held in his hands.

“Haha, the flavor is really good.” The stubby middle-aged man praised with a chuckle.

As for Yi Yun, he was naturally standing behind Fairy Black Bamboo and he listened to the trio’s conversation.

“I wonder what Your Highness Pingnan is here in the Black Bamboo Palace for?” Fairy Black Bamboo asked.

Previously, Prince Pingnan had mentioned that he happened to drop by since he was on the way, but Black Bamboo knew that with his status, he definitely did not come to the Fire Cloud State on a whim but because he had work to do.

“I came here under the orders of Her Majesty Empress Xuan.” Prince Pingnan drank a mouthful of bamboo wine and he said slowly.

“Her Majesty Empress Xuan?”

Fairy Black Bamboo faltered momentarily. Empress Xuan was Princess Purple Spirit’s birth mother.

“Haha, there’s nothing I can do. Princess Purple Spirit is capricious by nature. From the looks of it, she doesn’t have her mind set on inheriting the throne, so the person who is really anxious is Her Majesty Empress Xuan.”

There was a saying that a mother’s worth was determined by her children, so Empress Xuan was naturally anxious when it came to Princess Purple Spirit’s struggle for the throne.

Fairy Black Bamboo said, “Princess Purple Spirit is still young, so her disinterest in power struggles is considered normal. In the future, when Princess Purple Spirit grows up, she will naturally turn for the better. Speaking of which, what decree did Her Majesty Empress Xuan give?”

“I wouldn’t call it a decree, but for the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trial, Her Majesty Empress Xuan is paying great attention to it. As you should know, our Luo clan had fought with the sinkhole, and suffered great losses, with many Luo Divine Hall disciples falling! Now, our Luo clan needs to nurture large numbers of the younger generation to slowly recover our strength. For this upcoming Luo Divine Hall trial, His Majesty has even given the sacred decree that he will take out a few precious artifacts from the Divine Treasure Palace and heavily reward the Luo clan disciples with excellent results!”

“As you know, His Majesty is about to abdicate the throne and the fight for the throne between Princess Purple Spirit and my elder brother, Crimson Firmament, is getting more intense. His Majesty would make his decision based on various small details. Besides, the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trial is no trivial matter. Since His Majesty places so much importance in it, Her Majesty Empress Xuan naturally does not want to lose!”

“So that’s the way it is… ” Fairy Black Bamboo understood. For the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trial, Emperor Luo had personally decreed it and even offered treasures from the Divine Treasure Palace. That was not something to be scoffed at. Anything that was placed in the Divine Treasure Palace was the best out of the best supreme-grade items. Ignoring the disciples from the various states, even princes needed to have sufficient talent and be outstanding enough to enjoy a minor portion of the resources held in Divine Treasure Palace.

After the huge war, the Luo clan had suffered heavy losses, so using a portion of the Luo clan’s accumulated resources to develop its strength was reasonable. This was indeed an opportunity for the younger Luo clan generation, one that came less than once in a hundred thousand years. If they managed to grasp it, they could really enjoy a great deal of valuable resources and enjoy a meteoric rise and have a bright future ahead of them.

Prince Pingnan then said, “Black Bamboo, as you know, my elder brother, Crimson Firmament, is already 3500 years old. His subordinates have already been around for about 3000 years. And his birth mother, Her Majesty Empress Luo entered the harem tens of thousands of years earlier than Her Majesty Empress Xuan. Furthermore, Her Majesty Empress Luo’s family possesses an ancient Fey bloodline, so her faction is equally large!

“As for Princess Purple Spirit, although her talent is equal or even better than my elder brother, Crimson Firmament, she is still young. Princess Purple Spirit nearly lacks any power herself, and she relies fully on Her Majesty Empress Xuan. At the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trial, it is indeed the best opportunity for my elder brother, Crimson Firmament, to exhibit his prowess. If his men were to account for a majority of the spots, Princess Purple Spirit and Her Majesty Empress Xuan would look bad regardless of the reason. It might even affect His Majesty’s decision about the heir.

Fairy Black Bamboo nodded in response to what Prince Pingnan said. She said, “Your Highness Pingnan, you are right. However for the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trial, I too am limited and I won’t be of much use. I can only do my best to nurture the disciples under me and send them to give it a try.”

“Alright, we just need to do our best. For this trip, I have gone to three states and I have brought some resources to do a last-minute push. Let’s hope it will be a little effective. Black Bamboo, tell me. Who in the Fire Cloud State is up to it?”

Prince Pingnan placed his cup of wine down and began to cut to the chase.

803 - : Intent

CKtalon  CKtalon

Black Bamboo said, “Your Highness Pingnan, in recent years, the Fire Cloud State has been doing waves of heavy recruitment, but although many have been recruited, the quality is just average. The ones who are likely to excel at the Luo Divine Hall trials from the Fire Cloud State are still those core disciples from the Heaven Fire Hall, such as Tian Shi, Ran Yu and Gu Luo. Just the amount of time they have cultivated in the Heaven Fire Hall has exceeded sixty years.”

“These few people, especially Tian Shi, are very famous. In recent years, Tian Shi has done the Fire Cloud State proud during exchanges between disciples from the Fire Cloud State and the surrounding Luo clan states. He has been praised by Marquis Fire Cloud on several occasions.”

Marquis Fire Cloud was the person who had authority over the Fire Cloud State. In the 196 states of the Luo clan, each state had a marquis in charge of it.

There was competition amongst the different marquises as well. The Fire Cloud State was considered average amongst the 196 states, so during any martial arts exchange, the Fire Cloud State’s results could only be said to be satisfactory. However, Tian Shi was usually the one who stood out from the flock. Even amongst the 196 states, he was first class.

“I know about Tian Shi… ” Prince Pingnan slightly sighed, “We even get wind about him in the royal capital, such as how Tian Shi’s attainments in the fire-elemental laws are outstanding and that even against other geniuses, he can leapfrog levels and defeat them!”

Although Prince Pingnan was praising Tian Shi, he was not pleased at all. This was because Tian Shi was not in their camp. This also meant that the stronger Tian Shi was, the stronger the enemy was.

In fact, it was not only limited to Tian Shi. Even Ran Yu and Gu Luo could be considered as leaning towards Prince Crimson Firmament if they had to forcefully trace the relation trees. The reason was very simple. These people had been cultivating in the Heaven Fire Hall for sixty years and when was Princess Purple Spirit born? It wasn’t even as long as those who had joined the Heaven Fire Hall!

Princess Purple Spirit had become a heir apparent entirely based on her talent. Of course, Empress Xuan’s family background wasn’t weak either. In order to help Princess Purple Spirit vie for the throne, many geniuses from her family had been sent into the Luo clan to help Princess Purple Spirit stabilize her footing.

The succession of the throne did not only consider talent. It also looked at heritage and prestige. It needed to see if people were willing to follow the heir. Hence, be it Princess Purple Spirit or Prince Crimson Firmament, they were recruiting more disciples and incorporating them into their own factions.

“Talk about those disciples that recently joined the Heaven Fire Hall.” Prince Pingnan said.

Most of the older disciples of the Heaven Fire Hall were under Prince Crimson Firmament’s camp. After all, back at that time, Prince Crimson Firmament was the most likely heir apparent. Who didn’t want to associate themselves with such a mighty force? If he became Emperor in the future, they would easily enjoy success in the future.

And once the allegiance was formed, betrayal was no longer an option. If one were to betray mid way, neither side would be pleased about having a betrayer in their camp.

Only new Luo clan disciples had the choice to choose between the two heirs.

Fairy Black Bamboo said, “If we are talking about new disciples, then there is no way to compare them with older disciples. The cultivation time is just too short and they would be greatly disadvantaged when it comes to aspects like laws. If you insist on new rookies, Luo Fengling is considered a good one. She has pretty good talent and she has only entered the Heaven Fire Hall for five years. She is hardworking in her cultivation, but it is hard to tell what results she would get when she joins the Luo Divine Hall trials.”

Fairy Black Bamboo shook her head. The Luo Divine Hall trials were held once every sixty years. Only Luo clan disciples below the age of a hundred years could participate.

Many Luo clan disciples would usually need to cultivate for seventy or eighty years for them to be able to stand out during the Luo Divine Hall trials.

Nearly a century’s worth of accumulation was no trifling matter.

Of course, the Luo Divine Hall trials were not a simple test of strength. Those at a younger age would be at an advantage during the final evaluation, but its advantage was inferior to nomological insights and cultivation techniques.

“Are there no more other new disciples?”

Now with Empress Xuan in desperate need to expand her forces, Prince Pingnan did not expect new disciples to be able to obtain any amazing results in the Luo Divine Hall trials. However, since new disciples and old disciples were not judged on the same criteria, it was still possible to gain the attention of the upper echelons by showing their latent potential, even if they did not perform well. This would augment Princess Purple Spirit’s prestige as well.

“There are many disciples that can be considered, but I doubt any of them will be worthy in Your Highness Pingnan’s eyes. However, if Your Highness Pingnan does not want to limit it to the Heaven Fire Hall, I have a good candidate to recommend from the Earth Fire Hall.”

“Earth Fire Hall?”

Prince Pingnan was slightly stunned when he heard the name Earth Fire Hall.

In his point of view, the Earth Fire Hall only had second-tier disciples. It was difficult for elites from the Heaven Fire Hall to attain much at the Luo Divine Hall trials, what more Earth Fire Hall disciples.

He frowned and said, “There is actually an Earth Fire Hall disciple that can do well at the Luo Divine Hall trials? Who is it?”

Black Bamboo smiled and said, “I don’t dare to guarantee that he will do well, but in the entire Fire Cloud State, ignoring Tian Shi, Gu Luo and those Heaven Fire Hall disciples that have cultivated for sixty years or so, this person is the best choice amongst all new disciples. He happens to be in front of Your Highness Pingnan.”

As Black Bamboo said that, she looked at Yi Yun.

Prince Pingnan as well as ‘Uncle Dragon’ beside Prince Pingnan also turned to look at Yi Yun.

Prince Pingnan was somewhat taken aback. He never expected that the inconspicuous young man behind Fairy Black Bamboo was so highly recommended by her.

“He is the best candidate amongst new disciples?”

Prince Pingnan sized up Yi Yun and asked, “What’s your name?”

“This lowly one is Yi Yun.” Yi Yun said as he clasped his fists.

“Yi Yun… ” Prince Pingnan pondered for a moment and at this point, Fairy Black Bamboo had already informed Prince Pingnan about what Yi Yun had done during the fire-mining process through a voice transmission.

Prince Pingnan was quite surprised hearing this. “Oh? There was such a thing? To be able to gain the recognition of the Spirit of the Earth Fire despite having just entered the Earth Fire Hall, and even managed to snatch the Earth fire from a senior Earth Fire Hall disciple. That is indeed not bad.”

Prince Pingnan nodded. Actually, a figure like Yang Zishan was completely inconsequential in Prince Pingnan’s eyes. Yang Zishan was just an Earth Fire Hall disciple and he was considered nothing compared to a top genius like Tian Shi.

Hence, the reason why Prince Pingnan used the words ’not bad’ to describe Yi Yun was because he was still young and he had yet to cultivate for three decades, so he had a promising future.

“Unfortunately, if we wait another sixty years with you cultivating under me during that period, you might be able to obtain pretty good results at the Luo Divine Hall trials when you approach the age of a hundred years old. It is a pity that you have to participate in it when you have yet to fully mature. However, the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trials are too important. The succession of the throne would probably happen before the next Luo Divine Hall trials. I have to use whatever men I have, so I’ll give you a nomination spot. Just do your best!”

After Prince Pingnan said that, he stopped looking at Yi Yun and he continued chatting with Fairy Black Bamboo. Yi Yun was indeed too young. It was exceedingly rare for someone to achieve anything during the Luo Divine Hall trials at the age of thirty. There were very few who could do that even in the entire history of the Luo clan.

804 - : Receiving the Nomination

CKtalon  CKtalon

Prince Pingnan left after spending only a day at the Fire Cloud State. Time was precious to him as he still had two other states to visit.

And on the second day of Prince Pingnan’s departure, a notice appeared on Fire Cloud State’s main mountain’s peak.

It was just a notice made of a thin piece of paper, but it was like a heavy stone that had been thrown into water, creating a stir in the entire Fire Cloud State.

The reason was because the notice meant a great opportunity!

The notice listed sixteen people’s names. These sixteen people were to be separately sent to two different places three days after the notice was put up. They would undergo a short period of collective training before the two groups would join what was the most important event to all young Luo clan disciples, the Luo Divine Hall trials that happened once every sixty years!

The Luo clan disciples had a less than one in a million chance of have being able to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials once in their lifetimes!

Exterior disciples did not even need to think about it. The Luo clan had 196 states and each state had hundreds of thousands of exterior disciples and miscellaneous chores disciple. The once every sixty years Luo Divine Hall trials might see two or three batches pass, so they did not even have the chance to look forward to the trials. To them, the trials were mysterious and powerful itself. It could be described with the saying of how a carp leaps into the dragon’s gate.

For carps to leap into the dragon’s gate, it meant an intense competition to begin with. Many carps would leap at the dragon gate, but the ones who managed to leap through the dragon gate by passing the Luo Divine Hall trials were extremely rare. In fact, these exterior disciples did not even have the qualifications to be carps.

Ignoring them, even Earth Fire Hall disciples did not have the qualification to be carps.

Only Heaven Fire Hall disciples, or about 10% of them had a chance of being a carp once in their lifetimes. They could try to see how far they were from the dragon’s gate at the Luo Divine Hall trials.

In fact, many Heaven Fire Hall disciples who went to the Luo Divine Hall trials did not manage to amount to much. This was because the Luo Divine Hall trials required the participating disciples to be below the age of hundred. To ensure that they would get reasonable results, numerous Luo clan disciples would only choose to use their one chance at participating in the Luo Divine Hall trials only when they exceeded sixty years of age, or when they were approaching a hundred years old.

The notice that came out listed down the names who would be participating in the Luo Divine Hall trials. There was a total of sixteen people, so how could the Luo clan disciples not envy these sixteen people who had obtained such a great opportunity?

Even if they knew that they would definitely not be included, they also wanted to know who the sixteen were.

Just like in the mortal world, people who knew that they had no chance would still take a look at who the top scholar was.

The notice was hung on a wall in a square right in front of the main mountain’s main hall. A group of people were huddled around the wall to look at the notice.

“Senior Brother Zishan, do you think your name will be listed on the notice for the next Luo Divine Hall trials?”

Those who were looking at the notice included Earth Fire Hall’s Yang Zishan.

When news of the notice was released, Yang Zishan happened to be mining for fire in Fire Spirit Palace, so he managed to quickly arrive since he wasn’t far from it.

Now, Yang Zishan dodged Yi Yun whenever he mined for fire. Elder Heaven Scorpio had eventually gotten wind of the news of Yi Yun snatching his Earth fire at the Fire Spirit Palace. This resulted in Yang Zishan being given an earful that he had to obediently endure. After the scolding was done, Elder Heaven Scorpio had flicked his sleeves, throwing Yang Zishan out the door, causing him to be bruised all over. His face still hurt.

Yang Zishan rubbed his face and glared at the lackey who had just spoken. He grimly said, “It’s just taking a look at the notice, why do you have so much nonsense to say!?”

Yang Zishan liked to look good in front of others, so there was no way that he would admit his inadequacies. His lackey had tried kissing ass, but he had ended up kissing the wrong spot. Even though Yang Zishan usually liked to brag, he did not dare brag about being able to participate in the next Luo Divine Hall trials. If news got out, his enemies in Earth Fire Hall would probably laugh their heads off.

“You have to take one step at a time. Meals should be taken bite after bite. I don’t care about the Luo Divine Hall trials now, and I will focus on entering the Heaven Fire Hall first. On the day of the Heaven Fire Hall entrance exams, I’ll trample that Yi Yun beneath my feet!” Yang Zishan gnashed his teeth as he said.

It was already difficult for him to enter the Heaven Fire Hall. He was consumed by hate having been trampled by Yi Yun at the Fire Spirit Palace. He still did not know what trick Yi Yun had used to snatch the Earth fire from him, yet Yang Zishan absolutely could not believe that he had lost to a rookie like Yi Yun. All he wanted to do was work hard at cultivation before he looked for Yi Yun in the future to teach him a lesson.

Especially a year later, there would be an extremely tiny number of Earth Fire Hall disciples who would be promoted to the Heaven Fire Hall. Yang Zishan planned on rising up the ranks to enter the Heaven Fire Hall and squeeze Yi Yun out. Of course, this needed him to work hard at cultivation because at his present level, the chances of him being promoted to the Heaven Fire Hall were slim.

“Senior Brother Zishan is right. You should eat your meals bite after bite. First, enter the Heaven Fire Hall and proceed orderly. As Earth Fire Hall disciples, wishing to join the Luo Divine Hall trials is just being overly-ambitious. How can it be possible!?”

After Yang Zishan indicated his stance, another lackey with greater seniority immediately stood forward to educate the junior lackey.

The junior lackey hurriedly nodded his head, expressing how his senior was right and then he expressed his gushing admiration at Yang Zishan.

Only then did Yang Zishan nod. Just as he wanted to say a few nice words to consolidate his authority as boss, he heard someone in the crowd discuss about the notice. “These people on the list… Tian Shi, Ran Yu, Gu Luo are all famous, so it’s no wonder they are there. But Luo Fengling and Bai Chen, how old are they to be able to obtain the qualification to join the Luo Divine Hall trials? And that last guy called Yi Yun, who is he? I’ve been in the Fire Cloud State for so many years, but why haven’t I heard of this person before?”

Yi Yun’s name was placed last amongst the sixteen people.

The notice was decided by the Fire Cloud State’s Elder Consortium, but Prince Pingnan had suggested a few names and one of them was Yi Yun!

Even though the Fire Cloud State Elder Consortium was baffled at the choice, they did not go against Prince Pingnan’s wishes. For a prince, closing one eye to let a disciple gain the spot to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials was nothing to them.

Although they were unwilling to do so, the Fire Cloud State Elders still included Yi Yun’s name right at the bottom.

Nearly no one had heard of Yi Yun when his name was mentioned. However, when Yang Zishan and company heard this, they were completely dumbfounded.

“Yi Yun!? Which Yi Yun!?”

This name was extremely harsh on Yang Zishan’s ears. All his other lackeys also had a deep impression of Yi Yun. He had single-handedly made everyone in the Fire Spirit Palace apprehensive about mining for fire. They could only anxiously enter Fire Spirit Palace to mine for a few sparks of fire whenever Yi Yun was not around.

“Is… is he the Yi Yun who snatched the Earth fire from us?”

One lackey asked in a daze. He found it unbelievable that Yi Yun, who was a Earth Fire Hall disciple like them, was on the Luo Divine Hall notice! Was this a person with the same name?

But in fact, the entire Heaven Fire Hall had only 108 people and the Earth Fire Hall had only slightly more than a thousand people. All the warriors present had excellent memory, so they could memorize nearly everyone’s name. Other than the Yi Yun, who they had met at the Fire Spirit Palace, there was no other person with the name of Yi Yun!

Besides, although the name ‘Yi Yun’ was simple, the surname ‘Yi’ was extremely rare. It was almost never heard of in the Fey race!

“That… has to be fake!” A lackey of Yang Zishan muttered. He still could not accept the fact!

805 - : Notice

CKtalon  CKtalon

Gloom began to cast dark shades over Yang Zishan’s face.

He had previously said that meals had to be eaten one bite at a time, and how one had to take one step at a time on every journey. He was planning on proceeding forward in an orderly fashion through cultivation to vie for a chance at entering the Heaven Fire Hall, winning the right to trample on Yi Yun.

But now, before he even made his first move to enter the Heaven Fire Hall, Yi Yun had already been selected for the Luo Divine Hall trials. This was something that many Heaven Fire Hall disciples had no chance to do!

He was still taking one step at a time, but he could no longer see Yi Yun’s back. How far was one stride of Yi Yun’s?

Yi Yun was just slightly better than he was in the Fire Spirit Palace and had snatched a plume of fire from him. That shouldn’t be enough for him to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trial, right?

At that moment, there was a hubbub around the notice board. There were also quite a number of Heaven Fire Hall disciples present who were complaining.

There was no need to talk about the Earth Fire Hall disciples since they had did not even qualify to join the Luo Divine Hall trials. However, the Heaven Fire Hall disciples had the chance, but now, their chance had been snatched by someone.

A Heaven Fire Hall disciple said to his servant, “Do a check and find out who this Yi Yun is!”

“There’s no need to check. If I’m not wrong, this Yi Yun is a newly recruited disciple, brought in by Luo Fengling. Just a month ago, he was Luo Fengling’s steward disciple on Mt. Fengling. He recently passed the exam to enter the Earth Fire Hall!”

Yang Zishan suddenly spoke out. As he looked at the notice, his gaze appeared as though he wanted to eat up Yi Yun’s name.

The appearance of Yi Yun’s name on the board made him feel a sense of defeat.

He still had hopes of chasing Yi Yun, but now, how was he able to catch up?

“Earth Fire Hall? Steward disciple? Are you sure?”

As in the butterfly effect, a single rock could similarly stir up a tsunami. Yang Zishan’s words attracted the attention of many people. A man with a scroll in hand stepped forward and he asked Yang Zishan in a soft-spoken manner.

This fair-skinned man who was dressed in an azure colored robe had fine facial features. His eyebrows were like a pair of swords and his eyes were long and slender. On the two corners of his eyes, there were three fish scales on his temples.

This was not an incomplete human manifestation, but it was a symbol of the Xushui royal clan! The Xushui Ran clan was subordinated to the Luo clan, but the Luo clan had conferred the title of king to the Xushui Ran clan.

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, there were three major Fey race categories — Heaven Fey, Earth Fey and Ancient Fey. The Xushui Ran clan belonged to the Heaven Fey, just like the Luo clan.

The Heaven Fey was considered a higher form of existence in the Fey race. Noble blood of primordial Fey flowed in their bodies. There was a chance of awakening it, and once it was awoken, their powers would improve rapidly. And even if it was unawakened, they were still far more powerful than ordinary Fey.

Xushui was an ancient family clan in the Luo clan. During the foundation of the Luo clan’s empire, Xushui had made huge contributions, allowing them to be conferred the title of kings that could be passed down through the generations.

The young man in front of Yang Zishan may not be the crown prince nurtured by the Xushui Ran clan, but he too had the royal bloodline, which was enough proof of his noble status.

“Ran Yu!”

Someone in the crowd suddenly exclaimed. The young man with the scales near his temples was Ran Yu from the Xushui Ran clan.

The Luo Divine Hall trial’s notice had the following as the top three — “Tian Shi, Ran Yu, Gu Luo”!

In the Fire Cloud State, Tian Shi was the strongest without a doubt. And after him was Ran Yu and Gu Luo. It was difficult to tell which was stronger!

But in recent times, Ran Yu had increasing momentum, making him appear stronger. Hence, the notice which was mostly likely ranked according to strength, hinted at this conclusion by placing Ran Yu ahead of Gu Luo!

However, Yi Yun, who was ranked last, had received the attention of second place, Ran Yu.

“Why is Ran Yu here? When did he come?”

For a famous figure like Ran Yu, nearly every disciple in the entire Fire Cloud State’s Heaven Fire Hall and Earth Fire Hall knew of him. His appearance would have long created a stir.

Only when Yang Zishan mentioned of Yi Yun’s identity did anyone notice him. That implied that Ran Yu did not want others to notice him.

Although Ran Yu was here, he had used certain means to prevent others from detecting his presence despite standing in the crowd.

This method was indeed amazing.

“Indeed, Senior Brother Ran Yu likes peace and quiet. He does not like being place on a pedestal all the time. He used certain means to prevent us from discovering him.”

A Earth Fire Hall girl, who was in her twenties, looked at Ran Yu from afar while her face blushed red. Ran Yu was of noble birth and strong, so he was naturally favored by young girls.

“If the Yi Yun on the notice is the Yi Yun I know, then whatever I said is true.”

Yang Zishan nodded and said. He was feeling quite a lot of pressure in front of Ran Yu. He’s eccentricity was only worth anything in front of other Earth Fire Hall disciples. He was nothing compared to Ran Yu, who was both of superior birth and talent.

“Oh?” Ran Yu’s sword-like brows pricked up. Yang Zishan swallowed a mouthful of saliva before saying, “Senior Brother Ran, you seem to pay a bit of attention to this Yi Yun? It is unknown how that kid managed to get on the list. It is already strange for Luo Fengling to get on it, now that even her steward disciple is on it, it’s practically… ”

Yang Zishan stopped mid-sentence. What he mentioned was indeed suspicious. What had happened?

“Senior Brother Ran is already on the name list, and the Luo Divine Hall trials would be naturally in the bag for you. Why are you inquiring about a trivial figure who had gotten dog-shit luck?” Yang Zishan probed.

Logically speaking, Ran Yu did not need to pay Yi Yun any mind, but since he was paying attention, Yang Zishan became interested. In Yang Zishan’s point of view, regardless of what trick Yi Yun had used, since Yi Yun had managed to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials, it was unrealistic for him to compete with Yi Yun. However, if Ran Yu was the one competing with Yi Yun, that would be completely different!

“Nothing much, I just thought that my younger brother would be on the list.” Ran Yu said lightly. One could not tell if there was any trace of anger in his tone.

However, many people knew that Ran Yu took great care to protect his younger brother. Back when his brother entered the Heaven Fire Hall, Ran Yu’s presence prevented his brother who was still weak to be messed with.

Later on, Ran Yu’s brother cultivated in the Heaven Fire Hall for four decades so he had already fully matured. Now, with both brothers working hand in hand, they could rule the Heaven Fire Hall. If Tian Shi does not appear, who can challenge them!?

But now, Ran Yu’s brother had been displaced. Furthermore, his brother’s age had passed the age of sixty, so he could only participate in this year’s Luo Divine Hall trials, and no longer the next!

In that case, how could Ran Yu feel at ease?

“So that’s how it is!”

Upon hearing this, Yang Zishan felt elated! Yi Yun could have snatched anyone’s spot, but for him to snatch Ran Yu’s brother’s spot, that was virtually offending the Xushui Ran family!

“Senior Brother Ran, this Yi Yun must have used some despicable means to snatch Senior Brother Ran’s brother’s spot. This kid has always been very scheming… ” Yang Zishan once again said to fan the flames of discord. But at that moment, Ran Yu gave Yang Zishan a cold glance. The glance caused Yang Zishan’s heart to shrink as he felt like he had fallen into an ice cavern, he could not say a single word.

“I do not like that my brother’s spot was displaced by others, but similarly, I do not like others trying to induce or arrange for me to do certain things.”

Ran Yu deeply stared at Yang Zishan before he turned around and disappeared, leaving Yang Zishan rooted to the spot and his hands were clammy. Just a moment ago, he felt like he had been eyed by a primordial powerful Fey. This Ran Yu was too terrifying!

806 - : Ran Yu

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Missus, it’s time to come out!”

Mt. Fengling had also received news of the notice about the Luo Divine Hall trials being released. When Tao’er learned that her mistress had been one of the sixteen selected to represent the Fire Cloud State in the Luo Divine Hall trials, she was completely overjoyed.

There were only sixteen people selected, but how many years had it been since her mistress joined the Heaven Fire Hall? So how could she not be excited for her mistress to be one of the sixteen?

Furthermore, the people who were selected for the Luo Divine Hall trials could undergo a collective training at Mt Azure Billow before the trials began. It was a place that even Tao’er had heard of before. It was one of the few holy grounds of the Luo clan, a great benefit to be able to undergo training there.

“Missus, did you hear me?”

While Luo Fengling was in reclusion, Tao’er was the only one who could contact her. Tao’er would not contact Luo Fengling unless it was an important matter.

A few moments after Tao’er called out, Luo Fengling’s cultivation chamber’s entrance gradually rumbled before it opened. A white-dressed Luo Fengling came out of the chamber.

Previously, when Tao’er informed Luo Fengling about the news, she had told her of the news. Tao’er handed her a letter that came from Fairy Black Bamboo.

Fairy Black Bamboo made it very clear in her letter that it was Prince Pingnan who had given her the chance to participate in the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trials.

Even with Luo Fengling’s tranquil personality, she could not calm herself upon receiving this news.

Members who were selected for the Luo Divine Hall trials were once targets she strived for. She never imagined that the opportunity had befallen her in just a few years.

As for Prince Pingnan… Luo Fengling was very aware of his identity. She knew that by accepting to participate in the upcoming trial, she would naturally be labeled under Empress Xuan’s camp.

Luo Fengling had never joined any faction prior to this, but she was deeply aware that for a minor figure like her in the Luo clan, it was better to choose sides in order to obtain greater support.

Furthermore, with such good conditions, there was no reason for Luo Fengling to reject it. Or it should be said that for a junior like her, such conditions was a form of flattery.

“I’ll be going to the main mountain now.”

As Luo Fengling spoke, she made some minor preparations before she flew up into the clouds towards the Fire Cloud State’s main peak.

From afar, Luo Fengling saw two gigantic spirit cruisers floating above the Fire Cloud State’s main mountain.

And below it is where numerous Luo clan disciples gathered. With a scan, Luo Fengling saw a few people that she was familiar with, including Ran Yu and Gu Luo.

To Luo Fengling, these powerful seniors in the Heaven Fire Hall were targets that she strived for in the past. Now, they were fearsome peers that Luo Fengling had deep respect for.

Just as Luo Fengling was about to land, she suddenly saw a very familiar person. She gaped her mouth in astonishment.

She was surprised to notice that amongst the illustrious and powerful Heaven Fire Hall disciples, there was a youth that looked sixteen or seventeen wearing Earth Fire Hall garbs.

“Yi Yun?”

Luo Fengling was momentarily at a loss. Yi Yun was a steward disciple that she had taken in, so from her reclusion up to now, she had no idea what had happened to Yi Yun nor did she care.

Wasn’t he supposed to be in Mt. Fengling? Why was he here?

“Senior Luo.”

Yi Yun cupped his hands when he saw Luo Fengling. He too had just seen the list and he had naturally seen her name.

“Why are you here?” Luo Fengling asked in astonishment when she landed in front of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun smiled and said, “I was chosen to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials, so I came.”

“Ah?” Luo Fengling’s shock was stupendous. Others at least knew that Yi Yun had previously entered the Earth Fire Hall, but for Luo Fengling, her memory was still stuck at the moment of Yi Yun being her steward disciple, a miscellaneous chores disciple. Suddenly, he was her equal by joining the Luo Divine Hall trials!?

She immediately rushed to take a look at the list that was still hung on the wall in the square. From taking a glance, she indeed saw Yi Yun’s name right at the bottom of the list.

He was really selected?

Was this steward disciple that she had taken in an impressive genius? In just a few months, he had showcased his talent and become one of the participants for the Luo Divine Hall trials? It sounded beguiling.

She took a look at how Yi Yun was dressed in Earth Fire Hall disciples garb and clearly, he had been selected into the Earth Fire Hall. Luo Fengling had left in a hurry, so Tao’er did not have the time to inform Luo Fengling about the news.

As for Yi Yun being chosen for the Luo Divine Hall trials, Tao’er apparently did not know either. After all, Mt. Fengling was separated from the main mountain by quite a distance, so she naturally did not have time to travel to the main mountain with her strength.

“Junior Sister Fengling, you have hidden so much.”

Just after Luo Fengling spoke with Yi Yun, a voice came from behind Luo Fengling. Turning her head, she saw the originator of the voice, a thin man by the name Lie Ya.

Although this man had nothing to speak of for his looks, he was not a weakling, considering he was able to stand there. Furthermore, Lie Ya had spent more than fifty years in the Heaven Fire Hall.

“Senior Brother Lie Ya, you are teasing me. I didn’t hide anything.”

Luo Fengling gave Lie Ya a gentle bow in an extremely respectful manner.

“It’s not a joke. Why would I joke? For Junior Sister Fengling to stand here, I’m astonished as a senior brother. Using the term well-hidden isn’t enough to describe it. And most impressive of all, even your steward is able to stand here. That makes it amazing! I believe since the establishment of the Fire Cloud State, you are the only one who has been capable of doing that!” Lie Ya said with a grin. His words did not seem hostile and he was just stating facts, but they sounded somewhat harsh to Luo Fengling’s ears.

Luo Fengling glanced at Yi Yun. By calling Yi Yun her steward, Lie Ya clearly did not consider Yi Yun as a peer.

This was understandable. As a senior Heaven Fire Hall disciple, Lie Ya had arduously cultivated for decades and he endured through so much just to participate in a single Luo Divine Hall trial. But now, Yi Yun, who had just entered the Fire Cloud State for only a few months, had risen up from a miscellaneous chores disciple to the Earth Fire Hall and then he immediately leapfrogged past the Heaven Fire Hall, directly entering the Luo Divine Hall trials.

These senior disciples had worked so hard to obtain the same results as Yi Yun, so it was natural for them to be displeased.

Ignoring Yi Yun, just having Luo Fengling participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials with them had already made them peeved. Was the decades of dedication they put in worth anything compared to her?

Behind Lie Ya, several Heaven Fire Hall disciples looked at Luo Fengling with a myriad of expressions — doubt, puzzlement, suspicion as well as hostility.

As for Ran Yu, he only gave Luo Fengling a nonchalant glance before he retracted his gaze. He did not express anything and he simply floated mid air. He was in meditation with his legs crossed and his eyes slightly shut.

Ran Yu appeared very calm. He did not think much about being selected into the Luo Divine Hall trials as it was something within expectations. What concerned him was how to be outstanding in the Luo Divine Hall trials and achieve brilliant results.

807 - : Mt. Azure Billow

CKtalon  CKtalon

Time passed as Ran Yu, who was floating in mediation with his eyes tightly shut, suddenly opened his eyes and landed on his feet.

“Someone is here!” Amidst the crowd, a Heaven Fire Hall disciple shouted.

Everyone hurriedly looked at the spirit cruiser. There, they saw a stocky man with a python coiled around him jump down from the spirit cruiser’s bow!

Upon seeing this man, Yi Yun was slightly taken aback. This person was quite exaggerated in size. He was at least 3.5 meters tall, and a single arm of his was as thick as a woman’s waist, while his legs were as thick as pillars.

His body was covered in tattoos and there was a skull necklace around his neck. The skull necklaces were the size of fists. It was hard to tell if they were the skulls of humans or Fey.

As for the python coiled around his body, it was as thick as a water barrel. Such a large python could easily devour two people.

“All fifteen Fire Cloud State disciples, follow me!”

The snake man’s voice was as loud as lightning, shaking people to their very core.

“Fifteen? There’s someone who isn’t here!”

Sixteen Fire Cloud State disciples were chosen, but there was one person was missing, the first person on the list — Tian Shi!

Tian Shi was the strongest person in the Fire Cloud State and his reputation had even reached the royal capital!

“There’s no need to wait. Four hours ago, Tian Shi was taken by King Hong’s men.”

King Hong?

Everyone was slightly taken aback. They had all heard of King Hong’s illustrious name. Even in the royal capital, King Hong was a prominent figure with a powerful faction under him. His personal strength was also immensely powerful.

“Why did King Hong’s men take Senior Brother Tian Shi away?”

Some people were puzzled, but others figured out the reason.

“King Hong is Prince Crimson Firmament’s uncle, so… ” The person stopped mid-sentence.

King Hong was the son of Emperor Luo, while Prince Crimson Firmament was actually the emperor’s grandson.

Emperor Luo had a long lifespan, but the sons and daughters he had were few in number. This was because the Luo clan was Heaven Fey, giving them the bloodline of ancient powerful Fey. The stronger the bloodline, the harder it was to have offspring.

Although Emperor Luo did not have many children, there was a lot of descendants when his grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren were considered.

Many princes and princesses even had more than a dozen generations beneath them. These children that were more than a dozen generations out were considered direct descendants of Emperor Luo, so they too had the right to succeed the throne.

The seniority amongst Emperor Luo’s offspring was extremely complex. Hence, they basically did not look at their seniority in the family tree but based everything on age. Many princes that were generations apart, such as Prince Pingnan, would not address the Luo Emperor as Father Emperor but addressed him as His Majesty.

For Prince Crimson Firmament to address King Hong as his uncle, it was also only because it was appropriate both in terms of age and seniority.

King Hong and Prince Crimson Firmament had close relations, so it was reasonable for him to support Prince Crimson Firmament’s succession.

As for the Fire Cloud State, Tian Shi’s reputation in it was greater than the rest. Only Tian Shi was worthy enough for King Hong to send his men to take him away.

Of course, Tian Shi was definitely not the only person that King Hong took with him. In the other states, there were definitely large numbers of Heaven Fire Hall disciples that were taken to the King Hong residence and given special opportunities.

Those gathered by King Hong were the most outstanding elites in the various states and with King Hong betting on these people, it would allow Prince Crimson Firmament to take another step towards the throne if any of them could be amazing at the Luo Divine Hall trials.

“As expected, Senior Brother Tian Shi is different. He actually has someone dedicated to bring him away.”

“Senior Brother Tian Shi’s benefits for this collective training is likely better than ours.”

Many people were envious of Tian Shi, but of course, they could only have themselves to blame.

Why couldn’t they be stronger to garner the favor of King Hong?

Amongst the crowd, Luo Fengling also sighed. Previously, she was pleasantly surprised to be favored by Prince Pingnan, but now she felt as though it was nothing much. The truly powerful ones had long been selected.

The man with the python up above sneered when he saw the disciples’ reaction. He said with a low, muffled voice, “Opportunities are obtained using your own abilities. If you have the time to be envious of the opportunities of others, you might as well look at what you have! Mt. Azure Billow where all of you will be going will not be weaker than King Hong’s cultivation grounds. Mt. Azure Billow also has its opportunities, it will just be very difficult to obtain them! As long as you showcase your strength, the items you obtain will definitely not be weaker or fewer than Tian Shi’s. If you are stronger than Tian Shi, then the opportunities you receive will exceed Tian Shi’s!”

With the man with the python snapping them out of their self-inflicted misery, the Heaven Fire Hall disciples present felt somewhat more at ease. However, no one believed that the opportunities that they would obtain would exceed Tian Shi’s. They knew their own strength and they were self-aware of how big a gap they had with Tian Shi.

Everyone boarded the spirit cruiser before it shot out into the sky!

The Luo clan ruled over a large stellar zone, with numerous planets in it. In the cosmos, there were even small worlds hidden in it. These worlds also gave birth to countless living beings!

Two hours after the spirit cruiser lifted off, it directly burned a World Stone and tore through the void, performing void transference!

While shuttling through chaotic space-time, the spirit cruiser itself experienced minor tremors. Yi Yun stood in front of a window and he looked at the spatial storms and streams of light formed from spatial dimension laws. He had mixed emotions while looking at this. Back when he was in the Cloud Wilderness, it was a struggle to even fill his stomach. Now, he had come to the endless cosmos in the 12 Empyrean Heavens and he was touring the Universe. His encounters in life really evoked certain complex emotions.

In two hours, the spirit cruiser traversed a distance of billions of kilometers and when the spirit cruiser appeared out of the void, Yi Yun saw a mountain through the windows.

This mountain was not towering over a piece of ground. Instead, it was suspended in space.

Yi Yun had never seen such a large mountain and a conservative estimate would place it as being tens of thousands of kilometers high. It was comparable to the size of a dwarf star. The spirit cruiser that Yi Yun was on appeared like a speck of dust when flying in front of this massive mountain.

“It’s huge!” A disciple said on the spirit cruiser, his tone filled with astonishment.

The disciples felt surging emotions the moment they considered that this mountain was just a location for their collective training, and not where the Luo Divine Hall trials was.

The Luo Divine Hall trials happened once every sixty years, so it was not easy to obtain a single chance.

The spirit cruiser approached Mt. Azure Billow and Yi Yun saw bands of blue clouds billowing at the peak of the mountain. It was like flowing water patterns, which probably gave rise to Mt. Azure Billow’s name.

Starting from the mountainside, there were swaths of architecture that ranged from palaces to herbal gardens, as well as grasslands, forests and ranches for Fey beasts.

The spirit cruiser finally landed somewhere near the mountain top. Everyone hurriedly disembarked the spirit cruiser when the doors opened as they stepped foot onto the grounds.

At that moment, the man with the python walked out from the spirit cruiser and he glanced at all the young disciples present. He said, “Mt. Azure Billow’s collective training will be short, although it’s said to be a collective training, it is actually to give you some benefits. It is to allow you to break through your cultivation realms and obtain better results at the Luo Divine Hall trials!”

“The Luo Divine Hall trial lasts a period of eighteen years. These eighteen years will be the years where you lay your foundation, so it is extremely important! So do your best!”

“In the grand hall in front of you, its name is Ancient Fey Edifice! It’s an important part of the collective training at Mt. Azure Billow. Feel free to take whatever you can obtain after entering the Ancient Fey Edifice!”

808 - : Ancient Fey Edifice

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ancient Fey Edifice?”

Yi Yun looked at the dark but magnificent palace. Its main door was about five to six stories tall, but for such a tall door, it was only four or five meters wide. As a result, it made the door resemble a sword more than a door.

On both sides of the Ancient Fey Edifice’s door, there were two Fey beast sculptures erected. They resembled evil demons and the creatures carved in the sculpture had sharp teeth and keen claws. They had two wings on their backs and they looked extremely ferocious.

As Yi Yun stared at the two statues, he had a feeling that the statues were watching him, as though the two statues were alive. It was quite astonishing.

“Do you sense the killing intent?”

At that moment, an arrogant voice came from behind. Yi Yun turned his head to realize that the person who said it was Lie Ya.

Lie Ya was scrawny and he was shorter than Yi Yun by half a head. However, he was floating mid-air, as such, the top of Yi Yun’s head only reached Lie Ya’s chest.

Lie Ya looked down from above at Yi Yun as the corners of his mouth gradually curled, “These two statues were powerful Fey who protected the Luo clan in ancient times. When their lifespans came to an end, they became enchanted puppets by sealing their souls in sculptures that were meticulously refined. At any time, they might suddenly awaken, recovering most of their strength from years ago. This is the Luo clan’s heritage as Heaven Fey. It is not something ordinary people can imagine.”

On the surface, Lie Ya was introducing the origins of the sculptures placed in front of the Ancient Fey Edifice, but his choice of words had a great sense of superiority. Be it because he was a member of the Fey race or be it because he was a native of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, they were all sources of his sense of superiority.

Yi Yun glanced at Lie Ya and he completely ignored him. He directly stepped through the Ancient Fey Edifice’s entrance.

Lie Ya frowned slightly when he was ignored by Yi Yun. He had the intention to flaunt, but Yi Yun did not show any interest. “You are just pretending to act profound. For a human warrior from a lower realm to act so nonchalantly after coming to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven and see the Ancient Fey Edifice, one might even think he was of immortal empyrean birth if they did not know any better!”

Lie Ya shook his head and he also entered the Ancient Fey Edifice.

…

When Yi Yun walked into the Ancient Fey Edifice, Luo Fengling followed him, “Junior Brother Yi, how did you obtain the nomination for the Luo Divine Hall trials?”

As they had set off in a hurry, Luo Fengling did not converse with Yi Yun. On the journey, she was constantly plagued by thoughts of stupefaction.

“I was lucky and I was appreciated by Fairy Black Bamboo. She recommended me to Prince Pingnan, and he nominated me, so here I am being selected for the Luo Divine Hall trials.”

After Luo Fengling heard Yi Yun’s general explanation, she commended Yi Yun on his good luck. But at the same time, she knew very well that there was definitely something amazing about Yi Yun for him to be able to gain the appreciation of Fairy Black Bamboo.

Yi Yun was brought into the Fire Cloud State by her, so she naturally wished for Yi Yun to have a bright future.

“Junior Brother Yi, work hard then. You are still young. Being able to gain the opportunity to enter the Luo Divine Hall trials is exceedingly rare. It’s alright even if you are unable to achieve any desirable results. This is because the Luo Divine Hall trial is an opportunity itself. The trials will last for eighteen years, and during this period, your strength can increase by leaps and bounds!”

“Alright, thank you Senior Sister Luo.” Yi Yun smiled. He knew that Luo Fengling was full of good intentions. Just as he was about to continue speaking, he suddenly felt an ancient and irregular aura surge over.

It was as though the long corridor was a time tunnel that led to a mysterious ancient world.

“This is… ”

Yi Yun looked up and saw the end of the corridor approaching. At the moment he stepped into the corridor, Yi Yun drew a cold gasp.

At the end of the corridor, there was an inconceivable divine palace. Looking up into the sky, the palace dome hung amongst the radiant moon and the myriad of stars. It appeared as though he had come outside, but Yi Yun knew that he was still inside the Ancient Fey Edifice.

Around Yi Yun were twelve divine columns that pierced straight into the sky!

Every divine column was so thick that it required dozens of people hugging it in order to encircle it. It was thick and heavy, as though they were supporting the firmament above.

“This is the Ancient Fey Edifice’s main palace. Fey Gods from a primordial era are engraved on the twelve pillars!”

Twelve primordial Fey Gods?

Yi Yun was stunned as he gave a surprising look at Luo Fengling.

As he had snatched a nomination spot for the trials, Luo Fengling was the only person amongst the Fire Cloud State’s Heaven Fire Hall disciples that would explain everything to Yi Yun.

“The twelve primordial Fey Gods are already equivalent to legend. During the early formation of the Universe, when the Chaos first came into existence, the Heavens and Earth produced twelve powerful ancient Fey. They do not belong to the Luo clan, nor should they even be called ‘Ancient Fey’. They are natural God Spirits. Only the Fey race in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven call them Fey Gods, believing that the twelve Fey Gods are the ancestors of the Fey race. But in fact, the human race have different names for them. Similarly, there are humans who believe that the twelve Fey Gods are their own ancestors.”

“Is that so?” Yi Yun was slightly taken aback. It now appeared that the twelve pillars erected in the Ancient Fey Edifice were just used to worship the twelve Ancient Fey, and not because the Ancient Fey Edifice had anything to do with the twelve Ancient Fey. Although the Luo clan was powerful, it was impossible for them to have any relations with the twelve Ancient Fey that appeared at the beginning of Chaos.

At that moment, someone in the palace suddenly shouted, “Luo Fengling! The twelve Fey Gods are naturally our Fey race’s ancestors. At least other than the seventh Fey God, the others undoubtedly belong to the Fey race. They have nothing to do with the human race!”

The person who spoke out was Ran Yu.

Ran Yu was usually calm and he gave off a demeanor of a light breeze. Even when his younger brother’s spot had been snatched by Yi Yun, he did not turn hostile towards Yi Yun, or at least, he didn’t express it.

But when Luo Fengling raised the issue of the way the 12 Empyrean Heavens viewed the twelve Fey Gods in a neutral manner, Ran Yu had coldly interrupted her.

As a member of the Fey race, Ran Yu had pride that was ingrained into his bones. He believed that the Fey race was the noblest race in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, and how its heritage began from the Chaos, making it the earliest to be born. Luo Fengling’s words had triggered him.

Luo Fengling fell silent. In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, if one were to recognize the stories of the human race when it came to the twelve Fey Gods, it was easy to incite the rage of the masses.

From the point of view of the Fey race, the twelve Fey Gods were half-beastlike, so they were naturally closer to Fey in form.

Seeing how Luo Fengling did not dispute any further, Ran Yu glanced at Yi Yun again, but he did not speak.

Yi Yun did not understand the twelve Fey Gods at all, so he had no right to make any statements.

He looked at the twelve gigantic divine columns and an Ancient Fey God was engraved on each of them.

Yi Yun looked at the first column and as the first Fey God of the twelve Fey Gods, it was neither a dragon nor a phoenix. Its name greatly surprised Yi Yun.

Extreme Yang Illumination!

At the beginning of the Heavens and Earth, Chaos transformed into the two opposites of Yin and Yang. The power of Yang entities and the essence of extreme Yang combined to form a Fey God, an evolution because of Great Dao!

Extreme Yang Illumination had no shape. All Yi Yun saw on the pillar was a portrayal of the Extreme Yang Illumination, which was a black circle.

It did not even have any thickness. It was just a thin black plane, making it look mysterious and strange.

This was completely unlike a ‘beast’, but an existence that was bordering on Heavenly Dao.

“Extreme Yang Illumination. During the origination of the 12 Fey Gods, after Chaos transformed into Yin and Yang, it first gave birth to the Fey Gods. This is probably the apex of pure Yang… ”

As Yi Yun looked at the Extreme Yang Illumination’s carvings, he had a yearning desire. This was the true pure Yang Origins, a Chaos pure Yang that was equal to a Heavenly Dao!

And following that, Yi Yun looked at the second pillar. After Extreme Yang Illumination was… Extreme Yin Nether Glow!

809 - : Extreme Yang Illumination

CKtalon  CKtalon

Extreme Yin Nether Glow was like the shadow of the Extreme Yang Illumination. It was born out of the Chaos together with Extreme Yang Illumination. It was a Fey God formed from the power of Yin entities and the essence of extreme Yin. All of this was a portrayal of how Chaos led to Yin and Yang.

The Extreme Yin Nether Glow similarly was not in the shape of a beast. The image engraved on the column was a white halo with a mist on its outer ring that looked like a burning flame.

In the middle of the Extreme Yin Nether Glow, there was a black circle, as though it was where the Extreme Yang Illumination should sit. When the two Fey Gods were superimposed on each other, it appeared like a solar eclipse. It would be black in the middle, with a misty halo in its exterior. The saying of how Extreme Yin Nether Glow was the shadow of the Extreme Yang Illumination was a result of this.

“Extreme Yang Illumination, Extreme Yin Nether Glow… When the Universe was in its formative stages, the primordial universe (Wuji) generated supreme ultimate (Taiji), and therefore generated the two opposing forces.”

“The primordial universe is Chaos, and the two opposing forces are Yin and Yang. During the formation of the Heaven and Earth, the Fey Gods that were born alongside Yin and Yang can even be considered the embodiment of Heavenly Dao. They are the Extreme Yang Illumination and the Extreme Yin Nether Glow.”

Yi Yun seemed to gain something from it as he continued looking on.

The third column had a large tree engraved on it. In the carving, the tree was shockingly large. Even the stars in the sky were like the size of fists, floating amongst the tree’s leaves.

The tree branches were lush and flourishing. Every leaf was so large that they appeared like land that floated in space. On the leaf, a drop of dew could have formed an ocean.

With time being pushed forward, after the large worlds were born, this Dao Tree’s leaves could still have plains, forests and a myriad of living beings exist on them.

The third Fey God — Empress Earth Dao Tree!

It was a divine tree formed from three thousand Great Dao after the formation of the Universe!

When Yi Yun saw the third Fey God, the first thing that came to mind was the Dao Tree that he had encountered in the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

The Dao Tree that similarly existed for a long period of time was considered much smaller when compared to the engraved Dao Tree that was much bigger than stars.

That tree was encountered by the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner, and by then, the tree had already existed for a long period of time.

“What relationship does the Dao Tree I encountered in the Pure Yang Sword Palace have with the Empress Earth Dao Tree?”

This question arose in Yi Yun’s mind. Having come to the Ancient Fey Edifice, the twelve Fey Gods struck Yi Yun with surprise. The first three Fey Gods already made Yi Yun generate many feelings of longing in such an immense world like the 12 Empyrean Heavens. While being enlightened, he was simultaneously filled with questions.

The fourth Fey God — Dragon Emperor!

Near the beginning of the Heaven and Earth, the god bred out of Chaos was the king of all dragons.

There were all sorts of divine dragons in the world, such as the noble five-clawed golden dragon, Red Dragon, Azure Dragon, Yellow Dragon as well as the Torch Dragon that fell into darkness and the bloodthirsty Blood Dragon.

All these dragons came from the Dragon Emperor, they were its descendants.

The fifth Fey God — Seven-colored Phoenix!

If there was a dragon, then there was naturally a phoenix. During the inception of the Heaven and Earth, the phoenix was born. It was the ancestor of all birds. Its feathers had seven colors, and these seven feathers represented different powers of nature. The Seven-colored Phoenix could not only control fire, but it could also control Wind, Rain, Thunder and Lightning, as well as the five elements.

The world’s Fire Phoenix, Ice Phoenix, Azure Luan-bird, Vermilion Bird and even the Golden Crow came from the bloodline of the Seven-colored Phoenix.

The sixth Fey God — Kun Peng!

If the Seven-colored Phoenix was considered the ancestor of all birds, then there was probably only one bird that did not descend from it. That was the Heavenly Peng!

The Heavenly Peng was not exactly a bird, but it was a fish and bird in one. In the form of a Kun, it could easily devour thousands of seas, and in the form of a Peng, it spread its wings that spanned a distance of 45,000 kilometers. In its flying rage, it could tear apart galaxies!

The seventh Fey God — Heavenly Man!

Upon seeing this Fey God, Yi Yun was momentarily stunned. Heavenly Man?

Different from the other Fey Gods, this was a Fey God in the shape of a man. His name was also Ancestor Pan. With a giant ax in hand, he was a giant with five different colored hair. He could split the heaven and earth apart, creating a world in the process!

The eighth Fey God — River of Forgetfulness

This eighth Fey God was even more fascinating. Its shape was in an endless surging river. And what flowed in the river was not water, but time.

The river of time only surged ahead in one direction… the future.

By heading only for the future, it meant forgetting the past. Thus, the river’s name was named River of Forgetfulness!

The ninth Fey God… was empty!

Oh?

Yi Yun was momentarily stunned. He only understood after looking carefully. The ninth Fey God was not missing, but because its form was —‘nothingness’. It had no shape or form, no edge or limits!

The ninth Fey God — Solitary Nothingness

With time, there would naturally be space. Space-time was like Yin-Yang. They were Dao formed at the formation of the Universe.

Solitary Nothingness was an endless void with complete silence, and it had nothing in it. Like the graveyard for the thousands of worlds, it was like the abode to everything.

Worlds were created, but they were also annihilated. Everything would ultimately be transformed to nothingness, returning to the solitary void.

Solitary Nothingness’ name was a result of this.

Legends said that ‘Solitary Nothingness’ was an endless void itself. Being devoured into Solitary Nothingness’ stomach would result in permanent annihilation…

The tenth Fey God…

When Yi Yun came to this point, he was stunned. If the ninth Fey God was a blank because it was ‘Solitary Nothingness’ did not have any shape or form, then the tenth Fey God was truly missing.

He did not see the tenth, eleventh or twelfth Fey Gods.

In fact, the Fey race only knew that twelve Fey Gods existed, but the last three Fey Gods were extremely mysterious. In the canonical books of the Fey race, there were many legends about it that attempted to reveal or speculate the identity of the three great Fey Gods. However, every one of them was rather unconvincing. Eventually, the identities of the three great Fey Gods could not be confirmed and it was still a mystery up to now…

“They don’t even know what sort of existence they are, but they know that there are twelve Fey Gods?”

Yi Yun was momentarily stunned as he found it incredulous.

At that moment, Luo Fengling said, “Junior Brother Yi, the twelve Fey Gods were inferred by the mighty figures of the Fey race when they gain insight into the Heavenly Dao. It is not only the opinion of the Fey race. In the other Empyrean Heavens, mighty human figures have also gained insight into the Heavenly Dao and they have also obtained the same conclusion. Of course, they are just not called ‘Fey Gods’. Their common names are — Twelve Dao Ancestors.”

“I see… ” Yi Yun nodded. Since all the mighty figures in the 12 Empyrean Heavens came to the same conclusion, then it was probably true. The only thing was that the last three great Fey Gods, or Dao Ancestors were lost in the misty Heavenly Dao, preventing others from seeing them clearly.

However, Ran Yu had previously mentioned that the twelve Fey Gods were the ancestors of the Fey race, other than the seventh Fey God — Heavenly Man. There was no way that the Fey race could categorize the Heavenly Man into the form of Fey, as he resembled humans in every form and manner. As for the other Fey Gods being said to be ‘naturally closer to Fey’ was in Yi Yun’s opinion, just fictitious.

Other than the Dragon Emperor, the Seven-colored Phoenix and the Kun Peng, Yi Yun could not tell how the other Fey Gods had a closer relationship with the Fey race.

“The twelve Fey Gods, or the twelve Dao Ancestors must be the beginnings of Heavenly Dao! They were born directly out of the Chaos. Many divine beasts that sounded amazing, such as the divine beasts of the Four Symbols — the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger and the Black Turtle — while Bifang, Taotie and Responding Dragon evolved after the five elements were split apart, and with everything being born. Compared to the twelve Fey Gods, they are greatly inferior.”

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun suddenly felt like he had broadened his horizons.

Although the twelve columns were engraved by progeny, nor did they contain any profound laws, just looking at them made Yi Yun feel like he had gained a lot.

His gain came in the form of mental benefit. The more he knew how vast and spectacular the world was, the more motivation Yi Yun gained. This motivation came from the unwillingness to be tiny and the ambition of being equal to Heavenly Dao.

810 - : Twelve Fey Gods

CKtalon  CKtalon

“These ancient twelve Fey Gods stand atop the world, and they are just too far away from us. However, in the Ancient Fey Edifice, it is said that it hides a lot of opportunities. Also, Lord Cang Mang had previously said that we can obtain things from the Ancient Fey Edifice.” Luo Fengling said. With a sword in hand, her eyes were shimmering. Clearly, she was looking forward to the opportunities that awaited her.

Although she was talented, the amount of time she had spent cultivating had been short compared to the other participants excluding Yi Yun. After being nominated for the trials, she received a lot of pressure when she saw people like Lie Ya and Ran Yu. She had to use every available time to upgrade herself. If not, by wasting such a good opportunity having not done well, there was no way that she could face Fairy Black Bamboo, who had given her guidance and support.

At that moment, a disdainful voice was heard, “Obtain things? Lord Cang Mang did say that, but they are there only if you have the ability to get them. In the Ancient Fey Edifice, there are opportunities of all sizes, but only the able ones can obtain them.”

Luo Fengling looked at the speaking Lie Ya, but her pretty face did not change in expression. “I naturally know that, you do not need to worry yourself to remind me.”

“Hehe.” Lie Ya gave an odd smile. Previously, Yi Yun had ignored him, so he could not be bothered to conceal his contempt for Yi Yun and Luo Fengling.

“Senior Sister Luo, you don’t have to mind him.” Yi Yun said.

“He is targeting us. The others are also hostile, but at least they aren’t like him.” Luo Fengling said with a frown.

She usually only bothered herself with cultivation, so she seldom mingled with others and she kept a low profile, yet she had become a thorn in the side of others.

However, compared to her, the hostility Yi Yun received was even worse. Despite being an Earth Fire Hall disciple, he was able to join these elites in the same trials, so how could the elites feel mentally balanced?

“This is the Ancient Fey Edifice’s main hall!” The burly man with the python had also walked over.

Yi Yun already knew his name was Lord Cang Mang.

“The things you want to obtain are in this main hall.” Cang Mang said.

Yi Yun and Luo Fengling looked around them, but the main hall was empty, so what was there?

However, Ran Yu, Lie Ya and company did not move. They only looked at the divine columns of the ancient twelve Fey Gods.

They had prepared for the Luo Divine Hall trials for decades, so they had also obtained information about the Ancient Fey Edifice. Some of them were informed ahead of time by their family seniors.

So while others were looking all around the main hall, these people looked calm like a breeze. It was obvious whose family clan’s heritage was better just from this. Many Fey race had heritage passed down for tens of millions of years. Cultivators who were born in such Fey race families naturally had the advantage against other cultivators.

Seeing people of noble birth, like Ran Yu, apparently understanding everything beforehand, Yi Yun had a thought and he opened his energy vision.

“That means the things must be on these twelve Fey God columns.”

Yi Yun gave these people a nonchalant glance. They were standing by the side waiting to watch him make a fool of himself, but this did not affect Yi Yun at all. He cast his gaze at the twelve Fey God columns.

These ancient twelve Fey God columns emanated a pressuring aura. If there was anything in the main hall, it had something to do with these twelve Fey God columns.

“The ancient twelve Fey Gods were born at the beginning of Chaos. They are the most primitive embodiment of laws. Their existences are also different manifestations of laws. However, these twelve Fey God columns were built by progeny. The laws they represent naturally are not the purest laws from the beginning of Chaos.” Cang Mang spoke and he indeed mentioned the ancient twelve Fey God columns.

“However, the people who constructed these twelve Fey Gods columns were ancestors of our Luo clan. They were top mighty figures. The divine columns they constructed had managed to attract a glimmer of divine grace from the ancient twelve Fey Gods. These divine columns are also manifestations of laws. All of you can’t stay long in this Ancient Fey Edifice because there are other disciples from other states that will come here in a day’s time. Time is limited so make good use of it.”

The twelve mighty figures in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven had managed to attract the ancient twelve Fey Gods after constructing the divine columns. Although it was just a glimmer of grace that merged into the divine columns, it made the columns divine items too. The profoundness behind the twelve mighty figures’ understanding of laws was beyond imagination.

“These twelve divine columns are also twelve different entrances. The opportunities you obtain will differ according to the different entrances.” Cang Mang said.

“Similarly, the difficulty of opening each of the twelve Fey God columns are different as well.” Cang Mang introduced the rules.

Beside him, Ran Yu took a deep breath. As a descendant of the Xushui clan, an ancient royal clan, he naturally knew about the twelve Fey God columns ahead of time. His father had previously participated in the Luo Divine Hall trials as well.

For this, Ran Yu naturally did not want to shame his father or bring disgrace to his family clan. It was imperative that he did well at this trial.

“Lie Ya and company must know which divine columns are the easiest to open, but I will not do that. Choosing the fastest one from the onset might make it simple, but by choosing the easiest path before the beginning of the trials, one will definitely be the fastest to be eliminated during the trials.” Ran Yu thought.

His ambition was lofty. He chose to open one of the twelve Fey God columns that had a certain degree of difficulty.

“Begin… all of you only have one day.” Cang Mang said and he crossed his legs to sit down on the same spot. He tightly closed his eyes while the python crept around his body in a slow fashion, its cold eyes sizing up the cultivators.

Upon hearing Cang Mang’s words, these cultivators also immediately began. But first, all of them looked at Luo Fengling, Yi Yun and another rookie disciple that had been nominated by Black Bamboo — Bai Chen.

The three of them were the most conspicuous in the group.

Luo Fengling frowned slightly because these people were still waiting for them to make a fool of themselves.

None of them were in a hurry to move and they were just waiting for Luo Fengling and Yi Yun’s choice.

As for Cang Mang, his eyes were tightly shut, ignoring everything that was going on.

He did not provide the means to open the doors, and he wanted them to figure it out themselves.

“Junior Brother Yi, I’ll go first.” Luo Fengling said.

But just as she finished her sentence, Yi Yun had already walked towards the twelve divine columns.

“Junior Brother Yi… ” Luo Fengling hurriedly shouted.

But at that moment, Yi Yun had already come before a divine column.

This was the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column. Standing at the bottom of the divine column, Yi Yun was as small as an ant. He looked up and a Seven-colored Phoenix was circling the divine column in flight, with its eyes looking at the endless sky.

However, when Yi Yun focused his eyes on it, the Seven-colored Phoenix’s eyes seemed to look down. Immediately, an intense pressure surged over.

Yi Yun’s mind quivered. What a powerful aura! Cang Mang had already said that these divine columns only contained a glimmer of the divine charm of the ancient twelve Fey Gods, but just this glimmer was enough to make Yi Yun feel that there was a Seven-colored Phoenix right in front of him. It was able to blot out the sky and tear through the heavens.

But how was he going to open this divine column? Yi Yun stretched out his hand and placed it on the divine column.

The ancient twelve Fey God columns were creations of top mighty figures. Every carving they made contained the martial insights of these mighty figures. While stroking the carvings, Yi Yun could even feel himself being threatened.

It was sword, a sharp sword technique that had been carved out slash after slash. The phoenix flew high, soaring over the horizons with the wind as its companion. It was as flexible as this sword slash.

The sword scar from the Pure Yang Sword Palace appeared before Yi Yun’s eyes. That slash had managed to split apart a small world. It was no doubt a stunning strike. If he produced the Sword Intent from that strike, Yi Yun believed that the divine column in front of him would likely resonate.

811 - : Sword and Phoenix

CKtalon  CKtalon

As long as he gained the recognition of the ancient Fey column, Yi Yun could open an entrance.

It was only through recognition and not his insight. Of course, attempting to open the door through violence was out of the question.

The twelve ancient Fey columns might take several hours, days or even years to give a person its recognition. It might never happen for all eternity as well.

As for Yi Yun and the cultivators that came from the Fire Cloud State, they only had a day’s time. After them, there were other cultivators from other states that were arranged to come here.

Due to the short amount of time, many people would likely fail.

Cang Mang did not tell them how to open the ancient Fey columns, so as Yi Yun touched the ancient Fey column, Yi Yun guessed that there were many ways to open the columns.

The Seven-colored Phoenix ancient Fey column could resonate with Sword Intent, so it was likely that he could open it through Sword Intent, but this Sword Intent was mostly coming from the carver of the Seven-colored Phoenix ancient Fey column.

As the carver of the ancient Fey column was a mighty figure of the Luo clan who used a sword, if Yi Yun were to use his Sword Intent to open the Seven-colored Phoenix ancient Fey column, that would just be an inferior outcome.

This was because swords had nothing to do with Seven-colored Phoenix. The true value of the ancient Fey columns mainly came from how their creators had used their own Dao insights to bring a glimmer of ancient Fey energy together. This energy came from the ancient Chaos from all over the endless Universe. Although it was very minute, it was as close to nomological Origins.

What Yi Yun wanted was the recognition of the nomological Origins and not the recognition of the Sword Dao used by the person who carved the ancient Fey column.

In that case, what should be used to resonate with this glimmer of Seven-colored Phoenix’s Origins aura?

Without any rules, that also meant that there were many rules and different opening methods. The opportunities obtained through that was probably also different.

Yi Yun stood in front of the Seven-colored Phoenix ancient Fey column but he did not release his Sword Intent. Instead, he began power up his pure Yang body.

Phoenixes were reborn from the ashes of fire, so it had much to do with fire-elemental laws. Yi Yun had absorbed Earth fire, making his pure Yang body even purer, and his meridians had been repeatedly tempered by the Earth fire, which was similar to being reborn from Earth fire.

His pure Yang body was like a pure flame and as his pure Yang body powered up, the flames began to burn intensely.

As Yi Yun was circulating his pure Yang body in full force, he suddenly felt in his perception that the Seven-colored Phoenix in front of him seem to come alive. In its seven-colored feathers, there was a flame plume burning. An immense heat wave rushed at him, making Yi Yun feel like his eyebrows were burning.

In front of the phoenix’s fire that could raze the world, Yi Yun’s pure Yang body was like a tiny fire plume.

“Phoenix Heavenly Fire!”

Yi Yun quivered slightly but he immediately regained his consciousness. The fire from the phoenix’s feathers was apparently just an illusion. When Yi Yun opened his eyes, everything had disappeared.

The Seven-colored Phoenix ancient Fey column in front of him was still standing silently in front of him while the engraved Seven-colored Phoenix above him had remained the same ever since it was carved, having never changed.

The scenes from before was like a dream.

“Seven-colored Phoenix is not only about fire… ” Yi Yun muttered to himself. There were several kinds of phoenixes that were incarnations of fire, such as the white Swan, the purple Celestial Bird and the azure-colored Blue Phoenix…

The ancient Seven-colored Phoenix was the ancestor of all phoenixes. Its seven-colored feathers actually represented; Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, and Thunder.

Fire was just one of the seven, making it relatively insignificant.

Yi Yun understood that compared to the Fey God’s grace that had been attracted by the ancient Fey column, he had too little insight. If he only chose the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column, then he would not gain too much from it.

Using a sword would only end up with inferiority. As for his fire-elemental laws, they were derived from pure Yang laws. Furthermore, fire-elemental laws was just one of the seven laws of the ancient phoenix, so it would not be considered an upper grade choice.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun silently released his hand and looked at Cang Mang. He asked, “Lord Cang Mang, can everyone only choose one ancient Fey column?”

Cang Mang opened his eyes and said slowly, “Many ancient Fey columns can be chosen, and you can receive the recognition of several ancient Fey columns. The recognition you will receive from each ancient Fey column will also be different. The greater and deeper the recognition, the opportunity obtained will be better.”

Cang Mang did not despise Yi Yun because of his age, and he had seriously answered Yi Yun’s question.

“I understand.”

Yi Yun retreated after saying that. Having touched the Seven-colored Phoenix for the first time, it made him feel the immense power of the ancient Fey Gods. He planned on looking at the other ancient Fey columns and learn of more opening methods.

Seeing Yi Yun stand in front of the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column for a while before asking Cang Mang such an ambitious question, Lie Ya disdainfully shook his head.

“Being able to open one ancient Fey column is already not bad, but you want to open a few? Dream on!”

Upon hearing Lie Ya’s words, Ran Yu said, “Although the time he has spent cultivating has been short, he has previously snatched Earth fire from a senior Earth Fire Hall disciple. He had even used the chance of absorbing Earth fire to make a breakthrough. Just based on his insight into fire-elemental laws, he might gain something with a bit of luck.”

“He only beat an Earth Fire Hall disciple. I know that person. He’s named Yang Zishan and he has spent years in the Earth Fire Hall. If he were any good, he would have entered the Heaven Fire Hall a long time ago. So what if he defeated Yang Zishan?”

Lie Ya could not be bothered to watch Yi Yun posturing. He said to the others, “Let us begin too. There’s no need to mind him.”

As Lie Ya spoke, he walked towards an ancient Fey column.

He had long made his choice, the ancient Fey column of the sixth Fey God, Kun Peng.

Lie Ya came in front of the Kun Peng divine column and he fully released his aura. His eyes stared with a shimmer at the divine column.

The legendary ancient Kun Peng fed on flood dragons and it had an extremely powerful body. Lie Ya was not confident in his own nomological insights, so he wanted to use his physique’s strength to obtain the sixth divine column’s recognition.

The other cultivators also went in front of different ancient Fey columns.

Their choices were mainly the three ancient Fey columns — Dragon Emperor, Kun Peng or the Seven-colored Phoenix.

In the Ancient Fey Edifice’s main hall, there were nine ancient Fey columns that were carved completely, but like the flow of time, the River of Forgetfulness, or Solitary Nothingness that could contain the infinite void, these columns were too esoteric. No one could understand them, so they were abandoned.

By choosing the Dragon Emperor, Kun Peng and Seven-colored Phoenix, not only could they gain the recognition through nomological insights, they could also do so by using their physical bodies.

The physical bodies of the Fey race were much stronger than humans’.

Luo Fengling also went towards a divine column. She had chosen the Seven-colored Phoenix and she planned on using her powerful physique, combined with fire-elemental laws, to obtain the recognition of the Seven-colored Phoenix. This was the lowest difficulty she could choose.

At that moment, Ran Yu stood in the same spot for a while before he walked towards an ancient Fey column. What he chose was surprisingly… the Empress Earth Dao Tree!

Upon seeing Ran Yu’s choice, the other cultivators could not help but give a sidelong glance.

Empress Earth Dao Tree!?

Ran Yu actually made such a choice?

Dragon Emperor, Seven-colored Phoenix and Kun Peng were after all Fey. They had similar powerful bodies like the Fey race.

As for the Empress Earth Dao Tree, it had been condensed from three thousand nomological Great Dao and it was a pure manifestation of laws, representing the truth of Great Dao.

It was very difficult to obtain the recognition of the Empress Earth Dao Tree.

Actually, most members of the Fey race were not adept at nomological perception. In their martial cultivation, they would tend to temper their bodies, so this was the reason why they were trying to obtain the recognition from the Dragon Emperor, Kun Peng or the Seven-colored Phoenix’s divine columns.

“Ran Yu chose the Dao Tree as his first choice, and he is also a Heaven Fey with a powerful physique. From the looks of it, Ran Yu probably truly plans on gaining the recognition of two ancient Fey columns!”

812 - : Powerful Ancient Fey

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although the cultivators were astonished that Ran Yu wanted to obtain the recognition of two ancient Fey columns, they did not think that he was being overambitious. Instead, they felt a strange feeling suffuse from the bottom of their hearts.

They were all participants of the same trial, but Tian Shi had been taken away in advance, while Ran Yu was prepared to obtain the recognition of two ancient Fey columns. As the best trial participants of the Fire Cloud State, they had opened a gap from normal participants like the others right from the very beginning.

However, despite feeling a bit of envy, the cultivators found it acceptable after thinking of Ran Yu’s talent as well as his great reputation amongst the Fire Cloud State’s younger generation. Two of the female cultivators were already looking at Ran Yu with a different look in their eyes.

“As long as I do not fall behind others, it’s fine losing to Tian Shi or Ran Yu.” Lie Ya thought, as he gave a sidelong glance at Yi Yun.

“It’s fine if Ran Yu asks if one can gain the recognition of many divine columns. But what is this Yi Yun asking, does he really think… ”

At that moment, Lie Ya was completely stumped. He saw Yi Yun strolling slowly and standing in front of the Empress Earth Dao Tree divine column!

What was he thinking of doing while standing there? Could it be…

An incredulous thought popped up in Lie Ya’s mind. As he watched Yi Yun stand motionlessly in front the Empress Earth Dao Tree divine column, Yi Yun suddenly stretched out his hand and placed it on the divine column. His eyes were slightly shut like an old monk in meditation.

What’s going on?

Other than Lie Ya, the other cultivators also noticed Yi Yun’s actions.

Even Ran Yu, who was sitting cross-legged in front of the Empress Earth Dao Tree divine column, had a look of surprise on his face.

“What is this Yi Yun planning on doing?”

“He has talent in fire-elemental laws, yet he does not put further effort in it. What is he stopping in front of the Empress Earth Dao Tree divine column for?”

The Empress Earth Dao Tree contained 3000 Great Dao, and there may be fire-elemental laws in them, but that was such a trivial detail. It was impossible to obtain the recognition of the Empress Earth Dao Tree just using fire-elemental laws.

“Can’t you tell? Junior Brother Yi Yun is also trying to obtain the recognition of two divine columns.” Lie Ya said nonchalantly, but anyone could tell that he was being sarcastic.

Inquiring about obtaining recognition from multiple columns was fine, but Yi Yun actually treated it seriously!

What sort of person was Ran Yu? He was a Heaven Fey, one of the best amongst the Fire Cloud State’s younger generation. As for Yi Yun, he was only able to be here because of Prince Pingnan. He had some dog-shit luck and a bit of talent only.

Yet, he wanted to obtain the recognition of two divine columns?

These elites were already indignant about being on the same name list with Yi Yun. Now, seeing that Yi Yun was actually attempting to be equal to one of the best, and trample them beneath his feet, they immediately felt infuriated.

At that moment, Yi Yun opened his eyes. He turned a deaf ear towards them and he moved his hand away from the column.

Upon seeing this scene, Lie Ya immediately chortled, “It’s a misunderstanding. Junior Brother is just looking around.”

At least Yi Yun knew himself, but from the way he looked, it was such an obvious posture. This was enough to fool low-ranking disciples, but everyone present was an elite from the Fire Cloud State, so when they saw Yi Yun’s posturing, they found it amusing.

However, just as Lie Ya said that, he saw Yi Yun standing in front of the Extreme Yang Illumination divine column. This time, Yi Yun was even more thorough and he actually sat down in front of the divine column.

Lie Ya was speechless. Yi Yun could not be considered arrogant anymore, but he definitely had a screw loose in the head. Trying to obtain the recognition of the Extreme Yang Illumination was much harder than getting the recognition of the Empress Earth Dao Tree.

Extreme Yang Illumination represented the pure Yang laws at the birth of Chaos. It was one of the supreme Great Dao that approached the Heavenly Dao. It was much closer to the Great Dao of Origins compared to the Seven-colored Phoenix.

They were only given one day’s time, but Yi Yun was attempting three ancient Fey columns, the Seven-colored Phoenix, the Empress Earth Dao Tree and the Extreme Yang Illumination? This was absurd! Without mentioning the three divine columns, it was already extremely difficult to obtain the recognition from any one of the the two divine columns — Empress Earth Dao Tree and Extreme Yang Illumination.

Besides, the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column was not to be looked down upon. Knowing fire-elemental laws did not necessarily mean that one could obtain its recognition. There was just a slightly higher chance of success!

Others began to shake their heads and ignore Yi Yun. A large number of them were still worried about being able to gain the recognition of one divine column, so they naturally could not be bothered with the overambitious Yi Yun.

They had prepared decades for the trials and they were all Heaven Fire Hall disciples. Having finally obtained a spot through great difficulty, they had to take advantage of the precious one day that they had.

As for Luo Fengling, she gave Yi Yun a worried glance.

“Senior Sister Luo, I believe that Junior Brother Yi will not be listening to you.” Bai Chen’s voice was suddenly heard. He was a newer generation disciple and he was considered to be in the same camp as Luo Fengling and Yi Yun.

Luo Fengling also noticed that Yi Yun had his own ideas, so whatever she said was unlikely to be useful. She could only sigh and face the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column in front of her.

It was unknown if she could obtain the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column’s recognition in a day. A resolute look flashed in Luo Fengling’s delicate face. Although she was weak, it was only because she had cultivated for a short period of time. She did not think that her talent was weak, so she could not squander the precious opportunity of this trial.

At that moment, Yi Yun had already entered a completely ethereal state.

The other cultivators’ gaze and chatter did not affect him at all.

From the moment that Yi Yun stood in front of the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column, he had already obtained a full understanding of the divine columns, so he was blind and deaf to outside events.

Yi Yun did not care how these people were reacting to him. The laws represented by the twelve divine columns and what they showed to him were things that Yi Yun cared about the most.

They were the most profound and abstruse laws. Although they were not the real ancient twelve Fey Gods, they could benefit him greatly if he could see the glimmer of grace that the ancient twelve Fey Gods had left inside the columns through the laws inscribed by the creators of the divine columns.

The ancient twelve Fey God divine columns were not meant for gaining insight. However, by taking a look at the Great Dao Origins, warriors could broaden their horizons. Although they might not be able to obtain insight into Great Dao Origins through this, they could still verify the nomological insights they had.

When Yi Yun went in front of the Empress Earth Dao Tree, he saw how each tree leaf was a world itself. Every world was an embodiment of a law. These 3000 worlds were the manifestation of 3000 Great Dao. The 3000 Great Dao had been condensed to form the entire Dao Tree.

At the Pure Yang Sword Palace, Yi Yun had once gained enlightenment in front of a Dao Tree. He still had a Dao Leaf on his body, and when he reached out to touch the Empress Earth Dao Tree divine column, a glimmer of grace from the Dao Tree immediately resonated with the Dao Leaf that Yi Yun had.

“Although the Dao Tree in the Pure Yang Sword Palace might not be the Empress Earth Dao Tree, they must be somehow related to each other.”

As Yi Yun looked at the Empress Earth Dao Tree, he felt a sense of familiarity. He had once experienced life as though he was a leaf on the Dao Tree during his enlightenment. Now, the Empress Earth Dao Tree had rustled its leaves in response, making him feel as though he had once again become one of the leaves on the tree.

813 - : Empress Earth Dao Tree

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Yi Yun closed his eyes, he seemed to merge with the Dao Leaves. They echoed in unison how full and magnificent the Dao Tree was.

The Empress Earth Dao Tree’s aura was boundless. It was formed from the combination of 3000 Great Dao, it was inclusive of everything and it could accommodate anything. This admission of everything was the Dao of everything itself. It was too vast, and if Yi Yun had never transformed into a Dao Leaf, it was very difficult for him to obtain the recognition of the Dao Tree.

And after the Dao Tree, Yi Yun went to the Extreme Yang Illumination divine column. It was a manifestation of pure Yang laws that was closest to the Origins. The mighty figure that created this divine column was an ancestor of the Luo clan who was also a fire-elemental Heaven Fey. Fire and pure Yang had features that corresponded to each other. When this particular ancestor carved the Extreme Yang Illumination, just the burning Yang flames that arose from this divine column alone were enough to burn through a warrior’s protective Yuan Qi, reducing them to ashes, what more obtaining its recognition.

Only later, after an immense period of time did the divine column slowly cool down. Now, one could not experience the burning aura in the Ancient Fey Edifice, as though it was just a normal column, but Yi Yun knew that the pure Yang aura in the divine column had just converged within, making it harder to awaken it.

Yi Yun circulated his pure Yang body. After receiving the tempering from the Fire Spirit Palace’s Earth fire, his pure Yang body had become even purer. If one were to check his body internally, his bones and flesh were as crystalline as glass as they shimmered with a subtle luster.

A faint plume of phantom flame slowly emerged after being drawn out by Yi Yun’s pure Yang body. Soon, what gradually appeared out of the divine column was the fire-elemental laws left behind when the Luo clan Heaven Fey carved the Extreme Yang Illumination. This phantom image was the reconstruction of the Extreme Yang Illumination divine pillar from eons ago.

The pure Yang body had successfully drawn out the phantom flame, but Yi Yun was not satisfied.

In order to obtain the Extreme Yang Illumination’s recognition, just drawing out the fire-elemental laws of a Luo clan Heaven Fey was far from enough.

A flame plume appeared in Yi Yun’s dantian. It was the pure Yang spirit that had been quietly residing in the Purple Crystal ever since it had been absorbed by Yi Yun.

Once the flame appeared, the phantom flame on the divine column ‘leaped’ out and expanded, as though the entire divine column was enveloped by the flame. The Extreme Yang Illumination that was carved on it loomed within the flames.

That was still insufficient. The Extreme Yang Illumination’s aura did not appear at all.

Yi Yun focused his eyes on the Extreme Yang Illumination as his mind completely immersed itself in the flames.

Scenes of what the Earth fire saw materialized in his eyes. The fire had been there when the Heaven and Earth was born, so although it was just an Earth fire that was born from the birth of a world, it was somewhat similar to the Extreme Yang Illumination that was born out of Chaos.

Slowly, the engraved Extreme Yang Illumination seemed to have an additional halo surrounding it. This halo was inconspicuous between the burning flames, but all the flames seemed to be subject to it as they circled the halo.

Extreme Yang Illumination was pure Yang laws at the beginning. Even flames were lit by it.

Within this divine column was just the slightest bit of aura of the Extreme Yang Illumination, but when the halo appeared, Yi Yun immediately felt like his entire spirit was burning.

Just a spark from the Extreme Yang Illumination was enough to kill Supremacies. Even the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s powerful Fey were like ants in front of it.

Even just a trace of its flame was enough to reduce the entire Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven to ashes.

Flames born out of Pure Yang laws at the beginning could consume everything, pure Yang true flames could even burn spirits to ashes.

Yi Yun caught a glimpse of the pure Yang true flames’ power and as his spirit was being burned, his eyes also felt like they were burning in the flames. The Purple Crystal constantly released its energy, preventing Yi Yun’s spirit from suffering.

As Yi Yun’s eyes shimmered, he had managed to come into contact with the pure Yang true flames, allowing him to come to a realization that a pure Yang body was just the beginning. Having a pure Yang body was just passing through the beginning threshold of being able to truly grasp pure Yang laws.

Just as Yi Yun was being slightly enlightened, the Extreme Yang Illumination suddenly sent out a burst of radiance, causing the flames on the divine column to surge down like flowing water, flooding the entire hall in a blink of an eye.

Yi Yun’s body trembled and when he suddenly jolted out of his trance, he realized that everything in front of him had been restored to normal.

As for his body, he did not know when it stood up and took several steps back.

The Extreme Yang Illumination’s aura had been completely released and it was the power of the Heaven and Earth. Although it was just an instant, it was enough to give Yi Yun a big shock.

At that moment, Lie Ya’s laughter could be heard coming from the Kun Peng divine column.

The other cultivators could not sense the Extreme Yang Illumination’s changes, but Lie Ya had personally witnessed Yi Yun suddenly stand up and retreat.

Seeing Yi Yun’s face sullen and him appearing in a shocked daze, Lie Ya could not help but burst out laughing. He did not believe that Yi Yun could obtain the recognition of the Extreme Yang Illumination. Obtaining its recognition was extremely difficult and even if one could obtain its recognition, it could not be so easily accomplished in such a short period of time.

“Junior Brother Yi, are you fine? You don’t look so good.” Lie Ya asked with concern.

Yi Yun gave him a glance and he could not be bothered with him.

When Lie Ya saw Yi Yun repeatedly ignoring him, he snorted in a cold and contemptuous manner. He continued trying his best to obtain the Kun Peng divine column’s recognition.

After Yi Yun stood up and rested for a while, he returned to the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column once again.

“A day’s time is almost up and you are changing again? So awesome.” A few cultivators were impressed at Yi Yun’s laughable actions. Yi Yun had switched ancient Fey columns several times. More than half the allotted time had passed. For warriors, a day’s time would pass in a blink of an eye..

Simultaneously, these cultivators also looked at Ran Yu as he sat in front of the Empress Earth Dao Tree. Suddenly, a faint white gas emitted from the top of his head as the aura he expelled suddenly turned misty.

Seeing Ran Yu’s change, the cultivators were astonished. Could this reaction be an indication of having obtained the Empress Earth Dao Tree’s recognition?

Instantly, the other cultivators were both feeling both envious and jealous. They were all trial takers for the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trials, but compared to these peerless figures, they appeared extremely normal.

“However, the peerless ones aren’t only limited to Ran Yu, Tian Shi and Gu Luo. We still have a chance.” Upon thinking of this, these cultivators looked at the people beside them. They had already given up competing with Ran Yu and company. They just needed to be better than the people beside them.

Everyone felt a burst of motivational energy rise up them.

Luo Fengling also glanced at Ran Yu enviously. Ran Yu was truly extremely talented and he had cultivated for a long period of time, giving him outstanding strength.

At that moment, Luo Fengling also saw Yi Yun come to the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column. Compared to Ran Yu, who was suspected to obtain the Empress Earth Dao Tree’s recognition, Yi Yun, who had given up the Extreme Yang Illumination and returned to the Seven-colored Phoenix, was probably somewhat frustrated.

“Junior Brother Yi, channel your fire-elemental laws and there will be a higher chance of obtaining the Seven-colored Phoenix’s recognition. This is just a collective training and not a trial.” Luo Fengling said.

Yi Yun looked up and gave her a glance, but he was somewhat stumped. He then said, “Thank you, Senior Sister Luo.”

At that moment, Ran Yu suddenly opened his eyes and stood up. His face had a look of satisfaction on it before he went to another divine column — the Dragon Emperor divine column!

Dragons were considered royalty amongst the Ten Thousand Fey. In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, the dragon totem meant something special, symbolizing supreme imperial power!

Ran Yu’s expression was filled with confidence, making everyone feel envious.

This meant that he was certain that he could obtain the recognition of two divine columns. The first was the Empress Earth Dao Tree and the second was the Dragon Emperor. Being able to accomplish that feat with two ancient Fey columns was no trifling matter!

At the Ancient Fey Edifice, Ran Yu was clearly the best!

814 - : Insights into Pure Yang

CKtalon  CKtalon

Not long after Ran Yu sat down in front of the Dragon Emperor divine column, another person stood up from the ancient Fey column he was at, and walked towards the Kun Peng ancient Fey column that Lie Ya was at!

Lie Ya’s pupils immediately constricted because it was Gu Luo!

Gu Luo was a person with a glum personality and he kept a lower profile than Ran Yu.

His strength was exceptional, and he was nearly equal to Ran Yu. Yet, he did not attract the attention of anyone amongst the crowd.

Gu Luo was a person who was accustomed to even hiding his facial features in his gray garb. Gray cloth was wrapped around his head, leaving only a pair of eyes to be seen. Only one of his eyes remained open, but its pupil was gray in color. The other eye was tightly closed, and on it was a hideous scar.

When warriors attained a cultivation realm of his level, a tiny scar like this could be completely healed. Even warriors of lower levels could use elixirs that aided the growth of bodily tissue to fade a scar away.

However, Gu Luo had appeared to have deliberately left the scar behind.

Although they were all Heaven Fire Hall disciples, no one was on close terms with Gu Luo. He was a loner partly because no one would rush to have a chat with him and partly because he maintained an expression and a gaze that resembled a dead man’s all the time.

“Gu Luo has been silent, but from the looks of it, he will be gaining the recognition of two divine columns!” Lie Ya thought.

Ran Yu had not spent much time meditating in front of the divine column, so when he saw this scene, there was a drastic change in his expression with a gloomy shade concealing his learned and refined face.

Gu Luo!

Before the beginning of the Luo Divine Hall trials, Gu Luo had left the Fire Cloud State and immersed himself in experiential training for a decade. After he returned, he was only left with one eye, and the aura he emanated was something that Ran Yu could not understand.

Back in the list posted at the Fire Cloud State’s main mountain, Ran Yu may have had an apparent slight advantage according to his ranking which was above Gu Luo. But ever since Gu Luo returned, Ran Yu had never truly fought him before.

Other than Tian Shi, Gu Luo was Ran Yu’s biggest foe!

As for the others… Ran Yu disparaged them.

The Xushui Heaven Fey were naturally filled with pride. Other people of average birth was not worthy of being remembered.

“Gu Luo is also doing two divine columns.”

“Compared to the two freaks of nature, the gap between us is too far apart.”

Many people private discussed, while Luo Fengling ground her teeth. Just the Fire Cloud State alone made her feel immense pressure.

The starry skies in the Ancient Fey Edifice were unmoving, giving it no sense of time.

Suddenly, Cang Mang opened his eyes and bellowed, “A day’s time is up!”

Immediately, all the cultivators hung different expressions on their faces. Some look flustered, while others pondered in silence. Only Ran Yu appeared indifferent. As for Gu Luo, his only gray eye still looked as lifeless as before, preventing anyone from telling what he was thinking.

“Time’s up!” Cang Mang shouted once again, “It’s time to stop.”

However, there were still a few cultivators who stood in front of their divine columns as though they were reluctant to part with them.

This was only normal expected human behavior, but a few more seconds would not have changed anything. There were always people unwilling to accept their failures.

At that moment, an unfamiliar voice interjected, “If you can’t obtain the recognition in a day, it would still be useless to loiter around here for a few more moments.”

Ran Yu realized something as he turned towards the voice. Immediately, his expression turned ugly, “It’s you!”

Gu Luo looked at the person who came in silence.

All the other cultivators were astounded. They did not sense anything before the sudden booming of the voice.

“It’s the Phoenix Firmiana State’s Luo Tian!” Bai Chen whispered in alarm.

The man who came was thin built and his hair was combed high up. He was barefooted and barehanded, while a long tail whipped around behind him.

“Luo Tian?” Luo Fengling found the name familiar.

“Luo Tian is the strongest amongst the Phoenix Firmiana State’s younger generation. Although he is slightly less famous than Tian Shi, he is much stronger than us.”

There was competition amongst the cultivators in the Fire Cloud State, and similarly, the Fire Cloud State and the Phoenix Firmiana State had competed against each other for tens of thousands of years. The contention between the two states was in no way weaker than the competition between the cultivators.

“Does the Fire Cloud State lack people for the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trials? Why are there a few kids that should still be sucking on tits here?” Luo Tian said when he scanned the crowd. The kids he were referring to were naturally Luo Fengling, Bai Chen and Yi Yun.

Luo Tian only swept his eyes past Yi Yun and company before finally stopping at Ran Yu and Gu Luo. “Only the two of you can barely qualify.”

“Preposterous!” Ran Yu coldly grunted. “What high sounding statements, that’s good. Since you are now here, we will let you understand the eminence of the Fire Cloud State.”

Ran Yu was very confident of himself, and his confidence stemmed from himself. He did not care about the other Fire Cloud State disciples. Furthermore, the ancient Fey columns he had gained insight from were the Dragon Emperor and the Empress Earth Dao Tree divine columns!

Any one of these two divine columns was not easy. The Empress Earth Dao Tree was especially the foundation of his confidence.

“Sure, I want to see how able all of you are.”

Luo Tian wrapped his arms across his chest and said teasingly.

At that moment, about a dozen more people entered, they were all cultivators from the Phoenix Firmiana State.

They stood behind Luo Tian, and they looked at the Fire Cloud State’s cultivators with interest, there presence causing the atmosphere to turn rigid.

Ran Yu scanned the people from the Phoenix Firmiana State. Just from their cultivation levels, they were probably senior disciples that had cultivated for about sixty years or more.

Prince Pingnan’s factional power was not wide enough. He could only nominate a few young disciples in the Fire Cloud State, but he did not enjoy such prestige in the other states.

Back when the entire Luo clan was embroiled in a war, the Phoenix Firmiana State had conserved a portion of its strength because of its remote location. Now, with them sending out their disciples, they were all senior disciples of the Phoenix Firmiana State.

Looking at the confident looks of these Phoenix Firmiana State cultivators, it was clear that they had come prepared. Ran Yu drew a deep breath of air as a beam flashed in his eyes.

Even if all of you are filled with confidence, I will still trample you beneath my feet!

With the Phoenix Firmiana State’s cultivators here, the cultivators sitting in front of the divine columns also naturally stood up.

Quite a number of them looked uneasy, while Luo Fengling’s delicate face had a look of resolve.

She noticed that Yi Yun had also just stood up. He patted his sleeves lightly, his eyes the same as before.

“Junior Brother Yi, how was it?” Bai Chen leaned over to ask. He was not much older than Yi Yun.

“It was alright,” Yi Yun said.

“Did you gain the recognition of the Seven-colored Phoenix?” Bai Chen asked again. It was actually just a polite question as he did not believe that Yi Yun would obtain the recognition.

“Yea, gained it.” Yi Yun said with a nod.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s answer, Luo Fengling and Bai Chen were stunned.

Lie Ya and company also heard their conversation.

What? Yi Yun had first taken a look at the Seven-colored Phoenix before going to the Empress Earth Dao Tree and then went to the Extreme Yang Illumination before finally giving up to return to the Seven-colored Phoenix, as though he was at a market shopping for goods. Now, he actually said that he obtained the recognition of the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column?

What a joke. Could this kid actually be unsure of what it meant to gain the divine column’s recognition? If he was just putting on a false front, he would be exposed very quickly.

“Haha, that’s good.” Bai Chen forced a smile, but he felt unease.

Are you serious!?

815 - : Phoenix Firmiana State

CKtalon  CKtalon

Bai Chen had actually failed. He had only asked Yi Yun to find a companion in misery. If Yi Yun was worse than him, he could at least have someone line the bottom with him to stabilize his mind. Yet, Yi Yun said that he had gained the recognition of a divine column?

From the looks of Luo Fengling, she had just barely obtained recognition from the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column. Was he the only one amongst the rookies who failed? Or could it be that Yi Yun was just bluffing?

“Alright, enough nonsense! The Phoenix Firmiana State’s cultivators, wait by the side. It will soon be your turn. The Fire Cloud State’s cultivators, stand over here!” Cang Mang was indifferent towards the conflict between the disciples. To survive in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, cutthroat competition was essential. If not, the Luo clan would not have survived for so long.

“Open!” Cang Mang stamped the ground with a foot as the large python around him opened its mouth and spat out its scarlet tongue.

There were shimmering runes on the snake’s tongue which were formed from energy. No one knew if Cang Mang had placed it in the python’s mouth beforehand or if it was actually condensed by the python. The runes looked extremely complex, dazzling anyone who took a few more looks.

“The opening of the ancient twelve Fey God divine columns requires a special rune, just like a key.”

The twelve Fey divine columns were constructed by the Luo clan’s mighty figures and they were meant for their progeny to gain insights from. Naturally, there were means of protecting them.

As Cang Mang spoke, the python’s tongue stabbed forward like lightning, immediately causing the runes to float into the sky and explode!

Buzz! A sound that could not be traced was heard as it instantly echoed in everyone’s minds.

At that moment, a layer of hazy light suddenly fell from the Ancient Fey Edifice’s starry sky. Immediately, it enveloped a Fire Cloud State cultivator within it.

This Fire Cloud State disciple did not panic nor dodge. He just looked somewhat nervous.

Simultaneously, a Fey divine column suddenly experienced some changes.

It was the Kun Peng divine column. The engraved Kung Peng on it suddenly seemed to come alive. One of its claws began to move slowly.

The disciple looked on nervously with bated breath.

The amount of recognition given by the twelve Fey divine columns depended on the extent to which the Luo clan disciple managed to awaken the ancient Fey God.

At that moment, the Kun Peng moved another claw causing the disciple to look excited. However, just as the claw was lifted halfway, it stopped before the Kun Peng appeared to return to its slumber. This Fire Cloud State disciple’s talent was not sufficient enough to wake it up.

The pillar of light on the Fire Cloud State’s disciple slowly turned into a pale white before disappearing.

“Rating: Entering Motion!” Cang Mang said.

The disciple’s face turned gloomy because he was very disappointed.

It was only Entering Motion… His goal was to gain the recognition rating of ‘Eye Opening’”. To reach the rating of Eye Opening, it needed the Kung Peng to open its eyes.

However, his talent, perception, physique and nomological insights, when all added up, were only enough to make the Kun Peng moves its claws. It was still a distance away from making it open its eyes.

And the most basic rating of Entering Motion was insufficient for him to obtain any treasures from the Ancient Fey Edifice nor open the Kun Peng ancient Fey column’s door.

Yi Yun asked, “How are the ratings divided?”

“Just gaining the least bit of recognition is the Entering Motion rating. It also means causing the ancient Fey that was condensed out of laws to move slightly. Above it, there is Eye Opening, Hibernation Awakening, Awakening, etc!”

“That senior brother made the Kun Peng move a bit, but its eyes did not open to glance at him, so that is the lowest bit of recognition.” Luo Fengling whispered to him.

Bai Chen had an ugly expression by the side. He wasn’t even able to gain the lowest amount of recognition.

As pillars of light appeared on the Fire Cloud State disciples, those who were enveloped by the light immediately tensed up.

They only knew if they had gained the recognition of their respective Fey divine column, but they were unsure of the extent of the recognition.

After the first Fire Cloud State disciple, three others were given ratings of Entering Motion.

Amongst the cultivators, it was most common to obtain the Entering Motion rating.

And one of those who obtained Entering Motion was Lie Ya.

When Cang Mang announced the result, Lie Ya’s expression turned extremely glum.

In fact, he had long learned about the situation with the twelve Fey divine columns from his family clan. Furthermore, he had already chosen the Kun Peng divine column beforehand as a target to pass the test.

He originally believed that after a long preparation, he could at least reach the rating of Eye Opening.

The Entering Motion rating was just ordinary and most critically, it gave no rewards.

In comparison, the Eye Opening rating pushed one to the ranks of excellence, allowing them to obtain some resources.

Lie Ya thought highly of himself, so although he never wanted to compete with freaks like Ran Yu, Gu Luo or even Tian Shi and Luo Tian, he believed that he was at least stronger than the other Fire Cloud State disciples. But the final outcome was greatly disappointing.

He took a sidelong glance at Yi Yun. Noticing how most people looked apprehensive unlike Yi Yun, who appeared as though he was an immortal touring the heavens, Lie Ya immediately turned infuriated. This kid was still in his posturing pretense, was he courting death?

Lie Ya had only attained Entering Motion, and for a person like Yi Yun, he did not believe that Yi Yun could obtain any recognition. It was as though he was shopping at a market, so how could he have gained any recognition?

However, what if Yi Yun really had some dog-shit luck and as Yi Yun said, he had already obtained the recognition. Then wouldn’t Yi Yun’s results be the same as his!?

Once recognition was obtained, it was Entering Motion. There was no difference between two Entering Motion ratings.

“Senior Brother Bai Chen.” Luo Fengling suddenly said with a change in expression.

Bai Chen had suddenly been enveloped by a pillar of light and in it, his face turned slightly blue as he clenched his teeth.

The Seven-colored Phoenix divine column did not react… and soon, the pillar of light on Bai Chen’s body disappeared.

At the moment he was enveloped by the pillar of light, he had become the focus of attention, but the feeling of being focused on by everyone was a torture that felt like years.

“Bai Chen, no rating! Did not obtain any recognition!” Cang Mang glanced at him and he said mercilessly.

Bai Chen’s body quivered as his face turned paler. His trembling lips was unable to utter a word.

Bai Chen was not the first person who had failed to obtain any recognition. There was another Fire Cloud State disciple who had also failed to obtain any recognition.

“Hahaha, Ran Yu, is this what you want me to see, the eminence of the Fire Cloud State disciples? Four Entering Motion and two that did not even gain any recognition. Such a result is indeed wonderful. It has never been seen before!” Luo Tian scoffed brazenly.

The Phoenix Firmiana State disciples also laughed and they began their derision, causing the expressions on the Fire Cloud State’s disciples to change.

Lie Ya also clenched his fists because he was one of the few who was being mocked!

He was categorized into a group along with Bai Chen and Yi Yun!

Actually, Entering Motion was not said to be too bad. Even amongst the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples, a majority of them would only obtain Entering Motion. However, from the smug looks of the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples, they clearly did not believe that there would be any disciple who failed to gain recognition. Such a comparison led to the Fire Cloud State having two disciples who failed to gain any recognition. In a while, there might be the addition of Yi Yun, making it three. The difference would appear extremely jarring.

“Luo Tian, don’t feel so smug too soon.” The poor performance of the Fire Cloud State disciples was nothing of concern to Ran Yu. He only cared about his own rating and if it was enough to shut Luo Tian’s savage gap.

816 - : Entering Motion

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You seem pretty confident this time,” said Luo Tian as his smile disappeared. “Indeed, these ordinary disciples don’t matter at all. At the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trials, they are not participants at all. They are there to make up the numbers only. The true participants are people like us. Ran Yu, I wish that you won’t disappoint me… ”

Before he finished his words, a pillar of light fell from the sky, enveloping Ran Yu’s body!

Luo Tian stopped speaking as he revealed a faint smile. “Let’s see if you have what it takes to back your words.”

Luo Tian’s words incensed the other ordinary cultivators, but with Ran Yu’s evaluation beginning, they ignored Luo Tian.

Ran Yu was a person with top-tier strength amongst all the Fire Cloud State disciples present. If he failed, then Luo Tian and the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples would definitely laugh their heads off.

However, Ran Yu, who was cloaked in the pillar of light, had calm eyes and he appeared poised, giving off a confident demeanor.

Even the arrogant Luo Tian did not speak. Although he still had a faint smile on his lips, he had already stopped giving a look of contempt.

For Ran Yu to dare make such a claim, it was definitely not without reason. With his personality, unless he was extremely certain, he would definitely not have made such a bold claim. Ran Yu was an extremely prideful person, a person who did not tolerate failure from himself.

As the pillar of light emitted a faint glow, Ran Yu stood silently within.

“It’s the Dragon Emperor divine column!” All the cultivators immediately noticed a divine column turn abnormal.

The Dragon Emperor divine column had been attempted by a previous Fire Cloud State disciple. He had received a reaction, but it was extremely weak.

At that moment, the Dragon Emperor divine column that appeared to be deep in slumber immediately roused its scales when it was Ran Yu’s turn.

Up to this point, the rating would still be at Entering Motion, but despite being in the same state, the previous cultivator had only managed to make the Dragon Emperor move its claws slightly. In comparison, Ran Yu was able to rouse all the scales on the Dragon Emperor to stand up, making the contrast obvious.

“This difference… ” The particular Fire Cloud State disciple who had attempted the same divine column turned pale as he silently shook his head.

More transformations happened as the Dragon Emperor’s head shook and its eyes suddenly opened!

Its eyes were as bright as the stars. Its gaze looked indifferent, as though the people in front of it were just ants. For a powerful ancient life form that was born at the beginning of time — even if it was just a glimmer of its grace — these warriors were like specks of dust.

Everyone held their breaths and focused. Dragon Emperor, Eye Opening!

This was reaching the second rating of Eye Opening!

He was the first person amongst the Fire Cloud State disciples to obtain the rating of Eye Opening!

The Dragon Emperor’s star-like eyes stared intently at Ran Yu, who was immersed in the pillar of light. It was as though this minute life had given it the slightest cause of attention. One of its claws suddenly raised up before it clasped the divine column. Its body seemed like it was about to move.

“Could it be… ?”

Lie Ya’s expression looked unsettled. If the Dragon Emperor moved its entire body, that would mean that Ran Yu had attained the third rating, Hibernation Awakening. The difference between him and Ran Yu would be even greater…

Above Eye Opening, there was Hibernation Awakening. It meant making a dormant ancient Fey, who had been hibernating for billions of years, move.

To make an ancient Fey God open its eyes to take a look at an ant-like person meant that this ant was a stronger ant. If the ant made the ancient Fey move and hold its head up to size the ant up properly, that meant the ant was an outstanding one!

The ancient Fey represented the laws of Chaos, the most Origins of energy. The more they belittled people, the more people felt awed by the Great Dao and increased their yearning for it.

The Phoenix Firmiana State cultivators had mixed looks. Could this Ran Yu really attain Hibernation Awakening!?

Even Cang Mang, who did not show any interest about what recognition the cultivators obtained, raised his eyes to look at Ran Yu. If he really obtained the Hibernation Awakening rating, Ran Yu was a person worthy of attention…

“Boom!” The pillar of light that enveloped Ran Yu suddenly became extremely bright, but it was only an instant before the burst of light disappeared.

Everyone immediately looked at the Dragon Emperor divine column. All the visions they had seen had already disappeared.

“Rating: Eye Opening!” Cang Mang said.

Luo Tian immediately revealed a schadenfreudian expression.

“After all this choosing, it was only the Dragon Emperor. Even if you obtain the Eye Opening rating, it is also nothing impressive.” Luo Tian said as he shook his head.

The Fire Cloud State cultivators were incensed. By saying that Eye Opening was nothing impressive, wasn’t that implying that they who had received Entering Motion were trash?

Entering Motion could be ignored, but the difficulty of Eye Opening was not low at all. Luo Tian was being too arrogant!

Ran Yu chuckled, “Oh? I wonder if the Empress Earth Dao Tree would make you, Luo Tian, see it in a different light?”

Luo Tian’s pupils immediately constricted.

The cultivators also noticed that the pillar of light enveloping Ran Yu only changed in intensity, but it did not disappear. And at that moment, another divine column began to experience changes!

It was the Empress Earth Dao Tree!

The Fire Cloud State disciples immediately recalled that Ran Yu had attempted to gain the recognition of two divine columns!

The Dragon Emperor divine column had a rating of Eye Opening, but it was only one. Next, there was the Empress Earth Dao Tree!

The Empress Earth Dao Tree had an extensive magnificence to its aura. People could only feel a heavy feeling emanate the surroundings and following that, an azure-colored gas appeared from Ran Yu’s pillar of light.

This azure gas contained extremely profound Great Dao, as well as extremely vigorous life energy.

Empress Earth Dao Tree!

The Empress Earth Dao Tree was too esoteric. As people looked at the azure-colored gas, no one could decipher what recognition rating this was.

As the azure gas turned increasingly rich, as though it was about to condense into something, it slowly dissipated moments later.

The ancient Fey column was restored to its calm state.

At that moment, Cang Mang’s voice boomed, “Rating, Entering Motion!”

Only Entering Motion!

Ran Yu frowned and he was somewhat disappointed. The Empress Earth Dao Tree was a manifestation of the 3000 Great Dao laws. It was too terrifying and complicated. Trying to gain its recognition was too, too difficult!

Luo Tian’s brows moved. It was not surprising to obtain Entering Motion. If the Empress Earth Dao Tree’s Dao Leaves condensed Dao Eyes, that would be terrifying. Luo Tian knew that even if it came to him, he was still very far from that step. It could be said that in the 196 states of the Luo clan, such a genius was nearly impossible to find. How could gaining insight into 3000 Great Dao be easy?

Having obtained Entering Motion for the Empress Earth Dao Tree and simultaneously obtain Eye Opening for the Dragon Emperor, it meant that Ran Yu’s strength was indeed good.

Seeing that Luo Tian and the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples were relatively silent, the Fire Cloud State disciples also heaved a sigh of relief.

Although Ran Yu’s achievements made them feel somewhat jealous, they felt great being able to vent their anger once the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples had their mouths gagged.

The shock brought about by Ran Yu did not dissipate immediately as the next pillar of light enveloped Gu Luo!

“Right, Gu Luo also wanted to gain the recognition of two divine columns!”

“Gu Luo… ” Phoenix Firmiana State’s Luo Tian looked at Gu Luo with a slight daze.

Amongst the Fire Cloud State’s younger generation, Tian Shi, Ran Yu and Gu Luo were the leaders of the pack. The person that was hardest to see through was Gu Luo.

Gu Luo was like a shadow that lived in the dark shadows, with no one being able to notice him usually.

Gu Luo walked straight into a pillar of light and he was illuminated by it.

However, under the wrapping of the gray cloth, no one could see Gu Luo’s mouth move. His voice seemed to directly come out of his head. It sounded dreary and buzzed in one’s ears.

Boom!

On the Kun Peng divine column, the Kun Peng suddenly rolled around in the sea of clouds. Half its body flew out of the divine column and formed a phantom image in the sky, overlooking Gu Luo!

Next, the Kun Peng opened both its eyes!

It eyes were open! Having the eyes open immediately was a scene that stunned both the Fire Cloud State and Phoenix Firmiana State’s disciples.

The motionless Gu Luo formed a contrast with the moving Kun Peng that was like an irresistible force. It was extremely shocking!

“Xiao!”

At that moment, the ancient Kun Peng let out a shrill as it began to flap its wings, causing a violent wind to rise up. It made the Luo clan disciples present have trouble finding their footing. They nearly did not react in time.

“Could this be… ” Someone said in utter surprise, “Hib… Hibernation Awakening!”

Ran Yu’s pupils immediately constricted to the size of a needle tip.

Gu Luo, who was from the Fire Cloud State just like him, had returned ten years after an experiential training outside the Fire Cloud State, but now he had managed to stir the Kun Peng Fey God on the ancient Fey column, completing Hibernation Awakening!

817 - : Hibernation Awakening

CKtalon  CKtalon

Luo Tian wrapped his arms across his chest as a coldness revealed in the way he looked at Gu Luo. He slowly said, “Gu Luo, you are truly one that never rains but pours.”

The other Luo clan disciples were also secretly horrified. For Luo Tian to say that, it was undoubtedly Hibernation Awakening.

From Entering Motion to Eye Opening, and from Eye Opening to Hibernation Awakening, he had done it in one fell swoop. Gu Luo had quietly obtained such a high level of recognition!

Especially for Lie Ya, his expression changed greatly as he clenched his teeth tightly. It was the same Kun Peng divine column, but Gu Luo had only spent half the time he spent in front of the Kun Peng divine column!

However, the difference in their recognition was like night and day.

“Can the difference be so big… ?” Lie Ya found it hard to accept the truth.

“He can actually obtain the recognition of Hibernation Awakening.” Ran Yu’s eyes were no longer calm.

On the cultivators’ name list, his ranking was higher than Gu Luo, and although Ran Yu had been vigilant against Gu Luo, his true goal was Tian Shi!

Especially with Tian Shi being taken away in advance this time, although Ran Yu still appeared calm on the surface, he was actually feeling indignant!

Ran Yu wanted to prove that even if he lacked the special treatment of Tian Shi being nurtured with dedicated care, he would still not be any inferior with existing resources.

But now, Gu Luo had obtained the Hibernation Awakening rating…

Under the different gazes of everyone, Gu Luo remained silent. He stood in his spot motionless without even blinking his eyes. He gave an aura of death like he was a walking zombie.

Even the strong wings conjured by the ancient Kun Peng did not make Gu Luo react.

And at that moment, the ancient Kun Peng’s phantom image exploded and dispersed.

The Kun Peng divine column returned to normal, as though everything that had happened was just a mass hallucination.

“Rating, Hibernation Awakening!” Cang Mang’s voice resounded.

Cang Mang glanced intently at Gu Luo. However, the pillar of light on Gu Luo’s body did not disappear.

Two people in a row…

“There is another divine column. What is it?” The cultivators hurriedly looked over.

“It’s the Solitary Nothingness divine column! Gu Luo chose the Solitary Nothingness divine column first before the Kun Peng divine column. I wonder what rating he will receive this time!” A sharp-eyed person shouted.

The ninth Fey God, Solitary Nothingness, was an endless void itself. It was the tomb of Great Worlds, and it represented dead silence.

Above the Solitary Nothingness divine column was just blankness. It was no wonder that no one noticed anything at a glance. The changes it produced were invisible ripples that radiated throughout its surroundings.

As the ripples swept past, everyone’s eyes went into a blur, as though they were being swallowed into Solitary Nothingness’ body. It was as though they had fallen into infinity, a world with nothing. This feeling was just instantaneous, but a few cultivators with a lower cultivation level were left in a trance that took them some time to recover from.

“The feeling just now felt like death. The Solitary Nothingness Fey God is so strange!” Bai Chen was one of them. His entire body quivered as cold sweat oozed out his forehead. The boundary of life and death was too horrible. It was definitely not a good feeling to experience the coming of death.

Yi Yun looked at the Solitary Nothingness divine column. The aura from before was something that even the Death Soulwood could not absorb. However, with the Death Soulwood and the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun was far from being seriously affected by it.

He thoughtfully looked at Gu Luo and wondered what species Gu Luo was and what cultivation technique he cultivated. However, from his appearance, he must be somehow related to the Solitary Nothingness divine column, so it was no wonder that he could obtain the Solitary Nothingness divine column’s recognition.

The difficulty of Solitary Nothingness and the Empress Earth Dao Tree divine column’s recognition was nearly equal.

It was just unknown what rating Gu Luo would obtain from the Solitary Nothingness divine column…

“Rating, Entering Motion!” Cang Mang announced, but after that, he looked at Gu Luo with an appreciating gaze.

That ripple from before was the Solitary Nothingness divine column’s Entering Motion?

Kun Peng divine column, Hibernation Awakening! Solitary Nothingness divine column, Entering Motion!

“That rating!” The cultivators, including the Phoenix Firmiana State’s cultivators, were started as they shook their heads.

There was really no way to compare them…

Ran Yu’s delicate face was already extremely sullen.

“Pa! Pa!”

Luo Tian began clapping. Each clap from the applause felt as though it was smacking Ran Yu heavily in the face.

“Impressive, truly impressive!” Luo Tian said from the bottom of his heart.

“Ran Yu, so this is the reason why you told me not to laugh too early.” Luo Tian looked at Ran Yu and said with a smirk.

The corner of Ran Yu’s eyes immediately twitched. Luo Tian was rubbing salt into his wounds.

“Luo Tian, your Phoenix Firmiana State should be convinced this time, right!?” A female disciple from the Fire Cloud State said to vent her anger.

Gu Luo’s rating was extremely high, while Ran Yu was just slightly inferior to him. Their performance could be said to be absolutely brilliant. Seeing the Phoenix Firmiana State’s people being completely silent, the Fire Cloud State disciples felt that they could lift their heads high.

“Gu Luo, it was indeed my mistake to think lowly of you.” Hearing Luo Tian’s admission, the female disciple from the Fire Cloud State immediately revealed a smile. But before she said anything, she saw the tail behind Luo Tian twitch. And once again, his face revealed an arrogant look.

“However, it’s just a Hibernation Awakening and an Entering Motion. That’s nothing when it comes to me. If you received Eye Opening from the Solitary Nothingness divine column, I would be impressed. But now, all you got from the Solitary Nothingness divine column was Entering Motion. Trying to use Hibernation Awakening from the Kun Peng divine column to beat me is impossible.”

Luo Tian’s words shocked everyone.

Ran Yu’s face turned ugly as he coldly said, “What arrogance!”

If Gu Luo was nothing, wasn’t he completely unacceptable?

“I don’t mind all of you staying for another day to see my rating before leaving.” Luo Tian said.

A strange glint appeared in Ran Yu’s eyes. What Luo Tian said was him having true confidence. If his rating was lower than Gu Luo, he would completely lose all face.

The other Fire Cloud State disciples also understood this point and they were amazed. Ran Yu and Gu Luo’s rating was already miles above others, but Luo Tian was even stronger than them?

“Could it be gaining the recognition of three divine columns?” A Fire Cloud State disciple said.

However, before he finished his sentence, he shook his head, thinking that it was rather unlikely.

The Phoenix Firmiana State disciples only had one day to obtain the recognition just like them.

Cogitating two divine column meant half a day’s time each. If there were three columns, that meant a third of a day. The difficulty was extraordinary.

With the current situation, nearly no one paid any attention to the remaining evaluations, but it was still carrying on. Amidst the crowd, a pillar of light lit up a person’s body.

“Junior Brother Yi.”

Only Luo Fengling and a few people around her quickly realized that the person enveloped by the pillar of light was Yi Yun.

Others also noticed it, but they quickly turned their gazes away.

With Ran Yu and Gu Luo before him, who would pay any attention to Yi Yun’s recognition rating?

Now, everyone was guessing at Luo Tian’s possible feats.

818 - : Solitary Nothingness

CKtalon  CKtalon

“I wonder if Junior Brother Yi Yun really passed.” Bai Chen was actually the person most concerned about Yi Yun. As a new disciple, Bai Chen truly wished that Yi Yun failed the test, just like him.

Lie Ya also noticed Yi Yun, but he did not pay him much attention. Ran Yu and Gu Luo’s rating had given Lie Ya quite a setback, so he was feeling disheartened.

He did not look forward to Yi Yun making a fool of him at all.

He was not in the mood.

As for whether Yi Yun’s failure to gain any recognition would cause the Fire Cloud State to be ridiculed by the Phoenix Firmiana State, Lie Ya could not be bothered.

At that moment, he heard Luo Fengling say, “The Seven-colored Phoenix is moving.”

Lie Ya was surprised and hurriedly turned around.

It moved?

A warrior’s eyesight was very good, so Lie Ya instantly saw the Seven-colored Phoenix’s tail feathers and one claw tremble slightly.

Lie Ya’s face sunk. Be it a tremble or a flap, as long as there was any motion from the Seven-colored Phoenix, it meant Entering Motion!

“He actually managed to gain its recognition! Forget it, it’s just luck, why do I need to care about him?”

Lie Ya gave Yi Yun a displeased glance. This punk had truly gotten dog-shit luck! It was shameful for him to share the same rating as Yi Yun!

Bai Chen also sighed and he did not feel good. Yi Yun had truly passed!

“Rating, Entering Motion.” Cang Mang announced.

Bai Chen looked at Yi Yun and said with a bit of bitterness, “Junior Brother Yi Yun, congratulations.”

Yi Yun did not speak. In fact, making the Seven-colored Phoenix ancient Fey column move was not easy for him.

The other cultivators who had obtained the recognition from the Seven-colored Phoenix did it through fire-elemental laws. However, Yi Yun’s fire-elemental laws was born out of pure Yang laws. Hence, it was not something great. He had to use a bit of Sword Intent to aid him — the Sword Intent from the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

When he stood in front of the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column for the first time, Yi Yun knew that the Seven-colored Phoenix would resonate with the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s Sword Intent. However, the source of the resonance was the Dao that the carver of the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column had. He had used a sword to carve the ancient Fey column, giving the ancient Fey column a bit of Sword Intent.

This was Yi Yun failing to use a Great Dao, but it was in fact, a trick.

Hence, regardless how ingenious the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s Sword Intent was, the amount of recognition gained by the pure Yang Sword Intent was not much in front of the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column. After all, the Seven-colored Phoenix was born out of Chaos, and not a companion of Sword Intent.

Hence, Sword Intent combined with fire-elemental laws only allowed him to attain Entering Motion. It was only the basic recognition, but for this, Yi Yun was very satisfied.

“Junior Brother Yi, your luck sure is good.” Someone said sourly. It was as though they would feel better if they concluded that Yi Yun’s Entering Motion was a result of luck.

Bai Chen sighed and said, “Luck is also a form of strength. Junior Brother Yi, you sure are good. Unfortunately, I lack that bit of luck. If I were to have just a bit more… ”

Bai Chen said indignantly, as though he felt bitter resentment.

“There was indeed a bit of luck in this.” Yi Yun smiled. It was true that there was a bit of luck. After all, he spent only a couple of hours in front of the Seven-colored Phoenix ancient Fey column, much shorter than others.

“At least you know yourself.” When Lie Ya heard Yi Yun’s dialogue with Bai Chen, he cursed in his heart.

“Your luck will not last forever.” Lie Ya coldly said before turning his gaze away. Taking another glance at Yi Yun would only upset him.

But at that moment, he suddenly heard Luo Fengling’s puzzled voice say, “Why is the pillar of light still on Junior Brother Yi Yun’s body?”

Oh?

Lie Ya turned his head back right immediately after he turned his head away.

Seeing Yi Yun still being enveloped by the pillar of light, Lie Ya was unable to come to a quick realization. What was going on?

The others had yet to notice this. Only Lie Ya, Luo Fengling, and Bai Chen were staring intently at Yi Yun.

At that moment, a divine column had a reaction.

“There’s a sound.”

Luo Fengling also stared widely with her beautiful eyes.

Phew… a gentle breeze suddenly appeared.

The Phoenix Firmiana State were also alarmed by this. They hurriedly looked over and soon, everyone noticed the strange phenomena from Yi Yun’s body.

Who was this punk? Wasn’t it just announced that he had gained a divine column’s recognition?

Although the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples did not pay Yi Yun any attention, they had heard Cang Mang’s announcement.

It was only Entering Motion, so there was nothing to care about.

However, why was there a commotion from a person who had obtained recognition?

“A divine column is moving!” Someone suddenly exclaimed as everyone looked over.

It’s… the Empress Earth Dao Tree!”

At that moment, the Fire Cloud State disciples suddenly recalled that Yi Yun had stood in front of the Empress Earth Dao Tree divine column for a period of time. Of course, everyone thought that he was being overambitious. Besides, he had left rather quickly.

Could it be… ?

Motion meant Entering Motion!

That meant that Yi Yun had obtained the recognition of the Empress Earth Dao Tree?

This was something unbelievable!

If obtaining the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column’s recognition was luck, could it be the same for the Empress Earth Dao Tree?

Then wouldn’t this luck be preposterous!?

Rustle!

A sound suddenly rang.

In a trance, everyone felt like they were standing beneath a towering tree. Surrounding them was the sound produced by the rustling of the leaves.

Under this large tree, everyone was extremely minute, like ants or dust.

People looked up and they saw the lush foliage on the tree. As they faced the sun, their Dao patterns seemed to form eyes as they blinked.

“This is… ”

“Eye Opening? The Empress Earth Dao Tree has opened its eyes???”

The Fire Cloud State and Phoenix Firmiana State disciples were extremely shocked.

People who previously thought that Yi Yun had gotten lucky were stunned. The Empress Earth Dao Tree’s Eye Opening? This was a result from Yi Yun?

If it was Entering Motion, they could use luck to explain, mainly to console themselves. But for Eye Opening, was this something that could be attained with luck?

Furthermore, it was the Empress Earth Dao Tree!

The Empress Earth Dao Tree was much stronger than the ancient Fey columns like the Seven-colored Phoenix, Dragon Emperor or Kun Peng. To obtain its recognition was extremely difficult. Even the powerful Gu Luo only obtained the rating of Entering Motion in front of the Solitary Nothingness divine column, a column about the same level as the Empress Earth Dao Tree.

But instead, Yi Yun had Entering Motion for the Seven-colored Phoenix, but Eye Opening for the Empress Earth Dao Tree!

This result might appear similar to Ran Yu, but in fact, it was much better than Ran Yu!

Ran Yu’s breathing stagnated as he looked at Yi Yun. Previously, he had treated Yi Yun as a sycophant that had gained Prince Pingnan’s support, a shameless puny person that squeezed his brother from his spot. But who knew…

He could forget about Gu Luo, even Yi Yun was about the same as him!

“The Seven-colored Phoenix’s rating Yi Yun obtained was him barely scraping through. But for the Empress Earth Dao Tree, is he using some treasure to cheat? I don’t believe it. He’s just a new disciple, how can he have such a rating?” A female disciple from the Fire Cloud State said with a resenting tone. She was an admirer of Ran Yu, so she could not help but speak out when she heard the surrounding people discuss how Yi Yun’s rating was better than Ran Yu.

Everyone did not believe her so-called ‘cheating’ because in front of the twelve Fey divine columns, other than one’s grasp of laws, no other means was effective.

At that moment, something suddenly floated down from the top of the pillar of light where Yi Yun was at.

At first, these people could not see it clearly, but slowly, they managed to discern what had floated down.

It was an ordinary leaf.

There was no splendor, just an ordinary leaf that was inferior to spiritual plants.

However, when everyone saw the leaf, their pupils constricted as they could not move their gazes away.

They watched intently as the leaf slowly floated to the top of Yi Yun’s head.

Yi Yun reached out with his hand and the leaf fell into his palm.

Once the leaf landed in his palm, it went from a bright green color to a withering yellow. It then went from yellow to powder. With a blow of the gentle wind, the powder was blown up, dispersing into the air.

Many people were dazed seeing this.

The Empress Earth Dao Tree had shed a leaf, letting it fall into Yi Yun’s hand?

What did Yi Yun do or deserve to make the Empress Earth Dao Tree shed one of its leaves!?

And at that moment, Cang Mang suddenly stood up and gave Yi Yun a deep meaningful glance, and said, “Rating, Hibernation Awakening!”

His formidable voice woke everyone up from their shock.

Hibernation… Hibernation Awakening!?

819 - : Yi Yun’s Rating

CKtalon  CKtalon

The crowd of people that were jolted awake could not believe their ears.

Hibernation Awakening! Furthermore, it was the Hibernation Awakening recognition of the Empress Earth Dao Tree!

People were such curious creatures. When a person that was always much stronger than their wildest imagination, such as Ran Yu or Gu Luo, they would not doubt feats accomplished by those people despite feeling shocked. They would only accept it reluctantly, and they would even look up to the person as an idol. An idol being great was taken for granted.

But if the person who accomplished a feat was one who everyone believed was someone weaker than them, it would become something unacceptable.

Eye Opening was already unbelievable for them, but now… it was Hibernation Awakening!

“Impossible!” The moment Cang Mang said his words, Lie Ya could not help but cry out.

“Are you doubting me? Or are you doubting our Luo clan’s twelve Fey divine columns?” Cang Mang coldly looked at Lie Ya. A dangerous aura immediately arose from Cang Mang’s body. The gigantic python coiled around him also raised its head and stared at Lie Ya.

Lie Ya immediately felt his scalp go numb as he uttered, “No… ”

Cang Mang coldly grunted.

The twelve Fey divine columns contained a tinge of the ancient Fey Gods’ grace, of course it was impossible to cheat!

The truth was placed before them. Yi Yun had truly obtained the rating of Hibernation Awakening from the Empress Earth Dao Tree!

Ran Yu’s delicate face could no longer maintain its calm, as his expression turned extremely ugly.

Although the rating on the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column was weaker, just the Empress Earth Dao Tree’s Hibernation Awakening rating was enough to indicate that Yi Yun’s performance was better than Ran Yu.

Luo Tian also revealed an unexpected expression. “I thought that the Fire Cloud State was just only average. Who knew that a Yuan Opening realm disciple can have such good performance? However… the short period of cultivation might mean a disadvantage for people with low cultivation levels, but from another point of view, having a young bone age gives a bonus. The test of the twelve ancient Fey columns may not be one’s final evaluation of strength.”

What Luo Tian said was actually a fact, but it had been proven over numerous occasions that the longer one cultivated, the deeper one’s nomological insight was. The recognition obtained would be higher; hence, a disciple that had cultivated for sixty years should be stronger than a new disciple.

“Senior Brother Luo, does that mean you can exceed this rating?”

“Could it be that Senior Brother Luo is going to attempt to obtain the recognition of three ancient Fey columns?”

On the Phoenix Firmiana State’s side, a few disciples were shocked from hearing Luo Tian’s words. Luo Tian’s confidence made them all believe that he had the chance to achieve even better results.

Luo Tian shook his head, “Forget about three columns. That’s just pomposity. I will only choose two columns, one with Eye Opening and another with Hibernation Awakening. That, I can still guarantee.”

Luo Tian may have remarked that three columns was just ‘pomposity’, but the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples knew that it was just Luo Tian’s prideful way of expressing himself. As meditating in front of three ancient Fey columns was too much a rush for time, it was very difficult to obtain good results. It was safer to meditate over two ancient Fey columns.

An Eye Opening and a Hibernation Awakening would be a better result than Yi Yun.

However, could the Hibernation Awakening rating that Luo Tian guaranteed exceed the Empress Earth Dao Tree? That was the Empress Earth Dao Tree!

Seeing the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples still in doubt, Luo Tian laughed and said, “He’s just a Yuan Opening realm disciple junior. Surpassing him will be very easy!”

Just as he wanted to say more confident words, someone suddenly said, “Why… Why hasn’t the pillar of light around Junior Brother Yi’s body disappeared?”

“That’s right, and in fact, it seems to be getting brighter… ”

People broke out into a flurry of discussion, but these discussions made Luo Tian feel like he was a rooster that had its neck strangled. Slowly, he lowered his voice till it was completely stuck in his throat.

As though he had seen a ghost, he stared intently at Yi Yun.

Why was the situation not over!?

It was not only limited to him, the gazes people gave Yi Yun were completely filled with incredulity.

“Weng!”

A more intense golden beam of light fell from the sky, as though a brilliant sun was illuminating Yi Yun from the nine heavens. It bathed him in its golden light, making him look like a god.

Ran Yu immediately felt as though his brain had been brutally punched. It began to buzz.

Even the way Cang Mang looked at Yi Yun had an additional strange hint to it.

Could there… be more!?

The corners of a Fire Cloud State disciple’s eyes twitched as he whispered, “Speaking of which, didn’t Yi Yun meditate for quite a period of time in front of the Extreme Yang Illumination divine column? Could it be… ”

He did not need to finish his sentence as everyone recalled.

Immediately, everyone’s expressions appeared extremely complicated.

Yi Yun had obtained the Hibernation Awakening rating from the Empress Earth Dao Tree. He couldn’t have also obtained the recognition of the Extreme Yang Illumination, right?

The Extreme Yang Illumination’s birth was immediately after Chaos. The difficulty of grasping it was extremely horrifying.

The Empress Earth Dao Tree was the fusion of 3000 Great Dao, while the Extreme Yang Illumination was the ultimate embodiment of pure Yang laws. It was a Great Dao of Supremacy that was born alongside the beginning of the Universe.

Yi Yun’s previous performance had already shamed them to the point of not being able to raise their heads. Only Ran Yu and Gu Luo, as well as Luo Tian, could still compete with Yi Yun.

If he obtained the additional recognition of the Extreme Yang Illumination…

“Just now for the Empress Earth Dao Tree, Yi Yun might have used some small Dao, including fire-elemental laws to obtain its recognition. However, for the Extreme Yang Illumination, no matter how profound one’s fire-elemental laws are, it is just too weak in front of the pure Yang laws at the beginning. In my point of view, even if Yi Yun gains its recognition, it will just be Entering Motion.” A cultivator said.

“Entering Motion would also be terrifying enough!”

Many people said with great difficulty. Saying that Yi Yun would obtain Entering Motion was not because they were sure of it, but it was because such a result was something more acceptable for them.

These people originally believed that they were much stronger than Yi Yun. They were the ones who truly had the qualifications to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials. As for Yi Yun, he came from a lower realm, and he had just joined the Earth Fire Hall. If not for Prince Pingnan, how could he have been able to participate in the trials?

This understanding formed a huge contrast with the reality before their eyes. How could this bunch of elites accept it?

If the Empress Earth Dao Tree’s rating was because of Yi Yun’s amazing talents in fire-elemental laws, and if the Extreme Yang Illumination was only at the Entering Motion rating, this result would still make them uncomfortable, but at least, it was something acceptable.

Ran Yu did not speak, but in his heart, he too was having similar thoughts. He really could not accept that he who was a Heaven Fey with noble blood would be surpassed by a human from the lower realms.

“To obtain Hibernation Awakening from the Empress Earth Dao Tree, obtaining Entering Motion from the Extreme Yang Illumination is also extremely good.” Bai Chen thought bitterly. Previously, he wished that Yi Yun would fail to gain any recognition, but now, he did not care what rating Yi Yun obtained. The differences between the two of them was too great. It did not matter if there was one bit more or less.

Everyone had disparate thoughts, however, the Extreme Yang Illumination would not change its inclination because of these people’s thoughts.

A small fire plume suddenly lit up from the Extreme Yang Illumination.

Seeing this plume of fire, everyone immediately felt the same thing, as though this was the only ray of light left in the entire world.

The light from their surroundings, even the starlight above their heads appeared deficient in comparison before the plume of flame, as though they had all been engulfed.

The first ancient Fey column, Extreme Yang Illumination, moved…

820 - : Extreme Yang Body Illumination

CKtalon  CKtalon

After the plume of fire on the Extreme Yang Illumination divine column came into being, it began to burgeon like prairie fire.

As it burst out, even the large python coiled around Cang Mang raised its head up high!

The face which Cang Mang used to look at the Extreme Yang Illumination was filled with astonishment.

As the halo of light expanded, a layer of the halo suddenly burst outwards with a loud boom!

Everyone could not help but take a step back. Even though they knew that it was a phantom image, they could not help but feel that infinite heat radiating towards them. It felt like just touching it would render any protective Yuan Qi useless, reducing immediately to ashes! Even the heaven and earth could not withstand the terrifying heat, what more them?

This was naturally not Yi Yun’s strength, but the Fey God’s grace contained within the Extreme Yang Illumination divine column. As for Yi Yun, he was just the person who had triggered it.

But what truly shocked them was not the power of the heavens and earth, but Cang Mang’s words…

“Hibernation Awakening… ”

Cang Mang muttered to himself as the way he looked at Yi Yun completely changed.

Seven-colored Phoenix, Entering Motion.

Empress Earth Dao Tree, Hibernation Awakening!

Extreme Yang Illumination, Hibernation Awakening!

Obtaining the recognition of three divine columns, with two of them being at an extremely high difficulty, and it were these two extremely difficult divine columns that Yi Yun had obtained a rating of Hibernation Awakening!

To obtain the recognition of three divine columns in a day’s time, he had to do so in a third the time what others had for each divine column.

At that moment, even the zombie-like Gu Luo’s pupils had contracted into a needle tip.

Regardless of the speculation from before, be it about having good luck or being good at fire-elemental laws, the halo that burst forth was like a resounding slap, slapping them hard in their faces.

Luo Tian remained silent for a long time before he silently turned around. He was in fact thinking of turning around and leave the place. After knowing of Yi Yun’s ratings and then recall the words he had just said, he felt like he would be sitting on pins and needles just staying here.

In particular, he had even commented on Yi Yun’s performance in the capacity as a senior disciple. Seeing the result, Luo Tian’s face was burning.

And at that moment, not a single Fire Cloud State disciple cared about what Luo Tian had previously said. Compared to the immense shock Yi Yun gave to them, Luo Tian’s words were nothing.

“Two Hibernation Awakening, one Entering Motion. You are very good. Yi Yun, right? I shall remember your name.” Cang Mang looked at Yi Yun and said with a deep voice.

Upon hearing Cang Mang’s words, Ran Yu immediately clenched his fists. Cang Mang’s status and identity was far from simply leading them around for their training. And even though Ran Yu’s performance was not bad, Cang Mang had not said any additional words at all. This Yi Yun had gotten the favor of Cang Mang.

Ran Yu had intended to chase after Tian Shi, hoping to prove that even without Tian Shi’s resources, he too could excel. Ran Yu was actually satisfied with his performance, but now, compared with Yi Yun, he was greatly inferior.

He was inferior to Tian Shi and Gu Luo, and now, he was even inferior to a rookie disciple of the Earth Fire Hall!

“However, the twelve Fey divine columns is just a testing of one’s nomological insight. Just having insights alone is not enough for a warrior, because a warrior also requires sufficient strength.” Cang Mang said with great meaning behind his words. Yi Yun’s performance was indeed amazing, and combined with his cultivation realm and age, it could only be described as absolutely brilliant. However, the more Cang Mang favored Yi Yun, the more he wanted to specially say those words to warn Yi Yun so as to prevent him from feeling inflated.

“That’s right, Yi Yun is only having the upper hand for the time being. Now, I still possess great advantages in various other aspects, such as my body!”

A keenness flashed at the bottom of Ran Yu’s eyes. When it came to bodily strength, the Human race was inferior to the Fey race. Furthermore, Yi Yun’s cultivation had been short, so even if he was a true genius, the Luo Divine Hall trials were not his stage.

Other than those outstanding disciples being able to receive the attention from various factions at the Luo Divine Hall trials, those who passed the trials would also receive generous rewards! These rewards were very helpful in increasing their strength.

Before the Luo Divine Hall trials that lasted a decade began, they needed to use such training experiences like this to attempt to go one step further, as well as the opportunities obtained during these training experiences.

Following that, pillars of light appeared on the other Fire Cloud State disciples. However, after Ran Yu, Gu Luo and Yi Yun’s rating, no one paid attention to the remaining disciples, regardless if they received any recognition or not.

Even they themselves felt a lack of interest. Previously, every disciple was feeling nervous, wishing they could gain the recognition of the Fey divine columns. But now, this feeling of unease was already gone. Even if they passed, it was just Entering Motion, they did not offer any grounds for comparison with Yi Yun.

The remaining disciples quickly obtained their ratings of the twelve Fey divine columns.

The evaluation had given them quite a setback.

Cang Mang glanced at the disciples with a smile that did not look like a smile.

The Fire Cloud State disciples were all having a myriad of expressions. After the evaluation, nearly everyone had different expressions from when they first came in.

However, this was one of the goals of organizing the Luo Divine Hall trials. The Luo clan was able to last for eons through the steady stream of genius warriors.

Letting these elites with eyes as high as the heavens gather together was the only way to let them recognize their shortcomings, inspiring greater potential from them.

As for those disciples who suffered setbacks and could not recover from them would be eliminated without any worries. The Luo clan did not need such warriors.

“Previously, I mentioned that in the Ancient Fey Edifice, a large number of opportunities are prepared for you. The only thing that determines whether you can obtain it is based on your individual skill.” Cang Mang said.

Immediately, all the disciples who gained the recognition of the twelve Fey divine columns felt their spirits lifted. The twelve Fey divine columns made them clearly understand their own nomological insights and limitations. This resulted in their minds being focused on this, making them nearly forget there were still opportunities waiting for them!

“The twelve Fey divine columns represent laws. They are profound and esoteric. To obtain their opportunities is not a simple task.” Cang Mang looked at the disciples and slowly said, “Although it’s just a hint of their grace, the ancient Fey columns have their own consciousness. The constructors back then left their mantle behind, sealing them in the ancient Fey column’s interspatial space. It will provide you with different opportunities depending on the recognition you received!”

Those who had gained the recognition of any of the twelve Fey divine columns obtained the qualification to enter the twelve Fey divine columns interspatial space.

As Cang Mang spoke, everyone who gained the recognition of the twelve Fey divine columns were enshrouded by a sheen of pale light.

Following that, the ground began to issue a dull, rumbling sound, as though an extremely gigantic Fey beast was being awaken beneath it.

A feeling of being stared at by a primordial existence enveloped the crowd as the grounds trembled gently, causing the cultivators to tremble in fear.

At the same time, they also began having an intense anticipatory feeling!

The door was about to open!

821 - : Interspatial Space

CKtalon  CKtalon

Accompanying the sound of rumbling, a crevice slowly opened on the Fey divine columns that had been lit up. The crevices continued to widen until they formed gigantic doors that connected the sky to the ground!

The twelve Fey divine columns were immensely huge to begin with. The gigantic doors appeared like mountains, so when the cultivators stood in front of the doors, they were as minute as specks of dust.

“You can enter,” Cang Mang said as his mouth twitched after seeing the expressions of these people, staring with widened eyes.

Upon hearing this, the disciples who had gained recognition eagerly headed towards their doors.

Just as a cultivator reached a divine column’s door, he realized he was being repelled by an invisible force.

“You can only enter the door that you passed.” Cang Mang added on before he looked at Yi Yun and company again. “As for the three of you, you can choose any door from the divine columns that you have gained the recognition of.”

The cultivator who was repelled stared at the magnificent door in front of him and sighed. Standing outside the door, everything in the door was filled with a dense fog, preventing him from seeing the situation inside. As for this great door, it was for the Empress Earth Dao Tree divine column.

It was unknown when he would ever have a chance to enter this door…

“Junior Brother Yi, let us go,” Luo Fengling said.

Yi Yun nodded. He felt extremely curious looking at the doors. They gave him a feeling that there was a primordial behemoth entrenched behind the door. Even the fog at the doors felt like they were formed from the behemoth’s breathing.

At that moment, Ran Yu proceeded through the Empress Earth Dao Tree’s door, and after Yi Yun sized up the doors, he decided to follow suit.

While passing through the dense fog, Yi Yun suddenly had a feeling that he was being watched by numerous pairs of eyes. There were whispering voices in the fog and when Yi Yun traced the direction of the sounds, he was instantly stunned.

It appeared like there were numerous shadows flashing around in the fog. These shadows seemed to be either man or beast, while some did not even have any specific shapes.

But soon, Yi Yun was unconcerned about them. This was the door to one of the twelve Fey divine columns, it was unlikely that there was anything trying to make mischief.

“Those figures that are speaking are said to be spirits born from the twelve Fey divine columns.” Just after Yi Yun walked out of the fog, he heard a faint voice.

Ran Yu was standing not far from him, and he had said without even turning his head back.

“Spirits?” Yi Yun frowned. He was unsure about such matters.

However, Ran Yu no longer spoke. Yi Yun was also unsure of what Ran Yu was alluding to, but he did not probe further.

When he looked forward, a look of surprise appeared on his face.

Walking in from the door, he was apparently treading a path in the form of a bridge. And on the path ahead, there was a huge cave.

The cave was twinkling like starlight. Looking up, there was a recondite sky, and looking down was an infinite abyss. It was a mystery as to where it led to.

Yi Yun and Ran Yu had walked in from the Empress Earth Dao Tree’s door and they stood on the same stone bridge. And around them were twelve similar stone bridges that circled the cave.

The cave was so large that the stone bridges quite distant from each other.

However, the starlight was illuminating the stone bridges, allowing people to see each other from afar.

Other than Ran Yu and Yi Yun, there were already people standing on several stone bridges.

Just as Yi Yun looked at the cave, Ran Yu slowly came to the forefront of the stone bridge and he looked down at the abyss. He slowly said, “Do you know why our Fey race built the twelve Fey divine columns on a blue hole in this endless sea?”

Endless sea? Yi Yun was confounded. So this was a blue hole…

However… Wasn’t Mt. Azure Billow a large mountain suspended in the Universe? Where did the sea come from?

At that moment, Ran Yu did not wait for Yi Yun’s reply and he carried on, “That’s because the cultivation of us warriors are like standing on this stone bridge, shaky. Some people can achieve success in a short period of time, but they are like fireworks, only having a momentary brilliance. Truly good materials will burn ever brighter. Some of them can burn for tens of thousands of years, or even hundreds of millions of years.”

Yi Yun glanced at Ran Yu and he understood what he meant.

Clearly, Ran Yu’s pride prevented him from accepting Yi Yun’s evaluation to be higher than his. The fireworks were probably a metaphor for himself, while Ran Yu wanted to be the good material that he mentioned.

Yi Yun only smiled in silence. Ran Yu’s face turned surly because he did not like it when people disparaged him.

“Yi Yun, you are human. The perception of the Human race indeed surpasses the Fey race, but the Fey race has its own advantages, which are their extremely long lifespans and their powerful physiques! With this comparison, humans are considered too weak. The Fey race can use their long lifespans to close the advantageous gap that humans have in laws. For example, I may be decades older than you, but when contrasting this with my Fey race’s lifespan, I am actually younger than you!”

“It is difficult to bridge the differences in the physiques of the Human race and Fey race. And it is for this reason that the humans are always the weaker ones in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. Most humans, even if they share the same origins as members of the Fey race, they would eventually only become the servants or followers of the Fey.” Ran Yu said again, but Yi Yun did not think much of it. It was true that humans had a shorter lifespan than the Fey race, but that was only limited to their low cultivation levels.

With the increase of cultivation level, the lifespans of the mighty figures of the Human and Fey race would have the gap closed. In the end, once one had the power to control the heavens and earth, sharing the lifespans of the suns and moons, the racial lines would have long been blurred. There was not much of a comparison about who had a longer lifespan amongst the Human and Fey race mighty figures, but the number of mighty human figures would be a lot more!

Yi Yun said, “From what I know, only the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven belongs to the Fey race amongst the 12 Empyrean Heavens. In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, the position of the Human race is indeed deplorable, but there are even more Empyrean Heavens where humans are supreme.” Yi Yun lightly said, putting a plug on Ran Yu’s words.

As Ran Yu looked at Yi Yun, his eyes flashed a hint of sharpness.

The Fey race faced a tremendous problem. Only the Heaven Fey possessed greater potential, but the Heaven Fey’s fertility was much weaker than the Human race.

And at that moment, Cang Mang’s voice sounded from the cave.

He had also walked in from one of the doors of the divine columns, stunning everyone.

However, they immediately understood that since Cang Mang was a guardian of the Ancient Fey Edifice, he would definitely have gained the recognition of the ancient Fey columns. He was naturally free to enter the door.

“The opportunities are here and what you obtain is up to you. Even with the same rating, the opportunities that you obtain will be different.” Cang Mang said.

The cultivators standing on different stone bridges immediately revealed strange looks.

The cultivators who had managed to gain recognition naturally could not be compared to freaks like Ran Yu, Gu Luo and Yi Yun, but it was possible for them to obtain better opportunities than others.

Everyone was filled with anticipation, hoping that their luck was better.

822 - : Door to the Fey Gods

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, a light curtain suddenly flew up from deep beneath the chasm before it headed towards the Dragon Emperor divine column’s stone bridge.

The Dragon Emperor divine column’s stone bridge was in the shape of a giant dragon from afar, and there were a few Luo clan disciples standing there.

These Luo clan disciples were watching earnestly at the light curtain that flew towards them. This light curtain seemed to possess eyes as it flew straight towards a person, and in a blink of an eye, it appeared in front of a disciple. As the light curtain dispersed, it revealed a box in it.

The disciple was stunned as he hurriedly caught it. After opening it, all that could be seen from his face was mixed looks.

“What is it?”

A Luo clan disciple beside him said, “World Stones.”

World Stones were a form of salary given in the Fire Cloud State. Earth Fire Hall disciples were given one World Stone a year, while Heaven Fire Hall disciples were given five a year. This Luo clan disciple had obtained twenty World Stones as a reward, and it was considered not bad if this was any other time. But when contrasted with the Ancient Fey Edifice’s countless opportunities, it was understandably disappointing.

“In the Ancient Fey Edifice, only those above Eye Opening can obtain better awards. We only obtained Entering Motion, so forget it.”

The disciple shook his head with an ugly expression and sighed. He had barely obtained the divine column’s recognition, but even so, he still had a tiny bit of hope, but he never expected to receive the poorest reward of World Stones.

Another light curtain burst out from the chasm and it flew towards a Luo clan disciple on the Seven-colored Phoenix’s stone bridge. Immediately, that disciple revealed an uneasy expression. The degree of his Entering Motion was not much higher than the previous person.

Luo Fengling was also on this stone bridge, so she was similarly extremely nervous. Luo Fengling had very little time for cultivation, so obtaining a bit of resources would be very beneficial for her.

“It’s a cultivation technique!” The light curtain transformed into an ancient tome, as the disciple beamed.

Things were different when it came to cultivation techniques. The cultivation techniques stored in the Ancient Fey Edifice wouldn’t be too bad, even if it was the lowest grade.

“It’s the first and second volume of the Nine Volumed Celestial Axis.” One of the cultivators said after they saw the words on the ancient tome.

“Even if he obtained the first two volumes, trying to obtain all nine volumes is nearly impossible.” A Luo clan disciple said.

The Nine Volumed Celestial Axis was a top body-tempering cultivation technique in the Luo clan, but it did not belong to the Luo clan. It was a heritage left behind by an ancient mighty figure, who was famous in the entire Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven!

Although the Nine Volumed Celestial Axis was extremely valuable, its first few volumes were relatively simpler and they have been replicated into many similar copies.

However, after the fifth volume, the subsequent volumes’ prices grew at a geometric rate. Even the Luo clan did not have the complete Nine Volumed Celestial Axis.

“Nine Volumed Celestial Axis. Ze ze. According to legend, mastering the entire Nine Volumed Celestial Axis would result in a body that can shatter a Great World. This is the top body-tempering technique in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, but it is very difficult for humans to master it.” Ran Yu suddenly said.

He did not look at Yi Yun, but he was clearly directing it at Yi Yun.

Lie Ya, who wasn’t very far away, heard this and echoed, “Senior Brother Ran Yu is right. Humans are far inferior to us at cultivating body-tempering cultivation techniques. Humans only have two body-tempering stages when they first come into contact with martial arts, called Mortal Blood and Purple Blood. Compared to the Fey race’s body-tempering techniques, that was far inferior. It is mainly due to a problem with physique. The physique of humans is just too weak, so they can’t be trained up.”

After Lie Ya said that, he glanced proudly at Yi Yun.

He admitted that he was inferior to Yi Yun when it came to laws, but he was unwilling to admit that he was inferior to Yi Yun; hence, he mentioned body-tempering techniques. That was the forte of the Fey race, and it was something that the Human race was really bad at.

Even for Yi Yun, his body was his weakness. Back when he was fighting the Black-armored Demon God, the Black-armored Demon God’s extraordinary defense came from his body-tempering technique.

And because Yi Yun’s body was weak, he was unable to resist the Black-armored Demon God’s frontal attacks even once. He could only summon his Draco First True Gold avatar to block the attacks for him.

Although the Nine Volumed Celestial Axis could be used by both the Human and Fey race, nearly no human cultivated it because it was too difficult.

After the Nine Volumed Celestial Axis, a beam of light flew towards the Seven-colored Phoenix’s stone bridge, headed straight for Luo Fengling.

“Mine?” An uneasy Luo Fengling hurriedly reached out her hand.

Pa. A small jade box landed in Luo Fengling’s white palm.

She first raised her head to survey the cultivators around her, and these people also looked back at her.

Luo Fengling had been recommended by Fairy Black Bamboo and she had cultivated for a short period of time, so she was equally unpopular as Yi Yun. Although the recognition she obtained was nothing outstanding, these people probably wished that it would be best if the opportunity she gained was very bad.

Luo Fengling sighed lightly and she opened the jade box under the watchful eyes of others.

A round pill, pink like a woman’s lips, exuded a faint aroma as it sat in the middle of the jade box.

“No one knows what pill that is.”

A few cultivators, especially those that had obtained rewards but had been inferior to Luo Fengling, revealed downcast looks. Regardless what pill it was, how could it be bad if it was a pill given by the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column? It was definitely slightly better than World Stones or the first two volumes of the Nine Volumed Celestial Axis.

They had all obtained Entering Motion, but everyone’s opportunities were different, making everyone who had not received their opportunities uneasy.

Luo Fengling revealed a look of pleasant surprise. Only after taking a careful look at it was she willing to put the box away.

And after her, another disciple obtained a World Stone. From the way he groaned, he was extremely depressed about it.

At that moment, a light curtain flew out, and this time, the target was the Empress Earth Dao Tree’s stone bridge!

Standing on the Empress Earth Dao Tree’s stone bridge were Ran Yu and Yi Yun only. These cultivators were all guessing the target of this light curtain and what was inside!

“Say, is this mine or yours?” Ran Yu said in a drawn out manner.

After making the assertions regarding the body-tempering situation with the Human and Fey race, he had seemingly regained his confidence.

The light curtain charged at the duo and it abruptly appeared in front of Ran Yu.

“Looks like it’s mine.’ Ran Yu chuckled and reached his hand out.

The light curtain immediately dispersed as Yi Yun saw clearly a golden beam of light appear on Ran Yu’s palm the moment the light dispersed,.

Ran Yu and Yi Yun were the only two people on this stone bridge, so regardless of who it was that obtained an opportunity, they were bound to be the focus of attention. Everyone’s gazes was trained on this stone bridge.

They had also seen that golden beam of light.

The golden beam of light constantly changed in shape in Ran Yu’s hand, at times in the shape of a small sparrow and at other times a miniature golden snake.

“What’s that?”

“I wonder if it’s a reward from the Dragon Emperor or the Empress Earth Dao Tree.”

Previously, Cang Mang had said that those who passed a few divine columns could choose any column. This meant that even if Ran Yu stood on the Empress Earth Dao Tree’s stone bridge, he too could receive the opportunities from the Dragon Emperor divine column.

823 - : Nine Volumed Celestial Axis

CKtalon  CKtalon

Pa!

Ran Yu suddenly clenched his five fingers, shattering the pocket-sized tiny golden snake with a squeeze.

When he opened his fingers, a golden piece of paper-like charm was revealed.

The golden beam of light that could transform into different shapes autonomously was actually a charm?

All the Luo clan disciples looked at the charm with astonishment and curiosity.

And the moment the charm came into being, those cultivators that had been staring at the charm immediately felt a sense of danger. It was as though they were the ones being stared at by the charm.

Without even using the charm, it already imposed such feelings on others. Could it be weak when it was truly put into use?

Compared to other opportunities, charms were actually considered a consumable item, but truly powerful charms could be used at critical junctures. Some extremely profound charms were equivalent to a strike of a warrior at the Supremacy ranking. To Yuan Opening and Heaven Ascension realm warriors, this charm was especially valuable.

However, the more profound a charm was, the more difficult it was to produce one. Like the one Ran Yu had, the difficulty of constructing it was extremely high.

Upon thinking about this, the other cultivators were filled with envy. The cost of the charm definitely would not be low.

Ran Yu was rather satisfied with this charm as he silently put it away.

Ran Yu glanced at Yi Yun beside him, and he immediately sneered when he saw Yi Yun having a ruminating look. Clearly, this was the first time that Yi Yun had seen such a charm.

Warriors from the lower realm were limited in their world view, so how could they recognize the charms from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven?

At that moment, another light curtain flew over.

“It’s headed straight for Ran Yu again.”

Ran Yu reached out his hand and grabbed the curtain of light.

As the beam of light shattered, an extremely lustrous pearl appeared in Ran Yu’s hand.

The pearl gave off a faint azure luster and it emitted light. As it quietly sat in Ran Yu’s palm, its incandescent radiation fixated the gazes of those cultivators.

“That is… ” Some cultivators did not recognize it at all.

“Intermediary Spirit Pearl!” Someone exclaimed. This was not an offensive or defensive item, it was a Dao pearl carved with all the nomological insights of a mighty figure of the Luo clan when he was close to his death. Once it was shattered, one could gain enlightenment from the nomological fragments.

Of course, a mighty figure could produce many Intermediary Spirit Pearl over tens of thousands of years. And if one managed to gain insight from an Intermediary Spirit Pearl, it was still impossible to directly obtain the nomological insights of that particular mighty figure.

But even so, it was still extremely valuable.

A cultivator said with an envious tone, “This is similar to the pill that Luo Fengling received, but it is much higher in grade than that pill.”

“Ran Yu is a Heaven Fey, so he has a powerful body. Now, by having his nomological insights improved, his strength would improve before the Luo Divine Hall trials begin. He would definitely obtain a higher placing at the trials.”

The cultivators broke out into discussion.

They shook their heads gloomily as they looked at Ran Yu. The opportunities that they had obtained were nothing compared to Ran Yu’s.

However, Cang Mang said, “That is only the most basic grade of Intermediary Spirit Pearl.”

The most basic grade?

But it was still an Intermediary Spirit Pearl…

“However, being able to obtain an Intermediary Spirit Pearl is indeed not easy. People in the past have also gained the recognition of the Empress Earth Dao Tree, but the ones who obtained an Intermediary Spirit Pearl are few in number. There is a bit of luck involved in this.” Cang Mang followed up.

When these disciples heard it, they immediately sighed with emotion about the Intermediary Spirit Pearl’s value.

A sneer flashed through Ran Yu’s eyes. Although the grade wasn’t high, the opportunity that he had received was not bad. Just as people had said to Yi Yun, luck was also a form of strength.

“For Ran Yu to obtain this opportunity, it’s a wonder what Gu Luo and Yi Yun will obtain.” A cultivator turned his gaze towards Gu Luo and Yi Yun. This cultivator had obtained his opportunity, a notebook from a mighty Fey in his youth. If he carefully studied it, he too could gain some insights and knowledge.

This group of cultivators had already obtained their opportunities, so they had lost all sense of anticipation. Hence, they focused their attention on Gu Luo and Yi Yun.

“The opportunities depend on fated luck. Senior Brother Li, you just got Entering Motion and were weaker than younger brother me. However, the item you received is so much better than mine.” Another cultivator spoke with a look of speechlessness. He too had only obtained twenty World Stones.

“Haha.” That particular Senior Brother Li could not conceal his laughter as he said, “Hence, Gu Luo and Yi Yun might not received much better opportunities. The ancient Fey columns have strange rules with their ratings. Maybe as a human, Yi Yun might receive something even worse! Then his results would be for nothing.”

The other cultivators nodded their heads in unison. Yi Yun’s rating had made their faces warm, as though they had been smacked in the face. If the opportunities that Yi Yun received were not that great, they could feel more comforted.

Of course, they also knew that with Yi Yun’s ratings, no matter how bad his luck was, the opportunities that he received would be much better than theirs.

“It’s Gu Luo’s turn!”

A beam of light shot into Gu Luo’s hands and when everyone managed to make out the beam of light, they were taken aback.

Gu Luo’s first opportunity was also an Intermediary Spirit Pearl!

And when this Intermediary Spirit Pearl appeared, it immediately made the people present feel like their skins were being pricked. A sharp aura made everyone involuntarily retreat.

Upon seeing this Intermediary Spirit Pearl, Ran Yu frowned. It appeared as though Gu Luo’s Intermediary Spirit Pearl was of a higher grade.

The first treasure was an Intermediary Spirit Pearl, and for the next item…

Solitary Nothingness divine column, Entering Motion!

A light curtain flew out of the Solitary Nothingness divine column, transforming into a stone slip.

“It’s a fragmentary technique!” A keen-eyed person shouted.

The stone slip was unwhole, and only a portion of the technique recorded on it remained.

Gu Luo was seen silently putting the Intermediary Spirit Pearl and stone slip into his interspatial ring with a deadpan expression. No one could tell if he was happy or not.

Everyone was engaged in discussion, but Gu Luo did not have the intention to take the two treasures out.

They were curious about the fragmentary technique, and they speculated that it was an ancient fragmentary technique, and if Gu Luo managed to master 10 or 20% of it, it would be extremely good.

However, the comprehension of fragmentary techniques also depended on luck. Whether it could be comprehended and the amount one could comprehend was an unknown. Hence, from this point of view, the fragmentary technique might not be better than Ran Yu’s charm.

The other cultivators also came to this conclusion as they looked at Ran Yu. Although Ran Yu had received a relatively disadvantaged rating, his luck was still not bad…

However, Ran Yu appeared expressionless. After saying those words to Yi Yun, he had restored his refined and indifferent collectedness.

He had thought things through. As a Heaven Fey, and a member of the Xushui Ran clan, even if his nomological insights were inferior to Yi Yun, he surpassed Yi Yun in various other aspects! Why did he need to use his weakness as a comparison?

As for now, all that mattered was what opportunities Yi Yun would obtain.

824 - : Intermediary Spirit Pearl

CKtalon  CKtalon

By now, everyone had realized that the rewards given by the twelve Fey divine columns were issued in order of recognition. After Gu Luo, it was most likely Yi Yun’s turn.

Everyone’s focus turned onto Yi Yun as they were all eager to know what sort of opportunities he would receive, with him being the cultivator with the highest ratings.

Even Gu Luo’s dead-like eyes turned to look at Yi Yun.

“I wonder how Junior Brother Yi Yun’s fated luck is… ” Luo Fengling looked from afar as she stood on the Seven-colored Phoenix stone bridge.

The stone bridge beneath Yi Yun was like a shriveled piece of wood that appeared to have been in such a state for more than ten thousand years. Its surface was also covered in a layer of stone.

But beneath the shriveled wood, it was covered with spiritual flowers and spiritual grass that grew lushly and colorfully in an extremely beautiful manner. These spiritual plants would usually only grow in grounds with rich spiritual energy, so it was rather surprising for them to grow on this shriveled wood in this interspatial space.

Suddenly, a light curtain flew up from deep within the chasm. It began out as a tiny dot of light before quickly transforming into a long fogbow, and it was headed for the shriveled wood.

The light curtain directly towards Yi Yun, and the moment he stretched his hand out, he felt his hand sink as a box appeared in his hand.

“What is it?” The Luo clan disciples focused at his hand.

Yi Yun immediately understood the moment he came into contact with the light curtain.

This was the reward from the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column.

Yi Yun had barely gained the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column’s recognition, so he did not have his hopes up on the reward from it.

Yi Yun opened the box and in it was a book. The cover was written in ancient Fey race text—Nine Volumed Celestial Axis.

The first two volumes of the “Nine Volumed Celestial Axis”!

“This reward is very average.” Ran Yu said with a smile from the side.

The “Nine Volumed Celestial Axis” was a top level body-tempering technique, but its price only began soaring past the fifth volume. Upon reaching the eighth volume, it was already a huge treasure of the Luo clan. As for the legendary ninth volume, it was already considered to be lost. The moment that the ninth volume appeared, it would most definitely set off a blood storm in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.

In the world of martial arts, to create a copy of a cultivation technique that one obtained, one needed to first master it. Mastering to whatever level allowed one to make a copy of that level. If not, it would be impossible to describe those profound and esoteric laws as well as the energy flow trajectories.

The first few volumes of the “Nine Volumed Celestial Axis” were easy to cultivate, and there were many copies.

Previously, a little-known Luo clan disciple whose rating had barely reached Entering Motion had also obtained the first two volumes of the ‘Nine Volumed Celestial Axis’, so Yi Yun’s treatment was identical to that disciple.

This made Lie Ya gloat as he said, “It’s after all a rating of Entering Motion. The ‘Nine Volumed Celestial Axis’ is still passable and it’s much better than World Stones. However, with the physique of a human, cultivating the ‘Nine Volumed Celestial Axis’ is impossible… ”

The opportunities handed out by the Ancient Fey Edifice differed from person to person. These twelve divine columns had been established for an extremely long period of time, and the grace within each of the twelve Fey divine columns was mysterious and profound, giving these divine columns a bit of consciousness. They had a special way of judgment, so the opportunities and rewards they handed out were usually best suited for the cultivator.

For example, Ran Yu and Gu Luo had both obtained Intermediary Spirit Pearls, the reason being their weakness in laws.

But Yi Yun obtained the “Nine Volumed Celestial Axis”?

This made many people find it interesting. It was well known that humans could not temper their bodies, so for the Ancient Fey Edifice to give a copy of the first two volumes of ‘Nine Volumed Celestial Axis’ to Yi Yun was no doubt smacking Yi Yun in the face.

“It appears like Junior Brother Yi’s body is too weak, resulting in the Ancient Fey Edifice handing a body-tempering cultivation technique to make up for it. If Junior Brother Yi is confident, he can attempt to learn it.” Ran Yu said to Yi Yun with a smile that did not look like one.

Time was very precious for warriors in their youth. If Yi Yun was being prideful and remained indignant which resulted in him attempting to temper his body, it would definitely waste a lot of his time. This was an outcome that Ran Yu was very willing to see.

“Junior Brother Yi, don’t be provoked by him. It’s best that you cultivate laws properly. As for body-tempering, it’s not that humans can’t do so, but the amount of effort and resources required outweighs the outcome from tempering one’s body. The gains cannot make up for the losses.”

Luo Fengling was afraid that Yi Yun might be hot-headed due to his youth, and if he were to be led astray, the outcome would be disastrous.

“Thank you Senior Sister Luo for your advice. This Junior Brother will keep it in mind.”

Yi Yun took a glance at the ‘Nine Volumed Celestial Axis’ before putting it into his interspatial ring.

Although Ran Yu had deliberately belittled him, what he said was indeed true. His body was a pure Yang body, and it was inclined towards laws. As for body-tempering techniques, it was about having powerful bones, blood, muscles and veins. It had nothing to do with a pure Yang body.

However, Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal. If he truly cultivated in body-tempering techniques, he could use the Purple Crystal to absorb large amounts of energy to reconstruct his body, even if his body was not up to standard. It was still possible for him to cultivate body-tempering techniques. It was just as Luo Fengling said, the amount of effort and resources could not outweigh the results. There was no need to do so.

Yi Yun did not mind the first reward. After all, it was given by the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column. He had barely gained its recognition, so it was expected that the reward he obtained wasn’t good.

And next…

Whew!

Another light curtain rushed out of the chasm, straight towards Yi Yun!

After the Seven-colored Phoenix divine column, there were the Empress Earth Dao Tree and Extreme Yang Illumination. Yi Yun had obtained Hibernation Awakening in both the divine columns.

“The first reward runs counter to Yi Yun’s cultivation path. I’m interested to see what the second reward he will receive is. If it runs counter again from his path, that would be interesting.” Ran Yu said with a laugh.

He admitted that Yi Yun’s nomological insights were good, but he still looked down on Yi Yun’s origins and bloodline. Although he had obtained ratings of Hibernation Awakening, the opportunities given by the twelve Fey divine columns might not be something that he could necessarily enjoy.

His body and cultivation level was weak. If the item that he received could not immediately improve his strength, it would also not help out at the Luo Divine Hall trials.

In the Luo Divine Hall trials, no matter how high one’s talent in laws were, it was useless because strength was everything.

“I might not beat you in the Ancient Fey Edifice’s twelve columns, but the Luo Divine Hall trials are what’s critical. I will certainly surpass you.” Ran Yu said silently in his heart.

At that moment, the light curtain had landed in Yi Yun’s palm.

It was a squarish stone box.

This stone box looked ordinary and it even looked a bit crude.

However, no one dared to belittle it. Quite a number of people shared the same thoughts as Ran Yu, believing that regardless of how good the items that Yi Yun received were, his low cultivation realm would render them temporarily useless. However, they still knew that the opportunity he received would not be bad.

This was a reward given out for a Hibernation Awakening rating.

Yi Yun looked at the stone box in his hand. It was about the length of a forearm and it was simple in appearance. It did not appear special while in his hand, and the aura inside it was completely isolated. He also had no idea what it was.

825 - : The Path of Body-tempering

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun ignored the gazes of others as he slowly open the stone box.

When the stone box opened, a chilling aura was immediately emanated. The aura was like a water wave that instantly filled the entire area.

While everyone was immersed in this aura, they could not help but quiver. They sensed a baffling sense of pressure and they found it difficult to stand properly.

What sort of aura was this?

People were alarmed, and the reason why they couldn’t stand properly was not because of the powerful aura, but mostly the pressure that they felt from it.

“What was that?”

“That aura from just now is very odd!”

As the aura rushed past them, they felt their bodies turn cold.

What was stored in that stone box?

Yi Yun opened the stone box completely as his eyes also flickered with a look of anticipation.

He was indeed too young to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials. And it was because of this reason that he needed to grasp every opportunity he had to raise his strength, allowing him to have greater confidence in the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trials.

Yi Yun wanted to look for Lin Xintong, and if he could increase his strength by leaps and bounds through the Luo Divine Hall trials, it would be much simpler for him to traverse the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven in the future.

The moment that the stone box was opened, it appeared as though what lay inside the box did not seem particularly special compared to the cold and rugged aura.

It was a white bone that was crystalline like jade, exuding a faint shimmer.

The Luo clan disciples did not react when they saw the white bone, but Cang Mang, who was hovering mid air in a seated position, stood up. Even the large snake coiled around him raised its head.

“That is… an Ancient Fey bone!”

Cang Mang could not even maintain his calm as he looked at the Fey bone.

“Ancient Fey bone!?”

Cang Mang’s voice was heard by all the cultivators.

A tiny phantom swirled in the white-as-jade bone, as though it contained a spirit.

These cultivators were all members of the Fey race, so how could they not have heard of Ancient Fey bones?

However, if it came to seeing one, this was the first time that Ran Yu saw one, let alone those disciples from smaller family clans.

“Ancient Fey bone… How can it be!?”

Ran Yu’s face went pale when Cang Mang exclaimed that Yi Yun had obtained an Ancient Fey bone. As he looked at the bone, he clenched his fists tightly causing them to tremble gently.

“It’s actually an Ancient Fey bone! The Ancient Fey Edifice’s twelve ancient divine columns actually prepared an Ancient Fey bone for a human!”

The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven had three major categories of Fey race — Heaven Fey, Earth Fey and Ancient Fey.

Ran Yu was a Heaven Fey, and he was considered to have outstanding talent. He was the favored child of the Heavens, but the reason why Heaven Fey were strong was because of their ancestors. They were split off from Ancient Fey, inheriting the Ancient Fey’s bloodline.

What was Ancient Fey? Other than the twelve Fey Gods— the dragons and phoenix in the skies, and the Kun Peng in the sea — from Chaos, the Golden Crow, Qilin, Musical Dragon, Baxia, Vermilion Bird and, White Tiger were all Ancient Fey!

These Ancient Fey were powerful and mighty as were the primordial divine beasts of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.

Of course, there were differences amongst Ancient Fey. A pure-blooded True Dragon was thousands of times more powerful than a wyrm with mixed bloodlines.

But even a wyrm’s bone was invaluable because the bones contained bone runes and blood marrow!

After Ancient Fey died, their flesh and blood would return to the world, leaving only their bones behind. The runes in the bones were the laws that the Ancient Fey practiced when they were alive.

As for blood marrow, that was where the mighty power of the Ancient Fey’s bloodline was.

The blood marrow could be transplanted directly to the bodies of warriors, changing their physique greatly. This would strengthen a warrior’s body, allowing the warrior to gain a tremendous leap in power!

And it was this reason that the Desolate Heaven Masters of the Luo clan would find it a waste refining the Ancient Fey bones into relics. Instead, they would use mystic techniques to directly absorb the Ancient Fey bone.

Why did Heaven Fey have a superiority complex from birth? It was because of their powerful bodies from when they inherited the bloodline of Ancient Fey at birth.

For example, the Xushui Ran clan, their ancestors had inherited the bloodline of the “Ranyi Fish”.

The ‘Ranyi Fish’ was a kind of Ancient Fey. The ‘Ten Thousand Fey Classic of Mountains and Seas’ recounts: The Ranyi Fish has the body of a fish and a head of a snake. It has six legs, and eyes that of a horse. Obtaining a scale of the Ranyi Fish allows warriors to distance themselves from dream terrors and remove mental demons.

The Xushui Ran clan may have inherited the Ranyi Fish’s bloodline, but its concentration was not necessarily high. A genius within the clan was able to awaken the ancient bloodline to obtain a scale, but for Ran Yu, he was far from awakening the ancient Ranyi Fish bloodline.

If Ran Yu received a bone of the Ranyi Fish and absorbed it, the concentration of his bloodline would improve to a whole new level, making it more possible for him to awaken his ancient bloodline.

However, Ancient Fey bones were too valuable. Although the Xushui Ran family clan had remnant bones of the ancient Ranyi Fish, they were all an accumulation and bedrock of the family clan, so it was impossible for them to give it to Ran Yu for his use.

Ran Yu had eyed the bones of the Ranyi Fish in his family clan for a very long time, but he had never been able to obtain it. But now, Yi Yun had already obtained an Ancient Fey bone!

How could this not make him envious!?

Humans had good perception in laws, but their physical strength was bad. However, if it was reconstituted using the blood marrow in the Ancient Fey bones…

It would not be impossible for him to cultivate the ‘Nine Volumed Celestial Axis’!

Previously, Ran Yu and Lie Ya had mocked Yi Yun for his weak body, and how the twelve divine columns had given Yi Yun a body-tempering cultivation technique that he could not use. However, before they could even laugh for long, the ancient divine columns had prepared an Ancient Fey bone for Yi Yun, making them nearly vomit blood.

Yi Yun’s weak body could be made up with the Ancient Fey bone!

“Why is the Ancient Fey Edifice favoring this kid so much? To give an Ancient Fey bone to a human with such a weak body is a waste of a heavenly treasure. If it was given to me, I might be able to awaken the ancient Ranyi Fish bloodline!”

Seeing the stone box in Yi Yun’s hands, Ran Yu’s entrails churned.

The reason why he had restored his calm and regained his superiority over Yi Yun was all because of his body being much stronger than Yi Yun, a hallmark of the Fey race. But now, Yi Yun’s body condition was also chasing up to his.

The more Ran Yu thought about it, the more envious he became. Unknowingly, a killing intent effused from his body.

And at that moment, a cold gaze was projected onto Ran Yu, giving him a rude awakening. Turning his head, he saw the large python beside Cang Man coldly staring at him.

If Ran Yu could not resist the temptation and end up doing something rash, he would immediately be attacked by the large python.

Ran Yu took a deep breath and he remained silent.

At that moment, Cang Mang said to Yi Yun, “The Ancient Fey bone in your hand is the tail bone of an ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm. The ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm might not be considered a very powerful Ancient Fey, but even so, this piece of Fey bone is something of considerable worth in the entire Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. The tail bone of the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm is most suitable for warriors at your cultivation level. At a higher cultivation level, the effects would become increasingly weaker. This is quite an opportunity for you, so make sure you make full use of it.”

826 - : Ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm

CKtalon  CKtalon

With even Cang Mang saying so, the other Fire Cloud State disciples looked at Yi Yun with even greater jealousy.

That was an Ancient Fey bone!

“It’s such a waste of treasure to give that Fey bone to Yi Yun. With a human’s physique, absorbing an Ancient Fey bone would result in a lot of waste. If it were given to us, it would be put to full use. What a pity.” Someone said while clenching his teeth. And the moment he said that, another light curtain burst forward.

“It shot out from the Extreme Yang Illumination divine column.”

“There’s still more!”

Everyone watched as Yi Yun stretched his hand out to grab the light curtain.

As the light curtain landed in Yi Yun’s hand, it seemed like it had spiritual intelligence to it. It burst open, revealing a small burning fire plume that was golden in color. Upon seeing this flame, Ran Yu, who was the closest to it, immediately felt his scalp tingle as he hurriedly took a deep breath to resist the urge of dodging.

The other cultivators also had their faces change as they moved their sights away. Why did that small fire plume resemble a tiny golden crow? Looking straight at it made their eyes hurt. Even those standing on the stone bridge furthest from the Empress Earth Dao Tree stone bridge felt as though the hairs on their bodies were being burnt to a crisp.

The golden crow appeared only for an instant before it disappeared, eventually reducing to a charm. This charm looked bland, but the scene from before made everyone feel like all the energy from before was stored inside that thin charm, adding a hint of danger to it.

Yi Yun had also obtained a charm!

Ran Yu’s fist immediately clenched even tighter. They had both received charms, but it was obvious that Yi Yun’s charm was of a higher grade than his.

Previously, receiving a charm had made Ran Yu feel relieved, but now, there was no way that he could compete with the charm that Yi Yun obtained.

That was most likely a protective charm. The main reason for the Ancient Fey Edifice to give a protective charm was to prevent a genius from dying before having fully matured. There was a body-tempering cultivation technique, an Ancient Fey bone, and now, there was a protective charm. Its protection and care for Yi Yun was too thoughtful!

“That Yi Yun always gets items that don’t match his strength at all!” Ran Yu said hatefully in his heart.

And at that moment, Yi Yun happened to glance at Ran Yu. As though he had seen through Ran Yu’s thoughts, he said with a smile, “Senior Brother Ran, it seems my luck isn’t too bad either.”

Ran Yu immediately felt his chest turn stuffy as he snorted and said, “Your luck is good, but it’s such a pity for those treasures!”

With Yi Yun’s cultivation realm and his body as a human, how much of the Ancient Fey bone could he absorb? It was already much harder for humans to absorb Ancient Fey bones when compared to the Fey race. This meant that a large portion of the Ancient Fey bone would be wasted!

It could be ignored if it was just wasting ordinary medicinal items, but if it was wasting an Ancient Fey bone, it would be a great pity!

As for that charm, it also needed one’s Yuan Qi to activate it. The stronger one was, the stronger the effects of the charm. If one was weak, the effects would naturally be smaller.

In terms of cultivation realm and physique, Yi Yun was far inferior!

This was not only Ran Yu’s thoughts, but the other Fire Cloud State disciples also had similar thoughts.

In that case, even if Yi Yun improved his body, it would also be severely limited. It would still not be sufficient when compared to their bodies as Fey race.

Gu Luo opened his only eye and he also stared at Yi Yun constantly, only turning his head away when Yi Yun sensed his lifeless gaze.

Cang Mang glanced at the cultivators on the stone bridge with a faint smile that did not look like one. Yi Yun’s talent in laws was indeed amazing, and he was truly outstanding this time. At the same training, Yi Yun had not only obtained a high rating, but the opportunities he received were also very good. Furthermore, his strength and age was the lowest amongst the other disciples. So how could the disciples who always thought so highly of themselves be able to remain nonchalant?

It was normal to feel jealous and be unbalanced over this matter. For this, Cang Mang did not interfere as this was what the Luo Divine Hall trials acquiesced.

Geniuses were never rare, and there was no lack of geniuses who died. Only a genius who could truly mature was worthy of being nurtured and valued.

However, Yi Yun was indeed too young and his cultivation realm was too low. Although the items he received were good, they did not suit him.

For example, if Yi Yun absorbed the Ancient Fey bone at the Heaven Ascension realm, the results would be much better than if he absorbed it now. But even at the Heaven Ascension realm, he would still not be able to match the effects if it were a Heaven Fey that absorbed it.

But, what if he waited till he broke through to the Heaven Ascension realm? By then, Yi Yun would probably have been eliminated at the Luo Divine Hall, and he might have even died…

Thinking of this, Cang Mang’s eyes glanced at Ran Yu once again.

Although Yi Yun had stolen the limelight, he would not be able to lead the coming days well.

After Yi Yun, no one paid any attention to the opportunities received by the rest.

Quickly, all the rewards from the twelve Fey divine columns were in the cultivators’ hands. Deep in the chasm down below, a sound that sounded like a tsunami was heard.

Yi Yun was startled before he recalled that the area beneath was a blue hole of an endless sea. It was unknown what massive marine animal had produced the stir from before…

“You can go out now!” Cang Mang said.

…

After they exited the interspatial space, Bai Chen walked over.

His expression did not look too good. Seeing how the cultivators that had come along with him enter the interspatial space, while he had to wait outside, there was naturally extreme bitterness in him.

Bai Chen saw Yi Yun from afar and he walked towards Luo Fengling and asked, “Junior sister Fengling, what opportunities did you and Junior Brother Yi Yun receive?”

Luo Fengling’s face revealed an envious look as she said, “What I received is not worth mentioning, but for Junior Brother Yi Yun… he received an Ancient Fey bone… ”

“What?” Ancient Fey’s bone!?”

After hearing Luo Fengling’s description, Bai Chen felt as though he had heard wrongly, but when he saw how all the other Fire Cloud State disciples, including Luo Fengling, did not have any other reaction, they were clearly giving unspoken acknowledgment. Bai Chen finally confirmed the fact as he squeezed a smile that looked uglier than crying.

“Congratulations to Junior Brother Yi.”

Bai Chen also noticed that the cultivators that walked out were either intentionally or unintentionally looking at Yi Yun. At that moment, Yi Yun was just too striking.

“Truly far behind… ”

Bai Chen shook his head and he did not speak any further. He walked to a side himself as he felt that standing beside Yi Yun made him feel uncomfortable.

Luo Fengling too had mixed emotions. Just as she was about to walk towards Yi Yun, she saw him take the initiative to walk over.

“Junior Brother Yi Yun… ” Luo Fengling sighed as she looked at Yi Yun. Back then, she had saved Yi Yun from the void of space, thinking that Yi Yun could be a steward disciple. She had never paid much attention to Yi Yun, but who knew that in such a short period of time, she had been flung far away from Yi Yun.

However, Luo Fengling was resolute in her own way. She might have suffered a crushing defeat in the Ancient Fey Edifice, and not considering Yi Yun, she might be considered below average amongst all the cultivators present, but at the true Luo Divine Hall trials, she would still put in her best.

827 - : Protective Charm

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Congratulations Junior Brother Yi. After today, you will definitely be somebody in the Fire Cloud State.” Luo Fengling said sincerely.

Yi Yun smiled before looking in Bai Chen’s direction.

Previously, Bai Chen was in high spirits when he came to the Ancient Fey Edifice. But now, he had lost all of his comportment, as though his entire being was covered in a layer of dust.

“Senior Brother Bai Chen appears to have been dealt a heavy blow,” Luo Fengling said. “The Luo Divine Hall trials happen once every sixty years. It has yet to officially begin, but the competition is already this intense.”

Luo Fengling sighed. The world of warriors was as such and the situation was unavoidable. If Bai Chen could not recover from his setback, and suffer with a damaged state of mind, his future in martial arts would be limited. It might even come to a halt and no longer proceed forward.

Yi Yun nodded as he saw the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples standing across the hall. Seeing the Fire Cloud State disciples come out, Luo Tian did not lead his people over, but he instead watched from afar.

Separated by such a distance, Yi Yun and Luo Tian looked each other in the eye.

Suddenly, Luo Tian’s eyes burned with fighting spirit as a glint flashed in his eye.

Luo Tian transmitted his voice, “You are very good and I’m very satisfied! It appears that other than Tian Shi in the Fire Cloud State, there is still an opponent to look forward to. However, your laws may be strong, but your strength is too weak. When the time comes, don’t disappoint me!”

Yi Yun frowned slightly. That person sure was trouble. Previously, he was so ashamed to even stand here, but now, here he came being provocative again.

The Ancient Fey column was just a training ground of Mt. Azure Billow. To put it bluntly, it was just a place for these disciples to gain some benefits! The obtaining of the twelve Fey divine columns’ recognition was a test of one’s nomological insight. And passing them naturally led to the receiving of opportunities. Those who did not pass were not punished at all, so the entire process was without any danger.

However, the other collective training spots in Mt. Azure Billow were not that relaxing!

Mt. Azure Billow was a gigantic mountain. After leaving the Ancient Fey Edifice, they returned to the spirit cruiser.

Woosh. The wind howled and soon, the spirit cruiser pierced through blue nebula before it began to make an abrupt descent into a valley.

This valley was extremely steep, so steep that if one did not see it with their eyes, it was hard to imagine that Mt. Azure Billow, which looked like an immortal’s paradise from afar, would have such a place where even birds found it hard to cross.

Deep underneath the valley was a surging black river. Black gas rose up into the sky, filling the entire valley. From the moment that Yi Yun walked out the spirit cruiser, he immediately wrinkled his brows. He saw some people conjuring their protective Yuan Qi, but for people like Ran Yu, they appeared calm and composed.

“This Black Wind Valley is the second venue of your collective training. Before leaving Black Wind Valley, you have a month’s time to train. I believe that you have already discovered that Black Wind Valley is extremely dangerous. It constantly emits toxic gases that would eat at your bodies and even your sanity. Those who feel like they can’t take it, it’s best that you put up your protective Yuan Qi constantly. However, even with protective Yuan Qi, it will also constantly be eroded.” Cang Mang said.

However, despite saying so, he himself did not do so. The large python coiled around him also appeared unaffected.

“As for what Black Wind Valley tests, it will be the Fey race bloodlines left in your bodies!”

With Cang Mang saying this, all the Fey race present was taken by surprise that the Black Wind Valley tested the Fey race’s bloodline.

“Fey race bloodline!” Ran Yu clenched his fists tightly as his eyes shimmered.

Finally, it was finally something that he was good at.

He belonged to the Xushui Ran clan. His ancestor possessed the Ranyi Fish’s bloodline, the pride of the Ran clan as well as his.

He was not good at laws, but would he be afraid of anyone when it came to a test of the Fey race’s bloodline?

Upon thinking of this, Ran Yu looked at Yi Yun with a sneer suffusing across his lips.

There was no need to say that that moment, this was his home turf. There was nothing that Yi Yun, a human, could do. Even an Earth Fey was stronger than him.

Yi Yun did not speak, all he did was overlook the Black Wind Valley from the spirit cruiser.

“Do you see the caves in the walls of the mountain?” With Cang Mang pointing them out, people managed to notice the mountain caves hidden by the thick black fog.

The entrances of those mountain caves were narrow, and they were not deep. There was just enough room for one person to sit in each. The entire mountain face was filled with densely packed mountain caves. The mountain caves below were shrouded by black toxic gases with no way of seeing them clearly. However, it was easy to guess that they reached all the way to the surface of the river.

The black toxic gas grew thinner with altitude, but deep below, it was like black ink. It was not a place that one could last long in.

“These Black Wind Caves become even more fatal the lower you go. Stimulate the Fey race bloodlines in your body and using your bloodline, resist the black gases’ erosion. In a month’s time, those who fail to reach the fifth level, it is advised that you go home. With that standard, going to the Luo Divine Hall trials would just be an embarrassment.” Cang Mang said as he crossed his arms.

With this said, the cultivators were immediately taken aback. They had been chosen from the Fire Cloud State to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials. Now, before the trials began, there would be people eliminated at a collective training?

However, this was Lord Cang Mang, who had an extraordinary status in the Luo clan. People could really be eliminated just with a single word from him.

Especially for people like Bai Chen, their faces went slightly pale, but they had vigor in their hearts. They could not fail again!

“You don’t have to feel indignant. Those who can’t pass the training, do you think that you would have the qualification to carry on wasting resources?” Cang Mang said without hesitation after seeing the cultivators’ reactions.

Everyone fell silent. Cang Mang was right. As warriors, if they were weaker than others, it was only deserving that they be eliminated.

However, was cultivating in a toxic environment a good thing?

“Hehe, don’t underestimate the Black Wind Valley. I heard that the valley is filled with mysteries. As long as you reach the fifth level and below, you will naturally experience the benefits.” A cultivator who knew some of the secrets said with glee. In fact, he had only heard others talk about the Black Wind Valley, and now, with him being the only person to talk about it, it made a normal cultivator like him to be the focus of attention.

“What you said isn’t wrong, but reaching the fifth level is easy, but to really get any benefits, the seventh level is just the beginning.” Ran Yu suddenly said in a cold manner.

Ever since the Ancient Fey Edifice training began, he appeared colder than before. Although that person had been unceremoniously debunked by Ran Yu, his heart skipped a beat after seeing Ran Yu’s ice-like face after flashing a trace of fury in his eyes. He did not dare speak further.

“Seventh level is just the beginning?”

The cultivators looked downwards. At the seventh level, that was truly the zone where the toxic gases became extremely thick. They were still mid air, but there were already people who needed to use their protective Yuan Qi. Some warriors who endured for a while also began to feel their bodies ache all over and they could not help but conjure their protective Yuan Qi. Besides, as Cang Mang said, they could sense that the Yuan Qi around them was slowly being eroded away. Although the speed wasn’t significantly fast, it was expected that some people’s protective Yuan Qi would not hold up once they reached the fifth level.

As for reaching the seventh level? It was unimaginable how difficult that would be.

“All of you proceed below. The best way to resist the black gas is to stimulate your Fey race bloodline.” Cang Mang said.

828 - : Black Wind Valley

CKtalon  CKtalon

With Cang Mang saying this, many people looked at Yi Yun with faint smiles that were void of any good intent. Yi Yun was a human with a much weaker physique. In the previous training segment, Yi Yun had stolen the limelight, but this time… this was the Fey race’s home turf.

Luo Fengling walked over and said, “Junior Brother Yi, are you alright? Shall we go together? At least we can look out for one another.”

Luo Fengling had said that because she was afraid of any misfortune that might befall Yi Yun.

“Alright.” Yi Yun nodded.

At that moment, many Fire Cloud State disciples were flying towards the Black Wind Valley.

Ran Yu also took a deep, meaningful glance at Yi Yun. He was destined to shine at this trial. He wanted to let everyone know how powerful the Xushui Ran clan’s bloodline was.

He wanted to let Cang Mang see his strength and potential. He was still holding a grudge from being constantly ignored by Cang Mang.

“Sou!”

Ran Yu flew down rapidly, reaching the fourth level of the Black Wind Valley!

Ran Yu began right at the fourth level. The Fire Cloud State disciples present only attempted the first level for starters.

“Ran Yu chose the fourth level immediately, but Gu Luo only chose the second level?”

“Gu Luo doesn’t like to show off. It would probably not be difficult for him to directly reach the fourth level as well.”

Many people felt mixed emotions. Many of them were Earth and Heaven Fey. However, despite being Heaven Fey, the difference in bloodlines was different. Powerful bloodlines made others extremely jealous.

Having just landed at the fourth level, Ran Yu felt the black mist around him seem to suddenly come alive. They bared their fangs and brandished their claws, turning into the forms of various Fey beasts or haunting ghosts, before pouncing on Ran Yu.

“Boom!”

Ran Yu’s protective Yuan Qi burst forward around him, forming a jade-colored halo.

Some of the black gases was immediately reflected by the halo, but the black gases that transformed into Fey beasts and haunting ghosts were able to directly penetrate Ran Yu’s jade-colored protective Yuan Qi, as they continued pouncing on Ran Yu!

“Indeed, the Black Wind Valley’s black gases are very strange. They can absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi here, slowly transforming their bodies. Some of the black gases can even give rise to intelligence. And these black gases that have some form can penetrate protective Yuan Qi without any effects. That is to say, there is no way to withstand the black gas by just using one’s protective Yuan Qi!” said one of the Fire Cloud State disciples who knew about the Fire Cloud State.

As the Fire Cloud State disciple was saying this, the black gases had already penetrated the protective Yuan Qi barrier as they headed straight for Ran Yu. Just as they were about to enter Ran Yu’s body, Ran Yu suddenly let out a shout.

“Boom!”

Behind Ran Yu, an intense bloodline aura burst out. The red bloodline aura was like a spurting flame, burning through the void!

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

The black gases were burned by the bloodline aura, melting away like snow under the intense heat.

Behind Ran Yu, the bloodline aura finally transformed into a six-legged strange fish. It had a fish body and a snake head. There were mysterious water runes engraved on its scales.

“It’s the Ranyi Fish.” Someone said enviously.

The Ranyi Fish was an Ancient Fey that lived in the water. In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, there was a myriad of Ancient Fey, and the strengths between different Ancient Fey varied greatly.

The Ranyi Fish did not have outstanding strength amongst the wide variety of Ancient Fey, but the Xushui Ran clan had inherited the pure bloodline of the Ranyi Fish, which made it no trifling matter. Many Heaven Fey liked to boast about the bloodlines of dragons or phoenixes that their ancestors possessed. It may sound amazing, but in fact, they had very low concentration of those bloodlines. The strength left behind for their descendants was naturally much weaker.

If a Heaven Fey’s bloodline concentration was high enough, they could form the phantom image of an Ancient Fey using their own body’s blood aura, just like Ran Yu.

This was a technique that made many Heaven Fey envious.

If one was a little stronger, they would have the ability to summon the Ancient Fey, which was to gather the real power of the Ancient Fey from the cosmos, and it was also known as ‘bloodline awakening’!

Now, Ran Yu was still a good distance away from this awakening. Heaven Fey that possessed the power of awakening were greatly vied for, even in the Luo clan royal capital.

After Ran Yu condensed the Ranyi Fish phantom image, the red blood aura looked like it was meeting resistance. It raged wantonly in the black mist as large numbers of the Fey beasts and haunting ghosts formed from the black gas were torn apart and devoured!

“The bloodline phantom image formed by Ran Yu is devouring the black mist?”

Upon seeing this scene, people were amazed. “That bloodline phantom image appears to be devouring the black mist to strengthen itself?”

“That’s right.” At that moment, Cang Mang nodded. “That is the opportunity that the Black Wind Valley provides. There’s no harm in me telling you this. Hundreds of millions of years ago, an extremely powerful Ancient Fey, rumored to be a degenerated Blood Dragon had its corpse torn apart in the Black Wind Valley. The degenerated Blood Dragon’s blood that flowed out dyed the Black Wind Valley red, before turning into the black mist that remains present to this day.

“The black mist went from its initial birth till it took up form, eventually generating intelligence. Over a long period that spanned tens of millions of years, their bodies have been able to accumulate pure Heaven Earth essence. If you can devour them, it will strengthen the power of your bloodline. However, if you fail to devour it, you might end up being devoured by the black mist. In more severe cases, your soul might be wiped away; hence, cultivation in the Black Wind Valley is actually very dangerous!”

When Cang Mang said this, he gave a meaningful glance at the Fire Cloud State disciples in front of him.

The weaker ones turned slightly pale in the face.

The blood left behind by a degenerated Blood Dragon had produced the black mist? Then, it was no wonder that absorbing the black mist would strengthen their own bloodlines.

However, the black mist was too terrifying. If one wasn’t careful, one’s consciousness could be devoured by the black mist, turning them into retards. Then, it was truly no different from being dead.

“Look, Ran Yu has already reached the fifth level!” Someone suddenly said amongst the crowd.

Already the fifth level!?

Previously, when Ran Yu came to the caves at the fourth level, he had suddenly conjured the Ancient Fey bloodline in his body, devouring large amounts of black mist. The beings in the black mist had intelligence so knowing that they were no match for Ran Yu, they escaped.

Hence, Ran Yu went straight to the fifth level!

After the fifth level, the pressure increased sharply.

And this level was the threshold that Cang Mang mentioned. If one could not reach this level by the end of the Black Wind Valley trial, Cang Mang could directly eliminate them from participating in the Luo Divine Hall trials.

Many Fire Cloud State disciples were still worrying about their entrance into the fifth level, but Ran Yu was already at the fifth level from the very beginning.

And from the looks of it, Ran Yu was still able to hold up at the fifth level.

Ran Yu was at the fifth level, while Gu Luo was still at the second. As for the others, they had only just begun at the first level in an attempt to adapt to the intensity of the black gases.

The situation was clear at a glance.

Although Gu Luo was at the second level, he had yet to stimulate his Ancient Fey bloodline. He was resisting the black mist only with his powerful body!

It was terrifying just to think of using one’s body to resist the black mist.

“It’s just a matter of time before Gu Luo reaches the fifth level. He might even have the ability to reach the fifth level now, just that he is no hurry. But for us, we can’t not be anxious about it, or we might be eliminated before we reach the Luo Divine Hall. It would be a waste of the chance the Fire Cloud State has given us!”

“Junior Brother Yi, let us go down too. Let’s begin from the first level and take it slow. Maybe you can approach the first level from a distance and not be in a hurry to descend. At least, there will be an adaptive process.”

829 - : Blood of the Blood Dragon

CKtalon  CKtalon

Luo Fengling was still somewhat worried for Yi Yun as she looked at him.

Legend said that the ancient degenerated Blood Dragon was a result of the egg of a True Dragon being marred by evil blood. This caused the baby dragon to mutate before it hatched. After it hatched, it would be a crimson-colored degenerated Blood Dragon.

Blood Dragons were cruel and bloodthirsty. It devoured billions of living creatures to strengthen its body and it might even be more powerful than True Dragons, but as it traversed the unorthodox path, its aura was messy and violent after devouring too many creatures. This resulted in it having a very short lifespan.

It was a pity that the most precious bones and dragon spine of the ancient Blood Dragon was gone, leaving the dragon blood that had merged with Black Wind Valley as one behind.

The Black Wind Valley which was refined by the dragon blood could be considered to be an impressive treasure itself.

In such a dangerous area, Yi Yun did not have the bloodlines of Ancient Fey, nor did he have a powerful body. With protective Yuan Qi losing its effects, it was naturally much harder for him to descend into Black Wind Valley.

Actually, even Luo Fengling herself lacked the confidence, let alone Yi Yun. Although she too was a Heaven Fey, the concentration of her bloodline was greatly inferior to Ran Yu’s.

Yi Yun nodded as he looked at Black Wind Valley in a thoughtful manner.

“Junior Brother Yi, what are you looking at?” At that moment, a schadenfreudian voice came from Lie Ya as he grinned. He flew next to Yi Yun and said, “Don’t give up, but why did you have to be human? It’s understandable that you have a weak physique. Your laws are strong, but it appears that they are useless here. In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, all that matters is bloodline after all. The Luo Divine Hall trials were tailored for the Fey race, not humans. So what if your laws are strong? That will be the only aspect that you will shine in. If you can’t pass the obstacle in front of you, you won’t even be able to go to the Luo Divine Hall.”

Lie Ya smiled happily. What did it mean to being able to walk with one’s head held high? This was what it meant to being able to walk with one’s head held high!

He had been stifled by Yi Yun previously, because just on the nomological aspect, Yi Yun had completely desecrated Lie Ya with every aspect of his combined. Now, having finally seen Yi Yun encounter a setback, how could he not take the opportunity to taunt Yi Yun? It could be that as Yi Yun matured with the passing of time, the gap in their strength would become bigger. He might not be able to see Yi Yun’s back even if he wanted to taunt him.

“Hahaha, Junior Brother Yi, this senior brother is going ahead!” Lie Ya roared with laughter and without waiting for Yi Yun’s response, he jumped down towards Black Wind Valley.

He jumped straight for the second level!

The reason why Lie Ya chose the second level from the beginning was because he was confident of his own body’s strength. Secondly, he intended to show off. Having said those words that allowed him to hold his head high, how could he not let his actions accompany his words? How could he not do a perfect act of establishing his dominance?

The moment that Lie Ya arrived at the second level, he immediately sensed the pressure from the black winds.

With a roar, his bones began to crackle as needle-like hair grew from his body. His eyes turned luminous green with a long tail behind him!

This was the transformation of the Fey race.

“Lie Ya is a mixed-blood. He has both the bloodlines of a Heaven and Earth Fey. Although he cannot summon the power of his ancestors through the use of his blood like Ran Yu, he can use the Earth Fey’s transformation to resist the black gas.” Luo Fengling said while standing beside Yi Yun.

Many Earth Fey in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven were beasts, trees, birds, fish or plants who achieved their Dao after living for a very long period of time. To put it bluntly, they were ordinary Fey.

Earth Fey were the direct descendants of these ordinary Fey, so they could transform into the shape of beasts.

However, Heaven Fey were unable to do so. Their ancestors were Ancient Fey. Firstly, their bloodline heritage had been passed down for a long period of time, and secondly, the bloodline they inherited was thin, so for them to transform into an Ancient Fey? It was unknown and probably unimaginable how concentrated the Fey bloodline had to be to do so.

Hence, the technique of transformation was a trait of Earth Fey.

Transformation gave Earth Fey great strength, and now, Lie Ya was enjoying the effects of it.

He let out a wolf howl in a carefree manner, jumping straight from the second level to the third level!

“Ao woo!”

Although Lie Ya could barely withstand the third level, he still howled at Yi Yun, who was still in the air. The provocation was self-evident.

If Yi Yun lost his cool and rushed straight to the third level, the black gas would erode his consciousness, turning him into a retard.

“Junior Brother Yi, we’ll be going down as well. We’ll wait down there for you.”

A few Fire Cloud State disciples said to Yi Yun with spurious smiles before descending into Black Wind Valley.

None of these people had any kind intentions when it came to Yi Yun. They were all waiting for him to suffer.

“Junior Brother Yi, don’t get provoked by them.” Luo Fengling exhorted Yi Yun. After all, Yi Yun had stolen the limelight previously, but he had now encountered great restrictions. She was worried that Yi Yun could not accept the stark differences.

“Thank you Senior Sister Luo, I know very well.” Yi Yun said as he slowly flew down towards Black Wind Valley.

Lie Ya was not wrong at all. The Luo Divine Hall trials were prepared for the Fey race and not tailored for humans. Most of the test methods were considered from the Fey race’s point of view. There was nothing unfair about it; after all, the road of martial arts was never about fairness, only victory and defeat!

Without any further ado, Yi Yun landed on the first level. He did not know anything about Black Wind Valley, so starting from the first level was the most secure way of doing things.

Luo Fengling also landed in the first level of Black Wind Valley with Yi Yun. After that, Luo Fengling immediately conjured her bloodline’s power to resist the intrusion of the black gas.

Although Luo Fengling was with Yi Yun, it was obviously impossible for her to help Yi Yun at all.

Many Fire Cloud State disciples were looking at Yi Yun with schadenfreudian looks. They were waiting for Yi Yun to put on a show.

Cang Mang also looked at Yi Yun. He was very interested in Yi Yun, but he did not take extra care of Yi Yun. In the Luo clan, everyone was given equal opportunities.

“Roar!”

At that moment, a few black gas blobs transformed into the shape of Fey beasts beside Yi Yun, before pouncing right at him.

These Fey beasts looked extremely realistic up close. They had hideous blue faces, cruel with tumultuous killing intent.

Yi Yun conjured his protective Yuan Qi. The Yuan Qi barrier that contained the power of pure Yang was like an indestructible golden bell shield, enveloping Yi Yun within.

Upon seeing this scene, there were people who immediately shook their heads. It was already mentioned that protective Yuan Qi was useless, yet he conjured it?

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

When the black gases struck Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi, only a portion of the black gas was burnt up by the Yuan Qi shields.

However, those Fey beasts that had taken form could penetrate the pure Yang Yuan Qi shield and they continue charging at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun pricked his eyebrows. Indeed, as Cang Mang said, Black Wind Valley tested the bloodline of the Fey race. The black gas that had taken form already possessed intelligence. They could ignore protective Yuan Qi and they were only devoured by a Fey race’s bloodline.

Furthermore, energy with intelligence and life could not be absorbed by the Purple Crystal. Besides, the black gas was not purely energy. Yi Yun could sense a high concentration of blood aura in the black gas, which was likely attributed to the Blood Dragon’s blood. The degenerated Blood Dragon had devoured countless creatures, so the resentment in these creatures remained in the Blood Dragon’s blood.

“The black gas left behind by the degenerated Blood Dragon is of a bizarre law. With my cultivation realm, trying to dominate the laws left behind by the degenerated Blood Dragon is impossible. I can only go along with it. If my protective Yuan Qi is useless, and only a Fey race’s bloodline can absorb the blood aura left behind by the degenerated Blood Dragon, maybe… ”

As Yi Yun pondered, a few black Fey that had taken form charged at Yi Yun. They were cackling with laughter as they produced sounds that resembled the haunting wails of ghosts and howls of wolves.

Yi Yun was inferior to Gu Luo in certain ways. His body was not strong, so the moment his body was infiltrated by the black gas, he would immediately be in extreme danger.

Many people stared widely to watch this scene.

Just as people believed that Yi Yun was about to have the black gas infiltrate him, resulting in serious injuries even if his mind was not wiped out…

“Xiao!”

They heard a high-pitched scream. This sound came from within Yi Yun’s chest as all the black gas Fey beasts’ howls were masked by the sharp scream!

Oh? What happened?

People were taken by surprise. They looked at Yi Yun as a terrifying energy exploded behind Yi Yun, as though it was a burning black inferno. As the dancing tongues of flame roared towards the sky, people realized that it was not a fire snake on closer look, it was gigantic snake heads. Every snake head was of different shape and size. Some of them had only one eye, while others had three. Some spat out flames while others spat out frost.

Nine snake heads and a massive body. This was the gigantic phantom image that appeared behind Yi Yun!

Nine Neonate!?

Many people finally understood that Yi Yun had summoned a Nine Neonate behind him!

“How is this possible? Could he have the bloodline of a Nine Neonate!?” Many people were alarmed. Nine Neonates, especially Nine Neonates that had survived nine tribulations, were powerful Ancient Fey. Even mighty figures in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven would rather not face them in battle.

Heaven Fey who possed the bloodline of Nine Neonates were definitely of supreme status amongst the Heaven Fey!

The Nine Neonate bloodline could not appear on a human’s body naturally!

“It’s not a Nine Neonate bloodline. It’s just his Aspect Totem, and the Nine Neonate in his Aspect Totem is just a One Tribulation Nine Neonate. It’s still poles apart from nine tribulations, but… humans can use Aspect Totem in this way?”

People found it incredulous. After the Nine Neonate appeared, it began devouring the transformed black gases, devouring a blob of black gas in one mouthful, straight into its body.

Yi Yun cultivated the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’, which was an odd totem mystic technique. It was first brought to the Tian Yuan World by the Azure Yang Lord.

Yi Yun had refined the Nine Neonate as a beast mark using the ‘Myriad Beast Totem’ mystic technique, but the Nine Neonate had yet to die. Instead, it had been merged in Yi Yun’s body with the ability to continue growing.

Back when it merged into Yi Yun’s body, the Nine Neonate had survived a lightning tribulation, with Yi Yun benefiting from it as well.

This was not just a pure Aspect Totem.

If it were the Aspect Totem that other humans cultivated, in the form of swords or starlight, or phenomena like a luminous moon above the sea, the Aspect Totems were completely void of any relation with the Fey race.

Now, Yi Yun had injected his body’s power into the Nine Neonate and absorbed the black gas using the Nine Neonate mark. Although a One Tribulation Nine Neonate was not strong, as a beast with the Ancient Fey bloodline, it was of higher nobility than tiger Fey or wolf Fey who achieved their Dao. It was more than sufficient to deal with the first level’s black gases.

830 - : Yi Yun Descends Black Wind Valley

CKtalon  CKtalon

The moment that the Nine Neonate appeared, the Blood Dragon black gases around Yi Yun were immediately devoured by the nine snake heads.

After the Blood Dragon black gases were devoured, Yi Yun immediately could sense the joyful emotions of the Nine Neonate.

In the lower realm, the Nine Neonate was always lacking resources, preventing it from growing stronger. Now, in the Mt. Azure Billow’s Black Wind Valley of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, despite it being a land fraught with danger, the Nine Neonate welcomed it as if it was a fish in water. The Fey race’s physiques could be strengthened by devouring the Blood Dragon black gas. As for the Nine Neonate, after it swallowed the black gas, wiping the foul blood aura in it away and merging it into the Nine Neonate mark also provided it with pure blood energy.

The degenerated Blood Dragon had the bloodline of a True Dragon, and it was also a noble existence amongst Fey beasts. And with the Nine Neonate being a beast of relatively noble bloodline, the Blood Dragon black gas was perfectly suitable as a supplement.

“This fellow!” Lie Ya’s eyes flickered. He believed that Yi Yun would be out of tricks for this obstacle, so he had gone to great lengths to mock him. He never expected the human to possess such an Aspect Totem, one that had a more noble bloodline than his!

“It’s just a One Tribulation Nine Neonate!” Lie Ya’s eyes flashed with ruthlessness before he stabilized his mind. The One Tribulation Nine Neonate was just an Aspect Totem. It was impossible to compare it with a true Fey body that he had cultivated for decades. Even if Yi Yun had the Nine Neonate, Yi Yun did not even need to think about getting to the fifth level.

The others had similar thoughts. They were stunned when they first saw the Nine Neonate appear from the human’s body, but after coming round, they did not find anything remarkable. The totem mystic technique that this human cultivated was just slightly more special and the test had to do with the Fey race, so it was no wonder there was such an effect.

It was impossible for a human like Yi Yun to use only his Aspect Totem to compare with their Fey race’s bloodline.

The first level’s Blood Dragon black gas was nothing much for the Fey race. Some of the Fey race could even withstand the level by just using their bodies.

As for Yi Yun, he had to use his Aspect Totem. The Aspect Totem and the Fey race’s stimulation of bloodline was similar, so having used this approach at the first level, what was he to do after that?

The first level’s black gas had no effect on the Nine Neonate and instead, it provided it with food. The black gases already had their own intelligence, so with a sharp scream, they no longer charged at Yi Yun.

“Onwards to the second level!” Darting his eyes, Yi Yun’s body immediately descended.

The nine snake heads behind him moved ferociously as though the gigantic Nine Neonate phantom image was a powerful Fey that descended from ancient times.

The second level’s Blood Dragon black gas was much more coagulated than the first level’s!

The number of black Fey hiding in the black gases that had taken form were greater in number than the first level.

The moment that Yi Yun arrived at the second level, more than a dozen black Fey pounced out of the black gases, in an attempt to bite Yi Yun’s body.

Although the black Fey that had taken form did not have actual bodies, their fangs and claws were whole and sharp. With the foul energy condensed together, their close proximity to people made the people feel as though their meridians had frozen and their Yuan Qi flow retarded. Such black Fey that had taken form could drain a warrior who was lacking in strength in an instant.

Xiao—! The Nine Neonate phantom image let out a roar as the nine snake heads darted at the black Fey like nine bolts of black lightning. As the Blood Dragon black gases were stirred by the Nine Neonate, ear-piercing screams came from within!

The Nine Neonate held these black Fey in its mouths before tearing them apart. The dispersed black gases were then swallowed.

The foul blood aura was being refined by the Nine Neonate.

Luo Fengling watched in surprise. She was still at the first level, but Yi Yun had already gone to the second level!

Many cultivators were stunned. This Nine Neonate Aspect Totem was extraordinary! It had already reached the second level, and it was unknown how far it could continue going.

The black Fey that had taken form were constant in number. More than a dozen appeared every single time.

“The Nine Neonate is feeling the pressure.” Yi Yun saw a black Fey pounce onto his protective Yuan Qi first, and the moment the foul blood aura struck the protective Yuan Qi, a burning sound was issued. Following that, the Nine Neonate behind him would come biting at it.

The second level’s black Fey that had taken form had denser foul blood aura, so devouring them became harder.

“This Yi Yun… ” The other cultivators looked uncertainly at Yi Yun.

They could also tell that the Nine Neonate phantom image was having a harder time devouring the Blood Dragon black gas.

However, they could not tell what the limits of the Nine Neonate was.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s body suddenly plummeted.

The third level!

Lie Ya’s pupils violently contracted. He was currently only at the third level!

He had previously mocked Yi Yun, and in the blink of an eye, Yi Yun had used an Aspect Totem to arrive at the same location as he was!

“However, the third level is not that easy to handle.” Lie Ya howled as he grabbed a plume of black gas that had taken form before tearing it apart with his sharp claws!

The black gas at the third level had already taken the forms of fierce beasts such as tigers and leopards. They constantly pounced out of the black gas. Even Lie Ya was finding it difficult to withstand the barrage of attacks. Furthermore, the black Fey that had taken form were appearing in endless succession, and the Blood Dragon black gas could easily erode the bodies of the cultivators.

To withstand such a waxing and waning situation, it was extremely difficult!

“Yi Yun reached the third level!”

“From the looks of it, Lie Ya doesn’t find it easy to remain at the third level. Although we can also reach the third level, it will likely be difficult!”

All these Fey race cultivators had ugly expressions. Could their Fey race bloodline be inferior to a human?

The moment Yi Yun reached the third level, he immediately felt the sharp rise in pressure.

A tiger that had taken form pounced out from one side, locking its jaws on one of the Nine Neonate phantom image’s necks.

The Nine Neonate immediately fought back, but when its snake mouth bit the tiger, its body quivered. The phantom image turned somewhat chaotic.

The ferocious foul blood aura was something that the Nine Neonate could not withstand either.

However, after devouring a mouthful of it, the Nine Neonate let out a joyful howl.

These were dangerous beings, but they were also great supplements!

After being bitten by a tiger, a gigantic python suddenly appeared behind the Nine Neonate.

In the thick black gas, there was no lack of Fey beasts that had taken form.

The Nine Neonate phantom image may have nine heads, but to handle one of the fierce Fey beasts, it needed two or three heads to match them. Furthermore, these fierce Fey beasts appeared constantly.

It was very difficult for the Nine Neonate to resist them!

Its body was also being bitten by the Fey beasts, and as foul blood aura drilled into its body, Yi Yun immediately felt his Yuan Qi flow turn dissonant. His body felt a soreness and itchiness from within.

The foul blood aura could poison his body through the Aspect Totem!

Yi Yun hurriedly circulated his Yuan Qi. His pure Yang body could counter toxins, but he still needed to slowly clear them away once they entered his system. However, if there was a lot more, Yi Yun would also slowly fail to keep this up.

“This human actually managed to find his footing.” Lie Ya’s expression turned ugly once again. Yi Yun had also reached the third level and he spent about ten seconds there. And although Yi Yun looked like he could barely withstand it, he did not reveal any serious flaws. Things would only gradually become easier for him.

The Nine Neonate phantom image was able to absorb the foul blood aura, and the more it absorbed, the stronger it could grow.

They, as Fey race, also used the absorption of the foul blood aura to strengthen their physique to last further here.

If not for that, how could it be said that the Black Wind Valley was also an opportunity?

However, absorbing this bit of foul blood aura was nothing much in the Black Wind Valley.

There were greater benefits hidden below the seventh level, things that typical cultivators had no means of probing.

Probably only Heaven Fey with powerful bloodlines like Ran Yu and Gu Luo had a chance.

831 - : Nine Neonate Tempering

CKtalon  CKtalon

Lie Ya did not have any confidence when it came to the seventh level. But even so, he could not tolerate that a physically weak human could use an Aspect Totem to reach the same level as him!

This way, his derision from before had transformed into a slap that smacked him right back in the face!

The other cultivators also had expressions that did not look much better than Lie Ya’s.

At that moment, Yi Yun moved again.

“The third level is too difficult for a One Tribulation Nine Neonate to withstand.” Yi Yun stood on the third level for a moment before finding it meaningless to stay on in the third level. He was still two levels away from the fifth level.

Every level down had an exponential increase in difficulty.

Although Yi Yun had yet to come to the end of the road with every means used, he already had a good understanding of the danger that lurked in Black Wind Valley.

Standing in the third level, he needed to give his all to resist the black Fey beasts that had taken form. He could not pay attention to other things, and if he were to wait for the Nine Neonate to slowly mature and for him to gradually adapt to the environment, it would take too long.

If he was given a few years time, he could slowly reach the fifth, sixth and even the seventh level. However, Cang Mang had only given them a short period of one month.

The Nine Neonate possessed the blood of Ancient Fey, and it was a Heaven Fey of noble descent. Its growth would be slower than ordinary Heaven Fey or even Earth Fey. The more powerful a life form was, the more difficult it was for them to breed and mature. This was an unspoken rule of the Universe.

A month’s time was too short for Yi Yun and for the Nine Neonate.

“I’ll stop the attempt here. It appears that without enhancing my physique, there is no way to pass this level.” Yi Yun looked indifferent as he looked up. With that, his body moved as it immediately flew upwards.

“Oh? Why is the human returning?”

The cultivators were feeling shocked because they never expected Yi Yun to suddenly fly back.

Furthermore, he did not return to the second level, but he directly returned to the first level.

Ascending was much easier than descending. After reaching the first level, Yi Yun found a cave and sat in it.

“What’s going on?” The Fire Cloud State disciples looked at each other in confusion.

Yi Yun had shown off his Aspect Totem and he appeared to be indomitable. He had stunned them by directly going from the first level to the third level. Why did he suddenly return?

They clearly could tell that Yi Yun was able to withstand the third level, and although this fact was something that irked them, they had to admit that the Nine Neonate Aspect Totem was indeed powerful!

This human had a few tricks up his sleeve as well!

But now, with Yi Yun returning to the first level, what was going on?

“A human’s Aspect Totem is not a natural bloodline after all. He can’t last too long!” A cultivator suddenly said.

“Probably. Yi Yun uses a Nine Neonate as his Aspect Totem, but compared to the bloodline of us natural Fey, it’s still inferior.” Another cultivator nodded his head as well.

An Aspect Totem was a cultivation technique that humans mastered after all, how could it be compared to their natural birthright as Fey race?

“From the looks of it, it’s not that the Aspect Totem is too weak, it’s Yi Yun who can’t handle it!” The person who spoke was Lie Ya. His voice entered the ears of other members of the Fey race. “The Aspect Totem can withstand it, but Yi Yun’s body can’t. At the third level, he had to constantly withstand the foul aura’s invasion. How can a human’s body be able to withstand such pain?”

What Lie Ya said was the truth. He had indeed seen the foul aura drill into Yi Yun’s body.

The other cultivators nodded their heads in succession. They had also seen it.

“He can’t even withstand that bit of pain? What’s the point of practicing martial arts!” Someone shook his head.

If Yi Yun could withstand the pain, he could naturally continue staying on in the third level.

However, he had returned just like that, if not for him being unable to withstand it, what other reason could there be?

“Don’t say it in that way. Humans are inferior to us from the Fey race after all. Junior Brother Yi Yun has such delicate skin and tender flesh, it’s natural that he can’t withstand the foul blood aura.” Lie Ya said with a sneer.

The Luo Divine Hall trials were far more brutal and dangerous than Black Wind Valley, so how could the foul blood aura compare with it? Yi Yun could not even withstand the pain from this stage, so how was he able to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials in the future?

The other cultivators shook their heads and they no longer focused on Yi Yun. One by one, they entered Black Wind Valley and began consuming the Blood Dragon black gas.

Ran Yu heard the commotion above him and he also shook his head lightly.

This trial was ultimately prepared for Fey race with powerful bloodlines like them.

And at that moment, Gu Luo also moved.

Like a corpse, he plummeted straight down and he reached the third level in a blink of an eye!

“Gu Luo has yet to stimulate his bloodline!” The looks in the cultivators’ eyes changed.

Gu Luo’s body was truly tough!

“Gu Luo is also a Heaven Fey with an extremely powerful bloodline. The difference between Fey race bloodlines is evident here.” The cultivators were filled with envy.

“The power of the Fey race’s bloodline is indeed very advantageous here.”

Sitting in the cave, Yi Yun also heard the discussion regarding Gu Luo. The Nine Neonate phantom image behind him was still digesting the Blood Dragon black gas that it had previously consumed.

At the first level, Yi Yun could hold on just with his Nine Neonate Aspect Totem.

The Nine Neonate could absorb the black gas to grow stronger, while he also had something to do.

“Although I lack the benefits of a bloodline, I have the Nine Neonate phantom image, as well as this item.”

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed as something flew out of his interspatial ring.

The ancient plain stone box quietly floated in front of Yi Yun.

Ancient Fey’s bone!

This Ancient Fey bone was something that even Ran Yu coveted.

“That Lie Ya mocked me for being human and having a weak body, but that is indeed the case.” Yi Yun’s eyes seemed to glaze over.

Who knew how strong his physique would become after he absorbed the Ancient Fey bone.

“I will first finish absorbing the Ancient Fey bone here on the first level!” Yi Yun’s eyes focused as he opened the stone box. The white piece of bone immediately rushed out with its desolate and terrifying aura!

The Ancient Fey’s power lasted for eons! Even a piece of bone sent shivers down his spine!

The Ancient Fey’s life force was extremely immense. Even after its death, after it was reduced to bone, Yi Yun could still sense that eternal will coming from within the bone.

As Yi Yun looked at the Ancient Fey bone, he could even hear the sound of blood flow that resembled a surging river resound in his ears.

“Si!” Yi Yun held his breath.

It was no wonder that Ran Yu was tempted to commit murder for this item. The Ancient Fey bone was indeed extraordinary.

“I’ll absorb it first.” Yi Yun put his hand out and pointed it at the Ancient Fey bone, immediately wrapping the Ancient Fey bone in Yuan Qi.

Surging life force poured out, causing Yi Yun’s face to immediately turn white.

The Ancient Fey bone’s aura was too powerful, just maintaining the Yuan Qi wrapping alone was not easy.

Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi wrapped around the Ancient Fey bone in an incessant manner, as he slowly extracted a bit of the surging life force.

Extracting a strand of the life force was as difficult as taking a portion of a surging river.

And what would happen if an entire river was plunged into his body?

Yi Yun looked at the Ancient Fey bone energy he had extracted. It was snow-white in color, and contained immense power within.

832 - : Consuming the Fey Bone

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Come!”

The plume of energy flew towards as Yi Yun willed it. It sank deep into his body.

Boom!

Yi Yun immediately felt as though he was a drum, while the energy was a drumstick.

The drumsticks brandished with immense power, slamming him heavily to create reverberating shockwaves!

At that moment, Yi Yun felt like he had fallen into the endless universe. Amongst the cosmic sea of stars in vast space, he was as tiny as a speck of dust. His body did not even seem to exist, having lost control of himself.

The massive Ancient Fey energy was like the sea of stars, washing his body with formidable force.

The moment a portion of the Ancient Fey bone’s life energy was extracted, the Fey race cultivators in Black Wind Valley sensed it.

The Ancient Fey’s aura was immense and matchless. It caused palpitations in the hearts of the others.

“It’s Yi Yun. He’s beginning to absorb the Ancient Fey bone?”

“It’s truly the case. Is he planning on attempting Black Wind Valley again after absorbing the Ancient Fey bone?”

The cultivators looked up, but they could not seen anything beyond the cave’s entrance. However, the Blood Dragon black gas was constantly in turmoil outside the entrance, as though it had been stirred.

Yi Yun’s physique was too weak and it could not withstand the black gases’ erosion for long periods of time. However, if he were to absorb the Ancient Fey bone, things would be different. However, the premise was that he was able to absorb it.

“Absorbing the Ancient Fey bone here? With only a month’s time, how much can he absorb? Even a year is useless, let alone a month. For humans to absorb an Ancient Fey bone is such a reckless waste of Heaven’s gifts!”

When the Fire Cloud State disciple saw a human wasting such a precious Ancient Fey bone, they felt their hearts bleeding for the treasure.

The Ancient Fey bone, one that came from an Ancient Fey, the Heaven Devouring Wyrm, could result in the flourishing of a Heaven Fey clan through the use of its bloodline. For example, the Xushui Ran clan was such a large clan — it descended from a Ranyi Fish Ancient Fey.

The Heaven Devouring Wyrm was nearly on the same level of existence when compared to the Xushui Ran clan’s ancestor. How could a bone it left behind — even if it was a tiny piece — be something that a human could absorb?

Ignoring humans, even Heaven Fey at the Heaven Ascension perfection realm, who came from famous clans with powerful bloodlines and extremely tempered bodies, considered geniuses amongst geniuses, would need a great deal of time to absorb and digest the energy in the Ancient Fey bone!

And initially, due to a weak physique, the amount of energy that one could bear was very little. With the improvement of one’s physique, one was be able to gradually absorb more energy. Just like opening up a lake, only a big lake could hold more water.

The final result of absorption — even if done by a top Heaven Fey genius — would probably have less than half the Ancient Fey bone’s energy absorbed. The remaining energy would be dispersed and wasted.

But now, this Ancient Fey bone was being carelessly used by Yi Yun. How much of the energy could he absorb?

Positing 1% was already overestimating him!

The reckless waste of Heaven’s gift was not enough to describe the process.

If it were them, they would naturally find a quiet chamber and go into reclusion for two or three years for the absorption of the Ancient Fey bone. They would repeatedly refine it, and even crush and swallow the bone before they would give up.

“Fuck, this Yi Yun must know that without absorbing the Ancient Fey bone, it would be impossible for him to pass this trial, so he wants to absorb the Ancient Fey bone. He is disregarding everything else as long as he passes the trial.”

“This is infuriating. As the saying goes, the grandson isn’t distressed while selling the land that his grandfather toiled on. This bastard human. The Ancient Fey bone is not his, but the accumulation of our Luo clan. Now that it has been given to him, he is wasting it! He really does not know how to appreciate it!”

Seeing Yi Yun’s manner of usage to pass the trial at all costs, the Fey race present were so peeved that their intestines twisted.

What were his actions based on!?

As Fey race disciples who natively grew up in the Luo clan’s 196 states, they had entered the Ancient Fey Edifice together with Yi Yun. Yet, the best items in the Ancient Fey Edifice were taken by Yi Yun, and he was even wasting a treasure in such a manner!

They would have cherished the Ancient Fey bone. Even if they had to give up on the trials, they would not bear to waste it in such a manner. However, the Ancient Fey Edifice only gave them junk, so how could their hearts be balanced!?

“Senior Cang Mang, are you going to watch him waste the Ancient Fey bone just like that?”

Lie Ya could not stand for this. On the third level of Black Wind Valley, he directly spoke to Cang Mang.

Cang Mang coldly glanced at Lie Ya and said, “Is your mind unsettled because you did not receive any good opportunities in the Ancient Fey Edifice? However, this is because you were too disappointing, so who can you blame?”

A single sentence from Cang Mang’s mouth caused Lie Ya’s words to be stuck in his throat.

Too disappointing!

Lie Ya’s face went green. He truly felt ashamed when Cang Mang said those words. Naturally, he did not dare express his anger at Cang Mang, so all he could do was vent his fury on Yi Yun. He gritted his teeth, glanced at where Yi Yun was and ruthlessly said, “Wait and see. Even with the Ancient Fey bone, you might not even reach the fifth level. Using a human’s body to absorb the Ancient Fey with just a month’s time means most of it will be squandered! What’s there to improve with your body!? Besides, even if your body is improved slightly, without any means, it’s still useless!”

Having a strong physique was like having a good weapon. If one began savagely brandishing it around, the resulting amount of power was still tiny. Only by mastering the methods to use the weapon would the weapon’s power be fully expressed. The Yuan Qi system was the same. Having powerful Yuan Qi was useless, one needed cultivation techniques as well.

And it happened that Yi Yun also had cultivation techniques.

Nine Volumed Celestial Axis!

That was one of the top body-tempering cultivation techniques in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. It was also an opportunity that Yi Yun gained in the Ancient Fey Edifice.

However, to absorb the Ancient Fey and master the cultivation technique in the time allotted, that would be even more difficult. The Fire Cloud State disciples did not even fathom the possibility that Yi Yun had such unrealistic ideas.

Cang Mang did not speak. Instead, he watched Yi Yun silently, without anyone knowing what was on his mind.

Noticing Cang Mang’s look, Ran Yu raised his eyelids. “Even though Lord Cang Mang reprimanded Lie Ya, Lord Cang Mang must feel uncomfortable from the way that Yi Yun is wasting the Ancient Fey bone. After all, it is the Luo clan’s heritage and accumulation! Yet, it has been wasted by a human.”

Ran Yu sneered and looked at Yi Yun. “What a foolish human. Just because you think that the Ancient Fey bone is yours, does that mean you can use it freely? You have gone to extraordinary lengths just to pass the fifth level and not get eliminated. Not only have you wasted your opportunity, you have also offended Lord Cang Mang! The losses outweigh the gains. Furthermore, despite paying all these costs, it is possible that you won’t even be able to reach the fifth level and still be eliminated!”

Ran Yu’s eyes flashed a sharp color. He found Yi Yun extremely foolish.

Youths were usually impetuous due to their age. To profligate just because he had gained the recognition of the Ancient Fey Edifice was a perfect depiction of a fool’s haste is no speed! Such a Yi Yun was not a rival that Ran Yu needed to consider. His laws may have been strong, but he had offended others, and he was unlikely to pass the trials. Elimination was a most likely outcome.

With this thought in mind, the Ranyi Fish bloodline image behind him opened its mouth wide and carried on devouring the constantly appearing black Fey.

…

Hua hua. Yi Yun was floating in the magnificent galaxy.

The Ancient Fey’s aura came from the galaxy as Yi Yun felt that he was immersed inside the Ancient Fey’s body, which was as large as a world. He was bobbing up and down in the Ancient Fey’s blood as it surged through invisible vessels.

Yi Yun maintained his mental clarity and like a sponge, he began to slowly absorb the Ancient Fey energy.

833 - : Reckless waste of Heaven’s gifts

CKtalon  CKtalon

Being wrapped by the galaxy, Yi Yun felt his limbs and torso being awash with Ancient Fey energy.

This energy was extremely ancient. It contained the Ancient Fey’s will, primal simplicity and savage desolateness.

As the energy entered Yi Yun’s body, he felt his aura subtly change, as though he would experience time in the same way that the world he was in experienced… everlasting.

If this feeling of existence alongside the world sunk in, Yi Yun’s will would subtly be assimilated. His body would decay away, becoming a part of the aura.

This made Yi Yun’s heart sink and he became extremely vigilant.

Yi Yun suddenly realized the Ancient Fey bone’s energy was too powerful. If he did not absorb it cleanly, he would slowly be assimilated.

To be assimilated by an Ancient Fey bone…

It might sound preposterous that a bone that had been dead for billions of years would assimilate a living being, but what Yi Yun was presently experiencing proved this point.

If Yi Yun extricated himself from the situation, he would not be in danger, but the result would be Yi Yun absorbing only a tiny bit of the Ancient Fey’s energy that would be around 1%. If this went on, how much could he improve in a month?

It was too slow.

Besides, the energy that he failed to absorb in a timely fashion would be dispersed into the Heaven and Earth, turning into a portion of the Ancient Fey’s cosmic power.

And the so-called bloodline awakening to gather the power of the cosmic Ancient Fey power was this cosmic power. In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, this energy was an energy form that was considered superior to Yuan Qi.

“No wonder the Fey previously mentioned that I won’t be able to absorb the Ancient Fey bone. This is where the problem lies.”

Obviously, Yi Yun would not sit idle as such wastage occurred. He wanted to take in all the Ancient Fey energy and compress them into his body!

The thought of using a human’s body to dominate the ancient and powerful Ancient Fey bone sounded like wishful thinking, but Yi Yun possessed the Purple Crystal Origins. With it, everything was no longer a problem.

Regardless how powerful the energy in the Ancient Fey bone was, it was still energy of a dead being. Its ability to assimilate living creatures was just instinctual, but in front of the Purple Crystal, it could not stir any waves.

To the Purple Crystal, controlling such energy was completely trivial.

“Collect!”

With a thought from Yi Yun, the Purple Crystal’s powers radiated outwards!

The energy that was about to disperse was all swept back into Yi Yun’s meridians. Following that, all of this massive and ancient energy was compressed by the Purple Crystal!

Yi Yun seemed to see the Ancient Fey bone conjure an Ancient Fey phantom image. However, under the Purple Crystal’s pressure, it was only putting up a futile struggle.

Yi Yun decided to seal the 360 acupuncture points on his body. By sealing the energy in his meridians, he allowed his body to slowly digest and absorb it!

As long as he possessed the protection of the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun did not need to worry that his body would be assimilated by the Ancient Fey energy. Now, the only path that the Ancient Fey energy had was to be merged into his blood veins.

As such, Yi Yun could freely extract energy from the Ancient Fey bone. As the Ancient Fey energy surged around violently, it slowly filled up all of Yi Yun’s meridians. Following that, they seeped out of Yi Yun’s meridians and into Yi Yun’s body, which his flesh and blood absorbed.

A small amount of Ancient Fey energy attempted to rush out of Yi Yun’s body, but with Yi Yun sealing all his acupuncture points, they surged at the closed off points to no avail and they had to turn back.

As such, the amount of Ancient Fey energy that accumulated in Yi Yun’s body increased.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Yi Yun’s body began to produce booming sounds as the energy had nowhere to vent itself inside his body, and it could only surge in random directions, striking his body.

Yi Yun’s body began to turn red like melting iron. The Ancient Fey bone’s energy bored into his meridians and bone joints, producing the clear sounds of bones cracking.

“Oh?” Cang Mang opened his eyes and looked down.

The cultivators also noticed the commotion.

“What’s the matter?”

“It can’t be that Yi Yun is trying to forcefully absorb all the energy, right?”

Lie Ya also looked up and after a look of surprise, his expression turned into one of disbelief. Is this Yi Yun still straight in the mind!?

“He wants to become a fatso in one mouthful without a big enough appetite? He will only gorge himself to death!”

If one forcefully absorbed the Ancient Fey bone, either one was assimilated by the Ancient Fey bone or one would explode to their deaths!

“What madness is this? He is going to die from his foolishness!”

The cultivators found it unbelievable. Wasting energy was unavoidable, but the human was planning on reaching the sky in a single bound, and explode his body in the process?

Cang Mang frowned slightly. His opinion of Yi Yun was not that high yet. Yi Yun was indeed talented when it came to laws. If he was nurtured carefully, Yi Yun was likely to become an expert of the Luo clan, and he might even be able to enter the royal capital.

The Black Wind Valley trial was definitely disadvantageous for Yi Yun, but martial arts was never about fairness.

“I never expected Yi Yun to take such risks in order to pass.” Cang Mang shook his head. Warriors could not mature and grow stronger by just smashing their heads randomly into walls. They needed persistence and courage, but at the same time, they needed wisdom and self-comprehension. Otherwise, they would only die.

Now, Yi Yun was clearly placing himself into an extremely dangerous situation.

However, despite this happening, Cang Mang did not intervene. In Mt. Azure Billow, he was just a witness. All the trials were to be completed by the Luo clan disciples themselves.

The disciples beneath him may be said to be of the younger generation, but even the youngest had cultivated for three decades. If they were mortals, they would be head of their households. They had to take responsibilities for their own actions.

Seeing how Cang Mang ignored Yi Yun, Lie Ya, Ran Yu and company were gloating about Yi Yun’s misfortune. If Cang Mang intervened, Yi Yun would definitely be alright, but that was something that they did not wish to see.

The Ancient Fey Edifice had given Yi Yun a great opportunity. Unfortunately, Yi Yun could not digest it, and he might even die because of this opportunity. It was very ironic. The only regret was for that piece of Ancient Fey bone. It would have been great if they were the ones to have it.

With this thought in mind, many Fire Cloud State disciples saw Yi Yun’s skin turn redder, as though he was a boiler with billowing flames burning within.

Furthermore, not only had Yi Yun sealed all his acupuncture points, he had even sealed the pores all around his body, which numbered in the thousands!

Even geniuses of the Fey race who could awaken their ancient bloodline would only seal a number of acupuncture points when they absorbed the energy in an Ancient Fey bone. They would definitely not seal all the pores on their bodies. They had to disperse a bit of the energy through their pores or their bodies might explode, resulting in their deaths.

But now, not only was there no excess energy seeping out of Yi Yun’s pores, even a drop of sweat did not flow out. This made Yi Yun’s body slowly swell up. The blood vessels beneath his skin were visible. If not for Yi Yun’s clothes being enchanted, his clothes would have already been lit on fire.

“Hey, why don’t we guess about how long this punk can withstand this?” Lie Ya suddenly asked on a whim. Since cultivation was boring, he might as well find something to amuse himself. “Shall we make a bet?”

834 - : Acupuncture Points Sealed

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Bet?”

The Fire Cloud State disciples immediately had their interests perked up. Since the Black Wind Valley trial would last an entire month, being able to find some fun in the devouring and killing boredom while watching a show was something that they certainly would not refuse.

However, at that moment, a commotion happened high above them.

Rolling clouds were separated as a spirit cruiser suddenly appeared. As it descended, it stopped in a hovering position above Black Wind Valley.

Everyone saw that on the bow of the spirit cruiser stood Cang Mang.

Two Cang Mangs? With their eyesight, they could not tell the differences between the previous Cang Mang and the newly arrived Cang Mang. In terms of looks and aura, they were identical.

However, when the other Cang Mang stood up, the ‘Cang Mang’ on the spirit cruiser’s bow transformed into a tiny snake before whizzing into Cang Mang’s sleeves.

“It’s Lord Cang Mang’s avatar.” When the disciples saw this, they were secretly amazed. It was not a cultivation technique, it was Cang Mang’s talent. It was unknown how many snakes were hidden on his body, with every snake capable of being his avatar.

“It’s the people from the Phoenix Firmiana State. They are done with the Ancient Fey Edifice’s test and they have been brought here to Black Wind Valley as well.” The Fire Cloud State disciples quickly saw that the spirit cruiser’s human cargo was the group of disciples from the Phoenix Firmiana State.

With more than a hundred states in the Luo clan, the disciples from every state that were going to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials would participate in various forms of training. And since the Fire Cloud State and Phoenix Firmiana State were considered neighbors and were assigned to be under Cang Mang’s watch, it was normal for their tests and training to be the same.

Back at the Ancient Fey Edifice, their tests were staggered. However, as the Black Wind Valley trials lasted for an entire month, with only a day’s difference between the disciples of the two states, most of their time would be spent training together.

Every state’s disciples were already engaged in an intense competition amongst themselves. As for different states, the competition was even more intense.

Seeing the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples arrive, the Fire Cloud State disciples ignored Yi Yun and all of their faces turned sullen.

“From this moment on, the Fire Cloud State and Phoenix Firmiana State’s cultivators will undergo training in Black Wind Valley together. The assessment criteria is the same. In one month’s time, those who reach the fifth level are those who have passed. Those who can’t reach the fifth level, you might as well not go to the Luo Divine Hall for the trials, so as to not waste my Luo clan’s resources. At the Ancient Fey Edifice, the overall results of the disciples from both states are about the same. It will now depend on the results of the Black Wind Valley training.” Cang Mang’s cold voice resounded.

Upon hearing this, the Fire Cloud State disciples immediately had ugly expressions.

Although it was said that their results were about the same, everyone knew that just Yi Yun alone had given them, the Fire Cloud State, a huge lead.

If their overall results were better than the Phoenix Firmiana State, that would only be natural. By saying that it was about the same, that meant that other than Yi Yun and Gu Luo’s results being extremely outstanding, the other disciples had results worse than the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples. Or else, how could it just be about the same?

“What Lord Cang Mang said makes me the most ashamed.”

Ran Yu secretly clenched his fists. His results at the Ancient Fey Edifice were far from ideal. He was inferior to Yi Yun and Gu Luo as well. Of course, there was no way that he had beaten Luo Tian.

At Black Wind Valley, this was his area of expertise. He could not lose again.

The training of the two state’s disciples was administered by Cang Mang. By putting the disciples from the two states together, and saying such instigating words, it was simply to agitate these disciples, making them compete till they had their heads broken in.

However, the path of martial arts was always about stepping on others to go higher. Either you stepped on thousands of people to stride up towards the heavens, or you would be trampled beneath the feet of others and be destroyed.

Hence, when they heard Cang Mang’s words, be it the Fire Cloud State disciples or the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples, who had Luo Tian as their leader, they were all full of fighting spirit.

For Luo Tian, his results at the Ancient Fey Edifice test was indeed extremely outstanding. However, with Yi Yun’s accomplishments before him, his amazing results did not appear as shocking as it should have been.

On the journey to Black Wind Valley, Luo Tian was pumping himself up. Even without Cang Mang saying anything, he was bent on ruthlessly trampling Ran Yu, Gu Luo and Yi Yun beneath him!

At that moment, a sharp roar was heard from Black Wind Valley.

Everyone was alarmed as they lowered their heads quickly.

“What’s the commotion?”

Seeing the black gas rolling in Black Wind Valley as though it was a tidal wave, the surging black gas seemed to produce the sounds of a tsunami.

These disciples were startled having heard this rumbling sound.

The degenerated Blood Dragon was already dead, and Black Wind Valley was a land formed after its corpse rotted. However, from the commotion, it was as though a True Dragon had been revived?

“Your luck isn’t too bad.” Cang Mang suddenly said.

“Oh? What does Lord Cang Mang mean?’

“If your luck isn’t good, you might not even have the chance of encountering it despite reaching the deep depths of Black Wind Valley. However, now, you can see its true face. Aren’t you curious about what the true opportunity hidden in Black Wind Valley is? This is it.” Cang Mang said.

Upon hearing Cang Mang’s words, everyone immediately became extremely curious.

This commotion… was the opportunity of Black Wind Valley?

At that moment, the black gases turned more turbulent as the sharp roar approached them.

With a boom, the concentrated black gas was separated, and a red snake that looked as crystalline as blood jade was seen swimming in it! The snake’s head had a single horn and the moment it appeared, it made everyone feel like their scalps had exploded.

What an intense foul blood aura!

“That is the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. It is naturally condensed out of the blood dragon black gas in Black Wind Valley. It is considered to be a unique treasure of Black Wind Valley. It isn’t a living creature itself, but it is exceptionally quick-witted. It usually stays below the seventh level and it seldom shows its face.” Cang Mang said.

Black Wind Valley’s treasure!

“Hehe, eating it is equivalent to absorbing the blood dragon black gas for three years. Furthermore, it contains a strand of the degenerated Blood Dragon’s aura. However, this sort of thing typically isn’t used for eating.” Cang Mang said in a direct manner.

Si!

Upon hearing that the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake contained the degenerated Blood Dragon’s aura, many disciple drew cold gasps!

That was the bloodline of a True Dragon. Even if it was just a strand that could not be any less, it would still be amazing!

People like Luo Tian and Ran Yu already had their eyes lit up.

Even a living zombie like Gu Luo also had a strange glint in his eyes.

As for Lie Ya and company, they only revealed envious looks before their faces turned bitter as they shook their heads.

What good luck was this? Even without Luo Tian and company present, it was impossible for them to reach the seventh level. There was no way that they could capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake.

If everyone could not do it, it would have been fine, but it was highly possible that Luo Tian and company were able to reach the seventh level and below.

The inequality and imbalance left an astringent taste in these disciples’ hearts.

835 - : Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake… ” Ran Yu’s eyes flashed a hint of desire and greed.

Previously, he had failed to obtain the Ancient Fey bone. So now, he had to get the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake at all costs!

However, his enemies changed from Yi Yun to Luo Tian and Gu Luo!

But this was just perfect. Luo Tian and Gu Luo were famous opponents with true strength. It felt better competing with such enemies!

Unlike Yi Yun… a human rascal who was unknown. Winning against him did not win any glory, but once he lost, as he did previously at the Ancient Fey Edifice…

That feeling was so embarrassing that he felt like immediately committing suicide.

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake only revealed its head before swimming back into the rolling black gases.

“Alright, begin.” Cang Mang said lightly.

“Haha, then I shall begin.” Luo Tian whipped the tail behind him before leaping into the Blood Dragon black gas.

“Ze ze. The bunch of you came here a day earlier, but the majority of you are still only at the second level! What weaklings.”

The moment Luo Tian descended, he did not hold back on his derision. The faces of the Fire Cloud State disciples turned ugly when they heard this.

But it had to be said that Luo Tian was indeed powerful!

Luo Tian was agile like an ape. The foul aura emitted by the Blood Dragon black gas surged at him, but with a wave of his long tail, they were all absorbed by his tail.

It was so easy it was like he was playing.

Of course, this was just the first and second level. Even Luo Tian could not be that relaxed if he went lower.

“Gu Luo! Ran Yu!” Luo Tian noticed Gu Luo and Ran Yu, who were beneath him, at a glance. His eyes focused, but following that, he started looking around and he was somewhat taken aback.

“Why don’t I see Yi Yun?”

Luo Tian had jumped down into Black Wind Valley with an aggressive posture, but he did not see Yi Yun’s figure.

However, with a sweep of his perception, he found Yi Yun on the first level. At that moment, Yi Yun was sitting in a cave. The skin all over his body looked as though it was roasted, and deep inside his body, there were roaring sounds that resembled an airbox.

“What is Yi Yun doing?”

Luo Tian was momentarily shocked.

“Oh? Ancient Fey aura? All his acupuncture points are sealed?” Luo Tian realized that something was unusual about Yi Yun. Even his acupuncture points for his ears and heart were sealed, so Yi Yun could not hear anything from the outside world.

“Don’t… don’t tell me that he is absorbing the Ancient Fey bone here?” Luo Tian was deeply startled. Was Yi Yun dumb? The Black Wind Valley trial only lasted a month. His cultivation level was still extremely weak, yet he was absorbing the Ancient Fey bone here!?

“What’s so surprising. A human’s body is lacking, and Yi Yun’s powerful nomological insights are useless here. He can’t even pass the fifth level, and the outcome will be him not being able to attend the Luo Divine Hall trials.” Ran Yu said nonchalantly from the fifth level of Black Wind Valley. His voice pierced through the black mist and into everyone’s ears.

“Weak bloodline… The bloodline of humans is indeed weak… However, using a last-minute effort of absorbing the Ancient Fey bone in order to pass Black Wind Valley is just too naive.” Luo Tian did not know why Yi Yun was so dumb. But it was good. Previously, he had been trampled on by Yi Yun, and he nursed a grievance against him. Now that he saw Yi Yun digging his own grave, he also felt his mind ease up.

“A last-minute effort was done because he was out of options. If he doesn’t do so, he won’t be able to join the Luo Divine Hall trials.”

Ran Yu said nonchalantly and glanced at Luo Tian. “Ignore him, I am your opponent!”

Upon saying this, Ran Yu’s aura exploded as a black gas snake the thickness of a bowl was dispersed by Ran Yu’s punch that was augmented with his bloodline power. It was immediately devoured after that!

“Hahaha, Ran Yu, you think too highly of yourself. Do you think you are worthy to be my opponent?”

Luo Tian suddenly plummeted straight down!

Third level, fourth level, fifth level!

Luo Tian instantly reached the fifth level, the same level as Ran Yu.

Ran Yu’s eyes focused as his bloodline power burst out!

His nomological insights were weaker than Luo Tian, but the test of bloodline at the Black Wind Valley trial was his forte. He had to obtain the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake!

“Ran Yu is heading to the sixth level!”

“It looks like Luo Tian has given Ran Yu some pressure. He is prematurely rushing for the sixth level.”

“No hurry. It is not that easy to descend to the sixth level. Look at Ran Yu, he is only probing it.”

Ran Yu did not move, but the Ranyi Fish phantom image behind him began swimming to the sixth level.

However, just as it reached the sixth level, thick black gas surged over, and in it, there was a humanoid shadow.

The humanoid shadow held a long saber which it brandished and it slashed at the phantom image.

Ran Yu immediately felt his scalp tingle and he hurriedly made the Ranyi Fish phantom image dodge and then swing its tail at the saber.

Bam!

A loud bang reverberated as the shadow saber was parried. However, the Ranyi Fish also retreated out of the sixth level. The humanoid shadow sullenly took a step back before disappearing into the Blood Dragon black gas.

“Could that humanoid black gas have devoured a warrior in the past? It seems to possess a certain amount of intelligence and it can use cultivation techniques!”

Ran Yu’s face turn solemn. The degenerated Blood Dragon’s blood was extremely odd. The degenerated Blood Dragon had devoured thousands of living beings to begin with, so it was natural that the blood it left behind could devour Fey race warriors to strengthen itself.

When the other disciples saw this scene, they shuddered.

The black gas was terrifying to begin with. If it was able to inherit a certain amount of intelligence of the Fey race, it would be much harder to deal with!

They had also seen that there were several humanoid shadows lurking in the black gas. If Ran Yu truly descended into the sixth level, he would be immediately encircled.

If the sixth level was already this difficult, the seventh level was obviously even more terrifying.

However, levels below the fifth were the stages for powerful freaks. They just needed to reach the fifth level.

Everyone began working hard. Although they could not compare with freaks like Ran Yu, they did not want to lose to the others at the very least.

Instantly, everyone began giving their all to battle the black Fey before devouring the black gas. The rest of the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples also began from the first level.

And as this scene happened, Yi Yun, who was still in cave, was experiencing a different scene.

Phew! Phew!

Yi Yun’s glabella rose up high as every acupuncture point and meridian was filled with energy.

Although the energy was tempestuous, with the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun was able to evenly distribute the energy to every minute spot in his body. He wrapped every cell in his body with energy, preventing any leakage.

Typically, during the body-tempering of humans and even the Fey race, there were always ‘leaks‘. Certain muscles and blood vessels were difficult to temper, and even the most ingenious cultivation techniques would have leaks. And these leaking points would become the warrior’s weakness in the future. As their strength reached the next realm, the points would become obstacles that formed bottlenecks.

And at that moment, by relying on the Purple Crystal and the Ancient Fey bone, Yi Yun was unwittingly tempering every minute part of his body. Over time, Yi Yun would possess a Seamless Body. Of course, he was just at the beginning, and he still had a long way to go.

As he inhaled and exhaled, Yi Yun seemed to become one with the heaven and earth.

His flesh, blood, meridians and organs were like an iron block that was repeatedly forged. It was heated to a red-hot color as it was brutally tempered. During this tempering process, impurities were expelled, leaving behind parts that were more transparent and solid.

836 - : Seamless Body

CKtalon  CKtalon

As time passed, deep in Black Wind Valley, the Phoenix Firmiana State and Fire Cloud State disciples displayed their respective skills!

In the process of them battling the Blood Dragon black gases, their physiques gradually strengthened as well. A large number of disciples had completed the second level, and they successively began to enter the third level. Many of them had gotten their footing in the third level, and some had even reached the fourth level.

At that moment, most of them were at their limits, without any ability to continue descending anymore. Some had no choice but to sit down and cultivate, and allow their Fey race bloodline to devour the Black Wind Valley’s black gas so that they could be nourished.

And while cultivating, some of them paid attention to Yi Yun’s situation.

Seeing Yi Yun’s situation, they were rendered truly speechless. When they were at the second level, they saw Yi Yun’s body burning over, with all his acupuncture points sealed off. His body was hot like a boiler and he looked as though he would combust in flames.

Now that they had arrived at the third or fourth level, they themselves could not tolerate it any further. And looking back at Yi Yun, his body was still hot all over with his acupuncture points sealed, as though his body was about to explode?

What was wrong with this?

“I say, how is that rascal holding on for so long? Even if he doesn’t explode and die, it won’t be surprising if his meridians are destroyed. Even the bodies of the Fey race cannot withstand such powerful energies.” A Fire Cloud State disciple said after seeing Yi Yun’s situation.

At that moment, Lie Ya had also arrived at the fourth level. As he looked at Yi Yun, he knitted his brows. That rascal had lasted longer than he expected.

However, no one could hold on for that long. Even if their will allowed them to hold on, their meridians would not be able to.

When he thought about it, Lie Ya grunted and said, “It’s just a result of willpower. But by doing so, his meridians will be damaged. Without a year or two, he won’t be able to recover from it. He’s already a spent force. I bet he will last for another two hours at most.”

“Two hours? In my opinion, it seems like he… won’t be limited to that. He might even be able to last another four hours… ” A Fire Cloud State disciple said with uncertainty. He too had believed that Yi Yun would not be able to persist for that long, but from the looks of it, Yi Yun appeared to be able to carry on longer…

Lie Ya chuckled and said, “It won’t be more than four hours. Didn’t I say before that we can bet on this? However, the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples came and interrupted us. Are you still up for it?”

With Lie Ya saying this, the other Fire Cloud State disciples were hesitant. They were not certain on how long Yi Yun could persist for.

However, it was unexpected that someone was really indignant. A female voice belonging to Luo Fengling came from the third level. She said, “Lie Ya, Junior Brother Yi Yun is our Fire Cloud State’s disciple. Now that we are competing against the Phoenix Firmiana State, disciples from both states are in contention, trying to outdo the other, so they win glory for their own state. But for you, Lie Ya, you didn’t compete with the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples and instead choose to mock our Fire Cloud State disciples. Aren’t you going too far!?”

Regardless of the matter, Luo Fengling was the one who brought Yi Yun into the Fire Cloud State. Furthermore, Yi Yun had good character, so Luo Fengling had a good impression of Yi Yun.

Besides, Luo Fengling was a new disciple who was going to participate with Yi Yun for the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trials together. Their statuses were rather similar, having been ostracized by the senior disciples, so they had a common enemy. Seeing Yi Yun being derided, she felt uncomfortable.

Lie Ya sneered. “Of course, our Fire Cloud State has to compete with the Phoenix Firmiana State. However, it will not be relying on a human… it will be a member of our Fey race that has the most concentrated bloodline! I might not be up to it, but I believe that my bloodline will be able to contribute a portion of strength!”

“As for you, Luo Fengling, why don’t you think about your role when it comes to the competition against the Phoenix Firmiana State? Don’t think that just because your surname is ‘Luo’ and you being a Heaven Fey means anything. There are numerous people in the Luo clan with the surname ‘Luo’. Some of the distant bloodlines are even inferior to my Lie clan. You haven’t reached the third level up to now. I’m not even sure if you can reach the fifth level by the end of the trial. You might even be eliminated!”

Lie Ya mercilessly mocked Luo Fengling, causing her to grit her teeth tightly. The family clan that she belonged to was an insignificant branch of the Luo clan. Indeed, her bloodline was not powerful, and it was something that she lacked the most confidence in. Cultivation techniques could be cultivated, but to supplement her bloodline, only a top treasure like the Ancient Fey bone could do so. Where was she going to obtain one from?

Having her raw nerve struck, Luo Fengling angrily said, “Didn’t you want to make a bet? I’ll bet with you. What happens if I can reach the fifth level? What happens if Junior Brother Yi manages to last for more than two hours?”

Upon hearing Luo Fengling’s agreement to bet with him, Lie Ya was interested. With a twinkling light in his eyes, a teasing smile suffused across his lips. He was not confident about Luo Fengling being unable to reach the fifth level, and he did not bet on things that he had no confidence in. But for Yi Yun, even if he could last two hours, could he last four hours? Wasn’t betting on four hours a sure-win? With Luo Fengling being agitated, she would probably agree if he added another two hours to the bet.

Upon thinking about this, Lie Ya smiled and said, “You want to bet? Great! If the punk lasts for more than two hours, I will give three World Stones to you for every two hours he lasts. If he can’t persist past two hours, you give lose ten World Stones to me. How about it?”

With Lie Ya saying that, the people present secretly shook their heads.

Lie Ya was too treacherous. If Luo Fengling made a bet with Lie Ya over how long Yi Yun could last, that was already disadvantageous to Luo Fengling. But now, Lie Ya had established a bet to scam Luo Fengling.

Things like persisting on every two hours which meant losing three World Stones sounded like Luo Fengling had gained the advantage, but everyone knew that eight or ten hours was practically impossible. It was all carrots on a stick that could not be obtained.

With Lie Ya saying this, he made a two hour bet become a four hour bet. Only after four hours would he begin losing World Stones. If it was less than four hours, he would win ten!

Immediately, many people despised Lie Ya for his actions. Luo Fengling was a junior and a young lady. Yet, Lie Ya had taken advantage of an agitated Luo Fengling to change the bet, scamming a young girl for her World Stones. He was utterly shameless.

At that moment, Luo Fengling was irrevocably committed. Having been mocked by Lie Ya, how could she take this lying? At this trial, she had suffered criticism from her identity as a new disciple and her obtaining a spot in the trial through Fairy Black Bamboo’s backdoor.

It was only ten World Stones, two year’s worth of salary. Although it will be quite a pinch, Luo Fengling could still afford it.

“Alright! I’ll bet on it!” Luo Fengling said while gritting her teeth. At the same time, she secretly prayed that Yi Yun could last for more than two hours. She hoped that not only would his body be tempered, but also allow her to not lose a single World Stone. As a side branch of the Luo clan, Luo Fengling’s family would not provide her with too many resources. She still had to rely on herself. Losing ten World Stones would greatly reduce her cultivation speed.

837 - : Provoked

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Hehe, since you have agreed to the bet, make the oath.” Lie Ya said.

As he said this, he flicked a drop of blood from his fingers and made a hand seal that flew towards Luo Fengling on the third level of Black Wind Valley. Luo Fengling caught the seal and also flicked a drop of blood onto it.

This was a mental demon oath. The disciples of the Luo clan would typically use such oaths in their bets. After signing it, there was no room for regret, or the costs would outweigh the gain. Once the mental demon oath was established, the bet was established.

Lie Ya chuckled as he began meditating on the fourth level, making his preparations to break through to the fifth level.

It was not easy to meditate on the fourth level. He had to constantly power his Fey race bloodline to devour the black mist and if he made a mistake, the black gas would intrude into his body, causing damage to his soul sea.

Lie Ya was accumulating his strength so that he could proceed to the fifth level.

Up to now, his reaching the fifth level was already certain. Cang Mang had previously demanded that the disciples reach the fifth level, but he did not say that they needed to find their footing on the fifth level. This was very simple for Lie Ya. The personal goal that he set for himself was to find his footing on the fifth level and be able to last on the sixth level for a short period of time!

Although completing such a goal would not leave much of an impression on Lord Cang Mang, it was a commendable achievement in his own family clan, allowing him to enjoy more of the family’s resources.

As Lie Ya was focused on his cultivation, someone suddenly said, “Senior Brother Lie Ya, it’s almost two hours… ”

“Oh?” Lie Ya opened his eyes and used his perception to sweep the first level of Black Wind Valley where Yi Yun was. He saw how Yi Yun looked the same, with his skin glowing red and streams of energy flowing beneath his skin. As Yi Yun’s pores were sealed, the energy could not surge out, and seeing the blood vessels that were bursting with energy was quite a shocking sight.

However, Yi Yun was still persisting on.

Lie Ya frowned slightly and said, “What’s the hurry. It’s only been two hours. Isn’t there another two hours?”

Lie Ya continued his meditation as he devoured the black mist, strengthening his bloodline.

People were quite impressed with Lie Ya’s nonchalant state of mind. Many of the Fire Cloud State disciples were paying attention to Yi Yun’s situation from time to time as Lie Ya cultivated.

However, Lie Ya was paying close attention as well.

A warrior had great mental powers, so with their sense of time, they did not need things like hourglasses or incense sticks. They could silently keep track of time.

Soon… four hours had passed.

Yi Yun was still sitting on the first level and it looked like he was in a trance. Despite his body seemingly burning in flames, he was like a monk that was sitting amidst flames of nirvana — able to meditate and chant Buddhist verses despite the fire consuming him.

“Senior Brother Lie Ya, it’s been four hours.”

Lie Ya was already keeping track of time himself, but a junior brother, who did not know any better, reminded him.

Lie Ya’s expression sank all of a sudden. How was this rascal persisting?

He stared at the junior brother who spoke. He wanted to scold him, but at that moment, the junior brother added on, “Senior Brother Lie Ya, you have lost three World Stones to Luo Fengling… ”

The corner of Lie Ya’s mouth twitched slightly.

“Cut the crap!”

Lie Ya cursed. Three World Stones was nothing much to Lie Ya. However, he could not figure out what was going on with Yi Yun. To last for that long, even the bloodline of Heaven Fey could not do that…

Lie Ya coldly said, “Four hours is his limit. That lass, Luo Fengling, has pretty good luck. However, since I have lost, I will not turn back on my word.”

Having said this, Lie Ya calmed his heart down and began to meditate again.

But following that…

“Senior Brother Lie Ya, it’s been six hours.” The talkative junior brother opened his mouth again.

Lie Ya stared with widened eyes as his face turned ugly.

He stood up and glanced at Yi Yun in a perplexed manner. What the hell was going on?

“It’s been six hours. I don’t believe that your meridians can withstand it. I want to see how long you can last.”

Lie Ya clenched his fists as he forcefully composed himself before sitting down again.

He was still able to calm his heart down for cultivation, but following that…

“Senior Brother Lie Ya, it’s been eight hours.”

That reminder was like a devil’s curse. After hearing it, Lie Ya’s heart skipped a beat. He was truly afraid of hearing it, but he knew for a fact that eight hours had passed.

His anger flared as he hatefully stared at the junior brother who had opened his mouth. He snapped, “There’s no need for you to remind me!”

“Uh… ” The junior brother was taken aback and shrinking his neck, he kept quiet.

“Eight hours! What the heck?”

At that moment, Lie Ya no longer had the composure to continue cultivating. Every two hours, he would lose three World Stones.

Could that punk really persist on all the way?

“Nice going kid. I’ll have to hand it to you. I would like to see how long you can last for. If you have the ability, try making me lose all my fortune!”

Lie Ya had quite a fortune. After all, he was older than Luo Fengling. The salary of the Heaven Fire Hall and the support from his family clan allowed him to come up with thirty World Stones.

“World Stones? I have lots of them. Even if I need to produce twenty to buy an explosive death of yours, I’ll be willing to produce them.”

With this thought in mind, Lie Ya felt his mind ease up.

But following that, the tenth hour, the twelfth hour…

As the river of time flowed, Lie Ya could no longer sit still.

“It’s been sixteen hours. Is something amiss?” A junior brother said.

“Holy shit, there must be a problem!” Someone said as more and more people paid attention to Yi Yun.

They couldn’t believe that Yi Yun had persisted for so long.

And at that moment, Lie Ya’s face had gone green. His net worth could not withstand such a big loss. Since he had had already signed the mental demon oath, he could no longer go back on his word. Even Ran Yu would feel the pinch if he lost so many World Stones, let alone himself.

But that was not the end. Time moved to the twenty-fourth hour as an entire day passed.

Lie Ya was becoming extremely anxious. It meant that he would lose thirty-three World Stones. He did not even have that many World Stones on him. He might even need to sell some of his treasures to produce the rest of that amount!

And following that, thirty hours and then, thirty-two hours. Soon, it was almost halfway past the second day.

Lie Ya was on the brink of a mental collapse. Why did Yi Yun look as though he could persist on further!?

Soon, the sun set. Mt. Azure Billow had an array formation that maintained the rising and setting of the sun. Seeing that the sun had set while Yi Yun was still fine and dandy, Lie Ya felt himself go dizzy. He could only see blackness as he nearly spewed out a mouthful of blood.

He felt completely defeated. He no longer dared to say things like “if you have the ability, make me lose my fortune”, because… he had already lost all his fortune.

Now, he wished that he could kneel down in front of Yi Yun and beg him — Big Bro, please don’t hold on any further, I myself can’t hold on any longer.

However, Yi Yun apparently did not hear Lie Ya’s prayer. The second day passed as the sky lit up. Yi Yun remained unfeeling, while Lie Ya passed the night in a tensed up state. His eyes were already red.

The matter was just too strange. Yi Yun looked like a simmering volcano and he looked like he would erupt at any moment. But for some unknown reason, he remained as calm as ever.

And the most unforgivable matter of all was in the morning of the third day, Yi Yun’s body suddenly floated up.

He had closed off his five senses, but he flew from the first level slowly onto the second level!

There was no one left in Black Wind Valley’s second level. Even Bai Chen had barely managed to reach the third level.

Hence, Yi Yun was the only person on the second level.

No one laughed at Yi Yun’s slow speed because Yi Yun had flown to the second level while absorbing the Ancient Fey bone’s energy.

Behind Yi Yun, the Nine Neonate phantom image emerged. It wandered about, devouring the black mist to strengthen itself, looking extremely carefree as it went on its merry way.

Not only did Yi Yun dislike the lack of intensity of the black mist on the first level, he was even able to withstand the second level’s black mist while absorbing the Ancient Fey bone’s energy!

Yi Yun was absorbing the Ancient Fey bone’s energy, while the Nine Neonate Aspect Totem was absorbing the black gases!

When he saw this scene, Lie Ya truly wanted to kneel before Yi Yun. He believed that regardless of how long Yi Yun could persist for, there would definitely be a limit. Now, with Yi Yun coming down to the second level, it meant that he still had ample room for more.

Are you kidding me!?

Lie Ya’s face was drenched with sweat as his eyes turned bloodshot. He wanted to just pass out or jump off Black Wind Valley’s cliff.

What was going on!? He would rather be beaten to death than believe that a human could absorb so much of the Ancient Fey bone’s energy!

“That’s not right! That’s not right! Something must not be right!”

Lie Ya bellowed. At that moment, there were numerous Fire Cloud State disciples who were looking pitifully at Lie Ya.

They also knew about how Lie Ya had attempted to scam Luo Fengling, but now, he had ended up losing 70–80 World Stones.

And from Yi Yun’s situation, it did not seem like it was a problem to break past a hundred.

By losing more than a hundred World Stones in one fell swoop, whatever Lie Ya gained had previously at the Ancient Fey Edifice might even have to be vomited out.

At that moment, even Cang Mang was startled as he looked at Yi Yun. From not paying any concern to Yi Yun from the beginning to noting with interest, and finally to amazement.

There were not many juniors that could amaze Cang Mang.

838 - : Lie Ya suffers a mental breakdown

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It’s been… three… three days… ” Beside Lie Ya, someone said softly.

Three days had passed since Lie Ya had made his wretched bet with Luo Fengling. This also meant seventy-two hours and Lie Ya had lost more than a hundred World Stones. Lie Ya no longer had the disposition to continue cultivating. Every breath he took made his body wince in pain.

“Why does it feel like… Yi Yun will be able to persist on all the way? He won’t persist for a whole month, will he?”

A month?

Lie Ya’s face twisted when he heard that sentence. Yi Yun was planning on persisting to the end of the Black Wind Valley trials?

Persisting for a month sounded unbelievable, but from the way that Yi Yun stayed on the second level all fine and dandy, when was it going to end?

Luo Fengling was also now on the third level. With the passing of time, she herself was confused, having earned more than twenty year’s worth of salary without doing a thing. It was just fascinating hearing what had happened. What method was Junior Brother Yi using to persist for so long?

However, finally on the fourth day, there was a slight change in the situation.

Yi Yun’s body was no longer burning hot. His skin was no longer glowing from the heat, and from the looks of it, he seemed to slowly calm down.

The Ancient Fey energy was mysterious and bizarre. Using one’s flesh and blood to refine the energy could result in all sorts of unpredictable matters. The others had no idea what had happened to Yi Yun either.

But from the looks of it, the Ancient Fey energy was not surging as crazily as before, as though it could be controlled now.

Why is this happening?

“Has he finally ended the absorption of the Ancient Fey bone?” People began to generate such thoughts when they saw Yi Yun’s state. Only by stopping the absorption of the energy would Yi Yun appear so calm on the surface.

“How do you end the absorption? The Ancient Fey bone is sealed by a mighty Supremacies. The moment that the Ancient Fey blood and energy contained within is absorbed, it is equivalent to opening a hole. The blood and energy would constantly leak out, and in a few days, there wouldn’t be much of the Ancient Fey energy left in it.”

The person who spoke was Luo Tian from the Phoenix Firmiana State.

Ignoring the Ancient Fey bone, even mortal herbs like ginseng had similar properties. If one bit on a ginseng, its essence would begin draining away, and in a few days, all of its herbal properties would be gone. Hence, ginseng pickers would usually use a small brush to pick at it for days, afraid of breaking any strand of the ginseng.

“Wouldn’t that be a waste? However, for this guy, wasting is better than succumbing to the tumultuous energy that might result in his meridians being damaged.” Another Phoenix Firmiana State disciple said.

“Waste!? Then he might as well give me the part of the Ancient Fey bone that hasn’t been absorbed!”

Many people were rendered speechless when they heard this. Don’t force yourself if you can’t absorb all of it, we can help you absorb a bit of it. Wasting it would be such a pity.

However, regardless of their wishes, with Cang Mang still sitting mid air all calm and composed, as though he was not planning on interfering, it was not possible for them to rush up to the second level to grab it from him.

“Don’t be silly! Even if he can’t absorb it all, he won’t give it to you. Although the Ancient Fey bone’s energy will leak, only a small portion ends up leaking. There will be still some left overs, but why would he give it to you?”

Many people were envious, but they were out of options. They could only watch as Yi Yun reckless destroyed a treasure of heaven.

In order to pass the Black Wind Valley trial, Yi Yun had wrecked an Ancient Fey bone that was from their Luo clan. If not for Cang Mang floating mid air, they would have rushed up and grabbed the Ancient Fey bone from Yi Yun.

But nonetheless, Yi Yun had exceeded expectations. He had persisted on for four days, which was fascinating!

The violent energy was something that typical people could not persist on for eight hours, let alone six times that amount.

Ran Yu meaningfully glanced at Yi Yun and he said to himself, “Yi Yun, I have indeed underestimated you previously. To be able to last for so long under the intense energy tempering, you will definitely obtain some benefits if your meridians aren’t damaged!”

From the looks of it, Yi Yun did not appear to have injured his meridians.

But even so, with so much energy consumed, no one knew how much he could digest.

Being able to eat a meal that was worth what was days’ worth for others did not necessarily mean that one could grow fat or taller.

“That human punk has truly not spared any effort in order to pass the trial. It appears like he won’t have problems reaching the fifth level. We can’t be inferior to a human punk. Let’s work hard at getting a foothold on the fifth level before attempting the sixth.”A Phoenix Firmiana State disciple said.

The middle bulk of the Phoenix Firmiana State’s disciples were generally stronger than the Fire Cloud State’s disciples.

At that moment, they began their attempts at the fourth and fifth levels. And at that moment in time, Ran Yu had already found his footing on the sixth level.

He had destroyed a humanoid shadow with a slash, absorbing all the black gas from it. He was finally able to gain a foothold on the sixth level.

However, the pressure from the black gases had spiked at the sixth level, so it was not easy for Ran Yu to withstand it. He still had more than twenty days for to step onto the seventh level. As long as everything went smoothly, it would not be difficult.

Seeing Ran Yu gain his footing on the sixth level, many people felt jealous.

As long as he reached the seventh level, there would be an Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake there!

They were also participating in the Luo Divine Hall trials. But as ordinary disciples, they were still too far from competing with a genius like Ran Yu.

Similarly terrifying was Gu Luo.

Gu Luo had remained on the fourth level for a very long period of time. Compared to Ran Yu, he was rather inconspicuous.

However, when Gu Luo descended onto the fifth level, he immediately caught everyone’s attention. This was because Gu Luo had yet to stimulate his Fey race bloodline even at the fifth level!

He was relying on his body to forcefully resist it!

The black Fey that had taken form began to bite Gu Luo’s body, but he remained as still as a mummy. Instantly, black Fey swarmed him, and this scene alone left many people’s scalps tingling. How strong was his body for him to be able to resist such biting?

That was purely masochistic. Even if he had a powerful body, it was impossible to not feel any pain from such biting.

As the Phoenix Firmiana State and Fire Cloud State disciples were striving hard to attempt the deeper levels in Black Wind Valley, Yi Yun was still quietly refining the Ancient Fey bone.

In four days, the Purple Crystal had completely disintegrated the Ancient Fey bone. The Ancient Fey bone’s energy was crystallized into tiny crystals that was dispersed throughout Yi Yun’s flesh and blood. Yi Yun was slowly digesting and absorbing the energy crystals, and the process was much slower. This also stopped Yi Yun’s body burning like a boiler.

As for the Ancient Fey bone itself, it had already been reduced to powder.

Even a Heaven Ascension realm genius from a famous Heaven Fey family would absorb half the energy of an Ancient Fey bone at best. Furthermore, it would take them a year or two to slowly digest and absorb it. This was already the best outcome, but using the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun just needed an extremely short amount of time to completely absorb the entire Ancient Fey bone.

839 - : Four Days

CKtalon  CKtalon

Days passed and nearly half of the month-long Black Wind Valley trial was over.

Including Lie Ya, there were more and more people who had managed to set foot onto Black Wind Valley’s fifth level!

This was the minimum level that Cang Mang required.

Lie Ya was one of the first few people who had stepped foot onto the fifth level, but… regardless of how much he led others by, he had an ashen face, as though his father had just died. The debt of more than 150 World Stones was suppressing his heart like a heavy rock. Just thinking of how he could settle the debt gave Lie Ya a headache.

And the culprit of all this was Yi Yun. He was still on the second level.

“Why is that kid still meditating!? When does he plan on finishing his meditation?”

Just looking at Yi Yun made Lie Ya feel an irreconcilable hatred for him. He wanted to see what fuss Yi Yun would produce after absorbing the Ancient Fey bone for four days. He wanted to know if Yi Yun could even find his footing on the fifth level.

And suddenly, a red stream of light flashed near the seventh level.

It was the tiny single-horned snake with a body as crystalline as blood jade!

The moment the snake appeared, it brought with it a strange aura. Everyone could sense it. To the Fey race, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was a treasure with extreme attractive powers. This attraction came from their bloodline.

Lie Ya momentarily could not bother to focus on Yi Yun. As he looked at the tiny scarlet snake shuttling through the seventh level, his eyes glimmered.

He truly wanted it.

If he could catch that tiny snake, what were 150 or 160 World Stones? Even if it were a thousand World Stones, his family clan would give it to him without the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, he could not even find his footing on the sixth level, what more capture the tiny snake?

Lie Ya felt helpless. On the sixth level, there were only three people — Ran Yu, Luo Tian and Gu Luo! Of course, the three of them were the only ones eligible for competing for the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake.

Seeing the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake appear, the trio, who were meditating on the sixth level, immediately stood up.

All of them wanted the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake at all costs!

“Luo Tian, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake shall belong to me!”

Ran Yu roared as his blood began to boil. The Ranyi Fish phantom image appeared behind Ran Yu once again. With a leap, he entered the seventh level!

For Ran Yu, the move from the sixth to the seventh level was a great challenge.

“The seventh level! It has finally begun!”

Seeing Ran Yu head to the seventh level first, the Fire Cloud State disciples had anticipatory looks. Since they were destined to have no luck with the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, they could feel honored if it was the famous Ran Yu, who was also a Fire Cloud State disciple, that managed to catch the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake.

Ran Yu was the first to jump down, but Luo Tian only smiled. He did not make a move.

The moment that Ran Yu landed on the seventh level, the surrounding black gas immediately billowed around him like a tsunami wave.

Ran Yu had already done all his preparatory work. He had been cultivating for so long on the sixth level all for this moment.

“Whew!”

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was just too fast. Just after Ran Yu stepped foot onto the seventh level, it sank into the billowing black gas and disappeared.

At that moment, in the roaring sea of black billowing gases, a gigantic black dragon took form. It stirred the sea, producing an overwhelming pressure. As it spiraled over, it bit at Ran Yu!

“Ha!” Ran Yu bellowed. The Ranyi Fish phantom image suddenly expanded in size and it jerked its body. Simultaneously, Ran Yu threw a heavy punch with both arms. The surface of his fists seemed to contain a layer of surging water, and once he struck with his fists, the water withdrew as energy burst forth!

Ran Yu and his Ancient Fey bloodline synergized well together.

Boom!

The water patterns and the Ranyi Fish clashed with the gigantic black dragon. A wanton shockwave burst out as Ran Yu felt his arms go numb, and was sent flying backward!

Boom!

Ran Yu slammed into a stone pillar heavily. He felt something rise up his throat and he nearly spat a mouthful of blood out. But with so many people watching him, he was unwilling to show any weakness. He forcefully swallowed the mouthful of blood and circulated his energy once again!

But even though he could forcefully brace himself, Ran Yu felt that his energy was rapidly depleting, with some of the black gas entering his body!

Ran Yu’s heart sank. The seventh level was on a completely different level of difficulty compared to the sixth level!

At that moment, Ran Yu no longer had thoughts of capturing the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. Gritting his teeth, he resisted the surging black waves around him. Every punch sent out water ripples that expanded out in concentric circles. They clashed with the waves, but they were being repeatedly compressed by the waves!

If this went on, it would be a problem for Ran Yu to find his footing on the seventh level, let alone capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake.

The Fire Cloud State disciples felt their hearts tightened. With Ran Yu having so much trouble, what about Gu Luo?

“Weak!”

At that moment, Luo Tian suddenly spoke. As he watched the struggling Ran Yu, he sneered and said, “With your strength, finding your footing itself is a problem, so how can you even capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake? Even if I don’t compete with you, you won’t be able to obtain it either.”

“You!” Ran Yu’s was infuriated. However, he no longer had the time and energy to refute Luo Tian. All his energy was dedicated to resisting the black wave.

“Watch carefully!”

Having said that, Luo Tian roared, as every joint in his body produced an erupting explosion. Luo Tian’s bloodline was the ancient Gigantic Demon Ape!

The ancient Gigantic Demon Ape had extremely powerful strength. It had the ability to move stars and it had a brutal personality. It was extremely terrifying.

And the descendants of the Gigantic Demon Ape were born with incomplete manifestations. There would always be parts of their body with the characteristics of a Fey beast.

After the Gigantic Demon Ape’s descendants stimulated their bloodline, they would be different to typical Heaven Fey. They had a natural ability which was to fuse with the bloodline phantom image!

After the fusion, Luo Tian’s body would be like a frame that supported the bloodline phantom image.

With a thick and realistic bloodline phantom image enshrouded by Luo Tian, this fusion resulted in a giant ape!

Luo Tian’s realm was only at the Heaven Ascension realm. His bloodline phantom image was not powerful. If it was, what he produced would not have been a thirty feet giant ape, but a being that was a thousand feet tall and would be able to shatter a mountain range with a single punch. Furthermore, this was a mountain range from the 12 Empyrean Heavens. The firmness was far from ordinary.

But even so, with Luo Tian’s cultivation realm, it was already extremely terrifying for his bloodline phantom image to reach this stage!

This needed an extremely powerful physique to support it. This was also the result of more than ten days of cultivation on the sixth level for Luo Tian.

Luo Tian used every hidden card he had, with his goal naturally being to enter the seventh level to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake!

Luo Tian was in no hurry to go lower. Instead, he shattered several black gas shadows on the sixth level and devoured the Blood Dragon black gas to nourish his Gigantic Demon Ape bloodline!

Following that, Luo Tian leaped downwards onto the seventh level of Black Wind Valley!

With a wave of his hand, the phantom image moved along with him as a gigantic ape palm struck at the Blood Dragon black gas in the seventh level!

840 - : Reappearance of the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake

CKtalon  CKtalon

Boom!

Luo Tian’s gigantic ape palm heavily slammed into the black-misted dragon head. With a quiver, the dragon head roared and continued rushing forwards!

“Peng!” Luo Tian pressed down on the dragon head, but his body was sent flying backward by the great impact. He eventually landed on a rock cliff.

Luo Tian suppressed his surging blood as he roared again, bulging all his muscles!

“Peng!”

The ancient Gigantic Demon Ape bloodline in his body burst out to its limits, but Luo Tian still could not do a single thing against the black dragon. With a sudden jolt, the black dragon pressed down on Luo Tian, causing the cliff face behind him to crack!

Even Luo Tian was at a disadvantage?

When the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples saw this scene, they felt their hearts tighten. Just a wyrm condensed from the black mist on the seventh level of Black Wind Valley was already this powerful!

Both Luo Tian and Ran Yu could not block it!

At that moment, Gu Luo also jumped onto the seventh level. Taking advantage of Luo Tian’s fight with the black dragon and his thin Mummy-like body, he plunged deep into the depths of the black mist like a ghost!

Gu Luo was taking the opportunity to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake!

“That guy!”

The Phoenix Firmiana State disciples began to curse. By taking advantage of Luo Tian’s blocking of the black dragon for him, Gu Luo’s sneaky act was despised by the rest of the warriors.

Of course, although they found it despicable, they could only watch on. Other than those three, no one else could enter the seventh level.

Gu Luo was extremely fast. Since Luo Tian was trapped by the black dragon, he could not prevent this from happening. Hence, in an instant, Gu Luo had rushed into the black mist. The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was leisurely swimming around in the black mist, as though it was having fun in Black Wind Valley.

Seeing Gu Luo charge at it, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake remained unperturbed. He didn’t if it was an illusion, but it revealed a weird sinister smile.

It was creepy just thinking about a snake’s smile

“Si… !”

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake spat its tongue out like an arrow that shot straight at Gu Luo. Using his bloodline’s power to augment his dehydrated palm, he suddenly grabbed at the snake.

‘”Puah!”

Blood splattered everywhere as a mist of redness burst out of the black mist. With a deep-sounding snort, Gu Luo held his dehydrated palm. His hand had been pierced through by the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, boring a blood hole in it.

This…

People knew very well that Gu Luo’s body possessed terrifying strength. Previously, on the fourth and fifth levels of Black Wind Valley, Gu Luo had only used his body to withstand the black gases. Yet, with Gu Luo’s powerful body, he was instantly wounded. How could the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake be caught?

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake shuttled through the air and devoured all the blood that spewed out of Gu Luo’s palm. And at that moment, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake changed its target and charged at Gu Luo’s body.

Gu Luo’s constantly paralyzed face finally revealed a trace of fear. With a leap, he jumped towards the sixth level.

Luo Tian and Ran Yu also noticed that the situation was unfavorable. Luo Tian forcefully conjured his bloodline’s power and he repelled the black dragon. Luo Tian and Ran Yu also jumped back to the sixth level.

With the trio gone, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake returned to its leisurely state. It swam in the black mist, appearing and disappearing from time to time.

The three top figures of the Fire Cloud State and Phoenix Firmiana State had returned in failure.

Upon seeing this scene, the Luo clan disciples present felt their hearts skip a beat. The seventh level was just too difficult.

From the looks of it, all three of them had no means to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. There were more than ten days left. It was also difficult for the trio to use the time to improve themselves to the point of being able to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake alone, and it might even be impossible!

Unless… they cooperated!

With the three people cooperating, one of them can block the black dragon, while the other two could capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. It was actually possible!

If the ordinary Luo clan disciples could think of cooperation, it was obvious that the trio thought of it as well.

However, if they cooperated, how were they going to split the trophies of war after capturing the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake?

Could the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake be equally split? It was quite impossible to think of splitting such a spiritual being.

When he thought about this, Luo Tian suddenly thought of something else. Looking up, he saw Cang Mang sitting with a coy but deep meaningful smile on his face.

This gave Luo Tian a fright. Could that sly fox have done this on purpose?

Cang Mang knew that with the trio’s strength, it was impossible for them to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake alone. However, he made them look at it, and it was practically a carrot dangling in front of them that they could not eat.

Geniuses that came from different states felt contempt for each other, and in fact, even people from the same state believed in every man for himself. Sharing with others was not tolerated.

Cang Mang knew this clearly, but he had deliberately designed a situation in which they needed to cooperate.

Without any cooperation, no one could receive anything. However, if they cooperated, how were they going to split the rewards?

This was a problem that Cang Mang deliberately proposed!

“What is Cang Mang doing this for?” Ran Yu secretly pondered. Maybe Cang Mang was telling the Luo clan disciples that the Luo clan needed intense competition, but they also needed each other’s cooperation?

Or could it be that Cang Mang wanted to watch a good show of them trying to cheat and outwit each other? The strongest person who was most opportunistic could capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake in the confusion.

However, regardless of what situation that Cang Mang wanted to see, it did not matter. What mattered was that Luo Tian, Ran Yu and company knew that when they matured, they would explore mystic realms in the future. And when the time came, they would also face similar situations.

When a group of people were chasing a treasure with no one having the ability to monopolize it, they had no choice but to cooperate, and also guard against their teammates while trying to outwit each other.

“That old fox is machinating something against us.” Ran Yu’s face fell heavily as he looked at Gu Luo and Luo Tian.

Gu Luo remained silent with the same old corpse-like face. There was no way to read his thoughts.

From a look on Luo Tian’s face, he clearly shared the same thoughts as Ran Yu.

Noticing that Ran Yu was looking at him, Luo Tian sneered and said, “I know what you’re thinking. I do not have the habit of cooperating with others. The three of us shall make a move together, but everything will depend on your own skill. As long as we don’t hold back each other, we can see who has the ability to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake!”

With Luo Tian being so arrogant, Ran Yu also sneered and said, “I did not plan on cooperating with you as well. We shall be judged by our own merits and see who the winner is!”

Cang Mang sat silently mid-air, nonchalantly watching at all of this.

He naturally knew that be it Luo Tian or Ran Yu, they were prideful people. How could they tolerate sharing treasures with others?

Furthermore, there was more than ten days left before the Black Wind Valley trial ended. Luo Tian and Ran Yu would definitely vie for it, but things would turn interesting when they realized the fact that it was impossible.

Cang Mang did not expect the arrogant geniuses to sincerely cooperate with others. He only wanted to see how the geniuses would handle such situations when they faced with them. It was also interesting to see how they reluctantly cooperated while trying to defend against being backstabbed.

Cang Mang was curious about the outcome. This was the only pleasure that came from leading the bunch of juniors to participate in these boring trials.

With this thought in mind, he suddenly sensed something and looked at the second level of Black Wind Valley.

Eh? That human kid was finally getting up after such a long meditation?

841 - : Cooperate?

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, nearly every Luo clan disciple in Black Wind Valley was focused on the battle on the seventh level. Ran Yu, Gu Luo and Luo Tian were encircling the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, trying to overpower it. It was an intense battle, so although the other Luo clan disciples could not participate in it, just spectating it was quite a good experience. Some people even abandoned their cultivation just to watch it, so why would anyone pay attention to the lonely Yi Yun at the second level?

Hence, when Yi Yun woke up, other than Cang Mang who was hovering high in the air, very few people noticed it.

Yi Yun slowly opened his eyes and for a split second, his eyes seemed to flicker with the light of the stars. However, the glint subsided after a split second. Yi Yun’s eyes was returned to their usual calmness. His pupils were like a baby’s, unpolluted and clear. They were deep black and bright.

In the previous cultivation time, Yi Yun had already finished absorbing all the Ancient Fey energy. Now, with the energy tempering his body, Yi Yun’s bodily toughness could no longer be compared what it was in the past!

Now, even if Yi Yun faced the Black-armored Demon God, with his body that had been tempered several times, he was confident that he could have a frontal clash with the Black-armored Demon God.

Phew!

A breath like a white beam shot out of Yi Yun’s mouth. This breath shot to the ceiling of the cave and it became a swirling gas along the mountain cliff, as though the breath contained some spirituality in it. It moved like a white snake.

He opened all his acupuncture points, and his meridians were completely free of any blockage!

Suddenly, Yi Yun felt as though his body was lighter. At the same time, a feeling… a great emptiness overwhelmed him.

His body lacked Yuan Qi!

This was because as Yi Yun’s physique improved, his organs, meridians and bones were all tempered, becoming extremely firm. This was like how a reservoir had increased in size, allowing it to store more water.

It was not that Yi Yun did not have any Yuan Qi in his body, now the Yuan Qi he had was insufficient to fill his entire body.

With a stronger body, this allowed him to store more Yuan Qi. The benefits of doing so was self-evident.

“This Ancient Fey bone sure has good effects!” Yi Yun’s face revealed a very satisfied look.

He looked out of the cave, and even the third level of Black Wind Valley had very few people.

“I’ve been cultivating for so long, so it’s time to attempt Black Wind Valley.” Yi Yun said to himself.

With a leap, he jumped straight down to the third level.

At that moment, the third level had a few people like Bai Chen. They could not find their footing on the fourth level.

Bai Chen was stunned when he saw Yi Yun come down. “Junior Brother Yi! Have you just finished!?”

Cultivation time in the Black Wind Valley trials was extremely valuable. Everyone was in a race against time, but Yi Yun had used more than ten days to consume the Ancient Fey bone. Although the saying goes that more preparation would not delay the speed of getting work done, wasting the time for cultivation in Black Wind Valley was quite a pity.

Every level in Black Wind Valley required the warriors to slowly acclimatize to it. Even Ran Yu, Gu Luo and Luo Tian did not get to the sixth level immediately. They began from the fifth level, in Guo Luo’s case, the second level, and they adapted to the black mist in Black Wind Valley. They also used it to nourish their Fey race bloodline before they headed to the sixth level.

On the sixth level, the three of them took a long time to consolidate their progress before attempting the seventh level. However, they still failed at the beginning!

Yi Yun now had slightly more than ten days left, so he was definitely at a disadvantage to begin challenging Black Wind Valley.

Yi Yun nodded and said lightly, “The Ancient Fey energy was a bit hard to absorb, so there was some delay in time.”

“That’s more than ten days left. Junior Brother Yi, you sure don’t care.” Bai Chen felt helpless. He knew that Yi Yun was strong, so he was entitled to being willful. Regardless of how much Yi Yun delayed his progress, he was still much stronger than him.

“Indeed, the Ancient Fey energy is difficult to absorb. Junior Brother Yi, you managed to persist on for four days. That was really impressive. Unfortunately, if there was a period of time for you to specially absorb the Ancient Fey bone after the Ancient Fey Edifice trial, you would have had a full thirty days here in Black Wind Valley. If that was the case, you might even have reached the sixth level!”

For the past few days, as Bai Chen realized that Yi Yun was getting stronger and stronger, he no longer thought about comparing himself with Yi Yun. He might as well befriend Yi Yun, since a genius like Yi Yun was of a different world to him in any case.

With Yi Yun and Bai Chen’s conversation, more and more noticed that Yi Yun had awoken.

The Phoenix Firmiana State disciples did not think too much of Yi Yun’s awakening. Their attention was still focused on Luo Tian.

“A typical Heaven Fey needs a year just to absorb Ancient Fey bone. That human only used a short period of ten or so days. Even though his absorption of the Ancient Fey bone seemed rather impressive, to tell me that he can go from a weak bodied person to a powerful body-tempered warrior in slightly more than ten days, I really refuse to believe that. Ignoring body-tempering, just the cultivation of Yuan Qi. Has anyone heard of someone at the most basic Yuan Foundation realm eat a treasure and jump a few realms, reaching the Heaven Ascension perfection?” A Phoenix Firmiana State disciple said.

Body tempering was not something that could be completed in a day. How many of the Fey race Luo clan disciples present spent a decade or so focusing on their body-tempering?

The Fey race were weaker at nomological cultivation, so they naturally dedicated more time on body-tempering.

If Yi Yun could use a short span of half a month to surpass them in body-tempering, then what was the point of living? They might as well collectively jump off Black Wind Valley to commit suicide.

As the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples spoke, Yi Yun had already jumped down from the third level onto the fourth.

Many people were watching with great anticipation. Yi Yun had tempered his body for about half a month. If his body-tempering standard exceeded theirs, it meant that with a single Ancient Fey bone, the Luo clan could produce a body-tempering genius in a short period of time! How could a body-tempering genius be so easily available!?

At that moment, even Cang Mang’s attention was moved to Yi Yun.

As for Ran Yu, Luo Tian and even the zombie-faced Gu Luo, they all looked at Yi Yun as well. They too wanted to know what was new with Yi Yun, who had stirred up quite a fuss during those four days.

Yi Yun steadily landed on a rock on the fourth level, where Luo Fengling was.

At that moment—

“Wu Wu Wu!”

A cold air blew up! Layers of black gas transformed into the shapes of Fey beasts and ghouls as they pounced on Yi Yun!

Yi Yun did not budge, but the Nine Neonate phantom image behind him roared. Its body rapidly expanded as its nine heads waved around before beginning to freely devour the black gases’ Fey beasts and monsters. The beasts and monsters were swallowed by the Nine Neonate, turning into pure energy!

As for the present Yi Yun, his body had improved tremendously. He was in need of the nourishment of energy and blood. Yi Yun’s body was like a dried up reservoir, so with large amounts of spring water suddenly being injected into it, it made every cell in Yi Yun’s body automatically absorb the essence energy that was a result of the degenerated Blood Dragon’s blood and rapidly grow!

Yi Yun now possessed a body that was, at the most, a basic Seamless Body.

Every minute part of Yi Yun’s body had been tempered. Hence, regardless of if it was blood energy or Heaven Earth Yuan Qi that surged in, none of that would be wasted. Even if he was not in the black mist, Yi Yun’s flesh and blood would also slowly grow even while he was sleeping!

842 - : Body Tempering isn’t accomplished in a day

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Yi Yun absorbed the Ancient Fey bone, the Nine Neonate Aspect Totem behind him grew even more ferocious. It practically swept through the gases on the fourth level and quickly, the black-misted Fey beasts and ghouls that possessed intelligence no longer dared to approach Yi Yun. Being near him was equivalent to sending themselves to death!

“Wu Wu Wu!”

After the Nine Neonate Aspect Totem devoured large quantities of black mist essence energy, it had a slight feeling of contentment. As for Yi Yun, he also sensed that the lacking blood and energy in his body that was a result of his powerful body was being slowly replenished.

Yi Yun clenched his fist as he experienced the feeling of a body filled with energy. This feeling was extremely good.

“As expected, the fourth level does not pose a problem for Yi Yun.”

Yi Yun had gotten his footing on the fourth level, so it meant his reaching the fifth level was certain. After all, according to Cang Mang’s standards, as long as they reached the fifth level, even if it was for one second at the end, it would still be considered a pass.

Actually, most people present no longer believed that Yi Yun would be eliminated by the Black Wind Valley trial after his massive display of enduring the torment of the Ancient Fey bone’s energy for four days. They were only doubtful about Yi Yun’s body-tempering technique.

“That punk sure is crafty. The Nine Neonate Aspect Totem is a human’s energy-based method after all. When he reached the fourth level, he did not even use his body’s strength.” A Phoenix Firmiana State disciple said in disgruntlement.

The Black Wind Valley was a test of the Fey race’s bloodline and bodily strength.

Yi Yun had used the energy-based methods of the Human race, so he naturally earned the disdain of the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples.

Unfortunately, Cang Mang had never barred Yi Yun from using his Aspect Totem in the rules that he had set at the beginning. This allowed Yi Yun to find a loophole.

Another Phoenix Firmiana State disciple laughed and said, “You expect him to use his body? Regardless of what body-tempering system he used, it’s impossible for him to accomplish it in ten or so days. Just the time for my body-tempering adds up to about twenty years.”

That Phoenix Firmiana State disciple had been cultivating for sixty to seventy years. About a third of his time was spent on body-tempering, so it was evident how much he invested in body-tempering.

Noticing how Yi Yun was about to descend to the fifth level and the Nine Neonate Aspect Totem behind him was still snarling with its fangs and claws, as though it still could go for more, people understood why Yi Yun had previously stopped to absorb the Ancient Fey bone.

Luo Tian, who was at the sixth level, shook his head and said, “So it seems that Yi Yun’s absorption of the Ancient Fey bone was actually to nourish his Nine Neonate Aspect Totem. After the Nine Neonate Aspect Totem absorbed the Ancient Fey bone’s bloodline, it naturally became a lot more powerful. Hence, it can absorb the degenerated Blood Dragon’s energy in such an indomitable fashion. This strategy of his is ingenious. Unfortunately, it’s such a waste to use an Ancient Fey bone to nourish an Aspect Totem.

“With my Gigantic Demon Ape bloodline, I can sense Yi Yun’s bodily toughness. It is not that strong. However, to make such a sacrifice for the Luo Divine Hall trials, Yi Yun is nothing impressive after all.”

Luo Tian shook his head. Actually, with Luo Tian’s cultivation level and his ancient Gigantic Demon Ape bloodline, he could sense Yi Yun’s body-tempering accomplishments up to a certain extent. Indeed, there was a limit to how much Yi Yun’s bodily strength could improve in less than half a month. Using his Aspect Totem to reach the fifth level was most likely a shortcut.

However, Luo Tian despised such shortcuts. He paid attention to Yi Yun because of Yi Yun’s stunning performance at the Ancient Fey Edifice. However, now at Black Wind Valley, Yi Yun putting in so much time and effort in order to pass made him seem inferior.

What Luo Tian said was actually on many people’s mind. As Yi Yun’s performance in the Ancient Fey Edifice was astounding, everyone had higher expectations of him, even if what was tested at Black Wind Valley was Yi Yun’s weakness.

At that moment, Yi Yun had already landed on the fifth level. Luo Fengling, who was at the fourth level, looked down. She was worried that Yi Yun could not withstand the level.

The moment that he landed on the fifth level, the black mist formed Fey beasts and specters that were immediately several times more powerful than those of the previous level. The black shadows rushed at him maniacally and clashed with the Nine Neonate Aspect Totem!

The Nine Neonate Aspect Totem roared as its nine heads danced in the black mist freely. Every head would snap at a specter or Fey beast. The energy contained within those black figures were devoured by it, strengthening itself.

Seeing Yi Yun find his footing on the fifth level, Lie Ya revealed an extremely complex look.

He had also found his footing on the fifth level just now. As for the sixth level, he could descend onto it, but he could not last long on there.

So what if Yi Yun usage of his Aspect Totem was not the orthodox way? Now with Yi Yun at the same level as him, how could he feel any better?

Thankfully, at that moment, a black-misted Fey beast grasped an opportunity to charge at the Nine Neonate and bit down on one of the Nine Neonate’s neck. Instantly, the Nine Neonate’s figure began to flicker violently. As the the Nine Neonate’s master, Yi Yun also immediately sensed a chill in his blood vessels!

The Aspect Totem was one with Yi Yun. So with the black gas eroding the Aspect Totem, it also managed to invade Yi Yun’s body.

“He got bitten!”

Lie Ya was delighted and he finally heaved a sigh of relief. Thankfully, Yi Yun was not a freak of nature. He still did not have his footing on the fifth level and he was still slightly inferior to him.

This was good.

Lie Ya had lowered his expectations. Even in a field that was his expertise, he did not wish for Yi Yun to be far inferior to him. As long as there was a tiny bit of difference, he would be psychologically comforted.

“The degree of my body-tempering is still slightly weaker. Although it has increased by a hundred, if not a thousand times in the short span of half a month, compared to the Fey race who have tempered their bodies for more than a decade, it is still inferior.”

Luo Tian’s evaluation of Yi Yun’s body-tempering wasn’t wrong. Even with the Ancient Fey bone and the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun was still unable to bridge the chasm that was a result of time.

However, Yi Yun did not care even if his body was not strong enough. He did not stay on the fifth level, and instead, he suddenly leaped down towards the sixth level!

“What!?”

With this, both the Fire Cloud State and Phoenix Firmiana State disciples were stunned. You haven’t gotten your footing on the fifth level, why are you going to the sixth?

“Junior Brother Yi!” Luo Fengling cried out. Black Wind Valley was not a place of fun and games. If he was being careless, his mind and blood would be devoured by the black mist. It was even possible to become a retard.

The Luo clan disciples present, be they Heaven Fey or not, would have to wait till they found their solid footing on each level before they dared to attempt the next level. And even so, it was easy for them to be inflicted with injuries. But now, with Yi Yun forcefully descending onto the sixth level, it appeared fatal.

“That retard is sending himself to his death?” Lie Ya sneered.

He was waiting for Yi Yun to be swarmed by the black-misted shadows and inflicted with serious injuries.

The sixth level was where Ran Yu, Gu Luo and Luo Tian were. The three of them watched as Yi Yun landed in between them.

What audacity!

Ran Yu immediately moved away from Yi Yun. His intentions were clear. He did not want to help Yi Yun by sharing any of the pressure. People like Ran Yu, who had found their footing on the sixth level, were deliberately avoided by the black figures so as to not be devoured.

However, a newcomer like Yi Yun was different. He was definitely ‘welcomed’!

Wu—!

The moment that Yi Yun landed on the sixth level, a humanoid figure in black armor immediately charged at Yi Yun!

That humanoid figure was formed by the black mist with the consumption of a warrior’s memories. It was much stronger than the typical shadowy figures!

Seeing this figure charge at him, Yi Yun turned serious, and from his chest, a hitch-pitch scream was heard.

This screech was still reverberating as a gigantic three-legged Golden Crow phantom image charged at the sky from behind Yi Yun!

The Golden Crow phantom image cried as it grabbed at the humanoid shadow!

Hu! Hu! Hu!

Before the Golden Crow’s claws reached their target, rolling pure Yang flames began to burn and consume their surroundings!

The moment that the evil energies touched the pure Yang flames, they melted like ice. The humanoid shadow paused for a moment and it immediately lost a lot of its momentum. And at that moment, the Nine Neonate also roared, and with the Golden Crow, they attacked the humanoid shadow in a pincer formation!

Upon seeing this scene, all the Luo clan disciples present were astounded. They were waiting for Yi Yun to suffer, but now, Yi Yun had produced another phantom image. That was another Aspect Totem!?

The human had two Aspect Totems?

Furthermore, they were the Nine Neonate and three-legged Golden Crow, two of the best ancient great Fey. The form of this human’s Aspect Totems were even better than their bloodlines as Heaven Fey. It was exasperating!

843 - : Indomitable without Resistance

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Peng!”

On the sixth level of Black Wind Valley, under the combined attacks of the Golden Crow and the Nine Neonate aspect totems, the black-misted shadows that pounced on Yi Yun exploded, emanating large amounts of energy that the Nine Neonate and Golden Crow sucked clean!

And at that moment, there were more and more black shadows encircling Yi Yun on the sixth level.

Other than Ran Yu, Gu Luo and Luo Tian had simultaneously distanced themselves from Yi Yun, causing him to be fully exposed to all the black-misted shadows on the sixth level.

The entire sixth level’s black gases were stirred up, turning it chaotic like a turbulent sea.

The combined pressure that Gu Luo, Ran Yu and Luo Tian faced was not even half of what Yi Yun faced.

Every person who entered the sixth level for the first time would experience the relentless attacks of the black-misted shadows. This was nothing surprising, but the number of black-misted shadows around Yi Yun was exceptionally large. This was because the Nine Neonate and three-legged Golden Crow had immense auras. The three-legged Golden Crow could cover a large stretch of mountains when it spanned its wings. Even the black-misted shadows that were far away were attracted to it.

“Phew–Phew–”

The pure Yang flames swept everywhere wantonly as large swaths of black mist were burned. At the same time, be it the three-legged Golden Crow’s three sharp claws or its blade like golden wings, all of them were terrifying weapons. Many black figures that charged at Yi Yun were immediately slayed!

And beside the three-legged Golden Crow, the Nine Neonate was like nine flood dragons that stirred the seas. A large number of black figures that were injured by the Golden Crow were directly bitten to death by the Nine Neonate!

A steady stream of black gas fused into the Nine Neonate and Golden Crow totems and Yi Yun’s body. Yi Yun sensed that the power in his blood was increasingly more powerful, as though his body was a simmering volcano that would erupt at any time.

“What powerful strength!”

Yi Yun clenched his fists tightly as he looked at them.

“Body-tempering is truly fascinating. In the past, I focused on energy training, so my body was very weak. Although with Yuan Qi filling my body, I was still able to experience the surging of energy, this energy is Heaven Earth Yuan Qi after all. It can be considered to be an exterior power. It’s not as powerful as the body and blood’s strength. It also gives me a feeling of being stronger. It’s no wonder that the Fey race thinks so highly of body-tempering!”

Actually, a majority of the Fey race in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven focused on Heaven Earth Yuan Qi as well. To the Fey race, body-tempering was just a supplement. After all, they were not like the ancient powerful Fey with pure bloodlines, who were able to resist the Heavenly Dao laws using just their bodies of flesh and blood.

To be able to reach that standard, only existences like the Five Claw Dragon, the Undying Phoenix or the Nine Tribulations Nine Neonate could accomplish that.

As for using a human’s body of flesh and blood to attain a divine beast’s level of strength, that was just unimaginable.

Many thoughts flashed in Yi Yun’s mind. And at that moment, the foul black shadows on the sixth level began to subside on their offensive.

A Nine Neonate could be ignored, but with the three-legged Golden Crow, they were no match at all. Many black shadows had become food for the Nine Neonate and Golden Crow.

“Why does Yi Yun have two Aspect Totems?”

Some of the Fey race present did not know much about human cultivation methods. They did not know what it meant to have dual Aspect Totems.

Furthermore, not only did he have two of them, the totems were ancient Fey beasts and they were extremely powerful. One was a Golden Crow and the other was a Nine Neonate. Just summoning them was an impressive show of might!

“Looks are useless. So what if it’s a Golden Crow and a Nine Neonate. They are Aspect Totems after all, so how can they compare to the power of our Fey race’s bloodline. However, that human is rather crafty. Up to now, he has yet to use his body or the power of his bloodline, and he has managed to reach the sixth level. He’s not much different to Luo Tian and Ran Yu!”

Many of the Luo clan disciples felt aggrieved. Cang Mang had clearly said that Black Wind Valley was a test of the power of the Fey race’s bloodline. But now, they who had truly used the power of their bloodlines were still inferior to Yi Yun, who did not.

“It’s a bit too over the top to say that he’s not much different to Luo Tian and Ran Yu. Although Yi Yun has summoned his Aspect Totems, he is actually inferior to Luo Tian and Ran Yu on the sixth level.” A Fire Cloud State disciple suddenly said.

Previously, while the Golden Crow and Nine Neonate were battling the black figures, they saw that despite the Golden Crow and Nine Neonate being ferocious, they were inevitably bitten by the black-misted figures very clearly. However, they were fierce and powerful, so it did not matter if they were bitten once. However, the black-misted figures were devoured after a single bite.

Hence, such arduous means had allowed Yi Yun to find his footing on the sixth level.

This difference was not evident on the sixth level, but it would become extremely obvious in the seventh level.

Luo Tian, who was able to easily cope with the sixth level, was unable to stand on the seventh level for more than a minute. Furthermore, Luo Tian had spent a long time in the sixth level to accumulate his strength.

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

As the black-misted shadows took the initiative to avoid Yi Yun, the pure Yang flames also gradually shrunk in size. Yi Yun stood in the sixth level of Black Wind Valley, with the Golden Crow and Nine Neonate by his sides as though they were two guardians protecting Yi Yun. The black figures did not dare attack Yi Yun’s body.

Luo Tian looked at Yi Yun with an ugly expression. Even though Yi Yun had managed to barely find his footing while he did so easily, they were still standing on the same level after all.

Luo Tian was a very proud person. He had previously been repressed by Yi Yun at the Ancient Fey Edifice, so how could he be reconciled with the fact that Yi Yun had chased up to him in Black Wind Valley?

“Yi Yun, you are truly not bad! I thought you would end up in a bad position at Black Wind Valley, but I never expected you that you would also stand here on the sixth level. However, it’s useless. The seventh level will still be mine!”

With that, Luo Tian roared loudly and he jolted his palms. Yuan Qi exploded as the palm winds howled, clearing all the black gas around him.

Even those disciples several levels away could sense the shocks from the strike. If the strike had struck them, they would probably be killed instantly! This was the difference between them and a state’s top genius.

Crackle!

Luo Tian conjured the ancient Gigantic Demon Ape and fused it with his body. This allowed his body to manifest the talent of the Gigantic Demon Ape bloodline, making him extremely violent.

“Watch carefully Yi Yun. You have been cultivating all this time, so let me show you how horrible the seventh level is!”

With that said, Luo Tian jumped towards the seventh floor once again!

Black Wind Valley was his home turf, so how could he let Yi Yun catch up to him on his home turf? Furthermore, Luo Tian was planning to push himself to his limits to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. Hence, he was overdrawing on his potential so he could make a breakthrough during the training experience!

“Luo Tian is going down again!”

Seeing Luo Tian jump down to the seventh level once again, the rest of the disciples were astounded. They had been rather drained when they entered the seventh level. Ran Yu and Gu Luo were most likely still resting, but Luo Tian had already charged onto the seventh floor alone. As such, one could tell who was better immediately.

“Senior Brother Luo Tian is awesome. The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake will either not be captured by anyone, or if someone manages to capture it, that person will definitely be Senior Brother Luo Tian!”

844 - : Powerfulness of Blood

CKtalon  CKtalon

Luo Tian landed on the seventh level of Black Wind Valley once again!

There was about sixteen day left till the end of the trial. With Luo Tian having a great deal of pride, he knew that Cang Mang had deliberately posed a difficult problem to tease them for his own amusement. However, Luo Tian was unhappy about that. He was bent on not letting Cang Mang have his wish. He wanted to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake with his own strength!

Luo Tian also knew about the difficulty of the seventh level. To be able to accomplish the task, other than being powerful himself, he needed to redouble his efforts!

Only through hard work and harder work could he achieve a miracle in the remaining days. Besides obtaining such a huge opportunity, he could also show Cang Mang, who was bent on teasing them, that he was not a person that could be easily teased!

“Luo Tian!”

Seeing Luo Tian return to the seventh level, Ran Yu felt his heart tighten. He had consumed a great deal of his blood and Qi on the seventh level. He had yet to recover from his injuries, so the earliest he could return to the seventh level would be tomorrow. This immediately revealed the contrasting difference between him and Luo Tian, who had gone to the seventh level twice!

The seventh level was difficult, but it also provided the chance for rapid growth. When the time came, Ran Yu might not even have the qualifications to cooperate with Luo Tian to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, what more being the first to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake.

How could Ran Yu not be anxious when he thought of this?

Luo Tian was definitely his worst enemy at the Black Wind Valley trial.

The moment that Luo Tian landed on the seventh level, the black wyrm charged at Luo Tian with a roar!

“Just nice!”

Luo Tian snarled as all his bloodline and Qi burst outward. At that instant, Luo Tian appeared to have completely transformed into an ancient Gigantic Demon Ape. He pounded his fists on his chest heavily, producing two deafening sounds that resembled heavenly drums being drummed on that reverberated one’s ears.

“Boom!”

Luo Tian and the black wyrm clashed. Potent attacks were exchanged between the person and beast.

This clash shook all the black mist in the seventh level, resulting in thundering roars. Looking from above, there were dark clouds rolling in a tumultuous fashion!

Luo Tian was still no match for the black wyrm. Luo Tian was slammed into the cliff by the intense collision again. His blood began surging as he became short of breath.

The black wyrm was also slightly injured. Its figure seemed to turn dimmer, but the black wyrm was formed from the Blood Dragon black gas in the first place. There was black mist everywhere on this level, so just one respiratory cycle was enough for it to quickly replenish the stamina it lost. It did not know tiredness at all.

Unless one could kill the black wyrm in one fell swoop, it would keep on rejuvenating itself.

A black wyrm like this was powerful and undying. Just watching it made people feel like there was no way to defeat it. However, Luo Tian clashed head-on against it again and again!

“Luo Tian is truly terrifying… This black wyrm seems to have endless vitality. But look, although Luo Tian is injured, his bloodline phantom image is also consuming the Blood Dragon black gas around him!” A Fire Cloud State disciple said.

Luo Tian was still able to consume the black gases to heal himself in such an intense battle. Luo Tian was a freak of nature!

“No wonder Luo Tian is able to consecutively enter the seventh level twice. His recovery speed is just too crazy. However… does Luo Tian plan on competing with the black wyrm on recovery rate? There is no way that he can beat it!”

At that moment, a Phoenix Firmiana State disciple sneered and said, “Senior Brother Luo’s recovery rate naturally is no match for the black dragon, which is formed from the black mist itself, but so what? Senior Brother Luo can continuously improve and he can even have a breakthrough. Watch and see. In a few days, this black dragon will be devoured by Senior Brother Luo!”

The Phoenix Firmiana State disciple was filled with confidence. Ran Yu clenched his fists tightly when he heard these disciples’ discussion. He had completely been overshadowed by Luo Tian!

Although the Phoenix Firmiana State disciple that spoke was rather arrogant, what he said may not be too far from the truth!

At that moment, a red figure suddenly flashed in the seventh level’s black gas.

Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake!

Luo Tian caught a glimpse of it and immediately, his eyes focused on it.

Woosh! The sharp sound of air tearing resounded!

Luo Tian did not move his body, but the long tail on his back was whipped out as it twirled and flew at the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake!

Upon seeing this situation, everyone felt a jolt in their hearts.

Luo Tian was too crazy. He was still recuperating! In front of him, there was still the black dragon that was about to recover, but he had the guts to make a move on the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake! The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was not something that could be easily messed with.

But it appeared that Luo Tian was not afraid of injury. Even if he was injured by the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake again, it would be nothing!

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was still not something that could be easily captured. As it sensed Luo Tian’s tail twirling over, it made an abrupt leap and disappeared in a red flash of light.

It did not clash with Luo Tian’s tail. With the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake’s cautious personality, it would avoid any head-on collisions if possible.

“The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake is indeed a difficult catch!” Luo Tian’s tail might have missed, but he revealed a carefree laugh.

He suddenly looked up and glanced at Cang Mang, who was sitting high in the sky, and he said in an unrestrained manner, “However, there are still sixteen days left. This Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake will inevitably be mine!”

What he said was meant for Cang Mang!

Cang Mang’s lips curled up slightly as he revealed a fascinated smile. He was waiting to see the fun.

On the sixth level of Black Wind Valley, Ran Yu’s expression turned extremely ugly when he heard those words.

Inevitable!?

Luo Tian was way too arrogant to say such strong words publicly!

“Hahaha, Senior Brother Luo Tian is right. The number one person of the Phoenix Firmiana State should be unrestrained in such a manner!” A lackey of Luo Tian shouted loudly. From his point of view, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake at the Black Wind Valley trial was already in the bag for Luo Tian.

When a Fire Cloud State disciple heard this, he could not help but quip, “To be so arrogant despite not catching the snake yet. Our Fire Cloud State’s Ran Yu and Gu Luo are still resting. It’s not too late to brag after they make their second attempt.”

“Haha, wait for your Fire Cloud State’s Ran Yu and Gu Luo to make a second attempt? That would be tomorrow, or maybe the day after tomorrow?” The lackey of Luo Tian, who spoke previously, said in disdain.

When he said this, several Phoenix Firmiana State disciples laughed in unison.

“With Ran Yu and Gu Luo’s recovery rate, they probably won’t have many shots at it even by the end of the trial!” Another person mocked.

The Fire Cloud State’s disciples had ugly expressions on their faces, but they could not refute at all.

As for Ran Yu, his expression was grim, and he had killing intent in his eyes.

He was also a proud person. He refused to cooperate with others, but it was true that he was inferior to Luo Tian. And if this went on any further, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake would truly be caught by Luo Tian.

He suddenly looked at Yi Yun and said, “Junior Brother Yi, let us cooperate!”

The partner Ran Yu chose was Yi Yun!

Even though they were from the same Fire Cloud State, Ran Yu did not wish to cooperate with Gu Luo. Gu Luo’s qualifications and cultivation time in the Heaven Fire Hall was in no way inferior to Ran Yu. Furthermore, Ran Yu did not dare say that he could beat the thin fellow in terms of strength. And most importantly of all, Gu Luo had a background, he had a powerful faction behind him!

Such a faction was something that Ran Yu could not afford to offend. That meant that if he cooperated with Gu Luo and obtained the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, it was impossible for Ran Yu to take it all for himself. It might even be taken away by Gu Luo, so his efforts might end up not yielding the desired outcome.

In that case, Ran Yu obviously wanted to cooperate with Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was young and he had a low cultivation level. Furthermore, he did not have any factions supporting him. He was absolutely weaker in terms of factional power and he was easier to control.

845 - : Ran Yu’s Suggestion

CKtalon  CKtalon

Oh? Cooperate?

Yi Yun was somewhat stunned. He looked at Ran Yu, as though he had met him for the first time.

“What did you just call me?”

Yi Yun found it amusing. This was the first time he heard Ran Yu address him so formally as ‘Junior Brother Yi’.

Noticing how Yi Yun did not answer him and instead replied with a hint of sarcasm, Ran Yu frowned. He was a genius from the Xushui Ran clan. He had set aside his differences to ask for Yi Yun’s cooperation and he was planning on giving Yi Yun sufficient benefits in exchange, but Yi Yun’s response appeared like he did not know any better.

However, with a nemesis like Luo Tian, Ran Yu remained patient as he said, “Junior Brother Yi, I know you are upset with me, but this isn’t the time to being tangled in these. Cooperate with me. You will be responsible for handling the black dragon, while I will capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. As long as you can last for about half a minute, I will most likely be able to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. When the time comes, I will definitely pay Junior Brother Yi ample remunerations!”

By saying this, Ran Yu did not conceal his thoughts. Many of the disciples in Black Wind Valley heard it.

Letting Yi Yun impede the black dragon, while Ran Yu captured the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake?

Ran Yu was being nefarious! Although Yi Yun could find his footing on the sixth level, his Aspect Totems were slightly injured. Getting Yi Yun to impede the black dragon was life-threatening!

And reading between the lines, Ran Yu was not planning on dividing the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake with Yi Yun. This was reasonable. There was no way to split a treasure of that level. It was basically something that could only be earned by one person.

“Ample remuneration?” Yi Yun laughed. “Senior Brother Ran, you seem to be mistaken. I’m not upset with you, it’s you who has been targeting me all this time.”

“I can’t be bothered with all these lame matters, but now… Your plan sure is delightful. Letting me do things like restraining the black dragon while you are responsible for capturing the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. I presume that the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake will be yours when the time comes, as for the remuneration you will give me, what would it be? Let me guess… Are they World Stones?”

Yi Yun’s words were still filled with sarcasm, making Ran Yu’s expression turn somewhat ugly. “Yi Yun, the remuneration that I will give will certainly be to your satisfaction. My Xushui Ran clan is a large establishment and it has heritage that you can’t even imagine. Will it even skim on your remuneration? The opportunities given to you by the Xushui Ran clan will allow your cultivation level to make a huge leap!”

“Furthermore! If you were to help me this time, it is equivalent to helping the Xushui Ran clan. I, Ran Yu, will also owe you one. In the future, as long as you encounter any trouble in the Luo clan, the Xushui Ran clan will also help you. There’s no need for me to elaborate further on being able to cling onto a large faction, right?”

Ran Yu used his family background as bait. The Xushui Ran clan was one of the few large family clans in the Luo clan!

With Ran Yu saying this, many people looked at Yi Yun.

In cultivation, warriors needed to pay attention to networking. Being alone resulted in receiving very few resources. It was easy to suffer a lot while training outside, and they might even end up dying. A smart person would seize the opportunity to cling to a large clan!

For a person like Lie Ya, he hankered for the chance to cling onto the Xushui Ran clan, but Ran Yu had never given him such a chance!

Lie Ya was a mixed Fey, a hybrid of Heaven and Earth Fey. Although his family clan’s power was pretty good, it was far weaker than the Xushui Ran clan. If not, Lie Ya would not have felt the pinch for the over one hundred World Stones that he owed to the point of vomiting blood.

Seeing that Yi Yun had such an opportunity, even Lie Ya began to turn envious for Yi Yun.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly laughed. The Xushui Ran clan was a large family clan, but unfortunately, he did not think too highly of it. Yi Yun’s sights were very high. How could the Xushui Ran clan have the qualifications for him to cling on to?

Yi Yun did not say those words out. He knew very well that with his present cultivation level, he was just a trivial ant in front of the Xushui Ran clan. If he said those words out loud, he would only win the derision of others.

Although Yi Yun did not say it out, Ran Yu could figure out a bit of Yi Yun’s thoughts from his expression.

“Yi Yun, do you think you will truly skyrocket at the Luo Divine Hall trials? You are too naive. With your performance at the Ancient Fey Edifice, it is just satisfactory in the eyes of the Luo clan royalty. But that is antecedent on you having a powerful bloodline. You just managed to find your footing on the sixth level of Black Wind Valley, so to the Luo clan royalty, who values Ancient Fey bloodlines, they would not even give you a second look. Do you think that you would be valued by the royal family? You are still far from that!”

“Now, with my Xushui clan soliciting you, you even looked down on my Xushui Ran clan!? Don’t you have an exaggerated opinion of your own abilities!?”

Ran Yu was furious. However, what he said sounded reasonable to most people. The Xushui Ran clan was a large family clan. There were a few similar family clans in the Luo clan. However, a young genius like Yi Yun was worthless. The Luo clan had 196 states. It had plenty of geniuses, and batch after batch were produced every century. These geniuses might not even fully mature before their death!

Yi Yun laughed. “The Xushui Ran clan is big, but who do you think you are in the Xushui Ran clan? You are just a scion in the family clan at best. You can’t even enter the seventh level of Black Wind Valley, so I guess you don’t amount to much in your family clan. If not, you would have already been in the royal capital.”

Yi Yun’s words had hit Ran Yu’s soft spot!

Ran Yu went livid immediately. There was a hint of coldness in his gaze as he said, “Human punk, I lowered my status today to speak to you nicely, but you have scorned me time and time again. You have only managed to use tricks of your energy cultivation and Aspect Totem to stand here on the sixth level. Without your Aspect Totem, you would find it hard to even stand on the second level! You aren’t worthy to mock me!”

“I’m asking you one last time. Do you choose to cooperate with me!?”

Ran Yu stared at Yi Yun as he minced his words. No one suspected that Ran Yu’s last sentence were not containing a threat.

Ran Yu was from the Xushui Ran clan after all. If he wanted to do harm to Yi Yun, with Yi Yun’s low cultivation level, he was bound to suffer!

Between the carrot and the stick, the Luo clan disciples present believed that if they were placed in Yi Yun’s shoes, they would likely have already agreed.

They wanted to see how Yi Yun would reply. However, what Yi Yun said next nearly made them bite off their tongues.

Yi Yun glanced at Ran Yu and said with a sneer, “Even if I need to cooperate with others in the future, I will not cooperate with a loser. With you coming along, other than being an additional burden, I guess you won’t be able to play much of a role.”

What!?

All the Luo clan disciples disciples present were immediately dumbfounded.

Was Yi Yun mad? He actually called Ran Yu a loser? To scold him in public like that, wasn’t he completely offending Ran Yu!?

Furthermore, Yi Yun did not have the qualifications to make such a comment! Didn’t he just manage to stand on the sixth level?

Before they could even react, something that nearly made them pop their eyeballs happened. They watched helplessly as Yi Yun leaped down from the sixth level to the seventh level of Black Wind Valley!

This is…

Everyone was astounded. Yi Yun actually jumped onto the seventh level?

846 - : Who do you think you are

CKtalon  CKtalon

Back at the sixth level, Yi Yun’s Aspect Totems were slightly injured and he had yet to establish a firm footing!

People believed that even if Yi Yun would cooperate with Ran Yu, he would take at least a week or so in the sixth level to find his footing by familiarizing himself fully with the black mist. After his body’s lifeblood was strengthened, then he would dare enter the seventh level. But for him to enter just like that, was he mad!?

Ran Yu had nearly gone berserk because of Yi Yun’s words, but with Yi Yun immediately leaping downwards, he was also left stunned.

He subconsciously took a few steps to chase after him, but he witnessed Yi Yun’s figure submerging into the black mist and landing on the seventh level’s bedrock.

At that moment, Luo Tian was also on the seventh level. He looked incredulously at Yi Yun’s arrival.

Why did this punk come down?

In front of Luo Tian, the black dragon had rapidly recovered. It was mostly done with its recovery, and it was planning on charging at Luo Tian and devouring the Fey with a Gigantic Demon Ape bloodline. However, it never expected that a human would suddenly come down.

From the looks of it, this human was much weaker than the Fey with the Gigantic Demon Ape bloodline.

The black specter shadows in Black Wind Valley would always start off with the weaker ones. Thus, the black dragon roared and charged at Yi Yun!

It seemed bent on swallowing Yi Yun first to recover itself to its peak state before it would slowly deal with Luo Tian.

This scene made all the cultivators in Black Wind Valley perk up. The black specter wyrm had finally reached Yi Yun and they wanted to see how Yi Yun was going to block it!

Every Luo clan disciples stared with widened eyes, afraid of missing the next scene. They knew that Yi Yun’s physical strength was lacking, but they were also skeptical that Yi Yun would send himself to his death.

As the black dragon pounced on him, the Demon gases rolled as an overwhelming pressure could be felt!

“Xiao!”

“Roar——”

From behind Yi Yun, the three-legged Golden Crow and the Nine Neonate Aspect Totems charged out together!

The three-legged Golden Crow spread its wings. Its wingspan was dozens of meters wide and it wrapped around Yi Yun like a golden fire wall! The Golden Crow’s body was like an intense inferno as rolling waves of blood surged over!

As for the black specter wyrm, it was even fiercer. It soared into the air and lashed its tail out like a whip, striking the three-legged Golden Crow’s body!

“Boom!”

An explosion that sounded like the rupturing of mountains and rivers could be heard. The three-legged Golden Crow shrieked as its body was sent flying by the black specter wyrm’s tail!

The black specter wyrm was indeed terrifying. The three-legged Golden Crow was no match for it!

However, after the three-legged Golden Crow was struck by the dragon’s tail, it had also clawed at the dragon’s tail. The dragon tail, which was a manifestation of black gas, was injured with three scratches from the Golden Crow. It even began to bleed black blood.

The wyrm that was a manifestation of the black gas could actually bleed?

At that moment, no one bothered considering this. They saw that after the black dragon repelled the Golden Crow, it charged at the Nine Neonate!

The Nine Neonate howled as it leaped up and it engaged with the black specter wyrm in an intense battle mid-air!

Instantly, black winds howled as it radiated in all directions!

The nine snake heads were fighting against a single wyrm. However, the Nine Neonate was completely suppressed by the wyrm!

The wyrm’s defenses were terrifying. The nine heads of the Nine Neonate bit on it, but they could not break its defenses!

Ka Ka Ka!

The wyrm coiled its body around the Nine Neonate. Its immense body wrangled around the Nine Neonate’s nine heads. It was trying to strangle the Nine Neonate to death!

No one doubted the wyrm’s power from the terror it revealed.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

A series of explosions could be heard from the Nine Neonate totem’s body. Its projection started to flicker and dim, as though the Nine Neonate was truly about to be strangled to death by the black wyrm.

Once the Nine Neonate was utterly defeated by the black wyrm, its master, Yi Yun, would also be inflicted with serious injuries. It would take him a long period of time to reconstruct the Nine Neonate totem. And this was on the premise that Yi Yun was able to safely escape from the clutches of the black wyrm. However, how could the black wyrm give Yi Yun such a chance?

Upon seeing this scene, Ran Yu roared with laughter.

“What a retard. I was wondering how powerful you are. To dare to shamelessly call me a loser. Now, you are just courting death by jumping onto the seventh level! The Nine Neonate is destroyed and the three-legged Golden Crow is seriously injured. By losing the Nine Neonate and the Golden Crow totems, you are like a tiger that has lost its fangs. How can that weak body of yours withstand the black wyrm!? If you die in Black Wind Valley, your corpse will be devoured and you will be completely annihilated. Haha!”

Previously, Ran Yu had been mocked by Yi Yun without appreciating the favor he had shown him and he was already fuming like a volcano. Now, seeing that Yi Yun was about to be devoured by the black dragon, he could no longer maintain his usually mild-mannered appearance and he said those nasty words.

Indeed, in the opinion of the Luo clan disciples, Yi Yun had relied on his Aspect Totem to land in the seventh level. Once he lost his Aspect Totems, Yi Yun’s physical strength was something completely trivial!

Even Luo Tian and Gu Luo’s bodies would be quickly devoured by the monsters on the seventh level, what more Yi Yun.

“Roar! Roar!”

The Nine Neonate issued an angry roar. The black wyrm opened its jaws and it was about to snap through the Nine Neonate’s neck. It would then devour the Nine Neonate before devouring Yi Yun. That was what would all happen in an instant.

But at that instant, an indescribable deep growl suddenly came from inside Yi Yun’s body.

This sound was very soft to begin with, but it gradually became louder.

It was rugged and powerful, as though it came from the ancient times after traversing the long rivers of time.

The growl was mysterious and deep. It easily pierced through the barriers in Black Wind Valley and echoed everywhere, reaching everyone’s ears.

This sound seemed to have a strange magical effect. It was not as ear-splitting as Luo Tian’s ancient Gigantic Demon Ape’s roar, but it seemed to resound in everyone’s hearts. It resonated with their bloodlines, which was an alarming feeling!

A large number of Luo clan disciples were puzzled, but someone suddenly thought of something as his expression changed drastically!

At that moment, a plume of black smoke emerged from behind Yi Yun. The black smoke was sparse and faint, but what was unbelievable was that after the black smoke floated out, it began to subtly distort space!

This was the spatial dimension of the 12 Empyrean Heavens, so how could it be distorted by a plume of black smoke?

Besides, this black smoke was generating a strong resonance with the Luo clan disciples’ blood! Some of them even found themselves having difficulty breathing. And the weaker their bloodlines were, the resonance and discomfort would become more intense. Some of the weaker ones even had the feeling of kneeling on the ground and prostrating themselves to Yi Yun, or to put it more accurately, the black smoke.

Even Cang Mang, who was seating mid air, stood up at that moment. His eyes that were like a deep pool of water flickered. He quietly looked at the plume of black smoke behind Yi Yun, unable to comprehend how such an inconceivable matter could happen.

He had determined that despite the plume of black smoke looking very thin, it was actually very heavy. The plume of black smoke was enough to crush mountains!

“It’s indeed that feeling!” Suddenly, someone shouted amidst the crowd.

“Ancient Fey, it’s the appearance of an ancient mighty Fey! It’s not those Heaven Fey with thin bloodlines who summon fake Ancient Fey phantom images through their own bloodlines. It is the true apparition of the mighty Fey from ancient times. Even if it has 1% of the ancient mighty Fey’s power, it is still a true Ancient Fey!”

This sudden voice immediately gave many people a shock.

What? Ancient Fey!?

What is this joke!?

Everyone turned to look at the Luo clan disciple that spoke.

That person was from the Phoenix Firmiana State. He was originally from an ancient Heaven Fey family clan. At his family ceremonies where they paid their respects to the family clan’s ancestors, there would be rare occasions when their ancestor would take up form during the ceremony. And at that moment, the feeling that the ancestor gave was identical to the black smoke behind Yi Yun!

And at that moment, there was no need to say anything else, as they could see the scene with their own eyes.

This scene made all the Luo clan disciples present gape their mouths in shock, as they were rendered speechless.

They saw the faint black smoke that emerged behind Yi Yun slowly take the form of a fuzzy wyrm head!

Be it the Gigantic Demon Ape bloodline phantom image that Luo Tian conjured, the Ranyi Fish bloodline phantom that image Ran Yu conjured, or even the two Aspect Totems that Yi Yun summoned himself, this phantom image condensed from black smoke was just too unrealistic.

All the phantom images from before were extremely realistic, as though a real Ancient Fey had appeared? But this phantom image was so fuzzy that it was difficult to perceive.

But they still managed to make it out.

This black-misted phantom image had taken the form of an ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm!

Ancient Fey? A true Ancient Fey!?

No other race knew better than the Fey race about the meaning behind these two words.

Although the Luo clan disciples present would always have the words Ancient Fey bloodline hang from the corner of their mouths all the time, and would frequently summon their Ancient Fey bloodline to offer sacrifices to their Ancient Fey ancestors in rituals, not a single one of them had ever seen Ancient Fey!

Heaven Fey family clans had been passed down for eons. Whatever bloodline they had was thinned out, which was also the reason for why it was difficult for the Heaven Fey to awaken their ancient bloodline.

The Ancient Fey were living beings born at the birth of the Universe billions of years ago. Their bodies were existences that were naturally condensed by Heavenly Dao laws.

Although there were a myriad of Ancient Fey, every kind was extremely limited in number! Some extremely special Ancient Fey species might only have one Fey in the entire Universe. Some Ancient Fey species were greater in number, but they were still a handful. Usually, only the death of one would give birth to a new one!

Up to this day, due to a variety of reasons, the numbers of Ancient Fey were dwindling in number. This accentuated the rarity of Ancient Fey!

Under this situation, a true Ancient Fey phantom image emerged behind Yi Yun. Even though the phantom image was extremely fuzzy and thin, the shock it gave everyone was a thousand times more intense than Luo Tian’s conjuring of the Ancient Gigantic Demon Ape!

“Ancient Fey… a true Ancient Fey? He only absorbed the Ancient Fey bone for four days, how can he conjure the Ancient Fey phantom image?”

On the sixth level of Black Wind Valley, Ran Yu was feeling extremely agitated.

He knew very well that the Ancient Fey bone that Yi Yun had previously consumed was the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s bone.

But just absorbing an Ancient Fey bone allowed him to conjure an Ancient Fey phantom image?

Although Ancient Fey bones were extremely valuable, there were geniuses in the entire Luo clan that would receive Ancient Fey bones as rewards. After all, an Ancient Fey was large in size. Ancient Fey with bodies five hundred kilometers long were not uncommon! Although Ancient Fey were rare, an Ancient Fey would leave behind a large number of bones after its death!

However, it was unheard of that any of these Luo clan geniuses who absorbed the Ancient Fey bone were able to conjure an Ancient Fey phantom image from absorbing a piece of Ancient Fey bone once!

Ran Yu found it unbelievable. Similarly, Luo Tian could not accept it either. At that moment, he was still maintaining his ancient Gigantic Demon Ape form, but when he saw the Ancient Fey phantom image that Yi Yun had conjured, he felt that his own bloodline was resonating with it, as though it would be drawn out by the Ancient Fey phantom image. Clearly, the Gigantic Demon Ape bloodline that he was proud of was far inferior to that faint black smoke behind Yi Yun!

This was too great a blow to them. Amongst the Luo clan disciples present, there were quite a few who were proud of their family history, flaunting their Ancient Fey ancestors’ bloodline. They had despised Yi Yun because of his identity as a human, but the resulting outcome was that the human, Yi Yun, had conjured what they viewed as their ancestor, the Ancient Fey, that they worshiped at ritual ceremonies. And they as so-called progeny of the Ancient Fey had been abandoned! How could anyone accept that!?

However, at that moment on the seventh level of Black Wind Valley, the black specter shadow’s reaction made all the Luo clan disciples present have an ugly expression on their faces.

They saw that the black specter wyrm looked afraid!

It had already dislodged itself from the Nine Neonate, and it faced the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm image like it was facing a nemesis.

For an existence like the black specter, it was condensed spontaneously by the black mist over eons. Its perception of Ancient Fey was a natural instinct, so it was able to more accurately sense one than the Luo clan disciples present!

With the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm image appearing, it felt a deep sense of apprehension!

Although it was also a wyrm, and the Heaven Devouring Wyrm was also a wyrm, they were two lifeforms that were on two separate levels on life’s natural order.

The black specter shadow only took the form of a wyrm. It could even take the form of Extreme Yang Illumination, let alone a wyrm, but it would be useless!

This was the difference between a true wyrm and a fake wyrm.

At that moment, the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm roared and it charged at the black specter!

The moment that this ancient Fey beast, that had not stirred for billions of years, had awoken, it was the arrival of a raging storm!

Hu! Hu! Hu!

A strong wind blew from every direction as the sky changed color!

In the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s mouth, a giant vortex appeared. All the black gases and black mist were swept into the vortex!

The Luo clan disciples, who were on the fourth and fifth level of Black Wind Valley, could feel the dreadful suction force of this vortex.

Their expressions changed as they activated the power of their bloodline to withstand it.

This is…

Heaven devouring!?

The two words ‘Heaven Devouring’ was a description of the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s laws that it had sublimed. Heaven Devouring was a terrifying engulfing law!

Such a terrifying suction force swept everywhere, as though a black hole had appeared out of nowhere in the the seventh level of Black Wind Valley. Large amounts of black gas were devoured by the Heaven Devouring Wyrm, but its phantom image form remained the same. It did not seem to become any more corporeal.

However, Yi Yun, who had conjured the Heaven Devouring Wyrm, had obtained a huge benefit!

Yi Yun had little lifeblood power left in his body. Just conjuring the Ancient Fey phantom image alone had drawn out all of the lifeblood power stored in his body from before!

This lifeblood power was gathered using the Nine Neonate and three-legged Golden Crow previously. If not, it was impossible for him to handle the conjuring of the Heaven Devouring Wyrm phantom image!

But now, the Heaven Devouring Wyrm was devouring the black mist like a maniac, which was greatly nourishing for Yi Yun!

Yi Yun felt that his emptied out lifeblood was increasing rapidly in a short period of time, and soon, it was filled to the brim. Next, the lifeblood was forcefully merged into his flesh and blood, as his body began to reforge itself!

Yi Yun’s bodily strength was indeed lacking.

Although he had used the Purple Crystal to absorb the Ancient Fey bone, allowing his body to be injected with the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s bloodline, which allowed him to conjure the Heaven Devouring Wyrm phantom image, Yi Yun’s actual physique was just too weak.

If Yi Yun’s body could become more powerful, there would be innumerable benefits that would follow!

At that moment, the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm had roared once and started flying at the black specter shadow!

Although the black specter shadow feared the Heaven Devouring Wyrm, it could not sit idle when facing a life and death crisis. It roared and charged at the Heaven Devouring Wyrm!

It wanted to put up a desperate fight!

However, the differences were just too great. It was a difference in life’s natural order, resulting in the black specter shadow being unable to use more than 20% of its power!

“Chi La!”

The Heaven Devouring Wyrm bit down and snapped off a large chunk of flesh and blood from the black specter shadow. Immediately following that, its tail whipped at the black specter, causing wind and clouds to stir, as the black specter’s began to violently shake.

As for that piece of flesh and blood, it was directly swallowed into the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s stomach, and digested to become a part of its lifeblood’s power.

Upon seeing this scene, the Luo clan disciples felt a chill rise up from the soles of their feet. The Heaven Devouring Wyrm had managed to directly devour a portion of the black specter!

“Yi Yun… Yi Yun went down Black Wind Valley, but until the very end, he has yet to use the power of his body. From the beginning, he used his Aspect Totem, and now, he’s using… the power of the Ancient Fey’s bloodline… ” A Heaven Fey disciple from the Phoenix Firmiana State said. As he spoke, his Adam’s apple was twitching.

As they were sure that Yi Yun’s physical strength was lacking, many of them were waiting for Yi Yun to suffer when his Aspect Totems could no longer sustain the barrage of attacks. After all, Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was basically useless in Black Wind Valley.

But now, despite his Aspect Totem being unable to sustain the attacks any longer, Yi Yun still did not use his body. He had summoned a more terrifying Ancient Fey bloodline power to replace the Aspect Totems!

The Black Wind Valley was a test of the Fey race’s bloodline. The Fey race bloodline was always something that the Fey race was proud of. But what other bloodline could be more noble and valuable than a true Ancient Fey’s bloodline?

Compared to Yi Yun’s Ancient Fey bloodline, their tiny bit of Fey bloodline became jokes.

847 - : The Growl From Ancient Times

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm and the black specter shadow snapped their jaws at each other. The battle between the two wyrms caused turmoil on the seventh level, and everywhere their bodies passed, rocks were shattered, with the black mist quickly filling the void left behind!

The ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm was extremely terrifying. It had a smoke-like body, but it contained tremendous amounts of power. Its every strike could invoke the powers of the Heaven and Earth, as though the source of Heaven and Earth energy was wherever the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm was!

“Clang!”

The ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm bit at the black wyrm, issuing the sound of metal being hit. The black wyrm grimaced in pain, as one of its claws was ripped off!

Dragon scales and dragon blood was splattered everywhere. The black wyrm roared fiercely, but it no longer had the strength to battle the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm. Hence, ignoring its injuries, it tried escaping deeper into Black Wind Valley!

“Don’t you leave!”

Yi Yun’s eyes flickered. Although the black wyrm was a fake wyrm, it was the embodiment of a large amount of black-misted energy essence on the seventh level of Black Wind Valley. Be it for the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm or himself, it was a great supplement.

“Stay behind!” With a thought from Yi Yun…

“Boom!”

The ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s tail swept down like a heavenly pillar that collapsed. It struck the black wyrm’s back heavily.

“Ka-cha!”

The sound of joints breaking resounded like thunder. The black wyrm’s back had been fractured by the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s tail strike!

The ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm looked like smoke, but it was able to crush mountains, that was the proof of its heaviness. With it striking down like that, it was like a divine mountain crushing down on the black wyrm’s back. There was no way for the black dragon to withstand it!

Suck!

The ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm opened its jaws and a black vortex appeared in its mouth once again. This black vortex distorted space, and the surrounding black mist was all sucked towards it!

Heaven devouring laws!

The legendary true ancient fey was able to devour an entire world. Hence it’s name, Heaven Devouring Wyrm!

No one knew if the legends were true. But now, the Heaven Devouring Wyrm phantom image that Yi Yun conjured was more than enough to devour the black wyrm.

The black wyrm struggled with all its strength, but it was completely meaningless. It was eventually devoured by the Heaven Devouring Wyrm.

Roar—

After devouring the black wyrm, the Heaven Devouring Wyrm let out a satisfied growl.

The black wyrm was completely digested into essence energy to replenish itself. As a result, its fuzzy body also became slightly more corporeal.

And far behind the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm, Yi Yun suddenly felt his blood vessels go into turmoil. His body felt like it was a drum being hit, as it issued explosives sounds!

The black wyrm’s essence energy had mostly been absorbed by the Heaven Devouring Wyrm, but there were still some portions that were injected into Yi Yun’s body.

The violent force surged into Yi Yun’s meridians and it moved around crazily.

Yi Yun’s meridians had been widened several times after he absorbed the Ancient Fey bone. Furthermore, their resilience was far stronger than before. If not, just the surging of the energy through his meridians would be something that Yi Yun’s meridians could not withstand. He would have needed to use the Purple Crystal to suppress the energy.

How could the pleasure derived from the energy’s forceful impacts and cleansing of his body be compared to absorbing the energy from the Purple Crystal stores?

“It feels great!” Yi Yun shouted out loud as he clenched his fists.

He felt as though all his energy was filled with inexhaustible energy. The energy was like a roaring tsunami, that swept across wave after wave in an incessant manner!

“Yi Yun… he devoured the black wyrm on the seventh level!”

Seeing Yi Yun’s aura change and the lifeblood stirring in his body, all the Luo clan disciples present could only stare helplessly.

They had seen how powerful the black wyrm was, but now, it had been devoured. Although it was mainly devoured by the Heaven Devouring Wyrm, as its master, Yi Yun benefited greatly from it.

At that moment, the Fire Cloud State and Phoenix Firmiana State disciples were filled with jealousy and envy. At the same Black Wind Valley trial, they could only drink a figurative soup, while Yi Yun had managed to eat all the figurative meat!

After devouring the black wyrm, Yi Yun began to meditate on the seventh level and he began to refine the black wyrm’s power!

And some of the energy had been distributed to his two Aspect Totems — the Nine Neonate and three-legged Golden Crow, allowing them to begin to recover from their injuries.

They were not seriously injured, so it was very easy for them to recover.

With that, Yi Yun began to cultivate on the seventh level of Black Wind Valley.

This was cultivation on the seventh level of Black Wind Valley. People had previously believed that Yi Yun’s body was weak, so it would be pretty good if he could find his footing on the fifth level and be able to probe the sixth level for short periods of time. But now, Yi Yun had found his footing on the seventh level, and he was leisurely cultivating.

And most ironical of all was that they had guessed correctly. Yi Yun’s body was indeed not powerful enough, but his bloodline was heaven-defying. So what if his body wasn’t strong enough? Yi Yun did not even need to use his body to withstand the black specter shadow. Just his bloodline alone was enough!

At that moment, Luo Tian was still opposite Yi Yun. He felt like he was a stake erected on the seventh level and he was extremely embarrassed.

He seemed to be an indomitable force and the center of attention, but now, he did not even know what he should do.

“How was Yi Yun able to absorb the Ancient Fey bone to such a degree?”

Luo Tian was left in wonder. Yi Yun, a human, was even better than the geniuses at the Luo clan’s royal capital after absorbing an Ancient Fey bone.

At Black Wind Valley, they depended on stimulating their Heaven Fey bloodline to withstand the black mist, while Yi Yun had stimulated an Ancient Fey bloodline. How could they even compete with that? This was already on two disparate levels!

Luo Tian found it excruciating to stay on in the seventh level, so he dejectedly returned to the sixth level.

And at that moment, the seventh level was beginning to produce more black specter lifeforms.

These black specter surged from all directions to the seventh level to occupy it.

Previously, the black specter wyrm had occupied the entire seventh level. And probably because it was too powerful, it had demarcated its own territory.

And now, with an increase in the number of black specter shadows, it became chaotic. However, these black specters did not dare to approach Yi Yun. They had previously seen how the black wyrm, which was much more powerful than them, had been devoured by Yi Yun and the Heaven Devouring Wyrm. They wouldn’t be silly enough to serve themselves up as food!

In time, Yi Yun began to casually sit down on the seventh level, with no black specter shadow daring to mess with him.

As time passed, the black wyrm’s essence in Yi Yun’s body was mostly digested. And at that moment —

Whew!

A bright red beam flashed in the thick depths of the black mist. It was like an agile fish that was swimming and twirling quickly in the black mist!

Yi Yun, who was meditating, suddenly opened his eyes as he looked at the red beam hidden in the black mist.

Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake!

Compared to the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, the black wyrm was worth nothing!

If he could capture the intermediary spirit blood snake, his body would improve once again! Furthermore, his energy cultivation was directly tied to his body. Yi Yun’s overall strength would undoubtedly make a quantum leap!

Yi Yun took a deep breath and he slowly stood up.

848 - : Devouring the Black Specter Wyrm

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It’s the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. It has appeared again!’

With Yi Yun causing quite an impressive stir, the Luo clan disciples present were paying a great deal of attention to what was happening on the seventh level. Some of them even ignored their cultivation.

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake that suddenly appeared did not escape their eyes. Furthermore, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake had a special aura, so it was difficult not to notice it.

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was the most important opportunity of the Black Wind Valley trial. Who didn’t want it? And now, they saw Yi Yun stand up. He was about to make his move on the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake!

“Yi Yun is trying to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. Lord Cang Mang had intended to pose a difficult problem for Luo Tian, Gu Luo and Ran Yu, but now, Yi Yun alone might be able to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake.”

“I think it’s almost in the bag. The most difficult obstacle was the black specter wyrm and it has already been torn apart and consumed by Yi Yun and the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm. Even the wyrm was eaten, so it shouldn’t be difficult to eat a tiny snake, right!? I wonder what Ran Yu and company are thinking. It seems like it has nothing to do with them anymore… ”

The Luo clan disciples present discussed as some of them could not help but cast their gazes at Ran Yu.

Naturally, Ran Yu also heard their conversations. His face went blue. The saying of accompanying the Crown Prince in studies — an outsider in a competition with no possible hope of winning — was relevant to Ran Yu back in the Fire Cloud State. Back then, he was the ‘Crown Prince’, with people accompanying him in his studies. But when did it become his turn to accompany others in studies, making him have no possible hope of winning?

The Mt. Azure Billow training was a torment for Ran Yu.

At that moment, Yi Yun moved. Against the layers of black mist, and the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake within it, a rugged and powerful dragon’s roar came from Yi Yun’s chest.

“Ang!”

A single-horned wyrm rushed out from behind Yi Yun and it pounced straight at the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. Yi Yun had conjured the Heaven Devouring Wyrm phantom image once again!

The Heaven Devouring Wyrm was an ancient mighty Fey. Its appearance and surging Ancient Fey aura were detected by the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake.

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was a spirit of the seventh level of the Black Wind Valley. It sensed a threat, and with a sharp sound, it transformed into a stream of light, drilling deep into the black mist!

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was extremely fast. Although the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s bloodline was powerful, in terms of speed, it was inferior to the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. This was also mainly the reason why the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was so hard to deal with. It was located on the seventh level of Black Wind Valley, where danger lurked everywhere. With its astounding speed, trying to capture it was very, very difficult!

Noticing that the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was about to disappear into the deep depths of the black mist, the Heaven Devouring Wyrm opened its mouth —

Heaven devouring!

“Wu Wu Wu… ”

A large black vortex appeared in its mouth as the surrounding black mist was sucked towards it!

90% of the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s engulfing law was afflicted on the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. Instantly, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake’s speed was greatly reduced.

“Hiss– ”

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake issued a sharp shrill. It was so sharp that it was like an arrow had shot right into one’s eardrums. Even the cultivators on the fourth and fifth levels of Black Wind Valley could not help but cover their ears when they heard it.

However, regardless of how much the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake hissed, it was unable to free itself from the suction of the Heaven Devouring Wyrm!

The Ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm was known to be able to devour an entire world. Its engulfing law was top amongst the Ancient Fey. Furthermore, with the difference in life’s natural order, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake could not withstand it any longer!

Not only could the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake not fly deep into the black mist, it was bound by the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s engulfing powers. It was being pulled bit by bit to the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s mouth!

When they saw this, the people were secretly horrified. They knew that the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was not easy to deal with. It had once penetrated Gu Luo’s palm, and with its unparalleled speed, even without the black specter wyrm on the seventh level, it was still not easy to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake.

The Heaven Devouring Wyrm lived up to its name. It was a true ancient mighty fey. Just its phantom image alone was already terrifying!

“Hiss– ”

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake hissed crazily as its body turned redder and redder, as though channels of blood began to emanate across the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake’s body.

Oh?

Yi Yun’s mind was connected to the Heaven Devouring Wyrm. He suddenly sensed that the small Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was undergoing some kind of change. Its body was slowly accumulating energy, and its red body seemed to emanate a special smell.

And at that moment, a few black specter shadows seemed to be attracted by this smell and they began to approach the seventh level from the eighth level of Black Wind Valley.

Upon seeing this, Yi Yun knitted his brows. The black specter shadows that came from the eighth to the seventh floor were most likely the weaker ones from the eighth level. In terms of strength, they were likely no match for the black specter wyrm that had dominated the seventh level alone. If this was any other time, they would have been fodder for the Heaven Devouring Wyrm.

However, at this point, with changes in variable, it made Yi Yun’s heart sink.

He had to finish it as soon as possible!

“Dragon Tail!” Yi Yun bellowed.

The Heaven Devouring Wyrm let out a low growl as its body charged out suddenly, and its gigantic dragon tail swept downwards!

“Boom!”

Like the collapse of a mountain, the extremely heavy dragon tail slammed into the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake’s body. The snake obviously could not withstand such a strike. Its body quivered as some of its scales broke apart with blood spurting out of the wounds.

As for the black specter shadows that came from the eighth level, they were stunned by the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s attack. They did not dare to attack momentarily.

The ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm was just too powerful. It was a true Ancient Fey after all. Its aura gave pressure from the difference in life’s natural order to the black specters that were condensed from Black Wind Valley’s lifeblood.

From the looks of it, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake’s final struggle had been ruthlessly crushed by the Heaven Devouring Wyrm. If this went on, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was definitely Yi Yun’s!

The Luo clan disciples on the fourth and fifth levels were extremely jealous seeing this scene. As for Ran Yu, who was on the sixth level, he looked livid as a beam flashed in his eyes.

Ran Yu knew very well that if this continued, all the benefits in Black Wind Valley would be Yi Yun’s.

Riches were obtained from taking risk. On the seventh level of Black Wind Valley, it appeared as though the Heaven Devouring Wyrm had brought the situation under control, but in fact, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was still struggling incessantly. There were several black specter shadows from the eighth level watching on with covetous looks. A tip of the scales would decide the true winner!

Upon thinking about this, a wicked look flashed in Ran Yu’s eyes. He leaped down from the sixth level to the seventh level.

“Oh? Ran Yu?”

People were surprised seeing the turn in events. Black Wind Valley’s battle was a competition of bloodline. Ran Yu’s Ranyi Fish bloodline was much weaker than the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm. There was no way for him to intervene in the battle on the seventh level. Ran Yu was no match for even the weakest black specter shadows from the eighth level.

“What’s Ran Yu going down for? He can’t beat those black specters, and he can’t attack Yi Yun or he would violate the rules of the trial.”

Everyone stared with widened eyes, afraid of missing this scene. Ran Yu’s sudden appearance opened up a new variable in what was a decided situation.

849 - : Capturing the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun obviously noticed Ran Yu’s sudden barge onto the seventh level. At that moment, there was a storm brewing on the seventh level, and it was the critical moment in Yi Yun’s capturing of the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. Yet, Ran Yu had suddenly appeared, and the moment he landed, he charged straight at the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake!

“Oh?”

Yi Yun was caught by surprise. Was Ran Yu charging at the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake at that moment, an attempt to snatch the food from a tiger’s jaws?

In Black Wind Valley, Yuan Qi was useless against black specters. It was a contest between bloodline and physique. In terms of Yuan Qi, Ran Yu had his Heaven Ascension realm cultivation level, but when it came to bloodline, he was no match for the Heaven Devouring Wyrm at all.

In nearly a blink of an eye, Ran Yu had already rushed to the vicinity of the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. At that moment, people realized that his goal was not the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, but the few black specter shadows that came from the eighth level to seventh level!

These black specter shadows were lusting for blood. They were summoned by the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake to deal with the Heaven Devouring Wyrm.

However, they were also astounded by the Heaven Devouring Wyrm and they did not dare to act rashly. Now, with Ran Yu charging at them, they opened up their jaws and bit at Ran Yu!

They shall swallow Ran Yu first!

Hu! Hu! Hu!

The black specter shadows charged forward together. Just as he was about to be surrounded by the black specters, Ran Yu’s face revealed a crazed look.

Ha!

Ran Yu roared as the Ranyi Fish bloodline appeared behind him. The power of his lifeblood surged and it increased rapidly!

“That Ran Yu!”

Everyone was taken aback when they saw this scene. Although the black specter shadows were inferior to the black specter wyrm that dominated the seventh level, Ran Yu was still no match for them!

Just as people though Ran Yu was trying to make a desperate struggle to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, Ran Yu suddenly retreated and he turned around to escape!

A few black specter shadows chased Ran Yu without letting up!

The Heaven Devouring Wyrm was not something that they could deal with, but the Ranyi fish bloodline conjured by Ran Yu was something that they coveted. If they could devour the Ranyi Fish bloodline, they would also enhance their strength.

Ran Yu flew very quickly. With the black specter wyrm slain by Yi Yun, the resistance on the seventh level had been greatly reduced. After Ran Yu ran a couple hundred feet, he suddenly turned and rushed towards Yi Yun!

Oh!?

Everyone came to a sudden realization as they understood Ran Yu’s plans.

Ran Yu was trying to divert the danger!

Yi Yun was powerful, but his power actually came from the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm bloodline. As for Yi Yun’s body? It was too weak!

Yi Yun had to depend on his Aspect Totems to even withstand the fourth and fifth level, let alone the seventh level.

Without the Heaven Devouring Wyrm bloodline, Yi Yun was nothing!

Previously, due to the threat of the Heaven Devouring Wyrm bloodline, the black specter shadows did not dare approach Yi Yun, and now, the Heaven Devouring Wyrm was in a battle with the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, which meant Yi Yun was isolated!

Yi Yun’s body itself was his greatest weakness!

“That Ran Yu is too despicable!” A Phoenix Firmiana State disciple said. Ran Yu did not have plans on profiteering from taking advantage of the situation, he wanted to add insult to injury!

It was too difficult for him to profiteer from taking advantage of the situation.

However, if he was there to cause damage, things would be much easier. As long as he caused Yi Yun severe injuries or even cause his death, the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm that Yi Yun controlled would lose its mobility and it would not put up the slightest threat!

Then, wouldn’t Black Wind Valley be monopolized by Ran Yu and company? They could slowly capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake!

“What are you saying!? What do you mean despicable? That is the smartest strategy. A fundamental solution leveraging on the strength of others! Senior Brother Ran’s move is directly striking at Yi Yun’s weakness. Furthermore, Senior Brother Ran will not be directly attacking Yi Yun, so the rules of the trial aren’t violated. It’s the true character of a fierce and ambitious person! Yi Yun is doomed, hahaha!” Lie Ya’s maniac laughter resounded.

Having seen Yi Yun ride the waves of success all this while, how could he not gloat when he finally saw Yi Yun getting into trouble?

In a split second, Ran Yu had already arrived in front of Yi Yun!

Yi Yun could clearly see the hideous grin on Ran Yu’s lips.

Just as Ran Yu was about to turn and escape, Yi Yun had already guessed Ran Yu’s intentions. By using the black specter shadows to kill him, he could avoid violating the rule of not attacking other disciples undertaking the trial. It was indeed the best method!

“Yi Yun, go to hell! If there is anything to blame, blame it on your body being too weak! Hahaha!” Ran Yu roared. He suddenly leaped when he was just a few meters away from Yi Yun. He leaped over Yi Yun!

“Junior Brother Yi!” Upon seeing this scene, Luo Fengling could not help but scream!

Yi Yun’s mind turned solemn. His mental energy had been connected to the Heaven Devouring Wyrm at the moment that Ran Yu charged at him. As such, he let all the power of his lifeblood explode!

Boom!

The Heaven Devouring Wyrm shadow exploded into a ball of black smoke!

At the same time, the black specters that were following Ran Yu charged forward. They noticed Yi Yun and they did not have any intentions of dodging as he watched the rolling black winds. It was as though they could devour Yi Yun’s lifeblood in an instant.

“Come!”

With a loud shout from Yi Yun —

Boom!

The black smoke that the Heaven Devouring Wyrm had exploded into burst across the air like a heavenly bridge. It was like a black waterfall falling from the sky as it charged straight into Yi Yun’s body!

At that instant, Yi Yun’s body issued crackling explosive sounds. The Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s black smoke gathered on Yi Yun’s body as it formed black scales that were rapidly duplicating themselves.

That was — Dragon scales!

Dragon scales began to appear on Yi Yun’s cheeks as they began to cover his entire body.

Instantly, Yi Yun’s body shimmered with a black divine glow. A rugged and powerful aura emanated out of Yi Yun’s body. It was like a primordial desolate world was sealed in Yi Yun’s body. And now, the world had been opened up. The aura of an Ancient Fey began to emanate out like a storm!

This is!?

All the Luo clan disciples in Black Wind Valley were left in shock!

The aura that emanated out of Yi Yun’s body… made all their Fey race bloodlines resonate. It was like Yi Yun had become a Fey King from primordial times at that instant! They were shocked and distraught!

Could it be that… Yi Yun had fused with the Ancient Fey bloodline!?

Everyone stared with widened eyes as they had looks of disbelief.

After summoning the Fey race bloodline and then fusing with the bloodline was not uncommon. Previously, Luo Tian had done the same, but Luo Tian’s fusion was with a Heaven Fey bloodline Yi Yun was fusing with an Ancient Fey bloodline!

After Luo Tian’s fusion, his body revealed the characteristics of a gigantic demon ape. But for Yi Yun, his body was covered in dragon scales after his fusion!

“Break!”

Seeing the black specters rushing at him, Yi Yun bellowed and he suddenly punched out!

The power of that punch seemed like it was a divine mountain compressed into a tiny package. The void trembled slightly as the black specters in front of Yi Yun were torn apart by Yi Yun’s single punch! Large amounts of black mist exploded, forming a black shockwave that blew out in every direction!

The handful of black specter shadows that came from the eighth level were slain by a single punch from Yi Yun!

Upon seeing this scene, the Luo clan disciples present could not help but gape their mouths, and they had trouble closing them.

Just now… wasn’t it said that Yi Yun’s body was very weak?

850 - : Shimmering Dragon Scales

CKtalon  CKtalon

“To annihilate four black specter shadows with one move, and to think that he just used his fist!”

On the fourth and fifth levels of Black Wind Valley, the Fire Cloud State and Phoenix Firmiana State disciples were dumbfounded. Previously, they were fixated on Yi Yun’s weak body, claiming that he had relied on his Aspect Totem and Ancient Fey bloodline to reach the seventh level. If it came to a pure contest in body, Yi Yun would not have been able to find his footing on either the second or third level of Black Wind Valley.

But now, Yi Yun’s single punch was heaven shaking and forceful. Although these people had not been the target of the punch, they could still feel the pressure of the punch in front of them.

“That is actually not the strength of Yi Yun’s body. Yi Yun’s body is still very weak, but he summoned the Heaven Devouring Wyrm bloodline back to fuse with him! In this case, the power of the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s lifeblood is also the power of his lifeblood!” A Phoenix Firmiana State disciple said.

His tone was filled with amazement, but also regretful over being left in the dust by Yi Yun.

The surrounding Luo clan disciples had mixed feelings upon hearing this. Conjuring the Ancient Fey bloodline was good enough, but he had even fused with it!

In that case, who still dared say that Yi Yun’s body was weak?

He had been mocked for having a weak body because his body would become a weakness. But now, once Yi Yun conjured the Heaven Devouring Wyrm to complete a fusion, he could share the lifeblood power of the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm!

That ability was extremely enviable.

Yi Yun had completely absorbed Ancient Fey bloodline in four days, and even if the other days were counted, it was less than half a month.

A human had used less than half a month to absorb an Ancient Fey bone so completely?

Now, in front of Yi Yun, they did not even want to mock him for his identity as a human, because they were embarrassed to call themselves members of the Fey race. Be it in terms of bloodline concentration, or their absorption of Ancient Fey bones, they were far inferior to Yi Yun, so how could they be proud to be members of the Fey race?

At that moment, the person who was suffering the greatest mental collapse was Ran Yu. He had taken the opportunity when Yi Yun and the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake were in a struggle to decisively make a strike. He had lured the eighth level black specter shadows towards Yi Yun, managing to avoid violating the rules of the trial of not attacking each other to place Yi Yun in a life and death danger. It could have been deemed a masterstroke.

But immediately following that, Yi Yun had fused with the Heaven Devouring Wyrm bloodline. His single punch had simultaneously shattered Ran Yu’s machinations into smithereens. It made all the planning from before turn into a joke.

Ran Yu was thoroughly afraid when he saw Yi Yun’s body covered in dragon scales. Yi Yun was standing there with a murderous aura.

Although Ran Yu knew leaving this dejectedly was embarrassing, he was out of choices. The seventh level was not safe. Despite the fact that the black specter wyrm was already dead, there were still other black specter shadows that were constantly gathering around the seventh level. Ran Yu could not withstand that at all.

“Yi Yun, consider yourself lucky! But don’t be complacent. You aren’t even at the Heaven Ascension realm. Your future is still a blur. There have been numerous geniuses and wonders in the history of the Luo clan, but unfortunately they died before they managed to mature. Here’s me wishing you, Yi Yun… do not die too early!”

By throwing those nasty words out, Ran Yu hoped that he could redeem a bit of his face. Although his words were toxic, what he said was true. In the Luo clan, most juniors failed to mature to the very end. The 12 Empyrean Heavens was a world with large tumultuous waves. It was extremely common to die on the path of martial arts.

After Ran Yu said this, he turned around to flee onto the sixth level. He did not want to compete with Yi Yun any further, because he could not handle it!

Just as Ran Yu flew up, a cold beam flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes.

“Do you think that this seventh level is a place where you can come and go as you please!?” Yi Yun bellowed as all the power of his lifeblood burned.

This was the power that belonged to the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm, and now with Yi Yun’s body as a medium, it completely burst outward!

Heaven devouring!

Wo! Wo! Wo!

With Yi Yun’s body as the core, the engulfing force radiated in all directions!

With the Heaven Devouring Wyrm completely fused into Yi Yun’s body, the engulfing force was much stronger than before!

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake had been injured previously, so it was trapped in the engulfing force’s domain without any surprise.

Even seven or eight black specter shadows that had rushed from the eighth level were enveloped by the engulfing force. None of them could escape.

And Ran Yu, who was closest to Yi Yun, had previously summoned his Ranyi Fish bloodline. And now, with the engulfing vortex suddenly appearing, the Ranyi Fish bloodline was being locked onto by the vortex!

“What are you doing!?”

Ran Yu’s body was about to reach the sixth level, but the lifeblood power that he had conjured was stuck on the seventh level.

Ran Yu stared with anger. The Luo clan disciples were barred from attacking each other during the training at Mt. Azure Billow. This was also why Ran Yu dared to do such a brazen act in front of Yi Yun.

But now, Yi Yun had directly made his move to use the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s bloodline suppression to stop the Ranyi Fish that he had conjured!

The Ranyi Fish phantom image was not a true Ancient Fey after all. Having been enveloped by the Ancient Fey aura, it immediately began to quiver. It could not even use thirty percent of its full strength, so it was unable to free itself from the binding of the engulfing force.

“Yi Yun! How you dare!? Are you flagrantly violating the rules of the training?” Ran Yu angrily boomed.

The Ranyi Fish phantom image was the coagulation of Ran Yu’s bloodline essence!

To a Heaven Fey, their bloodline’s concentration greatly reflected their potential and future achievements. In a Heaven Fey family, this was also one of the factors that determined how much resources were going to be invested in that person!

If any losses were suffered regarding the Ranyi Fish phantom image, Ran Yu would be eviscerated! It was nearly equivalent to chopping an arm of Ran Yu!

Yi Yun ignored Ran Yu’s warning. Black gases rose up from his body, as though he was a demon god from returning from ancient times. In front of him, the energy vortex expanded in size. The Ranyi Fish that was awestruck by the ancient Heaven Devouring Wyrm bloodline was slowly being pulled towards Yi Yun!

“What is Yi Yun doing? Does he plan on devouring Ran Yu’s Heaven Fey bloodline? If he does that, he is definitely violating of the rules of the training. Yi Yun will be punished!”

Many Luo clan disciples on the fourth and fifth levels in Black Wind Valley were taken aback. It was definitely unwise to challenge the rules of the Luo clan.

Ran Yu laughed in extreme anger. “Nice try, Yi Yun. To attack me in public, you are truly mad! Indeed, those who are not of the same kin are sure to be of a different heart. You will pay a terrible price for this!”

Upon saying this, Ran Yu suddenly looked up at Cang Mang, who was sitting high in the sky.

“Lord Cang Mang, Yi Yun is violating the rules of the collective training and he openly attacking me in a bid to destroy my bloodline. I think Yi Yun must be a spy from an alien race. According to the rules of the Luo clan, he should be crippled of his cultivation level!”

At that moment, Ran Yu’s heart was burning with flames of anger. However, despite his complaints, Cang Mang remained motionless mid air.

Cang Mang frowned slightly, but he did not speak. If Yi Yun truly devoured Ran Yu’s bloodline, it was obvious that he could not sit idle. Although a warrior’s world was all about an eye for an eye, a rule was still a rule that could not violated.

At that moment, Yi Yun smiled and said, “Ran Yu, are you saying that I’m attacking you? When did I attack you? I’m just using engulfing laws to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. Is this a violation of the Luo clan’s rules? I was using engulfing laws to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, but your Ranyi Fish bloodline appeared in the range of my engulfing laws, and for that, you are blaming me?”

851 - : The trapped Ranyi Fish

CKtalon  CKtalon

With Yi Yun saying this, he had rebutted all of Ran Yu’s rhetoric.

When the Phoenix Firmiana State disciples heard this, they could not stop themselves from laughing. It was Ran Yu, who had ulterior motives to begin with, that caused the Ranyi Fish bloodline to appear in Yi Yun’s range of attack. If not, how could this have happened?

However, with the rules of the Luo clan, it was very difficult for Yi Yun to do anything to Ran Yu.

Seeing Yi Yun high-sounding statements, Ran Yu gritted his teeth hatefully. “Cut your crap. I don’t care about you capturing the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. Quickly release my Ranyi Fish bloodline! I’m a direct descendant of the Xushui Ran clan. If my bloodline suffers in any way, you are doomed!”

Yi Yun laughed in disdain. “What sort of trashy bloodline is this that you treat it as a treasure!? Are you thinking that I would take the initiative to rescind my domain to release that crappy fish of yours? The moment I rescind my domain, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake will escape as a result! After being frightened by me once, it might escape deeper into Black Wind Valley. Can you afford to pay for it?”

While Yi Yun spoke, not only did he not rescind his domain, he had even strengthened the power of his bloodline. The Ranyi Fish was being drawn in as the lifeblood vortex grew larger. It began wailing as it could not break free at all.

At that moment, Ran Yu became anxious.

However, it was useless for him to remain anxious. From the looks of it, Cang Mang would not interfere. As long as Yi Yun did not directly attack Ran Yu, he would ignore them.

Furthermore, what Yi Yun said was right. With the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake startled, it might very likely escape deeper into Black Wind Valley. What about the loss? Letting the Ranyi Fish bloodline was simple, but how was Ran Yu to compensate Yi Yun for his loss?

Regardless of who it was, no one would stop the lifeblood vortex. Yi Yun’s actions were very reasonable!

Ran Yu also understood this. He could only grit his teeth and tolerate it. He also knew that even if Yi Yun was trying to make it difficult for him, he would definitely not really devour his bloodline. By trapping his bloodline, it was indeed not a violation of the Luo clan’s rules. But even if Yi Yun devoured it directly, Cang Mang would definitely not sit idle, or he would have failed in his duty.

Although he had acknowledged the reality before him, this did not mean that Ran Yu could tolerate it. He said hatefully, “Yi Yun, I know you are trying to seek revenge on me. It is only fair for treasures to be obtained by those with the ability. The Black Wind Valley trial is meant to be about fair competition. So how was I wrong in trying to snatch your Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake? Besides, what I did were within the confines of the rules, and cannot be faulted!”

“Now, there is no chance for your revenge, so what can you do other than stopping my bloodline? Do you even dare devour it!? Do you believe that if you were to devour a tiny bit of my Ranyi Fish bloodline, my Xushui Ran clan would capture and ruin your cultivation, and use your Ancient Fey bloodline to compensate me!?”

The further in the sentence Ran Yu was, the more pleasure he felt. It was as though all the anger he had had been vented out. That’s right, although he had been outdone by Yi Yun in various aspects, he still had his family clan’s backing!

By using the Xushui Ran clan to threaten Yi Yun, this was the advantage of having a powerful faction behind him! Large family clans worked on the concept of reason. If Yi Yun did not violate the rules, the Xushui Ran clan would naturally not have a legitimate reason to do anything to Yi Yun. However, once Yi Yun violated the rules, they would not leave the matter at that. If not, how could the Xushui Ran clan have any face left?

Yi Yun sneered at Ran Yu’s threats. He only circulated his lifeblood’s power and the engulfing force that was locked onto the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake had increased.

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake let out deafening hisses. The tiny blood snake knew that if it was sucked into the vortex, it would die. Therefore, it began struggling as the redness all over its body seemed like it was going to dropping out, as though it was already in a frenzy!

But regardless of how much frenzy it was, it could not escape the engulfing vortex. Instead, its lifeblood was constantly being extracted.

Other than the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, there were eight black specter shadows locked onto by the lifeblood vortex. The black specter shadows’ lifeblood was also extracted and they gradually became weaker.

They roared maniacally, but with them becoming weaker, how were they able to escape the suction of the lifeblood vortex?

Yi Yun looked at the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake and the black specter shadows as his mind turned slightly heavy.

He glanced at Ran Yu, who was already standing on the sixth level, before his eyes flashed with a cold beam.

Upon sensing the killing intent in Yi Yun’s eyes, Ran Yu gave a disdainful smile with an expression that goaded Yi Yun.

“It’s time to stop. What’s the point of restraining my bloodline? This kind of revenge that does not do anything to me will only reveal your incompetence. You are like a hag cursing on the streets that will be laughed at by others in contempt!”

Ran Yu derided Yi Yun, but suddenly, Yi Yun sent a Yuan Qi voice transmission that echoed in his ears. “The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake seems to be rather drained. I guess it’s hungry. What do you think?”

Oh!?

Ran Yu was greatly alarmed as he suddenly realized that Yi Yun was manipulating his engulfing forces to gather the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake and the black specter shadows together. And his Ranyi Fish bloodline was slowly approaching the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake and black specter shadows near the vortex!

Upon seeing this scene, Ran Yu broke out into cold sweat! He finally realized what Yi Yun’s goal was. Yi Yun was going to put his Ranyi Fish bloodline, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake and the black specter shadows together. If the Ranyi Fish bloodline was torn apart, that had nothing to do with Yi Yun. That was because he was not the one doing it, so it did not violate the Luo clan’s rules!

Seeing an irreversible scene about to happen in a split second, Ran Yu did not even manage to say anything. He directly sent a voice transmission to Yi Yun —

“Wait!”

But just as his voice transmission was issued, his Ranyi Fish bloodline had been thrown into the mix of the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake and the eight black specter shadows!

Be it the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake or the eight black specter shadows, they immediately entered a frenzied state!

In a battle of trapped beasts, a beast in a cage was the most intense. They fought without any regard for their lives. Furthermore, Yi Yun had deliberately drained their lifeblood, so they no longer had the strength to escape from the lifeblood vortex.

At that moment, with the Ranyi Fish phantom image appearing in front of them, how could they miss out on fresh food that could restore their strength?

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake’s reaction was the fastest. It was the first to rush forward and with its powerful penetrative power, it directly pierced through the Ranyi Fish’s mouth!

“Ah– ”

The Ranyi Fish let out a scream as it struggled violently, but how could it escape the binding of the engulfing forces?

After the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake’s first move, the black specter shadows from the eighth level also rushed forward and bit the Ranyi Fish’s body!

A black specter shadow clung onto each of the Ranyi Fish’s six legs, while its head and tail were being crazily bitten by the other black specter shadows!

“No—— !” Ran Yu bellowed as his eyes turned bloodshot!

The Ranyi Fish bloodline was connected to his lifeblood, so an intense pain overwhelmed him, nearly causing him to faint.

Painful! It’s too painful!

It felt as though his soul was being torn apart, and his blood marrow was being extracted out!

“Yi Yun! How dare you!?”

Ran Yu’s body was trembling as blood seeped out of his pores. He was struggling crazily as though he wanted to rush onto the seventh level and fight Yi Yun!

But at that moment, with such excruciating pain and the Ranyi Fish bloodline he had depended on so much was being restrained by the engulfing force and being bitten by the black specter shadows and the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, how could he rush onto the seventh level? That was just courting death!

He could only watch helplessly as his Ranyi Fish bloodline was being consuming!

Upon seeing this scene, the Luo clan disciples on the fourth and fifth levels were dumbfounded!

Ruthless, just too ruthless!

Yi Yun was definitely doing it on purpose!

By using the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake and the black specter shadows to devour the Ranyi Fish, it was similar to how Ran Yu had attracted the black specter shadows to devour Yi Yun’s main body. It was the diversion of danger and killing by proxy!

Taking revenge in the confines of the rules, paying him back in his own coin!

Ka-cha! Ka-cha!

At that moment, the sounds of bones tearing apart could be heard. The Ranyi Fish’s six limbs were torn apart by the black specter shadows!

Ran Yu collapsed to the ground as his face was twisted. His eyes filled with madness!

His lifeblood was the mark of the Heaven Fey bloodline that he was always proud of was now on the brink of utter destruction. Even with top treasures given to him and several years of recuperation, he would only be able to recover a tiny portion of the lifeblood that he lost!

And although the Xushui Ran clan had such treasures, they would not use it on Ran Yu. Although Ran Yu kept saying that he had the Xushui Ran clan backing him, it did not belong to him alone. He was just one of the many juniors of the Xushui Ran clan. Besides, he was not the best either.

According to the unspoken rules of a large family clan, how could such treasures be wasted on a junior, who was not the most excellent to begin with, after his bloodline was crippled?

“Lord Cang Mang! Save me!”

Ran Yu was sprawled on the ground and he reached out his hand futilely to the hovering Cang Mang. Blood was flowing out of every pore. He was worse than a dying dog that had eaten poison!

Cang Mang pondered slightly. The Luo clan’s trials were meant to be a ruthless competition. At the Black Wind Valley, it was not uncommon for juniors to die during the trial, what more being crippled of their bloodlines.

Although the Luo clan had instilled rules, there were always Luo clan disciples who would engage in cut-throat battles within the confines of the rules. Previously, Ran Yu had done the same to Yi Yun, and now Yi Yun was doing the same to Ran Yu!

When Ran Yu harmed Yi Yun, Cang Mang did not intervene.

Now if Cang Mang intervened when Yi Yun harmed Ran Yu, that would be unfair. Besides, according to the rules of the trial, he was not meant to intervene. He was just a bystander.

Noticing how Ran Yu looked like a broken blood bag, his body shivering and face pale, Cang Mang frowned slightly. This savage method of extracting his lifeblood was equivalent to sucking the marrow of mortals dry. If it was any more serious, it would end up fatal.

“That should be enough. Ran Yu harmed you, but you were able to end up unharmed. With you harming Ran Yu, he has lost nearly half his life, and even if you were to stop now, Ran Yu would be mostly crippled. Your revenge would also be achieved. Although it’s within the confines of the rules, don’t cause his death. If so, the Xushui Ran clan will not be able to salvage the situation and they will end up finding fault with you.”

Cang Mang’s Yuan Qi transmission suddenly resounded in Yi Yun’s ears.

Although it appeared as though he was saving Ran Yu, Cang Mang was actually being thoughtful towards Yi Yun. After all, the Xushui Ran clan was a powerful faction. How could Yi Yun with his measly power offend them?

In fact, Cang Mang actually appreciated Yi Yun’s eye for an eye ruthless method to a certain extent. A warrior had to act as such.

“Thank you, Lord Cang Mang, for your advice. This junior understands.”

Yi Yun first slowly answered Cang Mang before making a pose. Without any hurry, he used his engulfing law to pull the black specter shadows apart.

However, the black specter shadows were still biting on the Ranyi Fish’s flesh, so with this pull…

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

The Ranyi Fish let out a scream as large swaths of flesh were torn off by these black specter shadows!

Ran Yu nearly fainted from the pain!

He looked angrily at Yi Yun, but he did not dare say a single word. He was afraid that if Yi Yun was unhappy, he could continue letting the black specter shadows feast on the Ranyi Fish’s flesh.

As Yi Yun looked at the Ranyi Fish ‘that did not look like a fish anymore’, he rubbed his chin and said slowly, “Uh… sorry about that. Senior Brother Ran Yu. I used a bit too much force just now, but that was out of no choice. Bear with it a little. There’s still a tiny snake in the Ranyi Fish’s belly. Don’t worry, I’ll pull it out immediately.”

852 - : Eye for an Eye

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, the corners of Ran Yu’s mouth twitched. His face was ashen, and he was so infuriated that his intestines were already twisted together. To pull out the raging snake out of the Ranyi Fish’s belly, what sort of situation would occur with the snake still biting onto the Ranyi Fish’s organs?

Ran Yu trembled all over as Yi Yun said slowly, “Senior Brother Ran Yu, if it’s not pulled out, it will continue consuming your bloodline, right?”

At that moment, even the Luo clan disciples felt the pain for Ran Yu when they heard this, what more Ran Yu. Many of them looked at Yi Yun as an inexplicable chill shuddered down their backs.

That Yi Yun was not someone to be trifled with.

In fact, as a result of being weak overall, the humans gave an impression to most members of the Fey race that they were weak and easily bullied in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. However, look at Yi Yun now! Even the Fey race was not as ruthless as he was.

Ran Yu was one of the direct descendants of the Xushui Ran clan. He was left in such a miserable state after offending Yi Yun, so if it were any of them who had done so, no one knew how much more miserable their outcome would be.

Upon thinking of this, the Luo clan disciples present, especially Lie Ya, were covered in cold sweat. Fear had been struck deep into his heart after seeing Ran Yu’s outcome. Other than Ran Yu, he was the one who had offended Yi Yun the most. Now, just recalling it made him feel like he was sitting on a cushion of needles. Would Yi Yun seek revenge on him after this?

Yi Yun was already this ruthless before he had matured fully. Wouldn’t it be worse if he matured in the future? Would messing with him be as simple as playing with a toy?

Now, Lie Ya even felt that losing more than one hundred World Stones to Luo Fengling was a good thing. Compared to Ran Yu, it was so much more blissful. Lie Ya had made up his mind to sell everything he had after the Mt. Azure Billow training had finished to gather the World Stones for Luo Fengling. Not only would he personally deliver it to Luo Fengling, he would also speak nicely to her and hope that after she received the World Stones, she would say a few nice words to Yi Yun. In some sense, he was just buying peace.

Just as the Luo clan disciples were having disparate thoughts, Yi Yun had already used the engulfing law to tug at the Ranyi Fish’s belly!

‘”Puah!”

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, which was covered in blood, was biting on the Ranyi Fish’s innards, but it was forcefully pulled out by the engulfing law!

The Ranyi Fish’s projection convulsed violently, its body was on the verge of collapse.

And as the master of the Ranyi Fish, Ran Yu spat out a mouthful of blood and as his body convulsed, he completely passed out!

At that moment, Cang Mang took action. If it wasn’t for him secretly isolating the black specter shadows on the sixth floor, Ran Yu’s body would have been devoured clean by the black specter shadows on the sixth floor. That would definitely be fatal.

The eight black specter shadows’ mouths were filled with blood, while the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was still struggling frantically. However, none of them could break free from the binding of the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s engulfing law.

Finally, they were drained of their stamina and they were captured by the Heaven Devouring Wyrm. They were sealed in the lifeblood vortex!

A great success!

Yi Yun clapped his hands and slowly flew back to the sixth level.

Upon seeing Yi Yun step onto the sixth level, the so called high and mighty Luo Tian, subconsciously took two steps back. Even the zombie-like Gu Luo looked at Yi Yun with a bit of wariness.

They were originally considered the malignant stars of the training at Mt. Azure Billow, figures that everyone feared. But now, they finally realized that there was someone more terrifying. Yi Yun, who looked harmless, was actually very ruthless.

Luo Tian was feeling truly lucky that he did not follow Ran Yu in stepping on the landmine that was Yi Yun. If not, it was very likely that he would end up a companion of Ran Yu now.

At that moment, Yi Yun spoke, “Everyone, this time Senior Brother’s injuries was an accident. All of you saw the entire process, right? It was Senior Brother Ran Yu, who made the move first. He had some thoughts towards me but he ended up failing. The Heaven Devouring Wyrm was about to capture the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake, but the moment Senior Brother Ran Yu made his move, I had no choice but to summon the Heaven Devouring Wyrm back… ”

“But once the Heaven Devouring Wyrm was summoned, the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake would escape. I had no choice but to use a heaven devouring technique in the shortest period of time, and I accidentally trapped Senior Brother Ran Yu’s Ranyi Fish bloodline. Following that, Senior Brother Ran Yu ask me to stop, but under the circumstances at that time, how could I stop? I believe if you were in my shoes, you would not stop, right… ?”

“As for the final outcome… I truly did not expect it.” Yi Yun began shaking his head when he said this. Glancing at the half-dead Ran Yu, as though he found it regretful, he continued, “For things to have reached this stage was something I did not wish on seeing either. But there was no other choice. It was all because Senior Brother Ran Yu charged into the battlefield himself. The struggle between the Heaven Devouring Wyrm and the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake is fraught with extreme danger, so Senior Brother Ran Yu was truly too rash.”

“In fact, the moment that the Ranyi Fish bloodline appeared to be in danger, I immediately tried to rescue it, unfortunately, the tragedy was already ongoing. So the rescue ended up in such a state.”

When Yi Yun said all of this, all the Luo clan disciples present curled their mouths.

This Yi Yun was too wicked!

“No choice but to use a heaven devouring technique”, “accidentally trapped the Ranyi Fish bloodline”, “final outcome was truly unexpected”, “”tragedy I did not wish on seeing”, “immediately tried to rescue”…

Not only was Yi Yun ruthless in his actions, his shamelessness had been cultivated to a certain realm. If not, he would not have been able to say those words, full of nonsense, in such a ‘genuine fashion’.

Thankfully, Ran Yu had fainted or he would have died from exasperation from hearing that!

But soon, Ran Yu regained consciousness and he learned of what Yi Yun had said. As the saying goes, one did not need to be responsible for angering someone to their deaths.

“Everyone, everything that happened to Senior Brother Ran Yu was something that I did not wish would happen. I hope everyone would be a witness, and I’ll be extremely grateful.”

Yi Yun looked at the Luo clan disciples on the fourth and fifth level while cupping his hands. Everyone rolled their eyes when they heard this.

“Senior Brother Lie Ya, what do you think?” Thinking that that was all to the matter, Yi Yun’s sudden questioning confounded Lie Ya.

Seeing Yi Yun grinning at him, he felt like he should just slam his head into a wall till he died. Why are you staring at me? I’m nothing with all these people around me!

What else could Lie Ya say after being stared at by Yi Yun? He did not dare to offend Yi Yun, who was so ruthless. As long as he did not fall in the future, he would likely become a mighty figure in the Luo clan. He did not dare to offend him.

As for the Xushui Ran clan, Lie Ya was even more afraid to offend it. They were a massive clan, so he would be courting death to testify for Yi Yun.

“That…*Cough*, Senior Brother Ran Yu was a bit rash… ”

Lie Ya ruminated for a long time before saying such wishy-washy words. There was no mistake saying Ran Yu was rash. If he was not rash, he would not have been caught by Yi Yun and tortured to such a half-dead state.

Upon seeing this situation, the hovering Cang Mang’s mouth formed an arc. His voice transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ears. “Are you done with your acting?”

“Uh… ” Yi Yun was momentarily stumped. He felt that Cang Mang did not really think too much about Ran Yu, and Cang Mang did not seem to be afraid of the Xushui Ran clan.

“Not bad, I had just told you to weigh the consequences, but you didn’t forget to put the Ranyi Fish in such a terrible state while moving the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake and the black specters away. You are truly unafraid of the Xushui Ran clan’s revenge.”

Upon hearing Cang Mang’s words, Yi Yun smiled bashfully. “Lord Cang Mang must be joking. This junior admits that he had previously deliberately fed the Ranyi Fish to the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake and the black specters. But later on, this junior had already rescued it immediately, and this state is the limit to how much this junior can save him.”

“Enough, there’s no need for me to discuss if you were deliberate or not, but there is a warning I need to give you. You have completely offended the Xushui Ran clan. Although Ran Yu is not the most valued junior in their family, you have still smacked the Xushui Ran clan in the face by doing so. Large family clans value their reputation the most. By not letting them have a chance to salvage the situation, they will not let it go.”

“Regardless of how they treat you, strength is essential. If you have the strength, they would also not easily make a move on you. It’s best that you improve your cultivation level. Your strength now is too weak.”

The reason why Cang Mang said this was because he thought highly of Yi Yun. Yi Yun immediately said, “Yes, this junior understands. Thank you to Lord Cang Mang for his advice.”

853 - : Ran Yu was truly too rash

CKtalon  CKtalon

The final outcome for Ran Yu at the Black Wind Valley trial was him quitting midway.

With the Ranyi Fish bloodline severely damaged and Ran Yu suffering serious injuries, he had lost a great deal of his combat strength. He had chosen to quit, if not, there was no need to talk about entering the seventh level. He could only find his footing on the sixth level through Cang Mang’s help.

And it was meaningless for Ran Yu to return to the third and fourth floor to cultivate. Furthermore, Ran Yu could not stand the shame of doing that.

However, once Ran Yu fell out, it was possible that he could not participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials, what more the Mt. Azure Billow training.

With just serious injuries, he would only end up being overtaken by others, so what was the point of participating?

It could even be said that Ran Yu’s life had mostly been ruined.

Everyone saw Ran Yu being carried away with an ashen expression. Looking at Yi Yun, who had now sat firmly on the sixth level, they could not help but shudder. Many people thought of approaching Yi Yun to express their well intentions in order to prevent Yi Yun from kindly ‘rescuing’ them.

However, many people knew in that hearts that although Yi Yun was enjoying great success at this point in time, it was not wise to completely offend the Xushui Ran clan.

His future growth was fraught with danger…

Yi Yun finally chose to sit down on the seventh level. After being ravaged a few times on the seventh level, the blood dragon’s blood energy that had taken form as beasts had long avoided him. Who would be stupid enough to provoke this malignant star?

In front of Yi Yun was a sealed lifeblood vortex. The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was on its last breath inside it.

The degenerated Blood Dragon aura contained in its body was extremely valuable, but it had now truly become a tiny snake.

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake had already formed some intelligence. Upon sensing Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi lock onto to it, it immediately began to struggle.

Yi Yun’s eyes focused as the Yuan Qi transformed into a net and trapped the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake within.

“Hiss!” The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake let out a hissing scream as its body was reduced to a mist of blood before being injected into Yi Yun’s body in a blink of an eye.

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was the essence condensed from the black blood gases. Yi Yun had directed it into his meridians, and used his pure Yang body to temper it.

Boom!

Yi Yun immediately felt that a great deal of energy had been injected into his body.

All his bones began to issue explosive crackling sounds immediately.

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was the greatest opportunity in Black Wind Valley. It was much more powerful than any relics Yi Yun had ever eaten.

Yi Yun calmed his mind down and he sat in his original spot, with a lifeblood vortex swirling around him.

Yi Yun planned on completely absorbing the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake’s power right there and then. Cang Mang had warned him to be careful about the Xushui Ran clan’s revenge. However, Yi Yun was not afraid of the Xushui Ran clan because they could not do as they pleased in the Luo clan. As long as he showed enough value before they took their revenge, everything would not be a problem.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The energy in Yi Yun’s body was surging around his body.

Seeing Yi Yun consume the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake on the seventh floor, Luo Tian and company had complex expressions.

“That Yi Yun is truly decisive! By consuming the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake now, his strength will improve once again. And by doing so, the Xushui Ran clan cannot covet the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake.” Luo Tian thought in his mind.

He silently stopped at a spot far away from Yi Yun and began to consume the black gases.

Another person who made the same choice as him was Gu Luo.

The Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake was already in Yi Yun’s hands, but a large number of disciples had yet to finish their training.

With half the allotted time passing, there were still a few who could not reach the fifth level, and some who even failed to reach the fourth level.

As Luo Fengling looked at Yi Yun, who was on the seventh level. She took a deep breath and flew down towards the fifth level with a determined look. She began brandishing her sword and she slew several black specter shadows. She attempted to find her footing on the fifth level, but it was still very difficult…

“Although there is no way to compete with Junior Brother Yi Yun, I have to at least surpass myself.” Luo Fenglin trained arduously. After coming to Mt. Azure Billow for the training, she realized that her cultivation time was just too little. Compared to the disciples who participated in the Luo Divine Hall trials, she was just at a disadvantage.

However, Yi Yun was even more disadvantaged than her. Although his cultivation time was very short, he had still managed to trample on the experienced senior disciples. Unknowingly, Luo Fengling had already treated Yi Yun as her role model.

…

Xushui Ran clan.

As one of the few large family clans in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, the Xushui Ran clan possessed an entire floating continent.

The entire continent was filled with lakes. The largest lake in the middle was as vast as a sea. This lake was different from the other mist-covered lakes, because it had huge waves that reached as high as the skies. The lake’s water was as black as ink. Warriors of insufficient cultivation level would be washed away by the huge waves.

In the middle of the black lake was a large island with pavilions dotted around it. It was where the Xushui Ran clan’s mansion was.

“Xiao!”

A gigantic bird of prey landed in front of the mansion and a figure landed appeared atop the bird.

“Come on down.” The person was a middle-aged man that looked like he was in his forties. He had a grim expression on his face, and he did not look like he was in a good mood.

Following that, a teenage-looking man leaped off the bird. When he landed, he let out a low grunt as he nearly stumbled.

The middle-aged man immediately frowned and said, “You can’t even stand properly now?”

“No, I’m standing very firmly, Fourth Uncle.” Ran Yu whispered, but he bit his lips as his fingernails sank deep into his palm.

Yi Yun!

It was all thanks to Yi Yun for him becoming no different to a prodigal dog!

He had returned to the Xushui Ran clan and he needed ten days before he could barely get out of bed. Indeed, as the middle-aged man said, he still could not stand properly. At least to jump down from such a high height from the mount was something that he could barely do.

“Go back and recuperate well.” The middle-aged man glanced at Ran Yu and said with a sigh.

Ran Yu suddenly looked up and a look of indignation flashed in his eyes. “Fourth Uncle… but my injuries… ”

“The family already knows about your injuries.” The middle-aged man shook his head.

Seeing the middle-aged man’s expression, Ran Yu’s heart shrank. He felt short of breath as he lowered his head. “Is the family planning to… give up on me?”

“Giving up is being overly serious, but if you wish that the family will use treasures or even an Ancient Fey bone to treat you, that’s impossible. In the future, just stay in the family clan. You will be manning the estate in the south-west.”

Manning the estate!?

Ran Yu’s heart sank as though the last breath in him had been extracted. In the Xushui Ran clan, only those children that had no future would be sent to out to man the estates. They were basically given no hope to continue cultivation!

Ran Yu was once a top genius in the family clan. With the exception of the top few people, he was the best. But now, he had been reduced to handling the family estates!

“Fourth Uncle, I… ”

“Enough! Tomorrow, I will prepare some pills and relics for you. Speak no further. You attempted to harm that human, but you ended up crippling your Ranyi Fish bloodline… That person was only an Earth Fire Hall disciple, a human that had cultivated for only thirty years. He even came from a lower realm! What you have done has shamed the Xushui Ran clan! Do you think that the family clan will replenish your bloodline? Ran Yu, you have disappointed me too deeply in the trials!”

The middle-aged man’s voice turned harsh and Ran Yu felt dejected as his heart was filled with despair.

He knew that his martial path might have come to an end. There was no chance for him to achieve much in the future. He had basically been abandoned by the family clan.

His fourth uncle was one of the elders who was more fond of him, but for him to also say that…

“Ran Yu, peacefully recuperate. As for that human from the lower realm, I’ll remember him. Punishing you was alright, but he had gone too far when he destroyed your Ranyi Fish bloodline! When has a lowly human been able to destroy the bloodline of our Xushui Ran clan!? It’s a slap in our Xushui Ran clan’s face!”

Upon saying this, a cold beam flashed in the middle-aged man’s eyes.

Ran Yu was infuriated as he clenched his fists till their trembled slightly. His eyes were already bloodshot.

The middle-aged man said, “Go back. That won’t be the end to this matter. I will definitely give you an answer for it!”

854 - : Absorbing the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake

CKtalon  CKtalon

In Black Wind Valley, there was less than a day left till the end of the training.

Most disciples had managed to get their footing on the fifth level, while a minority of disciples only barely entered the fifth level before they immediately returned to the fourth level. However, this meant that they still passed the training. Although it did not seem like a bona fide pass, and it was quite contemptible, it was within the confines of the rules.

Cang Mang glanced at those people with heavy eyelids and he secretly shook his head. By barely being able to pass, and without any impressive show of ability at the Ancient Fey Edifice, these disciples were most likely to be eliminated immediately once they entered the Luo Divine Hall trials.

They were the cream of the crop amongst ordinary disciples, but when all the geniuses of the Luo clan were gathered in the Luo Divine Hall trials, they could not even stand on the proper stage.

Yi Yun was the only one who could stand neck to neck with those geniuses amongst the disciples present that Cang Mang eyed. Even Luo Tian was slightly off the mark.

“However, the Xushui Ran clan will not forget this matter. Let’s see how he plans on dealing with it.” Cang Mang thought to himself.

And at that moment, a loud explosion suddenly echoed from within Yi Yun’s body!

The sound was like rolling thunder and everyone’s gazes were instantly focused on Yi Yun.

A vortex appeared out of nowhere in front of Yi Yun. All the blood dragon’s essence energy on the seventh level was sucked into the vortex.

With a loud shrill scream, the Nine Neonate and Golden Crow totems appeared simultaneously behind Yi Yun.

The totems that were more than a hundred feet tall descended like Ancient Fey. The nine snake heads looked extremely ferocious, while the Golden Crow’s flames burned intensely.

And after that, a dragon’s roar suddenly boomed as the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s phantom image appeared as well.

The blood dragon essence energy was devoured so incessantly that the black shadows on the eighth level distanced themselves away.

In Yi Yun’s body, Yuan Qi seemed to flow like endless waves as it vigorously circulated around his body.

Boom!

Instantly, it was as though the heaven and earth had opened up at the beginning of life. A Dao Tree appeared in front of Yi Yun.

The tree leaves swayed as though they were producing Dao chants. The Dao Tree was already tens of feet high.

“Yi Yun is about to break through to the Heaven Ascension realm.” Lie Ya said.

“He was at the Yuan Opening perfection realm, so it’s reasonable for him to break through.” Another disciple said.

Yi Yun had first absorbed the Ancient Fey bone before absorbing the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake. It was no wonder that he could make a breakthrough after consuming such treasures.

At that moment, Luo Tian already had a distasteful feeling whenever he looked at Yi Yun. At the Black Wind Valley trials, all the limelight had been stolen by Yi Yun. The best things were also obtained by Yi Yun, so how could he feel comfortable?

Originally, Luo Tian was able to mentally console himself that Yi Yun’s cultivation realm was lower than his. It was only at the Yuan Opening realm.

But now, once Yi Yun broke through to the Heaven Ascension realm, Luo Tian would be in the same realm as Yi Yun. Although Luo Tian was a subrealm higher, it was not a major advantage.

If that was the case, the decades that he had over Yi Yun in cultivation had been sent to the dogs?

“How old is Yi Yun?” Luo Tian suddenly asked.

“His bone age should be in their thirties, definitely not even forty.” A Fire Cloud State disciple said.

This made Luo Tian knit his brows even tighter. He himself had broken through the Heaven Ascension realm at the age of forty-two!

Now, Yi Yun was just in his thirties.

“Too young!” Luo clan shook his head. “Even a Luo clan genius would wait till they were nearly forty before they chose to break through to the Heaven Ascension realm. Yi Yun grew up in a lower realm, so be it resources or heritage, there is no way that the lower realm can compete with the 12 Empyrean Heavens.”

“Yi Yun has just come to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, so he should take advantage of the rich resources here and cultivate for a few more years to ensure he has a solid foundation. Yi Yun’s nomological insight is impressive, and his body has absorbed the Ancient Fey bone. So he could be called unique and incomparable.”

“But one’s cultivation level and foundation cannot be accumulated without the passage of time. If those Luo clan geniuses want to break through to the Heaven Ascension realm, they could do it before the age of thirty as well, but they would drag it out for more than a decade so they could ensure that their foundations were perfect. Once they break through to the Heaven Ascension realm, their Dao Trees would be more than ninety deca-feet tall, some would even reach ninety-nine deca-feet!”

In a warrior’s cultivation, they would plant a Dao Seed at the Yuan Foundation, grow a divine tree from the Dao Seed, laying the path to Heaven Ascension. The taller the Dao Tree was, the smoother the warrior’s path would be in the future.

At that moment, on the Phoenix Firmiana State’s side, someone interrupted, “What Senior Brother Luo said is true. However, Yi Yun is choosing to break through now because of the pressure that the Xushui Ran clan will bring him. Although the Xushui Ran clan would not blatantly deal with Yi Yun, it is inevitable that they will retaliate within the confines of the rules. Who knows, Yi Yun might also end up in the same state as Ran Yu. Yi Yun must have considered this to choose to break through to the Heaven Ascension realm in his thirties.”

The moment this Phoenix Firmiana State disciple said this, the others fell silent. Putting themselves in Yi Yun’s shoes, they would probably make the same choice. After all, there were still opportunities to slowly make up for a poor foundation. If one’s personal strength was too weak, they might suffer a mishap in the trials due to someone from the Xushui Ran clan, and he might even lose half his life.

“What you said is right. What Yi Yun did is a wise choice.” Luo Tian sighed as he felt mixed emotions.

And at that moment, the Dao Tree in front of Yi Yun was beginning to grow taller.

The energy within his body was constantly transforming into nutrients for the Dao tree. It was as if the Dao Tree would become towering and pierce straight into the clouds.

Heaven Ascension meant that the tree grown from the Dao seed becomes a path to heaven ascension.

Ten deca-feet, twenty deca-feet… fifty deca-feet… eighty deca-feet, all the way to ninety deca-feet!

With every additional growth in height of the Dao Tree, its appearance would change. It was obvious at a glance at what level the Dao Tree was. In fact, even without these changes, a warrior’s eyesight was able to visually estimate the Dao Tree’s height.

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s Dao Tree reach ninety deca-feet, Luo Tian’s heart shrunk. It was already that tall? That’s too fast!

Seeing Yi Yun’s Dao Tree grow unabated, it was definitely not a problem even if it hit ninety-five deca-feet at this rate.

“Senior Brother Luo, how high was your Dao Tree when you broke through to the Heaven Ascension realm?” Someone beside Luo Tian asked.

Luo Tian had quite an ugly expression on his face. Back then, his Dao Tree had grown to a height of ninety-seven deca-feet. That height was considered not bad, but in the Luo clan, there were people with higher Dao Trees than Luo Tian. There were many who had their Dao Trees attain the height of ninety-eight deca-feet, while there even a handful of people reaching ninety-nine deca-feet.

Luo Tian also knew that there was a difference when he compared himself to the top geniuses who grew up in the royal capital. He was still satisfied with his Dao Tree reaching the height of ninety-seven deca-feet. It was something to be proud of, but seeing how Yi Yun’s Dao Tree had already reached ninety-five deca-feet without slowing down, how could he mention that he only had a ninety-seven deca-feet Dao Tree?

He had broken through to the Heaven Ascension realm at the age of forty-two… seven or eight years older than Yi Yun.

If even Yi Yun surpassed him with this, what did he amount to? He was inferior to Yi Yun in laws, inferior to Yi Yun in bloodline, and even now, his foundation… that he cultivated for forty-two years was inferior to Yi Yun’s just over thirty years.

“Yi Yun’s Dao Tree should be at the height of ninety-seven deca-feet now!”

The moment the disciple finished saying that, he realized that Yi Yun’s Dao Tree was growing higher again.

Luo Tian’s heart shrank as his expression turned extremely ugly.

“Could it be… ?”

“Ka-cha!”

A lightning bolt struck down from above the nine heavens, right onto Yi Yun’s Dao Tree.

And at the same time, two sharp calls echoed as the Nine Neonate and Golden Crow circled around the Dao Seed’s tree before entering the tree’s crown and flying amidst the clouds.

Nine-eight deca-feet!

“Roar!”

A dragon’s roar was emitted from Yi Yun’s body as the Heaven Devouring Wyrm phantom image appeared and flew straight into the Dao Tree.

Ka! Ka! Ka! As though the Heaven and Earth was being split apart, thunder rang again.

The Dao Tree grew ten feet higher once again!

Ninety-nine deca-feet!

Yi Yun’s Dao tree had grown to a height of ninety-nine deca-feet in one fell swoop. From afar, it looked like it was connected to the firmament.

The numbers of 99 was the pinnacle of Dao. By reaching the height of ninety-nine deca-feet, that Dao Tree had obtained perfection. However, perfection was not something ridiculously difficult. Amongst Luo clan geniuses, they still existed despite being exceedingly rare.

Yi Yun looked up at his Dao Tree. His Dao Tree had stopped growing at the height of ninety-nine deca-feet, and it did not reach a hundred deca-feet.

However… Yi Yun’s Dao Tree looked somewhat different. Every leaf of the Dao Tree contained strange textures that resembled the Dao Leaf that Yi Yun had obtained at the Pure Yang Sword Palace.

As the gentle wind blew, the tree leaves rustled. The rustling seemed to contain a strange melody that was quite fascinating.

However, the mystery contained within the leaves was naturally not something that Luo Tian and company could see.

In fact, just reaching the height of a Nine Nine Dao Tree was something that they could not accept.

Ninety-nine deca-feet, perfection!

Luo Tian looked at Yi Yun’s Dao Tree and he felt like his face had been brutally smashed in by a fist. He felt his brain buzz.

They had just speculated that Yi Yun was forced by the Xushui Ran clan to make his breakthrough in a haste. But before they were even done with their conversation, Yi Yun’s Dao Tree had grown to a height of ninety-nine deca-feet!

Can you stop doing that? Can you spare us a living path?

Being first at the collective training and obtaining all the benefits. Breaking through to the Heaven Ascension realm and even obtaining a Nine Nine Dao Tree!

Luo Tian suddenly felt discouraged and disillusioned. His looking forward to the Luo Divine Hall trials had even reduced.

He finally understood that he should not have competed with Yi Yun to begin with.

He was not a genius on the same level as Yi Yun, which resulted in such a disparate gap. At the collective training session, he was put down by Yi Yun in every single way, with him unable to lift his head up.

“Nine Nine Dao Tree. Yi Yun, you are pretty fine, but do not become complacent. A Nine Nine Dao Tree does not ensure great success in the future.”

At that moment, Cang Mang’s voice echoed in Yi Yun’s ears.

A Nine Nine Dao Tree was a basic, a necessary condition that a top mighty figure had to have. However, there were people with Nine Nine Dao Trees who ended up exhausting all their potential when they reached a certain stage.

“Yes, thank you, Senior Cang Mang, for your sincere advice. This junior is well aware. My martial path has only just started… ”

As Yi Yun said this, the Dao Tree in front of him gradually shrunk and it flew into his dantian. At that moment, Yi Yun’s eyes became more profound, and the bottom of his eyes seemed to have Dao Tree leaf veins flashing.

At that moment, Yi Yun felt that he was even closer to ‘Dao’, but that feeling disappeared very quickly.

The truth of Great Dao was not something that was easy to touch.

855 - : Entering Heaven Ascension

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, one was considered to have matured when they reached the Heaven Ascension realm as they were qualified to train outside.

However, despite there being millions of Heaven Ascension realm warriors, the number of people who reached the pinnacle of martial arts was just a handful.

The rest would exhaust their potential on their road to Heaven Ascension, or be trampled upon by others, becoming the accumulation of bones beneath the Heaven Ascension Great Dao.

Yi Yun stood up and he sensed that the Yuan Qi in his body had increased by nearly 100%, as he clenched his fists.

With a breath, Yi Yun put his feet in line with his hip and with strength going from his hip to his back, he punched out like the sudden pouncing of a tiger. Before the fist reached its target, a whistling fist wind had torn through the air and slammed into a mountain wall.

Black Wind Valley’s mountain walls had been immersed in black gases for hundreds of thousands of years, which made them extremely solid and as hard as diamond. Slashing down with a blade would not even leave a mark.

“Boom!”

All the oppressive forces in his body burst outward with that single punch as they slammed into Black Wind Valley’s mountain wall. Large chunks of rubble blasted out and with gravel flying, Yi Yun’s entire fist was lodged deep in the mountain wall!

Furthermore, the hard mountain wall had cracks that spread out like spider webs with Yi Yun’s fist at its core.

The power of his fist was enough to cut into a mountain. That would have been nothing in the Tian Yuan world, but this was the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Black Wind Valley.

The rocks in Black Wind Valley had been tempered by the black mist a prolonged period of time. They were extraordinarily resistant. And even if it was damaged by a fist, the mountain rock would slowly recover.

Despite that, Yi Yun was very satisfied with the power of his punch.

At that moment, Cang Mang looked at the time and suddenly said, “Alright, the collective training at Mt. Azure Billow is coming to an end. It’s about time we end it.”

Most people had reached the fifth level in the Black Wind Valley trial. Yi Yun, who was thought to be one of the failures, had become the biggest winner.

And the aspirant Ran Yu had ended up being crippled. It was truly a lamentable situation.

Two spirit cruisers landed to pick up the disciples.

“The trials at Mt. Azure Billow have ended. Following that, all of you will proceed directly to the Luo clan’s royal capital! There, the Luo Divine Hall trials will be held. I wish that all of you will have good results.” Cang Mang’s gaze swept pass these disciples as he slowly said.

Luo Divine Hall!

Once the trials were mentioned, the disciples felt excited. It happened once every sixty years, and it brought honor to the family and the state they were in. There were also plenty of opportunities.

Even if they knew that they were destined to amount to nothing, they still wanted to give it a try.

“Junior Brother Yi, on our trip to the royal capital, just stay in the residence and do not go out. Cultivate in peace inside.” Luo Fengling suddenly walked over and told him.

Yi Yun knew that Luo Fengling was worried about the Xushui Ran clan, so he nodded and said with a smile, “Don’t worry.”

“Alright.” Luo Fengling did not know if Yi Yun was truly listening. He came from the lower realm and he lacked a background. It was extremely dangerous to face off against a behemoth like the Xushui Ran clan…

The spirit cruisers lifted off separately a day apart, carrying the Phoenix Firmiana State and Fire Cloud State disciples away towards the Luo clan royal capital.

…

In the endless starry cosmos, a vast continent was shrouded by numerous bands of light. Large spirit cruisers shuttled through the bands of light, and amongst these spirit cruisers, the smallest was the size of a mountain, with numerous pavilions on it.

There were also gigantic flying Fey beasts that were flying slowly.

On the continent, the geological features were precipitous, with a countless number of immortal mountains springing up from the ground. They were like sharp swords that reached the sky. Above the immortal mountains, clouds circled them, and there was no lack of opulent palaces.

This continent was where the Luo clan royal capital was situated. It was also the largest continent in the entire Luo clan.

The Luo clan royal family that had been passed down for more than a hundred million years had lived on this continent for generations.

Decades ago, they had entered a huge war with the enemy invading the entire continent all the way to the capital. They nearly succeeded in invading the capital. It also caused the royal heirs of the Luo clan to be evacuated.

But now, after the war was over, the traces of war had already disappeared.

At that moment, a Fey beast with a wingspan of more than ten meters suddenly called out sharply in the distance. It moved as fast as lightning, and in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a red shadow that sank into a nebula band and flew towards the tallest immortal mountain.

“It’s the Luo clan royalty’s Divine Swan.” Someone on a spirit cruiser said.

A Divine Swan had nearly zero combat strength, but it was the fastest Fey beast in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. It was used as a messenger beast amongst the Luo clan royalty.

Seeing the Divine Swan land on an immortal mountain, no one knew what important news had been passed from other states.

“Sou!”

The Divine Swan flew towards the immortal mountain and flew straight to the mountainside, where a huge palace was.

Princess Purple Spirit’s Residence.

This mansion was a residence that was second only to the Emperor and Empress’ imperial palace in the Luo clan’s royal capital. It was superior to many kingly residences.

It was located on the same stretch as Prince Crimson Firmament’s residence, so its importance was obvious.

To the people in the Luo clan royal capital, these two people were important figures. One of them was bound to ascend and step into the empyrean palace.

But at that moment, Princess Purple Spirit, who was one of the heir candidates to the Luo clan throne and a proud daughter of heaven that numerous Luo clan citizens could not even look at in reverence, was baring her feet and busying herself in her boudoir.

“Bam!”

A loud explosion boomed, but the old servant outside the boudoir did not move, as though she did not hear a thing.

Amidst the black smoke, a yellow-dressed girl with a round face was coughing as she said, “Princess, how many times has it been!? If this goes on, you will blow up the entire building!”

“Hmph, there are array formations here, so how can it blow up? A little servant girl like you only knows how to speak nonsense,” said another girl while waving her hand nonchalantly. Instantly, a refreshing wind blew over and swept the black smoke away.

The girl in the black smoke also revealed herself. If Yi Yun was here, he would immediately recognize her to be Luo Huo’er!

More than ten years had passed, and Luo Huo’er had a more refined look. She had an extremely noble air to her that flowed naturally from her brows. Most of the Luo clan royalty inherited good looks, and Luo Huo’er’s beauty was considered stunning even in the royal family. She had the charm of her mother, Empress Empress Xuan.

Luo Huo’er was only wearing a tight-fit heavenly silk shirt. The light linen softly adhered to her skin, accentuating her figure perfectly. Her breasts were ample and she had a thin waist. Her legs were long and slender, while her black hair cascaded down her back, as though it was the most beautiful satin.

“Princess, I heard that Prince Crimson Firmament has recently been roping in several family clans, aren’t you worried? Why do you keep researching the Desolate Heaven technique? Her Highness Empress Xuan is worried to death. I heard that Her Highness Empress Xuan has delegated Prince Pingnan to rope in geniuses from everywhere to make preparations for the Luo Divine Hall trials. Princess, how can you not care?” The maidservant said with a pout.

“Why should I be anxious? I’m not the one who wants to ascend to the throne. If I was given the throne, wouldn’t I have to write royal decrees daily? Just thinking of it irritates me to no end!” Luo Huo’er ran over to look at her Desolate Heaven Cauldron and said nonchalantly.

“But… ”

“You dare to carry on!?” Luo Huo’er turned around and stared at the maidservant with her beautiful eyes. “Nice going, Chun Ye. Were you bribed by Mother? Look at Dong’er and how well-behaved she is. She doesn’t nag.”

When Luo Huo’er said this, she pointed at Dong’er, who was dozing at a corner. If Yi Yun was here, he would definitely be surprised that despite although more than a decade had passed, Dong’er still looked like a eleven or twelve-year-old loli. She did not grow up at all.

Upon seeing Dong’er, Chun Ye stared at her grumpily. “That rascal would do fine just having buns to eat. Other than that, all she does is sleep. How would she say a thing? She doesn’t even have any thoughts, but Princess… ”

“Enough, are you even done? If you keep continuing on, I will send you to watch the gates. And it’s perfect that you are a descendant of a primordial Fey beast, using you to watch the gates is quite classy.”

“Watch… watch the gates? Princess, I’ve served you for quite a long period of time. I’ve done hard work even if I have not performed any meritorious deeds. To think you want me to watch the gates… ” Chun Ye stared widely as she felt aggrieved.

Upon seeing that Chun Ye was about to cry, Luo Huo’er impatiently snorted and said, “Enough, enough. I knew you must have been listening to Mother. No wonder you have no end to it. Fine, I’ll ask about it in the next few days.”

“Thank you, Princess! Princess, I’m doing it for your own good. That Prince Crimson Firmament doesn’t seem like a good person in any way. How can the Luo throne be given to him? It has to be yours!” Chun Ye said.

At that moment, the old servant’s voice suddenly sounded from outside the door. “Princess, Young Master Xuan Junyue wishes to seek an audience.”

Luo Huo’er frowned and wanted to reject him, but she noticed Chun Ye beside her looking pitifully at her.

Luo Huo’er took back her words as she said, “Then, let him wait.”

With that said, Luo Huo’er knocked the dozing Dong’er’s head and said, “Stop sleeping. Your saliva is dripping onto the table. Hurry up and help me change. It’s been so many years, and you have not improved at all. All you know is sleep and eat!”

Luo Huo’er rolled her eyes at Dong’er.

Dong’er rubbed her head and said in an aggrieved manner, “But I grow slowly… ”

“Enough! That Xuan Junyue comes visit me every other day. It’s so irritating. I wonder what’s the matter this time.”

“I heard that the Divine Swan just returned. There must be something important.” As Chun Ye said, she dragged the slow Dong’er and helped Luo Huo’er change.

In the middle of a wide and grand hall, a man dressed in white was standing up straight, as he stood conscientiously.

His handsome face had sword like eyebrows and star-like eyes as he carried a sword on his back. He stood there, faintly exuding a sharp aura, as though he was a sword that was about to be unsheathed.

At that moment, extremely light footsteps could be heard outside the door. This sound was like a gentle breeze, and every step sounded like a beauty was dancing towards it.

Upon hearing this sound, the man’s eyes flashed with a smile as he looked at the door.

Ding Ding Ding… As the sounds of jade being gently hit sounded, a stunning beauty came in from outside the door.

Princess Purple Spirit’s beauty was known by everyone in the Luo clan, but few had the chance to glimpse her face.

The girl was dressed in a red dress, and her black and long satin-like hair reached down to her waist. Her skin was crystalline as though it was the highest grade of white jade. Her eyes were like water and her sharp nose gave her a radiant look. It was filled with an intense sense of dignity, that made one involuntarily feel ashamed of themselves.

This was not only because of her status as the Luo clan’s royalty, but it was also because of the nobility of her Ancient Fey bloodline.

Under Dong’er’s companionship, Luo Huo’er walked into the hall.

“Greetings to Princess Purple Spirit.” Xuan Junyue hastily bowed.

Although he was part of Empress Empress Xuan’s family, and he was considered to be Luo Huo’er’s cousin, he was only a genius from a family clan, while she was a heir to the Luo clan throne. Xuan Junyue did not dare breach etiquette.

“Yeah.” Luo Huo’er acknowledged tersely and sat down at the seat of honor. She then slightly frowned and said, “What are you standing for?”

“Thank you Princess Purple Spirit for conferring me a seat.” Xuan Junyue said.

Conferring a seat? This Princess just finds you an eyesore standing!

However, Luo Huo’er would not say this out loud. Xuan Junyue was from her mother’s family clan. He was one of the top geniuses in the younger generation that even Her Highness Empress Xuan thought highly of. For the sake of her mother, she could not be too nasty to him.

856 - : Long-awaited Familial

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Why are you looking for me??” Luo Huo’er asked lightly.

Luo Huo’er’s light tone was understood by Chun Ye, who was beside her. She knew that the meaning behind her Princess’ words were: Say whatever you have quickly. Once you are done, leave. This Princess still isn’t done with refining relics.

Xuan Junyue immediately brushed his robe, stood up and said, “Her Highness Empress Xuan invites Princess over. It’s an urgent matter, so it is requested that Princess proceeds with this lowly servant as soon as possible.”

“What’s Mother calling me for?” Luo Huo’er glanced at Xuan Junyue and she felt irritated. Xuan Junyue ran to her mother all day, as though he was treating her mother as his mother.

When she thought about this, Luo Huo’er had a headache. “If that’s the case, I’ll go visit Mother.”

Fenghua Palace, Empress Xuan’s palace. It was one of the two larger palace in the royal harem.

Empress Xuan and Empress Luo were both given the title of Empress, and both of them had Ancient Fey family clans supporting them. They were both extremely prominent in the Luo clan.

Empress Xuan entered the harem slightly later, but due to her outstanding talent, her cultivation speed in the palace was not any slower than Empress Luo’s, so she was quickly on par with Empress Luo, winning the trust of Emperor Luo.

However, Empress Luo’s faction had been in operation for a long time and Prince Crimson Firmament himself had a powerful influence as well. Even though Luo Huo’er’s talents were outstanding, and she was given a lot of help in various aspects by Empress Xuan, it was still extremely difficult for her to ascend to the throne.

What made Empress Xuan dispirited was her daughter’s personality. She did as she pleased and she was dedicated to studying her martial arts and Desolate Heaven technique. She had no interest in vying for the throne.

“Arrival of Princess Purple Spirit!”

Following that, Luo Huo’er’s figure appeared by the palace’s door. A tiny frown immediately appeared on Empress Xuan’s beautiful face as she looked like her mind was in pain.

“Mother, why did you have to call me over?” Before Luo Huo’er reached Empress Xuan, her pouty voice could be heard.

“You are actually willing to come.” Empress Xuan said with a sigh and shook her head.

“Why wouldn’t I come? I was planning on visiting Mother. Wasn’t I just busy?” Luo Huo’er came to Empress Xuan’s side like a gust of wind and sat down beside her petulantly.

“Busy? You should be busy, but what you should busy yourself over is proper matters. Huo’er, vying for the throne cannot be stopped once it begins. Once we are defeated, no good will come out of it for us. The Luo Divine Hall trials are about to begin, and our Luo clan will have the first Luo Divine Hall trials in decades after the war ended. At the war, our Luo clan lost too many mighty figures, and no one knows how many factions are waiting for the Luo Divine Hall trials to begin.”

“Huo’er, you do not care about any of this, so you do not know that your Father thinks very highly about the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trials. If our performance at the Luo Divine Hall trials surpasses Crimson Firmament’s, you will become the more appropriate candidate for the throne in your Father and his subjects’ eyes.

With that said, Empress Xuan took out a jade slip and said, “Just now, Prince Pingnan sent a Divine Swan back with information. It lists the geniuses who were recommended by us and are likely to have promising performances at the Luo Divine Hall trials. Take a look at it.”

Luo Huo’er took the jade slip and as she probed it slightly, she immediately frowned silently.

So many!?

It’s too long. I don’t want to read it.

Luo Huo’er’s eyes turned and looked at Xuan Junyue, “Doesn’t Xuan Junyue know all of this very clearly? Why don’t you simply summarize it?”

There were so many people with detailed information introducing them on the jade. Luo Huo’er could not even be bothered to read all of it.

“You brat!” Empress Xuan frowned. How could she not know what was going on in Luo Huo’er’s tiny head?

“Forget it, Junyue, go ahead and tell her.” Empress Xuan said with a headache.

“Yes, Your Highness, Princess.” Xuan Junyue answered, “Actually, amongst the geniuses here, most of them are average in my point of view. A few are worthy of attention, especially Cloud Water State’s Mo Sang, Heaven Fall State’s Gu Qing, and Spirit Feathers State’s Ling Wu. They all have Heaven Fey bloodline and they have cultivated for more than four decades. They have long acquired their fame and are the cream of the crop.”

“Also, there is a person from the Fire Cloud State whose performance at the Mt. Azure Billow collective training was extremely outstanding. Also, worth mentioning is that he is a human.” As Xuan Junyue said this, he also found it unbelievable. For a human to obtain first place, especially success in Black Wind Valley, it was extremely rare.

“Our Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven only has a few humans. In the other Empyrean Heavens, the humans aren’t weak as well. Why would it be surprising to have a human genius?” Luo Huo’er said nonchalantly. She couldn’t care if they were Heaven Fey or human. All she cared about now was the cauldron in her boudoir. A new batch of relics were being refined in there, and she did not feel at ease about letting her maidservant, Chun Ye, watch it.

“This human is truly different from the humans from other Empyrean Heavens. His name is Yi Yun, and he is a newly recruited disciple of the Fire Cloud State’s Earth Fire Hall. As his performance in Fire Spirit Palace was outstanding, he was recommended to Prince Pingnan. He was not a member of our Luo clan prior to that, and he was rescued by a Fire Cloud State Heaven Fire Hall disciple.” Xuan Junyue said.

Upon saying this, Xuan Junyue suddenly realized that Luo Huo’er’s expression had apparently changed.

“Yi Yun?” Luo Huo’er was taken aback slightly. That name left a deep impression on her.

“It should be impossible that it’s that darn rascal… ” Upon thinking about this, Luo Huo’er ground her teeth hatefully.

As a princess of the Luo clan, one of the heirs to the Luo empyrean throne, she had been bullied by a country boy in a lower realm…

Once she thought about Yi Yun’s mature ways beyond his age, and his composed look, Luo Huo’er was infuriated.

Xuan Junyue noticed Luo Huo’er’s nasty expression and was greatly disturbed.

“Does Princess know of this Yi Yun?” Xuan Junyue asked.

Luo Huo’er said, “It’s probably only a person who shares the same name.”

That punk was definitely still in some corner in the lower realm like a frog in the bottom of a well. Back then despite losing to the punk, this princess was just being a dragon in a puddle of shrimps. If it wasn’t for Mother preventing me from using the Luo clan’s cultivation techniques or mystic techniques, because she was afraid that my identity would be revealed, what sort of problems would there be!?

Luo Huo’er surmised that the punk, Yi Yun, was probably just at the Yuan Opening realm. At this realm, he was already considered a sage in the lower realm. However, in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, he was barely a foot soldier.

Maybe she should find an opportunity to return to the Tian Yuan world and bring that rascal, Yi Yun, to the Luo clan to show him her prowess, letting him know how noble this princess’ identity is.

She wanted to show the punk that to go far in martial arts, it was not enough to stay in those tiny worlds. There was a need to come to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven and rub shoulders with this princess. If he were to prostrate himself in front of this princess, this princess shall be kind and accept him as a lackey. When the time comes, he would understand that his strength was nothing at all.

“Hehe, that guy is obsessed with martial arts. He definitely would want to cultivate my Luo clan’s cultivation techniques. When the time comes, I can get him to call me master! That would definitely feel good!”

With this thoughts in mind, Luo Huo’er could not help but reveal a sinister smile.

However, this smile surprised Xuan Junyue.

Even though it had a touch of sinisterness, as long as Luo Huo’er smiled, it would be like the blooming of flowers, dazzling others.

Obviously, this smile would not appear for no reason, so it was clearly because she thought of another Yi Yun…

“That Yi Yun, who is he?” Xuan Junyue suddenly felt alarmed and was wary.

Although he was extremely respectful to Luo Huo’er, he had already considered himself a suitor of Luo Huo’er in his heart.

In the future, if Luo Huo’er were to ascend the throne, as her husband, he would definitely be a dragon amongst people. And with Xuan Junyue being born into Empress Xuan’s family, he was a top genius in the family, so he had cultivated with great effort.

No one knew who the person Luo Huo’er was referring to that could leave such an impression on Luo Huo’er. Just thinking of that smile, that person was probably a genius from a prominent family background. Naturally, it could not be the Yi Yun on the name list. Although he was talented, it was only decent. In terms of background, it was not worth mentioning at all.

Xuan Junyue felt an urgent sense of danger.

“Oh right, how did this Yi Yun perform?” Luo Huo’er suddenly asked out of curiosity.

“First at the Mt. Azure Billow collective training. He obtained the Dao Tree and Extreme Yang Illumination divine columns’ rating of Hibernation Awakening in the Ancient Fey Edifice. At Black Wind Valley, he captured the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake.” Xuan Junyue answered.

“Oh, that’s pretty awesome.” Luo Huo’er nodded.

“Huo’er, This human’s performance is already not bad. He came from a lower realm, but he has two Aspect Totems. And after he absorbed an Ancient Fey bone, he obtained a Heaven Devouring Wyrm bloodline. In my point of view, he is quite a diligent fellow.” Empress Xuan said.

Xuan Junyue echoed, “It’s not easy to have such performance for a human from the lower realm. However, his foundation is too weak, so he might not be able to amount to much in the future… ”

Xuan Junyue was haughty, so he was naturally more reserved when he rated other geniuses.

Empress Xuan said, “The people who did quite well for the collective training are already on their way to the royal capital. Soon, I will be summoning them, and Huo’er, you should meet them when the time comes.”

857 - : Get him to Call me Master

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yes, Mother… ” Luo Huo’er answered with a clear lack of interest and she was rather reluctant to do so. Luo Huo’er also knew that the reason why her mother had requested for her to show up was to further draw in the geniuses, and show the world her love for talent. If she did not do so, how could more geniuses and the family clans behind them be willing to join their camp?

Empress Xuan glanced at Luo Huo’er and she sighed in her heart. Luo Huo’er might not put these matters at hard, but Prince Crimson Firmament had already established a massive force, and it was constantly expanding.

If they did not adopt vigorous measures, even those family clans and factions that stood on their side might even end up being convinced by Prince Crimson Firmament to switch camps.

The abdication of the throne was at hand, so Empress Luo and Prince Crimson Firmament were using every means possible.

At that moment, a flash of light appeared as a voice transmission charm appeared in front of Empress Xuan.

After hearing the information in the voice transmission charm, Empress Xuan frowned slightly.

“A voice transmission charm from Empress Luo?” Xuan Junyue inquired. Empress Luo had a unique voice transmission charm, so standing nearby, he could recognise it at a glance.

“Yes… ” Empress Xuan nodded. “Empress Luo has set up a banquet and has invited us, as well as the geniuses partaking in the trials to attend it. It looks like she plans on showing a display of force.”

“Then what are we to do?” Xuan Junyue found the matter somewhat tricky. Their present forces were naturally far inferior to Empress Luo’s.

“We shall go. The geniuses we have attracted must have been invited as well. If we do not go, those geniuses might think that we are afraid of Empress Luo. When the time comes, they might end up being roped in by them.”

Empress Xuan crushed the voice transmission charm and she looked at Luo Huo’er. “Huo’er, you are not to fool around at Empress Luo’s place. A princess must act like a princess. Your nonsense can be ignored at home, but when you are out, if you were to embarrass yourself, no one knows how others will think of you. Please give me peace of mind!”

“Yes, Mother.” Luo Huo’er spat out her cute tongue, but no one knew if she heeded Empress Xuan’s exhortations.

…

“We are almost arriving at the Luo clan’s royal capital.” On the spirit cruiser, a Fire Cloud State disciple said excitedly.

Even Luo Fengling’s eyes immediately flashed with a hint of excitement.

She had been arduously cultivating in pursuit of martial arts. She had rose up with difficulty, and now, she finally took that solid step forward, arriving at the holy land that she had always longed for — the Luo clan’s royal capital.

The Luo clan royal capital was not a place that anyone could go to as they wished.

The numerous nebula bands revolving around the Luo clan royal capital were an array protecting the capital. Unless they received the permit to enter the capital, it was impossible to enter.

Normal disciples might never have a chance in their entire lives to enter the Luo clan royal capital.

“Right in front of us is the Luo clan royal capital. You will be directly sent to the Luo Divine Hall and you will stay there. However, don’t be in a rush to be too happy. Look around you.” The Fire Cloud State person-in-charge of leading them said coldly.

The disciples on the two spirit cruisers looked around and they saw many other spirit cruisers docked in the vicinity of the royal capital’s nebula band along the perimeter.

They saw many spirit cruisers that came from other states.

These spirit cruiser had flags of different states.

“That’s the Rain Immortal State’s spirit cruiser, and that spirit cruiser, it’s the Earth Desolate State’s.” A disciple said.

At a glance, they saw at least twenty state flags.

The numerous flags fluttered as more than a hundred spirit cruisers headed towards the royal capital.

Even though they knew that the Luo clan had a total of 196 states, and that some of the states were several times larger than the Fire Cloud State and the Phoenix Firmiana State, it still gave everyone a startling feeling.

Other than the 196 states, there were also ancient family clans with deep heritage. For example, the Xushui Ran clan was one such family clan. It also independently nurtured geniuses from the family and sent them to the Luo clan’s royal capital! These large family clans would typically nurture the truly exceptional geniuses themselves. Only the slightly weaker ones, like Ran Yu, were sent to other states for training.

Therefore, it was destined for the royal capital to be filled with outstanding elites!

Despite knowing this, the feeling that one got from truly witnessing the scene of densely packed spirit cruisers, so large in size that their ends could not be seen, was truly phenomenal.

The Fire Cloud State present could not help but sigh and realize their minuteness.

They knew that to compete with people like these, many of them were destined to be green leaves that only accentuated the flowers…

“Oh? That’s the Heaven Fall State’s spirit cruiser!” A disciple suddenly said.

The Heaven Fall State was one of the top five states ranked amongst the 196 states!

As for the Fire Cloud State, it was only ranked in the middle, so the disparity in strength between the two states was non-trivial.

Although the Heaven Fall State’s spirit cruiser was a standard spirit cruiser, its size was several times bigger than the Fire Cloud State’s. There was no doubt that the number of young elites that their spirit cruiser carried was many more than the Fire Cloud State’s. It was only natural that such a large state would be given more spots.

Yi Yun looked at the Heaven Fall State’s flag that comprised of a bursting flame. Its fiery redness was harsh on the eyes.

“At the Luo Divine Hall trials, the competition will be immense. The lot of you may be the best in the Fire Cloud State, but amongst the geniuses from 196 states, you might not attract as much attention. Besides, don’t forget, there is still the strongest faction, the Luo clan royal capital! The Luo clan royal capital’s strength far exceeds any state and family clan! You will have to depend on your efforts in order to obtain a good result at the Luo Divine Hall trials.”

The person-in-charge of leading them said and with a wave of his hand, the two spirit cruisers passed through the nebula band and headed for the Luo clan’s royal capital.

As the spirit cruiser passed through layers of nebula bands, it quickly approached an immortal mountain, which stood erect like a sharp sword.

Yi Yun looked down and he exhaled lightly.

This competition was truly intense!

However, this made Yi Yun feel a surge of emotions. He had just made a breakthrough and he was thinking of testing his own strength!

Phew!

As the wind howled, the spirit cruisers carrying the geniuses who were going to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials from the 196 states had arrived at the royal capital.

They landed on a large mountain, which had a wide platform built on it. The platform was almost flush with the other divine mountains around it, as though it was a flat piece of land that suspended in mid air. Even a large spirit cruiser was like a speck of dust when it landed on the platform.

Around the platform, there were large and opulent palaces and Yi Yun was assigned to one of them.

The palace was bright and spacious with well-equipped facilities, and there were more than ten servants to serve him. And on a table in the middle of the palace, there was an invitation.

Upon opening it, Yi Yun realized it was a banquet invitation and it was signed by — Empress Luo!

Yi Yun pondered for a moment. He naturally knew that Empress Luo was Prince Crimson Firmament’s biological mother. The reason why the Luo Divine Hall trials raged like a storm was mainly because of the competition between Prince Crimson Firmament and Princess Purple Spirit.

“Empress Luo did not only invite us to the banquet, she has also invited Empress Xuan… ” Yi Yun read the introduction in the invitation and he was slightly surprised. However, regardless of anything, he was now a Luo clan disciple, so there was no reason for him to reject a banquet invitation from an Empress.

858 - : Empress Luo’s Banquet

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Luo clan’s royal capital covered an extremely extensive area. To the north of the royal city, there was a snow-covered mountain that was a hundred thousand feet tall. The mountain’s peak was shrouded by clouds, and bluish snow capped it. There were vast swaths of snow that filled the area, making it look like an immortal’s paradise.

And in this vast sea of snow stood numerous jade-carved palaces. Every palace was augmented by array formations, so even though the exterior environment was covered in snow, the palace’s internal environment was maintained at a comfortable temperature all year round, with luxuriant grass and trees in blooming flowers. It was extremely beautiful.

In the middle of the mountain peak, there was a hot spring that did not freeze regardless of the season. The hot spring had the name ‘Luo Lucid Springs’ and its temperature was pleasant. Luo Lucid Springs was perennially covered in dense water vapor, and the spring water was like ambrosia from the heavens. It was filled with spiritual energy, so just drinking a mouthful would allow a mortal to become one year younger. A kettle of it allowed one to become ten years younger. The marvelous effects for mortals was no surprise, but even for warriors with relatively high cultivation levels, Luo Lucid Springs was still able to provide them with many rare benefits.

Even in the Luo clan royal compound that was filled with spiritual grounds, the Luo Lucid Springs was still one of the more famous ones.

The entire Luo Lucid Springs was surrounded by a palace with the name ‘Luo Lucid Palace’. And it was the venue where Empress Luo was hosting her banquet today.

The people invited to the banquet were important figures of the Luo clan.

There was Empress Xuan, Princess Purple Spirit, old subjects of the Luo clan’s royal court, outstanding figures in the royal capital as well as those young elites who performed well at the collective training and who were expected to stand out at the Luo Divine Hall trials!

The standards for choosing these young elites were extremely high. There were certain states which did not have a single person chosen. For example, Yi Yun was the only person picked from the Fire Cloud State.

The young elites who were chosen were extremely excited. The banquet could be one of the most important opportunities in their lives. If they were lucky, they might gain the recognition of the upper echelons of the Luo clan, and enjoy a meteoric rise.

It was still two hours before the banquet began. With the invitation in hand, Yi Yun came to Luo Lucid Palace and he happened to meet Luo Tian, who also had an invitation.

Luo Tian from the Phoenix Firmiana State had been chosen to attend the banquet, but his seat was located at one of the big tables situated outside Luo Lucid Palace. He was just there to make up the numbers.

Sitting there gave him zero chance of being appreciated. He would not even get to see Empress Luo, while all the truly important people were seated inside.

After Luo Tian saw Yi Yun, he gave him an awkward smile. Ever since Yi Yun broke through to the Heaven Ascension realm and obtained a ninety-nine deca-feet Dao Tree, Luo Tian no longer had the mind to compete with Yi Yun. He acknowledged his own inferiority against Yi Yun.

Yi Yun gave him a gentle nod before walking into the palace. Upon seeing this scene, Luo Tian felt extremely envious. He also desired to enter the inner palace, but he was ineligible to do so.

The inner palace was filled with top figures. It was even rumored that Princess Purple Spirit would come today. If one entered the inner palace, one could catch a sight of Princess Purple Spirit’s beauty.

Princess Purple Spirit was considered the most dazzling pearl in all of the Luo clan’s royal capital. No heiress from the large families or the female elites from the various states could compete with Princess Purple Spirit. She was on a completely different level.

Ignoring her looks and family background, just her talent alone that was derived from the richness of her Ancient Fey bloodline was shocking. It was rumored that Princess Purple Spirit had inherited an Ancient Fey’s bloodline as though she was a reincarnation of one. At the age of ten, she had awakened her Ancient Fey bloodline, and she had even greatly surpassed Prince Crimson Firmament!

It was also because of Princess Purple Spirit that Emperor Luo deliberated over the heir to the throne. If not, with the Luo clan’s tradition of preference towards age, the forces that Prince Crimson Firmament controlled and the support he received that far exceeded Princess Purple Spirit’s would have easily ensured that he would ascend to the throne.

Despite Luo Tian knowing that his talent and status made it impossible for his life to have any intersection with Princess Purple Spirit, he would have been extremely satisfied just meeting her once.

Unfortunately… the statuses they enjoyed were realms apart. They were people from two different worlds.

Obviously, Yi Yun did not know what Luo Tian was thinking. In fact, even if Luo Tian had said it out loud, Yi Yun would find it difficult to imagine that the problematic girl that he met at the Tai Ah Divine City had an identity that was so far beyond one’s reach.

The moment he stepped into the inner hall of the Luo Lucid Palace, the atmosphere changed suddenly. Taking a few steps forward, Yi Yun noticed the Luo Lucid Springs situated in the middle of the inner hall.

The Luo Lucid Springs was billowing with spring water, and above the pool, a pavilion carved in jade had been constructed. And on this pavilion, there were girls dressed in white who were dancing.

These girls were specially handpicked from the best in the world. They had Heaven Fey bloodlines, and their looks and figures were impeccable.

To be able to dance at the Luo Lucid Springs was also not a chance that any ordinary girl would receive.

At that moment, there were already quite a few people gathered by the sides of the Luo Lucid Springs. At a glance, there was no lack of young elites, but few elderly important figures had come.

Yi Yun did not know anyone, so he found a random seat, sat down and slowly began drinking tea.

Although Yi Yun looked aloof, everything that happened around him was within his perception.

He realized that not far from the Luo Lucid Springs, there was a small teleportation array. It was surprising that it was built right inside Luo Lucid Palace.

And at that moment, the teleportation array suddenly lit up!

Immediately, everyone in the grand hall looked at the teleportation array. It had to be said that the Luo Lucid Palace was situated on the hundred-thousand-feet tall Luo Lucid Mountain. The journey from the foot of the mountain to its peak spanned a distance of dozens of kilometers. Other than members of the royal family, no one was permitted to fly in Luo Lucid Mountain. They could only walk up, so although warriors could traverse distances quickly, under the limitations of brisk walking, the journey up the mountain still took a considerable amount of time.

Although there was a teleportation array built in the Luo Lucid Palace, only people of certain stature could use it to enter the palace directly.

“Someone impressive is coming. I wonder who it is… ”

People began discussing as the teleportation array flashed, and soon, two people appeared side by side in the teleportation array.

The person on the left was simply dressed in azure-color clothes. He looked like a mortal scholar, and no energy fluctuations could be felt from his body.

And the other person stood in stark contrast from the scholar. He was covered in silk clothes and jade. The fabric in his clothes was woven from priceless Rainbow Silk produced by Rainbow Celestial Silkworms. The pair of boots he wore were made of leather from top-grade Fey beasts. And just the cost of his clothes and boots added up was impossible to be bought without a few thousand World Stones. Many of the elites present may have been invited to the Luo Lucid Palace’s banquet, but they were not necessarily as rich. Just the man’s garb alone was worth more than the entire fortunes of a number of people.

The appearance of the duo immediately attracted the attention of all the elites present.

The duo, be it the silk-clothed youth or the azure-clothed scholar, exuded a natural air of nobleness. The heritage of ancient family clans in the Luo clan was manifested from their bearing.

“Donglin Yu! Ran Xueyi! Two of the four great young masters of the Luo clan royal capital!” Someone in the crowd identified them.

In the entire Luo clan royal capital, the people worthy enough to be given the title of one of the four great young masters were definitely the most outstanding figures amongst outstanding figures!

Donglin Yu came from the Donglin family clan, while Ran Xueyi came from the Xushui Ran clan. They were large family clans that ranked in the top ten family clans of the Luo clan.

The fiefs of these two family clans alone were about ten times the size of the Fire Cloud State!

The two family clans’ ancestors had previously fought alongside the founding emperor of the Luo clan. They had achieved illustrious military merits, so after the Luo clan was established, they were each bestowed the titles of king and their lineage had persisted to present day. They were as ancient as the Luo clan’s royal family.

Furthermore, be it the Donglin clan or the Xushui Ran clan, every generation would nurture large numbers of talents. Some would be given important positions in the royal capital, while others would be assigned to one of the 196 states to become an official of a state.

As for Donglin Yu and Ran Xueyi, they were considered to be two of the most outstanding juniors from the two family clans. For such large family clans, the juniors they paid the most attention to would be nurtured in their own family clans. If Ran Xueyi was compared to Ran Yu, the differences in their positions were like Heaven and Earth. There was no way to compare them.

“Brother Ran, please.”

The scholarly-looking azure-clothed man stretched out his hand. He was Donglin Yu.

“Brother Donglin, please.” The silk-clothed youth said in response.

Ran Xueyi’s outfit was extravagant, but he did not give off an arrogant demeanor. Every action and word from him felt like a gentle spring breeze, he truly deserved his title as one of the four great young masters.

At that moment, a burly man with a livid face and large fangs walked up and led the silk-clothed youth to his seat.

Seeing the burly man, everyone shuddered in their hearts.

“Fey Demon!”

The Fey Demon race in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven was a mixed hybrid between Fey and Demon. They were few in number, but they had long lifespans. Their bodily strength was extremely terrifying and they were born warriors.

If a Fey Demon was trained into a loyal soldier, he would be the most valuable protective force of a family clan. This Fey Demon was one nurtured by the Xushui Ran clan, and he was a follower of Ran Xueyi.

It was also obvious what sort of status that Ran Xueyi had for him to be able to bring a follower to attend the banquet.

Ran Xueyi sat at one of the seats of honor, which was not located too far from Yi Yun. At that moment, the Fey Demon whispered into Ran Xueyi’s ear. Ran Xueyi was chatting with Donglin Yu, but after hearing the Fey Demon’s words, he stopped and he turned his head slightly as his gaze landed on Yi Yun.

The teacup in Yi Yun’s hand faltered for a moment before he continued sipping his tea slowly.

Ran Xueyi…

Just from the name, Yi Yun knew the person’s identity as well.

“Brother Ran, I heard something happened recently to your Xushui Ran clan. It appears as though one of your direct descendant’s bloodline had been crippled.”

The Fey Demon’s whispers were not hidden from Donglin Yu, so Donglin Yu knew that the person that Ran Xueyi was looking at was Yi Yun.

A young disciple from the Fire Cloud State, even if he had obtained first in the collective training, was not someone that Donglin Yu would care too much for. If this was any other time, he would not have even given a glance.

However, this Fire Cloud State disciple had smacked the Xushui Ran clan in the face. It was a taboo for the bloodline of someone from an Ancient Fey family clan like the Xushui Ran clan to be crippled. The news of this small incident had proliferated.

Therefore, Donglin Yu had paid a bit of attention to Yi Yun, who dared to provoke the almighty family clan.

Such a person was usually rash and petulant. He might not understand how terrifying an ancient family clan was, and he had engaged in his reckless behavior because of his bit of talent. He was doomed to suffer sooner or later.

“I have incurred ridicule on myself, Brother Donglin. It had indeed happened. The disciple that had been crippled was one of the disciples that my Xushui Ran clan had assigned outside the family. The four Elders of my Xushui Ran clan have instructed me to simply teach him a lesson within the rules.” Ran Xueyi said in a nonchalant manner.

He did not deliberately do so with a voice transmission. It made many people around him hear it.

They were secretly horrified at how Ran Xueyi truly disparaged Yi Yun. He had said such those words so casually, and it was unknown how far the so-called ’lesson’ would go.

859 - : Four Great Young Masters

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun obviously heard the sentence that everyone heard.

He glanced at Ran Xueyi, and quietly placed his teacup down.

Yi Yun was not one to suffer silently. After being disparaged by someone in Luo Lucid Palace, he would not remain silent.

“Young Master Ran, I would want to consult you wholeheartedly… What sort of lesson does Young Master Ran plan on teaching me?” Yi Yun suddenly spoke out.

All the young elites present were taken aback as they immediately turned to look at Ran Xueyi and wait for his reply.

Ran Xueyi lightly said, “My Xushui Ran clan will not go overboard in seeking revenge. It only feels that it’s right that debts are paid and how murder is paid for with one’s life. The lesson you taught Ran Xueyi will roughly be the same lesson I give to you.”

Ran Xueyi’s words interested the surrounding young elites. This was no trifling matter. Yi Yun had crippled Ran Yu’s bloodline, so Ran Yu’s future was practically destroyed. The lesson that Ran Xueyi was planning to give Yi Yun was to cripple Yi Yun in the confines of the rules?

Such a lesson was tragic, but in the mouth of Ran Xueyi, it appeared as though it was nothing serious.

Just from Ran Xueyi’s bearing, he did not exude a feeling of being overbearing, but the words he said were completely overbearing that ran deep into his bone.

“Oh? In that case, you, Ran Xueyi plan on crippling me. Very well. I, Yi Yun, will not go overboard in seeking revenge either. I too believe that it is only right that debts are paid and how murder is paid for with one’s life. Whoever wants to cripple me, I will retaliate and might also cripple him.”

What Yi Yun said was forceful as it echoed throughout the venue!

Everyone was dumbfounded when they heard this. They had commented that Ran Xueyi was overbearing, but Yi Yun was even more overbearing. He had used the same words that Ran Xueyi had said to strike back at him.

Ran Xueyi had made it difficult for Yi Yun in public because he disparaged Yi Yun, but it was because he had the Xushui Ran clan backing him. That was a large family clan ranked amongst the top ten in the Luo clan. Ran Xueyi’s background was powerful enough, so no one dared to say a thing when he made such a declaration.

However, Yi Yun dared to say something similar.

He was only a human, without any foundation in the Luo clan. Yet, he wanted to be belligerent against Ran Xueyi? What was he basing this on?

If Yi Yun was said to have great talent, Ran Xueyi too had heaven-defying talent. Ran Xueyi was on a completely different level to Ran Yu. No one knew if Yi Yun could compete with Ran Xueyi when it came to talent.

As for other aspects, there was no need to discuss them any further. In nearly every aspect, Yi Yun was left in the dust by Ran Xueyi.

Ran Xueyi’s sword-like brows pricked up as the cold beam in his eyes shot at Yi Yun’s body like an arrow. “What did you say? I didn’t hear it clearly. What do you want to do to me?”

“I just said that whoever wants to cripple me, I’ll retaliate, and I might also cripple him!” Yi Yun did not mind repeating again.

What he said was the standards of the martial world. If this was any other time, no one would find fault with it.

But in the present situation, if it were any other young elite present in Yi Yun’s shoes, none of them would have the courage to say it.

Ran Xueyi suddenly laughed out. “It’s been a while since a peer dared to say such things to me. Yi Yun, you probably think that some results at the collective training, the appreciation of Empress Xuan, and the invitation to this Luo Lucid Springs banquet means you are one step closer to the upper echelons of the Luo clan. You probably think that my Xushui Ran clan is nothing impressive. You are truly naive.” Ran Xueyi derided relentlessly.

He obviously knew that Yi Yun was Empress Xuan’s person.

Empress Xuan had drawn in a batch of geniuses in order to let Princess Purple Spirit successfully ascend to the throne. However, it would be a joke to say that these geniuses had any higher status. To put it bluntly, they were just chess pieces.

“You just obtained first in a collective training, which was just a few tiny states in the larger picture, and you are already this overbearing. Those who aren’t in the know might even think that you have obtained the first place at the Luo Divine Hall trials! Furthermore, even if you were to obtain the first few spots in the Luo Divine Hall trials, so what? The Luo Divine Hall trials happen once every sixty years. In 60,000 years, there are a thousand of those, and you think that’s impressive? What a frog in a well!”

Ran Xueyi drank his wine as he shook his head in disdain. He was not finished with his words, but everyone knew the meaning behind Ran Xueyi’s words.

An ancient family clan like the Xushui Ran clan had existed for hundreds of millions of years!

In a hundred million years, the powerful family clans in the Luo clan had never changed.

And as for these young elites, there were numerous born, with numerous maturing and numerous dying!

In the history of time, they were already uncountable. Furthermore, the present Yi Yun was still not considered to be a genius of that level.

Compared to the behemoth like the Xushui Ran clan that had existed for a hundred million years, it was just a joke.

At that moment, Ran Xueyi had no intention of arguing with Yi Yun any further.

With his stature, arguing with Yi Yun was only demeaning of his identity.

“Brother Donglin, let’s continue drinking. There’s no need to mind an ignoramus.”

Ran Xueyi’s character was frank. Although he had argued with Yi Yun, it did not affect his drinking mood. He did not even put it at heart.

And indeed, he began drinking with Donglin Yu.

Immediately, everyone looked at Yi Yun as they broke out into a flurry of discussion.

Previously, Yi Yun’s performance at the Mt. Azure Billow collective training was amazing, but at the Luo clan royal capital, there were few who knew about Yi Yun.

The Luo clan was just too big. Every clan would have their outstanding progenies, so Yi Yun was not worth paying any concern to. However, today, all of them got to know this young man.

A human, whose cultivation level was only at the early stages of the Heaven Ascension, had dared to enter into a conflict with the top scion of the Xushui Ran clan. This truly had the inkling of a rash move.

“That Yi Yun comes from the lower realm. He probably does not know the terror of a large family clan in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. To dare to make such impertinent remarks with a low cultivation level and zero background, he will suffer sooner or later.”

“Background is just too important. Yi Yun can only be considered to have barely clung onto Empress Xuan. Maybe he was lucky and won some recognition.”

People began to discuss privately with Yuan Qi voice transmissions. They were not discussing Yi Yun’s talent, but his actions. It was inadvisable to be provocative or be unable to be submissive and keep a low profile when one was still lacking in cultivation levels.

At that moment…

A sharp call resounded above Luo Lucid Mountain. People looked up and they saw a gigantic divine bird that was tens of thousands of feet long.

This divine bird looked identical to the legendary Phoenix. Its feathers were all lit up in flames, as it shimmered with seven auspicious colors.

An aura that belonged to an Ancient Fey beast engulfed the vicinity. Even though the people present were elites of the Luo clan, they still felt shortness of breath when they suddenly experienced the Ancient Fey aura that blanketed them.

“It’s a Phoenix Bird! Our Luo clan’s top grade mount. It is a divine beast that can shuttle through the spatial storms in the sinkhole!”

The Phoenix Bird possessed the bloodline of the ancient Phoenix. Furthermore, its bloodline was extremely rich, and it could be said to be a living Ancient Fey.

There were only two Phoenix Birds in the entire Luo clan, and they were part of the royal family’s mounts.

This Phoenix Bird was bestowed to Princess Purple Spirit by Emperor Luo as a mount. It also showed how much favor Princess Purple Spirit had from Emperor Luo.

“It’s Princess Purple Spirit sacred mount’s arrival!”

The young elites present immediately stood up, including Ran Xueyi and Donglin Yu. Although they were the four great young masters of the royal capital, they were incomparable to Princess Purple Spirit, be it background, status or talent. They had arrived at Luo Lucid Palace through a teleportation array, which showed how much higher in status they were compared to other geniuses. However, Princess Purple Spirit traveled from her own palace to the Luo Lucid Mountain, which had a flight ban, on her Phoenix Bird.

As the Phoenix Bird circled the skies, a rainbow bridge fell from the Phoenix Bird’s back. Twelve maidservants accompanied the crowned Princess Purple Spirit on her descent.

The air of nobleness that belonged to a royalty spread out at the same time.

“Paying our respects to Princess Purple Spirit!”

The elites present bowed in unison in an extremely respectful manner.

Princess Purple Spirit was eminent. Ignoring her position as one of the heirs to the throne, just taking ten thousand steps back, even if she failed at ascending to the throne, she would still have a bright future ahead of her.

Although it was inevitable that Empress Xuan would lose power, Princess Purple Spirit herself had exceptional talent. With the elderly Emperor Luo protecting her, it was not difficult for her to become a Supremacy.

A Supremacy, regardless if it was the Luo royalty, would have a sublime status in the Luo clan.

When everyone bowed, Yi Yun was somewhat at a loss.

Yi Yun watched as Princess Purple Spirit descended from the sky. Even though he was mentally prepared, he was still unaccustomed when he truly saw the girl who had a screw loose and had previously accidentally exposed herself to him. She had transformed into an illustrious princess of the Luo clan, respected by billions of people.

This scene was too contrasting from before…

Seeing Luo Huo’er nonchalantly wave her hand at the elites to not stand on ceremony, her demure and elegant expression truly gave her the bearing of a princess. Was… was she still the same person?

“Stand up.” Luo Huo’er said lightly. At that moment, Ran Xueyi came forward with a beaming smile.

“Your Highness, you are truly getting more and more beautiful.”

Luo Huo’er was considered to be the best female elite in the entire royal capital, so Ran Xueyi naturally looked forward to being able to get closer to her. Even if he could be slightly closer to her while speaking, it would also be a great thing.

Of course, he was still maintaining the standard courtesies of a subject, so it was not offensive.

But at that moment, Ran Xueyi, who had come forward, slowly halted in his footsteps. He realized that the goddess, who had a high standing in his heart all this time, did not pay him any attention. At that moment, her beautiful eyes were looking straight at a corner of the grand hall, with eyes of disbelief.

Ran Xueyi was taken aback. What was the princess looking at?

He could not help but look back and trace Princess Purple Spirit’s gaze. As a result… he saw Yi Yun at the corner of the hall. Yi Yun had just put down his teacup. Others had come forward to show their respects at the arrival of Princess Purple Spirit, but he clearly appeared to be one step slower.

Furthermore, he did not have a respectful expression on his face. Typical elites would bow their heads when they saw Princess Purple Spirit in a respectful manner. It was necessary to do so as royal subjects.

Even Ran Xueyi did not dare look Luo Huo’er in the eye. As for Yi Yun, he was just standing there, blatantly staring at Luo Huo’er’s face. And what was most infuriating was the odd expression on his face. It was as though the number one princess of the Luo Clan looked somewhat odd.

860 - : Meeting Princess Purple Spirit

CKtalon  CKtalon

Was Yi Yun dumb? Why did he dare be that disrespectful to Princess Purple Spirit?

He was slower to pay his respects and he stared at Princess Purple Spirit. Furthermore, he even put on such an odd expression.

“To be so unaware of the rules, he is indeed a bumpkin from the lower realms.” Ran Xueyi sneered in his heart. The elites present racked their heads to leave a good impression on Princess Purple Spirit, but Yi Yun was such a retard to act so eccentric. He had offended the princess.

For Princess Purple Spirit to produce such an impression, she had apparently been affronted by Yi Yun’s actions. Other than that, Ran Xueyi could not think of any other possibility. If one were to say that Princess Purple Spirit had been attracted by this inferior human? That would be a joke.

Ran Xueyi looked at Yi Yun with a faint smile, and he waited for him to make a fool of himself.

However, a single statement from Princess Purple Spirit completely froze the smile on Ran Xueyi’s face.

“It’s really you… You actually came to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven?”

Luo Huo’er was truly feeling stumped after she saw Yi Yun.

She may have maintained a dignified and elegant composure on the surface, but deep in her heart, it was already being trampled by 10,000 Ancient Fey beasts with mud-stained hoofs.

What the heck was going on!?

She knew very well that more than a decade ago, Yi Yun was still a country bumpkin in a tiny area of a lower realm! Be it his strength or knowledge, there was no way that Yi Yun could advance past the limits of that world in every possible aspect. How did he come to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven in such a short period of time alone, and had even obtained first place after being far in the lead at a collective training?

Being first place in a collective training wasn’t much, but just thinking of where Yi Yun had his origins more than a decade ago was such a shocking realization!

His cultivation speed and his speed at nomological insight were way too fast. What sort of freakish talent was this to be able to reach such a state?

It sure was odd. This princess was clearly the genius with the most powerful Ancient Fey bloodline in the entire Luo clan and she also had exceptionally high perception. But why did she feel like she was being suppressed by this fellow the moment she saw him?

Back in the Tai Ah Divine City, Luo Huo’er’s Desolate Heaven technique had been inferior to Yi Yun’s. That could be ignored since her mother had prohibited her from using the techniques from the Luo clan. She could only use the Desolate Heaven techniques from the lower realm that she learned on short notice, so there was no way that her achievements reflected her true talent.

She could ignore the Desolate Heaven technique, but when Luo Huo’er was cultivating in a training chamber, Yi Yun had seen every part of her body. That was the most teeth-wrenching experience Luo Huo’er ever had.

Later on, Luo Huo’er had set a trap for the fellow, but for some reason, the trap somehow backfired on her!

Just recently, Luo Huo’er was still considering if she could ask her mother if she could make a trip to the lower realm and bring that bumpkin up to this world to broaden his horizons and let him know that the reason why she had lost to him was because she was not at all serious. If they had really come to blows, she would instantly crush him!

Luo Huo’er would have loved to see Yi Yun’s shocked expression when she brought him to the Luo clan’s royal capital and see its grandeur and flourishing establishment. Especially when Yi Yun would learn that her identity was a princess of the highest identity in the royal capital, wouldn’t he pay homage to her and offer to be her lackey?

But now… despite having written the script, without any rehearsals beginning, the show’s curtains had come to a close.

This fellow had managed to climb up here himself!

How did he do that?

Especially after seeing the fellow’s expression, Luo Huo’er really felt like her heart was being trampled by 10,000 Ancient Fey beasts with mud-stained hoofs. His odd expression was a result of a stifled laugh that he repressed because he did not want to embarrass her.

Clearly, her identity as a princess was already within Yi Yun’s expectations. He had known of it early on!

Luo Huo’er thought that Yi Yun would be astonished after learning of the matter and he would prostrate himself before her. In the end, not only did Yi Yun not prostrate himself, but he was also thinking of laughing!

Clearly, Yi Yun knew what sort of person Luo Huo’er was. At a glance, he knew that Luo Huo’er’s elegance and dignity were faked to keep up an appearance.

Luo Huo’er hated such banquets with numerous people the most. However, for her mother, she had to maintain her image and tolerate maintaining a front that she hated to do, but this fellow was actually mocking her!

It was infuriating!

Having been seen through, Luo Huo’er didn’t even feel like acting any further. She forced herself to hold back on the urge to beat someone and she said to Yi Yun with a smile, “Yi Yun, it’s really you. It’s truly been long time no see.”

Yi Yun stifled his urge to laugh and clasped his fists. He said with a straight face, “Yi Yun greets the Princess. It has been so many years. Meeting you today, Princess Purple Spirit is truly of unsurpassed beauty and glamorous.”

Although Yi Yun’s words were highly respectful, how could the smiling intent in his eyes escape Luo Huo’er? Clearly, this fellow did not show any signs of veneration because of her identity as princess.

Their conversation absolutely lacked the joy of a reunion that close friends should have after a long period of time. However, this conversation sounded completely different in the ears of others.

Every elite in the Luo clan, including Ran Xueyi and Donglin Yu, was dumbfounded!

The princess knew this fellow, and… they appeared to be very familiar!

How was this possible? What sort of noble status did Princess Purple Spirit enjoy? How did she get to know a lowly human punk who lacked any form of background?

For Princess Purple Spirit to say the words ‘long time no see’ that bordered on affection, that meant that Yi Yun was a friend of Princess Purple Spirit!

A human had become Princess Purple Spirit’s friend? That was unthinkable!

At that moment, Ran Xueyi, who was standing beside Princess Purple Spirit, probably had the ugliest expression. Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er truly knew each other! Furthermore, Luo Huo’er apparently did not pursue Yi Yun’s lack of etiquette.

In Ran Xueyi’s impression, Princess Purple Spirit was always composed. But today, after meeting Yi Yun, there was a rare loss of her cool. Although it was not obvious, Ran Xueyi had managed to notice it because of his close distance. Princess Purple Spirit’s eyes, which spoke volumes, had flashed a look of surprise and coquetry.

Who was this punk who could make Princess Purple Spirit experience such emotional swings?

“Yi Yun, sit at this table then!” Luo Huo’er pointed at a table and said with a ‘cordial’ expression.

Upon seeing the table, the corner of Ran Xueyi’s mouth twitched. Donglin Yu also had a wry smile on his face.

This table was the closest table to Luo Huo’er’s seat!

In Luo Lucid Springs, the arrangement of the tables was a fastidious show of political intrigue. The closer it was to the middle, the more noble the seat was. Ran Xueyi and Donglin Yu were already considered close to the middle, but now, Yi Yun’s seat was even closer than theirs!

How could Ran Xueyi feel pleasant about this?

He was one of the four great young masters of the royal capital. Yet, a human punk had come and sat at a spot more closer to the middle than his. It was even closer to Princess Purple Spirit! What the heck was this?

“Thank you Princess for conferring me a seat.”

Yi Yun did not think too much of it and without standing on ceremony, he sat at the designated seat.

This immediately made all the young elites present envious.

They finally realized what was going on.

Princess Purple Spirit and the punk probably had an unusual relationship. Compared to Yi Yun, they were practically passers-by that did not matter. She did not even glance at them.

Just moments ago, they had been mocking Yi Yun for his presumptuous and foolish behavior of daring stand up against the Xushui Ran clan and Ran Xueyi.

But from the looks of it, the people who were truly foolish were them.

Could it be… that Princess Purple Spirit was Yi Yun’s backer!?

That would be ridiculous! If that fellow truly had a good relationship with Princess Purple Spirit, just that alone made him enjoy a background much better than many!

Seeing Yi Yun sit down, Luo Huo’er maintained a smile. On the surface, she did not look at Yi Yun anymore, but her voice transmission had rung in Yi Yun’s ears.

“Not bad, little Yun for you to have the ability to come here. You even got first place in the collective training. Your wings have indeed hardened. Come on, tell this elder sister of yours how you came to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.”

Luo Huo’er’s words rendered Yi Yun somewhat speechless. Luo Huo’er wasn’t young anymore, but she still insisted on gaining a sense of superiority when it came to words.

861 - : Script Written in Vain

CKtalon  CKtalon

“How else? Obviously I flew here.” Yi Yun replied nonchalantly. He had experienced a great deal over the years in the Tian Yuan World, and the reason why he had matured so fast was because of obtaining heritage from the 12 Empyrean Heavens, as well as the Purple Crystal. They had vastly broadened Yi Yun’s horizons. Without them, just having a fast cultivation speed alone was useless without pairing it with any cultivation techniques.

“Little Yun, how’s the Tai Ah Divine City? What about our master, Grandmaster Yuehua?” Luo Huo’er recalled the desolate beast siege that happened years ago. She had left the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom back then as well, so she still cared about Grandmaster Yuehua and a few other people from the Tai Ah Divine City.

However, Luo Huo’er’s identity was confidential back then, while the enemies of the Luo clan also had forces in the lower realms, so Luo Huo’er was forbidden from using powers that belonged to the Luo clan. She had almost never fought in the Tai Ah Divine City.

The only one time that Luo Huo’er violated the ban was to heal Yi Yun.

Back then, Yi Yun had used the Golden Crow totem that he had yet to fully master, resulting in the draining of all his strength and the injuring of his lifeblood in the midst of battle. Luo Huo’er had used a tiny portion of her Ancient Fey bloodline powers to help Yi Yun’s bloodline recover in a few short seconds, allowing him to return to the battle arena.

Only Yi Yun knew about this.

Yi Yun transmitted his voice, “It’s a long story. Grandmaster Yuehua and the Tai Ah Divine City Elders were eventually all safe and sound. Now, the Tian Yuan world is also peaceful.”

Yi Yun knew that Luo Huo’er might appear haughty and naughty, but she actually possessed a kind heart. If things were put on a scale, it would not be an exaggeration to describe the people from the Tai Ah Divine City as ants when they were compared to Luo Huo’er.

“That’s good.” Luo Huo’er cracked a smile. “Back then, I left in a hurry and I returned to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. I was embroiled in the war, where I had to run here and there. After a difficult victory, I was ensnared in this battle of the throne. It’s so irritating.” Luo Huo’er pouted her mouth as she said, like she were a melancholic kitten.

Although Yi Yun saw Luo Huo’er saying it without much thought, he knew that there was definitely quite a bit of sadness behind her story. However, with Luo Huo’er’s carefree personality, she did not take those things personally.

“You don’t want the throne?” Yi Yun asked.

“Who needs it!?” Luo Huo’er grunted. However, she said sadly after thinking of something, “It’s just that… Mother wants me to vie for it, so I have to. If Crimson Firmament ascends to the throne, Mother and I would be in quite a bad situation, especially Mother… If I am able to become a Supremacy, that would not have been a problem, but I am still many years from becoming one. And during this period, who knows if the Luo clan would break out into war again… ”

The war that swept through the entire Luo clan more than ten years ago was won with great difficulty, but they had only managed to push the enemy back. Since they did not manage to completely wipe their enemy out, it was still very likely for the enemy to make a comeback. If the elderly Emperor Luo was still alive, that would be fine. But if he passed away, Prince Crimson Firmament might send Empress Xuan’s family clan out to war as a sacrifice with his position as supreme commander in chief.

“The Luo clan’s war… Who is your enemy?”

Yi Yun had been always hearing about the war that happened decades ago, which made the Luo clan suffer great losses. But up to now, Yi Yun was still unsure about the origins of the enemy.

“The enemy is the Fey Phantasm Sect, an extremely mighty force that pervades the entire Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. It is headquartered in the sinkhole, and it’s rumored that the Fey Phantasm Sect possesses a complete, ice-sealed Ancient Fey corpse. Furthermore, it was a truly powerful Ancient Fey.”

“A complete Ancient Fey corpse?” Yi Yun was slightly taken aback when he heard this. What sort of wealth did an entire Ancient Fey corpse represent? If one could obtain an entire Ancient Fey corpse, the opportunities were unimaginable.

From the looks of it, the Fey Phantasm Sect was stronger than the Luo clan!

Luo Huo’er seemed to guess Yi Yun’s thoughts and said, “The Fey Phantasm Sect is stronger than our Luo clan. They declared war on several fronts, and our Luo clan’s war is just one of the many. Back then, our Luo clan had also made an alliance with several other large clans in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven to fight the Fey Phantasm Sect together.”

“The Fey Phantasm Sect enjoys great influence. It controls numerous Great Worlds, with countless subsidiaries. They refine Fey Demon puppets and sell them to large family clans for their usage. Many of the buyers come from other Empyrean Heavens.”

As Luo Huo’er spoke, a whistling sound of a soaring eagle shrieked. High in the sky, a gigantic azure Peng bird arrived.

The azure Peng bird circled in the sky and under the escort of pages, a purple-robed man flew straight down from the Peng bird. The man’s clothes fluttered in the mountain winds, as purple aura circulated around him, it was as though a god had descended.

He looked like he was in his twenties, and his eyes were as bright as the stars. His lifeblood was converged, and he seemed to resonate with the Heaven and Earth. He gave off an redoubtable feeling.

“Prince Crimson Firmament!” The elites present said aloud when they saw the man that suddenly appeared.

Even people like Ran Xueyi and Donglin Yu stood up immediately at that moment to step forward.

He was Prince Crimson Firmament?

Upon seeing this person, Yi Yun was slightly taken aback.

Prince Crimson Firmament truly gave him an unfathomable feeling.

Indeed, Prince Crimson Firmament had been cultivating for thousands of years, so even without mentioning his talent, just his strength would far exceed Luo Huo’er’s.

Beside Prince Crimson Firmament was a gorgeous woman.

She had smoky eyes and fair, creamy-white skin. She had a pair of fox ears on her head, and every action she performed seemed to produce silvery bolts that danced around her in a silvery brilliance.

Upon seeing this woman, the elites present were secretly horrified. Someone said, “It’s the Lightning Domain’s Princess White Fox. It was rumored that Princess White Fox and Prince Crimson Firmament have extremely cordial relations, but those were only rumors. Who knew that Princess White Fox is accompanying Prince Crimson Firmament to the banquet today? Don’t tell me they are now an item, and are about to become Dao companions!?”

“The Lightning Domain’s Princess White Fox has the Ancient Fey nine-tailed white fox’s bloodline, as well as a Body of Lightning Spirit. If she is willing to become partners with Prince Crimson Firmament, it would truly be a match of equal status. The chips that Prince Crimson Firmament holds will increase as well!”

As people discussed it in private, they looked at Prince Crimson Firmament with mixed emotions amidst respect.

Prince Crimson Firmament himself was a treasure, with extremely promising chances of inheriting the throne of the Luo clan. In addition to his outstanding talent and powerful bloodline, if he were to marry Princess White Fox, a talented woman with a Body of Lightning Spirit and nine-tailed white fox bloodline, and duo cultivate with her, his life would reach its peak. Even Ran Xueyi and Donglin Yu would feel jealous seeing this.

They were two of the royal capital’s four great young masters and they were extremely noble, but compared to Prince Crimson Firmament, they were incomparable.

As Prince Crimson Firmament slowly landed, a phoenix shriek echoed throughout the skies as everyone looked up.

They saw nine azure luan birds soaring in the sky. They pulled a glittering chariot that emitted divine light that flashed through the sky.

As the divine chariot shuttled through the sky, the void slightly trembled as it excited the hearts of many.

On the divine chariot, Empress Luo and Empress Xuan, the two mothers of the world, women who had all the riches of the Luo clan in their hands, arrived simultaneously.

Instantly, a divine light burst out as thousands of colorful bands shot out. Dozens of Luo Lucid Palace’s maidservants rushed forward and bowed to welcome the two sacred Empresses.

862 - : Princess White Fox

CKtalon  CKtalon

The sacred Empress Luo was peerless in beauty, with captivating looks that were unique.

Empress Luo wore a nine phoenix hairpin and her long hair was coiled up, like a gloomy cloud in the sky. She wore a jade garment with an Ancient Fey beast embroidery on it. Her royal elegance truly came from the bone.

And beside her was Empress Xuan, who had a voluptuous figure, with skin no different to a sixteen-year-old girl. Age had forgotten to leave its marks on her face, accentuating her youthful looks and mature woman’s charm on her body perfectly.

“Paying our respects to Your Majesty Empress Luo! Paying our respects to Your Majesty Empress Xuan!”

The maidservants and the young elites present bowed respectfully.

The two sacred Empresses walked to the seats of honor with Empress Luo on the right and Empress Xuan on the left. In the Luo clan, the right was associated with the seat of honor, so on this point, Empress Luo’s status was slightly higher than Empress Xuan’s.

“Xue’er, you came as well.”

Empress Luo looked at Princess White Fox with an amiable and endearing smile. Clearly, she was very satisfied with Princess White Fox from the Lightning Domain. At the beginning of the banquet, she nodded and smiled to Princess White Fox, a treatment probably only reserved for daughter-in-laws.

“It appears as though Her Majesty Empress Luo is eager to have Prince Crimson Firmament marry Princess White Fox. If that’s the case, Prince Crimson Firmament’s position will be unshakable.”

As people discussed it in private, they envied Prince Crimson Firmament for his good fortune in love affairs.

Empress Luo and Empress Xuan sat on the main seats of honor with Prince Crimson Firmament and Luo Huo’er sitting on the right and left respectively. Sitting near Prince Crimson Firmament was naturally Princess White Fox, but she was not sitting at the same table with Prince Crimson Firmament. Instead, she was sitting at a table beside the table of honor, and this was a distance away. From the looks of it, Princess White Fox had not fully accepted Prince Crimson Firmament. Hence, she did not want to appear too close to him at such an event.

This was nothing much, but on the other side…

Be it Empress Luo, Empress Xuan or Prince Crimson Firmament, they were somewhat taken aback when they saw the person sitting on the seat symmetrically across Princess White Fox.

Sitting near Luo Huo’er was an ordinary youth, who looked very young. His cultivation level had just broken through to the early stages of the Heaven Ascension realm. Such a person could not have a long cultivation time that numbered about thirty or forty years.

And most bizarre of all was that he was a human.

Yi Yun?

Empress Xuan immediately thought about Yi Yun. Only this person matched the various features.

But why was Yi Yun sitting beside her daughter?

It was impossible that he had sat without understanding the rules. The waiters responsible at the banquet would not have sat idle if that was the case. Could it be that her daughter had invited him to sit there?

Although Empress Xuan found it surprising, she at least knew about Yi Yun’s identity. But for Empress Luo, she did not even know Yi Yun’s identity.

For a small figure like Yi Yun, although he had won first place at a collective training, it was insignificant in Empress Luo’s eyes. However, she had paid him some attention because he was sitting beside Luo Huo’er.

Empress Luo noticed that Yi Yun’s clothes were worthless, as though he did not have any background. Why would Luo Huo’er let such a person sit beside her? Furthermore, this was not any ordinary occasion. Every word and action of Luo Huo’er and Crimson Firmament would be recorded by the hall page and reported to Emperor Luo.

“Dear Firmament, who is this youth?” Empress Luo sent a voice transmission to Prince Crimson Firmament.

“Answering Mother, if this child isn’t wrong, that person should be Yi Yun. He had obtained an outstanding performance at the Mt. Azure Billow collective training. He obtained the recognition of three Ancient Fey columns, with two of them at the Hibernation Awakening ranking. At Black Wind Valley, he captured the Intermediary Spirit Blood Snake and he is considered to be a talented human. He is in Sister Purple Spirit’s camp, and he was recommended by Prince Pingnan.”

Prince Crimson Firmament informed her about Yi Yun’s background and results in a few words, pleasing Empress Luo. Her son was meticulous, which made him a person capable of big matters. He knew every piece of information about a person, even if he was a minor character.

“Very good. You did well, but according to what you said, that Yi Yun isn’t considered to be some blessed son of the heavens. He is just a young elite, so he’s not even qualified to sit at where the two young fellows from the Ran and Donglin family are, let alone beside Purple Spirit. That Purple Spirit is just too wilful.”

Empress Luo shook her head secretly as she glanced at Donglin Yu and Ran Xueyi. They were sitting on seats at a lower level to Yi Yun, so when they saw Empress Luo glance at them, they immediately revealed embarrassed expressions. They probably knew what Empress Luo was looking at. They found it extremely embarrassing to sit beneath Yi Yun. However, this was sanctioned by Princess Purple Spirit, so what else could they say?

Empress Luo frowned slightly. For a princess of the Luo clan to be so enamored towards such a lowly human youth to sit beside her, it was not something that did not conform to the rules, but it would incur ridicule. Especially with Princess White Fox here, how would she think about Yi Yun sitting at a spot equivalent to hers?

“Mother, Sister Purple Spirit has always had a personality of lawlessness. Let her be. Even Father indulges her, so even if this small matter were to reach Father, he would not pay too much attention to it.” Prince Crimson Firmament said with a tone filled with discontent with Emperor Luo.

Emperor Luo’s favoritism was no secret. If not for his favoritism towards Princess Purple Spirit, wouldn’t the throne be firmly in Crimson Firmament’s grasps?

“It doesn’t matter if she’s willful, it’s not like we are disgracing ourselves.” Empress Luo transmitted her voice to Prince Crimson Firmament and glanced at Empress Xuan, while a faint smile suffused across her lips.

Her son, Prince Crimson Firmament had brought Princess White Fox, and they were sitting along the main seats with her.

Look at your daughter. What sort of person is she sitting with? What a disgrace.

“Alright, all of our esteemed young elites, I held this banquet and invited all of you here as a welcome. I wish that everyone will be able to make a difference at the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trials, and bring a more brilliant future to our Luo clan.”

As the host of the banquet, Empress Luo had to give a speech. As for Yi Yun, she quickly ignored him.

Everyone lifted their cups for a toast. Yi Yun did so too, and he drank the fragrant spiritual wine. It was unknown how the wine was brewed, because not only was the taste excellent, it also made his entire body warm up, and he could even feel his lifeblood strengthen.

It was good wine that was probably extremely pricey. And the food placed in front of him was all sorts of treasured materials. Eating them was beneficial for his cultivation level and lifeblood.

Yi Yun estimated that just this small table of dishes would cost a few hundred, if not a few thousand World Stones.

Thinking back of the painful expression that Lie Ya had when he had to produce more than a hundred World Stones, Yi Yun felt that he did not waste time coming to this banquet.

Although he had the Purple Crystal, he was not wealthy. Since he was at this banquet, he had come with the mentality that he would not suffer any losses. He would not miss out on delicious foods and drink. Hence, these spiritual wine and food quickly entered Yi Yun’s stomach.

Seeing Yi Yun eat carefreely, Ran Xueyi and Donglin Yu were impressed. How bold are you? Didn’t you noticed that Empress Luo had paid you attention a while ago? Don’t you feel that sitting at the third highest level in the middle is like sitting on a cushion of needles?

863 - : Unconforming to the rules

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ran Xueyi and Donglin Yu both felt that if they sat in such a striking location, especially if they were beside Luo Huo’er, they would only sit on a third of their seats, and they would sit with an extremely straight back. They would try their best not to get any food, and if they ate, it would just be a tiny portion. They would not reveal their teeth while eating or make a sound while chewing. If they drank any wine, they would hold the cup with two hands, and drink respectfully. Furthermore, if the Empresses did not hold a wine cup, they would not touch theirs.

But looking at Yi Yun, he was practically invincible. He was gulping food down by the mouthfuls. Whatever dish looked the most exquisite or had the richest Yuan Qi would be eaten. As for wine… it was as though he was afraid of choking on eating too much. He drank as he ate, using the wine to wash the food down.

This was truly… the perfect display of a bumpkin’s characteristics.

Thankfully, Empress Luo’s self-restraint was good. Despite there being a human punk, who obviously did not know the rules while sitting there, causing a scene, she could turn a blind eye towards it.

“Little Yun, are you the reincarnation of a starving ghost? Why are you eating so fast?”

Luo Huo’er was amused by Yi Yun’s actions and she wanted to laugh., But on the surface, she maintained her elegant and luxurious appearance.

Luo Huo’er detested such occasions greatly. It was too boring, and she had to constantly pay attention to etiquette. It was much better to chat with Yi Yun to amuse herself.

“Since Empress Luo is treating us, and she’s your arch-enemy and she has put out so much good spiritual food, I might as well eat them. It’s not like I’ll lose out.” Yi Yun sent a voice transmission as though it was for granted.

His tone clearly did not show any fear or respect for Empress Luo.

“Hehe, if you have the ability to eat her broke, that would be great! I’m telling you, don’t look at that old witch appearing as though she’s some mother of the world, she’s actually bad to the bone.”

In the royal palace, Luo Huo’er were restrained in various ways, so she did not dare to talk nonsense. Now, she had finally encountered a friend, so Luo Huo’er had no scruples in the way she spoke.

Previously, Luo Huo’er had encountered many people who were extremely respectful to Empress Luo, Empress Xuan and herself. They were so subservient that they wished that their eyes would grow on the ground and their backs were as bent as a shrimp. Luo Huo’er found Yi Yun, a person who did not care about rules just like her, very fun as though she had found a confidant.

As Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er began chatting through Yuan Qi voice transmissions, the banquet was not going very harmoniously on the other side.

Empress Xuan knew Empress Luo’s goal of hosting this banquet very well. She wanted to display her strength and make the young elites participating in the Luo Divine Hall trials know who was the true mother of the Luo clan. As such, more and more young elites would choose to join Empress Luo’s clan and turn their backs on Empress Xuan.

“I heard that Younger Sister brought quite a number of people from your family to participate in our Luo clan’s Luo Divine Hall trials. Especially that Xuan Junyue, I heard that he is the best in the present Xuan family generation. Why don’t I see dear nephew Junyue? I remembered sending him an invitation as well.” Empress Luo suddenly said to Empress Xuan.

Although her voice was not loud, everyone present could hear her clearly.

Xuan Junyue was an influential figure amongst the younger generation of the Xuan family. Compared to Ran Xueyi and Donglin Yu, his reputation exceeded theirs. He was not ranked as one of the four great young masters of the royal capital because the Xuan family was not located in the royal capital.

Empress Xuan smiled and said, “Junyue is still in reclusive training and he will not take a step out of the door for the next few days. He’s making preparations for the Luo Divine Hall trials.”

Empress Xuan found an excuse to deflect the question. Xuan Junyue obviously wasn’t in reclusive training. Back then, he had gone to Luo Huo’er’s palace and passed news to Luo Huo’er.

However, Empress Xuan would not let Xuan Junyue participate in the banquet hosted by Empress Luo. This was because Empress Xuan knew very well that Empress Luo wanted to show a display of strength at the banquet, and she would very likely begin with Xuan Junyue as one of her victims.

Xuan Junyue was the best genius in the Xuan family, and he was considered one of their highlighting banners. If Empress Luo were to target Xuan Junyue at the banquet, Empress Xuan’s camp would suffer a massive loss of reputation if Xuan Junyue were to lose.

Before the Luo Divine Hall trials, Empress Xuan could not afford to lose anything.

By appearing weaker than they did, and avoiding battle, it was much better than losing directly.

“Reclusive training? I think that Brother Junyue did not come because he is afraid?” At that moment, a loud voice resounded.

Everyone turned their heads in alarm and they looked at the person who said it. The person was sitting one level lower than Princess White Fox.

That seat was almost equivalent to Ran Xueyi and Donglin Yu, and it was considered a very noble seat.

Two people sat at the table, a man and a woman. The woman had a petite figure that looked like a child’s, while the man was youthful, muscular and stout. He wore red battle armor, and his voice sounded like the beat of a drum, with bold undertones.

The person who had openly mocked Xuan Junyue was this burly youth!

Empress Xuan frowned. With the status she enjoyed, how could she let a junior show her disrespect at this banquet?

However, before Empress Xuan spoke a word, Empress Luo had already opened her mouth and rebuked the person in question, “Luo Kui, I’m speaking with Empress Xuan, there’s no reason for you to interject!”

Empress Luo’s voice sounded harsh and she was faster than Empress Xuan. Her statement sounded like she was rebuking Luo Kui, but in fact, it was to shut Empress Xuan up.

Being rebuked wasn’t the loss of a piece of meat after all. It might even be possible that Luo Kui had said that statement as a mouthpiece of Empress Luo.

As the host, she could not say certain things. There was no fault in letting a rash and reckless junior say such words, but it still managed to achieve the effect of smacking Empress Xuan in the face.

The young elites present immediately felt that the banquet was beginning to be filled with the smell of gunpowder.

Indeed, Empress Luo and Empress Xuan were arch-enemies. How was it possible for them to exist peacefully at a banquet?

However, Empress Xuan had been calculative, and deliberately prevented Xuan Junyue from attending to evade any adverse consequences.

Although this was a smart move, Empress Xuan had already practically lost to Empress Luo by a notch.

Yi Yun wiped his mouth and glanced at Luo Kui. His cultivation level was at the perfected Heaven Ascension realm.

He had a deep Yuan Qi foundation and a tremendous bloodline. His strength was unfathomable.

That was the evaluation Yi Yun gave him.

“The Xuan Junyue that was mentioned can’t beat that big guy?” Yi Yun asked Luo Huo’er with a voice transmission.

Luo Huo’er grunted and said, “It’s not certain that he can’t beat him, but the number of people behind me and Mother are few in number. The best one is Xuan Junyue. However, Empress Luo has many more people on her side. The Luo Kui you see is just one of them. If we were really to go at odds, we will definitely lose out.”

“I see.” Yi Yun understood that as the saying goes, two fists had difficulty overcoming four hands. Having more people was always advantageous. Empress Xuan and Luo Huo’er’s foundations were just too weak after all. “Are you telling me that Empress Xuan will use this banquet to demonstrate a show of strength to us disciples who are joining the Luo Divine Hall trials, so that we will join her camp?”

“That’s right. That witch sure did her calculations!”

“How would the competition work? We can’t just fight here in the banquet, right?” Yi Yun was somewhat curious. There was not much space in the middle of the banquet hall, so if there was a fight, it would make the banquet hall a mess.

“Not necessarily. It might be a display of tricks in other aspects, showing the best of your skills, or whatever things that can add a bit of interest to the banquet. If it really came to blows, it would just be unbecoming. Why… don’t tell me you want to compete with that big guy?” Luo Huo’er asked with a grin.

But Yi Yun shook his head, “I might not be able to beat that big guy.”

The opponent was at the perfected Heaven Ascension realm, while Yi Yun had just entered the beginning stages of the Heaven Ascension realm. The Luo clan royal capital was filled with geniuses. Although Yi Yun was confident of himself, he was not certain that he could leapfrog such a vast difference in cultivation level and defeat a young elite from the cream of the crop of the Luo clan.

He did not know what tricks Luo Kui had at all.

The other side had come prepared, and if he did things on a whim, he would likely suffer if things came to blows.

“Hehehe, you are rather calm. Little Yun, I know you took first place at the Mt. Azure Billow trials. To have such an achievement, you must have encountered some interesting events in the lower realm, right? But compared to the geniuses in the royal capital, the Fire Cloud State and Phoenix Firmiana State don’t compare to much. Many of them are truly formidable! You are so many subrealms weaker than him, and you want to beat him? Difficult! And taking ten thousand steps back, even if you were to beat him, he has partners. Are you going to beat a dozen of them by yourself? Look at that petite girl. Her name is Luo Xiaodie, and she is also one who is not to be trifled with!”

864 - : Show of Strength

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Luo Xiaodie, Luo Kui… ”

Yi Yun looked at the man and woman, whose physiques were highly disparate. According to what Luo Huo’er said, Empress Luo had many geniuses under her. Luo Xiaodie and Luo Kui were only two of many.

In a sense, Empress Luo’s banquet had achieved the effect of displaying a show of force. Empress Xuan was inferior to her in every single way.

However, Empress Luo was not satisfied with this. Empress Xuan had deliberately avoided any conflict at the banquet by not bringing the Xuan family geniuses. This made Empress Luo feel like she was punching into cotton, it did not feel effective.

“Without Xuan Junyue here, it sure is boring!” Luo Kui said in an unruly manner, his voice echoing throughout the venue.

The impression that Luo Kui gave others was that he was an uninhibited boor. And he was apparently using this to deliberately say things that were out of line. He had challenged Empress Xuan’s bottom line again and again.

As Empress Luo ate some grapes, a smile hung on her face. She did not have any intentions of reprimanding Luo Kui.

Luo Kui felt as though he had been encouraged. Standing up from his seat, he cupped his hands and said to everyone, “Everyone, if it’s just eating and drinking, it might be somewhat boring. Let me add some excitement for everyone.”

After Luo Kui said this, he swept his gaze across the young elites on Empress Xuan’s side. Although there were quite a number of young elites clearly on Empress Xuan’s side, for example, Yi Yun, Gu Qing, Ling Wu, etc, Luo Kui could not call them out to thrash them. This was because the result of using them as targets was highly ineffective. Take Yi Yun for example, he was only at the beginning stages of the Heaven Ascension realm. Even if Luo Kui thrashed him, there would not be any sense of accomplishment. Instead, he might be rebuked as being a bully.

However, if he did not thrash these people, there was truly no one on Empress Xuan’s side either.

Luo Kui stroked his chin and as his gaze swept across the banquet hall, it ended up on Luo Huo’er. Immediately following that, a smile suffused across his lips.

“Your Highness! It was said that Your Highness’ attainments in fire-elemental laws are matchless and Your Highness is well-versed in the Desolate Heaven technique. No peer your own age can match you. Your humble servant has recently been researching fire-elemental laws and the Desolate Heaven technique and he is very interested in these aspects. However, your humble servant isn’t very well-versed at its practical effects. Will it be possible for Your Highness to give some advice?”

When Luo Kui said this, everyone in the audience was stunned.

Luo Kui may be asking for advice, but if Luo Huo’er were to accede to his request, he might do something nasty during the ‘advice-giving’. If that was the case, it would no longer be a simple problem of ‘advice-giving’!

What sort of identity did Luo Huo’er enjoy!? It was unexpected that Luo Kui would target Luo Huo’er after failing to find a target to thrash. This was practically him being lawless!

Indeed, Empress Xuan’s expression had already sunk.

She came knowing that Empress Luo would flaunt her power, and she had tolerated this repeatedly. However, it was unexpected that Empress Luo had set her sights on Luo Huo’er.

For a princess of the country to compete with a boor like Luo Kui, it would be a sully to Luo Huo’er’s reputation regardless of the outcome!

Actually, if it was just the Desolate Heaven technique, Empress Xuan believed that Luo Huo’er would win. However, it was most likely that Luo Kui was just a probe. After beating Luo Kui, it was certain that a better person would replace him. If Luo Huo’er accepted Luo Kui’s challenge but did not accept the match after his, it would not prevent others from thinking that Luo Huo’er feared the challenge because she was feeling unconfident of herself.

At that moment, Crimson Firmament said with a smile, “It is good for young people to desire to do better. Princess Purple Spirit is a person of a kindly disposition and it is well known for her love of talents. If you sincerely ask for her advice, she would definitely not hesitate to advise you.”

Crimson Firmament’s words were equivalent to acknowledging Luo Kui’s sudden thought. People had the belief that Empress Luo was only planned on suppressing the young elites on Empress Xuan’s side, but they never expected that they were planning on sullying Princess Purple Spirit’s good name!

At that moment, Luo Huo’er spoke with a sneer as she looked at Luo Kui. “Luo Kui, have you been conferred nobility?”

Facing Luo Huo’er’s question, Luo Kui failed to answer immediately. Amongst the younger generation of the Fey race, his background was definitely not bad. He was from the Cloud Sun Luo clan, so although it was inferior to Luo Huo’er, it was still one of the top twenty factions in the Luo clan. Compared to Ran Xueyi and Donglin Yu, he was not one bit inferior. However, Luo Huo’er had deliberately avoided Luo Kui’s background and she instead pointed out his lack of nobility.

Descendants of a noble family could easily enjoy a life of luxury, but if they wanted to be conferred nobility, they needed to accomplish actual meritorious achievements for the country!

Luo Kui was still young, so how could he have any merits whatsoever? He had not been conferred nobility, but for Luo Huo’er, as an heir to the throne, she had already been conferred the title of royalty!

The difference in their background may be small, but the gap in their nobility ranks was huge!

When Luo Huo’er hit Luo Kui on a soft spot, his expression turned ugly. He said with a muffled and unhappy voice, “Your humble servant is of a lowly status. According to the rules, there is truly no right to receive advice from Your Highness. However, rules are not absolute at times… For example, at this banquet, aren’t the seats also not determined according to the rules?”

When Luo Kui said this, everyone’s eyes could not help but drift towards Yi Yun.

Luo Huo’er had rebuked Luo Kui for not abiding the rules, but Luo Kui had struck back while keeping his countenance. Indeed, it was out of line for Luo Huo’er to allow Yi Yun to sit beside her.

“This brother, you truly have a good appetite.” Luo Kui said with a faint smile as he looked at the spiritual food that had been reduced to a large bone pile in front of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun did not expect that the arrows of conflict to suddenly shift back to him.

“I wonder which family clan does this brother come from and if he has a noble title?” He had knowingly asked the question.

Many people under Empress Luo’s camp looked at Yi Yun and they waited for him to make a fool of himself. However, they failed to see any look of distress on Yi Yun’s face. Yi Yun pulled out a snow-silk satin napkin from the table and he began slowly wiping his mouth. “Your humble servant comes from a countryside in the lower realm. As for my background… my ancestors are all farmers.”

Yi Yun’s response made everyone’s eyes nearly pop out. Even Empress Xuan’s people, such as Ling Wu and Gu Qing, were impressed at Yi Yun’s nerves. If anyone was squeezed in such a way, one would typically hope to hide away. Yet, he had been able to answer in all seriousness.

“Hahaha!” Luo Kui laughed out loud. “Brother, you sure are ‘simple’. Brother, you must have gotten to know Princess Purple Spirit in the lower realm. Her Highness is truly considerate and kind to men of talent, considering how she has given such a privilege to a human from the lower realm.”

When Luo Kui said this, everyone was enlightened. So this fellow had gotten to know Princess Purple Spirit back in the lower realm. Princess Purple Spirit was surely immature. How could she favor a fellow that she got to know in the lower realm?

Empress Luo glanced at Empress Xuan as a teasing smile suffused across her lips. Although she did not believe that the extremely lofty-minded Luo Huo’er would fall in love with Yi Yun, if she were to embellish the story and report it to Emperor Luo, Emperor Luo would definitely feel furious even if he was fond of Luo Huo’er. This would be shameful for the royal family.

At that moment, Yi Yun had just wiped his mouth and used a snow-silk satin napkin to wipe clean his hands. Then he threw the napkin down and said, “I learned a bit of the Desolate Heaven technique in the lower realm. I had received five or six months worth of education in the Desolate Heaven technique with Princess Purple Spirit, so I can be considered to have a tiny bit of success in it.”

“Didn’t you wish for Princess Purple Spirit to give you advice on the Desolate Heaven technique? You already said that you just began researching on the Desolate Heaven technique, and I guess that your standard can’t be that high. You might not even be up to my level. If you were to directly get Princess Purple Spirit to give you advice, I’m afraid that you wouldn’t be able to comprehend it. Why not I give you some advice?”

When Yi Yun said this, everyone present was dumbfounded.

Even Empress Luo was somewhat stunned, let alone Luo Kui.

Yi Yun’s words were filled with information. They also knew that Yi Yun had come in first place at the Mt. Azure Billow collective training. With Yi Yun’s background, it was already astounding to have such an achievement.

But… Yi Yun also knew the Desolate Heaven technique!?

“Five or six months worth of education in the Desolate Heaven technique”?

“Considered to have a tiny bit of success”?

The Desolate Heaven technique was intricate and profound. Without a few decades of hard work, it was impossible to have any success! Yi Yun was obviously bragging!

But if it was said that Yi Yun had been exposed to the Desolate Heaven technique for decades, it was also impossible. He was a warrior from the lower realm, with a bone age of less than forty. Martial arts would have taken a great deal of his time, so how could he spare the time to study the Desolate Heaven technique?

“Little Yun, what are you saying?” At that moment, Luo Huo’er’s Yuan Qi voice transmission reverberated in Yi Yun’s ear. “Little Yun, I know that you have some talent in the Desolate Heaven technique, but you do not know that the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique is the best in all of the 12 Empyrean Heavens. It’s completely different to the Desolate Heaven technique from the lower realm. Be it technique or hand seals, all the methods are different! After coming to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, have you learned the Desolate Heaven technique from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven?”

Yi Yun shook his head. He obviously understood the rationale behind Luo Huo’er’s words. Although Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal, the time he spent learning the Desolate Heaven technique was too short. Even in the lower realm, the time he spent learning the Desolate Heaven technique was counted in months, let alone while he was in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.

“Hahaha!” Luo Kui suddenly burst out into laughter. “What did you say? Did you want to advise me? That’s interesting. I had just nonchalantly mentioned that I’m a beginner at the Desolate Heaven technique, and a person like you who has only studied the Desolate Heaven technique for five or six months jumped out to advise me? A godly person like you has actually gained the favor of Her Highness? Are you not a cheat? You have used Her Highness’s attention to talent to fool her!” Luo Kui derided relentlessly.

He did not dare to insult Princess Purple Spirit, but he had no scruple when it came to Yi Yun. Regardless if Yi Yun had deceived Princess Purple Spirit or not, mocking Yi Yun would be equivalent to sullying Princess Purple Spirit’s reputation.

At that moment, Yi Yun had already stood up.

Luo Kui gave Yi Yun a contemptuous look. He was ambitious and he belittled the geniuses present. He could only make a name for himself by trampling on the high and mighty princess. By aiding Prince Crimson Firmament in ascending to the throne, he would eventually be conferred nobility.

But at this point, he could not even trample on a princess, but a small fry had come courting death.

Luo Kui had been cultivating for eighty years and he had studied the Desolate Heaven technique for more than a decade. He had definitely come prepared! Even if he met Luo Huo’er, he was confident that he could match her.

There were many people present who knew of Luo Kui’s background. As they looked at Yi Yun, they shook their heads. This was all a farce.

Seeing how this matter could no longer be prevented, Luo Huo’er’s lips quivered. She eventually chose to remain silent. She understood Yi Yun. She knew that Yi Yun would often do unexpected things. Previously in the Tai Ah Divine City, Luo Huo’er had believed that she would definitely triumph over him, but she always ended up suffering.

But this time, Luo Huo’er had no idea how Yi Yun was going to beat Luo Kui.

865 - : You are a Cheat

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, Luo Kui had already taken out his treasured cauldron. It stood three feet tall and as it spun mid-air, Luo Kui’s crossed his arms on his chest. He gave Yi Yun a haughty look and said, “Come on, I’m waiting for whatever you can teach!”

Luo Kui’s treasured cauldron was made of an unknown metal. There were all sorts of patterns carved on it, making it look primitively simple.

Yi Yun glanced at Luo Kui’s cauldron and he felt that it had to be worth a fortune.

The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique was not only different to the technique from the lower realms, even the tools used were completely different. In the Tian Yuan world, most Desolate Heaven techniques used disk arrays, not cauldrons.

Without a doubt, Luo Kui’s cauldron was more advanced than the Tian Yuan world’s disk arrays.

“Why are you looking at my Eclipse Cauldron? Are you scared silly from the ancient aura of the Eclipse Cauldron?” Luo Kui laughed.

The Eclipse Cauldron was an ancient Desolate Heaven Cauldron found in a ruin. It might not be famous in the Luo clan, but if it was placed in an auction, it was definitely an ancient treasure worth vying for.

Despite many of the young elites present not knowing the Desolate Heaven technique, they could tell from its aura that the Eclipse Cauldron was no ordinary item.

Yi Yun ignored Luo Kui. All he did was slowly take out a Desolate Heaven technique disk array.

It was a one-foot square disk array that came from the Tian Yuan world. It looked dusty and simple, and it was completely nondescript.

And in fact, the disk array was consistent in and out. Its quality was indeed nothing to speak of.

Yi Yun was not a professional Desolate Heaven Master after all. Although he brought a disk array used by Desolate Heaven Master with him, the disk array would not have been considered something impressive in the lower realm. In the 12 Empyrean Heavens, it would only appear even worse.

Seeing Yi Yun take out a Desolate Heaven technique disk array, Luo Kui was dumbfounded. This punk actually took such a joke of an item to compete with him?

Just the runic patterns carved on the disk array were not worth mentioning. It was not even enough to describe it as a heaven and earth difference. It was like two warrior sparring. One was using a divine weapon, while the other was using a kitchen knife. What’s the point of fighting?

Empress Xuan also began to frown slightly at that moment. She had believed that in such an important occasion, Yi Yun definitely had something to rely on and he would not have pushed his face forward to be slapped.

Hence, Empress Xuan still had the illusion of hope, wishing that Yi Yun was truly a Desolate Heaven technique genius, allowing him to compete with Luo Kui with his lower realm background and his bone age of less than forty. But now, Yi Yun had taken out such a disk array that could enter the annals of wonders. He would only be able to demonstrate 30% of his full prowess.

She could not help but ask, “Yi Yun, don’t you have a desolate heaven cauldron? I can bestow one to you.”

Yi Yun was from a lower realm, so it was normal for him to lack a desolate heaven cauldron. However, Empress Xuan never expected that Yi Yun would shake his head and say, “Thank you, Your Majesty, for bestowing a reward to me. Unfortunately, your humble servant has never used a desolate heaven cauldron, nor does your humble servant understand the mysteries within them. Your humble servant will probably take a period of time to learn it, so it’s handier to use a disk array.”

What Yi Yun said was the truth. Regardless of how good his perception was, he did not dare to claim that he could immediately use a desolate heaven cauldron without any practice.

With Yi Yun saying this, all the young elites present were dumbfounded.

Could Yi Yun not have been exposed to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique? Was he planning on using the lower realm’s Desolate Heaven technique to trash Luo Kui?

Luo Kui stared at Yi Yun. Damn it, is this kid here to amuse him?

He felt that Yi Yun must have studied the Desolate Heaven technique in the lower realm and believed that he had matchless talent. Yi Yun must not be aware of how terrifying the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique was. Competing with such a retard was a lowering of his posturing. It was rather meaningless to win.

He planned on trampling a princess, but he only managed to step on dog shit. Luo Kui did not even have the mood for this competition.

“Let’s quickly begin. What bad luck!” Luo Kui said impatiently.

With a wave of his hand, a Fey beast bone was thrown into Yi Yun’s hand.

“Come, ‘advise’ me. A third-grade Fey bone, I want to see what you can come up with.”

Yi Yun flipped the Fey bone in his hand and said nonchalantly, “Just one Fey bone? Is there no spare?”

This Fey bone’s quality obviously surpassed the ones from the lower realm. However, it was not too much an exaggeration. With Yi Yun’s Desolate Heaven technique standard and the Purple Crystal’s help, refining such a Fey bone was not difficult.

“No!” Luo Kui sneered and said, “You don’t even have the confidence to refine a third-grade Fey bone in one shot. If your standard is this good, how can you be worthy to advise me?”

Yi Yun smiled and no longer spoke. He threw the Fey bone into the desolate heaven technique disk array and he began to activate its runic patterns.

Immediately, the runic patterns lit up. Yi Yun began to routinely form hand seals. The seals he formed were all ones that Su Jie taught him back in the lower realm.

The Tian Yuan world’s desolate beast and the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Fey beasts were similar. Yi Yun speculated that it might have been possible that the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Fey beasts had somehow gone to the lower realm and began breeding with the wild beasts in the lower realms, eventually forming desolate beasts. Hence, the techniques that Su Jie taught him could similarly be used while refining a Fey bone.

However, in the eyes of a professional, these techniques were downright trash. It was just too simple. It was like a group of scholars attending an imperial examination turning back to see a child who had just begun reading… a child who had been home-schooled to memorize the ‘Three Character Classic’. With this standard, he even had the nerve to say that he knew the Desolate Heaven technique?

Luo Kui was infuriated just looking at Yi Yun’s clumsy performance.

This guy was truly an extremely ignorant hick!

He had believed that Yi Yun had something backing him for him to dare jump out, and he was still feeling afraid of failing miserably at an easy task.

But now, Yi Yun was beginning to refine the Fey bone. The hand seals he used were lousy, and the seals he formed didn’t make sense. He found his original thoughts laughable considering what Yi Yun was using to back himself.

With Luo Kui’s own experience, he could instantly judge that the relics refined by Yi Yun would be in the poor grade at best. This was determined from the hand seals that Yi Yun formed. It was impossible for it to be higher.

And for the same relic, if Luo Kui were to refine it, it would at least reach the ‘refined’ grade, or even approach the ‘outstanding’ grade!

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, relics of the same grade would be ranked based on the outcome of the refinement, and they went from poor, ordinary, refined, outstanding, transcendent, to spiritual emergence!

The outstanding grade was the limit for a low-grade relic. As for ‘transcendent’ and ‘spiritual emergence’, that was an evaluation reserved only for high-grade relics.

Luo Kui wanted to be able to produce an outstanding third-grade relic at the banquet and astound everyone. But thinking about it, it was truly too difficult.

As Luo Kui was thinking, Yi Yun suddenly spoke. “Aren’t you beginning?”

Yi Yun could speak to him while he was refining a relic?

Luo Kui was taken aback momentarily. However, he brushed it off immediately. The lower realm’s techniques might be too simple, so it made it possible for him to speak while refining. He could even produce three cauldrons of relics and refine them at one go with such a lowly technique.

“It looks like you think you aren’t dying fast enough. If that’s the case, let me show you what the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique is!”

866 - : Eclipse Cauldron versus Desolate Heaven Technique Disk Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

Luo Kui began. Although his opponent was trash, Luo Kui planned on doing his best. There was no meaning in thrashing Yi Yun. Now, he was in the pursuit of refining a relic that was nearing the outstanding grade, so he could astound everyone present.

Luo Kui threw the Fey bone into the Eclipse Cauldron and he extracted all the energy in one fell swoop!

Boom!

Luo Kui’s body began to burn with blue flames, and behind him, a gigantic, thousand-feet blue centipede shot towards the sky!

This centipede was more than a hundred feet tall as it charged straight for the ceiling.

The Thousand-feet Demon Centipede was Luo Kui’s bloodline. After it appeared, it shot towards Luo Kui’s Eclipse Cauldron!

This is…

Everyone was alarmed. Luo Kui was planning to refine his Ancient Fey bloodline with the Fey bone?

Although everyone knew that it was impossible for Luo Kui to damage his Ancient Fey bloodline to refine a single relic, it was still a stunning sight for them when they saw him seal the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede in the Eclipse Cauldron.

“That’s not the case.” At that moment, a Desolate Heaven Master spoke out. “The Thousand-feet Demon Centipede is one of the rare insect-based Ancient Fey. Its body is highly toxic. Ancient mighty figures would have their bodies disintegrate and die if they were bitten once by it. The Thousand-feet Demon Centipede usually likes to eat all sorts of treasured herbs and poisons. Treasured herbs and Fey bones, which have many kinds of medicinal essences and energies of differing types, or even opposite types, can be refined in its body. It will allow the medicinal essences to merge and be made usable by the Demon Centipede.”

“Hence, in ancient times, a Thousand-feet Demon Centipede was invaluable. Just the amount of medicinal essence accumulated in its body would allow a supreme-grade pill to be refined if it is used.”

With the Desolate Heaven Master’s explanation, everyone came to an understanding. The Thousand-feet Demon Centipede could extract the energy from all sorts of herbs and Fey bones that it devoured. So the reason why Luo Kui had sent his Demon Centipede bloodline into the Eclipse Cauldron was to aid him in refining a supreme-grade relic!

By using the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede, it would be half the work with double the results!

“No wonder such a burly man like Luo Kui would choose to be a Desolate Heaven Master, and waste his precious time cultivating. It’s all because he has a Thousand-feet Demon Centipede!”

“Indeed, if the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede can help devour the Fey bone and extract its energy, then it would not be a waste for him to be a Desolate Heaven Master.”

As the people were engaged in a flurry of discussion, they felt a bit jealous of him. With the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede helping him, Luo Kui’s Desolate Heaven technique would definitely attain great success one day.

Furthermore, Desolate Heaven Masters enjoyed a high status in the Luo clan. Many Supremacies from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven would frequently come to the Luo clan to buy a relic for a high price.

For example, the third Imperial Uncle of the Luo clan, who had retired, was Supremacy-ranked Desolate Heaven Master. He was a person that even if Emperor Luo met him, he would respectfully bow with a junior’s greeting.

If it wasn’t for the third Imperial Uncle retiring, to put it bluntly, if he put his foot down, he could decide who the next Emperor of the Luo clan would be. There was no need for any competition for the throne!

At that moment, Luo Kui threw another few pieces of bone fragments and herbs into the Eclipse Cauldron.

Dang!

After the supplemental herbs were added into the Eclipse Cauldron, its lid immediately sealed it tight!

Some of the keen-eyed young elites present could tell at a glance that the bone fragments and herbs that Luo Kui had thrown into the Eclipse Cauldron were extraordinary items. Some of them were worth even more than the third grade Fey bone that he had taken out.

The Fey bone supplements were higher in value than the main Fey bone!

From the looks of it, Luo Kui was determined to refine a supreme-grade relic.

But in fact, using higher valued Fey bones as supplements to forcefully upgrade a low-level relic’s grade was somewhat contrived. A truly powerful Desolate Heaven Master would refine a low-level Fey bone into a high-grade relic. Only then was there value in it.

However, that was too difficult. Luo Kui had only been practicing the Desolate Heaven technique for about a decade after all. It was already quite amazing for him to attain what he did.

“Luo Kui using so many supplemental Fey bones makes the competition somewhat unfair. Yi Yun only used a single Fey bone and nothing else.”

“So what? This isn’t even a competition. It’s just an individual performance by Luo Kui! I also know a little bit of the Desolate Heaven technique. The disk array that Yi Yun is using is fully exposed. Regardless of the seals he forms, I can see them clearly. Yi Yun’s seals would not be able to refine any relics of a good grade, so it’s impossible for him to win. Furthermore, his low-level seals aren’t even considered perfect. As such, being able to refine that Fey bone itself should be his limit. He would not be able to handle the adding of any more supplemental Fey bones, so what’s so unfair about it?” A Desolate Heaven apprentice spoke.

He did not speak without thinking.

Yi Yun may have talent in the Desolate Heaven technique, but his age was less than half of Luo Kui’s. The profession of a Desolate Heaven Master required the accumulation of time. Furthermore, Yi Yun had yet to fully come into contact with the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique, so the outcome was destined.

At that moment, even Luo Huo’er was feeling anxious.

She was certain that Yi Yun would not lose out. Since he dared to step forward, there was something that was backing him. But now, with Yi Yun’s relic being almost 70% refined, there was still not a single miracle!

Luo Huo’er was probably the most qualified person present to comment on the competition. She was not only proficient in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique, she was also proficient in the lower realm’s Desolate Heaven technique. She obviously knew that with the techniques being used by Yi Yun, the quality of the relics that he refined would only be a ‘poor’ grade!

By using the most primitive methods to build a stone hut with a heap of construction materials, there was no way that a top architect could change it into a magnificent palace when the stone hut was nearing completion.

As for Luo Kui, he was using a supreme-grade desolate heaven cauldron, and with so many supplemental materials, as well as the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede bloodline, Luo Huo’er estimated that the quality of the relic Luo Kui would refine would be between ‘refined’ and ‘outstanding’. The difference was like night and day.

Other than that, Luo Kui’s refining speed was faster than Yi Yun’s. Yi Yun had only refined 70%, while Luo Kui had already refined 90%!

In less than three minutes, Luo Kui’s relic would be completed!

However, Luo Huo’er could tell that when the relic was nearing completion, Luo Kui was beginning to have problems holding it together. After all, he had used so many supplemental Fey bones, so it was demanding on his mental strength. Imperfections began to appear in Luo Kui’s seals, and these meant that the quality of his relic was going to be at the ‘refined’ grade.

Seconds changed to minutes. Yi Yun formed one seal after another and he proceeded in a prescribed routine, as though he was not worried at all.

At the same time, Yi Yun had already opened his energy vision. Others could not see the situation inside the Eclipse Cauldron, but he could see it clearly.

In the Eclipse Cauldron, the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede was at its limits. It was not a true Thousand-feet Demon Centipede, after all, it was only a bloodline that Luo Kui had conjured. After eating up too much energy in one fell swoop, it could not digest it fully. As a result, its body swelled up as though it was about to burst.

And at the same time, the energy seals that Luo Kui produced were brought together. He was about to condensed them into a relic.

As Luo Huo’er said, these energy seals had their imperfections. It was not easy for ordinary people to detect them, but Yi Yun could see them very clearly. He could even clearly tell how many imperfections there were.

It was true that Yi Yun did not fully understand the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique, but with the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun knew what the perfect form of energy should be.

The spots where the energies were imperfect accumulated and gradually expanded in size. At the moment the relic took form, all of them would merge instantly and reach their largest size. However, it would not explode as it would be forcefully suppressed by Luo Kui’s relic-forming hand seals. Finally, they would be left in the relic, and become the relic’s energy ‘holes’, affecting the relic’s rating.

In fact, when Luo Kui was using a hand seal to forcefully merge the energy seals together was the moment when the energy was most stable. This was an immense challenge on Luo Kui’s mental strength, and it was this reason that the relic formation was a critical stage when Desolate Heaven Masters refined a relic. There could be no mistake.

At that moment, Luo Kui’s relic was nearing completion.

Hundreds of energy seals were already condensed by Luo Kui. The final step was combining them together. He was in full concentration as his forehead began sweating.

Although it was only a third-grade relic, by using so many supplemental Fey bones, it was also an extremely big challenge for Luo Kui to produce an outstanding grade relic. He was also reaching his limit. If not, he would not have produced so many flaws on the energy seals towards the end.

Although it might have missed out on the outstanding grade by a hair, for Luo Kui to obtain such results, it was already something that he could be proud of. After all, despite having only cultivated for eighty years, his strength was not only exceptional, he had also been able to divert some attention onto the Desolate Heaven technique!

Combine!

Luo Kui isolated himself from distractions as his remaining mental strength was devoted into the Eclipse Cauldron, so he could control the energy seal’s merger.

Hundred of energy seals began to emit beams as bright as the sun in the Eclipse Cauldron. Just as it was about to merge as one…

A summoning force that no one could perceive mixed itself inside the energy seals. This summoning force was without shape or form, as though it was the Origin powers at the beginning of the Universe… Even Empress Luo or Empress Xuan, let alone Luo Kui, couldn’t sense it.

At that moment, nearly everyone’s attention was focused on Luo Kui’s Eclipse Cauldron. No one paid Yi Yun any mind. Yi Yun was standing by the side, condensing his energy seals while controlling the Purple Crystal. He began to lightly ‘nudge’ the hundreds of energy seals.

Just this light nudge moved the most critical energy combination point. It forcefully repressed many of the imperfects in the energy seals…

Instantly, it was like a spark dropping into an oil well. The delicate balance of energy was broken.

Luo Kui, who was nearing his limits, was late by the time it took to blink as he realized the nearly undetectable energy disturbance! Although the time it took to blink was short, it was fatal for the critical moment of relic formation.

No good!

Luo Kui widened his eyes as his pupils turned bloodshot. He bellowed as all the power from his bloodline burned. The Thousand-feet Demon Centipede in the Eclipse Cauldron opened its mouth wide and it tried to devour the collapsing energy seals. It was trying to maintain the relic at the risk of destroying the relic’s quality.

However, the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede was already severely bloated and it was a spent force, so how could it succeed?

Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony as he controlled the Purple Crystal to nudge a second energy combination point.

As such, the collapse of the energy could no longer be stopped!

Boom!

A tumultuous explosion happened as the hovering Eclipse Cauldron violently trembled. The cauldron’s lid was blown open and it heavily slammed into the ceiling. It had smashed a brick on the ceiling into smithereens!

Phew—

A blazing blue fireball rose up into the sky. Luo Kui’s Thousand-feet Demon Centipede bloodline’s phantom image was enveloped in the blue fireball as it struggled in pain!

The Thousand-feet Demon Centipede bloodline was considered strong, but with it being at its limits and being caught unaware, it had been engulfed by the shock wave at a close distance. Furthermore, it was in a sealed space in the Eclipse Cauldron, so the impact was imaginable!

Luo Kui, who was mentally linked to the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede, grunted as he retreated backward and fell to the ground. His face was as pale as a sheet of paper!

Two streams of black blood began to flow down from Luo Kui’s ears. This was the most accurate portrayal of the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede’s damage. The shock wave in an enclosed space had blasted through the Thousand-feet Demon Centipede’s ears, causing it to be severely injured. It would take him a few months to recover from these injuries.

Dong!

The Eclipse Cauldron heavily slammed onto the ground as black ash spilled out of it…

Luo Kui was battered out of his senses. His face was blank as he dully looked at the rolling Eclipse Cauldron on the ground. He could not believe his eyes.

The cauldron blew up? His refining of a relic had ended up in him blowing up the cauldron…

At such an important occasion, Empress Luo, Empress Xuan, elites from all over the world, and his future master, Prince Crimson Firmament, were all present, but he blew up his cauldron! Luo Kui’s heart was palpitating!

“This… ”

The young elites present all widened their eyes. Some of them were not even aware of the wine glasses that they had knocked over.

Luo Kui was just about to refine a relic that was a ‘refined’ grade at the minimum in an ostentatious display of his prowess. But at the final moment, he had blown his cauldron up.

As a result, he did not even have the poorest grade of a relic. It went from a ‘refined’-grade relic to a pile of ash. This sudden change was too great!

Seeing Luo Kui look as though he had lost his soul, everyone knew that this failure would deal a terrible blow to his confidence. In the future, Luo Kui might even have a mental demon when he refined relics. He might end up being afraid of all sorts of things, affecting his future achievement in the Desolate Heaven technique.

The elites present, including Empress Luo and Empress Xuan, were stunned by the blowing up of Luo Kui’s cauldron. However, there was one person who was unaffected, and that was… Yi Yun!

As everyone recollected their thoughts, they saw that Yi Yun was still controlling his crude disk array as he slowly refined a Fey bone relic.

His motions could only be described as leisurely. The speed at which he formed seals did not seem like he was refining a Fey bone relic. Instead, it could be described as him picking mushrooms in the wild.

On one side, one had blown up a cauldron, while the other looked relaxed. This contrast was way too big…

However slow he was, Yi Yun had managed to finish the final seal as he began to do the final relic formation.

Yi Yun’s relic formation technique was also nothing fancy. It was the crudest relic formation technique from the lower realm. He had finished it quickly, but it was simple and crude.

“Dong!”

A gray relic rolled into Yi Yun’s hand from the disk array.

Some high-grade relics would be crystalline upon after refinement, but the relic that Yi Yun refined did not look good, as though there were impurities within it. Furthermore, its quality rating did not go beyond its appearance. It was truly consistent in and out.

Quality evaluation — Poor.

When Yi Yun held the relic, he noticed that there was a bit of ash on its surface. Using his sleeve, he nonchalantly wiped it and placed it on the maidservant’s tray, and motioned for her to hand it to Empress Luo.

“Your Majesty, your humble servant’s relic has been completed. Your humble servant has only been exposed to the Desolate Heaven technique for four to five months after all. It’s quite nice to produce such a poor-quality third-grade relic. Now, your humble servant wants to present it to Your Majesty.”

Seeing the maidservant hand the gray relic to Empress Luo, everyone present was dumbfounded. Their eyes were fixated on the relic as they could not turn their gazes away.

Holy shit, what was going on? Don’t tell me that Yi Yun has won!?

Many people began to come to this realization. On one side, one had blown his cauldron up, while the other side had refined a poor grade relic, but at least he had completed it.

At that moment, Prince Crimson Firmament felt as though his heart was being trampled upon by a million Ancient Fey beasts with mud-stained hoofs.

He felt like he was a super retard. He had played a secondary role with the retard, Luo Kui, in a super humorous silly play. Unexpectedly, he would become the laughing stock of the royal capital in the next few days.

As for Yi Yun, this fellow, who looked like he was low on his intellectual quotient, had become the final victor.

“Only been exposed to the Desolate Heaven technique for four or five months.”

“Quite nice to produce such a poor-quality third-grade relic… ”

Thinking back to Yi Yun’s words, Prince Crimson Firmament wanted to slam his head into a wall. This fellow, who looked like he had a screw loose, had actually won!?

Or was this punk acting the pig? However, Prince Crimson Firmament had a few thousand years of cultivation at least. He had been focused on the competition from beginning to end. He did not feel that Yi Yun had secretly done something — how could he have that ability!?

“Pfft!”

A pearly laughter was suddenly heard. Luo Huo’er had burst out into laughter.

She was a person with a child’s temperament and she was never serious, to begin with. She had forcibly put on an elegant look for this banquet. How could she tolerate it when she truly encountered such an interesting matter?

Seeing many people looking at her, especially with Prince Crimson Firmament looking as though his mother had died, Luo Huo’er quickly gave a dry cough and dabbed her mouth with a handkerchief. Again, she put on a serious expression.

However, the more she behaved this way, the more depressed Prince Crimson Firmament felt.

Luo Huo’er holding back her laughter and pretending to be serious was the greatest travesty against him. This was because he felt that Luo Huo’er was mocking him.

“Prince Crimson Firmament, I… I can’t accept it!”

At that moment, the dispirited Luo Kui suddenly got up. How could he accept it? From his point of view, an unpredictable problem had happened when he was combining the seals. It had caused him to blow his cauldron and give Yi Yun a free win. “Just one more time. One more time and I will be able to refine a top grade relic!”

After Luo Kui said this, Prince Crimson Firmament’s expression turned even uglier. Luo Huo’er laughed and said, “Luo Kui, it was you who said it yourself. You have failed to refine a third-grade relic, so what qualifications do you have to continue competing? This time, you poked a hole through the roof, if you are given another chance, are you going to demolish this place?”

Luo Huo’er played with her handkerchief and spoke without sparing his feelings. The Luo Lucid Palace was not meant to be an area for the refinement of relics. It was not indestructible. When the cauldron blew up, it had shattered a brick.

867 - : A Free Win?

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Luo Huo’er said those words, everyone present fell silent. The result was obvious. Yi Yun had managed to refine a relic at least. But for Luo Kui, despite his ostentatious razzle-dazzle, he had ended up refining a pile of ash.

Empress Xuan failed to understand what had happened either. She looked at Yi Yun with amazement, unsure if Yi Yun knew that he would win from the beginning. Everything looked like a coincidence, but Yi Yun’s calm and leisurely composure from the very beginning made her feel like he had everything in his grasp.

Had he foreseen this outcome from the very beginning?

“Huo’er, what happened?” Empress Xuan sent a voice transmission to Luo Huo’er.

“Hehe, Mother, as to what specifically happened, I do not know either. But Yi Yun is a very interesting person. It’s not easy to make him suffer!”

Amongst the people present, Luo Huo’er was the one who understood Yi Yun the best. Although Yi Yun looked harmless, he was extremely nefarious. He was filled with evil ideas!

“Oh? You think so highly of Yi Yun?” Empress Xuan was rather surprised. She knew her daughter the best. Luo Huo’er may appear a bit childish, but she was very arrogant deep down. She despised everyone, but she had given Yi Yun such a good evaluation.

If that was the case, Empress Xuan felt that she had to review the young man once again.

Upon hearing Empress Xuan say that, Luo Huo’er’s face blushed. How could her evaluation not be high? She had suffered under the hands of Yi Yun several times in the Tai Ah Divine City. Someone who could make her suffer was obviously powerful, unless she wanted to put herself down?

Of course, the mishaps in the lower realm, especially how her body had been seen by Yi Yun was something that she definitely did not want to tell Empress Xuan. It would be unimaginable what Empress Xuan would think of that.

Just as Luo Huo’er was machinating something, Empress Xuan’s follow-up statement made Luo Huo’er’s face turn sullen. Empress Xuan had said, “Huo’er, in a while, tell Mother of your experiences in the lower realm.”

Ah?

Luo Huo’er’s eyes widened and nearly choked. How could she… mention those things?

Worst of all, her mother was the person who understood her the most. If she made up a story, it was easy for her to be exposed. Also back then, when Luo Huo’er was left in the Tai Ah Divine City, there were Luo clan clansmen who were responsible for protecting Luo Huo’er’s safety. Although they had never appeared, or even stepped into the divine city once, they more or less knew of certain things. As long as Empress Xuan asked them, and compare the facts with what Luo Huo’er said, it was easy for her to deduce which were real or fake…

Upon thinking about this, Luo Huo’er felt bitter in her heart.

…

“Aren’t you going down? Haven’t you shamed yourself enough?” Prince Crimson Firmament’s voice transmission boomed in Luo Kui’s ears.

Luo Kui had suffered a heavy blow and his Ancient Fey bloodline had been damaged. He stood back up unsteadily and staggered back to his seat.

He was unconvinced!

However, he also knew that he had lost!

Luo Kui felt as though he was sitting on pins and needles in the palace. Every second that he stayed in it, he felt as though his face was burning, as though everyone else was mocking him.

However, he would feel indignant if he were to leave. He felt that Yi Yun had obtained a free win, and with Yi Yun’s Desolate Heaven technique level, even his Desolate Heaven technique servant was better than Yi Yun, let alone himself!

Therefore, no matter how embarrassing it was, Luo Kui insisted on sitting in his seat and wait for Yi Yun to be trampled on.

Luo Kui wiped the blood flowing out of his nose and ears and said angrily, “Prince Crimson Firmament, your subject is ashamed, but… but that punk is complete crap. You have to rescue the situation.”

“There’s no need for your incessant talk. I know what to do!” Prince Crimson Firmament said with a Yuan Qi voice transmission.

He was of the mind to ignore Luo Kui, but what Luo Kui said was right. He had to rescue the situation. If not, he would definitely become the laughing stock of the royal capital. If Emperor Luo were to hear about today’s matter, it was unknown how he would think of him.

When Prince Crimson Firmament looked at Yi Yun, his eyes gave off a strange flair.

He did not believe that everything had been machinated by Yi Yun, mainly because he doubted that Yi Yun had such an ability.

Taking ten thousand steps back, even if Yi Yun had any inkling of involvement in the matter, his Desolate Heaven technique was definitely extremely limited. Yi Yun’s age was obvious for all to see. Prince Crimson Firmament refused to believe that Yi Yun’s standard could be even a tenth of Luo Kui’s.

Prince Crimson Firmament took a deep breath and looked at Empress Luo.

In contrast, Empress Luo appeared calm. She only nodded her head, indicating that she was leaving everything to Prince Crimson Firmament.

This banquet was prepared for Prince Crimson Firmament, to pave his way to the throne. Now that there was an unexpected incident at the banquet, Prince Crimson Firmament had to take care of it.

Prince Crimson Firmament faltered slightly as his eyes darted to his side and swept across Princess White Fox.

Princess White Fox was sitting quietly in her seat, as though she was a pure Snow Lotus. Even the outcome of the competition had not perturbed her much.

Prince Crimson Firmament knew that Princess White Fox’s Desolate Heaven technique was peerless amongst the younger generation. If she were to compete, only Luo Huo’er was worthy of being her opponent.

It was impossible for Princess White Fox to deal with a single Yi Yun as it would be a hit to her reputation.

“Luo Mo!” Prince Crimson Firmament’s voice transmission was sent out of the palace.

In about half a minute, a handsome young man walked into the main hall. His long hair was tied to his back, and he wore black and white clothes. There were delicate and beautiful scenic drawings on his clothes. He did not look like a warrior at all, he looked like a scholar who dabbled in the arts.

“Young Master Luo Mo?” The moment that the handsome young man appeared, someone immediately shouted Luo Mo’s name.

He was Luo Mo, the one who had the title of the number one genius amongst the younger generation of the royal capital!

Luo Mo was not one of the four great young masters of the royal capital, mainly because his background was not prominent. He was only from an insignificant branch of the Luo clan, but he was still famous in the royal capital, despite not being from an illustrious background.

The label of ’genius’ was because of his talent in various aspects.

It was enough for a typical warrior to have martial talent, but for Luo Mo, not only was his martial talent exceptional, but he was also proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Furthermore, he had very high attainments in the Desolate Heaven technique.

In the warrior’s world, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting were used as a form of entertainment and they were not considered a main way of life. But Luo Mo had managed to develop his martial path through music, chess, calligraphy and painting, which was an amazing feat. And due to his talent, and his good looks, Luo Mo had won the hearts of many women. In the royal capital, many women from good families were rushing to marry him.

“Luo Mo was also here at the banquet, but why didn’t anyone notice him?”

Many young elites were surprised. For a person like Luo Mo, who was well known, he would definitely have stolen the limelight if he had appeared and been the focus of attention.

“He must be in one of the side rooms. There is a small feast in the side rooms, and the level of service there is extremely high. If I’m not wrong, the side room must be filled with important figures. It might be the geniuses under Empress Luo and Prince Crimson Firmament.” People discussed with Yuan Qi voice transmissions.

With this said, everyone understood.

So this was the case. Empress Luo was setting up a banquet with malicious purposes. She was worried that if her line-up was revealed, it might appear too strong, frightening Empress Xuan out of her wits.

If that were the case, Empress Xuan might choose to suffer the reputation of being afraid to go to battle by refusing the competition. It was clear that she would suffer an abject failure, so how could she agree to it?

Hence, Empress Luo had deliberately hidden a number of people in a side room that was concealed by array formations.

If Empress Xuan agreed to the match, Empress Luo could call her people out one by one. With a gorgeous line-up, she could thrash Empress Xuan!

However, Empress Luo never expected that Empress Xuan did not bring anyone from her family, making her unable to display her force. She had finally managed to use the burly Luo Kui to get Empress Xuan to compete, but she ended up encountering a wonder like Yi Yun. Immediately, Empress Luo’s plans were in a mess.

And now, Prince Crimson Firmament could no longer remain patient. By calling Luo Mo out, he was planning to get Luo Mo to thrash Yi Yun.

868 - : Luo Mo

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Everyone, let me introduce him. This is Young Master Luo Mo.” Prince Crimson Firmament stood up and toasted Luo Mo from a distance.

This simple action was an indication that Luo Mo was one of his men.

Luo Mo gave Prince Crimson Firmament a slight bow. With a glass in hand, he drank the wine in one gulp.

Luo Mo’s behavior had an indescribable free and easy grace. Many of the girls present had a brilliance in their eyes when they saw Luo Mo.

They had also heard of Luo Mo’s name when they were in their own states. Although they did not go as far as worshiping him, they would still feel ripples going through their hearts when they encountered such a handsome man who stirred waves in the royal capital.

After drinking the wine, Luo Mo’s gaze landed on Yi Yun. He had learned of the situation through a Yuan Qi voice transmission and he was aware of the reason why Prince Crimson Firmament had summoned him.

“Friend, I’m Luo Mo.” Luo Mo smiled at Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun.” Despite knowing the person opposite him was an enemy, Yi Yun did not lose any form of decorum.

“So it’s Young Master Yi. I like to be frank. I heard you that defeated Luo Kui in the Desolate Heaven technique using ‘very interesting’ means. I am curious as to how Young Master Yi did it, can you teach me?”

Luo Mo was suspicious that Yi Yun had used some unknown technique to rip Luo Kui off.

However, what would Yi Yun tell Luo Mo? He said with a smile, “I wouldn’t call it interesting. I used a technique called the ’36 Basic Hand Seals’. In the lower realm, this is the most basic technique of the Desolate Heaven technique. Don’t think lightly of the ‘basic’ in its name. It actually contains hundreds of alterations. Why? Is Young Master Luo interested in the Desolate Heaven techniques of the lower realm? I can lend it to you if you would like to peruse it.”

Yi Yun said ‘very generously’. When everyone heard this, they rolled their eyes. Who the hell would want to learn your lower realm’s ’36 Basic Hand Seals’? It was a something used to teach kids. They didn’t want it even if it was free. A few hundred alterations? A few hundred my ass? Didn’t it still refine a ‘poor’ quality relic!?

Many family clans would willingly take out their best Desolate Heaven technique heritage to attract Luo Mo’s service, yet Luo Mo might not even think highly of them.

“Young Master Yi, you really like to joke.”

Even though Luo Mo was cultured, he was rendered speechless to the point that his mouth slightly twitched when he heard Yi Yun’s words that bordered on absurdness.

He even suspected that Yi Yun was playing dumb. Hence, he suddenly looked at the third-grade relic that Yi Yun had just refined.

It was a gray-colored relic, like a glass ball dug out of a ditch.

He was hoping that he could see something peculiar about it, but no matter how much he examined it, it was the most standard of standard ‘poor’ quality relic. Even the impurities were not cleaned away.

Luo Mo was greatly disappointed. Against such a person, he could not be bothered to compete with him. It was like an adult sparring with a child. There was nothing much to talk about it, and even if he won, people would say that he was a bully.

“Young Master Luo, what do you think about this relic?” Someone noticed Luo Mo’s expression and asked with a look of interest.

Luo Mo sighed and said, “If it’s meant to feed cattle, it’s still passable.”

When Luo Mo said this, many people could not help but laugh.

Luo Mo glanced at Yi Yun and he felt that Yi Yun probably truly did not know how terrifying the standard of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique was.

However, since his competition with Yi Yun was ordered by Prince Crimson Firmament, he could not refuse it.

With a snap of his fingers, a golden desolate heaven cauldron jumped out from the middle of his palm. It was a tiny golden cauldron that was the size of a chicken egg and it began to playfully spin on his fingertip.

With the desolate heaven cauldron taken out, it was clear that he was going to showcase his skill.

Everyone was immediately intrigued. Luo Mo had used music and paintings as his foundations into martial arts. His Desolate Heaven technique accomplishments were extraordinary. Few people his age could match him, and compared to Luo Kui, Luo Mo was much better.

If it was a person like Luo Mo, even if Princess Purple Spirit was the one opposite him, it would not be demeaning for her status.

But if it was Yi Yun… Everyone looked at Yi Yun with odd expressions.

Yi Yun was also someone who did not like to continue engaging in meaningless nonsense. Seeing Luo Mo take out his tool, Yi Yun took out his desolate heaven disk array very naturally.

When Luo Mo saw Yi Yun’s desolate heaven disk array, he faltered for a moment. He had only heard a brief description of Yi Yun’s victory over Luo Kui. He did not know that Yi Yun had been using a tool of such ‘supreme-grade’.

Using that?

Luo Mo’s impression of the disk array was that even if it was given to him, he would probably give it to his servant and make sure that it was used as a shovel to throw out the trash.

“What shall we compete on?” Yi Yun ignored Luo Mo’s strange gaze.

“Anything will do.” Luo Mo said without much interest. “Let me warn you on one point. If you are hoping that I will blow my cauldron while refining a relic, that is impossible.”

Yi Yun laughed. He was also not planning on causing Luo Mo’s cauldron to blow up. He could tell that Luo Mo’s Desolate Heaven technique was extremely strong. With him being wary, it would not be easy to nudge the energy structure inside Luo Mo’s desolate heaven cauldron. Besides, if he did it time and again, it would be suspicious.

Therefore, Yi Yun planned on competing with Luo Mo fair and square from the beginning. He said, “Then let’s compete on the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique!”

Oh!?

When Yi Yun said this, everyone present was astounded. Competing in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique? Did Yi Yun know it?

Could it be possible that they had made a mistake? Was Yi Yun truly acting the pig to eat a tiger?

Yi Yun said with a smile, “I actually know a thing or two about the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Desolate Heaven technique. Back when I first arrived at the Fire Cloud State, I was assigned to a Heaven Fire Hall disciple’s mountain. I met a maidservant named Tao’er, who was practicing the Desolate Heaven technique, and there, I read the ‘Introduction to Luo Clan’s Desolate Heaven Technique’. Let us compete using the seventy-two techniques recorded in the ‘Introduction to Luo Clan’s Desolate Heaven Technique’ and judge it based on the refined quality?”

Yi Yun had never learned any of the advanced methods of the Desolate Heaven technique, so if he were to compete with Luo Mo on those, it was unrealistic.

But back then, he was only a miscellaneous chores disciple at Mt. Fengling. He had been recuperating while guiding Tao’er on the Desolate Heaven technique for half a month. Yi Yun had seen everything about the Desolate Heaven technique that Tao’er had practiced. Hence, Yi Yun understood the seventy-two introductory moves.

He had probed into the ‘Introduction to Luo Clan’s Desolate Heaven Technique’ with a maidservant?

Upon hearing that Yi Yun wanted to compete on this, many young elites looked like they had just swallowed a fly. To think they they had believed that Yi Yun had unknown skills… What Yi Yun mentioned was the ‘Introduction to Luo Clan’s Desolate Heaven Technique’!

Compared to the profound Desolate Heaven techniques of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, the seventy-two introductory moves were not even a drop in the bucket. Yi Yun dared to say that he knew a thing or two after reading an introductory book!

Forget it. It could not be forced. With Yi Yun’s standard, he was indeed only worthy of the ‘Introduction to Luo Clan’s Desolate Heaven Technique’.

However, the methods described in the ‘Introduction to Luo Clan’s Desolate Heaven Technique’ were extremely easy, but the refinement ability was severely limited. But now, Yi Yun had said that he wanted to use the methods described in the ‘Introduction to Luo Clan’s Desolate Heaven Technique’ to refine a third-grade Fey bone?

How could this be possible!?

869 - : Rules of the Competition

CKtalon  CKtalon

Typically, only Desolate Heaven apprentices at the Yuan Foundation realm or those lower would use the ‘Introduction to Luo Clan’s Desolate Heaven Technique’ to attempt to refine a first-grade Fey bone. And most of the time, they would not even be able to do well at refining one. Desolate Heaven Masters that were slightly better would not even use such a technique.

Seeing the Fey bone that Prince Crimson Firmament provided, it was most likely one of the best third-grade Fey bones. It was impossible to use such introductory methods to refine such high-grade Fey bones. The failure rate was nearly 100%!

Was Yi Yun trying to increase the difficulty to make Luo Mo fail?

As people had such thoughts, they saw Luo Mo reveal a look of interest. “Interesting, let’s compete in that!”

Were they truly going to compete?

The people were somewhat taken aback when they heard hearing Luo Mo’s agreement. Luo Mo must truly have confidence while daring to accept the challenge of using only the ‘Introduction to Luo Clan’s Desolate Heaven Technique’ to produce a top-ranking third-grade Fey bone!

If the relic could be refined, it would be shocking, even if it only had a ‘poor’ rating.

“Yi Yun is doomed. I guess he had deliberately posed a tough problem so that the both of them would fail together and it would be considered a tie. Unfortunately, Luo Mo is a genius. He even has the confidence in such an absurd competition. Now with Yi Yun irrevocably committed, it’s too late for him to go back on his word.”

“Using the seventy-two introductory moves to refine a top-ranking third-grade relic is unimaginable!”

As people broke out into a flurry of discussion, Luo Mo had already begun. He beckoned with his stretched out hand, attracting the third-grade Fey bone in Prince Crimson Firmament’s hand to make it land directly in his palm.

Following that, the tiny golden cauldron above his right hand’s fingertip rapidly spun and it increased in size. Soon, it was about three feet in size. With the lid open, Luo Mo threw the Fey bone into it.

Luo Mo glanced at Yi Yun as he had a confident smile on his face. He was certain that Yi Yun was trying to stump him, but he enjoyed this. It would only be considered a challenge for him if he could use the seventy-two introductory moves to refine a third-grade relic. Just beating Yi Yun alone was meaningless.

“Shall we set the time limit to thirty minutes?”

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly spoke out. Thirty minutes was too short!

Luo Mo frowned slightly. It was a difficult competition with such a short period of time. Yi Yun was truly trying to prevent him from succeeding. Unfortunately, Luo Mo was confident when it came to his speed at using the Desolate Heaven technique.

“Thirty minutes? Sure!” Luo Mo put his hand out, causing his desolate heaven cauldron to flare up with golden light. The runes on the cauldron began to light up as Luo Mo began forming hand seals. Indeed, they were the hand seals of the seventy-two introductory moves. However, the ones that Luo Mo formed were somewhat different.

Did the hands of Luo Mo give life to the somewhat ordinary hand seals? It was like they had come alive.

A Heaven Eminence seal was condensed as it danced in the sky like an alacritous butterfly.

A Fire Willow seal burned like a small fire plume like it was filled with spirit.

As for the Sun Moon seal, it produced a sun and a moon projection that slowly revolved mid-air.

Luo Mo perfectly condensed every hand seal!

Upon seeing this scene, people could only watch with utter amazement. Was it possible to condense the seventy-two introductory moves in such a manner? If not for them seeing Luo Mo’s hand seals today, they would never imagine that it was possible to reach such a standard with the most basic hand seals when one’s Desolate Heaven technique reached the peak of perfection.

At that moment, an hourglass with markings was placed in the hall.

The sand rapidly flowed downwards as thirty minutes was not a long time.

Luo Mo had already begun, but Yi Yun had yet to make his move.

“Yi Yun, why aren’t you beginning?” Prince Crimson Firmament asked, as a derisive grin suffused on the corners of his mouth.

He had asked while knowing the answer. How was it possible for Yi Yun to use the seventy-two introductory moves to extract the energy of a top-ranking third-grade Fey bone?

Yi Yun lightly answered, “There’s no hurry. I’ll let Young Master Luo go first. I’ll begin after he is done.”

Yi Yun chose to let Luo Mo go first mainly because Yi Yun did not have a clear understanding of the Luo clan’s seventy-two introductory moves.

The information was recorded in a book after all, and it would be different from what he could see.

Previously, Yi Yun had only seen Tao’er use them, but he had never seen the talented Desolate Heaven Masters of the 12 Empyrean Heavens use the seventy-two introductory moves. Yi Yun could not confirm that his own assumptions had already been perfected.

Now, Yi Yun was planning to affirm his hypothesis with the seventy-two introductory moves used by Luo Mo. He was becoming more and more convinced that using the Luo clan’s seventy-two introductory moves derived through the Purple Crystal would be perfect in form. It would even be better than the seventy-two introductory moves that had been honed for countless years!

However, Yi Yun’s answer made people disdain him when they heard it. He was still insisting on being tough with his words at such a moment in time.

Slowly, more than half the time had passed.

Luo Mo’s motions were still as graceful as ever, as though he was showing a beautiful dance. The energy seals that he condensed appeared perfect, and everything had been done to their best.

But in Yi Yun’s energy vision, he could see that the energy extracted from the Fey bone in Luo Mo’s desolate heaven cauldron was not flawless. There was 30% left at least.

After all, it was only the seventy-two introductory moves used to refine ‘poor’-rated first-grade Fey bones. Using it to refine a top-ranking third-grade Fey bone was something even Luo Mo could not do as well as he wished.

Using such hand seals to extract the Fey bone’s energy was just too difficult! Although Luo Mo looked unperturbed, he was actually consuming a great deal of mental strength. It was not apparent because he had a lot of mental strength to begin with.

Seconds changed to minutes and the thirty minutes were nearly coming to an end.

At that moment, Luo Mo finally completed his final hand seal. Luo Mo still had some mental energy left, despite such a draining procedure. He precisely controlled more than seventy hand seals as he bound them together.

Relic formation!

Luo Mo also completed the final step perfectly.

“Whew!”

A golden beam flashed as the desolate heaven cauldron violently trembled. The cauldron’s lid flew open as a crystalline third-grade relic shot out of the desolate heaven cauldron, and accurately landed on Luo Mo’s hand.

Upon seeing this scene, everyone was astounded.

He had truly managed to refine it!

The third-grade relic refined using the seventy-two introductory moves definitely did not look like it had a bad rating from its luster!

People believed that it would already be amazing if he could refine a ‘poor’-grade relic. But in Luo Mo’s hands, he could make the ugly beautiful.

“Quality evaluation, quasi-refined!”

At that moment, Empress Luo gave her answer. As the Empress of the Luo clan, she too was proficient in the Desolate Heaven technique.

The ‘quasi-refined’ rating was above ‘ordinary’, but compared to a true ‘refined’-rating, it was still a distance away.

However, considering the refining conditions for Luo Mo, this outcome was already incredulous.

“It’s truly my dear Firmament’s fortune to have such a talent assisting him.” Empress Luo muttered to herself and she was very pleased with Luo Mo.

Prince Crimson Firmament also nodded lightly at Luo Mo.

At that moment, Prince Crimson Firmament suddenly looked at Yi Yun and a teasing smile suffused on his lips . “Yi Yun, it’s your turn!”

870 - : Seventy-two Introductory Moves

CKtalon  CKtalon

A simple comment from Prince Crimson Firmament made everyone’s gazes land on Yi Yun.

The young elites present, especially those that were in Prince Crimson Firmament’s camp, had looks of schadenfreude on their faces.

For example, Ran Xueyi had lost face because of Yi Yun previously, and now seeing Yi Yun in trouble, he obviously felt great. In the present situation, it would be useless even if Yi Yun had the princess backing him!

“Yi Yun, at this point in time, you can also use other Desolate Heaven techniques. I’m fine with it.” Luo Mo suddenly said as he looked at Yi Yun.

He felt that it was just a farce for Yi Yun to use the seventy-two introductory moves to refine a third-grade relic at his age. If Yi Yun were to use another method, there would be something worth watching at least. Only then would his win appear more valuable.

With Luo Mo saying this, everyone praised Luo Mo for his magnanimity. He did not mind Yi Yun’s deliberate act of making things difficult for him earlier on. If Yi Yun agreed to it, it would weaken his stance, but he would have a way to step down from this awkward situation instead of standing there in a silly fashion at least.

However, no one expected Yi Yun to say, “I only know the seventy-two introductory moves. The only other things I know are methods from the lower realm. They are even worse than the seventy-two introductory moves, so there’s no need to change the rules. Thank you for your good intentions.”

With Yi Yun saying this, the expressions of everyone could be as interesting as one wanted. He was truly a wonder of the ages. Even a genius like Luo Mo would only dare to use the seventy-two introductory moves to refine a third-grade relic after deeply researching the Desolate Heaven technique.

If Yi Yun only knew the seventy-two introductory moves, it meant that he was only at the level of a Desolate Heaven apprentice. And as an apprentice, he had the guts to even compete with Luo Mo…

Even Empress Xuan’s camp looked at Yi Yun with discomfort. How were they going to smoothen this situation?

At that moment, Yi Yun began. Indeed, he was still using the desolate heaven disk array that should have been thrown in the trash. Yi Yun placed the third-grade Fey bone in an ostentatious manner.

The hourglass was reversed and the sand began to flow downwards!

This set of seventy-two introductory moves was a combination of hand seals for energy extraction, condensing the energy runes and finally, the relic formation.

Yi Yun obviously began with energy extraction. This was the simplest step for him. With the Purple Crystal, he did not even need to form hands seals.

But of course, that would be too startling if he did that.

The first twenty-four moves of the seventy-two introductory moves were related to energy extraction.

This step was extremely critical. Even Luo Mo had formed one seal after another, afraid that he would make a mistake.

However, Yi Yun did not need to mind this. With his two hands together, he extended them outwards and produced a large number of seals in one go. The seals were squished together and they were just sent flooding into the third-grade Fey bone!

“What!?”

People who were familiar with the Desolate Heaven technique were confounded by this scene.

This wasn’t him sending the hand seals, it was like he was throwing out the garbage.

Compared to the seals that Luo Mo produced that were beautiful, perfect, and full of life, Yi Yun’s hand seals were unbearable for people to watch.

“What is that punk doing? Continuing in this fashion will cause an explosion!”

In the first process of the relic, Yi Yun had used clumsy hand seals, but he had at least completed it them an orderly manner, but this time… it was unknown what there was left to say.

Before people had the time to say anymore, Yi Yun had already begun to condense runic seals and complete the energy structure.

He produced them rapidly as basic runic seals were formed one after another and were augmented onto the Fey bone.

These runic seals looked unremarkable. But in fact, a number of them had been improved by the Purple Crystal.

The essence of relic refinement was to extract energy from the Fey bone before condensing the energy into runic seals. Once they were compressed together, they would become a relic.

The structure of these runic seals was actually the structure that allowed the best trajectories for energy flow.

And in fact, as humans and the Fey race had limited understanding with the laws of energy, the energy trajectories that they designed were still a distant away from being perfect.

However, with the Purple Crystal in his possession, Yi Yun had already come into contact with the trajectory methods of energy that abided to the Origins. Not only could he easily produce perfect runic seals, he could even do extremely tiny improvements to the seventy-two introductory moves!

Just a simple improvement was trivial, but with it accumulated, it would be different!

“Yi Yun has made mistakes in his seals!”

Amongst the young elites present, there were a few who were accomplished in the Desolate Heaven technique. Even though Yi Yun had made the slightest modifications, they could tell at a glance.

“The few seals that Yi Yun formed appear to be somewhat deformed. It’s somewhat different from the orthodoxy of the seventy-two introductory moves.” Another person said.

As they discussed it, a smile suffused on Prince Crimson Firmament’s lips. Prince Crimson Firmament had never learned the Desolate Heaven technique, so he already felt that it was pretty remarkable that Yi Yun had managed to come this far. After all, Yi Yun could still form hand seals. Although the seals that he produced had numerous flaws, which would result in an eventual explosion, it was still much better than sillily standing there doing nothing.

Time had quickly passed and about fifteen minutes was over. Yi Yun’s energy seals were almost done. The speed at which he formed seals was two times faster than Luo Mo!

Of course, this was because Yi Yun had dumped all the seals on the Fey bone, saving him a great deal of time.

However, speed alone was useless. The perfection of the relic refinement depended only on the final outcome. If the energy structure was flawed, these runic seals would eventually explode.

And previously, many of the Desolate Heaven Master had assessed that Yi Yun had many flaws in his technique!

In a blink of an eye, Yi Yun had finished forming the final runic seal.

No one noticed that when more than seventy runic seals were brought together, the tiny modifications that Yi Yun made had resulted in a chain reaction. They merged together and even possessed a hint of a charm.

This was the aura that belonged to the Origins of energy. It was the result of a Great Dao that existed at the formation of the Universe!

However, Yi Yun’s cultivation realm was limited after all. Together with the limitations of his technique and the grade of the Fey bone, this formation of Great Dao only appeared for a fleeting moment before it vanished.

Yi Yun sighed slightly. Even with the Purple Crystal, he found it difficult to explore the Origins of the Universe. That level was just too high for him.

Yi Yun’s hands clasped together —

Relic formation!

Boom!

A purple beam flashed and shot straight to the ceiling! People involuntarily narrowed their eyes, unsure of what had happened.

Why was there such an intense beam of light?

But there was no doubt that this was definitely not an explosion.

Whew!

Under the intense purple light, a round bead burning with purple flames flew onto Yi Yun’s hand. It appeared to have a spirit in it as it floated to the middle of Yi Yun’s palm.

The round bead was bluish-purple in color. In the middle of the bead, there was a beautiful texture that meandered like a tiny snake.

Upon seeing this bizarre scene, people did not even manage to react in time.

“That round bead is… a relic?” A Desolate Heaven Master present suddenly said.

The crystalline relic was burning with a purple flame at the moment of its birth.

Yi Yun had actually managed to refine a finished relic? Was this reality!? Wasn’t it said that Yi Yun’s hand seals were problematic?

Also… what was the rating of this relic? Many people present were unable to come to a judgment. But Empress Luo, who was an expert in the Desolate Heaven technique, had already stared with her widened eyes as she stood up from her seat.

As empress, Empress Luo seldom lost her composure in such a manner.

She looked at the Fey bone relic in Yi Yun’s hand with eyes of surprised doubt.

Empress Xuan and the Desolate Heaven Masters present, including Luo Kui and Luo Mo, who was competing with Yi Yun, were stunned as well.

Luo Mo drew a gasp. His handsome face was already turning slightly pale. He mumbled to himself, “A third grade Fey bone relic with the appearance of a runic pattern… ‘outstanding’ grade!?

Runic pattern?

Outstanding?

The young elites present knew the classification of the grades of relics, even if they were not Desolate Heaven Masters.

It was the emblem of an outstanding grade relic to have a runic pattern condensed on it!

A third-grade relic could only be given the four grades — poor, ordinary, refined and outstanding. Outstanding was already the highest, and higher grades, such as transcendent and spiritual emergence, were only reserved for higher-grade relics.

Refining an ‘outstanding’ third-grade relic was not difficult for a truly talented Desolate Heaven Master, but… using the seventy-two introductory moves to refine an ‘outstanding’-grade relic? Was that even possible?

871 - : Final Rating

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although the young elites who were present found it unbelievable, the outcome was announced by Yi Yun’s opponent, Luo Mo.

They looked at the relic in Yi Yun’s hand. It was bluish-purple in color and it looked like a dazzling glass bead. In the middle of it, there was a naturally-formed runic pattern, also known as a Dao pattern.

Dao patterns were the manifestation of the condensation of laws. It was common for them to typically appear in high-grade relics, but they were nearly never seen in low-grade relics.

The seventy-two introductory moves might be described as the Luo clan’s technique, but it was prevalent in the entire Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. Similar techniques could be found in any lowly-tier sect or family clan’s library. It was not even worth mentioning.

This so-called poor technique actually managed to allow him to condense a Dao pattern in the relic?

As the people looked at the relic, before looking at Yi Yun again, they subconsciously moved their Adam’s apples.

They even began suspecting that the seventy-two introductory moves that they had learned were faked.

Yi Yun had used the seventy-two introductory moves to refine an ‘outstanding’-rated third-grade relic that had condensed a Dao pattern, and it made people feel like a child who had only learned the ‘Three Character Classic’ had defeated the top scholar.

“I’ve lost… ” Luo Mo looked at the relic and sighed.

In fact, he felt that from the appearance of the relic that Yi Yun refined, it was barely at the ‘outstanding’ rating. However, the Dao pattern was as clear as it could be. It was a manifestation of Yi Yun’s nomological insights.

“What you used was not purely the Luo clan’s seventy-two introductory moves, right?” Luo Mo asked. Previously, Yi Yun’s technique appeared to have several ‘flaws’, but from the looks of it now, they knew that their assumptions from before were them being too dumb.

Luo Mo’s question was also the question on many people’s minds.

Yi Yun nodded and said, “Months ago, when I was researching the Luo clan’s Desolate Heaven technique at Mt. Fengling, I felt that there were some spots where there was room for some experimentation. So I attempted it.”

Attempted it?

Everyone was rendered immediately speechless. Are you serious!? Just a few nonchalant attempts made him produce an ‘outstanding’ relic with the seventy-two introductory moves?

“Junior Brother Yi is a genius. I admit my inferiority… ” Luo Mo sighed and shook his head.

Luo Mo admitted defeat and left. At the banquet, everyone watched Luo Mo’s departing back, especially Luo Kui. He felt his face turn hot, yearning for the ability to simply vanish from the palace.

Previously, he had insisted that Yi Yun had defeated him through luck, so he was extremely indignant after losing. But from the looks of Yi Yun’s Desolate Heaven technique, how was he even able to compete with him? Thankfully, he did not continue to compete with Yi Yun. If not, Luo Kui felt that he might as well have torn the skin of his face.

However, didn’t Yi Yun only cultivate for only about thirty years? Where did he have the time to practice the Desolate Heaven technique?

After his win over Luo Mo, no one dared to doubt that Yi Yun had won through luck. In fact, there was no one who dared to foolishly challenge Yi Yun anymore.

Yi Yun was one of the rare Desolate Heaven technique geniuses in the Luo clan!

Prince Crimson Firmament looked at Yi Yun, while his lips moved. He then looked at Princess White Fox. With Luo Mo being defeated, the only person on his side who could compete with Yi Yun was Princess White Fox.

Prince Crimson Firmament knew that Princess White Fox’s talent was astounding, and it was not only limited to the Desolate Heaven technique.

However, Princess White Fox only smiled and shook her head slightly.

A look of disappointment flashed in Prince Crimson Firmament’s eyes, but it was just fleeting.

He smiled at her, before turning his head to look at Yi Yun.

At this banquet, not only had he failed at suppressing Princess Purple Spirit and Empress Xuan, he had also embarrassed himself!

This lower-realm punk, who appeared out of nowhere, had never been thought highly of by him from the very beginning.

But now, Yi Yun was standing in the middle of the banquet, winning fame for himself in a single match!

Princess White Fox also looked at Yi Yun. An odd brilliance flashed in her eyes that seemed to be covered with a thin layer of snow. The seventy-two introductory moves used by Yi Yun as well as the Dao pattern in the relic had left a deep impression on her. This human youth was very special…

At that moment, Empress Xuan suddenly got up. Her slender fingers held up a glass of spirit wine and said, “Elder Sister, this time, Yi Yun, Luo Mo and Luo Kui’s performances have already helped add excitement to the banquet, so why don’t we end it here?”

With Empress Xuan saying this, it was equivalent to giving Empress Luo a way out of the awkward situation.

In fact, she had to give the way out. Although Yi Yun had used his Desolate Heaven technique at the banquet to help regain her pride, in a battle of true strength, Empress Xuan was still too weak.

Just a single Yi Yun allowed her camp to be peerless in the Desolate Heaven technique, but at the Luo Divine Hall trials, it was a competition of strength, not the Desolate Heaven technique!

Hence, although Empress Xuan was greatly delighted seeing Empress Luo and Crimson Firmament suffer the setback, she had no choice but to take the initiative to provide such a gesture.

Empress Luo had already sat back on her seat. Due to the loss of her composure from before as well as the defeat at the banquet, any discerning person could tell that she did not look happy.

After hearing Empress Xuan’s words and then looking at Empress Xuan’s obvious good mood, Empress Luo’s mood turned even more sullen.

“Younger Sister is right. We should end it here.” Empress Luo said.

At that moment, Empress Xuan glanced at Yi Yun and said with a smile, “Yi Yun’s performance was not bad and it should be worthy of a reward as a form of encouragement.”

“That is natural. Our Luo clan has always had a love for talent. Such a Desolate Heaven technique genius obviously has to be rewarded.” Empress Luo said with a nod.

“This Empress shall award Yi Yun three hundred World Stones, twenty fourth-grade relics, and ten fifth-grade Fey bones.” Empress Luo said.

Luo Huo’er secretly rolled her eyes. What stinginess!

How do you even have the nerve to give such a tiny reward?

Following that, Luo Huo’er looked at her mother.

“Mother, you must award him more!” Luo Huo’er said with a Yuan Qi voice transmission.

Empress Xuan smiled and said, “Yi Yun is not one of Empress Luo’s men after all. It’s reasonable for her to give such a small reward. As for me, I will not be stingy. Yi Yun has truly helped us a lot. Huo’er, you are also lucky to have met such an amazing person in the lower realm.”

“Hehe, thank you, Mother… ” Luo Huo’er said with a happy smile. It was rare for her to be praised.

At that moment, Empress Xuan looked at Yi Yun and said, “This Empress has yet to think of a good reward for you at the moment… Seeing how you are only a normal civilian, This Empress shall confer you a title of nobility. You shall be a first-ranked Viscount, with Xuan Ye Spiritual Mountain as your fief!”

Xuan Ye Spiritual Mountain was a fief that belonged to the Xuan family. Since Empress Xuan was an empress, she naturally had the right to make the decision of conferring Yi Yun with nobility.

And this superior-grade spiritual mountain had been used by the Xuan family as a cultivation ground for their descendants.

But now, it had been awarded to Yi Yun!

A superior grade spiritual mountain, and a first-ranked Viscount title!

When they heard this, the young elites present were amazed and they were also filled with envy.

Previously, Luo Kui had derided Yi Yun’s lack of status to sit beside Luo Huo’er. But now, Yi Yun was a first-grade Viscount!

Looking at Luo Kui again, although he came from a large family clan, he did not even have the lowest nobility ranking.

Just having a nobility title, despite the annual salary being low, Yi Yun’s status in the Luo clan would be greatly different most importantly!

After all, the brilliance of one background was a result of one’s ancestors. However, once one was conferred with nobility, it was because of having a true ability of their own right. Many disciples of the large family clans would never be conferred with nobility in their entire lives.

People who were conferred with nobility had done enough to earn their respect. Just having a first-grade Viscount title forced anyone who wanted to deride Yi Yun’s background to rethink if they had the qualifications to even do so!

By giving such a reward, Empress Xuan had clearly taken this point into consideration.

People mocked Yi Yun for his lower realm background, Empress Xuan gave him a superior-grade spiritual mountain. Others felt that he had a lowly status, she gave him a first-grade Viscount title.

Through Empress Xuan’s light and calm actions, she had smacked the faces of many people present.

“The Xuan Ye Spiritual Mountain can be given to you now. As for the first-grade Viscount, it requires Emperor Luo to approve of it before an edict is issued.”

The so-called approval of Emperor Luo was just a mere formality. Empress Xuan’s family clan had the rank of a Duke, so it was nothing to give the title of Viscount.

872 - : Rewards and Conferment

CKtalon  CKtalon

Empress Luo’s banquet had ended in a way that was completely unexpected. As for Yi Yun’s name, it became well-known amongst the circles of the top elites of various states as well as the upper echelons of the Luo clan.

He had come from a lower realm, but he had managed to obtain first place in a combined training of the two states, the Fire Cloud State and the Phoenix Firmiana State. This achievement might not have been astounding, but defeating Luo Mo with his Desolate Heaven technique, he had truly vaulted into prominence!

Now, Yi Yun was at the zenith of attention. Especially for him being in his thirties, his future was beyond promising.

At that moment, in a particular hall of the Xushui Ran clan.

Ran Yu was lying prostrate on the ground. Both his hands were held to the ground. Due to using excessive force in his fingers, his veins began bulging out.

In front of Ran Yu sat a middle-aged man. In his hand was a book that he was reading in silence.

This middle-aged man was one of the Elders of the Xushui Ran clan, and he was also Ran Yu’s Fourth Uncle, who had always been Ran Yu’s backer.

But just a while ago, the middle-aged man had informed Ran Yu of the matters regarding Empress Luo’s banquet. Ran Yu’s heart was palpitating when he heard the information. The details of the matter were unbelievable, but how could his uncle deceive him?

Yi Yun also knew the Desolate Heaven technique!

Ran Yu did not have a single bit of understanding of the Desolate Heaven technique. He had focused his heart and mind on cultivation. The Desolate Heaven technique was extremely time consuming, but even so, his attainment in cultivation was inferior to Yi Yun’s.

The gap was just too great…

“Don’t provoke Yi Yun any further. You can’t afford to. The family has decided to no longer target Yi Yun.”

The middle-aged man had extinguished Ran Yu’s hopes with a figurative basin of cold water, causing Ran Yu’s body to jolt.

“But our Xushui Ran clan’s reputation… ” Ran Yu said in disgruntlement.

“Hmph!” The middle-aged man coldly snorted and said, “Reputation is relative. If Yi Yun was an ant, even if he had bitten you gently, it would be easy to trample him to death. But now, he is no longer an ant. Our Ran clan isn’t afraid of Yi Yun obviously, but Yi Yun is currently thriving, and with his close relationship with Princess Purple Spirit, our Ran clan may be able to deal with Yi Yun, but the cost would be too high. It’s not worth it!”

Once the middle-aged man said this, Ran Yu’s fingers nearly tore the ground open while he was kneeling…

Why was this happening? Just a month ago, Yi Yun was just like an ant in his eyes.

But now, be it his identity, status, and fame, they were all far inferior to Yi Yun’s. Even his family clan had chosen to avoid the cutting edge with the situation in front of them!

The middle-aged man added on, “Now, Yi Yun is living in a viscount residence. In the future, he will often be in the royal capital. As for you… Choose any one of the Ran clan’s other state’s mundane estates, and I will do my best at arranging it for you.”

The middle-aged man stood up while speaking, and he left the hall, leaving Ran Yu slumped to the ground. Minding the family estate and slowly die of old age? Was this his outcome… ?

…

The Luo clan’s royal capital was a sacred land of the Luo clan, where many elites stayed.

Not everyone was eligible to have a residence in the Luo clan’s royal capital, let alone the breathtaking price of its land.

Being able to own a house in the royal capital was itself a badge of honor.

And now, Yi Yun had obtained a mansion that occupied a circumference of nearly half a kilometer.

This was the Xuan family’s estate in the royal capital, and now, it had been conferred onto Yi Yun as his viscount residence.

When Yi Yun first entered the viscount residence, a number of people had sent him congratulatory gifts, but it was not bustling with visitors. On the contrary, the number of people who visited Yi Yun were very few in number.

After all, Yi Yun was on Empress Xuan’s side. During the crucial period of the vying of the throne, the factions in the royal capital had to be very cautious in their dealings with people on both sides.

On the first night that Yi Yun stayed in the viscount residence, a visitor came. He was a golden-armored guard from the royal palace. He had come with news — Empress Xuan wanted to meet Yi Yun.

It was understandable that Empress Xuan wanted to meet Yi Yun after the banquet.

After packing his things slightly, he accompanied the golden-armored guard straight for Fenghua Palace.

This was the first time that Yi Yun had visited the Luo clan’s royal palace. Looking ahead, it was littered with immortal mountains, with palatial buildings all over it.

The core royal palace was shrouded by a large array and it was invisible. The lofty Emperor Luo lived in the core vicinity of this area.

As for Fenghua Palace, it was located to the back of the royal palace, and similarly, it was protected by a powerful array. Under the escort of the golden-armored guard, Yi Yun successfully entered the palace.

Most of Fenghua Palace was covered with red glass tiles. From afar, Fenghua Palace looked like a fire phoenix that lived in the deep mountains. It was beautiful and brilliant.

“Little Yun!”

The moment that Yi Yun stepped into Fenghua Palace’s main hall, he heard a pleasantly surprised voice. It was Luo Huo’er.

Yi Yun turned his head and he saw Luo Huo’er wearing a red tunic as she walked towards him with a grin. Fenghua Palace’s main hall was covered with down feather carpet, so Luo Huo’er simply walked bare-footed. Her fair toes looked like a string of white pearls.

And behind Luo Huo’er was Empress Xuan.

As empress, she was elegant and had esteemed deportment. However, when Empress Xuan looked at her daughter, she shook her head.

Usually, Luo Huo’er would bear with it and barely act like a princess when she was out of the palace. But in the palace, there was no inkling from her actions that she was a princess.

Now, in front of Yi Yun, Luo Huo’er was behaving as such.

“Yi Yun greets Your Majesty Empress Xuan, and greets… ”

“There’s no need for formalities.” Seeing Yi Yun about to seriously call her Princess Purple Spirit, Luo Huo’er found it awkward, and she hurriedly cut Yi Yun off. Although Yi Yun called her princess, he was probably holding back his laughter deep down.

“It’s been a while since we have met. Little Yun, you have made quite a lot of progress. Not bad, not bad at all. This Princess is very pleased! Thinking of the times back in the lower realm, you had a lot of talent in the Desolate Heaven technique. Back then, This Princess had already thought highly of your talent.” Luo Huo’er walked up to him and said with a giggle.

When Yi Yun heard this sentence, he somehow found it somewhat weird…

“When you return to your residence, you need to grasp the opportunity to cultivate. The Luo Divine Hall trials are around the corner, so you should be entering reclusion.” As Luo Huo’er said this, she smiled at Yi Yun. “Alright, go on. Enter reclusive training until the trials begin. Don’t be distracted!”

What was going on? Yi Yun was scratching his head. He had been summoned here so they could tell him a few sentences? And then get him to enter reclusive training?

Yi Yun blankly looked at Empress Xuan, and he heard her say, “There’s no hurry. This Empress still has a few things to talk to you about.”

Luo Huo’er hurriedly said, “Mother, Little Yun needs to enter reclusive training!”

“It’s only a few things, it won’t severely delay his reclusion.” After Empress Xuan said this, she smiled at Yi Yun. “Yi Yun, since you already know Huo’er from the lower realm, there is no need to be too formal in front of This Empress.”

“Huo’er mentioned that when you first met, it was not a jovial relationship and there was some friction between the two of you. This Empress knows Huo’er’s character, so it’s not odd that she would stir something up. However, on the matter regarding the relic, that had gone too far. This Empress had already reprimanded her.”

The matter regarding the relic? Was it about the explosion of the relic during the refining process?

That was Luo Huo’er attempting to trick Yi Yun into making a fool of himself, which resulted in…

It was probably because of Luo Kui having blown up his cauldron that Luo Huo’er finally confirmed that the reason behind her relic exploding was all because of Yi Yun’s machinations.

873 - : Summoning from Empress Xuan

CKtalon  CKtalon

Luo Huo’er stood beside Yi Yun and she signaled him with her eyes. Just as she was about to send a Yuan Qi voice transmission, Empress Xuan had lightly glanced at her. Luo Huo’er gaped her mouth and no longer spoke.

Yi Yun faltered and glanced at Luo Huo’er before looking at Empress Xuan. He was somewhat confused. Could this impish brat have complained to Empress Xuan and hoped that her mother would avenge her…?

He honestly said, “Back in the lower realm, the matter regarding the relic was just Her Highness pulling a prank on your humble servant. However, your humble servant had been thoughtless and offensive towards the princess. Your humble servant seeks forgiveness from Your Majesty.”

Upon hearing this, Luo Huo’er’s face blushed red. As for Empress Xuan, she stared at Luo Huo’er and said to Yi Yun with a smile, “What Huo’er told me was that you had bullied her. Why does it sound like it was the other way around?”

Eh?

Yi Yun was taken aback. He had believed that the imp was going to use her status as a princess to seek revenge on him. But from the looks of it, things did not play out that way… He was the one who had been bullied, to begin with. But from the way that Empress Xuan said it, it sounded as though Luo Huo’er had been victorious.

Yi Yun was at a loss as to what to say momentarily. The relic’s explosion was actually nothing serious, but if Empress Xuan knew about him seeing Luo Huo’er’s body, that would be…

Yi Yun dryly coughed and he felt that it was better for him to speak less today. It was better to just listen to what Empress Xuan had to say.

In fact, after the banquet had ended today, Empress Xuan had asked Luo Huo’er on matters regarding Yi Yun. Luo Huo’er never expected that Empress Xuan would ask about such trivial matters. She had previously embellished her embarrassing matters, transferring all the sufferance onto Yi Yun. She had never expected that her mother would be so maleficent to summon Yi Yun and debunk her right there and then.

Indeed, a mother knows her daughter best.

Empress Xuan sized up Yi Yun curiously. She knew that her daughter had been accustomed to being an imp in the royal capital. The guards and palace maids had all suffered under the hands of Luo Huo’er. Only a maidservant like Dong’er, who was silly enough to make Luo Huo’er feel like there was no achievement in bullying her, could accompany Luo Huo’er.

However, Empress Xuan had never expected that someone from a tiny place in the lower realm would make Luo Huo’er suffer. She found it amusing momentarily.

Of course, this was just the fooling around of children in her opinion.

Debunking one was sufficient, so Empress Xuan did not probe any further. Instead, she asked Yi Yun, “Are you accustomed to living in the Viscount residence?”

With the topic being changed, Luo Huo’er heaved a sigh of relief. If Empress Xuan knew of her exposure, with Empress Xuan’s understanding of her and Yi Yun’s blockhead like answers, she would truly have to kill herself once the truth was revealed!

Yi Yun said, “The Viscount residence is spacious and comfortable. Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Alright, that’s good. What Huo’er said is correct as well. The Luo Divine Hall trials are filled with experts and geniuses. You have to make a lot of preparations. You have to know that although you have gotten a lot of attention at the banquet, that’s only on the Desolate Heaven technique aspect of things. On Empress Luo’s side, they are gearing themselves up to push you down from your pedestal at the Luo Divine Hall trials. This Empress will not lie to you. The number of top geniuses in This Empress’ camp is far lower in those in Empress Luo’s camp. At the Luo Divine Hall trials, it will not be easy on you!”

Yi Yun nodded at Empress Xuan’s warning. He obviously had foreseen such matters.

“Right, This Empress has summoned you here to let you stay in Fenghua Palace and cultivate. The cultivating grounds here are much better than your Viscount residence. You can use any of them. Huo’er will be with you.”

With Empress Xuan saying this, Yi Yun thought of something and asked, “Is Her Highness also participating in the Luo Divine Hall trials?”

Yi Yun had believed that with Luo Huo’er being at a suitable age, it was reasonable for her to join the Luo Divine Hall trials, but he never expected that Empress Xuan would shake her head and say, “No, Huo’er will be going to the White Fox clan and participating in the collective training and trials in the White Fox clan. And in exchange, Princess White Fox will be staying for the Luo Divine Hall trials.”

Empress Xuan’s words caught Yi Yun by surprise.

Exchange?

The Luo clan and the White Fox clan were to exchange princesses? What was that for? A rite for the alliance of the two clans?

Yi Yun was somewhat curious, but asking Empress Xuan directly was impolite. Furthermore, from the look on Empress Xuan’s face, she did not appear to be fond of the idea. Her slight change in expression made it clear.

“Alright, as for your residence, Huo’er will arrange it for you. You can take your leave. Huo’er, take Yi Yun around so that he familiarizes himself with the surroundings.”

After Empress Xuan said this, she waved her hand.

At that moment, Luo Huo’er was still extremely embarrassed. Upon hearing Empress Xuan’s instructions, she heaved a sigh of relief. Spitting out her tongue, she tugged at Yi Yun’s sleeves and said, “Leave quickly! Why are you so good at reading people? You nearly caused This Princess to embarrass herself!”

Out of the hall, Luo Huo’er had pursed her lips and had said unhappily.

Yi Yun was rendered speechless. What the heck was this? You were the one lying, and all I did was tell the truth.

“I’m telling you. We’ll forget about the relic explosion. If that matter ever leaks out, This Princess will strangle you to death… ” Luo Huo’er said with a blushed face when she reached this part in the sentence. “You know what I’m referring to, right?”

Luo Huo’er was too embarrassed to say it loud, but Yi Yun had guessed it. He was tickled, but he endured it. Trying his best to have a serious expression on his face, he said, “I know what matter you are talking about. I won’t talk about it.”

“You still have the nerve to laugh!?” For some reason, Luo Huo’er had seen through him and she immediately flared up.

Yi Yun gave a look of grievance. He swore to the heavens that he did not even move his lips, but Luo Huo’er was already certain that he wanted to laugh.

“This Princess warns you. That matter is not to be spoken to anyone. It’s best that you forget it at once! You lucked out and you still want to laugh? You are infuriating This Princess to death.” Luo Huo’er said angrily.

“I’m not laughing… ” Yi Yun protested. Indeed, he had not laughed.

“You are thinking of laughing in your heart, so that counts.” Luo Huo’er said with great certainty, as though she had seen through him.

“… ”

Yi Yun was rendered speechless. He knew that he could not outspeak Luo Huo’er, so he changed the topic of conversation and asked, “Princess Purple Spirit, I want to ask you… ”

“Wait, it’s better you call me Luo Huo’er. If not, Huo’er is fine as well. Princess Purple Spirit is too awkward.”

“Uh… fine. Huo’er, previously, Empress Xuan mentioned that you will be participating in the trials at the White Fox clan, and Empress Xuan appeared unhappy about the arrangements. Why was that so?”

With Yi Yun’s question, a new bout of anger came from Luo Huo’er. As she ground her canines, she said huffily, “It’s all that witch, Empress Luo’s idea. She wants her son to marry Princess White Fox. By marrying her, Crimson Firmament’s status would be higher. And who knows what the White Fox clan is thinking, they actually agreed to it!”

“However, despite the White Fox clan appearing to readily agree on the surface, how can they be assured to leave their princess here for the Luo clan’s trials? Hence, they proposed to send me to the White Fox clan. As such, an exchange would put their minds to rest!”

“According to Mother, Empress Luo has another idea. Not only does she want to allow Crimson Firmament to marry Princess White Fox, she wants This Princess to be fancied by some fox guy at their clan. When the time comes, I’ll be married off to the White Fox clan, then I won’t have the qualifications to fight Crimson Firmament for the throne!”

Yi Yun stared with widened eyes at her when he heard this. There were so many hidden intents in this simple scheme.

“Then His Majesty has agreed to it?”

“Yes, Father has agreed. Our Luo clan hasn’t recovered yet and it is indeed in need of allies. However, if they are thinking of marrying This Princess off, that will be naivety on their part. Those fox men are as effeminate as they can be. I won’t fancy that, and if I disagree with it, Father will not force me!”

Yi Yun nodded. However, if the White Fox clan had a prince that was heir apparent pursuing Luo Huo’er, Emperor Luo would probably have to deliberate on it…

If Crimson Firmament were to marry Princess White Fox, and Luo Huo’er were to marry the new White Fox Emperor, the two clans’ alliance would become unbreakable.

As for the Luo clan’s greatest enemy — the Fey Phantasm Sect, who came from the sinkhole, and had attacked all the way to the Luo clan’s royal capital a few decades ago — they would no longer be as fearful.

Yi Yun was somewhat worried for Luo Huo’er. When something that truly involved the continuation of a clan, a father’s law might not be able to withstand the mission of an emperor. If not, he would not be a qualified emperor. Taking ten thousand steps back, even if Luo Huo’er had succeeded in resisting it, her standing in Emperor Luo’s heart would drastically deteriorate as a result of this matter. It would then be highly unlikely that she would inherit the throne.

Empress Luo’s machinations seemed simple, but they were very deadly. This was probably the reason why Empress Xuan had an unhappy look.

As Yi Yun was thinking, Luo Huo’er’s next sentence nearly caused him to stumble to the ground.

Luo Huo’er said, “I say, Little Yun when you are taking part in the Luo Divine Hall trials, go win over the little white fox’s hand. If you were to snatch the wife-to-be of Crimson Firmament, that would be fun. Hehe.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Yi Yun was rendered speechless. “I have a wife.”

“Oh? Are you married? But that’s no big deal. In the Fey race, a warrior can engage in polygamy. It’s nothing odd.” Luo Huo’er said indifferently.

Yi Yun stared at her and he could not be bothered to speak any further. However, if someone truly snatched Princess White Fox away, Crimson Firmament would probably be screaming bloody murder. That was not only the hatred coming from snatching his loved one, it also threatened his path to the throne.

“Tch, it was just a joke. Furthermore, even if you were to pursue her, you might not even succeed. That little white fox has very high standards. She might not even think anything of you. Hehe.” Luo Huo’er laughed when she said this. She would never give up on a chance to strike at Yi Yun.

874 - : Princess Exchange

CKtalon  CKtalon

As Empress Xuan’s palace, Fenghua Palace was much better than the viscount residence when it came to cultivating. It was practically one of the top cultivating grounds in the Luo clan royal capital.

In the following days, Yi Yun peacefully cultivated in Fenghua Palace. His living arrangements were arranged by the palace maids that Empress Xuan assigned to him. He cultivated together with Luo Huo’er and they would spar at times. Time passed very quickly.

On this day, the sky above Fenghua Palace suddenly buzzed with pearly sounds. It sounded distant but melodious to the ear. Even the palace maids in the cultivation ground could not help but look up.

In a blink of an eyes, a few white ribbons fell from the magnolia clouds, linking the sky to the ground. White lights beamed, as though a palace from the nine heavens had descended.

On the ribbons stood a line of figures. The person leading them had white hair that drooped down to the ground and he wore silk clothes under a fox-fur robe. Several strongmen followed behind him. The other figures were beauties dressed in pink tops and blue skirts. The pearly sounds was a result from the adornments on their heads, which chimed in the wind.

With these people appearing, they resembled immortals that lived in the heavens. They were a feast for the eyes and dazzling to the common people. The sound of their footsteps made anyone who heard them involuntarily feel like they were indulging in the greatest of pleasures.

Yi Yun heard it for a moment before he cleared his mind and recovered his senses.

“Who are these people? Are they allowed to fly above Fenghua Palace?” Yi Yun asked.

“Young Master, they are people from the White Fox clan.” A palace maid responded.

People from the White Fox? It was surprising that they could fly above Fenghua Palace. Typical nobles had to land from afar when they approached the royal palaces and enter the palace by foot.

The expedition of the White Fox clan had magnolia clouds paving their paths, accompanied by divine music, making them appear like gods. This was very different to the Luo clan. Whenever the Luo clan’s royal family went on an expedition, they would usually choose a domineering mount with Ancient Fey bloodlines. It would look full of pomp, but it would lack a certain bit of elegance.

“It’s rather elegant.” Yi Yun said.

He knew that the magnolia clouds and ribbons were something similar to spirit cruisers. However, the price of them was a lot more higher. As for the adornments, they must have had mystical arrays engraved on them.

Yi Yun recalled Princess White Fox, who he had met at the banquet. It couldn’t be her, right?

The white ribbons descended towards Fenghua Palace, and in a while, a palace maid came from the front hall and said, “Young Master Yi, Her Majesty and Her Highness invite you over.”

“I’ll be right there.” Yi Yun changed out of his cultivation clothes and he followed the palace maid to the front hall.

Upon entering, Yi Yun saw the dozen or more girls who previously stood on the ribbons.

The girls’ faces were like peach flowers and they were all very tall. They looked nearly identical, clearly a result of a careful selection.

Yi Yun noticed their charming eyes with their fox tails swaying behind them. Indeed, they were girls from the fox clan.

And on the main seat of the hall sat Empress Xuan. And slightly lower than her sat Luo Huo’er on the left and a person with white hair dressed in fox-fur on the right.

Yi Yun was truly taken aback seeing this person’s appearance. The person’s white hair shimmered with a silver light, and it sprawled down from his head like now.

He was clearly a male, but his looks were more exquisite than a female. In the middle of his brows were three cinnabar dots, adding a feminine touch to him, but he emitted a manly aura, reminiscent of a dragon. He was clearly an esteemed man who had lived through chaotic times.

“How is it, Little Yun? Are you surprised? That is a male seductive fox.” At that moment, Luo Huo’er’s voice transmission echoed in Yi Yun’s ears.

When Yi Yun heard Luo Huo’er’s words, he nearly burst out laughing. Thankfully, he was not drinking tea, or he might have sprayed it all out.

From the sound of Luo Huo’er’s tone, she was displeased with the white-haired youth.

At that moment, Empress Xuan spoke, “Third Prince, this is Yi Yun. Yi Yun, this is the Third Prince of the White Fox clan. He came specially to visit our Luo clan royal capital. He had heard news of your performance at the banquet and he wanted to meet you. Third Prince is also a person who appreciates talents.”

“Your Majesty, you can just call me Bai Yueqing.” Bai Yueqing said. His voice sounded pleasant to the ears, but it sounded a little effeminate. He smiled at Empress Xuan before looking at Yi Yun.

The moment that he was looked at by the Third Prince of the White Fox clan, Yi Yun felt that he was being probed.

This feeling was very weak. If not for Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal, it was nearly undetectable.

Yi Yun frowned slightly.

To engage in such a probe after having just met. Was Bai Yueqing certain that he would not have been able to detect it?

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s frown, Bai Yueqing’s slender eyes narrowed slightly as he seemed to reveal a smile. It could truly be described as a coquettish gaze.

“I heard from Xue’er that this Yi Yun is rather interesting and I was wondering what sort of person he was… But meeting him today, there is naturally no way to compare him to a gem like Prince Crimson Firmament. Even compared to Prince Crimson Firmament’s subordinate, Luo Mo, it seems like he is far inferior. In terms of cultivation level, strength and foundation… especially his body’s lifeblood strength, it is far inferior to the Fey race.”

“However, Xue’er seldom exaggerates. Since she described the situation at the banquet, it is apparently true. However, it is highly unlikely that he modified the seventy-two introductory moves himself to refine an ‘outstanding’ third-grade relic. Yi Yun probably managed to come across a fascinating modified mystic version of the seventy-two moves, and he had specially prepared for the banquet to be make such an astounding performance. If not, why was there a need to request to compete in introductory moves… ?”

Bai Yueqing quickly came to a conclusion. He did not believe there was such a level of genius in this world. It was likely that Yi Yun had used a clever trick or some other deceptive methods.

He had hoped that Princess White Fox would tie the knot with Prince Crimson Firmament after going to the Luo clan, so that both sides would form an alliance. In the future, when Bai Yueqing inherited the throne, his power would be stabilized as a result. The White Fox clan’s reputation would increase and it would expand its influence.

However, after Princess White Fox saw Yi Yun, her description of Prince Crimson Firmament was rather dull, and instead, she had talked more about Yi Yun.

She had even said that Princess Purple Spirit and Yi Yun appeared like old acquaintances and it even looked like a good relationship. Back then at the banquet, Yi Yun sat beside Princess Purple Spirit, and he was just across Princess White Fox.

This made Bai Yueqing extremely unhappy.

Hence, the moment he came to Fenghua Palace, he immediately requested to meet Yi Yun. However, when he met Yi Yun, Bai Yueqing was somewhat disappointed. He had the White Fox Heaven Eye, so he could tell Yi Yun’s cultivation level and strength at a glance. At the beginning stages of the Heaven Ascension realm, Yi Yun was not worthy enough for him, even if Yi Yun was skilled in the Desolate Heaven technique.

Furthermore, in terms of background and status, Yi Yun was far inferior to him. If he took Yi Yun as a love rival, that would be sully his status. He believed that Luo Huo’er would definitely not truly fall in love with Yi Yun.

From Luo Huo’er’s innocent demeanor, he believed that she did not think about boy-girl relationships too much. It was unlikely she would be moved by anyone. Hence, it was best if he slowly nurtured their feelings on this matter.

Bai Yueqing smiled after these thoughts flashed in his mind.

“So you are Yi Yun. Your performance is pretty good.” Bai Yueqing nodded his head slightly, while his tone sounded like a warm spring breeze.

“This male seductive fox sure is cocky. Who does he think he is? He thinks he’s some heaven’s gift to women. Does Little Yun even need his evaluation!?” Luo Huo’er pouted her mouth and began transmitting her voice to the people around her.

When Yi Yun heard this, he held back his laughter and remained silent.

875 - : The Fox is Here

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Your Majesty, I came here firstly to visit the Luo clan royal capital on invitation, and secondly to see Princess Purple Spirit. And as a matter of convenience, I will take the princess to the White Fox clan.” Bai Yueqing turned towards Luo Huo’er, his tone suddenly sounding even more pleasant.

The way he looked at Luo Huo’er made her feel uncomfortable all over. “What is this male seductive fox doing? Why are his eyes so salacious? It’s giving me goosebumps all over.”

And from Yi Yun’s side, he felt that the arrogant Bai Yueqing had now changed the way he looked at Luo Huo’er. It was tender, and like his mouth was filled with honey.

“Uh, is this person one of the White Fox princes that you previously mentioned… one that might fancy you?” Yi Yun asked with a voice transmission.

But from the looks of it, it was no longer a possibility, but a fact.

Luo Huo’er stared with widened eyes.

“That can’t be! That old witch, Empress Luo, has already found someone! Furthermore, it’s a male seductive fox! Just being around that fellow gives me goosebumps all over, alright!?”

Only then did Luo Huo’er come to a realization. Empress Luo must have ‘sold’ her. Allowing Crimson Firmament to marry Princess White Fox on one side, while on the other side, she was ‘sold’ to the White Fox clan. It was killing two birds with one stone!

Bai Yueqing had been invited by Empress Luo. He came here for her!

No wonder the moment that this person appeared, he gave Luo Huo’er a feeling that the way he looked at her was rather strange.

“Alright, This Princess still hasn’t even gone to the White Fox clan, and a candidate has already been chosen for her. The candidate has even been summoned here!”

“Huo’er.” At that moment, Empress Xuan spoke lightly, cutting Luo Huo’er, who was about to flare up, off.

She glanced at Luo Huo’er and gave her a nearly unnoticeable shake of her head.

Although Empress Xuan had stopped Luo Huo’er, she too was furious about this matter.

Empress Luo had taken the liberties to carry out her own plan so her son could inherit the throne and marry off her, Empress Xuan’s daughter, to the White Fox clan. There was disregard for her daughter’s thoughts, and she was using the entire Luo clan’s interests as ransom for her daughter.

This was truly an ingenious strategy!

Empress Xuan looked at Bai Yueqing. Despite her rage, she did not do anything that would appear demeaning to her bearing.

With the Luo clan facing the threat of the Fey Phantasm Sect, Bai Yueqing represented the White Fox clan. They were their reliable ally, so if their alliance were to break up because of this matter, regardless of how much Emperor Luo loved Luo Huo’er, he too would be incensed.

In that case, even if Luo Huo’er did not marry into the White Fox clan, she would be ineligible for the throne.

“Third Prince, you are so thoughtful.” Empress Xuan said lightly.

“Huo’er, the exchange between you and Princess White Fox has been approved by your father. You have to go for the White Fox clan’s trials. There’s no need for you to worry. You are our Luo clan’s princess, and one of the heirs to the throne. No matter how bold Bai Yueqing is, he would not dare to force you. If you don’t like him, just keep a distance away from him.” Empress Xuan transmitted her voice to Luo Huo’er.

The Luo clan’s status was equal to the White Fox clan’s. Both sides would not lose their decorum.

If Luo Huo’er were to go to the White Fox clan, she would be in the same situation as Princess White Fox. It was a similar exchange, which meant they were candidates as marriage partners. Prince Crimson Firmament was extremely polite to Princess White Fox. Even at Empress Luo’s banquet, they did not sit together, so Bai Yueqing would have to act in a similar manner.

However, with Luo Huo’er’s character, even if she knew this, she still felt extremely upset!

And at that moment, Bai Yueqing spoke again, “I’ve heard since a long time ago that Princess Purple Spirit is intelligent and is extremely talented. After the White Fox trials, This Prince wishes to invite Princess Purple Spirit to stay in the White Fox clan for a period of time. Princess Purple Spirit can also travel around the White Fox clan, and This Prince will accompany Princess Purple Spirit to introduce her to the customs of the land… ”

When Bai Yueqing said this, Luo Huo’er could no longer tolerate it any further. Throughout all his rambling, Luo Huo’er only understood one thing.

Other than the exchange, this male seductive fox actually wanted to keep her back to travel around the White Fox clan.

This traveling was apparently going to be used as an opportunity to saunter in front of her.

This person was someone forcefully arranged by Empress Luo to begin with. Furthermore, he was an effeminate male fox that was trying to cling to her. This incensed Luo Huo’er.

“I’m a princess of the Luo clan, it is downright improper to spend prolonged periods of time in foreign lands.” Luo Huo’er wrinkled her face as she refused.

“His Majesty Emperor Luo seems to be supportive of princes and princesses travelling the world so they could draw on more martial arts essence. Furthermore, the Luo clan and my White Fox clan has always enjoyed good relations. Your Highness, don’t you worry. If you want to learn any cultivation techniques of my White Fox clan, I can choose a batch of young elites from my White Fox clan to spar with Your Highness, so as to improve your strength… ”

“Not interested!”

Luo Huo’er was on her last straw. Did this male fox even know how to read between the lines!?

“In that case… ” Bai Yueqing’s smile began to vanish. He was not a fool, so he could obviously tell from Luo Huo’er’s reactions that he was disliked.

He was a proud person. His status was not one bit lower than Luo Huo’er’s. To repeatedly hit a wall, he obviously did not feel good about it.

In the White Fox clan, which woman did not scramble to gain his favor?

“From the looks of it, Your Highness does not think much of my White Fox’s mystic techniques and also looks down on my White Fox clan’s geniuses.”

Luo Huo’er grunted, but she did not speak a word. Indeed, she didn’t think highly of them.

“Why doesn’t Your Highness make a bet with This Prince?” Bai Yueqing suddenly asked. Luo Huo’er ignored him, but he continued speaking, “Regarding the upcoming trial… it’s not a boast on This Prince’s part, but there are many young talents amongst the White Fox clan’s younger generation. This Prince’s younger sister, Princess White Fox, is an obvious case that does not need mentioning. If Your Highness doesn’t think highly of my White Fox clan’s young talents, This Prince can get a number of them to give up on the White Fox trials and transfer them to participate in the Luo clan’s Luo Divine Hall trials. We can learn through an exchange!”

“Your Luo clan’s young geniuses can also come to my White Fox clan! Finally, we can compare the final results!”

“Princess Purple Spirit is obviously a wondrous genius and you would have dazzling results. However, This Prince’s sister, Princess White Fox, would not be inferior to Princess Purple Spirit.”

“As for the final outcome… This Prince believes that out of ten, our White Fox clan would take up at least six!”

Six!?

Luo Huo’er stared with widened eyes, while Empress Xuan frowned slightly. They were obviously not pleased with the words that he said.

The Luo clan had never been inferior to the White Fox clan, be it the experts in the clan or the younger generation.

But now, Bai Yueqing had made a bold statement.

“If Your Highness doesn’t believe in it, why don’t you make a bet with This Prince? If what This Prince claims is validated, Your Highness can stay behind and travel around the White Fox clan. What does Your Highness think about this?”

Defeat me? Luo Huo’er’s almond-shaped eyes stared at him. This male fox spirit was beginning to act like a bushy-tailed wolf.

Luo Huo’er had to participate in the trials, but even with Luo Huo’er being included, Bai Yueqing predicted that the results would be six out of ten in his favor!

At that moment, Yi Yun’s voice transmission rang in Luo Huo’er’s ears. “Don’t fall for his goading. There is no need for you to take up the bet. If you lose, you end up staying in the White Fox clan, but there’s no benefit in winning… ”

Yi Yun frowned as he glanced at Bai Yueqing. Bai Yueqing definitely had something backing him for him to dare make such a bold claim. It could not have been thin air.

“Don’t worry Little Yun. This Princess isn’t stupid!”

Luo Huo’er’s words made Yi Yun nod his head secretly. However, the next sentence of hers made Yi Yun nearly spit whatever he had in his mouth out.

“Alright, I’ll bet with you.” Luo Huo’er said.

What the heck, Luo Huo’er? Didn’t she say she wasn’t stupid!? Yi Yun was rendered speechless.

A smile flashed on Bai Yueqing’s face before it disappeared. From his appearance, it looked as though he had everything under control. “Then it is agreed.”

“You haven’t said what will happen if you lose!”

“If I lose, This Prince will give Your Highness a gift that she won’t expect!” Bai Yueqing used a mysterious tone in his words.

However, Luo Huo’er felt like giving him a slap when she heard this. Who wants a gift from a male fox like you!?

Bai Yueqing probably noticed Luo Huo’er’s look of repulsiveness. He adjusted his body and he felt somewhat embarrassed. His gifts were something that numerous people yearned for, but she was repulsed at his offering of a gift.

“Princess Purple Spirit, other than gifts, whatever Your Highness wants, This Prince will also satisfy you, as long as the Luo clan wins.”

Bai Yueqing could only take a step back so as to make Luo Huo’er take up the bet.

Luo Huo’er said, “You will satisfy me with whatever? Alright. This Princess is a pragmatic person who loves Ancient Fey bones, especially supreme-grade Ancient Fey bones. Giving seven or eight hundred of them would do.”

What Luo Huo’er said nearly choked Bai Yueqing.

Bai Yueqing dryly coughed twice and sweat dripped on the back of his head. Seven or eight hundred Ancient Fey bones?

Yi Yun nearly burst out laughing when he heard this. Luo Huo’er was truly not someone to be messed with. He knew very well that his obtaining of an Ancient Fey bone back at the Mt. Azure Billow collective training had already caused Ran Yu, Luo Tian and company to covet it.

“This… ” Bai Yueqing looked somewhat embarrassed.

“If there are no Ancient Fey bones, This Princess isn’t interested!”

“Your Highness, you are truly making things difficult… ” Bai Yueqing felt that Luo Huo’er was just fooling with him. “Since you do not want This Prince’s gift, we can change the bet.”

“What’s there to change?” Luo Huo’er rolled her eyes. Other than Ancient Fey bones, there was nothing she was interested in. But on second thought, she suddenly had an idea as she cast a strange look at Yi Yun.

For some reason, Yi Yun felt his heart skip, as though he had an extreme sense of foreboding.

Luo Huo’er cleared her throat as she said slowly, “Let’s do it this way. Since you use This Princess as a bet, let’s pull Princess White Fox in as well. She will be participating in the Luo Divine Hall trials, while I’ll be participating in the White Fox trials. It will be a fair bet, isn’t it?”

“Oh? I wonder how Princess Purple Spirit plans on betting?” Bai Yueqing asked with a smile.

“If Princess White Fox fails to obtain first place, then she will have to stay in the Luo clan while traveling around it.” Luo Huo’er answered.

“That’s not a problem.” Bai Yueqing immediately agreed. What sort of bet was this? Ignoring the upcoming Luo Divine Hall trials, Bai Yueqing believed that it was certain that the White Fox clan would emerge victorious. Even if the White Fox clan lost, leaving Xue’er behind in the Luo clan was fine. It would allow more interactions with Prince Crimson Firmament.

“Then it is agreed upon. When the time comes, Yi Yun will accompany her on her travels.”

Luo Huo’er turned her head at Yi Yun and said with a grin. “This mission will be entasked to you. Don’t disappoint me!”

As Luo Huo’er said this, she winked at Yi Yun. Yi Yun had a bitter look on his face. This darn girl. She had indeed made her plans revolving around him.

How maleficent was she to think of such a bet!?

876 - : Luo Huo’er’s Maleficent Idea

CKtalon  CKtalon

He knew very well that there was a deeper meaning to Luo Huo’er’s ’don’t disappoint me’. And in fact, this bet was all a result of Luo Huo’er’s playful mindset — she was essentially a young brat who craved to see the world plunge into chaos.

“Huo’er, you are up to your wanton mischief again.” At that moment, Empress Xuan’s Yuan Qi voice transmission rang. “Do you know what thoughts Crimson Firmament will have if your bet were to come into effect? Yi Yun will become the stye in his eye, a cause of pain that he will want to get rid off.”

Despite hearing Empress Xuan’s words, Luo Huo’er said in a displeased manner, “Yi Yun is already a stye in Crimson Firmament’s eye. Making it a little larger will not make a difference. Furthermore, I’m also a stye in Crimson Firmament’s eye.”

Empress Xuan did not speak further after Luo Huo’er’s retort. She only shook her head because it was indeed without a doubt that Yi Yun was already a stye in Crimson Firmament’s eye.

“Your Highness, are you pulling my leg?” Bai Yueqing’s smile faltered slightly. Although Bai Yueqing did not believe that the White Fox clan would lose to the Luo clan, Luo Huo’er’s words sounded rather harsh to his ears.

“Letting Yi Yun accompany Princess White Fox on her travels?” Bai Yueqing gave Yi Yun a look of disdain. “He is unqualified. This Prince will not agree to this bet.”

Bai Yueqing believed that his regal bearing was already rather esteemed, but at this point in time, he could no longer tolerate it. He felt that Luo Huo’er was constantly teasing him. Hence, he said those words. He no longer concealed his belittlement of Yi Yun.

When Yi Yun heard this, he glanced at Bai Yueqing. He saw a feature in Bai Yueqing’s eyes that was only seen in wild beasts, a cold urge to kill.

In fact, he had sensed the white fox’s belittlement and animosity right from the very beginning.

Yi Yun was also not someone to be messed with either. Having been earmarked for attacks, he said, “The two of you want me to accompany Princess White Fox on her travels, but you have yet to ask for my thoughts. I want to say that I don’t have any intentions of traveling with Princess White Fox, to begin with. The opportunity you think that I’ll be yearning for is actually worth nothing to me.”

Yi Yun’s final words were directed at Bai Yueqing.

Bai Yueqing was dumbfounded hearing this. Not only Bai Yueqing was dumbfounded, even Luo Huo’er was dumbfounded for a moment before she revealed a naughty smile.

“Nice going, Little Yun!” Luo Huo’er said with a voice transmission. What Yi Yun had said pleased her greatly.

“What did you just say?” Bai Yueqing’s face turned sullen. New flames of killing intent began to burn in his eyes as he looked at Yi Yun.

Seeing Bai Yueqing’s reaction, Yi Yun smiled and said, “It’s truly interesting. Princess Purple Spirit wants me to accompany Princess White Fox on her travels, and you say that I’m unqualified and unworthy. I took the initiative to mention that I do not want to travel with Princess White Fox, but not only were you not happy about it, you turned furious. Could it be that in your mind, I should be pleading on my knees to accompany Princess White Fox on her travels, and you would kick me away and curse me for being a toad that lusts over a swan’s meat? Would you feel happy only when that happens?”

What Yi Yun said had hit the nail on the head. Indeed, in Bai Yueqing’s subconsciousness, it was only right for the White Fox royal family to reject others, and not the other way round.

Bai Yueqing coldly looked at Yi Yun. If this was anywhere outside Fenghua Palace, he would have killed Yi Yun.

“Whether Her Highness wishes to stay in the White Fox clan is her freedom. By using a bet to force her to stay in the White Fox clan is such a hopeless act!”

He said those face-smacking words without fearing anything. Luo Huo’er and even Empress Xuan wanted to give their kudos to Yi Yun.

Having been blindsided by Empress Luo, the machinations of Empress Luo against her daughter, and how Emperor Luo was seemingly agreeing to the marriage, how could Empress Xuan not be infuriated? She found Bai Yueqing unpleasing to the eyes no matter how she looked at him. But now, with Yi Yun throwing out those words, Empress Xuan was elated.

Of course, she could not speak her thoughts. Empress Xuan said with an angry glare, “Yi Yun, how can you say such words? Prince Yueqing is a guest of the Luo clan.”

Although it sounded like she was reprimanding Yi Yun, was there any inkling of admonishment from her tone?

Bai Yueqing was incensed. With so many people present, his prestige as a prince had been torn apart. As for the bet, he no longer cared about it.

However, he never expected Luo Huo’er to suddenly say, “I can agree to your bet. If the Luo clan loses, I will stay in the White Fox clan for a year of travel, but if the Luo clan wins… ”

Luo Huo’er paused upon saying that, “I wish that you and I will no longer have any correspondence in the future.”

This bet…

Yi Yun gave Luo Huo’er an odd glance. The bet had deeper implications. After all, the White Fox clan had yet to propose any marriage alliances with the Luo clan. If the White Fox clan truly lost, with the bet in place, it was unlikely for the White Fox clan to be shameless enough to propose a marriage alliance.

“Alright!” Bai Yueqing spat out the word. “Then This Prince shall be taking his leave. May Princess Purple Spirit prepare for her trip to the White Fox clan in the coming days!”

After saying his words, Bai Yueqing did not stay a moment longer. He led his servants and left Fenghua Palace!

When he saw Bai Yueqing leave, Yi Yun smacked his lips and transmitted his voice to Luo Huo’er. “Why are you so confident?”

“I’m not confident. Bai Yueqing isn’t a fool. For him to dare propose the bet, he naturally has something backing him. So… all of this is on you, Little Yun.” Luo Huo’er said casually, rendering Yi Yun speechless.

Luo Huo’er was truly too bold.

“If it’s the Desolate Heaven technique, I might have some confidence. But if it comes to martial arts, be it my foundation or physique, they are far inferior to top geniuses’.”

Yi Yun knew himself. The geniuses in the Luo clan royal capital were on a completely different level to the Fire Cloud State’s.

After all, Yi Yun had just come to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. His potential had yet to be developed. In terms of foundation, he was at a disadvantage.

“There’s no hurry. We can take a step at a time. The Luo Divine Hall trials last for quite a period of time.” At that moment, Empress Xuan spoke. She sighed slightly before saying, “Regardless of the case, Empress Luo has made a good move. Even if Huo’er extricates herself from Bai Yueqing’s marriage alliance, if Prince Crimson Firmament succeeds in his marriage alliance with Princess White Fox, under the threat of the Fey Phantasm Sect, His Majesty would still consider Prince Crimson Firmament as his heir. Furthermore, if Huo’er were to inherit the throne, her relationship with the new emperor of the White Fox clan might not be so cordial.”

Empress Xuan was filled with worries. Just this move allowed Crimson Firmament to take another step closer to the throne.

“Maybe Crimson Firmament’s marriage alliance will fail?”

The corners of Luo Huo’er’s mouth curled up as she revealed her lustrous canine teeth. Although she was disinterested in the throne, she did not want to lose either, especially with Empress Luo machinating against her.

She wanted to win against her, and make that old witch weep!

…

News of Luo Huo’er and Bai Yueqing’s bet quickly proliferated.

The bet was obviously not concealed as it needed the notarization of the public.

In fact, the announcement of the bet was entrusted to the maidservants by Luo Huo’er. With her penchant for chaos to pervade the world, those Fenghua Palace maidservants reproduced whatever they knew. It even included the first bet that Luo Huo’er had proposed — ‘Letting Yi Yun accompany Princess White Fox on her travels’, as well as Yi Yun’s subsequent refusal.

With that, news spread quickly in the royal capital!

Everyone who heard the news was stupefied.

They were not surprised at the bet agreed upon by Luo Huo’er and Bai Yueqing, but by what Yi Yun had said.

The status that Princess White Fox enjoyed was heads and shoulders above the cream of the crop. In the White Fox clan, her status was nearly equivalent to Luo Huo’er’s!

But she had been ridiculed by Luo Huo’er and following that… she had been rejected by Yi Yun?

The opportunity to travel with Princess White Fox was worth nothing to Yi Yun?

Yi Yun’s words were not only infuriating and surprising to members of the White Fox clan, but also to members of the Luo clan. They were all dumbfounded. Yi Yun was too good at posturing.

…

“Princess! Princess!”

In an elegantly adorned palace in the Luo clan royal capital, a petite maidservant ran over. She had a pair of sharp white fox ears protruding at the top of her head, and a bushy tail behind her. She was clearly a girl from the White Fox clan, but she had yet to fully complete her human manifestation.

“Princess, do you know what has happened outside? It’s completely infuriating!” The maidservant said huffily as she ran.

877 - : Too Infuriating

CKtalon  CKtalon

In this palace, Princess White Fox was wearing a white veil dress. With a book in her hand, she was quietly sitting on a bed. As the sunlight filtered through the veil, one could vaguely discern her body’s beautiful contours.

In the warrior’s world, be it reading or writing, people were accustomed to using jade slips that could contain a lot more content, but Princess White Fox preferred the feeling of having a paper-based book in her hand.

Upon hearing the huffing voice, Princess White Fox raised her head and she looked at her personal maidservant. She was like an angry kitten who had come before her to complain.

Princess White Fox smiled. Putting down her book, she said, “Ling’er, are you referring to my brother’s bet with Princess Purple Spirit?”

“Princess, you have already got wind of it?” The maidservant stared at her with widened eyes.

“Yeah, I got wind of it, as well as some of the words used.” Princess White Fox said lightly.

The maidservant was momentarily taken back before she said, “Princess, aren’t you angry? That fellow named Yi Yun has no shame at all. He even said that he has no interest in travelling with Princess. Who does he think he is? There are so many people who want to travel with Princess that even the entire Luo clan royal capital couldn’t contain them if they lined up. Even Prince Crimson Firmament yearns for it, but this Yi Yun… ”

Princess White Fox said with a laugh, “Everyone has their own preferences and choices. You may like beautiful clothes and accessories, but warriors like superior-grade sabers and swords, and a farmer might like fertile soil. There’s nothing odd about that. So, why should I be mad? However, there is one point that is true. As Princess White Fox, I represent the entire White Fox clan. My pride is the glory of the White Fox clan. Regardless of anything, Luo Huo’er and Yi Yun’s words can be considered a challenge to me. At the Luo Divine Hall trials, I would probably be with Yi Yun. When the time comes, I want to see what Yi Yun’s true strength is.”

…

Time soon passed and with that, a month had passed.

Luo Huo’er had accompanied a White Fox clan ambassador to head for the White Fox clan. As for Yi Yun, he remained in the Luo clan royal capital to consolidate his cultivation realm.

Today was the day that the Luo Divine Hall trials began.

Every sixty years, the Luo Divine Hall would hold a trial that lasted eighteen years!

Yi Yun was quite surprised when he first heard of the Luo Divine Hall trials that lasted eighteen years.

Why did it last so long?

“Of course it’s long… ” Empress Xuan stood on a high platform. Behind her were elites that were going to participate in the trials. She was dressed in a lavish regal outfit, and she looked domineering. “The trials is not just a single test. In fact, it is the most important opportunity of the Luo Divine Hall. It happens once every sixty years, and it lasts for eighteen years each time. The eighteen years are extremely important, they are a stage for you to build your foundation.” Empress Xuan slowly said.

Yi Yun, along with other disciples who had joined Empress Xuan’s camp, including Gu Qing, Ling Wu, etc, were all present. They were all elites from the various Luo clan states. Furthermore, they were mostly less than fifty years old. Amongst the younger generation, they were considered the youngest juniors.

“Huo’er’s trial will also begin at the same time as our Luo clan’s. In fact, many clans and Fey countries in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven chose today as the beginning of an important trial for their young disciples.” Empress Xuan added on.

“Oh? Other Fey countries have the trials going on concurrently as well?” Yi Yun was surprised. It was obviously not a coincidence with so many powerful factions choosing this day for the beginning of their trials.

At that moment…

A spirit cruiser flew over and it landed on a square in front of the crowd.

The spirit cruiser looked extremely special. It looked like a carp that was covered in scales. It had two long tentacles growing by its large mouth and its eyes were bright. If it wasn’t for its surface having indications of it being made out of metal, Yi Yun would have believed that it was a gigantic carp.

“This spirit cruiser is truly strange… ”

“It’s indeed strange… ” At that moment, Empress Xuan spoke. “Our entire Luo clan only has two spirit cruisers of this grade. One of them is used by His Majesty, and the other is by the Imperial Uncle. And the one in front of you is His Majesty’s mount. These two spirit cruisers are one of the cornerstones of the Luo clan!”

Emperor Luo’s mount?

The people present were amazed. Just heading to the Luo Divine Hall trials required using Emperor Luo’s mount?

“The spirit cruiser in front of you was a golden carp from ancient times. This is the body that it left behind after failing to transform into a dragon. Using its body as a foundation, this spirit cruiser was constructed. Hence, the spirit cruiser you see resembles a carp.”

An ancient parable in the Fey race describes how a golden carp transforms into a dragon goes — A Jinlin is in no case a common creature living in the pool, but it changes into a dragon upon facing a storm.

Yi Yun had never expected that the spirit cruiser in front of him was refined using a golden carp’s corpse.

The corpse of an ancient beast like a golden carp was unimaginably valuable.

But even so, Empress Xuan had just said that the two spirit cruiser were the cornerstones of the Luo clan and they were of paramount importance. Clearly, such a spirit cruiser was not simply used for traveling only.

At that moment, a middle-aged man dressed in white robes appeared from the gigantic carp’s mouth.

He had long purple hair, and his eyes were deep blue in color, resembling the deep starry sky. Just standing there nonchalantly made the light around him distort. Yi Yun knew that this was a manifestation of the Dao.

The person standing at the fish’s mouth had unfathomable strength. It was even very likely that this was the strongest person that Yi Yun had ever encountered in person so far!

“Your Majesty.”

The blue-eyed man nodded slightly at Empress Xuan.

From the fact that he did not need to bow at Empress Xuan was enough to show of his esteemed status!

And following that, Empress Xuan’s words made everyone understand his identity.

“Supremacy Gulan, we haven’t met each other in a thousand years… ”

Supremacy?

This was not the first time that Yi Yun had heard such a term. Even in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, a Supremacy was considered to be a powerhouse. And in the Luo clan, Supremacies were exempt from bowing, even when greeting Emperor Luo. They would only bow when they met the third Imperial Uncle.

Every few decades, a new batch of geniuses and elites would be born in the Luo clan. Amongst these geniuses, there would be existences at the pinnacle. But true Supremacys could be counted with one’s hand in the Luo clan.

This was the first time that Yi Yun heard of Supremacy Gulan, but many of the elites present already knew the few Supremacies in the Luo clan.

“He’s Supremacy Gulan! For our trip to the Luo Divine Hall trials, we actually get to ride on His Majesty’s spirit cruiser and have a Supremacy lead the way! The whole situation is so fantastic… ” Someone said in surprise.

The situation appeared exaggerated regardless of anything.

“There’s no other way. The place we are going cannot be entered without a Supremacy powering the golden carp spirit cruiser… ” Someone who understood the Luo Divine Hall trials well said with mixed emotions.

It was also because of this reason that Empress Xuan had mentioned that the two spirit cruisers owned by Emperor Luo and the third Imperial Uncle were the cornerstones of the Luo clan. The reason was mostly attributed to the fact that spirit cruisers at that grade were the keys to activating the Luo Divine Hall trials.

Without spirit cruisers at such a grade, the Luo clan would lose the ability to nurture their young elites.

878 - : Supremacy Gulan

CKtalon  CKtalon

Boom!

The spirit cruiser tore through the void of the world it was in and it began Void Transference.

The moment a spirit cruiser, which was controlled by a Supremacy and also the mount of Emperor Luo, did Void Transference, be it its teleportation distance or the energy it consumed, they were both unimaginable.

The reason why it had to be controlled by a Supremacy was that the venue of the Luo Divine Hall trials was completely unexpected…

Yi Yun stood beside a window of the spirit cruiser. As it passed through space, he saw numerous twinkling lights. These dots of light each represented a star.

Some of these stars were desolate, but there were others brimming with life in their respective solar systems. These lives similarly could give birth to warriors. There were as many lives in the entire 12 Empyrean Heavens as the number of grains of sand on a beach. It was difficult to estimate the number, and even if one was a Supremacy, one would only be able to explore a very tiny area of the entire 12 Empyrean Heavens.

“Junior Brother Yi Yun.”

Yi Yun turned around when he heard someone call him. He saw a young man and woman walk towards him.

The man was lanky while the woman was petite.

“I’m Gu Qing. She’s Ling Wu. We are both members of the younger generation in Empress Xuan’s camp. We might be considered pretty alright in our states, but compared to Junior Brother Yi Yun, we are far too inferior.”

Gu Qing laughed. He came to get to know Yi Yun, because be it his current status, or the amount of potential he had revealed, he was someone worth to be acquainted with.

“Senior Brother Gu, you must be joking. I only lucked out on a little bit of Desolate Heaven technique. The upcoming Luo Divine Hall trials is a competition of strength, and I lack the advantage in various aspects.”

Just as Yi Yun was speaking, the spirit cruiser suddenly accelerated, as though the void had been torn apart as its fragments transformed into bands of light while they hurtled backward.

“The tunneling through space is about to begin.”

Yi Yun had once experienced Void Transference. But compared to the void transference on the spirit cruisers he had ridden before, the bands of light were more than a hundred times brighter. This implied an even stronger spatial force.

It was no wonder that a top-grade spirit cruiser used by Emperor Luo was deployed for this trip. If it was any ordinary spirit cruiser, it would be torn apart by the force of the spatial storms.

“Where are we going?” Yi Yun could not help but ask. He was still clueless about the Luo Divine Hall trials.

“To the Primordial Empyrean Heaven.” Ling Wu said.

She had ocean-blue long hair. As she watched the gorgeous band of lights outside the spirit cruiser, her looks revealed a yearning.

“Primordial Empyrean Heaven?”

This was the first time that Yi Yun had heard of such a name.

“The Primordial Empyrean Heaven sits independently outside the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Its volume is relatively smaller than the 12 Empyrean Heavens, but its status is extremely pivotal. Legend says that… it is a world that failed to take form.” At that moment, Gu Qing spoke.

Yi Yun was taken aback after hearing this. A world that had failed to take form?

“That’s right. In this world, there are stars that are in their inchoate states, fragmentary spaces, the richest Fey God auras, and the power of Chaos… ”

Chaos?

Yi Yun was alarmed. He obviously knew what it meant by the word ‘Chaos’. Legend said that the Universe was born out of Chaos. According to the 12 Empyrean Heavens’ stories, the 12 Fey Gods came out of Chaos.

After the 12 Empyrean Heavens were formed out of Chaos, most of the power of Chaos had been depleted.

And according to Gu Qing, the Primordial Empyrean Heaven was a world that had failed to take form. If that were the case, leaving behind the power of Chaos was nothing surprising!

What sort of form was the power of Chaos?

Just having the power of Chaos in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven was already an extremely attractive point.

Furthermore, not only was there the power of Chaos, it also contained a lot of opportunities.

It was no wonder that Ling Wu’s eyes sparkled when she mentioned the Primordial Empyrean Heaven.

Ling Wu said, “Actually, the White Fox clan’s trials are also held in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven. Every sixty years, there will be a moment when the barrier demarcating the Primordial Empyrean Heaven is at its weakest. That also the best time to enter the Primordial Empyrean Heaven.”

“This is the reason why the White Fox and Luo clan choose to begin their most important trials on the same day. However, even if the spatial barrier is at its weakest, a top-grade spirit cruiser and a Supremacy are needed to break through the spatial barrier. If not for this reason, how are we even qualified to ride in His Majesty’s mount and get to meet Supremacy Gulan.”

“Then will we be in the same place as the White Fox clan?” Yi Yun asked. Luo Huo’er was currently together with the White Fox clan.

“Of course not. The Primordial Empyrean Heaven is a very complex environment. Opening up a zone requires a lot of resources and the sacrifice of warriors. No power would be willing to sacrifice so much to share the zone that they open up with others. Our zone is ours, while the White Fox clan’s zone is theirs.” Gu Qing explained to Yi Yun.

“So that’s how it is.”

As they spoke, the spirit cruiser began another round of Void Transference.

The beams of light surrounding them grew in intensity till finally, the spirit cruiser came to a halt in a nebulous space.

Primordial Empyrean Heaven!

“This is the world that failed to take form.” Yi Yun looked at the space around the cruiser. In fact, this was a universe amidst disorder. Just the Yuan Qi around him felt different from the 12 Empyrean Heavens. An ancient and desolate aura that existed in this Empyrean Heaven.

The Primordial Empyrean Heaven was filled with fog, and amidst the fog, there were fragmentary continental land masses, as well as floating stars.

However, a large majority of the stars were dim and dead silent, as though they were just gigantic pieces of rock. There were some stars and land masses that emanated an extremely dangerous aura.

Yi Yun imagined that they would disembark from the spirit cruiser here, but he never expected that the spirit cruiser would continue flying before landing on a large land mass.

“We’re here.” Gu Qing said.

“This is the Luo Divine Hall. The Luo clan has set up a large formation array here. Every time Void Transference is used, we would arrive in the vicinity. A short trip here would do.” Ling Wu understood a lot about the matter.

Yi Yun looked at the land mass and he noticed a towering but unsophisticated palace, as well as hundreds of tall spires standing above the lands as well.

“This is the Luo Divine Hall.” Gu Qing said.

The Luo Divine was the totem of the Luo clan. Legend said that the ancestor of the Luo clan was an extremely powerful Ancient Fey.

“So… the true Luo Divine Hall is actually here. I thought that it would be in the royal capital.”

Yi Yun drew a light gasp. There was no vegetation on the land mass. It looked desolate and cold, as though it was a forgotten world.

If the Luo clan could build a Luo Divine Hall in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, it was possible that the White Fox clan did as well. The various factions of the 12 Empyrean Heavens divided the Primordial Empyrean Heaven amongst themselves.

The Primordial Empyrean Heaven was an important ground for them to nurture their talents. There was a delicate balance maintained amongst the factions, with each going their own way.

A few Luo Divine Hall Elders, who were stationed here, had already been waiting in mid-air.

“From today onwards, you will be spending the next eighteen years here! After eighteen years, it is unknown how many of you will be able to leave on the spirit cruiser alive. And amongst you, how many would experience a complete metamorphosis to become a dragon or a phoenix amongst people!?”

“Disembark the spirit cruiser!” Another thin elder took a step forward as he said.

This Elder was truly direct…

The disciples, who had just arrived in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, were still feeling fascinated about their surroundings. But at the moment that they arrive, it was like a figurative basin of cold water had been poured over them to dampen their spirits. Many of them immediately wiped the wonderment from their minds and fighting spirit and diligence appeared in their eyes.

879 - : Primordial Empyrean Heaven

CKtalon  CKtalon

After the lanky elder finished speaking, the hull of spirit cruiser opened. The disciples who came to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials subsequently flew out.

However, the moment that they stepped out of the spirit cruiser, there were immediately people who stumbled. There were even a few disciples who screamed as they plummeted straight down.

Elder Shi and the other Elders watched coldly, but they had no intention of saving them.

These disciples desperately powered their Yuan Qi before finally stabilizing their bodies. Slowly, they rose up, but from their pale looks, it was obvious that they had been given quite a fright.

They were still about a hundred thousand feet high in the sky. If they truly plummeted down, it would not be a problem in any other common universe, but in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, falling meant a high chance of death.

As warriors, they were already accustomed to flying. Although their Yuan Qi was insufficient to allow them to fly over great distances, just hovering mid-air for a while was easy as lifting a finger. It was practically an inborn instinct.

But just a moment ago, they had to relearn the feeling of flying in air.

“This is a universe that failed to take form, the Primordial Empyrean Heaven. The laws here are different to the 12 Empyrean Heavens. It’s in great disorder. The laws of nature around the landmass that the Luo Divine Hall is situated on is considered to be stable, but there are certain places where every step taken will allow you to encounter different laws. At those places, the energy in your bodies might be triggered by the disorderly laws even while standing. If you fail to control it, you might explode to your deaths, let alone fly.” At that moment, an Elder with an extremely long beard spoke slowly.

“But it’s because of this that the Primordial Empyrean Heaven is such an excellent place for the trials. In here, you will be able to experience the laws of nature at the primordial birth of the Universe. The laws are disorderly and brutal. But it is also because of this that they are easier to gain insights from. They have not gone through a perfect transformation and maintains their most primordial state. They do not have a system of harmonious trajectories.”

“In worlds like the 12 Empyrean Heavens that have taken form, the insights into a law requires you to extract them from their trajectories. Here, there is no need to do so. If you can seize the opportunity, and grasp one law, you would become a dragon or phoenix amongst people.”

The bearded Elder was apparently more patient than Elder Shi. However, the look he gave the disciples was dull. How could it be easy to grasp a law? Even in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, gaining insight into laws was still extremely difficult.

It was equivalent to the mortals in the lower realm. They lived on tiny planets. Even if they grasped a tiny law and used the law to fly out of their planets, they were still no different to an ant when it came to the Universe. It was extremely difficult for an ant to even try fathoming the vastness of the entire world.

It was as though the bearded Elder had not spoken in a very long while. Having said his piece, he fell silent.

They had volunteered to stay in the Luo Divine Hall. Other than protecting the Luo Divine Hall, they also went into reclusive cultivation here.

The disciples who were still in the spirit cruiser were appalled. They never expected that just moving alone was difficult enough in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven. They still needed to gain insight into laws and battle…

With the lessons drawn from the mistakes of those before them, the remaining disciples were careful when they flew out of the spirit cruiser.

Although many of the disciples had jolted themselves to give their all, they were still unable to find their footing after flying out. Even after familiarizing themselves with the surroundings, they were still unable to stand freely. It was as though they would plummet at any time.

However, there were a group of people who adjusted to it faster. After a few moments of stumbling, they were able to barely stand firm, with no signs of them falling at any time.

Immediately, the disciples who failed to find their footing felt that their faces were burning.

The setback was too great to be immediately proven to be inferior to the other disciples upon arrival at the trial.

However, no matter how well the disciples performed, the two Elders that protected the Luo Divine Hall had their eyelids lowered. They did not pay any attention to them.

“It’s Senior Brother Luo Mo.” Someone suddenly shouted from amidst the crowd.

Luo Mo, who had competed with Yi Yun at Empress Luo’s banquet had arrived.

Luo Mo was still wearing his black-and-white robe. He silently stepped out of the spirit cruiser. Ever since he was defeated by Yi Yun in the Desolate Heaven technique at Empress Luo’s banquet, he appeared more staid.

The moment he stepped out, his robe fluttered up, as though it was lifted up by winds. Following that he stably hovered mid-air, no different to normal flying.

“Ze!”

People remarked with a tinge of regret. Indeed, a genius at Luo Mo’s level was different.

Behind Luo Mo was a black-dressed youth.

The moment the black-dressed youth appeared, he attracted the attention of many.

The reason why the black-dressed youth attracted the attention of the others was not because of his identity. In fact, many people present had never seen him before.

The youth had a pair of black and bright eyes. He was extremely well kept, with a sword behind his back. He had black short hair, but his face looked somewhat pale.

The bone sword was made of the bone of an unknown beast. It was white like jade and it did not appear sharp at all. Instead, it gave off a warm feeling to others.

The most astonishing thing was that beside the sword’s hilt, there was a tiny bird standing on the black-dressed youth’s shoulder.

And it was this bird that attracted the eyes of everyone.

The participants present were members of the Fey race. They were extremely sensitive to Fey race bloodlines, so they were certain that the bird was not a powerful Fey beast, to the point that it was most likely an ordinary bird.

Bringing an ordinary bird to the Luo Divine Hall?

The laws in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven were extremely disorderly. Out of the Luo Divine Hall’s vicinity, many places could trigger the energies in a person’s body due to the chaotic laws to result in an exploding death.

Even in the land mass where the Luo Divine Hall lay, where the laws were slightly more stable, it was still not a place that an ordinary bird could withstand.

A strange scene was seen. When the black-dressed youth stepped out of the spirit cruiser, it was as though he was walking on flat ground. His body did not even quiver once. Even the bird on his shoulder was turning its tiny head in an alacritous manner. From time to time, it would issue clear sounds of chirping.

That can actually do?

Many people had struggled just to be able to stand firmly, but the youth in front of them had not only stood firmly, but he had also brought a tiny bird.

Who was he?

Such thoughts appeared on many people’s minds. It was as though Luo Mo knew the youth, and from his demeanor, he was rather respectful towards the youth.

At that moment, Ran Xueyi, Luo Divine Hall had begun to come out of the spirit cruiser. As two of the four young masters of the royal capital, the both of them were members of the younger generation that were younger than a hundred years old. Obviously, they would not miss the Luo Divine Hall trials.

Just as Ran Xueyi and Donglin Yu were about to step out of the spirit cruiser —

“Whew!”

The sound of the tearing of the void resounded as air was pushed apart. The surrounding laws also turned chaotic. The young disciples, who had struggled to find their footing, stumbled again, as though they were tiny boats bobbing on a huge wave.

People looked up as a gigantic white spirit cruiser descended and it landed near the Luo clan’s spirit cruiser.

“It’s the White Fox clan’s spirit cruiser!”

The gigantic white cruiser had a line made up of large beads across the keel of the boat that resembled the eyeballs of beasts. The line gave off a feeling full of mystery.

“It’s Princess White Fox and the disciples of the White Fox clan!” A young Luo clan elite said.

880 - : Chaotic Laws

CKtalon  CKtalon

At the Luo Divine Hall trials, the Luo clan and White Fox clan had exchanged quite a large number of elites.

A number of elites that Empress Luo had nurtured were sent to the White Fox clan.

As for the White Fox clan, it had sent an extremely strong lineup that accompanied Princess White Fox.

At the trials, it was not only a competition between Empress Luo and Empress Xuan, it was also a competition between the Luo and White Fox clan!

This destined the trial to be an intense competition!

At that moment, an arc of light shot out of the white spirit cruiser as its hull opened. Appearing from inside the hull were a group of lavishly dressed White Fox disciples. The male disciples made up no more than 20%, while the rest were all female disciples!

At a glance, there were dozens of White Fox clan beauties. Any one of them had beauty that could topple kingdoms!

The White Fox clan’s ancestor was a powerful Ancient Fey, the Nine-tailed White Fox. Female White Fox that took human form had an inexplicable charm, and they were considered one of the most perfect beings in the world.

But now, this group of female disciples were one of the most elite girls amongst the White Fox’s younger generation with the purest bloodlines. Their looks, bearing and figures were impeccable. The group of beauties that suddenly appeared had different charms. There were those with ample chests or those with slim waists. Some had long, slender fair legs, while others that did not look tall would be petite and adorable. Some had temperaments as cold as jade, as though they were lofty snow lotuses, and there were others that were sultry, and completely capable of bringing down a country to its knees.

Most of them wore fine silk-veiled clothing, and all of them standing together projected an astounding feeling.

Amongst the young male elites of the Luo clan, not everyone was a blessed son of heaven who were pursued by girls like Luo Mo. There were some relatively common male disciples. Being able to suddenly see a bevy of beauties in all styles, they were momentarily dazed when they vaguely made out the beauties’ fair legs and arms through the thin veils.

Upon seeing the Luo clan’s male disciples looking at them dumbfoundedly, there was a slight stir in the White Fox clan. They began giggling, with laughter as pleasant sounding as orioles birds.

“The White Fox clan indeed lives up to its fame as a charming species. These girls must have cultivated in some illusionary charming techniques. Their auras have already been fully integrated into their bodies. Even without exercising their charm, they can still influence the minds of people.”

Yi Yun came to a conclusion upon seeing this scene. Ignoring the looks of the White Fox girls, just their reactions alone could stir up a male’s dominating desires.

The long mustached Luo Divine Hall Elder frowned slightly. Emperor Luo had instructed him to lead the Luo Divine Hall trials. Although quite a number of Luo clan geniuses had been sent to the White Fox clan, he could not allow the Luo clan to embarrass itself.

He interrupted the dazed Luo clan youngsters present with a soft grunt. After a momentary surprise, they hurriedly focused their minds and looked somewhat embarrassed.

They had also realized that their reactions were quite embarrassing, and they had unknowingly fallen for the other party’s tricks.

At that moment, a red-dressed beauty appeared at the entrance of the white spirit cruiser’s hull. She had an ample bosom, and even with an extremely loose dress, there was no way it could hide her voluptuous figure that exuded a mature woman’s charm.

“Hehehe, Elder Duanmu, why are you grunting? It’s just a look, and the girls don’t mind, so what’s wrong with that? Furthermore, with the common enemy of the Fey Phantasm Sect, my White Fox clan’s Sacred King and His Majesty Emperor Luo have the intentions to begin an alliance. In the future, wouldn’t it be common for White Fox clan ladies to marry into the Luo clan?” The red-dressed woman said with a giggle.

Pandemonium seemed to happen as the voluptuousness under her dress made people lose themselves in reverie.

Some of the Luo Clans’s hot-blooded youths could not help but waver on their purpose after hearing her words. What the red-dressed woman said was very alluring. The Luo Divine Hall trials would last a very long time, so it was possible that they could hook up with one of the White Fox beauties, and leave with a beauty in hand!

Just thinking of this made many Luo clan disciples muster up their strength in a bid to showcase themselves at the trials.

“Come on down!”

The red-dressed woman waved her hand.

The elites of the White Fox clan began to step out of the spirit cruiser.

The Luo clan disciples immediately focused. The spatial dimension laws here were extremely chaotic. It was not easy to stand firmly, so they wanted to see how strong these girls from the White Fox clan were. They wanted to see if they were even worthy of them, if a few of them could not even beat a single one of them, how could they win their hand in marriage?

The first to step out of the spirit cruiser was a pair of young girls.

They were extremely tall, with ample breasts and thin waists. Long hair gushed down their backs, while there was a pair of fox ears that could hardly be seen.

They looked like they were made out of the same mold. Twins?

The Luo clan disciples were somewhat astonished. Coupled with their flawless faces, and identical looks, they found it nearly impossible to distinguish them.

“It’s the White Fox clan’s Shadow Twins!” At that moment, Luo Mo said, “They grew up together with Princess White Fox, and they are personal guards of Princess White Fox. The term, ‘guards’, might not be appropriate, and instead, they could be described as Princess White Fox’s confidants and left and right-hand women.”

With Luo Mo saying this, the Shadow Twins had already stepped out of the spirit cruiser. The chaotic laws immediately subjected them to their power, but the duo did not appear to be affected at all. More mysteriously, a faint ripple appeared under their feet, as though they were stepping on a water surface. These ripples emanated out from their feet and it gathered together before destructively interfering with each other into eventual calmness.

And following that, the Shadow Twins took one step after another down the empty space. Every step produced a ripple and these ripples formed a trail that expanded in range. Following that, the young White Fox clan disciples began walking out of the spirit cruiser.

The invisible ripples seemed to stabilize the chaotic void as they created an invisible ground. All of the White Fox disciples were able to stand firmly on the ripples that destructively interfered with each other, as though they were not affected by the chaotic laws!

This scene shocked everyone.

What sort of technique was that?

Not every White Fox clan disciple was able to easily adapt to their surroundings. With the Shadow Twins forging a path ahead, it was as though they had calmed down the chaotic laws, which resulted in all of them appearing unaffected.

It was fascinating!

At that moment, Princess White Fox appeared. She was still dressed in a simple but elegant white robe. Her long white hair and her every gesture had silver bolts lightning circulating around her. The resplendent silver beams added an air of mystery to her.

Quite a few of the Luo clan disciples present had attended the banquet hosted by Empress Luo. Back at the banquet, they did not sense how unfathomable Princess White Fox was, but now in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, they were able to deeply appreciate it.

Princess White Fox’s eyes were calm as she slowly walked towards the Luo Divine Hall. Following behind Princess White Fox were four male White Fox clan men.

The White Fox clan men had exquisite appearances like the women, but in the eyes of the members of the Luo clan, this was completely disgusting. Men mostly liked delicate and beautiful women, but how many would like delicate and beautiful men?

At that moment, the White Fox clan men looked at the Luo clan disciples and one of them said, “Who amongst you is Yi Yun?”

881 - : Shadow Twins

CKtalon  CKtalon

The White Fox clan man who spoke immediately attracted the attention of many, this was because he was especially unique.

He was tall and burly, and there was a heavy weapon on his back. From the shape of it, it resembled a heavy sword.

The man’s face was chiseled and his eyes were like two sharp blades. He had a faint scar in between his eyebrows, which looked like ivory. Standing there, he emanated an overwhelming foul bloodthirsty aura!

This foul aura would only appear on people who had their hands stained with a great deal of blood. Clearly, this man had experienced several life and death battles and he had traversed the realms of both life and death.

How was such a man in the White Fox clan?

Ignoring his foul bloodthirsty aura, just his appearance alone definitely made him an extremely masculine man, even in the Luo clan. He was completely different from the effeminate men in the White Fox clan.

The White Fox clan had such a person?

“I am.”

Yi Yun stood at the exit of the Luo clan’s spirit cruiser. He had yet to disembark from the spirit cruiser, and when he locked eyes with the sword-bearing man, Yi Yun felt that the other person’s aura was extraordinary.

The sword-bearing youth was somewhat special.

The Shadow Twins, together with the sword-bearing youth, allowed the White Fox clan to showcase their strength even before the trials began. It was already quite amazing.

“My name is Wufeng!” The sword-bearing man announced his name as he looked deeply into Yi Yun’s eyes.

Yi Yun was not surprised to be suddenly questioned by members of the White Fox clan. It was highly likely that most people in the White Fox clan had heard of his name…

The reason was none other than the confrontation between Luo Huo’er and Bai Yueqing.

Yi Yun slightly cocked his head and looked at Princess White Fox. In the White Fox clan, Princess White Fox enjoyed a lofty status, a status not inferior to Luo Huo’er.

“He’s Yi Yun?”

Wufeng’s reaction was rather plain, but for the other disciples of the White Fox clan, they did not remain calm when they heard Yi Yun’s name.

“So he is the one who declared that our White Fox clan’s Princess White Fox was not worthy to be his travel partner?”

“His cultivation level is at the beginning stages of the Heaven Ascension realm. His foundation is passable, but his physique is extremely weak. He would have been annihilated by me if he was in the White Fox clan for daring to speak so arrogantly.”

“Do you think that he truly doesn’t want to partner with our princess in her travels? He probably yearns for it deeply, but knows that it’s impossible so he put on an arrogant front. However, to be able to act arrogant, one has to have the appropriate strength and status. He doesn’t have any of that.”

A few of the male White Fox clan youths discussed in whispers as they sized up Yi Yun without any reservations. Their perceptions blanketed Yi Yun as they checked his foundation and lifeblood strength.

They had heard of the matters over the past few days and they were incensed over the matter. They wanted to know what the arrogant man looked like.

Although the discussions were just quiet murmurs, their conversation could be heard by others. Princess White Fox frowned slightly and turned around. She glanced at those youths that were speaking, a displeased look on her face.

“The Luo Divine Hall trials have just begun. Our every action and word represent the White Fox clan. By being verbally provocative before the trials, it does nothing but make others think lowly of us.” Princess White Fox sent a voice transmission.

The few White Fox youths choked up, and they did not dare to refute her.

“Your Highness, your teachings are sensible. Words mean nothing. When the trials begin, we will let that arrogant fellow know the strength of our White Fox clan.”

They knew about the bet about the trials between Luo Huo’er and Bai Yueqing. Bai Yueqing had also specially informed them of the importance of the trials. Other than the bet, if they were able to crush the Luo clan in the trials, they would also gain the upper hand in the upcoming forging of the alliance between the Luo clan and the White Fox clan!

Without a doubt, those who managed to obtain good results at the trial would make a name for themselves.

“Yi Yun, aren’t you coming down?” At that moment, Wufeng said to Yi Yun.

In the land mass where the Luo Divine Hall was, the laws in the void were chaotic, making it difficult for the youths to fly. Previously, the Shadow Twins had worked together to stride down the void and calming the laws. It was truly fascinating.

Wufeng understood of Yi Yun’s feats. He was very curious about a person who could use the seventy-two introductory moves to refine an ‘outstanding’ relic.

Instantly, many people were looking at Yi Yun.

Although many of the White Fox clan disciples frowned upon Yi Yun, it was still very easy to fly in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven.

Those with strong nomological insights would be able to find the gist of it instantly, allowing them to stabilize their footing.

Those with weaker laws would stagger from beginning to end, almost never finding balance.

They wanted to see how long Yi Yun would take to find his balance.

Yi Yun looked at the void outside the spirit cruiser. Musing slightly, he took his first step out.

When his center of gravity shifted out of the spirit cruiser, Yi Yun immediately saw the chaotic laws that belonged to the Primordial Empyrean Heaven.

The space here was filled with a variety of primordial energy.

Unformed energies of Yin-Yang, the five elements, the natural powers, spatial-temporal…

These energies surged into his body as they wantonly burst through his meridians.

If his nomological insight was insufficient, the myriad of energies that mixed into his bodies would result in him plummeting if he failed to control them, just like the other Luo clan disciples from before.

Yi Yun’s pace was not fast. He took one step after another. In the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, the chaotic energy looked like countless disordered threads. Yi Yun stepped on the nexus points of these threads like he was walking a tightrope. It looked rather interesting to Yi Yun.

Walking stably was not difficult in fact, but with his energy vision, Yi Yun had several thoughts.

“Oh? What is that Yi Yun doing?”

People noticed that Yi Yun was walking very slowly in the void. Every step was taken very cautiously. His eyes were staring at his feet, as though he was walking along a cliff’s edge, worried that he would fall at any time.

This strolling that looked like a snail’s crawl could not be considered as elegant. Compared to Wufeng, Luo Mo and company, he was far inferior. They were able to find their balance in less than a second.

“Why is Yi Yun so slow at trying to adapt himself to the Primordial Empyrean Heaven’s chaotic laws and maintain his balance?” A youth from the White Fox clan chuckled.

Just as he was about to deride Yi Yun, he was suddenly stunned. He noticed that there were faint ripples beneath Yi Yun’s feet, just like the ripples the Shadow Twins had formed.

However, the ripples that Yi Yun created were much fainter. It looked like he had yet to proficiently grasp it, but even so, this astounded the youth that was about to speak.

“He’s mimicking the Shadow Twins!” The youth from the White Fox clan said as his voice broke.

He never expected that Yi Yun was able to mimic the Shadow Twins in his first step into the Primordial Empyrean Heaven. It was quelling the chaotic and violent energies just by using their legs.

Furthermore, he actually managed to do it!

Although he did not do it in as collected a manner as the Shadow Twins, people knew that this was not the first time that the Shadow Twins had stepped into the Primordial Empyrean Heaven. They had been here before!

Beside Princess White Fox, the Shadow Twins were watching Yi Yun. A look of astonishment flashed on their identical faces as they said, “Princess, that Yi Yun truly has impressive perception!”

882 - : Mimicking

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Shadow Twins had always been outstanding in the White Fox clan. As twin sisters, they had simultaneously awoken their Ancient Nine-Tailed Fox bloodline. Coupled with their pedigree and beauty, they were obviously highly sought after. Hence, under the present situation, those who could be praised by them were few and far between.

However, what Yi Yun had done had truly astonished them. The primordial universe’s chaotic laws were like churning waves in the sea. The sea waves easily changed their shape, but if one wanted to attempt to use their feet to flatten the waves, that was nearly impossible.

Although Yi Yun’s mimicry was relatively inchoate compared to the Shadow Twins, it was still extremely rare and valuable.

Furthermore, the more Yi Yun walked, the more plain-sailing it became for him. He was also slowly speeding up!

The White Fox clan geniuses that had previously mocked Yi Yun were momentarily at a loss for words when they saw the situation. They might have extremely strong combat ability, but they themselves knew that they could not use their feet to flatten the chaotic energies.

At that moment, Wufeng spoke, “Do not look down on the geniuses of the Luo clan. Although you are the cream of the crop in the White Fox clan, and this batch of juniors in the White Fox clan far exceeds the past, the Luo clan is also filled with talent. Don’t forget that the Luo clan has existed for an even longer period of time. They have amassed a great foundation.

When the surrounding White Fox clan geniuses heard this, some of them fell silent while others were unconvinced.

“Being able to flatten the chaotic energies in the void is based on one’s superiority in laws. Yi Yun is a human, so it is normal for him to be better than us on this. I heard that at a Luo clan collective training, his nomological insights were outstanding. However, what will be compared next is actual combat! Actual combat is what we are best at!”

“Right! Actual combat is everything. What’s the use of laws alone!?”

The moment that actual combat was mentioned, the White Fox clan disciples immediately perked up. The Luo Divine Hall trials’ final results depended on actual combat, which had the greatest weighting.

Wufeng did not speak. The Fey race was indeed proficient at actual combat. Even for Wufeng himself, nomological insights was his weakness, while actual combat was his strength.

In terms of actual combat, he was absolutely confident!

Of course, compared to Princess White Fox… he was completely no match for her.

Not only was Princess White Fox an instance of atavism, but she was also equally outstanding in laws, which the Fey race viewed as their weakness. She did not have any weaknesses!

If not for Princess White Fox being well-matched with Luo Huo’er, the White Fox prince would not have been so confident.

Upon thinking about this, Wufeng glanced at Princess White Fox, who wasn’t too far away from him.

At that moment, Princess White Fox was looking at Yi Yun with a wistful look. Her eyes were concentrated on Yi Yun’s toes. Her eyes were very pure, like a bright surface of a lake. Every ripple formed by Yi Yun’s feet was clearly reflected in her pupils.

“Nongyin, if this was the first time that you came to the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, will you be able to do what he did?”

Nongying was the elder sister of the Shadow Twins, while the younger sister’s name was Nongyue.

Nongying frankly shook her head and said, “No.”

Just as Nongying said this, the red-dressed woman beside her spoke. The red-dressed woman was leading the White Fox clan on this expedition — Fairy Red Fox.

“Xue’er, that sort of footwork was created by Nongying and Nongyue with trial and error. The difficulty of pioneering is much higher than imitating. Yi Yun is only imitating.” Fairy Red Fox gave Yi Yun a deep glance and said, “Of course, he is much stronger than I originally imagined.”

“That’s right. He’s only imitating us.” Nongyue, the younger sister, said with a slight frown. Yi Yun’s imitation of their actions made Nongyue rather displeased. “If he has the ability, he should pioneer a footwork that belongs to himself. If so, I’ll have a high opinion of him. If not, he’s just a person who imitates!”

“Ordinary people might not be able to do so even if they want to imitate.” Princess White Fox shook her head.

With the Luo clan and White Fox clan disciples gathered, the Luo Divine Hall trials also began.

And at that moment, the two spirit cruisers of the White Fox and Luo clan lifted off simultaneously. It flew away from the land mass where the Luo Divine Hall was. With that, the two spirit cruisers tunneled through the void, and before long, they used Void Transference to vanish completely.

“His Supremacy has left.”

“He will come to pick us up in eighteen year’s time.”

Seeing the two spirit cruisers disappear, the elites present had mixed emotions. The White Fox clan most likely had another Supremacy powering the spirit cruiser. If not, they would not have been able to break through the spatial barrier of the Primordial Empyrean Heaven.

And from beginning to the end, they had not seen the White Fox clan’s Supremacy disembark from the spirit cruiser. Other than Princess White Fox and a few others, the rest did not know who the Supremacy that powered the spirit cruiser was.

A few of the Luo clan geniuses had managed to catch a glimpse of Supremacy Gulan only because of Empress Xuan. After all, there was a battle for the throne, so Empress Xuan had personally sent off the geniuses into the spirit cruiser. Supremacy Gulan had given the empress face and he had shown his face for a fleeting moment.

Following that, they did not even get to see Supremacy Gulan.

Ultimately, the difference between them was too great. Be it the White Fox clan geniuses or the Luo clan geniuses, they were unqualified to have a Supremacy pay attention to them. Supremacy Gulan had lived for tens of thousands of years, and he had to send a batch of disciples to the Primordial Empyrean Heaven every sixty years. He had seen many so-called ‘geniuses’, so many that he was already numb to them.

But in fact, the number of geniuses who would truly mature were rare. A general calculation was that even the person who came first in the Luo Divine Hall trials had a one in ten thousand chance of becoming a Supremacy!

Hence, most major clans would cast a wide net when nurturing their young geniuses. Through tens of thousands of times of hard work being used to nurture millions of good saplings, having one of them mature was sufficient.

Many of the elites present understood this, but understanding was one thing, if they truly thought of it, their pride would still receive a setback.

For them to mature from a young age made them a remarkable existence. But in the backdrop of the entire clan, they were just one in several million. How could they feel reconciled with the fact of being belittled by others?

Hard work!

They had to produce good results!

Everyone was led by the Luo Divine Hall Elders as they flew towards the Luo Divine Hall.

Upon landing, they saw the main palace and the surrounding towers, which immediately made these disciples feel tiny.

It was too magnificent, as though they were mountains that sprouted out of the ground.

The stone slates that lined the ground were also different from the Luo clan royal capital’s. The material was unknown, but for them to last so long under the chaotic laws, they had to be extremely robust.

Looking up at the Luo Divine Hall made it even more spectacular. It had levels after levels that linked it to the sky.

“Go in.” Elder Shi coldly said.

The first level of the Luo Divine Hall was extremely wide. It could accommodate more than ten thousand people. Despite the large group of disciples entering, it still appeared extremely spacious.

The vast grounds spun like gorgeous stars. Looking up, it was complete darkness. Everyone seemed to be standing alone in the universe, in the void of nothingness.

And at different positions around these stars were dozens of gigantic rocks.

These gigantic rocks emanated splendid chaotic auras, as though they were in constant flux. They did not appear real.

“This is the front hall of the Luo Divine Hall, called Astral Palace.” The bearded Elder Duanmu said. Elder Shi did not appear like he had the patience to introduce such matters.

“Your first trial will be held here. Once this hall is closed, it will not be opened again. You will not be able to find an exit.” The bearded Elder said with a rare smile. “None of you have ever battled an Ancient Fey before, right?”

The disciples pricked up their eyebrows as some of them honestly answered, “No.”

“Then, all of you will soon have a chance.” As the bearded Elder spoke, he flung an incantation onto one of the gigantic rocks.

A trail of light flashed past the stellar backdrop and following that, a growl was suddenly heard from the darkness above their heads.

This growl went straight to their hearts!

Following that, drastic changes occurred as black gases gathered together into clouds, and in a blink of an eye, a gigantic head appeared.

The head poked out of the darkness as a humongous eye glanced nonchalantly at the disciples below with a scarlet flash in its eyes.

Upon seeing this head, the disciples felt as though their hearts had been wrenched.

Dragon! A true Fey dragon!

Yi Yun was also greatly taken aback. Back in Black Wind Valley’s training, he had only encountered a land contaminated by a rotting Fey dragon after its death. And now, what he was facing was a true dragon itself.

Bam!

The gigantic dragon flew down and it landed on the ground. Its massive body resembled a mountain. Its breathing made many disciples involuntarily tense up.

“The Primordial Empyrean Heaven is a world that failed to take form! Not only do the astronomical bodies or great worlds fail to take form, even an Ancient Fey born in primal times can fail in its evolution too!”

“Most of the Ancient Fey who fail to evolve would turn to ash under the immense river of time. However, there will be some who leave behind their soul essence that get wrapped in the most primordial gases of Chaos. This allows them to last till the present day!”

“Our Luo clan has collected a few Ancient Fey soul essence to establish this palace!”

Elder Duanmu’s words caused Yi Yun to secretly falter.

Not only could a world fail to take form, even an Ancient Fey could fail to evolve. This allowed the production of valuable Ancient Fey soul essences.

These Ancient Fey soul essence were restored through the use of the Luo clan’s array formations. It allowed the depiction of such an incredibly realistic divine dragon.

“This Ancient Fey soul essence isn’t unique to the Luo clan, right?” Yi Yun asked Gu Qing in a low voice.

Gu Qing nodded and said, “Naturally, our Luo clan only occupies a portion of the Primordial Empyrean Heaven. These Ancient Fey soul essences can be owned by other clans and Fey countries. For example, the White Fox clan’s White Fox trials are very similar to our Luo Divine Hall trials.”

Yi Yun nodded. Both clans were in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, so the resources they possessed were fairly identical. Hence, it was understandable that the trials they created were also similar.

Yi Yun took another look at the divine dragon. The Ancient Fey phantom image conjured by the array formation had the soul essence of an Ancient Fey that failed in its evolution imbued into it. Its powers were obviously incomparable to a true dragon, but it was definitely not easily beaten.

At that moment, Elder Shi spoke.

“The gigantic rocks in front of you are known as Fey Refining Rocks. They are similarly produced from the Primordial Empyrean Heaven. Such special divine rocks can seal the soul essence of an Ancient Fey that failed in its evolution and store them for along time. It is also one of the heritage cornerstones of our Luo clan!”

As Elder Shi spoke, Elder Duanmu dispersed the incantation on the Fey Refining Rock. Following that, the conjured dragon dissipated into countless points of light.

Elder Duanmu added on, “From now, we will begin testing your actual combat. Everyone will enter the array formation and battle with the Ancient Fey soul essence in the Fey Refining Rock. I will be outside here and watch how well you will fight!”

883 - : Ancient Fey Soul Remnant

CKtalon  CKtalon

Battle with a true Ancient Fey?

Although it was a wisp of soul essence, it was still enough to excite everyone. The young geniuses present were basically all Heaven Fey other than Yi Yun.

As descendants of the Ancient Fey, the Heaven Fey were proud of their blood heritage. At the same time, they would be excited about anything that had to do with Ancient Fey.

The eyes of many people lit up as fighting spirit shimmered!

All they had previously seen was the phantom images of Ancient Fey conjured using bloodlines. And now, they had an opportunity to interact with a true Ancient Fey soul essence. This combat experience was priceless!

Seeing that the elites present were so excited, Elder Shi did not think much of it as he said, “Inject your spiritual energies into the Fey Refining Rock, and the battle will begin. However, it is impossible for you to gain victory in the battle. The Ancient Fey soul essence in the Fey Refining Rock will constantly be reborn. Every rebirth increases its strength by several times. The Ancient Fey soul essence can go under nineteen rebirths in total! And that is to say, if you can kill the Ancient Fey soul essence nineteen consecutive times, it would be equivalent to clearing the trial, but that is impossible!” Elder Shi said indifferently.

The young elites present frowned slightly when they heard this.

Impossible?

Although they also knew that they had a long way ahead on their martial paths, they still felt under the weather when they were completely denied by others.

Especially with Elder Shi’s expression, it was as though he could not be bothered to speak another word. It was as though most of the young elites present were ants to him, not worthy of his attention.

“If the Ancient Fey soul essence can be killed eighteen times, how powerful would it be at the nineteenth time?” Yi Yun cocked his head and asked Gu Qing.

Elder Shi’s words had sparked his curiosity.

Gu Qing shook his head and said, “I only know that the Fey Refining Rocks are difficult to clear, but I have no idea how difficult the nineteenth round is either… ”

Just as Gu Qing spoke, a pleasant-sounding voice resounded, “At the nineteenth time, it’s probably when one approaches the level of a Supremacy would one be able to beat it, I guess.”

Many people heard this when it was said.

Everyone felt a jolt.

Approach the level of a Supremacy!?

That is way too ridiculous!

“Or it should be said that everything from the fifth round onwards is not prepared for us.”

The person who spoke was the black-dressed youth. His face was slightly pale, and his eyes were black with a luster. He had short hair and he had a white bone sword on his back that appeared blunt. There was a bird on his shoulder as well.

This person was the mysterious youth from the Luo clan. Other than Luo Mo, no one present knew him.

“Typically, a person who can kill the first Ancient Fey soul essence’s incarnation at the moment they step into the Primordial Empyrean Heaven is extremely rare. In fact, most people will be repelled out of the Fey Refining Rock at the moment they enter. Even at the end of the eighteenth year, they would barely be able to kill it once or twice.” The mysterious youth spoke, and as he did so, he gave Princess White Fox a glance.

Without a doubt, Princess White Fox was the strongest person amongst everyone present!

“It’s this girl that Master specially pointed out. He said that she would be my greatest opponent… ” The mysterious youth said in his mind.

After arriving in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, his Master had transmitted his voice into his ear, telling him to pay attention to this fox-eared girl in white.

Furthermore, other than his Master wanting him to do his best to surpass her, he had also added — “Whatever will be, will be. There is no need to be disheartened.”

It was as though losing to her was normal. This had ignited the refusal of defeat in this mysterious youth’s heart.

He would like to see how many times Princess White Fox could kill the Ancient Fey soul essence.

“This… Young Brother, may I ask who you are… ?” Gu Qing could not resist asking.

He was also a member of the Luo clan, but he had never heard of this person. It was as though he had appeared out of thin air.

And most critical of all, this black-dressed youth appeared pretty impressive. Be it his stance or knowledge, he had completely surpassed him.

“Me? I’m Jian Zhu, Supremacy Gulan’s personal disciple. As I have always been cultivating with Master, I seldom am in the royal capital.” The mysterious youth said in a carefree manner.

His identity was not something that needed to be kept a secret.

“Supremacy Gulan’s disciple?” Gu Qing instantly felt choked.

The surrounding young elites from the Luo clan were also dumbfounded when they heard this.

They had already guessed that his pedigree was extremely high, but they had never expected him to be a Supremacy’s disciple!

There were very few Supremacies in the Luo clan. They only knew a handful of names of the Supremacies. Even if the reclusive existences were added, it was a number no more than two digits.

Most Supremacies had become ascetics, and did not meddle with the political matters of the royal capital. They and the royal court were two different systems.

These Supremacies were the true foundation of the Luo clan!

There were extremely stringent restrictions for a Supremacy to take in a disciple, especially a personal disciple. They were far and few in number. After all, a personal disciple would inherit their mantle. All sorts of top resources would be spent on the personal disciple generously.

A Supremacy’s fortune was not unlimited either. They had to be very meticulous in taking in a personal disciple. There might even be Supremacies who only took in one personal disciple their entire lives.

The status of a Supremacy’s personal disciple was understandable. It was no wonder that Luo Mo was so respectful to the youth.

After knowing the mysterious youth’s identity, Ran Xueyi and Donglin Yu looked each other in the eye. They could only give a wry smile.

Their titles as the ‘royal capital’s four great young masters’ were a joke in front of Jian Zhu.

The so-called royal capital’s four young masters would change every few decades, so it was practically useless. As for a Supremacy… their Xushui Ran clan and Donglin clan had not produced a Supremacy in the past few millenniums.

If the top few family clans in the Luo clan were as such, there was obviously no need to mention the other family clans.

“Supremacy Gulan’s personal disciple… ”

Princess White Fox looked at the black-dressed youth with a tiny bird on his shoulder. She was somewhat astonished, but that was all to it.

The White Fox clan also had personal disciples of Supremacies. However, even the personal disciples of Supremacies were slightly inferior to her.

The status of a royal progeny was also determined by one’s talent and strength.

Supremacies might seem out of reach to others, but for Princess White Fox, she could easily interact with them. She had received advice from Supremacies as well.

“Begin attempting the trial. The Fey Refining Rock arrays can accommodate twenty disciples a time. You can use your thoughts to choose the Ancient Fey that you want to challenge. The form of the Ancient Fey is not important, because regardless of the form, the Ancient Fey’s strength are similar.”

“From the third round of killing the Ancient Fey onwards, you will receive rewards! The rewards will be weapons or treasured materials. From the fourth kill onwards, you can obtain core heritage of the Luo clan, as well as Ancient Fey bones!”

At that moment, Elder Duanmu spoke. The words he said gave everyone a burning desire to do battle.

It was difficult, but the rewards made their blood boil with excitement.

Even Yi Yun also felt slightly stirred. Ancient Fey bone!

He had previously absorbed a single Ancient Fey bone, which had great benefits to his body and bloodline.

Yi Yun’s bloodline and physique were still too weak, so an Ancient Fey bone was like a timely gift.

However… that would need him to kill the Ancient Fey soul essence four or even five times!

884 - : Jian Zhu

CKtalon  CKtalon

Less than half a year had passed since Yi Yun arrived in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Yi Yun did not know what level his actual combat had reached.

However, reason told him that actual combat was his weakness.

As Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal, he had a great advantage in the Desolate Heaven technique and his nomological insights far exceeded the common members of the Fey race.

But for actual combat…

Even at Mt. Azure Billow, Yi Yun had defeated Luo Tian and Ran Yu without using his true combat ability.

Yi Yun glanced at Jian Zhu. Taking him as an example, he had accompanied a Supremacy since he was young. He obtained the personal guidance of a Supremacy and he had cultivated top cultivation techniques. The pills and relics he used were top-grade. Even the people who sparred with Jian Zhu were great talents.

By growing up in such an environment, Jian Zhu’s strength was understandably strong!

Compared to himself, he started in the Cloud Wilderness and only began cultivating at the age of twelve. In the first few years of cultivation, the cultivation resources that were available to him were extremely mediocre. His horizons and the things he encountered could not be compared to the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Of course, with the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun was able to experience certain opportunities Jian Zhu might not have, but to convert that to actual strength needed time.

“Do you find it difficult?” Gu Qing cocked his head and asked Yi Yun. Yi Yun noticed that Gu Qing did not seem relaxed.

Gu Qing was also a famous figure himself, but in front of the top geniuses of the Luo clan and White Fox clan, Gu Qing felt somewhat disheartened.

“Fight it out and put in your greatest effort! The Luo Divine Hall trials will last very long. It’s only the beginning.”

Yi Yun was not anxious. He was not even forty years of age yet. His martial path had just opened up. A moment’s loss was nothing.

At that moment, there were people who had already entered the Fey Refining Rock.

There were a total of about forty Fey Refining Rock in Astral Palace. The main rock in the middle was the size of a house.

Twenty people could go in at the time. As they stood in front of the largest Fey Refining Rock, a beam from the Fey Refining Rock immediately absorbed twenty people as a whole.

“Oh? Even the body is absorbed in. Looks like it’s not a consciousness battle, but a true physical battle… ”

Most of the elites present were waiting for the battle outcomes of these twenty people. Many of them were eager to battle an Ancient Fey so that they could make a name for himself.

Regardless if it was Elder Shi’s disdain for them or the identities of Princess White Fox and Jian Zhu, they had stimulated the competitive streak amongst these young elites.

They were all proud children of heaven, so they had pride in their hearts.

A successor of a Supremacy was powerful, but the final outcome needed to be compared. Even if they truly lost, they did not want to lose too badly.

Just as everyone was having various thoughts.

“Peng!”

With a dull thud, a Luo clan disciple was expelled in about thirty seconds after entering the Fey Refining Rock!

He slammed heavily onto the ground as his face turned pale.

“Fail.”

Elder Duanmu seemed to value his words with gold, so he did not even say an additional word.

This Luo clan disciple did not even manage to kill an Ancient Fey phantom image. He only lasted for about thirty seconds.

The gap was just too great.

One did not mean much, but following that…

“Bam! Bam! Bam!”

One trial-taker after another was expelled. It was not limited to the Luo clan disciples. Even trial-takers from the White Fox clan did not create any miracles. After lasting for about five minutes, they were also expelled out of the rock!

After all, the White Fox had chosen the elites from their clan to participate in the Luo clan’s trials. Those who were chosen were naturally not too bad. Those who were just chosen to make up the numbers were probably left in their own clans.

However, despite being handpicked, these people did not defeat the first Ancient Fey soul essence.

“All the twenty who had entered the Fey Refining Rock first have failed!” Elder Shi calmly announced the outcome.

Clearly, the outcome was within his expectations.

“All… All of them failed. Even Lin Yu has failed. She only lasted for about three minutes… She is the top genius of the five states in the southwest. It was believed that Lin Yu would be able to dazzle at the Luo Divine Hall trials, but who knew… that she would fail right at the beginning.”

The Luo clan disciple who spoke also came from the five states in the southwest. He was confident of himself, but after seeing Lin Yu fail so miserably, he was dumbfounded.

He did not know how strong a Supremacy’s successor was, but he knew very well of Lin Yu’s strength.

He knew that he was much weaker than Lin Yu. If Lin Yu only managed to endure for five minutes, he would most likely not be able to last more than three minutes, let alone defeat the first Ancient Fey.

Many people had such thoughts when they saw this. Everyone believed that they were extraordinary and that a miracle would happen to them. However, reason told them that it was highly unlikely that they would even clear the first stage.

After the first batch of disciples exited, the second batch of disciples was up. Yi Yun saw a familiar person amongst the crowd — Luo Fengling.

There were too many people who were qualified to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials. Yi Yun, Gu Qing and company were of higher status than ordinary disciples. They were situated in front of the group. As for Luo Fengling, Luo Tian and company, they were mixed in the group. And because of this, Yi Yun was able to notice Luo Fengling.

Luo Fengling smiled at Yi Yun. She did not have any hopes of creating a miracle. She knew very well that there was always someone better and that she was still far from the mark.

“If you are able to persist on, it’s best to last as long as possible. Those who can persist longer than five minutes would be given more opportunities in this trial. If you can’t even last five minutes, you might not be able to obtain a thing from this trial.”

Seeing many disciples appear uneasy, a rare instance of Elder Duanmu’s tone turning soft happened.

Five minutes…

In the previous test, only one out of twenty people managed to last five minutes!

Even lasting five minutes appeared extremely difficult.

“Fail!”

“Fail!”

“Fail!”

Elder Duanmu constantly said the same word. Up to now, not a single person had managed to threaten an Ancient Fey soul essence.

…

“All have failed. Next batch!”

In a blink of an eye, another few dozen people were eliminated.

Few could even last five minutes, let alone kill an Ancient Fey.

With the passage of time, most of the disciple had entered the Fey Refining Rock. Following that was the time for the true elites of the Luo clan and White Fox clan.

“It’s your turn. Do not be too disappointing.” Elder Duanmu said with an indifferent expression.

Fairy Red Fox giggled, “Hehe, your Luo clan’s Fey Refining Rock array is more difficult than my White Fox clan’s. But even so, I believe Elder Duanmu would not be disappointed any further. Nongying, Nongyue, go on up!”

Fairy Red Fox nonchalantly chose the twins.

Nongying! Nongyue! The White Fox clan’s Shadow Twins!

Elder Duanmu frowned slightly. He knew very well that at this Luo Divine Hall trials, the Luo clan was very likely going to lose to the White Fox clan. Firstly, this generation of the White Fox clan was very strong. Secondly, many of the elites of the Luo clan had been sent to the White Fox clan to participate in the White Fox clan’s trials. Those left behind in the Luo Divine Hall were naturally inferior to the White Fox clan’s elites.

However, despite knowing this, be it Elder Duanmu or Elder Shi, they would still be displeased if they really lost.

Elder Duanmu glanced at Jian Zhu. The only person left to hold the ground in the Luo clan was Jian Zhu alone!

However, the White Fox clan’s geniuses were many in number. It was not even Princess White Fox’s turn, but the Shadow Twins. After the Shadow Twins, there was Wufeng, whose strength was relatively similar to theirs.

It would be too early to use Jian Zhu at this point in time.

Upon thinking of this, Elder Duanmu looked at the rest. The upper echelons of the Luo clan had instructed that they were not to weaken their stance at the trials. Elder Duanmu also had a general understanding of the strength of all the elites present.

Sweeping his gaze across the Luo clan disciples, there was no one comparable to the Shadow Twins. They were all far too weak!

They were destined to lose this stage to the White Fox clan. It was an outcome without question.

“Forget it. We can only choose a general from among dwarves as long as we do not lose too badly.”

With this thought in mind, Elder Duanmu nominated —

“Ran Xueyi! Donglin Yu! Gu Qing! Yi Yun! All of you, go on up!”

He was nominated.

Yi Yun exhaled deeply and he walked towards the Fey Refining Rock.

“The opponents are the Shadow Twins. Elder Duanmu nominated us probably for us to be cannon fodder.” Beside Yi Yun, Gu Qing said with a wry smile.

Gu Qing usually thought highly of himself, but in front of the Shadow Twins, he could not feel any pride. He could only resign himself to fate and accept the reality.

Yi Yun declined to comment. He glanced deeply at the Shadow Twins, Nongying and Nongyue. They were both tall, not much shorter than he was. Their legs were long and straight as though they were measured against a ruler.

Their beauty was impeccable, and their bearing was extremely powerful. With the twins standing in front of the Fey Refining Rock, they became the focus of attention.

The two girls were truly unfathomable.

After coming to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, Yi Yun had fought with too few people. He had only fought a few miscellaneous chores disciples at Mt. Fengling. He had yet to fight with true Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven geniuses. Yi Yun could not estimate how powerful they were.

Yi Yun truly did not have much confidence when it came to the true combat competition with the Shadow Twins.

Standing in front of the Fey Refining Rock, Nongyue glanced at Yi Yun. “You learned the footwork of me and my sister.”

Nongyue appeared to bear a grudge with Yi Yun’s learning of their footwork.

Uh…

Yi Yun was rendered speechless as he did not know how to respond.

Nongyue said again, “Your name is Yi Yun, right? Princess Xue’er had complimented your Desolate Heaven technique and even said that you might be a match of me and my sister at this trial. However… I do not believe so. Many elites would bear wasting time on the Desolate Heaven technique in their youth. Just being good at the Desolate Heaven technique is nothing. Strength is everything.”

“I know your forte is nomological insights. At the Luo Divine Hall trials, there will be a competition on laws. I will defeat you on the nomological insights that you pride yourself in!”

“Of course, all of this needs you to be able to last five minutes in the Fey Refining Rock array!”

After Nongyue said this, her elegant body flashed and disappeared into the Fey Refining Rock.

Yi Yun was rather speechless looking at Nongyue’s back. He had only learned her footwork and he had been targeted. Of course, what Princess White Fox had previously said probably made Nongyue treat him as her opponent.

Upon thinking about this, Yi Yun glanced at Princess White Fox and took a step forward and stepped through the Fey Refining Rock.

With a flash, Yi Yun entered a completely unfamiliar space.

885 - : Difficulty

CKtalon  CKtalon

What unfolded in front of Yi Yun was a desolate grass plain. Tall grass that reached his hips endlessly stretched throughout the plain.

Other than Yi Yun, everyone else had disappeared, even the Luo Divine Hall had disappeared.

“Choose the Ancient Fey you want to battle!” A voice suddenly pierced through Yi Yun’s mind.

At the same time, information regarding the Ancient Fey was injected into his mind.

More than a hundred Ancient Fey of all shapes and sizes appeared.

Yi Yun even saw the three-legged Golden Crow and the Nine Neonate amongst them.

The three-legged Golden Crow and Nine Neonate were considered two of the more powerful Ancient Fey. Yi Yun had a good understanding of them since they were his Aspect Totems.

However… just understanding them was not very useful.

After all, all the Heaven Fey, who entered the Fey Refining Rock, had their own corresponding Ancient Fey ancestors. They obviously understood their own ancestors very well. Yet, it remains to be seen who had defeated an Ancient Fey.

Furthermore, if he chose an Ancient Fey that cultivated in the same laws as him, the amount of damage that he could inflict would be greatly limited if he were to use those laws. For example, if Yi Yun wanted to use pure Yang laws to kill a three-legged Golden Crow?

Difficult!

The three-legged Golden Crow’s pure Yang laws would only surpass Yi Yun’s!

Defeating an Ancient Fey, even if it was just a soul essence, was something very difficult for the present Yi Yun.

“I choose… the Ranyi Fish!”

The Ranyi Fish was the ancestor of the Xushui Ran clan.

The Ranyi Fish was not considered very powerful amongst the Ancient Fey. Furthermore, after having a vendetta with the Xushui Ran clan, he had an understanding of the Ranyi Fish.

By choosing an Ancient Fey that he was familiar with and one that was countered by pure Yang laws, it would make things easier for him.

After Yi Yun made his choice, the vast grass plains disappeared and it changed into a roaring sea. Floating above the sea surface, a strange fish appeared out of the sea. It had a snake’s head and a fish’s body. It had six legs and two rows of sharp teeth.

“In thirty seconds, the battle will begin. Choose your weapon freely! Self-brought weapons, puppets, pills are not to be used.” The voice boomed again.

Following that, several kinds of weapons appeared in Yi Yun’s perception. However, all the weapons were of the same quality.

In addition to not being able to use pills and puppets, this battle was truly considered fair for everyone.

“The pure Yang broken sword, the Sun Shooting Nine Deaths Bow and the God Advent Tower can not be used!” Yi Yun gasped slightly.

All the treasures he had was considered top-grade, especially the God Advent Tower. During the battle of the Black-armored Demon God, it had played an important role, but now it could not be used. Furthermore, his opponent was an Ancient Fey spirit essence. Such a battle was too difficult.

“Whew!”

A sword with a metallic luster appeared in Yi Yun’s hand. When Yi Yun injected his Yuan Qi into it, he realized that other than the sword being hard, it did not gain any augmentation from his Yuan Qi.

Sinking his thoughts, his spiritual energy interfaced with the Black-armored Demon God puppet, but he discovered that the connection had been severed. Only the Draco First True Gold remained available.

The Draco First True Gold could still be used?

Yi Yun was slightly surprised. Upon careful thought, it was understandable. The Draco First True Gold possessed a part of his soul, so in terms of aura, it was identical to Yi Yun.

The Fey Refining Rock array probably banned all treasures without any life to it. Since an avatar was also part of his strength, it was not excluded.

At that moment, the Ranyi Fish let out a scream. It opened its humongous mouth and spat out a blue water column. The water column dispersed in the sky and it split into droplets of water that shot straight at Yi Yun.

The clear water droplets contained tremendous power in them. Each of them was as hard as divine metal, and they were powerful killing devices!

Yi Yun retreated in a hurry as he slashed outwards!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

His sword beams interweaved into a net as they struck the water droplets, bursting them apart. However, after they exploded, they did not dissipate. Instead, they coagulated very quickly. As for Yi Yun’s sword beams, they only pierced through the gaps between the droplets, not affecting them at all.

A sword could not stop the flow of water, and as a water-based Ancient Fey, the Ranyi Fish was equally proficient in water laws. It coagulated the water droplets that attacked Yi Yun from every direction.

Thousand Snow Domain!

With a thought, a sea of flying sabers formed around him.

They were not the Thousand Snow flying sabers as all Yi Yun could use was an ordinary saber array. Although the quality of the sabers was weaker, the conjuring of the saber array still remained powerful.

The water droplets were once again sliced through!

The wantonly dancing saber beams sliced the countless water droplets into a water mist. However, Yi Yun knew very well that the water mist would immediately coagulate. He had very little time for himself.

“Sou!”

Yi Yun’s body shot forward like an arrow. He used the hundredth of a second that the water droplets needed to coagulate, and charged through the water mist to attack the Ranyi Fish!

To kill the Ranyi Fish, he needed to strike its body!

Just as Yi Yun approached the Ranyi Fish, it opened its jaws and attempted to bite Yi Yun!

At the instant when the Ranyi Fish opened its mouth, a raw and fishy wind emitted from it. It did not resemble a phantom image in any way. It was like a true Ancient Fey. This was probably the effects of being constructed by a soul essence.

Die!

Yi Yun circulated the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ as all his pure Yang power burst out. A burning strike that resembled the sun slashed out!

This strike contained the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s sword intent. The single strike caused the sky to change colors!

The sea in which the Ranyi Fish was lurking was split apart by Yi Yun’s strike. A blue ravine seemed to open up as the water surface rose up like cliffs. Large amounts of seawater began to pour down like a waterfall.

“Cha!”

Blood splattered!

The Ranyi Fish had been injured by Yi Yun’s strike!

However, at the moment that the sword beam pierced through the Ranyi Fish’s body, Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat. He sensed that at the moment that the sword beam pierced through the Ranyi Fish, its innards seem to dodge the strike like a water flow. The beam did not truly injure the Ranyi Fish’s vital organs.

Was this an effect of water laws as well!?

Yi Yun did not have time to consider this. The injured Ranyi Fish still possessed terrifying offensive power. It opened its mouth and spat out a blue sword, formed completely from water laws.

At such a close distance and the sword’s extremely fast speed, it was nearly impossible to dodge!

“Peng!”

There was a flash as the Draco First True Gold appeared in front of Yi Yun. It held a saber in its hand to block the sword strike, but the terrifying power still sent the Draco First True Gold flying backward.

The Ranyi Fish’s fish came biting once again. Just as it was about to bite Yi Yun’s head, Yi Yun slanted his head.

“Whew!”

999 Thousand Snow flying sabers formed a silver band where Yi Yun’s head previously was, shooting out straight into the Ranyi Fish’s mouth!

As the flying saber pierced through the Ranyi Fish’s fish throat, Yi Yun could feel that strange feeling again. The Ranyi Fish’s body was like water. Its flesh dispersed to the sides like water. Although the flying saber had pierced through it, causing blood to spill, it was not severely injured.

“This defensive strength… ”

Yi Yun’s heart sank. Indeed, every Ancient Fey had something terrifying about them. There had been so many Luo clan and White Fox clan geniuses who failed at killing a single Ancient Fey. With so many failures, it was obvious how difficult it was.

Yi Yun knew very well that he too would not win if he were in their shoes.

…

At that moment, outside the Fey Refining Rock array, Elder Shi and Elder Duanmu were looking at the largest Fey Refining Rock in silence.

As the controllers of the arrays, Elder Shi and Elder Duanmu could obviously see what was going on.

However, Fairy Red Fox could not. Although she could not see what was happening, she was not worried about the Shadow Twins at all. However, on the Luo clan’s side, it was different. If it was the successor of a Supremacy, it was probably still worth watching, but if it were anyone else, the person would probably be greatly lacking.

Fairy Red Fox asked with a smile, “Elders, what do you see. Can you tell me?”

Elder Duanmu’s eyelids moved as he said, “The battles are very intense. Many of them are close to their limits.”

“Heh heh heh!” Fairy Red Fox laughed seductively. “It’s not bad to be able to last this long. It seems that the Luo clan disciples you sent out this time are still not bad. I wonder how the two little girls on my side are doing?”

Fairy Red Fox’s tone annoyed Elder Duanmu extremely.

Fairy Red Fox was a junior to Duanmu at best, so he was obviously displeased of a junior acting so smugly in front of him.

Furthermore… she had the things to back her smugness.

Elder Duanmu slightly frowned as he said, “Nongying and Nongyue have each killed an Ancient Fey… ”

When Elder Duanmu said this, all the disciples were confounded.

Already killed one!?

The people before had all failed. They could only be graded based on the length of time that they lasted. The person who lasted the longest did not last past six minutes. And now, at just three minutes, the Shadow Twins had each killed an Ancient Fey!?

The… gap was just too huge.

The faces of the geniuses present turned ugly. They felt it jarring!

Everyone was an elite, but why were they so far from Nongying and Nongyue?

Upon hearing Elder Duanmu’s reply, Fairy Red Fox said with a smile, “Nongying and Nongyue are skilled at combined attacks. By separating them, their combat power will decline greatly. Killing an Ancient Fey in three minutes is still passable.”

886 - : Battling the Ancient Fey

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Fairy Red Fox said this, the surrounding Luo clan elites were rendered speechless.

Despite having killed an Ancient Fey in three minutes, Fairy Red Fox had claimed that the Shadow Twins were skilled at combined attacks, not fighting alone.

Although they knew that Fairy Red Fox was saying those words intentionally to posture, they had also guessed that what she said was true. As twins, Nongying and Nongyue were probably able to be of one mind. They could definitely obtain double the results with half the effort when cultivating in combined attacks.

The Shadow Twins seemed lofty and unreachable. They stood on a pedestal so high that it could only be reached by Jian Zhu out of all the younger generation of the Luo clan currently present in the Luo Divine Hall.

Upon thinking about this, many people looked at Jian Zhu.

With a bone sword behind his back, Jian Zhu looked at Elder Duanmu and asked, “Senior Duanmu. Other than the Shadow Twins, how are the others?”

“The others… ” Duanmu shook his head. “They are already gradually approaching their limits. Ran Xueyi would probably be able to last the longest. He has been conserving his strength all this time and he has about 60% of his stamina left. As for Gu Qing… his foundation is still relatively weak. He will be defeated faster than Ran Xueyi.”

“Conserving his strength? That sure is a ‘smart’ way of doing things.” Fairy Red Fox chuckled as she said sarcastically.

In the Fey Refining Rock array, if one could not kill the Ancient Fey, it would then depend on the amount of time that they lasted. The longer one lasted, the better it would reflect on them. Hence, with the mind of conserving his stamina, Ran Xueyi had begun evasive maneuvers the moment he entered the array to stall for time.

He could obviously last for a long while in such a situation, but it was equivalent to giving up the possibility of defeating the Ancient Fey. In contrast, someone truly outstanding would use an indomitable spirit to fight for that ray of hope to defeat an Ancient Fey, even if the odds were against them.

“What about Yi Yun? How’s Yi Yun?” Jian Zhu asked again.

“Yi Yun is battling fiercely and he is expending a great deal of his stamina. If this goes on, he might not be able to last five minutes.”

“Less than five minutes? Then, wouldn’t he be expelled very soon?”

Although Yi Yun was human, he was still a member of the Luo clan. Many of the Luo clan disciples present still wished for Yi Yun to gain some face for the Luo clan. Even if he lost, they did not wish for him to lose too terribly. Although it was impossible to defeat a single Ancient Fey soul essence, it would still reflect well on them if he could last for a longer period of time.

“He should not be able to last much longer, however… Oh?”

Elder Duanmu’s heart suddenly skipped a beat as a look of surprise appeared in his eyes that were staring at the Fey Refining Rock…

…

“Boom!”

The Draco First True Gold avatar was thrown backward as it took a hard knock for Yi Yun once again.

“Whew!”

A fiery arrow burning with pure Yang flames shot straight at the snakelike neck of the Ranyi Fish. As it pierced through the Ranyi Fish’s body, a blood of rain burst out!

However, the liquefaction phenomenon happened in the Ranyi Fish’s body again. It diffused most of the arrow’s power and it was only left with minor injuries.

With such a strange defensive method, Yi Yun knew very well that he was bound to lose if this carried on.

“Golden Crow!” Yi Yun roared as a three-legged Golden Crow Aspect Totem appeared behind him!

At the same time, the Tang Valley phantom image appeared behind him as well!

The raging flames in the valley connected the land to the sky. Above the valley, a Fusang tree stood erect and on its crown hung ten blinding suns.

Ten Suns from Fusang, Who Masters Pure Yang!

The Ranyi Fish used water laws for its defense, causing its body to act like flowing water. Slashes at it resulted in nearly zero reaction. Only the power of pure Yang could deal it a bit of damage, but it was not enough.

Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was decreasing. If he was to compete in expenditure with the Ranyi Fish, he was bound to lose eventually.

He had to attain victory in one strike!

Yi Yun roared and the three-legged Golden Crow shrieked as it merged into the sword in Yi Yun’s hands!

The sword burned with a shimmering flame as though it was about to melt.

“Ah– ”

The Ranyi Fish let out a cry as it opened its mouth and bit at Yi Yun!

This was the common means of attack for the Ranyi Fish, and Yi Yun was also waiting for this instance. He circulated the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ to its limits and together with his sword, he charged into the Ranyi Fish’s gaping mouth.

One with the sword!

Boom!

Yi Yun charged straight towards the Ranyi Fish’s belly as the pure Yang flames around him burned!

The Ranyi Fish’s body liquefied once again as it wanted Yi Yun to pass through its body.

But at that moment, Yi Yun resolutely made up his mind as all the pure Yang power in his key acupuncture points spewed out like an erupting volcano!

Golden Crow Inferno Immersion, Blazing Into the Ether!

Yi Yun’s surroundings had turned into a sea of fire. With pure Yang laws, Yi Yun endured the horror of the inferno’s blazing. But even so, his skin ruptured from the burning!

Instantly, it was as though the sun had risen in the Ranyi Fish’s mouth. Tongues of fire swept around as billions of gallons of seawater were evaporated. The Ranyi Fish’s body bloated as though it was about to explode.

This time, it could not expel the raging pure Yang flames with the water elemental laws that it knew!

The Ranyi Fish let out a cry as blood gushed out of its mouth, but the blood was instantly evaporated by the flames. The Ranyi Fish’s lifeforce rapidly drained away from its body as well.

However, this was a method that damaged the enemy and dealt nearly the same damage to oneself as well. Yi Yun had to withstand the impact of the terrifying energy explosion. Although his body had been reconstituted with the Ancient Fey bone at Mt. Azure Billow, there was too little time and the strength he gained from it was far from enough.

The strong impact left Yi Yun’s arms covered in blood. However, he still gripped the sword tightly as he pointed the sword tip forward.

Split!

Yi Yun and his sword pierced through the Ranyi Fish’s body!

His body was stained with blood. Some of it was his, and some of it was the Ranyi Fish’s. His Yuan Qi was completely depleted and he could no longer stand up straight!

Yi Yun had bore a huge hole through the Ranyi Fish’s body. Its innards had been burned into a mess, but an excruciating pain came from his arms. The bone in his arms had been fractured.

The Ranyi Fish slowly stopped struggling. Its corpse floated to the surface of the sea. The seawater was boiling because of the pure Yang flames and it was later dyed red with the Ranyi Fish’s blood.

Was it finally over… ?

At that moment, Yi Yun collapsed completely. He lost control of his body as he plummeted towards the sea.

…

At the moment that Yi Yun delivered his desperate strike, in an internecine assault on the Ranyi Fish, Gu Qing had also been expelled from the Fey Refining Rock!

At that moment, five minutes had just passed!

Although it was barely five minutes, the two Luo clan Elders would still consider Gu Qing’s combat performance during the results evaluation. Launching a blitz attack was obviously different to constantly dodging.

“Gu Qing managed to last for five minutes. As for Yi Yun, he managed to do so for more than five minutes.”

At this juncture, everyone heaved a sigh of relief. At least did they not lose too terribly.

Furthermore, from what Elder Duanmu said, Yi Yun had been desperately fighting from the moment he had entered the Fey Refining Rock array.

It was truly commendable for him to last this long while engaging in such a fierce battle.

887 - : Killing the Ranyi Fish

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the grand hall, the Fey Refining Rock array shimmered. When Gu Qing was expelled, Elder Duanmu said ‘Fail’ nonchalantly, but his attention was still focused on the Fey Refining Rock array.

“How are the rest?” Fairy Red Fox swirled her hair and asked.

Elder Duanmu’s eyebrows moved as he said with a deep voice, “Nongying and Nongyue have wounded the second Ancient Fey.”

Wounded the second Ancient Fey?

Fairy Red Fox smiled. She was very satisfied with Nongying and Nongyue’s combat strength. After all, the second Ancient Fey was many times stronger than the first Ancient Fey.

The Shadow Twins were still able to wound the second Ancient Fey after engaging in a full battle with the first Ancient Fey. They had far surpassed all the disciples before them.

“What about the others?” Fairy Red Fox asked as the corners of her mouth curled.

“Ran Xueyi still has a lot of stamina left. He should still be able to last for a while. As for Yi Yun… he is about to come out… ”

“Coming out? To be able to last five minutes with the first Ancient Fey is still not bad.” Fairy Red Fox nodded and she did not despise Yi Yun in any way. After all, with his background, such a result was pretty good.

However, compared to the Shadow Twins killing the first Ancient Fey in three minutes and wounding the second Ancient Fey, he was still a good deal away.

“Bam!”

The Fey Refining Rock shimmered as Yi Yun was expelled.

Gu Qing and Yi Yun nearly came out at the same moment, but Gu Qing only had a pale face with a few injuries, but for Yi Yun…

He was covered in blood and he had completely fainted.

“This is… ”

Everyone was stunned.

Seeing Yi Yun about to collapse to the ground, Elder Duanmu pointed into the void and held Yi Yun’s body, preventing him from falling to the ground.

He was so severely injured?

Not a single part of Yi Yun’s body was fine. His Yuan Qi had also been completely drained.

It was just a trial’s array, was that a need to go to such extent… ?

Battling an Ancient Fey in the Fey Refining Rock was not an illusion. It was a true battle in an interspatial zone. Although Elder Duanmu was watching, and the chances of death were unlikely, being too severely injured could affect the subsequent trials.

Coupled with the fact that the Ancient Fey was too strong, many people began keeping a distance once they realized that they were no match. Few people were like Yi Yun who fought so desperately.

“He’s injured so badly? That punk is foolhardy. He might as well have conserved some strength for his cultivation. There’s no prize from being so badly injured.”

Many people were shaking their heads. Although Ran Xueyi’s tactics were rather underhanded, it was still considered quite a good tactic. Dragging out time by using hit and run tactics was much better than being so miserable like Yi Yun.

Just as everyone was waiting for Elder Duanmu to declare Yi Yun’s failure, they were surprised to see Elder Duanmu looking at Yi Yun in silence.

“Why? Elders, what are the two of you looking at?” Fairy Red Fox asked Elder Shi and Elder Duanmu with a smile.

Elder Duanmu remained silent for a while before saying, “Yi Yun won. He killed the first Ancient Fey. Although he did so at his limits, he had still won… ”

Huh? He won?

Everyone was confounded when they heard this.

Yi Yun… actually won?

No one would be surprised if the Shadow Twins won. The Shadow Twins were two of the top geniuses in the White Fox clan. As for Yi Yun… he was unknown before this and he had just suddenly appeared with his lowly beginnings. In everyone’s heart, Yi Yun’s strength was weaker than Gu Qing’s.

But now, Yi Yun had managed to last for five minutes just like Gu Qing. Gu Qing’s defeat was unsurprising, but Yi Yun… had managed to kill the first Ancient Fey?

“I thought he would lose. The strength he showed in battle was even weaker than Ran Xueyi’s by a tiny bit, but Ran Xueyi is still stalling for time while battling with the Ancient Fey. As for Yi Yun, he had struck back, and by expending most of his Yuan Qi, he launched a fatal strike, hitting the Ancient Fey’s weakness. So… he won… ”

His strength was slightly weaker than Ran Xueyi, but he was able to win?

Everyone was amazed when Elder Duanmu said this. Although an individual’s strength played a decisive role in the outcome of a battle, at times, one’s fighting spirit, techniques, will, and insights could play important roles.

For Yi Yun to be able to defeat the first Ancient Fey in the absence of sufficient strength was truly surprising.

“Yi Yun actually… managed to defeat the first Ancient Fey… ” Gu Qing was startled. As one of the Luo clan disciples who had just experienced fighting an Ancient Fey, he knew how powerful the Ancient Fey that he encountered in the Fey Refining Rock was. He was no match for it.

And as a Heaven Fey, Gu Qing had a sense of awe towards Ancient Fey. Furthermore, it was not an illusionary realm, it was a true battle, so the suppressive feeling was extraordinary.

Yet, Yi Yun had managed to strike back and kill an Ancient Fey under such circumstances!

Gu Qing found this matter incredulous.

At that moment, a White Fox clan disciple’s lazy-sounding voice was heard. “He only killed the first Ancient Fey, but that was at the cost of going unconscious. To put it bluntly, it’s just an internecine struggle. Do you need to have such great reactions? Those who aren’t aware of it might think that he had consecutively killed two or three Ancient Fey! Don’t forget that our White Fox clan’s Shadow Twins are still in an intense battle inside the Fey Refining Rock. And at the three minute mark, they had each killed the first Ancient Fey!”

The surrounding White Fox clan disciples echoed in unison when this was said. “That’s right. Yi Yun only relied on desperation for him to luckily clear the stage. What is of true value is still strength. We have so many talents from the White Fox clan this time. Senior Sisters Nongying and Nongyue have only just begun.”

When the White Fox clan disciples said this, the Luo clan disciples fell silent.

Indeed, although Yi Yun’s performance was not bad, the reason why he garnered attention was because of Yi Yun’s low starting point. To many geniuses, Yi Yun was not much different from them. Under such circumstances, it was surprising for Yi Yun to kill the first Ancient Fey.

However, compared to the geniuses in the White Fox clan, he was indeed nothing much.

The Shadow Twins were truly terrifying!

The Shadow Twins would truly leave Yi Yun in the dust upon comparison.

At that moment, the Fey Refining Rock shimmered as two figures were expelled from the Fey Refining Rock several seconds apart.

“So painful… ”

Nongyue rubbed her delicate wrist. Her forearm was stained with blood. From the way she winced her nose, it looked somewhat adorable.

“I couldn’t beat it. That bull’s hide was too tough. Stabbing it with a sword, the wound was a foot deep, but there was no reaction despite me stabbing it a few dozen times.” Nongyue grumbled. However, her words caused people to gulp.

Nongyue was battling the second Ancient Fey that was several times stronger. Not only did she last long in battle, she had also managed to stab the Ancient Fey a few dozen times?

Not only so, Nongyue had managed to escape relatively unharmed. Despite being injuries, compared to Yi Yun…

Yi Yun was currently the one with the best results amongst the Luo clan disciples, but he was unconscious.

Fairy Red Fox beamed as she stroked Nongyue’s head and said, “Well done.”

“Eh, why is Yi Yun unconscious?”

Only then did Nongyue notice Yi Yun. As Yi Yun had previously mimicked her footwork, this young lady was still bearing a grudge.

“Yi Yun did inordinately well and he managed to luckily kill the first Ancient Fey, but his strength was ultimately insufficient, so he was severely injured. There’s no need to mind him. The strongest person from the Luo clan is Jian Zhu. He is the only opponent at this Luo Divine Hall trials that is worthy of your and Nongying’s attention.

When Fairy Red Fox said this, Nongying and Nongyue glanced at Jian Zhu.

Although Princess Xue’er was strong, her opponent was Luo Huo’er. Her and her sister’s mission was to beat Jian Zhu.

Be it Nongying or Nongyue, they did not believe that they would lose.

“Aunt, don’t worry. I will definitely beat Jian Zhu.” Nongyue waved her fist and said confidently.

She did say it with a Yuan Qi transmission, so although it was not very loud, everyone could hear it with their powerful hearing.

Elder Shi took a meaningful glance at Jian Zhu and said, “I’ll take Yi Yun away to treat him. Jian Zhu, you are up.”

With the declaration of war made, they obviously had to face them in battle. Without Princess Purple Spirit around, Jian Zhu was the face of the Luo clan!

Jian Zhu could not lose, or at least, he could not lose to the Shadow Twins.

Jian Zhu took a deep breath and he walked towards the Fey Refining Rock. Immediately following him was a burly man from the White Fox clan.

He was filled with a murderous intent, and there was a light ivory-colored scar on the middle of his eyebrows. A heavy sword hung behind his back. His name was Wufeng.

Wufeng versus Jian Zhu!

The Luo clan disciples present turned nervous. Compared to Yi Yun, they were certainly more concerned about Jian Zhu’s results.

888 - : Severely Injured

CKtalon  CKtalon

Six hours had passed by the time Yi Yun had regained consciousness. He slowly opened his eyes and he saw a gray ceiling. Looking around, he realized he was lying in a stone chamber.

The stone chamber was extremely spartan. The surrounding black rock was cut into furniture which looked heavy and cold.

“Your ability at recovery exceeds my expectations for you wake up in six hours. Your physique might not be strong, but strangely, the energy from a relic that you consume is absorbed very fast by you. This allowed you to regain consciousness so fast. If not, you would truly have missed important events at the trials.”

A cold-looking elder was also in the stone chamber. Yi Yun remembered this elder to be Elder Shi.

“Thank you, Senior.”

Yi Yun was cognizant of the fact that it was all thanks to the Purple Crystal that he was able to absorb the energy so fast. Even in a state of unconsciousness, the Purple Crystal was still able to absorb energy and help his body recuperate.

Furthermore, the Purple Crystal’s existence surpassed anyone’s perception. Even with Yi Yun lying there motionless, Elder Shi’s probing was to no avail. He could not understand why Yi Yun absorbed the energy at such a rapid pace, because there was no way for him to find the Purple Crystal.

The Purple Crystal was too amazing. Its existence was beyond Yi Yun’s comprehension.

Elder Shi was indeed very curious. When he probed Yi Yun’s body but failed to find the exact reason, he could only conclude that Yi Yun had a special bloodline that resulted in him absorbing energy at an extremely fast rate. After all, life was complicated. There was a myriad of bloodlines, so it was understandable that there were bloodlines he did not understand.

Yi Yun sat up from the stone bed and stretched his body. He realized that he had recovered most of his Yuan Qi. This made Yi Yun marvel at the amazing effects of the Purple Crystal. With a supreme-grade recuperation relic, the Purple Crystal could allow the relic’s effects to reach its maximum effect.

“Senior, this junior wants to ask how were the results of the people who later entered the Fey Refining Rock?”

Yi Yun was already unconscious when he was expelled from the Fey Refining Rock array. He was eager to know how strong the Shadow Twins and Princess White Fox were.

Yi Yun’s question was within Elder Shi’s expectations. He said, “After you, the Shadow Twins also came out of the Fey Refining Rock array. The sisters had not only killed the first Ancient Fey, but they had also severely injured the second Ancient Fey. The Ancient Fey’s energy expenditure reached about 50%. This was with the Shadow Twins holding back. If they were to fight as desperately as you did, this ratio would probably be higher.”

“As for Wufeng… he was stronger by a bit. He managed to drain 70% of the second Ancient Fey’s energy. Wufeng’s combat strength is very outstanding. You can probably sense the thick bloodthirst aura from his body. He must have encountered several life and death fights.”

“Finally, Princess White Fox. She was the only one who managed to kill the second Ancient Fey. Furthermore, against the third Ancient Fey, she had managed to hold on for a minute. She had even managed to injure the Ancient Fey.” Elder Shi nonchalantly said this as Yi Yun drew a gasp.

The gap!

He had given all he had to kill the first Ancient Fey as well as a stroke of luck. After killing the Ancient Fey, he had fallen unconscious immediately and was expelled from the Fey Refining Rock array. He did not even encounter the second Ancient Fey.

As for Princess White Fox, not only did she kill the second Ancient Fey, but she had also injured the third Ancient Fey!

The difficulty of the Fey Refining Rock array had geometric growth as it progressed. How powerful was the third Ancient Fey supposed to be?

“What about the Luo clan?” Yi Yun hurriedly asked.

“For our Luo clan, Luo Mo was about similar to you. After killing the first Ancient Fey, he was already unable to fight the second Ancient Fey and he was expelled. As for Jian Zhu, his performance was the best. At least his results were much better than Wufeng’s, allowing him to defeat the Shadow Twins as well. So he did win back some face for the Luo clan.”

“Thank you.” Yi Yun clenched his fists subconsciously.

His path was still long. He had to charge, and race towards them step by step.

“From your eyes, you did not seem disheartened. Very well.” Elder Shi nodded. “I’ll be taking you to the Primordial Space. Everyone who managed to last five minutes on the first level or managed to injure the first Ancient Fey are allowed to enter the Primordial Space!”

As Elder Shi said this, he grasped Yi Yun’s hand. With a nonchalant step forward, the surrounding space distorted.

Yi Yun felt dizzy as traversing through the chaotic laws of the Primordial Empyrean Heaven was taxing on his mental strength.

At the next moment, Yi Yun had already arrived at a gigantic cloister. This cloister was tall and wide that reached out a thousand feet. Even if a massive Ancient Fey was here, it could easily pass through it.

The cloister was built from unknown rocks and at the end, there was a rustic bronze door.

The door was as tall as the cloister and there were all sorts of glyphs of divine beasts carved onto the door. It was majestic and impressive.

Yi Yun and Elder Shi appeared like ants in front of the cloister. This feeling could not help but make Yi Yun curious about the things behind the door.

At that moment, Elder Shi had already put his hand out to press on the door. Following that, the thirty-foot-thick door that was of immeasurable weight was pushed open by Elder Shi.

Seeing the scenery behind the bronze door, Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat. Behind the door was empty space.

The space was permeated with a nebulous fog, and it was unknown how wide it was.

The magnificent cloister disappeared at to this point, as though it became part of the void.

The Luo clan disciples and White Fox clan disciples that had been selected had already been waiting in this space.

Yi Yun noticed that there were a few rustic rocks floating amidst the nebulous fog. They did not have any color to them and they were all gray. It was as though they had been abandoned at a particular corner of the world for billions of years.

Yi Yun could not help but probe the rocks with his mental energies. He discovered that these rocks were somewhat similar to the Fey Refining Rocks on the first level, but the aura that they emanated was completely different to the Fey Refining Rocks.

“Yi Yun, are you fine?” Seeing Yi Yun appear, Gu Qing was surprised as he immediately came up to him.

“You recovered so quickly?”

Everyone had seen the scene of Yi Yun being expelled. They were very aware of how injured he was. Even with the conditioning of a supreme-grade relic, it was difficult to recover so quickly. After all, the higher the relic’s grade was, the more powerful its medicinal essences were. It made the absorption slower.

“You sure recovered pretty fast! It looks like your strength might be weak, but your ability to take a beating is rather good!” Nongyue said with a grin.

She was not being sarcastic with Yi Yun, but she was just outspoken. However, Nongyue’s words sounded harsh on the ears.

Nongying stared at her younger sister. “Yue’er, don’t be unreasonable.”

Nongyue stuck her tongue out and no longer spoke. Yi Yun could not be bothered either as he said to Gu Qing, “It was nothing serious. Elder Shi had just mentioned Primordial Space to me. What’s the matter with this place? What’s so special about it?”

Gu Qing felt a hint of excitement when the Primordial Space was mentioned. He said, “Elder Duanmu had just mentioned that this Primordial Space is an ancient space left behind at the formation of the universe. It has existed for billions of years and our Luo clan happened to chance upon this space while exploring the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, so this place was stored.

“There are many mysteries to this space. Look at the nebulous fog. Elder Duanmu had just mentioned… that the nebulous fog is the most ancient gas of Chaos. What is even more fascinating are those rocks… They are Chaos Stones formed at the beginning of the Universe.”

“These are Chaos Stones!?”

Yi Yun was alarmed. He obviously knew about Chaos Stones.

World Stones were used as currency in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. They were the crystallization of energy and laws at the birth of a world.

As for Chaos Stones, their value was several times higher than World Stones. They were the crystallization of the gasses of Chaos and Origins energy at the birth of the Universe. They even contained the most nomological Origins of the Universe.

The energy contained in World Stones allowed them to be used as currency. As for Chaos Stones, they were typically not sold as their value was immense. They could be used as one of the foundations of a mighty faction.

“Yi Yun, these Chaos Stones not only possess laws. From what Elder Duanmu said, these Chaos Stones are just like the Fey Refining Rocks. Sealed within them are auric charms of ancient Fey. However, it’s no longer Ancient Fey soul essence, but… the true auras of Fey Gods!”

Fey Gods!?

Gu Qing’s words gave Yi Yun a fright.

The twelve ancient Fey Gods were the coagulation of the supreme laws. Back at Mt. Azure Billow, Yi Yun had seen the divine column and the carvings that the Luo clan constructed for the twelve Fey Gods. However, those divine columns were left behind by Luo clan ancestors after all.

The Luo clan ancestors might be strong, but they were considered weak when placed in the entire 12 Empyrean Heavens. Due to the limitations of their cultivation levels and nomological insights, the divine columns that they produced could not replicate the true laws of the Fey Gods.

Compared to the Chaos Stones that had the auras of the Fey Gods sealed within them, the divine columns could not even be compared as a night and day difference.

This was also the limitations of the Mt. Azure Billow Ancient Fey Edifice. However, in the Primordial Space, such a situation did not exist. This was the aura of the Fey Gods sealed in the Chaos Stones. It was true Origins laws!

“These Chaos Stones will be lent to us?”

Yi Yun was also excited. No wonder Gu Qing was so excited when he mentioned the Primordial Space’s utility.

“I guess so… ” Gu Qing was also eagerly anticipating it. Even with Gu Qing’s background, this was the first time that he had seen a Chaos Stone!

“There are few Chaos Stones, far fewer than the number of us here. Although it can be lent to us, there should be a time restriction. It’s unknown how the time will be allocated. Furthermore, we will need to share them with the White Fox clan… The White Fox clan… ”

Upon saying this, Gu Qing gave the White Fox clan geniuses an unnerved glance. “Junior Brother Yi, you might not be aware that the White Fox clan is one of the most intelligent races with extremely high perception amongst the Fey race. Furthermore, those who awaken their Nine-tailed White Fox bloodline are extremely proficient in nomological insights. For example… the Shadow Twins are such a case.”

The Shadow Twins had managed to use their feet to flatten the chaotic energy flows when they came to the Primordial Empyrean Heaven. It was evident how high their nomological perception was!

Gu Qing’s words were heard by the sharp-eared Nongyue.

She looked over with a grin. She revealed a smile as though it was a show of might. “What you understand is pretty good, and you weren’t wrong. I’m not good at killing, but when it comes to nomological insight, I like them the most!”

889 - : Primordial Space

CKtalon  CKtalon

Elder Duanmu stood in front of the Luo clan and White Fox clan disciples as he looked at the ancient rocks floating amidst the nebulous fog.

“This Primordial Space is the core of the Luo Divine Hall. The auras of the Fey Gods that are sealed in the Chaos Stones are ‘Fey God Stones’. There is a total of twenty-seven Fey God Stones here!”

“The twenty-seven Fey God Stones differ in size and quality. When you meditate with them, you are free to select them according to your preferences.”

As Elder Duanmu said this, he waved his hand. Dozens of white beams shot out of his sleeves, and they landed in everyone’s hand.

Yi Yun caught one of the white beams of light. It was a jade slip.

Yi Yun sank his consciousness into it. The jade slip introduced the Fey God aura sealed in each Fey God Stone, as well as the quality of each Fey God Stone.

The largest Fey God Stone was about a square foot in size, but it was so heavy that Yi Yun found it unbelievable. A Fey God Stone that was a square foot in size was heavier than a hundred mountains. If it were thrown onto the ground, it would sink straight to the core of a star, due to its stunning weight.

Probably as a result of this reason, the Fey God Stone that was a square foot in size was called ‘Penetrating Star Rock’.

Although the Penetrating Star Rock was the biggest stone, it was not the most valuable one. There was a Fey God Stone that was rarer than the Penetrating Star Rock, named ‘Three God Seal’. The Three God Seal stone was about half a foot long. Sealed within it were three different auric charms of Fey Gods.

The three auric charms of Fey Gods had merged into one in this Fey God Stone, causing its value to far exceed the rest of the Fey God Stones.

The Penetrating Star Rock and Three God Seal were basically the best Fey God Stones in the Primordial Space. The rest were far worse.

Yi Yun put down the jade slip and scanned the people behind him. There were about seventy disciples that had the right to enter the Primordial Space.

However, there were only twenty-seven Fey God Stones. There was not enough for everyone.

Many people realized this problem as they looked at Elder Duanmu.

“After reading the Fey God Stones’ introduction, return the jade slips.”

“The number of disciples that entered the Primordial Space total seventy-one people.”

“The disciples that fail to kill the first Ancient Fey can only stay in the Primordial Space for eight hours a day!”

“Those who managed to kill the first Ancient Fey are allowed to stay in the Primordial Space for sixteen hours a day!”

“As for the choice of the Fey God Stones, Princess White Fox will choose first, followed by Jian Zhu, then Wufeng, the Shadow Twins, Luo Mo and then Yi Yun!” Elder Duanmu recited the names of those who had obtained the best results at the Fey Refining Rock array in order.

The better the results, the higher the priority they had.

Furthermore, everyone was not limited to one Fey God Stone. For example, Princess White Fox’s choice took precedence over everyone else. She could spend sixteen hours a day to choose any of the Fey God Stones.

If Princess White Fox were to choose the most profound ‘Three God Seal’, she would gain exclusive use of the ’Three God Seal’ for two-thirds of the time.

As for the remaining one-third would most likely be taken by Jian Zhu.

Just two people could horde the Three God Seal.

Jian Zhu still had plenty of time left, and it was typical that he would choose the ‘Penetrating Star Rock’ that was the second most valuable.

As for the remaining time for the ‘Penetrating Star Rock’, it was no doubt going to be taken by Wufeng and the Shadow Twins.

By the time it was Yi Yun and Luo Mo’s turns, there would be little time left for the best Fey God Stones.

Yi Yun and Luo Mo could only wait for Princess White Fox to temporarily abandon the Three God Seal when she failed to gain any insights from it so as to win the precious time that they needed to study the Three God Seal.

As for the rest, those who did not even kill the first Ancient Fey had no chance to even touch the Three God Seal.

Upon understanding the allocation rules, many people had ugly expressions.

One of them was Ran Xueyi.

Amongst all the disciples that did not kill the first Ancient Fey, Ran Xueyi had lasted the longest, a total of nine minutes.

With this result, Ran Xueyi was feeling rather complacent. However, when he exited the Fey Refining Rock array, he was informed that Yi Yun, who had entered the array together with him, had managed to kill the first Ancient Fey!

This did not really matter, but now, he was informed that because of his failure to kill the first Ancient Fey, the amount of time that he gained to obtain insight from the Fey God Stones was half of theirs. Furthermore, he had to wait for the rest to choose first. As such, how could he feel appeased?

“Elder Duanmu… How can this rule work? Aren’t we conceding the best resources of our Luo clan to the White Fox clan?”

Ran Xueyi was anxious.

There were only eighteen years for the Luo Divine Hall trials. It was extremely precious, and it would largely determine their future success to a large extent.

However, under the regulations, Ran Xueyi was only able to gain insight into a tiny amount. He was bound to be left in the dust by Jian Zhu and company. He might even end up being inferior to Yi Yun.

Upon hearing Ran Xueyi’s voice transmission, Elder Duanmu frowned and said coldly, “Conceding them to the White Fox clan is because you did not live up to expectations. The rules are this. The White Fox clan might obtain more resources in the Luo Divine Hall, but Princess Purple Spirit would also obtain greater resources from the White Fox clan. What everyone gets is based on their own merits!”

Elder Duanmu gave him a good scolding right to Ran Xueyi’s face, rendering him speechless. What else could he say? At the Fey Refining Rock trial, he had failed to beat Yi Yun, whose strength was weaker than his.

“Princess White Fox, you can begin. If you wish, you can join the time allocated for your meditation each day. You can even study it for a month in one go.”

The jade slips only had a general introduction of the Fey God Stones. One needed to take a personal look to see if it was suitable for one’s self.

“Thank you, Senior Duanmu.”

Princess White Fox smiled and she stepped into the nebulous fog of the Chaos gasses.

Her body turned blurry in the fog, and moments later, she walked out of the fog and said, “I will choose the Three God Seal for twenty days, and the Penetrating Star Rock for ten days.”

Princess White Fox made her decision. However, when the Luo clan disciples present heard this, they felt their heart’s ache.

Instantly, the two best Fey God Stones were taken up. Furthermore, it was only the first person, and so much time was taken up. How much would there be left when it was their turn?

Elder Duanmu was not surprised with Princess White Fox’s choice. Amongst all the Fey God Stones, the Three God Seal was the most profound. The laws it contained were the most intricate as well, so it was natural for Princess White Fox to choose it.

“Next… Jian Zhu!”

Jian Zhu had narrowly beaten Wufeng, but now, that bit of advantage was extremely important.

“Senior Duanmu, I’ve chosen as well. I’ll first study the Penetrating Star Rock for twenty days before studying the Three God Seal for ten days.”

The time Jian Zhu chose to study the Fey God Stones was complementary to Princess White Fox’s.

In the first month, the two best Fey God Stones were monopolized by the two.

Many of the Luo clan disciples present felt bitter. Others had the chance to eat meat, while all they had was soup to drink.

Princess White Fox and Jian Zhu had monopolized the first thirty days. In accordance with the rules, they would have a period of rest after that.

During this period, the Three God Seal and the Penetrating Star Rock would be free. However, Wufeng and the Shadow Twins would not stand on ceremony to split the idle time.

With that, there was nothing left. And up to this point, it would be Luo Mo and Yi Yun’s turns.

890 - : Only Soup Left

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Junior Brother Yi, it’s our turn.” Upon seeing this situation, Luo Mo gave a wry smile. He felt wistful and he estimated that for the first half of the year, there was no chance for him to touch the Three God Seal and the Penetrating Star Rock.

Even towards the end, it was probably hard for him to come across a time when Princess White Fox or the Shadow Twins would choose not study the Penetrating Star Rock or Three God Seal. The amount of time left for him to meditate with it was extremely minute.

The Three God Seal was the most profound stone, yet with such a short time given to him, what could he comprehend from it… ?

Upon thinking about this, Luo Mo was envious of Princess White Fox. She could meditate with any of the Fey God Stones in the Primordial Space. Such an opportunity was something that he had no chance of doing.

Not only did the Luo Divine Hall trials not give them a chance to catch up to top geniuses, it was actually opening up a gap.

This was the rule of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. The best resources were gathered together to develop the best talents.

“Brother Yi, it looks like we have become fellow sufferers.” Luo Mo said in a self-deprecating tone.

Yi Yun’s eyebrows moved as well. He found it regretful as well. He also wanted to take a look at the Three God Seal that condensed the auric charms of three Fey Gods.

Unfortunately, Yi Yun’s ranking was behind Luo Mo. Even if Luo Mo had a chance, there was no chance for him…

After the Three God Seal and Penetrating Star Rock, the quality of the other Fey God Stones had an obvious qualitative drop. The better ones were the ‘Seven Star Rock’ that had seven points of light on its surface, the squarish ‘Four Side Slab’, and the shimmering gem, ‘Lit Star’.

These three Fey God Stones were close in quality, so there was not much difference when choosing any one of the three.

Yi Yun looked at each stone and he was in no hurry to make a decision. The training at the Primordial Space was an important part of the Luo Divine Hall trials. It was pertinent to choose the correct Fey God Stone.

Even if he knew that he could not choose a supreme-grade Fey God Stone, he could not be careless.

Yi Yun looked at all of the twenty-seven Fey God Stones.

The first few Fey God Stones were highest in quality, but towards the end, the quality was increasingly inferior. The twentieth Fey God Stone was about the size of a bowl. The auric charm of the Fey Gods contained within it was not even a tenth of the other Fey God Stones before it.

But even so, Yi Yun took a look at every Fey God Stone. However…

“Oh? Why are there Chaos Stones other than the twenty-seven Fey God Stones?”

Yi Yun noticed that there were three rustic stones floating among the Chaos gasses.

These three rocks were about five to six square feet. They were larger compared to the Penetrating Star Rock, and on the surface, they had patterns that looked like ripples. They were engraved by the flow of Chaos gasses over billions of years.

“Are those three Chaos Stones?” Yi Yun asked Luo Mo.

He shook his head, indicating that he was uncertain as well.

With a slight probe, Luo Mo could not sense any auric charms of a Fey God. He said, “It should be an ordinary Chaos Stone. A Chaos Stone that was formed at the beginning of the Universe is still very valuable, even if it fails to seal in the auric charms of Fey Gods. Furthermore, it’s such a large Chaos Stone.”

Although Luo Mo said this, Yi Yun still felt that something was amiss. These three Chaos Stones gave him a special feeling.

And previously in the jade slip that Elder Duanmu passed him, only the twenty-seven Fey God Stones were introduced. These three were excluded…

“Senior Duanmu, what are they?” Since Luo Mo did not know, Yi Yun could only ask Elder Duanmu.

Elder Duanmu was sitting in the nebulous fog as he said, “I can’t give you an answer.”

Oh?

Elder Duanmu did not use a Yuan Qi voice transmission. So when everyone heard this, they were surprised. Even Elder Duanmu, the guardian of the Luo Divine Hall, did not know what the three divine rocks were?

“Are they not Chaos Stones?” Luo Mo was somewhat perplexed. From his probing, the three stones were ordinary Chaos Stones.

However, Elder Duanmu said, “They are more profound than ordinary Chaos Stones. As to why they are profound, no one in the Luo clan knows. Actually, not even the Luo clan, even in the other clans of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, there is probably no one who can exactly explain what mysteries these three divine rocks hold… ”

When Elder Duanmu said this, everyone was astounded. Even the other clans of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven did not know?

But if everyone could not understand, how did they determine that it was profound?

Elder Duanmu seemed to guess the thoughts of everyone as he said, “I believe that all of you know that there were twelve Fey Gods at the birth of the Universe!?”

Everyone nodded. They obviously knew about the twelve Fey Gods, the ancestors of everything.

“Yi Yun, tell me. What are the twelve Fey Gods?” Elder Duanmu said again.

“Yes, Senior.” Yi Yun had been to Mt. Azure Billow, and he had entered the Ancient Fey Edifice. In the Ancient Fey Edifice, there were twelve columns, each carved with the twelve Fey Gods. Yi Yun had obtained an Entering Motion and two Hibernation Awakening ratings there.

“The twelve Fey Gods are… ”

“Embodiment of pure Yang, the first Fey God — Extreme Yang Illumination.”

“Embodiment of pure Yin, the second Fey God — Extreme Yin Nether Glow.”

“Amalgamation of the 3000 Great Dao, the third Fey God — Empress Earth Dao Tree.”

“The ancestor of dragons — Dragon Emperor.”

“The ancestor of all birds — Seven-colored Phoenix.”

“Fish and bird in one — Kun Peng.”

“Humanoid Fey God — Heavenly Man.”

“The river of time — River of Forgetfulness.”

“The embodiment of space — Solitary Nothingness.”

“There are a total of nine great Fey Gods. But for the remaining three, it was left vacant in the Ancient Fey Edifice. Back then, Lord Cang Mang’s explanation was… that the identities of the final three Fey Gods are impossible to confirm. Although many mighty figures have managed to infer their existences, they are unconvincing. Hence, the final three Fey Gods are a mystery.”

Upon saying this, Yi Yun took a careful look at the three gigantic Chaos Stones. “Does Senior mean that… ?”

“That’s right.” Elder Duanmu nodded. “Amongst the twelve Fey Gods, the existence of the last three Fey Gods are still unknown. However, no one doubts that there were twelve Fey Gods at the birth of the Universe. The reason is because… of the traces left behind in Chaos Stones!”

“There are Chaos Stones that seal the auric charms of the Fey Gods scattered in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven. There are a total of twelve types of Chaos Stones. The first nine allow us to meditate over their profoundness, resulting in us being able to deduce the true form of the Fey Gods.”

“As for the final three, it is difficult to deduce any of their mysteries. Hence, amongst the twelve Fey Gods, there are three vacancies!”

Once Elder Duanmu said this, everyone was enlightened.

Many of them were previously curious as to how people were so certain of the existence of the twelve Fey Gods at the formation of the Universe, and the birth of life. So, it was because of the Chaos Stones.

However… If the mighty figures of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven could not comprehend the last three Fey God Stones, there was no way they could.

The three Fey God Stones were useless no matter how large they were.

At that moment, Elder Duanmu said, “These three Fey God Stones are stored in the Primordial Space as a symbol. It’s considered a form of worship for the twelve Fey Gods. None of you need to care about them! In fact, out of the twelve types of Fey God Stones, the last three are considered by everyone to be the most profound of all Fey God Stones. However, their values are lower than any of the previous nine.”

What Elder Duanmu said was rather reasonable. Since no one could comprehend them, their values were obviously low.

Yi Yun nodded his head while thoughts went through his head. Since so many predecessors were powerless against the three Fey God Stones, Yi Yun did not believe that he could create a miracle.

He was just about to abandon the three Fey God Stones when out of a curious coincidence, Yi Yun stopped when he turned around. As he looked at the three Fey God Stones, a sense of disquietude filled him. Hesitating for a moment, he opened the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

And this act of his made Yi Yun see an inexplicable scene.

The three gigantic Chaos Stones had disappeared and replacing them were three magical items…

The closest object to Yi Yun was a black cubic object that was spinning. The black cube had runes that covered its surface, and it was like it had absorbed all the light around it. Even the space that was suppressed by Chaos gasses was distorted by it. It looked mysterious and ancient.

The thing furthest from Yi Yun was a blood-colored bead. It exuded a boundless bloodthirsty aura. Even with the energy vision, a glance at it made Yi Yun feel like he was plummeting through a blood pool in hell.

And in between the black cube and the blood-colored bead, there was a purple crystal. It looked like it was sculpted from amethyst.

Upon seeing the purple crystal, Yi Yun was completely dumbfounded. He held his breath as his heartbeat stagnated.

Isn’t that… the Purple Crystal that had always been hidden in his body!?

Yi Yun subconsciously pressed down on his chest. In the position of his heart, the Purple Crystal quietly lurked. With each heartbeat, it gave a faint energy fluctuation that spread throughout Yi Yun’s body…

891 - : An unexpected twist

CKtalon  CKtalon

The black cube, the crimson bead, and the purple crystal that emitted strange energies…

What Yi Yun had always seen in his energy vision was energy in the form of points of lines and dots for everything. However, these three objects were completely different. Even in the energy vision, Yi Yun could clearly see the individual objects as a whole, as well as the mysterious textures on their surfaces.

However, Yi Yun knew very well that the three divine artifacts he saw in his energy vision were just projections because of the portion of the original auric charms that were sealed in the Chaos Stones.

Based on this inference, the Purple Crystal in his body was one of the twelve Fey Gods?

To be precise, the Purple Crystal, along with the crimson bead, and the black cube were three of the most mysterious Fey Gods of the twelve Fey Gods that no mighty figure in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven had managed to comprehend…

Yi Yun found it unbelievable that the Purple Crystal was actually a Fey God.

However, were the twelve Fey Gods living beings?

Yi Yun would not be surprised if the Empress Earth Dao Tree, Dragon Emperor, Seven-colored Phoenix, Kun Peng, and Heavenly Man were living beings.

But Yi Yun would find it hard to imagine if one claimed that Extreme Yang Illumination, Extreme Yin Nether Glow, River of Forgetfulness, and Solitary Nothingness were living beings.

Extreme Yang Illumination’s shape was just a circular black-colored plane, while Extreme Yin Nether Glow was a white-colored ring.

River of Forgetfulness was just a river of time, while Solitary Nothingness was just an endless void.

Instead of calling them living beings, it was better to call them amalgamation of laws.

As such, Yi Yun would not be surprised if the Purple Crystal was considered to be an amalgamation of laws.

Yi Yun had a deep appreciation for the Purple Crystal’s power. Now that he discovered that the Purple Crystal was one of the twelve Fey Gods, Yi Yun found the Purple Crystal even more profound and mysterious.

What law did this Purple Crystal, that was born out of the Chaos along with the Universe, amalgamate from?

As for the crimson bead and the black cube, what were they?

Yi Yun fell silent. His eyes were completely fixated on the Chaos Stones that had a portion of the Purple Crystal’s auric charm sealed within.

“Junior Brother Yi, why do you keep standing in front of the three Fey God Stones? Don’t tell me that you are interested in them?”

Luo Mo previously believed that Yi Yun had only asked out of curiosity. But by the looks of it, Yi Yun was very interested in the three Fey God Stones.

“A bit.”

Yi Yun nodded, surprising Luo Mo, who said in response, “Junior Brother Yi, didn’t Elder Duanmu just say… Those three Fey God Stones may contain the auric charms of the last three Fey Gods, but even the mighty figures of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven were unable to sense it, let alone us.”

“The jade slips previously recorded twenty-seven Fey God Stones, but it excluded these three. It is apparent that the predecessors of our Luo clan do not believe that these three Fey God Stones are of any value.”

Although Luo Mo had been defeated by Yi Yun at Empress Luo’s banquet, he did not bear a grudge on Yi Yun. Instead, he gave Yi Yun some advice. From Luo Mo’s point of view, Yi Yun was too young and he might make a bad choice on the spur of the moment.

After all, the best Penetrating Star Rock and Three God Seal had been chosen by Princess White Fox and company. The remaining Fey God Stones were greatly inferior. He believed that Yi Yun, being young and impetuous, might feel indignant with missing out on the opportunity, and he decide to go for broke by choosing the three Fey God Stones that even the mighty figures of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven failed to comprehend. If that was the case, he was just harming himself.

Yi Yun did not respond to Luo Mo’s words. He was already completely immersed in the world of the Fey God Stones.

He felt as though he was wrapped in the core of the Fey God Stones. The gigantic purple crystal was floating in front of him, and the tinier Purple Crystal Origins was spinning in his heart, making it seem like a shadow of the gigantic purple crystal.

“The purple crystal sleeping in my body should be the true embodiment of the Purple Crystal.”

Yi Yun was slowly able to confirm that the auric charm sealed in one of the Fey God Stone was identical to the Purple Crystal’s.

That meant that a true Fey God was sleeping in Yi Yun’s body!

Among the twelve Fey Gods, the last three Fey Gods were very different to the first nine Fey Gods. As for the their exact differences and connections, they were beyond Yi Yun’s comprehension.

Although Yi Yun possessed the Purple Crystal, what he had was highly concentrated Origins laws. It was impossible for Yi Yun to gain any insights from the Purple Crystal itself.

However, the Fey God Stone… it had a tiny portion of the Purple Crystal’s laws that had been diverted away and were recorded in the Fey God Stone in detail.

Although this portion of laws was a tiny ratio of the Purple Crystal Origin’s overall laws, it was like a vast sea to Yi Yun. It was enough for him to study them for years.

Yi Yun had a hunch that it was as though this Fey God Stone only existed for him.

“Junior Brother Yi, Elder Duanmu has been waiting for a long time. Are you done choosing?” Luo Mo asked. Only then did Yi Yun awake from the Purple Crystal’s illusionary realm. He nodded and said, “I’m done choosing.”

Luo Mo gave Yi Yun a worried glance. No matter how he looked, Yi Yun had a confident expression. It did not seem like it would bear any good. Realistically speaking, by missing a chance at the Three God Seal and Penetrating Star Rock, one should not look that happy…

Since he had already given Yi Yun some advice, he wished that Yi Yun would heed it.

Out of the nebulous fog of Chaos, Luo Mo said, “Elder Duanmu, I will choose the Lit Star and Seven Star Rock for fifteen days each.”

“Alright!” Elder Duanmu was not surprised at Luo Mo’s choice. He recorded it down and looked at Yi Yun.

“What about you?”

Yi Yun did not immediately answer and instead asked Elder Duanmu, “Elder Duanmu, I would like to inquire about a matter. The rules set by Elder Duanmu previously… those disciples that managed to kill the first Ancient Fey are allowed to stay in Primordial Space for sixteen hours a day, and those disciples who failed to kill the first Ancient Fey are only allowed eight hours. Is the rationale behind this rule a result of there not being enough Fey God Stones?”

The trial-takers present did not expect Yi Yun to ask such a question.

Wasn’t this obvious… ? He just needed to choose a few Fey God Stones, but he had lingered inside the nebulous fog of Chaos for so long. Furthermore, when he came out, he had to ask such an obvious question?

Elder Duanmu nodded and said, “Yes!”

“If that is the case, I would like to ask. If I were to choose a Fey God Stone that no one else chooses, can I stay in the Primordial Space for the whole time without coming out?”

Yi Yun’s question confounded all the trial-takers present.

What was the meaning behind Yi Yun’s words? His strength was not considered very strong, and he had barely managed to kill the first Ancient Fey through an internecine struggle. He had paid such a heavy price to have a selection opportunity just second to Luo Mo. Was he planning on leaving aside the Seven Star Rock, Lit Star, and the Four Side Slab for some scrap?

Some of the Fey God Stones in the Primordial Space were the size of bowls, so the laws that they contained were obviously limited. No one wanted them, so was Yi Yun going to choose them?

Everyone could not comprehend him. Even Princess White Fox looked curiously at Yi Yun.

“That’s right! If no one chooses it, there is no problem for you to stay in the Primordial Space all day.” Although Yi Yun’s question was odd, Elder Duanmu answered him seriously.

“Thank you Elder Duanmu.” With the given permission, Yi Yun was overjoyed. This was truly a pleasant surprise. This meant that he could stay in the Primordial Space all day.

“Then I’ve already chosen. I’ll choose the three Fey God Stones condensed out of the three unknown Fey Gods!”

Yi Yun’s voice had bold undertones as it reverberated throughout the area. Everyone was stunned hearing Yi Yun’s choice.

Elder Duanmu had just introduced the three Fey God Stones to be something that even mighty figures of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven failed to comprehend. Was Yi Yun mad?

Ignoring Yi Yun, even Princess White Fox, as well as young elites who were far more outstanding than her could not compare their nomological insights with a mighty figure of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. The difference was greater than night and day!

If Yi Yun was attempting to comprehending something that even mighty figures could not comprehend, wasn’t that like an ant trying to shake a tree? What a laughable act of overconfidence!

“Junior Brother Yi, you really chose it… ” Luo Mo stared at Yi Yun and he was at a loss of words. He had a hunch previously and had advised Yi Yun. However, Yi Yun seemed obsessed to tread the road of no return. “Junior Brother Yi Yun, I know you aren’t happy that you couldn’t choose the Penetrating Star Rock and the Three God Seal, but the Lit Star and Seven Star Rock aren’t that bad either. It’s enough for the two of us to study it. You can just complement me on the time.”

Luo Mo sighed and shook his head. He found it regretful. Yi Yun’s results were very good, but he had wasted an opportunity. It made the people who had worse results than Yi Yun luck out.

And indeed, Luo Mo saw Ran Xueyi’s excited expression, on the brink of bursting out laughing.

“Hahaha! The Heavens are truly helping me! Yi Yun actually abandoned the Seven Star Rock and the Four Side Slab. I’ll be free to study them!” Ran Xueyi clenched his fists. He felt indignant to have lost to Yi Yun before because he believed that he was stronger than Yi Yun and that he had only lost because he had avoided doing battle. It had particularly embarrassed and aggrieved Ran Xueyi.

But now, with the Seven Star Rock and the Four Side Slab, he could diligently reach Yi Yun’s level. In time to come, he would leave Yi Yun in the dust.

On the road of martial arts, the most taboo thing was to think too highly of one’s self. Yi Yun had clearly entered the path that would lead him astray.

892 - : Three Fey Gods

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun, are you certain about your choice?” Elder Duanmu paused for a long time, but he noticed no changes in Yi Yun’s intentions. “This choice is not just a few months of meditation time. In the future, the ratio will still be the same as your previous choice. I will look at the results of your cultivation in seven year’s time. That is to say in the upcoming seven years, each of you will study your own Fey God Stone. Unless you are willing to exchange, there will be no further changes. But I believe that for you, Yi Yun, no one will exchange with you. I’m asking you one last time, are you certain?”

When Elder Duanmu said this, everyone looked at Yi Yun.

Seven years! The Luo Divine Hall trials lasted for eighteen years. The seven years took up nearly half the amount of time. This was the important stage at which one lay their foundations. It was no joking matter. If he chose the last three Fey God Stones and failed to gain any insights, Yi Yun would have wasted seven years!

Without any exaggeration, the seven years was sufficient to impact Yi Yun’s future achievements.

Everyone believed that Yi Yun would flinch, but unexpectedly, Yi Yun nodded without hesitation and said, “Senior Duanmu, I’m certain!”

Elder Duanmu’s eyebrows pricked up and he seemed somewhat upset, but he still recorded Yi Yun’s name down.

Everyone had the right to make their own choices during the Luo Divine Hall trials, but at the same time, they had to be responsible for their own choices.

Furthermore, Yi Yun’s performance may be good, but he was not the most important Luo clan disciple that Elder Duanmu valued the most.

The person that Duanmu valued the most was Jian Zhu!

It was not bad if a genius who would attain greatness in the future out of a hundred Luo Divine Hall trials.

At the trials, Jian Zhu was the person who was worth expending effort to nurture. As for the others, they were just icing on the cake. Even if Yi Yun were to persist in error, he would not continue to persuade him.

Yi Yun returned to the group and as he was walking back, Ran Xueyi was already striding forward into the nebulous fog of Chaos. The excitement on his face was unconcealed. To Ran Xueyi, this was like a gift that fell into his lap.

And this gift lasted for seven years!

“Junior Brother Yi, although I do not know why you gave this opportunity to me, I still have to thank you.” Ran Xueyi said with a beaming smile.

Yi Yun obviously knew what was on Ran Xueyi’s mind. He was showing gratitude on his lips, but he was probably treating him like a retard in his heart.

Yi Yun could not be bothered to humor Ran Xueyi in hypocritical politeness. He just remained silent and he pretended not to hear him.

Ran Xueyi was not annoyed either as he happily entered the nebulous fog of Chaos to choose the Fey God Stones he wanted to study.

Unsurprisingly, Ran Xueyi had chosen Seven Star Rock and Lit Star.

After Ran Xueyi, people entered the nebulous fog of Chaos to choose their Fey God Stones. Soon, the twenty-seven Fey God Stones were selected. Even the remaining Fey God Stones that were the size of bowls had their meditation schedules filled.

It was fortunate if one could enter the Primordial Space. Even a bowl-sized Fey God Stone that had a true Fey God’s auric charm sealed within it. As for most of the trials’ disciples who did not even have a chance of entering the Primordial Space, they could only stay in the front hall of the Luo Divine Hall to meditate over Ancient Fey Stones that were inferior in quality.

Comparing an Ancient Fey with a Fey God was like comparing night and day.

“Alright, all of you have made your choice. Next, you are free to cultivate.” As Elder Duanmu said this, he snapped his fingers. A gray item the size of a rice grain appeared, it was a seed.

“I will grow a Void Orchid here. When seven flowers bloom, I will come and see the results of your cultivation!”

As Elder Duanmu said this, the Void Orchid seed began to take root and sprout in the void. It was a fascinating plant that could grow in space.

A flower would bloom every year, so seven flowers meant seven years.

“The first batch of disciples who do not get a chance to mediate with a Fey God Stone, please leave the Primordial Space for now. The Luo Divine Hall has already prepared residences for you. Around your residences, there are some array formations that can help test your strength!”

“In addition, the continent on which the Luo Divine Hall lies is extremely extensive! The further you go, the more primordial and chaotic the laws are.”

“If you want to gain nomological insights, you can also walk deeper into the Primordial Space. However, the depths of the Primordial Space are extremely dangerous. You might encounter a variety of unexpected objects. So act according to your own ability and do not venture too deep or you might die outside! In previous Luo Divine Hall trials, it is common for disciples to disappear. Many of the times, their corpses couldn’t even be found. All the best!”

As Elder Duanmu said, he led the disciples, who were not temporarily not allocated a Fey God Stone, out of the Primordial Space.

Instantly, the Primordial Space only had twenty-eight people left.

The first twenty-seven Fey God Stones had a corresponding person matched to it, while Yi Yun had the last three special Fey God Stones.

The teleportation nexus of the Primordial Space was temporarily sealed. There was not a sound in the entire Primordial Space, as though it was a forgotten world.

The Void Orchid grew silently, while the twenty-seven gray Fey God Stones quietly floated in the nebulous fog, as though they were mysterious tombs.

Princess White Fox was the first to walk in front of the Three God Seal. She immersed her consciousness into the Fey God Stone as she connected her consciousness with the three Fey Gods’ auric charm.

She silently stood in the void as her white dress fluttered. Her long hair danced as its shimmered with electric flashes. Her head was tilted up slightly, as though she was listening to something, while revealing the beautiful contour of her neckline.

Seeing Princess White Fox begin to meditate, Jian Zhu also walked in front of the Penetrating Star Rock and he sat down.

Everyone went forward and Yi Yun’s location was in the deepest depths of the nebulous fog.

The Primordial Space was filled with the gasses of Chaos. These gasses were the Origin gasses at the formation of the Universe. It was also not easy to gain any insights from this Chaos gasses. The young elites present, including Yi Yun, were not at that stage.

Yi Yun sat in front of the Purple Crystal Fey God Stone.

Beside Yi Yun was a girl from the White Fox clan, who was meditating with the twenty-seventh Fey God Stone. Looking at the pathetic Fey God Stone in front of her, she muttered to herself, “Sigh, my Fey God Stone is way too tiny.”

Her name was Lan Xiaomo. She was not tall and she had navy blue long hair. She was different to purebreds of the White Fox clan, which also indicated that her bloodline was not pure.

In the previous trial, Lan Xiaomo had barely been qualified to enter the Primordial Space.

However… compared to her Fey God Stone, Yi Yun’s appeared worse.

Lan Xiaomo could not help but look to her side. Out of curiosity, she secretly probed the gray black cube Fey God Stone to the left of Yi Yun.

And without any surprises, she did not sense anything. The Fey God Stone felt empty, as though nothing was in there.

“Can anything be figured out from such a thing?”

Lan Xiaomo blinked her dewy eyes and she could not comprehend why. Yi Yun did not look dumb either.

“He might gradually give up. No one has the patience to stare at an empty rock for several years. Although the seven years would be a waste, he still has this extensive land mass to gain deeper nomological insights. Although the speed of cultivation is far inferior to mediating with a Fey God Stone, it is at least barely passable.”

With this thought in mind, Lan Xiaomo immersed her consciousness into the bowl-sized Fey God Stone as she entered a deep meditative state.

893 - : The Blooming of the Void Orchid (Part 1)

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Yi Yun’s consciousness connected to the ancient Fey God Stone, he felt that everything around him had vanished. The young elites who were meditating around the Fey God Stones, as well as the lingering nebulous fog of Chaos had all disappeared.

Yi Yun came into a completely unfamiliar world.

Wherever he looked, it was the deep depths of the universe. And beneath his feet were brilliant spiraling galaxies with breathtaking beauty.

And in front of Yi Yun was the Purple Crystal Origins with shimmering purple light. It was suspended in the void and it was slowly spinning.

After Yi Yun came to this alternate world, he tried to look into the Purple Crystal that was embedded in his heart countless times, but the Purple Crystal was as mysterious and clear as it ever was. Looking at it made it seem transparent, but Yi Yun had no idea what profound mysteries it possessed.

And today, the Purple Crystal that Yi Yun saw was completely different…

The feeling of not knowing anything had disappeared. In Yi Yun’s vision, the Purple Crystal range extended out limitlessly. It gave Yi Yun the a feeling that there was a universe in the Purple Crystal.

The Purple Crystal expanded as it revolved, as it became ethereal. It slowly spread throughout the universe, clouding Yi Yun’s field of vision with a misty purple color.

And amid this emanated color of purple, Yi Yun saw a figure with its back facing him.

The person was a man with long hair. He wore a black suit of armor, and he held a spear in his hand. Yi Yun felt that this figure was a good distance away from him, but the moment he saw this person, Yi Yun felt his heart quiver intensely. He felt like he was facing the Universe and the primordial stars.

As the figure slowly turned around, a terrifying pressure surged at him. There was intense killing intent with worldly laws trembling. Amid such magnificent pressure, Yi Yun felt like he was a tiny boat in a storm, and he could be swallowed up at any time.

Who was this person?

Yi Yun found it hard to think. The pressure from the figure and the impact of the nomological forces around him made Yi Yun feel like his body and soul were separating!

At that moment, Yi Yun felt an extremely familiar aura from the man with long hair.

It was… the Purple Crystal!?

A purple crystal body shimmered in the man’s chest, almost identical to the feeling that Yi Yun had with the Purple Crystal.

Yi Yun did not believe that this person was the future him. Could it be the past owner of the Purple Crystal?

Suddenly, the man with long hair waved his hand, sending the spear flying.

The spear constantly expanded in size while it traveled through the universe. It kept expanding and finally, it became an incredulous size. It could string up hundreds of stars!

When the large spear landed beneath the man’s feet, there was land, oceans, plants, animals, including Fey beasts and humans growing on the spear.

A spear had transformed into a narrow world strip?

Yi Yun was alarmed. He did not know what sort of concept this was. The man had transformed his weapon into a world!

The world expanded under the man’s feet as Yi Yun felt like he had set foot on the narrow piece of land.

In the hazy world, the clouds hung low. There was lightning flashing through the sky, as worldly laws seem to transform into endless fragments. The world seemed to present its Origins powers.

“These are nomological fragments!”

Yi Yun felt his heart skip a beat. He knew very well how valuable all these fragments were!

These were laws of Origins. The 12 Empyrean Heavens had been formed for eons, and the Universe had long taken form. The laws had evolved into a maturity. Could he gain insights of the Origins from such complete laws?

That would be impossible!

This was also why many mighty figures from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven had their eyes set on the Primordial Empyrean Heaven. After all, the laws in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven were not complete, making them easier to grasp.

However, the Primordial Empyrean Heaven’s laws were chaotic and trivial. It was easier said than done to search for the laws of the Origins from such complex laws!

No one knew if a fragment of the laws of Origins could be obtained, even after an unmeasurable amount of meditation.

But now, in front of Yi Yun, there were fragmentary laws of Origins flying everywhere. Such fragments were easy to absorb. Even Supremacies from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven would probably go crazy when they saw such a scene!

“I… I want to meditate!”

These nomological fragments made Yi Yun covet them. However, he could only see them but not touch them. These laws were too far from him. He could barely see some of what was in there, but the immense pressure that this world emitted made it hard for him to maintain his calm.

He could not meditate over them!

Yi Yun felt his heart bleed for all the fragmentary laws of Origins. It was equivalent to receiving nothing after entering a treasure mountain.

Who was this spear-wielding man in the phantom image? What was his relationship with the Purple Crystal?

This person felt more terrifying than the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner!

Boom!

At that moment, it sounded like there were countless thunder booming in the spear-wielding man’s body. The fragmentary laws of Origins in the sky began to flow into the man’s body. A series of runic patterns condensed around his body!

The runic patterns shimmered and there was a phantom image in every runic pattern.

They were either gods or demons.

Some of the phantom images looked dignified, with lotuses beneath them and a hazy halo behind them.

Some of the phantom images looked ferocious, with blood-stained weapons in hand, as they stepped on countless bloody skulls.

The phantom images were arranged in a circle, and together with the runic patterns, they eventually formed a circular wheel.

10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

For some unknown reason, this name appeared in Yi Yun’s mind.

The man with long hair held the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence that sealed gods and demons while standing in front of him. Yi Yun took in all of the laws in the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Yi Yun suddenly understood that the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was most likely a frightening divine mystical art.

And what he witnessed was the scene of the spear-wielding man’s formation of a world and his creation of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. It was most likely an imagery relic of the Purple Crystal. This man was indeed a former owner of the Purple Crystal!

Yi Yun looked up into the sky. There were still remnant fragmentary laws of Origins. However, Yi Yun no longer wanted to look at the fragments anymore. He tried hard to widen his eyes as he tried to look at the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence clearly.

However, the pressure that the man emanated was too powerful. As Yi Yun resisted the pressure, he attempted to study the laws, but he felt that his own will was on the brink of collapse.

He tried his best to memorize and comprehend, but his mental energy quickly reached its limit.

Boom!

The spiritual world suddenly shattered as everything in front of him vanished.

The scene suddenly changed. Yi Yun had abruptly returned to the Primordial Space. His surroundings were still pervaded with the gasses of Chaos, and in front of him, the three Fey God Stones were still suspended in the void.

Yi Yun felt a coldness across his forehead. It was dense beads of sweat that oozed off his forehead.

It was astounding!

Yi Yun never knew that there were such memories left behind in the Purple Crystal.

And furthermore… it might not be limited to these memories.

However, Yi Yun’s mental strength was limited. He could only see up to this point before not being able to persist on.

Yi Yun knew without thinking that the Purple Crystal had existed for an extremely long period of time. What about the images it that were recorded within?

Now, Yi Yun had only seen a tiny glimpse of them. Just the fragmentary laws of Origins that formed into the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence were enough to thrill Yi Yun.

What if he could grasp a tinge of the charm of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence through repeated observations?

How high would his strength increase?

“Senior Brother, are you alright?” At that moment, a sweet voice echoed in Yi Yun’s ears.

Yi Yun followed the source of the sound and he realized it was his ‘neighbor’. It came from the blue-haired young lady who was meditating in front of the twenty-seventh Fey God Stone.

She was younger than him.

“I’m fine.”

Yi Yun waved his hand. He was extremely excited!

Although there was still a dull pain in his soul, Yi Yun could not care about the expenditure of his mental energy after catching a glimpse of the endless treasures sealed in the Purple Crystal. All he wanted to do was recover his mental energy before entering the Purple Crystal again to meditate over the laws of Origins and master the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

894 - : The Blooming of the Void Orchid (Part 2)

CKtalon  CKtalon

Everyone was cultivating in the Primordial Space, so silence pervaded it. After swallowing a relic to recover his mental energy, Yi Yun began to regulate his breathing to process the relic.

Lan Xiaomo looked strangely at Yi Yun. Why did he look so eager at such a barren rock?

She really could not understand him.

She knew that Yi Yun must have drained too much mental energy before. It was reasonable. With such a large Fey God Stone, with no obvious point of insertion, it was certain that one’s mental energy would drain extremely quickly while meditating with it.

Lan Xiaomo stopped pondering about the matter as she continued meditating with the twenty-seventh Fey God Stone.

Although it was a bowl-sized Fey God Stone, it was still extremely arduous mediating with it! Lan Xiaomo found the laws that were contained within, numerous and profound, but the insights she gained were limited.

She felt vexed from having to choose the worst Fey God Stone previously, but thinking about it now, it was not necessarily a bad thing. The most difficult stones, the Penetrating Star Rock and Three God Seal, were probably only things that absolute geniuses like Jian Zhu or Princess White Fox could gain any insights from…

Of course, what was more difficult than the Three God Seal and the Penetrating Star Rock was the three special Fey God Stones beside her.

During this time, she had discovered that Yi Yun had immersed himself in the Fey God Stone once again. Without the consideration of him being able to gain any insights, just his mental energy consumption was extremely high and rapid.

Previously, when Yi Yun had learned the Shadow Twins’ footwork, Princess White Fox had also praised him. But why did such a talented person choose to break his head over these crappy stones?

…

Yi Yun was completely immersed in the Purple Crystal. He felt as though a door to a brand new world had opened in front of him.

The long-haired man stood there with the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence in hand. It was the amalgamation of countless fragmentary laws of Origins.

Yi Yun had never expected to see Chaos Stones that had the Purple Crystal’s auric charm sealed within them in the Luo clan’s trials.

Yi Yun had gone from an inconspicuous tiny world — a tiny Cloud Wilderness — to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven one step at a time. The further he walked, the tinier he felt.

Against the vast cosmos, the lives of people were like ants. It was like how bacteria did not know what it meant for the first and last day of the month, or how mole crickets did not know the seasons. What was a mortal’s life to the Universe? Yi Yun did not want to remain like a speck of dust in the Universe. He was determined to pursue a high level of martial arts, and now, with the path towards a more magnificent world under his feet, how could he waste time?

Yi Yun gritted his teeth as he desperately withstood the pressure from the long-haired man.

He seemed to proceed along a road filled with thorns where his mental energy was constantly stabbed by the thorns. As he endured the pain coming from his soul sea, he went through great effort to move forward.

Here, he could not rely on the Purple Crystal, nor could he rely on anything else. He could only persist on with his will.

Boom!

Just as Yi Yun discerned a tiny contour of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, he was sent back to the Primordial Space as his mental energy was completely drained.

“There’s progress! As long as there’s progress.” Yi Yun was not daunted. Swallowing another relic, he began to recuperate once again.

For the long-haired man to reach such a stage, he must have undergone an extremely long period of cultivation, with immense fated luck and perseverance to be able to gain insights of the laws of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, so how could it be easy?

As his mental energy being drained again and again, and with him meditating to recuperate again and again, Yi Yun’s soul sea was like a reservoir that was constantly being drained and refilled.

Lan Xiaomo, who was beside Yi Yun, witnessed the entire process of Yi Yun meditating in front of the Fey God Stone.

From her point of view, Yi Yun seemed to fall into a trance. He was huffing and puffing, with cold sweat pouring down his face, but he looked extremely eager.

Is this Senior Brother fine… ?

Lan Xiaomo gave Yi Yun a worried glance. Others were meditating in silence, but why was Yi Yun undergoing so many changes, as though he was fighting a war?

Lan Xiaomo shook her head. She could not be bothered any longer because her time in the Primordial Space was up.

Even the weakest Fey God Stone had a full schedule. Hence, she needed to rotate the usage of it with two other people. She had already agreed with the other two to have a meditation time of a month each.

With her having to leave the Primordial Space soon, Lan Xiaomo gave the Fey God Stone a reluctant glance before walking towards the teleportation nexus…

The passage of time was unfathomable.

The Void Orchid was growing. It went from sprouting to producing a bud before blooming into a flower…

One year’s time had passed.

Yi Yun gave up on sleep and food. He had lost count of the number of attempts that he made.

The Soul Nurturing Relics that he used to restore his mental energy were quickly used up. He later used World Stones to exchange with others, and he eventually bought some from the Luo Divine Hall’s treasury.

But by now, the rate at which Yi Yun consumed Soul Nurturing Relics had decreased because his mental energy had become extremely rich and immense!

The long-haired man in the Purple Crystal had a monstrous aura. Under the impact of such an aura, Yi Yun’s mental energy become more coagulated as well. He felt that his mental energy was improving, so even when he was expelled from the Fey God Stone, he would immediately recover his mental energy and enter the world again.

From the point of struggling to his limits to be able to see a contour of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, Yi Yun had slowly managed to discern the complicated runic patterns on the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

He was slowly closing the gap between him and the long-haired man. He was even able to discern the entire process of the long-haired man conjuring the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

There was no sense of time in enlightenment, but Yi Yun knew that he was constantly proceeding forward.

And in his mental world, Yi Yun had finally reached a distance of thirty feet from the long-haired man!

At thirty feet, every single additional step was extremely difficult.

The powerful impact that came from the laws of Origins were like surging waves that assaulted Yi Yun’s soul sea. However, such impacts made Yi Yun feel extremely excited. This was truly an opportunity that one could not ask for.

The runic patterns of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence became clearer. Yi Yun felt like he was beginning to come into contact with the boundary of being able to gain insights from it.

Bam!

The mental world instantly shattered as Yi Yun opened his eyes once again.

He looked at the Void Flower. The second flower was halfway through blooming.

In a blink of an eye, nearly two years had passed.

At that moment, Lan Xiaomo had happened to awake from her meditation. She was accustomed to Yi Yun who was attempting to gain insights constantly.

Lan Xiaomo believed that Yi Yun would soon give up, but to her surprise, he persisted on for two years.

Lan Xiaomo was an animated and lively girl by nature. She could not stand loneliness so, in this silent Primordial Space, she would observe the scenes of the disciples around her cultivating.

She noticed that Yi Yun’s meditative state with the Fey God Stone was slowly becoming longer.

He would only be in meditation for less than an hour in the beginning, but now, he could continue in meditation for ten days!

To be able to face a stone of unknown value for ten days at a go for two years, it was unimaginable…

At that moment, Yi Yun took a deep breath as he closed his eyes while regulating his breathing.

“It’s about to begin again.” Lan Xiaomo shook her head. For the past two years, she had never seen Yi Yun speak, it was as though he was a dead corpse just sitting there.

The others would leave the Primordial Space so as to confirm their comprehension outside.

It also included Lan Xiaomo herself. Her month-long meditation was almost over. She too needed to go into the deeper depths of the land mass so as to combine meditation and actual combat, despite the amount she managed to understand being very little…

It was universally accepted that by combining meditation and actual combat, one’s progress was the fastest. As for Yi Yun, he did not verify his comprehension. Was he not afraid of gaining a wrong understanding?

Furthermore, his combat power would not increase as a result!

895 - : Two Years

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun sat in front of the Purple Crystal Fey God Stone cross-legged, and he entered an ethereal state. His consciousness was fully immersed in the Purple Crystal’s world. He was oblivious to everything going on around him.

With two years of hard work, he was already standing inside the treasure vault!

It was a brand new world at less than thirty feet from the long-haired man.

This was a world that the long-haired man had grasped, the nomological world of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

While standing less than thirty feet away, the nomological fragments around Yi Yun shimmered.

This experience was too precious.

Yi Yun focused attentively as he seized the opportunity to comprehend the laws floating around him.

Within thirty feet, he could see the runic patterns on the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence very clearly. The nomological fragments also appeared within his reach, but they also depleted his mental energy very quickly.

Although Yi Yun had a greater mental energy capacity than before, it would just take him a few days before he was expelled from the mental world.

Yi Yun repeated this process day after day.

He did not find it boring at all. He could see new nomological fragments every day.

The long-haired man’s repeated creation of the world and the process of producing the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was something that Yi Yun watched over and over again.

Slowly, Yi Yun went from being a bystander to being a participant.

He felt as though he had become one of the nomological fragments. It was like he would condense into runic patterns with the rest to form the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

As days passed, Yi Yun felt as though he had transcended the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence and become the long-haired man.

His consciousness overlapped the long-haired man and he began following the long-haired man in his producing of the world that had transformed from a spear, as well as the process of condensing the laws.

At the moment that the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was condensed, countless illusions of demons and gods appeared as they assaulted Yi Yun’s mental sea.

In a trance, Yi Yun saw war break out throughout the 12 Empyrean Heavens. The Luo clan was destroyed by the Fey Phantasm Sect and he was unable to find Lin Xintong to the very end of his life. Finally, he died filled with regrets…

Mental demon!

Yi Yun exhaled. After he began to truly grasp the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence from the long-haired man, it also brought mental demons with it.

Just after having this thought, Yi Yun saw himself still in the Cloud Wilderness in a blink of an eye. He had become the leader of a tribal clan, living together with Jiang Xiaorou in an ordinary but rich life. He led his tribesmen in hunts and after returning, he would see Jiang Xiaorou’s warm smile as well as the blissful expressions of her gently dabbing the sweat off his face.

Yi Yun was slightly stunned as he shook his head.

Another mental demon. The martial path that he had taken had a long series of footsteps that existed in reality. It was not something that a mere mental demon could wipe away.

Illusions constantly appeared as the demonic voices constantly whispered in Yi Yun’s ears, but Yi Yun focused on gathering the nomological fragments.

A runic pattern was formed, but there were countless other runic patterns…

Days passed and the Void Flower quietly produced a bud before it silently bloomed into a flower.

Six years had passed and it was time for Lan Xiaomo to return to the Primordial Space once again.

At the beginning, she would take note of Yi Yun, but slowly, she began ignoring him.

Over the six years, he did not say a word, like he was a stone statue.

And with the passage of time, she felt that Yi Yun’s expression began to resemble a stone. Even his aura was the same.

She glanced at the Fey God Stone in front of Yi Yun before looking back at Yi Yun.

That’s right, it was exactly identical to the Fey God Stone! Two stone blocks!

Lan Xiaomo had such a thought. In fact, Lan Xiaomo did not realize that the reason why she made such an association was that Yi Yun had begun to possess an aura from primordial times, just like the Fey God Stone.

Just as Lan Xiaomo was about to begin meditating in front of the Fey God Stone, she heard some White Fox clan’s disciples talking within the Primordial Space. Upon focusing on the conversation, Lan Xiaomo froze.

The White Fox clan’s Third Prince, Bai Yueqing, was coming here!?

This news surprised Lan Xiaomo. She had previously heard that Bai Yueqing had accompanied the young elites of the White Fox clan at the White Fox clan trials.

After all, Princess Luo Huo’er was currently in the White Fox clan trials. Lan Xiaomo believed that Bai Yueqing would stay with the White Fox clan trials till it ended and she never expected him to come to the Luo clan.

However, the two clans’ training grounds were both in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven. It was not difficult if one had an advanced spirit cruiser to travel from one clan’s training ground to another either.

Just thinking of Bai Yueqing coming made Lan Xiaomo somewhat nervous.

It was obviously not because she liked the Third Prince. He was a noble and perfect person, so as a little fox with an impure bloodline, she was not worthy of liking him.

Lan Xiaomo was somewhat reverent of the Third Prince and she was also apprehensive towards him. After all, he was the future heir to the White Fox clan’s throne.

“Is His Highness coming here to understand the situation with Princess Xue’er’s trial? I heard that His Highness had previously made a bet with Princess Purple Spirit, so he is probably mindful of the outcome. He would pay attention to Princess Xue’er, the Shadow Twins, Senior Brother Wufeng’s progress, and maybe the Luo clan’s Jian Zhu… If not, His Highness would not make a special trip here.”

“There’s no hope for me. His Highness probably can’t even be bothered to pay any attention to me.” Lan Xiaomo’s tiny head stooped downwards.

As she glanced at Yi Yun beside her, she suddenly felt like they were in the same boat.

…

A few days later, the clear chime of bells echoed in the sky above the Luo Divine Hall.

Following that, countless spatial ripples appeared as space was immediately torn apart. From within, a gigantic ark slowly appeared.

The ark was completely white as jade. The runes that lingered around it emanated a magnificent aura.

Its bow had an extremely exquisite golden bell. It shook gently in the wind, and every shake immediately produced a chime that echoed throughout the sky. And the chimes tore apart space in front of it. The chaotic laws around it were also forcefully calmed by the chimes.

It was the Celestial Sound Ark, the mount of the Empress Dowager of the White Fox clan. Only such a spirit cruiser could shuttle through the Primordial Empyrean Heaven.

On the bow stood a line of people. A man and woman stood right in front, while there were White Fox clan beauties standing behind them in an identical fashion. Their figures and height were exactly the same at a glance.

Such a bevy of girls would attract attention anywhere, but in front of the man and woman, they paled in comparison.

The man was extremely handsome. He wore a fox-fur robe as his white hair drooped down to the ground. His slender eyes seemed to be smiling. As for the woman, her beauty was peerless. Her skin was as white as snow, and there was a red dot in her glabella. She had an extremely sexy bearing.

“Third Prince.”

Seeing the people from the White Fox clan arrive, Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi stepped forward and greeted them lightly. There was not much of an expression on the two Elders’ dry and cold faces.

The two Elders were focused on their cultivation and they were uninterested in the political intrigue.

“Elders, you have worked hard.” The Third Prince said with a beaming smile.

At the same time, he gave a junior’s greeting. He knew that Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi had a slight chance to improve in their lives to become Supremacies.

Although the likelihood was low, the statuses of these two Elders would be very different if they managed to take that step.

896 - : Condensing the Wheel

CKtalon  CKtalon

“For Your Highness to make the long trip here, it’s presumably because you are concerned about Princess Xue’er and the young disciples of the White Fox clan, as well as their results.” Elder Duanmu said lightly.

Despite the fact that the two Elders remaining reclusive in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, they had some information of the bet between the White Fox clan’s Third Prince and Princess Purple Spirit. Seeing the Third Prince, Bai Yueqing come to the Luo Divine Hall, the Elders obviously knew what his intentions were. He was probably feeling uneasy and he was here to check on their results.

“Elder Duanmu, you sure enjoy joking.” The Third Prince chuckled in a bid to liven the atmosphere.

However, when he saw Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi’s stiff faces, the words that he was about to say were abruptly swallowed back. He felt that whatever he wanted to say would be meaningless.

He didn’t know how many millennia the two old fogeys had lived. They were stuck at the threshold of becoming a Supremacy and they had odd personalities. With them being reclusive in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, they probably had not joked for more than a hundred thousand years. Bai Yueqing found such people, who only dedicated their lives to martial arts, rather boring.

“How is Princess Purple Spirit?” While walking towards the Luo Divine Hall, Elder Shi started a rare conversation.

“Princess Purple Spirit is doing very good. This Prince had long heard of Princess Purple Spirit’s amazing talent, and it was truly amazing in person. With such a rich Ancient Fey bloodline, it is no way inferior to the richness of Xue’er’s White Fox bloodline. Other than bloodline, Princess Purple Spirit’s perception and qualifications were all perfect.” Bai Yueqing waved his jaded fan and he pretended to say those words in a relaxed fashion.

However, as he spoke, his expression did not look too good. The muscles around his mouth appeared to be twitching.

Back then, Bai Yueqing believed that he would be happier the more Luo Huo’er revealed her talent. The blood lineage that he would get from a marriage alliance would be better as a result and it would also affirm his suitability for the throne.

However… it later turned out that Luo Huo’er’s performance was too good, to the point of it being heaven-defying. It made Bai Yueqing unable to sit still.

With Luo Huo’er’s personality, she could not withhold herself, even during the White Fox clan’s trials. She practically turned it upside down.

For instance, the Nomological Ladder to Heaven. The Luo clan disciples struggled to climb upwards. Each level was extremely arduous.

But for Luo Huo’er, she was vivaciously bouncing upwards on the Nomological Ladder to Heaven without even stopping. One of the best geniuses left behind in the White Fox clan to hold the ground suffered such a setback from Luo Huo’er that he did not even dare show his face.

Luo Huo’er’s talent was just too high, making the Third Prince helpless at suppressing her. With that, how was he able to convince the arrogant Luo Huo’er? If he could not, what was there to talk about marriage?

Seeing that he was losing control of the situation, the Third Prince made a special trip to the Luo Divine Hall to witness Xue’er’s progress.

“Princess Purple Spirit’s talent is indeed astonishing.”

Elder Shi did not pay attention to the Third Prince’s expression as he nodded his head in satisfaction. He had seen Luo Huo’er when she was young. Although he and Elder Duanmu did not participate in the struggle for the throne, as Elders of the Luo clan, they still had some affection for the talented girl in the royal family.

The Third Prince gave a wry smile but he needed to respond regardless of how reluctant he was.

Back then, he had sounded definite during the agreement on the bet, but now, from the looks of it… victory seemed rather uncertain.

“Where is Xue’er? Is she in the middle of a trial?” Bai Yueqing asked out of concern. Xue’er was of greatest importance.

“She’s currently meditating over laws in the Primordial Space. In a few days, the disciples in the Primordial Space will switch. Third Prince, you will be able to enter during that period.” Elder Duanmu said.

The Third Prince smiled and he began waiting.

Time was ephemeral in cultivation.

When the door to the Primordial Space was reopened, the disciples that had to switch opened their eyes. Reluctantly, they walked towards the entrance.

“The amount of insight that I gained this time is so little. I wonder if I have reached a bottleneck. Sigh.”

Lan Xiaomo looked up and scrunched up her face. She held her tiny head as though she was having a headache.

She glanced at Yi Yun and noticed that he was still motionless like a rock. It was unknown if he ever woke up in the middle.

“I wonder if the Third Prince is already here.” Just as Lan Xiaomo headed to the entrance, she exclaimed, “Your Highness!”

She noticed a man and woman walking towards the Primordial Space’s entrance. The silver-haired handsome man dressed in fox-fur was looking at the Primordial Space.

“It’s indeed not bad. Meditating here will gain you double the results with half the effort. By seizing this opportunity, the effects would be better than cultivating outside for fifty or even a hundred years.” Bai Yueqing said praisingly.

“The White Fox clan has a similar training ground as well.” Elder Duanmu said.

“My White Fox clan has the Nomological Ladder to Heaven, so it is different to your esteemed clan’s Primordial Space. They each have their different characteristics.” Bai Yueqing said modestly.

The Nomological Ladder to Heaven was a long ladder formation build by dozens of Fey God Stones. It was situated in the void, having different characteristics but similar purposes as the Primordial Space.

Just like the Luo clan, the White Fox clan’s resources would be allocated based on strength. Without a doubt, Luo Huo’er had taken the bulk of it.

And here, Princess Xue’er had also taken the bulk of it. From this point of view, neither side truly suffered. Both sides were using the most stringent methods to pick the best talents before nurturing them with the best resources. As such, the gap between top talents and weaklings would only magnify.

“Princess Xue’er is over there. She is currently meditating with the Three God Seal.” Elder Duanmu said.

Bai Yueqing saw Princess White Fox through the nebulous fog. At that moment, she was standing there motionless. Her beautiful figure seemed to be frozen.

However, everyone who managed to kill the first Ancient Fey in the Fey Refining Rock array had double the meditation time. Hence, it was still not time for Princess White Fox to switch.

“Xue’er is currently in meditation, so there’s no need to disturb her. This Prince will just wait here.” Bai Yueqing said indifferently.

“Go ahead then, Third Prince.” Elder Duanmu said nonchalantly.

As Bai Yueqing stood there, he naturally become the focus of attention. Many members of the White Fox clan were in no rush to leave the Primordial Space as they stepped forward to bow to him.

Bai Yueqing revealed a gentle smile as he would occasionally give them words of encouragement so that the White Fox clan disciples would leave with a smile.

Lan Xiaomo saw this from afar. Although she worshiped the Third Prince, she did not dare go up to speak to him. She lowered her head and prepared to train outside.

“In that case, the person to be noted in the Luo clan is Jian Zhu.” Bai Yueqing nodded as he looked at the youth named Jian Zhu standing in front of the Penetrating Star Rock.

Bai Yueqing was listening to the Shadow Twins’ description of the situation regarding the Luo clan disciples.

“That’s right. After Jian Zhu, it’s Luo Mo and Yi Yun.” Nongyue suddenly said, “They had previously each killed an Ancient Fey. Yi Yun barely did it and you can call it an internecine assault.”

“Internecine assault? Then that’s just average.”

Bai Yueqing shook his fan gently.

897 - : Losing Control of the Situation

CKtalon  CKtalon

Bai Yueqing did not pay too much attention to a trivial person like Yi Yun. However, once Yi Yun was mentioned, Bai Yueqing could not help but recall the snide comments that Yi Yun had made in front of Luo Huo’er. Furthermore, Luo Huo’er had even used Yi Yun as part of the bet. If the White Fox clan were to lose at the trials, Yi Yun had to accompany Xue’er to tour the Luo clan, but Yi Yun had unexpectedly refused.

Upon thinking about this, Bai Yueqing frowned slightly. He asked in a displeased manner, “How’s Yi Yun? Tell me about him!”

“His perception is not bad, but it unknown what he’s thinking to choose special Fey God Stones.” Nongyue explained the situation with Yi Yun choosing the Purple Crystal Fey God Stone.

“That Yi Yun is still quite a smart person. By choosing that Fey God Stone, it would not look too bad when he loses, even if he were to not gain any insights from it.” A White Fox clan disciple standing beside Nongyue said.

Bai Yueqing did not say a word. From the way that Yi Yun shared a good relationship with Luo Huo’er, as well as the information that he obtained about Yi Yun, Bai Yueqing could sense that Yi Yun was a person who took an unorthodox path.

He was a human from a lower realm with all sorts of ideas that were unpalatable.

Although Bai Yueqing did not believe that the White Fox clan disciple said was true, there were only two reasons for Yi Yun to choose the special Fey God Stones. Either his mind was not right or it was due to his arrogance. Regardless of which one it was, it was a foolish choice.

Nongyue blinked her eyes as Nongying had a ruminative look on her face.

Smart? Look too bad when he loses? The nomological insights gained here would still belong to each individual, regardless of the results. If Yi Yun had chosen the special Fey God Stones so as to not embarrass himself, his martial heart was probably way too insecure.

How could a person, who had been slightly praised by Princess White Fox, be so superficial?

At that moment, a girl timidly said, “I think Yi Yun is truly gaining insights. He is in nearly constant meditation and he doesn’t even move.”

Lan Xiaomo had heard the conversation just as she was about to leave. It was unknown where she got the courage as she suddenly spoke out.

Lan Xiaomo subconsciously felt that she could not remain as resolute as Yi Yun. Clearly, the disciple that mocked Yi Yun could not do it as well. His denouncing of Yi Yun’s fortitude as a warrior was rather unpleasant to the ears.

As that White Fox clan disciple, the Shadow Twins and the Third Prince were looking at her, Lan Xiaomo grabbed the corners of her clothes and felt her heartbeat accelerate.

This was the first time that she had been looked at by so many pairs of eyes. And one of them was the Third Prince!

“Oh it’s Junior Sister Xiaomo. Right, weren’t you sitting beside Yi Yun?” The White Fox clan disciple looked over. “You said he was constantly in meditation, then what did he gain out of the meditation?”

“Ah? Uh… ” Lan Xiaomo only knew that Yi Yun was constantly in meditation, but she had no idea what he had gained from it.

“Heh!”

Bai Yueqing gave a careless laugh. He had already seen Yi Yun in the depths of the thick nebulous fog. Indeed, as Lan Xiaomo said, Yi Yun was sitting motionless like a statue.

Seeing Yi Yun’s performance, the hint of displeasure in Bai Yueqing’s heart vanished.

It was unknown what Yi Yun was thinking or was up to. He was working so hard meditating in front of a Fey God Stone that even the mighty figures of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven were helpless against. Was he about to crack the mystery of the last three mighty Fey Gods?

Bai Yueqing gave a dismissive laugh as he continued conversing with the White Fox clan disciples. Bai Yueqing was very amiable and harmonious. In the White Fox clan, Princess Xue’er had the most number of admirers, but his prestige was not much lower either.

Ten days quickly passed with the passage of time.

Bai Yueqing did not have any feelings of impatience. In another month, Princess Xue’er’s meditation would come to an end.

But at that moment, three different auric charms suddenly emanated from the Three God Seal. They began spreading in all directions like a wave. The disciples in the primordial space glanced over in surprise.

“Oh? Her Highness is ending her meditation early?” A White Fox clan disciple said.

Bai Yueqing looked at the Three God Seal as well. A strange glint flashed in his slender eyes. This did not look like the end of a meditation session.

Following that, the three auric charms emitted a hazy divine light that were of three different colors. The divine light was not expansive and it was even rather weak. But this hazy light was enough to make the hearts of people quiver.

The Three God Seal contained the auric charms of three Fey Gods!

The three beams of hazy light hovered above Princess White Fox’s head. They seemed to look down on her, with an indifference that came from a lofty attitude above all life.

In front of the ancient aura, Princess White Fox looked like a delicate flower.

This moment only lasted for a few seconds before the three beams of light slowly sank back into the Three God Seal and disappeared, as though nothing had happened.

From beginning to end, they never gave Princess White Fox any laws or opportunities.

But even so, this was enough to astonish everyone.

They were ancient Fey Gods!

Even a drop of the vast auric charm was extremely terrifying. However, the auric charms had emanated out of the Three God Seal because of Princess White Fox had lasted for a few seconds.

After the three auric charms sank back into the Three God Seal, a holy light burst out of Princess White Fox’s body.

She bathed in the resplendence of this holy light as her body floated up, as though there were lotus flowers blooming around her.

Upon seeing this scene, all the disciples could not help but hold their breaths.

At that moment, Princess White Fox was emitting a mysterious aura. A pair of snow-white fox ears grew above her head, as the phantom image of nine large tails appeared behind her back.

Nine-tailed Skyfox!

“For such a phenomenon to happen, has Her Highness received an epiphany?” Nongying was mesmerized seeing this as she said softly.

She and Nongyue had unique talents in nomological perception. She felt that such a situation was the epiphany that warriors wanted, but it was something that came by not by searching for it.

“Xue’er has indeed had an epiphany. The process of nomological insights is a process of constant accumulation. Just like how dripping water can pierce a rock, all the insights gained from before are in preparation for this moment of epiphany. That was the instant that the rock was pierced.”

Bai Yueqing recovered from his reverie as he revealed a satisfied smile.

No, it was far more than a satisfied smile. It was pleasant surprise!

He did not expect to witness Princess Xue’er having an epiphany on his trip here. It appeared that even without his exhortations, Princess Xue’er’s performance were still excellent.

“Having said so, not all accumulation can achieve that moment of epiphany. It requires top talent and great amounts of fated luck.”

Bai Yueqing was in a good mood. With Princess Xue’er’s epiphany, there was a tiny possibility that they could beat that arrogant Luo Huo’er.

Now from the looks of it, Luo Huo’er might be talented, but her capricious nature was inferior to Xue’er’s calmness.

“Epiphany? Is it an epiphany because of the phenomenon?” At that moment, a Luo clan disciple suddenly asked uncertainly.

Bai Yueqing was giving a nonchalant speech when everyone was still reeling in shock, so he never expected to be interrupted.

“Phenomenon is just one of the marks of it. An epiphany is from within, so how can phenomena appear that easily?” Bai Yueqing was slightly unhappy, but he continued explaining.

“His Highness is speaking, why are you shooting your mouth?” A White Fox clan disciple knew how to read the situation and he immediately and bluntly called out the disciple who had previously spoken. How dare he interrupt their Third Prince’s speech?

All the Luo clan disciples looked at the White Fox clan disciple that had spoken with unpleasant feelings.

Princess White Fox had received an epiphany…

Although Princess White Fox had a sacred beauty that prevented others from looking away, she was still the princess of the White Fox clan, an opponent of theirs.

By receiving an epiphany, the Luo clan disciples, including Jian Zhu and the other geniuses immediately seemed overshadowed.

But at that moment, the Luo clan disciple said with a grievance, “I wasn’t trying to offend His Highness, but… but… it seems that on Yi Yun’s side, some phenomenon is happening!”

898 - : Epiphany

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun has produced a phenomenon? You must be seeing things. Do you think that phenomena are sold cheaply on the streets? It’s obvious that Princess Xue’er would produce one, but how can it be possible for Yi Yun?” The White Fox disciple, who previously reprimanded, said while turning towards where Yi Yun was.

Before he even finished saying his words, he was like a duck that had its neck pinched. The rest of his words were stuck in his throat.

Yi Yun was sitting there, with space around him distorted, as though countless Dao ripples were constantly emanating outwards. The disciple in question fell into a trance momentarily when he saw Yi Yun.

This trance only lasted for a few seconds, as he suddenly regained his state of mind, but his expression was that of shock.

Just a while ago, his mind had been affected!

This White Fox disciple hurriedly looked at Bai Yueqing and he noticed that Bai Yueqing was looking seriously at Yi Yun. The White Fox disciple’s heart skipped a beat and he wished that he could smack himself in the mouth.

It was all his fault for being so talkative. Having seen Princess Xue’er experience an epiphany, he had a sense of superiority over the Luo clan. He had intended to leave a good impression on the Third Prince, but his face was smacked just after saying a few words. It would probably be quite good if the Third Prince did not have negative feelings for him.

Everyone looked at Yi Yun, and quite a number of disciples were like this White Fox disciple. A fleeting vacant look flashed in their eyes before they recovered.

Why were their minds affected?

The twins, Nongying and Nongyue were not affected, but they were astonished.

Was this Yi Yun’s epiphany?

He was meditating with the Fey God Stones that had the auras of the three unknown Fey Gods sealed within them. How was it possible to have an epiphany?

They believed that Yi Yun had extremely high perception, but they refused to believe that Yi Yun was able to gain any insights from the three Fey God Stones that even the mighty figures of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven were helpless against.

Junior disciples lacked the insight as to phenomena that occurred during meditation. However, it was definitely impressive to have a phenomenon.

Among the Luo clan disciples, the Luo clan disciple that had been suppressed by the White Fox clan felt vindicated as he said, “It appears like phenomena are no big deal. Which White Fox brother was it that said that phenomena can only appear during Princess Xue’er’s meditation?”

“That fellow!” The Luo clan disciple’s words made that White Fox disciple extremely unhappy. It really touched a tender spot.

With the Luo clan disciple speaking, many people looked at Bai Yueqing.

Among everyone present, Bai Yueqing had cultivated the longest. Be it his knowledge or cultivation level, they were on a completely different level to these young disciples. The disciples might not be able to judge what the phenomenon happening around Yi Yun was, but Bai Yueqing could.

“It is is indeed a phenomenon, but it might not be an epiphany.” Bai Yueqing said with a deep voice.

At that moment, Wufeng also spoke, “Your Highness is right. Yi Yun’s phenomenon is different to Her Highness’s.”

Nongying nodded as well and said, “Yes, the Princess’ epiphany was inducing the auric charms of the Fey Gods in the Three God Seal. It was a phenomenon from the Fey God Stone, but Yi Yun’s phenomenon seems to have nothing to do with the Fey God Stone.”

With this said, the disciples realized that Yi Yun’s phenomenon appeared to be induced from within his body?

Space distorted with him being in the center. The ripples were also emanating out from his body, bursting in rings.

And at Yi Yun’s glabella, a silver mark slowly condensed. On a careful look, it was a silver sword.

“This is… ” Jian Zhu suddenly said in surprise. “That’s will taking form?”

“That’s right, as a result of his mental strength overly powerful, it has condensed into something tangible… ”

Bai Yueqing shook his fan as he said this.

With this, he finally understood why Yi Yun was able to induce a phenomenon.

“Yi Yun’s many years of meditating with the three Fey God Stones that seal that unknown Fey Gods have condensed his spiritual energy through the meditation process, regardless if he gained any insights. This allowed his spirit to condense into something tangible, inducing a metamorphosis and a phenomenon!”

“The condensation of the spirit into something tangible is extremely rare amongst young warriors, but for warriors who have condensed a Dao Fruit, it is rather common. However, for warriors who have condensed a Dao Fruit, it would not necessarily allow them to produce powerful combat power, even if their spirit condenses into something tangible. Unless they specialize in being a warrior that cultivates mental laws, the effects would be average!”

Bai Yueqing was very knowledgeable, so he said a few words to explain the reason behind the phenomenon that Yi Yun had produced.

When everyone heard this, they suddenly saw the light. It was no wonder that they fell into a daze for a few seconds. It was because of the mutation of Yi Yun’s spirit that affected their consciousness.

“I heard your master is Supremacy Gulan? This Prince remembers that Supremacy Gulan is knowledgeable with laws that use mental energies as attacks.” Bai Yueqing said as he looked at Jian Zhu.

“Yes.” Jian Zhu said with a nod.

“Yeah… Actually, spiritual energy attacks might not necessarily be very powerful. It’s also easy to receive backlashes. Among the mighty figures of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, few use such techniques. This kind of spiritual energy mutation is useful for a warrior, but it is not that helpful. If it is to meditate over laws, a typical warrior’s spiritual energy is sufficient. After Bai Yueqing said this, the Luo clan disciples immediately revealed wistful looks.

So it was just Yi Yun’s spiritual energy condensing into something substantial, and not a phenomenon induced from the Fey God Stone. And from what Bai Yueqing said, the spirit mutation was helpful to warriors, but unless one specially focused on laws that deal with spiritual energy attacks, its effects would be discounted.

If Yi Yun had gained an epiphany, they would now feel ashamed in front of the White Fox clan.

However, it was understandable on further thought. The Fey God Stone in front of Yi Yun was a Fey God Stone that mighty figures of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven could not grasp any insights from. How could Yi Yun perceive anything? It can’t be said that Yi Yun’s perception was greater than all those mighty figures, right?

“That Junior Sister from before is right. Yi Yun is indeed resilient. He is able to mediate using a Fey God Stone that leaves others helpless to the point of mutating his spiritual energy.” Nongying said with some tones of admiration.

Although he did not gain an epiphany with the Fey God Stone, being able to condense his spiritual energy during the meditation process, to the point of breaking through and making his spirit condense into something tangible, with his will as a sword. This also proved that he was extremely talented.

Other than Princess White Fox, none of the other disciples present received any epiphanies or condensation of their mental energies into something substantial while meditating with their Fey God Stones.

“He truly has amazing perception. In the Primordial Space, his performance would be brilliant if Xue’er wasn’t here.” Bai Yueqing said lightly.

Upon hearing these words, many disciples shook their heads secretly. Princess White Fox’s talent was too formidable that made them feel as though they had been left in the dust. This was not something that an ordinary genius could compare with.

Although Yi Yun was excellent, Princess White Fox’s performance was stunning. This made the halo around him immediately appear dimmer.

…

Towards the matters that were happening around him, Yi Yun, who was immersed in his mental world, knew nothing about them.

At a distance twenty feet from the long-haired man, Yi Yun was onerously enduring the immense pressure that came at him.

Suddenly, he felt as though a membrane in his mental world cracked, producing the light cracking sound of a chicken egg being hatched.

At that moment, Yi Yun took another step forward. This step was extremely heavy, as though Mt. Tai was pressing down on him. It was like wading through deep mud, taxing and impossible to pass.

At the moment that Yi Yun’s foot landed, countless fragments exploded with a boom. It was as though a shackle on his mental world had been released, as it constantly spread out.

Oh? He had made a breakthrough in his spiritual energy?

Yi Yun’s spiritual energy was just a tiny pond, but after the repeated draining and refilling, this pond had finally expanded into a lake!

Yi Yun was finding it tough to stand twenty feet from the long-haired man, but now, he felt his strength increase greatly!

Not only could he take a step forward, his vision had also turned much clearer. The runes on the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence appeared as though a mist had blown away from them, presenting itself clearly in front of Yi Yun.

They were all nomological fragments!

Yi Yun was pleasantly surprised. The sudden mutation in his spiritual energy allowed him to easily see all the nomological fragments. They were clearer than ever before!

He began to study them with a ravishing appetite.

This was a treasure mountain, and he finally walked into the treasure mountain at that very moment!

Each nomological fragment was priceless, but there they were, free for him to choose.

Yi Yun wanted to take all of them. He wanted to study all of the nomological fragments.

After he made a breakthrough in his spiritual energy, Yi Yun’s spiritual energy was now immense. He constantly memorized and he no longer needed to worry about exhausting his spiritual energy to the point of being expelled from the mental world.

Yi Yun completely immersed himself in this tiny mental world. Every move of the long-haired man was perfectly reflected in Yi Yun’s eyes.

899 - : Spirit Taking Form

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Princess White Fox had entered an epiphanic state, a few months had quickly passed. During this period, the meditation time for Princess White Fox was up.

However, Princess White Fox did not wake up. An epiphany was something that you chanced upon, so even though her time was up, no one disturbed her. The time that she spent could be made up later.

About seven months later, Princess White Fox finally awoke from her epiphany.

Her body had a converged radiance as she exuded an indescribable aura.

People found her more perfect than before. Her beautiful eyes were as deep as the night, with electric bolts constantly flashing around her. She gave people a deep sense of mystery.

The White Fox clan was inordinately beautiful to begin with. Regardless if they were men or women, they possessed a special charm, but this charm could not be seen on Princess White Fox. There was no need for that charm because just her flawless beauty was enough to naturally attract the attention of others.

Bai Yueqing walked towards her with a smile. He asked, “Xue’er, what’s the outcome of your epiphany? How far have your nomological insights gone?”

Princess White Fox responded with a smile, and this smile made countless disciples fall into a momentary daze.

“The result is still pretty good, but it needs a period of consolidation. Brother, you came here for me… probably because Princess Purple Spirit’s results at the trials are outstanding?” Princess White Fox did not directly answer him, but she responded with a question.

Bai Yueqing felt somewhat helpless. Princess White Fox always had such a character. She would not rush to a conclusion, unless the matter was certain. It was terrifying just thinking of her being in a epiphanic state for seven months, but even so, she kept quiet about it.

However, it was an epiphany in front of the Three God Seal, a rare opportunity that happened in ten thousand years, so how bad could the insights gained be?

However, Bai Yueqing had a headache once Xue’er mentioned Luo Huo’er. From news that came from the White Fox trials, Luo Huo’er’s progress was divine. Even the Elders that presided over the training grounds were impressed.

“This Prince has indeed underestimated Princess Purple Spirit’s talent. However, Xue’er, you have given me a pleasant surprise. It appears the bet might not be lost… ” Bai Yueqing said with a smile.

After all, the bet between the two clans depended on the overall result.

“The bet is meaningless to me, but the trials here are very useful to me. I’ll do my best.” Princess White Fox said.

Bai Yueqing nodded. He knew Xue’er might appear soft, but her heart was firm in her pursuit of martial arts.

“Then This Prince is relieved. You do not have any opponents here. Supremacy Gulan’s disciple is much weaker than you. Although Yi Yun managed to mutate his spirit, making it take form, he is still not a threat to you.” Bai Yueqing said.

Yi Yun had a mutation in his spirit?

“Is that so? He actually managed to receive something.” Princess White Fox looked at Yi Yun with her beautiful eyes.

“His talent is not bad, but it is incomparable to yours.” Bai Yueqing lightly said.

Regardless of how powerful Yi Yun was, he was only the cream of the crop amongst ordinary geniuses. He was not someone who would catch his attention.

However… why hasn’t Yi Yun woken up yet?

Even Princess Xue’er’s epiphany had ended. It was unknown what Yi Yun was gaining insight on. For him to meditate for so long over a mysterious Fey God Stone that mighty figures of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven failed to do so, had he gone down the wrong path?

After Princess Xue’er woke up, she left the Primordial Space, so Bai Yueqing naturally did not stay in it any longer. There were few people who paid attention to Yi Yun. During this period, only Lan Xiaomo would look at Yi Yun to see if he had woken up while meditating with her Fey God Stone.

However, Yi Yun was just like the Fey God Stone in front of him, having turned into a cold rock.

The Void Orchid began to bloom, and when the seventh flower bloomed, the entire Void Orchid produced a strange glow.

Seven years was like a tree ring to the Void Orchid. Elder Duanmu had set the time to be seven years, which also happened to be the moment that the Void Orchid would enter a full bloom.

On this day, after the Void Orchid emitted a strange glow, the Primordial Space’s teleportation nexus gradually lit up.

All the disciples woke up from their meditation.

“Sigh, I only grasped a tiny bit.” A disciple looked at the Fey God Stone in front of him, being somewhat unwilling to leave it and being somewhat frustrated.

Many people had the same reaction as him. With the constant rotation throughout the seven years, the time allocated to them was too short. Although they had gained something, they felt that there were many unsatisfactory areas.

“Yi Yun meditated for the longest. Who knows if he gained anything?” A disciple looked at Yi Yun.

“That’s an unknown Fey God Stone, so how can it be easy? But even if he did not gain anything, his spirit has mutated, and he might be stronger than us.” Another disciple said in envy.

Inside the mental world.

Over the past few years, Yi Yun was in constant meditation in the state of the long-haired man’s consciousness overlapping, while conjuring the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Each nomological fragment slowly condensed into a runic pattern. With countless runic patterns forming together, it became the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

When Yi Yun sketched out the final runic pattern, he gently placed his hands together. The runic patterns began to spin as though they were in a whirlpool, as they surrounded and enclosed him within.

Numerous phantom images of gods and demons flashed. With a loud bang, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence appeared beneath Yi Yun’s feet!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The long-haired man instantly collapsed after transforming into a purple beam of light.

However, before the long-haired man disappeared, Yi Yun saw a fuzzy shadow in the deep depths of the mental world.

The figure looked blurry, but he could vaguely tell that it was a woman. Her body was beautiful and her aura was ethereal. She looked like a goddess that came from ancient times.

Her back was facing Yi Yun, with black hair cascading down her back. Yi Yun tried his best to discern anything, but failed. Instead, he felt a stab in his mental consciousness.

This was the first time that Yi Yun encountered such a situation after his spirit mutated!

What a terrifying aura!

At that moment, the woman suddenly stretched out her slender hand.

Following that, she quickly dabbed her fingers nine times in the air.

Nine ripples formed nine flower petals!

The nine flower petals condensed together, turning into a tiny Nine Transformations Red Lotus.

This red lotus appeared to be lacking in power, but Yi Yun could sense terrifying nomological fluctuations from the red lotus.

Out of the 3000 Great Dao, there were countless laws. However, laws too were ranked. The five elements — Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth — were commonly seen laws. For example, the Luo clan was proficient in fire-elemental laws. Sabers had nomological saber Dao, while swords had nomological sword Dao. Time was a law in itself as well. To be able to grasp any of these laws —not simply proficiency — but total mastering of it, was an accomplishment in martial arts.

And above these laws, there were laws of Origins, like Yin-Yang, Life-Death and Chaos, that were superior. These laws were almost equivalent to Heavenly Dao. Typical warriors could not even understand them. To these warriors, these laws truly existed, but they were ephemeral and impossible to grasp, let alone master.

However, Yi Yun sensed that this red lotus contained laws of Origins!

Who was this woman?

Yi Yun found it unbelievable. The man’s appearance in the Purple Crystal at the beginning had already astonished Yi Yun. His aura was terrifying to the point of it exceeding the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s.

But on further thought, this man must have been the former owner of the Purple Crystal, so Yi Yun could understand it.

But following that, who was this black-haired woman?

It appeared as though a long misty river of space and time separated him from her, preventing him from seeing clearly.

The Purple Crystal was too mysterious, but how many more secrets did it have?

However, at that moment, his mental world was shattered. Yi Yun opened his eyes and he realized he was back in the Primordial Space.

At the moment that he opened his eyes, it was as though his eyes were like a kaleidoscope, with infinite runic patterns flashing through them.

“Senior Brother Yi, you have awoken… Ah!” Lan Xiaomo turned her head and she happened to see Yi Yun’s eyes. Her eyes immediately glazed over, but she soon regained her consciousness. She hurriedly looked at Yi Yun’s eyes again.

It was now normal…

Was that spirit energy? Every disciple already knew that Yi Yun’s spirit had mutated.

Purple Crystal… Yi Yun took a deep look at the Purple Crystal Fey God Stone in front of him before standing up.

Yi Yun’s long hair cascaded down from his back as the glint in his eyes remained converged. He was like a scion of the mortal world, with a bearing that seemed beyond elegant.

“Why do I feel like Senior Brother’s aura has changed… ?” Lan Xiaomo thought in her heart, but she subconsciously spoke as well.

Yi Yun smiled and he did not respond.

At that moment, Lan Xiaomo looked at the tiny Fey God Stone in front of her. Thinking back to the time when she was repulsed by this Fey God Stone, but after seven years…

“I kind of miss you now. Boohoo.” Lan Xiaomo felt as though she had feelings for the Fey God Stone.

“Time is up. It’s time to leave.” Lan Xiaomo shook her head as she walked towards the teleportation nexus.

900 - : End of the Seven Years

CKtalon  CKtalon

All the disciples returned to Astral Palace after seven years.

Seven years was just a fleeting moment to the Luo Divine Hall that stood on the floating land mass for billions of years.

When the disciples returned to the Astral Palace, they began to feel that this place had a feeling of eternity. They were changing, but this place did not. It was a strange feeling. It was as though time had stopped in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven after it failed to take form as a universe.

“When all of you first came to Astral Palace, other than a handful of people, the rest had average or even terrible results. In fact, amongst the handful of people, only one reached the standard of a genius.” Elder Duanmu scanned the ground as he said suddenly.

Upon hearing him say this, everyone looked at each other. Elder Duanmu did not specify who it was, but it was clear that he meant that Princess White Fox was the genius.

Princess White Fox was indeed extraordinary, with no room for debate. But what about the Shadow Twins, Wufeng, Jian Zhu, Luo Mo and Yi Yun? Were they considered average or slightly above average?

Their results were much better than the rest, so wouldn’t the rest be unbearable to watch?

The Shadow Twins, Jian Zhu and company frowned. There was a gap between themselves and Princess White Fox, but it was apparent from Elder Duanmu’s statement that Princess White Fox had only reached the standard, but she was not one of the top geniuses. How high was this standard!?

Elder Duanmu gave a grim smile and said, “You do not need to be indignant. The performances that you had previously can only be considered passable in the Astral Palace’s tens of millions of years of history. Let’s see the fruits of your seven-year meditation.”

Princess White Fox’s expression remained indifferent, but a hint of disappointment flashed in her beautiful eyes that looked like the starry night. She was… not at the top… ?

The aspiration to do better was sparked in the other disciples as a result of Elder Duanmu’s words. They were geniuses from their own states where people stood in awe at them, but only at the Luo Divine Hall trials did they experience the difference. However, they never expected to be considered existences that failed to even rank and could only line the bottom.

They went through seven years of meditation and honing, without a day of slacking. How could they resign themselves to lining the bottom?

Amongst the crowd, Ran Xueyi coldly looked at Yi Yun. He had managed to last nine minutes previously, believing that the results were not bad, only to be informed that Yi Yun had engaged in an internecine struggle with the Ancient Fey before coming out.

He was clearly stronger than Yi Yun, but he had been relegated beneath Yi Yun. This made Ran Xueyi extremely upset.

And in the Primordial Space, he had believed that Yi Yun was foolish, giving up the great opportunity to meditate with the Seven Star Rock and Lit Star to him. He believed that the gap between them would only expand, but he never expected that Yi Yun’s spirit would mutate.

However, Bai Yueqing had also said that the mutation of a spirit was very limited to the increase in strength.

“I belittled you during the trial from before. But back then, your strength did not truly exceed mine. This time, I will not give you an opportunity.”

“I’ve meditated and validated repeatedly over the past seven years. My strength has already greatly increased. I was stronger than you to begin with. At this trial, I will show my strength!”

Ran Xueyi was filled with fighting spirit. He could not wait to prove himself.

Yi Yun looked at the Fey Refining Rock, as a hint of fighting spirit flashed in his eyes.

He did not step out of the Primordial Space for seven years, so he was eager to verify his meditation and results.

“Then let’s begin.” Elder Duanmu said, “We shall proceed according to the order of the last trial, from last to first.”

When Elder Duanmu said this, Bai Yueqing said while fanning himself, “Elder Duanmu, why don’t we reverse the order? I believe that everyone wants to see the purest of battles. This Prince is looking forward to the performance of the top geniuses from each clan.”

Bai Yueqing was most eager to see Princess White Fox’s progress in strength. This was the greatest goal here. As for Jian Zhu, Shadow Twins and company, he would just take a look in passing. As for the rest, he couldn’t be bothered with them.

Elder Duanmu pondered slightly before saying, “Alright then, we shall begin from the front.”

When Elder Duanmu said this, all the young elites felt their hearts stir. They believed that people like Princess White Fox, Jian Zhu and company would be at the end, but now, they had to start at the beginning?

Bai Yueqing smiled and he looked at his younger sister. However, Princess White Fox did not say a word and just took a step forward.

“My sister and I will go as well.” Nongyue said.

Wufeng did not say a word as he silently stood behind Princess White Fox.

The White Fox clan’s geniuses were assembled.

In the Primordial Space, Princess White Fox’s epiphany made everyone marvel her. In comparison, the most promising opponent of hers, Jian Zhu of the Luo clan, had rather plain results.

If the Luo clan were to lose terribly in the first round, the White Fox clan was bound to turn arrogant.

“Jian Zhu.” Elder Duanmu called out Jian Zhu’s name.

Jian Zhu appeared clam. His body was straight like a sword as he took a step forward without a word. However, everyone could sense the fighting spirit exuding from his body. The fighting spirit was constantly gathering, to the point of manifesting a black swirl of air that lingered around his bone sword.

A disciple that was the closest to him was affected by this fighting spirit as sweat oozed from his forehead.

“Jian Zhu has changed too.”

“This aura is very powerful!”

“He is preparing himself. When he unsheathes his sword, it is unknown how powerful he will be.”

“Jian Zhu has been silently gaining insights over the past seven years. I’m curious to know how deep his comprehension is after staying for so long in the deep depths of the Primordial Space.” A Luo clan disciple said.

Jian Zhu was Supremacy Gulan’s disciple, so he did not lack in talent or diligence. His brilliance was only shrouded due to Princess White Fox and Yi Yun’s phenomena.

Elder Duanmu looked at Jian Zhu and he nodded slightly.

Indeed, Jian Zhu did not disappoint him. Just his aura gave people the feeling that he had formed the Heart of the Sword.

“Luo Mo, Yi Yun and Ran Xueyi.” Elder Duanmu called out three names.

“It will be a clash right from the beginning. It’s going to be stressful.” Luo Mo said with a smile.

It was good to be stressed! The journey of martial arts was to continue forging forward. This stress was all used as motivation to force one to continue progressing.

Seeing the top disciples from each clan stand forward, the other disciples were filled with anticipation.

“Watch, Princess and the rest will definitely win.” A White Fox clan disciple proudly said.

“That might not be the case.” A Luo clan disciple did not want to be outdone.

They were all looking forward to Jian Zhu’s performance. At that moment, his aura was the strongest. Just looking at him would sting the eyes, as though they were being cut by blades.

Clearly, the insights that Jian Zhu gained in the Primordial Space was no trifling matter!

The Fey Refining Rock could accommodate twenty people at a time. Other than these people, the White Fox clan and the Luo clan chose six other disciples each.

Twenty people stood in front of the massive Fey Refining Rock.

“Let us begin.”

As a light flashed across his eyes, the space where Yi Yun was instantly changed.

It was a vast plain, just like it was seven years ago.

“Choose the Ancient Fey you want to battle!”

“I choose the Ranyi Fish!” Yi Yun’s choice was still the Ranyi Fish!

Back then, Yi Yun had suffered serious injuries in order to kill the Ranyi Fish first. He wanted to know what the result would be in his rematch with the Ranyi Fish.

901 - : Battling Again

CKtalon  CKtalon

A roaring wave instantly appeared beneath Yi Yun’s feet. Looking at the gigantic fish that had a snake’s head, Yi Yun took a light breath and stretching out his hand, saying, “Come sword!”

Thirty seconds later, the battle began!

At that moment in Astral Palace, everyone was waiting silently.

Bai Yueqing waved his fan and suddenly said with a smile, “Elders, it’s truly boring to just wait here while doing nothing. Why don’t you project the scenes of their battles?”

“Battle projection?” Elder Duanmu glanced at Bai Yueqing. This Third Prince of the White Fox clan sure was troublesome.

Many formation arrays had the ability to project the scenes that were happening within. As this Fey Refining Rock was much more exquisite than other formation arrays, it could obviously do so as well. Before activating the projection, only the people who controlled the formation array, like the Luo Divine Hall Elders, could see what was happening.

Upon hearing Bai Yueqing’s suggestion, all the disciples’ eyes lit up. The people like Princess White Fox, who entered the trial, were geniuses much more talented than them. If they could watch the battles, they might be able to learn a thing or two.

“That’s right, Elders. Why don’t you open up the formation array and let everyone have a look?” Fairy Red Fox said with a smile.

“There’s no harm in doing so.” Elder Shi nodded with a deadpan expression. Immediately, he sent an incantation into the Fey Refining Rock.

Above the heads of everyone, ripples began appearing in the night sky. As though it was a picture scrolled being rolled opened, the figures of Princess White Fox and company were projected on this gigantic panorama. Everyone could see them, as though there was a membrane separating them. It was like they could see into another dimension, with everything being extremely lucid.

It was unknown how much energy was expended for such an array.

Bai Yueqing immediately looked at Princess White Fox. He wanted to witness the improvement of Princess White Fox. As for the others, he was not interested at all.

“The Princess chose the… Ah! Could it be the Fey dragon!?” A White Fox clan disciple suddenly exclaimed.

The Fey dragon was the one that Elder Duanmu summoned when they first step into Astral Palace. It had given all these disciples a great shock.

The strength of most of the Ancient Fey were equally brutal, but a few of them were exceedingly strong. This Fey dragon’s aura was much more powerful than the Ancient Fey that they had chosen.

Princess White Fox actually chose to do battle with the Fey dragon?

She was standing on withered land filled with yellow sand. Dark and oppressive clouds hung in the sky as lightning constantly flashed. As for the gigantic dragon, its figure was looming within the clouds.

In comparison to the horrifying phenomenon and the gigantic Fey dragon, Princess White Fox’s figure appeared extremely weak.

“Interesting. Jian Zhu chose the Fey dragon as well.” Elder Duanmu suddenly said.

Everyone quickly scanned through the twenty disciple’s figures and they saw a black-clothed Jian Zhu standing in front of a gigantic dragon.

The two top geniuses of the two clans had spontaneously chosen the same Ancient Fey at the Luo Divine Hall trials?

All the disciples were excited. What was a confrontation? This was it!

Both geniuses were facing the same Ancient Fey. How far could they go?

“Elder Duanmu, please project Xue’er and Jian Zhu’s projection together.” Bai Yueqing said with a smile.

Everyone was eagerly looking forward to the battles of the two geniuses. However, Princess White Fox’s figure on the projection was too far from Jian Zhu’s, so it was inconvenient to watch both.

Elder Duanmu pondered for a moment before enlarging Princess White Fox and Jian Zhu’s projection into the middle. The remaining people were relegated to the corners of the picture scroll.

“The battle begins.” Elder Duanmu said while looking at the picture scroll.

The two dragons roared simultaneously and they charged out of the clouds!

Dragons came from the clouds, while tigers accompany the winds. With the two dragons moving, the black clouds rumbled immediately, as the world discolored!

The dragon’s head approached Princess White Fox as though it was a hill. The dragon’s terrifying might and its indifferent eyes made the disciples outside the array involuntarily hold their breaths.

Princess White Fox floated up as her graceful figure stood mid-air. She reached out her fair jade-like hand, and gently tapped out at the charging dragon.

Upon tapping, a sacred and massive phantom image of a fox appeared in front of her out of thin air. The fox head’s fur was silver and it had slender eyes. Its gaze was cold, as though it had seen the passing of time. Across space, the disciples watching the battle felt their bodies being penetrated by its gaze.

“It’s the Nine-tailed Skyfox!”

“How strange.” The Luo clan disciples were alarmed, but the White Fox clan disciples were extremely excited. This Nine-tailed Skyfox was also an Ancient Fey!

The fox looked at the dragon, as a strange glint flashed in its eyes. The dragon came to a halt, and its indifferent eyes seemed to glaze over.

At that moment, the phantom image of nine white fox tails suddenly appeared behind Princess White Fox. Taking a step forward, with a gentle tap like before, a fissure appeared in the eyes of the dragon’s head, before it cracked open.

The dragon roared before exploding, splattering blood everywhere!

The first dragon, dead!

“It’s spatial dimension laws!” Fairy Red Fox’s eyes lit up.

Not only that, there were also whitish-silver bolts flashing around Princess White Fox. It was as though she was isolated by the bolts in another dimension.

“Xue’er has attained Dao Domain.” Bai Yueqing snapped his fan and slowly said, “Because of the laws that she has grasped, the space around her becomes a spatial domain. This is a manifestation of Dao Domain.”

“Third Prince is right.” Elder Duanmu’s tone could not hide his appreciation. “Low-level disciples do not pay attention to nomological insight because laws are too distant to them. However, once martial arts are cultivated to a certain stage, one would have reached the end without laws. Only laws can open up the path to a higher level. It can even reach the core of the Universe’s birth, Origins. At this stage, you would be on the same existence level as the Universe. With you being the Universe, that is the true extreme of martial arts.”

Elder Shi lightly said, “That’s too hard. Even Supremacies are unable to grasp the laws of Origins.”

“That’s right. To be able to grasp a single Heavenly Dao laws, that would allow you to become a Supremacy. At your level, it is already extremely talented to be able to attain Dao Domain.” Elder Duanmu said.

They were studying the laws in the Empyrean Heavens so they could reach the level of Heavenly Dao, allowing them to become Supremacies.

“Dao Domain, Great Dao, Heavenly Dao, and Origins. The grasping of laws is extremely difficult. The Dao Domain is just the beginning. But those who have yet to attain Dao Domain are equivalent to not having even started.” Elder Duanmu looked at the disciples as he bluntly said.

Not even started… When the disciples heard this, they felt the immense gap. They too had studied the laws, so they obviously knew about their difficulties. Princess White Fox was able to draw out the auric charms of the Fey Gods from the Three God Seal. After months of an epiphanic process, she had attained her Dao Domain!

With her Dao Domain, just a single strike of hers was enough to kill the Fey dragon!

This attack was extremely profound and terrifying!

This was the terrifying aspect of laws. It directly mobilized the laws of the world in battle. It was equivalent to using the powers of heaven and earth.

This was truly something that they had no hope of chasing up to.

And after that, there was Great Dao and Heavenly Dao. To what extent was their difficulties?

“Jian Zhu has also killed the Fey dragon” A disciple suddenly said.

So fast? Did Jian Zhu also attain a Dao Domain!?

902 - : Dao Domain

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh?” Everyone was still feeling amazed by Princess White Fox’s strength when they heard that Jian Zhu had also slain the Fey dragon. Immediately, they looked over at him.

All they saw was the Fey dragon in front of Jian Zhu turning into a corpse as it slowly disappeared.

They missed it!

Everyone was feeling wistful as the killing speed was just too fast. He was a few seconds slower than Princess White Fox. They were pondering about Princess White Fox’s Dao Domain and were fully focused it, so they had failed to notice Jian Zhu’s killing processing.

At that moment, Elder Duanmu waved his hand as Jian Zhu’s projected image flashed. The scene was rewinding itself.

“If you want to watch it, go ahead. All the scenes are recorded in the array formation.” Elder Duanmu said lightly.

Everyone felt excited for the opportunity to see Jian Zhu’s slay the Fey dragon properly.

At the beginning of the battle, Jian Zhu held his bone sword while facing the dragon that was a hundred times bigger than he was. He slowly took three steps forward.

Every step caused his aura to rapidly rise.

When his final step was taken, Jian Zhu’s aura had reached a cumulative maximum. At that moment, he could not abstain from attacking, even if he did not wish to attack because the killing intent would end up harming him!

Sou!

Like a pale moonlight suddenly flashing past, everyone felt the horizon in front of them disappear for an instant. Only the Elders, Bai Yueqing, and Fairy Red Fox were not affected. They could clearly see that Jian Zhu had grabbed the bone sword behind him and stabbed forward instantaneously.

At that instant, his actions accelerated extremely quickly. There was nothing fancy except for its speed.

With the bone sword stabbing forward, the sword’s blade seemed to disappear in the process. Immediately following that, the dragon’s head appeared in front of him! At such a close distance, the dragon had opened its mouth, intending to swallow Jian Zhu’s sword. But the sword’s blade had torn straight through its throat with sword beams tearing the dragon’s body apart, killing it in one strike!

That was it!?

Everyone stared at the projection with widened eyes. Jian Zhu’s strength as well as his will seemed to gather around his strike. Yet, with the Fey dragon’s powerful defense and lifeforce, it had failed to withstand the strike. This amount of destructive power was appalling!

Compared to Princess White Fox’s elegance, Jian Zhu’s savage slaying of the Fey dragon gave them another form of shock!

Bai Yueqing pricked his brows slightly. The bone sword was so fast that it had nearly broken through the limitations of space and time?

“Jian Zhu might not have gained insights in other nomological Dao Domains, but he has attained his own Heart of the Sword. Using the Heart of the Sword to form one’s own Dao is also a path. The 12 Empyrean Heavens have Divine Lords of the Sword as well. Through their swordsmanship, they form their own Dao, allowing them to receive the Divine Lord Royal Seals as they destroy all obstacles.” Elder Duanmu said as he stroked his beard. “Jian Zhu is not bad. It’s no wonder that he is fancied by Supremacy Gulan.”

His voice was not very loud, but when all the disciples present heard this, they felt powerless and frustrated.

The Divine Lord Royal Seals were too far for them. They were Dao Marks formed from laws at the birth of the Empyrean Heavens. The entire Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven only had seventy-two Divine Lord Royal Seals. A few of them had seemed to have gone missing. Even most Supremacies did not have the qualification to wield a Divine Lord Royal Seal.

Those who could wield the Divine Lord Royal Seal were peerless mighty figures who surpassed Supremacies. If a Supremacy were to be able to attain this step, it would be even more terrifying. They were the freaks amongst Supremacies. And when such a person surpassed a Supremacy, they would become part of the top figures of the Empyrean Heaven.

This kind of legendary figure was neither within sight nor within reach for them. Just the level of Supremacy was somewhat of a legend to them.

To form one’s Dao through the Heart of the Sword… Although one wasn’t mastering the laws of the Universe, one would immerse themselves in the sword for decades to eventually hone their Heart of the Sword and establish their own Sword Dao. For someone to be able to wield the Divine Lord Royal Seal, it was enough to prove how terrifying Sword Dao could be.

“It’s impressive, but even with the Heart of the Sword formed, it is still far from a nomological Dao Domain.” Bai Yueqing said with a smile.

Princess White Fox had attained her Dao Domain through an epiphany while meditating with the Three God Seal. As for Jian Zhu, he had yet to reach the Dao Domain.

In terms of combat ability, Princess White Fox had yet to use her full strength clearly.

Jian Zhu was still much weaker than Princess White Fox.

Bai Yueqing was never worried about Jian Zhu. He was only nonchalantly watching Jian Zhu’s growth. He was certain that no one in the Luo Divine Hall trials could pose the slightest threat to Princess White Fox. It was only Luo Huo’er at the White Fox trials… Just thinking about Luo Huo’er made Bai Yueqing’s brows twitch involuntarily.

“Princess White Fox is already battling the second Fey dragon!” The disciples were watching with rapt attention. Princess White Fox and Jian Zhu had each killed the first Fey dragon. The disciples were all astounded, but they failed to gain any insights from the battles. They had to watch carefully during the second ones!

Boom!

As soon as the second Fey dragon appeared, it stretched one of its large claws out. Wherever the dragon claw passed, the void would tear open! Black spatial rifts appeared with raging spatial storms within.

Terrifying!

The disciples standing in Astral Palace could not even beat the first Ancient Fey, so they did not even have the chance to see the second Ancient Fey.

Now, through watching the projection, they only felt their bodies stiffen slightly!

And this was just them watching a projection. If they were standing where Princess White Fox and Jian Zhu were, it was obvious how immense the pressure that they would feel while facing the second Fey dragon!

This made many people depressed. From the looks of it, despite their seven years of hard work, they were still no match for the Ancient Fey. It would be pretty good if they could kill the first Ancient Fey.

Just as everyone’s focus was fixated on Princess White Fox, someone suddenly let out an exclamation.

“Senior Brother Yi seems… to have also killed an Ancient Fey.”

The person who spoke was a White Fox clan disciple and she was none other than Lan Xiaomo.

She had also inadvertently swept her gaze past Yi Yun. This was probably because she would tend to look at Yi Yun’s stone-like figure over the past seven years. She now had a sense of familiarity with him, so just a scan would allow her to notice him.

Now, everyone was watching Princess White Fox and Jian Zhu’s battle with the second Fey dragons. That was the exciting thing, so no one had the mind to watch the battles of others. Furthermore, Princess White Fox and Jian Zhu’s battle scenes were projected right in the middle. The other disciples were relegated to the edges to serve as a border. Even Lan Xiaomo was initially focused on Princess White Fox, but she had inadvertently noticed Yi Yun.

Lan Xiaomo’s words gave quite a number of people pause.

Yi Yun had also killed an Ancient Fey!?

They hurriedly looked around the projection. Where… was Yi Yun!?

There was a total of eighteen disciples along the edges. The images projected were just too tiny. The disciples who were not familiar with Yi Yun had to spend some time before they could find him out of the series of projections.

When they saw Yi Yun, the Ranyi Fish beneath his feet had sunk into the water, leaving a tiny portion of its body above the water surface.

“Junior Sister, you must be mistaken. Isn’t it alive?” When a disciple saw this Ranyi Fish, he immediately lost interest.

“He really killed it. That is already the second fish!” Lan Xiaomo hurriedly argued.

She had just seen the Ranyi Fish’s corpse vanish!

The corpse that was divided into two had released a shower of blood!

“The second one?” The disciple was astonished.

If this was already the second Ranyi Fish, then wouldn’t it mean that the time that Yi Yun took to kill the first Ancient Fey was not much slower than Princess White Fox and Jian Zhu!?

It was no wonder that this disciple’s first reaction was that Lan Xiaomo was mistaken. Yi Yun was weaker Luo Mo and Ran Xueyi seven years ago, but now he was able to kill the first Ancient Fey in a few seconds?

Wasn’t it said that he only had a spirit mutation, and had no nomological epiphany?

“It’s indeed the second Ranyi Fish.” Elder Duanmu said, affirming Lan Xiaomo’s words.

Elder Duanmu was somewhat surprised as well. The speed at which Yi Yun slew the Ranyi Fish was much faster this time. The speed at which his strength improved was very exaggerated.

“Yi Yun was able to kill a Ranyi Fish in the past. This time, he isn’t injured and the battle was finished swiftly and cleanly. With his spirit mutation, his judgment in battle has become more precise.” Elder Duanmu spoke with a hint of praise in his tone.

Upon hearing that Yi Yun had already slain the first Ancient Fey, Bai Yueqing’s gaze sank, but he did not say a word.

Beside Bai Yueqing, the other White Fox clan disciples were feeling displeased.

If it was Princess Xue’er, she was within sight but beyond reach, so it was fine even if they were no match for her. They were not on the same level after all. It was like commoners looking at nobles. They did not feel the need for comparison. But Yi Yun was not much stronger than them, to begin with. He was like their neighbor, but he had suddenly become a wealthy merchant. This feeling was naturally unpleasant.

“Yi Yun actually managed to kill the first Ancient Fey in such a short period of time? How did he do it? He was only a few seconds slower than Princess White Fox!” A Luo clan disciple said.

His words stirred the displeasure of the White Fox clan disciples. The manner in which it was said made it appear as though Yi Yun was on the same level as Princess White Fox, so how could they accept it?

“Hmph, don’t compare him with Princess Xue’er. They are not on the same level at all. Against the first Ancient Fey, Princess Xue’er did not even have the opportunity to use her full strength. Furthermore, what Princess Xue’er killed is a Fey dragon. As for Yi Yun, he only killed a Ranyi Fish. Although the Ranyi Fish is powerful as well, it is much weaker than a Fey dragon. Towards the end, the gap between Princess Xue’er and Yi Yun will only expand, and she will leave Yi Yun far behind.” A White Fox disciple said.

His words made the Luo clan disciple, who had spoken, frown. You don’t even have the qualification to partake in the battle, so how dare you say that Yi Yun was inferior to Princess White Fox?

However, despite it sounding unpleasant, the Luo clan disciple had to admit that the gap between Yi Yun and Princess White Fox was not trivial. Her starting point was just too high.

Seven years ago, the others had struggled in their battles with an Ancient Fey, including Yi Yun, who ended with an internecine outcome. As for Princess White Fox, she had killed two Ancient Fey herself, and she had even seriously injured the third one!

Now, Princess White Fox had had an epiphany of the Three God Seal, forming her Dao Domain. Her strength was formidable and it could not be compared!

“Well… Elder Duanmu, can you replay Junior Brother Yi’s battle scene?” The Luo clan disciple from before requested. Everyone was interested when they heard this. They too were curious as to how Yi Yun had slain the first Ancient Fey so quickly.

903 - : Slaying the Ranyi Fish

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s increase in strength was just too ridiculous. What had happened to his body over the past seven years for him to be able to kill the first Ancient Fey so quickly?

With everyone looking at him, Elder Duanmu stretched his hand out and waved it with a deadpan expression. Immediately, the projection returned to the moment that the battle between Yi Yun and the Ranyi Fish unfolded.

Boom! The Ranyi Fish raised its fish tail and slammed the surface of the sea. A monstrous wave immediately surged straight at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun did not bat an eyelid. He raised the sword in his hand as Yuan Qi surged around him, even the sword, which could only be considered an ordinary weapon, emitted a dazzling golden shimmer.

A glaring radiant sun appeared above Yi Yun’s sword.

“Boom!” Yi Yun charged into the wave, sword and person as one amidst burning pure Yang flames.

Wherever the sword’s blade passed, large amounts of sea water was evaporated, and during this period of time, Yi Yun had charged into the Ranyi Fish’s body with the sword in hand!

The Ranyi Fish had grasped water-elemental laws. Its body could separate like water. However, when Yi Yun slashed with his sword, the aura around the blade distorted. Large amounts of pure Yang flames spread out as the Ranyi Fish cried out in pain. Its water-elemental flesh and blood were being burnt and evaporated by the pure Yang flames!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As the pure Yang energy gathered together, a terrifying explosion happened. The Ranyi Fish’s body was torn apart from its head, splitting into two!

That was… it!?

The disciples were appalled. There were no tricks. He had burned the Ranyi Fish to a crisp with a single strike, just using pure Yang laws!

It was no wonder that Elder Duanmu had evaluated it as being swift and clean.

Yi Yun’s strength had improved so much over what it was seven years ago.

“Yi Yun’s perception is astonishing. He is able to mutate his spirit during the meditation process. Now, from the looks of it, his pure Yang laws have also been enhanced. Could it be that his spirit’s mutation has allowed his pure Yang laws to take another step forward?” A Luo clan disciple asked.

It was not strange to have some refinements to one’s laws brought about by spirit mutation, but this improvement was way too much!

“I wonder how many Ancient Fey Yi Yun will be able to slay.” Another Luo clan disciple commented.

Yi Yun’s current performance was already much better than Wufeng and the Shadow Twin’s. It could be considered as him vindicating the Luo clan.

And at that moment, a White Fox disciple said, “Wufeng and the Shadow Twins have all killed their first Ancient Fey at almost the same time.”

His voice sounded somewhat wistful. The time that Wufeng and the Shadow Twins had taken to kill the first Ancient Fey were inferior to Yi Yun’s timing. They had allowed Yi Yun to steal the limelight for nothing.

“Hmph, our clan has had four people killing the first Ancient Fey already, and all they have is Yi Yun and Jian Zhu. Besides… How is Princess Xue’er someone that they can compare with?” A White Fox disciple had a change in tone as he said proudly.

At that moment, Luo Mo and Ran Xueyi were still engaged in battle with their first Ancient Fey.

They were still relatively weaker. It would still take some time for them to kill their first Ancient Fey.

And at that moment, a White Fox disciple’s eyes lit up as he said, “Her Highness has slain the second Ancient Fey!”

Slain the second one? How long has it been!?

Everyone’s eyes immediately moved away from Yi Yun as they looked at the zoomed in projection of Princess White Fox.

In the picture scroll, Princess White Fox was floating mid-air. In front of her was another dead dragon!

She had really slain it… Everyone found it incredulous. They were still immersed in the shock of the first Ancient Fey being slain, but they never expected Princess White Fox to slay the second Ancient Fey so quickly.

Immediately, they had an odd feeling that maybe the second Ancient Fey was not much stronger than the first?

However, they looked at Jian Zhu, whose projection was beside Princess White Fox’s. At that moment, Jian Zhu still had a redoubtable aura. His every strike was as fast as lightning. Everyone saw countless sword Qi wrapped around the figure and attacks flashing at the dragon’s claws.

After every flash, large swaths of blood would burst out of the dragon’s body.

The dragon roared angrily as its attacks turned more violent.

Countless spatial rifts appeared around the dragon’s claws as black clouds loomed. The dragon’s might was formidable. The crowd could not help but hold their breaths while watching this.

These disciples began to imagine themselves facing this dragon. They would probably last less than a minute, or maybe be defeated in less than half a minute!

Jian Zhu attacked with great ferocity, but he could only attenuate the dragon by adding new wounds to it. It would probably take a period of time before he could defeat it. He was unable to reach the point of killing the first Ancient Fey with a single strike.

Only Jian Zhu’s battle was in line with the crowd’s imagination.

As for Princess White Fox, the speed at which she killed the first and second dragons seemed completely indistinguishable.

Even her gestures… even the moves were the same!

Was… that truly the second dragon?

“Her Highness is indeed awesome!” A White Fox disciple said in admiration as he leered at the Luo clan disciples.

What was the point of comparing the slaying of the first Ancient Fey? Their Princess White Fox had already slain the second one!

Bai Yueqing listened to the battle of tongues of the two factions, but he remained silent.

Slaying the first Ancient Fey was nothing much, even if it was done in one strike. By being able to slay the second Ancient Fey with the same strike, that was strength!

Princess White Fox, who had attained Dao Domain, had an immense increase in strength. She had completely integrated the laws into her moves already, and she would become stronger when facing the strong!

“The third Ancient Fey begins.” Bai Yueqing said as he flapped his fan.

Boom! Boom!

A thousand-foot long dragon descended.

The dragon claws appeared first, but while it was still mid-air, a large fissure had appeared on the ground!

Compared to the second dragon, these disciples could still maintain their composure on the surface. After all, it was just watching an array formation’s projection.

However, at the instant when the third dragon appeared, they could not help but take a step back!

The powerful dragon’s might was already projected out of the array formation!

It was difficult to imagine how terrifying it would be to face the dragon themselves.

Princess White Fox’s delicate figure stood there silently. She observed the dragon and then stretched out her slender hand.

Everyone was astonished. Why was it the same move again!?

At that moment, Jian Zhu was still engaged in battle with the second dragon. The Shadow Twins and Wufeng had each begun battling the second Ancient Fey.

It was not that no one was paying attention to their battles. While looking at Princess White Fox, the crowd would also take some time to look at their performances.

The White Fox disciples would look at the Shadow Twins and Wufeng from time to time. They were similarly looking forward to the moment when the three geniuses would be able to make up for the loss to Yi Yun.

As for the Luo clan disciples, they were eagerly looking forward to Jian Zhu killing the second Ancient Fey and for him to catch up to Princess White Fox’s progress. If not, the gap would only become bigger.

Jian Zhu’s bone sword had an alarming destructive power. The dragon’s body was already plastered with wounds!

It was bleeding so much blood that it formed a river on the ground.

Sou!

As Jian Zhu struck out again, the dragon gave an unwilling roar as it began to stagger!

“Just another two or three more strikes will kill it!” The Luo clan disciples’ eyes lit up.

Princess White Fox’s battle with the third Ancient Fey had only just begun. This would mean the gap wasn’t too great!

At that moment, Elder Duanmu suddenly said in astonishment, “How did he kill the second one so fast!?”

“Elder Duanmu, what do you mean fast… ? Also, it’s not even dead yet… ” A Luo clan disciple just spoke when he noticed that Elder Duanmu was not looking at Jian Zhu’s direction.

The Luo clan disciple traced Elder Duanmu’s gaze and he saw that in the projection, Yi Yun was floating above the surface of the sea. Beneath his feet was a gigantic Ranyi Fish’s corpse that was floating on the sea surface. The water had been dyed red.

This Ranyi Fish had been split into two from the middle. Its innards were consumed by flames, as large amounts of lifeblood had been evaporated. It looked like it was grilled completely, making it evident how terrifying the attack was! And behind Yi Yun, a three-legged Golden Crow bathed in pure Yang flames had its wings spread out as it screeched.

The scene of Yi Yun having a foot on an Ancient Fey corpse, and a Golden Crow with its wings spread behind him was reflected into the eyes of everyone, not to be forgotten in time to come.

904 - : Golden Crow Spreads its Wings

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Golden Crow Aspect Totem was dazzling as the pure Yang flames pervaded everyone’s vision. Even though it was just a projection, everyone felt as though waves of surging heat were coming at them in a suffocating manner. This was the power of laws. When pure Yang laws achieved a particular realm, it was enough to penetrate array formations, creating true oppressive feelings.

Everyone held their breaths. Yi Yun had really slain the second Ancient Fey!

He had clearly slain the first Ancient Fey later than Jian Zhu, but he had slain the second Ancient Fey faster than Jian Zhu!

They had witnessed the battle process between Jian Zhu and the dragon. It was extremely intense.

As for Yi Yun being able to slay the second Ranyi Fish in such a short amount of time, didn’t that mean that his offensive strength was much stronger than Jian Zhu’s?

This had subverted the knowledge of everyone.

“Impossible!” A White Fox disciple exclaimed subconsciously.

Just as his voice faded away, he saw Bai Yueqing glance at him. Immediately, his heart skipped a beat as he shut his mouth in a hurry.

A hint of displeasure flashed in Bai Yueqing’s eyes.

He could ignore the fact that the Luo clan disciples were surprised, but even his own clan’s disciple had joined in in making a mountain out of a molehill.

So what if Yi Yun had slain the second Ancient Fey? Princess White Fox was still leading.

However, what was going on with Yi Yun? It was normal for his strength to increase, but how did his strength increase by so much?

Bai Yueqing did not like Yi Yun, to begin with. In the past, Yi Yun was just a trivial character, someone that Bai Yueqing belittled. Hence, he did not find him to be an eyesore.

But now, Yi Yun had surpassed Jian Zhu. He was right in front of him, in hot pursuit behind Princess White Fox!

Although there was still a gap between Princess White Fox and Yi Yun, the gap was smaller than it was seven years ago. This meant that Yi Yun’s rate of improvement had exceeded Princess White Fox’s!

How could this make Bai Yueqing happy!? In his eyes, Princess White Fox was not only strong, her cultivation speed was also very fast. She was someone that no one should be able to reach.

“Haha, that child, Yi Yun, is truly not bad.” Elder Duanmu mused. Even a smile that appeared on his blank face appeared cold.

He had previously thought highly of Jian Zhu. But with Yi Yun, he was really mistaken.

Yi Yun had given him a pleasant surprise!

Elder Duanmu had not paid too much attention to Yi Yun’s previous battle. Only when Yi Yun was about to slay the second Ranyi Fish did it catch his attention.

Yi Yun’s killing of the first Ranyi Fish could only make Elder Duanmu feel slightly appreciative of him. However, by slaying the second one, Yi Yun made Elder Duanmu look upon him in a very different light!

“It’s indeed not bad. With his cultivation realm, it’s truly not easy to reach such a stage. It appears that the improvement in his laws were not trivial. Elder Duanmu, can you replay Yi Yun’s battle again?” Bai Yueqing asked.

“Yi Yun is about to begin his battle with the third Ancient Fey. Why don’t you just continue to watch him if Third Prince is so interested?” Elder Duanmu said dismissively.

“Yes, it’s also perfect to watch it along with Xue’er’s battle.” Bai Yueqing said. A cold look flashed in his eyes. How could he be interested in Yi Yun? He was only feeling unhappy and he wanted to see how strong Yi Yun had become.

No one had believed that Yi Yun was capable of killing the second Ancient Fey before Jian Zhu. Therefore, the only person who saw the battle was Elder Duanmu. Maybe Elder Shi, who did not say a word, had also seen it.

“Elder Duanmu, please project Junior Brother Yi’s battle image towards the middle.” A Luo clan disciple said.

Elder Duanmu waved his hand and the scene beside Princess White Fox on the picture scroll abruptly changed. It was the battle scene of Yi Yun. As for Jian Zhu’s projection, it was moved to the side with all three scenes displayed side-by-side.

Bai Yueqing frowned slightly. By lining three people side-by-side, he could ignore the fact that two of the three spots were taken up by the Luo clan, but Yi Yun was taking up the middle.

At that moment, the battle between Princess White Fox and the third Fey dragon was already under way.

Princess White Fox’s tapping with her finger this time did not appear as relaxed as before. Her movement was extremely slow. Although she tapped on the void gently, it was as though she was crushing down with a pressure that was no different to one that a huge mountain gave. As her finger slowly landed, everyone could feel the coagulated nomological aura through the array formation.

As for the Nine-tailed phantom image behind Princess White Fox, it was constantly swirling around as they engaged in a battle with the Fey dragon.

The ground began to crack. Even rifts began to appear in the sky as spatial storms appeared everywhere.

The third Fey dragon was able to distort the space around it just with its body’s strength.

It appeared as though it could annihilate an entire world if it indulged in its rampage.

Princess White Fox’s finger finally managed to press down fully with her finger!

Boom!

As though an invisible barrier had shattered, a bloody scar appeared on the Fey dragon’s head.

The bloody scar slowly tore open to form a thin crimson line. Immediately following that, the Fey dragon experienced a pain that made it produce an incensed roar!

Princess White Fox frowned slightly.

Her strike had failed to kill the third Fey dragon instantly!

Everyone had finally managed to understand what had happened from watching this process. Princess White Fox’s finger had changed the laws of a tiny volume of space at the gigantic dragon’s glabella.

Even though it was a tiny volume of space, it was enough to instantly kill the first and second dragons. This was the terrifying power of laws.

In a battle against humans, if the laws of a tiny volume inside the opponent were changed, the opponent could be killed even without a direct attack.

If the opponent was a warrior with poor nomological insights, they might die without even knowing how.

This was the great difference in martial arts — having nomological insight or not. It was like a gigantic ravine that separated people.

However, Princess White Fox was unable to slay the Fey dragon in a single strike. As her palms were held together, her thumbs were pointed at one another as four of her fingertips on one hand touched the corresponding fingertips on the other. Her hands formed a triangle where a fox’s eye emerged out of it.

“Eye of the Skyfox!” Bai Yueqing immediately could not compose himself!

After Princess White Fox attained her nomological Dao Domain, she was able to summon the Eye of the Skyfox!

The Eye of the Skyfox was the coagulation of the Skyfox bloodline in her body. By resonating with the dispersed Nine-tailed Skyfox aura in the Universe, she was able to summon the Eye of the Nine-tailed Skyfox. Without sufficient perception and talent, it was difficult for Princess White Fox to achieve this at her cultivation realm.

However, she had managed to summon it!

Upon seeing this eye, the Luo clan disciples felt as though the world around them had disappeared. The eye appeared to constantly expand in front of their eyes. Eventually, it filled everything they could see.

Dong! Dong! Dong! Intense palpitating heartbeats could be heard in their ears, while their blood was boiling as though they would die by exploding.

Suddenly, what seemed like a gentle breeze blew past them, jolting the disciples awake immediately.

“Don’t stare at it.” Elder Duanmu said. As he looked at the Eye of the Skyfox, he said, “That is the Nine-tailed Skyfox race’s avatar. I’ve previously seen your father use it before. It is pretty good for Princess White Fox to be able to produce a Eye of the Skyfox at her present realm.”

“Father had once summoned the Eye of the Nine-tailed Skyfox to annihilate a faction. The faction lost themselves in madness as they slaughtered one another. Xue’er still has a long way to go.” Bai Yueqing said humbly.

The disciples did not dare to stare at the Eye of the Skyfox any further. It was too strange. The White Fox disciples were unaffected by it due to the White Fox bloodline they had. Instead, they looked in Princess White Fox with arduous passion.

First, it was her nomological Dao Domain, and then, it was her Eye of the Skyfox. What Princess White Fox had achieved truly left others in the dust.

“Whew!”

A blazing white light shot out from the Eye of the Skyfox, piercing straight into the Fey dragon’s glabella!

The Fey dragon’s body quivered as its amber eyes glazed over, as though it had lost its sanity. And at that moment, Princess White Fox tapped her finger out once again. As she did so, Princess White Fox seemed like a white flower that gently floated in the wind before arriving in front of the Fey dragon.

Despite her tapping at such a close distance, the Fey dragon did not put up any resistance, even when her finger landed on its forehead.

“Peng!”

The entire Fey dragon’s head sank downwards with the position of Princess White Fox’s finger at its center. Its skull fractured as blood splattered everywhere!

The third Fey dragon was dead!

This strike had a stifling effect on others. Such an oppressive Fey dragon had its skull shatter and sink the moment it was gently touched by Princess White Fox. She looked just like a soft and light flower that floated around! The impact that such a bloody battle scene had given them was staggering. They were rendered speechless for a prolonged period of time.

905 - : Eye of the Skyfox

CKtalon  CKtalon

After witnessing Princess White Fox’s terrifying combat strength, the Luo clan disciples no longer had any demands for Jian Zhu. They did not wish for Jian Zhu to have a fast slaying speed, all they wished was for Jian Zhu to kill the third Ancient Fey.

However… wasn’t it easier said than done? The third Ancient Fey was too powerful.

And at that moment, Jian Zhu had just managed to kill the second Fey dragon. In the blink of an eye, Jian Zhu and Princess White Fox had a huge gap separating them.

“I wonder how it will be when Yi Yun faces the third Ancient Fey.” Yi Yun had slain the second Ancient Fey before Jian Zhu. His battle with the third Ancient Fey was about to begin. All the Luo clan disciples were looking forward to Yi Yun’s performance.

If Yi Yun could slay the third Ancient Fey at a passable speed, the gap would not be too great.

From Yi Yun’s previous performance, there was still some hope for him to achieve this.

The White Fox clan disciples took a dim view towards the eagerness of those disciples.

The Luo clan disciples did not know the terror of the Eye of the Skyfox.

At that moment, a few figures were ejected in succession.

Their faces were pale as they gasped for breath.

One of them was Ran Xueyi.

He had managed to slay the first Ancient Fey, and he had injured the second Ancient Fey!

Such a result was a great improvement from the one seven years ago.

Ran Xueyi did not believe that he had done too badly. Although he was injured all over, he was very satisfied with his results!

After he was ejected, he had appeared behind a few Luo clan disciples. Having just experienced a fierce battle, the extremely excited Ran Xueyi did not notice what these Luo clan disciples were doing. He said, “What a pity. I nearly killed the second Ancient Fey!”

Just as he finished saying that, Ran Xueyi noticed that the Luo clan disciples were looking upwards.

Looking up, he was taken aback. A projection?

That meant that their battling process had been seen by the crowd, including the Elders and the White Fox clan’s Third Prince?

Ran Xueyi’s face seemed to burn. The words he had just said had an exaggerated embellishment to them. He had failed to even severely injure the second Ancient Fey, let along ‘nearly killing’ it.

He had exaggerated it so as to trample on Yi Yun, but he never expected that the battle process could be seen by all!

Ran Xueyi felt like he wanted to find a hole to burrow himself into. He gaped as he racked his brains to justify himself before he suddenly stared upwards with widened eyes.

What was this?

The enlarged scene placed in the middle was not Jian Zhu or Princess White Fox’s, but… Yi Yun’s!?

The figure standing above the surface of the sea… was that Yi Yun!?

What gave him the right to be enlarged? Why was he in between Princess White Fox and Jian Zhu!?

He hurriedly began to look for the position of his battle projection. Although he had already been ejected, the images were still there.

Was he actually given such a tiny corner? Who would pay any attention to such a small picture!?

And at that moment, a Luo clan disciple that heard Ran Xueyi’s words leered at him and casually said, “That’s pretty good.”

It was fine if the disciple did not say that, but when he said that, the already embarrassed Ran Xueyi’s face flushed a deeper red. All that was left in his heart was anger.

Indeed, no one had paid attention to him at all!

Luo Mo was ejected after Ran Xueyi. He quickly noticed the projection above them. When he saw Yi Yun’s enlarged projection, he was also taken aback.

“That is… ”

“Yi Yun’s battle has begun.” A Luo clan disciple said, interrupting the about-to-speak Ran Xueyi.

“He is now beginning his second battle, right? What’s there to see?” Ran Xueyi said with a livid expression.

He did not plan to focus on Yi Yun, but with such an enlarged picture, it was just too harsh on the eyes.

He had worked so hard, cultivating for seven full years, so as to regain the position that should have belonged to him today. However, when he was ejected, he realized that he had been placed in the corner. His above average result had not been seen by anyone. As for Yi Yun’s battle scene, it was placed right in the middle.

“Second? That is now his third battle!” The Luo clan disciple said.

Third!?

Ran Xueyi did not dare to believe his own ears!

He stared at Yi Yun’s battle screen with widened eyes. At that moment, Yi Yun’s battle had already begun.

In the rough waters of the black sea, there were severe storms brewing across the surface of the sea. And in this storm, Yi Yun was holding a sword in his hand. On the surface of the sea, a large but strange fish loomed. Its eyes were extremely cold, and it was staring at Yi Yun, who was above it, while hiding in the dark waters.

Ran Xueyi’s body trembled. He had already faced the second Ancient Fey, but the aura that was exuded by the strange fish was no doubt far greater than the second Ancient Fey’s.

Furthermore, with the strange fish surfacing, Ran Xueyi realized that Yi Yun was battling the Ranyi Fish. It was his ancestor!

Killing my ancestor?

Although it was just a wisp of the Ancient Fey’s aura, it still was rather depressing for Ran Xueyi. Furthermore, what had happened to Yi Yun’s strength?

Seven years ago, Yi Yun was still inferior to him!

And now, after receiving better cultivation resources and arduous cultivation for seven years, he was inferior to Yi Yun?

Ran Xueyi had not seen Yi Yun’s battle process with his own eyes, so he found it unacceptable.

At that moment, Yi Yun moved!

Against the terrifying weather and the Ranyi Fish that hid in the sea, Yi Yun charged down with the sword in his hand!

The sword’s blade slashed the dense rain apart. A blank, white mark emerged out of the rain. With the white mark, Yi Yun thrust his sword straight at the Ranyi Fish.

Boom!

The Ranyi Fish opened its huge mouth as seawater immediately flowed into it. Following that, it spat out the seawater as a gigantic column of water burst out of the surface of the sea. It came flowing at Yi Yun while blotting out the sky.

The force of the water column was redoubtable, enough to topple a mountain.

However, Yi Yun did not have any intention to dodge such a water column.

Inferno Golden Wheel!

Golden light suddenly burst forth from Yi Yun’s body.

In between the dark seawater, a blazing inferno exploded.

The water column was slashed apart by Yi Yun!

The seawater was split into two. And at that moment, the seawater suddenly surged back.

The terrifying power made the watching disciples hold their breaths. Once the seawater halves hit each other, wouldn’t the person in the middle be instantly reduced to a meat pulp?

But at that moment, Yi Yun still did not retreat!

The sword in his hand trembled and suddenly, countless mysterious runic patterns appeared on the sword’s body.

This was one of methods of using the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. After seven years of meditation, Yi Yun was now testing the power of his sword!

“Nomological fragments?” Seeing Yi Yun’s move, Fairy Red Fox was taken aback. Did Yi Yun gain nomological insights from the unknown Fey God Stones?

With a nomological sword in hand, Yi Yun slashed at the Ranyi Fish once more!

Yi Yun’s slash was not only targeted at the Ranyi Fish’s body, but its water-elemental laws as well!

The Ranyi Fish flipped around in the water as the two tumultuous water columns surged straight at Yi Yun.

“Disintegrate!” With golden light scintillating, the sword’s blade flashed across them!

Boom!

Numerous tiny wounds appeared on the Ranyi Fish’s gigantic body from its head to tail.

It was obviously one strike, but the effects of its attack was rather odd.

If it was a warrior that was weaker than the Ranyi Fish, their bodies would be instantly diced into countless tiny meat pieces, they would die without a doubt.

The Ranyi Fish’s fish stiffened and following that, the tiny wounds began to heal!

Upon seeing this scene, the Luo clan disciples, who were staring intently at the battle projection, found it regretful.

This strike was unable to slay the Ranyi Fish.

Ran Xueyi’s mind went blank!

Yi Yun was already so strong!

Even if Yi Yun was unable to slay the third Ranyi Fish, he was still much stronger than himself.

Against Jian Zhu, or even if Luo Mo had such an improvement, he would feel only envious, but he would never doubt himself.

He stared blankly at the battle projection.

At that moment, the infuriated Ranyi Fish nearly stirred the entire sea as water columns burst straight into the sky.

These water columns were splattering water droplets everywhere. Just being in their vicinity meant injury, touching them meant death!

Yi Yun’s previous strike was very powerful!

But against the Ranyi Fish, that strike was not enough.

Princess White Fox had summoned the Eye of the Skyfox, while Yi Yun… He did not have any especially powerful Ancient Fey bloodline, nor did he have any bloodline heritage.

At that moment, Yi Yun stretched his hand out and waved it. Around him, 999 flying sabers that shimmered suddenly appeared.

Thousand Snow saber array!

Yi Yun looked at the Ranyi Fish. If one wasn’t enough to slay it, what about a hundred or a thousand?

Although they didn’t have the true power of the Thousand Snow flying sabers, with nomological augmentation, the flying sabers made by the Luo clan could still produce an explosive attack.

Cha! Cha! Cha!

As though it was snowing, snowflakes began fluttering towards the Ranyi Fish. All of the flashing brilliance contained a murderous blow. Every flying saber had a runic pattern!

This was a saber array constructed from nomological fragments.

“This array contains more than a thousand laws, so it can crack your water-elemental laws!” Yi Yun followed straight behind the saber array and he thrust his sword forward

“Die!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With the dazzling brilliance exploding, it was like there was a temporary moment of silence in the world. Immediately following that, there was a gigantic boom as the Ranyi Fish’s gigantic snake mouth burst open. Blood and seawater splattered everywhere!

The water columns that the Ranyi Fish was controlling collapsed beside Yi Yun. In the dark billowing waves, Yi Yun stood high in the air. Standing above the Ranyi Fish’s corpse, he held a sword in his hand and there was blood still dripping from its tip.

The third Ancient Fey was dead!

“Snap!” Bai Yueqing’s fan was fiercely snapped shut!

906 - : Nomological Sword

CKtalon  CKtalon

Bai Yueqing still found Yi Yun slaying the second Ancient Fey acceptable. After all, Jian Zhu, Wufeng and company had also managed to do so. But now, Yi Yun’s slaying of the third Ancient Fey was not much slower than Princess White Fox.

Yi Yun was already on a completely different level when compared to Jian Zhu!

Be it Jian Zhu, the Shadow Twins or Wufeng, they could still easily cope with the second Ancient Fey, but they would be embroiled in a tough battle when facing the third Ancient Fey. This meant that Yi Yun had transcended the second-tier like Jian Zhu, and he had truly entered a first-tier level of existence. Even if he was still inferior to Princess White Fox, he was still qualified to be her opponent.

At this point, Bai Yueqing no longer had any reason to ignore Yi Yun.

Bai Yueqing felt fidgety as he said to Elder Duanmu, “Yi Yun has realized surprised us. He will begin to fight the fourth Ancient Fey at the same time as Xue’er. But isn’t his opponent, the Ranyi Fish, a little weak?”

The joy on the Luo clan disciples’ faces sank. Bai Yueqing obviously meant that the Ranyi Fish was not as powerful as the Fey dragon and that Yi Yun was actually still much weaker than Princess White Fox.

And when Ran Xueyi heard this, he felt a stiffness in his chest. He truly wanted to vomit blood.

Yi Yun was slaying his ancestor, but now, his ancestor was prejudiced as being not strong enough.

The words that he had said in front of Yi Yun had not turned into a joke. Furthermore, Yi Yun had never even targeted him. He no longer had the qualification to compete with Yi Yun.

“Since you think the opponent is too weak, a change would do.” Elder Shi suddenly said as he waved his hand.

The crowd did not know what Elder Shi had done, but at that moment, Princess White Fox’s battle with the fourth Ancient Fey had begun .

The fourth Ancient Fey’s strength was several times stronger than the third one. And before the battle, a minute of preparation time was given to the trial-takers, but that time was just too short. It was not even enough for them to catch their breaths.

Against the fourth Fey dragon, Princess White Fox immediately summoned the Eye of the Skyfox.

Under the gaze of the Eye of the Skyfox, some of the fourth Fey dragon’s power was restrained at the moment it appeared.

Obviously, Princess White Fox was using her true strength right from the beginning so that she could end the battle fast.

The Eye of the Skyfox, the finger tap and the shattering law required her to expend a great deal of Yuan Qi in order to maintain them. As for the fourth Fey dragon, its body was extremely powerful. If it became a battle of attrition, Princess White Fox would probably be bogged down.

“Well done.” Bai Yueqing was very in favor of the battle strategy that Princess White Fox employed.

However, when he looked at Yi Yun’s battle scene, his expression had changed drastically.

Yi Yun was standing on the corpse of the Ranyi Fish when he suddenly felt a blur in front of him. Following that, he suddenly appeared above a layer of clouds.

The Ranyi Fish’s corpse had vanished.

The layer of clouds were white and speckless. The sky was azure blue and there was a lingering mist that elevated one’s spirit.

Yi Yun thought for a moment, what was going on?

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly sensed the emergence of a shadow behind him.

He immediately turned and he was surprised to see a gigantic fox staring coldly at him.

The fox was silverish-white in color and it had nine long tails. It had a lofty attitude and it was standing on the layer of clouds, it seemed to have an air that belittled trivial existences, while it nonchalantly looked at Yi Yun, who was beneath it.

The Ranyi Fish had changed into a Nine-tailed White Fox!?

As Yi Yun looked at the Nine-tailed White Fox in front of him, he was filled with questions. He did not understand why the Ranyi Fish had changed into a Nine-tailed White Fox.

In the Tian Yuan world, the Desolate race had a White Fox Sacred Spirit, but compared to the Nine-tailed White Fox in front of him, its aura could be as different as the difference between night and day.

The Desolate race’s Sacred Spirit possessed the bloodline of the Nine-tailed White Fox, but it did not managed to mature properly.

But the being in front of him was the condensation of a real Ancient Fey’s aura. It was very strong! It was much stronger than the Ranyi Fish!

“This is also good.” A glimmer of fighting spirit flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes.

Although the Ranyi Fish was good, its water-elemental laws were restrained by his pure Yang laws. He was truly in need of a more powerful opponent in order to affirm several of his theories.

…

“Elder Shi, what’s the meaning of this?” Outside the Fey Refining Rock array, Bai Yueqing looked unhappily at Elder Shi.

Was the switch of Yi Yun’s battle opponent to the Nine-tailed White Fox a result of Elder Shi’s wave of his hand?

This Nine-tailed White Fox was the ancestor totem of their White Fox clan!

“The Nine-tailed White Fox’s strength is on the same level as the Fey dragon’s. Furthermore, Yi Yun will have to face a fourth-level Nine-tailed White Fox immediately, lacking any prior combat experience. This will offset the advantage he had gained from the previous three rounds.” Elder Shi appeared as though he did not see Bai Yueqing’s ugly expression.

The Nine-tailed White Fox was also an Ancient Fey, so it was obviously selectable for battle.

Bai Yueqing’s expression was ugly. The ancestors of others could be slain, but his ancestor could not appear in the Fey Refining Rock array?

As for facing the fourth-level immediately… What Elder Shi was saying was clear. The difficulty of Yi Yun’s fourth battle is more difficult than Princess White Fox’s. This was clearly smacking Bai Yueqing in the face because of his statement from before.

“Elder Shi… ” Bai Yueqing could not help but utter.

“Why, does Third Prince have any comments about my arrangements?” Elder Shi nonchalantly glanced at Bai Yueqing.

Bai Yueqing fell silent. The Elders had no interest in the power struggle, so they did not care about his status as Third Prince. Furthermore, if he were to ascend to the throne, it would still result in him not being able to directly offend these old fogeys, who could very likely become Supremacies, even if the chances of them becoming Supremacies were minute.

The slaying of the White Fox clan’s ancestor incensed Bai Yueqing.

“Hmph, that old bastard is digging a grave for Yi Yun. If Yi Yun were to fight the Ranyi Fish, he might be able to last for a while, but the battle against the Nine-tailed White Fox has a much higher difficulty. He will only be defeated faster and embarrass himself even more!” Bai Yueqing thought to himself as he looked at Yi Yun’s figure on the picture scroll.

As a descendant of the Nine-tailed White Fox, how could he not know about its terrifying strength?

He was waiting to see how Yi Yun would die.

…

The minute of preparation time was up!

Yi Yun and the Nine-tailed White Fox’s battle begun. Half of the Nine-tailed White Fox’s body was hidden in the clouds as it revealed its gigantic head like it was a god. Its cold eyes were focused on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun brandished his sword as runic patterns shimmered on it.

Slash!

A resplendent sword beam tore through space and it instantly arrived in front of the Nine-tailed White Fox. As for the Nine-tailed White Fox, it remained motionless. All it did was stare at the sword beam that Yi Yun produced with cold eyes that lacked any color.

It was such a silent stare…

Ka-cha!

The sword beam Yi Yun produced shattered directly!

Yi Yun was alarmed as he retreated several hundred feet.

A single sword beam had been shattered by a single stare of the Nine-tailed White Fox!?

What sort of stare was it?

“It’s the Eye of the Skyfox, the Eye of the Skyfox!” Upon seeing this scene, the White Fox disciples were immediately excited.

Previously, Princess Xue’er had summoned the Eye of the Skyfox, and now, the Nine-tailed White Fox had used it.

This was a true Ancient Fey. Even though it was just a wisp of the Ancient Fey’s soul essence, the Eye of the Skyfox that it used was the true Eye of the Skyfox. It was even more powerful than the Eye of the Skyfox produced by Princess Xue’er, which relied on the power of her bloodline!

907 - : Nine-tailed White Fox

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Let this punk challenge our White Fox clan’s ancestor and let him witness the power of our White Fox clan’s Eye of the Skyfox!”

The White Fox clan elites present found it vindicating.

As the ancestor of the White Fox clan, the Nine-tailed White Fox was often consecrated and worshiped by the White Fox clan. The reverence for the Nine-tailed White Fox was deeply engraved in the hearts of every White Fox disciple.

Elder Shi’s choice of letting Yi Yun challenge the Nine-tailed White Fox obviously made the White Fox disciples feel uncomfortable.

Now, their anger was somewhat vented.

Not only was the Nine-tailed White Fox strong, but it was also proficient in laws. The way it attacked was extremely bizarre. If one did not understand what they were facing, they would only suffer!

At that moment, Yi Yun and the Nine-tailed White Fox were looking at each other in the array formation. The White Fox’s eyes were dark but bright, as though it contained the galaxies in the sky that were connected to another dimension.

When Yi Yun saw that pair of eyes, he spaced out momentarily. He felt as though the eyes were the core of darkness, a source of darkness.

But there was not a single speck of dust on the Nine-tailed White Fox’s fur that was as white as fresh snow. The black and white formed a sharp contrast.

Ocular technique?

Yi Yun was surprised. He knew that in martial arts, there were mystic techniques that allowed the cultivation of ocular techniques. These ocular techniques were commonly related to illusions and spiritual attacks.

But now, Yi Yun felt that the eyes of the Nine-tailed White Fox were definitely no ordinary illusionary technique. The scenes that were reflected in its eyes contained Great Dao laws, as though it was the birth and death of worlds.

It appeared as though fragmented laws formed during the formation failure of this Primordial Empyrean Heaven were reflected in its eyes, forever etched within them.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly sensed a darkness emanate from the Nine-tailed White Fox’s eyes. The darkness seemed to turn into an actual substance that was spreading black Chaos. It consumed the surrounding space as it began compacting towards him!

Yi Yun suddenly felt as though he had arrived in a boundless void of darkness. There was nothing in the void, but he could vaguely see a White Fox at the ends of the void. Its body had shrunk to about an inch in size, as though it was rapidly distancing itself from him.

And just as Yi Yun came up with this thought, the White Fox was already the size of rice grain, as though it was about to disappear any time.

If it disappeared, Yi Yun would be the only one remaining in this space. The White Fox would disappear into infinity.

A sealing ocular technique?

Yi Yun suddenly had such a thought. Once he was sealed, he would lose this match!

Seeing the seal about to close in on him, Yi Yun roared!

Boom!

Behind Yi Yun, the three-legged Golden Crow spread its wings as surging pure Yang flames emanated around him. The dark space was consumed by the flames!

Even if it was a sealed space with absolute darkness, Yi Yun was able to use pure Yang flames to set it on fire!

This Universe was an endless darkness of emptiness and silence originally. It was because of the existence of stars that the Universe was illuminated.

And these stars were burning with the flames of pure Yang.

Break it for me!

Yi Yun shook the sword in his hand as nomological runes gathered around it. The Thousand Snow saber array was also summoned by Yi Yun as it dispersed in all directions!

Amid the snowflakes, Yi Yun produced sword beams that penetrated the snowflakes.

Chi La!

The dark void was slashed apart by Yi Yun!

With his sword in hand and the 999 flying sabers spiraling around him, he stepped on the Golden Crow while bursting out of the void.

This was also the scene that everyone saw. They saw Yi Yun being instantly consumed by the void, and this caused the Luo clan disciples to hold their breaths. But thirty seconds later, they saw Yi Yun tear through the void and walk out.

“What a close call!”

“Yi Yun seems… to be struggling a bit!”

“This fox makes me flustered. I do not to dare look straight into its eyes.”

The Luo clan disciples present were all nervous and distraught.

Yi Yun was indomitable from the beginning, but now, he finally seemed to be caught in a quagmire. He could not slay the White Fox easily.

Furthermore, the White Fox had its body hidden in the clouds from the very beginning, having not moved at all…

The gap was slowly revealing itself. On the other side, Princess White Fox had already injured the fourth Fey dragon!

The gigantic Fey dragon had been stabbed in the back by Princess White Fox with a sword. She had nearly penetrated through the body as blood burst out of the wound!

Upon seeing this scene, Bai Yueqing revealed a satisfied smile. The final outcome would not change. It would obviously be much easier on Yi Yun if he were battling the Ranyi Fish. He might have been able to severely injure the fourth Ranyi Fish, but now, against the Nine-tailed White Fox that had strange offensive tactics, Yi Yun was unable to make use of his strength.

This was the repression that came from laws.

The Nine-tailed White Fox was one of the Ancient Fey that was closest to the Heavenly Dao. Even the laws known by a wisp of soul essence far exceeded Yi Yun’s.

When he thought about this, Bai Yueqing gave a cursory glance at Elder Shi. The old man’s act of rashly switching to the Nine-tailed White Fox was equivalent to moving a stone to smash his own foot.

At that moment, the Nine-tailed White Fox moved. Its massive body slowly revealed itself as its nine tails fluttered, as though they were burning white flames.

Its eyes were staring at Yi Yun. With the Nine-tailed White Fox’s eyes as the center, different circular rings of different colors burst out.

After these circular rings spread out to a distance of several thousand feet, they disappeared into the void. However, they did not truly disappear, but instead, they began to seal the space.

Domain!?

The Luo clan disciples present gasped. They were talents meticulously nurtured by the various Luo clan states or factions, so they were obviously well-read.

They could tell that after these circular rings merged with space, they had formed a sealing domain. However, with so many circular rings, and with all of them being different colors, was each of these circular rings a different domain in itself?

As though she guessed the thoughts of the Luo clan disciples, a female White Fox disciple spoke.

“That is the Nine-tailed Domain. The Nine-tailed White Fox has nine domains! The domain you are seeing is the amalgamation of nine domains. By fusing these domains, it will cause the internal structure of the domain to be like a complete world. It is nearly indestructible. Just the domain itself can kill whatever is trapped inside. Now that the domain has closed, Yi Yun, who lacks the knowledge of the mysteries behind the Nine-tailed Domain, will not be able to escape.” The female White Fox disciple said proudly. Yi Yun was suffering because he did not understand the Nine-tailed White Fox’s offensive means. If not, he should have rushed out prior to the domain’s closure.

It was already too late.

The outcome was fixed once he was sealed in the indestructible Nine-tailed Domain!

At that moment, in the Nine-tailed Domain, Yi Yun’s expression sank slightly. He sensed that the surrounding laws of this space had changed. The Nine-tailed White Fox appeared to be a god and overlord of this space, in charge of life and death.

Yi Yun obviously knew about matters regarding domains. With a thought, the Thousand Snow saber array flew out!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

The saber beams danced around like flying snow. However, when the Thousand Snow flying sabers reached a range of one thousand feet, they appeared to have struck an invisible wall.

With the sounds of ‘ding ding ding ding’, all the flying sabers bounced back!

908 - : Nine-tailed Domain

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh? The Nine-tailed White Fox’s domain boundary is that powerful!?”

Yi Yun looked at his surroundings. The space that he was in appeared to be sealed off by invisible barriers, but the barriers did not truly exist. They were formed from laws, and it was the change in the laws of nature of this space that had blocked his Thousand Snow flying sabers.

But not only that, the domain contained an invisible pressure!

The pressure was not only a pressure that targeted his body and energy, it was also a pressure that targeted the soul!

The domain was lorded over by the Nine-tailed White Fox, and this repressive feeling came right from the soul…

Yi Yun saw death and hell. He saw the Black-armored Demon God in the Tian Yuan world!

The Black-armored Demon God had long been subdued by Yi Yun, but now, he had appeared in Yi Yun’s mental world once again.

The Black-armored Demon God brandished his lance and wherever he passed, massacres would occur with massive losses of life!

“This is… an illusion? Scenes that I fear in my heart?”

Yi Yun came to this realization. Illusion attacks typically attacked one’s mental demons. Back when the Black-armored Demon God was wreaking havoc, there was a period of time that Yi Yun was powerless against him, so the Black-armored Demon God was really a mental demon of his.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

The Black-armored Demon God roared with a resounding bellow. Yi Yun could see the wanton flashes of blood shuttling through his body, as though they were ripping him to pieces.

…

It was not only limited to Yi Yun. Even the young elites outside the Fey Refining Rock array immediately felt illusions appearing around them as they watched the Nine-tailed White Fox and the Nine-tailed domain it formed.

Battle! Blood! Murder! Wraiths! Mental demons!

All sorts of illusions surged at them like a flood, as though it would wipe their sanity away.

Unknowingly, cold sweat began oozing out of the foreheads of many people. The illusions had an effect on their minds. Whatever happened in the illusions were the things that they feared the most. They seemed like dreams, but they also seemed real, preventing them from escaping from their deepest fears.

The powerfulness of illusions was the impact that it gave you despite you knowing that it was fake.

Not only were the Luo clan disciples affected, even the White Fox disciples, who were feeling proud because of the Nine-tailed White Fox, were in a similar situation. Although they kept saying the words ‘Eye of the Skyfox’ or ‘Nine-tailed Domain’, those were abilities that people who had truly awoken the White Fox bloodline had. Ordinary White Fox disciples could only brag about it with their mouths to find a sense of pride, but in fact, it had nothing to do with them.

At that moment, Elder Shi coldly harrumphed.

It as though a large gong had reverberated in the ears of everyone. The disciples who were lacking in strength awoken. They were gasping for breaths as though they had experienced a huge battle.

Many people began feeling a belated fear. They could tell that it was an illusion in the beginning, but unknowingly, they fell deeper into the illusions.

The Luo clan disciples noticed that the White Fox disciples were not one bit stronger than they were.

A Luo clan disciple could not help but quip, “That bunch of foxes were still bragging a while ago, and now, aren’t they just like us!?”

The competition between the two sides was so intense to the point of all decorum being lost. That Luo clan disciple did not use a Yuan Qi transmission and he had said it out loud instead. Although it was not said in a very loud voice, the White Fox disciples heard him clearly.

Immediately, the expressions on the White Fox disciples’ faces turned extremely ugly.

As disciples of the White Fox clan, their performance in front of their ancestor’s illusion was equally as bad as the Luo clan disciples. It was very shameful!

A White Fox disciple could not help but retort, “Hmph! My art is not intricate enough and I have a weak bloodline. So what if I’m affected by the illusions? This shows how powerful the talent of our White Fox clan’s blood lineage is! The true Nine-tailed White Fox is not something that any of you can imagine! Just from the projection of the array formation can result in such repercussions as a result of the illusions. If you were truly in the Nine-tailed Domain, you would have suffered a mental collapse!”

The Luo clan disciples immediately turned worried when they heard the White Fox disciple’s words.

Yes, just the projection itself was horrifying, then how bad would it be inside the Nine-tailed Domain? Wouldn’t the intensity of the illusions that Yi Yun faced be a hundred times higher than theirs? It would really result in a mental collapse!

The Luo clan disciples present turned their heads to the Fey Refining Rock array’s projection and they saw Yi Yun silently standing in the Nine-tailed Domain. His entire being looked he had been cast in stone making him motionless. And around Yi Yun, there was a gray mist that lingered in the Nine-tailed Domain. The mist was constantly in motion, at times forming a ghostly image that enveloped Yi Yun.

“What’s that gray mist? Is Junior Brother Yi fine? Why is he motionless? He hasn’t been defeated, has he!?”

“Don’t say such disheartening words. Maybe Junior Brother Yi is battling the fox in his mental world. The outcome is still unknown.”

No one undermined themselves while uplifting others, but when the Luo clan disciples said such things, the White Fox disciples sneered.

“The outcome is still unknown? Our ancestor, the Nine-tailed White Fox, is the father of the laws of illusion. How can it lose to a human in battle while in a mental world?”

A female White Fox disciple said with a proud tone, but just as her voice faded away —

“Whew!”

A black beam of light shot out of Yi Yun’s glabella, penetrating the void!

It was a black-colored sword of light!

The sword was black in color, but it was blinding, like it was tearing straight through the souls of the crowd.

Be it the Luo clan disciples or the White Fox disciples, they felt as though a sword was being held against their glabellus. It made their hairs stand.

Sword of the Will!?

This thought streaked past the minds of everyone present. For a sword of light to shoot out of one’s glabella, it was very likely to be a Sword of Will.

A sword that slayed all monsters and demons, dispersing the gray mist in a single sweep, vanquishing them into nothingness!

The Nine-tailed White Fox’s massive body quivered because of this sword as it retreated.

A single Sword of Will had broken the illusions of confusion in the Nine-tailed Domain and it had even made the Nine-tailed White Fox retreat?

People held their breaths. All of them knew that Yi Yun had been in meditation for seven long years, eventually culminating in a mutation of his spirit. Having awoken his Sword of Will, it now appeared that the black light was the usage of the Sword of Will.

They had lost themselves in the illusion attack just by watching a projection. Yet, Yi Yun, who was in the domain itself, was able to tear it apart with a single strike. The gap between his strength and theirs was huge.

When the White Fox disciples present saw this situation, the words they were planning to say were drowned in their bellies.

They stared at the Fey Refining Rock array with astounded looks on their faces.

The Nine-tailed White Fox’s illusion attack was broken just like that?

They knew that Yi Yun had experienced a spirit mutation, but after the Nine-tailed White Fox conjured its domain, even the White Fox disciples were left speechless at the powerfulness of the domain. As a result, everyone had forgotten about Yi Yun’s spirit mutation.

Moreover, even if they recalled it, they would never expect that Yi Yun’s Sword of Will would be so resilient for him to tear apart the mental illusions!

909 - : Illusions Abound

CKtalon  CKtalon

“That punk… was just lucky. Mental battles must be his forte, so it makes it easier for his Sword of Will to shatter the illusion!”

The White Fox disciples were feeling depressed. The greatest advantage that the Nine-tailed White Fox held happened to be countered by Yi Yun.

“No problem. The Nine-tailed White Fox is more than just that. Even if he had broken through the mist of illusions, he still will not be able to break the Nine-tailed Domain! And the Nine-tailed White Fox is invincible inside the Nine-tailed Domain!”

Being the amalgamation of nine domains, the Nine-tailed Domain was the highest manifestation of the Nine-tailed White Fox’s mastered laws. If Yi Yun had known about the combat techniques that the Nine-tailed White Fox employed ahead of time, he could have avoided them in advance, but now, Yi Yun was already sealed in the domain.

In the Nine-tailed Domain, Yi Yun looked at the Nine-tailed White Fox with a strange feeling. He felt as though the White Fox was the world itself.

“Is this the effect of a domain… ?”

With a thought from Yi Yun, his Golden Crow Aspect Totem emerged behind him. The phantom image of the Tang Valley with Fusang emerged as well!

Yi Yun shook the sword in his hand and slashed it at the Nine-tailed White Fox!

“Cha!”

The sword beam tore through the void, hitting the Nine-tailed White Fox straight in its head. However, just at the moment that the sword beam hit the Nine-tailed White Fox’s head, a very strange phenomenon seemed to happen. Like water ripples, the Nine-tailed White Fox’s body split apart, making way for the sword beam!

It was like Yi Yun was slashing a phantom image! This was completely different from how the Ranyi Fish used water-elemental laws to dodge attacks. The Ranyi Fish was injured in the process at least, but the Nine-tailed White Fox escaped completely unscathed. Yi Yun’s blade had missed it!

“An illusion?” The Luo clan disciples stared at the projection. Even the Nine-tailed White Fox’s body itself can become an illusion itself?

But just as they had this thought.

“Cha!”

A fox claw that was as sharp as a blade swiped at Yi Yun. It brought a breathtaking sharpness with it, as it slashed at Yi Yun’s side!

Yi Yun dodged the claw, but the enchanted clothes he wore were ripped apart by the winds that the claw stirred!

“It’s not an illusion!”

It was not an illusion when it was attacked, but it would become an illusion when it defended?

Wouldn’t this make it practically unbeatable?

Many people had such thoughts because they did not understand the Nine-tailed White Fox’s combat methods.

However, Yi Yun’s mind remained clear in the Nine-tailed Domain. The inkling that he had from before was not wrong. The Nine-tailed White Fox had actually integrated itself with the domain. The Nine-tailed Domain was the Nine-tailed White Fox, and the Nine-tailed White Fox was the domain as well!

The Nine-tailed White Fox had manifested itself as a world. If this domain was not shattered, there was no way to defeat the Nine-tailed White Fox!

…

“Senior Brother, you seem to have overdone it.” In front of Yi Yun’s battle projection, Elder Duanmu transmitted his voice to Elder Shi.

If Yi Yun was battling the Ranyi Fish, he might have severely injured it already.

However, Yi Yun was lacking in experience when it came to battling the Nine-tailed White Fox, which had all sorts of bizarre combat techniques. It was very disadvantageous for Yi Yun.

Elder Shi faltered slightly and then said, “It’s not true that this domain doesn’t have a weakness, but it will be very difficult for Yi Yun to find the weakness. However, that’s fine as well. By letting him know what sort of bizarre and multifaceted battle moves exist in the martial world, it is worth the tiny loss against the young lass from the White Fox clan.”

During Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi’s conversation, Princess White Fox had seriously injured the fourth Fey dragon already!

It was the fourth Ancient Fey, yet it did not seem to put a stop to Princess White Fox’s advancement.

As for Yi Yun, he was in a stalemate.

As for people like Jian Zhu, the Shadow Twins, and Wufeng, they had already been expelled because of defeat. Only Jian Zhu and the older one of the Shadow Twins, Nongying, had barely managed to kill the third Ancient Fey. They were no match for the fourth Ancient Fey when they faced it.

As for Nongyue and Wufeng, they had only managed to severely injure the third Ancient Fey, but they ended up being defeated before falling short of killing the third Ancient Fey.

At the moment they were expelled by the Fey Refining Rock, they saw the two large projections of the Fey Refining Rock array.

“Princess Xue’er, and the other one is… Yi Yun!?”

“Yi Yun is battling the Nine-tailed White Fox!? Furthermore, it has already conjured its Nine-tailed Domain!?”

Nongying and Nongyue came to a realization as to what had happened in the other battles. As descendants of the White Fox, the gigantic Nine-tailed White Fox astounded them!

They did not need to ask which Ancient Fey that Yi Yun had reached because they knew just from the aura of the Nine-tailed White Fox and the feeling that the Nine-tailed Domain gave them that the Nine-tailed White Fox that they were seeing was much stronger than the third Ancient Fey that they had been fighting!

“Could it be that Yi Yun is fighting the fourth Ancient Fey!?”

The twins found it unbelievable!

“That’s right! The fourth one!” Bai Yueqing said as he gripped the fan in his hand tightly!

Even though Yi Yun was now at an impasse, Bai Yueqing was still unable to understand why Yi Yun had become so strong.

“Cha!”

In the Nine-tailed Domain, another claw swiped at Yi Yun. Three bloody marks smeared through the Nine-tailed Domain where the claw’s tips were. The consequences were obvious if the bloody marks landed on Yi Yun’s body!

Yi Yun dodged them in the nick of time. At that moment, Yi Yun remained extremely calm while he faced the Nine-tailed White Fox.

The Nine-tailed Domain was something that he had never been exposed to. The superposition of nine domains gave Yi Yun an experience that he had never felt before in combat.

This was a challenge, but wasn’t it also an opportunity for him to train himself?

Yi Yun had mediated over the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence through the Purple Crystal Fey God Stone. Although he had gained insights into it over a period of seven years, the gap between his and the long-haired man’s realm was still like the difference of night and day.

Furthermore, to go from insights to actual combat skill required a process.

Yi Yun wanted to use this actual combat to complete a perfect fusion between the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s laws and his actual combat skills.

Cha!

The fox claw swiped at Yi Yun, but this time, not only did Yi Yun dodge, he had even slashed out as a response!

Yi Yun’s blade shimmered with purple runes. The purple runes were the runic patterns that came from the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

With Yi Yun’s present realm, summoning the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence in its entirety was too difficult. It would nearly consume all of his strength, resulting in him not being able to continue fighting.

That was to say that if Yi Yun were to summon the complete 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence and kill the fourth Ancient Fey, that would be as far as he could go for this Fey Refining Rock array. That was not the outcome Yi Yun wanted.

And if he distilled the complete 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence into nomological runes and augmented his weapons with them, it would save a lot of energy!

Saber beams appeared as 999 flying sabers shot out from Yi Yun’s surroundings. Each flying saber was inscribed with a rune.

The flying sabers flew freely as they arrived at the boundaries of the domain!

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

As metal struck the nomological barrier, it issued a jarring sound.

As for Yi Yun’s sword, it was devoted to battling the fox claws!

Every flying saber slammed into the domain’s barriers and were repelled, as though it was in vain.

But in fact, Yi Yun was choosing a different point of attack every single time!

To Yi Yun, every strike of the saber array was a clash of laws. The feeling was completely different.

In the battle, he began deducing the way to crack the Nine-tailed Domain through the collision of laws.

At the same time, this was a form of training for Yi Yun’s use of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

As he attempted to crack the domain, he was enhancing his comprehension of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. Yi Yun believed that no matter how powerful the Nine-tailed White Fox was, it was greatly inferior to the long-haired man hidden in the Purple Crystal’s phantasm.

The Nine-tailed Domain’s laws were inferior to the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence after all!

Saber beams flew in all directions like flying snowflakes. As for Yi Yun, he was in a dangerous situation as the fox claws attacked him. It was like he would be defeated at any moment!

“Junior Brother Yi is embroiled in a bitter battle!” The Luo clan disciples were extremely nervous.

As for the White Fox disciples, it appeared as though victory was at hand. “Yi Yun is still flinging his flying sabers around at that moment. Does he think he can crack the Nine-tailed Domain? What naivety!” A White Fox disciple said when suddenly a loud cheer erupted from the White Fox disciples.

“Princess Xue’er! Princess Xue’er has killed the fourth Ancient Fey!”

The Luo clan disciples were stunned as they turned their heads quickly. There, they saw a long dragon’s corpse floating above a deep blue sea. Its body was covered in wounds!

As for Princess White Fox, she floated mid-air, while crimson dragon’s blood slowly flowed down her sword tip.

“Pa Da! Pa Da!”

The heavy dragon’s blood fell into the sea.

The scene of clothes as white as snow, while blood dyed the sea was fixed in the irises of many disciples as they felt their entire beings going into shock.

Momentarily, the Luo clan disciples were silent in front of the Fey Refining Rock projection.

Princess White Fox was too powerful!

Invincibility was a form of loneliness. Amongst the younger generation participating in the Luo Divine Hall trials, Princess White Fox was probably an invincible existence. Thankfully, the Luo clan still had Luo Huo’er to match her.

910 - : Fusing with the Heaven and Earth

CKtalon  CKtalon

After slaying the fourth Ancient Fey, there was a two minute rest period before the battle against the fifth Ancient Fey began. Although it was a short period of time, it was sufficient for Princess White Fox, who had a tremendously powerful bloodline, to recover a substantial amount of Yuan Qi.

Princess White Fox was about to challenge the fifth Ancient Fey!

In this regard, the White Fox disciples were excited! But at that moment, even they were not optimistic that Princess White Fox would be able to slay the fifth Ancient Fey.

She did not have an easy time killing the fourth Ancient Fey.

And since the fifth Ancient Fey was stronger than the fourth, for her to defeat the fifth one? Difficult!

Time passed as Princess White Fox began to meditate and regulate her breathing. And outside the array formation, the Luo clan disciples were watching the battle between Yi Yun and the Nine-tailed White Fox nervously.

In the Nine-tailed Domain, Yi Yun had no way to attack the Nine-tailed White Fox’s body itself. He could only passively defend, while seemingly attack the Nine-tailed Domain’s boundaries in vain.

The Thousand Snow flying sabers would launch a thousand attacks in a few seconds, but every single attack would be repelled by the domain boundaries.

“He still can’t crack it!”

“Junior Brother Yi’s Yuan Qi is dropping drastically!”

The battle projection of the Fey Refining Rock array gave everyone the feeling that they were there in person. It reflected the moves, the Ancient Fey’s aura and suppression, as well as the challenger’s Yuan Qi intensity.

Everyone could clearly sense that Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was only about 80% of his full capacity.

Once his Yuan Qi intensity went below its optimal state, then be it attack or defense, it would be more taxing on him. As such, his Yuan Qi would deplete even faster, resulting in a vicious cycle. If this went on, defeat was a matter of time.

At that moment…

“Peng!”

The crisp sound of metal shattering was heard as one of Yi Yun’s flying sabers exploded in the Nine-tailed Domain!

“His saber shattered?”

The Luo clan disciples stared at the projection. Although they did not understand the Thousand Snow flying sabers, they knew that Yi Yun was using a form of saber array. The number of flying sabers that formed the array were fixed. With one fewer saber, the saber array would no longer be perfect, resulting in a decrease of its strength!

In the Fey Refining Rock array, all the weapons were standard and lacking in quality. If a warrior injected Yuan Qi into them, it was possible to make it indestructible.

However, if insufficient Yuan Qi was injected while having to sustain high levels of impact, it was normal for the weapon to shatter!

Yi Yun was controlling 999 flying sabers, and with his Yuan Qi being divided into so many portions, in addition to his drop in stamina, this resulted in one flying saber exploding!

Just as people were having such thoughts, the sound of another flying saber shattering into two was heard!

Every flying saber that shattering resulted in Yi Yun’s offensive weakening.

“That punk finally can’t handle it. He really gave me a fright.” Bai Yueqing thought to himself before exhaling.

He was truly afraid that Yi Yun would be able to defeat the Nine-tailed White Fox. That would result in him catching up with Princess White Fox. After all, it was not certain that Princess Xue’er was able to slay the fifth Ancient Fey. When the time came, even if Princess White Fox’s battle outcome against the fifth Ancient Fey was much better than Yi Yun’s, it would look not much different if she failed to slay it.

Upon thinking about this, Bai Yueqing relaxed. He casually flapped his fan and said, “Yi Yun is not bad either. Unfortunately, he’s challenging the Nine-tailed White Fox. As the totem of our White Fox clan, even a wisp of its soul essence has strength beyond his imagination. How would he be able to deal with it?”

Bai Yueqing’s words made the Luo clan disciples frown, but they did not retort. After all, Yi Yun’s flying sabers were constantly being shattered in the domain. In the short time span, more than ten had shattered.

The Luo clan disciples’ hearts sank. As they looked at Princess White Fox again, two minutes was enough for her to restore a sizable amount of her Yuan Qi. She was about to begin challenging the fifth Fey dragon!

The gap was widening!

But even so, Yi Yun could be proud of himself. With his background and age, it was truly a miracle that he achieved so much up to this point.

In the Nine-tailed Domain, Yi Yun’s forehead was dripping with sweat as he panted. By using the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s laws in actual combat, what limited his strength the most was his weak cultivation level.

Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was insufficient to support the use of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. Even if he were using the nomological fragments, his energy was quickly depleting!

“I need to maintain 70% of my stamina to reach the fifth stage at least. Only then will I have the slightest chance of winning. For now, I can only use 10% of my energy to crack this Nine-tailed Domain!”

Yi Yun powered the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ to its maximum. The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was an offensive technique after all. What truly affected a warrior’s cultivation level and Yuan Qi reserves was one’s cultivation technique.

Once upon a time, the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ was the top-level cultivation technique that Yi Yun possessed. It was a great boost for Yi Yun, but now, with the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ was insufficient. This resulted in the Yuan Qi reserves being Yi Yun’s weakness.

“More than twenty flying sabers have shattered. That punk is truly at his limits.” Elder Duanmu said with a sigh.

Despite already knowing Yi Yun’s performance was stunning, he subconsciously hoped that Yi Yun would create a greater miracle.

“There are many shattered, but don’t you find it odd? The punk seems to be deliberately conserving strength at this point in time?” At that moment, Elder Shi suddenly spoke.

Elder Duanmu was stunned as he looked at the projection. He realized that Yi Yun did not seem to be going all out as well. It was as though he had reservations…

“What is that punk doing? Doesn’t he know the urgency of the situation? Why isn’t he not using all of his strength? Even if he doesn’t crack the Nine-tailed Domain, by freely attacking, it would allow his results to look better.”

Elder Duanmu was left perplexed. Rewards were awarded through the clearance of the Fey Refining Rock array. The better the results were, the better the rewards were.

“Yi Yun is persisting in a difficult situation indeed. He has used every means possible, but I noticed that the flying sabers that shattered seem interesting. The twenty or so flying sabers that shattered seem to give me a special feeling when linked together… ”

“Oh?” Elder Duanmu pricked his eyebrows. “Senior Brother, what do you mean? Are you telling me that Yi Yun has found a way to crack the domain?”

Elder Shi dismissed it, “Unlikely. If it were me, even if I had the Heaven Ascension cultivation level, I would have a hundred means of cracking the Nine-tailed Domain. However, Yi Yun is not using any one of the hundred. I do not think he can find a method that exceeds my methods.”

“But since he hasn’t found a solution, Yi Yun is still attempting it. However, his attempts make me find it rather special. As to saying that there’s something profound about it, it’s unlikely!”

Elder Shi shook his head. He had lived for hundreds of thousands of years. His cultivation level was formidable and he was well-read. He could understand the profoundness of the laws and the moves of a junior, even if it was the first time he saw them.

He could not comprehend the profoundness in Yi Yun’s moves, which only meant that it probably lacked any.

Just as Elder Shi said this, a series of ‘Peng Peng Peng Peng Peng Peng’ noises was heard. Dozens of flying sabers shattered at that instant.

Adding the ones from before, a total of hundred flying sabers had been shattered!

No one noticed that after every flying saber shattered, the nomological fragments injected into the flying sabers had transformed into golden runes that affixed themselves to the Nine-tailed Domain’s boundary.

A hundred flying sabers had left behind a hundred golden runes.

When the runes were linked together, they seemed to form a giant wheel.

And at that moment, Yi Yun’s body suddenly flashed as he arrived at the center of this wheel!

He faced the spatial boundary with his back facing the Nine-tailed White Fox!

As he had flown to this point while disregarding everything, he was unable to block the Nine-tailed White Fox’s attack in time. A fox claw followed swiftly behind Yi Yun. Yi Yun was about to be torn to shreds!

“Junior Brother Yi!”

People screamed. It was like Yi Yun did not know that the Nine-tailed White Fox was attacking him!

Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi stirred as they circulated their Yuan Qi. They planned on saving Yi Yun in the nick of time.

But at that moment, Yi Yun ignored the Nine-tailed White Fox. With his sword in hand, he stabbed the core of the wheel!

Break!

Boom!

The hundred runes exploded simultaneously! The entire spatial boundary of the Nine-tailed Domain began to crack like an eggshell through this intense blast.

As for the Nine-tailed White Fox, which was located in the middle of the Nine-tailed Domain, it had already merged with the domain. It was the domain, and the domain was it.

At the instant that the domain shattered, the Nine-tailed White Fox’s body shattered as well. It let out a horrifying scream as its body was torn apart, spraying blood everywhere!

The fatal claw was reduced to dust just as it was about to strike Yi Yun’s back.

With the sword in his hand, Yi Yun’s back faced the collapsing Nine-tailed White Fox. His body was soaked in the rain of fox blood. It was a bloody patch!

This sudden change in the scene exceeded everyone’s expectations!

Yi Yun was just about to fail, and he had even been hit by the fox’s claw, but in an instant, everything was reversed. Yi Yun’s sword had cracked the Nine-tailed Domain and the Nine-tailed White Fox was killed as a result!?

Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi stared at Yi Yun with an inexplicable look on their usually indifferent and cold faces, let alone the complete daze the Luo clan and White Fox disciples were in.

What the hell happened?

911 - : Fox Blood Stained Clothes

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The Nine-tailed Domain has been cracked by Yi Yun!?”

Seeing the White Fox blood that rained down from the sky, the White Fox disciples gasped. The Nine-tailed White Fox was their species’ totem. They would occasionally see the Nine-tailed White Fox’s phantom image only during their White Fox clan worshiping rituals. To the White Fox clan, the Nine-tailed White Fox was a paramount existence. Now, it had been slain by Yi Yun!

Furthermore, it was the Nine-tailed White Fox that had conjured its Nine-tailed Domain, becoming one with it.

Yi Yun had cracked the domain and he had slain the White Fox. At that moment, Yi Yun had more than 800 flying sabers flying around him, with a great deal of flying saber fragments as well. His entire body was dyed red by the fox’s blood, while he gripped his sword tightly in his hand. The sticky blood dripped down his cut face. His brows resembled sharp swords, and his eyes were bright like the morning star.

He was a warrior that came from the lower realm, and he was younger than most people present. Yet, with his cultivation level at the early stages of the Heaven Ascension realm, he was catching up to Princess Xue’er, who the White Fox clan had nurtured with full dedication. Even though he had yet to match her, he was already at the pinnacle of what a genius was!

Every matter had its pinnacle, and the moment’s pinnacle was undoubtedly Yi Yun’s.

He was, in his heyday, a young hero. With a three-foot sword, he slew everything!

The White Fox disciples present did not even speak. Bai Yueqing gripped his fan, as though he wished to shatter the fan.

As for the Luo clan disciples, they were extremely excited. After all, Yi Yun and them were considered to be clansmen. When they were against something foreign, the Luo clan would still be rather united.

“Junior Brother Yi is too powerful!”

“That’s right. After the Luo Divine Hall trials end, Junior Brother Yi’s reputation will definitely spread throughout the royal capital. When the time comes, his fame might be matchless. Probably many large factions will throw olive branches at Junior Brother Yi, and some powerful family clans might even want to betroth their daughters to Junior Brother Yi!”

As the Luo clan disciples spoke of this, many of them were feeling envious. Such a life was truly something to yearn for!

“Senior Brother, what was that about… ?”

Elder Duanmu looked at the speechless Elder Shi, who was still staring blankly at Yi Yun’s projection screen.

He had just arrogantly commented on Yi Yun’s battle on account of his seniority. He was certain that Yi Yun would not find a way to crack the domain, but in a blink of an eye, the Nine-tailed Domain had been shattered.

Elder Shi was at a loss for words. He found it fortuitous that he had made the judgment through a voice transmission with Elder Duanmu, and he had not said so publicly. If not, his old face would probably not be able to withstand such a blow.

“I don’t know as well. That punk has truly exceeded my expectations.” The corner of Elder Shi’s lips twitched as the wrinkles on his face heaved. He believed that he was well-read, but he truly could not understand what had happened. This was the first time that it had happened in his long tenure as guardian of the Luo Divine Hall.

“It’s truly odd. I’ve seen so many geniuses, Luo clan geniuses, who have gone further in the Fey Refining Rock array than Princess White Fox and they were also younger than Yi Yun. I have even guided a few of them, but for me to be completely wrong, to the point of not even understanding what had happened, it’s truly a first.” Elder Shi murmured.

Elder Duanmu said, “Indeed, it’s true that there were others who were more talented than Yi Yun in the Luo clan’s history. But when it comes to the person with the fastest improvement, Yi Yun is probably ranked first. Senior Brother, for Yi Yun to come this far, could it be that he had truly gained insights from that mysterious Fey God Stone?”

“About that… ” Elder Shi felt as though his heart nearly skipped a beat.

That’s impossible!

While the two Elders were engaged in a voice transmission conversation, the White Fox clan and Luo clan disciples had similar thoughts.

What did Yi Yun comprehend over the past seven years? From the looks of it, it was definitely not as simple as the awakening of his Sword of Will!

But thankfully, Yi Yun’s absurdity had its limits.

Yi Yun may have slain the fourth Ancient Fey in battle, but his Yuan Qi had dropped significantly. It was already less than 70%.

With his Yuan Qi decreasing so drastically, he clearly lacked the strength to battle the fifth Ancient Fey any further.

“During his battle with the fourth Ancient Fey, Yi Yun had pulled out all the stops. Even if he still had 100% of his stamina, it would be difficult for him to beat the fifth Ancient Fey, not to mention that he has less than 70% of his stamina left now.”

“That’s right, even a tiny drop in stamina would result in his attacks being less sharp than before. For Yi Yun’s stamina to drop below 70%, it means that he fought too desperately. Now, against the fifth Ancient Fey, Yi Yun’s offensive and defensive power would only be 70% of the amount that he had while he was battling the fourth Ancient Fey. As for the fifth Ancient Fey, its strength is several times stronger than the fourth Ancient Fey. As a result of this, he will probably last for a brief moment before being defeated.”

As people began having such thoughts, they saw the Nine-tailed White Fox’s corpse disappear. Even the fox blood that had dyed Yi Yun’s body had disappeared as well.

Yi Yun had two minutes to meditate and regulate his breathing, but the amount that he could recover in two minutes was completely trivial when it came to fighting the fifth Ancient Fey.

Just as people came to this realization, a Luo clan disciple suddenly shouted, “Look at Princess White Fox!”

Oh!?

Everyone looked over towards the projection on the side. The scene had zoomed out. The dark blue sky had already turned into a bluish-purple sea of… lightning!

Princess White Fox stepped through the void as her silver hair flared upwards, like she was a goddess descending onto the world.

As though she was fated to rule over heavenly armies, she pointed her sword towards the sky. Thousands of divine lightning bolts were invoked by Princess White Fox’s sword!

Countless lightning bolts gathered around her until they took up a substantial form. A sword that seemed to make up of thousands of lightning bolts cleaved down on the Fey dragon!

Some of the power surged out of the Fey Refining Rock array’s projection. It was nearly suffocating to the elites present. It was too terrifying!

They knew that Princess Xue’er had a Body of Lightning Spirit. She was extremely well-versed in lightning laws. But before this, Princess Xue’er did not use much of her lightning laws.

That also meant that Princess White Fox was conserving her strength from the very beginning. Even against the fourth Fey dragon, Princess White Fox did not use her full strength. Instead, she used a battle strategy that conserved the most amount of Yuan Qi, in preparation for the fifth battle!

Right from the beginning, Princess White Fox had already treated the fifth battle as a goal! Now, she was expending all her Yuan Qi without any reservations so she could use all of her strength!

In that case, Princess White Fox… might even be able to defeat the fifth Ancient Fey!

Upon realizing this, the White Fox disciples turned excited.

Defeat the fifth Ancient Fey? It was exciting just thinking about it!

“Princess, you’re invincible!” A White Fox clan youth, who worshiped Princess Xue’er, could not help but shout. His eyes were filled with an agitated glimmer!

In the mortal world, there were actors that were idolized by others or worshiped to the point of madness, so what was the warrior’s world like? Martial arts was not acting, but it is the fundamental foundation of a warrior’s world. Who was she? A perfect proud daughter of heaven, a princess who had excellent talent. She was outstanding in every way. There was probably members of the White Fox clan who were willing to die for her.

The battle was more intense than ever! In Princess White Fox’s exhilarating battle with the Fey dragon, she could go about it without worries. There was no need for her to conserve her stamina as well. She could go all out.

For such a fantastic and interesting battle, even the Luo clan disciples could not help but shower praises on her. Furthermore, they were infected by Princess White Fox’s lofty and mighty appearance. They could not help but cheer for her!

This was the pinnacle of one’s life. If it was said that every matter had its pinnacle, now was the pinnacle that belonged to Princess White Fox. This pinnacle had even exceeded Yi Yun’s!

“The Fey dragon has been injured! And it doesn’t look light! Princess White Fox has managed to severely injure the fifth Fey dragon!”

“The intense battle has lasted for ninety seconds. What terrifying endurance. Princess White Fox’s bloodline is truly powerful. Despite going through four battles, Princess White Fox is still able to conserve so much of her stamina.”

The ninety-second battle made everyone hold their breaths. At that moment, a Luo clan disciple suddenly said, “Junior Brother Yi’s meditation is over. He is about to challenge the fifth Ancient Fey as well!”

The Luo clan disciple, who spoke, sounded slightly agitated. But compared to Princess White Fox’s all out battle with the fifth Fey dragon, there were fewer people who paid attention to Yi Yun.

Only when the Luo clan disciple spoke did others look over. Indeed Yi Yun had already stood up from his meditation and he floated upwards.

912 - : Sea of Lightning

CKtalon  CKtalon

With his two minutes of resting time over, the scene in front of Yi Yun was still the deep blue sky and endless clouds.

“Choose your opponent!” The emotionless voice of the array resounded in Yi Yun’s ear.

Yi Yun took a deep breath.

“I choose the… Nine-tailed White Fox!”

Boom!

The clouds opened up as the gigantic head of the White Fox emerged from the clouds. Its pair of black eyes were cold and emotionless as they reflected Yi Yun’s face.

At the moment the fifth Ancient Fey — the Nine-tailed White Fox whose strength escalated once again — appeared, it was like it had become the only thing that existed in this world.

The turbulent aura from its body was like roaring waves, hitting Yi Yun’s body and mind.

Yi Yun clenched the long sword in his hand. This was his final battle in the Fey Refining Rock array!

“Why is Yi Yun’s opponent still my White Fox clan’s ancestor?” Bai Yueqing frowned slightly.

As the Nine-tailed White Fox was the White Fox clan’s totem, Bai Yueqing found it uncomfortable for it to be used as an opponent in the Fey Refining Rock array. Previously, Bai Yueqing was questioning if the Ancient Fey that Yi Yun had slain was too weak, resulting in Elder Shi changing the Ranyi Fish to the Nine-tailed White Fox. Bai Yueqing could only blame himself. Why did he have to shoot his mouth? But now… it was happening again?

Bai Yueqing looked at Elder Duanmu, but Elder Duanmu threw up his hands and said, “Don’t look at me. Yi Yun chose the Nine-tailed White Fox himself. It has nothing to do with me.”

Yi Yun chose it?

Bai Yueqing faltered for a moment. He did not choose a weak Ancient Fey, but he ended up choosing the powerful Nine-tailed White Fox? Did Yi Yun find it insufferable enough? Although Yi Yun had won the previous battle, it was a Pyrrhic victory. If he were fighting the Ranyi Fish, how could he have expended that much energy?

“Your Highness, it might have something to do with Yi Yun knowing that it’s impossible for him to kill the fifth Ancient Fey, so he’s going for broke. By choosing the Nine-tailed White Fox, it might look better even if he were to lose.” Someone from the White Fox clan said.

But Bai Yueqing harrumphed.

“Even if he knows he will lose, choosing a weaker one will reduce his suffering. Unless he plans to admit defeat straight away… If not, once the battle begins, he might be severely injured by the Nine-tailed White Fox and it might even affect his future cultivation.” Bai Yueqing said lightly.

On the contrary, he was hoping that Yi Yun would not be defeated too early. That would be too boring.

“That punk! For him to dare choose the Nine-tailed White Fox as his fifth Ancient Fey, he really doesn’t know how the word death is written.”

Bai Yueqing slowly opened his hand fan, seemingly restoring his usual calm composure. After all, in the projection scene to the side, Bai Yueqing had seen the hope of Princess White Fox slaying the fifth Fey dragon. Even if she failed, she was able to severely injure the fifth Fey dragon at least. The gap between Princess White Fox and Yi Yun would still be large.

Just as Bai Yueqing was thinking this, he noticed Yi Yun, who was in the middle of the dark blue sky, wave his hand, discarding rows of flying sabers.

The shiny flying sabers shimmered with fearsome cold beams, but they were discarded just like that.

“Splash! Splash!”

As the flying sabers dropped into the sea, they stirred up tiny ripples but those quickly disappeared.

“He even discarded his sabers?”

Bai Yueqing was stunned. Yi Yun had lost more than a hundred flying sabers in the fourth battle, and logically speaking, he should have requested for the corresponding number of flying sabers to mend the saber array from the Fey Refining Rock array. But now, he had even discarded the remaining flying sabers?

“Is Yi Yun planning on throwing in the towel?” A White Fox disciple said.

Bai Yueqing frowned and said, “That punk sure is crafty. With his stamina weakened, he will directly admit defeat. Although this can prevent risk of severe injuries, it will weaken his martial resolve. His martial resolve will lack the warrior’s courage against all odds and an indomitable momentum!”

Bai Yueqing was feeling extremely upset. Yi Yun had just shown off a moment ago, but now by admitting defeat, he could retire after winning some merit. All the benefits were his!

Furthermore, if Yi Yun was planning to admit defeat, what did he summon the Nine-tailed White Fox for? Was he teasing him?

Just as Bai Yueqing was having such thoughts, he suddenly saw a cold glimmer appear in Yi Yun’s palm.

Those are… flying sabers!?

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Yi Yun stretched his hand out as flying sabers shot out from Yi Yun’s body as they floated midair, with their tips pointing in every direction.

There was an estimated hundred sabers.

He did not discard all of them?

What was going on? Yi Yun had 800 flying sabers, and he had deliberately discarded about 700, leaving a hundred behind. What was he planning to do?

A typical saber array would be flawed at the moment it lacked a single saber. But now, there was less than 10% of Yi Yun’s saber array left. How was this even usable!?

Just as people were feeling perplexed, the Nine-tailed White Fox roared and attacked Yi Yun!

The Nine-tailed White Fox would not wait for Yi Yun.

At the moment that the Nine-tailed White Fox attacked, a halo expanded around its body. The surrounding space was distorted by the divine light.

It was a domain again!

The Nine-tailed White Fox was conjuring its domain!

This was the domain of the fifth Nine-tailed White Fox, a domain that was on a completely different level to the fourth Nine-tailed White Fox’s. Yi Yun had expended 30% of his stamina and his all in order to crack the Nine-tailed Domain. It was nearly impossible for him to crack a stronger domain this time!

The domain expanded and enveloped Yi Yun. Once he was devoured by the domain, the outcome was decided!

At that moment, no one knew what Yi Yun was planning to do. He did not dodge the domain, nor did he throw in the towel.

“Boom!”

In an instant, Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi suddenly burst out, like it was a torrential flood that surged in all directions.

People could sense that Yi Yun’s energy was rapidly being depleted!

The remaining 70% of Yuan Qi was sucked out in a split second till almost nothing was left, as all of it surged towards —

The hundred flying sabers in front of him!

The hundred flying sabers were injected with immense energy as their bodies began to hum and vibrate, as though they were about to explode!

Yi Yun held his hands together as the hundred flying sabers flew towards Yi Yun’s body. At that moment, they were gathered around him, and mysterious runes emerged on the saber blades. These runes were dark and moving in and out of existence. As though no matter how one focused on them, it was impossible to see the runic patterns on the runes!

A hundred flying sabers merged as one, forming a circular shaped saber array that spun at a rapid rate.

Yi Yun used all his energy to push the circular saber array out!

Weng!

Space seemed to tear apart as the saber array smashed towards the Nine-tailed White Fox’s gigantic head!

The Nine-tailed Domain had already been conjured. Inside the Nine-tailed Domain, as long as the domain was not taken down, the Nine-tailed White Fox would nearly be invincible!

The Nine-tailed White Fox roared as it sent a claw at the flying sabers. The spinning saber array was clearly reflected in its black pupils.

“Peng!”

With an explosion, the saber array shattered along with the noise!

The hundred flying sabers shattered under the powerful explosion!

Upon seeing this scene, everyone held their breaths. It was over!? That was a strike that drained Yi Yun of his remaining 70% energy?

In a thousandth of the time that it took to blink, the thought that just aroused to which they did not even have time to react, they saw that faint black runic lines were left behind where the shattered saber array was.

The saber array had been broken, but the mysterious runes augmented on the blades were left behind?

The runes, when aligned together, were still in the shape of a circular disk. It looked like a gigantic wheel!

The wheel was revolving. Despite the fierce collision, its rotation speed became uncannily slow, as though time had come to a standstill.

“Aw—”

The Nine-tailed White Fox let out a scream as it clawed at the wheel, but the moment its claw touched the wheel, its claw was torn apart by the slowly revolving wheel!

Flesh and bone separated as blood splattered everywhere!

The Nine-tailed White Fox screamed. The look of fear finally flashed in the depths of its cold and emotionless black pupils. It wanted to retreat, but the black wheel seemed to traverse across space and time, appearing right in front of the Nine-tailed White Fox’s body.

“Wo! Wo! Wo!”

As though a spatial black hole had formed inside the Nine-tailed White Fox’s body, the Nine-tailed White Fox, which had merged as one with the Nine-tailed Domain, had its body minced by the spatial black hole. Its innards burst as blood sprayed everywhere!

The Nine-tailed Domain began to tremble violently. It was on the verge of collapse!

“Boom!”

The Nine-tailed Domain exploded, while the Nine-tailed White Fox’s body was torn apart. Minced meat mixed with fresh blood flew in every direction.

Yi Yun, who had completely exhausted himself, was sent flying back from the blast. His body was covered by the fox’s blood and minced meat. It was like he had crawled out of Shura Hell.

Boom!

Yi Yun fell into the sea. The sea had been dyed red. His last bit of energy was only sufficient to ensure that his body floated on the surface, or he would have sunk.

He floated on the surface of the sea in a sprawl, welcoming the sensations of the red rain — the blood of the Nine-tailed White Fox — that bombarded him.

Pada! Pada! The blood that was still warm had a special feeling when it hit his face.

It was over!

The fifth battle was also Yi Yun’s final fight. The moment the battle began, Yi Yun used his trump card.

As with the remaining Yuan Qi he had left, Yi Yun was only able to barely summon the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. If he had used any other move before summoning the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, it would make it difficult for him to have any more Yuan Qi left to continue on.

And it was because of this, Yi Yun did not even have the strength to move his fingers after that one strike.

He looked to be in like he was a sorry state, but outside the Fey Refining Rock array, the scene of him weakly floating above the red sea surface was forever engraved in the minds of the crowd. Even many years later, after some of these young elites had achieved greatness, they still found it difficult to forget this scene —

The youth that used flying sabers had used a hundred flying sabers that were remnants of a whole to kill the fifth Nine-tailed White Fox that appeared in the Fey Refining Rock array in a near-impossible situation.

How did he do it?

There was total silence. Even Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi stared at the projection with their mouths agape. There was no reaction to what had just happened.

And beside Yi Yun’s projection, where Princess White Fox was fighting, it was already at its most intense moment. However, no one was paying any attention to her, like they had forgotten about her.

In their vision, there was only Yi Yun, who was facing the sky while he bathed in the rain of blood.

Regardless of how intense Princess White Fox’s battle was, it was not as shocking as Yi Yun’s instant kill!

Yes, an instant kill. Against Yi Yun, the fifth Ancient Fey, which was so powerful that it made one lack the courage to resist, was… instantly killed!

913 - : 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the cold seawater washed against Yi Yun’s skin, Yi Yun experienced the raining blood while feeling an inexplicable sense of calm. It was most likely the comfortable feeling after experiencing a life and death battle.

This was the first time that Yi Yun used the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence in true combat. Throughout the entire battle, although he had only barely conjured a weakened form of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence at the final moment, Yi Yun’s body seemed to attain a familiarity with the laws of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

He was taking advantage of the serenity of the moment to digest the realizations that he was receiving.

The blood rain quickly disappeared, but the smell of blood continued to linger in the air, as though there were strands of blood floating across his face from time to time.

Yi Yun refused the chance to battle the sixth Ancient Fey. In his present condition, he was already unable to carry on.

As such, after Yi Yun’s Fey Refining Rock array battle ended, he was transported out of the independent space.

The moment he exited the Fey Refining Rock array, Yi Yun sensed everyone’s gazes being fixed on him.

The gazes were extremely complex.

There were looks of shock, fear, envy, and worship. One strike would more or less result in some feelings of disbelief. The process of Yi Yun killing the fifth Ancient Fey was like a dream to them.

If Yi Yun had only slain the fourth Ancient Fey, the Luo clan disciples might have surrounded Yi Yun while congratulating him. But now, Yi Yun had instantly killed the fifth Ancient Fey. Furthermore, there was a killing aura emanating from Yi Yun’s body. Although the Nine-tailed White Fox’s blood had vanished, for some reason or another, people still felt a faint sense of blood lingering around Yi Yun. Such an aura prevented anyone, even the Luo clan disciples, to make conversation with Yi Yun. The area fell into temporary silence.

At that moment, Elder Shi was the first to speak. He said, “Yi Yun, your results in the Fey Refining Rock array are impressive. The rewards promised by the clan will be handed to you very soon.”

Rewards!

Upon hearing Elder Shi mention rewards, the young elites present were filled with envy. The rewards were no trifling matter. All the Fey empires and large sects of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven would gather the best resources to nurture the geniuses under them. Now, Yi Yun had clearly reached the point where the Luo clan would focus on nurturing him.

“Thank you, Senior.” Yi Yun said, while having walked to a corner. He wanted to further ponder on the insights gained from the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

And at that moment in time, the deadlock in Princess White Fox’s battle had broken. Princess White Fox, who had used all her strength, had managed to defeat the fifth Fey dragon!

However, Princess White Fox had barely managed victory. Not only had she expended all her stamina, she was also severely injured. Her tenacity was the only thing that kept her going to slay the fifth Fey dragon with great difficulty.

If this were any time in the past, the White Fox disciple would have shouted out in excitement while receiving Princess White Fox, as though they were receiving their goddess of war.

But now, although they were cheering for her, it was much more subdued. This resulted in the first few people to cheer realizing the lack of an atmosphere. Seeing how it was meaningless to cheer, their voices also lowered.

Princess White Fox, who was originally stunning in every way, had only managed to equal Yi Yun’s results.

But in terms of killing speed, as well as the shock of annihilating the Nine-tailed White Fox into a blood mist with one strike, Princess White Fox was far inferior to Yi Yun. As such, the White Fox clan themselves lacked the mood to even cheer.

After slaying the fifth Fey dragon, Princess White Fox had already reached her limit.

“Choose your opponent!” After the fifth Fey dragon died, the cold voice of the array resounded in Princess White Fox’s ears.

“I give up.”

Princess White Fox took a deep breath. She was already a spent force, so it was meaningless to persist on.

With a flash, Princess White Fox appeared in the hall.

Immediately, everyone’s gazes was focused on Princess White Fox.

Princess White Fox had an indifferent character to begin with. She walked her own martial path, and she did not concern herself with how others looked at her. But even so, she guessed that her slaying of the fifth Ancient Fey should have astounded the White Fox clan geniuses.

But from the looks of it, their reactions seemed to be a bit different from what she expected.

A few White Fox disciples were cheering for her, but there were people who had odd looks.

Princess White Fox was slightly surprised. What had just happened?

She looked around and she saw Jian Zhu, Wufeng, the Shadow Twins, Yi Yun, Luo Mo and company, who had all entered the Fey Refining Rock array with her. They had all come out. She was the last, and also the one that had lasted the longest.

This was not odd since she fought the longest, the number of Ancient Fey that she killed was most likely the most as well.

As for the others, it was not Princess White Fox being haughty, but according to the difficulty of the array, she was absolutely sure that other than her, the rest could not even slain the fourth Ancient Fey, let alone the fifth. It exceeded the limits of their strength.

Being able to kill the first three Ancient Fey was already an excellent outcome.

These people having been eliminated ahead of her was within her expectations, but… why did they have such weird expressions?

Furthermore, she noticed that some people were looking at Yi Yun, which made her involuntarily glance at Yi Yun as well. Yi Yun had expended a great deal of energy. His Yuan Qi was nearly drained, but he was uninjured. This shocked Princess White Fox. Typically, with the stamina of a warrior being drained to such levels, be it offensive or defensive strength, they would be weakened, so it was not easy to be unharmed.

“Xue’er, you did well.” Bai Yueqing said with a sullen face.

However, his words did not sound anything like he was praising Princess White Fox. Clearly, he was in a terrible mood.

“It was alright. My strength can only reach this stage. There should still be progress in the future… ” Princess White Fox answered with some questions on her mind. She looked at Nongying and transmitted her voice, “What just happened? How many Ancient Fey did Jian Zhu kill?”

Could it be that Jian Zhu’s results had exceeded her expectations, which resulted in this effect?

“Three.” Nongying answered slowly with a voice transmission.

“That result is normal. The fourth Ancient Fey is indeed rather difficult. It’s not surprising to not succeed in killing it. What about the others?” Princess White Fox had casually asked, but she never expected Nongying to give her an answer that left her astounded.

Nongying answered, “Sister, Wufeng and I were nothing to talk about, but for Yi Yun, he… also killed the fifth Ancient Fey, just a while ago… ”

“Huh!?”

Princess White Fox’s eyebrows pricked up. “Yi Yun killed the fifth Ancient Fey?”

“Yeah… he was faster than you… Actually… he only used one move, instantly killing the fifth Ancient Fey. Besides that… ” When Nongying reached this point, she revealed a wry smile, “What he killed was the Nine-tailed White Fox that had conjured its Nine-tailed Domain… ”

The Nine-tailed White Fox that had conjured its domain? An instant kill with one move?

Princess White Fox was completely flabbergasted. She looked at Yi Yun in disbelief. Her cherry-shaped lips opened slightly, and they did not close for a long period of time.

914 - : Outcome of Battle

CKtalon  CKtalon

Anyone who killed the third Ancient Fey onwards in the Fey Refining Rock array would receive rewards.

However, these rewards were nothing much when being compared to the reward that was given to the person who came first.

Yi Yun and Princess White Fox had both defeated the fifth Ancient Fey, but Yi Yun had finished first. With this reason, Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi, who were biased towards Luo clan disciples, obviously determined that Princess White Fox had narrowly lost. Hence, Yi Yun clinched first place.

The reward for being first in the Fey Refining Rock was an Ancient Fey bone. But even Ancient Fey bones had different qualities.

The Ancient Fey bone that Yi Yun previously obtained at the Black Wind Valley trials was a peripheral part of the Ancient Fey’s skeleton. The amount of Ancient Fey energy that it contained was not much.

Better Ancient Fey bones came from areas such as the sternum or spine — core parts of the Ancient Fey’s torso. These spots were where large amounts of energy of the Ancient Fey were deposited in the skeleton.

As for the Ancient Fey bone that was awarded to the person who came first, it was also a peripheral part. The only difference was that it contained a tiny bit of bone marrow as well.

An Ancient Fey’s skeleton contained an immense amount of energy, but the essence of an Ancient Fey did not lie in its skeleton. It was in its blood marrow.

After an Ancient Fey’s death, its blood marrow would dissipate into the ether, returning to the Universe. Only an extremely tiny portion of it would be left in the skeleton.

This reward was something that all geniuses from large family clans desired. Their family clans might be influential, but it was not that easy obtaining an Ancient Fey bone that contained bone marrow, let alone giving it to them.

The better the reward that Yi Yun obtained, the worse Bai Yueqing’s mood would become.

The reason that he came to the Luo clan trials was because he wanted to see Princess White Fox’s performance so he could get some reassurance for his bet.

However, before he even received any assurances, he ended up getting so infuriated that he had to suppress his anger. The suppression nearly caused him to suffer from internal injuries.

“Because of the Third Prince’s arrival, my Luo clan’s disappointing disciples must have been imperceptibly motivated. Finally, they managed to squeeze a bit of potential out. Thank you Third Prince, it must have been hard on you.” Elder Shi said.

The corner of Bai Yueqing’s eyes twitched. Elder Shi might be a man of few words, but he had a strong sense of retaliatory streak in him. All Bai Yueqing had done was question if the Ranyi Fish that Yi Yun had chosen was not as powerful as the Fey dragon, but this remark had been constantly on Elder Shi’s mind.

“Heh heh, not really… ”

“I wonder, how many more days does Third Prince want to stay?” Elder Shi said again.

Stay any longer? Bai Yueqing was no longer in the mood for it. If he stayed any longer, he felt like he would really suffer a mental collapse.

Bai Yueqing quickly bade them farewell. When he arrived, he came swaggering. But when he left, he left in a hurry. His spirit cruiser quickly tore through the void and it vanished in the space above the Luo Divine Hall.

Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi stood midair while watching this happen. Elder Duanmu stroked his beard and said, “Senior Brother, the closer it is to your breakthrough reclusion, the more I find you are becoming petty.”

“Before reclusion, one’s state of mind is extremely important. One should act as one pleases. Furthermore, this reclusion will last till my death if I fail to break through. Even the Heavens do not know if I’ll be able to come out alive. In that case, why must I worry about so much?” Elder Shi said.

Elder Duanmu’s lips quivered, but he did not say anything. All he did was let out a sigh.

“There’s no need for you to sigh. Although I am determined to enter a death reclusion, it is still in preparation. I’ve been pursuing martial arts my entire life. Being a Supremacy is the ravine that stops me in my martial path. One is willing to die in the evening if the truth could be heard in the morning. As long as I probe it, I’ll die without regrets.” Elder Shi said.

“No wonder you think so highly of that kid’s martial heart.” Elder Duanmu said.

Elder Shi did not say a thing. In the past, he only found Yi Yun mildly interesting, but after Yi Yun killed the fifth Ancient Fey, he began to truly pay close attention to Yi Yun.

“The little fox isn’t bad too. Unfortunately, she’s not from our Luo clan.” Elder Duanmu added, “But it’s no big deal. She can definitely become one of us.”

Elder Duanmu stroked his beard as a smile flashed in his eyes.

This time, Elder Shi opened his mouth. “Yeah.”

…

White Fox training ground. Celestial Platform.

The Celestial Platform was made of countless floating rocks.

This independent space was extremely special. It did not have any land in it. Rocks of all shapes and sizes were floating in the air. The small ones were the size of millstones, just enough for one person to stand on them, while the big ones were hundreds of feet wide.

The rocks that formed the Celestial Platform were powered by an array formation, forming a platform ladder that reached the heavens. The higher one went, the more difficult the trial became.

At that moment, Luo Huo’er had already broken through to the 19th level!

It was a boulder that was about a hundred feet wide. The higher one went on the Celestial Platform, the more chaotic the laws became.

The difficulty here had already halted the progress of most of the trial-takers!

Only a few trial-takers, for example, Xuan Junyue, were still struggling on the 15th and 16th levels.

There was a glimmer of hope for Xuan Junyue to reach the 17th level.

He looked up at the boulder. Although it was just the distance of one level, every level up had a steep rise in difficulty in the Celestial Platform.

At that moment, Luo Huo’er was sitting on the 19th level boulder to meditate.

The disciples who were lacking in strength could not even sit here properly. The chaotic laws might even cause their Yuan Qi circulation to turn turbulent, causing them to die by exploding.

Luo Huo’er was sitting on the boulder, dressed in a thin dress. Her hair had turned a fiery-red color, while her pupils had turned scarlet red, as though they were dancing flames.

The 19th level was somewhat difficult for Luo Huo’er. However, awakening her bloodline made it trivial.

This was because her Ancient Fey bloodline was extremely rich. The Ancient Fey were born of the Universe itself, so their insights into laws were very high.

Everyone else was trying their best to move up another level, but Luo Huo’er was extremely laid back. She was in no hurry and she was even planning on sitting on the boulder for some time.

Since no one could exceed her, why did she need to rush herself? She might as well take a good rest.

At that moment, a fiery-red charm suddenly flashed in front of her.

The Celestial Platform was a training ground of the White Fox clan, but as a princess of the Luo clan, a heir designate, Luo Huo’er obviously enjoyed certain privileges. This voice transmission charm was one of her privileges.

Luo Huo’er was somewhat surprised. What matter was so urgent that a voice transmission had to be sent to her during her trial?

At the moment that the voice transmission charm shattered, a voice entered Luo Huo’er’s ears.

“What!? Little Yun is that awesome!?”

The information in the voice transmission was regarding Yi Yun’s performance at the Luo Divine Hall’s trials.

Luo Huo’er stared in the direction of the shattered charm in surprise. Yi Yun had killed the fifth Ancient Fey faster than Princess White Fox!

Luo Huo’er had seen Princess White Fox’s talent. Princess White Fox was definitely no ordinary person, so although Luo Huo’er was proud, she still thought highly of an opponent like Princess White Fox.

“Little Yun actually beat Princess White Fox… ” Luo Huo’er found it incredible.

Yi Yun had truly given her one surprise after another after their reunion in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

“Little Yun did very well. That male seductive fox will definitely lose the bet that he suggested. Who knows if that little fox princess will end up having Little Yun to accompany her on her travels. I wonder what expression a particular brother of mine will have when he learns about this matter.” A sinister smile appeared on Luo Huo’er’s delicate face.

However, as she smiled, she suddenly smacked her palms.

“Aiyah, that’s bad! If this keeps going, what would happen if I were to lose to Little Yun? Wouldn’t that be so embarrassing? I have to carry on!”

The White Fox Elder that was monitoring the situation of the trial suddenly sensed motion on the 20th level of the Celestial Platform!

Luo Huo’er had reached the 20th level?

The White Fox disciples, who had already suffered terrible mental setbacks, immediately noticed that Luo Huo’er’s strength had suddenly risen sharply… Could it be that she was not using all her strength previously?

The White Fox disciples had tears flowing down their faces!

They were also elites of the White Fox clan, but participating in a trial with Luo Huo’er was masochism. Those who did not have a resolute mind might receive such a heavy blow that would tear them to pieces.

915 - : Death Reclusion

CKtalon  CKtalon

Two days after the Fey Refining Rock trial was over, Yi Yun suddenly received a voice transmission from Elder Duanmu.

The Luo Divine Hall was extremely palatial, and one of its many levels was the Astral Palace where the Luo clan disciples cultivated.

And the summoning led Yi Yun to the seventh level.

The seventh level of the Luo Divine Hall was very different to the Astral Palace.

It looked extremely extensive, as though the place was boundless. Floating in the air were countless golden dots of light which were constantly in motion. Yi Yun saw a dot of light stop in front of him and he was surprised to discover that the dots of light were actually tiny golden birds. Each one was wrapped in a layer of golden light as they flew around.

“I wonder if the birds are living creatures… Fascinating.” Yi Yun stood in the main hall and he watched them while reflecting over the sight.

“This seventh level is an independent space, named Treasure Pavilion.”

Yi Yun suddenly saw phantom figures flash in front of him as two people appeared. He hurriedly saluted them, “Greetings to Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi.”

“There’s no need for such decorum. Oh?” Elder Duanmu’s vision swept across Yi Yun’s body and he said, “You have already recovered completely. Your cultivation realm has increased slightly as well?”

“Yes,” Yi Yun responded.

Although he wasn’t injured when he slew the fifth Ancient Fey, he had used all of his power to release a weak 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. All of his Yuan Qi was consumed, which meant that Yi Yun could not even move.

Elder Duanmu had previously witnessed Yi Yun’s recovery rate, so he laughed. “Although you are a human, your recovery rate is still pretty good. The only problem is that your physique is slightly lacking. I know that you have absorbed the Heaven Devouring Wyrm’s Fey bone in the past, but the quality of that Fey bone was terrible.”

Elder Duanmu spoke frankly, while Yi Yun revealed a trace of helplessness. Not only was his physique bad, his cultivation realm was low as well. He could barely conjure a weakened 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. Furthermore, using it once would drain all of his strength.

“The reward this time is an Ancient Fey with blood marrow. After giving it to you, quickly absorb it and strive to perform well in the remaining trials.” Elder Duanmu now thought very highly of Yi Yun as well. The reasons that the Elders remained in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven to man the Luo Divine Hall was firstly to gain nomological insights while being in reclusion, and secondly, to nurture more talents for the Luo clan. Years ago, they too had gone through the same path.

“Thank you, Elders. However, I plan to enter reclusive cultivation in the Primordial Space immediately following that.” Yi Yun said.

Elder Duanmu faltered slightly, “Reclusive cultivation? For how long?”

“I don’t know.” Yi Yun shook his head. If he entered reclusion in the Primordial Space, years might pass without him even knowing. If he was disturbed during this period, it would greatly affect the outcome.

“I see… The Luo Divine Hall does has the Primordial Space as its core. The value gained from cultivating in there is the highest. There will be some losses incurred if you do not participate in the trials after this, but… it’s still alright!”

Elder Shi gave it a thought and he said with a nod, “So what if you don’t participate in them!? You are extremely talented, and the path of martial arts is full of vicissitudes. You have to know that there were even more geniuses in the past that possessed exceptional talent, and they were aided by great fate, but they eventually perished. This path is a very difficult one.”

Yi Yun drew a gasp and said, “I understand.”

He looked calm and determined. Back then, he was just an unimportant youth. From his climb upwards that began from the Cloud Wilderness, he already recognized the difficulty of the martial path.

Regardless of how difficult this path was, Yi Yun chose to continue forging ahead.

Within the Purple Crystal, the long-haired man and the red lotus woman who later appeared, they stood at a vantage point that was so much higher than where he was.

Was he able to use his own feet and hard work to reach where they stood and see what they saw?

“Since you want to enter reclusion, then you will not be given a blood marrow Ancient Fey bone.” Elder Shi said.

Yi Yun was stunned. Not giving it to him?

At that moment, Elder Shi followed up, “Yes, the rewards were meant to be given to you progressively along the way, but since you aren’t participating in those trials, you will miss those rewards. If that’s the case, I might as well give you the best one in one fell swoop. In the history of the Luo Divine Hall trials, such an item has only been handed out a few times. This is the highest reward in the Luo Divine Hall trials.”

“Senior Brother… ” Elder Duanmu glanced at Elder Shi, but he eventually did not speak another word.

“Here!” Elder Shi beckoned with a stretched out hand.

A blood-red bird tore through the sky like lightning as it suddenly stood on Elder Shi’s palm.

It was crimson red in color… Yi Yun had failed to discover the crimson bird out of the numerous golden birds here.

The bird emanated an extremely peculiar aura. As Yi Yun looked at it, he had the feeling that his heartbeat, blood flow, and Yuan Qi circulation were being induced by the bird, as though his entire being was in an extremely sublime rhythm.

At that moment, the bird suddenly chirped and it transformed into a blood-red crystal.

In the middle of the crystal, there was a line of blood that was constantly in flux, as though it possessed life.

“That is… ” Yi Yun’s eyes stared intently at the crystal. He could sense the extremely unusual value of the crystal.

“This is the blood marrow of a degenerated Blood Dragon,” Elder Shi said. “You have previously been to Mt. Azure Billow’s Black Wind Valley during the collective training? This is the blood marrow left behind by that degenerated Blood Dragon, a blood marrow that was in the dragon bone’s vertebral keel.”

The degenerated Blood Dragon’s blood marrow!?

Yi Yun drew a cold gasp.

After the degenerated Blood Dragon died, its flesh and blood’s decomposition caused the place to become a forbidden ground where it nourished and produced blood specters. The power of its blood marrow was unimaginable!

Yi Yun had previously absorbed a Heaven Devouring Wyrm Fey bone, and although a Heaven Devouring Wyrm was a grade higher than a degenerated Blood Dragon, the value of its Fey bone was incomparable to a degenerated Blood Dragon’s blood marrow!

“This blood marrow is one of the treasures of the Luo Divine Hall. Each one we give out depletes the limited stock we have. This wisp of blood marrow is of the highest quality. Its energy was preserved the best. But it would be even more difficult for you to absorb it with your poor physique. Take it and enter reclusion. How much you can absorb will depend on your destiny.” Elder Shi threw the crystal at Yi Yun. He had chosen to give it to Yi Yun, but it would depend on Yi Yun himself as to whether he could rise up as a dragon.

When Yi Yun caught the crystal, he felt as though the blood marrow in the crystal was alive. It was constantly in motion as though it would fly out of his hands at any time.

The best wisp of blood marrow — its value was probably unimaginable.

“The both of us are old. We do not know how many more years the Luo Divine Hall can be manned by us. Seeing how talent has been dwindling after the Luo clan’s war… ” Elder Duanmu spoke midway before shaking his head and stopping.

As Yi Yun looked at them, he felt that there was something between the lines of what Elder Duanmu had said.

Their strength and cultivation realm were like the clouds to him. It was something that numerous warriors yearned to reach.

However, Yi Yun saw something different from their expressions.

“Thank you Elder Shi, thank you Elder Duanmu!” Yi Yun gave them a solemn salute.

Having come to the Luo clan, his feelings for the Luo clan was mostly due to Luo Huo’er as he had a friendship with her. Furthermore, Yi Yun was also in need to join a faction, so he had naturally chosen the Luo clan. Having received the goodwill of a faction, he obviously had to contribute back to them. And today, the feelings that the two Elders had for the Luo clan, as well as the expectations that they had for the Luo clan geniuses, had moved Yi Yun.

He gripped the crystal tightly. The hopes of the two Elders were embodied in the crystal.

916 - : Blood Dragon’s Blood Marrow

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Luo Divine Hall trials continued, but no one saw Yi Yun participating anymore.

After the Fey Refining Rock array evaluation, Yi Yun had become the idol of a good deal of the Luo clan disciples. When Elder Duanmu informed them that Yi Yun would enter reclusive cultivation and that he would no longer participate in the trials, the disciples were rather upset, but they felt envious at the same time.

To enter such a long reclusion proved that Yi Yun had reaped great benefits from the seven years of meditation and the Fey Refining Rock array. When he completely digested the benefits, his strength would definitely improve by leaps and bounds.

Yi Yun was much stronger than them already. To what extent would he reach after improving his strength? The potential already shown by Yi Yun made them scared to think any further.

“He was only cast in the limelight at the Fey Refining Rock array, and there he is, trying to hide away. He was actually able to clinch victory only with that strange move at the end. Without that strange move that instantly killed the Nine-tailed White Fox, Yi Yun’s combat ability is far inferior to Her Highness’.”

“And in the following trials, there are tests on physique and bloodline, but he does not plan on participating. He is clearly worried that his physique and bloodline are inferior to Her Highness’.” Nongyue grumbled in a soft voice.

Although she knew in her heart that Yi Yun had beat Princess White Fox through the use of the strange move at the end, she knew that even without the move, Yi Yun could easily thrash her and her sister. This point left a bitter taste in her mouth.

However, when it came to the Fey race’s bloodline, Nongyue was convinced that Yi Yun was absolutely inferior.

Just as Nongyue’s voice faded, she saw her her elder sister, Nongying staring at her.

Nongyue stuck out her tongue and she hurriedly shut her mouth.

When Princess White Fox heard Elder Duanmu’s words, there was a gentle flash in her beautiful eyes.

He is going into reclusion… ?

Princess White Fox had been a top elite from a young age. She did not have a rival at a similar age other than Luo Huo’er.

Princess White Fox had obtained a detailed description of Yi Yun’s battle with the fifth Nine-tailed White Fox from Nongying and Nongyue.

“I never got to witness that battle with my own eyes… I’ll look forward to you coming out of reclusion.” Princess White Fox whispered.

Yi Yun may have entered reclusion, but couldn’t she enhance her own strength as well?

…

Primordial Space.

A huge door that was so big that it went from the ground to the sky, and it isolated the Primordial Space from the outside world.

The entire Primordial Space was misty as a dead and bleak aura permeated it.

It was a dead world. The auric charms of the Fey Gods sealed in the Fey God Stones were the only evidence of the world’s past existence. What was in here was life that had failed to fully evolve.

Silently sitting in front of the three mysterious Fey God Stones, Yi Yun closed his eyes tightly. He breathed silently, as though he had incorporated himself in the dead world.

His consciousness was fully projected on the Purple Crystal Fey God Stone.

He still saw the long-haired man on his entry into the Purple Crystal Fey God Stone.

Yi Yun had already grasped the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, but it was not as advanced as the long-haired man’s.

If the long-haired man was said to have mastered the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence to its end, Yi Yun was only just at the beginning.

With his Sword of Will, Yi Yun approached the long-haired man. At that moment, he saw the long-haired man push the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence out.

This casual push wrapped the heaven and earth. Countless nomological fragments flew past as thousands of phantom images of gods and demons appeared. Each one of them stepped on the ground and each one was a thousand feet tall.

A terrifying pressure smashed on Yi Yun like a mountain.

Yi Yun resisted against it with all his strength. Bam!

All of his Yuan Qi was drained as the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence shattered. His vision went black immediately!

“Phew– ”

Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes as he noticed himself returning to the Primordial Space.

With his nomological insights increasing in profoundness every day, Yi Yun was able to see more things. And at the same time, the pressure inflicted on Yi Yun was higher.

A casual gesture of long-haired man produced nomological pressure that he could not withstand, even the Sword of Will was insufficient.

“Who knew that there would be such a change after entering the Purple Crystal Fey God Stone again. I’m still too weak.” Yi Yun muttered to himself, but his heart was filled with anticipation.

Being able to witness how the long-haired man did things was an opportunity that one could not ask for.

Jian Zhu’s master was Supremacy Gulan, but Supremacy Gulan was in reclusion for extended periods of time. He seldom had the time to illustrate laws for Jian Zhu.

As for this long-haired man, his strength was far from what a Supremacy could compare with.

Where could one find such an opportunity?

“Strength should be increased first!”

Yi Yun wiped his interspatial ring as a crystal appeared in his palm.

Blood dragon’s blood marrow.

This wisp of Fey dragon blood marrow seemed to sense something as it began to frantically scurry around the crystal.

Yi Yun took a deep breath.

’Kacha!’ He crushed the crystal.

Suddenly, the wisp of blood dragon’s blood marrow flew out of the crystal.

Yi Yun was long prepared as he grabbed at it.

Immediately, the space surrounding the blood dragon’s blood marrow was sealed. It struggled within the space, scurrying left and right, but it could not break out of the seal.

Its shape was constantly in flux, yet it failed to escape its shackles.

Yi Yun quietly regulated his breathing and a few days had passed unknowingly.

Only when his body recovered to its optimal state did Yi Yun open his eyes. Looking at the blood dragon’s blood marrow, he beckoned at it.

The blood dragon’s blood marrow was pulled by an invisible force as it constantly came closer to Yi Yun.

As though it realized that there were no means of escape, the blood dragon’s blood marrow bloodlust suddenly surged as it shot straight at Yi Yun’s glabella!

Yi Yun did not dodge!

Boom!

As though his body was thrown into a pool of magma, Yi Yun’s body immediately heated up!

A degenerated blood dragon was violent and bloodthirsty by nature. Its blood marrow was one of the most violent and dangerous tonics.

However, it was only a wisp of blood marrow. If Yi Yun used his Yuan Qi to suppress it, he could slowly absorb it.

However, Yi Yun did not choose to do so.

At the beginning, he was planning on circulating his Yuan Qi, but when the blood marrow surged into his own blood marrow, Yi Yun discovered that his pure Yang bloodline had been activated by the blood marrow’s oppressive energy. He felt that his body had become a furnace.

And this blood marrow had become the flame that burned in the furnace, scorching his meridians.

Yi Yun closed his eyes tightly as sweat constantly oozed out of his forehead. Thunderous rumblings echoed out of his body. Even his clothes were burnt into ash. The blood vessels beneath his skin seemed to be dykes for flowing magma.

At that moment, anything that approached Yi Yun would be burnt into ash from the high temperatures emitted by Yi Yun;s body. His entire being was like a simmering volcano as a raging energy surged wantonly around his body.

In the beginning, Yi Yun would sweat. But slowly, his aura vanished. He turned into a rock once again, with the occasional flashing of his body indicating that he was still alive…

“Senior Brother, how far do you think that kid Yi Yun will be able to absorb the wisp of blood marrow?” In the Luo Divine Hall, Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi were watching Yi Yun in the mist through an array projection.

“A typical disciple can only absorb 10-20%. A talented disciple, maybe 30-40%. However, I can’t be sure about Yi Yun. I heard that at Mt. Azure Billow, the effects of him absorbing the Ancient Fey bone were astounding. I believe that this kid will surprise me this time as well.” Elder Shi said lightly.

Elder Duanmu shook his head and said, “Let’s hope so. Senior Brother, by giving him the blood marrow so early, with his present cultivation realm, it is still too early to absorb such a blood marrow.”

“Early? It’s not. Let him work hard to improve himself. The Luo clan’s catastrophe has yet to pass… ”

Elder Shi appeared as though he was muttering to himself. With a wave of his hand, the projection in front of him disappeared…

Cultivation knew nothing about time. Year after year passed as the Luo Divine Hall trials were coming to an end.

Over the eighteen years, the Luo clan and White Fox clan elites had improved significantly. And after the first seven years, Yi Yun had never appeared again.

On the last day, two spirit cruisers tore through the void and appeared above the Luo Divine Hall. They were spirit cruisers at the Supremacy level. They were here to take the Luo clan and White Fox clan elites from the Primordial Empyrean Heaven back to their respective clans.

Yi Yun, who had been in reclusion in the Primordial Space all this time, slowly opened his eyes.

Having entered reclusion for eighteen years, it was an unprecedented experience for Yi Yun. Over the eighteen years, he was like a sharp enchanted sword. He was like a sword that had been placed in a scabbard to hide its sharpness.

His hair had grown so long that it reached the floor, spreading completely apart. Even though he was in the Primordial Space, Yi Yun could sense the environment outside and he knew that the spirit cruisers were here.

Yi Yun stood up, his eyes like lightning in the dark night. With a thought, a Thousand Snow flying saber flew out of his interspatial ring, cutting his overly long hair.

It was time to leave the Luo Divine Hall.

917 - : End, Departure

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the existence of voice transmission charms and arrays, the proliferation of news was extremely fast.

Especially the Luo Divine Hall trials could be said to be highly-anticipated. It was a big deal to the Luo clan. Before the disciples that participated in the Luo Divine Hall trials returned, the results of the trials had proliferated at an astonishing speed in the royal capital.

Yi Yun had beaten Princess White Fox in the Fey Refining Rock array, crushing the Shadow Twins, Wufeng, and a Supremacy’s disciple, Jian Zhu. Just this news along stirred quite a storm in the Luo clan royal capital!

Although they also learned that Yi Yun did not participate in any of the other tests of the Luo Divine Hall trials in the eleven years after them, it did not matter. Just the trial in the first seven years was enough to make Yi Yun famous in the royal capital.

In the past, Ran Xueyi and Luo Mo were influential figures in the upper circles of the royal capital, where their names were the talk of the town. But Luo Mo and Ran Xueyi were nothing compared to seclusive geniuses like Jian Zhu and the Shadow Twins.

As for Yi Yun, he surpassed everyone else, including Princess White Fox, a publicly recognized genius. Yi Yun was even slightly younger than Princess White Fox. With his background as a commoner and his unparalleled speed at improving himself, he was now idolized by numerous youths in the royal capital, especially those from ordinary backgrounds.

The title of being first up till the seventh year of the Luo Divine Hall was something that eclipsed the four great young masters of the royal capital.

…

From the moment that the results of the Luo Divine Hall trials were out, copious numbers of factions paid attention to the rankings. After all, only a couple of dozen people from the entire Luo clan’s 196 states and the royal capital were ranked on the Luo Divine Hall Trials rankings every sixty years.

Large factions had their own machinations, while small factions had their own tricks. But whoever was ranked on the Luo Divine Hall trials’ ranking, regardless if they ranked way below the top ten, would be clamored for by the entire Luo clan!

Many factions in the royal capital were trying to woo these people. Other than a few that could not be wooed, most of the other disciples would choose to stay in the royal capital.

As for the other 196 states, even the large family clans of those states would only get the leftovers.

As for those ranked in the top ten, there was nothing to think about them. They were exclusive to the Luo clan ancient family clans or even the Luo clan royal family.

…

When Yi Yun returned to the royal capital, he disembarked the spirit cruiser, and accompanying him was Luo Fengling.

She ultimately failed to leave her name on the Luo Divine Hall trials rankings. She did not even get a chance to enter the Primordial Space. She could only meditate in front of the Ancient Fey stones outside, and those were obviously much more inferior to the Fey God Chaos Stones.

The outcome of not being ranked meant that Luo Fengling had to return to the Fire Cloud State. She needed to stay in the royal capital for a few days, and since Yi Yun and Luo Fengling were both warriors from the Fire Cloud State, and had a friendship, they naturally stayed together. Since Yi Yun’s viscount residence was large, it could easily accommodate Luo Fengling’s temporary lodging.

Considering how she had saved the severely injured Yi Yun eighteen years ago with a Fire Cloud State spirit cruiser, that scene was like a dream. Who would expect that such a youth would come this far?

Yi Yun’s viscount residence was built near a mountain. When Yi Yun returned to his viscount residence, he saw many spirit beasts perched on the mountain behind the residence, with more than ten spirit vessels parked near it.

“Oh? This is… ”

When Yi Yun saw the spirit beasts and spirit vessels, he was surprised. He then saw a servant girl from the viscount residence welcome him like she was welcoming her master.

Upon asking the maidservant, he found out that the spirit beasts and spirit vessels were ridden by the ambassadors of large family clans who were here to visit Yi Yun.

They knew that Yi Yun was someone in Empress Xuan’s camp, so no faction had the guts to steal from Empress Xuan. Even if they did, it was impossible to steal Yi Yun from her. However, they knew that they had to establish a good relationship with Yi Yun. They sent expensive gifts to express their congratulations on Yi Yun’s results at the Luo Divine Hall trials.

After learning of the reason, Yi Yun was also somewhat astonished. He never expected that being first in the first seven years of the Luo Divine Hall trials would create so much influence.

Yi Yun was not being arrogant to the visitors, but it was because he did not have the time to entertain each and every one of them. Thankfully, Empress Xuan had included servants when she gave the viscount residence to him. He could just get the servants to deal with the affairs.

Luo Fengling was deeply envious of all of this. She felt that it was impossible for her to indulge in such a scene herself in whatever life she had left.

At that moment, a purplish-red voice transmission charm lit up in front of Yi Yun. It came from Luo Huo’er.

“Little Yun, some important guests came to the Luo clan royal palace a few days ago, it looks like they were discussing something.”

“Tomorrow, Father will be summoning all of the best participants of the trials to the royal palace. There will also be my brother, Crimson Firmament, Princess White Fox, as well as that male seductive fox named Bai Yueqing!”

As Luo Huo’er spoke, her voice turned excited. Clearly, this girl looked forward to meeting Bai Yueqing. It was a good opportunity to smack Bai Yueqing in the face, so how could she miss it? Furthermore, Princess White Fox would have to travel with Yi Yun! Luo Huo’er was eager to see the expression on Crimson Firmament’s face.

“Oh? His Majesty is summoning us?”

Yi Yun was surprised. As the leader of the entire Luo clan dynasty, Emperor Luo was not someone who was easily seen. Even the top cultivators of the Luo Divine Hall trials that happened after this one might not have the chance to meet Emperor Luo.

It was unknown what the legendary Emperor Luo was like… Even figures like Empress Luo and Empress Xuan had to be mindful about gaining and losing his favor. After all, Emperor Luo would determine who the person that would inherit the throne was.

Yi Yun replied to Luo Huo’er and he settled Luo Fengling before returning to his room to have a good rest.

He had not slept like a mortal in a very long time. In the Primordial Space, he basically spent all of the time meditating while sitting down. He did not slack for a moment and that solitude and loneliness was something that many people could not endure.

As for the path to martial arts, it was filled with such long reclusions. Very few weak-minded warriors could guarantee that they could wholeheartedly pursue martial arts.

Over the eighteen years, Yi Yun’s cultivation level went straight to the Heaven Ascension perfection realm. The next step up from the Heaven Ascension realm was the Dao Manifestation realm.

By manifesting one’s Dao, one could grow Dao fruits on the Heaven Ascension Dao Tree.

To top geniuses, the rising of an intermediate realm was not difficult, and it could be done very casually. Some top geniuses would meditate for decades. With their Dao foundations established, they were able to rise their cultivation level from the beginning stages straight to the peak in just a few short years.

To geniuses, the hardest thing to raise was a large cultivation realm. It was not that it was difficult to raise, but it was difficult to raise it perfectly.

This was most pertinent from the Heaven Ascension realm to the Dao Manifestation realm. The manifestation of Dao fruit was a big deal to every Heaven Ascension realm genius!

The more varied the insights in the Dao that geniuses had, the more Dao fruits they manifested!

Most warriors would only be able to condense a single Dao fruit when they enter the Dao Manifestation realm. After all, a young genius had a limited amount of time. It was already very difficult to comprehend a single law. If one tried to focus on too many Dao, it would be biting off more than they could chew. It was a waste of their time and potential.

Mastering only one law was the safest approach. It could guarantee a smooth manifestation of Dao. Even the geniuses, who were qualified to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials, would mostly do so.

However, there was an extremely tiny number of people who could manifest two Dao fruits. These people had exceeding perception. At a young age, they were able to multitask, cultivating two laws at the same time. The difficulty was not as simple as twice the difficulty of mastering one law.

And even further up, the manifestation of three or four Dao fruits was nearly unheard of.

Furthermore, even if such people existed, they were not necessarily a positive example.

The number of Dao fruits manifested was not the most important thing, it was the quality of the fruits!

If a genius like Princess White Fox wanted to manifest several Dao fruit, she just needed to study many laws. It would not be a problem to manifest five Dao fruits after that.

However, Princess White Fox would obviously not do so. Five low-quality Dao fruits were not as valuable as a single high-quality Dao fruit!

Dao fruits had nine qualities. Every rise in quality would make a leaf grow on the fruit stem.

One leaf was the poorest quality of Dao fruit. The person would basically go no further than the Dao Manifestation realm in their entire lives.

With every additional leaf, the warrior’s potential would be greatly elevated!

By the time it was six or seven-leaf Dao fruits, it was already exceedingly rare.

An eight-leaf Dao fruit could be said to be the standard of a peerless genius of an entire sect. As for nine-leaf Dao fruits, they were nearly a legend. After all, most Supremacies would only have eight-leaf Dao fruits when they entered the Dao Manifestation realm!

Of course, they might have all sorts of opportunities in the future, even with eight-leaf Dao fruits. The leaf count of a Dao fruit did not entirely determine a person’s future success. It was even rumored that a Divine Lord that was in control of a Divine Lord Royal Seal only had a eight-leaf Dao fruit. Yet, he had reached a height that even nine-leaf Dao fruit geniuses could not reach.

The future was anyone’s guess!

Now, Yi Yun was at the Heaven Ascension perfection realm. He was already preparing to start manifesting his Dao fruit. But of course, it still would take a lot of time.

Many geniuses did not dare to take this step because a lot was at stake at the Dao Manifestation realm. It determined a lot of their future achievements to a large extent.

Therefore, they would typically spend a century or two consolidating their foundations and meditating over the laws before they stepped into the Dao Manifestation realm, accepting the sentence of the law!

However, if they stepped into the Dao Manifestation realm too late, it would be a waste of potential even if the quality of the Dao fruit was increased. This was truly a hard for one to resolutely make the choice!

918 - : Dao Manifestation Realm

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Luo clan’s royal palace was located at the top of the royal capital. It towered above all, overlooking everything!

Flying was banned in most regions of the royal capital. This meant that people had to walk towards the inner sanctums of the Luo clan royal palace.

If one looked up, they would see a long imperial staircase winding around the mountain all the way until it disappeared into the clouds. A grand and majestic golden palace loomed at the top.

In between the steps, there were cloud dragon stone carvings. The designs of the stone carvings constantly changed along the way.

There were Heaven Fey, Ancient Fey, sages of the Fey race, as well as Fey God totems!

Many ministers and young talent had to stop at the bottom of the stairs. They would then respectfully bow towards the stairs before walking up them.

Only people who enjoyed a very high status in the Luo clan or people who had particular special merits and honors had the right to walk further up the stairs that led into the clouds.

At that moment, an extremely luxurious sedan that was the size of a house seemed to flutter over towards the stairs. There were more than ten servants making way for it, as it arrived in front of the steps.

The sedan was being carried by hundred-foot tall strongmen. They had two horns on their heads and their faces were crimson in color. They walked as fast as the wind.

“What a large sedan!”

“Who can be carried in a sedan here while still being able to continue to proceed higher?”

Warriors turned their heads around to take a look.

“Look at the emblem on the sedan. It’s someone from the Oracle Fey Kingdom!”

“Yes, I recognize that emblem as well.”

“I heard my sect Elders say that a number of important guests have arrived in the royal capital recently. I never expected that people from the Oracle Fey Kingdom would come as well.”

The Oracle Fey Kingdom was one of the largest factions of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. It was located in an ancient independent space, forming a world for itself.

Since it was a sedan of the Oracle Fey Kingdom, it was also normal for them to be able to be carried up the stairs.

However, the Oracle Fey Kingdom seldom made contact with the external world. What were they doing here today?

The strongmen carried the sedan as they moved up and soon, they disappeared into the clouds.

Warriors watched with astonishment, but very quickly, a gigantic black fish flew past them in the sky!

This gigantic black fish flew over their heads and it landed on a square at the foot of the mountain. It was the size of a hill.

“Sea Devouring Fish?”

“It’s not a real Sea Devouring Fish, but one of its descendants with an extremely rich bloodline. However, it’s extremely rare in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. That is someone from the World Margin Sect.

“What special occasion is it? Why are there so many ambassadors from large factions gathering here today?”

“Oh? I’ve finally recognized one of those factions. That’s the White Fox clan’s nebulous cloud!”

The warriors looked over. The White Fox clan was one they were rather familiar with.

The guests of various large factions passed them or flew over them. It was very overwhelming for the lowly warriors.

However, although the esteemed guests had the qualification to fly above the royal palace, they still needed to walk when they reached the long flight of stairs.

Amongst these people that made a grandiose entrance, a man standing on a golden condor appeared in the sky.

“That is… Eh, what’s that?”

It was an ordinary golden condor, one of the most common birds in several sects.

Yet, how was this commonly-seen bird flying above the royal capital? Furthermore, it was flying alongside extremely well-known Ancient Fey descendants that everyone knew in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven?

“There’s someone on it!”

“Who is that? It looks like someone from the younger generation.”

Typically, a person who could fly above the royal palace was someone who enjoyed an extremely high status. Most of the time, those people were not young, so it was very rare to see someone young doing so.

As though he had noticed the commotion below, Yi Yun, who was flying on the golden condor, glanced down as he quickly flew across the sky.

This was a special privilege that Yi Yun enjoyed after the Luo Divine Hall trials. People of honor were allowed to fly above the royal palace.

Of course, he still had to walk once he reached the stairs, but it was an extremely high honor already. The ambassadors of those large factions were given the same treatment.

Flying above the royal palace was an unprecedented experience. However, the mount that Yi Yun had was limited to a single golden condor, so he had casually used it.

However, this nondescript golden condor stood out amid the progeny of Ancient Fey. As such, the warriors beneath were all craning their necks to look at him.

Before Yi Yun arrived, he was informed by Luo Huo’er that the people who came were important figures of various large factions. It was unknown why these people were gathering here today.

Xiao—

Yi Yun’s golden condor landed in front of the stairs.

After Yi Yun’s golden condor landed, he got off and began walking up towards the Luo royal palace.

The royal palace was majestic, as though it was built on clouds. Looking down from the top, there was a panoramic view of mountains and rivers that extended far out.

Although the flight of stairs was long, it was not much effort for warriors to traverse it.

“Who is that person?”

On one side of the royal palace, there was a tiny garden. In it, there were artificial hills and ponds. A few pavilions were constructed around a pond — temporary resting spots for those meeting Emperor Luo.

There were already many people gathered near the pond.

Yi Yun immediately noticed Luo Huo’er amongst the crowd. She was like a brilliant flame burning in the crowd. It was difficult not to notice her.

“Little Yun, you sure are slow.” Luo Huo’er said with a grin. She was sitting in the seat of honor in one of the pavilions. Beside her was Jian Zhu and Xuan Junyue.

The moment that Luo Huo’er spoke, many people immediately looked at Yi Yun.

“He’s Yi Yun?”

Even some of the Luo clan disciples present did not know Yi Yun. Many people had gone to the White Fox clan for the trials, so they obviously did not get to witness Yi Yun’s prowess.

They had only heard that Yi Yun had surpassed Princess White Fox at the Fey Refining Rock array. As for Princess White Fox, she was no better or worse than Luo Huo’er!

This made many people, including Xuan Junyue, very uncomfortable. They even had their doubts.

They had not participated in the Luo Divine Hall trials, but at the White Fox clan trials, Luo Huo’er’s outstanding performance was something that they experienced in person. It was a complete blow to their entire beings. It struck them as though they would never be able to chase up to her.

The lad in front of them had what it took to match Luo Huo’er?

Didn’t this mean that this human of a commoner background who didn’t seem to be mighty, would also give them the feeling that they would never be able to chase up to him?

This was something that they found unacceptable no matter how it was phrased.

“Uh… It was a bit slow. I don’t have any good mounts. I came here on a golden condor. The bird flew rather slowly.”

When Yi Yun said this, the geniuses around Luo Huo’er felt even more speechless. Was this lad truly an existence that they were too inferior to bear comparison to?

“I’ll get Mother to send you a mount tomorrow. This matter can be discussed in the future. Little Yun, let’s go. Let’s have a seat at the White Fox clan’s pavilion and have a chat!”

Luo Huo’er had a penchant for chaos. She was eagerly waiting for Yi Yun to come so she could take Yi Yun to the White Fox clan to smack Bai Yueqing’s face. What a joy would that be?

There were several pavilions connected by stone bridges in the area. Using them, Luo Huo’er dragged Yi Yun towards the White Fox clan’s pavilion.

At that moment, Prince Crimson Firmament was also at the White Fox clan’s pavilion. Bai Yueqing and Princess White Fox were certainly not absent.

They could see Luo Huo’er bringing Yi Yun from afar. Princess White Fox did not react to them, but Bai Yueqing’s expression turned extremely ugly.

Especially when he saw that exquisite smirk on Luo Huo’er’s face. There was obviously a teasing look to it, and Bai Yueqing knew that this princess of the Luo clan was not someone to be trifled with.

919 - : Luo Clan Royal Palace

CKtalon  CKtalon

By walking into the pavilion, Luo Huo’er was in the same pavilion as Princess White Fox. With two blessed daughters of heaven in the same pavilion, even disciples from other pavilions could not help but look towards their pavillion.

“Brother, Your Highness Third Prince, Princess Xue’er.” Luo Huo’er was elegant as she said this with a slight bow.

Seeing Luo Huo’er being so graceful and engaging in such proper etiquette, Yi Yun was feeling somewhat speechless watching this from behind. She was clearly here to stir shit, yet she remained so polite.

The corners of Bai Yueqing’s mouth twitched. He silently placed his teacup down. Back at the White Fox clan’s trials, Luo Huo’er’s mischief had completely battered the White Fox clan geniuses silly. That truly made Bai Yueqing witness how powerful the little demoness was.

Sweeping his gaze behind Luo Huo’er, Bai Yueqing noticed Yi Yun and that made him even more upset.

“Princess Purple Spirit.” Princess White Fox nodded her head slightly at Luo Huo’er as a form of reciprocating respect.

After that, she looked at Yi Yun and gently nodded.

“Sister Purple Spirit, I invited you over to sit, but you didn’t come. Now, you have finally given me the honor.” Prince Crimson Firmament said nonchalantly.

He obviously knew why Luo Huo’er was here. However, he still had complete disregard for Yi Yun, as though he did not even see him. At that moment, he was wearing luxurious clothing and he was sitting in a great state, with a regal air to him.

Back when Yi Yun first met Prince Crimson Firmament, he found his aura unfathomable. Now, with his cultivation realm being higher and having grasped the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, Yi Yun could sense different things from Prince Crimson Firmament’s body when he looked at him.

The space around Prince Crimson Firmament’s body was slightly distorted. His aura was sealed in this space, so when others looked at him for a slightly prolonged period of time, they would find their eyes beginning to swell up. His aura made people feel like it was just a black hole.

“I was afraid to disturb Brother. However, Yi Yun, Princess Xue’er, and His Highness Third Prince all know each other, so I brought him here to meet you.”

Luo Huo’er sat down, she turned her head to Yi Yun, and said, “Yi Yun, come over here and sit.”

When this was said, the White Fox disciples in the pavilion immediately felt edgy.

Most of the White Fox disciples in the pavilion had stayed behind for their clan’s trials. They had also heard of Yi Yun, but they did not recognize his face.

Only when they heard Luo Huo’er call Yi Yun’s name out and how she wanted him to sit did they know that this young-looking man was Yi Yun.

He was the one that once surpassed Princess White Fox by a tiny bit?

Upon hearing Luo Huo’er’s words, Yi Yun did not refuse either. He adjusted his pale white robe that was made out of heaven silk before sitting down.

Seeing Yi Yun sit together with all the princes and princesses, some of the White Fox disciples felt upset. Many of them came from stunning backgrounds, but they still had to stand in the pavilion. Even if they could sit, they could only sit at a lower level seat. How could they sit on the same table as Luo Huo’er?

Furthermore, Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony, nor did he refuse. It felt as though it was only natural for him to share a table with the princes and princesses. Who the hell did he think he was?

Bai Yueqing frowned slightly. Although sitting on the same table as Yi Yun made him uncomfortable, he did not speak a single word. As for Prince Crimson Firmament, he completely ignored this matter.

“Your Highness Third Prince, do you still remember our bet?” Luo Huo’er asked with a grin.

Bai Yueqing quietly opened his fan and said lightly, “Bet? I certainly remember it.”

“It’s good that you remember it. Brother Crimson Firmament, why don’t you bear witness? Back then, the bet entailed that in the White Fox clan and Luo clan trials, the White Fox clan has to account for 60% of the results. If the Luo clan were to lose, I would stay behind in the White Fox clan for a year of travel. If the White Fox clan were to lose, Princess White Fox would have to stay behind in the Luo clan to travel a year, and I’ll assign a genius to accompany Princess White Fox in her tour. Wasn’t that so?”

As Luo Huo’er spoke, she glanced at Prince Crimson Firmament. Yi Yun was rendered speechless while listening to her. He knew that Luo Huo’er was planning on ‘assigning’ him to princess White Fox. This was going to happen in front of Prince Crimson Firmament, while Prince Crimson Firmament was already gearing up to enter a marriage with Princess White Fox. No one knew what was on Prince Crimson Firmament’s mind.

But at least from the surface, Prince Crimson Firmament did not seem unhappy at all.

“This prince as witness? Sure. From this prince’s point of view, that tiny bet is nothing more than motivating the elites of both clans. Its goal has been reached. As for both the trials, this prince has a detailed understanding of them. Sister Purple Spirit, you were undoubtedly ranked first in the White Fox clan trials!”

Prince Crimson Firmament said slowly, “As for the Luo Divine Hall trials, Princess White Fox was ranked first. Therefore, the first ranks on both sides are equally matched. As for the other disciples, the White Fox clan was indeed slightly better than our Luo clan’s younger elites… ”

“Oh?” Luo Huo’er stared with her beautiful eyes at him, “Who did you say was first at the Luo Divine Hall trials?”

“Princess Xue’er was first. This is the result that was eventually decided after the Luo Divine Hall trials ended. There’s nothing questionable about that, right!? Princess Xue’er eventually managed to clear the sixth level of the Fey Refining Rock array, killing the sixth Ancient Fey. As for the others, Yi Yun was the next highest having killed the fifth Ancient Fey. As for the others… Jian Zhu, the Shadow Twins, and Wufeng, they had managed to kill the fourth Ancient Fey.”

“Other than the Fey Refining Rock array, there were trials that were related to bloodline. This was undoubtedly where Princess Xue’er was miles ahead. And from what I learned, Yi Yun did not even participate in the bloodline trials. Even if he had participated, with Yi Yun’s thin Fey race bloodline, he probably would not have much to show for it. He would be beneath the Shadow Twins.” Prince Crimson Firmament said very calmly.

At that moment, he finally glanced at Yi Yun. It had a hint of derision in it.

Without mentioning the Fey Refining Rock trial, Yi Yun had been absent for all the trials after that, staying inside the Primordial Space in reclusive cultivation. When Prince Crimson Firmament knew about this, he found it amusing.

The Luo Divine Hall was filled with treasures everywhere. Countless disciples yearned to enter the Luo Divine Hall so as they could enjoy the resources inside, but Yi Yun abandoned all of these resources, all for a Primordial Space.

The Primordial Space was indeed a great opportunity, but seven years of meditation was not enough. He even meditated for eighteen years.

Didn’t he know that a true expert was not created through reclusion? It needed constant actual combat, experiencing life and death battles. Only then could one increase one’s strength through battle, eventually become a member of the generation’s strong people!

But thankfully, Yi Yun was dumb, giving him an excuse. The final results that the Luo Divine Hall trials produced did not rank Yi Yun. This was because Yi Yun was absent in too many of the trials, so it was impossible for him to be ranked.

It was finally recognized in the rankings that Princess White Fox was first in the trial.

If not, to let Yi Yun really accompany Princess White Fox to tour the Luo clan? How could he salvage his reputation as an heir to the throne? If Princess White Fox were to one day become the Luo clan’s Empress, wouldn’t this matter make him the laughing stock of the world?

Prince Crimson Firmament’s words made Luo Huo’er’s eyebrows prick up.

“So that’s the case. I was wondering why Brother Crimson Firmament was sitting so stably. So you’ve already thought of an excuse, and would rather die than admit it?” Luo Huo’er derided him ruthlessly.

She was enemies with Prince Crimson Firmament to begin with, so she didn’t care.

“What did this prince say wrong?” Prince Crimson Firmament sipped a mouthful of tea and slowly said, “Strength does not exist in talk, it exists in actual validation. I saw the scenes of Yi Yun battling the fifth Ancient Fey. He was using a mystic technique to defeat the fifth Ancient Fey. He clearly was only able to use the mystic technique once. After defeating the fifth Ancient Fey, how was he going to battle the sixth Ancient Fey?”

“As for Princess Xue’er, she had used her true abilities to slay the fifth Ancient Fey. She did not use any mystic techniques. Princess Xue’er surpasses Yi Yun in every way, other than that special mystic technique. She experienced the trials in the Luo Divine Hall for eleven years before being able to slay the sixth Ancient Fey. Furthermore, she still had energy left after the slaying! That is the difference!”

“I’ll not talk about the difference in the Fey Refining Rock array and talk about the bloodline trials. Yi Yun was absent, and if he truly participated, would his tiny bit of bloodline be qualified to compare with Princess White Fox?”

Rate Translation Quality

920 - : Bearing Witness

CKtalon  CKtalon

Prince Crimson Firmament was clearly refusing to agree that Luo Huo’er had won.

Although everyone knew this, what he said was something that many of the White Fox disciples agreed with. Even if bloodline was not mentioned, just based on strength alone, Yi Yun lacked the advantage. Yi Yun had used a mystic technique to defeat the fifth Ancient Fey. It was not Yi Yun being powerful, but the mystic technique being powerful.

As for Princess White Fox, she had used her own abilities to slay the sixth Ancient Fey.

Offensive mystic techniques had wondrous effects, but they were like weapons. They were considered to be foreign objects. At an even higher realm, there was even a need for change. What truly was powerful was a warrior’s nomological insight and their cultivation realm.

“Princess, let’s go. There’s nothing to dispute about this.” Yi Yun said to Luo Huo’er.

He did not care about the outcome. So what if his strength was recognized by the White Fox clan or not?

As for accompanying Princess White Fox on her tour, that was something that he was even more disinterested in. Lin Xintong had yet to be found. The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven was extremely expansive. He did not even know how or where to start finding her, so how could he accompany a female stranger, who he did not have much of a friendship with, on her travels? This was just a maleficent plan of Luo Huo’er.

Luo Huo’er grunted. Prince Crimson Firmament’s high and mighty appearance compelled her to give him a merciless punch in the face.

“Little Yun! I say, when you participated in the trial, why the heck did you keep a low profile for? At the end, you should have come out and had a go at the Fey Refining Rock array. By doing so, what can they still say!?” Luo Huo’er transmitted her voice unhappily.

Yi Yun lightly said, “It’s meaningless if they see it or not. One’s Strength is one’s own.”

After saying that, Yi Yun stood up.

Seeing that Yi Yun was about to leave, there was no reason for Luo Huo’er to stay any longer. She unhappily stood up.

“Why? Are you leaving just like that? Why don’t you stay behind for some tea?” Prince Crimson Firmament said with a faint smile, his demeanor looking laid-back and complacent.

Bai Yueqing laughed out loud as well. He opened his fan again and he slowly flapped it.

“If one doesn’t want to stay, staying behind to drink tea would feel make one feel uneasy. This prince won’t be sending you off, so help yourselves.” Bai Yueqing said.

Again, it was a fluttery sentence that entered Yi Yun’s ears.

“Yi Yun, I know you verbally say it as if you don’t care, but you actually feel indignant in your heart. Do not think that it’s something impressive defeating the fifth Ancient Fey with a mystic technique. A mystic technique is not a law after all. It’s just from a mystic manual, a move only. After you step into the Dao Manifestation realm, your laws can be condensed into Dao fruits, but mystic techniques can’t.”

“The Dao Manifestation largely determines your future success. If the Dao fruit that you condense is lacking in quality, so what if your mystic technique is powerful? Xue’er had attained Dao Domain during the first seven years of the Luo Divine Hall trials. Can you?” Bai Yueqing said those words softly, but it could be heard from afar.

Many people could not help but agree with them when they heard this.

Indeed, a mystic technique could not condense a Dao fruit. It was not very helpful for a warrior’s foundation. It could only increase one’s combat power.

“Hmph, how do you know that the Dao fruits that Yi Yun will condense will be poor in quality? Bai Yueqing, be careful of what you say, for they might smack you right back in the face.” Before Yi Yun even said anything, Luo Huo’er had spoken first.

Bai Yueqing chuckled and said, “Princess Purple Spirit, you seem unconvinced. This isn’t only just my view. I was just discussing with someone what would happen when the both of you step into the Dao Manifestation realm… ”

As Bai Yueqing spoke, he glanced at a pavilion nearby.

Not far away, there was a small ivory-colored pavilion. It was much smaller than the pavilion where Bai Yueqing and Prince Crimson Firmament were sitting.

Yi Yun glanced in that direction and he saw two people sitting in the pavilion.

One of them was in black clothes, with his back facing Yi Yun. As for the other person, he was dressed in fox fur, with a pair of swords, one long and one short, beside him.

The person wearing fox fur had delicate looks. His bright eyes had a life to them. He was sitting there drinking wine, as though he was integrated with the surroundings.

These two people, especially the man in the fox fur facing him, caught Yi Yun’s attention.

“It’s Chu Yunjian… ” Luo Huo’er’s eyebrows pricked.

“Oh? Is he very famous?”

“Sort of.” Luo Huo’er nodded. “He used to be an itinerant cultivator before settling down in the White Fox clan, becoming a White Fox disciple. He had participated in the previous White Fox trials. As for this time, as his age had exceeded a hundred years old, he could not participate in it again.”

“Chu Yunjian stepped into the Dao Manifestation realm a few years ago. He condensed a four-leaf Dao fruit and two seven-leaf Dao fruits.”

“Three Dao fruit?” Yi Yun was slightly surprised. Three Dao fruits were indeed quite a lot. However, having one four-leaf and two seven-leaf Dao fruits did not seem to be up to the standard of a worldly genius…

Luo Huo’er could tell what was on Yi Yun’s mind as she said, “A seven-leaf Dao fruit is already pretty powerful. Furthermore, the crux of the matter was that the seven-leaf Dao fruits that Chu Yunjian condensed were extraordinary!”

“The four-leaf Dao fruit was a condensation of Sword Dao, as for the other two seven-leaf Dao fruits, they were both Great Dao — one a condensation of time, and the other a condensation of space. By gaining insights into both space-time laws, he had managed to condense two seven-leaf Dao fruits at the age of a hundred. That’s already very amazing.”

“Space-time laws together with Sword Dao, so Chu Yunjian’s strength is rather terrifying. If he were ten years younger, he would have been in time for the recent Luo Divine Hall trials. Yi Yun, you would have had another strong opponent.”

“Dao of space-time with Sword Dao?”

Yi Yun was taken aback momentarily. Space-time was born along with the formation of the universe. It was just like Yin and Yang. They were the Great Dao amongst the Great Dao. They were much harder compared to the Dao of the five elements—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth—or the Natural Dao—Wind, Rain, Lightning. After comprehending them, a warrior’s strength would also be even stronger!

Comparing the same seven-leaf Dao fruit, a fire-elemental seven-leaf Dao fruit was naturally inferior to space and time seven-leaf Dao fruits.

As for Sword Dao, although it was inferior to the Dao of space and time, it was not a lowly Dao either. With a sword, one could wield a Divine Lord Royal Seal, becoming a Divine Lord. There were many such instances in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. For example, the Azure Yang Lord was one of them.

At that moment, Luo Huo’er added on, “Chu Yunjian’s status in the White Fox clan is extraordinary, so Bai Yueqing views him as a high-level guest. Not only is he very strong, his eyes are sharp as well. He must have evaluated you just now, but who knows how he evaluated you… ”

Luo Huo’er was somewhat concerned about this. She did not see the process of Yi Yun’s Luo Divine Hall trials. As for the effects of Yi Yun’s reclusive retreat, she did not know either.

Although she had an inexplicable sense of confidence when it came to Yi Yun, she was still curious about how a keen-eyed person like Chu Yunjian would evaluate Yi Yun.

“I do not need others to evaluate me.”

Yi Yun shook his head. During Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er’s conversation, Chu Yunjian was constantly drinking wine with the person across him. He did not even glance at Yi Yun, as though whatever was happening around him did not concern him.

This was not arrogance, but a swordsman that was dedicated to martial arts. He paid no attention and he was indifferent to everything that happened around him.

To them, all they needed was having a sword in the heart and laws.

Just as Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er were conversing, the door to the Luo clan’s royal palace slowly opened.

A majestic and luxurious aura emanated as Yi Yun looked at the slowly opening palace doors. He did not know why so many powerful factions were gathered at the royal palace and as to what had happened. But now, there was most likely an outcome.

921 - : Chu Yunjian

CKtalon  CKtalon

When the doors to the Luo clan’s royal palace was fully opened, a Fey Demon with a large head walked out and swept his gaze over the crowd in the pavilions.

“His Majesty summons you.” His voice was deep and dull, like it was thunder ringing in their ears.

The crowd stood up rapidly.

It was rather rare for Emperor Luo, who supposedly held the highest power in the Luo clan, to summon others.

“Let’s go.” Prince Crimson Firmament stood up. With the goal of being the next emperor of the Luo clan, he was first to walk in front. Bai Yueqing, Princess White Fox, and other prominent figures walked alongside him.

“Little Yun, let’s go as well.” Luo Huo’er sneered and she took Yi Yun to walk right in front.

She was a princess, so there was certainly no one who would stop her. As for Yi Yun, who was walking beside her, he was in the first row like the other regal progeny.

Even Chu Yunjian was behind him.

Yi Yun’s figure was rather striking in that group of people.

“Yi Yun is really composed.” Luo Mo said with a wry smile.

Prince Crimson Firmament had verbally humiliated Yi Yun, but Yi Yun had no intention of entering any contention with him, nor was he afraid.

Prince Crimson Firmament enjoyed a high standing, so much so that numerous people treated him with reverence and fear, yet Yi Yun did not care at all.

The hall of the royal palace was extremely grand. When the group of people walked in, they felt like they were standing in a boundless square.

The walls were thick and tall. There were towering pillars that reached high up into a cloudy mist. The thickness of the pillars was probably the combined arm span of seven or eight people. The roof was very wide, with exquisite murals of gods and demons painted on the dome.

The moment that Yi Yun entered, he sensed a terrifying aura spreading from the top of the pillars. Looking up, he saw a person sitting on each pillar.

These people were shrouded by the mist, preventing others from seeing their faces.

Yi Yun looked up and he sensed someone glancing down from the top.

He immediately felt like he was being stared by a real primordial Ancient Fey.

Just a simple gaze from that person overlooking them made the disciples silent.

There was a tall and large misty platform in front of them, with a gorgeous regal seat that could fit dozens of people. In the middle of that seat sat an extremely large figure dressed in dragon robes.

“Greetings Father Emperor, my respects to all esteemed ambassadors.”

Prince Crimson Firmament took the lead to bow. As juniors, they were ineligible to sit on the misty pillars, so they could only sit on golden lotus seats on the two sides of the hall.

There were probably thousands of golden lotus seats, so if the hall was filled with elites from everywhere, it was unknown how spectacular the scene would be.

“The last time that there were ambassadors from other factions here was when I was one.” Luo Huo’er transmitted her voice to Yi Yun.

The corner of Yi Yun’s lips moved. Luo Huo’er was evidently rather proud about this.

However, this also indicated how outstanding Luo Huo’er’s talent was. If not, there would not be ambassadors coming to participate in the celebrations. She would not have become Prince Crimson Firmament’s competitor as well, considering her personality.

Having the top talent in the warrior’s world indicated that one would obtain greater achievements, and strength was very important.

Everyone sat down, with many sitting in a very formal and restrained manner. Even Luo Huo’er only looked ahead.

The figure on the regal seat spoke. His voice was extremely commanding, with a hint of lethargy in it.

“The young disciples have arrived. Duke Wuxiao, please repeat what you had just mentioned.” Emperor Luo slowly said.

His voice was not loud, but it gave people the feeling that they had to listen.

“Alright.” A male hoarse voice came from one of the pillars.

Yi Yun looked over, and Duke Wuxiao was sitting opposite him. He was a red-clothed man who was hidden in the mist, and behind his back was a pair of gigantic wings.

“I’ll not beat about the bush. All of you present, the disciples of the White Fox and Luo clan have been undergoing training trials for the past eighteen years. Those who are qualified to come here are those who have passed the trials. As for young elites of the other factions, they are also rushing to the Luo clan’s royal capital now. However, the disciples of my Cloud Trail Empire will not be coming.”

“They were not much different to you all, but… they all died during our trials!” When Duke Wuxiao said this, his tone turned heavy.

The disciples in the hall were alarmed. The dead Cloud Trail Empire disciples were geniuses who participated in the trials just like they did. How did they all die?

“It was the Fey Phantasm Sect!” Duke Wuxiao’s tone had a lingering hatred. “They attacked our spirit cruiser on the disciples’ return trip. All the talented disciples were taken away by the Fey Phantasm Sect. Their outcome was extremely terrible!”

Fey Phantasm Sect!

Yi Yun thought for a moment. Wasn’t that the sect that nearly destroyed the Luo clan?

Back then, it had entered a huge war with the Luo clan, causing the Luo clan to experience a shortage of geniuses. Furthermore, Yi Yun knew that the Fey Phantasm Sect from before had gone to war with several other factions.

Yi Yun did not know the purpose of the Fey Phantasm Sect waging war. Was it just for the plundering of resources?

He could not help but ask Luo Huo’er through a voice transmission, “Why is the Fey Phantasm Sect offending so many factions at the same time? Even if it’s powerful, there’s no need for it to frequently wage war. Isn’t it afraid that it will weaken its strength?”

After Yi Yun asked this question, he saw what was a rare tinge of hatred appear on Luo Huo’er’s face.

“The Fey Phantasm Sect is only eager to wage war. The more war there is, the stronger it becomes.”

“The Fey Phantasm Sect specializes in the refinement of puppets and Fey corpses for sale. In the 12 Empyrean Heavens, there are various species. Some species do not have strong physiques, such as humans. Their physical bodies are weak. Some mighty human figures might have their bodies destroyed in battle. They could then find a powerful body of a member of the Fey race to possess. And this would be when they would patronize the Fey Phantasm Sect.”

“Through such methods, the Fey Phantasm Sect accumulates a great deal of resources and wealth through the other Empyrean Heavens. They have already become a cancer of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven and they are extremely infamous.

Sale of puppets and corpses?

Yi Yun was surprised. This business was truly vicious. No wonder they had plundered the geniuses of the Cloud Trail Empire, probably using them to make Fey corpses!

The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Fey race was well known for its strong physiques. There was probably a lot of buyers from other Empyrean Heavens that were interested in this. It was truly a windfall.

And in order to gain these Fey race bodies, a war had to be waged so as to plunder the population.

Yi Yun said, “By doing this, isn’t the Fey Phantasm Sect being the enemy of everyone? If this goes on, wouldn’t the large factions of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven annihilate the Fey Phantasm Sect sooner or later?”

Luo Huo’er shook her head slightly. “It’s not that easy. The Fey Phantasm Sect is powerful to begin with. Furthermore, their headquarters is in the Sinkhole. The Sinkhole is boundless, and the space in it is complex and filled with disorder. It’s very difficult to annihilate them!”

Duke Wuxiao from the Cloud Trail Empire felt the pinch in his heart when he said this, “Those geniuses were nurtured at great cost by the Cloud Trail Empire. They were the disciples that stood out from millions of disciples. However, they ended up being refined into Fey corpses alive, while we also lost an extremely valuable spirit cruiser.”

Duke Wuxiao was filled with boundless hatred!

At that moment, Emperor Luo sighed and said, “The Fey Phantasm Sect’s Grand Elder, Ji Wuhen, has already obtained a Divine Lord Royal Seal, becoming a Divine Lord.”

What!?

The elites present were horrified.

The ambassadors of the other factions like Duke Wuxiao clearly knew about this, but when they heard Emperor Luo say it again, they could only shake their heads.

Divine Lord!

Yi Yun was alarmed.

He recalled the Azure Yang Lord, who was once a Divine Lord.

Divine Lords represented strength and status in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Even after he was severely injured, he was still able to traverse the Universe, and managed to create the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ with the Great Empress.

Even a treasure like the God Advent Tower was just one of his many treasures.

The Fey Phantasm Sect actually had one Divine Lord?

“Ji Wuhen has great ambitions. Having become a Divine Lord and him in control of the Fey Phantasm Sect, he has unified many of the smaller factions in the Sinkhole. There is almost nothing that can stop the Fey Phantasm Sect from its expansion.” Emperor Luo said.

Upon hearing this, the young disciples, who were excited from being summoned, felt like they were struck by lightning!

There was no certainty when they would be plundered by the Fey Phantasm Sect and transformed into Fey corpses for the possession of others!

Yi Yun frowned slightly and he was considered rather calm.

Although the Fey Phantasm Sect was terrifying, there was likely counter measures against the crisis to be announced by having all these factions gathered here and younger disciples being summoned.

922 - : Summoning

CKtalon  CKtalon

Sitting in the hall, Yi Yun could sense Emperor Luo’s commanding gaze sweep across all of them.

“In order to resist the Fey Phantasm Sect, all of our factions will form an alliance from today henceforth! The various Fey empire’s strength will be united so we can fight against the Fey Phantasm Sect.” Emperor Luo said.

With the Fey Phantasm Sect’s forces growing stronger, the number of factions that were threatened by the Fey Phantasm Sect would increase as well. Now, the Fey Phantasm Sect was making a comeback, and the Fey Phantasm Sect had a Divine Lord in it. If these factions did not form an alliance, they would probably be destroyed one after another.

However, could an alliance alone gain victory over the Fey Phantasm Sect?

“The various Fey empires have reclusive Elders and hidden techniques. It is no different for our Luo clan. It won’t be so easy for us to be taken down.” Luo Huo’er’s voice transmission echoed in Yi Yun’s ears.

However, she had a rare sense of seriousness in her expression.

Back then, the Fey Phantasm Sect did not have a Divine Lord and the Luo clan nearly suffered annihilation. This time…

Emperor Luo continued, “After the alliance is established, the Cloud Trail Empire will offer an ancient array formation, named the Ten Thousand Fey God-slaying Array. This array is no trifling matter. Back in ancient times, it is said that more than ten thousand mighty figures of the Fey race in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven formed this large formation to slay the Ancestor Gods. That was how the array got its name. The Cloud Trail Empire has obtained it, but even though it is just a replica of the Ten Thousand Fey God-slaying Array created in ancient times, it is still extremely impressive!” Emperor Luo said, “This Ten Thousand Fey God-slaying Array replica will have a Divine Lord at its core, with other positions allocated to Supremacies to preside over it. The entire array will have more than ten thousand people powering it.”

Divine Lord?

Upon hearing Emperor Luo’s words, the crowd was stunned. When did their alliance have a Divine Lord!?

Be it the Luo clan or the White Fox clan, none of them had Divine Lords. If there was a Divine Lord holding down the situation, there would probably be no fear of the Fey Phantasm Sect.

Emperor Luo continued, “The activation of the Ten Thousand Fey God-slaying Array is extremely draining on the people presiding over it, so it will be the last measure against Ji Wuhen, used only as a last resort. It’s one of the means that will not be used unless its necessary.”

Having the Ten Thousand Fey God-slaying Array as a trump card, it made most of the disciples present heave a sigh of relief. Even without a Divine Lord, it was most likely still possible to barely use the array formation?

However, would a castrated array formation that lacked a Divine Lord presiding over it truly be able to withstand the Fey Phantasm Sect?

However, Emperor Luo had mentioned just one of their means, so there was likely other corresponding solutions.

The lofty important figures had discussed it behind closed doors, so it was unlikely that they would reveal everything to these disciples.

“This array formation also requires a large number of Dao Manifestation and Heaven Ascension realm warriors. In the future, you might be selected to partake in this array formation.” Emperor Luo said.

Selected to partake in the array formation?

Being able to fight alongside Supremacies and these mighty figures was an absolutely perfect opportunity for many people present.

And with danger at hand, they had to rise up as warriors. Many disciples could not help but reveal a look of anticipation.

Yi Yun was silent. It was most likely very dangerous for lower-level disciples to participate in combat at that level. However, with him now being a member of the Luo clan, there was no way for him to avoid it. If he wanted to ensure his well-being during the war, he had to quickly improve his strength.

“There is another matter to be announced.” Emperor Luo switched gears and looked at someone from the Oracle Fey Kingdom. “Brother Tianfeng, why don’t you tell us about it?”

Emperor Luo’s extremely polite tone surprised Yi Yun slightly. The people that came from the various factions were only ambassadors. None of the sovereigns themselves came.

Emperor Luo’s status was arguably the highest, but now, with Emperor Luo addressing the person as ’Brother Tianfeng’, it was apparent that something was different. Furthermore, the person’s position in the hall was most prominent, with him being just beside Emperor Luo.

“Alright.” Yu Tianfeng tersely responded and he had a harsh expression. His gaze swept across everyone as he calmly said, “Most of you probably know that the person truly presiding over my Oracle Fey Kingdom is the Oracle Imperial Patriarch. In his youth, Imperial Patriarch toured the world and he had the privilege to befriend a Divine Lord. Back then, the esteemed Divine Lord’s strength was similar to Imperial Patriarch’s, and through the machinations of fate, the esteemed Divine Lord owed a favor to Imperial Patriarch. After he became a Divine Lord, he remembered this favor and he promised to help out when the Oracle Fey Kingdom is ever in danger but only once!”

“Most of you should have heard of this Divine Lord’s title. He is Felicitous Rain Lord.”

Just as Yu Tianfeng’s voice faded, the young disciples present were left stunned.

A Divine Lord was indebted to the Imperial Patriarch of the Oracle Fey Kingdom?

This was no trifling matter!

At the cultivation level of a Divine Lord, it was atypical to be indebted to others as it tainted their karma. If a Divine Lord were to help the Oracle Fey Kingdom, the position that the Oracle Fey Kingdom enjoyed in the alliance would be completely different. It was no wonder that Emperor Luo was so courteous to Yu Tianfeng, who was just an ambassador!

“Felicitous Rain Lord?” Yi Yun asked with a voice transmission.

Luo Huo’er answered, “Felicitous Rain Lord is a rather young Divine Lord in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. He became a Divine Lord tens of thousands of years ago. The sect that he was in was destroyed before he attained the rank of Divine Lord. Now, he is touring the cosmos and he does not belong to any faction. He is a wandering Divine Lord, but it is precisely because of this that his fame is exuded.”

Yi Yun nodded. He had seen the Azure Yang Lord’s memories, and the Azure Yang Lord had also established an empire.

By running a faction, it was more convenient for one’s cultivation. It also allowed one to acquire more power. A wandering Divine Lord sounded free, but by being a lone person, it was easier for others to challenge them.

“After Felicitous Rain Lord became a Divine Lord, he was constantly challenged, but it has reduced a lot in recent years. The reason is none other than those who challenged him never returned.” Luo Huo’er said.

Yi Yun’s questions were clarified. A Divine Lord, especially one that was reigning high, allowed the Oracle Fey Kingdom to ascend higher than the other factions in the alliance because of his debt. It made the Oracle Fey Kingdom a supernatural existence in the alliance.

It could even be said that the entire alliance would be led by the Oracle Fey Kingdom. These ambassadors that had gathered in the Luo clan royal capital were not here to negotiate the matters of the alliance with Emperor Luo, but they were mainly responsible for the passing of messages.

With the threat of the Fey Phantasm Sect, Emperor Luo would not refuse any condition unless they were too punitive.

When Yi Yun understood this point, he finally understood why Yu Tianfeng sounded so proud.

Just being the receiver of a debt of a Divine Lord gave them such value, so if it was the Divine Lord himself…

Upon thinking about this, Yi Yun felt extremely wistful. The 12 Empyrean Heavens was a world where strength was supreme. Becoming a Divine Lord was extremely glorious in the 12 Empyrean Heavens!

At that moment, Yu Tianfeng added, “This is not the only news regarding Felicitous Rain Lord. What shall follow is information that has much to do with all of you!”

When Yu Tianfeng said this, everyone pricked up their ears. Has much to do with them?

“Felicitous Rain Lord has been touring my Oracle Fey Kingdom recently. When Felicitous Rain Lord met Imperial Patriarch, he mentioned his intentions of taking in a disciple. Felicitous Rain Lord might choose one disciple from our alliance! The Imperial Patriarch ordered us to inform you all of the intentions of Felicitous Rain Lord. This is a great opportunity for all of you.” Yu Tianfeng said this sentence rather grudgingly.

He actually felt that Felicitous Rain Lord could have chosen a disciple from the Oracle Fey Kingdom itself. As the saying went, keep the benefits within the family, but Felicitous Rain Lord insisted on spreading a wider net for his selection.

When the young elites present heard this news, it was as though a burning meteorite had hit a calm water surface!

A Divine Lord was accepting a disciple!?

Many disciples immediately turned excited!

What did it mean to become a disciple of a Divine Lord?

As long as one became the disciple of a Divine Lord, that was truly a single leap into success! Regardless if you were a Supremacy’s disciple or an heir to the throne, they were nothing comparable. And as for the lesser status of being a disciple of a large family clan, they were equivalent to shit in front of of a Divine Lord’s disciple.

Without a doubt, as long as they became a disciple of a Divine Lord, they would become the best amongst the younger generation of all the factions present. Even the emperor of the faction that the person resided in had to treat the Divine Lord’s disciple politely as a guest.

A Divine Lord controlled a great deal of resources. Even a tiny bit that leaked out of his fingers would benefit them all their lives!

Even Yi Yun was tempted. There were too many benefits to becoming a Divine Lord’s disciple. Even the Fey Phantasm Sect probably did not dare to kill a Divine Lord’s disciple without any thought.

923 - : Felicitous Rain Lord

CKtalon  CKtalon

How was one to become a disciple of a Divine Lord? What were the standards that Felicitous Rain Lord demanded in a disciple?

The young elites present were all extremely excited. Everyone that could sit in the gathering was a blessed child of heaven. It was not only limited to the cream of the crop that had participated in the Luo Divine Hall trials and the White Fox clan trials, there were young geniuses who were older, to the point of them being two to three hundred years old.

They had confidence in their own talents, so how could they miss this opportunity that could aid them in reaching the heavens in a single leap?

Felicitous Rain Lord was a truly important figure in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. Just him alone was enough to make the Fey Phantasm Sect tremble before him. After all, the Fey Phantasm Sect only had one Divine Lord for themselves. The Divine Lord of the Fey Phantasm Sect would not be afraid of offending an existence at the same level, but what about the people of the Fey Phantasm Sect? They would be easily slaughtered.

The young disciples present were basically from the Luo clan and the White Fox clan. These two factions had close relations and it was just a matter of time before they formed an alliance between themselves. As for the Oracle Fey Kingdom, its relationship with the two factions was much poorer.

Yu Tianfeng was unhappy with the fact that Felicitous Rain Lord had gone beyond the Oracle Fey Kingdom and into the entire alliance to search for a disciple. Now, seeing the Luo clan and White Fox disciples so excited as they fantasized about how such a great opportunity had landed in their laps, Yu Tianfeng’s eyes reveal a hint of disdain.

They were just a bunch of toads lusting after a swan’s flesh. Was becoming a Divine Lord’s disciple so easy? What made them even qualify?

My Oracle Fey Kingdom’s present younger generation is filled with talent. Yet, when so many talents were shown to Felicitous Rain Lord, all he did was give a smile and reserve comment.

The yardstick of a Divine Lord was extremely elevated. But even so, when the best person of my Oracle Fey Kingdom’s younger generation revealed his Great Dao Dao Domain, he had only made Felicitous Rain Lord nod his head.

It was something worth being proud of to make a Divine Lord nod his head.

Although Felicitous Rain Lord later insisted on expanding the scope of the disciple selection to the entire alliance, Yu Tianfeng was confident that the windfall would ultimately land on the Oracle Fey Kingdom!

The elites of the other factions were there just to serve as a foil.

“Ambassador, did Felicitous Rain Lord set any standards such that if they are reached would lead to a chance of becoming his disciple?” At that moment, as one of the leading characters of the Luo clan’s younger generation, Prince Crimson Firmament spoke up.

Yu Tianfeng did not put him at heart, even though he was a prince of the Luo clan that would very likely inherit the throne. He glanced at Prince Crimson Firmament for a moment before slowly responding, “Felicitous Rain Lord did not set any standards and he only revealed that he had intentions of taking in a disciple. He did not say if he would definitely accept a disciple. Don’t keep your hopes up. For the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. However, I believe if any of you were able to condense a nine-leaf Dao fruit, it would not be difficult to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple.”

“Nine-leaf Dao fruit?”

Upon hearing Yu Tianfeng’s words, the crowd was rendered speechless. It was difficult to condense a nine-leaf Dao fruit even for smaller Dao below the five elements or Natural Dao. Although the geniuses present were confident of themselves, they did not believe that they had the ability to condense a nine-leaf Dao fruit.

Being able to condense an eight-leaf Dao fruit was a grand event that could stir the entire clan.

However, the possibility of becoming a Divine Lord even if one stepped into the Dao Manifestation realm while possessing a nine-leaf Dao fruit was still rather small.

After all, a Divine Lord enjoyed a long lifespan. He could take in many disciples, but out of these disciples, the possibility of producing a new Divine Lord was extremely minute. It was just too difficult to become a Divine Lord.

“What is that Yu Tianfeng so arrogant for!? It’s just the Imperial Patriarch of the Oracle Fey Kingdom knowing a Divine Lord, not Yu Tianfeng himself. What nine-leaf Dao fruit? I don’t believe that their Oracle Fey Kingdom’s geniuses can condense a nine-leaf Dao fruit!”

“Yeah, he’s completely looking down on us by saying the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. He just doesn’t want us to compete with the Oracle Fey Kingdom.”

The White Fox clan and Luo clan’s geniuses began to discuss with each other through private transmissions.

Yi Yun understood what was going on, but Yu Tianfeng’s response was reasonable. From Yu Tianfeng’s point of view, the so-called geniuses present were not fit to enter the Divine Lord’s eyes. That was because the Oracle Fey Kingdom themselves had geniuses that had a chance to come into contact with a Divine Lord.

The opportunity was brought by the Oracle Fey Kingdom, so the disciple selection was naturally from within the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

The two matters were announced during the Luo clan royal palace’s grand summoning. The Fey Phantasm Sect was making a comeback and a Divine Lord was taking in a disciple. As the latter brought the allure of an opportunity with it, the repressed mood because of the Fey Phantasm Sect’s invasion had inexplicably been soothed.

If one were to become a disciple of a Divine Lord, was there any need to fear the Fey Phantasm Sect?

After the meeting ended, Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er left the palace together.

“Yi Yun, any comments on Felicitous Rain Lord taking in a disciple?” Luo Huo’er asked. She could tell that compared to many of the younger disciples, Yi Yun appeared much calmer.

“It’s definite that becoming a Divine Lord’s disciple will greatly aid one’s martial path, but to not even know the standards, it would still be difficult to become a Divine Lord’s disciple. I plan on entering reclusion once I get back, taking a few months to digest the insights gained from the Primordial Space.”

“Another reclusion?” Luo Huo’er was somewhat stunned. “You have already been in reclusion for eighteen years. Why more?”

“I have some insights that need some honing when used in actual combat.” Yi Yun answered.

Luo Huo’er nodded, “I think there’s a need for actual combat as well. You missed a lot of the trials at the Luo Divine Hall, so now it’s time to make up for it. I’ll request Mother to let you use the Heavenly Slaughter Array. The Heavenly Slaughter Array is meant to train young elites’ actual combat power. Cultivating in the Heavenly Slaughter Array might allow your strength to increase by leaps and bounds.”

“Yes, that would be good as well.” Yi Yun was immediately pleased as he nodded.

“Then, if there’s any important news regarding Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple selection, I’ll get someone to inform you so that you can exit reclusion early. Don’t miss out on the Felicitous Rain Lord’s selection. I have a lot of confidence in you.” Luo Huo’er said as she grinned at Yi Yun. Taking Yi Yun along, they flew towards Fenghua Palace

…

As Luo Huo’er and Yi Yun were traveling to meet Empress Xuan, a spirit cruiser was silently traversing through deep space outside the Luo clan’s royal capital.

The grade of this spirit cruiser was slightly poorer than the spirit cruiser that the Luo clan used to travel to the Primordial Empyrean Heaven.

The Primordial Empyrean Heaven spirit cruiser used by the Luo clan was the vessel belonging to a Supremacy or Emperor Luo, but the owner of this spirit cruiser was just a young man.

At that moment, the young man was standing on the bow, looking into the far and deep cosmos. Far away, a land mass with nebulae shrouding it floated in the darkness. As the spirit cruiser coasted, it slowly closed the distance.

“That is the Luo clan’s royal capital, right?”

Beside the young man was a beautiful woman. She wore a veil that covered her enchanting body. Her skin was not snow-white, but it had a malty gloss, allowing her to exude a healthy beauty.

“Yes, this is the first leg of our trip, and it is also the most important leg. Felicitous Rain Lord did not give the standard required for me to become his disciple, so I’ll create a standard for Felicitous Rain Lord.”

“I’ll make Felicitous Rain Lord pay attention to me.” The young man said confidently. The girl beside him gently bowed and said, “Young Master will definitely become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple.”

924 - : Standards for Disciple Selection

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Luo clan’s royal palace covered an extremely expansive area. And in this wide area, the palaces and buildings only took up an extremely tiny portion of that area. Behind the royal palace, there was a wide expanse dotted with immortal mountains and spiritual grounds.

These immortal mountains was where Heaven Earth Yuan Qi gathered. It was a perfect place for cultivation.

“This is the back of the Luo clan’s royal palace. Here, there are a hundred thousand immortal mountains. The deeper you go, the richer the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi is, but the more restricted the area is as well. In the deepest depths, even Mother lacks the authority to enter.” Luo Huo’er accompanied Yi Yun as she said along the way.

“Oh?” Yi Yun was taken aback. “A restricted zone that even Her Majesty isn’t allowed in?”

Luo Huo’er nodded and said, “Yes, the Luo clan royal palace itself is atop a land with the clan’s greatest spirit root. And it is because of this spirit root that this place was designated as a site for the royal palace.”

“Behind the royal palace, there are three Luo clan Supremacies in reclusion. One of them is the true person in power of the Luo clan — Third Imperial Granduncle. He has been in reclusion for a hundred thousand years. During this period, only Father can communicate with him.”

The Third Imperial Uncle!

Yi Yun exhaled lightly. He obviously knew about the Third Imperial Uncle being the person who enjoyed the highest status in the Luo clan.

The emperor of the Luo clan could be changed. Be it Luo Huo’er or Prince Crimson Firmament, it would not deal much of an impact to the Luo clan as the Third Imperial Uncle was the figure that represented the Luo clan’s soul.

The Third Imperial Uncle did not clearly indicate any support for any of the heirs to the throne. If he were to make any indication, there was no need for Prince Crimson Firmament and Luo Huo’er vie for it.

Luo Huo’er took Yi Yun deep into the expanse behind of the royal palace before stopping in front of a canyon.

On the side of the canyon, there were Luo clan royal palace guards guarding the area. After Luo Huo’er flashed a token, the guards knelt down in respect, allowing Yi Yun to enter the canyon.

This was where the Luo clan’s Heavenly Slaughter Array was located.

The Heavenly Slaughter Array could simulate a Shura battlefield. Constant battles would happen upon entering the Heavenly Slaughter Array. Through battle, one’s combat will was honed while pushing them to their limit.

Although the Heavenly Slaughter Array was partially an illusionary array, the battle process was completely realistic. This was because the opponents that appeared in the Heavenly Slaughter Array were not simple illusions, they were true existences.

Luo Huo’er said, “Decades ago, the war between the Luo clan and the Fey Phantasm Sect allowed the Heavenly Slaughter Array to become richer. Many of the fiends of the Fey Phantasm Sect, be they young or old, were captured alive after they lost their ability to fight. Their souls were refined into the Heavenly Slaughter Array, becoming corpse puppets of the Heavenly Slaughter Array!”

“Little Yun, when you enter the Heavenly Slaughter Array, you will be able to fight those fiends of the Fey Phantasm Sect!”

When Luo Huo’er made this remark, her eyes revealed a rare coldness.

Although it was not considered to be merciful to refine a live person into the Heavenly Slaughter Array, it was a war that determined the survival of a clan, so how could they show kindness to the enemy? They had to be cruel when needed.

Refining the fiends of the Fey Phantasm Sect into the Heavenly Slaughter Array was a pretty wise choice. It allowed the Luo clan disciples to experience a simulated battle with strong Fey Phantasm Sect members during their cultivation. It would also prevent them from being caught unprepared on the battlefield.

Yi Yun never expected to be able to witness the strong Fey Phantasm Sect members so soon. This filled his heart anticipation. The Fey Phantasm Sect’s cultivation methods were different to the Luo clan’s.

By being able to see the different cultivation methods and combat styles of the world was extremely beneficial for Yi Yun.

The array flashed as Yi Yun stepped into the it…

…

In the bustling Luo clan royal capital, there was a street named Luo Water Street. The street was not straight and it was filled with bends like a meandering river. This gave it its name.

Luo Water Street was flourishing and it could be said that every inch of ground here was worth its weight in gold. A small shop that was ten square feet in size was worth more than ten thousand World Stones.

Beside the entrance of Luo Water Street stood a restaurant that was famous in the entire Luo clan royal capital. Its name was Luo Water Restaurant, and it did not allow entry to typical patrons. Just wealth enough was insufficient, one needed sufficient status as well.

The prices in Luo Water Restaurant were extremely high, and for the lounge on the seventh level, it was only given to the most important patrons. A simple dish would be worth more than a thousand World Stones. People who could sit here to dine were typically members of large family clans or even princes and princesses.

At that moment, on the seventh level of Luo Water Restaurant, there was a table filled with spiritual food made out of the most valuable ingredients as well as ambrosia that contained the richest Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

“For Felicitous Rain Lord to take in a disciple, it is truly an extraordinarily grand occasion. It was just him revealing a tiny bit of his intentions without affirming it, yet it has stirred the entire alliance. It seems there were many geniuses from everywhere coming to the Luo clan royal capital over the past few days. They probably do not wish to miss this grand event.”

The person who spoke was holding a wine glass in his hand that swirled with wine. He was dressed lavishly in a yellow robe. If Yi Yun were here, he would recognize him to be Prince Pingnan, who had recommended Yi Yun to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials!

Although Prince Pingnan was not Empress Xuan’s son, he was one of her cadres. In order to help Luo Huo’er gather geniuses to participate in the Luo Divine Hall trials, he had gone through a great hassle. Having recruited Yi Yun, Empress Xuan had rewarded Prince Pingnan greatly.

Beside Prince Pingnan were a few people. According to their pecking order, their statuses surpassed Prince Pingnan. One of them was Supremacy Gulan’s disciple, Jian Zhu as well as the White Fox clan genius, Wufeng.

In the warrior’s world, strength determined the pecking order. Although he was a prince, he was inferior to Jian Zhu and Wufeng because his strength was only average.

“They are here just to join in the fun. If they were told that they could become disciples of a Divine Lord, they might not even believe it themselves.” Wufeng shook his head. “From my point of view, the most promising ones below a hundred years old are Princess Purple Spirit, Princess Xue’er, and if another is to be added, it would be Yi Yun. But between a hundred to three hundred years old, there are a lot more. For example, Chu Yunjian, Lin Xuanji… However, these are only people from the Luo and White Fox clans. The other large clans do not lack people either. I wonder what the chances of us winning are.”

Wufeng estimated that a Divine Lord would not accept someone more than three hundred years old as a disciple. The older one was, the more of their nomological cultivation was in place, so it was harder to nurture them.

“Princess Xue’er and Princess Purple Spirit? Interesting, but unfortunately, the chances of you winning is probably close to zero.” Suddenly, the fluttering voice of a woman with a teasing hint echoed.

Jian Zhu, Wufeng and the people at the table turned their heads around. They saw four people sitting on a table not far from them.

The person on the left was a beauty with malt-colored skin. Her voluptuous figure gave her a wild nature.

On the right was a bare-chested, muscular man, but his muscles were covered in scars. His weapon was extremely special. It was a pole axe.

And in between the two sat an ordinary-looking young man wearing azure-colored clothes.

In a warrior’s world, due to Yuan Qi nourishing one’s body, it resulted in plenty of handsome men and beautiful women. This young man was considered out of the ordinary. Although he looked ordinary, his eyes were extremely sharp. Furthermore, his pupils were red, as though they were two red clouds floating in the sky.

Beside the azure-clothed young man sat an old man. He wore a bamboo hat and he was covered in a cloak. He looked sinister and mysterious. There was a table of dishes placed in front of him, but the bowl and eating utensils in front of him were untouched, as though he did not even touch any of the food.

The female voice was the enchantress with malt-colored skin.

However, the enchanting woman was most likely a subordinate in this group of people. The person who was the leader was the ordinary-looking young man with red cloud-like pupils.

“Who are you?” Wufeng asked with a frown. He was an admirer of Princess Xue’er. The frivolous comment had incurred the wrath of Wufeng. He did not tolerate others to mention Princess Xue’er in a dismissive manner.

“I’m Chi Zhuiyun, from the Oracle Fey Kingdom.” The man with the red pupils said with a calm voice, but it carried a sharpness of a sword that penetrated straight to the eardrums.

925 - : Heavenly Slaughter Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Chi Zhuiyun? Oracle Fey Kingdom!?”

The people present did not have much of an impression regarding Chi Zhuiyun’s name when they heard it. After all, the Oracle Fey Kingdom and the Luo clan were far apart geographically. Before the advent of the Fey Phantasm Sect, the two powers did not interact much. They would know the names of the Supremacies on each side and other general information, but they did not know anything about the younger talents.

“Who is Chi Zhuiyun? I’ve never heard of him!” A White Fox disciple who idolized Princess Xue’er sneered.

So what if he was an Oracle Fey Kingdom’s genius? Be it the Luo clan or the White Fox clan, neither of them were inferior to the Oracle Fey Kingdom. How dare an ordinary genius of the Oracle Fey Kingdom belittle the flawless Princess Xue’er? Did he think that he was a paragon of excellence?

Chi Zhuiyun was unperturbed by the young disciple’s disdain for him. He only said slowly, “It’s alright even if you have never heard of it. All of you will soon remember my name.”

Chi Zhuiyun said these words with extreme confidence, but they were said in such a calm manner, as though he was not flaunting himself, but merely stating a fact.

Jian Zhu narrowed his eyes. He could tell that Chi Zhuiyun’s cultivation realm was extremely terrifying, but he could not tell the how terrifying it was.

He exchanged glances with Wufeng. Wufeng remained silent, but he agreed with Jian Zhu’s judgment.

Upon hearing Chi Zhuiyun’s words, the White Fox disciple that had previously spoken said scornfully, “Remember your name? Hmph! Ever since Felicitous Rain Lord revealed his intention of taking in a disciple, all sorts of cats and dogs have jumped out, believing about their magnificence. Do you think that I do not know that Felicitous Rain Lord is in the Oracle Fey Kingdom? Aren’t you also from the Oracle Fey Kingdom? If you were that good, is there a need for you to come to the Luo clan? You could have just stayed in the Oracle Fey Kingdom. Even if you didn’t get selected as a Divine Lord’s disciple, you should have participated in the selection. You were eliminated early on and you are coming here to the Luo clan to find some sense of existentialism!”

The White Fox disciple was extremely vicious with his words. Since Felicitous Rain Lord was in the Oracle Fey Kingdom, why didn’t he stay in the Oracle Fey Kingdom if he were so confident? Why did he come to the Luo clan?

And what he said infuriated the group from the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

Chi Zhuiyun did not say a word, but the man sitting beside him who was covered in scars, suddenly threw out a punch!

“Boom!”

Violent energies burst out of his fist. This punch stirred up a storm that swept through the seventh level of the Luo Water Restaurant!

The tables and cutlery in the seventh level were embroiled by the storm, but strangely, the storm left them unscathed. It was like the tables and chairs were in an alternate dimension, isolating them. However, the White Fox disciple who was targeted by the core of the storm could clearly feel an intense pressure. He was like a leaf in the middle of a terrifying storm, one that could be torn apart at any time.

There was no way for him to defend himself!

The White Fox disciple felt a deep sense of helplessness. All of his Yuan Qi had been sealed, preventing him from using any of his strength.

“Make way!”

At that moment, a shout resounded in the dazed White Fox disciple’s ears. Wufeng had made a move!

Wufeng was appalled at the moment. The scarred man looked burly, so he was a strength-based warrior most likely, but the precise control that he had exhibited was staggering.

“Sou!”

A heavy sword slashed out, tearing the storm apart! A dense sword beam shot forward, flying at the scarred man’s face!

But under the wanton assailment of the storm, the sword beam weakened as it progressed. It was constantly enervated to the point of being like a gentle breeze when it reached the scarred man, ruffling his hair.

“Bam!”

The sword beam and the storm vanished simultaneously, turning into nothingness. The tables, cutlery and dishes remained untouched, as though the killing intent and the explosion had never existed to begin with.

This was a manifestation of Wufeng and the scarred man’s precise energy control. However, the scarred man was unarmed, but Wufeng had already used his sword!

Wufeng had a heavy expression. The scarred man was extremely strong, one that he would have difficulty handling.

At that moment, the scarred man chuckled and he grabbed the pole ax that was hanging on his back!

To use a weapon like a pole ax in a restaurant showed the absolute confidence that the scarred man had in controlling it.

Although he knew that the scarred man was redoubtable, Wufeng could not weaken his stance at that moment in time. It was tied to the White Fox clan’s honor.

Wufeng stood up with his heavy sword in hand. At that moment, his shoulder was held by Jian Zhu. “Let me do it.”

Jian Zhu was much stronger than Wufeng!

He had already sensed that Wufeng was probably not the scarred man’s match. Although Wufeng had seemingly controlled his energy through the slash of his sword perfectly, he was actually inferior to the scarred man. If this battle continued on, Wufeng was bound to lose.

Even Jian Zhu himself did not have the confidence of beating the other party.

Furthermore, this was only the scarred man. Chi Zhuiyun was still sitting down and drinking wine.

The difference was already apparent. Chi Zhuiyun was much more terrifying than he had imagined, someone that he was absolutely unable to handle.

Seeing Jian Zhu stand up, the elder beside Chi Zhuiyun leaned over and whispered a few words in his ear.

Chi Zhuiyun’s sword-like eyebrows pricked up, “Oh? Supremacy Gulan’s disciple?”

Chi Zhuiyun glanced at Jian Zhu and said with a laugh, “So you are Jian Zhu. Before I left to come to the Luo clan, my housekeeper had given me a list of the geniuses in the White Fox clan and Luo clan. You should be honored to be listed on the list.”

“Actually, I do not care who is on the list, but with a list, it will save me a lot of trouble. At least I would not need to find an opponent one after another. But now, it seems like the people on the name list are only average, just like you. It is slightly disappointing for me. Luo Sha is more than sufficient to defeat you.”

The Luo Sha that Chi Zhuiyun mentioned was the scarred man beside him.

As Chi Zhuiyun spoke, pride flashed across the scarred man’s face. Clearly, he disparaged Jian Zhu.

Jian Zhu’s face sank. He was a calm person and he did not enjoy the thirst of prevailing over others. But today, he was suppressing the angry pangs of fire in his heart as well.

“No match? Then let me learn from this!”

“Hahaha! You are free to pick the venue. Here, or the arena!” Luo Sha said with a guffaw.

“Just here, take this!”

Jian Zhu attacked with his sword. He was the strongest person among the White Fox clan and Luo clan disciples that were sitting here. If he could not even beat Luo Sha, he would be too embarrassed to continue sitting here today.

Jian Zhu used all his strength with that strike. And at that moment, Luo Sha brandished the pole ax and he cleaved it forward, as though he was collapsing a mountain. Such power made it feel like the restaurant was about to collapse!

The pole ax shimmered with a sanguine halo. On the long pole of the pole ax, a coiling blood snake materialized, cleaving heavily onto Jian Zhu’s sword.

In a head-on clash between a sword and an ax, it would appear as though the sword was at a disadvantage, but Jian Zhu’s sword beam was extremely sharp. He tapped thrice with his sword, splitting Luo Sha’s coiling blood snake on his pole ax apart with three swords beams, piercing straight towards Luo Sha’s throat!

Seeing the sword beams about to reach him, Luo Sha suddenly stretched his hand out and made a grabbing gesture with his fist.

“Peng!”

The sword beam directly shattered, and maintaining the momentum, Luo Sha punched at Jian Zhu!

What!?

Jian Zhu’s expression changed. He had never expected his opponent’s fist to be so hard, to the point of resisting the sword beam. His guess from before wasn’t wrong. His opponent was an extremely accomplished master when it came to physique cultivation.

Jian Zhu slashed once more, augmenting the sword momentum that clashed with Luo Sha head on.

“Boom!”

The continuous fighting evoked a violent explosion. But under the two people’s restraint, the explosive energy that had nowhere to go seemed to have eyes as it blasted out of the seventh floor’s windows, turning into a massive light pillar that shot into the void!

Countless people on the bustling Luo Water Street saw this scene. The light pillar was like a radiant sun beam that was miles wide and shot towards the sky. People realized that there was a huge battle happening in Luo Water Restaurant!

Who were the ones fighting?

This was the Luo Water Restaurant, yet they were fighting inside?

People were curious, but the seventh level of the Luo Water Restaurant was not a place that they were qualified to enter.

“Ka-cha!”

Seven pieces of cutlery shattered above the table in front of Jian Zhu!

Three plates were cleaved in half. The cuts were straight and smooth, as though they had been measured by a ruler.

As for the other bowls and plates, they completely turned to dust, splashing the food onto the table.

The energy control of the duo was still in no way perfect.

Although it could be said that this was a combination of Jian Zhu and Luo Sha’s attacks, the shattered plates were on Jian Zhu’s table, while everything was fine on his opponent’s side.

In the previous foray, Jian Zhu was at a complete disadvantage!

926 - : Chi Zhuiyun

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Jian Zhu! Are you alright!?” Prince Pingnan said as he stood beside Jian Zhu.

Amongst the younger generation of the Luo clan, Prince Pingnan was the oldest, and his cultivation was at the Dao Manifestation perfection realm. He was able to see the process of the entire battle clearly. Luo Sha’s use of the ax pole and his energy control exceeded his imagination. It was unknown how he had cultivated such a top body tempering technique.

And compared to Luo Sha, Chi Zhuiyun was obviously much more unfathomable.

Prince Pingnan could tell his cultivation level and it was half-step Dao Manifestation.

Half-step Dao Manifestation was the transitional process when the laws on the Heaven Ascension Dao Tree began to condense together, but the Dao fruit had yet to take form.

The tiny difference in cultivation level was typically nothing for elites like Jian Zhu, but when the opponent was also an elite, it was completely different.

Prince Pingnan suspected that without him, even if all of them joined forces, they were still no match for Chi Zhuiyun.

“Let’s go!”

Prince Pingnan stood up, since their stance was lacking in formidability, it was meaningless to for them to stay behind.

Jian Zhu was not willing to be outdone, but he nodded his head.

Before leaving, Prince Pingnan turned to look at Chi Zhuiyun and said, “Today, we may be inferior, but our Luo clan and the White Fox clan are filled with young talent. Gaining victory against us is nothing.”

“Heh!” Chi Zhuiyun scoffed as he drank from cup of wine in his hand. “On my trip to the Luo clan, I will be visiting every young elite of the Luo clan and the White Fox clan! However, I believe that very few people are worth getting my hands dirty.”

Chi Zhuiyun’s words were filled with confidence from beginning to end, but he truly had the power backing his boastful words.

Be it Luo Sha or the girl, who were both beside Chi Zhuiyun, their strength was extraordinary. Jian Zhu was not even able to match any one of them, so if he could not defeat any of the two, there was no reason for Chi Zhuiyun to do anything.

Prince Pingnan’s expression sank. “You are planning on trampling on the Luo clan and the White Fox clan so you can to attract Felicitous Rain Lord’s attention in order to become his disciple?”

Since Chi Zhuiyun came from the Oracle Fey Kingdom and he was planning on challenging all of the geniuses of the Luo clan and the White Fox clan, his goals were self-evident.

“It won’t only be the Luo clan and the White Fox clan, it will be the entire alliance. I know that when all of you learned about Felicitous Rain Lord’s intention of finding a disciple, you had the extravagant wish of becoming his disciple, but I will tell you that none of you are qualified. Furthermore, I do not need to use such a method to attract Felicitous Rain Lord’s attention. He has already summoned and met me.”

Oh? Felicitous Rain Lord’s summoning?

Prince Pingnan heart sank. At that moment, the malt-colored skin girl beside Chi Zhuiyun said proudly, “Our young master has already put the elites of several factions in the alliance in their place during our Oracle Fey Kingdom trials. Later on, our young master received Felicitous Rain Lord’s summoning and after seeing our young master’s Dao Domain, he nodded his head to express his recognition!”

Among all of the young elites in the entire Oracle Fey Kingdom, only Chi Zhuiyun had received Felicitous Rain Lord’s recognition by displaying his Great Dao Dao Domain. Any ordinary Dao Domain was obviously insufficient in obtaining Felicitous Rain Lord’s recognition, so this meant that Chi Zhuiyun’s Dao Domain was far from ordinary.

Prince Pingnan’s expression turned ugly. This person wanted to trample on all of the geniuses of the alliance in order to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple!

With that, the battle was no longer limited to their group and Chi Zhuiyun, it had extended to the entire Luo clan.

This battle could not be lost!

…

When Prince Pingnan, Jian Zhu, and company appeared at the entrance of Luo Water Restaurant, there were several people who had gathered around it. All of them knew about the battle that had taken place on the seventh level of Luo Water Restaurant.

“It’s a prince!”

Few people recognized Prince Pingnan, but they recognized the princely robe.

“They are both elites of our Luo clan and the White Fox clan. Who was so dumb to fight them!?”

The crowd discussed in a feverish pitch, but the misunderstanding sounded harsh on Jian Zhu’s ears.

The members of the Luo clan obviously believed that their elites were powerful, but the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven was large. There was no limit in the universe.

They could only hope that Princess Purple Spirit could match Chi Zhuiyun…

…

News of the battle that happened at Luo Water Restaurant was quickly spread by people on Luo Water Street. It was unknown who had managed to discover the identity of the opponents, but it was made know that the opponents were from the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s younger generation.

If this were ordinary times, it was still a good topic of discussion, but it would not have garnered so much attention.

But now, with a Divine Lord taking in a disciple, a battle amongst elites in the Luo clan royal capital was too eye-catching, especially when it was a battle between the Luo clan and the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

This news proliferated at an astonishing rate.

As the battle process was unseen by the people on Luo Water Street, the information that spread was mostly exaggerated. It resulted in several versions, with the outcome of the battle being uncertain.

However, with the passage of time, news after news spread around the streets!

Indeed, there was someone from the Oracle Fey Kingdom who was challenging the geniuses of the Luo clan and the White Fox clan one after another.

First, it was Luo Mo, who was easily defeated by a genius from the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

Next, it was the Shadow Twins. Nongyue was defeated by a girl from the Oracle Fey Kingdom, while Nongying fought an intense battle for a hundred moves before the battle ended in a draw.

Although it was a draw, the opponent had challenged Nongyue before Nongying, with less than thirty minutes in between the battles. As a result, it was obvious who was superior.

People also began to know the names of the challengers from the Oracle Fey Kingdom. They were Luo Sha, Demon Girl, and Chi Zhuiyun!

The most mysterious one, Chi Zhuiyun, never fought anyone yet, but people heard rumors that Chi Zhuiyun was the only person in the entire alliance who was recognized by Felicitous Rain Lord.

The trip that the Oracle Fey Kingdom took to the Luo clan was only for Chi Zhuiyun to prove his strength!

Xuan Junyue was the fourth person from the Luo clan and White Fox clan to be challenged. He was one of Empress Xuan’s men, and he was also the strongest amongst Empress Xuan’s family clan’s younger generation. Before Yi Yun appeared, Xuan Junyue was the backbone of Empress Xuan’s battle with Empress Luo.

During the Luo Divine Hall trials, Xuan Junyue had gone to the White Fox clan and obtained stellar results.

This time, there was finally a piece of good news. After battling Luo Sha for a long time, Xuan Junyue finally managed to defeat him with a slight edge in a tough battle.

However, this only piece of good news was not something that was worth being happy about. This was because Xuan Junyue was older than Luo Sha, and secondly, Chi Zhuiyun had yet to fight!

How powerful was this person who had been recognized by Felicitous Rain Lord?

No one knew for sure.

The White Fox clan and the Luo clan still had Luo Huo’er and Princess White Fox, as well as Yi Yun, who had entered reclusion for eighteen years straight.

They were the final bedrock that the White Fox clan and the Luo clan could rely on. Without a doubt, Chi Zhuiyun would have to fight, and the battles would be the center of attention!

Immediately, the entire Luo clan royal capital was immersed in a calm before the storm. The challenges that the Oracle Fey Kingdom had undertaken were brewing. People were waiting for the arrival of the final battle.

And on this day, news finally came out that Chi Zhuiyun was going to fight.

What caught people by surprise was that he did not challenge Princess White Fox or Luo Huo’er.

But… it was a genius who had been long famous in the White Fox clan — Chu Yunjian!

Chu Yunjian had long stepped into the Dao Manifestation realm, having condensed space-time Dao fruits!

As for Chi Zhuiyun, he was only in the half-step Dao Manifestation realm.

927 - : Brewing of the Storm

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh? Chi Zhuiyun wants to challenge Chu Yunjian!?”

In Crimson Firmament Palace, Bai Yueqing, Prince Crimson Firmament, and Chu Yunjian were drinking wine when they heard the news.

Chu Yunjian was Bai Yueqing’s subordinate, and in the White Fox clan, Chu Yunjian was regarded by Bai Yueqing as a first-class guest. This allowed Chu Yunjian to sit alone with a friend in a pavilion outside the emperor’s palace while waiting to be summoned by Emperor Luo.

In the beginning, Bai Yueqing believed that when the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s Chi Zhuiyun came to the Luo clan, he would finally challenge Luo Huo’er and Princess Xue’er, and of course, the best outcome was Luo Huo’er being defeated by Chi Zhuiyun before Xue’er turned the tide.

But they never expected that Chi Zhuiyun had not chosen to challenge Luo Huo’er, but he challenged Chu Yunjian instead.

“That Chi Zhuiyun is way too arrogant!”, said a sullen Bai Yueqing before he glanced at Chu Yunjian and added, “Yunjian broke through to the Dao Manifestation several years ago, condensing a sword Dao fruit and space-time Dao fruits. With the space-time Dao fruits having seven leaves, they were of excellent quality. Even if Chi Zhuiyun had condensed a Dao fruit, he was not necessarily superior to you, Yunjian, what more him having yet to reach the Dao Manifestation realm.”

As Bai Yueqing spoke, Chu Yunjian shook his head and said, “Your Highness, your humble servant knows his strength very well. That Chi Zhuiyun isn’t simple, but he is at half-step Dao Manifestation. Once he manifests his Dao, the Dao fruit that he manifests will definitely surpass me, but… that is after he manifests his Dao. Now, he has yet to manifest his Dao fruit, and he wants to leapfrog and challenge me… ”

Chu Yunjian gulped down the glass of wine in hand and he no longer spoke another word.

“Haha! Brother Yueqing, there’s no need to be angry. That Chi Zhuiyun may be arrogant, daring to declare that he alone will trample our Luo and White Fox clan. If he had limited it to the Heaven Ascension realm, that would have been fine, but to challenge Brother Yunjian in his first battle, that’s good. Brother Yunjian can take the edge off his spirit, letting him know the difference between the Dao Manifestation and the Heaven Ascension realm!”

Prince Crimson Firmament and Bai Yueqing were allies. Both of them supported each other in order to support their respective inheritance of the throne.

Now, with Chi Zhuiyun challenging Chu Yunjian, Prince Crimson Firmament would be very happy to see Chu Yunjian repress Chi Zhuiyun.

The news of Chi Zhuiyun battling Chu Yunjian had caused a great sensation in the Luo clan royal capital. Chi Zhuiyun and company had already been in the Luo clan royal capital for more than ten days. The royal capital was not given a breather in those days because there was a huge battle every other day!

A battle between the best amongst geniuses was an exciting event, what more it had the Luo clan and White Fox clan’s honor on the line.

The venue of Chu Yunjian and Chi Zhuiyun’s battle was decided to be on the southern desolate mountain plains in the western suburbs of the royal capital.

The southern desolate mountain plains were several million kilometers wide, and due to the sparse population, it was a venue where many warriors used to spar. On this day, at the brink of dawn, groups of warriors flew out of the royal capital and rushed to the southern desolate mountain plains. Soon, the expansive desolate plains were filled with hundreds of thousands of people.

“There’s so many people!”

“It hasn’t even begun. Once the battle begins, the number of people might even increase several-fold!”

…

While Chi Zhuiyun and Chu Yunjian’s battle was ongoing, Yi Yun had been in reclusive cultivation in the Heavenly Slaughter Array for more than ten days.

The Heavenly Slaughter Array was truly an eye-opening experience for Yi Yun. Compared to the battles against the Ancient Fey in the Fey Refining Rock array, fighting against warriors and the situations that he encountered were multifarious in nature. Especially with the warriors being Fey Phantasm Sect disciples captured by the Luo clan, they were perfectly restored through soul-refining methods, both in terms of their combat techniques and the laws they cultivated.

And the opponents that Yi Yun chose were from the younger generation of the Fey Phantasm Sect. There were also many low-class Fey Phantasm Sect disciples that were stuck in the Dao Manifestation for several years. Even if he chose disciples from the younger generation, they were not formidable geniuses of the Fey Phantasm Sect. True Fey Phantasm Sect geniuses would typically not be caught alive by the Luo clan.

As such, when Yi Yun chose his opponents, he would bias it to those who were at the mid-stages of the Dao Manifestation or even higher.

He was already at the Heaven Ascension perfection realm, and since his opponents were not geniuses, it was meaningless to battle cultivators below the Dao Manifestation realm.

With a flash of light, more than a dozen figures appeared in front of Yi Yun. These people exuded demonic auras. They were all Fey Phantasm Sect disciples, be it their aura or expressions, they were no different from when they were alive.

Yi Yun had experienced such battles for nearly a hundred times over the past couple of days. Under such intense battles, Yi Yun depended on the Purple Crystal to absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to replenish his stamina, allowing Yi Yun to persist. Even Heaven Fey with top bloodlines were far inferior to Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal through the endurance that they gained from the power of their bloodline.

The figures charged at Yi Yun and the person who was leading the charge had a gigantic python coiled around him. The python stuck its black tongue out, while its amber pupils were filled with cold killing intent. Back when this Fey Phantasm Sect disciple was refined, the gigantic python had been refined into the Heavenly Slaughter Array along with him.

“Die!”

Without any change in expression, runic patterns flashed on Yi Yun’s sword. With a thrust of his sword, it moved like lightning and penetrated the python’s mouth, before piercing the back of its head, straight into its master’s throat!

Puah!

Blood splattered as an instant kill was achieved!

A Fey Phantasm Sect disciple at the peak of the early stages of the Dao Manifestation realm was killed easily by Yi Yun like he was chopping vegetables. He did not have the opportunity to use the moves and laws that he had comprehended in life because Yi Yun’s sword was just too fast. Furthermore, the sword was augmented by the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s Dao patterns!

Yi Yun could sustain for prolonged periods of time by using such a combat style, without summoning the entire 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. He could battle until the end.

The Fey Phantasm Sect disciple that was penetrated by the sword convulsed as he collapsed onto the ground. The hatred and indignant look on his face were probably the same expression that he had when his soul was refined, and it was perfectly displayed once again.

Killing the enemy with one strike, Yi Yun had an indomitable stance. Circulating the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’, sword beams flew in every direction.

Cha! Cha! Cha!

The sword beams interwove in the space in the Heavenly Slaughter Array. Wherever they passed, the demons summoned by the Fey Phantasm Sect disciples, the corpse guardians and the puppets that they refined were all slain!

And at that moment, an opponent at the Dao Manifestation perfection realm appeared in front of Yi Yun.

At the Dao Manifestation perfection realm, he was an entire realm above Yi Yun.

The opponent was an elder who was as thin as bones. He looked like a starving ghost that had crawled out from hell.

Such warriors that were left trapped in the Dao Manifestation their entire lives had limited foundations and nomological insights. However, they could not be underestimated. Dao Manifestation realm warriors had extremely long lives and in their extended lifespans, they would research all sorts of strange battle techniques after knowing that there was no hope for them to make any further breakthroughs. Therefore, they were difficult opponents.

This was a pretty good opportunity for Yi Yun to test his strength.

“Phew–”

The Fey Phantasm Sect elder disrobed himself, exposing his thin body. And his body was covered in black balls.

The black balls were embedded in the thin elder’s body. The surface had a black metallic luster. When Yi Yun focused on them, he realized that they were worms, sucking on the Fey Phantasm Sect elder’s blood.

Oh?

Yi Yun frowned. This elder was using his blood to feed the worms. It was a repugnant scene.

928 - : Yi Yun in the Heavenly Slaughter Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Buzz——”

Accompanying resonating sounds that gave one a chill, the black worms flew out of the Fey Phantasm Sect elder’s body like a black storm and flew straight at Yi Yun.

There were thousands of worms, and it was unclear how they were stored in the Fey Phantasm Sect elder’s thin frame.

“Thousand Snow Domain!”

With a thought, 999 flying sabers materialized around him. The saber array clashed with the black worms as swaths of black worms were sliced apart by the flying sabers.

In the Heavenly Slaughter Array, the flying sabers used by Yi Yun were standard issue weapons of the Luo clan, not the original Thousand Snow flying sabers. Therefore, when they were stained by the worms’ blood, they lost a lot of their agility, as they showed signs of being corroded.

Interesting!

With another thought, a three-legged Golden Crow flew out from behind him. The power of pure Yang surged into his sword which he slashed out. A burning inferno befell as though the sun was descending, burning the worms to a crisp wherever the tongues of the burning flames licked.

The sword beam pierced through the swarm of worms, straight for the thin elder’s throat!

At that moment, the Fey Phantasm Sect elder had a cold sneer on his face. A large black mist burst out from the front of his chest and after gaining freedom from the Fey Phantasm Sect elder, it streamed straight at Yi Yun!

Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!

They were ten forbidding black bone needles!

Each bone needle was as long as a forearm, as though each one had a life of its own. As they drew out twisted black trajectories in the sky, they shot at Yi Yun.

Seeing the bone needles, a thought flashed across Yi Yun’s mind. Since the bone needles came from the elder’s chest, were they refined from the elder’s rib bones? The Fey Phantasm Sect’s cultivation techniques were strange and appalling. He would definitely have suffered if he was taken by surprise by such attacks.

The elder’s bone needles sealed Yi Yun’s sword off and any path he could use to dodge them. A cruel smile suffused across the elder’s face, as though he had already seen Yi Yun’s terrible death.

Yi Yun did not retreat and he accelerated instead. Yuan Qi spread out as the nomological fragments of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence augmented his sword. Instantly, a golden light blasted straight into the bone needles.

Boom!

Yi Yun’s figure went from extreme motion to extreme stillness as the bone needles were minced by the sword.

A thousand-foot sword beam tore through the void, penetrating the thin elder’s body!

Yi Yun flew with his sword in hand as he angled the sword tip to the ground. As for the Fey Phantasm Sect elder, he stood motionless on the spot. A huge gaping hole had appeared in his chest. His innards looked as though they had been burned by lava, but what flowed wasn’t lava, it was boiling blood.

The Fey Phantasm Sect elder was reduced to flying ash after he issued a vicious and indignant cry.

Yi Yun exhaled slightly. The sword from before looked simple, but it was a sword move that Yi Yun had come up in the eighteen years he spent in the Primordial Space.

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was something that he could not fully wield, but being able to use the laws in the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence flexibly gave Yi Yun’s sword moves a power that made them completely different from before.

It could be considered that Yi Yun had created his own Sword Dao.

The deeper he went into the Purple Crystal, the more the images he saw from the Purple Crystal’s memories made him marvel at the complex martial paths and the grandness of the world.

Previously, before seeking an audience with Emperor Luo, someone had said that the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was only a mystic technique, which made it impossible to be condensed into a Dao fruit. However, as a cultivator of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, Yi Yun knew very well that this was not just a mystic technique. Yi Yun was looking forward to what the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence would condense into when he truly stepped into the Dao Manifestation realm.

“Continue!” Yi Yun faced his next opponent, knowing nothing about what happened in the outside world.

At that moment, the southern desolation mountain plains were filled with people. Everyone was here to witness the battle of Chi Zhuiyun and Chu Yunjian.

One was an Oracle Fey Kingdom disciple that suddenly arrived to instantly wipe out the Luo and White Fox clan disciples, while the other was a space-time swordsman, who had long established his name.

The people who came to watch the battle were basically members of the Luo clan and the White Fox clan. They hadn’t heard about Chi Zhuiyun much, but they had long heard of Chu Yunjian’s fame.

Chi Zhuiyun had challenged the famous Chu Yunjian, and with him being a realm lower, they were here to see how Chi Zhuiyun would pay the price for his arrogance.

However, no one was happy when they truly witnessed the battle process.

The intense battle had been going on for fifteen minutes, but the scene that they imagined of Chu Yunjian trampling Chi Zhuiyun did not happen.

Indeed, Chi Zhuiyun looked as though he was suppressed by Chu Yunjian’s keen sword moves. He defended more than he attacked, as though he was steadily losing ground, but he remained unbeaten.

As this went on, the audience turned anxious, like it was just shy of the final shove that would determine the outcome.

“Is that all you have? This is all your strength?” During the intense stormy battle, Chi Zhuiyun suddenly spoke. His words were extremely clear as sword and spear clashed. It could be heard throughout the desolate plains.

“Oh?” Chu Yunjian’s sword-like eyebrows pricked up.

“If that is the case, I’m very disappointed. A White Fox clan genius at the early stages of the Dao Manifestation is nothing much after all.” As Chi Zhuiyun said this, the Yuan Qi around him changed.

It turned rich with bloodlust that even people dozens of kilometers away could sense it.

It was like they had entered hell. Wherever their eyes landed, it was a gray background. Crimson clouds filled the sky, burgeoning to a point of them bleeding blood. And the ground was now filled with rugged rocks, with minced meat hanging on them. The ground was scattered with bone fragments.

It was a Shura battleground!

Dao Domain? This was Chi Zhuiyun’s Dao Domain?

People had heard that Chi Zhuiyun had used his Dao Domain to gain Felicitous Rain Lord’s attention, allowing him to be summoned by Felicitous Rain Lord.

Now, with his Dao Domain being activated, it had immersed a million warriors within it, and it was like they had all fallen into a trance.

A so-called Dao Domain was actually a tiny world formed by laws.

In the Universe, before every boundless world was formed, the laws were first fixed in place.

Chaos evolved into Yin-Yang and space-time, before forming the five elements, followed by all matter.

When a warrior’s nomological insight reached a certain realm, they could create worlds. Of course, creating a world was impossible for a Dao Manifestation realm warrior. They could only create a domain.

A Dao Domain’s effects were very limited, but to be able to influence a million people instantly like what Chi Zhuiyun had done was quite astounding!

“It’s over. As long as you are within my Dao Domain, no one at the same realm as me can undertake my spear. Your cultivation realm may surpass me, and you may have insights into space-time Great Dao, but unfortunately, your space-time laws did not integrate themselves. You are not my match.” As Chi Zhuiyun spoke, he thrust his spear out!

All the bloodlust and killing aura in the Dao Domain gathered around his spear as it swept towards Chu Yunjian.

Chu Yunjian’s eyes flashed.

“Even if my space-time laws did not integrate themselves, it is still enough!”

Space-time Sword Dao — River of time!

In the sky, a surging river appeared out of nowhere. One of the 12 Fey Gods of ancient times — River of Forgetfulness. Its manifestation was that of a river of time.

The river of time that Chu Yunjian cast was far inferior to the standard of the River of Forgetfulness, but it had reached a nascent stage.

A sword went upstream against the river of time, like a swimming fish in the river that stabbed straight at Chi Zhuiyun’s throat!

Chi Zhuiyun’s expression turned cold. The spear that he wielded thrust out like a flood dragon in the river!

Boom!

The desolate plains rumbled as the million warriors felt the surging bloodlust. Their vision turned a deep shade of red.

They tried their best to widen their eyes to focus, but all they saw in the sky was Chi Zhuiyun. Standing mid air with spear in hand, he looked cold.

As for Chu Yunjian, he had been pushed dozens of kilometers back. Although he was also flying mid air, his robes were stained with blood and his face was pale. He could not curb the trembling of his sword-wielding hand.

Upon seeing this scene, all of the million warriors in the desolate plains fell silent.

Chu Yunjian had been defeated? This was not a life-and-death battle. It was just a challenge. Being defeated by one strike was also defeat.

Chu Yunjian had been suppressing Chi Zhuiyun from the very beginning, with victory at hand. However, the moment that Chi Zhuiyun’s Dao Domain appeared, the outcome of the battle was reversed. The audience never expected that.

A Dao Manifestation warrior… and a White Fox clan genius at that that had lost to Chi Zhuiyun, who was at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm.

929 - : Chuyun’s Battle

CKtalon  CKtalon

More than a million people had witnessed the battle in the Luo clan royal capital, including eminent figures like Prince Crimson Firmament and Bai Yueqing.

Seeing Chu Yunjian being defeated, Bai Yueqing felt like he had been punched in the face.

Chu Yunjian, who he counted on, had been defeated!

“Brother Yunjian!”

Bai Yueqing’s figure flashed and arrived beside Chu Yunjian to hold on to him.

It had to be said that although Bai Yueqing was an arrogant person, he was still a person who showed concern to his subordinates. At that moment in time, it could be said that he should have been ashamed since his subordinate, Chu Yunjian, had been defeated by someone who was at a lower realm than him in front of a million people. However, as heir to the White Fox clan’s throne, Bai Yueqing stood beside Chu Yunjian and they would weather the adversity together.

“I’m fine.” Chu Yunjian looked at Bai Yueqing with a wry smile. “Your Highness, I have disappointed you… ”

Chu Yunjian felt ashamed, but Bai Yueqing waved his hand and said, “Victory and defeat are both common in battle. You do not need to feel remorse. It’s only that Chi Zhuiyun… ”

Bai Yueqing looked at Chi Zhuiyun as the corners of his mouth twitched. Chi Zhuiyun’s strength had far exceeded his imagination. A Dao Domain that could influence a million people was astounding to begin with.

It was no wonder that Chi Zhuiyun, a warrior at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm that was able to cultivate his Dao Domain to such a standard, had gained Felicitous Rain Lord’s recognition.

“It’s a Dao Domain that is related to massacres… ” Chu Yunjian said. “In his Dao Domain, my heart of the sword was affected, like the Dao Domain had triggered my mental demons.”

Thinking back to his experienced inside the Dao Domain, Chu Yunjian’s heart was still fluttering with fear.

He looked at Chi Zhuiyun, while Chi Zhuiyun also looked back at him.

Chu Yunjian had been cultivating for a hundred years. He had always surpassed his peers, but now, he had been defeated by someone at a lower realm than him. In addition, in time to come, the gap between him and Chi Zhuiyun would only grow wider.

“In ten days time, I, Chi Zhuiyun, will challenge any young elite of the White Fox clan and Luo clan on these grounds! Whoever has the confidence, come here, and I’ll accept your challenge.”

After Chi Zhuiyun said this, he left in a beam of light. Luo Sha and Demon Girl followed him.

The words that he said before he left was heard clearly by a million people.

Chi Zhuiyun had challenged the entire Luo clan and White Fox clan!

If the young elites of the Luo clan and White Fox clan were wiped out by a single person, the warriors from both clans would lose a great deal of prestige.

Bai Yueqing’s eyelids twitched. Prince Crimson Firmament had moved beside Chu Yunjian. “Brother Yunjian, in your opinion, will Princess Xue’er be able to defeat Chi Zhuiyun?”

With Chu Yunjian defeated, the White Fox clan still had Princess Xue’er!

Chu Yunjian shook his head, “I can’t predict it. Princess Xue’er’s talent surpasses mine, but… she’s still too young. Her cultivation level is only at the Heaven Ascension perfection realm, slightly inferior to Chi Zhuiyun’s, while I’ve lost despite being at the early stages of the Dao Manifestation realm. It will probably not be easy for Princess Xue’er to beat Chi Zhuiyun.”

Chu Yunjian did not speak with certainty. After all, he could not predict the extent to which Princess White Fox had attained. “However… I have a feeling that during my battle with Chi Zhuiyun, he was not using his full strength. He has more powerful moves that he did not use… ”

When Chu Yunjian said this, Bai Yueqing and Prince Crimson Firmament felt their hearts skip a beat. The present generation of the Luo clan and White Fox clan were filled with talent. Princess White Fox and Luo Huo’er, as well as Yi Yun, were the ones with most promise to become Supremacies. Although Prince Crimson Firmament abhorred Yi Yun, he could not deny Yi Yun’s talent.

Such young talent from the Luo clan and White Fox clan was going to be wiped out by a single person?

If that happened, the Luo clan and White Fox clan would undoubtedly be dwarfed by others in the alliance against the Fey Phantasm Sect.

“Let’s hope Xue’er can give us a pleasant surprise… ” Bai Yueqing muttered to himself as he shook his head.

The million spectators left the desolate plains and they returned to the royal capital. In less than a day, the news proliferated throughout the royal capital.

Chu Yunjian had been defeated, while Chi Zhuiyun had challenged all of the young elites of the Luo clan and White Fox clan!

It instantly caused quite a stir in the Luo clan royal capital!

People were only aware that Chi Zhuiyun came from the Oracle Fey Kingdom and that he was very powerful, but they never expected him to be so powerful, powerful enough for him to leapfrog a level to defeat Chu Yunjian.

Furthermore, his extremely conceited challenge had forced the Luo clan and the White Fox clan into a corner.

They could not lose. If two large sects were to lose to a single person, the Luo clan and White Fox clan would lose all face.

…

“Oh? Chu Yunjian was defeated?” In Fenghua Palace, Dong’er hurriedly informed Luo Huo’er about the news, but Dong’er never expected for Luo Huo’er to begin clapping when she heard the news. “That Chu Yunjian is such a cocky person. I met him back when Father summoned us. I could have turned a blind eye if it was only Chu Yunjian, but his boss, that male fox, had eyes so high that they were stuck on the top of their heads like they reigned supreme. Serves him right for being defeated!”

When Luo Huo’er said this, Dong’er was completely dumbfounded.

The young lass blinked her flickering large eyes as she looked at Luo Huo’er.

Be it people from the Luo clan or the White Fox clan, they would become extremely vexed when they heard hearing the news, afraid that the young elites of their respective clans would be wiped out by Chi Zhuiyun alone. But Princess Huo’er was on a completely different frequency.

“Princess, aren’t you worried?” Even the dull-witted Dong’er began to worry that the Luo clan would lose to Chu Yunjian.

“What’s there to worry? If he wants a fight, he’ll get one!” Luo Huo’er said nonchalantly.

As she said that, her lips suffused a sneer. “That Chi Zhuiyun thinks that he can create a standard by himself so that Felicitous Rain Lord would understand that he is a true genius. He also wants to let other factions in the alliance know that those weaker who are than him aren’t even qualified to vie for the spot of Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple. It can make him famous and it can also benefit him. He sure has an ingenious plan.”

Princess knows so much…

Dong’er blinked as she pondered. She asked in a staccato manner, “Then… Princess, you are certain that you can defeat Chi Zhuiyun, right?”

Luo Huo’er’s beautiful eyes glanced at her. “How would I know without fighting him!?”

“… ”

If you don’t know, why are you appearing so bold and self-assured!?

“Don’t worry. There are many others who can’t sit idle, such as my brother and that male fox. I’ll just watch the show for now. However, why isn’t Little Yun out of reclusion yet? I’m thinking of watching the good show with him.” said Luo Huo’er.

Yi Yun had been in the Heavenly Slaughter Array for more than ten days.

If this were any ordinary reclusion, ten days was nothing. Even more than a decade was no big deal.

However, the Heavenly Slaughter Array was different. In there, he would have to face endless massacres.

To be embroiled in killing for more than ten days, especially with those insane figures from the Fey Phantasm Sect, a typical person would not have last so long.

And Yi Yun’s reclusion continued on for another ten consecutive days without any signs of him coming out.

And by then, it was the day that Chi Zhuiyun had scheduled his challenge to battle the geniuses of the Luo clan and White Fox clan!

The matter brewed throughout the period that spanned less than a month. After all, the ambassadors of the factions that made up the alliance were still in the royal capital, so they obviously knew about the matter. In addition, the matter had to do with Felicitous Rain Lord’s recruitment of a disciple, so they had used various channels to spread the news. In about ten days, Chi Zhuiyun’s name had become famous in the entire alliance!

People from large factions like the World Margin Sect, Cloud Trail Empire, and Eternal Eventide Sea had rushed to the Luo clan in less than a month.

The people came from the other factions of the alliance for a myriad of reasons. Some were here to catch the buzz, eager to see Chi Zhuiyun sweep the Luo clan’s and the White Fox clan’s elites. There were also young elites from other factions that had their sights on Chi Zhuiyun. Therefore, many people had gathered in the Luo clan royal capital.

After all, there were many people who wanted to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple. These people had also learned that Chi Zhuiyun was a person who had received an approving nod from Felicitous Rain Lord. If they defeated Chi Zhuiyun, wouldn’t that mean they would obtain the recognition of Felicitous Rain Lord? They might even become a disciple of Felicitous Rain Lord!

Instantly, the Luo clan royal capital was like a raging storm with many elites assembled! Emperor Luo, as well as the royal family of the White Fox clan, were stirred by this matter. Many people came because this battle determined the pride of the Luo clan and White Fox clan.

Under such circumstances, Yi Yun faded from prominence. After all, the matter had reached a massive scale. There were too many people to pay attention to. Not only Yi Yun, even the attention on Luo Huo’er and Princess White Fox had diminished.

930 - : Elites Assembled

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the date of Chi Zhuiyun’s challenge loomed, all of the Luo clan royal capital’s hotels and motels were filled to the brim with people. People could not even obtain a room, despite the amount of wealth they had. Many warriors ended up meditating on the southern desolate mountain plains, as they waited for the event to begin.

Some warriors even began to construct houses on the southern desolate mountain plains or they even began to erect their immortal abodes. Instantly, the uninhabited southern desolate mountain plains began to bustle. It was like a city was built overnight.

Now, the battle was no longer just a matter pertaining to the Luo clan and the White Fox clan. More and more people were embroiled in the matter, with many hoping to become famous from a single battle so they could gain Felicitous Rain Lord’s attention.

“Zhuiyun, there are many people targeting you. You being in the limelight has now made you a target to become a stepping stone.” Yu Tianfeng said to Chi Zhuiyun as they sat in the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s Ambassador Palace.

As an ambassador of the Oracle Fey Kingdom, Yu Tianfeng was very pleased to see Chi Zhuiyun cause such a stir in the Luo clan royal capital. This was a manifestation of the power that the Oracle Fey Kingdom had.

Chi Zhuiyun was sitting on a futon meditating. A nine-foot spear was silently floating in front of him.

“These people want to trample over me to gain fame, but that saves me the trouble. I was planning on going to the other factions and have a nice meeting with each and every one of them. Now it’s even better, it can be done once and for all.”

As he spoke, Chi Zhuiyun grabbed the spear. The cold sheen on the spear flashed in the darkness of space, like it was a fleeting star that appeared in the night sky before disappearing.

The spear’s name was Bloodthirst, a name that originated from Chi Zhuiyun’s Dao Domain.

Chi Zhuiyun looked up at the battle arena in the desolate plains. His eyes flashed with fighting spirit.

“I will definitely gain your recognition. I know that a simple bout alone might not be enough to let you think otherwise of me even if I were to defeat everyone, but that is only just the beginning. I will definitely make you take me in as a disciple.”

As Chi Zhuiyun spoke, his figure flashed. Like a meteor that streaked through the sky, he flew towards the southern desolate mountain plains.

…

“Little Yun, stop staying in reclusion. You’ve been in there for so many days. It’s turmoil out here, yet you are still in there. Hurry up and come out!”

Yi Yun had just undergone a bloody battle in the Heavenly Slaughter Array when he heard Luo Huo’er calling him from outside.

Yi Yun thought. Turmoil?

He walked out of the Heavenly Slaughter Array and he saw that Luo Huo’er was beaming, like she was extremely excited.

“What’s the matter?”

“There’s no time to explain. Hurry up and follow me. I’ll tell you along the way!”

How could Luo Huo’er miss such a grand event that happened so rarely in the Luo clan?

When Yi Yun accompanied Luo Huo’er to the southern desolate mountain plains, he was astounded by what he saw.

Was this the legendary southern desolate mountain plains? There were too many people here!

Not only was there a large number of warriors. Houses, immortal abodes, and even hotels were erected on the plains.

To warriors, buying a portable abode was not expensive. With more people gathering, it was only natural that businessmen began to open restaurants. They just needed to erect a mobile abode on the desolate plains.

“Oh? There are quite a number of humans here… ”

Yi Yun seldom saw humans in the Luo clan, while humans were nearly extinct in the White Fox clan. But now, Yi Yun saw several humans wearing black robes. However, they were quite different from the humans in the Tian Yuan world. They had black hair and purple eyes. Their facial features were more prominent and exquisite. They were good looking, regardless of their gender. Furthermore, they wore V-shaped golden accessories on their necks and the accessories had had unknown gems embedded in them. They had quite a mysterious beauty to them.

“They are people from the Eternal Eventide Sea.” Luo Huo’er said.

“Are they humans?” Yi Yun asked in surprise.

Luo Huo’er shook her head, “They may look human, but they don’t consider themselves to be human. Instead, they call themselves the Chosen of the Divinity. According to the records of the Eternal Eventide Sea, their ancestors were the chosen race of the Divinity. As they continued to multiply in numbers, they barred marriage with other humans in order to ensure that their bloodline wasn’t diluted. From their point of view, ordinary humans are people who were abandoned by the Divinity, greatly inferior to their nobility.”

“The Chosen of the Divinity?” Yi Yun chuckled. It sounded like a religion from a different world.

“Don’t scoff.” Luo Huo’er could tell what was on Yi Yun’s mind. “They are quite capable. The Eternal Eventide Sea’s strength is in no way weaker than the Luo clan. Although they are of equal strength, there are only a few million members in the Eternal Eventide Sea.”

“Oh? A few million?” Yi Yun was taken aback. How many people did the Luo clan have? The population numbered a trillion with 196 states, the royal capital, and the large family clans at least.

The Eternal Eventide Sea only had a few million people, but its strength was comparable to the Luo clan’s?

Yi Yun knew that in a warrior’s world, the number of people had little impact on strength. What truly mattered was the number and quality of mighty figures and geniuses. The former determined the faction’s present strength, while the latter determined its future strength.

This meant that the number of mighty figures and geniuses that appeared out of a few million people in the Eternal Eventide Sea was comparable to the number produced by the Luo clan’s population that numbered a trillion!

Yi Yun saw a few people from the Eternal Eventide Sea and indeed, amongst their younger generation, Heaven Ascension perfection and Dao Manifestation were the common cultivation realms. Furthermore, their auras were converged, making them seem unfathomably strong.

Under the same conditions, to be able to achieve this stage in the Luo clan meant a chance of entering the Luo Divine Hall trials. And this qualification was one in a billion!

The Eternal Eventide Sea was not a power to be belittled.

With this thought in mind, he saw a few young men from the Eternal Eventide Sea drinking tea while chatting in a makeshift tea hut.

“Who does that Chi Zhuiyun think he is? After merely winning a few battles in the Luo clan and beating a few tiny factions in a trial, he dares to claim that he will sweep the alliance!? What a joke. With our Eternal Eventide Sea here, we will teach him a lesson!”

“That’s right, our Eternal Eventide’s goddess is peerless. Chi Zhuiyun is nothing. The Oracle Fey Kingdom relies on the massive number of people that it has and they choose one or two geniuses that can barely make it from that number. That’s how they prevent themselves from having too few geniuses.”

“As for the Luo clan, it’s even worse. I heard that the Luo clan takes in any type of people. They can be Earth Fey, human, or even someone from the lower realms! How much distrust do they have of their bloodline? Despite having such a model, the ratio of geniuses that they have is just pathetic. Furthermore, the people that are selected aren’t impressive either. There’s no need to even talk about our Eternal Eventide goddess, just the two of us can reign supreme in the Luo clan. As for Senior Brother Ye Yi, he will be ranked top three in the Luo clan.”

Ye Yi, who the two youths from the Eternal Eventide clan were talking about, was sitting in the middle of the two.

Ye Yi looked young with black hair that cascaded down his body like a waterfall. He had the beauty of a woman and jade like fingers that were long and slender.

He was a beautiful young man with extremely exquisite looks. The accessory across his chest were different from the others. Unlike the V-shape ones that the others had, his accessory was a black pair of wings. It seemed like he enjoyed a different status.

Ye Yi did not comment on the duo’s compliments, but Luo Huo’er could not stand hearing this.

“I was wondering where the two toads came from. Black all over, and their croaks are so harsh on the ears!”

“Oh!?” With Luo Huo’er’s words fading away, the two men from the Eternal Eventide Sea, who had just spoken, immediately looked at Luo Huo’er!

931 - : Eternal Eventide Sea

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon hearing Luo Huo’er’s shout, Yi Yun rubbed his forehead. Luo Huo’er always had an explosive streak and she did everything on a whim. She was a princess after all, while the two members of the Eternal Eventide Sea probably enjoyed a status that was beneath Luo Mo’s. Even Ye Yi, who enjoyed a slightly higher status than his two companions, was obviously inferior to Luo Huo’er.

Their conversation could have been ignored actually. As a princess, there was no need for Luo Huo’er to be bothered about them. Yi Yun did not expect Luo Huo’er to directly hurl invectives at the members of the Eternal Eventide Sea, annoying them as a result.

They did not know Luo Huo’er’s identity. The only thing to blame would be on Luo Huo’er because she did not like having a royal entourage. Typically, princes and princesses would have a grand procession, with plebeians being shooed aside. They were not like Luo Huo’er, who would enter a crowd after changing into any random set of clothes. How the hell would anyone know who she was?

“Which witless lass is she, for her to be squawking so much? Could it be that the both of you are from the Luo clan?”

The speaking man had a look of disdain on his face. As he spoke, he continued drinking his tea.

The other young man glanced at Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er’s clothes. With a judgment in mind, he guffawed, “Hahaha! They really are from the Luo clan. Why? Did my words hit a soft spot? From what I know, the Luo clan only has a Princess Purple Spirit that’s fairly alright. And beneath her, there’s some Yun guy. They only have two people. They are nothing impressive when compared to our Eternal Eventide clan.”

Some Yun guy?

When Yi Yun heard this, he stroked his chin with a strange look on his face. Was his existence that poor?

He turned his head and he saw Luo Huo’er stopping herself from bursting out in laughter when she heard them. She looked like she was enjoying the pleasure derived from his misfortune.

Yi Yun shook his head helplessly. The large clans were limited in their understanding of each other’s talents. The Eternal Eventide clan had probably heard of Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er only when they arrived in the Luo clan.

A smile harboring evil designs hung on Luo Huo’er’s face. She produced a conjuration using her fingers and flicked it.

Seeing Luo Huo’er no longer speaking, the two disciples of the Eternal Eventide Sea chuckled and they continued drinking their tea.

However, they never expected that as they drank their tea…

“Ah!”

The Eternal Eventide Sea disciples suddenly leaped up three feet high, like they had drunk poison. Their bodies convulsed violently as they held their hands on their necks. Their faces were flushed red as their eyes nearly popped out.

They opened their mouths in an attempt to spit the tea out, but the tea had long vanished. What they spat out were flames.

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

The flames burned at an extremely high temperature. Be it the tea table or the ground, a hole had been burned through them whenever the flames touched them!

“Hot! Hot!” An Eternal Eventide Sea disciple shouted in a muffled voice. “My tongue! Tongue!”

“Tongue?” Luo Huo’er feigned a look of surprise. “Tsk tsk tsk, oh my. Your tongue seems to be well-done… Barbecue pig’s tongue. What you said earlier shows how witty your tongue is. Why are you so hard on yourself to go so far as to burn your own tongue?”

Luo Huo’er was one who never spared her words to infuriate others to the grave. Yi Yun watched secretly on the side in horror. This demonic lass was really not to be trifled with. The conjuration that Luo Huo’er had produced had flown into the two Eternal Eventide Sea disciples’ tea cup in an undetectable manner. As a result, they had drunk the fire-elemental conjuration.

Just the two conjurations had resulted in such terrifying damage. Luo Huo’er’s insights into fire-elemental laws had truly reached the crest of perfection.

Yi Yun estimated that the two poor souls would probably lose their tongues. A devilish girl like Luo Huo’er would not hold back. The flames were not ordinary either. Yi Yun could discern that the flames were like tarsal maggots through the Purple Crystal’s vision. The flames had pervasive energies, so the duo’s protective Yuan Qi was completely insufficient to resist her conjurations.

Not only were their tongues damaged, even their oral cavities were burnt badly. Although they could be restored with heavenly treasures, it would result in them not being to eat or speak for several months. Furthermore, the cost of the heavenly treasures was not a small sum.

“Witch, I’ll… I’ll kill you!”

The two Eternal Eventide Sea disciples endured the pain as they shouted. Luo Huo’er gave a disdainful scoff. She nonchalantly picked up a pair of chopsticks on the table and flicked them.

“Whew! Whew!”

The two chopsticks flew straight at the two Eternal Eventide Sea disciples like arrows!

Seeing the chopsticks flying at them, the Yuan Qi of the two Eternal Eventide Sea disciples burst out as they punched out while enduring their pain!

Boom!

Energy blasted outwards like a volcanic eruption. Even divine wood grown for a hundred thousand years would be shattered into wood chips by the two punches, let alone a pair of ordinary wooden chopsticks!

However, the pair of chopsticks were extraordinary in Luo Huo’er’s hands. At the instant that she flicked them, she had embedded laws into them. Now, the pair of chopsticks were flickering with fire-elemental runes on the surface as they exuded a mysterious air to them.

The highly-compressed fire-elemental energies caused the pair of chopsticks to ignite. Like two meteors, they streaked towards the two Eternal Eventide Sea disciples!

“Peng! Peng!”

With the sound of two explosive blasts, the punch blasts from the duo were penetrated! Immediately following that, fire surged at their faces without any resistance.

The inferno blast apart, sending the duo flying back. Their hair was burnt and flared in all directions. Their faces were completely black from the ashes.

“This is… ”

Many people had witnessed the battle in the makeshift tea hut. They had seen the Eternal Eventide Sea disciples provoke the red-dressed girl before she attacked them. In a few short seconds, she had beaten them so badly that even their parents would not be able to identify them.

Who was the girl dressed in red?

At that moment, the young man, who had an accessory that resembled a black pair of wings hanging on his neck, stood up. He shattered his tea cup by tapping on it. The tea did not spill, but it was wrapped in Yuan Qi, as the concoction spun in mid air.

The young man tapped it gently once again and the tea split into two clear streams and entered the two Eternal Eventide Sea disciples’ mouths.

The fires was extinguished by the tea, but their tongues were already burnt to a crisp.

They groaned in pain on the ground, while Luo Huo’er looked at the young man. She had heard the two disciples addressing him as Senior Brother Ye Yi.

Although Ye Yi was relatively strong, he was clearly not the strongest person in the Eternal Eventide clan. Luo Huo’er gave Ye Yi a lazy glance and said, “Using a bit of water to extinguish my fire? Are you trying to flaunt your attainment in water-elemental laws?” Luo Huo’er said in derision.

Ye Yi said coldly, “For your fire-elemental laws to attain such a standard, you must be illustrious in the Luo clan, but… the two of them had only offended you with words, aren’t you going too far by harming them to such an extent?”

“You can consider me to be rather benevolent. I helped them burn their tongues because their wagging tongues were too long. In many places and many occasions, uttering the wrong words can result in death!” Luo Huo’er said nonchalantly, with a faint dominance in her tone. Even Ye Yi was overshadowed by her dominance.

“In a warrior’s world, it is nothing rare for a misspoken sentence to result in death. Many people are killed even without saying a word. There is no need for reason, and the reason is simply because… you are not stronger than the person who is killing you.”

While saying this, Luo Huo’er stood up as she played with the pair of chopsticks in her hand…

932 - : No need for Reason

CKtalon  CKtalon

Luo Huo’er’s words were infused with Yuan Qi, so although she spoke softly, it was extremely penetrating.

Ye Yi’s swordlike eyebrows pricked up. “Interesting. You are right. There is no need for a reason for inferior warriors to be killed. Their only fault is that they lack strength. Then, I want to see whether or not you are stronger than me!”

As Ye Yi spoke, his eyes glimmered with fighting spirit.

Ye Yi was a martial fanatic who was militant in nature. He could not contain himself when facing an opponent like Luo Huo’er.

Instantly, the surrounding crowd turned excited.

They never expected how climatic the battleground of Chi Zhuiyun’s challenge could become. Before he even appeared, there were already clashes between top geniuses.

But at that moment, Luo Huo’er only gave a lazy glance at Ye Yi and said, “You aren’t qualified. If anyone wants to challenge me, get that whatever goddess from your Eternal Eventide Sea!”

Oh?

Ye Yi’s pupils constricted.

At that moment, a golden carriage suddenly rumbled through the sky. There were four dragon horses pulling the carriage with golden light shimmering from it! On the carriage, there was an orange emblem of a mountain.

Everyone looked up and someone said, “It’s the World Margin Sect’s carriage. Sitting in it is probably the number one disciple of the World Margin Sect, Tianya Haoyue.”

After the World Margin Sect, there was a resplendent green light that illuminated the firmament. A spirit vessel made of jade came floating over.

It was a spirit vessel of the White Fox clan. It was very likely that Princess White Fox was inside the jade spirit vessel.

Immediately following that, there was a black-bodied ancient chariot pulled by nine spirit birds that resembled black phoenixes.

“It’s the goddess, Xi Ye, of our Eternal Eventide clan.” A member of the Eternal Eventide clan said in the crowd.

The two young Eternal Eventide clan disciples that had their tongues burnt by Luo Huo’er also mumbled the words ‘goddess Xi Ye’. They looked excited and at the same time, they looked at Luo Huo’er like she would be taught a lesson in time to come.

Luo Huo’er ignored the small fries of the Eternal Eventide clan. She stroked her delicate chin and she looked at the black chariot of goddess Xi Ye. She muttered to herself, “Three men and three women. That will be interesting.”

With Chi Zhuiyun’s challenge posed, a total of five factions had gathered here — the Luo clan, the White Fox clan, the World Margin Sect, the Eternal Eventide Sea, and the originator, the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

There happened to be three men and three women — Yi Yun, Chi Zhuiyun, Tianya Haoyue, Luo Huo’er, Princess White Fox and goddess Xi Ye.

Now, the five factions were gathered in the area, but the people who truly wielded power like Emperor Luo, Empress Luo, Empress Xuan, and company did not appear.

After all, it was Chi Zhuiyun, a junior who had posed the challenge. In order to maintain their stature, these important figures did not appear in person.

Although they did not appear in person, it did not mean that they were not paying attention to the matter. In fact, the outcome of the battle was enough to make Emperor Luo nervous!

After all, not only did this matter pertain to the Luo clan’s dignity, it also had to do with Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple recruitment!

At that moment in time, there was an array set up in the Luo clan royal palace. It projected everything that was happening in the southern desolate mountain plains. Emperor Luo was sitting on his throne while watching it with a heavy expression.

Beside Emperor Luo were various ministers and members of the royal family, who were also starting at the projection intently.

Regardless of the outcome, there was no guarantee that the victor would become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple, but the loser definitely lost all hopes of becoming his disciple!

Why would Felicitous Rain Lord accept a loser as his disciple?

At that moment in time, a red figure flashed in the crowd. With his spear in hand, Chi Zhuiyun appeared above the desolate plains.

Chi Zhuiyun’s eyes were bloodshot, and the spear that he held was nine feet nine inches in size. It shimmered with a cold glint of light.

Although he looked ordinary, Chi Zhuiyun had attracted everyone’s gaze as he walked towards an empty space.

“He is Chi Zhuiyun, a person recognized by Felicitous Rain Lord.”

“As long as he is defeated, the halo that belongs to him would be augmented on us. We would turn famous from a single battle!”

The geniuses gathered on the desolate plains murmured in a discussion.

Although there was great allure in defeating Chi Zhuiyun, everyone knew that it was very difficult to defeat him.

In fact, most people did not expect themselves to defeat Chi Zhuiyun. As long as they demonstrated their strength at this event and stood in the limelight, they would gain the attention of the alliance, even if they failed to gain the attention of Felicitous Rain Lord.

After Chi Zhuiyun appeared, he stood mid air without a word.

At that moment, a middle-aged man appeared beside him.

The middle-aged man was wearing a black robe and he looked highly-spirited. He was the Oracle Fey Kingdom ambassador deployed to the Luo clan — Yu Tianfeng.

Yi Yun obviously remembered him. Back when they were summoned by Emperor Luo, Yu Tianfeng was sitting on a seat of honor just second to Emperor Luo.

“Everyone!” Yu Tianfeng spoke. “Zhuiyun’s issuance of a challenge was only for him to meet the young elites of the alliance, but we never expected that it would cause such a stir. With so many of you gathered here, we have really troubled everyone.” Yu Tianfeng said with a chuckle, as though he sounded apologetic. However, even a blind man could tell that he was complacent with the sensational result.

“What does he mean meeting the young elites of the alliance? It’s obvious that he wants to trample on us to go higher.” Someone grumbled in private. Yu Tianfeng sure was thick-skinned.

Yu Tianfeng ignored what was on the people’s minds. He continued, “With so many people here today at the southern desolate mountain plains, there are true dragons and phoenixes amongst you, but there are also shams. It is impossible to allow any random person to challenge Zhuiyun. Neither does he have the time and effort to do so. The person challenged will not only be limited to Zhuiyun. Other than my Oracle Fey Kingdom, all the factions present are free to spar with each other, but there are two points!”

“Every person is only given one chance at failure. Upon failure, they are not to fight again! And secondly… every faction is limited to having one person challenge Zhuiyun, not one more.”

Yu Tianfeng’s voice echoed throughout the southern desolate mountain plains, and when everyone heard this, they frowned.

Who did Yu Tianfeng think he was!?

What did he mean random person or shams? Although he had not explicitly referred to anyone, it was rather harsh on the ears on those who knew that they lacked the strength.

He was only an ambassador of the Oracle Fey Kingdom. If not for Felicitous Rain Lord owing a debt to Oracle Fey Kingdom’s Imperial Patriarch, Yu Tianfeng would have been nothing!

With respects to challenging Chi Zhuiyun, for the southern desolate mountain plains to have these many elites gathered here, they were clearly here because of Chi Zhuiyun’s challenge, but they were not here to challenge Chi Zhuiyun.

Now, with what Yu Tianfeng said, it was as though everyone was lining up to challenge Chi Zhuiyun. Who did Chi Zhuiyun think he was!? Ignoring the fact that Chi Zhuiyun was still not established as the number one person amongst the alliance’s younger generation, even if he were the number one person, was it possible that prideful people like Tianya Haoyue and goddess Xi Ye would line up to challenge him? They would not want to degrade their stature.

“What we do here is none of your business!”

“Do you think that this is a martial arts tournament? Are you the organizer? Why are you announcing the rules here!?”

There were chaotic shouts in the crowd. Clearly, they did not give a damn about what Yu Tianfeng had said.

933 - : Five Factions

CKtalon  CKtalon

Instantly, there was a commotion. Yu Tianfeng was infuriated by this. Previously in the Luo clan royal palace, Emperor Luo had been extremely polite with him, but here, a bunch of juniors were showing him little respect.

Compared to the lofty Emperor Luo, these juniors were nothing!

Although Yu Tianfeng was angry, he could not do anything about it. Emperor Luo did not dare offend the Oracle Fey Kingdom because Felicitous Rain Lord owed a favor to the Oracle Fey Kingdom. It was destined to be critical in the alliance against the Fey Phantasm Sect, but these juniors could ignore any of that.

At that moment, Chi Zhuiyun walked forward. In fact, Yu Tianfeng, who had been conferred a nobility title in the Oracle Fey Kingdom but had relatively low talent, did not have as much weight when speaking compared to Chi Zhuiyun.

Chi Zhuiyun said, “Regardless if it’s me challenging you, or all of you challenging me, it’s the same thing. I don’t care at all! Today, I have set the stage for combat, only to fight the strongest person from each faction so we don’t waste time. I don’t care who you wish to battle, but I’ll only fight four people today — Tianya Haoyue! Princess White Fox! Princess Purple Spirit! Goddess Xi Ye!”

Chi Zhuiyun directly named four people, and they happened to be from each of the four major factions. They were nearly the strongest.

“You alone want to battle us four?” Tianya Haoyue scoffed. “Chi Zhuiyun, I know that you are very strong, but if you want to fight one against four, aren’t you being too overbearing!?”

Tianya Haoyue was a proud person. He did not think of himself as being worse than Chi Zhuiyun. To deal with Chi Zhuiyun in a tag-team with the other three geniuses was something that Tianya Haoyue was unwilling to do. After all, even if he beat Chi Zhuiyun, it was nothing worth being proud about, let alone talk about gaining the recognition of Felicitous Rain Lord.

Chi Zhuiyun gave Tianya Haoyue a glance and said, “It is up to you to do battle or not. I am open to fighting anyone of the four of you!”

“Chi Zhuiyun, do not think that you are the center of the alliance’s younger generation, with everyone revolving around you. I’m the one who wants everyone to challenge me!” Tianya Haoyue said coldly, “My take on this is we should choose a few more people, making up eight or even sixteen people. We can each do battle. Winning allows the next battle to happen, and the loser has to forfeit their place!”

The rule that Tianya Haoyue proposed had received a great number of people’s approbation.

In such a battle, no one was the center of attention. It was a completely fair tournament, and it would not accentuate Chi Zhuiyun.

Chi Zhuiyun sighed slightly and said, “If you want to, make it eight then. Having too many people is just a waste of time.”

If there were only five people, it was difficult to decide on the order of battle. By finding three ‘substitutes’, it would make it easier to assign the fights with eight people.

However, Chi Zhuiyun kept arrogantly insisting that it was a waste of time, inciting the wrath of others.

“Senior Brother Haoyue, let us join the foray! I want to see how impressive Chi Zhuiyun is for him to be this overbearing!” In the World Margin Sect, a disciple spoke.

His name was Tian Yaping, he was definitely one of the leading figures in the World Margin Sect.

Although being a substitute did not sound pleasant to the ears, they were able to do battle after all. Many people wanted to do so. But in that case, there was a new problem. There were five factions present, but only three substitute spots. If each faction chose a person, there would be two additional people.

At that moment, Chi Zhuiyun spoke again, “Choose one person from each faction. Among the five, fight it out to decide on the three places!”

After saying that, Chi Zhuiyun did not speak another word. The crowd also nodded in agreement.

Luo Huo’er smiled as she looked at Yi Yun. “Little Yun, it sure sucks for you to end up being a substitute!”

Being ridiculed by Luo Huo’er, Yi Yun helplessly stroked his chin. He could only accept being a substitute. He could only blame himself for not participating in the Luo Divine Hall trials to the very end. It resulted in him not even appearing on the Luo Divine Hall’s final ranking.

In order for the other factions to understand the Luo clan and the White Fox clan’s geniuses, they would first look at the rankings, so it was common for them to be unaware of Yi Yun’s name.

Yi Yun was representing the Luo clan, and him taking the second spot was no surprise. Even Prince Crimson Firmament would not disagree to it.

With that, the name list was decided.

The second person each of the five factions chosen respectively were — Luo clan’s Yi Yun, World Margin Sect’s Tianya Ping, Oracle Fey Kingdom’s Demon Girl, White Fox clan’s Nongying and Eternal Eventide Sea’s Ye Yi!

The five people were competing for three spots.

“Oh? So you are Yi Yun, and you must be… Princess Purple Spirit!?”

At the tea stall, Ye Yi and the two Eternal Eventide Sea disciples that had their tongues burnt finally learned about Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er’s identity. They never expected that they had entered a conflict with Luo Huo’er, the person ranked first in the Luo clan!

It was no wonder that her attainment in fire-elemental laws had reached such an impressive level. A simple fire-elemental conjuration had been mysteriously drunk by them, resulting in their tongues being burnt.

“Interesting!”

Ye Yi looked at Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er. Luo Huo’er was in the first echelon. Before becoming one of the three people qualified to do battle, he had not right to challenge Luo Huo’er. As for Yi Yun… he was completely confident fighting against him!

Ye Yi was famous in the Eternal Eventide Sea. In fact, Ye Yi was eager to spar even with a person like Luo Huo’er!

So what if she was the number one genius in the Luo clan? The place of his birth only numbered several million people, yet the Eternal Eventide Sea was able to rank alongside various large factions. The level of the geniuses that his clansmen were at was nothing that the other factions could compare with.

Even if he failed to defeat Luo Huo’er in the end, Ye Yi believed that he would not be too inferior when compared to Luo Huo’er.

“Since you are Yi Yun, that’s perfect. Leave the first battle to us! I wish that you will not disappoint me too greatly!” As Ye Yi spoke, he leaped and flew towards the battle arena stage.

“Senior Brother Ye Yi, teach that punk an unforgettable lesson!”

“Screw him badly! Beat him up until his parents can’t even recognize him!” Behind Ye Yi, the two Eternal Eventide disciples that got tormented by Luo Huo’er said with red faces.

However, as a result of their burnt tongues, what they said sounded muffled, and somewhat amusing.

They hated Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er to death. They could not offend Luo Huo’er, but Ye Yi could avenge them.

Seeing that Ye Yi was already on the arena stage. Yi Yun followed him in a very slow manner.

In this battle of geniuses, Yi Yun believed himself to be an expert as well, but he had been delegated as a substitute. Furthermore, typical experts would usually appear as a finalist, appearing only at the last few matches, but now, he was the first one to do battle. He was at quite a loss.

The moment that Yi Yun landed on the arena stage, the stage’s surroundings erupted into a flood of cheers.

“Yi Yun! Yi Yun!”

This was the Luo clan’s home ground after all. Most people in the southern desolate mountain plains came from the Luo clan.

In the Luo clan, Yi Yun had a high popularity, just second to Luo Huo’er’s. The recognition that the Luo clan disciples had for Yi Yun had not much to do with how Yi Yun did not complete the Luo Divine Hall trials.

“The cheers that you receive are rather loud! It appears that you are quite popular in the Luo clan.” Ye Yi nonchalantly said, as though he disparaged the Luo clan’s cheers. This was the confidence that he had in the Eternal Eventide clan.

934 - : You are Yi Yun?

CKtalon  CKtalon

“That sister of mine is actually over there!?”

In the southern desolate mountain plains, there were temporary seats of honor. People like Prince Crimson Firmament, Bai Yueqing, goddess Xi Ye, and company were sitting on the seats of honor. Luo Huo’er naturally had the right to sit there, but she had decided to mix in with the crowd.

“Brother Chuyun, it’s said you have a good eye on abilities. What do you think that the outcome of Yi Yun’s battle against Ye Yi will be?” Prince Crimson Firmament asked.

Sitting beside Prince Crimson Firmament was Chu Yunjian. Although he had been defeated by Chi Zhuiyun, no one belittled him.

Chu Yunjian said, “Your Highness, the talk about my eye is simply rumoring as a result of others complimenting it. I have been wrong many times, but this time, there’s little to be speculated. The outcome will be that Yi Yun will win.”

Although Chu Yunjian did not know what strength Ye Yi had, Yi Yun’s strength was obvious. The second strongest person in the Eternal Eventide Sea wanted to beat a freak like Yi Yun? That was extremely unlikely!

“Oh? Little to be speculated?” A woman’s voice could be heard. Sitting next to Prince Crimson Firmament was an exquisite woman with black hair and purple pupils. Her forehead and neck were covered with metallic accessories. Sitting there, she appeared like she was the source of darkness, making her appear distant and mysterious.

She was the goddess of the Eternal Eventide clan — Xi Ye.

The second strongest person of the Luo clan and the second strongest person of the Eternal Eventide clan were at similar levels, yet it was said that there was little to be speculated? What arrogance!

Goddess Xi Ye said coldly, “Your Luo and White Fox clans fell into turmoil because of a single Chi Zhuiyun. What sort of face do you have to say such things? If you could have defeated Chi Zhuiyun, what need would there be for us to be here?”

The Eternal Eventide clan was able to rival the Luo clan in power with several million people, and Xi Ye was the goddess of the Eternal Eventide clan, so she was obviously pissed when Chu Yunjian said things that belittled the Eternal Eventide Sea.

“You must be Chu Yunjian. As a Dao Manifestation realm warrior, you were defeated by Chi Zhuiyun, a half-step Dao Manifestation realm warrior. How emboldened are you to make comments here.” Goddess Xi Ye said bluntly.

Chu Yunjian fell silent. Being defeated by Chi Zhuiyun, a person at a lower realm than him, was indeed a stain on his life, one that he could not refute.

…

At that moment on the battle arena, Yi Yun and Ye Yi were a thousand feet from each other. There were cheers from the Luo clan warriors all around the stage.

“Yi Yun, get rid of that Eternal Eventide Sea punk!”

“Yi Yun is sure to win!”

The audience was made up warriors, so their shouts were deafening. Ye Yi frowned when he heard them. Without the fight even beginning, he had been disparaged by the crowd, which pissed him off. “I never expected that a bunch of Fey would cheer for a human like you. However, cheering is useless. The outcome of the battle depends on strength.”

“A human? Aren’t you human?”

With his sword in hand, Yi Yun coldly looked at Ye Yi. In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, humans were scarce, to begin with. They stood alone and powerless, so they needed to be united as one, forging ahead together. However, despite being human, just because they had a different color to their eyes, the Eternal Eventide Sea had taken the initiative to draw a line with other humans, like being labeled human was an insult to them.

“Do not compare us with the lot of you. We are the Chosen race of the Divinity, while you are the abandoned race. Lowly humans have a less than a one in ten billion chance of producing a genius, millions of times inferior to us. You are the cream of the crop, lucky to have won your current position. However, there are even more humans that are lowly beings. With life spans ranging less than a hundred years, they are no different to ants.”

As Ye Yi spoke, he pulled two black sabers out. The two sabers resembled a pair of wings.

As for Yi Yun, he began to slowly put his sword away. “Inferior? Lowly? Ants?” Yi Yun shook his head. “You and humans come from the same roots, but that is how you view humans.”

When Ye Yi heard Yi Yun’s ridicule, he did not respond. Instead, he coldly said, “By putting your sword away, are you planning on throwing in the towel?”

“Throwing in the towel? No, I’m only planning on switching my weapon. I think that using a sword to deal with you is being too kind.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he took a rectangular block of metal out of his interspatial ring. It was a rectangular seal, named the Heaven Upheaval Seal. Back in the Tai Ah Divine City, Yi Yun had participated in the rookie ranking tournament and he had used the Heaven Upheaval Seal as a weapon. Back then, Yi Yun was unable to adeptly control his strength. He was afraid of killing his opponent with his saber, but with the passage of time, Yi Yun’s proficiency with energy control became more and more adept, so there was no need for the Heaven Upheaval Seal to be used.

“That is?”

Ye Yi frowned. He could sense that the rectangular piece of metal taken out by Yi Yun was a seal that had been previously refined. However, the material that the seal was made out of was extremely terrible. Furthermore, the runes that were engraved on its surface were extremely poor in quality!

“This is called a brick. It should be enough to deal with you. I think I’ve been keeping a really low profile recently, resulting in me being considered as a substitute. It wasn’t easy for me to get on the stage, and now, random cats and dogs are wailing in front of me.” Yi Yun said lazily.

He was already bent on becoming Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple, gaining the attention of Felicitous Rain Lord. Therefore, it was understandable that he could no longer keep a low profile.

“What did you say!?” A cold beam flashed in Ye Yi’s eyes.

“You are courting death!” Ye Yi was incensed.

How dare a human disparage him in that way? The human did not even know how the word death was written!

“Weng!”

Ye Yi’s sabers roared as they sliced through the wind. The sabers emitted thousands of saber beams that inundated the surroundings!

Saber domain!

Saber domain was also another name for the Dao Domain of sabers. Saber Dao was also one of the Dao. It was inferior to Yin-Yang and space-time, but it was not weaker than the five elements. And it was ranked alongside sword Dao!

Ye Yi had also gained insights into a Dao Domain of his own!

Upon seeing this scene, the hearts of the Luo clan audience tightened. Indeed, to become the second strongest person of the Eternal Eventide Sea, he had something outstanding about him. It was very rare for a person who had gained insights into a Dao Domain before he reached the Dao Manifestation realm.

“I never expected a Dao Domain. It’s best if Yi Yun doesn’t underestimate his opponent. As long as he uses his true strength, he will still win.” The Luo clan audience were very confident when it came to Yi Yun.

However, Yi Yun did not seem to have any plans on switching weapons.

Phew—

Yi Yun was enveloped by Ye Yi’s saber domain.

With Heaven Upheaval Seal in his hand, Yi Yun remained motionless, allowing the saber domain to envelop him.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Saber beams began darting around Yi Yun, slashing at his protective Yuan Qi.

“Is this your Dao Domain?” Yi Yun said nonchalantly.

He did not think much about it. Dao Domains had different levels. Ye Yi’s Dao Domain was weaker than Princess White Fox’s Dao Domain from eleven years ago, let alone comparable to Chi Zhuiyun.

And eleven years ago, Yi Yun had been enveloped by the Nine-tailed White Fox’s Nine-tailed Dao Domain in the Fey Refining Rock array, and he was able to forcibly crack it, let alone now.

“It’s sufficient to kill you!”

Ye Yi used his sabers to attack in unison with the saber beams. All of the saber beams in the saber domain began to merge as one, slashing right at Yi Yun.

However, before the saber beam landed on him, a golden rune lit up in the middle of the Heaven Upheaval Seal that was in Yi Yun’s hand. It was not one of the runes that were originally engraved in the Heaven Upheaval Seal, it was one of the runes that belonged to the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

Eleven years ago, Yi Yun was already able to spread the runes of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence onto a hundred flying sabers. So now, it was even easier to inject one into the Heaven Upheaval Seal.

“Boom!”

The rune lit up with a divine light as the Heaven Upheaval Seal came smashing down towards Ye Yi!

This strike was not aimed at Ye Yi, it was aimed at his saber.

A brick against a saber!

On one side, it was a saber strike that had condensed an entire Dao Domain. It contained all of Ye Yi’s insights in the saber Dao, and on the other side, it was a metal brick of dubious quality. But the collision was like a meteorite hitting the ground!

Crackle!

A brick tore through the void! People could clearly see a huge rift open in the void. Energy surged wantonly in the rift!

The void of the 12 Empyrean Heavens was extremely firm. There was no way for Heaven Ascension realm warriors to tear the void, and Yi Yun was no exception.

As such, what broke was not the void, but… Ye Yi’s saber domain!

A saber domain that had just been conjured was forcefully shattered by a single smash of Yi Yun’s brick!

Pa! Pa! Pa!

Large swaths of the Dao Domain had shattered successively, with countless saber beams shattering as well. However, the Heaven Upheaval Seal did not lose its momentum, it continued to remain indomitable!

“Dang!”

Ye Yi’s final saber beam was sent flying by Yi Yun’s smash. The heavy Heaven Upheaval Seal, with immense Yuan Qi wrapped around it, appeared above Ye Yi’s forehead.

“Peng!”

Blood splattered everywhere as the nicely dressed Ye Yi, who had cut facial features, was left trembling by Yi Yun’s brick. His vision turned black as his mind went blank, like everything in the world around him, had been forcibly stripped apart by Yi Yun.

“What… is going on… ?”

Ye Yi’s legs turned weak. He tried his best to stabilize his body, but he eventually collapsed slowly…

935 - : I’ve been keeping a really low profile recently

CKtalon  CKtalon

That one strike from Yi Yun’s brick had condensed the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s nomological rune. With his Yuan Qi infused in it, even a handful of mud would be augmented into something as hard as divine metal! Although the Heaven Upheaval Seal was a weapon that was refined in the lower realm, its inferior quality material did not affect Yi Yun’s attack in any way.

With the brick smashing down and hitting him right on the forehead, Ye Yi’s protective Yuan Qi had shattered. His body could not even withstand the attack.

The Eternal Eventide clan were humans after all. Like humans, their physical bodies were their weakness. If it wasn’t for Yi Yun holding some of the power back at the final moment, Ye Yi would be more heavily injured.

“It… ended just like that!?”

Not only were the Eternal Eventide Sea’s disciples dumbfounded, even the Luo clan disciples, who were supporting Yi Yun, were in the same state of shock.

The scene before in front of them was something that was totally beyond their imagination. They were both the second strongest person from factions of equal strength, but the gap in strength was too great!

A single strike clinched victory?

An insta-defeat?

The entire southern desolate mountain plains was covered with millions of warriors. Most of them were Luo clan residents. After a few moments of silence, they suddenly erupted into cheers that were like a roaring landslide or tsunami.

“Yi Yun!”

“Yi Yun!”

“Yi Yun!”

Thundering cheers roared across the wilderness in a deafening manner!

Over the past few days, citizens of the Luo clan had been eating humble pie. In the 12 Empyrean Heavens, strength was everything. With strength, one would obtain honor, status and dignity, regardless if it was an individual or a large faction.

And a few days ago, Chi Zhuiyun had declared to sweep through the Luo clan, and he had even leapfrogged Chu Yunjian in battle, defeating him. Luo Huo’er was the only person in the entire Luo clan that could possibly match Chi Zhuiyun, but that was only a possibility.

Even members of the Luo clan or admirers of Luo Huo’er did not dare to determine who would win in a fight between Luo Huo’er and Chi Zhuiyun.

And the situation had developed in such a way under this backdrop with the Eternal Eventide Sea, World Margin Sect coming here. They came to the Luo clan to bathe in the limelight with their minds set on Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple recruitment. The members of the Eternal Eventide Sea were extremely arrogant, so in the past few days, there were several conflicts between the Luo clan’s citizens and the Eternal Eventide Sea disciples in the southern desolate mountain plains. Many of the Eternal Eventide Sea’s disciples had declared that the Luo clan would not be able to deal with Chi Zhuiyun, who would be finished by them.

The citizens of the Luo clan naturally felt aggrieved.

But today, Yi Yun’s victory against Ye Yi in a battle of ease and verve had finally vindicated the Luo clan!

The cheers for Yi Yun continued on, and they even seemed like they were increasing

“Brothers, shout as loud as you can! Let’s see those bastards of the Eternal Eventide clan continue to be arrogant, we’ll smack their faces till they turn swollen!”

Amongst the crowd, there was an extraordinarily powerful warrior shouting. This person’s cultivation realm had surpassed the Dao Manifestation realm, and he was considered a warrior from the older generation. But faced with such a delightful event, he was as excited as the young ones.

“What madness… ” Yi Yun said from the bottom of his heart.

At that moment, he had already left the battle arena.

In front of him, Ye Yi was being carried off the stage by members of the Eternal Eventide clan. His forehead was covered in blood, and the way he looked at Yi Yun was already very weak.

This battle had given a huge setback to Ye Yi. It would have been fine if he had been defeated, but he had been defeated by an ordinary human, and his opponent’s weapon was a brick!

Having been defeated, and being smacked down by a brick, Ye Yi already began to question life.

“Of course there’s madness!” Luo Huo’er responded, “In a warrior’s world, we may have the power to cause great destruction, have long lifespans, and are able to lead extravagant lives, but the pressure is intense. Be it life-and-death trials or breakthroughs that require great risks, or the sense of urgency of being killed by someone else at any moment in time, it forces us to continuously forge ahead.”

“The accumulation of all these pressure naturally need an opportunity for it to be released. For example, with Chi Zhuiyun setting the battle area now, everyone comes here to watch the battle for that delightful entertainment. Although they are unable to engage in the battle themselves, victory is no different from them fighting themselves as it sends boiling blood pulsing through their veins. Especially with the Eternal Eventide clan being suppressed, there is a sudden feeling of exaltation, naturally a strong sense jubilance!”

As Luo Huo’er spoke, she gave Yi Yun a thumbs up. Her jade like fingers looked exquisite and beautiful.

“That’s right… ”

Yi Yun nodded. Ignoring the warrior’s world, even in the world of mortals, there were all sorts of sports that attracted people, such as baseball, soccer, etc. An unprecedented soccer tournament would attract large numbers of spectators and fans. These people would push the atmosphere of the competition to its limits. And this was in a situation with many people not even knowing how to play soccer. In contrast, in a martial world, with everyone knowing martial arts, it made it even more different.

“Little Yun, your fight sure is liberating. I long found that Ye Yi unpleasing to the eyes. Let him be arrogant, but finish him with a brick!”

Luo Huo’er was still reveling in her excitement.

And at that moment, in the seats of honor, Prince Crimson Firmament, Bai Yueqing, Tianya Haoyue, goddess Xi Ye and others were also looking at Yi Yun.

Goddess Xi Ye’s face was dark and gloomy. She had spoken with such great certainty, but with the outcome of the match, describing it as a face smacking was insufficient.

Despite knowing that goddess Xi Ye was feeling embarrassed, Prince Crimson Firmament did not have any thoughts of kicking her while she was down. He was actually feeling mixed emotions. On one hand, the Luo clan had smacked the Eternal Eventide clan in the face, making him feel delighted, but on the other hand, Yi Yun was in Luo Huo’er’s camp. From a certain point of view, he was his enemy.

The stronger his enemy was, the more threatening he was to his throne, so how could he be happy?

“Your Highness, it appears that I’ve underestimated Yi Yun. His talent far exceeds mine. Eleven years ago, it appears that it was not as simple as Yi Yun relying on a mystic technique to defeat the fifth Ancient Fey at the Luo Divine Hall trials… ” Beside Prince Crimson Firmament, Chu Yunjian sighed.

Yi Yun, Luo Huo’er, and Princess White Fox were people who made one feel inferior for existing in the same era. Despite being extraordinarily talented, he was repressed by them, without being able to lift his head up.

By defeating Ye Yi, Yi Yun was undoubtedly one of the strongest of the eight.

Following that, the World Margin Sect, the White Fox clan, and the Oracle Fey Kingdom had to choose two people out of three.

To the Luo clan citizens, such a battle was of lesser importance when compared to Yi Yun’s. In the eyes of the people, in the three substitutes, the other three were only there to make the numbers. Regardless of who fought, nothing mattered.

What they were eager to watch was the matchups amongst the strongest.

However, no one expected that before the three people got on to the stage to fight, Luo Huo’er was first to step onto the stage.

“It was really lively in the previous fight, so let me have a hand at it too!” Luo Huo’er was dressed in a red fighting costume as she casually said.

“Oh?”

Everyone was surprised. Luo Huo’er was going on-stage?

The battle had only just begun, and there was no assignment of opponents, but Luo Huo’er had already gone on stage.

“Goddess Xi Ye, is it?” Luo Huo’er looked far into the distance at the seats of honor, “Do you want to come over and have a fight!?”

Luo Huo’er did not care if there had not been an assignment of opponents. Amongst the eight people, she just needed to call out the person’s name to fight anyone she wanted!

936 - : Luo Huo’er’s Turn

CKtalon  CKtalon

Luo Huo’er wanted to battle Xi Ye?

Everyone held their breaths. They never expected that the battles would be this intense right from the very beginning.

They believed that the best of the best face would face each other in battle only at the end. They never expected that the Luo clan would directly go against the Eternal Eventide Sea!

First, Yi Yun had defeated Ye Yi, and now, Luo Huo’er wanted to battle the goddess, Xi Ye!

The pangs of fury suppressed by the members of the Luo clan, which had been ignited by the arrogant words declared by the Eternal Eventide Sea, finally felt as though they had been vented clean.

“Princess Purple Spirit!”

“Princess Purple Spirit!”

“Princess Purple Spirit!”

The members of the Luo clan were shouting loudly. After all, Luo Huo’er’s popularity in the Luo clan exceeded Yi Yun’s.

In the stands where the seats of honor were, goddess Xi Ye snorted coldly and flew off from her seat!

Suddenly, Luo Huo’er and Xi Ye, two daughters that were the pride of the heavens stood mid-air, facing each other thousands of feet apart above the battle arena!

Luo Huo’er was dressed in red, and she resembled a burning flame. As for Xi Ye, her black hair and dress made her seem like a source of darkness.

“You are treating it as though you, the Luo clan, has surpassed my Eternal Eventide clan just by defeating Ye Yi?”

Xi Ye’s voice was like a cold rain that splashed across the faces of everyone.

“It doesn’t matter if the Luo clan surpasses the Eternal Eventide clan or not. It’s just that I’ll beat up whoever I find unpleasing to my eyes, and as it happens, you belong to one of the types of people that I detest.” Luo Huo’er was very casual in her speech, and this undoubtedly infuriated Xi Ye.

At that moment, a sword appeared in Luo Huo’er’s hand in a very abrupt manner. Very few members of the several million strong audience to discern how it had appeared in Luo Huo’er’s hand, it was like she had been holding the sword from the very beginning.

The sword was slightly longer than five feet and it was very narrow. The blade was pale red, and when it was unsheathed, the sword was bent due to its thinness. From the main blade to its tip, it formed a curve, making it resemble a red ribbon.

A soft sword?

Xi Ye’s eyebrows pricked up slightly. She had seen her fair share of soft swords, but this was the first time that she had seen a sword so soft that it curved naturally. How was such a sword used?

Although Xi Ye was arrogant, she did not belittle Luo Huo’er. A large and completely black snake appeared behind Xi Ye. As it slithered towards Xi Ye’s shoulders, it slowly coiled its body. The snake’s scales were like metal, exuding a cold sheen, and on its head, there was a single horn. It was a snake that was on it way to evolve into a dragon. Legends had it that ancient snakes could produce single horns and four claws after surviving numerous heavenly tribulations, eventually evolving into a dragon.

“Contract Beast?”

People were slightly taken aback.

“It’s not a Contract Beast, it’s an Aspect Totem. The members of the Eternal Eventide clan are humans. Their cultivation system allows them to refine an Aspect Totem,” said a mighty figure in the crowd.

“An Aspect Totem that looks so lifelike? It’s like a real wyrm!”

Typically, Aspect Totems looked like phantom images, but Xi Ye’s Aspect Totem looked no different to an actual living creature.

At that moment, the black snake merged into Xi Ye’s body, and a black beam of energy gathered on one of her palms. It spread out and formed a long black whip.

Black snake! Black whip!

It could not stop people from making the connection that the whip in Xi Ye’s hand was a refinement of the black snake.

At that moment, Xi Ye moved. She lashed out with her whip, and a series of cracking sounds of a whip accompanied thousands of whip shadows that began to envelop Luo Huo’er!

“I’ve reigned supreme in the Eternal Eventide Sea. Whoever fails to keep up with me in terms of speed has no right to fight me!”

With whip and body as one, Xi Ye transformed into a black stream of light. People could only see black beams of light dancing throughout the sky, but there was no sight of Xi Ye herself!

“How can this be dodged?”

“There are no blind spots at all!” The members of the Luo clan exclaimed.

“Ka-cha!”

Under the envelopment of the whip shadows, the ground was diced into countless fragments, exploding in the process!

Despite the terrifying bombardment of the scourge, Luo Huo’er’s figure suddenly blasted out like a plume of fire, flashing away.

The endless whip shadows looked like there was not a single blind spot, but in fact, Xi Ye’s lashes were done one after another. There was definitely an order, and as black smoke flared under Luo Huo’er’s feet, she accurately pinpointed what was needed of her. Using a nearly impossible speed and mastery of her bodily actions, she dodged the whip shadows while darting through them while advancing!

“There are too many phantom images from Her Highness!”

The members of the Luo clan watched Luo Huo’er shuttle through the whip shadows with bated breaths. Countless whip shadows hit Luo Huo’er’s body, but strangely, the whips went straight through her body without the slightest bit of resistance, leaving Luo Huo’er unharmed!

“It’s too fast. It has exceeded the limits of our visual acuity. Her Highness isn’t forcefully blocking the lashing of the whips, she’s only dodging!”

Blocking the bombardment of such rapid attacks was much easier than dodging. Although there was an order in which the whip shadows appeared, the gap in between successive lashes was a thousandth of an instant. It was easier said than done to dodge every one of them!

Not only so, people already realized that Luo Huo’er was getting closer to Xi Ye while dodging the whip shadows!

Luo Huo’er had swept through a hundred feet across the void, closing in on Xi Ye!

She was about to catch up!

Luo Huo’er flicked her hand as the red ribbon-like sword slashed out!

Due to the oddness of the soft sword, at the instant of moving, the sword tip lagged behind due to its softness, but with the force of the blade reaching its limits, the sword tip whipped out at an even faster speed, shooting straight at Xi Ye.

“Whew!”

Like a fire python sticking its tongue out, the strike thrust straight at Xi Ye’s chest with roaring fire-elemental Yuan Qi at an odd angle.

“Shield of Darkness!”

Xi Ye waved her hand as the power of darkness condensed in front of her. The black vortex formed was Xi Ye’s Shield of Darkness.

Luo Huo’er’s strike hit the center of the Shield of Darkness.

Ka-cha!

The Shield of Darkness shattered immediately! Luo Huo’er’s attack was just too powerful!

Immediately following that, overwhelming fire-elemental energies flared with light.

Dao Domain of fire!

With Luo Huo’er’s nomological insight, it was only natural for her to have gained insights into her own Dao Domain, and it was excellent grade.

The moment that the Dao Domain appeared, tongues of fire deluged the surroundings, like a volcano had erupted beneath Luo Huo’er’s sword. The desolate plains were engulfed by the flames, as stones turned to lava!

“Back! Move back immediately!” People exclaimed.

The suppressive pressure of the flame coming from Luo Huo’er’s strike was just too powerful! Standing beyond the battle arena, it was like they were immersed in a prison of fire. They felt like their vitality was being consumed by the fire.

As people retreated, the flames churning in the battle arena culminated into a climax, as it blasted in one crazy explosion!

Firestorms swept the area, engulfing everything!

“Si!”

Suddenly, a black snake shot towards the sky amid the turbulent flames, as it gave out a painful hiss.

“It’s Xi Ye’s Aspect Totem!” Someone shouted, but they could hardly keep their eyes open in the fierce firestorm.

This battle was too intense! The battle between two extremely talented women was a clash like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. It far exceeded the battle involving Yi Yun and Ye Yi.

Even though they were watching the battle from afar, it left them out of breath.

“What is the outcome?”

People stared at the battle arena with widened eyes, afraid of missing any scene. However, the firestorm completely blocked everyone’s sight.

937 - : Purple Spirit vs Xi Ye

CKtalon  CKtalon

Half a minute had passed before the flames gradually dissipated. Everyone focused their eyes, but the scene in the arena stifled their breaths.

There was a gigantic purple eye floating above the arena. In the eye’s pupil, there was what seemed to be a vast and endless spiraling galaxy.

The large and dazzling stars drifted through the galaxy in such a manner that they seemed to have a grip on anyone who glanced at them. They pulled at them with no means of escape.

This was definitely no ordinary illusion, but it was also impossible for an eye to contain a true galaxy. Instead, it was a distant sector of the universe that had been projected into the pupil.

This technique was very astounding.

“The collapse of stars… the descent of the eternal night. You should be proud that you were able to force me to use the Eternal Eventide Star Technique.”

The black-dressed Xi Ye slowly landed in front of the gigantic eye. Her clothes were fluttering gently, while her hair was being blown around in the wind, making her look exceedingly elegant.

“Eternal Eventide Star Technique? What sort of technique is that?”

The members of the Luo clan were puzzled regarding this matter. Ancient factions like the Luo clan and the Eternal Eventide Sea, that had existed for more than a hundred million years, would have explored countless mystic realms. It would not be surprising to find remnant copies of mystic techniques that were on the Divine Lord level in them.

However, despite having these ancient mystic techniques present in the faction, they were usually extremely demanding and difficult to comprehend. Coupled with the lack of available instruction, the number of people that could master such techniques were exceedingly scarce!

For the Eternal Eventide Star Technique to have such an astounding effect when being conjured by someone with a cultivation level at the Heaven Ascension perfection realm, to the point of being able to project a galaxy that was located in the far reaches of the Universe, it was most likely an ancient heritage obtained by the Eternal Eventide Sea from a particular mystic realm.

Such a heritage was most likely incomplete, so it definitely needed extraordinary perception just to gain some basic mastery in it.

With the Eternal Eventide Star Technique being used, the entire arena was shrouded in darkness. It was like an eternal night had fallen as darkness penetrated every inch of the area.

When Luo Huo’er was enveloped by the Eternal Eventide, she felt like the world external to her became increasingly unreal, and the darkness became more and more extensive and viscous, like it was engulfing everything and isolating her from everything.

Luo Huo’er suddenly sensed that the southern desolate mountain plains were moving far away from her, and the surrounding warriors had also opened up a distance from her, like she was being isolated.

A seal!?

Luo Huo’er immediately realized what had happened.

And at that moment, the audience was seeing a completely different scenario. What they saw was that the viscous darkness was gradually shrinking again and again under the envelopment of the gigantic eye.

It went from shrouding the entire arena to a vortex of darkness that was several feet wide.

Next, the dark vortex had shrunk to a few inches in size… a black ball the size of a peach. When this happened, Xi Ye grabbed it with her hand.

“That is!?”

The millions of spectators had witnessed this spectacle. An expansive zone of perpetual eventide had been shrunk to the size of a peach. No! It was already smaller than the size of a peach, and Luo Huo’er, who had been enveloped by it, had already vanished along with it!

Could Luo Huo’er be trapped in that tiny black ball!?

Everyone looked at the black ball. Having great eyesight as warriors, they could discern all of the details of the black ball despite the large distance.

It resembled a mini-universe. On the boundary of the darkness, there was a projection of uncountable stars. Despite it being small in size, it gave people a sense of magnificence.

“Princess Purple Spirit!”

“What did you do to Princess Purple Spirit!?”

The millions of spectators could not remain calm. Princess Purple Spirit, the most talented person in the Luo clan, had been sealed in a ball of darkness. With a ball the size of a peach or smaller, who knew what had happened to Princess Purple Spirit!

“Hmph! Luo Huo’er has been sealed in my Eternal Eventide Star. Without me willing it, she will forever be lost in a chaotic space, never to escape! Over time, her power will be gradually eroded by the darkness, turning her into a cripple. Or with a simple thought of mine, her body will be devoured by the darkness!” Xi Ye said brightly as the surrounding members of the Luo clan had turned anxious.

“Let Princess Purple Spirit out!” People shouted. It was fine even if the battle was lost, but Princess Purple Spirit was not to be harmed.

“Let her out? Heh heh heh heh!” Xi Ye laughed out in a clear and charming manner. “I will let her out, but not yet. She has to pay the price for her arrogance. This is the outcome of challenging me and challenging my Eternal Eventide clan! In two hours, I will release her from the Eternal Eventide Star. Considering how talented she is, she should be able to endure it for two hours.” Xi Ye said with a sneer.

As she spoke, she looked at Yi Yun. “The next person will be you. Do you think that your strength is heads and shoulders above the Eternal Eventide Sea after defeating Ye Yi? I will let you know how hopeless the gap between the two of us is. You will experience a hopelessness that resembles sinking into the eternal and infinite eventide!”

Xi Ye’s words were extremely arrogant. Yi Yun frowned slightly. She really was detestable, making him feel like beating her up.

Just as he was pondering about how the Eternal Eventide Star Technique could be cracked, Yi Yun suddenly uttered a light cry.

He looked at the black ball in Xi Ye’s hand. The darkness energy that was stable had suddenly become chaotic.

“Huh!?”

Xi Ye felt a jolt as she looked at the completely sealed Eternal Eventide Star. As its creator, she could clearly sense that the world of darkness that she had built up was collapsing from the inside!

What!?

The Eternal Eventide Star was equivalent to a small world that was created by Xi Ye. In this small world, she was the overlord, but now, the world was collapsing!

Cha! Cha! Cha!

Fiery-red beams burst out of the ball of darkness, riddling the boundary of the ball with hundreds, if not thousands, of holes. From afar, the Eternal Eventide Star looked like a radiant sun.

“How could this be possible!?”

Xi Ye’s expression changed drastically. As one of the few people in the Eternal Eventide Sea who could master the Eternal Eventide Star Technique, Xi Ye understood how powerful this mystic technique was, but now, it looked like it was being dismantled!

Was it Luo Huo’er? How could she crack it!?

Xi Ye had no time to ponder about it as the amount of red light that burst out of the Eternal Eventide Star increased and grew in intensity. It was like the Eternal Eventide Star had been ignited. Without any choice, Xi Ye leaped back because the peach-sized Eternal Eventide Star was emitting thousands of beams of dazzling light at that moment. The entire arena was blinding!

Boom!

A violent explosion could be heard as a phantom image of a goddess of war dressed in armor charged out of the exploding Eternal Eventide Star. She was as tall as the mountains, and she had a broadsword in her hand. The gold armor that covered her shone brilliantly!

Goddess of the River Luo! It was the Luo clan’s totem — the Ancient Fey, Goddess of the River Luo!

Millions of Luo clan clansmen exclaimed. The Goddess of the River Luo which could only be seen during rituals had appeared in front of their very eyes!

938 - : Eternal Eventide Star

CKtalon  CKtalon

Goddess of the River Luo was the totem ancestor of the Luo clan. She had a feminine image when she was compared to a female human, but she had a snake’s tail instead of legs.

With a broadsword in her hand, Goddess Luo’s body charged into the sky, but her tail remained in the Eternal Eventide Star. And at that moment, her broadsword came slashing straight at Xi Ye!

The strike had an indomitable momentum, and in the sword beam, Luo Huo’er had transformed into a stream of light that merged with the sword beam!

At that moment, Xi Ye could discern two swords in Luo Huo’er’s hands.

One of them was the soft sword that resembled a red ribbon, which Luo Huo’er had used earlier.

As for the other sword that made its first appearance, it was a broadsword that was about as wide as a palm. It was dark red in color, and there were complicated runes engraved on the blade.

A soft sword and a heavy sword were weapons that did not seem to be compatible when used together, but they were perfectly used in unison by Luo Huo’er. Two sword beams slashed out at the same time!

“Skyfire Lunar Occultation!”

At the moment that the two swords hit, it was like heaven and earth had turned into a sea of fire.

Xi Ye clenched her teeth as the gigantic eye in the sky poured black Chaos down. She cracked her whip and it snapped straight at Luo Huo’er’s attack.

The dark galaxy spiraled while it collided with the surging Skyfire.

Boom!

The intense explosion resulted in an inferno, turning into a radiant sun in the sky. The slash from the two swords, combined with the might of the Goddess Luo, caused the darkness surrounding Xi Ye to dissipate because of the fire!

Luo Huo’er’s sword moved forward unopposed, stabbing in between Xi Ye’s eyebrows!

Peng!

Xi Ye trembled as the metallic accessory on her forehead shattered!

An almost infinite amount of fire-elemental energy nearly tore through Xi Ye’s soul, sending her retreating. Her face was pale, and on her fair-skinned forehead, a scar had been left behind by Luo Huo’er.

The scar was the size of a plum, resembling a black flame. It was a burn mark from Luo Huo’er’s sword tip.

Such a scar could easily be treated using precious elixirs, but it was a greatly humiliating to have a scar appear on Xi Ye’s face.

Xi Ye held one hand to her forehead as the remnant fire-elemental energy surged around her body.

The flames that were cultivated by Luo Huo’er were undying in nature. They seemed to consume Xi Ye’s energy to replenish themselves, allowing them to continue for prolonged periods of time.

Xi Ye’s meridians were injured, preventing her from dissolving the wanton energies.

In mid-air, the gigantic eye had already dissipated, while the Goddess of the River Luo was gradually fading away as well.

Luo Huo’er stood mid-air with the soft sword in one hand, and a broadsword in another as her clothes fluttered.

The millions of spectators fell silent momentarily when they saw the outcome.

Luo Huo’er had been sealed in the Eternal Eventide Star, a technique suspected to be an ancient mystic technique. It was an odd attack and nomologically profound. After all, it was able to project a distant galaxy.

However, such a sealing technique had been slashed apart by a single move from Luo Huo’er.

After slashing the Eternal Eventide Star apart, Luo Huo’er had used ‘Skyfire Lunar Occultation’ to defeat Xi Ye in one strike!

The battle did not give people the opportunity to breathe from beginning to end.

Was it really a battle between Heaven Ascension realm warriors?

Seeing the arena that was nearly reduced to lava from the flames, the spectators were distraught. Be it the profound laws or the terrifying energy fluctuations from the attacks, they had surpassed the limits of Heaven Ascension realm warriors. They had even surpassed most Dao Manifestation realm warriors.

“Her Highness has won!”

The Luo clan’s warriors were extremely excited. With Princess Purple Spirit exhibiting her prowess, revealing the Goddess of the Luo River, they felt a collective sense of pride!

As for the people from the Eternal Eventide Sea, they had ugly expressions. Their Eternal Eventide Sea was here to fight Chi Zhuiyun and they did not think much of Chi Zhuiyun sweeping through the Luo clan unopposed.

But just moments ago, Yi Yun had first instantly defeated Ye Yi with a brick, followed by Princess Purple Spirit defeating Goddess Xi Ye in a grand manner.

As for what Xi Ye previously said, it was still fresh on their minds, but in a blink of an eye… their Eternal Eventide Sea had suffered an abject defeat. Not only was Xi Ye disgraced, they felt disgraced as ordinary clansmen as well.

As Xi Ye listened to the jubilant cheers from the Luo clan’s warriors, her face turned pale.

She stared angrily at Luo Huo’er before her figure flashed. She returned to her seat of honor after transforming into a plume of black smoke.

“I want to see how many times she can remain undefeated.” Xi Ye said coldly.

As Yi Yun looked at Xi Ye, he felt rather speechless. She had lost so badly to the point of being unable to redeem herself, yet she insisted on watching the battles to wait for the moment of Luo Huo’er’s defeat… Even if Luo Huo’er was defeated, the person who defeated her would not be Xi Ye.

And at that moment, another wave of cheers was heard from the millions of warriors.

Oracle Fey Kingdom’s Demon Girl had accepted the challenge from Tian Yaping of the World Margin Sect and she had clinched victory!

Tian Yaping looked disheartened. He was planning on flexing his skills at the event, but he was eliminated right from the beginning. Just Demon Girl alone had rendered him helpless in defeat, let alone Chi Zhuiyun. He did not even find his footing when he set foot on the arena before he was defeated.

In the seats of honor, Yu Tianfeng said with a laugh, “Demon Girl is not lacking in strength. If anyone were to belittle her, they would suffer heavy losses and remember their terrible mistake.”

It was hard to tell what was on Tianya Haoyue’s mind as the corners of his mouth twitched, “Isn’t it perfect that she doesn’t lack strength? This would indicate that Chi Zhuiyun’s strength is something worth looking forward to.”

While speaking, he made his move. Like a swimming dragon, he descended on the desolate plain.

He shook a feathered fan and he looked extremely refined. He resembled a scholar that dabbled in poetry more than a warrior.

“Senior Brother Haoyue! Senior Brother Haoyue!” The World Margin Sect disciples shouted loudly.

Their euphoria was uniform, sending cheers that echoed in waves throughout the southern desolate mountain plains.

As the top disciple of the World Margin Sect, Tianya Haoyue represented power amongst the sect’s disciples. The World Margin Sect advocated the importance of strength. Whoever could overpower the rest to become the strongest who took the top spot.

Tianya Ping’s defeat had caused a dark cloud to hang over the World Margin Sect disciples, but it was swept clean by Tianya Haoyue’s appearance. They were filled with limitless anticipation that Tianya Haoyue would redeem the World Margin Sect’s pride.

“Who shall participate in the battle?” Tianya Haoyue asked.

Near the arena, Nongying took a deep breath. She knew that she had nearly no chance at winning the battle, but since she had been chosen, she could not retreat from the fight. Even though her opponent was very powerful, she was bent on treating the battle seriously, so as to not sully the White Fox clan’s reputation.

Now, Ye Yi, Tianya Ping and Demon Girl had each fought a battle. Those remaining were top geniuses from the various factions. Without any other opponent, she could only battle Tianya Haoyue.

Even though she knew that her hopes were slim.

“Whew!”

A frail-looking figure landed opposite Tianya Haoyue.

939 - : Skyfire Lunar Occultation

CKtalon  CKtalon

Nongying wore a white short-sleeved robe with golden bells attached to her snow-white wrists and ankles. She was an exquisite beauty, with large eyes and an unsmiling face, she immediately attracted the attention of everyone when she appeared.

“White Fox clan, Nongying.” Nongying said calmly.

Tianya Haoyue gave a faint smile and said, “I’d have been somewhat interested in meeting Princess White Fox in battle, but for you… ”

Tianya Haoyue shook his head, clearly feeling great disdain for Nongying.

He flapped his feathered fan and said, “Make your move, I’ll give you a three-move handicap.”

Tianya Haoyue shook his fan, with no intention to reveal his weapon.

Nongying’s face turned slightly warm as she tiptoed on her toes slightly, taking a step forward with a curious kind of footwork.

“Ding!”

A clear ringing sound of bells instantly resounded in everyone’s ears. It was pleasing to the ears, but it caused people to fall into a trance when they heard it. At the same time, Nongying’s footwork was not ordinary. It looked like an elegant dance, but taking another look would put one end up in stupefaction.

Nongying darted towards Tianya Haoyue. Despite her speed not appearing to be fast, she left behind a series of shadows in the eyes of millions of warriors. The clear ringing of the bells succeeded one after another.

Tianya Haoyue chuckled, but he did not enter a defensive pose, allowing Nongying to come at him.

“I said that I’ll give you a three-move handicap. During these three moves, I’ll not move a single step.” Tianya Haoyue’s words echoed throughout the southern desolate mountain plains, causing Nongying to frown.

As for the White Fox disciples, they were upset because of his statement.

Nongying was one of the two Shadow Twins. Furthermore, she was even stronger than Nongyue. Even if she was no match for Tianya Haoyue, it was an act of arrogance to not even make a single move!

Yi Yun had defeated Ye Yi in a devastating manner, but that was with Yi Yun using a real attack on Ye Yi.

Although Yi Yun had used a brick, the brick was flickering with nomological runes that looked profound in nature. It was clearly not an ordinary move.

As for Tianya Haoyue, he was crazier than Yi Yun!

“If that’s the case, try taking this.” Nongying said coldly.

Ding Ding Ding!

The bells rang in close succession as Nongying’s figure transformed into countless shadows in the midst of the ringing. Warriors who had low cultivation levels were already feeling dizzy. Just listening to the ringing seemed to induce blood vomiting.

The motions that the shadows did were varied, but they attacked Tianya Haoyue simultaneously!

All possible angles for dodging had been sealed off.

Some people could not even stand firmly in the face of the ringing, so how was one to withstand the overwhelming attack?

Many warriors were secretly horrified. Although the White Fox clan’s Shadow Twins were rather famous, they paled in comparison at this event. But when Nongying made her move, the warriors came to a realization that these geniuses that seemingly paled in comparison were the cream of the crop that stood out from billions of warriors!

Nongying had gone all out on her first move!

However, Tianya Haoyue remained composed. He stood in his original spot with a smile, apparently having no intention of dodging.

Seeing the attacks about to land, Tianya Haoyue mentally conjured something immediately as a transparent wall appeared around him. This ‘wall’ was resonating with ripples, slightly reflecting the sunlight like the surface of water.

Nongying’s countless shadows were reflected on this watery wall.

“Ding!”

As the ringing suddenly reached a single crescendo, all of the shadows vanished.

Nongying was sent flying backward, stumbling when she landed on the ground.

Her face was pale as blood flowed out of her ears.

What just happened?

Nongyue, who had been clenching her fist and hoping that Nongying would teach Tianya Haoyue a brutal lesson, was astounded.

The White Fox disciples were puzzled as well.

Nongying was the one attacking a motionless Tianya Haoyue, but why was Nongying the one injured?

“Nongying’s ears are bleeding. She had received attacks from the ringing of bells. It’s Nongying’s own attack!”

“Why did that happen?” A White Fox disciple asked in a fascinated manner.

“Catoptric Deflection! That is the top martial technique of our World Margin Sect. Only Senior Brother Haoyue was able to master it among the younger generation of disciples! Catoptric Deflection can sense all nomological changes in the opponent’s martial arts, replicating it perfectly. This is what it means to pay somebody back with her own coin.” A World Margin Sect disciple smugly said.

For the World Margin Sect to possess such a top martial technique, as World Margin Sect disciples, they too gained pride from it, so it was natural for them to take the opportunity to promote it.

“Quickly make your next move. You still have two more to go.” Tianya Haoyue said.

Nongying raised her hand and she used her slender fingers to wipe the blood from her ears before suddenly charging forward.

This time, her actions were much slower than before, but the ringing was more intensive and ringing at a greater frequency. Visible warping of space could be seen around her.

And within the warped space, countless threads appeared alongside the ringing of the bells.

Nongying was centered amid the threads, filling almost the entire space.

Suddenly, all the threads gathered as one!

The threads tore through the void and swept towards Tianya Haoyue!

The spectating warriors felt a tingling pain in their eyes, for every thin thread contained extremely lethal and horrifying power.

“This is a nomological move Sis learned while in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven.” Nongyue said. She knew what was on Nongying’s mind. Even if she were to be defeated, she wanted to make Tianya Haoyue do the act of blocking!

“Not bad, but it’s useless against me.” Tianya Haoyue sneered as light from Catoptric Deflection bloomed.

Bam! Nongying flew backward like a kite with a broken thread, before collapsing to the ground.

Her white arms and calves were covered in streaks of blood as she spat out a mouthful of blood. She looked like she was in a miserable state.

Tianya Haoyue shook his head and waved his fan, saying, “You are too weak.”

“Sis!” Nongyue’s face turned pale as she angrily looked at Tianya Haoyue, “You were too harsh on her!”

Other than Nongyue, many of the warriors could tell that Nongying’s attacking strength was inferior to Tianya Haoyue. He did not simply reflect the move, he had enhanced the replication of Nongying’s move before returning it to her.

In the series of battles, everyone else only did what was necessary, but Tianya Haoyue showed no mercy, seriously injuring Nongying.

Tianya Haoyue shook his head as he ignored Nongyue completely. Instead, he looked at the pale Nongying, “You still have one more move, which is also the last move. Do not disappoint me any further.”

He still wanted to carry on fighting?

Nongying was already severely injured. Under such circumstances, the outcome was already decided. With him saying this, was he intentionally trying to humiliate her?

The White Fox disciples were enraged. In the seats of honor, Princess White Fox’s eyes turned cold.

Just as she was about to say a word, Nongying had already stood up.

“You can throw in the towel if you wish.” Tianya Haoyue said.

Nongying looked calm as she said, “This is the final move. Take it.”

In the arena, she represented the White Fox clan, so how could she throw in the towel?

Princess White Fox looked at Nongying, and from Nongying’s eyes, she could see determination.

She did not say another word for this was a battle belonging to Nongying.

In a series of bell chimes, Nongying’s head was lowered slightly, but when she raised her head and opened her eyes, her eyes had turned scarlet, as though she was a real fox!

At the same time, her aura suffused an air of extreme danger.

Boom!

A terrifying power erupted from Nongying’s petite body as her figure instantly disappeared from where she was standing. A deep crater suddenly appeared where she stood as cracks like spiderwebs emanated across the ground.

A rare change appeared in Tianya Haoyue’s expression, as a coldness flashed in his eyes.

At the same moment, the feathered fan in his hand emitted a dazzling brilliance. Catoptric Deflection activate once again, conjuring a gigantic mirror surface that stood in front of him.

Bam!

A loud explosion boomed like a mountain that was crumbling!

And from within the explosion burst of light, a figure flew out.

Princess White Fox rushed from the seats of honor and when she landed gently on the ground, she held a blood-covered Nongying, whose eyes were closed tightly, in one hand. As for her other hand, she flicked her long sleeves, dissipating the remaining forces.

940 - : Catoptric Deflection

CKtalon  CKtalon

A killing intent flashed in Princess White Fox’s eyes when she saw the state that Nongying was in. “You knew that Nongying was not your match, but you still remained so heavy-handed.”

“I’m really sorry.” Tianya Haoyue laughed heartily. “I did not expect this outcome as well. The power of Catoptric Deflection depends completely on the attacker, reflecting any move after it is enhanced in power. Who knew that she was unable to withstand a fight? Yet, she insisted on using such a move without understanding her own strength. It’s only normal for her to be severely injured.”

Tianya Haoyue’s words infuriated all of the White Fox disciples.

Tianya Haoyue was pushing it too far!

“I’ll mark your words of it being only normal!” Princess White Fox stood up with Nongying in her arms. Her expression was cold as she said, “I’ll make you pay the price.”

“Oh? I’ll be waiting!” Tianya Haoyue did not seem to mind Princess White Fox’s threat. “I’ve long heard that Princess White Fox has a powerful bloodline. It’s something that I want to see!”

As a haughty person by nature, Tianya Haoyue completely belittled Princess White Fox.

Princess White Fox handed Nongying to Nongyue before she fed Nongying a relic. But at that moment, a red cloud descended on the southern desolate mountain plains.

“I can agree to your wish to battle Tianya Haoyue, but you might no longer have a chance. We are the only two left that have not fought.”

The person who spoke was Chi Zhuiyun!

He shook his spear as he emanated an unstoppable aura!

From the beginning of the matchups, Yi Yun, Luo Huo’er and company had each fought once, leaving only Chi Zhuiyun and Princess White Fox.

With Chi Zhuiyun saying this, millions of warriors turned their heads to look at him.

The situation was filled with twists. Princess White Fox had just challenged Tianya Haoyue, but Chi Zhuiyun wanted to battle her first!

If Princess White Fox lost, she was unable to carry on battling Tianya Haoyue.

Chi Zhuiyun was publicly acknowledged to be extremely mighty!

Princess White Fox took a deep breath as her face turned sullen. Her figure vanished and with an accompanying flash of electricity, her figure appeared opposite Chi Zhuiyun.

“I’ll fight you,” said Princess White Fox.

As a representative of the entire White Fox clan, she had to accept the challenge from anyone.

On the southern desolate mountain plains, millions of warriors felt their blood boil with excitement.

Chi Zhuiyun versus Princess White Fox!

Previously, Luo Huo’er’s stunning performance was an eye-opener for everyone, and with Princess White Fox being on par with Luo Huo’er, how magnificent would she be?

“Princess Xue’er! Princess Xue’er!” The White Fox disciples cheers resounded.

At that moment, Tianya Haoyue had returned to his seat.

Tianya Haoyue flapped his fan, ignoring the cheers of adoration that the White Fox disciples gave for their princess.

Princess White Fox wanted to defeat Chi Zhuiyun? That was unlikely as Chi Zhuiyun was someone who had gained the approval of a Divine Lord!

At that moment, Chi Zhuiyun made his move!

He vibrated the tip of his spear, causing flames to immediately twirl around the spear.

Boom!

A blinding flare burst above the southern desolate mountain plains, as Chi Zhuiyun’s figure, appeared in front of Princess White Fox in the blink of an eye. The burning spear thrust straight towards the middle of Princess White Fox’s eyebrows!

Princess White Fox’s white hair fluttered as energy surged in front of her!

However, she remained composed. Lightning bolts flashed all over her body as her slender finger tapped the spear tip gently.

Princess White Fox’s snow-white finger collided with the indomitable flaming spear. The spear seemed like it could pierce through everything and demolish mountains.

Bam!

A thundering blast caused the ground to quake!

Flames and lightning bolts spread out simultaneously as red and bluish-white Yuan Qi radiated in all directions from the explosive center.

Countless cracks appeared on the ground. After one strike, half of the area on which Princess White Fox and Chi Zhuiyun stood had charred, while every plant in the other half had withered.

A bloody wound was left on Princess White Fox’s white finger!

“Again!” Chi Zhuiyun carved the ground with his spear as his Shura Dao Domain appeared once again. In the Dao Domain, his killing intent raged!

Princess White Fox crossed her hands, and in the middle of her palms, a strange eye suddenly appeared.

The eye seemed to come from ancient times. When the spectating warriors saw this eye, they could not help but shudder in fear!

Eye of the Skyfox!

At the same time, Princess White Fox closed her eyes slightly, and when she opened her eyes, her eyes resembled the Eye of the Skyfox.

Princess White Fox mouthed the words, “Nine-tailed Domain.”

Under the Eye of the Skyfox’s watchful eye, Chi Zhuiyun, as well as his Shura Dao Domain, was enveloped by the Nine-tailed Domain.

“Her Highness has already grasped the Nine-tailed Domain!?” On the seats of honor, Chu Yunjian was astonished. “Her Highness had a Lightning Dao Domain to begin with, and now, with the Nine-tailed Domain, wouldn’t it be a dual Dao Domain!?”

Bai Yueqing nodded and he revealed a look of satisfaction. The Nine-tailed Domain was a Dao Domain exclusive to the Nine-tailed White Fox. It was a Dao Domain of an Ancient Fey, much more powerful than a Lightning Dao Domain!

“What terrifying talent. Princess Xue’er has exceeded me at the same realm.” Chu Yunjian said with a sigh.

Chu Yunjian was also a top genius and he was not wrong. This was indeed a match between two extremely talented elites. The two did not probe the other or hold back their skills. They were using their true skills from the onset.

“Chi Zhuiyun has been sealed in the Nine-tailed Domain. Xue’er plans on winning in one move, so she did not hold back at all.” Bai Yueqing’s eyes turned serious. It was possible to defeat Chi Zhuiyun by combining the Nine-tailed Domain with the Eye of the Skyfox!

In the Nine-tailed Domain, Princess White Fox’s figure had quickly shrunk and disappeared. Only a gigantic Eye of the Skyfox was left in the Nine-tailed Domain and it stared intently at Chi Zhuiyun!

At that moment, Luo Huo’er looked elsewhere. “Eh?”

Demon Girl, who belonged to the Oracle Fey Kingdom like Chi Zhuiyun, was stepping up as well!

She had previously defeated Tianya Ping, and after a short break, she had her sights on Yi Yun.

“Come on.” Demon Girl wiggled her finger.

She had a wild kind of beauty, so her wiggling finger did not appear to be frivolous at all.

The southern desolate mountain plains were extremely wide, and with the spectating warriors leaving ample space for the battle participants, two battles could be simultaneously carried out.

“First things first, I will not be giving you a chance if you want to use that metallic seal to whack me.” Demon Girl said.

Yi Yun chuckled. If a clan’s genius was defeated by a brick in public, it would indeed leave a psychological scar.

Similarly, Yi Yun was not planning on using the Heaven Upheaval Seal to deal with Demon Girl. After all, a weapon like a brick was only used by Yi Yun when the person pissed him off.

Yi Yun wiped his interspatial ring as a sword immediately appeared in his hand.

Seeing Yi Yun switch weapons, Demon Girl did not look relaxed either. On the contrary, she squinted her eyes like a beast as she stared intently at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was very strong!

Demon Girl slowly lifted her arms and with a whoosh, long claws stretched out of her hands. At the same time, her entire form changed, she looked more like a Fey beast than human.

“Watch it!”

Just as Demon Girl’s voice faded, her figure had disappeared from where she was standing!

Immediately following that, Yi Yun sensed an intense energy source coming from the front of him, but there was only an emptiness in front of him. There was no one there!

941 - : Chi Zhuiyun’s Round

CKtalon  CKtalon

It was not that there was nobody there, but Demon Girl had turned invisible!

Yi Yun sensed the distortion of the space around him under the influence of laws.

“It’s spatial dimension laws.” Luo Huo’er could tell very clearly from her seat of honor.

“It’s not easy to change the 12 Empyrean Heavens’ spatial dimension laws at the Heaven Ascension realm.” Yi Yun thought.

This most likely had something to do with Demon Girl’s bloodline. Different Ancient Fey grasped different laws, so it was likely that Demon Girl’s bloodline was related to an Ancient Fey that grasped spatial dimension laws.

Spatial dimension laws were extremely odd. Demon Girl seemed to enter the void, making it difficult to locate her whereabouts. People who did not know spatial dimension laws would not even be able to put up a defense.

But at that moment in time, Yi Yun had brandished his sword.

Yi Yun slashed out at an empty space in front of him.

Dao patterns condensed on the sword’s blade and as the beams sliced through space, distortions immediately appeared in the space.

What was Yi Yun doing? Was he trying to crack Demon Girl’s spatial dimension laws by taking the initiative to attack?

In a blink of an eye, Yi Yun had slashed dozens of times successively!

Distortions could be seen everywhere in space as Yi Yun ignored when or from where Demon Girl would attack. He just slashed out again and again!

Wherever there was an energy fluctuation, Yi Yun would slash in that direction.

He had spent a great deal of time in the Heavenly Slaughter Array, fighting countless opponents in it. Hence, he was very keen when it came to energy fluctuations.

Ka-cha!

At that moment, a sound similar to a chicken egg cracking was heard as Demon Girl suddenly appeared nearby.

Her expression was ugly when she appeared. She was also retreating without any qualms, like she was trying to open up a gap between her and Yi Yun.

However, Yi Yun was already pursuing her with his sword pointed at her.

There were Dao patterns appearing beneath his feet, and although Yi Yun’s speed did not appear to be fast, every step allowed him to traverse a great distance. In a blink of an eye, Yi Yun had appeared behind Demon Girl.

Dang!

Demon Girl immediately turned around and swiped with her sharp claws. Ten spatial rifts immediately appeared in front of Yi Yun.

However, Yi Yun did not dodge the spatial rifts.

He slashed down with a sword beam that resembled lightning!

Above the sword beam, Dao patterns trembled, vanquishing the ten spatial rifts, reducing them to countless black dots, and Yi Yun passed through these black dots.

His sword was pointed straight at Demon Girl’s throat!

Demon Girl retreated again and again!

But the sword beam caught up to her at an even faster speed.

Weng!

Demon Girl came to a stop, her face ashen.

Just in front of her throat, the slightly quivering sword came to a stop. Yi Yun just needed to move his hand slightly forward, and her throat would be penetrated.

“I’ve lost.” Demon Girl said in a whisper.

She had defeated Tianya Ping in a devastating manner. Similarly, Yi Yun had defeated her with his indomitable sword that undermined her efforts.

Only then did the warrior audience manage to react. Yi Yun had been using the same move from the beginning, never taking a step back.

They were both geniuses, but there was a huge gap between them!

If anyone of them had fought Yi Yun, they would not have been able to even withstand a single strike.

On the Eternal Eventide Sea’s side, Ye Yi watched Yi Yun standing on the arena with his sword in hand. It was unknown what was on his mind.

Even their Goddess Xi Ye had been eliminated, but Yi Yun had solidly come up on top, as one of the top talents. Even if he were to be defeated later, he would definitely garner the appreciation of the alliance.

Yi Yun had used a brick to humiliate him, and it was foreseeable that Yi Yun’s future would be more promising than his. Now, Yi Yun was receiving the kudos of the Luo clan after trampling on him and Demon Girl. Just as Luo Huo’er mentioned, a warrior’s world depended on strength. Ye Yi had a strong feeling that the gap between him and Yi Yun would only grow wider in time.

“Little Yun, not bad at all!” Luo Huo’er gave Yi Yun a smile from afar.

At that moment, Yi Yun had also came to the seats of honor.

Chi Zhuiyun and Princess White Fox’s battle was still ongoing!

Princess White Fox stood mid air, as her skirt fluttered in the wind while her silvery-white hair moved around freely in the wind. Maintaining a Lightning Domain and Nine-tailed Domain, as well as the Eye of the Skyfox simultaneously was very taxing on Princess White Fox.

At that moment, a Nine-tailed White Fox phantom image appeared behind Princess White Fox. Simultaneously, lightning flashed as a blinding bolt of lightning condensed into a sword in her hand.

Princess White Fox held the sword and she thrust at Chi Zhuiyun from afar.

At the same time, a lightning bolt that manifested as a sword appeared above Chi Zhuiyun as it slashed down at him!

“Heaven’s Prison Electro-penance!”

When this strike appeared, it was like divine lightning struck from heaven from out of nowhere. The millions of spectating warriors could feel a tingling sensation on their skin despite standing far away.

If it were them at the same cultivation realm, there was nothing that they could do but face death against this terrifying strike, considering how Chi Zhuiyun was sealed in a Nine-tailed Domain and being stared at intently by the Eye of the Skyfox!

And in the Nine-tailed Domain, Chi Zhuiyun, who was facing this strike head on, had the surrounding space around him sealed, with no room for him to dodge!

Chi Zhuiyun clenched his spear tightly as he was not planning on dodging as well!

Chi Zhuiyun roared as the Shura Domain beneath his feet suddenly contracted.

A dark crimson color gathered on his spear, like it was forged out of a blood pool in hell. Just a look at it gave people a jolt through their very souls!

“This strike is called Shura!”

Chi Zhuiyun’s aura surged violently as terrifying killing intent emanated from his body. He thrust his spear out at the strike above him!

The sword and spear clashed in a blink of an eye!

However, the terrifying collision resulted in a moment of silence.

After the silence, the energy from the two strikes burst outwards in a circular shockwave! The ground quaked and wherever the energy passed, everything was flattened.

Princess White Fox’s face turned white as blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

The contrast that the scarlet blood created over her fair skin was a captivating pathos.

The warriors held their breaths as they looked in Chi Zhuiyun’s direction.

Who was the winner and who was the loser?

In the raging dust storm, a red figure holding a spear slowly walked out.

His figure was as straight as his spear.

Weng!

With a tremble of his spear, Chi Zhuiyun said with a cold expression, “You have lost!”

Princess White Fox eventually lost to Chi Zhuiyun!

The battle process was extremely intense, causing others to feel shortness of breath.

There was a long moment of silence on the southern desolate mountain plains.

In the seats of honor, Bai Yueqing clenched his fan tightly as he stared intently at Chi Zhuiyun.

Beside him, Chu Yunjian also exhaled gently. “Chi Zhuiyun is too strong! I have never seen such talent in my life before.”

Chu Yunjian’s words were not exaggerated. He too was a top genius, but Chi Zhuiyun gave him a feeling that he was the strongest person of the same generation.

Chi Zhuiyun was indeed extraordinary for him to gain the recognition of Felicitous Rain Lord!

“Xue’er’s cultivation realm is still a bit too low.” Bai Yueqing said with a sullen expression.

“Heh heh, Chi Zhuiyun is at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm, while Princess White Fox is at the Heaven Ascension perfection real, with a rich Nine-tailed White Fox bloodline. There is a gap, but even if Princess White Fox were to enter the half-step Dao Manifestation realm, do you think that she will be able to defeat Chi Zhuiyun? I think it’s very unlikely!”

“What a pity that Princess White Fox would lose her first round. She previously mentioned that she wanted to teach me a lesson, but it looks like she no longer has the chance to.”

Tianya Haoyue emotionless voice came from the side. It wasn’t said softly and many people present could read between the lines.

Princess White Fox, who had just returned from the arena, also heard it clearly.

She faltered slightly. She could ignore Tianya Haoyue’s verbal humiliation, but he had deliberately injured Nongying and he still remained so arrogant.

Unfortunately, she had been defeated in a single battle, no longer having the chance to battle Tianya Haoyue.

“Haha! Goddess Xi Ye and Princess White Fox have both been defeated. It seems that the both of them do not live up to their reputations. Now, there’s only Chi Zhuiyun and the two from the Luo clan. I’m rather interested in how Luo Huo’er will fare.”

Tianya Haoyue’s tone was extremely arrogant, so arrogant that the White Fox disciples wanted to brutally beat him up. As for the defeated Eternal Eventide clan, they were feeling vexed as well.

“To dare say he is rather interested. Who does he think he is!?”

The Luo clan disciples were infuriated as well. This person was too good at posturing.

At that moment, a voice suddenly sounded. “Curb your interest. I’ll have some fun with you in the next round.”

“Oh?”

Tianya Haoyue’s eyes turned serious as he looked towards Yi Yun. He saw Yi Yun heading towards the arena on the desolate plains once again after defeating Demon Girl!

942 - : Have some fun with you

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You?”

Tianya Haoyue frowned. As the top disciple of the World Margin Sect, he obviously wanted to challenge the strongest person of the Luo clan, Princess Purple Spirit — Luo Huo’er.

As for Yi Yun, he had only defeated two substitutes. Be it Ye Yi or Demon Girl, they were only recruited to fill the numbers.

Yi Yun was strong, but Tianya Haoyue felt that Yi Yun was not qualified to fight him.

Furthermore, Yi Yun had been overbearing. He did not talk about challenging him, but he used the words ‘have some fun with you’. Who did he think he was?

“You just finished a round and have expended quite a bit of energy, yet you want to challenge me immediately after that? You truly overestimate yourself!”

“It’s fine, it’s sufficient to deal with you.” Yi Yun said nonchalantly. His words made Luo Huo’er snigger.

She understood Yi Yun and she knew that Yi Yun could not stand Tianya Haoyue’s vaunting of himself. Since Tianya Haoyue was so good at it, Yi Yun did not back off and he humiliated him on the matter, instigating his anger.

Yi Yun had deliberately said those words, but it was Luo Huo’er’s cup of tea.

Other than Luo Huo’er, when Princess White Fox heard this, she gave Yi Yun a surprised look. Looking at Tianya Haoyue’s grim face, the corners of her mouth could not help but curl upwards.

When Tianya Haoyue heard Yi Yun’s words and Luo Huo’er’s snigger, his eyes turned stern.

Yi Yun was courting death!

Tianya Haoyue was extremely arrogant. Previously, he did not think that Nongying was qualified to battle him. Hence, he had severely injured her.

Now, Yi Yun had humiliated him, so there was no way that he would hold back in battle!

“Since you overestimate your strength, I’ll fulfill your desire.”

As Tianya Haoyue’s voice faded, he flew upwards, and arrived on the arena in the desolate plains.

Yi Yun versus Tianya Haoyue!

The Luo clan disciples were exhilarated. Tianya Haoyue was too arrogant, so they were looking forward to Yi Yun smacking Tianya Haoyue heavily in the face.

“Yi Yun! Yi Yun!”

Even the White Fox disciples were shouting as well.

“Yi Yun, beat him up badly!”

“Yi Yun, come on!”

The World Margin Sect disciples were also shouting, but their voices were incomparable to the disciples from the Luo clan and White Fox clan.

Tianya Haoyue’s face turned grim as he revealed a sneer. “Victory is not something determined by one’s mouth.”

His words were deriding the Luo clan and White Fox disciples, as well as Yi Yun.

Yi Yun said scoffingly, “Since you know such a principle, why do you still have so much to say?”

Tianya Haoyue’s eyes narrowed as he threw his feathered fan forward. Behind him, an endless sea cliff appeared. The sky seemed to darken, as the dark blue sea crashed into the rocks. Mist billowed above the ocean as a bright moon hung in the sky. Its projection was reflected above the surface of the sea in a sparkling manner.

Catoptric Deflection!

Tianya Haoyue used Catoptric Deflection once again. Back then, he had used this move to crush Nongying.

And now, the Catoptric Deflection that he was using was much more powerful and extraordinary than the one he used against Nongying. There were even phenomena conjured, creating an independent space, enveloping Yi Yun and Tianya Haoyue within it.

“Use whatever moves you have,” said Tianya Haoyue. “But remember to leave some energy for defense, or you might not be able to withstand the reflection of your own move.”

“It’s that move again!”

“That move is really troublesome. It reflects all attacks and all laws!”

The audience had already seen the strange martial technique. In their opinions, Catoptric Deflection was an extremely difficult move to deal with.

“If it reflects moves and laws… can’t he just not attack and go for a battle of attrition!?” Amongst the Luo clan disciples, someone suddenly asked.

“Don’t attack? Then wouldn’t that put Yi Yun in a passive state as he endures attacks?”

In a battle between two parties, one of them was in an unassailable position while the other party could only take a beating. If that was the case, there was no need to continue this battle!

At that moment, Tianya Haoyue had put his fan away and he had taken out a curved moonblade from his interspatial ring. The Catoptric Deflection’s space was shrinking as Tianya Haoyue encroached towards Yi Yun.

“Your every attack will be useless against me. You are definitely losing!”

As he spoke, Tianya Haoyue slashed down with his blade!

His strike split into thousands of blade beams, like the moon had descended. Instantly, Yi Yun was in a dangerous situation!

“Peng Peng Peng!”

As the blade beams surged at him, Yi Yun suddenly charged to the right and retreated. However, space in Catoptric Deflection was limited. Instantly, Yi Yun retreated to the boundary of Catoptric Deflection. Since the space had already been isolated, there were faint ripples suffusing through the spatial barrier. Attempting to crack it was easier said than done.

Yi Yun did not panic at all. Instead, he smiled and said, “Reflect every attack and law? You really don’t feel the embarrassment from boasting. Can you reflect a Divine Lord or Supremacy’s attack?”

Catoptric Deflection sounded invincible, but it was obvious that Catoptric Deflection could not reflect every attack. It definitely had its limitations.

“Divine Lord? Hahaha!” Tianya Haoyue guffawed. “That question of yours is incurring ridicule on yourself. Are you a Divine Lord? You aren’t even a disciple of a Divine Lord! If you want to attempt at attacking my Catoptric Deflection, go ahead!”

Extreme Slaughter — World Margin Severing!

Tianya Haoyue brandished the moonblade in his hand as wanton blade beams surged forward. At that moment, it was truly like moon essence had transformed into blade beams, as they rained down like mercury, with no gaps in between!

Inside the confined space of Catoptric Deflection, it was impossible to withstand the blade beams if one did not strike!

When the spectators saw Yi Yun, who had been forced into a corner, they held their breaths!

“Then, try to receive this.”

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed and with a thought, hundreds of flying sabers burst out from around him as they shot towards Tianya Haoyue!

Wherever the sabers passed, there was the resonance of energy and a deafening sound!

“What the hell is Yi Yun doing!?”

In the seats of honor, Prince Crimson Firmament and Bai Yueqing frowned. Didn’t Yi Yun see the battle from before?

By not figuring out how to crack Catoptric Deflection’s seal, Yi Yun would definitely be seriously injured by the reflection of such a powerful attack!

Tianya Haoyue sneered. “What foolhardiness and stupidity.”

He brandished his moonblade as the mirror that seemed to fade in and out of existence appeared in front of him to receive the hundreds of flying sabers.

“Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!”

Yi Yun’s flying sabers stabbed at the mirror in an indomitable fashion!

Luo Huo’er stared unblinkingly at the mirror. She was already prepared to immediately help Yi Yun that if Tianya Haoyue’s reflection was too powerful.

Tianya Haoyue was a sinister person and he was ruthless even to Nongying. He would definitely deal a fatal strike at Yi Yun who had offended him.

Bam!

An sound that resembled a explosive clap of thunder resounded as raging forces ripped the surrounding space, producing several rifts in a thousand foot radius.

The Luo clan disciples felt their hearts tighten.

Space was torn apart, preventing them from seeing the situation above the arena.

However, they were stunned when they discerned the situation after everything calmed down!

Yi Yun had finished his clash with Tianya Haoyue. Yi Yun stood mid-air with his sword in hand, while flying sabers surrounded him in a dance. As for Tianya Haoyue, his Catoptric Deflection was still in front of him, but his chest had been sliced apart by the saber blades. What looked like a gorgeous outfit was instantly no different to a beggar’s.

However, there was a piece of clothing that emitted a metallic luster beneath his tattered clothes. It was because of this enchanted piece of clothing that Tianya Haoyue wasn’t reduced to a bloody state.

Tianya Haoyue’s expression had already changed drastically!

What happened? How could it happen?

The spectating warriors were completely unsure of what had happened.

But in the seats of honor, Luo Huo’er and company were able to see it clearly.

Catoptric Deflection was penetrated by Yi Yun’s flying sabers and it failed to put up any resistance!

What was going on?

Yi Yun turned his head, he looked at Tianya Haoyue, and said with a faint smile, “That Catoptric Deflection of yours doesn’t seem to work?”

Tianya Haoyue’s expression turned uglier when Yi Yun said this. What did that punk do?

943 - : Limit of a Move

CKtalon  CKtalon

Catoptric Deflection used by Tianya Haoyue was a top-grade martial technique that the World Margin Sect retrieved from the Sinkhole mystic realm. Regardless of the cultivation technique that attacked Tianya Haoyue, it would be replicated and reflected.

With this martial technique, Tianya Haoyue was considered invincible against his peers.

However, Catoptric Deflection had failed to replicate Yi Yun’s sword technique!

What could be the reason?

If it wasn’t for his enchanted armor, Tianya Haoyue would have already been defeated! This was not a life and death battle after all. If he was injured, losing by one move was also considered to be a defeat.

“What the heck did you just do?” Tianya Haoyue coldly questioned Yi Yun. He refused to believe that Catoptric Deflection was ineffective against Yi Yun. This was something that he had never encountered before!

“Is there a need to explain what I did?” Yi Yun sneered. Catoptric Deflection definitely had its limits. It could reflect moves and laws, but if the attack was too powerful or the laws involved were too profound, it would not be able to reflect them.

Yi Yun’s attack from before had been augmented with a Dao pattern from the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. This mysterious Dao pattern was something that even mighty figures of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven failed to understand, let alone Tianya Haoyue. So what if it was Catoptric Deflection? How was Catoptric Deflection going to reflect it?

Of course, Yi Yun would not explain such matters, but instead, he said with derision, “Isn’t the Catoptric Deflection very awesome, so awesome that it makes you invincible? Why is there a need to wear armor?”

The spectating warriors found it humorous when they heard this. Yi Yun remained unsparing with his words and he specifically targeted Tianya Haoyue’s soft spots.

No one could have seen the armor worn by Tianya Haoyue previously, but now, it was exposed to millions of pairs of eyes.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s mockery, Tianya Haoyue felt that everyone’s eyes were focused on him.

Tianya Haoyue was accustomed to being in the limelight, but it was not with gazes of distrust and cynicism!

Tianya Haoyue clenched his teeth and said, “So what if there’s an armor? In a life-and-death battle between warriors, would you complain that the opponent was wearing armor after being killed? What a joke! Weapons, puppets, pills and relics are a part of a warrior’s combat strength!”

As Tianya Haoyue said this, he ripped off his tattered shirt, revealing a layer of soft purplish-golden armor. A duel between warriors was not like a trial. Any weapon or armor was free to be use.

“Yi Yun, curb those words of yours because the person that will lose will be you!” Tianya Haoyue took a step forward as he spoke before slashing with his moonblade.

“Dance of the Full Moon!”

Immediately, a cold netherbeam tore through the void, forming a silverish-white beam that shot towards Yi Yun.

Countless blade beams descended from the sky like the pouring of moonlight or the surge of a galaxy.

The spectating warriors found it stifling when they saw such an attack. It looked like there was no room for escape, with every angle of retreat being sealed off.

Every blade beam looked captivating, but they contained extremely terrifying killing intent.

Indeed, as the top disciple of the World Margin Sect, Tianya Haoyue was still very powerful without relying on Catoptric Deflection!

From Yi Yun’s point of view, it was like he saw a gigantic moon crushing down on him. As the moon rapidly approached him, the dim moonlight became thousands of blade beams , like they would tear him into pieces.

“Golden Crow totem!”

“Xiao!”

A gigantic three-legged Golden Crow shot out from behind Yi Yun as a pure Yang inferno consumed the moon. Instantly, there was a burst of light above the southern desolate mountain plains!

The blinding light made it difficult to look straight at it. And the intense sounds of collision was resembled the pattering of rain in a storm.

Fiery beams of light filled the sky like countless scars. What was a clear and beautiful sky now looked as though the firmaments were rupturing.

This scene was astounding!

Suddenly, a figure charged out of the fiery storm in a dazzling brilliance. Yi Yun thrust his sword straight at Tianya Haoyue!

Yi Yun had withstood Dance of the Moon and his strike was aimed straight at Tianya Haoyue’s lower spine!

Cha!

The sword penetrated Catoptric Deflection’s defence and proceeded forward in an indomitable fashion!

Despite seeing the sword approaching him and Catoptric Deflection failing once again, Tianya Haoyue was not alarmed. With a sneer, he focused and circulated his Yuan Qi.

Bam!

A gigantic shield of light appeared in front of Tianya Haoyue, blocking Yi Yun’s strike!

Crackle!

The sword beam shattered into what seemed like snowflakes. The millions of people that filled the desolate plains held their breaths at that moment.

Tianya Haoyue retreated several steps back, but he remained unscathed.

The reflection of Catoptric Deflection had failed, but the shield was able to withstand every attack from Yi Yun.

This shield came from the armor.

It was the armor again!

“Your attack… is nothing much after all!” Tianya Haoyue waved his hand and he wiped away the remaining pure Yang flames in front of him. “I’m not afraid to tell you that this is a supreme-grade Dao Manifestation realm armor of my World Margin Sect, the Purple Dragon’s Roar Armor. It is indestructible at the Dao Manifestation realm. Let’s see what you can do to me!”

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, it was not uncommon for large factions to prepare top-grade protective items to protect their elite disciples. Protective items were different from assault weapons. Weapons only needed to be sharp and hard, used for killing.

However, protective items, even if they were full-bodied armor, would fail to withstand the intrusion of Yuan Qi and laws. They would be ineffective for protection. In order to withstand fatal energy attacks, they needed the warrior to inject Yuan Qi into them as well.

As such, armors had an effective cultivation level for use. It allowed a warrior of the corresponding level to push the armor’s defensive capabilities to its highest point.

Regardless of the cultivation level classification, armors that were considered to be supreme-grade were few and far between. It was not commonly seen even amongst large factions. The value of a supreme-grade Heaven Ascension realm armor could even be hundreds of times higher than a top-grade armor at the Dao Manifestation realm.

But now, Tianya Haoyue was wearing a supreme-grade Dao Manifestation realm armor!

Tianya Haoyue’s cultivation level was at the Heaven Ascension, but in terms of strength, he was not weaker than Dao Manifestation realm warriors. Therefore, he was also able to produce the full defensive capabilities of the Purple Dragon’s Roar Armor.

It was not considered bragging to claim that a supreme-grade Dao Manifestation realm armor was indestructible at the Dao Manifestation realm!

Taking ten thousand steps back, even if Yi Yun’s offensive strength was extremely perverse, allowing him to barely break through the supreme-grade Dao Manifestation realm armor’s defense, how much of his offensive strength would there be left after that? It was probably 20-30%!

How was one to win if one’s attack was reduced by 70-80% while battling the top genius of the World Margin Sect?

“To think that he is using a supreme-grade Dao Manifestation realm armor. That Tianya Haoyue is shameless!”

The Luo clan disciples hailed invectives at him.

“How can clinching victory using an armor be considered talent!?”

“If you have the guts, take off your armor!”

Many Luo clan disciples booed at Tianya Haoyue, but Tianya Haoyue scoffed. “Getting one to take off one’s armor in a duel between two warriors? How retarded can the words the lot of you be? One’s background is also a part of one’s strength. Yi Yun, if there is anything to blame, blame yourself from coming from a lower realm, making you as poor as dirt! Hahaha!”

Tianya Haoyue guffawed.

“Supreme-grade armor? Indestructible at the Dao Manifestation realm?” Yi Yun picked his ears and he put the sword in his hand away. As he wiped his interspatial ring, he said, “Then, I want to see if this sword of mine will be able to slash through that supreme-grade Dao Manifestation realm armor of yours.”

Just as his voice faded, a rusty ancient sword appeared in Yi Yun’s hand. It was in a miserable state and what rendered people speechless was that the sword was broken. It was only half of a sword.

944 - : Purple Dragon’s Roar

CKtalon  CKtalon

A half-broken sword? And it was even rusty?

Everyone was dumbfounded when they saw the sword. Warriors typically used superior-grade weapons, which were made of all sorts of divine metals and were refined by masters. Even if such a weapon were to break and lose a great deal of its spirituality, it would never rust, even if it were buried underground for thousands of years.

The material that was used in the rusted sword was probably not something that was impressive, but could it still be called a sword?

Tianya Haoyue had heightened his wariness when he heard Yi Yun say those words, but he had never expected Yi Yun to take out a broken sword.

“You plan on using that piece of trash to break through my armor?” Tianya Haoyue asked in amusement.

“You’ll know once you give it a try.” Just as Yi Yun’s voice faded, the broken sword in his hand was slashed at Tianya Haoyue!

Tianya Haoyue’s pupils constricted as he retreated in a hurry. Although he had mocked Yi Yun, Yi Yun’s strength was redoubtable. He definitely could not take Yi Yun lightly.

Swish!

The moonblade in Tianya Haoyue’s hand released a cold beam of light.

“Lunar Occultation!”

As the top disciple of the World Margin Sect, Tianya Haoyue was extremely wealthy! The armor that he wore was a supreme-grade Dao Manifestation realm armor, and the moonblade in his hand was a top-grade weapon.

The moment Lunar Occultation was produced, the moonblade suddenly turned ethereal, as though a crescent had descended into the mortal realm.

The moonblade slowly slashed down as Tianya Haoyue’s actions were much slower than Yi Yun’s.

With the cleaving of the moonblade, a night sky appeared behind TianYa Haoyue with a bright moon hanging in the sky!

During the process of the moonblade’s cleaving, the moon was gradually devoured by darkness, leaving behind only a glimmer of light.

At the same time, the light in the space around Yi Yun had been engulfed.

Yi Yun had finally felt a sense of danger, because not only did Lunar Occultation devour light, it also devoured life.

Once Yi Yun was completely engulfed by the darkness, he would be annihilated in it as well.

“That is a spatial attack.” In the seats of honor, Princess White Fox said softly as she frowned slightly. “That move is very powerful! Using that moonblade to conjure the strike makes the effects even more astonishing.”

Princess White Fox detested Tianya Haoyue greatly, but she had to admit that Tianya Haoyue had all sorts of techniques. It was unknown how Yi Yun would respond to that attack.

Yi Yun turned a blind eye to the rapidly compressing space. His eyes only had Tianya Haoyue in them.

At that moment, there was only a tiny rift left in front of Yi Yun, with Tianya Haoyue appearing a great distance away from him!

Yi Yun proceeded forward with the rusty sword in his hand as nomological fragments condensed themselves out of the void, attaching themselves to the broken sword.

The sword truth, pressing forward with an indomitable will!

Slash!

The sword thrust forward with no return. Shatter!

Boom!

In the darkness, a radiant sun rose up and within the sun was Yi Yun’s figure that was slashing at Tianya Haoyue with a sword in his hand!

Tianya Haoyue’s pupils constricted. Lunar Occultation had been shattered!

He raised his moonblade to block, hoping that the treasured saber would be able to block Yi Yun’s attack!

Ka!

The moonblade met the pure Yang broken sword as terrifying energy blasted outwards, causing the moonblade to shatter and explode.

Oh!?

Tianya Haoyue was alarmed as he never expected Yi Yun’s attack to be so powerful. However, Tianya Haoyue still had a supreme-grade armor, the Dragon’s Roar Purple Armor that could not be broken at the Dao Manifestation realm. It was his greatest crutch!

“Nine Neonate!”

In the flames that surrounded Yi Yun, the Golden Crow screeched, and it was accompanied by the Neonate’s cry as the nine hydra heads charged out of the inferno.

At the same time, even more, nomological fragments condensed on the broken sword.

Yi Yun was one with the sword as he slashed down at the gigantic shield in front of Tianya Haoyue.

“Ka-cha!”

The sword’s edge was like a blistering sun!

Terrifying power surged towards the gigantic shield of light.

The scene of his shield of light being engulfed by the flames was mirrored in Tianya Haoyue’s eyes.

An explosion was clearly heard at that very moment by the millions of warriors on the southern desolate mountain plains.

The shield of light had shattered!

With sharp sounds like that of glass shattering, the entire shield of light was reduced to countless fragments.

The sword beam had broken through the shield as it surged down like a flood!

Tianya Haoyue’s expression changed drastically. With the shield of light shattering, he could only use his armor to defend, but it was not a full-bodied defense.

And at that moment.

Ka-cha!

With another crisp cracking sound, Tianya Haoyue’s body jerked backward as he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He watched helplessly as his supreme-grade Dao Manifestation realm armor was ripped from top to bottom!

Peng!

Tianya Haoyue’s body was thrown back heavily as he slammed into a large boulder, producing a cloud of dust.

After a few moments, Tianya Haoyue charged out of the rubble. His chest was stained with blood, blood that dripped down the cracks of the armor. He looked in disbelief at the crack in his armor.

His Dragon’s Roar Purple Armor had been slashed through by Yi Yun!

Not only had his shield shattered, even his armor itself had been cracked by a single strike from Yi Yun!

It was a supreme-grade Dao Manifestation realm armor!

It was said to be indestructible at the Dao Manifestation, but now, it had been ripped apart by a Heaven Ascension realm warrior!

“You… you… ”

Tianya Haoyue felt the pinch because the armor was extremely valuable! Although in the grand scheme of things, its grade wasn’t the highest, it was specifically meant for Dao Manifestation realm warriors so as they could fully utilize its power. This was an extremely rare effect, but now, it had been cracked!

An armor that had cracked would have its grade drop from supreme-grade to superior-grade, even if the best master were to repair it.

A superior-grade Dao Manifestation realm armor would no longer be valuable.

“Sorry about that. You were hyping the powers of the armor, so I was afraid that my offensive strength was lacking, so I used a bit more strength. I never expected it to crack just like that.” As Yi Yun held the pure Yang broken sword, he shrugged and said innocently.

And when this was said, Tianya Haoyue nearly had his intestines twisted from his fury.

“Little Yun, well done!” On her seat of honor, Luo Huo’er shouted loudly!

She had a strong dislike for Tianya Haoyue for a while now, so what Yi Yun had done was so vindicative!

However, where did Yi Yun get that sword from?

At that moment, many people shifted their gazes towards Yi Yun’s sword. Yi Yun had torn through Tianya Haoyue’s armor, so other than Yi Yun having amazing strength, that sword was definitely no ordinary item!

The slash of the sword had shattered Tianya Haoyue’s top-grade moonblade and it had torn through Tianya Haoyue’s Dragon’s Roar Purple Armor. The sword was definitely not simple!

People found it unbelievable that the rusty, worn-out broken sword was some peerless divine sword.

Yi Yun held the broken sword and he walked towards Tianya Haoyue. “Your strength doesn’t seem to be that great after all. All you depend on is that Catoptric Deflection and that armor. Without those two things, do you have anything else? Or, are you going to throw in the towel now?”

Yi Yun’s words were combative. Typically, when two warriors sparred, they would speak humbly to each other after victory was determined. Seldom did warriors show such disregard for pleasantries.

However, Tianya Haoyue had mocked Nongying back when he defeated her!. Now, Yi Yun was returning Tianya Haoyue’s words nearly intact back at him.

This was probably the most depressing thing. Tianya Haoyue’s face was livid as he yearned to skin Yi Yun alive!

“You said I rely on my armor, but didn’t you rely on that broken sword!? What sort of skill is that!?” Tianya Haoyue retorted. He could tell that Yi Yun’s sword far exceeded his armor in value.

“Oh?” Yi Yun nodded. “You’re right. I shouldn’t use this broken sword anymore. Your armor has been cracked, and it would reflect my win as being ungracious.”

With that said, Yi Yun flipped his hand, causing the pure Yang broken sword to disappear. What replaced it was a cuboid Heaven Upheaval Seal!

The simple Heaven Upheaval Seal did not have any luster to it. Yi Yun weighed it in his hand a few times as he felt the heaviness of the Heaven Upheaval Seal and he said with a laugh, “This shall be it then!”

Upon seeing this scene, Tianya Haoyue immediately felt a dark cloud descend upon him, nearly planting his face to the ground.

In order to refute Yi Yun, he had spoken without thinking. He never expected that his words had ended up digging a hole for himself to jump into!

He was now seriously injured and his armor had cracked. Catoptric Deflection was also useless against Yi Yun, so how could he deal with Yi Yun!?

Although it was disgraceful to be defeated by an ancient sword, he would become the laughing stock of the alliance if he were to be smashed by the brick!

“Wait… Wait, wait! I admit… ” Tianya Haoyue shouted as he wanted to throw in the towel. However, how could Yi Yun give him the chance? Instantly, he rushed in front of Tianya Haoyue!

With Heaven Upheaval Seal in his hand, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence Dao patterns were embedded in them. The Heaven Upheaval Seal was glowing with dazzling golden light!

Catoptric Deflection was completely useless against the laws of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. It was immediately penetrated, allowing the brick to smash right down on Tianya Haoyue’s head!

As for Tianya Haoyue, not only was his armor cracked and him being heavily injured, even his moonblade had been shattered.

Fuck your motherfucking grandfather!

This was the final thought of Tianya Haoyue. The next moment, all he saw was darkness as he felt his head jerk violently, immediately making him dizzy. After that, he had no idea what happened.

Tianya Haoyue had been smacked down by Yi Yun’s brick.

Upon seeing this scene, the audience fell silent.

They could forget about Yi Yun smacking Ye Yi, but now, even Tianya Haoyue…

He was the top disciple of the World Margin Sect, possessing treasures from head to toe. The Elders of the World Margin Sect had high hopes for him and there was a declaration that he would become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple. With all sorts of halos augmented around him, making him seem so awesome, yet, in front of everyone, he was smacked down by Yi Yun’s brick.

How could he even continue living after this?

Yi Yun was way too good at disparaging others. The final brick strike was definitely done on purpose. It was best to not mess with this punk…

Many Luo clan geniuses had such a feeling after seeing Yi Yun’s battle.

Some of them had already made up their minds to avoid him if they were to see him. If not, their outcome would be just like Tianya Haoyue.

945 - : Too disparaging

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Yi Yun defeated Tianya Haoyue, there was a moment of silence before deafening cheers came from the surrounding Luo clan warriors.

“Yi Yun!”

“Yi Yun!”

To the Luo clan warriors, the battle that just happened in the southern desolate mountain plains was truly rousing. The dark clouds that came from Chi Zhuiyun’s declaration of sweeping the Luo clan was wiped clean!

Yi Yun and Luo Huo’er had defeated Tianya Haoyue and goddess Xi Ye respectively. They could be called the Luo clan’s Gemini Gods of War!

Furthermore, people realized that not only was Yi Yun powerful, even the sword in his hand was extraordinary. With that sword, Yi Yun had managed to slash through the Dragon’s Roar Purple Armor that should not have been broken in the Dao Manifestation realm.

“I wonder what history Yi Yun’s sword has… ” Someone asked curiously.

However, people shook their heads in response to this person’s question. An elder with quite an impressive cultivation level said, “Since the weapon that Yi Yun has has been corroded so badly, it must be a weapon left behind from primordial eras! However, there are just too many divine weapons from primordial eras. The 12 Empyrean Heavens is so large, so to suddenly reveal one of them, who can guess its history. Many weapons exist in books of legend, having existed for hundreds of millions of years, or even billions of years. They might be buried in a ruin, yet to be discovered. The day that it sees the light of day again, those who had seen such a divine weapon might have already been dead for dozens of generations. It’s impossible to recognize them based on the description in records, unless one knows where the ruin was and infer based on the ruin’s history.”

“That’s right! If there is a precise location of the ruin, especially if the ruin’s master leaves behind notes or cultivation manuals, only then is there a chance to barely infer from those materials. However, over billions of years, the description in the books might not all be true.” Another elder said.

Although they had inferred that the weapon in Yi Yun’s hand was of primordial origin, it was apparent that Yi Yun’s strength was lacking for entering a primordial ruin in an escapade.

Then, the most likely possibility was that a mighty figure had taken the sword out of the primordial ruin, and eventually died from age or an accident, leaving behind a new ruin. Such an event might happen several times, and for some reason, this sword had eventually landed in Yi Yun’s hands.

In that case, trying to probe its origins was truly nearly impossible. Of course, its power was beyond doubt.

“This should have been an opportunity that Yi Yun encountered. Only a genius with providence augmented on him can go further. If our Luo clan wants to become strong, we have to try our best to nurture and protect such a genius.”

The Luo clan had existed in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven for a very long time, but compared to a Divine Lord level faction, the Luo clan was still greatly lacking. And now, with the Fey Phantasm Sect looming in the horizon, it threatened the survival of the Luo clan. At such a juncture, the Luo clan had to use whatever hidden capabilities it has. If not, it was not impossible that the Fey Phantasm Sect would wipe them out.

…

At that moment, Tianya Haoyue, who had been knocked unconscious by the brick, had been hastily removed from the arena by people from the World Margin Sect. However, Yi Yun remained standing on the arena, while cheers continued!

As one of the Luo clan’s Gemini Gods of War, Yi Yun’s popularity surged, with him nearly catching up to Luo Huo’er.

Now, the Luo clan had already defeated the Eternal Eventide Sea and World Margin Sect, leaving only the Oracle Fey Kingdom, which also had the strongest person, Chi Zhuiyun.

Chi Zhuiyun had obtained the approval of Felicitous Rain Lord and he had previously defeated Princess White Fox. Furthermore, people could tell that Chi Zhuiyun had yet to go all out.

He was able to defeat Princess White Fox without doing his best. In addition to how he had defeated a White Fox clan genius that had been famous for a very long time, Chu Yunjian who was at the Dao Manifestation realm, Chi Zhuiyun’s strength was unfathomable.

Now, the two genius of the Luo clan, Luo Huo’er and Yi Yun, were going to fight Chi Zhuiyun, but the members of the Luo clan were still uncertain.

What was the limit of Chi Zhuiyun’s strength, considering how his cultivation level had reached half-step Dao Manifestation?

Many people had such questions in mind, but the outcome would be revealed almost immediately. The only people who remained undefeated was Luo Huo’er, Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun. Regardless of it was Luo Huo’er or Yi Yun, the fight any one of them had with Chi Zhuiyun was enough to send ardor and zeal coursing through their blood!

“Princess Purple Spirit will fight first. Maybe Princess Purple Spirit will be able to defeat Chi Zhuiyun!”

“Don’t be too optimistic. Although I adore Princess Purple Spirit, truthfully, the feeling that Chi Zhuiyun gives me is that he’s very strong. That person is unfathomable, or else why do you think that Felicitous Rain Lord would approve of him? It is Felicitous Rain Lord, an important person that leaves even our Luo clan’s Third Imperial Uncle in the dust!”

In fact, during Luo Huo’er’s battle with Xi Ye and the battle between Yi Yun and Tianya Haoyue, many people had observed Chi Zhuiyun’s reaction. From the beginning to the end, he did not reveal any looks of surprise. It was like everything was well within his grasp!

Especially in the seats of honor, Chu Yunjian and Prince Crimson Firmament had been monitoring Chi Zhuiyun from the very beginning. The way that Chi Zhuiyun remained so calm and composed, having that expression like he was confident about facing any sudden turmoil, was extremely irritating. But at the same time, it also cast a dark cloud over them.

A possibility for Chi Zhuiyun to remain so calm could very be that Luo Huo’er and Yi Yun’s strength had never exceeded his expectations. He had the ability to deal with them!

“According to the rules, Princess Purple Spirit will fight Chi Zhuiyun first! Princess Purple Spirit is extremely gifted, but her cultivation level and age are her disadvantage. Even if Princess Purple Spirit is no match for Chi Zhuiyun, she will be able to drastically expend Chi Zhuiyun’s stamina. In the following match, it would be Yi Yun, and he should be on par with Princess Purple Spirit in terms of strength. With the two of them fighting one after another, I don’t believe that Chi Zhuiyun would remain undefeated!”

A few Luo clan courtiers discussed in private. Although Emperor Luo and Empress Luo were not present, it was only because they needed to consider their stature. For such an important showdown, everyone in the Luo clan attached a great importance with it, so the Luo clan courtiers naturally would not be absent. They were only standing amongst the ordinary spectators, without revealing their identities.

Chi Zhuiyun wanted to sweep through the geniuses of the Luo clan with his blatant challenge, so he certainly had to accept challenges by the Luo clan geniuses one after another. Since the rules were as such, there was nothing about it being unfair!

“It should be Chi Zhuiyun and Princess Purple Spirit’s turn now.”

The Luo clan courtiers discussed in private, but they realized that Yi Yun remained in the arena.

“What is Yi Yun doing?”

Many people failed to understand.

“Hmph! That punk probably has never experienced the cheers coming from millions of people and he is probably intoxicated by it!” In the seats of honor, Oracle Fey Kingdom’s ambassador, Yu Tianfeng said disdainfully.

As long as Yi Yun remained in the arena, the fervent audience of the Luo clan would not stop with their cheers. Each burst was louder than the previous one, like it was a tsunami or landslide!

With millions of people watching the duels, the battles allowed one to make a name of oneself. Millions of warriors were cheering, reverberating the lands, tearing through the cosmos!

Such glory was the dream of countless people!

At that moment, it was Yi Yun’s new peak in life, but it was not necessarily a good thing for young people. The moment that one was intoxicated in it, it was easy to lose oneself and make it difficult to extricate oneself from the situation. It might even put a halt to any progress!

Yu Tianfeng apparently had such a thought as he said with a sneer, “That punk has only defeated an arrogant man from the World Margin Sect, and he thinks he’s the strongest in the world? He has probably forgotten who he is. He has immersed himself in the cheers for nearly a minute. How long does he want to stand there?”

Yu Tianfeng’s words were not said with a voice transmission, so Chu Yunjian, Prince Crimson Firmament, Bai Yueqing and company, who were sitting in the seats of honor, heard him clearly.

Prince Crimson Firmament’s face sank. Although he disliked Yi Yun, he was very irritated by the way that Yu Tianfeng spoke.

“Huo’er, it’s time for you to go on up. Tell Yi Yun to return. Standing there for too long isn’t good.” Prince Crimson Firmament did not want Yi Yun to continue standing there either. It would illustrate that the Luo clan geniuses were overly arrogant. Now, there was exuberance, but if Yi Yun was to be defeated by Chi Zhuiyun later, it would disgrace the Luo clan completely. When the time came, the irritating Yu Tianfeng would jump out and say something like “All of you shouted too fervently, in the end, he’s not even able to withstand a hit”.

“Get Yi Yun to return? The reason why Yi Yun hasn’t returned is because his conversing with me in a transmission!”

When Luo Huo’er said this, Yu Tianfeng guffawed and said, “Right! It’s best to discuss how to expend Zhuiyun’s stamina. If the two of you work well together, there might be that glimmer of hope. Everyone should always have hope, shouldn’t they?” Yu Tianfeng said with a teasing tone as Luo Huo’er’s eyebrows pricked up.

She gave Yu Tianfeng a teasing look as her lips moved slightly, as she transmitted her voice to Yi Yun: “Little Yun, proceed as you proposed.”

“Alright!” On the arena, Yi Yun gave a heavy nod.

At that moment, the arena in the vast wilderness had an audience of millions who were in fervor!

Yi Yun stood proudly amid the millions of cheers, and at that moment, Yi Yun was extremely ready!

Suddenly, he lifted his sword and pointed it straight at Chi Zhuiyun!

“Chi Zhuiyun! I’ll be the only one battling you today! Come on down!” Yi Yun’s roar echoed in the vast wilderness, abruptly drowning out the cheers from the millions of people!

“Come on down!”

“Come on down!”

“Come on down!”

…

The loud voice reverberated again and again as millions of people held their breath. The cheers had also come to an abrupt halt.

Yi Yun was planning on challenging Chi Zhuiyun alone today!?

Millions of pairs of eyes instantly gathered on Chi Zhuiyun who was sitting on a seat of honor!

946 - : The direction in which the sword points

CKtalon  CKtalon

Chi Zhuiyun immediately became the focus of attention.

As for Yi Yun’s voice, it constantly echoed throughout the desolate plains.

Only after Yi Yun’s voice faded away did Chi Zhuiyun slowly speak. His voice wasn’t loud, but it was easily able to suppress the din from millions of people, reaching the ears of everyone.

“You want to challenge me alone?”

Chi Zhuiyun’s words were like he was of supreme stature, with a condescending arrogance.

“Hahahaha!” Chi Zhuiyun burst out laughing. “To continue to challenge me after experiencing an intense battle, you are really biting off more than you can chew!”

As Chi Zhuiyun spoke, he stood up from his seat of honor. Putting his hand out, his spear landed in his palm.

He turned around and looked at Luo Huo’er, who was sitting on a seat of honor as well. “You know that you will lose to me, so you aren’t going to fight?”

“Tch!” Luo Huo’er scoffed. “Who do you think you are? Does every genius of the alliance revolve around you? You think that we want to engage in a tag-team battle? Today, Yi Yun alone will battle you so that you won’t come up with excuses after losing!”

Luo Huo’er was merciless in her mockery, but the crowd was secretly horrified when they heard her. Luo Huo’er was too bold with her words!

In fact, even though many members of the Luo clan were cheering for Yi Yun, they were actually a little flustered. With Luo Huo’er saying such things, how was she going to get out of the situation if they lost in the end?

“Princess Purple Spirit, your words seem certain that Zhuiyun will lose? Is it because of Yi Yun?” The person who spoke was Yu Tianfeng. It was like he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

Luo Huo’er could not be bothered with the retard as she looked at Yi Yun and sent a voice transmission. “Little Yun, I’m counting on you. I’ve already helped you take the step forward.”

Yi Yun was speechless. “You have so much confidence in me, but you don’t even know the limits to my strength, right?”

“I really do not know. In a while, if you were to lose, we will be bearing the brunt of it together, so I hope that you can give me a pleasant surprise.” Luo Huo’er said nonchalantly. She always had such a rash personality. So what if they lost?

When Yi Yun heard Luo Huo’er’s words, a smile flashed in his eyes. “Alright!”

“Since you want to challenge me, I’ll grant you your wish!” As Chi Zhuiyun spoke, he took a step out into the void, and he walked towards Yi Yun, who was standing in the middle of the arena!

Every step he took caused fluctuations in the void, like it was the rhythm of the Dao.

It was tens of thousands of feet away from the seats of honor to where Yi Yun was in the middle of the arena. However, in a few steps, Chi Zhuiyun had already landed in the arena, just a hundred feet away from Yi Yun.

“If you and Purple Spirit had joined forces to fight me one after another, I might have to be slightly serious. But now… if I’m just dealing with you alone, the War Demon Form is sufficient!”

War Demon Form?

No one understood what War Demon Form Chi Zhuiyun was referring to, but without a doubt, it was definitely not Chi Zhuiyun’s full strength.

Yi Yun laughed and said, “Really? Usually, people who say such things raise death flags and die even faster.”

The conversation between the two was sharp and biting, stirring the emotions of the audience.

This was exactly what it meant to be young and crazy!

“Cut the nonsense!”

Chi Zhuiyun raised his spear as his Shura Domain spread out!

In an instant, a crimson patch emanated from beneath Chi Zhuiyun’s feet, instantly engulfing the entire arena!

This sanguine energy enveloped Chi Zhuiyun and his spear. There were countless phantom images of wraiths and demons struggling and wiggling above the spear as they emitted intermittent howling and wailing.

For such a scene to appear suddenly in the eyes of millions of warriors, it was like Chi Zhuiyun had charged out of a hellish prison!

Even as spectators, they felt a sense of horror when they saw such a scene.

“It’s Chi Zhuiyun’s Shura Dao Domain!”

In the eyes of everyone, it was as if the entire southern desolate mountain plains had disappeared. There was only Chi Zhuiyun in this world, like he was the center of the universe, the source of all massacres! Just looking at him made people feel like they were lost in nightmares, unable to extricate themselves.

Just a Dao Domain alone had enveloped millions of people, impeding their mental processes. Chi Zhuiyun’s Shura Dao Domain was simply amazing!

“Yi Yun has been engulfed by the Dao Domain!”

“Say, it seems that Yi Yun has yet to demonstrate his own Dao Domain!”

People thought about it carefully, and indeed, Yi Yun still did not have a Dao Domain. A Dao Domain was the attainment of a certain nomological cultivation level. It was able to affect the surrounding space, forming a small world.

Dao Domain was a realm of Dao, but Dao Domains might not be suitable to be used in battle because a Dao Domain itself did not have any offensive capabilities.

Even the members of the Luo clan had to admit that Chi Zhuiyun’s Shura Dao Domain was terrifying. It was like it permeated all of existence, slaughtering gods and killing buddhas, like the entire world had fallen into darkness!

As for Yi Yun, he had been engulfed by the darkness. In their perception, they could not even locate Yi Yun anymore.

The members of the Luo clan felt their hearts tighten. If Yi Yun was completely suppressed by Chi Zhuiyun’s Dao Domain, there was no need to carry on the fight.

And at that moment —

“Whew!”

A dazzling light flashed as pure Yang flames burst out from the darkness and shot straight towards Chi Zhuiyun like it was the light of dawn that pierced through the twilight.

This was a sword beam that pierced the heart.

Pure Yang Sword Intent!

Back then, the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner had used this strike to cleave a Great World apart, and now, in Yi Yun’s hand, this strike pierced through the Shura Dao Domain, moving forward in the darkness in an indomitable fashion!

Weng!

When Chi Zhuiyun thrust his spear forward like a dragon, the swirling wraiths lingering around the crimson spear headed straight for Yi Yun!

An intense clash between spear and sword beams!

Boom!

With an explosion, the wraiths were consumed by the pure Yang flames, vanishing into nothingness!

“Not bad! But in my domain, the power of bloodlust that I have is endless. I want to see how much you can burn!”

As Chi Zhuiyun spoke, he stirred the clouds and the wind with his spear. The wraiths that were incinerated by the pure Yang flames crawled out once again. They struggled to come together and they increased in size, like they were emanating a devilish fire.

This is…

It was alarming. How could they reappear again after being burnt to ash by the pure Yang flames?

This was probably what they meant by the resurgence of dying embers.

What Chi Zhuiyun said that the power of bloodlust was endless in the Shura Domain was nothing but the truth!

If the power of bloodlust could constantly be reborn, how were these demons going to be vanquished?

The crowd began to worry for Yi Yun.

At that moment, the demons had combined with each other to form a war demon that had bare fangs protruding out of a hideous face in front of Chi Zhuiyun. The war demon went from a genuflection before slowly standing up. Its body was hundreds of feet tall, and in front of Yi Yun, it resembled a small mountain.

“Roar!”

The war demon suddenly gave an angry bellow.

The angry roar caused the minds of the warriors present to quiver, as their lifeblood churned in turmoil.

What is that!?

“War Demon Form!”

Chi Zhuiyun hooked his spear up and immediately, a sea of blood was stirred!

At the same time, the terrifying war demon raised the spear in its hand, its actions identical to Chi Zhuiyun.

Like a gigantic pillar, the spear was thrust ruthlessly at Yi Yun. Thick bloodlust caused the surrounding air to turn viscous and sticky.

“It’s time for your defeat!”

The spear struck out as the world faded in color!

“Just nice!”

At that moment, Yi Yun struck out with his sword as well.

The rusty broken sword, a lonely figure, charged at the war demon, like a moth heading into the fire.

However, just as Yi Yun was about to clash with the war demon’s spear, a dazzling brilliance burst out from behind him!

The Golden Crow screeched as the Nine Neonate howled!

Boom!

An explosive clash immediately caused a shockwave to burst out into the surroundings.

In the sky above Yi Yun, shockwaves burst out incessantly, penetrating the clouds, and leaving a gigantic hole above the arena in the desolate plains.

It was just the beginning of that single strike.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Both sides exchanged attacks again and again. Terrifying power and astounding speed were possessed by the two figures as thunder-like claps echoed from their exchanges!

It was so fast that the warriors spectating the battle found it overwhelming.

They held their breaths as their hearts leaped to their throats.

“Yi Yun doesn’t have a Dao Domain, but every one of his nomological sword strikes is able to cleave the Shura Dao Domain in front of him apart,” said Bai Yueqing.

Chu Yunjian was also surprised seeing this battle. In the previous battles, Yi Yun did not even use his true strength. The speed at which his sword was slashed and the power in his strikes were too amazing. It had assumed formlessness.

However, Yi Yun’s cultivation realm was lower than Chi Zhuiyun’s. If they continued to expend their energies in such a manner, the road ahead for Yi Yun would be bleak. The crux of the matter was that Chi Zhuiyun’s Shura Dao Domain’s bloodlust power was endless.

If this continued on, Yi Yun would be lacking in stamina.

At that moment, a desolate aura suddenly surged out of the Shura Domain!

Yi Yun was calm, as an ancient and lifeless concept was augmented on his sword.

This strike thrust straight at Chi Zhuiyun and accompanying it was a stance of the soteriological annihilation of everything!

Ka-cha!

The broken sword clashed with the gigantic war demon’s spear, and time seemed to freeze at that moment!

A crisp crack sounded, like a mirror breaking. The war demon and its spear appeared like a statue that had experienced eons in an instant.

First, it turned gray before shattering, and finally, it was reduced to smithereens!

Withering concept — A Sword Through Nirvana!

In front of time, even a demon would wither and decay. A demon could be reborn after being slain, but once they turned to ash because of time, they would experience complete nirvana.

With the war demon soteriologically annihilated, Yi Yun’s sword maintained a slashing pose, but there were no longer any barriers. His sword was aiming straight at Chi Zhuiyun!

947 - : A Sword Through Nirvana!

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Cha!”

A sword that was burning with pure Yang flames came straight at Chi Zhuiyun’s face!

Chi Zhuiyun was alarmed as he swiped his spear that could wipe out armies!

Boom!

The sword and spear beams clashed, resulting in a furious explosion. A visible shockwave quaked the Shura Dao Domain, as the Dao Domain began to turn chaotic.

“Your War Demon Form is just that and nothing more!” Yi Yun’s voice echoed throughout the southern desolate mountain plains!

Chi Zhuiyun’s pupils constricted, but he did not retort.

Yi Yun’s strike had indeed caught him by surprise, it had annihilated his war demon!

In Chi Zhuiyun’s Shura Domain, the war demon was undying, it could be said to be invincible!

All opponents would have suffered defeat from a battle of attrition unless they could break through his Shura Domain. However, Chi Zhuiyun had no peer who had such strength.

But now, the war demon that was slain by Yi Yun had its vitality withered, so it could never be reborn!

The Shura Domain did not breakdown, but the War Demon Form had collapsed. This was the first time that Chi Zhuiyun encountered such a situation.

“What kind of attack is that?” Chi Zhuiyun asked in a solemn voice.

“Withering concept.” Yi Yun did not conceal it. There were millions of people present, with old freaks that had lived for hundreds of thousands of years. There was bound to be someone who could recognize it.

The withering concept was able to directly extinguish vitality, preventing it from recovering.

There were numerous elixirs in this world that could regrow broken limbs, or reconnect meridians, but there was no elixir in the world that could increase the lifespan of a person unless that person’s life force potential had yet to end.

This was the power of the ages. Withering was unstoppable. The world would not last forever, and it was difficult for warriors to gain immortality — at least that was what it seemed at that moment in time.

“So it’s the Withering concept. That concept is extremely strange and very rare.” A warrior said in awe.

On his seat of honor, Yu Tianfeng’s eyebrows pricked up slightly. He never expected that Yi Yun would possess a few tricks up his sleeves. Yi Yun had used the Withering concept to tear Chi Zhuiyun’s War Demon Form down.

Previously, Chi Zhuiyun had declared that the War Demon Form was sufficient in his battle with Yi Yun. But now, the fact of the matter was that it was far from sufficient using the War Demon Form!

“It looks like I have underestimated you. I take back my words. Then, I want to see if you can handle my next move!” Chi Zhuiyun raised his spear high.

Yi Yun grunted coldly and said, “There’s no reason for me to break through your moves, you can try to see if you can withstand my sword and sabers!”

A sword beam flashed around as a thin sword edge tore through a huge blackened rift in the ground like a large and terrifying claw!

At the same time, 999 Thousand Snow flying sabers flew out from Yi Yun’s interspatial ring. The Thousand Snow Domain was set up in place!

Intense saber aura and sword beams were things that the Shura Dao Domain could not longer contain. Warriors who were slightly weaker and stood in the direction of Chi Zhuiyun could not help but take a few steps back.

Their protective Yuan Qi had been invoked by the sword beams and saber aura!

Yi Yun’s offensive was too terrifying. Even without a Dao Domain, just that attack alone was enough to cause Chi Zhuiyun’s Dao Domain to experience tremors. However… it still did not collapse!

“A good sword! A good saber! But that’s only because you have good weapons!” Chi Zhuiyun bellowed as he slammed his spear into the ground.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground blasted upwards!

Rubble flew up as soil filled the sky!

Following the landing of Chi Zhuiyun’s spear, the Shura Domain beneath his feet abruptly contracted, converging back into his spear.

A ferocious demonic phantom surfaced on his spear. This demonic phantom seemed to blend with the spear as one.

The spear was trembling as it issued bloodthirsty cries.

Many warriors felt their eyes start to hurt. It was a peerless weapon of murder!

Chi Zhuiyun’s spear tip swept the ground, and immediately, the ground burst into flames and it was dyed crimson.

“Ten Thousand Demons!”

The spear produced rapid shadows, as the spear tip clashed with the sword beam!

Chi Zhuiyun’s spear encountered Yi Yun’ sword and sabers!

Boom!

A burning hell appeared as Chi Zhuiyun and Yi Yun’s figures were immediately deluged by the color of blood.

The entire arena was immediately consumed by a sea of blood.

And in this sanguine color, countless wraiths appeared and pounced on Yi Yun. They let out cackles that sent shivers down the back!

This spear attack was a form of purgatory!

Many warriors felt their heartbeats racing. They were not immersed in purgatory, but their minds were affected.

It was too powerful. The Shura Domain’s power could even be augmented on the spear beam. It was like there was no way to see Chi Zhuiyun’s full power!

“This time, Yi Yun should be defeated,” said Demon Girl.

He was one who was qualified to make Chi Zhuiyun produce such an attack. Furthermore, Chi Zhuiyun was the number one genius of the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

Yi Yun’s strength had astounded her. But at this stage in the battle, could Yi Yun still withstand it?

The Luo clan disciples held their breaths as they watched intently. What had happened to Yi Yun?

At that moment, a sword beam tore through the sea of blood. The blood hell seemed like ice that encountered fire. It constantly melted as the wraiths let out shrill screams before turning to dust.

Yi Yun’s figure dashed out of the sea along with his sword beam.

His sword was humming while the space around the sword was distorted. The sword was augmented with the Dao patterns of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

The Dao patterns meandered in a undefinable but abstruse manner.

Chi Zhuiyun’s eyebrows pricked up. He had previously seen Yi Yun’s mysterious sword that was augmented by the Dao patterns. The Dao patterns were extremely abstruse. A slash with such an augmented sword varied in strength. A weak strike was no different to an ordinary strike, but when it was strong enough, it could defeat Tianya Haoyue!

Previously, Chi Zhuiyun believed that that was the limit to the Dao-patterned strike. But now, from the looks of it, it was far from the truth. Therefore, in the battle with Yi Yun, the Dao-patterned sword was enough to rip through his Ten Thousand Demons!

What attack was it, and why was it so powerful?

This was the first time that Chi Zhuiyun encountered an opponent that belonged to the younger generation whose limits he could not fathom. Furthermore, it was only a single attack!

At that moment, Chi Zhuiyun was alarmed, but Yi Yun was surprised as well!

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existences’s Dao-patterned sword power was as powerful as he wished it to be. It only became stronger against a stronger opponent!

However, Chi Zhuiyun was too powerful. Chi Zhuiyun’s Ten Thousand Demons attack had consumed a great deal of Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi!

Yi Yun had obviously not used the entire 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, but Yi Yun did not want to use his trump card too easily. Furthermore, he wanted to force his strength to its limits. Besides, he knew that Chi Zhuiyun had an ace up his sleeve!

Chi Zhuiyun had previously said that the War Demon Form was sufficient to deal with him.

Although it was later proven that the War Demon Form was insufficient, it also meant that Chi Zhuiyun had a stronger form!

Chi Zhuiyun’s style of battle was like a predator approaching its prey. He would close in and finally issue a critical strike!

In such a battle, it was not a simple battle to determine whose attack was stronger. This was because Yi Yun did not have the confidence in the fact that he could beat Chi Zhuiyun in a single move!

Once his strongest move failed to end the battle, he would be the one that was defeated!

“You are quite an impressive opponent!” said Chi Zhuiyun. “Ever since the Yuan Opening realm, I have never been defeated by any peer. Today, I will not be defeated either! Your Dao-patterned sword must have a limit. As for me, I will use my strongest move. It is one that I have not fully grasped — Celestial Demon Form!”

“Here’s a warning. At the moment that the Celestial Demon Form is used, it will be difficult for me to control due to its power. I might accidentally kill you. There’s still time for you to throw in the towel! Your cultivation level is lower than me by half a level after all. Such an opponent like you is rare and I look forward to your growth.”

948 - : Celestial Demon Form

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Chi Zhuiyun mentioned how he was looking forward to Yi Yun’s growth, it was like he was a senior talking to a junior. This pissed off a great deal of the Luo clan clansmen present.

But even though they were pissed, no one made any sarcastic comments because Chi Zhuiyun was really formidable.

War Demon Form! Celestial Demon Form!

From the beginning of the battle, Chi Zhuiyun had mentioned that the War Demon Form was only his first battle form.

Other than the bloodlust war demon that attacked Yi Yun previously, even the ‘Ten Thousand Demons’ spear attack that Chi Zhuiyun used at the end, none of them deviated from the War Demon Form!

A War Demon Form was already so powerful, so to what extent would the Celestial Demon Form signify? According to Chi Zhuiyun, this was his ultimate power, one that he could not control.

A confrontation of this degree was obviously life-threatening!

It was not impossible for one’s life to be threatened in an intense battle between top geniuses as they used their full strengths.

Everyone in the Luo clan was breaking out into a cold sweat for Yi Yun!

They did not know if Yi Yun was able to withstand Chi Zhuiyun’s final attack.

In fact, if Yi Yun had reached his limits, he could choose to back down. No one would say a thing. After all, Yi Yun was younger and his cultivation level was lower. As for Chi Zhuiyun, he had already begun his Dao Manifestation. Such a qualitative gap required Yi Yun to possess much greater talent to make up for it!

However, Chi Zhuiyun was already a paragon prodigy, so to have one’s talent to surpass his?

It was extremely difficult!

At that moment, in the Luo clan royal palace, a group of ministers, as well as the lofty Emperor Luo, were viewing the battle though a disk array!

Emperor Luo was dressed in royal robes, sitting high and mighty. However, he was not feeling relaxed.

He was concerned about the outcome of the battle, as well as Yi Yun’s safety!

“Young Master Yi can be proud of being able to battle Chi Zhuiyun to such a degree!”

The Luo clan courtiers and even the ministers, were now addressing Yi Yun courteously, adding the deferential title of ‘young master’.

“That’s right! Since Chi Zhuiyun can’t even control his Celestial Demon Form himself, clashing with him would be a grave risk. In fact… ending it here would be for the best. There is still time. With the talent that Young Master Yi has presented, he is in no way inferior to Chi Zhuiyun.” Another elderly minister said.

As he spoke, his palms were sweaty.

He was feeling very nervous!

Not only was he nervous, many of the other important figures of the Luo clan were extremely nervous.

It wasn’t easy for the Luo clan to recruit such a peerless genius. He was the Luo clan’s treasure. Even if Yi Yun did not become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple, he was bound to shine in the future, adding strength to the Luo clan!

This was particularly important to the Luo clan that was in the midst of a crisis.

But now, Yi Yun wanted to take on Chi Zhuiyun’s strongest move. If there were any accidents, even if he did not die, he might be severely injured, possibly affecting his future achievements!

However, ending the battle was only the hope of the elderly Luo clan minister. After a few moments of silence, Yi Yun’s energy was churning. His aura was constantly rising like he was a mountain with an endless peak!

Yi Yun did not need to answer. His aura was already an answer.

“Good! You should be honored. This is the first time that I am forced to use the Celestial War Demon against a peer ever since I stepped into the Yuan Opening realm. Even Senior Felicitous Rain Lord gave me his approval because of my Celestial War Demon! I’ll let you see the anger of the Celestial Demon!”

A foul aura surged from Chi Zhuiyun’s body as he held his spear!

The foul aura surged into the sky, dyeing the firmaments dark red.

Chi Zhuiyun’s body was completely immersed in the foul aura as his skin turned azure. His body became more burly and taller. His eyes turned cold and heartless as well.

At that moment, it was like Chi Zhuiyun had become a demon himself!

Roar!

With a demonic roar, a Shura demon that was a hundred feet tall appeared behind Chi Zhuiyun. This Shura demon had absorbed all of the energy in the Shura Dao Domain, and at that moment, it was like the sovereign of the heavens and earth!

“What a terrifying stance. Chi Zhuiyun has perfectly combined his Dao Domain, his spear attacks, and bloodline into one. Is that the final Celestial Demon Form!?” On a seat of honor, Chu Yunjian could tell very clearly. Although he was no match for it, he was still able to assess it well.

“It’s difficult to resist it!” Bai Yueqing said as well.

The terrifying killing intent prevented people from looking straight at it. The millions of people present felt their hearts being stirred by the demonic aura, like they were about to explode.

“Everyone has a demon in their mind!” Chi Zhuiyun’s voice sounded like it came out of hell.

It was like the whispers of demons, arousing the emotions and passions of people!

“Yi Yun, the inducement of mental demons in everyone’s mind and the stirring of the demonic auras of the heaven and earth, this move will be the result of your glorious defeat!”

As Chi Zhuiyun spoke, he merged with the Shura Demon behind him. The spear in his hand appeared like it would cut through the world!

“Celestial Demon Form — Hellblood Stupa!”

Chi Zhuiyun struck with his spear!

A thrust as fast as lightning stirred the rolling power of foul sanguine energies. Chi Zhuiyun’s figure instantly traversed the blockade of space and arrived in front of Yi Yun.

Hellblood Stupa! The first blow eradicates all mortal life, the second wipes out ghosts and spirits, and the third slays the Gods and Buddhas themselves!

This was a spear that was indomitable. Nothing could withstand it.

All of Chi Zhuiyun’s aura was gathered on the spear.

Even if gods and buddhas were in front of him, they would be penetrated into dust!

And at that moment, Yi Yun’s surging aura completely burst out!

Whew!

From around Yi Yun, 999 flying sabers shot out together. The flying sabers were not aimed at Chi Zhuiyun, they hummed in the air, exposing the Dao patterns hidden on the flying sabers.

At the same time, Dao patterns on the pure Yang broken sword burst with light as well!

Countless dark golden Dao patterns danced in the air, illuminating the sky!

“What a coincidence. Your move is a Shura Demon, but so is mine!”

As Yi Yun spoke, all the nomological Dao patterns in the air merged into one!

Boom!

The Dao pattern resonated as a gigantic Shura phantom appeared in the infinite divine light. This Shura Celestial Demon was slowly pushing a gigantic wheel.

In this wheel, there were countless demons and wraiths engraved on it. They were in all shapes and sizes. Some were wailing, some were hissing, and some were killing. A terrifying demonic aura burst into the sky, glazing the eyes of everyone who saw it. They found it difficult to extricate themselves, like they would sink into it if they were not careful.

“This move… ”

“What is that!?”

In the southern desolate mountain plains, the millions of people spectating this battle were alarmed! Yi Yun’s 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was something only a few people like Bai Yueqing had seen.

However, back when this move was seen in the Fey Refining Rock array, Yi Yun’s 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was only a tiny wheel. Although it was very powerful, it did not have a shocking appearance. It was unlike its present incarnation of it being pushed by a hundred-foot-tall Shura Demon.

Yi Yun’s attack was similar in form to Chi Zhuiyun’s, but it felt completely different!

What sort of Dao was that?

People had seen the Dao of Wind, Rain, Lightning, swords and sabers, killing intents and all sorts of different Dao. However, Yi Yun’s Dao did not belong to any one of them.

It was like it only happened during the annihilation of the world when all things experienced Nirvana!

Chi Zhuiyun’s spear had thrust straight down at the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s core!

A Celestial Demon against another Celestial Demon!

Who was the Shura?

Boom!

An explosive clash echoed throughout the plains after the two split off.

In between Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun, the ground shattered into dust as a gigantic crater appeared. The sky above them was dyed red!

The clouds in a radius of a five hundred kilometers had been pushed away. This apocalyptic scene left many warriors silent for a long time.

Who won?

No one expected that Yi Yun’s final attack was so similar to Chi Zhuiyun’s!

The blood aura remained congealed together for a long time before it dissipated. Only then did people see Chi Zhuiyun standing with his back facing Yi Yun. His body was stiff and his face was pale. Although he did not look like he had received any physical wounds, people could tell that he was in a terrible state!

As for Yi Yun, he was not in a much better situation. It was even worse. His body was covered in blood, and there was a shocking hole of blood on his left shoulder!

It was just an inch or two away from his heart!

Although this strike had failed to rip through Yi Yun’s body, if it wasn’t for the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence blocking it, the spear would have pierced through Yi Yun’s heart. If that was the case, the consequences were unthinkable!

Even if Yi Yun did not die, he would be debilitated. By losing a great deal of life blood, he would require several years and countless treasures to recover.

What Chi Zhuiyun said about his strike being possibly fatal was not a lie.

Seeing Yi Yun in such a state, the foreheads of the elderly ministers of the Luo clan oozed with sweat.

Emperor Luo was slightly relieved as well.

Close! It was too close!

Thankfully, Yi Yun was fine. The injury in his shoulder was nothing fatal.

“Did Chi Zhuiyun win? Or is it a tie?”

Around the arena, members of the Luo clan asked. Based on Chi Zhuiyun’s condition, it was hard to tell.

If the two still had the strength to fight, they could continue battling!

Now, no one from the Luo clan wished for the battle to continue. They were afraid that harm would befall Yi Yun!

At that moment…

“Peng!”

With a light ring, the clothes on Chi Zhuiyun’s upper body burst open, revealing his cut muscles. At that moment, people could see that a black wheel was imprinted on Chi Zhuiyun’s chest!

There were demon kings, wraiths, heretic gods imprinted on the wheel. It was the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence that Yi Yun had used!

This wheel had been imprinted on Chi Zhuiyun’s flesh?

“What… is this move of yours?” Chi Zhuiyun said with great difficulty as his voice trembled.

As he spoke, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence engraved on his chest seemed to start moving. The demons and wraiths on the wheel seemed to come alive. They hissed and cackled. The power of the Shura Celestial Demon was annihilating Chi Zhuiyun’s life force!

Chi Zhuiyun gripped his spear tightly.

“Ka-cha!”

The spear’s tip was stabbed into the mostly annihilated ground, but it still failed to support Chi Zhuiyun’s body!

Everyone was astonished when they saw this scene!

“That move is so terrifying!? What the hell is it!?”

“It’s destruction! I sensed destruction from the wheel. It’s the power of destruction!” An elder with a profound cultivation level said in astonishment.

It was the Dao of Destruction!?

Everything in this world, be it a boundless world, dragons, phoenixes or ants, they could be born, but they could be destroyed as well!

Nothing in the universe was seemingly eternal.

Destruction was a law that nothing could escape from!

The move might have ended when the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was imprinted on Chi Zhuiyun’s body, but it was still destroying Chi Zhuiyun’s life force!

Destruction was endless!

Even though Chi Zhuiyun’s life force was immensely powerful, he found it more and more difficult to withstand the power of destruction. Finally, as he gripped the pole of his spear, he slowly fell to the ground…

949 - : Who is the Shura

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Chi Zhuiyun collapsed to the ground with his spear in hand, there was silence around the plains despite there being millions of people present!

The spear was still standing, in a proud but bleak manner on the desolate plains, like it was guarding its owner.

Yi Yun was holding the pure Yang broken sword in his hand. His body was covered in blood. Even though all of his energy had been depleted and he was severely injured, he was still suffusing with killing intent!

Chi Zhuiyun had collapsed!

The stunning battle was breathtaking!

This was an epic battle that had shocked the Luo clan, the White Fox clan and the entire alliance!

Yi Yun’s final move, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence that defeated Chi Zhuiyun, made everyone tremble when they recalled it.

Chi Zhuiyun’s Celestial Demon Form was powerful. Even a warrior at the Dao Manifestation perfection realm would probably be killed by the attack.

However, Chi Zhuiyun had been defeated in his battle with Yi Yun!

Yi Yun was younger than Chi Zhuiyun, and his cultivation level was lower as well.

It was too terrifying!

“How could… this happen?”

In her seat of honor, Demon Girl looked at Chi Zhuiyun as her charming body quivered.

She had always secretly admired Chi Zhuiyun, but due to the difference in their respective statuses, she had never revealed it.

In her heart, Chi Zhuiyun was invincible.

But today, the legend had been broken!

Chi Zhuiyun’s challenge of the Luo clan had ended in him being defeated by Yi Yun, who had leapfrogged him!

This was something unacceptable to Demon Girl.

Chi Zhuiyun had not only been defeated, he had been defeated by a Luo clan genius who was younger than him!

As for Yu Tianfeng, he was feeling distraught.

As the ambassador to the Oracle Fey Kingdom, he was doing as he pleased in the Luo clan because of Felicitous Rain Lord. Even Emperor Luo treated him with respect.

In addition, Chi Zhuiyun, who had gained the approval of Felicitous Rain Lord, was also one of the reasons why Yu Tianfeng was so bold. After all, it was very likely that Chi Zhuiyun would become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple.

But now… Chi Zhuiyun had been defeated!

He suddenly felt like his backbone had been ripped out, and his entire being was flabbergasted.

With a slight probe, he realized that Chi Zhuiyun’s lifeforce was constantly being depleted. The strange move that Yi Yun used was still consuming Chi Zhuiyun’s lifeforce at this very moment.

This tightened his heart. It was inevitable that having the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence continue to consume the unconscious Chi Zhuiyun’s lifeforce, the results would be irreparable losses.

“Zhuiyun!” Yu Tianfeng had a rude awakening as his body flashed, arriving beside Chi Zhuiyun. He placed a palm on Chi Zhuiyun’s back.

As an ambassador of the Oracle Fey Kingdom, Yu Tianfeng did not have outstanding talent. He had become an ambassador because of his family background and his nobility. Only when he infused energy into Chi Zhuiyun’s body did he realize the terror of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s Dao patterns.

A force that had already left its owner, Yi Yun, should have been like rootless duckweed. It should have been easy to remove it, but when Yu Tianfeng infused his energy into Chi Zuiyun’s body, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence had ended up consuming and destroying his energy. It left him momentarily flustered.

Thankfully, Yu Tianfeng wasn’t young, so although his talent was mediocre, he still had a high cultivation level.

After a long while, Yu Tianfeng had finally managed to vanquish the destructive force in Chi Zhuiyun’s body, causing the Dao patterns of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence to slowly disappear.

“This… ” The surrounding warriors had all noticed this scene.

As a warrior of the older generation, Yu Tianfeng had to go through such laborious efforts to remove the remaining energies of a junior’s attack?

Regardless of how weak Yu Tianfeng was, he had age on his side. This implied how powerful Yi Yun’s 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s Dao of Destruction was!

What was destruction?

The Dao of Destruction was divided into the Minor Dao of Destruction and the Major Dao of Destruction.

The Minor Dao of Destruction was the destruction of all living creatures, including the destruction of mankind, or even that of minor worlds!

The Minor Dao of Destruction was already extremely obscure and difficult. Without a great opportunity, it was impossible to gain insights into it.

It was ranked as one of the Great Dao in the cosmos alongside Yin-Yang and space-time, above the five elements!

As for the Major Dao of Destruction, it was close to the power of god.

The Universe was created out of Chaos, but after countless years, it would ultimately end in destruction!

The Major Dao of Destruction was how elevated worlds like the 12 Empyrean Heavens would be destroyed, or even the entire universe!

How long would that take? It was impossible to predict.

It should be said that ever since the birth of martial arts, no one had been able to experience the destruction of an elevated world on the level of the 12 Empyrean Heavens. There was no way to even begin probing the Major Dao of Destruction.

The Major Dao of Destruction was ranked alongside the laws of Chaos that created the universe, being almost impossible to find.

There was a peerless mighty figure in the 12 Empyrean Heavens that attempted to gain insights into this Dao, but the destruction of the universe was too distant, so he eventually failed to make any progress.

People believed that the Dao of Destruction contained in Yi Yun’s 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was just a Minor Dao of Destruction, but it had to be one of the top grades in the Minor Dao of Destruction.

At that moment, Yu Tianfeng had already carried Chi Zhuiyun and had flown back to the seats of honor.

Chi Zhuiyun was severely injured!

Chi Zhuiyun said that he could not control the power of his final move, which might end up in it being fatal, but so was Yi Yun’s!

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was something that Yi Yun could not control very well as well. After being struck by it, Chi Zhuiyun would definitely lose a great deal of his lifeblood!

At the moment that Yu Tianfeng landed, he saw Luo Huo’er give him a sardonic look.

This made Yu Tianfeng’s face sink. He had heard of the princess’s character. Previously, he had said nasty words in front of her, and now, he had been ruthlessly smacked in the face, so how could he stay here any longer?

“Let us go!” Yu Tianfeng said through clenched teeth.

He flew up with Chi Zhuiyun, while Demon Girl and Luo Sha followed closely behind.

At that moment, there were quite a number of people from the Oracle Fey Kingdom that were in the midst of the millions of people present. At that moment, they felt ashamed to stay any longer, as they quietly retreated from the crowd.

At moment that the people from the Oracle Fey Kingdom left, the disciples of the World Margin Sect and Eternal Eventide Sea felt bitter. They looked at Yi Yun with apprehension.

Tianya Haoyue had already awoken. He looked at Yi Yun with a complex look. He had previously deemed his beating down by Yi Yun with a brick as the greatest humiliation in his life, but now, he did not find it too unacceptable. After all, Yi Yun was on a completely different level to him.

As for the arrogant goddess Xi Ye, she sighed lightly in her heart and she did not say a word. Recalling her aloofness, she felt ashamed. It was truly the case of there being heavens beyond heavens and people beyond people. She closed her eyes lightly as her ears echoed with the tsunami-like cheers from the members of the Luo clan in the southern desolate mountain plains.

“Yi Yun!”

“Yi Yun!”

“Yi Yun!”

…

The cheers echoed at an intensity more than ten times higher than when Yi Yun had previously defeated Tianya Haoyue. It was as though the entire desolate plains was trembling with the cheers.

“Little Yun, nicely done!” Luo Huo’er’s cheerful voice transmission entered Yi Yun’s ears.

Without a doubt, Yi Yun would become a legend from this day onwards.

In the history of the Luo clan, Yi Yun would undoubtedly leave behind a heavy stroke in its history books!

As long as he did not fall, Yi Yun’s future accomplishments were unthinkable!

950 - : Dao of Destruction

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had defeated Chi Zhuiyun! This news spread like wildfire, and in a few hours, the news of the matter was proliferated throughout the royal capital by the millions of warriors that had seen the battle!

And that was only the beginning. People knew that after Yi Yun defeated Chi Zhuiyun, there was a slim chance that he could become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple!

Once Yi Yun became Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple, it was truly skyrocketing in a single step. In the future, even Emperor Luo would be respectful to him when they met!

In the coming days, the news of Yi Yun defeating Chi Zhuiyun quickly spread throughout the Luo clan through various channels.

Yi Yun’s name reverberated throughout the 196 states.

Many young warriors idolized Yi Yun. His battle with Chi Zhuiyun was recorded on disk arrays, watched by the warriors as a rare collection. It even caused a new craze.

And in the royal capital, when Yi Yun returned to his residence, his entire viscount residence was surrounded by spirit beasts and spirit ships. Visitors from various factions came with many ambassadors bringing gifts. They came in endless droves.

Now, even the top ten factions in the Luo clan, such as the Xushui Ran clan and the Donglin family clan, had their ambassadors visit Yi Yun. All of them had to maintain an attitude of humility. They were not vexed, even if they had to line up without being able to meet Yi Yun.

The gifts filled up several guest halls, but shortly after Yi Yun returned to his viscount residence, he had to leave immediately. The waiting ambassadors did not even get to meet Yi Yun in person, eventually leaving in regret.

At that moment, Yi Yun had arrived at Empress Xuan’s Fenghua Palace.

“What? The Third Imperial Uncle has summoned me?”

The Luo clan’s Third Imperial Uncle was the pillar of the Luo clan. He was constantly in retreat in the vast spirit mountains behind the royal palace. In his constant reclusion, his exact whereabouts were unknown.

Typically, Emperor Luo was the only person in the Luo clan that could meet the Third Imperial Uncle to inform him of various matters.

And Emperor Luo would only inform the Third Imperial Uncle of important matters that involved the entire Luo clan.

Without a doubt, Yi Yun defeating Chi Zhuiyun was reported by Emperor Luo. This meant that Emperor Luo treated this as an important matter that involved the entire Luo clan.

“Little Yun, I have only managed to meet Imperial Granduncle once. Crimson Firmament did so once as well. Most of the other princes and princesses have not even got a chance to meet him yet! But this time, Imperial Granduncle wishes to host a national banquet himself. Not only does he want to summon you, he wants to convene many important figures in the Luo clan to hold a celebration for you. That is an honor that even Crimson Firmament will be jealous of.”

Even Luo Huo’er and Crimson Firmament had only met the Third Imperial Uncle once. It was imaginable how seldom the Third Imperial Uncle showed himself.

Now, him personally hosting a national banquet was completely unprecedented.

“Little Yun, let me tell you. If Imperial Granduncle wants to reward you, be relentless, take all that you can!” Luo Huo’er winked at Yi Yun as she spoke.

…

Today was the day that the Luo clan royal capital ushered in one of the biggest events in the recent ten thousand years!

Just high in the sky, there were numerous flying creatures of massive sizes, as well as spirit cruisers shuttling through the nebula bands.

And their destination was the same — the Luo clan royal palace!

This was the second time that Yi Yun came to the Luo clan’s main royal palace. It was located on a high mountain that was connected by a long imperial staircase.

The last time he came here, it was the gathering of the various major factions of the alliance. Ambassadors from various clans had come, with numerous people being present.

Back then, Yi Yun was just one of the many disciples and he was not considered to be remarkable.

But this time, Yi Yun was no doubt the center of attention!

At the moment he entered the main royal palace, all eyes were immediately turned on him!

Yi Yun remained composed. He was dressed in a pale green robe with a sword by his waist, while his hair was tied up with a piece of thread. He had an air that seemed to make him rise up above all others.

In the main palace, there were gigantic golden columns on both sides that had a circumference that was the combined arm spans of several people. On the ground, there were seats that could accommodate thousands of people.

And Yi Yun’s spot was impressively in the first row!

Opposite him was a spot where Prince Crimson Firmament sat facing him.

To the warriors of the Luo clan, being able to sit at where Yi Yun sat was the greatest desire in life.

Having rapidly advancing up the social ladder, with him having power and wealth, there were countless beauties who admired him. Everything was at his fingertips!

And how old was Yi Yun?

He was famous at a young age, with countless people who were envious of him.

“So you are Yi Yun.” A sonorous voice suddenly sounded from the regal seat.

Yi Yun looked over and on the regal seat sat a white-haired man, but he looked extremely young, like he was a teenager. His aura was unfathomable from where he sat.

The man was also wearing an emperor’s robe, but it was slightly different from the emperor’s robe that Emperor Luo wore.

As for Emperor Luo, he was sitting on the right hand side.

Was this person the Third Imperial Uncle?

Yi Yun took a step forward and said with a salutation, “This junior is him.”

The Third Imperial Uncle’s eyes were filled with endless vicissitudes as he stared at Yi Yun for a moment.

Yi Yun felt like he was looking into the mirror as the pair of eyes gazed at him.

Yi Yun remained calm since the Purple Crystal could not be detected by him. Furthermore, the Third Imperial Uncle was only reading his cultivation realm, constitution and meridians. The more sensitive spots, like the heart and soul sea were avoided by him.

Having attained such a realm, the Third Imperial Uncle was also a genius with providence bestowed upon him. He too had his own opportunities, so he guessed that Yi Yun must have obtained certain opportunities, but he naturally would not covet the opportunities of a junior.

If the elders frequently snatched the opportunities of juniors, such a faction was not far from its end. Furthermore, the Third Imperial Uncle knew that he had used up his potential. Most of his lifespan had been depleted, and it was impossible for him to make a breakthrough. The same opportunity in his hand would definitely not be as effective as if it were in the hands of a junior.

“A minor Seamless pure Yang body and Heaven-Devouring Wyrm bloodline. I’ve also heard that your perception is extremely amazing… ” The Third Imperial Uncle spoke. “Perception is also a form of talent. With superb perception, you can go far down the path of martial arts as well.”

“Little Yun, my Third Imperial Uncle seldom praises people. It looks like he’s very pleased with you.” Luo Huo’er transmitted her voice to Yi Yun.

“Is that so? However, your Third Imperial Uncle isn’t as I imagined.” Yi Yun replied.

“Why? Did you think that he would be some old fogey?” Luo Huo’er giggled. In fact, she was somewhat astonished back when she first met the Third Imperial Uncle.

When Yi Yun looked at the Third Imperial Uncle again, he noticed that he was looking at a shadow in the palace.

When Yi Yun looked over, the shadow suddenly began to distort. Following that, a woman stepped out of the shadow.

The woman looked like a drawing in the beginning, but as she walked out of the shadows, her facial features seemed to suddenly turn clear.

She was a beautiful woman, dressed in a bright red skirt. Her skin was brilliantly fair, and her eyes were like deep and dark pools, exuding a strange air in them.

“Indeed, the aura that I just sensed is the arrival of the esteemed ambassador.” The Third Imperial Uncle stood up and said.

Upon hearing the Third Imperial Uncle’s words, everyone present was astonished. They also realized that even with the woman standing in front of them, they could not sense her presence.

The Third Imperial Uncle was the only person in the entire palace who sensed the the woman’s appearance.

“There’s no need to address me in this way. I am Shui Ningshuang.” The red-dressed woman took a step forward and instantly appeared in front of the regal throne. “I’m here on behalf of my master to greet the Third Imperial Uncle.”

951 - : Shui Ningshuang

CKtalon  CKtalon

On behalf of her master to greet the Third Imperial Uncle?

The palace was filled with important figures from the Luo clan and the alliance. They were stunned when they suddenly heard Shui Ningshuang’s words.

Regardless of Shui Ningshuang’s bearing or the nomological fluctuations around her, they were all stunning. Such a woman’s looks and strength were impeccable. She even had a bearing that placed her a cut above the rest, so how could she be willing to be a slave to others?

How magnificent would one be to have a woman slave like her?

Could it be… ?

People began to guess, and this guess left them stifled.

At that moment, the Third Imperial Uncle cupped his hands and said, “Fairy Ningshuang, you must be joking. I can’t afford Felicitous Rain Lord’s greetings. I should be the one greeting Felicitous Rain Lord.”

The Third Imperial Uncle’s words affirmed what everyone had in their minds. People drew a gasp. The woman’s master was indeed Felicitous Rain Lord!

“Fairy Ningshuang… I recall who she is. Fifty thousand years ago, Fairy Ningshuang had once traversed the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, making a name for herself. However, it was ephemeral, she soon disappeared because she had returned to Felicitous Rain Lord’s side and seldom appeared. Rumors say that Fairy Ningshuang was saved by Felicitous Rain Lord when she was still a young girl. Back then, Felicitous Rain Lord had yet to become a Divine Lord. He was impressed by her intelligence and extraordinary constitution, keeping her by his side. Therefore, Fairy Ningshuang has always been a follower of Felicitous Rain Lord, tending to his daily needs. Fairy Ningshuang is extremely clever, so by serving Felicitous Rain Lord, her strength has already reached an unfathomable stage.”

Shui Ningshuang was Felicitous Rain Lord’s maidservant, so she naturally called Felicitous Rain Lord master. It was not that an impressive woman like her was willing to be a slave, it was because she had gone from an ordinary maidservant to her present stage.

So that was the reason why the Third Imperial Uncle had presided over the national banquet. His invitation of all heroes from various nations was because of Shui Ningshuang’s arrival!

With Shui Ningshuang’s identity, she naturally could become the star of the national banquet. Of course, Yi Yun was also the junior that the Third Imperial Uncle wanted to introduce to Shui Ningshuang.

“I wonder what Fairy Ningshuang is here in the Luo clan for?” The Third Imperial Uncle asked.

This question was critical.

After Yi Yun defeated Chi Zhuiyun, Fairy Ningshuang’s appearance could not help but cause others to have certain thoughts.

This was apparent for the Luo clan clansmen. At that moment, they turned particularly excited as they held their breaths and looked at Fairy Ningshuang intently, waiting for her response. Could Fairy Ningshuang’s appearance here imply that Felicitous Rain Lord had intentions of taking in Yi Yun as a disciple?

Shui Ningshuang said with a smile, “My trip here was not my master’s intention. My master has been staying in the Oracle Fey Kingdom for the past few days while pondering over the laws. Since I had nothing better to do, Chi Zhuiyun’s challenge of all the younger generation of the alliance had sparked my interest, leading me here. After seeing the outcome of Chi Zhuiyun’s battle, I was quite pleasantly surprised.”

Shui Ningshuang smiled at Yi Yun as she said this.

Yi Yun got up and gave a Shui Ningshuang a bow.

At that moment, Yi Yun had become the focus of the banquet.

Prince Crimson Firmament and Bai Yueqing were both sitting opposite Yi Yun. As they looked at Yi Yun, they felt their hearts turn somewhat sour.

To Crimson Firmament, if Yi Yun could become the disciple of Felicitous Rain Lord, it was a great thing for the Luo clan, but for him, it did not necessarily mean that it was good. This made him feel wry and bitter.

“Fairy Ningshuang, what do you think about Yi Yun?” Third Imperial Uncle asked in an extremely solemn voice.

All these years, the Third Imperial Uncle had been cultivating in the back mountains of the royal palace. Other than the invasion of the Fey Phantasm Sect, very few things could stir him.

“I… do not represent the views of master.” Fairy Ningshuang shook her head.

“Fairy, it’s fine if it’s just your personal opinion.” Third Imperial Uncle said. Fairy Ningshuang had accompanied Felicitous Rain Lord for so many years, so she was probably one who knew Felicitous Rain Lord’s judgment criteria.

“Yi Yun is not bad!” Shui Ningshuang gave such an evaluation. Before the Luo clan could rejoice, there was a sudden turn in Shui Ningshuang’s words. “However, he has a very big problem… ”

“What problem is it?”

The members of the Luo clan felt their hearts tighten!

“If I’m not wrong, Yi Yun has yet to grasp his own Dao Domain!”

Dao Domain, Great Dao, Heavenly Dao, Origins. This were the four realms of Dao.

A typical warrior would possess a Dao Domain when they were at the Dao Manifestation realm.

However, for geniuses, it was common for them to have their own Dao Domain at the Heaven Ascension realm. For example, Chi Zhuiyun had a Shura Domain that turned the skies crimson. It enveloped millions of people and shocked everyone!

Felicitous Rain Lord had approved of Chi Zhuiyun because of his Dao Domain.

Without a doubt, Felicitous Rain Lord had placed great emphasis on the Dao Domain.

This represented a genius’s perception and nomological attainments. It determined one’s future development to a large extent.

However, Yi Yun apparently did not have a Dao Domain.

Third Imperial Uncle frowned slightly and he fell silent.

Quite a number of people in the crowd present were surprised. “Yi Yun does not have a Dao Domain? That can’t be!?”

“Gaining insights into a Dao Domain should not be difficult for a top genius. Princess Xue’er had comprehended a Dao Domain more than ten years ago.”

Back then, at the Luo Divine Hall trials, Princess White Fox’s epiphany allowed her to possess her own Dao Domain. Back then, Yi Yun had already lagged behind her, but he should not have lagged behind her for more than ten years!

Furthermore, Yi Yun’s strength was obvious. He could defeat Chi Zhuiyun, so how could he not have his own Dao Domain?

“In response to Fairy’s words, this junior indeed has not comprehended a Dao Domain.”

With Yi Yun saying this, all the guests were dumbfounded.

He really didn’t have one!

Previously, in the challenge that Chi Zhuiyun made, the people who fought all had Dao Domains. Some of the Dao Domains might not have offensive power, but they were still Dao Domains.

Yi Yun did not use a Dao Domain from the beginning to the end, making people believe that Yi Yun’s Dao Domain was unsuitable for battle. But now, it was because he did not even have one!

Why was this so? Could Yi Yun have encountered a bottleneck in his nomological insights that he could not break through?

It was obviously better the early one formed their Dao Domain. There was room for future development. By delaying it for so long, Yi Yun’s progress was already impaired. If he really had a bottleneck, it would be terrible. Bottlenecks were things that no one could tell when they could be broken through!

This made everyone look at Yi Yun with worried looks.

Especially the members of the Luo clan. They were worried that Yi Yun’s weakness in Dao would make him slowly fail to catch up to top geniuses.

After all, the Dao Manifestation realm was extremely important. From Heaven Ascension into Dao Manifestation, Dao fruits had to be condensed. The number and quality of the Dao fruits directly affected his future success!

In the martial world, geniuses who reigned supreme in the Heaven Ascension realm would be slowly be left behind because of their poor Dao fruit qualities. It was not uncommon for them to end up with their potentials being expended.

Even if Yi Yun were to condense his Dao Domain tomorrow, he was already at a greater disadvantage compared to Chi Zhuiyun and others!

Shui Ningshuang nodded. “You are at the Heaven Ascension perfection realm, but you have yet to condense your Dao Domain. It is indeed slow. You are about to step into the Dao Manifestation realm, so nomological insight is extremely important. Without a Dao Domain, the Dao fruits that you condense would definitely be lacking in quality. If this goes on, you might begin to lag behind in the Dao Manifestation realm. It would be very difficult to make up for it!”

952 - : Lacking Dao Domain

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shui Ningshuang’s words tightened the hearts of all the Luo clan clansmen present. Could it be that… Yi Yun would not be able to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple?

If that was the case, Yi Yun’s growth would likely be affected. To the Luo clan, it would be a great loss.

Yi Yun did not speak as he waited for Shui Ningshuang to continue.

Shui Ningshuang sat down and she looked serene. She asked calmly, “Yi Yun, I mentioned quite a bit a while ago, but I did not ask if you intend to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple?”

Yi Yun nodded. To a warrior with an extremely long lifespan, there was a wide range of realms to cross. A warrior could take many mighty figures as masters, and it was not considered to be a betrayal of the previous master.

Indeed, Yi Yun had obtained the Azure Yang Lord’s heritage in the past, but that was only a tiny portion of what the Azure Yang Lord had learned in his entire life. The most important cultivation technique inheritance was not left behind by Azure Yang Lord.

What Yi Yun learned was the creation by the Azure Yang Lord’s confidant, the ancient Great Empress’s ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’. To the present Yi Yun, the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ was already inadequate. He needed a stronger cultivation technique so it could match the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Obtaining the inheritance and obtaining the face-to-face advice from a Divine Lord was completely different. Regardless of how high one’s perception was, just cultivating from a inheritance manual still needed one’s repeated experimentation and confirmation. Compared to having a master to guide them, they would end up taking more detours and waste more time. There was no need to mention the resources and status that one would gain after becoming a disciple of a Divine Lord. It would be the best protection for Yi Yun, as Yi Yun would not need to feel apprehensive when he faced the Fey Phantasm Sect.

“My master values one’s grade in the Dao greatly. To become my master’s disciple, it is necessary to condense a Dao Domain at the Heaven Ascension realm. If you do not have a Dao Domain, it is impossible.”

“Condense a Dao Domain… ” Yi Yun faltered slightly. “A pass is given as long as a Dao Domain is condensed?”

“If it’s just an ordinary Dao Domain, it would be meaningless! The reason why Chi Zhuiyun was able to be approved by master was because his Dao Domain was extraordinary. Chi Zhuiyun’s Dao Domain had managed to defeat an in-name disciple of my master, thus he was recognized by him.”

“In-name disciple?” Yi Yun asked in surprise. Felicitous Rain Lord also had in-name disciples?

“That’s right. Master has several in-name disciples. Although my master has never established a faction, he has several followers. Many things could not be done by him alone, so there is a need to delegate the job to others.”

Shui Ningshuang’s explanation enlightened Yi Yun. The in-name disciples were probably similar to servants. Although they were called servants, they were most likely very talented. It was easier said than done to become a Divine Lord’s servant.

“What my master wants to take in is a personal disciple. It is something that an in-name disciple cannot compare to in every aspect. Therefore, the requirements are naturally high. Although you have defeated Chi Zhuiyun, you must have something that can move my master to gain his approval. Master values perception, bloodline and nomological Dao Domain.”

“Either your perception is amazing, allowing you to infer from incomplete Supremacy-grade cultivation techniques, or your Dao Domain reaches the same standard as Chi Zhuiyun’s, or finally, you possess a pure Ancient Fey bloodline that reaches the standard like that lady over there! If you can meet any two of the three criteria, it would not be a problem to become Master’s disciple. If you manage only one, it would be likely that you would gain my master’s approval, but it is not a sure thing.”

As Shui Ningshuang spoke, she looked at Luo Huo’er. The lady that she referred to was Luo Huo’er. She could sense an extremely rare purity in her bloodline, but Luo Huo’er was a rare genius in the Luo clan. In comparison, Yi Yun’s bloodline was far from hers!

As for perception, attempting to infer from an incomplete Supremacy-grade cultivation technique, even if it was a tiny amount, would be extremely demanding!

Finally, the Dao Domain was very difficult as well! Chi Zhuiyun’s attainment in his Dao Domain was heaven-defying to begin with. Now, Yi Yun did not even have a Dao Domain, so how could he compete with Chi Zhuiyun?

And worst of all, he needed to accomplish two of the three criteria to ensure a pass. Accomplishing only one could still result in failure!

Such criteria made many of the Luo clan clansmen feel a coldness in their hearts. Yi Yun’s bloodline was lacking, and he did not have a Dao Domain. As for perception, it didn’t sound like something assuring. The chances of becoming Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple were extremely minute.

Finally… was all that effort for naught?

The people found it difficult to accept such an outcome. Felicitous Rain Lord’s requirements were too high!

Even a Divine Lord was so harsh on his selection of disciples!

Shui Ningshuang apparently read the minds of the people as she slowly said, “Master naturally has his reasons for coming up with such a criteria. My master intends to hand his mantle over to the personal disciple he takes in this time. My master possesses the remnant page of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’. I believe that it is no longer a secret… ”

When Shui Ningshuang said this, everyone looked at each other and they drew a cold gasp of air.

The remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’!

When the primordial Universe was first born from out of the Chaos, the twelve Empyrean Heavens slowly evolved. There were mighty primordial figures, who gained insight on the natural laws, slowly establishing martial arts heritages.

The ultimate martial art heritages were regarded by warriors in the twelve Empyrean Heavens as Divine Canons, which were supreme techniques that approached the Heavenly Dao.

Maybe, it was somewhat destined that every Empyrean Heaven produced a Divine Canon that approached the Heavenly Dao at its birth. These twelve Divine Canons were seemingly the natural condensation of the world’s Great Dao, just like the Divine Lord Royal Seals, which were naturally formed by every Empyrean Heaven. They had the power of creation!

As for the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’, it was the Divine Canon that belonged to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven!

The twelve Divine Canons were cultivation techniques, something that Yi Yun was lacking the most at present. Obviously, Yi Yun wanted to learn it!

Yi Yun knew that the Azure Yang Lord had previously seen remnant pages of the ‘Yang God Manual’ and the ‘Nine Nether Sacred Manual’. But unfortunately, none of the remnant pages had landed in Yi Yun’s hands, and he had never seen them before. If not, with the ‘Yang God Manual’ in his hand, his cultivation speed would have skyrocketed, so how would he always be lacking in energy, causing him to be apprehensive about using the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence?

“It’s the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’. To think that Felicitous Rain Lord plans on teaching the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’, it’s unknown how many geniuses will go mad for it… ”

Even the Third Imperial Uncle sighed. Who didn’t want to learn the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’? A cultivation technique of that level was too distant for a faction like the Luo clan. If the Luo clan ever possessed the remnant pages of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’, it would probably be annihilated as a result of it!

The Third Imperial Uncle looked at Yi Yun and sighed. He felt sorry for Yi Yun.

It was normal for Felicitous Rain Lord to have such high criteria if he planned on taking in a disciple that would be imparted with the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’!

However, such a big opportunity was terrible for Yi Yun. In Yi Yun’s present situation, it was very unlikely that he would become a disciple of Felicitous Rain Lord.

Shui Ningshuang looked at Yi Yun, seemingly feeling sorry for him. If a Divine Lord were to take in a disciple under normal circumstances, Yi Yun would be barely qualified, but now, he was still somewhat lacking.

“My master will stay in the Oracle Fey Kingdom for about a year. My master’s taking in of a disciple will be decided during this period of time. If you think it’s possible, come to the Oracle Fey Kingdom.”

953 - : Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Shui Ningshuang said this, a shadow began to envelop her, starting from her feet. Following that, her figure blended into the shadow as the shadow rapidly converged, disappearing completely in the blink of an eye.

The ground was left empty like nothing had been there previously.

Seeing Shui Ningshuang disappear, the palace hall fell into silence. Many people looked at Yi Yun.

Some frowned, while others felt a sense of regret. There were also people from other factions who were gloating at the turn of events.

“Fairy Ningshuang is simply being difficult.” Someone from the Luo clan said unhappily.

“Do you think Fairy Ningshuang is someone that you can disparage?” A dignified voice resounded. The person who spoke was the Third Imperial Uncle. “This time, Felicitous Rain Lord is planning on taking in a personal disciple and it involves the inheritance of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’, so it’s natural for his standards to be very high! Don’t forget that a Divine Lord’s lifespan is extremely long. Felicitous Rain Lord hasn’t become a Divine Lord for very long. He still has millions, if not tens of millions of years to choose a disciple. There’s no hurry at all! Even if he can’t find one, it wouldn’t matter to him. He can just wait till he meets someone when fate permits it. Quality comes before quantity, in this case, so Felicitous Rain Lord will definitely not lower his standards.”

Although the Third Imperial Uncle felt sorry for Yi Yun, he knew that Fairy Ningshuang was definitely not making it difficult for Yi Yun. Instead, by doing so, it revealed how much importance Felicitous Rain Lord placed on his personal disciple. He was truly looking for someone to pass on the mantle to.

With the Third Imperial Uncle saying this, everyone fell silent.

Indeed, a Divine Lord’s standards were different from theirs!

A Divine Lord could live for very long, allowing them to traverse countless worlds and see countless geniuses. To them, Yi Yun was already amazing enough, but if he was placed in the vast Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven and over millions of years?

Even someone as amazing as Yi Yun might perhaps be nothing!

Without a Dao Domain, impressive perception or an outstanding bloodline, it was indeed difficult to meet the Felicitous Rain Lord’s requirements.

The Third Imperial Uncle said again, “Our Luo clan has existed for a hundred million years. We do not need to sell ourselves short. Yi Yun, do you understand?”

As the Third Imperial Uncle said this, he looked at Yi Yun, apparently afraid that Yi Yun would suffer a setback.

Yi Yun said with a smile, “This junior understands.”

After hearing the information provided by Shui Ningshuang, as the concerned party, Yi Yun did not have any wild mood swings. He was extremely calm, and this pleased the Third Imperial Uncle greatly.

By not being easily pleased or depressed, while still having a strong will and a steadfast heart for martial arts, a warrior like him could go even further.

“Little Yun, why are you so calm? Aren’t you a little bit disappointed?” Luo Huo’er asked Yi Yun.

Yi Yun shook his head and said, “There’s nothing much to be disappointed about. My martial path ultimately depends on myself.”

“What you said isn’t wrong, but… why haven’t you gained insights into your own Dao Domain all this time? I feel that shouldn’t be the case with your nomological insights.”

With Luo Huo’er asking such a question, many people looked at Yi Yun. That’s right, it’s too strange that Yi Yun had yet to condense a Dao Domain.

From the Yuan Opening realm, warriors began to grasp laws and by the Dao Manifestation realm, the laws would condense into Dao fruits, it was a qualitative leap.

Yi Yun’s laws were outstanding, to begin with, so how could he lag behind his peers?

“There are some problems that I haven’t managed to figure out… ” Yi Yun’s response tightened the hearts of the members of the Luo clan. There was indeed a bottleneck?

“This junior wishes to request to enter the Primordial Space once again. Perhaps, my Dao Domain will be completed.” Yi Yun said seriously.

Yi Yun had yet to condense a Dao Domain. The main reason was that Yi Yun’s initial goal was set extremely high. He wanted to condense a Destruction Dao Domain!

The Dao of Destruction was divided into the Minor Dao of Destruction and the Major Dao of Destruction.

Yi Yun did not know which Dao of Destruction that the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was from, but his intuition told him that it was definitely not as simple as the Minor Dao of Destruction!

If it was the Major Dao of Destruction, it was simply unthinkable.

Condensing such a Dao Domain was understandably difficult.

Yi Yun’s attempt was a crazy challenge of course.

If Yi Yun had condensed a Pure Yang Dao Domain during his eighteen years in the Primordial Space, he would have condensed a Pure Yang Dao Domain long time ago.

Pure Yang was also a Great Dao law. A Pure Yang Dao Domain would be more powerful than Princess White Fox’s Lightning Dao Domain, but Yi Yun did not do so. He placed all his efforts in the Destruction Dao Domain!

Typical warriors only focused on one law, naturally being able to condense a single Dao Domain.

As for top geniuses, they were able to condense several Dao Domains, but they were divided into major and minor Dao Domains.

The first Dao Domain that would be condensed would be augmented by the Heavenly Dao, resulting in it being the most powerful!

However, due to the difficulty of it, even the first Dao Domain condensed by a top genius would typically not be a Great Dao Dao Domain. It would be one of the easier five-elemental Dao, or the Natural Dao.

However, Yi Yun had chosen the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s Destruction Dao. The difficulty of doing so was imaginable!

However, the Purple Crystal was something that Yi Yun could rely on. Hence, he wanted to attempt such a crazy idea.

Originally, Yi Yun believed that he would be able to condense his Destruction Dao Domain in another three or five years.

However, after the battle with Chi Zhuiyun, Yi Yun had several new insights. He believed that if he returned to the Primordial Space again, he would have a chance of success!

“To the Primordial Space?” Emperor Luo’s eyebrows pricked up. The Primordial Space was in the Luo Divine Hall, and the Luo Divine Hall trials had already ended. Yet, Yi Yun wanted to return to the Primordial Space again.

“Yi Yun, you might not know, but to take you to the Primordial Empyrean Heaven now, it requires ten times the amount of World Stones.” An elderly courtier of the Luo clan said.

It was not a small figure.

“Oh?” Yi Yun was stunned.

“The Luo Divine Hall trials take place once every sixty years and they last for eighteen years each time for a reason. Because after eighteen years, the barriers to the Primordial Empyrean Heaven would become stronger. Tearing through them would require a greater price.” The Luo clan courtier explained patiently.

He already felt that Yi Yun no longer had the chance to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple. Even if he returned to the Primordial Space, so what? The World Stones could not be spent for nothing. They were all resources.

Before Yi Yun said another word, the Third Imperial Uncle said, “Take him there! It’s just entering the Primordial Space once. That bit of World Stones is something that our Luo clan can afford. Even if he can’t become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple, it wouldn’t matter. As long as it allows him to become stronger, the expenditure of those World Stones would be worth it.”

The Third Imperial Uncle’s order was something that no one would refute. Many people from the younger generation of the Luo clan, including Prince Crimson Firmament, were jealous when they heard this. Yi Yun was receiving top treatment. Even Crimson Firmament himself did not receive such treatment in the past!

“Thank you, Senior.” Yi Yun said solemnly as he took a deep breath.

He took note of the favor that was bestowed on him.

The insights from the battle with Chi Zhuiyun needed to be digested back in the Primordial Space. As for the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, he needed to use the Purple Crystal Fey God Stone to verify it again. Yi Yun believed that he would definitely have new insights this time.

954 - : Yi Yun’s Dao Domain

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the nebulous Primordial Empyrean Heaven, the Luo clan’s special spirit cruiser underwent a series of spatial traversals. With space suddenly fluctuating, it appeared above the Luo Divine Hall.

When the doors opened, Yi Yun walked out of the spirit cruiser. The last time he had done this, he had imitated the Shadow Twins’s footwork, allowing him to find his footing in the space with chaotic laws. But this time, he simply stepped forward, and every step he made would produce a ripple.

A bearded old man with a stoic face had already been waiting for him.

“Elder Duanmu.” Yi Yun said with a bow.

“I have already been informed.” Elder Duanmu sized Yi Yun up for a moment before saying, “You have improved once again since the trials. Not bad.”

Elder Duanmu knew that Yi Yun’s talent was outstanding, but he never expected that Yi Yun would be able to attain such achievements. Yi Yun was really a person who constantly created pleasant surprises.

It was indeed difficult to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s personal disciple, and even the present Yi Yun had minute hopes of being one.

“The Primordial Space has already been prepared for you. You have a year’s time. Let’s go.” Elder Duanmu led the way by flying towards the Luo Divine Hall.

When no one came to participate in the trials, the Luo Divine Hall would be like an ancient monument lying dormant in a forgotten world, it exuded an ancient and bleak aura.

The Elders of the Luo Divine Hall were in reclusion for tens of thousands of years. In order to pursue even great heights in martial arts, they had to endure a lot.

Yi Yun reflected over it as he arrived at the Primordial Space with Elder Duanmu.

“Go ahead and start your reclusion.”

“Does he want to condense his Dao Domain in a year’s time?” It was unknown when Elder Shi appeared beside Elder Duanmu, as he asked while looking at the gigantic doors that sealed Yi Yun within the Primordial Space.

“That’s right. Senior Brother, what do you think of it?”

“That child is very ambitious. If he wants to condense an ordinary Dao Domain, it obviously wouldn’t be difficult, but how can the Dao Domain that he wants to condense be anything ordinary? A year’s time is too short. Furthermore, he now has a year’s time breathing down on his neck, so the tension makes it even harder.”

“I have seen too many geniuses throughout my life. They set high ambitions for themselves, but they end up failing to achieve them. They only want to gain insights into the Great Dao, and show disdain to the lesser Dao, but… during their meditations, they end up being led astray! To a warrior that gains insight into the worldly Dao, it is very common to deviate in the meditation process. Some people might even realize that their insights were wrong after many years, and that price paid for that would be terrible!”

Gaining insights into the laws and going astray wasn’t that terrifying. The most terrifying thing was not knowing that one had gone astray! That would be dangerous!

For a young genius like Yi Yun, there was no time for delays!

“Senior Brother, do you mean that Yi Yun might go astray?”

“There is a possibility… I’m just afraid of it happening.” Elder Shi shook his head. “With his talent, it is very out of the ordinary for him to not have gained insights into his Dao Domain after so much time. Even a pure Yang Dao Domain should have been condensed by now.”

Geniuses were prideful people. A top genius like Yi Yun would only have higher ambitions, but at times, that was not necessarily the best thing. What Dao Domain did he want to condense? A Pure Yang Dao Domain? A Dao Domain of the Sword?

Mastering one Dao Domain would also result in enormous combat strength. For example, Chi Zhuiyun’s Shura Dao Domain was the condensation of his killing intent and will.

“It’s pointless for us to fret here. Let’s wait and see what happens in a year’s time.” Elder Duanmu said.

A year’s time was like a snap of the fingers to them.

In the Primordial Space, Yi Yun arrived in front of the Purple Crystal Fey God Stone once again.

This time, there was an even more obvious resonance between him and the Purple Crystal Fey God Stone. It had a feeling like their lifeblood was connected.

Yi Yun faced the Purple Crystal Fey God Stone and he reached out his hand to touch it.

Boom!

Like he had instantly opened a door, Yi Yun’s eyes glazed over as he arrived in a mental world.

This time, the man or the red lotus woman were not seen in the mental world.

There were only countless nomological fragments constantly shuttling through it.

In the space, there were only nomological fragments, and the rest was all Chaos.

Yi Yun reached his hand out and gestured with it, causing a small nomological fragment to fly towards him. Following that, more nomological fragments flew towards Yi Yun like a flurry of snow.

The first Dao pattern was completed, and immediately, the space had its first law.

As he continued to construct them, the nomological fragments were constantly being condensed into Dao patterns.

Yi Yun was immersed in his actions, while his mental energy was constantly being drained.

Soon, the entire 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was condensed by Yi Yun.

The long-haired man in the Purple Crystal had formed a world with his spear, before shattering the world. Following that, he had merged the entire world’s laws into the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

This was the Dao of Destruction, and it was even more powerful than Minor Destruction.

In the trial before, Yi Yun had attempted to copy the long-haired man’s methods and he had used the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence to help condense his own Dao Domain, but he had failed.

In the process of condensing his Dao Domain, Yi Yun felt something unharmonious. This snag was something that he never managed to resolve.

And in the battle with Chi Zhuiyun, Yi Yun had gained new insights as to where the feeling came from.

Looking at the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, Yi Yun quietly stared at it. Suddenly, his eyes flashed with a beam of light.

He pulled out his broken sword and slashed at the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

“Ka-cha!”

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence had shattered, and it was reduced to countless nomological fragments!

This was not the Dao that he was pursuing!

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was the long-haired man’s life-long martial technique, and there was no doubt with its profoundness!

However, that was the long-haired man’s Dao. Although Yi Yun had learned the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, he had learned it through mimicking it. It was not his own understanding.

By copying the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence exactly, he had learned a martial technique. But regardless of how profound it was, it was only that and nothing more.

Once he was restricted by this, how could he form his own Dao?

Yi Yun brandished the broken sword and he shattered the flying Dao patterns. He tore them apart and reconstituted them from destruction!

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence had been completely shattered into tiny nomological fragments!

Ka-cha!

In Yi Yun’s mind, it was like there was a membrane that obstructed him, but it was shattered by the pure Yang broken sword.

There was still a year’s time for him to go over the eighteen years of insights!

A light flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes as he faced the countless random nomological fragments that appeared once again. Yi Yun thrust his sword out.

The sword had destroyed, and what he wanted to condense was Destruction.

This was Yi Yun’s Sword of the Will, which represented Yi Yun’s martial heart and his obsession!

He wanted to pursue the pinnacle of martial arts and go even further!

Before one’s heart reduced to mediocrity, Great Dao lies within one’s heart!

Coming from the Cloud Wilderness and traversing through space, he had arrived in the wider 12 Empyrean Heavens.

From an ordinary mortal to a Heaven Ascension realm warrior, I can go even further.

Lin Xintong, I will find you.

Azure Yang Lord, I will avenge you.

Sword beam after sword beam, they appeared like snowflakes, lighting up the entire space!

Nomological fragments began to condense amidst the sword beams, condensing in a completely different way from the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Yi Yun did not even think about how he was going to condense them. He slashed out freely as his heart willed, a heart of the sword.

In the sword beams, Yi Yun emptied his body and soul, as he felt free.

He felt like he was in a vast world, enjoying the process while engaging in swordplay!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The swishing of the sword produced sounds that resembled war gongs or thunder.

He had brandished his sword countless times, not knowing how much time had passed.

He was repeatedly drained of all his energy, but every time that happened, the Purple Crystal would palpitate along with his heart, absorbing the energy in the world, nourishing Yi Yun’s limbs and body along with his blood vessels.

The sounds intensified as they increased in both amplitude and frequency!

Yi Yun’s body was drenched with sweat as he was on the verge of his limit.

Boom!

All of the sounds suddenly stopped.

Yi Yun’s sword came to a stop as he looked straight. At the tip of his sword, there was an esoteric circular pattern that was gradually revolving.

Sou!

With the sword tip stabbing at it, the circular pattern exploded. Beneath Yi Yun’s feet, countless Dao patterns appeared as golden light circulated around him!

Within the golden flames, Yi Yun felt like he was undergoing rebirth from the flames. A long screech came from behind him as the Golden Crow totem appeared, spreading its enormous golden wings apart!

In the flames, Yi Yun’s eyes seemed to have an additional hint of gold in them.

The entire mental world apparently could not withstand his aura as it began to tremble.

With a cracking sound, space was shattered as Yi Yun was sucked into the turbulence of time and space as he flowed along with it…

…

Time passed as cultivation knew nothing of time. In the Primordial Space, Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi had once again appeared in front of the hall’s door.

A year’s time was extremely short in the quiet and dead world. It was like a snap of the fingers.

955 - : Before one’s heart reduced to mediocrity, Great Dao lies within one’s heart!

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the vast cosmos, a spirit cruiser was mid flight.

The spirit cruiser had reached a nebulous zone before it was devoured by the sudden appearance of a black entrance.

The ancient self-standing space inside the black entrance was where the core of the Oracle Fey Kingdom in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven was. Legends said that at the formation of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, an Ancient Fey had died, leaving behind the world that was in its body. After a long period of time, the world had transformed into a space.

In the ancient space, there was a large floating island, with several small islands surrounding it. These islands were where people of high status lived in the Oracle Fey Kingdom. There were restrictive rings around the area, preventing people from approaching them.

And on the large floating island, there was the vast and bustling Fey empire. In the middle of the Fey empire stood more than ten large towers, with surging martial intent exuding from them.

Chi Zhuiyun lived in one of the towers. Ever since he had lost to Yi Yun in the Luo clan, he had entered reclusion inside the tower.

People would come to visit him, either to comfort him or to gloat, but Chi Zhuiyun did not meet them.

Yu Tianfeng came to the tower’s entrance and he transmitted his voice to the tightly-closed door, “Do you still plan on attaining a higher level of martial arts, or do you plan on always losing to Yi Yun?”

Just as Yu Tianfeng said this, the door opened.

Chi Zhuiyun stood at the door and while looking at Yu Tianfeng, he said, “Yi Yun is no longer my goal. My goal is my own martial path.”

He had thought through it. There were heavens beyond heavens, and people beyond people. Even if he did not lose to Yi Yun, he would have lost to someone else.

Yu Tianfeng was surprised before he shook his head. “I came to tell you that all hope isn’t lost for you to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple.”

Chi Zhuiyun’s expression changed.

He no longer treated Yi Yun as his opponent, but he obviously still wanted to become a Divine Lord’s disciple. That was his greatest regret.

“Felicitous Rain Lord is about to leave the Oracle Fey Kingdom. He has failed to recruit a personal disciple, but he has agreed to the Oracle Imperial Patriarch to expand his recruitment by taking in a few in-name disciples,” said Yu Tianfeng.

In-name disciples?

Chi Zhuiyun’s eyebrows pricked up. A Divine Lord might only have a few personal disciples, but in-name disciples could number in the hundreds or thousands. Divine Lords that lived especially long might even have in-name disciples who die of age, resulting in them having tens of thousands of in-name disciples in total.

A person like Felicitous Rain Lord had only become a Divine Lord for tens of thousands of years, but the number of in-name disciples that he had was already in the dozens.

“Don’t underestimate in-name disciples. A Divine Lord’s in-name disciple is comparable to the top geniuses of a large faction. Furthermore, by working for a Divine Lord, their status would not be low. Most importantly, there is a chance of becoming a personal disciple by becoming an in-name disciple!” Yu Tianfeng said as he could tell what was on Chi Zhuiyun’s mind.

A Divine Lord’s personal disciple could sometimes be chosen from his in-name disciples.

“In the disciple recruitment this time, in-name disciples of Felicitous Rain Lord will be coming, so they can compete for a spot as a personal disciple,” said Yu Tianfeng.

Felicitous Rain Lord’s choosing of personal disciples was done through a selection throughout the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. Therefore, his in-name disciples were naturally eligible to compete for it.

“A chance to become a personal disciple!”

Chi Zhuiyun’s eyes lit up.

“It’s not possible for the Imperial Patriarch to block the spread of the news, and now, there should be geniuses from various large factions coming here. However, with your strength, in addition to you having gained Felicitous Rain Lord’s approval, it should not be a problem for you to become an in-name disciple.”

Yu Tianfeng still had a grudge with Yi Yun. Chi Zhuiyun had gained Felicitous Rain Lord’s approval, and if not for Yi Yun’s putting his foot out, causing Chi Zhuiyun to miss the chance of becoming a personal disciple, Chi Zhuiyun would not have to compete to become an in-name disciple.

Now, with the one year finishing, the surprisingly difficult requirement was not something that Yi Yun could accomplish, even if he had three heads and six arms. It was not so simple to become a personal disciple of a Divine Lord.

…

The news of Felicitous Rain Lord’s recruiting in-name disciples quickly proliferated throughout the alliance!

In the coming days, there were spirit cruisers that constantly arrived at the ancient self-standing space.

The capital of the Oracle Fey Kingdom was immediately where many geniuses gathered.

There were geniuses from large factions who were gathered in the restaurants and tea shops every day. Yi Yun’s name would be mentioned from time to time.

“Perhaps, Yi Yun from the Luo clan might come as well.” A warrior said.

“To compete for a spot as an in-name disciple? That’s very possible!” Another warrior said. They had heard that Fairy Ningshuang had listed the requirements on Felicitous Rain Lord’s behalf. The requirements were prohibitively difficult. Even a genius like Yi Yun could not meet the requirements.

“He has no chance of becoming a personal disciple, but the chance of becoming an in-name disciple obviously cannot be missed. If he comes, wouldn’t our chances of becoming in-name disciples become slimmer?” Another warrior shook his head with a wry smile.

After coming, they realized that the spots as in-name disciples of a Divine Lord were also extremely sought after. Top geniuses had come, and even Chi Zhuiyun was participating in it.

However, they did not leave either. Since they had already come, they might as well take the opportunity to watch the recruitment. It was possible for them to gain insights from the performance of top geniuses.

“The requirements that Fairy Ningshuang mentioned to become a personal disciple are impossible to complete.”

“That’s right. Even Yi Yun could, it’s really too demanding.”

While these warriors were conversing, they suddenly heard a cold snort. “A few frogs in a well. How can Martial Aunt Ningshuang be maligned by people like you?”

This voice made the geniuses who were drinking wine frown. They were geniuses from various countries as well. So how could they be ridiculed? They immediately took an angry glance.

The snort came from one of two black-robed warriors who wore jade bands on their heads. One of them had long hair, with two white horns on his head. He was sneering as he looked at the warriors.

The warriors looked at them with frowns on their faces. It was unknown what faction those two people came from. The clothing that they wore was something the warriors failed to recognize. They could only see the profound patterns on the jade bands.

“Only shallow people will think that others can’t accomplish what they can’t do.” The warrior with the horns on his head said with a tone of arrogance.

“Such impressive blowing of one’s own trumpet, aren’t you afraid that the wind will get too strong and cut your tongue? Try accomplishing it for me to see!” Anger flashed on warrior’s face as he retorted.

“My Senior Brothers, Song Wuchen and Tian Xun, would be able to accomplish it.” The warrior said lightly.

Song Wuchen? Tian Xun?

The warriors present looked at each other. They had never heard any of those names before.

“Junior Brother Zhang, why do you bother to talk to them?” said the warrior beside the horned warrior. “At the recruitment meeting, they will naturally know that Senior Brother Song Wuchen would definitely be able to be promoted to a personal disciple! These people actually believe that Martial Aunt’s requirements were given to Yi Yun, but Yi Yun is just the number one genius of a tiny country, so how can he be worthy to be given the requirement by her? Martial Aunt Ningshuang’s requirements were originally given to Senior Brothers Song Wuchen and Tian Xun.”

The two warriors continued to speak, completely ignoring the dirty looks from the other people in the restaurant.

“Let’s go. It’s just a bunch of people dreaming to ascend to the heavens in a single step. In my point of view, Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun can only barely become in-name disciple. They can forget about becoming a personal disciple!”

The youth who spoke left behind a relic and left.

“Promoted to a personal disciple? They called Fairy Ningshuang Martial Aunt? Could… they be Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciples!?” A warrior suddenly said in shock.

After Felicitous Rain Lord came to the Oracle Fey Kingdom, he lived on one of the independent floating islands. There were heavy restrictions placed around it. But now, the recruitment meet was chosen to be held at the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s capital to prevent the gathered geniuses from disturbing Felicitous Rain Lord. The disciples that lived on the independent islands with Felicitous Rain Lord naturally came to the royal capital as well.

With that said, the two people were most likely Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciples. The Song Wuchen they mentioned was likely one of Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciples as well.

These warriors quickly looked in the direction that the two had left in, but the two had taken two steps into the crowd before vanishing, with no traces of them being left behind.

956 - : The Competition for Disciplehood

CKtalon  CKtalon

Sou!

Streams of light quickly vanished outside the cruiser’s window, revealing a nebulous mist.

“This is the final spatial transference. The Oracle Fey Kingdom is in that nebulous region.” Elder Duanmu said as he looked out of the window.

Yi Yun nodded. He knew that the Oracle Fey Kingdom was located in an ancient self-standing space. And that space was in this region.

They had rushed from the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, spending a great deal of time travelling.

Before they left the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, they were informed about the event being held at the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

Luo Huo’er did not wish to compete for a spot as an in-name disciple of a Divine Lord, but there were a few warriors from the Luo clan that headed to the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

“We managed to get here in time… ” Elder Shi said. He was a reticent person and he did not speak much on the journey from the Primordial Empyrean Heaven.

Now, as he looked at the nebulous region outside, he reflected and said, “The last time I came to the Oracle Fey Kingdom was a few hundred thousand years ago. I wonder if there will be a chance for me to step foot on this land the next time… ”

A chance?

Yi Yun was somewhat confused. Elder Duanmu said, “After he returns to the Primordial Empyrean Heaven this time, Elder Shi will be in reclusion to break through to become a Supremacy. Accompanying you out here is a way to tie things up. He is trying to adjust his mind.”

Yi Yun understood everything from hearing this. Elder Shi was entering reclusion till his death.

Elder Shi had been in reclusion in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven for hundreds of thousands of years in preparation for his breakthrough. Unfortunately, Elder Shi had failed to succeed.

“Senior Shi… is planning on entering reclusion to his death?”

Yi Yun was somewhat puzzled. He was about to break through to the Dao Manifestation realm soon, and after the Dao Manifestation realm, it was the Dao Palace realm. Above the Dao Palace realm was the realm of Supremacies.

Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi were both in the Dao Palace realm.

It sounded like they were only two realms away from Yi Yun, but the Dao Palace realm itself was highly disparate. Warriors at the same Dao Palace realm could not be compared with each other at all.

Warriors at the Dao Palace realm were not demarcated with a beginning, middle or late stage. Instead, they would establish a Dao palace in their bodies, with floors as their goals. The highest floor that a Dao palace could reach was nine floors.

If one had a nine-floor Dao palace, it was almost certain that they would become a Supremacy.

Warriors with eight-floor Dao palaces had lifespans that reached eight million years. According to such a lifespan, Elder Shi was not considered to be too old. Yi Yun felt that Elder Shi did not need to be in such a hurry to enter reclusion to his death.

At that moment, Elder Duanmu said, “Everyone’s limit is different. Some people might only be able to construct a single-floor Dao palace, but there are others who can construct a nine-floor Dao palace. I have yet to reach my peak, but Elder Shi has already reached it. He has stopped at an eight-floor Dao palace and he has not improved for hundreds of thousands of years. If it goes on, his strength will not only fail to improve, it would slowly go into a downtrend as a result of his age. And to break through to the realm of Supremacies, everything has to reach the peak and proceed with the available momentum. It is extremely difficult to break through to the realm of Supremacies with an eight-floor Dao palace. It is a struggle with one’s life. Upon failure, one would be reduced to dust. Therefore, there are some Dao Palace-realm warriors who know that by doing so means abandoning the path to go further, they would not dare to make the breakthrough.” Elder Duanmu explained.

On one side was a lifespan with eight to nine million years, while the other side was death upon failure.

If a man in the morning hears the right way, he may die in the evening without regret. It was too difficult to become a Supremacy. Yi Yun reflected upon this.

At the same time, Yi Yun looked at Elder Shi and he felt like sighing. This elder, who looked high and mighty to the younger generation of Luo clan disciples, was facing the hard choice of life and death.

On the path in pursuit of the peak of martial arts, he was equally tiny.

And this time, Supremacy Gulan was accompanying them as well. Although he had become a Supremacy, there was a large rift that separated him from a Divine Lord.

The entire Luo clan had not produced a Divine Lord in hundreds of millions of years. It was obvious how hard it was to become a Divine Lord.

As Yi Yun thought about this, a sense of grave danger suddenly enveloped him. It was like a dark shadow had been cast on his mind. Sweat inexplicably oozed out of Yi Yun’s back.

What happened!?

Yi Yun spread his perception out and he noticed that silently in the nebulous mist around his surroundings, a black hand had stretched out, grabbing at the spirit cruiser.

This large hand shuttled through the stars and it was even able to mask the luster of the starlight on the spirit cruiser.

Such terrifying power could instantly crush the spirit cruiser into pieces with a grab!

Yi Yun, who was inside the spirit cruiser, had already seen the large hand. The large hand gave him an overwhelming feeling that he could not resist.

Who!?

A black hand had sealed the space around them, isolating them from the world around them. The isolated space seemed to be shattering. This grab would not only shatter the spirit cruiser, it would even cause the space to explode as well!

Not only Yi Yun himself, even Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi, who were beside Yi Yun, had a drastic change in expression. Even they could not withstand this strike!

At that moment, Yi Yun felt a strong sense of fatal danger!

At this point, the bow of the spirit cruiser was covered in a brilliance of light. Simultaneously, a figure flew out of the bow. He was dressed in azure-colored clothes and he held a broadsword. He slashed down at the large hand!

Bam!

The hand quaked as it disintegrated partially in the void. But very soon, it returned to its normal state. Its fingers moved lightly, drawing out a symbol of a phantasm, sealing the space firmly!

“Gui Huazi!”

The azure-clothed figure stood with the sword in his hand as his body exuded a terrifying aura. His brow wrinkled.

From the nebula came a sinister-sounding voice. “Gulan, it’s been a while.”

The sword-wielding figure was naturally Supremacy Gulan. To traverse the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, a Supremacy was needed to power the spirit cruiser. And since Yi Yun was coming to the Oracle Fey Kingdom, Supremacy Gulan had accompanied Yi Yun. After all, there was a fear of accidents for such a long journey.

And now, an accident had really happened. Gui Huazi was a Supremacy from the Fey Phantasm Sect!

Supremacy Gulan said with a cold voice, “Gui Huazi, as a Supremacy, you actually want to assassinate a junior? Are you only worth that much?”

Gui Huazi did not respond to Supremacy Gulan’s ridicule. The nebulous gasses stirred as the large black hand vanished. A gray and thin figure slowly emerged. He had six arms that hung softly from his body. His body was bent and he looked extremely weird.

His pupils were green as his eyes penetrated the spirit cruiser and his gaze landed directly on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun immediately felt like he had fallen into an ice cavern. The gaze was like a dark hole that would devour him.

“Not bad. Much better than those disciples from the Cloud Trail Empire. Eh, his mind is pretty strong as well? Very good. His soul shall be devoured by me. It would definitely be a delicious tonic!”

When Yi Yun heard Gui Huazi’s voice, it was echoing in his mind like a demon’s whisper.

He was someone from the Fey Phantasm Sect, here to assassinate him!

Previously, they had killed all the Cloud Trail Empire geniuses who were undertaking the trials. Now, he was being targeted!

A Supremacy of a faction would consider their reputation, and they would not attack juniors. However, Supremacies of the Fey Phantasm Sect would not consider this at all!

Gui Huazi may not be able to kill Supremacy Gulan, but if he wanted to kill Yi Yun, it would be much simpler. After all, it was much easier to kill than to protect!

957 - : Gui Huazi

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Gulan, you haven’t improved in all these years. I failed to behead you in our last battle, but today, I’ll kill you as well!” Gui Huazi said coldly.

“Preposterous!” Supremacy Gulan thrust his sword out as the two Supremacies engaged in an intense battle.

This was a battle that completely exceeded Yi Yun’s realm. The battle of the two Supremacies created an independent space. The Dao Domain of Supremacies already formed nomological worlds. A battle created a world!

Gui Huazi attacked with all his strength, but Supremacy Gulan had to protect the spirit cruiser!

Supremacy Gulan and Supremacy Gui Huazi were close in strength. In order to protect Yi Yun, Supremacy Gulan was heavily restricted. As things went on, Supremacy Gulan was quickly repressed and he was in a disadvantageous position.

“This is the territory of the alliance and the entrance to the Oracle Fey Kingdom. Gui Huazi can’t engage in battle for too long. He will leave very soon.” Elder Duanmu said as beads of sweat oozed off his forehead.

Yi Yun was in their hands, and not a single blunder was allowed.

They watched as the two Supremacies battled, but they did not leave Yi Yun’s side.

They were no help in a battle between Supremacies. By staying beside Yi Yun, they could withstand any periphery aftershocks from the battle so they could protect Yi Yun.

But at that moment, there was a sudden spatial fluctuation, giving the world that they were in a strong sense of oppression.

Yi Yun felt a strong sense of danger once again. As for Elder Shi, his heart tightened and his expression changed drastically.

“Careful!”

Elder Shi smacked out with his palm, like he did not use any strength.

But in front of Yi Yun, there was a micro-world that suddenly appeared. There were living creatures in it, with lush forests and tiny river streams. It was bustling with life.

This was Elder Shi’s Dao Domain. Although he had yet to condensed nomological worlds, he had already attained the second realm of a Dao Domain — Great Dao.

However, when the shock wave struck the microcosm, Yi Yun watched as the biological beings in the world began to wither and die quickly.

Elder Shi’s body convulsed as his face went pale and his blood drained from his face.

“Who is it!?”

Elder Shi was appalled. Gui Huazi was still fighting Supremacy Gulan, so it was not Gui Huazi’s attack. It was from someone else.

For a person to be able to easily destroy his Dao Domain, severely injuring him, it was most likely another Supremacy!

“Two Supremacies in an assassination attempt!?” Elder Shi’s heart sank. He never expected that Yi Yun would be targeted by the Fey Phantasm Sect in such a manner. Did they need to go that far?

He was just a junior. Even with the title of the number one genius of the Luo clan, there was no need to go so far!

They previously believed that it would be enough to protect Yi Yun with Supremacy Gulan, along with Elder Shi and Elder Duanmu. There were few Supremacies in the Luo clan to begin with. Other than those in reclusion, sending a Supremacy to protect Yi Yun was already the limit. After all, the Luo clan royal capital also required Supremacies to guard it. The Luo clan never expected that the Fey Phantasm Sect would send such a large killing squad. A Supremacy was not even enough to protect Yi Yun!

“Eight-floor Dao Palace? You aren’t young, and you have expended your potential. Your obstruction is nothing in front of me.”

With a indifferent voice echoing, a pure-white figure appeared in the void.

The white figure neither looked male nor female. The figure’s facial features were blurred, resembling a ghost.

“Daoist You Ming! Shit, Junior Brother, combine forces with me!” Elder Shi turned extremely nervous. There was Gui Huazi and another, Daoist You Ming!

Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi were both Dao Palace realm warriors, but their combined forces was still not enough for them to be an obstruction for Daoist You Ming!

“Since both of you yearn death, I shall fulfill your wishes. Feihua, I’ll leave that junior to you.” The white figure said.

At that moment, a young man dressed in a crimson-colored robe walked out from the white figure. He had delicate features and he exuded a soft and effeminate aura.

“Yes, Father.” The effeminate man said.

His tone had a hint of disdain. He had accompanied his father to watch a battle between Supremacies and he hoped to gain insights from it. Now, he had to kill Yi Yun, a task that was to be done as a matter of convenience. His cultivation level was at the six-floor Dao Palace realm. Killing a Heaven Ascension realm warrior was as easy as slaughtering chickens.

Having a six-floor Dao Palace meant that he was on the same level as Elder Duanmu. If he fought Yi Yun, it was simply incomparable!

Two Supremacies and a six-floor Dao Palace warrior!

Yi Yun felt his body be constricted. Yi Yun did not have very deep feelings for the enemy known as the Fey Phantasm Sect, but today, he had encountered them for the first time. They were perverse opponents.

He had yet to form a vendetta with the Fey Phantasm Sect, but they were planning to nip all possible threats in the bud!

A super sect, whose strength went far beyond the Luo clan, did things meticulously by cutting the weeds and digging up the roots as well. They showed no mercy, so it was no wonder that despite the Fey Phantasm Sect being up to all kinds of evil, they still managed to remain steadfast in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven for so many years!

At that moment, the white figure had attacked. He stretched his hand out and waved it. A profound seal appeared in his hand as it flew at Elder Shi.

Boom!

A terrifying shock wave immediately blasted at the two Elders who bellowed loudly. They burnt their blood essences as they combined forces to face the attack!

They were out of options. Even if they burnt their blood essence, they were still no match for a Supremacy.

At that moment, You Feihua looked at Yi Yun.

He touched the void in front of him and immediately, a guqin appeared and floated in front of him.

The guqin exuded a strange aura. As You Feihua’s fingers flicked the guqin gently, it made sounds, sending sound waves out, immediately making Yi Yun’s blood surge wantonly.

Music was the style of a gentleman, but this warrior gave one a very sinister feeling. The strum of the guqin sent sound waves that were mingled with the sound of wailing ghosts.

“Vanquishing you in one strike!” You Feihua’s voice was cold and indifferent.

His fingers strummed against the strings of the guqin and immediately, a sharp sound of the guqin resounded as a dark shadow appeared in the sound wave. The ferocious and pained face opened its mouth as it grabbed at Yi Yun with its sharp claws.

It was like the wraith shadow was about to grab at Yi Yun’s soul!

What seemed like a casual strike was actually one of You Feihua’s proficient moves, God Vanquishing Sound. Even Elder Duanmu would have to carefully withstand it!

You Feihua had a six-floor Dao Palace cultivation level. Against a junior at the Heaven Ascension perfection realm, it would be an easy task to do anything to him. But in order to quickly settle the problem, he immediately used God Vanquishing Sound. He did so to waste little time, so that he could finish the deed before the arrival of the people from the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

The wraith shadow’s attack immediately made Yi Yun feel that his life was being threatened. It was like his throat was being held and he was quickly being suffocated!

He would die!

Yi Yun felt that the wraith shadow was something difficult to withstand!

Be it Supremacy Gulan or the two Elders, they were completely embroiled in their battles with the Fey Phantasm Sect Supremacies. They could not rescue him.

This was the greatest crisis that Yi Yun had ever faced ever since he came to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven!

There was no way for him to block against such a move!

With his life on the line, Yi Yun did not resist the strike head on. He immediately summoned the Draco First True Gold avatar as it charged at the ghastly shadow!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

999 Thousand Snow flying sabers flew out. But at that second, the flying sabers were defiled by the wraith shadow, losing a great deal of their agility. The wraith shadow rushed straight into the Draco First True Gold avatar!

“Branched soul, return!”

Yi Yun decisively pulled his Draco First True Gold avatar’s branched soul back. At that moment, the Draco First True Gold avatar was trembling violently. It could not resist the attack at all!

“Oh? An avatar?”

You Feihua was slightly surprised, but he did not mind it. The God Vanquishing Sound from his Heavenly Wraith Guqin could vanquish any target with life in it. By using his avatar to attract the attention of the sonic wraith, Yi Yun had managed to escape the crisis, but there was no way to avoid it again.

Just as You Feihua was about to use the God Vanquishing Sound again, there was a divine beam that flashed in the distance. Someone was coming!

People from the Oracle Fey Kingdom?

It was war time now. The Oracle Fey Kingdom’s level of alertness was extremely high, and with the Fey Phantasm Sect appearing at their country’s doorstep, they naturally discovered it very quickly.

“They came so fast.” Daoist You Ming frowned. Although he knew that carrying out an assassination at the doorstep to the country would result in gaining the attention of the Oracle Fey Kingdom, they could only do so. This was because they could only be certain that the entrance to the Oracle Fey Kingdom was where Yi Yun would have to pass on his trip to the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

“Feihua, come back!”

Daoist You Ming no longer needed Feihua to attack. He did not wish to stay long in the Oracle Fey Kingdom. After all, Felicitous Rain Lord was residing in the Oracle Fey Kingdom!

Of course, Felicitous Rain Lord was located very far away. He would not notice the battle here immediately, but it was unknown what tricks a Divine Lord had up his sleeve. If they stayed in the area any longer, they would definitely die here if Felicitous Rain Lord were to appear here!

In order to end the battle quickly to ensure no mistakes, Daoist You Ming decided on attacking himself!

At that moment, Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi had already been severely injured by Daoist You Ming! Especially Elder Shi, his face was pale and he was bleeding from all seven orifices. He was barely alive, so they could no longer stop Daoist You Ming!

Daoist You Ming beckoned his hand in the void, and in a distance, a tiny star vibrated gently because of Daoist You Ming’s summoning. The energy essence from the star was induced by Daoist You Ming through such a move, and had large amounts of energy extracted from it!

A nonchalant wave of the hand extracted the power of stars!

Yi Yun’s body was ice-cold. At that moment, Daoist You Ming’s attack was aimed at Yi Yun.

A strike that contained the power of stars!

Boom!

The spirit cruiser that Yi Yun was in began to shatter! Although the spirit cruiser was a national treasure of the Luo clan, it was still a spirit cruiser after all. It was only used to travel through space, a tool for motion. So how could it withstand the blow from a Supremacy?

Ka-cha!

The spirit cruiser exploded breaking into fragments in the storm!

And spatial chaos immediately surged out, merging with the power of the stars, resulting in a fierce explosion!

Such a terrifying strike would instantly kill even an eight-floor Dao Palace realm warrior! There was no need to even talk about a Heaven Ascension realm warrior. He would definitely be reduced to smithereens!

“Yi Yun!”

Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi’s eyes turned red. All these years, Yi Yun had been in reclusion in the Primordial Space. They already treated Yi Yun as half a disciple and they were desperately fighting to protect him. Even if Yi Yun could not become a Divine Lord’s disciple in the future, he would definitely become a mighty figure of the Luo clan, or he might even become a spiritual leader of the Luo clan disciples, but now… everything was gone!

“Let’s go!”

Daoist You Ming flicked his sleeves and took You Feihua away. As for Gui Huazi, he used a move to send Supremacy Gulan retreating. The two Supremacies tore through the void and entered it, vanishing from the area!

This was the power of Supremacies. They could come in and leave the entrance to an empire as they wished!

Only at that moment did the people from the Oracle Fey Kingdom arrive. In front of them, there was only a shattered void, as well as the debris of a spirit cruiser in the spatial turbulence.

958 - : Cutting the weeds and digging up the roots

CKtalon  CKtalon

As he looked at the shattered spirit cruiser, Supremacy Gulan’s expression was extremely ugly. The Third Imperial Uncle had assigned him a task to protect Yi Yun from any harm. Furthermore, it was already unprecedented for a Supremacy to protect a Heaven Ascension realm junior, but even so, something untoward had happened.

The main reason was the mightiness of the Fey Phantasm Sect. The Luo clan’s Supremacies could be count with one’s fingers, while the Fey Phantasm Sect’s Supremacies that the Luo clan knew about numbered approximately fifteen. There were others that the Luo clan did not even know about at all.

The Fey Phantasm Sect could easily send two Supremacies to assassinate Yi Yun, while the Luo clan’s Supremacies had to stay behind to protect the royal capital.

Supremacy Gulan felt ashamed to return to the Luo clan. Just as he felt disheartened, he suddenly sensed something. He was surprised to discover that in the chaotic spatial storms, there was a bright glimmer of light floating about. It seemed like it was about to be sucked into the spatial turbulence.

This is…

Supremacy Gulan had his hopes lifted as he suddenly took a step forward to grasp the glimmer of light.

The point of light flew over, and it was a… small pagoda tower!

The small tower was about two inches tall, and it shimmered with a dark golden sheen. It was obvious that it was an extraordinary item.

It was a Supremacy’s attack, but the tower was not destroyed?

Could it be…

Supremacy Gulan held his breath, and at that moment, a weak beam of light flew out of the tower. As it spun in the air, it finally took on the form of Yi Yun. His face was pale and his body was drenched in sweat. As for the tower, it flew into Yi Yun’s body at that moment and vanished.

What a close call. He had been teetering on the brink of life and death!

Yi Yun’s energy was all depleted and he had suffered a huge loss in lifeblood. But at that critical juncture, he used the God Advent Tower to withstand Daoist You Ming’s final strike!

A Supremacy’s attack was extremely horrifying! Even if Yi Yun had broken through another major cultivation realm, he would not be able to withstand it, let alone his present self.

Thankfully, he had the God Advent Tower.

Ever since he came to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, Yi Yun had never used the God Advent Tower. After all, the God Advent Tower was a legacy item of the Azure Yang Lord.

A legacy item of a Divine Lord was obviously extraordinary in power. Unfortunately, the God Advent Tower was not powered by a Divine Lord. With Yi Yun’s present strength, the power that the God Advent Tower could use was greatly limited with his control. Thankfully, the God Advent Tower had a protective array with it. Back in the lower realm, these arrays were unable to show their effectiveness due to the lack of energy.

And upon coming to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, with the availability of a large number of World Stones as an energy source, Yi Yun had long recharged the God Advent Tower’s arrays to their maximum.

The strike from Daoist You Ming had nearly depleted all of the stored energy in the God Advent Tower’s defensive arrays!

In one breath, he had burnt nearly two hundred thousand World Stones!

Thankfully, Yi Yun was wealthy. Disregarding everything else, just the gifts that were sent to his viscount residence after he defeated Chi Zhuiyun had given him a great deal of wealth.

Without mentioning the relics and other treasures, he received about eight to nine hundred thousand World Stones. And amongst them, there were quite a number of superior World Stones.

Yi Yun did not think that the gifts would play an important role, and with more World Stones, they were just a number. However, he never expected that the gifts were able to save him at that moment in time.

Indeed, it was best to have more wealth.

Yi Yun felt a lingering fear. Thanks to a treasure like the God Advent Tower and his massive wealth, he had managed to survive an attack of a Supremacy.

“Yi Yun, are you alright?” Supremacy Gulan did not ask further as he reached his hand out to feel Yi Yun’s meridians and sent pulses of energy to probe Yi Yun’s body to examine him thoroughly. When he realized that Yi Yun was fine other than being severely drained of his energy, he heaved a sigh of relief.

But at the same time, he gave Yi Yun an incredulous look. He knew that Yi Yun’s survival was not because of his own strength, but because of that tiny tower.

That tiny tower was so impressive?

Just from the looks of it, Supremacy Gulan could not glean the history of the God Advent Tower that had been shrunk an unknown number of times. After all, the Azure Yang Lord was a figure that existed about forty to fifty million years ago.

When the Azure Yang Lord reigned in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, Supremacy Gulan’s great-grandfather had yet to be born. In addition to the Yang God Empyrean Heaven being so far from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, Supremacy Gulan obviously could not recognize the God Advent Tower, even if he was very knowledgeable.

However, there was no doubt in the God Advent Tower’s value.

“Elder Shi, Elder Duanmu, how are the both of you?” Supremacy Gulan looked at the two Luo Divine Hall Elders that had been severely injured by Daoist You Ming. After he verified that Yi Yun was fine, Supremacy Gulan went to treat the two Elders’ injuries.

“I won’t die.” Elder Shi waved his hand. However, as he spoke, blood seeped out from the corners of his mouth.

“You… burned your blood essence. Even your meridians are damaged!” Supremacy Gulan frowned.

The two Elders, especially Elder Shi, were severely injured.

Daoist You Ming’s attacks were extremely vicious. His attacks could drain his opponents of their lifeblood, and with Elder Shi burning his blood essence and having his lifeblood drained, he was immediately feeling a deficit of energy and blood.

“There was no other way. If I didn’t burn my blood essence, I probably wouldn’t even last a few seconds.” Elder Shi said with a wry smile. He indulged in self-mockery, “I’m getting old and I am on a decline. I’m getting more and more useless!”

“Senior Shi… ” Yi Yun’s voice sounded guilt-stricken. If not for him, would Elder Shi be in such a state?

And Elder Duanmu had mentioned that Elder Shi had come out to regulate his mood and mind. Elder Shi was about to enter reclusion to his death, and with the hopes of him breaking through to become a Supremacy being slim already, now with the current situation of him suffering a deficit in lifeblood, the chances of him breaking through to become a Supremacy by entering a death reclusion were even slimmer!

“It’s fine. A warrior’s cultivation depends on himself, but success or failure depends on the heavens. Regardless of the outcome, it’s my choice. If it is really impossible, I will choose to give up.” Elder Shi sighed. He knew that if he continued to forcefully stay in reclusion, the chances of succeeding in becoming a Supremacy were extremely low. However, he would feel indignant if he did not attempt it!

Yi Yun fell silent. He no longer spoke as he looked at Elder Shi.

There was no way to express his gratitude towards such a large matter. Yi Yun took a note of the two Elders who had risked their lives to save him.

In his lifetime, he would definitely repay the debt. If he really became a peerless warrior, he could even help Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi become Supremacies!

At that moment…

Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!

The people from the Oracle Fey Kingdom arrived. They were previously situated very far away, and with the energy storms distorting space, they were only vaguely aware of what had happened. They were extremely astonished to see that Yi Yun had managed to survive an attack of a Supremacy?

Was it a life-protecting charm?

A number of them had seen Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun’s battle. They knew that Yi Yun had once used a broken sword in that battle, and that broken sword was an impressive treasure.

“Yi Yun.” Elder Shi coughed as he wiped his mouth. His voice sounded old and hoarse. “You have revealed some of your treasures this time. In the Luo clan, the Third Imperial Uncle and His Majesty, Emperor Luo, would give you their backing, so no one would snatch your opportunities. But when you are away from the Luo clan, you have to be careful. However, it’s thankful that it wouldn’t be a problem for you to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciple this time at the Oracle Fey Kingdom. Once you become a Divine Lord’s in-name disciple, no one will have their sights on you.”

Elder Shi was very curious about the tower’s history, but he did not probe any further. The tower was extraordinary. Thankfully, it was only an artifact. To Supremacies, the most valuable treasures were ones that directly augmented themselves, such as top cultivation techniques, Ancient Fey bones, or treasures that extended their lives. External items like weapons and artifacts were not enough to make Supremacies go crazy for them.

In fact, even if Yi Yun had acquired an impressive legacy, it was already amazing for him to walk this far with his own strength.

Only a genius with providence shining down on him could mature. Without enough of providence’s grace, not only would there be a lack of opportunities, just one’s growth process might be cut short with death.

959 - : Surprises at every bend

CKtalon  CKtalon

The news of Yi Yun being attacked by Fey Phantasm Sect Supremacies at the entrance to the Oracle Fey Kingdom quickly proliferated throughout the alliance.

The two Fey Phantasm Sect Supremacies, as well as Daoist You Ming’s son, You Feihua, quickly received the news not long after they left the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

“What!? That punk didn’t die? Impossible!”

Daoist You Ming was the one who had personally dealt the strike. He knew the power of that one strike very well, so how did Yi Yun survive?

“That is the fact. Now, Yi Yun is still all fine and dandy in the Oracle Fey Kingdom. Felicitous Rain Lord’s recruitment meet for an in-name disciple will soon proceed. Yi Yun would likely not be absent. If you don’t believe, you can always make a visit and also revel in the magnificence of Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple recruitment drive.” Beside Daoist You Ming, Gui Huazi said in a queer manner.

Although he frequently worked with Daoist You Ming, they often threw snide remarks at each other. Their relationship wasn’t harmonious.

Daoist You Ming’s face sank. He would not dare to go to the meet where Felicitous Rain Lord was taking in a disciple, even if he had an additional life. Gui Huazi was just poking fun at him.

It was humiliating to fail to kill a junior in one strike as a Supremacy!

“I’ll finish that Yi Yun!”

“Heh! You speak so lightly of it. If he were to become an in-name disciple of Felicitous Rain Lord, would you dare to touch him?” Gui Huazi quipped sarcastically. Even an in-name disciple of a Divine Lord represented a Divine Lord’s honor. If one were to rashly kill a Divine Lord’s in-name disciple, it was very likely that the Divine Lord would get revenge for their disciple!

Daoist You Ming could not afford the risk.

“So what if he’s Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciple? There are other methods to kill Yi Yun, as long as Felicitous Rain Lord doesn’t realize that it was done by me.” Daoist You Ming said in a cold voice as his eyes flashed with killing intent.

…

At that moment, in the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s capital, Yi Yun’s name had once again caused quite a stir.

After all, Yi Yun was a person who had defeated Chi Zhuiyun. He garnered a great deal of attention in the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

“He actually managed to survive a strike from a Supremacy?”

In the Brocade Spring Court of the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s capital, a youth dressed in a black robe was playing the zither. A tune like flowing water was being played.

After hearing the news, the zither music slowly turned silent. But immediately after this, he shook his head and said, “It’s impossible for a Heaven Ascension realm warrior to withstand a strike from a Supremacy. Ignoring the Heaven Ascension realm, even a peerless genius at the Dao Manifestation perfection realm would definitely die! That Yi Yun must have had some life-saving means, such as an extremely valuable protective charm in order to survive.”

The youth dressed in the black robe was one of the top in-name disciples of Felicitous Rain Lord, Song Wuchen.

This ranking was not a ranking of strength, it was a ranking of talent and opinion.

Song Wuchen’s cultivation level had already broken into the Dao Manifestation realm. Amongst Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciples, his cultivation level was considered low. But typically, the number of in-name disciples that could meet Felicitous Rain Lord at any time numbered two. Song Wuchen was one of them.

“So it’s a protective charm. That wouldn’t mean anything.” In front of Song Wuchen, there were two other in-name disciples of Felicitous Rain Lord. They were the two who had argued with those warriors in the restaurant previously. Their names were Feng Zheng and Feng Qi. They were not brothers, but their identical surnames was a result of them coming from the same family clan.

They had vague notions of people like Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun to begin with. It was only recently that they heard about their stories. For instance, just not long ago, they had heard how Yi Yun was being assassinated by Fey Phantasm Sect Supremacies and how he finally managed to escape. They were astonished, so they came to report it to Song Wuchen.

“I heard that Yi Yun is a warrior from the lower realm. How did he have such a valuable protective charm?” Feng Zheng said unhappily. He came from a major faction, but a poor rascal like Yi Yun had things that were much better than his.

Song Wuchen said, “He must have his own opportunities, but for such opportunities to have supported his growth up to this point, it is likely that they have been mostly depleted. Now, it’s most likely that Yi Yun wants to become Master’s in-name disciple for the resources provided by Master.”

As Song Wuchen said this, Feng Qi and Feng Zheng naturally did not feel happy.

As disciples of Felicitous Rain Lord, they obviously wished that there were fewer fellow disciples. That way, the amount of resources they were be allocated would be a greater amount of the resources available.

“Senior Brother Wuchen, you are the examiner for the in-name disciple test, right?”

“That’s right, I’m just one of the examiners.”

“Senior Brother Wuchen, you must be strict. It’s best if that motley crew is barred from becoming our fellow disciples.” Feng Zheng said.

Actually, if it was possible, he did not even wish that there would be even be an additional disciple. It was best if they were all eliminated. However, he knew that people like Chi Zhuiyun and Yi Yun were exceptional. It was very likely that they would become in-name disciples.

Song Wuchen lightly pondered before saying, “If his qualifications really make the cut and pass my test, I will give him a chance… ”

“Alright… Senior Brother Wuchen is truly fair.”

Feng Zheng and Feng Qi exchanged some niceties before leaving. Song Wuchen put his zither away.

“There are so many people trying to become Master’s in-name disciple again!” Song Wuchen frowned. All of the years that he had been an in-name disciple, he had always been hoping to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s personal disciple, but he had failed to gain Felicitous Rain Lord’s approval.

Although he was still a distance away from becoming Felicitous Rain Lord’s personal disciple, by being one of the top in-name disciples, the resources that he enjoyed was also the best provided by Felicitous Rain Lord.

He did not wish for anyone to threaten his position.

A person like Tian Xun already pissed him off greatly. If there were other people, the room for his growth would be further suppressed.

Song Wuchen did not show it over the past few years, but he was a person with ambition. He believed that when he was constantly ranked first amongst the in-name disciples, there would be a day when he would become Felicitous Rain Lord’s personal disciple if Felicitous Rain Lord failed to find a personal disciple that he found suitable!

“Chi Zhuiyun… Yi Yun… You want to get a piece of this, then let’s see if you can complete my test!” Song Wuchen muttered to himself as he flew away…

…

Ten days later, in the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s Brocade Spring Court, the event began — Felicitous Rain Lord’s recruitment of in-name disciples.

Brocade Spring Court was originally one of the venues that hosted the grandest events in the Oracle Fey Kingdom. And for Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple recruitment, it was even hosted by the country’s king.

Having the head of the country host this grand event and Shui Ningshuang being in attendance, the lineup was enough to stir the minds of the elites from various countries.

However, it was unfortunate that Felicitous Rain Lord did not appear.

“What a pity to not be able to see Felicitous Rain Lord.” A young genius said in dismay. To people like him, it was impossible to even hope. They were just here to take a look.

“It’s normal to not even see him. Felicitous Rain Lord’s recruitment of an in-name disciple might not mean that he would personally give them pointers. Only a few of the top disciples might obtain the true teachings of Felicitous Rain Lord. Now, it’s already sufficient to have Fairy Ningshuang manage the recruitment of in-name disciples. Furthermore, I heard that two of the examiners are Song Wuchen and Tian Xun, two of the best in-name disciples. I wonder what their tests will be.”

960 - : The Event Begins

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Song Wuchen? Tian Xun? Letting in-name disciples test us?”

Outside Brocade Spring Court, a few young geniuses were displeased hearing this. Felicitous Rain Lord’s absence was understandable, but who the hell were Song Wuchen and Tian Xun? Weren’t they also juniors from the younger generation? At best, they would be an entire realm higher than them, yet, they had the qualifications to test them?

“I would like to see what sort of tests would one need to take to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciple.”

Many young geniuses were discontented regarding this matter. As they conversed with each other, they walked through Brocade Spring Court’s gates.

The Brocade Spring Court covered an area of a hundred square kilometers, and it was like a spirit forest. There were all sorts of spirit trees, assorted flowers, and treasured materials, each numerous in number.

And the number of people that came for this grand event was estimated to be seventy to eighty thousand people. Most of the people were only there to join in the bustle, and quite a number of people were elders that were there to watch the performances of their juniors.

However, even after taking these people out, the number of people who had decided to participate in the in-name disciple assessment was still way too many, a number close to ten thousand people.

“Why are there so many people?”

Upon seeing the crowd, Yi Yun was quite taken aback. He even saw a little girl that did not look like she was twenty years of age. Certain members of the Fey race had slower growth by nature, just like Dong’er. They would still look like a ten-year-old in their teens.

Even such a young girl wanted to become an in-name disciple of Felicitous Rain Lord?

“The in-name disciple assessment does not even have an initial threshold from the beginning, so it’s obvious that there would be many participants. Many people are only here to join in the bustle or using it as an experience or trial as part of their martial path. They have no chance of becoming Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciple. The number of people that are of true worth can be counted with one’s fingers.”

The ones that could really be considered as geniuses in the alliance were not commonplace after all, so it was obvious that it should not have reached such massive numbers.

Just as Yi Yun walked into Brocade Spring Court, a faint perceptive sense brushed past the Purple Crystal, causing the Purple Crystal to palpitate slightly.

Yi Yun was slightly surprised, but he did not know what had just happened.

“Ningshuang, is he the Yi Yun you mentioned?”

At that moment, on a floating island above the Oracle Fey Kingdom, there was a pavilion sitting on top of a deep blue lake.

An azure-clothed white-haired middle-aged man sat in front of a stone table, and he was playing Go with a woman.

The white-haired man had a pair of purplish-red-colored eyes. In his pupils, it reflected a universe. It was a world with stars that were born and destroyed in that universe.

The man was Felicitous Rain Lord, who had obtained the Divine Lord Royal Seal in the past tens of thousands of years!

And the woman he was facing was Shui Ningshuang, a person who he had once saved and has always followed him by his side.

Felicitous Rain Lord did not attend the Brocade Spring Court’s event, but with his perception, a simple sweep of it allowed him to know everything at his fingertips.

“Yes, it’s him. A year ago, Chi Zhuiyun went to the Luo clan and he challenged everyone, but he was trounced by Yi Yun. In terms of combat strength, that child should be the strongest person in the alliance.”

“Combat strength is not everything.” The white-haired man said leisurely.

He did not care about the title of being first in the alliance.

The alliance was only the coalition of six factions. And among the six factions, there was not a single faction with a Divine Lord. Every hundred years, an alliance would give birth to the strongest person amongst the younger generation, and this so-called strongest person did not really have any weight to it.

“However, that Yi Yun is indeed interesting. Even if he’s not qualified to cultivate the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’, I can still nurture him well.” Felicitous Rain Lord said as he lightly placed down a piece.

Shui Ningshuang was somewhat astonished for she never expected that Felicitous Rain Lord, who always appeared to be indifferent to things around him, had such a high opinion of Yi Yun.

She got up and said, “Then, I shall take my leave first.”

The event still needed Shui Ningshuang to preside over it personally.

“There’s no need for that. Just stay here and watch it with me.” Felicitous Rain Lord said nonchalantly as Shui Ningshuang was taken aback, before she sat back down.

…

At that moment, Brocade Spring Court was already extremely crowded. People darted through the spiritual plantation, waiting for the start of the event.

In the middle of Brocade Spring Court, there was a towering tree. It was slightly more than five kilometers high, as its crown pierced through the clouds. And its trunk had the circumference of the combined arm span of a hundred people.

It was rumored that the gigantic tree was planted at the founding of the Oracle Fey Kingdom, so it had already been growing for 80 million years.

Around the towering tree, there were floating houses. Song Wuchen, Tian Xun, and the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s king and ministers, as well as members of the upper echelons of various major factions, such as Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi, were sitting in the floating houses, overlooking the tens of thousands of warriors beneath them.

At that moment, Song Wuchen had the pleasurable feeling that he had control over tens of thousands of warriors. After all, many of the rules for the test were decided by Song Wuchen.

“I believe it’s about time with most of the people being here.” The king of the Oracle Fey Kingdom said.

Song Wuchen looked at the tens of thousands of warriors and he wrapped up his thoughts. He said with a gentle smile, “If that’s the case, let’s begin.”

As he said that, Song Wuchen stood up and he went next to a railing beside the floating hall.

“Silence!”

Song Wuchen’s voice wasn’t loud, but it immediately spread through the entire Brocade Spring Court.

The warriors, who came to participate in the in-name disciple selection, immediately looked up at him.

“Who is that?”

People had never seen the young and elegant man, but they could guess his identity.

“Everyone, I’m Song Wuchen. I’m here on behalf of my master to preside over the selection of in-name disciples.”

As Song Wuchen spoke, he scanned the warriors beneath him. Other than most of the people that were here just for an experience, with no hopes of becoming Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple, there was a small group of people in front of the crowd that made him take a few additional glances.

Amongst them was Yi Yun, Chi Zhuiyun, and Tianya Haoyue — the cream of the crop of the alliance!

Other than these geniuses from various factions that everyone was familiar with, there were two unfamiliar faces.

One of them was thin and had pale skin, giving him a sinister look. Another one was short and fat, but he looked harmless in nature.

Very few knew who the two were.

When Song Wuchen saw Yi Yun, his good mood turned for the worse.

Just a while ago, he had received Shui Ningshuang’s long-distance voice transmission to focus his assessment on Yi Yun. Yi Yun was apparently highly valued by Shui Ningshuang, so how could Song Wuchen feel happy about that? He began to feel a threat from Yi Yun.

If Yi Yun became an in-name disciple, it was likely that Yi Yun would slowly threaten his position.

“For the assessment, the proportion for actual combat will be tiny. There will not be any one-versus-one duels!”

Song Wuchen’s first sentence caught many people by surprise. To warriors, the most intuitive method of comparing strength was one’s combat strength, but Song Wuchen said that there would not be any duels.

Many people immediately looked at Yi Yun.

They knew that Yi Yun was best at actual combat!

Yi Yun’s Dao Domain was very weak, or at least a year ago, he did not have a Dao Domain. Yet, Yi Yun was able to defeat Chi Zhuiyun without a Dao Domain, relying on his terrifying combat strength.

961 - : No test of actual combat

CKtalon  CKtalon

Without testing actual combat, what other advantages did Yi Yun have?

Bloodline? Perception?

Yi Yun’s bloodline was just too weak. It was a known fact. Although Yi Yun had absorbed an Ancient Fey bone, he was still incomparable to other elites of the Fey race.

In terms of perception, it was apparent that Yi Yun didn’t have a great advantage.

The rules that Song Wuchen set made several members of the Luo clan unhappy. Elder Shi and Elder Duanmu were also discontented with the rules. It was too disadvantageous for Yi Yun.

Yi Yun looked calm and he remained silent. Chi Zhuiyun glanced at Yi Yun. Yi Yun was an opponent worthy of his respect, so although he wanted to beat Yi Yun, he did not want to beat him in such a manner.

“Then, how does Young Master Wuchen plan on beginning the test? The number of examinees in Brocade Spring Court seem to be far too many.” The king of the Oracle Fey Kingdom said.

There was no lower threshold for the assessment, so there were too many riff-raff that came to Brocade Spring Court. It would be extremely troublesome to test each and every one of them.

Song Wuchen gave a nonchalant smile, as though he had everything under his control.

“It’s simple. The first round will eliminate more than 99%! If there are people who wish to fish in troubled waters, then they are just too naive.”

As Song Wuchen spoke, his body began to hover mid-air. With a swipe of his interspatial ring, a black and white bead flew out of it.

The bead began to rapidly expand in size mid-air. It resembled the eye of an Ancient Fey.

“This is a Demon Defying Bead, a piece of treasure bestowed unto me by my master. The Demon Defying Bead is a supreme-grade array bead, allowing it to contain an array formation. Furthermore, the array formation’s powers are extensive. All of you will enter the Demon Defying Bead’s array formation, with the array formation that was created by me personally. Those who can eventually walk out of the Demon Defying Bead will pass, or they will be eliminated!”

Song Wuchen’s voice echoed throughout the area. The Nine Palatial Array in the Demon Defying Bead was an array formation attainment that he was proud of as it was mostly created by himself.

As examiner, Song Wuchen obviously would show off his Nine Palatial Array.

“The first test is to crack the array?”

The people could tell what Song Wuchen meant.

“Crack the array?” Song Wuchen had a smile on his lips. Many warriors had their domains of expertise. Some of them would be in the Desolate Heaven technique, while others in the refinement of items, but for Song Wuchen, it was his array formation.

He was an array formation master, and with his cultivation level being at the late stages of the Dao Manifestation realm, how could it possibly be so easy to crack an array formation that he set?

“It’s not cracking the array. It would be pretty impressive just to exit it. The less time it takes, the better the result.”

As Song Wuchen spoke, the Demon Defying Bead began to slowly descend, encompassing everyone within it.

“An array formation that can eliminate 99% of people. Young Master Wuchen’s means are indeed impressive.” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king said with a laugh.

He naturally had to compliment Song Wuchen, who was one of the top disciples of Felicitous Rain Lord as well as one of the examiners.

“Your Majesty, I said above 99%. There are about nine thousand people participating in the assessment, so eliminating 99% would still leave behind eighty to ninety people. That’s way too many. I believe leaving about a dozen or so after the first round would be sufficient.” Song Wuchen said nonchalantly.

Everyone was secretly horrified when they heard this. To reduce nearly ten thousand people to about a dozen was quite a ruthless elimination rate.

“To leave about ten people behind, 60% difficulty should be enough.” Song Wuchen said as he waved his hand once again, causing the array bead to envelop the examinees completely.

If 60% difficulty could eliminate so many people, wouldn’t that mean that few could clear its 100% difficulty?

Song Wuchen’s words made quite a number of people give him a sidelong glance.

Song Wuchen was very pleased with this effect. He knew that by being an examiner, it was also an opportunity for him to showcase himself in front of Felicitous Rain Lord.

In the test, the standard that he set was a manifestation of his strength!

Song Wuchen liked the feeling of being in complete control of an array that determined the fates of almost ten thousand people.

With a Divine Lord-level treasure, the Demon Defying Bead, in his hand, he could achieve perfect control over any one of the thousands of people.

Of course, that included Yi Yun.

Song Wuchen’s perception interfaced with the Demon Defying Bead and his focus landed on Yi Yun. A teasing smile suffused across his lips.

“Yi Yun, since you are so highly valued by Martial Aunt Ningshuang, you obviously can’t have such a simple difficulty. I’ll add something in for you.”

Song Wuchen knew very well that Shui Ningshuang’s voice transmission, which requested him to put more focus on Yi Yun before the assessment began, meant that Felicitous Rain Lord had already decided to take Yi Yun in as an in-name disciple already.

Since there was no way of stopping Yi Yun from becoming an in-name disciple, it was meaningless regardless of the methods he employed to asses Yi Yun.

Although it was an unchangeable fact, Song Wuchen wanted to haze Yi Yun.

Song Wuchen’s choice of adding something for Yi Yun’s assessment could not escape the eyes of Fairy Ningshuang, but it did not matter as Fairy Ningshuang had informed him to ‘focus’ on Yi Yun. If Yi Yun’s results were terrible during the assessment, Song Wuchen could explain it away as him thinking that Yi Yun was extremely gifted and that Yi Yun could go above and beyond the requirements of the assessment, but who knew that Yi Yun could not stand up to the examination.

In that case, even if Yi Yun became an in-name disciple, he would not be able to threaten Song Wuchen’s position as the top in-name disciple.

“Yi Yun, since you are the focus of attention, enjoy the additional augmentation of the Demon Defying Bead. As for Chi Zhuiyun, you are slightly weaker, so I’ll give you 100% difficulty, so that you’ll have a fun time.” Song Wuchen muttered to himself as he produced a few incantation seals without leaving a trace.

He looked forward to Yi Yun’s ending in dismay, to the point of him not being able to exit the array bead.

Many members of the audience did not know that there was a difference in the difficulties in the Demon Defying Bead’s array formation. Song Wuchen was eager to know what Yi Yun’s Luo clan worshipers would think when they saw their idol have such terrible results.

…

At that moment, in the pavilion in the middle of a lake on a floating island.

Shui Ningshuang and Felicitous Rain Lord were still playing their Go game. When she placed a piece, her wrist trembled slightly. “Song Wuchen is a bit too much. Although I informed him to focus on Yi Yun, isn’t this difficulty a bit too high?”

Felicitous Rain Lord smiled and said, “It’s alright. It’s good to have a bit more difficulty. Let’s see if that child, Yi Yun, can give me a pleasant surprise.”

“Oh? Do you think that even at such a difficulty, Yi Yun will still be able to exit it?”

“According to Yi Yun’s cultivation level, it will be very difficult for him to do so, but… If everything is done according to conventional thinking, then there is no meaning for him to be specially nurtured… ” Felicitous Rain Lord said casually before placing another piece down.

Shui Ningshuang’s eyebrows pricked up slightly. This was Felicitous Rain Lord, who had extremely high standards!

Even at such a difficulty, which most mighty figures would find it demanding for a junior, Felicitous Rain Lord treated it as a standard for the assessment.

Even the three criteria set for Yi Yun previously to become a personal disciple was Felicitous Rain Lord’s original intentions. It was a rigid criteria that had no room for contest!

Since she couldn’t do anything about it, all she could do was wish Yi Yun the best of luck.

As Felicitous Rain Lord and Shui Ningshuang were conversing, Yi Yun had arrived at an alternate spatial-temporal dimension.

Without a doubt, this was the interior world of the Demon Defying Bead. When it came to treasures at the Divine Lord level, their internal spaces could be expanded into worlds of themselves. Back then, the God Advent Tower had similar effects as well.

As Yi Yun had such a thought, the space around him began to cave in towards him. Soon, it formed a long corridor, and at the end of the corridor, there was a large bronze door!

962 - : Demon Defying Bead

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun arrived in front of the large door and he looked up. On the door, there were runes of all shapes and sizes. Instantly, the runes flew off the bronze door like a flock of birds and swarmed Yi Yun.

The runes did not take on the shape of Ancient Fey or anything similar. They maintained their most primitive forms as they surrounded Yi Yun, like they wanted to tear Yi Yun to pieces.

“These are all runic patterns and they combine together into something like a maze. But as long as the flaws in it can be discovered, it can slowly be cracked open.”

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun gently tapped the runic patterns as ripples began appearing. Yi Yun was searching for a way to crack the array formation.

With Yi Yun’s taps, the flying runic patterns came to a stop, and after five minutes, the core rune was destroyed by Yi Yun, shattering the entire array formation.

“Rumble!”

The bronze door opened, giving him access, but Yi Yun frowned slightly.

The assessment was part of Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciple recruitment. From the beginning, Yi Yun did not care about the spot of an in-name disciple. If he could only become an in-name disciple of a Divine Lord, he would rather stay in the Luo clan.

But now, the difficulty of the assessment was so high?

This was just the first obstacle in the first assessment. It did not pose any problems for him, but many others would probably be eliminated immediately.

As Yi Yun had such thoughts in mind, he walked into the palatial hall behind the bronze door.

Upon entering the palatial hall, all sorts of chaotic scenes inundated his mind.

An illusion array!

Yi Yun was very familiar with such scenes.

An illusion array not only resulted in simple confusion, it could also kill people, trap them to their deaths, or even completely wear down a warrior’s will. The terrifying highlight of an illusion array was that even if one struggled to snap out of the illusions or realize that one was stuck in an illusion array, they would still not be able to avoid the effects, eventually failing to extricate themselves from the situation.

As for Yi Yun, this problem obviously did not exist. He immediately produced his Sword of the Will from his soul sea.

Kacha! The world in front of him shattered completely. Before the illusions even appeared, they were already diced into fragments.

Having cultivated in the Primordial Space for eighteen years, Yi Yun’s mental mind had already undergone a transformation. His will had evolved, producing a Sword of the Will. It was not difficult for him to crack an illusion array at all.

However, this was only for Yi Yun. Through that attack, Yi Yun managed to probe the strength of the illusion array as well. He knew very well that if it were any other person, even if it were warriors at Nongyue or Ye Yi’s level, they would probably spend quite a bit of time in it.

The difficulty of the assessment was higher than he expected.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun walked out of the palace, and after that, it was a void of nothingness. Immediately following that, the space around him began to cave in towards him. Soon, it formed a long corridor, and at the end of the corridor, there was another large bronze door!

It was almost an identical scene, and Yi Yun immediately understood what had happened.

Demon Defying Bead, Nine Palatial Array!

He must have finished one of the palatial halls, and if he wasn’t wrong, there were nine such palatial halls, thus giving it its name.

To complete the array, he needed to go through all nine palatial halls.

Previously, Song Wuchen had mentioned that he himself created the Nine Palatial Array.

Song Wuchen was using an array that he created to test all of the elites present!

If the Nine Palatial Array truly had nine palatial halls, Yi Yun felt that he would be silly to really trudge through each level.

They were both members of the younger generation and Song Wuchen was only an in-name disciple of Felicitous Rain Lord, one that Yi Yun wouldn’t have troubles becoming. Did the other nine thousand people, including himself, have to clear level after level of the array formation of Song Wuchen’s own creation, according to his wishes?

Yi Yun did not like being staged unless it was an elder of his.

Then, was it possible to crack the Nine Palatial Array in one fell swoop instead of clearing one palatial hall after another?

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun arrived in front of the second palatial hall’s door.

The runes on the door were even stronger and more complex than the first.

“Oh? This difficulty… ”

Yi Yun’s eyebrows pricked up. He reckoned that the second palatial hall’s difficulty was 30% higher than the first!

If this trend persisted, the third palatial hall would have its difficulty rise by another 30%, and by the ninth palatial hall, the difficulty would have increased multifold.

Then, it would not be easy to crack the array formation of the nine palatial halls, even for Yi Yun.

Even if he could crack it, it would consume a great deal of energy, time and stamina.

“Finishing the nine palatial halls will probably take a day or two. To think that the first assessment by Song Wuchen would last so long, and that’s for me. If the others are experiencing the same difficulty, the number of people that can clear this level will probably be countable with one’s fingers, ignoring the time and effort to do so.”

“Could it be that the others are experiencing a difficulty different from mine, or does Song Wuchen plan on using one round of assessment to select the in-name disciple?”

As Yi Yun pondered over the matter, he frowned.

He did not wish to waste one or two days of energy and effort to crack Song Wuchen’s array formation.

Song Wuchen was just at the Dao Manifestation realm. How profound could an array formation, that he created, be?

Yi Yun had seen the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s array formations, the God Advent Tower’s array formations, as well as the world created by the long-haired man in the Fey God Stone.

There were so many profound array formations, Dao patterns, and laws that Yi Yun did not have the time to ponder over, so how could it be possible for him to willingly waste time researching Song Wuchen’s array formation? Furthermore, if he expended his stamina and became Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciple, it would affect his performance when he challenged the right to be Felicitous Rain Lord’s personal disciple.

It was best to crack the array formation once and for all!

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun was in no hurry to enter the second palatial hall. He began to follow the path towards the second door.

On careful thought, with about nine thousand people undertaking the assessment, even if a large number of them were trying to fish in troubled waters, or they were riff-raff that lacked any true strength, the number was still a force to be reckoned with. There were also people like Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue. How could Song Wuchen alone, with his Dao Manifestation realm cultivation level, be able to use an array formation to maintain an assessment for nine thousand people?

Even if Song Wuchen was an array formation master, due to the limitations of his cultivation level and nine thousand people trying to simultaneously crack his array, it would have cracked with a simple prod from everyone! For it not to crack, then it could only be the…

Demon Defying Bead!

Yi Yun finally understood the situation. The Demon Defying Bead was a treasure bestowed to Song Wuchen by Felicitous Rain Lord. Yi Yun was able to use the God Advent Tower to withstand Daoist You Ming’s strike, so it was not surprising that Song Wuchen could use the Demon Defying Bead to test nine thousand people with an array formation simultaneously.

“I just need to sever the connection between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead.”

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun closed his eyes and he activated his energy vision.

Instantly, the runic patterns around him disappeared. In Yi Yun’s vision, there were only the flow trajectories of Origins energy. He began to search the chaotic energy for the energy nodes between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead…

963 - : Nine Palatial Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Isn’t this assessment too difficult? That was just the first level, I’ve only cleared one palatial hall and I’m already overwhelmed. Could there be nine palatial halls… ?”

Many of the participants were not stupid. By connecting the dots, the Nine Palatial Array’s name easily told them that the palatial halls were connected one after another.

The difficulty of their assessment was naturally easier than Yi Yun’s, but it was still not easy to pass.

This was an array formation created by Song Wuchen after all. So how could he let all these people easily clear his array?

“The difficulty is too high. Few will definitely pass it. It was said that this array formation was created by Song Wuchen himself. An array formation that tests nine thousand people while being powered by one person is still able to eliminate so many people. Is this the strength of an in-name disciple of a Divine Lord… ?”

Many people had such thoughts in mind and they felt disheartened. The gap between them was too large.

If a Divine Lord’s in-name disciple was so powerful, they could forget about becoming a Divine Lord’s in-name disciple.

The nine thousand participants were struggling through each palatial palace.

The weaker ones were even stuck in the first palatial hall, with no means of escaping.

The stronger ones had already reached the fourth or fifth palatial hall. Although their energies were greatly drained, they were still struggling to forge ahead.

All of them realized that it was not possible to finish the Nine Palatial Array in a short period of time. They even had to rest midway so they could recover their energy before continuing.

In that case, it was impossible to finish it in less than three or four days.

People like Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue were stronger, but as they were given special treatment by Song Wuchen, they had only reached the third palatial hall. They were not the fastest.

By then, it was nearing dusk outside the Nine Palatial Array. As the sun slowly set, it dyed the sky red, making the surroundings more beautiful and gorgeous.

The palace maids of the Oracle Fey Kingdom were serving exquisite fruits and wine to the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s king, Song Wuchen, Tian Xun and others.

These fruits were supreme-grade spirit fruits grown in Brocade Spring Court. They were sweet and delicious, and they were abundant in energy, allowing them to benefit one’s cultivation level.

As for the wine, it was brewed from spirit fruits and had a bold flavor, and it could be described as ambrosia.

Song Wuchen plucked a grape as he watched the Demon Defying Bead float mid-air while it enveloped Brocade Spring Court. He began to savor the fruit’s flesh that melted the moment it entered his mouth.

Such an assessment gave him a feeling that he was twiddling talented peers around his fingers.

He reveled in such a feeling and he was very pleased with the effects of the Nine Palatial Array.

“Young Master Wuchen, the first round of assessment has already lasted for six hours. How long more will it take?” The Oracle Fey Kingdom’s king asked.

“At least three days. If the first person to clear the assessment does it in three days, that person will be extremely talented.”

By saying it in this manner, although it seemed like he was praising the talent of the person that was going to exit the array formation at that time, he was actually praising himself.

“Hahaha, Young Master Wuchen is truly a master of arrays. This Nine Palatial Array is truly exquisite.” The Oracle Fey Kingdom’s king complimented. He was hoping that as Song Wuchen presided over the assessment, he would spare the disciples of the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

Song Wuchen smiled slightly as he calmly accepted the compliments. He said nonchalantly, “Let’s hope that I wasn’t being too harsh. I was originally planning that it would be best if about ten to twenty people are able to clear this round of assessment. If I had set the difficulty to be higher, it wouldn’t look too good if only seven or eight people came out.”

“Seven or eight people… ” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king gave a dry laugh. If there were so few people, the only people from the Oracle Fey Kingdom that could have any hope were Chi Zhuiyun and Demon Girl. Even Demon Girl might be eliminated.

…

At that moment, in the Nine Palatial Array.

Yi Yun was strolling through the void and in his energy vision, he could clearly see the energy flow between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead.

The Demon Defying Bead was a Divine Lord level treasure after all. With Song Wuchen’s cultivation level, he was definitely finding it tough to power the Demon Defying Bead even if he could!

Just like a five or six-year-old child using a hammer as a weapon, although they would be more powerful than a child’s fists, it would be extremely demanding when lifting the hammer. If they were not careful, they might even hurt themselves.

Now, Song Wuchen was in such a state. Therefore, the interface between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead was not considered to be perfect. There were several flaws and rough edges!

Yi Yun could clearly discern these with his energy vision.

At the moment, Yi Yun had already traversed through the spatial corridor. He did not even take a step through the second door to the palatial hall.

“Oh? There is an energy node here!”

Yi Yun’s figure shuttled through the spatial turbulence and suddenly, he came to a stop in front of the void. The void seemed to be normal, but Yi Yun knew that there was a secret behind it.

“Whew!”

Yi Yun moved his hands like lightning.

With an explosive crack, the void was ripped open by Yi Yun. The energy node, that wasn’t very stable to begin with, immediately tore apart!

“The fourth point.” Yi Yun muttered to himself.

He had previously estimated that there were twelve points that connected the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead. When the connections were mostly severed, the Nine Palatial Array would lose most of its power.

This was analogous to two armies fighting at a fortress on top of a cliff. The fortress was impregnable, but if the cliff was destroyed, the fortress on the cliff would be taken down automatically.

“Here, the fifth point!”

Yi Yun took action once again.

“Boom!”

The fifth energy node shattered as the Nine Palatial Array’s energy weakened once more.

Following that —

The sixth point! The seventh point!

Yi Yun was destroying an energy node every fifteen minutes, quickly severing the connection between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead.

And this led to the Nine Palatial Array becoming weaker.

Not only was the Nine Palatial Array facing Yi Yun becoming weaker, the nine thousand participants immediately faced such a situation as the energy nodes were shattered!

“Oh? Why does the assessment suddenly feel easier?”

A participant, who had struggled to complete the third palatial hall while feeling exhausted to the point of giving up, suddenly realized that the difficulty of the array formation was decreasing.

This made him catch his breath and revive hope in him. “Is this my imagination?”

He found it quite incredulous until he somehow cleared the fourth hall in a baffling manner. Even he did not know what had happened.

“So that’s the case. It was only difficult in the beginning. As long as I survived the first few, it will become easier later on!”

There were many people like this disciple who suddenly realized the drop in difficulty.

“It’s becoming easier. The difficulty of the fifth hall was already halved, but the sixth hall is actually easier than the fifth?”

“I feel like I’m about to clear it. Haha, I shouldn’t have sold myself short in the past. I’m indeed a genius. Even if I can’t compare with a crazy existence like Yi Yun, I’m at least someone in the alliance!” Another participant that was disheartened to the point of giving up regained his confidence.

964 - : Destroying Energy Nodes

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ka-cha!”

Yi Yun had completely destroyed the twelfth energy node in the Nine Palatial Array.

As a result, although the Nine Palatial Array was still in its original state, its strength was greatly reduced without the Demon Defying Bead’s support.

And at that moment, Song Wuchen, who was sitting in a palatial hall in the towering tree, felt that something was amiss.

“The Demon Defying Bead… ”

Song Wuchen looked at the Demon Defying Bead and he felt troubled.

Song Wuchen had previously claimed that the Demon Defying Bead was a treasure bestowed unto him by the Felicitous Rain Lord. It gave others the impression that the Demon Defying Bead had been given to him. But in fact, Song Wuchen was just an in-name disciple, so how could a treasure at the Divine Lord level be really given to him? It was just lent to him.

The Demon Defying Bead had mental imprints in it that belonged to the Felicitous Rain Lord. In order to control the Demon Defying Bead, Song Wuchen had recently infused his own mental imprints into the Demon Defying Bead. It was not very stable, and his control of the Demon Defying Bead was extremely weak.

With Yi Yun severing the energy nodes between the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead, his mental imprints had suddenly collapsed. This left him momentarily baffled. He obviously refused to believe that an examinee would deliberately destroy his mental imprint. He believed that it was a result of him being able to barely control the Demon Defying Bead.

“Young Master Wuchen, what’s the matter?” The Oracle Fey Kingdom’s king asked as he noticed that something was amiss with Song Wuchen’s expression.

“Nothing much,” Song Wuchen said as he waved his hands. “Just a tiny mental imprint in the Demon Defying Bead was weakened. In a while, I’ll place a few more mental imprints, so I can have more control over the assessment.”

How was it possible for Song Wuchen to tell others that his mental imprints had collapsed? He had done it at such a large scale, so if there were suddenly any problems, wouldn’t he be embarrassing himself?

“I see. Young Master Wuchen has been controlling a treasure at the Divine Lord level, so it’s only normal for the mental imprint to weaken after a period of time.” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king said with a smile. He knew how to read the cues from the countenance of others.

Placing additional mental imprints in the Demon Defying Bead was not an easy task. Song Wuchen began to producing dozens of seals, but only a tiny number of his mental imprints managed to seep into the bead.

And at that moment, the difficulty of the Nine Palatial Array had turned nearly trivial. With about nine thousand people attempting to crack an array formation that was created by a Dao Manifestation realm warrior, there was already not enough strength for the array formation to hold itself together!

Instantly, all the participants in the assessment felt energized. They gathered all their energy and began forging ahead. Many people even began running.

One palatial hall after another was left behind them.

“So it’s a psychological battle. The beginning is very difficult, but once it’s cleared, the later stages become trivial.”

A participant was very pleased with his performance.

“I made my first public appearance after intense training, but Master said that I’m too weak and that Chi Zhuiyun is many times stronger than me. He thought that I would suffer a setback if I were to be eliminated in the beginning. Ha! I already said that it was impossible for me to be eliminated in the beginning. I really should let Master have a look at this. I’m already at the eighth hall. I’m indeed a genius. The trial is very easy!” A young man confidently muttered to himself.

In the vast world, there were all sorts of people. Although Chi Zhuiyun was publicly considered to be the number one genius of the Oracle Fey Kingdom, it did not mean that every young warrior was convinced of his strength. There were always people who believed that they were the strongest and that they would be able to trample on Chi Zhuiyun once they made their public appearance. Now, with the ease of clearing the array increasing, they were convinced of their viewpoints.

Soon, quite a number of people had reached the ninth palatial hall.

They initially believed that as the last hall of the Nine Palatial Halls, there would be some difficulty to it, but they were surprised to find that the ninth hall was the easiest!

…

At that moment, the Oracle Fey Kingdom king was eating spirit fruits outside the Nine Palatial Array as he looked at Song Wuchen.

“Young Master Wuchen, there’s no need to rush the mental imprints. The assessment has only gone on for eight hours.” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king said deliberately when he noticed that Song Wuchen was struggling to condense mental imprints.

“It’s fine.” Song Wuchen frowned. After his mental imprint had collapsed, he did not know what was happening inside the Demon Defying Bead either. However, he believed that the Nine Palatial Array was interfaced with the Demon Defying Bead, so even if certain nodes were not stable, the twelve nodes combined would reduce any possibility of error. It was likely that the assessment would continue on as expected.

“In a while, when a new mental imprint is established, I’ll definitely increase the difficulty greatly and make those fellows suffer.” Song Wuchen secretly thought to himself as he wished to vent the anger in his heart.

He knew that Felicitous Rain Lord was most likely watching the in-name disciple recruitment with his perception. As the owner of the Demon Defying Bead, Felicitous Rain Lord definitely knew about the mental imprint collapsing in the Demon Defying Bead.

This would affect Felicitous Rain Lord’s impression of him!

As an in-name disciple for so many years, he had always been yearning to be promoted to a personal disciple. If he failed to run the assessment properly, how could he be promoted to a personal disciple?

Song Wuchen took a deep breath and said, “Eight hours isn’t too short either. It’s better that I recreate imprints. The first assessment would last about three to five days. I cannot let the assessment period exceed my control.”

“Hahaha, Young Master Wuchen is truly a serious person. By saying that, I’m truly worried, afraid that my Oracle Fey Kingdom’s disciples will have terrible results!” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king joked. And at that moment, the hovering Demon Defying Bead suddenly emitted a faint beam of light.

“Oh? What happened?”

In Brocade Spring Court, many people saw this scene.

“Could it be that someone has cleared the array?”

“How can that be possible!? Didn’t you hear what Young Master Wuchen said? It’s extremely difficult to clear the Nine Palatial Array and it would take at least three days before the first participant would clear it!”

“It might be Yi Yun or Chi Zhuiyun since it might be possible for them to clear it ahead of time… ” A disciple whispered.

And at that moment, Feng Zheng and Feng Qi were in the crowd as well. Upon hearing that person’s statement, they sneered, “Chi Zhuiyun? Yi Yun? Hmph, with their strength, they are only relatively stronger in the alliance. Amongst Master’s disciples, they are nothing at all! They are facing an increased difficulty in the Nine Palatial Array. It would be Senior Brother going easy on them if they can successfully clear it in five days. Clear it ahead of time? Stop dreaming!”

Feng Zheng and Feng Qi detested Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun to begin with. Upon hearing someone tout the two of them, they could not help but pass off snide remarks.

When the people around them heard this, they were stunned. So it turned out that Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun were facing higher difficulties?

Before they could say anything, the flickering light from the Demon Defying Bead suddenly grew more intense.

“Oh? That is… ” Feng Zheng and Feng Qi were puzzled as well. They did not notice that up in the hall in the towering tree, there was an extremely ugly expression on Song Wuchen’s face.

Swish!

A beam of light burst down from the Demon Defying Bead as a figure appeared!

The person wore a long robe and he held a three-foot-long sword. His black hair was fluttering in the beam of light, making him look distinguished.

The first person to clear the Demon Defying Bead had appeared!

Feng Zheng and Feng Qi were immediately left dumbfounded. It had only been eight hours, so how could that be possible!?

965 - : Something’s not right

CKtalon  CKtalon

Feng Zheng and Feng Qi had seen Song Wuchen’s Nine Palatial Array. It was absolutely impossible to clear it in such a short period of time!

However, the other members of the audience did not care about this.

“Someone cleared! He cleared it so fast!”

“What a genius!”

People shouted excitedly. However, as these people were shouting, there were even more people who were dumbfounded. They looked at the long-haired youth that had suddenly appeared, and the first thing on their minds was — who the heck is he?

There were many geniuses in the alliance, but not every one of them were known by everyone like Yi Yun or Chi Zhuiyun.

Nearly no one knew who the person that had appeared was.

“Hmph! You don’t know him? I’m not afraid to tell you that he is my sworn brother! At a young age, he showed unparalleled talent. Later on, he went deep into the mountains and became the disciple of an erudite master. He remained unseen for years, and his strength is definitely top in the Oracle Fey Kingdom. It’s beyond your imaginations!”

At that moment, a youth jumped out and said those words. He looked like he was a strutting rooster after a victory.

Everyone looked at the fellow who came out to posture in a daze.

Now, who was this guy?

The guy was wearing a tiny hat and his clothes were beast hides. There was a family clan emblem that no one knew about on his clothes. It was obvious that he came from some tiny tribal clan from some nook and cranny.

How could such a person like that know a ‘top’ genius of the Oracle Fey Kingdom?

Everyone found it unbelievable.

However, it was not uncommon for some peerless geniuses to have friends at the grassroots level in his youth. It was common to have legends of how a peerless hero would stand up for his friends that were being bullied in his youth.

But at that moment, another beam of light flashed and another person who cleared the assessment appeared!

The person looked even more handsome. He was dressed in white robes and he held a fan in his hand. He was even slowly flapping his fan. Although he had cleared the Nine Palatial Array, he looked energetic and clear-minded. He did not look drained at all, and he gave off an impressive vibe.

“Another passed, and it was done so easily.”

“It is another unfamiliar face. However, it seems like he’s also from the Oracle Fey Kingdom. I never knew that we had so many hidden geniuses in the Oracle Fey Kingdom!”

“Indeed. It seems like these people had remained hidden and do not like to compete for fame and wealth. But now, with Felicitous Rain Lord taking in a disciple, it’s truly a rare opportunity, so all of them are beginning to make their appearances.”

A few scions argued and at that moment, they saw another few beams of light flash. Three consecutive people appeared in Brocade Spring Court after having cleared the array!

This…

Everyone faltered in shock.

There were really too many hidden geniuses.

However, it was apparent that these people were not from the Oracle Fey Kingdom, so it was expected. The other factions in the alliance were bound to have hidden geniuses as well.

But following that…

Sha! Sha! Sha!

Beams of light flashed one after another like it was raining. In the blink of an eye, there were more than twenty geniuses!

Everyone was dumbfounded when they saw this scene. Who knew that there were so many geniuses in the world. They were truly frogs in the well to believe that the world only had geniuses like Yi Yun, Chi Zhuiyun, and Luo Huo’er. From the looks of it, they were short-sighted. Each era has men of talent, leading in what they did for hundreds of years.

“Hahaha! It’s Kid Tiger of my Black Tiger Tribal Clan! That kid has extraordinary talent. He could lift a 500-kilogram rock at the age of three. Today, he has indeed given me a big and pleasant surprise. There is hope for the rise of my Black Tiger Tribal Clan!” A stout old man said with a mighty roar.

He looked extremely excited. As for the ’Kid Tiger’ he was referring to, it was a person with a silly look. The fur had yet to shed from his body, making him look like a beast-man. As for being able to lift five hundred kilograms at the age of three… that training method sure was simple…

This guy… was also some hidden genius?

Many people looked each other in the eyes. They were somewhat dumbfounded. One really couldn’t judge a book by its cover.

“Congratulations as well. My White Bear Tribal Clan’s Bear Two has succeeded as well. When the younger generation grows up, as fellow tribal brothers, we will march forward hand in hand!” Another stout elder said.

The Bear Two he mentioned was covered in yellow fur, making him have a brotherly resemblance of the person known as ‘Kid Tiger’.

A white bear and a black tiger. What the hell? Can you tribal clans name your people in a better manner?

In fact, the White Bear and Black Tiger tribal clans were not completely unknown. They were considered to be two of the bigger tribal clans in the wild tribal clans of the Oracle Fey Kingdom. However, they were incomparable to the large family clans. Everyone believed that people from Fey tribal clans would never be able to catch up to people from large family clans that were situated in the capital. But now, from the looks of it, these tribal clans were not to be underestimated. The probability of them producing geniuses was low, but they had the numbers, so it was also possible for a talent to rise up from a tribal clan.

And following that, beams of light began bursting out one after another. Every light beam revealed a young person who had cleared the array. One after another, they appeared like mushrooms appearing after a rain. There were so many people that it was easy to lose count.

“One, two, three, four… a hundred and eighty-one, a hundred and eighty-two… ” Someone casually counted as he stared with widened eyes.

Wasn’t the difficulty of the assessment said to be very high? Wasn’t it previously said that the first round of assessments would eliminate 99%? Why did so many people manage to clear the array?

“Two hundred and thirty-six, two hundred and thirty-seven… ”

The headcount was still rising. As people were counting on one side, there would be people descending on the other side like rustling leaves. Those counting failed to keep up with the number of people descending.

Soon, the headcount broke three hundred!

People were astonished. But at that moment, many people felt that something was amiss.

It was said that it would take three days for the first person to clear the assessment, but there were more than three hundred people clearing it in eight hours?

However, there were people immersed in the joy of clearing the assessment, especially the trial-takers themselves. There were relatives and friends who excitedly spoke amongst themselves.

“Brother Bai, you passed as well!”

“Hahaha, same to you. Congratulations Brother Yuchi. The last time I met you, I knew that you aren’t ordinary.”

“Eh, isn’t that Brother Li? It looks like he cleared it as well. Let’s go and congratulate him.”

There were no end to such dialogs.

At the moment, the headcount had already exceeded eight hundred!

There was no decrease in the number of beams of light that descended from the Demon Defying Bead. Instead, they were increasing in number to the point of the beams of light forming a contiguous beam that was so blinding that people could not open their eyes.

“What’s going on?”

In the hall in the towering tree, many members of the upper echelon were agape. Even if the assessment relaxed in its difficulty, there was no way that everyone would be able to clear the array together, right?

Furthermore, they even saw some wondrous existences amongst the participants who cleared the assessment. The Kid Tiger and Bear Two from before could be ignored, because they saw a ten year old girl. She had two tiny hair stumps on her head and she had shimmering eyes. She looked extremely innocent, with her only missing a cotton candy in her hand to perfect her look.

Although they guessed that the assessment would adjust its difficulty according to the trial-taker’s age, it was completely unacceptable that such a harmless young girl could clear the first round.

This was definitely not what a normal assessment should look like.

Many people could not help but look at Song Wuchen. He was the examiner of the first round, and the entire Nine Palatial Array was created by him. They realized that Song Wuchen’s face seemed to have grown moss. It could not be any greener.

Because at that moment, there was already more than two thousand people that had cleared the Nine Palatial Array.

Actually, he knew that there was a problem when the first person came out of the Nine Palatial Array in eight hours.

When his mental imprints collapsed, he was unable to probe the situation inside the Demon Defying Bead. Now, he knew that his mental imprints had not collapsed because it was too tough on him to control the Demon Defying Bead. Instead, something strange had happened to the connection between the array formation and the Demon Defying Bead. This resulted in the collapse of his mental imprints that were not stable to begin with.

What the hell happened?

At that moment, Song Wuchen was like a burning chicken. He wished that he could charge up and block the Demon Defying Bead!

If a few hundred people appeared, he could have brushed the matter aside and increased the difficulty of the next round.

But now, with the numbers quickly approaching four thousand, half of the participants had already cleared the first level. There was bound to be more later.

How could he brush this aside? Felicitous Rain Lord was still watching!

“Damn it! What’s going on!”

Song Wuchen clenched his teeth. He had tested his Nine Palatial Array several times!

It was true that he could not control the Demon Defying Bead, but as long as the Nine Palatial Array and the Demon Defying Bead were interfaced, there would not be any problems even if he ignored it. How could the present situation happen?

Song Wuchen did not think of the possibility that the interface was destroyed by someone. He did not believe that anyone had the ability to do so.

“Hmm… Young Master Wuchen… ” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king spoke in a probing manner, “There’s already more than seven thousand people… Uh… it’s over eight thousand. Do you think that we should end the first round of assessment and quickly begin the second round?”

The number of people that participated in the Divine Lord’s disciple recruitment numbered about nine thousand people. And previously, Song Wuchen had said that more than 99% would be eliminated and that it would take the first person three days to clear it. He even said that there would be only about ten people who would clear the trial after four or five days, but now, after eight hours, there were already over eight thousand people. Was this still an elimination?

Even if there was, it would probably number in the dozens. How unlucky would they be to be eliminated?

Although the Oracle Fey Kingdom king knew that Song Wuchen was like a volcano ready to explode, he could not help but speak up. This couldn’t go on any longer. The people below were already creating a din. Even the silliest person could tell that something was amiss. There was talk going around.

“I know!” Song Wuchen said through clenched teeth.

He had failed miserably during the first round of assessment, so what else could he say!?

“Demon Defying Bead, come!”

At that moment, Song Wuchen managed to barely summon the Demon Defying Bead back using a pathetic new imprint that he placed on it.

With the Demon Defying Bead in hand, he felt the coldness of the Demon Defying Bead. Song Wuchen’s face turned extremely surly.

Previously, while presiding over the assessment, he had even fantasized of the tiny hope that his master would give the Demon Defying Bead to him after the assessment. He was adept at array formations, so the Demon Defying Bead would greatly benefit him.

But now, Song Wuchen could only feel a limitless estrangement from the bead in his hand.

966 - : Hidden Geniuses

CKtalon  CKtalon

The feeling of estrangement was a result of the complete destruction of Song Wuchen’s mental imprints in the Demon Defying Bead. Now with the Demon Defying Bead in hand, Song Wuchen probed it with his perception. The Demon Defying Bead was not his, so he spent a very long time trying to figure out what had happened. The twelve energy nodes had completely shattered!

This…

Song Wuchen was astounded. Every energy node had traces of the energy being destroyed remaining. He had a feeling that it was destroyed by mortal means, but who could have the ability to destroy his energy nodes?

Song Wuchen was incensed. He would definitely make the person pay a heavy price if he knew who had done it!

“Could it be Tian Xun? Or is it Mi Liu?”

Song Wuchen’s initial suspects were not the warriors that had participated in the assessment, he suspected his fellow martial brothers. Under Felicitous Rain Lord, it was not uncommon for the in-name disciples to have their own conflicts.

It was possible that someone knew that he would be presiding over the assessment and that he wanted to demonstrate his prowess, so the person deliberately sabotaged him?

But on further thought, Felicitous Rain Lord was watching. Who had the ability to pull wool over the Felicitous Rain Lord’s eyes and tamper with the assessment?

Was it really a participant that did it?

Song Wuchen found it unbelievable. A group of disciples who were mostly at the Heaven Ascension realm, and some at the Dao Manifestation realm, were just riff-raff. None of them had that sort of ability!

At that moment, many people were in flurries of discussion as they talked about the assessment.

Song Wuchen sat on a seat of honor in the towering tree’s hall, but he felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.

He had previously made a boast, but the outcome was disastrous. His face had figuratively swollen.

He cast his eyes across all the disciples that cleared the level before his gaze landed on Yi Yun.

“Could it be him? He is only at the Heaven Ascension perfection realm, so how was he able to crack my array!?”

At that moment, Yi Yun was freely floating mid-air as he quietly regulated his breathing. The cracking of the array did not consume too much of Yi Yun’s energy, as all he needed to do was find the energy nodes and sever them.

After severing the energy nodes, Yi Yun leisurely cleared the remaining eight palatial halls. By the time he came out, most of the participants had already come out. Yi Yun did not stand out when he appeared in the raining beams of light.

Although he was keeping a low profile, there were people who paid him special attention.

“Are you Yi Yun?”

Two stout males appeared in front of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun snapped out of his meditation and opened his eyes.

The two of them had beast fur covering them. It was not uncommon to have half-beast appearances amongst members of the Fey race.

“I’m Black Tiger, and he’s my brother, Bear Two!” One of the men said. Kid Tiger was his nickname in the tribe, and it naturally didn’t sound as imposing as Black Tiger when it was said in a formal setting.

Yi Yun’s eyebrows pricked up. The two had released their aura and they had surging killing intent. They were definitely not here to greet him.

“Rumors say that you are the number one genius of the Luo clan, but it seems that your speed at clearing the array wasn’t that fast either!”

Black Tiger’s first words had an aggressive tone.

He and Bear Two were amongst the first few to clear the Nine Palatial Array, so he was obviously feeling very confident.

Although people later believed that something had gone wrong with the Nine Palatial Array, there were no problems with the first few levels after all. By being the first few to come out of the array, it was also a proof of their strength. This made Bear Two and Black Tiger turn smug.

“I heard that you defeated Chi Zhuiyun?” Bear Two said with a low, muffled voice. “Chi Zhuiyun is called the number one genius of the Oracle Fey Kingdom, but it’s only a title. Don’t think that you have swept through the Oracle Fey Kingdom by simply defeating Chi Zhuiyun!”

Yi Yun was amused when he heard Bear Two’s words. He knew that many geniuses were proud and they also felt proud of their family clans or factions. They were naturally indignant about the claim that the Oracle Fey Kingdom had been swept clean by Yi Yun alone.

If he had not cracked the Nine Palatial Array, it might have been a problem for the duo to even come out of it. However, the world was large, so there was bound to be people that had an exaggerated opinion of their own abilities. And such kind of people could even be the majority.

“The assessment has only just begun. We will have a chance to compete with you.” Black Tiger declared his challenge against Yi Yun before he turned and walked away.

…

Simultaneously, on a floating island outside the royal capital, Felicitous Rain Lord was paying attention to the entire situation. He gave a rare chuckle.

“That young guy is rather interesting!”

As the owner of the Demon Defying Bead, Felicitous Rain Lord naturally saw the entire process of Yi Yun cracking the array.

“Divine Lord, what method did Yi Yun use to crack the array?” Fairy Ningshuang had also seen the entire process. It was true that Song Wuchen’s control of the Demon Defying Bead was inadequate, but the energy nodes were still situated in really hidden spots. However, the twelve energy nodes were still found by Yi Yun and they were all destroyed.

This act astonished Fairy Ningshuang greatly. Even Dao Manifestation perfection realm geniuses had no chance of cracking it, let alone a Heaven Ascension realm warrior.

“That child might have some special talent. I can sense that he has very keen senses when it comes to the perception of energy! In Wuchen’s array, due to some imperfect initializations, there were residual energy trajectories. Yi Yun followed these energy trajectories precisely and he finally reached the energy nodes.”

With Felicitous Rain Lord’s cultivation level, he could easily sense the distribution of the energy nodes and the energy trajectories. As such, he understood how Yi Yun had cracked the array.

“For him to have such keen perception of energy, could he be born with abnormal eyes?”

In a martial world, some people possessed special physical traits, such as abnormal eyes. They could see laws and the trajectories of energy.

People who possessed such special traits were extremely few in number, with very few historical records describing them. Even well-read people did not understand much about these people who were born with extraordinary physical traits.

Furthermore, people with extraordinary traits did not necessarily have martial talent. People who could see flow trajectories of energy might not be able to absorb the energy. Their ability to learn and perceive was not necessarily high. These factors caused the extremely few number of people to eventually be lost in the crowd, and vanish in the vestiges of time.

And those with impressive talent and possessing extraordinary traits were truly the blessed children of the heavens. They were particularly rare.

“Divine Lord, if Yi Yun really was born with an abnormal trait, he is truly an extremely rare prodigy considering his martial talent.”

“It’s still too early to say. The way he cracked the array is but a trick after all, and it was not done with his own strength and interpretive perception. I want to see what his limit is, and what his understanding of the Dao is.”

As Felicitous Rain Lord spoke, Shui Ningshuang could clearly see the look of anticipation in his eyes. It was truly not easy to make Felicitous Rain Lord, who had extremely high standards, reveal such an expression.

…

At the moment, in the towering tree’s main hall.

“Young Master Wuchen, what do we do now?” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king asked a probing question.

He could tell that the assessment had fallen into disarray. Song Wuchen had suffered quite a setback.

Supposedly, the assessment after this demanded a small group of people, with a test of Dao Domain for example. It would require each person to showcase their Dao Domain one after another. But now, with nearly ten thousand people present, no one knew how long it would take if they all lined up.

967 - : Abnormal Eyes

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon hearing the Oracle Fey Kingdom king’s question, Song Wuchen’s heart fell into turmoil.

With things coming to this point, he was already unsure about what to do. The assessment that he had prepared was not suitable for about ten thousand people. Did he have to do another test of the Nine Palatial Array?

Disregarding the fact that he was already too embarrassed to use the Nine Palatial Array again, even if he used it, what would happen if the problem reemerged? He might as well slam his head against a surface till he dies.

Who was it that cracked my Nine Palatial Array? Could it really be the warriors that participated in the assessment, such as… Yi Yun!?

Tens of thousands of people had their eyes focused on Song Wuchen. Song Wuchen did not heed the thoughts that these lowly warriors had of him, but… Felicitous Rain Lord!

Song Wuchen knew very well that on the floating island, Felicitous Rain Lord could see him. Felicitous Rain Lord was waiting to see what he would do, making him even more anxious as his palms broke out in sweat. Without the support of the Demon Defying Bead, he did not have any arrays that could test ten thousand people at once.

The only option that he had was to send everyone to the desolate plains and group them together in a battle royale. However, that was a simple and crude. Furthermore, it would not be a fair assessment. It would obviously not please the Felicitous Rain Lord.

At that moment, a rustling sound was heard.

Like misty rain that drifted past, a misty drizzle enveloped the towering tree’s hall. A white-dressed female appeared above the square.

Shui Ningshuang!

The person most trusted by Felicitous Rain Lord after she began following him tens of thousands of years ago.

“Martial Aunt Ningshuang… ”

Song Wuchen hurriedly stood up and saluted her. Song Wuchen felt nervous upon seeing her at that moment. It was obvious that Shui Ningshuang was displeased with the assessment that he presided over.

“The next assessment’s topic shall be given by me!” Shui Ningshuang said.

Her words caused Song Wuchen’s heart to sink.

He gaped but eventually, he did not say a word.

Shui Ningshuang was giving the next topic that was going to be assessed?

Many warriors who were present looked at Shui Ningshuang, and her gaze had unintentionally landed on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was inconspicuous with about ten thousand warriors present, so although the others did not know that Shui Ningshuang was focusing on Yi Yun, Yi Yun himself knew.

He stroked his chin. He knew that the process of him cracking the array had mostly likely been seen by Shui Ningshuang.

He was not afraid that the secret of the Purple Crystal would be exposed. The Purple Crystal far exceeded the martial realms of this world. No one would be able to detect it.

If they could not detect the Purple Crystal, then everything would come down to Yi Yun himself.

Since he wanted to become a personal disciple, he definitely needed to show the extraordinary worth of himself. There was no reason to continue hiding his strength.

“Since the first round is as such, everyone can be considered to have passed. As for the second round… ”

As Shui Ningshuang spoke, she snapped her fingers.

“Whew!”

A faint light tore through the void after it shot out from Shui Ningshuang’s fingertip. It accelerated before becoming a big door.

“Boom!”

The door landed on the ground and it stood in front of everyone.

The door was hundreds of feet wide, and more than ten stories high. It was massive.

People could see the misty rain inside the door. There were mountains that could be barely made out through the rain, with lush grass and an endless sea of flowers.

A door that led to another world!

“This is the Door of Misty Rain. It’s a Divine Lord herb garden that I am in charge of. Past the Door of Misty Rain is an independent world. My assessment is for everyone to enter the Door of Misty Rain, and pluck a flower from the ground. Coming out of it again would be considered a pass!”

Divine Lord herb garden?

Plucking flowers?

The warriors present were all extremely excited when they heard this. It was a Divine Lord herb garden!

The thought of being able to enter a Divine Lord’s herb garden was invigorating. Furthermore, the details of the assessment were rather fresh!

Plucking flowers inside the Door of Misty Rain sounded extremely simple, but people knew that the assessment set by Shui Ningshuang was definitely not as simple as it sounded on the surface. There was probably some tricks to the Door of Misty Rain.

However, that only made it more interesting. If anyone could complete it, it would be meaningless as well.

“Haha, plucking flowers. May I ask Fairy Ningshuang if simply plucking a flower is a pass, are there other means of grading?” Black Tiger asked loudly.

Previously, the shorter the amount of time taken to clear the Nine Palatial Array, the better the results were.

As for plucking flowers, the Door of Misty Rain was just in front of them. The flowerbeds were not very far either. Charging in to pluck a flower before returning was something that could be completed if one had the ability. The amount that it took wouldn’t differ greatly amongst people. It would not illustrate the disparity in his result from others.

“Grading?” Fairy Ningshuang smiled. “The flowers closest to the Door of Misty Rain are known as Seven Heart Flowers. The flower takes a thousand years to sprout, a thousand years to grow, and a thousand years to form its bud. After that, it would grow one additional petal every thousand years, for a total period of ten thousand years. If you can return with a Seven Heart Flower, it would be considered to be a perfect grade. However, even if you fail to pluck a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower, that’s fine. Just bringing back a bud would be considered a pass!”

When Fairy Ningshuang said this, everyone looked at the Door of Misty Rain.

Through the blurry mist of rain, people saw flowers on the bed of grass as expected. The number of petals varied.

The ones closest to the Door of Misty Rain were only flower buds, and the deeper it was, the more petals the flowers had.

However, it was already considered quite a number for a flower to bloom four or five petals. Six petals were extremely rare and they were usually in the deepest depths of the misty rain. They would not be seen clearly.

As for the seven-petal flowers, they were nowhere to be found.

“Are there seven-petaled flowers?”

Black Tiger craned his neck to take a look. He wanted to find a flower ahead of time so that he could lock onto a target when he entered the Door of Misty Rain and pluck it in one fell swoop!

Even if it was too difficult, preventing him from plucking it, he could bring a five or six petal flower on his way back.

Black Tiger’s question made the elders in the towering tree’s hall frown.

A legendary figure of the World Margin Sect said, “Although the lifespan of the Seven Heart Flower isn’t considered to be long, with it being ten thousand years at most, it is extremely precious. It has gathered the worldly essence, and most Seven Heart Flower would wither before they fully bloomed. The number that can grow to an age of ten thousand years is one in ten thousand. It is a top holy herb, and it has amazing effects for Dao Manifestation realm warriors in their breakthroughs to Dao Palace, as well as Heaven Ascension realm warriors in their breakthroughs to Dao Manifestation.

“Kid, do you think a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower is cabbage that can be found anywhere on the streets? That you can find it without much work!?” The elder grunted, clearly annoyed about a burly man who had little knowledge like Black Tiger.

It was unknown how Black Tiger managed to be at the forefront during the first assessment.

Upon hearing the elder’s words, everyone’s eyes lit up. Many of the people present were at the Heaven Ascension realm. If a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower was helpful in their manifestation of the Dao, it would be an absolute treasure.

At that moment, Shui Ningshuang said with a smile, “The Seven Heart Flower that you pluck will belong to you, even if it is a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower! Of course, it will depend on your own circumstances if you have one or not.”

Shui Ningshuang’s statement made the warriors present excited.

The Seven Heart Flower that they plucked would be theirs!

The value of the herbs in the Divine Lord herb garden was beyond doubt. Furthermore, the World Margin Sect elder had just mentioned the miraculous effects of the Seven Heart Flower.

Fey like Black Tiger and Bear Two, who came from tribes, were extremely eager. As tribes that were far away from the central cities, they were most lacking in herbal treasures. The Divine Lord herb garden was truly timely.

968 - : Divine Lord Herb Garden

CKtalon  CKtalon

No one expected that Shui Ningshuang’s assessment would directly give an opportunity to everyone who was present. Just the thought of entering a Divine Lord’s herb garden to pluck herbs was exciting.

About nine thousand warriors impatiently stood in front of the Door of Misty Rain. They were waiting for Shui Ningshuang to give the go ahead.

A look of excitement flashed in Black Tiger’s eyes as he prepared himself. At that moment, he noticed Yi Yun, who wasn’t standing very far from him. He could not help but reveal a sneer. “Number one genius of the Luo clan? I wonder if your speed will still be as slow as a tortoise.”

“Bro, in a while, we brothers will charge right in front. If I’m not wrong, there is one ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower at most. If we are too slow, there won’t be any left!” Bear Two said.

“That’s right! However, be careful of any unexpected dangers. The herb garden is most likely not that simple with traps along the way.”

Just as Black Tiger finished speaking, Shui Ningshuang nodded her head slightly and said, “You can begin.”

Charge!

Fighting spirit burned in the eyes of Black Tiger, Bear Two, and many other assessees. They charged out like arrows that left a bowstring!

Everyone knew very well that Fairy Ningshuang’s assessment was not that simple. Many of them had activated their Fey race bloodlines, which caused them to shimmer in a divine light. Behind many people were the phantom images of their ancestors. Instantly, Brocade Spring Court looked like thousands of Fey were galloping in a spectacular stampede!

Black Tiger and Bear Two was rushing right in front of the crowd!

But just as they reached the Door of Misty Rain…

“Boom!”

A loud explosion echoed aro as the duo slammed into an invisible light curtain. The duo’s bodies shook violently as they rebounded off the light curtain.

Black Tiger and Bear Two flew backward at a speed much faster than when they were charging at the door. They slammed heavily into the ground!

“Peng! Peng!”

With two dull thuds, the duo crashed into the ground. Their faces faced the sky, but Black Tiger’s face was covered in blood. He had been running at full speed and he had protruded his head right in front. It was his face that slammed into the invisible light curtain and so even his nose had been flattened.

As for Bear Two, his condition was worse. He had fractured seven or eight ribs and his body was convulsing as he foamed at his mouth.

After Black Tiger and Bear Two, there were about a hundred more people who slammed into the light curtain just like them. The impacts left them badly battered as they wailed in pain.

It was the ones that had charged slightly slower who managed to slow down when they took warning from the failures of others. They had escaped the outcome of slamming into the wall of light.

As for Yi Yun, the crowd had already charged forward and were sent flying back, but he did not even take a step forward ever since Fairy Ningshuang declared the start of the assessment.

After a long while, Bear Two and Black Tiger managed to catch their breaths.

They struggled to get up and they could hardly stand straight. Their heads were hurting and they felt dizzy.

“What the heck!?”

“Fuck, we got tricked. To think that there is such a trap set up in the Divine Lord herb garden. The lot of us who were the first to step on the mine suffered a great deal, while those cowards at the back managed to gain an advantage.”

As Black Tiger touched his bloodied face, he noticed that Yi Yun was not far from them. Yi Yun had been standing there all along, like he was an outsider witnessing all that was happening.

Black Tiger and Bear Tiger looked at Yi Yun, and in return, Yi Yun looked at the pair of brothers in trouble.

Yi Yun did not conceal his gaze. The way that he looked at Black Tiger and Bear Two was like he was looking at a a pair of retards.

They only had brawn over brains. They were shallow and ignorant, but they thought highly of themselves, so who else could be blamed?

In fact, Yi Yun had long noticed the thick energy that gathered in front of the Door of Misty Rain with his energy vision. As long as anyone attempted to rush in, the energy would immediately condense together and become as unassailable as divine metal. In addition, the energy light curtain could even reflect energy. It would return how ever much energy was used to slammed into it. This was the reason why many people ended up in such tragic states when they slammed into it.

“That punk!” Black Tiger and Bear Two were furious. They had suffered serious injuries after bouncing back from their charge, but Yi Yun found much amusement in watching them on the side.

“How is it skill to be standing on the side watching? If you have the guts, go on and charge at it. How shameless is he to mock us when he cowers behind like a tortoise!” Black Tiger cursed unhappily.

At that moment, a beam of light flashed. Chi Zhuiyun had walked in front of the Door of Misty Rain.

He was dressed in red and he stood straight in a towering and magnificent manner. All his energy began to gathering on his spear.

“Oh, Chi Zhuiyun?”

Just as everyone was surprised, Chi Zhuiyun suddenly thrust his spear out!

The thrusting of the spear made it seem like hell had descended on the mortal realm. Wraiths wailed as a gigantic Shura devil appeared behind Chi Zhuiyun.

War Demon Form — Shura!

“Boom!”

With a loud explosion, visible ripples appeared in the void in front of Chi Zhuiyun. The light curtain was reverberating!

Everyone finally realized that it was a pale blue light curtain. It was like a water membrane. And now, Chi Zhuiyun’s stab has caused a tear in the curtain of light!

Chi Zhuiyun’s eyes were focused as his body flashed. He had already entered the light curtain!

At the next moment, he had stepped through the Door of Misty Rain!

“He entered the Divine Lord herb garden!”

Everyone stared with widened eyes. Chi Zhuiyun had managed to use his powerful attack to rip the light curtain apart, allowing him to gain entry through the Door of Misty Rain!

His attack was way too sick!

“I can enter as well!”

In a split second, a small-built Fey sprang out of the crowd. With a machete in hand, he immediately followed Chi Zhuiyun’s footsteps.

“Dang!”

He slashed at the light curtain that Chi Zhuiyun had just attacked. He had an ingenious plan. He believed that the part of the light curtain that Chi Zhuiyun had just ripped apart was likely to remain unstable. By attacking the same spot, there was a higher chance of tearing the light curtain open.

However…

“Whew!”

His blade beam was rebounded, slashing straight back at his chest.

‘”Puah!”

The small-built warrior spat out a mouthful of blood as he flew backward and crashed heavily into the ground.

He had failed!

Everyone was stunned. Chi Zhuiyun had succeeded with a single attack. The guy had attacked the same spot but ended up in such a situation?

“I know him. He is Yuchi Long from the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s Yuchi family. He is definitely one of the top figures of the southeastern zone of the Oracle Fey Kingdom, but who knew that the gap between him and Chi Zhuiyun would be so large!?” Someone in the crowd exclaimed in surprise.

In the Oracle Fey Kingdom, Chi Zhuiyun had made his public appearance a decade ago. Although he was famous, there were very few people who had a chance to really fight with Chi Zhuiyun. Without an actual fight, there was no way to understand Chi Zhuiyun’s formidability.

A year ago, Chi Zhuiyun had swept through the Luo clan but was eventually defeated by Yi Yun. This had greatly reduced the halo around Chi Zhuiyun, which also resulted in some members of the Oracle Fey Kingdom thinking that Chi Zhuiyun was just that and nothing more.

But today, they had witnessed and got a deep understanding of how much more inferior the famous Yuchi Long from the southeastern zone was when he was compared to Chi Zhuiyun.

Upon seeing this scene, many people could not help but cast their gazes on Yi Yun.

Chi Zhuiyun was already so powerful, but he was still defeated by Yi Yun’s hand. Then, what was Yi Yun’s strength? How strong was he?

969 - : Badly Battered

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Chi Zhuiyun entered the curtain of light, the bloodied Black Tiger and Bear Two, who had just got up from the ground, gaped. They were completely dumbfounded.

He… went in just like that!?

The scene of Chi Zhuiyun entering the Door of Misty Rain dealt a severe blow to them!

It was obvious that Chi Zhuiyun did not use all his strength in that strike, but he was still able to enter?

If they had only seen Chi Zhuiyun’s entry process, they would definitely believe that the light curtain was too weak to withstand a single blow. However, they had previously attempted to charge through the Door of Misty Rain. They were left badly battered, but not a single ripple appeared in the light curtain.

Wasn’t the gap just too huge?

Bear Two and Black Tiger suddenly recalled something as they looked at Yi Yun. Yi Yun’s back was facing them. He was not looking at them, but even so, the duo felt that their black faces were being consumed by flames.

Didn’t this mean that Yi Yun could easily enter the Door of Misty Rain just like Chi Zhuiyun?

In the first round of assessments, they were clearly the first few to exit the array. Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun were one of the last few!

“Chi Zhuiyun has already entered the Door of Misty Rain. Wouldn’t that mean that the ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower will fall into his hands?”

Many people turned anxious, but there was nothing that they could do.

“What is Yi Yun doing? Why hasn’t he made a move?”

Chi Zhuiyun’s strength was inferior to Yi Yun’s, but he had taken the first step into the herb garden. Yi Yun, who was stronger, had ended up falling behind.

And at that moment, Tianya Haoyue had made his move. With his moonblade in hand, he slashed at the light curtain. As blade beams shot out in every direction, a phenomenon of a cliff and luminous moon appeared behind him

Lunar Occultation!

Cha!

The light curtain looked like it was being swallowed by Tianya Haoyue’s strike, just like a lunar eclipse.

At the next moment, Tianya Haoyue had entered the Divine Lord herb garden as well!

Everyone drew a gasp. It was not difficult for Tianya Haoyue to enter the Divine Lord herb garden as well. Were these top geniuses from the various factions so much stronger than them?

And people recalled that geniuses like Tianya Haoyue had been defeated by Yi Yun a year ago!

All the people that Yi Yun had previously defeated were actually so abnormally strong?

After Tianya Haoyue passed through the Door of Misty Rain, he looked back at Yi Yun and flashed the blade in his hand.

After losing to Yi Yun, he had worked hard in the hopes of crushing Yi Yun so he could avenge the humiliation that he had suffered. And now, the opportunity was here!

A ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower could help him condensed his Dao fruit!

With this thought in mind, Tianya Haoyue looked into the Divine Lord herb garden. In it, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was so rich and dense that it condensed to form liquid droplets. This made it look like it was misty and rainy, thus giving the Door of Misty Rain its name. But only when he entered did he know that the so-called misty rain was actually extremely pure Heaven Earth Yuan Qi!

If one were to cultivate in here, the effects would be heaven-defying!

Tianya Haoyue impatiently used his movement technique and he attempted to head further into the Divine Lord herb garden. However, he realized that it was like he had fallen into a quagmire when he took a step forward. His speed was as slow as a snail’s.

It was tough!

Tianya Haoyue was surprised to discover that although his surroundings had rich Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, he had no means of absorbing any of it!

He opened all 360 acupuncture points, but he was unable to absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. What was wrong with the Yuan Qi here?

The outcome of each step being extremely demanding and Tianya Haoyue not being able to absorb any of the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi around him meant that his stamina was rapidly decreasing!

It was not only limited to Tianya Haoyue. Even Chi Zhuiyun was encountering the same situation. However, he was much stronger than Tianya Haoyue, so it was slightly easier for him to advance.

But even so, it would be extremely difficult for him to enter the depths of the Door of Misty Rain.

“This Door of Misty Rain is truly fascinating.”

Yi Yun saw everything clearly from outside. He was in no hurry to begin because he wanted to observe the mysterious traits of the Door of Misty Rain.

He realized that as an enchanted treasure, the Door of Misty Rain controlled every strand of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi like they were well-trained soldiers. Upon entry into the Door of Misty Rain, it was equivalent to entering a Heaven Earth Yuan Qi quagmire.

This was the difficulty of plucking the ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower.

The location of the ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower was too deep, and the Door of Misty Rain was expansive. A great deal of energy was needed to take every step inside, so how easy could it be to find a specific flower?

But such a difficulty made Yi Yun itch to try.

He did not immediately enter the Door of Misty Rain but he looked at Shui Ningshuang instead.

“Senior Ningshuang, this junior has a question and is unsure if he should ask.”

“Oh? What do you want to know?”

Shui Ningshuang smiled at Yi Yun. Typically, warriors who participated in such an assessment would rush to be right in front, afraid that the best herbs would be snatched by others. However, despite Yi Yun being very strong, he was in no hurry. This made her curious as to what Yi Yun would ask.

“This junior wants to know what happens if this junior happens to come across other precious herbs other than the ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower after entering Felicitous Rain Lord’s herb garden?”

When Yi Yun asked such a question, it left everyone somewhat dumbfounded.

Anyone could tell that even Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue were finding it extremely difficult to pluck a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower. Even a eight or nine thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower would be difficult enough!

Not only did Yi Yun want a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower, he was planning on plucking a few others in passing!

This is way too ridiculous!

“Oh? You have so much confidence?” Shui Ningshuang gave Yi Yun a surprise glance. She knew that Yi Yun wasn’t a simple person, but she refused to believe that Yi Yun could complete such a feat.

A year ago, Shui Ningshuang had seen a projection array of Yi Yun’s battle with Chi Zhuiyun. Yi Yun was stronger than Chi Zhuiyun, but he wasn’t that much stronger.

“If you have the ability, you can take them away. However, the rule is that you can only take one of every strain!”

Inside the Door of Misty Rain, the herbs were grown in different areas. The same herbal strain was grown in the same vicinity. Since he could only take one of each strain, it meant that Yi Yun had to go very far to pluck the second herb.

Such a difficulty left people secretly horrified, but they never expected Yi Yun to nod and say, “Alright.”

Shui Ningshuang’s brows pricked up. “As the saying goes, heroes come from youths, but I need to remind you. The deeper you go into the Door of Misty Rain, the higher the difficulty will be. You must leave sufficient stamina to walk out of the Door of Misty Rain. Do not be overly greedy. If you lack the energy to return, you will only come back empty-handed!”

“Senior, thank you for your advice. I will do my best to choose only herbs that are within my grasps. Actually… herb-picking is my original line of work.” Yi Yun said with a smile.

It had been decades in the blink of an eye. The scenes of his herb-picking days back in the Tai Ah Divine City were still fresh in his mind. Those days were really a cherished memory.

Herb-picking was Yi Yun’s original line of work? No one understood what Yi Yun meant, but at that moment, Yi Yun had finally moved towards the front of the Door of Misty Rain.

970 - : This is my original line of work

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was about to cross the Door of Misty Rain.

After witnessing Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue enter the Divine Lord’s herb garden, no one doubted Yi Yun’s strength. The light curtain would definitely be cracked opened by Yi Yun.

Amongst Yi Yun’s weapons, be it the broken sword or the 999 flying sabers, they all left a deep impression on others.

Just as people were waiting to see how Yi Yun would crack open the light curtain, Yi Yun did not use any weapon. He walked towards the light curtain empty-handed.

“He wants to crack it with his bare fists?”

People were stunned. Yi Yun really was never one to take the beaten path.

Song Wuchen felt extremely irritated when he saw how Yi Yun was not using a weapon. His instincts told him that the first assessment was a result of Yi Yun’s tampering.

The Oracle Fey Kingdom king also noticed Song Wuchen’s change in expression. In fact, his attitude towards Yi Yun was no different from Song Wuchen’s. Yi Yun was not a genius of his Oracle Fey Kingdom and Yi Yun had surpassed Chi Zhuiyun, so this obviously made the Oracle Fey Kingdom king uncomfortable.

“That Yi Yun might have some strength, but he is way too arrogant. He previously made such a bold statement that he would pluck other precious herbs in addition to the ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower. Does he really think the Divine Lord’s herb garden is his backyard?”

The Oracle Fey Kingdom said. Song Wuchen responded with a heavy expression, “He plans on using his bare hands to rip apart the light curtain, but by doing so, he would definitely expend more energy than when using a weapon. Every step in my master’s herb garden would expend a great deal of energy upon entry. By trying to eagerly show off his entry, Yi Yun will expend even more energy. However, he doesn’t know that when he starts picking herbs, every additional ounce of stamina retained would give him an additional chance of victory!”

Although Song Wuchen had screwed up in the first assessment, he was still an examiner. His evaluation was something many people felt reasonable.

“A young man’s contention is only to make his presence felt.”

The Oracle Fey Kingdom king stroked his beard and echoed Song Wuchen. But before he finished his sentence, his voice got stuck. His perfect smiling expression froze completely on his face.

He watched as Yi Yun simply took a step into the light curtain. As his right foot entered the Door of Misty Rain, a light blue light curtain effused circular ripples. It did not stop Yi Yun’s advancement at all.

Following that, Yi Yun’s body went through as the ripples in the light curtain increased in size. It was as if Yi Yun had penetrated a water membrane in an extremely natural manner without him even slowing down.

“What!?”

Everyone watched astounded. What the hack. Did he know how to walk through walls?

“Did I see wrong? Could Yi Yun’s body not be real?”

“Is the light curtain he penetrated the same one as the one we attempted?”

The warriors that had been barred entry nearly popped their eyes out when they saw the scene.

They had used all their strength but had failed to cross the light curtain. They could only tolerate in silence when Chi Zhuiyun stabbed it open with a strike. After all, Chi Zhuiyun’s offensive strength was crazily strong, but now, for Yi Yun, he…simply walked through it!

Did the light curtain Yi Yun walk through a fake one?

However, to name the person who had the ugliest expression, it wasn’t the assessees, but Song Wuchen.

He had just commented on Yi Yun before such a situation occurred. From the relaxed manner Yi Yun walked through it, he probably didn’t even use any stamina, much less expend his strength!

Today’s Divine Lord assessment was nothing but a nightmare for Song Wuchen. Be it the Nine Palatial Array from before or the Door of Misty Rain, his face had been smacked so much that it began sounding with “Pa Pa” sounds.

“Fuck, there must be something wrong with the light curtain!”

Black Tiger, who had smashed his face in, could not accept the situation. Seeing Yi Yun cross the light curtain, he roared and charged right after Yi Yun.

Just as he was about to slam into the light curtain, Black Tiger had a tiny bit of apprehension and hesitation. However, seeing Yi Yun’s back, he wrenched his heart and roared once again, slamming his fist straight at the Door of Misty Rain’s light curtain!

Tiger Split!

A black tiger’s claw struck the light curtain and immediately following that…

Boom!

With a loud explosion, Black Tiger’s strike bounced back at him, slamming him heavily in the chest. Black Tiger cried out in pain and like a torn bag of blood, he flew back before slamming heavily to the ground once more.

After being inflicted with two rounds of severe injuries, in addition to the mental setback he had, Black Tiger almost couldn’t climb back up after hitting the ground.

When the assessees present saw Black Tiger’s state, they fell silent. As the Felicitous Rain Lord was in the Oracle Fey Kingdom, most of the warriors that came to participate in the assessment came from the Oracle Fey Kingdom. They did not fully understand Yi Yun, who came from the Luo clan disciples. Now, they finally saw the gap between them and Yi Yun. It was something that made them lack the courage to even chase after him.

And at that moment in the crowd…

“Whew! Whew!”

Two consecutive beams of light flashed. One of them was thin and had pale skin, giving him a sinister look. Another one was short and fat, but looked harmless in nature.

The two of them had made their move almost simultaneously.

“Peng!”

The light curtain cracked as a large gap opened. The two of them entered the Divine Lord’s herb garden.

“Oh? Those two?”

Many people were astounded. The duo were unknowns. In the alliance’s six factions, amongst each faction’s top disciples, other than Tianya Haoyue and Chi Zhuiyun, Luo Huo’er, Princess White Fox, Goddess Xi Ye, did not particpate in the in-name disciple assessment. They chose to stay in their respective factions.

Other than these people, who else had the strength to easily crack open the light curtain with a simple strike? They were no weaker compared to Chi Zhuiyun.

“Could they be Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciples?”

Many people had such guessed but when they looked at Fairy Ningshuang, they noticed her slightly frowning. From the looks of it, the duo was not Fairy Ningshuang’s in-name disciples.

Not far from Fairy Ningshuang, Elder Shi noticed the minor change in expression on Fairy Ningshuang’s face. He inquired, “Fairy, could it be that you know the two?”

Fairy Ningshuang said, “No, but I have a guess of their origins. They are not from the alliance’s six factions. It might be from a place that Master has some connections with…”

The Divine Lord’s recruitment of disciples was not limited only to the alliance, so it was not unusual to have outsiders.

“Some connections with Felicitous Rain Lord?” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king exclaimed gently. The duo’s talent was definitely extraordinary. It was unknown of their origins.

However, Shui Ningshuang did not seem to have any intentions of speaking further. In fact, she even seemed to displeased with the duo’s origins, so the Oracle Fey Kingdom king felt it impolite to inquire further.

After the fat and thin youths entered the Door of Misty Rain, they followed at an adequate pace behind Yi Yun. Fro the looks of it, they did not wish to vie with Yi Yun. Their appearance was unexpected. No one had noticed the duo prior to this, but due to the Door of Misty Rain’s selection, they suddenly stood out.

These made the assessees bemoan their inadequacies. The Door of Misty Rain was separated by a thin light curtain, but it seemed to separate them into two distinct worlds.

“The Door of Misty Rain is an assessment that reveals the gap. Just this alone has eliminated more than nine thousand people, leaving only five people behind!”

971 - : Nightmare-like Day

CKtalon  CKtalon

The immense difficulty needed to simply become a Divine Lord’s in-name disciple caused many people to give up any hope. The gap was too large, so there was no need to persist on the venture.

At the moment that Yi Yun entered the Divine Lord herb garden, he felt like he was walking at the bottom of the ocean. The surrounding Yuan Qi ocean surrounded him with immense pressure — a pressure that would constantly deplete a great deal of stamina for the warriors who entered.

“This Divine Lord herb garden is an array in itself. The array is powered by the Door of Misty Rain, and it is several times more powerful than the Demon Defying Bead from before.” Yi Yun muttered to himself.

The Door of Misty Rain was a treasure that was of a much higher grade than the Demon Defying Bead. Furthermore, there was no doubt that the array formation in the Door of Misty Rain was established by Felicitous Rain Lord personally. It was a night and day difference when compared to Song Wuchen’s Nine Palatial Array.

Through the array’s augmentation, the Yuan Qi in the Door of Misty Rain had already coalesced as a whole. It was impossible for Yi Yun to use his own strength to destroy it because his cultivation level was too low.

Even if Yi Yun fully powered the Purple Crystal, he could absorb a bit of Yuan Qi from his immediate surroundings at best. But by doing so, it would make Felicitous Rain Lord suspicious. After all, with Yi Yun’s cultivation level, it would be too amazing if he could withstand an array formation that Felicitous Rain Lord had personally set up.

After passing through the Door of Misty Rain, Yi Yun had decided not to resist the Yuan Qi pressure in it. All he did was act as a conduit to guide and mediate the Yuan Qi.

With his acute perception of energy structure, Yi Yun was like a fish swimming in the Yuan Qi ocean.

Although his stamina was being depleted, it was not at a staggering rate.

Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue, who had entered the Divine Lord herb garden before Yi Yun, were also seizing the opportunity to look for herbs.

“A Seven Heart Flower that has just germinated… It is only a thousand years old… ”

Yi Yun did not stop as he passed many Seven Heart Flowers. The flowers were located very close to the Door of Misty Rain, but even for the people who didn’t manage to enter the Door of Misty Rain, their initial targets were definitely not these flowers.

In the expansive herb garden, the ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flowers were hidden in the deep depths of the Door of Misty Rain.

As time passed, the warriors that gave up attempting entry into the Door of Misty Rain began to visually follow the few assessees who had entered. Although it was misty in the Door of Misty Rain, they were able to easily follow the assessees’ footsteps and see every flower at their feet by using their perception.

At that moment, Yi Yun had nearly caught up to Tianya Haoyue. Although Yi Yun’s pace wasn’t fast, he still proceeded at a steady pace.

Tianya Haoyue turned anxious when he noticed that Yi Yun was about to overtake him. With a heart full of indignation, he gathered his energy and sped up.

“It’s a four-petal Seven Heart Flower.”

A four-petal Seven Heart Flower was considered to be quite good. It resulted in Tianya Haoyue hesitating slightly when it appeared by his foot. However, he did not bend down to pick it because his ambition was not limited to just that.

However, after passing the four-petal Seven Heart Flower, a number of flowers that he encountered became fewer in number.

The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was richer the deeper one went into the Divine Lord herb garden, but the herbs turned more sparse.

Many herbs were hidden in the mist that was no ordinary water vapor. Instead, it was condensed from Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. In combination with the special Yuan Qi structure, one’s perception could not easily penetrate it, so the assessees could only expend their strength to disperse the mist in front of them.

Tianya Haoyue had some regrets, but he was not worried that he would never find a five-petal Seven Heart Flower.

At that moment, Tianya Haoyue, Chi Zhuiyun, and Yi Yun had gone in separate directions.

Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue headed towards the central area where the Seven Heart Flowers were planted. There was a higher likelihood of an aged Seven Heart Flower growing there.

As for the direction Yi Yun chose, it was extremely special. He had deliberately chosen a remote area, which seemed to only become increasingly remote. What Yi Yun’s feet encountered were strange and jagged rocks. The number and quality of Seven Heart Flowers dropped drastically.

What was Yi Yun doing?

Many people whispered. Even Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi were unsure.

In the remote area, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had turned extremely sparse. The mist was not as concentrated as the central areas. Was it possible for there to be an aged Seven Heart Flower here?

“What is that Yi Yun doing? Didn’t he declare that he would not only pick a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower, but he would also pick a few other herbs? With his present trajectory, it will be pretty impressive if he manages to find a three-petal Seven Heart Flower,” Song Wuchen said coldly.

Although he was Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple, he was not the owner of the Door of Misty Rain. He did not know much more about the Door of Misty Rain than others.

But in fact, Yi Yun could clearly tell through his energy vision that this area was not considered to be a ‘remote’ area. On the contrary, the reason why the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi appeared thin was because the energy was being extracted through a special method.

…

At that point in time, the assessment had gone on for half an hour. Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue’s energy reserves were beginning to empty themselves. Although they knew that there was a higher chance of finding a top-grade Seven Heart Flower if they ventured deeper, they needed to reserve sufficient energy for them to return to the Door of Misty Rain’s entrance. Their best outcome would be to find a Seven Heart Flower with the most number of petals at their current depths. It was not a test of strength, but also luck as well.

At that moment, the searching Chi Zhuiyun happened to move a rock. Dispersing the mist around it, Chi Zhuiyun’s eyes lit up when he saw what was behind the rock.

“A six-petal Seven Heart Flower!”

In front of Chi Zhuiyun, there was a foot-high Seven Heart Flower. It looked crystalline and five of its petals had extended fully. The sixth petal was in the midst of its blooming. It could be considered a Seven Heart Flower that was in the interim between its five and six petal stages.

At this depth, five petal Seven Heart Flowers were already extremely few in number, but Chi Zhuiyun had managed to find a quasi-six-petal Seven Heart Flower!

Chi Zhuiyun had definitely done especially well for the Door of Misty Rain assessment.

“Haha, a six-petal Seven Heart Flower. Zhuiyun’s luck isn’t bad!” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king laughed gleefully. There was no way for him to hide the joy on his face.

“Luck is also a form of strength.” Song Wuchen, who was sitting beside the Oracle Fey Kingdom king, echoed with a smile.

By being the first to enter the Door of Misty Rain and also picking such an aged Seven Heart Flower, there was no doubt that Chi Zhuiyun’s results would win Felicitous Rain Lord’s appreciation.

As Song Wuchen said those words, he suddenly thought of something as he cast his gaze at Yi Yun. Yi Yun had entered a remote area, where the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was extremely thin. Yi Yun seemed to be blindly searching with no results to speak of.

“Young juniors tend to like having their presence felt, but this time, he might have outsmarted himself.” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king said as he stroked his beard. Yi Yun was indeed strong, but he was too greedy. Without Chi Zhuiyun’s luck, how could he obtain anything?

Song Wuchen and the Oracle Fey Kingdom king began a discussion, but at that moment, Yi Yun arrived in front of a pile of rocks. After wandering around it for a while, he finally chose a point and looked at a rock for a moment. Suddenly with a kick, he sent the rock flying.

“Oh? What the hell is he doing!?”

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s action, Song Wuchen nearly felt like cursing. In the Divine Lord herb garden, everyone picked herbs gently. Even moving a rock was done carefully to prevent harm to a possible herb. Although Yi Yun was in a remote area, such a violent and crude action incensed Song Wuchen.

Just as he was about to chide Yi Yun, the words that he had prepared were left stuck in his throat.

He stared with widened eyes as he looked on in disbelief. Underneath the rock that Yi Yun had kicked away, a foot and two-inch-tall Seven Heart Flower bounced up gently. The top of it had a beautiful corolla the size of a fist. It gently swayed from the momentum it gained.

The corolla had six petals fully extended and its seventh petal was in gestation.

It turned out to be a complete six-petal Seven Heart Flower! It was not like the quasi-six-petal that Chi Zhuiyun found.

This…

Song Wuchen stared with widened eyes. As for the Oracle Fey Kingdom king, he had stood up immediately from his seat.

What a joke. Yi Yun managed to find such a perfect six-petal Seven Heart Flower in such a remote area!?

Previously, they had claimed how Chi Zhuiyun’s luck was heaven-defying, but when compared to Yi Yun being able to find a six-petal Seven Heart Flower in such a remote area, Chi Zhuiyun’s luck could not be considered as anything at all.

“That punk got it! His luck is way too good!” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king said unhappily. It was clear that Chi Zhuiyun was inferior to Yi Yun in the second assessment.

However, before he finished his words, a scene that nearly popped his eyes out unfolded. He watched in disbelief as Yi Yun took a few steps back and kicked the rock that he kicked away back.

The amount of strength that he used was perfect. The rock rolled back to its original spot and perfectly covered the six-petal Seven Heart Flower once again. Without taking a second look, Yi Yun continued on his way, like what he found was not a six-petal Seven Heart Flower, but a weed…

972 - : Luck is also a form of strength.

CKtalon  CKtalon

What… just happened?

As the crowd watched Yi Yun walk further, with no intention to pick the six-petal Seven Heart Flower, they were left flabbergasted.

To roll a rock away in such a remote area and find a six-petal Seven Heart Flower by chance was already unbelievable, but Yi Yun kicked the rock back and walked away. It rendered the crowd speechless.

Did it mean that… Yi Yun had no interest in the six-petal Seven Heart Flower?

Although Yi Yun had previously declared his intentions of picking a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower, the facts were laid out when the assessment began. It was difficult to take even a single step in the Divine Lord herb garden. The spectators already found Yi Yun’s discovery of a six-petal Seven Heart Flower amazing, but he still planned on looking for a seven-petal Seven Heart Flower.

The others spent all day searching, but the flowers that they were overjoyed to find were inferior to what Yi Yun had just discarded. The contrast was disheartening.

At that moment, Yi Yun had continued searching for the next Seven Heart Flower.

Yi Yun also found it somewhat regretful to abandon a six-petal Seven Heart Flower. Previously, he had only sensed that there was a great deal of pure Heaven Earth Yuan Qi gathered at that spot, but he was unable to tell the quality of the Seven Heart Flower. He could only disperse the mist and take a look. But unfortunately, it was not the seven-petal Seven Heart Flower that Yi Yun wanted to find.

It wasn’t true that Yi Yun thought lowly of the six-petal Seven Heart Flower. A herb of that quality was one that Yi Yun would love to have more of. It was best if he could pick a basketful of it and return fully loaded.

However, Yi Yun had asked Shui Ningshuang previously and she had said that Yi Yun was only allowed to take one of each herbal strain.

Yi Yun wanted a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower, so he could only abandon a six-petal Seven Heart Flower.

And when Yi Yun left the area, Tianya Haoyue, who was still quite a distance away from Yi Yun, suddenly turned his gaze over and tried his best to wade towards Yi Yun’s area.

His motive could not be any clearer. He wanted the six-petal Seven Heart Flower that Yi Yun had just discarded.

He wanted what Yi Yun didn’t!

At that moment, dignity was apparently not as pragmatic as an immediate benefit. Getting a six-petal Seven Heart Flower was most important.

Not only would obtaining a six-petal Seven Heart Flower make his results for the assessment better, it would also aid his condensation of a Dao fruit greatly.

The spectators saw how Tianya Haoyue was like a fish stranded in a mud pool and moving forward bit by bit with great effort.

“That Tianya Haoyue is so shameless!”

“What a good for nothing to pick up something that someone abandoned. Is that even considered an achievement?”

Outside the Door of Misty Rain, there were sounds of protests. The protests came from the Oracle Fey Kingdom and the Luo clan.

The Luo clan clansmen obviously did not wish for the fruit of Yi Yun’s labor to be stolen by others. Even if Yi Yun doesn’t want it, it’s the same. Why should it be given to you?

As for the people from the Oracle Fey Kingdom, they were frustrated that the quasi six-petal Seven Heart Flower that Chi Zhuiyun found through his own efforts would be worse than the one that Tianya Haoyue picked through his shamelessness.

However, despite all the protests, Shui Ningshuang, who was standing in the towering tree’s hall, did not say anything. Clearly, she was tacitly allowing the outcome to be counted as results of the assessments.

In fact, Shui Ningshuang had been watching Yi Yun with interest. She was looking forward to Yi Yun giving her even more pleasant surprises.

Others may not know, but as the supervisor of the Door of Misty Rain, Shui Ningshuang obviously knew that the area that Yi Yun was walking in had an array set up specially by Felicitous Rain Lord. In this area, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was directed down into the ground as nine spirit roots. They were like nine dragons surrounding a pearl, with the herbs in the middle being given the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi that they needed to grow.

And it was because of this reason that made the region appear thin in Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. It had been extracted by the spirit roots.

It was clearly not a coincidence that Yi Yun would come here. He had definitely discovered something.

It was truly interesting.

Since Shui Ningshuang did not stop Tianya Haoyue, it was pointless to grumble any further. They watched helplessly as Tianya Haoyue ‘squirmed’ in great difficulty towards the remote area. And just as he was about to successfully pick the six-petal Seven Heart Flower, a thin youth suddenly appeared from Tianya Haoyue’s side at a much faster speed. It was one of the mysterious youths of the fat and thin duo.

The person walked straight to where the six-petal Seven Heart Flower was and flipped the rock.

What?

Everyone was incensed. The duo had been loitering in front of the Door of Misty Rain’s entrance, so no one had paid any attention to them. But now, the thin youth had suddenly appeared to pick the six-petal Seven Heart Flower.

They did not spend any effort while others were searching, so they had conserved a lot of their stamina. Now, they suddenly jumped out to to get something for the cheap. Such a despicable act was more disgusting than Tianya Haoyue’s actions.

“There was really no effort wasted to search for it!” The thin youth muttered to himself as he plucked the Seven Heart Flower.

“Got it. It’s really a good herb!” The thin youth said as he looked at Yi Yun. The corners of his mouth curled upwards as a mocking look suffused in his eyes. Could you be any dumber to give a six-petal Seven Heart Flower that you painstakingly found away?

“Thanks!” The thin youth said, causing Yi Yun to turn back and look at the thin youth.

“So, he is taking me for a ride.” Yi Yun stroked his chin. He had looked in the wrong spot and happened to find a six-petal Seven Heart Flower. Since he could not take it away, he could only helplessly leave it in its original spot. But now, not only had someone taken the fruits of his labor, he had been taken as a fool. This displeased Yi Yun.

And at that moment, the fat youth also slowly walked over.

He smiled and with his butt chins, he looked rather kind.

The fat and thin duo began to tail Yi Yun at an appropriate distance. Now, wherever Yi Yun went, they would follow.

It was apparent that after tasting certain benefits, they were clearly just waiting for Yi Yun to find herbs for them to reap the spoils without lifting a finger.

“Fuck, what shameless people!”

Outside the Door of Misty Rain, there were loud protests. It was not even limited to the Luo clan, even people from the other factions in the alliance could not stand seeing this.

“To think that such a precious flower fell into the hands of those two wretches. Feeding it to the dogs would be better!” An agitated Luo clan disciples cursed.

He wished that he could charge inside the Door of Misty Rain and beat the duo brutally.

The duo turned a deaf ear to the invectives and protests outside the Door of Misty Rain.

The fat youth looked at Yi Yun with a beaming smile. Yi Yun had stopped for quite a while.

“Why did you stop? My brother already has a six-petal Seven Heart Flower, but I don’t. Why don’t you give me the next one that you find?” The fat youth said with a grin.

The tone that he used only tempted others into giving him two hard slaps.

Yi Yun pinched the tip of his nose and said with a smile, “Sure.”

973 - : Reaping the spoils without lifting a finger

CKtalon  CKtalon

The fat and thin duo, who had unknown origin, were like wolves as they followed Yi Yun, like they had caught the scent of fresh meat.

People began to realize that although their actions were despicable and shameless, their strength was in no way inferior. Inside the Door of Misty Rain, there was resistance everywhere, but their limbs were nimble and they moved like flowing water. It was like they were accustomed to the environment in the Door of Misty Rain, which gave them plenty of energy to spare.

Just this point alone made them stronger than Tianya Haoyue!

“Where did those two people sprout out from?”

Everyone was astonished. Other than the six-country alliance, there were indeed uncountable large factions in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. However, true top geniuses were not easily obtained commodities. If Tianya Haoyue were to leave the six-country alliance and go to another faction, he would definitely be treasured as a talent by the seniors there. However, he turned out to be the worse when placed in the Door of Misty Rain. The fat and thin duo didn’t look particularly impressive, but their talent was actually that high?

Those from the World Margin Sect were the ones who had suffered the greatest setback. The strongest member of their sect’s younger generation was so easily surpassed by two random people?

“Fairy Ningshuang, who are those two… ?”

In the towering tree’s hall, a internal Elder of the World Margin Sect could not help but ask.

From Fairy Ningshuang’s previous expression, it was quite certain that she knew about their origins. The World Margin Sect did not care about it previously, but just moments ago, they had snatched the flower from Tianya Haoyue and they had completely exceeded Tianya Haoyue. He could no longer sit still.

Fairy Ningshuang frowned slightly as she seemed to recall some unpleasant memories.

People were curious about the fat and thin duo’s faction that they originated from. Was it Felicitous Rain Lord’s rival? How could disciples of a rival dare to participate in Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciple recruitment? Wouldn’t it be courting death!?

After a long silence, Fairy Ningshuang said, “I previously noticed their cultivation techniques, so they most likely come from the Immortal Rain Sect. It’s Master’s sect.”

“Immortal Rain Sect? Felicitous Rain Lord’s sect?” Everyone was astonished!

Felicitous Rain Lord had never established a sect or Fey country that belonged to him. Could it be that the Immortal Rain Sect was a sect that Felicitous Rain Lord came from before he became a Divine Lord?

“Immortal Rain Sect? Pardon this old man’s ignorance, but I have never heard of it.” The World Margin Sect’s Elder said.

“The Immortal Rain Sect is a seclusive sect, so it is normal if none of you have heard of it. The Immortal Rain Sect was the sect that Master grew up in. Master is the son of the Immortal Rain Sect’s Sect Leader. But now, the Immortal Rain Sect no longer has any ties with Master.”

Shui Ningshuang did not plan on speaking much about it. In fact, Felicitous Rain Lord’s talent was not considered to be great in his youth. The competition in the Immortal Rain Sect was intense, so even the Immortal Rain Sect’s Sect Leader’s son would be ostracized if his talent was inadequate.

To be born from a seclusive sect and also be the son of the Sect Leader did not necessarily mean it was a good thing. Mighty martial figures had extremely long lifespans. They had several male offspring and many of the bastard male offspring had no status. Under such circumstances, the familial ties between father and son were extremely lukewarm. If a child did not have talent, their deaths did not mean much.

Felicitous Rain Lord never had much feelings for the Immortal Rain Sect, and due to later sequences of events, it caused Felicitous Rain Lord and the Immortal Rain Sect to increasingly become estranged with each other.

As a large sect, the Immortal Rain Sect did things in a cold and ruthless manner. Because of one final matter, it caused the relationship between Felicitous Rain Lord and the Immortal Rain Sect to completely break down. From that moment on, Felicitous Rain Lord had nothing to do with the Immortal Rain Sect.

“Oh, so there was such deep origins!” Although Shui Ningshuang did not say much, most of the important figures in the hall had various guesses in their minds.

Felicitous Rain Lord had begun traveling around the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven very early on. It was likely for him to have left the Immortal Rain Sect by then. However, the Immortal Rain Sect probably never expected for Felicitous Rain Lord to slowly mature into a Divine Lord after he severed connections with it!

No matter how powerful the Immortal Rain Sect was, a Divine Lord was definitely an absolute mainstay that they needed. So how could they not regret? Furthermore, Felicitous Rain Lord also had the remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ in his possession!

Unfortunately, it was already extremely difficult for the Immortal Rain Sect to mend their relations with Felicitous Rain Lord after he became a Divine Lord.

Without needing Shui Ningshuang to elaborate further, people had guesses of what happened later.

The Immortal Rain Sect probably always had the intentions of getting Felicitous Rain Lord back into the Immortal Rain Sect. Unfortunately, how could a proud maverick like Felicitous Rain Lord agree to it?

“No wonder. The news of Felicitous Rain Lord’s recruitment of in-name disciples was only proliferated in the alliance. It was unexpected that there would be outsiders coming here. But if it’s the Immortal Rain Sect that constantly pays attention to Felicitous Rain Lord, it would not be strange.” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king muttered to himself.

He naturally did not like the fat and thin Immortal Rain Sect disciples. However, the Immortal Rain Sect was the birthplace of Felicitous Rain Lord after all. On account of them raising him in his youth, Felicitous Rain Lord would not negatively deal with the two juniors. However, it was unlikely he would take them in as in-name disciples.

“The Immortal Rain Sect must have cultivated some rain laws. It’s no wonder that I find that the two of them can move so freely in the Door of Misty Rain. The environment of the Door of Misty Rain probably suits their cultivation the best.” Another Elder of a large faction said.

“Not only that. They are about to condense their Dao fruits. Their cultivation levels are higher than Yi Yun’s!”

They were disciples of a seclusive sect and they specialized in rain laws. Inside the Door of Misty Rain, they were like fish meeting water. Under such circumstances, they had a lot more advantages than Yi Yun!

And now, Yi Yun was searching for the herbs, but they were following him leisurely. They conserved their energy and waited for Yi Yun to turn weary!

They would stroll over briskly and search only when Yi Yun began searching certain spots.

Such actions were really annoying.

Yi Yun obviously could not hear the discussion in the towering tree’s hall. Yi Yun did not know about the duo’s strength and origins. Without the proper information, Yi Yun was facing quite an adverse situation.

Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi, who were from the Luo clan, felt a little anxious.

“A six-petal Seven Heart Flower is already not bad. Back when he saw it, he should have picked it. Could it be that up to now, Yi Yun still plans to pick a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower?” Elder Shi muttered to himself anxiously.

But as the person involved, Yi Yun remained completely unaware as he continued to search for herbs.

The corners of Song Wuchen’s mouth gradually curled up. Although he did not like the fat and thin duo that suddenly appeared, he would be delighted if they were able to cause Yi Yun to suffer a setback.

And at that moment, Yi Yun came to a stop. He stood on the spot for a long period of time.

The region that Yi Yun was standing in did not look special. Beside him, there was a ring of fragmented rock. But beneath Yi Yun’s feet, there was a black rock about one meter in diameter. The black rock looked heavy and unremarkable.

Song Wuchen’s brows pricked up slightly. He was not too concerned because he believed that Yi Yun would leave after a while. However, he never expected Yi Yun to constantly circle the black rock, like he was probing something. Yi Yun had done that for thirty minutes.

974 - : Origins of the Duo

CKtalon  CKtalon

In Yi Yun’s eyes, the black rock beneath his feet and the area that he was standing on were extraordinary.

He had previously detected that the small world inside the Door of Misty Rain was divided into several regions. Every region had a large array underpinning it. And the Seven Heart Flowers were growing in one of those regions.

As for the tiny plot of land beneath his feet, it was where the core of the Seven Heart Flower’s array was! And deep underground, there was a terrifying source of energy.

Yi Yun had confirmed that the reason why this area appeared remote and had thin Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was due to the massive energy source that was hidden deep underground.

The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had been condensed into a spirit root, and the nine underground spirit roots were gathered at that point!

Felicitous Rain Lord had used an array to seal the spirit roots and the seal was very robust naturally. But in fact, there was always a tiny bit of energy that would escape. As there were massive amounts of energy in the Door of Misty Rain, even a tiny leak was no trifling matter. Under such circumstances, an enchanted artifact had been specially placed at the gathering point of the spirit roots, so it could seal the diffusing underground energy.

The enchanted artifact was the large, black rock. In fact, it was not a black rock… it was a huge seal.

And beneath the large seal was a herb!

The herb was extraordinary. It had vast amounts of energy that caused the surrounding space to distort. It created a small, independent isolated space.

Yi Yun’s stop here lasted for nearly an hour, but he did not seem to have any intentions of leaving.

“What’s the punk trying to do? Is he deliberately trying to act mysterious?”

Another fifteen minutes passed, but Yi Yun remained at the same spot. The fat and thin Immortal Rain Sect disciples were already running out of patience.

“Senior Brother, is it possible that the punk has run out of luck? Was the six-petal Seven Heart Flower that he found before just a result of good luck?” Scrawny transmitted his voice to Fatty.

Fatty was still grinning, giving him a kind and amiable look. He shook his head and said, “It can’t be a coincidence that the first thing that he found in such a remote area was a six-petal Seven Heart Flower. He must have some unique method. As for now… ”

A brilliant flash glimmered in Fatty’s eyes as he looked at Yi Yun and said, “I know you are waiting for an opportunity to attack the both of us. However, I advise you to hold that thought. If not, your outcome can only be described as tragic.”

“In addition, I’m advising you to withdraw from Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple recruitment. This is not something that you can encroach on. Be careful about losing your life after being embroiled in it.”

Fatty’s second sentence was said with a Yuan Qi voice transmission and it was filled with subtext.

Yi Yun’s eyebrows pricked up. The fatty sounded like he had quite a backing.

However, Yi Yun ignored the fatty’s background. He couldn’t even be bothered because he did things as he pleased. He was not one to abide by the wishes of others.

“Are you saying that I’m waiting for an opportunity to attack the both of you? It seems like you think too highly of yourself. Don’t you want to try digging for herbs? Then keep waiting.”

Yi Yun’s voice sounded indolent. But just as he finished his sentence, the Yuan Qi in his body suddenly surged. It was like a lazy lion that had suddenly stirred!

Oh?

The two Immortal Rain Sect disciples immediately turned vigilant. They nearly attacked Yi Yun.

But at that moment, all of Yi Yun’s energy sank. Open!

Boom!

The black rock beneath Yi Yun’s feet was forcefully moved away by him!

With the black seal being released, energy surged out. The tiny sealed space beneath the black seal had also been cracked open by Yi Yun!

A resplendent light that resembled a divine rainbow shone out, dazzling everyone’s eyes.

Amid the divine light, a flower about half the height of a human bloomed. It had a large, beaming corolla with seven petals surrounding it. It looked gorgeous.

A ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower!

Everyone was astounded. It was truly a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower!

Yi Yun had nonchalantly found a six-petal Seven Heart Flower previously, and now, he had managed to find a perfect seven-petal ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower!

It was likely that this was the only ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower that resided in the Door of Misty Rain. Yet, it had been found by Yi Yun. How did he do it?

The bold declaration that Yi Yun made about picking a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower had been seen as an overestimation of himself, but he had really accomplished what he had set out to do!

A divine flower brought with it an irrepressible allure as it attracted the eyes of everyone.

It included the two disciples of the Immortal Rain Sect.

Their eyes lit up and in them, there was only greed.

“Great! Great! It’s really a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower. Haha, you did well!” Fatty said to Yi Yun.

Once he had the ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower in his possession, the Dao fruit that he condensed would be enhanced. He would be able to gain more resources from the Immortal Rain Sect!

Yi Yun looked at Fatty as he revealed a cold smile.

Fatty walked towards Yi Yun as his body began to rumble. “I previously told you that certain things are not meant for you to encroach on. It seems that it didn’t get into your mind. Do you think that becoming Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciple will allow you to skyrocket? How naive!”

“Didn’t you realize? There is only one rule for the herb-picking in the Door of Misty Rain. It is only about taking the herb out of the Door of Misty Rain, but there is no restriction on the methods.”

“Then, using force to snatch is also permissible!”

Even after Fatty said this, the smile on his face remained. But now, his smile gave people chills.

As Fatty walked towards Yi Yun, Scrawny pulled out a sword from his interspatial ring.

The sword was soft like a poisonous snake’s tongue. It was completely blue in color, like it was immersed in poison. And Scrawny seemed to give people a sickly feeling, like he was a poisonous snake himself.

Fatty with his tremendous Yuan Qi was accompanied by Scrawny, who had a strange aura and vicious techniques!

The two of them came from a seclusive sect and their cultivation levels were higher than Yi Yun’s. Their offensive power was obvious!

“Yi Yun, be careful!”

Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi turned anxious. Even though they knew that Yi Yun’s strength was extraordinary, it was impossible for him to withstand the combined attacks of the duo!

Any one of the two could be even stronger than Chi Zhuiyun. And back when Yi Yun defeated Chi Zhuiyun, he had only barely won!

At that moment, Fatty moved!

Although he was fat, his attack was like a tribulation coming down from the heavens. The momentum that he had was boundless!

Rain of Annihilation!

At the instant Fatty attacked, dark clouds rolled and shrouded the heaven and earth with endless pouring rain. It was like a lake had burst in the nine heavens, sending endless water to rain down in torrents!

In the rain water, every drop of rain was imprinted with nomological runes and each drop was tremendously powerful!

Elder Shi’s expression changed. This was a supreme technique of the Immortal Rain Sect and its power was not something that any Luo clan cultivation technique could compare with! Fatty’s strength was extremely formidable. It was not apparent from before, but the moment he made his move, it caused the world to take on another color!

“A seclusive clan’s mystic technique is indeed powerful.” Unlike Elder Shi, Song Wuchen’s eyes were filled with excitement. The strike would leave Yi Yun severely injured even if he did not die!

And when Fatty used the Rain of Annihilation, Scrawny attacked as well. He slashed out with his sword, causing a blue sword beam to tear through the void. Like a wyrm that rolled in the rain, it charged at Yi Yun!

The combined strength of the duo had a massive stance that seemed indomitable!

Yi Yun’s heart tightened when he saw such a terrifying attack. It was not to be underestimated. The fat and thin duo had extraordinary strength. The combined power of their strikes was probably enough to kill any Dao Manifestation realm genius.

Even Yi Yun found it extremely taxing to withstand the combined forces of the duo.

As Yi Yun saw how the blue sword beams and the endless Rain of Annihilation were enveloping him, all of his Yuan Qi surged out. However, the Yuan Qi was not directed at the two Immortal Rain Sect disciples, it was directed at the ground beneath him!

Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi released a rumbling roar deep underground. That strike of his had stirred the spirit roots in the ground!

Previously, Yi Yun had moved the black seal which loosened the array formation that was suppressing the spirit roots. Now, with a concentrated strike from Yi Yun, together with the Purple Crystal being a conduit, it finally stirred the sleeping nine spirit roots underground!

Buzz!

The ground shook violently as the land and mountains shook. At the instant that the Rain of Annihilation was about to land, the nine spirit root energy underground blasted out like a volcano’s eruption!

Although the energy was only a tiny percentage of the overall energy that the spirit roots possessed, it was as terrifying as a judgment from heaven!

Such an oppression burst through the Door of Misty Rain and into Brocade Spring Court. The legendary figures from various factions in the towering tree’s hall had drastic changes in expression. It was impossible for a junior to have such domineering power!

“Back! Get back!”

All the assessees that were gathered in front of the Door of Misty Rain exclaimed as they retreated. Ignoring the attack itself, just the terrifying pressure was something that prevented them from standing in front of the Door of Misty Rain!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Nine twirling dragons ascended into the heavens as they met the Rain of Annihilation and the blue sword beams!

On one side, it was the combined attack of two junior disciples, while on the other side, it was a worldly power that had gathered in the Door of Misty Rain for thousands, if not tens of thousands of years. How could the two sides be compared?

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed like multiple thunderclaps roared in the sky. The blue sword beam was shattered immediately, while the Rain of Annihilation was swept clean. The gloomy clouds in the sky were blown away, leaving nothing behind!

What!?

The two Immortal Rain Sect disciples stared with widened eyes as they found it unbelievable!

What was Yi Yun’s attack? How could it be so powerful!? Ignoring the fact that he was only a Heaven Ascension realm junior, even sect Elders would not be able to produce an attack that possessed that much power!

Their assured combined attack was like withered leaves and dead twigs in front of the nine dragons. They were obliterated!

The explosion from the impact happened too quickly. The two were unable to react in time as their bodies were swept away by the tail of one of the dragons!

‘”Puah!”

Fatty’s body was like a blood bag that had just burst. A large mouthful of blood spewed out of his mouth like a fountain. As for Scrawny, his body was sent flying like a tiny chick. Numerous bones in his body fractured and his body was covered in injuries. His body was mangled and it could not be any worse!

“Peng!”

“Peng!”

With two loud thuds, the two crashed onto the ground heavily. Blood splattered on the ground, dyeing the scattered rocks red.

Scrawny heaved in pain while Fatty endured the pain of his bones stabbing into his flesh. He could no longer maintain the smile on his face and instead, he looked dazedly at the aftershocks of the energy explosion in the sky. His face was filled with an incredulous look.

No, it’s impossible. It was impossible for Yi Yun to produce such an attack. What the hell just happened!?

975 - : As Powerful as Lightning

CKtalon  CKtalon

Outside the Door of Misty Rain, there was silence despite there being tens of thousands of people gathered near it. One could even hear a pin drop.

That attack was way too terrifying. Even many of the alliance’s Elders in the towering tree’s hall were startled. They didn’t even have the confidence to withstand the strike head on.

“That is definitely not an attack that a junior at the Heaven Ascension realm can produce. If I’m not wrong, the nine divine dragons is a worldly power that resides in the Door of Misty Rain itself. It’s not Yi Yun’s attack!” An Elder in the towering tree’s hall said.

The others immediately understood what had happened when he said that.

If Yi Yun had used the Door of Misty Rain’s worldly power, it was understandable why it was so terrifying.

However, how did Yi Yun manage to accomplish that?

The Door of Misty Rain was a Divine Lord’s enchanted artifact!

Just to see through the hidden worldly power in the Door of Misty Rain was already a herculean task, let alone triggering it!

How could Yi Yun have such abilities at the Heaven Ascension realm?

Many people looked at Shui Ningshuang. They could tell that the cold and aloof woman was looking at Yi Yun with uncalm eyes.

No one understood what Yi Yun had done better than her. He had borrowed the momentum of the attack to strike at the Immortal Rain Sect disciples. It was apparent that Yi Yun had discovered the nine dragon spirit roots array hidden deep underground, but it was a miracle for a junior like him to be able to accomplish what he had done.

She felt that she could no longer understand Yi Yun. This was the first time in her long life that a junior had left such an impression on her!

“If it’s the energy contained in the Door of Misty Rain, the two Immortal Rain Sect disciples are considered to be lucky to have survived.” A sect Elder said as he looked at the ill-lucked fat and thin duo.

“The reason that they survived it is because they were not facing the main attack. They were only struck by the sweep of one of the dragons’ tail.” Sitting in a particular corner, Elder Shi explained.

Although Yi Yun had triggered the explosion from the Door of Misty Rain’s worldly power, he was unable to guide the direction of its attack. Therefore, the nine divine dragons charged straight for the firmaments, and a large portion of the energy was wasted. Only a dragon’s tail had struck the duo, but they were already inflicted with serious injuries from such a simple strike.

“It’s good that no one died. If someone had died… the Immortal Rain Sect might not be willing to take things lying down… ”

Elder Duanmu heaved a sigh of relief. He was still worried about the Immortal Rain Sect. The Luo clan did not have the courage to face up to a large reclusive sect.

Just as Elder Shi was about to echo him, his eyelids jumped when he saw Yi Yun taking large strides towards Fatty. With a foot, Yi Yun stamped on Fatty’s chest.

“Bam!”

Yi Yun’s foot was augmented with strength, so it was a heavy stamp!

Fatty was already seriously injured, so even if he could withstand the heavy impact, his ribs were still fractured. His organs were stabbed by the bones fragment, causing blood bubbles to spew out of Fatty’s mouth.

“Where’s the flower the both of you picked?” Yi Yun asked while his foot rested on Fatty.

Fatty’s rotund face twitched. Having come from the Immortal Rain Sect, the figures of the alliance’s six factions were only countryside geniuses to him. How could he have ever expected that he would suffer from the ruthless beatings of a countryside genius?

“Do… do you know who I am? I come from the Immortal Rain Sect. The faction backing me is one beyond your imagination. It still won’t be too late if you immediately beg for mercy. If you attack me again, you will die a miserable death!” Fatty gnashed his teeth as he threatened Yi Yun. He felt like he was a lofty prince that was being beaten by a villager in the countryside. So how could he not be furious?

“Get me to beg for mercy?” Yi Yun laughed. “It’s funny how you are threatening me in your present circumstances. You really do know how to spell the word death!”

All of Yi Yun’s energy was infused in his foot as he stamped down again!

“Ka-cha!”

The crisp sound of bones fracturing could be heard. The ground beneath Fatty’s body collapsed as his entire body sank into the ground. His sternum was fractured as he was covered in blood.

Upon seeing this scene, the eyelids of the upper echelons in the towering tree’s hall twitched.

Fatty’s declaration of the Immortal Rain Sect was unable to threaten Yi Yun at all. Yi Yun was truly a ruthless and decisive person.

In fact, Yi Yun had already guessed that Fatty had an impressive background.

He had never heard of the Immortal Rain Sect, but he had a vague guess that it was a faction that surpassed the Luo clan.

It was not the first time that Yi Yun had offended a faction that far exceeded the scope of his strength. Back when he was in the Fire Cloud State, he had similarly beaten Ran Yu from the Ran family clan as well.

Without any mercy, he took off Fatty’s interspatial ring, followed by Scrawny’s.

“Cha!”

A Sword of the Will appeared in between Yi Yun’s eyebrows, afterwhich it shattered the mental imprints that the duo had placed on their respective interspatial rings!

Following that, Yi Yun used his perception to probe the interspatial rings without any obstruction.

To warriors, items in their interspatial ring were considered to be private. For example, there were cultivation techniques, mystic manuals, charms, etc. There were many things that were used as trump cards to protect their lives. There were some opportunities that they had discovered themselves but were not made public. Some of them were not meant for the eyes of others.

Having an interspatial ring ransacked was an absolute humiliation to warriors.

However, the duo was heavily injured, so they were powerless to stop him. They could only watch helplessly as Yi Yun freely searched their interspatial rings. Their eyes, that looked like cracking glass, indicated how much they wanted to rip Yi Yun into pieces.

In such a manner, Yi Yun found the six-petal Seven Heart Flower that Scrawny had previously picked. After that, he nonchalantly found a spot that had rather rich Yuan Qi before planting the flower in it.

Upon seeing this scene, everyone outside the Door of Misty Rain was rendered speechless. Yi Yun did not need the six-petal Seven Heart Flower at all. He had taken the six-petal Seven Heart Flower back only to replant it.

“Yi Yun! I’ll remember you!” Fatty said through clenched teeth. His eyes seemed like they were penetrating Yi Yun.

Yi Yun frowned as killing intent flashed in his heart. He nearly attacked Fatty to finish him, but if he killed Fatty, the Immortal Rain Sect would naturally find fault with him. But if he did not kill Fatty, Fatty would return to Immortal Rain Sect and mobilize his powers to destroy him.

The two outcomes were not too different.

As Yi Yun was pondering about it, a divine beam of light shot into the Door of Misty Rain. It wrapped itself around the fat and thin youths and it dragged them out.

The person responsible for the act was Shui Ningshuang.

After being severely injured by Yi Yun, the duo naturally could not leave the Door of Misty Rain using their own strength.

“Pa! Pa!”

The two Immortal Rain Sect disciples fell heavily in Brocade Spring Court and were looked at by tens of thousands of people.

At that moment, the duo even had thoughts of committing suicide.

Revenge!

He definitely wanted revenge!

Fatty roared in his heart. He had never suffered such an outrage his entire life!

Seeing how the two Immortal Rain Sect disciples were on their last breaths, the Oracle Fey Kingdom king was somewhat troubled. After all, this event that was being held in his territory, the Oracle Fey Kingdom. He could not leave the two Immortal Rain Sect disciples in the lurch.

Besides, it was the Immortal Rain Sect, so he knew that it was wise not to offend it. He had thoughts of establishing good relations with them, so he hurriedly ordered a courtier to treat the duo’s wounds.

While doing all of this, the Oracle Fey Kingdom king looked carefully at Shui Ningshuang’s expression. He could not grasp the relationship between Felicitous Rain Lord and the Immortal Rain Sect. He guessed that with the Immortal Rain Sect being Felicitous Rain Lord’s birthplace, even if their relationship was estranged, it would not be as incompatible as fire and water…

976 - : Take mine, snatching it back again

CKtalon  CKtalon

The two Immortal Rain Sect disciples were carried to the towering tree’s hall. The Immortal Rain Sect was a lofty existence after all, so the Oracle Fey Kingdom king was not seeking reward. He only wished to act without fault. They were not stingy by using all sorts of good medicine and relics.

The person responsible for the duo’s injuries was the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s Imperial Perceptor. When he checked the two Immortal Rain Sect disciples’ injuries, he was secretly horrified. The duo were in great physical shape and they had very powerful bloodlines. However, they were still heavily injured after being hit by the dragon’s tail.

Many of their bones and meridians had been cracked. Curing them needed top healing medicines and treasured relics. The cost would make the Oracle Fey Kingdom feel the pinch.

“That Yi Yun really has endless means. I believed that Yi Yun would definitely suffer greatly when the two Immortal Rain Sect disciples joined forces, but who knew that they would be beaten up into such a state.” An Elder said with a tut.

“Any one of the two aren’t any weaker than Yi Yun. They were helpless when Yi Yun conjured the worldly power in the Door of Misty Rain. It caused the battle to be on a completely different level. Back then, even I was unable to expect Yi Yun to have such a countermeasure, let alone the duo. It’s only normal for them to have suffered.”

Typically, no matter how intricate a junior’s techniques were, it would not have been able to fool the eyes of the legendary figures, since they were on a completely different level of insight.

However, about Yi Yun’s strike in the Door of Misty Rain, the Elders present questioned if they could be able to withstand the attack without suffering as much if they were in the duo’s shoes.

After the Oracle Fey Kingdom endured the heartache of spending all the good medicine on the two Immortal Rain Sect disciples till everything was healed, everyone realized that Yi Yun had yet to exit the Door of Misty Rain!

Yi Yun was the only person left inside the Door of Misty Rain and he was still picking herbs.

They had spent about two hours dealing with the Immortal Rain Sect disciples’ injuries, but Yi Yun had remained in the Door of Misty Rain for an extended period of time.

The Yuan Qi pressure inside the Door of Misty Rain was extremely high, but Yi Yun had passed through the Seven Heart Flower plantation region, headed for another herb plantation and picked another herb before coming out.

As Yi Yun’s figure was covered in the thick mist and people’s perception unable to probe further, there was an hour when Yi Yun had completely disappeared before he appeared in the people’s vision.

No one knew what he had picked, but they noticed that at the instant that Yi Yun walked into the mist, Shui Ningshuang’s eyebrows pricked up. Her expression had changed slightly as well.

Clearly, it meant that the second herb that Yi Yun picked was not ordinary either.

He had obtained two herbs — a ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower and an unknown herb.

Outside the Door of Misty Rain, many young warriors were watching in envy. To return with treasured herbs in hand and to showcase his formidable strength in front of the six-country alliance and Felicitous Rain Lord, Yi Yun was no doubt the biggest victor at the recruitment event.

After the Door of Misty Rain’s test, the number of people that passed could be counted with one’s fingers!

The first round’s pass rate was nearly 100%, but the second round’s elimination rate was nearly 100%. The stark contrast was quite unacceptable to some people.

When Yi Yun walked out of the Door of Misty Rain, the crowd had automatically separated and carved a path out for him. Even Bear Two and Black Tiger, who previously wanted to trample on Yi Yun, had long hidden in a corner and did not dare to utter a single word. The vastness of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven as well as a true genius far exceeded their imaginations.

“Fairy Ningshuang, from this Door of Misty Rain assessment, only a few people have cleared it. About the assessments after this, do you think… ”

In the towering tree’s hall, Elder Duanmu spoke. In fact, his intentions were very clear. Although the second assessment had a few people clearing it, anyone who wasn’t blind could tell that Yi Yun was far stronger than the rest!

Elder Duanmu believed that with Yi Yun’s outstanding performance, it was already certain that Yi Yun would become the ultimate winner. It was meaningless to continue the competition. After all, could Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue pose a threat to Yi Yun?

When Elder Duanmu said those words, even the Oracle Fey Kingdom king was left without being angry, despite feeling rather aggrieved. It was originally Felicitous Rain Lord being indebted to their Imperial Patriarch which resulted in such an event. But in the end, all the benefits were given to Yi Yun from the Luo clan.

Shui Ningshuang smiled gently. Although she knew the meaning behind Elder Duanmu’s words, she did not make any comment on it.

And at that moment, Song Wuchen spoke out. He said with a livid expression, “Does the Senior think that there’s no need to compete any further? The Door of Misty Rain’s test is not a test of strength. Other than some strength which is needed to gain entrance at the beginning, all it tests is luck and the ability to search for herbs inside the Door of Misty Rain.”

“Yi Yun being able to find two wondrous herbs must have to do with a particularly special ability of his. For example, if he has the myriad nomological eyes that is recorded in the ancient books, he will be able to see through array formations and allow him to easily do such a thing. It’s the same thing with the final strike that defeated the Immortal Rain Sect disciples.”

Song Wuchen turned more incensed the more he spoke. After he realized how Yi Yun had stirred the worldly power in the Door of Misty Rain and defeated the Immortal Rain Sect disciples, he was certain that the reason why the Nine Palatial Array had problems was all because of Yi Yun’s tampering!

Since Yi Yun could even use a bit of the Door of Misty Rain’s array formation, it was obvious that he could easily crack the array Song Wuchen had set up!

Song Wuchen originally believed that this was an opportunity for him to let Felicitous Rain Lord appreciate his performance, but it was destroyed by Yi Yun. This made Song Wuchen hate Yi Yun so much that he wanted to rip him apart.

Now, how could he feel comfortable with Yi Yun standing out heads and above the crowd?

“That’s right. Yi Yun’s performance in the Door of Misty Rain has nothing much to do with strength.” The Oracle Fey Kingdom king, who was beside Song Wuchen, echoed. He still wanted to win a last chance for Chi Zhuiyun.

With the two echoing each other in great harmony, Elder Shi sneered and quipped sarcastically, “I remembered that before the beginning of the assessment, Young Master Wuchen previously said something about the assessment would not be a test of strength? But why has it come to the point where strength is the most important?”

Song Wuchen’s expression stiffened when Elder Shi figuratively smacked him in the face right on the spot. He previously knew that Yi Yun’s actual combat strength was strong, so he had deliberately not tested actual combat strength, but now he had overturned his own words.

He could only say, “Strength also includes the potential for future development, such as Dao Domains. It is directly correlated to the number and quality of Dao fruits condensed during the Dao Manifestation realm. It is also a measure for a warrior’s future development. What Master places the greatest emphasis on is a Dao Domain! If Yi Yun’s Dao Domain is mediocre, so what if he is good at herb-picking?”

When Song Wuchen said this, the Oracle Fey Kingdom king turned delighted. Yi Yun had yet to grasp a Dao Domain during his battle with Chi Zhuiyun! And in contrast, Chi Zhuiyun’s Dao Domain was his forte!

He stroked his beard and said complacently, “Speaking about Dao Domains, Zhuiyun has made another breakthrough during the past year. He can showcase it to everyone.”

Both sides began to engage in a war of words, but Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi naturally did not have much say when it came to Song Wuchen, who was an examiner. They could only look at Shui Ningshuang.

Shui Ningshuang smiled slightly and said, “There’s no need for you to argue any further. Master just sent a voice transmission to me. The assessment will be temporarily halted. In three days time, he will personally come to Brocade Spring Court to preside over the final assessment. The outcome will obviously be decided by Master.”

977 - : Returning With Herbs

CKtalon  CKtalon

What!?

Felicitous Rain Lord was going to personally preside over the final assessment!?

Upon hearing the news, everyone was astonished.

As a relatively young Divine Lord, it was hard to determine the limits to Felicitous Rain Lord’s strength. To the people present, Felicitous Rain Lord was a mighty figure who could really influence the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, but he was an existence that they were unworthy to look up to.

Now, they had learned that Felicitous Rain Lord was personally presiding over the final assessment, to the point of them being able to see him in person.

The entire Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven had trillions of living creatures, but a million years might not necessarily be enough to produce a Divine Lord. Everyone was excited when they heard the news!

Immediately, everyone in Brocade Spring Court engaged in a flurry of discussion and they were extremely excited.

“That will be all for today. In three days time, on the same spot, Yi Yun… I look forward to your performance.”

As Shui Ningshuang spoke, she stood up and glanced at Yi Yun.

Immediately, Yi Yun was once again the focus of attention. The glory gained from being valued highly by a Divine Lord was an extremely enviable matter.

Yi Yun bowed towards Shui Ningshuang. With a flick of her sleeves, Shui Ningshuang disappeared like mist clearing itself. Vanishing along with her was the Door of Misty Rain.

…

After Shui Ningshuang left, tens of thousands of people left Brocade Spring Court. With their departure, the news of a Divine Lord personally assessing prospective disciples spread throughout the Oracle Fey Kingdom like a whirlwind. Immediately after that, the news was spread to the other six countries in the alliance through various means of communication.

Everyone guessed that the reason why Felicitous Rain Lord would personally preside over the assessment was a result of Yi Yun’s extremely outstanding performance that caught his eye.

Such treatment pushed Yi Yun and the Luo clan’s status to brand new heights. In a few days, there were all sorts of visitors that came to visit Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi’s temporary residence.

Because of this, the Luo clan clansmen were extremely delighted.

However, there were also people who were jealous. Song Wuchen could deeply sense that his spot as the number one in-name disciple was facing an unprecedented challenge. Once Yi Yun became an in-name disciple, his good days would probably come to an end.

Other than Song Wuchen, the ones who similarly were upset was the fat and thin duo from the Immortal Rain Sect.

After the two Immortal Rain Sect disciples were heavily injured by Yi Yun, it was arranged for them to live in one of the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s temporary imperial palaces. And on that day, the entire palace was covered in thick vapor, which meant that there was very low visibility.

It was a Ward of Rain!

The fat and thin Immortal Rain Sect disciples were shrouded by the Ward of Rain. Their bodies were covered in the condensation of countless water essence.

Rain could nourish the lands and resuscitate thousands of creatures. It could make the world brim with life. It possessed the power of life and it also had excellent effects when it came to healing.

Many people could see the Ward of Rain that shrouded the temporary palace from their own residences.

Song Wuchen cultivated in the laws of water, so he naturally could tell the skill involved in it. He knew that it was an extremely powerful Water Domain.

“The two Immortal Rain Sect disciples are recuperating in the Ward of Rain? However, the Ward of Rain is way too terrifying. Despite such a distance, I can sense my body’s energy being influenced by the ward’s suppression. This is definitely not something that someone of the younger generation can produce… ”

As Song Wuchen muttered to himself, he saw that the Ward of Rain lasted for the rest of the day before it gradually weakened.

During this period, the temporary palace exuded a terrifying pressure. It was suffocating and prevented anyone from approaching it.

The mist was completely dispersed only late into the night. In the palace, there was a white-haired elder who had his back facing the fat and thin Immortal Rain Sect disciples. He was dressed in an azure-colored robe and his white eyebrows reached his shoulders, giving him a lofty and reclusive appearance.

“The two of you were sent to be under Felicitous Rain so as to play the role of being liaisons. But the both of you actually got beaten into such a pathetic state by a junior from a small faction? The both of you really can’t bear any major responsibilities!” The white-haired elder said coldly.

The two Immortal Rain Sect disciples were kneeling on a futon. They were previously injured and were barely breathing, but now, they had mostly recovered from their injuries. They just looked slightly pale.

Without a doubt, the Ward of Rain was a product of the white-haired elder. He had personally treated the duo’s injuries. Heavy injuries that should have taken months to treat were healed in half a day.

“Grandmaster Uncle, Junior Brother’s and my strength far exceeds that punk’s. We were only careless, causing us to fall for the punk’s trickery and ended up in such a miserable state. If it’s a competition of strength or Dao Domain, we would completely trash Yi Yun!”

“You still have hopes of competing in Dao Domains? Have you forgotten that when you exited the Door of Misty Rain, you came out without a single herb? According to the rules, the two of you have been eliminated during the second round.”

“About that… ” The duo’s stared at him with widened eyes as they were unsure about an appropriate response. They had been arrogant before. When they entered the Door of Misty Rain, they did not pick a single low-grade herb. And the only six-petal Seven Heart Flower that they picked had been snatched back by Yi Yun. In the end, they left empty-handed. According to the rules, they had failed the assessment.

“Then, what are we to do… ?”

“What else can you do? When it comes to recruiting of a disciple, the final outcome still depends on Felicitous Rain. The both of you had entered the Door of Misty Rain previously, so it means you have met the mark. As for the assessment on the last day, just participate in it as per normal. I will be there as well!”

“Felicitous Rain’s status is extraordinary so it’s impossible for him to quibble on a trivial matter about the both of you not getting any herbs. It would sully his status.” The elder said lightly. When the two of them heard that the elder would accompany them, they immediately felt relieved.

“Grandmaster Uncle, don’t worry. Yi Yun might have defeated the two of us in the Door of Misty Rain, but it was not because of his own strength. Regardless of the content of the final assessment, the both of us will definitely wipe the floor!” The two promised with great certainty.

The elder nodded and turned his head with thoughts on his mind. His old but radiant eyes looked far into the distance.

His gaze penetrated the wall and through the deep stretches of space before it landed on a pavilion in the middle of a lake on a floating island.

In the pavilion, Felicitous Rain Lord was dressed in a white robe as he was pondering over a game of Go.

He was holding a black-and-white piece but he did not respond to the gaze that came from afar, despite detecting it. He only continued with his act of placing a piece.

“Felicitous Rain oh Felicitous Rain, you are still the same… ” The white-haired elder said. It was like he was speaking to Felicitous Rain Lord, but it also seemed like he was muttering to himself. “That trivial matter that happened three hundred thousand years ago has let you bear a grudge to this day. You never understood that compared to a sect or the path to the martial peak, that matter is nothing!”

“You have your pride, but this time, the thing that I brought is something that you can’t refuse. You will never be able to escape the massive ship that is the Immortal Rain Sect on your ride to the peak. If you want to pursue the supreme peak of martial arts, how far can you go if you do not cooperate with anyone… ?”

978 - : Ward of Rain

CKtalon  CKtalon

Everyone in the Oracle Fey Kingdom was looking forward to the assessment that would happen in three days time.

A Divine Lord would be personally present. It was a grand event that had never happened in the past ten million years in the Oracle Fey Kingdom! Of course, other than the Divine Lord, the young warriors were focusing on another person, Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s stories and feats filled every restaurant in the Oracle Fey Kingdom, such as how he guided the Door of Misty Rain’s array formation to defeat the Immortal Rain Sect disciples. Now, he would be personally assessed by Felicitous Rain Lord!

The three days passed in a blink of an eye!

The streets that led to Brocade Spring Court were longed packed to the brim.

However, when the excited warriors reached the entrance to Brocade Spring Court, they were informed that Brocade Spring Court was not to be open to the public.

Felicitous Rain Lord preferred quietness and there were just too many spectating warriors.

Upon hearing the news, the crowd were stupefied. They could not even get pass the door?

Those who came with great anticipation were left extremely disappointed.

Quite a number of them had rushed here from the factions of the alliance, but Brocade Spring Court was not going to be opened to the public.

And at that moment, a Oracle Fey Kingdom Elder stood up and said, “Everyone, the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s king, and Imperial Patriarch have gained special permission from the Divine Lord to set up a projection array for everyone. When the time comes, the scenes of the assessment will be displayed through the projection array. There is no need to turn anxious.”

As the host, the Oracle Fey Kingdom definitely would not offend the people of so many other factions, so it naturally had its arrangements.

Projection array?

Many people were reluctant when they heard this. How could watching a projection array be better than watching in person?

However, on further thought, they knew that the ones who could enter Brocade Spring Court were famous figures in the alliance. If anyone could enter, Brocade Spring Court would probably be overfilled and exceed its capacity.

…

At that moment, it was strangely quiet in Brocade Spring Court.

An array had been set up in Brocade Spring Court to isolate all external sounds.

In the towering tree’s hall, in the highest Star Picking Court in Brocade Spring Court, there were musicians playing music and dancers dancing. The dancers were from either the succubus or water snake race.

Fey race women were proficient at dancing. Some races even seemed to be born to dance. These races were not good at martial arts, but the women from these races were taken in by major large factions. When they danced, their sleeves seemed to fill the sky in a beautiful display of aesthetics.

At that moment, in Star Picking Court, there were people seated who were the most prominent figures in the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

The Oracle Fey Kingdom king was only sitting on the third level on the right side. To his left sat an elder in loose yellow robes. He looked somewhat old and his eyes looked torpid. The person was the Oracle Fey Kingdom’s Imperial Patriarch, the true supreme person that wielded power in the Oracle Fey Kingdom!

And sitting in a position that corresponded to the Oracle Fey Kingdom king was a beautiful white-dressed woman. She was like an autumn rain, cool and refreshing, but she exuded a coldness that prevented people from approaching her. She was Shui Ningshuang.

And in the middle of Shui Ningshuang and the Oracle Fey Kingdom king sat a middle-aged man. He was dressed in ordinary azure-colored clothes. His aura was converged and he appeared to be simple. His looks were nothing special, but on a careful look, his aura seemed to blend perfectly into the environment. He exuded a sense of returning to one’s original roots of simplicity.

Without a doubt, this person was a person whose name had spread throughout the alliance. With a single title, he was able to make the Fey Phantasm Sect fear him — Felicitous Rain Lord!

Felicitous Rain Lord was sitting in his seat of honor while there was dancing going on below him. The dancers and musicians were carefully selected by the Oracle Fey Kingdom, but Felicitous Rain Lord did not even take a look at them, like he was waiting for something.

“Divine Lord, perhaps we can now begin?” Beside Felicitous Rain Lord, the Oracle Imperial Patriarch asked.

“No hurry.” Felicitous Rain Lord answered lightly as his gaze fell into the distance.

“Oh? Someone else is coming?”

The Oracle Imperial Patriarch thought of something. At that moment, violent spatial fluctuations appeared in the void just inches away from him. Immediately following that, the void was torn apart by a person. The person was a white-haired and browed elder who walked out of the void.

The elder had a stout figure and he was dressed in white robes. On the white robe, there were inked drawings of misty rain that shrouded immortal mountains. In the middle of his eyebrows, there was a faint runic imprint that looked like a raindrop.

“Felicitous Rain, long time no see.” The white-haired elder said.

At the moment he spoke and addressed Felicitous Rain Lord without his title, the Oracle Imperial Patriarch was alarmed. Immediately, he figured out the elder’s identity. He must be someone from the Immortal Rain Sect.

Only the people from the Immortal Rain Sect could directly address Felicitous Rain Lord without his title. As someone from the place of Felicitous Rain Lord’s birth, the elder could very possibly be Felicitous Rain Lord’s senior.

Before the elder appeared, the Oracle Imperial Patriarch did not sense anything. The elder’s strength was similarly unfathomable.

As for the others, such as Elder Duanmu and company, they too had guessed the elder’s identity.

“Old Man Changsheng, how have you been?” Felicitous Rain Lord’s expression was deadpan like he was greeting an acquaintance.

Old Man Changsheng… Was he Shi Changsheng?

The people present had never heard of Old Man Changsheng’s name, but the Oracle Imperial Patriarch had traveled around the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven in his youth and he learned a lot about the secrets of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s reclusive sects.

He had heard about Old Man Changsheng, who was an Elder of the Immortal Rain Sect.

He had made a name for himself a long time ago. The Oracle Imperial Patriarch wasn’t young either, and he was many years older than Felicitous Rain Lord. However, Shi Changsheng had already become a Supremacy when the Oracle Imperial Patriarch was still a member of the younger generation!

So much time had passed, but the old man was still alive?

The Oracle Imperial Patriarch was astonished. In the warrior’s world, one’s long lifespan was a proof of one’s strength.

Felicitous Rain Lord’s attitude did not seem to anger Old Man Changsheng.

He took a step forward and with a flash in front of everyone, he sat down beside Felicitous Rain Lord.

“Today is the day for you to recruit a disciple. It’s such a big deal that your father is very concerned about it as well.” Old Man Changsheng said.

Felicitous Rain Lord did not react towards the word ‘father’. He remained looking indifferent as he said, “Those who should and shouldn’t have come have come. Let’s begin.”

“Who is Yi Yun?” Old Man Changsheng looked at the square in front of Star Picking Court.

The warriors that were participating in the assessment were all standing there.

Old Man Changsheng scanned the square before he locked onto a youth.

“Is it him?”

Old Man Changsheng grunted lightly. He could sense that Felicitous Rain Lord thought highly of Yi Yun.

Once Yi Yun became Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple, Yi Yun could slowly climb up while accompanying Felicitous Rain Lord. It would not be impossible for him to get a chance to gain the private teachings of Felicitous Rain Lord—the remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’. How could such a treasured book fall into the hands of a nameless punk who came from the backwater countryside? It naturally had to be obtained by a disciple from the Immortal Rain Sect!

Just as Yi Yun arrived in the square, he felt like he was being stabbed by needles. He looked up and traced the sensation.

The imposing aura that shrouded him was not hidden at all because Yi Yun could sense it clearly.

He looked at the long-browed elder in Star Picking Court.

“Who the hell is that old man?”

Yi Yun frowned. He did not know who the old man was at all. He felt extremely uncomfortable with the old man’s aura shrouding him.

979 - : Shi Changsheng

CKtalon  CKtalon

The white-browed elder’s aura was mighty and boundless. It was like it had merged with the entire heaven and earth. Against the elder’s aura, Yi Yun felt that his blood seemed to coagulate. His organs were also suppressed by the aura, as though they could not function as per normal.

“Oh!?” Yi Yun frowned. From the old man’s eyes, he could see a look of disregard. “Junior, I presume your name is Yi Yun. I’ve heard about some of your feats. Many people call you a peerless genius in this tiny six-country alliance, and over time, the praises have made you arrogant to the point of you losing yourself. That is only normal!”

“But in fact, your talent is nothing impressive to me!”

“This time, Felicitous Rain’s recruitment of disciples is associated to one of my Immortal Rain Sect’s plans. Felicitous Rain is a disciple that left the Immortal Rain Sect after all, so his recruitment of disciples is actually an internal matter of my Immortal Rain Sect! I believe that you must have heard that Felicitous Rain possesses the fragmentary page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’. Don’t tell me that you believe that you have the chance of encroaching the supreme treasure of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven with that bit of background and thin foundation of yours? Be careful not to invite fatal danger on yourself!”

“If you are clever, find a chance to withdraw. In that case, I will not pursue the matter of your entrapment that harmed Shi Fei and Shi Ping. You will be given plenty of benefits as well! Think about it carefully!”

The white-browed elder’s voice transmission was like rolling thunder that exploded in Yi Yun’s ears. The extremely mighty sound struck straight at his soul sea, turning Yi Yun’s face slightly pale. It was possible that warriors, who did not have a strong enough soul sea, would have their soul seas shattered just from the white-browed elder’s voice transmission!

Even Yi Yun felt his soul sea being hurt. He instantly conjured his Sword of the Will and slashed out.

Ka-cha!

In the soul sea, sound waves constantly echoed, but Yi Yun slashed through them with a strike!

As a result, Yi Yun recovered!

He looked at the white-browed elder and was enraged. Someone from the Immortal Rain Sect?

Over the past few days, he had heard Elder Duanmu mention the Immortal Rain Sect. He also knew of its relationship with Felicitous Rain Lord. The Immortal Rain Sect’s might was indeed something that the Luo clan could not compare to.

As a legendary figure of the Immortal Rain Sect, the elder had tried to suppress him with his strength. It made Yi Yun strongly rebellious.

But at that moment, Shi Changsheng’s attention was no longer on Yi Yun. He only sent a voice transmission and threat before everything came to an end.

At that moment, Shi Changsheng was looking at Felicitous Rain Lord.

Shi Changsheng’s exchange and voice transmission with Yi Yun happened in an instant. Many people did not realize that the white-browed elder had done something to Yi Yun, but Felicitous Rain Lord had sensed it.

His face turned gloomy as a cold tone resounded in Shi Changsheng’s ears, “Shi Changsheng, this is my territory. If you dare to make another move, my sword will show no mercy.”

Felicitous Rain Lord’s voice transmission was simple. And similarly, it had an imposing pressure to it. Although Old Man Changsheng was much older than Felicitous Rain Lord, he was still no match for Felicitous Rain Lord when it came to power.

Shi Changsheng was not angered by Felicitous Rain Lord’s cold words. He said with a loud laugh, “Felicitous Rain, why are you so agitated? I was just testing the junior’s mental strength! Why? Does Felicitous Rain think so highly of the punk that you would be so anxious to protect him after a probe from me?” Shi Changsheng said with a teasing tone. The more Felicitous Rain protected Yi Yun, the more animosity Shi Changsheng felt for Yi Yun.

If Yi Yun could only become a good-for-nothing in-name disciple, Shi Changsheng wouldn’t have minded him. But he was afraid that Yi Yun was good at currying favor. In addition to Felicitous Rain Lord’s appreciation, Yi Yun could slowly climb higher till he became a personal disciple. This was something that Shi Changsheng could not stand for.

Therefore, he threatened Yi Yun from the beginning. A junior, who did not have much of a background, would not dare to offend a large reclusive sect like the Immortal Rain Sect.

Felicitous Rain Lord did not say a word and he only looked coldly at Shi Changsheng. Shi Changsheng was not embarrassed as he said, “Felicitous Rain, I know that you still have your misgivings with the Immortal Rain Sect, but people from my Immortal Rain Sect want to participate in your disciple recruitment. You wouldn’t make it difficult for them, right? Everyone can compete fairly. According to what I know, the final round of your assessment is to evaluate the Dao Domain of the disciples present?”

Felicitous Rain Lord did not answer him, but Shi Changsheng did not feel awkward from the silence. He continued with his spiel, “A Dao Domain is the mark of a warrior’s perception and potential. I brought Shifei and Shiping this time because they happen to have some attainments when it comes to their Dao Domain!”

“Oh really… ?” Felicitous Rain Lord’s tone was flat. At his level of insight, he did not care about the ‘attainments’ that Shi Changsheng mentioned.

“Felicitous Rain, an evaluation of a Dao Domain requires a Dao Tapir to be accurate. I have a hundred-thousand-year-old Dao Tapir here… ”

“There’s no need. I already have a Dao Tapir.”

As Felicitous Rain Lord spoke, he brought a bag the size of a palm out. It was a spirit beast bag that warriors could store spirit beasts after they refined them.

When Felicitous Rain Lord opened the spirit beast bag, a black gas drifted out. It eventually formed a shadow mid-air.

Typically, one’s impression of a shadow was a projection on the ground or on the walls. In this case, the shadow was as black as ink and it appeared like a two-dimensional plane without any thickness. For such a shadow to appear in mid-air violated the common sense of people.

What was it?

People saw the shadow before seeing it move. It transformed into the shape of a beast man, but at the same time, it was still a flat plane.

“This is a Dao Tapir, a type of spatial Fey beast. It looks like it doesn’t have any thickness, but in fact, it can devour many things. Legends say that Ancient Fey Dao Tapirs could devour small worlds.”

“However, what a Dao Tapir likes devouring the most is ‘Dao’. It can devour large arrays and different artifacts, and from them, it can extract their Dao runes. It can even devour the Dao that warriors have gained insight into!”

“The longer a Dao Tapir lives, the more Dao it will have devoured. And because it has devoured sufficient Dao, it in itself is a treasure. However, Fey beasts like Dao Tapirs are very rare and are very difficult to capture. Our Oracle Fey Kingdom doesn’t have a Dao Tapir.”

The person who spoke was the Oracle Imperial Patriarch. In terms of knowledge, the Oracle Imperial Patriarch could be considered the number one person in the alliance.

“Does Felicitous Rain Lord plan on using the Dao Tapir to evaluate the Dao Domain? How is it evaluated?”

“Devouring! Dao Tapirs like to devour ‘Dao’. So Dao Domains are not an exception. Warriors who are evaluated will produce their Dao Domain and let the Dao Tapir devour the Dao Domain. If it is devoured, it’s considered to be a fail.”

When the Oracle Imperial Patriarch said that, many youths present stared with widened eyes. Dao Domains could be devoured?

A Dao Domain was only a type of domain. It did not have any physical form. It was truly amazing how large and fascinating the world was for it to have a Fey beast that was able to devour Dao Domains.

“Then if the Dao Domain is devoured, would it be gone?” Someone suddenly asked. Without a Dao Domain, was all the Dao previously learned neutered?

Warriors would not only lose a great deal of power, it was also equivalent to ending their practice of martial arts. The setback that one would experience was imaginable!

980 - : Dao Tapir

CKtalon  CKtalon

When a warrior in the towering tree’s hall asked this question, Shi Changsheng answered him before the Oracle Imperial Patriarch, “For a real Dao Tapir, that is the case. Once the Dao is devoured, it will be gone. For warrior whose Dao is devoured, it is no different to killing him.”

“However, the Dao Tapir in front of you was domestically raised. It has been domesticated for tens of thousands of years, so its wildness has gradually disappeared. Furthermore, the alternate space in its body has been sealed, so there is no threat from it!”

When Shi Changsheng said this, everyone heaved a sigh of relief. If not, the assessment would be too dangerous.

However, at that moment, they could see Shi Changsheng take out another spirit beast bag. He opened it and a darkness with a pale red aura spewed out of it.

The aura began to transform into a dark red shadow mid-air. The shadow made threatening gestures mid-air, like it had a strong desire to attack everything that surrounded it. It even slowly spread towards the Dao Tapir that Felicitous Rain Lord had previously released, like it wanted to devour Felicitous Rain Lord’s Dao Tapir.

“That is… ”

Everyone’s hearts leaped. Against the dark red shadow, they could feel a chill.

Felicitous Rain Lord frowned slightly as he grunted lightly. The sound that he issued landed on the Dao Tapir, and like rolling thunder and lightning, the Dao Tapir was forced to retreat.

Hum Hum Hum…

The Dao Tapir’s body trembled violently. It shrunk back at an extremely fast speed, like it was extremely apprehensive towards Felicitous Rain Lord. However, in a few more seconds, it began to emanate a stifling bloodlust aura!

“Felicitous Rain, what do you think of my Dao Tapir?” Shi Changsheng asked with a laugh.

“It’s not yours. It’s the Immortal Rain Sect’s law-enforcing court’s Dao Tapir.”

Felicitous Rain Lord could tell the Dao Tapir’s origins at a glance.

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, Dao Tapirs were extremely rare. Not every powerful sect reared Dao Tapirs. But for the Immortal Rain Sect, they had raised Dao Tapirs for generations. Felicitous Rain Lord was also influenced by the Immortal Rain Sect to have his own Dao Tapir.

As an ancient reclusive sect, the Immortal Rain Sect had heritage that had been passed down for hundreds of millions of years. Its foundation was terrifying and in terms of wealth, Felicitous Rain Lord alone definitely could not compare to the entire Immortal Rain Sect. Therefore, the Helltoothed Dao Tapir that Old Man Changsheng produced was even stronger!

At that moment, the Dao Tapir had formed a thin spectral shadow mid-air. Its jagged shadow looked like the teeth of a razor. It made it looked as sinister as a wraith that came from the depths of hell.

“This is the Helltoothed Dao Tapir that comes from the deep depths of the Sinkhole. Its ferocity has been completely maintained and the alternate world in its body is not sealed. It’s completely different to a domesticated Dao Tapir. Dao Domains that it devours would really vanish and the person would be crippled as well!”

“In the Immortal Rain Sect, there are many ways to condense one’s Dao Domain. One can use the Helltoothed Dao Tapir to force oneself while one’s life is on the line. It’s not bad as a means for a breakthrough. In addition, to the law-enforcement court, the Helltoothed Dao Tapir is an excellent device for torture.”

Old Man Changsheng leisurely introduced the Dao Tapir. And what he described secretly horrified everyone. Wouldn’t the person receiving the punishment be crippled through the use of a Helltoothed Dao Tapir that could really devour one’s Dao Domain?

Furthermore, what was the meaning behind him taking out such a Dao Tapir? Did the old man want to replace Felicitous Rain Lord’s Dao Tapir and change the standards of the assessment?

Beside Old Man Changsheng, the Oracle Imperial Patriarch frowned slightly. He was not at ease when it was an assessment with such grave danger involved.

“Under equal standards, the difficulty and danger of using a Helltoothed Dao Tapir is greatly enhanced. Shi Fei and Shi Ping are from the Immortal Rain Sect, so they have an advantage over you. I believe that in all fairness, Shi Fei and Shi Ping can experience the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devourment. As for the others, they can use the ordinary Dao Tapir. What do you think about that?” Old Man Changsheng said with a teasing tone.

Everyone understood what he meant. Although it was said to make the assessment fairer, wasn’t it just to show off the Immortal Rain Sect’s foundations and its disciples’ talent?

On one side, it was a dangerous and feral Helltoothed Dao Tapir, and on the other side, it was an ordinary Dao Tapir. Before the competition even began, the rest would have lost with their handicap!

“Felicitous Rain, what do you think of my request? It wouldn’t be considered bullying the few disciples that you fancy, right?” Shi Changsheng said to Felicitous Rain Lord with a smile.

Although Felicitous Rain Lord was the examiner that decided everything, the way that Shi Changsheng said it was something that no one could refuse.

In fact, Felicitous Rain Lord did not plan on rejecting the proposal. He did not think much about the Helltoothed Dao Tapir that Shi Changsheng had taken out. He said with an extremely calm voice, “Anything.”

“Since Felicitous Rain doesn’t have any problems with it, let us begin!”

Felicitous Rain Lord did not care too much about the tiny rules, but to Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue, they felt humiliated. Before they even competed, they were already given a handicap!

Beside Chi Zhuiyun, Shi Ping and Shi Fei had proud expressions. “Why? You aren’t happy about that?” Fatty looked disdainfully at Chi Zhuiyun, Tianya Haoyue, and Yi Yun. His tone was clearly derisive as he said, “If you aren’t happy about it, you can also choose the Helltoothed Dao Tapir! No one is stopping you. The only thing is that you might not have the guts to do so!”

He did not hide his words. In the silent Brocade Spring Court, it was easily heard by everyone.

Everyone heard him. Let Chi Zhuiyun, Tianya Haoyue, and Yi Yun choose the Helltoothed Dao Tapir?

The Helltoothed Dao Tapir was the Immortal Rain Sect’s!

As a torture Fey beast of the law-enforcement court, it was equivalent to being crippled if one’s Dao Domain was devoured. Who would dare to attempt it?

Furthermore, the Dao Tapir was something that was reared by the Immortal Rain Sect. People from the Oracle Fey Kingdom had never attempted it before, so they naturally did not have much confidence!

“Chi Zhuiyun, what are you choosing?” Scrawny asked in an aggressive manner.

Seeing Scrawny’s look of contempt and provocation, Chi Zhuiyun was enraged. He knew that it was clearly meant to goad him on.

From a young age, Chi Zhuiyun had outstanding talent and he was more courageous than others. When did he ever admit defeat before a fight? Even before his defeat against Yi Yun, he had engaged in a glorious battle!

But today, Chi Zhuiyun knew that if he chose the Helltoothed Dao Tapir, it was very likely for him to suffer a great loss. What would seem like a fearless act was just foolhardiness.

Those from the Immortal Rain Sect would also mock him for easily falling for the trick with his simple mind. If he really paid the bitter price and be mocked for being arrogant and overweening, it would eventually be him incurring ridicule on himself.

As the saying goes, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. Chi Zhuiyun said with a heavy tone, “My choice doesn’t need you to tell me!”

As Chi Zhuiyun said that, he stood in front of the Felicitous Rain Lord’s Dao Tapir.

Using his actions to make his choice was a form of displayed weakness, but the Oracle Fey Kingdom king and the Imperial Patriarch heaved a sigh of relief as their faces gave signs of relief.

People who could amount to something could not be foolhardy. Tolerating at times was also necessary.

“Haha!” Seeing Chi Zhuiyun taking such a soft stance, Fatty and Scrawny found it boring. They looked at Tianya Haoyue and Yi Yun, and with a teasing look, one of them said, “What about the two of you? Are you going to be a good-for-nothing like Chi Zhuiyun?”

981 - : Goading

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing how Shi Ping and Shi Fei were making things difficult for Yi Yun and company, Shui Ningshuang slightly frowned. She had been following Felicitous Rain Lord for a very long time, so she was aware of the misgivings between Felicitous Rain Lord and the Immortal Rain Sect. Therefore, she did not have a good impression of the Immortal Rain Sect either.

“Divine Lord, why did you agree to Old Man Changsheng’s suggestion? He clearly intends on using this opportunity to show off his Immortal Rain Sect. Now, what you have done is completely adhered to his wishes.” Shui Ningshuang sent a voice transmission to Felicitous Rain Lord.

Felicitous Rain Lord chuckled and said, “What’s the point of such ostentatious behavior? Even if he succeeds in showing off, so what?”

“On the contrary… don’t you think that Yi Yun’s reaction towards this matter will be rather interesting?”

“When a warrior roams the 12 Empyrean Heavens, it is very easy for them to encounter tough problems if they lack a sufficient background. For example, how should one deal with the situation when a super faction targets you?”

“Being an enemy of the faction will result in the faction seeking revenge on you. That would be overestimating one’s strength. But if one constantly shows tolerance and exercises forbearance, it will result in the other party reaching out for a yard after taking an inch. Not only will one have to suffer in silence and result in an impasse in one’s free thoughts, it would also make the other party think that you are weak and easily bullied. Eventually, you will end up being killed.”

“How should one make a choice when facing two difficult alternative paths? This is also a skill in itself.”

“Years ago, when I left the Immortal Rain Sect and went out on my own, I had encountered countless situations such as this. I survived them one after another, and many of them were very close shaves.”

“Today’s choice of a Dao Tapir might seem like a trivial matter, but from Yi Yun’s response, one can see a lot of things. What do you think Yi Yun will choose?”

“About that… ” Shui Ningshuang was slightly taken aback. She never expected that there were so many intricacies to the matter which Felicitous Rain Lord had thought of when he agreed to the matter.

And Yi Yun’s situation was truly a dilemma. If he chose the Helltoothed Dao Tapir and fell for the provocation of the Immortal Rain Sect, he would be mocked as being silly. If he yielded, he would be looked down upon.

When Shui Ningshuang placed herself in Yi Yun’s shoes, she realized that there really wasn’t any good choices. She could only swallow the insult silently.

“Yi Yun is not dumb. It’s clearly a trap so he will most likely yield.” Shui Ningshuang said.

Felicitous Rain Lord only laughed as he said, “Then let’s see. I’m also curious about his response.”

…

“Tianya Haoyue, are you done choosing? You are so slow like a woman. If you don’t have the guts, quickly admit it!” Scrawny said in a derisive manner.

“Hmph!” Tianya Haoyue grunted coldly, “The Dao Tapir is reared by your Immortal Rain Sect to begin with. You are naturally familiar with it. Do you want to bait me into falling for it? Dream on!” Tianya Haoyue bluntly said some strong words to keep up appearances before standing beside Chi Zhuiyun with a livid expression.

Tianya Haoyue was arrogant, but he was not foolish when it came to a matter that concerned his life.

Next, there was only Yi Yun left!

Fatty had a teasing smile. Yi Yun was the main star of the show.

After trampling on Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue, Fatty found it rather boring. However, Yi Yun was a bastard who had ruthlessly hurt them badly during the second assessment. He was the true target that they wanted to trample on!

“Yi Yun, weren’t you previously pretty awesome? I want to see what you will be choosing this time. It can’t be that you lack the guts, right?”

“Senior Brother, what are you saying? Yi Yun’s strength is extraordinary. How can he be like the cowardly turtles before him?”

Shi Ping and Shi Fei echoed each other with words filled with sarcasm. It made Chi Zhuiyun’s killing intent boil.

Shi Ping and Shi Fei turned a blind eye towards Chi Zhuiyun. They were only waiting for Yi Yun to put up a spectacle. They believed that they would see an angry and aggrieved look of having no choice but to concede on Yi Yun’s face. However, they were disappointed.

Yi Yun stroked his chin and instead, he looked at the duo with an equally teasing look. He had a smile on his face that looked somewhat sinister. It caused the duo to feel uncomfortable.

“Punk, what are you smiling for!?” Fatty said with a frown. Yi Yun’s smile was like he was looking at a retard.

“I’m laughing at two retards who think highly of themselves. Just this bit of dispute over personal feelings can make you have an orgasm? Aren’t the both of you from some reclusive sect? That’s all you got?” Yi Yun mocked relentlessly. The duo’s face sank as the thin Shi Ping said, “Punk, you are courting death!”

Shi Fei grunted coldly as he said disdainfully, “You are just trying to be stubborn by refusing to admit it. You just don’t have the guts. You don’t have any right to say that it’s a dispute over personal feelings. Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue may be cowards, but they at least dared to admit that they are cowards. You don’t even have the guts to do so. What a joke!”

Fatty didn’t want to be left speechless from Yi Yun’s words so he began to refute him. He too had extremely vicious words.

However, he still did not see any aggrieved look on Yi Yun’s face despite such a refute. Yi Yun’s expression looked like he had everything under his control and it displeased Fatty greatly.

“You are getting so worked up just like this? Since you are so eager for me to choose, why don’t you help me choose one?”

No one expected Yi Yun to kick the ball back at the duo. He was letting Shi Ping and Shi Fei decide for him!

If the duo helped Yi Yun choose the Helltoothed Dao Tapir, it was equivalent to them admitting that they had intentions of harming Yi Yun.

But so what!?

If Shi Fei and Shi Ping were to be really shameless and told Yi Yun to choose the Helltoothed Dao Tapir, what would Yi Yun do?

In the towering tree’s hall, Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi were both feeling nervous. If the Helltoothed Dao Tapir was chosen, Yi Yun would be facing a Dao Tapir that he had never experienced before. It was extremely dangerous and Yi Yun’s Dao Domain did not appear to be extremely powerful. How would he deal with it?

If anything untoward were to happen to Yi Yun, how were they going to answer to the Luo clan?

As Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi were feeling worried, they heard Shi Fei said shamelessly, “Junior Brother Yi Yun has outstanding talent. I’m very impressed with him. He will definitely be able to challenge the Helltoothed Dao Tapir. From my point of view, why don’t you choose the Helltoothed Dao Tapir?”

As he spoke, Shi Fei exchanged glances with Shi Ping. They understood each other’s thoughts.

The fool actually got us to choose for him. Do you think that we can’t stand the shame to get you to choose the Helltoothed Dao Tapir? What naivety!

“You get me to choose a Helltoothed Dao Tapir, and I have to choose it? Who the hell are you? The both of you are retards without a doubt. If I had a son that begged me like that, I might have listened to him. Are the two of you my sons? I don’t think I’ll have a son as retarded as the two of you.” Yi Yun mocked ruthlessly. When Shi Ping and Shi Fei heard him, their eyes burned with anger.

They finally realized that Yi Yun had been taking them for fools. If not for the people watching, they would have charged up and fought Yi Yun in battle!

“This is the first time that I’ve seen a cowardly turtle behave in such a justified and confident manner. If you don’t dare to choose, then don’t choose it. Stop acting like some machiavellian wolf!”

“That’s right. What’s the point of saying so much bullshit? Get your ass beside Chi Zhuiyun. The assessment is going to begin soon. Stop wasting time over there.”

Yi Yun did not mind Shi Ping and Shi Fei’s invectives. He said, “To me, there is nothing about daring to do something or not. It only has to do if I wish to do something or not. I do not want to be set up by others to do something. The both of you wanted me to choose the Helltoothed Dao Tapir and I have to listen to the two of you after you goad me on with a few words? Why should I listen to you?”

“If you want me to choose, sure. Show some sincerity.”

“I previously said that if I had a son and if my son were to ask me to choose the Helltoothed Dao Tapir, I would naturally agree. Although the both of you are rather ugly, I would still reluctantly agree to your request if the both of you kneel down and kowtow thrice.”

“Or maybe, the both of you can slap each other in the face three times. Each slap must be augmented with Yuan Qi. And the slap has to be loud enough. It has to be able to reach the towering tree’s palace at the very least. Only then will I feel that you have shown sufficient sincerity. I will also agree to choose the Helltoothed Dao Tapir.”

When Yi Yun said this, everyone present was stunned. No one expected Yi Yun to make such a request.

Shi Ping and Shi Fei had goaded him on, but Yi Yun had taken them on in a composed manner. To get Shi Ping and Shi Fei to kneel down and kowtow or slap themselves in the face. That was something… no one could have guessed.

Upon seeing the situation, even Shui Ningshuang, who never showed her emotions, could not help but laugh with her mouth covered.

“That Yi Yun is really interesting!”

To accept the arrangements of others was not courage but foolishness. By making a request, one had to pay the price. That was entirely fair and reasonable.

982 - : Show Some Sincerity

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It’s indeed very interesting. Yi Yun’s words have caught me by surprise as well.” Felicitous Rain Lord said with a chuckle. How Yi Yun resolved the dilemma was obviously ingenious in his eyes. However, there existed a problem. Was he betting that Shi Fei and Shi Ping would not dare to kneel down or slap each other in the face? What if they truly went for broke? Wouldn’t Yi Yun end up being irrevocably committed to his taunt?

At that moment, everyone was looking at Shi Fei and Shi Ping. Their expressions were extremely ugly.

Yi Yun’s request sounded excessive, but in fact, it wasn’t. Getting Yi Yun to choose the Helltoothed Dao Tapir was an act that put his life at risk. As for them, their kneeling or slapping was only considered to be a bit of humiliation to their dignity.

Using a bit of humiliation in exchange for the crippling of Yi Yun was a completely reasonable request. If they did not choose to do so, they could not blame Yi Yun for being gutless.

And if that happened, they would miss the best chance to cripple Yi Yun. After all, once Yi Yun became Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple in the future and be greatly appreciated by Felicitous Rain Lord, it would no longer be easy for them to touch Yi Yun.

However… to kneel down and kowtow in front of the eyes of so many people? Or to slap each other in the face? Furthermore, the slaps had to be loud? How could they lift their heads in the future after experiencing that?

How different would they be to retards?

Shi Ping and Shi Fei did not want to agree to Yi Yun’s request. They could not stand the humiliation under the watchful gazes of everyone.

But at that moment, Old Man Changsheng’s Yuan Qi voice transmission rang in Shi Fei and Shi Ping’s ears. “This is a very good opportunity. Yi Yun’s response might seem ingenious, but it’s actually him digging his own grave. As long as you make a tiny sacrifice, he would no longer have any room for retreat. Don’t forget the mission that the sect gave to you. If you really succeed, your future will be limitless. Do you want to give that up just because of a tiny sacrifice?”

“About that…Grandmaster Uncle, but we… ”

Shi Fei’s fat face was all scrunched up. He felt extremely aggrieved. How could he do it?

As for Yi Yun, he was beaming at Shi Ping and Shi Fei. “Why don’t you have the courage to kneel down or slap each other? How dare you goad me on with that bit of guts of yours? I’m not even afraid of a Helltoothed Dao Tapir that leads to unknown outcomes with my life on the line, but you don’t even have the guts to do such a trivial matter. From the looks of it, other than knowing how to shoot your mouth, there is nothing else that you are good at.”

Yi Yun’s mockery hit the nail on the head. Shi Ping and Shi Fei’s faces turned red immediately. In the towering tree’s hall, there were members of the younger generation of the alliance that had begun to laugh out loudly.

“Hahaha! Those two retards were so arrogant when they were goading people on. Their arrogance almost gave them wings to fly into the sky. Now, they are shrinking back so cowardly after being goaded on. They can’t even pay that tiny bit of price, but they want someone else to face a life-and-death challenge?”

“That’s right. If they were not Immortal Rain Sect disciples, and if they were in Yi Yun’s shoes, they would probably be pissing themselves if they had to face the Helltoothed Dao Tapir. They sure sounded almighty when they were mocking others, but when it was their turn, they turned terrified!”

The repressed Shi Ping and Shi Fei’s anger nearly exploded when they heard the mockery from the crowd and when they saw Yi Yun’s retard-watching gaze.

Was Yi Yun sick of living? They had previously learned that Yi Yun had yet to gain insights into a Dao Domain a year ago. After a year, how strong could his Dao Domain be? Against the Helltoothed Dao Tapir, it would be nothing!

They originally believed that Yi Yun was actually afraid that they would go for broke, but they never expected Yi Yun to deliberately provoke them. He was playing with fire!

With the mission delegated to them by the sect and with Yi Yun’s courting of death, they would accede to his wishes!

Let’s risk it!

Shi Fei clenched his teeth and like a sudden clap of thunder which left no time for one to cover one’s ears, he faced the scrawny Shi Ping standing beside him and began —

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

His fat palm gave Shi Ping three consecutive slaps, with each one being louder than the previous one. The crisp sound of slapping echoed in Brocade Spring Court. Shi Ping failed to react in time and he was left startled by Shi Fei’s three consecutive tight slaps.

There was silence. The both sides of Shi Ping’s face had been smacked red. It had a burning sensation, and by the time Shi Ping snapped out of it, he looked at fatty Shi Fei in disbelief.

“Senior Brother, you… ”

“What?” The fat-faced Shi Fei stared at him with squinted eyes.

“No… nothing… ”

Shi Ping could do nothing about it, but he could not tolerate what had happened to him either. With nowhere to vent his anger, he fell silent for a moment. Suddenly, he clenched his teeth and suddenly swung his palm and smacked Shi Fei three times!

The three slaps were returned. As Shi Fei’s fat face was filled with blood vessels, it immediately turned blue-black.

The six slaps were delivered!

Immediately, the duo’s face looked like there were a dye shop. In addition to their ugly expressions, it looked like their faces had been grubbed by a hundred pigs.

That scene left everyone astounded!

And the scene had been projected through the projection array as well. Outside Brocade Spring Court, there were millions of people that were unqualified to enter Brocade Spring Court, but they had managed to see such an amazing scene.

They obviously knew the duo’s identity. They were genius disciples from a reclusive sect, the Immortal Rain Sect. Yet, they had to slap each other in the faces because of Yi Yun!

It was too surprising!

“Holy shit, that sure is some explosive stuff!”

“It’s really big news. The projection images can be stored. In a few days, it will probably proliferate throughout the alliance of the six countries. Everyone will be able to see Fatty and Scrawny’s magnificence.”

After a short moment of shock, everyone began discussing it excitedly!

The alliance was feeling repressed by the sudden appearance of the Immortal Rain Sect. But now, they felt elated and relieved seeing the duo shame themselves because of Yi Yun.

However, there were many people who were worried for Yi Yun. Yi Yun’s Dao Domain was unlikely to be anything much, so how was he going to clear the assessment?

Yi Yun was now looking all high and mighty, but he would be facing the Helltoothed Dao Tapir after that. If he was not careful, he would have to pay a terrible price.

“Your request has been fulfilled. Carry out your promise!”

“Let’s see how you can shrink away now!”

Shi Fei and Shi Ping said angrily to Yi Yun.

With a tut, Yi Yun said, “So nice of the both of you to hit each other so ruthlessly.”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s mockery, Shi Fei and Shi Ping’s faces stiffened. “Cut the crap!”

Yi Yun shook his head and slowly walked in front of the Helltoothed Dao Tapir. Yi Yun looked up at the Helltoothed Dao Tapir. It was like a specter that was baring its fangs and brandishing its claws. It spiraled mid-air and had a terrifying aura. It was something that even the people outside Brocade Spring Court could feel through the projection array.

At that moment, Old Man Changsheng said to Felicitous Rain Lord. “Felicitous Rain, Yi Yun has already agreed to this matter. You probably wouldn’t intervene and help Yi Yun while disregarding your status, right?”

Felicitous Rain Lord frowned slightly but he did not say a word. Instead, Yi Yun was the first person to speak. He said loud and clear, “The assessment is obviously a matter for us younger warriors. Out of fairness, Senior Felicitous Rain shouldn’t intervene either. However… I want to withstand the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring together with Shi Ping and Shi Fei. The devouring should happen in sequence and when the outcome is obvious, it has to be stopped.”

With Felicitous Rain Lord around, Yi Yun believed that the old man would not directly kill him. And as long as the old man did not deliberately do something, Yi Yun was unafraid of anything if Shi Ping and Shi Fei were experiencing the same conditions.

983 - : To Slap or not to Slap

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon hearing Yi Yun, everyone was secretly horrified. Yi Yun was that confident?

The Helltoothed Dao Tapir was a Fey beast reared by the Immortal Rain Sect. Many of the spectators had never even seen one.

To risk one’s life to face such a strange Fey beast despite having never encountered one before was something that no member of the young generation present had the courage to do so.

“Yi Yun, have you thought it through?” Felicitous Rain Lord asked Yi Yun.

Yi Yun said with clasped hands, “Yes, Divine Lord.”

Felicitous Rain Lord looked carefully at Yi Yun. He was astonished at Yi Yun’s extremely calm demeanor. However, Felicitous Rain Lord believed that for Yi Yun to be able to gradually reach his present state from a minor character who had no background, he definitely would not do something foolhardy that would end up killing him.

“In that case, alright!” Felicitous Rain Lord slowly stood up and said, “There are seals inside the Dao Tapir. As the seals are released one by one, the Dao Tapir will release a stronger devouring force.”

“When this force is afflicted on you, it will cause the Dao imprints and Dao runes in your bodies to collapse before sucking the Dao away.”

“The method to resist the devouring force is to let your Dao form a perfect system. When your Dao merges with your body as it slowly achieves perfection, your Dao Domain will become more powerful. Then the collapse would become more unlikely, causing the Dao Tapir to fail at sucking the Dao that you have comprehended away.” Felicitous Rain Lord explained patiently.

The explanation was mainly for Yi Yun and Chi Zhuiyun. By knowing how to resist the Dao Tapir’s devouring force, it would prevent them from being thrown into a panic at the beginning.

“The Dao Tapir I reared is named ‘Xiao’. I will release Xiao’s first seal so that you can slowly experience it.”

As Felicitous Rain Lord spoke, he conjured a rune that spread out like water ripples before it entered the Dao Tapir’s shadow.

The Dao Tapir jolted suddenly as a dangerous aura emanated from it.

Even though the Dao Tapir was reared by Felicitous Rain Lord, it possessed an aura with ice-cold killing intent.

Immediately, Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue felt their hearts shudder.

They could sense a devouring force acting on their entire being. This feeling was one that they had never experienced before in their lives. It felt like all the blood in their bodies was being tugged like it wanted to burst out of their bodies.

Chi Zhuiyun wanted to activate his Dao Domain, but after carefully perceiving his situation for a moment, he realized that he could withstand it.

“The Dao Tapir’s aura is gradually becoming stronger, but it hasn’t exceeded the limits of what I can bear.”

Chi Zhuiyun discovered this point. He looked at Felicitous Rain Lord in the towering tree’s hall and immediately understood something.

Felicitous Rain Lord was only allowing them to adjust to the assessment. He had deliberately released the first seal of his Dao Tapir’s many seals. He wanted them to understand what it felt like when the Dao Tapir was devouring their Dao so that they would not be left in a panic.

Yi Yun had a similar thought. The devouring force was gradually increasing in intensity. He could release his perception to experience it and at the same time, observe Chi Zhuiyun’s reaction.

Getting some experience from Chi Zhuiyun’s resistance of the Dao Tapir would allow him to withstand the Dao Tapir with ease and verve.

“Grandmaster Uncle, let us begin as well.” Upon realizing what was happening, Shi Fei told Old Man Changsheng in an anxious manner.

Felicitous Rain Lord was letting Yi Yun familiarize himself with the Dao Tapir and it was obvious to Shi Ping and Shi Fei. Even though they refused to believe that Yi Yun was able to comprehend a powerful Dao Domain in the span of a short year, they absolutely refused to give Yi Yun any chance of improving his likelihood for success.

After all, to make Yi Yun face the extremely dangerous Helltoothed Dao Tapir, they had paid the cost of slapping each other in the face. They had done so publicly, with projection images shown to millions of people outside. They needed to absolutely ensure that Yi Yun would pay a heavier price than than they paid.

Shi Changsheng glanced at Yi Yun and sneered. ‘How can I give you the chance to gain experience with the Dao Tapir’s devouring force? You were given a chance to withdraw, but not only did you not withdraw, you even went further to ridicule my Immortal Rain Sect. Today, you shall pay a tragic price!’

“Helltoothed Dao Tapir, three seals, release!”

Shi Changsheng immediately released three seals!

Instantly, it was like all hell had broken loose. The crimson Helltoothed Dao Tapir bared its fangs and brandished its claws as it covered the entire sky!

Even the warriors outside Brocade Spring Court could see the Dao Tapir without needing to use the projection array.

A shudder ran through the spines of the warriors. They were not the targets of the Dao Tapir’s act of devouring, but they still felt their bodies turn cold.

As for Yi Yun, it was unknown if he could withstand the Helltoothed Dao Tapir.

“That old bastard is too vicious. He actually directly released three seals!”

“Those two Immortal Rain Sect disciples are familiar with Dao Tapirs. But Yi Yun did not even know what a Dao Tapir was before this. He is being a bully.”

Many warriors found the circumstances unfair to Yi Yun. By doing so, the Immortal Rain Sect was completely targeting Yi Yun and making things difficult for him.

There were others who were gloating at Yi Yun’s misfortune. Song Wuchen was overjoyed. “Yi Yun got the Immortal Rain Sect disciples to slap each other in the face and they have already done it. Now, it’s only fair for him to face the threat of the Helltoothed Dao Tapir. It was all his choice. He had eased his heart by shooting his mouth, but I wonder how he will now deal with the situation?”

Shi Ping and Shi Fei immediately released their Dao Domains when they faced the terrifying devouring power of the Helltoothed Dao Tapir.

They had faced the Helltoothed Dao Tapir several times in the past, so they were extremely familiar with it! In their Dao Domains, they stood like stable boulders! The Helltoothed Dao Tapir was constantly attempting to devour their Dao Domains, but their Dao Domains were unassailable as their two Dao Domains merged into one.

They looked at Yi Yun. In front of the Helltoothed Dao Tapir with three of its seals having been removed, how long could Yi Yun last?

Yi Yun could sense a horrifying suction force coming from the Helltoothed Dao Tapir that acted on him. It made Yi Yun feel like everything in his body was bursting out of it.

What the Dao Tapir targeted may be the Dao inside his body, but when the suction power landed on him, it felt like his soul would be sucked away as well.

Yi Yun felt that the world he was facing was filled up by the Helltoothed Dao Tapir, and he was standing in front of a gaping mouth.

The nomological fragments that he was not controlling would be sucked away!

Just a moment ago, Felicitous Rain Lord had said to form one’s Dao Domain into a system so that one could withstand the devouring force. Although it sounded simple, it was the same as comprehending a Dao Domain. It needed repeated attempts and a sequential progress.

But Yi Yun was immediately facing the Helltoothed Dao Tapir which had three of its seals released. He did not have any chance of slowly familiarizing himself with the situation. At the moment the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s seals were removed, he was engulfed immediately.

Yi Yun had never shown his Dao Domain before. Some people even suspected that he had yet to comprehend a Dao Domain after a year.

While under the influence of the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force, Yi Yun clenched his teeth. Slowly, an ice-cold aura that seemed to come from a deep abyss began emanating from his body.

The aura was very strange and it suffused a gray light. It did not appear obvious, but it managed to block the devouring power.

“What is that gray halo… ? Is that Yi Yun’s Dao Domain?”

“Dao Domain? That doesn’t… seem like one?”

984 - : Dao Tapir Seal

CKtalon  CKtalon

People watched the gray halo suffusing from Yi Yun with curious amazement. A Dao Domain was produced when a warrior’s comprehension of a Dao reached a certain standard. When their laws were able to form a small world, a tiny space surrounding their bodies would separate itself from the greater world, forming a Dao Domain.

As for Yi Yun’s gray halo, it apparently did not seem to be forming a world of its own. It was completely different to the common impression that everyone had of Dao Domains.

But very strangely, the gray halo was able to withstand the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force.

“What Dao is that?” Shi Fei was surprised. He could not help but sneer as he said, “It doesn’t matter what Dao it is. It’s only the appetizer. Be prepared to become a cripple!”

Shi Ping and Shi Fei’s auras were increasing in intensity. A domain with misty rain immediately appeared around them.

Dao Domain of Rain! In the Dao Domain of Rain, every drop of rainwater was the condensation of Dao. The water droplets were produced by their bodies before it returned to their bodies. It was a water cycle that repeated itself. The Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force was unending, but it was unable to crack the cycle.

The power of the rainwater was perpetual. People could see that Shi Ping and Shi Fei’s surroundings had seemed to merge into a greater whole, forming a rainy world.

Upon seeing this scene, Old Man Changsheng nodded his head in appreciation. “Felicitous Rain, what do you think of Shi Fei and Shi Ping’s comprehension of Immortal Rain Dao?”

The Dao Domain of Rain was one of the core inheritances of the reclusive Immortal Rain Sect. The rain here was not in the ordinary sense of the word… it was Heavenly Dao Immortal Rain. Every drop was like ambrosia condensed from the essence of the world.

The Dao Domain of Rain had the ability to constantly renew itself and its unique trait of being a complete ecosystem made it best at withstanding the devouring force.

Felicitous Rain Lord did not make comment. All of his attention was on Yi Yun, or to be precise, the gray halo around Yi Yun.

What is that gray halo… ?

Felicitous Rain Lord’s eyebrows jumped slightly. The gray halo gave him a strange feeling.

And at that moment, Shi Changsheng’s cold voice sounded, “Helltoothed Dao Tapir, fourth seal, release.”

The fourth seal!

It was said that the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force could devour mountains and seas when the fourth seal was released! Even the surrounding air was resonating like it would be torn apart at any time.

“That… that is the fourth stage?”

On Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue’s side, they were still withstanding the devouring force of the released second seal. Yet, Yi Yun was already beginning to experience the fourth seal. The difference was just too great. Furthermore, Chi Zhuiyun and Tianya Haoyue were facing an ordinary Dao Tapir, while Yi Yun was facing a Helltoothed Dao Tapir!

“Let’s see how long you can last!”

Shi Ping and Shi Fei were not finding it easy when the fourth seal was released either!

They were using the Dao Domain of Rain to prop themselves up. As for Yi Yun, how was he going to withstand the devouring force with that baffling gray halo?

Chi! Chi! Chi!

The devouring force maniacally crunched the gray halo around Yi Yun. It was like the gray halo was being shredded.

Yi Yun, who was experiencing this, could see Shi Ping and Shi Fei’s teasing smiles, as well as the cold and belittling gaze from the Star Picking Court above him. At that moment, his expression was extremely livid.

Want me to die?

Killing intent flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes. For the past year, he had been gaining insights into the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, which touched upon the Major Dao of Destruction.

Legends said that when the universe experiences its final and biggest annihilation, it would experience the supreme laws of destruction.

And in this universe, there was nothing that could remain everlasting. Be it life, the celestial bodies, the boundless worlds and the be-all and end-all of everything, they would all be destroyed.

If Chaos was the beginning of Dao, then Final Destruction was the end of Dao — On the day of the Final Destruction, even Dao itself would be annihilated.

Even for Yi Yun, he had only managed to comprehend an inkling of such a mystical Great Dao of Supremacy.

With that bit of Major Dao of Destruction, it was extremely demanding on Yi Yun to produce a Major Destruction Dao Domain. Furthermore, it would expend a great deal of his energy and stamina.

At the moment that the Major Dao of Destruction was released, whatever devouring force he experienced would be like a gentle breeze to Yi Yun. It would not pose any threats.

But most important of all, Yi Yun’s Major Destruction Dao Domain could last less than thirty seconds!

The assessment was a test to see how long a warrior was able to endure the devouring force and not the strength of the Dao Domain.

With less than thirty seconds, he would be exhausted upon using it after thirty seconds. And when that happened, Yi Yun would no longer be able to withstand the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force when he lost the protection of the Dao Domain.

At that moment, the devouring force was increasing in intensity, like a storm had befallen the area around him. Yi Yun was experiencing the storm and the gray halo around him appeared ephemeral. It was like a tiny boat in a tumultuous storm.

Although the gray halo was not eye-catching, everyone knew how terrifying the devouring force that Yi Yun was experiencing was.

It was obvious when comparing his situation with the assessment with the ordinary Dao Tapir. At that moment, the ordinary Dao Tapir had just had its third seal released. The powerful devouring force was something that Tianya Haoyue could no longer withstand. As for Chi Zhuiyun, he had activated his Shura Dao Domain’s Celestial Demon Form. He was going all out!

Although there was a stirring sea of blood in front of Chi Zhuiyun with ghastly wails coming from it, it was gradually being consumed by the devouring force.

Everyone knew that Chi Zhuiyun was famous for his powerful Dao Domain. But even so, he was already at his limit when facing an ordinary Dao Tapir that had three of its seals released.

How horrifying would it be when the fourth seal of the Helltoothed Dao Tapir was released? It was completely unimaginable!

“Yi Yun still can withstand it!?”

“Amazing. What is that gray halo around him? Doesn’t he cultivate in pure Yang laws? That does not look anything like a pure Yang Dao Domain.”

People were in a flurry of discussion. And at that moment, the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force was at its fourth stage and it had reached its limit. The terrifying Dao Tapir’s mouth appeared like it was about to completely swallow Yi Yun.

Yi Yun felt like his lifeblood was about to be drained. He had used Destruction laws to withstand the devouring force, but it was not a Dao Domain after all. There was a limit to its effects, so he knew that he was quickly reaching his limit.

“Punk, your Dao Domain is already being pressed against the surface of your body, and yet you haven’t died?”

Not far beside Yi Yun, Shi Fei’s fat body was trembling, like he was about to be swept away by a storm.

“You are just lingering on with your last breath. I don’t believe that you can last till the moment when the fifth seal is released!”

As Shi Fei spoke, he exchanged glances with Shi Ping. They moved closer together as the Dao Domains of Rain around them began to slowly merge.

The two rainy domains had merged together.

As the rain underwent an exchange, the Dao Domain of Rain became more expansive. The vast screen of rain withstood the devouring force that came falling from the sky as it protected Shi Fei and Shi Ping.

However, such a scene caused people from the six-country alliance to curse at them.

“The two of them are joining forces?”

“They have no shame. Did they join forces to withstand the devouring force? What sort of ability is that!?”

985 - : Dao Domain of Rain

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Isn’t joining forces to withstand the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force a violation of the rules?” Someone raised an objection.

However, in the towering tree’s hall, Felicitous Rain Lord did not make any comments. Instead, Song Wuchen was the one who spoke up. He said, “The two of them aren’t considered to be joining forces. They are withstanding the same devouring force. The two of them would be withstanding twice the devouring force, so working together will not reduce the difficulty. However, the unique ability of Dao Domain of Rain is fusion. When the Dao Domains fuse, the resulting Dao Domain’s power will be stronger!”

In the Immortal Rain Sect, the fusion of Dao Domains was a battle strategy in itself. Some Immortal Rain Sect disciples, who were proficient in combined attacks, might not be a match for an opponent in a one-on-one situation. But if they joined forces in a similar two-versus-two situation, they would have an advantage. And when in a three-versus-three situation, they could have an overwhelming victory.

When Immortal Rain Sect disciples ventured outside of the sect, such as exploring mystic realms, they would frequently take on the support role in the team. An excellent Immortal Rain Sect disciple could even use his Dao to fuse with the other non-Immortal Rain Sect warriors. By doing so, their combat strength would be more than simply the two of them combined.

Although Immortal Rain Sect disciples were proficient at support, it did not mean that their combat strength was weak. The most powerful cornerstone array of the Immortal Rain Sect was the Rain of Annihilation. It was a strike with more than ten thousand Immortal Rain Sect disciples combining their Dao Domains together. At the moment it was struck out, Rain of Annihilation would fall from the sky. Every drop of rain was condensed from Dao. It was extremely terrifying.

Felicitous Rain Lord was from the Immortal Rain Sect after all. He too taught his disciples the Dao of rain fusion. So the appearance of such a situation in the assessment naturally wasn’t considered to be a violation of the rules.

That was the ability of the Dao Domain of Rain.

After their Dao Domains fused, Shi Ping and Shi Fei’s strength increased multifold. The two of them had grown up together, so they had long been able to team up perfectly.

Old Man Changsheng naturally wouldn’t give up on that opportunity. Seeing the two of them ready, he once again released another seal — the fifth seal!

At the moment that the seal was released, the devouring force flooded over at a greater intensity. The Helltoothed Dao Tapir was like a beast that had been uncaged. It directly pounced at Yi Yun, Shi Ping, and Shi Fei!

“What!?”

Many people were given a shock when they saw this scene. Previously, no matter how many seals were released, the Helltoothed Dao Tapir would be hovering mid-air, using its devouring laws from afar. But now, it had directly pounced at the assessees!?

Then, wouldn’t Yi Yun be devoured into the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s body?

At that very instant, no one could think too deeply about the matter. They saw a viscous darkness enshroud the square in Brocade Spring Court. Yi Yun, Shi Fei, and Shi Ping were fully immersed in darkness as they vanished!

“This… ”

Everyone stared with widened eyes. In the towering tree’s hall, sweat began oozing out of Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi’s foreheads.

They had no way to predict what would happen next. Once Yi Yun’s Dao was devoured, his martial path would be destroyed. It wasn’t easy for the Luo clan to find a genius that could influence what providence would bring them. If he was destroyed under their watch, they would truly become sinners of the Luo clan. Especially now, when the Luo clan was still living under the threat of the Fey Phantasm Sect.

Just as Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi were feeling extremely worried, rain began to pour down from the sky.

That was the ability of the Dao Domain of Rain.

Shi Ping and Shi Fei’s figures gradually appeared from the darkness. By their combined forces, their fused Dao Domain of Rain allowed them to forcefully withstand the Helltoothed Dao Tapir which had its fifth seal released.

The Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force was extremely potent. Even the Dao Domain of Rain that they produced in a combined effort was compressed into a tiny space. Shi Ping and Shi Fei were barely persisting on in that tiny space.

What about Yi Yun?

Elder Duanmu and company widened their eyes as they attempted to search for him.

The spectating warriors also began to search for Yi Yun’s figure in the darkness.

However, they could not find Yi Yun no matter what!

“What happened?” Elder Duanmu directly stood up from his seat and asked Shi Changsheng.

In Star Picking Court, Elder Duanmu’s actions appeared rather impolite in front of Felicitous Rain Lord, but he could not be bothered about etiquette.

Old Man Changsheng grunted coldly. Elder Duanmu was only a warrior at the Dao Palace realm, one that he did not think anything of.

“Who are you? How preposterous of you to act so impolite in front of me! I am the one who is presiding over the assessment of the Helltoothed Dao Tapir. It was something that Yi Yun and Felicitous Rain agreed upon too. You have no say on the matter!” Old Man Changsheng said coldly.

Elder Duanmu’s voice faltered as he was unable to make any retort. Compared to Old Man Changsheng, he was too inferior, be it status or strength.

He could only endure the anger in his heart as he tried his best to speak in a calm manner, “Senior Changsheng, I only want to know where Yi Yun is.”

Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi were feeling extremely worried after not being able to see Yi Yun’s figure. Their perception could not enter the world of darkness formed by the Helltoothed Dao Tapir, so they could only ask Shi Changsheng.

Old Man Changsheng said with a sneer, “Isn’t that obvious? Haven’t you seen Yi Yun disappear? That’s obviously because he has entered the Dao Tapir’s body. In other words, he has been devoured by the Helltoothed Dao Tapir!”

What!?

Upon hearing Old Man Changsheng’s words, Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi felt an angry jolt pass through their hearts. He had been devoured!?

Old Man Changsheng, who was the mastermind behind all of this, had a teasing smile on his face. Elder Duanmu wished that he could just charge up and fight the old man with his life!

“What are the two of you worrying about? Don’t worry, that punk isn’t dead yet. He’s not bad either. He is still able to withstand the fifth stage’s devouring force for a short period of time.” Shi Changsheng said with a laugh. He refused to believe that Yi Yun could still persist on. And even if he could, the sixth stage was awaiting him!

Shi Ping and Shi Fei still had their final tricks up their sleeves. They could temporarily withstand the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s six stage for a second or two. Without that bit of ability, how could they have been willing to slap each other in the face so they could force Yi Yun to face the Helltoothed Dao Tapir?

Regardless of the case, Yi Yun was bound to be crippled!

“Felicitous Rain, you wouldn’t go so far as to stop the assessment, right?” Old Man Changsheng looked at Felicitous Rain Lord and asked.

Felicitous Rain Lord gave him a glance and said, “Whatever I do or not do is not up to you.”

“Haha.” Old Man Changsheng stroked his beard.

Felicitous Rain Lord turned his gaze towards the Helltoothed Dao Tapir. The situation was somewhat abnormal. He realized that Yi Yun’s limit was much higher than he had originally predicted. Felicitous Rain Lord believed that Yi Yun would be pushed to the brink when the fourth seal was released, but now, Yi Yun was still able to persist on despite the release of the fifth seal?

Yi Yun seemed to be a person who became stronger when facing the strong.

Upon knowing that Yi Yun had been devoured, Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi, who could not see the situation inside the world of darkness, were sweating profusely. As for the other people from the six-country alliance, they too found it ominous.

Could Yi Yun be destroyed by the Helltoothed Dao Tapir…?

And in the envelopment of the Helltoothed Dao Tapir, Shi Ping and Shi Fei were most aware of their surroundings. They too were searching for Yi Yun’s whereabouts.

Soon, they were certain that Yi Yun had disappeared!

Yi Yun has already been devoured!?

Other than that, there was no other possibility!

Shi Ping and Shi Fei revealed looks of excitement.

“That Yi Yun is doomed!”

“He is considered pretty good, but compared to Senior Brother and me, he’s nothing.”

However, they did not find the outcome surprising. Under the devouring force at the fifth stage, the two of them could not last that long, even with their forces combined, let alone Yi Yun, whose Dao Domain was not stronger than theirs.

“Yi Yun has been devoured. The Helltoothed Dao Tapir can be sealed again.” Shi Fei said.

They also found it extremely taxing to withstand the devouring force.

Shi Ping put his hand out and waved, hoping to give Old Man Changsheng a signal.

And at that moment, the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force came to a standstill.

“It looks like Grandmaster Uncle already knows,” said Shi Ping.

At the moment that the devouring force came to a standstill, the pressure that they felt was immediately lessened.

Following that, once the Helltoothed Dao Tapir was sealed again, they could deactivate their Dao Domains.

However, at that moment, they saw a gray vortex appear in the middle of the Helltoothed Dao Tapir.

The vortex was only a size of a pin at the beginning, but very quickly, it began to spin rapidly. In a blink of an eye, it replaced the Helltoothed Dao Tapir and swirled at Shi Ping and Shi Fei in an inundating manner!

“What is that?”

“Could it be that the sixth seal has been released?”

“What is that Immortal Rain Sect thinking? Yi Yun has already been devoured! It’s no longer an assessment if they release the sixth seal. They clearly want Yi Yun dead!”

“How despicable. Is Senior Felicitous Rain not going to stop this?”

On one hand, there was the assessment, but if they deliberately increased the difficulty when Yi Yun appeared like he could not withstand it, that was intentional murder.

The people from the six-country alliance began hurling invectives. But at that moment, they realized that Felicitous Rain Lord had not moved. He did not stop any of it, while Shi Changsheng, who was beside him, had an ugly expression on his face.

The sixth seal?

He did not open it at all!

In a blink of an eye, the gray vortex in the Helltoothed Dao Tapir had rapidly expanded.

Boom!

It directly turned into a gray tornado that swept around wantonly!

The rain in the sky was devoured by the tornado, wrenching them into mist!

It was unexpected when the twisted rain become a part of the gray tornado!

Upon seeing that scene, Shi Changsheng, who was sitting leisurely in his seat, stood up suddenly.

What was that?

His cultivation level was deep and profound. He held control of the Helltoothed Dao Tapir as well, so he knew everything that was happening inside the world of darkness. He could clearly see that the gray vortex was using an unbelievable power to destroy all laws and Heaven Earth Yuan Qi around it!

And the laws and Heaven Earth Yuan Qi that were being destroyed would be instantly assimilated by the gray tornado, before becoming a part of the terrifying destructive power! It caused the tornado vortex to expand rapidly like an explosion!

“That tornado!”

In his long life, this was the first time that Shi Changsheng saw such a terrifying law. It was like the world was covered in flammable oil and dry wood, while the black tornado was like a fire starter. It lit up the world, causing everything in the world to become a destructive inferno!

The spreading happened like it was unstoppable. It even made Shi Changsheng feel a sense of foreboding. What if the inferno continued spreading?

If it could assimilate everything around it, to make them one of its constituents, it would only become more and more powerful. The stronger the assimilation power, the more likely it would eventually assimilate the world and turn the world into a ruin!

Shi Changsheng was not only the one who was astonished. Even Felicitous Rain Lord felt alarmed.

As a Divine Lord of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, he was very well-learned, but this strange law was able to surprise Felicitous Rain Lord. He thought of anything Shi Changsheng could think of as well.

But be it Felicitous Rain Lord or Shi Changsheng, none of them dared to think that the power of destruction could really spread through thousands of worlds, or even the 12 Empyrean Heavens, let alone a single world. It would destroy everything.

That was the Major Destruction laws that could end the Universe which no 12 Empyrean Heavens warrior had been able to comprehend!

Of course, with Yi Yun’s cultivation level, it was impossible to produce a destructive power that could devour all of the 12 Empyrean Heavens. It was already sufficient to destroy whatever that was around him.

“The rain in the sky has been devoured. Even the clouds are gone!” In the towering tree’s hall, a warrior from the younger generation exclaimed.

At that moment, in the world of darkness, not only was the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s power being assimilated by the destructive force, even Shi Ping and Shi Fei’s Dao Domain of Rain was being assimilated by the destructive power!

986 - : Assimilation of Everything

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shi Fei and Shi Ping were already struggling when the fifth seal was released. With the sudden intrusion of the destructive power, the Dao Domain of Rain that they conjured through their combined forces was like paper being consumed by flames. It shattered immediately!

In front of the powers of Major Destruction, be it the fusion of rain or the perpetuity of the water cycle, it all became meaningless. They were destroyed.

“What’s going on!?”

Shi Fei and Shi Ping watched helplessly as the gray vortex tore through the layers of the rain before their faces changed drastically.

They were in the confines of the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force, and once their Dao Domain was destroyed, the outcome would be obvious!

“What is Grandmaster Uncle doing? This doesn’t feel like it’s the release of the sixth seal!”

Shi Fei’s rotund face was trembling. Under the force of destruction, he had an extremely powerless feeling. He felt like he was a tiny boat in a storm and the boat was going to capsize at any moment.

He was still not sure what the gray vortex was as he shot a pleaful look at Old Man Changsheng. The scene of their Dao Domain being rapidly devoured while they waited for death filled him with despair.

Old Man Changsheng finally could not sit still. How could he ignore the disciples he led, especially when they were in a dangerous situation?

He produced a few seals with his hands. As Heaven Earth Yuan Qi gathered, it formed water droplets. He was about to take action to save Shi Ping and Shi Fei, but at that moment —

“Pa!”

With an explosion, the water droplets in Shi Changsheng’s hand had dispersed into a mist.

“Huh!?”

Shi Changsheng turned his head towards Felicitous Rain Lord in astonishment. The only person who could easily dissolve his laws of rain was Felicitous Rain Lord.

“Felicitous Rain, what are you doing!?” Old Man Changsheng asked with a frown.

Shi Ping and Shi Fei were his Immortal Rain Sect’s genius disciples.

“In this world, every action has a cost,” said Felicitous Rain Lord in a casual manner. “Back when they bet on the life of another, their lives were also placed on the betting table. If they did not come to such a realization, how are they to continue down the path of martial arts?”

There was a coldness in Felicitous Rain Lord’s casual tone.

Previously, Old Man Changsheng was afraid that he would interfere and he had not done a single thing. Now, Old Man Changsheng wanted to interfere himself? Felicitous Rain Lord obviously wouldn’t agree to that!

Felicitous Rain Lord stared at Shi Changsheng with a cold look. It gave Shi Changsheng a chill that reached his heart.

He knew about Felicitous Rain Lord’s immense power. Ignoring the fact that Shi Changsheng’s strength was slowly deteriorating, even when he was at his peak, he was no match for Felicitous Rain Lord at all.

Shi Changsheng made another seal with his hands, but no new raindrops were condensed again. But, how could time wait for Shi Changsheng?

At that moment, Shi Changsheng hesitated.

Boom!

In the shroud of the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force, the sound of an explosion echoed throughout the court!

Shi Changsheng looked over and he saw that the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s world of darkness had been filled completely by the gray vortex.

The Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s world of darkness gave people an irresistible feeling due to the way it seemed to devour everything.

But this world was being gradually assimilated by the gray vortex.

Even the world of darkness was unable to withstand the gray vortex, so how could the Dao Domain of Rain, that was barely struggling, be able to withstand it?

Shi Ping and Shi Fei were anxiously waiting for Old Man Changsheng to rescue them, but what came for them in their despair was the overwhelming gray vortex.

They powered their Dao Domain with all their strength as they released all of their Yuan Qi, but nothing could amount to anything when placed in front of the Dao of Major Destruction.

“Grandmaster Uncle, save us!”

At the instant that the Dao Domain of Rain shattered, Shi Ping and Shi Fei’s faces twisted in horror.

“No!”

The Dao Domain that they struggled to power did not seem to cause a single stir in front of the gray vortex that seemed to be annihilating everything in its path.

When that loud explosion sounded, their Dao Domains had shattered like a chicken’s egg!

The hundreds of thousands of warriors outside Brocade Spring Court witnessed the scene with their own eyes.

The two Immortal Rain Sect disciples’ Dao Domain had collapsed at the instant that the gray vortex touched down on it, and it expelled them forcefully.

There was no way that they could put up any resistance. Even the Helltoothed Dao Tapir was struggling and twisting in the gray vortex.

The formerly formidable Helltoothed Dao Tapir began to let out painful roars as the gray vortex devoured and ripped it.

Its world of darkness vanished and even a small part of its body had been torn off.

The overwhelming gray vortex swirls raged wantonly above Brocade Spring Court before it gradually shrank. It returned to a tiny vortex before it disappeared.

Only then did everyone jolt awake from the extended silence.

A cold wind blew everywhere as several warriors were shocked to find themselves drenched in cold sweat.

That Dao Domain was truly terrifying!

And at that moment, a figure appeared in place of where the gray vortex had disappeared.

“Yi Yun!”

Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi agitatedly stood up.

Yi Yun was standing mid-air. His face was somewhat pale, but his aura still had a hint of destruction to it.

Through the projection array, the warriors from the six-country alliance were watching that figure mid-air. They remained silent for a long period of time.

Was that destructive storm produced by Yi Yun?

Was that a Dao Domain?

No one could believe it. That destructive storm was completely different to a normal Dao Domain.

Just a year ago, Yi Yun did not have his own Dao Domain. Now, the gray vortex that he conjured was a hundred times more terrifying than a typical Dao Domain. Not only did it withstand the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force, it was able to collapse Shi Ping and Shi Fei’s Dao Domain of Rain. What sort of horrifying law was that?

Yi Yun had such a huge improvement in a year’s time?

Just recalling the gray storm’s sweeping through of everything left their hearts palpitating. They only witnessed it with their eyes, but they still could not calm themselves.

And within Brocade Spring Court, Yi Yun was standing mid-air with his eyes closed.

The Yuan Qi in his body was almost completely drained.

“Yi Yun… ”

Just as Elder Duanmu was about to take action, he heard Felicitous Rain Lord say, “He is contemplating the battle that he has just undergone. There is no need to disturb him.”

Elder Duanmu glanced at Felicitous Rain Lord before coming to a stop.

With a Divine Lord watching, it was unlikely that Yi Yun would be in trouble.

At that moment, Shi Changsheng’s figure flashed as he flew towards a corner in Brocade Spring Court.

Shi Ping and Shi Fei were lying there like ragged dolls.

They were covered in injuries, but that was nothing at all.

What was most terrifying was at the instant that their fused Dao Domain shattered, a large number of Dao runes in their bodies were obliterated. From that moment onwards, their future martial path would suffer a destructive setback!

They were originally geniuses, but now, they might not even be comparable to normal people. It was a worse feeling than killing them.

“Grand… Grandmaster Uncle… ”

Shi Ping and Shi Fei had looks of extreme pain on their faces.

They had gone to great lengths in the hopes of crippling Yi Yun, but they had never expected that the ones to end up in such a dire state was they themselves.

Shi Changsheng, who arrived in front of the two disciples, flashed a grim look in his eyes.

He had witnessed his sect’s disciples being crippled, and there was never an junior that had made Shi Changsheng feel so humiliated.

“We… We… ”

Shi Fei and Shi Ping looked at Shi Changsheng with a glimmer of hope. However, when they saw Shi Changsheng’s grim expression after sensing their bodies, their expressions turned completely sombre.

987 - : Price

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing that Shi Ping and Shi Fei were crippled, everyone in Brocade Spring Court was left at a loss for words. The development had completely exceeded everyone’s expectations.

Originally, Shi Ping and Shi Fei had paid a heavy price to make Yi Yun endure the Helltoothed Dao Tapir’s devouring force. People had believed that Yi Yun was just being sharp tongued, which would eventually end up in him falling for his own scheme.

But no one ever believed that the outcome would reach such a state. Yi Yun’s Dao Domain was not only not crippled, instead, it was Shi Ping and Shi Fei who had a large amount of their Dao drawn away and had their prior insights of Dao drastically reduced. They were at the extreme limit of the Heaven Ascension realm, and they were about to condensed their Dao fruits, but with their Dao Domains gone, how were they going to condense Dao fruits?

Immediately, everyone looked at Yi Yun. At that moment, Yi Yun’s energy was nearly depleted. He was hovering mid-air as he recovered his stamina.

People began to see Yi Yun’s strength as being even more unfathomable. It was hard to imagine that in just one year, Yi Yun was able to possess such a terrifying Dao Domain — if that gray vortex was a Dao Domain that is.

“Felicitous Rain… ” Old Man Changsheng said with a deep voice.

He was incensed and he hoped to kill Yi Yun to ease his fury, but in front of Felicitous Rain Lord, he could not do a thing.

“Yes?” Felicitous Rain Lord gave Old Man Changsheng a perfunctory glance.

“It’s fine if you didn’t appreciate Shi Ping and Shi Fei, but why did you cripple their Dao?”

By stopping Old Man Changsheng at the very last moment — despite it being for a very short period of time — Felicitous Rain Lord had created such an outcome. Although Shi Fei and Shi Ping were crippled by Yi Yun directly, there was no way for Felicitous Rain Lord to shirk any responsibility either.

“Martial practitioners must be able to undertake responsibilities. You said that I didn’t appreciate them, but in fact, my standards aren’t that high. People who know how to compromise are people who I appreciate. Those without sufficient strength but can bear disgrace and a heavy burden are people who I appreciate as well.”

When Felicitous Rain Lord said that, he looked at Chi Zhuiyun. In the final Dao Domain assessment, it wasn’t too much to say that Chi Zhuiyun had born disgrace and a heavy burden.

“Of course, the ones that I appreciate the most are those with strength and know how to beat their enemies through novel means… ”

When Felicitous Rain Lord said that, he cast his gaze at Yi Yun and nodded slightly.

“What I don’t appreciate are people who are unaware of their own limitations, go back on their word, and people who cannot pay the price for their actions. These kind of people are not what I would take in as disciples. Now, I’ll be announcing the disciples that I want to take in!”

When Felicitous Rain Lord said that, everyone’s hearts tightened, especially in the towering tree’s hall. The king and the other important figures of the Oracle Fey Kingdom braced themselves by sitting up straight.

They were actually feeling somewhat disheartened. Yi Yun was simply too dazzling. He had stood head and shoulders above the rest, so they felt that Chi Zhuiyun’s chances were slim.

“I am willing to take in Chi Zhuiyun as an in-name disciple! Chi Zhuiyun, are you willing?”

It was unexpected that the first person that Felicitous Rain Lord mentioned was Chi Zhuiyun.

Chi Zhuiyun was delighted. Back when he chose the ordinary Dao Tapir because he did not dare to face the Helltoothed Dao Tapir, it was equivalent to him giving up. He never expected that Felicitous Rain Lord would still be willing to take him in as a disciple.

“Yes, this disciple is willing!” Chi Zhuiyun said politely.

The Oracle Fey Kingdom king heaved a sigh of relief. Although Chi Zhuiyun’s results were inferior to Yi Yun’s, he had finally passed the assessment.

Seeing Chi Zhuiyun become an in-name disciple, Tianya Haoyue felt extremely jealous. Felicitous Rain Lord did not even mention him, destroying any hope that was left in him.

The difference was just too great. He was inferior to Chi Zhuiyun, and as for Yi Yun, the gap was probably the same distance as one end of the world to the other.

It was a given that Felicitous Rain Lord would take Yi Yun in as a disciple. However, what made people puzzled was that even though Felicitous Rain Lord was announcing who he was taking in as disciples, why didn’t he say Chi Zhuiyun and Yi Yun’s names together? Why did he ask them individually?

Could it be… ?

A few people realized a possibility and this possibility left them stifled!

“I am willing to take Yi Yun in as a… personal disciple! Yi Yun, are you willing?”

When Felicitous Rain Lord said that, there was silence everywhere, including the area outside Brocade Spring Court. The projection was shown to everyone allowing millions of people to see it. They were left in shock!

A Divine Lord’s personal disciple!

A Divine Lord had an extremely long life. If they did not die as a result of unnatural means, they could live for tens of millions of years. But in such a long period of time, the number of personal disciples that they took in was a handful.

Typically, some personal disciples who had yet to mature fully would die before the Divine Lord’s death. That resulted in the Divine Lord taking in new disciples.

Once someone became Felicitous Rain Lord’s personal disciple, the amount of resources that they could enjoy would be enviable. Furthermore, Felicitous Rain Lord was no ordinary Divine Lord. He held remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ in his possession!

The ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ was one of the top twelve cultivation techniques in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

How big an opportunity was it to be able to study the remnant page of the ’’Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’?

“Personal disciple… personal disciple… Master actually… ”

At that moment, Song Wuchen was sitting not far from Felicitous Rain Lord. When he heard the two words, ‘personal disciple’, his brain felt like it had been struck by a sledgehammer. Immediately, his brain went blank as his ears buzzed.

He was previously worried that when Yi Yun became an in-name disciple, he would be valued greatly by Felicitous Rain Lord and eventually reach the position of personal disciple. But he never expected that now, Felicitous Rain Lord was immediately giving Yi Yun the title of personal disciple!

The thing that he was most worried about had happened. Song Wuchen felt his chest turn heavy as he became short of breath. His heart was filled with anger and disgruntlement, but Yi Yun’s tremendous talent left him completely unsure as to how to beat him.

To gain the personal guidance of a Divine Lord, the remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’, as well as top-grade resources, how far could Yi Yun mature considering his rare talent?

It was completely unimaginable.

“Could Yi Yun become a Divine Lord?” A Oracle Fey Kingdom prince said in a daze.

He knew that the moment that Yi Yun became a personal disciple of a Divine Lord, his status would far exceed any prince or princess in the six-country alliance. As for a successor to a large family clan, they were just a joke when compared to Yi Yun.

Just a moment ago, they felt that Yi Yun had no background, but now… with Felicitous Rain Lord propping him up, his background and status were several times stronger than them. These made the Oracle Fey Kingdom prince feel greatly depressed.

“Become the next Divine Lord? It wouldn’t be that easy. Since time immemorial, the number of Divine Lords that exist in the same era is basically fixed. The chances of a Divine Lord’s disciple becoming a Divine Lord as well is extremely small.” Someone else said.

However, they all knew that even if Yi Yun could not become a Divine Lord in the future, he was bound to be an existence only second to a Divine Lord. He would be something far beyond their reach.

“Thank you senior for his appreciation. This junior is willing!”

Yi Yun gave a bow meant for acknowledging a master. Indeed, Yi Yun would not be willing if it was to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s in-name disciple. But a personal disciple was completely different. Up to now, Yi Yun’s practice of martial arts might have given him powerful inheritances, but he lacked a true master that could give him systematic advice when it came to martial arts.

It could be said to be extremely timely to gain the advice of Felicitous Rain Lord before he condensed his Dao fruits.

988 - : Disciple Recruitment

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, Felicitous Rain Lord floated down from Star Picking Court and landed beside Yi Yun.

Felicitous Rain Lord glanced at Yi Yun, whose Yuan Qi was depleted, before saying, “Let’s go.”

Thousands of water droplets appeared out of nowhere as they enveloped Yi Yun and Felicitous Rain Lord’s figures. Following that, Yi Yun felt the world in front of him turn into a blur.

Hundreds of thousands of warriors witnessed the scene of Yi Yun being taken away by Felicitous Rain Lord.

“Yi Yun has left.”

“He shall become a dragon from now onwards.”

For a period of time, the warriors stared at the spot where Yi Yun had disappeared.

Although they had failed to stand on the stage of an era, they had witnessed Yi Yun’s ascension.

Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi were feeling all sorts of emotions.

The result made them feel relieved and gratified.

At that moment, Fairy Ningshuang stood up as well.

She glanced at Song Wuchen and said lightly, “There’s no need for you to return. Go to Heaven’s Door Cliff and reflect for three years.”

Song Wuchen felt his body quiver. He looked gloomy as he lowered his head bitterly.

He had been punished by Fairy Ningshuang not because he had targeted Yi Yun. Felicitous Rain Lord had always tacitly consented to competition between disciples. The crux of the issue was that he had screwed up terribly during the first assessment. Regardless of the reason for the screw-up, the outcome was a result of him not being capable enough. That was the reason why he was punished.

As for his number one spot as an in-name disciple, it was most likely not going to be his any longer. He no longer even dared to compete with Yi Yun. The main issue was that other in-name disciples could possibly surpass him as well.

“Chi Zhuiyun.” Fairy Ningshuang moved in front of Chi Zhuiyun as a shadow appeared from beneath her feet before it enveloped the region where she and Chi Zhuiyun were standing.

Chi Zhuiyun gave a polite gesture as he felt the ground beneath him disappear. Following that, he was devoured by the shadow.

…

A few seconds later, Yi Yun’s eyes lit up as his feet landed on solid rock.

In front of him was a long stretch of misty mountains whose had peaks pierced through the clouds.

“This is the floating island that I live on.” Felicitous Rain Lord’s figure appeared behind him.

Yi Yun had previously heard that Felicitous Rain Lord lived on an independent floating island. It was tens of millions of kilometers away from where the Oracle Fey Kingdom was.

His ability to travel such a large distance in the blink of an eye through such miraculous power and without a spirit cruiser indicated how unimaginable the level of a Divine Lord was.

Felicitous Rain Lord looked at Yi Yun and said, “There’s no need for you to be overly restrained. I’m not particular when it comes to etiquette. Let’s wait for another person.”

Yi Yun was surprised but at that moment, a tumultuous voice came from afar. “Felicitous Rain!”

At the instant the voice reached them, a figure landed in front of Yi Yun and Felicitous Rain Lord.

Old Man Changsheng!

When Yi Yun saw Old Man Changsheng, he immediately recalled the threatening voice transmission that he had previously received.

However, Yi Yun was still delighted to see him.

Shi Fei and Shi Ping had both been severely injured. The Helltoothed Dao Tapir had also been injured, while Old Man Changsheng’s face was livid and so gloomy that it could probably produce rain clouds.

Felicitous Rain Lord said, “You can now talk about the matter that you came to discuss with me. You wouldn’t have especially come just for the participation of two disciples in my disciple recruitment.”

Upon hearing Felicitous Rain Lord mention Shi Fei and Shi Ping, Old Man Changsheng’s expression turned even uglier. He obviously did not come this far for the duo, but it still pissed him off that the minor mission had failed.

Yi Yun was surprised while he was listening on the side. From the looks of it, the assessment was a minor matter. The reason why Shi Changsheng came was to represent the Immortal Rain Sect in a discussion over something important with Felicitous Rain Lord.

“It’s information regarding the Sinkhole,” said Old Man Changsheng.

Sinkhole?

Yi Yun’s heart stirred when he heard that. He had long known about the Sinkhole.

The Azure Yang Lord had previously mistakenly entered the Tian Yuan world through the Sinkhole. The Fey Phantasm Sect was also in the Sinkhole. In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, the Sinkhole was a dangerous and mysterious location.

An odd glint flashed in Felicitous Rain Lord’s eyes.

“The location of the Azure Wood Great World has been found. However, there is an intense spatial turbulence around it. In the coming years, the spatial turbulence should weaken for a period of time. Felicitous Rain, you are proficient in space-time Dao, so it wouldn’t be a problem for you to enter it during its weak phase,” said Old Man Changsheng.

“In its weak phase, even people with average proficiency in space-time can enter,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

He pondered for a moment before he looked at Old Man Changsheng and said, “This piece of news is still pretty good. However, other than the Immortal Rain Sect, there should be several large sects and Fey empires that are already aware of this, right?”

He glanced at Shi Changsheng and lightly said, “Even if you did not especially come to inform me about it, this piece of news would still quickly reach me.”

“Felicitous Rain, you are the first to know ever since we received the information. Furthermore, we will obtain even more information regarding the Azure Wood Great World which we can share with you. It will be a cooperation, where we would borrow your spatial-temporal laws as well as use the Immortal Rain Sect’s information and faction network to garner mutual benefits,” said Old Man Changsheng.

It was obvious that the Immortal Rain Sect was making a trade with Felicitous Rain Lord by informing him.

Felicitous Rain Lord could not deny it as he looked into the distance and said, “You can leave.”

Old Man Changsheng hesitated for a moment before saying, “Felicitous Rain, there are certain relations that cannot be completely severed.”

He knew Felicitous Rain Lord’s character. Even without any promises, he would usually do a fair trade of giving and taking.

Before leaving, Old Man Changsheng glanced at Yi Yun. His gaze had a forbidding look.

That junior!

If it wasn’t for that junior, he would not have shamed the Immortal Rain Sect in front of so many backwater warriors.

After returning, he wouldn’t know how long he would be mocked for by the other old fogies.

As for Yi Yun, he remained composed. What’s the point of staring at me when you lack the ability to make a move?

“Senior Changsheng, there’s no need to keep looking at this junior. It’s best that you hurry and treat the two Immortal Rain Sect disciples. More can be redeemed the earlier it is.” Yi Yun said with a smile. Shi Changsheng’s expression sank as he was infuriated by Yi Yun. With a forceful flick of his sleeve, he flew away.

To engage in a war of words with a junior… was below his status. However he had already suffered a setback and being derided by a junior, Shi Changsheng found it impossible to stomach an insult like that.

After Shi Changsheng left, Felicitous Rain Lord gave Yi Yun a smiling glance. “You really aren’t afraid of Shi Changsheng at all. That attitude of yours is quite a show, and it would be easy for you to suffer when you travel throughout the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, however… it is to my liking.”

The decision that Felicitous Rain Lord made of taking Yi Yun in as a personal disciple stemmed not only from Yi Yun’s talent but also because he appreciated Yi Yun’s attitude. “Have you heard of the Azure Wood Great World?”

“This junior has never heard of it.” Yi Yun shook his head.

“It’s normal. This name has disappeared for more than a hundred million years,” said Felicitous Rain Lord. “Time is like a flowing river. Everything and anything can be washed away by that river. The Azure Wood Great World was once much more powerful than the Immortal Rain Sect. It was one of the most powerful worlds in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. It once produced a figure that shook the entire Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. Unfortunately, its brilliance didn’t last that long.”

Once produced a figure that shook the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven?

What sort of existence could it be for Felicitous Rain Lord to evaluate it as ‘shaking the entire Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’? Yet, such a world eventually waned?

“In a few years, I’ll likely have to leave and enter the Azure Wood Great World. The amount of time needed is unknown, but in these few years, I’ll stay behind on this floating island and impart martial studies to you,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

Only a few years time?

Yi Yun’s expression turned serious. A few years was too short for warriors.

However, gaining a few years of guidance from a Divine Lord was a huge opportunity that countless warriors could not even dream of.

“When the time comes, I’ll impart cultivation techniques that go from the Dao Manifestation realm all the way to the Dao Palace realm to you, give you the treasured canons that I have stashed away and provide you sufficient resources to support your cultivation,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

Felicitous Rain Lord felt somewhat apologetic. Back then, he had set a standard for Yi Yun, while Yi Yun had passed his assessment. Yi Yun had undergone all sorts of dangers, to the point of risking his life, to finally become his disciple. Unfortunately, he had to enter the Azure Wood Great World in a few years time.

If it wasn’t for that matter, he would focus on Yi Yun and guide him for a century.

However, Yi Yun felt that as a master, Felicitous Rain Lord was already considered to be very responsible. He knew that many mighty figures would spare very little time on guiding the disciples that they took in. They would frequently enter seclusion by themselves, making it difficult for those disciples to meet their masters even once. Just as the saying goes — you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink it.

989 - : Azure Wood Great World

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun, accompany me to the Felicitous Rain Abode. The abode only permits entry to me and Ningshuang. But since you have become my personal disciple, you can enter it as well,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

Yi Yun turned curious. Felicitous Rain Lord had constructed an additional abode on the floating island?

Boom!

With a flick of a sleeve, the sight in front of Yi Yun’s eyes turned blurry. He sensed space distorting and at the next moment, he had entered a space with a door behind him.

“This is?” Yi Yun immediately looked around when he found his footing.

It was a massive and lofty abode. Past the door was a vast world, with a tremendous immortal mountain. In the clouds, there was a palace that could be vaguely seen. A terrifying pressure emanated inside the abode, and the immortal mountain contributed the most to the pressure.

“That is where the remnant page of the Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon are stored,” said Felicitous Rain Lord. “This is an abode that I obtained from an enemy a long time ago.”

Obtained from an enemy? For a person to possess such an abode, he would definitely be an extraordinary Supremacy even if he wasn’t a Divine Lord. Felicitous Rain Lord had only become a Divine Lord recently, so it was very likely that the abode had been obtained before he became a Divine Lord.

The Azure Yang Lord and the Great Empress had left behind a similar abode in the Tian Yuan world. As for the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner’s abode, it was a fragment of a world. It was much larger and majestic than the two abodes, so it was unknown how powerful the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner was.

Upon seeing the abode, Yi Yun felt his heart stir. A portable abode like that was extremely convenient. By bringing such an abode with him, he could go anywhere in the expansive world.

Felicitous Rain Lord read Yi Yun’s thoughts as he said with a laugh, “It’s good for a warrior to have ambition. With strength, an abode is nothing. When you are out traveling, you will encounter many wealthy people that will end up courting their own deaths.”

Yi Yun was unsure how to respond when he heard that. Felicitous Rain Lord was frank and casual — they were obvious traits from the way that he did not put on airs with his disciple.

“I watched your assessment, so I understand your martial path, laws, and talent well. Your Dao Domain is very special as it contains the concept of Destruction! But your cultivation technique and foundation no longer can keep up with the rest,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

His test of Yi Yun was not only to see how Yi Yun passed the assessment but more importantly, it was for him to observe the strengths and weaknesses of Yi Yun.

A Divine Lord had a long lifespan, but the number of personal disciples that they would recruit wasn’t a large number.

Yi Yun’s cultivation technique was the Great Empress Heart Sutra, which was a top cultivation technique in the Tian Yuan world. But with Yi Yun’s growth in strength, and the changes in his martial arts, the Great Empress Heart Sutra was gradually becoming unsuitable for him.

Yi Yun wanted a master precisely for cultivation techniques.

Felicitous Rain Lord took the lead as he said, “Follow me.”

The lush immortal mountain had a towering palace compound, and Felicitous Rain Lord led Yi Yun through the maze of palaces before entering a large and opulent palace.

Upon entering it, Yi Yun was immediately attracted by what he saw.

There were countless books flying mid-air. These books released powerful shock waves that stopped Yi Yun from having the urge to pick any one of them for reading.

The flying books were all sealed.

“The cultivation technique books here were collected by me over the years. Some come from the heritage of sects or martial arts of family clans. There are more than ten thousand books here,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

Yi Yun was secretly appalled. That was a lot!

A Divine Lord’s book collection was unimaginably huge.

Once a Divine Lord like that established his own sect, he could immediately create a mighty faction.

“I have read all of these cultivation technique books,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

Who knew how much time he took to read them all.

“There is no need for you to be anxious about the remnant pages of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ for the moment as they are too profound for you. Furthermore, it has missing pages. What you need now is a complete and systemic cultivation technique.”

As Felicitous Rain Lord said this, he stretched his hand out to grab at the flying books. Immediately, a few books floated in front of him.

“This ‘Heavenfire Burning Solar Sutra’ is a heritage cultivation technique of the Golden Crow clan. You possess a pure Yang body which makes it very suitable for you to cultivate it. This cultivation technique has an indomitable style which is brutal and ferocious. The Golden Crow clansmen that cultivate this technique are known as Berserkers, characterized by their red hair and crimson eyes. They are all burly and courageous, so in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, they are often hired by people to participate in wars.” Felicitous Rain Lord introduced.

Berserker? Yi Yun imagined himself with red hair and bulky muscles… That cultivation technique seemed to suit Chi Zhuiyun better.

“This ‘Sacred Blood Sutra’ takes a strange path. Once you attain a profound level in it, your whereabouts will be unknown and unpredictable. In times of need, you can burn your blood essence and produce a strike that far exceeds your limits. In the future, when you are out traveling, there will be many times that your life will be on the line.”

It was a cultivation technique to protect one’s life.

The cultivation technique was not bad, but Yi Yun was hesitant about it. As a warrior, he preferred to take a more orthodox path. It was the best way after all.

It was not his goal to practice martial arts to constantly think about escaping or surviving.

Felicitous Rain Lord noticed how Yi Yun had no interest in the ‘Sacred Blood Sutra’ before he nodded and said, “By choosing this, it will suit your situation. But by not choosing it, it suits my intentions as well.”

As a newly risen Divine Lord, Felicitous Rain Lord had no lack of instances when he killed people. His martial path was one about settling grievances and vengeance quickly.

“This manual comes from a peerless figure that once ruled over the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven… ”

Felicitous Rain Lord took out an ancient stone disc and said, “If you are interested, you can attempt it. As for its strength, it’s hard to tell if it’s strong or not.”

There was such a cultivation technique? Even a Divine Lord could not tell?

Yi Yun curiously looked at the stone disc.

“It’s called the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’. It is a cultivation technique that deals with time. I too have some attainments in the Dao of Time, but my Dao of Time comes from another cultivation technique, so it’s already too late to change.”

“The Dao of space-time is unpredictable in its changes. Time existed ever since the birth of the Universe, that is why it’s called ‘Heaven’s Advent’.”

“Time will not stop because of the death of people or the annihilation of matter, unless, the entire Universe is completely destroyed. That will be ‘Heaven’s End’.”

“From Heaven’s advent to Heaven’s end, the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’ is the beginning of time for the Universe.”

“Many warriors have talent in martial arts but they find it difficult to progress when it comes to the Dao of space-time. That’s the reason why I said that it is hard to tell if it’s strong or not,” said Felicitous Rain Lord. “You can try taking a look at it first.”

The Dao of space-time was the unification of two systems. Be it space or time, just any one of them was a Great Dao. Many warriors wished to grasp any of one them, but the amount that they could grasp was minute. Felicitous Rain Lord wanted Yi Yun to take a look at it to show him its difficulty as well.

Yi Yun took the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’ disc and as he directed his perception into it, he immediately felt like the world had flipped over. The celestial bodies were constantly revolving as his ears heard a rustling sound that resembled falling sand.

A surging river appeared. It was the River of Forgetfulness. And in it were countless figures. Scenes of their experiences from life to death quickly flashed inside the River of Forgetfulness.

Yi Yun even saw the birth of the Universe. After a tremendous big bang, the nebulous Chaos appeared. Chaos Stones floated inside the nebula, with some of them forming landmasses, while others gave birth to the earliest Ancient Fey.

They quickly combined to form large worlds, but later on, the worlds collapsed, putting an end to life. Everything returned to nothingness once again.

Yi Yun watched the scenes one after another. At the beginning, his feelings were constantly influenced by what he saw, but slowly, he seemed to extricate himself from them and watched the scenes as a third party.

In the Tian Yuan world, Yi Yun had previously gained insight in the Dao of space during his battle with the Black-armored Demon God. Now, it was the Dao of Time.

The things in front of him turned blurry as Yi Yun returned to the interior of the palace once again. He was still maintaining the movement that he did previously, while his hand was still carrying the Book of Heaven’s Advent. Everything that he had just experienced was just an illusion.

990 - : Book of Heaven’s Advent

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun immersed himself in the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’. A tiny portion of what was recorded on the stone disc was text, but most of it was filled with scenes of the samsara of all matter that manifested the Dao of Time.

Time gradually passed, as Felicitous Rain Lord waited by the side. He sensed that Yi Yun had gained certain insights, so he did not disturb him.

Six hours later, Yi Yun opened his eyes.

“What did you see?” asked Felicitous Rain Lord.

Yi Yun put his hand out and tapped the void with a finger.

Immediately, the concept of Withering appeared on his finger tip, as a dull and arid aura emanated from it.

A look of surprise flashed in Felicitous Rain Lord’s eyes.

“This is the Withering concept that this disciple grasped by a matter of chance,” said Yi Yun. “Time permeates everything. A Destruction Dao Domain represents the end of time, while the Withering concept has the elapsing of time.”

The Withering concept was something that Yi Yun comprehended in front of the Dao Tree in the Pure Yang Sword Palace. After that, he had absorbed the Death Soulwood, but after he came to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, his Withering concept began to appear to lack in power. Without any improvement to the concept, it could no longer keep up with his strength.

But now, Yi Yun had freely produced the Withering concept as his heart wished.

“Not bad, Yi Yun. For you to have such insights, and you having grasped the Withering concept, it looks like there’s no need to choose.” Felicitous Rain Lord gave Yi Yun a satisfied look. As a Divine Lord that was proficient in the Dao of Time, Felicitous Rain Lord possessed great talent in the Dao of Time, but he had never thought of finding a disciple that was similarly highly talented in the Dao of Time.

Finding a personal disciple was not easy in the first place, so to find someone with the same talent would be too much to ask for.

“You must be prepared to undergo arduous cultivation,” said Felicitous Rain Lord. “The Dao of Time is abstruse and profound. Although it is said that every Dao can gain an inkling of the Origins of the Universe when they reach a high attainment, I believe that the Dao of Time is one of the Great Dao that is closest to the Origins.”

Yi Yun nodded. His Withering concept had been something that he comprehended after experiencing the life of a Dao Leaf from the Pure Yang Sword Palace Dao Tree.

“Then, I shall choose this ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’,” said Yi Yun.

With the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’ in hand, he felt that it resonated with him.

“Good, then I’ll teach you a set of sword techniques. I originally believed that this set of sword techniques might not be suitable for you, but since you possess the Withering concept and are also about to cultivate in the Dao of Time, you can give the sword techniques a try,” said Felicitous Rain Lord. However, he did not produce a manual.

He made a few hand seals as a small and shimmering sword appeared. With a swish, the sword shot straight at Yi Yun’s glabella.

Yi Yun’s heart leaped. “That is?!”

The tiny sword showed no animosity, so Yi Yun allowed the tiny sword to pierce his glabella. Immediately, there was a loud bang!

Like a tumultuous thunder, Yi Yun felt his entire soul sea reverberate. At that instant, Yi Yun looked like he arrived at a world formed from sword Qi.

As though he was standing in the void of space, everything around him was surging with sword Qi.

Felicitous Rain Lord’s voice seemed to come from an ancient world. “This is the core set of sword techniques in the heritage that I have learned. Its owner was the strongest Divine Lord that previously cultivated in the Dao of Time. The sword technique’s name is the ‘Three-foot Passing Sword’.”

“Time flies like an arrow and the lives of people curve like bows!”

“This set of sword techniques does not have a manual, it only has scenes of the swordplay. Watch well!”

Suddenly, a swift sword beam shot from afar. Immediately, the firmaments trembled as the void shattered. The sword beam seemed to possess the most heartlessness of time. As though time was shuttling past, it looked distant but also in close proximity at the blink of an eye. Wherever it passed, space would collapse, turning everything to dust.

“This strike’s name is the Sword of Time!”

Sword of Time!

Yi Yun was astounded. Previously, the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner’s strike was very powerful as well, but all Yi Yun saw was the scars of the strike. Now, he could see a strike with his own eyes!

Experiencing the terror of that strike himself gave Yi Yun the feeling that it was completely different to a sword scar.

This was the difference between having a true master and picking up an inheritance.

The Sword of Time did not slash physical embodiments, it slashed their vitality!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The terrifying sword beams caused the world to constantly collapse. Yi Yun’s soul sea could not withstand it either as his consciousness underwent tremors. He awoke from the world of sword Qi.

However, Yi Yun realized that there was an additional small sword in his soul sea. It was the cultivation technique inheritance that Felicitous Rain Lord left behind.

The Purple Crystal’s ability automatically swept past the sword. There was no consciousness imbued in it, only a cultivation technique.

“One shouldn’t bite more than he can chew. Begin cultivating the Book of Heaven’s Advent first as well as the first strike of the ‘Three-foot Passing Sword’ — Sword of Time.”

“There won’t be anyone disturbing you in the abode. You can cultivate in Spirit Gathering Palace.”

Felicitous Rain Lord’s abode was extremely expansive. There were many palaces, and Spirit Gathering Palace was one of them.

When Yi Yun reached Spirit Gathering Palace, he realized that the palace was enveloped by Yuan Qi. It was likely because of the spirit gathering array that resulted in it being misty and blurry.

“I wonder how far he can go in the next couple of years.” Felicitous Rain Lord watched from afar as Yi Yun entered Spirit Gathering Palace. His expression revealed a reflective look.

“Azure Wood Great World… ”

At that moment, an aloof and beautiful figure gradually appeared behind Felicitous Rain Lord.

“Where’s Chi Zhuiyun?” asked Felicitous Rain Lord.

Chi Zhuiyun was only an in-name disciple, so there was no need for him to personally impart cultivation techniques to him. However, Felicitous Rain Lord would also inquire about him.

“He has already taken up residence on the island. I got Tian Xun to impart cultivation techniques to him. I’ll give him advice from time to time,” said Fairy Ningshuang.

She traced Felicitous Rain Lord’s gaze and looked at Spirit Gathering Palace. She said in surprise, “Yi Yun has already begun entering reclusive training?” She looked at Felicitous Rain Lord again and said, “Why?”

Fairy Ningshuang had followed Felicitous Rain Lord by his side for tens of thousands of years, so she was very familiar with his personality.

“The Azure Wood Great World is about to open. Shi Changsheng represented the Immortal Rain Sect when he provided me with the news. This time, I believe that there will be many people heading for it,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

The last time that he entered the Azure Wood Great World, it was still a very concealed location. Many people did not know of the situation inside, but after the first experience, there would definitely be many people entering it when it opened a second time.

“When the time comes for me to go, I have no idea how long it will take for me to come back. I only have these couple of years to teach Yi Yun. I wonder how much he will learn?”

Having taught him the Three-foot Passage Sword… was equivalent to passing on his mantle. As for the remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’, it was not something that could be learned if one lacked the strength.

“The Azure Wood Great World… join me on the expedition,” said Felicitous Rain Lord. Fairy Ningshuang had accompanied Felicitous Rain Lord to many places before. “Maybe there will be an opportunity that we will find in there for you to make a breakthrough.”

Fairy Ningshuang nodded gently. Many years ago, she had suffered a near-death experience, and although she eventually became a Supremacy through Felicitous Rain Lord’s help, she failed to improve any further.

In the Azure Wood Great World, there might be a possibility for her to break the shackles. Even if she did not find anything, it did not matter. Being able to travel the world with Felicitous Rain Lord was what she was most content with.

991 - : Sword of Time

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had never exited Spirit Gathering Palace ever since he entered it.

The ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’ floated in front of him while his his eyes were tightly shut.

And around Yi Yun, there were occasional images that flashed.

Cultivation knew nothing about time. Furthermore, when it came to cultivating the Dao of Time at the level of the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’, even if many warriors were given the opportunity to read the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’, it would be like they were reading an indecipherable book, leaving them baffled.

And most terrifying of all was that when cultivating the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’, they would immerse themselves into the turbulence of time, losing themselves. Time might pass in a flash and by the time they awaken, too much time would have passed but they would’ve gained nothing to speak of!

That was the most horrifying matter regarding the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’. It was also something that Felicitous Rain Lord pondered deeply over before he allowed Yi Yun to cultivate the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’.

Yi Yun was in no hurry to immediately begin cultivating the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’. Instead, he immersed himself in the passage of time, and from there, comprehend the meaning of time. Slowly, he felt he himself become an embodiment of time.

The flashing figures were of no importance to Yi Yun, they were just scenes that had previously appeared in the Spirit Gathering Palace as vestiges of time.

Yi Yun also saw his past, as well as people that he happened to chance upon, as well as their past.

Everyone had their own time, but time treated everyone equally.

Powerful warriors possessed extended lifespans, but the worlds that they resided in could be destroyed. They would also slowly wane over a long process. There was no such thing as true eternity.

Phew—

Yi Yun breathed out while in his meditation.

The air that he spewed out was at times fast and at times slow. It would flow backward sometimes when he breathed out.

Yi Yun’s body also began to undergo changes. His appearance returned to point of when he looked even younger, but it kept switching back to his original appearance. He went from a nascent look to a sharp look, and from a sharp look to a genteel look, and from a genteel look back to a nascent look. It kept repeating.

Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes!

“So that is how it is. By training one’s body to become an embodiment of time before cultivating the Three-foot Passage Sword, it would be perfection.”

Yi Yun was thankful for Felicitous Rain Lord’s arrangements. The cultivation technique and sword technique supplemented each other and by combining both together, it would be extremely powerful once mastered.

The ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’ had five stages, but the breakthrough of every stage required a great deal of time and it was extremely difficult. Furthermore, the cultivation of each stage had a corresponding minimum level of cultivation needed.

“The first stage requires Dao Manifestation, but despite not having broken through to the Dao Manifestation realm, my Yuan Qi intensity is already sufficient. Even if it’s not enough, consuming some relics and herbs would do.”

Yi Yun took some relics and the spirit herb that he had obtained from the Door of Misty Rain out of his interspacial ring.

The spirit herb was supreme-grade to begin with. Many warriors coveted it during the assessment. Even Tianya Haoyue wanted one for his breakthrough to the Dao Manifestation realm. However, those people would never have thought that Yi Yun would use it for the cultivation of a cultivation technique.

Looking at the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’ in front of him, Yi Yun stopped moving as memories flashed past his mind.

By cultivating the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’, the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ would become his past.

Back in the Tian Yuan world, he had dual cultivated the ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ with Lin Xintong. All those scenes had surfaced in Yi Yun’s eyes a moment ago.

“Now that I’ve become a Divine Lord’s disciple, cultivating the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’ will be the moment that I truly move up to the upper echelons of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven ever since I came here.”

“Xintong, no matter where you are, I will find you, even if the 12 Empyrean Heavens are vast and with danger lurking at every turn.”

“Time to begin. This reclusion is for me to finish cultivating the first stage of the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’. I wonder how long it will take. Without any talent, it would be difficult to comprehend it using an entire lifetime. There might be a possible of losing myself in the turbulence of time, never to awaken!”

Yi Yun closed his eyes and a fluctuation appeared from the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’. A abstruse aura that seemed to come from a remote past began to swirl around Yi Yun.

Slowly, the entire Spirit Gathering Palace was enveloped by the aura.

The Spirit Gathering Palace began phasing in and out of existence. At times, it would look normal, and at other times, it would look like a ruin.

Time was formless but the changes that it brought were tangible.

With Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi draining away, the spirit herbs beside him flew up. They gathered together mid-air to produce drips of spirit fluid that dripped into Yi Yun’s body.

Immediately, Yuan Qi surged as Yi Yun’s skin effused a glow.

But Yi Yun, who was busy cultivating, did not seem to know anything about this.

As though he had manifested himself as sand, he quietly witnessed the passage of time.

The ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ Yuan Qi in Yi Yun’s body was slowly replaced by the abstruse aura, as his bearing also began changing.

Phew.

Yi Yun continued to keep his eyes closed, but a sword beam flashed around him.

While cultivating the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’, he understood the existence of time, while he simultaneously cultivated the Three-foot Passage Sword.

Runes even began to appear beneath Yi Yun. These runes gradually came together and formed the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was the highest martial art that Yi Yun had learned up to date. It represented the Major Dao of Destruction, but it did not mean that it was immutable. Yi Yun could inject the Dao that he had into the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

The Dao of Time runes were like vestiges of all matter that landed on the river of time. From the Cloud Wilderness to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, whatever Yi Yun had seen and experienced formed into pieces of those fragments.

After these fragments were added to the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, it made the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence look as though it was a wheel of time that bore the load of endless history.

The wheel of time transformed into a sword beam as it slashed out in front of Yi Yun. It was silent and left no trace, but after the sword beam slashed, the ground in front of Yi Yun cracked. It was covered in moss that spread out for a thousand feet.

But due to the palace array’s workings, the crack gradually repaired itself.

The years flew by by without one knowing how long had passed.

Only at an unexpected moment did Yi Yun suddenly open his eyes.

In his eyes, it was like there was a passage of time that was like surging water. And his aura seemed to have additional feeling of time.

He seemed to be immersed in the world, and was part of the world.

“The first stage of the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’… completed.” Yi Yun breathed out lightly.

He looked at the relics and spirit herbs on the ground that had been completely consumed.

As for his hair, it had become a lot longer.

“How long has it been? Two years? Three?”

Yi Yun did not know. While cultivating the laws of time, the passage of time had turned into oblivion. That was the profound mystery of the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’.

Yi Yun circulated the Yuan Qi in his body. He could clearly sense the transformations in his body. The boundless Yuan Qi in his body surged out like a river, but it felt like there was something imperfect about it.

“This tiny bit of imperfection might be a result of me not having manifested my Dao or have any Dao fruits.”

“Should I manifest my Dao?”

Such a thought flashed in Yi Yun’s mind.

He felt that he had already finished all of his preparations.

His Yuan Qi was brimming and everything had reached its peak.

Having redone his cultivation, all of the martial arts that he had grasped were perfectly merged with the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’.

Yi Yun would improve in his realm by manifesting his Dao.

It could be said that be everything was perfect when it came to timing, location and person.

“Time to manifest my Dao!”

Yi Yun sat back down on the ground. In Spirit Gathering Palace, he was determined to manifest his Dao fruits in one fell swoop and break through to the Dao Manifestation realm!

By stepping onto the path of heaven ascension, and manifesting his own Great Dao!

What warriors practiced wasn’t martial arts, but their fates.

As a mortal, he wanted to go against the heavens.

Past thoughts flashed in Yi Yun’s mind as his aura began to rise.

In the abode, Felicitous Rain Lord, who was meditating, opened his eyes and looked at Spirit Gathering Palace.

Yi Yun’s aura was increasing in intensity. The sky above the Spirit Gathering Palace was filled with wind and clouds, but as immense Heaven Earth Yuan Qi gathered, it swept all the lingering fog around the immortal mountain away.

The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi circulated to form a wheel of time, and in the wheel, there were sword beams flying around it with golden light flashing.

“He’s manifesting his Dao.” Felicitous Rain Lord watched quietly. “I wonder what that child’s Dao fruits will be like?”

992 - : Preparation for Dao Manifestation

CKtalon  CKtalon

The cultivation of a warrior went from the planting of a Dao Seed, and the growth of a Dao Tree, to the bearing of fruits from the Dao Tree. It was an accumulation of the insights that a warrior had in martial arts and of nature. It was also the record of a warrior’s life.

Yi Yun had experienced a great deal throughout his journey.

But in the river of time, everything appeared too short and fleeting.

“In the Tai Ah Divine City, I cultivated in the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. In the Pure Yang Sword Palace, I fused with the Golden Crow, and in the Great Empress mystic realm, I tempered myself in lava, eventually attaining pure Yang… My pure Yang laws have accompanied me to date. As such, it can condense a Dao fruit.”

Boom!

A radiant sun appeared behind Yi Yun. The phantom image of the Tang Valley burst forth as the Golden Crow spread its wings and issued a loud screech. Its massive golden wings were like burning flames that could burn through everything.

These formed Dao runes that were filled with the profound aura of the Universe before they gradually merged into one. They formed a tiny ball that was bustling with life as it constantly spun.

The golden ball had totems of the radiant sun and Golden Crow engraved on the surface, and within the ball, it contained explosive power. It was Yi Yun’s pure Yang Dao fruit.

Dao begets One, One begets Two, Two begets Three, Three begets all things.

The ‘Two’ referred to Yin and Yang. At the beginning of the Universe, Chaos was first born before it split into Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang was a Great Dao!

Solitary Yang could not exist, so although Yi Yun cultivated in pure Yang laws, he had fused in a bit of the Yin that Lin Xintong had cultivated. This allowed Yi Yun’s pure Yang Dao fruit to be closer to perfection.

“In the Pure Yang Sword Palace, I gained insight into the concept of Withering. In the life-and-death battle with the Black-armored Demon God, I was trapped by the Black-armored Demon God in an alternate spatial dimension. There I gained insights into the Dao of Space. I took Felicitous Rain Lord as my master and cultivated in the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’, transforming the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence into a wheel of time. On the Dao of Space and Time, I have traveled far with opportunities and attainments.”

Mysterious runes flew out of Yi Yun’s body as they gathered together while in revolving in flux. Inside, there were celestial bodies that seemed to spin with the runes, as though they formed a small universe by itself. An ancient and immense aura emanated out of the newly condensed Dao fruit.

Not long later, the laws of space-time gradually manifested into Dao.

The Space-time Withering Dao fruit and pure Yang Dao fruit were side by side. They seemed to attract each other, but they also maintained a tiny bit of distance while they revolved like the real constellations.

Yi Yun continued to condense his next Dao fruit. An aura constantly separated from his body. The aura was not only a law, it was also the experiences and memories that Yi Yun had ever since he cultivated in martial arts. They all gathered together to produce a Dao fruit.

In his memory, Yi Yun seemed to see the scene of him standing in front of the statue of the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner. The endless sword scar seemed to be stabbing his eyes.

“Pure Yang Sword Scar and Three-foot Passage Sword. My Sword Dao is where the heart lies. It proceeds in an indomitable fashion.”

Two tiny sword scars appeared as they intermingled mid-air before forming the shadow of a sword. In the shadow of the sword was the figure of Yi Yun when he used the sword.

That was Yi Yun’s Sword Dao Dao fruit.

Finally, it was the Major Destruction Dao fruit!

Yi Yun’s Major Destruction Dao Domain had even visibly moved Felicitous Rain Lord. Everything in the world, be it space-time, Yin-Yang, or the Universe would eventually head towards destruction. There was nothing that was eternal.

Space-time and Yin-Yang were both Great Dao. They were close to the Origins, but the Major Dao of Destruction was one of the Great Dao of Supremacy.

Or perhaps ‘one of’ was not accurate, because up to date, there were only two Great Dao of Supremacy —

Chaos during the birth of the Universe!

Major Destruction during the annihilation of the Universe!

The closer a Great Dao was to the Origins, the harder it was to cultivate it. It would also naturally be harder to condense a Dao fruit.

Yi Yun had spent a good deal of time to condense his Space-time Withering Dao fruit, but the amount of time he used to condensed the Major Destruction Dao fruit was even longer.

Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was nearly fully depleted as he took out the ten-thousand-year-old Seven Heart Flower that he had obtained from the Door of Misty Rain.

It was extremely difficult for a warrior to manifest his or her Dao, and during the process, a warrior’s Yuan Qi could not be replenished. To manifest one’s Dao fruit needed one to nearly deplete all of the Yuan Qi that they had as one gathered all of one’s insights. This process could only be done in one fell swoop.

Above Spirit Gathering Palace, the increasing aura mixed with the aura of the Dao fruits. A sense of profoundness exuded throughout Spirit Gathering Palace as various celestial phenomena happened.

Fairy Ningshuang had also come as she stood beside Felicitous Rain Lord, watching the scene.

“Yi Yun’s Dao fruits have a very impressive feel to them,” said Fairy Ningshuang in a moment of reflection.

She did not produce such phenomena back when she manifested her Dao.

“It’s almost done. We will soon learn of the outcome.” Felicitous Rain Lord was very patient.

Fairy Ningshuang nodded as she looked forward to the outcome of Yi Yun’s Dao Manifestation.

As for Yi Yun, he was still immersed in the world of his soul sea.

During the Dao Manifestation process, he gradually felt like he was merging with the heaven and earth as one.

The fruits of Pure Yang, Space-time Withering and Sword Dao were revolving around Yi Yun.

Beneath him, the Major Destruction Dao Domain appeared as the destruction aura constantly intertwined.

“It’s almost done.” Yi Yun had such a feeling.

A blob of gray gas gradually took up form like a nebula, but it contained a terrifying aura. It was like anything that entered it would be completely destroyed.

And above Spirit Gathering Palace, a phantom towering tree appeared from time to time. The Golden Crow and Nine Neonate flew around it as they let out long roars.

On the towering tree’s branches, a tiny, tender shoot transformed into a fruit. The fruit had a barely discernible aura, and each fruit was different. On careful look, they were different Dao fruits. And leaves were slowly sprouting out of those Dao fruits.

“The Dao fruits are formed,” said Fairy Ningshuang as she looked at the leaves. “Six, seven and, eight.”

Having eight-leafed Dao fruits was definitely an extremely breathtaking feat in factions like the Oracle Fey Kingdom and the Luo clan.

However, to Yi Yun, it was not considered to be many. It could only be considered as above average.

“Yi Yun’s Dao fruit are all Great Dao Dao fruits,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

Any warrior at the Dao Manifestation realm would be considered the cream of the crop if they possessed a single Great Dao Dao fruit, yet Yi Yun had three.

The three Dao — Pure Yang, Space-time Withering and Major Dao of Destruction — were Great Dao that were approaching the Origins, especially the Major Dao of Destruction.

“Yet another leaf.” Fairy Ningshuang’s eyes lit up as she was visibly moved.

However, the leaf only sprouted into a bud before it stopped growing.

“What a pity!” Fairy Ningshuang revealed a look of pity.

Felicitous Rain Lord had a slight change in expression as well before he said calmly, “There’s nothing to pitiable about it. To cultivate three Great Dao at the same time and form nine-leaf Dao fruits would be too difficult. Yi Yun is now just short of the mark, but his eight-leafed Dao fruit is definitely of superior grade.”

Fairy Ningshuang nodded as well. She only found it somewhat regretful when she witnessed the ninth leaf nearly grow out.

“Let’s wait till Yi Yun finishes his Dao Manifestation,” said Felicitous Rain Lord. With eight-leafed Dao fruits almost done, the Dao Manifestation process was also about to end soon.

However, at that moment, a look of surprise flashed in Felicitous Rain Lord’s eyes.

“That is?”

Yi Yun’s Major Destruction Dao fruit had already taken shape, but as he was about to lead the Major Destruction Dao fruit towards the other Dao fruits, Yi Yun stopped.

It was the final step, but Yi Yun felt something odd.

The Major Destruction Dao fruit was able to devour everything. It was the end to the Chaos of the Universe, and also the end of Dao.

Therefore, when the Major Destruction Dao fruit approached the other Dao fruits, it faintly emitted a devouring force, like it wanted to devour the other Dao fruits.

If he allowed the other Dao fruits to fuse with the Major Destruction Dao fruit, what sort of outcome would there be? Would it be destruction?

The Major Dao of Destruction could destroy everything, so it would be normal if it included Dao fruits!

Yi Yun had never heard of the fusing of Dao fruits, nor had he ever heard of anyone with a Major Destruction Dao fruit.

How was he to choose at such crossroads?

He was just short of a step to manifest his Dao, but the fusion…

Yi Yun had an intense foreboding that if he attempted the fusion, his other Dao fruits were very likely to be destroyed by the Major Destruction Dao fruit. Eventually, they would be left in emptiness and silence just like the Universe would be after its destruction.

What should he do?

Yi Yun stopped. He could not proceed any further for if he continued the fusion, what waited for him could very well be a disaster.

Furthermore… the ninth leaf eventually failed to develop fully. It caused Yi Yun to turn perplexed. Could it be that no one in the entire 12 Empyrean Heavens had ever come into contact with the Major Dao of Destruction and that it could not support a single nine-leafed Dao fruit?

The manifestation of the Dao fruits had to be done in one fell swoop. Yi Yun no longer had much Yuan Qi left, so his time was limited. He had to come to a decision.

Major Destruction…

Were destruction and finality the end?

Matter in the Universe could not remain eternal. They would eventually proceed towards destruction, including the Universe. But what happened after destruction? Could it be that all that was left was eternal ‘nothingness’?

Everything in the world underwent birth and death.

A drop of water could evaporate and become part of a cloud before condensing into new drops of rain. Plants would wither, but the fruits that they bore could give rise to seeds. Mortals would die of age, but babies would grow up into adults. Stars could be destroyed, but new stars would eventually be born…

Everything in the world underwent a cycle, so it definitely included the Universe.

The destruction of the Universe was the beginnings of a new Universe. It was just that the cycle was immensely long that it was beyond the imagination of mere mortals.

New Universe…

Yi Yun suddenly seemed to realize something.

What were the beginnings of the Universe? Dao begets One, One begets Two… Before Yin-Yang and Space-time was Chaos!

Rebirth after destruction was Chaos and Major Destruction respectively. They were both two Great Dao of Supremacy!

Why were there two Great Dao of Supremacy? They might be like Yin-Yang, Space-time, Water-Fire, just two sides of the Universe.

The two could supplement each other and not a single one was dispensable.

Yi Yun had cultivated in pure Yang laws, but he did not focus on it fully. He was nourished by Lin Xintong’s pure Yin, and the Great Empress Heart Sutra itself was a cultivation technique that combined Yin and Yang.

Yi Yun combined the Dao of Withering with the laws of time, but back when Yi Yun fought the Black-armored Demon God, he had been trapped in an alternate spatial dimension created by the Black-armored Demon God. He had used several years to see through the Dao of Space with the Purple Crystal, allowing him to escape. Space supplemented time and vice-versa.

Even for his Sword Dao, Yi Yun had started with gaining insights into Saber Dao at the very beginning. His first weapon was the Thousand Army Saber, and after entering the Saber tomb, he gained insight of the Saber Dao of being indomitable. At the Pure Yang Sword Palace, he had obtained the Thousand Snow flying sabers, which were, to date, a weapon he used to kill!

But only the Major Dao of Destruction was a lone and, solitary existence. Up to date, there was no other corresponding law that could be fused with it.

This caused the Major Destruction Dao to become purely destruction. It obviously possessed immense strength when used against enemies.

But on careful thought, Yi Yun had yet to fully grasp the Major Destruction domain up to date.

When he faced Shi Fei and Shi Ping, Yi Yun had produced the Major Destruction Domain which destroyed everything. If not for Yi Yun’s energy being depleted, the destruction might very well continue, resulting in terrifying damage.

Destruction needed to form a union with Creation.

Only then could there be perfection. If not, it would be the present situation that he was facing. Even the Major Destruction Dao fruit that he condensed would devour the other Dao fruits, causing him to eventually fall short of success.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun made his decision.

He needed to find a corresponding Dao for Major Destruction. If his decision was made known to others, they would definitely think that Yi Yun had gone mad.

He was only a warrior at the Heaven Ascension perfection realm, but he was planning to gain insights into two Great Dao of Supremacy!

It was impossible to do so even for a Divine Lord.

However, Yi Yun was determined to attempt it. He wanted his Major Dao of Destruction to be perfect as well. Ignoring the fact that the Major Destruction Dao fruit would destroy the other Dao fruits, but just having an eight-leaf Dao fruit did not satisfy Yi Yun.

Yi Yun suspected that it was because his Major Dao of Destruction was not perfected that resulted in his other Dao fruits to be imperfect as well. After all, the Major Dao of Destruction was his Dao Domain and also the foundations of his other Dao.

“What happened?” Fairy Ningshuang saw that Yi Yun’s aura was weakening as she immediately turned nervous.

At that moment, the eight-leaf Dao fruit that was about to form on Yi Yun’s Dao Tree stopped growing. The leaves curled up and wrapped the Dao fruit with them.

Yi Yun actually failed his Dao Manifestation?

“Yi Yun is now at the… half-step Dao Manifestation realm.”

A number of warriors would stop at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm. Chi Zhuiyun was one such example.

However, from Yi Yun’s previous stance, it looked like he planned on manifesting his Dao in one fell swoop, but now, he stopped midway? What was the reason?

Felicitous Rain Lord pondered over it as well. He too could not understand Yi Yun’s decision.

“Half-step Dao Manifestation is fine too. With plenty of time for preparation, he will definitely succeed the next time.” Fairy Ningshuang helped Yi Yun find an excuse.

However, Felicitous Rain Lord shook his head gently, “That’s probably not what Yi Yun is thinking. His Dao Manifestation did not fail but he intentionally stopped it. He is probably not satisfied with eight-leafed Dao fruits… ”

When Felicitous Rain Lord said that, he frowned slightly. Having ambition was a good thing, but how could a nine-leaf Dao fruit be so easy to condense?

Those who could condense nine-leaf Dao fruits were extraordinary talents. Furthermore, most nine-leaf Dao fruits were not Great Dao Dao fruits.

It was extremely difficult just attempting to condense a nine-leaf Dao fruit for Great Dao like Yin-Yang, Space-time, and Destruction.

And it would only be even more difficult if one wanted to cultivate in several Dao.

Felicitous Rain Lord was already very pleased with the Dao fruits that Yi Yun condensed, but Yi Yun had stopped.

Seeing Yi Yun completely give up, Felicitous Rain Lord moved and flew in front of Yi Yun. Fairy Ningshuang followed suit.

“Yi Yun, why did you stop? Are you not pleased with eight-leaf Dao fruits? Your eight-leaf Dao fruits are already approaching nine-leafs. Furthermore, it’s three Great Dao Dao fruits. In addition to Sword Dao, although it’s not a Great Dao of nature, to warriors, it is a Great Dao when it comes to the Dao of skill.”

Felicitous Rain Lord obviously wished that Yi Yun was able to condense a nine-leaf Dao fruit, but he was afraid that Yi Yun would waste too much time by aiming too high. Time in one’s youth was very precious. If it was wasted, it would affect one’s potential.

Yi Yun knew that Felicitous Rain Lord was watching his entire Dao Manifestation process, but he did not directly answer Felicitous Rain Lord’s question. Instead, he said, “This disciple will keep in mind Master’s teachings. This disciple has a question for Master. Where will this disciple be able to gain insights into the Dao of Primordial Chaos?”

“What?”

Felicitous Rain Lord was stunned. Primordial Chaos? Why was Yi Yun asking about one of the Great Dao of Supremacy of the Universe for?

“Don’t tell me that… you want to gain insights into the Primordial Chaos?”

993 - : Great Dao Dao Fruits

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yes!”

Yi Yun nodded his head in absolute seriousness.

“About that… ” Felicitous Rain Lord pricked up his eyebrows. Learning the Dao of Primordial Chaos was just too difficult!

Even Felicitous Rain Lord had never had any contact to Great Dao laws that were above Space-time and Yin-Yang.

To comprehend Primordial Chaos, not only did one need opportunities, they also needed perception that only one in a quadrillion of people had.

It was unlike the Major Destruction laws. There was no place to meditate with the Major Destruction laws because the time for the Universe’s destruction had yet to happen.

As for Primordial Chaos laws, the Universe had been born after all. There were still chances to gain insights into it. But even so, mighty figures of the 12 Empyrean Heavens who knew Primordial Chaos laws were a rare breed.

Therefore, Felicitous Rain Lord was unlikely to feel optimistic about Yi Yun’s request to study it.

However, thinking back to the things that Yi Yun had previously done, and how they had far exceeded his expectations, Felicitous Rain Lord said, “The Universe was born from Chaos. In order to meditate over the Primordial Chaos, the most direct method is to find worlds that were recently born. It is possible to connect to the primordial Universe through those worlds where there is the existence of the nebulous Primordial Chaos.

“The 12 Empyrean Heavens is too big, so although the probability of such worlds appearing is extremely low, there are really a few spots like that. For example, the Primordial Empyrean Heaven… ”

Yi Yun had previously been to the Primordial Empyrean Heaven and underwent the Luo Divine Hall’s trials there. However, the landmass where the Luo Divine Hall trials was held was a rather stable place. It was a place that was naturally unsuitable to ponder over Chaos laws. As for places that were conducive to the contemplation of Chaos laws, Yi Yun was unable to head there alone.

“Without me going with you, you will not be able to reach the Primordial Empyrean Heaven.” Felicitous Rain Lord sighed in silence as he looked like he was being put on the spot.

Felicitous Rain Lord had previously said that he had matters to attend to in a few year’s time. And a few years had passed while he watched Yi Yun’s cultivation and attempt at manifesting his Dao in the abode. It was about time that he left.

Felicitous Rain Lord contemplated for a moment before saying, “For you to give up manifesting your Dao midway, I believe that you have thought it through. In that case, accompany me to the Azure Wood Great World.”

Azure Wood Great World? Fairy Ningshuang, who was beside him, revealed a look of astonishment. “Divine Lord, are you sure?”

Yi Yun was momentarily stunned as well.

Felicitous Rain Lord looked at Yi Yun and said with a serious expression, “I was planning on heading there with Ningshuang, firstly because of my own matters and secondly to find opportunities for Ningshuang to make a breakthrough. If you were at the peak of the Dao Manifestation realm, even if you didn’t ask, I would have taken you along. The Azure Wood Great World has plenty of opportunities… but now, it’s the result of having no choice.”

“Your cultivation level is too low to enter the Azure Wood Great World. In there, even Dao Palace realm warriors have to tread carefully,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

In the Azure Wood Great World, Dao Palace realm warriors had to tread like they were on thin ice. Yi Yun was only at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm, so he was two full realms away. It was no wonder that Felicitous Rain Lord did not consider the matter previously.

But now, he decided on the matter because of Yi Yun’s desire to study the Primordial Chaos.

“You still aren’t aware of what a place the Azure Wood Great World is. It’s a world that is bordering on life and death. In the Azure Wood Great World, a new world is born, while as a result, the old Azure Wood Great World is collapsing.”

What Felicitous Rain Lord said stunned Yi Yun. There was such a world?

“It might not be a coincidence… The last time that I entered the Azure Wood Great World, I saw a mark left behind by a senior.” Felicitous Rain Lord revealed a look of reminiscence. “The reason why I’m entering the Azure Wood Great World is also for that senior. That senior’s martial arts is unfathomable, one that I have never seen before. Perhaps, chasing after that senior’s footsteps will allow me to seek the supreme martial path… ”

Yi Yun could see a yearning in Felicitous Rain Lord’s eyes.

The supreme martial path was a lifelong pursuit for a warrior like Felicitous Rain Lord.

However, after the Azure Wood Great World began collapsing, it was abandoned for hundreds of millions of years. How was he going to pursue that senior in such a world?

“Although all I saw was a mark, I kept having the nagging feeling that such a senior had yet to die. Maybe in the Azure Wood Great World, there are other inheritances left behind by that senior. It might even be possible that the senior is still alive. If that’s the case, there is that tiny possibility that I’ll be able to find that senior.” Felicitous Rain Lord said in a tone filled with anticipation.

How could a senior that represented supreme martial arts for Felicitous Rain Lord die so easily?

“What sort of mark was it?” Yi Yun could not help but ask.

Felicitous Rain Lord seemed to cast his eyes to a distant spot through space.

“It was a flower. It constantly phased between life and death, just like the Azure Wood Great World which is the interface of destruction and birth,” said Felicitous Rain Lord. “It’s fine if you want to give up now.”

Yi Yun looked up and said, “Master, this disciple is willing to go along with you!”

The martial path was fraught with difficulties. Yi Yun was unwilling to turn to dust after hundreds of thousands of years. He wanted to try his chances at climbing that peak of martial arts.

Since time immemorial, people who could become Divine Lords were all talented people who experienced great tribulations in life and encountered countless opportunities. If not, how could they trample on billions of warriors to reach the peak?

And the goal that Yi Yun set for himself was not limited to being a Divine Lord.

“Have you thought through it carefully?”

“This disciple has already thought it through,” said Yi Yun seriously.

Felicitous Rain Lord looked at Yi Yun and nodded. “On our trip to the Azure Wood Great World, there will probably be many people from other sects and countries coming along. However, those old freaks at the level of Supremacies will target the core area of the Azure Wood Great World. It’s a place that you can’t enter anyway. As for your true strength, it should be somewhere around the peak of the Dao Manifestation realm, but the people who will be going will mostly be at the Dao Palace realm. There will not be many people at the Dao Manifestation realm. Furthermore, what you face will be different from them. You will have to rely on yourself for everything.”

“As your master, I’ll give you three protective sword Qi.”

Upon saying that, Felicitous Rain Lord stretched his out hand to draw a profound rune mid-air and placed it on Yi Yun’s glabella.

Immediately, an extremely sharp aura surged towards Yi Yun. In his soul sea, there were three tiny revolving swords beside the ‘Three-foot Passage Sword’.

Yi Yun could sense the terrifying power that the small swords had just from probing them.

With Yi Yun’s soul sea and cultivation realm, he could only accommodate three beams of sword Qi.

“These three beams of sword Qi are produced by me, but your cultivation realm is too low. They probably will not be able to produce half of their might. But even so, they will be useful tools to protect your life.”

“Do not think that you are invincible with the sword Qi. People and freaks from the various large sects and Fey kingdoms would typically have their own hidden cards. And killing in the Azure Wood Great World depends on one’s ability. That has the authority over life and death, so even though you are my disciple, my name will not pose much of a threat.”

In an independent world, it was unknown who the culprit was if one died, so there was nothing to speak of with respect to revenge. Furthermore, it was typically a life-and-death struggle between peers. Being killed only meant that he was inferior to others, so there was no reason for Felicitous Rain Lord to seek revenge.

“Thank you, Master,” said Yi Yun. He naturally would not act willfully because of the sword Qi. They were hidden cards to ensure his survival.

“Try your best to cultivate as much as possible. Doing some last-minute preparations is still beneficial,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

After Yi Yun left, Fairy Ningshuang sighed and said, “Yi Yun’s aspirations are too high. I wonder if it’s a blessing or a curse for him.”

“I’m worried as well,” said Felicitous Rain Lord as he looked into a distance. “But if a warrior does not have any aspirations, he won’t be able to go far either.”

Fairy Ningshuang could tell that Felicitous Rain Lord was not supportive of Yi Yun’s decision and resolution. But in the bottom of his heart, Felicitous Rain Lord recognized Yi Yun’s martial heart, or he would not have bestowed three beams of sword Qi to him.

She had followed Felicitous Rain Lord for tens of thousands of years. Felicitous Rain Lord’s martial heart was also extremely firm or he would not have become the youngest Divine Lord in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. One of the reasons why Yi Yun had become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple was partly due to Felicitous Rain Lord’s acknowledgment of his martial heart.

Without such determination, one would eventually turn average even if one had astounding talent. In the process of cultivation, warriors had to face numerous enticements. Ordinary Dao Manifestation realm warriors could already become an Elder of a mid-tier sect or a guest Elder. They could enjoy a long lifespan and live a lavish lifestyle like a king.

But the pursuit of martial arts was a lonely and dark path. There were too many unknowns along it.

“It won’t be long before we can enter the Azure Wood Great World,” said Felicitous Rain Lord in an eager fashion.

He looked at the sky of the abode which reflected the world outside. At the moment, it was dark outside, and dazzling stars formed the milky arm of a galaxy. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

And inside Spirit Gathering Palace, Yi Yun was also looking at the milky arm of the galaxy.

Be it now, or when he was a mortal, such a sight was truly mesmerizing.

Every star might represent a Great World by itself, and in this galactic arm, there were countless Great Worlds, with trillions of lives.

As Yi Yun sat inside Spirit Gathering Palace, he pondered over the distance between him and the galactic stars. But when he stretched his hand out, it was like the stars were right in front of him.

994 - : Three Beams of Sword Qi

CKtalon  CKtalon

A few months later, a dazzling and starry burst of light flashed on the floating island.

“The Divine Lord has left.” The Oracle Fey Kingdom’s Imperial Patriarch looked at the starry burst of light from afar. He could sense the terrifying power from the flash of light.

However, the floating island was still sealed. About a year ago, Felicitous Rain Lord had already settled several matters. His in-name disciples would stay behind and cultivate in the Oracle Fey Kingdom.

And on the floating island, Chi Zhuiyun watched the starry light as it flashed.

“We are already people from different worlds. Although I have no idea where you are heading, I wish you good luck.” Chi Zhuiyun lowered his head and continued thrusting the spear in his hand forward.

Boom!

In front of Chi Zhuiyun, a gigantic mountain was covered in densely packed holes. About half the mountain was gone.

Although he could not chase up to Yi Yun, Chi Zhuiyun still wanted to pursue his own martial path.

Amid the stars.

“It will be a long journey to the Sinkhole. With the Meteor Cruiser’s speed, it will still require a few days. Why don’t you play a game of Go with me to kill time?” said Felicitous Rain Lord to Yi Yun who was sitting across him.

Yi Yun, who had not exited the abode for a few years, did not seem to have any change to his appearance. However, compared to before he entered the abode, his bearing had experienced drastic changes.

He was wearing a white robe and his hair was tied up simply. His eyes were like the night as they intermittently flashed with profound runes, and he exuded a mysterious aura.

“This disciple isn’t that good at Go. Master, please go easy on me.” Yi Yun said with a smile.

Stretching his hand out, a swirling beam of light flashed around his fingers. It condensed into a crystalline chess piece that was as warm as jade as he gently placed it on the board.

“Try playing Go whenever you have the time. It can help you focus and refine yourself. It is a cultivation of mind and body,” said Felicitous Rain Lord as he condensed a piece from the void.

Fairy Ningshuang watched from the side as she revealed a faint smile, “The two of you are quite alike.”

“That isn’t a good thing. If he’s like me, he will only attract hate,” laughed Felicitous Rain Lord.

He had no lack of enemies.

The game of Go lasted for three days.

At the dawn of the fourth day, the Meteor Cruiser entered a strange world.

The starlight was dim and there were several black vortices swirling in space. There were gray planets and rocks of various sizes floating everywhere.

The planets were mostly silent with no life on them.

And those planets exuded different kinds of energies where most of the energies made people sense danger. In between the planets, there were space-time turbulences.

Felicitous Rain Lord’s Meteor Cruiser had space-time laws protecting it, so it was unaffected as it shuttled through the space-time turbulence. All they saw was distorted space and countless flashing lights outside the windows.

And after crossing countless space-time turbulences, a gigantic star appeared in a warm and illuminated starry void.

Around the star, there was a beautiful nebula that encircled it several times. It was breathtakingly beautiful as it illuminated the starry void.

“The starry scenery of the 12 Empyrean Heavens is truly breathtaking.” Yi Yun could not help but reflect on it.

But such a beautiful star emanated a deadly and silent but chaotic aura.

Yi Yun turned his head and noticed that Felicitous Rain Lord was silently looking at the star.

“This is?”

“That is the Azure Wood Great World,” said Felicitous Rain Lord softly.

After such a long period of time, they had finally arrived in the Azure Wood Great World.

“The Azure Wood Great World… ” Yi Yun looked at the star and he could not sense any signs of life around the star.

And in the star system that was on the brink of death, there was a new star system that was about to be born. The mysteries of the Universe where life and death could be companions was truly fascinating.

The Azure Wood Great World was too large, so when the Meteor Cruiser arrived in front of the star, it was like a speck of dust. Through the gorgeous nebula, Yi Yun could see a blob of gray shadows.

“The nebula is the space-time turbulence,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

As the Meteor Cruiser approached the star, Yi Yun began to sense the horror of the space-time turbulence as well. Even the space-time laws that protected the Meteor Cruiser could not fully withstand it.

Once they were sucked into the space-time turbulence, it was possible to be lost in the chaotic pandemonium of space-time till their deaths.

In the luster, Yi Yun saw the shadows of a few spirit cruisers and people. They were people who had previously been trapped by the space-time turbulence. To date, their souls were still trapped within it.

“This period of time is when the surrounding space-time turbulence around the Azure Wood Great World is at its weakest. But even so, there is a need for certain methods to enter it.”

As Felicitous Rain Lord said, he tapped on the void with one hand.

Boom!

A palm that was dozens of times larger than the Meteor Cruiser appeared outside the window. It was nearly transparent, and it was filled with imprints of space-time laws.

Hu! Hu! Hu!

The palm pulled the space-time turbulence apart, allowing the Meteor Cruiser to immediately blast through it.

A few hours later, the Meteor Cruiser tore out of the lustrous nebula. Beneath them was a gigantic black lake, with gray building compounds around it.

Many of the buildings were toppled, and the mountains were already falling apart, while the ground was filled with cracks as well.

Only ruins could be seen on the vast plains. There was no life to it or at least from Yi Yun’s perception, he could not even sense a worm.

This was indeed a dead planet that was on the brink of collapse.

Felicitous Rain Lord wanted to pursue that senior, and as Yi Yun looked at the planet, he found it hard to imagine that there were people living on it. From the moment they entered, Yi Yun felt as though the star system was repelling them.

It was like they were alien invaders.

“The place that I’m going to is the core area of the Azure Wood Great World, which is the Azure Wood Divine Residence. The Azure Wood Divine Residence is transformed from a piece of azure wood that turned into one of the divine. Where I want to go to is the Divine Tree Palace at the very core,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

“There it is.”

Yi Yun looked into the distance.

A towering divine tree was stood erect on the ground while shrouding the skies. Its peak pierced through the gray clouds.

In the collapsing and dead world, the leaves of the divine tree had yet to wither surprisingly. It was truly evergreen. It was no wonder that this world was called the Azure Wood Great World.

That was the Azure Wood Divine Residence.

And below the divine tree were roots that were like mountain ranges. The roots similarly had several buildings on them.

“The Azure Wood Divine Residence has extremely strict restrictions. Supremacies and below are unable to enter. Even ordinary Supremacies can’t enter the Divine Tree Palace. Around the divine residence is an important area of the Azure Wood Great World. With your cultivation level, you can move around it, but you have to be especially careful.”

“The Azure Wood Great World is currently collapsing while the new world is in its nascent stages. The laws are chaotic, so there might be unexpected dangers. And the restrictions, array formations, and seals from the past have been affected by the collapse of the Azure Wood Great World. Some of them are damaged, but some of them have become even more terrifying.”

“There are others. I can already sense several auras. Those people sure are fast.”

As Felicitous Rain Lord said this, an immense aura suddenly surged over.

The aura only brushed past them before vanishing.

Felicitous Rain Lord frowned slightly and said, “The people from the Immortal Rain Sect have arrived as well. They are waiting for me.”

Just as Felicitous Rain Lord said that, a gigantic skull appeared in the distant void. The skull was burning with purple flames as it slowly floated over.

Although it was still a great distance away, Yi Yun felt like his lifeblood was being stirred by the gigantic skull.

“That is… ”

Yi Yun was stunned as he sensed an odd and sinister aura that he was familiar with but hated greatly.

“Fey Phantasm Sect. This would be tough. I never expected them to come as well.” As Felicitous Rain Lord said that, he glanced at Yi Yun. The toughness that he was referring to was naturally referring to Yi Yun. The Fey Phantasm Sect could not affect him.

Felicitous Rain Lord knew that Yi Yun had a vendetta with the Fey Phantasm Sect.

The Fey Phantasm Sect wanted to swallow the six-country alliance, and several years ago, Yi Yun was nearly assassinated by the Fey Phantasm Sect after having just arrived in the Oracle Fey Kingdom to participate in Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple recruitment assessment.

Back then, the Fey Phantasm Sect had sent two experts. Logically speaking, Yi Yun would have definitely been a dead man, but Yi Yun had miraculously survived. It left the Fey Phantasm Sect astonished, and what shocked them the most was likely that Yi Yun became Felicitous Rain Lord’s personal disciple.

As such, Yi Yun’s status was extremely delicate to the Fey Phantasm Sect.

On one side, they had already become enemies of Yi Yun. The brighter Yi Yun’s future was, the more they did not want Yi Yun to fully mature.

And on the other side, as a disciple of Felicitous Rain Lord, Yi Yun was not someone that they dared to assassinate recklessly. They would have to pay a heavy price for that.

However, it was completely different in the Azure Wood Great World.

The skull drew closer. Even Yi Yun did not expect that the Fey Phantasm Sect would come as well.

How true was it that enemies often cross each other’s paths!

“Yi Yun, since the Fey Phantasm Sect actually came, while I will be deep in the core of the Azure Wood Great World, what about you? What are your plans?”

995 - : Enemies often cross each other’s paths

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun knew how dangerous it was for him if the Fey Phantasm Sect was also in the Azure Wood Great World. However, if he were to give up on the expedition, Yi Yun had no idea where or when he could gain insights into the Dao of Primordial Chaos. It would only result in him failing to form his Major Destruction Dao fruit.

Time was precious to him, so he could not delay any further. If he missed the opportunity, it would no longer exist in the future.

“Master, since I’m already here, I have no plans on returning.”

“Okay, very well!” Felicitous Rain Lord nodded. Although he knew that Yi Yun’s choice was extremely dangerous, he still admired Yi Yun’s guts.

At that moment, a ghastly shadow flew out of the gigantic skull. Flying beside the ghastly shadow were a few figures.

The ghastly shadow appeared lofty in the void. It did not seem like it coexisted harmoniously with the surrounding space as huge distortions appeared around the shadow. It was like it was projected from another dimension.

“Felicitous Rain.”

A sinister and odd aura surged over as Yi Yun felt like an extremely cold storm was ushered into his soul. His soul felt like it was being sealed frozen.

However, when the aura reached Felicitous Rain Lord’s vicinity, a cold grunt from him dispelled the aura completely.

“Why are you giving me the cold shoulder? It’s just a greeting. I heard about the recruitment of your disciple some time ago. I actually planned on sending a few lowly disciples to be evaluated by you to see if they could catch your eye. Is that your newly recruited disciple?”

Yi Yun felt a few penetrating gazes that seemed to pierce through his soul being cast on him.

Yi Yun found two of the gazes familiar.

The two Supremacies that had attempted to assassinate him were here as well.

Yi Yun would not forget the names and appearances of Gui Huazi and Daoist You Ming. If not for the God Advent Tower, he would have been killed by them. And Elder Duanmu and Elder Shi, who had been escorting him, were severely injured. It probably caused quite a serious dent on Elder Shi’s aspirations to make the breakthrough that he was preparing for.

“You want to fight me?” asked Felicitous Rain Lord coldly.

“Haha, why so serious? See you later in the divine residence.” The ghastly shadow issued a menacing cackle before it elongated itself, turning into a crimson line in the void and vanishing oddly.

The ghastly shadow had left.

Yi Yun immediately felt the pressure vanish.

“That person is… ” The ghastly shadow clearly knew Felicitous Rain Lord.

“The Fey Phantasm Sect’s Demonic Eye Divine Lord, as well as a dozen or so Supremacies from the Fey Phantasm Sect.” Felicitous Rain Lord’s expression was ashen. “He has come as well. That Demonic Eye Divine Lord is like a wretched dog that would rush over the moment he catches a whiff of something.”

Yi Yun had previously heard that the reason why the Fey Phantasm Sect acted so tyrannically was because it had produced a Divine Lord. So it was that ghastly shadow…

“Was it the two Supremacies standing beside him who attacked you?” Felicitous Rain Lord suddenly asked.

He had also sensed the two Supremacies glance at Yi Yun abnormally.

“Yes,” said Yi Yun with a nod.

A faint coldness flashed in Felicitous Rain Lord’s eyes , “They are nothing in the Azure Wood Divine Residence, and the Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s target is very likely the Azure Wood Divine Residence as well.”

The Fey Phantasm Sect’s Divine Lord and Supremacies would enter the Azure Wood Divine Residence, so there was no worry that Yi Yun would be harmed by them. And although Felicitous Rain Lord had the intention of killing the two Supremacies, they were not dumb either. They were most likely going to stick close to Demonic Eye Divine Lord.

Following that, the gigantic skull rapidly departed.

Felicitous Rain Lord watched the gigantic skull disappear. Although his personality was to do as he wished, if not for the Demonic Eye Divine Lord watching nearby, he would have wiped all of the Fey Phantasm Sect’s younger generation nearby that could assassinate Yi Yun.

“I cannot let Demonic Eye Divine Lord and company enter the divine residence alone. I have to go in as well. My perception can only temporarily stop them from tracking you. After that, you need to be extremely careful,” exhorted Felicitous Rain Lord.

“Yes, Master,” said Yi Yun.

The gigantic skull had already vanished into the distance.

And in one of the eyes of the gigantic skull, an effeminate and intricate-looking man dressed in scarlet robes stood there.

He was still looking in the direction of Felicitous Rain Lord, despite not being able to see the Felicitous Rain Lord trio anymore.

“That punk really didn’t die!” You Feihua revealed a look of disbelief.

“Are you talking about that genius from the Luo clan? What’s his name? Yi Yun?” At that moment, a sweet and delicate girl’s voice came from behind You Feihua.

The person speaking was a blue-haired female with gorgeous looks. Her eyes sparkled brightly and her every move had a natural charm to them. The corners of her eyes were smeared with a scarlet tinge that accentuated her with a mysterious and odd vividness.

Her looks were ones that could cause disaster to befall countries and men.

“He’s very young,” said the woman with a laugh. She had also seen Yi Yun a moment ago. “It’s hard to imagine that a youth that’s not even at the Dao Manifestation realm managed to survive a full strike from you unscathed. He even managed to survive an attack from your father. It’s really perplexing. How did he do it?”

You Feihua glanced at her and frowned. “Yao Chuo, don’t you poke your nose into this.”

“Heh heh, I’m only being curious.” Yao Chuo grinned in an alluring manner.

You Feihua grunted coldly and turned to look outside.

He did not dare to do a thing after seeing Yi Yun with Felicitous Rain Lord present. Neither could he stay there for long or he would have been courting death.

However, how could Felicitous Rain Lord protect Yi Yun all the time?

“Other than that avatar that managed to withstand a strike of mine, Yi Yun must have some impressive treasures!” A strange glint flashed in You Feihua’s eyes.

A treasure that could withstand a Supremacy’s deathblow! At the moment that the news was made known, it was likely that the warriors who had come to the Azure Wood Great World would be moved by it.

So how could You Feihua leak the information regarding the treasure? He wouldn’t mention it even to Yao Chuo.

“Yi Yun’s cultivation level has reached half-step Dao Manifestation after becoming Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple. Putting aside the fact that he hasn’t manifested his Dao, he’s still far from me even if he has! I’m at the six-floor Dao Palace realm. Without that defensive treasure, he wouldn’t even stand up to scrutiny in front of me!” A menacing look appeared in You Feihua’s eyes.

Although Yi Yun had become a Divine Lord’s disciple, he had only been cultivating for a few years under the guidance of a Divine Lord. As for You Feihua, he had been taught by Daoist You Ming from birth. In addition to the two full realms of cultivation separating them, You Feihua thought nothing of Yi Yun’s tiny bit of strength.

It could be said that in the eyes of You Feihua, Yi Yun’s treasure was already his.

“That darn Felicitous Rain Lord, why doesn’t he quickly leave? If this goes on, who knows when I’ll find Yi Yun again. During this period of time, he better not die,” thought You Feihua.

At the instant that the gigantic skull vanished, Felicitous Rain Lord said, “The people from the Fey Phantasm Sect have left. The Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s aura is also heading towards the Azure Wood Divine Residence. They aren’t pursuing you.” Felicitous Rain Lord looked at the Azure Wood Divine Residence and said, “Yi Yun, we will be leaving.”

“Be careful.” Fairy Ningshuang said with a nod.

Yi Yun bowed and when he lifted his head, Fairy Ningshuang and Felicitous Rain Lord’s figures had already transformed into beams of light that headed for the Azure Wood Divine Residence.

“Felicitous Rain Lord waited for the people from the Fey Phantasm Sect to leave before he left. That’s already a level of protection for me. Next, it will all depend on me.” When a warrior practiced martial arts, it was impossible for him to always be protected by his master. A warrior that was unable to face danger himself had no right to seek the path of martial arts.

Yi Yun looked at the ground. This was the first time that he was visiting the Azure Wood Great World, and just as he was preparing to find a seemingly safe spot to land, two figures suddenly flew towards him from ground level.

The two figures were feeling apprehensive in the beginning, but when they noticed that Yi Yun was alone, the two figures immediately accelerated towards him.

Yi Yun immediately turned wary as he pressed a hand on his interspatial ring.

996 - : Demonic Eye Divine Lord

CKtalon  CKtalon

The two figures dressed in azure-colored robes quickly approached him. One of them was carrying a heavy-looking scabbard on his back, while the other did not carry any weapons at all. The two warriors were at the peak of the Dao Manifestation realm, and their auras were rich and dense.

They sized Yi Yun up before asking him with a smile, “Junior Brother, do you know which seniors were here just now?”

Yi Yun swept a glance at them and nonchalantly said, “I came here because of the aura that I sensed.”

The identity as Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple was best not to be easily revealed to others in the Azure Wood Great World. Ignoring the Fey Phantasm Sect, if others were to know, there was a very strong likelihood for them to set their sights on Yi Yun. Various reasons like jealousy or greed for his treasures were sufficient motivation for them to attack Yi Yun.

“So, Junior Brother did not see the seniors as well?” The duo shook their heads and said, “But then again, seeing them might not be something good. The seniors might not like to be disturbed.”

Noticing how Yi Yun did not speak any further, the duo exchanged glances. One of the duo, who was bearded, said amiably, “Junior Brother, are you now alone?”

They could already tell that Yi Yun was at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm. It was obviously impossible for such a person to come to the Azure Wood Great World alone. However, there were many young disciples that accompanied their sect masters or elders.

“Where is the rest of your esteemed sect?” The other man looked around, but they had only come here after confirming that there were no other auras around.

“I do not have a sect,” said Yi Yun.

“Then, you must be a disciple of a reclusive master?” The bearded man said with a nod.

“The seniors from our sect have already entered the Azure Wood Divine Residence, leaving only the two of us. Although this place isn’t the inner regions of the Azure Wood Great World, it is still quite a dangerous place.”

The bearded man said warmly, “Junior Brother, instead of venturing alone, why don’t you join us? We can take care of each other after all.”

The other man did not say anything, but he looked at Yi Yun with an eager expression.

Yi Yun stroke his chin and looked at the duo. He planned on rejecting them when he suddenly thought of something. He changed his mind and said, “Alright.”

“That’s great. The two of us just came to the Azure Wood Great World as well. We don’t know anything and will just be looking around.”

“Let’s familiarize ourselves with each other. Who knows, we might become friends in the future.”

The two men took the initiative to descend.

Yi Yun followed slowly behind them.

“The buildings over there look rather new. There should be some array protecting them. The things inside must still be preserved,” said the bearded man as he pointed to a particular courtyard.

The courtyard was situated beside the roots of the towering tree. Although the massive courtyard walls were estimated to be a hundred feet tall, the courtyard appeared to be minute in front of the tree roots.

The Azure Divine Tree, which held up the Azure Wood Great World, was just too massive.

“If there’s anything, we will split them equally,” said the other man.

“Alright.” Yi Yun nodded.

After entering the courtyard, Yi Yun looked around the yard in a fascinated manner.

There were all sorts of strange rock engravings in the yard, while the ground was filled with engravings of leaves. Entering the yard felt like one had returned to ancient times.

The yard had probably been abandoned for more than a hundred million years, but the feeling that it gave was like someone had stayed in there only recently. Without the preservation from arrays, it would have long been reduced to ruins.

“Let’s enter the hall.” The two warriors said as they eagerly strode into the hall.

The corners of Yi Yun’s lips curled up when he looked at the duo’s back. It was a teasing smile as he followed behind them at an adequate pace.

After entering the building, he noticed that the two warriors were standing inside the hall.

“Senior Brothers, why aren’t you in a rush to search for treasures? Are you waiting for me? The both of you are just too kind,” said Yi Yun.

The two warriors chuckled and said, “Of course we have to wait for Junior Brother. It’s best to search such a place together.”

“Oh really? I thought the both of you were already very familiar with this place,” said Yi Yun without any haste.

They had seen numerous courtyards from the sky, but the duo had chosen this one. They were in a hurry to enter the hall at the moment they landed, so wasn’t it obvious that they were trying to lure him in?

The bearded warrior’s eyes turned cold as he said with a laugh, “It looks like you are smarter than the previous one. But for you to follow us here despite knowing the truth, it can only mean that you do not know what it means to die. Even if your master is a Supremacy, there is no way that you can be rescued.”

“It’s not like that I didn’t notice that something was wrong. I followed the both of you here because I actually wanted to test a new law that I learned after a few years of reclusive training. The both of you are at the peak of the Dao Manifestation realm, so you are qualified to receive my attacks.” Yi Yun pulled his sword out.

With the Azure Wood Great World opening up, Felicitous Rain Lord had already said that there would be several Dao Palace realm warriors. There would also be people at the peak of the Dao Manifestation realm, but they would be relatively rare. Now that he had encountered two of them, Yi Yun planned to use them to gauge his strength. His intuition told him that his expedition in the Azure Wood Great World would be fraught with dangers. Since his strength was far from sufficient, he needed to battle to raise his strength. Now, with an opportunity to do battle voluntarily standing in front of him, Yi Yun naturally would not reject it.

“What?”

The duo was incensed. They were warriors at the peak of Dao Manifestation, but they were only qualified to receive the attacks of a half-step Dao Manifestation realm warrior?

Before the warriors could say anything, the bearded warrior’s facial expression changed. “Be careful… ”

Sou!

A cold sword beam shot out faster than he could speak. It seemed to fly out of an ancient spatial-temporal dimension as it attacked the bearded warrior without any warning.

The warrior’s eyes flashed seriously as he roared and smacked the sword beam with both his hands.

His hands were imbued with Yuan Qi, allowing them to become extremely strong. A strike from his palm could shatter a person’s skeleton.

And in between his palms, there was a spinning ball compressed from Yuan Qi. Not only did it manage to withstand the sword beam, it was able to shatter ordinary swords.

“How dare you think of slashing me with that cultivation level of yours!” The warrior thundered. His hands produced a tumultuous clap as he suddenly clasped the sword beam.

Boom!

A powerful shock wave blasted outwards from the warrior’s palms.

It was blocked!

But at that moment, the warrior had a sudden and drastic change in expression.

His hands were quickly shriveling up. The veins on the back of his arm protruded as his skin began to blemish. His hand had surprisingly aged!

What was going on!? He had clearly managed to parry the sword beam!

The bearded man was appalled when he saw the scene. What strike was that?

“Senior Brother, let’s join forces and kill him!” roared the bearded man angrily.

But at that moment, Yi Yun’s next strike had arrived.

“Withering Sword of Time.” Yi Yun’s voice accompanied the floating sword beams.

The sword beams seemed to lack offensive power, but even if they could be blocked, those who blocked them would show signs of rapid aging.

The two warriors frantically defended and attacked, but they began to find it helpless. The youth’s sword techniques were too terrifying. Their martial arts, Dao Domain or anything else could not parry his attacks.

What was even more despairing was that the youth apparently could produce only one move. He slashed out with the same sword beams again and again. There was no other move, let alone the conjuring of a Dao Domain.

But it was such a sword beam that left them wallowing in despair.

Very soon, they came to a realization that they could not win.

“Senior Brother, work with me and use all of our trump cards!” yelled the bearded man.

Yi Yun gave the duo a nonchalant glance. This was the first time that he was using the Three-foot Passage Sword in battle, so he too wanted to see what trump cards the duo had.

But at that moment, the bearded man’s figure suddenly shrank as it transformed into a snake like shadow and rushed out.

Yi Yun was surprised, while the other warrior cursed out loud, “You will die a horrible death!”

“Don’t worry. He will accompany you in hell very soon.” Yi Yun slashed out, slicing through the warrior’s protective Yuan Qi easily.

The sword beam was like wind caressing the surface of a lake, but when it landed on the warrior’s head, the warrior’s appearance immediately aged rapidly. In a few seconds, all of his vitality had been drawn away.

His eyes were filled with anger and horror.

Yi Yun flashed forward and took the man’s interspatial ring before charging out of the building in pursuit of the bearded man.

997 - : First Attempt of the Sword’s Blade

CKtalon  CKtalon

The sky of the world was not azure blue, but black, like black ink blots. It was perhaps because the Azure Wood Great World was on the brink of destruction. It was like the core of the world only had an eternal darkness. It felt extremely repressive.

However, amid this repressive pressure, there was a picturesque garden, where a divine tree stood in the middle. Although the world was losing its vitality, the divine tree remained lush and luxuriantly green with a proud crown that pierced the sky.

Even though the Azure Wood Great World was already beginning to collapse, the garden still possessed rich energy and was filled with Heaven and Earth essence. It gave a refreshing and pleasant feeling to people like they had ascended to become immortals in this plot of space.

“The divine tree remains undying, but the world is collapsing. Yet, I’m unable to redeem anything… ”

A girl dressed in a light-green dress was prostrated in front of the divine tree. Silver hair flowed down her back and onto the ground, like scattered silver that covered the ground.

From behind, one could see that the girl had a long, fair neck that reached her white and petite ears. It made her look like an elf hiding in a forest.

The girl prostrated for a long while before she slowly got up. She could sense that the divine tree and the Azure Wood Great World’s seismic network had fused together. It was like a dragon that stood atop this world, eternal and undying. The divine tree had been planted when the world was born, and it would live till the moment when the world faced destruction.

For hundreds of millions of years, the divine tree was the guardian of Azure Wood Manor by existing alongside it.

The Azure Wood Manor was a reclusive sect. In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, there was no lack of reclusive sects. The Immortal Rain Sect and Azure Wood Manor were examples of reclusive sects. Back in the Azure Wood Manor’s golden age, its scale far exceeded the Immortal Rain Sect’s.

However, even at its peak, the Azure Wood Manor seldom made contact with the external world. For hundreds of millions of years, the sect members of the Azure Wood Manor remained hidden in the Azure Wood Great World and only focused on their cultivation.

In the historical records of the Azure Wood Manor, the Azure Wood Manor had suffered a calamity that had threatened to destroy them hundreds of millions of years ago. However, due to the existence of the divine tree, they were spared from utter destruction.

Because of that, the divine tree was deemed to be an ancestral totem of supreme importance to the Azure Wood Manor.

However, even though the Azure Wood Manor treated the divine tree as a guardian, the people of the Azure Wood Manor knew that the divine tree never belonged to them.

The divine tree belonged to the Azure Wood Great World, and it was even possible that the divine tree was the owner of the Azure Wood Great World. Hundreds of millions of years ago, the divine tree had bestowed grace upon the Azure Wood Manor when it protected them from the calamity. Legends said that the female Lord of the Manor prostrated before the divine tree for three days and three nights before the divine tree’s power was stirred, allowing Azure Wood Manor to survive the calamity.

The girl did not dare to imagine such a scene.

According to the historical records, the Azure Wood Manor’s Manor Lord position was mostly helmed by females from that moment on. The Elders of the Azure Wood Manor looked forward to the day when a young lady with outstanding talent was able to stir the divine tree’s power. However… that miracle never happened again.

Closer to present day, the Azure Wood Great World was approaching its end. The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi became more chaotic, making it unsuitable for cultivation. The Azure Wood Manor also began to wane and the number of experts that it had decreased in number. Slowly, their talents withered and eventually, there was a fracture in the Azure Wood Manor. A number of people left the Azure Wood Great World and set up an external establishment that was unfortunately destroyed due to unforeseen circumstances.

The people that stayed back guarded the Azure Wood Great World, but the number of people that they had shrunk. By the girl’s generation, there was only a handful of people.

And from the moment that the Azure Wood Manor began to wane, the divine tree never did a thing again.

The girl had once fantasized if she could emulate her ancestor by awakening the divine tree’s powers. However, none of her various and repeated attempts bore fruit.

For example, she had already been praying in front of the divine tree for several hours today. The divine tree was not moved as it stood aloof to the happenings of the world.

“Young Lord, those people are here again… ”

Behind the girl, an old servant with white hair walked over as she spoke with a hoarse voice.

The servant was an old woman that looked like an ailing candle in the wind and her eyes appeared somewhat glazed. She was an old servant of the Azure Wood Manor, and she usually tended to the day-to-day needs of the green-dressed girl.

“Master is no longer around. It’s probably insufficient for the Azure Wood Divine Residence’s array to stop them.”

The girl frowned slightly. The Azure Wood Great World was once completely hidden, but with the Azure Wood Great World’s gradual collapse, the spatial nodes had weakened. It was finally discovered by others and from then on, people would probe the world like it was an ancient ruin. And the Azure Wood Manor had indeed left behind what seemed to be endless treasures and inheritances since ancient times. If it was obtained by outsiders, it would definitely be a great opportunity for them.

The Azure Wood Manor was already deteriorating. Tens of thousands of years ago, the girl’s master was able to hold down the situation. With the arrays left behind by their ancestors, it prevented the outsiders from obtaining much. They managed to protect a large portion of the Azure Wood Manor’s inheritance.

But now… her master had passed away leaving behind the a young girl and her old servant, so how could they stop the outsiders? All the outsiders were extremely powerful and any one of them was not someone that the duo could beat.

“Sigh! How infuriating! If it were a hundred million years ago, when my Azure Wood Manor was at its peak, our Azure Wood Manor wouldn’t fear those people even if their numbers increase by several times! Unfortunately… ”

The old servant was loyal to the Azure Wood Manor. Although she had never seen the golden age as written in the historical records, she still thought fondly of their history. She was also very familiar with Lords of the Azure Wood Manor from past generations.

“They don’t even know that our Azure Wood Manor has survived to this day, and they probably think of the Azure Wood Great World as being a world without any owner.”

Searching the ruins of worlds without owners to gain opportunities was a perfectly justified act in the world of warriors. In their present situation, the girl did not dare to appear. If the old freaks were to know that the mysterious Azure Wood Manor still had a successor, who knew what terrifying acts would play out.

“If only the divine tree would awaken… ”

The girl looked up at the towering divine tree. As the wind blew, the leaves that were in the clouds gently swayed and rustled. A look of adamance flashed in the girl’s eyes.

She knew that it was unlikely that the divine tree would hear her pleas. It could even be completely ignoring her, but she still needed to do something. She was the only successor of the Azure Wood Manor. Therefore, she could not watch idly as everything in Azure Wood Manor was taken away by others.

She got up and walked out of the garden and arrived at an exquisite courtyard. On a table in the courtyard was a portrait with offerings placed in front of it.

The portrait exuded an unbelievable aura. The portrait depicted a black-dressed woman, who had a graceful figure. However, her face was blurred.

The girl bowed respectfully to the portrait. It might only be a portrait, but it was probably the last thing that Azure Wood Manor could rely on.

It might sound unbelievable that a portrait was the last thing that a sect could rely on, but the portrait had a stunning history according to the historical records of the Azure Wood Manor.

It existed for a period longer than the Azure Wood Great World. And the identity of the person in the portrait was even more unbelievable. The first Lord of the Azure Wood Great World had once said that the undying divine tree of the Azure Wood Great World was planted personally by the black-dressed woman.

The silver-haired girl found it unbelievable that a divine tree, which had existed longer than a Great World, was planted by a woman.

998 - : Portrait

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Azure Wood Great World was bleak and desolate in all but its core region.

In the periphery of the Azure Wood Great World, there was a mountain range, and the sky above the mountains was black in color. Despite there being the sun to illuminate the sky, the sunlight was dim, like it was a dying old man.

The series of mountains continued on incessantly, but they were barren. Everywhere was a scene of desolation.

Some of the mountains were flowing with lava as billowing black smoke floated into the sky and filled it to the ends of its horizons. Other mountains were littered by swaths of withered trees and weathered bone. They were filled with death and looked more like mass graves. There were even other mountains that were enclosed in terrifying black storms. Some of the storms could rip powerful Fey beasts apart.

In the valleys between the mountain peaks, there were large series of black lakes. They emanated a stench with miasma filling the environment around the lakes. They were highly toxic and if an ordinary person breathed it in, not only would the person die from the toxicity, the person’s corpse would also be corroded, leaving only bones behind.

“What can we find in this godforsaken place?”

Near one of the black lakes, two burly men were searching the area. They were not young geniuses from large sects, but a league that was created from itinerant cultivators.

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, leagues were very different to sects. Sects had their own heritages with strict sect rules. Disciples from the sect would usually cultivate similar cultivation techniques.

As for leagues, they were much more undisciplined. A league was only a group of people coming together for the same set of interests. The cultivation techniques that they cultivated were multifarious and people could leave at any time. Some leagues were simply bandit gangs, especially organized together to engage in the armed robbery of others.

The Azure Wood Great World was large, so there were many entrances into the Azure Wood Great World. A few itinerant members of certain leagues would enter the Azure Wood Great World’s periphery, but of course, they would only linger around its periphery and not dare venture deeper.

“Junior Brother, this Azure Wood Great World has lots of good stuff. It’s the location of a former seclusive sect, the Azure Wood Sect. When such an ancient sect collapses, could its treasures be anything inferior? Let’s not even talk about the Azure Wood Sect, just the Azure Wood Great World itself would give rise to several treasures. Now that the world is about to collapse, those ordinary plants and animals have all died. The only things left are the treasures that will expose themselves.”

As the two men conversed, they suddenly heard a staccato scream ahead of them —

“Save, save me— ”

The voice was charming and it was clearly one that belonged to a young girl.

“What’s the matter?”

The two men exchanged looks as they immediately rushed towards the voice. Their eyes lit up the moment that they saw what was in front of them.

A sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl, who had a pair of bright, beautiful eyes, was trapped in a marsh. A thick, black vine was extended out of the mud as it held onto the girl.

It was a Fey tree!

“Haha, Junior Brother, what did I say? After the Azure Wood Great World’s plants die, the only things that survive are nothing to be scoffed at. Look at that Fey tree. Due to the lack of Yuan Qi, it’s already starving in agony. It captured the girl in its quest for food. If I’m not wrong, it’s a Black Blood Vine. Using it as a herb or as a poison would be rather effective. Good luck has befallen us, the Heavenly Calamity Duo.” One of the men said as his eyes flashed with a glint.

“Black Blood Vine? That’s indeed a great thing! Also, that babe is covered in treasures.” As the other man said, he looked greedily at the girl’s items. The Heavenly Calamity Duo had made it a career to rob graves, so they had keen eyesight. They could tell that the clothes that the girl wore, and the hair accessories that she wore, were all valuable ornaments.

“That’s right. The babe must be from some large sect. Her elders must have given her lots of great stuff, but unfortunately, her cultivation level is too low and she was unable to use them to their full power. What a waste if she can’t even finish a Black Blood Vine. Hey, Beauty, don’t be in a rush. When I’m done finishing that Black Blood Vine, I’ll treat you with tender loving care,” said the man as he revealed a licentious smile.

The girl’s aura was pure and unadulterated. She had a substantial foundation, so she was definitely a genius from a large sect. Such women stood high and mighty in the world, one that they could only look up to. But now, in the Azure Wood Great World, they could do as they pleased with her. How could it not excite them?

“What… what are the two of you going to do!?”

The girl turned flustered as she struggled with all her might, but the vine only tightened its grip on her. At that moment, the two men in front of her seemed to be more fearsome than the Black Blood Vine that wanted to consume her.

“Asking us what we want to do? Hehe, you are still asking such a silly question even at this point in time? Lass, all you can blame is that you are too willful. You entered this area riding on your master’s coattails, I suppose? How you were trapped by the Black Blood Vine can be ignored, but for you to scream for help here really shows how quickly you want to die. But don’t worry, in my hands, you will at least have a good time before your death.”

“Senior Brother, the lass looks like a virgin. Senior Brother, you were given the honor to take the last virgin’s virginity, so shouldn’t it be my turn this time?”

The Heavenly Calamity Duo exchanged lewd and sinister words as they moved closer to the girl. However, they did not lower their guard either. It was imperative that they finished the Black Blood Vine first.

Of course, with their combined strength, a Black Blood Vine was not a problem.

“Cha! Cha!”

The Heavenly Calamity Duo pulled out their sabers as they leaped up and coming from two different angles, they slashed at the Black Blood Vine!

The girl turned flustered as though she was extremely horrified, but at that moment, the black mud slush suddenly blasted open thirty feet in front of her!

“Si!”

The chilling sound of a snake’s hiss echoed as a snake, whose circumference was about the arm span of three men, emerged from the mud and attacked the Heavenly Calamity Duo!

“Ah!”

“What is that!?”

The Heavenly Calamity Duo was alarmed. Before their attack, they had used their perceptions to survey the surroundings, but they had failed to discover any danger. How did that enormous python appear?

“Die!”

The Heavenly Calamity Duo changed their targets suddenly as they slashed their sabers at the snake.

However, the snake opened its mouth at that moment and a black vortex swirled from its throat. The surrounding void began to collapse as the Heavenly Calamity Duo felt themselves losing control of their bodies. They even dropped their sabers.

Engulfing laws!?

It was a Fey beast that was proficient at engulfing laws!?

The two were horrified, but they eventually fell into the snake’s mouth. Spear like-teeth stabbed into their bodies as they cried out in agony!

“Ah, ah, ah!”

The duo spat out blood and felt extreme despair. However, the snake did not seem like it had any intention of giving them instantaneous deaths. They were forced to experience the torment before death.

At that point in time, the Heavenly Calamity Duo realized that the girl who was trapped by the Black Blood Vine had already escaped. She stood tall and gracefully above the marsh. The tip of her foot was gently placed above the water surface, while her watery-green dress was untainted. She looked like a beautiful lotus flower that had just bloomed, causing one to be ashamed of one’s ungainly appearance.

And at that moment, there was a clear sneer on the girl’s exquisite face.

“Wh… What?”

The Heavenly Calamity Duo had drastic changes in expression as they came to a realization that the girl in front of them was not some unworldly girl. They were the ones who were actually silly. From the beginning, it was a meticulously laid out trap.

“You witch… ” One of the men said through gnashed teeth.

He wanted to lash out with more invectives, but his breathing was turning weaker. Finally, he was completely swallowed into the snake’s belly.

“What dirty meat. Little Blue feels sick just eating you.” The girl said with a wrinkled frown.

Little Blue was none other than the gigantic snake in front of her. Mud flowed down the snake’s body, revealing beautiful blue scales. Although the snake had been in the mud, it was not tainted by the mud at all.

At that moment, there was a distortion in the void beside the girl. Space was ripped open as a silver-haired girl walked out and appeared in front of the green-dressed girl.

“Chu He, you are up to your mischief again. You left the Azure Wood Divine Residence on a whim and came all the way here. If you meet someone really powerful, will you even be able to return?” The silver-haired girl reprimanded Chu He, clearly furious at her antics.

The silver-haired girl was the successor of the Azure Wood Manor, who had just been praying in front of the Divine Tree Garden. She had prayed countless times, but she had never managed to stir the divine tree.

With her prayers unmet, the silver-haired girl came searching for her junior sister. To date, other than herself and her accompanying old servant, the Azure Wood Manor only had Chu He left.

“Senior Sister, these outsiders are here to rob us of our treasures, so can’t I punish them?” The green-dressed girl pouted her lips as she answered unhappily.

The silver-haired girl shook her head and said, “What they do cannot be faulted. Searching ruins is a justified act in the martial world. If there is anything to be blamed, it is that our Azure Wood Manor has waned.”

“I know,” said Chu He as she blinked with her pair of black eyes. While giving a perfectly guileless look, she said, “But I don’t wantonly kill anyone that I meet. If not, why did I act? I could just get Little Blue to swallow them directly. I was acting so as to see who had bad intentions towards me. These people with ill intentions deserve death! If they are good, I’ll spare them. I know too that the Azure Wood Great World is about to collapse. Even if the outsiders don’t come to search for treasures, many of the items would be destroyed as well.”

“I really can’t do a thing about you.” The silver-haired girl shook her head. Suddenly, her eyebrows pricked up. “Oh, there are more people coming again!”

As she spoke, she vanished into the void. At that moment, about fifty kilometers away, a youth was shuttling through the sky with a sword in his hand.

And not far in front of him, a man looked ashen. He had sweat dripping down his forehead as he desperately fled. He was feeling extreme despair.

He never expected that the sword-wielding youth was that terrifying! The youth’s cultivation level was only at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm, but his strength was extremely formidable!

A single strike. All it took was a single strike to kill his partner. Not only did his partner die, his partner’s body aged rapidly and was reduced to bare bones.

Such a terrifying sword technique gave one the chills just thinking about it!

Without any thought, he fled immediately. Although he had stunning achievements when it came to his movement technique, he had never expected that the movement technique that he was proud of failed to help him escape the pursuit of the youth. Now, the gap was shrinking rapidly!

He would rather commit suicide than experience that terrifying sword technique that rotted bodies!

999 - : Chu He

CKtalon  CKtalon

Despite how desperately the man ran, his speed was ultimately inferior to Yi Yun’s.

“Punk! Don’t you force me! No matter how powerful you are, you are only at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm. Being in the periphery of the Azure Wood Great World is already your limit. If you go any deeper into it, you will be met with certain death. If you continue to pursue me, you will not be able to get out!” The man yelled frantically, but the distance between Yi Yun and him continued to shrink rapidly.

“All I did was to conspire to hurt you, wasn’t it? You were left with zero losses and you even killed my Senior Brother. Isn’t that enough? Must you chase me all this way to put an end to me? How much enmity is there between us?”

As the man was speaking, Yi Yun suddenly slashed with his sword!

“Whew!”

A sword beam tore through the void and headed straight for the man’s back.

The man exclaimed as he barely dodged it. Although he managed to dodge the sword beam, the wind that accompanied the sword beam brushed across his back.

Instantly, an indescribable feeling overwhelmed every cell in his body. The man began to convulse as he felt that the strike had struck the very source of his life. His vitality was rapidly being depleted and the flesh on the back of his body was shriveling. Even his clothes had turned to ash.

That was the power of the passage of time. Time laws and Withering laws synergized well with each other in the first place.

With the two laws merged into one, even though he had managed to dodge the sword beam, just the might of the winds that accompanied it had drained his vitality.

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!”

The man screamed in despair. He knew very well that Yi Yun’s strike had already destroyed him because of his withering vitality. Not only could he no longer practice martial arts, his lifespan was also drastically shortened.

“I’ll fight it out with you!”

The man turned around and frantically charged at Yi Yun, like an enraged beast.

Yi Yun raised his sword and thrust it at the man’s glabella.

‘”Puah!”

The man’s body trembled violently as his eyes lost their luster. Corrosion of his body began from his glabella, and spread out in all directions. His skin and flesh were shriveling and drying up like they were turning to dust. In a few moments, the man’s body looked like it had experienced millennia before being reduced to bones.

Yi Yun put his sword away — it was not the pure Yang broken sword anyway. He did not plan on using the pure Yang broken sword unless absolutely necessary. Doing so could prevent creating trouble for himself if others were to see the broken sword.

The whole scene of Yi Yun using the Sword of Time to kill the fleeing man was seen by Chu He.

Chu He was somewhat stupefied.

The youth’s… cultivation level wasn’t even higher than hers, so how was he that powerful?

The sword technique could sever another person’s vitality with a single strike? The laws infused in it were way too horrifying!

Thoughts quickly flashed through her mind, but she was unafraid of Yi Yun. Even if her strength was inferior to Yi Yun’s, she never depended on herself for battle because of her pet, Little Blue, which was an ancient spirit snake left behind by her master. Although it had not fully matured, its strength was much stronger than hers.

And it was because of Little Blue’s existence that Chu He dared to roam the Azure Wood Great World freely and target people who had nefarious thoughts against her.

“That fellow can’t be a good person to act so ruthlessly… ” Chu He muttered to herself as she began machinating a plan.

“Chu He, aren’t you returning with me? Stop messing around.” In the void, the silver-haired girl’s voice sounded.

“Senior Sister, don’t worry. I know perfectly well.” Chu He was adamant as she retreated towards the marsh.

…

“Save, save me… ”

A clear shout for help once again echoed above the black lake. As Yi Yun flew mid-air, his eyebrows pricked up slightly when he heard it.

Back when Yi Yun was pursuing the man, he had actually sensed that there was someone in the vicinity. However, Yi Yun’s perception was locked onto the man. As he had a vague feeling that the other person spelled no threat to him, he did not carefully investigate the matter.

Now, with a sweep of his perception, he noticed that a green-dressed girl was dozens of kilometers away and was trapped in a marsh. Black vines were wrapped around her and she looked to be in grave danger.

Yi Yun faltered slightly, but with a flash of his body, he flew towards the green-dressed girl.

“Save me… Hero, save me!”

When the green-dressed girl saw Yi Yun, it was like she had seen a life-saving straw. She yelled for help even more enthusiastically, but at that moment, the black vines that wrapped around her limbs were retracting into the deep recesses of the marsh. It looked like the green-dressed girl was about to be devoured by the marsh.

Yi Yun was not one to turn a blind eye to someone’s plight. Furthermore, the black vine did not seem to be particularly powerful. so without any possible threat to his life, Yi Yun did not mind saving the green-dressed girl.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Sword sparks emerged around Yi Yun like snowflakes. However, just as Yi Yun was about to take action, he suddenly stopped.

Oh?

A majority of the sword sparks disappeared from Yi Yun’s body as he stopped mid-air. He only watched the green-dressed girl, but he did not take another step forward.

He had found many things amiss with the situation, so he had immediately activated the Purple Crystal’s energy vision. He was shocked by what he saw. Gosh, there was a large blue snake hidden in the marsh beneath the girl!

“Save me! Save me!” Chu He yelled again and she seemed to be extremely anxious, but Yi Yun remained unmoved. He watched her for a while before deciding to hug his sword in his arms. It was like he was watching her shout.

Chu He was immediately dumbfounded. She had acted a couple of times today and the people she met were people from leagues or tribes. Their strength was inferior and they looked no different to ruffians. Those people were here in the Azure Wood Great World to try their luck, and they mostly had nefarious intentions when it came to her. Either they wanted to kill and rob her, or they wanted to rape her. Chu He got Little Blue to eat them all.

There was also a group of people that most likely came from sects. They mostly behaved appropriately and had dignified appearances. When saving her, they would showcase their graceful demeanor but that did not mean that they were good. Amongst them, there might be wolves in sheep’s clothing. However, the green-dressed girl could not be bothered to distinguish them. Unless they clearly revealed their malfeasant intentions, Chu He would basically spare them.

However, Chu He never expected that someone would be like Yi Yun. All he did was stay motionless mid-air as he watched her act. This left Chu He irrevocably committed. She was left at an impasse to continue or to stop shouting. Furthermore, in her ‘script’, the black vine were wrapped around her body and just before she was pulled into the marsh, Yi Yun should have taken action in a timely fashion, severing the black vine to prevent her from being dragged in. However, without Yi Yun taking action, wouldn’t she be dragged into the disgusting marsh?

How could Chu He endure the dirty and nauseating marsh?

“Save me!” Chu He felt indignant as she yelled once more.

However, not only did Yi Yun not take any action, the corners of his mouth curved into a teasing smile.

“Why are you so ruthless? Why do you turn a blind eye to my plight!?” Chu He clenched her fist and was like an enraged kitten. Her embarrassment had turned into anger because she had a faint guess that the youth had seen through her!

“The black vine behind you sure is well mannered. It clearly has trapped you, but it is dragging you at such a slow speed. If you want to entice me to come towards you, you should have a modicum of sincerity. You don’t even wish to taint yourself with a bit of mud. That’s way too unprofessional,” said Yi Yun in derision.

When Chu He heard his words, her face turned blue from anger.

1000 - : No Sincerity

CKtalon  CKtalon

Chu He failed to figure out how Yi Yun had seen through her trap. Little Blue was an Ancient Fey beast species whose bloodline was extremely powerful. It had an innate ability to conceal itself, which prevented even seven or eight-floor Dao Palace warriors from discovering its existence, let alone Yi Yun with his lowly cultivation level.

Chu He stopped acting after having her cover blown. The Black Blood Vine that entangled her gradually loosened as Chu He looked at Yi Yun and said with a huff, “How did you see through my trap?”

“Why should I tell you? You set up a trap by preying on the empathy of others and then use a Fey beast to devour them. Who knew that you would have such a wicked heart despite being so young and beautiful?”

Yi Yun naturally did not know about Chu He’s background or goals. All he knew was that Chu He had set a trap to kill him and rob him. However, such incidents were common in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. One could only blame themselves for being too weak if they were killed. There was not much to blame others for.

“You… ” Chu He blew her top. She did not know how to explain, so she gave up by pouting her lips and fell silent. She allowed the fellow to make up his own conclusions.

Yi Yun’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he could tell from the girl’s expression that there was a story behind the matter. There was no need for her to continue her facade since she had been seen through. However, regardless of the reason, Yi Yun would not foolishly approached the green-dressed girl. The spirit snake that the girl reared had an extremely strong aura. It made Yi Yun lack the confidence to deal with the blue snake unless he used Felicitous Rain Lord’s sword Qi, but the losses would outweigh the gains.

A thought flashed in Yi Yun’s mind as his eyes happened to glance at a spot not far from the girl. There was a distortion in the void and in the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, Yi Yun confirmed that there was another person standing there. Furthermore, the person’s aura was very unique…

…

At that moment, in the core area of the Azure Wood Great World, in a inhabited valley, there was large ravine. It was a long ravine that reached to the horizon and was ancient and rustic.

If one looked from above, the gigantic ravine was like a dragon that meandered through the lands. It would make one shudder in fear.

“This ravine is somewhat strange!” An elder floating mid-air said.

The person was thin and his body was hunched. He had six arms that hung softly from his body. If Yi Yun was here, he would immediately recognize the elder as the Fey Phantasm Sect’s Supremacy, Gui Huazi.

Back when Yi Yun reached the Oracle Fey Kingdom, Gui Huazi had struck with a ghastly palm attack that nearly took Yi Yun’s life.

And beside Gui Huazi was a middle-aged man whose body was covered in a faint swirling black fog. The middle-aged man had a pale face and had a mane of silver hair. It shimmered with a metallic luster and he looked outstandingly handsome. In between his eyebrows, there was a light stripe… It was a closed eye. He did not wear loose large black robes like the majority of the Fey Phantasm Sect’s Elders, instead, he wore a well-fitted robe that befitted his position. He looked like an aristocrat from a mortal world.

The silver-haired man was the true person in power of the Fey Phantasm Sect — Demonic Eye Divine Lord.

The Demonic Eye Divine Lord looked at the gigantic ravine and pondered over it for a long time before he said, “If I’m not wrong, this is an ancient formation array named ‘Hidden Dragon Pit’. I never expected that the ‘Hidden Dragon Pit’ recorded in the historical books would be seen here in the Azure Wood Great World. I thought that the art of the ‘Hidden Dragon Pit’ was long lost.”

“Oh? Hidden Dragon Pit?” Gui Huazi looked at the meandering ravine, and indeed, it looked like a pit dug up to bury a dragon.

“That’s right. By using a powerful spirit root with a powerful enchantment sealed in ‘Hidden Dragon Pit’, it’s used to protect a spatial zone. The so-called dragon should be a spirit root. I never expected that the Azure Wood Manor would have such a mystical item. However, I will dig it up regardless of what it is protecting!”

A sneer flashed in Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s eyes as he suddenly waved a hand. Behind him, a plume of bloody mist burst out and transformed into a gigantic blood-colored skull.

“The Hidden Dragon Pit is powerful, but too much time has passed. The formation array has already weakened. Today, I’ll use my Blood Jade Skull to devour the old dragon!”

As Demonic Eye Divine Lord spoke, he made a sweeping gesture with his hand!

“Boom!”

With an explosive sound, the blood-colored skull flew at ‘Hidden Dragon Pit’ like a meteor. Large swaths of ground collapsed as a tumultuous explosion boomed.

Such an explosion caused the collapse of a void. Large tracts of mountains in the distance collapsed as lava burst out of cracks in the rocks and shot fifty kilometers into the sky!

“Oh? This world is too weak. Grand Elder, that strike of yours nearly caused the collapse of the world.”

“The Azure Wood Great World is indeed weak, but it’s not something so easily destroyed by my strength. It looks like the ‘Hidden Dragon Pit’ is not only protecting something, it is also holding the world in awe and prevent it from collapsing too soon. If I were to open the ‘Hidden Dragon Pit’, it would only accelerate the collapse of this world.”

Daoist You Ming, who was beside Gui Huazi, asked, “Then, are we still going to open it?”

“Of course! Although it will accelerate the collapse of this world, a true collapse would need a certain period of time. It will not affect us at all. This world is bound to collapse, so what’s the point of forcibly stabilizing it with an array formation? I might as well give it a push.”

As Demonic Eye Divine Lord spoke, he produced his Blood Jade Skull once again.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ancient ‘Hidden Dragon Pit’ had maintained an ancient ruin for tens of millions of years, but even though the strongest member of every generation of the Azure Wood Manor would enhance it, it was unable to withstand the Blood Jade Skull’s devouring. It began to collapse from the source…

…

And at that moment, more than 5000 kilometers away, Yi Yun was still observing the distorted space beside Chu He. He had confirmed that there was another girl standing there.

The girl’s aura was very special and for some reason, he had a familiar feeling to it and it left Yi Yun baffled. Could he know that girl?

How could there be someone that he knew in this distant Azure Wood Great World?

Yi Yun immediately thought of Lin Xintong, but unfortunately, the girl’s aura was clearly different to Lin Xintong’s.

This made Yi Yun sigh lightly. How was he to find Lin Xintong in the expanse of the 12 Empyrean Heavens?

After a moment of reverie, Yi Yun looked at the distorted void once again. Although he was sure that she was not Lin Xintong, he wanted to know why the girl gave him such a familiar feeling.

As Yi Yun was thinking over it, the mud suddenly stirred in front of the green-dressed girl. A large blue snake emerged and splattering large amounts of black mud in every direction!

Yi Yun’s heart leaped as he pulled his sword out. He thought that the blue snake would be attacking him, but he never expected the green-dressed girl to panic as well.

“Little Blue, what are you doing!?”

The green-dressed girl retreated because the mud that splattered all over was about to taint her clothes.

The blue snake flailed around and completely ignored the green-dressed girl’s exhortations. Instead, it revealed extreme fear and unrest.

“Little Blue! Could it be… Oh no!”

Beside the green-dressed girl, space distorted as a silver-haired girl walked out of the void!

1001 - : Hidden Dragon Pit

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun looked at the silver-haired girl the moment she appeared. He wanted to know who she was.

However, Yi Yun did not recognize her at all. She was dressed in a watery-green dress and she had smooth and fair skin. Her facial features made her resemble a figure that walked out of a painting and her every movement felt graceful like an ephemeral existence. She was truly a peerless lady.

However, the silver-haired girl’s expression did not seem calm. It shattered the illusion that she was like a fairy from the nine heavens who descended to the mortal world.

“Chu He, come over here!”

Just as the silver-haired girl said that…

“Boom!”

With a loud explosion, the ground began to quake violently. The mountains far away were beginning to crumble. In the black marsh, large black mud waves were being stirred and there was lava spewing up into the sky before landing on the marsh and burning the black mud.

Hu! Hu! Hu!

Plumes of black miasma began emerging out of the marsh as it diffused everywhere.

“Apocalyptic Fumes!? This kind of situation only happens once every three hundred years. Only a hundred years has passed!”

The silver-haired girl’s expression changed. The Azure Wood Great World was on the brink of destruction and danger lurked at every turn. Even though she was a successor of the Azure Wood Manor, she was helpless when it came to power on the scale of world destruction. All she could do was try her best to avoid the dangers.

Through the monitoring of the Azure Wood Great World’s rate of destruction and various disasters that happened, the progeny of the Azure Wood Manor had already reduced the phenomena into a certain set of patterns. Through these patterns, the silver-haired girl could act freely in the Azure Wood Great World, but there were always accidents, such as the situation that they were presently in.

“It’s the array formation… Those outsiders have destroyed the Azure Wood Manor’s protective array.”

The silver-haired girl let out a long sigh. Due to the waning of the Azure Wood Manor and how the Azure Wood Great World was facing destruction, the progeny of the Azure Wood Manor, who acted as guardians of the Azure Wood Great World, had begun setting up ancient arrays. But now, against external Divine Lords, how could the ancient arrays, that had been weathered by tens of millions of years, be able to withstand their formidable forces?

In such situations, even if one could predict what would happen, there was no safe spot in the Azure Wood Great World when the array formation began to disintegrate en masse. Perhaps, the only thing that would survive was the divine tree in the core of the Azure Wood Great World even after the world was destroyed…

The silver-haired girl did not know where she would go after the Azure Wood Great World was really destroyed.

“Senior Sister, I… ”

Chu He was feeling guilt-stricken and she felt wronged. She knew how terrifying the Apocalyptic Fumes were and she had never expected it to erupt at that moment. If she had not been out gallivanting, the silver-haired girl would not have come looking for her. Even if the Apocalyptic Fumes erupted, they could remain safe by hiding in the divine tree garden.

“Let’s attempt to leave this place. Who could have expected this to happen?” said the silver-haired girl with a shake of her head.

At that moment, Yi Yun was enveloped by the Apocalyptic Fumes in the sky.

Was this miasma!?

Yi Yun was alarmed. In a few seconds, the entire sky turned into a blur. It was definitely no ordinary miasma for it could shield perception which he could not penetrate with.

Yi Yun conjured his protective Yuan Qi and isolated himself from the miasma, but what followed made Yi Yun’s heart drop. His protective Yuan Qi was rapidly being corroded by the miasma, which seemed to contain a toxic poison. Even with his foundations, the miasma made him struggle to maintain his protective Yuan Qi.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before casually throwing a tiny sword into the miasma. The sword was enveloped by the miasma and immediately, it lost its spiritual alacrity and quickly lost its luster from the corrosion.

It was very powerful!

Yi Yun was alarmed. He could not figure out why the toxic gases in the marsh were so powerful.

The outcome would be unimaginable if his Yuan Qi was depleted while he remained here.

“The miasma in the sky is denser. I’ll land on the ground first before leaving as fast as possible.”

With such a thought, Yi Yun had landed.

Yi Yun saw the silver-haired girl not far away from him, while she too noticed Yi Yun. They were about a dozen steps apart from each other, but their figures were shrouded by the Apocalyptic Fumes, causing them to turn into blurry hazes.

The silver-haired girl had also conjured a hazy protective Yuan Qi. Her expression looked solemn.

“Is this miasma?” Yi Yun inquired.

In the marsh, when Fey beasts or Fey trees died, their remains would rot into the mud, turning into toxic rotting gases. That was what miasma was.

Typically, the stronger the dead Fey beast was, the more powerful the miasma was. It would not be an oddity if a Dao Palace realm warrior died from the poison.

But miasma was an entity without thought after all. One would be fine as long as one was careful enough to not absorb it. Yi Yun had never heard of miasma of a particular marsh being so powerful to blot out the sky and land. It even shrouded the sun.

The silver-haired girl hesitated for a moment before answering, “It’s not miasma. Miasma is a result of the rotting gases produced after Fey beasts or trees die. But the black fog in front of us is something that we call Apocalyptic Fumes. It’s the rotting gases of a world when it dies. It’s not something that miasma can be compared to.”

“What? The gases after a world dies?”

Yi Yun was given a shock. It was understandable that rotting gases would be produced after plants and animals died, but he never expected that a world would also produce gases when it died. How terrifying would the gases produced be when a large world rotted in death? It was completely unimaginable, but it was not odd that it could blot out the sky and land.

“How expansive is the Apocalyptic Fumes?”

“No idea. It might be thousands of kilometers, tens of thousands of kilometers, or even hundreds of thousands of kilometers. The Azure Wood Great World is already on the brink of destruction. This gases of the rotting world had been repressed in the deep recesses of the large world, and it can be said to be endless. I have no idea how much seeped out either.”

As the silver-haired girl spoke, she gave Yi Yun an empathetic glance. She knew that Yi Yun would definitely die if he stayed behind.

Ignoring the fact that he was a warrior at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm, even a seven or eight-floor Dao Palace realm warrior would probably be reduced to bones in the Apocalyptic Fumes and dying in a god forsaken land.

This was the might of the heavens and earth. It was not somewhere that one could leave because of having great talent.

The silver-haired girl found it unbearable. From the reaction of him wanting to save Chu He previously, she knew that he wasn’t an evil person. Furthermore, he was extremely intelligent and with his half-step Dao Manifestation realm, he had managed to see through Chu He’s trap. It was truly deserving of praise, but unfortunately, he was likely to die.

The silver-haired girl said, “Follow us, and there might be a chance for you to persist on for a period of time.”

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment, but he eventually chose to walk over.

The gases that resulted from a rotting world had truly broadened his horizons. Felicitous Rain Lord had warned him previously that the Azure Wood Great World was extremely dangerous and to consider it seriously before coming. However, Yi Yun had still chosen to come. He did not wish to give up on this one chance.

But from the looks of it, even Felicitous Rain Lord had probably underestimated the danger of the Azure Wood Great World.

Who could be sure what would happen in a world that was on the brink of destruction?

“Can you tell me who you are?” Yi Yun asked the silver-haired girl.

He felt that she knew too many things. The gases of a rotting world was something that even Felicitous Rain Lord might not have known.

1002 - : Apocalyptic Fumes

CKtalon  CKtalon

The silver-haired girl knew that her reactions towards the Apocalyptic Fumes made the youth suspicious. However, she was unsure if she could even come out of this alive, so she did not care about it.

She ignored Yi Yun’s question and said instead, “After the Apocalyptic Fumes start, it will constantly increase for the next four hours. After four hours, the atrocity of the Apocalyptic Fumes might be a hundred times worse than it is now.”

The silver-haired girl’s words made Yi Yun’s heart sink. A hundred times worse? If what the silver-haired girl said was true, it was impossible for him to withstand it then.

“Winds are about to blow.” The silver-haired girl’s expression was grim. The Apocalyptic Fumes would stir black winds and one could tell how powerful the Apocalyptic Fumes would be from the intensity of the black wind.

Just as the silver-haired girl finished speaking, they heard the wind howling…

It sounded like the wailing of ghosts and the howling of wolves!

The concentrated fumes interwove together as they began to spin, forming black ink-like squalls. The winds were a thousand, if not ten thousand times, more terrifying than the winds that Yi Yun had seen back at the Mt. Azure Billow’s Black Wind Valley!

The black wind howled and it began to release a barrage of attacks on Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi. The squalls condensed into savage black dragons that snarled and bit at him.

“All of us should stay close together!”

The silver-haired girl pulled Chu He’s hand and took the initiative to close the gap between herself and Yi Yun. As for the blue snake and the Black Blood Vine in the marsh, they were put in a spirit beast bag by Chu He.

The three gathered together, while the silver-haired girl and Yi Yun propped up their protective Yuan Qi together.

Yi Yun was slightly surprised when he noticed how powerful the silver-haired girl’s strength was. The girl was only at the beginning stages of the Dao Manifestation realm, a level just slightly higher than his, but her true essence was extremely plentiful!

The silver-haired girl’s Yuan Qi had a tinge of perpetual regeneration. Regardless of how much the black winds consumed her Yuan Qi, she was able to withstand it.

“That’s impressive. Is that the laws of life and death?” Yi Yun thought secretly to himself.

Yi Yun was seldom impressed by people whose cultivation levels were only slightly higher than his, but now, the silver-haired girl’s nomological powers had broadened Yi Yun’s horizons.

“The world is large. There are heavens beyond heavens and people beyond people. I still have a long way to go.” Yi Yun muttered to himself. Of course, the premise was that he needed to survive the rest of today.

“Wu Wu Wu… ”

The apocalyptic black squalls became more terrifying, but the silver-haired girl took the role of being the main force to provide the protective Yuan Qi. Her perpetual birth of energy withstood the apocalyptic black winds perfectly.

But even so, Yi Yun felt like they were a tiny boat in a storm, with the possibility of them capsizing at any moment.

“This is the power of a world’s destruction. It’s truly terrifying and not only Felicitous Rain Lord, even the other Divine Lords and Supremacies from other factions that came probably did not expect that the Azure Wood Great World is so terrifying… ”

Yi Yun guessed that the burst of the Apocalyptic Fumes would result in the tragic deaths of large numbers of Dao Manifestation and Dao Palace realm warriors. Many people came to the Azure Wood Great World with the intention to fish in troubled waters by killing and robbing. Many young geniuses from major sects wanted to try their luck, but now, they would probably pay the price of blood. The losses would be tragic, one that far exceeded the expectations of the major factions.

Their surroundings were completely hazy and it was difficult to discern the direction that they were moving in. One’s perception was useless in the fumes, so while Yi Yun followed the silver-haired girl, he felt that everything around him looked the same. He had no idea how the silver-haired girl pinpointed the direction in which they were heading.

“You know the way?” Yi Yun asked the silver-haired girl.

However, she shook her head and said, “No, it’s only a feeling. Let’s hope I didn’t take the wrong path.”

“Feeling?” Yi Yun was rendered speechless. It was already a problem if they could survive, but now, the direction in which they were heading could even be wrong. If their direction was incorrect and they were just walking in circles, the situation was obvious.

Yi Yun pondered for a moment and he attempted to activate the Purple Crystal’s energy vision. The energy vision was not limited by perception, so it could see far.

However, Yi Yun’s heart sank when he activated his energy vision. In the energy vision, the surrounding world remained a gray, hazy patch.

The Apocalyptic Fumes was not energy at all. It was the gases of a rotting world. It was a gas that could destroy a world, let alone flesh and blood.

His energy vision could not discern their location and if they really relied on a hunch, was it possible for them to survive?

Yi Yun did not get his hopes up. His Yuan Qi was being quickly depleted and the outcome would be fraught with grim possibilities if this continued.

“Apocalyptic Fumes are also a derivation of destruction laws. If I can gain further insight from these destruction laws, I might be able to survive this desperate situation… ” Yi Yun muttered to himself.

His destruction laws were still not perfect after all. If he had chaos laws to complement it, he would not be in such a dire state.

The fumes were boundless and the black winds squalled like a massive black tsunami covered in mist. Where the three of them were was like a spot abandoned by the universe. They were alone and without help.

With the passage of time, most of the burden needed to withstand the Apocalyptic Fumes rested on the silver-haired girl’s shoulders.

She was at the Dao Manifestation realm after all and she had already condensed Dao fruits. In addition to her perpetual generation of Yuan Qi, she was much better than Yi Yun in terms of energy consumption.

“Sis, will we die?” asked Chu He in a whisper.

Her strength was incomparable to Yi Yun’s, so the amount that she contributed to the protective Yuan Qi was greatly limited. “Sis, ignore me. If it’s just you alone, the Yuan Qi consumption will be lower. There will be a higher possibility of you surviving this.”

In the Apocalyptic Fumes, the more people that were protected, the greater the Yuan Qi consumption was.

“Don’t speak without thought.” The silver-haired girl’s forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat as she clenched her sister’s hand tightly.

The atrocity of the Apocalyptic Fumes far exceeded her expectations. In less than an hour, she was already finding it extremely demanding. It was almost impossible for her to survive this.

Chu He worried for her sister, but she was helpless. Not only did the silver-haired girl have to protect Chu He, she also needed to protect Yi Yun. Yi Yun obviously noticed the point. He had added to the silver-haired girl’s burden.

Actually, Yi Yun had placed a certain amount of strength to gain insights into the destruction laws, so his contribution to the Yuan Qi protection was naturally smaller.

However, gaining nomological insights was not something that could be done in a day or two. How could it be easy to gain much insight in less than an hour?

Yi Yun made up his mind and said to the silver-haired girl, “If you want to survive the Apocalyptic Fumes, the chances of success will be lower if you take me along.”

The silver-haired girl fell silent for a moment before saying, “To be in danger together and face death together is a form of fate. If we were to abandon each other at the moment of death for a sliver of hope, wouldn’t it be even more lamentable when we eventually get reduced to bone?”

“You are right.” Yi Yun said with a smile, “I’m Yi Yun.”

“Yi Yun?” The silver-haired girl repeated after him before whispering, “I’m Yue Yingsha.”

“Yue Yingsha? I see… I have an enchanted artifact that might give us a chance to take a breather. However, my strength is limited and I’m unable to fully control it. When the time comes, it will be wrapped up in the winds, and I’ll have no idea where we will fly to… ”

1003 - : Black Winds

CKtalon  CKtalon

What Yi Yun was referring to was obviously the God Advent Tower. It was one of his trump cards in his expedition to the Azure Wood Great World. It had immense defenses, but its power reserves were expendable. Once it was drained, it needed a long time to recharge time, basically rendering it useless in the near future.

Furthermore, the God Advent Tower was a supreme artifact at the Divine Lord level, one that Yi Yun did not want to reveal freely. This was his first encounter with Yue Yingsha, so he did not know her identity or background. He obviously was reluctant for her to enter the God Advent Tower, but what Yue Yingsha said before had moved Yi Yun.

“Enchanted artifact?”

Yue Yingsha faltered for a moment. At that moment, a tiny pagoda flew out of Yi Yun’s body and spun mid-air before expanding in size.

“Don’t resist it.”

After Yi Yun said that, his body flashed and disappeared into the God Advent Tower.

Yue Yingsha slightly hesitated, but based on the extenuating circumstances, she could not be bothered about her inhibitions. She pulled Chu He’s hand and flew into the God Advent Tower.

“Weng!”

A pale gold barrier surrounded the God Advent Tower and withstood the impacts of the Apocalyptic Fumes. The tower was blown around, colliding into anything that the winds blew it into, like a duckweed in a tsunami.

Yi Yun’s cultivation level was limited after all. Due to his inability to fully control the God Advent Tower, all he could do was use the array formations in the God Advent Tower to withstand the impacts.

The energy reserves of the array formations were being quickly depleted due to the massive size of the God Advent Tower. The impact that it received from the Apocalyptic Fumes was considerably greater than what the trio received.

“This is… ”

Yue Yingsha and Chu He felt the space around them warp before they appeared inside the God Advent Tower.

Although the Azure Wood Manor had waned, it was still an ancient and powerful sect. As the successor to the Azure Wood Manor, Yue Yingsha was well-read, so she could easily tell the value of the pagoda.

Enchanted artifacts like abodes or spirit cruisers were extremely difficult to manufacture and refine. Even an extremely high-grade abode was not necessarily resilient against tempestuous attacks, so the value of an abode artifact, which could withstand the impacts of the Apocalyptic Fumes, was beyond imagination.

When the Azure Wood Manor was at its prime, it had similar artifacts, but due to an internal fracture, the artifacts were taken away by those who departed from the Azure Wood Great World. What the deserters could not take away were ancient ruins that were rooted in the Azure Wood Great World. Although these ancient ruins had an amazing history, it was too arduous to develop them to their full potential.

Yue Yingsha gave Yi Yun a deep, meaningful glance. How did this youth have a treasure of this level?

“Boom!”

The God Advent Tower was swept up by the black wind and slammed into a mountain. The mountain was immediately reduced to pieces, but the God Advent Tower’s array formations remained fine despite the trio losing their footing inside the God Advent Tower.

Yue Yingsha could not help but exclaim, “What a resilient array formation.”

“However, it won’t be able to last long. If the energy is completely drained before the Apocalyptic Fumes are over, we will still be doomed,” said Yi Yun. However, he was already a lot more composed. He had a much safer environment in the God Advent Tower for him to gain insights into the destruction laws contained in the Apocalyptic Fumes.

“I couldn’t tell that you were this rich,” marveled Chu He as she clicked her tongue. She never expected that a random intruder that she wanted to scam would be so wealthy.

Yi Yun did not answer her but instead, he caught them unaware by saying, “The both of you… are probably natives of the Azure Wood Great World, right?”

The way that Chu He and Yue Yingsha reacted to the sudden eruption of the Apocalyptic Fumes made Yi Yun generate such a guess. Although the world that they were in was on the brink of destruction, it was not unbelievable that the natives would survive. This could also explain why Chu He had laid a trap to ensnare others. It was only natural for natives to show animosity towards intruders.

“Uh… ” Chu He stuttered, momentarily unsure how to respond. She gave Yue Yingsha a pleading look.

“Yes… “Yue Yingsha directly admitted. Yi Yun had already revealed the secret of his God Advent Tower, so there was no need for her to conceal the fact that she was a native.

Trust was interpersonal. It allowed them to have a greater chance of survival in the Apocalyptic Fumes.

“I see. Yue Yingsha, I have something that I want to consult you about. I wonder if you can answer me,” asked Yi Yun seriously and sincerely.

“What is it?”

“My master told me that when a large world is destroyed, it is actually the birth of another large world. Is there any Primordial Chaos gases that exist in the Azure Wood Great World? To be honest, the search for Primordial Chaos gases is my goal here.”

“Primordial Chaos?”

Yue Yingsha gave Yi Yun a surprised look. Primordial Chaos was a Great Dao during the primordial beginnings of the Universe. Even Divine Lords did not have a chance of encountering them, yet a junior like Yi Yun actually wanted to make contact with the Dao of Primordial Chaos?

“Although it’s said that the destruction of a large world is the birth of another world, there is time involved in it that might span hundreds of millions of years. It might not be easy for you to find Primordial Chaos gases… ”

When Yue Yingsha said that, she hesitated for a moment before saying vaguely, “However… I know that in the Azure Wood Great World, there is some lost ancient heritage. Amongst them, there are some things that are related to Primordial Chaos. Whether you can obtain them will depend on your luck.”

Ancient heritage? Was it the Azure Wood Manor’s heritage?

Yi Yun was surprised. He recalled that Felicitous Rain Lord had said that he was in search of a person during his trip to the Azure Wood Great World. It was a person that Felicitous Rain Lord claimed to be near the peak of martial arts.

Was this person related to the Azure Wood Manor? Was he or she the ‘lost heritage’ that Yue Yingsha had mentioned?

Yi Yun wanted to inquire further, but Yue Yingsha had already sat down in meditation, as though she had no intentions to speak further.

Yi Yun decided on abandoning his queries. What she told him was already very valuable.

At that moment, the black winds outside the God Advent Tower were becoming more violent. The array formations of the God Advent Tower were being struck time and time again. Yi Yun did not rest and instead, he opened a tiny hole in the God Advent Tower’s array formation. Immediately…

Hum Hum Hum!

Black apocalyptic winds surged right into the God Advent Tower and transformed into a black dragon that wanted to devour Yi Yun.

“What… what are you doing?”

Chu He was alarmed, but she saw Yi Yun circulate all of his energy and grab at the black dragon.

With a loud explosion, Yi Yun had forcefully grabbed the black dragon, which was formed out of Apocalyptic Fumes, by its throat.

Following that, Yi Yun emanated an immense aura of destruction, sealing the black winds within.

“This aura… ”

Chu He looked at Yi Yun in disbelief as she did not have much idea of Yi Yun’s strength previously. She only found Yi Yun’s withering laws to be extremely odd, but the aura that he was emanating suddenly became domineering and horrifying. She was left dumbfounded by it.

“This person… is very special… “

Chu He muttered to herself as she watched Yi Yun condense the Apocalyptic Fumes into a blob. Next, he attempted to merge the Apocalyptic Fumes into his body.

What was he doing?

Yue Yingsha was also astounded before she figured out what Yi Yun’s goal was. He was planning to refine the Apocalyptic Fumes!

The aura that was emitted during a world’s rotting process could cause a large world’s destruction. But Yi Yun wanted to use his own body to refine the Apocalyptic Fumes!

1004 - : Engagement

CKtalon  CKtalon

The moment the Apocalyptic Fumes entered Yi Yun’s body, he felt his body turn cold. It was no ordinary cold feeling, it was like his very soul had been frozen tight from sleeping in a frozen catacomb for thousands of years. All the frost, decadence and death was seeping into his bones.

Was this the aura that a world gave off while it rots to its death?

Yi Yun was secretly horrified. If not for him having taken the nomological path of destruction, he would have destroyed his body by recklessly absorbing the fumes.

Yi Yun calmed his heart down as he circulated his destruction Dao Domain to contain the Apocalyptic Fumes. It struggled violently like it had a life of its own, but it was gradually refined.

“This… ” Yue Yingsha gave Yi Yun an astonished look as she saw him devour a plume of Apocalyptic Fumes. Yue Yingsha knew better than anyone else what the Apocalyptic Fumes signified. To warriors, it was a lethal poison.

“Sis, is that guy planning on refining the Apocalyptic Fumes?” asked Chu He.

Yue Yingsha shook her head and said, “Maybe he’s just refining an artifact.”

Yue Yingsha found it unbelievable that Yi Yun was refining the toxic fumes to enrich himself, but if he could subdue the Apocalyptic Fumes, it wouldn’t be a surprise to use it as part of an artifact used to kill.

With Yi Yun gradually calming down, Yue Yingsha cast her gaze away. She had expended a great deal of her stamina that she needed to replenish desperately.

The God Advent Tower continued to shuttle through the Apocalyptic Fumes. It was completely dark outside and there was no way to tell the direction in which they were heading. All they could hear was howling winds that sounded like wails. There was no indication when they would depart from the vicinity of the Apocalyptic Fumes.

“The scale of the Apocalyptic Fumes is truly huge.” A melancholic look flashed in Yue Yingsha’s eyes. The Azure Wood Great World’s collapse was accelerating, and the Azure Wood Manor would completely vanish along with it.

…

The Apocalyptic Fumes lasted for two hours. In that span of time, it covered an extensive region of about forty thousand kilometers, where few people managed to survive.

Of course, there were a tiny number of people who managed to survive resiliently.

These people were lucky to survive either because of their extremely powerful cultivation levels or because they happened to be in the periphery of the Apocalyptic Fumes.

At that moment, there were three feeble people in tattered clothes who were hiding in a valley.

Beside them were eight corpses strewn across the ground. Their bodies had been reduced to piles of withered bones from the corrosive forces of the Apocalyptic Fumes.

Those who remained alive were only barely alive. If not for the Apocalyptic Fumes dissipating at the final moment, they probably would not have been able to last any longer.

“What the heck was that!?”

An effeminate man dressed in a scarlet robe spat out a mouthful of blood. The robe that he wore was a top-grade enchanted robe, yet it had been reduced to tatters from the corrosiveness of the Apocalyptic Fumes.

The effeminate man was the son of the Fey Phantasm Sect’s Daoist You Ming — You Feihua.

Other than the group of Supremacies and Divine Lords that had entered the Azure Wood Divine Residence, You Feihua was one of the strongest people with his high cultivation level in the periphery zones of the Azure Wood Great World. He believed that his escapade in the Azure Wood Great World would be a breeze and that every treasure that he encountered would be his. Not a single warrior would pose a threat to him either.

In the expedition to the Azure Wood Great World, You Feihua believed that he was definitely safe and that he would return with a great bountiful harvest. However, he never expected that a gray fog would suddenly fill the area. The strange winds in the gray fog ground people to dust or reduced them to mere bones. They had struggled to survive the storm, but they had depleted nearly all their energy reserves. Even their meridians had been damaged!

“We nearly lost our lives!”

You Feihua was still shaking in his wits. The terror of the Azure Wood Great World had exceeded his original expectations.

He was already severely injured before he found any opportunities. And all of that was because he had the good luck to be located in the periphery of the gray fog. If the black winds were stronger in intensity or if he was in the middle of the gray fog, he would probably be a dead man.

“Senior Brother You, we are already in such a tragic state. Everyone else might be dead already. We can explore the vicinity and we might find a few unlucky fellows who were desiccated by the black winds. There was no lack of people coming from large factions, so we might be able to get a windfall from them.” The two Fey Phantasm Sect disciples following You Feihua chimed. Although they were barely breathing, they still had their minds on treasures and opportunities that awaited them. The wealth of disciples from large factions was not to be belittled.

“You’re right. We can search the vicinity.”

As You Feihua was speaking, he suddenly saw a beam of light streak across the sky, as though something was heading straight for the mountain range.

“Boom!”

With a loud blast, a mountain collapsed as a result of the beam colliding with it.

You Feihua’s eyes lit up. He sensed an extremely strong aura from the beam of light which stirred his greed.

“What is it?”

You Feihua felt excited. His intuition told him that the beam of light was a treasure and that it could even be a huge opportunity for him.

“Senior Brother, shall we go and take a look? Or do we rest for a moment? We are still quite seriously injured,” said a Fey Phantasm Sect disciple. It was needless to elaborate their injuries, while You Feihua was severely injured as well. A large number of their meridians were damaged and they had less than ten percent of their strength left. It was naturally very risky to begin searching for treasures.

You Feihua frowned and hesitated for a moment before saying, “Riches are obtained from taking a risk. The aura from that beam of light is no trifling matter. If we miss it, it might be the loss of an opportunity. We are indeed like candles in the wind, but the black winds and gray smoke that suddenly stirred was way too terrifying. Excluding us, it would be a problem for others to survive, and even if they did, they would most likely be drained as well. They should be in a worse situation than us, so there’s no reason to be afraid of anyone.”

“Let’s go and take a look!”

As You Feihua spoke, he took a spirit boat out of his interspatial ring. With the two Fey Phantasm Sect disciples entering with him, they flew straight towards the beam of light.

You Feihua was so injured that he did not even want to exert himself to fly physically. By using a spirit boat, it not only conserved his stamina, he could also consume relics during the flight and mediate. However, it would still require a considerable amount of time for him to mend his damaged meridians.

You Feihua was about fifty kilometers away from where the beam of light landed. The spirit boat took a few minutes to catch up to it.

The two Fey Phantasm Sect disciples saw the mountain that had collapsed from the impact from a distance.

“That looks like a… pagoda?”

Just as the Fey Phantasm Sect disciple finished speaking, they saw a golden light flash before the pagoda vanished completely.

“There’s someone!” You Feihua sensed the auras of warriors from the collapsed mountain. With a twitch of his eyebrows, he said, “Indeed, there are still survivors in this gray fog. However, they are probably on their last breaths even if they survived.”

Supremacies would not stay in the periphery of the Azure Wood Great World, so those who stayed behind were unlikely to exceed his strength. With this thought in mind, a cold beam of light flashed in You Feihua’s eyes .

However, as the distance between them narrowed, You Feihua managed to recognize the other party. It gave him a shock.

“It’s you? Yi Yun!?” After a momentary surprise, You Feihua was fanatically pleased. “Haha! There was really no effort needed in finding you!”

1005 - : No Effort Needed

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Follow me!” said You Feihua to his two juniors. The way that his eyes beamed when he looked at Yi Yun was like a wolf when it saw a piece of meat. The Azure Wood Great World was huge, so You Feihua had no idea when he would encounter Yi Yun. Now, it was sheer good luck that he had encountered Yi Yun.

He knew that Yi Yun had a precious treasure on him and that it was likely at the Divine Lord grade. Such a treasure was a waste in Yi Yun’s hands. If he had it, his strength would definitely increase drastically. He could even rely on the treasure to enter the core region of the Azure Wood Great World.

While You Feihua was flying towards Yi Yun, he had put the the spirit boat away. As for his juniors, they had yet to react. They were not aware that Yi Yun possessed a valuable treasure, and they were unsure as to why You Feihua appeared so excited.

At that moment, Yue Yingsha and Yi Yun had naturally seen You Feihua from the God Advent Tower.

“Who are those people?” A wary look flashed in Yue Yingsha’s gorgeous eyes. She could sense that the outsiders were here with maleficent intent, especially the effeminate man dressed in red.

“One of my enemies,” said Yi Yun. He never expected to encounter You Feihua here as well. After experiencing the Apocalyptic Fumes, You Feihua was in a miserable state. The enchanted clothing that he wore was so tattered that he looked no different to a beggar. His excited expression added a sense of silliness to him.

“Yi Yun, come on out and die. If you hand over all of your wealth without any fuss, I’ll give you a quick and painless death!”

The God Advent Tower’s array formation’s energy was drained, so it could no longer provide any effective protection.

You Feihua thought nothing of Yi Yun. In terms of cultivation, Yi Yun was at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm, two large realms lower than him. You Feihua knew that Yi Yun was gifted and that he had even been accepted by Felicitous Rain Lord as a personal disciple. However, no amount of talent could breach the gap of two large realms. It was the limit if Yi Yun could defeat a warrior at the peak Dao Manifestation realm. However, he was a high-floor Dao Palace realm warrior, so it was an easy task to kill Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun, come on out and die!”

The two juniors standing beside You Feihua clamored as well.

They were in terrible states as well, but they were not worried about that. Surviving that strange Apocalyptic Fumes was already quite an impressive feat, so how could one not be exhausted?

“You Feihua, you attempted to kill me years ago. Even if you didn’t come looking for me, I would have settled the debt with you.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he had flown out of the God Advent Tower. Yue Yingsha followed closely behind. As for Chu He, Yue Yingsha had insisted that she remained in the God Advent Tower.

“Settle the debt with me? To have the guts to say such a bold statement despite being a mere half-step Dao Manifestation realm warrior, aren’t you afraid that you might end up cutting your tongue… ” Just as You Feihua was halfway done with his mocking tirade of Yi Yun, his words were left stuck in his throat. He could clearly sense that Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi fluctuations were intense, like he was not exhausted at all.

This…

You Feihua was alarmed. He clearly saw Yi Yun fly out from the depths of the gray fog. How could he not have expended any Yuan Qi in such a situation?

Was it that tiny pagoda that had protected him?

“That punk!” You Feihua clenched his teeth. He immediately recalled how Yi Yun had survived a Supremacy’s strike. He had originally believed that it was a particular talisman or a set of enchanted armor, but from the looks of it, it was likely the pagoda that allowed Yi Yun to survive the Supremacy’s blow.

What sort of pagoda was it? How powerful was its defensive strength?

You Feihua was well aware of the value that abode-type treasures had. Those treasures were something that even his father, Daoist You Ming lacked one, let alone himself!

“Yi Yun, you are truly dumb enough to carry such a treasure on you. To flaunt it so flagrantly and use it to hide a woman, how are you to going to hold on to it with your cultivation level? What a joke!”

A cold beam flashed in You Feihua’s eyes. Not only was he thinking of killing Yi Yun to snatch the God Advent Tower, he was also considering if he should silence his two juniors after the matter was settled.

Yi Yun shot a cold stare at You Feihua. This was the first time that Yi Yun was encountering a warrior with a high-floor Dao Palace realm.

Yi Yun was definitely no match for a high-floor Dao Palace realm warrior if his opponent was in his prime. In terms of age, You Feihua was already about eight hundred years old, about ten times older than Yi Yun! No amount of talent could bridge the gap of such a long period of cultivation.

Yi Yun’s aura gradually rose as he suddenly attacked!

He did not wait for You Feihua to attack, and instead, he shot out like an arrow. With a sword in his hand, he thrust it straight at You Feihua’s face.

Yi Yun was acutely aware that the present You Feihua was in an absolutely weakened state. He obviously would not allow You Feihua to get time to recuperate.

“Ah!”

A Golden Crow shrieked as it soared into the sky. Yi Yun’s strike was so fast that one could not react in time. You Feihua had never expected that Yi Yun did not have any thoughts of escaping while facing him. Instead, Yi Yun had taken the initiative to attack him!

“You are courting death!” You Feihua roared as he joined his hands together. A guqin appeared in front of him.

He plucked the guqin violently and as it’s strings vibrated, sound waves blasted out like the wails of ghosts and the howls of wolves as they headed straight for Yi Yun’s sword beam.

Although You Feihua’s aura had been greatly weakened, his cultivation level was still a force to be reckoned with. He was not someone that could be so easily dealt with. You Feihua was absolutely confident that he could kill Yi Yun without the need to sacrifice his essential lifeblood.

“Peng!”

The sword beam shattered as the sonic wave exploded. However, Yi Yun did not retreat, instead, he converged his body and rushed straight at You Feihua. He threw the sword in his hand and with a flip of his hand, he pulled out the pure Yang broken sword.

The previous strike was only a feint. Yi Yun’s second strike was the true deathblow!

“Withering·Sword of Time!”

A sword beam slashed out as it flowed like the rivers of time. The strike did not possess any destructive strength, but the powers of time that accompanied it rushed straight into You Feihua’s body.

Oh?

At that instant, You Feihua felt a force that stemmed from the power of time. It was devouring his life force and Yi Yun’s strike was robbing him of his vitality!

“You are courting death!”

You Feihua was enraged as he forcefully gathered all of his energy. A piercing sound from the guqin in his hand echoed, producing sound waves that transformed into black gruesome faces of wraiths. The ghastly faces opened their mouths and tried to use their sharp teeth to bite Yi Yun!

Sound of Divine Annihilation!

Yi Yun’s previous strike had injured You Feihua. He had pushed his offensive strength to its limits, leaving very limited defensive strength. It would be very difficult for him to defend against You Feihua’s Sound of Divine Annihilation!

And just as the ghastly faces were about to tear Yi Yun apart, a green band flew over. It expanded like a green ocean that wrapped the black ghastly faces.

“Boom!”

With a loud explosion, the black ghastly faces exploded. Yue Yingsha’s face turned pale as she retreated several steps back and stood beside Yi Yun. It was Yue Yingsha who had blocked the Sound of Divine Annihilation for Yi Yun.

“Kill him!” Yue Yingsha shouted. She definitely would not allow the effeminate man dressed in red to leave the place alive!

1006 - : Kill Him

CKtalon  CKtalon

That woman?

You Feihua looked at Yue Yingsha in surprise. From his point of view, Yue Yingsha was only a warrior who was at the beginning stages of the Dao Manifestation realm. Although her cultivation level was higher than Yi Yun’s, her strength was unlikely to be Yi Yun’s match. You Feihua did not think much of her, but he was surprised that a single strike of hers was enough to obliterate his Sound of Divine Annihilation!

Although You Feihua had less than 10% of his strength left, the Sound of Divine Annihilation that he produced was not something that a warrior at the beginning stages of Dao Manifestation could obliterate. What background did this woman have?

“Hold that woman back, I’ll deal with Yi Yun!” said You Feihua to his two juniors.

“Erh… Senior Brother You… ”

The two Fey Phantasm Sect disciples were somewhat dumbfounded. They were in a worse situation than You Feihua and having experienced the baptism of the Apocalyptic Fumes, it was already a miracle that they were still alive. How was it possible for them to continue engaging in combat? They originally believed that Yi Yun’s cultivation level was very low and that he would be easily killed by them even in their dire states. Now, seeing how You Feihua could not gain the upper hand against the combined forces of Yi Yun and the green-dressed woman, they knew that it was impossible for them to stand a chance.

Just as they were hesitating, Yue Yingsha suddenly attacked!

In between Yue Yingsha’s eyebrows, a red lotus imprint surfaced. The lotus imprint was constantly expanding in size before it evolved into a resplendent red lotus.

At the moment that the red lotus appeared, it was like it was the only thing in the world that made it inclusive of everything. Behind Yue Yingsha, Yi Yun’s heart palpitated when he saw the red lotus appear. That lotus…

As the red lotus spun in the void, the scene gave Yi Yun a shock. He had previously seen a similar scene…

“Yi Yun, let us combine forces and take advantage of your enemy’s weakest moment. Once he recovers, we will not be his match at all!” said Yue Yingsha in a hurried tone. Yi Yun had no time to ponder about the lotus. Taking advantage of his enemy’s perilous situation was Yi Yun’s best chance at killing You Feihua.

Yi Yun circulated the ‘Book of Heaven’s Advent’ to its limits before he slashed out with the pure Yang broken sword!

Three-foot Passage Sword!

Sword beams inundated You Feihua like roaring floods that resembled the river of time!

Mid-air, the sword beam and Yue Yingsha’s red lotus interweaved in an indomitable fashion!

You Feihua’s expression finally changed. With many of his meridians being damaged, how could he withstand that strike?

“The three of us should attack together!” You Feihua said to his two juniors standing beside him. A cold beam suffused in his eyes. In the present situation, if he continued embroiling himself with Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha, he was bound to damage his vital essence. It might even affect his future attainments. He obviously could not accept such an outcome.

By sending his two juniors forward, they could act as his shield. They would withstand Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha’s frontal attack, while he could grab an opportunity to launch a sneak attack. That was the best strategy. As for the outcome of his two juniors, it was obviously not something that You Feihua would care about. Their deaths were none of his concern.

“Alright.” The two Fey Phantasm Sect disciples agreed. They invoked the vestiges of their Yuan Qi, causing phantom shadows to appear. And just as they were about to encounter Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha’s attacks, they suddenly changed directions. They spontaneously retreated towards their respective sides!

In a blink of an eye, only You Feihua was left out of the trio!

What!?

You Feihua was incensed.

“Senior Brother You, hold them back first. We’ll get Senior Sister Yao Chuo for reinforcements!”

The two Fey Phantasm Sect disciples retreated at an extremely fast speed. And at that moment, You Feihua could no longer afford the time to deal with them. The sword beam and red lotus were already right in front of him.

“Scram, all of it!”

The enraged You Feihua threw the guqin in his hands. The seven cords of the guqin began to vibrate of their own accord as demonic sounds blasted in a way that palpitated the heart.

“Boom!”

The guqin exploded as one of the cords snapped. The red lotus spun and tore through the sound blast, while Yi Yun’s sword beam hurled straight through, aiming directly at You Feihua’s chest!

‘”Puah!”

Blood splattered at the instant that demarcated life and death. You Feihua had forcefully twisted his body, allowing him to dodge Yi Yun’s fatal strike. However, You Feihua still found that a large amount of his vitality had been drawn away by Yi Yun’s strike!

You Feihua was burning with anger. His Yuan Qi was already drained, so there was no way that he could withstand the strange time laws.

“Both of you will be punished with death for extinguishing my vitality!”

You Feihua bit the tip of his tongue and forcefully used the power of his essential lifeblood. With his Yuan Qi being drained, the only thing that he could use was his essential lifeblood to give him strength.

Boom!

You Feihua smacked out with a palm. His white and slender palm had suddenly turned pitch black. His fingernails had devolved into ghastly claws and were accompanied by countless phantom shadows that wailed in a manner that blotted out the sky and the land.

“It’s enough to kill the both of you with a strike powered by my essential lifeblood!”

Oh?

Yue Yingsha’s expression changed. She was in front of Yi Yun and the power of the strike made her heart palpitate. She knew that You Feihua was putting up a desperate front. As the saying goes, a centipede would continue wriggling even when it’s dead. You Feihua was a high-floor Dao Palace realm warrior after all. Even at his weakest moment, he was definitely not someone that they could easily match.

“Whew!”

Yue Yingsha flicked her right hand, shooting a green band straight at the ghastly claws. As the red lotus spun, it clashed with the ghastly claws!

Ka-cha!

With an explosion, the red lotus was torn apart by the ghastly claws!

The ghastly claws proceeded unopposed, hurtling straight at Yue Yingsha and Yi Yun!

What a powerful strike! Yue Yingsha was shocked. She was the only one who knew how powerful the red lotus band that she had attacked with was. The Red Lotus Mystic Technique came from the Azure Wood Great World’s primordial ruins. The ruins had existed from a time long forgotten, even before the Azure Wood Manor was established. It was also the reason for the flourishing of the Azure Wood Manor.

Although Yue Yingsha had only learned a smattering of the Red Lotus Mystic Technique, it was already extremely formidable.

But now, she was still unable to withstand You Feihua’s attack due to the limitations of her cultivation level.

At that split instant, Yi Yun moved in front of Yue Yingsha. He put his pure Yang broken sword away and struck out with his palm!

Powerful Yuan Qi gathered in Yi Yun’s palm. Countless nomological fragments gathered together, forming a black wheel.

“Buzz—— ”

The wheel spun as it met You Feihua’s ghastly claw!

10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

Ka-cha!

With a loud explosion, the black ghastly claw was reduced to shreds by the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. It exploded into a blob, and an aura of destruction emanated from it. The destructive aura constantly expanded, eventually forming a black storm.

It was dissipated!?

You Feihua was alarmed. The strike that he had dealt at all costs was already 20-30% of his strength when he was at his optimal state. Had it been blocked?

You Feihua found it unbelievable. But at that moment, he no longer had the luxury of time to think about it. He saw Yi Yun rushing at him with the pure Yang broken sword back in his hand.

Flee!

You Feihua no longer had any intention of continuing the battle — a wise man did not fight when the odds were against him. He was unable to enter a battle of attrition with Yi Yun, and if he used the power of his essential lifeblood, it would result in irreparable damage to his body.

“Yi Yun, I’ll definitely dice you into pieces when I recover!” You Feihua transformed into a black beam of light and fled into the distance.

A cold beam flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes as he locked his mental energy onto You Feihua. He pursued You Feihua for it would lead to endless trouble if You Feihua were to flee successfully!

1007 - : Pursuit

CKtalon  CKtalon

At the moment that he began his pursuit of You Feihua, Yi Yun had released Chu He and put the God Advent Tower away.

“Senior Sister, we… ” Chu He looked at Yue Yingsha.

Yue Yingsha threw a band from her hand and it wrapped around Chu He’s waist.

“Help him!”

The two of them transformed into two streams of light that followed Yi Yun closely.

You Feihua could sense the three auras behind him in hot pursuit. When he took a backward glance, his heart sank.

From the looks of it, Yi Yun was bent on killing him.

“You are doomed for chasing me!”

You Feihua swiped his finger over his interspatial ring and a black pill appeared in his hand. As he looked at the pill, You Feihua’s expression revealed a pained look. Despite feeling the pinch, he swallowed the pill after gritting his teeth!

If not for the Apocalyptic Fumes, Yi Yun would not be his match in any way if he remained in his optimal state. But now, You Feihua had swallowed the black divine pill. Despite flying at high speeds, he could still rapidly restore his stamina. Furthermore, the pill could heal the injuries in his meridians. And as long as he recovered 30% of his stamina, You Feihua was confident that he could easily annihilate Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun, he’s recuperating!” said Yue Yingsha anxiously. She too was feeling nervous. You Feihua was not easy to deal with, so they could not give You Feihua the time to recuperate.

Yi Yun frowned. Although You Feihua was injured, he was still extremely fast. The pursuit was physically demanding for Yi Yun, but if he failed to chase up in time, it would be troublesome once You Feihua recovered his stamina.

He thought of the three sword Qi that Felicitous Rain Lord had bestowed to him. If they were used, it would likely be able to kill You Feihua, but Yi Yun was in a dilemma. He had only been in the Azure Wood Great World for less than a day’s time. He had yet to encounter any opportunities, but he had already drained the God Advent Tower’s array of its energy reserves. If he were to use Felicitous Rain Lord’s sword Qi, he would have used all of his trump cards.

He expected to stay in the Azure Wood Great World for a prolonged period of time. It had yet to begin in full force, but his trump cards were all gone. What was he to do in the future?

Just as Yi Yun was pondering over his dilemma, he suddenly realized something was amiss.

Why was the sky dark?

The Azure Wood Great World’s sky was always a hazy patch. The sun was an ashen color, but it was still able to barely scatter its dim rays of sunlight, but now…

Yi Yun looked up and saw that clumps of viscous darkness filled the sky. The sun looked like it had been devoured, vanishing into thin air.

“What’s wrong?”

Yi Yun was alarmed. The Azure Wood Great World, which was on the brink of death, was weird in every way. The Apocalyptic Fumes had left Yi Yun with a lingering fear, and now by encountering such a phenomena, it made Yi Yun have a sense of foreboding. The Azure Wood Great World was a lot more dangerous than he had previously imagined.

“What is happening?”

Yi Yun looked at Yue Yingsha. As a native of the Azure Wood Great World, Yue Yingsha most likely knew what was happening.

However, Yi Yun never expected Yue Yingsha to look perplexed as she said, “I… do not know… ”

Subconsciously, Yue Yingsha had slowed down. In the Azure Wood Great World, the greatest threat did not stem from enemies like You Feihua, but the Azure Wood Great World itself. In this dying world, it would drag others along in its destruction.

“Sis, look there!”

Chu He revealed a horrified look. As she spoke, she pointed to the sky, which Yi Yun looked towards. He saw a startling scene.

Yi Yun saw that the viscous-looking darkness in the sky was gathering towards the distant horizons before finally flowing down like a black river of darkness.

And the mouth of the dark river was a vast abyss. The abyss was immense in size and it seemed to look like black burning flames. The river of darkness spewed down from the heavens and flowed straight into the abyss that looked like it was the source of darkness in the world.

On careful look, Yi Yun could vaguely see streams of light in the river of darkness. They looked like treasures, mystic manuals, and rare materials. These things were soaked in the river of darkness while being swept into the deep abyss.

“What’s that?”

Yi Yun was astonished. When he previously came to the Azure Wood Great World, he had an overview of the world from a high altitude. Although the Azure Wood Great World was on the brink of destruction, he had never seen the abyss despite all sorts of strange phenomena taking place.

It should be said that he had not seen the deep abyss when he engaged in battle with You Feihua. Could it be that the deep abyss had just appeared out of nowhere?

“Could it be… ?” Yue Yingsha suddenly thought of something as her expression changed.

“What?” Yi Yun looked at Yue Yingsha.

Although Yue Yingsha had an unsightly expression, she suddenly refused to elaborate even though she clearly knew something.

Seeing the black abyss approaching them, Yi Yun activated the Purple Crystal’s energy vision. His heart chilled when he realized what he was seeing. The multifarious treasures that he saw in the river of darkness were not treasures in the energy vision. They were innumerable withered bones of primordial beasts. They had lost all of their spiritual energy and were fully decayed. They bobbed in the river of darkness before disappearing upon entry into the abyss along with the river’s flow.

Withered bones?

This scene made Yi Yun slow down.

“Yi Yun, you… ”

Yue Yingsha slowed down as well as she looked at Yi Yun. Yi Yun said with a sullen expression, “What is that place? I can see many withered bones of primordial beasts being swept into the abyss with the river of darkness.”

“You can see it?” Yue Yingsha was alarmed. Yue Yingsha had only read some records regarding the Azure Wood Great World’s ancient abyss in the books of the Azure Wood Manor. She had never expected that Yi Yun could see through the illusion from outside.

“Actually… I’m unable to recognise it either. It probably is finally reenacting what happens when the Azure Wood Great World faces destruction, coupled with the destruction of certain array formations… ”

Yue Yingsha stopped her sentence midway. It was equivalent to not saying anything. She gave Yi Yun an apologetic look. It was not that she was deliberately hiding things from him, but due to the rules of the Azure Wood Manor, these were things that even Chu He did not know. As the successor of the Azure Wood Manor, Yue Yingsha had sworn to keep these a secret.

“Reenact?” Yi Yun felt his heart being stirred. He could see that You Feihua had arrived in front of the abyss. You Feihua was clearly shocked when facing the sudden appearance of the abyss.

The abyss gave off a redoubtable aura that made You Feihua hesitate for a moment. He was tempted when he saw the treasures immersed in the river of darkness. However, You Feihua had a hunch that these treasures were not easily obtainable.

Although they had appeared in front of him, it was not impossible that it was a trap.

However, the expedition to the Azure Wood Great World was a search for rare encounters. Now, with such a rare occurrence appearing suddenly in front of him, how could You Feihua not be moved when he saw so many treasures?

Even if there was a trap, he had to vie for the opportunities in front of him. If not, how was he to climb up to the peak of martial arts when it was a path fraught with difficulties?

Upon thinking about that, You Feihua turned to glance at Yi Yun. With a provocative smile, his figure flashed as he entered the abyss!

Yi Yun did not choose to follow and instead looked at Yue Yingsha. Even though Yue Yingsha was reluctant to mention certain things, she would at least inform him about the dangers of the abyss.

Yue Yingsha took a deep breath before saying, “The Red Lotus Mystic Technique that you saw me use was a technique that the founder of the Azure Wood Manor brought out from the abyss. The founder named the abyss the Door to the 33 Skies. Our Azure Wood Manor has a saying that has been passed down for generations that once one enters the Door to the 33 Skies, it is almost impossible to return… Back then, even a Divine Lord had died in it.”

“A Divine Lord had died in there?” Yi Yun’s brows pricked up. He had similar guesses and now his suspicions were confirmed. Yue Yingsha was a descendant of the Azure Wood Manor, and the Azure Wood Manor had been in the slumps for eons. From the information that Felicitous Rain Lord had told him, Yi Yun was of the impression that the Azure Wood Manor had been destroyed. He never expected that the Azure Wood Manor still had descendants.

“If a Divine Lord can die, how is it possible for the mystic technique to be taken out? Could it be that your Azure Wood Manor had many Divine Lords?”

1008 - : Door to the 33 Skies

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun knew that the Azure Wood Manor was an impressive seclusive sect. It was unfathomable at its prime, but even so, it was impossible for it to have many Divine Lords early in its establishment. The entire Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven only had a few dozen Divine Lords after all.

If a Divine Lord could die, who could bring the items out of the Door to the 33 Skies?

Yue Yingsha said, “Back then, there were dozens of people who entered the Door to the 33 Skies. One of them was a Divine Lord. That Divine Lord ancestor died in the Door to the 33 Skies, and only three people managed to come out of the Door to the 33 Skies. They were all below the realm of Supremacies. Furthermore, the person who brought the Red Lotus manual was a Dao Manifestation realm warrior. His cultivation level was only a subrealm higher than mine.”

“Dao Manifestation realm?”

Yi Yun was stunned. In an abyss where a Divine Lord had died, it was the Dao Manifestation and Dao Palace realm warriors that had managed to survive it. What could be the reason for that?

Yue Yingsha guessed what was on Yi Yun’s mind. She shook her head and said, “Don’t look at me. I don’t know why either. It has likely to do with how the Door to the 33 Skies is a strange place, to begin with. The level of one’s cultivation level either has no direct correlation with whether one would survive, or there is a very minute relationship. And back then, the sect had probed the Door to the 33 Skies multiple times, with a tiny bit of it being affirmed every time. Eventually, the sect only let Dao Manifestation realm warriors enter. Many people had died in it, with very few of them managing to come out of it. These probings happened until the Door to the 33 Skies disappeared. During that period, the Azure Wood Manor gained a great deal from it, but over eons, the Door to the 33 Skies had never appeared again… ”

When Yue Yingsha said that, she let out a light sigh. As a descendant of the Azure Wood Manor, she knew very well that it had a sanguine history during its nascent development. Many of the disciples that entered the Door to the 33 Skies did not do so voluntarily.

“I understand.”

As Yi Yun said that, he slowly approached the abyss’s entrance.

“You’re going in?” asked Yue Yingsha.

“Or else?” Yi Yun returned with a question. Since the Door to the 33 Skies was not an area of land that guaranteed death, Yi Yun had the intention of exploring it. Most critically, the Red Lotus mystic technique had given Yi Yun many mental connections. He had once seen a strange woman that had something to do with such a red lotus.

Under such circumstances, Yi Yun naturally did not want to miss out on an opportunity to probe its secrets.

“Chu He, you stay behind.” Yue Yingsha said to Chu He.

“Sis, you’re going in as well?” Chu He guessed Yue Yingsha’s thoughts. The Azure Wood Great World was about to be destroyed. With the Door to the 33 Skies appearing once again, as the successor of the Azure Wood Manor, Yue Yingsha had the intention of making a risky gamble.

“Sis, I do not want to stay outside. It’s not like it’s safe outside either.” Chu He said to Yue Yingsha. The second half of her statement was most likely effective as Yue Yingsha hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“You can enter the God Advent Tower.”

Yi Yun released the God Advent Tower and allowed Chu He to enter it. Following that, he and Yue Yingsha flew straight towards the Door to the 33 Skies.

As they approached it, it was astounding for them to see the Door to the 33 Skies up close.

The abyss was like a world that had been cleaved off. The face of the abyss looked like the endless cosmos, while the river of darkness in the sky was expansive as it surged into the abyss before vanishing.

As for the countless treasures in the river of darkness, they were only phantoms or illusions. They besotted others, but like castles in the air, they were within sight but beyond reach.

“Why is the abyss named the Door to the 33 Skies?” Yi Yun stood at the entrance to the abyss and looked at the endless darkness. For some baffling reason, all of the blood in his body began to surge at an increased speed.

“It’s from the records left behind in canons. The sect only has a few guesses.”

“Let’s go in!”

As Yi Yun spoke, his figure plunged into the abyss.

He and Yue Yingsha quickly descended for an unknown period of time. Being proficient in the laws of time, Yi Yun could sense that time in the abyss flowed at a different rate. It felt like he had entered a brand new world.

The black river flowed with stirring specter energy. Yi Yun did not know how far he had descended when he abruptly felt like he had penetrated a distorted space. Immediately following that, what he saw changed. He realized that he had arrived in an underground world.

It was not pitch black like he imagined, but it was an overcast world. The ground was littered with gray rocks and there were black clouds floating in the sky. It was apparently those clouds that they had penetrated previously.

Yi Yun overlooked the world and spread out his perception, but he did not detect You Feihua’s location. It was unknown where he had gone despite entering first. This made Yi Yun secretly turn alert.

“Boom!”

Yi Yun landed on the ground and crushed a rock. A layer of gray powder was stirred up.

Only then did Yi Yun realize that the layer of powder was somewhat soft. It was about an inch thick and there was whiteness amid the grayness. Beneath the grayish-white powder was black rock.

Standing on this piece of land, Yi Yun felt a baffling chill. It was like he had come to a cemetery.

Yi Yun took a few steps forward and heard a light crack as if he had crushed something to bits. He looked down and saw a piece of broken bone. It had been crushed into powder by him and the fragments became part of the grayish-white powder.

Yi Yun immediately understood that the reason why the area was grayish-white was due to the layer of bone dust accumulated over the black rock.

And it was because of that reason that the area appeared eerie. It made one’s soul feel like it was entombed in ice.

It was hard to imagine what sort of history this piece of land had in order to accumulate so much bone dust.

“This must be White Bone Ridge. I’ve seen it in the sect’s books. The bone dust is not left behind by members of my Azure Wood Manor. It was already here, to begin with… ”

Yue Yingsha said, which made Yi Yun’s mind stir. “Does the Azure Wood Manor have a map to the Door to the 33 Skies?”

Yue Yingsha hesitated for a moment before nodding. She said, “Back when the sect probed the Door to the 33 Skies multiple times, it obtained much valuable information regarding the Door to the 33 Skies at the cost of sacrificing many lives. And all of this information was collated by an Elder who had entered the Door to the 33 Skies several times. He was proficient in Daoist arts. He had drawn a map for the Door to the 33 Skies and using his Daoist arts, he analyzed the danger of every area in the map… ”

“That Elder’s cultivation level did not exceed the level of Supremacy eventually. He once said that the Door to the 33 Skies was once another world. It might be that it is an entrance to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven from another completely different world. It just so happened that the entrance opened up in the Azure Wood Great World.”

Yue Yingsha’s words left Yi Yun astonished.

The Door to the 33 Skies was a name recorded in ancient canon. Since it was given the name of a door, it was completely reasonable that it was the entrance to another world.

Upon thinking about this, Yi Yun had a deep sense of how tiny he was. The world was majestic and it exceeded his imagination in every way.

“Oh? Someone is coming down!” Yue Yingsha said abruptly. Yi Yun looked up and saw the dark clouds overhead break apart. A bunch of figures flew straight down.

Yi Yun’s eyes turned cold as he clenched his pure Yang broken sword tightly.

1009 - : Beneath the Abyss

CKtalon  CKtalon

The group of people numbered about twenty. They were dressed in different attires and were of all ages. It was apparent that they belonged to different factions.

Some of the most striking ones amongst them were a lady with black fingernails and a middle-aged man that looked like a Daoist, as well as a purple-robed man whose face was covered in scales.

The scaled-faced purple-robed man caught Yi Yun’s attention the most. He was not greatly injured and it was hard to tell if he had experienced the Apocalyptic Fumes. If he had been embroiled in the Apocalyptic Fumes, even if it were just the periphery, it was enough to indicate how formidable he was. Few people could survive the Apocalyptic Fumes relatively unscathed.

But compared to these people, there were another two people who caught Yi Yun’s attention. They were a fat and thin duo that Yi Yun noticed with a cursory glance.

Shi Fei! Shi Ping!

“Peng Peng Peng!”

The group of twenty people landed one after another. Shi Fei and Shi Ping had also seen Yi Yun.

As the saying goes, enemies see red at the moment they meet. Their Dao Domains were destroyed back when they competed with Yi Yun to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple. Their martial paths had been almost severed by Yi Yun. The first thing that they did when they saw Yi Yun was to circulate their energy, producing intense killing intent.

“How true it is that enemies often cross each other’s paths!”

When Shi Fei and Shi Ping saw Yi Yun, they revealed a hideous smile. After their martial paths had been severed, the statuses that they enjoyed in the Immortal Rain Sect had plummeted. They had no choice but to receive the patronage of a powerful figure in the Immortal Rain Sect, to the point of them being almost no different to slaves. Only then, did they manage to survive in the Immortal Rain Sect.

They embarked on the expedition to the Azure Wood Great World with the intentions to go for broke while risking their lives. If they were able to find a heaven-defying treasure in the Azure Wood Great World, there was a tiny bit of possibility that they could reverse their fates, allowing them to continue down their martial paths.

But they had never expected to encounter Yi Yun here. To them, Yi Yun was a thorn in their side, a sty in their eyes. They yearned to skin him alive.

“So it’s the two of you. To think that the two of you would come to the Azure Wood Great World. Is there any meaning for your trip here, considering that your Dao have already been destroyed?”

As Yi Yun spoke, he circulated the energy in his dantian, which had the three sword Qi that Felicitous Rain Lord had bestowed to him. That was the last thing he could rely on.

But even with the sword Qi, Yi Yun did not have absolute confidence when facing a true expert.

“You’re courting death!”

The eyes of Shi Fei and Shi Ping suffused a deep sense of vicious hatred. Although they yearned to immediately kill Yi Yun, they lacked the confidence to do so due to the severe injuries that they had suffered from before, in addition to the apprehension they felt towards Yi Yun.

At that moment, Shi Fei and Shi Ping suddenly turned around and bowed to a person in the group. “Lord Marquis Wu Yun, the two of us implore Lord Marquis Wu Yun to kill that person for the two of us! The two of us will swear on the heavens that we will be dedicated to the Lord, never to balk at any sacrifice, even at the costs of our lives.”

Bows amongst warriors had various forms — simple cupping of hands, a junior’s bow, a bow between master and disciple, as well as the genuflection that was typically seen between master and slave. And now, Shi Fei and Shi Ping’s act of deference was the latter.

This surprised Yi Yun slightly. For Shi Ping and Shi Fei to be sent by the Immortal Rain Sect to participate in Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple recruitment, it proved that they enjoyed a particular status in the Immortal Rain Sect. Even if it had plummeted as a result of their Dao Domains being destroyed, they should still have a certain amount of remnant pride. But now, they had submitted to someone else. It made it apparent that Marquis Wu Yun was no trifling figure in the Immortal Rain Sect.

“Are you Yi Yun?”

Marquis Wu Yun, who Shi Ping and Shi Fei begged, was the man in the purple robes.

He was burly and his cheeks were covered with a layer of scales. Even in the overcast world, the layer of scales still shimmered with a resplendent luster.

He could not be considered handsome, but he exuded a special charm that made him unforgettable to anyone who saw him.

“Was it you who previously crippled Shi Ping and Shi Fei?”

Marquis Wu Yun’s words suffused an oppressive pressure. It stemmed from his terrifying strength, a cultivation level that Yi Yun could not discern at all!

He was from the Immortal Rain Sect, where he enjoyed a supernatural existence. That meant that he had immense talent, or at least it exceeded Shi Fei and Shi Ping’s. In addition to his cultivation level that exceeded Yi Yun by two large realms, he was absolutely someone that Yi Yun could not deal with!

“That’s right!” Yi Yun focused intently. Even though he had Felicitous Rain Lord’s sword Qi, he did not have much confidence. After all, he could only produce a tiny portion of the might of Felicitous Rain Lord’s sword Qi. He was unsure how useful it would be against such a mighty figure.

Marquis Wu Yun took a few steps towards Yi Yun. Although he was looking at Yi Yun, it was like everything was beneath his notice. He completely disparaged Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun… ”

Yue Yingsha, who was beside Yi Yun, was feeling extremely nervous. She had never expected that they would encounter danger at the moment that they entered the Door to the 33 Skies. She was too weak, so she would not amount to anything against the group of people. And Yi Yun’s trump card, the God Advent Tower had previously been drained of its energy.

“Shi Ping and Shi Fei are now under my patronage. In the future, they will be my servants, but I would still like to give them an answer. As Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple, I will spare you from death, but I will not let you off either. Back when you participated in Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple recruitment, you had made Shi Ping and Shi Fei choose between kneeling down or slapping themselves in the face. Today, I’ll let you experience that choice. Either you kneel down to beg for their forgiveness or you slap yourself in the face a hundred times. Make your choice!”

Although Marquis Wu Yun spoke in a nonchalant manner, his tone was not something to be riposted. Absolute strength made him believe that he was free to determine Yi Yun’s fate.

The mood changed dramatically as the air turned tense with a murderous hint to it.

Everyone was looking at Yi Yun, with many of them having gloating looks. Since they were in a group, a lot of them were from the Immortal Rain Sect. As Immortal Rain Sect disciples, they were displeased with Felicitous Rain Lord, who had betrayed their sect. With Yi Yun being Felicitous Rain Lord’s personal disciple, they were also jealous of him because of the possibility of him eventually inheriting Felicitous Rain Lord’s ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’. They yearned for Yi Yun’s death.

Marquis Wu Yun did not choose to kill Yi Yun immediately because of the people present. It was difficult to keep the murder of Yi Yun a secret. This made him somewhat hesitant, but it was also impossible for him to spare Yi Yun.

“Lord, just kneeling or slapping himself in the face? That’s too little!”

Shi Ping and Shi Fei turned anxious. They had their future martial paths destroyed, so there was no way that they could ease the hatred that they had for Yi Yun unless they tortured him to death.

“Shut up!” Marquis Wu Yun frowned. This made Shi Ping and Shi Fei immediately feel apprehensive. They did not dare speak to another word. Now, they were only servants, and similarly, Marquis Wu Yun did not think much of them either.

“Lord, Yi Yun has many treasures on him. Rumor has it that one of the treasures is close to the Divine Lord level,” said Shi Fei through gritted teeth after a moment of silence. He did not say it with a voice transmission, but right in front of the twenty people.

Immediately, everyone looked at Yi Yun with an odd glint in their eyes.

A treasure close to the Divine Lord level!?

In fact, Shi Fei did not know what level Yi Yun’s treasures were at. However, he had deliberately said it in such a manner. It was simple but also very vicious. By mentioning Yi Yun’s treasure, the twenty people would target Yi Yun like a pack of wolves catching sight of a sheep. It was obvious what the sheep’s outcome would be.

He did not believe that Yi Yun would survive the group’s attacks when greed leered its head.

1010 - : Marquis Wu Yun, Danger

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh? I never expected you to possess such tremendous wealth!”

Marquis Wu Yun sized Yi Yun up. In the Immortal Rain Sect, he was no longer considered part of the younger generation. Once Immortal Rain Sect disciples from the younger generation matured and became powerful enough, they were conferred with various noble titles. A title like ’Marquis’ was one of the highest ranks; thus, his powerful strength was evident.

However, even though Marquis Wu Yun had a promising future, he only had a top Supremacy-level item when it came to treasures. It was a treasure that was exceedingly close to the Divine Lord level, so he was naturally tempted when he heard about Yi Yun’s wealth.

The others had similar intentions as well. Their wealth was incomparable to Marquis Wu Yun’s. Everyone who came to the Azure Wood Great World came in search for opportunities. But from the present situation, it appeared as though the Azure Wood Great World was not a land littered with treasures as they imagined. During their search, not only did they fail to obtain anything, they had also faced all sorts of danger. The Apocalyptic Fumes had left them with a lingering fear. They had been lucky to be situated in the periphery of the Apocalyptic Fumes, otherwise, they would have been reduced to ash.

“With a mere half-step Dao Manifestation realm cultivation level, that Yi Yun is no different to an ant. Yet, he has such valuable treasures. What a fool!”

Many people leered at Yi Yun with all sorts of thoughts.

From their point of view, Yi Yun was like a savory piece of meat. They did not think much of Yi Yun’s resistance, but there were two things that were a little trickier. Firstly, Yi Yun’s master was Felicitous Rain Lord, who made them apprehensive. The other reason was the problem of splitting the treasure amongst twenty people after killing him.

“Marquis Wu Yun, if you were to do anything to Yi Yun, I, White Brows will not say a thing. I can swear on the heavens that it will not be leaked. Felicitous Rain Lord will not learn of this either,” said an old man whose white brows reached his ears. He blinked his eyes with a teasing look in them. He exuded a strange aura and he was the only elderly person amongst the twenty people.

Yue Yingsha’s heart sank when she saw the old man. Her intuition told her that the old man was not an enemy to be trifled with.

Warriors had the greatest potential when in their youth. Some would even cultivate all the way to the level of a Supremacy in one fell swoop. However, once their potential was expended, their cultivation level would hardly progress, even with a lifespan that spanned millions of years.

But such people would dedicate time and effort to raise their combat strength through other means when they knew that they had no future in further cultivation. For example, they would employ things like puppets, poison or formation arrays. The old man wasn’t striking, but the strange aura that he exuded made Yue Yingsha have some reserved fears.

They were not his match!

“Yi Yun!” Yue Yingsha transmitted her voice to Yi Yun. Her voice was somewhat anxious. Although she was unafraid of death, she was the successor of the Azure Wood Manor. She shouldered the mission of making the Azure Wood Manor prosper again. Even though she was likely destined to never accomplish it, she did not wish to die in the place that they were in.

Yi Yun did not reply because he was fully concentrated on something else. His thoughts were interfaced with the three sword Qi in his dantian that Felicitous Rain Lord had given him. His energy vision was scanning his surroundings. He knew that even if he released the three sword Qi simultaneously, it was impossible for him to defeat the enemies in front of him. Yi Yun only planned on using the three sword Qi in a bid to carve a route of escape from his dire situation.

However, just as Yi Yun was searching for an opportunity to flee, he suddenly saw unusual points of light in the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

The points of light were buried beneath the soil. They were sparkling like stars, suffusing rainbow colors on the surface. They looked like unusually beautiful gems buried underground.

If not for him using his energy vision, Yi Yun would not have discovered their existence. What were they!?

Yi Yun was baffled. The rainbow points of light effused a chilly aura.

When he penetrated the ground with his mental perception in an attempt to probe the points of light, Yi Yun felt his soul sea hurt. The rainbow points of light rumbled, as though they had awoken from a deep and long slumber.

“Yue Yingsha, do you know what’s in ‘White Bone Ridge’?” Yi Yun inquired quickly with a voice transmission. Yue Yingsha faltered for a moment before replying with a voice transmission, “I’m not sure. The records of White Bone Ridge in the sect only mention a large amount of bone ash.”

Although the Azure Wood Manor had records regarding the Door to the 33 Skies, the information was not detailed. There were many regions that were not completely explored.

However, Yue Yingsha’s words made Yi Yun generate several guesses.

Bone ash… could it be…

A sudden thought made Yi Yun’s heart palpitate.

…

“Old man White Brow. What talk is that? You swear upon the heavens to egg me to kill that punk?”

Marquis Wu Yun laughed. He knew very clearly that White Brow’s swearing upon the heavens to keep it a secret meant that Felicitous Rain Lord would not know that he had killed Yi Yun in the immediate future. And as time passed, Felicitous Rain Lord might forget this matter. After all, a half-step Dao Manifestation realm disciple was not necessarily important to a Divine Lord.

“You want to kill him using my hand? The treasure is split amongst us, but the risk of offending Felicitous Rain Lord is borne by me? That’s a great plan of yours!” Marquis Wu Yun said sarcastically. Immediately, he looked at Yi Yun and said, “Punk, I do not intend to kill you. Know what’s good for yourself and turn over your interspatial ring to me. I’ll spare you if you remove the mental imprint and kneel down before Shi Ping and Shi Fei to apologize with a kowtow.”

Marquis Wu Yun’s words were overbearing, but at that moment, the man in the Daoist outfit walked beside Yi Yun. He said with a smile, “Young man, hand me your interspatial ring and I can guarantee your safety.”

“You should give it to me instead.” Another person stood forward — the woman with black fingernails.

Be it intentional or not, all of them released their auras. The stifling feeling that they emitted was like there were powerful beasts lurking in their bodies

However, when these auras emanated, the rousing of the dots of light became even more obvious.

“It seems like they have awoken.”

Yi Yun was in full concentration as he circulated his mental energy to its limits. He injected it deep underground and constantly stimulated the points of light.

The vibrations of the points of light turned more intense and slowly, green-colored eyes seemed to light up underground.

They are awake! Yi Yun held his breath!

Whew! Whew! Whew! Whew!

Large swaths of rainbow-colored dots of light drilled towards the surface rapidly.

These points of light only used a few seconds to reach the ground beneath the group’s feet from a half a kilometer underground.

Yi Yun discovered that other than him having his energy vision, no one present had detected the approaching points of light.

The points of light lurked just inches away like they were gathering strength.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly laughed. Despite being surrounded by twenty people, with many of them far exceeding his strength, Yi Yun’s laugh had surprised everyone.

“Why are you laughing when death is knocking at your door?”

Marquis Wu Yun frowned. He liked it when his enemies were horrified because of his might, but he did not like such people who he could not control.

Now, Yi Yun was clearly in a dire situation, but the smile on his face did not look like it was faked.

1011 - : Deadly Situation

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Marquis Wu Yun, was it? Do you really think that you are the overlord of this abyss? Do you think you can rule over my fate?”

As he spoke, Yi Yun slowly flew up. With a warning voice transmission, Yue Yingsha had also begun flying. However, she was completely unaware of what Yi Yun was up to.

“Little bastard, how dare you posture when death is already knocking on your door. Obediently kowtow to me a hundred times and then smack your face senseless. Offer the treasure to my Lord, and I might let you keep your corpse whole, while you have a quick and painless death!” Shi Fei cursed. He intended to provoke Yi Yun in the hopes of seeing Yi Yun attack out of anger before being killed by a group of mighty warriors. Just thinking of the outcome gave him pleasure.

“You? You are just a buffoon in my eyes. You don’t look like you can live for more than a few more seconds. It’s best that you cut the crap, savor the last few breaths that you have and enjoy the rest of your remaining life.”

When Yi Yun said that, he had rapidly distanced himself from the ground. His prediction of Shi Fei’s death stemmed from the fact that the first rainbow-colored point of light that was about to emerge was drilling towards Shi Fei.

The points of light were an unknown entity that had been slumbering for millions of years. Yi Yun had suspected that the formation of White Bone Ridge was a result of these points of light.

“Fuck!” Shi Fei was enraged by Yi Yun’s constant arrogance despite being at death’s door. “Lord, please kill that little bastard. He’s trying to escape!”

At that moment, Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha were already a hundred feet above the ground. Shi Fei was afraid that they would escape.

However, Marquis Wu Yun crossed his arms and watched Yi Yun’s performance with a belittling gaze. He did not care about the mere hundred feet. To warriors at his level, a hundred feet was no different from inches in front of them. He could maim Yi Yun with a simple thought.

“You still can’t hold your tongue despite being at the ends of the precipice? Are those your last words? How disappointing. It looks like Felicitous Rain Lord is only this and nothing more. The personal disciple that he took in is nothing more than a retard.”

Just as Marquis Wu Yun finished his words, Shi Fei suddenly felt his leg go limp. He felt an itching pain in his sole, as though he had been bitten by a tiny flying insect.

Shi Fei subconsciously looked down as the itching pain became more apparent. He smacked his foot with his hand, but the scene that followed made Shi Fei’s soul nearly leap out of his body.

When he smacked his sole, a large piece of bloody flesh fell off. His blood had turned black as though the flesh on his foot had been rotting for centuries. The flesh simply disintegrated in large swaths!

“Ah!” Shi Fei yelled in horror!

“My foot! My foot!”

Shi Fei was horrified. His face turned as pale as vellum while he watched his flesh peel off. Soon, his bone could be seen and his foot was about to drop off.

The decaying surface was rapidly expanding as it spread towards Shi Fei’s thighs.

At that moment, the others who were beside Shi Fei began panicking. Even the composed Marquis Wu Yun had a change in expression. He quickly opened up a distance from Shi Fei as he conjured an energy barrier!

“What is that!?”

Marquis Wu Yun was a powerful person after all. Even though Yi Yun found it hard to detect the dots of light, unless he resorted to using the energy vision, Marquis Wu Yun had already discovered it.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Sword beams flew out of Marquis Wu Yun’s body, repelling the points of light.

And at that moment, Yi Yun had managed to discern what the points of light were. They were not points of light but insect eggs!

The slumbering eggs emerged out of the ground and one of them had come into contact with Shi Fei’s sole. These eggs would drill into the flesh that it encountered, rapidly absorbing all of the vitality in the warrior’s flesh, decaying the flesh and blood so as to rapidly enter gestation.

The egg in Shi Fei’s body had already gestated into a larva that was about as thick as a finger!

“Let’s go!”

As Yi Yun urged, he pulled Yue Yingsha’s arm and fell back in retreat!

He had deliberately said those arrogant words and flew to a height at over a hundred feet while maintaining his countenance. Although a hundred feet was indeed nothing to experts, to the eggs lurking beneath the ground, it was enough to make them prioritize their attacks on the twenty people that remained on the ground.

“You want to leave? Dream on!” Marquis Wu Yun thundered. His figure flashed and he charged at Yi Yun using an unimaginable speed!

With a sword in hand, he slashed out and produced a torrential storm!

Against a Marquis of the Immortal Rain Sect, Yi Yun did not bear any hopes of withstanding his strike. He stirred his dantian with his Yuan Qi.

“Whew!”

An azure sword Qi flew out of Yi Yun’s body!

At the moment, that the sword Qi appeared, it formed a gigantic sword in the sky. The sword seemed to sever the heaven and earth, as though it was the only existence in the world!

“This is!?”

Marquis Wu Yun was alarmed. It was absolutely impossible that it was a sword Qi that Yi Yun had produced himself. From the laws contained within the sword Qi, it was part of what the Immortal Rain Sect trained in, but it was also a hundred times better than his attainments.

Damn it!

Marquis Wu Yun retreated rapidly!

“Ka-cha!”

The sword beam that Marquis Wu Yun produced was torn to bits. The forces were on a completely different level!

The sword Qi headed straight for Marquis Wu Yun’s glabella, and at the same time, six or seven rainbow-colored eggs shot straight at Marquis Wu Yun’s back!

It was apparent that the eggs had a certain degree of intelligence. They determined that Marquis Wu Yun was at his weakest, so if they were able to devour a warrior at his level, they would be able to gestate and mature at a greater rate.

“Damn it!”

Marquis Wu Yun bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood essence. He immediately ignited a talisman in his hand!

In his expedition to the Azure Wood Great World, Marquis Wu Yun had his trump cards as well. The talisman rapidly burned and formed a powerful barrier around him. It barely managed to withstand Felicitous Rain Lord’s remnant sword Qi, and at the same time, it repelled the eggs behind him.

“Boom!”

The sword Qi exploded. But due to the powerful blast, blood seeped out of the corners of Marquis Wu Yun’s mouth.

And at that moment, Yi Yun, with Yue Yingsha in hand, had used the repulsive forces of the explosion to aid his movement technique, accelerating him to his maximum velocity!

Just Felicitous Rain Lord’s sword Qi was not enough to extricate Yi Yun from the situation. But in conjunction with the unknown eggs, the twenty people were too embroiled in chaos to be able to pursue Yi Yun.

After Shi Fei, an egg entered Shi Ping’s body as well.

The egg had drilled directly into his chest. Large parts of his torso disintegrated, revealing his sternum.

His heart was putrefied, revealing a bloody cavity. As large amounts of blood spewed out, Shi Ping’s face was filled with despair and horror. He grasped his chest, but he no longer had control of his body. Slowly, he fell to the ground.

In just a few seconds, he had passed away.

And at that moment, Shi Fei, who had an egg enter his body first, was still barely alive merely because it started from his foot. He looked furiously and indignantly at Yi Yun’s back that was disappearing into the horizon. His fury overwhelmed him like it would explode his organs.

Shi Fei let out one last cry of hatred.

Blood vessels filled Shi Fei’s eyes as though they were cracking. Only then did he realize why Yi Yun had floated mid-air and made the declaration that he only had a few seconds of his life left. Yi Yun had probably anticipated all of this.

Why? Why was Yi Yun able to know of the sudden appearance of the terrifying demonic worms?

Shi Fei felt more and more worms boring through his flesh and blood. His body was riddled with holes and the feelings of despair and the excruciating pain of his death was enough to send him into a depraved madness.

Finally, Shi Ping and Shi Fei had their flesh and blood disintegrate completely. All that was left was a pile of white bones.

The remains of warriors would usually have a luster resembling jade due to the prolonged energy tempering. However, after being drained by the demonic worms, even the luster was gone. When the energy blasts in the sky surged over, their bodies crumbled to dust with an audible crack! They mixed in with the thick bone ash on the surface of the ground.

None of this had anything to do with Yi Yun anymore. He had flown about fifty kilometers, but what shocked him was that all he saw was still that layer of bone ash despite traveling such a great distance.

It was hard to imagine how many corpses were needed to accumulate the mass that made White Bone Ridge what it was!

“Yi Yun, you… could see those eggs?” Yue Yingsha asked Yi Yun in shock. Although she knew about White Bone Ridge in the records of her sect, she did not know how it was formed. She only knew about it today.

1012 - : The Might of the Sword Qi

CKtalon  CKtalon

White Bone Ridge was where the demonic insects slumbered. As parasites, they continuously bred, reducing their hosts to withered bones. The withered bones decayed into bone ash after tremendous periods of time, eventually forming White Bone Ridge.

The history behind the formation of White Bone Ridge was bone-chilling on second thoughts.

“The reason why I could see the eggs is because I have different eyes to others.” Yi Yun gave a vague explanation. Yue Yingsha understood what he meant. Back at the entrance to the Door to the 33 Skies, Yi Yun had managed to see through the illusion of the black river’s treasures. He knew that they did not exist.

Having such a mutated eye was extremely advantageous when exploring dangerous realms.

Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha flew for dozens of kilometers in one fell swoop before they saw the end of White Bone Ridge.

After the bone ash, there was an endless rocky cliff.

This solemn and desolate land looked devoid of life. All that existed was barren mountains and boulders that littered the ground in the distance.

Upon seeing this scene, Yue Yingsha drew a gasp.

The Door to the 33 Skies, which was fraught with dangers, gave her a repressive feeling.

It was unknown how many corpses were needed to form the White Bone Ridge that they had experienced a short while ago. This meant that the Door to the 33 Skies was much more prosperous in the distant past than it was now. There might even be powerful Ancient Fey or desolate beasts that existed here.

Upon thinking about that mysterious woman who planted the divine tree, Yue Yingsha would not find it surprising if she was told that the Door to the 33 Skies had True Dragons and Phoenixes in it.

Compared to the Azure Wood Great World, the Door to the 33 Skies had undoubtedly existed for an even longer span of time. The time scale was so immense that it was impossible for people to fathom it.

It was hard to imagine what sort of scene the Door to the 33 Skies was like when it was first established.

“Yi Yun, in the records of my Azure Wood Manor, the world beyond the Door to the 33 Skies might seem vast, but there is only one path. Anyone who enters the Door to the 33 Skies will likely have to follow that path. In the future, we might encounter those people again.”

“There’s only one path?” Yi Yun was stunned. But on further thought, it was expected. If the Door to the 33 Skies was established by an ancient mighty figure and if it were a passage that led to another world, then it was reasonable for it to only have one path. “But… what about You Feihua? We have yet to catch up to him despite traveling for such a great distance.”

“I have no idea… It might be a single path, but the world beyond the Door to the 33 Skies is extremely strange. People would be treading thinly on the line that borders life and death. Your foe’s outcome is still uncertain, so it’s not strange if we didn’t encounter him.”

“What’s the area beyond White Bone Ridge? What sorts of dangers await us?” Yi Yun asked again. In the Door to the 33 Skies, the knowledge of Yue Yingsha, who had read the Azure Wood Manor’s canon, would be extremely useful in their exploration of the area.

However, Yue Yingsha shook her head and said, “I’m not sure either. Although there’s only one path, the path can undergo a multitude of changes. I’m unable to predict them. The next place that we encounter might be a land of death not recorded in canon. Yi Yun, what I want to say is that it is extremely dangerous if it’s only the two of us traveling in the Door to the 33 Skies. If there are more people, we might not be targeted once danger strikes. There will be a greater chance of survival, but with just the two of us, it’s nearly impossible for us to escape.”

Upon hearing Yue Yingsha’s words, Yi Yun nodded. Indeed, they did not have anyone to shield them if needed. If they were to fall into a land of death, the chances of survival were slim.

“Let’s continue to proceed forward first. By the way, why did you come into the Door to the 33 Skies?” Yi Yun suddenly asked. Yue Yingsha had been his companion in misfortune during the Apocalyptic Fumes mostly out of circumstance. However, Yue Yingsha had chosen to enter the Door to the 33 Skies after its sudden appearance with him. She probably had something that she wanted to obtain.

Yue Yingsha bit her lips and did not answer him directly. Instead, she vaguely said, “I do have something that I’m looking for. However, it is unlikely for me to find it. You saved me previously, so I’ll now tell you that in the core region of the Door to the 33 Skies, not only is there nebulous Primordial Chaos, there might even be heritage left behind by a senior regarding the Primordial Chaos. There should be something that you need in there.”

“Heritage regarding the Primordial Chaos!?”

Yi Yun’s heart stirred. This was a timely opportunity for him!

On careful thought, if the Door to the 33 Skies was really established by a figure at the peak of existence such that it led to another world, then the person was probably so immensely powerful that one could not even look up to them. That person was able to puncture the universe, so it was understandable if the person knew Chaos laws.

“Let’s go. Regardless of the situation, we cannot be caught by Marquis Wu Yun and company. They might have already extricated themselves from the eggs.”

When the eggs were mentioned, Yi Yun had some thoughts regarding them. In the decaying world like the Azure Wood Great World, there were many things that were related to the Destruction and Withering laws that Yi Yun cultivated in. If he had managed to obtain those eggs, the effects might be astonishing if he could nourish them with Destruction laws.

Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to head back.

As Yi Yun spoke, he suddenly saw a spark flash in front of Yue Yingsha. It exploded like fireworks.

Yi Yun came to a halt. He guessed that the spark was some mystic technique used to communicate internally within her sect.

“My granny is looking for me.” Yue Yingsha looked in a particular direction. She produced a few hand seals and similarly, a spark flashed, sending out her intentions.

“Granny?”

“Yeah… She’s Granny Yin who took care of me after Master passed away. She is actually half my master. It appears as though Granny Yin has entered the Door to the 33 Skies as well.”

As Yue Yingsha spoke, she sounded somewhat worried. In the Door to the 33 Skies, having a higher cultivation level did not necessarily mean that one was safer. There was still a high possibility of one perishing.

Yue Yingsha was worried that Granny Yin would encounter danger in the Door to the 33 Skies. After all, Granny Yin was the only loved one to Yue Yingsha other than Chu He.

After acknowledging each other’s location through the voice transmission mystic technique, Granny Yin, who Yue Yingsha mentioned, quickly rushed over to where Yue Yingsha was.

She was a hunched and wrinkled old woman. Her combed silvery-white hair was barely wrapped into a bun with a hairpin. The bun looked like it could burst and fall apart at any moment. Her face was covered with wrinkles and she looked like she was exceedingly close to her death.

What made Yi Yun slightly wary was that Granny Yin did not come alone. There were more than twenty people behind her and they were of all ages. They were dressed similarly, and the outfits even resembled Granny Yin’s and Yue Yingsha’s. The group of people had different cultivation levels, and a few of them made Yi Yun feel a slight unease.

Yi Yun noticed that Yue Yingsha’s face immediately turned ugly after seeing those people.

“Granny, the people you brought… ” Yue Yingsha could sense a similar aura from the group of people that came. In addition to Granny Yin’s attitude towards the people and their dressing, Yue Yingsha had already guessed their identity.

When the Azure Wood Manor began to wane, a group of people betrayed the Azure Wood Manor and left with treasures and inheritances of the sect to expand outside the Azure Wood Great World. Although they eventually failed, it wasn’t surprising that they had descendants.

These people in front of her were the traitors that had splintered off from the Azure Wood Manor. Why did Granny bring them here?

1013 - : Traitors

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Granny, these people…”

Yue Yingsha originally did not have a strong aversion towards the people who betrayed the Azure Wood Manor. After all, people had their ambitions and goals and there was no cause for blame if they chose to leave when the Azure Wood Great World was facing destruction.

However, their departure did not mean much. What mattered was that when the Azure Wood Manor splintered, blood had been spilled during the civil war. There was only one reason — the vying for valuable treasures.

Although the Azure Wood Manor had declined, as a top-ranked sect, it had many treasures that had been passed down through the generations. These treasures were tremendously helpful to warriors with low cultivation levels, and because of them, the Azure Wood Manor disciples began infighting. It eventually led to bloody massacres, adding one disaster after another to the Azure Wood Manor, which was already facing collapse.

Finally, the group that left the Azure Wood Manor emerged victorious. After the cessation of the war, both sides came to an agreement. The departing group left with more than 80% of the treasures, and what was left to the Azure Wood Great World disciples were the ancient ruins, the divine tree, and a large number of heritage and canon books.

Although the ancient ruins and divine tree were the most precious items of the Azure Wood Manor, the succeeding generations of the Azure Wood Manor, including Yue Yingsha, were unable to manifest their powers to their full extent.

Due to a large number of Azure Wood Manor disciples dying during the civil war, the loss of treasures and resources accelerated the Azure Wood Manor’s decline. In the following years, many Azure Wood Manor disciples would die due to the dangers that the Azure Wood Great World was filled with before they managed to mature to their full potential. The number of Azure Wood Great World disciples dwindled and now, it was at its nadir.

In view of such a history, Yue Yingsha and Granny Yin were not fond of the Azure Wood Manor traitors in any way. However, Yue Yingsha never expected that Granny Yin would be part of the group of people.

“Granny, why did you bring these people to the Door to the 33 Skies?” asked Yue Yingsha.

“The Door to the 33 Skies belongs to the Azure Wood Manor. We are the descendants of the Azure Wood Manor, so why can’t we be here?”

Behind Granny Yin was a burly man with golden hair covering his face. The man carried a battle hammer, and the hair on his body resembled a feral beast’s fur. It clearly had to do with his Fey race bloodline, but it made him look like a golden-maned lion.

Yue Yingsha said coldly, “To think you have the nerve to claim that you are part of the Azure Wood Manor. Back then, if not for all of you, the Azure Wood Manor would not have declined so quickly. In order to rob the sect of its treasures, countless sect disciples were slaughtered as a result. Granny Yin!”

Yue Yingsha looked at Granny Yin. She found it hard to comprehend the reason why Granny Yin, who similarly hated the traitors, would join those people.

Granny Yin sighed and said, “Yingsha, the Seven Royalty Skirmish that marked the betrayal of the Azure Wood Manor happened several million years ago. Most of them have already passed away. The people in front of you aren’t the ones who originally betrayed the Azure Wood Manor. They are only their descendants…”

“I hate those traitors, but at the very least, their descendants are still wearing the outfits of the Azure Wood Manor from the past. They are part of our Azure Wood Manor.”

“Even though they can be faulted for all sorts of mistakes and they were not right in any way, they are still one of us. Now that the Azure Wood Great World is collapsing and the Door to the 33 Skies has opened, the final ruins and heritage of the Azure Wood Manor can no longer be conserved. The Azure Wood Great World has been invaded by outsiders, and it’s unable to put up any resistance. Compared to giving everything to the intruders, we might as well let the descendants of our Azure Wood Manor from back then inherit it. They have already sworn an oath and they are willing to revitalize our Azure Wood Manor.”

“I hold no hopes of the Azure Wood Manor being restored to its prime, but I’ll be contented as long as it continues on.”

The vicissitudes of life could be experienced from Granny Yin’s voice. It made Yue Yingsha’s heart wince but immediately, her expression turned cold when she noticed the nefarious intentions displayed on the faces of the group of people standing behind Granny Yin.

“Granny, these people are up to no good. So what if they have sworn an oath? Isn’t it all for themselves? How can it be for the Azure Wood Manor? Their ancestors had once betrayed the Azure Wood Manor, so how much sense of belonging would they have towards the Azure Wood Manor?”

“Yue Yingsha, what do you mean by that? Do not think that you can casually slander us because you are the orthodox Azure Wood Manor’s successor. Our ancestors were constantly thinking of the Azure Wood Manor even after they left. If not, our sect’s outfits would not be identical to the outfits of the Azure Wood Manor from the past.”

Another young man stood forward. He was fair-skinned and handsome, but his temperament was odd with an exaggerated hairdo. In addition to a few rainbow feathers behind his ears that were a symbol of his Fey race bloodline, it made him look more like a rooster.

“You must be a descendant of the Seven Plume King, right? Back then, the Seven Plume King was the most cunning and greedy one of them all!” Yue Yingsha coldly snorted. “I know where you want to go, but I will not bring you there. Without me, none of you can enter it either.”

“Oh?” Upon hearing Yue Yingsha’s words, the rooster-like youth turned furious. However, regarding his ancestor, he was a loss on how to retort. He could only grit his teeth and say, “You aren’t bringing me there, but you are planning on bringing an intruder there? Who are you? As an intruder, why are you following my Azure Wood Manor’s Successor? What sort of scheme are you up to!?”

The second half of Rooster’s sentence was directed at Yi Yun. He suddenly felt great animosity towards Yi Yun. For Yi Yun to be alone with Yue Yingsha, there relationship did not appear to be simple. And Yue Yingsha herself was crucial for their expedition to the Door to the 33 Skies!

Under such circumstances, the first thought on Rooster’s mind was to eliminate Yi Yun.

How could an intruder infiltrate their Azure Wood Manor?

At that moment, Granny Yin said, “Young lad, I do not know how you gained the Successor’s trust, but regardless of anything, this matter is not one that you should meddle in. Please leave.”

Granny Yin tried her best to speak politely. As she spoke, she had silently stood in front of Yue Yingsha, separating Yue Yingsha from Yi Yun.

From Granny Yin’s point of view, Yue Yingsha was young and naive. It was highly likely for her to be fooled by others because it was hard to determine the true thoughts of warriors in a martial world. Furthermore, Yi Yun was also an intruder. She had an innate sense of mistrust towards him.

The exchange between the members of the Azure Wood Manor made Yi Yun frown. These people truly thought highly of themselves.

At that moment, Yue Yingsha took a step towards Yi Yun. To her, she was choosing between descendants of people who had betrayed the Azure Wood Manor and Yi Yun who had saved her life twice. It was obvious where her leanings were.

Yue Yingsha said, “All of you are mistaken on one point. It isn’t true that he wants to follow me, but it was suggested by me for him and me to enter the deepest regions of the Door to the 33 Skies. I am acutely aware why you want to squeeze him out of this, but unfortunately, I will not abide by your wishes. The Key of the Nine Lotus is already part of me. No one can take it away if I am unwilling to do so.”

1014 - : Key of the Nine Lotus

CKtalon  CKtalon

Key of the Nine Lotus?

Yi Yun’s mind stirred. From the looks of it, the Door to the 33 Skies held certain secrets and Yue Yingsha seemed to be the key to revealing that secret.

“Ha, Junior Sister Yingsha, aren’t you being overly cautious against us with your words? No matter if the Key of the Nine Lotus is merged into your bloodline or not, we will not covet it. You are overthinking things.”

The youth with the rooster hairdo said once again. The words he had said sounded too threatening, so from the moment he sensed Yue Yingsha’s intense animosity, he softened his tone immediately.

Regardless of the matter, calming Yue Yingsha down was crucial. Just as Yue Yingsha said, the Key of the Nine Lotus was something they could not obtain, even if they killed her.

At that moment, several streams of light bolted over from the distant horizon.

Yi Yun’s heart thumped as he immediately turned wary. The people that were flying from a distance were the Immortal Rain Sect disciples who had fallen for Yi Yun’s ruse and had faced disaster.

There was only one main path in the Door to the 33 Skies, so the Immortal Rain Sect disciples obviously came in pursuit once they had finally extricated themselves from the demonic worms’ assault.

“It’s them!” Yue Yingsha stood by Yi Yun’s side and was similarly on guard.

The Immortal Rain Sect disciples had escaped from the jaws of death, and from their appearance, one could imagine what sort of disaster they had just experienced.

The leader, Marquis Wu Yun, had a clear wound on his shoulder which nearly exposed his bones. Marquis Wu Yun was a powerful man after all. He had managed to survive even though the demonic worms’ eggs had drilled into his body. From the appearance of his wound, it looked like he had steeled his heart and sliced off his flesh.

Marquis Wu Yun was a ruthless person as well. He could not lack any of the qualities of having quick reactions and decisiveness to be able to accomplish such a feat.

As for the rest, there were some who were in a worse shape than Marquis Wu Yun. Furthermore, they previously had twenty people. Now, with only eight people left, there was no doubt that the other twelve had perished.

Upon seeing this unsolicited party, the members of the Azure Wood Manor immediately turned vigilant.

“More outsiders again.”

“These darn outsiders are vainly attempting to rob us of our treasures. They should be slaughtered.” The youth covered in golden lion fur said hatefully.

While the Azure Wood Manor was becoming wary, the members of the Immortal Rain Sect noticed Yi Yun.

“That little bastard is actually still here. Kill him!”

The members of the Immortal Rain Sect were burning in rage. They yearned to skin Yi Yun alive, but now, with the members of the Azure Wood Manor around, they were unsure of the relationship between Yi Yun and the Azure Wood Manor was.

“Who are you and what relationship do you have with that punk?” asked Marquis Wu Yun. The way he looked at Yi Yun revealed murderous intent.

The rooster-like youth who had plumes growing on his face faltered for a moment before he understood the situation immediately. The group of newcomers was seeking revenge on the punk and it was an outcome which could not be any better.

“We have nothing to do with him. We don’t even know him,” said Rooster in a gloating manner. He was secretly rejoicing. The punk’s impending death could not be any better.

“Then, please make way.” Marquis Wu Yun said as he touched his interspatial ring with killing intent simmering.

The disciples of the Azure Wood Manor were naturally delighted to make way, but…when they made way, they realized that Yue Yingsha did not move.

“Successor! What are you doing!?”

Granny Yin’s face twitched slightly. She knew Yue Yingsha’s personality very well. Yue Yingsha had already taken out her weapon that was in the form of silk ribbons in preparation to battle these group of outsiders. How could she condone it?

“Granny, this person has saved my life twice. Now that he is in a perilous state, I will not sit idle.”

“He…saved your life twice?” Granny Yin looked suspiciously at Yi Yun. No matter how she looked, she found Yi Yun’s cultivation extremely limited. He was even at a lower realm than Yue Yingsha, yet he had managed to save her life twice? Could this be something Yue Yingsha deliberately said in order to save Yi Yun?

But from the way Yue Yingsha looked like she had already made up her mind, what else could she do?

“Wait a moment. I’ll be protecting this kid!”

Granny Yin’s figure blurred as she appeared in front of Yue Yingsha.

“Oh?” Marquis Wu Yun was already prepared to attack, but against Granny Yin, he did not dare act rashly while in his injured state. He could sense that the old woman was not to be trifled with.

“What does this mean?” asked Marquis Wu Yun coldly.

“It means nothing. I have changed my mind and I plan on protecting this young man. It’s best you leave this area so as to prevent the unnecessary spilling of blood.”

Granny Yin’s voice was redoubtable and it was not to be questioned. Other than Granny Yin, there were also the other Azure Wood Manor disciples. This made the Immortal Rain Sect disciples turn apprehensive.

The Immortal Rain Sect disciples were helpless. Against such a large group of people, they would definitely suffer if push came to shove.

Both sides immediately entered a stalemate. On the Azure Wood Manor’s side, Rooster was somewhat dumbfounded. He was planning on enjoying the show, but Granny Yin had suddenly announced her intentions of protecting Yi Yun. Now, with the show canceled, they had ended up saving a person he hated, to begin with. How could he not feel aggrieved?

“Let’s go,” said Granny Yin.

Rooster immediately turned flustered, “Granny, why did you save that punk? Also…are you planning on bringing him along?”

“What else can I do? He has saved Yingsha twice. My Azure Wood Manor is not one that shows ingratitude towards favors.”

“Saving her twice? How is it possible with that bit of cultivation?” Rooster found it incredulous. Yi Yun’s cultivation level was not even at the Dao Manifestation realm. Disciples amongst the Azure Wood Manor separatists at that cultivation level would have been left back home. How could he even have a chance to appear in the Azure Wood Great World? “It’s probably a lie Junior Sister Yingsha made in order to force our aid!”

Upon hearing Rooster’s words, Granny Yin frowned and said, “You are overstepping your boundaries with your words. We previously agreed that everything will be decided by me on this trip into the Door to the 33 Skies. If you do not wish to abide by it, you are free to leave!”

Granny Yin’s voice remained redoubtable. Although she had chosen to cooperate with the Azure Wood Manor separatists because she was out of options, it did not mean she leaned towards the Azure Wood Manor separatists. In fact, she did not bear any good will towards these people that had betrayed the Azure Wood Manor.

However, be it this entry into the Door to the 33 Skies, or the hopes of revitalizing the Azure Wood Manor, neither of them was likely to succeed without those people.

Rooster felt disgruntled, but he endured it. He gave Yi Yun a hateful glance and said in a queer voice, “You sure are lucky with Junior Sister Yingsha protecting you. I wonder how you managed to deceive her for you to be her toy boy.”

Rooster did not even say it with a Yuan Qi voice transmission. When he said that, many of the Azure Wood Manor separatists laughed.

Yue Yingsha remained silent. She was worried that Yi Yun would be enraged from the denouncement. She tugged at Yi Yun’s wrists and whispered, “Let’s go.”

“It’s fine.” Yi Yun laughed. He did not mind it at all. “Didn’t you previously mention that it’s much riskier if it’s only the two of us? Having more people would make it safer.”

As Yi Yun said that, a strange glint flashed in his eyes. These people had mocked him, but didn’t he also treat them as meat shields? The Door to the 33 Skies was fraught with dangers. With more people, it meant more bait! Just like the demonic worm eggs from before, without those Immortal Rain Sect disciples acting as bait, Yi Yun would barely have a chance to survive such a peril.

1015 - : Meat Shields

CKtalon  CKtalon

“They are gone.”

Without the strength or numbers, the members of the Immortal Rain Sect could only watch helplessly as Yi Yun and company left.

“What do we do?” Someone looked at Marquis Wu Yun for direction.

“Follow them from afar. Let them pave the way for us. The moment they experience trouble, we can take the opportunity to take action. If it’s too dangerous, we will retreat, if not, we can kick them while they are down.”

“Alright!”

The members of the Immortal Rain Sect decided on a seemingly ingenious plan. Following behind others was definitely much better than venturing through the minefields themselves.

…

“They are following us.”

“Ignore them.” As Granny Yin spoke, she took out a metallic compass from her interspatial ring.

It was made of old and rustic bronze. There was even some rust on the compass. It was inscribed with complicated Dao runes and looked like it had been in existence for an immense amount of time.

Granny Yin conjured a seal on the compass and moments later, the compass underwent certain transformations that indicated the way.

“What is that?”

This was the first time Yi Yun had encountered such an artifact.

“The artifact’s real name is already unknown. We call it the Great Heavenly Compass. It’s an artifact our Azure Wood Manor ancestors found in the Door to the 33 Skies. It can lead the way in the Door to the 33 Skies, allowing us to steer clear of danger. It also guarantees our safety in the Door to the 33 Skies.”

“Back when our Azure Wood Manor probed the Door to the 33 Skies, the reason why so many people died was that we did not fully grasp the mechanics of the Great Heavenly Compass. By the time we got a grasp of it, the Door to the 33 Skies had vanished.” Yue Yingsha explained with a voice transmission.

The Great Heavenly Compass was one of the most important treasures of the Azure Wood Manor. If not for the Door to the 33 Skies having vanished for hundreds of millions of years, making the Great Heavenly Compass lose its original value, it would definitely have been snatched away by the sect traitors.

With the Great Heavenly Compass leading the way, there was a great deal of security, allowing the Azure Wood Manor separatists proceeded confidently. There were a few young people amongst them who were filled with anticipation regarding the legends spoken of that were at the end of the 33 Skies where the forbidden zone was.

“That bunch of outsiders is still tailing us!” A young man said disgruntledly. They were leading the way in front, making it easier for the people behind, so he was obviously unhappy about it.

“Let them follow. Even if it’s the same path, there are all sorts of changes. They might still perish in the most horrible way possible,” said Granny Yin. Her voice was hoarse and jarring to the ears. As she spoke, her eyelids twitched and she came to a sudden stop.

The path in front of them had vanished. A scarlet cliff appeared and the sand looked like they had been dyed red by blood. Rocks were half-buried in sand and their surfaces looked greatly weathered.

Other than the red sand and the rocks, there was nothing, nor was there even a hint of life. It gave people a baffling chill.

“Blood Desert. How could it be…” Granny Yin muttered to herself. Yue Yingsha was also alarmed.

“What’s the problem?” asked Yi Yun.

“The Blood Desert is a zone that should only appear close to the forbidden zone, so it’s unexpected that we encountered it here. If we enter the Blood Desert, we will suffer terrible losses. The sect records mention of the Blood Desert being extremely dangerous. It is said that it was an ancient battleground from hundreds of millions of years ago. The sand had been dyed red by the blood of primordial creatures, but for some unknown reason, no carcasses were left behind. They had all vanished.”

Yue Yingsha was well read when it came to the canon, so she knew of the horrors of the Blood Desert.

“What’s there to be afraid of?” A purple-dressed youth said nonchalantly. “Don’t we have the Great Heavenly Compass? The Azure Wood Manor had many people die in the beginning because it lacked the Great Heavenly Compass. Now with the Great Heavenly Compass leading the way, there won’t be any dangers.”

“Hmph! Naive!” Granny Yin stared at the young man. “The Great Heavenly Compass is indeed insightful, but despite the years, our Azure Wood Manor failed to fully understand it. What I learned is also highly limited. If it can be properly used, we can indeed enter and exit the Blood Desert safely, but how can it be that simple!?”

“Your failure to accomplish that does not mean we can’t. My master is proficient in array techniques and proficient at Daoist arts. If you lack the confidence, let my master do it!” said the purple-dressed youth proudly. A purple-dressed elder was pushed into the limelight.

The elder’s head was strangely large, making his entire body appear disproportionate. He said nonchalantly, “It is hopeless for my cultivation to make any breakthroughs, so I do have some accomplishments in the Dao of array techniques. If Granny Yin finds herself lacking, she can let old me try.”

“Spare me. Following you will only lead us into our graves!” Granny Yin said derisively. The elder was very displeased when he heard her words. “Hmph! Then I’ll like to see you lead the way.”

The big-headed elder returned tit for tat. Even though the Azure Wood Manor separatists and the orthodox Azure Wood Manor were cooperating, it was impossible for them to be in absolute harmony.

As the group of people ventured deep into the Blood Desert, Granny Yin remained extremely cautious. She stopped almost every ten steps and used the Great Heavenly Compass to foresee any portents and correct their direction. However, such progress was too slow.

“Is there a need? If this continues on, it’ll take more than days for us to leave the Blood Desert!” The purple-dressed youth who spoke from before lost his patience.

“Shut up. Young lad, curb your arrogance. The dangers that lie await in the Door to the 33 Skies far exceed your imagination. If you are displeased with anything, you can leave at any time!” Granny Yin said angrily.

The purple-dressed youth scoffed and looked towards Rooster and said, “Senior Brother Seven Plume, this granny is stopping every ten steps. When will we ever exit this vast Blood Desert? The longer we stay in the Blood Desert, the easier it is for us to encounter danger.”

“I had objected to cooperate with the orthodox sect, from the beginning. Look at what’s left in the orthodox sect. An old granny who is becoming meeker as she grows older, a young lass that is hardly dry behind the ears. Furthermore, we need to bring an outsider of unknown origin along.” As the purple-dressed youth spoke, he gave Yi Yun a disdainful glance.

Yi Yun smiled. Turning towards Yue Yingsha, he said, “Hey don’t you think some retard is sick? There is no end to the nonsense he is spouting. If he had the guts, he can rush forward if he wants. It’s not like anyone is stopping him!”

Yi Yun mocked unsparingly. The Blood Desert was odd. He could not wish for anything more than someone foolish enough to be a pathfinder.

“Who do you think you are to speak to me like that!? Senior Brother Seven Plume!” The purple-dressed youth looked at the rooster-like youth once again.

Seven Plume stroked his chin, but he did not express his intentions. The speed they were proceeding at was indeed slow. There was one thing the purple-dressed youth did not say wrong. If they moved too slowly in the Blood Desert, they might end up encountering additional danger because of their overstay.

At that moment, an indiscernible cold wind blew, stirring up the thin layer of red sand on the ground.

Yi Yun’s heart thumped for no reason as he looked up. He realized that the sun had unknowingly turned diabolic.

The Azure Wood Great World and the Door to the 33 Skies were dark and gloomy, to begin with. Why did the sun suddenly burn so fiercely?

“Granny!” Yue Yingsha immediately tugged at Granny Yin. Granny Yin’s expression changed as she looked at the rocks buried in the sand. What looked like extremely ordinary rocks previously were now like regularly ordered tombstones in Granny Yin’s eyes. Not only were they orderly, they exuded strange vibes!

1016 - : Blood Desert

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Phew–Phew–”

A wind blew gently in a seemingly weak fashion. And high in the sky, the sun was burning even more fiercely, as though there were ten suns hanging in the sky! Even as warriors, they began to slowly find it blistering hot.

Yi Yun was fully focused as he surveyed the scrambled rocks around him. When he used the Purple Crystal to look at these rocks that seemed devoid of life, Yi Yun realized that these rocks formed a series of patterns, like they were burning fire plumes.

“What’s going on?” Someone in the group asked. Many people remained prudent when inside the Door to the 33 Skies.

“Isn’t it just a stronger sun? Even in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, there are situations when the weather changes on a whim, what more a world on the brink of collapse. There’s nothing surprising for the sun to suddenly burn fiercer,” said the youth dismissively. He was the one that had talked back to Granny Yin. Granny Yin’s expression turned extremely grim as she yearned to kill this rascal that did not know better.

“Shut up!” Granny Yin suddenly attacked him as her wrinkled palm grabbed the youth!

“What are you doing!?” The youth’s master took a step forward and grabbed Granny Yin’s hand.

“Pa!”

The two elders exchanged blows, causing energy surges. However, neither side used much of their strength. In the strange Blood Desert, none of them dared to battle too seriously.

At that moment, Granny Yin was like an infuriated old beast. She said sharply, “The Blood Desert is an ancient battlefield. Large numbers of primordial creatures died here, along with the blood or fragmented treasures of ancient mighty figures. Everything that was destroyed here left the Blood Desert as a treacherous zone. The countless nomological fragments and the blood have formed a Heaven and Earth array of death after hundreds of millions of years. Anyone that enters it will definitely die!”

“Nomological fragments forming an array by themselves?” The youth laughed disdainfully. He did not believe it at all.

He had studied array formations from his master, so although his attainment in array formations was lackluster, he knew very well how intriguing array formations were. Even an array formation master might fail at setting up an array despite his painstaking efforts, so how could it be formed naturally? That would be too much of a coincidence.

“Let me go.” The youth had also turned nervous when he was grabbed by Granny Yin. A cold look flashed in Granny Yin’s eyes before she released her grip.

The youth took a few steps back as he opened up a distance from Granny Yin. He straightened his clothes and just as he wanted to say something, he suddenly felt something amiss.

When he tugged at his clothes, which were enchanted, they tore off easily. The enchanted clothes he wore was resistant against the elements. It had been so easily torn apart despite its ability to withstand a full-powered strike from a warrior at the Dao Manifestation realm?

He looked down and the clothes he had torn apart became scorching. However, it was not burning, but melting. It was like metal that had been placed into a furnace!

Not only was the cloth in his hand melting, even the clothes on his body were suffering the same fate.

Next was his flesh, hair, and skin!

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!”

Only then did the youth realize that he was in great peril as he yelled tragically.

It was painful! When the burning pain reached his bone marrow, it nearly drove him mad!

Upon seeing this scene, everyone, including Yi Yun, was dumbfounded from shock. The unforeseen event had happened too suddenly! All they felt previously was a balmy heat, but who would expect that a person would melt?

“Master, save me!”

The youth screamed for help, but at that moment, most of his flesh had melted away. Large quantities of blood and bodily fluids were dripping down from his body. The eyes in his eye sockets had already melted, leaving behind empty eye sockets. Only his bones were left where his limbs were, as his flesh and blood had already melted clean.

He staggered towards his master as his bones were dripping with blood and other fluids. In his heart, his master was the last life-saving straw. But at that moment, the eyes of his master, the purple-robed elder, were filled with horror. Although he knew that the Door to the 33 Skies was extremely dangerous, he had never seen such a horrible scene before.

A person had melted for no reason. What was going on?

Seeing his disciple about to reach him, the purple-robed elder immediately felt greatly threatened. He suddenly struck out with his palm, sending an immense energy blast that struck straight into the youth’s chest.

“Bam!”

With an explosion, the youth was sent flying away as blood and bodily fluids splattered!

Granny Yin roared as she conjured an energy barrier, blocking all the fluids. She had a nagging feeling that the fluids were extremely dangerous.

“Bam!”

The youth, that was reduced to a skeleton, slammed heavily into the ground, splattering blood and bodily fluids everywhere.

Next, his bones seemed to burn at extremely high temperatures as they issued sizzling sounds. Following that, his bones began to melt. Some of them had melted before evaporating dry.

Finally, all that was left on the ground was a humanoid outline. It was dark red in color, and there was nothing left other than that.

This…

Everyone drew a cold gasp of air. The way the youth had died was too startling.

Yi Yun also shuddered in fear. He had previously seen the demonic eggs that were slumbering deep underground, but they were living creatures after all. It was still acceptable that they could reduce people to a decaying mess through their bites.

But now, the youth had died in a completely baffling manner.

“Everyone, do not move. In this land of danger, any wrong step will be your last! He died because he had taken a few steps back, stepping into a fatal zone.” Granny Yin’s hoarse voice sounded. Although the youth had been arguing with her, his death did not make Granny Yin feel any better. Instead, she felt a chill running down her spine.

Was the interior of the Door to the 33 Skies so dangerous? The descriptions in the records did not sound as bad as this!

“What do we do now?”

“We shall retrace our steps and leave this place.” Droplets of sweat began oozing out of Granny Yin’s forehead. She took out the Great Heavenly Compass once again to envisage the path back.

At that moment, no one had any other thoughts. The death of the youth had chilled their hearts. The Blood Desert was just too peculiar.

Furthermore, what left everyone puzzled was the mechanism behind the person’s death without any living creatures. Where did the danger come from?

But at that moment…

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Screams resounded once again as the group turned their heads. The screams came from the Immortal Rain Sect members. They had been following closely behind the Azure Wood Manor and had been fine, but now, they had suddenly entered a land of danger, causing them to fall into peril.

Yi Yun stared at them. Under the blazing sun, two people had been reduced to liquid. Even their bones were quickly melting.

The other members of the Immortal Rain Sect had ashen expressions. Their expressions were as ugly as they could be.

Amongst them, Yi Yun saw Marquis Wu Yun. In the terrifying Blood Desert, Marquis Wu Yun was stronger than the rest, but it did not seem to increase his chances of survival in any way.

The expedition to the Azure Wood Great World was probably a disaster instead of an opportunity for most of the factions that entered it. Even a team from a powerful faction like the Immortal Rain Sect was left in shambles.

The people from the Immortal Rain Sect were completely trapped. They could neither retreat or advance.

And at that moment, Yi Yun had begun to carefully observe the surrounding sand and rock around the Immortal Rain Sect disciples. What he noticed to be identical were the fire-like patterns.

After a long and intense observation, Yi Yun finally confirmed that it was not a fire plume pattern, but…Dao patterns!

Just as Granny Yin said, this was naturally formed Dao patterns from over hundreds of millions of years in the Blood Desert!

The Blood Desert was an array of the Heaven and Earth, to begin with. It was also a terrifying array of death.

It was unknown how large the Blood Desert was. Just the thought of it was astounding. An array formation formed naturally by the forces of nature, formed over hundreds of millions of years. What sort of amazing power did nature have?

The more one practiced in martial arts, the more one could unravel the secrets of the universe.

Yi Yun kept looking at the Blood Desert as he constantly extended his vision range. It might have been a limitation of his cultivation, but even the Purple Crystal’s energy vision made it impossible for him to see every single Dao pattern. Furthermore, the ones that were slightly further away were completely blurred.

Yi Yun could only confirm that these Dao patterns condensed various laws that were infinite in variety. The fire Dao pattern he saw was only just one of the myriad possibilities. The people that had evaporated previously probably had to do with that Dao pattern. However, Yi Yun had not fully understood what the connection was.

1017 - : Array of the Heaven and Earth

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the vast Blood Desert, the Immortal Rain Sect and Azure Wood Manor disciples that were trapped within were like two lone boats lost in turbulent seas. They could capsize at any time.

In that moment of peril, Granny Yin took out the Great Heavenly Compass as she tried to divine the path out of the Blood Desert.

“Why did my disciple burn to death?”

The purple-robed elder was feeling agitated. At the final moment, it was he who had struck out with his palm, giving his disciple a quick death.

“I do not know either. Although there are some descriptions of the Blood Desert in canon, it only mentions of dangers in it. As for what the dangers are, the records aren’t that detailed,” said Granny Yin. She had a deep sense of worry hanging over her face. She had a feeling that over the hundreds of millions of years, the Door to the 33 Skies had experienced drastic changes after its disappearance. The canon the Azure Wood Manor had from years ago was no longer enough. It could even be possible that the Door to the 33 Skies was even more dangerous as the Azure Wood Great World was on the brink of destruction.

“Don’t you have the Great Heavenly Compass?” asked someone from the Azure Wood Manor separatists.

“Although I have studied the Great Heavenly Compass for years, it cannot remedy my lack of talent. I only studied the dangerous zones that had detailed records in canon. I’m helpless against this Blood Desert even with the Great Heavenly Compass.”

Granny Yin’s words made everyone’s heart sink. At that moment, the purple-robed elder stood forward as he took out a set of array flags from his interspatial ring.

The array flags’ staffs were made of bones from Ancient Fey beasts, and the flags were made of Ancient Fey hide. Sealed within the flags were apparently living creatures that were writhing in pain.

One could tell that the purple-robed elder was feeling the pinch as he looked at those array flags. They were his most valuable array cracking treasure. The array flags had ‘flag spirits’ sealed in them. They would slowly deplete with every use and it would be completely useless once it was used too many times.

“Let me do it. Since there is an array formation in the Blood Desert, I’ll use this trump card of mine that cracks arrays. It should be effective.”

Granny Yin hesitated for a moment before letting the purple-robed elder study the situation. Now that they were in peril, every additional person meant an additional amount of strength. What would happen if the purple-robed elder managed to figure out something?

The purple blood elder stuck the array flags into Blood Desert’s red sand. He began to combine his Daoist arts as he studied the Blood Desert’s natural forces.

And at that moment, Yi Yun was also observing the Dao patterns around him that pervaded the Blood Desert. They were formed naturally from fragments of divine weapons that were destroyed in Blood Desert, carcasses of dead primordial creatures, or remnant laws.

Yi Yun realized that the spots where the people had burned to their deaths were not because they had stepped onto the Dao patterns, but because they had stepped onto the nodes between Dao patterns.

The distribution of the Blood Desert’s Dao patterns had its own regularity. Three or four energy nodes would produce powerful forces that could vaporize people! Then…what would happen if he avoided the energy nodes?

…

After a long while, the purple-robed elder with his tightly knitted brows heaved a sigh of relief. He wiped the tiny beads of sweat from his forehead as he said, “So that’s it! It should be that.”

The purple-robed elder was muttering to himself as though he had been enlightened.

He did not look relaxed, but he had clearly made progress.

“Did you figure out something?” A disciple from the Azure Wood Manor separatists said anxiously.

“The Blood Desert might look endless, but it is actually not that expansive. If we keep walking straight, there is no way to escape this zone. Flying would not work either as it would be equivalent to suicide. We can walk here. There’s a path here that leads us out. It crosses through the Blood Desert and all that’s needed is about a thousand steps.”

“Just a thousand steps? It’s actually that short?”

The purple-robed elder pointed out a path as the Azure Wood Manor disciples remained unconvinced. Many were fearful as no one dared to take a step.

The purple-robed elder knitted his eyebrows into a stern look as he said, “Why? Does no one believe me?”

“How can it be?” Rooster laughed dryly. He indeed was not confident of the purple-robed elder’s claims. It was mainly because Blood Desert was just too odd. He found it unbelievable that about a thousand steps were all that was needed to escape the land of death.

Of course, he did not proclaim what was on his mind. Instead, he said, “Elder Dagu has impressive attainments when it comes to array formations. However, there is always some risk to pathfinding. We can’t let us Azure Wood Manor separatists undertake all the risk while people enjoy the labors of others by simply following behind.”

As Rooster spoke, he glanced at Yi Yun. He had long found Yi Yun an eyesore. Furthermore, they wanted to probe the inner depths of the Door to the 33 Skies, so how could they bring an outsider along? It was most appropriate to get him to be the pathfinder. It would only be a joy if he died.

“What do you mean by that?” Yue Yingsha asked coldly as she stood in front of Yi Yun.

“Nothing. I’m just getting this young friend to walk in front. Our Elder Dagu has paid a nontrivial price in order to divine this path. Just one use of Elder Dagu’s array flags would expend a portion of the flag spirits’ energy. Do you know how great his loss was?”

“You want to follow us out at no cost? How can there be such a free ride in this world?”

Rooster’s words were immediately echoed by the Azure Wood Manor separatists. The youth with his face covered in lion fur also stood forward and said, “That’s right. All you need to do is be responsible for treading the path we found!”

Everyone looked at Yi Yun. Even Yue Yingsha’s status was not useful based on the circumstances.

Although they had a request that depended on Yue Yingsha, the dangers they were facing in Blood Desert was tremendous. It was a problem if they could survive, so they obviously flung the thoughts of exploring the Door to the 33 Skies to the back of their minds.

“Punk, get over here and lead the way!” said Rooster in a queer manner. He believed that Yi Yun had no other choice.

Yi Yun flicked the red sand off his sleeves and said nonchalantly, “Did you just say that I will be following you out of the Blood Desert? You sure think highly of yourself. I wouldn’t even be bothered to follow you even if you begged.”

“What!?”

When Yi Yun said those words, it made all the Azure Wood Manor separatists stare angrily at him. They never expected him to speak so arrogantly!

“This little bastard is too arrogant. Senior Brother Seven Plume, I’ll kill him!” A burly youth stood forward and was about to attack Yi Yun when he was stopped by Rooster. He knew very well that fighting in the Blood Desert was no different from committing suicide.

“You have guts.” Seven Plume’s eyes flashed a cold glimmer. “I want to see how you will walk out of the Blood Desert. Let’s go!”

Since Yi Yun was quitting the group, the Azure Wood Manor separatists did not target Yi Yun any further. They were interested in seeing Yi Yun alone in the Blood Desert, looking pathetic with no one to help him. It was definitely going to be entertaining.

Someone from the Azure Wood Manor separatists was appointed as he followed the directions the purple-robed elder gave. Nothing happened to him after he took about eight steps.

“Awesome. Elder Dagu truly has the miracle of foresight. He is indeed able to divine the path to survival in this land of death.” flattered someone.

“Haha!” Elder Dagu laughed as he stroked his beard while appearing rather satisfied.

“Yi Yun, are you really staying behind? With death on the line, don’t try to act out of spite.” Yue Yingsha turned anxious as she saw Yi Yun remain motionless while Elder Dagu was about to guide the Azure Wood Manor separatists away.

Yi Yun had saved her twice, so she could not leave him in the lurch. However, Yi Yun’s feet were firmly planted in the ground. He had no intentions of leaving.

“Junior Sister Yingsha, if you don’t leave now, you might not be able to leave anymore. Do you really plan on accompanying that punk to your death?” derided Rooster.

Yue Yingsha turned anxious. She could not shrug off Yi Yun as she gave Granny Yin a pleaful look. She hoped that Granny Yin was able to use the Great Heavenly Compass to divine a path, but clearly, Granny Yin lacked the confidence. Taking a step back, even if the Great Heavenly Compass found a path, it needed someone to test the ground. It was too dangerous to simply follow the results.

At that moment, Yi Yun said slowly, “Yue Yingsha, don’t be worried. They won’t be able to leave the Blood Desert. Soon, someone will die.”

Yi Yun’s words were not loud, but with the ears of warriors, they obviously heard him loud and clear.

What!?

The Azure Wood Manor separatists, who had walked a certain distance, looked back at Yi Yun angrily.

The burly youth that had walked more than ten steps forward revealed a murderous look. He was walking right in front, so if someone were to die, it would be him. Yi Yun’s curse made him wish to smack Yi Yun to death!

“Little bastard, spout any more nonsense and I’ll rip your mouth apart,” admonished the burly youth.

“Why do we even care about him? He’s just an ignorant punk. Does he think he has the right to evaluate Elder Dagu’s divination?”

Another youth said as Elder Dagu stroked his beard. A cold look flashed in his eyes as he said, “This child is ignorant as he maligns the Heavenly Dao. This Blood Desert is a naturally formed force, and all I feel towards it is fearful reverence. All I understood was a trivial part of it, but for him to talk wildly, it’s not only laughable but sad.”

“Then go on ahead.” Yi Yun spread out his hands, “Who can stop it if you want to die?”

“Die? I’ll show you exactly what will happen!” The burly youth said with a sneer as he suddenly took a big step out.

He did not feel like anything had happened with his step, but before he had the chance to act complacent, he suddenly felt the loss of feeling in his feet.

He looked down and saw his entire feet beginning to melt like wax that was consumed by flames.

Blood began to drip like candle wax, and soon his bones were exposed.

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!”

The burly youth cried out tragically, but the melting quickly spread to his thighs. Following that, it reached his waist and began moving up his torso.

‘”Puah!”

The burly youth’s abdomen burst open violently like a burst water bag. His organs were reduced to bloody fluids as they spewed out.

The burly youth’s expression was twisted as his expression was filled with horror.

He had his mouth open, but he could no longer say a word. He could only look at Yi Yun in despair before looking at the purple-robed elder.

“I…I…I…”

The final voice he issued came to a halt. His head had been devoured by invisible flames. Moments later, his eyes burned into their sockets, and all that was left was a skeleton.

“Splash!”

The bones that were covered in blood and bodily fluids quickly splashed to the red sand as melted bone before completely vanishing.

Every Azure Wood Manor disciple was horrified.

When the purple-robed elder saw this, his eyes widened for he could not accept the fact.

He had been complacent just a moment ago, but now, it looked like he had aged greatly.

He…he really died!?

Did he make a mistake in his calculations? His original calculation was for them to take about a thousand steps to cross the Blood Desert. But now, one of them had died with just over ten steps. If they carried down this path, everyone would be dead before they left the Blood Desert.

At that moment, many people were looking at Yi Yun, who had his arms were crossed while looking calm. It was as if what had happened had nothing to do with him.

Was it a coincidence that Yi Yun had managed to predict the death of the burly youth just moments ago? But wouldn’t it be too much of a coincidence?

1018 - : Array Cracking

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Elder Dagu, what’s going on?”

Having watched the burly youth die tragically, many of the Azure Wood Manor separatists turned fearful. If they had been the ones probing the way forward, they would have ended with the same outcome. It was an outcome that truly left them without any remains.

The purple-robed elder’s face twitched as the expression on his face turned grim. He gritted his teeth and said, “The Heaven and Earth array of the Blood Desert is profound, so having an occasional mistake in the path I figured out can hardly be avoided.”

Hardly be avoided?

He had said the words ‘hardly be avoided’ so frivolously, but to the scout, it would mean the outcome of turning into a pool of blood before vaporizing.

“What about that punk named Yi Yun? Why was he able to predict the fatal outcome from that one step?” Rooster asked. Yi Yun’s words from before had left him with a lingering fear.

“Hmph! It was only sheer luck. How can a junior with such a low cultivation be able to see through the Heaven and Earth forces that imbue the Blood Desert? He was only making irresponsible remarks. Who doesn’t know how to declare command over life and death? All he had was good luck that stumbled upon the truth with a sentence of his!” said the purple-robed elder disdainfully. There were people in the group that thought so too. In the previous war of words, it was normal for Yi Yun to hurl maledictions at them. It was only a coincidence that he had hit the nail on the head.

“Then what about probing the path?” A young man asked.

Everyone exchanged looks. Who would dare to be the first on this path that had mistakes that could ‘hardly be avoided’?

Furthermore, the strangest part of the Blood Desert was that these areas that spelled certain doom did not seem strange in any way before the warriors stepped onto them. Be it through their vision or perception, they appeared normal in every way possible. However, as long as someone took a step, their bodies would melt. It felt like there was a particular law that was inducing the forces within the warrior’s body that resulted in them spontaneously combusting before melting away.

The purple-robed elder grunted and said, “It’s just the Blood Desert and the distance of a thousand paces. Even if there are risks, it would also be limited. All of you want to reach the pinnacle of martial arts, but you are reeling back in fear because of a bit of danger? From now onwards, all of you are to take turns to scout in front. Everyone will take ten steps before switching to another person. Your lives will be determined by the Heavens!”

The purple-robed elder issued the command. As the person in charge of studying the array to envisage a path, he naturally did not need to go up front.

There were a few Elders from the Azure Wood Manor separatists who did not plan on taking the lead either.

This was a privilege that their strength entailed. The juniors had no right to raise any objections.

A youth was chosen as he walked in front while trembling with fear. He was thin and frail-looking, as though he could not even withstand the blowing of the wind.

It was as if the purple-robed elder’s envisaging had once again turned effective. After taking ten steps with bated breath, the junior managed to return unscathed.

Immediately following that, the next person was the lion-furred youth that had exchanged mockeries with Yi Yun.

The lion-furred youth lacked faith, but all he could do was grit his teeth and walk ahead. Every two or three steps, he would not forget to look back at Yi Yun.

Perhaps it was because he was too afraid of stepping into a forbidden zone because the lion-furred youth was grasping at every piece of information from his surroundings. It was as if he was trying to obtain clues from reading Yi Yun’s every expression. Even though he was certain that Yi Yun’s prophecy from before was a coincidence, he could not stop his wandering eyes.

This complicated and dilemmatic state of mind was something even the lion-furred youth could not explain himself.

When the lion-furred youth finished his ninth step with great difficulty, he subconsciously turned his head to glance at Yi Yun. This time, Yi Yun did not remain silent. He casually stretched his shoulders and said, “The courage of you people sending yourselves to your deaths in endless succession is truly admirable.”

Oh!?

When the lion-furred youth heard that sentence, he felt all his fur stand. He was already overwhelmed with anxiety, yet Yi Yun was mocking him from the back. If not for him being in the Blood Desert, he truly wanted to head back and dice Yi Yun up.

“What’s the meaning of that?” The lion-furred youth said savagely.

“Nothing. I’m just expressing my personal opinion.” Yi Yun shrugged and did not speak another word. The Azure Wood Manor separatists intentions of him leading the way were equivalent to dooming him. Yi Yun obviously would not save people who wanted him dead.

“Hmph! Punk, don’t smirk too soon. In a while, I’ll watch you attempt to leave the Blood Desert. When you are walking alone, I’ll want to see you vaporize after you are left gutless!”

As the lion-furred youth said that, he raised his foot hesitantly. However, he eventually gritted his teeth and landed his foot. It was the final step after all.

But that step…

“Phew–”

A nearly inaudible sound that resembled an invisible flame bursting out of the void was heard. The lion-furred youth felt an excruciating pain from his calf before he saw the flesh on his calf rapidly melting. Blood and bodily fluids were spewing out!

The melting surface was quickly spreading as it headed for his thigh!

“Ah!”

The lion-furred youth’s eyes were blood-red as if they were cracking. With a loud bellow, all his muscles rippled with tremendous energy bursting out from his body!

“Sou!”

A golden beam of light flashed. The lion-furred youth’s leg was immediately amputated across his thigh by a golden beam of light!

The lion-furred youth grimaced in pain as he fell backward. It was unknown when a large golden saber had appeared in his hand.

At that split second, the lion-furred youth had pulled out a golden saber and amputated his leg! If not for that, the corrosive force that melted flesh would have spread across his entire body in a blink of an eye. If that happened, his outcome would only be him being left fleshless while his bone melted.

“Senior Brother Domineering Saber!”

The disciples of the Azure Wood Manor separatists rushed over, but they did not dare come close to him.

Blood was spewing out of the lion-furred youth’s left leg which he had amputated. He quickly tapped at a few acupuncture points to stop the bleeding before he managed to catch his breath.

At that moment, the leg that he had amputated had melted clean.

The lion-furred youth’s face was pale as he sweated bullets. If he had been hesitant in any way, he would have perished.

…

“Yi Yun, are you able to foresee the dangerous zones?” Yue Yingsha was astonished as she turned her head to ask Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s alert the first time might have been a coincidence. As for the second time, Yi Yun did not directly alert them. All he said was a single sentence, but that sentence did not stop the lion-furred youth from encountering danger. With the two coincidences put together, Yue Yingsha already had her guesses.

“It’s not something I can completely guarantee. All I can say that it’s a type of feeling. Let’s attempt to leave this place!” As Yi Yun spoke, he took a few steps through the Blood Desert. The path he chose was completely different from the one that the Azure Wood Manor separatists took.

Granny Yin was still in her original spot. She had not departed with the Azure Wood Manor separatists but it was obviously not because of Yi Yun. In fact, she treated Yi Yun as an enemy deep down. However, with Yue Yingsha staying behind, what else could Granny Yin do? All she could do was temporarily hold back.

Now, as Granny Yin watched Yi Yun walk through the Blood Desert, her eyelids twitched. That kid truly has the guts!

With the immense Heaven and Earth might in front of them, she had to rely on the Great Heavenly Compass, while the purple-robed elder had relied on his best thirty-six array flags, yet they did not dare claim to have seen through the profoundness within.

Even if Yi Yun’s talent in array formations were heaven-defying and he had truly figured out something, how was he so certain that he did not make a mistake from his insight?

It was unknown how large the Blood Desert was. Even if the purple-robed elder’s words of it being traversable with a thousand paces was true, it would be no trifling matter. Was it possible to not make a mistake for a thousand paces?

1019 - : Endless Succession of the Dead

CKtalon  CKtalon

“This punk has chosen a different path and he is proceeding down it himself. It’s simply courting death, so let’s wait for him to vaporize!”

Many of the Azure Wood Manor separatists had seen Yi Yun walking into the Blood Desert. Moments ago, Yi Yun had been hiding behind them while watching them incur ridicule on themselves. They were already incredibly vexed about the situation, and now, it was finally Yi Yun’s turn to traverse the land of death.

“A single misstep out of the thousand steps in the Blood Desert would result in an irredeemable outcome. That bit of skill he has is nothing but him courting death,” said the purple-robed elder.

Mistakes could hardly be avoided when one attempted to divine the forces of nature; thus, the purple-robed elder refused to believe that Yi Yun had seen through the mysteries of the Blood Desert. Having nine lives was not even sufficient to cross the Blood Desert alone.

After taking a few steps, Yi Yun turned and said to Yue Yingsha, “Yue Yingsha, why don’t you follow me?”

“I…” Yue Yingsha felt somewhat apologetic. How could she let Yi Yun probe the way in front while she followed safely behind?

“It’s fine. The Blood Desert might appear endless, but it’s actually not that big. It wouldn’t take long to cross it.”

As Yi Yun was saying that, he turned around and proceeded forward.

Wouldn’t take long to cross it?

The way Yi Yun said it sounded way too relaxed.

The speed at which Yi Yun walked was at the speed of common mortals. But this was in stark contrast to the other disciples of the Azure Wood Manor, who walked at speeds that could rival a tortoise’s because of the fear of stepping into a forbidden zone.

Under the watchful gazes of many people, Yi Yun proceeded to take ten steps followed by twenty steps. He did not encounter any danger as if he was walking in an ordinary desert.

How could it be… Did he really manage to find a path of salvation?

The Azure Wood Manor separatists found it incredulous.

“Maybe it’s luck,” insisted a young man who remained indignant. His gaze subconsciously turned towards the purple-robed elder.

However, he noticed that the purple-robed elder had an ugly expression on his face. The purple-robed elder knew very well that what Yi Yun was demonstrating was absolutely not something that could be explained away with luck. He had worked through all sorts of divinations, but two mistakes were made in over thirty steps. Now, Yi Yun had already walked for more than twenty steps without a problem. In addition to his accurate predictions from before, all of this led to the conclusion that Yi Yun had seen through the forces of nature embedded in the Blood Desert.

How did he do it?

In a blink of an eye, Yi Yun had already taken more than forty steps. The distance he had traveled had exceeded the progress the Azure Wood Manor had made. Although Yi Yun and the Azure Wood Manor had chosen two different paths, their direction was identical. Now, Yi Yun had already come to a spot ahead of the Azure Wood Manor separatists.

At that moment, those from the Azure Wood Manor who still refused to believe Yi Yun could no longer say a word. The facts were laid out in front of them. The path of salvation they had used Daoist arts to infer and forged by sacrificing lives was inferior to the path that Yi Yun had carved out casually.

“Elder Dagu, this…”

“I’m not blind. I’m seeing it!” said the purple-robed elder in a deep voice. He had suffered a huge blow when he realized that Yi Yun had surpassed him so simply.

“Elder Dagu, shall we change our paths and follow in Yi Yun’s footsteps?”

Seven Plume suddenly made a suggestion. The spot they were in was only about a few dozen paces away from where Yi Yun was. If they tore through it and follow in his footsteps, wouldn’t it lead to them crossing the Blood Desert?

“Well…alright…” said the purple-robed elder with a hesitant nod. Although it was an act of a wuss, it was indeed the safest and most effective method.

“Hold on! Bring us along! We can spare a few people to help you scout the path. Bring us along!”

A voice suddenly came from a short distance away. The person who had spoken was the Immortal Rain Sect’s, Marquis Wu Yun.

These few Immortal Rain Sect disciples felt a deep sense of despair after witnessing their companions die. In the Blood Desert, they did not even dare flinch. Now, all they could do was rely on the people from the Azure Wood Manor so that they could leave the godforsaken land.

If they knew that the Door to the 33 Skies was fraught with such danger, they would not have come even if they were threatened by force. The expedition to the Azure Wood Great World was a disaster that had befallen them.

“Bring them along and get them to be the scouts,” said Seven Plume. The purple-robed elder nodded and said, “Come over by yourselves. Being able to cross this distance will depend on your karma. If you are unable to cross it successfully, then it was fated that you perish here!”

…

“Yi Yun, those people intend to follow us,” Yue Yingsha said frustratingly when she saw the scene behind her.

At that moment, Yi Yun was already leading the rest by more than fifty steps. As for the Azure Wood Manor separatists, together with the Immortal Rain Sect disciples, they had paid a significant price before they managed to reach the path Yi Yun had taken.

“Do you still have any sense of shame? Seven Plume, you were the one who forced Yi Yun to scout the way. Yi Yun refused and you disallowed him from following you. But now, Yi Yun has found a path of salvation, and you people are shamelessly following him. Your shamelessness has no bounds!” said Yue Yingsha from the front.

Seven Plume chuckled and said disdainfully, “Junior Sister Yingsha, you are too naive. The martial path has always been about unscrupulous schemes. What use does shame have? Can it improve your cultivation level?”

“Furthermore, how can you tell that we are deliberately following the two of you. It just happens that Elder Dagu has divined a path that is identical to yours in certain stretches. You might scorn us for following you, but why can’t we scorn the two of you for blocking our paths in the front!?”

The more Seven Plume spoke, the more complacent he became. He was not afraid that Yi Yun would switch paths. Wherever Yi Yun went, they would follow his every step. Every step they took would be identical to the one Yi Yun took. He refused to believe that there would be any danger.

“That person is too shameless!”

Yue Yingsha never expected that such a shameless person existed in the world. She could have turned a blind eye about him following Yi Yun, but she never expected him to say something so shameless.

Yi Yun said, “What’s the point of wrangling with such a person. Just let them follow.”

Seven Plume gave a disdainful smile when he saw Yi Yun hold back his temper. This was the absolute repression that strength gave. He could deny Yi Yun from following them because they had the strength because they could destroy him if he followed.

But for Yi Yun, what could he do? All he could do was honestly swallow his pride and turn a blind eye towards their actions.

“Junior Brother Seven Plume, I wonder what mystic technique Yi Yun knows. It’s surprising that he is completely unaffected by the Blood Desert. The Door to the 33 Skies is fraught with dangers, so he might still be of use in later areas.” said a man with a large mole. A glimmer flashed in his eyes when he looked at Yi Yun. He was machinating something against Yi Yun in an attempt to exploit Yi Yun completely.

Seven Plume nodded and said, “I know what you are talking about. Although Yi Yun is somewhat unorthodox, his strength is his weakness. As long as we use this to our advantage, he would have to serve us.”

“It’s great that Junior Brother Seven Plume understands that,” said the man with the mole as he nodded. Suddenly, the muscles on his face turned stiff. His expression froze completely as he came to a sudden stop.

“Oh? Senior Brother, what’s wrong with you?” Seven Plume was momentarily surprised. He stopped and looked at the man behind him. Although the Azure Wood Manor disciples had been following Yi Yun, Seven Plume did not lower his wariness.

The man with the mole did not respond at all. It was odd that he had remained motionless for about ten seconds.

If this had been the beginning when they had just stepped into the Blood Desert, Seven Plume would have opened up a distance from the man when he saw such a situation develop. But now, the situation the man was in was completely different from the few people who had vaporized. Those people had instantly melted, so it was impossible to stop for such a long period of time.

Just as Seven Plume hesitantly released his perception in order to investigate the situation, he saw a stunning scene.

Countless ice crystals slowly emerged out of the man’s body. The ice crystals tore out of his skin, but not a single drop of blood flowed out because it had all frozen. Countless ice crystals began to bloom like peach blossoms, and soon, it covered every inch of the man’s body.

The man did not notice it. In fact, there was no life in him despite him maintaining his standing pose. In just a few seconds, the man’s body was covered in ice as he became an ice sculpture!

On the man’s face, there was still that look of surprise and oddness. Through the refraction and distortion of the ice, it gave people the chills.

What!?

Seven Plume had just been beside the man. He broke out in cold sweat from fear. What was going on!?

1020 - : Shameless

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ka Ka Ka!”

Just as the group watched was in shocked horror, cracks suddenly covered the ice sculpture. Next, it shattered under the watchful eyes of the group, scattering to the ground as ice fragments.

These ice fragments were tiny like rice grains. When they scattered onto the red sand, they were quickly covered by the shifting sands before vanishing. It was as if the man with the mole had evaporated into thin air, with nothing left behind.

Upon seeing that scene, the Azure Wood Manor separatists felt a cold chill that struck deep into their hearts.

It was clearly not an ordinary form of frostbite, but a strange manifestation of laws. The ice had burst out from the body of the deceased.

“How could that have happened? We were clearly following…” Seven Plume turned to look at Yi Yun suddenly.

The Azure Wood Manor separatists, who were present, had been following in Yi Yun’s footsteps. There was not even a single misstep on their part. Under such a situation, shouldn’t they be completely fine like Yi Yun? Why did such turn of events happen?

Someone began to suspect that Yi Yun had used a sleight of hand to fool them.

“Punk, did you secretly do something?” questioned someone from the Azure Wood Manor in a threatening manner.

“Do I need to explain to you? Did I get you to follow me?” asked Yi Yun as he looked at the questioning Azure Wood Manor disciple, as though he was a retard. “Didn’t the lot of you say that the path you divined happened to be identical to mine? Why are you questioning me now?”

With one sentence, Yi Yun had caught their tongues.

They were unable to say a word, no matter how shameless they were. To put it honestly, the death of their compatriot was of their own choice.

“If you like to follow me, go ahead and continue doing so.” As Yi Yun said that, he ignored the group of people as he continued proceeding forward.

At that moment, the purple-robed elder said with a sigh, “The powers of nature in the Blood Desert is not static. We have already entered another region, so the laws will change as well. It might be fine when others take it, but trouble will befall us when we follow in those footsteps.”

As the purple-robed elder spoke, Yi Yun had already opened up a distance of nearly a hundred paces. There were too many possible changes that could happen in a hundred paces. Furthermore, the Blood Desert was extremely odd. A mere hundred paces were enough to blur Yi Yun’s figure from their point of view. There was also no way for them to discern the spot where Yi Yun’s feet landed.

With Yi Yun about to leave, Seven Plume and company turned furious and anxious.

“Elder Dagu.” Without any options left, all Seven Plume could do was look at Elder Dagu again.

“Why are you panicking!? Once I do another round of divination, we will definitely be able to leave the Blood Desert!” said Elder Dagu angrily.

When he cast his cold gaze at the people from the Immortal Rain Sect, Marquis Wu Yun’s heart sank.

If they wanted to live, they had to follow the Azure Wood Manor separatists. However, it was needless to say that they would definitely be used as stepping stones.

…

Granny Yin, who was following Yue Yingsha closely, could not help but ask with a whisper, “Successor, are we really abandoning those people?”

Although she was displeased with them, they were still lost progeny of the Azure Wood Manor. It was unknown how many of them would die if they were abandoned.

Yue Yingsha turned her head to take a look. In just slightly more than a hundred paces, those people had turned into blurry figures.

She retracted her glance and said in an unfeeling manner, “Granny, these people are wicked monsters with diabolical designs. They are only doing it for themselves. It is unlikely that they have a sense of belonging towards the Azure Wood Manor. It’s all thanks to Yi Yun if we can escape the Blood Desert.”

Granny Yin had nothing in response. She knew that based on her attitude towards Yi Yun from before, it was already nice of Yi Yun to not add insult to injury. All she could do was release a lengthy sigh.

“Yi Yun, I never expected you to have such talent in array formations. How long have you been studying the arts of array formations?” Granny Yin asked out of curiosity.

Elder Dagu had flaunted his skills in array formations ostentatiously in such a confident manner, yet he was far inferior to Yi Yun.

It could only be a few decades even if Yi Yun had begun studying the arts of array formations when he was in his mother’s womb. To warriors, such a period of time was analogous to a baby’s childhood to mortals. It was just the beginning.

“I actually do not know much about array formations,” said Yi Yun.

Doesn’t he know array formations? Granny Yin was momentarily stupefied as she said, “Then…”

“I’ve never studied the arts of array formation. All I did was observe the forces of nature and the evolution of energy. From that, I recognized the patterns and figured out the underlying rules” Yi Yun explained with a light touch.

Granny Yin found it unbelievable when she heard Yi Yun’s explanation. However, from the unperturbed state he was in, he did not look like he had lied. If Yi Yun was so sharp in sensing fluctuations in the forces of nature or energy, then his talent was outrageously shocking.

“If that’s true, this child is truly talented. Unfortunately, he is not a disciple of my Azure Wood Manor,” thought Granny Yin.

“Oh? We have walked out of the Blood Desert!?” Seeing the red sand come to an end, a pleasant surprise suffused on Yue Yingsha’s beautiful face.

When they stepped across the demarcation formed by the red sand, Yue Yingsha felt spatial changes. The ground beneath her suddenly became a vast savannah that was brimming with life. The burning sun above their heads had vanished.

When she turned back to take a look, the Blood Desert behind her had vanished as well. It was as though it had never existed.

The Blood Desert was actually not large, but if one could not find the correct path, people would either be lost in it for the rest of their lives or quickly die in it.

“This is…”

Yi Yun cast his gaze afar. He could see a black mountain range in the distance that looked like a gigantic dragon crouching across the horizon. What was strange about it was the rich and brimming vitality that came from the long mountain range.

In addition, the mountain range contained life energy that was as tumultuous as the seas from his Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

A mountain range with life force in it?

The Door to the 33 Skies was truly fascinating!

“This is probably…not a mountain range,” said Yue Yingsha with her eyes closed. She had similarly felt the life force within the mountain range. Her expression was one of awe and reverence.

“Oh? Are there records of this in the canon as well?” asked Yi Yun as he glanced at Yue Yingsha.

“There are no records of this in the canon. All I can do is guess. Let’s go closer.” Yue Yingsha was uncertain as well. Together with Yi Yun, she traversed the grasslands that were lush with vegetation. They gradually drew closer to the mountain range and slowly, Yi Yun saw it clearly.

On the long mountain range, it was covered in old and strong winding timber. The wooden textures drooped down along the mountain range, as though they were flowing down the mountain like a river.

“This is…”

Yi Yun was astonished.

“The divine tree! It’s the divine tree’s roots… I can sense a familiar aura from it. It must be the divine tree at the core of the Azure Wood Great World!” said Yue Yingsha with a look of surprise on her face.

The Azure Wood Great World’s divine tree was situated in the middle of the Azure Wood Great World and it determined the providence of the world. If not for the divine tree, the Azure Wood Great World would have long collapsed.

Yue Yingsha had the impression that the Door to the 33 Skies was in a completely different space from the Azure Wood Great World. However, the divine tree’s roots had spanned across the confines and barriers of space, stretching into the Door to the 33 Skies!

1021 - : Divine Tree

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Is that the divine tree?” Yi Yun had also heard of legends depicting the divine tree in the Azure Wood Great World but it was the first time he was seeing it today.

“Successor, are you sure that’s the divine tree? Why would its roots appear here? There are no records of it in canon.” Granny Yin muttered. She found it hard to accept that the sect’s canon would suddenly lose its importance.

“It’s the divine tree.”

As the successor to the Azure Wood Manor, Yue Yingsha’s life had an ethereal connection with the divine tree’s aura. It gave her confidence that her intuition wasn’t wrong.

“Let’s go over and take a look.”

The legends spoke of a great woman—the one in the Azure Wood Manor’s portraits—who had planted the Azure Wood Great World’s divine tree. It determined the providence of the world it resided in, but tens of millions of years ago, the world had begun its decline.

Although Yue Yingsha knew that it was impossible to halt the destruction of the Azure Wood Great World, she was determined to do something. She hoped that something fortuitous would come out of it if she approached the divine tree’s root network which she had never encountered before.

Yi Yun nodded. The divine tree that had lived for hundreds of millions of years was a miracle of life. It exceeded the Dao Tree with the three thousand Great Dao he encountered back in the Pure Yang Sword Palace in every possible way.

The trio began approaching the tree’s vast network of tree roots. The roots of the massive tree did not appear distant, but for some baffling reason, the trio was unable to close the gap despite their hike.

Despite the seemingly harmless environment, the trio did not attempt to fly in the Door to the 33 Skies since it was filled with all kinds of oddities. They had been especially cautious as they proceeded.

Unknowingly, the sky gradually darkened. Yi Yun looked up and saw twinkling stars hanging in the sky. A faint river of stars stretched across the sky in a splendid and resplendent manner.

This left Yi Yun baffled. The Azure Wood Great World was a sealed off world, so how could they see the massive arm of a galaxy? Could it be that the sky they were looking at was not the Azure Wood Great World’s?

It was unknown when a night fog had slowly rolled in. However, the fog did not affect visibility because of its thinness. Granny Yin had subconsciously slowed down her footsteps as her intuition for possible danger had been honed from the years she had seen and lived through.

“Kid, let’s slow down. I find something amiss,” said Granny Yin. In the night fog, they were still able to see the starry galactic arm, but they could no longer see the mountainous behemoth in the distance. The divine tree’s roots had already been hidden amidst the thin fog.

Yi Yun activated his energy vision but he failed to see anything strange. However, he had slowed down as well.

Suddenly, Yi Yun heard the sound of flowing water. It was faint and imperceptible.

Yi Yun was unsure about the source of the night fog that was enveloping them. It could have been a river or something else, but he found the fog extremely odd. Looking ahead, everything appeared indistinct due to the fog, but behind him, the fog was in no way thick. The path that they had taken was still crystal clear.

“Why do I have this nagging feeling that we are lost…” said Yi Yun suddenly. Looking at the starry sky above them, they had been walking in one particular direction. The divine tree’s roots should have been straight ahead of them, but the unrest in his heart was intensifying. Yet, he could not see anything through his energy vision.

Not seeing things should have been a good thing, but it was abnormal for there to be nothing.

Yue Yingsha was trying her best to recall the written canon of the Azure Wood Manor, but just as she wanted to say something, she suddenly felt a cold chill behind her back that made her hair stand.

Yue Yingsha turned her head abruptly as her expression changed drastically.

This gave Yi Yun a shock as he hurriedly turned his head. There was nothing in the vague and shadowy fog.

“What’s wrong?”

From Yue Yingsha’s pale expression, Yi Yun guessed that she had seen something a moment ago.

“An eye…I saw a pink-colored eye. It was the size of a bowl, and the eye was following us like a ghost. It has been observing us all this while, and it disappeared the moment I turned back.”

Yue Yingsha secretly felt vexed. She too was a practitioner of martial arts. It was unbecoming of her to react in such a frightened manner. If it had been a dangerous attack, she might have been too frightened to even use half of her combat strength.

“An eye?” Yi Yun felt his heart skip a beat. He did not believe that Yue Yingsha had been mistaken. It was likely possible that such a thing truly existed in the fog. What was most strange was that his energy vision was unable to see anything.

The energy vision was not omnipotent. All it could do was give him a vision of energy. What if the object that was hiding in the dark did not have any energy fluctuations?

Such an existence that could approach him so silently gave Yi Yun the chills. He had to be cautious regardless of the case. The dangers which awaited him in the Door to the 33 Skies was unimaginable. He had crossed the Blood Desert with verve, but it was only because he could see the killing mechanism of the Blood Desert through his energy vision.

Due to Yue Yingsha’s fear of being sneaked up from the back, she looked back after almost every step. As they proceeded forward, that faint sound of water turned clearer.

As they emerged out of the fog, they finally saw the source of the water sounds.

In front of the trio, there was a black river that extended itself into a col. There was a whirlpool in the col that seemed to flow deep underground.

The black river’s waters were sticky and heavy, resembling black ink. The river wasn’t wide, but it gave off a peculiar vibe.

And what absolutely terrified Yi Yun was the white bones he could vaguely see in the whirlpool. As the black river unloaded itself into the col, the bones bobbed up and down before succumbing to their fate of being swallowed by the whirlpool.

By the banks of the river, the lush grassland had gone as far as it could, but the grass had already turned black. Beneath the grass, there was a layer of white powder.

Yi Yun remembered everything that he had seen in the White Bone Ridge. It was bone ash that had been scattered along the banks of the lake, which had become fertilizer for the wormwood.

“It’s dangerous! Let’s leave quickly!”

Granny Yin suddenly yelled in a voice as jarring as a nightbird.

Without giving it any thought, Yi Yun fled with Granny Yin, who had a high cultivation level! Granny Yin held Yi Yun with one hand, and Yue Yingsha in the other, while running as fast as possible with her movement technique.

Yi Yun subconsciously looked back but saw the black wormwood by the lake dancing like snakes. The layer of soil had ruptured as bone ash stirred.

Yi Yun did not know what would have happened if he had stayed behind.

Granny Yin flew a distance of ten thousand feet in one breath. Suddenly, she saw a group of people in front.

Granny Yin was alarmed, but just as she wanted to retreat, she realized that the group of people were the Azure Wood Manor separatists. It included Seven Plume and the purple-robed elder.

These people had finally managed to leave the Blood Desert at a painful cost.

“Oh? It’s you!”

A cold beam flashed in Seven Plume’s eyes. He had suffered greatly in the Blood Desert and he was bent on getting his revenge.

1022 - : Night Fog

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Elder Dagu! Master Uncle Mofei! Seize them!” bellowed Seven Plume angrily. He was no longer held back by the possible relationship with the orthodox Azure Wood Manor or the exploration of the Door to the 33 Skies, all he wanted was to vent his anger.

“Seven Plume! I just encountered a land of death which I barely escaped from. Fighting here would be akin to suicide!” Granny Yin guarded Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha with cold daggers shooting from her eyes.

“Hmph, do you think I’ll fall for such a feeble excuse?” Seven Plume gave a disdainful scoff. “Granny Yin, I’d have respected you if you had put up a fight, but now, it’s only laughable to see your attempts at playing tricks on me. Let’s attack them together! Seize them!”

“Haha! My pleasure!” A long howl was heard from behind Seven Plume. It was none other than Marquis Wu Yun. The Immortal Rain Sect disciples from before had been completely wiped out, but Marquis Wu Yun had managed to fortuitously survived.

He hated Yi Yun to the bone and wanted to skin him alive.

“Capture him alive. Don’t kill him for I have a use for him!” said Seven Plume again. He was very interested in the array mystic technique that Yi Yun knew. He wanted to know how Yi Yun had managed to walk out of the Blood Desert. If he could grasp such a secret method, it would be a great fortuitous event for him.

“You are courting death!” said an incensed Granny Yin. With the group of people obstructing her path, there was no way to tear through the blockade with the two people she was carrying with her. At that moment, Granny Yin suddenly felt an intense danger behind her.

“Behind! The black river!”

Yi Yun was able to clearly see the scene of the ground splitting apart a thousand feet behind him! The rift valley was encroaching towards them at a terrifying speed like an anaconda. And beneath the valley was a surging black river!

After the river flowed into the Door to the 33 Skies, it was very different from a mouth of a river. It was as if it had a life and a mind of its own while it consumed everything it encountered!

The black river was boiling like black lava. In that split second, Granny Yin bit at her tongue tip without even taking a look. She spewed out a mouthful of blood essence and she did not hesitate to burn it. She ignored the fact that her days were numbered, to begin with.

“Whew!”

Granny Yin transformed into a beam of light and vanished. And at that moment, the members of the Azure Wood Manor were too distracted to stop her. They had also caught sight of the rapidly emanating rift as well as the boiling water of death inside the valley.

“What is that!?”

The sudden turn of events left the Azure Wood Manor separatists in shock. Although they also had an inkling of possible danger, no one was willing to burn their blood essence without determining the actual threat.

But in that moment of hesitation—

“Puah!”

Black water erupted out of the fissure before turning into a mighty black torrent that swept towards the Azure Wood Manor separatists and Marquis Wu Yun!

The black torrent exuded a horrifying force that made even the warriors tremble. They were unable to muster any strength as they were paralyzed with fear.

“Ah!”

Seven Plume was the first person to be hit by the black torrent. He struggled frantically in the black torrent as he issued heart-wrenching screams!

However, everything was meaningless. His flesh and blood were being cleanly corroded by the black torrent and soon, he was reduced to bone.

He had extended his hands that were now only bone, desperately clawing towards the sky to no avail. Eventually, his remains were devoured by the black torrent.

Upon seeing that scene, Marquis Wu Yun was scared out of his wits.

He frantically fled from the path of destruction, but compared to Granny Yin, he had taken that critical step one moment slower. The time of that single step demarcated life and death. The black torrent branched out and wrapped itself around Marquis Wu Yun’s feet, dragging him back instantly!

Marquis Wu Yun got mired down by the black torrent. Although he was much stronger than Seven Plume, he was unable to create any miracles in the black torrent. The protective Yuan Qi barrier he conjured was dissolved by the black water before his flesh and blood corroded quickly. In a moment, he had been reduced to bone, sealing his complete death!

Even Marquis Wu Yun had succumbed to such a fate, so it was needless to mention the others. More than ten people from the Azure Wood Manor separatists and the Immortal Rain Sect combined had survived the Blood Desert, but they were nothing in the face of the terrifying black torrent. They failed to put up any form of resistance.

The black torrent seemed to temporarily cease pursuit of Yi Yun and company when it encountered fresh meat. This gave them a chance to finally escape peril.

While Yi Yun was being pulled along by Granny Yin, he had managed to clearly see the situation pan out. Even though he was usually composed, he realized that his back was drenched in sweat.

Granny Yin flew for dozens of kilometers without stopping. The moment she stopped, she was panting and her face was pale. It was demanding on the advanced Granny Yin to burn her blood essence. She looked even older from the intense stress that she was in while fleeing from the dangerous situation.

“Senior, what was that?”

Yi Yun had yet to recover from his fears as well. He was very grateful to Granny Yin. If she had not pulled him along, his low cultivation level might not have been enough for him to escape the onslaught. Furthermore, it was Granny Yin who had warned him of the danger initially.

“In the Azure Wood Manor’s canon, there is something called the Styx Whirlpool. It’s an unparalleled land of peril. It is situated in many regions of the Door to the 33 Skies, and every encounter with it leads to a tragedy.”

Granny Yin managed to catch her breath after consuming eating a pill she took out from a porcelain bottle. An abnormal ruddiness flushed in her old face.

“Styx Whirlpool?” Yi Yun was puzzled. It did not seem like it was an array formation that was formed by the forces of nature. What could it be?

The eye that was hidden in the night fog also gave Yi Yun the shudders.

“We might be in big trouble,” said Granny Yin with a worried look. “We flew so far out, yet there is no end to the fog. We might have lost our way.”

“Granny, I think it’s best we stay put. There are no guarantees on what’s lurking in the fog. The chances of us surviving would be slim if we were to encounter the Styx Whirlpool again,” said Yue Yingsha. It was equivalent to committing suicide to fumble around blindly without any clear indication of their position. It was best they waited for daybreak.

The night and day within the Door to the 33 Skies was extremely strange. That night was longer than what Yi Yun expected. What was more alarming was the thunderous sound of metal rubbing against metal in the distance within the fog. It sounded like the tightening of massive chains which was accompanied by a low and terrifying roar. The muffled roar did not sound like a beast’s but sounded more like a person’s if one paid attention.

“Could it be Master and the rest?”

Yi Yun thought to himself. Before the Apocalyptic Fumes stirred, Felicitous Rain Lord and company had headed into the core area of the Azure Wood Great World. Now, they had likely entered the Door to the 33 Skies, but it was unknown what they had encountered.

As for people other than Felicitous Rain Lord and company, they were probably already dead after entering the Door to the 33 Skies.

“Oh? What’s that?”

In the darkness, Yue Yingsha’s sudden words snapped Yi Yun out of his thoughts. Looking in the direction that Yue Yingsha was pointing in, he saw a black stone.

There were innumerable stones in the Door to the 33 Skies, but that stone was completely different…

Yi Yun could vaguely make out a line of text engraved on the surface of the rock…

1023 - : River Styx

CKtalon  CKtalon

What was written on the stone?

Yi Yun wondered. Every inch of the Door to the 33 Skies exuded an air of strangeness. Despite walking in it for so long, he had yet to encounter hints of human or Fey race activity.

“It’s text used by the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.”

When Yi Yun cautiously came in front of the black stone, he saw a line of text that was written with bold strokes. Although it had been weathered by the elements for an unknown period of time, with portions of it eroded, it still had Dao charms circulating within that ensured that the line of text was not destroyed.

“I’m acutely aware that my days are numbered and I have established my tomb here. To mistakenly enter the Door to the 33 Skies, there is no regret to dying after seeing the forces of nature and the powers of gods and demons. — Yue Ziya.”

The few dozen words left a deep impact on one’s soul. Had he established a tomb for himself? Who was Yue Ziya…?

Yi Yun glanced at Granny Yin and noticed her expression looking complicated. The corners of her mouth were twitching as she kowtowed at the tombstone.

“Yue Ziya is the founding ancestor of our Azure Wood Manor. He was also the only Divine Lord that had perished in the Door to the 33 Skies. He entered the Door to the 33 Skies thrice and he failed to exit it on his third. Nothing was heard of him from then on.”

When Granny Yin recounted the piece of history, her face was filled with mixed emotions. Hundreds of millions of years had passed, but she had managed to see the tomb and last words of Yue Ziya in the Door to the 33 Skies. How could she not sigh?

“So the Divine Lord died here.” Yi Yun had a serious expression. He knew that a Divine Lord had perished in the Door to the 33 Skies, but it was not necessarily a place that was filled with danger. For example, Yi Yun had managed to easily exit the Blood Desert with his energy vision. If a Divine Lord had entered the Blood Desert, his perception of the forces of nature would make it trivial for him to escape the Blood Desert. There might not even be a need for a Divine Lord to fully understand the forces of nature to withstand the laws of the Dao patterns.

But here, Yue Ziya had set up his tomb and said that he knew his days were numbered. He felt no regret for his death after seeing the forces of nature and the powers of gods and demons.

What did Yue Ziya see in his final living moments, and what did he encounter? What made him immediately know that his days were numbered?

Yi Yun suddenly felt a baffling chill.

If a Divine Lord could not survive in here, what about Master?

“Granny, if Ancestor Master perished here, this might actually be a land of great peril…” Yue Yingsha felt a dark cloud veil across her heart. The seemingly lush savanna was actually a hundred times more dangerous than the Blood Desert.

Before Granny Yin could say a word, the sounds of the rubbing metallic chains resounded once again.

The sounds seemed to come from the deepest depths of hell as they assaulted the eardrums. Immediately following the sounds of the chain was a loud boom!

“Boom! Boom!”

The reverberations surged at them and each one of them induced an earthquake!

The world in the Door to the 33 Skies was massive, yet the ground could quake from the sound blasts?

What sort of existence created it?

The reverberations continued blaring, striking straight at the heart. After hearing it a few times, Yi Yun realized that the sounds were resonating with his heart. His heartbeat was influenced by the sound and began to synchronize its beats with the sound. This made Yi Yun’s blood and energy turbulent as he felt his chest heavy. It was an extremely unpleasant feeling.

“The sound is terrifying. What is it?” asked Yi Yun while clasping his chest. Granny Yin was fine, but Yue Yingsha was in a worse state than Yi Yun. Her face was pale and blood was seeping out the corners of her mouth. Clearly, the massive sound blasts had injured her when they resonated with her organs.

“Successor, quickly calm down and meditate. I’ll be on guard. Let’s wait for daybreak!” exhorted Granny Yin. She did not know how long more the sound will continue. She felt that Yue Yingsha was unable to last long against it and she had to be wary of the mysterious eye that was hiding in the fog. She could not be distracted.

Yue Yingsha stopped just as she was about to say something. She knew her bodily condition, so all she could do was close her eyes and meditate. She left everything to Granny Yin.

The night was longer than expected.

The terrifying booms and the rubbing sounds of metallic chains continued on. Occasionally, the fierce roars of ancient beasts were interspersed in it. The roars could instantly reduce a Dao Seed realm warrior to a mist of blood.

All of this gave them the creeps. It was as if there was a terrifying existence chained in the rolling mountains who was trying its best to escape those shackles in this dark and eerie night.

The torturous night depleted Yue Yingsha’s Yuan Qi greatly. Even Yi Yun found it extremely unsustainable.

He knew that he had yet to actually encounter danger. It was just sound waves that would have been harmless to figures at the level of Yue Ziya. However, they were sufficient to reduce him to such a sorry state. This made Yi Yun feel a great sense of danger for he was unsure what he would encounter next.

“The fog is dispersing…”

Perhaps it was because daybreak was nearing as the night fog that occluded their vision and prevented their perception from working had mostly vanished. Looking up into the sky, the river of stars were becoming dimmer. In the eastern sky, a blood-red morning sun gradually rose, scattering its luminance that resembled thousands of divine swords.

“Daybreak has finally…finally, come.” Yi Yun sighed in relief. Yue Yingsha’s expression relaxed in a rare fashion. She had her brows knitted previously with sweat perspiring from her forehead.

However, before Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha had a chance to say something, they were simultaneously astounded by what they saw into the distance.

Under the blood sun’s illumination, Yue Yingsha and Yi Yun saw an alarming scene that they would never forget for life.

They saw in the distant horizon dozens of thick veins as thick as mountains gathered together. Like dragons snatching at a pearl, they twined around and formed a thick divine tree trunk. It stood erect like a heavenly column that reached toward the ends of the Door to the 33 Skies.

And in front of the divine tree stood a bronze giant. The giant seemed to hold up the heavens and his body obstructed the sanguine sun. All the mountains were crushed beneath his feet like sand mounds in a sandpit. The bronze giant held a massive ax in hand while his body was wrapped around by black chains. The end of these chains pierced into the bronze giant’s flesh and on the other end, they were buried deep into the ground.

“Boom!”

The bronze giant was brandishing his ax and chopping at the tree root!

Clang!

The chains resonated producing the terrifying sound again. Like the collapsing of mountains and the howling of seas, a massive shockwave ran through the ground as a result of the sound blast with the bronze giant as the epicenter! The blast radiated out for hundreds of kilometers and moments later, a strong squall came rushing at Yi Yun and company.

With a grunt, Yi Yun took several steps back. Even with his Yuan Qi protecting him, he felt as though his eardrums were about to rupture from the sound blast.

Yue Yingsha was in an even worse state. She nearly collapsed after experiencing a night of torment.

What was this?

Yue Yingsha was astounded. There was a giant deep in the Door to the 33 Skies and it was chopping at the Azure Wood Great World’s divine tree!

1024 - : Giant

CKtalon  CKtalon

The divine tree of the Azure Wood Great World had been planted eons ago, and it had existed for an unknown period of time before the world it resided in was born. It was a tree that held up the fate of the Azure Wood Great World, but such a divine tree was being chopped at by a terrifying giant?

“Hmph! The divine tree has lived for hundreds of millions of years. Although the giant is mighty, it’s wishful thinking if it’s attempting to chop down the divine tree!” Granny Yin said through gritted teeth. In her mind, the divine tree was a god that was absolutely indestructible.

However, Yi Yun begged to differ. Every cleave the bronze giant produced was earth-shattering so the divine tree was likely to be damaged even if it was not felled.

What sort of existence was the bronze giant? Why was it so terrifying?

“The divine tree is indeed like a god, but even a true god is unlikely to be indestructible. I wonder if the bronze giant’s chopping of the divine tree has anything to do with the collapse of the Azure Wood Great World.”

Yi Yun’s remark left Granny Yin, who was simmering in killing intent, startled.

The collapse of the Azure Wood Great World had something to do with the chopping of the divine tree?

On careful thought, although the Azure Wood Great World had existed for eons, there were many worlds that had survived longer than the Azure Wood Great World. These worlds did not necessarily have a tree that held them up; but now, the Azure Wood Great World which had the divine tree rooted in it was collapsing at a faster rate than those worlds.

After this thought came to Granny Yin’s mind, it felt like a specter haunting her. She had spent her entire life in the Azure Wood Manor and she had subconsciously believed that the divine tree was indestructible. This had made her automatically neglect such a possibility.

Could the Azure Wood Great World’s collapse be explained by the bronze giant’s chopping of the divine tree?

“Granny, what do we do?”

Yue Yingsha had clearly come to the same conclusion as well. She felt a deep sense of helplessness when facing the bronze giant. What could she do in front of such an existence?

Even if the Divine Lord, Yue Ziya, was alive, what he could do was likely limited as well, let alone her.

Yue Yingsha and Granny Yin were astonished the moment Yi Yun said, “I might have…seen this bronze giant before.”

“You have seen it before?”

“It shouldn’t be the same person, but someone from the same race. I’ve once seen a phantom image of a bronze giant in a ruin.”

Back when Yi Yun entered the Pure Yang Sword Palace, he had witnessed its owner slash out a strike that cleaved off a corner of a world and simultaneously, the head of a bronze giant!

That scene had left an unforgettable impression on Yi Yun. However, a phantom image was nothing more than a phantom image. It was definitely different from seeing a bronze giant standing in front of him.

“What ruin?” Granny Yin asked quickly. By concealing information of the Pure Yang Sword Palace, Yi Yun told them a partial story of entering a dilapidated world and how he had witnessed the scene of a bronze giant being slain.

Granny Yin was somewhat disappointed after hearing his depiction because it was information that could hardly be analyzed to be of any value.

“Oh? That is…”

Yi Yun’s heart leaped as he saw the chains wrapped around the bronze giant suddenly tighten!

“Clang!”

The chains blared as they tugged at the bronze giant’s flesh. One end of the chains was lodged deep within the bronze giant’s body.

The bronze giant revealed a grimacing look as all its veins bulged, as though bronze fluid was being injected into its muscles, swelling them up.

“Puah! Puah! Puah!”

Dozens of black fountains surged to the sky as they converged from every corner of the lands toward the bronze giant that resembled a whale sucking in water. Finally, countless small vortices appeared in the void as they were absorbed by the bronze giant’s pores.

After absorbing all of the liquid from the black fountains, the bronze giant seemed to calm down greatly. The dozens of chains that restrained the bronze giant also began to slack.

“It’s the water of the River Styx…”

Yi Yun could clearly tell that the black river, called River Styx by Granny Yin, covered the plains. It had previously devoured Marquis Wu Yun and the Immortal Rain Sect separatists. Although Marquis Wu Yun and company were rather powerful, they had been swallowed by the water of the River Styx, reducing their flesh and blood to withered bone.

“It’s indeed the River Styx. The rivers are scattered all across the plains and every tributary of the River Styx would form a land that spells certain doom. Now, every trace of it is being absorbed by the bronze giant.”

Granny Yin recalled of the countless white bones that bobbed in the black waters of the river and felt a baffling chill. Could those white bones be the remains of living creatures that had their flesh and bone consumed after they drowned in the black river?

“Successor,” said Granny Yin with a grave expression. “I have a feeling that the bronze giant is imprisoned here by those chains. In order to escape those chains, it has devoured every living creature that has entered the Door to the 33 Skies through the use of the black river’s waters!”

“Oh!?” Yue Yingsha’s heart palpitated. After hearing Granny Yin’s words, she made the connections with the records in canon and realized that it was not impossible.

Countless people had died in the Door to the 33 Skies, but if one thought about it, the ways they died ranged from having their flesh dissolve or bones melt, through decaying into ash, to having their bodies corrode. The ways they died had a common point. They were left without remains.

If it was conjectured that the final outcome of the flesh and blood of dead warriors in the Door to the 33 Skies was for them to be consumed by the bronze giant, then everything seemed to make complete sense.

This conjecture sounded sensational that even Yi Yun felt a sense of dreaded fear when he heard it.

“Successor, we might be in big trouble. This piece of land that was enveloped by the gray fog yesterday might be the most dangerous area in the Door to the 33 Skies. It might be very difficult to exit the moment we entered. If not, Ancestor Master from hundreds of millions of years ago would not have left his tombstone behind on this piece of land. That’s because he knew he faced certain doom…”

A Divine Lord of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven was almighty but had resigned himself to fate by believing that his days were numbered and left behind a tombstone. It was evident how terrifying this piece of land was.

Yi Yun took a deep breath when he heard Granny Yin’s words. If they were truly in such a situation, the chances of them leaving this place alive was exceedingly slim.

“Kid, what ideas do you have?” Granny Yin suddenly asked Yi Yun. Previously, Yi Yun had led them out of the Blood Desert, making her think of him in a different light. At that moment, all she could do was resort to desperate attempts to save a hopeless situation.

“I don’t know,” said Yi Yun with a shake of his head. It would be a lie to not be horrified while facing unknown dangers and certain death. “But regardless, let’s make an attempt. There might be a chance of survival…”

“Alright, I’ll lead the way.”

After Granny Yin said that, she immediately walked in front to lead the way. The person walking in front was naturally taking on the greatest risk. Although Granny Yin’s cultivation level was the highest, her bit of strength was unlikely to amount to much in this plains of death.

The sun gradually rose, but the weather seemed to turn gloomier. The bronze giant seemed to fade into the fog as it slowly disappeared.

It was unknown when a drizzle began to fall down from the sky. However, the raindrops were black in color, just like the black river’s water. It exuded a faint sanguine air to it that was suffocating.

Amidst the rain, a pair of eyes the size of bowls gradually emerged. It stared quietly at the advancing trio, and like an apparition, it began to slowly approach.

1025 - : Plains of Despair

CKtalon  CKtalon

The black rain fell in a dense outpour. As Yi Yun and company proceeded through the rain, they had conjured a protective barrier to isolate the raindrops from themselves.

The bronze giant had completely vanished. Neither could they hear the tumultuous sounds of the metal chains rubbing against each other. But in the dead silence of the misty rain, Yi Yun felt that there was something constantly staring at them. He felt immense foreboding.

But Yi Yun did not see anything the few times he turned his head.

“Yi Yun, something doesn’t feel right,” said Yue Yingsha suddenly. She sensed chilly waves assaulting them and despite walking for so long, their surroundings did not seem to change at all. It was as if they were walking in circles.

“Granny…are we continuing?”

Granny Yin had been leading the way by walking in front. When Yue Yingsha called out to her, Granny Yin did not immediately respond. Instead, she was continuing straight ahead.

“Granny.”

Yue Yingsha suddenly felt something amiss as she flashed in front of Granny Yin. What she saw drained the color from her face.

At that moment, Granny Yin’s face was shrouded in an intense layer of cadaveric air. Her entire being resembled one that had crawled out of a tomb, as though she was almost done rotting!

Granny Yin’s eyes were deeply recessed and her wrinkly eyelids were tightly closed. In between the slits of her eyes flowed a trickle of black blood that was nearing complete decay. She could not see Yue Yingsha at all.

However, Granny Yin suddenly raised her stiff right hand. In the palm of her right hand, as well as her neck, there were two additional strange eyes that did not belong to her. The eyes were green in color and as they blinked, they were staring intently at Yue Yingsha, as if they were watching a delicious prey!

“Ah!”

Such a strange scene made Yue Yingsha scream out in horror. Granny Yin was someone she was the closest to. Now, she had suddenly turned alien. Such horror had ten times more impact than encountering any ordinary danger!

“Be careful!”

Yi Yun immediately pulled out his pure Yang broken sword and stood by Yue Yingsha’s side. The two eyes that appeared on Granny Yin’s body made his scalp tingle.

But at that moment, Yi Yun was at a loss. The eyes were apparently attempting to possess or devour Granny Yin’s body.

What should he do? Should he strike?

Yi Yun was unsure if a strike from him could kill the eyes on Granny Yin’s body but there was probably no question that Granny Yin was doomed!

“Granny is still alive. I can still sense her aura, but it’s very weak,” said Yue Yingsha with a trembling voice. She had her suspicions that once the pair of eyes completed its devourment, it would probably become harder to deal with. However, there was no way she could steel her heart to kill Granny Yin at that moment in time.

“Although Senior Yin is still alive, we are out of options. If the eyes can even devour Granny Yin, it will not pose any troubles devouring the two of us. If we do not attack, there will not be any chances left.”

Yi Yun could only lay out the facts although he abhorred the thought of attacking Granny Yin. The moment she died, their collective strength would be greatly reduced as well.

Just as Yue Yingsha was hesitating, the sudden scene that followed made Yue Yingsha feel like she had fallen into a frozen cavern. She could see pairs of green eyes lighting up in the distant rain.

These eyes were even bigger than the ones she had previously seen. There were more than a hundred pairs of eyes as they lined themselves up into rows! The biggest pair was situated at the highest point. It was as large as a lantern and its eyes exuded a cold gaze as it overlooked Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha.

A hopeless situation!

Yi Yun’s heartbeat stagnated. With the sudden appearance of more than a hundred pairs of terrifying eyes, with each pair able to devour an expert like Granny Yin, did he and Yue Yingsha have any chance of survival?

The God Advent Tower could no longer be used again, and even with the remaining two sword Qi that Felicitous Rain Lord left him, he felt that he could only at most sustain an additional ten seconds. One sword Qi could at best destroy one or two pairs of eyes! Was there still a way out?

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

More eyes appeared and formed an entire assembly in the shrouding rain!

Finally, a few pairs of eyes moved. They were like arrows that had left their bowstrings, as they propelled at Yue Yingsha first!

At that moment, Yi Yun finally managed to discern the foe clearly. Those eyes were actually shadowy black blobs. Each entity had a fuzzy body and it only left a pair of eyes in its exterior. The eyes were filled with a faint blackness as they exuded an eerie green luminance.

The black shadow moved very quickly, so quickly that Yue Yingsha had no way of dodging. The black shadow had already rushed in front of her!

With her life on the line, Yue Yingsha yelled in fright. She nearly tumbled but at that moment, a rainbow radiance suddenly beamed from her chest!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

The rainbow radiance was like indestructible sharp swords. Wherever it passed, the black shadows would emit the howls of feral wraiths. Many of the black shadows were pierced through by the rainbow radiance!

“Peng!”

Yue Yingsha slammed heavily to the ground as a portrait scroll fell from Yue Yingsha’s chest.

The portrait was extremely ancient and it had an air of antiquity. The rainbow beams of light had been emitted by it!

The portrait had left the countless of shadows afraid to approach. Not only so, even the shadow that had entered Granny Yin’s body was appalled.

“This is…”

Yi Yun looked at the portrait in shock. The portrait tumbled on the grass pains, and despite the dense black rain, not a single drop stained the portrait.

As the portrait scroll tumbled on the ground, it slowly opened and revealed itself. It depicted a woman in it. She was tall and she had a slender waist. She wore a black dress and in the middle of her eyebrows, there was a bright lotus imprint with nine petals.

Although it was just a portrait, it was as though Yi Yun could feel the fluttering of the black dress. The lotus imprint also seemed to project itself into his soul sea. This mysterious woman was untainted by the mortal world, as though she was a heavenly woman who had descended into the mortal world.

It’s her!

Yi Yun took a deep breath. Back in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, Yi Yun had seen two phantoms hidden in the Purple Crystal while gaining insight into the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. One was a man that wielded a spear, while the other was this woman. She held a nine-petal red lotus which left a deep impression on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun once suspected that the spear-wielding man and the red lotus woman were the previous owners of the Purple Crystal.

Was a previous owner of the Purple Crystal the person who created the Door to the 33 Skies and planted the divine tree that held up the Azure Wood Great World?

Thoughts raced through Yi Yun’s mind, but at that moment, the rainbow radiance from the portrait was gradually dimming. It was as though the divine light from a while ago had burst out accidentally when the portrait opened.

The moment the rainbow radiance dimmed, the black shadows hovering in the sky would stir once again!

“It’s the Sacred Ancestor’s portrait!”

Yue Yingsha, who had collapsed to the ground, rolled on the ground so as to embrace the portrait.

She knew that the portrait had unfathomable power sealed in it. It was the power of the Sacred Ancestor, and what had previously unfolded proved that the evil demons of the Door to the 33 Skies were afraid of this power.

However, Yue Yingsha was deeply aware that she had no way to awaken the power in the scroll. She had attempted numerous times in the past and be it the divine tree or the portrait, she had not received any response from her attempts.

“Sacred Ancestor, please bestow your power on me, even if it’s one-billionth of it…”

Yue Yingsha held the portrait as she humbly knelt to the ground. She knew that the portrait was the final hope that could save the three of them!

1026 - : Sinister Eyes

CKtalon  CKtalon

The ancient portrait scroll sat silently in between Yue Yingsha’s fingers. Not only did the woman in the portrait appear to transcend the space they were in, she also faced everything in silence. Even though life was on the line for Yue Yingsha, she remained unresponsive to her pleas.

“Sacred Ancestor…”

Yue Yingsha knelt to the ground and bowed her head deeply. Her hands that were holding the scroll were trembling. She knew that the woman she called Sacred Ancestor had nothing to do with the Azure Wood Manor. She was the creator of the Azure Wood Great World and the Door to the 33 Skies and she was also the person who planted the divine tree. As for the Azure Wood Manor, they had only prospered from excavating the treasures that she left behind in the Door to the 33 Skies.

Under such circumstances, what sort of rights did they have to call themselves progeny of the Sacred Ancestor?

Danger drew near once again. After the portrait lost its radiance, the black shadows began to crowd around apprehensively.

There were about two to three hundred black shadows—evil demons bred in the Door to the 33 Skies. Yue Yingsha knew very well that if the demons were to charge at them as a horde, they would be completely wipe out even if she and Yi Yun were dozens of times stronger. As for Granny Yin, she was about to be devoured by that strange shadow.

The black shadows drew closer, leaving them out of options…

“Let me take a look at that portrait.”

At the moment of despair, Yi Yun’s voice suddenly sounded. Yue Yingsha faltered for a moment before handing the portrait to him.

The moment the portrait landed in his hands, Yi Yun closed his eyes as he slowly infused his Yuan Qi into the portrait. Upon seeing this scene, Yue Yingsha sighed lightly. Yi Yun was apparently attempting to awaken the power sleeping within the portrait.

However, this portrait was something that left her helpless despite her having a vital connection with the divine tree from a young age. Yi Yun was an outsider and this was his first time coming to the Azure Wood Great World, so what could he do? It was just a final desperate attempt.

Yue Yingsha did not stop him, nor did she give any explanation. All she did was silently wait for her life’s final moment.

“Ah! Ah! Ah!”

Two hundred black shadows roared simultaneously when they were certain that the threat from the portrait had vanished. A few of the most powerful ones had begun to slowly approach. Their spectral green eyes and hideous fangs were already in close proximity.

And at that moment, Yi Yun’s eyes were still tightly closed. While being encircled by the black shadows, the Purple Crystal’s energy enveloped the portrait. Suddenly, he sensed a shudder that came from his soul and immediately following that, Yi Yun felt like he had once again entered the space inside the Purple Crystal, allowing him to see that woman.

She was on a nine-petaled red lotus, with her back facing Yi Yun. Her black hair rushed down her back like waterfalls and time seemed to come to a momentary halt. Only when the black-dressed woman seemingly sensed Yi Yun’s presence did she slowly turn her head…

Boom!

As though he had torn through space-time, Yi Yun’s vision immediately returned to the plains of death once again.

He saw the portrait that he was previously holding in his hands drifting up as it spread out slowly in mid-air.

The woman’s figure in the portrait was identical to the one he saw in the Purple Crystal’s space.

“That…” Yue Yingsha was stunned. She had been unable to awaken the portrait and over the past generations, only one of the female saints had been able to awaken a tiny portion of the portrait’s power. Why was Yi Yun capable of doing that?

Vroom!

Rainbow radiance scattered out of the portrait. Yi Yun bathed in the light and immediately appeared as though he was a descending heavenly god!

It was not Yi Yun’s aura, but the aura of the portrait’s woman.

Slowly, the woman’s phantom image seemed to walk out of the portrait. Every step she took seemed to give birth to a resplendent red lotus.

Her fingers gently swiped across the air as though she was engraving divine patterns in them.

Yue Yingsha widened her eyes but the trajectories of the divine patterns were blurry in an alternate space. She was unable to discern it clearly as though something was blocking her vision.

Could those be…the Dao patterns that the black-dressed woman engraved when she created this world?

The black-dressed woman was the creator of this world, so she was equivalent to a god when it came to the Azure Wood Great World!

Cha! Cha! Cha!

Divine beams radiated in every direction, causing the black shadows to issue biting screams. The ones that were a distance away fled in panic, while the ones in close proximity turned to ash when the rainbow light swept past them!

The evil demons born in the Door to the 33 Skies were unable to withstand the power of a god.

Even the evil demon that had entered Granny Yin’s body let out a loud shrill before turning to a blue wisp of smoke.

Granny Yin’s body jolted before she fell to the ground. She had just escaped the jaws of death and she was extremely weak. However, under the divine rainbow light’s illumination, her eyes that had nearly gone blind slowly began to open.

As her blurry vision gradually turned clear, Granny Yin saw the scene of a figure being immersed in divine light.

“Succ…Successor?”

Granny Yin’s first thought was Yue Yingsha, but after a long while, she realized that it wasn’t Yue Yingsha, but Yi Yun.

Wh…What… Yi Yun has managed to awaken the power of the portrait? Granny Yin found it unbelievable. Why did Yi Yun possess the ability to do so?

Yue Yingsha, as well as the past generations of female saints from the Azure Wood Manor, had a faint connection with the divine tree that stemmed from their soul and bloodline. As a result, they were able to possess sacred items like the Sacred Ancestor’s portrait.

As for Yi Yun, he had been labeled an outsider by the Azure Wood Manor, but now, an outsider had managed to awaken their Sacred Ancestor?

Yi Yun was facing the Sacred Ancestor’s phantom image. In the light, the Sacred Ancestor’s figure looked like a dreamy mirage, and there was no way to discern her facial features. Similarly, Yi Yun was unable to discern the Dao patterns that she had drawn with her hand.

Yi Yun only had a feeling that her beauty exuded a divine sacredness. It was impossible for people to have a tiny bit of disrespect towards her.

The nine-petaled red lotus fluttered around her, and there was a profound aura of samsara resonating around her. Even though she was just a phantom image, Yi Yun was still able to sense a tremendous power from her.

For some reason, Yi Yun sensed that the female phantom image had given him a glance.

It was obviously a phantom image left in a scroll that had been left behind in a time eons ago, yet she was able to traverse the long rivers of time to focus on him.

But that feeling was only ephemeral!

The phantom image gradually dissipated…

The evil demons had retreated with shrill cries, and after an unknown period of time, Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes after feeling like he had experienced a dream.

Only then did he see Yue Yingsha and Granny Yin still prostrated on the ground.

In their eyes, the scene of the Sacred Ancestor’s phantom with dancing sleeves and fluttering dress facing Yi Yun had been deeply imprinted into their minds.

Unknowingly, tears were flowing from Granny Yin’s aged eyes. After tens of millions of years of persistence and protection, with generation after generation of people being guardians of this shattered world and the waning Azure Wood Manor, she, whose days were numbered, had managed to see the Sacred Ancestor making her presence felt today!

Granny Yin gave a deep kowtow. The surrounding evil demons had all been wiped out and coupled with the silence of the savanna, the scene that they were in seemed to be fixed in place for eternity.

1027 - : Ancient Portrait

CKtalon  CKtalon

After the phantom vanished, the portrait gradually rolled up and flew into Yi Yun’s hand.

“Senior Yin, I would like to know more about what the Azure Wood Manor separatists had previously mentioned. What’s the secret zone in the Door to the 33 Skies that Yue Yingsha alone can enter?”

The secret zone and the Key of the Nine Lotus had left Yi Yun somewhat puzzled. However, he found it inappropriate to inquire as it touched upon the Azure Wood Manor’s heritage. But now with it possibly crucial to their survival, he had to make a detailed inquiry.

“The secret zone…is a region interior to the divine tree. Its location is perhaps in the main root of the divine tree, an area closest to the spirit of the divine tree. Back in the past, there was one Azure Wood Manor overseer who had managed to awaken the divine tree despite the closure of the Door to the 33 Skies. Her notes spoke of a secret zone and the existence of the divine tree’s spirit.”

“Based on this progenitor’s records, subsequent generations of the Azure Wood Manor came to believe that if they could find this secret zone and control the spirit of the divine tree, they would be able to awaken the divine tree once again. Not only would it save the Azure Wood Manor, they might also attain incredible power. The Azure Wood Manor separatists were here for that. As for the Key of the Nine Lotus, it was left behind by that progenitor.”

“The spirit of the divine tree…” Yi Yun cast his gaze at Yue Yingsha and said, “Will finding the secret zone guarantee gaining control over the spirit of the divine tree?”

Yue Yingsha sighed and said with a shake of her head, “Actually…it’s not definite…. It was just an insubstantial notebook left behind by the progenitor. She was an impressive person, so I might not be able to accomplish the awakening like she did.”

Yue Yingsha had zero confidence, especially after she entered the Door to the 33 Skies. Witnessing the strangeness and dangers of the Door to the 33 Skies had compounded her belief.

“Yi Yun…it’s you that has a perception—one never seen in my life. You are practically the chosen one of the gods. This is your first time seeing the portrait, yet you can awaken the Sacred Ancestor’s power. Perhaps you are the best candidate…” said Yue Yingsha somewhat sourly.

Yue Yingsha had the impression that the black-dressed woman was equivalent to a god and had existed in a primordial era. Therefore, Yue Yingsha refused to believe that Yi Yun had any relationship with the goddess. In that case, the only reason Yi Yun could awaken the portrait was that it was decided by the heavens!

Such talent and perceptivity made Yue Yingsha lament over her inadequacies. She had been praying in front of the divine tree from a young age and she had injected the divine tree’s sap into her bloodline. But even so, it was completely useless. Perhaps Yi Yun was someone more suitable than she was to be the overseer of the Azure Wood Manor.

Granny Yin’s lips quivered but she did not say a word. Although she was unwilling to admit it, the facts were laid out in front of her.

“Then…let us walk towards the divine tree. The savanna is sealed off by the bronze giant’s power, so there’s no way we can leave this place. Apart from us, even Divine Lords aren’t able to escape this land. Perhaps we might find a chance of survival in the core of the divine tree.”

Walking towards the divine tree meant walking towards the bronze giant. It sounded equivalent to suicide.

But at that moment, a region of death might be the road to survival, and desperate times called for desperate solutions!

Yue Yingsha and Granny Yin exchanged looks. Despite an acute awareness of the danger, no solution came to their minds. In their desperation, they might as well fight for their dear lives rather than suffering a trapped fate in the deadly savanna.

“The divine tree is a god spirit planted by the Sacred Ancestor; and now, the divine tree is sleeping while the bronze giant wantonly hacks away at it. If the divine tree were to awaken, everything might be different.”

Yue Yingsha firmly believed that the power accumulated in the divine tree over hundreds of millions of years was redoubtable. Even the bronze giant would be powerless against it!

In this land of doom, the trio embarked on their journey once again. And this time, their target was the core area of the savanna. Heading towards the boundary in their predicament was destined to be fruitless, but the trip towards the core was surprisingly fast. At nearly the rate of one stride equaling five, they could see the divine tree’s roots far in the distance with just fifteen minutes of walking.

During this process, there was constantly the emergence of the black evil demons, but they were warded off by Yi Yun’s use of the portrait’s power.

As for the deadly water of the River Styx, they managed to avoid it from Granny Yin’s understanding of the geological features of the area.

Although the trio was limited in strength, they managed to safely traverse the savanna of death through all sorts of guile.

As the core region approached, Yi Yun began to see the fuzzy black figure that stood far into the horizon.

It was that bronze giant!

The bronze giant’s body was wrapped in chains and like a statue, it stood motionless. He was no longer chopping at the tree.

Perhaps it had drained all its strength and it was in the midst of recovery, or it would only move again deep into the night.

“Is he not moving because he’s sleeping?”

It could not be any better if the bronze giant was sleeping.

Granny Yin shook her head and said, “It’s probably not that simple. We will definitely alarm it if we really approach it. And when that happens, our deaths to him will be as simple as crushing an ant to death.”

Yi Yun frowned. They needed to cross the bronze giant in order to approach the divine tree. However, it was an exceedingly difficult task. The portrait left behind by the black-dressed woman could exorcise the evil demons, but it was probably useless against the bronze giant.

While Yi Yun contemplating the dangers he faced, he suddenly saw a few figures in the horizon. As they were too distant, these figures looked as tiny as sesame seeds.

However, one of the figures suddenly expanded rapidly in an instant. A gigantic ghastly claw emerged as it struck at the bronze giant!

Another figure slashed out a strike in the form of an azure-colored greatsword. When the strike flashed, its luster split the heaven from the earth, as though it was the only thing in the world!

Tumultuous might struck at the bronze giant.

“It’s Master!” Yi Yun sensed Felicitous Rain Lord’s aura from the azure greatsword.

As for the gigantic ghastly claw, it was like the hand of a devil that surfaced from a realm of wraiths. White bone was exposed beneath the rotting flesh and it exuded a creepy air of death.

“That person is…the Fey Phantasm Sect’s Demonic Eye Divine Lord.”

From the looks of it, Felicitous Rain Lord and Demonic Eye Divine Lord were both trapped in the plains of death. They had taken the opportunity to attack the slumbering bronze giant!

The plains of death was strange in every fashion and everything pointed towards the bronze giant. As long as they killed it, there might be a chance of them escaping the land of death.

The power of the two Divine Lords’ attack was formidable!

Simply watching the attacks made Yi Yun feel a piercing pain in his eyes. His protective Yuan Qi could not help but be triggered.

And behind the Fey Phantasm Sect’s Demonic Eye Divine Lord, a few figures formed an array formation, condensing a wraith the size of a small mountain that was hurled at the bronze giant.

Yi Yun found one of the figures very familiar.

“Daoist You Ming is here too.” Yi Yun’s expression sunk slightly.

At that moment, the bronze giant had suddenly opened his eyes—eyes so cold and heartless as though they looked from a deep frozen abyss.

Immediately, the chains on its body issued clamorous sounds that each sounded like thunder.

The bronze giant took a step and immediately caused the world to tremble.

He brandished his ax and attacked Felicitous Rain Lord and Demonic Eye Divine Lord.

The cleaving of the ax seemed to split the world apart!

1028 - : The Might of Divine Lords

CKtalon  CKtalon

Like the cracking of the firmament, the bronze giant’s ax struck the ghastly palm first.

The ghastly claw covered half of the blue skies and it immediately grabbed the bronze giant’s ax.

Millions of the souls issued piercing screams as countless heads appeared from the ghastly claw while they chomped at the giant’s ax.

“This strike…” Yi Yun felt as though his soul had been wrenched by it.

“How fearsome is a battle between the bronze giant and Divine Lords… We can’t even withstand the aftershocks…”

Granny Yin consumed a pill, flushing her face with an abnormal ruddiness before she conjured a Yuan Qi barrier.

Despite having Granny Yin’s Yuan Qi barrier, Yi Yun and company felt like they were tiny canoes in a stormy sea.

“So these are Divine Lords…” Yue Yingsha mumbled as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. She had encountered few warriors in the Azure Wood Great World and she had never seen these Divine Lord outsiders.

She only had an inkling of the might of Divine Lords from records in the Azure Wood Manor’s books. Having never witnessed one in person before, she was amazed that their strength allowed them to battle the bronze giant.

At that moment, a sanguine light suddenly bloomed from the bronze giant’s ax. It emitted endless killing intent that seemed to consume everything.

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!”

When the heads from the ghastly claw came into contact with the sanguine light, they issued shrill screams and evaporated like blood.

The bronze giant’s ax continued advancing, and with crunching sounds, it gradually shattered the ghastly claw!

“The Cadaveric Hand has been destroyed.” The Fey Phantasm Sect’s Demonic Eye Divine Lord appeared in mid-air, Behind him was a gigantic blood-colored skull which had ghostly fires burning in its eye sockets, as though it had a mind of its own.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord frowned slightly. The bronze giant was much tougher than he imagined!

Immediately following that, the bronze giant took a step forward, causing the chains on its body to issue its tumultuous protest. He raised his ax and slashed at the wraith conjured by the collective efforts of the Fey Phantasm Sect’s Supremacies!

The wraith was massive, with horns on its head. Wherever it passed filled the area with the smell of death, marked by the ashen transformation of the plants on the ground. But against the bronze giant’s ax, the wraith appeared exceedingly weak!

The ax cleaved down at the wraith’s head, splitting it apart!

“Ah!”

With the wraith destroyed, the Fey Phantasm Sect Supremacies suffered severe injuries. Their face turned ghastly pale as they spat black blood.

The bronze giant’s strike had injured their essence!

“Rime Divine Lord!” Demonic Eye Divine Lord yelled.

A gentle wind stirred as the heaven and earth seemed to instantly split apart to usher in a graceful figure that slowly descended.

The woman was dressed in red and she had fair skin that rivaled snow. She looked sweet sixteen.

“Attack!”

She extended her slender hand as a ribbon band fell from the sky like a waterfall, billowing towards the bronze giant. In an instant, it had securely wrapped itself around the bronze giant’s ax.

The band looked somewhat light and soft, but the binding force seemed to increasingly tighten after its successfully wrapped itself around the ax. Even the surrounding space began to distort.

If the entity being bound was a human, his flesh and blood would turn into a mangled mess of blood that would dye the band crimson.

Ka Ka Ka!

The bronze giant roared and swung its arm after it stomped its feet harshly upon the ground, sending massive tremors through the earth.

The band that wrapped around the bronze giant began to tear!

The bands dissipated into countless points of light before condensing again in Rime Divine Lord’s hand.

A chilly look suffused from Rime Divine Lord’s face as she commented dreadfully about the bronze giant, “What immense strength!”

Two Divine Lords had attacked one after the other to no avail!

The bronze giant bellowed into the sky with a sound that could burst eardrums. Yi Yun hurriedly used his Yuan Qi to envelop his ears, barely withstanding the sound blast.

Yue Yingsha’s slender figure also quivered as she concluded, “The bronze giant is truly terrifying.”

At that moment, the sword beam that seemed to split the world apart came crashing down on the bronze giant’s head.

The sword beam resembled a dense, misty drizzle, but every raindrop contained lethal killing intent.

Felicitous Rain Lord appeared in the rain as well. With a sword in hand, his azure clothes fluttered with the wind, as though he was an immortal from heaven.

“Sword of Rain.”

Felicitous Rain Lord’s blade and the raindrops were all directed at the bronze giant!

And at that moment, where Felicitous Rain Lord presided was where his sword ruled supreme. The entire area had been overwhelmed by his sword beam!

The sword beam was extremely sharp that it seemed to prick at Yi Yun despite the Yuan Qi barrier!

“This is the Sword of Rain…” Yi Yun was startled when he saw the sword beams that filled the sky.

As a Divine Lord, the might of Felicitous Rain Lord’s strike could rend the heavens!

At that moment, another figure suddenly appeared on the other side of the battlefield.

The figure was an elder with a vaguely discernible air of immortality. Dressed in loose white robes, he held a deep blue sword.

“Sword of Rain.”

The elder brandished his sword and also attacked with Sword of Rain, sending raindrops down from the heavens!

“Could this person be the Immortal Rain Sect’s Divine Lord?” Yi Yun looked at the elder in astonishment. However, it was not surprising that a Divine Lord from the Immortal Rain Sect would join the expedition to the Azure Wood Great World.

The same Sword of Rain synergized the tiny raindrops, ensuring that the bronze giant’s head would be struck!

The bronze giant sensed danger from the incoming sword beams as well.

He let out a deep growl as his body trembled!

Boom!

The entire earth seemed to quake along with the chains. Immediately, like a flood, more than a dozen columns of black water of the River Styx burst out from various outlets.

Like a whale sucking in water, the bursts of water surged into the bronze giant’s body!

The bronze giant’s figure immediately increased several hundred feet in size, causing the chains to clank as they turned taut.

Boom!

The bronze giant brandished his ax and slashed at the sky!

Suddenly, a blood-colored rift appeared in the sky.

Powerful Yuan Qi spewed out from the rift!

The raindrops were destroyed by the Yuan Qi bit by bit.

After the bronze giant cleaved thrice, all the raindrops had been wiped clean.

As for that lethal ax, it continued its momentum after the raindrops were expunged. The few Divine Lords faced a might that could render the heavens asunder from the ax, draining the color from their faces.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Space began to flake as the might was indomitable!

“Clang!”

At that moment, the chains around the bronze giant suddenly tightened!

The chains that numbered in the dozens shimmered with ancient, mystic runes. The power that came from the heavens and earth had shackled the bronze giant to his spot.

“Puah Puah Puah!”

The ends of the chains tugged at the bronze giant’s flesh, causing black demonic blood to spurt out! The bronze giant’s body quivered suddenly as the ax came to a sudden halt!

Dozens of chains, in combination with the power of the runic seals, had inhibited the bronze giant’s strike!

All the Divine Lords and Supremacies took the opportunity to open up a distance from the giant!

Clearly, they had previously discovered that the bronze giant was shackled by the divine chains and had expected such a situation to occur. They had also stood outside the definitive kill zone of the bronze giant.

The bronze giant quieted down again. Like a dormant primordial behemoth, he waited quietly for that definitive fatal strike.

Felicitous Rain Lord stood at a high altitude with his sword in hand. He watched the bronze giant with a heavy expression.

“The combined attacks of the four of us can’t even injure the bronze giant at all. We are in trouble,” said Demonic Eye Divine Lord.

“You did not use all your strength in your attack,” said Felicitous Rain Lord snidely.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord did not respond. The bronze giant was a humongous threat, but Felicitous Rain Lord was not someone who he could let his guard down. Furthermore, there was another Immortal Rain Sect Divine Lord accompanying Felicitous Rain Lord.

Having been trapped in the plains of death, the four Divine Lords had acquiesced to maintain a distance before they attacked the bronze giant.

However, the bronze giant was too powerful. It was nearly impossible to kill him no matter what technique they used!

At that moment, Felicitous Rain Lord suddenly sensed something as he looked to the ground.

He saw on the plains of death, a small Yuan Qi barrier barely resisting the energy storms from the battle. And in the Yuan Qi barrier, he was surprised to see Yi Yun!

“Yi Yun!”

Felicitous Rain Lord was somewhat startled. He never expected to see Yi Yun here!

1029 - : Divine Chains

CKtalon  CKtalon

With a movement technique, Felicitous Rain Lord quickly appeared in front of Yi Yun and company. He was very surprised and glad seeing Yi Yun here.

“Yi Yun, you have come to the Door to the 33 Skies as well. Furthermore…you have managed to come this far unscathed.” Felicitous Rain Lord revealed a relieved look. He felt regretful bringing Yi Yun here after realizing that his assessment of the difficulty of the Azure Wood Great World had been seriously lacking.

Especially with the Door to the 33 Skies, it was strange and fraught with danger. Unless one was a Supremacy, it would prove a challenge to survive—many warriors much stronger than Yi Yun had died, so it was hard to be optimistic about Yi Yun’s safety.

However, he never expected that Yi Yun was not only alive but that he wasn’t injured at all.

“I managed to get here on luck due to some fortuitous opportunities. However, I’m trapped in this plains of death as well. I wonder if Master has made any discoveries while in here?”

“Discoveries?” Felicitous Rain Lord shook his head with a wry smile. “I’m not sure if it’s considered a discovery, but I’ll let you take a look…”

As Felicitous Rain Lord said that, he grabbed Yi Yun’s arm and flew into the sky with him. In an instant, Yi Yun reached a height a hundred thousand feet into the sky. Yi Yun had not dared to fly into the sky above the plains of death, but to a Divine Lord, be it any demonic fumes or evil entities, none could approach him because of his powerful protective Yuan Qi.

While overlooking high up in the air, Yi Yun was surprised to see nine black tumultuous rivers meandering in a way that surrounded the plains fifty kilometers away.

The black river water was like an anaconda that devoured everything. Large swaths of land from the river banks were collapsing…

“This is…”

“These nine rivers have completely sealed off every path in the plains, making it difficult to escape this land, even for us. We thought of killing the bronze giant, but he’s too strong…”

Felicitous Rain Lord said while he brought Yi Yun back down. At that moment, several Divine Lords and the Supremacies that were led by them had rushed here as well.

“This punk.” Demonic Eye Divine Lord revealed a look of surprise. Although Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple was weak and unworthy to catch his eye, he had never expected that such a junior had managed to come so far alive.

“I must be seeing things.” Daoist You Ming had been injured himself while Yi Yun had remained unscathed. This contrast made Daoist You Ming feel like coughing a mouthful of blood.

And at that moment in time, Yi Yun saw You Feihua amongst the crowd!

“You Feihua had managed to survive as well?”

You Feihua had obviously seen Yi Yun too. As the saying goes, sparks fly when enemies meet. You Feihua believed him dead, but he never expected Yi Yun was fine and dandy.

You Feihua had a special communication method with his father, Daoist You Ming. When he reached an impasse, he had contacted his father, who had paid a terrible price to save him. Hence, You Feihua had managed to luckily survive. What about Yi Yun?

The Heavenly Sword Divine Lord from the Immortal Rain Sect descended from the skies as well.

He looked good for his age and his figure was upright. He exuded an extremely keen aura as he swept his sword-like gaze at Yi Yun. “Felicitous Rain, is this your disciple?”

“This is the Immortal Rain Sect’s Heavenly Sword Divine Lord, Shi Xuanji.” Felicitous Rain Lord tersely introduced him before he fell silent.

Shi Xuanji looked at Yi Yun and suddenly asked, “Lad, did you see members of my Immortal Rain Sect here?”

Yi Yun’s heart thumped. The members of the Immortal Rain Sect?

He had obviously seen them. They had melted into the River Styx, turning to bone dregs, which were eventually absorbed by the bronze giant.

“About that, I never encountered them at all.”

Yi Yun answered earnestly.

“Is that so…” Shi Xuanji frowned. He did not completely believe Yi Yun’s words, but no matter how much he permitted his imagination to run wild, he would never have expected that his disciples and grand-disciples had been killed because of Yi Yun’s machinations. It did not make any sense.

“I wonder what happened to those fellows.” Shi Xuanji muttered to himself. He was somewhat worried. He could ignore most of the juniors, but Marquis Wu Yun was someone he thought highly of. It would be a pity if he died.

“Master, don’t worry. Junior Brother Wu Yun might not have entered the Door to the 33 Skies at all.”

Standing beside Shi Xuanji, a man with a cultivation level at half-step Supremacy spoke. He was Shi Xuanji’s personal disciple.

“Hopefully.” Shi Xuanji shook his head, but suddenly—

Clang!

A loud blast boomed like thunder. People turned their heads in aghast as they saw the bronze giant roar at the sky. He had brandished his gigantic ax and cleaved at a metallic chain!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The gigantic ax cleaved down, again and again, causing the metallic chains to tremble violently. The burning sparks caused by the crashing of metal spewed into the blue sky!

Finally, with a bang that sounded ten times louder, the chain suddenly broke as though it was in response to the sound!

A chain that had existed but unaffected by the hundreds of millions of years it had seen had now been cleaved apart by the bronze giant’s strikes!

“Oh no!”

Everyone felt their hearts sink when they saw this scene.

The giant was freeing himself!

With the Azure Wood Great World on the brink of destruction and the world’s divine tree being chopped at, these chains could no longer trap the bronze giant.

It appeared as though the bronze giant had expended a great deal of strength to break the chain. He suddenly looked up and with a cold gaze, he glanced at everyone present.

This glance made everyone’s blood flow accelerate. Apart from the Divine Lords present, who could face it calmly, the rest found it suffocating.

What terrifying mental powers!

“He is escaping.”

“Slashing a chain has drained a lot of his energy. But the speed which he can quickly gather his strength again and continue is worrisome.”

The Divine Lords and Supremacies present were overwhelmed by danger. It was no longer as simple as being trapped here. If this continued on, they would all be dead in a matter of days.

“We might really be on the verge of death. It’s all because of all you outsiders that triggered the Azure Wood Manor’s seals and provided large amounts of flesh and blood as nutrients for the bronze giant. It’s because of you that this world is being destroyed at a faster rate.”

“Who are you?” Demonic Eye Divine Lord looked at Granny Yin.

“I’m one of the descendants of the orthodox Azure Wood Manor.” At that moment in time, Granny Yin’s identity was no longer worth concealing.

“Descendants of the Azure Wood Manor?” Demonic Eye Divine Lord had heard of the Azure Wood Manor previously. He watched Granny Yin and Yue Yingsha with a strange look. “It’s no wonder that punk managed to safely come all the way here. As descendants of the Azure Wood Manor, you are able to avoid any dangers that you are aware of in the Door to the 33 Skies.”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s comment enlightened many. You Feihua scoffed disgruntledly, “So that’s the reason. I was wondering how impressive this punk was. So he came this far by hiding under the skirts of a girl. Then, there’s nothing inspiring about that.”

You Feihua was a sworn enemy of Yi Yun, so there was no need for him to mince his words.

“What do you know!?” Yue Yingsha glared angrily at You Feihua, who had not only humiliated Yi Yun, he had also demeaned her.

“Stop arguing. What’s important now is to escape this land of death.” Heavenly Sword Divine Lord spoke. He was mainly looking at Granny Yin, whom he believed was likely able to provide suggestions of value.

Granny Yin said, “Yi Yun, the idea was raised by you. I’ll leave the honors to you.”

1030 - : Impasse

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh? What sort of idea can you have?” Demonic Eye Divine Lord looked at Yi Yun with disbelief hidden in his heart. What could Yi Yun do when a Divine Lord was powerless against the circumstances?

“Yi Yun, tell us about it,” said Felicitous Rain Lord as he trained his gaze on his disciple.

Immediately, everyone’s eyes were on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun said as he pointed to Yue Yingsha, “This is Miss Yue Yingsha, the female saint of the Azure Wood Manor. She has mentioned to me of means to awaken the divine tree from records described in their sect’s canon. The divine tree is connected to the chains, allowing it to imprison the bronze giant here. Now, the divine tree’s slumber has given the bronze giant an opportunity. It has been chopping at the divine tree and absorbing energy. If the divine tree can be awakened once again, it might be possible to restrain the bronze giant.”

All the Divine Lords and Supremacies were left somewhat astonished when they heard his words.

“How is the divine tree awakened?” asked Rime Divine Lord.

“A restricted zone has to be entered, and it should be located in the core of the divine tree,” replied Yi Yun.

Isn’t the divine tree’s core the spot where the bronze giant is chopping at!?

“How can anyone reach that place!?” Daoist You Ming barked angrily.

He had been severely injured simply from having the bronze giant nullify his combined attack with the other Supremacies.

Even Divine Lords would find it difficult to enter the restricted zone.

The restricted zone was indeed considered the most perilous of perilous grounds. And it was the reason why Yi Yun had spoken of the matter so directly.

Without Felicitous Rain Lord or the other three Divine Lords’ help, it was only wishful thinking for Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha to enter the restricted zone with their meager strength.

“A restricted zone mentioned in the Azure Wood Manor’s canon? Lass, are you sure there are records of such matters in your sect?” Demonic Eye Divine Lord asked as he gave Yue Yingsha a questioning look.

His gaze was like a ghost’s as if he could see through a person’s heart.

Yue Yingsha did not speak. Instead, she silently prostrated herself and with a pious expression, she gently placed her milky-white hands on the ground.

Slowly, a strange aura exuded from Yue Yingsha’s body. It resembled the divine tree’s as it began to resonate with the Azure Wood Great World in a certain way.

Lush green grass grew around her body demarcated by her long hair that sprawled across the ground.

“It’s the divine tree’s aura,” said Rime Divine Lord.

Yue Yingsha had the divine tree’s bloodline, so what she said was likely true as well.

“I see,” Demonic Eye Divine Lord said as he stroked his chin. “Although it will be extremely difficult, it might be possible to achieve it at great risk. I’ll bring you into the restricted zone.”

He knew very clearly what the restricted zone meant to the Azure Wood Manor. It was definitely a treasure trove of possible opportunities inside. He could search for them if he entered it.

“Demonic Eye, stop dreaming!” Shi Xuanji said with a cold grunt. “You certainly won’t be the first person to enter the restricted zone!”

As Shi Xuanji said that, his eyes flickered with a strange glimmer. He, too, was very interested in the restricted zone.

All the Divine Lords present had guessed that the Door to the 33 Skies had an extraordinary origin. It possessed mighty power despite its fearsome perils.

Furthermore, they knew that there had been a discovery of a mark left behind by a peerless warrior from an earlier exploration of the Azure Wood Great World. Those who had seen the mark had gained tremendously! Even a proud figure like Felicitous Rain Lord had lamented his own inadequacies when he saw the mark.

The secrets contained within the Door to the 33 Skies was unlikely to have nothing to do with that peerless warrior.

“All of you are interested in entering the restricted zone. Then who is to restrain the bronze giant?” said Felicitous Rain Lord coldly. The bronze giant was not someone even the combined efforts of the four Divine Lords could oppose. If someone had any malicious schemes in mind, everyone would definitely die in the land of doom once the plan failed.

“Restrain the bronze giant? Hmph! So I’ll hold back the bronze giant and let others explore the restricted zone? Impossible!” hissed Demonic Eye Divine Lord. He gave a meaningful glance at Shi Xuanji as he said with a sinister smile, “Old Man Shi, I know that entry is something you want as well.”

Shi Xuanji did not betray his thoughts on his face. All he did was stroke his beard and remain silent. He indeed wanted to gain entry as well.

At that moment, Yue Yingsha spoke out. “Seniors, the restricted zone isn’t a place anyone can enter. It has to be opened by me, and to enter the area, the recognition of the Sacred Ancestor has to be obtained. In fact, it would be difficult even for me to enter the restricted zone.”

When Yue Yingsha came to a pause, she looked at Yi Yun. The scene of the Sacred Ancestor’s phantom image facing Yi Yun had left behind an impression in her heart that could not be obliterated!

“And to this point, I know as well that Yi Yun is the person most capable of entering the restricted zone and awakening the divine tree.”

“What!?”

Before anyone else commented on Yue Yingsha’s words, You Feihua was the first to scoff involuntarily. “Him? This punk can gain the recognition that Divine Lords can’t? What bullshit is that!?”

“That’s right. What sort of logic is that? Divine Lords are the chosen ones. There are few in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, and even if Yi Yun has some talent, he is currently a Divine Lord’s disciple. He’s still far from being a Divine Lord!”

There were Supremacies from the Fey Phantasm Sect that said disdainfully. Many of them had no chance of becoming Divine Lords unless they had a great fortuitous encounter.

Most personal disciples of Divine Lords could not become Divine Lords as the chances were too slim.

“What sort of logic is it to say that Yi Yun, instead of my Master, will gain your Sacred Ancestor’s recognition?” At that moment, Shi Xuanji’s personal disciple spoke. His name was Shi Yuheng. As a Divine Lord’s personal disciple, he was naturally inclined to compare himself with Yi Yun, even though his cultivation level and age far exceeded Yi Yun’s.

“The reason you ask…” Yue Yingsha glanced at Granny Yin and saw her nod her head slightly. She gritted her teeth and took out the portrait scroll. “This is a portrait scroll that has the Sacred Ancestor’s power sealed in it! Only those recognized by the Sacred Ancestor can trigger its power.”

“Isn’t it just a portrait? Is that what you were talking about? How would I know if you pulled any tricks on it?” You Feihua cocked his eyebrows. A portrait was sufficient to prove that Yi Yun was more qualified than them?

At that moment, a sharp look flashed in Felicitous Rain Lord’s eyes as he said, “This portrait has great power sealed in it! The aura of this energy…”

A look of excitement suddenly surfaced on Felicitous Rain Lord’s usually composed face. “It’s really that esteemed senior!”

Felicitous Rain Lord had once witnessed a mark left behind by a mighty figure on his first trip to the Azure Wood Great World. He had come here once again to seek that mighty figure.

Yi Yun had once heard Felicitous Rain Lord mention that the mighty figure was situated at the peak of martial arts in his heart!

“Young Lady, may I take a look at that portrait?” said Felicitous Rain Lord sincerely. He was filled with respect toward that mysterious senior.

Yue Yingsha hesitated for a moment before she nodded. The portrait left behind by the Sacred Ancestor was nearly indestructible. It had been proven by the Azure Wood Manor a long time ago, so Yue Yingsha was not worried about letting others take a look at it.

1031 - : The Way Out

CKtalon  CKtalon

Felicitous Rain Lord received the portrait solemnly. With the portrait in his hands, Felicitous Rain Lord could sense a much stronger aura than previously.

His trip here to the Azure Wood Great World was to seek and find more traces of this senior. He even believed that the senior might actually be still alive.

Felicitous Rain Lord was in pursuing her, as well as the pinnacle of martial arts.

“I see. This senior is the Sacred Ancestor who created the Azure Wood Great World…” said Felicitous Rain Lord as he reflected with mixed emotions. Even as a powerful Divine Lord, one was unable to plant such a divine tree or create such a large world.

But that senior had managed to do it. How far had she attained in martial arts…?

Felicitous Rain Lord stood silently for a long time with the portrait in hand.

Yi Yun noticed subtle transformations in Felicitous Rain Lord’s aura. It was a mystery what sort of enlightenment or thoughts he had while holding the portrait.

“To be able to see this portrait is sufficient to lift the weight off my chest,” said Felicitous Rain Lord as he handed the portrait back to Yue Yingsha.

“Felicitous Rain, aren’t you going to attempt at triggering the portrait?” asked Shi Xuanji.

Felicitous Rain Lord only said with a sneer, “Isn’t the lot of you just hoping to enter the restricted zone? Is there a need to hide your intentions? Give a shot if you want to.”

Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord had sullen expressions when they heard Felicitous Rain Lord’s unminced words.

But how could they willingly give up on obtaining the portrait’s recognition like Felicitous Rain Lord?

At that moment, Shi Yuheng said, “As a lacking junior, I would like to broaden my horizons by having a look at the Sacred Ancestor’s portrait.”

When he said that, he noticed a satisfied gaze casting at him from Shi Xuanji.

It was previously not appropriate for Shi Xuanji to make any comment, but a disciple of his would not have been inhibited in such a manner.

On the other hand, Demonic Eye Divine Lord frowned. It was fool’s talk for Shi Yuheng to enter the restricted zone even if he were to obtain the portrait’s recognition.

Yue Yingsha was somewhat hesitant, but Yi Yun said, “Let him broaden his horizons.”

Shi Yuheng received the portrait and immediately sensed the immense power sealed within.

“It indeed has an extraordinary aura.” Shi Yuheng’s eyes flashed a look of anticipation. If he were to gain the recognition of the portrait, it was possible for him to find an opportunity after entering the restricted zone. It could make him become a Divine Lord!

“It sure isn’t simple to awaken this portrait.” Shi Yuheng sensed that there were no array formations or talismanic seals contained inside the portrait. It was like a tightly shut door without a lock. All one needed to do to enter was push it open.

“This portrait can be activated as long as Yuan Qi is injected into it. It must have been a lucky fluke for Yi Yun to stumble across a method,” said Shi Yuheng confidently.

Shi Yuheng did not think much of the Azure Wood Manor that had already waned for years. It might have been quite an impressive existence in the past, but by Yue Yingsha’s generation, it already couldn’t amount to much. After all, all they had was an old granny that had one foot in the grave and a young lass. A sect treasure that they valued greatly wasn’t necessarily difficult to activate. With a void of talent in the Azure Wood Manor, the two womenfolk who had encountered a lucked out Yi Yun must have believed that he had gained the recognition of the Sacred Ancestor.

“How difficult can it be to obtain the recognition?” Shi Yuheng injected his Yuan Qi with confidence after he finished probing the portrait’s aura thoroughly.

However…the portrait did not react as time slowly ticked by.

“Oh?” Shi Yuheng furrowed his brows as he continued injecting… Gradually, his heart was beginning to pound like a drum.

With the portrait not responding to his efforts, he could no longer remain composed with his master, three other Divine Lords, and everyone else staring at him.

He increased the quantity of Yuan Qi he injected, sending torrential amounts of Yuan Qi into the portrait. As Shi Yuheng held the portrait, his face gradually turned pale. Yet, there was no reaction from the portrait at all.

“What’s going on!?” Shi Yuheng did not believe that his hunch was wrong. Even if he were unable to obtain its recognition, he was certain that the portrait would react to him at the very least. Now, it was like a rock sinking into the immense ocean. His face was beginning to turn hot from his fluster as a result of the portrait’s inaction!

At that moment, a drawn out comment from Yi Yun entered his ears. “Time is of the essence. How long do you want us to wait?”

As Yi Yun spoke, the tumultuous sounds of the chains began clanging once again.

“It seems like Brother Yuheng has failed. Let me do it!” You Feihua said with a gleeful laugh as he grabbed the portrait.

Following that, a red glow blasted out from his ghastly claws that wrapped the entire portrait within!

Countless phantom images appeared from the ghastly claws, and one could vaguely hear shrieking and howling screams.

These ghastly claws appeared like they could devour everything. As it enveloped the portrait, the phantoms were constantly boring into the portrait.

“I refuse to believe that a portrait will remain unresponsive after withstanding such a technique of mine.”

You Feihua chuckled. It was surprising how brutal and intense his technique was at triggering the portrait.

“What are you doing!?”

Yue Yingsha turned anxious. You Feihua’s disrespect of a divine artifact left by the Sacred Ancestor was truly contemptible. Having just opened her mouth, she heard an explosion before she could even put in another word!

“Bam!”

The phantom images emitted shrill cries as though an invisible power had exorcised them from within. As the phantoms gradually transformed into smoke that dissipated, You Feihua’s ghastly claw immediately crumbled.

The oppressive power did not decline in momentum as it ruthlessly sent You Feihua flying!

In front of absolute power, You Feihua’s protective Yuan Qi was like paper that could be easily shredded and torn. Simultaneously a beam of light surged into his body and before he hit the ground, he had spat out a mouthful of black blood with a cry. The flesh around his chest had been left mangled!

“Feihua!” Daoist You Ming’s figure flashed as he hurriedly caught You Feihua.

You Feihua’s face was as white as sheets as he trembled constantly.

Daoist You Ming probed his pulse and immediately, his expression sank. You Feihua was in a terrible state. Thankfully, You Feihua had only suffered the lashback of his own attack, preserving his life. The portrait was extremely strange. If the portrait’s power had inundated You Feihua’s body, it was unknown how terrifying the outcome would have been.

“Hmph! Useless! Give it to me.” Demonic Eye Divine Lord beckoned with his hand as he grabbed the portrait that flew into his hand.

A glimmer flashed in Shi Xuanji’s eyes, but he did not prohibit it.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord wiped the contempt from his heart. Having grabbed the portrait, he sensed the aura contained within the portrait. His expression changed as well before he commented, “Although the portrait is bizarre, I do not believe that all my strength will not be able to trigger its power!”

As Demonic Eye Divine Lord spoke, his eyes flashed. Black Yuan Qi burst out from his body and like the roaring rivers outside the Door to the 33 Skies, Yuan Qi surged into the portrait.

“This old ghoul is actually using his ‘Heaven Opening Demonic Technique’. He is already giving his all.” Shi Xuanji watched from the side. ‘Heaven Opening Demonic Technique’ was a trump card of Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s, and it was also the core heritage of the Fey Phantasm Sect. The effects were extraordinary which made Shi Xuanji fear that Demonic Eye Divine Lord would snatch the opportunity of being the first to activate the portrait. If that happened, he might not have a chance of entering the restricted zone.

However, with the passage of time, the spate of Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s energy steadily vanished inside the portrait. Yet, nothing happened to it. It was as though it was situated in a different time and space, and it was unknown where all the immense Yuan Qi it absorbed from a Divine Lord had gone.

If Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s Yuan Qi was like a roaring river, the portrait was like a tumultuous ocean. Regardless of the amount of water the river unloaded into it, the water would completely disappear into the ocean, as though nothing had happened.

This lamentable feeling dealt a great setback to Demonic Eye Divine Lord. However, he refused to admit defeat after coming so far.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord spent a full fifteen minutes with sweat beads covering his forehead. Yet, the portrait remained unresponsive. This scene had left many people astounded.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord had use of all his strength that was redoubtable and terrifying. Typical enchanted treasures would have exploded well before this point. Even top treasures would be glimmering with light as if they would shoot towards the sky. However, not a single stir had happened despite all the energy that had been injected into the portrait!

Demonic Eye Divine Lord finally gave up. His expression was extremely ugly. He had been ostentatious with his words, but it was to no avail despite having squeezed every bit of his strength.

“Demonic Eye, it seems unlikely that you will obtain the portrait’s recognition. Let me give it a shot.” Before the portrait landed, Shi Xuanji had already waved his hand.

“Law of Rain.”

Rain droplets that looked like an illusionary fog enveloped the portrait. The nomological concept contained in the raindrops had changed the space around the portrait, turning it into a world of rain.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord had failed with an energy attempt, so Shi Xuanji had attempted using laws!

Demonic Eye Divine Lord watched coldly. Although he had failed, he did not believe that Shi Xuanji would succeed. The portrait was odd. It was no wonder Felicitous Rain Lord did not even make an attempt.

Upon thinking of that, Demonic Eye Divine Lord glanced at Yi Yun.

Did this kid really obtain the portrait’s recognition?

Shi Xuanji engulfed the portrait with his law, but soon, he realized that the raindrops did not touch the portrait at all. The raindrops would dissipate just before making contact.

In his domain of rain, his law was the only law in the domain, effectively making him a god of the domain. Yet, the portrait did not become a part of his domain.

1032 - : Rivers Entering Oceans

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Shi Xuanji, it appears as though the portrait isn’t impressed with your law of rain.” Demonic Eye drew out the sentence he said.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord was naturally glad to repay the mockery Shi Xuanji had given to him moments ago.

“Hmph!” Shi Xuanji grunted coldly. The domain of rain immediately changed as the raindrops merged together to become a fog that enveloped the portrait completely.

The foggy rain underwent constant changes, going from rain to clouds, and back.

“Shi Xuanji is going all out now.” Rime Divine Lord thought to herself as she watched silently. Shi Xuanji was beginning to use his trump card, an extremely extraordinary form of the law of rain.

At that moment, the portrait suddenly shook while inside the rainy fog. The scene delighted Shi Xuanji. The expressions on Demonic Eye Divine Lord and Rime Divine Lord’s face changed slightly as well.

“Haha, it looks like my master has gained the recognition of the portrait!” Shi Yuheng said with a laugh.

His failure from before had embarrassed him. He had been standing silently in a corner, but now, with his master, Shi Xuanji, obtaining the recognition of the portrait, he felt he had finally regained some of his dignity.

A look of joy suffused across Shi Xuanji’s face as well. “This is destiny. It looks like I’ll have to enter the restricted zone after gaining the qualifications!”

Upon hearing the smugness in Shi Xuanji’s voice, Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s eyes flashed viciously. Shi Xuanji was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He refused to permit Shi Xuanji from entering the restricted zone while he stayed outside to restrain the bronze giant.

Just as Shi Xuanji was planning to conjure a few more Dao patterns for injection into the portrait, it emitted a dazzling light. Suddenly, with a whoosh, the portrait flew out of the blob of mist.

The portrait had turned into a stream of dark gold light and flew to Yi Yun as he grabbed it in hand.

Immediately, everyone was dumbfounded.

The smiles on Shi Xuanji and Shi Yuheng’s faces froze.

Yi Yun had only a cultivation level at half-step Dao Manifestation, so how was he able to snatch the portrait from a Divine Lord’s hands? It could only be possible that the portrait had fled from Shi Xuanji’s domain to enter Yi Yun’s hand.

At that moment, the portrait in Yi Yun’s hand emitted a resplendent rainbow beam!

The beam of light contained an immense and majestic power of genesis. As for Yi Yun, he was bathed in the rainbow light, as though he had merged as one with the portrait.

The scene was astounding!

“Sacred Ancestor…” Yue Yingsha’s expression turned pious as she watched the rainbow light.

Granny Yin did the same as she watched with a solemn and respectful expression.

However, Shi Xuanji and Shi Yuheng had nasty expressions on their faces. They had tried every means possible, but they had failed to activate the portrait. Yet, it emitted such an astounding light in Yi Yun’s hand. They only realized how terrifying the power contained within the portrait was after witnessing it in person!

They also gradually came to understand that Yi Yun was turning impatient after seeing them mess with the portrait for so long without any results. Yi Yun had beckoned for the portrait, which caused it to tremble. It had nothing to do with Shi Xuanji. It was a figurative smacking of Shi Xuanji’s old face!

“Shi Xuanji, it looks like you have failed as well.” Demonic Eye Divine Lord said with a tone of schadenfreude.

“I was just making an attempt too! This portrait doesn’t care about cultivation levels, and it might have its own preferences.” Shi Xuanji said with a cold grunt.

He did not even look at Yi Yun as he had lost all of his dignity today.

Slowly, the light from the portrait converged into the portrait. In the meantime, Yi Yun sensed the existence of a vague connection between him and the portrait.

“I told all of you earlier that none of you would succeed, but you refused to believe. In the end, wouldn’t Yi Yun be the only one entering?” Granny Yin said with a sneer. She never had any good feelings for outsiders. Furthermore, the two old fools had their noses so high up in the air that one could see straight to their brains. They had also shown complete disrespect to her sect’s sacred item. Besides, they did not take to heart what they as descendants of the Azure Wood Manor had said. These people made her mortified and hateful.

Compared to Yi Yun, who was also an outsider, they were hundreds, if not thousands of times inferior.

“Let him enter?”

Shi Yuheng had disgraced himself once again by speaking too soon. He could have ignored it if the person were another Divine Lord, but who was Granny Yin? Did she have the right to mock them?

He said disdainfully, “There are so many Divine Lord seniors and Supremacies here. Are their lives now dependent on a warrior at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm? Furthermore, it’s only speculatory. Would he really turn the tides after he enters the restricted zone?”

“That’s right. His strength is weak and the awakening of the divine tree is just a legend. Who knows what mishaps might happen midway. Who can shoulder such a heavy responsibility!?” Daoist You Ming said fiercely as he glared viciously at Yi Yun.

The other Supremacies from the Fey Phantasm Sect echoed his sentiment.

Yi Yun’s cultivation level was too low. As people who felt self-important, how could they be assured to leave their lives in the hands of Yi Yun?

Against the doubts, Yi Yun said calmly, “If you have other methods to resolve the situation, you are free to use them.”

“How dare you, boy…”

Just as Daoist You Ming was about to say something, his body clamped up from Felicitous Rain Lord’s cold stare. He did not dare to speak further.

“Yi Yun is right. Although this plan might not necessarily succeed, it is the only way out of our predicament. If you do not want to leave, then stay behind and await your deaths,” said Felicitous Rain Lord.

With Felicitous Rain Lord speaking, all the Supremacies from the Fey Phantasm Sect quickly fell silent.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The bronze giant was attempting to release himself from his chains once again. The sound shook space itself as the ground ruptured from the quakes.

Felicitous Rain Lord swept his glance across Demonic Eye Divine Lord and company and said coldly, “The moment the bronze giant escapes, none of us will survive. Today, the only glimmer of hope is coming from Yi Yun. We can work together and help him and the Azure Wood Manor’s saint to have a chance at entering the restricted zone.”

Rime Divine Lord’s expression was as cold as always. She only took a step forward and gave Yi Yun a cursory glance without saying a word. However, she had made her intention clear.

With the situation before him, Shi Xuanji could only harrumph coldly as he glared at Yi Yun and warned, “Boy, you are not to fail.”

As for Demonic Eye Divine Lord, he said lightly, “In that case, let’s go according to plan.”

Compared to letting the other Divine Lords gain recognition of what lay await, Demonic Eye Divine Lord was more willing for Yi Yun to enter the restricted zone.

He glanced at Yi Yun with a deep, meaningful look. Yi Yun was only at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm, an ant that he could easily crush.

Only Yi Yun’s master, Felicitous Rain Lord, was problematic.

But if push came to shove…

Felicitous Rain Lord looked at Yi Yun with a warm and gentle gaze. He said, “Yi Yun, since you are the senior’s chosen one, go ahead and enter the restricted zone.”

“Yes, Master,” said Yi Yun with a nod.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The bronze giant had once again gathered enough strength to make another desperate attempt to relieve himself of his chains!

Ka!

Another chain on the bronze giant’s body issued a cracking sound!

The plummeting chain crashed heavily into the ground, causing the hearts and minds of everyone to palpitate.

“Roar!” The bronze giant brandished his gigantic ax as he roared into the sky!

“No time to waste. Attack!”

With sword in hand, Felicitous Rain Lord flew up into the sky!

Before the action began, Yi Yun sensed someone staring at him. It was as though a devil was glaring at him from hell.

Yi Yun turned his head and noticed Demonic Eye Divine Lord looking at him nonchalantly before he smiled.

“This Demonic Eye Divine Lord…”

Yi Yun ignored him. Now, with a formidable foe in front of them, Demonic Eye Divine Lord had to curb any of his nefarious intentions.

“Let’s go!” Demonic Eye Divine Lord flew into the sky as well.

The other Divine Lords followed while the Fey Phantasm Sect’s Supremacies took up formation once again.

Instantly, all sorts of attacks were hurled at the bronze giant!

The color of the sky changed.

And in front of the destructive barrage of attacks, the bronze giant looked coldly at these mortal warriors. With his feet planted to the ground, he brandished his giant ax!

A terrifying typhoon stirred as the ax tore a rift in the sky!

“Let’s go too,” said Yi Yun as he turned his head towards Yue Yingsha.

She gave a heavy nod.

They had to reach the core trunk of the divine tree while the bronze giant was preoccupied in his battle with the Divine Lords!

1033 - : Staking Everything on One Bet

CKtalon  CKtalon

A mere graze by the Yuan Qi produced from the intense battle was enough to disintegrate a person!

“These old bones of mine aren’t of any use other than safely sending the both of you to the divine tree.” said Granny Yin.

“Granny…”

“Your Grace, speak no further. It’s already my good fortune to be able to witness the trunk of the divine tree again with my own eyes.” Granny Yin looked at the towering divine tree with a look of extreme reverence.

Granny Yin consumed another pill before she thumped her crutch into the ground, conjuring a Yuan Qi barrier.

Immediately, the squall in front of them was blocked by the Yuan Qi barrier.

“This is also a wish of mine. Let’s go.”

As Yue Yingsha gazed at Granny Yin’s back, she gritted her teeth lightly before looking at Yi Yun and said, “Let’s go!”

Under the protection of Granny Yin’s Yuan Qi barrier, Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha proceeded forward.

The squall was filled with wanton energy and when it struck the Yuan Qi barrier, Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha heard what resembled the sizzling sounds of burning lava.

The Yuan Qi barrier was being rapidly depleted in the squall. As for the distance between them from the divine tree’s trunk and the bronze giant was also constantly shrinking.

Yi Yun was extremely astounded when he looked up at the bronze giant. Its body was massive, and the chains on the ground were as broad as mountains.

The chains were connected directly to the divine tree’s root network and trunk. They contained a daunting power that bound the bronze giant.

“Could it be that the senior had planted the divine tree in order to seal this bronze giant?” thought Yi Yun.

The bronze giant seemed redoubtable, one that seemed meaningless to put up a struggle against. Yet, he had been bound by that senior for billions of years!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The bronze giant, the Divine Lords, and the Supremacies were still engaging in a bitter battle.

As for the trio who was gradually approaching, the squalls they had to withstand turned into a terrifying storm.

The Yuan Qi barrier began to groan under the barrage of the tempestuous storm, as though it was about to shatter at any time. In response, Granny Yin grimaced in pain.

“Granny!” shouted Yue Yingsha.

“I’m fine.” Granny Yin gestured with her hand.

An unnatural ruddiness suffused across her wizened face.

Boom!

Her crutch slammed heavily into the ground. The Yuan Qi barrier that was on the brink of shattering immediately turned substantial once again.

“Granny Yin is…” Yi Yun glanced to his side at Yue Yingsha.

Yue Yingsha’s eyes were red. She had guessed it too.

Under the circumstances they were in, Granny Yin had been burning her blood essence. However, there was not much of her lifespan, to begin with.

Granny Yin continued proceeding forward as a stream of fresh blood gradually flowed down the corners of her mouth before dripping to the ground. Her vision was slowly turning into a blur. The bronze giant and the divine tree, which she was closing in on could no longer be discerned by her clearly.

“The trunk is right in front!” said Yi Yun.

At that moment, the bronze giant was only a short distance in front of them!

The bronze giant’s bronze-colored muscles were firm like metal. The runic patterns on every inch of his skin shimmered with mysterious and profound runes.

These runes contained tremendous power!

“What sort of race is this?” A bronze giant which could destroy a great world begged the question of his origins and the reason for his imprisonment here.

In the eyes of Yi Yun, the scene of the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner battling a bronze giant appeared once again.

Perhaps, warriors had been battling such a terrifying race since time immemorial.

“Yi Yun!” At that moment, Felicitous Rain Lord’s voice transmission rang in Yi Yun’s mind. Up in the sky, he had been paying close attention to Yi Yun’s whereabouts. Hence, he was aware that Yi Yun was already in the vicinity of the divine tree.

“All of us will be using all our strength to create a single opportunity for you to enter. It’s a golden opportunity that cannot be missed. Do not let the opportunity slip!” exhorted Felicitous Rain Lord.

He looked at the other three Divine Lords in the sky and said, “We have to hold back the bronze giant. Attack!”

The four Divine Lords attacked from four different directions, each using their strongest attack!

The world seemed to take on another color as space itself began to rupture. It was as though the entire Door to the 33 Skies was about to collapse.

The bronze giant’s massive body emitted a sanguine light as he roared in response to the combined attack.

“Roar!”

The runes on the bronze giant’s body emitted intense beams of light that merged into the bronze giant’s blood vessels, giving him a burst of an even more terrifying apocalyptical power!

“Your Grace! Let me aid the both of you in this final leg!”

At that instant, Granny Yin’s aura surged. Immediately following that, a black shadow wrapped Yue Yingsha and Yi Yun. It gave Yi Yun the feeling that he was being sent flying!

Yi Yun looked back and saw that the Yuan Qi barrier around Granny Yin was covered with cracks under the aftershocks from the bronze giant’s battle. She was swept up by the intense winds and instantly disappeared into the storm. In Yi Yun’s energy vision, Granny Yin’s hunched figure was like an insignificant withered leaf tumbling about in a storm… As he watched the scene, Yi Yun sighed. It was hard to describe what he was feeling.

Boom!

Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha landed more than a thousand feet away.

“Granny!” Yue Yingsha wanted to look back the moment she landed.

“Senior Yin is still alive. It’s just that… she’s seriously injured. Let’s go!” Yi Yun grabbed Yue Yingsha’s wrist that was cold. Her skin was soft like silk, but Yi Yun had no time to notice any of that.

Where they landed was in close proximity to the bronze giant!

As a wave of aftershocks surged at them, a harsh look flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes. With one hand grabbing onto Yue Yingsha, a sword beam flashed at his glabella.

He had once again released the sealed sword Qi that Felicitous Rain Lord had bestowed him!

Whew!

The sword beam and the aftershock exploded the instant they came into contact!

However, Felicitous Rain Lord was not the match of the bronze giant, so how could Yi Yun, who could only release a tiny amount of the sword beam’s might, be able to withstand the aftershock?

After releasing the sword beam, without even waiting for the outcome, he had turned around and with all his might, lurched forward with Yue Yingsha in hand!

Sou!

Sensing another wave of aftershocks behind him, Yi Yun switched directions and released another sword beam!

The two sealed sword Qi had been expended!

And at that instant, Yi Yun had already arrived in front of the divine tree with Yue Yingsha in hand.

The towering divine tree stood silently. Even with the stormy battle happening around it, it stood intrepid as though it was a manifestation of ancient time itself.

The hefty tree bark was covered in a thick layer of green. And looking up, the towering tree was like a celestial column that propped up the massive world.

In the dense crown of leaves, one could vaguely make out modillions with brass bells hanging from them. These bells were enchanted treasures, but the magic in them had been wiped away by the passage of time. It had probably been countless years since they made a sound.

And at that moment, Yue Yingsha was looking at the divine tree in a daze.

There were tear streaks on the corners of her eyes. After hearing Yi Yun’s words, she knew that Granny Yin was like a candle flickering in the wind despite being still alive.

“Divine tree… This place was where the Azure Wood Manor truly stood.” Yue Yingsha prostrated herself in front of the divine tree’s trunk, sending her long hair sprawling across the ground. She placed her palms faced up as her forehead touched the ground.

“Disciple Yue Yingsha is here to seek the Azure Wood Manor’s restricted zone.”

Her tears flowed straight to the ground as a special aura gradually effused from her body. It was as though a particular connection had appeared between her and the divine tree.

Rustle.

A faint and nearly indiscernible sound sounded from their surroundings.

At that moment, Yi Yun realized that a gentle breeze was blowing from a cave entrance at the bottom of the trunk!

The entrance was something they had not noticed, as though it had never existed. But now, it had suddenly exposed itself.

“That is…the restricted zone the canon talks about…” Yue Yingsha looked up as she said with a trembling voice.

They had shouldered the lives and hopes of many people and the outcome was determined by this bet!

“Let’s enter!” Yi Yun pulled Yue Yingsha and with a swift display of his movement technique, he had instantly entered the cave!

1034 - : Entering the Restricted Zone

CKtalon  CKtalon

Phew—

At the instant Yi Yun entered the cave, he felt everything around him distance themselves from him. The sounds coming from the intense battle and the wanton flow of Yuan Qi had vanished. The distance of a cavern entrance made Yi Yun feel as though he had entered a completely isolated world. This was the restricted zone recorded in the Azure Wood Manor’s canon.

Yi Yun exhaled lightly. Time was of the essence, so it was imperative that he awaken the divine tree quickly. His master, Felicitous Rain Lord, was still fighting the bronze giant outside.

However, Yi Yun was not fully confident of awakening the divine tree. Although he had awoken the portrait left behind by the black-dressed woman, the divine tree that had existed for hundreds of millions of years clearly contained a power that was hundreds, if not thousands of times greater than the portrait.

A tiny world had been opened up inside the tree cavern. It was a grassland with a tiny stream flowing across it. Beside the stream stood a tiny stone house. There was a stone table placed in front of the house, with leaves scattered across its surface.

This world had existed for an extremely long period of time, but this scene seemed to be fixed in time.

Over the years of practicing martial arts, Yi Yun had seen numerous tiny worlds inside enchanted abodes, such as the God Advent Tower and the Pure Yang Sword Palace. Both of them had tiny worlds established inside, but none of those tiny worlds gave Yi Yun a special feeling like the one in front of him.

When he stood in this tiny world, he felt a tranquility throughout his body. It was as though his consciousness could extend out indefinitely, through the tiny world, extending to the Azure Wood Great World, and past it, into the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

“Oh! There’s a skeleton here!”

Yi Yun suddenly saw a set of white bones lying beside a soil mound along the banks of the stream in front of the stone house.

It was unknown how much time had passed since the owner of the bones had passed away. However, the bone remnants were crystalline like jade, as though they were enchanted artifacts honed and tempered by a master refiner. There was a lingering nomological aura on the surface of the bones that made Yi Yun certain that the owner of the bones was someone extraordinary in live.

The person was definitely a peerless expert.

Who could it be?

Yi Yun did not believe that the skeleton was left behind by the black-dressed woman. She was a level so high that the owner of the bones was certainly incomparable even if she led an extraordinary life.

And at that moment, Yue Yingsha seemed to realize something. She walked in front of the bones and gave it a deep bow.

“Yi Yun, I sense a familiar aura from this set of bones. This aura is something I’ve sensed in several of the books and heritage of the Azure Wood Manor. It’s likely that this deceased senior is the person who left those books behind. In other words, she was the Saint, who had awoken the divine tree about a hundred million years ago.”

“Her Excellency actually managed to come to this restricted zone as well…”

Yue Yingsha muttered to herself in surprise.

“Oh? Is that odd?” Yi Yun found it curious. Since the records in the books regarding the restricted zone were left behind by the Saint, it was nothing out of the ordinary for her to have come here.

Yue Yingsha said with a shake of her head, “You might not understand. By the time Her Excellency was born, the Door to the 33 Skies had already closed. Logically speaking, she wouldn’t be able to come here since she couldn’t even enter the Door to the 33 Skies.”

“Oh? Is that so…” said Yi Yun as he frowned slightly. “Perhaps…entering the restricted zone doesn’t require passing through the Door to the 33 Skies. The Excellency you mentioned might have used a special passageway to enter this restricted zone after obtaining the ability to communicate with the divine tree…”

“Yeah.” Yue Yingsha nodded. After she paid her respects to the Saint’s remains, she got up and surveyed her surroundings. “How are we to awaken the divine tree in this tiny world?”

There was not much time, so they had no time to spare. The Saint had once awoken the divine tree, but she had passed away, so there was no way she would come back to live to tell them of the method.

Yi Yun began walking slowly through the tiny world as he sensed the aura in it.

The tiny world was silent. For some unknown reason, Yi Yun’s anxious mood turned calm while he strolled in it.

Gradually, Yue Yingsha, the Saint’s remains and everything outside seemed to grow distant, leaving Yi Yun and the tiny world alone.

As Yi Yun slowly walked, he came in front of the stone house.

It had been standing there empty since time immemorial.

And after that immense period of time, Yi Yun had come in front of the door.

It was shut gently, giving off vibes that someone was still living in it.

Yi Yun stretched out his hand, and just as he made contact with the door to open it, he felt a fibrillation in his heart that came from the Purple Crystal!

As though it was stirred by the Purple Crystal, the entire stone house immediately emanated a strange aura.

“It’s a Purple Crystal Chaos Stone…” Yi Yun’s mind stirred.

In the Primordial Empyrean Heaven’s divine hall, Yi Yun had once seen a Purple Crystal Chaos Stone in the Primordial Space!

The twelve ancient Fey Gods—Extreme Yang Illumination, Extreme Yin Nether Glow, Empress Earth Dao Tree, Dragon Emperor, Seven-colored Phoenix… People only knew of nine, but they did not know that the Purple Crystal was one of the twelve Fey Gods. Purple Crystal Chaos Stones were born out of chaos during the Universe’s inchoate state. They were divine rocks carved with the Purple Crystal’s laws!

Back in the Luo clan, not a single person had sought enlightenment from the Purple Crystal Chaos Stone. Through a fortuitous encounter, Yi Yun had managed to learn the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence from it. He never expected that a stone house made of Purple Crystal Chaos Stone could be found in the Azure Wood Great World!

Chaos Stones were extremely durable and solid, but they were used to build a stone house. What extravagance and flair were this!?

Yi Yun previously had the belief that the stone house had been constructed by the Azure Wood Manor’s Saint, but now, he was certain that the stone house was left behind by the mysterious woman. Other than her, no one else had such immense capabilities! The stone house had existed in there for hundreds of millions of years. It was even possible that the tiny world was once the black-dressed woman’s residence!

Instantly, Yi Yun’s consciousness entered the stone house.

“What a vast space…”

Yi Yun sensed that with the stone house as a support, it seemed to slowly merge into the land and spread out with the divine tree’s roots.

Yi Yun saw the battle outside before he saw the River Styx’s waters constantly surging towards the bronze giant from a distance. He saw a few warriors in the Door to the 33 Skies as they desperately attempted to evade death.

All of this entered Yi Yun’s eyes. He was impervious to all that he saw like he was the divine tree itself.

The divine tree’s roots spread throughout the Azure Wood Great World. And along with it, Yi Yun’s consciousness penetrated past the desolate ruins, through the mountain ranges and the vast lands.

Suddenly, he heard a sound.

It sounded like a heartbeat, but it also sounded like a river’s flow.

What was that sound? With a thought, Yi Yun’s consciousness rapidly sank into the ground before he entered the core of the land.

Boom!

A tiny glimmer of light appeared in the dark underground.

Enveloped within the light was a gigantic root network. And in between the roots, there was a rock wrapped in it. It looked like a heart.

The rock was covered in fractures, as though it was an ailing person that was having difficulty breathing.

Yi Yun silently watched it. In his unperturbed consciousness, the appearance of the rock made him sense a cadaveric aura and a deep sense of sorrow.

Ka-cha.

In front of Yi Yun’s eyes, a thin crack split across the surface of the rock.

Even though it was a hairline crack, Yi Yun’s consciousness immediately saw miasma spew out from various parts of the ground as mountains toppled and rivers dried through the divine tree’s roots that were spread out across the land.

The gigantic rock was cracking, and the Azure Wood Great World was dying as it cracked.

So, this was the Realm Rock that supported the Azure Wood Great World…

Some tiny worlds were created by mighty figures, and these creators would use a piece of divine rock to bear the weight of the world. That was a Realm Rock.

However, Yi Yun had never heard of such a majestic world of the Azure Wood Great World to have a Realm Rock bear its weight. There was no divine rock that could withstand it.

Perhaps it was because of this reason that the black-dressed woman had planted the divine tree on top of the Realm Rock. With the divine tree’s root network, it stabilized the Realm Rock, preventing it from shattering. What magnificence was that!

With a thought, Yi Yun seemed to transform into one of the gigantic roots that wrapped the Realm Rock. The Realm Rock that was riddled with holes was in front of his eyes.

Mortals have an average lifespan that did not exceed a century. All their experiences would turn to nothingness before their death. As for warriors, they pursued the Heavenly Dao, and their lifespans were constantly extended, but it did not represent eternal life.

Even a world would die, with the only thing indestructible to be the Heavenly Dao.

Yi Yun could not help but reach out his hand. He sensed the Realm Rock, and through it, the sorrow of the world he was in.

Silently, Yi Yun’s body suffused a dazzling light.

It was a rainbow light that shrouded the Realm Rock.

And at the instant the rainbow light appeared, Yi Yun was stunned.

He saw a familiar figure slowly walking out of the rainbow light…

“Yi Yun?”

Inside the divine tree cavern’s tiny world, Yue Yingsha saw Yi Yun walking before he stopped in front of the stone house. When he reached his hand out to open the door, he had come to a halt after he touched the door. He had been standing there quietly.

Just as she wanted to ask him if he had any discoveries, she suddenly sensed an extremely boundless ancient aura suffuse from his body.

The aura merged with the divine tree, as though Yi Yun was a manifestation of the divine tree itself.

“Ah!”

A figure suddenly fell out, planting herself to the ground with her head buried in the soil.

Yue Yingsha was alarmed as she subconsciously touched her interspatial ring. However, when she focused her eyes, she realized that the person who had fallen out was Chu He.

“Sis, what happened to me…” Chu He was somewhat dumbfounded as she got up while rubbing her head. She believed that she had been attacked when she was suddenly thrown out.

“Oh? Where is this?” Chu He looked around in complete confusion.

“Chu He, this is the restricted zone mentioned in the sect’s canon.” Yue Yingsha’s alarmed look gradually disappeared. As she looked at Yi Yun, her eyes had an indescribable look of longing. She said in a drawn out manner, “Yi Yun seems to have merged with the divine tree, but you can’t, so you were thrown out by the divine tree’s aura…”

“Divine tree? Merge?” Chu He widened her beautiful eyes as she looked at Yi Yun in disbelief. This was actually the restricted zone the sect’s canon mentioned. Could it be that Yi Yun was awakening the divine tree?

1035 - : Merging with the Divine Tree

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Yi Yun’s consciousness merged with the divine tree completely, he was able to have a full appreciation of the immense lifeforce the divine tree possessed. It was like a limitless ocean and he was like a tiny boat floating in the ocean in the face of the divine tree. He was too minute.

Yi Yun sensed that the Purple Crystal inside of him had already fused with the divine tree, as though he had already come into contact with the divine tree’s soul.

However…

The divine tree that had existed for hundreds of millions of years had its Origins slumbering for such a prolonged time that as the Purple Crystal’s controller, Yi Yun, was unable to awaken it despite having the Purple Crystal fuse with it.

“Is it because I’m too weak?”

Yi Yun perceived the Realm Rock that was wrapped by the gigantic root network. As long as he could awaken the divine tree, its immense lifeforce would be transmitted into the Realm Rock through the massive root network.

But now, the Realm Rock was constantly cracking and continuing its collapse. As for Yi Yun, he was unable to awaken the divine tree…

This made Yi Yun anxious as Felicitous Rain Lord was still engaging in a life-and-death battle outside. All hope was on him, but he was unable to awaken the divine tree.

Yi Yun took a deep breath. His spiritual energy felt like it was slamming into a thick and dense wall. His constant attempts were to no avail as the divine tree remained asleep…

“It’s still not enough!”

Yi Yun endured the tremors that his soul and soul sea experienced with every impact. His forehead was already covered in sweat.

Standing beside Yi Yun, Yue Yingsha and Chu He had seen all that had happened. They sensed that Yi Yun had encountered difficulties during the awakening process. Although Yi Yun was covered in radiant light, and his spiritual energy had already integrated with the divine tree, there was no response from the divine tree. If this carried on, Yi Yun’s strength would eventually run out. No one could withstand such an immense drain of spiritual energy.

And the weaker he became, the more unlikely it was to awaken the divine tree.

“Sis, what do we do…?” Chu He asked when she saw Yi Yun’s face gradually turn pale. She had learned from Yue Yingsha the gist of what had happened. Yue Yingsha prostrated herself as she prayed piously. As the Azure Wood Great World’s Saint, she was unable to do a thing.

“A hundred million years ago, Her Excellency had awoken the divine tree, but now…the moment of the Azure Wood Great World’s destruction is approaching but the divine tree has been slumbering for an even longer period of time. It’s probably much more difficult to awaken it than a hundred million years ago…” Yue Yingsha muttered to herself.

Her heart sank as she recalled how the Saint that had awoken the divine tree was far superior to Yi Yun in terms of strength. Furthermore, with the increased difficulty, did Yi Yun have a chance of success? Perhaps it was only she who was having wishful and naive thoughts…

…

At that moment, in the exterior world!

“Roar!”

With a mighty roar, the bronze giant cleaved down with his gigantic ax which clashed with several beams of divine light.

And in this energy storm, Daoist You Ming and the other Supremacies from the Fey Phantasm Sect let out tragic cries. They were slammed to the ground ruthlessly from mid-air.

Despite being Supremacies, they were no different from ants while in the presence of the bronze giant. As for Demonic Eye Divine Lord and company, they had sullen and grim expressions.

“The bronze giant is constantly absorbing the River Styx’s water. The restraint the divine tree has on him is weakening as well. We are beginning to be disadvantaged!” said Shi Xuanji.

The four Divine Lords were previously able to barely withstand the bronze giant’s attacks, but now, they were beginning to find it tough. They could be heavily injured if they lost concentration!

“Felicitous Rain, your disciple has already entered the restricted zone, right? Why has nothing happened?” Shi Xuanji asked Felicitous Rain Lord.

“Hmph! Letting a warrior at the half-step Dao Manifestation realm shoulder our lives was a joke, to begin with.” Demonic Eye Divine Lord said fumingly. He was still upset over his inability to awaken the portrait.

“It’s pointless grumbling. Now, the only thing we can do is to continue holding the bronze giant back and buy time for Yi Yun,” said Felicitous Rain Lord coldly.

“We can’t last much longer. If your disciple hasn’t awakened the divine tree by then, we will have to give up on the bronze giant and seek a different path.” Demonic Eye Divine Lord said with a solemn expression.

When Felicitous Rain Lord heard those words, he knitted his eyebrows and said with a cold expression, “Demonic Eye, what do you mean by that? My disciple has entered the core of the divine tree and he is literally just under the bronze giant’s eyes. If we were to retreat, what would happen to my disciple!? He had shouldered great risk in order to seek a way out, but here you are, allowing him to be destroyed by the bronze giant!”

Felicitous Rain Lord knew that the restricted zone in the divine tree’s core was likely a tiny world. It was isolated from the world of the Door to the 33 Skies, but even so, Yi Yun was not completely safe!

The bronze giant was a formidable existence. If he could even chop at the divine tree, it was possible that Yi Yun could die from the tremors that arose from the bronze giant’s chopping!

“Hmph! What a joke! Don’t blame me if your disciple is unable to awaken the divine tree because of his lackluster ability! Furthermore, your disciple might have entered the restricted zone because he was eyeing the treasures within. Don’t make it sound so righteous and upstanding!”

When Demonic Eye Divine Lord said those words, many of the Fey Phantasm Sect members began having various thoughts. They no longer did their best while in formation. Their own lives were what mattered most. They couldn’t care less about anything else!

Felicitous Rain Lord was incensed, but he was out of options at that moment. He could no longer sense Yi Yun, and he did not know what Yi Yun was experiencing.

At that moment, even Felicitous Rain Lord had his confidence shaken.

The towering divine tree had been slumbering above the constantly collapsing land. Even if Yi Yun was a genius, could he really awaken the divine tree with his meager strength?

If the lack of results continued, Demonic Eye would definitely retreat, dooming Yi Yun with absolute certainty.

…

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The violent energy from the battle in the external world caused mountains to collapse, but it did not affect the tiny world within the divine tree.

And now, Yi Yun was still attempting to awaken the divine tree.

Under the divine tree’s massive consciousness, Yi Yun was constantly making surging attempts.

Every surging attempt made Yi Yun feel like he would be devoured by the divine tree’s massive consciousness the very next second. It would make him become a part of the divine tree. When the time came, Yi Yun would no longer have his own consciousness, and even though he was the divine tree, he would no longer be himself.

However, with the Purple Crystal’s protection, Yi Yun’s soul sea and soul did not collapse under such impacts. They maintained a thin sliver of clarity.

Gradually, Yi Yun felt his strength weakening. He had expended too much of his energy, and he did not know how long more he could last.

Although the hopes of awakening the divine tree was gradually diminishing, Yi Yun felt that his soul was becoming more robust through the impacts. His Yuan Qi was also slowly becoming more coagulated.

The divine tree’s massive power streaked through Yi Yun, making him feel like he was a metal being tempered by fire. He was struck, again and again, slowly turning from ordinary metal into a sharp blade.

“Peng!”

Yi Yun’s mental energy shattered once again as he gave a deep grunt while his face turned pale.

“One more time!” Yi Yun released his Destruction Dao Domain, sending an aura of annihilation out from his body!

1036 - : Danger

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yue Yingsha and Chu He, who were standing beside Yi Yun, retreated spontaneously when they sensed the fearsome aura.

A Dao Domain formed from Major Destruction laws was something that Yue Yingsha and Chu He had experienced for the first time. It alarmed Yue Yingsha greatly. What laws did Yi Yun cultivate in to produce a nomological aura with such immense power?

Ka! Ka!

The Realm Rock that had seen much destruction suddenly produced another crack. It was as though it was completely on the brink of collapse.

An indescribable and dense cadaveric aura instantly emanated from it. The Realm Rock had reached its final moment in life and the entire Azure Wood Great World was quaking as though it was mourning for it.

Yi Yun’s mind sank. He realized that the Realm Rock could no longer be repaired. There were too many cracks, and it was about to completely shatter. No matter how much work he put it, it was impossible for him to succeed.

Yi Yun’s face was covered in cold sweat. At that moment, his soul had already fused with the divine tree. He knew that the choice he made would determine the life and death of everyone present. It could even determine the survival of the Azure Wood Great World.

However, he no longer had the time to contemplate it. He had to risk it all on one bet, or he would face certain doom!

“Since the Realm Rock can no longer be repaired, it might be possible to have destruction before establishment!”

With his heart steeled, a purple beam flashed from his glabella.

Sword of the Will!

Ka-cha!

The Sword of the Will that Yi Yun had gained insights into back when he was in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven slashed straight at the Realm Rock.

The Realm Rock trembled vigorously as the number of cracks rapidly increased.

The Realm Rock appeared to be on the brink of collapse, but just as the world was about to crumble, Yi Yun seemingly felt a vital pulse coming from within the divine tree.

This vital pulse was distant and boundless. The divine tree was after all the support of the Azure Wood Great World. It was finally stirred when the world was on the brink of collapse.

This stirring was a fleeting moment, but it had been noticed by Yi Yun.

“Now is the time!”

Yi Yun took a deep breath before he struck with all his force!

Boom!

Finally, the divine tree’s gigantic door opened up a tiny crack after hundreds, if not thousands of incessant slamming.

Immediately, tremendous energy emanated out from it.

Yi Yun felt a jolt through his mind. He sensed that his consciousness had apparently broken through something. The scene in front of him had suddenly changed. The cracking Realm Rock and the roots had vanished. Replacing them was a vast interstellar space.

And in this starry space stood a black-dressed woman quietly.

“It’s her!” Yi Yun immediately held his breath.

The black-dressed woman was peerless in beauty. As she stood in the interstellar space, it was as if the starry space was a world that belonged to her.

And beside her, there was a nine-petaled red lotus dancing around gently.

At that moment, the black-dressed woman suddenly took out a purple-colored crystal.

The Purple Crystal!

Yi Yun held his breath. He had not guessed wrong. The black-dressed woman was indeed a past owner of the Purple Crystal!

What was she doing?

Yi Yun saw the woman constantly produce seals with her hands around the Purple Crystal at its core. As the seals coagulated, Yi Yun suddenly realized what was happening.

“Could it be…”

The phantom of the black-dressed woman he saw and the scene he was seeing…were likely scenes of the black-dressed woman creating the Azure Wood Great World!

The black-dressed woman placed the Realm Rock in interstellar space as she released immense power to establish the Azure Wood Great World.

The birth of a world needed an extremely long period of time. The world was born from Primordial Chaos, slowly forming Yin-Yang, the five elements, and the Heaven and Earth laws. After an unknown period of time, mountains, seas, flora, and fauna was born…

And now, Yi Yun was seeing the scenes of the black-dressed woman creating the nascent Azure Wood Great World from Primordial Chaos.

The nascent form of the Azure Wood Great World. Wait a moment!

This is!

Yi Yun stared with widened eyes. He saw that the black-dressed woman’s hands were holding up an area around the Purple Crystal. Swirling around it was a gray mist that was constantly expanding in size and thickening.

Primordial Chaos!

This was the legendary nebulous Primordial Chaos!

Primordial Chaos was the law that governed the formation of the Universe and large worlds. The black-dressed woman had used nebulous Primordial Chaos to create the Azure Wood Great World!

Yi Yun widened his eyes. He stared intently without missing a single seal the black-dressed woman produced. This was the law of Primordial Chaos!

After Yi Yun had come into contact with the Major Destruction law, he had finally seen the Primordial Chaos laws he had been dreaming of!

Primordial Chaos signified the birth of the Universe, while Major Destruction signified the end of the Universe.

The Purple Crystal was miraculous. Before Yi Yun, the two owners of the Purple Crystal were the long-haired man and the black-dressed woman. One of them was proficient in Major Destruction laws, while the other was proficient in Primordial Chaos laws used to create worlds.

Creation and destruction were a complete cycle.

All the laws that Yi Yun cultivated in were similar!

He had cultivated in pure Yang, but he had dual cultivated ‘Great Empress Heart Sutra’ with Lin Xintong, creating synergy with pure Yin.

He had cultivated in Sword Dao, but he had first cultivated in Saber Dao. He had obtained the Thousand Army Saber and entered the saber tomb. Eventually, he used the Thousand Snow Domain.

He had cultivated in the Dao of time, but in the intense battle with the Black-armored Demon God, he had been trapped in an alternate space. He had first grasped spatial laws, allowing synergy between space and time!

Only his Dao of Major Destruction was lacking in the corresponding Dao of Primordial Chaos. This made him unable to condense a perfect Major Destruction Dao fruit back when he condensed his Dao fruits.

Back then, Yi Yun already had several eight-leaf Dao fruits, but in order to pursue the pinnacle of martial arts, Yi Yun had decisively abandoned his Dao Manifestation. He had come to the Azure Wood Great World which was fraught with dangers all so that he could search for the nebulous Primordial Chaos when the Azure Wood Great World collapsed!

And now, he had really found it! Furthermore, what he found was not the nebulous Primordial Chaos after a world’s collapse but the nebulous Primordial Chaos that the black-dressed woman had extracted when creating the Azure Wood Great World. It was extremely pure and refined. It was the nebulous Primordial Chaos that came from the beginning of Chaos!

Yi Yun released his perception and through the divine tree, it radiated throughout the Azure Wood Great World.

He sensed that the nebulous Primordial Chaos that the black-dressed woman had coagulated back then had not completely vanished. There was still a portion contained in the Azure Wood Great World.

And it was none other than what was in front of him. The nebulous Primordial Chaos was sealed in the stone house carved from Purple Crystal Chaos Stones that was right in front of him!

He had finally found the nebulous Primordial Chaos!

Yi Yun felt exuberant. Not only did he find the nebulous Primordial Chaos, he had also the phantom scenes of the black-dressed woman’s seal formations. Here, he could truly see Primordial Chaos laws!

It was a golden opportunity for himself.

A thought suddenly came to Yi Yun. With such an opportunity, he might as well attempt to manifest his Dao fruits and break through the Dao Manifestation realm in one shot!

He had been unable to awaken the divine tree mainly because he lacked the strength. His cultivation level was too weak, but once he stepped into the Dao Manifestation realm, condensing his Dao fruits, it would be completely different. He was very likely to be able to awaken the divine tree.

Yi Yun was filled with anticipation. He wondered how the situation would develop after he stepped into the Dao Manifestation realm with the possession of Primordial Chaos laws.

With that thought in mind, Yi Yun did not hesitate any further. He infused his mental energy into the Purple Crystal and as he watched the black-dressed woman’s every sealing action and their energy trajectories. Everything was reflected in his energy vision, allowing him to see them clearly. Without the Purple Crystal or the energy vision, it was impossible to discern the seals made by the black-dressed woman at all.

Yi Yun drew in empty space with his hands, as he imitated whatever he saw. The time that passed in his consciousness was different from normal time. A long time might pass in his consciousness, but it could only be a few seconds in the real world…

1037 - : A Golden Chance

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Primordial Chaos. This is the power of Primordial Chaos!”

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. It was a power that was needed to complete his Major Destruction laws which he had been yearning for.

Yi Yun had been in the Heaven Ascension realm for too long that the amount of energy and laws he accumulated could no longer be contained by his body. His foundations could not be any sturdier, so he should have broken through to the Dao Manifestation realm a long time ago, but he had waited up to that moment in time. Everything was for that particular instant.

Dao Manifestation!

Boom!

Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi blasted as the towering Dao Tree in his body produced a projection.

At that moment, Yi Yun and the Azure Wood Great World’s divine tree had merged as one. The heaven-ascending Dao Tree in his dantian did not seem any different from the divine tree. At that moment, Yi Yun’s Dao Tree was the divine tree and vice-versa!

Over so many years of practicing martial arts, Yi Yun had learned several top-grade heritage techniques, and he had enjoyed several fortuitous opportunities. And for Yi Yun, the law that he had been cultivating the longest had been pure Yang!

“Beginning with pure Yang, I cultivated in the ‘Tai Ah Sacred Technique’. I fused the Golden Crow species as my totem and after entering the God Advent Tower, I dual-cultivated with Xintong. My pure Yang was perfected before I went to Mt. Azure Billow. There, I obtained the pure Yang mark from the Extreme Yang Illumination, pushing my pure Yang laws to the extreme point in the Heaven Ascension realm! The first Dao fruit will be a pure Yang Dao fruit!”

Yi Yun settled his mind and spirit, as the power of his pure Yang burst out. A Radiant Sun appeared behind him as a Golden Crow soared into the air and flew onto a branch of the divine tree.

Sunrise from Tang Valley, Roaming across the World, Spreading Light Onto World, Brilliant Glorious Magnificent Luster, Ten Suns from Fusang, Who Masters Pure Yang!

All the pure Yang laws and Yuan Qi that Yi Yun had cultivated in finally condensed on the divine tree’s branches, forming a Dao fruit…

…

At that moment, outside the restricted zone!

Ka Ka Ka!

Large cracks opened in the ground, from which thick black gases spewed out. It was the Apocalyptic Fumes, also known as the rotting gases of a crumbling large world.

When Demonic Eye Divine Lord saw this scene, he said with a change in expression, “The Azure Wood Great World is probably about to collapse! Felicitous Rain, after your disciple entered the restricted zone, not only did he not awaken the divine tree, it has caused the Azure Wood Great World to collapse! I previously said that the punk’s cultivation level was too low and that he would not be able to awaken the divine tree, but none of you believed me! Now, from the looks of it, he has not only failed to awaken the divine tree, he might have ended up making it worse!”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord had spoken coldly. He was still holding a grudge regarding the Azure Wood Manor’s restricted zone. He suspected that it contained heritage left behind by the black-dressed woman.

The black-dressed woman was already standing at the pinnacle of martial arts. Even a tiny thing left behind by her could benefit a person greatly. And for an item of that grade, how could a junior be able to gain any enlightenment from that. It would be a waste of heaven’s treasures in Yi Yun’s hands!

Unfortunately, with the Azure Wood Great World about to be destroyed, the restricted zone was also finished.

“The Azure Wood Great World is really about to be destroyed. In that case, the disciples that came to this world would perish along with its destruction.”

The person who spoke was Rime Divine Lord. There were ribbon bands swirling around her, giving her an otherworldly vibe. As she watched the Azure Wood Great World’s collapse, she sighed inwardly. There had been many extremely talented young people and impressive overlords in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven that had come to the Azure Wood Great World in search for opportunities. However, no one expected that it would be a trip to the gallows.

“Hmph! We actually believed that ton of nonsense that Yi Yun gave. We have really been befuddled by him!” said Shi Xuanji as he fumed with anger. He was still worried about the Immortal Rain Sect disciples, uncertain if they had perished. But now, even if they had survived, they would be doomed once the Azure Wood Great World collapsed.

They were elites of the Immortal Rain Sect, so Shi Xuanji’s heart would bleed if they were to be wiped out at once.

However, Demonic Eye Divine Lord had other thoughts.

Unlike Shi Xuanji, most of his Fey Phantasm Sect disciples were with him. He could stow his disciples away in his mobile abode.

In fact, the destruction of the Azure Wood Great World was not necessarily bad for him.

They had been trapped in the Door to the 33 Skies, and they had been facing the threat of death from the bronze giant. It was unlikely he could survive if the situation persisted.

But the moment the world collapsed, the land of doom that bound them would no longer exist. The destructive force produced when a world collapsed was obviously horrifying, but the massive energy radiated out uniformly. Its impact on a single person was not as terrifying. Demonic Eye Divine Lord was confident that he could survive in the destruction and that he would not be lost in the shattered space-time that followed.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s thoughts were not unique. Shi Xuanji shared the same intention of escaping the moment the world collapsed.

With that thought in mind, the duo suddenly pulled out from the offensive assault on the bronze giant!

Since the world was already collapsing, they had to conserve their strength to withstand the annihilative spatial storms that accompanied the destruction of the world.

“Shi Xuanji! Demonic Eye! The two of you!”

When Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord suddenly retreated, the pressure on Felicitous Rain Lord increased immediately. He was struck by the ax beam from the bronze giant’s swipe of his massive ax. His body quivered as blood seeped from the corner of his mouth!

“Felicitous Rain, I won’t be accompanying you in your madness! That person is your disciple, and letting him enter the restricted zone was a joke, to begin with. Why would I put in so much effort to protect him? Dream on!”

As Demonic Eye Divine Lord said that, he retreated another few thousand feet!

Although the bronze giant was powerful, it was still restrained by the chains. There was little danger as long as a distance was opened up.

“Damn it!” Felicitous Rain Lord cursed silently. However, he did not dare take the risk of retreating even if he was the only person left. Yi Yun was still in the restricted zone, so what would happen to him if he retreated?

“Oh? Felicitous Rain sure is dumb. To think he still wants to persevere. Ignoring the possibility of him surviving the bronze giant’s attacks, even if he can, how much strength would he have left to withstand the spatial storms once the world collapses? He will probably be seriously injured by the destructive power of the world’s collapse!”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord gave Felicitous Rain Lord a sinister and bemused look. He even had thoughts of sneaking up on Felicitous Rain Lord if he had the opportunity. By letting Felicitous Rain Lord die in the spatial storms, he could rob him of all his treasures.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The spatial storms grew more and more tempestuous, as the bronze giant’s attacks simultaneously struck wave after wave like a stormy sea.

Standing beside Felicitous Rain Lord, Rime Divine Lord had not retreated as well. Felicitous Rain Lord would have been in greater danger if she had left. He might not even be able to last thirty seconds.

In the storm, Felicitous Rain Lord asked Rime Divine Lord, “Aren’t you leaving?” It was extremely rare for there to be a person to provide such timely aid in such a situation.

“I have my own principles. I had agreed to fight with you previously, but the premise is that it would not endanger my life. The combined efforts of the two of us can only last us a minute or two. There is actually no meaning to it…”

Rime Divine Lord shook her head. With the Azure Wood Great World on the brink of destruction, anything they did was meaningless.

Felicitous Rain Lord sighed lightly before saying, “You are right. However, I have my own principles as well. Even if I can’t save my disciple, I will do my best or it will be a violation of my code.”

As Felicitous Rain Lord said that, he suddenly realized that the towering divine tree behind the bronze giant was seemingly undergoing certain changes. The divine tree was shrouded in a fuzzy halo, making it look blurry. The leaves on the divine tree were clearly the condensation of laws.

The nomological Dao patterns were not very profound, but it gave an indescribable vibe of perfection and harmony. It made Felicitous Rain Lord’s heart stir.

What’s going on…with the divine tree?

As Felicitous Rain Lord was pondering over it, he suddenly heard an extended screech as a gigantic three-legged Golden Crow flew onto a branch of the divine tree. Its body was burning with pure Yang flames as it spread its wings. It dived into the laws that were being coagulated in a blazing inferno!

In the crackling pure Yang flames, a fruit became more and more coalesced, and engraving on it were golden pure Yang Dao patterns. It was…a Dao fruit!?

Felicitous Rain Lord could tell at a glance that it was a Dao fruit that belonged to a Dao Manifestation realm warrior. However, why would the divine tree that propped up a world produce a Dao fruit of such a low level?

In fact, the laws on the Dao fruit were perfect. Even with his insights, he could not find a single flaw. Its perfection and simple exquisiteness were truly profoundness in its simplest form!

1038 - : Dao Manifestation Repeated

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What’s going on with the divine tree?”

The sight was seen by not only Felicitous Rain Lord but also by the retreating Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord. The world tree that stood tall and formidable had produced a fruit covered in Dao patterns.

“Isn’t that a Dao fruit?”

Both Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord had seen countless juniors condensing Dao fruits throughout their lives. Quite a number of them were even their disciples. As the Dao Manifestation realm was an indicator of a warrior’s future accomplishments, they would attend the breakthrough of any of their important disciples.

The process of a warrior manifesting his Dao was something they were particularly familiar with. First, a heaven-ascending Dao Tree would be projected. Next, Dao fruits would condense one after another on the Dao Tree’s branches.

However, the heaven-ascending Dao Tree was at best ninety-nine deca-feet. Although the height wasn’t a ridiculous exaggeration, that was the limit. It was impossible for it to go higher.

But now, the one in front of them…

Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord were on the threshold of cursing. Was this even called a Dao Tree? This was the divine tree of the Azure Wood Great World! It was a divine tree that could prop up a great world like a celestial pillar!

Due to the perfection in height, a Nine Nine Dao Tree was a Dao Tree that paved the ascent to heaven.

However, in front of the divine tree, a Nine Nine Dao Tree was like a shrub. How could a person use the divine tree to manifest a Dao fruit!?

“Could it be that someone is breaking through to the Dao Manifestation realm!?” exclaimed Demonic Eye Divine Lord in disbelief. However, he shut his mouth the moment he said the sentence. He had come to the realization that the only people inside the divine tree’s core were Yi Yun and Yue Yingsha. The latter was already at the Dao Manifestation realm, while the former was still at half-step Dao Manifestation. Could it be Yi Yun?

Shi Xuanji had clearly come to the same realization as Demonic Eye. He said with knitted brows, “It’s only a Dao fruit. It’s still an unknown if it’s someone breaking through to the Dao Manifestation realm. Even if it’s that punk, it can only prove that he can partially merge with the divine tree, allowing his heaven-ascending Dao Tree to be projected on the divine tree. However, he still hasn’t awakened the divine tree. Now, with the Azure Wood Great World already collapsing, what’s the point of having a breakthrough here?”

Just as Shi Xuanji finished his words, a rumbling bang was heard as a huge, shocking crack opened up in the ground. It was like an invisible god had split open the ground with a single strike.

Hu! Hu! Hu!

Black Apocalyptic Fumes were expelled from the rift like flames. There was not much time left for the world they resided in.

“Xuanji, my brethren, you are right. With the bronze giant here, Felicitous Rain stands no chance at entering the restricted zone. There’s no way to save that punk. He is destined to be destroyed along with the Azure Wood Great World. His efforts of attempting to break through to the Dao Manifestation realm is ludicrous. That bit of strength is like an ant trying to shake a tree in the face of a world’s destructive power. How lamentable and laughable.” Demonic Eye Divine Lord said scoffingly. Yi Yun’s death would greatly delight him.

However, his expression gradually stiffened after a few chortles. He had seen the Dao fruit on the divine tree grow bigger in size and become plump. It had already produced eight leaves and it was in the midst of condensing the ninth!

A Dao fruit’s grade went from one leaf to nine leaves. It was already pretty good if a Divine Lord’s disciple was able to condense an eight-leaf Dao fruit. As for a nine-leaf Dao fruit, it was exceedingly rare. Even in powerful sects like the Immortal Rain Sect and the Fey Phantasm Sect, it was only occasionally seen once every few hundred millennia. The moment one appeared, it was celebrated by the sect with lavish banquets. Overlords from every corner would send their best wishes.

And even so, a genius with a rare nine-leaf Dao fruit would typically cultivate in an ordinary Dao. The difficulty of condensing a nine-leaf Dao fruit with a Great Dao was ten times higher!

What Yi Yun was condensing was the pure Yang Great Dao. As Yin-Yang laws had existed since the Universe’s inchoate beginnings, it was something that stood beyond the reach of many. However, Yi Yun had managed to attain perfection in the pure Yang Great Dao. Such a nine-leaf Great Dao fruit was something not seen in several million years!

With Yi Yun’s Dao fruit quickly reaching nine leaves, an accomplishment that could affront millions of years of the Fey Phantasm Sect’s achievements, how could Demonic Eye Divine Lord feel at ease?

“Pa!”

At that moment, the ninth leaf had finally developed. The speed at which the Dao fruit went from coalescence to formation exceeded expectations. This was because Yi Yun had once attempted Dao manifestation, condensing a nascent form of the Dao fruit, before entering the Azure Wood Great World.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

The moment the nine-leaf Dao fruit took form, it immediately emitted a resplendent radiance. It was like a tiny sun that had just risen, spreading its golden rays into infinity!

Pure Yang nomological runes began to carve themselves on the Dao fruit. It was a dazzling and astonishing sight.

This was an exemplary perfect Dao fruit!

At the same time—

“Peng!”

With a loud explosion, a pitch-black ax beam flashed. Felicitous Rain Lord had been sent flying by the bronze giant’s cleave!

Despite parrying with the Three-foot Passage Sword, Felicitous Rain Lord was still left injured. He was not the bronze giant’s match after all. Felicitous Rain Lord’s hair was disheveled, while blood seeped from the corners of his mouth. However, his eyes were filled with burning fighting spirit!

When he looked at the perfect nine-leaf pure Yang Dao fruit on the divine tree, he suddenly broke out into a boisterous laughter. His long black hair danced in the stormy winds that could rip apart a massive world.

“Wonderful! Fate had determined that you and I enjoy a master-disciple relationship. If you are able to be like the golden carp that evolves into a dragon under stormy winds, I am willing to be the wind and give you that opportunity!”

Felicitous Rain Lord’s voice resounded through the heaven and earth. As he brandished the sword in his hand, his body transformed into a stream of light as he shuttled through the tempestuous winds!

His figure was like a petrel flying through the tempest with the bronze giant as its destination!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground ruptured as the sky trembled, causing large swaths of the void to begin fracturing. However, Felicitous Rain Lord ignored all of that. He battled the bronze giant with all his strength!

From afar, the bronze giant whose massive figure could crush a mountain under its feet was in stark comparison to Felicitous Rain Lord, who was as minute as a speck of dust. This scene seemed to be fixed in time for all eternity.

“Felicitous Rain is mad. He is actually risking his life to battle the bronze giant at this point in time! Is he not concerned for his life?” Shi Xuanji’s expression sank. Although he was not on good terms with Felicitous Rain Lord, the latter was still someone from the Immortal Rain Sect. He always felt that Felicitous Rain Lord was a person of value that he did not want to see perish.

“Hmph, Felicitous Rain is courting death. If not for me knowing that his disciple is attempting to break through to the Dao Manifestation realm, I would have mistaken it as his disciple attempting to become a Divine Lord. What use is a Dao Manifestation realm? A nine-leaf Dao fruit may be rare, but a powerful faction can produce such a genius every few million years. In the entire Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, there would be even more of such examples. However, it is still highly improbable that a warrior with a nine-leaf Dao fruit can become a Divine Lord!”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord said disgruntledly. What he said was the truth. There were too few Divine Lords in existence, or the Immortal Rain Sect would not have gone through such great effort to persuade Felicitous Rain Lord to return.

However, just as Demonic Eye Divine Lord said those words, the second half of his sentence was left stuck in his throat because he had witnessed with his own eyes another Dao fruit condensing from the extremely magnificent divine tree.

The Dao fruit was filled with a charm that seemed to flow with the passage of time. It was as though an invisible river of time was watering the fruit, allowing it to rapidly grow.

The leaves began to unfurl like flower petals that had been nourished by rainy dew. The speed at which they unfurled was unbelievably fast. Typically, a young junior’s Dao Manifestation realm breakthrough would require a long period of time. However, the spreading out of the leaves only took Yi Yun a few seconds.

One leaf, two leaves, three leaves…six leaves, seven leaves, eight leaves…

When a tiny corner of the ninth leaf began unfolding itself, Demonic Eye Divine Lord and Shi Xuanji were completed astounded. A nine-leaf Dao fruit, a Dao fruit of the nomological time Great Dao. Another one!?

Even a peerless genius could not cultivate in too many Dao. A warrior’s time in his youth was too precious. Cultivating in three Dao would be the limit even for a personal disciple of a Divine Lord. Furthermore, amongst the three Dao, one of them would be the main focus, while the others would be supplementary.

The Dao that was mainly focused might not even condense a nine-leaf Dao fruit, let alone the supplementary Dao! However, Yi Yun had condensed two nine-leaf Dao fruits in one shot!

1039 - : Yi Yun’s Dao fruits

CKtalon  CKtalon

One of the two Dao fruits was shimmering with the golden brilliance of pure Yang that radiated to infinity like a tiny sun.

As for the other fruit, it was lingering with the aura of time laws. It was like an ancient treasure that was eventually born after absorbing the infinite worldly essence after several epochs.

At that moment, the world was still on its path towards destruction. However, the two hanging Dao fruits on the branches had attracted the attention of everyone.

“I don’t believe that the punk is able to condense two nine-leaf Great Dao Dao fruits. The Dao fruits on the divine tree are not necessarily the punk’s.” You Feihua muttered to himself through clenched teeth. Back then, the Dao fruit that he condensed was only an eight-leaf Great Dao Dao fruit. Furthermore, it was the law in which he focused in. As for his supplementary law, it was only a six-leaf Dao fruit. Compared to the divine tree in front of him, his results were nothing but garbage.

You Feihua found it unacceptable, but at that moment, his eyes had completely glazed over as he saw with his own eyes sword Qi gathering on a branch. A third Dao fruit had suddenly appeared on the Dao Tree!

There was a tiny sword in the Dao fruit that exuded an inherent sharpness which could be detected at a glance.

The third fruit, a Sword Dao Dao fruit!

In the Pure Yang Sword Palace, Yi Yun had seen and gained insights from a shocking sword scar. It was a strike that could split a world apart, one that far exceeded the realm of a Divine Lord.

And in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, he had also learned the Three-foot Passage Sword from Felicitous Rain Lord!

Times flies like an arrow and the lives of people curve like bows!

Yi Yun’s Sword Dao was about being indomitable! It contained the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s supreme sword intent, and it could break through all obstacles with a single sword strike!

Dazzling sword beams began emitting from the Dao fruit as one leaf after another began to unfurl consecutively. Every leaf was like a tiny lustrous sword. Finally, the sword-shaped leaves reached a final count of nine!

“Nine sword beams…It’s another nine-leaf Dao fruit!” When Shi Xuanji saw the third nine-leaf Dao fruit appear, his face twitched. It was nearing numbness. With the cultivation level of a Divine Lord, such a loss of composure should not have appeared on his face. Furthermore, it happened while in a situation of extreme danger.

Three nine-leaf Dao fruits! If it wasn’t for the inopportune timing, he might have begun trying to recruit such a talent for the Immortal Rain Sect!

Unfortunately, such a monstrously talented disciple was Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple. What’s more, Felicitous Rain Lord did not acknowledge the Immortal Rain Sect at all.

The Sword Dao Dao fruit hung on the divine tree’s branch and was lined beside the other two Dao fruits. The sword Qi lingering above the Sword Dao Dao fruit was extremely sharp. Its nine leaves appeared as though they could fly out at any time. Just a simple glance at it could result in injuries!

Three nine-leaf Dao fruits were unprecedented. Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye had never heard of anyone from a major faction that had attained such heaven-defying accomplishments.

But at that moment, a scene that made Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord completely petrified happened.

Right above the three Dao fruits, a black vortex appeared at the peak of the divine tree. The vortex had gathered unknown amounts of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Even a land of doom like the Door to the 33 Skies could not stop it!

A black wheel of existence appeared from the vortex and on the wheel, there were countless of demon gods undergoing nirvana, the deaths of all entities and the destruction of a major world!

This was the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

“It’s the laws of destruction!”

Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye were knowledgeable, so they immediately recognized it as the laws of destruction.

Destruction was also a Great Dao, but other than the legendary Dao of Major Destruction, it would be on par with space-time, Yin-Yang if it were an ordinary Dao of Destruction. As for the possibility of Yi Yun having gained insight into the Dao of Major Destruction, that was something that did not occur to Shi Xuanji. But even so, a Great Dao that was not inferior to Yin-Yang or space-time was something that left Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s hearts twitching.

This was the fourth Dao fruit! Why was everything that Yi Yun had insights in a Great Dao!?

“Oh? This Dao fruit’s energy is not stable. Why does it feel like it’s about to explode?”

Shi Xuanji sensed that the fourth Destruction Dao fruit was on the brink of collapse.

The Great Dao of Destruction was the annihilation of everything. Condensing such a Dao fruit was easier said than done. It could even destroy a person’s Dao Tree.

“Haha, this punk is being too greedy with four Great Dao. Isn’t he afraid that he will gorge himself to death? How can a tiny body of his be able to withstand it? He can’t control the Dao of Destruction. Something bad is about to happen!”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord was secretly gloating at Yi Yun’s misfortune when he realized that the fourth Dao fruit was problematic. The collapse of the laws of destruction was not a trifling matter. He greatly wished that Yi Yun would have a Qi deviation during his breakthrough. It would be even better if his cultivation was left crippled.

However, just as the fourth Dao fruit was about to explode, a gray-colored gas suddenly appeared from the middle of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. As if it was giving the wheel a finishing touch, it merged into the core of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Instantly, all the demons and gods undergoing nirvana in the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, the deaths of all entities and the destruction of a major world had a fresh breath of vitality infused into them.

Demons and gods could undergo nirvana, but rebirth was possible through nirvana. All entities could die, but when their corpses returned to the soil, they would give birth to bustling new life. A world could be destroyed, but it was the beginning of a new world…

Under the nourishment of the gray-colored mist, the Dao fruit that appeared to be on the brink of explosion stabilized.

Following that, it began to constantly coagulate and unfurl its leaves.

At that moment, Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord could no longer be bothered to count the number of leaves. They were staring intently at the gray-colored mist that had been infused into the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. A tumultuous wave had been stirred in their minds!

They did not recognize the laws of Major Destruction, but they could recognize that grayish gas.

It was the nebulous Primordial Chaos!

It represented the laws of Chaos at the beginning of the Universe. The nebulous Primordial Chaos was an unattainable opportunity for any warrior!

Yi Yun had managed to use the nebulous Primordial Chaos to attune the final Dao fruit. Destruction and Chaos had perfectly fused together. Could it be that he had not only grasped the laws of destruction, but he had also gained insights into the Dao of Chaos from the nascent state of the Universe?

Shi Xuanji held his breath as Demonic Eye Divine Lord watched that sliver of nebulous Primordial Chaos with great envy.

A tiny sliver of nebulous Primordial Chaos was able to crush mountains and a wisp of it was as heavy as a star. Be it absorption, refinement, or using it to construct weapons would make it a paragon of all supreme treasures!

However, he was now watching helplessly as the nebulous Primordial Chaos was being completely absorbed by the constantly burgeoning black Dao fruit. Finally, the nebulous Primordial Chaos became a pattern that resembled a wisp of flowing clouds as it landed on the surface of the Dao fruit.

Seven…eight…nine!

Nine leaves. It was another nine-leaf Dao fruit!

And every single one of these nine leaves was about half the size of the other three Dao fruits. They were completely black in color and veins covered the surface of the leaves like blood vessels with pulsing blood. In addition, there was a dark red luster below the nine leaves. With the passage of time, the luster turned increasingly clear and defined. It was a Nine Transformations Red Lotus!

Nine Transformations Red Lotus!?

Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord both knew that people had seen a mark left behind by that peerless woman when they previously entered the Azure Wood Great World. The mark was so astounding that it made everyone believe that the Azure Wood Great World was a land of great opportunity. It was possible that heritage had been left behind by the peerless woman.

And that mark was a Nine Transformations Red Lotus!

1040 - : Major Destruction Dao Fruit

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had condensed his Dao fruit. A Nine Transformations Red Lotus propped up the nine-leaf Dao fruit, with every petal matching a Dao leaf. The symbolization of nine flower petals and nine Dao leaves could be considered perfection!

However, how could the mark the peerless woman left behind appear on Yi Yun’s Dao fruit? Could it be that Yi Yun had inherited her heritage?

Even if the restricted zone had any heritage, it was bound to be extremely profound. How could a junior like Yi Yun be able to gain insights into the laws left behind by the peerless woman?

Neither Shi Xuanji or Demonic Eye Divine Lord could figure it out. From their point of view, even if the black-dressed woman had really left behind heritage, they were the only ones qualified to receive it. And after receiving it, it was necessary for them to expend a great deal of time to gain any insight from it.

At that moment, the nine flower petals had condensed into a physical form. It was a phenomenon to see a red lotus propping up a Dao fruit!

It was already a miracle for a typical peerless genius to condense a nine-leaf Dao fruit, but now, with Yi Yun’s last nine-leaf Dao fruit, it was not only more than twice the size of an ordinary Dao fruit, it was also accompanied by the phenomena of having a nine-petaled red lotus. This made people suspect that there were two nine-leaf Dao fruits fused into one!

“Hahaha! Good! Well done!”

Felicitous Rain Lord slashed through the bronze giant’s gigantic ax beam. His azure-colored clothes were already stained red with blood. In the tempest, he had seen Yi Yun’s Dao fruits as he laughed boisterously. “Primordial Chaos laws. Yi Yun has really gained insights into it!”

Felicitous Rain Lord had previously suggested bringing Yi Yun along to the Azure Wood Great World in order to allow him to pursue his own martial path. It was a way for him to act in accordance with his actual wishes. It was simply an attempt, but the chance of success was undoubtedly extremely minute.

However, he never expected for Yi Yun to succeed in gaining insights into the Primordial Chaos laws in such a dire situation!

Yi Yun’s laws of destruction and laws of Primordial Chaos complemented each other. They were both the Universe’s Great Dao of Origins.

…

Yi Yun had merged with the divine tree and he had condensed his Dao fruits. The immense energy of the divine tree began to steadily surge into his body. Yi Yun, who had previously attempted to manifest his Dao, had easily succeeded in one fell swoop on his second attempt!

The Dao fruits were hanging on the Dao Tree. They were like the Heavenly Dao and they could only be described by immaculate perfection.

A total of four nine-leaf Dao fruits, with the Dao fruit of Major Destruction at the crest. The three Dao fruits beneath it formed a triangle, as though they were surrounding and protecting the Dao fruit of Major Destruction.

Such a phenomenon of Dao fruits was something completely unheard or unseen in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.

Shi Xuanji felt the skin on his face constantly twitching, as though he had been ruthlessly slapped several times in the face by someone.

How ludicrous was Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple? When compared to Yi Yun, the geniuses he had nurtured in the Immortal Rain Sect were a completely unbearable sight. Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s expression was equally ugly. The geniuses of his Fey Phantasm Sect were not much better than the Immortal Rain Sect.

But in an instant, Demonic Eye Divine Lord realized that even if Yi Yun had displayed his magnificent talent, so what? The world they were in was about to be destroyed!

“So what if there are four nine-leaf Dao fruits? The Azure Wood Great World is about to be destroyed at any moment. No matter how much a genius he is, he is only at the Dao Manifestation realm. He will still die here! Felicitous Rain, what’s the point of continuing such arduous persistence!? Your disciple is destined to perish! A short-lived genius is not called a genius!”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s words tore through the Yuan Qi storms and entered Felicitous Rain Lord’s ears.

Shi Xuanji revealed a sneer as well. What Demonic Eye Divine Lord said was the truth.

Regardless of how astounding or spectacular Yi Yun was, he would die here today.

“Felicitous Rain, come back! You can’t persist any longer. If this goes on, you will be severely injured. You will not have any remaining strength to withstand the storms produced from the explosion of the world. There is still time if you retreat now. Although you have depleted 90% of your Yuan Qi, I will guarantee your safety. After this, return with me to the Immortal Rain Sect. That is where you belong.”

“Where I belong? Hmph! My actions have always been to have a clear conscience!”

“Our pursuit of martial arts was always about going against the heavens. It’s to blaze a way through all obstacles and to make sacrifices without any heed for safety. A martial path is forged out of thin air from impossibility! As for the both of you, all you do is scheme daily, weigh the pros and cons of everything and remain jealous of geniuses. Your martial arts is only this and nothing more!” Felicitous Rain Lord said in an unbridled manner. With a loud roar, he spat a mouthful of blood essence onto his sword. “I have practiced martial arts my entire life. My path exists in my heart. There is no need for the advice of others!”

With a sword in hand, sourcing from his intent, the Three-foot Passage Sword slays all that is unjust!

Shi Xuanji was stupefied when he saw Felicitous Rain Lord ignore the effects of burning his blood essence while charging at the bronze giant once again.

Madness! This was complete madness!

Although Felicitous Rain Lord had said those words in an extremely unbridled manner, he would die if he continued fighting in such a manner.

The bronze giant was extremely terrifying. Rime Divine Lord had no relationship with Yi Yun, so all she did was partially restrain the bronze giant. More than 80% of the pressure was on Felicitous Rain Lord!

A sword beam flashed as it tore through the tempest!

Demonic Eye Divine Lord said with a sneer, “What an impenetrable thick head. Then die with your disciple here. Let’s go!”

“Sigh!” Shi Xuanji let out a long sigh. With the situation developing to that point, he could no longer stop it either.

It was not worth it to risk one’s life for a junior that was fated to die.

However, just as Shi Xuanji retreated while Demonic Eye Divine Lord summoned the blood-colored skull in preparation to stow his disciples inside, he suddenly heard a series of pleasant chimes.

It was like a wind chime producing melodious tinkles in a gentle breeze. If they were in a young lady’s classic boudoir, such a series of sounds would have been exceedingly normal. However, there were no gentle breezes in the land of doom known as the Door to the 33 Skies. With only the tempest that was annihilating the world, how could there be such a pleasant-sounding tinkle of a wind chime?

“Ding Ding Ding.”

The chimes that sounded as though they came from ancient times sounded once again. Even in a world that was crumbling everywhere, it could be heard clearly.

At that moment, a faint halo bloomed from the tip of the divine tree. It was like the break of dawn, with the first light coming from the east, penetrating the endless darkness…

The halo turned from a weak glow to an intense luminescence, It was like a roaring inferno that was consuming the firmaments!

“This is…”

At the boundary of the battlefield, an old hunched figure of a woman that looked like a withered piece of wood lay on bloodstained rubble. Her body was covered in blood and her skin had been drained of its color. There was not much life left in her.

The drawn out sounds of the chimes resounded in her ear, but to her, it sounded like the sweet music from paradise. At the moment before her death, she suddenly regained a bit of vitality as she attempted to reach out her withered palm. However, she was too weak to lift her quivering hand. All she could do was rummage the bloodstained soil.

“Chimes…Chimes…”

A final indignation and obsessiveness had lingered in Granny Yin’s heart. She knew that the sect’s canon mentioned of the result of winds blowing at the divine tree. Chimes in the Door to the 33 Skies would be like the music from paradise that extolled throughout the Azure Wood Great World.

However, she had never heard the sound before. She once believed that the chimes would not sound again forever.

But today, with her at Death’s doorstep, she had heard the chimes from the divine tree.

She tried hard to open her eyes, in the hopes of seeing the divine tree that met the wind. However, her eyes were already blind for there was only blood in her sockets. There was no way to open them.

But even so, she no longer had any regrets left.

She had heard the chimes. The corners of her wizened mouth suffused a peaceful smile.

As she listened to the melodious chimes, she fell into an eternal sleep.

Was it really him? That youth had finally awoken the divine tree that had been slumbering for eons…

1041 - : Awakening

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Chimes. Why are there chimes?”

The tinkling chimes were completely unaffected by the storm. It was baffling.

“Sound or not, we should be leaving. Anyone that remains will die!” You Feihua looked towards the divine tree as a sinister smile suffused across the corner of his lips.

What a pity that someone with four nine-leaf Dao fruits would end up being buried here. Are you appeased with that? So what if you aren’t?

Revealing such talent only before your death would not change your destiny of never being able to develop this raw talent to its full potential. What was despair? This was it!

At that moment, the huge world they were residing in was facing destruction. The rifts in the ground had already formed countless deep abysses. The sky had already shattered and the black water had dried up. Apocalyptic Fumes filled everything else!

In this broken world, Felicitous Rain Lord who had just burned his blood essence was already covered in injuries. Felicitous Rain Lord was no match for the mighty bronze giant alone!

“Felicitous Rain, I have to leave too,” said Rime Divine Lord. Although she had been responsible for suppressing the bronze giant, she had also been injured, albeit slightly. With the clear indication that Felicitous Rain Lord was continuing his deathly struggle, her beautiful eyebrows pricked up. She was still baffled over the reason for Felicitous Rain Lord’s persistence. Did he truly believe that Yi Yun would save the world inside the restricted zone?

“Your disciple is only at the Dao Manifestation realm. Even if he is a genius, do you actually believe that he can save such a massive world?”

The corner of Felicitous Rain Lord’s mouth was seeping with blood and he could no longer speak. His voice could only be transmitted using his Yuan Qi from his dantian.

“So what if I believe him or not. He risked his life, allowing me to fight to the final moment. How can I abandon him?”

“What if you end up being nothing but ash from your battle?”

“Then ash I shall be!”

Felicitous Rain’s Yuan Qi voice resounded throughout the heaven and earth.

Rime Divine Lord’s gorgeous eyes were visibly shaken when she heard those words. It was a tough and arduous process to become a Divine Lord. In the entire 12 Empyrean Heavens, every Divine Lord would particularly cherish their lives. To Divine Lords, their lives were extremely valuable. Anything below a Divine Lord was an ant.

She was a faithful person and she had paid a great price for her promise, but she was nothing when compared to Felicitous Rain Lord.

She looked at Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord, who had already escaped into the distance, before looking back at Felicitous Rain Lord. She was momentarily at a loss for the stark contrast was just too overwhelming.

And at that moment, Felicitous Rain Lord’s Yuan Qi voice resounded through the apocalyptic tempest in an unceasing manner—

“To what end do we practice martial arts for? If we can’t depend on the sword, so what about death? One’s true richness of heart is not to be annihilated!”

Felicitous Rain Lord made a prolonged bellow and with his sword in hand, conjured a torrential rain that filled the sky.

Countless drops of rain interweaved through the tempest, forming a massive rain formation that filled the heaven and earth.

The silhouette of his back left Rime Divine Lord mentally shaken. It was extremely difficult for a warrior to practice martial arts. The path of martial arts was an act of defiance against the heavens. Just as Felicitous Rain Lord had said: if one could not overpower the heaven and earth, what use was practicing martial arts for?

To fight for one’s belief and not for one’s interest—that was the martial path a warrior should take. It was also the path that Felicitous Rain Lord had chosen.

Felicitous Rain Lord had reached the level of a Divine Lord at a young age. His future was limitless and not all of this was dependent on his talent, it was also reliant on his determined mindset for martial arts.

Felicitous Rain Lord’s battle was not only for Yi Yun but also a proof of his conviction towards the pursuit of martial arts.

But even so, it was unlikely that anything could be changed. Was a generation’s proud son of heaven about to perish here?

While Rime Divine Lord ruminated, the chimes from before turned increasingly clear at that moment. It was like the shriek of a phoenix that penetrated straight to the peak of the firmaments!

These chimes?

Rime Divine Lord faltered for a moment. She had heard the chimes previously but she did not know what it represented. But now, the chimes had overwhelmed the crescendo of the destruction of the world, striking straight into her heart.

At that moment, the massive divine tree began to tremble gently.

Rime Divine Lord looked at the divine tree as she felt that some form of energy was gradually awakening in the deepest depths of the land where the tree’s root network was…

This is…

Rime Divine Lord widened her beautiful eyes as she stared intently at a moving tree root that was the thickness of a mountain!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A large amount of rock shattered as mud poured down like a waterfall. A divine root had finally woken up from hundreds of millions of years of slumber!

“Boom!”

The land quaked, swinging the mountains along with it. The gigantic root was like a dragon that had been lying dormant in the land as it thrust itself ruthlessly at the bronze giant!

This strike was enough to rend the heaven and earth asunder!

The bronze giant’s aloof expression changed for the first time. He glared at the divine root with a solemn expression.

“Roar!”

The bronze giant let out a terrifying roar as he sent the heavily injured Felicitous Rain Lord back a thousand feet in order to face the hefty root of the divine tree.

With his enormous bronze ax, he cleaved forcefully at the divine root!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

A terrifying impact seemed to tear apart at everything. Dozens of metallic chains suddenly turned taut from the impact as they produced tumultuous clanging sounds!

A terrifying blast of energy emanated in every direction from the impact. Demonic Eye Divine Lord, who had felt safe after retreating a great distance away, was alarmed.

Could it be that the divine tree had been awoken? How could it be possible?

“Bam! Bam! Bam!”

Beside Demonic Eye Divine Lord, his blood-colored skull trembled violently. In just an instance, the skull had suffered a heavy blow from the energy shockwave. It was nearly torn apart by the immense energy.

This made Demonic Eye Divine Lord feel incredulous. This was just an aftershock, but it was so powerful!? What would happen if one was directly hit by the divine root?

And at that moment, Demonic Eye Divine Lord had already seen the divine root strike a second time after deflecting the bronze ax. Its speed was stifling fast. Even the mighty bronze giant could not defend against the second strike in such a short period of time.

“Boom!”

The strike from the divine tree made a direct hit on the bronze giant’s back. It ripped apart his skin and shattered his vertebrae. With a muffled grunt, his body took a few steps back, with each fracturing the ground.

Black blood began spewing out of the bronze giant’s body like a black torrential rain. Felicitous Rain Lord was stunned when he saw the scene. In the distance, Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord were left even more dumbfounded. They were certain of a single thing. The divine tree had really awoken!

Yi Yun had awoken it?

With his Dao Manifestation realm cultivation, he had managed to awaken the world astounding divine tree that had been slumbering for hundreds of millions of years?

Rime Divine Lord experienced shock piled on top of shock. Felicitous Rain Lord had risked his life to create an opportunity for Yi Yun, and the latter had really managed to grasp it.

“Yi Yun really did it. His cultivation level was indeed insufficient at awakening the divine tree. However, he managed to fuse with the Dao of Primordial Chaos in such a short period of time, producing a nine-leaf Destruction Dao fruit, breaking through to the Dao Manifestation realm in one shot. He then managed to shake the world with the divine tree!”

Rime Divine Lord failed to calm her stormy feelings despite taking several deep breaths. There were too many warriors that acted in bad faith. Few people showed valor and passion.

Felicitous Rain Lord had managed to do it, while his disciple had really evolved into a dragon from a golden carp after the encountering of a storm.

Felicitous Rain Lord had given Yi Yun a river, but Yi Yun had returned him an ocean!

1042 - : Returning you an Ocean

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The divine tree has been awoken. Yi Yun, you have truly given me a pleasant surprise! Hahaha!”

Felicitous Rain Lord broke out into a boisterous laughter in the sky. He was feeling elated because he believed that it was likely for Yi Yun to perish in the Door to the 33 Skies. He had never expected Yi Yun to awaken the divine tree at the final, crucial moment!

“Boom!”

On the lands beneath him, an entire mountain cliff had collapsed. As people stared at it intently, they realized that it was not a mountain, but a second divine root covered by rock. It rose up into the sky and struck the bronze giant!

Two divine roots began striking the bronze giant from both sides with the might of the heaven and earth!

“Rumble!”

Like a divine dragon thrashing its tail, all the impact landed on the bronze giant’s massive back that resembled a vast plain. It sent the bronze giant flying out.

The giant, who was a few hundred kilometers tall, could easily send the combined forces of four Divine Lords in retreat despite having most of its strength sealed by the chains. But now, he had been sent flying by the humongous divine roots!

“Clang!”

Dozens of chains tightened simultaneously as the bronze giant grunted in a deep tone. The parts of his body that had been tethered to the chains had been mangled into a bloody mess!

The ends of these chains were embedded deep into his bones, and with the forceful tug, his body began to convulse as he spat out a mouthful of black blood!

The bronze giant fell heavily to the ground, flattening a large swath of a mountain range. The divine tree’s roots began to extend out from underground and like an orderly chain, it wrapped the bronze giant in layers.

“Roar!”

The bronze giant let out an angry bellow of disgruntlement. He grabbed the gigantic ax that had fallen to the ground and cleaved at the divine root once again.

The bronze giant’s might was formidable, so a single divine root was cleaved into two with a single strike of his ax, but at that moment—

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

More and more roots drilled out from underground, and soon, the plain of despair was destroyed. Amongst the countless tree roots that began wrapping around the bronze giant, some had a girth that resembled a mountain, while others were as thin as a human’s arm!

The bronze giant’s muscles bulged as veins protruded. It was as astounding as a roaring river. Despite having used a strength that was sufficient to destroy a star, he was still unable to extricate himself from the roots.

“Rumble!”

With a loud crackle, the ground split open. The bronze giant was dragged down into the ground by the divine roots along with the chains that were tethered to him.

Regardless of his frantic struggles, his body continued to sink into the land. Finally, he was completely buried underground.

Rumble—

With the quaking ground’s tumultuous rumbles, the land closed up once again, burying the bronze giant completely.

It was over!?

Everyone was extremely surprised that despite being extremely powerful, the bronze giant was eventually sealed by the divine tree’s roots before being dragged underground.

People had previously believed that they were in a crumbling world which could not withstand the energy blasts from the battle between the divine roots and the bronze giant. However, they never expected that while the divine roots launched one attack after another, the world that was on the brink of destruction was gradually slowing down its collapse.

Now, the shocking land had slowly mended the cracks in the ground, while the tempest gradually weakened to a halt. The entire world instantly turned a lot more peaceful.

The Azure Wood Great World, which was on the brink of destruction, had apparently been saved. It was truly impressive that the divine tree could hold down a world and abate its destruction.

“Hahaha!

Demonic Eye Divine Lord suddenly broke out into laughter. He no longer had the thought of escaping on his mind. The destruction of a great world was a calamity for him after all. Although he was confident of surviving it, the Azure Wood Great World was a very strange world. It had the divine tree, the bronze giant, and it was supposedly connected to something known as the 33 Skies.

Only the heavens would know what mishaps could happen during the collapse of such a world. It was obviously best if he did not need to experience it.

“Felicitous Rain Lord, that disciple of yours truly has some skill. He actually managed to awaken the divine tree.” Demonic Eye Divine Lord was standing on the blood-colored skull as he slowly flew toward Felicitous Rain Lord.

“Indeed, indeed. I’m surprised as well. He did not squander the risk I had undertaken to create an opportunity for him,” said Shi Xuanji as he flew over too. The two had deserted during battle, but now, with the bronze giant subdued and the world no longer collapsing, there was naturally no reason for them to flee.

Upon seeing Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord, Rime Divine Lord raised her elegant eyebrows. The duo was truly thick-skinned. They had previously fled at such a rapid pace, but now, with everything safe, they actually came back all smiles. It was as though the ones that had fled weren’t them.

Rime Divine Lord was a person who abhorred injustice. Just as she wanted to mock the two old fogies—

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground experienced gentle tremors once again. It changed everyone’s expression slightly.

Rime Divine Lord was unable to deride them at that moment as she said with a solemn expression, “It looks like…that bronze giant has not been vanquished. He is only trapped underground and he is still struggling.”

She could sense the pulsations from deep underground that came one wave after another. Like a surging sea tide, every wave stirred her blood flow.

“The bronze giant has been trapped for hundreds of millions of years, yet he still possesses such a powerful life force. The divine tree can only temporarily imprison him, but in that case, there might be a day when he will escape.”

“It’s not that it’s impossible, but I believe that even if it were to happen, there is no way to know how many years more it will be,” said Shi Xuanji as he stroked his beard. He was not worried because he could sense that the bronze giant was clearly being repressed by the divine tree.

“Old Man Shi is right!” Demonic Eye Divine Lord stroked his chin as he looked at the core of the divine tree as a strange glint flashed in his eyes.

It would be great if the divine tree and the bronze giant could be subdued by him. Just extracting a bit of the tree’s essence would be sufficient for the refinement of an elixir or enchanted artifact. If the divine tree and the bronze giant were used as guardians of the Fey Phantasm Sect, they would ensure a prosperous future for the sect for hundreds of millions of years.

Of course, those were only wild thoughts. Scheming for the divine tree or the bronze giant was completely impossible, but if he…schemed against Yi Yun, who had entered the restricted zone…

Many thoughts flashed through Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s mind. He glanced at Shi Xuanji and noticed that he was also looking at the divine tree’s restricted zone where Yi Yun was. He was similarly pondering over something.

Ignoring the possible heritage left behind by the black-dressed woman, just the nebulous Primordial Chaos was enough to cause Divine Lords to come to blows.

If the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven were to know that Yi Yun had obtained real nebulous Primordial Chaos in the restricted zone, many Divine Lords might end up swarming here like bees in a bid to capture a wisp of the nebulous Primordial Chaos for study.

Not only could nebulous Primordial Chaos be refined into artifacts or used as supreme treasures to temper one’s body, there was also an opportunity to gain insights into the Dao of Primordial Chaos. That would be an impressive opportunity.

“Felicitous Rain, the divine tree has already been awakened. Why isn’t your disciple coming out?” Shi Xuanji suddenly asked.

“Top credit goes to Yi Yun for the preservation of the Azure Wood Great World. Furthermore, he has broken through to the Dao Manifestation realm and he condensed so many nine-leaf Dao fruits. He has also obtained a great life-changing experience. Now that he’s in the restricted zone, who knows what the situation is in there. Let’s go and see how he is!”

As Demonic Eye Divine Lord spoke, a teasing smile suffused at the corners of his lips as he swept Felicitous Rain Lord with a glance.

At that moment, Felicitous Rain Lord was covered in serious injuries. He had less than 10% of his Yuan Qi, so he posed no threat.

1043 - : Covetous Intentions

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment inside the divine tree’s restricted zone, Yi Yun’s body was swathed in a greenish halo. An indescribable spiritual and ethereal aura suffused through his entire being, as though he would return to the land of immortals with the wind.

Yue Yingsha and Chu He were still outside the Chaos Stone house, but they had sensed the tremendous change in Yi Yun’s aura. It was not simply increased but it had undergone a qualitative leap. This leap made Yue Yingsha even have a feeling that Yi Yun was about to ascend to become immortal.

“Yi Yun must have manifested his Dao already…”

Yue Yingsha could not see Yi Yun’s Dao Tree projection but she had a vague guess that Yi Yun’s Dao Manifestation was likely extraordinary.

At that moment, an immense blast of energy suddenly spewed out from the ground like a fountain. It surged into Yi Yun’s body and as he was inundated by the energy, his muscles, bone, and flesh seemed to turn transparent.

As the energy surged up along the divine tree’s root network, Yue Yingsha saw a faint halo rising up from the ground. Soon, the light gushed beneath Yi Yun’s feet.

The divine tree’s root network transported energy to its main trunk, and since Yi Yun was merged with the divine tree, the energy surged through his body. And at that instant, a primordial aura of immensity burst out from Yi Yun’s body suddenly.

The clear chimes were still resounding throughout the restricted zone. At that moment, Yi Yun gradually opened his eyes.

His eyes were bright and profound. During the process of merging with the divine tree, Yi Yun’s perception had extended to the divine tree’s every leaf. Through it, he could sense the entire world.

He had seen everything that had happened in the Door to the 33 Skies, including Felicitous Rain Lord’s bloody but valiant battle. He had also seen Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord desert the fight.

He had also perceived the restricted zone clearly, as well as everything inside the stone house that was constructed from Chaos Stones.

“This stone house…”

Yi Yun’s mind stirred as he was surprised to find a gray plot of land in the backyard of the stone house. It was likely a tiny herbal garden.

Yi Yun was rather excited when he first discovered the herbal garden. He believed that he might find some herbs, but soon, he was left disappointed. It might have had herbs planted in the past, but all of them had withered by now.

After hundreds of millions of years, without anyone tending to them, any spiritual plant would die.

Just thinking of it ached Yi Yun’s heart. Such a miraculous ground with more than a hundred million years would have resulted in heaven-defying herbs. Just the thought of it could drive people into a frenzy.

But now, the herbal plants had turned to dust and they had returned to land. It did nothing but advantage the gray soil. After absorbing so much spiritual energy from the spiritual herbs, it was unknown how incredibly fertile the soil was.

Yi Yun was even considering if he should take a bit of the soil for the cultivation of herbs. Just as he was thinking of that, he exclaimed lightly as he suddenly discovered that the gray soil was in no way ordinary. The feeling the soil gave was identical to the Chaos Stones of the stone house.

After a detailed sifting through the soil, Yi Yun had even seen tiny Chaos Stone particulate.

Could it be that someone had ground Chaos Stones into powder and added some fertilizer to eventually transform Chaos Stones into soil?

Could it even be possible that the spiritual herbs which had withered and rotted had become fertilizer for the soil?

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun held his breath. How impressive was that? Perhaps only the black-dressed woman was capable of doing such things.

However, it was such a pity that such a good herbal garden had been left to waste for hundreds of millions of years.

Yi Yun could not help but investigate the herbal garden. If it were any other time, the sand that was ground from Chaos Stones was not something Yi Yun could probe. Chaos Stones screened all perception so even a Divine Lord was unable to probe the internals of a Chaos Stone.

However, having merged with the divine tree, Yi Yun’s perception could probe within. And the probe left Yi Yun astonished. He saw a lush green ball buried deep inside the gray herbal garden. It was about the size of a peach core and its surface was not smooth. Instead, it was patterned like a peach core and the patterns were formed with an indescribable auric charm.

What gave Yi Yun a greater pleasant surprise was that there was a large amount of gray gas gathered inside the tiny ball. After making contact with Chaos laws, Yi Yun was certain that the gray gas was the nebulous Primordial Chaos!

Back when Yi Yun broke through to the Dao Manifestation realm, he had already absorbed a portion of the nebulous Primordial Chaos, but now, he discovered that in the tiny ball, the amount of nebulous Primordial Chaos contained within was more than ten times what he had absorbed.

Nebulous Primordial Chaos was absolutely rare in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. Even Divine Lords would covet it. If a tiny amount of nebulous Primordial Chaos was infused during the refinement of a treasure, it would increase the grade of the treasure by several grades. But in fact, almost no one would be willing to use nebulous Primordial Chaos for the refinement of artifacts. If they tempered the nebulous Primordial Chaos into their body, fusing their flesh and blood with the nebulous Primordial Chaos, it would result in an unimaginable increase in strength.

What was this peach core? Why had it condensed so much nebulous Primordial Chaos?

As Yi Yun pondered over the questions, he carefully observed it. He realized that it contained the same aura as the divine tree that held up the Azure Wood Great World.

Could it be…

A thought flashed through Yi Yun’s mind. It was a suffocating thought for he came to a realization that the peach core could very likely be a seed born from the world tree!

Everything had its birth and end. The Universe was no different; therefore, the divine tree also had a birth and end!

After experiencing the immense river of time, it would eventually die. And this seed was likely the new life of its future!

A seed produced by the divine tree that could hold up a world was grown in the herbal garden. With Chaos Stone powder as soil and rotten hundred-million-year-old spiritual herbs as fertilizer.

Its value…was completely unimaginable!

Yi Yun was momentarily stunned. If that was the case, it was definitely the most heaven-defying treasure other than the Purple Crystal which he had even seen ever since he began practicing martial arts!

Yi Yun could not help but touch the herbal garden’s soil. At that moment, Yue Yingsha and Chu He were still outside the stone house and they did not know what Yi Yun was doing.

“The nutrients in the soil appear to have been absorbed clean by the divine tree’s seed…”

The divine herbs that had withered here had long devoted its essence to the divine tree’s seed. Even the Primordial Chaos essence contained within the soil made out of Chaos Stone powder had been gathered by the divine tree seed. If the seed continued staying in the herbal garden, it was unlikely it could mature.

Yi Yun took a deep breath as he shook his head. He gently swept away the soil that had its nutrients drained. Then, he realized that his bloodline seemed to be connected to the divine tree seed that was buried deep within the soil.

Oh?

Yi Yun swept aside some more soil and then, without Yi Yun needing to do anything further, the divine tree seed had taken the initiative to push the soil aside and float out of the soil before landing slowly in Yi Yun’s palm.

Yi Yun was astonished as he held the seed. He realized that the seed was willing to stay close to him likely because of his act of awakening the divine tree and the possession of an aura that was mutually similar to the divine tree.

Perhaps, he could bring the divine tree seed away.

Upon thinking of that, Yi Yun experienced mental undulations. Yi Yun would not have taken it away if the divine tree’s seed could mature in the herbal garden. It would affect the growth of such a divine item if it was taken away too early.

But the present situation was completely different. The ground was already infertile, and the divine tree seed had taken the initiative to follow him. This was totally an unparalleled opportunity for him!

Yi Yun held the divine tree seed with both his hands meticulously with extreme focus. He felt that the seed was the world’s most perfect item. Perhaps only the Purple Crystal and its profoundness exceeded the seed.

Just as Yi Yun was admiring the seed, he suddenly felt a cold killing intent.

Oh!?

Yi Yun’s turned apprehensive. His perception was fused with the divine tree, so he knew that the killing intent came from outside the restricted zone.

Yi Yun glanced over and immediately wrinkled his brows. He saw Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord standing at the cave entrance outside the restricted zone. They were thinking of ways to enter. Although they had ordinary expressions, there was a clear covetous glint in their eyes.

1044 - : The Miracle in the Stone House

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh? The restricted zone is sealed shut.” As Shi Xuanji looked at the entrance to the restricted zone, he realized that the restricted zone was a completely sealed-off world, making it extremely difficult to crack it open.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord stroked his chin as he considered the entry options available to him. He knew that the restricted zone was remarkable but after hundreds of millions of years, many array formations would lose their energy provisions and weaken. It was not necessarily impossible for him to gain entry.

“Shi Xuanji! Demonic Eye!”

Felicitous Rain Lord’s face sunk when he saw the scene unfolding before him. Previously, the duo had taken on a doubtful and obstructive stance on Yi Yun’s entry into the restricted zone. Later on, they had fled the battle with the bronze giant. They had not expended any of their strength; but now, with the bronze giant sealed again and the danger alleviated, the duo was back again. Their motives were obvious. When Yi Yun broke through to the Dao Manifestation realm, the duo had seen him use nebulous Primordial Chaos to condense his Dao fruit.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord said with a sinister smile, “Felicitous Rain, what’s the panic? We are only concerned about your disciple’s situation. The Door to the 33 Skies is so strange and your disciple’s cultivation level is so low. Having him inside the restricted zone without any guardians could have him suffer mishaps. If there’s any danger, we will be able to save him in a timely fashion.”

Disparage disparaged the heavily injured Felicitous Rain Lord.

At that moment, Rime Divine Lord said, “Demonic Eye, I’ve seen shameless people, but I’ve never seen someone as shameless as you. The reason why we can stand here so safely is all because of Yi Yun and Felicitous Rain’s efforts. Are you planning on burning bridges?”

Rime Divine Lord’s voice was cold and austere. She was infuriated over the shameless behavior of Demonic Eye Divine Lord and Shi Xuanji as well.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord glanced at Rime Divine Lord and said with a teasing tone, “Fairy Rime, you are injured too, right? Calm down, or your injuries might give you a lash back.”

Rime Divine Lord had indeed been injured while fighting alongside Felicitous Rain Lord. Upon hearing Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s unmarred threat, her expression turned cold as she said, “Demonic Eye, you plan on fighting?”

“Hehe, why are you so angry? We are still not out of peril yet. Let’s enter the restricted zone and see Yi Yun’s situation first.”

As Demonic Eye Divine Lord said that, he no longer bothered with her and began to study the restricted zone’s entrance.

Divine Lords were people that stood at the upper echelons of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven after all. Their insights and techniques were all extraordinary. Shi Xuanji was especially well-versed in array techniques, so he was very confident.

As for the restricted zone, despite it being impressive, Shi Xuanji still had certain ideas that could work considering the long amount of time that had passed.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

Dao patterns flew out from Shi Xuanji’s hand as he attempted to crack the array.

He was in no way worried about Yi Yun. From Shi Xuanji’s point of view, the process in which the divine tree sealed the bronze giant may have rendered the heaven and earth asunder, but the divine tree was the divine tree while Yi Yun was Yi Yun. Although Yi Yun had awoken the divine tree, sealing the bronze giant was the divine tree’s mission. It had nothing to do with Yi Yun.

“Shi Xuanji!”

Felicitous Rain Lord was incensed. Just as he wanted to move forward to stop him, Demonic Eye Divine Lord, who was standing behind Shi Xuanji, suddenly turned around and struck out with his palm!

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

More than ten thousand ghastly shadows burst out behind Demonic Eye Divine Lord as his palm transformed into a gigantic ghostly claw. The claw swiped at Felicitous Rain Lord!

This strike was tumultuous and extremely fast. Clearly, Demonic Eye Divine Lord was already prepared to sneak an attack on Felicitous Rain Lord!

At that moment, Felicitous Rain Lord was already severely injured and he had burned his blood essence. It was extremely difficult for him to withstand a strike from Demonic Eye Divine Lord, who was in perfect condition.

“Whew!”

At that split instant, a blue ribbon band flew out and struck the ghastly claw. Rime Divine Lord had attacked!

“Boom!”

The ghastly claw and the blue ribbon band clashed but they were unequal. On one side, it was a prepared attack while the other was a reactionary response. Furthermore, Rime Divine Lord was injured so the clash deflected the blue ribbon band as the ghastly claw came to a slight halt before continuing its trajectory toward Felicitous Rain Lord!

“Want my life? Not that simple!”

Killing intent appeared in Felicitous Rain Lord’s eyes. Although he had less than 10% of his Yuan Qi left, he still had his blood essence.

He burned his blood essence once again and a dazzling luster bloomed from the sword in his hand!

The sword conjured the power of time. As though it was severing time itself, it struck the ghostly claw.

“Cha!”

The ghostly claw was torn apart but Felicitous Rain Lord’s sword beam had shattered as well. He was exhausted after all. The violent blast sent his body flying backward a few hundred feet. His face turned pale as fresh blood seeped out from the corners of his mouth.

Felicitous Rain Lord’s injuries had been aggravated. With such serious injuries, it was likely to affect his future achievements!

“Pa! Pa! Pa!” Demonic Eye Divine Lord began clapping. “Impressive! Impressive! Felicitous Rain, you indeed live up to your reputation. Despite such severe injuries with less than 10% of your combat strength left, you were still able to withstand my attack. I thought that strike could have almost killed you.”

At that moment, Shi Xuanji stopped his attempts at cracking the array. He was unaware that Demonic Eye Divine Lord would suddenly sneak an attack. “Demonic Eye, aren’t you going overboard!?”

Shi Xuanji still did not wish for Felicitous Rain Lord to die.

“Hmph! Old Man Xuanji, do still hold hopes that Felicitous Rain will return to your Immortal Rain Sect? Stop being naive! You have already terribly offended him today. By deserting the battle and by having nefarious thoughts about his disciple, it would be pretty impressive if Felicitous Rain doesn’t wipe out your Immortal Rain Sect! As for that punk, Yi Yun, he has condensed four nine-leaf Dao fruits. His future is completely unimaginable. What we have done today will form a grudge he has against us. In order to prevent revenge to be sought on us, we naturally have to curb any future troubles. As for Felicitous Rain, he is our obstruction!”

“By not killing Felicitous Rain while he is injured, are we to wait for him to recover from his injuries and allow him to come charging at our doorstep?”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s words made Shi Xuanji fall silent. He knew that what Demonic Eye Divine Lord said was very likely to happen.

He said in a solemn tone, “Felicitous Rain, if you were to swear on the Heavenly Dao and are willing to return to the Immortal Rain Sect, never to betray the sect, I can guarantee the safety of you and your disciple. Of course, your disciple has to return to the Immortal Rain Sect as well. Furthermore, he has to swear on the Heavenly Dao. As for the nebulous Primordial Chaos he received, he should split it. It is extremely hard for nebulous Primordial Chaos to be put to good use in the hands of a junior at the Dao Manifestation realm.”

Shi Xuanji did not want Demonic Eye to be the vanguard. It would be the best outcome if he could take the opportunity today to urge Felicitous Rain Lord’s return. However, the nebulous Primordial Chaos was something Shi Xuanji was bent on receiving. It could even push him another stage further.

“Hahaha!” Felicitous Rain Lord roared with laughter. “Shi Xuanji! Stop leading the life of a whore and expect a monument for your chastity! I, Felicitous Rain, shall stand here. You can kill me if you want but as a result, I promise you that even if I’m emptied of my blood essence, I will absolutely make you be relieved of a layer of skin!”

As Felicitous Rain Lord spoke, his eyes revealed an awe-inspiring killing intent. He was not someone who feared for his life. That was his martial path!

Upon hearing Felicitous Rain Lord’s words, Shi Xuanji’s expression sunk immediately.

“Hehehe, Old Man Xuanji, you are still bent on wasting your efforts here. What did I say? It’s already an irreconcilable situation. Stop being a hypocrite and attack!”

As Demonic Eye Divine Lord spoke, he took a large stride forward as black demonic flames burned from his body.

1045 - : Sneak Attack

CKtalon  CKtalon

Demonic Eye Divine Lord, who was covered in burning demonic eyes, was twice as strong compared to the time he fought the bronze giant. Back then, he had been conserving his strength, but now, he naturally could attack Felicitous Rain Lord with all he had!

Seeing the situation get out of hand, Rime Divine Lord’s expression turned stern. She wanted to be on Felicitous Rain Lord’s side, but she knew all too well how likely she would perish if she did so.

“Fairy Rime, I appreciate your thoughts!” At that moment, Felicitous Rain Lord’s Yuan Qi transmission rang in Rime Divine Lord’s ears. “I am extremely grateful that you are considering to help me but I cannot implicate you. If it’s possible, find a chance to escape the Door to the 33 Skies with my disciple. Outside, my maidservant, Shui Ningshuang, will receive him. You can hand Yi Yun over to her, and I, Felicitous Rain, will remember the favor!”

Not everyone could risk their lives for strangers out of principle and neither did Felicitous Rain Lord wish for others to sacrifice themselves for him. With the present situation, even by joining forces with Rime Divine Lord, it was impossible to defeat the combined forces of Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord. It was more hopeful to get Rime Divine Lord to save Yi Yun.

“Felicitous Rain, I promise you that even if there’s a silver of chance, I will risk my life to save Yi Yun.”

As Rime Divine Lord said those words, she felt melancholic. Was a talent like Felicitous Rain going to perish here?

…

At that moment, Yi Yun was feeling extremely anxious in the restricted zone!

He was aware of what was happening outside and that his master was in grave danger. Felicitous Rain Lord was no match for the combined forces of two Divine Lords even if he was in his best condition, much less now!

Yi Yun was greatly indebted to Felicitous Rain Lord so he could not turn a blind eye toward the attempted murder. His cultivation level was still low, so he was completely no match for Demonic Eye Divine Lord and Shi Xuanji. The only possibility he had was to borrow the divine tree’s strength.

Divine tree…divine tree…

Yi Yun interfaced his mind with the divine tree’s roots. Although he felt that his thoughts had fused with the divine tree, it did not mean that Yi Yun could control the divine tree to act as he pleased. The divine tree could almost be considered a God Spirit. As for Yi Yun, he was only a junior at the Dao Manifestation realm. It was unimaginable for someone at the Dao Manifestation realm to control a God Spirit.

No matter how much he injected his will into the divine tree, Yi Yun was unable to receive any response. The divine tree had sealed the bronze giant only out of instinct.

“What should I do?”

Yi Yun began to panic. Felicitous Rain Lord’s life was on the line, but he had not accomplished anything.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s mind lit up in a flash of brilliance. He looked at the divine tree seed in his hand.

Perhaps…

In such a dire situation, Yi Yun ignored everything else as he swallowed the divine tree seed. He did not eat the divine tree seed but instead, he had attempted to fuse with the divine tree seed.

Whew!

Under Yi Yun’s control, the divine tree seed tunneled into his dantian. Upon entry, it immediately sank into his Yuan Foundation. The divine tree seed had surprisingly fused with Yi Yun’s Dao Tree. It made his dantian burn as though it was about to explode.

The next moment, Yi Yun felt that the seed was like a bottomless vortex. It sucked all his Yuan Qi, mental energy, will, and lifeblood!

Under such circumstances, it would only be a matter of seconds before Yi Yun was sucked dry.

He was alarmed but at that moment, he steeled his heart and gave up resisting the suction. He allowed the divine tree seed to suck all that he had.

At that critical moment, he could only choose to trust the divine tree seed and leave the rest to fate.

…

“Boom!”

Outside the restricted zone, Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord had jointly launched a fatal strike on Felicitous Rain Lord!

Shi Xuanji’s eyes flashed coldly. All these years, he had been attempting to get Felicitous Rain Lord to return to the Immortal Rain Sect. He had already lost his patience after countless failures. With him determined to obtain the nebulous Primordial Chaos today, Shi Xuanji had finally decided to kill him.

“Felicitous Rain, your betrayal of the sect has been tolerated by me all these years. Today, I’ll rid the scourge of my sect and let you die under the Nine Heavens Rain Annihilation Array!”

The Nine Heavens Rain Annihilation Array was the number one combat array formation of the Immortal Rain Sect. At the realm of Divine Lord, it could be completely powered by a single person!

As for Felicitous Rain Lord, he had left the Immortal Rain Sect at a young age, so with his low cultivation back then, he had yet to learn the combat array.

“Betray the sect? Rid the scourge? Hahaha! Shi Xuanji! I truly despise you. At this point in time, you are still spewing such hypocritical words. Even if you kill me today, I’ll make you pay the price. In the future, your Immortal Rain Sect will be vanquished!”

“Courting death!” Shi Xuanji was enraged as he brandished the sword in his hand, causing rumbles!

Countless dark clouds enshrouded the lands as a rain of annihilation that had gathered the power of the Heaven and Earth poured down. Even the world of the Door to the 33 Skies that had stabilized began to quake because of the rain of annihilation!

Felicitous Rain Lord brandished his sword as well—

Swish!

A brilliant sword beam tore through the world. At that moment, Felicitous Rain Lord was burning life force. He was prepared to die in battle.

“Rumble!”

The brilliant sword beam struck the screen of rain that blotted out the sky directly. As Felicitous Rain Lord’s long hair flared, he gave up any form of defense as he only attacked. The sword in his hand came straight for Shi Xuanji’s head!

He was prepared for an internecine outcome.

At that moment, a sinister laugh suddenly rang in Felicitous Rain Lord’s ears. “Felicitous Rain, my Six Streak Blood Banner happens to be short of a main soul. Be my main soul after your death. With a Divine Lord main soul, my Six Streak Blood Banner’s strength will be enhanced by ten times!”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord roared with laughter. In the middle of his forehead, a purple ghostly eye opened. In his hand was dark red Six Streak Blood Banner! It had been formed through the slaughtering of a billion lives—some warriors, some commoners, some Fey, and some humans. These billion souls were held in the blood banner and by taking the banner out, specters began to spread out everywhere.

On one side was the rain of annihilation while on the other side, there were endless wailing specters. Felicitous Rain Lord was stuck in the middle with no room to escape!

“Felicitous Rain, this is your end!” Demonic Eye Divine Lord had summoned eight hundred million specters at a go. It was a strike that was determined to complete its mission! Just as the eight hundred million specters were about to devour Felicitous Rain Lord, an immense sense of danger inundated him!

“Huh!?”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord was alarmed as it was a feeling that his life was on the line! Without even thinking, he quickly retreated.

“Sou!”

With an ear-piercing reverberation, a shadow that resembled a black wyrm struck out like a whip. It was as fast as lightning!

“Pa!”

A tumultuous explosion was heard as the black shadow struck Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s Blood Banner! It shook violently as wanton energy leaked out of it. With a grunt, Demonic Eye Divine Lord was sent flying. As for the eight hundred million specters that had been released from the Blood Banner, nearly half of them had been destroyed by the explosive strike!

“Wu Wu Wu Wu!”

The specters wailed with dreary cries. Instantly, the heaven and earth were filled with sinister energies that dissipated due to the evisceration of the spirits.

“What!?”

At that moment, Demonic Eye Divine Lord was completely left dumbfounded.

He had spent a million years to complete the refinement of the Six Streak Blood Banner. It was his intrinsic enchanted treasure. If a powerful main soul was added to it, the power of the Blood Banner would be unimaginable. However, his enchanted treasure had its power halved from a single strike of the black shadow?

Instantly, fury overwhelmed Demonic Eye Divine Lord. With his intrinsic enchanted treasure damaged and the backlash of energy, he immediately spat a mouthful of blood!

Who!?

Demonic Eye Divine Lord cast his gaze over as he discerned the black shadow to be a gigantic tree root. The tree root had dissipated his Blood Banner’s specters!

The tree root did not lose its momentum. When it flew in front of Felicitous Rain Lord, countless root filaments spread out and formed a solid wall!

“Boom!”

Right after Shi Xuanji’s Nine Heavens Rain Annihilation Array clashed with Felicitous Rain Lord’s strike that was produced at the cost of burning his life, the remaining energy surged to the wall of roots and exploded!

Countless raindrops that were filled with killing intent exploded onto the root wall, turning into boundless vapor.

1046 - : Desperate Struggle

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What’s going on!?”

An alarmed Shi Xuanji chose to retreat immediately. He noticed that when the Nine Heavens Rain Annihilation Array that he was always proud off struck the wall of roots, a large number of roots were severed. However, these torn roots were regrown and restored in a blink of an eye. In a few seconds, the roots had been restored to their original state.

“The divine tree’s roots are protecting Felicitous Rain. How is that possible?”

Shi Xuanji muttered to himself. The divine tree was a paragon existence. It was a God Spirit of a world that had managed to repress the bronze giant and slow down the destruction of the Azure Wood Great World. How could such a God Spirit take the initiative to save Felicitous Rain Lord?

Shi Xuanji obviously refused to believe that Felicitous Rain Lord was anyone special. The only possibility was Yi Yun. He had made the divine tree save Felicitous Rain.

Yi Yun could control the divine tree?

Upon realizing that point, Shi Xuanji’s heart chilled. How could a junior at the Dao Manifestation realm control the divine tree?

Just as Shi Xuanji was pondering over the turn of events, the divine root had once again hurled itself at him!

The divine tree’s attacks were only simple lashings. However, the way it attacked inflicted pressure on Shi Xuanji.

“Dodge!”

Shi Xuanji did not wish to clash with the divine tree. He dodged at an extremely fast speed, allowing the strike to hit the ground.

Boom!

The ground tore apart and was instantly reduced to a valley.

Upon seeing this scene, everyone was dumbfounded from shock. Yi Yun was controlling the divine tree to aid Felicitous Rain Lord.

“Felicitous Rain, your disciple is certainly…amazing.”

Rime Divine Lord was extremely shocked. It was a battle between Divine Lords that she was powerless against. Yi Yun, a junior, had managed to budge into a battle between Divine Lords, influencing the battle situation. Regardless of what strength he had borrowed, it was probably unprecedented!

“That little bastard destroyed my Blood Banner. I will definitely extract your soul and refine it into the Blood Banner and then rip your body into a million pieces!” lashed out Demonic Eye Divine Lord as he leaped.

There was blood still seeping from the corners of his mouth while the Six Streak Blood Banner in his hand had lost a great deal of its power. Yi Yun’s strike had nearly halved his Blood Banner’s might and it would take a few hundred thousand years to restore it through a refinement process. But despite being incensed, he did not dare approach the divine root.

“Sou!”

The divine root hurled at Demonic Eye Divine Lord. Although he had just uttered vicious words, his heart shuddered when facing the divine tree. Without putting up any form of resistance, he kept the Six Streak Blood Banner and fled in a sorry manner. He was afraid that his intrinsic enchanted treasure would suffer another mishap.

“Boom!”

After being somewhat prepared, Demonic Eye Divine Lord managed to barely dodge the divine root’s pursuit.

“Its attack speed isn’t that terrifying!”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord quickly discovered that despite the divine root possessing indomitable strength, it had a weakness of having a slow attack speed.

“Yes! The divine tree is controlled by that little bastard after all. What is his cultivation level at? How fast can his reaction be? No matter how powerful the divine tree is, it would be a waste in his hands!”

Upon realizing this point, Demonic Eye Divine Lord became relieved.

“Old Man Xuanji, let’s join forces. Yi Yun can’t hit us at all! Furthermore, I refuse to believe he doesn’t pay a price while controlling the divine tree. He might not be able to last long.”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s Yuan Qi transmission rang in Shi Xuanji’s ears.

Shi Xuanji’s heart stirred as he said with a nod, “That’s right. How can the power of the divine tree be controlled by any ordinary person? It’s likely that this punk has paid quite a nontrivial price.”

Having realized this salient point, Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord began complementing each other in a bid to dodge the attacks. They wanted to try their best to get the divine tree to attack them. The divine tree might not be drained of its strength, but it was likely that Yi Yun would be drained of his lifeblood.

“Hahahaha! Little bastard, you are still too young to have any hopes of killing me. Such a powerful God Spirit is only this and nothing more in your hands!” Demonic Eye Divine Lord said with a hearty laugh. He was deliberately trying to provoke Yi Yun, hoping that Yi Yun would attack him without any considerations.

“Sou!”

The divine tree charged straight at Demonic Eye Divine Lord, but he had predicted Yi Yun’s attack trajectory. He dodged with a remarkable movement technique.

“I have already seen through your attack trajectories! The Dao Manifestation realm is after all the Dao Manifestation realm. It’s too weak!” Demonic Eye Divine Lord mocked wantonly, but at that moment, there was an abrupt change in his expression.

He watched helplessly as the divine tree did not retract after missing him. Instead, it continued in a powerful strike at the gigantic blood-colored skull. That was Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s abode, also the spirit cruiser that all the members of the Fey Phantasm Sect had ridden to the Azure Wood Great World!

Previously, Demonic Eye Divine Lord had kept all his disciples and grand-disciples, including the Supremacies, You Feihua and company into the blood-colored skull because of the Azure Wood Great World’s impending explosion. But now, the divine tree had chosen to attack the skull after missing him!

It was indescribable how horribly powerful the strike was. Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s ability to dodge it did not mean that his disciples and grand-disciples could do likewise.

“Little bastard, how dare you!”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s eyes seemed to crack as he went into a frenzy! But in that split second, the divine tree’s root had slammed heavily onto the skull’s frontal bone just after he managed to finish uttering the first word.

Although Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s blood-colored skull was powerful, how could an abode-type enchanted treasure be comparable to an offensive or defensive treasure like blades, armor or array flags? Even the Six Streak Blood Banner was unable to withstand the strike, not to mention the skull.

“Rumble!”

The blood-colored skull’s frontal bone directly exploded! The divine root hurled straight into it in an indomitable fashion!

Every structure in the skull abode was destroyed in a clean sweep. Energy storms swept wantonly through it and some juniors were immediately pulverized from the explosion!

Although You Feihua was remarkably powerful, he was too weak in the storm that ensued. He was powerless to resist against it.

“Patriarch, save me!”

You Feihua uttered a tragic cry, but in an instant, he had been swept into the storm. He felt his body constantly tearing apart as a spray of blood burst out from his flesh. You Feihua felt his body being snapped and he even saw both his legs fly off.

“No! No!”

You Feihua yelled in despair but he could no longer make a sound as his consciousness began to fade away.

He never expected that at the moment Yi Yun was definitely doomed, he had suddenly controlled the divine tree to turn the tide of battle. Just a simple thought of Yi Yun had smashed him to pieces!

I can’t accept it…

That was You Feihua’s final thought. In the next instant, he had been reduced to a mist of blood as he completely exploded apart. There was neither bone nor corpse left behind!

In just an instant, all the Fey Phantasm Sect juniors that had entered the Door to the 33 Skies were dead.

Even Supremacies were severely injured from the explosion. Although they were powerful people, they had been injured during the battle with the bronze giant while in battle formation.

“Feihua!”

Daoist You Ming spat a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying dozens of kilometers back. As he watched his son die tragically, eventually turning into a mist of blood, his eyes flushed with killing intent as they turned red.

You Feihua was the son he thought most highly of. But he had died in such a tragic manner. It was an instant kill!

As for Daoist You Ming himself, the strike had hurt his life essence due to the previous injuries he had incurred. It was enough to affect his future attainments. Daoist You Ming was truly incensed.

1047 - : All Powerful

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun, you little bastard, I, You Ming, swear upon my life that I will kill you by peeling off your skin and plucking out your tendons so as to avenge my son!”

Daoist You Ming had a rich sinister Yin attribute but weak Yang attribute due to the cultivation of the Fey Phantasm Sect’s techniques. By lacking in Yang, it made his reproductive abilities limited. After all, to give birth to new life, one needed life force and lifeblood. How could a person filled with an air of death produce a child?

It resulted in Daoist You Ming thinking very highly of You Feihua. The vendetta of his son’s murder was absolutely irreconcilable!

Upon hearing Daoist You Ming’s words, Yi Yun’s gaze turned cold. “You want to peel my skin and pluck my tendons? I’ll kill you first!”

Yi Yun’s killing intent amplified as the Sword of the Will, which was fused with the divine tree as one, suffused from his glabella. The divine root hurled to the side and whizzed over at the next instant. Its target was clearly headed for Daoist You Ming!

Daoist You Ming was lacking compared to Demonic Eye Divine Lord after all. Combined with the severe injuries he had received from before, there was no way for him to dodge the divine root’s attack.

“Die!”

Daoist You Ming bellowed angrily as two curved blades appeared in his hands. He slashed his blades at the divine root but countless root filaments came stabbing at Daoist You Ming at that moment.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Black blade beams swept through the area, with a large number of root filaments being severed by Daoist You Ming. However, the divine root suddenly changed trajectories again and came stabbing into Daoist You Ming’s back!

Cha! Cha! Cha! The divine root’s root filaments stabbed at Daoist You Ming like javelins and eventually, three of them managed to break through his blade screen that protected him!

“Puah Puah Puah!”

Daoist You Ming’s protective Yuan Qi was directly penetrated, stabbing through his shoulder, abdomen, and chest in three distinct spots from the back!

The fatal strike was not the one that pierced through his chest, but the one at Daoist You Ming’s abdomen. It was where his dantian was.

“Peng!”

At that instant, Daoist You Ming clearly heard his dantian shatter. He watched helplessly as the blood-stained divine root pierced through his abdomen. His dantian had been destroyed by the divine root!

A mouthful of coagulated blood spewed out of Daoist You Ming’s mouth while all his strength had been drained. He grabbed the root filament that was covered in his own blood, eyes filled with enmity and indignance.

He had just spoken of revenge but immediately, his dantian was destroyed. Daoist You Ming’s body convulsed as his consciousness gradually faded away. He was already not far from death.

He refused to believe that there would come a day when he would perish under the hands of a junior despite being a Supremacy…

Boom!

Daoist You Ming’s corpse was flung out before crashing heavily into the ground like a broken bag of blood.

Upon seeing this scene, everyone drew a gasp. A Supremacy had died just like that.

Although Daoist You Ming was not directly killed by Yi Yun, he had died because of him. No one would believe such a ridiculous matter anywhere outside, but it had turned into reality in this mystic zone.

“Escape!”

All the young disciples of the Fey Phantasm Sect had died while half-step Supremacies were severely injured and on the brink of death. The remaining few Supremacies lost their guts. A battle of such scale was horrifying. Against the divine tree which they could not put up any form of resistance, they were as helpless as a tiny boat in the middle of a torrential storm.

The Fey Phantasm Sect warriors fled helter-skelter. As for Demonic Eye Divine Lord, he was bordering on insanity. Ignoring the fact that the Fey Phantasm Sect had lost so many elites in an instant, the blood-colored skull was one of his most valuable enchanted treasures. It was even more valuable than the Six Streak Blood Banner! But now, it had been pulverized to nothingness by Yi Yun with a single strike.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s heart ached for his loss. He yearned to tear apart Yi Yun but he could do nothing to him. Instead, it was very likely that he would be killed by the divine tree if he were not careful.

At that moment, Demonic Eye and Shi Xuanji were at a loss. The latter had witnessed the tragedy of the Fey Phantasm Sect and he had a lingering fear in him. He was even elated that he had not found the young disciples of the Immortal Rain Sect in the Door to the 33 Skies. If he had brought them with him, they might have been wiped out as well.

However, Shi Xuanji did not know that the young disciples of the Immortal Rain Sect had previously been wiped out by Yi Yun during a conflict from before. If he knew about it, Shi Xuanji would have vomited blood.

…

As the Fey Phantasm Sect was suffering utter chaos, Yi Yun’s situation was not much better while inside the restricted zone.

After refining the divine tree seed, he had indeed possessed the ability to communicate with and borrow the divine tree’s strength.

However, the divine tree was a God Spirit after all. To It, humans and Fey were no different from plants. Furthermore, the divine tree had yet to develop sentience. It only stood in its spot to witness the passage of time that spanned hundreds of millions of years. Yi Yun’s launch of attacks was ultimately controlled through the use of his will. The speed, trajectory and even strength of the attacks were largely dependent on Yi Yun’s mental strength.

His mental strength was naturally incomparable to a Divine Lord’s which made it very difficult for Yi Yun to kill Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord.

Controlling the divine tree was extremely draining on his mental facilities. Just a few attacks were enough to make him feel an excruciating pain in his soul sea. It was hard for him to continue!

Yi Yun frowned. Killing a Supremacy was already his limit whereas killing a Divine Lord was impossible.

Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord had clearly realized this salient point. They had already opened up a distance and began using guerrilla tactics. At that juncture, no one had the upper hand against the other. However, Yi Yun could not remain in the divine tree’s restricted zone forever. He still needed to gain experience in the outside world. He could at most increase his cultivation level by a few realms through the isolation of himself in a sealed environment before meeting a bottleneck.

“I’ll save Master first.”

With a thought, the divine root that was holding Felicitous Rain Lord was pulled back. Under Yi Yun’s control, the door to the restricted zone did not stop the seriously injured Felicitous Rain Lord’s entry. He was sent right in!

“It…It’s that senior!”

Yue Yingsha and Chu He were surprised when an additional person suddenly appeared in the restricted zone. Yue Yingsha had recognized Felicitous Rain Lord but compared to his striking appearance from before, he looked terrible.

“Master!”

With a flash of his figure, Yi Yun had appeared outside the Chaos Stone house.

Under a large tree, Felicitous Rain Lord was leaning against it. There was no spot on him that remained fine. More importantly, his lifeblood was on the decline. Clearly, the battle from before had injured Felicitous Rain Lord’s life essence.

Although it was possible for him to slowly recover through the use of precious herbal treasures, it was still possible for him to suffer from reticent injuries that could affect his future attainments.

“Yi Yun, well done! Well done!” After Felicitous Rain Lord entered the restricted zone, he did not tend to his wounds but instead laughed loudly as he looked at Yi Yun.

“Four nine-leaf Dao fruits, with every one of them a Great Dao. The Dao fruits you condensed has far exceeded mine of yesteryear. It has also surpassed everyone in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. Now, you have refined the nebulous Primordial Chaos and have awakened this God Spirit that holds up a large world. As a disciple, you have lived up to my expectations. Or I should say that taking you in as my disciple is considered my good luck!”

Felicitous Rain Lord had high standards. Back when he recruited disciples, it was without focused intention. He did not believe that he could find a personal disciple immediately. Taking a million years to find a suitable disciple was considered not bad for a Divine Lord. Felicitous Rain Lord had never imagined that he would find a monster like Yi Yun.

1048 - : Vanquishing a Supremacy

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun knew that Felicitous Rain Lord’s injuries were severe and that it was unlikely he could recover from it even if he were given a long period of time. The sense of gratitude he had was something he remembered secretly in his heart. If there came a chance in the future for his attainments to surpass Felicitous Rain Lord, he would definitely aid Felicitous Rain Lord into attaining a higher level.

Other than Felicitous Rain Lord, there were Elder Shi and Elder Duanmu from the Luo clan. The two Elders had risked their lives to protect him under the Fey Phantasm Sect’s assault. If possible, he wanted to provide them a great life-changing opportunity.

Just as Yi Yun was having such thoughts—

“Boom!”

The Door to the 33 Skies trembled once again as the ground where the divine tree rooted itself produced a tumultuous reverberation.

Yi Yun faltered for a moment for he was connected to the divine tree in spirit and mind. He could clearly sense that at the intersection of the divine roots deep underground, the trapped bronze giant had begun struggling.

With gigantic ax in hand, he was slashing at the divine tree’s root filaments in a bid to escape.

With the bronze giant’s struggles, the ground began to crack. The Azure Wood Great World which the divine tree rooted itself into became unstable as though it would continue to explode.

“This…”

Yi Yun’s expression turned solemn as he held his breath. It would definitely be a calamity the moment the Azure Wood Great World exploded.

And at that moment, Yi Yun could clearly sense that the divine tree had instinctively begun to divert its energy toward resisting the bronze giant.

His control over the divine tree was beginning to wane.

…

At that moment, Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye had also acutely noticed this salient point.

The ground was quaking as the bronze giant bellowed an angry roar from deep underground. The divine tree’s roots began boring back down into the ground.

Upon seeing this, the duo exchanged gleeful glances.

They were of the impression that they could do nothing to Yi Yun, but they never expected that the bronze giant would begin struggling. The world was again facing the possibility of destruction.

If the bronze giant were powerful enough, it could result in an internecine outcome. By letting the destruction continue, there would be a space-time storm that would immediately erupt from the terrifying explosion that accompanied the complete destruction of the world. In such a calamity, it was impossible for Yi Yun to survive.

As for the two of them, they could capture Yi Yun in the space-time storm and rob Yi Yun of his nebulous Primordial Chaos. It was even possible that Yi Yun had discovered heritage belonging to the black-dressed woman in the restricted zone. In that case, the heritage would be theirs!

They had already decided to first extract Yi Yun’s soul to read his memories before dicing him up. They refused to believe that Yi Yun could still hide any secret in such a situation.

“Also, Felicitous Rain, you will have to die as well!” Demonic Eye smiled sinisterly. He was yearning to charge out and skin both master and disciple alive before refining their souls into the soul banner.

“Yi Yun, what happened?” In the restricted zone, Yue Yingsha and Chu He had also sensed the trembling of the ground.

Felicitous Rain Lord’s expression turned solemn as he had sensed that the world was quickly on the brink of complete collapse.

“The bronze giant is too strong after having accumulated strength over a hundred million years. As for the divine tree’s strength, it’s probably on the decline…”

Yi Yun even suspected that it was possible that the divine tree’s lifespan was coming to an end.

Over the hundreds of millions of years, the divine tree spent most of its time in slumber. If it was a powerful and vibrant life, why would it be sleeping?

Perhaps the reason for its slumber was because the divine tree had little life remaining.

And it was because of this reason that the divine tree had produced a seed. The divine tree seed’s new life also signified the old divine tree’s destruction.

“Master, although I have awoken the divine tree’s power, the last bit of energy the divine tree accumulated has probably been drained. If this continues on, the Azure Wood Great World might face destruction…” Yi Yun’s words drained the color from Yue Yingsha and Chu He’s faces.

The Azure Wood Great World was about to disappear?

At that moment, Felicitous Rain Lord straightened his body and with a gaze that was as sharp as a sword, he said, “Yi Yun, if the Azure Wood Great World were to collapse, wouldn’t you face certain death by staying here? Leave this place with me and I’ll entrust you to Rime Divine Lord. She will ensure your safety.”

“Leave? Master, you are already seriously injured. You will be sending yourself to your death the moment you leave.” Yi Yun shook his head resolutely. He knew that Felicitous Rain Lord had said those words because he was already determined to die in battle.

At this juncture, there was indeed no way out for them.

Yi Yun sensed that his control over the divine tree was rapidly weakening.

He gritted his teeth and focused all his Yuan Qi to the divine tree seed. His Sword of the Will was shot into it as he made a final bet. However, he was still unable to use his will to effect the divine tree into doing something.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The large world was collapsing. Mountains crumbled as the lands cracked opened and spewed Apocalyptic Fumes out!

Large boulders began lifting off the ground as they were sucked by an invisible force into the sky. It was as though the world was disintegrating.

Ka Ka Ka!

Cracks began to appear in empty space as spatial storms rushed out of those rifts. Wherever they passed, large boulders would be ground into dust.

This was true annihilation. The destructive force of a large world was really appalling—objects that were disintegrated within would not leave any traces behind. That was the true law of destruction.

“Yi Yun, I’m afraid we have no way out of this.”

At that moment, even Felicitous Rain Lord could sense the ailing of the divine tree. The God Spirit that propped up the large world had finally awoken, but was it just a sudden spurt of radiance prior to its collapse? It compelled them with regret.

Despite being at death’s doorstep, Felicitous Rain Lord did not feel any sense of fear. Regardless of what he had to face, all he needed to do was fight valiantly at the cost of his life. What was unfortunate was that he would not be able to see the peak of martial arts. He was worried if Yi Yun would be able to escape alive, as well as Shui Ningshuang. Could her cultivation level be able to withstand the forces of the world’s destruction?

Yi Yun remained silent as he was focused on the divine tree seed, hoping for a miracle to happen.

Gradually, Yi Yun sensed that his vision seemed to become that of the seed’s. He could perceive the energy around his surroundings and also sense his own body, as well as the connection between his body and the divine tree.

Yi Yun’s mental energy was already insufficient so there was no way for him to control the divine tree. However, Yi Yun suddenly sensed a conscious stir from the divine tree.

It was as if…the divine tree was transmitting information to him?

Yi Yun held his breath. The divine tree may lack intelligence but it had its own thoughts. Yi Yun could sense a clear feeling of love and well-wishes from that thought.

Love?

Yi Yun faltered slightly before he immediately realized that the love and well-wishes were not for him, but for the divine tree seed that had already fused with him.

Yes, the divine tree was giving well-wishes to the seed that it had produced. It was bidding it farewell.

Was it time to finally bid farewell to the seed that it had produced…?

Just as this thought flashed across Yi Yun’s mind—

Pa!

With the sound of a light crack, the divine tree seed in Yi Yun’s Yuan Foundation suddenly sprouted. An extremely tiny sapling extended out and seemed to merge with Yi Yun’s dantian. It began to absorb all the energy in Yi Yun’s dantian, immobilizing him. He couldn’t even think.

Such a situation had happened before and since it was a time of need, Yi Yun did not resist. He allowed the seed to absorb his energy to grow.

It was not only limited to Yi Yun’s energy; even the remnant energy in the Azure Wood Great World was gathering towards Yi Yun like it was being sucked into a gigantic vortex!

Typically, such a terrifying energy vortex would have caused Yi Yun’s body to explode. But miraculously, Yi Yun’s meridians were able to withstand the cleansing surge from the tremendous amount of energy.

Yi Yun found himself completely immobile. He could not even blink.

Despite being unable to move, he could clearly sense that his meridians were turning thicker and stronger as insane amounts of energy passed through them. Even his bones, flesh and blood were being tempered like they were divine metal that was being struck. Everything was becoming firmer.

He suddenly realized that in the divine tree’s final farewell, it had transmitted all its life essence to the seed.

The divine tree was truly about to die!

Yi Yun felt a deep sense of sorrow. It came not only from the bottom of his heart, but it also came from the divine tree seed. His emotions had become one with the divine tree seed.

And this bout of sorrow quickly transformed into killing intent that came from the divine tree…

At that moment, the divine tree moved. It was not because it was controlled by Yi Yun but because it was moving by itself!

Yi Yun’s heart leaped. He could sense the terrifying powers that came from the divine tree. It had been slumbering for hundreds of millions of years and all the power it had accumulated blasted out at that instant!

Without needing to prop up the Azure Wood Great World any further, there was no need for it to conserve its energy, nor did it need to use sleep to extend its life. The divine tree was consuming itself and erupting every strength it had!

…

And at that moment, outside the restricted zone, Demonic Eye Divine Lord had summoned all the Supremacies back, including half-step Supremacies that were nearly dead. With the situation having developed this far, the Fey Phantasm Sect had been the ones that had managed to preserve their strength the best on this expedition to the Azure Wood Great World. The other sects had suffered terrible losses.

Demonic Eye Divine Lord took out another mobile abode once again. Although it was inferior to the blood-colored skull from before, it was still able to be a vessel for his underlings.

“All of you enter. Hahaha, I’ll bring all of you out. On this expedition to the Azure Wood Great World, it appears our Fey Phantasm Sect is the final victor!”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord roared with laughter. The Fey Phantasm Sect had basically been preserved. As long as Yi Yun was killed, Demonic Eye Divine Lord would obtain the opportunities Yi Yun had gained. He would then naturally be the victor!

“How wise of the Patriarch!”

The Fey Phantasm Sect Supremacies fawned. Although they had suffered terribly when they had entered the blood-colored skull from before, they did not hesitate on entering the second mobile abode another time. It stemmed from the trust they had of Demonic Eye Divine Lord.

All of them heaved a sigh of relief after entering the abode. With Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s protection, they would be able to safely survive the calamity of the world’s collapse.

A complacent smile suffused on Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s face. As he extended his hand to summon the abode into his body, he suddenly felt a grave sense of danger!

Death had reared its head as it came attacking!

He abruptly turned his head to take a look and saw a gigantic divine root burrow out of the ground beneath him as it hurled straight for him.

What!?

Demonic Eye Divine Lord was alarmed. Yi Yun could still control the divine tree?

1049 - : Divine Tree’s Bizarre Transformation

CKtalon  CKtalon

The divine tree’s root burrowed out from under Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s feet, and with tremendous strength, it struck at him like a primordial ancient Fey!

A cold glimmer flashed across Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s eyes. He attempted summoning his abode to dodge, but his expression immediately changed.

He was appalled to discover that the surrounding space around him had been sealed. He was unable to move! Furthermore, the divine root’s attack was more than ten times faster than before!

How could this be?

Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s expression turned ashen. Despite the great changes happening to the Azure Wood Great World and the divine tree being on the brink of death, why was it still able to suddenly produce an attack that far exceeded its prior attacks?

Furthermore, how could Yi Yun, who was a junior at the Dao Manifestation, be able to produce such an attack that even sealed the space around him, preventing him from dodging!?

At that split instant, without time for careful thought, Demonic Eye Divine Lord disregarded everything and punched himself in the chest, forcing himself to spew out a mouthful of blood essence!

‘”Puah!”

The blood essence sprayed on the Six Streak Blood Banner before it was completely absorbed. He used his blood essence to feed the wraiths inside the Six Streak Blood Banner!

“Wu Wu Wu Wu!”

The specters wailed as a sinister wind blew. The six hundred million souls inside the Six Streak Blood Banner were released at once by Demonic Eye Divine Lord. They formed into a gigantic Six Streak Demon God that rushed at the divine root!

However…the disparity in strength was too great! This was no longer the divine tree that was controlled by Yi Yun but a powerful attack of the divine tree that was powered from hundreds of millions of years of accumulation!

Boom!

With a loud explosion, the Six Streak Demon God phantom disintegrated as six hundred million specters were annihilated!

Demonic Eye Divine Lord spewed out a mouthful of blood as his body flew backward like a broken sack. The divine root did not lose its momentum as it slammed at the mobile abode that was behind Demonic Eye Divine Lord!

The poor Fey Phantasm Sect Supremacies had entered the mobile abode a second time because of their trust in Demonic Eye Divine Lord. However, they ended up becoming a lone target for the divine tree!

They were lucky to have survived the first attack because of the limited control Yi Yun had on the divine tree but there was no longer any chance for them to survive a second time…

Boom!

With a tumultuous explosion, the massive mobile abode shattered like a chicken egg being struck by a gigantic war hammer in the face of the divine root.

The severely injured half-step Supremacies inside the abode did not even manage to utter a grunt before they disintegrated!

The Supremacies were in a slightly better situation. They were able to let out a scream of despair but there was no way to change their fatal outcomes.

Up to their deaths, they did not understand how Yi Yun had managed to control the divine tree at the final moment. Furthermore, the strike was more than ten times stronger than before!

“Ah!”

Seeing the Fey Phantasm Sect Supremacies he led wiped out without even minced pieces left remaining, Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s eyes seemed to crack!

On the expedition to the Azure Wood Great World, the Fey Phantasm Sect had sent a huge lineup. They had the most number of experts but now, he was the only one left. It was an insufferable and unprecedented loss!

And it was even possible that he would die himself!

He could already see the divine root retracting before it would hurl back at his head. And at that moment, he had already burned his blood essence. The Six Streak Blood Banner had been completely destroyed. What else did he have left to parry the attack!?

Was this really controlled by Yi Yun?

Demonic Eye Divine Lord found it unbelievable.

“Let us join forces and tear open the void!”

At that moment, Shi Xuanji’s yell rang in Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s ear.

Shi Xuanji was also sensing death creeping up on him. He wanted to flee but there was nowhere to flee to. There was only one possibility. By taking advantage of the weakness of space during the world’s collapse, he and Demonic Eye Divine Lord would be able to escape by breaking through the void.

However…just as Shi Xuanji said those words, the divine root suddenly turned and shot toward Shi Xuanji!

Shi Xuanji was momentarily dumbfounded. He was courting death by shouting his intention!

“Nine Heavens Rain Annihilation Array!”

With his life on the line, Shi Xuanji also forced out a mouthful of blood essence as he brandished the sword in his hand to produce endless rain and wind that slashed at the divine root!

Kacha! Shi Xuanji’s sword beam immediately shattered the moment it struck the divine root. At the next moment, the divine root had shattered Shi Xuanji’s protective Yuan Qi, striking him in the face!

Shi Xuanji let out a tragic scream as his body flew out like a polo ball that was struck by a mallet. His facial bones shattered, his eyeballs cracked, and all of his teeth dropped off. His face had been mangled into a mess!

Was this really…a strength that belonged to Yi Yun?

Impossible! Impossible!

Shi Xuanji screamed in his heart! But at that moment, Demonic Eye Divine Lord had already lost all will to fight. Would the divine tree allow him escape by giving him a chance to tear open the void?

Run!

Demonic Eye Divine Lord ignored Shi Xuanji as he quickly flew towards the boundary of the world. However, the divine tree encompassed the entire world. It was omnipresent!

Swish! Swish! Swish!

There were constantly divine roots boring out of the ground. With his soul banner destroyed, Demonic Eye Divine Lord could only block them using his ghostly claws.

However, these ghostly claws were as weak as spider webs in the face of the divine roots. They were all destroyed in a clean sweep!

‘”Puah!”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord’s protective Yuan Qi was ripped through as a divine root pierced through his chest like a skewer, leaving him connected to the ground.

Boom!

The ground began to collapse as Demonic Eye Divine Lord was sent deep into the ground along with the divine root. He spewed out mouthfuls of fresh blood as he frantically struggled. However, in front of the divine root, he could not put up any form of resistance!

As for Shi Xuanji, he too had been wrapped by a divine root. Together with Demonic Eye Divine Lord, he plummeted deep underground as bloody bone was exposed where his face was. It was gruesome and horrifying.

“My strength is being drained!”

Demonic Eye Divine Lord suddenly realized that the divine tree was draining his life force!

It seemed to be draining the last bit of energy they had in order to seal the bronze giant.

High in the sky, Rime Divine Lord watched this scene in astonishment. She originally believed that Yi Yun was certainly doomed, but she had never expected that such a shocking reversal would happen at the final moment!

Impressive figures like Shi Xuanji and Demonic Eye Divine Lord had suffered a calamity today!

Even if none of this was done by Yi Yun, it definitely had something to do with him.

At that moment, the ground began to produce countless cracks. The entire Azure Wood Great World was on the brink of rupturing!

Even the tiny world in the divine tree could feel the aftershocks from the world’s collapse. Cracks began to appear as it began to connect to the external world.

The chaotic storms immediately swept over but Felicitous Rain Lord hurriedly conjured a Yuan Qi shield, enclosing Yue Yingsha and Chu He within.

“Yi Yun.” Just as Felicitous Rain Lord turned to take a look, a bigger storm emerged in the tiny world.

Felicitous Rain Lord was already severely injured so he was immediately swept away by the storm.

Felicitous Rain Lord could see past the storm and realized that Yi Yun was in the eye of the storm. His eyes were closed tightly and a nervous look appeared on his face.

The Azure Wood Great World was about to be destroyed at any moment and being the support of the Azure Wood Great World, the divine tree could no longer prop it up any longer.

As for Yi Yun, he had expended the last bit of his mental energy. His soul sea was severely depleted. He could not even move a finger.

1050 - : Driven into an Impasse

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The Azure Wood Great World is about to collapse!”

With the development so far, nothing could stop the divine tree from dying at that moment. Felicitous Rain Lord was severely injured so he could not do much. The only person he could rely on was Rime Divine Lord.

Leave quickly!

Felicitous Rain Lord wanted to bring Yi Yun out with him even if consumed the last ounce of strength in him. However, just as he approached Yi Yun, he suddenly felt a strong repulsion that threw him backward.

Oh?

Felicitous Rain Lord’s expression changed. He saw Yi Yun covered in the divine tree’s halo and it had formed an invisible wall that prevented him from approaching.

“Yi Yun!”

Felicitous Rain Lord could see that Yi Yun’s eyes were tightly closed as if he had lost consciousness. He wanted to wake Yi Yun up, but from the looks of it, Yi Yun was connected with the divine tree’s bloodline. He believed that if he tried hard enough, it was still possible to escape but he never expected that Yi Yun would turn a deaf ear toward his calls.

If the Azure Wood Great World were to explode, where Yi Yun was situated was probably where the center of the explosion was!

Time was of the essence and there was no clear indication how long more the Azure Wood Great World could last. Felicitous Rain Lord still wanted to find Shui Ningshuang. But with Yi Yun in such a state, he was unable to bring him along.

“Senior, I don’t think there’s a need for you to worry.” At that moment, Yue Yingsha spoke out. “Yi Yun is a person acknowledged by the divine tree. Although the Azure Wood Great World is about to be destroyed, with the divine tree’s strength, it should not be difficult for it to protect Yi Yun even if it’s about to wither and die.”

Yue Yingsha had a bloodline inside her that was related to the divine tree so she was able to vaguely comprehend the divine tree’s intention.

Felicitous Rain Lord frowned. He had also thought of the possibility that Yue Yingsha mentioned but he still remained worried. After all, it was just a hypothesis. What if it was wrong?

As Felicitous Rain Lord was pondering over the matter, he saw that the halo encompassing Yi Yun intensifying. Large amounts of energy were flowing out of the halo, which caused Felicitous Rain Lord to shudder. It was an energy he absolutely could not withstand.

At that point in time, it was like a sun had appeared out of nothing and Yi Yun was located within the sun as though he was a Golden Crow that was being given life through the burning flames.

Felicitous Rain Lord could not help but continue retreating and when the halo reached an extreme intensity, Felicitous Rain Lord suddenly saw Yi Yun’s figure turn into a blur. His aura was gradually dissipating as though he was about to disappear…

Oh?

Felicitous Rain Lord was startled. He could sense the fluctuation in spatial laws that were about to send Yi Yun away.

The moment Yi Yun was sent away, Felicitous Rain Lord had no idea how long it would take him to find Yi Yun.

At that moment, thousands of thoughts flashed across his mind. He finally gritted his teeth and took out a dark golden piece of paper from his interspatial ring.

If anyone were to see the dark gold piece of paper, they would go mad because that was the remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’! It was also his most valuable cultivation technique. Previously, he had not passed it down to Yi Yun due to Yi Yun’s low cultivation realm. But now, Yi Yun was about to be sent away. By steeling his heart, he directly shot the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ at Yi Yun!

By giving it to him prematurely, Yi Yun would then be able to cultivate it by himself with the remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’. It was a divine item formed from heaven and earth laws, so the divine light that had repelled Felicitous Rain Lord did not stop the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ remnant page, allowing it to reach Yi Yun.

At the next moment, the halo became even brighter as Yi Yun and the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ remnant page disappeared completely.

The immense energy also gradually dissipated as the halo lost its luster. Finally, there was nothing left in front of Felicitous Rain Lord.

Nothing was left behind.

The divine tree had transported him and the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ away…Upon coming to such a realization, Felicitous Rain Lord heaved a sigh of relief.

With the divine tree safely transporting Yi Yun away, Yi Yun’s safety was finally assured. However, Felicitous Rain Lord did not know Yi Yun’s destination. He needed to recuperate as fast as possible once he returned so that he could search for Yi Yun.

However, it was unlikely to be an easy matter searching for Yi Yun. He even felt for the first time that he should establish a faction, one just like the Immortal Rain Sect, a large faction that spanned the entire Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. Such matters could then be done in a much easier fashion.

“Let’s leave quickly.”

Felicitous Rain Lord grabbed Yue Yingsha and Chu He and summoned a mobile abode before flying out of the restricted zone!

At that moment, the divine tree’s restricted zone had collapsed so there was no obstruction in the way.

“Fairy Rime, I’m severely injured so I’ll need to rely on you in a while.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely do my best!”

Due to the rupturing of the restricted zone, Rime Divine Lord had also seen Yi Yun’s disappearance. She knew that if Yi Yun were to not perish, he would definitely be an extremely strong warrior of the world.

Despite being only at the Dao Manifestation realm, Yi Yun’s monstrous talent would make Divine Lords lower their statures to take the initiative to befriend him.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The Azure Wood Great World continued collapsing. Even the towering divine tree began to tremble violently. One branch after the other fell to the ground before sinking into it.

The divine tree that had stood erect for hundreds of millions of years had finally welcomed its moment of destruction.

The world was being compressed and the entire Azure Wood Great World was beginning to collapse with the divine tree at its core!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The annihilation power of the collapsing world surged wantonly toward the divine tree.

Rime Divine Lord led Felicitous Rain Lord and company to a distance far away from the center of the explosion. They watched helplessly as the world began shrinking. Everything in the world—land, mountains, rivers, oceans and even space and time—were gathering toward the divine tree. It was like a skyscraper collapsing to its foundation once the foundation was destroyed.

At the next moment, Rime Divine Lord and Felicitous Rain Lord heard the bronze giant issue an angry and painful bellow. The duo immediately understood what was happening with the destruction of the Azure Wood Great World. The divine tree was using its last bit of energy to collapse everything in the Azure Wood Great World so as to inflict a heavy injury on the bronze giant!

The destructive power of a world was extremely terrifying, to begin with. Even stars could go supernovae, and when such energy was compressed into a tiny area of space, the destructive force was unimaginable!

Would the bronze giant die?

Felicitous Rain Lord did not know the answer to the question. He only felt that the divine tree had chosen to shine in its final moments before ending its life. And such fireworks that could light up the Universe through the consumption of its life made him feel minute.

They were pursuing the peak of martial arts but in the face of the entire Universe, they were too weak…

And all of this had been seen by Yi Yun. After he was enveloped by the divine tree’s light, he was sent hurtling through the void.

The starry sky and endless river of stars were fleeting in front of Yi Yun. He did not know how long he had been floating for and how far he had traversed. The only thing he knew was that the tiny divine tree seed in his dantian had already sprouted a lush green sapling…

Yi Yun had clarity of mind. However, his meridians, flesh, and blood seemed to be undergoing a metamorphosis which prevented him from moving.

He knew that Felicitous Rain Lord had left the remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ with him at the final moment. There was no need to elaborate on its value. The act only made him feel more grateful to Felicitous Rain Lord’s favor to him as a master.

1051 - : Final Destruction

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the northwestern region of the central prefecture, there was a vast desert named the Sun Burial Sandsea.

The legends told of a blazing sun falling into a sea that evaporated the sea dry. The crash formed a huge indentation in the ground and after an endless period of time, the sandstorms leveled the place flat. It turned the area into a desert named Sun Burial Sandsea, an apt name for a place that had previously buried a sun.

As a desert, the Sun Burial Sandsea should have been uninhabited, but contrary to that, there were seven big cities in the vicinity of the sea of sand. They were bustling with several large merchant alliances, alchemist alliances, auction houses, and even assassination organizations. They had strongholds in these cities with innumerable warriors entering in and out of these cities on a daily basis.

There was only one reason—the Sun Burial Sandsea produced many items of great value. Every year, large hordes of people would come to the Sun Burial Sandsea in search of treasures. However, the desert was fraught with dangers, with many people eventually succumbing to the yellow sand and turning to withered bone.

At that moment, a sand boat was slowly cruising through the endless desert. Such sand boats were extremely expensive to construct and they were built by refining masters. They were powered by the energy from World Stones and they hovered a few feet above the desert. From afar, they looked no different from the ships on an ocean.

In front of the sand boat was a tandem of powerful steeds. Steeds that could run in the desert were known as Azure Linhorses. These horses were bigger than camels and they could carry tons of items while still being able to travel great distances every day.

Sun Tie, one of the leaders of the armed escorts of the sand boat, was riding on one such Azure Linhorse.

He had spent decades on the Sun Burial Sandsea, so his wealth of experience made him greatly familiar with the big merchant alliances and family clans in the seven cities around the Sun Burial Sandsea. He was also thoroughly familiar with the various dangers of the desert.

“Oh? There’s something in front.” One of the armed escorts suddenly said. Sun Tie had great vision so with a nonchalant sweep with his eyes, he had seen a person lying on his back in the desert several hundred meters away.

Such a situation was not rare in the desert, especially in the extremely strange Sun Burial Sandsea. It was common for people to lose their sense of direction and having consumed all their provisions, they would end up dying in the desert before being covered by the dust storms and eventually disappearing.

Sun Tie had seen such situations many a time. Due to the vastness of the desert and the burning hot sun, a person was only two to four hours away from death after falling unconscious. Hence, the people that Sun Tie encountered most of the time would have been dead for days or would have already turned into dried corpses.

But this time, having witnessed another such scene left Sun Tie completely dumbfounded. He had traveled the desert for decades but he had never seen such a fascinating scene.

The person had obviously fainted on the desert but the dust storms had not buried him in any way. And what was most amazing was that in a hundred feet radius around him as the center, there were lush green plants growing in the desert. Some of the grass even bloomed tiny wild flowers. They even seemed to be engaging in a contention for beauty and fascination.

If he had not seen this scene in a desert, Sun Tie would have believed that he had come to a small patch of grassland.

“An oasis?”

An oasis was the first thing Sun Tie thought of. However, the Sun Burial Sandsea was somewhat special as it had been reduced to such a state after burying a sun. Therefore, oases were extremely rare.

The oases in the desert were usually built up by array formation masters but Sun Tie had almost never seen such a tiny patch of an oasis in the desert.

It was unlikely that the grass grew because of the unconscious person, was it?

Such a thought flashed across Sun Tie’s mind but he immediately shook his head and laughed at himself. What was he thinking? How could a person cause the desert to grow green grass? If he truly had the ability, how could he have fainted in the desert?

“What’s the matter?”

At that moment, a yellow-dressed girl in a maid servant getup came to the sand boat’s bow. She looked about seventeen or eighteen.

“We saw a person but it’s unknown if he’s dead. It’s no big deal.”

Sun Tie responded simply. His modus operandi of encountering such situations was to ignore it. Traversing through the Sun Burial Sandsea was fraught with dangers, to begin with. It was possible that danger lurked where the dead were found, so it was best avoiding those places.

At that moment, the maid servant had clearly seen the peculiar scene not far away.

A young looking man in tattered clothes was surrounded by rings of flowers and grass. They seemed to surround and prostrate before him.

What was going on?

At that moment, Sun Tie said, “That person is extremely peculiar. I didn’t think of it a while ago, but now, on second thought, the growing of this flowers and grass in the desert might not be something good. It might be the trap of some monster and that fellow ended up lying there because he succumbed to it.”

Sun Tie gradually became more certain of his analysis. There were unclean things in the desert and many warriors with impressive cultivation levels were killed because of various temptations.

The yellow-dressed maid servant could not make a decision. After returning to the sand boat’s cabin, she came out seconds later and said, “Miss says that saving a life is better than building a seven-storied pagoda for the gods. Go check if he’s still alive. If he is, save him.”

With the mistress saying so, Sun Tie naturally had to do as he was ordered. He reluctantly rode a steed over and became extremely cautious when he approached the patch of plants. It was as though a hidden Fey beast was hiding in it.

However, danger did not rear its head even after he saved the youth.

When Sun Tie carried the youth, he did not realize that after he turned around, the flowers and grass swayed in the gentle wind as though they were bidding the youth farewell. Many of the grass released their seeds in the wind after bidding him farewell, allowing their seeds to disperse in the wind to find a spot where they could germinate. Perhaps such a search would last decades or even more than a century…

The sentiment of the blades of grass reached the youth’s heart as he could perceive them clearly.

Although he looked like he had fallen unconscious, he was aware of everything around him.

The youth was Yi Yun, who had been transported here by the divine tree after the collapse of the Azure Wood Great World.

Yi Yun did not know how far he had traveled in space-time, but from the beginning to the end, his mind was extremely clear. He knew that his body was undergoing a fascinating transformation.

Such a transformation should have been a good thing, but the situation left him somewhat at a loss whether to laugh or cry. Although he was awake, he realized that he could not move at all.

The divine tree seed had sprouted in his dantian, spreading ceaseless vitality throughout his body.

The power was no trifling matter. He knew that his body was much, much stronger than before. When he was being sent away, Yi Yun had to travel through countless spatial storms and while doing so, his body was not protected by energy at all. He had used the strength of his flesh to withstand the bombardment of the spatial storms.

Although Yi Yun remained immobile, his lifeblood was exuberant. His physical defense was extremely high and it was impossible for any typical person from harming him. Yi Yun was not worried about his safety, but it was inappropriate for him to remain immobile.

He had actually been lying in the desert for half a month. Due to the powerful vital energy in his body, a few grass seeds had landed beside him and germinated, eventually forming a tiny oasis.

During this period of time, there were several merchants that had passed him by, but all of them had avoided him. It was only today that there was a group of people traversing the desert which decided to bring him along with them. It made Yi Yun give a bitter smile inwardly. It was good that he was being taken away. It was definitely not a comfortable experience while being sunned in the desert for half a month.

Yi Yun’s identity was unknown. So although he was rescued, he was not sent onto the sand boat. Instead, he was put in a carriage. After the maid servant checked on Yi Yun’s breathing, she immediately reported to her mistress.

“Miss, the youth is still alive but he is unconscious.”

“Alright…Let Mr. Changsun take a look at him. Perhaps he can be saved.”

1052 - : Sun Burial Sandsea

CKtalon  CKtalon

The group that had saved Yi Yun was the Divine Secrets Trading Company from Jade Luster City. It was definitely a notable faction in Sun Burial Sandsea. The merchant alliance it belonged to was everywhere in the seven cities around the desert, so it was known by everyone.

The Divine Secrets Trading Company was extremely wealthy. Ignoring the luxurious sand boat, even a side carriage was drawn by four splendid looking Azure Linhorses.

Azure Linhorses were large, to begin with, so the carriages they pulled were even larger. The carriage that Yi Yun was in was luxurious. Inside it was a room that not only had a bed, carpet, and chairs, there were even several compartments. In addition to the array set up in the carriage, the carriage was strangely stable despite the fast speeds of the four Azure Linhorses.

The treatment that Yi Yun received left many of the escorts unhappy. He was only a half-dead traveler that they had saved but he enjoyed such a luxurious carriage. As for them, they had to stay outside in the sun and get exposed to the elements. The punk was truly one lucky fuck.

“To think that I need to stop my elixir refinement midway to save someone who fainted in the desert.”

A gray-robed elder came into Yi Yun’s room. He felt somewhat impatient when he took a glance at Yi Yun as he verbalized his unhappiness.

The maidservant that was standing beside the old man said with a placative smile, “Miss is a kind person. What’s more, Grandmaster Sun’s alchemy skills are first-rate when placed in the entire Central State Divine Territory. Wouldn’t saving a youth be at your fingertips?”

The maidservant’s words were sweet and indeed, the elder enjoyed the flattery. However, he knew in his heart that his alchemy and medical skills were definitely not first-rate in the entire Central State Divine Territory.

“Fine, I’ll be kind and save his life. Consider this punk lucky.”

As the gray-robed old man said those words, he sat in front of Yi Yun.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s eyes were tightly closed but there were tumultuous waves roaring in his heart. Central State Divine Territory!?

The name was extremely familiar with Yi Yun. He had a great memory so a simple recall allowed him to remember that back in the God Advent Tower at the Great Empress mystic realm, he had been shown the history of Azure Yang Lord rising to the rank of Divine Lord. Having achieved success and winning recognition, Azure Yang Lord had established a country and the name he called his land was the Central State Divine Territory.

Could this be the Yang God Empyrean Heaven?

Yi Yun was alarmed. The collapse of the Azure Wood Great World had sent him to the Yang God Empyrean Heaven in one go. Wasn’t this too far?

The twelve Empyrean Heavens were extremely distant from one another. Even a Divine Lord needed to expend a great deal of time and energy in order to shuttle between the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Yi Yun began sweeping his surroundings with his perception. After fusing with the divine tree seed, his perception had increased by leaps and bounds, so he could easily cast it out hundreds of kilometers and even penetrate barriers that he couldn’t in the past, such as Chaos Stones.

Yi Yun knew very well that his perception had completely metamorphosized.

His survey of the surroundings confirmed his suspicions. He had truly arrived in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven.

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, the people he encountered were 99% Fey race. But in this area, the countless number of people he discovered were humans with pure bloodlines. They had nothing to do with the Fey.

“Yang God Empyrean Heaven…Central State Divine Territory. Years ago, I was indebted to Azure Yang Lord and today, I have come to the place where Azure Yang Lord rose in prominence. This is probably fated…” Yi Yun muttered to himself inwardly. At that moment, the gray-robed elder had begun probing Yi Yun’s meridians.

Although Yi Yun could not move, he was not too worried about his safety. Firstly, his physical body was strong, making it extremely difficult for others to harm him. Secondly, his body contained a vibrant vitality. The power that came from the divine tree seed was no trifling matter. Back when he was lying in the desert, there had been evil phantoms that attempted to devour his lifeblood but the moment they entered his meridians, they were annihilated by the vital power.

The gray-robed elder was actually not too concerned about healing Yi Yun but the moment he probed Yi Yun’s meridians, his face turned into that of shock. A few seconds later, he turned alarmed. How could it be?

“Grandmaster Sun, how is he?”

“Odd, very odd. This youth’s meridians are filled with life. I’ve never seen such powerful amounts of vitality in my life!”

The gray-robed elder began to find something amiss. He had probed the meridians of many warriors, but none had given him such a feeling.

“Then, why is he still unconscious?” The maidservant asked.

“Well…”

The gray-robed elder frowned as he felt somewhat embarrassed. It had just been said that such a trivial ailment would be at his fingertips but he had ended up encountering such a strange situation which he was clueless about.

He knew that the person was definitely not pretending to be unconscious but he was completely befuddled by the underlying cause.

He attempted feeding a pill to Yi Yun. It melted the moment it entered his mouth and turned into an essence that merged into Yi Yun’s body.

“Oh? It was absorbed so fast?”

The gray-robed elder was slightly astonished. The pill he had given Yi Yun was quite an impressive one. He even felt the pinch when he gave it to Yi Yun. Typical warriors who ate it might suffer instead of being nourished by it. The medicinal essence in it might be so strong that it could cause one to vomit blood. He had noticed that Yi Yun’s meridians looked strong before he had attempted with the pill. He never expected that the medicinal essence of the pill had been completely absorbed by Yi Yun in a few seconds. It was like pouring a container of water into the lake. There was not much of a change.

What happened?

The gray-robed elder was unsure. And at that moment, the ‘unconscious’ Yi Yun was also feeling shocked from the transformations his body was undergoing after the pill entered his body. He had clearly sensed that the essence in the pill had been absorbed by the divine tree seed.

And after it absorbed the pill’s essence, it seemed to grow a tiny bit. As it was a such a minute amount, it would not have been discovered if not for Yi Yun’s extremely powerful perception.

The divine tree seed could absorb the essence of the pill.

Yi Yun was not surprised regarding this. Back at the herbal garden in the stone house, there had been a large number of herbal treasures planted. And these herbs were eventually used to grow and nourish the divine tree seed.

Now, with the divine tree seed sprouting, it was not a surprise that it could absorb the essence of spiritual medicine.

Upon realizing this, a thought flashed across Yi Yun’s head. He seemed to understand why he was left immobile. After the divine tree seed entered his dantian, the sapling needed large amounts of the worldly essence in its nascent stage. However, without providing it with spiritual herbs and medicine, it could only absorb Heaven Earth essence. And the Heaven Earth essence was gathered toward Yi Yun’s dantian through his meridians as the passageways.

Although Yi Yun had benefited from this process, with his meridians being tempered and becoming larger and stronger, the price he had paid was the seizure of all his meridians by the divine tree seed. It left him completely immobile as a result.

In order to gain control over his meridians again, he probably needed to wait till the divine tree seed grew to a certain stage. He believed that it was unlikely that the divine tree seed would grow into a massive, towering divine tree in one shot. It might temporarily stop after a certain period of time.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun smiled bitterly inwardly. Although the divine tree seed was in his body, it was not under his control.

1053 - : Central State Divine Territory

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun, who was being treated by the gray-robed elder, had garnered the old man’s interest. He was an ill person that the old man had never encountered before. The old man took out a box of silver needles, planning on giving Yi Yun acupuncture, but what rendered him speechless was that the inability of the needles to prick Yi Yun’s acupuncture points.

The gray-robed elder infused his Yuan Qi into the silver needles in the hopes of breaking through Yi Yun’s skin but he only ended up snapping them.

Why couldn’t the needles lodge in his flesh?

The old man stared with widened eyes for he had never encountered such a situation before. There was a dumbfounded silence.

“Could this young man have metallic flesh and bone?” The old man muttered to himself before tearing and removing the tattered clothes in front of Yi Yun’s chest.

What happened rendered Yi Yun speechless. The old man was treating him as a guinea pig. He was not worried about his danger but by removing his tattered clothes, the old man could see a dark gold piece of thin paper adhered to Yi Yun’s chest.

What was this?

The elder was somewhat befuddled. The dark gold paper was obviously the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ that Felicitous Rain Lord had given Yi Yun. However, the remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ was something that even Supremacies might not recognize, not to mention the gray-robed elder.

Furthermore, who could imagine that a young man that had fainted in the desert would have such a rare artifact?

The thin piece of paper was only thought as a protective charm by the elder. Just as he wanted to peel it off, he realized that the piece of paper was stuck to Yi Yun’s flesh, preventing him from tearing it away.

Just as the elder was feeling puzzled, the maidservant rushed in and said, “Miss requests Mr. Changsun to move this young man to the sand boat. She has something to tend to.”

Old Man Changsun faltered for a moment. He had originally believed that the mistress had suddenly saved the young man from a sudden bout of kindness. But now, the mistress was sending the punk to the sand boat? That sand boat was a privately owned by the mistress. Other than close relatives or friends of the mistress, no one had the chance of boarding the sand boat.

Was there something special about the punk that the mistress had eyed? Although the elder enjoyed a level of status in the Divine Secrets Trading Company, he was an outsider after all. He could not make any of those inquiries.

He got a set of clothes to dress Yi Yun and brought him to the sand boat together with the maidservant.

The sand boat that was cruising through the desert was exquisite in its internal decorations. However, its artistic style was mainly pink, making it obvious that it was a female’s residence.

In the biggest hall inside the sand boat, Yi Yun finally saw the mistress of the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

She was dressed in a light yellow dress and she walked in a feather-footed manner like a willow in the wind. She did not look a year past eighteen and her skin was fair and delicate. However, what astonished Yi Yun was that the girl had a thin, light red scar across her face that stretched from her forehead. It reached down to her nose bridge in a winding manner like a snake, into the girl’s veil.

From the looks of it, the young mistress of the Divine Secrets Trading Company was wearing the veil not because it was a deliberate act of mysticism but to hide the scar.

However, Yi Yun was puzzled. In the world of warriors, there was no lack of pills that could restore one’s looks. Why would the young mistress of the Divine Secrets Trading Company not remove the scar?

“Mr. Changsun, can you save this person?” The young mistress’s voice was soft and gentle and it sounded soothing to the ears.

“About that…” Old Man Changsun revealed a look of passiveness as he immediately reported the strange process of his treatment of Yi Yun to the mistress.

“Oh? He can’t be pricked by needles but he is able to rapidly absorb the medicinal essence in a pill?”

“Yes, the Nutritive Restoration Pill I refined has strong medicinal properties but he had taken a few seconds to finish absorbing it. Furthermore, I sensed that the vitality in his body grew slightly stronger after he finished absorbing it…”

“Then, does Mr. Changsun believe that better pills can save this young man?”

“About that…” Old Man Changsun shook his head. “I can’t be sure. It’s just a guess.”

“Alright…” Upon hearing Old Man Changsun’s words, the yellow-dressed girl seemed to ponder for quite a while before she took out a jade box. She opened it and took out a green pill. Old Man Changsun was stupefied when he saw it.

“The Southern Dipper Green Glass Pill? Miss, don’t tell me that you are planning on feeding this pill to him?”

The value of the Southern Dipper Green Glass Pill was something that could not be disregarded even with the Divine Secrets Trading Company’s wealth. If a direct descendant of the Divine Secrets Trading Company was severely injured, it was no surprise that the Southern Dipper Green Glass Pill would be used for treatment. However, the youth was just a stranger, yet she was planning on using such a valuable pill?

The yellow-dressed girl held the Southern Dipper Green Glass Pill in hand and after puckering her lips, she fed it to Yi Yun.

Similarly, the Southern Dipper Green Glass Pill melted the moment it entered Yi Yun’s mouth, with all the energy contained in it absorbed by the divine tree seed. This time, Yi Yun clearly perceived that the divine tree seed had grown a tiny bit. The young sapling that had sprouted turned even greener.

This surprised Yi Yun. The pill that the Divine Secrets Trading Company had given him was indeed of excellent quality.

However, Yi Yun did not know that in the nearby Sun Burial Sandsea, the Divine Secrets Trading Company actually had a mine that produced such treasures. Therefore, the spiritual medicine that was produced here was not bad.

Unfortunately, Yi Yun still had most of his meridians controlled by the divine tree seed despite having absorbed a Southern Dipper Green Glass Pill. He could not even move one bit.

Upon seeing this scene, the yellow-dressed girl wrinkled her eyebrows slightly as if she was in a dilemma. At that moment, without Old Man Changsun telling her, she could already sense the energetic changes in Yi Yun’s body. His vitality was gradually strengthening.

Absorbing the spiritual medicine was indeed helpful at healing Yi Yun but the problem was that a single Southern Dipper Green Glass Pill was insufficient. How much more spiritual medicine was needed?

This left the yellow-dressed girl in a dilemma. She was afraid that Yi Yun could not be saved even if she used more spiritual medicine.

After thinking for a while, the yellow-dressed girl finally gritted her teeth and took out a golden pill.

Upon seeing the pill, Old Man Changsun’s mouth twitched.

“Miss, this is the Yang Opening Mystic Pill. Surely you aren’t feeding the pill to this young man? Wouldn’t…Wouldn’t it be such a waste? If the Old Chairman were to know…”

Old Man Changsun did not continue his exhortation for he was at a loss. There was a limit to acts of kindness. To use a Southern Dipper Green Glass Pill and a Yang Opening Mystic Pill to save a stranger would be too profligating. If the old chairman were to know of the matter, he would be incensed.

Could it be that the young man was the mistress’s secret lover? If they had known each other in the past, Old Man Changsun would have found it understandable.

But there was no time for him to ponder over the matter carefully. When the Yang Opening Mystic Pill was placed in Yi Yun’s mouth, the pure Yang medicinal essence inside the pill burst out immediately.

The Yang God Empyrean Heaven was inclined to pure Yang. And in it, the Sun Burial Sandsea was one of the best pure Yang lands. The pure Yang-elemental herbal treasures produced in Sun Burial Sandsea were all priceless treasures. As for the Yang Opening Mystic Pill, it was refined using such pure Yang materials and it matched Yi Yun perfectly.

The Yang Opening Mystic Pill’s medicinal essence melted into Yi Yun’s dantian and made him feel like a gigantic furnace had risen in it. Most of it was absorbed by the divine tree seed but there was still a tiny portion that was used by Yi Yun.

At that moment, the nine-leaf pure Yang Dao fruit in Yi Yun’s dantian radiated with a dazzling beam. Every ounce of pure Yang energy that was absorbed by Yi Yun was absorbed into the nine-leaf Dao fruit and when the energy gathered to an extreme, Yi Yun sent a blast outwards with a thought!

The pure Yang power exploded out and surged through every meridian of his. After his originally rigid meridians surged with pure Yang power, it was like spring water flowing into a dried up river bed that finally revived it.

Yi Yun took a deep breath as he moved his nearly ossified limbs before he opened his eyes.

After finally gaining control of his body, Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief. Half a month of immobility was indeed uncomfortable.

However, Yi Yun was puzzled. Why would the yellow-dressed girl spare no cost in saving a stranger like him? If she were said to be kind, wasn’t such kindness excessive?

1054 - : Waking Up

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Finally, he has awakened.”

The girl in yellow heaved a heavy sigh of relief when she saw Yi Yun wake up. She would have been at a great loss if she spent two of her precious pills only for Yi Yun to remain unconscious.

Still somewhat out of it, Yi Yun was confused as to why this girl in yellow saved him. He cupped his fists and said, “Lady, thank you for saving me.”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Old Man Changsun nearly blew his top. This punk did not even recognize the great mistress. After all, if he did know her, why would he greet her in such a way?

They had saved a complete stranger at a great cost, all for a word of thanks. What point was there in that!?

The Old Man Changsun looked at Yi Yun as though he would devour the ungrateful whelp. Which darn guard had saved Yi Yun?

Yi Yun didn’t notice Old Man Changsun’s glaring. His gaze was fixed on the girl in yellow as he waited for her to say something.

“Xiaoyue…Accompany Mr. Changsun in obtaining some bodhi grass and brewing some herbal soup.” The girl in yellow turned to instruct the maidservant standing beside her.

Old Man Changsun faltered for a moment before he realized that the girl in yellow had something to say to the punk.

Despite feeling somewhat vexed, he had no choice but to leave the sand boat with the maidservant.

After the duo left, the girl in yellow stood up and gave Yi Yun a bow, “Senior, I’m Ji Shuiyan.”

Senior?

Yi Yun was momentarily surprised. Such a method of address… For all of his years of living, this was the first time he was called Senior.

The girl in yellow looked about eighteen, but her actual age was likely to be near his own. Yi Yun said, “I’m Yi Yun, not some senior. I have cultivated for less than a century and there is a limit to the gap in our ages.”

“Less than a century?”

Ji Shuiyan looked at Yi Yun in surprise but she immediately chuckled and said softly, “Senior, I do not have any ill intentions. My eyes are different from others. They can see through the cultivation levels of many people but… I’m unable to discern Senior’s cultivation level. I can only sense that there is an immense power within Senior’s body that renders my eyes completely ineffective. For such a thing to happen, it can only mean that Senior’s cultivation level far exceeds my imagination.”

“Furthermore, Senior fainted in the desert, yet a large amount of grass had sprouted around Senior’s body. Such a phenomenon isn’t something ordinary people are capable of.”

“In addition, Mr. Changsun’s treatment of Senior was filled with several oddities. No matter how precious the medicine was, it would be absorbed clean by Senior’s body. Even metal and stone couldn’t prick Senior’s skin. How can Senior have only cultivated for less than a hundred years?”

Hearing Ji Shuiyan’s reasons, Yi Yun felt somewhat enlightened. To her, he was a mighty figure that had met with misfortune.

Sparing two precious pills to save a mighty figure was naturally beneficial. To have such a figure in one’s debt was an extremely rare circumstance.

Yi Yun waved his hands and said, “I’m really no senior. I have cultivated for less than a hundred years and my cultivation level is only a realm higher than yours.”

He had discerned that the girl’s cultivation level was at the beginning stages of the Heaven Ascension realm. For her age, that was impressive.

“Just one full realm higher than me?” Ji Shuiyan found it unbelievable, but Yi Yun did not seem like he was lying. It appeared that she had made a mistake.

Upon realizing this, Ji Shuiyan shook her head. This was a classic case of her trying anything when in a desperate situation…

At that moment, Yi Yun said, “Miss Ji, might you have saved me because you face difficulties that require the help of an expert?”

Upon hearing his query, Ji Shuiyan sighed lightly and barely managed to force a laugh. “Not really. I am dedicated to martial arts but have reached a plateau in my cultivation. I was hoping to be an apprentice of a senior.”

Ji Shuiyan said this nonchalantly, but Yi Yun sensed that she was hiding something. However, he did not probe further since she clearly didn’t wish to elaborate. Instead, he said, “Miss Ji, I know that the medicine you gave me was extremely valuable. I wonder where Miss Ji’s house is? If there is a chance, I will definitely return the favor.”

The kindness he had received was no trifling matter. Yi Yun’s life might not have been at risk if he stayed immobile, but nourishing the divine tree seed sprout to a certain stage would take him a year or two. He didn’t want to spend years lying in the desert, not to mention the waste of valuable cultivation time.

“There’s no need. A chance acquaintance is fated after all. For me to help you once, it can be considered fate. There is no need for you to return the favor.”

Ji Shuiyan seemed to quickly bounce back from her disappointment. She smiled at Yi Yun but made it a point to not mention her residence. She didn’t seem to be interested in him returning the favor.

This could be expected. Why would the Divine Secrets Trading Company need the favor of a junior at the Dao Manifestation realm?

“Alright…” Since Ji Shuiyan refused to speak of her troubles, Yi Yun respected her wishes. He had a good impression of her. Although she had her motives saving him, they weren’t underhanded. And when she later discovered that he was not the expert she believed him to be, she had not stooped to mockery or angry demands of repayment.

“Yi Yun, since you are at the Dao Manifestation realm, it should be rather easy for you to traverse the Sun Burial Sandsea. It’s best you leave as soon as possible. There has been some phenomenon recently in the Sun Burial Sandsea with many factions gathered here. There is much unrest. At your cultivation level, it’s best you stay away from it.”

Ji Shuiyan gave Yi Yun some advice. Yi Yun’s heart stirred when he heard it. “Phenomenon? What phenomenon?”

“It’s best you not know. That you have cultivated for less than a century, yet have obtained such a level shows your impressive talent. I’m very envious of it.”

Ji Shuiyan had no intention to speak further. Clearly, she was afraid that any elaboration would only harm him.

“Alright then…” Yi Yun nodded. With the conversation reaching that point, it was meaningless to pursue the matter further. He could only bid farewell and leave the sand boat.

From the short conversation with Ji Shuiyan, Yi Yun had a nagging feeling that Ji Shuiyan had hidden many things in her heart despite her kind temperament.

He memorized the merchant logo on the sand boat, hoping to find the company in the future and repay the favor. But at that moment, Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat as his footsteps slowed down.

He had suddenly sensed an ice-cold perception enshrouding him.

Yi Yun frowned as his perception did not yield. Instead, he advanced in the direction of the sinister perception.

Yi Yun’s perception was keen to begin with. But after absorbing the divine tree seed, it had grown even stronger. He could even penetrate Chaos Stones, so Yi Yun instantly sensed that the other party’s cultivation level was stronger than his. However, he was not afraid of letting the other discover it. He wantonly used his own perception.

In just an instant, Yi Yun saw an old woman in red with a head full of white hair. She was partially slumped in a loft in the sand boat.

She was skinny and scrawny. Her eyes were deeply recessed in but her face was as white as a ghost’s.

She suddenly widened her eyes and gave a stunning smile. Baring her yellow teeth, she said, “Yan’er, come over.”

Ji Shuiyan, who had just sent Yi Yun off, shuddered when she heard that voice. Her face instantly drained of color as Yi Yun noticed that a deep panic flashed in her eyes.

1055 - : Ji Shuiyan

CKtalon  CKtalon

“This old woman…”

Yi Yun used his perception to observe the old woman in red. He could keenly sense a lingering ghostly aura around her.

On top of that, the old granny just looked extremely horrifying, like a corpse that had crawled out of the grave.

He looked back at Ji Shuiyan, who carefully walked to the door of the old woman’s loft room after hearing the granny’s voice transmission. After several attempts to muster her courage, she opened the door.

Immediately, a cadaveric gas effused from the door as though an ancient tomb had been opened.

Ji Shuiyan’s lips were pale as she looked at the old woman’s ghastly white face. However, she made herself stand firm and bowed before her elder.

“Greetings Granny.”

“Heh! Heh!” A harsh laughter emitted from the granny’s throat. Every laugh was followed by a pause that made one shudder. “Greetings Granny? So, you still know about greeting me? Do you think that I know nothing of what you have been doing these past few days while I have been isolated in recuperation?”

“You spared no expense to save a person in the desert. Tell me, why did you save him?”

Upon hearing the old woman’s words, what little color remained in Ji Shuiyan’s face drained once again. However, she forcefully composed herself, saying, “An acquaintance is also considered fate.”

The granny laughed. “Yan’er only saved him because of fate…Ah!”

Ji Shuiyan suddenly screamed as the old woman suddenly reached out her scrawny palm that resembled a chicken’s claw, slapping Ji Shuiyan in the face!

“Pa!”

With a crisp sound, Ji Shuiyan slammed into the door. Her veil had been torn, leaving behind three bleeding scratch wounds on her face courtesy of the old woman’s fingernails.

Almost instantly, the wounds turned black, and the blood that flowed out seemed to rot.

Pain, an excruciating pain!

There was cadaveric poison in the old woman’s fingernails. The pain inflicted upon entry into the body was agonizing.

However, Ji Shuiyan held her face and tolerated the pain without even uttering a sound.

Upon seeing this, Yi Yun finally understood the reason behind Ji Shuiyan’s scars.

It was no wonder she wore a veil to hide her scars. It was also the reason why she did not treat the scars despite being a mistress of a powerful trading company.

If the scars were remnants of a cadaveric poison, they would be extraordinarily difficult to treat. Secondly, even if Ji Shuiyan did heal them, the granny could just inflict more. Such a cycle would leave Ji Shuiyan in despair, making her abandon any hope of seeking treatment!

“To not utter a sound despite the pain. You sure have some mettle! I know what goes on in the head of a little broad like you. You thought the kid as some senior with extremely high cultivation levels. You hoped that with him owing you a favor, you could request him to finish me for you, isn’t that so?”

The granny continued: “What the kid cultivates in happens to be an orthodox power filled with vitality. When you saw the grasses growing in the desert around him, you must have thought of using his power of vitality to gain an advantage over my ghostly cultivation?”

“What a pity! Your plans might be shrewd but he was really just a junior. You despaired when you realized your mistake and were afraid that I would seek revenge, so you quickly urged him to leave the convoy?”

In a few simple words, the granny exposed Ji Shuiyan’s schemes.

There was more and more black blood flowing down Ji Shuiyan’s face. However, she did not bother wiping it off. She only held her face and gritted her teeth, remaining silent.

Against this granny that neither seemed human nor ghost, Ji Shuiyan could not put up any resistance. Taking advantage of the fact that the granny was in isolation, Ji Shuiyan had saved Yi Yun. Unfortunately, things did not go as she wished and everything was noticed by the old woman in red.

With her plans defeated and exposed, a feeling of despair rose up in her heart.

Her death did not matter, but was the Divine Secrets Trading Company her grandfather bequeathed her going to decline because of her ineptitude?

“This is your final warning, Yan’er: obey me, do a good job finding herbs for me, and I will not treat you badly. But if you try any of these tiny schemes ever again, I will not hesitate to destroy that beautiful face of yours. It might even lose all its essences, turning into a face like mine.”

The old woman’s tone suddenly softened. She gently caressed Ji Shuiyan’s face. But despite her seeming softness, her fingernails deliberately brushed Ji Shuiyan’s wounds. It was a heart-wrenching pain for Ji Shuiyan as her face turned paler and her lips quivered. However, all she could do was bear with it.

“Hahaha, what a beautiful face. Unfortunately, I cannot let your little scheme go without a cost. That person you saved displeases me. I have a Heart Dismembering Worm here that is more than sufficient to deal with a junior. Kill him.”

As she spoke, she flipped her scrawny palm and a tiny worm appeared in the middle of her hand.

Upon seeing the worm, Ji Shuiyan shuddered as her chest tightened. She knew that the punshiment was really meant for her. She was a kind person, so to kill someone she had saved would absolutely devastate her psyche.

“Granny, let that youth off. He is innocent. Furthermore, I have already bidden him farewell. He should be far away from here.”

Ji Shuiyan hoped that Yi Yun would go as far as possible. However, the next sentence the old woman said made Ji Shuiyan’s body freeze. “Gone? Unfortunately, he hasn’t left. How can he bear leaving after being saved by such a beautiful girl? He is following the sand boat on an Azure Linhorse!”

He didn’t leave?

Ji Shuiyan felt her entire body lose its strength. Why didn’t Yi Yun leave after she told him to do so? He was certainly doomed, for she understood the old woman’s character. In order to rear a Yin ghoul, she would wipe out an entire city without batting an eye. Why would she hesitate for even a second at killing one young man?

…

Yi Yun clearly saw everything that happened in the sand boat. He never expected that the sand boat so lavishly adorned with the sentiments of a young girl would harbor such an old monster.

Heart Dismembering Worm?

Yi Yun was not worried about such a worm at all. Although he was indeed at the Dao Manifestation realm and he had been cultivating for less than a hundred years, his strength was beyond imagination among warriors at the Dao Manifestation realm. It was even beyond his own imagination.

Yi Yun did not know how strong he had become after condensing four nine-leaf Dao fruits, with one of them being a Major Destruction Dao fruit. Furthermore, there was a divine tree seed in his dantian.

Now, he could test himself. Although the granny’s cultivation level was high, Yi Yun could identify it clearly after fusing with the divine tree seed.

She was at the four-story Dao Palace realm, a full realm plus a little more than him.

This old monster would be a good litmus test for his newfound power.

However, the divine tree seed in Yi Yun’s body still had control over a portion of his meridians.

Yi Yun had a feeling that as the divine tree seed slowly sprouted, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi that it needed would increase. If he did not provide it with sufficient essence, he might find himself like in the desert. The divine tree seed would take over his body again, and he’d be immobilized.

1056 - : Old Woman in Red

CKtalon  CKtalon

When he considered the possibility that he might not have the energy to rear the divine tree seed, Yi Yun felt perturbed. The divine tree seed…was the reincarnation of a God Spirit. How much Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was needed to rear a God Spirit? Even the mere thought of it rendered Yi Yun speechless. It was not a joke to leave it starving. What if it rendered him immobile during a battle? How shameful would it be to be killed like that?

He became unsure if swallowing of the divine tree seed was a blessing or a curse. But now that the divine tree seed fused with his dantian, it was too late for regret.

Not that Yi Yun had any. Had he not taken the divine tree seed into him, he would have died several times in the Door to the 33 Skies. His adventures would have ended long ago.

The rearing of the divine tree seed was a challenge, but also a great opportunity.

Yi Yun foresaw that as long as the divine tree seed matured, his strength would continue to increase exponentially.

“A portion of my meridians are still being used by the divine tree seed, so I can’t use all my strength. I need to clear those meridians first.”

Although the two pills that Ji Shuiyan had given Yi Yun were valuable, they were unable to fully restore him to his peak state.

Fortunately, Yi Yun happened to have many spiritual herbs in his interspatial ring. They couldn’t be used before, because he was immobile and couldn’t take them out. Now, having regained control of his body, he withdrew all the pills and relics in his interspatial ring.

Yi Yun had accumulated quite a number of relics and pills over the past few years. Now, he rapidly fed them to the divine tree seed as though they cost nothing.

The divine tree seed drained all the Yuan Qi and, at a visible rate, the relics and pills vanished. Meanwhile, the energy within Yi Yun’s dantian was blossoming. Even though he had a deep and solid foundation, it was not sufficient to withstand the raging energy. However, with the divine tree seed present, all the Yuan Qi turned into a vortex before being sucked and stored within the seed.

The divine tree seed’s sapling finally grew leaves. Yi Yun could feel the immense power of vitality from the divine tree seed. It flowed into his meridians, filling his body with energy.

Moreover, Yi Yun’s meridians had previously been thickened. So he had no problem withstanding the Yuan Qi.

There was one side effect that did surprise Yi Yun: his cultivation level began to rapidly increase.

Oh? That’s actually possible?

Yi Yun was at the early stages of the Dao Manifestation realm. Typically, he’d need to spend a good deal of time solidifying his cultivation level. But now, Yi Yun only needed five minutes to solidify the early stages of his Dao Manifestation. He was even beginning to progress to the middle-stages of the Dao Manifestation realm.

Yi Yun had four nine-leaf Dao fruits so his nomological insights were already extremely deep. There was no fear of his foundation being unstable. His cultivation level shot straight to the peak of the early stages of the Dao Manifestation realm, leaving him just short of the middle-stages of the Dao Manifestation realm.

Additionally, the energy that the divine tree seed had regurgitated was extremely pure. There was no possibility of any negative after-effects. Any warrior knew that they could use pills to create a sharp increase in their cultivation. But after the increase, the impure energy contained within such pills would need to be carefully refined. Trying to raise cultivation in that manner would waste a lot of time in the end.

But for Yi Yun, that problem didn’t exist.

The divine tree seed was like an energy purifier. It absorbed about 70-80% of the pills’ energy, but regurgitated about 20-30%. However, this 20-30% was extremely pure. It was nothing short of incredible!

Yi Yun was pleasantly surprised by this discovery. Although the amount of energy he could absorb was small, the quality was much better. Due to this, it was worth it to feed more than 90% energy to the divine tree seed. If the divine tree seed were to truly mature, it would likely give him other amazing opportunities.

“I have four nine-leaf Dao fruits and a divine tree seed. If I were to obtain some treasured herbs, wouldn’t my cultivation speed improve by leaps and bounds?”

Just as this thought flashed across Yi Yun’s mind, he suddenly frowned. Through his perception, he saw something in the sand boat that made murderous intent rise up in his heart.

The granny in red clothes held Ji Shuiyan up by her arms with ghastly claws that were concealed by a mist.

Ji Shuiyan’s face was covered in bloody wounds and her expression was ashen.

“You dare defy me? Do you know the price?” The granny’s sinister-sounding voice echoed.

“Kill me! I’ve had enough!”

Ji Shuiyan bit through her lips and her white teeth was stained with fresh blood. She had fallen into a nightmare the moment the old witch had appeared. She did not know if the nightmare would ever end, all she knew was that she could no longer endure it. Deep in her heart, she knew there would come a day when the old witch would torture her to death. The only reason she was even still alive was because the old witch hoped Ji Shuiyan would find medicine for her.

After living in such a desperate situation, Ji Shuiyan had often thought of dying.

“You want to die? Heh! Heh! Do you think that it would be so simple, dying?”

The old woman stood up and walked toward Ji Shuiyan. Suddenly, she grabbed at Ji Shuiyan’s top and tore it away!

“Chi La!”

The striking sound of silk tearing was heard as Ji Shuiyan’s top as well as her pink-colored undergarment, a dudou, were torn off, exposing her naked body.

Ji Shuiyan exclaimed as she tried struggling but she was unable to escape the two ghastly claws that held her arms.

“Hehehe, what tenderness!”

The granny in red licked her lips. Ji Shuiyan’s skin was delicate but it only garnered the old woman’s loathing. “You dare defy me for a toad you picked off the ground? Do you really think so little of the resources I possess?”

The granny gentled beckoned with her hand and the Heart Dismembering Worm she had given Ji Shuiyan flew out automatically into her hand.

Holding the Heart Dismembering Worm in hand, she admired it in fascination. “Baby, you must be hungry. Soon, you’ll be able to eat your fill.”

As she spoke, the granny placed the Heart Dismembering Worm on Ji Shuiyan’s abdomen.

“Zhi Zhi Zhi!”

The Heart Dismembering Worm issued a sharp screeching sound. It seemed eager to bore a hole as it began to squirm toward Ji Shuiyan’s navel.

Ji Shuiyan’s expression changed drastically. Although she was a tenacious person by nature, allowing her to endure what ordinary people couldn’t, she was still a young girl. Upon seeing such a disgusting worm about to bore into her navel, how could she not be frightened?

“Hehe, what full and ample breasts. Who do you plan on seducing with that pair of bunnies? Why don’t you feed them to the Heart Dismembering Worm? Let it eat that pair of bunnies of yours and see which man will still like you. Hehehehe!”

The evil granny’s extremely vicious words made Ji Shuiyan break out into a cold sweat that covered her forehead. She was acutely aware of the old witch’s craziness. She knew that she had every intention of acting on her threats.

Ji Shuiyan was not afraid of death, but the witch planned to make her live in a state worse than death.

She felt an excruciating pain as the black Heart Dismembering Worm tore into her navel. In seconds, it would bore into her stomach.

Just as despair was about to overwhelm her, she suddenly felt a coldness by her abdomen.

Whew!

An ice-cold frost beam flashed past as the Heart Dismembering Worm let out a sharp cry before flying off.

“Ding!”

With the sharp clink of metal colliding, the Heart Dismembering Worm was pinned onto a wall by a flying saber!

The flying saber had embedded itself in the wall with the handle still vibrating. Ji Shuiyan was momentarily surprised. Who was it?

1057 - : Heart Dismembering Worm

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Chi!”

With a light sound, the flying saber suddenly burned in pure Yang flames. The Heart Dismembering Worm let out a shrill cry as it quickly burned to a crisp.

Upon seeing this scene, the granny in red’s expression immediately darkened.

“Who’s there!?”

She turned her head abruptly,her gaze piercing the room’s door. The agilawood door that was engraved with an array of mystical symbols had been penetrated by the flying saber, with only a tiny hole left behind.

Somehow, the person who had launched the flying saber couldn’t see inside the room, yet was still able shoot the saber through the door with perfect accuracy. Not only that, but the swift and true saber was imbued with the power of pure Yang. It had killed the Heart Dismembering Worm in one strike.

To accomplish such a feat, a person had to have extraordinary perception. Who had such impressive ability?

“Creak——”

At that moment, the door was pushed open. There, in a Divine Secrets Trading Company outfit, stood Yi Yun. His clothes from before had been torn apart.

“It’s you…” The granny’s pupils constricted as a look of disbelief appeared on her face. She never expected that the person who had done of all that was Yi Yun.

“It looks like I have underestimated you, or perhaps you’ve been hiding your true strength.”

The granny slowly advanced towards Yi Yun. She resembled an old night owl in the shadows, spooking people with its gaze.

Yi Yun beckoned and, as though it had a mind of its own, the Thousand Snow flying saber that was stuck in the wall flew into his hand. As he twirled the Thousand Snow flying saber, he said nonchalantly, “There is no need for me to hide my strength against you. You just failed to see it.”

“Alright!”

The granny’s eyes were filled with killing intent and at that moment, Ji Shuiyan suddenly sent a voice transmission to Yi Yun, “Yi Yun, she’s a four-storey Dao Palace. She rears a Yin specter as a trump card.”

Although it was a Yuan Qi voice transmission, the old woman had some power at work on Ji Shuiyan. This, added to her powerful perception, allowed her to hear the girl’s message clearly.

“Slut, you are courting death!”

The old woman’s eyes flashed with a cold beam, and the two demonic claws that held Ji Shuiyan pulled in opposite directions.

At Ji Shuiyan’s cultivation level, there was no doubt that the claws would tear her apart!

Reacting quickly, Yi Yun flicked his fingers. Shoo! Shoo!

Two flying sabers flew out like lightning and pierced through the demonic claws!

Chi! Chi!

The demonic claws were reduced to nothingness by the pure Yang flames. But the old woman took advantage of the chance to pounce at Yi Yun. She had anticipated that he’d save Ji Shuiyan, and Yi Yun realized that her true target was him all along!

“Die foolish kid!”

The old woman swiped a claw at Yi Yun’s head. It was a strike that could even tear apart divine metal.

Yi Yun was not flustered by the sudden sneak attack. He retreated quickly and simultaneously took out a broken sword.

The seemingly ordinary sword slashed at the old woman’s wrists.

“Hmph!”

She snorted coldly as her claws burned with billows of black smoke. From within the smoke emerged the large rotting mouth of a devil. The demon bared its fangs and lunged straight at Yi Yun’s broken sword.

Even an excellent sword would immediately rot from the cadaveric gasses the ghoul spewed.

As for the old woman, she continued to slash at Yi Yun’s head with her ghastly claws.

Yi Yun was only a Dao Manifestation realm warrior. Even if he did possess hidden strength, how could he compare to the powers of a four-storey Dao Palace warrior?

Ka-cha!

The ghoul bit at Yi Yun’s broken sword. The old hag was delighted, knowing that any enchanted item bitten by her ghoul would lose a great deal of its spirituality. So how could a feeble enchanted item like this broken sword possibly withstand her attack?

However, before her sinister smile could show, her face froze. Just after the ghoul bit on the broken sword, it immediately let out a blood-curdling cry. It then struggled to release the broken sword.

But at that moment, the broken sword emitted a radiant golden beam that resembled the burning sun’s core. It enveloped the ghoul within its brilliant luster.

The ghoul cried out as it turned to ash, while the broken sword suddenly slashed through a short distance of space, appearing immediately in front of the old woman.

Three-foot Passage Sword, Sword of Time!

Yi Yun’s sword thrust straight at the old woman.

The old woman’s eyes widened, her expression suddenly turning ashen. This kid!

He had managed to cultivate a pure Yang Great Dao, and his sword could bend the laws of time?

The old woman’s expression changed slightly. However, her desire to kill Yi Yun only grew. “So what if you cultivate some Great Dao? Do you think that bit of strength will be enough to defeat me?”

The old woman let out a sinister cry, opening her dried and cracking mouth wide. A blob of black gas spewed forth. Immediately accompanying it were shrieking and howling screams.

The black gas manifested as a gigantic phantom. With a sharp cry, it clashed with Yi Yun’s sword.

“Oh?” Yi Yun realized that his sword seemed to enter a quagmire as a powerful pull was constantly tugging down at his sword.

“Yi Yun, that’s her Yin specter. She has fed it with blood for over ten thousand years. It is not to be underestimated!” Ji Shuiyan gave up using a voice transmission and instead shouted out loud.

“Slut, once I’m done with him, you will taste the pain of thousands of worms boring into your heart!” The old woman viciously glanced at Ji Shuiyan which made her slump to the ground. It was as though all her energy had been drained out of her as her body turned cold.

She was under the control of the old woman and was unable to put up a fight. Therefore, she was naturally unable to aid Yi Yun.

She was tormented at the thought of Yi Yun suffering at the hands of the old woman for saving her. If he were to be captured by her, endless torment would surely follow.

“A Yin specter…” Yi Yun sensed that the Yin specter was constantly consuming his Yuan Qi. At the same time, he could feel his meridians freezing up. The circulative flow of Yuan Qi also became increasingly retarded.

With Yin specter draining their energy, any warrior would quickly become defenseless. If all Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi was devoured by the Yin specter, the old woman would have free reign over him.

“It all depends if you have the ability to suck me dry of my Yuan Qi.” Yi Yun snorted to himself as his Yuan Qi burst out. A black wheel appeared in Yi Yun’s hand. Destruction Dao Domain—10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

Hum Hum Hum!

There was a multitude of demons and gods sealed in the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, to begin with. These phantoms that represented destruction were on a completely different level from the Yin specter that the granny reared.

In addition, the domination of Major Destruction laws over Ghost Dao laws was in every aspect complete and thorough!

Roar!

The roars of the myriad demons and gods thundered as a gigantic black vortex was conjured in the void. Just as the Yin specter darted toward Yi Yun, it was swept up by the redoubtable strength of Destruction. The terrifyingly suppressive presence of demons and gods made it feel like it was a sparrow facing an eagle. There was no way for it to resist.

“Peng!”

The Yin specter was hauled into the vortex before being completely shredded apart!

The Yin specter that had been nourished for ten thousand years already had its intelligence, resulting in it issuing a cry of despair and pain. As for the old woman, being the rearer meant her life essence was tightly linked to the Yin specter. The explosion of the Yin specter caused a serious backlash on her. It was as though a portion of her very soul had been erased. The impact was visible.

“You…you…destroyed my intrinsic Yin specter. Ahhh!”

With a dull grunt, her old body flew backward as she suddenly spewed a mouthful of blood.

1058 - : Yi Yun’s Strength

CKtalon  CKtalon

The old woman in red was a warrior well-versed in Ghost Dao. The intrinsic Yin specter was like a second soul to her. It was her main tool for murder because it could devour large amounts of blood essence. Furthermore, when it devoured the lifeblood of geniuses, it provided her a great amount of enrichment.

In every other battle in which she brought out her intrinsic Yin specter, even ones where she couldn’t kill her enemies, she could definitely inflict serious injury and allow her intrinsic Yin specter to escape unharmed.

Even if she were to encounter old freaks a few subrealms higher than her, the Yin specter would still be able to injure the opponent and escape. Even when it was fighting a superior opponent. Never had she encountered a situation in which her intrinsic Yin specter barely put up a fight before being consumed and destroyed. Even her body had been severely injured!

“This is…a Destruction law? You even know Destruction Great Dao?”

The old woman wiped the blood from her mouth. She was still infuriated from the destruction of her intrinsic Yin specter and could only manage to gradually calm down.

Pure Yang Great Dao! Space-time Great Dao! Destruction Great Dao!

How could a person know so many Great Dao? Furthermore, what was his cultivation level? How young was he?

The old woman refused to believe that Yi Yun was only at the Dao Manifestation realm. Fighting a four-storey Dao Palace at the Dao Manifestation realm was completely unheard of.

“Kid, you destroyed my intrinsic Yin specter. I’ll make sure you die with me!”

The old woman suddenly let out a bizarre cry and charged at Yi Yun! Her flesh and blood bulged as an outburst of energy began to circulate in her body as though she would explode at any time.

Self-destruction!?

Yi Yun was alarmed. Some warriors developed special cultivation techniques. When on the brink of death, they would explode, resulting in an internecine outcome with their enemies. The old woman was preparing such a technique!

Yi Yun’s heart shuddered and he prepared the appropriate countermeasures, but before he could act the old woman suddenly changed trajectories and flew up like an arrow!

“Peng!”

The old woman burst right through the ceiling!

The sand boat had two levels. In an instant, the old woman tore through both those levels and soared high into the sky!

She escaped!?

Yi Yun’s eyebrows pricked up. The self-destruction was only a ruse. She was taking advantage of the moment he gathered his energy in defense to escape!

Without a thought, Yi Yun flew out of the sand boat. How could he let the old woman escape? If she did, there would be endless repercussions!

Sou!

Yi Yun charged out of the sand boat as well. The powerful impact of the two consecutively rushing out of the sand boat caused the top of the sand boat to explode.

The surrounding members of the Divine Secrets Trading Company jumped in fright when they saw the sudden explosion of the sand boat. They held their breaths when they saw the two rocket into the sky.

What just happened?

“Protect the mistress! Protect the mistress!”

Old Man Changsun was in a panic. With the Old Chairman having vanished, the Divine Secrets Trading Company was doomed if anything untoward happened to the mistress.

“Kid, don’t force me!”

The old woman was fleeing in desperation. As she gathered a bout of Yuan Qi and burned her lifeblood unsparingly, her speed rose rapidly. “I have a mystic technique for escaping. It requires the burning of my blood essence. If you want to chase me, you would have to burn your blood essence as well. It would not be worth it for you!”

The old woman was sure that Yi Yun would not go to such ends. After all, they did not share a irreconcilable vendetta. Yi Yun would be going too far if he burned his blood essence to kill her.

Seeing the old woman rapidly creating a gap, Yi Yun sneered. The space beneath his feet suddenly began to distort as the flow of time around him seemed to speed up.

Time flies like an Arrow, Heavenly Dao like a Bow!

Yi Yun took a step forward as the space beneath his foot contracted. It wasn’t him catching up to the old woman but the space and time between him and her shrinking. It was as though the old woman was being pulled back by space itself.

Such a method was something Yi Yun couldn’t employ before he condensed his nine-leaf Space-time Dao fruit. But now, it was a cinch.

“Ahhh.” The old woman cried out in despair as she gathered her energy once again in the hopes of producing another charging spurt!

But Yi Yun was now prepared, so how could he give her another chance?

His pure Yang broken sword flew straight out!

To the Ends of Time, a Sword for Eternity!

Whew!

The sword beam flashed through heaven and earth. Space and time instantly lost all meaning as the sword of time tore through space and plunged into the old woman’s dantian.

Her body quaked violently as a mouthful of blood spewed out. As she looked at the wound in her abdomen, her face was filled with pain and despair.

“I should have…killed that slut…”

The old woman said the last words of her life. At that instant, her destroyed dantian could no longer restrain the energy that had been compressed to an extreme.

Boom!

Energy erupted as the old woman’s body exploded into smithereens!

However, the extent of the explosion was much weaker than her self-destruction power. Yi Yun easily blocked the explosion by conjuring his Yuan Qi barrier.

He naturally retreated under the energy blast and finally flew back into the sand boat.

From the moment Yi Yun rushed out to slay the old woman, he had begun using the laws of time so it only appeared like ten seconds to everyone else. They only saw two people fly out at an inconceivable speed one after another before a blinding Yuan Qi explosion lit up the sky!

The force of the explosion might not have been terrifying but the Yuan Qi that was released left everyone shuddering.

There were many knowledgeable people, including Old Man Changsun, who could understand what the aura represented.

Dao Palace realm warrior?

The person who was hunted down and killed was a Dao Palace realm warrior? And not just in the early stages of Dao Palace, but with a certain level of accomplishment.

Yet this Dao Palace level warrior was destroyed so effortlessly?

Old Man Changsun tried to process this, but was left stupefied.

Meanwhile, something else occurred that left him more dumbfounded. As Yi Yun came back to the sand boat, he had not used his space-time laws. So the Old Man Changsun, with his well-honed eyes, could recognize Yi Yun.

That’s impossible! It’s him?

The youth that the mistress had saved without much thought in the desert…had killed a Dao Palace realm warrior?

Furthermore, where did the Dao Palace realm warrior come from? Their expedition did not have any Dao Palace realm warrior accompanying them. Was it an assassin?

Upon having that thought, Old Man Changsun broke out into cold sweat.

If they were targeted by an assassin at the Dao Palace realm, the outcome was obvious.

As for Yi Yun, Old Man Changsun initially felt that it was a utter waste of heavenly treasures when the mistress used valuable spiritual herbs to heal him. But it became apparent that this youth was a figure strong enough to easily kill a Dao Palace realm warrior!

What was his background? And what was his cultivation level?

Old Man Changsun became anxious that his earlier animosity had been detected by Yi Yun. At his level, the young man could easily wipe him out.

“The mistress did save him after all. He wouldn’t do anything untoward to her, right?”

With that thought in mind, Old Man Changsun hurriedly converged his aura as he rushed to the sand boat.

The other armed escorts of the Divine Secrets Trading Company also rushed onto the sand boat. They all approached cautiously, afraid they might anger a god of death.

“Don’t come in first. I’m fine.”

At that moment, Ji Shuiyan’s voice was heard, forcing everyone to stop in their spots.

Instantly, Yi Yun had appeared in front of Ji Shuiyan. Looking at her, he casually asked, “Can you tell me about the situation with that old woman?”

1059 - : Killing the Old Woman

CKtalon  CKtalon

Instantly, Yi Yun had appeared in front of Ji Shuiyan. Looking at her, he casually asked, “Can you tell me about the situation with that old woman?”

As he spoke those words, he noticed an unnatural paleness suffuse Ji Shuiyan’s face. Even her lips had lost any semblance of having blood in them.

She tried to force a smile, but did not answer Yi Yun’s question. Instead, she said, “Thank you, Senior for saving me…”

Ji Shuiyan’s words tapered off in an increasingly weak fashion. Her voice trembled slightly. Yi Yun felt his heart shiver as he rushed to her side. He grabbed her wrist and immediately projected his perception into her body.

There was still the fact that the top Ji Shuiyan had been wearing was ripped apart by the old woman during the battle. When she was slumped to the ground she could somewhat cover herself, but when Yi Yun helped her up she was immediately exposed. The pair of ample bunnies was too striking. Furthermore, the old woman had ripped off the bottom part of Ji Shuiyan’s top, so there was still remnant cloth barely covering the upper part of her fair bosom. It only served to accentuate her allure.

But Yi Yun was too busy to entertain nefarious thoughts. Once his perception entered Ji Shuiyan’s body, he discovered that there were already three poisonous worms buried within her body. They seemed to have been there for a long time.

Worse, the three tiny poisonous worms had already reached three critical spots in her body—dantian, heart, and brain!

These vermin were beginning to destroy her body, killing her by striking at her three critical spots.

“These are…slave worms?”

Yi Yun suddenly realized what was inside her body. He recalled the several years he spent in the God Advent Tower and how he read Azure Yang Lord’s large collection of books. They covered a wide range of topics, including various matters regarding the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Slave worms were one of them.

These poisonous worms were planted in the bodies of slaves. Once their owner died, the slave worm would begin devouring the slave’s body, consuming all of the slave’s lifeblood.

The entire purpose of the worms was to ensure that slaves would accompany their owner in death. It was extremely vicious!

It also meant that back when Ji Shuiyan mistook him for a mighty senior, she had already expected this outcome by hoping to implore Yi Yun to finish the old woman for her.

With her wrist held by Yi Yun, Ji Shuiyan was nearly leaning in Yi Yun’s embrace. She pointed to her interspatial ring and said in a staccato, “I left two letters…One for Mr. Changsun. As for the other, Senior, please hand it to my younger sister…Thank you, Senior…for your help…”

Ji Shuiyan had clearly prepared her will. Yi Yun sighed inwardly. How much had this girl experienced? She had struggled to survive under the old woman’s demonic claws but she had already left behind a will. It was even possible that death was a form of relief for her.

“Don’t speak any further! You’ll only die faster speaking.”

With her wrist in hand, Yi Yun closed his eyes and focused, using his perception to track the three slave worms.

Ji Shuiyan let out a light chuckle and said, “It’s good to die fast too. It will reduce the pain…slave worms are incurable, to begin with. I was already prepared for my inevitable death.”

Yi Yun knew that the pain from slave worms was an unbearable torment. Even mighty figures might not be able to endure such pain. It was made this way deliberately so that masters never had to fear their slaves’ betrayal.

It was also a preventative measure for the removal of the slave worms.

The primary way to remove them, naturally, was for the person who planted them to take them out.

Another method was to find a person proficient in the art of worms. The worms could be removed as long as the person was more skilled than the planter of the worm.

However, even if the worms were removed, it might result in the victim’s evisceration. At the very least, the victim would spend ages just recovering their lifeblood.

Since the old woman who had planted the worms was dead and Yi Yun was not adept in the art of worms, Ji Shuiyan believed that Yi Yun could not save her even with his extraordinary strength. She was facing certain doom.

Yi Yun took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, there was a mystical change to his irises. In his black iris, it looked like there was a galaxy rotating, with a mysterious wheel filled with mystic Great Dao at its core.

Ji Shuiyan believed that she was dying and with the excruciating pain she was experiencing, she was numb to any stimulation from the external world. However, she was momentarily stupefied when she saw Yi Yun’s eyes.

What were those eyes of his?

Ji Shuiyan was born with supernatural eyes, allowing her to notice Yi Yun’s power. However, she felt that her so-called supernatural eyes were nothing compared to Yi Yun’s.

Anyone who had ever seen Ji Shuiyan’s supernatural eyes had praised them, declaring them to be as deep and unfathomable as the ocean. But Yi Yun’s eyes seemed to contain the entire Universe. Compared to the Universe, an ocean was too tiny.

“Relax your mind and do not let your thoughts run wild.” Yi Yun tore off a tattered piece of cloth on Ji Shuiyan’s body, revealing her perfect figure. Following that, Yi Yun placed one hand on her left chest and the other on her abdomen.

With the sacred land by her chest suddenly pressed by a man, her body trembled gently. She had never had such an experience, so even though she was on her deathbed, her once pale face suffused a blush.

As for her abdomen, it was close to her other private part. Having that touched resulted in a layer of goose bumps appearing on her smooth, porcelain-like skin.

Despite Yi Yun’s actions seeming frivolous, she knew that the places he pressed on were her dantian and heart. There was a slave worm located at each of the two spots.

Could it be possible that Yi Yun was trying to remove the slave worms from her body?

Ji Shuiyan found it unbelievable. Yi Yun practiced orthodox cultivation techniques. It was apparent from the oasis that grew around him when he was unconscious. How could such a person be knowledgeable in the art of witchcraft worms?

“Thank you, Senior… For Senior to kill my enemy, I’m already grateful for a lease of new life. As for the slave worms…”

Ji Shuiyan held no hopes. Yi Yun was probably trying his best to treat her, but without being proficient in the art of worms, how was he to extract them?

Just as Ji Shuiyan was having such thoughts, she saw the black wheel in Yi Yun’s eyes project out. One black mystical rune after another began swirling around Yi Yun’s fingertips.

Before she could react in time, the black runes had entered her body and reached her heart and dantian without any obstruction.

The law of Major Destruction was the supreme law of the Universe. The law’s very existence meant the end of the Universe!

Since the law of Major Destruction could end everything in the Universe and the Universe itself, how could it not destroy mere worms?

Although the Dao of witchcraft worms were mysterious, they were only minor Dao from Yi Yun’s point of view. They were definitely incomparable to the law of Major Destruction. Although he did not know a thing about witchcraft worms, he could crush the Dao of witchcraft worms on the nomological level!

After the black destruction runes entered Ji Shuiyan’s heart and dantian, they silently condensed into a tiny 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Two 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence surrounded each worm respectively.

1060 - : Slave Worms

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Zhi Zhi Zhi!”

The poisonous worms sensed something was amiss as they anxiously screeched. They wanted to rob Ji Shuiyan of her lifeblood before they met their end.

But in an instant, the poisonous worms’ very existence was obliterated by the law of Destruction.

“Phuah! Phuah!”

Two rings of light flashed, and two poisonous worms were erased by the Destruction.

Quickly, Yi Yun moved both his hands up and, with a hand on each side, he pressed down on Ji Shuiyan’s temples!

The destruction runes in his hand instantly manifested and condensed into the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence inside her brain.

“Zhi!”

The final slave worm was extinguished by Yi Yun!

Truly, the power of destruction laws was terrifying. They could annihilate everything.

As for the brain, it was a fragile organ. It would typically buckle under the laws of destruction, but Yi Yun’s understanding of it was at an extremely high level. After he condensed the nine-leaf Destruction Dao fruit, controlling the forces of destruction took no more effort than lifting a finger.

With his perfect control over the law of destruction, he managed to destroy the third slave worm while minimizing the damage to Ji Shuiyan.

Ji Shuiyan suddenly felt the soul-ripping pain throughout her body vanish. Before she could even react, Yi Yun placed a hand on her abdomen and streams of Yuan Qi surged into her body, restoring her vitality.

It was only a matter of seconds before Yi Yun removed his hands and reached into his interspatial ring, producing a set of clothes. He said lightly, “It’s done, put those clothes on.”

“It’s done?”

Ji Shuiyan was still in a daze. What was done?

The disappearance of the excruciating pain gave her some guesses but she found it impossible to believe her intuition. It was a matter of seconds from the moment Yi Yun made his first move. Yet, she was already treated?

She immediately turned her perception inward to check her body. Indeed, she found that the poisonous worms in her dantian, heart, and brain had truly vanished. They didn’t simply die, but nothing of their corpses remained. It was as though they had evaporated into nothingness.

Ji Shuiyan was stupefied. Her perception didn’t lie. How did Yi Yun do it?

Ordinarily, doctors needed a lengthy process to treat their patients, something that allowed the patients to feel like they were gradually getting better while igniting their hopes of survival. Finally, treatment would slowly begin. As the saying goes, illnesses strike suddenly, but the recovery of illnesses was like extracting silk.

However, Yi Yun had acted too quickly. It happened so quickly that Ji Shuiyan did not even notice her physical condition turn for the better. Ignoring the talk about igniting her hopes, she was certain a mere second ago that she would die. But the next second, Yi Yun told her that she was already well.

Such a sudden reversal and miraculous medical skill made Ji Shuiyan feel like she was in a dream-like fantasy.

What sort of person did she save? Furthermore, if he was so powerful, how did he end up collapsed in the desert with serious injuries?

“Senior…are you also well-versed in the art of healing?”

Ji Shuiyan naturally knew Yi Yun was not using the arts of witchcraft worms to save her. In addition, he had not fed her any pills or medicine. The only possibility left was the art of healing.

“Art of healing?” Yi Yun shook his head. “I don’t know any art of healing, but if you want me to kill some worms I’m up to the task.”

Yi Yun’s laws of destruction could only be used to destroy. Killing the worms was easy but healing her body was a separate matter altogether.

When those words reached her ears, Ji Shuiyan didn’t know whether she should laugh or cry.

Kill some worms?

Even witchcraft worm masters would find it a challenge to remove slave worms. However, Yi Yun had killed and removed three slave worms with such ease. Then he displayed such nonchalance that anyone not in the know would think that he had just squashed some ordinary worms with his foot.

For Ji Shuiyan, the shock of Yi Yun killing the slave worms was completely incomparable to the shock of him killing the old woman in red.

When she thought of the dead old woman, Ji Shuiyan could not help but burst into tears of joy.

She still found it unbelievable that the suffocating blade hanging above her head had been so easily destroyed by Yi Yun.

Everything–threats, slave worms, and excruciating pain were now all gone, all in less than a minute.

“Senior!” Ji Shuiyan held onto the clothes and gave Yi Yun a deep bow. “I’ll never forget the fresh lease on life you have given me twice. I swear that from this day on, as long as it’s ordered or requested by Senior, I will do my best to accomplish it, no matter the cost or danger.”

Yi Yun said with a chuckle, “Miss Shuiyan, there’s no need for such solemnity. Although I saved you, you did save me prior to this as well.”

Ji Shuiyan shook her head and said, “What I did is nothing compared to Senior’s favor. Furthermore, even if no one had saved Senior, Senior would probably have awoken quickly.”

“It would’ve taken quite a long time.” Yi Yun responded with a bitter smile. If not for Ji Shuiyan, it was possible that it would take him a year or two. Who knows what might’ve happened during such a long period of time? Additionally, he would waste valuable cultivation time.

However, Ji Shuiyan did not think of it as a serious loss. Compared to what she had been through, what was a few days of waiting?

“Meanwhile, Miss Shuiyan, I previously asked you about the old woman. Doesn’t your Divine Secrets Trading Company have Dao Palace realm warriors? Why were you under her control?”

Upon hearing his question, Ji Shuiyan face was darkened by a bitter look. She shook her head and said, “My Divine Secrets Trading Company does have a few Dao Palace realm warriors holding down the fort. My grandfather was the head of the Divine Secrets Trading Company and he was already at the five-storey Dao Palace realm. Furthermore, the company has Elders, guest elders, numbering more than ten Dao Palace realm warriors.”

She paused before continuing, “But then… Does Senior recall my mention of a remarkable phenomenon happening in the Sun Burial Sandsea? It was first discovered by my Divine Secrets Trading Company. Grandpa believed that a treasure had appeared, so he took a few powerful Elders and went in search of it. However, the resulting waves far exceeded their expectations, and something unfortunate happened…” Her eyes looked down as she trailed off.

“That was the turning point of the Divine Secrets Trading Company. With Grandpa and the Elders gone, we were like sheep for the slaughter in Sun Burial Sandsea as wealth alone is useless. I did not dare announce this matter publicly and tried my best to conceal the matter lest the Divine Secrets Trading Company be torn apart by others overnight.”

“But there is no such thing as a complete secret,” she continued. “Others had managed to gather traces of clues. The Heaven Amplification Trading Company eventually got wind of it and began stirring. They were still uncertain about it, so they acted in the shadows by infiltrating the Divine Secrets Trading Company. Finally, a few months ago, the last remaining Dao Palace realm guest elders were poached by them.”

“Without Grandpa around, I couldn’t do a thing. The Divine Secrets Trading Company began to face unprecedented danger, potentially even annexation by others. And it was at that moment when the old woman in red appeared…”

1061 - : Annihilation of Worms

CKtalon  CKtalon

“I do not know the old woman’s name. I only know her surname is Ren and she comes from the Heaven Secrets Chapter. Grandpa was once also under the tutelage of it. It was an orthodox sect but many disciples did not cultivate in the chapter’s cultivation techniques. The old woman was an extreme example with her cultivating Ghost Dao cultivation techniques. She was Grandpa’s junior sister but she had a vendetta with Grandpa. I do not know what the grudge was…As Grandpa was no longer around, she directed all her hatred onto me. As for what followed, Senior already knows.”

“In fact, even without her, I’ll probably not end up fine. The Heaven Amplification Trading Company has been coveting my Divine Secrets Trading Company already. After Grandpa and the group of Elders perished, the Heaven Amplification Trading Company had repeatedly tried probing my Divine Secrets Trading Company. They kept taking over storefronts that were ours but all we could do was tolerate it in silence.”

“Up to a month ago…The Heaven Amplification Trading Company’s heir apparent, Yan Tiancong, sent a wedding invitation, requesting for my hand in marriage through my grandfather. He wanted me to marry him!”

As Ji Shuiyan came to this point, her chest heaved with fury as her face flushed red slightly. She said hatefully, “I was already raring to kill Yan Tiancong but he dared to shamelessly ask for my hand in marriage. He was planning on using my entire Divine Secrets Trading Company as the dowry, saving his efforts from annexing it. He would then be able to rightfully and openly take over all assets of the Divine Secrets Trading Company and prevent other factions from getting a slice of the pie!”

Upon hearing Ji Shuiyan’s story, Yi Yun shook his head. That was the world of warriors where strength was everything. If Ji Shuiyan were to accept the proposal, the latter part of her life would definitely be tragic. However, if she were to reject it, the outcome would be similar. The Divine Secrets Trading Company would still be annexed and she would be left without any backing. After she was caught alive by Yan Tiancong, she would be imprisoned and raped. Unless she committed suicide, the outcome would only be worse than the first.

“Right, you mentioned of phenomena that had appeared in the Sun Burial Sandsea. What is it?”

Yi Yun was more interested in that matter. He had inquired once when Ji Shuiyan first mentioned it. However, she was bent on getting Yi Yun to leave as soon as possible, so she had not answered him.

“Senior, Grandpa had some guesses regarding the phenomena. He suspected that the phenomena were a result of a type of divine fire. It might have to do with the history of Sun Burial Sandsea.”

“Legends say that Sun Burial Sandsea has already existed for hundreds of millions of years. The formation of Sun Burial Sandsea was because a sun had plummeted into it, turning tens of millions kilometers into a barren desert.”

“Grandpa believed that the sun that fell to this land was very likely an item of supreme Yang. It was even possible that it was a true sun that had fallen. However, such a sun had been in gestation for hundreds of millions of years before finally giving birth to a Yang spirit. The phenomena of recent times might be the birth of a Yang spirit wisp.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was greatly amazed by Ji Shuiyan’s words. “How does your grandfather know of this? You previously mentioned that the birth of the phenomena resulted in many factions gathering around Sun Burial Sandsea. Do they know that the Sun Burial Sandsea is gestating a Yang spirit?”

Ji Shuiyan shook her head and said, “It’s likely they are unaware…”

“They don’t?” Yi Yun gave Ji Shuiyan an odd look. He believed that there was definitely no lack of experts in the factions that had gathered. As for her grandfather, it was not apparent that he was much more outstanding in strength.

It was rather unusual that Ji Shuiyan’s grandfather had managed to augure something that others did not know.

Ji Shuiyan seemed to guess at his thoughts as she said, “Senior, Grandpa was weaker in strength but his talent in martial arts wasn’t bad. However, he had dedicated his life to geomancy and divination. Grandpa came from the Heaven Secrets Chapter, which is a sect that teaches geomancy and divination. Heaven Secrets! It also means divining the secrets of heaven.”

“Grandpa established the Divine Secrets Trading Company, and the company’s name stemmed from such reasons. Divine Secrets also means divining the secrets of the unknown.”

“In fact, the study of divination and geomancy is unable to directly raise one’s strength. Therefore, the Heaven Secrets Chapter gradually waned. According to Grandpa, it had once enjoyed some glorious days in the distant past. It was a powerful sect that produced numerous ‘Divination Masters’. However, as geomancy and divination were too difficult to comprehend, many people wasted their entire lives without amounting to much. There were an increasing number of disciples that failed to hone their skills and since divination is unable to directly raise one’s strength, many of them chose to switch careers midway. It is also the reason why I mentioned that many disciples of the Heaven Secrets Chapter, such as Old Woman Ren, do not cultivate in the sect’s cultivation techniques. It resulted in the Heaven Secrets Chapter to gradually lose its talent and wane.

“In Grandpa’s youth, he had dedicated himself to geomancy and divination, eventually gaining success by becoming a divination master. He was internally designated as the future sect master but twenty thousand years ago, due to a power struggle within the Heaven Secrets Chapter, something that deeply saddened Grandpa happened. He finally left Heaven Secrets Chapter and established the Divine Secrets Trading Company in Sun Burial Sandsea from scratch.”

“The Divine Secrets Trading Company is in the herbal business. It needs valuable herbs to do well. With his geomancy and divination at the acme of perfection, he began divining the secrets of heaven in Sun Burial Sandsea, accurately pinpointing the locations of several precious natural treasures. This allowed the Divine Secrets Trading Company to become one of the most famous companies in Sun Burial Sandsea.”

“So that’s the case.” Yi Yun was somewhat surprised. He never expected that the Divine Secrets Trading Company would have such a history and that the mastery of geomancy and divination could be used to search for natural treasures. Such a mystic art was indeed fascinating.

As such, the matter regarding the Yang spirit was also understandable.

The external factions neither knew divination nor did they understand the Sun Burial Sandsea. It was naturally difficult to comprehend what was happening from simply the phenomena.

As for Ji Shuiyan’s Grandpa, he had been in business for twenty thousand years in Sun Burial Sandsea. He was acutely familiar with every inch of Sun Burial Sandsea. Compounded by his perfected divination, he probably understood the entire setup of Sun Burial Sandsea.

What he could see was something that others could not compare with.

Ji Shuiyan hesitated for a moment before taking out a few stones that resembled agate and handed to Yi Yun with both hands.

“Senior, please take a look. These are Pure Yang Divine Stones that Grandpa had found in the past. According to him, ordinary stones will be burned by the gestation period of a sun spirit and turn into such divine stones. If Senior is interested, these divine stones are yours.”

Ji Shuiyan placed the divine stones in Yi Yun’s hands.

Seeing the red-colored stones, Yi Yun immediately felt the energy in his meridians circulate rapidly.

Intricate bursts of pure Yang power reached straight to his dantian from his palm. It was extremely comfortable.

And most important of all, Yi Yun realized that the divine tree seed in his dantian was growing once again after it absorbed the pure Yang power.

Yi Yun had a feeling that if he allowed the divine tree seed to absorb all the energy of these Pure Yang Divine Stones, the growth to the divine tree seed would be far more effective than the pills and relics that he had previously consumed, combined.

If the divine tree seed were to mature fully, he would also gain great benefits. His cultivation level and strength would be greatly enhanced!

Yi Yun became excited the moment he had such thoughts. The Sun Burial Sandsea might be an opportunity for him so he believed that there was a need for him to stay behind to check it out.

1062 - : Heaven Secrets, Divine Secrets

CKtalon  CKtalon

Having made up his decision, Yi Yun did not engage in a pretentious act. While keeping the Pure Yang Divine Stones, he said to Ji Shuiyan, “Since Miss Shuiyan says so, I won’t stand on ceremony. These divine stones are indeed useful for me so I’ll be keeping them.”

“Senior, go ahead and keep them.” When Ji Shuiyan heard Yi Yun, she did not show any attachment to the divine stones. On the contrary, she was delighted. From her point of view, Yi Yun was extremely strong and she was much weaker than him. Under such circumstances, she would be happy as long as she could help Yi Yun in any way.

Yi Yun continued, “I’m planning to stay in Sun Burial Sandsea for a period of time. I’m unfamiliar with this area so I’ll be disturbing Miss Shuiyan for a few days by following you back to the Divine Secrets Trading Company. Perhaps I can help resolve some troubles for you in passing.”

Yi Yun had saved Ji Shuiyan out of convenience and did not find it a huge favor. However, Ji Shuiyan had provided him with information and items that were extremely valuable to him. It was only necessary for him to give Ji Shuiyan a tiny bit of help appropriately.

Yi Yun felt that it was only right, but when Ji Shuiyan heard that, she was overjoyed.

She had immensely prayed that Yi Yun could accompany her back to the Divine Secrets Trading Company and help her awe the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. However, what sort of person was Yi Yun? He was able to kill the old woman in seconds and easily eliminate the slave worms in her body. How could she entice such a peerless expert to work for her? What nerve did she have to request that of him?

Although she had sworn to repay Yi Yun for the lease of new life he had given her and that she was willing to do anything for Yi Yun, even to the point of willingly be his maidservant at his command, it was all dependent on Yi Yun’s wishes. If he did not like it and left immediately, it would be unbecoming of her to forcefully follow him, right?

As such, Ji Shuiyan would still be driven into a corner as she stayed in Jade Luster City. It would only be an outcome slightly better than remaining in the hands of the old woman.

“Thank you, Senior…”

Ji Shuiyan took a deep breath as her voice was trembling from her excitement. She knew that she had encountered an important benefactor. Meeting him could change her destiny.

“There’s no need to thank me. I naturally have my motives for staying here. Also, don’t keep calling me senior. I’m not much older than you.”

Yi Yun had previously mentioned his age but she had subconsciously believed that he had mentioned it in passing after he showcased his might. It was unlikely true that he was about her age but now, with Yi Yun mentioning it again, Ji Shuiyan was left dumbfounded.

He really isn’t much older than me?

He could easily kill a warrior with a four-storey Dao Palace before the age of hundred. How much of a genius was he?

Ji Shuiyan naturally did not believe that Yi Yun was lying to her as there was no need to.

She fell into a daze and felt that everything about Yi Yun had far exceeded her imaginations. She had seen geniuses in the past, but they were nothing when compared to him.

“Alright, I’ll be doing some cultivation. Don’t disturb me during this period. You can inform me again when we reach the Divine Secrets Trading Company.”

“Al…alright…” Ji Shuiyan nodded her head in a daze before she left respectfully.

…

The group set off once again. The armed escorts of the Divine Secrets Trading Company were left in the dark as to what had happened. They only knew that Yi Yun had resolved the matter after the appearance of an assassin. Their mistress was unharmed and fine.

And from then on, they never saw Yi Yun come out of the sand boat. Ji Shuiyan had left the best room in the sand boat for Yi Yun, allowing him to cultivate without worry. This continued till they reached Jade Luster City.

When they were just outside Jade Luster City, Yi Yun had scanned the area with his perception and he could not help but appreciate the thriving Jade Luster City.

Jade Luster City was about fifty kilometers in circumference. Back in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, he had seen several cities. They were constructed grandly, frequently imbued with Heaven Earth arrays and floating islands. This was also related to the Ancient Fey’s pursuit of glory. But in terms of prosperity, the cities in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven were incomparable to Jade Luster City.

As a human city, Jade Luster City was filled with stores and bustling crowds.

There were two major companies in Jade Luster City—Divine Secrets and Heaven Amplification. There was also a large auction company. The amount of trade between the three factions reached an astronomical number on a daily basis.

The headquarters of Divine Secrets Trading Company was located in the southeastern corner of Jade Luster City. There, it took up a space of three to four kilometers in circumference. There were pavilions, towers, and terraces in it, comparatively better than royal palaces.

One had to pass the city gate to enter the city. The massive sand boat appeared tiny in front of the magnificent city gate.

When the convoy came in front of the city gate, Yi Yun saw people lined up outside the city gate to welcome them.

The welcoming party was rather impressive with more than thirty people present. They were dressed uniformly and the road had been cleaned.

Yi Yun was originally reflecting on the support that Ji Shuiyan’s Divine Secrets Trading Company received. It was only a simple return to her residence, but a welcoming party had been gathered outside the city gate. However, just as this thought flashed across his mind, he knew that he was mistaken. He had noticed that Ji Shuiyan was not happy about it. Instead, her expression had turned ugly.

Yi Yun raised his eyebrows as he had a vague guess. Indeed, at the next moment, the person leading the party stood forward and said, “I’m Yang Yanguang from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. I have been waiting for Miss Shuiyan all this while. Young Master Yan wants me to pass a message that he has set up a banquet at his place and wishes to have a welcoming banquet for Miss Shuiyan. I hereby invite Miss Shuiyan to oblige with her kind presence.”

Yang Yanguang’s cultivation level wasn’t high and he had a mustache that resembled strokes by his mouth, making him look like an advisor. He had bowed at Ji Shuiyan and hung a smile on his face.

Yi Yun stroked his chin. Clearly, the Heaven Amplification Trading Company had received news ahead of the Divine Secrets Trading Company convoy’s return. They had set up a banquet with malicious purposes. If Ji Shuiyan were to attend, she would be like a lamb sending itself into the jaws of a tiger. It was a trip with no return.

Ji Shuiyan was infuriated with the Heaven Amplification Trading Company’s aggressive compulsion. Over the past few days, the Heaven Amplification Trading Company was increasingly certain that her grandfather had perished. They had done things in a high-handed manner and today, they had invited her to the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. They were planning on giving the final culling strike!

Although she had Yi Yun, Ji Shuiyan did not dare to lose all decorum with the Heaven Amplification Trading Company so simply even if she dearly wished to do so.

She was afraid of causing too much trouble for Yi Yun. After all, the Heaven Amplification Trading Company was not to be trifled with. She repressed the anger in her heart and compromised by saying, “Thank you, Advisor Yang, for welcoming me. However, I’m exhausted from the journey and my subordinates need some rest as well. We will need some time to energize ourselves in Jade Luster City before we pay a visit.”

“Miss Shuiyan, what you say really makes things difficult for me. If I were to fail to fulfill Young Master Yan’s orders, I will be punished.” Yang Yanguang pinched his mustache and although he had a smile on his face, it looked like he was hiding his nefarious thoughts.

Ji Shuiyan’s heart sank. She knew that it was probably not that simple to resolve the situation today.

1063 - : Aggressive Compulsion

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Enter the city. We’ll be returning to the residence!”

Ji Shuiyan did not wish to continue wasting her time on Advisor Yang. She planned on passing straight through the welcoming party and returning to the Divine Secrets Trading Company’s residence.

Ji Shuiyan had already started planning her restructure of the Divine Secrets Trading Company. She planned to dismiss any members who showed disloyalty. Then, she would withdraw a portion of Divine Secrets Trading Company’s accumulated wealth to hire new experts.

In the past, Ji Shuiyan would not dare to take such dramatic actions. If she did so without a true expert like Yi Yun to keep things stabilized, then the reckless invitation of Dao Palace realm warriors as guest elders would only bring disaster. It was even likely that the entire Divine Secrets Trading Company would be swallowed clean.

Although Yi Yun had agreed to help her, she didn’t want to rely on him so much that it would be burdensome. If Yi Yun’s cultivation was delayed, he might end up being displeased. Once she had newly-hired experts, she could stabilize things herself.

Just as Ji Shuiyan’s convoy passed Advisor Yang, she heard him say in an eccentric tone, “It seems Miss Shuiyan doesn’t plan on showing me respect as my status is lacking. That’s alright. Since Miss Shuiyan had an arduous journey, it is only right that she return to the residence for rest. I’ll be returning to report to Young Master Yan, that he may travel to the Divine Secrets Trading Company residence and set up a banquet there. Miss Shuiyan wouldn’t decline that, right?”

“What!?”

When Yang Yanguang said that, Ji Shuiyan’s expression changed. Set up a banquet at her own residence!?

It had always been that the master of the house would set up a banquet to invite guests. How could a guest go to someone’s residence to set up a banquet? Unless…

Ji Shuiyan was extremely tense as she envisioned an extremely terrible possibility.

“Quickly return to the residence!”

At Ji Shuiyan’s order, the convoy sped up. Although Jade Luster City was bustling with people, there were dedicated channels for the trading convoys. Ji Shuiyan and company were able to quickly reach the Divine Secrets residence. Along the way, Advisor Yang’s welcoming party had followed closely behind them.

Therefore, when Ji Shuiyan arrived at the residence, Advisor Yang’s group wasn’t far behind.

She ignored Advisor Yang and hurriedly approached the Divine Secrets Trading Company residence. What awaited her made her expression turn completely cold.

A welcoming party stood ready at the Divine Secrets Trading Company residence as well. However, the confidants she had entrusted to guard it were not among them. Most troublingly, the residence’s head steward and her personal maidservant were not present.

Reasonably, they should have been waiting by the door when they received news of her return.

But instead, the ones welcoming her back were two Dao Palace realm guest elders of the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

The person standing in the position of honor sported a goatee. He held a golden smoke pipe in his hand and his name was Gongyang Nian.

Behind him was a middle-aged scholar named Xiao Kelin who looked like a man of literature.

They did not show a tinge of respect when they saw Ji Shuiyan approach. They didn’t even open the door for the mistress in advance. Instead, they cupped their fists toward Advisor Yang, who now caught up with Ji Shuiyan. One of them said, “Advisor Yang, you have come. Please come on in.”

“Haha, Mr. Gongyang, it must be tough on you. I had no other choices either. Your mistress didn’t plan on showing me any respect and insisted that the banquet be held at the Divine Secrets residence. I could only follow her here.”

Advisor Yang stroked his tiny mustache and said in a somewhat displeased tone.

“Hahaha! Advisor Yang, what are those words of yours. But it’s alright, both of our residences aren’t very far apart. We will be one sooner or later. It doesn’t matter where we host the banquet.”

When Gongyang Nian said that, he languidly waved his hand at a subordinate and said, “Guards, why aren’t you helping the mistress disembark the sand boat?”

“Yes!”

A few strongmen responded and marched toward the sand boat.

Instantly, Ji Shuiyan’s armed escorts were dumbfounded. Even the most dimwitted ones were starting to realize what had happened.

Gongyang Nian and Xiao Kelin, the only remaining two Dao Palace realm guest elders of the Divine Secrets Trading Company, had already switched allegiance to the Heaven Amplification Trading Company!

During the days when Ji Shuiyan was away from the company, the duo had usurped the residence. As it stood, they were probably in full control of the Divine Secrets Trading Company headquarters. Both of them were Dao Palace realm warriors and had worked in the Divine Secrets Trading Company for years. They definitely had a network of associates. With them joining forces, together with the Heaven Amplification Trading Company’s support, who could resist them?

As for the allusion to the two companies becoming one, people not in the know would even think that Gongyang Nian was the true owner of the Divine Secrets Trading Company. As for Ji Shuiyan, she looked like she was the granddaughter of Gongyang Nian who could be married away at any time.

“Gongyang Nian!” Even though Ji Shuiyan had repeatedly told herself to silently endure hardship, this was simply too much for her to bear!

He was taking bullying to an extreme!

“My grandfather did nothing but treat you well. A thousand years ago, when you returned from a mystic realm with severe injuries, my grandfather thought nothing of giving you valuable herbal pills. He saved your life and ensured your cultivation level remained intact!”

“And honestly,” she continued, “the way I have treated you has been impeccable. I have always treated you as a senior. Just a month ago, you needed a Ginseng Fruit Pill to attempt a breakthrough to the third-storey Dao Palace. I gave you all that you needed! But now, as you stand here at the third-storey Dao Palace, this is how you repay me?”

Ginseng Fruit Pills were pills used by Dao Palace realm warriors. Even an organization such as the Divine Secrets Trading Company had difficulty producing them. However, Ji Shuiyan had no choice but to give several to Gongyang Nian. After her grandfather and the group of elders perished, Ji Shuiyan had no choice but to let him have them, despite knowing that he was up to no good. If not, he might have immediately revolted.

This was the tragedy of those who lacked strength. Despite knowing that he was fishing in troubled waters and had forced her hand, Ji Shuiyan had no other choice.

Gongyang Nian ignored Ji Shuiyan’s anger. He ignited his smoke pipe and sucked at it before leisurely spewing out a cloud of smoke. “Miss Shuiyan, are you reprimanding me? Back then your grandfather only spared me a small amount of pills, and I had been loyal to the Divine Secrets Trading Company for many years since. I have long returned whatever I owed. Furthermore, my entry into the mystic realm resulted in more than a simple injury. I had a Dao fruit shattered. I asked your grandfather for a Fate Coherence Pill but he refused. It made me lose that Dao fruit forever, affecting my future. How much of a favor do you think your grandfather has given me?”

“As for the Ginseng Fruit Pill you gave me, what of it? You expect me to toil for you and fight the Heaven Amplification Trading Company for a pill?”

Gongyang Nian grunted unhappily. Even though she was still angry, Ji Shuiyan became depressed after hearing his words.

Helping a man once gains gratitude, but not helping that man again gains hatred. Gongyang Nian showed no gratitude to her grandfather for saving of his life. Instead, he was disgruntled over not having a Fate Coherence Pill! The Fate Coherence Pill was a heaven-defying divine medicine that could change one’s life. It was nearly a legend and completely priceless. Its value was such that the Divine Secrets Trading Company would need to sell at least 70-80% of its assets to be able to afford it. Even if her grandfather wanted a pill of that level, he would not be willing to spend the amount!

She sighed sadly as she looked at the middle-aged scholar behind Gongyang Nian. “Elder Xiao, do you think the same too?”

The middle-aged scholar held a fan in hand as he shook it gently. He said with a smile, “Miss Shuiyan, why are you still asking such a naive question at this moment in time? A wise man understands the times. Your grandfather and a number of grand elders are no longer around. Why should we stay on in the Divine Secrets Trading Company? Furthermore, a marriage would benefit you as well. Without it, how do you plan to ensure the future of your estate?”

1064 - : Unforeseen Changes at Divine Secrets Residence

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Xiao Kelin said those words, everyone present was stunned. The Chairman was no longer around?

There were rumors that the Chairman and a few grand elders had disappeared. However, they were just that: rumors. Even though the Heaven Amplification Trading Company had probed the Divine Secrets Trading Company several times in their attempts to annex it, the Divine Secrets Trading Company took the lower stance and endured the transgressions. Many within the Divine Secrets Trading Company held fast to the belief that the Chairman’s absence was only temporarily. He was bound to return one day.

But today, this thinly-held belief had been poked through by Xiao Kelin!

It was a drastic measure to reveal the truth in public, but it paid off. It completely destroyed the final defense Ji Shuiyan had. The many that were loyal to the Divine Secrets Trading Company now found their faith wavering.

The Chairman and the grand elders were dead!?

Then, isn’t the Divine Secrets Trading Company finished?

How could the few of them hope to fight off the Heaven Amplification Trading Company? And, forgetting the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, they were no match for the betrayers Xiao Kelin and Gongyang Nian!

Several looked at Ji Shuiyan in anticipation of her rebuttal. However, Ji Shuiyan remained silent as though she was silently acquiescing the truth.

This sent a chill through everyone’s hearts. So it was true?

Ji Shuiyan glared coldly at Xiao Kelin. The fan he held was constructed by a refining master with the best materials, all funded by the wealth of the Divine Secrets Trading Company. It had cost a small fortune.

Xiao Kelin was very pleased with the fan. He would often use it to both look refined and as a weapon to kill his enemies. But now, the seemingly well-mannered and soft-spoken Xiao Kelin was more heartless than anyone, kicking Ji Shuiyan while she was down.

“What you suspect isn’t wrong. The Divine Secrets Trading Company is finished. Since it is destined to be destroyed, why not pledge your allegiance to the Heaven Amplification Trading Company? You might still be left with something. It will be good for both you and the mistress!

The mistress should know the rules of Sun Burial Sandsea. A faction without an expert supporting it is destined to be annexed by others!”

Xiao Kelin seemed to read the thoughts of everyone. As he waved his fan he seemed eloquent and assured, but the moment his voice faded…

Dazzling, golden beams flashed, suddenly and completely blinding Xiao Kelin!

The dazzling golden light flared with a fearsome killing intent!

Sword beams!?

The middle-aged scholar was alarmed as he rapidly retreated. He circulated his protective energy and swatted his fan open, placing it before his chest!

The fan was an enchanted treasure he had always been proud of. As it snapped open, countless blue ice crystals appeared in front of him, shielding his body completely.

Wall of Ice Crystals!

Xiao Kelin cultivated ice-elemental laws. Although its offensive strength was slightly weaker, its defensive strength was akin to divine metal.

But in a mere moment the golden beams struck the blue ice wall and, with a loud shattering sound and a series of explosions, the ice wall blasted apart!

The golden beams did not lose their momentum and instead formed a golden divine sword.

Three-foot Passage Sword, Eternal and Instant!

Chi Chi Chi!

The divine sword came thrusting at Xiao Kelin, leaving him appalled. He even gave up his fan and hurriedly threw it in front of him. Panicked, he took out his interspatial ring, looking for a trump card that might save his life.

However, the sword beam was too fast. It was a pure Yang sword fused with space-time laws. It ignored the distance between space and, as the saying goes, the sword is wherever one’s thoughts are!

Boom!

With a loud explosion, Xiao Kelin’s protective Yuan Qi did not even last a second before it shattered. The sword beam continued hurtling relentlessly through the void, leaving behind a resplendent golden trail. It instantaneously penetrated Xiao Kelin’s body twelve times, leaving twelve bloody holes in his body!

A moment before, Xiao Kelin had taken out two purple talismans from his interspatial ring. However, he never got the chance to trigger them, nor to even to muster the thought of doing so. He was thrown backwards with a tragic cry.

Pa!

Xiao Kelin slumped to the ground like a pile of rotten flesh. His body was covered in sword wounds!

Eleven of the twelve strikes had stabbed his limbs, upper abdomen and shoulders, with the intent to avoid his vital spots.

However, the final strike had stabbed straight into his dantian, destroying it and shattering the Dao Palace. Xiao Kelin’s body convulsed, his face ashen.

He could only look on in disbelief at his dantian, as only horror and despair could be seen on his face. With his Dao Palace destroyed, it meant that his cultivation was forever crippled!

Meanwhile, the threatening sword beam streaked through the sky in a perfect trajectory before returning to the sand boat.

All who witnessed the scene stood with mouths agape, unable to close them for a long while.

An unforeseen event had happened too quickly.

Just a few seconds ago, Xiao Kelin appeared high-spirited, but now he was slumped to the ground like a dead pile of meat.

The mysterious person in the sand boat managed to instantly maim Xiao Kelin without ever showing a hint of his face!

Who was it!?

Everyone held their breaths as they looked at the sand boat in horror. It sat quietly on the streets in utmost silence.

A gentle breeze blew, causing the curtains over sand boat’s windows to sway. No one knew which window the sword beam had flown out from.

Xiao Kelin declared just moments before that a faction without an expert to hold it down was destined to be annexed by others. Then, he was maimed by some mysterious person in the sand boat!

Despite being a Dao Palace realm warrior, Xiao Kelin was so simply finished.

“Is…is the Chairman back?” A guard loyal to the Divine Secrets Trading Company said in excitement.

However, someone shook his head and said, “The Chairman doesn’t have such strength. Although Xiao Kelin is scum, his cultivation level is a two-storey Dao Palace. How could the Chairman have the ability to finish him so quickly?”

People broke out in a flurry of discussion and the situation turned chaotic.

“Which esteemed person is in there?”

Advisor Yang swallowed a mouthful of saliva as his expression turned ugly. However, he had the Heaven Amplification Trading Company backing him, so he still projected confidence.

However, Gongyang Nian did not have such favorable treatment. His palm was breaking out into cold sweat. He knew deep down that if Xiao Kelin had not started mouthing off, he would’ve been the target of the powerful figure!

Although his cultivation level was slightly higher than Xiao Kelin, he was not much stronger because of a shattered Dao fruit.

He had just barely avoided a maiming!

Warriors were accustomed to a lofty status of riches, beauty, and a long lifespan at their fingertips. All of this was was because of their strength. The moment they were maimed, they would be full of a feeling worse than that of death.

As he had this thought, Gongyang Nian felt reverberations through his mind. He hurriedly took a step forward, cupped his fists, and said anxiously to the sand boat, “I wonder which senior is in there. There might have been some misunderstanding. Although the Divine Secrets Trading Company was established by the Chairman, I have put in great effort for it to be developed into what it is today. One might even say that I have performed deeds of valor. Senior, do not be deceived by the schemes of others. Can you afford me your presence so that we can talk about it?”

Gongyan Nian hurriedly explained, afraid that he would not have the chance if he were any slower. But at that moment—

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

The golden sword beam shot out once more from the sand boat. It seemed to blot out the sky as the aura it exuded was even stronger!

His vision completely filled by the sword beam, Gongyang Nian’s expression turned ashen. He had said whatever he could but the other party did not leave any room for negotiation!

The overwhelmingly strong needed no reason to kill or maim a person! This, too, was the rule of Sun Burial Sandsea!

1065 - : The Sword is wherever one’s Thoughts are

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ah! Don’t take bullying to the extreme!”

Gongyang Nian never expected Yi Yun to be so harsh. With a loud cry, he hastily burned his blood essence!

He was acutely aware that he was no match for Yi Yun. Compared to having his cultivation maimed, the cost of burning blood essence was nothing.

Gongyang Nian withdrew a golden saber from his interspatial ring, with which he slashed out countless blade beams. He held nothing back, and the resulting beams seemed imbued with the power to conquer mountains and rivers!

These blade beams rammed the sword beams head on.

Clang!

The blade beams and sword beams clashed violently!

As he was a third-storey Dao Palace warrior, in addition to burning his blood essence, the power emitted by Gongyang Nian’s blade beams surpassed that of Yi Yun’s sword beams.

However, the gap between their laws could not be bridged.

Yi Yun’s sword beam was infused with Great Dao laws and, based simply on nomological insight alone, Gongyang Nian was far inferior to Yi Yun despite being at the Dao Palace realm.

“Boom!”

The blade beams and sword exploded simultaneously, sending out scattered energy blasts. Gongyang Nian retreated many steps back, but with all of his strength he managed to block all of the sword beams!

He had managed a complete parry!

Gongyang Nian was overjoyed that he had survived the calamity. He believed that if he held out long enough, the Heaven Amplification Trading Company would definitely send reinforcements. After all, he was still of use to them.

Just as these thoughts flashed across Gongyang Nian’s mind, he suddenly observed that within the myriad golden sword beams there was a faint and lusterless gray sword beam that moved extremely fast. It was nearly untraceable.

“Ha!”

Gongyang Nian roared as he slashed his saber once more with all his might!

As he had overdrawn on his blood essence, the strike was powered by his life essence. However, his sacrifice was not in vain. His saber slammed down, splitting the gray sword beam!

Phew—

As the blasts from the explosion dissipated, Gongyang Nian stumbled to the ground from mid-air.

He still clutched his golden saber but his hair was disheveled and his face pale. The important thing, however, was that he survived.

It was quite impressive that he could survive such a powerful strike even at the desperate point of burning blood essence.

Gongyang Nian was indeed strong as he lived up to being a third-storey Dao Palace. He was much stronger compared to Xiao Kelin.

Gongyang Nian wiped the blood on the corner of his lips. Although he had paid quite a price, he was still pleased with his performance. He hurriedly bellowed, “I do not care who you are. You are strong, but Jade Luster City does not allow fighting or killing. Anyone who violates this will, at the very least, be maimed of their cultivation level or even executed in serious cases. Do you think you’re above the law of Jade Luster City simply because you have decent strength? That you can freely start a massacre in Jade Luster City? No matter how powerful you are, do you think you can fight the entire Jade Luster City?”

Gongyang Nian deliberately exaggerated the law enforcement strength of Jade Luster City. It was not a lie that one would be wanted by the law enforcers if they committed murder. However, the so-called law enforcers were actually staffed by the two largest trading companies and the Seven Star Auction Company. With the Divine Secrets Trading Company basically vacating its position, there were, in fact, only two other factions.

Gongyang Nian meant to frighten Yi Yun into thinking that he’d have to fight the entire city. He had guessed correctly that Yi Yun was an outsider and did not know the customs of Jade Luster City. It was a ploy to buy himself time.

Indeed, there was silence from the sand boat after Gongyang Nian said his piece. The life-severing sword beams no longer appeared.

Gongyang Nian heaved a sigh of relief. He guessed that his cultivation was saved as the mysterious person had qualms about Jade Luster City’s rules.

The surrounding crowd had also started to analyze the current situation. Advisor Yang twirled his tiny mustache as he secretly estimated the mysterious person’s strength.

He presumed that the mysterious person was someone Ji Shuiyan encountered on her trip. It was probable that the person had some relations with the Divine Secrets Trading Company but they did not run deep. This meant that the person would not go to great lengths to help the Divine Secrets Trading Company. Most likely, they would quit midway if things could not be easily resolved.

The mysterious person had instantly defeated Xiao Kelin but could not do so with Gongyang Nian. Furthermore, they were apprehensive toward Jade Luster City’s rules. In that case, their strength was approximately at the five-storey Dao Palace.

This strength was considered good in Jade Luster City but it did not equal invincibility. Ignoring the unfathomable Seven Star Auction Company, even his Heaven Amplification Trading Company had the power to fight such a person.

Indeed, at that very moment, a few counselors from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company were contemplating ways to make the mysterious person pay, until someone discovered something amiss.

“Look at Gongyang Nian. What’s that on his stomach?”

The sudden exclamation made everyone cast their gazes at Gongyang Nian. They saw his abdomen light up with gray Dao runes that looked extremely abstruse. They projected onto the void and started spinning slowly.

“This…This…”

Only then did Gongyang Nian notice the activity on his abdomen. He was appalled when the gray Dao runes began to form a wheel. He could even see faint phantoms of demons and gods on the wheel. Most disturbingly, the center of the wheel was directly aligned with his dantian!

Had a seal been conjured at his dantian without him knowing?

Instantly, Gongyang Nian was frightened out of his wits as he realized what could happen in the next instant.

“Hold…hold on! Senior, spare me. Ah—”

All looked on helplessly as Gongyang Nian suddenly screamed, and the black wheel bloomed with a resplendent luster. In a flash, Gongyang Nian’s flesh at his abdomen was completely ruptured and minced by the black wheel!

Be it human or Fey, once their bodies were minced, large quantities of blood would flow out. The mixture of blood and minced meat would only be a disgusting sight.

But at that moment, not a single drop of blood flowed out of Gongyang Nian’s abdomen. It should be said that the instant the blood and minced meat appeared, they were annihilated by the black wheel.

It was the definition of disintegration, leaving nothing left!

Gongyang Nian watched the horrifying scene taking place on his body. The horror and despair he felt were indescribable.

“Senior! Senior!”

He cried out frantically but his abdomen, dantian, Dao Palace, and everything else were completely annihilated by the destructive storms. Nothing was spared.

Immediately following that, Gongyang Nian’s entire body was twisted and completely devoured by the vortex that the black wheel had transformed into.

The vortex lasted for a few seconds before it slowly disappeared. When everything calmed down, it was as though nothing had happened.

Everyone gazed at the spot where Gongyang Nian once stood, which was left without a trace of blood or even a tattered piece of cloth. They had all seen a man disappear into thin air.

While training in martial arts, warriors came to understand that they might die in battle. However, no matter how tragic their deaths, there would at least be something left of them. Even if they were eaten by Ancient Fey, there would be bones left. This manner of death, where all traces of Gongyang Nian were wiped away, left the scalps of many people tingling. What law was that?

They thought before that Xiao Kelin’s fate was sufficiently tragic. His was a living death with his cultivation crippled. But compared to Gongyang Nian’s outcome, Xiao Kelin was rather lucky. He could at least commit suicide and leave behind a complete corpse.

Instantly, everyone looked at the silent sand boat again. There was complete silence, with everyone shuddering in fear. Everyone from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company feared for their very lives. As the leader, Advisor Yang’s face turned blue.

He felt that his standing there made him no different from a retard.

However, he did not dare leave. The person inside the sand boat was a malignant star. The moment he attempted to escape, he would be annihilated. He was nothing more than a worm under the foot of this stranger.

1066 - : Disintegration

CKtalon  CKtalon

Even as he crippled Xiao Kelin and disintegrated Gongyang Nian, the mysterious person never once showed his face.

In that moment, those from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company felt that the sand boat’s fluttering curtains were akin to the the beckoning hands of Death.

Suddenly, the curtain across the main door was pulled open. It seemed as though the mysterious person could walk out at any moment.

Upon seeing this, Advisor Yang was frightened out of his wits. He hurriedly stumbled down, nearly prostrating himself. He hurriedly said, “Senior, spare me. I’m only a messenger. I never meant any harm to Miss Shuiyan.”

Advisor Yang was considered someone of great stature in the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. Although his cultivation level was unimpressive, he was great at producing profits so he gained a high position.

But now, he nearly peed himself just because someone was about to pull open curtains. It made one reflect on how laughable stature and wealth were in front of absolute strength.

Advisor Yang knelt on the ground for a very long time, not daring to lift his head. He knew that this person could kill him without blinking. Compared to his life, what was his dignity worth?

But time passed, and nothing happened. He mustered the courage to lift his head and was immediately dumbfounded.

He looked at the sand boat’s door. The person who had pulled open the curtains was a yellow-dressed maidservant. She looked about sixteen and even had a bit of a baby face. She looked back in shock.

The maidservant had been inside the sand boat, only aware of some chaos happening outside and that her mistress was in danger. The ensuing battle only lasted seconds so, with her limited cultivation level, she naturally had no idea what had happened. She only saw what her eyes showed her.

She never expected the situation to evolve into such a state. She never thought that Advisor Yang, who held a great deal of power in the Heaven Amplification Trading Company’s upper echelons, would prostrate himself to a maidservant like her. Furthermore, the way he knelt down was like he was a pug. It left her completely dumbfounded.

Advisor Yang’s expression was as though he had just swallowed a plate of shit. It was as ugly as could be.

He even thought of dying. He might bear losing some dignity by peeing himself in front of Yi Yun, but here he was prostrating himself in front of a young lass. Wasn’t this a complete and utter disgrace?

He had never been so ashamed in his life!

At that point, Yi Yun had yet to appear so Advisor Yang did not dare rise. He was stuck between having to continue kneeling or to risk standing up. He wished he could become a piece of dog shit. At least then, no one would pay him any attention.

“Erh…Miss, I…I’m here to pass a message…” the maidservant blinked and said with great difficulty.

Everyone present was looking at her. There was even an important figure of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company prostrated before her. She had never experienced such a situation before so it was only natural that she stuttered.

“Yes, He’er, go ahead,” said Ji Shuiyan.

How could she be so calm? Her Divine Secrets Trading Company was nearly on the brink of annexation, with Xiao Kelin and Gongyang Nian turning coat with no sense of gratitude. That turn of events left Ji Shuiyan so infuriated that she nearly vomited blood. But in a blink of an eye, Yi Yun had used his absolute strength to maim and destroy the two, saving the desperate situation. This swift settling of grievances soothed her heart greatly. After being repressed for so long, she finally could hold her head up high! Even when her grandfather was alive, she had never realized how absolute strength could be used to control a situation.

She was infinitely grateful to Yi Yun, or it might be better said that she was infinitely envious of him. That was how people should live. Despite business bringing riches that could rival a country’s, it was all evanescent bubbles that could be destroyed at any time. How could it compare to the sweet feeling of total control with absolute strength?

“Young Master Yi said that the rest will be up to you to handle. His exact words were—’Do as you wish. No need to show mercy.’”

Yi Yun had only destroyed the two strongest people. Although his actions were swift and unforgiving, he had only killed people from the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

The betrayers of the Divine Secrets Trading Company were naturally dealt with by the Divine Secrets Trading Company. The Heaven Amplification Trading Company could not fault them.

Yi Yun deliberately left those from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company untouched. This was not out of fear, but because he did not know what Ji Shuiyan’s thoughts were. After all, the situation between the Divine Secrets Trading Company and Heaven Amplification Trading Company was something to be judged by Ji Shuiyan. Yi Yun was only an outsider so he did not plan on intervening too much.

Simultaneously, Yi Yun also wanted to understand Ji Shuiyan’s ability and attitude by her way of handling things.

When Advisor Yang heard He’er’s words, he was delighted. He knew that he was out of danger.

As long as he did not perturb the god of death, everything would be fine.

As for Ji Shuiyan, he was completely unafraid of her. What could the lass do? The mysterious person was powerful and acted in an unbridled manner. He could kill anyone he wanted.

But Ji Shuiyan, she still needed to do business in Jade Luster City. Everything under the Divine Secrets Trading Company was still being repressed by the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. Even if she found brief respite with the mysterious person’s support, she still needed to consider many aspects. How could she risk losing all decorum when she needed to consider the Seven Star Auction Company, who maintained order in Jade Luster City?

If she were to act rashly in this moment of joy, how could she not be afraid that the Heaven Amplification Trading Company would seek revenge once the mysterious person left? She would be devoured completely.

With this realization, Advisor Yang crawled up from the ground. He could confidently face Ji Shuiyan, so why was there a need to kneel?

He straightened his back and calmly straightened and dusted his clothes before saying, with a face full of smiles, “About that, Shuiyan… Uncle Yang was a bit rash a moment ago. You are tired and you naturally need some rest. Yet, I insisted you come to the Heaven Amplification Trading Company for a banquet. I was way too unreasonable. So, I’ll be bidding you farewell. Shuiyan, you should calm down and have a good rest. I’ll explain everything to Young Master Yan. In the future, make sure the Divine Secrets Trading Company does well. If there’s a piece of the pie for the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, there will definitely be a piece of the pie for the Divine Secrets Trading Company.”

Advisor Yang had seemed to transform into a completely different person. It was as if the person who had seconds ago been frightened out of his wits and acted in a nauseating manner was not him at all.

Ji Shuiyan remained silent. She quietly observed the change in Advisor Yang’s attitude. It made her more aware of the importance of strength. Having strength allowed one to rule over everything in a true manner. The rest was nothing but an illusion.

Even though she had borrowed Yi Yun’s might, the treatment Advisor Yang had given her and Yi Yun was completely different. He despised her completely. Even the words he had just said implied the subservience of the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

Although she knew that, Ji Shuiyan could not kill Advisor Yang. At least, she could not do it now. The moment she lost all decorum with the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, there would be war.

Ignoring the fact that Ji Shuiyan could not count on Yi Yun’s willingness to be embroiled in a war, the true crux of the issue was that the Divine Secrets Trading Company would not gain many benefits even if it won the war.

An internecine struggle would only benefit a third party. If it went into an unplanned war, the Divine Secrets Trading Company would not be able to rob the Heaven Amplification Trading Company of its wealth, such as stores or business territories. Most of it would probably be taken over by the Seven Star Auction Company. It was impossible for the Divine Secrets Trading Company to destroy the Heaven Amplification Trading Company before fighting the Seven Star Auction Company, right?

Advisor Yang had already thought of any ideas Ji Shuiyan might be having. He was certain he would be fine. The Seven Star Auction Company was an impressive faction, with presence in every one of the seven cities of Sun Burial Sandsea. Even the mysterious person would have to be servile in front of such a massive faction or face possible destruction.

“Well…Shuiyan, Uncle Yang won’t be disturbing you any further. I bid you farewell.”

Just as Advisor Yang said those words, Ji Shuiyan suddenly waved her hands!

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Bright icy beams flashed as twelve pocket-sized swords flew out of Ji Shuiyan’s sleeves!

Although Ji Shuiyan’s cultivation level was one full realm lower than Yi Yun’s, she was still the best amongst the Divine Secrets Trading Company’s younger generation. As for Yang Yanguang, he was only an advisor with no talent in martial arts. His cultivation level had only been forcefully raised to the Yuan Opening realm through various pills. His combat strength was extremely weak, and when stacked against Ji Shuiyan the difference between them was incomparable.

“You…”

Yang Yanguang was astounded. He never expected Ji Shuiyan to suddenly attack!

Not to mention, Yang Yanguang had his own experts around him. It would have been easy for any one of them to block Ji Shuiyan’s swords. But no one moved for fear of Yi Yun!

The outcome was—

Puah Puah Puah!

The twelve tiny swords pierced straight through Yang Yanguang’s body. Four of the swords even amputated his four limbs!

“Ah!”

Yang Yanguang let out a tragic cry as his body flew out. The excruciating pain made him lose control of his bladder as he looked in panic and disbelief at Ji Shuiyan. His body was convulsing as blood soaked the ground.

“Bitch, are you mad!?”

Ji Shuiyan’s expression was cold. She took a step forward as the twelve swords circled Yang Yanguang with their tips pointing at all his vital points. She coldly stated, “I will not kill you but you must pay. Consider the slicing of your limbs interest. Also!”

When Ji Shuiyan said that, she looked at everyone from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company around her. “Whoever came to the Divine Secrets Trading Company today shall not leave. All of you are to stay behind! Men! Take all of them down!”

1067 - : No Mercy

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Take…take all of them down?” The Divine Secrets guards were alarmed upon hearing Ji Shuiyan’s orders.

They were also aware that the Divine Secrets Trading Company had been at odds with the Heaven Amplification Trading Company in recent times. The former had taken on an abiding stance in every aspect, afraid of a potential conflict with the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. But today, they were ordered to take down dozens of people from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, including quite a number of important figures.

Naturally, Yan Tiancong wouldn’t send trivial figures in a delegation to invite Ji Shuiyan. Aside from Advisor Yang, who had his limbs severed, there was Yan Tiancong’s younger agnate brother.

“Ji Shuiyan! What are you doing? I’m Yan Yangpin, Yan Tiancong’s younger brother. Will you imprison me, knowing it means war with the Heaven Amplification Trading Company?”

Yan Yangpin would have fared better in not saying his brother’s name, because hearing it only made Ji Shuiyan more incensed.

She knew that Yan Yangpin was far inferior to Yan Tiancong. He was a profligate scion and lacked ability. However, by virtue of his status, he was a domineering force in Jade Luster City. He bullied men and sexually violated countless women. Some of the women he had even raped to death.

As she remembered all of this, Ji Shuiyan immediately felt a strong desire to end his life.

She suddenly beckoned her hand, and the twelve pocket-sized swords that had been pointing at Advisor Yang hurtled straight at him!

“Ah!”

Seeing the twelve cold beams approach, Yan Yangpin was frightened out of his wits. He hurriedly raised his hands in desperate hope of blocking her attack, but he had spent all his time and effort on women. How could he be the match of Ji Shuiyan?

The swords tore straight through his protective Yuan Qi. He could only manage a tragic cry as his hands and feet were severed by four tiny swords. Before any blood could spurt out of his stumps, another four swords sliced through his elbows and knees! Following that, the final four swords separated his upper arms and thighs from his main body!

Ji Shuiyan had not only amputated Yan Yangpin’s four limbs, she had even split them into three segments!

Everyone was flabbergasted as they saw it play out.

The situation wasn’t as serious with Advisor Yang. Although he enjoyed a high stature, he was still an outsider to the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. As for Yan Yangpin, he was the grandson of the Yan family’s patriarch!

How could he let the matter go with his grandson reduced to such a state?

The Yan family’s patriarch possessed strength on a level that Gongyang Nian or Xiao Kelin could not compare to. He was an absolute expert and an existence that allowed the Heaven Amplification Trading Company to set off waves.

In fact, although the Divine Secrets Trading Company was said to be one of Jade Luster’s two big companies alongside the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, the latter had a much longer history and heritage than the former!

“Take them down!”

With a wave of her hand, Ji Shuiyan exuded the demeanor of a lofty cold-blooded queen.

Many people drew cold gasps of air as they looked at Ji Shuiyan. For she had really only been in charge after her grandfather had disappeared.

And the way she did things showed her frailty. She would endure if possible. It was the very reason why Advisor Yang showed no fear of Ji Shuiyan in the beginning. To everyone, she was just an inexperienced young lass, which did not amount to much. She lacked a resolute boldness

But now? She was quick and decisive, far exceeding the expectations of everyone present. The cost of belittling Ji Shuiyan that Advisor Yang and Yan Yangpin had to pay was to be reduced into limbless human poles!

With a chaotic flurry of footsteps, everyone from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company was restrained. Even some of the stronger ones gave in quietly as the dread Yi Yun had instilled in them was too intense.

“Send a message to the Heaven Amplification Trading Company to bring three Heaven Ingress Pills to redeem those that have been imprisoned by me today! If not, I can’t guarantee that they will return alive!”

Ji Shuiyan created these conditions in order to complete what Yi Yun had exhorted her to do. She would try her best to find and collect all sorts of treasured herbs and mystic pills and medicine in order to help Yi Yun locate the Sun Burial Sandsea’s Yang spirit.

With the Divine Secrets Trading Company in civil conflict, and being attacked by an external force, it was in quite a destitute state. It was a good use of trash, exchanging these people for three Heaven Ingress Pills so as to strengthen Yi Yun.

Heaven Ingress Pills were not cheap. The Heaven Amplification Trading Company would definitely feel the pinch if they sacrficed three of them. It was obviously for the best if they complied, but if they couldn’t, then those in the Heaven Amplification Trading Company would begin to doubt their loyalty. It was not necessarily true that working for the Heaven Amplification Trading Company was for the best.

Yi Yun easily read Ji Shuiyan’s thoughts. Actually, she had left some leeway despite her actions seeming ruthless.

If Yi Yun had been the one taking action, he would not only be severing limbs. He would destroy their dantian or take their lives away.

It was possible to replant limbs but if a person’s dantian was destroyed, the person was truly crippled.

Ji Shuiyan’s actions were first to gather pills to enhance Yi Yun’s strength.

Secondly, she could gauge the Yan family’s bottom line. She wanted to know how much they would tolerate before waging all-out war.

Ji Shuiyan felt confident enough to act so decisively because she had the backing of Yi Yun!

Upon having these thoughts, Yi Yun nodded his head. He was quite pleased with how Ji Shuiyan had handled matters. She had neither forgotten his orders, nor lost her bearings because of him. She seemed ruthless and decisive but everything had been deliberated carefully.

If Yi Yun were to do it himself, he would not have considered that much. He would have killed them to end all contention. However, Ji Shuiyan weighed her options, her goal to maximize the benefits.

“Throw these people into the dungeon. We shall return and set up a banquet!”

Of course, Ji Shuiyan wasn’t setting up a banquet for herself, but for welcoming Yi Yun.

Ji Shuiyan also knew that Yi Yun was dedicated to cultivation, so it was unlikely he enjoyed a rowdy scene. Therefore, although there were dozens of tables placed outside, making it extremely lively, inside the chambers, where Yi Yun was, there was a spacious and silent guest hall. There was only a tiny table but expensive top-grade spirit food sat on it.

Ji Shuiyan knew that Yi Yun liked items rich in Heaven and Earth spirituality, so she did not spare any costs in preparing these things for him.

In the hall, other than Yi Yun, there was only Ji Shuiyan and her most trusted personal maidservant.

Hours ago, Ji Shuiyan had purged the trusted lackeys of Gongyang Nian and Xiao Kelin upon her return. She then rescued her people from the dungeons. Her actions were stunning and effective. In less than two hours, she had taken back control of the Divine Secrets Trading Company!

Ji Shuiyan showed no mercy to those that had betrayed the Divine Secrets Trading Company. They were exiled, maimed of their cultivation, or executed! Everything was handled according to the rules of the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

Two hours were spent on the purge and two for judgment. At the same time, she had to set up a feast, simultaneously having joy and bloodshed. In just a short four hours, Ji Shuiyan, who everyone thought of as a weak lamb, had truly turned into a cold-blooded queen.

Other than those that had ulterior thoughts when it came to Ji Shuiyan, even those who were originally loyal to her began to feel a tinge of respect and fear for her.

For example, Old Man Changsun that had ‘treated’ Yi Yun before initially thought of himself as a senior in front of Ji Shuiyan. However, he was now extremely respectful to her.

However, this girl that was considered a cold-blooded queen in the entire Divine Secrets Trading Company was sitting obediently in a kneeling position beside Yi Yun. With a flask of spirit wine, she would meticulously fill Yi Yun’s cup to the brim just after he downed it.

1068 - : Cold-blooded Queen

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although Yi Yun said that Ji Shuiyan didn’t need to serve him, she insisted on being right by his side, attending him. Her personal maidservant, meanwhile, was sent to the door.

Due to all the earlier events, it was already late into the night. A bright moon hung above the trees and moonlight beamed into the room. It shone through a few luminescent moonstones, lighting up the room.

As a result, everything in the room seemed to be covered with a thin layer of silver sand. The spirit wine that came out of the flask resembled shattered silver, which gave it a profound and mysterious look.

As for Ji Shuiyan, who sat quietly under the moonlight, she was dressed in an outfit made from thin, breathable cloth. Her beauty was exquisite, as she shone like a maiden under the moon. The people of the Divine Secrets Trading Company probably never expected their cold queen to have such a demure and tranquil side to her.

“I’m done eating. In the future, there is no need to be so extravagant with the meals.”

Yi Yun truly felt that such spirit food was too wasteful. It was more effective to refine rare herbs into pills than to make such spirit food. After all, spirit food needed to have taste as a consideration, so how could it compare in efficiency to pills?

The more extravagant the spirit food, the more of its medicinal essence was wasted.

“Alright.”

Ji Shuiyan responded lightly as she remained kneeling beside Yi Yun.

She wore a light blue dress. Her neckline was exposed, revealing a neck as white and delicate as porcelain. There was also a ravine by her chest that could barely be seen. She had a voluptuous figure and the dress pushed her breasts up. Whenever she knelt down, the dress pulled taut under her legs, perfectly accentuating her curvaceous hips.

As Yi Yun ate, he kept sensing a faint fragrance lingering around his nose. He looked at Ji Shuiyan and found a pleasing sight staring back at him.

“Oh? Your face has recovered.”

Yi Yun suddenly noticed that, although Ji Shuiyan still wore a veil that covered half her face, the faint scars on her face had vanished.

“Yes…when Young Master removed the slave worms from my body, it cleansed the worms’ poison, making it much easier to treat the wounds on my face… And in the past, I never treated them because I was frequently scarred. But now…well of course, things are different.”

As Ji Shuiyan spoke, she took off her veil, revealing her beautiful face. In the night she looked like an orchid moistened with dew, silently blooming under the moonlight.

Yi Yun could not help but be impressed by Ji Shuiyan’s beauty. It reminded him of Lin Xintong. Above all else, he wanted to find Lin Xintong first. However, the sheer vastness of the 12 Empyrean Heavens made it too difficult to search for a single person.

He needed to first have the strength to be able to traverse such an expansive world.

With his thoughts wandering to that point, he finished the cup of wine in his hand and said, “I’ll be resting.”

Yi Yun’s room during his stay in the Divine Secrets Trading Company was naturally arranged by Ji Shuiyan. She nodded and brought him to a bedroom.

The bedroom covered a wide area. There was a bed in the middle that could fit four to five people. In front of that was a carpet weaved from the fine down feathers of spirit birds. There were elegant drapes surrounding the bed, giving the room an air that was exquisite and luxurious.

The bed was already made. There were pillows and blankets made of Heavenly Silk and there was a spiritual gathering array installed. It allowed one to cultivate even as they slept.

Ji Shuiyan’s personal maidservant was left standing by the door as Ji Shuiyan personally spread the blanket for Yi Yun. However, when she finished she did not immediately leave, and instead looked at Yi Yun. She bit lightly at her lips, hesitating to speak.

“What’s the matter?” asked Yi Yun.

“Young Master Yi…I would like to know how long Young Master Yi plans on staying in Jade Luster City.”

Ji Shuiyan asked the question that she had until then stifled in her heart. She knew that everything she had done, the ruthless acts and the thunder-like violence were all built on a premise. It all hinged on the notion that Yi Yun would stay behind in the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

Before, Ji Shuiyan had made people fear her because of her decisiveness and ruthlessness. So no one dared to belittle her. However, the moment Yi Yun left, her cold-bloodedness would only be reduced to a joke. Those who had been subdued by her would mount crazy acts of vengeance on her. Ji Shuiyan did not even dare to imagine that outcome. She would undoubtedly suffer endless torment and pain, not even given the luxury of death.

Although Ji Shuiyan wished that Yi Yun could stay with the Divine Secrets Trading Company, she knew that he was dedicated to his cultivation. He was in pursuit of the lofty peak of martial arts. There was no way he would show any interest to a tiny company like the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

Under these circumstances, Ji Shuiyan would be asking a great favor of Yi Yun if she requested he stay longer in Jade Luster City. How could she expect him to help her without any recompense?

“It’s temporarily uncertain. It might be as short as a few months or as long as a year…”

It was impossible for Yi Yun not to know her thoughts. However, he could not stay in Jade Luster City forever. It was too limited and he had only come for the Yang spirit and other treasured herbs. However, finding the Yang spirit depended entirely on fate. If Yi Yun failed to find it after a year, it wouldn’t make sense for him to continue staying, right?

“There is no need to worry about the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. Before I leave, I will help you resolve the problem.”

“Thank you, Young Master Yi…” Ji Shuiyan said softly. She knew that without strength, one was unable to protect their estate in the Sun Burial Sandsea. Even ignoring the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, the Divine Secrets Trading Company would still be annexed by other factions.

And it would be too difficult to nurture experts loyal to her in the span of a few months to a year.

Ji Shuiyan did not speak her thoughts. She knew that Yi Yun had already done enough for the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

“Miss Shuiyan, is there anything else?”

Yi Yun was already prepared to rest. Ji Shuiyan still did not leave despite having finished spreading out the blankets for him. As Ji Shuiyan had her head constantly lowered, he could coincidentally see Ji Shuiyan’s cleavage leading straight down from the top. It could inspire infinite thoughts.

Yi Yun paused for a slight moment before turning his eyes away.

Ji Shuiyan blushed. She never managed to say what was on her mind.

After a moment of silence, Ji Shuiyan said, “Young Master Yi, I do not know how to repay you for the fresh lease on life you have given me. Unfortunately, what I value the most might not be what you like. However, I have here a Heaven Secrets Compass. It should be able to help you.”

As Ji Shuiyan spoke, she took out a jade box from her interspatial ring. It opened to reveal a gray metallic compass inside.

There was a Taiji Yin-Yang symbol in the middle of the metallic compass. Surrounding the symbol were complicated runic patterns that looked ancient and abstruse.

“This is…”

Yi Yun picked up the Heaven Secrets Compass, it was quite heavy. It was unknown what material it was constructed from.

Ji Shuiyan said, “When Grandpa left the Heaven Secrets Chapter, he had brought with him a mother-child pair of Heaven Secrets Compasses that can be used to seek treasure. Later on, when the phenomena in Sun Burial Sandsea happened, Grandpa brought the mother part of the Heaven Secrets Compass in search of the Yang spirit. However, he never returned, so the mother part of the Heaven Secrets Compass was lost in the Sun Burial Sandsea along with Grandpa. What I have here is the child part of the Heaven Secrets Compass.”

“It doesn’t matter even if Young Master Yi does not know how to use the Heaven Secrets Compass. As long as the child part approaches the mother part of the Heaven Secrets Compass, they will naturally sense each other. Hence, Young Master Yi will be able to use it to find where Grandpa met his demise. I believe that wherever that happened wouldn’t be far from the Yang spirit.”

1069 - : Maiden under the Moon

CKtalon  CKtalon

“I see. Then I really have to thank Miss Shuiyan.”

The Heaven Secrets Compass was extremely useful for Yi Yun. As he did not know any geomancy or divination techniques, he’d be searching for a needle in a haystack if he tried to seek the Yang spirit in Sun Burial Sandsea. However, it would be completely different with the Heaven Secrets Compass in possession.

The enchanted treasure would definitely be of great help to Yi Yun.

“Well…and also this…These are pure Yang divine rocks left behind by Grandpa. I’ll leave them with Young Master Yi as well.”

As Ji Shuiyan spoke, she took out an intricate bag made of hide from her interspatial ring. She poured a total of eight divine rocks of various sizes from the bag.

Instantly, the entire room was filled with a thick, pure Yang aura.

Yi Yun was delighted when he saw the items. Ignoring the Yang spirit, just the pure Yang divine rocks were very rewarding for him.

Yi Yun knew that both the pure Yang divine rocks and the Heaven Secrets Compass were of significant meaning to Ji Shuiyan, as they were items left behind by her grandfather, to say nothing of their innate value.

“Thank you, Miss Shuiyan. I’m grateful for it.”

Yi Yun was a thankful person. Having received these precious items, he certainly had to help the Divine Secrets Trading Company to the end.

“Then…I’ll thank Young Master as well.”

Ji Shuiyan gave a bow and, before she left, she saw that Yi Yun had already begun to sit on the bed and cultivate with the pure Yang divine rocks.

She paused slightly, taking a thoughtful glance at Yi Yun. Her gaze was part gratitude, part tenderness, and also held a hint of wistful longing.

Following that, she sighed inwardly before silently leaving the room and closing the door…

With the divine tree seed and pure Yang divine rocks, Yi Yun’s cultivation could only be described as improving by leaps and bounds.

His foundation was formed by four nine-leaf Dao fruits, which were already heavenly objects. They automatically absorbed the fragments of the worldly laws, so there was no need for Yi Yun to wonder if his nomological insights were firm.

Although Yi Yun required a lot more resources than other warriors to break through, as long as he had treasured herbs, he could directly break through. That was the heaven-defying nature of having four nine-leaf Dao fruits!

This heaven-defying cultivation speed could be maintained for a prolonged period of time. It was simply unimaginable for other Dao Manifestation realm warriors.

Under the nourishment of the pure Yang divine rocks’ Yuan Qi, the divine tree seed began growing once again.

A tender leaf spread out as the divine tree sapling was growing at a visibly rapid rate. It sprung from a few inches to nearly a foot.

Meanwhile, pure Yang Yuan Qi, void of any impurities whatsoever, was regurgitated back to Yi Yun’s body. He could sense his cultivation level improving rapidly.

Before, he was already at the peak of the early stages of the Dao Manifestation realm. But now, he had broken through to the middle stages of the Dao Manifestation realm in one fell swoop. Furthermore, there was no loss of momentum as he continued to improve to the point of him reaching the peak of the middle stages of the Dao Manifestation realm.

This feeling of sensing his own strength increase made Yi Yun overjoyed.

As he cultivated, his body was emitting a pale golden luster. It was not only limited to his body, either, for the entire room filled with golden light. It looked as though a god had descended into the room.

However, Yi Yun’s room was located in the backyard of the Divine Secrets Trading Company headquarters. There were guards stationed one ring after another. No one could enter, so no one could see the phenomena.

Apart from Ji Shuiyan, of course…

The entire backyard only had Yi Yun and Ji Shuiyan, if maidservants were excluded.

At that moment in the silent and deep night, Ji Shuiyan stared at the golden beams from Yi Yun’s lit room from a darkened room as she fell into a daze.

“Miss, it’s time to bathe and then sleep.”

Ji Shuiyan’s personal maidservant reminded her softly. She noticed that her mistress had spent a long time standing by the window.

“Alright…”

Ji Shuiyan nodded as she gradually undid her belt. Garment after garment began to fall gently, revealing her smooth skin and perfect figure.

The moonlight illuminated her skin like scattered silver. Ji Shuiyan raised her long legs that resembled creamy-white jade as she gently strode into a bathing pool.

The bathing pool was huge but the water was cold, which she had deliberately asked for. To warriors, a little chill was nothing.

Flower petals were sprinkled in the water, and their faint fragrance hung in the air. Ji Shuiyan waded silently through the bathing pool as she sensed the refreshing feeling of the cold water streaking past her thighs.

After a while, she gradually sat down as she let the cold water soak her crystalline skin bit by bit. It went from her slender waists to her ample twin peaks before reaching her cheeks and hair…

Finally, she closed her eyes as her entire forehead went underwater.

She hugged her knees, her bent legs pressing on her soft breasts, squeezing out a lithe and graceful shape. She sat quietly in the bath and allowed the flowing water to distort her beautiful looks.

Although she had gained control of the Divine Secrets Trading Company, for some reason, she felt a faint sense of loss.

Perhaps on the day she met Yi Yun, at a point of utter despair from the torture of the old woman in red, his appearance had already left an imprint in her heart. One that could not be easily wiped away.

She had also thought that if he was not of such a lofty existence, she could use what she valued most to repay him. But instead of it being a repayment, it was actually something she wished for.

She was always haughty and had high standards. Until now, she had rebuffed all men…She already knew that the distance between them was too great. She didn’t even have the will to muster her courage. That was probably the source of her depression and confusion.

If she had powerful strength and a talent that exceeded everything, so what about the Divine Secrets Trading Company? As long as she accomplished her grandfather’s wishes, she could travel the world in pursuit of anything she wanted.

“Miss…”

The personal maidservant’s voice rang in her ears but Ji Shuiyan did not get up. The quietness of the underwater world made her strangely calm.

…

Elsewhere, in the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, an elder in an adorned robe sat on a lounge chair. His expression was sullen and terrifying.

The elder was the true person in charge of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company—Yan Pingchuan. The night’s shocking events at the Divine Secrets Trading Company left him appalled.

“Apparently at the fifth-floor Dao Palace realm. He managed to instantly kill Gongyang Nian but never revealed his face. His appearance is unknown…”

That was all the news that Yan Pingchuan had received.

“He’s only at the fifth-floor Dao Palace. Although his strength isn’t bad, he would be too naive to think of repressing our entire Heaven Amplification Trading Company alone.”

A cadre of the Yan family said angrily.

“That’s right. There’s also that bitch, Ji Shuiyan. She dared to imprison our people and severed Advisor Yang’s four limbs. She was fortunate that the young lord fancied her. Yet, she didn’t appreciate it. She’s only seeking death!”

“Patriarch, give the command. It was the Divine Secrets Trading Company which took action first. Even if we were to flatten the Divine Secrets Trading Company, the Seven Star Auction Company would not say a thing! There’s no way that it wouldn’t be wiped out if all our experts took action!”

The gathered members of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company were agitated. However, Yan Pingchuan was frowning. He had a nagging feeling in his heart that the mystery person was not so simple.

1070 - : Thoughts of a Girl

CKtalon  CKtalon

The discussion within the Heaven Amplification Trading Company got increasingly heated. They could not wait to have Yi Yun beheaded in public.

However, the one true person in charge of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, Yan Pingchuan, suddenly grunted coldly. “Enough! Acting recklessly without fully knowing the capabilities of the enemy is no different from courting death. Unless I order it, no one from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company is to antagonize that person or they will be punished according to the house rules!”

Yan Pingchuan’s sudden response left everyone from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company dumbfounded.

They had just been ruthlessly trampled, yet they could not fight back?

“However…Advisor Yang and Yangpin have had their limbs severed. If we do not rescue them, we will not only be the laughing stock of Jade Luster City, we’d also lose the morale in our ranks. Everyone in business would think that one who works for our Heaven Amplification Trading Company will meet with a bad outcome….” said a Heaven Amplification Trading Company Elder. His worries were not without reason.

Yan Pingchuan did not respond and instead fell into a prolonged silence. He looked at a young man in the room who was dressed in purple. He was tall and his eyes were deeply recessed. His skin was not as white as a typical rich scion but was instead bronze, which seemed to exude a kind of power.

That person was the Heaven Amplification Trading Company’s heir apparent, Yan Tiancong.

“Cong’er, what are your thoughts?” asked Yan Pingchuan.

“I agree with Grandpa. I suggest that we temporarily do not act rashly. We might even have to make suitable concessions by handing over some pills and herbs, so we can quickly reattach Advisor Yang and Yangpin’s limbs before they become truly crippled. As for anything else, we should plan before acting. My master is coming to Jade Luster City…”

Upon hearing this, Yan Pingchuan was delighted. “His Excellency Huayu is coming?”

“Yes!”

“Hmm…” Yan Pingchuan nodded. He was very satisfied with his grandson’s reply. A moment of tolerance was not necessarily an act of weakness. Considering a matter repeatedly before acting was a quality needed by a person in control. Especially with His Excellency Huayu coming, Yan Pingchuan saw a favorable turn. He said, “I suppose His Excellency Huayu has come for the phenomenon in Sun Burial Sandsea…”

“Yes! In order to provide my master with more information, I had previously scoured all sorts of information regarding Sun Burial Sandsea. However, I still remain unclear as to why such a phenomenon has happened. However…I did look into the disappearance of the Divine Secrets Trading Company’s Old Man Ji. There were records of him leaving Jade Luster City back when the phenomenon first appeared. I suspect that Old Man Ji’s disappearance is related to the phenomenon. It’s even possible that the Divine Secrets Trading Company has obtained information regarding the Sun Burial Sandsea’s phenomenon.”

“Oh? Is that so?” Yan Pingchuan’s eyes lit up. That was an extremely valuable piece of information. Not only did it determine if the Heaven Amplification Trading Company could successfully annex the Divine Secrets Trading Company, it was also related to the phenomenon of Sun Burial Sandsea.

This phenomenon had already attracted the attention of an increasing number of factions. It was likely that it was a supreme-grade treasure. If the Heaven Amplification Trading Company could obtain its boon, no matter how minute it might be, it would definitely be advantageous to them.

Yan Pingchuan was increasingly pleased with his grandson. Before he continued on, Yan Tiancong had said, “Grandpa, according to what I know, the present sect master of the Heaven Secrets Chapter has also arrived in Sun Burial Sandsea. The Heaven Secrets Chapter practices geomancy and divination arts, allowing them to gain insights by observing the Sun Burial Sandsea’s formations. I also discovered that the Heaven Secrets Chapter has a feud with Old Man Ji. Perhaps once, Old Man Ji was a disciple that betrayed the Heaven Secrets Chapter!”

Since Yan Tiancong treated the Divine Secrets Trading Company as an opponent and was planning to annex it, he had been scouring for information on it for the past few years.

Even though Old Man Ji had concealed his relations with the Heaven Secrets Chapter, as the Divine Secrets Trading Company prospered it became difficult for him to hide his background. If the old woman in red could find the Ji family’s hideout, Yan Tiancong naturally could as well.

“Good! Very good! I’ll leave this matter to Cong’er!” Yan Pingchuan beamed. He was delighted, for he could rest assured that the Heaven Amplification Trading Company had such a successor in place.

“Yes, Grandpa.” Yan Tiancong responded. One could not tell from his expression, but there was a cold glint in his eyes.

Although Ji Shuiyan was not his to claim, he could not accept Ji Shuiyan’s betrayal—He did not permit anyone to cross him.

Yan Tiancong had great ambition. The Heaven Amplification Trading Company was only a stepping stone. Even the entire Sun Burial Sandsea was not enough for his ambition.

…

Meanwhile, in the Divine Secrets Trading Company residence, Yi Yun’s cultivation of breaking into the middle-stages of the Dao Manifestation realm had gone on for three days. He had spent an entire night breaking through, while the rest of the time was left for consolidation.

Yi Yun had already depleted most of the pure Yang divine rocks given to him by Ji Shuiyan. He felt wistful looking at the pure Yang divine rocks that had been turned to dust.

The pure Yang divine rocks were no doubt a treasured material. They were likely rocks that were situated in the vicinity of the Yang spirit and, after hundreds of millions of years of refinement from the Yang spirit, slowly transformed into their present state, making them extremely precious.

Unfortunately, if these pure Yang divine rocks could be complemented by Fey bones and refined into relics, their effects would be increased by several times.

Yi Yun knew the Desolate Heaven technique himself. Furthermore, with the Purple Crystal, he was endowed with favorable natural conditions in learning the Desolate Heaven technique. However, he had been focused on martial arts over the past few years in order to enhance his strength. As such, the Desolate Heaven technique had been put aside for the time being.

But even so, Yi Yun’s Desolate Heaven technique was extraordinary. As long as he put some time into enhancing his Desolate Heaven technique standards, he would improve rapidly.

Due to his need to nurture four nine-leaf Dao fruits and the divine tree seed that demanded a great amount of herbal resources, the number of treasured materials Yi Yun required to increase his cultivation level far exceeded that of a typical warrior. Although he was only in the middle stages of the Dao Manifestation realm, even an eight or nine-floor Dao Palace warrior would not need to expend as many heavenly items as he.

Under such circumstances, Yi Yun even wondered if he should spend some time honing his Desolate Heaven technique.

As long as he had relics and pills, his cultivation speed would only continue to increase at a rapid pace.

However, acquiring such items was not simple. Now, Yi Yun was at the Dao Manifestation realm and he was in a desert littered with heavenly treasures, the Sun Burial Sandsea. It was relatively simple to search for them, but it would only become increasingly difficult once he reached the Dao Palace realm.

Under these circumstances, the efficiency of the heavenly treasures was of utmost importance.

Although practicing the Desolate Heaven technique would waste a bit of time, the saying that “grinding a chopper will not hold up the work of cutting firewood” was most apt.

If Yi Yun’s thoughts were known by other warriors, they would definitely curse him for wasting the treasures from heaven. Anyone who had the beneficial conditions of practicing the Desolate Heaven technique like Yi Yun would probably think of all possible ways to get into the field of the Desolate Heaven technique. In any Empyrean Heaven of the 12 Empyrean Heavens, Desolate Heaven Masters or alchemists at the grandmaster-grade were respected figures and extremely wealthy existences.

Just as Yi Yun was deliberating, he heard a series of quiet footsteps coming outside. Scanning with his perception, he saw a sixteen-year-old girl dressed in yellow standing by the door.

She was like a careful rabbit as she gently knocked on the door and said, “Young Master Yi, Miss wants to meet you to discuss something.”

1071 - : Yan Tiancong

CKtalon  CKtalon

Over the past few days, Ji Shuiyan made it a point not to disturb Yi Yun unless it was very important, as he was cultivating in isolation. If there was a need to meet Yi Yun, she would send a maidservant to inquire before coming personally.

Today Ji Shuiyan was dressed in a beautiful ocean blue dress, one that accentuated her tall and slim figure.

“Young Master Yi, the Heaven Amplification Trading Company has delivered the Heaven Ingress Pills…”

“Heaven Ingress Pills?” Yi Yun was startled. “The Heaven Amplification Trading Company really exchanged Heaven Ingress Pills for their people?”

Although Yi Yun never for a moment feared the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, he still found their actions somewhat cowardly.

“Yes. However…” Ji Shuiyan’s voice trailed off as she began frowning slightly. “The Heaven Amplification Trading Company also sent Young Master Yi an invitation to join the Treasure Seekers Meet two days from now. Its purpose is to share clues of the phenomenon at Sun Burial Sandsea and to seek the treasures together, so as to share the benefits.”

“Treasure Seekers Meet?” Yi Yun found it amusing when he heard it. “Are they sick? Why would I join this Treasure Seekers Meet?”

Yi Yun had the Heaven Secrets Compass and Ji Shuiyan’s grandfather’s inference. He naturally had no interest in the Treasure Seekers Meet.

Ji Shuiyan replied, “The Treasure Seekers Meet is jointly organized by the Heaven Amplification Trading Company and the Seven Star Auction House. Many people are participating in it and they seem to be here especially for the Yang spirit.”

“At the meet,” she continued, “there will be a trade session where many treasured materials will be traded, as well as information regarding the phenomenon. However, I have received news that the Heaven Amplification Trading Company’s Yan Tiancong’s master, His Excellency Huayu has also arrived in Jade Luster City. He is one of the main backers of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company and will, of course, attend the Treasure Seekers Meet. If Young Master Yi goes, it is very likely he will clash with His Excellency Huayu…”

Ji Shuiyan sounded somewhat worried. She did not know how strong Yi Yun was for she never saw the limits of his strength when he vanquished Gongyang Nian and the old woman in red.

However, it was unlikely Yi Yun could gain much of an advantage against an expert like Huayu.

“Oh, a trading session…?”

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment, beginning to have some interest in the Treasure Seekers Meet. If he could buy suitable treasured materials he could go a step further in nurturing the divine tree seed. It was true that his cultivation level was somewhat low…

Furthermore, by participating in the Treasure Seekers Meet, he could know ahead of time who the people heading to Sun Burial Sandsea in search of the Yang spirit would be. That would greatly aid Yi Yun in preparing his future plans.

Seeing Yi Yun remain silent, Ji Shuiyan did not say anything else. She knew that Yi Yun had stayed behind in search of the Yang spirit and treasured materials; hence, she could not conceal the trading session from Yi Yun.

“If that’s the case, I’ll go and take a look,” said Yi Yun.

Although the Heaven Amplification Trading Company had His Excellency Huayu, the trading session was not only limited to the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. Yi Yun did feel wary, but there was no need for him to be overly apprehensive.

Also, if the Heaven Amplification Trading Company really wanted to attack him, it did not matter if he went to the trading session or not. Hiding in the Divine Secrets Trading Company did not ensure his safety either.

“Then, I’ll accompany Young Master Yi to the meet,” said Ji Shuiyan.

The Divine Secrets Trading Company had been lying low in forbearance for a period of time, so with Ji Shuiyan’s intentions to restructure and revitalize the company, she definitely could not miss this important meeting.

“Alright.” Yi Yun nodded.

The Sun Burial Sandsea produced various treasured materials, so Yi Yun looked forward to the trading session.

Yi Yun continued cultivating quietly in the Divine Secrets Trading Company’s backyard for another two days. On one particular day, Yi Yun was lying in bed with a golden piece of paper in hand. It was the remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ that Felicitous Rain Lord had given him.

The remnant page was considered a top-grade body tempering cultivation technique. It was a treasured canon formed naturally from the worldly laws of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. According to the records in the canon, it was truly possible to have an undying body once the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ was cultivated to its apex.

Unfortunately, Yi Yun came to realize that at his present cultivation level, there was no way for him to grasp the profoundness within. He estimated that he needed to reach half-step Dao Palace before he could attempt to cultivate the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’.

This made Yi Yun feel somewhat regretful.

He looked forward to achieving an undying body if it was truly possible. His physique and physical defense were ultimately his weakest traits in his entire cultivation progress.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door. Ji Shuiyan had prepared a carriage for them to leave immediately.

“Young Master Yi, it is the time for the meet.” Ji Shuiyan was dressed in a tight-fit red palatial dress. Her hair was wound out, making her look elegant and luxurious. It gave her the air of being the female head of a trading company.

Yi Yun grasped the remnant page before standing up and saying, “Let’s go.”

There was a flicker of light in Ji Shuiyan’s eyes when she saw Yi Yun walk out of the room.

After the past few days of cultivation, Yi Yun’s eyes were even darker than before, just like the deep of the night. His aura was wispy and he had the bearing of an elegant gentleman. He was also like a sheathed sword, an acute blade that hid its sharpness.

They began embarking for the Seven Star Auction House once they boarded the carriage.

“The Treasure Seekers Meet is held mainly by the Seven Star Auction House. It is a faction that has branches in the seven cities of Sun Burial Sandsea. It’s like a steadfast mountain.”

“Aside from the local companies, there are other factions that have rushed here upon receiving the news. Now, Jade Luster City is extremely lively.” On the carriage, Ji Shuiyan briefed Yi Yun on the information the Divine Secrets Trading Company had sourced.

With many powerful factions gathered, it meant that the treasured materials that appeared at the trading session would be even richer in variety and even more valuable.

“Arrival of the Divine Secrets Trading Company!”

With the carriage coming to a stop, Yi Yun disembarked the carriage and looked at the Seven Star Auction House in front of him.

The Seven Star Auction House’s buildings were opulent, and along with their pavilions, reached toward the clouds. In one of the tall buildings, there were many elegant figures dancing with more than a hundred musicians by the sides orchestrating music.

And the surrounding pavilions in the tower were already packed with many seated people.

A servant led Yi Yun and Ji Shuiyan to one of these pavilions. Just as they sat down, Ji Shuiyan frowned when she saw what was opposite her.

“Young Master Yi, the people in front are from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company,” said Ji Shuiyan.

Yi Yun traced her gaze across a lotus pond, where there was another pavilion with several people seated. There was a young and old man dressed in magnificent clothes sitting in seats near the front.

“That person is likely His Excellency Huayu,” Ji Shuiyan said as she looked at the man sitting in the seat of honor.

The man looked in his thirties but his hair was white. His skin was also gray in color and his eyes were deeply recessed. He seemed like he was lacking in vitality.

At that moment, another middle-aged man sitting beside His Excellency Huayu suddenly turned his head to look at Yi Yun as though he had sensed something.

Yi Yun saw the middle-aged man in black, waving a fan and smiling back at him.

“Who is that person?” asked Yi Yun.

Ji Shuiyan shook her head, “I have never seen him before.”

However, she could tell from the middle-aged man’s smile that he was like a poisonous snake that had seen its prey. It made her deeply unsettled.

However, this was a Treasure Seekers Meet organized by the Seven Star Auction House. With so many factions present, it was unlikely the Heaven Amplification Trading Company would dare to do a thing even if they held nefarious thoughts.

1072 - : Treasure Seekers Meet

CKtalon  CKtalon

The middle-aged man looked away and exchanged a few words with the old and young men beside him. Following that, the young man in magnificent clothes stood up and walked toward the Divine Secrets Trading Company’s pavilion.

“He’s Yan Tiancong, Yan Yangpin’s elder agnate brother and also the heir apparent of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company.” Ji Shuiyan immediately frowned when she saw Yan Tiancong walk over. There was a look of disgust in her eyes.

Yan Tiancong held a cup of tea as he walked into the pavilion. He looked gentlemanly and he spoke humbly. “Miss Shuiyan, how have you been?”

“Young Lord Yan, what are you here for?” Ji Shuiyan asked coldly. Yan Tiancong was an insidious person who gave a gentlemanly appearance but acted unscrupulously. If one were to fall into his hands, they would be completely devoured.

“Miss Shuiyan, there’s no need to turn others away. My company had some unfortunate misunderstandings with Miss Shuiyan’s Divine Secrets Trading Company, so here I am to apologize,” said Yan Tiancong with a smile.

“Misunderstandings?” Ji Shuiyan grunted coldly.

Yan Tiancong ignored Ji Shuiyan’s attitude as he held up his tea cup and said, “I will use tea in replacement of wine and drink it first both as a form of respect and to express my apologies. I hope Miss Shuiyan will be magnanimous enough to show forgiveness.”

Ji Shuiyan watched Yan Tiancong drink the tea without any expression.

Yi Yun noticed Yan Tiancong cast his gaze at him after downing the cup of tea.

“You seem unfamiliar. Our Divine Secrets Trading Company and Heaven Amplification Trading Company have years of relations between us, so I know everyone from the Divine Secrets Trading Company. Forgive my assumption, but are you the esteemed person that Miss Shuiyan brought back from the Sun Burial Sandsea? I’m curious as to how you got to know Miss Shuiyan?” Yan Tiancong asked.

Ji Shuiyan’s gaze turned icy. Yan Tiancong was clearly here to dig for information.

However, since Yi Yun decided to participate in the Treasure Seekers Meet, he had no plans to conceal his identity. The people from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company had easily guessed that he was the mysterious person.

Yan Tiancong’s immediate probing into the nature of Yi Yun and Ji Shuiyan’s meeting lacked any innocent intentions. If he could confirm that Yi Yun was merely a guest of Ji Shuiyan, he believed that Yi Yun could definitely be moved by greater incentives.

And if the Heaven Amplification Trading Company could offer better conditions…

“Yan Tiancong, you aren’t welcomed here,” said Ji Shuiyan.

Yan Tiancong was undeterred as he said, “It seems like my sincere apologies are unaccepted by Miss Shuiyan. Truthfully, I’m only here to get to know this esteemed person. You can’t stop me from doing that, right?”

Ji Shuiyan felt disgusted seeing Yan Tiancong’s expression. Before she could say another word, Yi Yun, with a nonchalant glance, asked, “What are you trying to get at?”

Yan Tiancong immediately said with a smile, “I’m the Heaven Amplification Trading Company’s Yan Tiancong. My Heaven Amplification Trading Company had some misgivings with you in the past, but as the saying goes: friendship grows only when you exchange blows. My Heaven Amplification Trading Company will not fuss over the matters of the past. Here in Jade Luster City, my Heaven Amplification Trading Company has a wealth of resources. If there is anything you need, you can tell us. We only wish that you can become the Heaven Amplification Trading Company’s friend. By the way, I have yet to learn your esteemed name?”

Yan Tiancong had brazenly begun his attempts at poaching in his speech and it obviously infuriated Ji Shuiyan to no end.

“You are unqualified. Scram.” Yi Yun waved his hand as though he was swatting an irritating fly.

Yan Tiancong’s smile immediately froze. Yi Yun’s voice was neither too loud nor soft but even the people in the surroundings pavilions heard it.

The young lord of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company had personally come to greet him and addressed him politely, but Yi Yun was not impressed. Yi Yun even went as far as to humiliate him on the spot by telling him to scram!

Even Yan Tiancong, who was an extremely scheming person, could not stop the twitching of his face. He had never experienced such humiliation before.

“Did you not hear? The young master wants you gone,” said Ji Shuiyan as well.

Yan Tiancong’s expression was extremely ugly as he turned to walk out of the pavilion. The tea cup in his hand shattered into dust.

“Young Master Yi.” As Ji Shuiyan looked at Yan Tiancong’s back, she turned to Yi Yun and said, “Yan Tiancong is a vicious person. Being so impolite to him is something he will never let go.”

Yi Yun was unperturbed as he said, “There was a feud in the past already. To someone like him, things he can’t use are all enemies. What would happen if I had responded nicely to him?”

“Young Master is right.” Ji Shuiyan could not help but have a faint smile suffuse her lips. She did feel that Yi Yun had gone too far in ruthlessly offending Yan Tiancong but in her mind, she was still delighted seeing Yan Tiancong suffer humiliation.

Furthermore, at the Treasure Seekers Meet, what could Yan Tiancong do even if he remained indignant?

“Arrival of Seven Star Auction Company’s Elder Fengxing!”

Suddenly, a voice drowned all the chatter from each pavilion. Even the dancing and music came to an immediate halt.

A figure appeared in the building.

It was an elder dressed in black. His eyes were like that of a hawk’s and he wore a big black ring on his thumb. He sat on a lounge chair in the grand hall as he slowly fiddled with his thumb ring while looking down.

“To think that Elder Fengxing is the host of this Treasure Seekers Meet…”

Yi Yun noticed that quite a number of people from the other pavilions had looks of awe and apprehension.

“Elder Fengxing’s strength is extraordinary. He is simultaneously the Seven Star Auction Company and permanent first elder of Jade Luster City. It can be said that he is the one truly in control of Jade Luster City. It can also be said that he wields absolute power in this land,” whispered Ji Shuiyan. She had a deep sense of apprehension while looking at Elder Fengxing. When her grandfather was still around, he had repeatedly exhorted her to never offend the Seven Star Auction Company. Offending the Seven Star Auction Company in Sun Burial Sandsea was courting death.

With the Seven Star Auction Company having such redoubtable power, as the person in control, Elder Fengxing was naturally awe-inspiring. Him simply sitting there alone made many companies in Jade Luster City turn silent.

Of course, there was no lack of people that remained composed. They were the factions outside Jade Luster City.

Yi Yun nodded as he looked at Elder Fengxing. He found it difficult to gauge the elder’s strength and figured that he was definitely not to be trifled with.

After Elder Fengxing, other experts from outside of Sun Burial Sandsea arrived. Yi Yun clearly sensed that some of them also had extremely high cultivation levels. Their perceptions scanned the area and gave others an intense repressive feeling.

Among them was a middle-aged man who caught Yi Yun’s attention.

The middle-aged man was dressed in a light-azure robe. He held a sword to his back and his aura was converged. He looked no different from an ordinary mortal, but Yi Yun knew that for the person to reach that state, he had mastered his sword Dao, reaching the realm of returning to one’s original nature.

He was definitely an expert swordsman.

In addition, there was an azure-clothed girl beside him. The girl’s long hair was tied to the back of her head in the form of a ponytail, making her look neat and tidy. Her figure was tight and her legs appeared long and filled with strength. Her gaze was as keen as a sword’s edge. She seemed young, but she had already reached the Dao Manifestation realm. Yi Yun was certain that she was a peerless genius.

Despite having spent so much time in Sun Burial Sandsea, Yi Yun seldom saw people he would deem geniuses.

Yi Yun had been able to defeat several Dao Palace realm warriors because of two things. One was him being too powerful, the other was his opponents being very weak.

Many Dao Palace realm warriors only had two or three leaves when they manifested their Dao fruits. They were completely incomparable to Yi Yun.

However, the azure-clothed girl was probably at the level of a genius from a reclusive sect. She was definitely heads and shoulders above others in Sun Burial Sandsea!

Furthermore, what made Yi Yun pay so much attention to the duo was that he sensed a familiar aura from them.

This was his first time in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven so he naturally did not know the duo. The reason for this sense of familiarity was because of the Yuan Qi they cultivated. The sword aura that stirred but didn’t release from their bodies seemed to stem from the same source as Yi Yun.

Upon thinking of the name of the land they were in, Yi Yun had a guess but he was not certain of it.

And when Yi Yun observed the middle-aged man and the azure-clothed girl, the middle-aged man’s gaze was cast at Yi Yun. His expression had a bizarre look in it.

1073 - : Middle-aged Swordsman

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Master, what’s the matter?” asked the azure-clothed girl when she sensed the changes in the middle-aged man’s expression. She also traced his gaze.

However, her gaze was blocked by a man who came forward and said, “You two must be Senior Jian Wufeng and Fairy Jian Xiaoshuang from the Clarity Pool Sect, right? Long have I heard of the fame of both you and the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. Finally, I have the chance to meet you today.”

Jian Xiaoshuang said in a cold manner, “Who are you?”

“I’m Yan Tiancong from Jade Luster City’s Heaven Amplification Trading Company,” said Yan Tiancong as he cupped his hands and bowed with a respectful look.

He looked up at the duo in front of him as a faint smile suffused his lips.

Although he had suffered some humiliation from the Divine Secrets Trading Company, Yan Tiancong was mostly unaffected by Ji Shuiyan and Yi Yun. He was bent on not having his plans foiled.

The Treasure Seekers Meet had attracted several large factions, making it the perfect opportunity for the Heaven Amplification Trading Company to expand its social circle and draw these factions to its side. If it could establish ties with any of these factions, the company’s expansion would be inevitable.

How did Divine Secrets Trading Company experience a sudden revival from its tottering state? Wasn’t it simply because it had found Yi Yun as a backer?

However, when stacked against a mysterious sect like the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, Yi Yun couldn’t compare.

Yan Tiancong figured that Yi Yun was likely an itinerant warrior who had found a mystic realm that gave him his present strength. Compared to the large factions that had come to the Seven Star Auction House, he was not worth mentioning.

As for the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, it was well-renowned. Although it was not in possession of huge territories, it was still an extremely special sect. Its numbers ran low, rumors said that the number of disciples and Elders combined numbered about a hundred. However, they were extremely stringent in their conditions for recruiting disciples. Ordinary people had no chance of catching the eye of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s heritage was impressive and, with its disciples having such outstanding talent, everyone from the sect was like a dragon or phoenix amongst men.

Their disciples seldom had the chance to leave the sect but the moment they appeared in the outside world, it would be like the sudden appearance of a marvelous beam of light that would quickly make a name for itself.

Additionally, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was extremely united. Its rules were strict and clear. If a disciple of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was killed and rightfully deserved it, the sect would not seek revenge and instead, it would disavow the dead disciple.

But if the disciple died from the machinations of others, the sect would not sit idle. Disciples from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect would definitely seek revenge in an eye for an eye manner.

And it was because of this that few factions dared antagonize the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

It so happened that the middle-aged man in front of him was the sect master of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect—Jian Wufeng. He had long made a name for himself and his sword had tasted blood countless times. The mention of his name instilled fear in others.

Yan Tiancong’s was well-informed so he naturally understood such a faction very well.

As for Jian Xiaoshuang, she was a successor of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect that had made public appearances before. She was young but her name was already well known in Sun Burial Sandsea.

Now, having seen her with his own eyes, Yan Tiancong could tell she was indeed extremely talented. Furthermore, she had exceptional looks and an aloof temperament that made her mesmerizing.

“Heaven Amplification Trading Company?” Jian Xiaoshuang glanced at Yan Tiancong. She had never heard of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company or Yan Tiancong before.

“Yes, I’m from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. I have a little say here in Jade Luster City. If there is anything Fairy Xiaoshuang and Senior Wufeng require in this city, I’ll do must best to provide it. May Fairy Xiaoshuang and Senior Wufeng give me the honor of being a host in this place,” said Yan Tiancong hurriedly.

“There’s no need.” Jian Xiaoshuang could not even bother being perfunctory with him. She did not know the fellow. As for the honor of being a host…what did it have to do with her?

A tinge of disappointment flashed in Yan Tiancong’s eyes but he instantly recovered from it. He was mentally prepared when he came to greet them. He had long heard that people from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect were extremely aloof and haughty, making it difficult to make any contact with them. But it was exactly this that made forging a relationship with them an astounding feat.

Furthermore, to Yan Tiancong, there was no harm in trying. It was good just getting his name known.

“Since Fairy Xiaoshuang doesn’t like being disturbed, I apologize for my rude behavior. However, my Heaven Amplification Trading Company has quite a bit of information regarding the phenomenon in Sun Burial Sandsea that I can share with the both of you.” Despite Jian Xiaoshuang’s cold attitude and Jian Wufeng’s complete disregard of him, Yan Tiancong did not feel embarrassed at all. He was able to follow up with the phenomenon in Sun Burial Sandsea as a topic of conversation.

But even with that mention, Jian Xiaoshuang was clearly uninterested. She continued listening in an indifferent manner until she suddenly realized that Jian Wufeng was looking in the previous direction again.

“Master?” Jian Xiaoshuang asked.

Yan Tiancong was attempting to make conversation and when he heard Jian Xiaoshuang suddenly interrupt him, he immediately gave a faint smile and shut his mouth.

If he were facing anyone else, he would definitely be displeased but it was only normal for someone from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect to act in such a manner.

They treated him just like how they would treat anyone else.

“I want to greet that person,” said Jian Wufeng suddenly.

“Master, you have a friend here?” Jian Xiaoshuang faltered slightly.

They had just arrived in Jade Luster City. She did not recall anyone familiar.

It would have been more appropriate if it were an enemy. But if it was her master’s enemy, there was no need to use the term ‘greet’.

Yan Tiancong was also stunned. Did Jian Wufeng know someone here?

“Then, I’ll accompany you.” Jian Xiaoshuang was extremely curious. Although she was deemed Little Sword Fairy out in the world and was extremely cold to people she did not know, she had a forthright and sincere personality.

As she spoke, Jian Wufeng had already begun taking big strides toward a pavilion.

Jian Xiaoshuang followed behind and suddenly recalled something. Looking at Yan Tiancong, she said nonchalantly, “My master has seen someone familiar so this conversation shall come to an end. You may leave.”

“Since it’s someone familiar with Senior Wufeng, it has to be some mighty senior. I’ll not take up any of your time. In a while, I’ll come again to introduce Fairy Xiaoshuang to the delicacies of Jade Luster City,” said Yan Tiancong politely.

He made way and watched as Jian Xiaoshuang walked pass him. He then looked at their backs.

Yan Tiancong knew that a figure who earned a personal greeting from Jian Wufeng was definitely someone he had to befriend.

At that moment, he saw Jian Xiaoshuang and Jian Wufeng walk across the lotus pond with one behind the other toward the pavilion just across.

Then…they walked into the Divine Secrets Trading Company’s pavilion.

Yan Tiancong was immediately dumbfounded.

The person Jian Wufeng knew was from the Divine Secrets Trading Company?

Yan Tiancong’s heart instantly turned ice-cold. It was as though he had fallen into an abyss as he stared unblinkingly at the pavilion, wishing that he was the one sitting there.

At that moment, Jian Xiaoshuang was also somewhat puzzled. She followed her master into the pavilion and there were a man and woman in it. They did not seem striking in any manner. The woman’s cultivation level was relatively weaker and it was unlikely her master knew her. As for the other person…Jian Xiaoshuang suddenly realized that she could not see through Yi Yun’s cultivation level when she looked at him. However, he did not appear to be very strong. It left her baffled.

However, the man was young so he likely had a cultivation technique that could conceal his cultivation level. Did her master know such young warriors?

“Dear friends, is there any space here? My disciple and I are here to drink some tea,” said Jian Wufeng. Jian Xiaoshuang’s expression immediately turned extremely odd.

Upon hearing her master’s opening sentence, it appeared as though he did not know the duo. With her master’s personality, why was he taking the initiative to befriend two people he did not know?

Ji Shuiyan looked in astonishment at the people in front of her. She could sense that the girl’s aura was extremely sharp and powerful. As for the middle-aged man, she could not see through his cultivation level at all. She felt that every word and action he took was as though it was in complete harmony with everything surrounding him. He was unfathomable.

Upon discovering that the other party did not seem antagonizing, Ji Shuiyan did not speak further and left everything to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun stood up and cupped his fists and said, “Please sit.”

Jian Wufeng sat beside a table and glanced at Yi Yun, saying, “I have yet to introduce myself. I’m Jian Wufeng from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.”

Jian Xiaoshuang’s odd expression continued. She also said, “Jian Xiaoshuang from Clarity Pool Sword Sect.”

“Yi Yun,” said Yi Yun.

Everything on Yi Yun’s side appeared calm and casual but a roaring tsunami had engulfed Ji Shuiyan’s heart.

It was the Clarity Pool Sword Sect! She had also heard of the immense fame of the sect. The Divine Secrets Trading Company was marginal in comparison, yet the sect master and his disciple had come personally to drink tea and chat with them?

Across the lotus pond, Yan Tiancong’s eyes were beginning to hurt. He had previously lowered his stature in a bid to ingratiate himself with the duo but had failed to garner any favorable response. In the end, Jian Wufeng and his disciple had gone to the Divine Secrets Trading Company’s pavilion and sat there.

Jian Wufeng’s eyes flashed slightly. The name Yi Yun…was one that he had never heard of.

“Yi Yun, my young friend. Are you from any sect?” asked Jian Wufeng in a follow-up.

“I’m not from any sect or faction but I have a master,” responded Yi Yun.

Although Felicitous Rain Lord was far away in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, he was still Yi Yun’s master. As for Felicitous Rain Lord, he did not establish any sects.

As she heard their conversation, Jian Xiaoshuang looked at Yi Yun before looking back at her master.

What was going on? Did her master notice something impressive about this warrior’s constitution and wanted to recruit him as a disciple? That can’t be. In the past tens of thousands of years, she was his only disciple…

Jian Wufeng pondered in rumination for a moment. As he sat beside Yi Yun, he found the aura from Yi Yun increasingly clear.

The flames of pure Yang seemed to burn inside Yi Yun’s body. It was a familiar aura that the more he sensed, the more puzzled he was…

Jian Wufeng asked, “I wonder if you may tell me who your master is?”

1074 - : Clarity Pool Sword Sect

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jian Wufeng looked at Yi Yun while awaiting his reply.

Yi Yun had a good first impression of Jian Wufeng. However, Jian Wufeng’s query of his master’s identity left him in a dilemma. Although each of the 12 Empyrean Heavens was separated rather far apart, as a Divine Lord of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, Felicitous Rain Lord likely enjoyed some fame. It was possible for others to know Felicitous Rain Lord when mentioned.

Considering his identity as Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple, it was hard to explain his presence in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, which was so far from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. It could also result in unnecessary trouble.

Seeing Yi Yun hesitate, Jian Wufeng understood that Yi Yun had his considerations. He said with a chuckle, “It is indeed somewhat rude for me to ask you about your master on our first meeting. A young friend like you doesn’t look very old. My disciple, Jian Xiaoshuang, hasn’t cultivated for very long as well. She can barely be considered to have attained something and she would be quite a good fit to partake in an exchange with you.”

As Jian Wufeng spoke, he gave Jian Xiaoshuang a glance and said, “Xiaoshuang, why don’t you try befriending Young Master Yi?”

When Jian Wufeng said that, Jian Xiaoshuang felt a little frustrated as she was a proud person with high standards. If not for the phenomenon in Sun Burial Sandsea, she never had any intention of making contact with the native warriors of Sun Burial Sandsea.

Her cultivation talent was outstanding. Even in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect that was filled with geniuses, she was a rare genius that only appeared once in ten thousand years. As she had made a name for herself, many sects had come asking for her hand in marriage. The people who wanted to marry her were all outstanding young elites with astounding talent from large sects. However, she showed them complete disinterest. She had gotten her master to reject them all which Jian Wufeng was happy to do so. He had rejected all the gifts no matter how valuable they were.

But now, Jian Wufeng had taken the initiative to introduce a stranger of the opposite sex to her. His tone sounded like he was extremely impressed with the young man. She was very unwilling to befriend Yi Yun.

Wasn’t he just a native warrior of Sun Burial Sandsea? He had a master whose whereabouts were unknown and he had no sect, which meant that he lacked backing. To be frank, he was an itinerant warrior at the bottom of the totem pole in the world of martial arts.

Of course, due to her master’s exhortation, Jian Xiaoshuang still gave Yi Yun a bow, to which Yi Yun politely responded.

After Yi Yun returned the bow, Ji Shuiyan’s Yuan Qi voice transmission rang in his ears. She hurriedly informed him of matters regarding the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, as well as Jian Xiaoshuang and Jian Wufeng’s identities. Their identities were non-trivial and she was unsure of the reasons behind their actions. She was also worried that Yi Yun would lack propriety when dealing with the duo.

Yi Yun smiled. After all these years in Jade Luster City, Ji Shuiyan had inculcated a cautious personality.

Jian Wufeng nodded satisfactorily at Jian Xiaoshuang’s bow. He said, “Xiaoshuang has been cultivating for about sixty years. I wonder how disparate her age is from yours, my young friend?”

With Jian Wufeng saying those words, many people present, including the native and external factions of Sun Burial Sandsea could not help but pay attention to the conversation.

Jian Wufeng’s words sounded odd. It was already abnormal for him to take the initiative to introduce Jian Xiaoshuang to Yi Yun. Furthermore, he had taken the initiative to mention of Jian Xiaoshuang’s age. At the same time, he had inquired their difference in age. Weren’t such questions only asked during a matchmaking session?

Of course, Jian Wufeng always had a cold and aloof demeanor. Although his question was odd, no one believed that he had the intentions of marrying his disciple to Yi Yun. Jian Xiaoshuang was extremely talented and she came from a great background. The difference in status was too huge.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment. He had hidden the identity of his master, Felicitous Rain Lord, but there was no need for him to hide his age. He said vaguely, “You can say that my cultivation has yet to reach a hundred years.”

Yet to reach a hundred years was already an overestimate.

However, Yi Yun’s words only left many people present stunned.

Although he had just come to Jade Luster City, he had figuratively smacked the Heaven Amplification Trading Company in the face a few days ago. External factions might not know of Yi Yun, but any well-informed native faction would know that the Divine Secrets Trading Company had drawn in a guest with tremendous power.

He was not only strong but he also an extremely perverse tyrant from his decisive killing. It was hard to determine his cultivation level but everyone had the impression that Yi Yun was definitely an old man who had spent a long time cultivating. They believed that he had only used a mystic technique that allowed him to maintain his youthful appearance. This was also the reason why many people believed that Yi Yun did not share a comparable status with Jian Xiaoshuang.

But now, Yi Yun had said that he had yet to cultivate for a hundred years?

Was that a joke?

If he had yet to cultivate for a hundred years, wasn’t he just a young junior? How could he possess such strength?

Many people refused to believe Yi Yun’s words. Yan Tiancong scoffed at it. He was already three hundred years old. If Yi Yun were to have such strength before the age of hundred, then wouldn’t his three hundred years be a complete waste of time?

“He is way too shameless. He has deliberately lowered his age so as to befriend Fairy Xiaoshuang,” said Yan Tiancong disdainfully. Many people secretly agreed with him.

In fact, many people’s cultivation level and bone age could be roughly determined through experience and perception. However, if one were to cultivate in certain mystic techniques with the intention to conceal, it would be hard to see through.

They believed that was the case with Yi Yun.

“Less than a hundred years. Great.” Jian Wufeng did not doubt a word of Yi Yun’s. “Since you are close in age with Xiaoshuang, the both of you can try sparring. I wonder if you are agreeable to it?”

Jian Wufeng suddenly asked. The goal of his conversation from before was to allow Yi Yun to spar with Jian Xiaoshuang. Yi Yun had not mentioned his master’s name but he felt an extremely familiar aura from Yi Yun, so he was planning on figuring it out from watching Yi Yun’s attacks.

Yi Yun also shared similar thoughts. In fact, he already had a guess in his mind.

He suspected that the so-called Clarity Pool Sword Sect was the progeny of Azure Yang Lord. They could even be the direct descendants of Azure Yang Lord!

Tens of millions of years ago, Azure Yang Lord had established a magnificent divine country in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven’s Central State Divine Territory. However, he was eventually betrayed and his cultivation level dropped drastically. He lost a great deal of his strength and went from the Yang God Empyrean Heaven to the Tian Yuan world. He got to know the ancient Great Empress and they jointly sealed the seven Demon Gods, leaving behind the Great Empress mystic realm before finally perishing.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong had entered the Great Empress mystic realm and obtained a portion of Azure Yang Lord’s inheritance. And this inheritance could be said to have saved his life. If not for it, Shentu Nantian would have taken his life.

The God Advent Tower that Azure Yang Lord had left behind had saved Yi Yun numerous times as well. Therefore, Yi Yun was deeply grateful toward Azure Yang Lord.

He had previously resolved himself to help Azure Yang Lord seek revenge if he could reach the 12 Empyrean Heavens. He would investigate the truth behind the circumstances leading to the betrayal that Azure Yang Lord had suffered.

And now, Yi Yun had found the descendants of Azure Yang Lord. He naturally did not want to miss the chance of getting to know them.

The descendants of Azure Yang Lord were in a better state than Yi Yun had imagined. However, compared to the divine country that Azure Yang Lord had established back in the day, it was obviously incomparable.

To Yi Yun, who was very knowledgeable, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was only considered a sect which was above average and that it had room to grow.

However, Yi Yun could not directly query their identity.

The title, Azure Yang Lord, was somewhat sensitive. Tens of millions of years ago, he had been pursued by others. And now, with the passing of time and the changing of circumstances, it was likely that the Central State Divine Territory had undergone several huge changes. It was still an unknown if Azure Yang Lord’s enemies were still in power. Therefore, Yi Yun could not directly ask about their relationship with Azure Yang Lord.

What happened if they were unrelated? If the matter was leaked, he could very likely embroil himself in trouble.

It was best to probe slightly.

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun said, “Thank you for fancying a junior like me, Senior Wufeng. I’m willing to spar with Fairy Xiaoshuang.”

“That’s great!” Jian Wufeng was delighted as he immediately said, “There’s still some time before the trading session begins. Why don’t we have the sparring now?”

Yi Yun was stunned when he heard Jian Wufeng. He never expected Jian Wufeng’s personality to be so exceptionally vigorous and effective, so much that he would immediately carry out whatever he said.

Yi Yun could not help but ask, “Here?”

Yi Yun had some reservations about sparring in public. He did not know if there would be others who could recognize Azure Yang Lord’s sword moves if he used them. He was worried that it would incur unnecessary trouble.

1075 - : Question of Age Disparity

CKtalon  CKtalon

“That’s right. Here.” Jian Wufeng nodded as he gave an extremely simple answer.

“That…” Yi Yun faltered slightly. He did not really mind sparring where they were but was Jian Wufeng unconcerned about exposing Azure Yang Lord’s heritage?

Yi Yun even began to suspect if the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was related to Azure Yang Lord.

Yi Yun naturally hoped to find the progeny of Azure Yang Lord here in Central State Divine Territory. He wanted to help them as much as he could, no matter how minute it was. He would still be left very disappointed if he failed to find them.

“Alright then.”

said Yi Yun with a nod. If the other party had nothing to do with Azure Yang Lord, he could choose not to use Azure Yang Lord’s heritage at all in order to prevent exposing himself.

Upon hearing about the upcoming sparring between Yi Yun and Jian Xiaoshuang, many of the people present began paying attention to the ongoings.

The native factions of Jade Luster City naturally did not wish to miss such an interesting showcase.

They had long heard of Jian Xiaoshuang’s name. Being a successor of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect that had publicly traversed the world, she was considered a rare genius of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. It was hard for her to find her match against her peers. Not only was her fame unrestricted to the Sun Burial Sandsea, she was well-renowned even in the vast surrounding areas.

Everyone from Jade Luster City wanted to know how strong the legendary Little Sword Fairy was.

However, to the sects external to Jade Luster City, the upcoming battle did not garner their interest. They only deemed it as a way to pass time before the trading session began.

To a real powerful sect, Jade Luster City was nothing impressive. To them, the native warriors of Jade Luster City were just itinerant dabblers in martial arts. They lacked orthodox heritage and did not have the depth or a glorious history. How powerful could warriors from Jade Luster City be? Most of those warriors would have manifested their Dao with two or three-leaf Dao fruits.

“What’s wrong with Jian Wufeng? Why is he so interested in an unknown warrior from Jade Luster City? I really can’t understand why he’s getting his personal disciple to spar with him,” said a Daoist dressed in Daoist robes with long hair past his chest nonchalantly.

Yi Yun had only made a name for himself in the recent few days in Jade Luster City. Outside of Jade Luster City, no one knew him.

And to a large sect, a sect’s genius and a common warrior were from two different worlds. If not for the phenomena at Sun Burial Sandsea, it was very unlikely for their paths to cross.

A coquettish woman dressed in see-through clothes said with a smile, “Daoist Xushui, Brother Wufeng must have some ideas of his own. Let’s just wait and see.” She was also a famous figure from the Moon Embracing Sect.

In fact, the people invited by the Seven Star Auction House were no ordinary people. However, even amongst these people, Jian Wufeng’s status was extraordinary and he was well-respected. It was mainly a result of his immense strength.

“Everyone, this hall is not suited for fighting. If anyone is interested in viewing the battle, why not follow me to the square outside?” said Jian Wufeng. And just as Jian Wufeng’s voice faded, Yan Tiancong stood up and said, “Senior Wufeng, I have a suggestion. I wonder if I should propose it.”

Seeing Yan Tiancong suddenly step forward, Ji Shuiyan frowned slightly. She had a premonition that Yan Tiancong was up to no good. However, she had no say in the present situation.

“Go ahead.” Jian Wufeng gave Yan Tiancong a nonchalant glance. It couldn’t be said that he hated a minor figure like Yan Tiancong who loved currying favor because, in a few days, he would likely forget him. Jian Wufeng’s thoughts were only on martial arts, while everything else was fleeting.

Having gotten a chance to interject, Yan Tiancong minded his performance. He cleared his throat and said, “It is my honor to be able to witness Fairy Xiaoshuang’s greatness. I believe that if this sparring is held at an ordinary square, it would be an insult to Fairy Xiaoshuang. I have a suggestion of using the Seven Star Auction House’s Dragon Gate Platform. I wonder if Elder Fengxing would permit it?”

Dragon Gate Platform?

The mighty figures from the external sects naturally did not know of Dragon Gate Platform. However, native warriors of Jade Luster City knew it very well.

Dragon Gate Platform was famous in Jade Luster City as it was a fighting ground of the highest standards in the city. Every decade, the Seven Star Auction House’s selection of elites was held there.

Jian Wufeng did not mind if it was Dragon Gate Platform or the square, so he agreed to it easily.

Elder Fengxing said, “Since everyone is interested in this sparring, I’ll bring everyone to Dragon Gate Platform. Let me give it an introduction. To be able to step onto the stage, one has to pass the dragon gate first. It would naturally not be a problem for Fairy Xiaoshuang to pass it but there is a small limitation… As my Seven Star Auction House selects young elites based on bone age, warriors that exceed the bone age requirements would not be able to pass the dragon gate.”

With Elder Fengxing’s introduction, everyone was immediately enlightened. The reason for Yan Tiancong to suggest Dragon Gate Platform was to verify Yi Yun’s age!

He refused to believe that Yi Yun was close in age to Jian Xiaoshuang. Therefore, he had intentionally tried to expose Yi Yun’s lies to embarrass him.

Upon realizing his intentions, Ji Shuiyan felt her heart tense up. Although she tended to believe Yi Yun’s words, reason told her that it was impossible for a warrior who was less than a hundred years old to attain such strength. Even if Yi Yun was considered young, there was no way he could be that young!

It was not limited to Ji Shuiyan. Even the native factions of Jade Luster City had similar thoughts. In fact, they believed Yi Yun’s age to be much greater than what Ji Shuiyan imagined. They would not find eight hundred years too little while three thousand years wasn’t too much.

People believed that Yan Tiancong’s act was to figuratively smack Yi Yun in the face. However, since Yi Yun had a feud with Yan Tiancong, it was understandable for him to add insult to injury.

Yan Tiancong did not care about the thoughts of the crowd. He looked at Yi Yun with a smile that seemed to flaunt his might. He had a clear look of glee.

He knew that Yi Yun was strong but if Yi Yun wanted to make a name for himself in the meet, he had to get his approval first. He wanted Jian Wufeng to know what sort of person Yi Yun was. Yi Yun must have deliberately lied about his age in order to approach Jian Xiaoshuang.

Jian Wufeng had already agreed to it but after knowing of Yan Tiancong’s intentions, he looked at Yi Yun. He thought highly of the young man and naturally wished that he wasn’t lying. He asked once again, “My young friend, Yi Yun, what do you think about sparring at Dragon Gate Platform?”

“Anything would do,” Yi Yun answered without any hesitation. However, this left the gleeful Yan Tiancong dumbfounded.

What was going on? Was Yi Yun really less than a hundred years old?

Yi Yun’s composure left Yan Tiancong’s confidence shaken. However, he found it impossible for Yi Yun to possess such terrifying power at such a young age.

“Alright!”

Jian Wufeng laughed out heartily. He was very happy with Yi Yun’s agreement.

“Let’s go to Dragon Gate Platform!”

Jian Wufeng strode out and led the pack. The group followed him and went straight for Dragon Gate Platform.

After passing through various floors of the Seven Star Auction House, people saw a massive dragon gate erected on a vast square from a distance. That was Dragon Gate Platform.

1076 - : Dragon Gate Platform

CKtalon  CKtalon

Dragon Gate Platform was extraordinarily impressive, with a circumference that spanned five kilometers. As people arrived in front of Dragon Gate Platform, they saw seven dragon gates stacked against each other. The gates were larger the closer they were to the crowd, with the one closest to them being about a thousand feet tall. The furthest one was the smallest dragon gate, which was about a hundred feet across.

Behind each of the seven dragon gates, there was a platform, making for a total of seven platforms.

As they stood in front of the dragon gate, they could sense energy fluctuations coming from within that felt boundless and vigorous.

“Who knew that such a small city like Jade Luster City has such a battle platform? It’s indeed extraordinary.”

Even many people from the external sects could not help but praise Dragon Gate Platform. Elder Fengxing stroked his beard in satisfaction when he heard them.

The Seven Star Auction House was not any ordinary faction. Its immensity was not understood by most people because, to them, the Seven Star Auction House was only a splash in the vast sea.

“There is quite a number of array formations in Dragon Gate Platform.”

Yi Yun had a thoughtful look as he observed the Dragon Gate Platform.

Meanwhile, some distance away, Yan Tiancong kept looking at Yi Yun. He refused to believe that Yi Yun was truly that young. He himself was already three hundred years old, but all of his years of cultivation were not enough for him to withstand a single punch from Yi Yun. If Yi Yun was less than a hundred years old, what the hell was he?

“Haha, Young Master Yan, there is no need to worry. From my perspective, Yi Yun most likely has some cultivation technique that hides his bone age. He probably hopes that he can use it to clear it, which is why he’s so calm. However, Dragon Gate Platform uses ancient array formations. How would it be fooled by a cultivation technique that hides bone age?”

Elder Fengxing said this with a voice transmission. He did not have a good impression of Yi Yun. Although it was the Heaven Amplification Trading Company that was attacking the Divine Secrets Trading Company, Elder Fengxing was secretly looking out for Yan Tiancong. If Yan Tiancong were to annex the Divine Secrets Trading Company, how would it not benefit him?

But because of Yi Yun’s interference, he could not receive a thing.

“Oh? Elder Fengxing, are you so confident?” Yan Tiancong was delighted upon hearing those words. He found the idea extremely plausible.

“Of course, Dragon Gate Platform has been established here for hundreds of thousands of years. If it was able to be mounted with a trick, there would have been chaos a long time ago.”

As Elder Fengxing conversed secretly, he glanced at Yi Yun with a sneer. He said to Yi Yun and Jian Xiaoshuang, “Fairy Xiaoshuang and Young Master Yi, the seven dragon gates of Dragon Gate Platform increase in difficulty. Even a peerless genius would only be able to pass the fifth or sixth gate. The seventh gate is extremely difficult because each of the seven dragon gates represents seventy years. So…”

Before Elder Fengxing was even done speaking, Jian Xiaoshuang decided she could not be bothered to continue listening to his blabbering. Dressed in azure-colored clothes, she flew up as the ponytail behind her fluttered. Like an azure-colored streak of light, she shot straight at Dragon Gate Platform!

She charged straight through the first dragon gate. It had instantly lit up with a thin screen of light in a bid to block Jian Xiaoshuang; however, without batting an eyelid, she slashed through it immediately.

Ka-cha!

The screen of light shattered as Jian Xiaoshuang charged through it. She did not even pause for a moment during the process.

This was after all a battle platform used by the Seven Star Auction House to choose young elites. For a peerless genius like Jian Xiaoshuang, it did not pose any difficulty.

After Jian Xiaoshuang charged through the first screen of light, her momentum continued. She slashed out with her sword a second time and shattered the second!

Following that, it was the third and fourth dragon gate!

Jian Xiaoshuang moved like an indomitable force without even stopping at all.

In a matter of seconds, Jian Xiaoshuang had broken through the sixth light screen and was charging straight at the seventh!

Upon seeing this unfold before his eyes, Elder Fengxing was completely dumbfounded. Before he even finished speaking, Jian Xiaoshuang had already reached the final gate.

Jian Xiaoshuang rushed to the seventh light screen, and an azure-colored sword beam came pouring down like a waterfall.

Chi La!

A sound that resembled the ripping of silk reverberated as Jian Xiaoshuang finally faltered slightly. And at the same time, the seventh light screen opened up in response!

Puah!

Jian Xiaoshuang landed stably on the seventh platform. After a few deep breaths, she regained her calm.

“This Dragon Gate Platform is indeed nothing much after all,” said Jian Xiaoshuang nonchalantly.

It was not arrogance that made her think so lightly of the Dragon Gate Platform. She was just like the legendary Peng bird with a wingspan of tens of thousands of miles, it would not view a mountain as an obstacle.

Upon seeing Jian Xiaoshuang’s performance, the native factions of Jian Xiaoshuang were rendered speechless. She was actually so fast?

Over the years, they had seen the Seven Star Auction House run selections at Dragon Gate Platform. Many people that were deemed peerless geniuses had gone through great pains to mount Dragon Gate Platform, but Jian Xiaoshuang had only spent a couple of seconds to cross it.

This was way too ridiculous!

Although they had long heard of the Little Sword Fairy’s fame, it was only at that moment that they truly understand how ridiculous her talent in martial arts was. How could anyone her age be able to defeat her?

Elder Fengxing gave a wry smile. The Dragon Gate Platform that he was so proud of was now just a joke to others. A few moments ago he was bragging, and now he was shamed.

However, Yi Yun was next. Surely, with Yi Yun, he could regain his dignity.

Elder Fengxing cleared his throat and glanced at Yi Yun with a derisive look. He said without much emotion, “I had yet to finish what I said and Fairy Xiaoshuang has already mounted it. Let me repeat again. Each of the seven gates of Dragon Gate Platform represents seventy years. It means the biggest first gate only permits entry to people with a bone age of 490. The second, a bone age of 420 and 350 for the third…”

Elder Fengxing took his time to say his piece when his expression froze. Yi Yun had also ignored him and flew straight for Dragon Gate Platform. He was left behind in an extremely awkward state.

Elder Fengxing was incensed. He could forget Jian Xiaoshuang’s actions since she was a genius disciple of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. He did not dare say a word about her, but Yi Yun was only an itinerant warrior. Yet Yi Yun had figuratively smacked him in the face as well.

That punk!

Elder Fengxing clenched his teeth. As one of the principals of the Seven Star Auction House, he was equivalent to being the city lord of Jade Luster City. How could he tolerate such indignance? He became bent on teaching Yi Yun a lesson.

Many thoughts flashed through his mind as Yi Yun approached the first light screen.

It was the simplest one. No one doubted his strength but the light screen required his bone age to be below 490 for him to enter!

Yi Yun did not even blink an eye or strike out with his sword. A faint sword halo enshrouded him as he entered the screen of light.

He was not obstructed in any way. It looked like a fish passing through a water membrane.

He passed through!

Yan Tiancong held his breath. Yi Yun had crossed the light screen so simply, as though he was striding through a door.

He had originally suspected that Yi Yun used a hidden cultivation technique to cheat but other having a sword halo around his body, there were no other energy fluctuations. Ignoring the array formations, there were many warriors present who were famous heroes. If he had cheated to cross the array formations, how could they not see through it?

It could only mean that Yi Yun was at least below the age of four hundred and ninety!

1077 - : Seven Gates

CKtalon  CKtalon

People had estimated Yi Yun’s age to be at least a thousand years old. That was already considered young enough. If he were less than 490 years old, he wouldn’t be much older than Yan Tiancong.

However, when comparing their strength, it was like night and day. Yan Tiancong was already three hundred years old, and even if he was given another 1900 years he could not dare claim to reach Yi Yun’s level, much less if he was given 190 years!

Upon coming to this realization, Yan Tiancong felt a deep sense of defeat. Jian Xiaoshuang was a peerless genius of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, so he did give much thought to her being so far above him. However, Yi Yun was only an itinerant cultivator, yet there was such a huge gap?

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Yi Yun had already come in front of the second light screen. Again, a faint energy membrane of light attempted to obstruct Yi Yun’s path but, without even a change in posture, Yi Yun passed straight through with sword beams lingering around him!

The second light screen meant 420 years of bone age!

Yan Tiancong was thoroughly bewildered.

Yi Yun had passed the second gate as well? How old was he really?

And the following scene left Yan Tiancong’s breathing stagnating…

The third gate, 350 years of bone age.

Yi Yun crossed through it with similar ease. He wasn’t fast but he had not even pulled out a sword.

Yi Yun looked much slower than Jian Xiaoshuang, but he gave off the feeling that he was having a leisurely stroll. Was this truly the Dragon Gate Platform?

After that, the fourth gate…

Everyone stared at Yi Yun, dazed and with mouths agape. Each gate represented seventy years, and every gate he crossed represented the estimate of Yi Yun’s age being reduced by seventy years.

Could Yi Yun have been telling the truth? That he had yet to cultivate for a hundred years?

How did he kill a Dao Palace realm warrior with ease before the age of hundred? What sort of monster was that?

The fifth gate!

The sixth gate!

The maximum bone age had been reduced to 140 years!

Yi Yun crossed through the gates without any hesitation. He did not even pause at all while continuing his leisurely stride. His current progress was already sufficient to prove that what Yi Yun had said was true.

He was really someone from the younger generation!

A peerless genius!

The native warriors of Jade Luster City began having such thoughts cross their minds. To possess such strength at that age had far exceeded their imaginations.

If it were Jian Xiaoshuang, she came from a large sect after all. As for Yi Yun, he was only an itinerant cultivator. He had personally said that he did not have a sect and only had a master. To come this far was nothing short of a miracle.

As the crowd watched in shock, they realized that Yi Yun never slowed down his footsteps.

To cross the seventh dragon gate he had to be below seventy years of age. It was the most difficult of all the gates. Previously, Yi Yun had mentioned that he was less than a hundred years old. Typically, one would only describe it in that manner if he was in his nineties.

As such, there was naturally no way for Yi Yun to cross the seventh dragon gate.

And moments ago, Jian Xiaoshuang charged straight into the deepest depths before listening to Dragon Gate Platform’s rules. Now she would have to walk back out to fight Yi Yun on the sixth platform.

Some people were preparing to inform Jian Xiaoshuang to come back out, but then Yi Yun had already reached a spot in front of the seventh light screen.

The scene that immediately followed made people feel as though time had slowed down.

Silently, Yi Yun crossed through it just like that…

His front foot took a stride with his back foot following. Like he was crossing through a layer of water, he landed gently on the seventh gate’s platform without even stirring any dust.

How could this be possible!?

Everyone present, especially the native warriors of Jade Luster City, seemed petrified as they looked at Yi Yun in dumbfounded shock.

The seventh dragon gate required a bone of age of seventy and below!

Yi Yun was less than seventy years old?

What a joke! He had clearly said that he had yet to cultivate for a hundred years. But it was actually him being humble?

If he was not even seventy, subtracting the lack of cultivation during the first few years after birth, it was quite possible that he had cultivated for sixty years!

In that case, not only was his age not much different from Jian Xiaoshuang, they were actually equal in age!

What sort of concept was it to be able to kill a Dao Palace realm warrior with sixty years of cultivation?

Yan Tiancong had nearly collapsed to the ground. He had provoked such a malignant star!

One had to know that with Yi Yun’s present strength, he was already not someone the Heaven Amplification Trading Company could deal with. Even if Yi Yun was slightly weaker, they would not dare casually make a move on him. Once such geniuses could not be killed, their unimaginable growth would leave their enemies in despair.

In less than a century or a decade, his cultivation level might very well increase by two or three subrealms. His strength would increase severalfold, making it extremely possible for him to easily wipe out the Heaven Amplification Trading Company!

When that time came, the Seven Star Auction House could only stay neutral to preserve itself. Although Jade Luster City’s Seven Star Auction House had backing behind it, what powerful faction would pay great attention to a place like Jade Luster City?

Thinking back to how Ji Shuiyan had imprisoned men from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, and how they had nearly launched an assault, Yan Tiancong felt a sense of dread. Thankfully, they had taken the softer stance or the consequences would be unimaginable.

The Jade Luster City’s warriors were feeling terrified of Yi Yun’s might. However, the warriors from elsewhere were different. They did not understand Yi Yun’s fame in Jade Luster City, nor did they know what he had done. And even if they understood, they would not think too highly of it. After all, warriors of Jade Luster City were just pugilists in their eyes. Even the Elders that held the major trading companies were considered weaklings.

After the Dao Manifestation realm, due to the huge difference in the number of Dao fruit leaves, warriors at the same level could have a huge disparity in strength. It wasn’t impossible for warriors at the late-stages of Dao Manifestation realm, especially ones from large sects, to kill Dao Palace realm warriors with weak and common foundations.

“Xiaoshuang, I had only planned on determining something through your sparring with him. Who knew that Yi Yun is actually such a genius? It’s even better, then. You have met your match and you can fight freely. This will also be beneficial to your progress.”

Jian Xiaoshuang stood on Dragon Gate Platform as Jian Wufeng’s Yuan Qi transmission rang in her ears.

“Master, you say that I have met my match?” Jian Xiaoshuang glanced at Yi Yun as she grunted slightly. She seemed somewhat disgruntled.

Ever since Jian Xiaoshuang began practicing martial arts, she had achieved victory in every battle like an indomitable force. Apart from seniors, no one from the younger generation could pose a threat to her. Instead, she would often fight opponents that exceeded her.

Her senior brothers from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect were already afraid of her.

They were older than Jian Xiaoshuang and their cultivation levels were one or two subrealms higher than hers. They were also men, yet they were defeated by a young girl. How could they accept that?

No disciple at her age dared to spar with Jian Xiaoshuang. They would run faster than a rabbit when they saw her. It even came to a point that no one in Clarity Pool Sword Sect dared to antagonize her, which also resulted in her arrogant and cold personality.

Despite such circumstances, Jian Xiaoshuang heard from her master that she had met a formidable foe. His tone also seemed to imply that she should learn from him and improve together. How could this not stir up her fighting spirit?

She wanted to prove that she was the strongest.

Jian Xiaoshuang shook the sword in her hand as she pointed it at Yi Yun. With a clear, crisp voice, she said, “Make your move.”

1078 - : Meeting her Match

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jian Xiaoshuang’s clear voice resounded throughout the vicinity as sharp sword intent manifested around the sword in her hand. When sword practitioners pushed their sword insights to the limit, the sword intent that arose from their weapon was lethal without them even needing to slash out.

She thrust out her sword, producing a sound that resembled a clap of thunder. Instantly, a beam of lightning tore through the blue sky, shooting straight at Yi Yun.

With Jian Xiaoshuang’s personality, she naturally attacked opponents like Yi Yun with overwhelming force. She wanted a single strike to make clear the gap between her and Yi Yun.

The crowd present also sensed the sharpness of the sword beam. Weak warriors like Yan Tiancong felt all his hair stand up as if he was facing great peril.

That was the power of sword intent. Despite not being the direct target of the strike, he still felt as though the sword was held to his glabella.

“Is the gap between me and Jian Xiaoshuang so great…?”

Yan Tiancong felt embittered. Under the sharp sword intent, he could not stop his body’s Yuan Qi barrier from being induced.

“Little Sword Fairy does live up to her name. For this strike, even as your master, I’ll still be forced to use a certain amount of my strength,” said His Excellency Huayu lightly.

While Yan Tiancong was feeling disillusioned, a sinister look suffused his face. He wanted to watch Yi Yun block the attack.

Yi Yun faltered when he saw the strike.

The sword beam was somewhat familiar to him. Back in the Tian Yuan world’s Great Empress mystic realm, he had once seen a disk array that Azure Yang Lord left behind. It depicted a fight between Azure Yang Lord and the Black-armored Demon God.

Back then, Azure Yang Lord’s strike was one that could render the skies asunder. The sword intent within that attack greatly resembled Jian Xiaoshuang’s.

“It seems like even if they are not the direct descendants of Azure Yang Lord, they have definitely inherited some of Azure Yang Lord’s heritage.” Yi Yun thought to himself.

Azure Yang Lord’s strike in the disk array was acquired from the Pure Yang Sword Palace. However, in addition to the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s sword intent, the strike contained Azure Yang Lord’s Sword Dao comprehension.

Azure Yang Lord had managed to come into contact with the Pure Yang Sword Palace after coming to the Tian Yuan world. He had then used the encounter to enhance his sword techniques, allowing his sword intent to metamorphosize.

As such, Jian Xiaoshuang’s strike clearly lacked the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s sword intent.

Aside from that, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had added some of their own insights into Azure Yang Lord’s original heritage.

However, these additions were quite inferior to the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s Sword Dao.

Regardless of how powerful the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was, how could their additions into Sword Dao insights be comparable to the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s?

“Why is Yi Yun in a daze?” Everyone noticed that Yi Yun stood with his hands by the side while Jian Xiaoshuang’s sword came directed at him. He remained motionless and the expression on his face appeared as though he was pondering over something.

“Perhaps he is racking his brains thinking of a way to deal with the attack without embarrassing himself. However, if he doesn’t make a move soon, it will not be an embarrassment but immediate defeat,” said Yan Tiancong coldly.

Just as Yan Tiancong’s voice faded, Yi Yun looked up.

He had a calm expression as though the strike that came slashing at him was not a sweeping force but a gentle breeze.

Yi Yun flipped his hand and an ordinary sword suddenly appeared in his palm. Instantly, an azure-colored lightning tore through the sky. The sword beam seemed like a breathing entity that came from an ancient era, having crossed space and time.

“The Azure Rainbow pierces the Blood Moon, Ice Cold Seals God Abyss!”

“This is how this strike should be.” Yi Yun’s sword beam seemed to violate causality because the moment the strike was produced, a massive azure-colored flash of lightning had reached Jian Xiaoshuang’s sword beam!

This strike contained Azure Yang Lord’s sword intent, the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s heritage, as well as Yi Yun’s own Sword Dao!

“Whew!”

As the sword beam tore through the world, it seemed to be the only entity left in the world. The seven dragon gates seemed to be pierced through by the strike.

Seeing Yi Yun’s sword beam coming at her, Jian Xiaoshuang’s aloof expression changed!

Ka-cha!

Lightning struck the ground, causing a reverberating explosion. The fiery flames and lightning of pure Yang took only an instant to devour all of Jian Xiaoshuang’s sword beam.

Jian Xiaoshuang rose up as she retreated quickly. The momentum of the pure Yang might did not decrease as the dragon gates’ light screens shattered one layer after another!

The strike sent Jian Xiaoshuang back, causing her to pass three platforms before landing in a harrowing state.

And from the fourth platform that Jian Xiaoshuang landed on to the seventh platform, a quick and forceful sword scar emanated. It extended straight forward.

The sword scar was only the width of a finger and had pure Yang flames burning in it. The flames billowed and anyone who caught a glimpse of it could sense a terrifying heat.

When Elder Fengxing saw the sword scar, the corners of his mouth twitched forcefully.

He had previously bragged how mighty Dragon Gate Platform’s array formation was. It was true that the arrays of Dragon Gate Platform were passed down from ancient times, but the platforms were constructed by the Seven Star Auction House.

With the Seven Star Auction House’s massive wealth, it had used extremely valuable materials to construct the platforms. Every inch was protected by array formations, allowing them to automatically repair any damage.

However, the azure-colored sword beam’s power tore through four platforms. The scar was burning with pure Yang flames and, as though contained by the sword intent, the speed of repair was as if nothing was happening.

All of this was caused by a single attack from Yi Yun.

“This…This is his real strength?”

Yan Tiancong’s face turned pale as he trembled. During the horrifying strike, Yan Tiancong’s protective Yan Qi had been battered to its limits but even so, he still felt a pricking pain on his skin. The blood in his body wildly surged!

His Excellency Huayu, who was standing by his side, did not have a nice expression either.

He formerly said that Jian Xiaoshuang’s sword beam would force him to use a portion of his strength but, in fact, he was only bragging about his combat strength.

And now, against Yi Yun’s strike, he even felt that he was no match for it. He knew very well that Yi Yun had not used his full strength in the strike. What would happen if he had to withstand a full-power attack from Yi Yun?

Was Yi Yun really a junior that had yet to cultivate for sixty years? He himself had lived for tens of thousands of years!

At that moment, Jian Xiaoshuang landed on the ground with her long hair fluttering. She glared at Yi Yun with a gaze as sharp as a sword, “What was it with that strike of yours?”

When Jian Xiaoshuang’s sword beam struck Yi Yun’s, she sensed some portion of his sword intent resembled hers. However, his strength was much greater. The nomological Sword Dao contained in it was also more profound.

Jian Xiaoshuang’s words left everyone surprised. As they recalled the strike from before, they found that it was indeed true.

“Could it be possible that Yi Yun’s moment of rumination was to learn Jian Xiaoshuang’s strike?”

But it was completely impossible to learn an enemy’s move in an instant. It was just a fleeting thought in people’s minds.

“Perhaps Yi Yun had learned a similar move before. Some ancient heritage might not be a lone copy. It’s nothing out of the ordinary if that’s the case.”

Despite people engaging in such discussions, Jian Xiaoshuang knew that the strike, Stunning Rainbow, was a core martial heritage of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. There was no way for outsiders to know of it. She looked at Yi Yun with suspicion but there was also shock in her eyes.

She suddenly thought of something as she turned her head to glance at her master, Jian Wufeng.

1079 - : One Astounding Strike

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jian Xiaoshuang looked to her master Jian Wufeng, only to find an expression that confounded her.

In Jian Wufeng’s eyes was a clear look of excitement that could barely be contained.

She always saw her master as being aloof. He was never astonished by any changes and seldom lost his composure.

But in fact, Jian Wufeng’s present mood was much more excited than what his face showed.

He had guessed correctly from the beginning. Yi Yun and Azure Yang Lord were indeed related!

What Yi Yun used was not Azure Yang Lord’s full heritage. His movements with a sword had a hint of Azure Yang Lord’s sword intent. There were also other elements at play.

Yi Yun’s sword stance and sword intent astonished Jian Wufeng to no end!

Jian Wufeng was a sword fanatic, to begin with. He had practiced martial arts his entire life and only cared about swords. To him, Azure Yang Lord’s heritage was so extensive and profound that it only left people mesmerized. But today, he saw a strike that had improved on that foundation. How could he not be pleasantly surprised?

There was no end to the path of martial arts. There was one peak above another!

Jian Xiaoshuang looked at Jian Wufeng for quite a while before he noticed his disciple’s gaze. There were perplexity and chagrin in her eyes.

Jian Xiaoshuang’s talent made her invincible among her peers from a young age. So how would she feel good being defeated by Yi Yun in one strike?

But at that moment, Jian Wufeng could not be concerned with consoling his disciple. He coughed dryly and said, “Xiaoshuang, try using another sword move. This is an opportunity for you to improve.”

“Master…”

Jian Xiaoshuang felt somewhat aggrieved. She was hoping her master could give her an explanation, but not only did he not do so, he had also urged her to continue the sparring. She had already lost from the previous clash of attacks. It was not a life-and-death battle after all. In a sparring match, losing by a tiny bit was considered a loss.

By continuing the fight after losing in one move, it only gave others the impression that Jian Xiaoshuang was a sore loser.

With these thoughts in mind, Jian Xiaoshuang gritted her teeth and said out of spite, “Have another try at this strike!”

It was first because she was nursing a grievance and secondly because she was feeling indignant. Jian Xiaoshuang refused to believe that the gap between her and Yi Yun was that great.

Jian Xiaoshuang used all her strength for her next strike!

Intensely powerful sword intent surged like the radiant sun rising in the east. It brought with it unmatched pure Yang flames that inundated Yi Yun.

The intense flames of the sword were reflected in Jian Xiaoshuang’s eyes as her body was completely immersed in the flames.

“Take this!”

Jian Xiaoshuang, together with her sword, transformed into a beam of light. Like a phoenix flying out of an inferno, she soared at Yi Yun!

The might of this strike was much stronger than the one before.

Upon seeing this strike, everyone marveled in shock. They were not astonished about the strength of the strike but of Jian Xiaoshuang’s dual cultivation in fire and lightning!

The previous strike was lightning-elemental while this strike was Yang fire. It was already difficult for the average junior to be proficient in one law. As for Jian Xiaoshuang, she was proficient in two laws. This implied that Jian Xiaoshuang had condensed two similarly high-grade Dao fruits.

“Azure Yang Lord, Pure Yang Sword…”

Yi Yun observed Jian Xiaoshuang’s move. Azure Yang Lord’s cultivation technique came from the Yang God Manual, which was a pure Yang cultivation technique.

As for Jian Xiaoshuang’s pure Yang cultivation technique, it did share similarities with Azure Yang Lord’s.

Yi Yun had not cultivated in the Pure Yang Manual but he had previously cultivated in the Great Empress Heart Sutra. As for the Great Empress Heart Sutra’s pure Yang component, the Great Empress had referenced the Pure Yang Manual and distilled it.

However, the ancient Great Empress was in the end limited by the Tian Yuan world. Furthermore, she had perished early, so her cultivation level was not very high. The Great Empress Heart Sutra she created was slowly unable to support Yi Yun’s cultivation.

Later on, when Yi Yun condensed his pure Yang Dao fruits, he began possessing his own pure Yang Great Dao. Looking back at the Great Empress Heart Sutra, he gained deeper and clearer insights.

Jian Xiaoshuang’s cultivation technique and move also became increasingly clear in Yi Yun’s eyes.

Seeing Yi Yun remain motionless while having a ruminative look again, someone had a thought cross their mind.

“Could Yi Yun be producing the same move like Little Sword Fairy again?”

But the moment he finished saying that, he shook his head with a laugh.

It was already a coincidence previously. It was impossible for the same coincidence to happen a second time.

As for Jian Xiaoshuang, she also refused to believe that Azure Yang Lord’s heritage cultivation technique could be cracked by Yi Yun with a more powerful method!

The rolling flames instantly enveloped Yi Yun.

And within the flames, Yi Yun finally raised his sword.

“This strike of yours has too much mixed in. Pure Yang Sword demands the purest flames to consume everything. If it needs any form of replenishment, it should be supplemented by pure Yin. As the saying goes, solitary Yang does not allow growth, lone Yin does not lead to birth…”

As Yi Yun said that, he swung his sword once again.

It was a strike that did not seem outstanding in any way. It was as if he had just made a perfunctory stroke that would not set off any waves.

However, the moment the strike was produced, Jian Xiaoshuang instantly felt that a seed had suddenly planted into her pure Yang cultivation technique.

The moment the seed entered the pure Yang sword Qi, it rapidly sprouted and grew!

All the pure Yang sword Qi seemed to turn into nutrients for the seed.

The pure Yang sword Qi was absorbed and it condensed a wisp of azure-colored fire.

The azure-colored flames that Yi Yun condensed seemed undying, and they constantly grew stronger.

Jian Xiaoshuang sensed that the sword Qi she had produced had been mostly absorbed by Yi Yun, turning into his sword Qi!

Be it his understanding of Sword Dao or his grasp of pure Yang Dao, Yi Yun had far exceeded her!

Jian Xiaoshuang found it unbelievable. How could her pure Yang sword Qi be used by Yi Yun? Was the difference that great?

Yi Yun seemed to see through her thoughts as he said, “Great Dao do not stand in solitude. Pure Yang and pure Yin, space and time, destruction and chaos…If you can simultaneously grasp the two opposite sides of a law, your strength will be enhanced. The reason I can use your pure Yang is that my pure Yang has pure Yin in it. Yin and Yang supplement and nourish each other, resulting in a perpetual generation.”

As Yi Yun said, he slashed out once again as the wisp of fire immediately transformed into a raging fire of the sun!

Jian Xiaoshuang hurriedly brandished her sword to block it!

When the azure-colored flames clashed with Jian Xiaoshuang’s inundating flames, her flames were instantly devoured by the azure-colored flames!

Yi Yun’s perfect flames of pure Yang consumed all kinds of flames!

Upon seeing this unfold, Jian Xiaoshuang gasped in sincere admiration. She knew that Yi Yun’s pure Yang Dao was much better than hers. Not only was it because Yi Yun’s pure Yang Dao had the combination of Yang and Yin, there was an easier and more understandable reason. The pure Yang Dao fruit that Yi Yun had condensed was definitely of a higher grade than hers!

She already had an eight-leaf Dao fruit. Then for Yi Yun…

Upon thinking of a nine-leaf Dao fruit, Jian Xiaoshuang’s heart palpitated. Ever since the establishment of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, no one had managed to condense a nine-leaf Dao fruit. Even in an extremely powerful sect, it was not seen in a million years.

Phew! Phew!

The pure Yang sword Qi split in front of Jian Xiaoshuang and streaked past her sides.

The azure-colored flames burned incessantly and began melting the ground.

The array formation of Dragon Gate Platform was constantly working but it could not repair itself in so short a period of time. Instead, more and more of it melted with time.

Elder Fengxing twirled his thumb ring as his face winced. The flames were spreading, burning the entire battle platform red. It would require a lot of relics to repair it.

He had agreed to Yan Tiancong’s suggestion because he hoped to use Dragon Gate Platform to expose Yi Yun. But in the end, the Dragon Gate Platform that he boasted about had not only proven that Yi Yun had cultivated for about sixty years, it was now almost completely torn down by Yi Yun!

As such, Elder Fengxing began to put the blame on Yan Tiancong. He had really disgraced himself this time.

1080 - : Perfect Pure Yang

CKtalon  CKtalon

“I admit defeat.”

With things having reached that point, the gap between them was exceedingly obvious. If Yi Yun had not intentionally gone easy on her with his final strike, she would have ended up looking extremely miserable even if she had managed to barely withstand it. Naturally, there was no need to continue the fight.

She already knew that she was far inferior to the young man in front of her. In two moves, he had not only used a sword attack that was similar to hers, but his concepts far surpassed hers. It was nearly to the point of him giving her pointers.

Jian Xiaoshuang was also considered quite famous, yet here she was being taught and guided by someone her own age. What’s more, his sword moves were something she could not match at all. This left Jian Xiaoshuang somewhat disillusioned. She had always believed that she was top amongst the younger generation. She knew she wasn’t comparable to genius disciples from powerful sects, but how could the gap between her and Yi Yun be so large?

“It’s been a pleasure. If Fairy Xiaoshuang is interested, we can have another scheduled battle sometime,” said Yi Yun as he cupped his fists.

He sensed that the heritage of Clarity Pool Sword Sect was not considered complete. It was very likely that there were a lot of things missing. Over the years, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had probably produced several geniuses who added their insights into the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s heritage. However, the additions were lacking or incomplete.

Yi Yun also possessed Azure Yang Lord’s final heritage. Furthermore, he was well-versed with knowledge gathered across the Universe. His insights in Sword Dao and Pure Yang Dao were things the Clarity Pool Sword Sect could not compete with.

Yi Yun was indebted to Azure Yang Lord so, having met Azure Yang Lord’s descendants, Yi Yun intended to help them.

His sparring with Jian Xiaoshuang was, in fact, an attempt to perfect Jian Xiaoshuang’s cultivation technique and moves while in battle.

“Alright! Today’s battle has been an eye-opener for me. Young Master Yi is truly a young hero!” Jian Wufeng stood up and said.

He thought highly of Yi Yun, whose talent far exceeded his imagination. He wanted to befriend Yi Yun and also ask him about the source of Azure Yang Lord’s heritage but now was not the time.

“Young Master Yi, can you leave a voice transmission mark?”

Jian Wufeng took the initiative and asked. Amongst the people present, Jian Wufeng was considered to be of extraordinary standing. However, to a junior like Yi Yun, he had not only taken the initiative to befriend, his tone was sincere and amiable. This made many in the crowd have mixed feelings. Yi Yun’s future was simply boundless.

For them, befriending a person like Yi Yun did not have its disadvantages either. Instantly, many began taking the initiative to befriend Yi Yun and leave their voice transmission marks.

Although Yi Yun was not interested in befriending these people from the external factions, he still didn’t want to offend them. He kept all the voice transmission marks that were given to him.

Yan Tiancong stood to the side feeling unpleasant. He had come to the trading session with hopes of befriending these important foreign figures. But now, he did not even have a chance to interject.

Compared to a peerless genius like Yi Yun, the status of successor to a trading company was not even worth mentioning.

“Everyone, shouldn’t our trading session begin?”

Seeing more and more people stepping forward to chat with Yi Yun, Elder Fengxing finally said this with a bitter face.

The meet organized by the Seven Star Auction Company was a discussion and trading session regarding Sun Burial Sandsea’s phenomenon. However, due to the appearance of Yi Yun, the focus had changed. Many people only cared about chatting with Yi Yun while he, the event organizer, had been left alone.

“Indeed, the trading session should begin. We should have some correspondence before we embark on this expedition into Sun Burial Sandsea,” said Daoist Xushui. The reason for coming was to engage in trade. Many natural treasures could be found in the trading session.

The crowd left Dragon Gate Platform under Elder Fengxing’s guidance and entered a pavilion platform located in a lotus pond.

Elder Fengxing cleared his throat and said, “Everyone traveled from afar, and it’s the Seven Star Auction Company’s pleasure to welcome you all here. This trading session will start with my Seven Star Auction Company. It might be considered as throwing out a minnow to catch a whale.”

Elder Fengxing clearly did not like engaging in banter as he went directly into the main topic.

“Bring it up.” Elder Fengxing waved his hand.

Instantly, all the guests from the various major factions looked at Elder Fengxing.

Two young girls carried a wooden box to Elder Fengxing’s side. The two beauties smiled sweetly and bowed slightly at the audience beneath the stage before placing the wooden box down.

Dong!

A thud resounded, immediately surprising the crowd. The two of them had carried the wooden box out like they were carrying a bundle of veil fabric, yet it produced such a heavy thud when placed on the ground.

“This is a million-year Yin-sunken Wood. It was found at the site of an ancient expert’s death. It has extracted Yin Qi essence to nourish its growth before being obtained by my Seven Star Auction Company. It was carved into a wooden box and, unless one is a pure Yin virgin, contact with the box would result in the invasion of Yin Qi into their body. The effect would range from discomfort to immediate death.” Elder Fengxing finally found a bit of self-confidence and explained in an unhurried manner.

Although the strength of warriors from Jade Luster City’s Seven Star Auction Company was incomparable to warriors from the foreign sects, the item that came from Sun Burial Sandsea’s Seven Star Auction Company headquarters definitely couldn’t be bad.

“Open it,” said Elder Fengxing to the two girls.

People from the various major factions were looking at the wooden box. Many of them had good discernment. Just the wooden box alone was a treasure itself.

“Oh? This is…” Yi Yun’s mind stirred. He could sense an indescribable coolness from inside the box.

He saw a jade-carved lotus flower inside the box. And the leaves of the lotus held a bouquet of similarly green liquid.

The liquid was clear and crystalline. It gave an indescribable feeling, like that of a nourishing drizzle in spring.

“Item Nourishing Dew?” Jian Wufeng said as his eyes lit up.

“That’s right, Clarity Sect Master has a good eye. This is a tiny bouquet of Item Nourishing Dew. It’s extremely hard to come by for it is a natural treasure condensed from Heaven Earth essence. It requires a pure Yin vessel to ensure that its essence will not be lost.”

“But despite its rarity, its effects are not considered heaven defying. This slightly affects its value. Item Nourishing Dew is used to…repair damaged artifacts. Regardless of the level of the treasure, by using the Item Nourishing Dew to repair it when it is damaged, even if it can’t be restored to its pristine state, it would at least increase its strength greatly.

After Elder Fengxing gave his description, he looked at the crowd around him.

Many experts that came from afar were somewhat interested in Item Nourishing Dew. However, an item that was used to repair artifacts was inferior to a natural treasure that could directly increase one’s strength. Furthermore, many people did not have damaged artifacts. And even if they had one, their damaged artifact was not necessarily more valuable than Item Nourishing Dew. It would be better off to not repair it.

However, amongst the crowd, there was Yi Yun, who felt his heart palpitate when he saw the item. He had always used the pure Yang broken sword. Wasn’t it a damaged artifact?

1081 - : Item Nourishing Dew

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had the pure Yang broken sword for a very long time. It was obviously a quality sword but, unfortunately, it had always been broken. In addition to the corrosion from billions of years, its effects had greatly deteriorated. If the Item Nourishing Dew could repair it, no matter how minuscule the repair was, it would be an extreme increase in strength for Yi Yun.

“I wish to have this Item Nourishing Dew.”

Yi Yun transmitted his voice to Ji Shuiyan. He wasn’t very wealthy. The greatest valued items he possessed were things like the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’. It was impossible for him to produce them, as well. Hence, if he intended to trade for the Item Nourishing Dew, he would need to rely on the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

“Young Master Yi, I’ll definitely do my best.”

Ji Shuiyan grit her teeth. She knew very well that Yi Yun was a true dragon from the heavens. It was impossible for him to stay in Jade Luster City but regardless of the circumstances, she would do her best to obtain whatever Yi Yun wanted.

“The Item Nourishing Dew is indeed a good item, but unfortunately, I have no use for it. This is my item. I will only exchange it for other items. Anyone interested in it can take it away.” Daoist Xushui took out a jade bottle.

He opened the jade bottle and immediately, a strange fragrance emitted.

“This is a Myriad Red Pill,” said Daoist Xushui.

Myriad Red Pills were pills that helped Dao Palace realm warriors break through. Typically, people would keep it for themselves if they obtained such a pill. They would simply use it, but now, it had appeared at the trading session. When it was revealed, the eyes of many lit up.

Supreme-grade pills were useful for Yi Yun too, but he was more inclined to choose the Item Nourishing Dew. The Divine Secrets Trading Company did have supreme-grade pills but there was only one Item Nourishing Dew.

At that moment, Elder Fengxing said, “My Seven Star Auction Company is willing to purchase this Myriad Red Pill. I wonder what Daoist Xushui intends to obtain in exchange?”

As Elder Fengxing spoke, he began engaging in a Yuan Qi voice communication with Daoist Xushui. And following that, various major factions and trading companies began revealing their treasures.

In a blink of an eye, it was the Heaven Amplification Trading Company’s turn.

As a native trading company of Jade Luster City, it attracted many gazes. Deep, meaningful thoughts seemed to lie in those gazes.

The sparring session at the beginning of the meet had left the Heaven Amplification Trading Company in an extremely awkward position.

Now, everyone knew that the Heaven Amplification Trading Company’s young successor, Yan Tiancong, had offended Yi Yun terribly. What sort of person was Yi Yun? He was someone with more monstrous talent than Jian Xiaoshuang. His future was unlimited and he would definitely become a mighty figure in time. As for Yan Tiancong, he was only a wealthy scion. His stature could not be compared to Yi Yun’s at all.

Many even suspected that Yan Tiancong would not live much longer. With Yi Yun’s strength and speed of growth, it would not be difficult to secretly cause Yan Tiancong’s death. Furthermore, if Yi Yun were given another year or so, he would grow to a point that allowed him to completely wipe out the Heaven Amplification Trading Company.

Many people looked at Yan Tiancong with a derisive look. Even Seven Star Auction House’s Elder Fengxing, who had previously supported him, closed his eyes. He deliberately ignored Yan Tiancong so as to demarcate any relations with the scion.

Upon seeing these people’s expressions, Yan Tiancong’s expression turned grim. In a world of warriors, fists were the common language. Strength was everything. Once someone offended an existence they should not have, it would only spell doom.

“Does the Heaven Amplification Trading Company have any treasures to offer in exchange? If there aren’t any, then go to one corner!” Elder Fengxing said stiffly after waiting a long time for Yan Tiancong to speak.

Yan Tiancong’s eyes flashed a cold glimmer. He looked at Yi Yun, who was sitting across him in the pavilion. A murderous glint flashed in his eyes for he knew that Yi Yun would definitely not spare him. However, he wasn’t someone that was easy to deal with.

If anyone wanted his life, they had to first be prepared to die!

Yan Tiancong stood up and said, “My Heaven Amplification Trading Company has the most valuable treasure. I will tell Elder Fengxing about the treasure in private.”

“Oh?”

When people heard Yan Tiancong’s words, some were puzzled while others showed disdain. What treasure was it? To say that it was the most valuable one?

Furthermore, so what if it was most valuable? He could have just taken it out. It was not as if anyone would rob it of him. There was no need to go to such surreptitious means.

“Say whatever you have to say,” said Elder Fengxing with a frown. He couldn’t figure out why Yan Tiancong would involve him.

Yan Tiancong nodded. Without moving his mouth, he began transmitting his voice to Elder Fengxing.

A few seconds later, Elder Fengxing suddenly took on a look of incredulity. He directly asked, “Is what you said true?”

“Absolutely,” said Yan Tiancong.

Elder Fengxing’s face was solemn. After more hesitation, he suddenly cupped his fists and said to everyone present, “Everyone, I’m sorry. There is something that prevents me from making a decision. Please wait here for a moment.”

As Elder Fengxing said that, he began walking away.

This series of actions seemed rather disrespectful. However, no one appeared to be outwardly upset. Although Jade Luster City’s Seven Star Auction Company was lackluster in strength, everyone knew that it was only a tiny branch of a powerful faction. If that weren’t the case, the factions certainly would not have attended for the Seven Star Auction Company alone.

Moments later, Yi Yun’s heart stirred suddenly. Being well-versed in spatial laws, he sensed a fluctuation in space that he knew was the kid to arise from a teleportation array.

Someone had come to Jade Luster City through a teleportation array.

Furthermore, from the magnitude of the spatial fluctuations, Yi Yun was certain that the person must have come from far away.

Yi Yun discharged his perception but could not pinpoint the person’s location. This made Yi Yun’s heart sink for it meant that the person’s strength was extremely high.

Yi Yun’s eyelids twitched slightly. He did not like it when things were out of his control. He looked at Ji Shuiyan and said with a voice transmission, “Put the Item Nourishing Dew aside for now. We should temporarily take our leave from this trading session.”

“Oh?” Ji Shuiyan was surprised. She had been communicating with Elder Fengxing through a voice transmission to negotiate the purchase of the Item Nourishing Dew. The price was yet to be fixed but Yi Yun suddenly insisted on leaving. This left Ji Shuiyan somewhat puzzled. However, she naturally abided by whatever he said.

She nodded and went to leave with Yi Yun.

But right then, Yan Tiancong blocked Ji Shuiyan’s path and said, “Miss Shuiyan, Young Master Yi, why are you in such a hurry to leave?”

Just after he said that another voice sounded, “That’s right. Miss Shuiyan, weren’t you communicating with me about the purchase of the Item Nourishing Dew? The price has yet been decided, so why are you already leaving?”

The second person who spoke was Elder Fengxing.

His body was slightly bent as he hung a smile on his face. As he spoke, he respectfully led a sallow-faced elder in.

The moment the elder entered, he attracted the eyes of everybody. He was dressed in a Daoist robe that accentuated his tall and thin figure. There were seven stars that made up a constellation embroidered on the robe in his chest area. There were also faint Dao patterns shimmering within the seven stars.

The elder took a few steps into the pavilion, with each step seemingly leading the heartbeats of everyone. All those gathered in the pavilion suddenly felt distressed.

Who was this old man…?

Yi Yun was the most appalled, for he realized that the elder’s aura had invisibly locked onto him. It made him subconsciously touch his interspatial ring.

1082 - : Unexpected Turn of Events

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jian Wufeng looked at the seven-star constellation on the elder’s robes and had an immediate recollection. He asked, “Are you someone from the Seven Star Dao Palace? Is the Seven Star Dao Palace interested in the recent phenomenon?”

The Seven Star Dao Palace was an extremely mighty sect in Central State Divine Territory. It’s strength far exceeded that of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

The Seven Star Dao Palace had a great heritage with a long history. Upon seeing someone from the Seven Star Dao Palace appear with the Seven Star Auction Company, everyone came to the realization that the Seven Star Auction Company was one of the temporals of the Seven Star Dao Palace.

Many large sects established temporals to collect all sorts of natural treasures. Temporals were just ancillary to the large clans. Typically, only lacking disciples from the large sects would be sent to head these temporals. As such, despite being the heads of these temporals, they were trivial figures in the sect.

Without a doubt, Sun Burial Sandsea’s Seven Star Auction Company was a temporal of the Seven Star Dao Palace.

This was actually not secret information. It was typical for large sects to not deliberately investigate the temporals of other sects; therefore, many people did not know that the Seven Star Auction Company was related to the Seven Star Dao Palace.

Upon seeing the elder appear, Yan Tiancong revealed a look of glee. He sat back into his seat and swept his eyes at Ji Shuiyan. He did not bother to hide the invasive look in his eyes.

He wanted to borrow the might of the Seven Star Auction Company to get rid of Yi Yun. Without Yi Yun, Ji Shuiyan would fall into his hands, allowing him to do as he pleased.

Upon sensing Yan Tiancong’s gaze, Ji Shuiyan furrowed her brows slightly. She had also heard of the Seven Star Dao Palace before. It was a top-tier sect and its power was greater than any of the factions present. Did the thing that Yan Tiancong mentioned really have the ability to stir the sect behind the Seven Star Auction Company?

Elder Fengxing pursued the matter by saying, “Why? Are Miss Shuiyan and Young Master Yi not interested in the Item Nourishing Dew?”

“If Elder Fengxing is sincerely selling the Item Nourishing Dew, then please name your price directly,” said Yi Yun coldly.

“Haha, there is no rush with the Item Nourishing Dew. Let me first do the introductions. This is Seven Star Dao Palace’s High Ambassador Yu Heng!” Elder Fengxing introduced with an extremely polite tone.

The Seven Star Dao Palace had a total of seven High Ambassadors. They corresponded to the seven stars of the Big Dipper, and all of the seven High Ambassadors were first-rate figures in the Seven Star Dao Palace. Typically, even the overall head of Sun Burial Sandsea’s Seven Star Auction Company had to be as polite as a eunuch seeing an emperor when they met any of the seven High Ambassadors, much less Elder Fengxing. He was excited at having the chance to meet a High Ambassador. It was a rare opportunity. If not for the phenomenon in Sun Burial Sandsea, an event that allowed the Seven Star Auction Company branch heads to have reason to directly contact the seven High Ambassadors, would he have ever had such a chance? Just a bit of help from any of the seven High Ambassadors would open up limitless possibilities for him.

“Yan Tiancong, His Excellency the High Ambassador is somewhat interested in the item you mentioned. Say it once again!”

Elder Fengxing’s voice sounded proud. Previously, he could only suffer in silence because of his lacking strength. Now, with a backer finally appearing, he felt as though he could vent his stress.

“Yes.” Yan Tiancong beamed. He looked at a black-robed middle-aged man behind him and said, “Brother Tianxiao, why don’t you do it?”

The middle-aged man that was addressed as Brother Tianxiao held a feather fan in his hand. He had a long goatee as if he was a Daoist priest. Previously, when Yi Yun first arrived at the trade meet, he had noticed Brother Tianxiao smiling at him.

After the trading session began, the middle-aged man did not speak a word. He was like a venomous snake that lurked in the darkness. It made Yi Yun extremely uncomfortable.

“I’m Tianxiao Shuo, with the honorific title of Master Tianxiao.” Tianxiao Shuo waved his feather fan and said at an unhurried pace. “I have a treasure that is extremely important for the search of treasures in Sun Burial Sandsea. I’m willing to produce it for everyone to use together. However, this treasure has been stolen by a traitor of the sect in the past, eventually landing in the hands of the Divine Secrets Trading Company. Its name is the Heaven Secrets Compass. Miss Shuiyan, I believe you know about this item?”

Tianxiao Shuo suddenly turned to Ji Shuiyan, and she felt her heart sink. She finally understood what Yan Tiancong had divulged. It was the Heaven Secrets Compass! As for Master Tianxiao, he came from the Heaven Secrets Chapter. It was no wonder that he knew that the Heaven Secrets Compass was in her hands.

Before Ji Shuiyan had a chance to respond, she suddenly felt an immense spiritual blast surge into her soul sea.

This spiritual blast came from High Ambassador Yu Heng!

High Ambassador Yu Heng’s spiritual probe was obviously something Ji Shuiyan could not withstand. Her face was quickly drained of its color as she took several steps back and began collapsing backward.

Yi Yun quickly grabbed Ji Shuiyan’s hand and, with a maneuver, he set her on a chair.

However, the power of High Ambassador Yu Heng’s spiritual probe left Ji Shuiyan sweating. There was no trace of the color of blood on her pale lips.

“What are your intentions?”

Yi Yun was incensed. High Ambassador Yu Heng had ignored his status and attacked a weak girl like Ji Shuiyan.

High Ambassador Yu Heng grunted coldly. His grunt contained powerful spiritual strength that left many people taking an involuntary step back. “I was only taking advantage of the momentary daze that girl was in after hearing of the Heaven Secrets Compass. It was to confirm what her thoughts are with a spiritual probe. This is already a rather gentle spiritual technique. If I were to do a soul search, her mind would immediately collapse!”

“I have already confirmed that the Heaven Secrets Compass is indeed in the hands of the Divine Secrets Trading Company! Since it’s the item of the Heaven Secrets Chapter, hand it over. I will definitely not make you suffer losses and give you compensation for it.”

The seven star-robed elder’s words were not to be doubted. As he spoke, his spiritual energy began enveloping Yi Yun. It was a suppression that came from someone quite superior.

Yi Yun found it hard to determine High Ambassador Yu Heng’s cultivation level. He knew that it was due to the gap in their strength.

No matter how much talent Yi Yun had, he was still a junior in the end. It was impossible that he could match a High Ambassador of a mighty sect.

Yi Yun clenched his fists tightly. Strength. In the end, he still lacked strength. The amount of time he had spent cultivating was just too short. He had not been able to fully develop his strength. If he could cultivate to the realm of Dao Palace, everything would be different.

“The Heaven Secrets Compass has been lost in Sun Burial Sandsea with my grandfather. Furthermore, the ones that betrayed the Heaven Secrets Chapter is not my grandfather but all of you!” Ji Shuiyan said fiercely.

For this, Tianxiao Shuo had a derisive look on his face. He completely ignored Ji Shuiyan and turned to High Ambassador Yu Heng. He said in a fluttery manner, “Your Excellency, it looks like this traitor does not plan on handing the Heaven Secrets Compass over.”

High Ambassador Yu Heng smiled slightly as he stroked his chin and looked at Yi Yun. Yi Yun sensed a faint killing intent from his eyes.

This froze his heart. The other party obviously knew he was talented, yet wanted to snatch the Heaven Secrets Compass. This meant that they had an understanding of the item in Sun Burial Sandsea. Driven by the perks, they were willing to take the risk.

Although he had extraordinary talent, as long as they could ensure his death, thus preventing him from fully developing, then they prevented him from posing a threat.

1083 - : Seven Star Dao Palace

CKtalon  CKtalon

High Ambassador Yu Heng touched his interspatial ring as he strode towards Ji Shuiyan.

As one of the seven high ambassadors of the Seven Star Dao Palace, the gap between High Ambassador Yu Heng and Ji Shuiyan’s strength was like the difference between a mountain and a pile of dust. Just his approach was enough to make Ji Shuiyan feel stifled in the chest and find it hard to breathe. Blood even began seeping out the corner of her mouth.

With High Ambassador Yu Heng’s strength, there was no need for him to make a move. Just his aura was enough to kill!

At that moment, the atmosphere was all set for a showdown. Ji Shuiyan’s life was in great peril!

Yi Yun already had one hand on the pure Yang broken sword. His palms were sweaty, for he knew that just High Ambassador Yu Heng’s suppression was enough to push Ji Shuiyan’s meridians to the brink of collapse. It would only take a few more steps for Ji Shuiyan to meet her demise!

Yi Yun simply could not sit idly by as this happened.

Yi Yun could distinctly sense High Ambassador Yu Heng’s fearsome power. If they began exchanging blows, there was no chance for him to win.

However, he had no other choice. If handing the Heaven Secrets Compass over could ensure his and Ji Shuiyan’s life, Yi Yun would naturally have handed it over.

But now, Yi Yun could clearly detect a killing intent from High Ambassador Yu Heng. At this point, he’d have to face a fight even if he did hand over the compass.

Yi Yun’s outstanding talent warranted no mercy from High Ambassador Yu Heng or the future consequences would be disastrous.

Many people had knowingly taken a step back upon seeing the situation. Although they had tried befriending Yi Yun before, they were also jealous of his genius. Now, when he was in trouble, they easily watched idly by the side. Many of them even began gloating at his misfortune.

Yi Yun completely ignored the reaction of the crowd. He was extremely calm as he circulated his Yuan Qi. The four nine-leaf Dao fruits immersed themselves in Yuan Qi, ready to give him a burst of energy whenever needed.

Yi Yun knew that High Ambassador Yu Heng’s blatant act of suppressing Ji Shuiyan was truly a ploy to force his hand. Once he attacked, the High Ambassador would kill him in one strike! High Ambassador Yu Heng’s perception was constantly locked onto him. The moment he moved, he would receive an attack of limitless magnitude.

He would only get one attack!

At that moment, it was as though time had slowed down. Ji Shuiyan’s helplessness, High Ambassador Yu Heng’s coldness, Master Tianxiao’s derision, and Yan Tiancong’s hideous smile seemed to turn evanescent. Yi Yun’s mind was only on the pure Yang broken sword. The cold sword emitted a clear and refreshing touch that reached his heart. At that moment, a voice abruptly rang in Yi Yun’s heart—

“Attack his left!”

Yi Yun was highly focused. It was unknown where the voice came from but there was no time for Yi Yun to have any suspicions. He struck straight at High Ambassador Yu Heng’s left chest!

Boom!

Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi burst out as he slashed with the pure Yang broken sword. It came with the worldly power that formed a black wheel. The black wheel was filled with the phantom images of demons and gods. They roared, seemingly changing the color of the world as if everything would be annihilated because of the wheel!

This is…

Even High Ambassador Yu Heng, whose cultivation level far exceeded Yi Yun’s, was alarmed by the strike. The laws contained within the attack shocked him. What sort of Dao fruits had this junior condensed?

This also affirmed High Ambassador Yu Heng’s resolution to kill Yi Yun. This person was absolutely not to be spared!

He immediately gave up on Ji Shuiyan and struck at Yi Yun with a palm!

This palm strike rolled like a roaring avalanche as it met Yi Yun’s 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence with an indomitable strength!

Ka-cha!

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence shook violently, and the gigantic palm was slightly held back before finally crashing over with intense might! Although Yi Yun’s laws were strong, the limitation of his cultivation level was a ravine that could not be easily bridged. There was no way for him to withstand it with only his Dao Manifestation realm cultivation!

Just as the gigantic palm was about to devour Yi Yun, a sword beam suddenly appeared, as if it came from the nothingness of an ancient era.

This strike left no traces. It was like a rainbow beam of light that streaked through the eternal night, thrusting straight at High Ambassador Yu Heng!

Who is it!?

High Ambassador Yu Heng was alarmed. He had just blocked Yi Yun’s strike but another strike came at him. Yi Yun’s attack was on his left, while this strike aimed at his right. With all his defenses focused on his left, his right side was exposed and vulnerable!

This was courting death!

High Ambassador Yu Heng bellowed as he forcefully retracted his attack and threw out a horsetail whisk with his right hand.

The horsetail whisk produced a burst of silvery threads that numbered in the thousands which bound the sudden appearance of the strike.

However, when the horsetail whisk met the sword strike, High Ambassador Yu Heng realized that he had far underestimated the might of the sword. He never expected for there to be such an expert swordsman. His hasty defense could not withstand the strike at all.

“Ka-cha!”

The silvery threads were shattered as the sword beam’s momentum did not decrease. The strike veered to the left and headed straight for High Ambassador Yu Heng’s heart!

High Ambassador Yu Heng’s hairs stood on end as he hurriedly flew back in retreat. At the same time, a round heart-protective screen appeared in front of his chest to block the sword beam.

“Peng!”

The heart-protective screen was sent flying as the sword beam was deflected. However, the sword beam still managed to pierce through High Ambassador Yu Heng’s shoulder, making it spray out a mist of blood!

Pa!

The horsetail whisk fell to the ground as High Ambassador Yu Heng clutched his shoulder. He had retreated several steps back and his face was pale. His eagle-like eyes swept across the crowd and finally locked onto the culprit.

Jian Wufeng!

“It’s you! You dare attack me?”

High Ambassador Yu Heng was shocked. The Clarity Pool Sword Sect that Jian Wufeng was part of completely paled in comparison to the Seven Star Dao Palace in terms of strength. Yet, Jian Wufeng had attacked him. Was he mad?

This thought was not limited to High Ambassador Yu Heng, either. Everyone present was dumbfounded. What was Jian Wufeng thinking?

“Clarity Pool Sect Master, do you know what you are doing? My Seven Star Dao Palace is only attempting to retrieve the Heaven Secrets Chapter’s Heaven Secrets Compass, in preparation for the search for treasures in Sun Burial Sandsea. Yet, you attacked High Ambassador Yu Heng?” Elder Fengxing said anxiously.

Previously, when he reported the matter to High Ambassador Yu Heng, he had mentioned that Yi Yun did not have any deep affiliations with the attending experts and that killing him would be easy. Who knew that Jian Wufeng would risk his sect being wiped out to intervene on this matter?

Was Jian Wufeng a fool? This was the first time he had met Yi Yun. Even if Yi Yun’s sparring with his disciple had garnered his appreciation, it was only an appreciation. Why would he wager the lives of everyone in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect to save Yi Yun? Was such an act that ignored all consequences something a sect master would do?

“What I do not need is any comments from you!”

As Jian Wufeng spoke, the sword in his hand suddenly flew out. Elder Fengxing jumped in fright and, without a second thought, he threw himself backward and began rolling on the floor so as to dodge the strike!

He was certain that Jian Wufeng’s strike was aimed to kill him. There was no chance of him surviving Jian Wufeng’s attack but, after a series of tumbling rolls, Elder Fengxing saw that the sword was not charging at him. The sword had flown to the backyard of the Seven Star Auction Company, and, as though it had eyes, it stabbed straight into the teleportation array in the middle of the backyard.

“Bam!”

With an explosive sound, the extremely expensive long-distance teleportation array shattered completely!

1084 - : Life-and-Death Crisis

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Jian Wufeng…You destroyed my Seven Star Dao Palace’s teleportation array!?”

Elder Fengxing shuddered with fury. The teleportation array crossed distances of tens of millions of miles. It was an important array for the Seven Star Dao Palace and its cost of construction was a horrifying number. As the person-in-charge of Jade Luster City’s Seven Star Auction Company, Elder Fengxing had no way of shirking responsibility for the array’s destruction, regardless of the reason.

Elder Fengxing’s heart chilled when he thought of the strict rules of the Seven Star Dao Palace. Given his lowly position in the Seven Star Dao Palace, not even his death was enough to cover the deficit for the loss of the array!

“So what if it’s destroyed?”

Jian Wufeng retrieved his sword with a cold expression. Had he not destroyed the teleportation array, he would definitely be doomed once the Seven Star Auction Company sent a transmission requesting reinforcements from the Seven Star Dao Palace.

Jian Wufeng was already at his absolute limit against the sole threat of High Ambassador Yu Heng. He had succeeded in his attack thanks to Yi Yun restraining the High Ambassador, allowing him to gain the initiative.

On that topic, Jian Wufeng now realized how fearsome Yi Yun truly was. Although Yi Yun’s strike had been easily resolved by High Ambassador Yu Heng, it still surprised Jian Wufeng. That strike was far stronger than the one he had used against Jian Xiaoshuang. The laws the young man knew were astounding. His future was impossible to estimate!

The atmosphere turned silent. The crowd had already retreated dozens of meters back. The instantaneous clash from before had destroyed the surrounding pavilions. Even the lotus pond was left in shambles, as though a tornado had blown through.

With a wave of his hand, the horsetail whisk that fell to the ground landed back in High Ambassador Yu Heng’s hand. His injured shoulder was completely pierced through. Although the bleeding had stopped, there was still remnant sword Qi in his wounds that continued to damage his meridians. He found it difficult to neuter quickly.

This made High Ambassador Yu Heng secretly alarmed. Jian Wufeng was actually that powerful!

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect was originally regarded as beneath contempt in High Ambassador Yu Heng’s eyes. However, he now came to a realization that he had far underestimated Jian Wufeng’s strength. He was definitely a difficult foe. Even if he was not already entangled with Yi Yun, he wouldn’t dare claim he could win against Jian Wufeng in a one-on-one battle.

“Jian Wufeng, why are you fighting my Seven Star Dao Palace? Explain yourself! If you want the Heaven Secrets Compass, I promise you that after I retrieve it for the Heaven Secrets Chapter, it will definitely be shared with you.”

High Ambassador Yu Heng was somewhat anxious after the destruction of the teleportation array. He was unable to completely overpower Jian Wufeng, and once Jian Wufeng helped Yi Yun escape, his dignity within the Seven Star Dao Palace would be destroyed.

“Share the Heaven Secrets Compass with me? Hmph! You and I both know what’s going on today. There’s no need to sound so lofty. Don’t put it as if you are retrieving the Heaven Secrets Compass for the Heaven Secrets Chapter. Isn’t it simply the Seven Star Dao Palace’s coveting of the treasure in Sun Burial Sandsea? It appears that I have been underestimating this treasure. Who knew that your Seven Star Dao Palace would go to such unscrupulous means for it? A high and mighty Seven Star Dao Palace High Ambassador actually attacking a junior that hasn’t even cultivated for sixty years, as well as a frail young lady. You truly have no shame!”

Jian Wufeng’s derision made High Ambassador Yu Heng’s expression turn increasingly ugly.

“It seems like you do not plan on telling me the reason,” High Ambassador Yu Heng said in a sinister tone.

He had heard that Jian Wufeng had an upright character but even so, it was impossible for him to just fight any injustice for someone he had just acquainted himself with, while also risking the lives of every one of his sect’s disciples. There had to be a reason.

Even the treasure in Sun Burial Sandsea was not valuable enough for Jian Wufeng to do so. After all, even if he obtained the Heaven Secrets Compass, it only increased the chances of finding the treasure by a few notches. Nothing was absolute.

Jian Wufeng did not speak a word as he waved his hand and threw out a miniature pagoda.

Yi Yun faltered slightly when he saw this. He knew that the miniature pagoda was likely a mobile abode. It actually resembled the God Advent Tower but its quality was far inferior. From the looks of it, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect also had records that pertained to the God Advent Tower. It was likely that someone from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had created a replica of the God Advent Tower from those records.

“All of you, enter my mobile abode!”

As Jian Wufeng spoke, the sword in his hand remained pointed at High Ambassador Yu Heng.

High Ambassador Yu Heng’s eyes emitted a chilly beam that gave people the shivers. He knew that Jian Wufeng was planning to leave with the two juniors. He had every intention of stopping them, but he was injured. He would not necessarily match Jian Wufeng if they truly came to blows. There was no way for him to restrain them.

“Everyone! I, Daoist Yu Heng, represent the Seven Star Dao Palace and I hereby decree that anyone who helps me detain Jian Wufeng today will definitely be compensated heavily in the future!”

High Ambassador Yu Heng knew that he could not stop Jian Wufeng so he could only beseech the experts from the external sects to help.

If everyone were to attack, he believed that there would be no room for Jian Wufeng to escape!

Indeed, when High Ambassador Yu Heng said those words, some people began to eagerly stir.

Jian Wufeng’s heart sank as he said coldly, “If anyone were to make a move, I wouldn’t speak against you but I’d definitely be able to pull a few along to accompany me in death!”

When Jian Wufeng said that, Yi Yun felt extremely grateful.

It was very rare to receive a life-saving favor, and even more rare was it for the saver to pay a huge price and take on extreme risk to save a life.

Yi Yun cupped his fists and said, “Senior, I will never forget the favor you bestowed upon me today!”

After saying that, Yi Yun looked at everyone around him and said coldly, “I, Yi Yun, have lived for a few decades and I have encountered peril after peril but I happen to have a tenacious life. I have visited the gates of hell several times but the lord of hell doesn’t want me. This has allowed me to thankfully survive to this day, and you can say that I have mastered a myriad of skills!”

“I hereby promise to anyone who attacks Senior Wufeng and I today: I, Yi Yun, will definitely remember it clearly. If I am lucky enough to avoid death, and when I attain mastery in my martial arts, I will definitely go to each and every one of your sects for a visit!”

Yi Yun’s sentence began to contain cold killing intent as it neared the end.

For a junior to say such threatening words to so many experts, it should have been a ridiculous joke that would make people laugh their heads off. However, when Yi Yun said it, no one laughed.

They knew very well that if Yi Yun had been able to attain his present achievements without a sect, it meant that he was augmented by divine providence. Yi Yun’s claim of encountering numerous dangers over the past decades without ever crossing the gates of hell was definitely not empty talk. If not for such experiences, how could Yi Yun attain what he had today?

Yi Yun had survived numerous life-and-death experiences in the past, so how could they be certain that they could kill Yi Yun today? By provoking such a foe, they risked having each and every one of their sects vanquished the day he fully developed himself!

Although the Seven Star Dao Palace had promised certain rewards, it was still a question of how much these conditions would be fulfilled. Compared to the threat of Yi Yun’s future, many people shrunk back.

“All of you…”

Seeing the crowd retreat, High Ambassador Yu Heng turned furious and anxious. But in that moment, he could not do a thing. Yan Tiancong was even more worried. He had given the information regarding the Heaven Secrets Compass so as to vanquish Yi Yun, but now, it looked as if Yi Yun would get away.

1085 - : Yi Yun’s Threat

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yan Tiancong did not dare to speak out loud in front of Jian Wufeng. Instead, he sent constant voice transmissions, hoping to convince the experts from other sects, who were on the fence, to attack Yi Yun.

“The Heaven Secrets Compass is in Yi Yun’s hands. Once he leaves, the treasure in Sun Burial Sandsea will belong to Yi Yun! If we kill him, any treasures he holds will belong to us. Furthermore, Yi Yun has already made himself the enemy of the Seven Star Dao Palace. How can he have any hope?”

Yan Tiancong transmitted his voice everywhere but no one bothered with him. At that moment, Jian Xiaoshuang had already entered the miniature pagoda’s abode.

Ji Shuiyan followed after Jian Xiaoshuang into the abode. Before she entered the pagoda, she shattered a jade charm. No one noticed that tiny action of hers.

Finally, it was Yi Yun. He gave a deep, meaningful glance at Yun Yantian and Master Tianxiao. He said slowly, “Yan Tiancong, Tianxiao Shuo. I, Yi Yun, will be visiting the Heaven Amplification Trading Company and Heaven Secrets Chapter in the future. I’ll rip out your souls and melt your marrows. The Heaven Amplification Trading Company and Heaven Secrets Chapter will be reduced to nothing but dust!”

Yi Yun’s words were like warnings from a god of death. It gave Yan Tiancong shivers that felt as if he had fallen into an ice cavern.

As for Master Tianxiao, he was still waving his fan. Although he was feeling somewhat afraid, he still managed to keep his composure. “Hmph! My Heaven Secrets Chapter has been passed down for tens of thousands of years. You want to destroy my Heaven Secrets Chapter alone? What a joke!”

Yi Yun did not retort. His figure directly vanished into the miniature pagoda, allowing Jian Wufeng to wave his hand and retrieve the pagoda. In the next moment, his figure blurred into a flash, transforming into a sword beam that shot to the ends of the world!

Daoist Yu Heng had the intention of blocking him, but Jian Wufeng’s figure disappeared in an instant. The speed wiped Daoist Yu Heng’s thoughts of pursuing. Ignoring Jian Wufeng’s strength, just his speed alone was not something that he could compare with.

“Jian Wufeng!”

Daoist Yu Heng had a sullen expression. He knew that he would have to bear a heavy responsibility for today’s turn of events. He would even be blamed by the Seven Star Dao Palace’s Palatial Lord. Of course, there was someone else who could not escape blame either.

He turned to look at Elder Fengxing, who jumped in fright. With a shudder, he plumped to the ground and uttered, “High Ambassador, High Ambassador, this matter has nothing to do with me.”

“I had previously asked you if anyone would aid Yi Yun. You guaranteed me that Yi Yun had only just come to Jade Luster City and no one would help him. So what happened in the end?”

Daoist Yu Heng grabbed Elder Fengxing up like he was grabbing a weak chick. Elder Fengxing’s body trembled but he did not dare resist.

“You are no longer in charge of the Seven Star Auction Company of Jade Luster City. Return with me to the Seven Star Abyss for your sins!”

When Daoist Yu Heng said those words, Elder Fengxing was scared out his wits. The Seven Star Abyss was the name for the torture dungeons of the Seven Star Dao Palace. He knew he was doomed. Being sent to Seven Star Abyss meant there was no chance of him surviving.

Daoist Yu Heng did not want to shoulder the main responsibility for the day’s events. Therefore, he, as a trivial figure, became the scapegoat.

Yan Tiancong felt his heart shudder as he watched Elder Fengxing, who had enjoyed a high stature with everything at his beck and call yesterday, now being taken away by Daoist Yu Heng. He knew that the aftermath for Elder Fengxing was fraught with grim possibilities!

It was so easy for Elder Fengxing to go from being a mighty figure that held great power to becoming a prisoner. Everything that happened to this man who garnered his fear and respect was all because of Yi Yun.

Against Yi Yun, Elder Fengxing had been reduced to such a miserable state simply by being incompetent.

Thinking back to the words that Yi Yun had said to him, Yan Tiancong’s head felt heavy and his feet turned limp. He was under immense stress.

…

Meanwhile, some five thousand meters away, a tiny pagoda in the form of a divine beam of light flew through the sky. That pagoda was Jian Wufeng’s mobile abode.

Jian Wufeng was sitting on the ground as he controlled the miniature pagoda and meditated. As for Yi Yun, Jian Xiaoshuang and company, they had nothing to do in the pagoda.

Jian Xiaoshuang was sitting not far from Yi Yun. She stared intently at Yi Yun without so much as a blink.

Yi Yun was being watched for a full fifteen minutes when he finally could not help but give a few dry coughs. “Miss Xiaoshuang, why are you looking at me?”

“You question why I’m looking at you? What’s your relationship to my ancestral lineage?”

Jian Xiaoshuang had begun to realize that the reason why her master would take such great risks to save Yi Yun was absolutely not because he thought highly of him, but because Yi Yun came from the same lineage as her master. He could even have deeper ties that she was unaware of.

Yi Yun found Jian Xiaoshuang’s direct questioning amusing. He said, “I do have some deep ties with the Clarity Pool Sword Sect…”

When Yi Yun said that, Jian Wufeng opened his eyes and looked at Yi Yun.

“Senior Wufeng, I once obtained some of the heritage of Senior Azure Yang Lord. I have even seen Senior Azure Yang Lord’s sword intent in a visual disk array!”

Yi Yun’s words rendered a huge shock in Jian Wufeng’s heart.

Azure Yang Lord! It was indeed Azure Yang Lord! Although Jian Wufeng was already certain that Yi Yun was related to the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, he did not know how deep the ties went. He wasn’t entirely sure but now, upon hearing Yi Yun mention news regarding Azure Yang Lord, how could he not be excited?

Azure Yang Lord had already been gone for tens of millions of years. Even disciples of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect did not know that their sect’s founding ancestor was Azure Yang Lord. That was because, for a pretty long period of time, Azure Yang Lord’s name was taboo in the Central State Divine Territory. The origins of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had been kept a secret and only the reigning sect master and the grand elder knew the truth.

Even Jian Xiaoshuang was somewhat puzzled when she heard that. She knew that the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had an impressive founding ancestor but now, seeing Jian Wufeng’s state, she had a vague guess that the founding ancestor was likely Azure Yang Lord.

“Senior Wufeng, years ago, Senior Azure Yang Lord had been harmed by others and chose to head to the lower realms. There, in the lower realms, he gained insights into stronger sword intent. Although Senior Azure Yang Lord’s cultivation level was no longer as strong as it was in the past, just the sword intent alone far exceeded what he knew in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. And this new sword intent is something I have seen as well.”

“Oh? There is an even stronger sword intent?”

Jian Wufeng was alarmed. He had cultivated all his life in the pursuit of the pinnacle of the way of the sword. Originally, the partially lost heritage of Azure Yang Lord had left Jian Wufeng with some regret. But now, having heard that Azure Yang Lord had another breakthrough after entering the lower realm, how could he not be excited?

He knew clearly that there was no chance for him to see the pinnacle of the way of the sword his entire life but he wanted to climb higher, allowing him to see further.

“Senior Wufeng, I’m willing to demonstrate the final sword intent left behind by Azure Yang Lord. Unfortunately, I have only been able to replicate a portion of its charms.”

“Good! Very good!” Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Jian Wufeng experienced vicissitudes of emotions. He was willing to lose tens of thousands of his life span just to be able to see a higher profoundness of the sword.

He did not say any words of gratitude to Yi Yun for demonstrating the sword intent either. Although this was the first day he was meeting Yi Yun, he felt like they had taken to each other at once. It felt like they were friends of differing ages so any words of gratitude were superfluous.

“This abode is not suitable for you to demonstrate it. Let us head to Clarity Pool Sword Sect now. Then you can show me the strike that will widen my horizons!”

1086 - : Onward to Clarity Pool

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Jian Wufeng’s miniature pagoda flew hundreds of thousands of miles, it entered a spatial node and underwent a spatial warp. In the next instant, the scene before them was enormously open and clear.

In front of them was an unending stretch of snowy mountains. These mountain ranges were hundreds of thousands of feet tall, and the clouds were hanging low by the mountains’ bases. Some of the larger mountain peaks were gathered around a huge lake.

Although the lake was on frosty land above snowy mountain peaks, it did not freeze. Snow lotuses bloomed in the lake and each one of them lived for millennia. From afar, they looked like snowflakes on the lake’s surface. It was an extremely beautiful sight.

“This lake’s name is Snowy Mountain Clarity Pool. It is the entrance to my Clarity Pool Sword Sect. The reason for my sect’s name is also because of it,” said Jian Wufeng as he piloted the pagoda through space once again. Above the lake hid the entrance to the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. It was an independent, tiny world.

Another instantaneous change of scenery happened. The lake was still there, but the surroundings had completely changed. The snow that covered everything had disappeared, and was replaced by an endless number of palatial buildings. In between the buildings were intricate trees and flowers. It looked like a mortal paradise.

Yi Yun saw the main gate to the palatial compound from afar. The plaque on it had two words, Clarity Pool, which were written with great flair. The strokes contained sword intent that made one’s heart palpitate.

Jian Wufeng’s miniature pagoda flew to the main gate and finally landed in a square.

The square had a circumference of approximately five kilometers. There was a huge cauldron erected in the middle that gave it quite a formidable look.

Yi Yun did not think too much of his sudden appearance in this strange place but Ji Shuiyan felt somewhat lost.

They had traversed a distance of at least tens of millions of miles from Jade Luster City.

“Miss Shuiyan, we should take things as they come. Coming to the Clarity Pool Sword Sect is an expedient measure. As for Jade Luster City, I will bring you back one day.” Yi Yun solemnly said, understanding her thoughts.

Ji Shuiyan obviously did not doubt Yi Yun’s promise.

“As for the Divine Secrets Trading Company…I’m very sorry. I never expected that I would eventually bring disaster upon you.” Yi Yun knew that in their hasty departure, it was impossible to bring the Divine Secrets Trading Company along with them. The people left behind were naturally in grave danger.

Ji Shuiyan shook her head and said, “Young Master Yi, please do not say that. Without Young Master Yi, not only would the Divine Secrets Trading company be at risk, but my personal outcome would have been disastrous.”

“Our sudden departure might have offended the Seven Star Dao Palace,” she continued, “but they will unlikely bother with a tiny faction like the Divine Secrets Trading Company. It’s just the Seven Star Auction Company and Yan Tiancong that will probably seek recompense against the Divine Secrets Trading Company. Before I entered the abode, I secretly crushed a voice transmission jade slip. I have instructed my cadres to escape Jade Luster City through secret passages. As for the rest, I have allowed them to pledge allegiance to the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. Their lives should be spared.”

Yi Yun had noticed Ji Shuiyan’s act of crushing a voice transmission jade slip. She had both left a secret passage ahead of time and given the order at such a crucial moment. All of this showed her comprehensive deliberations. As long as the lives were preserved, everything else could be rebuilt. Although riches would be lost, they were still possible to retrieve again.

…

“The Sect Master is back.”

The moment Jian Wufeng landed on the ground, large numbers of people from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect came to welcome him.

“Sect Master Martial Uncle!”

A red-shirted youth came forward with a smile. He was somewhat special for he had two swords slung behind his back.

Yi Yun was somewhat surprised that the man dual-wielded swords.

Azure Yang Lord used a single sword and the difficulty of using two swords was much higher than using a single sword. The Clarity Pool Sword Sect did not obtain all of Azure Yang Lord’s heritage, yet the red-shirted youth still chose the much harder dual-wielding. It was apparent that he was a person that had immense confidence in himself.

“Welcome back, Junior Sister Xiaoshuang.”

The red-shirted youth turned to Jian Xiaoshuang and said gently after bowing at Jian Wufeng. Just after that, he noticed Yi Yun standing behind Jian Xiaoshuang.

He faltered for a moment before saying, “This is?”

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect was a partially reclusive sect. The location of the sect was a secret and not to be leaked.

As for the sect’s disciples, they were not allowed to bring outsiders into the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

Now, seeing Jian Wufeng bring outsiders back left the red-shirted youth baffled. It was impossible for this person to be a disciple that Jian Wufeng had recruited, right? Their Clarity Pool Sword Sect had always had few in numbers because their criteria for taking in disciples were extremely stringent.

Jian Wufeng had taken Jian Xiaoshuang as his only disciple. As for the red-shirted youth, he was the personal disciple of the Grand Elder.

The red-shirted youth and Jian Xiaoshuang could be said to be the twin powerhouses of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

However, Jian Wufeng ignored his question and instead directly said, “Pass the command. Seal the entrance and activate the concealment array formation. No one is to leave or enter the Clarity Pool Sword Sect without my approval! In addition, everyone is to be on full alert and take up first-degree preparations for battle!”

The moment Jian Wufeng gave the order, many people that had rushed there to welcome him were dumbfounded.

First-degree preparations for battle? In that state, all disciples were not to enter reclusive cultivation and had to be constantly on alert. Furthermore, with the defensive array formations fully powered, the number of World Stones that were depleted a day was an astronomical sum.

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect had probably not entered first-degree preparations for battle in tens of thousands of years. There was also a need to seal the entrance to prevent any entry and exit. What was going on? Was a formidable foe going to attack?

“Fenghong, why are you still in a daze? Quickly send out the order!” Jian Wufeng roared at the red-shirted youth. Jian Fenghong had no chance to ask questions about Yi Yun as he hurriedly passed the order.

Soon, the entire Clarity Pool Sword Sect fell into an extremely tense mood. Large numbers of people came out of their cultivation grounds as they presumed that a formidable foe was approaching.

After passing the order, Jian Fenghong finally could not curb his curiosity and asked, “Sect Master Martial Uncle, what’s the matter? Is someone attacking us? Who is the enemy?”

“It’s unknown if they will attack us but the enemy is the Seven Star Dao Palace,” said Jian Wufeng lightly. But when Jian Fenghong heard that, he was given quite a shock.

What!? The Seven Star Dao Palace!?

The Seven Star Dao Palace was an extremely powerful faction in the Central State Divine Territory. Just any one of its seven High Ambassadors were a match for Jian Wufeng. Furthermore, there was the unfathomable Palatial Lord and the deputy!

There would be no chance of victory if the Clarity Pool Sword Sect fought the Seven Star Dao Palace.

“Junior Brother Wufeng, what did you say? You offended the Seven Star Dao Palace?”

At that moment, a bellow sounded as a fat middle-aged man approached with the wind.

He was also dressed in red and his body looked plump. However, he moved as light as a swallow. In a few strides, he had traversed thousands of feet and appeared in front of Jian Wufeng.

This person was Jian Fenghong’s master, the Grand Elder of Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect always had two people in power. Both of them would discuss matters and come up with decisions that avoided several mistakes but, at the same time, it did not prevent the two people in power to wrestle for that power.

“There were reasons for it. I was left with no choice.” Jian Wufeng shook his head. Offending the Seven Star Dao Palace was indeed a tough issue.

1087 - : Clarity Pool Sword Sect

CKtalon  CKtalon

“There were reasons for it?” the red-shirted man was vexed upon hearing Jian Wufeng’s explanation. “Regardless of the reason, we should never have made the Seven Star Dao Palace our enemy. I have repeatedly cautioned you to be tolerant when outside.”

The red-shirted fatty’s name was Jian Buyi. He was much older than Jian Wufeng and was rather dissatisfied with the trouble Jian Wufeng had stirred. He knew Jian Wufeng’s temper. He was a straightforward and stubborn person, which made it easy for him to offend others.

At that moment, Yi Yun took the initiative to step forward and say, “Senior Wufeng had exchanged blows with the Seven Star Dao Palace because of me.”

“You?”

Jian Buyi looked at Yi Yun and was dumbfounded. Who was this punk?

“I’m Yi Yun.”

Yi Yun was facing people from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect after all. Since Jian Wufeng had saved his life, he was rather respectful to the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

Jian Buyi was rendered somewhat speechless. He didn’t care if the youth’s name was Yi Yun or Er Yun. What he was most concerned about was the huge trouble with the Seven Star Dao Palace.

“Senior Brother, I saved our young friend, Yi Yun because he comes from the same lineage as our Clarity Pool Sword Sect.”

“Oh? Same lineage?” Jian Buyi was increasingly confounded. The Clarity Pool Sword Sect did not have any branches, so how could they be from the same lineage?

Jian Wufeng added on, “Our Clarity Pool Sword Sect inherited the founding ancestor’s heritage to be able to develop to this point. As for our young friend, Yi Yun, he has similarly inherited the founding ancestor’s heritage. Furthermore, he is an astounding genius. His comprehension of the founding ancestor’s Sword Dao can be said to have reached the acme of perfection. For a genius that shares our lineage, I would be willing to offend every sect in Central State Divine Territory to save him, much less than Seven Star Dao Palace.”

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples that were present to hear this were dumbfounded. Yi Yun had inherited the founding ancestor’s heritage?

Although the Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples did not know about Azure Yang Lord, they knew that the Clarity Pool Founding Ancestor was a greatly respected figure whose Sword Dao reached the acme of perfection. The Clarity Pool Sword Sect had inherited about 80%, leaving about 20% missing. However, every presiding batch of Clarity Pool Sword Sect geniuses would add to it, allowing them to develop a unique Sword Dao.

In terms of strength, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was not considered a top faction in the Central State Divine Territory. However, in terms of Sword Dao heritage and the comprehension in the way of the sword, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had always thought of themselves as second to none.

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect had pride in the sword!

Now, Jian Wufeng claimed that this Yi Yun had inherited the founding ancestor’s heritage. That his comprehension of Sword Dao had reached the acme of perfection. The red-shirted fatty naturally disagreed.

Jian Wufeng continued, “Our young friend, Yi Yun, has promised to demonstrate his Sword Dao insights. I want to have every disciple in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect view them. Yi Yun has agreed to this. He is willing to demonstrate the Sword Dao several times. As for how much anyone can understand, that will depend on themselves.”

Jian Wufeng’s words were said to the various disciples of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

The moment he said those words, the crowd present were somewhat stunned.

They could ignore Jian Wufeng’s claim that Yi Yun’s Sword Dao had reached the acme of perfection, but they thought that since Yi Yun was a junior, he meant that his Sword Dao was superb only amongst juniors. But now, Jian Wufeng wanted all the Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples to watch Yi Yun’s demonstration of his Sword Dao?

Furthermore, he had also said that the amount they could understand depended on themselves as if they were unable to grasp it. Wasn’t that belittling to them? Many people of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect were aiming to one day become one of the top ten swordsmen in the Central State Divine Territory. As for why they weren’t aiming for first place, it was because there were freaks like Jian Fenghong and Jian Xiaoshuang in the world. It would be impossible for them to surpass that duo.

Jian Buyi frowned. He knew that Jian Wufeng had very high standards. Since he said so, it meant that the youth had some ability.

“How many years have you been practicing the way of the sword?” asked Jian Buyi.

“Almost sixty years,” answered Yi Yun.

“Oh?” Jian Buyi raised his eyebrows. That amount of time was way too short. No matter how talented Yi Yun was, how strong could he be when he was limited by time? What was Jian Wufeng thinking?

“Sixty years? I have already cultivated in the way of the sword for six times that!”

Not far away, a Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciple grumbled softly. He had been practicing the way of the sword for 360 years. Yet, he had ended up having to learn from Yi Yun. However, since it was the Sect Master’s words, he could not openly retort.

Many of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples had cultivated for hundreds of years. As for Jian Fenghong, he had cultivated for 400 years.

Among those in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, Jian Fenghong’s strength was slightly weaker, but when it came to Sword Dao he was on par with the typical Elder.

Jian Xiaoshuang had defeated all her peers but, against Jian Fenghong, she could only learn from him.

Jian Fenghong was always fond of Jian Xiaoshuang. Of course, he could patiently spar with Jian Xiaoshuang but who was Yi Yun? How could Jian Fenghong be okay with learning from Yi Yun?

“Pass the order. Once the defense arrays are fully activated, all disciples are to go to Attendance Sword Platform!”

Jian Wufeng was a man of his word. Jian Buyi did not refute, for he wanted to see how capable Yi Yun was.

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s Attendance Sword Platform was at the top of Attendance Sword Peak. The sect had opened up a space for the platform themselves. It was a vast stone cliff. It was pure white in color and smooth like a mirror. Walking up to it, one could see reflections in it.

Many of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples began gathering there. They had all heard that the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s Sect Master, Jian Wufeng, had offended the Seven Star Dao Palace in order to save a junior. And that junior was about to demonstrate his swordplay.

As he saw more and more Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples gathered, Yi Yun thought to himself that he never expected so many people. It was because Jian Wufeng was deeply committed to the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. He wished that all Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples would have an opportunity to enhance their strength.

Yi Yun did not mind this. His original intention was to pass on what Azure Yang Lord had learned to his descendants. The more people there were, the more thorough his repayment was.

“Wait, I have a sword here. Let’s see if you can use it!” said Jian Wufeng as he took out a long wooden box.

It was an ornate wooden box that looked somewhat aged. When Jian Wufeng opened the wooden box, he revealed a sword wrapped in azure-colored silk.

Upon seeing this sword, Jian Buyi’s eyes flashed.

“Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword?”

The Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword had a mysterious origin. It was obtained from an ancient ruin by the Clarity Pool Sword Sect ten million years ago. The sword was extremely special and it was a cornerstone sword of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

The previous holder of the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword had left it to Jian Wufeng. This made Jian Buyi somewhat uncomfortable because he was the eldest disciple, but he did not object to it. The reason being that the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword was much stronger in Jian Wufeng’s hands than his.

The Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword performed completely differently in the hands of different people. It possessed a spirituality. Those that were not acknowledged by the sword would only feel like they were holding a hard piece of matter. But when held by one that had gained its acknowledgment, it was a peerless divine sword. It could render the skies asunder and be nearly omnipotent.

1088 - : Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It’s the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword!”

“It’s really the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword! It’s my first time seeing it!”

The Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword was a cornerstone treasure of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. It was normally kept in the possession of the sect master or Grand Elder, so typical disciples naturally had no chance of seeing it. Only core disciples like Jian Xiaoshuang and Jian Fenghong would ever have a chance to see it. Sometimes, they could even use it.

Jian Fenghong and Jian Xiaoshuang had indeed been given chances to wield the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword. Jian Fenghong did not have any outstanding performance when using the sword. In that regard, he was like his master, Jian Buyi.

However, Jian Xiaoshuang was different. The main reason why Jian Xiaoshuang was thought so highly of by Jian Wufeng at such a young age was that the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword became more powerful in her hands than in his.

This made Jian Buyi somewhat displeased. He and his disciple were completely inferior to Jian Wufeng and his disciple. This meant that the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword would be handed down to Jian Xiaoshuang in the next generation.

Of course, even though Jian Buyi was displeased, he still saw the big picture. He did not do anything extreme in pursuit of the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword.

“Yi Yun, I’ll lend you this Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword for your sword demonstration. Sealed within it is an immense power. Those who aren’t geniuses in the sword are unable to use it.”

As Jian Wufeng said this, the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword in his hand flew up and shot at Yi Yun!

“Pa!”

Yi Yun caught the hilt firmly. With the sword in hand, Yi Yun immediately sensed an indescribable energy that appeared boundless.

Without a doubt, it was a very powerful sword, but Yi Yun could faintly sense that there was something lacking in it. It was as though the sword had once suffered heavy damage.

“This sword…”

Yi Yun ruminated for a moment. He had a vague feeling that the sword had an extraordinary origin. However, he did not think too much of it since it was a cornerstone item of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

Yi Yun felt sword intent surging within him as he held the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword in hand.

“Yi Yun, Attendance Sword Platform has a sword assessment array. It was discovered by my sect in an ancient ruin, and after repairs by array masters over many generations, it has now become what one would consider an intricate array.”

“The sword assessment array can be used by one person or several people. It allows the sword intent and laws of the examiner or the host of the array to be perfectly projected on a sword avatar. Fighting with sword avatars firstly ensures that the avatars are of equal strength due to the array’s same energy. Hence, it is absolutely fair. Secondly, it allows one to use the sharpest form of Sword Dao without any concern of injuries.”

Jian Wufeng gave Attendance Sword Platform an introduction. If Yi Yun were to only demonstrate his sword moves, it would be impossible to draw out their full power. There was a need for an opponent.

“Then, for the role of the presiding host of the sword assessment array…” Just as Jian Wufeng was considering the person to preside over the sword array, Jian Fenghong took a step forward and said, “Sect Master Martial Uncle, I’m willing to preside over the array.”

“Oh?”

Jian Wufeng looked at Jian Fenghong. The might of the sword assessment array depended wholly on the presiding host’s Sword Dao and nomological insight. It did not have much to do with one’s cultivation level.

Jian Fenghong had been cultivating in the way of the sword for about four centuries. His attainment in Sword Dao was considered rather good and indeed made him suitable as a host.

“Alright,” Jian Wufeng agreed.

With that, he waved his hand, and along the boundary of Attendance Sword Platform, two nine-starred sword platforms appeared. They were filled with inscriptions and there were nine swords embedded around it.

Jian Fenghong looked at the nine-starred sword platform before looking at Yi Yun. A slight smile suffused his face.

Anyone would have feelings of jealousy. Jian Fenghong wasn’t someone of low moral standing, but for the sect master to praise a man younger than he was, and in front of his junior sister he admired, it was only natural for him to feel unpleasant. He was not a saint after all.

The Attendance Sword Platform was the perfect chance for him to take Yi Yun down a few notches.

Jian Fenghong pulled his two swords and stood on the nine-starred sword platform. He looked at Yi Yun and said, “Come on up. Use all your strength and don’t blame me for being a bully. Since you are thought so highly by Sect Master Martial Uncle, you should have some capabilities. I will not show any mercy.”

“I do not need the sword platform.” Yi Yun responded tersely. His reply raised Jian Fenghong’s eyebrows. “What?”

“I’m more accustomed to battling personally.” As Yi Yun spoke, he walked straight to the middle of Attendance Sword Platform.

“Battling personally?”

Jian Fenghong frowned. In battles between warriors, unless the gap in strength was large, such as Yi Yun against Jian Xiaoshuang, the outcome could be easily determined through the control of one’s sword might. If the gap wasn’t large, the determination of victory might result in injuries.

Jian Fenghong was using a sword avatar while Yi Yun was battling in person. Even if Jian Fenghong lost, he would not be injured. However, it was different for Yi Yun. If he was injured by sword beams, he could easily be bedridden for half a month or so.

“I can acquiesce you battling in person but my cultivation level far exceeds you and I have a deeper foundation. By fighting in person, it is hard for me to repress my cultivation level to be identical to yours. I’ll still battle with a sword avatar so that the cultivation level will be identical to yours. It will be absolutely fair then. I shall warn you that I will not show mercy. Do not blame me if you are heavily injured.”

Jian Fenghong was displeased by Yi Yun’s nonchalant response. He was planning on making Yi Yun suffer a bit.

Then, a white light enveloped the area, and Jian Fenghong’s figure vanished into it.

At the same time, Yi Yun’s surroundings, which had Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples only hundreds of feet away, suddenly pulled a great distance away. Their figures appeared to be the size of rice grains. Even the smooth rock cliff standing in front of Attendance Sword Platform was so. Instantly, Yi Yun was in a vast empty space.

And in this vast empty Attendance Sword Platform, a figure appeared. It was an avatar formed from sword Qi, Jian Fenghong.

All the Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples saw this scene. Jian Fenghong was presiding over the sword array, and they were aware of what that meant. Jian Fenghong was after all their eldest senior brother. He had been an examiner several times and with him being strict, many people had been terribly beaten on Attendance Sword Platform. Only Jian Xiaoshuang received special treatment when facing him.

“Where’s your sword stance? I’m about to attack!” Before Jian Fenghong attacked, he deliberately warned Yi Yun. He was rather confident in himself.

Yi Yun had no stance at all. In a match between warriors, there was a need for preparation, allowing one to reach peak state for battle. Sometimes, just the preparation alone was enough to determine victory.

Yi Yun did not make any preparations, so his attacks could only be much weaker than if he had prepared.

“Whether I prepare is up to me. You don’t have to bother. In my years of practicing martial arts, I seldom fight opponents that are my equal. So why would I need any preparation fighting someone on my level?”

Over the decades of Yi Yun’s practice in martial arts, he had fought numerous battles against foes levels above his. As such, this was a rare chance to fight someone that equaled his level. Of course, out of his peers, there were few people that could be considered Yi Yun’s match.

1089 - : Sword Assessment Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jian Fenghong words were already confident enough, but Yi Yun’s words were not only confident, they went to the point of arrogance.

However, no one thought that Yi Yun was bragging even with his arrogant words. In the growth of many geniuses, it was very common that they were invincible amongst their peers. People believed Yi Yun when he said that he seldom fought people his level.

But although Yi Yun was a genius, Jian Fenghong was one too. Furthermore, Jian Fenghong had been developing in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect from a young age. In his growing years, he sparred with the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s younger generation and his strength was exceptional.

Furthermore, Jian Fenghong was only reducing his cultivation level to Yi Yun’s level. His Sword Dao and nomological insight remained the same. Had Jian Wufeng not praised Yi Yun’s astounding talent in Sword Dao, Jian Fenghong wouldn’t consider acting in such a bullying manner by using four centuries of Sword Dao cultivation against Yi Yun.

“Very well. Then, I’d like to see if you can withstand this strike.”

Jian Fenghong’s figure flashed as he came thrusting with his swords in hand.

The swords he held lingered with a keen sword intent. Compared to Jian Xiaoshuang, his sword intent was much more terrifying. It even resonated with the sword array.

Buzz——

The sword array trembled. When Jian Fenghong’s sword intent rose to its peak, the sword beam suddenly transformed into what seemed like an autumn stream of water that tore through space. It then shifted into a screen of light. Every sword beam was locked onto Yi Yun, sealing off all his Qi activity.

Hard-Soft concept, laws of water?

Yi Yun faltered. The rising of sword intent to a maximum and the transformation from hard to soft resulted in wisps of sword waves that were like the ripples of an autumn stream. It intrinsically matched Yi Yun’s Dao—As the saying goes, things always reverse themselves after reaching an extreme. A lone law could not reach the limit and only the laws of duality allowed complementation, resulting in the comprehension of the truth to Great Dao.

Jian Fenghong’s Hard-Soft concept did the same thing as what Yi Yun had accomplished but in a different way. It was indeed extraordinary!

The Sword Dao heritage that Azure Yang Lord had left behind for the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was not complete. Many people had added their own insights into the Sword Dao. Some of these understandings were relatively astounding. As the eldest disciple of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, Jian Fenghong naturally had an outstanding quality.

“Tempered Steel and Softly Wound Fingers! Senior Brother Fenghong is using his best skill!”

Upon seeing Jian Fenghong’s attack, many disciples were agitated. Many of them understood the concept of things reversing themselves after reaching an extreme, but to fuse two completely opposite laws was easier said than done. Even Jian Xiaoshuang had yet to accomplish this feat.

With both Hard and Soft, his strike tore through the sky, shooting straight at Yi Yun’s glabella!

However, Yi Yun did not immediately draw his sword. Instead he just grasped the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword, and looked at Jian Fenghong’s attack with a contemplative expression.

With the sword being both hard and soft it conformed to Yi Yun’s Dao, which was something Yi Yun had never considered before. This sword demonstration was for Yi Yun to demonstrate his sword moves to the Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples. Little did he expect that Jian Fenghong’s attack would give him inspiration.

“What is Yi Yun doing? Why isn’t he drawing his sword?”

People were waiting for Yi Yun’s performance. Although they did not believe Yi Yun had a chance to counter the hard and soft, he was still touted to be a genius by Jian Wufeng. His strength ultimately had to amount to something.

“It can’t be that he’s scared silly, right? If he doesn’t draw his sword now, he won’t have another chance. There’s no time!”

“Eh? Hold on…why does it feel like time has slowed down?”

People stared intently as Jian Fenghong’s strike was about to stab into Yi Yun’s glabella. However, the strike seemed to be flying for millennia despite it being a short distance. It never managed to reach Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was silent in the rivers of time as he pondered. Finally, after some time, he suddenly struck out.

“Reversing after reaching an extreme, the dual complementation of Hard and Soft. Since your strike has fused Hard and Soft, let me try this!”

“Hum—!”

The Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword issued a clear hum that sounded like a tiger or dragon’s roar that resounded straight into the sky.

This alone lit up Jian Wufeng’s eyes.

The Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword was stimulated by Yi Yun. Just by drawing it, the amount of power Yi Yun had sparked far exceeded what Jian Xiaoshuang was capable of!

A Sword Dao genius could not be any better than this!

And just as Yi Yun drew the sword, the space around him suddenly turned chaotic.

He thrust the sword, and it was as though the void of an ancient past was thrusting at the distant future. Yi Yun’s strike left many people feeling smothered.

Space-Time laws?

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples could sense the terror of Yi Yun’s strike. As for Jian Wufeng, Jian Buyi, and the other Clarity Pool Sword Sect Elders, they were deeply unsettled from seeing the strike.

Jian Fenghong’s sword moves were mighty because he had simultaneously fused two opposite concepts, Hard and Soft, into Azure Yang Lord’s heritage. This point alone was something several Sword Dao geniuses could not accomplish.

However, in the brief sparring between Jian Fenghong and Yi Yun, Yi Yun had not only accomplished that, his strike had also fused two completely opposite concepts that complemented each other, resulting in an indestructible resilience!

Even more amazing was that Jian Fenghong’s insights were Hard-Soft, which could be considered as minor Dao. It was even below the five-elements Dao and Creator Dao.

Yi Yun, meanwhile, had insights in Space-Time Great Dao.

At the birth of the Universe, Yin-Yang was born alongside Space-Time. The five elements and the Creator elements were later. They were things that the Hard-Soft concept could not compare with.

Yi Yun had managed to fuse opposite Space-Time Great Dao into Azure Yang Lord’s sword moves?

Was it because he had researched these concepts prior to this? Or did he produce this move due to gaining inspiration from Jian Fenghong’s attack?

If it was the former, it already proved that Yi Yun’s talent was on the level of a monster. If it was the latter, it was too astounding to even imagine!

But the sword move was there, right in front of their eyes. It had not yet come to an end. Before the Elders could even blurt out an exclamation, they saw a burning radiant sun plummet from the sky. Contained in the sun were hints of a Golden Crow phantom that was consumed in flames!

At the same time, Yi Yun’s sword beam flashed with an icy-cold beam of frost.

The cold beam that came from the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword seemed to strike anyone who even looked at it with a chill. The sword beam was like specters in a frost prison sweeping through everything. Jian Fenghong was right in the middle of it and, despite the array in place, he still felt as if his soul was about to freeze.

Was this…a Yin-Yang concept!?

Pure Yang Great Dao, together with extreme cold pure Yin. Yi Yun’s strike had simultaneously fused Space-Time Great Dao and Yin-Yang Great Dao!

Under such terrifying laws, Jian Fenghong’s Hard-Soft concept was like a tiny stream in front of a massive ocean. It appeared frail and weak.

Boom!

The sword beam produced by Jian Fenghong was definitively ground up by the four laws!

With the support of the nine-leaf Dao fruits, the laws Yi Yun had gained and the Sword Dao he had mastered were not something Jian Fenghong could match!

“The Azure Rainbow pierces the Blood Moon, Ice Cold Seals God Abyss…”

Yi Yun finally slashed out such an attack!

The Azure Rainbow strike contained both Azure Yang Lord and the Pure Yang Sword Palace Owner’s sword intent, as well as Yi Yun’s own sword intent—Where the sword points, it presses forward with an indomitable will!

“Ka-cha!”

Jian Fenghong’s sword avatar was cleanly sliced into smithereens before exploding into countless points of light that seemed like rain in the sky!

The sword beam did not lose its momentum and continued its trajectory onto the smooth mountain cliff!

The mountain cliff that had been greatly augmented by arrays was sliced through by the strike, exploding into countless rocks. It left an astounding sword scar that reached from the heaven to earth!

Upon seeing the might of this strike, Yi Yun’s eyes flashed a look of gratefulness. He never expected that while sparing with Jian Fenghong, his Sword Dao would manage to make a such a significant breakthrough!

It was truly a pleasant surprise.

1090 - : Applying what he learns

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun never thought little of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s Sword Dao, but he had also interacted with too many Great Dao heritages that far exceeded Azure Yang Lord’s level.

Due to all these experiences, Yi Yun believed that the heritage the Clarity Pool Sword Sect possessed was slightly weaker. And the reason why Yi Yun was demonstrating his sword intent was to show his gratitude to Azure Yang Lord.

However, Yi Yun never expected that in a warrior’s world, there were masters everywhere. Although Yi Yun possessed Yin-Yang and Space-time Dao fruits for some time, fusing them into his sword moves was no simple task. It was very difficult, equivalent to creating his own move, even. The sword moves he used in the past were learned from the Pure Yang Sword Palace, as well as what Felicitous Rain Lord had passed down to him.

Although Jian Fenghong’s Sword Dao cultivation was inferior to Yi Yun’s, Yi Yun still found inspiration within his opponent’s attack. This could be considered creating his own sword attack in a sense.

Sometimes, creating a set of moves that suited him best could be extremely simple yet at the same time extremely difficult.

The ease was in how it could be attained fortuitously from a stroke of ingenious inspiration, but such inspiration might not appear in centuries or even millennia.

“Indeed, a move created by myself is most suited for me.”

Yi Yun looked at the gigantic sword scar and was rather pleased. And at that moment, the nine-starred sword platform shook violently in the area near the sword scar.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The light screen vanished as Jian Fenghong walked down the sword platform in a dejected manner. He looked at Yi Yun with a look that mixed jaundice with disbelief.

The Hard-Soft sword intent was something he had spent arduous amounts of effort on, slashing out an unknown number of strikes for the past few decades before he slowly gained a complete understanding of it. Only then was he able to infuse it into his attacks. Even the strict Jian Buyi was full of praise for his achievements.

He was proud of what he had achieved.

When sparring with his juniors, Jian Fenghong nearly never needed to use his Hard-Soft sword intent because no one could withstand it, including Jian Xiaoshuang.

In his battle with Yi Yun, Jian Fenghong had deliberately used his strongest move of Hard-Soft sword intent, firstly to make Yi Yun suffer a little by bringing him down a few notches. Secondly, he wanted to show off in front of his juniors.

However, he never expected his Hard-Soft sword intent to be overcome. Furthermore, his opponent’s method of defeating his sword intent was in the same vein as his own technique. There was the infusing of opposite laws, but in terms of the level of laws or insights, his opponent far exceeded him!

His opponent had even used two sets of opposite laws.

How could Hard-Soft win against Yin-Yang and Space-Time Great Dao?

Was he truly such a genius? Why else would the gap between them be so huge?

These thoughts were not only Jian Fenghong’s. The many Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples at Attendance Sword Platform were silent. They could only stare at the sword intent that continued pouring out of the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword in Yi Yun’s hand, speechless.

The strength of Hard-Soft was something they naturally knew but Jian Fenghong was still defeated in one strike.

Four centuries of Sword Dao insights was defeated in one strike while being at the same cultivation level. That was the difference.

Jian Buyi remained silent. When he saw Yin-Yang and Space-Time simultaneously appear, he knew that Jian Fenghong would definitely be defeated. Jian Fenghong had already done his absolute best, but even that could not account for the fact that the gap was like a ravine that could not be bridged.

“Junior Brother, I take back all I had just said. Just this child’s strike is worth letting our Clarity Pool Sword Sect become enemies of the Seven Star Dao Palace!”

Jian Buyi was a flexible person. He easily admitted his mistakes, so although he had some quibbles with Jian Wufeng, it was ultimately for the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s benefit.

The strike that Yi Yun demonstrated had already far exceeded his imagination.

“Thank you for Senior Brother’s acknowledgment.” Jian Wufeng laughed heartily. “Without a demonstration, it is indeed difficult to believe. I also had no choice but to believe it after seeing Yi Yun demonstrate his skills. I never expected that the strength he demonstrated in his battle with Fenghong today would give me another surprise.”

“My young friend, Yi Yun, I am Jian Buyi. I apologize for offending you in any way previously.” Jian Buyi cupped his fists at Yi Yun.

In a warrior’s world, the accomplished were supreme. A Sword Dao sect placed greater emphasis on Sword Dao heritage.

The level of one’s cultivation might perhaps be secondary but one’s Sword Dao insights represented one’s standing in the sect.

Raising one’s cultivation level was easy but gaining insights into Sword Dao was difficult!

“Senior, you are being unduly polite. I also apologize for any offenses. Before the battle, my words were exceedingly arrogant because I had underestimated the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s Sword Dao. But in sparring with Senior Brother Fenghong, his Hard-Soft concept enlightened me, allowing me to make a significant improvement in my Sword Dao. Instead of saying that I had demonstrated my Sword Dao to the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, it should be said that Senior Brother Fenghong had demonstrated his Sword Dao to me. I have benefited greatly from it.”

Yi Yun’s words were said in an extremely sincere tone. It stemmed from gratitude and respect towards the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. But in Jian Buyi’s ears, it was like a resounding thunder. It left Jian Buyi agape as he was rendered speechless.

“Did you say…that you gained insights into that sword move you just used through my disciple’s Hard-Soft concept? You managed to infuse Space-Time and Yin-Yang Great Dao into your attack!?”

Jian Buyi’s voice was already trembling slightly.

What sort of genius was this? His disciple had spent decades to achieve that under his guidance but Yi Yun had attained it in a few seconds.

It was no wonder that he did not strike out immediately but instead used Space-Time concepts to delay Jian Fenghong’s attack. He used them to deliberate and learn!

Such a monster truly left one in despair.

Yi Yun replied, “I had already gained insights into Space-Time and Yin-Yang Dao. Although these two sets of laws had condensed Dao fruits, the inspiration of infusing of it into my sword intent and creating a perfectly harmonious attack all came from Senior Brother Fenghong.”

If he had four nine-leaf Dao fruits in hand, then converting that to actual combat strength was analogous to being veiled by a thin layer of paper. Now, Yi Yun had poked through it.

“You said you have simultaneously gained insights into Space-Time and Yin-Yang Dao…”

Jian Buyi turned wistful. Those two Great Dao left many people shrinking back at the mere sight of them. A warrior with insights into a single Great Dao before the Dao Manifestation realm would already be pretty impressive just in forming a seven-leaf Dao fruit. An eight-leaf Dao fruit? That would be astounding.

He did not know what Dao fruits Yi Yun had condensed, but just from the performance he had shown, it was probably somewhere in the realm of a nine-leaf Dao fruit, right?

Two nine-leaf Great Dao fruits. Jian Buyi found it hard to imagine.

“If that is the case…”

Jian Buyi took a step forward and walked towards the nine-starred sword platform. “Among sword practitioners, the accomplished are supreme. I, Jian Buyi, am extremely grateful to you for demonstrating the way of the sword that you have cultivated for the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. As a form of respect, let me be your opponent!”

Jian Buyi’s words stunned all the present disciples.

Jian Buyi was going to preside over the Attendance Sword Platform himself, and be Yi Yun’s opponent?

It was completely unprecedented for Jian Buyi to use the Sword Dao he cultivated to spar with a young junior.

1091 - : Attained Fortuitously

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Senior, you want to spar with me?”

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before nodding. To be able to fight Jian Buyi at the same cultivation level was also an opportunity for him.

The array activated and Jian Buyi’s avatar appeared in front of Yi Yun. His cultivation level had been repressed to the mid-stages of the Dao Manifestation realm. However, his Sword Dao cultivation was still extremely immense.

“Even the Grand Elder is personally sparring with Yi Yun.”

“That’s right, I have never seen the Grand Elder’s sword techniques before.”

By the time the Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples recovered from their shock, the sparring on Attendance Sword Platform had already begun.

“I wonder if Yi Yun will gain another new Sword Dao insight? Also, how long can he last under the Grand Elder’s sword?” A disciple began excitedly speculating.

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples were all sword fanatics. Yi Yun’s strike from before was very astounding so everyone looked forward to his performance this time. The longer he lasted under the Grand Elder’s sword, the more of his potential could be showcased.

“How can it be that simple to gain epiphanies in Sword Dao? It was already a tremendous accomplishment for him to do so against me,” said Jian Fenghong in a heavy tone.

Even though he just lost to Yi Yun, he did not say this out of jealousy.

To have an epiphany in Sword Dao was truly difficult. Over all his years of training, he had only managed to gain the insight of the Hard-Soft concept.

The disciples nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, Yi Yun had already drawn his sword.

“Senior, I look forward to your pointers!” The Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword in Yi Yun’s hand lightly quivered, immediately causing a cold beam to flash. Suddenly, it thrust right at Jian Buyi!

This was also the first time Yi Yun was fighting a Sword Dao expert. There wasn’t even a hint of carelessness in his strike as he attacked with tumultuous force!

Jian Buyi’s eyes lit up. “Nicely done!”

When he saw the icy beam appear in front of him, he suddenly drew his sword.

Jian Buyi’s sword was like a withered wooden branch. There was no luster to speak of.

However, when Jian Buyi attacked, the branch suddenly seemed to transform into a towering tree.

Every sword beam was like a tree branch that was tightly compact, impervious to the wind. They came crashing at Yi Yun’s sword beam.

“Yi Yun, have a taste of my sword technique.”

Ding Ding Ding!

There were thousands of sword shadows as their two figures flashed around. Yi Yun and Jian Buyi had begun fighting and the speed at which they struck at one another was speeding up.

It wasn’t long before the watching disciples failed to keep up with their speed.

Only disciples like Jian Fenghong, who had cultivated for several centuries, could see the action clearly. Even a genius like Jian Xiaoshuang found it difficult.

Jian Fenghong saw that, although Yi Yun’s sword attacks were terrifying, Jian Buyi’s sword beams were overwhelming. Every strike was extremely precise and every parry was perfectly done. There was no wasted movement.

Yi Yun’s attacks failed to even touch Jian Buyi.

And in the array, Yi Yun obviously knew that better than anyone else.

Jian Buyi’s offense and defense were impeccable, without even a single flaw. All of Yi Yun’s strikes were easily parried by Jian Buyi, forcing him to be on the defense as every part of his body was being struck.

As the battle raged on, Yi Yun felt that he was bound to lose.

For the first time, Yi Yun had encountered an opponent that he felt there was no way he could deal with.

The withered branch appeared to be everywhere as if it had transformed into thousands of sword shadows.

“Yi Yun, can you not withstand it anymore?” Jian Buyi’s voice was heard. “Although your talent is astonishing, your Heart of the Sword is too weak!”

Heart of the Sword?

Yi Yun looked at the sword beams, seeing Jian Buyi’s figure appearing in them.

His eyes only seemed to be filled with swords, making his entire demeanor completely different.

At that moment, he seemed to be one with the withered branch.

“Your attacks may be strong, but you haven’t cultivated nearly enough. You have ultimately failed to merge with the sword. As such, you are unable to grasp your moves as you truly wish. As for the Heart of the Sword, it can be used to cleave through mountains and it can be a gentle breeze that cannot even cut through a strand of hair.”

Jian Buyi’s sword beam came striking at him once again, instantly sealing off every angle.

Yi Yun immediately felt the surrounding space around him constrict. His breathing was completely suffocated as well.

“Due to the gap in the Heart of the Sword, I am able to use the same move at a much higher level than yours. That is why my Sword Dao is stronger than yours,” said Jian Buyi.

“You have lost!”

Sou!

Suddenly, countless densely-packed sword beams appeared around Yi Yun before simultaneously stabbing at him!

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted as he roared loudly. The Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword shook violently in response.

Heart of the Sword!

What was the Heart of the Sword?

Was dedication to martial arts in order to pursue the Origins of the Universe with the sword in hand considered the Heart of the Sword?

Pressing forward with indomitable will and never retreating. Was that the Heart of the Sword?

The four great realms of the sword began with gaining insight into Sword Intent, followed by condensing one’s Heart of the Sword, then tempering one’s Sword Soul, and finally creating the Heavenly Dao of the Sword.

Back then, the Pure Yang Sword Palace Owner set the requirement of condensing the Heart of the Sword to before the age of hundred.

Yi Yun had long gained insights into Sword Intent but why could he not condense the Heart of the Sword? His Heart of the Sword didn’t seem blatantly weaker than others.

Suddenly, in front of Yi Yun’s eyes, a pure Yang sword scar seemed to appear in front of him. It slashed through the world and killed a bronze giant.

Kill! Kill! Kill!

Yi Yun’s Heart of the Sword was to destroy all obstructions in front of him!

Weng!

The Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword resonated with a high-pitched hum!

Space-Time and Yin-Yang Great Dao appeared simultaneously as Yi Yun slashed with the strike from before!

In an instant, the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword violently reverberated and emitted a clear roar that resembled a dragon’s, as it tore straight toward the sky.

Simultaneously, seven runes on the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword lit up one after the other. These ancient runes seemed to flow through the endless river of time. Not far away, Jian Wufeng’s eyes gleamed when he saw the lit runes.

This…Could this be—

The Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword had been completely stirred!?

Jian Wufeng held his breath. Before he could think, he saw Yi Yun and the sword transform into a rainbow beam and illuminated countless sword beams!

Everyone present felt an immense pressure despite the array in place. Their eyes actually hurt when they gazed upon Yi Yun’s blade!

Buzz——

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples even felt their own swords tremble vigorously, as though they were being incited by Yi Yun’s sword stance to shoot out from their scabbards!

The sword was powered by the heart. Everyone’s sword had been stirred. Could it be that…Yi Yun gained insight into the Heart of the Sword?

“This is the Heart of the Sword! Could he be reproducing that astounding strike that defeated Jian Fenghong, augmented by the Heart of the Sword?”

“Heart of the Sword together with Yin-Yang and Space-Time Great Dao. I wonder how powerful it will be!”

Everyone stared with widened eyes as if they were afraid they might miss the impending scene of Yi Yun conjuring the most powerful strike, one that combined Space-Time and Yin-Yang, in his final struggle against the Grand Elder!

However, some soon realized that something was different.

Yi Yun’s attack was not the fusion of Yin-Yang, nor did it stir any disorder in space or time.

When the sword beam slashed out, it was as if all light in the world had been consumed. A black vortex formed in between the heavens and earth. This strike seemed born of Chaos.

For some reason, despite Yi Yun’s cultivation level being only at the mid-stages of the Dao Manifestation realm, people felt like they were facing the Universe when they saw his strike.

What sort of laws was he using?

Some people were alarmed, but most even failed to recognize the laws. They only felt pure terror from the law being demonstrated. Even the Great Dao of Yin-Yang and Space-Time they previously witnessed did not make them feel like they were facing the very Universe.

“Buzz——”

The gigantic black vortex condensed as it ground up everything. It was as if a tiny world had been born and then destroyed in the vortex.

Creation? Destruction?

As he beheld this scene, Jian Buyi could not help but be alarmed.

He finally realized what Sword Dao was contained in Yi Yun’s strike. It was the amalgamation of creation and destruction. It was again the concept of mixing opposite laws, but the strength of these two was already completely beyond Yi Yun’s previous attempt.

“Ka-cha!”

Jian Buyi’s previously impeccable sword screen was torn clean through as the gigantic black wheel came crashing down, ripping everything apart!

Jian Buyi’s Sword Dao was already near perfection but he failed to withstand the absolute suppression of the Great Dao law.

How could a Major Destruction law that could destroy a Universe not be able to destroy a so-called perfect Sword Dao?

Boom!

The nine-starred sword platform trembled violently as the platform’s light screen blasted apart. Jian Buyi appeared on the sword platform as he looked at Yi Yun before giving a deep sigh. His eyes were filled with awe as well as a wistful yet complicated look.

“I never expected that your limits go beyond the two Great Dao of Yin-Yang and Space-Time. You also have a law that made me feel like I was beholding a mountain in awe. Destruction and creation. Is that your Great Dao of Supremacy…?”

1092 - : Heart of the Sword

CKtalon  CKtalon

It took great difficulty to discover a Great Dao of Supremacy. The Clarity Pool Sword Sect swordsmen mainly cultivated Sword Dao, which was considered a Great Dao among techniques. It was challenging to fully comprehend Sword Dao and, at best, the swordsmen would cultivate in auxiliary laws, mainly minor Dao. For example, Jian Fenghong’s auxiliary law was the Hard-Soft concept.

However, Yi Yun had cultivated in three Great Dao in addition to the way of the sword. It was a feat that was too astounding for words.

At the birth of the Universe, there was Chaos before Yin-Yang and Space-Time. The Dao that Yi Yun cultivated in happened to be the very three first Great Dao to be formed during the Universe’s infancy.

When he realized this, Jian Buyi shuddered. “Yi Yun, did you deliberately choose the three Great Dao—Yin-Yang, Space-Time, Chaos-Destruction, from the beginning?”

Yi Yun shook his head and said, “Senior, the Dao that I cultivated in were all fortuitous encounters. They happened to match me, so I continued cultivating in them.”

“The first cultivation technique that I came into contact with was a pure Yang cultivation technique. I focused on pure Yang and later on came into contact with pure Yin, allowing Yin and Yang to complement each other. It was the same with Space-Time laws. My master had cultivated in the Dao of Space-Time, and as for Chaos-Destruction, it was all a fortuitous coincidence,” Yi Yun said vaguely.

However, once it reached Jian Buyi’s ears, it made him draw in a gasp of cold air. He had, in fact, foreseen such an answer. A typical warrior did not deliberately choose their Dao. Instead, they cultivated in whatever suited them the best.

In such circumstances, the way Yi Yun had slowly reached his present state seemed to be Heaven’s will.

“You have already reached the peak of your martial arts practice. It is no wonder that I lost to you while sparring at the same cultivation level…” Jian Buyi said with a sigh.

The spectating Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples had to wonder if they were dreaming.

Jian Buyi admitted defeat against Yi Yun!

At first, Jian Buyi had the complete upper hand, but with one final strike, Yi Yun had broken through Jian Buyi’s sword screen. Be it in terms of his sword stance or laws, it was complete oppression. Jian Buyi had admitted defeat!

The disciples were unsure of how to react to the fact that the Grand Elder of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect lost to a junior. It was too bizarre.

“Master has also admitted defeat.”

Jian Fenghong looked at Yi Yun with even more perplexity. Even his master’s Sword Dao could not match Yi Yun’s. Then, it meant that the gap between him and Yi Yun was like a massive ravine. He could not even entertain the thought of surpassing him.

It was a huge blow to a Sword Dao genius like him to stand beside a true freak of nature like Yi Yun.

At that moment, Jian Wufeng walked over and said with a smile, “Yi Yun, your talent is beyond excellent. If you could, while we have time, spar with the lot of us, my Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples’ Sword Dao will probably make huge leaps in improvement.”

Yi Yun hurriedly said, “You think too highly of me. Sparring with all of you from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect has only benefitted me. It would be my pleasure.”

Yi Yun had grasped a sword move that fused his opposite laws while sparring with Jian Fenghong. Against Jian Buyi, he had gained insight into the Heart of the Sword.

Yi Yun now needed a great number of battles to consolidate and deepen his understanding of these new breakthroughs.

Jian Wufeng’s invitation suited Yi Yun’s thoughts.

“That’s great,” said Jian Wufeng.

But at that moment, his expression suddenly changed.

“They came so quickly!”

Yi Yun’s heart stirred for he vaguely guessed at what had happened.

Jian Wufeng’s expression was sullen as he raised his hand and struck out with a sword beam. The sword beam shot into the void and produced patterns that resembled water ripples. Following that, fuzzy images appeared in those patterns.

Jian Wufeng had used his cultivation to project the scenes outside the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s massive array into the interior of the small world they were in.

Yi Yun could immediately make out a bunch of figures in mid-air above the snow-capped mountains of Clarity Pool.

The invaders wore clothes embroidered with seven black stars. Leading the pack was a middle-aged woman dressed in a crimson palatial gown. She had a smile on her face, and her aura was strange and terrifying. Behind her was none other than High Ambassador Yu Heng.

“It is indeed the Seven Star Dao Palace…” Yi Yun’s gaze turned turbid.

The Seven Star Dao Palace had come so quickly!

Furthermore, the people they sent were extremely strong.

The woman leading the pack was probably someone that none from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect could deal with, including Jian Buyi.

“That middle-aged woman is probably the Deputy Palatial Lord of the Seven Star Dao Palace, Liu Ruyi. Don’t think of her as just any woman because, in terms of cruelty and ruthlessness, no one from the Central State Divine Territory can compare.” Jian Buyi looked into the sky with an ugly expression. “I never expected this vicious woman to come personally.”

“It doesn’t matter. They are still unable to find the entrance to our Clarity Pool Sword Sect. Based on the projection, they are still an extremely great distance from us,” said Jian Wufeng as he turned his head to Yi Yun.

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect was a reclusive sect, so the true entrance was unknown to the public. It had always been hidden by an ancient massive array.

Besides that, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect also had a defensive massive array.

“Activate the defensive massive array!” Jian Buyi said with a solemn voice.

Even though they had a concealment array, they could not eliminate the possibility of being discovered.

Immediately, everyone from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect readied themselves for combat.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s heart leaped, for he saw Deputy Palatial Lord Liu suddenly look over. Her slender, fox-like eyes were turned toward him.

Despite it being a projection, Yi Yun had an intense feeling that Liu Ruyi had sensed them watching her.

“Heh heh heh!”

Liu Ruyi suddenly laughed. There was a strong, penetrative quality to her laugh that dug straight into the eardrums.

“Jian Wufeng! Jian Buyi! I know you are in there. I also know that the Clarity Pool Sword Sect is established in an ancient small world. It seems difficult to break into, but if I, Liu Ruyi, want to do it, then nothing is impossible!”

“I advise you to hand the fellow over. If you do, any enmity between the Seven Star Dao Palace and the Clarity Pool Sword Sect will be forgotten. If not, I will find you even if I have to flatten this entire mountain range!”

Liu Ruyi’s voice resounded throughout the Clarity Pool Sword Sect through the array.

All the Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples felt their lifeblood boil from the instigation of the voice.

This woman was truly terrifying.

Jian Wufeng’s expression sunk but he did not respond.

Liu Ruyi waited for a while, but heard no response. Her face completely turned cold.

“Are you pretending not to hear me? I give you two hours to reconsider. If you do not hand Yi Yun over, my Seven Star Dao Palace will amass all the array masters that can be gathered to destroy the array of your Clarity Pool Sword Sect!”

“I, Liu Ruyi, swear that once the array is broken, my Seven Star Dao Palace will completely and totally massacre everyone in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. Not a single life will be spared!”

Liu Ruyi’s threat of wiping out the sect sent trepidations into the hearts of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples. Liu Ruyi was vicious and, since she had mentioned wiping out the sect, she was definitely not joking. She would really do it.

While cultivating in the way of the sword, warriors had to condense their Heart of the Sword. Although they were relatively resolute in their personality, it was difficult for anyone to remain unfazed by the threat of death.

Yi Yun exhaled. With the situation developing to that point, he had put the entire Clarity Pool Sword Sect on the spot. It was naturally something Yi Yun did not wish to see.

1093 - : Threat

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun did not know what choice the Clarity Pool Sword Sect would make given the two hour grace period. After all, this involved every life in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. If the sect were to hand him over, Yi Yun would not blame them. They had no obligation to protect him. Furthermore, he had been saved by Jian Wufeng.

At that moment, Yi Yun was in turmoil. He truly did not want the Clarity Pool Sword Sect to risk its survival for him.

Strength. In the end, it was all about strength. If he were only powerful enough, his life would never have been in the hands of others.

“Senior, I do not wish for so many people of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect to be risked on my behalf,” said Yi Yun as he cupped his hands at Jian Wufeng.

Jian Wufeng patted Yi Yun on the shoulder to console him, “Yi Yun, don’t worry. My Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s ancient array isn’t that easily broken.”

Jian Wufeng was very confident in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s ancient array. If not for the ancient array, he wouldn’t have taken the great risk of saving Yi Yun. If his actions did result in the annihilation of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, he would have been a sinner.

“Senior, sorry for the trouble.”

Yi Yun had nothing else he could say. He was determined to rapidly increase his strength.

“Haha, Yi Yun. There’s no need for you to feel guilty. The most important thing for a sect is its heritage. By sparring with my Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s disciples, you have helped both us and yourself improve. That is of great help to my Clarity Pool Sword Sect. Furthermore, although we seem trapped, there are still arrays that allow us to be sent outside. If we are careful enough, it’s still possible to leave,” said Jian Wufeng very optimistically.

Jian Buyi’s expression seemed rather heavy. It was unknown what he was thinking.

Moments later, Jian Buyi said, “Yi Yun, come with me. Let us discuss something.”

“Alright.”

…

Azure Sword Loft was one of the palaces in the rear of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. Typically, it was Jian Buyi’s private residence. Yi Yun never expected that he would be invited to Jian Buyi’s residence for a discussion.

Moreover, when Yi Yun entered the Azure Sword Loft, he realized that there was not only Jian Buyi, but also Jian Wufeng and Jian Xiaoshuang.

At that moment, Jian Wufeng was chatting with Jian Buyi. Upon seeing Yi Yun enter, Jian Buyi, who wore a rather forlorn look, finally revealed a smile.

“Yi Yun, have a seat. Xiaoshuang, pour some tea for your Senior Brother Yi.”

Senior Brother Yi?

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before realizing that it was normal. In the world of warriors, people did address others from a different sect as Senior Brother. It was also common to address someone as Senior Brother if the person had a higher cultivation level.

“Ah?” Jian Xiaoshuang seemed to be in a momentary daze. After a long while, she came with a cup of tea with her face flushed red. She placed it with some reservation in front of Yi Yun.

“Senior Brother Yi…please enjoy the tea.”

Jian Xiaoshuang was thin-skinned, so she said the three words, ‘Senior Brother Yi’ in a rather awkward manner.

When Yi Yun saw Jian Xiaoshuang’s blushing, he was stunned. He recalled the first time he met Jian Xiaoshuang, when she wielded a sword and tied her hair into a ponytail in a neat and tidy manner. What was going on? Why did she look like she was some pretty girl of humble birth?

“Ahem!” Jian Buyi coughed twice dryly and broke Yi Yun’s train of thought. He said, “This is tea made from a thousand-year snow lotus picked from the Snow Mountain Clarity Pool. The snow lotus was dried and brewed in a ten-thousand-year melted ice. It’s pretty good.”

Jian Buyi suddenly began introducing the tea, leaving Yi Yun somewhat puzzled. He took a mouthful and indeed it was fragrant and refreshing. He said with praise, “Good tea.”

Jian Buyi said with a smile, “My young friend, Yi Yun, I truly wish that the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had a genius disciple like yourself. But I recall you saying that you already have a master. So it’s impossible for you to join the Clarity Pool Sword Sect…”

Jian Buyi shook his head when he reached that point. He seemed somewhat wistful but immediately, he seemed to have an idea. His eyes lit up as he said, “Yi Yun, what do you think of Xiaoshuang?”

Jian Buyi’s sudden question nearly choked Yi Yun, who was drinking the tea.

He finally understood the reason why Jian Buyi had brought him to his residence, along with Jian Wufeng and Jian Xiaoshuang. He had a certain idea in mind.

It also explained why Jian Xiaoshuang’s face was as red as the dusk. Jian Buyi had likely already brought up the idea to her.

Yi Yun gaped and could only say, “Junior Sister Xiaoshuang is a born beauty and also a genius in the way of the sword. She’s naturally flawless.”

“How am I a genius in the way of the sword?” Jian Xiaoshuang stuck her tongue out. If someone else had said it, she would have admitted it, but she was embarrassed hearing it from Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun, with that said, let me cut to the chase. Xiaoshuang is Wufeng’s disciple. She is also the next sect master of my Clarity Pool Sword Sect. The Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword will also be passed down to her, so I’m thinking of betrothing her to you…”

After a while of beating around the bush, Jian Buyi finally stated his motives plainly. Indeed, Yi Yun already had a vague inkling that this would happen.

And seeing Jian Buyi’s ruminative look, Yi Yun came to a further realization. Jian Buyi had noticed that he was overly talented and wanted him to help the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. However, if there was no relationship between them, that help wouldn’t be reliable. And it would obviously be reliable if the future sect master was betrothed to him.

This left Yi Yun somewhat speechless. With the Seven Star Dao Palace about to lay siege to their home, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was set to pay a huge price. Jian Wufeng was upright, so he was prepared for that outcome. But Jian Buyi was a sly old fox. He naturally did not want to engage in such a loss-incurring exchange. If the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s relationship with Yi Yun were to get more distant over time, what would happen then?

“About that, Senior Brother Fenghong…”

Yi Yun was an outsider, but even he could tell that Jian Fenghong was somewhat interested in Jian Xiaoshuang. As for Jian Buyi, he was Jian Fenghong’s master. It was unlikely he was so heartless, right?

When Jian Fenghong was mentioned, Jian Buyi shook his head and said, “I certainly wish that Fenghong would marry Xiaoshuang but, when it comes to marriage, it has to be consensual. Xiaoshuang isn’t very agreeable to the idea…”

When Jian Buyi said that, Jian Wufeng interrupted. “Xiaoshuang once swore that the man she marries has to have a Sword Dao that surpass hers, or be able to stimulate the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword’s power. Fenghong has no chance of stimulating the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword. As for his talent surpassing Xiaoshuang’s, saying that would be a bit of a stretch. So…”

Jian Wufeng was a straightforward person. But even he was somewhat embarrassed saying such things.

Yi Yun gaped and stole a glance at Jian Xiaoshuang. He had a nagging feeling that she was pure and innocent like a blank piece of paper. She probably did not even know what true love was like.

Yi Yun could only say, “Seniors, thank you for the kind offer, but I already have a wife.”

However, Jian Buyi said, “I have considered that too. As martial practitioners, we do not necessarily only have one wife. Furthermore, if you live a long life, your accomplishments will be unlimited. If Xiaoshuang can marry you, it will be a blessing for her. So how can she abide you only having one wife?”

Jian Buyi easily parried Yi Yun’s objection.

Yi Yun was rendered rather speechless. He took another look at Jian Buyi and realized that the old fellow was extremely sly. He had truly chosen the perfect opportunity to marry Jian Xiaoshuang away. The Seven Star Dao Palace was just outside!

1094 - : Surrounded

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Why, does Xiaoshuang not catch your eye? Don’t misunderstand. The Clarity Pool Sword Sect is not making you marry into our family. Xiaoshuang will be married to you, and if you wanted, you could take Xiaoshuang along with you and leave. However, Xiaoshuang is still the future sect master of Clarity Pool Sword Sect so all she would need to do is come back frequently. Why don’t I give you two hours to consider? After all, marriage is a serious matter. It’s only right to consider it properly,” said Jian Buyi ‘earnestly and patiently’.

Two hours?

Yi Yun was at a loss whether to laugh or to cry. The Deputy Palatial Lord of the Seven Star Dao Palace was outside and she had also given him two hours. Was the two hours that Jian Buyi set a coincidence?

Yi Yun suspected that Jian Buyi was truly an old sly fox. In this talk, he never threatened Yi Yun, nor did he wish to threaten him. But every word he said was a reminder that the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was still in a confrontation with the Seven Star Dao Palace, and that it had two hours to make a decision.

Honestly speaking, the terms that Jian Buyi had proposed could not even be considered terms. He was basically giving Yi Yun all the benefits. An innocent and adorable beauty given to him as a wife with no restrictions. Any normal man would agree to that.

Yi Yun was also not some esteemed monk who lived in celibacy. Naturally, he wasn’t opposed to what Jian Buyi had offered.

But at present, it was unknown whether Lin Xintong was alive or not. Yi Yun had zero clue regarding her whereabouts and, under such circumstances, he had no desire for another woman.

Yi Yun said, “Senior, you might not be aware, but when I first came to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, I was separated from my wife. I do not know if she’s still alive or not, but I believe that she is and that she is somewhere out there looking for me. If I were to marry again, it would truly be a disservice to my wife.”

Yi Yun spoke very reasonably, leaving Jian Buyi somewhat stunned. Although he was engaging in a tiny bit of scheming, he was not an unreasonable man. If he were to continue pressing Yi Yun under the current circumstances, he would truly be at fault.

“Furthermore, I find Junior Sister Xiaoshuang naive and innocent. Her personality is as pure as a white piece of paper. I doubt she knows what she likes or understands the true meaning behind becoming partners…”

Jian Xiaoshuang was peeved when she heard Yi Yun say that. She gritted her beautiful teeth and glared at Yi Yun like an enraged kitten.

“Uh…” Yi Yun rubbed his nose in embarrassment, unsure of a response.

Jian Xiaoshuang said unhappily, “Didn’t you only marry once? Why do you speak as if you are much older than me? How are you so sure of what I know or don’t know? Furthermore, I have made a vow.”

Jian Xiaoshuang’s final sentence was very soft. She had vowed that the man that drew and fully stimulated the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword would be her husband, otherwise she would remain single her entire life. To swordsmen, a vow was related to their Heart of the Sword and so was not something that could be wantonly changed.

“If that’s the case, I think we should forget it, Senior Brother,” Jian Wufeng interjected.

From the start, he felt that Jian Buyi’s act was somewhat dishonorable. However, it was also tough for his disciple, for he understood her personality. Was it possible that she would remain single her whole life?

“If it’s possible, why don’t I recognize Xiaoshuang as my younger sister?” Yi Yun asked.

He knew very well that there was no fault in rejecting the proposal, but Jian Xiaoshuang was still a girl in the end. It was too embarrassing for her to be so flatly rejected.

Jian Xiaoshuang’s face had a slight blush, but before she could say a word, Jian Buyi had already agreed to it.

“A younger sister would work too. That would work too. Hahaha.”

Jian Buyi did not care if they were partners or siblings as long as they were related in some way. He believed that Yi Yun was a man of his word. If he became one of the strongest warriors in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, and if the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s sect master was his younger sister, wouldn’t that guarantee that the sect would flourish for hundreds of millions of years?

Moreover, an unrelated sister and a lover were only separated by a thin layer of paper. Who knows when it might be penetrated!

With these thoughts in mind, Jian Buyi immediately agreed.

Jian Xiaoshuang’s face was still red but Jian Buyi had already agreed on her behalf. Even if she had made a vow, she could no longer say a thing.

“Then, I’ll call you Brother Yun.” Jian Xiaoshuang said while clenching her teeth.

Yi Yun smiled slightly. Jian Xiaoshuang, who was as pure as snow, was extremely forthright. He was also very pleased that he would have such a younger sister.

As for Jian Buyi, he was beaming. “Then, that’s great. Great!”

But at that moment, his smile stiffened slightly. He looked at Yi Yun and said, “Yi Yun, since you are Xiaoshuang’s elder brother, come on out together.”

Yi Yun did not know what had happened but he suspected that it had to do with the Seven Star Dao Palace.

Coming out from Azure Sword Loft, Yi Yun saw that Jian Fenghong and all the other Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples were waiting in the front hall.

Upon seeing Jian Buyi, Jian Wufeng and company coming out, Jian Fenghong immediately walked forward and said, “Master, Sect Master, how can we deal with the Seven Star Dao Palace?”

Two hours had passed quickly. Many disciples, including Jian Fenghong, were worried. Surely not everyone was impervious to the possibility of the sect being wiped out? Furthermore, the instigator of this calamity was Yi Yun, an outsider.

Upon thinking of this, Jian Fenghong glanced at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was exceptionally talented, but he had offended the Seven Star Dao Palace. The growth of a genius was destined to be difficult.

Jian Buyi looked at his disciple before sweeping his gaze over the disciples gathered. He said in a solemn voice, “Our Clarity Pool Sword Sect is particular about having a disposition that resembles a sword. Upright and unyielding. How can we succumb to the Seven Star Dao Palace just because it pressures us?”

“As for Yi Yun, he is now Xiaoshuang’s sworn brother, and as such is equivalent to a disciple of our Clarity Pool Sword Sect. We never abandon a disciple and will seek revenge for any who are harmed. We must face adversity in one united front. So how can we hand Yi Yun over today?”

Jian Fenghong’s heart palpitated as he hurriedly looked at Jian Xiaoshuang.

Jian Xiaoshuang had become Yi Yun’s sworn sister?

Jian Fenghong knew that it was likely Jian Buyi and Jian Wufeng, as well as Jian Xiaoshuang’s, idea. As for the so-called sworn sister, it was unlikely to be that simple.

Yi Yun’s talent in the way of the sword was beyond excellent, at a level that he could never compare with. As he arrived at this conclusion, Jian Fenghong felt bitter.

Jian Buyi scanned the gathered disciples, many of whom were silent.

With Yi Yun becoming Jian Xiaoshuang’s sworn brother, it meant that he could not be cast off from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. How could they betray one of their own and abandon him?

“The Clarity Pool Sword Sect array isn’t that easily broken. If the Seven Star Dao Palace wants to wipe us out, it will have to pay a heavy price!” Jian Wufeng said solemnly.

The only strategy they had now was to defend the fort!

At that moment, Jian Wufeng suddenly looked up into the sky.

With a thought, he struck out with a sword beam, opening up an array projection.

Liu Ruyi and the other figures from the Seven Star Dao Palace immediately appeared in the sky. At that moment in time, two hours had already passed.

Liu Ruyi had a sneer on her face as she circulated the Qi in her dantian. She said loudly and clearly, “It seems like you, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, remain stubborn in the face of death. Fine, I’ll grant you that!”

1095 - : Two hours

CKtalon  CKtalon

Once Liu Ruyi waved her hand, seven people dressed in seven-starred Daoist robes flew out from behind her. Each one carried a series of array flags, and each series was a collection of seven flags, making a forty-nine array flag formation.

The seven people jointly began laying the Seven Star Gate Rupturing Array. This siege array of the Seven Star Dao Palace needed the combined efforts of seven array masters. Liu Ruyi refused to believe that the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s entrance could remain hidden under the Seven Star Gate Rupturing Array.

In little time, the Seven Star Gate Rupturing Array was laid. But seconds before it was about to be activated, a wisp of fire lit up in front of Liu Ruyi. It was the beam of light created by a voice transmission slip.

After Liu Ruyi received the voice transmission, her eyes lit up and, after a moment of thought, she waved her hand and transmitted her voice to High Ambassador Yu Heng before transforming into a beam of light and disappearing into the horizon.

“Oh? She has left?”

“Liu Ruyi actually left? She’s the strongest among this group of people. Without her, there’s only High Ambassador Yu Heng. Even with the Seven Star Gate Rupturing Array, their forces won’t amount to much against our Clarity Pool Sword Sect.”

Everyone saw Liu Ruyi disappear in the projection array and were quite surprised. They did not know if it was a scheme.

“It’s likely because of that voice transmission slip. It must’ve contained some important information or that vicious woman, Liu Ruyi, would never go back on her word. Her threats are definitely not empty. She promised to flatten the entire area, so how can she so easily retreat?”

Jian Buyi pondered until, at that moment, a woman’s voice was heard. “Young Master Yi, please take out the Heaven Secrets Compass. Perhaps there will be some clues.”

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice. The person who spoke was Ji Shuiyan, who had come with Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s mind stirred as he took out the Heaven Secrets Compass. He noticed that there was a faint glow in the Heaven Secrets Compass that emitted a unique energy fluctuation.

Upon seeing this, Ji Shuiyan said, “Young Master Yi, if I’m not wrong, something must have happened at Sun Burial Sandsea. It’s possible that the phenomenon has happened once again, allowing the Seven Star Dao Palace to pinpoint the general location. The reason why Liu Ruyi left is that she wants to seek the treasure.”

Ji Shuiyan’s suggestion made sense. Only the unknown treasure in Sun Burial Sandsea could possibly make Liu Ruyi hastily turn away and head for the Sun Burial Sandsea while ignoring the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

“We cannot let them snatch it first,” said Jian Buyi.

The phenomena that had occurred in Sun Burial Sandsea was only known to people as the birth of a unique treasure. But with the reactions of the Seven Star Dao Palace and the Heaven Secrets Chapter, one would likely think that it was quite a sensational treasure.

“There is a teleportation array that is connected to the external world 500,000 kilometers out. If we were to teleport the important disciples out of Clarity Pool Sword Sect, it might expose our position to the numerous array formation experts of the Seven Star Dao Palace outside. They might discover the energy fluctuations, so it’s best that only one or two disciples are sent out. Also, it cannot be done too many times. Otherwise, the Seven Star Dao Palace might notice traces of clues.”

Although Liu Ruyi had left, the Seven Star High Ambassadors also possessed exceptional combat strength. One or two might not be a threat but if four or five were to come, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect would be in trouble.

Jian Buyi believed that the Seven Star Dao Palace would not just up and abandon the Seven Star Gate Rupturing Array that they had begun setting up. With Liu Ruyi in retreat, there would be new Seven Star High Ambassadors coming. What’s more, the time until those reinforcements arrived would likely be very short. Their Clarity Pool Sword Sect was still facing grave danger.

“Junior Brother, you and I shall stay behind to preside over the array protecting us,” said Jian Buyi. The Clarity Pool Sword Sect was, after all, their base. They could not risk it. If the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s ancient array was not watched over by Jian Buyi and Jian Wufeng, its strength would decrease greatly, increasing the risk of cracking.

With Jian Buyi and Jian Wufeng staying behind to defend the fort, the best candidate to head to Sun Burial Sandsea was Yi Yun.

The other disciples were inferior to Yi Yun. Indeed, there were even Clarity Pool Sword Sect Elders that could be weaker than Yi Yun.

However, Sun Burial Sandsea posed an extreme danger, even for Yi Yun. After all, his strength was much lower than monsters like Liu Ruyi.

“Yi Yun, if you were to go to Sun Burial Sandsea as you are now, you would be doomed if you meet the Seven Star Dao Palace. You have inherited the founding ancestor’s heritage. I wonder if you know of the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book?”

Azure Yang Lord’s Star Transference Heaven Changing Book was indeed something Yi Yun used before. Back when he slew Shentu Nantian and was the enemy of several Tian Yuan world family clans, he had used the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book to change his appearance, allowing him to leave the Great Empress mystic realm safely.

However, Yi Yun had later stopped cultivating in the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book, and it had been many years since he last used it.

“Yes. I have previously cultivated in it.”

“That’s good. I have a mask here called the Thousand Mask. It can only be used by one who cultivates in the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book. By wearing it, you should be able to conceal your true looks.”

After Jian Wufeng said that, he took out a mask as thin as paper from his interspatial ring. When Yi Yun put it on, he recalled the cultivation technique of the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book. The mask transformed into a part of his skin when that happened.

Under such circumstances, even Jian Buyi and Jian Wufeng were unable to tell Yi Yun’s true appearance with their perception.

“Perfect. I won’t dare claim that the Seven Star Dao Palace Palatial Lord will be fooled, but for people at the Seven Star High Ambassador level, this mask will completely cover your appearance. Yi Yun, follow me. I’ll bring you to the teleportation array!”

Jian Buyi nodded satisfactorily. He was well aware that the treasure in Sun Burial Sandsea was not something just anyone could obtain. Even if he sent Clarity Pool Sword Sect disciples like Jian Fenghong, it would amount to nothing. In order to obtain such supreme treasures, one needed sufficient divine providence. If not, ignoring the ability to obtain it, once it was obtained, it would only invite trouble. In a warrior’s world, there was no lack of examples of people dying from the rare treasures they obtained due to a lack of providence shining its light on them. There were even some rare treasures that caused the death of so many people, they were deemed ‘ominous items’.

…

Ji Shuiyan’s guess was not wrong. Sun Burial Sandsea had indeed had an unexpected occurrence.

At that moment, a red beam of light shot into the sky from deep in Sun Burial Sandsea. It transformed into red clouds that seemed like a burning inferno. The fiery clouds spread out for millions of kilometers!

This sight was not only limited to Sun Burial Sandsea’s vicinity. The dazzling red clouds were visible even to people in the cities a great distance from the Sun Burial Sandsea.

What was going on?

Many people did not know what had happened in Sun Burial Sandsea till they saw the magnificent phenomenon. Only then did they realize that something monumental had happened in Sun Burial Sandsea.

Meanwhile, in a dense forest hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from Sun Burial Sandsea, Yi Yun was ejected from a spatial storm after space warped.

The long-distance teleportation left Yi Yun somewhat dizzy.

He looked at his surroundings and silently remembered the location of the teleportation array. Following that, he looked up and saw the red clouds in the sky.

Was it that exaggerated?

Yi Yun faltered for a moment. Although he had guessed that something unexpected had happened in Sun Burial Sandsea, he never expected it to be of such immense scale.

From the looks of it, the expedition to Sun Burial Sandsea would attract even more people, and that would only stir up a bloody storm.

1096 - : Unexpected Occurrence at Sun Burial Sandsea

CKtalon  CKtalon

Sun Burial Sandsea was a vast region fraught with danger. The ordinary merchant companies would avoid traversing the Sun Burial Sandsea for long periods of time. As such, some array masters had established various teleportation arrays in Sun Burial Sandsea.

The space in Sun Burial Sandsea was unstable, so the creation of teleportation arrays was easily accomplished through the use of natural spatial nodes.

These teleportation arrays belonged to various factions, and their use required a fee paid to the owning faction.

With the phenomenon suddenly arising in Sun Burial Sandsea, the business of these teleportation arrays rapidly began to flourish.

Yi Yun naturally wouldn’t miss the shortcut that was made available through the teleportation arrays. He was already arriving behind many others, so using teleportation arrays was all he could do to close the gap.

Yi Yun bought a teleportation array map and hastened to the closest teleportation array in Jade Luster City. There, he saw all kinds of warriors.

Due to the huge influx of people into the Sun Burial Sandsea, many were gathered around the teleportation arrays, forming a rather sizable economy.

Warriors and merchants were gathered in the market, selling a large variety of products.

To traverse the Sun Burial Sandsea, assorted pills, charms of varying effects, and disk arrays were essential. There were also itinerant warriors that had come out of Sun Burial Sandsea and were interested in selling the natural treasures they had harvested. Many people saw an opportunity for profit, so they had come hoping to earn a tidy sum.

In fact, many of the gathered people were not there for the Sun Burial Sandsea’s phenomenon. They simply lingered around the teleportation array to do business.

Out of all the stores, the ones selling pills, relics, and natural treasures were the most plentiful. They filled the streets.

There were also cultivation techniques, weapons, ancient items of unknown origin, and minerals. If one had a keen eye, they could buy something valuable at a cheap price. Yi Yun even saw a stall that sold sex slaves and female slaves.

That stall was located in the middle of the market, and it had more than ten beautiful girls dressed in thin clothes. They stood in a row on a circular stone platform. Their hands and feet were bound by thin golden chains that were engraved with an array. These chains limited the girls’ Yuan Qi circulation, making them as helpless as ordinary mortal girls and unable to even consider resisting.

Yi Yun sighed softly. These girls had alluring looks coupled with depressed expressions. Their eyes were clouded as if filled with despair at the prospect of their future. Moreover, two or three of the girls appeared to be fourteen or fifteen. Their bodies were still pubescent with tiny lumps on their chests. Yi Yun shook his head. For them to end up as female slaves or sex slaves at such a young age was a terrible shame. It was unknown how much suffering they would undergo if a cruel male warrior were to buy them.

“Come on and take a look! Choose anyone that catches your fancy! These sex slaves are brand new and guaranteed virgins. Their Primordial Yin still remains, ripe for the picking. Buy them now, and use them in any way you like. Be it a waiting concubine or a maidservant, it’s your choice!”

Beneath the stone platform, an old man with a scrawny mustache shouted. Beside him stood about six brawny men who looked domineering.

Upon seeing the old man, Yi Yun’s mind stirred. That’s…

He suddenly came to a realization as he looked up at the platform. His gaze locked onto a girl that looked fourteen. Her head was lowered and there were streaks of tears on her round face. Her frail body was still lightly trembling.

It’s her!

Yi Yun remembered the girl. She was Ji Shuiyan’s personal maidservant, whose name he vaguely recalled to be Xin’er. Whenever Ji Shuiyan came to his room at night to serve him alone by pouring him wine, Xin’er had been guarding the door in an obedient manner. The maidservant had her head lowered so Yi Yun did not notice her at first.

Following that…Yi Yun saw another seventeen-year-old beauty with a slim figure. She had an ashen expression but Yi Yun had a deep impression of her. Back when he was immobile in Sun Burial Sandsea, it was this girl, dressed in yellow maidservant garb, that had pulled the curtains open to tell her mistress he wanted to see her.

The two female slaves were the maidservants of the Divine Secrets Trading Company!

Yi Yun drew a deep breath as his eyes flickered with great killing intent. There was no doubt that this was an act of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company!

As for the shouting old man with the scrawny mustache, he was the Heaven Amplification Trading Company’s advisor, Yang Yanguang!

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun’s expression turned nasty. Ji Shuiyan said that she had made arrangements for her people. There was a tunnel inside the Divine Secrets Trading Company that led out of the city. Once she gave the command, her trusted followers would escape Jade Luster City through the tunnel. As such, Yi Yun had not been worried about the people from the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

Now, from the looks of it, there had to be a traitor in the Divine Secrets Trading Company, leaking out the news of the tunnel. If not, Yan Tiancong had taken precautions, allowing him to capture the fleeing followers.

“How dare you, Yan Tiancong!”

In Yi Yun’s mind, Yan Tiancong was not even worth mentioning. However, this insignificant wretch had disgusted Yi Yun time and time again.

Yan Tiancong was also the cause of Yi Yun being pursued by the Seven Star Dao Palace.

Now, Yan Tiancong had been utterly ruthless to the Divine Secrets Trading Company. Yi Yun had already implicated the Divine Secrets Trading Company, so this only added to his fury.

At that moment, Advisor Yang noticed Yi Yun, who was standing in front of the stone platform. Yi Yun was still using the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book through the use of the Thousand Mask. His youthful face was gone, and he was now a middle-aged man with stubble who appeared to have experienced the vicissitudes of life.

All his enchanted weapons had been kept and he only wore an ordinary set of clothing that was slightly old and tattered. He hung a wine gourd by his waist—Azure Yang Lord of the past had also traversed the world with a wine gourd by his waist.

However, Yi Yun did not use a sword anymore and returned to using a saber. Also, he did not conceal his cultivation level, letting it remain at the mid-stages of the Dao Manifestation realm. In the Central State Divine Territory, if a true sect’s warrior at middle age reached the middle-stages of the Dao Manifestation realm, he would only be considered below average. He was destined to not attain to much in the future so he would attract little attention at Sun Burial Sandsea.

“Hi there, are you interested in these female slaves?” Yang Yanguang stroked his scrawny mustache and sized up Yi Yun, who did not look like someone with money. Furthermore, his cultivation level wasn’t high. He was likely an itinerant warrior that wasn’t doing well. Such people definitely weren’t there for the Sun Burial Sandsea’s phenomenon, for they would only be courting death. At best, they would risk their lives to pick a few crappy herbs in Sun Burial Sandsea so that they could earn a tiny sum in the market.

Upon thinking of this, a look of contempt flashed in Yang Yanguang’s eyes. He lost interest in Yi Yun. How could such an itinerant warrior even think of buying a few sex slaves to engage in pleasure? He should be pissing a pool and looking at his reflection. These girls were, after all, painstakingly chosen from the Divine Secrets Trading Company. Not only were their looks and figures outstanding, they also had martial talent. Furthermore, in the Divine Secrets Trading Company, that foolish woman Ji Shuiyan had treated her subordinates well. These maidservants were given precious herbs for consumption, so how could some poor loser afford them?

1097 - : Bitter Encounter in the Market

CKtalon  CKtalon

“If you are buying, show some money and let’s talk price. If you aren’t buying, don’t stand here. We have a business to run,” Yang Yanguang said impatiently.

If this stall were in a commoner’s part of town, he would always be polite, even to those who had no intention of buying anything. After all, amiability was conducive to a successful business. But in a warrior’s world, there was no need to show any amiability. There was no need to show any form of courtesy to a someone who was obviously not there to close a deal.

Yang Yanguang wasn’t wrong. Yi Yun was indeed not a potential buyer. His gaze had scanned gently across Xin’er and a seventeen-year-old girl. The two girls felt a trepidation that went down to their core. It was a sense of horror and helplessness like that of an injured deer under a butcher’s knife.

“Which one of you here is in charge?”

Yi Yun looked at Yang Yanguang and said with a voice that hid a forbidding killing intent. However, at Yang Yanguang’s cultivation level, he could not sense Yi Yun’s aura at all.

He scoffed and was just about to deliver a few derisive jibes when suddenly, his eyes lit up. He ignored Yi Yun and began walking into another direction.

As Yang Yanguang walked, he said, “Haha, Young Master Blood Jade, welcome! My apologies for making you come so far!”

Yang Yanguang was all smiles.The wrinkles on his face were so crunched together that they could even trap flies.

The Young Master Blood Jade he mentioned was the Bloodlust Sect’s core disciple. He was rather well known in Sun Burial Sandsea, but it was mainly infamy. The Bloodlust Sect cultivated in unorthodox techniques. Cultivators of their heritage would not be able to repress the Yin frost Qi in their bodies and, with time, would begin thirsting for the blood of others. They actually drank blood to balance and nourish the Yin frost Qi in their bodies. This gave the Bloodlust Sect a notorious reputation. Warriors who died at the hands of the Bloodlust Sect typically ended up as desiccated corpses.

Although the Bloodlust Sect’s reputation was poor, it was powerful. The Heaven Amplification Trading Company ignored the reputation of those they had relations with. As long as they had strength and they could benefit the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, Yan Tiancong would choose to befriend them.

Young Master Blood Jade completely ignored Yang Yanguang’s excessive attention. His eyes were locked onto the row of young girls behind Yang Yanguang.

As he looked, he stroked his chin and revealed a satisfied look.

“Not bad!” Blood Jade said with a nod.

“Haha, didn’t I say so!? I did send an invitation by sword courier to you, personally inviting you to come to Jade Luster City and choose sex slaves. How could I possibly try to fool you with inferior goods?”

At that moment, a youth with a folding fan in hand walked over with a beaming smile. Yi Yun’s eyes flashed coldly when he saw that person.

It was none other than Yan Tiancong!

Behind Yan Tiancong was another elder. He had white hair and his skin was somewhat gray. His eyes were deeply recessed so that he seemed to be lacking in vitality.

Yi Yun remembered the elder to be Yan Tiancong’s master, His Excellency Huayu.

His Excellency Huayu’s sect was Yan Tiancong’s backer. He seldom did things for the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, but the Heaven Amplification Trading Company would give a sizable amount of treasures to His Excellency Huayu on an annual basis.

With Yan Tiancong and His Excellency Huayu were two other azure-clothed elders following behind in a polite and ingratiating manner. They were the Heaven Amplification Trading Company’s Elders, and compared to His Excellency Huayu and Young Master Blood Jade, they were much too inferior.

It was as the saying went, enemies often cross each other’s path.

Yi Yun was very pleased to encounter Yan Tiancong here. However, he was currently disguised using the Thousand Mask. It was still quite a troublesome task to kill Yan Tiancong in the market around the teleportation array without anyone suspecting his identity.

If Yi Yun were to use any of his unique moves against His Excellency Huayu, it would definitely attract the attention of the Seven Star Dao Palace.

…

“Nice, very nice!”

Young Master Blood Jade laughed heartily. His laughter was high-pitched and sounded like a eunuch’s.

He leaped onto the stone platform and looked at the girls.

Xin’er’s face was pale and she had nearly buried her head into her chest. She was afraid of letting Young Master Blood Jade see her, but even so, she failed to escape her predicament.

As Ji Shuiyan’s personal maidservant, Xin’er possessed special talent.

“Haha, I like this girl a lot. I want her!”

“And this one!”

Young Master Blood Jade immediately pointed out twelve girls, leaving only three or four unchosen.

“Then, it shall be these twelve,” Young Master Blood Jade said nonchalantly.

“About that…” It pained Yan Tiancong when he heard Young Master Blood Jade demand so many. After all, there were experts from various large sects coming to Jade Luster City these days. Yan Tiancong wanted to offer them gifts, but the best thing that the Heaven Amplification Trading Company could produce were these supreme-grade sex slaves, ones that drew the envy of others. If he were to give all of them to Blood Jade, he would need to go through the trouble of finding more.

“Why? You can’t bear to part with them?” Young Master Blood Jade frowned slightly and said with a light tone. “Other than using them, I would occasionally need some blood for food. A young girl’s blood is quite delicious. Twelve girls might not even be a year’s expenditure for me. Yet, you aren’t willing?”

Young Master Blood Jade’s words sounded like a devil’s cackle in the Divine Secrets Trading Company girls’ ears. His use of the word ‘expenditure’ meant that he did not see them as humans.

“How could that be? Of course, I’m willing!”

Yan Tiancong hurriedly changed his tone as he gave an obsequious smile. He waved his hand at Yang Yanguang and said, “Advisor Yang, find a few old woman and wash them clean before sending them to Young Master Blood Jade’s room.”

“Yes, master.” Yang Yanguang was all smiles. But just as he was about to give the order, he suddenly frowned. He noticed that the poor loser, Yi Yun, was still standing by the side of the stone platform.

Yang Yanguang was somewhat incensed. He signaled to a few of his strongmen with his eyes and they began walking to Yi Yun.

“This is not a place a loser like you should linger around. Hurry and scram. Don’t disgust Young Master Blood Jade with that mug of yours!”

A strongman reached out his arm to grab at Yi Yun, but the instant he stretched his hand out, he felt his wrist turn cold. Following that, an excruciating pain transmitted to his head. He turned his head and noticed his right hand had already disappeared. It had been cleanly lobbed off his wrist!

“Ah!” The strongman cried out tragically as he looked at Yi Yun in horror. The stubbled and worn out face was looking coldly at him, as though he was looking at a corpse.

The strongman had not seen Yi Yun make a move but his hand had already been sliced off!

“Punk! You are courting death!” Yang Yanguang was enraged, for he never expected Yi Yun to suddenly attack so ruthlessly. This was the Jade Luster teleportation array, the territory of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. Yet, he dared to attack a first-grade guard of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company!

“Oh?”

Young Master Blood Jade turned his head to look at Yi Yun. His pupils had a few dark red patches and his lips looked exceedingly lustrous. He licked his lips and revealed an amused smile.

He never expected that this trivial figure, that he previously wouldn’t bother to acknowledge, would suddenly attack. “Interesting. There is truly no lack of people in this world that do not know the meaning of death. Unfortunately, a middle-aged man’s blood is not delicious at all. I can’t even be bothered to drink it.”

1098 - : Young Master Blood Jade

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Kill that punk and skin him!”

Yan Tiancong bellowed loudly. He was extremely infuriated. To create such a commotion in Heaven Amplification Trading Company territory, in front of Young Master Blood Jade, was equivalent to publicly smacking him in the face. How could he tolerate such a thing?

Instantly, servants began rushing in from every corner. The two Elders standing behind Yan Tiancong also began to surround Yi Yun from both sides.

Yi Yun looked at Yan Tiancong and the corner of his wrinkled lips curved up slightly, revealing a teasing smile.

This smile baffled and shocked Yan Tiancong when it landed in his eyes. For some reason, the smile looked somewhat familiar, but the aged face was clearly that of a middle-aged man that was not doing well. Yan Tiancong felt that he was overthinking things.

He said with a sneer, “You’re still in the mood to smile? Fighting in the teleportation market is a violation of the rules here. Take him down, but break his limbs first!”

The moment Yan Tiancong gave the order, a bunch of Heaven Amplification Trading Company servants rushed over. But in an instant, nearly a thousand cold beams emitted from Yi Yun’s body!

Cha! Cha! Cha!

999 flying sabers shot in every direction. The servants that had charged forward failed to react in time. Their bodies came to a sudden halt as they were pierced through by the flying sabers. Instantly, blood splattered as limbs flew. Tragic cries were heard everywhere as the small region was instantly no different from a Shura slaughter ground.

The terrifying scene drained all color from the Divine Secrets Trading Company girls’ faces. They did not know when such a terrifying executioner had appeared. However, in the eyes of these girls, his brand of terror was much better than Young Master Blood Jade, who ate humans and drank blood.

“Oh?”

Seeing so many servants die simultaneously, Young Master Blood Jade finally began to treat Yi Yun seriously. This was a person of ability, and not some ordinary itinerant warrior.

But even so, Young Master Blood Jade wasn’t concerned. “Not bad. A person like you shouldn’t be unknown. What’s your name?”

Young Master Blood Jade could not think of anyone around Sun Burial Sandsea that used flying sabers.

“A dead person like you does not need to know my name.” Yi Yun looked at Blood Jade coldly.

“Hahahaha!”

Young Master Blood Jade roared with laughter, as though he had heard the funniest joke in the world. “No one has ever been so arrogant in front of me before. Let’s ignore the fact that you aren’t my match. Even if you survived more a few of my moves, the experts of my Bloodlust Sect are not far off. They would only take a few moments to rush over here. Do you think a lone person like you can escape?”

Behind Young Master Blood Jade, His Excellency Huayu also laughed. The person in front of them truly did not know anything. He also had several friends in the vicinity. They too would quickly rush in and, when that time came, Yi Yun would be a sitting duck. He naturally would be unable to conceal his identity when that happened.

“Bloodlust Sect?” Yi Yun smiled nonchalantly. When he first attacked, he had spread his perception to probe in every direction. The truly terrifying people, those at the level of the Seven Star Dao Palace Deputy Palatial Lord, had long entered deep into the Sun Burial Sandsea.

Although there were experts in the vicinity of the teleportation array, they did not pose a threat to Yi Yun at all. Of course, he had to take care not to expose his identity, lest he attract the murderous attention of the Seven Star Dao Palace.

Yi Yun suddenly took a step forward as a blackish-gray aura emitted from his body.

The aura had an indescribably vast and majestic atmosphere. When it emanated throughout the surroundings, everyone felt that they could not avoid it. It was as if the aura had sealed off the world, placing them in an alternate universe.

“What is that?”

Blood Jade and His Excellency Huayu were alarmed. The strange aura had sealed the space around them. It was like they were isolated from the rest of the world.

“Array? You obtained an ancient disk array?” His Excellency Huayu asked in shock. From his point of view, only an ancient disk array could seal off space.

Yi Yun chuckled and shook his head. He said, “This is my Dao Domain.”

This Dao Domain was Yi Yun’s Destruction Dao Domain. He had enveloped space around him, trapping Blood Jade and Huayu within. With them isolated as such, he could use any moves on them and no one outside would see. Naturally, that would prevent his identity from being exposed.

The only danger was if Blood Jade and Huayu had the ability to destroy his Destruction Dao Domain, otherwise they would remain trapped in the area!

“Dao Domain? Stop bragging!” Blood Jade was a well-learned person as well. It was impossible that this vast and majestic Dao Domain that made it seem like he was facing an entire Universe could be generated by such a trivial figure. Perhaps even the Palatial Lord of the Seven Star Dao Palace was unable to produce a Dao Domain of such quality.

Yi Yun could not be bothered refuting him. He added, “I forgot to tell you. In my Dao Domain, time moves a lot faster. I have sufficient time to finish all of you before the people on the outside can even react.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he suddenly waved his hands!

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Dozens of cold beams flew out and shot straight at Yang Yanguang!

“Ah!”

Yang Yanguang was frightened out of his wits. He had no way to put up any form of resistance. Dozens of flying sabers penetrated his body, and his limbs were completely diced into minced meat and bone fragments. The flying sabers that pierced his torso had lodged him to the stone platform as blood flowed incessantly.

The stone platform was just at the feet of the row of girls. They were terrified as they gaped their tiny mouths. Their eyes were filled with horror and pleasant surprise. They did not dare believe that Yang Yanguang, who lorded over their fates in such a high and mighty manner, would die. He came from a powerful faction, allowing him to engage in nefarious acts for more than a century, yet there he was dying under their feet.

Yang Yanguang’s eyes were turbid as blood spewed out of his mouth. He breathed out more than he breathed in. It was obvious that he could not live much longer.

He was struggling with all his might as he produced unintelligible sounds in an indignant manner. At his deathbed, he seemed to refuse to believe that this was how it ended.

“Back then, Ji Shuiyan cleaved off your limbs but spared your life. Who knew that an old dog like you would be rescued? Your limbs were even reattached. This time, however, I have diced them all. So how will you continue to survive?”

As Yi Yun spoke, he waved his hand, sending saber beams to inundate Yang Yanguang. With a tragic cry, he was devoured by the saber beams as blood splattered, completely ending his life.

But in that moment, Yan Tiancong could not be bothered with Yang Yanguang’s death. Yi Yun’s words had given him a fright!

“What did you say? Ji Shuiyan!?”

Ji Shuiyan imprisoning Yang Yanguang and cleaving off his limbs was a trivial manner. If it were a warrior from outside the city, there was no reason for him to know of the matter.

Furthermore, the person in front of him clearly knew Ji Shuiyan. Combined with his ruthless display of strength, Yan Tiancong suddenly trembled as a realization streaked across his brain.

“You are Yi Yun!?”

Yan Tiancong had long been frightened by Yi Yun. But wasn’t Yi Yun in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect and besieged by the Seven Star Dao Palace? How could he be here?

Yi Yun did not deny it. He had no intention of concealing his identity. From the moment he conjured his Destruction Dao Domain, he had already determined that none from the Heaven Amplification Trading Company would be leaving.

1099 - : Massacre

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yan Tiancong’s emotions were stirring. No wonder that smile from before had sent a chill down his spine. It was because the person was Yi Yun in disguise.

“Yi Yun! He’s Yi Yun!”

Yan Tiancong yelled loudly. He looked at Yi Yun in fear but upon realizing that his master was beside him, he was able to regain some composure.

“Yan Tiancong, you have rubbed me the wrong way time and time again. Today, I’ll send you to your death so that you can be reincarnated.”

Yi Yun said lazily. He was the lord of his domain, allowing him free reign over Yan Tiancong.

“You want me dead? Go ahead and try!”

Before Yan Tiancong spoke, he had already taken a step back to a spot behind His Excellency Huayu. Simultaneously, he secretly crushed a voice transmission charm.

Although he was confident that His Excellency Huayu would protect him from Yi Yun, he still wanted to inform the Seven Star Auction Company. They would want to send their experts to capture Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had seen the covert action, but he placed his hands behind his back and completely ignored it.

“Are you done sending out the transmission?” Yi Yun said with a smile. His Destruction domain completely isolated the space from the exterior world. If it was unable to block a simple voice transmission charm, then all the time spent learning Destruction Laws would’ve been rather pointless.

Seeing Yi Yun take on such a confident pose, Yan Tiancong’s heart sank. He realized that it was impossible for him to send the information out. The only way out was to kill Yi Yun.

“Not a bad method! It seems like you have providence bestowing its light on you, to have obtained such an ancient array.” Young Master Blood Jade truly looked at Yi Yun, this time with none of his earlier contempt. “Yi Yun, I have heard the stories about you. It’s said that your talent sits atop the Central State Divine Territory. Even the Seven Star Dao Palace views you as a mortal malady. I have long intended to meet you.”

Young Master Blood Jade smirked, his eyes glimmering with a greedy glint. “My Bloodlust sect cultivates in techniques that require the consumption of blood. The blood of beauties like these is tasty, but in terms of cultivation efficiency, it’s far inferior to the blood of peerless geniuses. Yi Yun, your blood is mine. You must have had special encounters. Your interspatial ring will be mine, and I will inherit the light bestowed upon you by providence, extending your legacy.”

As Young Master Blood Jade spoke, his energy burst out, blasting off his top. His body began to grow red fur and his teeth sharpened. They looked the fangs of wild beasts.

“Although you are a genius, you simply haven’t developed long enough. Today, I’ll show you the difference time can make! You will also understand the difference in our bloodlines!” As Young Master Blood Jade spoke, his aura constantly surged higher.

Fey?

Yi Yun’s eyelids pricked up. The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven had humans, so it was only natural that the Yang God Empyrean Heaven had Fey. The Bloodlust Sect, it seemed, was a Fey sect. That explained why they liked human blood.

“So you are nothing but a red-furred monkey. To think, you spewed so much nonsense,” Yi Yun said disdainfully. Upon hearing Yi Yun’s sarcasm, Young Master Blood Jade was infuriated!

“You have no conception of your impending death!”

He roared as his figure swelled up suddenly.

“Cha Cha Cha!” The back of his hands grew three long claws that resembled blades. They suddenly came slashing at Yi Yun’s throat!

Roar!

At that moment, a gigantic red-furred beast phantom appeared behind Young Master Blood Jade. It was the power of his Fey bloodline!

But Yi Yun only waved his hand against Young Master Blood Jade, who had triggered his bloodline.

999 flying sabers flew out and, like a snowstorm that touched down, Young Master Blood Jade’s claws clashed with the flying sabers!

Pi Pi Pa Pa!

The tumultuous sound of metal colliding echoed. The entire Destruction domain was filled with saber flashes and claw shadows!

Young Master Blood Jade, who had partially transformed into his Fey form, lost all previous elegance. It was as if he had truly become a beast.

“Whew Whew Whew Whew!”

Suddenly, Young Master Blood Jade’s red fur grew in length and shot out like tentacles, binding the Thousand Snow flying sabers in mid-air.

Young Master Blood Jade’s red fur was a tough and tensile net that completely trapped the flying sabers. The flying sabers pulsed incessantly, but could not free themselves.

“Hahaha! I want you dead!”

Young Master Blood Jade began charging at Yi Yun with the hundreds of flying sabers wrapped up in his fur!

Faced with the frenetic Young Master Blood Jade, Yi Yun flipped his hand, and a rusty broken sword appeared in it.

“You want to slay me with that sword of yours?”

Young Master Blood Jade’s red fur shot out and began hurtling at Yi Yun’s hands.

However, at that very instant, Yi Yun’s sword seemed to become absolute darkness. It was as if all light in the world was consumed by Yi Yun’s sword!

Space and time appeared to be meaningless in front of the sword.

Facing the sword was like facing the immensity of the Universe.

Yi Yun infused his Heart of the Sword into the sword. It seemed to pierce through the distant past, vast space, and straight into Young Master Blood Jade’s chest.

It was too fast!

Not only was it fast, it was completely unavoidable. The sword was like the heaven and earth itself. How could one dodge when the world itself was crashing down on him?

Unless one’s cultivation level and nomological insights surpassed Yi Yun’s, allowing one to break his stance, there was no way to resist his sword.

‘”Puah!”

Blood splattered as the countless strands of red fur twirling in mid-air were sliced off by sword beams. Young Master Blood Jade’s body trembled violently and he flew backward like a broken gunny sack.

Boom!

Young Master Blood Jade crashed into the boundary of the Destruction domain before bouncing back, eventually crashing heavily to the ground.

This strike had not only penetrated Young Master Blood Jade’s body, it had also annihilated his vitality.

With the broken sword in hand that somehow did not have a single drop of blood staining it, Yi Yun approached Young Master Blood Jade. “I thought you had adequate strength, but you are only at the level of Jian Fenghong after all.”

Yi Yun shook his head. Unknowingly, he had already matured to such a powerful state.

The expedition to the Azure Wood Great World had transformed him for the better. And now in the Sun Burial Sandsea, he had more breakthroughs, especially into the way of the sword. They allowed Yi Yun’s strength to rapidly increase.

Now, ordinary warriors of Sun Burial Sandsea could not put up any resistance against Yi Yun. Even the geniuses of large sects were also greatly inferior to him. Only seniors like Jian Wufeng and Jian Buyi could subdue Yi Yun. But even then, the gap between them wasn’t that large anymore.

“You…How is it possible…”

Young Master Blood Jade convulsed. He was already at the Dao Palace realm and had cultivated for nearly five centuries. Yet, the difference between him and Yi Yun was immense. How could someone who had not even cultivated for sixty years possess such strength?

At that moment, Yi Yun brandished his sword nonchalantly.

Whew!

An unremarkable sword beam shot at the row of girls on the stone platform. With the sound of a gentle wind blowing across the surface of a pond, Xin’er and company’s metallic shackles crumbled.

The tough metallic chains turned to dust under the sword beam. The girls did not feel any pain in their wrists and ankles. Such a Sword Dao was truly astounding.

“I’ll leave him to you.”

Yi Yun kicked the crippled Young Master Blood Jade to the feet of Xin’er and company like he was a wastrel of no consequence.

1100 - : I’ll leave him to you

CKtalon  CKtalon

Blood Jade was the kind of person that was cruel by nature. He had killed countless people and placed great importance on himself, making him extremely selfish. Such people disgusted Yi Yun the most. Using the pure Yang broken sword to kill him would be an insult to the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner. Instead he handed Blood Jade over to Xin’er and company, which was also a way to have them avenge the countless girls that Blood Jade had killed.

With their metal shackles destroyed by Yi Yun, the girls from the Divine Secrets Trading Company felt their strength restored.

Their helplessness, despair, and feeling of living death had vanished in a blink of an eye. Their freedom was restored.

“Thank you, Young Master Yi, for saving our lives.”

Xin’er’s eyes brimmed with tears as she knelt to the ground. She recalled the night when she stood by the door as her mistress shared a meal with Yi Yun under the moon. Back then, she felt that there was nothing Yi Yun could not do.

Beneath Xin’er was a dying Young Master Blood Jade, who was on his last breaths. Xin’er gritted her teeth, for she hated a person like him to the bone. She grabbed a dagger, and it was clear that she has no intention of sparing him.

Upon sensing Xin’er’s killing intent, Blood Jade’s lips trembled. His eyes were filled with viciousness and indignation. He never expected that he would die at the hands of a girl, especially having fooled around with so many girls in his life.

At that moment, there was a loud rumbling explosion. The entire Dao Domain trembled, for the silent Huayu had suddenly flown up and struck the Destruction Dao Domain’s barrier.

However, he immediately felt a force of pure annihilation creep up his palm, straight into his body and limbs.

Huayu grunted and retreated several steps back. He received slight injuries from the rebounding force of the Dao Domain barrier.

Yet although the Dao Domain boundary had shaken violently from his strike, it didn’t show a single sign of damage!

When he saw this, Huayu’s heart plummeted.

He could not rupture it! Despite having cultivated for ten thousand years, he was unable to break a junior’s Dao Domain!

Huayu was already certain that what Yi Yun had said was true. The barrier in front of him was definitely not some ancient array formation that Yi Yun had chanced upon. Instead, it was Yi Yun’s own Dao Domain. He knew because he had sensed similar laws from Yi Yun’s strike at Young Master Blood Jade.

Yi Yun was too fearsome!

In that moment, Huayu was filled with horror. If he could turn back time, he would rather have killed Yan Tiancong than met Yi Yun.

“Master, what are we to do now?”

Yan Tiancong saw how Young Master Blood Jade lay by the girls’ feet like a sorry mess. His expression had already turned ashen.

He never expected Yi Yun to be that strong. Sure, he had seen him defeat Jian Xiaoshuang, but he could not tell exactly how much stronger Yi Yun was. Now, he knew that Yi Yun could not be viewed as someone from the younger generation. He was on the level of those old monsters!

Even his own master had little chance of winning.

However, Yan Tiancong clung to a small bit of hope. He wished that His Excellency Huayu could reverse the situation.

“What do we do?” When Huayu heard Yan Tiancong’s words, he became more irate, especially when he noticed that Yan Tiancong was shrinking back behind him, clearly intending for him to be the shield to defend against Yi Yun.

“You are the one who offended Yi Yun and yet you dare ask me what to do? You want me to be your shield and die in your stead?”

His Excellency Huayu suddenly grabbed Yan Tiancong by the neck.

“Mas…Master!”

Yan Tiancong was scared out of his wits. Huayu had raised him up by the neck. He used all his strength to hold on to Huayu’s hand as his feet kicked powerlessly in mid-air.

He did not dare kick Huayu, for he knew that he didn’t have the strength to overpower his master.

Huayu grabbed Yan Tiancong’s wrist.

“Ka-cha!”

With a crisp crack, Yan Tiancong issued a shrill scream as his was crushed by Huayu.

“You wretched disciple! I took you in but you only gave me trouble! Now that Young Master Yi is here for your life, you want to use me as your shield? How ruthless you are!”

As Huayu spoke, he pinched another time!

“Ka-cha!”

Yan Tiancong’s other wrist was crushed by Huayu. Huayu made sure to crush the wrist bones into powder so that it would be extremely difficult for him to recover even if he had natural treasures on hand.

After Huayu crippled Yan Tiancong’s hands, he said to Yi Yun, “Young Master Yi, I hereby banish this wretched disciple from my tutelage! I have crippled both of his hands, and hand him over to you to deal with as you see fit! Whatever this wretched disciple has done has nothing to do with me. Back when the Divine Secrets Trading Company was in trouble, I truly regret not having saved them. I hope that Young Master Yi will be magnanimous enough to forgive me any wrongdoings. It can be said that I do not have any grudges with you in the past. I beseech Young Master Yi to spare me, and I will be grateful for it!”

As Huayu spoke, he respectfully bowed to Yi Yun.

Upon hearing Huayu’s statement, Yan Tiancong’s heart was filled with despair. He knew very well that Huayu was abandoning him to save himself. By sacrificing him, he was able to ingratiate himself to Yi Yun.

This made Yan Tiancong’s hatred reach a new maximum!

“Huayu, do you think Yi Yun will spare you if you do this to me? You darn old man, whenever you needed any treasures from my Heaven Amplification Trading Company, I did my best to obtain them for you. Now, you are being so ruthless to me. Even if I were to die, I’d definitely pull you along!”

Yan Tiancong only managed to finish half his words before his throat was squeezed tightly by Huayu. Huayu’s eyes were filled with killing intent, and he just needed to use a bit of strength to snap Yan Tiancong’s neck off.

“You dare speak of me being ruthless? You are only my disciple in name, yet you have used my name to rob others of their belongings. Do you think I’m a fool!?”

As Huayu spoke, he slapped Yan Tiancong in the face, reducing the left side of his face to a bloody mangled mess. Crushed teeth stained with blood dropped out of his mouth.

Following that, Huayu kicked twice, shattering Yan Tiancong’s kneecaps. At that point, Yan Tiancong was like a crippled and abandoned wretch. His expression was ashen as he lost all his will to carry on living.

Yi Yun did not do a thing, instead watching with his hands held behind him. All he did was stand back and enjoy the show.

Behind Yi Yun, the girls from the Divine Secrets Trading Company also watched the scene unfold before their eyes. They were somewhat confounded. Previously, Yan Tiancong was like a redoubtable existence. A single statement of his controlled their fates, and His Excellency Huayu was Yan Tiancong’s master that he put on a pedestal as though he were a god. But now, because of the threat of Yi Yun, a so-called senior like Huayu had abandoned all his dignity. He revealed his ugly nature by crippling the overbearing and arrogant Yan Tiancong in order to survive.

This was what absolute strength could bring!

Xin’er drew a deep breath as she looked at Yi Yun with a deep sense of reverence. That was the pinnacle of what warriors could achieve. That was the strength of martial arts—a simple sentence determining life and death, controlling the world and lording over the Universe!

“Young Master Yi, I have already crippled Yan Tiancong. Can you let me leave?” asked Huayu politely as he held Yan Tiancong up like a dead wretch.

1101 - : Enjoying the Show

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Let you leave?” Yi Yun laughed. He went through the trouble of disguising himself in order to come to Jade Luster City’s teleportation array. If he let Huayu go, he might spread news of Yi Yun’s arrival in Jade Luster City to the Seven Star Dao Palace. When that happened, the Seven Star Dao Palace would definitely capture him. Even if they failed to capture him, they would know about his use of the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book. That could only serve to greatly increase his risk when traversing the Sun Burial Sandsea.

“Young Master Yi, I can compensate you.” Huayu’s eyes flashed. Yi Yun’s teasing attitude infuriated him, but he did not dare erupt.

“That show of a dog biting another was truly well done. In order to survive, you tortured your own disciple. How can I spare someone like that?” Yi Yun brought his hands forward and reached out with his right hand. The pure Yang broken sword had already appeared in his palm. “For a master-disciple relationship to end up like yours is truly tragic. However, Yan Tiancong was at least able to realize that your entry into my Destruction domain means I don’t plan on sparing you. All of you…need to die!”

“Yi Yun! Don’t you force me! Are you so certain of your victory? If I risked harming my cultivation by using my most powerful technique, there is no way you’d survive!”

Huayu knew that Yi Yun was bent on killing him, and he completely lost his temper. He bellowed out loud and threw Yan Tiancong at Yi Yun like a sandbag!

Huayu had injected tumultuous Yuan Qi into Yan Tiancong’s body for this strike. It destroyed Yan Tiancong’s limbs and body completely. Eventually, the Yuan Qi gathered in Yan Tiancong’s dantian and seemed ready to explode at any time.

Huayu had used Yan Tiancong as a meat bomb!

Yi Yun sneered as he thrust the pure Yang broken sword forward.

‘”Puah!”

Yi Yun’s sword stabbed straight into Yan Tiancong’s dantian, dicing it up completely. All the chaotic Yuan Qi was devoured by Yi Yun’s destruction laws. So there was obviously no way an explosion could happen.

But, at that moment, Yi Yun’s eyebrows pricked up. He withdrew the pure Yang broken sword and quickly retreated. Simultaneously, he pointed out with his finger.

And while he did so, a black round pearl flew out of Yan Tiancong’s body, hurtling straight for Yi Yun’s chest!

God Annihilating Pearl!?

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed. God Annihilating Pearl was condensed by Yuan Qi that had yet dispersed in the dantian of experts just before their deaths. They would refine a pearl and, once they shot it out, it would explode.

The God Annihilating Pearl was extremely precious since it was refined only just before an expert died. One’s own Yuan Qi could be used for the enemy’s benefit, so many warriors chose to let their Yuan Qi dissipate after death rather than benefit their foe. Hence, every pearl was extremely expensive.

Yi Yun suddenly realized that Huayu had struck Yan Tiancong not because he was hoping to get Yi Yun to spare him, but to hide a God Annihilating Pearl in his disciple’s body and use it to blast Yi Yun.

“Hahaha! I prepared that God Annihilating Pearl especially for you. I want to watch you die!”

Huayu roared as he opened up a distance from Yi Yun.

And at that moment, Yi Yun’s finger had already tapped lightly on the God Annihilating Pearl.

“Courting death!” Huayu suffused a sinister smile. “To dare touch the God Annihilating Pearl, do you not know how death is spelled!?”

However, at the instant Yi Yun touched the God Annihilating Pearl, a tiny black wheel silently entered the God Annihilating Pearl. Following that, the God Annihilating Pearl that had already had its energy triggered to the point of immediate explosion suddenly stabilized.

Upon seeing this happen, Huayu’s eyes widened as he gawked. What happened? A tiny wheel was able to balance out the God Annihilating Pearl’s terrifying energy?

“This is your so-called trump card? What a disappointment. I thought you would have used some remarkable technique, but to think you relied on an external object.”

Yi Yun sneered and, with a flick of his finger, sent the God Annihilating Pearl flying straight at Huayu!

At the same time, Yi Yun’s Destruction Dao Domain began shrinking rapidly. The power of destruction clasped around Huayu’s body from every direction, preventing him from dodging.

“Ah!”

Huayu roared frantically as he slammed his palm at the God Annihilating Pearl, hoping to send it flying.

However, with an instantaneous thought from Yi Yun, the tiny black wheel imprint on the God Annihilating Pearl suddenly vanished.

The instant Huayu’s palm struck the God Annihilating Pearl, he sensed that the calm energy in it had once again turned violent.

“To dare touch the God Annihilating Pearl, do you not know how death is spelled?”

Yi Yun used Huayu’s words ad verbatim. Before, Yi Yun had used the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence to devour the God Annihilating Pearl’s runic trigger mechanism. But he had not completely devoured it. When he flicked it back, he also removed the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

What awaited Huayu was his own killer move!

“No——!”

Huayu could only spew out a single, despaired word before a dazzling light radiated from his palm and completely swallowed him!

“Boom!”

The God Annihilating Pearl’s explosion sent terrifying energy sweeping around. As for Yi Yun, he instantly shrunk the Destruction Dao Domain in front of him, forming a firm wall!

The God Annihilating Pearl’s energy blast struck straight at the wall, causing the Destruction Dao Domain to shake violently. Even Yi Yun felt his chest in turmoil. The might of the God Annihilating Pearl was indeed formidable. If he had been struck by the God Annihilating Pearl head on, it would have been truly dangerous.

This reminded Yi Yun that his cultivation level was not high enough after all. Even if he encountered figures that he beat in terms of strength, he needed to regard them carefully or he could very likely fail miserably at a simple task.

The explosion’s aftershock lasted for thirty seconds before vanishing. Yi Yun’s arms were left numb and he had expended a great deal of Yuan Qi.

He swept his surroundings. Other than Xin’er and company behind him, who had been shielded, everywhere around him was in ruins. There were mangled corpses and bits of flesh everywhere.

“They are all dead.” Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief. He turned to Xin’er and company. “Are all of you fine?”

“Young Master Yi.”

“Thank you, Young Master Yi, for saving our lives!”

All the girls prostrated themselves before Yi Yun. Yi Yun’s actions had given them a new lease on life.

“I know your name is Xin’er. What’s your name?”

Yi Yun asked the yellow-dressed girl who was about seventeen. Back in the Sun Burial Sandsea, it was this girl that had pulled open the curtains and addressed him.

“Young Master Yi, my name is Yue Xiao.”

“Yue Xiao? Alright…” Yi Yun nodded. “The trouble that the Divine Secrets Trading Company currently faces is all because of me. It is only right that I save all of you. I owe the Divine Secrets Trading Company so there’s no need to thank me. More importantly, do you have anywhere to go now that you’re free?”

The Divine Secrets Trading Company had already been destroyed. The entire Sun Burial Sandsea was filled with villains. This group of pure and beautiful girls would be like lambs thrown into a pit of wolves if they couldn’t find somewhere to go. The potential outcomes they faced might not be much better than being sold in the market.

Ra

1102 - : God Annihilating Pearl

CKtalon  CKtalon

Where would they go?

Xin’er faltered as she was somewhat fazed. The Divine Secrets Trading Company was gone, and they did not dare return to Jade Luster City. Where else could they go?

She had planned on speaking this truth, but Yue Xiao interrupted, “Young Master, we happen to know of an oasis in Sun Burial Sandsea. It’s rather hidden so it will be possible for us to seek refuge there.”

An oasis?

Yi Yun glanced at Yue Xiao and noticed that the other girls did not look relieved at her mention of the oasis. Yi Yun knew that the oasis was unlikely to be a reliable place.

The Sun Burial Sandsea was currently in chaos, with numerous experts everywhere. In that environment, what oasis could be ‘hidden’? If it were truly hidden, how could a weak girl like Yue Xiao discover it?

Furthermore, the journey to the oasis was probably extremely lengthy and fraught with countless dangers. It might be possible with guards, but with no protection, they would probably encounter harm somewhere along the way.

“Are you saying this because you are afraid of troubling me?”

Yi Yun suddenly came to a realization. With the phenomenon reappearing in the Sun Burial Sandsea, and him disguising himself to return to the Sun Burial Sandsea despite the risk of the pursuing Seven Star Dao Palace, Yi Yun’s motive was quite clear. He was here for the treasure in the Sun Burial Sandsea.

Yue Xiao, who was a little more mature, naturally managed to figure that out.

She knew that if the bunch of them were to follow him, they would only burden him. Then, Yi Yun would never be able to search for treasures. He would be fully occupied simply protecting them. Therefore, she had mentioned the oasis as a possible place of refuge, despite it not being safe at all.

“Screw it. All of you can follow me!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he extended out his hand and conjured a tiny pagoda.

It was the Azure Yang Lord’s God Advent Tower.

Back in the Azure Wood Great World, the God Advent Tower had withstood attacks for Yi Yun and saved his life. However, the damage completely drained the energy within the tower. Now, with quite a bit of time having passed, the God Advent Tower had gradually recovered a portion of its strength after absorbing Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Although it was still incomparable to its past strength, it could be used normally again.

“All of you enter it. Do not resist it.”

As Yi Yun spoke, the God Advent Tower shot out an azure beam of light, warping the sixteen girls, including Xin’er and Yue Xiao, into it.

Within a moment, the group appeared in a small idyllic world. It was an independent space within the God Advent Tower.

“This is…”

Xin’er and company were astonished by their surroundings. Compared to the chaotic Sun Burial Sandsea, with people cheating and murdering one another, this place was a peaceful heaven.

For the past few days, Xin’er and company had been under immense stress and filled with utter despair. Having arrived here suddenly, they felt they could completely relax.

“All of you shall stay here temporarily. In the future, I’ll bring you to meet Ji Shuiyan.”

Upon further thought, Yi Yun took out some cultivation techniques, and pills from his interspatial ring and handed them to the sixteen girls.

“You might be spending quite a long time in here, so feel free to cultivate in these cultivation techniques.”

Yi Yun had given them some unimpressive cultivation techniques. Some of them had been placed by Azure Yang Lord in his library without much thought. Some of them Yi Yun obtained from enemies he killed. Azure Yang Lord and Yi Yun did not cultivate in these techniques, so they had been going to waste. There was no harm in giving them to the girls for cultivation.

However, the cultivation techniques that Yi Yun thought little of looked completely different in the eyes of Xin’er and company.

Yue Xiao had casually flipped through a few jade slips and was shocked. She had previously cultivated in a technique known as the ‘Moon Teeth Blade’. It was bought from an auction by the Divine Secrets Trading Company but it only had the first two-thirds of the manual, lacking the last third.

However, the cultivation techniques that Yi Yun had so casually handed over were even more impressive than the complete ‘Moon Teeth Blade’ manual.

These cultivation techniques were so valuable that they would cause a stir at auctions, yet Yi Yun handed them out like they were freebies. It was hard to imagine what Yi Yun kept for himself.

“Young Master…These cultivation techniques are too valuable…”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I can use them. Just stay here and lead a good life. I’ll be leaving for now.”

As Yi Yun spoke, his figure flashed and he appeared outside the God Advent Tower.

He left the sixteen girls in a daze. The transformation from going from hell to heaven was too disparate. It made them feel like they were in a dream.

“We are saved!” Fourteen-year-old Xin’er, who was simple and innocent by nature, jumped up happily. Entering Yi Yun’s mobile abode gave her a baffling sense of security when compared to the Sun Burial Sandsea that was filled with people of questionable character.

The space in the God Advent Tower was extremely large. Yi Yun had given Yue Xiao and company an entire level’s region. Here, other than the idyllic world, there were a few palaces. The sixteen girls each found their residence and began leading a quiet and blissful life.

Meanwhile, back in the outside world, Destruction laws still permeated the surroundings. Yi Yun threw out a few pure Yang fireballs and burned Yan Tiancong and company’s corpses to ash. Then, he collected all the Destruction energy, which naturally removed the Destruction Dao Domain.

When the domain disappeared, Yi Yun found that many warriors had rushed to the scene. They were still unaware of what had happened. They were also limited in strength, for the true experts had long since gone deep into Sun Burial Sandsea.

Yi Yun was completely unfazed by these negligible warriors. With a flash, he had already rushed out of the crowd before they even could see his face.

He did not immediately leave the area, but instead headed for Jade Luster City.

At that moment in Jade Luster City, Yan Pingchuan sat in a lounge chair in the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. It could be said that he looked completely pleased and high-spirited.

He was the person-in-charge of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, and just a moment ago his grandson, Yan Tiancong, had overseen the complete annexation of the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

From then on, the Heaven Amplification Trading Company became the largest faction in Jade Luster City, other than the Seven Star Auction Company.

“I wonder if Cong’er managed to rope in Young Master Blood Jade. By giving him so many sex slaves, he should be satisfied…”

Yan Pingchuan stroked his chin with delight. Yan Tiancong did things with verve, making him a very proud grandfather. If Young Master Blood Jade could be roped in, the status of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company would only be more stable.

“Old Sir, don’t worry. Absolutely nothing will go wrong with Young Master at the helm.”

In front of Yan Pingchuan were a few Elders of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. They were beaming because they naturally gained a lion’s share of the profits plundered from the annexation of the Divine Secrets Trading Company. They would benefit greatly. Other than the obvious riches, the sex slaves not chosen by Young Master Blood Jade might even be given to them for a good time.

As the group carried on their discussion, they suddenly felt a terrifying killing intent fall upon them. In the next moment, their surroundings were a hazy gray. An indescribable stifling sensation surged into their hearts.

“Who is it!?”

“Who!?”

Yan Pingchuan became alert as he leaped up from the lounge chair.

“I never expected all of you to be here. You saved me the trouble of tracking each and every one of you down.” Yi Yun appeared in front of Yan Pingchuan as the Thousand Snow flying sabers danced around him.

Yi Yun was already acutely aware of what sort of people populated the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. As such, those who were sat here plotting only to benefit themselves could not be innocent. They all deserved to die.

“We do not know you and do not have any feud with you. Who are you and what do you want? If it’s riches, I can give them to you.”

Yan Pingchuan gradually calmed down. There were numerous nefarious figures coming to Sun Burial Sandsea over the past few days. It wasn’t impossible that those who knew of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company would come to rob them. If this person had any requests and was not here only to kill, there was no reason to be afraid.

“Feud? Indeed, there’s nothing of the sort. I only seek revenge on someone else’s behalf. Ji Shuiyan treated me rather well and gave me the most valuable Heaven Secrets Compass. It only seems right that I destroy the Heaven Amplification Trading Company for her.”

When Yi Yun said that, Yan Pingchuan’s expression changed drastically. “You are Yi Yun!?”

“Yes!”

Wasn’t Yi Yun being pursued by the Seven Star Dao Palace? How could he appear here?

Yan Pingchuan’s mind raced but how could he manage to figure out anything at that moment?

“Wait…Wait! Don’t kill me. You want to destroy the Heaven Amplification Trading Company because the Divine Secrets Trading Company treated you well. As long as you spare me, my Heaven Amplification Trading Company will absolutely treat you ten times better than them.” Yan Pingchuan was completely afraid. He was enveloped within Yi Yun’s Destruction Dao Domain. Just that alone made him lose all courage.

“Money isn’t my goal. Your grandson has headed to hell a step earlier than you. I’ll be sending you to accompany him!”

Cong’er…is dead!?

Yan Pingchuan’s heartbeat nearly came to a standstill but, in an instant, he was completely engulfed by saber beams that looked like snowflakes…

…

About five minutes later, Yi Yun left Jade Luster City. He had completely wiped out the core cadres of the Heaven Amplification Trading Company. Yan Pingchuan and the few Elders were now just a pile of completely pulverized corpses.

With that, the Heaven Amplification Trading Company would definitely turn into a state of chaos. With their inevitable downfall, they would naturally have no time to continue dealing with the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

As for the reconstruction of the Divine Secrets Trading Company, he could leave it to Ji Shuiyan.

A few minutes later, Yi Yun once again arrived at the teleportation array in the vicinity of Jade Luster City.

He did not pass the guards of the array, instead using his spatial dimension laws to activate the teleportation array. In the next moment, Yi Yun had traversed a distance of 50,000 kilometers, entering the depths of the Sun Burial Sandsea. As for the array’s guards, they could not even react in time.

1103 - : Destroying Heaven Amplification

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun felt his eyes blur slightly when he traveled through the teleportation array. When his vision was clear once more, he discovered that he had emerged into a tiny oasis in the massive Sun Burial Sandsea.

Due to the thick pure Yang gases in Sun Burial Sandsea, natural oases were incredibly rare. However, those places where an oasis did appear were augmented by arrays, allowing them to be maintained.

The oasis did not cover a large area. Here and there a few warriors loitered around, not immediately leaving after being teleported to the oasis.

When Yi Yun appeared in the array, he immediately felt a number of gazes and perceptions focused on him.

These perceptions were not weak. And when he swept his surroundings, he could sense several powerful auras. Those who came here were definitely planning to venture into the deeper depths of Sun Burial Sandsea, so it was only natural for them to have some strength.

When these gazes and perceptions realized that Yi Yun was someone unfamiliar, they pulled back.

“They are all people from sects.” Yi Yun glanced around and found that the warriors were in tiny groups. They were dressed in clothes of various sects. There were very few itinerant warriors like him, so he did not attract much attention.

At that moment, he suddenly saw his portrait on a boulder outside the teleportation array.

Yi Yun walked over and realized that it was a wanted poster for him. And the group that asked for his head was the Seven Star Dao Palace.

“Seven Star Dao Palace…” Yi Yun stood in front of the boulder and finished reading the wanted poster with a deadpan expression. It could be said that his feud with the Seven Star Dao Palace was irreconcilable. After all, the reason for this feud was that Yi Yun had an immense talent that struck fear into the Seven Star Dao Palace. It was afraid that Yi Yun would seek revenge once he had fully developed his powers. Which was exactly what Yi Yun intended to do.

“Dude, don’t look at it. The person on the portrait is not someone you can mess with.”

A voice that sounded like it had experienced the vicissitudes of life suddenly sounded from behind. Yi Yun turned his head and saw an elderly man dressed in clothes woven with coarse cloth. He was slightly wrinkled and his skin looked like it had been baked red and rough from weathering. He held a smoke pipe in his hand which he sucked from, emitting billows of smoke. His smoke pipe also had a bag of smoke leaves hanging off of it.

Upon taking in this person’s appearance, Yi Yun was somewhat stunned. Throughout his years of traveling the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven and Yang God Empyrean Heaven, the elders he had seen had esteemed bearings, like they were immortals. If not that, then they looked ill or odd, hinting at an unorthodox background. But he had never seen a person of this stature.

If not for the strange energy fluctuating from the old man, Yi Yun would have thought the fellow was an old farmer from the backwater mountainside.

“Eh?” The old farmer glanced at Yi Yun and shook his head. “You…are quite interesting.”

The old farmer muttered to himself. Yi Yun reeled when he heard that. Quite interesting?

“Haha, don’t worry. I don’t mean any harm. However, I’ll urge you not to think too much of the treasure in the Sun Burial Sandsea.” As the old farmer shook his head, he pointed at the teleportation array behind Yi Yun. “There are already people that are planning to return after only a few days.”

Over the past few days, there had been many warriors who had entered the Sun Burial Sandsea’s inner depths. However, the phenomenon was so massive in scale that no one knew where the treasure truly was.

Many warriors were like headless flies in Sun Burial Sandsea. They would search randomly to no avail.

There were actually some minor treasures appearing in Sun Burial Sandsea, but over the past few days, with more treasure seekers, the increase in demand resulted in a drastic decrease in returns. Even the most normal natural treasures were becoming scarce, let alone the treasure that triggered the phenomenon.

Many people had failed to benefit and were even killed by other larcenous warriors. This caused many to consider leaving.

“Senior, thank you for your warning.” Yi Yun cupped his hands. “I’m not bent on finding any treasures. I believe this journey will also help me to widen my horizons.”

“Ha, it’s up to you.”

The old man said before he left while puffing on the smoke pipe.

“That old man is truly strange…”

Yi Yun frowned slightly. His intuition told him that the elder was not a simple person, but he knew nothing of the old man’s circumstances.

Yi Yun appeared to leave the oasis without much thought. When he found a spot away from prying eyes, he used the Purple Crystal’s energy vision to ensure that there was no one around. Then, he extended his hand and wiped it across the interspatial ring. An ancient and simple compass disk appeared in his palm immediately.

It was the child part of the Heaven Secrets Compass. Back when Ji Shuiyan gave it to him, she instructed him on how to use it.

While many people were like headless flies in the Sun Burial Sandsea, Yi Yun had such a treasure in hand.

Yi Yun spoke a few incantations that powered up the Heaven Secrets Compass. Immediately, it emitted a faint glow.

“There’s a reaction…but it’s very weak…”

Yi Yun held the Heaven Secrets Compass and began orientating himself.

The encounter with the elder had alerted Yi Yun. From the looks of it, there were quite a number of experts that had come to the Sun Burial Sandsea on an expedition. He had to be extremely careful.

The Heaven Secrets Compass was a treasure passed down by the Heaven Secrets Chapter from ancient times. The mother-child pair of the Heaven Secrets Compass were connected to one another via their geomantic features. Such a connection was not easily severed.

However, at that moment in time, Yi Yun realized that even with the child part in hand, the location of the mother part was somewhat fuzzy. He searched for several hours only to slightly intensify the Heaven Secrets Compass’s glow.

“There must be some power obstructing it…”

Yi Yun frowned as he muttered to himself. Although the connection of the mother-child pair was not easily severed, it could turn chaotic if there was an array or space-time power in between. He needed to be sufficiently close to the mother part of the Heaven Secrets Compass before he could find its location.

However, Yi Yun was not in a hurry. It was already extremely difficult for him to find the location even with the compass in hand, much less the other warriors who had nothing.

With the Heaven Secrets Compass in hand, Yi Yun slowly searched for the correct direction. As the distance shrunk, he also sensed a stronger Yang force. Ordinary warriors would have had their innards completely burned if they were here.

The sand had also turned soft and loose. With every step he took, his feet sunk down to his ankles. If not for him wrapping his feet in Yuan Qi, his feet would ignite just from a simple step.

Suddenly, the Heaven Secrets Compass bursted resplendently. However, when Yi Yun looked around he only saw emptiness. He could not see anything special.

“Oh?” Yi Yun suddenly looked at the boiling hot and loose sand at his feet.

There was nothing around him, but the child part of the Heaven Secrets Compass had sensed the mother part…

“Open up!” Yi Yun drew out his sword and slashed down at the desert in front of him.

Immediately, yellow sand stirred as a deep ravine opened up.

After a few more slashes, Yi Yun’s eyes lit up.

A dark cave entrance had appeared underground.

The hole was glowing red from the heat and there were flickering red flames in it. It looked like the entrance to hell.

With the Heaven Secrets Compass in hand, Yi Yun flew inside without any hesitation.

Sand instantly began pouring down and, in the blink of an eye, the cave entrance was covered up once more. It returned to its original empty desert state.

With everything restored and the heat from before disappearing, it was as if the cave was just an illusion.

If not for the child part of the Heaven Secrets Compass, it would be impossible to tell that there was a secret lurking underneath the desert.

As Yi Yun entered the hidden cave, in another desert five hundred kilometers away, a group of people slowly proceeded forward.

If Yi Yun were there, he would have recognized these people immediately.

The group wore seven-starred robes. The leader was none other than the Seven Star Dao Palace’s Deputy Palatial Lord, Liu Ruyi. And behind her was the Heaven Secrets Chapter’s Master Tianxiao.

At that moment, Master Tianxiao was holding onto a heavy compass disk, trying his best to divine a path. His forehead was covered in sweat, and after two hours of divination under the blistering sun, he finally lowered his compass sulkily.

“Master Tianxiao, have you not managed to divine the location?” asked Liu Ruyi with furrowed brows. They had been there for a few days but had failed to make much progress.

Master Tianxiao replied, “The Yuan Qi from the phenomenon is chaotic and it has gathered into a natural formation. Attempting to use my geomancy techniques to divine the natural formations is equivalent to cracking the secrets of heaven. How can it be simple? However, please be at ease. Although I’m slightly slow, I predict it will take ten days at most to find the location of the treasure!”

“Currently, I’m the only one in the Sun Burial Sandsea that has the ability. No one else can find it,” said Master Tianxiao in a rather confident manner.

“It will still take so long?”

Liu Ruyi was somewhat displeased but she could not do anything else either.

1104 - : Entrance

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Phew–Phew–”

In the underground world beneath the sand, Yi Yun felt hot wind blowing at him. It made him feel like his body was burning.

Even though Yi Yun cultivated in pure Yang laws, he still found it difficult to withstand the heat. It showed just how overbearing the pure Yang Yuan Qi was.

Yi Yun continued his descent but, after hundreds of thousands of feet, he still failed to see the bottom of the cave.

Eventually, at a depth of about a million feet, Yi Yun discovered a vast underground lake.

He was truly amazed to find a lake lying beneath the desert.

But when he looked closer at the contents of the lake, he was surprised. The fluid was dark red in color and there were waves of hot air emanating from it.

Yi Yun focused, and realized that the fluid in the lake was not water but appeared to be molten metal.

Even the fluid that flowed into the lake from tributaries was flowing molten liquid.

Such a river flow…and lake. If this molten liquid were to evaporate, would there eventually be a shower of metallic rain?

Such thoughts flashed across Yi Yun’s mind as he marveled at the world.

Suddenly, Yi Yun felt a jolt in his heart and a chill run down his back. He turned his head and saw that in the molten liquid river, a head had silently emerged. A pair of turbid and dull eyes were staring at him intently.

What is that!?

Yi Yun became extremely alarmed. The head was about the size of a face basin. Its facial features looked like they had been burnt away by the molten metal, leaving behind orifices that looked as terrifying as could be.

Splash!

The head flew out of the dark molten metal, splashing molten liquid in every direction.

It was a humanoid biological creature with a height of three meters. It had burly arms that were as thick as Yi Yun’s thighs. Its muscles were taut, and looked extremely strong and majestic. It was chained by shackles that had been bathed red from the heat. It held a thick and broad saber in hand that was about the length of a human’s height. As it walked, molten metal dripped down its skin, cooling upon contact with the ground and forming dark metallic beads.

Was it monster or man?

Yi Yun never expected the underground world to have such things of indiscernible origin.

Boom! Boom!

The humanoid creature was extremely heavy. Every step it took left a deep footprint. But what alarmed Yi Yun the most was its extremely powerful aura. It far exceeded his.

“Boom!”

The humanoid creature suddenly charged forward after crushing the ground with one foot. It slashed its saber at Yi Yun. It had no nomological insights or saber intent but it had terrifying speed and strength!

Yi Yun was astounded. The strike was so fast that it exceeded the speed of his sword draw by several times!

Three-foot Passage Sword!

If he could not match its speed, he would make up for it with his laws!

Yi Yun’s strike distorted space, forming a spatial cage. However, before the cage could completely close up, it was broken apart by an immense force!

When a warrior’s attack reached a certain limit, it could tear apart the void. This was precisely what the humanoid creature’s strike was capable of!

Ka-cha!

The spatial forces immediately exploded. Without any other choice, Yi Yun could only clash head on with the pure Yang broken sword.

Dang!

The saber and sword struck each other as Yi Yun felt a tremendous impact overwhelm his body. His arms turned numb as his body trembled violently. His palms were nearly ripped apart.

With a solemn grunt, blood seeped out from his mouth.

What sort of colossal strength was this!?

Yi Yun was utterly astonished. Before he could understand what he was facing, he received a vicious assault. Furthermore, this creature’s strength was redoubtable!

Despite it being a simple slash, it possessed immense power, the kind that happens when speed and strength reached an extreme.

Splash!

Just as Yi Yun managed to barely hold off the saber’s slash, the humanoid creature threw its shackles at him!

The shackles clanked, and they seemed to split space into two. Yi Yun’s eyes constricted as he quickly retreated!

He knew very well that if he tried to block the shackles with his sword they would wrap around it, preventing him from being able to use his sword.

Yi Yun retreated hundreds of feet back before he managed to gain footing. He clasped the pure Yang broken sword tightly as his gaze turned solemn.

Not only was the humanoid creature’s offensive strength amazing, its defensive strength was equally astounding. Yi Yun did not dare to engage in a head-on clash with it. It would not be a laughing matter to be injured in an underground world with unknown dangers lurking.

He could only defeat his opponent through ingenuity.

“This monster’s intelligence shouldn’t be high. I have to win with my intellect…

Yi Yun stretched out his palm silently as a black wheel began spinning in his palm. Yi Yun had decided to find an opportunity to strike the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence into the humanoid creature’s body. By doing so, it would be doomed regardless of how strong its defense was.

However…just as Yi Yun was planning to take action, he stopped. The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence that he had just conjured dissipated.

The scene happening before his eyes sent a chill running from his feet up to his head.

Behind the chained humanoid creature, about seven heads emerged from the slowly flowing molten river.

Every head was the size of a face basin and their facial features were empty like they had burned away.

And immediately following that, an even larger head emerged from the middle of the seven heads. The larger head was different, its face didn’t appear to be burned away. Instead, it had clear features with metallic flakes that gilded its face like a simple helmet.

The humanoid creature with a helmet had an even stronger aura. It was clearly the leader of the other humanoid creatures.

There were so many of them!?

Yi Yun reeled bitterly. He struggled to deal with one but now, there were seven of them and an even more powerful leader!

It was hard to believe that there was such a terrifying existence in this underground world. If there were even more of these terrifying creatures, even the Seven Star Dao Palace would be destroyed by them.

Yi Yun had already known that the item buried in Sun Burial Sandsea was extremely impressive. However, from the looks of things, he had probably underestimated it.

Run!

If he did not flee when he could not fight them, he would only be sending himself to his death.

Without another thought, Yi Yun turned around and flew away. He pushed his speed to the maximum and simultaneously used spatial laws.

“Roar!”

The humanoid creatures let out a deep bellow as they began chasing Yi Yun!

Their muscles bulged as they ran quickly on the ground. Their feet struck the ground heavily, causing it to quake violently and leaving a burning sandstorm in their wake.

Even at Yi Yun’s full speed, he was unable to escape the humanoid creatures. Instead, the gap between them was narrowing.

The creature that helmed the group was four-meters-tall and its speed was an order of magnitude faster than Yi Yun’s!

They were about to catch up to him!

Yi Yun’s heart palpitated. He would face certain doom if he was caught!

However, at that moment, something that made him feel a sense of despair happened. As he probed with his perception, he discovered that he was coming to the end of the underground world!

Although the underground world was vast, Yi Yun had entered into one end of it. Now, he had naturally reached the end of the road!

Was this also the end for him?

Yi Yun racked his brains, trying to find the way out of his current peril!

However, just as he was in desperate straits, a faint, old voice suddenly rang in Yi Yun’s ears—”Come here to me!”

1105 - : Dire state

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had no time to consider the identity of the voice while in such a dangerous situation. Without even considering if it were a trap or not, he flew straight in the direction of the voice.

The change in direction only resulted in the humanoid creatures drawing even closer.

“Roar!”

The humanoid creatures’ leader let out a thunderous roar as it slashed its saber at Yi Yun. The saber was still quite a distance away from Yi Yun but the winds it stirred clashed ruthlessly against Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi. His protection shattered immediately, causing blood to spill out of his lacerated clothes!

However, at that moment, Yi Yun saw an elder in front of him. The elder’s hair was a stark white and his clothes were old and torn. He came towards Yi Yun with a pile of jade pieces threaded together by golden string. After he came in front of Yi Yun, he wrapped the jade pieces around him without a word.

It was a coat made out of jade!

When the jade coat hung down from Yi Yun’s body, he suddenly felt his aura become enveloped. Following that, the elder pulled Yi Yun’s arm and dodged to the side.

Following that, a scene that left Yi Yun shocked happened. The three to four-meter-tall humanoid creatures behind him seemed to turn blind. They rushed past Yi Yun as though they were in pursuit of empty air.

In just a few moment, the humanoid creatures vanished from Yi Yun’s sights.

He was saved!

Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief as he still felt shaken.

He looked at the unique clothes he was wearing. They were manufactured with thin jade pieces that were sewn with golden thread. It was literally a jade burial suit.

However, jade burial suits were typically burial items for noble mortals. It was impossible for living people to wear such heavy and clumsy clothes.

Yi Yun looked at the thin elder whose complexion was graying. His Yuan Qi was also extremely weak. His eyes were slightly turbid, as though he was close to his deathbed.

“Senior, thank you for saving me.” Yi Yun bowed. He could sense that the elder’s cultivation level wasn’t deep or sophisticated. Yet, he was able to survive in this underground world that was fraught with dangers and even saved him. This truly astonished Yi Yun.

“There’s no need to thank me. It can be considered fate for us to meet in these treacherous lands.” The elder waved his hand and turned to leave. “Follow me. This place is too dangerous…”

In the dark, the elder led the way. He also had a jade burial suit wrapped around his thin body. He tottered along as if a gust of wind could blow him down.

He led Yi Yun through a stone forest before coming to a cave.

The cave had a narrow entrance but it was very spacious within. Dry grass and fur hide were laid on the ground, and there was a long-lasting lamp illuminating the cave.

“Have a seat.”

The elder casually pointed to a stone stool.

Yi Yun sat down politely and cupped his fists. He asked, “Senior, I wonder if you might tell me what this jade burial suit I’m wearing is? Also, what are those humanoid creatures? And why are they so terrifying?”

A set of clothes that was able to completely conceal his aura and prevent those creatures from detecting him was truly fascinating.

The elder waved his hand and said, “Let’s not talk about that first. You have an item on you. Can you tell me how you got it?”

When the elder said those words, Yi Yun immediately came to a realization. In fact, Yi Yun already had a suspicion from before. With a flip of his hand, a dark golden metallic disk appeared in his palm.

It was the child part of the Heaven Secrets Compass!

When the elder saw the child part of the Heaven Secrets Compass, he felt mixed emotions. He touched his interspatial ring and took out another Heaven Secrets Compass. It looked identical to Yi Yun’s Heaven Secrets Compass except for its larger size.

It was the mother part of the Heaven Secrets Compass.

The mother-child pair of the Heaven Secrets Compass had a mysterious connection, and they had finally reunited.

The elder was likely Ji Shuiyan’s grandfather. He was alive after all!

“How did you get it?” The elder looked Yi Yun in the eye.

“It was Miss Shuiyan who gave it to me…” Yi Yun recounted his encounter with Ji Shuiyan, telling the story from the very beginning.

Upon hearing of Ji Shuiyan’s struggles against the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, the elder sighed heavily. In fact, he had already figured it would happen but he was helpless to do anything about it.

This elder was stuck in the underground world, worn out both mentally and physically, but he could not do a thing.

“According to what you have told me, you are Yan’er’s benefactor. However…how can I know for sure that you speak the truth, and that you didn’t just snatch the Heaven Secrets Compass from Yan’er to use for yourself? You could even be someone from the Seven Star Dao Palace that you just mentioned.”

The elder’s voice was slow and calm. He looked into Yi Yun’s eyes. He was able to size up the youngster well. He was not Yi Yun’s match. The way Yi Yun dodged the humanoid creatures’ attacks was something a warrior at the Dao Manifestation couldn’t accomplish.

However, the elder remained fearless. The pair of turbid eyes that he used to look at Yi Yun were as calm as an ancient well.

Yi Yun fell silent before he said, “Senior, please wait. You can ask them yourself.”

With a thought, Yi Yun sent a tiny pagoda flying out of his body. It slowly spun in mid-air and following that, a flash resulted in two girls being transported out. They were Xin’er and Yue Xiao.

Both of them were Ji Shuiyan’s personal maidservants.

The two girls were disorientated when they came out. However, they quickly noticed the pale and thin elder sitting in front of them.

Although the elder’s appearance had changed drastically, they were still able to recognize him at a glance.

“Master!?”

The two girls were pleasantly surprised. Ever since the old master’s disappearance, the Divine Secrets Trading Company had been in decline. It was constantly in danger and if not for Yi Yun, it would have been finished long ago.

Yesterday they had been saved by Yi Yun, and today they discovered that the old master of the Divine Secrets Trading Company was still alive. They were overjoyed to tears. Were they dreaming?

“Senior, if you have any doubts, you can ask them.”

“Young Master Yi, not only did you save us and our mistress, you even saved our master?” asked Xin’er in excitement.

Yi Yun was somewhat ashamed. He was the one that had been saved by the old man.

“Alright. There’s no need for further questions. You are a benefactor of my Divine Secrets Trading Company.” After the elder said that, he stood up and gave Yi Yun a bow.

Yi Yun hurriedly held him up. The elder was too weak. When Yi Yun supported him, he found that the elder was more bone than flesh.

“Senior, there’s no need for this. You have also saved my life.” Upon saying that, Yi Yun recalled his question from before. “Senior, you have yet to tell me what those humanoid creatures are. Also, what is the story behind these jade burial suits?”

“Jade burial suits…” The elder sighed and said, “You probably guessed it, too. As the name suggests, they should be burial items only seen in tombs but, in fact, these suits have other uses for my Heaven Secrets Chapter. Although the Heaven Secrets Chapter dabbles in geomancy, that’s just a euphemistic way of putting it. In reality, the ancient Heaven Secrets Chapter were tomb robbers. The tombs of many mighty figures held all sorts of strange items. As for the purpose of the jade burial suit, it allows one to conceal one’s aura completely. It allows us to traverse a tomb safely.”

The elder’s words left Yi Yun reeling. He was surprised to learn that the Heaven Secrets Chapter was a tomb robber sect, in the beginning. In truth, geomancy was related to tomb robbing.

1106 - : Jade Burial Suit

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, the elder looked at Yi Yun and asked, “You are probably here for the Yang spirit, right? Sigh, you are Yan’er’s benefactor so if you seek it, I will not stop you.”

“It’s extremely dangerous here,” he continued. “You can avoid the humanoid creatures outside by wearing the jade burial suit but when you reach the core depths, other dangers await you. I have been trapped here for a great deal of time but have failed to obtain the Yang spirit, nor have I been able to leave this place. I was acutely aware that the Divine Secrets Trading Company would be in extreme danger without me, but I was helpless to do anything about it. I can’t provide much help other than to point out the path for you.”

Yi Yun hurriedly said, “Senior, just this jade burial suit alone has helped me greatly.”

If not for the jade burial suit, Yi Yun would probably not be able to take a single step further. Those humanoid creatures were too terrifying.

The elder used a dagger to carve a map on the ground.

The underground world had a complicated layout. Without a map, one would probably take get sidetracked during a simple random walk.

“This is the core region. Once you enter it, even I will not be able to help you.” The elder tapped a particular spot with his dagger.

Yi Yun memorized the map and, perplexed, asked, “Senior, could it be that you have not entered the core region as well?”

The elder waved his hand, wiping away the map on the ground. He looked up and a deeply repressed pain seemed to flash in his recessed eyes.

“Young Master Yi, I still have something I would like to ask of you.” The elder suddenly bowed.

“Senior, there’s no need for that. Just speak your mind.” Yi Yun hurriedly stopped him. Despite being close to death, the elder still insisted on bowing. It meant that the matter was extremely important to him.

The elder had saved Yi Yun’s life so, if the request was possible, Yi Yun would fulfill it.

“If Young Master Yi were to encounter Shuiyan’s father there, please check to see if he’s alive or dead,” said the elder.

In fact, the elder had been waiting outside for a very long period of time. He knew that the odds were greatly against Shuiyan’s father.

“About that… Senior, you can enter the tower along with Xin’er and Yue Xiao,” suggested Yi Yun.

The elder was wearing a jade burial suit so he faced no threat from the humanoid creatures. However, various factions, including the Seven Star Dao Palace, would be entering the Sun Burial Sandsea at any time.

“If that’s the case, I’ll be pinning my hopes on Young Master Yi. This mother part of the Heaven Secrets Compass will be able to confirm your position regardless of the environment. Young Master Yi, please take it.” The elder hesitated for a moment and did not give any excuses. He too wanted to find Shuiyan’s father, dead or alive.

After Xin’er and Yue Xiao carefully helped the elder up and into tower, Yi Yun withdrew the God Advent Tower. Holding the mother-child pair of the Heaven Secrets Compass, he walked out of the cave.

Following the map, Yi Yun once again returned to the side of the molten metal river.

The nine heads were bobbing on the surface of the lake. Their empty eyes scanned their surroundings and looked horrifying. However, it was as though they could not even see a living human like Yi Yun, who stood right in front of them.

Yi Yun glanced at them before walking upstream beside the river. There were powerful pure Yang laws contained within the molten river, and its source was located precisely in the core region of the underground world.

As Yi Yun ventured deeper, he saw other ancient creatures. They were different than the humanoid monsters, but still terrifying. Although they were very few in numbers, one or two of those existences were enough to result in certain death.

This treacherous land did not permit the existence of ordinary people. Furthermore, the river split into many distributaries. They bored through countless tunnels and forks in the underground world, so one could easily get lost before they even knew it.

When he came to a fork, Yi Yun saw a dark red lake that had pooled a large amount of molten liquid. It was the lake that he had encountered when he first entered the underground world.

Why am I back at the entrance?

Yi Yun faltered for a moment before quickly realizing that he had not truly returned to his original spot but that the spatial laws in the underground world were extremely chaotic. Although he could see the path that he had previously trodden, he was in fact separated by multiple layers of space.

If he were to truly approach it, he would realize that the distance did not change. However, returning to that path would be an exacting task without a map, even with his comprehension of spatial laws.

Yi Yun proceeded forward and, according to the elder’s map and the Heaven Secrets Compass’s guidance, constantly tweaked his direction, gradually approaching the core of the underground world…

Suddenly, Yi Yun heard a loud rumble as several figures subsequently descended.

Upon seeing these figures, Yi Yun’s pupils constricted.

They were people from the Seven Star Dao Palace!

Yi Yun wanted to retreat immediately, but he realized that the surrounding spatial laws were so chaotic that the Seven Star Dao Palace group that appeared to be in front of him was actually located a great distance away.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun immediately calmed. He stroked his chin and pricked his eyebrows up. He came to a halt unhurriedly.

“Haha, we have finally found the entrance.” A young looking man from the Heaven Secrets Chapter said with a hearty laugh, as though he was trying to gain credit.

They had been wandering aimlessly in the Sun Burial Sandsea for a while and had finally entered the underground world. Upon entering, they could immediately sense the searing hot gases which indicated that they had found the correct location.

“Thankfully, my geomancy techniques were of some use.” A middle-aged scholar looked rather smug as he held a compass.

Yi Yun recognized the middle-aged scholar immediately. He was Master Tianxiao of the Heaven Secrets Chapter. Back at the trade session, he was the one that revealed the Divine Secrets Trading Company’s possession of the Heaven Secrets Compass.

And among the crowd, Yi Yun also noticed a woman dressed in a palatial gown, Liu Ruyi. Standing beside her were three people with tremendously powerful auras. Yi Yun took note of them.

A black-dressed middle-aged man slung a large saber behind his back. On the other side of Liu Ruyi were two identical-looking children dressed in red bodices.

Although they looked like children, their eyes were extremely cold and mature. Their gazes were extremely icy and looked like human paper cutouts that mortals burned to honor their ancestors.

The Seven Star Dao Palace had placed a great deal of importance on the Sun Burial Sandsea’s phenomenon. While the Palatial Lord held down the fort in the Seven Star Dao Palace, he sent the four deputy palatial lords, including Liu Ruyi, to Sun Burial Sandsea.

“Unfortunately, the precise location of the Yang spirit is difficult to divine. In this underground world, geomancy techniques are greatly affected. With the Heaven Secrets Compass, it would be possible to find the proper direction. It’s a pity that the Heaven Secrets Compass is in Yi Yun’s hands.” Master Tianxiao said with a sigh as he shook his head.

“Yi Yun? Is he the punk that’s hiding in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect?” One of the twin children suddenly asked. His voice sounded old but it was sharp and shrill. It gave anyone who heard it the feeling that their eardrums were being scratched ruthlessly.

“Hehe, it doesn’t matter. For the all the trouble he’s given us, we will wipe out the Clarity Pool Sword Sect in the future. As for the punk, since he possesses good talent, I will eviscerate him and use him to refine elixirs,” said the child sinisterly.

“Yes, yes.” Master Tianxiao shuddered as well when he looked at the child.

1107 - : Encountering the Seven Star Dao Palace again

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Since he has the Heaven Secrets Compass, I wonder if that Yi Yun will have hopeful thoughts of coming here. Then again, with his cultivation level, he would not be able to proceed even if he were to come here. What a waste.” When the topics of Yi Yun and the Heaven Secrets Compass were raised, Master Tianxiao felt annoyed. He knew that he had no hopes of obtaining the final treasure on his expedition to Sun Burial Sandsea. All he would get were some rewards from the Seven Star Dao Palace. However, if he were to retrieve the Heaven Secrets Compass, it would be quite a handsome reward for him.

“Hmph, if he were to enter this place, wouldn’t it be for the best? I’d be able to capture him to refine into elixirs,” said one of the children. His voice was identical to the other child’s, making it sound extremely strange.

“Continue leading the way. Let’s find the Yang spirit as fast as possible,” said Liu Ruyi coldly. Her goal of destroying the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had been hindered, so there was killing intent hidden within her words when Yi Yun was mentioned.

Master Tianxiao held the compass and was about to begin divining a path, but a sudden cursory glance left him dumbstruck.

He saw what appeared to be an itinerant warrior standing not too far from him. He was holding two metallic discs, which were none other than the Heaven Secrets Compass! Furthermore, it was the mother-child pair!

“H…Heaven Secrets Compass!?”

Master Tianxiao never expected to bump into someone where they were. Furthermore, this someone held in his hands both parts to the Heaven Secrets Compass.

Without divination techniques, it was nearly impossible to reach the underground area. How did he get there? Could Yi Yun have lost the Heaven Secrets Compass, or could this person be Yi Yun?

Master Tianxiao knew that many disguise techniques were extremely abstruse and nearly impossible to see through.

“Regardless if he is Yi Yun or not, capture him first! Snatch the Heaven Secrets Compass from him!” Master Tianxiao shouted excitedly.

He did not know why the man was just standing there foolishly. He was only bringing about his own destruction!

“Really? That sure is a coincidence.” The two children immediately flew forward. Liu Ruyi and company also began to rush over.

However, they also has a strange feeling that baffled them. Why did the person’s aura appear so distant, despite the close proximity? Could it be related to why they had not immediately detected him?

Furthermore, the man looked completely calm and composed.

“This man must be Yi Yun. He sure has some guts. However, I wonder if he’ll keep those guts when I refine him into an elixir.” One of the children said with a smile.

With that said, the two children pounced at Yi Yun simultaneously.

However, they came to realize that, although their leap had carried them a great distance, Yi Yun was still standing by a rock. The distance between them seemed to be maintained at a constant.

“Oh?” One of the children pricked up his eyebrows and gestured a conjuration. Immediately, his expression sunk. “Spatial chaos? Punk, no wonder you remain so unafraid. But don’t you plan on walking out of this underworld alive.”

“That’s right. Before, you had those people from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect protecting you. But now, you are all alone. You are only courting death by being here!” Liu Ruyi’s slender eyes narrowed and her voice was filled with cold and sinister killing intent.

At that moment, Yi Yun opened his mouth and smiled. Due to the spatial barrier, his voice could not be heard. He only mouthed his words to express his thoughts: “Worry about yourselves first. I wish all of you the best of luck.”

After Yi Yun said that, a Seven Star Dao Palace disciple in the back let out a tragic scream.

Liu Ruyi and company hurriedly turned back and were appalled to see a faceless humanoid creature. It had already torn the disciple apart and now faced them.

“What is that?”

A three-meters tall terrifying creature whose facial features seemed to be completely charred stood before them, emitting a terrifying aura.

Behind the humanoid creature, large heads began to appear out of the surrounding shadows. There were a total of twelve heads, all belonging to the humanoid monsters.

Splash!

They leaped out of the molten liquid. In the middle was a four-meter-tall humanoid creature with clear facial features. Its more horrifying aura made their scalps tingle.

“Roar!”

The humanoid monsters gave a deep bellow before pouncing.

“Darn it!” The two children exchanged looks and flew over. Soon, the rest of the Seven Star Dao Palace members also clashed with the humanoid creatures.

But soon, they discovered that although the humanoid creatures were not proficient in laws, they had immense strength and ridiculous speed.

“Ah!”

Tragic cries constantly rang out from the Seven Star Dao Palace members as the deaths and injuries piled up.

Master Tianxiao felt a cold chill from the situation in front of him. He was no match against the humanoid creatures at his cultivation level.

“Roar!”

The Seven Star Dao Palace had lost quite a number of disciples in a short span of time.

The remaining few were barely resisting. Their attacks failed to cause any damage against the seemingly impervious monsters.

Even the four deputy palatial lords of the Seven Star Dao Palace had a hard time dealing with the onslaught!

“Darn it!” The two children had ashen expressions. They saw Yi Yun standing there, casually amused by the show they were putting on for him!

Despite him being just in front of them, they were unable to reach him. They could only look on helplessly as the trivial punk watched their pathetic struggle with an amused and sarcastic expression.

This was extremely humiliating to them as deputy palatial lords of the Seven Star Dao Palace!

“Take your time fighting them. I’ll be leaving first,” said Yi Yun with a smile.

“Blast him! That man must be Yi Yun! Our Seven Star Dao Palace will definitely find that Yi fellow and shred him to pieces!” Liu Ruyi said as she gnashed her teeth viciously.

She yearned to catch Yi Yun but the Seven Star Dao Palace was in a state where it could not fend for itself. They had already lost nearly half of their thirty odd people in the a blink of an eye!

They had no idea how Yi Yun managed to survive in this treacherous environment!

“Deputy Palatial Lord, Yi Yun has the Heaven Secrets Compass in hand. He also has the mother part of it, so he has probably found the Heaven Secrets Chapter’s traitor. Furthermore, he is wearing a jade burial suit! It can conceal one’s aura. If he continues to go ahead of us, he might find the treasure before we do!” Master Tianxiao said hurriedly.

The two children glanced at Master Tianxiao with a cold glare. Master Tianxiao had hit a soft spot. How could they not have thought of that?

“He will need to be alive to do so!” The middle-aged man with the black saber, who was usually silent, suddenly said with a husky voice.

At that moment, Yi Yun glanced at Master Tianxiao and company with a sneering look. “In this underground world, there are other things besides these humanoid monsters. They must have been starving for millions of years. I wish all of you the best of luck.”

When Master Tianxiao read Yi Yun’s lips, he felt a cold sweat run down his back. There were even more dangerous creatures? Then, he was truly in danger. If the members of the Seven Star Dao Palace were barely fending for themselves, how could they care for him?

And with that, Yi Yun slowly turned around under the watchful eyes of the Seven Star Dao Palace members before heading into the depths of the underground world.

His relaxed figure infuriated the Seven Star Dao Palace members, who were struggling in a life-and-death battle, to the point of vomiting blood.

Rate Translation Quality

1108 - : Watching Trouble from a Comfortable Distance

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The people from the Seven Star Dao Palace do not know the correct path, and they lack jade burial suits. It will probably take them a while to catch up to me, so for now at least, I can pay them no mind.” Yi Yun thought to himself as he walked.

After traveling a distance in the underground world, Yi Yun felt the surrounding air become increasingly heated. The rocks at his feet had been baked to a crystalline state from the high temperatures. A red liquid seemed to flow within them.

He matched his remembrance of the elder’s map with his surroundings, and discovered that he had entered the core region of the underground.

Once he entered the core region, the map would be useless. Yi Yun began to move in an increasingly careful manner.

He proceeded forward slowly in search of the Yang spirit.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from up ahead. Yi Yun initially believed that a terrifying entity would appear, but when he covertly approached he found something that stunned him.

In front of him was a majestic-looking molten waterfall. The boiling molten liquid splashed with countless sparks and flames. It flowed from top to bottom, with the bottom streaming into deeper depths.

Yi Yun stood at the boundary of the waterfall and looked down. Flames flickered beneath him in what he estimated was a thousand foot drop. A terrifying pure Yang aura constantly swelled from the bottom.

“What is this place…” Yi Yun was fascinated by what he saw. He never expected to find such a marvelous sight in the underground world.

At that moment, Yi Yun was suddenly startled.

He noticed a young girl standing on the other side of the waterfall. She looked down the waterfall, just like him.

The girl looked like she was about nine or ten and she had two pigtails. Her face was round and chubby like a carved piece of pink jade, and was the epitome of what a young beauty was.

He was somewhat astounded to encounter such an extremely cute girl in this horrifying underground world.

When Yi Yun looked at her, the young girl seemed to sense his gaze. She looked back at him with a large pair of eyes. She cocked her head and appeared rather astonished.

For some unknown reason, Yi Yun seemed to hear her voice despite her not opening her mouth.

“After the previous batch of people came, so many more have arrived. However, who knew that you would be the first of this new group to arrive? Shouldn’t the rest of them have the advantage in numbers?”

The girl’s voice was slick and sweet. It was extremely endearing.

Yi Yun thought to himself. The previous batch?

Could the girl be referring to the Divine Secrets Trading Company led by Ji Shuiyan’s grandfather? As for the new group which had the advantage in numbers, it likely referred to the Seven Star Dao Palace.

The girl was extremely mysterious. Her appearance here definitely had something to do with the area he was in.

“Little girl, who are you? The people you mentioned are…”

Before Yi Yun could finish his words, the girl suddenly let out a pearly laugh. Amid the laughter she leaped forward, and her petite and adorable figure plummeted down the waterfall.

“What…”

Yi Yun quickly took two steps forward and stretched his neck out to look down.

Billowing hot gases blasted up, ruffling Yi Yun’s hair. If a warrior with insufficient strength were to do what Yi Yun did, the outcome would range from having their eyes burned to being completely disintegrated.

Despite the hot gaseous waves, the girl’s figure was as light as a swallow. In a blink of an eye, she had landed at the bottom.

“This girl appears very familiar with the area.” Yi Yun contemplated for a moment. If he were to continue searching like a headless fly, he might very well encounter unknown dangers.

The people from the Seven Star Dao Palace could very likely escape the humanoid creatures and catch up to him, so he needed to take advantage of every moment he had.

The girl was extremely odd, and the pure Yang gases beneath the waterfall were much more pure and refined than anywhere else…

“I’ll go down.” Yi Yun did not hesitate any further and similarly threw his body down.

Upon entering the waterfall’s vicinity, Yi Yun immediately felt like his body was located in the core of a burning cauldron. He hurriedly augmented his Yuan Qi protection and powered his pure Yang body completely while he rapidly descended.

Boom!

Yi Yun landed on a red boulder.

At the bottom of the waterfall was a deep basin. In it was bubbling red molten metal. Any living creature who dropped into it would not even have bones left behind.

At that moment, Yi Yun saw a large pair of eyes emerge from the deep basin.

The eyes were the size of bronze bells and were extremely cold. The sight of them made Yi Yun break out into a cold sweat.

Thankfully, he was wearing the jade burial suit. The pair of eyes ignored him and silently sank back into the basin.

Yi Yun surveyed his surroundings warily and hurriedly searched for the girl.

His vision swept across the deep basin and he saw a petite figure moving towards a gigantic cave.

Yi Yun immediately chased after the figure.

Upon arriving at the entrance, Yi Yun was stunned once again.

The cave had two gigantic metal doors with numerous swords embedded in them.

At a glance, Yi Yun could tell that the quality of the swords was not bad. However, a large number of them were broken, so they were not very unusable.

“Why are there so many broken swords here…?”

The swords were from different ancient eras. The oldest had decayed to a mound of metallic dust. The newest was also covered in rust. The age gap between the two different eras was probably hundreds of millions apart.

The Sun Burial Sandsea’s legend said that this was a land that a sun crashed into. But now, Yi Yun had seen traces of humanity in its deep depths.

“What place is this?” Yi Yun stood by the door and after hesitating for a moment, he strode into the cave.

Upon entering the cave, he immediately felt his vision blur. The space around him instantly changed, which put him on high alert. His hand was already placed on his interspatial ring.

In the blink of an eye, Yi Yun’s feet came into contact with an ice-cold long slab of rock. He glanced at it and realized that he had arrived in a temple carved out of a boulder.

The temple, which had been buried in dust for an unknown period of time, was located at the bottom of a deep cave. As Yi Yun stood there, he felt a desolate aura that seemed to linger around the slab of long rocks at his feet.

There was a statue erected in the middle of the temple. When Yi Yun approached it, he realized that the statue was of the little girl. There were words carved at the bottom.

“My beloved daughter, Ling Xiaoxiao.”

The words were written forcefully and with flair. They seemed to exude a melancholic feeling that could not be extinguished from the vestiges of time.

“This place was indeed inhabited. That girl’s name is Ling Xiaoxiao and is the beloved daughter of a senior. Then, how old is that girl.” Yi Yun looked at the statue and found it fascinating. Could it be that he had encountered a ghost?

Suddenly, Yi Yun looked up.

A pair of white feet swayed on a crossbeam.

“Are you Ling Xiaoxiao?” asked Yi Yun.

The girl had been running around alone in this stone temple that had been abandoned for an extremely long period of time. The people that had erected her statue were probably no longer around.

The girl smiled slightly and did a gentle leap. Turning around, she ran into the inner sanctums of the temple.

Yi Yun was stunned. He realized that the girl was intent on leading him here and guiding him further.

After some hesitation, he followed after her.

1109 - : Ling Xiaoxiao

CKtalon  CKtalon

The inner sanctums of the temple were dark and chilly despite the blazing heat in the underground world. It was extremely strange.

Yi Yun followed the girl to an elixir room.

A massive alchemical cauldron was set up in the vast stone temple. It was ice-cold and the lid was covered in a layer of dust. Beside the cauldron were several black scrolls.

These black scrolls were remarkably old. They were under thick layers of dust which Yi Yun swept away with his Yuan Qi. When he cast his perception into the scrolls, he immediately felt it being sucked into them.

These were…enchanted treasures specially made to keep detailed records?

In a warrior’s world, jade slips were typically used to record information. The amount of storage space in a jade slip was quite large, and usually sufficient. However, these black scrolls were specifically refined in order to store data, and allowed for much greater capacity.

Yi Yun walked to the black scrolls and unfurled them. Most of them were notes of alchemical procedures and various recipes.

A large number of these recipes were extremely complicated. According to the records in the black scrolls, some of the elixirs refined from these recipes were even heaven-defying. There were ones so powerful that it left Yi Yun in disbelief.

A portion of these elixirs and relics were used by the Divine Lords to make breakthroughs. What’s more, Yi Yun found a few recipes that filled an entire black scroll. A black scroll had a capacity of more than a hundred times that of a jade slip, yet some were used only to record a single recipe.

And the resulting elixir made from one of the recipes were prepared for a realm above Divine Lords…

Above Divine Lords?

Yi Yun drew in a cold gasp. Up to that point, Yi Yun had a very vague understanding of the realms above a Divine Lord. However, he was certain that the realm of Divine Lords was not the end of the path of martial arts. The black-dressed woman that created the Azure Wood Great World was at a level that far exceeded a Divine Lord.

Also, there was the bronze giant. Its immense strength also far exceeded a Divine Lord’s.

Upon seeing these things, Yi Yun understood that the owner of the black scrolls was an alchemist. Or rather, a divine alchemist.

Alchemists and Desolate Heaven Masters were of a lineal descent. However, Desolate Heaven Masters used Fey bones to refine relics. As for alchemists, they used all sorts of spiritual vegetation. As the two areas of expertise did not overlap, there was a huge conflict in the energy extraction of Fey bones and spiritual vegetation. Therefore, very few alchemists would dabble in both fields. They either mastered the Desolate Heaven technique or alchemy.

In the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, most practitioners were trained in alchemy due to the scarcity of Fey bones as compared to spiritual vegetation. Very few people trained in the Desolate Heaven technique.

However, the practitioner that worked in this stone temple trained in both the Desolate Heaven technique and alchemy. Furthermore, his attainments in both fields could be described as being at the crest of perfection.

Yi Yun was also proficient in the Desolate Heaven technique but, when compared to the person who had left the black scrolls behind, the difference was like night and day.

Yi Yun continued reading, finding that most of the black scrolls were used to record recipes, with more than half of them being for relics and elixirs. The refinement techniques were extremely complicated and Yi Yun did not have the time to peruse them carefully. He could only search for things that were useful for him.

Until…he saw a black scroll that was nearly empty. The black scroll that had a capacity of more than hundred times a jade slip’s only contained a mere paragraph. But this paragraph left Yi Yun shaken.

The paragraph of a few hundred words took Yi Yun about a minute to finish reading. After that, he looked around in astonishment. He finally understood the origins of the Sun Burial Sandsea.

According to the legends, the Sun Burial Sandsea was formed due to the crashing of a sun. According to Ji Shuiyan’s grandfather’s divination, the land of extreme Yang had given birth to a Yang spirit after hundreds of millions of years.

But Yi Yun learned from this scroll that the desert of extreme Yang was actually created when the divine alchemist cremated himself.

The fire for the cremation was a divine fire that came from within his body!

The great worlds were filled with endless wonders. Many mysterious lands would condense mutated fire seeds as a result of any one of a few fortuitous coincidences. A tiny wisp of fire could burn the heavens asunder.

These fire spirits or fire seeds were of different grades depending on their strength. Top Desolate Heaven Masters and alchemists would seek all the fire spirits and seeds in the world, and refine them into their body as a form of supplementation for themselves. They could then use them to refine more elixirs.

This divine alchemist was such a person.

Furthermore, he had taken the concept to its limits. Before he became a divine alchemist, he had obtained a mysterious flame of unknown grade, beyond the scope of canon in the Sinkhole outside the 12 Empyrean Heavens—Heretical God Fire Seed.

Using the flame and his outstanding talent, he became a divine alchemist.

And after he became a divine alchemist, he obtained a flame ranked third in the 12 Empyrean Heavens—Empyrean Cleansing Flame.

When the two flames met each other, they merged into something that shocked even the divine alchemist himself.

The combined flame continued taking the form of the Heretical God Fire Seed. It could even be said that the black Heretical God Fire Seed that came from the Sinkhole was slowly consuming the Empyrean Cleansing Flame.

From then on, the divine alchemist began using his perception to nurture the Heretical God Fire Seed. Gradually, his alchemical skills attained heights previously thought unimaginable.

The divine alchemist was born in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, but his most impressive days were spent in the Sinkhole.

Only when he was nearing death did he return to the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. He buried the Heretical God Fire Seed in the Sun Burial Sandsea.

As it was a cremation, the inferno scorched an area tens of thousands of kilometers across. The flames were filled with extreme Yang power, resulting in forests withering and lakes evaporating. The very mountains were weathered away, eventually forming a massive desert.

From then on, the origin of the Sun Burial Sandsea became a legend that depicted the plummeting of a radiant sun into the mortal world.

No one other than the divine alchemist knew that he had chosen to cremate himself there. The cremation spot was concealed by the divine alchemist through use of a formation array. No one could find it until hundreds of millions of years later. As the array’s energy drained, the cremation spot slowly exposed itself.

It resulted in the phenomenon of a few months ago. The astounding phenomenon that had covered an area that extended over a million kilometers attracted famous figures from every corner.

However, no one knew that the tiny Sun Burial Sandsea actually hid such an astonishing secret!

If they did, every peerless expert in the entire Yang God Empyrean Heaven, or even other Empyrean Heavens, would have come in search of the divine fire.

The only reason it remained so well hidden was that…too much time had passed.

Several hundreds of millions of years, in addition to the divine alchemist’s massive array formation and desire to conceal his work, prevented anyone from making any connection between the Sun Burial Sandsea and the divine alchemist of hundreds of millions of years ago.

As for why the divine alchemist had set up the array to conceal everything in the Sun Burial Sandsea, it was not to select a successor to inherit his heritage but because of his daughter—Ling Xiaoxiao!

In the divine alchemist’s last years, that spanned tens of millions of years, he had constantly pursued two results from the peak of alchemy.

One of them was the—Elixir of Immortality!

The other one was—Elixir of Resurrection!

The former allowed one to attain immortality!

The latter allowed one to be resurrected from the dead!

Each one defied the very heavens by changing destiny. It was against the will of heaven.

The divine alchemist set up that specific cremation spot in order to refine an Elixir of Resurrection, meant for resurrecting his only daughter, Ling Xiaoxiao, who had already been dead for tens of millions of years!

1110 - : Elixir of Resurrection

CKtalon  CKtalon

“I am deeply aware that my end is near. I shall seclude myself from this day forth in search of the peak of alchemy. If I succeed, I might perhaps save Xiaoxiao. I do not know how long my seclusion will last and I might never come out. But it is also a wish of mine to be cremated in a land of alchemical refinement.”

When Yi Yun read the last line in the black scroll, he finally understood that the senior had set up a massive array at Sun Burial Sandsea as a way to isolate himself in death.

His seclusion had spanned hundreds of million of years. Everything left in the stone temple was likely abandoned for hundreds of millions of years. After all that time, there was probably nothing left of the senior.

“This senior went into reclusion to save his daughter, Ling Xiaoxiao. Is she the girl I met?”

Yi Yun lowered the black scroll and looked up. He saw the adorable girl sitting on the cauldron, cupping her chin and looking at him.

This baffled Yi Yun. Was it possible that Ling Xiaoxiao had been living alone in here for hundreds of millions of years, or even longer, after she was revived?

Why didn’t she die of old age after such a long period of time? For that matter, she didn’t even grow up. Could it be that the divine alchemist eventually managed to refine both the Elixir of Resurrection and the Elixir of Immortality?

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun shook his head. Legend said that immortality was only attainable at the peak of martial arts. It wasn’t as simple as drinking an elixir or using a relic. Furthermore, the divine alchemist had abandoned his search for the Elixir of Immortality, and instead dedicated himself to refining the Elixir of Resurrection. Even just the Elixir of Resurrection had expended his last bit of strength. He has also pinned all of his hopes on the massive array.

Recalling the tens of millions of years along the river of time, and reviving a person who had died in a particular segment of that river was as good as an act of god!

Did the divine alchemist truly succeed? Could it be that the array he set up only just recently succeeded after hundreds of millions of years? In that case, had Ling Xiaoxiao just been revived and not been given the chance to grow up?

This thought flashed across Yi Yun’s mind. He noticed that the girl was constantly looking at him above the cauldron. Her eyes sparkled like beautiful stars. They looked like luminescent gems in the dark night.

Perhaps, Ling Xiaoxiao was the only person who knew where the God Fire was in this stone temple.

However, since the God Fire was left behind by the divine alchemist, it was technically left for Ling Xiaoxiao. Yi Yun believed that if he were to snatch it from her, it would be quite an unreasonable act.

Yi Yun had a line he wouldn’t cross. Ling Xiaoxiao had a pitiful story. Were he to snatch away the God Fire left to her by her father, could he call himself a gentleman?

Just as Yi Yun was pondering the matter, he suddenly saw the girl’s figure flash. She had been sucked into the massive cauldron.

“So this cauldron is also a spatial enchanted item. It’s similar to the God Advent Tower.”

The girl seemed to be inviting Yi Yun to enter the cauldron with her. After a moment of hesitation, Yi Yun went in front of the cauldron and placed his palm on it. He injected a wisp of Yuan Qi and felt an immediate suction.

He did not resist, allowing the suction to pull him in. The scene in front of him changed and, before he knew it, he was standing in front of a gigantic lake.

The lake was similar to the deep waterfall basin that Yi Yun had seen previously. There was red molten metal boiling in the lake. However, what came gushing at him was not hot air but ice-cold air.

Yi Yun knew that this was due to the theory of how solitary Yang could not exist, and therefore extreme Yang gives birth to Yin. Only through the fusion of Yin and Yang could the pure Yang laws here have reached such an extreme.

In the middle of the lake, Yi Yun saw an array disk. Looking from afar, he could see that none other than Ling Xiaoxiao was standing on it.

Beneath her feet was a slowly burning flame wisp. It was blackish-gray in color and it looked extremely calm and quiet.

An indescribable aura emanated from the flame, instilling a sense of reverence in Yi Yun. It was as though he was facing the twelve Fey Gods of the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.

Could it be…that it was the Heretical God Fire Seed!?

Yi Yun held his breath. Although reason told him that the flame belonged to Ling Xiaoxiao, Yi Yun could not help but feel tempted at the sight of such a treasure.

If he could fuse this God Fire into him, its power would enter into his body, tremendously increasing his cultivation level. The World Tree in his body would also grow at an insane pace!

Then, his strength would increase to an unimaginable level!

He truly wanted it…

Yi Yun was struggling internally. Although the God Fire should not be snatched from Ling Xiaoxiao, he did not want to just leave her there. It was too lonely for a young girl like her to be left in an abandoned array.

Also, the Heretical God Fire Seed would follow Ling Xiaoxiao. Even if he did not take it, he could still absorb a portion of its divine power and benefit greatly.

Thinking how he was scheming against a nine or ten-year-old girl, Yi Yun felt a bit embarrassed. However… was the girl really only nine or ten?

Why did she appear unharmed while standing above the flame? Furthermore, she had previously leaped into the pure Yang waterfall. Her insights into pure Yang laws seemed to exceed even his.

How could a ten-year-old girl have such nomological insight? Could it be that she had obtained the recognition of pure Yang power because she had been revived here?

Just as Yi Yun was ruminating over this, he saw the gray Heretical God Fire Seed suddenly transform into a blazing wisp before merging into Ling Xiaoxiao’s body and disappearing.

As for Ling Xiaoxiao, her expression did not change. She was still using her gemlike eyes to look at him.

Yi Yun was suddenly somewhat stunned. Ling Xiaoxiao had merged with the Heretical God Fire Seed!?

Jumping into the pure Yang waterfall was already inconceivable, but to merge with the Heretical God Fire Seed directly? This was…

Thinking carefully, although the cauldron was filled with pure Yang gases, it was still burning after hundreds of millions of years.

However, there were no herbs left in it. If the Elixir of Resurrection had been refined in the recent one or two years, there should be some herbal dregs left even if there were no herbal ingredients.

For a cauldron to refine an elixir for hundreds of millions of years was already an amazing feat. Whatever impressive treasure would probably have been reduced to dust over the immense period of time.

Under such circumstances, would the array set up by the divine alchemist still be able to revive his daughter?

The array could only succeed after hundreds of millions of years. How likely was it?

Yi Yun’s first impression of the girl…was that she was Ling Xiaoxiao. However…was she really Ling Xiaoxiao!?

Upon coming to this point, Yi Yun took a few steps back. He observed the array beneath the girl’s feet. It was clearly the core of the cauldron’s array. The cauldron had been burning for hundreds of millions of years in this land of pure Yang. It was already an extremely valuable treasure among treasures. And this array was constantly in motion, gathering the pure Yang powers in the Sun Burial Sandsea. The intensity of the pure Yang energy was so high that even Yi Yun did not dare touch.

However, the girl was prancing around the array’s core like she was in a garden. As he watched the pure Yang forces that were like a massive ocean inundating her body, a thought suddenly flashed across Yi Yun’s mind—

“You are the Heretical God Fire Seed!?”

Yi Yun suddenly understood that the gray flame he saw on the disk array was not the Heretical God Fire Seed’s form.

Although the flame exuded a powerful aura like it was the Chaos gases at the birth of the Universe, it seemed too weak. It didn’t match Yi Yun’s imagination of the Heretical God Fire Seed.

Also, this gray fire seed eventually infused itself into Ling Xiaoxiao’s body and did not seem to face any obstacle in fusing with her. It made Yi Yun unable to sense the aura of the gray flame again.

Therefore, a bold thought arose in Yi Yun’s mind. Could it be possible that the young girl was the Fire of the Heretical God’s true body!?

It was the only explanation for why she still looked like a young girl after hundreds of millions of years in the massive array. She did not age or die. It also explained why she appeared to be having fun as if she were playing in a tiny water stream when she first entered the molten waterfall.

Yi Yun knew that top-grade divine fire and treasures had the ability to take form. After absorbing the essence of the Heaven and Earth, they were able to take form as human or Fey after hundreds of millions of years. It was nothing surprising.

The girl only looked at Yi Yun and after a prolonged silence, she said crisply, “Are you here looking for me? Do you want me?”

1111 - : Heretical God Fire Seed

CKtalon  CKtalon

The girl’s straightforward question pretty much confirmed Yi Yun’s suspicions.

“You are the Heretical God Fire Seed?” Yi Yun decided to ask directly.

The girl blinked and nodded.

In the divine alchemist’s scrolls, there was no mention of the Heretical God Fire Seed having the ability to take form. Therefore, it was likely that it only succeeded in taking the girl’s form after his death.

The Heretical God Fire Seed had turned sentient over a long period of time before taking the form of Ling Xiaoxiao.

Ling Xiaoxiao was the only human form it had seen in this underground world. However, there was presently no trace of Ling Xiaoxiao. Her body had likely been reduced to nothing after hundreds of millions of years.

Only when the array began losing its powers, producing the phenomenon, could the girl and this underground stone temple see the light of day again.

But why did the Heretical God Fire Seed lead him here?

“You have been a lone soul in this underground world for hundreds of millions of years. If you could leave this place, you would have done so a long time ago. However, you have stayed here all this time and even led me here. Why is that so?” asked Yi Yun.

“I want to leave this place but I can’t…” the girl said.

She sat down on the disk array, swaying her legs that were as slender as lotus rhizome. “Years ago, Master used the formations of the world to establish an array. He was sure it would succeed, but even until his death, Miss Xiaoxiao never managed to be resurrected. The array continued to run and, over an immense period of time, I gradually took form. I, too, wanted to save Miss Xiaoxiao but…even after exhausting all of my strength, all I can see is the gradual weakening of the array.”

“Because of the complete enervation of my strength, I fell into a deep slumber. I have no idea how long I slept, but when I woke up, hundreds of millions of years had passed without me knowing. The formation here had become a natural worldly array, merging with the array left behind by Master.”

“I was a part of Master’s array. So with it now merged to the worldly array, I found that I can no longer leave.”

The girl hung her head down when she came to that. “Several times in the past, people have come and tried to take me away. But whenever they attempt to crack the array, they only end up being killed by it.”

People had previously been killed here?

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment. Before the birth of the Sun Burial Sandsea phenomenon, the number of people who could enter this land was exceedingly small. On top of that, the terrifying monsters and deadly array within would probably lay waste to any mighty figures that might come.

As for the people from the Divine Secrets Trading Company, they needed to use the Heaven Secrets Compass to locate the area, and trickery with the jade burial suits to be able to even get this far. They were even more powerless in the current environment.

Too many warriors had died or were seriously injured while seeking opportunities. As Yi Yun thought about it, he sighed.

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s expression, the girl seemed to feel guilt-ridden.

She only wanted to leave this place. She had been alone for too long and had been trapped for hundreds of millions of years.

“There’s no need to reproach yourself. The people who come here seek treasures. Since there’s a treasure, there is naturally danger.” Yi Yun read the girl’s thoughts, never expecting that she would seem rather kind.

Wasn’t her name the Heretical God Fire Seed?

Yi Yun’s impression of a Heretical God Fire Seed was something that stood aloof above all, even if it were not completely evil, and was unreservedly forthright.

However, this young lady did not seem to match that image.

“Why are you called the Heretical God Fire Seed?” Yi Yun could not help but ask.

The girl shook her head and said, “I do not know either. I was born with some fragmented memories. However, after an unknown period of time, these fragmented memories seem to have been sealed. Later, I left the Sinkhole and followed Master, slowly maturing and becoming stronger. After Master’s death, I took probably tens of millions of years to slowly take form…”

Although it was said that top-grade natural and spiritual treasures could take human form, it was also harder for truly extraordinary treasures to take form.

The Heretical God Fire Seed had absorbed pure Yang energy in the array for an extraordinarily long period of time before it succeeded.

Yi Yun was unsure if the girl could be considered as having a spiritual form. He sensed within her a lifeblood no different from that of ordinary people. He could even sense the soul in her body.

It was because of these things that Yi Yun’s first impression of the girl was that she was Ling Xiaoxiao. She was a living human so he had never imagined that she would be the Heretical God Fire Seed.

“Do you have a name?” asked Yi Yun.

The girl shook her head.

“Then I’ll give you a name…You are in this massive array to save Ling Xiaoxiao. Although you have yet to succeed, you have taken this form because of that. Your birth is also because of Ling Xiaoxiao so why don’t you go by Ling Xie’er in the future?”

Ling Xie’er?

The girl faltered for a moment before quickly nodding. She cocked her head as she pondered, as though she liked the name a lot.

“Yea!”

Ling Xie’er smiled. Immediately, the cold atmosphere in the array alleviated, gaining an additional sense of warmth.

Yi Yun found it fascinating. As the Heretical God’s fire, she had experienced hundreds of millions of years and gave birth to a life no different from humans, yet she remained as untainted as a blank sheet of paper.

She said she had fragmented memories at her birth. What were those memories? Could they be from her previous life?

Yi Yun felt that perhaps Ling Xie’er wasn’t so simple.

Shaking his head, Yi Yun looked at the array that had developed naturally from the worldly formation. Ling Xie’er had said that she was part of the array, and had already fused with it. Then, the lake and the array were likely bound to one another.

At the moment, it was calm, but once he attempted to break the balance of the array, extreme danger would likely befall him.

Ling Xie’er looked up and said, “Are you going to crack the worldly formation?”

“Yes, there’s no harm trying,” said Yi Yun.

Ling Xie’er shook her head. “But…you are too weak. The people from before were much stronger than you but they still failed.”

Upon saying that, she came to a slight pause before continuing, “I brought you here into the divine alchemist’s cauldron because I have been alone for too long and wanted to chat with someone. I actually have no hopes of you bringing me out.”

To have a young girl suddenly say how weak he was, Yi Yun rubbed his nose in embarrassment. Actually, Ling Xie’er was right. He was quite weak.

However, he had his advantages. Although his cultivation level was low, he had four nine-leaf Dao fruits condensed in his body. When it came to the worldly formation and insights into pure Yang laws, Yi Yun could be said to be at the crest of perfection.

Cracking the worldly formation was not a question of cultivation level, but one of nomological insight.

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun flew out of the divine alchemist’s cauldron and went to the black scrolls left behind by the alchemist. These black scrolls held the final records of the array.

Yi Yun was, after all, a Desolate Heaven Master. He had a great deal of understanding in the art of alchemical refinement. Another one of his advantages.

“Wait and see. Perhaps I am able to accomplish what others before me have failed…”

1112 - : Ling Xie’er

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun found a scroll that held the details of the massive array, and began reading it while sitting beside the lake.

The scroll was extremely complex. The content was so abstruse that, even as a Desolate Heaven Master, Yi Yun needed to ponder over each word and line before he could figure out the meaning within.

Ling Xie’er just sat on the disk array and quietly watched Yi Yun study. Although she was innocent, she was still a spiritual being of the world, and thus was able to distinguish whether a person was good or bad. She could sense that Yi Yun had no ill intentions toward her.

“If only he were just a little stronger.” Ling Xie’er sighed as she held her tiny face.

Suddenly, Ling Xie’er sensed something. She raised her head and looked towards the roaring pure Yang waterfall above her.

After staring at the waterfall for a moment, she lowered her head to look at Yi Yun.

Seeing that Yi Yun was completely immersed in reading the scroll, she quietly stood up and, with a flash, disappeared into a beam of light. And at the moment Ling Xie’er vanished, the gray flame in her was blocked by an invisible barrier. It could not break the obstruction, and was forced to stay in the array…

Ling Xie’er may have been the Heretical God Fire Seed, but the gray flame was her essence. If the flame could not leave the array, then Ling Xie’er would never be able to leave the land of cremation.

…

“Ah!”

In the darkness, there was a sudden tragic cry as a few figures appeared by the side of a mountain cliff.

“Stop shouting. If you attract more of those humanoid monsters, you’ll lose more than your legs,” said Liu Ruyi coldly.

The person she spoke to was none other than the Heaven Secrets Chapter’s Master Tianxiao.

By that point, Master Tianxiao was in a wretched state. His legs had been cleaved off from the thighs. He was covered in blood, for he had also lost an arm. If he lost the other arm, he would be no different from a punished consort.

As Master Tianxiao had lost all ability to fight, the twin childlike deputy palatial lords of the Seven Star Dao Palace had tied his body to a machine-operated puppet. The state he was in was as tragic as could be.

The moment Liu Ruyi mentioned the humanoid monsters, Master Tianxiao immediately shuddered and did not dare whimper another word.

“Lead the way properly. You only lost your legs and an arm. My Seven Star Dao Palace has already promised to reattach them for you, so what’s there to be afraid of?” said one of the two children in a hoarse voice.

There were only three people left from the entire Seven Star Dao Palace expedition team. Even one of the deputy palatial lords had perished.

As for the Heaven Secrets Chapter group, only Master Tianxiao alone had managed to barely survive. And that was only because Liu Ruyi believed him to be of some use, and deliberately protected him.

Along the way, they had not only encountered terrifying humanoid monsters, they had also met ancient creatures that nearly wiped them all out.

Yi Yun’s gloating words had truly come to pass.

“With three deputy palatial lords, I’m naturally unafraid.” Master Tianxiao said bitterly with a despondent expression.

Unafraid? He was already terribly regretting this excursion!

He originally believed that he would garner certain boons from coming on the expedition, but now, aside from not getting a thing, he had lost two legs and an arm.

Having come this far, the three deputy palatial lords refused to retreat. They had already paid a tragic price so they were bent on obtaining the Yang spirit.

Master Tianxiao knew that if he could not lead the way, then he was a cripple of no value.

“The environment here is quite different from the places we previously passed…” Master Tianxiao used his remaining hand to hold on to a compass and attempted to divine a path. “This place is probably not far from the Yang spirit.”

“You’ve already said this twice…” Liu Ruyi gave Master Tianxiao a displeased look before saying coldly, “I’ll believe you another time.”

“I’m out of options, too, for the Heaven Secrets Compass is not in my hand.” Master Tianxiao said weakly.

One of the childlike deputy palatial lords used a rope to lift Master Tianxiao up as the quartet continued proceeding forward.

After a while, they heard rumbling sounds ahead.

“That is…” They had arrived in front of the molten waterfall.

The waterfall looked magnificent and the bottom appeared unfathomable. The pure Yang gases stirred and anyone of weaker strength, like Master Tianxiao, immediately felt like they were being tortured in flames.

He was already extremely frail after losing two legs and an arm, yet he now had to endure the excruciating burning from the pure Yang laws. His beard was even beginning to twirl from the heat.

“The pure Yang aura below is extremely pure. The Yang spirit is likely beneath the waterfall,” said one of the childlike deputy palatial lords as his eyes lit up.

Even if the Yang spirit’s presence could not be confirmed, there was definitely a mystic treasure beneath the waterfall.

“I wonder where that little bastard, Yi Yun, is. If he is here, I’ll definitely rip out his skin and bones and use his soul for herbal refinement!”

The way Yi Yun mocked them was still fresh on their minds.

They had not encountered Yi Yun along the way, so it was possible that Yi Yun was in the vicinity.

“He probably thinks he can get the treasure but he’ll only get this far. He won’t be able to escape with the treasure. Everything in here will belong to the Seven Star Dao Palace. It will be refined into a supreme treasure.” Liu Ruyi pricked up her slender brows and said with a sneer.

What they did not know was that Ling Xie’er secretly watched them from inside the waterfall.

She could tell that one of the four was already on his last breath. The remaining three had powerful auras.

However, the trio had also been injured along the way. They had powerful auras but they were unstable.

“They have such a huge vendetta with the person called Yi Yun?” Ling Xie’er mused over it when she suddenly blinked her eyes.” Could…Yi Yun be him?”

Ling Xie’er was a part of the worldly array. She could sense anyone who came into the underground world.

She knew that the group of people that had come were large in numbers, previously. This was the same group of people, so their enemy had to be Yi Yun that had come alone.

Upon hearing the quartet discuss how they would treat Yi Yun after capturing him, Ling Xie’er held her chin and pondered. She was the one that led Yi Yun down here. If these people were to descend the waterfall and find Yi Yun, it would be as if she hurt him herself.

In the past, many people died attempting to crack the array. As a result, Ling Xie’er felt somewhat ridden with guilt. Now, with her leading Yi Yun to the side of the massive array, it was even more unlikely she would watch these people kill Yi Yun.

“If he discovers that he can’t crack the array, it would be fine if he leaves on his own. Since these people are here to find me, I can lead them away first,” thought Ling Xie’er.

But in fact, Ling Xie’er did not have a method to take care of the trio with powerful auras. Being trapped for hundreds of millions of years made her very weak. Furthermore, her source—the gray flame—was locked in the core of the array. She had no way to deal with the trio.

Seeing the quartet about to leap down the waterfall, Ling Xie’er flew out of hiding without a second thought.

“Who is it!?”

Liu Ruyi bellowed angrily and was instantly left dumbfounded.

How could there be a young girl in such a place?

1113 - : The Tragic Master Tianxiao

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Be careful!”

The journey through the underground left Liu Ruyi and company feeling high-strung. The monsters there were so powerful that any single one could wipe out a large sect. The girl in front of them was obviously abnormal. It was even possible that she was not human.

“Retreat! Attack when possible!”

Liu Ruyi and the two children were immediately on high alert. Meanwhile, Master Tianxiao was looking at his compass in a daze. Perhaps due to the appearance of the girl, the compass began reacting strangely.

Could it be…

Master Tianxiao looked at Ling Xie’er once again. He was proficient in anthroposcopy, so he could sense the aura of the God Fire’s within her.

This left him overjoyed.

“Deputy Palatial Lord Liu, capture her!”

Master Tianxiao suddenly exclaimed.

He discovered something extremely special. Ordinary people had worldly luck, be it good or bad, flowing within their bodies. However, the girl was a blank slate. Although she looked like a living person, she possessed a qualitative difference from ordinary people.

Therefore, Master Tianxiao was certain that the girl was not human, but a spiritual body that had taken form.

For a spiritual body to take human form in such a land, combined with the fire aura that exuded from her body, she was very likely the Yang spirit taken form.

“She’s the Yang spirit! There was really no effort wasted searching for it!” Master Tianxiao said agitatedly.

“It’s her?”

Liu Ruyi and company were somewhat surprised. But immediately, the two childlike deputy palatial lords reached out their hands to grab Ling Xie’er.

“Regardless, capture her first!”

“Capture her and refine her away. When we return to the palace, we will earn great merit!”

Ling Xie’er turned lightly pale when she saw two large palms materialize and reach for her. Instantly, she transformed into a fire wisp and rapidly flew downwards.

Upon seeing this, Liu Ruyi’s eyes lit up.

“She’s truly the Yang spirit! Chase after her!”

Alongside the crashing waterfall, a fire wisp raced down.

Liu Ruyi and company followed closely behind. From the moment they came to the underground world of the Sun Burial Sandsea, they encountered only terrible things. But now, they finally had a reward in sight.

As for Ling Xie’er, she could sense the quartet’s pursuit. She cast her gaze forward.

At that time, although Ling Xie’er was a spiritual body, she was confident that she could trap the group if she were careful, since she had fused with the massive array.

Sou!

Ling Xie’er flew into a cave.

“There’s a cave here.” Liu Ruyi and company instantly reached the cave’s entrance.

“This Yang spirit is deliberately leading us in.” Master Tianxiao hesitated for a moment before speaking.

He was already scared out of his wits from the strangeness and peril the underground world posed. Even if the Yang spirit was in the cave, he was considerably apprehensive.

“So what if it’s deliberate? This place is already run down. Her past master is no longer around. We just need to be careful when entering,” said one of the childlike deputy palatial lords.

“Master Tianxiao, divine the path and lead the way,” said Liu Ruyi. “Don’t you try any tricks. If we obtain the Yang spirit, we will naturally bring you out with us and reattach your arm and legs. In the future, your Heaven Secrets Chapter will be able to rely on our Seven Star Dao Palace.”

The color in Master Tianxiao’s face drained as he cursed inwardly. The people from the Seven Star Dao Palace were ruthless in their dealings. They actually intended for him to lead the way despite him losing all his strength.

However, Master Tianxiao did not dare refuse. The Yang spirit had been found and he was not of much use. The three deputy palatial lords of Seven Star Dao Palace could abandon him at any time.

Master Tianxiao divined the path with his compass, leading the way to the stone temple.

“There doesn’t seem to be any danger,” said Master Tianxiao.

Master Tianxiao was calculating the luck that determined survival. If the place was extremely dangerous, his luck would be extremely low, which likely meant death.

Boom!

After they entered, they heard a loud boom behind them.

Liu Ruyi and company turned around immediately and saw a massive metal door close.

“This!”

The runes on the metal door flickered as Liu Ruyi raised her sword to stab at it but was rebounded by a beam of light.

And there was a dead end in front of them.

“We have been trapped,” said one of the childlike deputy palatial lords in frustration.

Liu Ruyi stared at the door for a moment before turning to look at the cave.

“No need to fret. The Yang spirit has disappeared so there’s probably some trick to this cave. If we search around we will definitely find a way out,” said Liu Ruyi.

There were no humanoid monsters here, nor were there ancient creatures. Being trapped was not a setback in terms of danger.

Furthermore, with the Yang spirit at hand, their mission would soon be completed.

“Master Tianxiao, hurry up and divine a path,” ordered Liu Ruyi.

“The array in this cave should be able to trap them. Unfortunately, I’m unable to control the evil creatures outside the array. If only I could lead them into the cave…”

Ling Xie’er muttered to herself and returned to the lake to watch Yi Yun studying the scroll.

Yi Yun was sitting there in a highly concentrated state. There were runes flicking around him constantly as he used his fingers to draw in mid-air.

Yi Yun originally thought of studying the array, but as he gained more understanding of the scroll, he began engaging in the array techniques and alchemical skills recorded in it.

The divine alchemist had reached the peak of alchemy. So his scroll was a rare treasure for Yi Yun.

Time passed without him knowing it.

Day after day, and soon almost a month had passed.

One day, Ling Xie’er sat by the fiery river’s bank. Her fair feet were dabbing in the river, sending red molten liquid splashing out. It formed a stark contrast to her porcelain-like feet.

“This youth sure is persistent!”

Ling Xie’er cocked her head and looked at Yi Yun. He had been sitting there without moving for a month. She did not know if he had figured out anything from his studies. He had already finished reading the black scroll left behind by the divine alchemist, but at the divine alchemist’s level, how could a junior understand a notebook he left behind?

As Ling Xie’er was pondering over the matter, she suddenly heard a crisp sound, as though a barrier screen had shattered. Spatial transmission waves immediately rippled over.

“Oh? They have broken out of the cave’s restraints?” Ling Xie’er’s eyes flashed. She was rather shocked; however, she immediately understood that the cave had existed for hundreds of millions of years. Even if the array was extremely secure in the past, it was almost defunct after all these years. Of course it would be unable to trap Liu Ruyi and company completely.

Ling Xie’er glanced at the motionless Yi Yun before disappearing into the lake and appearing in front of the stone temple.

At that moment, Liu Ruyi and company had been transported out and had arrived in front of the stone temple.

It could be said that they looked extremely pathetic. Much of their energy had drained after being trapped in the cave for a long period of time.

They immediately saw the girl standing in front of the massive stone temple.

“Yang spirit!”

The childlike deputy palatial lord’s eyes flashed after seeing the Yang spirit once again after a month.

Seeing the four appear, Ling Xie’er turned and ran into the temple.

“Again?”

Liu Ruyi’s eyes were filled with greed, anger, and viciousness.

They quickly entered the stone temple, where they saw Ling Xie’er standing by a statue.

“Yang spirit!” Liu Ruyi’s eyes gleamed as she extended her hand to grab at the girl.

Suddenly, Ling Xie’er leapt backward and emitted a blinding, fiery light. The stone temple’s ground immediately lit up with numerous esoteric runic patterns.

These runic patterns were carved by the divine alchemist. There were also some that had naturally formed after the massive array had fused with the world it was in.

As the massive array’s core, Ling Xie’er was one with the array. Although she posed no physical threat, she was able to control the array.

Seeing the fire-red runic patterns at her feet, Liu Ruyi immediately withdrew her attack and retreated.

However, all the runic patterns had lit up simultaneously. In response, the entire temple was inundated by an inferno.

The temple instantly turned into a massive cauldron, trapping Liu Ruyi and company in its flames.

Boom! Boom!

The two childlike deputy palatial lord combined their forces but failed to break through the barrier, preventing them from escaping the inferno.

“Ah! Ah!” Master Tianxiao constantly wailed. He suffered the most from the inferno. His weak protective Yuan Qi could not shield him. Even his hair had been burnt off, much less his beard. If this continued, he felt like he would be cooked to a crisp.

As for Liu Ruyi and the other two, they were able to withstand the flames. For them, it was only maddening that they could see the Yang spirit, but were trapped and could do nothing to obtain it.

“Yes, this is good. When Yi Yun realizes that he can’t crack the array, he will leave,” said a satisfied Ling Xie’er as she gave a delighted clap.

Since she was a part of the massive array, she didn’t suffer any damage from it. She was free to come and go.

However, at that moment, Liu Ruyi’s eyes suddenly glinted with a sinister beam of light. She wiped across her interspatial ring and immediately produced a whip. It struck at Ling Xie’er with flashing runes.

Ling Xie’er’s expression changed drastically as she attempted to transform into a fire wisp to escape the area. But the whip quickly vanished and, in the blink of an eye, appeared by her side, fastening her tightly.

“Indeed! You are just a sentient projection. All you have is your sentience and not your core. This whip of mine happens to lock onto sentient projections and spiritual bodies,” said Liu Ruyi coldly.

Despite appearing pathetic after being trapped for a month, they had been constantly searching for Ling Xie’er’s weakness.

Ling Xie’er was an innocent girl after all. Although she controlled everything in the vicinity, she was incomparable to Liu Ruyi and company in terms of craftiness.

Ling Xie’er struggled but, without her true body around, she was no match for Liu Ruyi.

“This Soul Locking Whip of mine is specially made to torture souls. It beats out the soul from a person’s body and slowly obliterates it. You are but a mere Yang spirit, yet you did not try to escape and instead trapped us. As long as I annihilate your spiritual body, you will lose your consciousness, naturally rendering this entrapping array useless.”

“If your spiritual body is here, your true body must be here too.” When we obtain your true body and refine it, you will become the property of the Seven Star Dao Palace.” As Liu Ruyi spoke, she curled the corners of her lips, revealing a diabolical smile.

When Ling Xie’er heard that, her face turned pale. This woman wanted to obliterate her consciousness! To the group, it was already sufficient to capture her fire source.

1114 - : Entrapping Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ling Xie’er had finally gained sentience after hundreds of millions of years. Now she was about to be killed, and have her true body refined by the enemy.

Ling Xie’er kept struggling as her face revealed a look of pure terror.

If her true Heretical God Fire Seed body were here, she would have no need to fear these people. However, just her sentient projection alone had no combat strength!

“Stop wasting your strength. Do you think a mere sentient projection can resist me? Even a Divine Lord’s separated soul upon death could not resist my Soul Locking Whip, much less you!” Liu Ruyi said as she injected a blast of Yuan Qi into the whip.

As a result, the Soul Locking Whip emitted an extremely cold and sinister aura. Ghastly wails could be heard as Ling Xie’er’s body tightened.

“Ah!” Ling Xie’er immediately exclaimed in shock.

“Deputy Palatial Lord Liu, how long must the Yang spirit’s sentient projection be whipped before it’s destroyed?” Master Tianxiao mustered his courage to ask. He had had enough and only wished to leave as soon as possible.

Liu Ruyi’s eyes flashed a look of satisfaction. “This Soul Locking Whip of mine is an ancient treasure I obtained from a ruin. It is specifically used to vanquish souls. Were it a human’s soul, it would be very easy to wipe it out. This Yang spirit took form from a heavenly treasure and created a sentient projection over hundreds of millions of years. But even so, she will not be able to last too much longer. At most, it will take a few days. Both of you should take turns with me using the whip so that we can constantly lash at her. We must not stop for even a moment.”

The two childlike deputy palatial lords immediately nodded. They bared sinister smiles when they looked at Ling Xie’er.

“After refining this Yang spirit, we will search for Yi Yun and then use him as one of the companion herbs.” one of the children said sinisterly.

Master Tianxiao glanced at Ling Xie’er as well. He yearned for the girl to perish at that very moment. Then, his suffering would be considerably lessened.

But now that they had the Yang spirit in hand, Yi Yun would definitely not be able to escape the Seven Star Dao Palace’s three deputy palatial lords. Master Tianxiao was finally at ease.

“Ah! It’s so painful! Ah!”

Ling Xie’er’s petite body flailed as she let out shrill screams. However, Liu Ruyi and company were unshaken by the torment the girl was suffering. Instead, they responded by sending more Yuan Qi into the Soul Locking Whip.

“Am I going to die…?”

Ling Xie’er felt complete despair. She wanted to beseech Yi Yun to help her, but she also knew that he was no match for the trio in front of her.

If she were to call out to Yi Yun, it would only serve to harm him.

The pain reached deep into her bone marrow. The torture her soul endured was unbearable. She wished she could immediately faint but knew that it would only result in her being obliterated faster.

Why am I so useless…I wanted to subdue the trio but end up falling for their scheme…

“Oh? This girl sure is tenacious. It has been six hours. Not only has she not been tortured to death, her soul hasn’t even weakened much. Senior Brothers Demonfiend, Demonblood, it’s your turn!”

Liu Ruyi wiped the sweat from her forehead and handed over control of the Soul Locking Whip to the two childlike elders.

“Hehe, I have been longing to try my hand at this.”

Demonblood licked his lips and took over the Soul Locking Whip. “It appears this lass can last another eight or nine days. Fine, don’t die too quickly, or it will only be boring for me.”

As Demonblood spoke, he began powering the whip. His voice left Master Tianxiao’s heart shuddering when he heard it. That old man was truly perverse.

…

Days quickly passed but Yi Yun was unaware of what Ling Xie’er was experiencing. He was immersed in his rumination and was no longer aware of how much time had passed.

Unknowingly, he was surrounded by scrolls. And around him floated countless runes and text that were detailed on the scrolls. They were shimmering like fireflies as they danced around him in the air.

Yi Yun seemed to have fused with these texts, existing in the same region of space.

As he held the scrolls, he felt as though he had seen every step the divine alchemist had taken back when he was setting up the massive array. Then, he saw the world change with time. As hundreds of millions of years passed, the massive array began to fuse with the worldly formation.

The greenery that originally existed was wiped out by the pure Yang Yuan Qi, and the entire continent was baked into a desert. And the cause of all of this lied in the array.

Yi Yun seemed to experience countless years with the piece of land. When he jolted awake, he finally understood everything.

“So that’s how it happened…The divine alchemist had not only reached the peak of alchemy, he also gained insights into the Dao of Life and Death. As such, he used his alchemy as a foundation and the Life and Death array as a supplement, hoping to rewind the samsara of Life and Death, thus saving his daughter that had passed away years ago. However, he still failed in the end.”

“The core of the massive array is the six great divisions in the wheel of samsara!”

Yi Yun had watched the six-divisioned wheel of samsara for quite a while. The Dao of Life and Death was also the Dao of Birth and Destruction!

Yi Yun cultivated in Primordial Chaos and Major Destruction. The former gave birth to everything in the Universe, while the latter led to the death of everything in the Universe.

The Dao of Life and Death was, after all, also a part of the Great Dao of Supremacy, Chaos and Destruction!

“I can substitute the Dao of Life and Death with my Chaos and Destruction. As for the pure Yang formations of the world, I have a nine-leaf pure Yang Dao fruit. And for the final alchemical methods, I can attempt to crack them with my Desolate Heaven technique!”

“After all, it is a massive array that has existed for hundreds of millions of years. With the four nine-leaf Dao fruits in my dantian, I refuse to believe I can’t crack this array!”

Yi Yun went to the front of the massive array’s core. His eyes were sparkling like stars.

Only Yi Yun was simultaneously proficient in the three laws—Life and Death, alchemy, and pure Yang.

Although Yi Yun’s cultivation level wasn’t high, he was still the best candidate to crack the array!

“I wonder if it’s possible…”

Yi Yun raised his hands and a black vortex gathered in between them, forming into a huge black wheel.

The wheel that had demonic and divine phantoms in it was none other than Yi Yun’s 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence that represented destruction wasn’t enough. With a thought, Yi Yun produced a wisp of nebulous Primordial Chaos out from the World Tree in his body, fusing it into the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s core!

Just a wisp of the nebulous Primordial Chaos was as heavy as a mountain. It could crush lands and separate seas.

However, when this wisp of nebulous Primordial Chaos completely fused with the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, the Great Dao of Birth and Destruction was complete.

Yi Yun concentrated as he watched the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence merge with the divine alchemist’s six-divisioned wheel of samsara.

Before all else, the Dao of samsara was one of the Great Dao. If he did not possess higher Chaos and Destruction laws, it would have been extremely difficult to resolve it.

The wheel of samsara slowly merged with the Birth and Destruction wheel. At that moment, Yi Yun happened to see the gray flame still trapped within the wheel of samsara.

That was Ling Xie’er’s fire source.

Over the past month, Yi Yun had been engrossed in pondering over the divine alchemist’s notes. He had not noticed Ling Xie’er around him, so where could she have gone?

Yi Yun saw that the gray flame was flickering unstably on the wheel of samsara as though it was going to collapse at any time. This left Yi Yun confounded.

What’s wrong!?

Yi Yun could no longer be concerned with the fusion of the wheel of samsara and the wheel of Birth and Destruction. He sent his perception into the Heretical God Fire Seed and asked, “Xie’er, what’s wrong with you?”

Yi Yun was already 60-70% confident that he could crack the array and free Ling Xie’er. But now, he realized that Ling Xie’er could be in trouble!

After Yi Yun asked the question, he did not receive any response immediately. Only after nearly a minute did he hear a weak and staccato voice.

“Brother Yi Yun, I might not be able to take it any further…”

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed! It was Ling Xie’er!

1115 - : Cracking the Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s expression changed drastically when he sensed that Ling Xie’er’s spiritual energy was already extremely weak.

The Heretical God Fire Seed was in front of Yi Yun. Although it was trapped in the massive array, the fire wisp was constantly flickering, to the point that it looked like it could be snuffed out at any time. However, it was also impossible for it to be extinguished.

As for Ling Xie’er, she had said that she could not take it any further. That meant that the Heretical God Fire Seed’s true core was fine, but the girl’s spiritual body was about to be obliterated.

Ling Xie’er was naive and innocent. Her personality was no different from a true girl. If her spiritual body were to die, then Ling Xie’er would truly be dead. Only the Heretical God Fire Seed would remain.

“Xie’er, where are you?” Yi Yun asked hurriedly.

Ling Xie’er’s frail voice responded intermittently after a long period of time. “Brother Yi Yun, it’s best you leave quickly. These people want to harm you…”

Yi Yun’s heart leaped. It was the people from the Seven Star Dao Palace!? Had they captured Ling Xie’er?

The Heretical God Fire Seed’s true power lie inside the gray flame. But Ling Xie’er, who was just a sentient projection, lacked combat strength.

“Xie’er, tell me. Where are you? What did they do to you?” The look in Yi Yun’s eyes had completely chilled.

However, Ling Xie’er did not answer Yi Yun’s question. She said intermittently, “Brother Yi Yun, I was too dumb…I was planning on trapping them…but never expected them to end up trapping me instead.”

“Brother Yi Yun, ever since I became sentient, I have been in this massive array for hundreds of millions of years. Only when you came was I able to speak a few words with you. If I count carefully, I have only spoken a few dozen sentences in my entire existence. My life has been long, but it has also been very short…”

“I might be dying. Brother Yi Yun, the name you gave me is something I like a lot…”

Ling Xie’er’s voice gradually weakened. Her final long statement felt like it was the last spurt of activity before death.

Such words stabbed at Yi Yun’s heart.

He had been so immersed in his cogitation that he was unaware of what happened around him. He never expected that so much would occur during this period of time. Ling Xie’er had definitely left the massive array in order to protect him. She had risked herself to trap the people from the Seven Star Dao Palace but ended up being captured.

She was a young girl that lacked experience, so how could she ever match the Seven Star Dao Palace?

“Liu Ruyi, you sure are perverse!”

Yi Yun gritted his teeth as he exclaimed, “Xie’er! Xie’er!”

However…even when Yi Yun sent his perception deep into the gray flame, Ling Xie’er’s voice no longer sounded.

Crackle!

The gray flame seemed to emanate a bout of sadness at that instant.

Immediately, Yi Yun felt like his heart was being grabbed by a hand that squeezed it ruthlessly!

“Xie’er!”

Yi Yun’s fists clenched so hard that his fingernails lodged deep into his flesh. The scene of him conversing with Ling Xie’er seemed to suffuse before his eyes.

“Do you have a name? Then I’ll give you a name…why don’t you go by Ling Xie’er in the future?”

Human warriors would casually kill for their own interests. They would scheme in mystic realms and murder others to seize their belongings. In order to achieve their goals, they would slaughter countless beings. As for Ling Xie’er, he had barely interacted with her, but she had protected him in such a manner.

The Heretical God Fire Seed ended up possessing the kindest and purest personality in the world.

“Ling Xie’er…” Yi Yun looked up as his face suffused a terrifying killing intent!

“Seven Star Dao Palace! I’ll definitely charge your gates one day and wipe you all out!”

Yi Yun looked at the Heretical God Fire Seed. He had only planned on cracking the array appropriately and leaving with Ling Xie’er but now…

“Xie’er, can you hear me? I planned on bringing you along with me after cracking the array but your spiritual body is trapped. I need your power to kill the ones trapping you.” As Yi Yun spoke, his figure flashed as he flew towards the samsara wheel.

With the worldly array there, no one could approach the samsara wheel other than Ling Xie’er. But now, Yi Yun’s feet burned with roaring flames as the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence in his hand flew into the array.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence and the six-divisioned wheel of samsara collided, sending out powerful shock waves, as though the world was being ruptured. The entire underground world began to tremble.

Yi Yun stood in this shock wave, entering the core of the impact. After entering the massive array, he stretched out to hold up a gray flame.

This was the God Fire that was born from the Sinkhole. Years ago, the divine alchemist had merged his Empyrean Cleansing Flame with the Heretical God Fire Seed until eventually, the Empyrean Cleansing Flame was devoured by the Heretical God Fire Seed, turning the Heretical God Fire Seed into the strongest flame in the world.

Such a powerful flame was not something even a Supremacy could do anything about. Even a Divine Lord would have to be extremely careful and would show no confidence in refining it, much less one at Yi Yun’s mere Dao Manifestation realm.

But now, Yi Yun held it in his palm.

It was surprising that a flame that could emblaze the Universe did not cause any harm to Yi Yun’s hands.

More surprisingly, the Heretical God Fire Seed turned quiet in Yi Yun’s palms. It was like a pixie jumping in the night, sending a sense of warmth into Yi Yun’s body.

“The divine alchemist used this worldly array to refine the Elixir of Resurrection. Today, I’ll use my body as a cauldron to be the vessel of the Heretical God Fire Seed!”

Sou!

As though it had intelligence, the Heretical God Fire Seed entered Yi Yun’s body.

At the same time, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence and the samsara wheel fused completely. The blood-red samsara wheel spun at Yi Yun’s feet as his aura constantly increased. In the deep depths of his eyes that resembled the night, two flames ignited.

The flames were not red in color but gray. They constantly jumped, giving Yi Yun the appearance of a demon god that walked out of hell.

Power, I need power!

Yi Yun was acutely aware that he could not defeat the deputy palatial lords of the Seven Star Dao Palace. He needed his strength to grow to the limit.

The Heretical God Fire Seed flew into Yi Yun’s dantian, fusing with the Azure Wood Divine Tree. At that moment, the tree seemed to give birth to a sun in his body. All its branches turned fiery red. It began to grow swiftly, its trunk rapidly thickening. New branches grew as new leaves sprouted along the branches and constantly extended forward!

These leaves were in various shapes and sizes. No two leaves were the same. They were like tiny cauldrons, flying swords, or eight trigrams…Each leaf vein was engraved with the truth behind the Great Dao.

In that moment, Yi Yun deeply felt that the Heretical God Fire Seed had completely fused with him. It had infused all its power into his dantian!

This was the worldly power from the Sun Burial Sandsea that had been gathered for hundreds of millions of years.

With so much concentrated power, Yi Yun directly broke through to the late stages of the Dao Manifestation realm!

However, this was far from the limit of this immense power!

1116 - : Fusion

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although Yi Yun did not know what cultivation level the divine alchemist had attained, he was certain that he exceeded the level of Divine Lord!

How could such immense power not blast a junior to pieces?

Fortunately for Yi Yun, he had the Azure Wood Divine Tree that could accommodate everything. Also, the Heretical God Fire Seed was completely willing to work with him in the fusion.

This made Yi Yun achieve a miracle! His cultivation level was rising at an unimaginable speed.

Dao Manifestation realm of perfection!

Flames blazed, rising towards the sky as Ancient Fey phantoms seemed to form above the leaves’ surfaces. They were roaring or galloping.

Yi Yun felt like his body was about to explode. Despite having all sorts of advantages and nomological insights that allowed him to make this breakthrough, being able to raise his cultivation level by several subrealms was still an astounding feat.

He was already at the Dao Manifestation realm of perfection and there was nowhere for the energy to go. If he continued accumulating it, the consequences would be unthinkable.

If this were any other time, Yi Yun would have chosen to stop and release the excess energy from his body, allowing it to naturally dissipate.

However, in this moment, Yi Yun had no intention to stop. The opponents he faced were the deputy palatial lords of the Seven Star Dao Palace. He only found his strength insufficient and needed to make one breakthrough after another!

All that lied above the Dao Manifestation realm of perfection was establishing the Dao Palace!

The energy he had gathered was already sufficient to establish the Dao Palace. However, it was very dangerous to establish it without the accumulation of time required in the Dao Manifestation realm of perfection!

“I’ll risk it!”

Yi Yun gritted his teeth, and the four nine-leaf Dao fruits in his dantian began to narrow the gap between them as they gradually fused together!

The first step of establishing a Dao Palace was to fuse the Dao fruits. If Yi Yun was not careful in doing so, especially in his present situation, his dantian might end up exploding!

“Xie’er, help me!”

Yi Yun muttered inwardly as the Heretical God Fire Seed in the Azure Wood Divine Tree suddenly blazed in an extremely quiet manner, as though it did not produce an inkling of heat.

The body of Ling Xie’er, who had been trapped by the Soul Locking Whip, was translucent. Her flame of vitality was like a candle in the wind, easily extinguishable at any moment.

Yet suddenly, her lashes trembled lightly. Her eyes gradually opened, revealing that they lacked any luster as she looked at Liu Ruyi and company quietly.

“Oh? This girl still remains conscious?” Liu Ruyi said with a frown.

“Heh heh, it’s probably a momentary recovery before her death. It’s already extremely impressive for a mere sentient projection to last so many days. If it were a human warrior, just a few days under the Soul Locking Whip would have resulted in excruciating pain from the soul being ripped apart. All they could do is plead for death.” Demonfiend said with a chuckle, his voice sending shudders down the backs of others.

“Deputy Palatial Lord Demonfiend is right. The pain of the Soul Locking Whip is not something ordinary people can withstand. But the more it is so, the more it indicates how much of a treasure the Yang spirit is. Congratulations to all of you for obtaining such an impressive treasure. The Seven Star Dao Palace will grow in power and become a mighty faction in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven,” said Master Tianxiao by the side in a fawning fashion.

He had already been roasted till he resembled a dried up peach core. However, he did not dare mutter any of his grievances. Thankfully, the girl was about to be vanquished, so he had finally endured it to the end.

But at that moment, Master Tianxiao suddenly felt something. He looked at his compass and realized that there was something strange happening to it.

Suddenly—

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The underground world began to rumble like there was an earthquake.

They even sensed that the inferno array Ling Xie’er had used to trap them had turned unstable.

“Oh? It seems like problems have surfaced in the array?”

Master Tianxiao was more than a little flustered as he quickly attempted to divine with his compass. However, the hexagrams were in chaos. He had no way of knowing what had happened.

“What are you panicking for!?”

“This girl is the core of this world after all. Refining her will naturally induce instability in the array. It seems clear that this girl cannot last any longer.” The elder, Demonblood, licked his lips. He seemed rather disheartened that he could not torture Ling Xie’er any further.

The quaking of the array continued but the trio did not pay it any mind. It continued for two hours before finally coming to a halt.

“Is she dead?”

Just as Demonblood was about to check Ling Xie’er’s vitals, there was a sudden boom! The ground beneath them ruptured as molten metal spewed out from the ground!

“What’s going on!?”

Demonblood struck out with a large palm, holding back the erupting molten metal. As for Liu Ruyi, she appeared beside Master Tianxiao to protect him.

Although she did not really care if Master Tianxiao died, he still had some use in locating the Heretical God Fire Seed’s true body.

“Why does the array appear like it’s collapsing?” Liu Ruyi asked anxiously.

Liu Ruyi was right. At that moment, Yi Yun had fused with the Heretical God Fire Seed in the core of the massive array. He was in the final stages, and had used the Dao of Primordial Chaos to open up the Life and Death locks to the massive array. With pure Yang breaking pure Yang, it resulted in the massive array that had been running for hundreds of millions of years in a dilapidated state to finally be pushed to the brink of collapse!

“Dao Palace, condense!”

Yi Yun bellowed as all his veins protruded. His vessels were about to crack as the four nine-leaf Dao fruits in his body reached the final stages of condensation. The faint embryonic form of a Dao Palace began to fill Yi Yun’s entire dantian.

Yi Yun’s eyes burned with gray flames as he felt his dantian about to explode. But with the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s ability to hold in all forms of power, Yi Yun was able to forcefully absorb all the energy in his body. Not a single bit was wasted.

In order to prevent his energy from leaking, Yi Yun sealed all the pores on his body, even if they were bleeding! At that moment, he truly looked like a demonic god!

Yi Yun had only been cultivating for less than sixty years. In all his breakthroughs, he had never once made such a huge leap in cultivation level!

The amount of blood on his body increased to the point that it formed a blood shell. The embryonic form of the Dao Palace within his body was constantly flickering and, when the energy condensed to an extreme, he heard a loud rumble as though something had shattered. The Dao Palace that had filled the entirety of Yi Yun’s dantian suddenly contracted!

In just a few seconds, the Dao Palace shrunk by ten times. Its originally phantom state suddenly turned translucent and solid, like it was made of crystal or glass.

Dao Palace established!

The Dao Palace was in the shape of a pagoda but each level had nine edges. It was the Supreme Nine-treasured Dao Palace!

Just like how mortals constructed pagodas, the number of edges represented the pagoda’s treasured state. For example, there was the Wishful Eight-treasured Pagoda or the Petite Six-treasured Pagoda.

A warrior’s Dao Palace was similar, with the highest form being the Supreme Nine-treasured Dao Palace!

And from the rooftop of the Dao Palace hung four glass beads. These were left behind by the four Dao fruits.

Upon seeing the tiny Dao Palace floating in his dantian, the bloodied Yi Yun let out a long roar. At once, all the blood encrusted on him shattered. He had finally broken through to the Dao Palace realm!

1117 - : Nine-Treasured Dao Palace

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ling Xie’er!”

All of a sudden, Yi Yun opened eyes that crackled with gray flames. The dim underground space seemed to light up in flames.

“Boom!”

The array barrier above Yi Yun promptly exploded, sending tumultuous Yuan Qi rolling out like typhoons. However, none of Yi Yun’s clothes even moved. His imposing stance was gathered as a whole, his eyes were filled with killing intent that coagulated like blood!

“Seven Star Dao Palace! Liu Ruyi!”

Boom!

The pure Yang broken sword appeared in Yi Yun’s hand as he vanished from his spot!

After breaking through to the Dao Palace realm, Yi Yun’s speed had reached a horrifying level!

A Golden Crow shrieked as a pair of gigantic wings appeared behind Yi Yun. As the wings flapped, Yi Yun’s body seemed to be enveloped by a ball of flame. He hurtled like a meteor towards Ling Xie’er’s location.

Although the mystical land was a chaotic space, Yi Yun could easily sense Ling Xie’er’s location after fusing with the Heretical God Fire Seed. Unfortunately, the connection between Ling Xie’er and the Heretical God Fire Seed was almost severed…

…

Amid loud rumbling noises, the entire stone temple was quickly collapsing. The massive array was quickly reaching the point of complete destruction and, if this carried on, the underground world might end up forever buried under the desert.

Liu Ruyi had an ominous, foreboding feeling. How could a worldly array be destroyed so easily?

“Any undue delay might invite trouble. Senior Brothers, let’s join forces and dissipate this girl. As for Yi Yun, the massive array is collapsing. He probably won’t be able to survive in this underground. And even if he were fortunate enough to escape, he would just end up in our hands.” Liu Ruyi said as she looked at Ling Xie’er.

“Hehe, alright.” The two childlike deputy palatial lords exchanged looks and, one after the other, injected blasts of Yuan Qi.

With Ling Xie’er already in such an evanescent state, she was surely finished if two blasts of Yuan Qi were injected into the Soul Locking Whip.

The duo struck out almost simultaneously, and their Yuan Qi quickly linked up.

Boom!

When the Yuan Qi was injected into the Soul Locking Whip, Ling Xie’er’s body quivered slightly. Her last vestiges of willpower were dissipating as her body turned blurry. At that moment, she was like a phantom in a dream. At any moment, she could transform into countless dots of light and vanish into the wind.

At the same time, the flying Yi Yun felt his heart sink. The Heretical God Fire Seed residing in his dantian emanated a baffling sense of melancholy. It nearly made Yi Yun’s heart stop beating.

Ha—!

Yi Yun let out a roar as infernos swept his surroundings like a storm. All the spatial barriers around him were broken by the immense blast. Having broken through the distorted space, Yi Yun rushed straight for Ling Xie’er!

Break!

Ka-cha!

Yi Yun slashed apart the final spatial barrier and, in an instant, finally arrived in the stone temple.

The first thing he saw was Ling Xie’er’s fading phantom image. She was about a hundred feet away, and mere moments away from collapsing into light dots. He then saw the cause: the Soul Locking Whip that held onto her tightly like a devil’s tentacle!

A sinister black gas drifted through the Soul Locking Whip and towards Ling Xie’er. It was the Yuan Qi produced by Demonfiend and Demonblood. It gathered and took the form of a ferocious ghost about to completely swallow Ling Xie’er.

A distance of hundred feet, but also an instant, separated life from death!

“Get lost!”

The sword beam radiated like the dazzling sun as it tore through all obstacles. It traversed space and shot through the ferocious ghost’s Yuan Qi embodiment.

Peng!

With a loud explosion, the Yuan Qi embodiment exploded completely! The sword beam did not lose its momentum, continuing its trajectory towards Liu Ruyi and company.

Liu Ruyi’s pupils constricted as she immediately retreated. At the same time, she waved her hand and struck at the sword beam.

However, the moment her Yuan Qi made contact with the sword beam, her expression changed drastically.

Her immense Yuan Qi was like paper in front of the sword beam. It couldn’t withstand it at all!

She was not the only one. Demonfiend and Demonblood were also surprised when they made contact with the sword beam. Only through combined force were the three of them able to withstand the sword beam.

As for Master Tianxiao, he did not even touch the sword beam. Just seeing the sword beam coming at him made all his hair stand up. An intense feeling of death and danger enveloped him.

Who was it!?

What terrifying opponent had appeared at this moment in time!?

There were many factions that had come to Sun Burial Sandsea. Liu Ruyi and company believed that a mighty figure from another faction had found the underground world and was attempting to steal the Yang spirit right out from under them.

As the sword beam began to fade, a ball of fire as bright as the radiant sun landed in front of Ling Xie’er.

Sou!

The sword beam flashed again, and Liu Ruyi felt a stabbing pain in her soul sea. Her Soul Locking Whip emitted the sound of fracturing metal, as though it was straining under a heavy burden. It was being cleaved apart by Yi Yun’s strike.

Although the Soul Locking Whip was not a supreme treasure, it was still of excellent quality. But against this person’s sword beam, it was as soft as tofu.

Cha! Cha! Cha!

The sword beam flashed one last time, causing the already broken Soul Locking Whip to be diced into countless segments!

Ling Xie’er’s body began falling like a feather.

This was her spiritual body. After being tortured for such a long time by the Soul Locking Whip, an evil item made to torment souls, she was already fading away.

Yi Yun took a step and crossed space. In a flash, he appeared in front of Ling Xie’er. Opening his arms, he embraced Ling Xie’er.

The instant he touched Ling Xie’er, Yi Yun’s heart sank. He could not feel any weight from her body!

Ling Xie’er’s once clear and bright eyes had already lost their luster. She looked at Yi Yun in a daze, but there was a hint of satisfaction.

She could sense that her true essence was already in Yi Yun’s body. Together as one with Yi Yun, he could finally bring her true body out of this land in the future.

She moved the corners of her mouth slightly, in a bid to reveal a smile. However, she had lost all her strength. Slowly, her eyes closed…

Her flame of vitality was nearly extinguished. As Yi Yun hugged the body that was as light as a feather, he immediately felt a heart-wrenching pain.

Because he had fused with the Heretical God Fire Seed’s core, this was a pain that came from their blood connection.

“Xie’er, I will make you wake up. Definitely.” Yi Yun said softly. He stretched his hand out towards Ling Xie’er’s glabella. Gently, he eased her knitted brows.

At the same time, the pure Yuan Qi that the Azure Wood Divine Tree had previously absorbed was injected back into Ling Xie’er’s body through Yi Yun’s fingertip.

After breaking through to the Dao Palace realm, he could expend whatever energy from the array that he had not completely absorbed into Ling Xie’er’s body.

She had been trapped in the array for years, making her extremely weak to begin with. Then she endured torment that damaged her to the core. And damage to the soul or consciousness was difficult to treat. Even with Yi Yun’s Azure Wood Divine Tree support, which allowed him to constantly inject Yuan Qi essence into her, Ling Xie’er’s already translucent body seemed incapable of absorbing Yuan Qi. Most of it just ended up evaporating into nothingness…

1118 - : A Hundred Feet Separating Life and Death

CKtalon  CKtalon

As Yi Yun desperately tried to inject Yuan Qi into Ling Xie’er, Liu Ruyi and company were still reeling from astonishment. Master Tianxiao specifically felt like slamming his head into the wall. After enduring for so many days and finally reaching the end, an expert had suddenly appeared and blatantly snatched the Yang spirit from their hands!

“This senior…”

Master Tianxiao was just about to probe when he sensed something that left him dumbstruck.

“You…”

Master Tianxiao sensed a familiar aura. And when he raised his head, that sense of familiarity was confirmed.

“Yi Yun! It’s you!”

By that point, Yi Yun had returned to his original appearance. After hearing Master Tianxiao’s voice, he looked up and stared coldly at him.

“I was wondering who it was. So it’s the little bastard!” Upon recognizing Yi Yun, Master Tianxiao heaved a sigh of relief instead. Although he feared Yi Yun in the past, it was due to having to face him alone. Now, he had three deputy palatial lords from the Seven Star Dao Palace on his side, so what could a junior like Yi Yun do?

Yi Yun was definitely the weakest person to have ever come this far. And he did so only by relying on the Heaven Secrets Compass and jade burial suit. If Master Tianxiao had encountered a mighty figure that made it there on his own merit, he would truly feel like committing suicide to end his long turmoil.

“So that’s what you look like. Hehe. Just a boy. To dare snatch something from my Seven Star Dao Palace, you truly have guts!” Demonfiend and Demonblood said coldly at the same time.

To come straight to them like this, Yi Yun was clearly seeking death!

But Master Tianxiao felt his skin turn numb from Yi Yun’s cold glare. Despite being amid a sea of fire, he felt cold sweat drip from his body.

This was an effect of Yi Yun’s killing intent that had manifested itself!

It hadn’t been long since he last met Yi Yun, but now Yi Yun felt like a completely different person. Gray flames crackled in his cold and austere eyes as if they were watching from the deepest abyss.

Master Tianxiao seemed to see seas of blood from hell in Yi Yun’s eyes. This feeling suddenly made him think of something unexpected. “Why is his cultivation level…”

Master Tianxiao was shocked to discover that Yi Yun had broken through to the Dao Palace realm in a very short period of time.

How could he accomplish such a great leap in cultivation level so quickly?

But even if Yi Yun had broken through to the Dao Palace realm, he was still no match for the three deputies. It was wishful thinking for Yi Yun to snatch the Heretical God Fire Seed all by himself!

Liu Ruyi and the twins had realized the same thing, too. Killing intent flickered in their eyes, for the more Yi Yun demonstrated his monstrous talent, the more they wanted to dispose of him immediately in order to neuter any future threat.

Suddenly, Yi Yun took out the God Advent Tower from his interspatial ring. The Divine Secrets Trading Company elder, as well as Xin’er and Yue Xiao appeared in the stone temple.

“Take good care of her for me.” Yi Yun handed the evanescent Ling Xie’er to the two maidservants.

Xin’er and Yue Xiao hurriedly caught Ling Xie’er, but when they saw the people from the Seven Star Dao Palace, their faces turned pale.

They did not know who they were, but Old Man Ji could immediately tell from the embroidering on their robes.

“Seven Star Dao Palace!?”

Old Man Ji reeled in shock and soon, he also saw Master Tianxiao. “It’s you! You traitor! You have become a lackey of the Seven Star Dao Palace!”

“Hmph! You darn old man, you are clearly the real traitor to the Heaven Secrets Chapter’s. With the three deputy palatial lords here today, your death is inevitable. You will only accompany this little bastard in death by relying on him.” Master Tianxiao said with contempt. He refused to believe that Yi Yun could survive in the present situation.

Old Man Ji’s face sank. He did not speak any more words of anger, for he could sense the immense auras of the three from the Seven Star Dao Palace. They were extraordinarily powerful.

Yet in such a situation, Yi Yun had handed a young girl to them. Could it be that he wanted to fight the Seven Star Dao Palace?

At that moment, Yi Yun faced the people from the Seven Star Dao Palace. His sword stance was continuously consolidated with the broken sword in hand.

He had no choice but to do so. Ling Xie’er was too weak, so weak that he did not even dare to place her in the God Advent Tower. The transportation involved spatial distortions and trembles. It might very likely cause Ling Xie’er’s consciousness to dissipate even more.

“Hahaha!” Demonfiend could not help but laugh loudly. “Why? Do you really think you can fight three deputy palatial lords alone? You have only just broken through to the Dao Palace realm. In our eyes, you are less than nothing!”

Demonblood coldly added, “Senior Brother, what’s the point of all this idle chatter with him? When we subdue him, we will use this little bastard for the refinement of pills, making him experience an insufferable existence to the point of him pleading for death…Oh?”

Before he finished his sentence, Demonblood felt an intense killing intent lock onto him. In an instant, Yi Yun struck out!

The tiles beneath Yi Yun’s feet exploded as his sword beam shot out like a dazzling bolt of lightning. The sword beam was hot as fire and it instantly reduced the tiles to ashes in its wake. Even the surrounding space was distorted by it.

A terrifying heat wave surged as Master Tianxiao felt an excruciating pain on his face. Immediately, he let out a shrill scream.

Liu Ruyi raised her eyebrows and placed Master Tianxiao to her back as she produced a whip.

When Demonblood and Demonfiend saw this, they were astonished and furious. Yi Yun was truly decisive in his actions!

At the same time, an intense killing intent surged from them. They had to rip this darn Yi Yun’s skin and bones off of his body!

Demonblood and Demonfiend roared angrily as they threw their childlike bodies at the sword beam from both sides. Their hands grew long blood-red nails like ghastly claws. They emitted a thick sanguine aura as they clawed at the sword beam.

“Ah! Ah!” Master Tianxiao nearly broke all his bones from the tumble. He trembled as he touched his face, and immediately, he let out a more heart-wrenching cry.

“My face…my face!” His face had been melted off by the sword beam! If this continued, he would be of the same species as the humanoid creatures with mangled facial features. He was already without feet and a hand. Now, with flames burning away his face, it was unknown how many treasures would be needed to restore him. When the time came, the Seven Star Dao Palace might not even be willing to pay that price.

“Yi Yun, you are courting death! Once I capture you, we will refine the Yang spirit and then wipe out the Divine Secrets Trading Company and the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. All of these people will die because of you!” Master Tianxiao shouted. His only wish was that Yi Yun would end up in a state ten thousand times more miserable than his own. He was not afraid of Yi Yun. With the Heretical God Fire Seed’s true core still missing, he was still of worth. The three deputy palatial lords would protect him, so his life wasn’t in danger.

“Boom!”

Yi Yun’s sword beam clashed with Demonblood and Demonfiend’s demonic claws. Instantly, the surrounding tiles and structures were reduced to nothing!

With the sword beam being blocked, Yi Yun did not waver his eyes. In the blink of an eye, he rushed forward and struck out again!

But this strike’s target was Master Tianxiao.

“Silence!” Yi Yun’s cold gaze seemed to penetrate the sword beam as it landed on Master Tianxiao.

Master Tianxiao, who was still yelling, suddenly turned quiet as if he had choked. A look of terror appeared on his face as he shouted, “Deputy Palatial Lord Liu, save me!”

“You dare divert attention to kill others in front of us?” Demonblood and Demonfiend immediately charged forward. At that moment, they obviously could not let Master Tianxiao die.

Simultaneously, a whip approached Yi Yun silently like a deadly snake.

Against the combined forces of the three deputy palatial lords of the Seven Star Dao Palace, Yi Yun appeared expressionless. His sword beam continued in its trajectory!

Sword of Time!

The sword beam tore through space and time, appearing in front of Master Tianxiao!

Boom!

When the whip struck the sword beam, Liu Ruyi had a drastic change of expression. Her wrist hurt as her whip was rebounded by the sword beam.

When Demonblood and Demonfiend attacked Yi Yun from the sides, their demonic claws swiped down ruthlessly in mid-air. A large black rift ripped through space and descended towards Yi Yun’s head.

Yi Yun ignored the attack above him for his sword beam had already obliterated all obstacles to reach Master Tianxiao!

The tiny bit of sword beam was like the entrance to hell. Master Tianxiao had an ashen expression. Having been reduced to basically a human stump, he had no means to resist.

“Ah!”

Master Tianxiao let out a tragic cry as his body exploded apart into countless pieces. These pieces were engulfed by pure Yang flames until, finally, they were reduced to ash that dissipated away.

Master Tianxiao, who had instigated trouble in the Heaven Secrets Chapter and nearly taken full control of it, had died without leaving even scum.

Even at the moment of his death, Master Tianxiao found it unbelievable that the combined forces of three Seven Star Dao Palace deputy palatial lords had failed to protect him.

1119 - : Master Tianxiao’s Doomsday

CKtalon  CKtalon

Master Tianxiao’s death left Old Man Ji reeling. Yi Yun had managed to kill Master Tianxiao in such a dangerous situation. He had yearned to kill the traitor himself, but now Yi Yun had done it for him.

What sort of young man was he? Such talent was completely unheard of. It was difficult to even imagine it.

“None of you can stop me from killing who I want to kill. Your lives will soon be mine.” Yi Yun’s voice sounded like it came from the deep abyss of the netherworld.

Demonblood, Demonfiend, and Liu Ruyi all had ugly expressions but, after hearing Yi Yun’s words, Liu Ruyi’s mouth curled into a sneer. She glanced coldly at Yi Yun and said, “Aren’t you afraid that the strong winds from blowing your own trumpet will cut your tongue? Do you think that killing the inconsequential Tianxiao means you are assured victory? So what if he dies? The massive array of Sun Burial Sandsea is on the brink of collapse anyway. It doesn’t matter even if he isn’t here to divine a path!”

Liu Ruyi’s voice was suddenly filled with killing intent. Her aura grew more sinister as the whip beside her waved about like a giant python.

Yi Yun’s strike had only infuriated her!

After he broke through to the Dao Palace realm, his strength had indeed increased by leaps and bounds. However, it was a fool’s errand to try and clash with the combined forces of the trio.

In a life-and-death battle, the people from the Seven Star Dao Palace would not fight Yi Yun one-on-one. Next to Liu Ruyi, Demonblood and Demonfiend’s auras were also rising. They were no longer like children, but resembled devils.

“Young Master Yi…” Old Man Ji and the two maidservants watched the scene in front of them anxiously. With the three from Seven Star Dao Palace cornering Yi Yun, and each one of them extremely powerful, how could Yi Yun withstand their combined attack? He was already outnumbered.

However, Yi Yun did did not show a hint of panic. He stood composed, with the pure Yang broken sword in hand.

“Young people are rash, so of course he would not know that he’s on death’s doorstep.” Demonfiend thought with an inward sneer. The Seven Star Dao Palace had a combined technique. With their strength, this technique could instantly wipe out Yi Yun.

What a joke. Did Yi Yun really think he had any chance of fighting them alone?

However,…he was in no rush to kill Yi Yun. He had indeed been taken aback by the strength Yi Yun demonstrated. Before exerting all means to kill Yi Yun, he first wanted to expose the punk’s flaws!

“Die!”

Demonfiend suddenly leaped forward. Demonic aura stirred around him as he struck out with both claws, spewing immense energy!

This strike was not aimed at Yi Yun, but at Old Man Ji and the others behind him!

“You killed one of mine in front of me! Now I’ll kill one of yours in front of you!”

Demonfiend knew that Yi Yun cared for Ling Xie’er tremendously. If he didn’t, he would not have come to rescue her despite the overwhelming odds. So by killing Ling Xie’er, he could make Yi Yun lose his calm. Or Yi Yun would try to rescue her again and put himself in a vulnerable position!

However, just as Demonfiend attacked, he saw the corners of Yi Yun’s mouth curve upwards. The smile of contempt left Demonfiend bewildered.

He suddenly felt that something was extremely amiss. However, before he could give the warning, Yi Yun’s broken sword had thrust toward the ground.

Boom!

Like a bolt of lightning hitting the ground, the ground that was already in shambles was instantly enveloped by a powerful Yuan Qi blast. Tiles flew out as the land quaked!

Simultaneously, Liu Ruyi’s group sensed that the space around them was changing. Amid nomological fluctuations, powerful spatial barriers began to entrap them!

“What’s going on!?” Demonfiend’s attack struck a spatial barrier, but the spatial barrier showed no signs of damage other than a violent tremor.

Yi Yun said, “Don’t waste your strength. It’s the worldly array of this place.”

“World array? Hasn’t it already collapsed?” Demonblood looked at Ling Xie’er, who still weakly lay in the arms of the maidservants Xin’er and Yue Xiao.

However, he and his partners came to realize that there was layer after layer of spatial barriers isolating them from the group.

The Heretical God Fire Seed’s spiritual body had been tormented to the point of obliteration. How could the massive, decrepit array be activated?

“It should collapse completely after this.” Yi Yun said nonchalantly. He had put a great deal of time into studying the divine alchemist’s notes, and had fused the Destruction and Chaos laws into the massive array’s core. Finally, he had absorbed the Heretical God Fire’s core, giving him control of the worldly array. Therefore, he knew it extremely well.

Even as the worldly array faced destruction, he was able to use it to do certain things.

It was because he could use the spatial barriers to protect Ling Xie’er that he did not send her inside the God Advent Tower. If not, he would have risked sending her inside regardless of how violent the spatial fluctuations from the transmission were.

Now, the massive array’s powers were nearly depleted. The worldly power that had accumulated had surged into his body and, by expending that energy, he was able to activate the spatial barrier once.

However, once was completely sufficient.

Boom!

Yi Yun’s broken sword spewed out a flame-like luster. In his mysterious and strange eyes, the gray flames gently danced.

“All of you can die now.” With that said, Yi Yun appeared in front of Demonblood. “Let’s begin with you.”

“You…” Demonblood’s expression changed. Inside the spatial prison, he was isolated from Liu Ruyi and Demonfiend.

They had planned on finishing Yi Yun together, but now, Yi Yun had used the worldly array to force him into a one-on-one battle!

But soon, Demonblood’s expression turned ferocious. “What a joke. Do you think you can defeat me in a duel?”

“Yes.”

The sword struck out suddenly and instantly traversed the distance between Demonblood and Yi Yun. Before even a moment passed, it had appeared in front of Demonblood!

Yi Yun’s Sword Dao was about being indomitable. At that moment, he wanted nothing but murder!

Ling Xie’er’s translucent body was evidence of the pain she had suffered. And it was all because of the people from the Seven Star Dao Palace!

“Die!” Yi Yun roared!

“The one who will die is you!” Demonblood bellowed as he struck out with two demonic claws. Fiendish blood gas that was as thick as water lingered around his claws. It stained the surrounding space red and, in the mist, there was the faint wailing of numerous people.

Demonblood practiced demonic techniques, of which killing was the mark of mastery. His hands had been stained by the blood of tens of thousands of warriors. As for Yi Yun, he would become the freshest and most delicious part of that mixture!

But at that moment, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence appeared under Yi Yun’s feet. The Destruction Dao Domain, a Pure Yang Dao Domain, and a Space-Time Dao Domain appeared simultaneously.

Yi Yun’s sword hummed like a dragon’s roar as it slashed down like it would render the very sky asunder. Instantly, the world seemed to turn another color as if everything was covered in a layer of dust!

Boom!

After the strike, everything seemed to turn silent!

Demonblood stood silently. He looked forward and suddenly, he spewed out a mouthful of blood. His demonic claws had been severed!

1120 - : Worldly Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

“My hands!” Demonblood’s eyes turned red. His demonic claws were equivalent to an enchanted treasure, yet they had been easily severed by Yi Yun! Yi Yun’s strike just then seemed to possess the might of the world. Demonblood’s fiendish aura couldn’t put up any resistance at all!

Didn’t Yi Yun just step into the Dao Palace realm? How did things turn out this way?

At that moment, Yi Yun walked slowly toward Demonblood with sword in hand.

“Yi Yun!” Demonblood looked hatefully at Yi Yun. His face was distorted as he bellowed loudly. Every drop of his lifeblood surged as blood continuously seeped out of his pores. Thick, fiendish aura began gathering around his body as though it would form a layer of coagulated blood armor.

The pain of having his hand severed made Demonblood yearn to immediately drink Yi Yun’s blood!

But at that moment, Demonblood had been pushed to a corner. He gritted his teeth and burned his blood essence! He wanted to defeat Yi Yun in the shortest possible amount of time, making him pay a terrible price for his actions.

Old Man Ji stood outside the spatial barriers, but could sense the terrifyingly fiendish aura. Even standing far away from Demonblood, he felt like his lifeblood was being gradually sucked dry, so he couldn’t imagine what an attack would do.

He hurriedly conjured his Yuan Qi barrier to protect Ling Xie’er.

“Die!” Demonblood pounced at Yi Yun. He had countless kills and, although Yi Yun was strong, he had been practicing martial arts his entire life. He had encountered many near-death experiences, and survived them all. He refused to believe that this would be his end.

The tumultuous, fiendish aura condensed on Demonblood’s body and made him as quick as lightning, with a meteor-like momentum. The sharp sound of the explosion pierced right into the ears of others. It made the entire space tremble!

And at that moment in time, the sword-wielding Yi Yun’s aura was also constantly rising as he approached Demonblood.

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence constantly spun beneath his feet, and each supreme Great Dao nomological aura made Yi Yun’s every step seem to conform to the operation of the world and the magnificence of the celestial objects. It had a profound feel to it.

Yi Yun’s entire being seemed to merge into the surrounding space. His eyes were cold and the Yuan Qi he exuded seemed to ignite the very space where he and Demonblood stood with a burning inferno.

When his aura reached a maximum point, Demonblood had already charged in front of him. It was then that Yi Yun struck out!

The sword thrust forward with no resplendent brilliance!

Instead, all the flames rolled back at once and gathered on Yi Yun’s sword tip, transforming into a tiny flame wisp.

This flame was not red in color, but gray. Within the flame’s core was the spinning 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, along with the condensed Destruction and Chaos laws!

This strike instantly traversed space and time, hurtling straight for Demonblood!

“Yi Yun, don’t you push me. I’ll make sure we perish together!” Demonblood roared as a terrifying aura burst out of his body. The sanguine aura condensed into a massive human face in mid-air. It opened its mouth in a bid to swallow Yi Yun and, at the same time, Demonblood’s armor strengthened.

The Demonic Blood Armor was refined from the lifeblood of all the warriors Demonblood had killed in the past. It was highly resilient.

Puah!

With a deadpan expression, Yi Yun stabbed the sanguine face with his pure Yang broken sword that burned with gray flames.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The face buckled under the immense heat, and countless piercing cries could be heard as it evaporated.

No matter how heretical the sanguine face was, how could it withstand the Heretical God Fire Seed, as well as the laws of destruction?

After destroying the sanguine face with a single strike, Yi Yun’s blade continued its indomitable trajectory towards Demonblood. Demonblood’s expression changed drastically but he had no means of dodging the strike.

Puah!

His protective demonic aura was torn apart as the pure Yang broken sword stabbed straight into his body. Large quantities of blood splattered out of his body as he crumbled to the ground heavily. He stared with widened eyes, looking incredulously at his chest.

“My…Demonic Blood Armor…”

His armor had completely failed to withstand Yi Yun’s sword.

Yi Yun moved in front of Demonblood, expressionless, and slashed his sword.

Boom!

A blob of blood sprayed.

A hint of paleness flashed across Yi Yun’s face. It wasn’t easy for him to produce the mighty strike from before!

However, he had finally managed to slay Demonblood!

There was an immediate silence in the stone temple!

“Young Master Yi actually managed to kill an important figure of the Seven Star Dao Palace…” Old Man Ji was taken aback. He looked at the sword-wielding figure, whose sword tip dripped with fresh blood. The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence by Yi Yun’s feet was still spinning, and even just standing there, he exuded a killing intent that smothered Old Man Ji and the two maidservants despite them being hundreds of feet away.

As for Liu Ruyi and Demonfiend, they found it unbelievable.

Demonblood had been killed just like that!

At that moment, Yi Yun coldly turned his head toward Demonfiend.

“You’re next.”

The sound of his voice was like a haunting charm, with the weight of threats from ghosts and gods!

Yi Yun was a warrior that had just stepped into the Dao Palace realm. He had cultivated for less than sixty years, so Demonfiend should’ve had no need to fear such a junior. However, at that moment in time, he could not help but shudder!

His cultivation level was similar to Demonblood’s. The cultivation techniques and martial arts they learned were identical!

Seeing Demonblood die was like seeing his own impending doom!

If not for the darn array, would he be in such a dire state? He could have combined forces with Demonblood and annihilated Yi Yun!

“Junior Sister Liu, quickly break the spatial restraints and join forces with me to kill Yi Yun!” Demonfiend immediately shouted.

Liu Ruyi did not need Demonfiend’s urging. She had already been waving her whip and assaulting the spatial barrier. Demonblood’s death left her shuddering in fear of Yi Yun’s strength. She could not sit idly as Demonfiend died.

However, no matter how many times Liu Ruyi lashed out with her whip, she was unable to crack the barrier!

Liu Ruyi could see that while the massive array was on the brink of collapse, it still had enough energy to trap her for a period of time.

“Crack! Damn it!”

Liu Ruyi felt extremely nervous, and her head was covered in sweat. There was no need to fear Yi Yun if the three of them combined forces but if they had to fight individually, the outcome would only be dire.

Yi Yun’s decisive methods were ruthless! If it were in the past, Liu Ruyi would have never be afraid of a junior that had just entered the Dao Palace realm. However, Yi Yun was like a god of death.

Just seeing the way he slayed Demonblood made others experience the immense killing intent from hell. It left her shuddering!

At this moment, Yi Yun had already walked into the space that imprisoned Demonfiend. He did not stop for a moment, immediately striking out!

Demonfiend did not hesitate and immediately burned his blood essence. He was using all his strength from the start!

But at that moment, Yi Yun’s sword beam underwent a transformation.

The sword’s thrust seemed to distort time. And at the same time, a Yin frost exuded from the gray flame.

The two Great Dao, Space-Time and Yin-Yang, simultaneously appeared in Yi Yun’s strike.

“The Azure Rainbow pierces the Blood Moon, Ice Cold Seals God Abyss! Die!”

The sword beam instantly appeared in front of Demonfiend, and wherever it passed seemingly transformed into a hellscape!

Before the strike was even finished, Yi Yun slashed once more.

His ice-cold killing intent instantly enveloped Demonfiend.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Countless sword beams crashed down, leaving behind deep ravines in the ground. The cave they were in nearly tore apart.

And among these ravines stood Demonfiend, his expression pale. He had suffered numerous wounds.

He looked at Yi Yun in disbelief. Yi Yun’s sword stance and keenness had only gotten sharper, despite having experienced an intense battle with Demonblood!

“Junior Sister…Liu…” Demonfiend placed his last bit of hopes of survival on Liu Ruyi, who was still desperately trying to crack the barrier.

“Don’t waste your energy.” Yi Yun’s expression was cold. “Both of you will definitely die.”

As he spoke, Yi Yun slid the pure Yang broken sword’s blade across his wrists, leaving behind a trace of fresh blood on its tip.

He could not allow himself to waste time after fighting two deputy palatial lords that had burned their blood essence. He had expended much of his Yuan Qi.

Once the crumbling worldly array truly disintegrated, Liu Ruyi and Demonfiend’s reunion will only mean danger for him.

He used his own blood essence to consecrate the sword, causing the pure Yang broken sword to hum!

Xiao—

The Destruction Dao Domain expanded violently as sword beams devoured the area around him. Yi Yun did not hold back in his upcoming strike!

Demonfiend let out a bellow as he struck out before his death. However, the claw phantoms that he produced were all ground up by Yi Yun’s strike!

As the sword beams flew around, they tore Demonfiend’s protective Yuan Qi. apart. Even the spatial barriers of the worldly array trembled violently.

“Die!”

Yi Yun stabbed through Demonfiend’s heart, leaving a bloodied Demonfiend plummeting to the ground like a leaking blood bag. His eyes helplessly and indignantly stared into the void, but he was already dead.

Yi Yun landed on the ground as an unusual redness flashed across his face.

“Pa Da! Pa Da!”

Fresh blood streamed down the pure Yang broken sword and dripped to the ground. Slowly, the drops splashed and the scarlet blood left a stabbing pain in the eyes of others…

“Finally…your turn!”

Yi Yun calmed the chaotic Yuan Qi in his body and suddenly turned his head, pointing the pure Yang broken sword at Liu Ruyi.

Yi Yun was covered in blood at that moment. His killing intent was off the charts as though he was a demonic god from hell!

Liu Ruyi looked at the mutilated corpses of Demonfiend and Demonblood before looking at Yi Yun once again. The color in her face had drained completely.

In all her life, she had never experienced such terror. They, the deputy palatial lords of the Seven Star Dao Palace, had been trapped in spatial prisons and killed one by one!

That horrible fact, that all she could do was stand there wait for death, was unbearable.

1121 - : Unrelenting Killing Intent

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun walked slowly towards Liu Ruyi. Each footstep sounded like the last beats of Liu Ruyi’s heart.

Xiao—

A Golden Crow’s cry reverberated from within Yi Yun’s body as the broken sword in his hand let out a bloodthirsty hum. The real and certain killing intent suffocated Liu Ruyi.

“Wait!” Liu Ruyi suddenly shouted, “Yi Yun, do we need to engage in a life-and-death battle? As a deputy palatial lord of the Seven Star Dao Palace, I have many last-ditch techniques. The only reason I hesitate to use them is that they result in me losing a great deal of my blood essence and hurt my core. I do not want to use them but if you force me to, I will definitely do it.”

Yi Yun’s expression did not change at all, nor did he slow down. He continued his slow approach.

Liu Ruyi could not hide her terror as she nervously said, “Yi Yun, we can negotiate. My Seven Star Dao Palace has a deep heritage and if you spare me this once, all past transgressions will be settled. I can also give you excellent pills, elixirs, and beautiful sex slaves. All at your choosing. However, if you were to kill me, the Seven Star Dao Palace would definitely seek revenge. They would not only kill you, they would wipe out the Clarity Pool Sword Sect as well.”

Liu Ruyi raised the issue of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect; however, Yi Yun was not moved. The Heart of the Sword within him condensed as his stance got more intense.

Liu Ruyi was completely flustered when she suddenly looked at Ling Xie’er and said, “Yi Yun, don’t you want to save her. She could dissipate any time now. However, I have a soul-nurturing mystic technique that can preserve her sentience. It would allow her to survive for hundreds of thousands of years.”

Liu Ruyi would have been better off not mentioning Ling Xie’er. The moment she said that, Yi Yun’s killing intent surged like an erupting volcano. A sword beam shot out straight at Liu Ruyi.

“Die!” Yi Yun bellowed.

Despite begging for mercy, offering temptations, and even using Ling Xie’er as a bargaining chip, she was doomed. Liu Ruyi was someone Yi Yun had to kill!

“I’ll fight it out with you!” Liu Ruyi screamed sharply. In her despair, she burned her blood essence and lashed out with her whip. Amid the terrifying power, there were countless of black deep rifts that opened up in space.

Destructo-creation Sword!

Yi Yun held nothing back. He did not have much Yuan Qi left, so he similarly used the power of his lifeblood.

The sword beam effused a sanguine aura as nomological powers gathered at the sword tip. His present Heart of the Sword was solely focused on killing!

Boom!

The entire stone temple was instantly reduce to countless tile fragments!

Old Man Ji made a constant retreat. Despite the spatial barriers isolating him, he could sense an immense pressure. He hurriedly produced his Yuan Qi barrier to protect Ling Xie’er.

Yi Yun and Liu Ruyi’s battle left tremors throughout the land as dazzling energy beams seemed to pierce through all obstacles.

After about thirty seconds, the whip phantoms and the sword beams began to dissipate. The energy blasts calmed completely as Old Man Ji stared straight into the spatial prison. All he could see was Yi Yun standing there, with a massive sword scar in front of him. The ground beneath him had been torn apart, stretching out for thousands of feet. Within the sword scar burned flames that scorched the land. Just the sight of this terrifying sword scar left one shuddering in fear!

He looked into the sword scar, and in there stood a person completely covered in blood. What was a pretty palatial gown and exquisite hairdo had been reduced to the look of a mad woman. She turned wrinkly and pathetic after burning her blood essence. She now fully looked the part of an old woman.

Yi Yun’s strike contained Time and Withering laws that had drained Liu Ruyi of her vitality.

Liu Ruyi looked at Yi Yun with a tragic smile. “Yi Yun…The Seven Star Dao Palace…will definitely kill you before wiping out the Clarity Pool Sword Sect…”

Yi Yun sneered and replied, “There’s no need for the trouble. In the future, I’ll visit the Seven Star Dao Palace personally and wipe out everyone there!”

Liu Ruyi’s eyes glared at him as black blood flowed down the corner of her parched lips. She took her last breath, and was then buried deep underground.

Yi Yun lowered his sword as his chest heaved up and down. An unusual redness flashed across his face.

Burning blood essence and consecutively killing three strong opponents! This was an extremely difficult task for Yi Yun, who had just stepped into the Dao Palace realm and had yet to stabilize his cultivation realm.

Yi Yun caught his breath and walked to Old Man Ji and company. He looked at the sleeping Ling Xie’er, who was in Xin’er and Yue Xiao’s arms, under the protection of a Yuan Qi barrier.

The battle was isolated in a different space and the aftershocks were repelled by Old Man Ji. Ling Xie’er’s eyes were tightly shut as if she was having a good sleep. However, her body remained translucent like a veil cloth and seemed ethereal…

“I have killed all those who harmed you,” said Yi Yun softly.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The entire underground world began to quake as solid boulders plummeted from the top. The spatial barriers were also beginning to collapse.

Yi Yun looked up and around at his crumbling surroundings and said, “This massive array is about to collapse.”

The worldly array was completely drained of its energy. And the quake left behind by the destruction of the massive array would bury the underground world. As such, the divine alchemist’s cave would also be buried.

“Roar!”

Amid the rumbling sounds were the roars of the humanoid monsters.

“Enter the tower. It’s too dangerous here.” Yi Yun took out the God Advent Tower.

“But what about this girl?” Xin’er asked.

Ling Xie’er was too weak to withstand the spatial teleportation, as well as the spatial fluctuations, in the God Advent Tower’s space.

“I’ll bring her along with me.” Yi Yun took Ling Xie’er into his arms.

Another boulder plummeted as Old Man Ji and company quickly entered the God Advent Tower. As for Yi Yun, he stored the God Advent Tower before hoisting Ling Xie’er and flying back to the divine alchemist’s cauldron.

Upon returning to the lake’s side, Yi Yun took all of the scrolls left behind by the divine alchemist.

Ka-cha.

The samsara wheel in the lake shattered as the lake began to stir.

With his sword in one hand, he slashed down into the lake and moved, together with Ling Xie’er, alongside the sword beam to the bottom of the lake.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sword beam constantly moved downward as it split apart the strong boulders at the bottom of the lake, eventually leading to the deepest depths of the lake.

Dark red lava stirred in this region as terrifying heat waves constantly burned at their surroundings. Other than obsidian, there was nothing there.

Yi Yun landed by a tiny lava outlet. It was almost completely dark gold in color, and Yi Yun could feel its extremely violent pure Yang laws. It constantly bombarded Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi.

Sensing a fluctuation trickle from the Heretical God Fire Seed, Yi Yun quickly and carefully placed Ling Xie’er onto a boulder beside the lava source.

The boulder had been baked into a translucent red. It illuminated Ling Xie’er’s body while Yi Yun enveloped her with Yuan Qi. The pure Yang laws were weakened and filtered through Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi, turning them into a lukewarm wind that gently nourished Ling Xie’er’s spirit body.

“The pure Yang laws here are most suitable for nourishing you. Xie’er, I’ll make you wake up.” Yi Yun said softly. Even though Liu Ruyi had previously mentioned that she could save Ling Xie’er, Yi Yun still wantonly killed her. This was partly because he did not believe her, and partly because Yi Yun was confident that he could save Ling Xie’er himself.

1122 - : Massive Array Collapses

CKtalon  CKtalon

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Yi Yun sat in the lava pool as lava bubbled and spewed underground. The dark gold lava eventually rose above his head, completely immersing him in the boiling pool.

The lava possessed not only burning heat and violent pure Yang laws, but also heat toxins. The toxins were strong enough to invade even a Dao Palace warrior’s body, if that warrior was immersed in the lava for a prolonged period of time.

However, Yi Yun had a pure Yang body, and the Azure Wood Divine Tree within. These allowed him to detoxify the heat toxins.

Hence him sitting in the lava pool without worry, while also absorbing the pure Yang powers within.

Yi Yun’s breakthrough to the Dao Palace realm was a forced one. He had also burned his blood essence to kill the three from the Seven Star Dao Palace. If he did not consolidate his realm quickly, his foundation might turn unstable, harming his future martial path.

The pure Yang powers in the lava pool appeared to be limitless. It was a perfect place for Yi Yun to recuperate.

Simultaneously, Yi Yun enveloped Ling Xie’er in his Yuan Qi barrier.

A month had passed, yet Ling Xie’er showed no signs of awakening. However, her spirit body was taking on a more solid appearance.

The goal was to nurture fire with fire; the Heretical God Fire Seed was a flame that had been born from the world. Therefore, the lava’s underground fire could naturally become nutrients to nourish her.

As Yi Yun cultivated, he also constantly monitored Ling Xie’er’s condition.

He had fused with the Heretical God Fire Seed, giving him a special connection with Ling Xie’er. He knew her condition like the back of his hand. Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi barrier precisely controlled the lava’s pure Yang energy, distilling it to a level that was within Ling Xie’er’s tolerance level.

Cultivation knew no time. Yi Yun was engrossed in cultivation and only in his leisure time could he treat Ling Xie’er.

Those who knew that Yi Yun was here were already dead, other than Old Man Ji and company. Hence, Yi Yun was not worried that his reclusion would be disturbed by others. In the underground world, he was able to calm his heart as he listened to the daily ebb and flow of the lava.

Yi Yun knew that the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was still in danger. However, the expedition to the Sun Burial Sandsea had cost the Seven Star Dao Palace four deputy palatial lords as well as several Seven Star High Ambassadors. With the Seven Star Dao Palace losing a great deal of its strength, they could no longer easily wipe out the Clarity Pool Sword Sect even if they wanted to.

Furthermore, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had an ancient array protecting their home. Breaking through that was also not an easy task.

As for Ling Xie’er, her condition left Yi Yun gripped by worry. She was a spirit body and her true body, the Heretical God Fire Seed, had already fused with him. However, her spirit body was extremely weak and healing her completely was easier said than done.

Above, in the Sun Burial Sandsea, the muffled thunderous rumbling gradually disappeared underground. The movement of the sand on the surface was quickly hidden by stillness. Most of the major factions, warriors that had come in search of treasures, did not know what had happened in the Sun Burial Sandsea as they continued their search.

As time went on, some warriors eventually gave up after failing to find anything. However, there were still others that continued searching diligently in hopes that a miracle might happen.

Even if they could not find the supreme treasure Yang spirit that had triggered the phenomenon, finding a few companion items of the Yang spirit would also greatly change their lives for the better.

…

“Sixth Junior Sister, bring Wu Xu and company back to the sect after another month’s search. I’ll stay behind to continue the search.”

In the Sun Burial Sandsea, eight figures were walking in the desert. The person leading them was a stocky, middle-aged man. There was a faint Yuan Qi fluctuation shimmering over his body, isolating him from the sand and heat.

And behind him were six young juniors of both genders. There was another woman in her thirties that was wearing a black dress. That woman was the sixth junior sister that the middle-aged man addressed.

These people were members of a small sect from the Myriad Divine Territory, named Red Cauldron Sect.

The Myriad Divine Territory was a neighbor of the Central State Divine Territory, with the Sun Burial Sandsea separating the two. The people from the Red Cauldron Sect had come from the other end of the Sun Burial Sandsea.

Ever since the Sun Burial Sandsea phenomenon of a year ago, the Red Cauldron Sect and many others had come to the Sun Burial Sandsea to try their luck. They hoped to find treasures that could strengthen their sect, but failed to find anything of worth.

The phenomenon that had once extended over a million kilometers had vanished in the past year, and there had not been any activity in a long time.

A few major factions decided to retreat when they discovered that the Yang aura in the Sun Burial Sandsea had weakened over the past few months. They suspected that the treasure had been taken away.

However, they also refused to believe that someone had taken it away. Firstly, they found it unbelievable that anyone would have had such an opportunity, and secondly, they had been scouring the Sun Burial Sandsea over the past year but never saw the treasure appear.

In the end, the number of people in Sun Burial Sandsea decreased to a point where it was no longer a tenth of what it was at its peak.

The middle-aged man and his junior sister had cultivated for years and had lived through thick and thin. Now, they were leading the Red Cauldron Sect’s juniors on an expedition, with the intention of training them and giving them experience.

A fruitless year had given the black-dressed woman thoughts of abandoning hope but she shook her head when she thought of the situation her sect leader was in.

“Let’s continue searching. The sect leader has been unconscious for a decade. His frail life is constantly hanging by a thread and this can’t continue. We have to find a treasure to save him. Without him, a small sect like ours can be wiped out at any time.”

If her elder brother wasn’t in such a dire condition, they would not have come to the Sun Burial Sandsea.

Upon hearing the black-dressed woman’s words, the middle-aged man fell silent. As for the juniors that they were leading, their faces also revealed melancholic and uneasy expressions.

A young girl wearing yellow had lowered her head further as her eyes turned increasingly red.

Indeed, they were in a terrible state. The sect leader was unconscious and the sect was in constant danger. Yet, their journey to the Sun Burial Sandsea bore no fruit…

“Junior Sister Ru’er, why are you beginning to cry again!?” said a young disciple loudly.

Ru’er quickly sniffed and shook her head, saying, “I’m not…”

“Fine, fine.” The middle-aged man looked at Ru’er and felt somewhat stifled. Despite being their martial uncle, he was unable to hold up the skies for these young disciples.

“It’s decided. We will continue searching for one more month,” said the middle-aged man.

At that moment, the middle-aged man felt a rumble beneath his feet.

The Sun Burial Sandsea had been quiet for a long period of time. Therefore, the sudden quake shocked the Red Cauldron Sect group.

Even more shocking was that the rumble did not stop. Instead, the quake grew even more violent, reaching to the deepest depths of the land.

Xiao—

A sharp screech seemed to burst out of the land, pricking straight at their eardrums!

Instantly, the wind and clouds in the sky seemed to coalesce like they had been instigated by the screech.

“What’s going on?” The middle-aged man hurriedly instructed the young disciples to fly into the air to find their footing.

1123 - : Reclusion Underground

CKtalon  CKtalon

They saw a vortex appear in the desert beneath them, sucking the surrounding sand into it.

The middle-aged man’s face revealed a look of awe. “This is…a phenomenon associated with the birth of a treasure!”

They never expected that, just after deciding to leave soon, a phenomenon would happened! This was truly an example off every cloud having a silver lining! The phenomenon happened right beneath their feet! As a result, other warriors would not be able to beat them to it.

“This phenomenon…” The black-dressed woman looked at the vortex beneath her in astonishment.

Indeed, such a scene looked like the birth of a treasure.

As for the young disciples, their excitement grew after the initial surprise.

“Ah? Phenomenon?” Ru’er covered her mouth.

The Heavens must have heard her prayers and raised the luck of the downtrodden Red Cauldron Sect.

The middle-aged man’s originally disheartened feelings were once again reignited with hope.

Gradually the quaking stopped, but the middle-aged man had remembered the location of the vortex.

He carefully probed the now-silent spot of the vortex. Nothing about it seemed extraordinary. When he stabbed at it, there was no response.

“It’s safe. The treasure is probably still underground. Let’s grab it quickly before other warriors arrive,” said the middle-aged man.

The other disciples watched the middle-aged man do the probe and, when they heard what he said, eagerly surrounded the area.

“Everyone, let’s work together and dig out the treasure,” said the middle-aged man.

“Yea!”

However, an immense suction suddenly came from underground. All of them plummeted simultaneously into the vortex.

There was no need for them to dig for the treasure because they had already fallen into it themselves!

Screaming all the way, the Red Cauldron Sect group fell into a massive empty cavern.

The sand around the vortex gathered in the hole, burying the terrifying cavern entrance once again. The entrance was like a speck of dust in a desert that stretched out endlessly. Without the vortex, it would not have caught anyone’s attention.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Amid the screams, Ru’er had no idea how far she had fallen. She only heard the howling of the wind by her ears as she constantly plummeted. The terrifying heat constantly bombarded her protective Yuan Qi, preventing her from even stopping.

This was a massive Yuan Qi vortex formed by natural powers. The suction strength was irresistible and also prevented them from flying.

The pure Yang Yuan Qi outside in the Sun Burial Sandsea had already weakened, but it was still extremely strong in here.

“Second Martial Uncle, Sixth Martial Aunt!”

Some of the young juniors yelled. However, the two seniors were no better equipped than their juniors to handle the present circumstances.

The middle-aged man was powering his Yuan Qi with all his might but all he did was to reduce the speed of his fall. As for the black-dressed woman, she was in a similar situation.

In their state, they had no means of saving the young juniors.

Gradually, Ru’er saw red glimmers of fire beneath her, as though she were descending into hell.

The so-called treasure could not be seen at all.

“To be suddenly sucked in here, is it fortune or misfortune? Can we find any opportunities?” Ru’er thought uneasily.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The sound of the disciples landing sounded one after another as all of them felt their bodies hurt.

The middle-aged man and the black-dressed woman landed as well. Their expressions were ugly.

Although they had tried their best to use their Yuan Qi to help the disciples while they plummeted, the suction from the terrifying Yuan Qi was enough to make the disciples suffer.

When they looked up, there was no sign of the cavern entrance, save for some sand falling from above.

As for this place…

Ru’er felt numb all over from the fall. When she stood up and saw the scene in front of her, her heart skipped a beat.

There was bubbling lava, boulders baked red, and a terrifying pure Yang power that constantly melted their protective Yuan Qi like it were ice. They could not stay here long or the heat toxins would invade their bodies, leading to an excruciating death.

Upon thinking of herself as a desiccated corpse left in the deep depths of a cavern, Ru’er revealed a look of despair. “Martial Uncle…”

“I can’t do anything either.” The middle-aged man was having the same thoughts as Ru’er. If he were alone, he could attempt to barely climb back up. However, with so many disciples in his care, that was completely impossible.

At that moment, the disciples were looking at him and the black-dressed woman in a panic. However, they did not know that the duo was also feeling great unease.

“Everyone, produce your Yuan Qi barriers and walk close together. It will conserve your Yuan Qi. Let’s walk around and see if there’s a way out,” said the black-dressed woman.

Both she and the middle-aged man had to conserve their Yuan Qi, so they only left Yuan Qi at the surface of their skin. Such an act could not isolate them from the heat, so it was excruciating.

“Yeah, with both our seniors here, we should be able to walk out of this place, right?”

“It should be possible. Who knows, we might even find a treasure.”

The conversations between the young disciples made the middle-aged man and the black-dressed woman trade looks, and they saw their own bitter looks reflected in each other’s eyes.

This was a place where people far stronger than them would struggle to survive, let alone their group.

Deep underground, the lava river incessantly surged.

Ru’er wiped the sweat off her forehead as she slowly proceeded with her martial uncle and aunt, as well as her senior brothers and sisters.

They had already been stuck underground for three days as they followed the lava river. That was the only ‘path’ they found.

Here, in the underground world, only the tunnels bored through by lava could be deemed paths. The burning lava was also the only source of light. However, as they continued forward, their hope of getting out alive waned.

“Junior Sister Ru’er,” said her senior sister with an ashen look in her eyes. “I don’t think we can walk out of this alive. I never expected that we would end up being buried here. We haven’t even seen any corpses here. And if we don’t return with treasure, the Red Cauldron Sect will also fall into decline. With Sect Leader unconscious, it would be meaningless even if we had the Soul Nurturing Wood.”

“No, Senior Sister Luo. Don’t give up.” As Ru’er spoke, she secretly lifted her hand and dabbed the corner of her eye.

In reality, she knew that it was very difficult for them to find a way out of this underground cavern. They had plummeted an unknown depth that was at least hundreds of thousands of feet. Even worse, she did not sense that they were walking towards the surface. There was also the matter of the pure Yang powers and heat toxins that constantly encroached on their protective Yuan Qi. Even if an exit did exist, they might not be able to make it that far.

Upon realizing that she would die soon, Ru’er could not help but want to cry. She did not want to die.

This feeling was not limited to Ru’er. The rest of the people from the Red Cauldron Sect were also feeling immense despair. They originally thought they had seen the light at the end of the tunnel, but who knew that it would have such an outcome?

The land they were in was like a burning hell that silently devoured them, and no one outside would ever even know their fate.

The middle-aged man and the black-dressed woman had heavy expressions. The pure Yang laws here were rich, and mixed with many chaotic laws. These prevented them from discerning their direction, and also prevented them from escaping by breaking through the landmass.

It was truly a land of peril.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

At that moment, they faintly heard a muffled thunder sound from in front of them.

The middle-aged man immediately looked up. The sound they heard resembled the sound they had heard before they fell down.

Could it be that they had gone in circles this whole time and had returned back to their original location?

“Let’s go take a look,” whispered the black-dressed woman.

They had fallen from the surface because of the vortex that this commotion had stirred. Now that they were about to die, there was truly not much to fear, even if the area that produced the sound was dangerous.

As they continued to proceed forward, the muffled thunder became louder. How could such sounds be produced in such deep depths?

Soon, they came to a cavern that was relatively larger. They quickly saw everything in the cavern. There was a lake of churning dark gold lava. The deep lake was violent and the heat that it emitted burned their skin. It was impossible to approach.

Immediately after taking in the scene, Ru’er’s eyes widened. She pointed toward the lava lake and shouted, “Martial Uncle, Martial Aunt, Senior Sister! Look there!”

Ru’er could not believe her eyes. She believed that there would be no one other than the Red Cauldron Sect in this god-forsaken place. However, there were others!

There were two people. One of them was lying on a boulder beside the lake while the other person was soaking in the deep lake.

In fact, the middle-aged man and the black-dressed woman had instantly noticed the two figures when they entered the cavern.

Unfortunately, the figure lying on the boulder did not show any signs of life. As for the one deep lake, how could a living person be soaking in it?

“So,” said the middle-aged man with a sigh. “There are others as unlucky as us. That person lying there looks like a young girl but, from the looks of it, she’s already dead. As for that one in the lake…I wonder how excruciating the pain is before his death.”

The black-dressed woman looked at the two figures and felt like they would share the same fate.

As for Ru’er, she was feeling downtrodden. In their present condition, there was no way they could approach the lake, nor retrieve the two corpses that had met with misfortune.

It was then that the figure soaking in the lake suddenly stood up. There was a muffled thunder that came from within his body, as well as a sharp screech!

The man turned his head over and opened his eyes.

It was a pair of calm eyes. And in the deep recesses of his pupils were two gray flames that flickered strangely.

His gaze made the people from the Red Cauldron Sect jolt in fear!

He was actually alive!

And from the looks of it, he was extremely young. He was a youth not much older than the juniors of the Red Cauldron Sect.

Heavens, he was living in such a place? Cultivating? From the looks of it, he had been there for quite a period of time.

As for the girl in front of him, what were her circumstances?

Just as the group from the Red Cauldron Sect were shuddering in fear, the youth spoke, “What were you talking about earlier? Soul Nurturing Wood?”

1124 - : Soul Nurturing Wood

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You just said that you were stuck in this land of peril, ‘And if we don’t return with treasure, the Red Cauldron Sect will also fall into decline. With Sect Leader unconscious, it would be meaningless even if we had the Soul Nurturing Wood.’ Isn’t that right?

Yi Yun looked at a red-dressed girl who appeared to be in her twenties. She had a full figure and her face was pale. Yi Yun recalled that Ru’er called her Senior Sister Luo.

Senior Sister Luo was stupefied by Yi Yun’s questions. She had indeed said that to Ru’er, but that was nearly ten minutes ago.

The youth had managed to repeat her words ad verbatim despite the wanton heat toxins and spewing lava in the underground world.

His perception was way too terrifying.

That also meant that he heard their chatter lamenting the tragic death of the youth that was none other than him.

Instantly, the middle-aged man and company felt horrified. This youth had soaked himself in the lava pool like he was having a bubble bath. The dark gold lava flowed down his body, revealing muscles that had a jade-like quality to them, without any blemishes.

And at that moment, the reason why the youth asked about the Soul Nurturing Wood was that he had plans for it!

The Soul Nurturing Wood was a cornerstone treasure of their Red Cauldron Sect. Now, it determined the life of their sect leader and it was also their sect’s secret. If not for them being trapped in this hidden land with little hope of escaping, Senior Sister Luo would not have brought it up so casually.

At that moment, the middle-aged man took a step forward and blocked the young disciples behind him. He bit the bullet and bowed. “Senior…”

A person that could soak in such a lava pool was definitely not the same age as Ru’er and company. Many old monsters could maintain a youthful appearance, so it was nothing odd.

“We chanced upon this place inadvertently. Senior, we truly had no intention to disturb you in your cultivation. For this, I seek your understanding,” said the middle-aged man.

The black-dressed woman hesitated for a moment before explaining, “We were actually sucked in by the Sun Burial Sandsea’s phenomenon. About three or four days ago, there was a muffled thunder that suddenly came from the ground. Next, the sand depressed and manifested a vortex that sucked all of us in. As a result, we were trapped here underground and have been seeking a path out. Senior, we truly had no intention to disturb you.”

Yi Yun pondered for a moment and surmised that, when he ended his cultivation some time ago, he had caused quite a commotion. Indeed, it matched the period that this group of people was sucked into the phenomenon.

Yi Yun also realized that these people were trapped underground because of him. This area gathered the last bits of pure Yang gases in the Sun Burial Sandsea. It was extremely beneficial to himself and Ling Xie’er, who had been born out of the Heretical God Fire Seed. However, to these warriors, it was definitely an insufferable heat toxin.

Yi Yun got up and walked out of the lava pool. His naked upper body and firm muscles exuded a beauty of strength. Combined with his massive Yuan Qi, he gave off a domineering pressure that made no one dare to look at him straight.

He walked forward casually but beneath his feet, pure Yang laws naturally condensed together. The wisps of pure Yang gases formed tiny Golden Crows, fire birds that seemed to prostrate themselves at Yi Yun.

Such a scene left the Red Cauldron Sect disciples dumbstruck. What sort of person was this? The nomological insight and the Dao he cultivated far exceeded their imaginations.

“You haven’t answered my question. What is this Soul Nurturing Wood that you mentioned?”

The middle-aged man was placed in a dilemma. The Soul Nurturing Wood was obviously important to his sect but if he did not answer honestly, the disciples would probably die here.

After he arranged his thoughts, the middle-aged man gritted his teeth and answered, “My Red Cauldron Sect is actually very poor, but we were once fortuitous enough to obtain a slab of divine wood in a mystic land. It’s completely black in color and can be used to nourish one’s soul. Those who have suffered serious injuries to their soul can use it to recover, but it’s useless for cultivation.”

As the middle-aged man spoke, he constantly watched Yi Yun’s reaction. He hoped that his words would cause Yi Yun to rid his thoughts of the Soul Nurturing Wood.

“Soul Nurturing Wood…completely black in color. Indeed, that is the treasured herb recorded in the divine alchemist’s notes—Soul Returning Root! This Red Cauldron Sect probably doesn’t recognize the Soul Returning Root and calls it the Soul Nurturing Wood. It’s rather apt in any case.”

Yi Yun looked at Ling Xie’er, who was lying on a boulder. After a year of being injected with pure Yang energy, Ling Xie’er’s body had turned a lot more corporeal; however, she showed no signs of awakening.

Damage of the soul was not something that could be remedied simply by the use of pure Yang energy. However, the Soul Returning Root had given Yi Yun a glimmer of hope.

“Where is your sect?” asked Yi Yun.

The middle-aged man’s heart sank as he gritted his teeth and said honestly, “It’s in the Myriad Divine Territory. We are just a tiny sect…”

The middle-aged man lamented inwardly. As long as one knew the Red Cauldron Sect’s name, then finding its location would be a simple task. There was usually no reason to conceal it. All he could do was emphasize how poor the Red Cauldron Sect was in hopes that the senior would spare them.

However, the chance of that happening was too minute. In the world of warriors, strength was everything. As long as one had strength, they could take whatever they desired. Killing a person for property was a trivial matter. The value of the Soul Nurturing Wood was something the middle-aged man knew very well. With the Red Cauldron Sect’s strength, it had no way of protecting it.

Once the news was known to others, they would come charging up to the Red Cauldron Sect and take away the Soul Nurturing Wood. It wouldn’t even be strange if the person wiped out the entire sect in order to prevent word from getting out!

“Myriad Divine Territory…”

Yi Yun knew of this place. In the notes left behind by the divine alchemist, there was a scroll named ‘Various Divine Compendium’. It recorded the places that the divine alchemist had stayed in for extended periods of time. These places were mainly the Sinkhole and the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, but one of them was the Myriad Divine Territory.

For various reasons, the divine alchemist had gone to the Myriad Divine Territory several times. He had even stayed there for decades once.

Yi Yun pondered over the matter when, suddenly, a fifteen-year-old girl briskly walked out of the Red Cauldron Sect group. She plopped to the ground and knelt in front of Yi Yun.

Her petite body was prostrated against the hot boulders, but even though the heat was unbearable, she remained motionless.

“Ru’er, what are you doing?” The black-dressed woman’s expression turned to one of panic.

“Ru’er! Don’t be rude!”

The middle-aged man hurriedly rushed to drag Ru’er away but she refused to get up. She said, “Senior, the Soul Nurturing Wood is our Red Cauldron Sect’s only hope. If you take it away, my father’s soul will be obliterated in less than three days! In order to save my mother and me, my father has embroiled himself in a battle with the Jade Blood Way’s wretches. They did great damage to his soul, and now he remains comatose.”

By the time Ru’er said that, she was already biting down on her lips tightly. There were tears welling up in her eyes. And, as she had rushed out of the middle-aged man’s protective barrier, her fair arms had been severely burned by the heat toxins.

“My father is the Red Cauldron Sect’s sect leader. In order to save me, he has been in a coma for ten years. He is the strongest person in the Red Cauldron Sect. If my father doesn’t wake up, and our enemies learn of his state, the Red Cauldron Sect might not be able to retain our ancestral grounds. We came here to the Sun Burial Sandsea in search of medicine for Father. However, we have found nothing to date and ended up entering your cultivation spot inadvertently. We have been trapped here for three days without finding a path out, and have no more options!”

“Senior, I know that you have an extraordinary cultivation level and my Red Cauldron Sect only has a tiny slab of Soul Nurturing Wood. It’s worth nothing to you, but, to my Red Cauldron Sect, it’s an item that can save the entire sect. Senior, please take pity on us! If you are willing to let us leave this land of peril, then I am willing to be your slave to repay your kindness.”

Ru’er had spoken in one breath while tears streamed down her face. It truly endeared others to her.

She seemed bent on punishing herself for she refused to get up despite the burning wounds on her arms turning increasingly worse.

1125 - : Ru’er

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ru’er, what are you doing!?”

The middle-aged man and the black-dressed woman turned frantic. They never expected that Ru’er would kneel down, let alone say such shocking things.

However, Ru’er continued gritting her teeth as she stubbornly said, “Father ended up like that in order to save me. It’s also because of me that the Red Cauldron Sect is now in danger. And when everyone came out here to search for medicine, we ended up being trapped in this land of peril. Senior, if you can show compassion, I’ll be eternally grateful if my life of servitude can be exchanged for everyone’s life.”

Over the past decade, Ru’er had looked at her comatose father and felt regret. She always felt that she had sinned against the Red Cauldron Sect; therefore, she was willing to die as long as it helped her father or redeemed the Red Cauldron Sect in any way.

“Ru’er, don’t speak nonsense!” The middle-aged man and the black-dressed woman hurriedly bowed at Yi Yun. “Ru’er is young and naive. Senior, please do not mind her.”

A mighty figure that could bathe in lava must have lived for tens of thousands of years. His limitless strength could reduce them to dust with a simple wave of his hand. To such an existence, what worth was Ru’er’s sad tale?

If he truly wanted the Soul Nurturing Wood, he would just take Ru’er as a dessert after he was satiated with gobbling up the Soul Nurturing Wood.

This turn of events had happened extremely fast. Yi Yun was left dumbfounded for quite a while when he saw the situation unfold in front of him. He never expected that his few casual questions would have such an effect. He left the Red Cauldron Sect horrified, and the young girl named Ru’er had refused to get up after kneeling down. She even swore that she would be willing to be his slave to save the rest if he were to send them out of this land of peril.

In fact, they had only been trapped as a result of Yi Yun’s cultivation. It was natural for him to help them escape without asking for repayment.

Upon reflecting on this, Yi Yun could not help but reveal an off look. When did I become so terrifying?

On careful thought, his cultivation level had indeed improved by leaps and bounds with the passage of time. It seemed that he was no longer treated as a junior, but an accomplished old monster.

In a warrior’s world, power reigned supreme. An old monster that could easily control the lives of others did not need to use threatening words. A few simple questions were enough to strike terror into the hearts of others.

Yi Yun was a little at a loss on whether to laugh or cry. He said, “First things first, get up. I have no plans to do anything to all of you.”

Yi Yun waved his hand and a gush of pure Yang Yuan Qi lifted Ru’er up.

There were pure Yang auras everywhere in this land of peril, that others could not withstand. But strangely, Yi Yun’s pure Yang aura was warm to the touch. When it enveloped the body, it was extremely comfortable.

Yi Yun noticed that Ru’er’s pink arms had been burned red. It was to the point that her skin had split apart. It was quite pitiable that such fair and exquisite skin would receive such damage.

Yi Yun waved his hand and sucked out all the heat toxins from her body before sending a warm and nourishing Yuan Qi into her. The burns on Ru’er’s arms recovered at a speed noticeable to the eyes.

This…

Ru’er was stunned. Her first impression was that such an old monster who cultivated in such perilous lands was likely an eccentric person with a quick temper. It would have been a blessing if he was not quick to kill. She never expected that he would treat her wounds. Furthermore, the old monster’s restorative Yuan Qi was harmonious and congenial. It made her feel like she was soaking in a warm hot spring, and all the pain from before had vanished.

“Since your father risked his life to save you, it’s best you cherish your body. Do you know what sort of dangers you would face if you offer yourself up as a man’s slave?”

Yi Yun could not be bothered to clear up the misunderstanding of him being an old monster. Instead, he found the young lady’s fervent reaction rather interesting.

“I…” Ru’er’s face turned red. Although she was young, she had experienced the fickleness of human nature over the past decade. She had matured quickly, so how could she not know what might happen to her if she stayed behind as Yi Yun’s slave. “I know…I only wanted to be a good daughter…”

Ru’er had held hopes that her sacrifice would ensure the safety of the rest from the Red Cauldron Sect. Now, she suddenly felt that the old senior was extremely affable. Although she did not know how many tens of thousands of years older than her he was, he was rather handsome and looked her age. Furthermore, he was powerful and quite a nice person…

“Your name is Ru’er, right?”

“Yes, my surname is Nangong and my full name is Nangong Ru.” The moment Yi Yun questioned her, Ru’er panicked, causing her to answer nervously.

“I will send you out of this perilous land…” Hearing Yi Yun said that, the Red Cauldron Sect disciples were instantly delighted. However, before their faces could even show joy, the second half of Yi Yun’s sentence sank their hearts!

“Sending you out is simple. However, I have to be honest that I want the Soul Nurturing Wood!”

“About that…” The people from the Red Cauldron Sect turned flustered. They did not dare speak against Yi Yun.

Ru’er’s eyes welled up with tears. She gaped, hoping to say something but she could not manage to get out the words. She knew that if the senior truly wanted the Soul Nurturing Wood, all he needed to do was make a trip to the Myriad Divine Territory. As for a weak girl like her, she was not qualified to be an offer that would entice him to compromise.

“You can see that there’s a girl behind me. She too has had her soul severely damaged. I need the Soul Nurturing Wood as medicine to reignite the fire of her soul. However…I will not take your Soul Nurturing Wood for nothing. I will accompany you to the Myriad Divine Territory. Perhaps, I can save your sect leader.”

“What? Senior, you are willing to save our sect leader?” The Red Cauldron Sect group were stunned when they heard Yi Yun’s words. They thought that a catastrophe had befallen them when they met Yi Yun. They never expected it to be the exact opposite. Yi Yun was a mighty figure with tremendous strength that could easily wipe them out. Yet, he was willing to negotiate with them on equal terms. They, who were accustomed to the way the strong bullied the weak in the martial world, were somewhat perplexed.

Considering Yi Yun’s strength, there was no need for him to deceive them. From the looks of it, Yi Yun truly wished to save their sect leader. This left the people from the Red Cauldron Sect overjoyed.

This senior had amazing strength and it was very possible that he could succeed.

“Thank you, Senior!” The middle-aged man was extremely excited as he gave Yi Yun a deep bow.

Ru’er’s excited face turned red. She had no idea how to thank Yi Yun.

“Curb your enthusiasm. I might not be able to save him.”

Yi Yun did not want to guarantee anything. After all, the Red Cauldron Sect’s sect leader had suffered soul damage. However, a weaker soul was relatively easier to treat. As for a worldly divine object like Xie’er, a soul that had been born out of hundreds of millions of years, it was a lot more difficult.

“If Senior is unable to succeed, it is our sect leader’s fate. We would not hold out any more hope,” said the middle-aged man sincerely.

“Alright. Then it’s settled. However, I still have something to deal with here. Once I’m finished, I’ll accompany you to the Myriad Divine Territory!”

1126 - : Conditions

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Yi Yun heard the name, ‘Myriad Divine Territory’, he wanted to take a trip there.

The divine alchemist’s ‘Various Divine Compendium’ had information about the Myriad Divine Territory, as he had personally gone to the Myriad Divine Territory several times. That was because the territory was extremely large in size. Furthermore, there was a natural spatial node that connected it to many other divine territories in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. It could be said to be a crossroad!

Such unique conditions caused the Myriad Divine Territory to develop into the one of the greatest treasure exchanges in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. It was also how the Myriad Divine Territory got the word ‘myriad’ in its name.

In comparison, the Central State Divine Territory was just one of the many divine territories in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven.

“Senior, feel free to take care of whatever you need. Where shall we wait for you?” The middle-aged man asked politely. Naturally, he did not dare raise any objections to Yi Yun’s arrangements.

“All of you can wait here.”

Yi Yun’s casual response left the people from the Red Cauldron Sect stunned. There were intense heat toxins here. How could they wait here?

“It’s not that I do not trust you, but the Soul Nurturing Wood is too important to me. For safety’s sake, all of you shall stay here until I come back to prevent any incidents. Furthermore, I will plant trackers on your bodies. Even if something does happen, I will be able to ascertain your locations.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he flicked his finger and a nomological fragment gathered at his finger tip, turning into a tiny gray wheel.

This was a seal condensed from his Destruction laws. Unless one’s strength far exceeded Yi Yun’s, it was impossible to remove.

Eight small wheels were sent into all the Red Cauldron Sect members’ bodies.

Following that, Yi Yun waved his hand and circulated spatial dimension laws. Space that spanned thousands of feet became greatly distorted, forming a space that resembled a gigantic chicken egg. It enveloped everyone within.

Boom!

The land beneath their feet cracked as a winding seal created a spatial barrier. It cocooned everyone and quickly descended deeper underground.

Witnessing the spatial barrier quickly burrow deeper underground, all the Red Cauldron Sect disciples felt a little horrified.

It continued to plummet for about five minutes before the spatial barrier finally came to a stop.

It didn’t stop there. Yi Yun then raised both hands, and the soil and rock contained within the spatial barrier started to move and sculpt, forming tunnels and stone houses, until a miniature underground palace complex was constructed.

Yi Yun did not fully trust the people from the Red Cauldron Sect so he did not place them inside the God Advent Tower. Instead, he went through the troublesome work of building a town deep underground using a spatial barrier. The chances of them being discovered by others were nearly zero and it was absolutely safe.

Of course, without Yi Yun, it was also impossible for them to leave.

Upon realizing this, the Red Cauldron Sect disciples were worried. If Yi Yun were to break his promise, wouldn’t they be trapped here? It would be no different than being buried alive in this deep underground world.

“Stay here. It might take somewhere from half a year to several years but I will return for all of you.”

As long as several years?

The Red Cauldron Sect disciples felt bitter. Although their new quarters were certainly spacious and comfortable, it was quite a severe blow to them to stay with nothing to do.

Of course, they did not dare question the arrangement Yi Yun had set up for them. All they could do was nod in agreement.

Suddenly, Yi Yun touched his interspatial ring and three chests flew out.

“Pa!”

The chests popped open. In the first chest, there were jade slips and books; the second chest was filled with pill bottles and jade boxes containing relics and pills; and finally, the last chest was filled with weapons and spiritual artifacts.

Yi Yun had killed many people over the years, and searched all of their interspatial rings for treasure. As a result, he had accumulated a lot of cultivation techniques, pills, and weapons that were useless to him.

They were of no worth to Yi Yun.

He casually took out the three chests and said to the Red Cauldron Sect disciples, “Take and eat these pills. Feel free to use the cultivation techniques and weapons. I’ll be leaving now!”

As Yi Yun spoke, his figure flashed, instantly vanishing from the spatial barrier.

His brief exit left the Red Cauldron Sect disciples looking at each other. After some time, Ru’er walked forward and took out a pill bottle from the chest of pills.

When she opened it, a few green pills rolled out. A refreshing and tranquilizing herbal aroma was released, making Ru’er feel light. Wasn’t this a Dao Fruit Relic?

Dao Fruit Relics were used by Heaven Ascension realm warriors to break through to the Dao Manifestation realm and condense their Dao fruits…

Ru’er was stunned as she hurriedly continued checking.

“Martial Uncle, Martial Aunt, quick take a look. These pills and these weapons…”

Everyone from the Red Cauldron Sect immediately rushed over to look through the chests.

Their investigations astounded them.

The middle-aged man told the truth. The Red Cauldron Sect was really very poor. Hence, when their disciples went out on training expeditions, it was mainly to search for resources and wealth.

Over the past decade, their Red Cauldron Sect disciples had gone on risky expeditions but obtained little in return. However, Yi Yun had casually thrown out all these things.

Making a proper count, many disciples perished on the numerous dangerous expeditions the Red Cauldron Sect had embarked on over the past decade. However, adding up all the items they obtained did not even match a tenth of the value of the items in the chests…

Ru’er felt an extreme mix of complicated emotions. The difference between them and the senior was just too great.

“Can we really use these items as we wish?” Ru’er touched the bottle of Dao Fruit Relic wistfully. Such pills would benefit her future cultivation extremely. However, she felt using them freely would be rather extravagant.

The middle-aged man saw the lit up eyes of the disciples. His throat moved before he said, “Since the senior has so casually given them, it means they are nothing to him…Let’s use them.”

…

Boom! Yi Yun bored directly out of the ground!

Xie’er had been stored in the God Advent Tower by Yi Yun. Over the past year, although Xie’er remained unconscious, the state of her soul had stabilized. She was able to experience some of the spatial distortions during a spatial transportation.

After Yi Yun appeared, there were still warriors searching for treasures in a radius of a hundred kilometers.

However, before they arrived, they saw a figure charge straight to the horizon, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

“I wonder which mighty senior that is…”

These warriors came to a stop. That kind of senior was someone they did not dare offend.

Yi Yun went straight for Jade Luster City’s teleportation array. The guards watching the teleportation array suddenly felt a gray wind blow through the array and reeled in shock. Before they were able to take any action, they discovered that the teleportation array had automatically activated itself. Following that, a light flashed and the gray wind disappeared.

“What happened? It seems like the teleportation array was activated a moment ago?”

The guards at the teleportation array were left baffled. And a moment later, Yi Yun had arrived at a spot tens of thousands of kilometers away.

After he came out of the teleportation array, he used his movement techniques to rapidly fly. Soon, he found a hidden spatial node according to a spot he memorized. Through that spatial node, he traversed a distance of hundreds of thousands of kilometers, going straight to the internal space of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

1127 - : Settling Down

CKtalon  CKtalon

Throughout the past year, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had been under constant siege by the Seven Star Dao Palace. However, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had a massive array to defend itself, and two experts holding down the fort. As for the Seven Star Dao Palace, it did not attempt any large scale invasions.

Instead, they had increased their manpower. They also sent array experts to survey the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s mountain on a daily basis to search for a way to crack the array.

Under these circumstances, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was very much in danger. Even drops of water eventually wear down a stone, so no matter how impervious the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s array defense was, it wouldn’t stop the spatial node from eventually being discovered by the Seven Star Dao Palace.

The sect had sealed the gates, forbidding anyone from entering or leaving. They began expending their stored resources.

It wasn’t a long-term solution, and Yi Yun had left the Clarity Pool Sword Sect a year ago. He went off to the Sun Burial Sandsea, making the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s Sect Master, Jian Wufeng, and Grand Elder, Jian Buyi, extremely worried.

They had placed all their bets on Yi Yun. If anything untoward were to happen to him, they would lose terribly. When the Seven Star Dao Palace experts that had gone seeking treasures in the Sun Burial Sandsea eventually returned, their Clarity Pool Sword Sect would simply await annihilation.

In such a situation, no one in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect could relax.

Jian Xiaoshuang practiced arduously every day. She meditated, battled and cultivated the Clarity Pool Sword Sect heritage, as well as the cultivation techniques and Sword Dao that Yi Yun had left behind.

The things Yi Yun left behind had opened all sorts of doors for Jian Xiaoshuang. Now, she could see her martial path on a higher level.

However, Jian Xiaoshuang also felt immense stress.

Her sworn brother had been gone a year, with his fate uncertain. Over the past year, the Seven Star Dao Palace was a looming threat that placed the Clarity Pool Sword Sect in extreme danger.

Jian Xiaoshuang wanted to have the power to change things herself, no matter how tiny her impact was.

Everything required strength.

She had even made plans for the worst. If Yi Yun perished in the Sun Burial Sandsea and the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was eventually invaded by the Seven Star Dao Palace, then she would have to escape before the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was completely massacred. She would bear the burden of a blood vendetta. She would practice her sword techniques diligently, so that one day she could charge up to the Seven Star Dao Palace and settle the grudge.

The Seven Star Dao Palace was extremely powerful, so she might need a thousand years or even ten thousand years for it to even be possible. A more likely outcome would be her dying with her grudges. Every time she thought of that, Jian Xiaoshuang choked up.

“The Seven Star Dao Palace is trying to crack the array again.”

As Jian Xiaoshuang was working hard at practicing her swordplay, her sparring partner, Jian Fenghong commented. Over the past year, this happened on a daily basis. They never knew if today would be the day the Seven Star Dao Palace succeeded.

“Ignore them. Again!”

Jian Xiaoshuang raised her sword and charged at Jian Fenghong. Jian Fenghong turned serious as he carefully faced her in battle.

He could sense the improvement in Jian Xiaoshuang’s Sword Dao. It truly was a rapid improvement and, if it continued, his Sword Dao might not be sufficient to guide her in a year’s time.

Their two swords clashed as Jian Fenghong produced his Hard-Soft Sword Intent. Suddenly, the space within the Clarity Pool Sword Sect vibrated violently as if something unexpected had happened.

“Oh? Has the Seven Star Dao Palace found a way to crack it?”

Jian Fenghong’s expression changed. Ignoring his sparring with Jian Xiaoshuang, he ran to the entrance with a sword in hand. Jian Buyi and Jian Wufeng had also flown out of their palaces.

“The spatial node is vibrating. Someone is entering through the spatial node!”

Jian Wufeng furrowed his brows as he circulated all his energy. The aura that was coming in through the spatial node made him panic!

This person was extremely powerful.

“Could it be the Seven Star Dao Palace?” Jian Buyi questioned.

He obviously hoped that the person coming through the spatial node was Yi Yun. However, the person’s immense aura only gave him ominous thoughts. If the Seven Star Dao Palace was coming, their Clarity Pool Sword Sect would be in for a slaughter. They might not even have the time to move the fire seed of their Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

“Ka-cha!”

Space trembled and, in an instant, a spatial rift appeared. A pair of hands stretched out, tearing apart the entire space.

Following that, a youth dressed in azure-clothes stepped out of the spatial rift. Despite the intense energy fluctuations, the youth had casually torn apart space as though he were pulling away curtains.

When they saw the youth’s appearance, Jian Buyi and Jian Wufeng were stunned. They were prepared to attack, but the person that had passed through the spatial node was…Yi Yun!?

When did Yi Yun’s aura become so powerful?

“Brother Yi!” Jian Xiaoshuang was stumped too. She was prepared to fight a bloody battle and tear out a path to escape. After only a year, how did Yi Yun’s aura become so powerful?

“Senior Wufeng, Senior Buyi.” Yi Yun bowed at the two and said with a smile, “Sorry for worrying the two of you. My expedition to the Sun Burial Sandsea has been quite fruitful, but my return was delayed.”

“Yi Yun, you…” Jian Wufeng sized up Yi Yun. “You have broken through to the Dao Palace realm!?”

Before Yi Yun left, he was only at the mid-stages of the Dao Manifestation realm. Yet here he stood at the Dao Palace realm.

Was it possible to make such a huge leap in cultivation in a year’s time?

Jian Wufeng had never heard of anyone cultivate at such a pace since time immemorial.

“There was a unique opportunity that had existed for hundreds of millions of years in the Sun Burial Sandsea. I used it to make a fortuitous breakthrough. However, it came at a great cost…”

When Yi Yun came to that, he felt a little melancholic. Ling Xie’er’s soul was severely injured and she had lost all consciousness. He was unsure if he could successfully wake her up.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Jian Buyi could not help but twitch the corner of his lips. What sort of opportunity was it? How was it so heaven-defying? He could not fathom it at all.

“To increase your cultivation level by so much in a year’s time. How is your foundation? Is it stabilized?” Jian Wufeng was very worried. Many peerless geniuses would deliberately suppress their cultivation level to consolidate it properly, afraid that having too quick a breakthrough would result in an unstable foundation and cause a lack of nomological insight.

“There are some problems.” Yi Yun nodded. “However, it was an extremely dangerous situation. I had no other choice but to make a hasty breakthrough. However…the few Dao fruits I had condensed when I manifested my Dao were nine-leafed. So nomological insight isn’t a problem. As for my foundation, I will need quite a bit of time to consolidate it.”

“What…did…you just say?”

When Jian Wufeng and Jian Buyi heard the first half of Yi Yun’s statement, they felt somewhat sympathetic towards him. Yi Yun’s breakthrough was too fast, resulting in an unstable foundation. However, when they heard the latter half they gaped, unable to close their mouths immediately.

When he manifested his Dao…the few Dao fruits he condensed…were nine-leafed?

Nine-leafed! And a few!?

Yi Yun had nonchalantly mentioned it. Not only Jian Wufeng and Jian Buyi were shocked. Even Jian Fenghong and Jian Xiaoshuang, who were beside, had the same reactions.

When warriors manifested their Dao, an eight-leaf Dao fruit meant an extraordinary genius. A nine-leaf Dao fruit was a legend. As for multiple nine-leaf Dao fruits, that was something they had never heard of before.

If it were any ordinary person who had said that, they would have thought the person to be crazy. However, when Yi Yun said it, they had no choice but to believe him. Only possessing multiple nine-leaf Dao fruits could explain why Yi Yun was so monstrous.

The difference between people was truly ridiculous…

Just as Jian Fenghong was sighing, Yi Yun saw Ji Shuiyan coming from the crowd that was arriving.

“Oh? Miss Shuiyan!”

Yi Yun was eternally grateful towards Ji Shuiyan. If not for her Heaven Secrets Compass, he might not have survived his trip to the Sun Burial Sandsea. Yi Yun was extremely relieved that not only had he been able to find the Heretical God Fire Seed, he was also able to save the Divine Secrets Trading Company and Ji Shuiyan’s grandfather.

Finally, he could repay his gratitude toward the Ji family.

“Young Master Yi.”

Ji Shuiyan gave a bashful smile. She had long caught sight of Yi Yun. However, due to her reserved nature, she felt that her status was too low relative to his. Hence, she did not come forward.

Yi Yun took a step forward and came in front of her. With a wave of his hand, a tiny pagoda flew out and spun in mid-air. It rapidly increased in size, and sent out a beam of light. An azure-robed elder and a bevy of girls emerged from the God Advent Tower…

1128 - : Return

CKtalon  CKtalon

Old Man Ji was still unsure of what was happening when he was teleported out. He saw a crowd of people gathered around him, and among them stood a trembling Ji Shuiyan. Her eyes were welling up.

“Grand…Grandpa…”

Ji Shuiyan was completely in a daze. Was she dreaming? So much time had passed and there had been no news of Grandpa. Furthermore, he was at the core of the Sun Burial Sandsea, a place fraught with extreme danger. Even so, there he was, still alive.

“Yan’er?” Old Man Ji was also shocked.

“Miss!” The girls Xin’er and Yue Xiao could not curb their emotions, and their tears poured out. The Divine Secrets Trading Company had been wiped out and they were captured by Yan Tiancong. Then they were almost given away as sex slaves, so this reunion after a separation of life and death made it impossible for them to stay composed.

“Xin’er, Yue Xiao, why are you here? Didn’t I instruct you to escape in the secret tunnel?”

“Miss, it’s a long story. It’s all thanks to Young Master Yi…” As Xin’er spoke, she could not help but throw herself into Ji Shuiyan’s arms. Although she was Ji Shuiyan’s servant, they were as close as sisters.

Yi Yun withdrew the God Advent Tower and walked away. He had no intention of disturbing Ji Shuiyan’s reunion.

However, the tiny God Advent Tower had been noticed by Jian Wufeng. He was quite stunned. Could that tiny tower be…

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect had a replica of the founding ancestor’s God Advent Tower, but Jian Wufeng wondered if the one in Yi Yun’s hands was another replica or the real deal. However, fake or no fake, the value of the tower was inconceivable. It was something he could sense simply from the aura it exuded.

Although he was alarmed, Jian Wufeng did not probe further. Regardless of its authenticity, it was an opportunity that belonged to Yi Yun.

“Seniors,” Yi Yun came before Jian Buyi and Jian Wufeng and asked, “What’s the situation here at the Clarity Pool Sword Sect?”

In fact, Yi Yun had his guesses when he saw everyone prepared for battle the moment he passed through the spatial node and entered the sect.

A hint of anger flashed in Jian Buyi’s eyes as he said, “The people from the Seven Star Dao Palace have been constantly searching for our location in a bid to crack the array. They have been extremely aggressive! They know we are monitoring them so they keep making declarations, asking us to surrender as soon as possible and tell them your location. I had no choice but to seal the entrance. Not a single disciple has been outside for experiential training.”

Yi Yun was not surprised when he heard that. After his leap in strength, these people could no longer cause a stir in his heart.

“Let’s not talk about that. Now that you have safely returned, and considering our Clarity Pool Sword Sect hasn’t fallen after a year, we’ll be safe even if we gave them a few more years. As for you, what happened in the Sun Burial Sandsea?” Jian Wufeng knew that Liu Ruyi and company had gone to the Sun Burial Sandsea. What he didn’t know was if Yi Yun had bumped into them. He was curious as to how Yi Yun was able to return safely without any trouble from them.

“Let’s talk about those things in the future. Since I have returned, it’s time to square the vendetta with the Seven Star Dao Palace.” As Yi Yun spoke, a cold glimmer flashed in his eyes.

Jian Wufeng, Jian Buyi, and the surrounding disciples were stunned. Square the vendetta? Now?

Before they could ask him anything, Yi Yun suddenly took a step forward and instantly moved to the spatial node that connected the Clarity Pool Sword Sect to the external world. He reached out and tore the space open. A huge stride was taken and, with the flash of a beam, a broken sword appeared in his hand.

He had been walking in mid-air, crossing a thousand feet with a single step; hence, he appeared to vanish in the blink of an eye.

“Yi Yun!?”

Jian Wufeng was alarmed when he saw this scene. He had a hunch when he heard Yi Yun say those words, but he never imagined that Yi Yun would just leave without discussing such a huge matter!

There were people from the Seven Star Dao Palace outside!

“Junior Brother, let’s quickly follow him!” Jian Buyi was also shocked. Although Yi Yun had returned with an extremely powerful aura that even the sect masters felt pressured by, and a pair of mysterious gray eyes, the opponent was still the powerful and unfathomable Seven Star Dao Palace!

Once the spatial node’s location was exposed, it could lead to the cracking of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s array. At the very least, it would expedite the process.

Jian Buyi and Jian Wufeng could only tear through space to accompany Yi Yun.

Jian Xiaoshuang gritted her teeth and, at the instant when space mended itself, her petite figure flashed inside it, following her masters.

She was unsure of how she felt about all this. While being besieged by the Seven Star Dao Palace, Jian Xiaoshuang had been constantly telling herself to endure any grudges. Even if the Clarity Pool Sword Sect was massacred, she had to escape with the grudge on her shoulders and live on in shame. Her goal was to wait till she had the strength to bury the Seven Star Dao Palace with her own hands!

But today, seeing Yi Yun casually rip through space before charging out, a militant enthusiasm suddenly rose up in her heart, and she could not help but charge out too.

Perhaps it was her trust and reverence of Yi Yun. Or she had been infected by Yi Yun’s immense confidence. Whatever the reason, all she wanted to do was face and witness everything alongside him.

“Junior Sister Xiaoshuang!”

Jian Fenghong was alarmed. He could ignore the fact that Yi Yun and the two seniors had gone out, but Jian Xiaoshuang had left as well!

Jian Fenghong was momentarily flustered. He knew that he would be useless outside and that it was better to stay behind to keep up the morale of the others. He raised his hand and projected the situation outside in the sky.

Instantly, killing intent rose inside the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

Everyone was nervous and confused. Although Yi Yun was very powerful, why did he choose to battle the Seven Star Dao Palace now? The Seven Star Dao Palace had four deputy palatial lords, a mysterious palatial lord, and the seven high ambassadors!

“Cowards of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, I know you can hear me! I once advised you to open the gates and pledge allegiance to the Seven Star Dao Palace, and I would ensure your safety. Unfortunately, you have all refused my kind exhortations. Now, I have changed my mind. The day I, Tianshu, crack the array is the day your Clarity Pool Sword Sect meets with a massacre!”

Outside the Clarity Pool Mountain stood a seven-starred robed, middle-aged man with long hair guffawing. He was one of the seven high ambassadors of the Seven Star Dao Palace—High Ambassador Tianshu.

High Ambassador Tianshu had studied arrays for tens of thousands of years. His knowledge of the art of arrays was said to be the best in the Seven Star Dao Palace. Upon hearing that the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had an ancient array protecting it, High Ambassador Tianshu yearned to have a go at cracking the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s array.

He knew that the ancient array was intricate, but no matter how intricate it was, it was definitely not at its peak after being around for so many years. His cracking of the array was only a matter of time. He enjoyed the feeling of slowly pushing the Clarity Pool Sword Sect to its death as he gradually provoked the despair in their hearts.

“Hahaha! I know you have risked everything on Yi Yun, but that little bastard doesn’t know his own strength. He actually went to the Sun Burial Sandsea to seek death. My Seven Star Dao Palace’s four deputy palatial lords have gone there and it is certain they will return fruitful. Yi Yun is just a Dao Manifestation realm junior, an ant under our foot. He is definitely doomed!”

High Ambassador Tianshu laughed loudly as he estimated that he would need no more than a year to crack the array. As an array expert, he enjoyed the process of cracking an array.

But suddenly, High Ambassador Tianshu felt his heart skip a beat. The array flags in his hand stiffened as he suddenly looked up. He saw a person tearing through space and emerging a thousand feet above him!

1129 - : Squaring Things

CKtalon  CKtalon

Who is it!?

High Ambassador Tianshu turned wary. He discerned that a young man had torn through space before appearing. Was that where the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s spatial node was located?

“Haha!” To think you are actually revealing the spatial node’s location to me. That’s equivalent to telling me how to crack the array!”

High Ambassador Tianshu guffawed. How foolish was this person, that they’d send the Clarity Pool Sword Sect to the gallows?

However, High Ambassador Tianshu stopped after two chortles. When he saw how the youth approached him with sword in hand and sensed his strange aura, it sent a chill down his spine.

“Who are you?” High Ambassador Tianshu asked with furrowed brows. He had guessed that the person came from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, which meant he was likely a member of its upper echelons. He looked young, but he could very possibly be an old monster.

“Your Seven Star Dao Palace has been pursuing me, and yet you as a high ambassador of the Seven Star Dao Palace doesn’t recognize me?” Yi Yun said sarcastically as he appeared within two hundred feet of High Ambassador Tianshu. When High Ambassador Tianshu heard Yi Yun’s words, he was baffled.

“You are…Yi Yun!?”

High Ambassador Tianshu was alarmed. He had obviously gotten a description of Yi Yun’s face but he was certain that Yi Yun would die in the Sun Burial Sandsea, so he did not pay too much attention to it. He was only truly concerned about the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s ancient array, hoping to practice his skills in array techniques by cracking it.

How could he possibly fathom that Yi Yun would return safely after going to the Sun Burial Sandsea a year ago? Even stranger, how did he suddenly possess such a powerful aura?

In an instant…

Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!

People from the Seven Star Dao Palace started flying over after they sensed the situation. The four deputy palatial lords of the Seven Star Dao Palace had gone to the Sun Burial Sandsea so, under the present circumstances, the people staying behind to watch the Clarity Pool Sword Sect were only the Seven Star High Ambassadors and the Dao Palace Elders.

“To think that someone would willingly come and seek death. I thought the entire Clarity Pool Sword Sect was old turtles governing a bunch of young turtles. What Clarity Pool? It’s clearly a pool used to rear a bunch of cowardly turtles.”

A person flew over while laughing loudly. However, when he landed in front of Yi Yun, he choked on the words he had yet to finish. The person was someone familiar to Yi Yun—High Ambassador Yu Heng.

“Yi Yun!? You…”

High Ambassador Yu Heng was surprised. As the Seven Star High Ambassador that had the greatest amount of contact with Yi Yun, he understood Yi Yun the best. He could clearly sense Yi Yun’s domineering aura after a year. A sweep of the cackling gray flames in his eyes made one freeze.

Could it be…

High Ambassador Yu Heng suddenly realized that the only way for Yi Yun to have such a dramatic increase in strength was because he had a fortuitous encounter. He could not help but link it to the Sun Burial Sandsea’s phenomenon. Did Yi Yun reap a huge harvest at the Sun Burial Sandsea?

“You actually managed to escape Deputy Palatial Lord Liu and company?” High Ambassador Yu Heng asked. Logically speaking, there was no way Yi Yun could have survived an encounter with the four deputy palatial lords.

“Escape?” Yi Yun sneered. He did not wish to waste his breath on these people. “You should ask them when you meet in hell.”

“What?” Before High Ambassador Yu Heng could react to the underlying meaning behind Yi Yun’s words, he saw a pure Yang sword beam slice through the void, appearing in front of him in the blink of an eye.

“Little bastard, do you think you are my match?”

High Ambassador Yu Heng had a gruesome expression as his whisk flew out of his sleeves, sending thousands of silver threads out at Yi Yun’s sword.

Cha! Cha! Cha!

The silver threads wrapped around Yi Yun’s sword beam.

Without a change of expression, Yi Yun swept his right hand, producing his Destruction Dao Domain that devoured the silver threads!

Peng Peng Peng!

The whisk’s silver threads were severed!

High Ambassador Yu Heng’s heart beat violently. He was alarmed and furious. Yi Yun’s strength was more terrifying than he could have imagined.

“I do not know what fortuitous encounter you have had, but even if you received all the benefits of the Sun Burial Sandsea, you can never match me!”

High Ambassador Yu Heng roared as his body merged with the whisk, transforming into a stream of light that shot straight at Yi Yun’s throat.

Seeing High Ambassador Yu Heng’s imposing strike, Yi Yun flicked his finger and sent a gray fire plume floating at him.

The tiny fire plume appeared inconspicuous at first, but it quickly seemed to make the heaven and earth lose all temperature. It was as if all the surrounding powers of pure Yang and fire had been consumed by the tiny plume.

“Burn, Heretical God Fire Seed.”

Yi Yun softly said as the tiny fire plume suddenly burst!

Surging flames spread out as if gray constellations of stars had plummeted to the mortal world!

“This is!?”

High Ambassador Yu Heng and High Ambassador Tianshu were completely enveloped by the gray flames. They desperately conjured their Yuan Qi barriers to protect them but to no avail. Their barriers were consumed by the inferno.

Immediately following that, tragic screams sounded out from everywhere. The Seven Star Dao Palace disciples that had rushed over were burned to ash!

“Ah, ah, ah!”

High Ambassador Yu Heng let out a hoarse bellow, for he finally understood that he was no match for Yi Yun at all. When he recalled Yi Yun’s words about going to hell to ask his question, he finally realized the horrifying possibility—

Perhaps the four deputy palatial lords of the Seven Star Dao Palace had been killed by Yi Yun!

The four deputy palatial lords had been killed by Yi Yun alone. How was this possible?

And yet, Yi Yun had released a terrifying inferno that slaughtering them like they were pigs or chickens. He had no choice but to believe in this shocking conclusion!

He gritted his teeth and crushed a voice transmission charm, sending out information on the current happenings, as well as calling for reinforcements. But in a moment, Yi Yun had already appeared behind High Ambassador Yu Heng.

“Whew!”

Yi Yun thrust out his sword, completely condensed from the Heretical God flames. The terrifying Heretical God’s flames tore through High Ambassador Yu Heng’s chest, completely consuming his innards in flames!

Black ash spewed out of High Ambassador Yu Heng’s mouth as his eyes gradually lost their luster. What sort of fire was this…

“Peng!”

High Ambassador Yu Heng transformed into a cloud of flying ash!

As for High Ambassador Tianshu, who was not as strong as High Ambassador Yu Heng, he had been engulfed by the Heretical God flames. His Yuan Qi barrier had been eaten through, causing his flesh and skin to rupture. It was an excruciating pain.

“Wait! I have thirty-six scrolls of array techniques obtained from an ancient ruin. I can give it to you as long as you…”

High Ambassador Tianshu’s voice came to an abrupt halt as the pure Yang broken sword swiped across, separating his head from his neck.

Both the Seven Star Dao Palace High Ambassadors were dead!

Meanwhile, Jian Buyi, Jian Wufeng, and Jian Xiaoshuang had arrived outside the battlefield through the spatial node. Since Jian Wufeng’s practice in spatial dimension laws was inferior to Yi Yun’s, it took him a longer time to travel through the spatial node. He appeared just in time to witness the devastation.

The scene of the Seven Star Dao Palace disciples that had entrapped the Clarity Pool Sword Sect over the past year being consumed by the inferno left them reeling in shock. The gray flame was just too terrifying.

Could it be…that this was the Yang spirit that Yi Yun had obtained from the Sun Burial Sandsea?

However, according to Jian Wufeng and Jian Buyi’s experience, the more powerful a worldly spirit item, the harder it was to command. How could such a terrifying Yang spirit be refined by a junior like Yi Yun?

1130 - : Sea of Flames

CKtalon  CKtalon

The gray inferno raged in the void, leaving Jian Wufeng to take a deep breath. In just a year’s time, Yi Yun had become unknown to him. From the looks of it, Yi Yun had obtained a divine item in the Sun Burial Sandsea, causing his strength to increase by leaps and bounds. However, Jian Wufeng and Jian Buyi knew that the real reason Yi Yun could even obtain and refine such a divine item was that he was a power to be feared.

Even ignoring the fact that he had defeated the deputy palatial lords of the Seven Star Dao Palace, just being able to refine the Yang spirit into his body at the Dao Manifestation realm was unbelievable.

“You, come here.” Yi Yun grabbed a heavily injured person from the Seven Star Dao Palace from across the void and held him high.

The person was in such excruciating pain that his mind was not his own. When he saw Yi Yun he trembled in fear, but his eyes flashed a ruthless look as he hoarsely roared, “Yi Yun, to dare attack us, you and the Clarity Pool Sword Sect will not escape from the Seven Star Dao Palace’s revenge!”

“Revenge?” Yi Yun smiled slightly. “There’s no need to wait. I shall now personally pay a visit. Lead the way to your Seven Star Dao Palace.”

Although Yi Yun had killed High Ambassador Yu Heng before he could crush the voice transmission charm, he didn’t care if the transmission did send. When he decided to take action, he had decided to settle this once and for all.

“Yi Yun…wants to storm the Seven Star Dao Palace now?”

Yi Yun’s words left Jian Wufeng and company reeling in shock once again.

The way he wiped out this group from the Seven Star Dao Palace was truly astounding. But these people did not make up the main force of the Seven Star Dao Palace.

The Seven Star Dao Palace was a top-tier sect in the Central State Divine Territory. It was protected by a massive array and had no shortage of experts.

However, they could no longer stop Yi Yun. With the Seven Star Dao Palace grunt in hand, he transformed into a stream of light and flew far into the distance.

“Let’s follow,” said Jian Wufeng. Jian Xiaoshuang was following behind like she was in a dream.

Just fifteen minutes ago, they had been besieged and unable to leave. In the blink of an eye, Yi Yun had turned the tables and was about to storm the Seven Star Dao Palace.

The Seven Star Dao Palace was located on an immortal mountain in the Central State Divine Territory. Clouds covered the mountains with a thin, everlasting air lingering. When seen from above, seven palaces were laid out like a seven-starred constellation. It had a massive presence.

To mortals and ordinary warriors, this place could be called the Seven Star Immortal Palace. It was a famous and sacred place that was not to be violated.

But on this day, a figure with electrifying killing intent came crashing down from the sky, before landing in the square in front of the Seven Star Dao Palace’s entrance.

“Who is it!?”

The disciples guarding the entrance immediately rushed forward. All of them took a domineering stance, as they wanted to know who was foolish enough to appear at their entrance without any proprietary or thought.

Bam!

A person that was on his last breath slammed in front of them. The disciples were immediately stunned when they saw this.

The figure was in a tragic state. His entire body was charred black, and from the clothes he wore, they could tell he was from the Seven Star Dao Palace.

“Elder…Elder Chu!?” One of the disciples managed to recognize the person, and only barely.

This was actually one of their Elders!

“Elder Chu, what happened? Didn’t you go to wipe out the Clarity Pool Sword Sect? Why are you in this state…” The disciple asked in disbelief.

Elder Chu looked up into the sky above the square, right at Yi Yun’s figure. “Quick…we…have all been killed by him…”

The disciples felt their heads buzz. Only then did they recall that a figure had thrown Elder Chu in front of them.

They looked up in shock at Yi Yun. This was the person that had killed Elder Chu and the rest?

At that moment, Yi Yun began speaking. He said, “Today, I’m here to wipe out the Seven Star Dao Palace. Anyone who hinders me shall be executed without a second thought.”

“If you value your life, all you need to do is get out of my way and descend the mountain.”

Yi Yun looked at the palaces in front of him. All of them would soon be dyed red with blood.

However, Yi Yun would not kill the tens of thousands of Seven Star Dao Palace disciples. All he wanted was to erase the existence of the Seven Star Dao Palace in the Central State Divine Territory.

“Wipe out my Seven Star Dao Palace? What an ostentatious claim!” The two disciples felt emboldened to yell at Yi Yun, for they had the entire Seven Star Dao Palace backing them from behind.

But in an instant, they felt a gentle breeze as the figure flew past them.

Puah Puah Puah!

Instantly, sword scars appeared on the two disciples as they spewed blood from their mouth and died!

The remaining disciples turned limp with fear. Their limbs turned cold. They could not see how Yi Yun had made his move. All they saw was two people die in a flash!

With that, none of them dared oppose him. They scampered down the mountain in fear.

Yi Yun came in front of the mountain, only to be stopped by the array’s fluctuation. He slashed down with his broken sword.

Slash!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The entire entrance vibrated and alerted everyone in the Seven Star Dao Palace.

“How audacious! Who dares attack our entrance!”

A few Seven Star Dao Palace experts charged out as they shouted fiercely. However, all they got was a sight of Yi Yun.

A sword beam flashed past as blood splattered across the sky!

Yi Yun walked through the entrance with a sword in hand. However, his clothes were not stained by blood at all.

“Quick, stop him!”

“Who is this person?”

The Seven Star Dao Palace disciples that dared to try and stop Yi Yun were effortlessly slain by sword slashes, unable to even get close to him.

Soon, the Seven Star Dao Palace disciples stopped trying to approach Yi Yun. His slow stroll and mysterious countenance were like a demonic murderer king in their eyes.

It exemplified the saying, ‘if God is in the way, I’ll slaughter Him. If Buddha stops me, I’ll slaughter Him too!”

Yi Yun walked past a palace and raised his hand. The Heretical God Fire Seed’s gray flame enveloped the entire palace, razing it quietly.

The immortal palace of yesterday quickly turned to ash under the Heretical God flame. Gray smoke billowed into the sky.

Countless warriors, and even mortals, witnessed this scene from below the mountain and even thousands of kilometers away.

They shuddered in fear. What sort of terrifying enemy did the Seven Star Dao Palace, that had stood there for such a long period of time, provoke?

“Friend, do not be too hasty to act so ruthlessly.”

At the moment Yi Yun came in front the final palace, an elder appeared in front of him and said this lightly.

Yi Yun came to a stop. Throughout his entire trip through the Seven Star Dao Palace, this was the first time someone had managed to make him stop.

The elder appeared to have been standing there the whole time. Only when he spoke did Yi Yun notice him. He had an unfathomable aura that made Yi Yun feel threatened.

This person…

“Are you the Seven Star Dao Palace’s palatial lord?” asked Yi Yun.

He had engaged in wanton murder this entire time, but the palatial lord had not appeared. It was truly odd.

“Palatial lord? If you say so. I am but an old man that simply stays here and watches the mountains and the sea of clouds to pass the time,” said the elder.

“Friend, you have burned down the Dao Palace. The few deputy palatial lords that went to the Sun Burial Sandsea have not returned, nor has there been news of them, so they have likely died by your hand. Now, the disciples of the Seven Star Dao Palace have all scurried down the mountain. The Seven Star Dao Palace can be considered destroyed. It is time for you to retreat.”

Yi Yun looked at the elder calmly and asked curiously, “Are you really the palatial lord? Why does it seem like you don’t care if the Seven Star Dao Palace exists or not?”

1131 - : Storming the Dao Palace

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun originally thought that the greatest threat to his storming of the Seven Star Dao Palace would be the Seven Star Dao Palace’s palatial lord. Be it the siege of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect or the expedition to the Sun Burial Sandsea, only the deputy palatial lords had appeared. The palatial lord continued to remain a mystery.

Yi Yun did not know what the palatial lord’s cultivation level was. But he was confident that even if he couldn’t match the palatial lord, he was at least able to inflict a serious blow on the Seven Star Dao Palace before retreating safely.

However, the sudden appearance of the elder, and the words he spoke, greatly surprised Yi Yun.

The elder said, “Sigh…the survival of the Seven Star Dao Palace…It is a matter I need to do something about it.”

Suddenly, the elder vanished from where he stood, immediately making Yi Yun wary.

Whew!

The elder’s figure abruptly appeared in front of Yi Yun. He struck out with his palm and an immense and terrifying Yuan Qi enveloped Yi Yun completely as if a mountain was crashing down on him.

So powerful!

The broken sword in Yi Yun’s hand hummed as sword beams rose up, stabbing straight at the palm!

The clash between the two even caused the surrounding sea of clouds to disperse completely!

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The elder and Yi Yun retreated several steps simultaneously!

The elder was very strong.

He had managed to withstand Yi Yun’s strike just with his palm.

“Again!”

Yi Yun’s eyes burned with fighting spirit. The Three-foot Passage Sword, Sword of Time slashed out!

The Sword of Time that fused Space-Time laws and Pure Yang laws was flowed like a stream, but was as intense as a burning inferno. It seemed to lunge at the elder as if it came from an ancient era.

The elder’s eyes remained as still as water in the face of the attack. A long saber suddenly appeared in his hand in response. It was as heavy as a mountain as it ruthlessly sliced down at Yi Yun’s sword beam.

Boom!

The surrounding ground immediately ruptured into countless cracks like a spider’s web.

Yi Yun felt extreme pain in his wrist, and his skin felt like it had been pricked by saber-like Yuan Qi aftershocks.

The elder did not get away so easily, either. Yi Yun’s sword was extremely sharp and his stance grew as he fought. Each strike was stronger than the last.

The sword beams and saber flashes interwove with one another as thunderous blasts caused the immortal mountain beneath their feet to constantly rumble.

“Yi Yun is fighting someone!” At that moment, Jian Wufeng and company had arrived. From afar, they could see the constant clashes of Yuan Qi and the astounding sonic booms.

The only person that could fight Yi Yun in such a manner was the Seven Star Dao Palace’s palatial lord.

As for the palatial lord, he was a mystery that Jian Wufeng and company had never witnessed before.

“Indeed, there are no limits to the younger generation. I dare not believe that you are a junior.” As the elder spoke, he suddenly retreated a thousand feet backward and stored his saber into his interspatial ring.

Yi Yun was surprised. What was the elder doing? Was he going to stop fighting?

A true victor had not yet been determined.

However, if they had to continue fighting, Yi Yun felt that he would lose to the elder. After all, his cultivation level was lacking.

Although his nomological insight was outstanding, he was still at a disadvantage if he could not catch the enemy unaware. When the time came, all he could do was retreat.

The elder sized up Yi Yun and said, “It’s no wonder you caused such a huge stir, made Liu Ruyi fear you so greatly, and managed to obtain the Sun Burial Sandsea’s treasure.”

“You asked me if I cared for the Seven Star Dao Palace…Truthfully, I don’t care that much for it. I doubted your prowess as a junior so I wanted to spar with you. Now that we have fought…”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was surprised. The palatial lord spoke too casually. If someone didn’t know the situation, they would just think that the elder had seen a junior from his sect and simply wanted to give him some advice.

There was actually a sect master that did not care for his sect’s survival?

“You don’t have to find it odd.” The elder read Yi Yun’s thoughts. “When I was young, I was labeled an extraordinary genius. I was dedicated to the pursuit of the peak of martial arts. At a young age, I became the successor to the Seven Star Dao Palace’s palatial lord and had a limitless future.”

“The Seven Star Dao Palace has never been an orthodox sect. From its establishment, this sect has reeked of blood. I never wished to become the Seven Star Dao Palace’s palatial lord, and I was never satisfied with a small place like the Central State Divine Territory. I wasn’t even satisfied with the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. At the age of one hundred, I left the Central State Divine Territory and went on experiential training for a millennium. Finally, I entered the expert-filled Sinkhole and established myself there. However…”

When the elder said this, he sighed. “When I was on the crest of success, I accompanied hundreds of experts to a mystic realm in the Sinkhole in search of opportunities to make a further breakthrough. But I encountered a terrifying danger. Nearly all the hundreds of experts with me perished. Although I did manage to return, my Dao Palace was shattered, crippling my cultivation…”

As the elder spoke, he gradually shook his head. Yi Yun was stumped. Had his cultivation been crippled? How tremendous a blow was this to a warrior?

“From that moment on, I was confined to a fate of mediocrity. After so many years, my strength has recovered to its present state. I returned to the Seven Star Dao Palace, becoming its palatial lord…”

“Certain things are destined. The Seven Star Dao Palace has its fate, and I became sick of the mundanity of the world. I gradually secluded myself in the back mountain, leaving the four deputy palatial lords vying for power as they ran the Seven Star Dao Palace together. I had expected that the trip to the Sun Burial Sandsea would have such an outcome. Even without you, if the true Yang spirit did appear in front of those four, there was bound to be a life-and-death battle among them.”

“Then, the ultimate victor would probably hope to refine the Yang spirit and return to kill me, thinking that such a tremendous improvement in strength would lead to them becoming the Seven Star Dao Palace’s palatial lord…”

The elder slowly mentioned his thoughts, confounding Yi Yun. This elder was so aware of everything, yet he did nothing to stop them?

“Right or wrong, success or failure may be gone with a turn of the head. There is nothing in this world that lasts forever. It is the same for the Seven Star Dao Palace. I have seen glory in the past and no longer care for the present struggles. Just like how Azure Yang Lord had once established the Grand Qian Empire, but the only thing left is a remnant vestige in the form of the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, as well as the minute aura in your sword. A divine empire had once flourished, but what of it now?”

Yi Yun was surprised. The elder actually knew so many things of the past. He even knew about Azure Yang Lord.

The Clarity Pool Sword Sect was considered a reclusive sect in the Central State Divine Territory. Their relation to the Azure Yang Lord was something few people knew.

“Senior, you mentioned that the Great Qian Empire is gone. I would like to ask if you know about Bai Yueyin? She was formerly the Azure Yang Lord’s wife. She betrayed him and finally took control of the Grand Qian Empire.” Yi Yun’s tone turned a lot more respectful in his questions.

Bai Yueyin was extremely talented and was once Azure Yang Lord’s love. They had controlled the divine empire together and were called the sacred emperor and sacred empress.

Eventually, Bai Yueyin had betrayed Azure Yang Lord.

She had sabotaged Azure Yang Lord before his battle with Sha Hongxue from the Fey race for the title of Divine Lord. She left with a rusty sword tip that Azure Yang Lord had brought back from the Sinkhole, causing Azure Yang Lord to suffer an abject defeat at Sha Hongxue’s hands. He lost his title as Divine Lord and fell into mediocrity, eventually reaching the Tian Yuan world.

Later on, he met the ancient Great Empress in the Tian Yuan world, gradually restoring his strength. He created the Great Empress mystic realm and left the God Advent Tower behind, which eventually came into Yi Yun’s hands.

It also meant that Bai Yueyin had a sword tip in her hands. And that sword tip…

Yi Yun clenched the pure Yang broken sword tightly. He knew that the sword tip belonged to the other half of his pure Yang broken sword.

However, considering Bai Yueyin’s terrifying martial talent, and all the years she had to grow, her current strength was probably unfathomable.

Yi Yun had no intention of immediately taking the sword tip from her. He was only curious as to why, despite betraying Azure Yang Lord, she had allowed the Clarity Pool Sword Sect to continue surviving in the Central State Divine Territory.

“Bai Yueyin?” The elder shook his head. “I do not know of this person. However, the successor of the Grand Qian Empire later uprooted the faction entirely and left the Central State Divine Territory to head for the Sinkhole.”

Headed for the Sinkhole?

Yi Yun frowned. Even Azure Yang Lord did not know why Bai Yueyin had betrayed him. However, why did she give up the divine empire’s massive territory…?

Bai Yueyin was shrouded in mystery. Since she had left the Central State Divine Territory, it was made sense that the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had managed to survive.

“Senior, you have been in the Sinkhole before. Do you know which part of the Sinkhole the Grand Qian Empire is in?” Yi Yun wanted to know where the other half of the sword tip was brought to. Furthermore, he had acquired Azure Yang Lord’s heritage. He was bent on avenging Azure Yang Lord’s near-death experience and subsequent loss of everything.

The elder suddenly said with a laugh, “You have wiped out my sect, yet here you are, asking me so many questions. That’s a little overboard. Now that everything is settled and you have fought me, it’s time for you to leave. Now that I’m the only one here, I will finally be able to have some peace and quiet.”

With that said, the elder did not stay a moment longer. He turned and walked into the palace.

“Gong!”

The palace’s door closed, leaving Yi Yun standing in the square and staring at the tightly-closed door.

The elder was like an ancient well. He was tranquil but with a glorious past. Yi Yun shook his head. Since the elder was unwilling to answer any more questions, he would not receive an answer even if he forced one.

“The Myriad Divine Territory is a place where exchanges happen. Perhaps, I’ll be able to obtain some information there.” Yi Yun thought to himself.

Finally, he took a look at the immortal mountain. If the elder kept up his attitude of indifference, then from that day on, the Seven Star Dao Palace no longer existed in the Central State Divine Territory.

1132 - : Palatial Lord

CKtalon  CKtalon

The affairs of the world were inconsistent. The past as narrated by the Seven Star Dao Palace’s palatial lord left Yi Yun having mixed emotions.

In the history of the 12 Empyrean Heavens, there had been countless geniuses that had enjoyed success and gained considerable prestige. However, they had failed in their bid to defy fate, turning into desiccated skeletons that littered the path to the peak of martial arts.

The old palatial lord was an example. As he had experienced great vicissitudes in life, he had seen through life and accepted his fate. Naturally, he did not care for the Seven Star Dao Palace’s fate. Everything in life seemed to be destined.

“Brother Yi, let’s…go back…”

Jian Xiaoshuang spoke hesitantly. She only knew that Yi Yun had fought with the Seven Star Dao Palace’s palatial lord for a brief moment without producing an outcome. As for their conversation, she had no idea what it was.

“Let’s go back. The Seven Star Dao Palace is unlikely to cause trouble for the Clarity Pool Sword Sect in the future.”

Although he had wiped out the Seven Star Dao Palace, Yi Yun did not feel any form of joy. The old palatial lord’s words made Yi Yun recollect on many things of the past.

Other than Azure Yang Lord, the mighty figures he knew included the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner, who was stronger than Azure Yang Lord, as well as the mysterious divine alchemist who had reigned supreme in the Sinkhole. The divine alchemist was someone that countless warriors would beseech him to refine the various treasures in their hands…

These people had turned into history.

Yi Yun believed that if he did not perish, he was bound to accomplish great feats. He could even surpass the mighty figures he identified as seniors.

However, if he could not escape the hands of fate, he would eventually be reduced to dust. It would happen unless he could crack the cycle of reincarnation, achieving the legendary Great Dao of Immortality, making him indestructible…

However, in all of history, had anyone achieved it?

These thoughts flashed in Yi Yun’s mind. For some reason, he recalled the long-haired black-dressed woman he had encountered back in the Azure Wood Great World. Perhaps, among all the peerless experts he had encountered, she was the one closest to that legendary state…

When Yi Yun returned to the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, the news of the Seven Star Dao Palace’s wipe out quickly proliferated through the mouths of the disciples that had escaped Seven Star Mountain.

People knew that Yi Yun, who had disappeared for a year, had stormed Seven Star Mountain and wiped out the Seven Star Dao Palace!

Yi Yun’s name quickly spread. Everyone previously knew that Yi Yun was the strongest person among the younger generation, with strength far exceeding Jian Xiaoshuang.

However, it was only limited to that. When people heard how Yi Yun had offended the Seven Star Dao Palace, which even implicated the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, many people believed that Yi Yun would be hunted and killed by the Seven Star Dao Palace. It was possible that the Clarity Pool Sword Sect would also be wiped out but no one expected to receive such a ludicrous piece of news after a year.

People originally considered them rumors. However, when people went to investigate Seven Star Mountain, they saw the palaces razed to the ground, with all its disciples gone or scattered, leaving almost no one in the sect. They had no choice but to believe.

How could Yi Yun possess such immense strength at such a young age? He was even capable of defeating experts of the older generation. This gave him sufficent influence over the entire Central State Divine Territory.

Furthermore, Yi Yun was extremely young!

Supposedly, he had only cultivated for about sixty years. His future was completely unimaginable that even becoming a Divine Lord was not even considered difficult!

The Central State Divine Territory was actually a tiny divine territory in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. It held little presence and had only made a name for itself when Azure Yang Lord was born tens of millions of years ago.

And after that, no Divine Lords were produced by the Central State Divine Territory.

To the sects in the Central State Divine Territory, a Divine Lord was unimaginable. At that realm, a sect like theirs could be wiped out with a raise of the Divine Lord’s hand. It was almost no different from pulling out a clump of grass.

Immediately, all the various large factions in the Central State Divine Territory turned nervous. Quite a number of them had some friction with Yi Yun. As such, they felt extreme unease as they racked their brains to think of ways to mend their relationships with Yi Yun.

They could not see Yi Yun himself, nor could they go to the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. Therefore, the Divine Secrets Trading Company, which was originally beneath mention, received extremely privileged treatment because of their relationship with Yi Yun.

When Old Man Ji returned to Jade Luster City with Ji Shuiyan and re-established the Divine Secrets Trading Company, more than ten sects, with hundreds of experts, came to the Divine Secrets Trading Company to celebrate their reopening.

Old Man Ji had not sent out any invitations but seeing how several hundred guests had come unwelcomed, with the lowest cultivation level at the Dao Palace realm, the people of the Divine Secrets Trading Company were somewhat dumbfounded.

They had no choice but to add dozens of tables but even so, there were large numbers of itinerant warriors that had gathered outside the Divine Secrets Trading Company for various reasons. However, there was no place for them to sit. Instantly, a tiny faction like the Divine Secrets Trading Company became the focus of attention in the Sun Burial Sandsea.

As for the Bloodlust Sect, it got wind that when the Divine Secrets Trading Company was annexed by the Heaven Amplification Trading Company, Yan Tiancong had abducted more than ten beautiful young girls from the Divine Secrets Trading Company and had planned on offering them to one of their Bloodlust Sect disciples. This gave the Bloodlust Sect a huge fright!

They finally realized that Young Master Blood Jade, who had vanished a year ago, had been killed by Yi Yun.

The Bloodlust Sect was an unorthodox sect and was extremely protective of its brethren. If anyone were to kill their disciples, they would chase the culprit to death. However, Yi Yun had already made the kill and they lacked the courage to seek revenge. Not only did they not seek revenge, they even came with fabulous gifts to seek forgiveness from the Divine Secrets Trading Company.

The person that led the entourage was the Bloodlust Sect’s deputy sect master. A figure who enjoyed such a high status had personally come to visit Old Man Ji.

After the Bloodlust Sect, the Heaven Secrets Chapter had come too.

Years ago, Old Man Ji had left the Heaven Secrets Chapter in a hateful rage. He had been deemed a traitor of the sect and now, the newly instated sect master had come to seek his forgiveness. He indicated that if Old Man Ji was willing, he could return to the sect to be its Grand Elder. The Heaven Secrets Chapter had also brought with them excellent gifts and they did not mention a word of the Heaven Secrets Compass…

The gifts given to Old Man Ji from over a dozen sects were enough to buy the Divine Secrets Trading Company several times over. He felt mixed emotions on this matter.

The Divine Secrets Trading Company had only been slightly involved with Yi Yun but it made a powerful faction like the Bloodlust Sect panic. It even made the Heaven Secrets Chapter that had a vendetta that stretched across decades to come to him like obedient grandsons. The status Yi Yun held was hard to imagine.

As for Yi Yun, he did not appear at the reopening celebration at all.

Old Man Ji knew that these factions had come to the Divine Secrets Trading Company in the hopes of seeing Yi Yun to establish ties with him. However, for several months, Yi Yun stayed in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect and never left it once.

Many factions had gathered in the vicinity of Clarity Pool Mountain in the hopes of meeting Yi Yun; however, they had no way of finding the entrance and gave up hopes.

“Young Master Yi said a few days ago that he might leave in a few months time.”

Ji Shuiyan sat beside her grandpa. Despite seeing the bustling scene in front of her and how the Divine Secrets Trading Company appeared to be in the full flush of success, she could not perk her spirits up at all.

Yi Yun was leaving after all.

Back in the Sun Burial Sandsea, Ji Shuiyan had saved Yi Yun, intertwining their fates together. But after a few months, this connection was probably coming to an end.

Ji Shuiyan knew very well that she might not have a chance to meet Yi Yun in the future. It made her turn especially sentimental.

“Everyone has their own lives. He stands at a height that’s too high away from us. It was our great fortune that we met him.”

Old Man Ji sighed. Yi Yun had left large amounts of pills and cultivation techniques for the Divine Secrets Trading Company as a way of thanking them for providing the mother-child Heaven Secrets Compass pair to indicate the location of the Yang spirit, as well as the life-saving gratitude he received from the jade burial suit. But in fact, what Yi Yun had brought to the Ji family far exceeded what they had given Yi Yun.

1133 - : Prestige

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Xiaoshuang, whatever I have to teach you lies in the sword moves I have demonstrated over the past several months. How much insight you gain is up to you.”

Yi Yun had used the period of time to impart all of Azure Yang Lord’s heritage, as well as his own insights in it, to the Clarity Pool Sword Sect to the best of his ability.

Of course, Yi Yun’s Chaos and Major Destruction Dao and Space-Time laws were unique to him, especially the former. Even if Yi Yun wanted to teach them, it would be impossible for them to learn it.

After Yi Yun destroyed the Seven Star Dao Palace, he stayed in the Clarity Pool Sword Sect for ten months. Over those ten months, he read through all the notes left behind by the divine alchemist and memorized them.

He found three potential methods to save Ling Xie’er. And in all three methods, the Red Cauldron Sect’s Soul Returning Root was a crucial ingredient.

Yi Yun felt that it was time for him to leave. He had taught whatever he could, and repaid some of his gratitude to Jian Wufeng for saving him.

As for Azure Yang Lord’s late wishes, he could only fulfill them in the Sinkhole. Currently, he was clearly no match for Bai Yueyin.

“Brother Yi, are you leaving?”

Jian Xiaoshuang had a feeling upon hearing Yi Yun’s words.

“Yes, I’m leaving. I’ll be heading for the Myriad Divine Territory.”

“Myriad Divine Territory…” Jian Xiaoshuang’s expression darkened with disappointment. She wanted to raise her strength as quickly as possible. It was naturally impossible for her to catch up to Yi Yun, but if she was able to go on a trip for experiential training, the gap between her and Yi Yun would likely narrow. It would also increase the chances of her seeing him again in the future.

“Then, I’ll inform Master and Martial Uncle.”

“There’s no need. Your master and martial uncle have already gone into seclusion. They will likely stay there until they break through to the realm of Supremacy. Do not disturb them.”

Jian Buyi and Jian Wufeng were already one step into the realm of Supremacy, one thin membrane short of fully entering the realm. A few months ago, with Azure Yang Lord’s complete heritage, they were able to finally break through that membrane.

Once Jian Buyi and Jian Wufeng entered the Supremacy realm, the Clarity Pool Sword Sect would immediately rise to become a top sect in the Central State Divine Territory. This is because the territory lacked Divine Lords. As it was, the Luo clan that had an extensive territory of 196 states only had a handful of Supremacies.

With that result incoming, Yi Yun did not need to worry about the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s safety.

“Xiaoshuang, I’m leaving. I’m not sure how improved your Sword Dao will be the next time we meet. Perhaps you will be a Supremacy by then, too.”

Yi Yun gave a faint smile. Xiaoshuang was a sworn sister that he acknowledged. If possible, he wanted to keep taking care of her.

“Alright.”

Jian Xiaoshuang nodded with all her strength. With that, Yi Yun tore through space and vanished into a spatial node.

That was Yi Yun’s character. He liked to leave peacefully, without any ceremonies or send-offs.

Half a day later, Yi Yun returned to the Sun Burial Sandsea once again. Without the Heretical God Fire Seed and the worldly array set up by the divine alchemist, the Sun Burial Sandsea’s pure Yang gases were diminishing. Yi Yun believed that, in a few more years, it would begin to see rain. And after a century, it would not be surprising to see it transform into a luxuriant forest.

Yi Yun adeptly found the underground palace complex he had constructed previously. He bored through the ground, quickly descending hundreds of thousands of feet.

“Peng!”

Soil and rock separated as Yi Yun stepped into the array. He happened to enter the room of Ru’er, who just finished bathing but fifteen minutes ago. Her hair still dripping with water, she was tidying up her room when she saw Yi Yun appear. She stared at him with widened, round eyes.

“Brother…Brother Yi, you are back.”

Yi Yun said before that it was possible he would be gone for several years, but he had returned in less than a year.

Over the past ten months, the people of the Red Cauldron Sect had been practicing the unwanted cultivation techniques left behind by Yi Yun. They felt their horizons had truly broadened.

Ru’er, in particular, had studied them with a voracious appetite. Together with the pills and relics, her strength had increased so much that she felt reluctant to leave.

“Yes, I’m back. Let’s go to the Red Cauldron Sect!”

…

The Myriad Divine Territory was located in the core region of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. The area had numerous spatial nodes, allowing it to develop into one of the biggest divine territories in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. The factions there were populated with countless experts.

With the increase in the number of experts, the competition for territory also became exceptionally intense.

The Myriad Divine Territory happened to have high-quality spirit mountains, spirit roots, and several of the large Yang God Empyrean Heaven sects. They had established their factions in the Myriad Divine Territory, so it was said that the core region was swarming with tigers and dragons.

As for the Red Cauldron Sect, it was naturally not qualified to establish itself in the core region of the Myriad Divine Territory. Instead, it lay on the periphery of the Myriad Divine Territory that bordered the Central State Divine Territory. It stood on a small mountain range with inferior spiritual energy.

Furthermore, this mountain range was not wholly owned by the Red Cauldron Sect. When Yi Yun arrived at the spirit mountain, he cast his perception out and saw one small sect after another. He was rather surprised. Typically, a sect would possess an entire mountain range. It was truly rare to see a large number of sects clumped around one. The scene resembled stalls that were haphazardly set up in a market.

“There are quite a number of sects here…” The middle-aged man was slightly embarrassed. “The Red Cauldron Sect is too small. Only the alliance of dozens of sects could secure this territory.”

The competition in the Myriad Divine Territory was too intense. This was precisely the reason that the Red Cauldron Sect’s sect master was so important. If the sect lacked an expert, the tiny bit of territory the Red Cauldron Sect had would be quickly annexed.

“This is our Red Cauldron Sect.” The middle-aged man and the Red Cauldron Sect disciples led Yi Yun into a mountain valley.

Yi Yun looked at the valley. It was covered in lush vegetation, creating mesmerizing scenery. A fog lingered around the mountain valley, which was the Red Cauldron Sect’s protective array.

However, this array was much cruder than the Clarity Pool Sword Sect’s ancient array.

“Oh? Martial Uncle is back! Junior Sister Ru’er!”

“I thought all of you would be back soon. Why were you gone for so long?”

When a few disciples saw the middle-aged man and company return, they immediately and excitedly came to welcome them.

Months before, the middle-aged man had risked their lives to head to the Central State Divine Territory’s Sun Burial Sandsea in search of natural treasures that could treat their sect master. It could be said that a lot of hope was placed on their shoulders.

“That’s right. We are back.” The middle-aged man and company were very excited as well.

However, when the middle-aged man scanned the sect, he frowned. “Why is the sect so empty? Where are Elder Ouyang and the rest?”

The few disciples immediately took on dejected looks in their eyes and depressed faces. A disciple sighed and said, “Martial Uncle, we were just about to inform you. As your expedition group had yet to return, Elder Ouyang claimed that you had failed to find anything and were too ashamed to return. It was also possible that you had pe…perished outside…”

The disciple stole a glance at the middle-aged man when he said that. What met him was a darkened expression, but the middle-aged man did not have an angry outburst. He continued, “Because of that, Elder Ouyang led quite a number of people away. Later, other disciples began leaving in succession. They even took many things from the sect, and we were unable to stop them. Even the Deep Seawood tables and chairs in the sect have been emptied out by them.”

When Ru’er and company heard this, they were incensed. Many disciples could not hold it in and wanted to seek revenge on Elder Ouyang. However, the middle-aged man only sighed and said, “Forget it. They aren’t worth much. Let them be. Since those people wanted to leave, there’s no need to cling to them.”

“Senior, sorry for making fools of ourselves.” The middle-aged man turned to give Yi Yun a wry smile.

“Is your sect master alright?” Yi Yun asked. He did not care about the rise and fall of a small sect, for his only purpose in coming here was the Soul Returning Root. If it were taken away, he absolutely had to pursue Elder Ouyang.

“Don’t worry about that. The sect master is protected by an array. Those disciples, including Elder Ouyang, can’t crack it,” said the black-dressed woman.

“Alright. Then, let me take a look at his situation.” Yi Yun said.

“Yes. This way please, Senior,” said the middle-aged man.

When the few disciples saw the middle-aged man and black-dressed woman speak to Yi Yun, they realized that they had brought back an outside. An outsider that looked extremely young. However, their martial uncle and aunt addressed this man as a senior.

Who was this guy?

They were perplexed as they followed the middle-aged man to the underground chamber where the sect master lay in slumber. The chamber was covered in layers of array protections and keeping the array running expended large amounts of World Stones on a daily basis.

“It’s here. The array requires the combined efforts of Junior Sister Song and I to open. It’s impossible for Ouyang Bo to touch this place.”

Just as the middle-aged man’s voice faded, he saw Yi Yun’s figure flash. He had penetrated the chamber’s protective array, entering the chamber directly.

Following that, Yi Yun waved his hand, causing the array to vibrate vigorously as massive Yuan Qi fluctuations were sent out.

Yi Yun could not feel at ease without seeing the Soul Returning Root. He only relaxed after he scanned the area with his perception and found it.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged man and company who were outside the chamber’s array were completely dumbfounded.

Although they knew that Yi Yun was formidable, this was an array produced by an ancient array disk that expended large amounts of World Stones to maintain. It was the top protective array of the Red Cauldron Sect, yet it took Yi Yun little more effort than walking over a door sill to pass.

This made the middle-aged man feel like lamenting his inadequacy next to Yi Yun. What could he not do…?

The middle-aged man hurriedly deactivated the chamber’s array and entered the chamber with his disciples.

On a stone bed lay a pale-skinned, middle-aged man. His aura was nearly negligible. If a mortal were there, they would definitely think he was dead.

Yi Yun silently stretched out his hand and took out a black wooden root about the length of a finger phalanx from the middle-aged man’s chest. It looked inconspicuous but, when he held it, Yi Yun felt a baffling sense of calm.

It was the Soul Returning Root, an absolutely priceless treasure in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. If people knew of its true value, then every sect in the mountain range might be subject to a bloodbath, let alone the Red Cauldron Sect.

1134 - : Myriad Divine Territory

CKtalon  CKtalon

“With this, Xie’er can be saved.” Yi Yun flipped his hand and put the Soul Returning Root into his interspatial ring.

“Senior.” The middle-aged man could not help but speak up. He was feeling somewhat anxious.

Now that he had the Soul Returning Root in hand, Yi Yun could leave and no one would be able to stop him.

Although Yi Yun wasn’t such a cruel person, it was a matter that determined the survival of the sect. The middle-aged man could not help but feel uneasy.

Ru’er was also looking at Yi Yun with a palpitating heart. She wanted to know if he could really get her father to wake up.

Yi Yun looked up at them and said, “The injury to your sect master’s soul isn’t very serious. However, his dantian has been sealed which prevents his Yuan Qi from flowing freely. Therefore, placing the Soul Returning Root on him will only ensure that he doesn’t die, not save him. He will fine for a bit without it.”

The middle-aged man never expected Yi Yun to so immediately and accurately diagnose the sect master’s situation. He looked excited as he said, “Senior, by saying that, does it mean you already have a way of treating him?”

“Perhaps…” Yi Yun nodded. “I found a recipe for a pill a few days ago, but I have never refined such a pill before. However, I doubt it would be a problem.”

Upon hearing what Yi Yun said, the Red Cauldron Sect disciples, as well as the middle-aged man, could not help but prick up their eyebrows.

Is…it is really okay to use a recipe you just happened to come across?

“Find me a quiet room. Do not disturb me unless I instruct you to do so. If there’s anything I need, I will inform you,” said Yi Yun.

“Yes, yes. That is only right.” The middle-aged man hurriedly replied.

The Red Cauldron Sect did not have many people left at present. The middle-aged man decided that he might as well leave all the quarters in the deepest part of the mountain valley to Yi Yun.

The other disciples were strictly instructed not to approach Yi Yun’s quarters.

Yi Yun picked one of the compounds to stay in and set up a tiny array in a neighboring compound, also placing an alchemical cauldron there.

The valley was perennially covered in fog, but it had bamboo forests with lush greenery. Yi Yun lived in the valley, deciding that his first step would be to spend some time studying the divine alchemist’s collection.

Although he had already memorized the collection, the medical knowledge recorded in it was too complicated. He still had much to do before he could fully comprehend it.

Yi Yun sat in the bamboo forest as he swirled a cup of spirit tea in his hand. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves, making for a rather pleasant scene.

The people from the Red Cauldron Sect had left his premises. The entrance to the sect had been sealed shut, making everything very tranquil. For once, Yi Yun could relax without conflict.

Warriors had long lives but the martial path was fraught with danger. Yi Yun seldom experienced such calm and peaceful days.

He spent half a month reading the divine alchemist’s notes, feeling his heart and mind gradually reach a state of tranquility.

The divine alchemist’s notes likened the refining of medicine to the cultivating of one’s mind. One had to have a clear mind to ensure the creation of unadulterated medicine. Only then would the medicine be of excellent quality and stunning purity.

Yi Yun took out some herbs from his interspatial ring. Before he left the Central State Divine Territory, Ji Shuiyan had put in a special request for the Divine Secrets Trading Company to gather many herbal treasures for Yi Yun. She had them all sent to him at the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. With such a wide variety of herbal ingredients, Yi Yun had all he needed to refine the medicine for the Red Cauldron Sect’s sect master.

Once the ingredients were prepared, Yi Yun moved with a flash, bringing the herbal box with him to the cauldron in the courtyard.

Yi Yun had set up an array in the courtyard. Over the past half-month, it had been constantly gathering the valley’s spiritual energy, turning it into a tiny spiritual land.

Boom!

The cauldron’s lid flew up. With eyes as still as water, Yi Yun placed one herb after another into the cauldron.

“Fire, come.” Yi Yun extended his hand out and waved it, creating a pure Yang flame that instantly enveloped the cauldron.

The most important parts of refining medicine were the extraction of the herbal essence and the formation of the pill. With the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun could extract the herbal essence with as much thought as it took him to eat food or drink water. In fact, he did not even need to use a flame to complete this step. It would have been overkill, not to mention completely unnecessary, if he used the Heretical God Fire Seed to refine such a low-grade pill.

The refinement of pills was a process that required intense concentration and expended a great deal of time. For that reason, the divine alchemist wrote that alchemical refinement was similar to the cultivation of one’s mind.

However, Yi Yun had extremely great mental strength. It posed no problems for him.

Yi Yun stood in front of the alchemical cauldron and maintained the pure Yang flame. He constantly added new herbs into the cauldron based on the changes the herbs within underwent…

Ten days passed without him knowing.

Boom!

A huge explosion suddenly rocked the Red Cauldron Sect, giving all the disciples a fright.

The middle-aged man and company hurriedly rushed to Yi Yun’s residence and saw his figure flash out of the courtyard. There appeared to be blue smoke lingering around him.

Yi Yun stared at thick billowing smoke rising from the compound as a smile suffused his lips.

“Indeed, it’s that problem I had anticipated…” Yi Yun muttered to himself.

The middle-aged man, Ru’er, and company got nervous. From the looks of it, Yi Yun had likely failed at refining the pill.

The middle-aged man sighed. After all, the senior had never refined pills in the past. It was only natural that he would fail. What he was truly afraid of was that the senior might slowly lose his patience or eventually give up.

“Senior, it was tough on you. Pills that mend one’s soul are extremely difficult to refine, to begin with. It’s also draining on the mind…”

Before the middle-aged man finished, he saw a white beam of light fly at them and land straight in Ru’er’s hand. When she looked at it, she was surprised to find a white pill bottle.

“I have been attempting to refine another kind of medicine in passing but I ended up failing. However, your medicine has been successfully refined. Feed it to your sect master. I still need to continue refining medicine. You may leave.”

Upon saying that, Yi Yun’s figure drifted to the compound like blue smoke.

He had figured out the reason for his failure and he was eager to make another attempt.

And outside the courtyard, the middle-aged man and company were left dazed in their spots.

The middle-aged man looked at the pill bottle in Ru’er’s hand and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Refine other medicine? The sect master’s medicine has already been refined during this process?

What a joke. He had even thought to console the senior…

“Ru’er, quick! Bring that medicine to save our sect master!” The middle-aged man’s focus finally snapped back. Yi Yun had so casually thrown out the medicine that they failed to react immediately. This was life-saving medicine for their sect master!

“Yes, I got it!” Ru’er clenched the medicine bottle tightly. Even through the bottle, she could smell the mesmerizing herbal fragrance within.

Soon, they came to the chamber where the sect master was protected.

Ru’er opened the pill bottle and, immediately, a pill as white as jade rolled out into her palm.

“Father…” Ru’er placed the pill carefully into the middle-aged man’s mouth.

The people present watched this scene nervously. The pill determined the survival of their sect master and the fate of their Red Cauldron Sect.

Everyone watched with bated breath. It was so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

“Everyone, don’t be too excited,” warned the middle-aged man. “The recovery of one’s soul is a process. Furthermore, Sect Master has been comatose for ten years. There’s no point being anxious. Let’s patiently wait.”

Just as he said that, the middle-aged man on the sick bed suddenly trembled. Following that, his fingers began to slowly bend.

“Cough! Cough!”

The middle-aged man still had his eyes shut. However, soft coughing sounds came from his throat. It felt like his lungs were not accustomed to the sudden breathing after such a long period of not breathing.

“What…”

All the Red Cauldron Sect disciples present felt their hearts skip a beat. The middle-aged man’s every action was determining their every heartbeat.

“What happened to me…What happened…?”

The middle-aged man’s body gently trembled as his sealed dantian began to crack open. Strands of Yuan Qi began to infuse his meridians like water.

He gradually opened his eyes and swept the crowd in a daze. His voice sounded like he was in a dream. Indeed, he felt like he had experienced an especially long dream. One that he had no idea how long it had lasted…

At that moment, Ru’er was already in tears.

“Dad!”

Ru’er jumped into the middle-aged man’s arms like a gust of wind.

“Sect Master is awake!”

The middle-aged man rubbed his reddened eyes. It had been ten years. The Red Cauldron Sect had tottered on precariously with him shouldering many heavy responsibilities. The pill could be said to have saved everyone in the Red Cauldron Sect.

1135 - : Treatment

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Red Cauldron Sect, which had been like a candle in the wind, had finally pulled through.

For the Red Cauldron Sect sect master, his revival was like being given a new lease on life. He brought his daughter, Ru’er to pay respects to Yi Yun. When he arrived at Yi Yun’s residence, he realized that Yi Yun was in meditation so he could only quietly wait outside until he finished.

“Come on in.” Yi Yun said.

Only then did the Red Cauldron Sect sect master push the palatial door open and give Yi Yun a respectful bow.

“Senior Yi, I’m the Red Cauldron Sect’s sect master, Lin Tiancheng. Thank you for saving my life, Senior.”

Ru’er, who stood beside Lin Tiancheng, quickly bowed with a junior’s salutation. To the Red Cauldron Sect, Yi Yun was definitely an extraordinarily mighty senior.

“We have both benefitted one another. I need that piece of Soul Nurturing Wood, so saving you was something small I did in passing. And speaking of the Soul Nurturing Wood, it is extremely useful to me. So if it comes down to numbers, I might have gotten off cheap,” Yi Yun said frankly.

“Senior, you are too polite. Without you, the entire Red Cauldron Sect might not still exist. Forget the Soul Nurturing Wood’s worth, it is useless to my Red Cauldron Sect no matter how valuable it is. It might’ve even invited catastrophe on us.”

Lin Tiancheng spoke earnestly, for he did not covet the Soul Nurturing Wood. He had long guessed that it was an extremely valuable treasure, but it was not something he could hold on to.

Yi Yun thought highly of people who could curb their greed. He said, “I got off cheap on this transaction. The Soul Nurturing Wood is extremely useful to me, so I will make sure you get a fair deal. Take this and consider it as some compensation.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he flicked his finger and an interspatial ring flew straight into Lin Tiancheng’s hand.

When Lin Tiancheng caught it, he saw that there were a large number of jade slips and pill bottles inside. They were heritage cultivation techniques, pills, and relics.

“Although they are few in number, they are ten times more valuable than the things I left your sect a year ago. Just consider it a small compensation for the value of the Soul Nurturing Wood. Do not reveal this to others or say anything publicly about the Soul Nurturing Wood. If you do, it will only invite trouble on yourself.”

Yi Yun had killed many enemies over the years. He had accumulated a lot of wealth, but his foundation was too powerful. The quality of resources he required was extremely high. A typical Supremacy’s collection might not be of use for Yi Yun’s cultivation. Hence, Yi Yun gave these things away wantonly without feeling any pinch.

But to the Red Cauldron Sect, the items in the interspatial ring were enough for them to expand and raise the sect’s strength to a whole new level. As such, how could Lin Tiancheng not be moved?

He took a deep breath and did not refuse it. He knew from Ru’er’s recount that these were nothing to Yi Yun.

“Thank you, Senior.”

“Alright, do you know where in the Myriad Divine Territory is the most prosperous when it comes to trading?”

Although Yi Yun had seen records regarding the Myriad Divine Territory in the divine alchemist’s notes, they were from hundreds of millions of years ago. After such a long period of time, the factions in the Myriad Divine Territory would naturally undergo great changes.

Yi Yun was somewhat worried, unsure if he could obtain the things he wanted from the Myriad Divine Territory.

He planned to use the Soul Returning Root to refine a cauldron of Hollow Soul Pills.

Not only could the Hollow Soul Pills save Ling Xie’er, they were also very beneficial to Yi Yun.

According to the divine alchemist’s records, consuming the Hollow Soul Pill caused one’s soul to undergo a metamorphic change, allowing one’s mental strength to greatly increase.

A warrior’s soul was especially important to them. A strong soul was required to gain insights, control laws, produce soul assaults, probe with perception, refine medicine, refine weapons, set up arrays, etc.

Yi Yun’s soul wasn’t weak by any means, but he was unsatisfied with its current strength.

He also had the Purple Crystal, and controlling the Purple Crystal relied on his soul and mental strength.

Every use of the Purple Crystal’s powers drained a non-negligible amount of the power from his soul.

For example, when refining pills, Yi Yun was most effective when using the Purple Crystal.

Through the Purple Crystal’s extraction and control of the medicinal essence flow, Yi Yun had demonstrated extraordinary talent in the Desolate Heaven technique during his early years. He was superior even to Luo Huo’er, who had been practicing the Desolate Heaven technique for years, in various aspects.

If his soul got stronger, it would only redouble his might. And his control of the Purple Crystal would only become easier.

However, the refinement of the Hollow Soul Pill required him to find other supplementary herbs. And any one of them was extremely valuable.

The two most difficult to find were called ‘Netherworld Sand’ and ‘Heaven Aqua’.

Both herbs were natural treasures born in two different extreme environments after being nourished by the spiritual energies of the world. The environments that met the conditions were already hard to find. And even these environments might not necessarily produce ‘Heaven Aqua’ or ‘Netherworld Sand’.

Of course, the two herbs were of lower value compared to the Soul Returning Root in Yi Yun’s hands.

According to the size of the Soul Returning Root, if he found sufficient ‘Netherworld Sand’ and ‘Heaven Aqua’, Yi Yun would be able to refine about six or seven Hollow Soul Pills.

Ling Xie’er probably needed two, leaving the rest for Yi Yun to enhance his soul.

“Senior, the biggest trading company in the Myriad Divine Territory is the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. It has a long, illustrious history and a huge stock of heavenly treasures. Senior, you will definitely be able to find what you want there.”

Myriad Immortal Pavilion?

Yi Yun had seen the name in the divine alchemist’s notes. However, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was not even in the top ten trading companies hundreds of millions of years ago. He was surprised that it had now become the biggest faction.

The Myriad Divine Territory’s trade comprised of many of the large factions of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. To be able to reign supreme in this area, the amount of profit they received every year had to be unimaginable.

“Tell me more about the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.”

Lin Tiancheng said politely, “Senior, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion controls about seventy percent of the trade in the Myriad Divine Territory. The pavilion lord of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s name is Tang Qianyu. He is a legendary figure in the Myriad Divine Territory. He became a Divine Lord tens of millions of years ago and raised the Myriad Immortal Pavilion to its present peak. Senior, such a figure is someone that exceeds your imagination…”

Tang Qianyu?

Yi Yun nodded. The Myriad Divine Territory was not something an ordinary small divine territory could compare with. As the top faction of the Myriad Divine Territory with immense amounts of treasures in their warehouses and control of massive amounts of trade on a daily basis, they would have been robbed clean if not for having a Divine Lord in charge.

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion that had a Divine Lord holding it down could probably find the ‘Netherworld Sand’ and ‘Heaven Aqua’. However, the price…

When it came to price, Yi Yun found it troublesome.

His present situation was awkward. On one hand, his foundation was excellent. On the other, he required such high-quality heavenly treasures but, unlike old freaks that had accumulated their wealth for years, he was actually extremely poor.

Compared to those old freaks, he had no advantage.

“Whatever. I’ll first go to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion and decide my plans from there.”

1136 - : Myriad Immortal Pavilion

CKtalon  CKtalon

Phew!

A teleportation array’s Yuan Qi reverberated as Yi Yun and Ru’er’s figures appeared.

“Senior, right in front of us is Myriad City,” Ru’er said.

Yi Yun and Ru’er had finally reached their destination after traversing several teleportation arrays from the Red Cauldron Sect to the core area of the Myriad Divine Territory.

The Myriad Divine Territory was extensive, and Myriad City was at its core.

After walking out the teleportation array, Yi Yun gazed in front of him and took in the sights of the entire Myriad City. It was constructed on a massive plain, and continuous rows of pavilions could be seen at first glance. Amazingly, there were immense amounts of Yuan Qi gushing towards Myriad City from the entire plain. Even from afar, one could acutely feel a sense of shock and awe at this sight.

“Senior, flying above Myriad City is forbidden. I’ll procure a carriage for you,” said Ru’er.

“Alright, go ahead.” Yi Yun nodded.

He was completely unfamiliar with Myriad City, so Lin Tiancheng offered to have Ru’er accompany him as she had visited Myriad City several times. She knew it like the back of her hand, so her guidance saved Yi Yun a lot of trouble.

“From now on, don’t keep calling me senior. Just call me by my name,” Yi Yun said.

Although he did not mind the misunderstanding regarding his age, he found it odd to be called senior all the time.

“Then…Senior, I’ll call you Sir.” Ru’er said with some embarrassment. “Then, Sir, please don’t call me Miss Nangong. Just Ru’er would do.”

Ru’er had taken her mother’s maiden name and Yi Yun had been addressing her as Miss Nangong throughout the trip. For a young girl like her, it struck her with reverence and awe.

“Alright,” said Yi Yun.

Ru’er quickly procured a horse carriage. The horses that pulled the carriage were tall and majestic. Yuan Qi poured forth from their bodies, giving them a magnificent and extraordinary air. Once Yi Yun entered the carriage, he noticed that the interior was extremely spacious and luxurious.

“It’s said that Myriad City gathers all the good things in the Myriad Divine Territory or even the entire Yang God Empyrean Heaven. Not only is it filled with treasures, there are also all sorts of outlets for pleasure. The Myriad Immortal Pavilion also holds a Myriad Exchange every ten years. The appearance of the most precious treasures in the Myriad Divine Territory attracts the entire Yang God Empyrean Heaven and even warriors from other Empyrean Heavens.”

“The next exchange isn’t for another three years.Sir, I’m sure you will be able to find whatever you want in that exchange. It has everything, it’s what gives Myriad City its fame.” Ru’er informed Yi Yun of the situation as she sat inside the carriage.

“There’s no harm waiting three years. Let’s first find a place to stay in Myriad City for the time being,” said Yi Yun.

“Alright, then we must take a trip to Myriad Pavilion. That is where we can exchange for Myriad City currency, as well as purchase or rent property for residential purposes,” said Ru’er.

Yi Yun nodded. On the journey, Ru’er had told him that, although Myriad City did accept World Stones and Chaos Stones, the most valuable treasures could not be bought with World Stones, but “Myriad Runes.”

Myriad Runes were jointly issued by the ten major factions of the Myriad Divine Territory. There was only one way to obtain them—pawning treasures to these major factions. The more valuable the treasures, the more runes they would exchange for. As for low-grade treasures, none of the ten major factions were willing to accept them.

In short, exchange trading was popular in the Myriad Divine Territory. The only reason for the issue of runes as a currency was to create a more consistent computation of an item’s worth.

The carriage rolled down the roads at a quick pace and, after entering the city, Yi Yun saw two rows of bustling stores. The roads were filled with people, and there was way more hubbub than the capital cities of mortals.

Every so often, a powerful aura would appear on the street. The warriors that walked these streets were not weak. It wasn’t so often that so many experts gathered in one place.

The Myriad City was already filled with many warriors, and would probably be even livelier when the exchange happened. It would be a grand event.

Even if Yi Yun wasn’t there to purchase ingredients for the Hollow Soul Pill, just visiting would certainly broaden his horizons.

“Sir, we have arrived at Myriad Pavilion.”

The carriage stopped in front of a massive pavilion that was bursting with the comings and goings of various warriors.

Ru’er led the way, and soon a Myriad Pavilion manager came forward.

“Sir, can I help you?” The manager flashed a friendly smile.

Yi Yun passed him more than a dozen interspatial rings which he had obtained when he killed his enemies.

“Help me exchange the things inside that are of use. In addition, help me find a residence that is suitable for cultivation,” said Yi Yun.

“Alright. Please enjoy the tea over here. I’ll be right back.” The manager said as he left with the interspatial rings.

The Myriad Pavilion was under Myriad City’s jurisdiction. Warriors went there in order to exchange for Myriad Runes, so it was natural that the business would be trustworthy in the exchange. Otherwise, there would have been warriors kicking up a storm long before Yi Yun came to town.

While they waited, the manager had a catalog sent over.

When Yi Yun opened the catalog, his eyes lit up. In it were the prices of items by the various major merchants.

He used his soul to search within and quickly found treasures that interested him greatly.

Before obtaining the divine alchemist’s notes, Yi Yun would not have thought much of these items. But now, these treasures were all quite useful to him.

Nearly all the treasures were priced using Myriad Runes, with only an extreme few priced with World Stones.

“How expensive…”

Ru’er felt her eyes ache when she looked from the side. Some items cost tens of thousands of runes easily. Selling the entire Red Cauldron Sect would not even afford a tenth of those treasures.

As for Yi Yun, he had eyed a few treasures in the catalog that were worth hundreds of thousands of runes.

“Oh? They even have Heaven Desolate Grass here, 900,000 runes. This is an extremely valuable spirit herb recorded in the divine alchemist’s notes. Although it’s slightly poorer in quality than the Soul Returning Root, it’s absolutely something that one can only come by with luck.”

900,000 runes sounded very expensive, but Yi Yun did not think so. He compared it to the prices of other treasures, and found that a large number of treasures was not even worth a hundredth of the Heaven Desolate Grass were priced at 200,000 to 300,000 runes.

The price was clearly illogical.

Yi Yun stroked his chin. From the looks of it, there were so many kinds of treasures in the world that even the Myriad Divine Territory was not fully aware of the price of every treasure.

The Heaven Desolate Grass was an example of this. It was said to be extremely precious in the divine alchemist’s notes, but many of the recipes that used it as an ingredient might have been exclusive to the divine alchemist or been lost over time. This made it so that many people were unable to recognize the value of the Heaven Desolate Grass. Otherwise, Yi Yun wouldn’t have found it expensive if it were sold for twenty to thirty million runes.

“I need to get my hands on this Heaven Desolate Grass.”

As Yi Yun ruminated over this, the manager returned.

“Sir, this is your rune jade charm. After inspecting it, all you need to do is project your spiritual mark into it and the jade charm will be unable to be used by others.” The manager said as he returned with a jade disk.

Yi Yun took the jade charm and injected his spiritual energy into it. Immediately, his expression sank.

How poor…

The more than a dozen interspatial rings had only exchanged for 85,000 runes.

With that, how could he get the Heaven Desolate Grass? Yi Yun could not even afford a single spirit herb from the catalog.

It made more sense when he thought about it. The people that he had killed up until now were Dao Palace realm at best. The things stored in their interspatial rings were things Yi Yun could not use. The true treasures he possessed, such as the God Advent Tower, ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’, and the divine alchemist’s notes, he obviously could not sell.

In fact, the wealth Yi Yun had at present was rather substantial. However, at the Myriad Exchange, the treasures he wanted could only be worth more than he had. The people that traded there were old monstrous Supremacies or even Divine Lords that had lived for millions of years!

Compared to such people, Yi Yun was poor.

“Sir, as for the residence you wanted, I have already found suitable cultivation grounds in Myriad City. Sir, please feel free to take a look.” The manager took out a map.

“There’s no need.” Yi Yun pondered for a moment before looking up to say, “I’ve changed my mind. Find me some storefronts that are rather quiet.”

The manager faltered slightly and quickly nodded with a smile. He said, “Alright, let me check for empty storefronts.”

There were many people that came to Myriad City for business so it was nothing odd.

“Sir, why did you ask for a storefront?” Ru’er asked in astonishment.

“The prices of the herbs I need are rather high. The runes I have at present are somewhat short of the amounts required. Furthermore, to ensure that I can obtain them, I probably need even more runes. Since I want to refine pills and cultivate my mind over the next three years, I might as well open a store,” said Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had gone from the mid-stages of the Dao Manifestation realm to the Dao Palace realm in one fell swoop. The leap in cultivation had been so great that, no matter how high Yi Yun’s nomological insights were, he could not be certain he wouldn’t run into problems.

He needed time to let his cultivation sink in. Three years was actually not even enough.

As such, Yi Yun planned to cultivate while studying the divine alchemist’s notes and selling the useless pills he refined. Since Myriad City had a bustling economy, he was bound to have business even if he ran a store in a quiet location.

Yi Yun was also confident in the quality of the pills he refined. Even without counting the pill recipes of the divine alchemist, the most ordinary pills that Yi Yun refined would be of a superior quality.

1137 - : Myriad Pavilion

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Myriad Pavilion’s manager quickly delivered detailed reports of available stores. Yi Yun took one look at the prices and could not help but waver.

Myriad City was thriving just a little too well. It could be considered a megacity even in the entire Yang God Empyrean Heaven. The amount of profit the stores in the central region took in was astronomical. Even ignoring the Myriad Divine Territory’s factions, there were several factions from other territories of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven that set up shop in Myriad City. This made the stores in Myriad City hot property.

Some of the large storefronts in the central district had an annual rent of 20,000 runes, with a ten-year deposit required.

It sounded very expensive but, on second thought, a few big deals a year would pay that rent and then some.

Yi Yun was unable to rent a store in the central region. There was no need for him to do so, either. He decided upon a small store in a rather remote area. The rent was only a tenth of the price of larger stores, but it too required a ten-year deposit as well as a year’s rent. In the end, Yi Yun had to produce 22,000 runes upfront.

Ru’er was still in a daze as they exited the Myriad Pavilion. One couldn’t truly comprehend how poor they were until they came to Myriad City. The amount of money that the Red Cauldron Sect made in a century was not even enough to pay the annual rent for a shop in Myriad City.

“I truly am poor.”

Yi Yun felt that he had a monetary crisis on hand.

It was a feeling he hadn’t had in a very long time. When he really considered it, although he possessed many supreme-grade treasures, the amount of liquid wealth he had never amounted to a lot.

He could earn money by refining medicine and selling it in a store, but it was just too slow.

Yi Yun wanted to hone his medicine refinement skills and Desolate Heaven technique while cultivating.

For those things, he could use precious materials as practice and garner quick success, but that required a sizable sum of money.

What other means were available in Myriad City for him to quickly earn money?

Yi Yun stroked his chin while ruminating over the matter when suddenly his heart stirred. He turned his head oddly and saw a carriage enveloped by prismatic streams of light quickly pass him by.

It was being pulled by nine Prismatic Birds, and the carriage itself was floating three feet off the ground. It remained fast and stable while it traveled. The carriage reached the furthest end of the street in the blink of an eye, before disappearing around a corner. All it left behind was a faint fragrance that inundated Yi Yun.

This carriage…

Yi Yun was surprised. He sensed a familiar aura from the carriage that had just shuttled past him. However, he could not recall who it was even after careful thought.

His perception followed the carriage and he saw it fly into a gigantic building that resembled a small mountain.

“Heavenly Treasures Arch?”

Yi Yun saw that the plaque above the door held those words.

“Ru’er, do you know of the Heavenly Treasures Arch?”

Yi Yun asked casually but he never expected her face to blush slightly upon hearing his question. She nodded and stammered, “Sir, do you want to go to the…Heavenly Treasures Arch?”

“What’s the problem?”

“Nothing, just that…” Ru’er’s explained Heavenly Treasures Arch with a reddened face.

As he listened to her explanation, Yi Yun was left amused.

The Heavenly Treasures Arch was one of the businesses of the Paradise Chapter.

The Paradise Chapter was famous in the Myriad Divine Territory. Its cultivation techniques were extremely special. They were particular about one having the freedom to do as they wished. They believed that by indulging in one’s desires during cultivation, one would have their aspirations freed, resulting in breakthroughs.

As such, the Paradise Chapter did not have the most sterling reputation. The sect’s disciples were known to engage in sex with beauties and indulge in extravagance. Many people regarded them as a demonic sect.

Under such circumstances, the Heavenly Treasures Arch had become the most degenerated land of enjoyment in Myriad City.

Beautiful female slaves were reared there and, as long as the price was right, one could buy or sell them as they wished. Aside from that, it was home to valuable treasures, delicious delicacies, underground gambling for life-and-death battles, and other unsavory and indulgent things. Everything could be found there.

In short, as long as one was rich, one could enjoy all sorts of pleasures in Heavenly Treasures Arch.

As Ru’er explained what the Heavenly Treasures Arch was, her face was constantly red. Yi Yun understood that the young lass had probably mistaken his intention as hoping to seek pleasure with the female slaves in the Heavenly Treasures Arch.

Yi Yun chuckled and did not explain further. It was his first time in Myriad City and he had not yet visited many places. It wasn’t a bad idea to broaden his horizons. Furthermore, Yi Yun was curious over the identity of the person who exuded that familiar aura.

…

The Heavenly Treasures Arch itself was a massive enchanted abode treasure. It had been placed in its location for millions of years.

It spanned a space of about five kilometers, and its interior had been renovated to make it look palatial and affluent.

When Yi Yun came to the entrance, he saw a row of armored strongmen standing by it. Among these iron tower-like bodies was a row of young girls with alluring figures. The savagery and gracefulness formed a stark contrast.

“Welcome!”

The row of young girls got up to bow. However, not every visitor received such a welcome. Only those with a certain level of status enjoyed such treatment.

“Young Master Linghu, you came. Please come in.”

A girl came forward with a smile like a blooming cherry blossom and led a white-dressed man in. The white-dressed man had gotten out of a resplendent carriage, and it was clear at a glance that he came from an extraordinary background.

In the Myriad Divine Territory, there were business opportunities everywhere. In addition to the millions of years of accumulation, there were myriads of wealthy factions. Comparing the Central State Divine Territory to this area was like comparing a tiny county city to a famous world capital.

When Yi Yun approached the Heavenly Treasures Arch’s entrance, no one came forward to welcome him. He was an unknown who seemed very young, so it was natural that no one paid him any attention.

Behind Yi Yun, Ru’er’s face was as red as an apple’s. In Myriad City, she was like an honest child from a poor family. To suddenly come to an extravagant land of sin obviously left her extremely nonplussed.

“This place sure is ostentatious.”

After Yi Yun walked through the entrance, he saw a hall that spanned a thousand feet. It was filled with tables and chairs made of Heavenly Aromatic Wood. And on the ceiling burned an iridescent flame that lit the hall up in seven gorgeous colors.

“Rainbow Feather Flame?”

The flame that illuminated the Heavenly Treasures Arch was a precious mutated fire spirit. Although its value was far from Yi Yun’s Heretical God Fire Seed, it was quite stunning.

Additionally, there was a ten-foot tall coral planted in the middle of the hall. It was extremely striking.

The coral was completely purple and its shape was perfect. Yi Yun was well-versed in the divine alchemist’s notes so he instantly identified it as a deep-sea Purple Blood Coral. It was probably close to a million years old.

Purple Blood Coral was a precious herb for refinement. But here it was, being used as a decoration. Not only did it accentuate the beauty of the area, it also made the hall rich in Yuan Qi.

“Is the Paradise Chapter that rich? To use a million-year-old Purple Blood Coral as a decoration? This thing can be sold for about a million Myriad Runes…” Yi Yun felt a little agitated. He was so poor, yet the Paradise Chapter’s extravagance had reached a whole new level.

“Haha, the Heavenly Treasures Arch has even taken out the Purple Blood Coral. Indeed, Fairy Youqin gets special treatment!”

“That’s for sure. And we lucked out as a result. Although we have no hopes with the beauty, nor can we eat the medicine refined from the Purple Blood Coral, just breathing in the Yuan Qi emitted by the Purple Blood Coral is a refreshing feeling.”

When Yi Yun overheard the conversation between two warriors, he felt relieved. From the looks of it, a worldly spirit item like the Purple Blood Coral was something the Heavenly Treasures Arch only took out for special occasions. It was not so wealthy to the point of using the Purple Blood Coral as a decorative plant.

1138 - : Heavenly Treasures Arch

CKtalon  CKtalon

Spiritual herbs were typically kept in sealed jade boxes. Some jade boxes were even augmented with arrays to preserve the spiritual herb’s essence.

The open placement of the Purple Blood Coral in front of Yi Yun obviously left it susceptible to the sapping of its essence.

Such an ostentatious display left Yi Yun curious. Who was this Fairy Youqin?

“Brothers, might I ask: who is this Fairy Youqin that you mentioned would be coming today?”

Yi Yun asked the two warriors that had been discussing the Purple Blood Coral. Although the duo had average cultivation levels compared to Yi Yun, they were dressed in expensive outfits. Their clothes were made of Heavenly Silk and they had valuable swords hanging at their waists. Embedded within their swords were a sizable number of precious stones. Yi Yun was an expert when it came to swords. He could tell at a glance that the two swords were nothing impressive, but they appeared to be perfect in their garishness.

From the looks of it, the two of them were scions of a wealthy family.

“Brother, you must be from afar. How could you not have heard of Fairy Youqin?” The youth that spoke was dressed in blue. He didn’t quite match his luxurious clothes, for he had an honest look. Combined with his slightly darkened complexion, he resembled a farmer.

Yi Yun nodded. “You are correct, I do not know. Please enlighten me.”

The other youth followed up. He was playing with a pair of polished walnut cores and looked like an elegant scholar. “When you speak of Fairy Youqin, you must first talk about the Paradise Chapter. Legend says that the founder of Paradise Chapter came from the Sinkhole. Then, as the Paradise Chapter stayed in the Myriad Divine Territory for a prolonged period of time, it became one of the top major factions. Most of Paradise Chapter’s disciples are men. Since it emphasizes allowing one to act on their desires, it is said to be heaven for many male warriors. This also causes the Paradise Chapter to have an ever-increasing number of disciples.”

He continued: “The Paradise Chapter would choose a successor every ten thousand years. Typically, the successor would be male and he would inherit the true teachings of the ‘Paradise Divine Technique’. He would truly enjoy all the pleasures of life.”

“However…” The scholarly youth suddenly had a change in tone. “On very rare occasions, the Paradise Chapter would choose a young female successor. It is no small matter when that happens. The male successors of the Paradise Chapter typically pursue their desires but female successors are the complete opposite. They would be chaste and be devoid of all secular desires.”

“As for Fairy Youqin, she is the present successor of the Paradise Chapter! She first appeared three years ago and quickly made a name for herself in Myriad Divine Territory. She has a body inherited from the union of a simurgh and a phoenix. In addition to the techniques she cultivates in, anyone who wins her heart and copulates with her would experience the unmatched pleasure of skin so smooth and fair that it melts away into something resembling silky spring water. One could die without regrets after that!”

The scholarly youth spoke as if his soul was fluttering away. Yi Yun found it amusing. The fellow seemed rather noble, but in reality, he was just another immanently horny guy.

At that moment, the honest-looking youth spoke up, “Haha, such a peerless woman is not someone we should place our sights on. Brother, it’s better to be in your shoes. You have that fine young lass beside you. She’s cute, obedient, and I’m sure she would give you a good time at night. You really have a beautiful girl!”

The honest-looking youth glanced at Ru’er as he spoke. He even gave Yi Yun an expression any man would know. The red in Ru’er’s face got deeper.

What nonsense was this person spouting? She did not know what to say. As for Yi Yun, he only smiled and did not bother to explain anything.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the hall. A few managers of the Heavenly Treasures Arch hurriedly walked out as a row of beautiful consorts lined up.

“Oh? Some big shot is coming.”

People came to receive the person as a few managers politely said simultaneously, “Welcome Young Master Haoyu!”

“I was wondering who it was to receive such a grand reception from the Heavenly Treasures Arch. So it’s the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s Zuoqiu Haoyu,” said the scholarly youth enviously.

A young master from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion?

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion was the biggest faction in the Myriad Divine Territory. To be addressed as “young master,” he definitely enjoyed extraordinary status in Myriad Immortal Pavilion. It was no wonder he received such treatment.

“Young Master Haoyu came too.”

“That’s natural. It’s no secret that Zuoqiu Haoyu has been trying to woo Fairy Youqin. If Zuoqiu Haoyu can win her heart, not only would he experience physical bliss, his cultivation level would also reap huge benefits from that simurgh and phoenix hybrid body of hers. Also, if he gained an alliance with the Paradise Chapter, his status in the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would be greatly elevated.”

As the crowd conversed, a group of people walked in. The person leading the group was dressed in opulent clothes. This handsome young man was most likely Zuoqiu Haoyu.

He had an imposing appearance and his aura was like an unsheathed sword. He was clearly an elite that was a cut above the rest.

The managers of Heavenly Treasures Arch led Zuoqiu Haoyu to a luxury box. This seemingly inconsequential action had attracted the attention of a number of people.

The Heavenly Treasures Arch’s most splendid luxury boxes were the Heaven-class box and the slightly inferior Earth-class boxes.

There were many Earth-class boxes, but there was only one Heaven-class box.

People originally expected Zuoqiu Haoyu to be given the Heaven-class box, so they were shocked when the managers led Zuoqiu Haoyu to an Earth-class box instead.

Zuoqiu Haoyu frowned slightly when he saw the arrangement. But immediately, a manager whispered into Zuoqiu Haoyu’s ear. This made him immediately reveal a look of understanding. He went to the Earth-class box without incident.

Without a doubt, the person in the Heaven-class box was of much higher status than Zuoqiu Haoyu.

This left people curious. Who was in the Heaven-class box?

There were obviously many people in Myriad City that enjoyed a status higher than Zuoqiu Haoyu, such as the Elders of mighty factions.

However, old seniors like that would not come to Heavenly Treasures Arch to listen to Fairy Youqin’s playing of the zither. This was, after all, the world of youngsters.

At that moment, the clear tune of a zither was heard from within the hall.

The zither tune was extremely moving, like the fluttering music of immortals.

Even Yi Yun felt his heartstrings being tugged. The tune was like a song but also plaintive.

It was a very special zither tune.

Yi Yun glanced at the two youths that had conversed with him. They were quickly mesmerized by the zither tune. They were not the only ones. Everyone in the hall appeared intoxicated.

The zither tune was quite extraordinary!

Yi Yun sensed that the zither tune contained extremely potent mental powers that could affect the souls of anyone who heard it.

Furthermore, with the sound waves reverberating, the surrounding laws began to naturally condense, forming invisible sound runes that danced in the void.

The zither was not producing sound runes, but laws.

Zither Dao…and Soul laws.

Yi Yun came up with such an evaluation.

“This is Fairy Youqin’s zither tune!”

It was unknown who said that. With that, everyone looked towards the source of the tune. There, they saw more than a dozen white brocades flying down from the middle of the hall. An immortal mist lingered as a figure floated down with her hair fluttering like a fairy that descended to the mortal world.

She held a zither in hand, and its tune produced ripples that radiated in every direction. The ripples were like water that cast light onto her beautiful face that she slowly lifted.

Instantly, it was as if color had been drained from the entire hall. Even the gorgeous Purple Blood Coral seemed dimmer.

Even Yi Yun could not remain composed when he caught sight of her.

She was truly perfect and flawless. Even if one wanted to, it would be impossible to find any fault in her.

Despite being in a den of indulgence, this zither-wielding fairy who was the successor of the Paradise Chapter appeared sacred and chaste. It seemed impossible that anyone would wish to desecrate her.

Amid the zither tunes, many people revealed mesmerized looks. It was as if they were willing to die for her.

Of course, Yi Yun was not affected by it. His soul was powerful and not easily swayed.

I have apparently not seen…this Fairy Youqin before.

Yi Yun looked at Fairy Youqin’s beautiful face and pondered. He could not recall anyone that resembled her. He originally believed that the mysterious woman that passed him outside the Heavenly Treasures Arch was likely Fairy Youqin. But now, from the looks of it, he had guessed wrong.

“I’ve received word of an esteemed guest’s arrival, so I am here to welcome him with my tunes.” A voice that was as ethereal and elegant as a melody came from the immortal mist. The voice seemed to reach straight into one’s bones. The lingering sound echoed, leaving people with meaningful afterthoughts.

The people who had been affected by the zither tunes were also intoxicated by Fairy Youqin’s voice.

Zuoqiu Haoyu said with a laugh, “Haha, I never expected Fairy Youqin to appear today without a veil concealing her face. We are truly lucky.”

Whenever Fairy Youqin appeared in the past, she would have her face covered by a veil. This time she had removed her veil, revealing her true face to everyone.

Although Zuoqiu Haoyu said out loud that they were lucky, he was actually quite displeased. He was an extremely possessive person. He wished that Fairy Youqin would always wear the veil until he had successfully courted her, so that her peerless looks would be only his to see.

Only a peerless woman that was completely in his possession could satisfy him.

How could those inferior warriors have the qualifications to see my future wife’s face?

“Fairy Youqin, you speak too seriously. As an old man, it’s my first time coming to Heavenly Treasures Arch to listen to your zither playing. Only after hearing it have I realized how regretful it is that I have missed so many counts of this heavenly music.”

At that moment, a voice with bold undertones sounded from the Heaven-class box. Everyone was stunned when they heard it. From his tone, he was clearly a senior!

An old senior who enjoyed a status higher than Zuoqiu Haoyu had come to listen to Fairy Youqin play the zither?

Just as people were guessing at the senior’s identity, they saw the Heaven-class box open. A middle-aged man dressed in purple-golden robes walked out with large strides.

The middle-aged man was tall and stocky. His thick eyebrows resembled swords and he had an extraordinary aura.

Many people were dumbfounded when they saw the middle-aged man. He was…the city lord of Myriad City!

Myriad City had been established for hundreds of millions of years, but the position of city lord was extremely special. Historically, the city lord did not belong to any major faction.

As one of the core trading areas of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, the benefits of becoming Myriad City’s city lord was unimaginable. It was precisely for that reason that the major factions did not wish for the position of city lord to belong to their competitors. Otherwise, the all-important balance between the major factions would be broken.

Under such circumstances, the various major factions had no choice but to compromise. They would choose a neutral, peerless expert to take on the role as Myriad City’s city lord. The person who was chosen had to be capable of influencing the situation between the major factions through his own strength.

It was obvious what weight this figure’s appearance entailed.

People were curious as to the reason for the city lord’s sudden appearance at the Heavenly Treasures Arch. Furthermore, they noticed that behind him stood a white-dressed woman with an outstanding aura.

1139 - : Fairy Youqin

CKtalon  CKtalon

The girl behind the Myriad City’s city lord did not look a day older than twenty. She wore a snow-white dress with fluttering cloth belts.

The girl slowly walked forward. She had a tall and slender body with fair skin that rivaled snow. She had a reserved charm with a beauty that could topple cities, giving her the air of an ethereal fairy.

Everyone could not help but be attracted to her, and found it almost impossible to move their gazes away.

“This girl sure is exquisite. She doesn’t even pale in comparison to Fairy Youqin. Or rather, it should be said that each one of them has their own merits.”

“She was in the Heaven-class room with the city lord. Could she be his daughter?”

There was a flurry of discussion as people were curious over the woman’s identity.

The two scions beside Yi Yun stared at her as if their eyes were about to pop out. The trip here today truly wasn’t wasted for them. Not only did they witness Fairy Youqin’s unveiled face, they had also managed to see another peerless woman.

However, they knew all too well that people like them stood no chance with women of that status.

The two felt forlorn when they realized that Yi Yun was staring at the white-dressed woman intently and seemed somewhat out of it.

“Brother, it’s useless to look at her. Such women stand in a completely different world from us. Being mesmerized by her will only be lead to your own suffering.”

The honest-looking youth spoke and patted Yi Yun on the shoulder as a form of consolation.

Yi Yun only exhaled and smiled at the honest-looking youth, not explaining a thing.

He never expected to see a familiar face in the Myriad Divine Territory. Furthermore, this person’s aura and strength had made a quantitative leap. It was so different that Yi Yun was unable to recognize her immediately.

The woman was once Yi Yun’s rival, Princess White Fox.

Years ago, Yi Yun had entered the Primordial Empyrean Heaven and his strength was far inferior to hers. Only when Yi Yun managed to crack the secret of the Purple Crystal Chaos Stones by chance, learning the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence and Major Destruction Dao, did he managed to exceed Princess White Fox in the training trials.

Later on, Yi Yun became Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple and left the Luo clan. Following that, he went on an expedition to the Azure Wood Great World, which resulted in him no longer being able to see Princess White Fox. He never imagined that he would chance upon her in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven.

Why did Princess White Fox come to the Yang God Empyrean Heaven? Furthermore, how did she know the Myriad City’s city lord?

Yi Yun was somewhat puzzled.

What he did know was that Princess White Fox’s strength had increased by leaps and bounds. She was already a peerless genius so now, with her strength improved, she was even more formidable. She would truly be a favored daughter of the heavens even in a faction of the Divine Lord grade.

“City Lord Qin, you make it sound so formal. It’s my pleasure that City Lord Qin could listen to my performance today.”

Fairy Youqin held her zither and gave City Lord Qin a bow.

“Haha!” City Lord Qin guffawed. “To think that Old Freak Zhuo can have a disciple like you is truly his blessings. I’m even a little jealous of him.”

City Lord Qin did not hold back on his praises of Fairy Youqin. “Speaking of which, although I do not have any worthy disciples, an old friend of mine has taken in a good disciple. I brought her here today and I would like to introduce her to all of you.”

As City Lord Qin spoke, he said to Princess White Fox behind him, “Wuxia, why don’t you introduce yourself to Youqin?”

Wuxia?

Yi Yun was slightly surprised. In the past, the people of the White Fox clan addressed Princess White Fox as Princess Xue’er. He had never heard of the name “Wuxia.” He wasn’t sure if she had changed her name later.

“Zhuo Youqin.” Fairy Youqin gave Princess White Fox a slight bow.

“Xue Wuxia.” Princess White Fox returned the bow.

The two outstanding women were polite in greeting each other. Following that, a single sentence from City Lord Qin broke the peace.

“Fairy Youqin, my old friend sent Wuxia here to Myriad City for training. What a coincidence that Wuxia also cultivates in the Zither Dao and soul techniques. It’s rather similar to you, so I recommended that she come to Heavenly Treasures Arch.”

“Fairy Youqin’s Zither Dao is peerless so, if the two of you can spar, you will both definitely improve. I wonder if Fairy Youqin is agreeable to the idea?”

The moment City Lord Qin laid out his cards, everyone was taken aback. When they finally understood and confirmed what City Lord Qin meant, they were astounded. They originally believed that City Lord Qin had brought Xue Wuxia here to befriend someone, but they never expected that he had brought her here to make a scene.

The male warriors present could not help but get excited.

The Heavenly Treasures Arch was Fairy Youqin’s territory, to begin with. Fairy Youqin made her first appearance three years ago and since then had caused many young scions of Myriad City to be infatuated with her. Unfortunately, Fairy Youqin was sacred and pure. She kept others at a good distance, causing everyone that tried to woo her to leave in low spirits.

And now, another flawless fairy that was every bit her equal had appeared. What would be the outcome between two phoenixes?

“Oh? What a coincidence…”

Fairy Youqin glanced at City Lord Qin. Her expression was unperturbed. She could sense that Xue Wuxia’s cultivation in the soul was definitely not lower than hers.

Fairy Youqin was not afraid of such competitions. On the contrary, she was very willing to accept the challenge. She knew that if her opponent was of similar strength to her, it would benefit her growth in cultivation level greatly.

In fact, Fairy Youqin had chosen to make appearances in Heavenly Treasures Arch and play the zither in front of so many Myriad City elites so that she could infuse her soul power into her zither music. By enveloping everyone in her Zither Domain, she was able to train her Zither Dao and soul.

Princess White Fox streaked her fingers across the air and dots of light gathered together, transforming into a zither with a phoenix tail design. It appeared beneath her fingertips and floated in mid-air.

She looked at the seven strings on the zither and said, “Fairy Youqin’s zither tunes are melodious and moving. I am not a competitive person by nature but my master is strict. I can only comply. Speaking of which, the relationship between my master and the Paradise Chapter goes deep…”

As Princess White Fox said this, she suddenly stopped. She scanned the baffled audience for, at that instant, she suddenly felt a faint but familiar aura.

Was there someone she knew here?

…

Goes deep? How so?

Everyone was waiting for Princess White Fox to continue but she did not say another word.

However, with that already said, everyone guessed that the ‘deep relationship’ probably wasn’t a simple matter.

It was very likely that Xue Wuxia’s master had some conflict with the Paradise Chapter, seeing as she sent her to the Heavenly Treasures Arch to compete with the Paradise Chapter’s successor.

Upon thinking of this, the audience got excited.

A duel between such peerless women was truly a rare opportunity!

“This Xue Wuxia is truly of supreme-grade.”

Zuoqiu Haoyu looked at Xue Wuxia and something within him stirred. His strong desire to possess once again reared its head. Xue Wuxia was every bit as splendid as Fairy Youqin!

If he could have the two women in his bedroom, it would truly be extreme bliss.

However, it was just too difficult a goal. Zuoqiu Haoyu knew very well that courting Xue Wuxia would be extremely difficult.

But despite the difficulty, only a challenge would give him a sense of accomplishment. In terms of background and strength, few in Myriad City’s younger generation could compare with him. If she were to marry, who else could she choose but him?

With these thoughts in mind, the corners of Zuoqiu Haoyu’s mouth curled up. He was absolutely confident in such matters.

“Oh? What is Xue Wuxia looking at?”

Zuoqiu Haoyu was surprised. He suddenly realized that Xue Wuxia, who had taken out her zither, was somewhat distracted. Her gaze was trained at a corner in the public seats. The seats of Heavenly Treasures Arch were of different prices and the corner seats were obviously the lowest. Those who sat there were poor losers, inferior warriors to Zuoqiu Haoyu.

Why was Xue Wuxia looking at those inferior warriors?

Zuoqiu Haoyu was somewhat perplexed. He carefully traced Xue Wuxia’s gaze and finally confirmed that she was looking at a black-robed youth.

The youth had a young maidservant beside him. He had quite outstanding looks but in a warrior’s world, that did not mean much. Furthermore, the youth dressed blandly. He did not have any emblems of a major faction on him, so he clearly wasn’t of a superior background. He was completely inconsequential.

1140 - : Familiar

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It can’t be. It seems like Fairy Wuxia is looking right at us.”

The honest-looking youth beside Yi Yun clearly sensed Princess White Fox’s gaze.

“Is she looking at us? That’s impossible, right…?”

The youth that was playing with the polished walnut cores found it unbelievable. Although he was a horny guy, he knew his place. His father was only a shopkeeper of a small store. How could he garner the fairy’s favor?

However, Fairy Wuxia’s gaze was indeed trained on them.

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed as he locked eyes with Princess White Fox.

Princess White Fox opened her cherry lips slightly and immediately, and her voice resounded in Yi Yun’s mind.

“Yi Yun? I never expected to see you here.”

Yi Yun nodded. “I’m very surprised as well.”

“How did you come to be here?” Princess White Fox asked.

“It’s a long story…” Yi Yun shook his head. He had so many experiences that he was at a loss as to where to begin. “Princess, why would you come to the Myriad Divine Territory?”

“I came to the Yang God Empyrean Heaven by accident. As for the Myriad Divine Territory, I came with my master. Before I arrived in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, I had a fortuitous encounter that greatly enhanced my strength. Because of this, I impressed my master enough to take me in as her disciple. Master and City Lord Qin are old friends, and Master has a grudge with the Paradise Chapter, so she instructed me to come to Heavenly Treasures Arch.”

“I see.Then congratulations are in order.” Yi Yun had a good impression of Princess White Fox. He was sincerely happy for her to experience a fortuitous encounter.

“Yi Yun, it’s just… I have something to tell you. This matter is likely to be rather important to you…”

Oh?

Yi Yun was surprised. What important matter could Princess White Fox have to inform him of?

“Princess, please speak.”

Princess White Fox deliberated over her words before continuing, “In fact, the fortuitous encounter I experienced has something to do with you. After the Azure Wood Great World collapsed, a mysterious passage opened up in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. It led to a mysterious world.”

“Many genius warriors from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven had an opportunity to enter it. Aside from myself, the Luo clan’s Princess Luo Huo’er also went as well.”

“The mysterious world did not appear to be dangerous, but it was a chaotic space. It was grotesque in shape and gaudy in color. Many geniuses lost their way in there, and some even lost their minds. They eventually fell deeper, disappearing into the world’s depths.

“Huo’er and I also found ourselves trapped in a chaotic space that was filled with illusions. We could not find a way out…until we came across a woman in the chaotic space. She was a perfect beauty, and she was powerful. Through her help, we finally managed to escape danger and obtain great benefits.”

“That white-dressed woman is our benefactor.”

“And through our conversations with her, we learned that she had been lost in that chaotic space for decades. As we shared our pasts, Luo Huo’er realized the woman’s true identity. Her name was…Lin Xintong!”

What!?

Yi Yun immediately stood up. The tea in front of him crashed to the ground.

“Pa!”

The loud shatter gave the two men beside Yi Yun a fright.

“Brother, what are you doing?” The honest-looking youth said hurriedly. It couldn’t be. This fellow actually became that agitated when he saw Fairy Wuxia looking at him?

But at that moment, Yi Yun could not be bothered with him. He looked incredulously at Princess White Fox.

“Is what you said true?”

“Of course. For starters, Huo’er is aware of your relationship with Lin Xintong. And when she told us her name and the experiences she had with you, it was pretty much certain. Huo’er also told her news about you. At the time, you had vanished along with the Azure Wood Great World. Felicitous Rain Lord went looking for you but you were nowhere to be found… Lin Xintong appeared shaken when she heard this news,” said Princess White Fox.

Yi Yun’s breathing hastened. It was truly Xintong…She was indeed still safe and alive.

Xintong, I’ve finally heard news of you!

Ever since he came to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, Yi Yun had wished, from the bottom of his heart, to search for Lin Xintong.

However, the 12 Empyrean Heavens were massive. They were filled with deadly experts and dangers that could end him if he wasn’t careful. Under such circumstances, Yi Yun, who was relatively weak, had no means to find Lin Xintong. More importantly, he did not know where to begin.

But today, Princess White Fox gave him his first ever news of Lin Xintong’s whereabouts!

Lin Xintong had been stuck in that chaotic space for decades. Back when they were flying from the Tian Yuan world to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, he was separated from Lin Xintong by a spatial storm. He was lucky enough to land in the Luo clan’s territory while Lin Xintong had drifted into a strange world, and had she been stuck there all this time.

“Who is that punk? He lacks manners.”

Everyone in the hall was calmly listening to the zither as they waited for the climax of the battle between Xue Wuxia and Fairy Youqin. Yi Yun’s sudden movement startled them, interrupting the pleasant tunes.

Zuoqiu Haoyu frowned. There were the Elders of Heavenly Treasures Arch, as well as the Myriad City’s city lord, present. Fairy Youqin and Xue Wuxia held extremely honored statuses, so how could a junior act so impetuously in this situation?

“This punk has disturbed Fairy Wuxia’s zither-playing mood. Get rid of him!” Zuoqiu Haoyu said coldly. He felt that he had restrained his tone. If he had his say, he would have such a person crippled without batting an eyelid.

A few burly strongmen immediately walked towards Yi Yun. As for Yi Yun, he was still in a daze as if he had not noticed what was happening around him.

Just as the strongmen’s hands were about to land on Yi Yun’s body, Princess White Fox suddenly commanded, “Stop!”

Her figure moved elegantly with cloth belts fluttering. Instantly, she disappeared from the Heaven-class box and appeared in front of Yi Yun.

Princess White Fox had an honored status and a domineering stance. With her there, the strongmen were completely dumbfounded. They naturally did not dare make a move.

“Young Master Zuoqiu, this person is my friend. You get no say on whether he has disturbed my zither-playing mood or not.” Princess White Fox’s voice sounded cold.

The way Zuoqiu Haoyu looked at her was irritating.

Furthermore, Yi Yun was no stranger to her. Not to mention, his wife had saved her life in that chaotic world, allowing her to receive a fortuitous opportunity. As such, Princess White Fox did not spare Zuoqiu Haoyu’s feelings with her words.

Princess White Fox’s words made Zuoqiu Haoyu hesitate. His expression turned extremely ugly.

His original command was meant to teach the punk a lesson, but he ended up being figuratively smacked in the face by Xue Wuxia.

Zuoqiu Haoyu was embarrassed in front of so many people.

Meanwhile, Yi Yun appeared to have missed the conversation. His eyes were trained on Princess White Fox. “Where is the entrance to that strange world?”

Yi Yun had asked that with a voice transmission. Although he was far away in Yang God Empyrean Heaven, Yi Yun did not wish to waste another second. He wanted to take immediate action, lest the hope of finding Lin Xintong fade.

However, Princess White Fox shook her head. “You will probably be disappointed. The entrance to the strange world only existed for a fleeting moment. Otherwise, why wouldn’t we have escaped it? Huo’er and I only managed to succeed in walking out of that world because of Miss Lin. And when we departed it, all three of us were separated. I lost consciousness in the spatial storm and when I woke up, I was here in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven!”

Princess White Fox was very apologetic. She learned from Luo Huo’er that Yi Yun was always thinking of Lin Xintong. Yet she was unable to provide him with any valuable information.

Only the Heavens knew where one would end up in the 12 Empyrean Heavens after leaving the strange world. They could even land in the Sinkhole.

Yi Yun took a deep breath, he was crushed.

Everyone in the hall, including Zuoqiu Haoyu, Fairy Youqin, as well as City Lord Qin, saw Yi Yun’s expression change.

They could see that Yi Yun had his brows furrowed tightly and the color in his face had drained. Furthermore, Xue Wuxia appeared apologetic.

They naturally were not privy to the Yuan Qi conversation between Yi Yun and Xue Wuxia. However, they could tell without a doubt that Yi Yun was important to her. If he wasn’t, Xue Wuxia would not have directly flown out of the Heaven-class box to appear beside him.

1141 - : News

CKtalon  CKtalon

Despite happening upon news of Lin Xintong amid a sea of people, Yi Yun had no idea where to begin his search. But at the very least, he knew that Lin Xintong was safe.

“Your Highness, thank you for telling me this news. It makes me very happy just to know that she’s alive.”

“Sorry for not being able to offer much help,” Princess White Fox said somewhat guiltily.

“Your Highness, don’t blame yourself. Also…regarding Luo Huo’er, does Your Highness know where she ended up?” Yi Yun was also rather concerned over Luo Huo’er. The spirited girl held an important place in his heart.

Xue Wuxia shook her head again. “It wasn’t easy for us to escape that tiny world. When we did, we were separated, so I have no idea where Huo’er is either.”

“Got it…”

Yi Yun did not speak further. He expected such an answer, so there was nothing to be disappointed about. In fact, he had many questions he wanted to ask Princess White Fox, especially regarding that tiny world and Lin Xintong’s experiences over the past few decades.

Unfortunately, Yi Yun’s mind was a mess, unsure as to how to begin querying immediately. He decided to bid Princess White Fox farewell, and meet her another time to discuss the topic in depth.

However, just as Yi Yun was about to speak, a figure appeared in front of him. Zuoqiu Haoyu had flown down from the luxury box on the second floor.

Zuoqiu Haoyu floated in mid-air, standing high above Yi Yun. He said to Yi Yun, “Since this brother is Fairy Wuxia’s friend, you are also an honored guest of my Myriad City. Brother, you appear to be a talented person who would be great to befriend. I would like to invite the both of you to my luxury box for a seat. I wonder if the both of you might join me?”

Zuoqiu Haoyu spoke in a very polite tone, but Yi Yun was not in the mood to converse with anyone. He looked up and glanced at Zuoqiu Haoyu. He naturally remembered that this person had tried to chase him away just moments ago.

Yi Yun was typically not bothered by such trivial offenses, but he could sense a subtle look of contempt and disparagement behind Zuoqiu Haoyu’s humble and sincere eyes.

Clearly, Zuoqiu Haoyu wanted to get close to Princess White Fox.

Princess White Fox had a formidable master, knew City Lord Qin and was a blessed daughter of the heavens. Zuoqiu Haoyu couldn’t just casually invite her. In order to appear less imprudent, he swallowed his pride and invited Yi Yun as well. He wanted to use Yi Yun as a wingman, yet he belittled him. Considering these circumstances, Yi Yun naturally did not think well of Zuoqiu Haoyu.

He was already plagued by discordant thoughts, so he had no intention of entertaining Zuoqiu Haoyu’s feigned politeness. He said directly to Princess White Fox, “Your Highness, it’s not convenient for us to have a long chat today. I’ll be bidding you farewell for now. I will have a detailed chat with Your Highness at a later date. I’ll be staying in Myriad City for a while.”

With that said, Yi Yun turned and left. He did not even speak to Zuoqiu Haoyu.

Zuoqiu Haoyu was still floating in mid-air, looking down at Yi Yun. When Yi Yun turned around, the smile on his face stiffened. Was this punk leaving just like that?

Zuoqiu Haoyu was left hanging in mid-air, his eyes flashed with pangs of fury.

He could excuse Xue Wuxia being cold towards him as she was, after all, a blessed daughter of the heavens. It was only normal for her to have a superior air.

But who the hell was this punk? Zuoqiu Haoyu thought he was of superior status. He had already paid his due respects to come down and specially speak to the punk.

The two warriors beside Yi Yun were also somewhat confounded. They never expected Fairy Wuxia to have a deep relationship with Yi Yun. What’s more, Yi Yun had ignored Zuoqiu Haoyu in front of so many people. He could not even be bothered to reject him verbally, and instead completely disregarded him.

Zuoqiu Haoyu was one of the young masters that held quite a lofty position among the Myriad Pavilion’s younger generation. Did Yi Yun even consider the consequences of offending him?

Seeing the surrounding people’s astonished reaction, Zuoqiu Haoyu’s expression appeared as still as water. He did not speak another word as he quietly returned to his luxury box.

He took a deep look at Yi Yun’s back as killing intent flashed in his eyes. “Investigate this man for me!”

…

“Ru’er.” Yi Yun called out to Ru’er.

“Yes…Yes!” Ru’er finally snapped out of her daze. She hurriedly got on her feet and gave one last glance at Xue Wuxia before turning to chase after Yi Yun.

Ru’er thought to herself, “That fairy from before was truly beautiful. I wonder what relationship he has with that fairy…”

Xue Wuxia watched Yi Yun leave before sighing inwardly. Following that, her figure transformed into an ethereal white smoke as she returned to the front of the Heaven-class box on the second floor.

She took a look at Fairy Youqin and City Lord Qin and bowed slightly, “I was reuniting with an old friend. Sorry for being impetuous.”

“It’s fine.” Fairy Youqin said softly as a hint of curiosity flashed in her eyes.

City Lord laughed instead. “I never expected you to have a friend here. However, today is focused on you and Fairy Youqin having an exchange. If there’s a chance in the future, introduce me to that friend of yours.”

“Yes, Uncle Qin.” Princess White Fox looked at Fairy Youqin. She released the zither in her hands and left it in mid-air. Her soft and flawless fingers lightly touched the zither.

“Please give me your pointers.”

Zheng!

Like the howl of the wind, pattering of stormy rain, and the shriek of a phoenix that reached the nine heavens, Princess White Fox’s zither tune was produced. The people that were secretly in conversation in Heavenly Treasures Arch instantly fell silent.

All that remained in their ears was Princess White Fox’s zither tunes. The only thing they saw was Princess White Fox’s agile fingers.

Sound runes resonated from the zither strings like starlight that danced around Princess White Fox.

At that moment, a blue eye suddenly appeared behind Princess White Fox.

The eye seemed to devour all light. It grew continuously until it shrouded Princess White Fox’s figure. At that moment, she was like a galactic fairy who played melodious zither tunes in the vast sky.

Eye of the Skyfox!

Years ago, Princess White Fox had competed with Yi Yun in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven and she had summoned the Eye of the Skyfox. However, the Eye of the Skyfox back then was only in its nascent stage. It paled in comparison to what it was now.

The White Fox clan was adept at spiritual and soul techniques. Fusing her soul with Zither Dao was Princess White Fox most proficient domain of expertise.

And it was for this reason that she was acknowledged by her master, who did her best to nurture her.

City Lord Qin nodded as he marveled at her feats. He naturally knew of her background. Such a powerful Ancient Fey bloodline was not something humans could compare with. His friend’s disciple was indeed impressive. When compared to Paradise Chapter’s Fairy Youqin, they each had their own merits.

Fairy Youqin’s expression revealed a hint of seriousness. She could sense that her opponent had a natural talent in the soul.

…

“Sir.” Ru’er followed Yi Yun gingerly. Yi Yun appeared to be aimless and confused. He walked with a heavy heart.

Having suddenly received news of Lin Xintong, Yi Yun was delighted but he also felt a mix of other emotions.

It was unknown where the exit to that small world had opened to. The 12 Empyrean Heavens were massive, so how could he find Lin Xintong?

This actually made things much more difficult. Originally, Yi Yun believed that Lin Xintong was in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, but now she could be anywhere.

After a while, Yi Yun calmed his heart down.

“There’s no hurry. At the very least, I now know that Xintong is safe.” Yi Yun shook his head.

He had no means of finding Lin Xintong. He could only wait for the day when his strength was enough to influence all of the 12 Empyrean Heavens. When his name spread throughout the 12 Empyrean Heavens, Lin Xintong would naturally know where he was.

Yi Yun temporarily had no plans of leaving the Myriad Divine Territory. Ling Xie’er had nearly been wiped out because of him and Yi Yun had sworn to awaken her so he naturally could not give up.

“Ru’er,” said Yi Yun suddenly as he stopped. “Let’s return to the store.”

Regardless of how chaotic his thoughts were, everything had to be done in a slow and steady fashion.

Yi Yun still planned on staying in Myriad City. He needed to prepare if he wanted to obtain the three rare herbs in the exchange in three years.

As long as he could refine the Hollow Soul Pill, he would able to awaken Ling Xie’er from her slumber.

1142 - : Skyfox Zither Dao

CKtalon  CKtalon

The store Yi Yun rented from Myriad Pavilion was located in a rather remote area north of Myriad City, with little human traffic. There was a tiny, clear river that ran alongside it and hanging willows on both sides of the bank that were more than a thousand years old. It was a tranquil environment.

After taking up residence, Ru’er cleaned the store and the yard thoroughly. Yi Yun set up an alchemical cauldron in one of the rooms, converting it to an alchemy lab.

They took care to place Ling Xie’er’s body in the quietest room, where she slept silently.

Yi Yun refined pills mainly as a means to cultivate his soul and enhance his ability to refine pills. At the same time, he could eliminate the negative after effects of having his cultivation level rise too rapidly.

The creation of the Hollow Soul Pill required extremely precious herbs, and an extremely long period of time to refine those herbs. Yi Yun sat in front of the cauldron and held a scroll left behind by the divine alchemist. He began poring over its contents.

Without him knowing, time passed quickly until it was nearly sunset. He was quietly meditating when suddenly he opened his eyes.

His figure flashed as he rushed out the door.

“Sirr?” Ru’er was watering the plants in the yard. When she saw Yi Yun fly out of the alchemy lab like a gust of wind with a serious expression, she was immediately given a shock.

Did something happen?

She noticed that he was charging straight for a room.

The room where Ling Xie’er slept…

“Xie’er!” Yi Yun rushed into the room.

Having fused with the Heretical God Fire Seed, he could directly sense any change in Ling Xie’er’s condition.

And he just sensed that Ling Xie’er, who was still asleep, had suddenly gotten very weak!

Yi Yun came into the room. On the ice-cold bed lay Ling Xie’er’s petite figure in silence. Her skin looked so delicate that a wind could rupture it. Her eyes were tightly closed.

And in her hands, she held the Soul Returning Root.

Even still, her body was becoming increasingly transparent. Even the Soul Returning Root in her hands had nearly vanished.

“What’s going on?” Yi Yun turned anxious. He didn’t have what he needed to refine the Hollow Soul Pill at that point in time, but something had gone wrong with Ling Xie’er’s incorporeal body.

Yi Yun scanned Ling Xie’er’s condition with his perception as he placed a finger on Ling Xie’er’s glabella. He sent out a constant stream of Yang Yuan Qi into her body.

However, the pure Yang Yuan Qi seemed like it was emptying into the boundless sea.

From the looks of it, as a worldly spiritual object, Ling Xie’er could not be sustained solely through the Soul Returning Root and pure Yang Yuan Qi.

This was something Yi Yun had not expected at all. As he watched Ling Xie’er’s incorporeal body continue to weaken, Yi Yun felt as if his heart was being minced.

He had promised to save Ling Xie’er. He needed three years to completely awaken her. But at this rate, she would not last three years.

“There must be a way…Think!”

Yi Yun desperately tried to think of ideas. He knew that Ling Xie’er was in that state because her soul was too weak.

If he made Ling Xie’er consume the Soul Returning Root now, allowing all its essence to fuse into her incorporeal body, then it might be possible to tide through this catastrophe.

However, there was only one Soul Returning Root. And it was needed to refine the Hollow Soul Pill. Furthermore, without the nourishment from the Soul Returning Root, he didn’t know if Ling Xie’er could last the three years.

Yi Yun needed an herb to replace the Soul Returning Root.

Yi Yun pondered. Within the vast amount of information contained in the divine alchemist’s notes, there were mentions of several soul nurturing medicines that had extraordinary effects.

However, they were mostly extremely rare or could only be refined by the divine alchemist. After eliminating such cases, the only thing left was—the Soul Restoring Relic.

Soul Restoring Relics were refined from the bones of Ancient Fey that had powerful souls. They could nourish the soul and, although they were not as heaven-defying as the Hollow Soul Pill, they were an extremely precious soul-related medicine in the world of warriors.

Yi Yun did not have any materials to refine the Soul Restoring Relic on hand. And even if he could find the materials, there was no time for him to refine it.

Yi Yun looked at Ling Xie’er and took a deep breath. His only recourse was to seek help from others.

The only person he was familiar with in Myriad City was Princess White Fox. The princess did cultivate in the soul, so it was possible that she had such medicine.

There was no time to waste. Ling Xie’er’s condition did not permit even a second of delay.

“Young Master!” Ru’er came into the room and saw Ling Xie’er’s condition. She too was given a fright.

Before she could inquire, Yi Yun had flown out like gray smoke. Only his voice could be heard from afar.

“Ru’er, look after her!”

…

The manor of the City Lord was located in the middle of Myriad City. It was a magnificent building, emanating a majestic aura that appeared extremely stately.

Yi Yun ran all the way until, finally, he appeared in front of the City Lord Manor.

“Who’s there!” The guards of the City Lord Manor were burly people from another race. They held large sabers in their hands and their voices were deep. They had quite a menacing presence.

“I’m here to see Fairy Xue Wuxia. Please pass the message that Yi Yun needs to meet with her urgently!” Yi Yun said patiently.

He was torn with anxiety. The City Lord Manor was well-guarded with powerful arrays. It was impossible to barge in.

The two guards glanced at him and immediately made way for him.

“Go on in.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was somewhat surprised. From the looks of it, Princess White Fox had instructed them ahead of time.

He had originally set up an appointment with Princess White Fox to discuss the news of Lin Xintong in detail. This had saved him quite a bit of time.

Yi Yun walked straight into the City Lord Manor. There were restrictions everywhere in the manor, but there was one path that had all its restrictions deactivated. Yi Yun guessed that it was the path that led to Princess White Fox’s residence. He ran straight forward without stopping.

From afar, Yi Yun could hear a melodious zither tune.

The zither tune seemed like water flowing from heaven. It entered his ears without ceasing, calming his anxious mood.

He came to a point where he saw a lake that was as clear as a mirror.

In it floated a small boat that resembled a leaf. The zither tunes came from the boat.

Zheng!

The zither tune came to a stop. A goddess-like figure flew from the boat. Her white clothes rivaled snow and her long silver hair cascaded out like the scattering of the galactic stars as they fluttered in the wind.

Princess White Fox was still holding onto her zither as she landed lightly in front of Yi Yun.

“You seem to be weighed down by your thoughts.” Princess White Fox’s voice was like a zither’s tune itself. It was mesmerizing.

Yi Yun immediately snapped out of it and took a breath before saying, “Thank you.”

Due to her zither tune, he was able to calm down a bit.

“You came here this time…”

“We can talk about Xintong another time.” Yi Yun said seriously. He cupped his hands and bowed. “I came here to seek help from Your Highness.”

Princess White Fox’s hazel eyes blinked lightly. Her eyes resembled the twinkling of stars.

Her recollection of Yi Yun was of a man that wouldn’t easily be indebted to others. He must have encountered a troublesome matter.

“Young Master Yi, there’s no need to be so polite. In that tiny world, I was saved by your wife. Just tell me whatever it is you need from me. If I can help you, I will definitely do so.” Princess White Fox said.

Yi Yun looked up and said, “I have a friend that’s severely injured. She’s in dire need of a Soul Restoring Relic. This medicine can nourish the soul. Does Your Highness have one?”

“Soul Restoring Relic…I have heard of it before.”

The moment Princess White Fox said that, Yi Yun’s heart sank. Judging by her tone, she did not seem to have it.

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s expression, Princess White Fox hurriedly said, “There’s no need to be disappointed. Although I do not have it in hand, my master mentioned it to me when I came to Myriad City. Myriad City claims to have everything and it’s not a lie. This Soul Restoring Relic is useful for my cultivation so I have paid special attention to it. I know that it can be bought in Myriad City.”

1143 - : Soul Restoring Relic

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It can be bought directly?” Yi Yun was surprised. “Where can I buy it?”

“In Myriad City, there are three big medicine clinics. The biggest one is Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic. The alchemists there are proficient in refining Soul Restoring Relics. If you need them, that would be the place to go.”

“In that case…” Yi Yun pondered slightly. Buying it directly may sound simple…

“Yi Yun, are you lacking in Myriad Runes?”

Princess White Fox could guess from Yi Yun’s expression. The Myriad Runes of Myriad City could only be exchanged for treasures. It was likely that Yi Yun had just arrived in Myriad City, so he probably had little to spare.

Yi Yun smiled bitterly and nodded.

Princess White Fox thought for a moment before saying, “Young Master Yi, please stay here for a moment.”

With that said, Princess White Fox’s figure flashed as she vanished right in front of Yi Yun.

The City Lord Manor was filled with restrictive arrays. But Princess White Fox had been instantly transported to another spot.

It wasn’t long before Princess White Fox’s figure appeared once again. This time, a middle-aged man with sword-like brows, starry eyes, and an extraordinary bearing appeared with her.

“City Lord Qin…”

Yi Yun had seen the middle-aged man back in Heavenly Treasures Arch.

“Uncle Qin. This is my friend, Yi Yun.” Princess White Fox said as she bowed slightly.

The purpose of Princess White Fox’s trip to the Myriad Divine Territory was to train her soul and Zither Dao. As such, she was bound to rack up unavoidable expenses. Her master, Qin Wuyin, had told her that if she needed Myriad Runes, she could request them from City Lord Qin. Of course, Qin Wuyin would pay back the debt in the future.

Princess White Fox knew that her master was on great terms with City Lord Qin. Asking for money wouldn’t be a problem. However, her own expenses were one thing while Yi Yun’s expenses were another.

In order to help Yi Yun, she would have to borrow a large sum of Myriad Runes, something that she felt went above and beyond her master’s friendship.

“Young man, we meet again.”

City Lord Qin looked at Yi Yun with interest. Back in Heavenly Treasures Arch, he already had his curiosity piqued by Yi Yun. He appreciated Xue Wuxia greatly and thought very highly of a junior like her. Moreover, Xue Wuxia treated Yi Yun very nicely, going so far as to make a rather impetuous request because of him.

City Lord Qin sized up Yi Yun and said with a nod, “You seem to be very talented. You are Wuxia’s friend and she has requested that I lend you 800,000 runes. I will not refuse, but I wanted to meet you first. I wanted to see what’s so special about you that Wuxia treats you so well.”

City Lord Qin took out a dark red jade slip and handed it to Yi Yun.

By the side, Princess White Fox said, “Young Master Yi, I remember that Soul Restoring Relics cost 500,000 runes. That should be enough. I came to Myriad City low on runes myself, so I can only ask Uncle Qin for help. I made this bold decision for you in light of your extreme anxiousness…”

Yi Yun took a deep breath. He knew that Princess White Fox had said that because she was afraid his pride wouldn’t allow him to accept the favor. However, now wasn’t the time to be proud. He needed this money too badly. He took the jade slip and said, “Thank you, City Lord Qin. I will repay it in three months!”

Three months?

City Lord Qin was stunned. To repay 800,000 Myriad Runes in three months was not something even an old person would dare claim, much less a junior.

City Lord Qin frowned slightly. Did he read this young man wrongly? Was this punk actually an arrogant kid that spoke without any thought?

In fact, City Lord Qin was a rather frank and open person. He did not think too much about matters concerning wealth, especially money he lent out. To him, it was like spilled water. If he could get anything back, it would be a pleasant surprise, like happening to find it on the ground. If he could not get it back, it was only normal. He was mentally prepared and could ignore it.

Everyone was of value in City Lord Qin’s heart. Some of his closer friends were worth going all out for. However, those of ordinary value were at best tens or hundreds of thousands of runes worth. He would not lend if they exceeded their values.

Under such circumstances, Xue Wuxia had asked to borrow 800,000 runes. It was naturally not a problem. Even if Yi Yun vanished from then on, he would not pursue the matter. He would treat it as using 800,000 runes to show to Xue Wuxia what sort of friend Yi Yun was, so as to prevent her from suffering in the future.

However, City Lord Qin never expected Yi Yun to so seriously declare that he’d return it in three months. Such promises did not sound believable at all.

“Young man, you just need to cultivate earnestly with your feet planted firmly on solid ground. I lent you the Myriad Runes because of Wuxia. You should cherish your friendship with her. I hope that you can return the runes. As for the amount of time, there’s no requirement. Just do your best.”

City Lord Qin’s words were rather minced. From his point of view, considering Yi Yun’s age and strength, it would be rather impressive if he could repay the debt in fifty or even a hundred years.

Yi Yun could naturally tell what City Lord Qin meant. However, Xie’er’s life was in danger. He did not have time to explain further.

“Thank you, City Lord Qin. Thank you, Fairy Wuxia.”

Yi Yun cupped his hands and said. He did not say anything extraneous. He simply took note of the favor that was bestowed upon him.

“I have matters to tend to. I’ll bid you farewell first!”

“There’s no need for all these superfluous niceties. Go if you need to.” City Lord Qin said as he waved his hand.

“Young Master Yi, make haste.” Princess White Fox could tell that Yi Yun had something very important to attend to.

Once out of City Lord Manor, Yi Yun rushed straight for Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic.

Myriad City was extremely massive. It was the size of a small mortal country. Since flying was forbidden in the city, Yi Yun ran all the way.

“Xie’er, hold on!”

…

Alongside City Lord Manor’s mirror-like lake, City Lord Qin looked at Princess White Fox and said, “Wuxia, your master is my best friend. Since she sent you to Myriad City to train, I want to take good care of you. Your friend has a converged aura and outstanding talent. He is a genius.”

“However…he speaks in a manner that indicates he’s full of himself. It will only make others think lowly of him. If he doesn’t betray your trust, I can give him some pointers. However, if he does disappoint, you must distance yourself from him. You can treat it as a lesson not to believe in others so easily.”

City Lord Qin earnestly advised Princess White Fox. From his point of view, she was too naive and could suffer as a result.

“That won’t happen. Yi Yun is not someone that would offer what he can’t deliver on.” Princess White Fox said with a smile. Years ago, be it in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven or to become Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple, Yi Yun’s performance had been astounding.

For Yi Yun, what others called miracles were just things he had to do.

“If you believe in him that much, I won’t say anything more. By the way, your master sent you to Myriad City, but did she happen to mention if she will be participating in the exchange three years from now?” City Lord Qin asked as his eyes flashed with a look of warmth.

Princess White Fox shook her head and said, “About that…I do not know either. After sending me here, she left on her travels. I do not know if she will come or not.”

“That’s quite in character for her…” City Lord Qin looked out at the mirror-like lake. White clouds were reflected in it and there was a gentle refreshing wind that blew at the people along the bank. City Lord Qin sighed and did not speak another word…

1144 - : City Lord Qin

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the central region of Myriad City, there were more than ten massive stores. They sold pills, enchanted artifacts, disk arrays, cultivation manuals, etc. Each store earned an unimaginable amount of profit every year. They were securely in the hands of the top ten factions and were never rented out, much less sold.

“This is the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic!”

Yi Yun saw a building in the shape of a cauldron. On it hung a plaque that read “Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic.”

The Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic was located in the central region of Myriad City. The massive cauldron was decorated with countless precious stones that shimmered with a dazzling luster. The scent of rich herbal aroma could be detected from afar. Warriors weaved in and out of it, making it a much busier than the Heavenly Treasures Arch.

To warriors, pills and relics were essential for the cultivation process. Pleasure was only for providing physical and mental relaxation. Hence, it was quite normal for the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic to be a lot livelier.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and calmed his mind before entering Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic.

Upon entering, he saw countless pill bottles lining rows and rows of jade shelves. Many of these pill bottles cost a staggering amount.

The Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic had several floors. Most warriors would conduct their business on the first floor, while only truly honored guests could go to the second floor and above.

Yi Yun did not waste any time as he quickly scanned the insides of the store. He immediately saw a middle-aged man sitting behind a counter. He was holding an abacus in hand and was dressed like the god of wealth.

“I’m here to buy medicine.” Yi Yun walked over and said.

The middle-aged man looked up and glanced at Yi Yun. He said slowly, “Everyone is here to buy medicine. Wait a while and someone will tend to you.”

The middle-aged man’s attitude was aloof. As a manager, he only entertained honored customers. The regular customers would be left to browse first before available attendants would tend to them.

In essence, the store did not fear the consequences of bad business practices. They did not need to implore customers to buy their items. Instead, people lined up to buy their goods.

Yi Yun frowned. He did not have the time to listen to the nonsense of someone putting on airs.

“I want a Soul Restoring Relic.” Yi Yun immediately took out the dark red jade slip and patted it on the counter while staring intently at the middle-aged man.

Yi Yun’s soul was extremely powerful. The middle-aged man’s cultivation level was also very high, but it only reached that height through the use of pills. His nomological insights were much weaker, so he immediately shuddered when he was glared at by Yi Yun.

Furthermore, he was shocked by Yi Yun’s words.

Soul Restoring Relic? That was an extremely expensive, supreme-grade pill. This punk actually wanted to buy a Soul Restoring Relic?

The middle-aged man sized up Yi Yun and said, “A Soul Restoring Relic goes for a high price. If you really want to buy it, I’ll call Alchemist Huyan. The store happens to have one Soul Restoring Relic for sale. And the person who refined the relic is Alchemist Huyan.”

“The alchemist needs to be called?” Yi Yun did not wish to delay things any further.

“You must not know. The medicine of the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic is never not in demand. Even supreme-grade medicine like the Soul Restoring Relic is in high demand by many honored customers. Furthermore, we sell supreme-grade medicine on behalf of the alchemists. Any sales, therefore, have to be agreed upon by them.” The middle-aged manager said proudly. His words also carried the implication that Yi Yun should not think so highly of himself just because he was buying pills that were worth hundreds of thousands of runes. Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic had no lack of honored customers.

Yi Yun knew that the man was not bluffing. Many of the pills were priceless. Over time, these managers and attendants turned arrogant.

“Then, please call the alchemist.” Yi Yun said.

“Follow me.” The middle-aged man led Yi Yun to the second floor. It was fashioned into an exquisite guest hall. It had an elegant decor, and a pleasant smell wafted from a cauldron of aromatic incense burning to the side.

Yi Yun sat in a chair, feeling extremely anxious while he waited. Time passed, yet he did not see Alchemist Huyan appear.

“Why isn’t the alchemist here yet? It’s urgent. I’m buying the medicine to save someone.” Yi Yun looked at the manager and said.

The middle-aged manager went to take a look before returning to say, “Alchemist Huyan is having a chat with a friend. I have informed him. He asks you to wait a moment.”

Chatting!?

Yi Yun was immediately infuriated. Here he was waiting anxiously to save a life while Alchemist Huyan was completely unfazed, chatting leisurely with a friend.

If this wasn’t Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic, property of one of the top ten factions of Myriad City, Yi Yun might have lost patience and taken action to snatch the medicine.

Finally, a languid-looking man in gorgeous silk robes walked down from a higher floor. “Are you the person who is buying the medicine?”

From the looks of it, the person was none other than Alchemist Huyan. He had an arrogant and aloof expression. He was clearly not very amiable.

Yi Yun stood up. Alchemist Huyan appeared to be in his twenties. Yi Yun guessed that he, as an alchemist, must have taken medicine to give himself a youthful appearance. In other words, he was only young in looks.

“Alchemist Huyan, I’m in urgent need of a Soul Restoring Relic. I heard that you have refined this very pill. Would you sell it to me?”

“Soul Restoring Relic? That’s right. It was refined by me. Only a few alchemists in Myriad City are capable of refining Soul Restoring Relics. And I happened to finish refining a cauldron of Soul Restoring Relics a few days ago. Only two of them were completed successfully.”

Alchemist Huyan said proudly. Typically, a cauldron of pills numbered twelve or above. Alchemist Huyan had only succeeded in producing two from a cauldron. That would be considered extremely terrible, but his tone carried no shame. Instead, he was proud. Clearly, due to the difficulty of refining it, being able to successfully produce two was something worth commending him for.

“One of them I want to keep for myself, so I’ll only sell one for 550,000 runes,” said Alchemist Huyan.

550,000? This was 50,000 runes more than the price Princess White Fox had seen. However, Yi Yun did not have the time to haggle.

Just as he was about to agree to it, he heard a calm voice coming from above.

“I was wondering who wanted to buy a Soul Restoring Relic. So it’s you.”

The voice sounded a little familiar.

Yi Yun’s eyebrows pricked up. Zuoqiu Haoyu!

Upon seeing Yi Yun, Zuoqiu Haoyu let a faint smile hang on his face.

“Why? Do you know each other?” Alchemist Huyan languidly scanned the both of them.

Zuoqiu Haoyu said with a smile, “We had the chance of meeting once.”

With that said, Zuoqiu Haoyu looked at Yi Yun again and said, “I never expected you to be this rich. You are even buying a Soul Restoring Relic. Why? Is your soul damaged?”

Zuoqiu Haoyu asked with interest. It was not easy to treat soul damage, for it was a serious injury. If Yi Yun’s soul was damaged, then this would be fun.

Yi Yun’s expression sank. He never expected that the friend that Alchemist Huyan was chatting with was Zuoqiu Haoyu.

Zuoqiu Haoyu had not left a good impression on Yi Yun. He did not wish to speak to this person any further.

“Alchemist Huyan, let’s please do the sale immediately. I accept your price…” Yi Yun said.

Before Alchemist Huyan spoke, Yi Yun saw him exchange looks with Zuoqiu Haoyu. Immediately, he had an ominous foreboding…

1145 - : Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Haha!” At that moment, Alchemist Huyan suddenly smiled and said, “My young friend, what are you going to use the Soul Restoring Relic for?”

Yi Yun frowned. He knew that Zuoqiu Haoyu must have transmitted something to Alchemist Huyan. They were friends and, with Zuoqiu Haoyu stirring trouble in the background, it was unlikely that this sale would go through.

“Alchemist Huyan, you are only selling the pill. There should be no need for you to know why I’m buying the pill. You offered a price of 550,000 and I’m willing to accept it.”

With Xie’er in danger, Yi Yun could only suppress his emotions. However, Alchemist Huyan stroked his beardless chin without responding. There was a teasing smile on his face.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and asked, “Alchemist Huyan, are you going back on your word?”

Yi Yun tried his best not to appear anxious to prevent the duo from catching on. However, how could Yi Yun not be anxious? If this dragged on, Xie’er’s condition would only get worse.

“Going back on my word? Are you questioning me?” Alchemist Huyan’s expression sank slightly. “I’m an alchemist. I decide who I sell my pills to. I am free to do so. Whoever buys my pills, be they an overlord or Elder from a mighty faction, should they not all treat me courteously!?”

Yi Yun’s heart sank. Judging by his tone, he clearly wasn’t going to let go of the medicine easily. He was going to take every opportunity to make things difficult for Yi Yun. Yi Yun paused for a moment before replying, “I had heard from City Lord Qin and Fairy Wuxia that an alchemist from Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic can refine Soul Restoring Relics, which is why I’m here to buy one.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he waved the blood-red jade slip in his hand. It had City Lord Qin’s mark on it, which could not be faked.

“Oh? City Lord Qin?” Alchemist Huyan’s brow raised slightly. He could tell that Yi Yun was using City Lord Qin’s name to pressure him. If it were only Yi Yun, he could toy with the punk as he wished. But if City Lord Qin was involved, he needed to be more careful.

Zuoqiu Haoyu had informed him of Yi Yun’s background with a voice transmission. Zuoqiu Haoyu had Yi Yun investigated, and found that he had just arrived in Myriad City. So it was impossible for him to be very close to City Lord Qin.

If City Lord Qin wanted to buy the Soul Restoring Relic, he wouldn’t send a junior who had nothing to do with him in his place. The only possibility was that Yi Yun wanted to buy it for himself, and had borrowed City Lord Qin’s Myriad Runes.

But why would City Lord Qin lend him so many Myriad Runes?

At that moment, Zuoqiu Haoyu suddenly burst into laughter. “Brother, you are impressive! You actually got Fairy Wuxia to request Myriad Runes from City Lord Qin on your behalf. Your freeloader skills are truly out of this world. How impressive! How very impressive!”

Zuoqiu Haoyu mocked as his eyes looked cold.

He had gone to great efforts to send precious gifts and repeated invites to Fairy Youqin and Fairy Wuxia, but to no avail. Then came Yi Yun, who gave no gifts, but still ended up freeloading from Fairy Wuxia. He never expected that Fairy Wuxia would treat such a person better than him.

How could Zuoqiu Haoyu tolerate this?

“It looks like you have quite a good relationship with Fairy Wuxia. In that case, help me ask Fairy Wuxia out and this Soul Restoring Relic will be sold to you,” Zuoqiu Haoyu said nonchalantly.

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed. Zuoqiu Haoyu was insatiable, and his requests were getting more and more out of hand.

Although he did have a good relationship with Princess White Fox, that was all it was. He could not agree to such a request on her behalf.

Zuoqiu Haoyu wore a sinister smile. He also knew that his request was excessive. He was only doing it to mock Yi Yun and teach him a lesson. He wanted to let Yi Yun know that a warrior like him was nothing in Myriad City.

As for him, he had both social connections and power. With but a few words, he could make Yi Yun suffer terribly.

Zuoqiu Haoyu suspected that, since Yi Yun was willing to borrow Myriad Runes from City Lord Qin to buy the Soul Restoring Relic, he needed it desperately. He was deliberately making things difficult for Yi Yun in order to agitate him.

“Sigh, Young Master Haoyu, there’s no need to go so far.” Alchemist Huyan smiled and said, “Since they are Myriad Runes borrowed from City Lord Qin, I’ll take his offer into consideration. Let’s do it this way. I heard from Young Master Haoyu that you had some differences with him. Just apologize now and it will be settled. 900,000 runes and the Soul Restoring Relic is yours.”

900,000?

Yi Yun sneered. What a rip off. Forget the apology. Even if he did apologize, he was unable to produce 900,000 runes.

“Why? Do you not have enough runes?” Zuoqiu Haoyu could naturally tell that the jade slip in Yi Yun’s hand held the maximum of 800,000 Myriad Runes. “Hehe, are the runes you borrowed not enough? It’s fine. How about this: if you slap yourself, I’ll save you 10,000 runes per slap. You save the more slaps you deliver. Hahaha.”

Zuoqiu Haoyu laughed out loud, his laughter roaring wantonly. He was extremely delighted. This was the benefit of power and status. What could one do when they’re bullied by someone who can control the situation?

He knew that Yi Yun was fairly talented. Such a person was likely proud, and that was precisely why he felt a sense of accomplishment in repressing him.

He wanted to make Yi Yun so upset that he vomited blood. He wanted Yi Yun to know that he was like an ant in front of him that needed to lower its head.

Yi Yun clenched his fists before slowly relaxing them. It was not easy to refine Soul Restoring Relics. Furthermore, the refinement took up to two days, with copious amounts of herbs that were prepared beforehand. These herbs were also difficult to gather. With Ling Xie’er in critical danger, he didn’t have the time to try and make a Soul Restoring Relic himself.

Yi Yun was mentally prepared to tolerate anything, as long as the other party did not go overboard. However, with the situation developing to this point, there was no way he could simply nod along.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and steeled his heart. He looked up again with eyes as cold as ice. He said to Alchemist Huyan, “Since you do not want to sell the Soul Restoring Relic, you best use it to buy yourself a coffin!”

What?

Alchemist Huyan’s face turned blue. He never expected a junior like Yi Yun would dare to speak that way to him, a Supremacy alchemist.

“And you.” Yi Yun turned his head toward Zuoqiu Haoyu. “I advise you to acquire some good pills while you are still dizzy with success. Otherwise, your family clan might abandon you like a wretch when you get completely crippled in the future. When that time comes, you will not have the money to buy any pills.”

Zuoqiu Haoyu laughed in response. Yi Yun was only an ant but he dared to make such audacious threats.

“If this wasn’t a merchant store, I’m afraid you wouldn’t be walking out of here alive, much less seeing me another day.” Zuoqiu Haoyu’s voice turned cold as he said the last part of his sentence. He wanted to kill Yi Yun, but fighting was banned in Myriad City’s merchant stores. Any violations of this rule brought punishment from every faction in Myriad City.

“I was going to say the same thing. Many are the years to come. I’ll remember what happened today.”

After Yi Yun said that, he turned and left.

“Oh? “You…”

Zuoqiu Haoyu saw Yi Yun’s figure flash as he appeared by Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic’s exit. Yi Yun stepped out of the door without any hesitation, making Zuoqiu Haoyu’s expression change slightly.

Did he read him wrong? Yi Yun wasn’t determined to obtain the Soul Restoring Relic?

Alchemist Huyan frowned as well. “Young Master Haoyu, didn’t you say in your voice transmission that this punk would purchase the Soul Restoring Relic at any cost? And that I should increase the price as I wish in order to rip him off?”

Having lost this business, Alchemist Huyan felt somewhat displeased. Although it wasn’t difficult to sell Soul Restoring Relics, they were sold at 500,000 runes most of the time. Alchemist Huyan felt that if he had offered 800,000 runes, Yi Yun would have agreed to it. He could have earned an additional 300,000 runes. Even though he was rich, he could not ignore that tidy sum of money. But now, Yi Yun had left.

“Master Huyan, why fret over this tiny loss? I, Zuoqiu Haoyu, never mistreat my friends. The bit you lost today will be earned back through my Myriad Immortal Pavilion.” Zuoqiu Haoyu said unhappily. He was certain that he could subdue Yi Yun today and trample on him as well. He never expected Yi Yun to be so decisive as to directly leave.

However, Zuoqiu Haoyu believed that Yi Yun would definitely suffer a great loss if he did not buy the Soul Restoring Relic. In some sense, it was a consolation.

“If Young Master Haoyu says so, I’ll not speak further about it. However, for this punk to offend me and spew those arrogant words of me keeping the Soul Restoring Relic to buy my coffin, there is no way I’m letting him off easy. As long as he dares to stay in Myriad City, I’ll definitely prevent him from living peacefully.”

Alchemist Huyan’s alchemy skills were superb. He was treated as an honored guest by various large factions in Myriad City, as they all vied for his favor. He had never been subject to the scoldings of a junior.

“Hmph, even if you do nothing, I will definitely not let him survive.” Zuoqiu Haoyu touched his interspatial ring. All these years, no one that offended him ended up living happily.

As for City Lord Qin, he wasn’t very afraid of him either. Yi Yun had no real relationship with City Lord Qin. Furthermore, the Myriad City Lord and the various major factions in Myriad Divine Territory kept each other in check. As long as one did not openly break the rules, no one would shed the pretenses of cordiality.

1146 - : Making Things Difficult

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Yi Yun left, Ru’er stayed right by Ling Xie’er’s side to watch over her. She watched helplessly as Ling Xie’er’s body turned increasingly transparent, as if she would vanish at any moment. At her cultivation level, she was unable to do anything except panic.

“Little sister, you have to wait for Young Master. He will definitely think of a way to save you.” Ru’er whispered.

She did not know who Ling Xie’er was to Yi Yun. She only knew that she was of utmost importance to Yi Yun.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Yi Yun’s figure appeared by it.

Ru’er was immediately and pleasantly surprised.”Sir, you are back!”

“Ru’er, come out first and close the door tightly,” said Yi Yun.

Having failed to obtain the Soul Restoring Relic and it being impossible to refine himself, he could only use the method he thought of before.

Yi Yun’s previous idea was to have Ling Xie’er consume the Soul Returning Root, which would save her from this critical situation.

However, he needed the Soul Returning Root as an ingredient in the Hollow Soul Pill. Unfortunately, there would be a three-year wait for the pill. He had no choice but to purchase the Soul Restoring Relic.

But now, Yi Yun was without options.

He had the notes left behind by the divine alchemist. They contained the essence of medicinal knowledge the divine alchemist had accrued throughout his life. In addition, Yi Yun had a supreme treasure, the Purple Crystal. With it, he could perfectly control the spiritual energy in any natural treasure. He was certain that he could save Ling Xie’er.

From today forth, he had to practice alchemy arduously.

After Ru’er closed the door, Yi Yun stood in front of Ling Xie’er. With broken sword in hand, he slashed down. Immediately, the Soul Returning Root in Ling Xie’er’s nearly transparent hands was severed into two. As for Ling Xie’er’s incorporeal body, it was not affected by the sword beam at all.

Yi Yun needed to have a long-term plan for taking care of Ling Xie’er’s incorporeal body. As such, he had only taken half of the Soul Returning Root. The other half he left in Ling Xie’er’s hands.

Without delay, he took his half of the Soul Returning Root in hand. Yi Yun activated the Purple Crystal and produced a wisp of Yuan Qi as he began to extract the Soul Returning Root’s essence.

He could only use half of the Soul Returning Root and he could not waste an ounce of its essence. If it were anyone else, that would be a completely impossible feat. But Yi Yun was different.

Through the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, Yi Yun could see every strand of essence clearly. He intricately extracted them.

Yi Yun infused each strand of energy into Ling Xie’er’s incorporeal body. The essence merged with her incorporeal body, causing her transparent body to gradually become opaque.

Yi Yun was completely focused, taking care not to waste a single strand of energy. He precisely controlled them and directed them into Ling Xie’er’s body. After a full day of this, Yi Yun walked out of the room, mentally exhausted.

The half of the Soul Returning Root had turned into ash. All the energy within had been extracted by Yi Yun and transferred into Ling Xie’er.

Half of the Soul Returning Root was only sufficient enough to temporarily stabilize Ling Xie’er’s incorporeal body. As such, Yi Yun had also infused a large amount of pure Yang energy into her body.

Because of this, he had constantly consumed a large number of relics to replenish his Yuan Qi.

The remaining half of the Soul Returning Root remained in Ling Xie’er’s hands.

Since he only used half of it, Yi Yun would still need to refine other pills to heal her soul in the future. Only then could Ling Xie’er last until the day when she could consume the Hollow Soul Pill.

This was all thanks to Zuoqiu Haoyu.

“Ru’er,” Yi Yun said.

Ru’er immediately ran over. She had stood nearby all this while feeling anxious. After Yi Yun came out, she caught a glimpse of his expression. From his calm expression, she determined that the little girl was likely fine.

“Sir, what do you need?” Ru’er asked.

“Follow me to Myriad Pavilion,” said Yi Yun.

“Why are we going there?” Ru’er blinked her eyes.

They had already exchanged for Myriad Runes and rented a store. Why did he want to go there again so quickly?

Yi Yun’s eyes looked calm.”I want to relinquish this place and rent a new store.”

While treating Ling Xie’er, Yi Yun had made his decision.

Since the 800,000 runes had not been able to buy the Soul Restoring Relic, he would use it to do something else. In Myriad City, he was just too poor. The 800,000 runes were his capital.

Even if Yi Yun could slowly accumulate wealth, Ling Xie’er did not have the luxury of waiting for him to do so. Before purchasing the materials needed to refine the Hollow Soul Pill, Ling Xie’er would still need to consume pills that rejuvenated the soul. The expenses were piling up.

“Rent a store again?” Ru’er was stunned. However, she obviously could not question Yi Yun’s decision. She immediately nodded and said,”I’ll make the necessary preparations now.”

…

Two days later, in a busy area of Myriad City, a store with average business selling talismans and charms changed owners. It also changed into a medicinal clinic.

This new medicinal clinic was only a few streets away from the core region of Myriad City, home to stores owned by the ten major factions like the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic. For warriors, traversing this bit of distance was easy as drinking water.

Because this area constantly hummed with activity, the rent was extremely pricey. Typically, only major sects or factions would set up shop here. However, the shop that recently opened had simple renovations. It was a quaint wooden structure, extremely quiet and beautiful.

The store did not have any attendants. There was only a young girl that greeted customers and a manager who was a young man.

At the store’s entrance hung a simple plaque that read—”Yun Xin Loft”.

The ‘Yun’ came from Yi Yun’s name. The ‘Xin’ was from Lin Xintong’s name. The two joined together became the name of Yi Yun’s newly opened medicinal store.

No one had the courage to open a new medicinal store within walking distance of the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic. However, Yi Yun was not afraid. He did not plan on directly targeting the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic. However, with the grudge already in place, he decided that he might as well open his own medicinal store in front of the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic’s entrance.

There was no opening ceremony for the medicinal store. Nor did anyone come to give their good wishes. It had a low-profile opening.

Many people were rather astonished to see the newly opened medicinal store.

In Myriad City, the stores that earned the most money were medicinal stores. After all, weapons, talismans, and array formations were external objects. However, pills and relics could save lives and treat injuries. They also had positive effects on a warrior’s cultivation level. Regardless of the intended use, they were things that warriors would try to obtain at any cost.

However, the requirements to open a large medicinal store were lofty. One needed a top-grade alchemist to hold down the fort. Otherwise, it was impossible to do business in Myriad City. It would only be a waste of rent money.

Who was this young man that dared to open a medicinal store beside the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic? Was he asking to die?

Some people were curious and went into Yun Xin Loft to take a look. They were only more perplexed after seeing what was inside.

It lacked merchandise. There were no pills or relics displayed inside the medicinal clinic. One couldn’t buy any pills even if they wanted to. Furthermore, the staff and manager of the store were young. It rendered people speechless.

They guessed that it was some scion that had an illustrious background. He must have gotten excited by the potential profits of selling medicine, but did not know how tough it actually was. So he opened a store here without a concrete knowledge of the business. The outcome was obvious. In a few months, the store would probably change owners.

Yi Yun naturally heard the discussions of people around him, but he ignored them.

He had just finished writing a plaque and told Ru’er,”Ru’er, hang this plaque outside.”

1147 - : Yun Xin Loft

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yes, Sir.”

Ru’er took the plaque. The text was written on it in vigorous and fine strokes. Ever since Yi Yun became a swordsman, he stroked his words like he was swinging a sword. Each stroke contained innate Sword Dao that left lasting impressions on others.

“Sir, you plan on being a proxy alchemist of pill recipes?”

Although Yi Yun had been given 800,000 runes, renting the new store had cost him a good deal of it. If he were to spend the remaining runes on ingredients to make medicine, he would simply put himself into a dire financial position. Even if he could refine some pills, there was no guarantee that an unknown like him could even attract the customers to buy them.

Therefore, Yi Yun decided to hang a plaque and be a proxy refiner. Such a business did not require startup funds. It was fine if he did not have much capital.

“That’s right.” Yi Yun nodded. The demand for pills in Myriad City exceeds supply. As long as the pills I refine reach a passable standard, customers will slowly begin to swarm in.”

“Sir, but…” Ru’er stammered. She found it inappropriate to say certain things. According to Yi Yun’s plaque, the refinement of pills was free the first time. Subsequent refinements cost about as much as the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic would charge. How would customers be enticed by that?

Come to think of it, Ru’er did not know how skilled Yi Yun was at refining pills. But even if he was very good, it only made sense for him charge lower prices at the start of his business.

“Sir, should we add a line that if we end up destroying their ingredients, we will compensate them several times more…?”

Ru’er said softly. Although she was innocent by nature, she had some sense. As it was, there was a chance that Yi Yun’s plaque would only be mocked. Why would anyone come to employ his services? Gathering materials for pill refinement was very difficult. Who would just casually let an unknown alchemist have a go with their precious materials? If the ingredients were destroyed, it would be a great loss.

Upon hearing Ru’er’s words, Yi Yun laughed.

“Ru’er, I don’t mind adding that line. It would not do me any harm either. However, my alchemical skills were inherited by an impressive alchemist senior. They don’t come cheap.”

“I’m different from others when it comes to alchemy. If I’m not confident I can do it, I won’t do it. As such, there will not be a situation of me destroying the ingredients.”

“If I succeed every time and refine high-quality pills, then those who are willing to believe in me will receive handsome rewards. Those who do not believe in me are free to go to another store.”

Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal Origins, the Heretical God Fire Seed, and the divine alchemist’s heritage. He was well-versed in the Desolate Heaven technique in the Tian Yuan World and in the Luo clan. In the past two years, he greatly improved his alchemical skills and Desolate Heaven technique. Under these circumstances, Yi Yun was naturally confident.

People like Alchemist Huyan, meanwhile, received godlike treatment from the various major factions. His services were rendered based purely on his mood. Even if he took on a job, there was no guarantee of success, nor was he required to pay for the failure.

But for Yi Yun, if he had to lower his prices and pay for the materials, what point was there? He might as well give the pills away for free.

Along the martial path, one had to pay the price to reap rewards. It was the same for everyone.

Ru’er weakly nodded and hung the plaque outside.

The moment it was hung, it naturally attracted a lot of attention.

People were somewhat dumbfounded when they caught sight of it.

“It’s free the first time. Anyone that wants subsequent pills refined will have to pay prices that match the three major medicinal clinics?”

“The materials are provided by the customer, but there is no compensation if they get destroyed during the refinement process?”

Many people were rendered speechless when they saw the conditions on the plaque. If this was a plaque hung by the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic, no one would dare question it. In fact, mega stores like the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic did have such conditions, and the customers had to accept them. If the refinement failed, they had to consider it bad luck and move on.

However, for Yun Xin Loft to hang up such conditions, it only appeared as a joke.

Not a single person walked into the store to request Yi Yun’s services. Who would risk the ingredients that they had so painstakingly gathered? If they did so, they would probably become the laughing stock of Myriad City.

Yi Yun did not mind the people’s reactions. He took out the divine alchemist’s notes and continued studying them.

He was in no hurry to take action. If no one came for his services, he could continue researching alchemy and the Desolate Heaven technique. Learning was an endless process. It all served to pave the way for Yi Yun’s martial path.

“Ru’er, look at those people outside mocking us. Remember their faces…”

“Ah? Why?” Ru’er was stupefied.

“Nothing much. It’s fine for them to doubt me. But it’s irritating to hear their mockery. When the day comes that they request for my services, I’ll charge them double. I’m a person that remembers grudges.”

Yi Yun said languidly. Ru’er could only nod. From Yi Yun’s tone, he appeared rather confident and was sure that these people would seek his services in the future. However, the store currently had zero business. Would anyone really come?

Ru’er waited helplessly, but not a single person came the entire afternoon. Ru’er ended up memorizing the faces of hundreds of warriors. They had all mocked the plaque.

Ru’er was innately very intelligent. It was not difficult for her to remember them all.

At evening, the illumination arrays began lighting up in the central business district. Instead of getting quieter, the streets began to be filled with more people.

Ru’er watched the open door in a daze, straining her eyes in anxiousness, hoping that someone would appear. Just as she was giving into exhaustion, a silk-clothed person stepped into the store. He surveyed the store and said with a smile, “Where’s your boss? I want to get him to refine medicine!”

Was this really a customer?

Ru’er was delighted. If such an expensive store perpetually had no business, Ru’er would truly die from anxiousness. She hoped that Yi Yun could win this customer’s business and deliver, making a name for himself.

“My master is upstairs. Sir, what would you like refined? I’ll call my master down.”

Ru’er said happily. At that moment, Yi Yun had already walked down from the second floor. In fact, he had sensed the person the moment they entered his store.

Yi Yun unhurriedly closed the scroll in his hand. He looked at the customer in the main hall and walked down the steps one step at a time.

“What irony. To think that my Yun Xin Loft’s first customer is you—Alchemist Huyan!”

“Hahaha! Don’t you welcome business?” A boisterous laughter sounded as another man walked into the store. He was none other than Zuoqiu Haoyu!

“I wondered who was so audacious as to match the prices of the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic. I later learned that it was you, the little bastard. Could it be that your soul was damaged, but as a result of not consuming the Soul Restoring Relic in time, your soul sea cracked and you turned dumb? You actually opened a medicinal clinic near the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic and even wrote such an amusing plaque.”

Zuoqiu Haoyu’s voice rang loud and clear. It attracted a good deal of the foot traffic in the business district, causing people to look over.

“What’s the point of engaging in a war of words? From my point of view, you are like a village shrew that quarrels for no good reason. Just a little offense and you unleash a barrage of invectives. Other than making people think lowly of you, what does it accomplish?”

Yi Yun’s voice was nonchalant. By that point, quite a big crowd had gathered because of Zuoqiu Haoyu and Alchemist Huyan’s appearance.

Many people were unaware of the quarrel between Yi Yun and Zuoqiu Haoyu at the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic. They were perplexed as to why Zuoqiu Haoyu was being so rude.

Alchemist Huyan stroked his chin. Yi Yun was an unknown junior with nothing to lose, so he was fearless. He had hung up a foolish refinement notice. The impression others had of Yi Yun was that he was mad and retarded. His standing could not be any lower.

However, the two of them were people of status. If people of status came to mock a fool, it would only add fame to the fool. It would also make others think lowly of them.

“Young Master Haoyu, this is the business district. There are many people watching so it’s pointless to mock him.”

“Got it.” Zuoqiu Haoyu snorted coldly and turned towards Yi Yun. “Yi Yun, you hung up such a foolish notice. You want customers to prepare the refinement ingredients, but you do not need to compensate upon failure. Do you know how much effort is needed to gather ingredients? It might take hundreds, if not thousands, of years. People can go broke gathering the ingredients, and then place all their hopes on the refinement. Yet, you plan on using their efforts to practice. Have you ever considered the price they would pay when you fail? How shameless you are.”

Zuoqiu Haoyu’s words received the approving nods from many people. As warriors that did not have powerful factions to rely on, gathering ingredients was not an easy task. They had to go through great ordeals.

Yi Yun knew that Zuoqiu Haoyu came to his store with ill intentions. He said with a sneer, “Zuoqiu Haoyu, after saying all this nonsense, why are you here? Are you retarded?”

“Hehe.” A sinister beam flashed in Zuoqiu Haoyu’s eyes. “What I said does not affect the reason I’m here. Since you have opened a medicinal clinic, how can I not show you support? I have a recipe here and I would like you to refine it. If it succeeds, I will pay you double the price. Conversely, and due to the expensive nature of the ingredients I prepared, you must agree to compensate me double if you fail!”

“I see.” Yi Yun chuckled. He long knew that Zuoqiu Haoyu would cause trouble for him. He had clearly brought an extremely difficult recipe. Furthermore, it needed especially valuable ingredients, and so was probably designed to scam him, making him go bankrupt from paying the compensation.

He never expected that his first customer would be such an ordeal. How could he accept such conditions?

“Are you not awake yet? If I refine the pills for you, the pills are yours if the refinement succeeds. All I get is double the pill refinement fee. If I fail, I need to pay double the ingredients’ cost in compensation. These ingredients must cost an astronomical sum, right? Why would I do business that is obviously a loss for me?”

When Yi Yun finished speaking, Ru’er finally understood the brilliance behind Yi Yun’s plaque. If he were to indicate on the plaque that refinement failures would be compensated, Zuoqiu Haoyu could hire Yi Yun’s services without trouble. He could then treat Yi Yun as a free alchemist and order him around. Yi Yun would not even be able to make an attempt to bargain.

“Hmph! If you succeed in the refinement, I won’t even want the pill. I’ll give it to you! Twice the refinement fee will be paid as well. If you fail, you will compensate me double. Do you dare?”

Zuoqiu Haoyu went for broke. He no longer hid his motives, going as far as to gamble the pill. If he really was there to refine a pill, why would he offer to give it up?

Yi Yun waved his hand and said, “Pill recipe!”

“Alright!” Zuoqiu Haoyu’s eyes flashed with a teasing look. He refused to believe that Yi Yun was an alchemist. How could alchemy be that easy to learn? Furthermore, the recipe he prepared was ridiculously difficult.

Zuoqiu Haoyu threw a scroll, sending it flying at Yi Yun.

1148 - : Business Comes

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun caught the pill recipe and scanned the ingredients listed on it—Ice Tharm Grass, Shattered Fissure Jade, Nine Crow Flame Plume, ten-thousand-year-old Fogheart Flower, Thunderous Wolf Spine…

The pills that Zuoqiu Haoyu wanted to be produced were named “Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills!”

There were records of this pill in the divine alchemist’s notes. It had a long history, and had existed well before the divine alchemist made a name for himself.

And in fact, the records contained in the divine alchemist’s notes were much more complex than the recipe Zuoqiu Haoyu had given him. The effectiveness of the final product was also much better.

Due to the passage of time, some ancient pill recipes could end up losing pieces for a myriad of reasons. They were later completed by others, but the effect was no longer as good as before.

“I never expected Zuoqiu Haoyu and Old Ghoul Huyan to have such good reserves.”

Yi Yun let a slight smile escape, but in truth, his heart was filled with joy.

The Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills were excellent pills that could fortify the soul and rejuvenate the blood, while also enhancing one’s cultivation level and nourishing one’s dantian.

Not only would the pills save Ling Xie’er, they would also be very beneficial to Yi Yun. After rapidly breaking through to the Dao Palace realm, he was in need of pills that could nourish his foundation. If more than ten pills out of a cauldron of Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills succeeded, he would make a killing.

Of course, they were very difficult pills to refine. Not only did it require a powerful soul, but the handling of the Nine Crow Flame Plume and Thunderous Wolf Spine needed the Desolate Heaven technique.

Although alchemy and the Desolate Heaven technique were essentially the same, due to the differences in handling spiritual plants and Fey beasts, many alchemists were unable to practice both.

In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, the Desolate Heaven technique was more popular due to the prevalence of Fey beasts. In the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, alchemy was more popular.

Yi Yun happened to be proficient in both. He was quite confident that he could succeed in refining the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills.

Even so, Yi Yun did not immediately agree to do it. He looked at Zuoqiu Haoyu carefully and said, “You really are willing to invest. These herbs probably cost more than 1.5 million runes. When doubled, that’s three million. Do you think I can afford to pay that?”

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t have the runes. According to Myriad City’s rules, any debt can be repaid by severing one’s limbs. If that’s not enough, your life can be used. Although your life isn’t worth anything, I’m still very willing to accept it. Furthermore, I believe Fairy Wuxia would not sit idly by when she sees you being sliced apart.”

Zuoqiu Haoyu mentioned Fairy Wuxia once again. Yi Yun knew that if he truly got into trouble, Princess White Fox would definitely not sit idle. Of course, Yi Yun did not believe that he would fail.

“In ten days, I will begin the refining process!” Yi Yun did not engage in idle banter and directly agreed to it.

“Hahaha! Alright! I will be here. I have to see you refine it with your own hands!” Zuoqiu Haoyu smiled sinisterly. He had sealed off Yi Yun’s routes of retreat.

Zuoqiu Haoyu left and the bystanders began to disperse.

The news that Yi Yun would start to refine Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills in ten says quickly spread throughout Myriad City.

Although Yi Yun was not considered a big shot, anything involving Alchemist Huyan and Zuoqiu Haoyu naturally garnered the attention of many.

Princess White Fox and City Lord Qin naturally received the news as well.

“Oh, your friend also knows alchemy?” City Lord Qin was rather astonished. According to what Princess White Fox had told him, Yi Yun was only a junior. Young people didn’t even have enough time to cultivate, but this one had even practiced alchemy, going so far as to dare to refine the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills?

Princess White Fox frowned slightly as she said with a nod, “Uncle Qin, Yi Yun is indeed proficient in the Desolate Heaven technique. I have seen him refine Fey bone relics. However, I do not know how well he does when refining spiritual plants into pills. Furthermore…if the refinement of Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills is as hard as you say, perhaps it might not be that easy for Yi Yun to refine them.”

Princess White Fox had some understanding of Yi Yun’s Desolate Heaven technique. Although he was excellently talented in the Desolate Heaven technique, he was probably greatly inferior to master alchemists. Moreover, the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills were something that even many famous alchemists in Myriad City could not guarantee success in, according to City Lord Qin.

“The date is ten days from now. I’ll be there and we will see for ourselves.” City Lord Qin said. The matter sounded fascinating, so he naturally did not want to miss it.

…

As City Lord Qin and Princess White Fox were conversing, Yi Yun was cooped up in his room, studying a little gray cauldron.

It was the Divine Alchemy Cauldron left behind by the divine alchemist!

Before the divine alchemist died, he had used the Divine Alchemy Cauldron to establish a massive array to revive his daughter, but he failed in the end. For hundreds of millions of years, the Divine Alchemy Cauldron had been burning in pure Yang flames. The burning had even changed its appearance slightly.

The Divine Alchemy Cauldron was now of better quality than it was when it was used by the divine alchemist. The only pity was that the Divine Alchemy Cauldron’s internal array was broken.

The array had fused with the worldly formation of the Sun Burial Sandsea, but it was broken by Yi Yun. As such, the Divine Alchemy Cauldron’s array dispersed into the worldly formation. Yi Yun felt that it was quite a pity.

But even so, the Divine Alchemy Cauldron with a broken array was still a hundred times more powerful than any cauldron used by Myriad City’s alchemists.

It meant that Yi Yun’s refinement would produce double the results for half the effort.

“I’m unable to fully control this Divine Alchemy Cauldron. I can only use a portion of it. What a pity. If I can mend its missing array in the future, I’ll be able to restore it to its former glory, or even better.”

Yi Yun knew that the divine alchemist had set up the array without the intention of leaving it to a successor. However, he had stumbled into inheriting the divine alchemist’s mantle. Since it happened, he wanted to develop whatever the divine alchemist left behind into something that would shine with even greater brilliance.

It was always a pity when bright pearls were covered in dust.

Yi Yun tapped his finger gently as a herbal plant transformed into a stream of light, flying into the Divine Alchemy Cauldron. Soon, it was enveloped by flames and transformed into medicinal fluid…

From beginning to end, the Divine Alchemy Cauldron did not emit any light. From the looks of it, it was an ordinary cauldron.

This was because the core array had cracked, causing the Divine Alchemy Cauldron to lose its luster. Even a Divine Lord alchemist would probably find it hard to tell what was special about the cauldron. That actually saved Yi Yun some trouble.

Yi Yun needed to hone his control over the Divine Alchemy Cauldron in ten days, so he could attain optimal working conditions. As for the recipe of the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills, be it the old or new recipe, Yi Yun had memorized it by heart. Everything would be settled in ten days.

If he could successfully refine the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills, he would be able to find his footing in Myriad City, earning large amounts of resources.

“Xie’er, I will definitely wake you up in at most three years.” Yi Yun said inwardly.

At that moment, Ling Xie’er was lying on Yi Yun’s bed. Her body was translucent and she held the Soul Returning Root in hand. A dancing Heretical God Fire Seed illuminated her tiny face with a weak glow. Her expression looked peaceful as if she was deep asleep…

1149 - : Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the biggest medicinal clinic in Myriad City, the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic had no lack of customers. Alchemist Huyan Cang was one of the mainstays of the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic, so he was naturally a hot commodity. Numerous people sought his talents in refining medicine on a daily basis.

Alchemist Huyan was very picky when it came to refining medicine. If the price was too low, he naturally wouldn’t bother.

He refused to refine medicine that was easy to make—it was a waste of his time.

He also refused to refine medicine that was too difficult—Although he was not required to compensate lost materials, a failure would still affect his reputation.

To Alchemist Huyan, time was money. As long as he was willing to take on business, the Myriad Runes would come to him. As such, he was no longer very motivated to earn Myriad Runes.

Furthermore, as Huyan Cang began getting on in years, his spirit of enterprise waned. Since he was already at that age, he was unable to make any new breakthroughs. Even if he cultivated arduously, it would be fruitless. He might as well enjoy life.

Alchemist Huyan had consumed Youth Retention Pills in his early years, making him appear to be in his twenties. However, his lifeblood was already on the decline.

Huyan Cang could not stand gentrifying. Besides taking pills to extend his lifespan, he also cultivated in bedroom mystic techniques. By obtaining the Primordial Yin of young girls, he was able to barely stimulate his gradually waning fire of life.

In fact, Huyan Cang was rather obsessed with beauty and sex. He would often refine medicines that enhanced his sexual performance. There were even times when beautiful female warriors requested his refinement services, and he would take that opportunity to extort them into sleeping with him, under threat of not receiving their pills.

His modus operandi was infamous but Huyan Cang did not worry about the infamy.

Just that day, in Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic, he had just failed in refining a cauldron of pills. The materials he destroyed were worth tens of thousands of runes.

But Huyan Cang didn’t care about the loss of the materials. He only sensed that, with him growing older by the day, his soul was becoming inadequate. If it were tens of thousands of years ago, he would have easily succeeded in refining that cauldron of pills.

As he lamented, Huyan Cang could not help but think of the bet he made with Yun Xin Loft’s Yi Yun five days ago. He frowned slightly. Where did that punk get his confidence from?

Yi Yun’s refinement process would be made public. Zuoqiu Haoyu had even invited several alchemists to audit the process. It could not be faked. It was impossible that Yi Yun truly had the ability to refine the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills himself, right?

Huyan Cang believed that Yi Yun did know a little alchemy. That on top of Yi Yun’s rather impressive talent made Huyan Cang extremely jealous. As he declined, Yi Yun, who had endless possibilities in the future, remained extremely young. How could he be okay with that?

“I definitely must make it impossible for that punk to rise up…”

As he was deliberating it, Huyan Cang suddenly heard an announcement—

“Master Huyan, Jadewave Sect’s Sect Master Dong wishes to see you.”

Jadewave Sect’s sect master?

Huyan Cang stroked his chin. The person in question had sought his services numerous times. Every time, he could not be bothered to entertain his request. The pill the sect master wanted to have refined took four to five days. It also demanded a lot of one’s strength of the soul. With Huyan Cang’s soul in decline, he was not willing to go through the trouble. In addition, the price offered by Jadewave Sect’s sect master hardly interested him.

If this were any other day, he would have sent him away. But today, he was feeling vexed. After some thought, he said to the manager, “Let him in.”

The Jadewave Sect was a tiny sect in the Myriad Divine Territory. It was far inferior to even the Clarity Pool Sword Sect.

Years ago, the Jadewave Sect’s sect master had managed to raise his cultivation level to half-step Supremacy at great cost. He could be said to be the weakest half-step Supremacy. Under such circumstances, it was very difficult for him to afford the expensive refinement fee.

“Master Huyan, I went through great efforts to obtain the Skydew Grass that you instructed me to prepare. Is it possible for you to refine the Body Cleansing Pill as per our original agreement? I would be extremely grateful.”

As the sect master said this, he gave Huyan Cang a deep bow.

“Skydew Grass? You actually managed to find it.” Huyan Cang was extremely surprised. A year ago, the last time the sect master came to him, he had told Sect Master Dong that he needed Skydew Grass.

This ingredient did not actually cost much, as it only occasionally appeared in medicinal recipes, but it was extremely rare. Even in Myriad City that claimed to have everything, it was a hard find. Huyan Cang had nonchalantly given the sect master the task of finding it, hoping to be rid of him. Yet here he was with the item in hand.

But now, Huyan Cang did not wish to refine the requested pill. So the Skydew Grass failed to impress him.

“Where’s your daughter? Why isn’t she here with you?”

Huyan Cang suddenly asked.

The moment the Jadewave Sect’s sect master heard Huyan Cang mention his daughter, his expression stiffened.

His daughter, Dong Xiaowan, had excellent talent. Years ago, there had been a beauty and talent ranking of the blessed daughters of heavens in Myriad City. The one that topped the charts was obviously Fairy Youqin. As for Dong Xiaowan, she managed to make an appearance on the charts. Although she was ranked nineteenth, it was still quite impressive for a woman from a small sect.

Sect Master Dong believed his daughter to be the hope of Jadewave Sect but, two years ago, something strange happened to his daughter after she returned from an experiential training journey. Regardless of how much time she put into cultivation, her cultivation level did not increase one bit.

This made Sect Master Dong anxious. He depended on his only precious daughter to bring the Jadewave Sect to greater heights in the future. This was the golden period for her cultivation growth, so every year delayed made his heart bleed.

He brought his daughter everywhere in search of medical advice. One famous doctor guessed that there was a tiny fault with her dantian. If she took a Body Cleansing Pill, it could cleanse her body, resolving all of her problems.

The refinement of a Body Cleansing Pill was extremely expensive. The Jadewave Sect’s sect master used all his savings to gather the ingredients, but the refinement fee was something he could not afford.

He had been shunned several times in Myriad City until he found Huyan Cang. Huyan Cang’s price was the only one he could barely afford, which was the Skydew Grass.

However, he never imagined that Huyan Cang would lose interest in the Skydew Grass after a year. He casually tossed the Skydew Grass into a jade box before asking again, “Your daughter’s name is Dong Xiaowan, right? The Body Cleansing Pill is for her, so why didn’t you bring her along?”

Huyan Cang stroked his chin as Sect Master Dong suddenly realized something was amiss. He had heard of Huyan Cang’s reputation, and it was for that very reason that he never brought his daughter with him.

“Master Huyan, my daughter’s body is weak, so it’s difficult for her to travel. That’s why I’m seeking alchemists to refine the Body Cleansing Pill to save my daughter.” Sect Master Dong said earnestly.

Huyan Cang chuckled, “Her body is weak and it’s difficult for her to travel? Yet, I’ve only heard that her cultivation level has stagnated. No amount of cultivation can increase her Yuan Qi, but she is not affected in any other aspect. So why can’t she travel?”

“Since there is a need for me to refine the pill, doesn’t it seem insincere that the person who needs it most will not appear? Bring her here. I’ll examine her body and feel her pulse. Only then can I give the proper medication.”

Upon hearing Huyan Cang saying that, Sect Master Dong’s expression changed. “Alchemists aren’t doctors, why is there a need to feel her pulse?”

“Oh? Are you questioning me?” Huyan Cang frowned. He was already in a bad mood after his earlier failure. He hoped to see Dong Xiaowan and if possible use her need for medicine to take advantage of her. Then, he could give her some pills and subsequently have intercourse with her to slow down the waning of his soul’s strength.

He never expected that the old man in front of him would be impenetrably thickheaded. It only served to make his mood worse.

“You want me to refine a Body Cleansing Pill with one crappy herb? Dream on! I will consider refining the pill for you when you bring your daughter to me.” Huyan Cang’s expression turned cold as he spoke impatiently.

Sect Master Dong was infuriated. The one that wanted the Skydew Grass in the first place was Huyan Cang, but now he said he didn’t want it?

He had searched seven divine territories over the past year for the Skydew Grass. He had spent all of his remaining savings on it and still had to borrow money. But now, Huyan Cang had gone back on his word so easily. It made his Skydew Grass turn useless because, although it was rare, it had little use. Pretty much no alchemist needed it.

Not only that, Huyan Cang was older than him, yet he had his sights on his young daughter. To speak so frivolously in front of him, as a father, was taking bullying to the extreme!

Sect Master Dong was incensed but Huyan Cang glanced at him and said with a sneer, “Why? Are you thinking of attacking me? You are just a person that relied on herbs to forcefully reach the half-step Supremacy stage, with a tiny sect backing you. Your sect is not in Myriad City and it is not protected by Myriad City’s rules. Be careful not to get wiped out!”

Huyan Cang was emboldened by his status. The corners of Sect Master Dong’s mouth quivered as his face turned pale. However, he could not do a thing. His Jadewave Sect was no match for the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic.

Sect Master Dong took a few deep breaths as he clenched his fists before slowly releasing them.

With the situation developing to this point, he could only endure the bullying because he was weak.

Sect Master Dong turned and left. Huyan Cang snorted coldly and deliberately said to the manager beside him with a loud voice, “Tell the other medicinal clinics that anyone who refines medicine for him is deliberately going against me, Huyan Cang.”

The words were meant for Sect Master Dong, whose footsteps came to a momentary halt. However, he still strode out of Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic’s door.

Seeing how Sect Master Dong did not capitulate, Huyan Cang frowned. As he gradually aged, his temperament was also beginning to distort. He began to enjoy the feeling status and power gave him as he toyed with the fates of others.

Furthermore, he was indeed interested in Dong Xiaowan. Being able to have intercourse with such a top-grade, talented beauty would greatly delay his gentrification.

“Alchemist Huyan, I’ll do as you instructed.” The manager responded. Just as he was about to spread the news, Huyan Cang’s eyes narrowed as his expression turned extremely ugly.

“Alchemist Huyan…what’s the matter?”

“You truly have some guts.”

Huyan Cang stood up as his eyes flared with pangs of anger.

He had sent his perception to follow closely behind Sect Master Dong. He saw Sect Master Dong walk down a street and turn around the corner before coming to a store. Sect Master Dong faltered slightly in front of the entrance before entering with his teeth gritted.

The plaque on this store contained three words—’Yun Xin Loft’!

1150 - : Body Cleansing Pill

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Welcome! May I ask why you are here today…?”

When Ru’er saw an azure-clothed elder walk into Yun Xin Loft, she immediately came forward to tend to him. She was also wary of him. Over the past five days, other than Huyan Cang and Zuoqiu Haoyu, Yun Xin Loft had not seen a single customer. Ru’er did not suddenly place her hopes on this one person.

“Where’s your master? I want to hire him to refine medicine for me.”

Sect Master Dong knew of the quarrel between Yi Yun, Huyan Cang and Zuoqiu Haoyu. He was rather impressed by how the young man with an ordinary background dared to stand up to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion and the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic. However, he did not think that Yi Yun would win.

Unfortunately, he was desperate today and had nowhere else to turn.

“Oh? You want me to refine medicine?” Yi Yun walked down from upstairs. “You are the first proper customer in five days to request my services.”

It had been five days. Yi Yun felt that his Yun Xin Loft was quite a failure. Were it not for Zuoqiu Haoyu and Huyan Cang’s little stunt giving him free publicity, his Yun Xin Loft would probably really close down in the future.

“Young Master Yi.” Sect Master Dong bowed, “I’m Jadewave Sect’s Sect Master, Dong Shaoqing.”

“Nice to meet you, Sect Master Dong.” Yi Yun cupped his fists. “Let me make this clear upfront: If the materials end up being destroyed during the refining process, I will not make any compensation. As long as you can accept this condition, I will begin the refining process.”

“I naturally know the rules. To be honest, I came here because I was out of options. It’s an all-or-nothing bet.” Dong Shaoqing spoke honestly. Even if Huyan Cang did not prohibit the other medicinal clinics from making the pill for him, he had no time to seek and gather the refinement fees demanded by the other stores. If there was any further delay, his daughter’s talent would truly be wasted.

“Haha.” Not only was Yi Yun unoffended by Dong Shaoqing’s frank statement, he actually laughed. “Sect Master Dong, please feel free to state your request.”

Dong Shaoqing said, “Young Master Yi, I need a Body Cleansing Pill for my daughter. I have already prepared the ingredients. However, I truly can’t pay the refinement fees of other establishments. I had a previous deal with Huyan Cang, he wanted a Skydew Grass before he would agree to refine the pill for me. However, he has gone back on his word. All I have is a Skydew Grass. If you are interested in it, take it away. In the next hundred years, I will give you a total of 100,000 runes intermittently as a form of thanks. If Young Master Yi doesn’t need the Skydew Grass, then forget it.”

“Skydew Grass?”

Yi Yun was surprised. He saw Dong Shaoqin take out a jade box. When he opened it, there was withered yellow grass sitting inside. It looked like it had withered a long time ago, but strangely, there was crystalline dew on the grass’s leaf.

“It is indeed Skydew Grass…” Yi Yun never expected to see Skydew Grass.

According to the divine alchemist’s notes, Skydew Grass was an extremely rare herb. One might not even find it if they scoured the oceans and mountains.

The divine alchemist’s notes also used Skydew Grass as a core ingredient for a pill that could enhance one’s soul realm. It was called Skydew Mental Nourishing Pill.

Typically, the strength of a warrior’s soul was on par with their cultivation level.

As for peerless geniuses, the strength of their soul would typically be a subrealm or two higher than their cultivation level.

For a person like Yi Yun, who was proficient in four Great Dao laws and had condensed four nine-leaf Dao fruits, constructing a nine-edged Dao Palace, the power of his soul was already comparable to a half-step Supremacy.

However, it was still rather hasty to designate Yi Yun’s soul to be invincible among peers at his cultivation level.

After all, Yi Yun was not a warrior that focused on cultivating his soul. People like Fairy Youqin had given birth to soul attacks through her cultivation of Zither Dao. She had trained her soul from a young age, so the power of her soul had long reached an unimaginable level among warriors at her level. She had an edge over Yi Yun.

A powerful soul was usually reflected by good perception sensing, the launching or enduring of mental attacks, as well as nomological insight. It could not directly raise one’s combat strength, so warriors that focused on the soul typically did not have an advantage in battle.

However, for alchemists or Desolate Heaven Masters, strength of soul mattered quite a lot. An alchemist with a powerful soul would refine pills of a grade that far exceeded a normal alchemist’s. They could also attempt several highly difficult pills.

Yi Yun estimated that with the Skydew Mental Nourishing Pill, there would come a day when his soul slowly rose from half-step Supremacy to the level of Supremacy. As such, he would be more confident when he began refining the Hollow Soul Pill. Yi Yun had even considered the idea of using other herbs to replace the Skydew Mental Nourishing Pill.

“Young Master Yi, I know this Skydew Grass might not be of much use to you, but I really do not have anything else other than this.” Sect Master Dong said with shame.

After all, he had been scammed by Huyan Cang. He knew that Yi Yun and Huyan Cang had a grudge. Only when Huyan Cang refused to refine the pill for him did he seek Yi Yun’s help. Moreover, he had brought the same herb that Huyan Cang had rejected. He felt somewhat apologetic.

Not be of much use?

Yi Yun faltered slightly. Thinking back on what Dong Shaoqing said, Huyan Cang had wanted a Skydew Grass but had gone back on his word. Clearly, Skydew Grass wasn’t something he cared much about.

Why did all the present alchemists think lowly of Skydew Grass?

Or could it be…that the Skydew Mental Nourishing Pill was the product of one of the divine alchemist’s exclusive recipes that no one knew of?

Yi Yun thought for a moment and found the latter rather likely. Many recipes were invented by alchemists themselves. They were typically secrets that weren’t simply passed on. If an alchemist did not have a successor, or if the successor was too limited in ability to properly recreate the recipe, then recipes would be lost over time.

The Skydew Mental Nourishing Pill recipe was apparently one of those lost recipes.

It resulted in Skydew Grass becoming an extremely rare but not very useful herb to alchemists.

If that was truly the case, he had truly struck the lottery!

Yi Yun felt that he could have refined the pills free for his first true customer. However, he really wanted the Skydew Grass.

Furthermore, if what Dong Shaoqing said was true, the number of alchemists that wanted Skydew Grass was extremely low. It would only be a pearl covered in dust if it landed in the hands of another. That would be such a pity.

After some thought, he said, “Sect Master Dong, to be honest, I happen to need this Skydew Grass. I can refine the Body Cleansing Pill for you. As for giving me 100,000 runes within a hundred years, there’s no need for that.”

Yi Yun did not hide his intentions. Dong Shaoqing was delighted when he heard that. Although he wasn’t sure if Yi Yun could succeed in refining the Body Cleansing Pill, it at least gave him hope.

He immediately handed the Skydew Grass to Yi Yun, who took it carefully.

“Materials.”

Yi Yun stretched out his hand. Sect Master Dong handed an interspatial ring to him without any hesitation.

“Young Master Yi, when can I receive the pills?”

Sect Master Dong asked anxiously. The materials in the interspatial ring represented the entirety of his wealth. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t panic a little after just handing it all over to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun glanced at Sect Master Dong and read his mind. He said with a smile, “If you are worried, follow me into the alchemy lab. I’ll hand it to you directly once I’m done refining.”

1151 - : Unexpected Harvest

CKtalon  CKtalon

“I can watch you?” Sect Master Dong was stunned.

Except for extenuating circumstances, such as Huyan Cang and Zuoqiu Haoyu demanding that Yi Yun refine pills in public, many alchemists forbade people from watching the refinement process. One reason for this was that they didn’t want to be disturbed, while the second reason was a fear that their hand seal techniques and alchemy secrets would end up being copied by others.

Dong Shaoqing had not made any such request, yet Yi Yun invited him to watch on his own. It could not be any better.

“Young Master Yi, won’t I disturb you if I’m there on the side, watching?”

Yi Yun smiled and said, “If I’m afraid of being disturbed, aren’t I doomed to fail when I have to refine pills in public five days from now?”

“That is true.” Dong Shaoqing was delighted. Although he wasn’t certain of Yi Yun’s skill, he was somewhat convinced by Yi Yun’s confident response.

If Yi Yun truly had no skill, he would not have agreed to make a fool of himself in public.

Yi Yun led Dong Shaoqing into the alchemy lab and closed the door. Ru’er stayed by his side to tend to him, looking somewhat like a medicine child.

Typically, the amount of time alchemists took to refine pills ranged from several hours to several days. When the pill far exceeded the alchemist’s level, they would need to set up a massive array and take years to refine it. It could even take hundreds of years. However, such an extensive setup could only be created by alchemist sages. Typical alchemists lacked that ability completely.

In the case of the Body Cleansing Pill, it would take about three or four days to refine.

If it were any other time, three or four days would be nothing to Dong Shaoqing. That was just a single round of meditation. But now, with his daughter’s fate hanging in the balance, he was in no mood to meditate. He watched Yi Yun’s refinement process intently.

Yi Yun took out a tiny gray cauldron that floated in mid-air. This was the Divine Alchemy Cauldron that had an incomplete array within.

“Phew–”

Yi Yun tapped his finger, causing the cauldron to ignite as he injected a wisp of the Heretical God Fire Seed.

The Heretical God Fire Seed had blended into the flame and remained inconspicuous. It entered into the Divine Alchemy Cauldron in the blink of an eye.

The Heretical God Fire Seed could penetrate the world. Typical cauldrons could not withstand it at all, but the Divine Alchemy Cauldron had accompanied the Heretical God Fire Seed for hundreds of millions of years, making it harmonize with the Heretical God Fire Seed as though they were one. When the Heretical God Fire Seed was injected into the Divine Alchemy Cauldron, it vanished completely. The cauldron’s surface remained simple and unsophisticated as if no flame had been ignited.

Upon seeing this, Dong Shaoqing fell into a daze. He had seen alchemists refine pills before, but the scene in front of him was something different.

Yi Yun glanced at the materials beside him. He immediately grabbed a Yang Bizarre Flower and threw it into the Divine Alchemy Cauldron.

The Yang Bizarre Flower was immediately enveloped by flames.

Yi Yun’s soul was presently only strong enough to control one tiny wisp of the Heretical God Fire Seed. He was already at his limit.

If he unleashed the Heretical God Fire Seed for pure destruction, such as burning down the Seven Star Dao Palace, Yi Yun could use the Heretical God Fire Seed to create an inferno sea. However, the refinement of medicine was completely different. It required extreme precision.

He could control one wisp of Heretical God Fire Seed easily. If he attempted two, it would be somewhat unstable.

The fire consumed the Yang Bizarre Flower, emitting the medicinal essence. The true extraction and collection of the medicinal essence did not rely on Yi Yun’s mental strength, but on the Purple Crystal Origins.

The Purple Crystal Origins was Yi Yun’s most precious divine treasure. It had helped Yi Yun survive the most difficult period when he first began practicing martial arts. And in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven and Azure Wood Great World, Yi Yun would not have fully gained insight into the Destruction concept or obtained the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s recognition, granting him four nine-leaf Dao fruits, were it not for the Purple Crystal.

The Purple Crystal had absolute control over energy. It allowed Yi Yun to condense the Yang Bizarre Flower’s medicinal essence in his hand without any effort.

This entire process took less than a minute.

After the Yang Bizarre Flower’s medicinal essence was extracted, Yi Yun did not hesitate to throw the second herb—Glazed Interwoven Grass—into the Divine Alchemy Cauldron.

Similarly, in less than a minute, the Glazed Interwoven Grass’s medicinal essence was extracted.

Following that, he threw one herb after another into the Divine Alchemy Cauldron. Yi Yun maintained a constant speed, but this only served to stun Dong Shaoqing, who was watching on the side.

Although Dong Shaoqing could not refine medicine, it did not mean he was completely unaware of what the refinement process was.

The extraction of medicinal essence from herbs was the most critical step for typical alchemists. All it took was one tiny mistake, and the herb would turn to ash.

Many alchemists would fail due to this. In actuality, the pill formation process was relatively easier.

Therefore, alchemists would be extremely cautious during the first step.

Dong Shaoqing had never heard, much less seen, someone work with Yi Yun’s speed and accuracy.

Why is he so fast? It took just a minute for another herb to be thrown into the cauldron. It was like a farm girl washing vegetables.

Soon, the medicinal essence of every ingredient was extracted.

Following that, under Yi Yun’s control, the medicinal essence began fusing together into a pill.

This process required Yi Yun to inject various Dao pattern seals.

He had already been practicing the Desolate Heaven technique since his days in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. In addition to the Purple Crystal’s absolute control over energy, it was not difficult for him to produce seals. Back at Empress Xuan’s banquet, Yi Yun had been able to perfectly form seals, impressing Princess White Fox.

One seal after another was produced by Yi Yun without any errors. With the passage of time, the Body Cleansing Pill quickly took form.

Upon seeing this scene, Dong Shaoqing heaved a sigh of relief. Yi Yun’s seals were not as ludicrous as his method of extracting medicinal essence, but he was still faster than the typical alchemist.

He estimated the time passed at about twelve hours. The refinement of the Body Cleansing Pill had reached the final stages.

What Dong Shaoqing did not know was that Yi Yun had deliberately slowed down and held back.

Fifteen minutes later, Yi Yun patted the Divine Alchemy Cauldron lightly, causing the lid to fly up as a green beam of light shot out and flew directly into Yi Yun’s hand.

Yi Yun spread his palm open, and three exquisite green pills lay in the middle of his palm.

With sufficient ingredients, a typical alchemist would create a cauldron of several pills. However, the materials provided by Dong Shaoqing were limited. In addition to the fact that few Body Cleansing Pills were produced after formation, refining three pills was already near the maximum.

Upon seeing the three Body Cleansing Pills, Dong Shaoqing was overjoyed.

He had previously seen Body Cleansing Pills before. Just one look at the three pills, full in color with patterns shimmering on the surface, and he knew that they were definitely superior Body Cleansing Pills.

He would’ve already been satisfied if there was only one, pleasantly surprised if there were two. He never even thought of getting three.

“Take them all.”

Yi Yun took out a jade box and placed the three pills into it.

“Young Master Yi, Grandmaster Yi…I just need one. The other two were refined from Grandmaster Yi’s extraordinary alchemy technique. They should be left with you.”

Dong Shaoqing was so excited that his form of address had also changed.

Yi Yun shook his head. Although the Body Cleansing Pill was of value to him, it wasn’t that great. Furthermore, he had already received the Skydew Grass that was extremely rare. He felt that he had already taken advantage of Dong Shaoqing, so Yi Yun naturally did not want the excess Body Cleansing Pills.

1152 - : Refinement Process

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You plan to cleanse your daughter’s body, right? Have her consume one of the three pills every two hours. It will lead to even better effects, but the body cleansing process will be rather painful.”

Yi Yun directly threw the jade box into the interspatial ring that Dong Shaoqing had previously given him before handing it back.

“This…” Dong Shaoqing’s hands trembled as he took the interspatial ring. He did not even know how he could thank Yi Yun.

He had gone through all sorts of difficulty, along with great effort, to find a single Skydew Grass. Now he held three Body Cleansing Pills in hand, and it was like a dream.

“I will never forget Grandmaster Yi’s favor my entire life.”

Dong Shaoqing held the interspatial ring and gave Yi Yun a deep bow.

He did not decline further. Naturally, three pills were more effective than one. Furthermore, it would cleanse the impurities within his daughter’s body, allowing her talent to be enhanced. If that happened, the Jadewave Sect had hopes of prospering.

“With such alchemy skills, Grandmaster Yi’s Yun Xin Loft could probably become Myriad City’s number one medicinal clinic.”

Dong Shaoqing sincerely wished that Yi Yun’s Yun Xin Loft would flourish.

However, Yi Yun shook his head. It wasn’t that simple to become the number one medicinal clinic. To reach that stage, one first needed unparalleled strength.

Getting stronger was a priority of Yi Yun’s.

Upon careful thought, he realized that he needed to strengthen his foundation, enhance his soul, search for the materials for the Hollow Soul Pill, become very familiar with the divine alchemist’s notes, and increase his cultivation level. He truly did not have much time.

“Grandmaster Yi, I’ll bid you farewell for now. Regarding the refinement of the pills, do you permit me to promote your services to others?”

Dong Shaoqing asked Yi Yun carefully.

Yi Yun immediately understood that Dong Shaoqing wanted to advertise for Yun Xin Loft.

Yi Yun did not mind it. The truly powerful advertisement would be done by Zuoqiu Haoyu and Huyan Cang, two illustrious figures in Myriad City. Furthermore, they did not charge any fees for the advertisement, and were even paying him for the honor. What a steal.

As for Dong Shaoqing boasting so much that Zuoqiu Haoyu and Huyan Cang would consider going back on their word, Yi Yun never considered that a possibility. There had been so many people around when the agreement was made. It was absolutely enforceable. Unless the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic did not want to continue doing business, they would definitely stick to the agreement.

“Do as you please. Just don’t be too exaggerated in your promotions,” Yi Yun said casually, not really caring either way.

Dong Shaoqing thanked him once again before leaving Yun Xin Loft.

In fact, the news spread faster than Yi Yun could have imagined.

In just half a day, nearly every tea shop and wine parlor in Myriad City was abuzz with talk of Yu Xin Loft. Yi Yun might be a trivial figure in Myriad City, but he was becoming rather famous. Days ago, he had been recognized as a friend of Fairy Wuxia at Heavenly Treasures Arch. Not only did they have close relations, Yi Yun had even rejected Zuoqiu Haoyu directly. He had also quarreled with Zuoqiu Haoyu and Huyan Cang. There were always busybodies that would talk about such things after meals.

Of course, it was unavoidable that the news reached Zuoqiu Haoyu and Huyan Cang’s ears.

“What? That useless Dong even said that Yi Yun managed to refine three Body Cleansing Pills?”

Zuoqiu Haoyu was shocked when he heard the news. How ludicrous was it if it were true? Wouldn’t it mean that Yi Yun possessed the abilities of a top-grade alchemist?

Huyan Cang frowned slightly. He immediately said with a cold snort,”That darn Useless Old Dong. He deliberately released fake information in an attempt to seek revenge against me. Does he think that I will back away in fear and give up on the agreement with that punk, admitting defeat before the challenge even begins?”

“Oh? Alchemist Huyan, what do you mean?” Zuoqiu Haoyu immediately asked when he heard that something was amiss.

Huyan Cang drank a mouthful of tea and said slowly,”To be honest, I had some thoughts on Useless Old Dong’s beautiful daughter. However, he reacted like a cat that had its tail stepped on. He wanted to fight me so I threw him out, then he went to Yun Xin Loft.”

“I saw the ingredients that Useless Old Dong prepared with my own eyes. Even if I did my best, I could at most produce two Body Cleansing Pills. Yet, he managed to make three? How can it be that easy!? Furthermore, he stepped into Yun Xin Loft less than twelve hours before news of the three Body Cleansing Pills was spread. Such refinement speed leaves me in the dust! If that punk can really refine Body Cleansing Pills in twelve hours, I’ll eat this table in front of me.”

Huyan Cang said confidently. Zuoqiu Haoyu heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that.

“In that case, Useless Old Dong is trying to seek revenge against you by scaring us into backing off, causing us to lose our reputation?”

“I can’t think of it being anything but that. Such thoughts are just too naive.” Huyan Cang said conceitedly.

“So that’s the case. There are still four days. When the time comes, we will arrive on the appointed hour, exposing Yi Yun for what he is.”

“Hahaha! There’s no need to even wait that long. If these Body Cleansing Pills are genuine, Useless Old Dong will definitely feed them to his daughter. We will be able to see its effects. I’m sure his daughter will not recover.”

In fact, Dong Shaoqing’s story left many people doubting. After all, what you hear may be false but what you see is true. With most people’s understanding of alchemy, they found it hard to believe what Dong Shaoqing had said. It was too fantastic.

However, there were those who believed in Dong Shaoqing. After all, Dong Shaoqing was a sect master. Even if it was a tiny sect, a sect master would not shoot their mouths off without thought. It would only serve to harm their sect’s reputation.

Therefore, some people did go to Yun Xin Loft to try their luck. They wanted to see if Yi Yun could refine the pills they wanted.

“Hey, where’s your boss? I’m here to get him to refine some medicine.”

Three large men appeared in Yun Xin Loft’s hall, shouting at Ru’er with a muffled tone.

Ru’er was an obedient girl. Regardless of the customers’ attitudes, she would respectfully serve tea before informing Yi Yun to come down.

The three men slammed the recipe on the table as they sat down with a wide, open stance.

“Wow! Seven Astralmist Flower Tea. It’s good tea. Give me a few more cups.”

A delightful look flashed in a man’s eyes when he saw the aromatic Seven Astralmist Flower Tea. Such tea was extremely helpful to one’s cultivation level.

He immediately picked up another cup and was about to drink it when he felt pain in his glabella. He nearly dropped the cup of tea to the ground.

“A hundred runes per cup. If you want to drink the tea, pay for it.”

A cold voice suddenly sounded.

The man was given a fright.”What? I’m here to give you business, but you want to collect money from me for drinking tea? And a hundred runes a cup? Why don’t you just rob me instead!?”

The man said angrily. He looked up, and standing against the second floor’s railing was Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was dressed in azure-colored clothes and he held a black scroll, making him look like a mortal scholar.”If you want me to refine pills, regardless of the quality, it starts at 50,000 runes. If the difficulty is higher, 100,000 runes. All the ingredients on your body do not add up to a thousand runes. Yet, you want me to refine pills for you?”

The recipe in the man’s hand had been seen clearly by Yi Yun.

There were more than ten recipes listed. They were all cheap and low-grade pills. The ingredients used were so cheap that Yi Yun wouldn’t even bother to pick them up if he saw them.

The recipes required minor ingredients of little value. Added up, they were only worth a few hundred runes. Although they were not difficult to refine, they were still extremely tedious.

Yi Yun guessed at these people’s thoughts. They had heard from Sect Master Dong that he knew how to refine medicine, and came here to try their luck and cash out. They had deliberately brought some cheap ingredients so that they would not suffer a great loss if the refinement failed. However, if the refinement succeeded, they would make a killing.

Yi Yun had no time to entertain such petty men that used tiny profitable schemes.

“You…”

The three men were enraged. They nearly moved to attack Yi Yun but, when Yi Yun’s gaze landed on them, they felt a baffling sense of fear.

“Scram. You should be grateful for Myriad City’s rules. Were it not for them, you wouldn’t have been able to leave here in one piece.”

The three men eventually left dejectedly.

“Ru’er, close the door. I’ll be going into seclusion.”

Yi Yun decided to use the Skydew Grass that he had obtained by luck to refine Skydew Mental Nourishing Pills. Regardless of when it was, enhancing himself took priority. He obviously had to use the herb if he had it.

With the store open, the ones that came in were mostly thieves and rascals. Yi Yun had no time to deal with them.

“Yes, Sir.”

Ru’er immediately closed the door, leaving those that came to Yun Xin Loft hoping to try their luck barred from entering.

The three men that had been chased away by Yi Yun were furious. As a result, they began discrediting Yi Yun wantonly, throwing mud at Yun Xin Loft, and saying how bad Yi Yun was.

Immediately, there were more doubts cast at Yi Yun.

This was unexpected by Dong Shaoqing. He never thought that his promotion would have adverse effects.

Yi Yun was his benefactor, so how could he allow the situation to get worse?

Yi Yun entered reclusion and couldn’t be bothered to deal with the matter. However, he couldn’t sit idle. He had the Body Cleansing Pills in hand, insurmountable evidence that could not be doubted.

He showed many people his genuine Body Cleansing Pills and fed the three pills to his daughter in two-hour intervals.

This display attracted the attention of many people. They wanted to know what the effects of the Body Cleansing Pills were.

Logically speaking, after consuming the Body Cleansing Pills, impurities would be expelled from her body and her talent would improve.

People waited to see if there were any changes to Dong Xiaowan’s body.

However…what Dong Shaoqing never expected was that after Dong Xiaowan consumed the perfect Body Cleansing Pills, her body began to gradually weaken.

After thirty minutes, Dong Xiaowan’s face turned purplish-blue. Her lips turned pale as her body gradually became cold. Even her breathing got weak.

When he felt Dong Xiaowan’s pulse, he realized that it was erratic. There was no way to regulate it. It was as if she was beyond cure.

Dong Shaoqing was alarmed. He forced himself to remain calm and convinced himself that it was possible his daughter’s body could not withstand the three high-quality Body Cleansing Pill, resulting in side effects.

However, as time went on, Dong Xiaowan’s condition turned for the worse. Her flames of vitality also gradually waned, making Dong Shaoqing turn anxious.

This was absolutely not a side effect of the powerful medical essences of the Body Cleansing Pills. Instead, Dong Xiaowan’s life was weakening and she was dangerously close to dying!

Why did this happen? She had clearly eaten high-quality Body Cleansing Pills. What happened?

Dong Shaoqing was in a state of utter stupefaction.

1153 - : Unforeseen Matter

CKtalon  CKtalon

News of Dong Xiaowan’s severe sickness quickly spread. Not only were her meridians still damaged, leaving her unable to cultivate after eating Yun Xin Loft’s Body Cleansing Pills, she ended up collapsing and was apparently close to perishing.

This made people immediately believe that the things Dong Shaoqing said about Yi Yun successfully refining the Body Cleansing Pills were just fabrications.

“Hahahaha!” Huyan Cang laughed out loud. He was feeling delighted at that moment.

“Dong Shaoqing, to think that you wanted to seek revenge against me. In the end, all you did was smash your own foot with the rock you lifted. I am sure that, in a few days, he will come begging me to save his daughter’s life.”

“Alchemist Huyan, you are truly prescient.” Zuoqiu Haoyu echoed the sentiment with a smile. As a young master of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, Zuoqiu Haoyu had many competitors in the same sect. He needed to maintain a good relationship with Huyan Cang.”Since your abilities are now needed to save her, you will easily be able to bring that Dong Xiaowan into your bedroom to slowly research her body.”

There was an underlying tone lacing Zuoqiu Haoyu’s words. Huyan Cang stroked his chin. Treating an already unconscious beauty that had no means to resist, allowing him to do anything he wanted, seemed to be quite an intriguing thought as well.

“How can that punk with only an exaggerated opinion of his own abilities be able to refine Body Cleansing Pills? Pills like the Body Cleansing Pill need to be carefully refined even by someone like me. Yi Yun must have refined bogus pills which have large amounts of pill toxins left in them.”

Any standard pill carried remnant traces of pill toxins, so a bogus pill would be full of them.

“It seems as though it will be the punk’s doomsday in three days, at the bet.” Zuoqiu Haoyu heaved a sigh of relief. He was somewhat worried when he heard news of Yi Yun refining Body Cleansing Pills. Now, he realized that his worry had been all for nothing.

…

Three days quickly passed. During those three days, it could be said that Dong Shaoqing had nowhere to turn to for help.

He did not know what had happened to his daughter. As he watched her get frailer by the day, with her vitals gradually weakening, he knew the trend indicated that his daughter would perish in a few days. It was an unbearable setback for Dong Shaoqing.

He was completely penniless, not even having any savings left to treat his daughter’s illness. Furthermore, no other alchemist would touch this matter. The only ones he could conceivably turn to were Yi Yun and Huyan Cang.

Sending his daughter to Huyan Cang would be like sending a sheep to the slaughter. He wanted to send her to Yi Yun, but Yi Yun had already entered seclusion and would not entertain anyone.

Yi Yun’s choice to enter seclusion at that particular moment only encouraged the belief that he had refined bogus pills to deceive others. From their point of view, he had clearly used seclusion as a means of avoiding consequences.

However, regardless of what people said, Dong Shaoqing refused to believe that he had been deceived.

He had tested the three pills personally. Even if he had made a mistake due to his lack of ability, he had seen Yi Yun’s pill refining process. That godlike technique was obviously remarkable, even to a layperson like him.

Under such circumstances, he could only endure his anxiety and did not disturb Yi Yun’s seclusion. He knew that Yi Yun would come out of seclusion very soon, as today was the day he agreed to refine the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills in public.

And indeed, early that morning, Yi Yun came out of seclusion!

Over the past three days, Yi Yun had used the Skydew Grass to refine a Skydew Mental Nourishing Pill. After consuming it, his soul strengthened tremendously.

Before he had a chance to revel in joy, Ru’er informed him of Dong Xiaowan’s dire situation.

“Sir, that is what has happened…”

Ru’er had known of the news for a few days, but she only informed him now. In her eyes, Yi Yun was obviously the most important person.

“You said that Dong Xiaowan’s life is in a dire situation?” Yi Yun frowned.

“That’s what the people in Myriad City say. Sect Master Dong also came to Yun Xin Loft a few days ago. He personally told me of the situation with his daughter. Her condition is turning for the worse.”

“Strange, the Body Cleansing Pills that I refined should have an extremely low amount of pill toxins. They should have mild medicinal properties. Even if she consumed three in one sitting, it shouldn’t lead to any problems.”

Yi Yun was perplexed as he suddenly felt something. He transmitted his voice out the door,”Sect Master Dong, I have come out of seclusion. Please come in.”

Dong Shaoqing had been waiting outside Yun Xin Loft’s door since yesterday night. He was feeling extremely anxious, with no motivation to do anything else. He had spent the past three days almost counting his breaths.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s voice transmission, Dong Shaoqing was overjoyed. He immediately pushed the door open and entered before giving Yi Yun a deep bow.

“Young Master Yi, you must save my daughter!”

Yi Yun was the only person that Dong Shaoqing could rely on.

He knew that as long as Yi Yun did not deliberately refine bogus pills, Yi Yun did not owe him anything. He had no right to ask Yi Yun to save his daughter, so all he could do was beseech him to do so.

“Where’s your daughter?” Yi Yun walked down the stairs as Dong Shaoqing hurriedly took out a mobile abode—Well, it couldn’t exactly be called an abode. It was about ten square feet large and was obviously an inferior product. Dong Shaoqing had probably pawned his original mobile abode for money.

When the micro abode opened, Yi Yun saw Dong Xiaowan lying within.

Dong Xiaowan wasn’t tall and she had a petite figure. She was indeed very beautiful. Even though she was ghostly pale from the Body Cleansing Pills, all it did was add to her frail beauty.

When he saw Dong Xiaowan’s state, Yi Yun sighed slightly. Her condition was not indicative of the after effects of consuming Body Cleansing Pills.

“She seems to have been…poisoned.”

Yi Yun said with a guess. In the divine alchemist’s notes, there were records regarding the treatment of the ill. Although Yi Yun had done some cursory reading on such matters, he had little experience. He could not put theory into practice so easily.

As such, Yi Yun wasn’t really equipped to bring Dong Xiaowan back to life. He could only guess at the reason why she had ended up in this state.

“Poisoned?” Dong Shaoqing faltered for a moment. The famous doctor that had diagnosed Dong Xiaowan had previously mentioned the possibility, but that was only one of the many possibilities.

“Sect Master, what was the reason you wanted Dong Xiaowan to consume the Body Cleansing Pills? It doesn’t seem like you only wanted to enhance her talent.”

Yi Yun was certain that his Body Cleansing Pills did not have any pill toxins. The only possibility, therefore, was that Dong Xiaowan had been poisoned prior to consuming the Body Cleansing Pills.

“That is not the main reason.” Dong Shaoqing quickly explained the situation.

“Oh? After entering a mystic realm, she was unable to raise her cultivation level no matter how much she cultivated? And the Body Cleansing Pill is a prescription given to her by a famous doctor?”

Yi Yun recalled the divine alchemist’s notes. He could not find any faults with the famous doctor’s prescription of using Body Cleansing Pills as the main medication to treat her. Since a Body Cleansing Pill could cleanse one’s body, it could naturally expel poisons and evil elements.

But Dong Xiaowan’s life was in danger precisely after consuming the Body Cleansing Pills!

Yi Yun pondered for a moment before saying,”It seems the poison in your daughter’s body isn’t ordinary. Not only did the poison remain after consumption of the Body Cleansing Pills, it had even been stimulated. It resulted in her current state.”

No matter how he thought about it, that was the only possibility.

Dong Shaoqing was stunned hearing this, and sunk into despair.”If it’s a poison that even Body Cleansing Pills can’t remove, what sort of rare poison is it? And how will I be able to save Xiaowan?”

Dong Shaoqing was truly helpless. Ignoring the fact that he was bankrupt now, even if his peak wealth was increased ten times, he probably lacked the means.

Yi Yun said,”I can only give it a try. I’m also not that skilled when it comes to healing people.”

Yi Yun pressed down on Dong Xiaowan’s weak and pale wrist. He checked her pulse, but he had no experience in doing such things. After all, it was hard to determine the result going solely by the descriptions in the divine alchemist’s notes.

Yi Yun felt that Dong Xiaowan’s pulse was chaotic. If he wanted to find the root reason, he would only be left confused.

As he pondered, an idea came to him. He activated the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

Ever since Yi Yun fused with the Azure Wood Divine Tree, his perception had been greatly enhanced. He could even penetrate Chaos Stones, so he seldom used the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

Now, after such a long time, he needed to rely on the crystal’s energy vision once again. Non-energetic entities around him vanished. Dong Xiaowan’s clothes and body turned into phantom lines.

As for the Dong Xiaowan’s meridians and dantian that flowed with energy, they appeared without any abnormalities. Following that, Yi Yun saw a scene that left a chill running down his spine.

He saw an old, hideous face in Dong Xiaowan’s body. The face was laughing sinisterly at Yi Yun as if it were mocking him.

What is this!?

1154 - : Reason for Danger

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was completely confounded. Anyone would be terrified by such a thing appearing in a woman’s dantian.

Was this a spiritual soul or an evil entity?

Yi Yun could not make an immediate judgment. He had a vague sense that the face was something intricate.

Although the Jadewave Sect was small and weak, Dong Shaoqing knew some powerful experts. Be it when medical attention was first sought for Dong Xiaowan or when Dong Xiaowan was in her current predicament, no one had noticed the underlying problem.

If not for the energy vision provided by Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal, it would have been difficult to sense this strange evil entity.

“Over the past few days, have any alchemists seen Dong Xiaowan?” Yi Yun asked.

To which Dong Shaoqing nodded,”Yes. Huyan Cang has made quite a number of friends in the Myriad City over all these years. As Young Master Yi might know, you opened Yun Xin Loft in the vicinity of the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic. So regarding this matter, many old and qualified alchemists are, in fact, treating…treating it as a joke.”

Dong Shaoqing hesitated for a moment before speaking the truth. Yi Yun’s every action in Myriad City so far seemed designed to showcase how much he overestimated himself. Why should any of these seasoned alchemists, that made names for themselves years ago, ever think highly of Yi Yun?

“So…after Xiaowan’s complication, a few alchemists agreed to look at her, claiming to check on her medical condition. I was anxious and out of my wits, so I allowed them to check on her condition, hoping for that tiny chance that one of the alchemists would be willing to help. However, they were mostly doing it as a joke. Someone even insinuated that I send Xiaowan to Huyan Cang for a few days…then…”

Dong Shaoqing could not go on further when he said that. He only had one daughter.

Warriors usually had many wives and concubines. However, Dong Shaoqing was a very dedicated man. He only had one Dao partner, who left behind their only daughter after she passed away. Furthermore, his daughter had excellent talent. Dong Shaoqing had placed all his hopes on her.

Yi Yun nodded. Indeed, none of these alchemists had noticed anything amiss.”Back when your daughter entered that area, how did she end up encountering the misfortune?”

Dong Shaoqing said,”It’s a World Stone mining ground that my Jadewave Sect controls. During the mining process, an ancient underground ruin was found. We don’t know how many years it had been abandoned for. Xiaowan was extremely curious, so she entered it. Accompanying her were quite a number of her fellow disciples. Xiaowan is rather popular in Jadewave Sect. Many senior and junior brothers of hers fell over each other trying to enter with her.”

“And what happened to those people? Did they return safely?” Yi Yun interjected.

“Yes…I guess so…” Dong Shaoqing sounded certain in the beginning, but when questioned by Yi Yun, his speech faltered.

“Did they or did they not?”

“About that…I wasn’t able to tell if there were any problems, at least.” Dong Shaoqing responded seriously. Although Dong Xiaowan was unable to cultivate, it did not seem like she was in any danger. Had she not consumed the Body Cleansing Pills, he would never have known that Dong Xiaowan had succumbed to such a terrifying catastrophe.

Yi Yun frowned and said,”I will try my best to save your daughter’s life. The process will be rather tricky, but I already have an idea. You don’t have to worry. Her life is not in danger at the moment.”

Although it appeared as if Dong Xiaowan’s vital signs were gradually fading and that she would perish within a matter of days, Yi Yun knew that the moment Dong Xiaowan died, the evil entity would have nowhere to hide. If it had any intelligence, it would not want to cause Dong Xiaowan’s death.

“Thank you Young Master Yi!”

Dong Shaoqing gave a deep bow. All of his hopes rested on Yi Yun.

At that moment, a loud laughter was suddenly heard.

“Hahahaha! Dong Shaoqing, your daughter ate bogus pills and is on her deathbed, yet you bow so deeply at the man who put her there. I have seen stupid people before, but I have never seen one quite as stupid as you!”

The person spoke so loudly to publicize the matter. Dong Shaoqing’s face sank as he turned his head to see a black carriage drawn by four dragon horses rumbling over.

A young-looking man walked down from the carriage. It was none other than Huyan Cang!

And following closely behind Huyan Cang were several people.

Zuoqiu Haoyu was obviously there as well. Aside from him, there were many people dressed in alchemy robes. Among them were Huyan Cang’s disciples as well as other famous alchemists of Myriad City.

Huyan Cang had made many friends in the alchemy circle over the years. Naturally, they came to the event to back Huyan Cang.

The moment this group of people arrived, it attracted the attention of many onlookers. People obviously remembered that today was the day Yi Yun had to publicly refine the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills!

At that moment, a soft green beam flashed across the street. People quickly made way as a spirit boat made of jade shuttled through the air.

Myriad City banned flying, but a small few were permitted to fly at low altitudes. Furthermore, the distance from the ground indicated how high one’s privilege was.

When the spirit boat landed, a middle-aged man dressed in red robes walked down.

“It’s Medicinal Immortal Pavilion’s Grandmaster Zuoqiu!”

Someone recognized the person. The Medicinal Immortal Pavilion was one of the three major medicinal clinics in Myriad City. The Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic was established by the alliance of a few major factions but the Medicinal Immortal Pavilion was one of the private businesses of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.

Although Zuoqiu Bo was, in name, part of the Medicinal Immortal Pavilion, it was impossible to get him to do any actual refinement at the Medicinal Immortal Pavilion. At his level, he never made an appearance in Medicinal Immortal Pavilion and very seldom would he provide any services. He was not like Huyan Cang who was a mainstay at Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic. As long as one had enough money, Huyan Cang could be hired.

In Myriad City’s territory, Zuoqiu Bo’s status was naturally higher than Huyan Cang’s.

“Sixth Granduncle, I didn’t expect you to come.”

Zuoqiu Haoyu was pleasantly surprised upon seeing Zuoqiu Bo. Although he was a young master of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, he was still considered a junior. His conflict with Yi Yun was therefore only considered a dispute between juniors. It would not have risen to the level of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.

The truly important figures of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion did not care about this trivial matter at all. As such, Zuoqiu Haoyu never expected that Zuoqiu Bo would appear here today. It made him overjoyed. He was hoping for Zuoqiu Bo to show him guidance in Myriad Immortal Pavilion.

“Haoyu, I only happened to pass by here today. I heard that City Lord Qin will come, so I decided to stop only to greet City Lord Qin.” Zuoqiu Bo said nonchalantly. He was not interested in Yi Yun’s refinement of the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills at all. He had come for City Lord Qin.

After Zuoqiu Bo finished saying that, nine dark golden ancient beasts were seen. They pulled a chariot that was simple and unadorned. It rumbled as it tore through the void!

Riding the chariot was an azure-clothed middle-aged man. His aura was converged and there were faint streams of light shimmering around him—This was a particular realm of cultivation. Laws would naturally materialize.

He was none other than City Lord Qin!

And standing beside City Lord Qin was a peerless woman. She wore a veil and carried a zither in her arms. She was obviously Princess White Fox.

“It’s City Lord Qin. City Lord Qin has really come!”

Everyone was alarmed. They never expected that a dispute between two juniors—Yi Yun and Zuoqiu Haoyu—would truly rouse City Lord Qin!

1155 - : Day for the Refinement

CKtalon  CKtalon

When City Lord Qin and Princess White Fox brought their chariot to a halt and stepped down, Zuoqiu Haoyu and company came forward to greet them.

“City Lord Qin must be in high spirits to join in the commotion for my nephew’s little bet.” Zuoqiu Bo said with a smile.

“It’s Wuxia that wants to see her friend.” City Lord Qin scanned the crowd until his eyes landed on Yi Yun. He had caught wind of Yi Yun’s deeds over the past few days. He became curious about the young man as a result, so he truly was interested in seeing Yi Yun’s performance at today’s refinement.

“There’s truly no lack of people that get caught up in a commotion,” said City Lord Qin. In just a while, the crowd had grown greater in size.

Zuoqiu Haoyu and Huyan Cang walked over. When Huyan Cang caught a glance at Princess White Fox, his eyes lit up.”This must be Fairy Wuxia, right? Indeed, her reputation precedes her.”

Her beauty was truly magnificent and sumptuous. Even with a veil, she gave off a mesmerizing air.

“I must apologize to Fairy Wuxia. Although Yi Yun is her friend, it seems as though he is deceiving her. He is extremely despicable. I cannot stand by as such a person continues to commit acts of deceit in Myriad City.” Zuoqiu Haoyu said, as though he stood firm for the cause of justice.

Princess White Fox’s reaction was cold as if she had not heard him.

At that moment, Yi Yun came out of Yun Xin Loft. He similarly ignored Zuoqiu Haoyu’s insult. He politely bowed at City Lord Qin and said,”This junior, Yi Yun, welcomes City Lord Qin.”

Yi Yun was still very grateful towards City Lord Qin.

“Fairy Wuxia.” Yi Yun gave Princess White Fox a faint smile. There was truly a bond of fate between him and Princess White Fox.

“Haha, I can be a witness for you today. Refine your pills with ease!”

City Lord Qin laughed amiably at Yi Yun. Upon seeing this scene, Zuoqiu Haoyu’s expression sunk. What did Yi Yun do to deserve the favor of City Lord Qin and Fairy Wuxia?

And the words he said were ignored. It was as if he was the idiot.

The corner of his lips twitched. In a deliberate bid to strike at Yi Yun’s sore spot, he said,”Yi Yun, Dong Xiaowan is still lying inside, right? You helped Jadewave Sect’s sect leader by refining a cauldron of bogus pills. And now, Dong Xiaowan is lying almost dead in your Yun Xin Loft! Today, I will help Myriad City’s city lord uphold the rules and seek justice for Dong Xiaowan!”

Zuoqiu Haoyu continued with fervent excitement,”If you fail to refine the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills today, I will not only want you to pay double the compensation, I’ll need your arms cleaved off. Do you dare to take up the challenge!?”

Zuoqiu Haoyu was a little worried. Under the present circumstances, it was possible that Xue Wuxia would help Yi Yun pay the compensation. Then, Yi Yun would get off scot-free. Zuoqiu Haoyu wanted more from today’s event. He was willing to lose his precious herbs in exchange for maiming Yi Yun.

“You want my arms cleaved off. But what happens if you lose?” Yi Yun retorted Zuoqiu Haoyu with a question.

“If you are able to refine the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills, I’ll rescind my words and pay you an additional 500,000 runes.”

Zuoqiu Haoyu scoffed as he did not believe he would lose.

Upon hearing Zuoqiu Haoyu’s words, City Lord Qin laughed.”If Yi Yun fails, he gets his arms cleaved off. But if he doesn’t fail, all that happens is you take back your words and pay some compensation in runes. These conditions are truly fair.”

City Lord Qin said this lightly, but anyone could detect the sarcasm in his words.

Zuoqiu Haoyu’s expression stiffened. If Yi Yun had said that, he could have just mocked him in return. According to Myriad City’s rules, a Dao Palace realm warrior’s arms were not even worth 500,000 runes. However, when it was City Lord Qin speaking up, how could he retaliate?

Yi Yun added:”Since you want to bet my arms, it only makes sense to use your arms as a bet. Also, Alchemist Huyan, you shouldn’t be left out. I have my arms and legs. I might as well bet your arms as well.”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Huyan Cang’s expression changed. What was Yi Yun doing?

“Hmph! You are a junior, an ant-like existence. How much ability can you have at refining pills? You are only a cheat. And today, I will rip off that mask of yours and expose you.” Huyan Cang said angrily.

“Why do you speak so much nonsense? I’m asking you, are you taking the bet or not?”

Yi Yun was aggressive. Everyone could tell that Huyan Cang lacked confidence. At that moment, Zuoqiu Haoyu spoke,”I’ll take the bet.”

Dong Xiaowan’s illness could not be faked. He was certain that Yi Yun failed at the Body Cleansing Pills, so how could he refine the much more difficult Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills?

“Alright! Ru’er, prepare for the refinement!”

The ingredients needed to refine the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills were provided by Zuoqiu Haoyu, and everything necessary was present.

The streets outside Yun Xin Loft were already jam-packed with people. And the space within Yun Xin Loft was limited. At that moment, Zuoqiu Bo took out a black circular disc. He said,”This is my pill platform. Let’s use it!”

As Zuoqiu Bo spoke, he threw out the circular disc and it appeared beneath everyone’s feet. It began expanding and quickly enveloped everyone within it. Instantly, the surrounding stores and streets vanished. It turned into an extremely vast space. Yi Yun, City Lord Qin, and company were in the middle of the pill platform. In front of Yi Yun was a stone platform which was the pill refining platform prepared for him.

Yi Yun got right to it. He gestured with his hand, sending a tiny, spinning cauldron appearing from his right hand.

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s cauldron, Huyan Cang could not help but reveal a mocking smile.

He was not mocking the simple appearance of Yi Yun’s cauldron. Many cauldrons looked old on the surface but hid an extraordinary quality. That wasn’t rare. Instead, he was amused at the fact that the array formation within the cauldron was incomplete. It was an inferior item.

A cauldron with an incomplete array was useless no matter how quality the item was.

“How can an alchemist let the item his livelihood depends on be in such terrible shape? To think you took out a useless cauldron with an incomplete array. I wouldn’t even give it a second look if it was thrown in front of me.” Huyan Cang said. Everyone was surprised when they heard this as they all looked at Zuoqiu Bo.

Zuoqiu Bo nodded.”The cauldron’s array is indeed incomplete. I can’t tell if there’s anything special on the surface, either. Typically, once a cauldron’s array is damaged, its quality will be reduced by ten times.”

The quality would drop that much?

The crowd was stunned. No matter how good a cauldron it was, without a working array, wasn’t it basically scrap metal?

Yi Yun was using a broken cauldron to refine pills?

At that moment, Yi Yun had already opened his cauldron. Over the past few days, Yi Yun had already honed his affinity with the Divine Alchemy Cauldron. It was as if his mind and soul were connected to the cauldron.

Yi Yun grabbed three herbs and threw them into the Divine Alchemy Cauldron!

He had begun with three herbs immediately. Even laypeople knew that alchemists had to proceed slowly and methodically while refining pills. Wasn’t he afraid of burning the three herbs to ash from the beginning?

“Heretical God Fire Seed!”

Yi Yun was fully focused. He was in the moment, the surrounding din did not exist to him. He seemed to be located in an infinite void, but he also felt as if he was the only person within.

Two wisps of Heretical God Fire Seed entered the Divine Alchemy Cauldron. Like two dancing gray pixies, they surrounded the herbs.

Before Yi Yun consumed the Skydew Mental Nourishing Pill, he could only control one wisp of the Heretical God Fire Seed. But now, he could already control two. This was a great improvement that gave Yi Yun the courage to throw three herbs into the cauldron simultaneously.

1156 - : Refining the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills

CKtalon  CKtalon

The moment the Heretical God Fire Seed entered the Divine Alchemy Cauldron, it fused with the Divine Alchemy Cauldron seamlessly. On the surface, the Divine Alchemy Cauldron remained gray and lusterless. It did not emit any form of light.

Although many people watching Yi Yun did not know alchemy, quite a number of them had seen others refine pills. The scene before them was completely different from their knowledge of the refinement process. Their recollection of refinement processes by other alchemists typically had flames that illuminated the sky. One could sense the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi fluctuations and the immense medicinal essence from a distance.

However, in Yi Yun’s case, there was no phenomenon at all. The ancient Divine Alchemy Cauldron held everything within.

As a result, some people weren’t even sure if Yi Yun had ignited a flame or not.

“What is this punk up to?”

Huyan Cang frowned. Three herbs had been thrown in at once, but the cauldron went silent after.

Huyan Cang attempted to probe with his perception. Most cauldrons had the ability to block perception probing. However, Huyan Cang believed that, since the internal array of Yi Yun’s cauldron was broken, its power to block probing would definitely be weaker. However, when his perception came into contact with the cauldron, he felt pain in his soul sea. It was as though his perception was being engulfed in flames. Following that, he felt his perception sink as though it were drowning in a bottomless ocean, until it was completely consumed.

What just happened?

Huyan Cang looked at Zuoqiu Bo and, from his expression, he knew that Zuoqiu Bo had also failed to probe the gray cauldron with his perception.

This was no ordinary cauldron!

Huyan Cang began to suspect that he had underestimated the cauldron. Although the array within was damaged, the material it was made of was extraordinary, at least in the aspect of protecting it from perception probing.

Ninety seconds passed when Yi Yun grabbed another two herbs and threw them into the Divine Alchemy Cauldron.

Upon seeing this scene, Huyan Cang was somewhat stunned. When an alchemist was refining one or several herbs, they would absolutely not add in new herbs or the ingredients added at different times would experience different levels of heat. Without absolute control, it would only lead to trouble.

Only when one finished refining the herbs they threw in first, and extracted all their medicinal essence, could one begin refining subsequent herbs.

Yi Yun had just thrown in more herbs, which could only mean that the herbs from before had been fully refined. Yet only ninety seconds had passed. No one was capable of extracting all the medicinal essence from three herbs in one fell swoop.

Extraction of medicinal essence was the most difficult step of any refinement. Even Huyan Cang had to do it extremely carefully, spending a great deal of time on this step.

“So this punk hasn’t started a fire yet!”

Huyan Cang snorted coldly. The Divine Alchemy Cauldron remained quiet. Although there were some nomological rhythms reverberating on its surface, there was no Yuan Qi being expelled, nor was there a surge in medicinal essence. So not only did Yi Yun hastily throw in so many herbs in such a short period of time, but Huyan Cang was also certain that Yi Yun had not begun refining the herbs at all.

Otherwise, the refinement would have already gone awry.

However, it was impossible for Yi Yun to ignite the fire after throwing in so many herbs. As for him taking the herbs back out later? That would be a joke.

“Master Zuoqiu, what’s going on?” City Lord Qin did not understand the alchemical process.

Zuoqiu Bo stroked his beard as his eyes shimmered while looking at the Divine Alchemy Cauldron. He would typically not bother studying a junior’s refinement process, but he realized that the way things were developing was rather different from what he had expected.

If Yi Yun had not begun the process, then what were the nomological rhythms reverberating around the cauldron?

Zuoqiu Bo was a seasoned alchemist. From his point of view, these nomological rhythms were extremely intriguing. Furthermore, they were a style that he did not understand.

After pondering for a while, Zuoqiu Bo said,”The alchemical technique that Yi Yun is employing is one that I have never seen before. It must be a very ancient or brand new style. This method of handling the herbs is rather new. However, no matter how unique the style is, it is impossible to handle more than ten herbs in one go.”

Just as Zuoqiu Bo finished saying that, he saw Yi Yun grab and throw another herb into the Divine Alchemy Cauldron.

Even though he could control two fire wisps, and had the Purple Crystal’s ability to extract energy, Yi Yun had to become even more careful as the number of herbs increased. He began refining one herb at a time to ensure no mistake.

Zuoqiu Bo frowned. Yi Yun was seriously throwing in herbs one after another.

After the herb was thrown, Yi Yun threw another Fey relic into the cauldron. He extracted the energy from the Fey relic not through alchemical methods, but through the Desolate Heaven technique. However, this was even easier for Yi Yun.

In fifteen minutes, Yi Yun had thrown all the herbs into the Divine Alchemy Cauldron.

At this moment, the lingering nomological rhythms around the Divine Alchemy Cauldron increased in strength. The entire cauldron also began to vibrate gently.

At this moment, even those who were not well-versed in alchemy could tell that Yi Yun had truly begun the refinement of the herbs.

Huyan Cang immediately widened his eyes. What was going on?

“Master Zuoqiu, you just said that it’s impossible to handle so many herbs at once. Then, why is this happening? Or could it be that Yi Yun has already extracted and refined each and every one of the herbs?” City Lord Qin asked.

Zuoqiu Bo was also perplexed. Be it the refinement of more than ten herbs at once or how Yi Yun had done so in such a short period of time, both were equally shocking feats.

“Well…Alchemy is extensive and profound. This young fellow’s alchemical method is a new one. However, the extraction of medicinal essence cannot happen that quickly under any circumstance.” Zuoqiu Bo said as he shook his head.

At that moment, Zuoqiu Haoyu, who was by the side, could no longer stay composed. He was staring at Yi Yun’s cauldron intently as he reached out his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

He was expecting Yi Yun to make a fool of himself, but he had never expected Yi Yun to actually reach the beginning of the refinement process! This darn Yi Yun. Did he…really know of some profound alchemical method?

His arms and his reputation were at stake, so how could Zuoqiu Haoyu remain composed?

Huyan Cang grunted coldly and said,”Young Master Haoyu, what are you worrying about? If Yi Yun can’t even refine Body Cleansing Pills, how can he succeed in refining Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills? In my opinion, Yi Yun is just deploying smoke and mirrors. We have to wait for the outcome to know the result!”

Upon hearing Huyan Cang’s words, Princess White Fox smiled lightly. She glanced at Huyan Cang and did not say a word.

To Zuoqiu Haoyu and company, the atmosphere immediately turned tense.

Meanwhile, Yi Yun was constantly injecting Yuan Qi into the cauldron.

He was completely focused as his soul and the cauldron appeared to act as one. All the herbs’ energy and essence had been extracted, transforming into crystalline liquid droplets.

With a thought, these droplets began to fuse together.

It was extremely difficult fusing the essences of different herbs. It required precise control of one’s soul, and nomological marks needed to be infused with the essences.

The first step was an easy task for Yi Yun, who possessed the Purple Crystal.

The last step was rather difficult. Even Yi Yun needed to put in sufficient time to complete it.

Hours passed as Yi Yun remained intent. The nomological aura lingering around the Divine Alchemy Cauldron grew stronger as Zuoqiu Bo could vaguely sense that these disparate laws were beginning to combine. He revealed a look of disbelief.

“Is…is he already condensing the pills? But when did he extract the medicinal essences from the herbs?”

Yi Yun had only spent fifteen minutes throwing all the herbs into the cauldron. He did not take them out after that and it was, in Zuoqiu Bo’s opinion, absolutely impossible to process so many herbs at the same time.

“Condense the pills? Hasn’t it only been about fifteen hours?” Someone asked puzzled.

Those that did not know alchemy had no idea what was happening inside the cauldron. However, they also knew that a cauldron of extremely difficult pills would probably take a few days. Yet, it hadn’t even been a full day.

At that moment, they heard a clear ring as brilliant light emitted from within the cauldron.

All the nomological runes fused with the medicinal essences, coalescing together into several drops of liquid energy. Following that, the liquid condensed and turned into pills.

Drip, drip, drip.

Six pills rolled into Yi Yun’s palm. They resembled crystalline water droplets that dazzled like they were refracting sunlight.

Pa!

Zuoqiu Bo stood straight up from his seat.

The pill refinement process was done!

Six supposedly-difficult Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills had been formed. Even Zuoqiu Bo himself would not have been able to refine more than nine. And Yi Yun was just a junior!

It was too astounding. In all of Myriad City, the number of alchemists that could accomplish this feat was extremely low. And most importantly of all, Yi Yun had done it in fifteen hours.

That can’t be right!

As Zuoqiu Bo was reeling in shock, he suddenly realized something was amiss. He had refined Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills several times before. He knew very well that the normal color of Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills was green.

If the quality was poor, the pills would contain impurities that made them a murky blackish-green color. If the quality was excellent, they would be a mellow and full emerald green color.

Zuoqiu Bo had seen an alchemist sage refine Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills before. Twelve pills were formed from a cauldron and that was the maximum number of Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills possible. Furthermore, every one of them was emerald green in color.

That green color was a stunning color. It had been Zuoqiu Bo’s first time seeing such beautiful Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills, so it had left a deep impression on him.

Now, Yi Yun had refined Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills that were ice-blue in color. Furthermore, they were as crystal clear as actual ice crystals.

That was absolutely not the color of the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills.

Just before Zuoqiu Bo could say anything, he saw Yi Yun extend a finger as pure Yin energy gathered together, forming a light blue ball of water.

Yi Yun cultivated in both Yin and Yang, so the water he condensed contained no impurities. It was cold like an ice mountain’s snow spring.

Yi Yun casually threw the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills into the water fountain and, following that, the six Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills seemingly dissolved into the water and vanished.

Yi Yun nodded when he saw this. By vanishing upon being immersed in water, the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills could barely be considered passable.

He waved his hand again as six Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills flew out and landed back in his palm. As they had just been submerged in water, the pills now had a layer of dew condensed on their surfaces. The dew quickly condensed into light-blue frost and, together with its intricate luster, they looked like they were carved from gems. They were extremely gorgeous.

Many people that did not know about pills were astonished at the beauty of the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills that Yi Yun had refined. It was as if they came from a dream.

But at that moment, a discordant voice sounded—

“Bogus pills! These are not Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills!”

1157 - : Pills Completed

CKtalon  CKtalon

What? Bogus pills?

Everyone looked over to the person that shouted. It was none other than Huyan Cang.

After successfully attracting everyone’s attention, Huyan Cang said with bold undertones,”Do not be fooled by the beautiful appearance of these pills. They are in fact bogus pills!”

“Alchemist Huyan, are you sure?”

At the instant Zuoqiu Haoyu saw Yi Yun form the pills, his face had turned white. He felt as if he had managed to grasp a final, life-saving straw when he heard Huyan Cang’s claims.

“True Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills are green in color. Excellent quality ones are a splendid emerald-green color. The ‘Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills’ we have here are blue in color. This punk is using bogus pills to deceive us. Let us not forget that Dong Xiaowan is still on her last breaths thanks to his pills!”

When Huyan Cang said this, everyone looked toward Zuoqiu Bo.

Zuoqiu Bo nodded as well and said,”The Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills are indeed green in color. Even when an alchemist sage does the refinement, the resulting Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills are green in color. I have never seen these ice-blue colored pills before.”

As Zuoqiu Bo spoke, he took out a pill bottle from his interspatial ring. When it was opened, a few emerald green pills that emanated a herbal fragrance rolled out of the bottle.

“These are Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills that I refined a few years ago. Everyone, go ahead and take a look.”

People marveled at the fact that Zuoqiu Bo casually carried Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills on him. As a top alchemist, Zuoqiu Bo had many pills on hand. Even rare pills like the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills were no exception.

People looked at Zuoqiu Bo’s palm, and indeed there were two pills that were completely emerald green in color. They were extremely different from the pills in Yi Yun’s palm.

Zuoqiu Bo said,”Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills are pills meant to fortify the soul and rejuvenate the blood, while also enhancing one’s cultivation level and nourishing one’s dantian. They can be used to save the lives of those who are severely injured, so it is only natural that I carry some with me.”

“Hahahaha!”

Upon witnessing the correct pills, Zuoqiu Haoyu laughed in a boisterous manner.”Yi Yun, what do you have to say for yourself? Bring the cleaver out. I’ll personally cleave off your hands!”

With Zuoqiu Bo giving his say, Zuoqiu Haoyu felt secure. He had surely won the bet.

But despite the unfolding situation, Yi Yun remained unflustered.

He said,”Whether a pill is correctly refined or not is not necessarily determined by the methods employed by the majority. Zuoqiu Haoyu, since you insist that the pills I refined are bogus pills, do you dare to raise the stakes? Would you bet another three million runes, together with your legs and eyes as well?”

“You…”

Zuoqiu Haoyu’s voice faltered. He never expected Yi Yun to continue having such crazy ideas. Was he mad?

Seeing Yi Yun so composed, Zuoqiu Haoyu was uncertain. An upright person was afraid of an unreasonable person, while the unreasonable person was afraid of a reckless person that thought nothing of his life. However, the reckless person was afraid of a crazed person.

From his point of view, Yi Yun was like a crazed person. What was he doing, raising the stakes so high?

“What? Would you rather not take a chance?”

Zuoqiu Haoyu looked at Zuoqiu Bo.”Sixth Granduncle, I…”

Zuoqiu Bo frowned slightly. He was unsure of where Yi Yun’s confidence stemmed from. He took a few steps forward and stretched out his hand towards Yi Yun.”Young man, can I test the pills?”

As a top alchemist of Myriad City, Zuoqiu Bo naturally had his standards of evaluating pills.

Yi Yun shook his head and said,”There’s no need. We already have someone that’s ready to test the pills. Sect Master Dong!”

Yi Yun looked at Dong Shaoqing,”Do you mind letting your daughter test the pills?”

Dong Shaoqing was taken aback.”My…my daughter?”

“Don’t worry. Your daughter’s condition can only improve upon taking the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills.”

The Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills and Body Cleansing Pills were different. Body Cleansing Pills cleansed one’s body, but once its medicinal essence was unable to expel the evil entity in Dong Xiaowan’s body, it only ended up stimulating it.

As for the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills, they raised the strength of one’s soul, rejuvenated the blood, and extended one’s life while nourishing the dantian.

Since Dong Xiaowan had an evil entity lurking within her body, her flames of vitality were especially weak. Her soul and dantian were sealed by the evil entity, and it put her on death’s doorstep.

If she consumed the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills, she might not be healed but her soul and vitality would strengthen. It would be a huge help in resisting the evil entity. This was the underlying reason for Yi Yun’s suggestion.

However, this suggestion immediately caused a flurry of discussion among the people when they heard it.

The color of the pills Yi Yun had refined were problematic, to begin with. Yet, he was planning on testing them on a live person. Yi Yun was just too audacious!

“Yi Yun! Dong Xiaowan is in her current state after eating the Body Cleansing Pills you refined. Yet you still want to use her to test your Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills? Will you only be satisfied by her death!?” Zuoqiu Haoyu rebuked Yi Yun loudly.

Yi Yun ignored him and looked at Dong Shaoqing,”Sect Master Dong, do you trust my pills?”

“Young Master Yi, I trust you!”

Dong Shaoqing took a deep breath. The cost of the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills was five to ten times that of Body Cleansing Pills. Furthermore, they were life-saving divine medicine. If Dong Xiaowan could consume a Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill, it was a very lucky opportunity for her. Moreover, if Dong Xiaowan did not receive any medical treatment, she was unlikely to survive past three days. There was at least some hope in consuming the precious pills.

“Sect Master Dong, you…”

Zuoqiu Haoyu was dumbfounded. Dong Shaoqing actually trusted the crazy Yi Yun. Was Dong Shaoqing crazy as well? Was his daughter’s life a joke to him?

“Master Zuoqiu, do you mind if one of your Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills is used as a comparison?” Yi Yun asked Zuoqiu Bo.

Zuoqiu Bo laughed.”You are truly confident. I naturally do not mind sparing such a pill.”

As Zuoqiu Bo spoke, he flicked his finger. One of the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills in his palm transformed into a stream of light as it shot into Dong Xiaowan’s mouth.

The Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill melted the moment it entered her mouth. It turned into an extremely pure Yuan Qi flow that began nourishing Dong Xiaowan’s meridians and body.

The medicinal effects of the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill were very mild. After consuming the pill, Dong Xiaowan did not flinch in pain at all. She was calmly absorbing the medicinal essence.

Zuoqiu Bo also used his perception to track the medicinal essence. However, he was shocked to discover that after the medicinal essence transformed into surging, vibrant energy streams and entered Dong Xiaowan’s dantian, they rapidly melted like ice exposed to sunlight.

Dong Xiaowan’s body absorbed the medicinal essence like she had been starved. However, she didn’t seem to actually get livelier. Instead, the medicinal essence vanished like it had sunk into the bottomless ocean…

This…

Zuoqiu Bo was alarmed. Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills were superior pills. They were more than sufficient to save a Supremacy, much less a junior at the late stages of the Dao Manifestation realm.

But today, his Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills had barely had any effect! What was wrong with this girl? If she was poisoned, how deadly was the poison?

“Master Zuoqiu, do you want to continue using your medicine?” Yi Yun asked.

Zuoqiu Bo took a deep breath and shook his head.”There’s no need.”

Although having her consume more pills would result in minute beneficial effects, it was still a far cry from actually saving Dong Xiaowan.

“Then, it’s my turn.”

Yi Yun pinched a Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill. Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills were obviously ice-blue in color or why would they be given their name?

Ten days ago, Yi Yun had discovered the differences between the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill recipe Zuoqiu Haoyu gave him and the one recorded in the divine alchemist’s notes.

As many alchemists greatly valued their techniques, their recipes were slowly lost over long periods of time. It was also possible for recipes to change.

As such, when Yi Yun refined the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills, he had mainly followed the divine alchemist’s notes. The resulting pills fortified the soul, rejuvenated the blood, and nourished the dantian, just like the ones modern alchemists produced. However, the effects were more significant.

As for saying that the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill could save Dong Xiaowan, Yi Yun felt it was impossible. He was, however, very confident that it could at least allow her to regain some of her vibrancy.

“Whew!”

The Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill transformed into a blue stream of light and flew toward Dong Xiaowan. It did not fly into her mouth but went straight for her abdomen.

When the pill came into contact with Dong Xiaowan’s flesh, it immediately transformed into pure medicinal essence that infused itself into her dantian.

Yi Yun had been very particular about the location he chose. Through the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, he was able to clearly locate where the evil entity was. The spot he had delivered the medicine to had avoided its influence.

When the medicinal essence entered her dantian, it did not actually nourish the dantian. Instead, it used the dantian as a beginning point. It flowed along Dong Xiaowan’s meridians and into her limbs, nourishing her entire body.

Yi Yun chose to evade the major issue and instead focused on strengthening Dong Xiaowan’s lifeblood and body. After all, her dantian was now occupied by the evil entity. With it wreaking havoc, any medicinal essence delivered there would be greatly wasted.

As medicinal essence fused with her body, Dong Xiaowan’s energy seemed to be ice that met spring. Bit by bit, it melted into flowing streams before surging through her meridians.

After a few minutes, Dong Xiaowan’s face that was as white as sheets suffused a red glow. Her eyelashes even quivered gently as if she would open her eyes at any moment.

“Xiaowan!”

Seeing his daughter finally show signs of a reaction, Dong Shaoqing was extremely excited.

He strode quickly to Dong Xiaowan’s side. Unfortunately, she never managed to open her eyes.

However, her lifeblood was a lot more vibrant. The strength of her soul had also been enhanced. Her breathing and heartbeats were stable and robust. Instead of dying, she looked more like she was sleeping.

“It’s working! It’s working!” Dong Shaoqing said excitedly as he held his daughter’s hand.

It had been three days. Finally, he managed to feel a sense of warmth coming from her hand. Her hands had felt like ice-cold water prior to that.

“Thank you, Young Master Yi. I will remember Young Master Yi’s favor for my entire life.”

Dong Shaoqing gave Yi Yun a deep bow.

Upon seeing this scene, Zuoqiu Haoyu was in a daze. It was as if he had lost his soul, for he failed to react even after a long period of time.

1158 - : Pill Testing

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It’s really a Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill? But didn’t Alchemist Huyan and Master Zuoqiu say that Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills are supposed to be green? Why are the ones refined by Yi Yun ice-blue?”

The people present broke out into a flurry of discussion. They could ignore Huyan Cang but Zuoqiu Bo was a top alchemist in Myriad City. He was also one of the upper echelons of the number one faction, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. He was an authority, and his words were truth.

And yet, Zuoqiu Bo’s Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill had no effect at all on Dong Xiaowan. However, the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill that Yi Yun had refined made her visibly better!

Could it be that Zuoqiu Bo’s attainment in the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill was inferior to Yi Yun’s?

“Impossible! Impossible!”

Zuoqiu Haoyu was in a state of stupefaction.”There must be a problem. How can the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills refined by a junior be on a higher level than those of my Sixth Granduncle? It must be that the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill that Dong Xiaowan consumed first had yet to take effect. She happened to consume Yi Yun’s useless pill right when Sixth Granduncle’s took effect, resulting in this outcome. Yes, that has to be it! It’s my Sixth Granduncle’s pill that healed Dong Xiaowan. That little bastard, Yi Yun, only got lucky!”

Zuoqiu Haoyu shouted frenetically. He could not accept the fact that he had lost to Yi Yun. He could not bear the price of losing.

“Shut up!” At that moment, a cold voice resounded. It was so powerful that it struck at the soul. It drained the color from Zuoqiu Haoyu’s face as he nearly fell to the ground.

The person who had spoken was none other than Zuoqiu Bo.

Zuoqiu Bo frowned. Not only had Zuoqiu Haoyu lost, but he had also lost to Yi Yun in a sense.

He naturally felt a tinge of shame in losing to a junior. However, it was a fact that he had lost. He would not be a sore loser as well.

“Did you enhance the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills’ recipe?”

Zuoqiu Bo asked. Other than that, there was no other way of explaining how Yi Yun had refined ice-blue pills. Still, he found it unbelievable. How could Yi Yun have such knowledge?

However, Yi Yun did not reply Zuoqiu Bo. He went to Dong Xiaowan’s side. The effect of the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill was slightly better than he expected. Therefore, he took out a second pill.

“Young Master Yi, this…this is too precious. There’s no need, there’s no need.”

Dong Shaoqing spoke incoherently. He also could tell that the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills had somewhat improved his daughter’s condition, but could not cure it completely. Furthermore, Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills were extremely expensive. According to the bet from before, they now belonged to Yi Yun. How could he continue letting Yi Yun use his personal wealth to feed his daughter?

Yi Yun replied,”Sect Master Dong, there’s no need to stand on ceremony. You gave me the Skydew Grass and it was extremely useful to me. A few pills are nothing.”

To Yi Yun, the Skydew Grass bolstered his very soul. It made his perception increase greatly, allowing him to control two wisps of the Heretical God Fire Seed when he used to only handle one. Such an extraordinary improvement was more than paid for by a cauldron’s worth of Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills.

Without speaking further, Yi Yun converted a second Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill into Yuan Qi before injecting it into Dong Xiaowan’s dantian. Following that, the medicinal essence traveled through Dong Xiaowan’s limbs and body once again, entering her flesh.

Dong Xiaowan’s body was strengthened once again.

“Oh? This is…”

Yi Yun had his energy vision constantly activated. Through it, he discovered that the hideous face hidden in Dong Xiaowan’s body was turning belligerent because of Dong Xiaowan’s increasing lifeblood. It was roaring and struggling in an attempt to devour Dong Xiaowan’s lifeblood and Yuan Qi and maintain the balance.

Yi Yun thought of using the Purple Crystal Origins’ absolute control over energy to directly absorb it!

Phew!

The Purple Crystal stirred up an invisible energy vortex that enveloped Dong Xiaowan’s abdomen before sinking into her dantian.

Yi Yun wanted to shred the evil entity.

“Roar! Roar! Roar!”

The evil entity bellowed out in fright as it clenched tightly to Dong Xiaowan’s dantian and resisted the energy vortex of the Purple Crystal.

Yi Yun’s soul was much stronger than it was before. As a result, he was even more proficient in his control of the Purple Crystal. However, despite the constant loss of energy the evil entity suffered from the shredding vortex, it remained whole.

“It is a living entity. The effect the Purple Crystal has on living energetic entities is drastically reduced.” Yi Yun muttered to himself.

He knew of the Purple Crystal’s weaknesses. It would be too difficult for it to completely vanquish the evil entity. Furthermore, he had just finished refining a cauldron of Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills. That took a toll on his soul’s power, so it was impossible for him to heal Dong Xiaowan immediately.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and gave up on killing the evil entity.

The evil entity hardly recovered from the recent shock despite the energy vortex vanishing. Through Dong Xiaowan’s dantian, it could watch Yi Yun. Its originally hideous face revealed a look of trepidation.

It finally understood that the young man could see it. Furthermore, he was capable of killing it.

How could the evil entity not feel fear?

“Get lost!”

Yi Yun’s cold shout resounded in the space within Dong Xiaowan’s dantian. The evil entity was given a shock. It ultimately did not dare to resist Yi Yun as it slowly went silent.

It did not leave Dong Xiaowan’s body as Yi Yun ordered, for it did not have the guts. However, after it recessed in silence, it slowly released the power of Dong Xiaowan’s Yuan Qi and lifeblood that it had been sealing.

Although the power of the Yuan Qi and lifeblood were weak, to begin with, the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill’s essence quickly surged once it was not met by the resistance of the evil entity. The medicinal essence flowed through her meridians into her limbs and body, gradually restoring her vitality. The moment her vitals returned to normal, Dong Xiaowan’s once-sealed soul also began to awaken.

In less than three minutes, Dong Xiaowan’s face turned a lot more ruddy.

Dong Shaoqing sensed the changes in his daughter, and was still uncertain what had happened when—

“Cough, cough!”

Dong Xiaowan suddenly coughed as her body quivered a few times. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

Her blurry vision gradually turned clear. She saw her father’s face and a youth that she did not recognize.

“What am I…What is going on?”

Dong Xiaowan said in a daze. Over the past few days, she felt like she had been locked in a black and tiny space. She did not know how much time had passed. Now, having seen light again, she was still unsure what had happened to her body.

“Xiaowan! Xiaowan!”

Dong Shaoqing was overjoyed to the point of tears. He never expected that Yi Yun’s second Supreme Palace Iceheart Pill would be able to awaken Dong Xiaowan!

He was extremely excited. He had already mentally prepared himself for the worst. Now, with Dong Xiaowan waking up, he felt like he had regained his lost daughter.

Everyone present turned silent when they saw Dong Xiaowan awaken.

They could not sense the existence of the Purple Crystal. All they knew was that Yi Yun had used two Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills to successfully treat Dong Xiaowan.

Weren’t the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills that Yi Yun refined too miraculous!?

They knew very well that Dong Xiaowan’s situation was so grave that it was like being given the death sentence. The fact that Zuoqiu Bo’s pill was ineffective also proved this point.

1159 - : Victory and Defeat

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Thank you, Grandmaster Yi. I will remember Grandmaster Yi’s favor for my entire life!”

Dong Shaoqing was so moved that he kept bowing deeply at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun helped Sect Master Dong up and said,”Don’t celebrate too soon. I have yet to fully heal your daughter of her illness. I have only made the poison in her body enter remission. In the future, if there is a chance, a recurrence might happen.”

“Ah? Then…”

Dong Shaoqing was taken aback. Yi Yun’s words worried him greatly. This time, Yi Yun was there to pull her back from the gates of hell. But what about next time?

“Sect Master Dong, don’t worry. I will not forget your daughter’s situation. I’m invested, and not just because of your daughter. I’m very curious about this matter as well.”

Yi Yun had a nagging feeling that the evil entity had extraordinary origins.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Dong Shaoqing was truly at a loss as to how to repay him. He owed Yi Yun too much.

“Then…” Yi Yun turned to look at Zuoqiu Bo and said,”Master Zuoqiu, in your professional opinion, are the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills that I refined genuine, or not?”

Zuoqiu Bo pricked up his brows. Although he was unwilling to admit it, the quality of the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills that Yi Yun refined was indeed above his.

He begrudgingly nodded and said,”They are indeed genuine.”

“Then…” Yi Yun stood up straight and looked at Zuoqiu Haoyu.”In that case, Young Master Zuoqiu, it was previously agreed upon that, once I succeed in refining the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills, the pills would belong to me, and you would pay twice the refinement cost. Now for the matter of your hands…”

“Yi Yun, you…”

Zuoqiu Haoyu’s face was ghostly pale. He was a warrior after all. Cleaving off his hands would result in a drastic drop in strength!

He was hoping that, given his status as a young master of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, Yi Yun would not dare touch him. However, with the outcome of the bet decided, Yi Yun insisted on claiming his hands.

‘Yi Yun, don’t take bullying to an extreme. Do you want to become an enemy of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion?” Zuoqiu Haoyu’s voice resounded in Yi Yun’s ears. The Myriad Immortal Pavilion was his only life-saving straw.

“Young Master Yi, aren’t you taking this too seriously? What happened before was just a joke. Don’t take it too seriously.” Behind Zuoqiu Haoyu, a follower said.

“That’s right. Spare others when possible. Young Master Yi, why don’t you forget it?”

People in the crowd echoed as well. To jump forward and play peacemaker at this point in time was a rather clever act. If someone could resolve the dispute, they might be able to win Zuoqiu Haoyu’s friendship.

No one believed Yi Yun would truly cleave off Zuoqiu Haoyu’s hands. Wouldn’t it be preposterous if a young master of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had his hands cleaved off by a random junior?

All of them believed that Yi Yun just needed a reason to take a step back, and this matter would be reduced from a major issue to a minor one.

“A joke?” Yi Yun laughed. He gently swiped his interspatial ring as a thick saw-toothed blade appeared in his hand.

The blade’s appearance was extremely exaggerated. It looked like it was formed from a guillotine blade. It was something that Yi Yun had just casually found in his interspatial ring. Although the blade’s quality was nothing much, the design was more than enough to leave an impression.

Zuoqiu Haoyu got flustered when he saw that Yi Yun was for real.

“Yi Yun, do you really mean to take this all the way, to go for broke?”

“Go for broke? Do you think you qualify?” Yi Yun snorted coldly as he approached Zuoqiu Haoyu.

“Sixth Granduncle!” Zuoqiu Haoyu pleaded for Zuoqiu Bo’s help.

Zuoqiu Bo frowned slightly. Zuoqiu Haoyu was a junior that he thought well of. However, he felt that it would be disgraceful for him to plead on a junior’s behalf.

Although he was extremely reluctant, he spoke up.”My young friend, Yi Yun, it was not right for my grandnephew to offend you. but can you bury the hatchet on my account? The Myriad Immortal Pavilion will remember if you do.”

“On your account?” Yi Yun laughed.”I just learned of your existence today. Why would I seek your favor? Let me ask you this: If I were the one to lose today, and your grandnephew went to cleave my hands off, would you step forward and speak for me, saying things like ‘bury the hatchet?’”

Yi Yun did not spare his derisive tone. Zuoqiu Bo’s face stiffened. He never expected that someone like him, a top alchemist of Myriad City and an Elder of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, would be completely belittled by a junior!

“Alright! Well done! Heroes indeed start young since time immemorial. Being spirited is a good quality of the young, but it can attract fatal trouble. Learn to give leeway once in awhile, or you will suffer the consequences.” Zuoqiu Bo said with a deepened voice.

At that moment, City Lord Qin laughed out loud.”Hahahaha! Since Master Zuoqiu has said so, it’s time to concede defeat and abide by the rules of the bet.”

As City Lord Qin spoke, he waved his hand gently. Space suddenly collapsed around Zuoqiu Haoyu, forming a spatial prison that locked him in place.

“City Lord Qin, what are you doing!?”

Zuoqiu Haoyu’s face was ashen. However, how could he resist City Lord Qin’s restraints?

Yi Yun, meanwhile, had already taken a step forward. His blade flashed.

Whew!

The blade slashed through the void before Zuoqiu Haoyu’s tragic scream was heard. His arms were cleaved off from the top of his upper arm, causing fresh blood to splatter.

Following that, Yi Yun flicked a wisp of pure Yang flames, sending it straight into the air to consume the severed arms.

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

The pure Yang flames burned vigorously and, within seconds, Zuoqiu Haoyu’s severed arms were burned to ash.

Since a pair of arms was the price of the bet, Yi Yun naturally made sure that Zuoqiu Haoyu couldn’t get them back. Otherwise, there was no point in slashing them off. With the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s capabilities, re-attaching a pair of arms was extremely easy. However, if the arms were destroyed, it would be difficult to regrow them!

The treasured materials that could regrow severed limbs were too expensive. The Myriad Immortal Pavilion might not pay such a price for a young master. And even if they paid the price, the arms that grew back would not be tempered by laws and Yuan Qi. They would be much weaker than the arms from before. They would need to be trained from the beginning. It was effectively a partial crippling of one’s martial path.

Zuoqiu Haoyu watched as his severed arms turn to ash. He felt like his brain had been punched ruthlessly, leaving his entire being dazed.

In just a few short seconds, he had gone from a young master that enjoyed an elevated position, to a half-crippled person!

“My arms…My arms…”

With his arms maimed, his status in the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would drop drastically. It was even possible that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would not give a half-crippled invalid like him any treasures to regrow his arms.

Zuoqiu Haoyu glared at Yi Yun with intense killing intent burned into his eyes.

However, Yi Yun ignored it.

“My young friend, Yi Yun, you are truly decisive. Aren’t you afraid that you will offend the Myriad Immortal Pavilion?” City Lord Qin said with a laugh as his Yuan Qi transmission resounded in Yi Yun’s ear.

Yi Yun shook his head and said,”I naturally want to avoid offending the factions of Myriad City. However, I need to stay in Myriad City for at least three years. I will not attack unless attacked. However, if I just endure and give in all the time, I will be seen as an easily bullied person. If that happens, I will only have more trouble!”

Yi Yun knew very well that he would stir up a storm in Myriad City over the next three years. Just his Yun Xin Loft alone would affect the businesses and interests of several medicinal clinics. If he was easily bullied, he would be annexed sooner or later.

1160 - : No Mercy

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing Zuoqiu Haoyu grimacing in pain on the ground, the entire crowd in the pill refining platform fell silent. There were hundreds of people present that had witnessed the scene.

Many of them felt a chill run through their hearts. Yi Yun was too ruthless. The person in question was a young master of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, yet Yi Yun so decisively cleaved off his arms. He truly did not offer any leeway.

Huyan Cang’s palms were covered in cold sweat. Before, when Yi Yun’s arms were bet, his own arms were nearly wagered as well. He came very close to agreeing to it. Thankfully, he had lacked the confidence to go through with it. Otherwise, he would be on the ground next to Zuoqiu Haoyu. If an alchemist lost his hands, wouldn’t he be completely crippled?

As Huyan Cang was still reeling in the lingering fear, he saw Yi Yun’s nonchalant gaze turn to him. It left him shuddering in terror.

This punk was a scourge!

Yi Yun was ruthless and decisive. Furthermore, he was young and had a promising future. By the time he matured, wouldn’t he slowly demand payback?

“Bring Haoyu along. We are leaving!” Zuoqiu Bo’s face resembled dark clouds. He, as Elder of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, had pleaded with Yi Yun but was met with such treatment. There was no point left in staying.

The followers behind him walked forward and helped up the severely injured Zuoqiu Haoyu.

“Brother Zuoqiu, are you leaving already? Didn’t you have something you wanted to discuss with me?” City Lord Qin asked with a faint smile.

“City Lord Qin, it’s not like you don’t know what I have to say. Since you have no intention to negotiate with me, I will not invite humiliation upon myself.” Zuoqiu Haoyu grunted.

Although it was Yi Yun that had taken action, City Lord Qin used spatial dimension laws to lock Zuoqiu Haoyu in place. It was a clear indication of his attitude.

He had always tried to foster a good relationship with City Lord Qin, but it was pointless to use his warm and genial face to repeatedly kiss a cold ass. He withdrew the Canonicalized God Platform, boarded his spirit boat and left.

With Zuoqiu Bo gone, the crowd naturally dispersed. Many people looked at Yi Yun with mixed feelings.

Without a doubt, Yi Yun would become a new rising star in Myriad City. However, that was on the premise that he could survive the pressure from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.

Yi Yun came in front of City Lord Qin and took out the remaining four Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills. He said,”City Lord Qin, these four pills should be able to repay my debt of 800,000 runes. I shall give them to City Lord Qin. If City Lord Qin does not need the pills, I’ll exchange them in Myriad Pavilion for runes to repay you. I am deeply indebted to you.”

Although Yi Yun had not used the 800,000 runes to buy the Soul Restoring Relic, City Lord Qin’s help still left Yi Yun grateful.

The Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills were supreme-grade pills. Though they could be used to save Ling Xie’er and was of use to him, he decided to use them to repay City Lord Qin first.

City Lord Qin took a glance at the pills and said,”Back then, you said that you would repay me in three months. I thought you were only bragging. But here we are, and it has only been half a month. You are truly a capable young man. Even I still need to special order these pills, so there’s no need for you to exchange them for runes. I’ll accept them. However, four Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills are worth more than 800,000 runes. In addition, these pills are extremely high quality. Taking two of them is already me taking advantage of you.”

Seeing as City Lord Qin only accepted two, Yi Yun looked at Princess White Fox at his side. He handed the remaining two to her.

“What’s this for…?” Princess White Fox asked softly.

She had been worried for Yi Yun while he was refining the pills but now, seeing that everything went well, she could finally rest assured.

“Thanks to your help and trust, I can finally settle in Myriad City. Since you cultivate in the soul, these pills will be useful to you. Just think of it as an expression of my good will,” said Yi Yun.

Princess White Fox was about to reject them when she heard City Lord Qin say,”In that case, Wuxia, you should take them. As the saying goes, he who gets other’s kindness but does not repay is not a gentleman. Moreover, this friend of yours has such impressive alchemy skills. Why do you fear him being poor? Perhaps, in the times to come, I will be relying on our young friend Yi Yun!”

City Lord Qin said with a loud laugh.

“Yes, Uncle Qin.” Princess White Fox nodded.

“Yi Yun, in half a month, I will be hosting a zither recital at my residence in which Fairy Youqin will be participating. Why don’t you come?” City Lord Qin said to Yi Yun with a smile. Yi Yun’s alchemy skills had pleasantly surprised him. By giving Yi Yun a chance to rub shoulders with the upper echelons of Myriad City, it would be a form of protection for Yi Yun.

“City Lord Qin, thank you for your invitation. I will definitely be there.” Yi Yun said.

“Alright, then Wuxia and I will be leaving.” City Lord Qin took a glance at Yun Xin Loft and said with deep, underlying meaning,”Your Yun Xin Loft will probably be quite busy soon.”

After he sent City Lord Qin and Princess White Fox off, most of the people that joined in the buzz had left. The remaining people stayed behind to have pills refined.

“Master Yi, I would like to refine Clear Minded Marrow Cleansing Pills.”

“Master Yi, me too! I want to refine a cauldron of Extreme Yin Pills as well as Emerald Spirit Pills, Heart Nourishing Relics…”

Many people rushed to speak to Yi Yun. With Yi Yun’s impressive alchemy skill, it was best to get him to refine pills before his reputation spread. They wanted to refine as many as possible. If they waited even a few days, they might not be able to get in the queue.

And even if the pills that were refined were useless for themselves, they could always sell them to earn a huge profit. After all, the pills that Yi Yun refined were apparently a lot more superior than typical pills.

Seeing the people hollering to get Yi Yun to refine their pills, Ru’er gingerly walked to Yi Yun’s side and whispered.

“Oh?” Yi Yun smiled slightly. A teasing look could be detected in his eyes.”I can refine whatever you want. A million runes a cauldron.”

“You…”

The people that were just making requests faltered. A million runes a cauldron? The pills they wanted refined were not even worth a hundred thousand, but the pill refinement fee was a million!?

“Hmph! Didn’t double-faced folks like you curse in front of my Yun Xin Loft that hanging up a plaque like that is madness? Why would you want me to refine pills now? If you have any dignity, it’s best you scram. Don’t disgust me.”

After Yi Yun said that, he turned and left. He was not afraid of offending such ruffians.

He cleaved off Zuoqiu Haoyu’s arms, and that was a young master. So when these ruffians considered the gap in their status with Zuoqiu Haoyu’s, they knew that they could only accept the treatment they received.

“How…How did he know…It was that maidservant!”

The few exchanged looks. They had derided the plaque in front of Yun Xin Loft but never expected that the maidservant had remembered their faces.

“Today, we will be closed and rejecting all customers. Take down the plaque outside as well,” Yi Yun said to Ru’er after returning inside.

Back when he hung the plaque, it was because he lacked any reputation. Now, he had more than proved his capability, so there was naturally no need for him to continue to provide such cheap pill refinement services.

“Young Master Yi.” Dong Shaoqing had not left.

1161 - : City Lord Qin’s Invitation

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Sect Master Dong.” Yi Yun noticed that Dong Shaoqing hesitated to speak, giving a furtive glance at Dong Xiaowan. Her breathing was weak and her body was petite and frail. He could not help but sigh. He did not know how a fine girl like Dong Xiaowan would end up in such a strange situation.

“Come on in. However, I might not have any solutions.”

“Thank you, Young master Yi.”

Dong Shaoqing helped Dong Xiaowan into Yi Yun’s alchemy lab.

Dong Xiaowan didn’t have a tall frame. She carefully sat on a rock bed in the alchemy lab, acting somewhat reserved.

“Hand.” Yi Yun said as he extended his hand.

Dong Xiaowan blushed slightly as she rolled up her sleeves, revealing her snow-white wrists. Dong Xiaowan’s arm was like that of a thirteen-year-old’s. It was small and exquisite. As Yi Yun felt Dong Xiaowan’s pulse, he activated his energy vision and observed the energy flows within her body.

Although the evil entity had entered remission, it was still entrenched in Dong Xiaowan’s dantian. It was as if it was trying to fuse with Dong Xiaowan’s dantian.

It was probably the cause of Dong Xiaowan being unable to increase her cultivation level no matter how much she cultivated.

Yi Yun vaguely sensed that once the evil entity was fully fused with Dong Xiaowan, she would probably be beyond saving.

Was it some kind of old monster trying to possess Dong Xiaowan?

Such a thought flashed across Yi Yun’s mind. However, he eliminated the possibility after some thought. Possession would have begun from the soul sea, and not the dantian.

Furthermore, although the evil entity resembled a human face, the feeling it gave off did not resemble a spiritual soul.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before he gathered spatial dimension laws into his hands, forming pure Yang Dao patterns.

Yi Yun cast the pure Yang Dao patterns into Dong Xiaowan’s body, sealing the vital meridian paths around her dantian. Pure Yang was best against evil entities. With these pure Yang Dao patterns in place, the evil entity was unlikely to endanger Dong Xiaowan’s life; however, it was not a long-term solution.

“Do not cultivate for the time being, nor should you use your Yuan Qi. If Sect Master Dong doesn’t mind, I suggest that Dong Xiaowan stay here with me. What do you think?”

“Young Master Yi, you are too kind. You saved Xiaowan’s life, so why would I mind?”

Not only was Dong Shaoqing not worried when he heard that, he was overjoyed. He yearned for his daughter to stay behind so that she could someday be saved by Yi Yun.

“Alright.” Yi Yun nodded.

“Then…I’ll be leaving. Xiaowan, I’ll come and see you again.” Dong Shaoqing cupped his fists and said.

He was not worried leaving his daughter, who was too weak to resist anything, with Yi Yun. Whether it was his thankfulness for what Yi Yun had done, or Yi Yun’s saving of his daughter without compensation, he could tell that Yi Yun was a person of high moral standing.

And looking at it from a broader perspective, even if Yi Yun had any thoughts on his daughter, Dong Shaoqing could turn a blind eye. Yi Yun was different from Huyan Cang. Huyan Cang was already halfway in the grave, yet he wanted to fool around with young women. As for Yi Yun, he was young and had a promising future. If his daughter ended up being Yi Yun’s companion, how could that be a loss?

After Dong Shaoqing left, Yi Yun entered seclusion. In his free time, he would check on the evil entity in Dong Xiaowan’s body. As time passed, Yi Yun’s understanding of the evil entity grew deeper.

And Dong Xiaowan followed in Ru’ers footsteps, becoming one of the medicine children of Yun Xin Loft. Dong Xiaowan would help Ru’er if she needed it. Together, they kept Yun Xin Loft in good order.

Meanwhile, Yi Yun’s reputation rapidly spread throughout Myriad City.

It was all due to the fact that he had cleaved off Zuoqiu Haoyu’s arms and burned them to ash with pure Yang flames.

And despite being only a junior, he was able to refine Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills and awaken Dong Xiaowan, who had a mysterious and deadly illness. The quality of his pills even exceeded Zuoqiu Bo’s!

Either of those two stories resulted in an absolutely astounding reaction on the part of those who heard them.

In Myriad City, alchemists enjoyed an extremely high status. Even though it was common knowledge that Yi Yun had offended the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, there were still many people that came for Yi Yun’s pill-refining services or to befriend him.

“What? Young Master Baifeng wants to see me? Who is he?”

Yi Yun was informed by Dong Xiaowan just after he finished meditation.

“Young Master Yi, Young Master Baifeng’s name is Zhou Baifeng. He’s from Myriad City’s Zhou family. The Zhou family isn’t a sect but it is a very powerful faction. It’s ranked third among all the factions in Myriad City! Although it’s inferior to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, it’s not by a lot. Zhou Baifeng himself is well-regarded within the Zhou family. Many of the family’s matters are left to his decision.”

“Young Master Baifeng is already outside.” Dong Xiaowan added.

Yi Yun thought for a moment before nodding. He said,”Let him in.”

Since Young Master Baifeng was filthy rich, Yi Yun could raise the price if he was here for pills. Yi Yun needed to earn large sums of runes over the next three years, so he naturally wanted to accept business when it came to him.

After Dong Xiaowan passed the message, two men quickly walked in.

One of the men was wearing a light-blue long-sleeved shirt. He was smiling from afar as he warmly greeted Yi Yun,”You must be Master Yi. I’ve heard many things about you. I’m Zhou Baifeng and this is Young Master Zhang Zhiyuan, who is a distinguished guest of my Zhou family. Master Yi, you might not know of Young Master Zhang Zhiyuan’s reputation since you are new here. He is a famous young genius in Myriad City.”

Zhang Zhiyuan was fanning himself with a jade fan. He had an incisive aura and appeared to be extraordinary.

Yi Yun slowly put down his teacup and said lightly,”May I know what medicine Young Master Baifeng plans on refining? Young Master Baifeng should know that my prices aren’t cheap.”

“That I naturally know. However, I’m here not for Master Yi’s services. Instead, I’m here to invite Master Yi to become a distinguished guest of the Zhou family. My Zhou family has quite the influence in Myriad City. All the distinguished guests of the Zhou family are geniuses. If Master Yi does see fit to let us welcome you, even the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would think twice about troubling you.” Young Master Baifeng spoke very confidently and wore a rather conceited expression.

The Zhou family was considered quite a large tree that even famous geniuses like Zhang Zhiyuan flocked to. Young Master Baifeng made it a point to bring Zhang Zhiyuan in order to make his case more convincing.

Although Zhang Zhiyuan was inferior to Fairy Youqin and Fairy Wuxia, he was still a reputable genius.

“Once, Young Master Zhang Zhiyuan had offended a large sect because of a woman. However, after he became a distinguished guest of my Zhou family, that sect could only suppress their indignation.” Young Master Baifeng said.

“Young Master Baifeng is right. Yi Yun, Young Master Baifeng is here today to save you. Without the Zhou family, you will be alone. And it’s hard to do anything single-handedly.” Zhang Zhiyuan glanced at Yi Yun, but he felt somewhat displeased.

Yi Yun had not stood up from the moment they entered. Back when Zhang Zhiyuan became the Zhou family’s distinguished guest, he had been extremely polite when he took the initiative to receive their patronage.

This kind of preferential treatment, and the difference in attitude, already made Zhang Zhiyuan unhappy. Furthermore, Yi Yun’s arrogance irritated him.

“You are soliciting me? Sorry, but I’m not interested.” Yi Yun rejected it immediately.”I am undisciplined by nature, and so am not accustomed to being governed by others. As for whether the Myriad Immortal Pavilion will seek to hurt me, or whether I need protection from Zhou family…”

“If I were to sell myself to a faction for something trivial like seeking protection, then my martial path would have been cultivated for nothing.” As Yi Yun spoke, he swept his gaze to Zhang Zhiyuan.

People like Young Master Zhou or Young Master Zhang meant nothing to Yi Yun at all.

1162 - : Young Master Baifeng

CKtalon  CKtalon

“How dare you speak in this manner!?” Zhang Zhiyuan was incensed. Yi Yun’s words were a subtle smack in his face. Wasn’t he implying that by selling himself to the Zhou family, Zhang Zhiyuan made his martial path worthless? How could he tolerate such an insult?

Yi Yun ignored Zhang Zhiyuan. He sensed from the start that this person was rather hostile towards him. The first thing he said carried a threatening tone. What did being a distinguished guest have to do with the difficulty of doing things single-handedly?

Zhang Zhiyuan had become a distinguished guest and wanted others to follow in his footsteps. When he encountered other able distinguished guests, he even felt jealous. Yi Yun could not be bothered to humor such a person with any sincerity.

Young Master Baifeng looked at Yi Yun as his expression turned cold.”I came here personally to talk with you about joining us. I even brought Young Master Zhang. It should be very clear how sincere I am. Perhaps Master Yi doesn’t think much of my Zhou family?”

Yi Yun cupped his hands at Young Master Baifeng and said,”I have nothing to say if Young Master Baifeng wants to interpret my words in such a manner. I, Yi Yun, am used to being free. At this time, I do not want to pledge allegiance to anyone. Since the both of you aren’t here for pill refinement, I must return to my secluded cultivation. Please leave.”

Although it was his first time meeting Zhou Baifeng, Yi Yun had a general idea of him from Dong Xiaowan’s description. Zhou Baifeng was inviting him to be a distinguished guest of the Zhou family only to elevate his own standing within the family.

By pledging allegiance to the Zhou family, he would naturally become one of Zhou Baifeng’s protégé. In the future, when Zhou Baifeng inherited the family estate, he would have more chips in hand. But Yi Yun had already cultivated to such a level on his own, so why would he need to be a distinguished guest of a young master?

“Please listen to my young master’s words and leave.” Dong Xiaowan said. Yi Yun had saved her life so she only listened to Yi Yun.

Young Master Baifeng’s face turned extremely grim and gloomy.”Then, I wish that Master Yi does not regret this in the future. You are only an alchemist. Take care for your safety after making so many enemies.”

Having said that, Young Master Baifeng snorted coldly and left with a flick of his sleeves.

Zhang Zhiyuan also stared coldly at Yi Yun before following behind Young Master Baifeng, walking out of Yun Xin Loft.

“Young Master Baifeng, that Yi Yun really doesn’t know how to appreciate what’s good for him! Not only did he think nothing of me, he also did not think anything of Young Master Baifeng and the Zhou family.” Zhang Zhiyuan turned to look at Yun Xin Loft’s plaque and said,”He is so arrogant only because he knows Fairy Wuxia and she is City Lord Qin’s junior.”

Young Master Baifeng raised his hand to stop Zhang Zhiyuan from continuing.”He does have some skill, but there are so many geniuses in this world. Yet, few of them can successfully mature.”

He continued:”He is a top alchemist and has a promising future. The benefits such a person would bring to a large faction are obvious. But he is still only a junior and so cannot put up much of a fight. He may have rejected my Zhou family, but others from the major factions will definitely come to solicit him. Soon, he will be in a position he cannot control. What faction would allow a genius junior who could pose a threat to them in the future, but won’t pledge allegiance to them, mature? Furthermore, he has also offended the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. I would love to see how he handles that! Let’s go back!”

…

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

During that time, Yi Yun avoided guests by giving the excuse that he was in seclusion.

With Zhou Baifeng as a precedent, Yi Yun knew that many factions in Myriad City would want to make him one of their distinguished guests.

To the various large factions, he was equivalent to a fat lamb for the slaughter because he seemingly did not have the means to protect himself. Everyone wanted him to pledge allegiance to them. They would probably want him to sign a contract if he joined their factions.

The contracts warriors signed always involved the soul. Even if the conditions were loose, Yi Yun would absolutely not sign. Yi Yun decided to keep his shop closed while rejecting all visitors instead of meeting and subsequently offending each and every one of them.

In ten days, people from the Mystic Yang Manor, Five Elements Mountain Manor, and Core Heart Sword Clan came to Yun Xin Loft. However, they did not even get to meet Yi Yun. On this point, they were inferior to Zhou Baifeng.

“Young Master, Fairy Purple Rain from the Guiyuan family has come to seek your refinement services. The Guiyuan family is second only to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion in Myriad City. Fairy Purple Rain is also a famous, beloved daughter of heaven outside. In terms of reputation, however, she is slightly inferior to Fairy Youqin. However, this does not mean that Fairy Purple Rain is inferior to Fairy Youqin. Rather, Fairy Youqin plays the zither in Heavenly Treasures Arch, so it’s only natural that more people know of her. Fairy Purple Rain, meanwhile, dwells in deep seclusion in the Guiyuan family. She seldom appears in public, thus only few know of her. Young Master Yi, do you think…” Dong Xiaowan said gingerly.

Yi Yun had instructed her that he would not see anyone from any faction. However, Fairy Purple Rain was different. Her status was higher than even Zhou Baifeng’s, to begin with. Furthermore, she was someone from the Guiyuan family. The only faction in Myriad City that was qualified to compete with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was the Guiyuan family.

As an elite of the Guiyuan family, Fairy Purple Rain had taken the initiative to visit Yi Yun. It was something that young masters of many factions wished would happen to them. Therefore, after some thought, Dong Xiaowan decided to inform Yi Yun.

“Fairy Purple Rain? Guiyuan family?” Yi Yun stroked his chin and asked Dong Xiaowan,”Xiaowan, how’s the relationship between the Guiyuan family and the Myriad Immortal Pavilion?”

“Young Master, every faction has their interests at stake. They might appear amiable on the surface, but they really aren’t.”

…

At that moment, outside Yun Xin Loft, a white-jade carriage was parked. The tiny carriage looked warm and crystalline. Four snow-white, purebred unicorns were attached to the reins of the carriage. They had wings on their backs and they were very docile.

“Miss, I heard that Yi Yun would reject anyone from any faction. He’s truly arrogant!”

“However, Miss, you are different. You are a fairy of Myriad City. It’s unknown how many young masters are unqualified to even kneel before you. And here you are, coming personally to Yun Xin Loft. Won’t Yi Yun come forward in thankful tears or shock to see you? It’s an opportunity for him to be a distinguished guest of the Guiyuan family. In all of Myriad City, only our Guiyuan family can fight the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.”

There were two girls in the carriage. One was dressed in maidservant’s attire. She was speaking to a lady in a purple dress.

The purple-dressed girl smiled slightly. Her skin was creamy in color and she had a slim figure. Her facial features were intricate and her eyes seemed to contain a fresh spring in them. A glance at her would make the surroundings lose their vibrancy. Her slight smile made it seem like she was glowing.

“All you know is how to deliver such sweet talk. Why won’t you learn anything else from me?” The purple-dressed girl rapped the maidservant’s forehead gently.”However…My Guiyuan family is indeed the only choice that Yi has. He has already rejected the Zhou family, Mystic Yang Manor, Five Elements Mountain Manor, and Core Heart Sword Clan one after another. He is likely waiting for my Guiyuan family to visit him so that he can sell himself for the highest bid.”

“That is quite a clever plan. I have already gotten permission from the Circle of Elders. For me to approach him in person, he can’t ask for anything more. The Circle of Elders have also permitted me to make some changes to the contract, allowing me to loosen the conditions.”

“Hehe, Miss, you see things with such clarity. So this Yi Yun is trying to sell himself to the highest bidder. I thought he was being overly arrogant. Let’s see if he dares be arrogant when he welcomes you.” The maidservant beamed like a blooming flower. Just as her voice faded, the door to Yun Xin Loft opened.

The maidservant saw Dong Xiaowan casually walk out before bowing slightly at the carriage. She knew of Dong Xiaowan. She had heard that Dong Xiaowan had been listed on the blessed daughters of heavens rankings but, of course, she was ranked far below her mistress.

The maidservant daintily lifted the curtains of the carriage. Looking down at Dong Xiaowan from above, she said lightly,”What did your young master say?”

Dong Xiaowan said,”Our young master is still in seclusion so he will not be able to meet Fairy Purple Rain.”

“Oh?”

The purple-dressed girl inside the carriage was slightly taken aback. Before she could open her mouth, the maidservant beside her spoke with fury. Her eyebrows flared up as she said,”What? He’s still in seclusion? What bullshit! How audacious you are. Our mistress is outside waiting. What right do you have…”

“Enough.” Inside the carriage, the purple-dressed girl cut off her personal maidservant’s rant. Her beautiful eyebrows were slightly knitted. She never imagined that Yi Yun would also reject the Guiyuan family. Furthermore, his rejection of her was no different from any of the ones before.

Yi Yun was really ignoring all factions in Myriad City. However, didn’t he realize that, with his background and foundations, he was powerless against them?

“As the saying goes, newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. I thought he was waiting to sell himself to the highest bidder. That would have been some impressive thinking, but I never expected him to be so naive as to think that he will be able to become an existence equivalent to City Lord Qin while standing independent from the factions. Forget him if he does not want to meet us. Let’s go back.”

Since the purple-dressed girl had given her order, the maidservant could only lower the curtain.

The scene of the white-jade carriage leaving Yun Xin Loft was seen by many. They naturally knew who sat inside.

“That’s surprising news. Even Fairy Purple Rain from the Guiyuan family has been rejected. If it were me, I would have agreed without any hesitation.”

“Hehe, stop dreaming in broad daylight. However, it has to be said that Yi Yun’s present situation is dire. He has offended the Myriad Immortal Pavilion and left so many major factions wary of him. Who wouldn’t want to pick up an exquisite piece of jade that was thrown into the streets? If it refused to be picked up, it would probably be in trouble.”

Rhinoceros are killed for their horns while calamities befall elephants because of their tusks. If one was worth too much but was unable to defend themselves, one could end up being captured and forced to refine medicine for others.

A few days later, more than half of the top ten factions of Myriad City had gone to Yun Xin Loft but left dejected.

One day, Ru’er was looking out into the streets in a daze. Suddenly, she saw a blur in front of her and an elder appeared.

“Lady, this is a letter meant for Young Master Yi from the City Lord.” The elder smiled as he took out an invitation letter before passing it to Ru’er.

Upon hearing that it was a letter from City Lord Qin, Ru’er hurriedly took it over and said,”Thank you, Uncle. I will deliver it to my master.”

“Oh? City Lord Qin’s invitation? It’s probably the zither recital…”

Back when the pill refinement was over, City Lord Qin had invited Yi Yun to participate in a zither recital half a month later at the City Lord Manor. Today was precisely half a month later.

He never expected City Lord Qin to especially send him an invitation. Yi Yun smiled faintly as he turned to Ru’er and said,”Follow me to the City Lord Manor.”

1163 - : Invitation Letter

CKtalon  CKtalon

The various major factions of Myriad City had long known of the zither recital held in City Lord Manor. Everyone knew that both Fairy Youqin and Fairy Wuxia would be there.

Back at the Paradise Chapter’s Heavenly Treasures Arch, both fairies had played the zither in an exciting showdown. Those who were fortunate enough to witness it relished the memory of it. As for those that did not see it, they could only be filled with regret.

Today’s zither recital was another chance to see the two beloved daughters of heaven clash once again.

The major factions that received invitations brought several youngsters along. In truth, this was not a mere zither recital between Fairy Youqin and Fairy Wuxia, but a grand meeting between the young elites of the various factions.

As for a certain genius alchemist that was recently in the limelight and was also Fairy Wuxia’s friend, many expected that he would be invited by City Lord Qin.

On a mirror-like lake at City Lord Manor, dozens of gaily-painted boats were floating on the surface. The biggest one even had a high platform, and that is where City Lord Qin sat.

In one of the boats, there were about a dozen zitherists playing the zither. There were more than a hundred dancers dancing above the lake’s surface.

A gentle wind blew as the lake’s waters shimmered. It was like a portrait from the heavens.

It was the first time Ru’er had been to such a banquet. She followed behind Yi Yun while her eyes darted around in wonder.

Dong Xiaowan was also following behind Yi Yun. Her bearing was elegant, so she caught the attention of many the moment she appeared.

However, people ultimately shifted their gaze to Yi Yun after seeing her.

“That’s Yi Yun.”

“Master Yi is indeed an accomplished youngster. However, it’s because he’s young that he’s arrogant.”

“To think he dare comes to today’s zither recital. I heard that in the past few days, he has offended nearly every major faction in Myriad City. Today’s zither recital won’t be a relaxing time for him.”

Ru’er felt a little uncomfortable hearing all the murmurs.

“Sir…”

“It’s fine.” Yi Yun scanned these people. He knew that with his potential, he would only be repressed by the combined efforts of the various large factions if he did not join a single faction. Just today’s zither recital alone did not have many that were friendly to him.

And sure enough, Yi Yun came across a few familiar faces.

“Young Master Yi, we meet again.” The person who spoke was Zhou Baifeng. Beside him was Zhang Zhiyuan.

The two of them had been snubbed by Yi Yun so now, despite Zhou Baifeng being fine with it, Zhang Zhiyuan could not hide the coldness or killing intent in his eyes.

Zhang Zhiyuan silently touched the hilt of his sword. In City Lord Manor, he obviously was not allowed to draw it but it was a show of force.”Yi Yun, I’d be rather interested to meet you in battle. I want to let you know that, although alchemists have elevated statuses in Myriad City, true control over Myriad City is dependent on strength,” Zhang Zhiyuan said lightly. With the Zhou family backing him, he did not mind offending Yi Yun at all.

Zhou Baifeng only smiled at Zhang Zhiyuan’s provocation. He did not attempt to stop him. At that moment, an alluring female voice was heard.

“You must be Young Master Yi. Today’s the first day that I, Purple Rain, have the chance to meet Young Master Yi. My visit to Yun Xin Loft, unfortunately, coincided with Young Master Yi’s seclusion.”

A purple-dressed girl walked over leisurely. She was none other than Fairy Purple Rain from the Guiyuan family.

The moment Fairy Purple Rain appeared, even Dong Xiaowan lost her luster. When beauties reached the limits of beauty, it was hard to compare them. At that point, the comparison was determined by demeanor. Fairy Purple Rain’s demeanor was truly like a misty or smoky purple rain that seemed to accompany an inundating breeze.

“I’m really sorry about that, Fairy Purple Rain. I had been in seclusion for too long. It’s my honor today to be able to meet Fairy Purple Rain after coming out of seclusion.”

Yi Yun cupped his fists and smiled. Although Yi Yun did not care to be solicited by the Guiyuan family, he would, on the surface, make efforts to avoid impertinent remarks that would offend others, as long as the other party was polite.

“Fairy Purple Rain, please excuse me. I have yet to greet City Lord Qin at today’s zither recital.”

As Yi Yun said that, he walked through a hall and flew to the biggest boat in the middle.

“City Lord Qin.” Yi Yun greeted City Lord Qin with a bow.

He looked at Princess White Fox, who was beside City Lord Qin, and said,”Fairy Wuxia.”

Princess White Fox smiled with a zither in her arms as she nodded gently.

“Haha, Yi Yun you came late. Here, drink as a form of punishment.” City Lord Qin said with a jovial laugh.

With that, everyone noticed Yi Yun. They never expected Yi Yun to keep such a high profile even when coming here.

“This punk is fearless because we’re in City Lord Manor.” Zhang Zhiyuan was feeling extremely displeased seeing Yi Yun fly to the boat from afar.

He had been able to enter the banquet only by accompanying Young Master Baifeng; however, he had no right to greet City Lord Qin. As for the graceful figure beside City Lord Qin, he could not even approach her.

Yi Yun cupped his fists and laughed. He drank a cup of wine, and was just about to say something when City Lord Qin suddenly frowned.

“Oh? People from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion have come as well…”

As City Lord Qin said that, a group of people walked in from the main entrance.

The person leading the group was Zuoqiu Bo.

Standing beside Zuoqiu Bo was a young-looking man. He was dressed in white and his black hair sprawled unbridled. On his back hung a sword.

This group of people flew and landed onto a boat freely. Then, they sat down. The long-haired young man picked up a cup of wine from the table and greeted City Lord Qin from afar,”City Lord Qin, I’m Si Yusheng. Please accept my toast.”

Si Yusheng?

Yi Yun did not know the person. Dong Xiaowan whispered,”Sir, Si Yusheng is Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s successor to the role of Pavilion Lord. The biggest family clan in Myriad Immortal Pavilion is the Si family. As for the Zuoqiu family, they were initially distinguished guests of the Si family. Later on, the Si family produced a peerless figure that slowly brought them more power, allowing them to establish the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. Pavilion Lords have always been descendants from the Si family, while the Zuoqiu family slowly became the second biggest family in Myriad Immortal Pavilion. They also entered the inner circles where power is held. But in truth, the Zuoqiu family has relied on the Si family to progress.”

Yi Yun nodded. He could tell that Zuoqiu Bo treated the white-dressed man differently from how he treated Zuoqiu Haoyu. Zuoqiu Haoyu was only a young master of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, while the white-dressed man was the successor apparent.

“The person beside City Lord Qin is Yi Yun, the one who sliced off Zuoqiu Haoyu’s arms. His alchemical skills are impressive.” Zuoqiu Bo said to Si Yusheng via voice transmission.

“So that’s him. Haoyu and I grew up together. We are practically brothers. Haoyu’s problems are my problems. As for Yi Yun, he is standing against my Myriad Immortal Pavilion because of Qin Zhengyang’s support. If we ignore this matter, aren’t we saying that my Myriad Immortal Pavilion can be bullied by anyone? People might even think that we are afraid of Qin Zhengyang.”

“Look at these people. They are waiting for our reaction. I know that both the Zhou family and Fairy Purple Rain from the Guiyuan family have been rejected by Yi Yun.” Si Yusheng said coldly.

Although City Lord Qin had raised his cup in response to Si Yusheng’s toast, he did not immediately down it. He only looked at Si Yusheng and said leisurely,”I’m very pleased that Young Master Si came to see me, but I don’t seem to recall sending Young Master Si an invitation?”

For this zither recital, City Lord Qin had not sent an invitation to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion since he was inviting Yi Yun. He wanted to prevent an awkward meeting of the two.

Si Yusheng had come uninvited. This made City Lord Qin feel that a tense situation was brewing.

“Haha, City Lord Qin, you indeed did not send me an invitation. But you see, yesterday at Myriad Immortal Palace, I happened to meet Young Master Wufeng from your esteemed lineage. It was Young Master Wufeng that invited me.”

Oh?

Upon hearing Si Yusheng’s words, City Lord Qin frowned slightly. Qin Wufeng was the youngest son of his but also one of his most unaccomplished sons.

As for Myriad Immortal Palace, it was a land of lavish enjoyment ran by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. It was similar to the Heavenly Treasures Arch but, because it was built outside Myriad City, it was not restricted by the rules of Myriad City. This allowed warriors to be more unbridled in their promiscuous pleasures. They would mistreat the female slaves, engage in gambling over fights, take hallucinogens…As long as one had runes, they could completely indulge in whatever hidden fetishes they had.

How could Qin Zhengyang be at ease knowing that his youngest son had gone to Myriad Immortal Palace?

At that moment, Si Yusheng’s figure turned into a dissipating shadow before appearing in City Lord Qin’s boat, right behind Yi Yun.

Upon seeing Si Yusheng appear next to Yi Yun, Young Master Baifeng smiled as he waited to see what happened next.

“It will probably get interesting now.”

It was not only Young Master Baifeng. The young geniuses that had been rejected by Yi Yun revealed looks of schadenfreude when they saw Si Yusheng and Yi Yun appear on the same boat.

Si Yusheng was not like Zuoqiu Haoyu. He rarely mingled or tried to build up social relations with others; however, he was extremely famous. This was because of his extremely terrifying cultivation speed and astounding martial talent, as well as his status as the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s successor!

Si Yusheng maintained a high-profile attitude and was even somewhat domineering. Any who provoked him would end up paying a terrible price.

People had no doubt that if this was not Myriad City, Si Yusheng would have immediately killed Yi Yun.

Of course, this was the City Lord Manor. Si Yusheng could not do a thing to Yi Yun in front of City Lord Qin.

Upon seeing Si Yusheng come onto his boat, City Lord Qin frowned slightly. Si Yusheng came with malicious intentions.

Yi Yun turned to look over. He knew the person was here for him.

However, what could that person do in such a situation?

“You must be Yi Yun, right?” Si Yusheng looked at Yi Yun as a sneer suffused his lips.”You cleaved off Zuoqiu Haoyu’s arms and tarnished the reputation of my Myriad Immortal Pavilion. I should settle the score with you.”

“How do you plan to do that?” Yi Yun’s brows pricked up. Was he going to attack him in front of City Lord Qin?

“Actually, my preferred method is to capture people that offend the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, like you, and throw them into the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s dungeons before torturing them to death.”

As he said this, his tone changed. He followed up,”But…I, Si Yusheng, think highly of people with talent. Young Master Yi’s ability impresses me. Furthermore, City Lord Qin is watching here today. On his account, I happen to have a perfect way to settle the matter.”

1164 - : Si Yusheng

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What way do you have in mind?” Qin Zhengyang’s voice was cold. As Myriad City’s City Lord, he did not need to give a single thought to Si Yusheng’s reputation. Yi Yun was a guest he had invited. Even without Yi Yun’s relationship with Princess White Fox, Qin Zhengyang would not easily allow for Yi Yun to be put in a difficult situation at his residence. If he did and word got out, how was he to be a city lord?

“Haha, City Lord Qin, look at you protecting juniors. Don’t worry. I, Si Yusheng, might not usually care about others’ feelings, but I make exceptions for certain people. How can I not consider City Lord Qin’s reputation? Furthermore, Young Master Yi is a genius. He might have had some misunderstandings with Haoyu, but now the matter is over. However, there are matters involving my Myriad Immortal Pavilion. I have to put a clean end to them. City Lord Qin, do not worry. What I’m proposing is also a good thing for Young Master Yi.”

As Si Yusheng spoke, a golden beam flashed in his hand. A golden scroll appeared floating above his palm.

The golden scroll slowly unfurled. There were resplendent Dao patterns over it, making it look extremely profound.

Si Yusheng said,”This is a soul contract, prepared for Young Master Yi. Haoyu was indeed in the wrong before, but the punishment he received was just too serious. Young Master Yi has to answer to my Myriad Immortal Pavilion!”

“This soul contract only has two conditions. The first condition is that Young Master Yi promises never to be an enemy of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. As long as the disciples of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion do not deliberately offend Young Master Yi, he is not to attack any disciple of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.”

“The second condition is that Young Master Yi has to render his services to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion for six hundred years. After that, he is free to stay or leave. During these six hundred years, my Myriad Immortal Pavilion will give him the same treatment as a core disciple or Elder. We will provide Young Master Yi with all the cultivation resources, as well as alchemy ingredients, he may need. However, if my Myriad Immortal Pavilion needs any pills, Young Master Yi will produce them without any objections. Therefore…during these six hundred years, Young Master Yi is not to wantonly leave Myriad Immortal Pavilion. If he needs to leave, he will need to gain approval from the Circle of Elders.”

“If Young Master Yi signs this, all grudges will be settled!”

As Si Yusheng spoke, he sent the contract floating towards Yi Yun.

When people like Zhou Baifeng, Zhang Zhiyuan and other faction elites heard the contents of the contract, they were somewhat disappointed. It could not even considered a punishment for Yi Yun.

The first condition did not need elaboration. It could not even considered a restriction on Yi Yun.

As for the second condition, although it was possibly a tiny punishment for Yi Yun, it was also something that many people present yearned for. To be given the treatment of a Myriad Immortal Pavilion Elder and have any needed ingredients prepared was a dream. After all, the training of an alchemist required huge expenditures on ingredients. For many pills, failure resulted in a great loss of wealth. However, if one didn’t attempt to refine them, one would not be able to raise one’s alchemic abilities.

Although Si Yusheng’s offer was a little restricting, it was worth it for the benefits.

Upon hearing Si Yusheng’s words, Fairy Purple Rain frowned. The conditions Si Yusheng proposed made the advantage the Guiyuan family had much weaker. The only way to entice Yi Yun was to beat the offer.

“It seems Si Yusheng has restrained himself. By doing so, he came up with a plan that upholds the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s dignity and also gets them an alchemist. This deal is very beneficial to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.”

People were discussing in murmurs on their boats. However, they never expected Yi Yun to shake his head and say,”Sorry, but I cannot accept these terms of yours.”

It was a straight rejection without even bothering to give a reason.

Oh?

Si Yusheng’s sword-like brows pricked up. He had held back his rash behavior today, giving Yi Yun a chance to be amiable, but Yi Yun had pushed his luck. He actually rejected such favorable conditions?

“If it were only the first condition, I could agree to it completely. As for the second condition, that is absolutely impossible. Ignoring the fact that six hundred years is too long, just the promise of you providing all the cultivation resources and alchemy ingredients I need is something, to be honest, that I cannot believe. I actually do not think that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion has the ability to provide me with cultivation resources and alchemy ingredients I need.”

Yi Yun’s cultivation level was now at the Dao Palace realm. Due to the existence of the World Tree, the Supreme Nine-treasured Dao Palace, and the four nine-leaf Dao fruits, the amount of resources he consumed would only become more and more extraordinary. It far exceeded warriors at the same realm, so how was it possible for the Myriad Immortal Pavilion to provide for him?

Although Yi Yun spoke the truth, his words sounded like derisive sarcasm to Si Yusheng’s ears.

He had already lowered his dignity but Yi Yun smacked him in the face. Si Yusheng was simmering in rage.

He suddenly laughed, but his laughter was filled with cold killing intent.”Fine! Fine! People say that you are arrogant, and I have truly had my horizons broadened after meeting you. A junior warrior like you actually thinks nothing of my Myriad Immortal Pavilion. City Lord Qin, I have held back out of respect for you, but Yi Yun doesn’t appreciate it!”

How could Si Yusheng let the matter rest after being offended in such a manner? In his eyes, if not for City Lord Qin, Yi Yun would already be a corpse.

City Lord Qin sighed slightly. He originally believed that Yi Yun might have agreed. He never expected Yi Yun to say such a thing. It was no wonder that Si Yusheng was enraged.

“Uncle Qin, there is no way Yi Yun would agree to such a condition.” Princess White Fox transmitted her voice. With her understanding of Yi Yun, what he said was not an exaggeration at all. The Myriad Immortal Pavilion was obviously incapable of supporting him.

“Wuxia, even you say so?” City Lord Qin was obviously prone to believing Princess White Fox. Since she said so, he began to believe that Yi Yun wasn’t exaggerating. Besides, Yi Yun was his guest. He naturally had to protect his guest.

“Si Yusheng, since Yi Yun does not agree to your contract, let’s leave it at this for today. According to Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s rules, one should concede defeat and abide by the rules of the bet. I must remind you that this bet was first proposed by Zuoqiu Haoyu. It is out of Yi Yun’s hands now. Even if your Myriad Immortal Pavilion has lost face, it is because of Zuoqiu Haoyu and not because of Yi Yun.”

City Lord Qin’s words made clear his leanings. Everyone understood that it was impossible to touch Yi Yun at this zither recital.

It appeared as if Si Yusheng could only go home despondently.

However, Si Yusheng was one who acted domineeringly, refusing to lose out in any way. Had he come to City Lord Manor today to deal with Yi Yun in front of City Lord Qin, not knowing that he would only be running into a stone wall?

As people were thinking it over, Si Yusheng suddenly burst into laughter.

“City Lord Qin, you said that one should concede defeat and abide by the rules of the bet. I’m very agreeable to that notion. In fact, this is something you have said twice. Back when you restrained Zuoqiu Haoyu before his arms were maimed, you said it once!”

“I previously mentioned that I was invited here to this zither recital by Young Master Wufeng, but I forgot to explain in detail. The reason Young Master Wufeng invited me to the recital is that he bet his own arms on a fight, and lost. Today is the day he will have his arms chopped off. Therefore, Young Master Wufeng asked me to plead with City Lord Qin for help. However, before I could even mention it, City Lord Qin, you actually said…concede defeat and abide by the rules of the bet!”

Si Yusheng said his words leisurely. It gave everyone present a shock.

Qin Zhengyang’s youngest son, Qin Wufeng had lost a gamble in Myriad Immortal Palace and was about to have his arms chopped off?

1165 - : Concede defeat and abide by the rules of the bet

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Myriad Immortal Palace was one of the territories of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. For Qin Wufeng to bet his arms at such a sensitive time, and lose, made people suspicious. It was very likely that Si Yusheng had gotten others to lay a trap for Qin Wufeng as a way to seek revenge on Yi Yun for cleaving off Zuoqiu Haoyu’s arms.

Although Qin Wufeng was a good-for-nothing, how would City Lord Qin react when his son’s arms were chopped off?

Everyone’s gaze landed on City Lord Qin’s face.

“This Young Master Si is indeed overbearing. To think he even dares do such a thing.” Fairy Purple Rain covered her tiny mouth and said softly.

At that moment, City Lord Qin had held both his hands on the armrest and stared intently at Si Yusheng. He asked in a deep tone,”Si Yusheng, are you threatening me?”

His deep, bass-like voice sounded like a bell’s gong. A terrifying aura suddenly shot out from the city lord, as an oppressive killing intent locked onto Si Yusheng. At that moment, ripples spread on the lake’s surface as black clouds rolled over in an overbearing manner like a storm was imminent.

What a powerful aura!

Yi Yun reeled inside. He had only ever sensed similar auras from people like Felicitous Rain Lord, Demonic Eye Divine Lord, and other powerful figures.

However, City Lord Qin’s cultivation realm was definitely slightly weaker than Felicitous Rain Lord’s.

Perhaps, City Lord Qin was just short of fully entering the Divine Lord realm. Or perhaps he was at the cultivation level of a Divine Lord, but had yet to fully fuse with a Divine Lord Royal Seal.

Back in the God Advent Tower left behind by Azure Yang Lord, Yi Yun learned of the existence of the Divine Lord Royal Seal for the first time. There were only 72 Divine Lord Royal Seals in each Empyrean Heaven. They were divine items given birth from heaven-earth laws. Whether a Divine Lord fused with a Divine Lord Royal Seal or not resulted in a huge difference in strength.

As an overlord of an area and ruler of Myriad City, City Lord Qin was making Si Yusheng experience the angry flames of a Divine Lord!

Against City Lord Qin’s power, Si Yusheng’s face paled slightly as he took a step back.

“I’m only delivering Young Master Wufeng’s message, how is that a threat? However, since City Lord Qin has already said to concede defeat and abide by the rules of the bet, I can only pass these words back to Young Master Wufeng unadulterated.” Si Yusheng forcefully suppressed his chaotic lifeblood and spoke.

Si Yusheng had Qin Wufeng in the Myriad Immortal Palace, and had the full might of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion backing him. Although Qin Zhengyang was extremely powerful, Si Yusheng was not afraid that the city lord would attack him.

He was not Zuoqiu Haoyu, but the successor of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion!

City Lord Qin’s expression turned sullen. There was a saying that a tiger father would not beget a canine son, but Qin Zhengyang was the antithesis of that saying. Not a single one of his sons was promising.

He had a total of six sons. Two of them perished before he made a name for himself. Each of the remaining four was worse than the preceding one. He had repeatedly disciplined his youngest son, Qin Wufeng, but Qin Wufeng was not a martial arts genius. He wallowed in degeneration and was a frequent customer at dens of iniquity like the Heavenly Treasures Arch and Myriad Immortal Palace. Now that he had fallen into a trap and was being used to keep his father in check, how could Qin Zhengyang not be angered?

However, as Myriad City’s city lord, he had to be impartial and treat everyone equally.

“Si Yusheng, regardless of whose son he is, he must abide by the rules of Myriad City. If he gambles with others, he has to concede defeat and abide by the rules of the bet. He needs to shoulder the responsibility for his own actions.” Each and every one of City Lord Qin’s words resounded throughout the mirror-like lake!

One would be out of their mind to think that his son could be used to make him compromise his own conscience!

Yi Yun was visibly moved. City Lord Qin was indeed a bold and candid gentleman that had a strong sense of chivalry.

However, he also knew that he was the root cause of today’s conflict. Even if Qin Wufeng was foppish, he would not have succumbed to the insidious scheme if not for him.

Although City Lord Qin was a man of great principles, he could not sit idly by as Qin Wufeng’s arms were cleaved off.

“Thank you, City Lord Qin. But this matter is my responsibility. There’s no need for you to stand up for a junior like me.” As he said that, Yi Yun turned to Si Yusheng and said,”This matter has nothing to do with City Lord Qin. You schemed against Young Master Wufeng only because you were gunning for me. Use whatever means you have!”
“Hahahaha!” Si Yusheng laughed boisterously.”To think you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. When have I, Si Yusheng, ever suffered a loss? I respected your talent and spoke pleasantly to you before, but you tried to take a mile when I gave you an inch. Now you want to sign the contract from before? Too late!”

Si Yusheng laughed sinisterly as he took out a contract from his interspatial ring again. He threw it straight at Yi Yun.

He came prepared. He went through the necessary pleasantries. If Yi Yun did not know what was best for him, he would repress Yi Yun. He also stood on the side of reason, so no one could fault him.

Everyone looked at the contract that was thrown at Yi Yun with mixed expressions.

Yi Yun did not catch the contract. He gently waved his hand as the contract stopped and hovered in front of him.

After scanning the contents of the contract, Yi Yun laughed.”Six hundred years has changed to six thousand years. Furthermore, cultivation resources are not provided for free. And I need to hand over pills, cultivation techniques, and other riches in exchange for Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s Contribution Points? Only then can I exchange for the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s cultivation resources?”

“Those are truly great terms!”

When Yi Yun said this, everyone was flabbergasted. They finally understand that Si Yusheng had planned on using this contract from the beginning. As for the first contract, it was a ruse to keep up appearances.

The second contract was terribly restricting for Yi Yun!

A young alchemist that could refine an enhanced version of Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills would develop into something impressive. It would not even be farfetched for him to become a generation’s alchemist sage!

Such a person would naturally be coveted by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. It could even be that the Zuoqiu Haoyu matter was only an excuse for them to make their move.

There was a story about an alchemist in ancient times that had outstanding alchemical skills. However, his strength was limited and he ended up being imprisoned and forced to refine pills!

Perhaps the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had such intentions for Yi Yun.

The contract mentioned six thousand years, but only the heavens knew how they would treat Yi Yun when he went to Myriad Immortal Pavilion.

Everyone cast their gaze on Yi Yun as they awaited his reaction.

And at that moment, Yi Yun’s face continued to have a light smile hanging on it. He looked at the flickering Dao patterns in the contract in front of him and gradually lifted his finger and did a simple stroke across the contract.

Whew!

Pure Yang sword beams flashed as the entire contract instantly turned into scraps of paper by the sword beams. Following that, it was consumed by pure Yang flames and turned to ash!

“Contribute to you to obtain Contribution Points to exchange for resources? How can I, Yi Yun, think anything of the items you have at the Myriad Immortal Pavilion? What a joke!”

As he saw the gray ash scatter to the ground, Si Yusheng’s face twisted with killing intent.”It looks like you truly wish death upon yourself. Fine! I’ll fulfill your wishes!”

Si Yusheng’s aura blasted out as he roared angrily and pulled out the sword behind him.

“You are only a mere alchemist but you dare act so arrogantly. Today, I’ll be taking that pair of arms off you!”

Alchemists without arms were crippled.

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion would not allow any enemy that posed a threat to them to mature. Yi Yun had a promising future and a grudge with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. He refused to pledge allegiance, so he needed to be killed!

1166 - : Unrelenting Aggressiveness

CKtalon  CKtalon

Si Yusheng was completely infuriated with Yi Yun. He refused to let Yi Yun leave the zither recital unharmed.

“Si Yusheng, if you do anything untoward today, I will consider it an act of animosity against me. If you slice off my guest’s hands, I’ll slice off your arms!” City Lord Qin was furious. Si Yusheng actually intended to attack at his zither recital!

This was not only City Lord Manor, but also Myriad City. By law, Myriad City prohibited fighting.

“City Lord Qin, thank you. However, this matter is between me and Si Yusheng. Please do not force your hand into it,” said Yi Yun.

He was already thankful for City Lord Qin’s chivalry. Today’s turn of events was a result of his actions.

Yi Yun looked at Si Yusheng and the people behind him. He knew that Si Yusheng had brought these people here to nab him.

Whether or not he signed the contract didn’t matter. If it wasn’t signed, Si Yusheng planned to employ forceful means to bring him back to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. Once he entered the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, by force or not, the outcome was obvious.

“Your Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s Zuoqiu Haoyu came to provoke me, and ended up paying the price of his arms because he overestimated himself. One has to concede defeat and abide by the rules of the bet. That is an unquestionable moral truth. However, you want to use that truth as an excuse act against me. Fine, I accept that, but you ended up scheming against Young Master Wufeng. Engaging in such despicable acts to threaten City Lord Qin is taking bullying to an extreme!”

Yi Yun continued:”If you want to settle the matter, that’s fine with me! However, I must ask one thing. If City Lord Qin were to stay out of this, will Young Master Wufeng be safe and sound?”

Qin Wufeng had fallen into a trap because of Yi Yun. Although Yi Yun did not know him, he wanted to resolve the matter for City Lord Qin.

“My friend, Yi Yun—” City Lord Qin stopped him immediately with a frown.

Princess White Fox’s veil could not conceal the worry in her beautiful eyes.

“City Lord Qin, there’s no need to speak further.” Yi Yun glared at Si Yusheng and asked in a deep tone,”Did you hear what I said?”

“Hahaha!” Si Yusheng laughed out loudly.”If City Lord Qin stays out of the matter, Young Master Qin Wufeng will naturally be treated with the utmost cordiality. When he is done having his fun, he will return. As for his debt, my Myriad Immortal Pavilion will pay it for him.”

“Alright!” Yi Yun was not afraid that Si Yusheng would go back on his word. It was unlikely that Si Yusheng or the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would truly cross City Lord Qin.

“Young Master Yi, this Si Yusheng made a name for himself a long time ago. His strength is terrifying and he has the Myriad Immortal Pavilion backing him…” Dong Xiaowan and Ru’er looked worried.

“It’s fine.” Yi Yun said nonchalantly as his figure charged forward, flying from the boat to the lakeside.

“Take him away!”

Si Yusheng waved his hand, and his followers flew to Yi Yun’s side and seized him.

One of the followers waved his hand and produced a pair of chains.

The chains were made of Deepsea Black Iron. There were nomological runes engraved on its surface that sealed off Yuan Qi. Once bound by these chains, one would not be able to use one’s Yuan Qi, leaving them at the mercy of others.

“Chain him up!” The corners of Si Yusheng’s mouth revealed a sinister smile.

Ka Ka Ka!

The chains were like a python. They coiled around Yi Yun and restrained him.

At the instant the chains clicked, a divine pattern flashed. The chains fused into one and completely restricted Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi flow.

City Lord Qin’s expression turned ugly. Si Yusheng was forcefully taking someone away from his City Lord Manor. Regardless of his child’s safety, he could not permit such a thing to happen.

Just as he was about to take action, Princess White Fox, who was sitting beside him, had a change of expression.”Uncle Qin, Yi Yun just transmitted his voice to me. He hopes that Uncle Qin will not take any action.”

Princess White Fox was also worried about Yi Yun, but Yi Yun had transmitted his voice to her. He truly did not wish to involve City Lord Qin in the matter.

“The situation has developed to this stage. If I don’t take action, must I really sit here and allow Yi Yun to be taken to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion?”

As City Lord Qin spoke, Si Yusheng’s minions had already escorted Yi Yun towards the exit of Cloud City Manor.

“Bring him to Myriad Immortal Palace.” Si Yusheng waved his hand but, when he saw Yi Yun stone-faced and walking calmly, he was immediately displeased.”What a tough guy. You barely qualify to fight me! When we reach Myriad Immortal Palace, I want to see how long you can last!”

Si Yusheng led Yi Yun all the way out of City Lord Manor. The people on the lakeside made way for them.

This young alchemist had offended the Myriad Immortal Pavilion and was being escorted out of City Lord Manor. It was unknown what would happen to him. Perhaps the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would make him an indentured slave, forced to lead a life of servitude!

Upon considering the possibility, people could not help but sigh.

Qin Zhengyang wore a grim expression. Although Yi Yun had transmitted his voice to plead him to not take action, he could not simply sit idle and ignore the matter. Yi Yun had been taken out of City Lord Manor and he decided to follow.

“Wuxia, let’s go to Myriad Immortal Palace together. Si Yusheng is acting lawlessly and impudently. He may be unscrupulous in his deeds, but I’m interested to see if the Elders of his Myriad Immortal Pavilion would be as quick to toss aside decorum with me, Qin Zhengyang, as he was.”

As Myriad City’s city lord, Qin Zhengyang’s status and personal strength made him an existence to be reckoned with for every major faction.

Qin Zhengyang wanted to meet with the upper echelons of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. However, he knew that they would likely not see him.

They had probably acquiesced to Si Yusheng’s desire to use extreme methods to resolve the matter.

Using his youngest son as a threat and seizing Yi Yun at the zither recital was a demeaning act for the upper echelons of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. However, Si Yusheng was young and reckless. Furthermore, he was well known to be flagrant in his deeds. No one would speak up when he did such things.

This was what worried Qin Zhengyang. He suspected that the few Grand Elders of Myriad Immortal Pavilion would hide away and not meet him when he reached Myriad Immortal Palace.

If that was the case, the matter would only get more problematic.

Upon seeing City Lord Qin about to follow Si Yusheng and company out of the manor, Ru’er felt unsettled. Dong Xiaowan held her hands and said,”Let’s quickly follow after Young Master.”

“Yea…Yea!” Ru’er jolted out of her daze and immediately nodded.

Upon seeing Dong Xiaowan and Ru’er rush out after the group, Fairy Purple Rain’s maidservant beside her said, with gleeful schadenfreude,”Back then, if you had come out politely to welcome my mistress and become a distinguished guest of our Guiyuan family, would you have landed in such a dire situation?”

“This Yi Yun is rather loyal to his friends. However, the staunch decision to die on one’s feet rather than live on one’s knees is a foolish choice at times.” Fairy Purple Rain said softly. Then, she stood up and said,”From the looks of it, City Lord Qin is headed for the Myriad Immortal Palace. This zither recital is probably finished. Let’s follow and watch the show.”

She cast her gaze at Princess White Fox, who was on the City Lord’s boat. Then, she cast her gaze on another large and tall boat. Sitting in it was a figure that was like a thin cloud, concealing the moon while exuding a faint ethereal aura. She was none other than Fairy Youqin.

“That Yi Yun is Fairy Wuxia’s friend. Fairy Wuxia will likely be going as well. Unfortunately, that means no duel between the two of them.” Fairy Purple Rain smiled faintly as her figure flew swiftly towards the lakeside.

“Fairy Youqin,” Princess White Fox said.”It seems we must cancel today’s zither recital. I need to accompany Uncle Qin to the Myriad Immortal Palace.”

Sitting in Paradise Chapter’s boat, Fairy Youqin sighed lightly. At their last duel, she had tied with Fairy Wuxia. She had been eager to have another bout with her, but she never expected that the zither recital would be canceled because of the conflict between the Myriad Immortal Pavilion and Yi Yun.

Fairy Youqin had also caught wind of Yi Yun’s situation. She found him an impressive person after seeing him dare to offend the Myriad Immortal Pavilion today.

“Miss, since the zither recital is canceled, let’s return.” A maidservant with a lithe and graceful figure came forward and said.

Fairy Youqin shook her head slightly and said,”Probably more than half the people here will be going to see the commotion. Let’s go as well. If the Myriad Immortal Pavilion wants to make Yi Yun its slave, I doubt the other factions will stand by.”

As a genius alchemist without status or any backing, Yi Yun was like an ownerless gem on the street. Anyone that encountered him would naturally want to pick him up and claim him for their own.

And the only way for Yi Yun to survive was to seek an outlet in the cracks between these factions. He could not detach himself from everything. He had to eventually rely on a particular faction and compromise for the sake of everyone’s interests.

Fairy Youqin was right. Even City Lord Qin and Fairy Wuxia had left. More than half the people present had followed.

Outside City Lord Manor, there were many warriors. They knew that City Lord Manor was hosting a zither recital that day. Without an invitation, they could only linger outside the manor, hoping to hear the zither tunes from afar. When they saw the attendees, including City Lord Qin himself, leave the manor in a hurry, they were stupefied.

What were they doing?

Furthermore, they had seen that, right in front of the group, Yi Yun had his Yuan Qi sealed. He was restrained and being escorted out of the city.

And on careful observation, the person escorting him was the successor of Myriad Immortal Pavilion—Si Yusheng!

Si Yusheng was always in the limelight in Myriad City. He was the unspoken number one person of the younger generation. However, his vicious acts were widely known. Today, he was seizing Myriad City’s most genius alchemist. The situation created quite a commotion.

“What’s going on? Yi Yun has been captured!?”

“It must have to do with the vendetta between the Myriad Immortal Pavilion and Yi Yun. He is being escorted back now, so it seems the odds are greatly against Yi Yun!”

1167 - : Shouldering it Alone

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although Myriad City was large, the group of people walked as if they had the wind under their feet. They very quickly traversed through entire city regions.

The streets were filled with people, who stopped in their tracks when the procession went by. Seeing Myriad City’s number one genius alchemist being escorted by Myriad City’s number one person in the younger generation, together with City Lord Qin, Fairy Youqin, Fairy Wuxia, and the elites of various large factions, almost half the city folk were alarmed by this gathering.

People began asking about the situation, and were astounded when they learned the truth.

People praised Yi Yun for his guts and lamented how the heavens were jealous of the talented.

Others reveled in schadenfreude and anticipated the good show that was about to start.

Along the path from City Lord Manor to the city gates, the number of people in the procession increased. It numbered in the thousands as they approached Myriad Immortal Palace’s teleportation array, which was situated about five kilometers past the city gates.

Myriad Immortal Palace’s teleportation array was constructed at the top of Mt. Kunhua. One simply needed to enter the teleportation array to reach Myriad Immortal Palace.

“Yi Yun, take the teleportation array but don’t be in a hurry. Once we reach the other side of the array, I’ll ‘entertain’ you.” Si Yusheng laughed with a teasing tone. At that moment, Yi Yun was like a fish on a chopping block, completely at his mercy.

This was the outcome of being arrogant while lacking any backing. After Yi Yun was forced to sign himself into indentured servitude, Si Yusheng had dreamed up all sorts of ways to seek revenge on him.

“You have to really be grateful your alchemical abilities, without them you would have been chopped up and fed to Fey beasts as soon as we reached Myriad Immortal Palace.” Si Yusheng said with a sneer.

Once they reached Myriad Immortal Palace, even City Lord Qin would not be able to protect Yi Yun.

At that moment, Zuoqiu Bo had already passed through the teleportation array and activated it. Si Yusheng turned around, preparing to step through. At the same time, the two people holding onto Yi Yun pulled him toward the array.

But Yi Yun suddenly came to a halt before turning his head over.

“What are you waiting for! Hurry up and walk forward!” Si Yusheng’s two subordinates rebuked him.

Yi Yun looked at the two subordinates, a teasing look flashed in his eyes. “When did I say that I would go to Myriad Immortal Palace with you?”

“Oh?”

The two subordinates were stunned. Si Yusheng was also taken aback. He did not know why Yi Yun was speaking such nonsense at this point in time. What power did he have to decide on where he would go?

“I only wanted City Lord Qin to stay out of this matter and he has done so. In exchange, you promised to release Qin Wufeng. I came with you out of City Lord Manor and Myriad City. All of this has nothing to do with City Lord Qin. City Lord Qin might be refraining from action, but I never said I would be at your mercy. Now that we are out of Myriad City, any action I take will not be subject to Myriad City’s laws.” Yi Yun said leisurely.

Everyone present was stupefied after hearing that. What did Yi Yun mean? Was he still planning to act under these circumstances?

Now that he was at the teleportation array with his Yuan Qi sealed by the Black Iron chains, what could he do?

Furthermore, standing in front of him was the number one person of Myriad City’s younger generation, Si Yusheng.

Si Yusheng had been cultivating for more than seven hundred years and was an eight-floor Dao Palace warrior. A century ago, he had been deemed as invincible among anyone below the Supremacy level!

Also, Si Yusheng had brought four subordinates who were guardians of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. In the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, one needed to have a cultivation level above six-floor Dao palace to be able to take on the role of guardian. Furthermore, their strength was heads and shoulders above warriors at the same cultivation level.

Was Yi Yun mad, proclaiming that he could attack them under such circumstances? Was he asking for a beating?

“Hahaha!” A purple-clothed guardian who was escorting Yi Yun laughed out boisterously. “How dare you remain arrogant in such a situation? You are only a worthless wretch. If you really want to suffer some physical pain, I can grant your wish!”

As the purple-clothed guardian spoke, he made his way over to Yi Yun with a sinister grin.

However, the moment he took a step forward, he came to a sudden halt. He could only watch helplessly as the Black Iron chains on Yi Yun were enveloped by gray light. Following that, the nomological runes on them dissipated into layers of black dust like a weathered sand sculpture.

It was as if they were being dispelled by an invisible force!

In seconds, the nomological runes on the Black Iron chains completely vanished. They turned into ordinary chains which, despite their excellent quality, were unable to withstand Yi Yun’s strength.

Yi Yun clenched his fists and, with a sudden jolt, discharged all of his Yuan Qi!

“Ka-cha!”

The accompanying explosion shattered all the Black Iron chains into countless fragments of metal that shot in every direction.

Yi Yun loosened his joints and looked at the four guardians in front of him. A smile crept onto his lips as a row of white teeth was revealed.

What!?

The purple-clothed guardian’s face was drained of its color. How did the Deepsea Black Iron chains suddenly lose their nomological patterns, allowing Yi Yun to escape?

“You want to inflict physical pain on me? First, let me teach you what ‘physical pain’ is.”

Killing intent appeared in Yi Yun’s eyes as he suddenly took a step forward and punched straight at the purple-clothed guardian!

“Ah!”

The guardian exclaimed in fright as he retreated quickly. At the same time, he crossed his arms in front of him to block the wind that came from Yi Yun’s fist.

But at that instant, 999 flying sabers appeared around Yi Yun. The saber beams were like flashes that shot straight at him.

Cha! Cha! Cha!

The saber beams proceeded forward like a surging snowstorm, with razor-sharp ice that could slaughter anything. The purple-clothed guardian’s clothes were shredded as his flesh was lacerated by the saber beams, causing a bloody mist to spray out.

The purple-clothed guardian cried out in pain, and was nearly dismembered in an instant!

Bam!

The purple-clothed guardian slammed heavily to the ground as he groaned incessantly. He was still breathing, but his body was covered in deep cuts. His blood was mixing with the mud as pain reached straight to his heart. From how he was breathing out more than in, he was basically already dead.

Yi Yun called back the Thousand Snow flying sabers and looked at Si Yusheng as intense killing intent flashed in his eyes.

“What happened? Wasn’t he being restrained by the Black Iron chains!?”

“What is going on!?”

Many of the onlookers were astonished. Yi Yun had escaped from the chains and faced a six-floor Dao Palace warrior, who was also a guardian of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. How was it possible that he was instantly defeated by Yi Yun the moment they clashed?

Si Yusheng looked at the fragments of the Black Iron chains around Yi Yun. The arrogant and impudent look on his face was finally wiped away.

“The Dao patterns were wiped away. How did he do that…?” Si Yusheng frowned. In a split second, the Black Iron chains had been enveloped by a gray mist. What was that gray mist?

Indeed, even Zuoqiu Bo would not have identified the gray mist, let alone Si Yusheng. The Major Destruction laws had already exceeded the extent of their comprehension.

Fifteen minutes ago, before the Black Iron chains were placed on Yi Yun, he had already circulated the Major Destruction powers and injected Destruction marks—infused with the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence—into the Black Iron chains.

These Destruction marks contained the destructive power of the Universe. Wiping away the nomological Dao patterns on the Black Iron chains was no problem at all.

From the beginning, Yi Yun had planned on resisting through violence. As Qin Wufeng was part of the equation, he did not want City Lord Qin to have a hand in this matter.

“I will not attack unless attacked. Si Yusheng, you wanted to send me to my death today, so why would I peacefully return with you to the Myriad Immortal Palace?”

1168 - : Under Mt. Kunhua

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Yi Yun made this proclamation, the thousands of people at the foot of Mt. Kunhua continued reeling in shock. Si Yusheng had brought with him four guardians, drawing lots of attention when he apprehended Yi Yun. Furthermore, he had the backup plan of laying a trap for Qin Wufeng, ensuring that nothing was amiss.

But now, one of the four guardians had been slain by Yi Yun. Yi Yun had easily escaped the restraints of the Black Iron chains and now proclaimed to make Si Yusheng pay the price.

What seemed like a dead end for Yi Yun had a shocking reversal, and in a manner that left everyone befuddled.

Why was Yi Yun so insanely strong? Did he actually manage to instantly kill one of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s guardians? Wasn’t he just a warrior that had just entered the realm of Dao Palace?

If Yi Yun’s cultivation realm and age were certain, then how high was his talent? It was completely unimaginable!

Moreover, Yi Yun was not only strong in combat, he was also an alchemy master. He was a genius that completely exceeded their own level of understanding.

Aside from the gathered strangers, even City Lord Qin and Princess White Fox were dumbstruck.

“Wuxia, you previously mentioned that Yi Yun’s talent is extraordinary, but to think he has already reached such a phenomenal level!”

Princess White Fox shook her head and said, “I didn’t know either. He was indeed impressive years ago, but not to this point.”

Princess White Fox believed that she had already thought highly of Yi Yun, but she never imagined that, after only a few years, Yi Yun’s strength would develop to such a terrifying level.

At that moment, Si Yusheng was facing Yi Yun, his eyes glinting. “Here I thought my trip would result in me capturing a dog to watch the house, but I never imagined you to be a wolf. Good! Very good! I have always loved taming wolves. I will bring you back to the Myriad Immortal Palace and pull out your wolf fangs, making you an obedient little dog, with no chance of rising up again!”

Boom! A terrifying aura blasted out from Si Yusheng. The sword that was slung on his back made an ear-piercing trill as it shot out with a sanguine beam of light, before being grabbed by Si Yusheng.

The number one person of Myriad City’s young generation had an aura as large as a mountain, whose peak could not be beheld. It made it difficult for people to look up at him.

He had been deemed invincible among anyone below the Supremacy level a century ago, and now he was facing Yi Yun, who was a first-floor Dao Palace warrior. Even though Yi Yun had demonstrated terrifying combat prowess, Si Yusheng wasn’t worried at all. His strength was beyond that of the four guardians.

“Si Yusheng is about to attack. Eighth-floor Dao Palace against a first-floor Dao Palace. The difference in cultivation levels is huge.”

People could see that Si Yusheng had raised his aura to the limits. They watched intently, for perhaps this was the first time in Si Yusheng’s life when he had to seriously face an opponent who was so much weaker.

Si Yusheng had always been the one fighting people above his level, so how unusual was it that he was on the opposite end?

“However, this battle is different. Yi Yun is too heaven-defying. Despite the huge difference in cultivation levels, I do not believe that this is a one-sided battle. Yi Yun being able to instantly kill the purple-clothed guardian indicates that he has the ability to face Si Yusheng in battle.”

There were many experts in the crowd that numbered thousands. They believed that Yi Yun could create a miracle.

“Ability to face Si Yusheng in battle? Haha!” Zuoqiu Bo laughed out loudly. “It looks like our successor has been out of the public eye for so long that many people have forgotten how powerful he is. Yi Yun will definitely suffer an abject defeat at our successor’s hands!”

Zuoqiu Bo was extremely peeved at the crowd’s speculations. How could Yi Yun’s strength be comparable to Si Yusheng?

At that moment, Yi Yun had already pulled out his pure Yang broken sword. The ancient and simple looking broken sword was covered in rust. It wasn’t lustrous in any manner, but with the Divine Alchemy Cauldron as a precedent, everyone knew better than to count out the broken sword because it didn’t look particularly impressive.

“Yi Yun, I’ll slice off your legs. As an alchemist, your arms are sufficient. Legs are just superfluous for you!”

As Si Yusheng spoke, he struck out with his sword. The land beneath him trembled as a gigantic rift appeared like the massive jaws of a beast, slowly spreading in every direction!

Si Yusheng’s sword was like a flood dragon that emerged from the sea as it charged straight at Yi Yun!

The might of the strike was too impressive. The surrounding space crumpled and caved in as a result, forming a cage that attempted to restrain Yi Yun. At the same time, the sword Qi tore open the ground, wantonly spreading out. It left one’s lifeblood in chaos as people retreated rapidly.

Heart of the Sword!

Si Yusheng had already gained insight into the Heart of the Sword!

Everyone was astounded. To go from Sword Intent to the Heart of the Sword was a qualitative change for a swordsman. Although it did not enhance one’s cultivation level, the offensive power of the sword would be increased thousandfold!

For Si Yusheng to be deemed the number one person of Myriad City’s younger generation, he naturally had to have some extraordinary ability.

While facing Si Yusheng’s life-threatening strike, Yi Yun did not hold back at all. He intended to finish the battle as soon as possible!

With the pure Yang broken sword in hand, Yi Yun slashed out and, in an instant, the light of the world seemed to be devoured as a massive black vortex appeared out of nowhere. It was as if it was connected to infinite Chaos.

Yi Yun’s strike seemed to have opened up a brand new world.

“Boom!”

The black vortex came crashing down as it met Si Yusheng’s blood-red sword beam. The two different energies clashed violently!

But there was no terrifying explosion, or a well-matched clash between the two forces as one might imagine. When the black vortex met the blood-red sword beam, a scene that shocked everyone occurred. The black vortex directly overcame the blood-red sword beam and began devouring it!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The sound of explosions rang as Yi Yun’s strike crashed down like a wheel of fate. Its target was none other than Si Yusheng!

“What!?”

Si Yusheng’s expression changed drastically. He never imagined that his extremely confident strike would suffer a crushing defeat in such a manner.

Facing the black vortex, he felt like he was against the entire Universe itself. This was not how facing a junior at the Dao Palace realm should feel. The terrifying pressure made Si Yusheng feel like he was fighting a monstrous old senior.

“Ha!”

With his life on the line, Si Yusheng roared as he burned a mouthful of blood essence without any hesitation. As he retreated rapidly, he spat out a tiny green sword.

The sword was about the length of a human palm, but it was crystalline. It seemed to possess intelligence, and everyone could tell from a glance that it was not ordinary.

The tiny green sword was clearly Si Yusheng’s trump card.

However, the black vortex was too fast. The sword attack that fused Destruction and Creation into one resulted in absolute repression from Great Dao laws. There was no way it could be withstood.

Si Yusheng had just conjured his tiny sword when his body was enveloped by the vortex.

His body turned so cold that he couldn’t even feel it. At that instant, he was sure that he was exceedingly close to death. It scared Si Yusheng out of his wits!

He was a proud son of heaven, invincible among anyone below the Supremacy level. How could he possibly be defeated in a single strike by Yi Yun?

Si Yusheng refused to believe it, while Zuoqiu Bo wore an expression like he had seen a ghost. He had predicted that the battle would be completely one-sided, but he never imagined it to be Yi Yun crushing Si Yusheng in such an indomitable fashion!

“Ka-cha!”

Si Yusheng’s sword beam completely shattered as the tiny emerald-green sword was entirely devoured by the black vortex before it could even demonstrate its might!

Just as Si Yusheng’s body was about to be ripped apart by the vortex’s power, Si Yusheng bellowed hysterically.

“Yi Yun! You are mad. I’m the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s successor. If you kill me, you are definitely dead. No one will be able to protect you!”

However, his only answer was a grim smile on Yi Yun’s lips. “How could I kill you? I will at most hurt you.”

With that said, Yi Yun thrust his sword downwards!

“Puah!”

The Destruction vortex suddenly shrank in size due to Yi Yun’s strike as it directly sank into Si Yusheng’s dantian.

There was a clear explosion sound as the Destruction laws suddenly exploded in Si Yusheng’s dantian!

Si Yusheng felt as if his abdomen was being struck by a ten thousand pound sledgehammer, as an excruciating pain bore right into his heart.

He let out a painful groan as his body flew backward, slamming heavily into Mt. Kunhua’s cliff!

Boom!

The cliff that was a hundred meters tall collapsed when met with Si Yusheng’s massive impact! Si Yusheng was bleeding from all his orifices as his body trembled. The Yuan Qi within his meridians began leaking as he felt his body deflate like a rubber ball.

“You… You… You…”

Si Yusheng’s face was as white as a sheet. He looked no different from a corpse that climbed out of a coffin.

Yi Yun’s strike had penetrated his dantian. Si Yusheng’s connection with his dantian was completely severed, making him feel like he had plummeted into a deep abyssal hell.

“My dantian! My dantian!”

Si Yusheng held his abdomen crazily. His dantian had been destroyed by Yi Yun in one strike!

A dantian that was destroyed through Destruction laws was irreparable. And once a warrior lost his dantian, he was basically maimed of his cultivation level. From that moment forth, Si Yusheng would lose all his cultivation!

To warriors, losing cultivation was more miserable than death!

The scene that suddenly unfolded left the thousands of people watching completely speechless. They looked at Yi Yun in disbelief. Their mouths were slightly agape, unable to close even after a long time.

People originally believed that this would be a match between young geniuses of equal caliber. However, they never imagined that the battle would end so quickly.

One strike! Only one strike was needed, and victory was determined!

Si Yusheng, who had been crowned first in Myriad City’s younger generation, had his dantian obliterated!

Yi Yun was a junior without any faction backing him, yet he dared to destroy Si Yusheng’s dantian!?

And the most terrifying aspect was Yi Yun’s strike. It seemed to slash open an entirely new world.

It was a law that people found hard to describe. It had exceeded their comprehension.

“Is it Creation and Destruction…?”

Qin Zhengyang recalled the strike that he had just seen. The strike had seemingly slashed at his heart. It was a scene he would remember all his life.

Qin Zhengyang never imagined that a strike from a junior at the Dao Palace realm would remain etched in his heart for the rest of his life.

1169 - : One Strike Determines All

CKtalon  CKtalon

Huala, Huala!

Gravel from Mt. Kunhua continuously rolled down, revealing the bloodied Si Yusheng lying amid the rocks.

He was still alive but his face was as pale as wax paper, while a cadaverous air emanated from him. An elite with limitless potential ahead of him had his dantian destroyed, thrusting him back to being a mere mortal. How could he endure such a blow?

“Young Master…”

Ru’er and Dong Xiaowan turned extremely anxious upon seeing this scene. They were happy that Yi Yun had defeated Si Yusheng, but they knew that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would not simply accept Yi Yun crippling their promising successor.

“Little bastard, you… you…” Zuoqiu Bo’s voice quivered. While he was amazed by Yi Yun’s talent, he was also extremely incensed. Was this Yi Yun that stood before him really a junior? How could a junior possess such strength?

As a Supremacy, he was one of the strongest people in the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. However, he failed to save Si Yusheng in a timely fashion because he believed that Si Yusheng would easily clinch victory. He never thought for a second that anything else could happen.

As for Yi Yun’s strike, it was too terrifying. It gave Zuoqiu Bo no time to save Si Yusheng. Yi Yun was extremely ruthless, destroying Si Yusheng’s dantian in a single strike!

“Little bastard, you dare bring harm to Yusheng. Today, you will die a terrible death!” Immense anger and fierce killing intent filled Zuoqiu Bo’s eyes.

At that moment, Yi Yun slashed out with the pure Yang broken sword.

“Be careful!”

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion disciples that were present were alarmed. They thought that Yi Yun would attack them as they hastily retreated. However, the sword beam was not directed at them, but instead at the Myriad Immortal Palace’s teleportation array!

“Ka-cha!”

The sword beam exploded as a horrifying sword Qi enveloped the area, destroying the teleportation array immediately!

The Myriad Immortal Palace was located far from Myriad City. People from the Myriad Immortal Palace could easily reach the site of the battle through the teleportation array. As such, if a drawn-out battle occurred, Yi Yun would never be able to escape. His strike put an end to the possibility of reinforcements from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion!

“I’ll kill you!” Zuoqiu Bo roared as his figure flew up like an old vulture!

At the same time, a large bronze cauldron appeared behind Zuoqiu Bo. It was extremely heavy, with an immense strength that could crush the earth. It launched at Yi Yun!

How could Zuoqiu Bo spare Yi Yun after he crippled Zuoqiu Haoyu and destroyed the teleportation array!?

The thousands of people present watched with widened eyes. This was a mighty Supremacy’s attack. Naturally, nothing Si Yusheng did could compare.

Supremacies usually acted with their status in mind. They would seldom attack juniors but, at that moment in time, Zuoqiu Bo could not be bothered with status. He wanted to cripple Yi Yun. Otherwise, how was he to answer to the sect when Si Yusheng had gone with him but returned with his dantian destroyed?

Even against a Supremacy’s attack, Yi Yun remained calm. Back when he stormed the Seven Star Dao Palace, he had clashed with a Supremacy as well. Although Yi Yun was not necessarily the Palatial Lord’s match, he was able to retreat unharmed. A Supremacy did not pose an immediate threat.

If he was not confident in that, Yi Yun would not have attacked Si Yusheng in the first place.

“Clang!”

The pure Yang broken sword issued a trill that resembled a dragon’s roar as it stabbed at the large bronze cauldron.

At that instant, an indescribable sword stance enveloped the entire land. The thousands of warriors present whose cultivation levels were below that of Supremacy felt the sword Qi pressing down at their glabella just by looking at the sword beam. It left their hair standing.

Even their own swords quivered in response. It was as though they were being instigated by Yi Yun’s sword stance to shoot out from their scabbards!

Heart of the Sword!

People immediately realized that Yi Yun had also gained insights into the Heart of the Sword. Furthermore, his was even stronger than what Si Yusheng had accomplished.

It was rumored that he was similar in age to Fairy Youqin and Fairy Wuxia. It was unimaginable that he managed to gain such tremendously powerful insight into the Heart of the Sword.

The talent he had was more heaven-defying than Si Yusheng. It was no wonder Si Yusheng was defeated at his hand!

Dang!

A loud boom sounded as the large bronze cauldron quaked vigorously. It had been deflected by Yi Yun with one strike!

Zuoqiu Bo’s psyche was connected to the cauldron so he instantly felt his lifeblood frantically stir as he retreated.

He was, after all, only an alchemist. In terms of strength, he was one of the weakest Supremacies. He failed to hold any advantage over Yi Yun in a direct clash.

In what sort of reality did a first-floor Dao Palace match a Supremacy?

“We can’t let him leave or the repercussions would be unthinkable!”

If they had only offended a genius alchemist, it would be problematic but it would not shake the foundations of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. However, if they offended a peerless genius with completely unheard of talent, Yi Yun might lay siege to Myriad Immortal Pavilion in a few hundred years and wipe them all out!

Zuoqiu Bo suddenly crushed a voice transmission charm to warn the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. At the same time, he conjured his large cauldron again to attack Yi Yun!

“Zuoqiu Bo, don’t you go overboard!”

With a cold bellow, Qin Zhengyang took a step forward. He instantly appeared in front of Zuoqiu Bo, engulfing him with a massive wave of oppressive force. It made Zuoqiu Bo jolt as he came to a sudden halt.

“To think that as a Supremacy, you are attacking a junior with your full might. You are truly degenerating the longer you live!”

Previously, when Si Yusheng attacked, Qin Zhengyang had stood idly by the side. However, how could he allow Zuoqiu Bo, who had lived for tens of thousands of years, to seriously attack a junior who was younger than a hundred years old?

“Qin Zhengyang, are you opposing my Myriad Immortal Pavilion?” Zuoqiu Bo was feeling both anxious and angry. He could only watch helplessly as Yi Yun conjured a tiny pagoda that spun into existence.

It was none other than the God Advent Tower.

Upon seeing the God Advent Tower, Zuoqiu Bo’s heart leapt. He was well read and could instantly tell that it was a mobile abode of excellent quality!

Ignoring the fact that Yi Yun was a Dao Palace junior, even Zuoqiu Bo himself had not obtained such a top-grade mobile abode in his years of alchemical practice in Myriad City.

“Xiaowan, Ru’er. Do not resist! Enter it.”

Yi Yun waved his hand as the God Advent Tower flew out. Dong Xiaowan and Ru’er stood obediently in place, allowing themselves to be sucked into the God Advent Tower.

After crippling Si Yusheng, Yi Yun knew that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would not tolerate his existence any longer. He had to leave. Naturally, Ru’er and Dong Xiaowan could not remain in Myriad City either, or the Myriad Immortal Pavilion might attack the two when they failed to find him.

And before he went to the zither recital, he had already placed Ling Xie’er in the God Advent Tower. He had offended the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, so how could he feel secure leaving Ling Xie’er alone in Yun Xin Loft?

“You are leaving?” Qin Zhengyang could tell that Yi Yun was escaping based on his actions. At that moment in time, the only thing Yi Yun could do was leave.

“I, Yi Yun, will not give up on Myriad City. I will come back again. City Lord Qin, if you happen upon a Soul Returning Root, please acquire it for me. I will be extremely thankful in the future!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he entered the God Advent Tower, which transformed into a stream of light that flew into the distance!

Zuoqiu Bo helplessly watched the pagoda fly away, unable to put a stop to it.

Ignoring Qin Zhengyang, he did not even have the strength to stop Yi Yun.

Although he had sent a voice transmission, the teleportation array was already destroyed. By the time the Myriad Immortal Pavilion received the news and rushed to his aid, Yi Yun would be tens of thousands of miles away.

1170 - : Fighting a Supremacy Again

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the God Advent Tower flew, Yi Yun felt complete relief when he sensed that he was getting further away from Mt. Kunhua.

Crippling Si Yusheng put Yi Yun in a position where he would have no choice but to temporarily leave Myriad City. He had seriously jeopardized the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s future. Since the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was such a mighty and proud entity, they would not offer him a compromise. Yi Yun did not wish to compromise, anyway.

“Young Master, what are your future plans?” Ru’er asked.

“Find a quiet place and take up residence there,” replied Yi Yun.

If that was impossible, the God Advent Tower was also habitable.

“Young Master, if you want a quiet place, I do have somewhere in mind.” Dong Xiaowan suggested.

Yi Yun said, “Don’t tell me it’s the Jadewave Sect? Although you have been with me, you haven’t done a thing to Si Yusheng, so even if the Myriad Immortal Pavilion wants to take their fury out on the Jadewave Sect, they would be dispatching troops without just cause. However, if I were to stay in the Jadewave Sect, it would be a different story.”

“Young Master, thank you for showing such concern to the Jadewave Sect.” Dong Xiaowan smiled gently as she said, “However, the place I have in mind isn’t the Jadewave Sect. It’s just a private residence of mine. When I’m out traveling, I occasionally stay there when I want to be alone.”

Upon saying this, Dong Xiaowan did not realize that her face had suffused a blush.

She was an unwed girl, and her private residence was equivalent to her boudoir. No one else had stepped into it, much less a young man.

Yi Yun thought about it and said, “Alright then. Let’s go to this private residence of yours.”

The three years until the exchange meet was nothing but a blink of an eye to a warrior.

…

On Mt. Kunhua, Zuoqiu Bo watched helplessly as Yi Yun retreated unscathed. His blood was in chaos as his eyes were filled with bloodlust.

Si Yusheng was still on the ground like a dead wretch. The purple-clothed guardian was on his last breath. Worst of all, there were many renowned factions from Myriad City that saw the whole thing, as well as a large number of warriors.

Him, a Supremacy, had let Yi Yun escape in front of everyone!

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s face had been ruthlessly smacked by a junior.

“Qin Zhengyang.” Zuoqiu Bo glared coldly at City Lord Qin. “I will report what happened today to the Pavilion Lord. Regardless of where Yi Yun runs to, my Myriad Immortal Pavilion will stop at nothing to destroy him! If you still wish to protect him, it means you are openly at odds with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion!”

City Lord Qin revealed a look of mockery as he said, “As an alchemist that just barely reached the stage of Supremacy, you dare threaten me? Just report the facts. While you’re at it, quickly take that cripple along with you and scram. And if that useless son of mine doesn’t return today perfectly fine, I will personally visit to get him.”

Although the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was a massive entity, why would City Lord Qin be afraid of it?

Furthermore, Si Yusheng had made an agreement with Yi Yun. Everyone present had heard it. As long as City Lord Qin did not obstruct Si Yusheng from taking Yi Yun away, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would have to release Qin Wufeng. Even if Si Yusheng was now half-dead, the agreement could not be violated.

Zuoqiu Bo’s expression was ugly as he waved his hand. He said to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion subordinates, “Bring the Young Master and guardian along. We are leaving!”

Staying any longer would only incur more ridicule from the present crowd. It was obvious to Zuoqiu Bo that what happened today would quickly spread throughout Myriad City, or even the entire Empyrean Heaven, making the Myriad Immortal Pavilion into a laughing stock.

Seeing Zuoqiu Bo and company leave hurriedly like wretches, City Lord Qin turned his head and smiled at Princess White Fox, saying, “Wuxia, Yi Yun handles matters in a resolute and careful manner. He will surely avoid the pursuit of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. Also, with his strength, he can escape unharmed even against a Supremacy. Although the Myriad Immortal Pavilion has quite a number of Supremacies, its estate is massive and has many enemies. It cannot divert its best experts to pursue him.”

Princess White Fox nodded slightly. She felt relieved when she heard City Lord Qin say that.

“Speaking of which, this friend of yours has really surprised me greatly every time. Haha,” said City Lord Qin with a laugh.

Under the soft veil, Princess White Fox’s beautiful face revealed a faint smile. “Same here. He always surprises me every time.”

This time, Yi Yun’s strength had increased by leaps and bounds, reaching heights that Princess White Fox had not expected. It appears that ever since he left the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, Yi Yun’s cultivation speed had only become faster…

“Let’s go.” Fairy Youqin said to her female attendant. She dazzled in a white dress and had peerless beauty. However, having witnessed Yi Yun’s terrifying talent, the aloof Fairy Youqin suddenly felt dispirited. She had always been placed on a pedestal, but when compared to Yi Yun, she was nothing.

Even Si Yusheng had succumbed to Yi Yun. Back in the day, he had been high-spirited and enjoyed success, but now he was faced with a life worse than death.

After that day, Yi Yun would definitely become famous throughout Myriad City. Everyone would know that Yi Yun was not as they first imagined. He was not only a genius alchemist, but also a monstrous expert with excellent martial talent.

The factions that thought Yi Yun to be a succulent piece of meat for the grabbing were in for quite a shock.

…

The God Advent Tower flew for hundreds of thousands of miles in one go before landing in a remote mountain valley.

The mountain valley had rolling mists outside it, but clear skies within. From the sky, they could make out a broad and calm lake that looked like a jade disc amid the green forest. There were lotus flowers blooming, making for an amazing scene.

In the middle of the lake, there was a tiny island with an exquisite bamboo house. There was a pavilion by the lakeside and paths laid out using gravel.

“This place of yours is indeed remote and quiet.” Yi Yun sized up the place and said in a satisfied tone.

Dong Xiaowan smiled gently. This was a place even people from the Jadewave Sect did not know of. It was extremely hidden.

“Young Master, it’s great that you are satisfied with it. You saved my life and I have no way to repay you. Being able to help you a little delights me,” said Dong Xiaowan.

“Alright.” Yi Yun nodded as he spread out his perception through the entire mountain valley. “However, we now have to be on the alert for the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. Your concealment array is overly simple. I’ll need to strengthen it a little.”

Yi Yun had learned quite a bit about arrays from the divine alchemist’s notes. He could now put that knowledge to use here, and also make use of his spatial abilities. He enveloped the entire mountain valley, distorting the space around the region. He made it into an independent small world that was completely isolated from the outside world.

As such, even if a Supremacy came to this mountain valley, they would not necessarily detect anything strange about the area without any prior knowledge.

Dong Xiaowan was astonished by Yi Yun’s methods. She was rather knowledgeable and realized what Yi Yun was doing.

“Young Master, you opened up an independent small world?” Opening an independent space was not something many Supremacies were even capable of.

“It’s not necessarily stable, but it will have no problem lasting for a few decades.” Yi Yun had been cultivating in spatial dimension laws all these years. Unknowingly, he had cultivated it to such a level. He wasn’t far from being able to truly open a small world by himself.

Following that, Yi Yun carried Ling Xie’er out from the God Advent Tower and placed her within the bamboo house. It had three rooms. Ling Xie’er was given one while Yi Yun took another. Dong Xiaowan and Ru’er shared the last room.

The mountain valley naturally grew many spiritual plants and fruits. Dong Xiaowan and Ru’er went to gather some and at night, smoke billowed out from the bamboo house.

Yi Yun sat inside the pavilion by the lakeside while basking in the cool breeze. He watched the two girls busying themselves in front and behind the house. They were lighting a fire to prepare the meals and, gradually, his mood calmed down.

He had offended the Myriad Immortal Pavilion greatly but to save Ling Xie’er, he still needed to return to Myriad City. He was not the kind of person that would suffer in silence when being oppressed by others. He would settle the score with Myriad Immortal Pavilion slowly.

And during this period of time, Yi Yun planned on cultivating more. By raising his strength, he could face the Myriad Immortal Pavilion earlier.

The mountain valley lakeside enjoyed a silent environment. The spiritual energy wasn’t sparse either. It was indeed a good place for seclusive cultivation. And living in such a peaceful place was very beneficial to Yi Yun’s training of his soul.

However, before that, Yi Yun had other plans. He wanted to visit the Jadewave Sect’s World Stone mine. He wanted to take a look at the strange land that had caused Dong Xiaowan harm.

“Xiaowan, prepare to go with me to the Jadewave Sect’s World Stone mine. I want to see what mysteries lie behind the abandoned ruin that caused your sickness.”

“What? Young Master…”

Dong Xiaowan was alarmed. The abandoned ruin had been sealed off by the Jadewave Sect. The sect had forbidden anyone from approaching it or even speak of it outside the sect.

Now, rumors had spread that it was a cursed land. One would be cursed upon entry and Dong Xiaowan was the perfect example.

“Young Master, there are no treasures in that abandoned ruin. There’s only bad luck and a curse. Young Master, you might have extraordinary strength but it’s best you do not go to such a strange place. What if you end up tainted by some evil entities, then I…”

When Dong Xiaowan said this, she stopped. She did not how she should continue. She had no right to undermine what Yi Yun wanted to do but, unknowingly, Dong Xiaowan realized that she had a baffling sense of concern for him. Perhaps, she had these feelings in her when she woke up from that dark world of despair and realized that it was this youth who had saved her…

“It’s fine. I will be careful.” Yi Yun smiled at Dong Xiaowan. He had a nagging feeling that the abandoned ancient ruin held some perplexing mysteries.

1171 - : Mountain Valley Lakeside

CKtalon  CKtalon

News of Yi Yun crippling Si Yusheng and equaling Zuoqiu Bo quickly spread overnight.

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion was enraged by the news and posted wanted notices for Yi Yun with stunning rewards. Many warriors could not help but be tempted when they saw the price for Yi Yun’s head.

However, even if they were tempted, they valued their lives more…

Yi Yun’s strength had been clearly demonstrated in front of everyone. Through the description from warriors present at the battle, it was determined that only warriors at cultivation levels at or above Supremacies had the right to battle Yi Yun.

While the outside world buzzed with activity, Yi Yun led peaceful days in the mountain valley lakeside.

“Young Master, have some tea.” Dong Xiaowan served a cup of refreshing tea to Yi Yun, who was reading and meditating in a pavilion.

The tea’s refreshing aroma lingered, and it had a green jade hue. After drinking a mouthful of tea, he praised, “Great tea. The spirit tea from this mountain valley is really not bad.”

“Thank you, Young Master.” Dong Xiaowan smiled slightly, but inside she was like a bed of blooming flowers. It made the surrounding scenery lose its color.

Yi Yun placed the teacup down and said, “I’ll be going to the ancient ruin today to take a look.”

Over the past few days, Dong Xiaowan had described to Yi Yun the internals of the ancient ruin in great detail. And after a few days of recuperation, Yi Yun was back at peak condition.

The ancient ruin was fraught with danger at every turn. Everything had to be done carefully. In his present state, he was the best equipped to head for the ruin.

“Young Master, do you really not need me to go with you?” Dong Xiaowan asked worriedly.

Beside her, Ru’er bit her lip and did not say a word. Her strength was mediocre, so she would be useless in the ruin. She was better off staying behind to take care of Ling Xie’er.

“There’s no need. You have yet to fully recover. You might actually relapse if you go.” Yi Yun said as he stood up. “I’ll leave Xie’er in your hands. I will come back as soon as possible.”

The moment his voice faded, Yi Yun’s body transformed into a stream of light. In a blink of an eye, he vanished from the array barrier around the mountain valley.

He had strengthened the array over the past few days. Only with that could he be at ease leaving Ling Xie’er and the two girls behind.

The ancient ruin was more than fifty thousand kilometers from the mountain valley, but ever since Yi Yun gained comprehension of profound spatial dimension laws, his speed had increased tremendously.

A typical Dao Palace realm warrior would spend two days traversing the distance, but Yi Yun could do it in half a day.

…

“Sigh, guarding this area is truly scary.”

In a black mountain range that stretched for thousands of kilometers but was void of any vegetation, a few warriors guarded the area around a teleportation array.

These warriors were dressed in Jadewave Sect uniforms. After the Jadewave Sect ordered the place to be sealed, they were the only ones left to guard the teleportation array and prevent others from entering.

However, the place effused a cadaveric air and carried terrifying curses within, so these warriors stood guard with trepidatious hearts.

“There probably isn’t anyone stupid enough to trespass this area. There are evil entities inside…” Another warrior responded.

However, before he could finish his sentence, he felt a sudden change in the surrounding Yuan Qi. It was as if an icy gale was blowing past them, leaving him chattering from the cold.

“Oh? Did you feel that?”

“I… I felt it…”

The pale-faced warriors exchanged looks.

“Let’s not talk about this.”

“Cut it out. Cut it out…”

Yi Yun wasn’t aware that the Yuan Qi fluctuations he stirred when he passed the warriors had generated odd thoughts in them. He landed somewhere along the mountainside.

The Jadewave Sect’s World Stone mine was located in the mountain range, but the valley in it was as broad as an empty plain. The mountain peaks on both sides of the valley resembled tall black towers that seemed to envelop the area.

The mine had already been sealed off by the Jadewave Sect, but with Dong Xiaowan’s instructions, Yi Yun knew how to gain entry.

He conjured a few hand seals and immediately, the mine that had been calm stirred and revealed an entrance. Yi Yun looked at the entrance before entering it without any hesitation.

After Yi Yun entered, the entrance quaked before vanishing.

And all of this was not detected by the warriors on guard.

After searching around the mine for a while, Yi Yun finally found the spot where the ancient ruin was according to Dong Xiaowan’s descriptions. Upon entering the ancient ruin, Yi Yun immediately felt chaotic Yuan Qi as well as an intense chill.

The temperature was so low that saying water droplets would immediately freeze was not enough. However, there was no ice on the ground. There was only gray gravel. There was also not a single hint of vegetation as far as the eyes could see.

It was bleakly cold, silent, and dark. It was like an abandoned world, isolated from the sunlight. There was no life in this place, only ice-cold silence.

Yi Yun kept a close eye on his surroundings. At the same time, he circulated his Yuan Qi to withstand the cold. When Yi Yun proceeded a distance forward, he saw a scene that awed him.

In front of him was a gigantic city built on a plain.

Everything was extremely massive, there were towering buildings and wide paths.

Yi Yun stood in front of an abandoned house and felt that he was only a minute fraction of the height of the main door. This ordinary house door looked like a towering city door.

In this city, Yi Yun felt like he had shrunk to the size of an ant.

Compared to such a city, the black mountain peaks on the side really resembled city walls. Yi Yun even had a feeling that they weren’t actually part of the mountain range, but of weathered city walls.

Weathered city walls that turned into a mountain range… Such a magnificent city was truly unheard of. If that was the case, the mountain range that stretched for thousands of kilometers would be the circumference of the ancient ruin.

Human history repeats itself, but the world changes all the time. Countless cities had been destroyed or abandoned through the passage of endless time. It was common to chance across such ancient ruins, but these extremely massive buildings did not seem like they were built for humans.

Who could they be for?

Yi Yun recalled the records he had seen in canon. In ancient legends, there were races with gargantuan bodies. Could the city have been constructed by them?

Ignoring everything else, Yi Yun had encountered a bronze giant before. It could flatten mountains with a footstep. Although the city in front of him was humongous, it would only be a toy in front of the bronze giant that towered into the heavens.

The puzzled Yi Yun continued walking through the city.

There was no indication how long the city had been left desolate. The entire city was empty as the sound of Yi Yun’s footsteps echoed. It felt like he had transmigrated through space and time.

He had the Purple Crystal’s energy vision activated constantly as he observed everything around him. After walking for nearly an hour, Yi Yun’s heart suddenly shook, and he turned extremely vigilant!

He saw something that made him shudder. In the energy vision, everything had turned into monotonous lines. However, hidden beneath these lines, Yi Yun saw rows of bright dots. But on closer inspection, Yi Yun realized that these bright dots were eyes.

Every pair of eyes belonged to a distorted human face. The eyes were densely packed and were all lurking beneath the ground!

1172 - : Giant City

CKtalon  CKtalon

This is…

Yi Yun instantly drew his pure Yang broken sword. The distorted human faces were identical to the one Yi Yun had seen in Dong Xiaowan’s body!

Without a doubt, Dong Xiaowan had been possessed by one of these.

Although Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal which could suppress these evil entities, there were thousands, if not tens of thousands, of these evil entities lurking underground. If they all chose to rush him at once, wouldn’t he be doomed no matter how strong he was?

He reluctantly retreated, but only made it a few steps before he stopped. He realized that the faces hidden beneath the ground did not move. Some of the human faces had hideous expressions, but others were in a state of deep sleep. Their faces were grayish-white and their eyes were tightly shut. Some even had faces covered in wrinkles like a dried corpse.

Yi Yun pondered for a moment, then held his breath as he tried to close the distance. He approached from the sky gradually.

He circled a gigantic building and finally saw the area where these evil entities lurked.

It was a cemetery that stretched out to the horizon!

There were gray rocks that were the remains of crumbled tombstones. There were shattered slabs scattered everywhere, with some half buried. The text on the tombstones had been worn away, making them impossible to date.

The giant, dilapidated city had an abandoned cemetery with evil entities lurking within the ancient graves…

Yi Yun found the whole situation suspicious.

What had happened here?

At that moment, Yi Yun was flying a thousand meters above the cemetery. Although he wanted to fully probe the area, he did not dare descend. It was too great a risk. If the evil entities were to collectively awaken and charge at him together, he might be swallowed whole, not even leaving a drop of blood.

But if he were to leave, then what was the point of coming to the ruin?

Yi Yun was in a dilemma.

He knew very clearly that the smart choice was to leave. At that point in time, there was nothing to gain from being here, just as Dong Xiaowan said. There was only strangeness and curses. However, Yi Yun had a nagging feeling that he would miss out on something big if he left now.

Yi Yun hovered in mid-air for a very long period of time before he began to slowly descend. Yi Yun descended a foot at a time in an extremely careful manner. He took a total of fifteen minutes to make it halfway to the ground.

However, at that moment, Yi Yun witnessed something that alarmed him.

He saw a white-dressed female standing calmly in front of a rundown tomb in the endless gray-colored cemetery.

She looked like she was in her twenties and did not exude the aura of an expert. In that respect, she was like an ordinary mortal girl, but her disposition was like that of an empyrean from the ninth heaven. She was like an orchid blooming on an iceberg, aloof and noble. It prevented anyone from having any thoughts of desecrating her.

Who is she!?

Yi Yun felt an upheaval of emotions. He had been carefully observing the entire cemetery to prevent the evil entities from sneaking up on him. However, he had not seen this woman.

The woman seemed to appear out of nowhere, but her calm and peaceful demeanor made it seem like she had been standing there all along, experiencing great periods of time.

Was she a ghost?

Yi Yun stopped descending and watched the woman intently. He circulated every bit of his Yuan Qi. For a white-dressed female to suddenly appear in the middle of a cemetery filled with evil entities, it would make anyone have trouble remaining calm.

However, the woman’s disposition was otherworldly, like a divine goddess from heaven. It made it seem like she had nothing to do with the abnormality of the land.

“You can come down. The evil entities here will not harm you. I will not harm you either.”

The woman spoke softly. Her voice was ethereal and pleasant. It was like an immortal tune coming from the heavens, but she was using an ancient language that Yi Yun had never heard. More strangely, he was able to understand everything she said. It was as though the meaning was communicated to him instantly when her voice reached his mind.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment. Having encountered such a strange situation, any rational person would not easily believe the woman’s words. However, Yi Yun’s instincts told him that the woman wasn’t an evil entity. It was indicated both by her aura and the projection seen through the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

Yi Yun took a deep breath as he clenched his pure Yang broken sword and landed about hundred feet away from the white-dressed female.

The woman had a faint luster exuding from her body. It seemed like she had condensed the essence of the starlight and moonlight. Her dress was as white as snow, and it contrasted heavily with the gray world around her. Thus, although she was standing in the middle of an abandoned cemetery, Yi Yun felt that she stood independent from the world, as if she was in an alternate space-time dimension.

The woman glanced at Yi Yun with eyes that beamed with infinite divine light. The instant she saw Yi Yun, she revealed a puzzled look. At the same time, a clear and cold voice entered Yi Yun’s ears. “Your aura… seems familiar.”

Familiar?

Yi Yun was certain that he did not know the mysterious woman.

The woman quickly calmed once more as she lightly said, “It’s just a hint of something familiar. But you shouldn’t know her so do not worry about it.”

The woman’s words left Yi Yun befuddled from beginning to end.

However, he believed that the cultivation level of the woman in front of him was unfathomable. There was no way her sense of familiarity with him was a mistake. Where could that sense of familiarity stem from?

“Senior, I wonder who…” Yi Yun cupped his hands and asked. The woman seemed like she could return to wherever she came from with the wind at any time. She did not seem like she belonged to this world. Yi Yun didn’t even know if she was human.

“There is no need for you to know my name…” The white-dressed female shook her head. “You are around sixty years of age, yet you can sense the secrets hidden beneath this cemetery. I’m curious as to how.”

The moment the white-dressed female spoke, Yi Yun’s heart clammed up. The woman had managed to accurately determine his age with one look and asked a question about something he kept secret. Yi Yun felt like this woman could see right through him.

“There is no need for you to feel nervous. I have no ill intentions toward you. It’s just that you seem to have had some unique experiences. As a product of them, and your hard work, your strength seems to far exceed other warriors at your level. You remind me of someone…”

“Senior, who do you speak of?” Yi Yun held his breath. The woman’s sharp intuition left him uneasy, as if she could see through everything.

How strong was such a person?

Yi Yun suddenly realized that there were too many experts that he did not know of in this world. Their realms far exceeded his imagination.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s inquiry, the white-dressed female sighed slightly. Her eyes seemed to be looking very far away as if she was lost in a long thought. “Someone I know. You resemble him a lot…”

Him?

Yi Yun frowned slightly. The white-dressed female’s words were filled with mystery. At first, she referred to a ‘her’ and now it was ‘him’. Yi Yun was completely at a loss as to who the white-dressed female might be referring to.

“My name is Divine Dream.”

The white-dressed female suddenly gave her name before nonchalantly turning around.

Yi Yun was taken aback momentarily. He originally thought that she would not tell him her name, but she had so suddenly given it to him.

Divine Dream?

In the canonical books that he had read, he did not recall such a name.

1173 - : Beautiful Figure of the Ancient Tomb

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Senior, please wait.” Yi Yun followed the white-dressed female.”Senior, can you tell me what this place is? And what is buried here? To be honest, a friend of mine has been possessed by one of these ghost faces. Now, no matter what she does, she can’t make any progress in her cultivation. Furthermore, the ghost was even eating away at her vitality. I want to know how the curse can be resolved.”

Yi Yun sensed that the white-dressed female was about to leave. He immediately asked all the questions on his mind because he felt that if he didn’t, he would lose his chance.

“Oh? You are here to save a friend?” The white-dressed female came to a slight pause as she asked.

“That is one reason. There’s also the curiosity of figuring out what is happening here.” Yi Yun said honestly.

The white-dressed female fell silent for a long while before speaking.”History changes erratically. Time is enough to wipe away many things. This land you are currently in, it used to be a city built by the slaves of an ancient race. Your people call this ancient race the Ancestor Gods.”

“Ancestor Gods?” Yi Yun’s heart stirred.”What do they look like?”

“Their bodies appear to be built from bronze. Their heights range from fifty kilometers to even five hundred or five thousand kilometers. They can crush the lands and squash the stars.”

Indeed!

Yi Yun realized that the bronze giants he had seen before were Ancestor Gods.

Back in the Azure Wood Great World, one of them had been sealed away for hundreds of millions of years. It was an extremely frail bronze giant, but it could easily steamroll Felicitous Rain Lord, as well as several other powerful Divine Lords. That scene remained etched in Yi Yun’s memories.

In fact, back in the lower realm a long time ago, Yi Yun had visited the Pure Yang Sword Palace a second time. There he heard the Sword Spirit mention the Ancestor Gods.

The Sword Spirit told of the formation of the Universe where the 12 Empyrean Heavens reside, and how the Heavenly Dao and the Ancestor Gods were born out of the Chaos. Their history in the 12 Empyrean Heavens was too dense to wrap up in a short tale.

And the Tian Yuan world was one of the vessels that sealed the Ancestor Gods’ King of the Gods.

“Servants of the bronze giant… Then, these sleeping human faces are the bronze giant’s servants? Why can they live so long? If they awaken, will it cause a disaster?”

Inside, Yi Yun reeled. He was shocked to discover such a ruin under the Myriad Divine Territory. If the tens of thousands of servants were to be released, would they cause a massacre in the Myriad Divine Territory?

The white-dressed female shook her head and said,”These servants aren’t as powerful as you think. They are only low-ranking servants who constructed the cities and mausoleums for the Ancestor Gods. The reason why they can live so long is that they have abandoned their physical bodies, living on as spiritual entities. Then, they seal their spiritual bodies in blood ice, freezing their existence in that state.”

“The reason why your friend cannot cultivate is that the demonic servant possessing her is draining her Yuan Qi in an attempt to replace her.”

“These demonic servants aren’t that terrifying. You can deal with them alone. Even if the tens of thousands of demonic servants buried here were to escape, they would not cause too much of a stir. Someone would definitely appear and deal with them.”

“If you wish to help your friend, do it yourself. Consider it a form of experiential training…”

When the white-dressed female said that, her body gradually transformed into streams of light that vanished.

“Senior!” Yi Yun was taken aback as he watched the streams of light vanish. He felt somewhat despondent.

The woman’s strength had far exceeded his imagination. She seemed to understand many of the secrets of this world but, unfortunately, she was gone.

“Since the senior said that I can deal with these demonic servants, let me attempt it.” Yi Yun calmed his heart as he turned to look at the densely-packed and odd human faces.

Understanding something before having the strength to act on it was not necessarily a good thing. The true shape of the world was something he would naturally understand once he reached a high enough level where he could see everything at a glance.

Before him now were the demonic servants.

Yi Yun slowly walked along the boundary of the huge cemetery as he observed the situation with the ghastly faces.

The white-dressed female had said that the ghastly faces were spiritual bodies that had abandoned their physical bodies. Yi Yun also discovered that the ghastly faces were being sealed by massive red ice blocks.

Although they had hideous looks, they had no vibrancy in them. It was unknown how long they had been lying in slumber.

“Just watching won’t do. I might as well take action.” Yi Yun chose one of the faces on the boundary and pointed the pure Yang broken sword at the ground.

“By sealing themselves inside the blood ice they’ve made themselves into easy targets.” Yi Yun thought to himself.

But at that moment, the ghastly face seemed to sense danger, and suddenly opened its eyes!

The area around the ghastly face’s eyes were two black holes. Inside seemed to be two regions of endless darkness. Instantly, an ear-piercing shrill resounded in Yi Yun’s mind as the ghastly face escaped the blood ice and pounced at Yi Yun!

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted. What a fierce demonic entity!

His Yuan Qi surged as a blast of killing intent abruptly rose up in him.

At the same time, the ghastly face was right in front of Yi Yun.

The ghastly face was oddly swift. It would catch anyone off guard, especially considering how most people could not see it without the Purple Crystal.

However, what truly surprised Yi Yun was that the face didn’t attack. Despite coming right in front of him, the ghastly face suddenly let out a sharp scream and retreated before could he even slash at it.

From the ghastly face’s sharp scream, Yi Yun could sense that it was afraid of something.

Could it be afraid of him? Impossible. If so, it would not have taken the initiative to leap at him.

The ghastly face apprehensively distanced itself from Yi Yun before turning to escape.

“You want to escape?” Yi Yun looked at the ghastly face as he slashed down from afar!

Three-foot Passage Sword, Sword of Time!

The sword beam instantly closed the gap between Yi Yun and the ghastly face, brutally striking the face.

Yi Yun’s pure Yang sword beam was the bane of evil Yin entities. The ghastly face was only a spiritual body so, after it was struck by the sword beam, it instantly melted like ice or snow exposed to fire.

Yi Yun wasted no time in closing the gap. The ghastly face was still attempting to escape, but Yi Yun used spatial dimension laws to create a tiny cage to entrap it.

Upon seeing Yi Yun so close, the fear in the ghastly face turned more pronounced. Its spiritual body moved erratically as if it was afraid to even look at Yi Yun.

“Are you afraid of the Purple Crystal?”

Yi Yun recalled that back when he probed the evil spirit within Dong Xiaowan’s body, it had also been extremely wary of him. It had nearly killed Dong Xiaowan but, because of him, it entered remission.

As Yi Yun was pondering that idea, he suddenly felt the Azure Wood Divine Tree within his body emit a thick and vibrant aura. It was as if it had seen something and was dancing in joy.

Yi Yun was connected to the Azure Wood Divine Tree through his very soul. He sensed that the Azure Wood Divine Tree yearned for the demonic servant in front of him!

“Could it be…” Yi Yun’s heart stirred. He finally knew what the ghastly face was afraid of.

According to the white-dressed female, the ghastly faces were the demonic servants of the bronze giants, also known as the Ancestor Gods. As for the Azure Wood Divine Tree, it was a supreme divine tree that could seal an Ancestor God.

Back in the Azure Wood Great World, the Azure Wood Divine Tree had suppressed a bronze giant for hundreds of millions of years. Even though it did eventually free itself, it ended up being suppressed once more by the awoken Azure Wood Divine Tree.

Now, the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s seed was within him. If the demonic servant’s master could be sealed, it was only natural that it would be afraid of suffering the same fate.

The Azure Wood Divine Tree was their nemesis.

Yi Yun looked at the ghastly face in the spatial cage. It was slamming around, stricken with terror. As he sensed the desires of the Azure Wood Divine Tree within his body, he attempted to release the psyche restrictions he placed on the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

Instantly, the phantom of a divine tree appeared behind Yi Yun.

Whew!

An azure beam of light shot out. It was a green leaf that wrapped itself around the ghastly face as the face issued a lamentable howl. Following that, it exploded, turning into countless dots of lights that were absorbed by the divine tree.

The ghastly face vanished and the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s leaf appeared to turn a little lusher…

1174 - : Vanquishing Demons

CKtalon  CKtalon

“This is…”

Yi Yun was surprised by this turn of events. Although he knew that the Azure Wood Divine Tree was able to restrain a bronze giant, he never expected that the Azure Wood Divine Tree could directly reduce the bronze giant’s servant to Yuan Qi before wholly absorbing it.

What sort of origin did the Azure Wood Divine Tree have?

Yi Yun guessed that the mysterious woman with the Nine Transformations Red Lotus on her forehead might have transplanted the divine tree from a particular primitive land. It was the nemesis of the bronze giants and their servants by nature.

Even the Purple Crystal, which symbolized a Great Dao, was unable to absorb energy that had life. As for the Azure Wood Divine Tree, it apparently had no such restriction when it came to bronze giants.

Yi Yun studied the Azure Wood Divine Tree within his dantian. It had already grown from a sprout to a tiny tree. It was about twenty feet tall, and in its leaves were etched Great Dao patterns. It looked lush, green, and full of vibrancy.

Yi Yun stroked his chin. He could not help but consider the idea that, since the Azure Wood Divine Tree was able to absorb the demonic servant, it was possible for him to cleanly absorb every demonic servant gathered there.

According to what Senior Divine Dream said, the land where the demonic servants slept was nothing impressive. However, their very presence there was still a hidden threat to the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. If the demonic servants were ever unleashed upon the world, it would cause a catastrophe, if not the total destruction of all life.

Furthermore, these demonic servants were extremely nourishing for the Azure Wood Divine Tree. Absorbing them could enhance its growth.

Back when Yi Yun broke through to the Dao Manifestation realm, his four nine-leaf Dao fruits hung from the Azure Wood Divine Tree. After he broke through to the Dao Palace realm, his Nine-treasured Dao Palace had fused with the Azure Wood Divine Tree. Looking at it that way, the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s growth was directly related to Yi Yun’s cultivation realms.

After making up his mind, Yi Yun aimed at another rundown grave. With one strike, he tore open the grave and saw the blood ice buried within.

A notch in the red ice crystal had been sliced open by the pure Yang broken sword but there was nothing within the ice crystal.

It was an empty ice crystal coffin.

Yi Yun frowned slightly as he opened a few more graves, all of which were empty.

Back when Dong Xiaowan came here with the Jadewave Sect, she had been possessed by a demonic servant. However, from the looks of it, that was not the only demonic servant that had awoken that day.

Perhaps there were other demonic servants that had awoken and left the ancient ruin.

When he realized this, Yi Yun’s heart clammed up.

These demonic servants were not going to cause immediate disaster after they escaped, but they were bound to escape. Even now, they were slowly awakening from their slumbers.

As time went on, more and more demonic servants would recover their strength and wreak havoc in the external world. It would only spell trouble when that happened.

“I need to kill them before they recover their strength.”

Yi Yun broke open a grave and found a demonic servant.

Upon sensing Yi Yun’s appearance, the demonic servant screamed sharply but before it could do anything else, it was sealed within Yi Yun’s spatial cage.

The Azure Wood Divine Tree materialized behind Yi Yun and instantly reduced the demonic servant into Yuan Qi for absorption. All of the energy that it had accumulated over many years was quickly transformed into nutrients for the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

“Next.”

Yi Yun’s eyes sparkled. A fierce bear in hibernation could be killed by mortals, much less Yi Yun who had the Azure Wood Divine Tree. He was the demonic servants’ nemesis. Killing them took nothing from him.

Gradually, Yi Yun sensed that the energy stored within the Azure Wood Divine Tree was increasing. It was slowly growing taller as its leaves became more luxuriant.

However, after he had absorbed more than a hundred demonic servants for the Azure Wood Divine Tree, Yi Yun suddenly felt an ominous feeling.

He took a slight step back and, at that moment, a black storm stirred in front of him.

In his energy vision, he could see the demonic servants open their eyes one after the other, shooting out dark red beams of light.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The red ice coffins underground exploded in succession as demonic servants rushed out from their blood ice enclosures. Having their slumber disturbed made them extremely furious. They wanted to devour everything around them.

“Oh no!”

Yi Yun’s heart sank. In the end, it was him that managed to awaken the sleeping demonic spirits. Now, twenty to thirty thousand demonic servants were rising from the ground. Even with the Azure Wood Divine Tree, he was unable to vanquish such a massive number of demonic servants.

Fortunately, Yi Yun could sense through his energy vision that the demonic servants in front of him were only huge in number. Since they had just been forcefully awoken, they were like premature babies. They were extremely weak and did not pose any threat.

Furthermore, after any of the demonic servants discovered Yi Yun, they became very apprehensive towards him. None of them dared to truly attack him.

With the pure Yang broken sword in hand, he looked at the black swath of demonic servants. He was fully focused and on high alert. He figured that the demonic servants would eventually attack together. When that happened, he would be in danger. Once he was too overwhelmed to resist, he would be devoured clean by the tens of thousands of demonic servants.

“Roar——”

At that moment, a demonic servant roared. It was several times bigger than the other demonic servants. Its color was deeper and it was easy to tell that it was one of the stronger demonic servants.

Yi Yun watched as the powerful demonic servant’s body sparkled with intense light. He believed that it would lead the charge to attack him but suddenly, something that surprised Yi Yun happened. The demonic servant abruptly turned back and bit another demonic servant that was much weaker than it. It swiftly consumed its fellow!

“What?”

Yi Yun was more than a little taken aback. With the powerful demonic servant taking the lead, the other demonic servants began to engage in a massacre. The stronger demonic servants devoured the weaker demonic servants. None of the weaker demonic servants put up any meaningful resistance, as if they were resigned to being devoured.

As for the demonic servants that ate their kind, they became more powerful. Soon, tens of thousands of demonic servants were reduced to eight to nine thousand.

Upon seeing this, Yi Yun finally realized that this was a way for the demonic servants to rapidly gather strength.

Due to his presence, these demonic servants had no choice but to awaken early. Only by devouring their own kind could they make up for the loss.

“Die!”

How could Yi Yun allow them to continue increasing in power? With a long roar, the pure Yang broken sword in his hand blazed with Yang flames. It was as if a sun had appeared out of nowhere in an icy underground world.

At the same time, he completely imbued the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s powers into his sword. Slashing out with his sword, both the divine tree’s power and the pure Yang power surged forth. Demonic servants were burned clean from wherever the sword beam passed. They melted immediately!

“Ah! Ah! Ah!”

The demonic servants screamed loudly as they attempted to escape. At that moment, the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s phantom image materialized behind him. He charged into the demonic servants and began his slaughter!

The veins of the Azure Wood Divine Tree shot out in every direction like green whips. Wherever the whips lashed, demonic servants were split apart and exploded into a shower of light.

The light was absorbed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree, making its veins appear even more resplendent.

1175 - : A Rude Awakening

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s aura became richer the longer he fought. He began to realize that he had far underestimated the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s strength. With it, he was practically invincible here. Especially as demonic servants lacked physical bodies, the Azure Wood Divine Tree was like a tiger in a flock of sheep. There was no way to stop it.

“Peng Peng Peng!”

Large swaths of demonic servants were slain by Yi Yun. At the same time, Yi Yun used his spatial dimension laws to distort space and imprison other large groups of demonic servants.

However, a few had slipped away from Yi Yun’s restraints and begun fleeing out of the ruin.

Damn it.

Yi Yun frowned. He knew that although the demonic servants were extremely weak and easily crushed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree, they were very difficult to deal with once they were out of the ruin!

Few people could even see the demonic servants without the Purple Crystal’s energy vision. And even if they could see them, they would still have a hard time dealing with them because they could possess the bodies of others.

The spiritual bodies by themselves were not very strong, but if they were to possess a warrior, their strength would increase a hundredfold!

No matter how strong Yi Yun was, he could not hold back an army of demonic servants that numbered in the thousands. By the time the spatial cage closed completely, more than half of the demonic servants had gotten out of the ruin.

…

At that moment, outside the ruin, the guards from Jadewave Sect were manning their posts. Due to the Yuan Qi fluctuation from before, they were still very tense.

“This place is just too odd. Staying here just makes me feel uncomfortable.”

“Unfortunately, both you and I have to guard this place. If someone really were to trespass, they would probably die from fright.

The guards looked in the direction of the ruins as they felt a chill run down their backs.

Suddenly, they felt a strong gust of cold wind blow at them. It left their bones shaking.

“What’s the matter?”

One of the guards had been blown into the air by the cold squall and slammed into a wall.

At that moment, he felt as though all life had been sucked out of him. It was like he was immediately about to die.

And at that instant, a resplendent glow burst out from the ruin’s seal as it blasted apart. Out stepped a youth that was covered in blue light. His face was a mystery, and when he raised his hand, a green sword beam appeared.

“Cha!”

The sword beam flashed across the guard’s cheek, as though it was piercing through something. Immediately following that, the guard heard what seemed like a heart-wrenching cry. The voice seemed evanescent as though it had been issued from the abyss of hell. It left him shuddering in fear.

“Bam!”

The guard slammed heavily to the ground. He realized his back was completely soaked in cold sweat. Although he did not know what just happened, he was certain that he had a brush with death.

He had been saved by that green sword beam, but who was the youth? Why was he walking out of the restraints that sealed the ancient ruin?

His eyes widened as he stared at the youth, trying his best to make out his facial features. However, there seemed to be dense Dao patterns covering him that blocked his face. The more the guard tried, the more he couldn’t make out anything.

“Inform your sect master to evacuate the entire Jadewave Sect or a catastrophe will befall the sect.”

The youth’s voice rang in the guard’s ear. It caught the guard by surprise. The entire Jadewave Sect had to evacuate or catastrophe would befall it? Although he knew that the mysterious youth was formidable, would the sect master believe this stranger’s words?

Just as he was about to inquire further, the youth transformed into a blue stream of light. In a blink of an eye, he had traversed the hundred thousand-foot-valley and vanished.

“What…what do I do?”

Aside from the guard that had been sent flying, the other guards were feeling cold and clammy. They had a small suspicion that the cold wind could have been the escape of the cursed things from inside the ruin. As for the mysterious youth, who was he?

Regardless, the sect master had to be informed of this matter!

Ever since Dong Xiaowan had left with Yi Yun, Jadewave Sect’s sect master Dong Shaoqing had not left the Jadewave Sect’s premises. Although he trusted Yi Yun, he still missed his daughter.

These days, he had been fretting over the bounty on Yi Yun’s head. He was extremely worried for Yi Yun since the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was willing to pay a huge price to have him hunted down. The news had spread throughout the Myriad Divine Territory and even to several of the surrounding divine territories. Even four Supremacies from Myriad Immortal Pavilion had been called in.

However, it was as if Yi Yun had vanished into thin air.

Dong Shaoqing’s only option was to wait.

Unfortunately, before he managed to receive any news of Yi Yun, he received a report from his subordinates that something had happened in the ancient ruin in the World Stone mine.

A mysterious youth covered in blue light? Awakened evil spirits?

“What did that youth look like!?” Dong Shaoqing eagerly asked.

“I couldn’t tell.” The guards shook their heads. “There was light and laws blocking him. We couldn’t see a thing.”

“Is that so…?” Many thoughts instantly flashed through Dong Shaoqing’s mind. A youth with immense strength just happened to appear by the ancient ruin. The first person Dong Shaoqing thought of was Yi Yun.

Was it possible that Yi Yun learned the location of the ancient ruin from his daughter and went to investigate?

Upon realizing that, Dong Shaoqing took a deep breath. Yi Yun was truly talented and daring. Such a strange, cursed land with no rewards was somewhere people would avoid in fear, yet he took the initiative to investigate it?

Regardless if it was Yi Yun or not, Dong Shaoqing decided to keep the matter an absolute secret. If the Myriad Immortal Pavilion were to know of it, it would be troublesome.

“Listen up. News of today’s incident, especially anything to do with that mysterious youth, must be a sworn secret. Any who tell will be dealt with according to the sect’s rules—by death! Immediately make a soul contract!”

“Also, immediately inform everyone in Jadewave Sect that we are leaving this area.”

Are we really moving?

The guards were dumbstruck. They thought that the sect master would not believe the mysterious warning. After all, the Jadewave Sect had been entrenched in these lands for too long. These were their roots, so how could they move so easily?

Yet, Dong Shaoqing made this heavy decision within a few seconds. The spirit the sect master had was indeed massive.

…

At the moment Dong Shaoqing made his decision, thousands of miles away from Jadewave Sect, Yi Yun was still pursuing the demonic servants with the pure Yang broken sword in hand!

While these demonic servants fled from Yi Yun, they constantly spread out. However, the core batch remained clustered together. They were extremely fast, so fast that Yi Yun failed to close the gap.

However, the longer he pursued them, the more Yi Yun’s eyebrows furrowed. He would soon need to give up on his pursuit. Not because he could not deal with the demonic servants, but because they were heading for Myriad City!

Myriad City had a ban on flying, but that did not matter to the demonic servants. Even Supremacies would not detect them. However, if Yi Yun were to just fly in, he would definitely be stopped.

Moreover, Myriad City was home to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. Yi Yun had greatly offended the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, so entering Myriad City would be walking into a trap.

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun gradually slowed down. He gave up on pursuing the demonic servants for he had no choice.

It was only a matter of time before the demonic servants eventually escaped. He had forced them to escape in a rush and had greatly reduced their numbers. That was all he could do. As for the rest, it would depend on Myriad City. He could not continue to be involved in the matter.

1176 - : Whereabouts of Demonic Servants

CKtalon  CKtalon

Myriad City did not have any curfews and warriors did not need much sleep. So, be it day or night, Myriad City was always bustling with activity. Lively chatter could be heard at all times, especially in the core of Myriad City.

At that moment, one store in the core region of the city was being renovated.

The original plaque had been taken off and thrown to the ground. On it were three words—”Yun Xin Loft”.

A colorfully-dressed youth who held a sword was stepping on the ‘Yun’ character with one foot as he spat at the plaque.

“Move everything out. Leave the useful things behind and destroy the garbage.” The youth said languidly.

More than a dozen Myriad Immortal Pavilion disciples had already rummaged through Yun Xin Loft. They had taken all of the ordinary herbs and Fey bones. As for the renovations that the store originally had, they were completely destroyed.

They planned on redoing the interior to give it a brand new look.

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion wasted no time in buying out Yun Xin Loft. The colorfully-dressed youth was the person assigned by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion to man Yun Xin Loft.

In Myriad City, being the general manager of a store in the core city district was quite a great job. The annual pay was a sizable sum of money. With such riches, he could easily acquire cultivation resources, meaning his cultivation level would improve rapidly.

Such a great opportunity could only be given to a core disciple. The colorfully-dressed youth was indeed a core disciple of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion—Si Shaoyu.

Ever since Si Yusheng had his dantian crippled by Yi Yun, his status as Pavilion Lord successor was naturally gone. Si Yusheng was utterly despondent, locking himself in his room all day. He did not eat or drink, nor would he meet anyone. Then again, even if Si Yusheng wanted to meet anyone, he probably wouldn’t be given the chance. People were pragmatic. When he was still high and mighty, countless people would fall over themselves for a chance to see him. But with him now a cripple, they treated him with scorn.

Si Shaoyu was actually rather happy about this. He had long been jealous of Si Yusheng, and now that Si Yusheng had been crippled, the chances of him becoming Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s successor had increased a little!

It was an extremely rare opportunity.

“Hahaha, Brother Shaoyu, I wish you success in your business!”

At that moment, Zhou Baifeng walked over with a smile. Beside him was his distinguished guest, Zhang Zhiyuan.

Now that Yi Yun was being hunted by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, Zhou Baifeng was very willing to lounge in safety while the others fight. He yearned for Yi Yun to be killed by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.

“Hopefully. Although the store is a little small and out of the way, it is passable.” Si Shaoyu replied nonchalantly.

“Hahaha.” Zhou Baifeng laughed out loudly, “Brother Shaoyu, you must be joking. For a store to be bigger than this or to have a better location, it would have to be the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic or the Medicinal Immortal Pavilion. Such a good store has now been given to you by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. The amount you earn this year will be staggering. How would the Elders not know that? They have tacitly agreed to this, which means that they are considering grooming you to become the Pavilion Lord successor.”

As Zhou Baifeng said, he revealed a smile that was pregnant with meaning. Now that there was a vacancy for the role of successor, many people were eyeing the spot. Si Shaoyu was indeed capable of getting it.

Si Shaoyu relished what Zhou Baifeng said. He said, “If I can capture Yi Yun, my status as Pavilion Lord successor will be secured. However, there has not been any news of Yi Yun at all.”

Yi Yun was an arch enemy to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. His talent was phenomenal and would lead to endless trouble if he was left alone.

“Speaking of Yi Yun, my goal is identical to Brother Shaoyu’s. I hate that little bastard as well. In fact, I have an idea that might lure the little bastard out…”

“Oh? Tell me about it.” Si Shaoyu had his interest piqued.

“Brother Shaoyu, I was there when Yi Yun fled. I noticed that, before he left, he looked City Lord Qin in the eye and seemed to transmit his voice to him. Over the past few days, City Lord Qin has been on a constant search for something…”

“Oh? What is he looking for?”

“Soul Returning Root! My guess is that the Soul Returning Root is what Yi Yun wants. How did his grudge with Zuoqiu Haoyu start? It began when he went to the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic to buy a Soul Restoring Relic but ended up being hindered by Zuoqiu Haoyu. I have looked into the matter. Back when Yi Yun wanted to buy the Soul Restoring Relic, he borrowed Myriad Runes from City Lord Qin. At Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic, he endured Zuoqiu Haoyu’s insults without incident. But we both know that little bastard is not someone that can bear insult. So why did he stifle his anger that time? It has to be that the Soul Restoring Relic was extremely important to him. Later on, he could not tolerate the treatment that was given to him and finally revealed his true nature before leaving.”

“Eventually, he failed to obtain the Soul Restoring Relic. But if it was so important, then how could he simply drop the matter? I think it’s impossible. Perhaps, this resulted in a situation where he still needed a Soul Returning Root rectify the problem.”

“So if we can find a Soul Returning Root, then perhaps we might be able to lure that punk out!”

After Zhou Baifeng aired his assumptions, Si Shaoyu fell into a deep silence. Zhou Baifeng’s analysis was indeed very probable.

If that were the case, then the Myriad Immortal Pavilion could publicly put up a Soul Returning Root for sale, and Yi Yun might take the risk to purchase it. They would then be able to find Yi Yun.

Although this method wasn’t guaranteed success, it was better than stumbling around like a headless fly.

“Alright! I’ll do it. Brother Baifeng, if this plan manages to draw out the little bastard, I will definitely remember your assistance.” Si Shaoyu’s eyes glimmered.

“Hahaha! Brother Shaoyu, there’s no need for that. I too want that punk dead. Our goal is the same.”

Zhou Baifeng laughed out loud. If Yi Yun really was captured through such a method, he could resolve his grudge and also befriend Si Shaoyu. If his plan also resulted in Si Shaoyu being elevated to the position of Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s successor, it would be an additional boon.

Just as Zhou Baifeng was about to cheerfully laugh out, he suddenly had an odd feeling.

“Oh? Why did it suddenly get so cold?”

For no apparent reason, Zhou Baifeng felt a chill run down his back. It was like a cold wind had blown past him.

“It feels like it’s a cold wind.”

Si Shaoyu frowned slightly as well. There was apparently a cold gust of wind that seemed to reach deep into his bones.

However, the duo looked around and did not notice anything odd. They were completely baffled.

“Perhaps it was just a gust of wind. This is the core district of Myriad City. There are many experts here. How could there be anything capable of hiding from so many people’s perceptions? Both of us are worried for nothing.”

“Hahaha, that’s true. Then, Brother Shaoyu, I shall bid you farewell. On the matter of the Soul Returning Root, please pay close attention to it.”

“Of course, although a Soul Returning Root is hard to come by, it is not impossible if my Myriad Immortal Pavilion searches for it!”

Si Shaoyu was very confident. The Myriad Immortal Pavilion was one of the core trading partners of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. The Myriad Immortal Pavilion was also a mighty faction, so it was not difficult for it to find a single item.

After Si Shaoyu and Zhou Baifeng bade each other farewell, the former reported the matter to the Circle of Elders.

Yi Yun was a mortal malady to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. Although searching for a rare spirit herb like the Soul Returning Root would be an expensive undertaking, the Circle of Elders agreed to it. The command was sent to all the branches of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion search for and immediately purchase a Soul Returning Root!

1177 - : Scheme

CKtalon  CKtalon

After abandoning his pursuit of the demonic servants, Yi Yun went straight back to the mountain valley lakeside.

“Sir is back!” Ru’er exclaimed happily when she saw Yi Yun’s figure suddenly appear in the pavilion.

Dong Xiaowan hurriedly came out of the house. “Young Master, why are you back so quickly?”

For Yi Yun to return so quickly, it was probably because he had noticed the strangeness of the ancient ruin and sensed its danger…

“It’s good that you are back. Ru’er and I were worried for you,” said Dong Xiaowan.

As for whether Yi Yun could gather any meaningful information from such a short investigation was of little importance.

Yi Yun smiled slightly and said, “I have found a way to resolve the curse of the ancient ruin. I will be entering seclusion for a few days. Xiaowan, prepare for it. Once I come out of seclusion, I will help rid you of your problem for good.”

With that said, Yi Yun walked back into the house.

Dong Xiaowan was left standing in a daze. Her beautiful eyes were filled with disbelief.

Yi Yun had spoken so nonchalantly, but it sent shocks reverberating within her.

Not only had Yi Yun fully investigated the ancient ruin, he had also found a solution to the curse in such a short period of time?

And also…

“Xiaowan, congratulations. You can finally be healed, thanks to Sir.” Ru’er said while happily grabbing Dong Xiaowan’s hand.

Dong Xiaowan still looked as though she were in a dream. Still in a daze, she nodded as the corners of her mouth slowly rose into a smile. “That’s right… I still wonder if I heard wrong…”

After returning to his room, Yi Yun sat on a bamboo bed and studied the Azure Wood Divine Tree within him.

Having absorbed such a large number of demonic servants in the ancient ruin, he still had a large amount of energy within him that had yet to be fully digested by the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

As for the demonic servant energy that the Azure Wood Divine Tree did absorb, it became lusher as a result. It was growing at a discernible pace.

The Azure Wood Divine Tree’s growth was connected to Yi Yun’s growth. As he sensed the vibrant vitality of the Azure Wood Divine Tree, he couldn’t help but feel refreshed.

The demonic servants had been in slumber for an unknown period of time. If left untouched, they would have caused a catastrophe when they awoke by possessing the bodies of countless warriors. However, an unforeseen turn of events occurred when Yi Yun was able to obliterate them en masse.

“First I should enter seclusion to finish digesting the absorbed energy, then I can destroy the root of Dong Xiaowan’s problem.” Yi Yun breathed in lightly before gently closing his eyes.

Immediately, a Yuan Qi fluctuation effused from his body. At the same time, a phantom image of the Azure Wood Divine Tree suddenly appeared behind him.

The entire bamboo house was enveloped by a blue-tinted energy. The bamboo within the blue-colored energy that was dead or chopped off began to sprout.

A near-endless amount of bamboo leaves began growing in Yi Yun’s room. With his Yuan Qi fluctuation wavering, the rich aura even spread out of the bamboo house and enveloped the entire island in the middle of the lake.

The spirit flowers planted on the island began budding before bursting into full bloom. The spirit grass also turned more luxuriant.

The island was turned into a conglomeration of splendid and beautiful flowers with a fragrance that inundated the olfactory senses.

“This seclusion of his is truly miraculous. Even I find my body turning lighter.” Ru’er looked at the tightly shut door as she said wistfully.

After Yi Yun entered seclusion, Dong Xiaowan had also begun hers. In order to prepare for her treatment, she wanted to get herself into peak condition.

Now, in the bamboo house in the mountain valley lakeside, two people were in seclusion while another was in deep slumber. Ru’er was the only one awake.

She sat on the steps outside the house with her hands cupping her tiny face. She was watching the tiny flowers bloom by her feet with interest.

This scene continued for several days.

One day, a huge blue beam of light shot out from Yi Yun’s room. The mountain valley lakeside, including all the vegetation in the mountain valley, instantly shook in response, as though prostrating in Yi Yun’s direction.

Creak.

Yi Yun pushed the door open and walked out. After being in seclusion for a few days, his eyes seemed to contain a divine light. His skin appeared like beautiful jade and his disposition was otherworldly. He was like an immortal that came down from the heavens.

The vegetation that was prostrating in Yi Yun’s direction began bending their leaves as though they were bowing before a king.

Ru’er came running in joyful excitement, but immediately stopped when she saw Yi Yun.

She nearly didn’t recognize the figure before her as Yi Yun, but as an immortal that came from an alternate world with blooming flowers.

Yi Yun sensed the changes within him, and was satisfied. After he absorbed all the demonic servants’ energy, the Azure Wood Divine Tree had grown another ten feet.

The twenty-foot-tall tree was now thirty feet tall.

The Azure Wood Divine Tree needed to absorb massive amounts of natural treasures to grow, but these demonic servants were in no way inferior to the natural treasures.

When he thought of this, Yi Yun felt a tinge of disappointment. He only knew of the one ancient ruin, located at the Jadewave Sect’s World Stone mine. There might be other ancient ruins he did not know of.

If not…

“It doesn’t help to bite off more than I can chew. I shouldn’t think about such things right now.” Yi Yun shook his head.

The demonic servants were extremely peculiar. Most people would probably avoid them out of terror. If these demonic servants were to know that someone was taking the initiative to seek them out, and with such anticipation, who knows how they would feel?

At that moment, Yi Yun had converged his aura. The luxuriant vital energies were hidden within his body. The plants resumed their normal behavior while Ru’er finally snapped out of her daze.

She looked perplexedly at Yi Yun and said, “Sir, currently you are…” Although Yi Yun had converged his aura, his disposition remained elegant. It was a special feeling that he exuded.

“We’ll talk about that in a while. Where’s Xiaowan?” asked Yi Yun.

“Young Master Yi.” Another door opened as Dong Xiaowan stood beautifully by it and looked at Yi Yun. “Young Master, congratulations on a successful seclusion.”

Yi Yun nodded and said, “Alright, it looks like you are done with your preparations. Let’s not delay any further. We shall begin immediately. Ru’er, stay outside and wait.”

The demonic servant was still rather sinister. Since Ru’er lacked strength, Yi Yun was afraid of scaring her.

“Alright.” Ru’er nodded obediently.

“Let us begin.”

Yi Yun entered Dong Xiaowan’s room and said, “Lie down first.”

Dong Xiaowan obediently lied down on the bamboo bed as she looked at Yi Yun, who was standing by the bedside.

“Guard your Yuan Qi and do not send it to your dantian. Leave the rest to me.” Yi Yun said as he gently placed his palm on Dong Xiaowan’s abdomen. When he sensed her soft abdomen turn a little tense, Yi Yun glanced at her and whispered, “Don’t be afraid.”

“Alright…” Dong Xiaowan’s voice was as fine as a mosquito’s hum. As she looked at Yi Yun’ focused expression, she felt her ears turn somewhat warm.

She had not only let Yi Yun into her boudoir, she was even lying in bed before him. In addition, Yi Yun’s warm palm touched her through a thin layer of clothing.

This was something Dong Xiaowan had never experienced before.

Yi Yun’s palm was pressed on where Dong Xiaowan’s dantian was. He activated the Purple Crystal’s energy vision and immediately saw the ghastly-faced demonic servant lurking in her dantian.

The moment the demonic servant sensed Yi Yun, it immediately revealed a look of horror.

By this point, Yi Yun had already absorbed a large number of its kind. The Azure Wood Divine Tree had grown ten feet higher, so the fear it struck into the demonic servant was only more intense than before.

“Ah!” The demonic servant let out an ear-piercing howl as it tried to escape deeper into Dong Xiaowan’s dantian.

“You still think of running?” Yi Yun pressed his palm down gently, injecting the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s vital energies into Dong Xiaowan’s dantian.

The refreshing energy made Dong Xiaowan’s body turn limp. She involuntarily made a low moan but the energy was like an inferno to the demonic servant.

“Ah—Ah—”

The demonic servant could not bear the excruciating pain as it finally escaped out of the dantian, hoping to flee. However, it was imprisoned by a spatial cage that Yi Yun had already prepared.

The demonic servant slammed around in the spatial cage. Because of this extreme situation, Dong Xiaowan could finally make out the demonic servant’s existence. She immediately screamed.

“It’s time you die.” Yi Yun looked coldly at the demonic servant. As the Azure Wood Divine Tree phantom flashed, the demonic servant immediately screamed as it was reduced to points of light. The Yuan Qi it turned into was completely absorbed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

Upon seeing the demonic servant completely dissipate, Yi Yun’s expression relaxed.

He looked down at Dong Xiaowan and said with a smile, “It’s over.”

Dong Xiaowan stared at Yi Yun with unblinking eyes. She had believed that it would be an endless and excruciating process, but it was over just like that…

1178 - : Exterminating the Demon

CKtalon  CKtalon

With Dong Xiaowan completely cured, Yi Yun felt a load taken off his mind.

He planned on continuing his seclusive cultivation in the coming days so as to solidify the results of the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s growth.

As for the danger of the demonic servants wreaking havoc after escaping to Myriad City, it was beyond Yi Yun’s control.

“I will need to enter seclusion for a period of time. Ru’er, take good care of Xie’er. Xiaowan, you can actually return to Jadewave Sect. Your father must be very worried about you,” said Yi Yun.

He had already informed Dong Xiaowan that the Jadewave Sect had moved.

Dong Xiaowan shook her head. “Young Master, you just saved my life and now you are entering seclusion. Sister Xie’er needs someone to take care of her, so how can I simply leave? I’ll make that decision when you are done with your seclusion.”

Dong Xiaowan did wish to let her father know that she was cured as soon as possible. In order to save her, her father, Dong Shaoqing, had gone to great lengths.

“Young Master, I wish to send a message to my father to let him know that I’m safe and cured. I will not leak our location. Are you agreeable to that?” Dong Xiaowan asked.

Yi Yun nodded. He trusted Dong Xiaowan. The mountain valley he was currently hiding in was her personal lodge, after all.

“Go ahead and send the message,” said Yi Yun.

“At once.” Dong Xiaowan replied happily. She had an extremely secretive method of contacting her father.

…

While Yi Yun was in seclusion, a strange illness began appearing in Myriad City. No one knew when it began, but the moment one was infected by it, they became unable to cultivate. No matter how much effort they put in, their cultivation level would not increase one bit.

Furthermore, the strange illness was extremely selective. It only occurred in those with extraordinary talent and young warriors. Those who were mediocre or old were completely fine.

These talented geniuses were at the stage in their lives when their strength had the greatest room to grow. Time was especially precious but, after being infected by the strange illness, their cultivation levels did not improve at all no matter how much cultivation they did. Many treasures were used but to no avail. It seemed like an incurable disease.

Not only could they not cultivate, some even began to gradually weaken.

Si Shaoyu was one of them.

After Si Yusheng was maimed, Si Shaoyu had taken over Yi Yun’s Yun Xin Loft. He was on the crest of a wave, with a high likelihood of taking Si Yusheng’s empty spot, becoming the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s successor.

However, just as he was enjoying his newfound success, he suddenly realized that his cultivation level had come to a halt!

He was in charge of the Yun Xin Loft. When it reopened, he made large amounts of revenue every day. After he took his cut, he would purchase scores of cultivation pills. However, the massive amount of resources did not give him the benefits he had expected.

In fact, his physique was gradually weakening. It left him in extreme panic!

If this carried on, not only would he fail to become the successor, he would end up like Si Yusheng. He would fall off his pedestal and become a cripple that no one cared for!

This thought was even more terrifying than death.

“Young Master…” A servant gingerly approached the door to Si Shaoyu’s room. For the past few days, Si Shaoyu had shut himself in the room. He became irascible, and there was no shortage of maidservants that had been injured or crippled by him.

“What is it!?” Si Shaoyu’s extremely gloomy voice boomed from inside.

“The Zhou family’s Young Master Baifeng is here,” said the servant.

Si Shaoyu was sitting in his room, surrounded by all sorts of pills and medicine. His eyes were red.

He constantly consumed medicine and cultivated, but his dantian was like a bottomless hole. No amount of medicine was effective

Under such circumstances, Si Shaoyu had no intention to receive anyone.

However, he remembered that Zhou Baifeng had offered the suggestion of luring Yi Yun out. His idea was reasonable enough that Si Shaoyu had ordered the plan to be executed.

“What is he here for?” Si Shaoyu asked impatiently.

“Young Master Baifeng says that it’s of great importance. He demands that I inform you…” The servant felt sweat seeping out of his forehead.

After a while, the door opened abruptly. Si Shaoyu stood by the door as he said coldly, “Tell him to meet me in the guest hall.”

“Yes.” The servant stole a glance at Si Shaoyu. For some reason, the young man in front of him looked terrible. There were dark circles under his eyes and his footsteps appeared weak…

However, he was only a servant. He knew the price of a ready tongue, so he made sure to say absolutely nothing.

Soon, the servant led Zhou Baifeng into the guest hall.

When Zhou Baifeng saw Si Shaoyu, he looked as if a suspicion had been confirmed.

“Brother Shaoyu, you must have heard of the plague, right?” Zhou Baifeng asked.

“Of course I have.”

Too many geniuses had been inflicted by it. Now, the illness was deemed a plague by the people of the city.

In a warrior’s world, it was borderline impossible to have any plagues. Warriors were in great health, so how could they get sick?

But now, the truth was out for everyone to see. There were those that believed that certain evil entities were running amok in Myriad City.

“I wonder if Brother Shaoyu thought of Dong Xiaowan? This plague seems to share similarities with the illness that Dong Xiaowan was inflicted with some time ago, such as the symptom of not being able to cultivate. Also, the people that are contracting the illness now are like Dong Xiaowan. They are extremely talented genius warriors,” said Zhou Baifeng.

Si Shaoyu’s expression was ashen. He had long thought of Dong Xiaowan.

“Back then, Dong Xiaowan’s father, who is the Jadewave Sect’s sect master, Dong Shaoqing, sought out famous doctors from all over. Eventually, he sought Huyan Cang to refine pills, spending all his money. In fact, during the public pill refinement, Zuoqiu Bo had given a similar pill to Dong Xiaowan. It wasn’t effective at all. Only the pill refined by Yi Yun had a beneficial effect,” said Zhou Baifeng.

Si Shaoyu said coldly, “Brother Baifeng, go ahead and speak your mind.”

“I heard that some factions are beginning to secretly search for Yi Yun. Their geniuses have been infected by the plague. Now, they have their sights on Yi Yun. Some have even gone to City Lord Qin to seek his help,” said Zhou Baifeng. “Brother Shaoyu, is there any news on your side? If the Myriad Immortal Pavilion still seeks to capture Yi Yun, it might draw the ire of some factions.”

Si Shaoyu glanced at Zhou Baifeng and revealed a sneer. “From the looks of it, Brother Baifeng is also ill? Why do you say these things? Are you thinking of getting Yi Yun to heal you?”

“Unfortunately for me, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion has a contentious relationship with Yi Yun. Why would he agree to treat me? Of course, it doesn’t matter if he’s willing in the end. When we capture him, he will have no choice.” Si Shaoyu clenched his fists. His red eyes turned redder from the blood flushing to them.

Zhou Baifeng shook his head with a somewhat wry expression. He had indeed fallen ill; if not, he would not have come looking for Si Shaoyu.

No one knew that Dong Xiaowan’s illness was the beginning of a plague.

Noticing how Zhou Baifeng seemed to be wavering, Si Shaoyu said coldly, “Why? Is Brother Baifeng thinking of changing his mind? Are you hoping to ingratiate him so that he will treat your illness?”

“About that…” Zhou Baifeng forced a laugh. “Brother Shaoyu, you are overthinking things.”

In truth, Zhou Baifeng had given the problem much consideration. His grudge with Yi Yun was not at the point of irreconciliation. If he gave some treasures and apologized sincerely, then perhaps Yi Yun would be willing to forgive him.

“Hehe!” Si Shaoyu chuckled insidiously. “Do you think that without you, I won’t be able to accomplish something great? Furthermore, don’t just believe that Yi Yun really has the means to deal with this strange illness. Back then, he was only able to temporarily awaken Dong Xiaowan. That punk even said that Dong Xiaowan was not fully healed. He too lacked the means to treat the problem at its root.”

“All he did was refine a few Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills that treated the side effects but not the underlying cause. Brother Baifeng, I think you are seeking medical help out of sheer panic! Hmph!”

Si Shaoyu did not believe that the plague could be resolved by Yi Yun. So many geniuses from various factions had fallen ill, yet none of their seniors could figure out the solution. Yi Yun was just a junior like him, so how could he possess such an ability?

However, once he captured Yi Yun, he could force him to refine the Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills of superior quality. It might not cure him, but it would temporarily slow down the effects of the strange illness. During that grace period, he would have more time to seek a permanent solution.

“Brother Shaoyu is right. However, this can’t carry on forever. The time we have is extremely precious. If we delay for even a few years, we will waste our potential, effectively crippling the rest of our lives.”

Upon hearing Zhou Baifeng’s words, Si Shaoyu’s eyes shimmered. He said, “The Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s Circle of Elders have decided to hold a grand meeting of alchemists and doctors. An astronomical price will be offered to any alchemist or doctor that can treat the plague. The invitations have already been sent to the alchemists. In a few short months, there will be a grand event of unprecedented scale held in Myriad City. I refuse to believe that the combined efforts of this world’s best alchemists and doctors will fail! It’s just a matter of time!”

“Oh? There will be such an event? That’s great!” When Zhou Baifeng heard that, he finally felt relieved. He could be at ease knowing that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was coming forward and spending large amounts of resources to solve the issue. Solutions were definitely possible with the collective efforts of the entire city.

1179 - : Plague

CKtalon  CKtalon

A few months later—

In the vibrant mountain valley, a tiny stream meandered down from the mountain peak. Beside the stream were luxuriant green grasses with tender leaves. They swayed with the gentle breeze as drops of morning dew dripped down the ends of the grass blades.

At that moment, a girl with hair that reached her waist was fetching water from the stream. She was dressed simply in an outfit that was dotted with flowers. She was holding up the leggings of her pants, revealing her fair calves that were covered in water droplets. She was truly the picture of a washer-maid from a farming household.

That young girl was none other than Dong Xiaowan. Over the past few months, she had been meticulously taking care of Ling Xie’er and keeping everything in the mountain valley in good order.

Suddenly, a faint aura glided over her. Beside Dong Xiaowan’s naked feet, the green grass rapidly grew as a result of the aura, working hard to extend its tender leaves. Even the stream appeared to be a lot happier. The sound of the water flow seemed to resemble a pleasant tune.

Dong Xiaowan’s heart stirred as she turned back to look. She saw that Yi Yun was standing not too far behind her. He had just walked out of the house, which was still immersed in a lush green brilliance.

“Young Master, you have finally come out of seclusion.”

“Yes, my cultivation level improved slightly. I gained some new insights, so I came out.”

“Young Master, everything is well with Xie’er.” Dong Xiaowan was pleasantly surprised but she did not forget the mission Yi Yun gave her. “Young Master Yi, there is something I need to tell you. A few days ago, my father sent me a message…”

“Oh? What is it?”

Yi Yun knew that it was definitely not easy for Dong Xiaowan and Dong Shaoqing to communicate. To transmit information across such great distances to such a precise location definitely came at a cost. Therefore, they would not communicate unless it was something important.

“It’s this. There has been a major outbreak of a plague in Myriad City. Many people have contracted a strange illness that resembles the one you cured me of. Their initial symptom is being unable to cultivate. As time goes on, a small number of people begin turning weaker. And those infected have all been young geniuses.

“Oh?” Yi Yun’s brows pricked up as he sighed slightly. It must have been the evil entities he was pursuing. After they fled into Myriad City, they began wreaking havoc.

These evil entities needed to use living bodies for nourishment before they could be reborn. And the best candidates were obviously young geniuses.

Warriors of the older generation were not easily possessed due to their strength. Furthermore, their physical performance had drastically decreased. They were naturally unlike young geniuses, who had limitless potential.

I wonder how Princess White Fox is faring…

Yi Yun was somewhat worried. Of all the young geniuses in Myriad City, Yi Yun was only concerned with Princess White Fox. If she had fallen ill, he would not turn a blind eye.

“Young Master, in addition, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion will be holding a Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet with experts from several divine territories. It was supposed to be held this month, but for various reasons it has been postponed by another two months. My father said that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion spent almost half a year organizing the meet. It can be said that they have made sufficient preparations. Also, they have gathered several natural treasures as rewards.”

“Okay…” Yi Yun nodded. It was certain that many geniuses of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had fallen prey to the evil entities. It had already lost two geniuses because of him. If the rest were to be crippled by the plague, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would be completely out of young talent to replace the old.

Now, the Guiyuan family was catching up to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion in terms of status. It was likely that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was forming the meet to resolve the plague.

“What sort of rewards are there?” Yi Yun casually asked.

He didn’t think too much of it, but as Dong Xiaowan began listing the rewards, Yi Yun felt a jolt through his heart. “Soul Returning Root!?”

“Yes…Yes.” Dong Xiaowan was taken aback. She never expected Yi Yun to have such a huge reaction after hearing the words ‘Soul Returning Root’. “Is this herb very important to you?”

“Yes!” Yi Yun took a deep breath and nodded. He had come to the Myriad Divine Territory in order to refine Hollow Soul Pills. However, when Ling Xie’er’s soul suddenly and heavily weakened, he ended up having to use half of his Soul Returning Root that was the main ingredient for Hollow Soul Pills.

Now, with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion offering a Soul Returning Root, how could Yi Yun not be tempted by it? However, the matter reeked of suspicion.

The Soul Returning Root was an extremely rare natural treasure. It only grew in netherworlds under the auspices of the heavens and earth. It would absorb the pure Yin gases within the netherworld over tens of millions of years before taking form.

It was nearly impossible to find a fresh one on short notice. If one needed it urgently, one had to buy it off someone else. Naturally, the price would be extremely high.

A Soul Returning Root was extremely valuable, but its uses were limited in scope. It could only nurture the soul or heal injuries related to the soul. It was priceless when there was a need for it, but of no use when there was no immediate need for it.

Most alchemists would favor natural treasures that could directly raise one’s cultivation level. They were evergreen treasures, which would make them suitable as a reward for the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet. Why would a rare but not often needed Soul Returning Root be used as a reward? Furthermore, he had a great need for one. How could it be a coincidence?

Could this offer be targeted at him?

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun’s expression sunk slightly. Before he left, he had transmitted his voice to City Lord Qin to search for a Soul Returning Root.

Although City Lord Qin was formidable in strength, he was only one man. He needed to rely on his social connections to search for items. As such, how could he be comparable to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion that had done business in Myriad Divine Territory since time immemorial?

Could it be that City Lord Qin’s search for the Soul Returning Root caused the Myriad Immortal Pavilion to make the connection that Yi Yun needed the Soul Returning Root? Or perhaps, his desperation to buy a Soul Restoring Relic had given the Myriad Immortal Pavilion certain ideas…

Yi Yun instantly thought of many possibilities. It was absolutely impossible that the appearance of the Soul Returning Root as one of the rewards of the meet was a coincidence. It was very likely aimed at him.

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion was attempting to lure him out. It was a trap, but one that Yi Yun could not ignore.

Furthermore, other than the Soul Returning Root, Yi Yun was still concerned about Princess White Fox, Xue Wuxia.

Although the evil spirits that laid in slumber would have awakened sooner or later, it was Yi Yun who caused them to prematurely enter Myriad City and wreak havoc. In addition, Yi Yun was indebted to Xue Wuxia, so regardless of the matter, he needed to ensure that she was safe and sound.

“It looks like I will need to attend the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet.”

“Young Master, you want to go? But the Myriad Immortal Pavilion has offered lots of rewards for your capture. Everyone is looking for you,” Dong Xiaowan turned a little anxious when she heard what Yi Yun said.

“That I naturally know. But since I dare to go, I definitely have my confidence.”

A strange glimmer flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes. Since the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had produced the Soul Returning Root to lure him to the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet, he decided to accept their invitation and take the Soul Returning Root back!

“Xiaowan, make preparations to go to Myriad City with me.”

“Ah? I’m going too?” Dong Xiaowan was taken aback.

“Yes, both you and Ru’er. Move Xie’er into the God Advent Tower and the both of you can care for her inside it. Leave the rest to me.”

1180 - : Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the northwestern corner of Myriad City, a broad granite road extended out. At the end of the granite road stood a magnificent manor. The manor covered an area of five kilometers. Erected by the door were two thirty-foot-tall bronze lions that looked extremely mighty.

On a cursory glance, it looked like a king’s residence in the mortal world. But in fact, this manor was where the second biggest faction in Myriad City, the Guiyuan family, resided.

A dexterous horse carriage stopped in front of the Guiyuan family’s door. As the curtain was pulled open, a maidservant walked out and said, “Miss, we are here.”

“Alright…”

A faint female voice rang out as a girl in purple walked out of the carriage. She was none other than Fairy Purple Rain of the Guiyuan family, who lived a charmed life.

“Miss, is your body feeling better?” The maidservant asked with concern. Fairy Purple Rain had been infected by the mysterious illness for several months.

Fairy Purple Rain shook her head. “I’m fine.”

Fairy Purple Rain supported herself by holding onto a railing while she descended from the carriage. Although she claimed to be fine, her face was drained of its color. She exuded an extremely frail feeling.

The plague was widespread but only geniuses contracted it. As the top genius of the Guiyuan family, she naturally did not escape it.

After Fairy Purple Rain contracted the illness, her body began to weaken within a few months. It was discovered that more talented people succumbed to the illness faster. Their bodies would also weaken even faster. As for those that weren’t so talented, the illness only made cultivation ineffective. It did not affect their vitality or lifeblood.

There was no need to elaborate on Fairy Purple Rain’s talent. The illness caused her to rapidly lose her vibrancy. The Guiyuan family sought many doctors to examine Fairy Purple Rain, but no one found a cure.

It even advanced to the point where the Patriarch of the Guiyuan family personally examined Fairy Purple Rain’s dantian. He determined that the strange illness was the result of infiltration by an evil spirit.

Many people were astounded by the cause of the illness. Typically, the cure for the infiltration of an evil spirit was to vanquish the evil spirit.

However, despite realizing the presence of the evil spirit, the Guiyuan family’s Patriarch was helpless, for he also learned that the evil spirit had entrenched itself in Fairy Purple Rain’s dantian, fusing with it. Simply destroying the evil spirit wouldn’t be difficult. What would be difficult was vanquishing the evil spirit without causing harm to Fairy Purple Rain’s dantian.

If vanquishing the spirit resulted in the dantian being destroyed, it was better not to save her. As such, the illness continued dragging on as they sought for a more medical solution.

Despite claiming to be fine, Fairy Purple Rain watched herself get weaker by the day. Inwardly, she suffered from an ever-growing anxiety. For a blessed daughter of the heavens to suddenly be inflicted by a calamity, it was not only a waste of valuable cultivation time, but it was even possible that she would die young. How could the proud Fairy Purple Rain be willing to accept such a tragic outcome?

Fairy Purple Rain had already sent people to search for Yi Yun. In all of Myriad City, only Yi Yun had managed to awaken the ill Dong Xiaowan. Even though Yi Yun was unable to cure the problem at its root, he was at least able to relieve the symptoms. That was pretty much her only wish at present.

However, it had been months and Yi Yun seemed to have evaporated into thin air. There was no sight of him.

Fairy Purple Rain knew that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was about to hold a Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet, but none could say for certain if the gathered alchemists and doctors would be able to find a cure. The only one who surely knew how to lessen the effects of the illness was Yi Yun, but he could not be found.

“Miss, Fourth Elder has found a doctor who wants to examine you. He invites you over.” At that moment, an old steward from Guiyuan Manor walked forward and said this.

“A doctor…?”

Fairy Purple Rain sighed. Fourth Elder was her grandfather. He was naturally worried over her condition. In fact, she was not the only one that had fallen ill in the Guiyuan family. Many of the juniors in the family with passable talent had also fallen ill.

Over the past few months, even if Fairy Purple Rain had not seen a hundred doctors, she had definitely seen dozens of them. They came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some had thick bushy beards, but not one of them had a solution.

“I don’t feel like meeting them.” Fairy Purple Rain said with flagging interest. She no longer held any hope. Some of these doctors had cultivation levels that were barely at the Dao Palace realm and were inferior to her. How could such doctors figure out anything?

“Fourth Elder made it a point to say that this doctor’s skills are extraordinary. Miss, he strongly requests your attendance.”

With the steward being so insistent, Fairy Purple Rain reluctantly nodded. She knew that her grandfather was feeling anxious, which was a product of his good intentions. She could only cooperate and hope that it would be of some use…

Fairy Purple Rain followed the steward out the main door and, after crossing a winding bridge across the lake, she came to a side hall in the back garden.

Few people came to the side garden, and it was extremely well hidden. Fairy Purple Rain was somewhat puzzled. She never expected the meeting to occur in such a place.

“Grandpa.”

Fairy Purple Rain gave Fourth Elder a bow when she saw him.

“Purple Rain, you have come. Have a seat.” Fourth Elder pointed to a chair beside him. On his other side was a youth in azure-colored clothes. He looked entirely ordinary and indistinguishable. Even in front of her important grandfather, he sat on the chair in a composed manner.

Fairy Purple Rain was startled. Looking at the positions of the three chairs, she finally realized the youth’s identity, “Don’t tell me that you are the doctor?”

Fairy Purple Rain was rendered speechless. The youth did not look much older than she was. Even if he had taken Youth Retention Pills, he would not look that young. Typically, Youth Retention Pills only allowed one to maintain the looks of a young adult to a middle-aged adult. The youth in front of her looked more like a sixteen-year-old mortal.

The youth glanced at her. At that moment, Fourth Elder said excitedly, “This youth happened to encounter a junior that was ill. He could tell the cause of the illness at a glance. It was identical to what Patriarch said.”

When their Patriarch figured out the cause of the illness, they naturally did not advertise his findings. The other factions, such as the Zhou family or the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, had probably figured out the cause as well, but they too chose to keep it under wraps.

For this youth to figure it out himself, and furthermore, with a glance, left Fourth Elder somewhat filled with excitement.

“He figured out the cause of the illness?” Fairy Purple Rain was somewhat surprised but she was hardly enlivened.

Simply figuring out the cause of the illness without being able to resolve it was completely useless. She already knew of the cause but her body remained ill.

“Fairy Purple Rain, we meet again.” The youth smiled gently and spoke. His voice sounded familiar to Fairy Purple Rain.

Fairy Purple Rain was taken aback as she looked suspiciously at the youth. “You…”

At that moment, Fairy Purple Rain saw the youth’s deep but bright eyes. She found his disposition even more familiar as she suddenly stood up and said, “You are Yi Yun!?”

“Fairy Purple Rain does have great discernment.” Yi Yun did not deny it. He had used the ‘Star Transference Heaven Changing Book’ to change his appearance before coming to Myriad City. At the city entrance, he had seen a notice posted by the Guiyuan family that stated they were hiring a doctor. He had taken the request.

Yi Yun had no intention of hiding his identity in front of the Guiyuan family. Although he had used the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book, his voice remained the same. He did not deliberately conceal himself or Fairy Purple Rain would have never identified him.

“What? You are Yi Yun?” Fourth Elder was taken aback as well. Although the Guiyuan family had been searching for Yi Yun constantly and secretly, he never expected that Yi Yun would willingly come to Myriad City while the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was going to great trouble to capture him. Furthermore, he had fooled everyone with a disguise technique. Despite being at the beginning stages of a Supremacy, he had failed to see through the technique.

Such a disguise technique was overtly powerful. However, upon careful reflection, Yi Yun himself had the strength of a Supremacy. Having a disguise technique that fooled other Supremacies was not too surprising. Perhaps only figures like City Lord Qin or the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s Grand Elder would be able to see the flaws in Yi Yun’s disguise. However, the number of people in Myriad Divine Territory that were at that level could be counted on one hand. How could they be sent by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion to hunt down Yi Yun?

Fourth Elder suddenly understood that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had probably provoked an enemy it should never have provoked.

“Young Master Yi, why did you come to our Guiyuan Manor today?”

1181 - : Guiyuan family

CKtalon  CKtalon

Fourth Elder looked at Yi Yun with a penetrating gaze. As an Elder of the Guiyuan family, he had always enjoyed exuding an overpowering aura. For most juniors, that aura would be a dominating force. Fairy Purple Rain was no exception. Even though she was an elite of the Guiyuan family, she remained a respectful junior in front of him.

However, Yi Yun had appeared in Myriad City even though he was being hunted by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. It was as though he had walked into a tiger’s den. Under these circumstances, no one expected him to don a disguise, accept the Guiyuan family’s public request, openly step into the Guiyuan family manor, and reveal his identity.

Despite his precarious position, he remained composed as though the Fourth Elder’s aura was not looming over him. This displeased Fourth Elder. He was, after all, a person of authority and was accustomed to being in control of everything.

“Yi Yun, you do know that all it would take is one voice transmission charm for people from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion to rush here in five minutes and capture you. If that were to happen, well, there is no need for me to describe your outcome.”

Fourth Elder was acutely aware that Yi Yun was not much weaker than him. Since his aura could not overpower the junior, he got straight to the point. He wanted to sense even an inkling of unease from Yi Yun’s eyes.

However, he was disappointed as Yi Yun laughed and said, “Naturally, I know that. However, why would Fourth Elder want to inform the Myriad Immortal Pavilion? Are you tempted by that small reward offered by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion?”

Fourth Elder sneered. “That is no ‘small reward’. In order to capture you, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion has gone to great lengths. The astronomical reward offered is something even my Guiyuan family would covet.”

Yi Yun shook his head and said, “Fourth Elder, is that all you amount to in the end? I once heard from Xiaowan that for the past million years the Guiyuan family has been the second strongest faction in Myriad Divine Territory. And in fact, in terms of strength, the Guiyuan family is not much weaker than the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. However, of the three great medicinal clinics in Myriad City’s core district area, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion controls the Medicinal Immortal Pavilion, and jointly runs the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic with other factions. As for the Guiyuan family, it has no medicinal clinics in the core district of Myriad City. All it has is a weapon store.”

“Over the years, the Guiyuan family has had unknown amounts of resources robbed by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. Doesn’t Fourth Elder feel any grudge for that? Now that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion is focused on pursuing me, they are taking out a portion of the resources that they have robbed from the Guiyuan family as part of the reward you claim to be ‘astronomical.’ Is Fourth Elder so easily tempted by this tiny bit of benefit? From my point of view, these are things the Myriad Immortal Pavilion snatched from the Guiyuan family, and they are just returning them to the Guiyuan family out of charity.”

When Yi Yun came to this point, Fourth Elder’s eyes flashed. His aura rose. “What a glib tongue. It’s a great strategy, trying to sow discord. It is true that my Guiyuan family has been at odds with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion for millions of years. Of course, the upper echelons of our Guiyuan family have done a cost-benefit analysis. Yet a junior like you thinks he can so frivolously comment on it? You just aim to instigate a war between my Guiyuan family and the Myriad Immortal Pavilion so as to reap the benefits of our mutual destruction!”

Fourth Elder’s words were overbearing and contained a powerful aura. It left Fairy Purple Rain feeling stifled. She knew her grandfather’s character. He was steadfast in his views, or he would not have risen to the position of Elder. Such a person wouldn’t be so easily swayed by others. For some reason, Fairy Purple Rain began to worry for Yi Yun. She felt that if she were in Yi Yun’s shoes, she would be too overwhelmed to make a retort.

Yi Yun was not fazed by the Fourth Elder’s anger. He casually picked up the tea on the table and took a sip. “Fourth Elder is right. I have indeed frivolously commented on the relationship between your two factions. However, you said that I’m trying to reap the benefits of an internecine outcome? To be honest, the Myriad Divine Territory might be the core trading area of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, but to me, Yi Yun, it’s a tiny place that I’m not overly concerned with. My ambition does not lie here. In a few years, I will leave the Myriad Divine Territory, so why would I try to reap the benefits of its internal struggles?”

“You…” Fourth Elder’s eyes widened. What arrogance!

He had seen many young geniuses in his life. People like Si Yusheng and Si Shaoyu were famous for their arrogance and how they thought nothing of others. Si Yusheng even dared to kidnap City Lord Qin’s youngest son, prompting others to wonder what he wouldn’t dare to do.

But even the arrogant Si Yusheng’s life goal was to inherit the Myriad Immortal Pavilion and lead it into dominating the Myriad Divine Territory before expanding beyond.

Only Yi Yun dared claim that a ‘tiny place’ like the Myriad Divine Territory was not something he cared for.

In comparison, Si Yusheng’s arrogance was nothing.

Fourth Elder wanted to rebuke Yi Yun for his arrogance but he swallowed his words when they reached the tip of his tongue.

On careful thought, what was Yi Yun capable of…

He had modified the recipe for Supreme Palace Iceheart Pills and refined a batch that exceeded Zuoqiu Bo’s in quality. Despite knowing that Zuoqiu Haoyu was a young master of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, he had still removed his arms.

Following that, when City Lord Qin’s youngest was in Si Yusheng’s hands, he had taken the initiative to relieve himself from City Lord Qin’s protection. Everyone believed that he would be brought to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion and turned into a slave, but he had easily defeated Si Yusheng, who had cultivated for hundreds of years and was deemed to be invincible against anyone below the realm of Supremacy. Yi Yun ignored his status as successor to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, destroying his dantian. He had also managed to withstand a direct attack from a Supremacy, Zuoqiu Bo, and not suffer defeat. He fended him off and escaped unscathed.

Such a figure would definitely become a Divine Lord in the future if he did not perish. He would also certainly become an alchemist sage, or even possibly touch the legendary gates that stood above the realm of a Divine Lord.

He truly had the right to say that he thought nothing of the Myriad Divine Territory!

The more carefully he thought, the more Fourth Elder realized the horror of the youth that was slowly sipping his tea. From that perspective, it was a good thing that his aura was not overpowered by Yi Yun’s, forgetting talk about him overshadowing the junior.

“I admit that among all that I have seen— No, I should say that among anything I have ever heard or even imagined, you are the most terrifying genius. However, my Guiyuan family won’t just fall into a trap by instigating a conflict with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion based on what you’ve said!”

“Furthermore, indulging an enemy is only asking for trouble. Even if you think nothing of the Myriad Divine Territory, my Guiyuan family will not be willing to cooperate with someone that can easily control us in the future. To be honest, when faced with someone such as yourself, the first reaction most factions would have is fear. From there, they would think of destroying you.”

Fourth Elder was frank. Yi Yun nodded. “I like it when people get straight to the point. You are correct. I naturally know that many factions would relish in my death. However, how can I be easily destroyed after having matured to this point?”

“I, Yi Yun, have faced factions even stronger than the Myriad Immortal Pavilion in the past. I have even faced the relentless pursuits of several Divine Lords on my own. I have experienced even more dangerous circumstances. It might sound unbelievable, but I can swear on my Dao heart that I speak the truth. And here I am, alive and well. The Myriad Immortal Pavilion is still far from capable of destroying me.”

Fourth Elder’s heart leaped when he heard Yi Yun casually say those words.

What?

He survived the relentless pursuit of several Divine Lords in the past?

Fairy Purple Rain, who was sitting beside him, gaped her tiny mouth. She found it unbelievable.

However, even if Yi Yun didn’t swear it, Fairy Purple Rain was inclined to believe him.

He was a person that defied the heavens. His alchemical and martial talent was already unbelievable. What was so surprising about a few more unbelievable feats?

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion was powerful, but it was nothing compared to the collective efforts of a few Divine Lords.

Yi Yun placed his teacup down and said, “Fourth Elder, have you thought about it? Since, I, Yi Yun, had already successfully escaped Myriad City, I could have gone afar to a neighboring divine territory. There, no matter how capable the Myriad Immortal Pavilion is, it would not be able to pose a threat to me. However, I have returned. I’m not someone who is willing to take things lying down. It’s fine if the enemy is extraordinarily strong, but as long as the enemy is not so powerful that I can’t put up a struggle, I will give them a taste of their own medicine in the shortest amount of time. I never leave my grudges to the future. That is my character.”

“You want to seek revenge on the Myriad Immortal Pavilion?” Fourth Elder was taken aback. There was no end to Yi Yun’s arrogance, only more arrogance.

Si Shaoyu or Si Yusheng appeared to be arrogant people on the surface. They would act as if they were the most arrogant person in the world, but what was true arrogance? A person like Yi Yun, who seemed to keep a low profile on the surface, would not say a thing but his heart was something nothing in the entire 12 Empyrean Heavens could satisfy. That was true arrogance!

“What right do you have to seek revenge on the Myriad Immortal Pavilion? According to what I know, you only have strength equivalent to the beginning stages of a Supremacy. Against the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, you are only making an ambitious attempt without any sense of your pitiable limitation.”

“Naturally.” Yi Yun nodded. “I lack that strength but I can find allies.”

“Hahaha!” Fourth Elder laughed. “So, you still intend to use my Guiyuan family as the vanguard. Why would my Guiyuan family listen to you?”

“Fourth Elder, there is one thing wrong in what you’ve said. It’s not limited to the Guiyuan family…” When Yi Yun said this, he came to a pause. “There will be at least City Lord Qin. Other than that, I will also seek the Paradise Chapter… Through the alliance of several factions, that should be enough. As for what right I have…”

“Firstly, it stems from my illustrious future. I will sign a contract of non-animosity with any faction that cooperates with me. It will last forever as long as I don’t perish. Having a powerful ally in the future is always something worth celebrating.”

“As for the second reason…” Yi Yun came to a pause and turned his head to Fairy Purple Rain. He smiled and said, “What if I were to say that I can cure Fairy Purple Rain of her illness?”

“What?” Fairy Purple Rain subconsciously took a step back. She covered her mouth. Having been ill for so long, her body was very weak. Even though she claimed to be fine, she was feeling terrible. At times, she would be hit with a sense of despair late into the night.

Countless times, she imagined the numerous outcomes that would happen if there was no cure to the plague. She would turn into a complete cripple or have her body possessed by the evil entity within her. Those were all terrifying outcomes.

She wanted to seek Yi Yun, but she never believed that Yi Yun could cure the root of the problem. From what Yi Yun was able to do to Dong Xiaowan, he could only alleviate the symptoms.

Now, with Yi Yun saying that he could cure the plague, the impact it left on Fairy Purple Rain’s mind was obvious.

1182 - : What is Arrogance

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Is…is what you said true?” Fairy Purple Rain took a deep breath. She could not hide the quiver in her voice. At the moment when she could not see any inkling of hope, Yi Yun had suddenly spoken such words. She was afraid that she would end up getting excited about nothing.

“Of course it’s true. In fact, Dong Xiaowan has already completely recovered,” said Yi Yun.

“She has recovered?” Fairy Purple Rain was stunned. However, she had no reason to doubt Yi Yun. Yi Yun had come to Myriad City with the intention of roping in the Guiyuan family and other factions as his allies. Of course, he wasn’t bluffing. In fact, this was likely the only card he had in his hand.

If that was the case, was she about to be cured?

She felt like she had finally seen a glimmer of light in the endless darkness.

“Grandpa.” Fairy Purple Rain cast eyes filled with anticipation at Fourth Elder.

When Fourth Elder heard Yi Yun’s words, he felt a jolt through his heart. He was somewhat doubtful. He had sought famous doctors from all over but to no avail. Even the Patriarch was helpless on this matter. Yet, this youth had used such a nonchalant tone to claim that he could cure the plague. How could anyone easily believe him?

However, as long as there was a minute possibility that Yi Yun was telling the truth, the Guiyuan family would not ignore it. Their young geniuses and all the talented ones had been infected. This was no doubt a serious blow to the Guiyuan family.

Yi Yun’s proposal was too alluring. Furthermore, he indeed had the capability to ally with the Paradise Chapter at this critical juncture. The various major factions were originally in contention with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. If they formed an alliance with Yi Yun, the Guiyuan family would indeed end up reaping the greatest benefits.

This made Fourth Elder seriously consider the proposal.

“Young Master Yi, please wait.” Fourth Elder cupped his fists and left the room, leaving Yi Yun and Fairy Purple Rain behind.

Instantly, the room turned silent. Yi Yun gently held up the teacup. In the amber-colored tea, the tea leaves swirled and emitted a billowing tea fragrance.

Yi Yun was in no hurry and seemed to be completely confident.

He knew that Fourth Elder had likely left to discuss the matter with the executive arm of the Guiyuan family. He was not afraid that the Guiyuan family would shrink back. After all, there was no need for him to rely on the Guiyuan family. There were many factions in Myriad Immortal Pavilion that were in contention with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.

After one hour, Fourth Elder returned to the room. He glanced at Yi Yun and said solemnly, “I have already informed Patriarch. If you can really cure the Guiyuan family’s younger generation of the illness, and form an alliance with the Paradise Chapter, or even more factions, then my Guiyuan family is willing to sign a contract with you!”

There was no need to worry about being betrayed by a friend of a friend, even if they were enemies, with the contract in place.

“Alright. In that case, I’ll heal Fairy Purple Rain after the contract is signed,” said Yi Yun.

From the looks of it, the Guiyuan family was rather daring and resolute.

Although they had a history of overt and covert conflicts with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, they had never completely abandoned decorum with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. But by signing a contract with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s archenemy, Yi Yun, they were basically acting to completely dissolve whatever relationship they had with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.

…

The one that was most pleased by this turn of events was Fairy Purple Rain.

When Yi Yun came to treat her, she felt like she was in a dream.

“Let me cure you. Lie down first.” Yi Yun said after coming inside her room.

Fairy Purple Rain hesitated for a moment. As one of the most esteemed daughters of the Guiyuan family, many men attempted to court her. Not only did she never reciprocate, she did not even give them a chance to approach her.

But now, in front of Yi Yun, she did not appear bashful as she laid down for her treatment.

Fairy Purple Rain’s maidservant was accompanying her by the side. Back when Fairy Purple Rain went to invite Yi Yun to be their distinguished guest, this maidservant had accompanied her.

She once thought that Yi Yun would be delighted beyond measure, but she never expected him to directly reject her. She had remarked that Yi Yun did not know what was good for him.

But in an ironic twist of fate, Yi Yun had become a valued guest of the Guiyuan family. Even her mistress had to obey his orders and treat him with respect.

Therefore, the maidservant appeared rather embarrassed in front of Yi Yun.

“You can leave the room.” Yi Yun said as he took a glance at her.

He barely paid the maidservant any mind, so he had no idea that she was feeling an upheaval of emotions.

“Yes.” The maidservant replied obediently. She retreated out of the room before gently closing the doors.

“Just relax,” said Yi Yun.

With the experience of helping Dong Xiaowan remove the demonic servant, Yi Yun was already adept at the procedure.

In the Purple Crystal energy vision, he instantly detected the demonic servant hiding in Fairy Purple Rain’s dantian. It was in a half-slumber state, but it was suddenly jolted awake when it saw Yi Yun. It naturally recognized Yi Yun and it was scared out of its wits.

Fairy Purple Rain’s body was its best shelter, but to Yi Yun, it was nothing but an empty shell.

“Don’t try to put up a meaningless struggle.” Yi Yun directly injected the Azure Tree’s energy into Fairy Purple Rain’s dantian.

Fairy Purple Rain’s body quivered slightly. She originally believed that the treatment would be an excruciating process, so why did it feel somewhat… comfortable?

This feeling that enveloped her left her unable to control herself. Although she knew her entire body was trembling, so much that Yi Yun would definitely sense it…The moment such a thought came to her, Fairy Purple Rain’s cheeks were flushed with red.

As for Yi Yun, he was completely focused. He used the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s energy to force the demonic servant out. Immediately, he used a spatial cage to imprison the demonic servant before allowing the Azure Wood Divine Tree to rapidly absorb it.

The demonic servant had absorbed a great deal of Fairy Purple Rain’s Yuan Qi, but now it was a source of great nourishment for the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

Yi Yun rapidly resolved the matter and then looked down at Fairy Purple Rain. Noticing her face so flushed with red, he was immediately taken aback.

Fairy Purple Rain was indeed very pretty. She looked delicate and, if anyone were to see this scene, they would have thought that Yi Yun had done something. It would be something that could not be explained away.

“You can get up,” said Yi Yun.

Fairy Purple Rain was somewhat puzzled when Yi Yun followed up with the statement, “You are already fine.”

Fairy Purple Rain was astonished. That was it? It was that simple!?

She originally believed that it would be a long process that would cost Yi Yun a great deal of his mental strength. She never expected it to be done in less than five minutes.

She hurriedly circulated her Yuan Qi to sense her body. Perhaps her dantian had been inactive for too long, but when she suddenly circulated her Yuan Qi, she felt pain in her abdomen. But soon she was delighted to discover that pure Yuan Qi was truly flowing out of her dantian in increasing amounts. This made Fairy Purple Rain completely forget the bit of pain that came from her dantian.

After her meridians had been left in a drought for so long, the feeling of being nourished by Yuan Qi once again made her overjoyed.

She had really been healed!

Only after losing her strength and obtaining it again did she realize how precious it was.

Fairy Purple Rain looked at Yi Yun and felt complete disbelief. The strange illness that had troubled her for so long to the point of despair had been easily cured by Yi Yun’s hand.

Those famous doctors had been helpless, yet Yi Yun had treated her in such a casual manner. He did not even use any pills or array techniques.

1183 - : Alliance

CKtalon  CKtalon

Fairy Purple Rain sat up and got off the bed. She then bowed slightly at Yi Yun and with a voice that sounded like a gentle wind with a flowery fragrance, she said, “Thank you, Young Master Yi. I will never forget your act of saving my life.”

Yi Yun had cured her of the strange illness, which was no different than saving her life. If a warrior could not cultivate and instead deteriorated daily, it was a feeling worse than death.

“It’s all part of the contract. Fairy Purple Rain, there is no need to be so polite.” Yi Yun said lightly.

He remembered that Fairy Purple Rain had attempted to win him over as a distinguished guest of the Guiyuan family in the past. However, Yi Yun did not place too much thought on such a minor matter.

“With Young Master’s medical skills, he will definitely win the hearts of everyone in Myriad City.”

“There’s no need for the hearts of people. Myriad Runes are more pragmatic.”

Yi Yun said it nonchalantly but it took Fairy Purple Rain aback. She knew very well that if Yi Yun used the plague to earn Myriad Runes and exchanged them for treasures, it would be worth an unimaginable amount of wealth.

Of course, one needed sufficient strength to ensure that they could hold on to wealth. Yi Yun lacked the strength, and so had chosen to cooperate with the Guiyuan family and the Paradise Chapter. Having those two factions backing him was sufficient. He did not need the rest.

As Fairy Purple Rain thought this, she looked Yi Yun deeply in the eye. Although the Guiyuan family had reaped benefits from this deal, it was still being used as a vanguard by Yi Yun. However, the Guiyuan family was happy to do so.

“Young Master, I wonder how much mental strength you expended to cure me of my illness? The other geniuses in my family… a total of eleven have contracted the illness. I wonder if they can be treated?” asked Fairy Purple Rain.

“Oh? Are they seriously ill?”

Fairy Purple Rain said, “My illness was the worst in the family. The rest are just temporarily unable to cultivate and are not feeling weak…”

“Then, let them wait a little longer. I did expend quite a lot of mental strength to treat you. At the moment, I can only treat one person.” Yi Yun said nonchalantly.

It rendered Fairy Purple Rain somewhat speechless. She could tell that Yi Yun looked extremely vibrant. And the way he cured her of the illness was so extremely casual and simple. Did he really ‘expend quite a lot of mental strength?’

However, Yi Yun had made the claim, so she did not want to probe any further. She was extremely thankful to Yi Yun, so how could she openly doubt him? Furthermore, the plague was very tricky. Many doctors were helpless to treat it. Yi Yun might have treated the illness easily on the surface, but there was no way to be certain how much mental strength he had truly expended…

With this thought in mind, Fairy Purple Rain said, “Then, I must trouble Young Master Yi on this matter. After all, if they are unable to cultivate, it’s a lost of precious time…”

“Alright, I will try my best.” Yi Yun said lightly.

The demonic servants were energy for the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s absorption. They nourished him, so how could he find dealing with them a chore? However, if he were to cure every genius of the Guiyuan family in one go, his ‘medical skills’ would appear worthless. It would also loosen the grip he had on the Guiyuan family.

“Fairy Purple Rain, I’ll be leaving for now.”

With that said, Yi Yun turned and left. He pushed the door open and walked out. The Guiyuan family’s four Elders were waiting outside, including Fourth Elder. Fairy Purple Rain’s personal maidservant and company were also staring intently.

“How is my mistress?” asked the worried maidservant.

As for the Elders, they had already probed with their perceptions the moment the door opened.

They expected that Fairy Purple Rain would be lying in bed resting. However, they were surprised to find that Fairy Purple Rain was already walking behind Yi Yun.

From the way Fairy Purple Rain looked flushed and radiant, with a powerful vibrancy within her, they were immediately stunned when they went on to probe her dantian.

She had been cured just like that?

“Elders, I will take my leave. I will uphold my side of the contract, and I hope that all of you will too.” After Yi Yun said that, his figure flashed as he instantly vanished.

He left the Elders behind to do all sorts of checks on Fairy Purple Rain. Finally, they confirmed that Fairy Purple Rain had completely recovered. She just needed to rest for a few days and she would reach her peak before the illness. Yi Yun’s methods were astonishing.

They began to feel that they had made the right move in cooperating with Yi Yun.

“Fourth Brother, convene a secret family meeting to discuss this matter. If it’s possible, our Guiyuan family might truly reign supreme in the Myriad Divine Territory!”

An elder’s eyes twinkled. After millions of years of endurance, the Guiyuan family had finally accumulated enough to strike back.

…

At that moment, in City Lord Manor’s back garden, cherry blossoms were blooming, their pinkness forming a contiguous spectacle that was like the dawn of spring.

Two young girls were sitting facing each other in the cherry blossom garden. They were each playing the zither with their slender fingers. Their dresses were flaring up as the zither tunes seemed to speak of lofty goals. It was mentally refreshing.

“Miss, you have already played the zither an entire day. Why haven’t you eaten the pills sent to you by the city lord?”

A maidservant walked over and spoke with a bow. She was Princess White Fox’s maidservant.

It was as though Princess White Fox did not hear her as she continued playing her zither.

As one of the most outstanding elites of Myriad City, Princess White Fox had also been infected by the plague. Due to her immense talent, the effects of the plague were swift.

City Lord Qin had checked Princess White Fox’s body and detected the evil entity. However, he was no doctor and, even though he was powerful, he was helpless to save her.

He could only find several treasures to strengthen Princess White Fox’s lifeblood. However, Princess White Fox began rejecting them after they failed to have any effect.

During the days of not being able to cultivate, she chose to sit in a carriage and let her maidservants and guards accompany her to various places as she took in the sights and played her zither.

These were things that rich daughters from mortal families enjoyed. Warriors had no interest in them, but Princess White Fox had indulged in them.

Soon, Princess White Fox found a confidant in Fairy Youqin.

Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox had sparred with each other in the zither several times. Every time, there was no victor determined, or they were disturbed by other matters. Now, that the both of them were gradually feeling weaker, it gave them peace of mind to continue sparring in the zither.

During this period of enjoying the sights and playing the zither, Princess White Fox felt a baffling sense of calm. She did not worry over gradually losing her strength and instead immersed herself in her zither tunes. She began appreciating the way of the zither with a mortal’s mindset.

It was rather miraculous that, although she could not circulate her Yuan Qi with her dantian, her zither skills did not decrease at all. Instead, they stably improved.

She felt that she was close to the reaching the Heart of the Zither but unfortunately, due to the lack of her cultivation level, she could not make the breakthrough.

She vaguely felt that the illness was a test for her. She did not know if she could survive it but, regardless of the outcome, her Heart of the Zither did not permit her to shrink back.

As Princess White Fox and Fairy Youqin plucked the last zither string, the piece came to an end but its tune lingered without end.

Oh?

Princess White Fox and Fairy Youqin suddenly felt something as they looked up. They saw an azure-clothed youth walk over from one corner of the garden with a smile.

“Both Fairies truly have impeccable talent in the zither. I enjoyed it greatly.”

1184 - : Heart of the Zither

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun, is that you?”

When he was at the Guiyuan family, Yi Yun had disguised himself with the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book, but now he had restored his original looks. Princess White Fox was naturally able to identify him immediately.

Upon seeing Yi Yun, she was astonished but also worried. “Yi Yun, don’t you know that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion has offered huge rewards for you? The entire Myriad Divine Territory is looking for you. Why did you come back to Myriad City?”

Fairy Youqin looked at Yi Yun with surprise as well. She vividly recalled Yi Yun dealing the devastating blow to Si Yusheng and matching Zuoqiu Bo. She had been present that day, and Yi Yun’s alchemical skills and terrifying strength astounded her greatly.

Fairy Youqin believed that she would never see Yi Yun again, but here he was back in Myriad City. Furthermore, he had appeared in front of her so suddenly.

“Young Master Yi is truly talented and daring.” Fairy Youqin said. Although she was ill, her words remained exultant and pleasant. She sounded like a beautiful zither tune that lingered around one’s ears.

“Fairy, don’t tease me.” Yi Yun nodded at Fairy Youqin. Then, he said to the both of them, “There’s no need to talk about the Myriad Immortal Pavilion right now. Wuxia, how’s your body?”

Princess White Fox noticed that Yi Yun was not concerned about the Myriad Immortal Pavilion at all, and was somewhat surprised. However, with Yi Yun inquiring about her body, she had no choice but to temporarily put the matter aside.

“You must have heard of the plague that is wreaking havoc in Myriad City, right? Both Youqin and I have been infected. Yi Yun, this is not a good time for you to return to Myriad City. Even forgetting the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, the plague is extremely strange. It only infects geniuses and it’s unknown if it’s contagious. It’s extremely dangerous for you to return now,” said Princess White Fox with concern.

“Thank you for the concern. I’m fine.” Yi Yun’s heart felt warm. After all, he and Princess White Fox went way back. Only someone that cared about him would consider the potential of him being infected.

“In fact, this plague is ineffective against me.” Yi Yun glanced at Princess White Fox and Fairy Youqin’s dantian. The moment the Purple Crystal’s energy vision was activated, the demonic servant in Princess White Fox’s dantian was unable to hide. However, he was rather surprised when he saw Princess White Fox’s situation.

Be it Dong Xiaowan or Fairy Purple Rain, the demonic servants in their dantians had absorbed large amounts of Yuan Qi. They would gnash their teeth and become stronger. However, the demonic servant in Princess White Fox’s dantian appeared to be repressed by Princess White Fox herself.

Although it had been absorbing some of Princess White Fox’s Yuan Qi, it had failed to completely entrench and take over Princess White Fox’s dantian.

When he looked at the evil spirit within Fairy Youqin’s dantian, it too was partially under control. However, her situation was a little worse than Princess White Fox’s.

Yi Yun withdrew his gaze and asked, “Wuxia, can you tell me about your situation in detail?”

Princess White Fox nodded and said, “After I was infected, I could no longer cultivate. However, I calmed my heart down and played the zither daily. I used a mortal’s heart to appreciate the zither Dao and, from there, I gradually gained enlightenment in the Heart of the Zither. It could be considered a silver lining.”

“Oh? That actually happened?” Yi Yun was taken aback. Princess White Fox was indeed talented. From the looks of it, one could repress the evil spirits as long as one’s talent reached a certain realm.

Furthermore, Princess White Fox had come close to the Heart of the Zither despite being unable to cultivate. Through this insight, she was able to repress the demonic servant. There were few things geniuses couldn’t turn into an opportunity. The crux of the matter was if one could grasp it or not. As long as one had providence shining down on them and had sufficient strength, any calamity could be transformed into an opportunity.

“Young Master Yi, there is no need to worry about me. I can vaguely sense that after gaining insight into the Heart of the Zither, I can restrain the evil spirit bit by bit. I might even be able to purge it eventually. It might take a rather long time, but I would eventually be free,” Princess White Fox said nonchalantly.

This process might take more than a decade or even several decades. However, Princess White Fox had sufficient confidence and patience. Zither Dao was something that required slow progress. It could not be rushed.

Yi Yun studied the speed at which the evil spirit was weakening and could roughly estimate how long it would take. He shook his head and said, “That’s too long. It will take at least thirty years. That would be a waste of valuable cultivation time for you.”

Although the Heart of the Zither was important, cultivation levels were more important. To absolute geniuses, their youthful years were extremely precious. It would be quite a pity to waste even half a year. To be delayed thirty years could severely affect their future accomplishments.

“There is no other option. I have to experience it myself.” Princess White Fox gave a slight smile. Fairy Youqin sighed by the side. Her condition was worse.

Perhaps, Princess White Fox could purge the evil spirit in two to three decades, but she might need five decades or even eight. That would really be too long.

If that happened, she would at most progress to the point of the beginning stages of Supremacy.

Yi Yun said, “Wuxia, I actually have the means to purge the evil spirit within your body, allowing you a full recovery.”

Yi Yun’s words shocked Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox. Mighty figures had personally checked their condition, and many famous doctors had examined them. They had consumed copious amounts of natural treasures and naturally knew how incurable the illness was.

Yi Yun could give them a full recovery?

Princess White Fox naturally trusted Yi Yun completely. Since Yi Yun said he could cure the illness, it meant that he was absolutely capable of doing so.

However…

Princess White Fox considered for a moment before saying, “Although this illness has harmed me, it has also pushed me to the boundaries of figuring out the Heart of the Zither. I cultivate in zither Dao and in the soul. This illness is a way of hardening myself.”

Hardening?

Yi Yun felt wistful when he heard such an answer. Only Princess White Fox would continue to maintain such an unperturbed and elegant composure against an illness that left many distraught. Not only did she not wallow in despair, she thought of using this experience to harden herself. Such resolve indeed left others in the dust.

“How about this: I weaken the evil spirits a little. This way, you can continue hardening yourself but it will also reduce the time it takes. In half a year or so, you will be able to completely vanquish the evil spirit,” said Yi Yun.

“It can be…weakened?” Fairy Youqin looked at Yi Yun with her beautiful eyes. Purging the evil entity was already a miracle, but to weaken and not kill it was even more difficult than purging it completely.

She felt that Yi Yun was veiled in mystery. Be it his strength, alchemical skills, or his sudden demonstration of his medical skills, he always left people astounded.

Such talent meant that he was a peerless elite. It left elites of the same generation like her to bemoan their own inadequacy in front of him.

“Yi Yun… I really do not know how to thank you…” Princess White Fox said sincerely. Lin Xintong had once saved her life and now, Yi Yun had saved her once again, turning this calamity into an opportunity for her.

“You have never asked for anything in return when you helped me in the past,” Yi Yun said with a gentle smile.

Princess White Fox hesitated for a moment before stealing a glance at Fairy Youqin. She looked back at Yi Yun and said, “Yi Yun, I have a presumptuous demand. I wonder if…”

From Princess White Fox’s attitude, Yi Yun knew what she was about to say. Now that she and Fairy Youqin were close friends, she naturally wanted him to save Fairy Youqin. She just could not force Yi Yun to do so.

Yi Yun said with a smile, “Actually, even if I did not encounter Fairy Youqin today, I would have gone to Heavenly Treasures Arch to visit you in the near future.”

Fairy Youqin had the Paradise Chapter backing her. Alongside the Guiyuan family, Yi Yun wanted to ally with the Paradise Chapter.

“Young Master Yi, is there something you need from me?” Fairy Youqin asked puzzled.

“I will not only cure you but the other geniuses of Paradise Chapter that have been infected by the plague,” said Yi Yun.

Fairy Youqin’s beautiful eyes blinked as she looked at Yi Yun with a baffled look. Immediately, she realized something and asked softly, “It looks like Young Master Yi has some conditions?”

“Fairy Youqin is truly pure of heart and spirit. Indeed, I do have some conditions. Just as you know, I have a vendetta with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. My condition is for the Paradise Chapter to ally with me by signing a soul contract. We will fight against the Myriad Immortal Pavilion together. And so you know, I just came from the Guiyuan family. I have already signed a soul contract with them,” Yi Yun said calmly.

Fairy Youqin listened in silence before nodding her head slightly. “I never expected the Guiyuan family to agree to it. Indeed, be it Young Master Yi’s ability to treat their geniuses or your future, they demand that one puts serious consideration into the matter. However, I still need to inform my master of this matter. I need her to make the decision.”

“Then, I’ll be troubling you,” said Yi Yun.

Fairy Youqin immediately took out a specially created voice transmission charm and recorded the details into the charm before sending it out.

There was no need to fear that such secretive voice transmission charms would leak out any information. The alliance with the Guiyuan family to deal with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion together was a matter of great importance. The news could not leak.

Yi Yun watched patiently as the flames of the voice transmission charm burned until they extinguished. He surmised that the Paradise Chapter needed at least two to four hours to discuss the matter. It was even possible that Elders from the sect would be sent to probe him before they made a final decision.

With regards to this, Yi Yun was in no hurry.

At that moment, Fairy Youqin said, “Young Master Yi, actually, I have an additional request. There is no need for my illness to be completely healed. I too want to gain insights into the Heart of the Zither with Wuxia.”

“That is definitely possible.” Yi Yun replied outrightly.

The two women had firm and resolute hearts. They would willingly endure the pain of the illness to harden themselves and gain insights. Compared to the duo, Fairy Purple Rain was quite inferior.

1185 - : Allying with Paradise Chapter

CKtalon  CKtalon

The news eventually reached the Paradise Chapter. It was decided to have Fairy Youqin’s master come personally to sign the contract with Yi Yun.

And at that moment, Yi Yun was paying City Lord Qin a visit.

Needless to say, City Lord Qin stood on Yi Yun’s side.

As such, the combined forces of City Lord Qin, the Paradise Chapter, and the Guiyuan family were ready to overpower the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.

“Young Master Yi, the contract has been signed. Can you treat my disciple’s illness?”

Fairy Youqin’s master was Perfected Qianhua. She was a woman whose age could not be discerned. She had a head of silver hair but her skin had a healthy glow, even more so than a sixteen-year-old.

There were few women in the upper echelons of Paradise Chapter. However, those few were typically pure and noble in their youth. After they got married and had children, they would have an esteemed bearing and stand aloof from the world.

After the Paradise Chapter received the news, they communicated with the Guiyuan family to confirm Yi Yun’s story. However, Perfected Qianhua wanted to witness Yi Yun’s abilities in person.

“Of course.” Yi Yun looked at Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox. “Both of you, please follow me.”

Beside the meeting hall, there was a guest room. Yi Yun pushed the door open and entered before he gestured to the two to lie in bed.

“Yi Yun, you mean to treat them together?”

City Lord Qin was taken aback. Although he knew that Yi Yun could subdue the evil spirit, he never expected that he could do it to two people simultaneously. Was he being too overconfident?

“Young Master Yi, I heard that you’re going to weaken the evil spirit instead of purging it completely. The process will probably be quite complicated. There is no need to rush Youqin and Wuxia’s treatment. It’s better to do them one after the other…” Perfected Qianhua said as she stood to the side. She knew that after the evil spirits entered the bodies, they would latch on to the dantian. They would even begin vying for the soul of the possessed. Be it the dantian or the soul, they were extremely important to warriors. Therefore, treating things that ailed those areas required extreme caution to prevent collateral damage.

Yi Yun said with a smile, “Senior, you can rest assured.”

After Yi Yun said that, he prepared to take action. In order to give the two women privacy, City Lord Qin left the room. However, Perfected Qianhua did not leave. She was unable to be at ease when it came to her beloved disciple.

Yi Yun did not mind either. He took his place in between Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox. Just as he was about to take action, his brows pricked up slightly. At that moment, he sensed strange movements in Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox’s dantians. The two evil spirits had suddenly awoken. They recognized him and, in their fear, took the initiative to abandon Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox. They rushed out of their dantians, each taking one side, hoping to rush out from different sides of the room!

“Trying to escape?” Yi Yun snorted coldly as he extended his hands to grab at them!

As Yi Yun stretched out his hands, the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s phantom image manifested behind him. Two tender green veins that were condensed with Daoist charms shot out like divine whips!

“Pa! Pa!”

The two evil spirits were struck by the Azure Wood Divine Tree as they let out two tragic screams.

Immediately following that, the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s veins wrapped around the spirits and pulled them straight back into Yi Yun’s hands!

Of course, this whole scene was witnessed by Perfected Qianhua.

She had an extraordinary cultivation level and was able to sense the existence of the evil spirits, but only when she pushed her perception to her limits. If she was not in full concentration, she too would be blind to the existence of the evil spirits.

The evil spirits had suddenly escaped at the beginning of the treatment, so how could Perfected Qianhua react in time? All she could sense was two cold winds blow. Just as she thought to focus her perception and investigate the matter, it was already too late. The evil spirits had gone quite a distance.

But in an instant, Yi Yun employed swift methods to grab onto the two evil spirits. This observational ability and reaction speed, together with Yi Yun’s strength, astounded Perfected Qianhua.

Furthermore, Perfected Qianhua was baffled. What were the two evil spirits afraid of?

Previously, many famous doctors had diagnosed Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox. The evil spirits ignored all of them, and it could be said that they looked at them with contempt.

But once Yi Yun came, the evil spirits ran away in fright before he even took action!

This meant that Yi Yun did not even need to go through the full process of his treatment. All he needed was to pose before Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox, and they would be healed?

This was way too ridiculous!

Upon realizing this, Perfected Qianhua no longer knew what expression to make. What would the alchemists and famous doctors that gave their all but failed think of this matter?

Meanwhile, Yi Yun was using the divine tree’s veins to restrain the two evil spirits. He raised them in front of him and threw out a few slaps, followed by an incessant beating.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

Perfected Qianhua could even hear the sounds of the evil spirits being slapped. Despite having incorporeal bodies, Yi Yun was throttling them as he pleased. The two evil spirits kept screaming until they were close to death.

These weren’t some evil spirits that left people ashen. They were more like two chickens that had just been slaughtered in preparation of a meal.

Perfected Qianhua gaped as she watched this. She was rendered speechless. She could clearly sense the evil spirits’ aura rapidly decrease. The sinister and cold aura was no longer a tenth of what it was in the past.

And at that moment, Yi Yun produced dozens of marks, sealing them within the evil spirits’ bodies. They directly restricted the evil spirits’ motion.

Following that, he held Yuan Qi in his hands and pressed down on Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox’s abdomen, sealing the two evil spirits into their dantians.

Instantly, a warm energy surged into the two women’s bodies, flowing to their limbs.

This energy came from the vibrant force of the Azure Wood Divine Tree. It was filled with an immense vitality that could nourish the body and lead to immense comfort.

Princess White Fox was fine but Fairy Youqin’s face suffused a red blush. Tiny drops of sweat seeped out of her forehead.

Their bodies that had been suffering a drought for such a long time suddenly received such intense, nourishing energy. It was both comfortable and somewhat stimulating.

Yi Yun’s pressed his hands down on their dantians for two and a half minutes before he slowly moved them away.

The refreshing feeling went from high intensity to a gradual calm. By the time Yi Yun retracted his hands, the feeling left profound significance.

“It’s done.”

When Yi Yun said that, Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox exhaled. They attempted to circulate the energies within their bodies and discovered that they had recovered their energies. However, compared to their peaks, they were still a little weaker.

Yi Yun explained, “You’ll notice that the sealed evil spirits are still leeching from a small portion of your dantian. It prevents you from using all the strength within your dantian but that’s fine. As long as you cultivate with a peaceful mind and gain insights to the Heart of the Zither, allowing you to use your willpower and Yuan Qi to refine the evil spirits, this will turn out to be a decent opportunity for the both of you.”

When Fairy Youqin heard Yi Yun’s words, she did not know how to respond. What did he mean by ‘a decent opportunity’? If she could gain insights to the Heart of the Zither, it would be an immense opportunity for her.

She said, “Thank you, Young Master Yi. But…without your future help, can this evil spirit recuperate and build up strength, causing another relapse?”

Yi Yun shook his head and said, “No, they have been sealed by my energy. Not only are they unable to take over, they can’t even escape Fairy Youqin and Wuxia’s dantian. All they can do is wait to be refined.”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s mild response, Perfected Qianhua and Fairy Youqin were left speechless.

Such a feat was more than a hundred times harder than treating an illness!

These evil spirits sure had some terrible luck meeting Yi Yun. They had attempted to escape when they saw Yi Yun but ended up being caught. Then, they were forcefully sealed within Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox’s dantians and used as a well for improvement.

At that moment, the door opened. City Lord Qin and company walked in.

City Lord Qin looked at Yi Yun and hurriedly asked, “Young Master Yi, how’s the situation?”

He did not use his perception to probe. Although he knew Yi Yun was capable and that everything was likely smooth-sailing, he was still a little worried.

Just as he asked the question, he noticed Perfected Qianhua’s odd expression. “Qianhua, what happened? Did something go wrong?”

“It was very successful…” Perfected Qianhua said, stunned. Successful was an understatement.

She recounted the situation through a voice transmission. City Lord Qin also found it ridiculous when he heard the recount. Yi Yun actually had such ability?

“Wuxia, how do you feel?”

City Lord Qin asked Princess White Fox.

Princess White Fox nodded. “Uncle Qin, indeed, I can cultivate now. Furthermore, I can also sense the evil spirit’s existence. I think in less than a year, I can completely refine it and use it to empower my Heart of the Zither!”

“Good! That’s great.” City Lord Qin heaved a sigh of relief and looked at Yi Yun. “Yi Yun, now that the Paradise Chapter, the Guiyuan family, and I are backing you, there should be a plan to attack the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. What are your plans, exactly?”

“Yes, let’s discuss the plan. Let’s begin with the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet that will be held in three months.” Yi Yun said as a glimmer flashed in his eyes.

1186 - : The Tragic Evil Spirits

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the passage of time, more and more renowned doctors and alchemists began congregating in Myriad City.

The rewards that Myriad Immortal Pavilion had offered were especially tempting. As the number of people constantly increased in anticipation of the upcoming Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet, it also became an opportunity for many doctors and alchemists to make a name for themselves.

It was not only the Myriad Immortal Pavilion that needed this event. Many factions in Myriad City anticipated the meet, hoping that a cure would be found for their infected geniuses.

“Nearly ten thousand doctors and alchemists have come to Myriad City. Aside from the few who enjoy an unwarranted reputation, there are quite a number of true experts. In particular, the most impressive arrivals are from the alchemical and medical immortal sects that have tens of millions of years worth of heritage. Those that come from these sects are much better than Myriad City’s local doctors and alchemists.”

On a mirror-like lake in City Lord Manor, Princess White Fox played the zither while she informed Yi Yun of the latest news in the city.

These days, when he wasn’t refining pills, Yi Yun would accompany Princess White Fox, as well as Fairy Youqin, who frequently visited. The trio would sail over the lake, drinking tea and immersing themselves in zither music. It was the cultivation of both mind and body. As time went on, Yi Yun sensed that the after-effects of forcefully breaking through to the Dao Palace realm were nearly remedied.

In a few more days, he could attempt to advance towards the second-floor Dao Palace realm.

“It doesn’t matter who comes,” said Yi Yun.

If he had not obtained the divine alchemist’s heritage, he might be somewhat interested in the alchemical methods the alchemical-medical immortal sects with deep heritage had. However, he did not think too much of them at present.

The Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet was only a few days away. As for whether Yi Yun was prepared, he had raised his condition to its peak over the past three months.

“Is that so? I heard that people from the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect are coming today. They hail from the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory. I thought we could go if you were interested.” Princess White Fox said with a smile.

“Oh? Candle Cauldron Divine Territory?”

Yi Yun had memorized the divine alchemist’s notes so he obviously knew of the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory.

If the Myriad Divine Territory was said to be the trading center of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, then the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory would be the alchemist’s mecca of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven!

Although the Myriad Divine Territory was filled with great riches due to its unique environment, it did not have anything worth flaunting when it came to ancient heritage.

The Myriad Divine Territory’s major factions were, in essence, mega-conglomerates. However, the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory was different. It produced all sorts of mystic artifacts and natural treasures. In addition to an alchemical and medical tradition that went back hundreds of millions of years, it had given rise to many alchemist sages and alchemist doctors.

Years ago, the divine alchemist had a rival from the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory. Clearly, to be considered a rival of the divine alchemist, his ability was extraordinary.

However, something transpired hundreds of millions of years ago. The divine alchemist mentioned in his notes that his rival had also gone to the Sinkhole. Perhaps he had long turned to dust and returned to the soil.

“The Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect actually comes from the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory? How well-regarded are they in the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory?”

“They are a first-tier faction. There are a few alchemical and medical powerhouses in the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory, and the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect is one of them.”

“Is that so…” Yi Yun nodded. He knew that the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory had many reclusive sects. Many of them bested the Immortal Rain Sect.

However, in the long rivers of time, there were some alchemical and medical sects that suddenly disappeared, their whereabouts unknown.

“The sects of Candle Cauldron Divine Territory have a long heritage and must think highly of themselves. They actually accepted the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s invitation?”

“I’m not sure about that either.”

…

By this point in time, Myriad City’s gates were constantly bustling. Many people from the various divine territories flocked to Myriad City for the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet.

The group of people that appeared at this moment were especially unique.

The moment these people appeared, they attracted the attention of countless warriors.

A large, jade-like lotus leaf descended from the sky. Standing atop it were a few figures that seemed transcendent. Behind them were a few extremely talented children with red lips and white teeth.

“It’s the people from the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect!”

“They really came.”

News of people from the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect coming to Myriad City had already spread.

Upon hearing the murmurs, a man dressed in blue looked down. His gaze was like a torch, as if his eyes contained two dazzling flames. He could stifle someone with a glance. They would feel their bodies prickle in heat as though the tongues of a flame had swept past them.

“I heard that an alchemist from the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect has cultivated for three thousand years. His name is Skyfire Sacred Hands, and he has refined two wisps of Skyfire into his eyes. It has to be him.”

Skyfire Sacred Hands was renowned even among the warriors faraway in Myriad Divine Territory. His alchemical skills were extremely brilliant, and he had high influence in the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory. Countless numbers of people came to him for his services.

Now that they could see Skyfire Sacred Hands in person, they felt that simply catching sight of his eyes made them feel torched by his gaze. It was excruciatingly painful.

Indeed, he lived up to his name.

The lotus leaf landed and immediately, a group of people came forward from the city gates.

The person leading the group was Zuoqiu Bo. As an alchemical Elder of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, he naturally was the one to receive the distinguished figure.

And behind him was Si Shaoyu.

If Si Yusheng had not been crippled, Si Shaoyu would not have had a chance to welcome and receive Skyfire Sacred Hands.

“I never expected Skyfire Sacred Hands to come personally. What an honor!” Zuoqiu Bo said passionately.

Skyfire Sacred Hands said nonchalantly, “I found the symptoms of your city’s illness very unique, something that I have never heard of before. I came because of the interest it stirred in me.”

“Is that so?” Zuoqiu Bo secretly nodded. If not for that, why would Skyfire Sacred Hands come personally?

“Welcome Skyfire Sacred Hands.” Si Shaoyu said with a bow.

He took a glance at Skyfire Sacred Hands and seemed to get an inkling of hope from him.

Whenever he thought of his illness, Si Shaoyu felt extremely downtrodden. For the past three months, his illness had turned for the worse. Furthermore, Yi Yun had not appeared. It was possible that he had shirked away in fear.

However, the main goal of the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet was to find a capable doctor that could treat the plague. As for capturing Yi Yun, that was only a bonus to Si Shaoyu.

Now, with Skyfire Sacred Hands from the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect here, Si Shaoyu only wished to be given a diagnosis immediately.

“Oh? You are infected too?” Skyfire Sacred Hands could tell at a glance that Si Shaoyu was lacking in Yuan Qi. His breathing was also shallow, as though he was seriously ill.

Si Shaoyu beamed as he immediately said, “Yes. I’m Si Shaoyu from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. I have been infected for more than half a year. I wonder if it’s possible for Sacred Hands…”

“There’s no rush.” Skyfire Sacred Hands cut him off. “Since the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet is close, I will naturally give a diagnosis at the meet.”

“About that…” Si Shaoyu’s eyes flashed a look of disappointment. “Sacred Hands, that is so? You did come from afar, after all, and do not understand the details of the plague. I can explain it to you in more detail.”

He yearned for the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet to be held immediately, for he did not wish for his illness to last even a second longer.

1187 - : Skyfire Sacred Hands

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the following days, Yi Yun continued to spend his time at the lake that resembled a mirror, listening to zither music and drinking tea. It was a carefree and leisurely life.

One day, Princess White Fox, who was beside Yi Yun, suddenly stopped playing her zither. Her fingers froze as she looked to the edge of the lake.

“Uncle Qin.”

City Lord Qin gave a loud laugh before he appeared in front of the boat. “Both of you sure are carefree. Have you forgotten that today’s the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet?”

“Not really.” Yi Yun stood up and asked, “City Lord Qin, is everything prepared?”

City Lord Qin’s eyes flashed acutely. His jovial smile held a tinge of killing intent.

“I have finished my discussions with the Guiyuan family and the Paradise Chapter. This Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet will definitely be a truly grand meet.” City Lord Qin said as he looked at Yi Yun. “Are you going as well?”

“Of course.” Yi Yun nodded.

“Hmm… Aren’t you afraid of being recognized? The Myriad Immortal Pavilion might capture you right then and there.”

“City Lord Qin, rest assured. I have long made the necessary preparations.” As Yi Yun spoke, his appearance and height instantly started to shift. At first, it was subtle, but in a blink of an eye, he had transformed into a nondescript middle-aged man.

City Lord Qin was marveled by this sight. “If not for me seeing it with my own eyes, I would not be able to recognize you, even if you were in front of me. This disguise technique is truly all-encompassing.”

“It’s not just the effects of my disguise. Over the past few days, I have refined a Reborn Pill. I accomplished this effective disguise by using the pill in conjunction with my disguise technique,” Yi Yun said with a smile.

Azure Yang Lord’s Star Transference Heaven Changing Book was extremely thorough, to begin with. Even people a lot stronger than him would not be able to notice anything amiss.

Then there was the Reborn Pill that Yi Yun found in the divine alchemist’s notes. Consuming it not only allowed him to change his looks and voice, it even altered his soul and aura. The two combined made for a flawless disguise.

“City Lord Qin, I’m curious how the people participating in the meet compare to you when it comes to discernment?”

“Hahaha, don’t worry. If I can’t see through your disguise, then the others will definitely not be able to see through it. The Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s Pavilion Lord only has a cultivation level similar to mine. As for the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s Sect Master, he is unfathomably strong, but there is no way that he will be there. Therefore, there’s no need to be worried about attending the meet.”

Yi Yun nodded. He had transformed in front of City Lord Qin to verify the effectiveness of his disguise.

“Young Master Yi, with your new looks, you can accompany me as a foreign doctor. We can describe you as someone my master sent over.” Princess White Fox said with a smile.

Yi Yun nodded. “Alright!”

“In that case, let’s set off. We shouldn’t keep the others waiting too long.” City Lord Qin remarked with deep undertones.

…

The Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet, a product of half a year’s preparations, finally began!

The meet was hosted by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion covered a huge area in the core districts of Myriad City. It was a tall, opulent building with a vast square in front of it.

On the day of the meet, Myriad City became empty for nearly everyone went to the square.

The square alone could hardly accommodate so many people. However, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had thought ahead and prepared an artifact that contained a small world within it. It was an otherwise useless artifact, with only the sole ability of accommodating a pocket world. However, the meet was the perfect opportunity for it to be used.

Those that walked into the square would pass through a light screen that surrounded the square, which would automatically send them into a tiny world.

At the center of the tiny world was a stage. Like a garden, there were many pavilions provided for the guests from the various major factions. Ordinary warriors could only stand far away.

On one side of the stage, a middle-aged man with a somewhat heavy gaze and deep, abyss-like aura was seated on a tall structure.

He looked up slightly and watched City Lord Qin and Princess White Fox arrive on a chariot. He smiled and commented, “City Lord Qin, you have come too.”

“This grand meet involves so many of Myriad City’s geniuses. As Myriad City’s City Lord, how can I miss it?” City Lord Qin said with a loud and clear voice. His voice barely faded before he and Princess White Fox were atop the tall structure.

“Don’t you agree, Pavilion Lord Si?” City Lord Qin said as he faced the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man was none other than Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s Pavilion Lord!

Yi Yun took a deep breath as his eyes briefly met the middle-aged man’s. He had a lanky figure and somewhat darkened skin. He had a genial smile hanging from his face but his eyes seemed to hide a sharp blade!

“Naturally.” Pavilion Lord Si nodded. He did not hover his gaze on Yi Yun for too long before he cast it on Princess White Fox off to City Lord Qin’s side. He had a sharp perception and could instantly sense the weakness within her. Clearly, the evil spirit was still in her body.

“Who knew that City Lord Qin would also be helpless against these evil spirits. Then, today’s Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet might find a cure for Fairy Wuxia. If that time comes, City Lord Qin might even need to thank me.”

He believed that City Lord Qin had come to seek a cure for Princess White Fox.

“Is that so? In fact, I brought an alchemist with me here today,” replied City Lord Qin.

Pavilion Lord Si gave a cursory glance at the middle-aged man standing beside Princess White Fox. He looked completely unextraordinary, so Pavilion Lord Si thought nothing of him. From the looks of it, he was just some random alchemist that City Lord Qin brought along.

“This alchemist…? I thought you would bring Yi Yun here.” As Pavilion Lord Si spoke, his eyes flashed with a cold glimmer.

The moment he said that, the mood turned slightly colder.

Yi Yun was an extremely prominent name.

Everyone knew that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s vendetta with Yi Yun could not be resolved. Yet, Pavilion Lord Si had suddenly mentioned him under such circumstances. It left the people present somewhat dazed.

It was common knowledge that City Lord Qin had previously sided with and protected Yi Yun. For that, City Lord Qin and the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s relationship had suffered. However, that was something that could be put aside. On the surface, everyone acted amiably.

However, Pavilion Lord Si had suddenly mentioned Yi Yun, clearly meaning to take City Lord Qin down a notch.

The atmosphere turned somewhat awkward; however, City Lord Qin only pricked up his eyebrows but remained silent.

“Hahahaha!” Pavilion Lord Si suddenly laughed loudly, “I was only joking. Why the face? Did you take it seriously, City Lord Qin? I know that you have once been fooled by that punk. And no matter how much guts that punk has, there is no way he would dare to come to this meet. He’d be seeking his death.”

“City Lord Qin, don’t worry. I won’t dwell on the tiny quarrels of the past. Come, City Lord Qin, let’s toast and put this matter behind us!”

As Pavilion Lord Si spoke, he raised his wine cup.

Anyone who saw this gesture knew that Pavilion Lord Si was giving City Lord Qin a warning. He was warning him not to meddle in affairs involving Yi Yun and, at the same time, reminding him that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was the true overseer of Myriad City. City Lord Qin, on the other hand, was just a name.

“We shall see.” Qin Zhengyang revealed a smile that had deep underlying tones as he raised his cup and downed the wine.

Those witnessing the scene had different interpretations of what it meant. From the looks of it, City Lord Qin had compromised.

Indeed, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was now of great importance. It had organized the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet, pushing its reputation to the limit. Furthermore, every faction in Myriad City needed the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s help. They hoped that the meet would save their juniors. City Lord Qin was no exception.

City Lord Qin had no choice but to compromise to treat Princess White Fox.

As the people pondered over the matter, they had bittersweet feelings. If the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet were to succeed in finding a cure for the plague, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would end up in the spotlight. It would become the absolute number one faction in Myriad City.

After the toast, the Zhou family, the Guiyuan family, and the Paradise Chapter arrived.

Fairy Purple Rain did not make a public appearance, instead staying inside her carriage. As for Fairy Youqin, she had come together with Perfected Qianhua. They sat across from City Lord Qin and Princess White Fox.

One after another, people from the various major factions arrived.

At that moment, Pavilion Lord Si raised his wine cup again and said, “From the way I see it, not only has City Lord Qin brought an alchemist, but everyone has sought out numerous alchemists and renowned doctors, inviting them here. It’s good that everyone has a chance to try and produce a cure. Our collective efforts will lead to benefits for everyone. However, the ones we shall look most forward to at this Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet are the experts from Candle Cauldron Divine Territory’s various large alchemical sacred sects.”

As Pavilion Lord Si spoke, the people from the alchemical sacred sects appeared. One of them stood on a lotus leaf. It was running parallel to the ground and appeared inside a pavilion.

“Oh!? That’s the lotus leaf of the Dustless Lotus?”

There were many alchemists present, so there were quite a few people who recognized the lotus leaf under the feet of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect entourage.

“What’s Dustless Lotus?” Some people asked blankly. Not every alchemist was extremely knowledgeable.

“Dustless Lotuses are incredibly rare. I even thought it went extinct. The Dustless Lotus is a natural treasure grown through all sorts of lucky coincidences at the brink of a world’s destruction. Typically, a world that faces destruction would be in complete chaos, with lava and earthquakes everywhere. There would be poisonous miasma and, deep in the cracks of the land, Apocalyptic Fumes would spew. However, that exact environment is where Dustless Lotus can grow and remain unspeckled. The lotus leaves are a luxuriant green and the lotus flowers are filled with moisture. That is how the Dustless Lotus gets its name!” An aged alchemist explained.

The origins sounded miraculous.

Above the Dustless Lotus leaf, a red-dressed girl heard the discussion. The corner of her mouth curved. “I never expected these hillbillies to be so knowledgeable and recognize a Dustless Lotus. So, they aren’t just good at doing business!”

“Yue’er, why do you speak like that? Although our Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect has a long heritage, do not belittle the able minds of the outside world or you will only suffer.” Standing in front of the red-dressed girl, a man rebuked her with a frown. His eyes were flickering red. He was none other than Skyfire Sacred Hands!

“Yes, Martial Uncle. I spoke without thinking.” The red-dressed girl stuck her tongue out. Although she verbally agreed, the lesson clearly did not get into her head.

Skyfire Sacred Hands shook his head. He knew the young disciples of Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect were all extremely arrogant. However, they were indeed the top geniuses in the sect, especially in the field of alchemy. With the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s long lineage and heritage techniques, no one impressed them.

1188 - : Grand Meet Begins

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect became the focus of attention the moment it arrived. Pavilion Lord Si also went forward to personally welcome them. As the organizer of the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet, Pavilion Lord Si felt a sense of pride for being able to get the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect to actually show up. He knew that, although the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was extremely rich, it was at times belittled by sects with long histories, considered as nothing more than a mere company. For the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect to attend the meet, it could be taken as a form of acknowledgment of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.

A faction needed to grow and mature step by step. Similarly, a long heritage needed time to accumulate. Perhaps in the future, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would become an empyrean or immortal sect with a deep heritage, earning the respect and admiration of others. Of course, it would need to start by being in full control of the Myriad Divine Territory.

“Skyfire Sacred Hands, I am truly honored by your appearance here and your gracious presence. I organized this Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet in order to resolve Myriad City’s plague. I’ll be completely relying on Sacred Hands. In addition, I have brought some alchemists from my sect here with me, hoping to gain some pointers and advice from you.” Pavilion Lord Si said as he cupped his fists.

“Pavilion Lord Si, I came to this meet in order to resolve this plague. Simultaneously, I have brought some juniors to give them some experiential training,” Skyfire Sacred Hands said lightly. Soon, the members of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect were led to seats of honor.

Immediately following that, a bevy of female attendants with excellent figures brought out plates of fruit, spirit food, and fine wine, placing them on the table in front of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect.

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion was a rich sect, so every plate held top-grade spirit fruits or ambrosia. Such delicacies could not be afforded by ordinary warriors. Not only did these dishes have fabulous flavors, but just one meal was enough to match years of arduous cultivation.

“I never expected this Myriad Immortal Pavilion to serve an actually decent meal. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to know that this Purple Dragonfruit should not be eaten directly. Instead, it should be dabbed in Spirit Heartdew. That way, it will taste even sweeter and more fragrant. Also, it will release all the essence of Purple Dragonfruit itself which is very beneficial to the body. Nouveau riche are indeed nouveau riche. What a waste of such good items.”

The red-dressed girl held a Purple Dragonfruit and shook her head while saying this to her senior brother.

Her senior brother appeared to be in his twenties. He was dressed in a long purple robe. His eyes were bright and he had straight teeth. Strangely, both of his hands had six fingers each, for a total of twelve fingers. Furthermore, all twelve of these fingers were long and slender like a woman’s.

He replied, “Junior Sister Yue’er, Purple Dragonfruit and Spirit Heartdew are rare to begin with. So how would they know to combine the two together? Just eat it silently.”

After all the spirit food for the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect had been served, the female attendants served spirit food to the alchemists and herbalists of the other factions.

However, the quality of that spirit food was a lot worse. There were ten thousand alchemists and doctors present. It was impossible to serve everyone with top-grade spirit food as it would cost too much. Even the Myriad Immortal Pavilion could not afford it.

As such, the treatment the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect received stood out. The other alchemists, doctors, and even a number of relatively unknown ones were not given a seat. They ended up being drowned in the crowd.

The preferential treatment the Myriad Immortal Pavilion gave displeased many alchemists.

One such young man sat beside Yi Yun. He came from the Paradise Chapter.

Although Yi Yun was an alchemist invited by Princess White Fox, his status did not earn him any special treatment from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. In terms of seating, he was placed with the other ordinary alchemists.

“What the heck. The Myriad Immortal Pavilion has only invited us here to play second fiddle. From the beginning, they’ve only been placing their hopes on the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. We are just here to make up the numbers. How disgusting.”

Upon hearing the young alchemist grumble, Yi Yun smiled. The young man looked like he had cultivated for a few centuries. An alchemist of a few hundred years old was already pretty good compared to ordinary warriors. Of course, the disguised Yi Yun looked a lot older on the surface.

“How should I address you? You don’t look familiar.” The young alchemist noticed Yi Yun.

“Lin Yun.” Yi Yun replied casually. He used Lin Xintong’s surname.

“So it’s Alchemist Lin. Did you come by invitation of my Paradise Chapter? My name is Zhang Xiaotian. I grew up in the Paradise Chapter.”

As Zhang Xiaotian spoke, he picked up a spirit fruit and chomped on it as though he was venting his anger on the fruit. He had quite a frank character and plainly wore his emotions on his face.

In fact, among the ten thousand alchemists and herbalists present, there were many that shared the same sentiments as he.

Warriors were all proud. Alchemists and herbalists were basically warriors with special expertise, so they were even more prideful. They always enjoyed a lofty existence. Countless people would beseech their services. Even a lesser alchemist would be fawned over and desired by small sects.

They had, of course, heard of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect and the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory. Indeed, both of them had a storied history in alchemy, but one cannot always trust what they hear. They must see it with their own eyes. Many of the alchemists were unconvinced and wanted to probe the supposedly high-level sect.

After a few rounds of wine, the mood became a lot more vibrant. An elder from the Guiyuan family suddenly stood up and said, “Everyone! I’m Guiyuan Zhen from the Guiyuan family. I would like to ask Pavilion Lord Si a question. You previously mentioned that you invited the masters from the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect to advise the young alchemists of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. I wonder if an old person like me can be given some advice?”

The elder spoke with a slow tone which sounded humble and polite. Pavilion Lord Si nodded and naturally did not reject it. “What question do you have? Feel free to ask.”

“I would like to ask Skyfire Sacred Hands: Out of all spirit herbs, there is a renowned herb known as the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid. It has many effects, and direct consumption can result in the increasing of one’s cultivation level. It would also be very beneficial to one’s physique and lifeblood. Unfortunately, trying to infuse its essence into a pill is impossible. I wonder if Skyfire Sacred Hands knows of any solutions to this problem?”

Guiyuan Zhen enunciated his words slowly with his eyes flickering. Jadeflame Immortal Orchid could not be infused into a pill because it was fire-elemental by nature. It contained an extremely volatile fire-elemental Yuan Qi which would burn the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid to ash once it made contact with alchemical flames.

But in fact, many years ago, Guiyuan Zhen had chanced upon a method of infusing Jadeflame Immortal Orchid into pills. First, he switched from fire refinement to water refinement. Secondly, he used Desolate Heaven techniques to prepare the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid ahead of time. As such, he was able to barely extract a third of the medicinal essence of the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid. Being able to accomplish this was quite an impressive feat.

Guiyuan Zhen already knew the answer. He was not seeking advice from Skyfire Sacred Hands, but sought to test him instead.

He knew that the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect had a deep heritage in alchemy, something that his Guiyuan family could match. However, no matter how great the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect was, they couldn’t be invincible in every aspect.

The Jadeflame Immortal Orchid alone had taken him a hundred years of study. He believed that no one else was more of an expert than him when it came to this herb. After all, there were so many herbs available to an alchemist. Very few people would waste so much effort on one herb.

Guiyuan Zhen only wanted to use it to take the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect down a notch.

1189 - : Jadeflame Immortal Orchid

CKtalon  CKtalon

The moment Guiyuan Zhen posed his question, all focus shifted to him.

Among the alchemists present, there were many who knew of Guiyuan Zhen. He was rather famous in the Myriad Divine Territory and had used his skills in the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid to earn quite a sizable fortune.

He had managed to refine three pills using the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid. The first two were made with pill recipes that already existed. With one recipe, he replaced a particular herb with Jadeflame Immortal Orchid, causing its effects to double. The third pill was an original invention of Guiyuan Zhen. He had named it the Jade Orchid Zhenyuan Pill, and it was his secret specialty.

“This Guiyuan Zhen. I thought he would truly ask for advice, but he’s just trying to slap the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect in the face,” an alchemist who was familiar with Guiyuan Zhen said with a laugh. They all knew Guiyuan Zhen’s background.

“Haha! What Brother Guiyuan said is to my liking. These people from the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect are way too flashy, especially those juniors. It’s like their noses are so high up in the air that one could see straight to their brains. Just a few moments ago, they completely disrespected us and treated us like hillbillies.”

“That’s right, our Myriad Divine Territory’s alchemical skills and Desolate Heaven technique have been developed over many years. It has already become systemic and is probably not that inferior to the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s.”

As people spoke, they looked at Skyfire Sacred Hands, waiting for him to answer the conundrum.

Skyfire Sacred Hands drank a cup of spirit tea and continued having the bowl in his hand. The moment the question was raised, he had guessed the situation from the reactions of the other alchemists. Guiyuan Zhen clearly knew the answer and was trying to make things difficult for him, embarrassing him in the process.

Although Skyfire Sacred Hands was opposed to his disciples being overtly arrogant, the truth was that he only wanted them to refrain from verbal disrespect. When it came to arrogance, how could he, a disciple of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect, not be arrogant?

In the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s history, it had produced two alchemical sages. Back then, the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect was celebrated throughout the entire Yang God Empyrean Heaven. As for the heritage of the two alchemical sages, they were handed down fully intact! He himself had inherited his knowledge from one of the alchemical sages—Thousand Hand Alchemical Sage.

Seeing this alchemist from the Myriad Divine Territory trying to test him, Skyfire Sacred Hands smiled nonchalantly. He did not even feel like answering. How could the Thousand Hand Alchemical Sage’s heritage be something mere pedestrian alchemists would comprehend? He would not use it to compete with others, as that would be an insult to the Thousand Hand Alchemical Sage.

Therefore, Guiyuan Zhen’s sudden question had displeased Skyfire Sacred Hands.

He gently placed the bowl down, turned to the six-fingered youth, and said, “Hao’er, you answer him.”

The moment this was said, all the alchemists of the Myriad Divine Territory frowned.

Guiyuan Zhen had asked Skyfire Sacred Hands a direct question, but Skyfire Sacred Hands ignored him and delegated the response to his disciple?

Skyfire Sacred Hands had cultivated for three thousand years while Guiyuan Zhen had cultivated for more than a hundred thousand years. However, in the field of alchemy, the able were the teachers. Guiyuan Zhen did not dare to think himself as a senior to Skyfire Sacred Hands. By politely asking a question, he had gone through the necessary niceties.

It wasn’t an important question, but by delegating the answer to a junior, Skyfire Sacred Hands revealed how little he thought of the alchemists of this city.

“Yes, Martial Uncle.” The six-fingered youth stood up and said. He cupped his fist and said, “Senior, I’m curious if your master ever told you that to ask a question, you must first ask if it is correct or not before asking for the reason?”

“Oh!?” Guiyuan Zhen’s expression sunk. “What do you mean?”

“Senior, you said that Jadeflame Immortal Orchid cannot be infused into a pill. However, my opinion is that this statement itself is invalid. The medicinal essence of Jadeflame Immortal Orchids is indeed a little volatile and will easily reduce to ash in a cauldron, but as long as this problem is resolved, the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid can be easily infused into a pill. Senior, why do you say that it’s impossible to infuse its essence into a pill?”

The six-fingered youth spoke with ease and fluency. Although he sounded polite, there was an overbearing tone to his words. Guiyuan Zhen was enraged. He had spent a hundred years researching the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid but a junior had dismissed him with a single sentence. Was the hundred years he spent a joke?

“Heroes indeed come from the young since time immemorial. I have finally witnessed it today! Alright, you say that the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid can be easily infused into a pill, then broaden my horizons and show me how to infuse it!”

Guiyuan Zhen’s voice carried some agitation. This was his specialty, the thing he was best at. How could he not be angered after being belittled by a junior?

The alchemists present nodded in agreement. The six-fingered youth had indeed been arrogant in his words. They had personally confirmed that Jadeflame Immortal Orchid could not be infused into pills. Even in large sects, the methods of handling Jadeflame Immortal Orchid were definitely not as simple as the six-fingered youth made it out to be.

“Junior Sister, since they would like to see Jadeflame Immortal Orchid being infused into pills, why don’t you do the demonstration?”

As people were waiting for the six-fingered youth to demonstrate his skills, he sat down abruptly. He had passed the mission to the red-dressed girl beside him.

Upon seeing this happen, the alchemists present were incensed. From her looks, she had cultivated for less than two centuries. Yet, she too knew how to infuse Jadeflame Immortal Orchid into a pill?

The elderly shoved the load to the old, while the old shoved it to the young. They truly did not think much of them!

“Alright, alright. Tch, isn’t it just a Jadeflame Immortal Orchid!?” The red-dressed girl said contemptibly. With a tap of her toes, her graceful figure landed in the middle of the square like an agile red sparrow without stirring so much as a speck of dust.

“Who has a Jadeflame Immortal Orchid? Let me use it. I can’t be expected to carry such herbs around with me.”

“Fine! Very fine indeed!” Upon hearing the contempt in the red-dressed girl’s words, Guiyuan Zhen was further infuriated. The herb that he had spent so much time researching was thought so little of by her.

“I have one here!”

Guiyuan Zhen threw a red herb at the red-dressed girl.

She caught it casually and took out a cauldron.

“Yue’er, do it soundly without fuss. Just infuse it into the pill and don’t be too ostentatious.” At that moment, Skyfire Sacred Hands’s voice transmission rang in her years.

“Yes, Martial Uncle.” The red-dressed girl curved the ends of her mouth. However, the moment she began, Skyfire Sacred Hands knew that she had not heeded his words.

The red-dressed girl had deliberately opened the mouth of the cauldron, allowing everyone to see the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid’s refinement process. It was an action not typically done by alchemists.

Skyfire Sacred Hands shook his head but did not say anything. Since these people had doubted the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s heritage, they needed to be enlightened. If they weren’t, they would continue to be frogs in the well, thinking that their alchemical skills were peerless.

“She actually opened the mouth!”

“This will result in the array within the cauldron to be a little incomplete. It will make the refinement of the medicinal essence even harder. What arrogance.”

The alchemists present gave their commentary, which the red-dressed girl ignored. She said, “Since it’s the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid, let me refine a Jade Spirit Pill!”

As the red-dressed girl spoke, an icy-blue flame emerged in her palm. When the flame burned, it did not have any heat to it. Instead, it effused a coldness.

The red-dressed girl casually flicked her finger, sending the flame into the cauldron. Following that, she threw the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid in.

Her fingers began to move as she produced seals at a rapid pace. These seals surrounded the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid, imprinting themselves deep within it.

As such, the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid was slowly enveloped by the icy-blue flame.

Through the mouth of the cauldron, people were able to see the refinement process of the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid clearly. Strangely, when the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid was enveloped by the flame, it did not seem to heat up. Instead, a thin layer of frost formed on its surface.

The frost layer grew thicker until it completely covered the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid. From what the crowd could see, it was like a piece of ice burning within a cauldron.

After about fifteen minutes, a marvelous scene occurred. The Jadeflame Immortal Orchid that was sealed in ice began melting slowly within.

After another five minutes, the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid melted into a pale red liquid. It was crystalline and shimmered. Being sealed in ice, it looked extremely beautiful.

It seemed that the red-dressed girl’s process of herbal essence extraction was a great success. It was even more complete than the extraction process Guiyuan Zhen had figured out!

“How… How is this possible? Is it that simple? Just let it burn in the fire directly. Why is this fire so icy-cold…?” Guiyuan Zhen muttered.

Jadeflame Immortal Orchid possessed an extremely volatile fire-elemental attribute. It exploded upon contact with fire but the red-dressed girl had used a flame that effused an icy-cold aura to seal the volatile herbal essence in ice. She actually had such a flame?

“I know! I know! That’s Extreme Frost-ice Flame! There are records in books of it; it’s a spiritual flame born in the core regions of an ice mountain for hundreds of millions of years. It is formless and traceless, making it extremely difficult to find. You actually have such a flame!?” Guiyuan Zhen suddenly said as though he had lost his soul.

The red-dressed girl had produced the Extreme Frost-ice Flame the moment she was asked to demonstrate her skills? He had only seen records of such a flame in books, and this was the first time seeing it in person!

“At least you are knowledgeable. Yes, it’s the Extreme Frost-ice Flame! This Extreme Frost-ice Flame is indeed hard to come by. It wasn’t easy, even for my Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect, to obtain. However, the ancestors of my Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect have alchemical sages. One found an ice mountain as big as a star in an extremely cold land that had been sealed in ice for a billion years. He bored right to the ice mountain’s core and spent decades seeking a lantern of Extreme Frost-ice Flame!”

“Extreme Frost-ice Flame is not a lone flame. Although obtaining one is rare, it has a special attribute of being able to nurture more. With a mother flame, child flames can be nurtured. Extreme Frost-ice Flame’s mother flame has been nurtured in my Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect for tens of millions of years. It is controlled by the Grand Elder. Although the flame I have is a child flame produced from the mother flame, it’s still enough to refine a Jadeflame Immortal Orchid. Therefore, when you mentioned that Jadeflame Immortal Orchid cannot be infused into pills, it left me puzzled. Why can’t it be infused? Isn’t it very simple?”

The red-dressed girl countered with a question. Her smile made Guiyuan Zhen’s face flush red.

He pointed at the red-dressed girl but could not say a word. What else could he say?

He had gone through countless experiments before chancing upon a method to infuse Jadeflame Immortal Orchids into pills. Yet, his life’s work had become a joke in the eyes of others.

That was the underlying bedrock a super refinement sect established itself upon. To them, such things did not need researching. It was easily resolved with the knowledge stemming from the bedrock.

Extreme Frost-ice Flame… As long as one was a core disciple, one would obtain an Extreme Frost-ice Flame. So how hard could it be to infuse the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid into a pill? Just sealing the volatile fire-elemental attribute in ice would do!

1190 - : Bedrock

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Hey old senior, I have already refined the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid, so do I need to finish refining the Jade Spirit Pill?”

Despite knowing that she had smacked Guiyuan Zhen in the face, she continued to show no mercy. She deliberately ridiculed Guiyuan Zhen by emphasizing the words ‘old senior.’

Guiyuan Zhen’s expression turned pale. He froze in his spot like a sculpture, having no way to pose a rebuttal.

It was like a scholar having prepared an embroidered piece of literature, hoping to compete with a rival in the field. Yet he suddenly realized his rival was an eminent scholar who had tomes of classic literature in his cabinets. All of a sudden, his embroidered literature was nothing but scrap paper in the eyes of his rival.

Guiyuan Zhen felt the sting of instant defeat. The recipe he was proud of was as ordinary as any other in the eyes of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect.

“What bullies! This isn’t a display of alchemical skill. It was all about the flame being better than ours. What sort of heritage is that? How dare she label us as nouveau riche? They are the ones that are nouveau riche!”

Zhang Xiaotian was infuriated. It was supposed to be a discussion of technique, but it ended up being the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect showcasing the foundations the sect enjoyed. It made Guiyuan Zhen, and all the doctors and alchemists present, feel their faces tingle with pain. It felt like they had been literally slapped in the face.

Although the red-dressed girl had asked Guiyuan Zhen the question, her arrogant gaze swept over everyone’s faces.

She obviously knew that Guiyuan Zhen had only taken center stage to represent the doctors and alchemists of Myriad City. Many of them were not convinced of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect.

“Oh? You say that this isn’t an alchemical skill?” The red-dressed girl suddenly looked at Zhang Xiaotian. His angry grumbles had been caught by the red-dressed girl amid the noisy crowd.

“Then, what alchemical skills do you have? Feel free to demonstrate them. I can compete with you without using the Extreme Frost-ice Flame. If you can do something that I can’t, I am willing to admit defeat!” The red-dressed girl said as she looked at Zhang Xiaotian.

Zhang Xiaotian momentarily fell silent. Seeing the many gazes trained on him, his face gradually flushed red.

Although he had spoken in a fit of anger, he didn’t have the confidence to compete with the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s genius in a competition of pure skill, barring any foundational advantages.

Seeing Zhang Xiaotian shrink back, the red-dressed girl gave a contemptuous smile. The smile seemed to stab at Zhang Xiaotian.

“People without true ability are only sitting here to make up the numbers. To think they, in their mediocrity, have the nerve to be envious of geniuses.” The red-dressed girl said as she looked up into the sky.

“Enough, Yue’er. Sit down!” Skyfire Sacred Hands spoke. They came from the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect after all. They naturally needed to conduct themselves like a large and respectable sect.

It was enough to let these people know how formidable they were. Skyfire Sacred Hands had no interest in figuratively slapping the faces of these ordinary doctors and alchemists.

“Hmph!” The red-dressed girl gave an insufferably arrogant glance at Zhang Xiaotian and Guiyuan Zhen before withdrawing her cauldron and returning to her seat.

The color of Zhang Xiaotian’s face oscillated between red and white. His entire body trembled with rage.

After a while, he shook his head wryly. “Whatever. I’m inferior.”

In fact, there were many people who shared in Zhang Xiaotian’s humiliation. The last words the red-dressed girl said were not only directed at Zhang Xiaotian.

But in the end, they had no superior alchemical skills they could use to prove themselves. That was what humiliated them the most.

At that moment, Pavilion Lord Si broke the ice. “Since everyone is already so eager to try, why don’t I bring out the infected disciples of my Myriad Immortal Pavilion now, and let all the doctors diagnose them?”

Since it was a medical diagnosis, there was naturally no need for a particular order. Everyone could diagnose the symptoms, and from there see who could come up with a cure.

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion had prepared rewards for the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet. The doctors and alchemists present all knew about them, but Pavilion Lord Si repeated them again.

“Whosoever finds the cure to this plague will be allowed to choose any one of the many treasures my Myriad Immortal Pavilion has prepared.”

Boxes were taken out carefully by more than ten beautiful female attendants. They carried them over and stood behind Pavilion Lord Si in a line.

As Pavilion Lord Si mentioned the various treasures, a female attendant would open the corresponding box, revealing the spiritual treasures that effused rich spiritual energies.

And when Pavilion Lord Si mentioned ‘Soul Returning Root’, Yi Yun’s pupils constricted.

Soul Returning Root!

The Soul Returning Root was added by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion into the mix as bait. And Yi Yun had come here precisely for the Soul Returning Root.

Upon seeing the Soul Returning Root in the box, Yi Yun felt his heart burn. The Soul Returning Root was even better than the one Ru’er’s father had obtained. It was of even better quality.

After mentioning the Soul Returning Root, Pavilion Lord Si momentarily paused.

He naturally knew the uses of the Soul Returning Root. In fact, before the plague became full-blown, they had already begun searching for it. However, it was unrealistic to use the Soul Returning Root to attract Yi Yun to such a busy event. In the grand scheme of things, it was purely a reward.

As Pavilion Lord Si’s voice faded, more than ten Myriad Immortal Pavilion geniuses stood on the stage. One of them was Si Shaoyu.

The moment Si Shaoyu reached the stage, he cast a fervent look at Skyfire Sacred Hands and his disciples.

Back when the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect first arrived, he expressed his hopes for Skyfire Sacred Hands to diagnose him. Yet, he had been rejected. He had anxiously waited for the day the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet began.

Upon seeing the Myriad Immortal Pavilion geniuses appear, a few disciples from the large sects could not help but break out into a discussion. The Myriad Immortal Pavilion was truly eager. However, since they were the ones hosting the meet, it was only normal that their geniuses were the first to be treated.

As for the geniuses from the other sects, they had to pay the price when their time came. They would need to convince the doctor that had found the cure to treat them.

After the recent display, many people from these factions turned their attention to the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. They placed their hopes on Skyfire Sacred Hands.

“Everyone, please begin,” said Pavilion Lord Si.

Zhang Xiaotian widened his eyes as he stared at the infected youths on the stage. In fact, he had long been attempting to find a cure, but to no avail.

However, after feeling stifled from the turn of events, he refused to give up hope and went onstage to take a look. After using his Yuan Qi to probe a body, he returned dejectedly. He shook his head and said, “Sigh, I can only tell that they have been enervated of their Yuan Qi and that they have weak bodies. I can’t even guess the cause of the illness.”

The other doctors and alchemists had also made prior attempts. They had completely given up. They came only to witness the grand meet. In the end, it was the alchemists and doctors from other territories that went up to take a look. Some of them shook their heads helplessly while others pondered with furrowed brows.

The cause of the plague could only be detected by the patriarchs of these factions. It was difficult for these doctors and alchemists to even find the cause.

Upon seeing this play out, many factions were somewhat disappointed. Although they held little hopes for these doctors and alchemists, they had wished for a sliver of luck. Now, from the looks of it, the plague was too odd. If the cause of the illness could not be found, how were they to treat it?

1191 - : Meeting the Soul Returning Root Again

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the various alchemists began diagnosing the plague, the red-dressed girl from the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect came forward as well. She circled an infected genius as her beautiful brows furrowed slightly.

Previously, she had presented the alchemical formability of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. Now, she wanted to give the local doctors and alchemists another reminder of the difference in capability between them and the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect.

However, no matter how much she studied the infected geniuses, she realized that she could not discern the cause of the illness. She could only tell that their Yuan Qi was being absorbed away by a particular thing.

“Junior Sister, can’t you find the cause?”

At that moment, the red-dressed girl’s six-fingered senior brother walked forward. He pressed down on an infected genius’s body with one hand as a special Yuan Qi immediately transmitted through his palm into the infected genius’s body. The Yuan Qi began swimming through the genius’s body.

The six-fingered man closed his eyes as though he was carefully investigating something.

Many people watched the geniuses from the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. Zhang Xiaotian whispered, “Let’s see if they can successfully find the cause.”

Although they were skilled in alchemy, it did not necessarily mean that their medical skills were also superior. The Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect was known for its expertise in alchemy and medicine, but alchemy was its mainstay.

The red-dressed girl had failed to make a diagnosis. As time passed, many people began to realize that Six-Fingers probably couldn’t make one either. They believed that he did not want to embarrass the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect, so all he did was stand there with his eyes closed as an act.

If he could not tell at once, what difference would more time make?

But suddenly, Six-Fingers opened his eyes and, with a serious tone, said, “I sensed it.”

He figured it out!?

Zhang Xiaotian was depressed. Did he really figure it out?

Many doctors present had similar reactions to Zhang Xiaotian’s. After all, they had made attempts themselves.

“My Yuan Qi flows through unimpeded through the patient’s body, but once it enters the dantian, it feels like it sinks into the ocean, never to reappear.”

The moment Six-Fingers said that, someone could not help but say, “There’s no need for you to tell us that. Everyone knows that. If that’s all you managed to sense, didn’t you take a little too long?”

People still held a grudge with Six-Fingers for delegating a young junior like the red-dressed girl to smack all the faces of the alchemists and doctors present. Upon hearing that he had only figured out one simple thing after such a long period of time, someone was immediately ready to deride him.

Six-Fingers remained composed, as though he had not heard the remark. He continued saying slowly, “Yue’er, I believe you have sensed that too. You should have also sensed that something is sucking the Yuan Qi away.”

“That’s right.” The red-dressed girl nodded.

“I also sensed a very sinister energy. There is likely an evil entity inside this person. However, the specifics of the problem will have to be left to Master.” Six-Fingers said as he bowed at Skyfire Sacred Hands.

Upon hearing this, Yi Yun stroked his chin. The Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect was still rather skilled. For a junior to tell that it was an evil entity… that was something only mighty figures in Myriad City could do. However, despite being able to diagnose the problem, Six-Fingers did not know how to cure it.

Six-Fingers’s words stunned everyone present. And, at that moment, Pavilion Lord Si said, “As expected of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. For a young genius to be able to tell that it is possession by an evil spirit. That’s correct. I have done a diagnosis myself, and it is indeed the possession of an evil spirit.”

At that moment, Zhang Xiaotian’s expression changed completely. They had failed to beat the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect at alchemy, and now they were also inferior to them in medical skills. This feeling of being completely surpassed was terrible.

At that moment, the red-dressed girl clapped and said with a smile, “Senior Brother, you are truly awesome. I have only studied the art for eighty years, and it’s truly not enough time to hone my skills. I’m nothing compared Senior Brother who has studied the art for nearly two centuries.”

Although her words seemed to be aimed at herself, she had deliberately glared at the people present with a smug look. It was only normal that she could not make a proper diagnosis, having only studied for eight decades. However, there were many people present that had cultivated for tens of thousands of years, yet they were inferior to her senior brother.

“Skyfire Sacred Hands, since your disciples have managed to diagnose the problem, I believe you have long figured it out. Please begin the treatment.” Pavilion Lord Si said to Skyfire Sacred Hands.

Skyfire Sacred Hands nodded, and he floated to the high stage.

Upon seeing Skyfire Sacred Hands about to personally take action, Si Shaoyu felt excited. He hurriedly said, “Sacred Hands truly has accomplished disciples, that no doubt owe their accomplishments to their great teacher. The Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect lives up to its name. For me to welcome Sacred Hands that day was my honor. I welcomed a savior to Myriad City.”

Si Shaoyu yearned to be the first one treated. After Si Yusheng was maimed, he was the one with the highest talent in Myriad Immortal Pavilion. Therefore, his illness was the worst thing for the sect, and he was also the one that fell into the greatest despair.

Looking at Skyfire Sacred Hands, he felt he had finally seen the life-saving straw. He could not wait any longer.

Skyfire Sacred Hands glanced at him. This genius from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had previously described the symptoms in detail, so he naturally remembered him.

“In that case, let’s begin with you.” Skyfire Sacred Hands said.

Si Shaoyu watched with delight as Skyfire Sacred Hands walked in front of him. However, the latter did not even touch him. All he did was stand there as Yuan Qi automatically suffused, enveloping Si Shaoyu.

As the Yuan Qi fluctuated, Skyfire Sacred Hands nodded and said, “Indeed, it’s as my disciples said. The reason why you are unable to cultivate and feel extremely weak is that there is an evil spirit within your body.”

“Then, does Sacred Hands have any treatment he can administer?” Si Shaoyu quickly asked.

The people present pricked their ears. For Skyfire Sacred Hands’s disciples to successfully diagnose the cause, it was almost natural that Skyfire Sacred Hands had a cure.

Skyfire Sacred Hands pondered for a moment and said, “The evil spirit has already fused with your dantian. To remove it, there are two methods. First, we could temporarily suppress it, but that would require poisonous medicine. It would cause quite a bit damage to your dantian. Furthermore, this method might only suppress it for a few decades to a century or so. It doesn’t cure the problem at its root.”

“The other method is to do it in one go, but it is indeed a little troublesome.”

There was indeed a cure! Furthermore, he had proposed two in one go!

People were excited. The plague had troubled Myriad City for about half a year. Nearly all the factions suffered from it. Now that there was finally a solution, how could they remain calm?

Even Yi Yun was interested. Skyfire Sacred Hands’s ability to suppress the evil spirit was within Yi Yun’s expectations. However, he was surprised that Skyfire Sacred Hands was able to remove the evil spirit in one go.

Yi Yun was able to destroy the demonic servants because the Azure Wood Divine Tree was their bane. As for Skyfire Sacred Hands, where was he to get an Azure Wood Divine Tree?

“Of course, it has to be done in one go.” Si Shaoyu repressed his feelings and said.

1192 - : Two Methods

CKtalon  CKtalon

Si Yusheng said exactly what everyone was thinking. If there was a solution available that would fix the problem all at once, who would only want to suppress the evil spirit?

“It’s impressive that Skyfire Sacred Hands has already devised a way to cure the problem at its source. It seems these treasures already have an owner. Skyfire Sacred Hands, please tell us about your method.” Pavilion Lord Si said as he gave a faint smile.

The Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect was specially invited by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, and it had not disappointed Pavilion Lord Si. After the matter was resolved, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would enjoy a great rise in reputation in Myriad City. Everything was heading in a direction that Pavilion Lord Si looked forward to.

He nonchalantly glanced at City Lord Qin, the Guiyuan family, the Paradise Chapter, and the Bai family. After today, he could become the sole voice of authority in the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. In time, he would annex these other factions and they would cease to exist.

At that moment, Skyfire Sacred Hands slowly spoke to the excited crowd.

“There’s no hurry. Let me give it a try first,” said Skyfire Sacred Hands.

He flipped his palm, revealing a red pill. It seemed to be suffusing blood.

Yi Yun took a glance and noticed that it contained rich Yuan Qi, but it had a very inflammatory nature. It was not necessarily easy to absorb.

He recalled the information in the divine alchemist’s notes and confirmed that it was a Blood Yuan Pill.

The pill could stimulate one’s life potential upon consumption, but it had substantial side effects. It would make a warrior extremely weak. If two were taken consecutively, they might even suffer a drop in cultivation realms.

As for warriors who lacked sufficient strength, they would not even be able to withstand the inflammatory Yuan Qi. Their fate would be death by explosion.

“Take this pill first.” Skyfire Sacred Hands handed the pill to Si Shaoyu.

Si Shaoyu looked at the pill and could sense the strong inflammatory medicinal essence within. However, the moment he recalled Skyfire Sacred Hands mentioning that it could cure the problem at its root, he moved past hesitation and immediately took it, steeling his heart to swallow it down.

Once Si Shaoyu consumed the pill, his skin rapidly reddened. Even his eyes got red, as they began filling with blood. His body trembled involuntarily. Skyfire Sacred Hands wore a calm expression as he flipped his palm again, producing long needles that were formed from the Skyfire that beamed from his eyes.

Skyfire Sacred Hands stabbed the needles into Si Shaoyu’s body, giving him a fright. Yet he did not feel any pain. Instead, the needles dazzled with a bright luster as the Skyfire contained within rapidly traversed all the meridians in his body.

The violent Yuan Qi of the pill was immediately attenuated by the Skyfire.

In a few seconds, Skyfire Sacred Hands had stabbed more than a dozen needles into Si Shaoyu’s body. These needles were connected to the Skyfire and were controlled by Skyfire Sacred Hands.

He moved his fingers rapidly as they effused a faint luster. As for the violent Yuan Qi, it was directed to the dantian along with the Skyfire.

“This Skyfire of mine is the nemesis of evil entities. It is a viable option for this particular problem,” said Skyfire Sacred Hands.

Large amounts of Skyfire and Yuan Qi cascaded into Si Shaoyu’s dantian, instantly making the internals of his dantian burn.

Si Shaoyu felt a burning in his abdomen, as though he was being constantly pricked by needles. Large beads of sweat oozed from his forehead. Furthermore, the furnace within his abdomen only burned more intensely. Like a ball, it deflated and bulged.

“Sacred… Sacred Hands, is this… normal?” Si Shaoyu asked with great difficulty.

He was suffering from excruciating pain, and he could hardly withstand the pain from his dantian.

“This evil spirit is too stubborn. I have already provided you with great amounts of Yuan Qi through the pill so as to protect your dantian. There’s no need to worry,” remarked Skyfire Sacred Hands.

However, there was a sinister darkness coming from deep in his eyes.

The evil spirit had not died despite being burned by his Skyfire.

If he increased the power of his Skyfire he might be able to burn the evil spirit to death, but it would also result in irreparable damage to Si Shaoyu’s dantian. However, he couldn’t just give up there and then. Otherwise, all of his efforts until then would have been wasted.

Skyfire Sacred Hands snorted coldly as he resolutely strengthened the Skyfire. He refused to believe that he wasn’t able to burn the evil spirit to death.

At the same time, Si Shaoyu’s body turned completely red. His eyes protruded and blood began seeping out of his pores. He was clearly in great pain.

“Ah! Ah! Ah!” Si Shaoyu let out a tragic scream as his body convulsed violently. “I… I can’t take it any longer… My… my dantian… is about to crack.”

“So noisy!”

Skyfire Sacred Hands was already irrevocably committed and now, with Si Shaoyu wailing, he became flustered. He was certain that if he strengthened the Skyfire and maintained it for about half a minute, the evil spirit would definitely be consumed by it. But similarly, Si Shaoyu’s dantian would likely be reduced to ash.

“Hmph! What a good-for-nothing!”

Skyfire Sacred Hands withdrew the Skyfire, as well as the flame needles, from Si Shaoyu’s body.

However, the moment the needles were withdrawn, Skyfire Sacred Hands’ expression changed. The instant he withdrew his flame, the evil spirit that had been repressed by the Skyfire and was on the brink of death suddenly had a resurgence. In a few seconds, it consumed all the remnant Skyfire in Si Shaoyu’s dantian.

After consuming the Skyfire, the evil spirit clearly recovered some of its vibrancy. It also recovered more than half of the burn wounds from the Skyfire.

What!?

Skyfire Sacred Hands’ expression stiffened. When he withdrew the Skyfire and needles, their effects were immediately halved.

Skyfire Sacred Hands was starting to believe that, through multiple sessions, he would be able to restrain the evil spirit for decades or even more than a century. But from the looks of it, the evil spirit would completely recover from a treatment after a few months! Even if he did conduct multiple treatments, there was no way to curb its growth. It might even be that, before the evil spirit was killed, the human vessel would first be crippled.

The problem was this tough?

Skyfire Sacred Hands’ expression turned ugly. In a moment, with the Skyfire suddenly vanishing, Si Shaoyu’s dantian went from turmoil to tranquility. The change was so drastic that he could not adapt to it. With a tragic cry, he fell to the ground. Sweat mixed with blood as both seeped out incessantly from his pores.

The thousands of people present had been paying full attention to this scene. Many members of the upper echelons of large factions had the ability to detect the existence of the evil spirit. They could clearly sense that, although the evil spirit had weakened slightly, it was still far from being exterminated.

As for Si Shaoyu, he felt nearly half of his life burn away in an instant. During the treatment, he had experienced unfathomable pain.

“Sacred Hands, how effective was the treatment?” Pavilion Lord Si asked with a heavy heart. He had a guess but he asked anyway, hoping that he would be given a pleasant surprise.

“This evil spirit is extremely stubborn. Although I attacked at its weakest point, your esteemed sect’s disciple has too low a tolerance. He is unable to withstand the power of my Skyfire,” Skyfire Sacred Hands said coldly, pushing all responsibility on Si Shaoyu.

Although Si Shaoyu had slumped to the ground, he was still conscious. Upon hearing Skyfire Sacred Hands’s words, he could not help but feel a bitter pain.

He had a low tolerance? He first consumed an inflammatory pill that stimulated his life’s potential, then had Skyfire directly burn his dantian. Even Supremacies would probably peel off a layer of skin from the pain, much less him!

Was he really to blame?

Pavilion Lord Si frowned slightly. He believed that Skyfire Sacred Hands would be able to resolve the matter easily. But now, from the looks of it, no solution had been found.

If Skyfire Sacred Hands could not resolve it immediately, was there any hope for these infected geniuses?

“Skyfire Sacred Hands, about this…”

Skyfire Sacred Hands fell silent for a moment before saying, “It doesn’t matter. For there is another reason why the evil spirit isn’t burned to death by Skyfire.”

“Oh? What is that reason?” asked Pavilion Lord Si.

Skyfire Sacred Hands said, “The reason why the evil spirit cannot be killed is that the source of the problem isn’t the evil spirit itself. To put things right once and for all, one has to treat the problem at its source. Young Master Si Shaoyu, I heard you mention before that the plague of Myriad City started from one person, named Dong Xiaowan. Dong Xiaowan had entered a ruin and brought out the evil spirit, spreading it to the geniuses of Myriad City. Isn’t that so?” asked Skyfire Sacred Hands.

Yi Yun was still curious as to how Skyfire Sacred Hands would be able to find a solution, but upon hearing what he had to say, Yi Yun immediately frowned. His cold eyes landed straight on Si Shaoyu.

“That’s right! It’s her! If not for her, why would there be a plague?” Si Shaoyu was in such great pain that he could not speak. Another infected genius of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion shouted in anger.

Below the stage, many factions began engaging in a flurry of discussion, especially the infected geniuses.

Upon hearing such talk, Yi Yun’s gaze turned colder.

Skyfire Sacred Hands raised his hand to stop the discussion. He said calmly, “Dong Xiaowan is the origin, since she brought the evil spirit out. The evil spirit must be just like the Extreme Frost-ice Flame of my Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. It can give birth to many other evil spirits, and those ended up possessing other Myriad City geniuses.”

“The most viable plan at present is to seek out Dong Xiaowan and then extract the evil spirit from her body. By using that evil spirit as the principal medicine, we can refine a cauldron of pills for the infected. Then, the illness will be cured!”

Skyfire Sacred Hands’s voice resounded throughout the tiny world.

The moment his voice faded, the crowd broke into a tumultuous uproar. As they happily discussed, Yi Yun’s face flashed with killing intent. Finding Dong Xiaowan and using the evil spirit within her as principal medicine? This method most certainly did not end with Dong Xiaowan’s life being preserved. Skyfire Sacred Hands had failed to eliminate the evil spirit, so he likely did not have any means to extract the evil spirit without harming the human vessel.

“Skyfire Sacred Hands, you’re right. However, that slut, Dong Xiaowan has been brought away by a man. Capturing her won’t be easy.” Someone from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion spoke out.

Pavilion Lord Si sighed slightly. He said coldly, “A monk may run away but not his temple! My Myriad Immortal Pavilion will send troops to capture Dong Shaoqing and force him to tell us his daughter’s whereabouts.”

Although Jadewave Sect had moved, how could a sizable sect move without being seen by others? The new location of the Jadewave Sect could be found with a simple investigation.

“Third Elder, Fifth Elder, Seventh Elder, take some people and storm the Jadewave Sect. Capture Dong Shaoqing. It doesn’t matter if he’s crippled, but he has to be alive.”

Pavilion Lord Si gave the order. At that moment, a few Elders immediately stood up to carry out the order. They acted without delay, for they wanted to take action to prevent Dong Shaoqing from hiding after hearing the news.

Seeing as the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was about to besiege the Jadewave Sect, Yi Yun could no longer watch idly by the side. He stood right up and walked straight to where the Myriad Immortal Pavilion and Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect were.

1193 - : Principal Herb

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh? Brother Lin Yun, what…”

Zhang Xiaotian suddenly saw Yi Yun stand up and was momentarily baffled. But soon, he saw Yi Yun walk towards Pavilion Lord Si and Skyfire Sacred Hands.

Pavilion Lord Si was still delivering his orders at that moment, so when he saw Yi Yun come forward, he was somewhat surprised. He recalled Yi Yun’s status and said, “You are the doctor invited here by the City Lord administration?”

Pavilion Lord Si and Qin Zhengyang did not have a harmonious relationship, so he naturally had a bad impression of a doctor invited by the City Lord. In his mind, the entire meet was held for the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. The rest were just there to make up the numbers.

“Why did you come forward? Time had been allotted for all of you to make a diagnosis. Now that Skyfire Sacred Hands has found a solution to cure the plague at its roots, there’s no longer any need for you,” Pavilion Lord Si said patiently; however, he really wanted to slap such an improper person to death.

Yi Yun completely ignored Pavilion Lord Si. He looked directly at Skyfire Sacred Hands and asked, “I’m very curious, how did you make the judgment that the Myriad City plague stemmed from Dong Xiaowan?”

Skyfire Sacred Hands frowned. He had no interest in conversing with this stranger. If any pedestrian person could just come forward and question his conclusions, what was the point of his prestige?

“Pavilion Lord Si, please chase away anyone that is here to cause trouble.”

“Men!” Pavilion Lord Si shouted coldly. A few guardians of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion rushed to the square, ready to take down Yi Yun.

Suddenly, a cold bellow resounded through the crowd—

“Mr. Lin is a guest of mine. I dare anyone to touch him!”

Qin Zhengyang stepped forward as he spoke. He came in front of Yi Yun and instantly, there was a surge of contained, immense nomological aurae. It stifled everyone’s breathing slightly. Qin Zhengyang’s strength was not to be doubted.

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s guardians were stunned in their places. They did not dare take action.

Pavilion Lord Si’s expression sunk. “Qin Zhengyang, what are you doing? Today, I have used riches that my Myriad Immortal Pavilion has been amassing to gather renowned doctors from around the world, all in order to cure the young elites of Myriad City. Why then, do you want to cause trouble, preventing the elites of Myriad City from being treated?”

With a single statement, Pavilion Lord Si forced Qin Zhengyang into a position of opposing the interests of Myriad City. In response, Qin Zhengyang laughed out loudly, “Si Shanhe, don’t speak in such a pompous manner. We all know what your plans are. I’m just stating that if someone dares touch Mr. Lin, I, Qin Zhengyang, will immediately lose all decorum with that party. No amount of past relations will help!”

Qin Zhengyang’s words, and their bold undertones, spread throughout the area. Even the Myriad Immortal Pavilion that had the absolute advantage did not dare act freely. Once Qin Zhengyang attacked without restraint, the enchanted artifact that powered the pocket world would be destroyed. It would be difficult to handle the mess that would ensue, and the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet would be completely wrecked.

At that moment, Skyfire Sacred Hands said, “Pavilion Lord Si, it seems I am not welcomed in Myriad City. In that case, fine. I’ll be leaving.”

Skyfire Sacred Hands believed that he had gone through enough of the niceties during his time in Myriad City. He had already tried his best to respect the Myriad City alchemists through his words and actions. He had even restrained his disciples, but the Myriad City alchemists continued with their arrogance. In that case, he decided to leave. After all, the plague was extremely tricky. Skyfire Sacred Hands was not absolutely confident that he could treat it. However, Skyfire Sacred Hands was aware that Myriad City would definitely not let him go easily.

Indeed, Pavilion Lord Si became nervous the moment he heard Skyfire Sacred Hands’s words. He had placed all his hopes on Skyfire Sacred Hands.

“Please wait, I’ll resolve this matter immediately.”

Pavilion Lord Si’s heart sank. He was ready to use force, but at that moment, Yi Yun laughed. “You can leave immediately if you want. Are you just threatening to leave to get them to keep you? Your acting is truly fake and laughable. From my point of view, you are nothing but a quack. After failing to find a cure, you came up with a ridiculous conclusion, saying that the source of the plague is Dong Xiaowan. As long as the principal herb is refined, the plague would be cured. What nonsense.”

“What did you say!?” Skyfire Sacred Hands was completely infuriated. He never expected to encounter someone in Myriad City who was so arrogant as to rebuke him straight to his face.

Wasn’t he a lofty figure? How could he be rebuked by a mere alchemist from Myriad City!?

This was not only limited to Skyfire Sacred Hands. Even the local alchemists from Myriad City were astounded. It was already astonishing enough that Qin Zhengyang had come forward to meddle in the situation. They never expected the far-from-handsome, middle-aged alchemist would act even more incredulously. He had shot down Skyfire Sacred Hands with his words!

Although everyone had felt repressed and aggravated by the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect mere moments ago, they never expected the man to be so harsh with his words. Zhang Xiaotian was even more astonished. He had grumbled incessantly, but the middle-aged man beside him remained silent. He thought him to be an honest and sincere man. One truly could not judge a book by its cover.

Skyfire Sacred Hands squinted at Yi Yun. There was a glint in his eyes. However, his red-dressed female disciple was not having any of this.

She suddenly came forward and shouted, “You hillbilly, how dare you insult my Martial Uncle? What a laughable toad stuck in the bottom of the well. How would you know how vast the world is?”

Upon hearing the red-dressed girl’s words, Yi Yun slanted his eyes at her. “A witless lass that can’t even tell the cause of the illness has the right to speak to me?”

“You!” The red-dressed girl’s face flushed red. She had always been placed on a pedestal by her fellow disciples in Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. Even outside the sect, she could hold her head high. When had she ever been mocked so publicly?

“You old fool, aren’t you ashamed to compare yourself with me? I have cultivated for less than a hundred years and am a genius disciple of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. I have a limitless future ahead of me. Yet, you compare the meager talent you gained from an unknown number of cultivation years with mine? Are you so proud of so little?”

The red-dressed girl was also eloquent and witty. After a short period of anger, she immediately retorted.

After she said that, Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox, who were beneath the stage, could not help but suffuse a faint smile. She could have said that to anyone else, but to Yi Yun, it became a joke.

“Enough! Yue’er!” Skyfire Sacred Hands cut the red-dressed girl off. He looked at Yi Yun and remarked, “Since you called me a quack, surely you must have some solution to this plague. Fine, let me see how you intend to cure this plague. But let me make one thing clear. Since you so boldly questioned me, I will make you pay the price if you cannot provide a reasonable solution!”

Skyfire Sacred Hands’ voice had an overbearing tone but Yi Yun did not mind. He turned to look at Pavilion Lord Si and said, “Pavilion Lord Si, I heard that all the treasures prepared for the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet are to be rewarded to the person that cures the plague. Is that so?”

Pavilion Lord Si pricked up his brow when he heard Yi Yun’s question. This punk must be mad, he thought. Does he really think he has found a solution to the plague? “Since you already know that, why the act? You can always try. If you can cure the illness, all these treasures will be yours. But if you can’t cure it, don’t blame me if I become ruthless!”

Yi Yun casually scanned the treasures on the long table, pausing momentarily at the Soul Returning Root.

Following that, he looked at all the infected geniuses and said, “Does anyone want to volunteer?”

Many of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s disciples were among the infected. Si Shaoyu’s dantian had experienced the flames of Skyfire moments ago and was heavily damaged. He was extremely weak and was now slumped in a chair. When he heard Yi Yun’s question, he sneered. Without restraint, he said, “Give him a chance. However, it’s just a way to justify punishing him. Does he really think he’s some big shot? The way he’s shouting like a madman, who would let him treat them?”

“That’s right, a quack can cause death. Even Skyfire Sacred Hands’s treatment caused Brother Shaoyu to suffer such heavy injuries. If this fool were to administer treatment, who knows what the outcome would be!”

Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s infected geniuses looked at Yi Yun, but no one was willing to come forward. Who would gamble with their own dantians?

Seeing as there was a unanimous decision to not volunteer, Si Shaoyu sneered. The impetuous man was faced with awkward silence.

However, what Si Shaoyu did not know was that Yi Yun was thankful for such a situation to play out. If a Myriad Immortal Pavilion genius were to come forward, he wouldn’t even want to treat them. How could he treat his enemy?

Yi Yun looked at the Guiyuan family and Paradise Chapter. These two sects were his allies. Of course, their alliance was still a secret. Only the upper echelons of the two sects knew of it.

At that moment, a young disciple of the Guiyuan family turned to look at Fairy Purple Rain’s carriage. He nodded and stood up.

“I’ll do it.” The disciple went to the stage. He stood together with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion infected. He wasn’t tall and his face was pale. He looked extremely thin and frail.

“Skyfire Sacred Hands.” Yi Yun looked at Skyfire Sacred Hands and said, “Please examine him first.”

Skyfire Sacred Hands grunted coldly. There was no need for him to make any detailed examinations. He could tell at a glance that an evil spirit possessed the disciple.

“You just focus on the treatment. This person is indeed infected by the plague. There is no need for you to engage in such pretense.”

Yi Yun ignored Skyfire Sacred Hands’ derision. He came in front of the Guiyan disciple and, with a gentle wave of his hand, the disciple floated up and was laid horizontally.

Following that, Yi Yun pressed one hand on the Guiyuan family disciple’s abdomen. The Azure Wood Divine Tree’s energy began circulating through Yi Yun’s body. Before he even began exerting his powers, the evil spirit within the young disciple’s dantian sensed it and was awakened.

“Huh!?”

Before Yi Yun even took action, Skyfire Sacred Hands had sensed the sudden movement of the evil spirit. What was going on? The evil spirit was clearly fused with the infected disciple. As long as his dantian was not destroyed, it would remain extremely safe. Why did it suddenly become anxious?

Skyfire Sacred Hands did not have the luxury of time to analyze the strange behavior at that moment, for the evil spirit suddenly let out a scream of terror. It rushed out of the dantian and desperately attempted to escape.

What!?

Skyfire Sacred Hands was alarmed. The evil spirit’s energy had been split into countless strands that filled the young man’s dantian. With it leaving so suddenly, the evil energy contained within the strands could not even be retracted. They directly broke!

What sort of horror did the evil spirit encounter for it to be this afraid?

Skyfire Sacred Hands was astounded. And at that moment, Yi Yun had extended his hand. The Azure Wood Divine Tree’s energy blasted out from his palm, as two thin veins flew out. The lush green veins had leaves of different shapes. Some were cauldrons, swords or trigrams. There was a divine charm contained in every leaf, infused with immense Yuan Qi essence.

The phantom image of the divine tree was seen by many, but they did not know what it was. The Azure Wood Divine Tree had existed a long time ago, and even if someone had seen it before, it was impossible that they would connect the divine tree phantom to the matured version of a seed produced by the Azure Wood Divine Tree. They only believed that it was a product of Yi Yun’s nomological powers.

“Whew! Whew!”

Two veins flew out and, like two orderly chains, they instantly imprisoned the evil spirit.

“Peng!”

With an explosion, the evil spirit was pulverized. All its energy was absorbed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s veins.

Yi Yun rubbed his palms and retracted his veins. He looked at the Guiyuan family disciple and said, “It’s over. You can get up.”

“What… what did you say?”

The Guiyuan family disciple was not even given time to react and yet, it was over?

He attempted circulating energy from his dantian and indeed, he sensed his strength returning. His withered dantian suddenly felt enriched by the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, making his abdomen feel a little pain. However, this pain made him euphoric.

“I’m really fine! Really!”

The thin man shouted in joy.

At that moment, the thousands of people present fell silent. This scene was too bizarre. There were even many who suspected that it wasn’t real.

“Who are you fooling!? How can it be that simple? Did the both of you conspire to put on an act!?” The red-dressed girl said mockingly. She refused to believe that the plague that confounded her martial uncle would be so easily resolved by someone else.

“Martial Uncle, such clumsy acting is truly…”

Just as the red-dressed girl was smiling and speaking to Skyfire Sacred Hands, her words came to a sudden halt. She saw Skyfire Sacred Hands’ face as gloomy as raven-black clouds. In her memory that spanned decades, she had never seen her martial uncle with such a terrible expression.

“Martial… Martial Uncle?”

“Shut up!” Skyfire Sacred Hands shouted coldly. His voice resounded, causing the red-dressed girl’s eardrums to buzz.

What was happening? Was the treatment real?

It wasn’t only Skyfire Sacred Hands. Si Shanhai had also clearly seen the evil spirit’s actions. How could something he saw with his own eyes be faked?

What had this unknown middle-aged man done?

“Pavilion Lord Si, Skyfire Sacred Hands, I have just taken action. Is my proof sufficient?”

Yi Yun returned with a question. Skyfire Sacred Hands and Pavilion Lord Si were at a complete loss for words. A ridiculous situation had unfolded just like that.

“In that case, I will gladly take these treasures!”

Without another word, he swept up all the treasures on the long table, sending them flying into his interspatial ring.

These treasures had protections guarding them, but Yi Yun easily destroyed the protective arrays, obtaining the treasures!

Yi Yun knew that there would be conflict today. He was planning on losing all decorum with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, so once the conflict began, he might not be able to obtain the treasures.

Before things got chaotic, it was best to collect the items first.

Rate Translation Quality

1194 - : Soul Returning Root in Hand

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You!?”

Upon seeing Yi Yun take all the treasures, Pavilion Lord Si glared at him in shock. Although the protections were cast upon the treasures in passing, they should not have been so easily destroyed. One would need deep nomological insight to remove them. The middle-aged man was a doctor, but did he really understand the laws so deeply? How did he manage to just sweep up all the treasures in such a simple manner?

“Hold on! The patient’s condition has not been ascertained. Isn’t it too early for you to claim all the rewards!?” Pavilion Lord Si shouted with a deep voice.

Each and every treasure had been painstakingly acquired by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, but now they had been swept away by Yi Yun. Not a single Myriad Immortal Pavilion genius had been treated, so how could this be allowed?

“You are free to ascertain the results. I’m not stopping you.”

Yi Yun did not mind. Even if Si Shanhai was unwilling to give him the treasures, he had truly found a cure for the plague. There was no reason for anyone to have a bone to pick with him.

Pavilion Lord Si could not say another word. He did promise in front of everyone that Yi Yun could take the treasures if he could cure the illness.

Given the development, Pavilion Lord Si could only attempt to beat Yi Yun at his own game. He exhaled and calmed down. He said to Yi Yun, “I never expected Mr. Lin to have such impressive skill. However, a single cured person isn’t convincing enough. It cannot fully prove Mr. Lin’s medical skills. Perhaps, for the sake of furthering my understanding, you prove it again?”

After Pavilion Lord Si said that, he turned his head to the infected geniuses of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion without waiting for Yi Yun’s response. He signaled to them with his eyes.

“I… I’ll do it…”

Si Shaoyu endured the excruciating pain from his dantian and shouted through clenched teeth. He knew that Pavilion Lord Si had deliberately said those words to get the Myriad Immortal Pavilion geniuses treated. If there was a chance to free himself from the evil hold of the illness, how could he not grasp the opportunity?

Although he had mocked Yi Yun moments before, it was not the time to bother with such matters.

With Si Shaoyu announcing his desire to be treated, the other Myriad Immortal Pavilion geniuses could only fall silent. After all, Si Shaoyu enjoyed a status higher than theirs. Letting him go first was only right.

“No hurry. That Lin-fellow isn’t going anywhere. It’s not like he can run away. We will be treated in time.”

“That’s right. Let’s let Si Shaoyu go first.”

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s infected were in no rush.

Si Shaoyu came in front of Yi Yun and took a deep breath. He wiped away the sweat that had oozed out his forehead due to the pain. He said, “Heal me. If you successfully heal me, I’ll believe that you have the ability to treat the plague.”

As he looked at Si Shaoyu, the corners of Yi Yun’s mouth suffused a curve. “Heal you? Sure!”

Yi Yun nonchalantly agreed and extended his finger. Si Shaoyu’s body floated up and was laid horizontally in midair.

At this moment, everyone was staring at Yi Yun intently. Previously, the crowd did not believe that Yi Yun was capable of healing the plague, so they had not paid him much attention. Now that they knew he was capable, they were all eyes.

Yi Yun pressed one hand on Si Shaoyu’s abdomen. The Azure Wood Divine Tree’s energy began circulating through and instantly, the evil spirit sleeping within Si Shaoyu’s dantian was awakened!

It naturally recognized Yi Yun. It was scared out of its wits and turned to flee. However, Yi Yun had taken that opportunity to deliver the Azure Wood energy by moving his fingers. He sealed Si Shaoyu’s dantian, causing the escaping evil spirit to be imprisoned within the dantian!

The Azure Wood energy was the natural nemesis of the evil spirit. It was obvious how seized by terror the evil spirit was when it felt trapped by the Azure Wood energy. It wailed incessantly and slammed around in Si Shaoyu’s dantian in a bid to escape. However, how could Yi Yun permit it to do so? As he produced more Dao runes, the prison became more secure!

The evil spirit struggled desperately, and in doing so it caused Si Shaoyu to suffer. His dantian became a battlefield.

He convulsed as sweat rained down his forehead. He felt all the blood drain from his face. As he had been enervated of his Yuan Qi, his body was frail. The suffering he underwent left him nearly half-dead.

“Is… is it not done…?”

Si Shaoyu was in unbearable pain. He felt as though his dantian was about to explode.

“What’s the rush? Your illness is a little tricky. It won’t be cured as quickly as the other one,” Yi Yun said casually as a barely detectable teasing tone suffused the corner of his lips. If he allowed the evil spirit to flee, wouldn’t Si Shaoyu be healed without any treatment? That wouldn’t do. Therefore, Yi Yun decided to imprison the evil spirit, preventing it from ever escaping Si Shaoyu’s dantian.

“Evil spawn! Listen up! There is no way you can escape the prison I set up. You are quite lucky that you possessed someone that disgusts me. You can have a feast in this dantian and, if you satisfy me, I will release you.”

Since the evil spirits were demonic servants, they naturally had some level of intelligence. Yi Yun had used his soul to transmit his thoughts; however, he wasn’t sure if the evil spirit could understand him.

Moments later, the evil spirit stopped struggling and no longer attempted to break through the Azure Wood energy restrictions.

And following that, there was a temporary calm. But suddenly, the evil spirit began wantonly lashing out within Si Shaoyu’s dantian.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

The evil spirit let out ghastly wails and there was an immediate and strong sinister squall. It released its malevolent strength, stirring up a storm in Si Shaoyu’s dantian.

“Ah!”

Si Shaoyu cried out tragically as he crashed to the ground and spat out a large mouthful of blood.

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun laughed in his heart. The evil spirit was quite remarkable. It knew what to do.

“You…you…”

Si Shaoyu gaped his mouth but could not finish a complete sentence. He pointed at Yi Yun as his nose and ears bled. At that moment, the pain made him wish he would immediately die.

“What’s the matter, Mr. Lin? I asked you to treat my grandnephew, but why did this happen?”

Seeing Si Shaoyu in such a state, Si Shanhe turned anxious.

Yi Yun threw up his hands and said, “Pavilion Lord Si, there is not much I can do. I’m not the only one who’s attempted to treat your grandnephew. His dantian has already been severely damaged by Skyfire Sacred Hands’s treatment. Although my treatment methods are good, they require an intact dantian to withstand them. Now that your grandnephew’s dantian is filled with holes like a beehive, it cannot withstand the energy I use to remove the plague. I apologize for my inability. I must also add that the evil spirit has become easily triggered because of Skyfire Sacred Hands’s pill. I recall that Dong Xiaowan had taken a Body Cleansing Pill, but not only did it not cleanse the evil spirit, it triggered it, causing her life to be at risk. Your grandnephew seems to be in a similar situation.”

In a few words, Yi Yun had pushed the blame onto Skyfire Sacred Hands.

As for Si Shaoyu, he was a tragedy. He was rolling on the ground in pain. He was also feeling horrified. The problematic spot was his dantian. If the evil spirit were to lose control, his dantian would be destroyed and he would be maimed of his cultivation!

1195 - : Pushing the Blame

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Sacred Hands, my… my dantian…” Si Shaoyu was at a complete loss. The pain he had experienced from Skyfire Sacred Hands burning his dantian was still vivid in his mind. It was truly an excruciating pain. He naturally suspected that his dantian had been injured as a result.

Now, he was deeply regretting that he had been treated by Skyfire Sacred Hands, and even hated him somewhat. However, he did not dare voice it because of the massive force the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect was.

This was not limited to Si Shaoyu. Everyone present was looking at Skyfire Sacred Hands. Instantly, people broke into a flurry of discussion.

“No wonder the evil spirit was stimulated. It’s because of the pill Skyfire Sacred Hands fed him. Mr. Lin is right. Previously, Dong Xiaowan had consumed a Body Cleansing Pill and the evil spirit was stimulated. Furthermore, Skyfire Sacred Hands’ pill is an inflammatory medicine!”

“It looks like Skyfire Sacred Hands was unable to cure the root of its problem but gave excessive treatment anyway, damaging Si Shaoyu’s dantian.”

“Now the Myriad Immortal Pavilion has really shot itself in the foot. The expert they invited from the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect almost caused them to lose Si Shaoyu.”

Many alchemists present were pleased to see the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect suffer. As for the Myriad Immortal Pavilion that always looked down on them, they didn’t get any sympathy. They were simply enjoying the show and hoping for it to get more exciting.

As for the other factions like the Guiyuan family, they were even more delighted. The crippling of a genius from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was definitely something worth celebrating.

At that moment, Skyfire Sacred Hands’s expression turned ugly as he was under the scrutiny of thousands of people. He had failed to cure the plague and the treasures had been all taken by Yi Yun. Now, because of his treatment, he ended up being accused. Skyfire Sacred Hands began to feel that his choice to come to the Myriad Divine Territory made him no different than an idiot.

The Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s heritage had not only failed to shine at the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet, but ended up being a joke. How could Skyfire Sacred Hands tolerate that?

He glared at Yi Yun, his eyes revealing a barely detectable intent to kill.

He believed Yi Yun was the one up to no good. He had been framed by Yi Yun, but he had no idea how Yi Yun had done it. Even if Yi Yun could cure the evil spirit, it was impossible for him to make the evil spirit obey his commands. If he could expel and stimulate it as he wished, wouldn’t that make him a god?

He definitely had a way to manipulate all of this!

It was a genuine fact that Yi Yun had treated the illness. There was no doubt that the evil spirit had been rid by his hand.

The second time, Yi Yun had treated Si Shaoyu and used the same azure-green energy. Skyfire Sacred Hands had watched carefully with his own eyes. But strangely, the same energy eliminated the evil spirit the first time but stimulated another evil spirit the second time. It was completely unbelievable.

“Martial Uncle, we… we…”

The red-dressed girl was somewhat at a loss. Although she was arrogant, she was still young. They had always enjoyed being placed on a pedestal, but now they were being repressed by many, and pointed at while people, who thought of them as jokes, wagged their tongues. Although she was unwilling to accept it, she was somewhat at a loss from this blow. She was unsure of how to counter the accusations.

She saw Yi Yun standing in front of her with his hands behind his back. There was a faint smile on his lips. Suddenly, she lost all her confidence. The man seemed unfathomable, like an ancient deep lake that had unexplorable depth.

It was the six-fingered youth beside her that maintained his calm. He transmitted his voice to Skyfire Sacred Hands and proposed his theory.

Skyfire Sacred Hands’s gaze turned heavy. Adding what his martial nephew had said and his own beliefs, he formed a hypothesis. Even if the hypothesis did not match reality, it was the only way for him to counterattack.

He suddenly took a step forward, towards Yi Yun. His aura surged as he attempted to repress Yi Yun.

“Lin Yun, is it? The way you administered treatment is indeed simple, as simple as waving your hand and eliminating the evil spirit. I’m very curious as to how you did it. Do you know medicine? Or it is alchemy? The Desolate Heaven technique? You don’t seem to be a renowned alchemist in the Myriad Divine Territory!”

Skyfire Sacred Hands acutely knew that if Yi Yun was truly famous, he would not have been sitting amongst the crowd. He would have been specially invited to sit in a seat of honor.

With Skyfire Sacred Hands saying that, all the alchemists of the Myriad Divine Territory were taken aback. Indeed, Yi Yun was an unknown. They had never seen him before.

How could an alchemist that suddenly appeared have such skills, capable of besting the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s Skyfire Sacred Hands so easily?

“I suspect…” Skyfire Sacred Hands came to a pause as his voice suddenly turned clear and loud, resounding through the entire area—

“I suspect that you are connected to the evil spirits!”

“Regarding this plague, you can control the evil spirits entrenched in the dantian as you please!”

“I heard that the evil spirits appeared from an ancient ruin. You might have been to the ancient ruin, or even hailed from that ancient ruin. You have a secret technique or particular treasure that allows you to control the evil spirits! It’s even possible that you’ve been rearing these evil spirits! That’s the only way to explain your sudden appearance and how you can easily solve a problem that has left so many alchemists and doctors helpless!”

Skyfire Sacred Hands’ words reverberated through the sky, with each word entering the ears of every person. It left everyone in a daze.

These evil spirits were reared by Lin Yun?

It sounded ridiculous at first, but what Skyfire Sacred Hands said made sense. The evil spirits that so many doctors and alchemists had failed to resolve, including Skyfire Sacred Hands himself, had been easily removed by Lin Yun, a doctor that had never been seen before. It was indeed somewhat unbelievable, and there might have been something suspicious about the whole thing.

“Lin Yun! You reared the evil spirits and infected the geniuses of Myriad City, spreading the plague. You plotted to deliberately cause panic and then appear at the highly anticipated meet, vanquishing the evil spirits. Then, you pushed the blame on me. As such, you would obtain large amounts of riches and the treasures prepared by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. You would gain both fame and wealth, but we would be like idiots, fooled by you!”

“Now, I want you to hand over the evil artifact or mystic technique that controls the evil spirits. Otherwise, don’t even think of leaving here today!”

Skyfire Sacred Hands was aggressive. If the evil spirits were really reared by Yi Yun, then the mystic technique to rear them was extremely valuable!

Although these evil spirits were unorthodox, they would have countless uses for the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. Whether it was using them to deal with their enemies, engage in evil schemes, or to earn riches, they were an excellent tool!

This mystic technique was something his Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect definitely wanted!

Even if there was no mystic technique, then framing Yi Yun would also redeem the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s and his reputations.

Skyfire Sacred Hands entertained all sorts of thoughts as he constantly used his aura to repress Yi Yun.

At that moment, Yi Yun had become the focus of the meet.

Although Skyfire Sacred Hands sounded like he had framed Yi Yun, to truly prove his words false seemed almost impossible.

“What the hell happened…?”

The alchemists of Myriad City were left baffled. There had been many twists and turns at the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet, so many that no one knew what the truth was anymore.

1196 - : Skyfire Sacred Hands’s Counterattack

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun looked at Skyfire Sacred Hands with a glint in his eyes. In fact, Skyfire Sacred Hands’s reasoning was not entirely unfounded. At least, he was right on two points. Yi Yun had been to the ancient ruin before, and he could technically control the evil spirits. The evil spirits had no choice but to listen because of how terrified they were of him.

“You are trying to force me to hand over the mystic technique that rears evil spirits so that the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect can use the spirits to commit atrocities, aren’t you? To think you speak in such a high and righteous manner. It’s disgusting. Unfortunately, your petty idea for a scheme has failed. These evil spirits are not reared by me. Nor do I have any mystic techniques that rear evil spirits.”

Yi Yun had clashed with Skyfire Sacred Hands at the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet, and him being able to withstand the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect was a miracle in itself.

“Stop engaging in sophistry! You old vile spawn! No wonder you were able to so easily subdue the evil spirit. It’s because an old demon like you reared them.” At that moment, the red-dressed girl suddenly came forward to curse Yi Yun.

Previously, she had been repressed by Yi Yun’s stance and felt a little lost. Now, seeing Skyfire Sacred Hands regain control of the situation, she regained her confidence.

“What insolence!” At that moment, a cold shout was heard. It contained immense energy fluctuations, for the speaker was none other than City Lord Qin. Ever since Yi Yun began quibbling with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, City Lord Qin had stood forward and was on the square.

“People that come from afar are guests. My Myriad City will naturally treat them with respect, but if they insist on going too far and speaking nonsense, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”

City Lord Qin’s voice was sharp and penetrating. How could the red-dressed girl hope to withstand his aura?

However, in an instant, Skyfire Sacred Hands stood in front of the red-dressed girl. He warded off the aura suppression from Qin Zhengyang.

Instantly, the red-dressed girl’s temper burned once again. She did not fear Qin Zhengyang, the Myriad City’s City Lord, in any way.

“Hmph! You are the City Lord, right? That’s pretty impressive. You say that I’m speaking nonsense, so let me ask you something. My Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s alchemical arts are peerless, with a heritage that has been handed down for tens of millions of years. We have produced two alchemical sages. How can the mediocre alchemists of the Myriad Divine Territory be able to match my Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect? How can it even be possible to casually cure a plague that even my Martial Uncle cannot deal with? If there is nothing amiss with this situation, I’ll eat my cauldron!” The red-dressed girl said loudly.

Instantly, all the alchemists of the Myriad Divine Territory were incensed. The red-dressed girl was too arrogant!

However, despite their anger, they knew deep down that the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s alchemical heritage was much better than their Myriad Divine Territory’s, even if they could not stand the way the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect acted so high and mighty.

Upon hearing the red-dressed girl’s words, Yi Yun revealed a teasing smile. “Eating a cauldron? That’s an interesting thought. Since you are so confident in your Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s alchemical skills, I’ll like to put them to the test. You seem to be able to extract the medical essence of the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid. I happen to have a herb here. Do you want to try? Will you be able to extract the medical essence from this herb? If you can’t extract it, why don’t you eat that cauldron of yours?”

“Hmph! Do you think I’m a fool? I’ve cultivated for less than a hundred years. To think that an old vile spawn like you that has lived for an unknown number of years even has the nerve to provoke me? If you take out some odd herb that grows in heretic lands, one that I have never seen in my life, how would I be able to extract its medical essence?”

Yi Yun said with a smile, “What’s that? Are you already afraid? This herb of mine isn’t some heretic herb. Here in Myriad City, there are many alchemists that can extract its medical essence. Yet, you don’t dare to take up the challenge?”

“What?” The red-dressed girl furrowed her brows. She refused to believe that she could not deal with a herb that many alchemists in Myriad City could deal with.

“Hmph! If it’s as you say, why should I have any fear? I accept your challenge! However, let’s make the terms of our bet clear. What happens if I manage to extract it?” The red-dressed girl retorted.

“If you can extract it, I’ll admit to anything any one of you has said.”

“I’ll mark your words.” The red-dressed girl was filled with fighting spirit. She was not good at curing plagues but in terms of alchemy, she was filled with confidence.

Instantly, it felt like both parties were ready to jump at each other’s throats. Everyone looked at Yi Yun and waited for him to produce the herb.

They were curious. How could an herb be extractable by many people in Myriad City, but not by a genius of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect?

“This is it.”

As Yi Yun said, he took out a pale-red herb. When everyone saw it, their eyes widened immediately.

Isn’t… isn’t that Flame Grass?

Flame Grass was an extremely common spirit herb. It might not even be considered an actual spirit herb, but a plain herb that had some heat. The medical essence in it could be extracted by a beginner student of medicine, much less any proper alchemist. Compared to the Jadeflame Immortal Orchid, it was like day and night.

“Haha, this is what you are using as a challenge? What a joke. Is that all the alchemists of the Myriad Divine Territory know? Yet you dare compete with me in alchemy?” The red-dressed girl said contemptuously. However, she heard Skyfire Sacred Hands’s Yuan Qi transmission boom—

“Yue’er, do not underestimate your opponent. He is extremely conniving. This Flame Grass might be some sort of trap. It’s imperative that you do your best.”

Skyfire Sacred Hands narrowed his eyes at Yi Yun. If this person was able to subdue the evil spirit, there was definitely something strange about him. Underestimating him would only lead to suffering.

“I have to do my best for a Flame Grass?” The red-dressed girl pouted her mouth. She felt a little puzzled, but since her Martial Uncle had exhorted her to do so, she was determined to listen to him.

She casually waved her hand and a cauldron appeared above her palm. It was spinning round and round. At the same time, a wisp of ice-blue flame was produced and entered the cauldron.

Flame Grass had a hot nature. Therefore, it was extremely appropriate to use the Extreme Frost-ice Flame to extract its essence. However, it was like using a sledgehammer to kill ants. It was such a waste.

“I’ll do my best. No matter what tricks you have, I’ll take it on.”

The red-dressed girl’s mouth suffused a sneer. The Extreme Frost-ice Flame immediately enveloped the herb and the impurities within were rapidly burned away.

Skyfire Sacred Hands was watching coldly by the side. Although he claimed that Yi Yun could control the evil spirits, he did so without any evidence. If he could prove that Yi Yun’s alchemical or medical skills were mediocre, then there would be no way for Yi Yun to justify himself.

However, he believed that the Flame Grass Yi Yun had produced was problematic. Yet he was unable to determine the problem. He had scanned the Flame Grass more than ten times but failed to find anything amiss.

It seemed to really be ordinary Flame Grass. Then, given Yue’er’s talent in alchemy and her Extreme Frost-ice Flame, wouldn’t it take a few seconds for her to complete the extraction of the medicinal essence?

As Skyfire Sacred Hands was thinking, a few seconds had already passed. The Extreme Frost-ice Flame could extract the ordinary herb’s medicinal essence at an astonishing speed. Just as the red-dressed girl saw that she was almost done with extracting the last bit, she revealed a smile.

1197 - : Flame Grass

CKtalon  CKtalon

Not a single bit of the Flame Grass’s medicinal essence was wasted. With victory almost at hand, there was not much excitement in extracting the medicinal essence of the most ordinary Flame Grass. However, upon realizing that she would make that darn Lin Yun admit his sins, the red-dressed girl was overjoyed.

And just as she was about to finish, the red-dressed girl suddenly saw the corners of Yi Yun’s mouth suffuse a malicious smile. At the same time, he gently waved his hand.

Phew—

A black beam appeared from Yi Yun’s palm. Following that, Yi Yun clenched his fist and the black light disappeared. All of this happened so fast, too fast for the red-dressed girl to make out exactly what happened.

Even Skyfire Sacred Hands, who had been watching Yi Yun intently, failed to understand what the black light was. However, his intuition as an alchemist told him that it was a flame!

A black flame?

Skyfire Sacred Hands faltered slightly. It was likely a strange fire, but even with his broad knowledge, he could not discern its origins.

The Heretical God Fire Seed had existed for too long. It was chanced upon by the divine alchemist hundreds of millions of years ago in the Sinkhole. Even someone as knowledgeable as the divine alchemist could not recognize the flame. There were no records of its existence.

Later on, even as the divine alchemist became famous, the Heretical God Fire Seed remained extremely mysterious. No one managed to understand it. In the present day, even the old freaks of Candle Cauldron Divine Territory would not be able to recognize it, much less Skyfire Sacred Hands.

Furthermore, the Heretical God Fire Seed had been sealed within the worldly array of the Sun Burial Sandsea for immense periods of time. It had transformed itself, and as it converged its splendor, its intelligence had increased, turning into Ling Xie’er. It was very different from ordinary strange flames. There was no way to discern its grade. Therefore, Skyfire Sacred Hands was only barely able to ascertain that it was a flame.

And at the moment the Heretical God Fire Seed appeared and disappeared, the red-dressed girl suddenly felt the color drain from her face. She sensed that the flame in her cauldron was no longer under her control, as it began burning wildly.

“What’s going on?” The red-dressed girl was alarmed. After she refined the Extreme Frost-ice Flame, she had never had such an experience.

In her panic, the red-dressed girl could only use her Yuan Qi to envelop the Extreme Frost-ice Flame wisp.

However, what followed was the complete loss of control of the Extreme Frost-ice Flame. It instantly burned through the red-dressed girl’s Yuan Qi and severed the soul connection it had with her.

Puah!

The Flame Grass in the cauldron was immediately burned to ashes by the out-of-control Extreme Frost-ice Flame. The flying ashes were sealed in ice crystals before hailing down.

The extraction failed!

The red-dressed girl felt like her brain had been ruthlessly punched. Upon seeing the ice crystals scattering, she was dumbstruck.

But in the next moment, something that left her even more alarmed and baffled happened. She felt that something had entered her cauldron. Following that, the Extreme Frost-ice Flame in her cauldron began to rapidly weaken!

What?

The red-dressed girl failed to react in time when the connection between her and the Extreme Frost-ice Flame was suddenly severed. It was as if the flame had vanished!

“My flame!”

The red-dressed girl found it unbelievable. She immediately grabbed the cauldron and opened the lid without any regards to her safety. In fact, the red-dressed girl had already refined the cauldron as hers. Her thoughts were connected to the cauldron so she did not need to see to know what was happening in it. However, she could not curb her feelings. She had to open it and see it with her own eyes.

When she looked inside, her face turned extremely pale. The cauldron was empty. There were only the ice crystals of the Flame Grass at the bottom of the cauldron. There was no sign of the Extreme Frost-ice Flame at all.

“Where… is the Extreme Frost-ice Flame…?”

The red-dressed girl felt her spirit leave her. She could not believe what was happening.

Skyfire Sacred Hands had exhorted her to do her best. Therefore, she had conjured her Extreme Frost-ice Flame without holding back. She put the entirety of the flame into the cauldron, all for the refinement of a Flame Grass. As such, she did not have any of the Extreme Frost-ice Flame left in her body!

Although her Extreme Frost-ice Flame was only a child flame, the mother flame would be greatly weakened if too many child flames were distributed. Therefore, the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect did not bestow everyone with Extreme Frost-ice Flame.

The red-dressed girl was marked as talented beyond her peers before she was given a wisp. Now, having lost the Extreme Frost-ice Flame, it was a blow to her strength. It was also a grave sin that was punishable by the sect!

And precisely at the moment she thought this, Yi Yun walked in front of the red-dressed girl. He looked at the cauldron that was filled with ice dregs. He said with a smile of ridicule, “Hehe, you can actually fail to refine a Flame Grass. Why are your alchemical skills so lousy?”

“Hey! Why are you still in a daze? It’s time to eat the cauldron.”

Yi Yun was not merciful with his words. The red-dressed girl was bitterly sarcastic with her words and extremely unruly. How could Yi Yun show her any mercy?

“You… You robbed me of my Extreme Frost-ice Flame!”

The red-dressed girl suddenly realized what had happened. The black beam that flashed in Yi Yun’s hand must have been the problem!

She was close to tears after losing the Extreme Frost-ice Flame. Under the watchful gazes of the crowd, not only had she lost her face, she had also lost her flame.

Yi Yun gave a look of surprise. “What are you talking about? Why don’t I understand a thing? What did I rob you of? Your refinement of a simple Flame Grass amounted to this, and here you are harassing me with unreasonable claims? You said that you would eat the cauldron, so why aren’t you holding up the end of the bargain?”

“I… I…”

The red-dressed girl lost her stance. She had been the one who spoke about eating the cauldron. However, how was she to eat such a large cauldron?

Now, she realized that she had been tricked by Yi Yun.

However, for Yi Yun to achieve this meant that he possessed unimaginable talents that far exceeded her abilities. Although she was arrogant and ostentatious, she was not brainless. She knew she was no match against such an old freak.

“Martial Uncle!”

The red-dressed girl pleaded for Skyfire Sacred Hands’s help.

Yi Yun shook his head. “You are not holding up to the claim of eating a cauldron. Indeed, you and your martial uncle are the same. You are people that can only make unfounded accusations and speak nonsense.”

As Yi Yun said, he looked at Skyfire Sacred Hands. “The nonsense you spoke of previously was not bad. Why? Do you want to make up some more fabrications?”

Skyfire Sacred Hands’s expression was as ugly as it could be. He had exhorted the red-dressed girl to do her best through a voice transmission. It caused the red-dressed girl to use every last bit of her Extreme Frost-ice Flame, and now, there was none left!

This infuriated Skyfire Sacred Hands. Be it saving Si Shaoyu previously or his advice for the red-dressed girl, everything he had done only ended with him shooting himself in the foot.

…

“What is going on?”

“That red-dressed girl’s flame is gone. Skyfire Sacred Hands’s expression looks terrible. What happened?”

The alchemists in the square discussed with amazement. Everyone looked at Yi Yun differently.

The Extreme Frost-ice Flame was extremely powerful, a fact that they had already witnessed. They did not know what technique Yi Yun had employed to make the red-dressed girl’s extraction of the Flame Grass fail but it was sufficient to prove that Yi Yun had exceedingly powerful means.

Yi Yun had not refined a single pill from beginning to end, but people could guess that his alchemical skills were equal, if not better, than the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s!

1198 - : Eating the Cauldron

CKtalon  CKtalon

The atmosphere turned tense. The red-dressed girl was isolated. The loss of the sect’s Extreme Frost-ice Flame was a grave crime, so all she could do was pin her hopes on Skyfire Sacred Hands.

Skyfire Sacred Hands looked at Yi Yun and said coldly, “Yue’er lost to you because she’s inferior. However, don’t you think you are bullying her with your age? Isn’t that shameless? Also, you devoured my Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s Extreme Frost-ice Flame. That flame is the sole property of my Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. It’s best you hand it over now. If you don’t, my Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect will hunt you down!”

Skyfire Sacred Hands’s voice was filled with killing intent, but Yi Yun did not think too much of it. “Shameless? All I did was give a silly woman that was asking to be slapped exactly what she asked for. I showed her mercy simply by not crippling her dantian.”

Although the Extreme Frost-ice Flame wasn’t that valuable to Yi Yun, it had already been devoured and became part of the Heretical God Fire Seed, so how could he return it?

“You are courting death!” Skyfire Sacred Hands was infuriated as he suddenly took a step forward. The fire in his eyes burned brightly as two dazzling flames transformed into two fire serpents that shot at Yi Yun!

The flames that were intrinsic to him were named Soaring Serpent Skyfire, materialized from a fire spirit over millions of years in a scorching land. It had been caught by Skyfire Sacred Hands’s master and refined into his eyes. His name was Skyfire Sacred Hands because of the fire spirits that were fused with his eyes.

Most impressive of all was that Skyfire Sacred Hands had fused with a pair of Soaring Serpents. The scorching land had nurtured two Soaring Serpents that came from the same source. They supplemented each other, causing them to be a lot stronger!

Skyfire Sacred Hands could sense the strangeness of Yi Yun’s flame when he saw it. However, what he had was Skyfire, a supreme-grade flame. He had always experienced success when he used it, so why would he have anything to fear?

“To think you’d refuse my offer, and have it come to this! Since you refuse to return our flame, I’ll take it back myself,” said Skyfire Sacred Hands angrily.

Two Soaring Serpents flew at Yi Yun with aggressive aurae as though they were about to burn Yi Yun alive.

Everyone held their breaths when they saw the two Soaring Serpents. Skyfire Sacred Hands was famous because of the Soaring Serpent Skyfire in his eyes. Now he was using them against an enemy, a clear indication that he was serious.

“Yi Yun!” City Lord Qin’s Yuan Qi transmission sounded in Yi Yun’s ears. He was worried for Yi Yun and was about to jump in to assist, but Yi Yun had already thrown out the black flame in his hand.

“Go!”

The Heretical God Fire Seed was connected to Yi Yun’s soul, making it a part of him. He was able to control it as he wished.

After Yi Yun sent out the Heretical God Fire Seed, it transformed into billowing blackish-gray flames. Though it was a heatwave that came rushing at others, it made their hearts chill. It was as though the flame came from the deepest abyss.

The gray flame seemed to clash evenly with the two Soaring Serpents, but Skyfire Sacred Hands sneered upon seeing this. He had refined the Soaring Serpents for two millennia. Their strength had increased with his. Over the years, Skyfire Sacred Hands had sought out numerous fire spirits and spirit flames to feed the Soaring Serpent Skyfire. Although Yi Yun’s flame was strange, he was confident that his years of experience in controlling fire would definitely allow him to subdue and consume the opponent’s flame. When he did, his Soaring Serpent Skyfire would have a huge surge in strength! In fact, his fire spirit might even increase in grade.

With this thought in mind, the Soaring Serpents enlarged immediately. They widened their jaws and attempted to devour the black flame.

The Heretical God Fire Seed ended up in the two Soaring Serpent’s bodies as they constantly chomped at it. The roar of flames was so vigorous that the people beside the stage involuntarily stepped back.

Upon seeing this scene, a cold, teasing glint appeared in Yi Yun’s eyes.

“To dare consume my fire with two tiny snakes. Aren’t you afraid your bellies will rupture?”

Back when the divine alchemist first received the Heretical God Fire Seed, he had attempted to fuse the Empyrean Cleansing Flame, ranked third in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, with the Heretical God Fire Seed. But ultimately, the Empyrean Cleansing Flame had been consumed by the Heretical God Fire Seed.

It was practically a joke for the puny Soaring Serpent Skyfire to attempt devouring the Heretical God Fire Seed.

At this moment, the Soaring Serpents had already consumed a large amount of the black flames. Skyfire Sacred Hands was controlling his Soaring Serpents with full concentration, but he was surprised to feel that Yi Yun had given up on resisting. He didn’t seem to be exercising much control over the black flames, as though he was letting the Soaring Serpents devour his flame.

Once the flame was devoured, it would naturally become a part of the Soaring Serpents.

But suddenly, the Soaring Serpents stopped. Then, they began twisting about.

Skyfire Sacred Hands was taken aback before his expression changed drastically.

He sensed that the Soaring Serpents had not only failed to absorb the grey flames, but instead the grey flames were gathering within the Soaring Serpents and began devouring them from the inside!

“What, what’s going on?” Skyfire Sacred Hands hurriedly attempted to retract his flame and expel the gray flame. However, the gray flames that had been devoured were like maggots. They were easy to invite but difficult to expunge.

As he saw his Soaring Serpents being rapidly consumed, Skyfire Sacred Hands’s eyes turned red. The two Soaring Serpents were his everything. How could he fail to devour a tiny fire wisp in front of so many people? Not only that, why were his flames being devoured instead!?

However, no matter how much he tried to control his Soaring Serpents, they rapidly weakened.

As the Soaring Serpents were almost completely replaced by the gray flame, Skyfire Sacred Hands’s eyes had an obvious pained look.

His connection had been severed!

The Skyfire that he had nurtured for two millennia had been devoured by the strange flame!

At that moment, the gray flame transformed back into a tiny fire wisp before flying back to Yi Yun’s palm. As for the Soaring Serpents that once bared their fangs, they had vanished.

Everyone had different expressions when they looked at the flame. Despite devouring two Soaring Serpents, the flame did not seem to undergo any changes. They never expected that Skyfire Sacred Hands’s actions would lead to such an outcome.

The red-dressed girl was stunned as well. Her Extreme Frost-ice Flame had been devoured but it was, after all, a child flame. Her Martial Uncle had attempted to snatch back her Extreme Frost-ice Flame but ended up losing his Soaring Serpent Skyfire.

“Is the incompetent trying to save the weak?” Yi Yun found it amusing. If Skyfire Sacred Hands had clashed with him head-on, he could only ward him off. He never expected Skyfire Sacred Hands to attempt to use his Soaring Serpent Skyfire to devour the Heretical God Fire Seed. That was truly sending his serpent flames to their deaths.

“Skyfire Sacred Hands— Oh, that’s not right. You no longer have any Skyfire. And your medical skills clearly aren’t much to speak off, so you can’t be called Sacred Hands. So, what should we call you now?” Yi Yun said happily. The Soaring Serpents were not comparable to the wisp of the Extreme Frost-ice Flame child flame. After devouring the Soaring Serpent, it was as if the Heretical God Fire Seed had consumed powerful supplements.

This was greatly beneficial to the slumbering Ling Xie’er.

So far, at this Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet, Yi Yun had started by collecting all the treasures prepared by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. Then, he obtained the Soaring Serpent Skyfire. The meet had certainly given him a rich harvest.

As he thought of this, Yi Yun wanted to thank the Myriad Immortal Pavilion and Si Shanhe for organizing the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet for him.

1199 - : Soaring Serpent Skyfire

CKtalon  CKtalon

The loss of the Extreme Frost-ice Flame could have been written off as a casualty of the grand meet, but to lose a pair of Soaring Serpent Skyfire was absolutely unacceptable to Skyfire Sacred Hands. His alchemical skills, and even his very strength, stemmed mainly from the Soaring Serpent Skyfire.

Therefore, when Yi Yun gave his sarcastic comments, he was already fully prepared to withstand Skyfire Sacred Hands’s immense killing intent.

His original thought was that Skyfire Sacred Hands would burst into a rage, but Skyfire Sacred Hands ended up laughing out loud. “Well done! Very well done! Since your flame is better than mine, I’ll kill you and take your flame. Then, I’ll use your flame to further myself on the path of becoming an alchemist sage!”

“Die!” Skyfire Sacred Hands had attacked before his voice even faded!

Previously, Skyfire Sacred Hands only wanted to teach Yi Yun a lesson, but now he fully intended to kill him.

He raised his long sleeves and his hands transformed into two gigantic palms. He slammed them down at Yi Yun and the immense Yuan Qi resembled two mountains. Even the surrounding crowd felt stifled.

“You want to obtain my flame? That depends on you having the ability!” Yi Yun’s eyes were deadly serious. There was a flash in his hand as a sword appeared.

With sword in hand, Yi Yun slashed out. Instantly, the world seemed to change colors. A massive black vortex that seemed like the infinite Chaos appeared in midair, enveloping Skyfire Sacred Hands’s two gigantic palms.

Boom!

A powerful Yuan Qi shockwave blasted outwards as the two palms that seemed capable of crushing mountain ranges clashed with the black vortex, causing quakes throughout the spatial continuum.

The relatively weaker warriors in the crowd had their Yuan Qi barriers automatically triggered. Just the remnant shockwaves were enough to severely injure them!

There was silence after the tumultuous clash. Skyfire Sacred Hands’s massive palms began to shatter amid the black vortex before being completely devoured.

At the same time, the black vortex seemed to be drained of its energy, vanishing into the void.

It was blocked!

Skyfire Sacred Hands’s expression was extremely ugly. The darn Lin Yun had managed to block his attack!

However, he noticed that despite being able to withstand his strike, Lin Yun was definitely not in the best of conditions. His lifeblood was in chaos and he might have even been lightly injured. Such strength was not his match.

A sinister curve suffused the corners of Skyfire Sacred Hands’s lips. He said sarcastically, “It looks like you aren’t that strong. Rearing those evil entities must have used a lot of your mental strength, right? Today is the day you die!”

Skyfire Sacred Hands guffawed as he spoke. Even so, many people under the stage were astounded by Yi Yun’s strength. Not only were this arrogant person’s medical skills impressive, his strength was also formidable.

After all, the opponent was Skyfire Sacred Hands. Even if he was not his match, he could retreat unharmed at the very least.

However, at that moment, someone made an incredulous comment, “Wait… The cultivation level of this Lin Yun seems to be… not at the Supremacy level but at the… Dao Palace realm?”

The person who spoke was an aged man with a discerning eye. When Yi Yun first appeared, his age and aura gave the undoubtable impression that he was a senior. But at this moment, when he was facing Skyfire Sacred Hands with all his might, his aura could no longer be concealed. The elder in the crowd had noticed something was amiss. It was a cultivation level of the Dao Palace realm!

A man who looked like he had cultivated for an unknown number of years and was proficient in alchemy and medicine was only at the Dao Palace realm?

It was impossible for him to be repressing his cultivation level. Skyfire Sacred Hands had cultivated for three thousand years and had already broken through to the Supremacy level. His attack was terrifying, so how could someone who was repressing their strength to the Dao Palace realm be able to withstand the strike?

But it was precisely what the person before their eyes had just done. He had used a cultivation level at the Dao Palace realm to showcase combat strength at the Supremacy level. Who could have such capabilities?

“This… is impossible, right?” Zhang Xiaotian subconsciously remarked.

Zhang Xiaotian could not tell, but there were many experts present. After Yi Yun made his move, he could no longer converge his aura to hide it. These experts could clearly sense that he was only a Dao Palace realm warrior!

Upon hearing everyone’s discussion, Zhang Xiaotian could not help but believe.

As such, it was unlikely that Lin Yun had deliberately repressed his cultivation level. The truth had to be that he was actually only at the Dao Palace realm.

He had used a particular mystic technique to converge his aura, preventing others from gauging his strength!

If that was the case, could he have also faked his looks?

A warrior at the Dao Palace realm with a strength that matched a Supremacy, who hid his looks, and had formidable medical and alchemical skills…

Upon piecing this together, in the seats of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s upper echelons, Zuoqiu Bo suddenly stood up. He looked at the onstage Yi Yun with astonishment.

“You aren’t Lin Yun. You are Yi Yun!”

Back at Mt. Kunhua, Zuoqiu Bo had witnessed Si Yusheng’s dantian being shattered by Yi Yun in one strike. Zuoqiu Bo’s memory of the sword strike from that day was still fresh on his mind.

And the sword attack that ‘Lin Yun’ just used resembled Yi Yun’s!

Coupling that with Yi Yun’s cultivation level and his strength that let him match a Supremacy, who else could he be?

Upon hearing Zuoqiu Bo’s words, everyone was astounded. Yi Yun? Wasn’t he being hunted by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion? How could he dare to come here so blatantly? He was even standing on the high stage!

It’s him! He’s here for the Soul Returning Root!

Si Shanhe tightened his grip on his chair’s armrest. His eyes immediately suffused a cold glint as he stared intently at the onstage Yi Yun.

“You are Yi Yun?” Si Shanhe’s voice contained rich killing intent. It struck the hearts of the inferior warriors present like the eye of a drum.

Despite facing the massive juggernaut of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, Yi Yun had made a public appearance at the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet that Si Shanhe painstakingly organized. He became the highlight of the meet and had even taken away the treasures that Si Shanhe had prepared.

Si Shanhe originally believed the Soul Returning Root had been prepared for nothing. There was no chance that Yi Yun would appear to claim it. He never expected that Yi Yun had been right there. He was right in front of his eyes and had taken away the Soul Returning Root!

Everyone’s gaze was concentrated on the sword-wielding figure on the stage.

They were eager to know if the person was Yi Yun or not!

As for Yi Yun, he already expected this outcome the moment he took action.

In fact, he had already obtained everything he wanted on this stage. There was no need to continue the guise.

With a slight reverberation of Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi, his appearance changed in a blink of an eye. Instantly, Yi Yun went from a far-from-handsome middle-aged man to a spirited youth with eyes as deep as the night and with two flames burning in them!

And this youth was recognized by nearly everyone, even if they had never seen him in person before. Yi Yun’s portraits had been posted everywhere in Myriad City for the past half year.

However, no one expected that they would see Yi Yun on the high stage on this particular day and time!

Upon seeing Yi Yun reveal his true looks, Si Shanhe’s pupils constricted. The armrest he was gripping instantly turned to dust.

1200 - : A Sword Strike that Looks Familiar

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It’s really Yi Yun! How terrifying! The Myriad Immortal Pavilion offered an astronomical reward to capture him, but not a single trace of him was found. Yet, he returns in disguise? And not one person here managed to see through his disguise.”

“The Myriad Immortal Pavilion has truly been fooled by him. Also, Yi Yun is able to cure the plague so easily. Didn’t he also treat Dong Xiaowan back then?”

People began breaking out into a discussion. At that moment, everyone in Myriad City—be it, alchemists, doctors, warriors, the young, the old, juniors, or upper echelons of sects—had immense reverence for Yi Yun. He was simply too terrifying.

The strong were always looked up to in the martial world. If Yi Yun had been destroyed by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, people would only have sighed and commented how the heavens were envious of geniuses. Some might even engage in schadenfreude. But now, Yi Yun had turned the tables and dealt with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. It was completely different.

His strength, alchemical skills, and spirit made people have no choice but to respect him.

“Who is… Yi Yun?”

Skyfire Sacred Hands pricked up his brows. It was his first time in the Myriad Divine Territory, so he did not know of Yi Yun.

At that moment, Six-Fingers took a few steps forward and informed him of Yi Yun’s identity. Although this was also his first time in Myriad City, he had noticed the wanted posters plastered across the city’s walls. One time, he had inquired out of curiosity.

When he was informed of Yi Yun’s identity and circumstances, Skyfire Sacred Hands was astounded.

“What did you say? He has cultivated for less than seven decades?”

Skyfire Sacred Hands found it unbelievable. He had cultivated for three millennia but even so, he was already an absolute genius. He was also considered a member of the younger generation in the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect.

As for the red-dressed girl, she was completely dumbfounded. She gazed at Yi Yun’s true face. How did he look anything like a middle-aged man?

“He’s… about the same age as me?”

The red-dressed girl found it unacceptable. If he were an old freak that had lived for many years, it made sense for her to be inferior to him. However, if he was about her age, the blow to her only left her beaten blue and black.

As she beheld Yi Yun, the youth that was the focus of attention, she felt that she lacked the courage to look at him straight. She knew that even if the information regarding Yi Yun had been exaggerated, it could not be too far from the truth. It was a fact that he only had a cultivation level at the Dao Palace realm. His ability to match a Supremacy was something she had just witnessed with her own eyes, so how could it be an exaggeration?

…

“Well done! Very well done! You are the first person to dare despise my Myriad Immortal Pavilion in such a manner!” Si Shanhe’s voice resounded through the entire pocket world, causing everyone’s ears to hum.

“Today, you will definitely die no matter who tries to interfere! Now that we have you here, don’t even think of leaving!” Si Shanhe’s eyes emitted intense killing intent. Instantly, his clothes fluttered without a wind. He resembled a brewing volcano that was about to erupt as tremendous strength seemed ready to lash out at any moment.

Against such a threat, few people could withstand the pressure. However, Yi Yun stood in place with his hair fluttering from the domineering might, all the while remaining calm. He even looked extremely arrogant.

“You just took the words that I wanted to deliver to you. By daring to come here today, I naturally have the necessary reliance!” Yi Yun’s voice was not loud but it similarly resounded through the entire area, entering everyone’s ears.

“Reliance? You? No matter how much stronger you are, you only have the strength of an early-stage Supremacy. Against me, you have no way of resisting!”

Si Shanhe’s voice was loud and clear, like the gongs of a war drum.

He waved his arms and a squarish seal appeared above his head. It was Si Shanhe’s intrinsic enchanted artifact—”Shanhe Seal!”

It was once a nameless ancient treasure that Si Shanhe obtained in his youth. He named it after himself and, with it in hand, Si Shanhe’s aura rapidly increased, completely repressing Yi Yun.

At Si Shanhe’s realm, as long as he didn’t release his aura, there was no way to gauge his cultivation level. As Yi Yun sensed Si Shanhe’s aura, he knew that his strength far exceeded Skyfire Sacred Hands’s. Although Skyfire Sacred Hands was peerless in alchemy, he had only cultivated for three millennia, whereas Si Shanhe was hundreds of thousands of years old. His cultivation level had long reached the pinnacle of his life.

But at that moment, Si Shanhe’s expression suddenly changed as he looked at City Lord Qin. “Qin Zhengyang, you…”

He sensed killing intent from Qin Zhengyang!

“So that’s the reason. I was wondering why this punk remains fearless. It’s because you have schemed with this little bastard to go against me? Qin Zhengyang, you may be Myriad City’s City Lord but you are nothing in front of me. It was the Myriad Immortal Pavilion and the other factions that gave you the position of City Lord. If you were to publicly attack me, your days as City Lord would be over. Furthermore, you can’t kill me. You will only end up dying an ignominious death!”

At Si Shanhe and Qin Zhengyang’s level, it was very difficult to actually kill a comparable opponent. Even if one found themselves vastly outmatched, escape was an option, allowing for them to wait for an opportunity to seek revenge. Therefore, when the typical expert had a contentious relationship with another expert, they would not be willing to lose all decorum, much less speak of a life-and-death battle. The price would be too heavy.

“Die an ignominious death?” City Lord Qin laughed. “The one dying today is you!”

As he spoke, City Lord Qin took out a black broadsword from his interspatial ring. This two-handed sword was five-feet-long. Its blade was lusterless.

Si Shanhe narrowed his eyes. He never expected Qin Zhengyang to draw his Blackcloud Broadsword. It meant that he was absolutely serious. Wasn’t he afraid that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would seek revenge?

This thought flashed across Si Shanhe’s mind when his expression changed. He sensed that the surrounding worldly laws were undergoing a subtle change.

A massive array formation enveloped a small area of space, and Si Shanhe found himself in the center of the array!

As for Qin Zhengyang, he was standing on one corner of the array.

The array formation had other corners, and there was a figure at each spot.

Including Qin Zhengyang, there were six people!

Out of these six people, only two of them, including Qin Zhengyang, had been in the pocket world the whole time. The other four had suddenly appeared.

“Guiyuan Potian! Perfected Qianhua!”

Si Shanhe looked at a colorful-robed elder. He was the Patriarch of the Guiyuan family, Guiyuan Potian.

There was a woman carrying a zither. Her hair was tied up high and she wore an ornate headdress. She was the master of Paradise Chapter’s Fairy Youqin, Perfected Qianhua!

And standing not far from Perfected Qianhua was a woman in a Daoist robe who held a whisk. This Daoist nun was someone Si Shanhe had never seen before.

“Master!”

Princess White Fox was overjoyed seeing her master arrive, having not seen her in years.

The female Daoist glanced at Princess White Fox and gave her a relieved smile. She had been touring the world, but received a voice transmission from Qin Zhengyang asking her to come to the Myriad Divine Territory. Her strength was comparable to Qin Zhengyang’s. She had hidden among the crowd, avoiding the probes of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s upper echelons.

So it was that they had set up a massive trap to kill Si Shanhe!

However, despite having a powerful line-up, they still needed a good pretext for war. The Myriad Immortal Pavilion had been in business for years. It had nurtured many underlings and was a resilient behemoth. Once Si Shanhe mustered the other factions as Myriad Immortal Pavilion allies, the advantage Yi Yun and company had in this war would turn into a disadvantage.

However, Qin Zhengyang was acutely aware that these factions were simply fence sitters. They were not fully loyal to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, but were loyal to benefits.

By letting them see that Yi Yun possessed the means to easily treat their juniors, and a limitless potential, he would act as both a massive allure and deterrence!

No faction would be willing to go up against a group of experts that included Qin Zhengyang. Furthermore, it included Yi Yun, who was bound to mature in the future.

Even the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had suffered at the hands of Yi Yun. Even the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect had been badly subdued. Skyfire Sacred Hands had even lost his Skyfire.

Against the formidable Yi Yun, as long as these Myriad Immortal Pavilion lackeys considered how much weaker they were compared to the Myriad Immortal Pavilion and the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect, they would know who to choose.

Previously, Yi Yun had taken action with the sole goal of shocking and awing the crowd. Now, with Qin Zhengyang and company taking action, he was the determining factor!

1201 - : Reliance

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Well done! Well done! It looks like this has been in the works for a long time. All of you were planning to use today’s Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet to end me!”

Si Shanhe was like a trapped beast, his voice sounding maniacal.

In the entirety of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, there were only two mighty experts. One of them was Si Shanhe, and the other was a Grand Elder that was permanently in seclusion.

The Grand Elder was nearing the end of his lifespan. In terms of strength, he had already begun waning. He was not much stronger than Si Shanhe, so if Si Shanhe was killed, one of the two main pillars of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would collapse!

“Zhou Shikang! Where are you going!?” Si Shanhe suddenly bellowed coldly. He could see the Zhou family’s Patriarch, Zhou Shikang retreating in fear upon seeing the scene.

The Zhou family was considered a loyal lackey of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. But faced with the present circumstances, he was filled with trepidation.

At that moment, Yi Yun said, “Everyone! All of you from Myriad City have had to endure the Myriad Immortal Pavilion acting like an overlord for millions of years. Today, I, Yi Yun, hereby promise to remove your juniors’ plagues so long as you don’t meddle in today’s battle! I have a grudge with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, and have come today to seek revenge. I have no desire to control Myriad City. I will not intervene with any future power struggles in Myriad City.”

The moment Yi Yun said that, the people that had shrunk back were even more unwilling to intervene. Si Shanhe could no longer fend for himself, and Yi Yun would become a terrifying enemy in the future. Not to mention, Yi Yun had the ability to cure the plague.

Weighing the two sides against one another, it was already obvious what these people would choose.

Zhou Shikang glanced at Si Shanhe guiltily before suddenly turning to Yi Yun and cupping his hands. He said, “This matter has nothing to do with my Zhou family!”

“Nothing? Hmph! Some amount of nothing. The idea to lure Yi Yun out with the Soul Returning Root was suggested by Zhou Baifeng!” Si Shaoyu was huddled on the ground. No one had been paying him any attention. At that moment, he roared and made everyone realize that an unlucky fool like him still existed.

Instantly, Zhou Baifeng, who was standing not far behind his patriarch, as well as his distinguished guest, Zhang Zhiyuan, had pale faces. Their entire bodies were trembling.

The situation unfolding before their very eyes was that of everyone kicking the Myriad Immortal Pavilion while it was down. Many factions had no plans to intervene in the battle, and even actively hoped for the Myriad Immortal Pavilion to collapse. Then, they could carve up the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s territory and each have their share.

But under these circumstances, the relatively weaker Zhou family would likely be lumped in with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion if it was caught in the maelstrom.

Zhou Shikang’s eyes sank. He glanced at Yi Yun, but Yi Yun wore an uncaring expression. He did not say a word.

In that moment, Zhou Shikang was filled with mixed feelings. Yi Yun had already said that he was a person that settled his grudges. And Yi Yun’s future rising was no longer preventable. It was no longer a challenge for Yi Yun to become a Divine Lord. It was even very possible for him to go beyond that.

The Myriad Immortal Pavilion had already suffered as a result of this person, so what could the Zhou family do?

Zhou Shikang steeled his heart and suddenly turned around. He aimed his palms at Zhou Baifeng and Zhang Zhiyuan and struck down.

“Ah!” Zhou Baifeng cried out tragically. His abdomen sank in the shape of a palm print as blood spewed from his mouth.

He collapsed to the ground and struggled to get up. After a moment, he made a shrill cry, “My dantian!”

As for Zhang Zhiyuan, he was in a similar situation. His face showed the great pain he was in. As Zhang Zhiyuan pressed down on his abdomen, he looked at Yi Yun as though as he was watching a demon king.

“Young Master Yi, I have maimed Baifeng and his servant of their cultivations. Is this sufficient to appease your anger?” Zhou Shikang said to Yi Yun as the corners of his mouth trembled.

The Zhou family’s successor was not Zhou Baifeng, but Zhou Shenyu. He was the number one genius of the Zhou family and the hope of revitalizing it. However, he was already suffering from the plague and bedridden. He was in need of treatment. Furthermore, Zhou Baifeng was also infected with the plague. He was bound to lose his cultivation, anyway. How could Yi Yun save him?

Therefore, Zhou Shikang might as well steel his heart and do the inevitable as a clear indication of his stance. In doing so, he could ensure that the Zhou family would remain safe in this treacherous storm, as well as ensure Yi Yun’s treatment of the genius juniors of the Zhou family.

“Zhou Shikang, you are really a coward!” Si Shanhe spat contemptibly. Then, he looked at Yi Yun and company. His gaze was as sharp as a blade as his aura increased exponentially. “Then, let’s see if you can kill me today!”

“Si Shanhe, you can only fight desperately like a cornered beast!” Qin Zhengyang said coldly.

At that moment, there was a resonating chanting that rang throughout the pocket world. It sounded sacred. Instantly, Si Shanhe’s aura and soul seemed to be sealed within Si Shanhe’s body.

The feeling was obvious. Everyone in the pocket world was astonished. What array formation was this?

Even Qin Zhengyang and the other five were astonished by the array formation. Although they had tried the array formation in secret, this was the first time they were using it in a real battle.

“It’s really a wonder where Yi Yun obtained the God Confining Lock array!” Qin Zhengyang sighed inwardly.

The God Confining Lock array was provided by Yi Yun. It was the thing that made the group confident that they could deal with Si Shanhe.

The other large factions had array formations but in terms of strength, they were far from comparable to the God Confining Lock.

The array formation was extremely ancient, and many large factions did not even know of its origin.

In fact, this array had been borrowed by Yi Yun years ago from the Pure Yang Sword Palace. He used it to deal with the Black-armored Demon God, but later, the Pure Yang Sword Palace Sword Spirit left the God Confining Lock in Yi Yun’s hands and did not ask for it to be returned. It was unexpected that it could be of use again today.

As an array formation that was hidden by Pure Yang Sword Palace owner, the God Confining Lock’s strength was not to be doubted. After all, the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner had a cultivation level above a Divine Lord’s. He had once slashed open a world and damaged a bronze giant in its prime!

In the lower realm, Yi Yun’s allies were only able to draw forth a tiny portion of its strength. Now, Qin Zhengyang and company were jointly powering the array, making it completely different from the past.

“Si Shanhe, it is your good fortune to die under this array!” said Yi Yun.

Si Shanhe sensed that the terrifying nomological powers had confined his surroundings. It made his expression change drastically.

He was not foolish enough to battle six people alone. As long as he tried his best to find a flaw in the array, he still had a trump card that allowed him to escape. When the time came, he would be able to escape at the cost of some cultivation and lifespan. Still, it was much better than dying here.

However, the array formation was a lot more terrifying than he imagined!

At that moment, between the Heavens and Earth, shimmering golden chains that looked like they sprouted from the Heavens and Earth, chained up Si Shanhe’s four limbs!

The six chains were controlled by City Lord Qin and company. The six experts’ strengths were simultaneously exerted on Si Shanhe’s body.

Ka Ka Ka!

The immense energy caused Si Shanhe’s knees to buckle. He forcefully held up his body but even his spine produced sounds that depicted how unbearable it was for his bones.

“Yi Yun! I want you dead!” Si Shanhe’s eyes were bloodshot. He suddenly burst out with all his strength as he slammed the Shanhe Seal above him at Yi Yun! At the same time, he struck out with his two palms and sent overwhelming force at the stage.

Yi Yun did not even move. At that moment, the six chains tightened simultaneously. They vibrated, causing tumultuous sounds as the chains’ luster grew brighter. It formed a gigantic web that held back the Shanhe Seal!

At the same time, City Lord Qin and company attacked!

With a rustling sound, Perfected Qianhua struck out with her zither, and Princess White Fox’s master waved her whisk. Immediately, it was as though millions of stars in the cosmos came surging at Si Shanhe with Perfected Qianhua’s zither tunes.

At that moment, Si Shanhe’s eyes turned turbid. He seemed to fall into a momentary trance.

From the start, Qin Zhengyang, or any of the other five, were on par with Si Shanhe. With the array’s help, their strength was dominating.

“Attack!” City Lord Qin took a large step forward as he cleaved down with his Blackcloud Broadsword!

Across him, Guiyuan Potian and company began attacking.

Six terrifying Yuan Qi beams struck Si Shanhe from different directions. The tiny space immediately had a rush of air, as a squall stirred. Even the entire pocket world began quaking. It was as though the enchanted artifact that contained the pocket world could crack at any time.

Every one of Si Shanhe’s attacks was held back by the God Confining Lock. He was unable to move and, after failing to escape the array, he had less than ten percent of his strength left. Yi Yun could easily dodge the aftershocks.

Si Shanhe watched helplessly as Yi Yun stood in front of him, but he lacked the strength to kill him.

And his strength was reduced with every wave. Even if tried to burn his blood essence in a desperate attempt, it was already too late.

To escape the God Confining Lock array, he would have had to do it when it first befell him. Now, it was impossible. Si Shanhe’s resistance only turned weaker.

Hatred, indignation, and anger overwhelmed Si Shanhe. He never imagined that an overlord like him, that controlled the fates of countless weaklings, trampling over them as he pleased, would meet his end being besieged by others. And this siege was orchestrated by a junior!

“Ah!” An angry bellow, made up of countless mixed emotions resounded through the pocket world. At the same time, six Yuan Qi beams penetrated Si Shanhe’s body. With an explosion, light illuminated the world and Si Shanhe, an overlord of Myriad City, turned to ash!

“It’s over.” Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief. As long as Si Shanhe was dead, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s strength would decrease drastically. In addition, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s prestige had been dealt a severe blow. There was no way it could withstand the annexation of the combined forces of the Guiyuan family, the Paradise Chapter, and City Lord Qin. There would be numerous factions that would profit from the situation. It was even possible that large numbers of traitors would appear in the Myriad Immortal Pavilion itself. They would take riches away and pledge allegiance to the enemy. Then, the juggernaut would completely collapse!

But although Yi Yun had orchestrated the destruction of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, he had only accomplished it by using the conflicts between the major factions in Myriad City. He had borrowed the strength of City Lord Qin and Princess White Fox’s master. He himself was no match for Si Shanhe.

This was not what Yi Yun wanted. He wanted to be in complete control of his own fate. He would kill anyone who threatened him!

1202 - : Reappearance of the God Confining Lock

CKtalon  CKtalon

Seeing Si Shanhe die so easily, the factions that had once been wavering were secretly delighted. They never expected the God Confining Lock to be so formidable. Thankfully, they had not stepped forward to help Si Shanhe or they would have shared his fate.

With Si Shanhe dead, the storm that had been brewing in the Myriad Divine Territory could no longer be prevented. In this storm, new factions would arise and become stronger. There would also be older factions that would weaken or even be destroyed. Mishandling the situation could result in dire consequences.

Now, there was no doubt that the Guiyuan family and the Paradise Chapter would rise up with unassailable force. City Lord Qin’s status would also increase greatly, becoming a force that held great weight in Myriad City.

Then, of course, there was Yi Yun. At the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet, he had become immensely influential. No one in the Myriad Divine Territory would dare to provoke Yi Yun. If he desired, he could even become the absolute hegemon of Myriad City in the next few centuries.

Despite not being the strongest person, he had instantly become the number one figure in Myriad City!

“Yi Yun, this is Si Shanhe’s interspatial ring.”

Qin Zhengyang waved his hand and obtained Si Shanhe’s interspatial ring from where he died.

It was of extremely high quality. It had remained undamaged despite the potent explosion, showing how incredible it was.

As the Pavilion Lord of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, Si Shanhe’s interspatial ring would obviously contain immense wealth.

However, Yi Yun shook his head and said, “I do not need the items in the ring. The assault on Si Shanhe succeeded thanks to you and the other five seniors. All I did was preside over the array, and that did not take much effort.”

Aside from the Guiyuan family and the Paradise Chapter, Princess White Fox’s master had deliberately cut short her travels and rushed to Myriad City to aid him, so how could he not show his thanks?

“Hahaha! Young Master Yi, you are too generous. If we decide to split the loot, then I, Guiyuan Potian will offer my share to Young Master Yi. I do not want anything!”

After obliterating Si Shanhe, Guiyuan Potian was in high spirits. From this day forth, his Guiyuan family would be able to take over most of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s massive estate. That was the foundation of a family clan. Although he was tempted by the ring, it was better to use the items in the ring to express his good intentions to Yi Yun. After all, Yi Yun had limitless potential.

“I do not want my share either.” At that moment, Perfected Qianhua spoke out. The Paradise Chapter similarly did not mind losing a single ring.

“In that case, I’ll take all the natural treasures and a small number of pills and elixirs from the ring. As for the cultivation manuals, enchanted artifacts, talisman charms, array formations, and Myriad Runes, I do not want them.”

Since the Paradise Chapter and Guiyuan family were relinquishing their shares, Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony. He was only at the first floor of the Dao Palace realm. In terms of strength, he was naturally invincible against his peers, but compared to the older generation he was still vastly inferior.

“Young Master Yi, I’m Zhou Shikang and I am humbled before you. Since Young Master Yi is interested in refinement herbs, I happen to have some I can offer. I can deliver them to you as early as tomorrow, Young Master Yi. I wonder when you might be free to pay a visit to my Zhou family’s residence, and in passing, take a look at the useless juniors of my Zhou family…”

Upon seeing the situation turn increasingly clear, Zhou Shikang immediately spoke up.

Although Yi Yun had mentioned that he would treat the juniors of the various large factions for free, it was only a verbal agreement. If a treatment was to happen, shouldn’t he prepare some substantial gifts? Yi Yun was now the absolute hottest thing in town! Average factions would not even have a chance of currying favor with him. So, how could he miss this opportunity to shower him with gifts?

“Alright.”

Yi Yun nodded in agreement. There was no reason to reject the treasures he offered him. They could be used to refine pills.

Instantly, various factions began expressing themselves. However, Qin Zhengyang’s Yuan Qi voice transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ears—

“Skyfire Sacred Hands has left.”

“Yea…” Yi Yun sighed slightly. He had noticed it earlier. Skyfire Sacred Hands had left the pocket world with the downtrodden red-dressed girl and the ashen-faced six-fingered youth after Si Shanhe’s death.

Yi Yun did not stop them because he could not stop them.

Yi Yun was slightly weaker than Skyfire Sacred Hands in terms of strength. There was no way he could retain the trio.

And he had no right to ask Qin Zhengyang and company to take action. The assault on Si Shanhe happened with the promise of benefits for everyone, so there was no problem in that.

However, killing Skyfire Sacred Hands meant openly declaring war with the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect!

Now, Myriad City was about to undergo a major upheaval. No faction would wish to offend the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. Nor could they afford to!

“Yi Yun, I know what you are worried about. You robbed Skyfire Sacred Hands of his Soaring Serpent flame, which means your relationship is irreconcilable. If you can’t handle him, I’ll help you. But, that can’t occur now. There are too many people watching. If I were to kill Skyfire Sacred Hands, I wouldn’t be able to withstand the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect’s assault either. After Skyfire Sacred Hands is a certain distance away and in the wild, I can assassinate him. When that time comes, the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect might not know that it was done by me!”

Yi Yun was rather grateful when he heard Qin Zhengyang offer his help. This risk was not something most people would be willing to take.

However, Yi Yun shook his head. “City Lord Qin, I’m grateful for your kind intentions. However, if you were to assassinate Skyfire Sacred Hands, even if it were in the wild, it will be very easy for the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect to investigate the matter. After all, I’m unable to match Skyfire Sacred Hands and you have such a close relationship with me. It will be easy to guess who the assassin is. Furthermore, the subsequent sacking of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion requires your presence.”

When he said that, Yi Yun looked into the direction where Skyfire Sacred Hands had headed. Skyfire Sacred Hands was long gone.

In fact, Yi Yun had seen Skyfire Sacred Hands crush a voice transmission charm when they began attacking Si Shanhe. It was possibly the hailing of reinforcements or the providing of Yi Yun’s details to the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect.

If Skyfire Sacred Hands was killed, the blame would be on Yi Yun and he would be pursued by the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect.

And as Skyfire Sacred Hands said, Yi Yun would only be hunted by Skyfire Sacred Hands alone in the beginning. He was not afraid of him. Furthermore, he was planning on dedicating himself to cultivation, experiencing the longest seclusion he had ever had since he began practicing martial arts. He wanted to experience a leap in strength.

Now, with the overturning of the Myriad Divine Territory, and the substantial gifts from the various major factions, Yi Yun would receive large amounts of natural treasures. With the divine alchemist’s heritage, Yi Yun could use these resources to the greatest extent, allowing his strength to greatly increase.

“Young Master Yi, my Guiyuan family and Perfected Qianhua have already sent men to surround the Myriad Immortal Palace. Perfected Qianhua and I will hereby bid you farewell. We will be heading to Myriad Immortal Palace to preside over the situation.”

As Guiyuan Potian said this, he cupped his fists and departed with the wind. Perfected Qianhua and company followed closely behind. After City Lord Qin advised Yi Yun on a few matters, he followed the rest.

In fact, the main battleground was the Myriad Immortal Palace. Although victory was at hand, they could not be careless.

Yi Yun nodded. He had no interest in participating in the subsequent battles.

1203 - : The Die is Cast

CKtalon  CKtalon

With his business at the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet concluded, Yi Yun returned to City Lord Manor. Over the next few days, City Lord Manor was bustling with visitors.

“All of you can go home now.”

Yi Yun waved his hands at the ten-plus young elites in front of him as he spoke nonchalantly.

Over the past few days, Yi Yun had wiped out the plague. Starting with singular treatments, he eventually began treating ten-plus people a time. Many people were at a loss when they saw how Yi Yun treated the plague as simply as pouring water. It did not drain his stamina or mental strength at all. He made it look too easy.

“Young Master Yi, this is a little something from my Mystic Yang Manor. It’s just a small token to show my appreciation. Young Master Yi, you must accept it.”

A green-dressed girl came to Yi Yun and bowed gracefully. Her slender arms held a wooden box which opened to reveal a silvery-white bone.

Upon seeing the item, Yi Yun’s brows pricked up slightly. “This is the spine of a Green Water Snake?”

Yi Yun was well-versed in the divine alchemist’s notes and was very knowledgeable. He could tell at a glance the origin of the white bone. As long as he handled it with the Desolate Heaven technique, he could refine supreme-grade relics—Green Water Lazurite— that would fortify his body and regulate his mind.

“Young Master Yi truly surpasses others in knowledge. This is the spine of the Green Water Snake! I’m really impressed that Young Master Yi is able to identify it immediately.”

Yi Yun shook his head and said, “It’s nothing impressive. You used Heavywater Wood to construct this box, which gave me some clues. The bones of Green Water Snake contain water-elemental essence. Without a box made of Heavywater Wood, the essence would be lost.”

“Young Master Yi, you are right. My Mystic Yang Manor has been keeping this bone for many years and it seems appropriate to give it to Young Master Yi. For curing our juniors of the plague, our Manor Lord specially exhorted me to offer this spine bone to Young Master Yi. Please accept it.”

The green-dressed girl’s voice was gentle and soft. Just listening to her voice made one’s bones turn soft.

“Then, I’ll be thanking Mystic Yang Manor Lord.”

Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony. It was only normal for him to receive some benefits from administering his medical treatment.

When he received the jade box, he felt his palm itch a little. He glanced at the green-dressed girl oddly. She had stretched out her slender fingers and gently grazed his palm.

Realizing that Yi Yun had looked at her, she blushed slightly and whispered, “I’m Xuan Shui’er, a disciple of the Mystic Yang Manor. If Young Master Yi has the time, he should pay the Mystic Yang Manor a visit.”

Having said that, the green-dressed girl rushed to get up and ran off quickly.

She left Yi Yun in a daze. This girl was truly too bold.

At that moment, a charming laughter was heard. “Young Master Yi sure has luck with romance. Even Xuan Shui’er is flinging herself into your arms.”

Yi Yun turned to look when he heard the voice. He saw Princess White Fox and Fairy Youqin walking over.

For the past few days, Perfected Qianhua had left Fairy Youqin in City Lord Manor. She had become familiar with Yi Yun, so it was actually her that made the teasing comment.

“What does that mean? Fairy, are you familiar with Xuan Shui’er?”

“No, I just know of her. Young Master Yi, didn’t you save Dong Xiaowan in the past? There was a ranking of the top women in Myriad City, and Dong Xiaowan was ranked nineteenth? As for this Xuan Shui’er, her background is far better than Dong Xiaowan’s, so her ranking is rather high. I think it was fourth or fifth. That’s quite impressive. And besides her, there are many of my friends who wish for me to introduce them to you.”

As Fairy Youqin spoke, a faint smile suffused from her portrait-like beauty. Now, Yi Yun was enjoying great prestige in Myriad City. He was a top expert that could exceed a Divine Lord in the future, and had superb alchemical skills that destined him to be an alchemical sage. Any of these qualities would make large factions drool with envy.

If they could manage to be related to Yi Yun in any way, they would benefit forever.

Of course, to women, Yi Yun was the perfect man. Many were even willing to be his concubine.

“Yi Yun, this is something Uncle Qin wants me to hand over to you.”

In order to prevent Fairy Youqin from teasing Yi Yun any further, Princess White Fox handed a jade box to Yi Yun. “This was obtained from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s treasury.”

Over the past few days, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had been obliterated. Rats flee a sinking ship, so many Myriad Immortal Pavilion disciples had pledged allegiance to other sects or splintered off into smaller factions. Qin Zhengyang and company had obtained innumerable amounts of riches from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s treasury.

Yi Yun was not interested in the riches, cultivation manuals or enchanted artifacts. Naturally, they were split among the other factions. As for the top-grade natural treasures, especially treasures that could enhance one’s cultivation level, Qin Zhengyang would deliver them to Yi Yun.

Although these treasures were great, Qin Zhengyang had already reached the acme of his cultivation. It was unlikely he could raise it higher, so leaving the treasures to Yi Yun ensured that they were put to good use.

“City Lord Qin really is generous. This is already the twentieth box or so. And every one he delivers is especially precious.”

Yi Yun estimated that Qin Zhengyang had delivered the majority of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion’s top-grade natural treasures to him.

Although these things were only an extremely tiny portion of the immense wealth the Myriad Immortal Pavilion possessed, they were very important to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony and took the jade box. He knew that while besieging the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, City Lord Qin had kept a lot of cultivation manuals, enchanted treasures and a portion of the pills for himself. Many of them were useless to City Lord Qin but were used as rewards for juniors.

City Lord Qin was probably intending to build up a faction of his own.

Before this, Myriad City’s City Lord was not supposed to have his own faction. But now, with City Lord Qin’s high prestige and Yi Yun’s formless support, no one would stop him from establishing his own faction. Yi Yun was very willing to see this happen.

“Young Master Yi, with the sacking of Myriad Immortal Pavilion, the Guiyuan family and the Paradise Chapter have become the new powerhouses. Now, the businesses in the central district have been carved out anew. My master had deliberately kept the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic and intends to gift it to you, as one of your estates.”

Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic?

Yi Yun faltered for a moment. His first thought was to reject it, since he would eventually leave the Myriad Divine Territory. Even if it was a store in prime real estate, he wouldn’t get much use out of it.

But on second thought, Yi Yun changed his mind. He said, “Then, thank you, Fairy Youqin. I’ll accept this store.”

As he spoke, he extended his hand and a tiny pagoda appeared spinning out of thin air. It was none other than the God Advent Tower.

“Ru’er, Xiaowan, come on out.”

As he spoke, Ru’er and Dong Xiaowan were transported out of the God Advent Tower. Yi Yun had already obtained all the materials needed to refine the Hollow Soul Pills, and so no longer needed Ru’er and Dong Xiaowan to take care of Ling Xie’er. However, he wanted to leave the two girls a respectable home.

“Ru’er, Xiaowan, I have a store which I want you two to help me take care of. In the future, if I ever come back to Myriad City, I’ll be sure to visit.”

Owning a piece of land in Myriad City was quite nice. Besides, the revenue it received would be immense.

“Ah? Store?”

Ru’er and Dong Xiaowan were still unaware of what had happened in Myriad City. They were at a loss, for they were still under the impression that Yi Yun was being hunted by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.

“Young Master, this place is…”

Dong Xiaowan was astounded when she saw Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox. Could this be Myriad City?

“Follow me.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he led Dong Xiaowan and Ru’er out of City Lord Manor.

When the two woman saw that they were coming out of City Lord Manor without any disguises, they were somewhat dumbfounded. Had the Myriad Immortal Pavilion rescinded its pursuit of Yi Yun?

However, as they walked, they saw that many of the pedestrians on the streets recognized Yi Yun. Not only did they not tip off the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, they were even extremely polite to him.

This left Dong Xiaowan and Ru’er flabbergasted. What had happened in the span of a few months?

“Up ahead is the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic.”

Fairy Youqin said with a smile. They were already in the busiest district of Myriad City.

The magnificent Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic towered in the middle of Myriad City. However, its plaque had been removed, and replacing it was Yi Yun’s ‘Yun Xin Loft’!

Upon seeing the words ‘Yun Xin Loft’ hanging high above, Yi Yun felt a mix of emotions. Back when Ling Xie’er’s soul suddenly weakened, he was in dire need of a Soul Restoring Relic. He had borrowed eight hundred thousand Myriad Runes to buy the medicine from Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic, yet he had been schemed against by Huyan Cang and Zuoqiu Haoyu. As things were made difficult for him, Yi Yun had no choice but to leave. He only managed to save Ling Xie’er by expending half of a Soul Returning Root.

And now, Yi Yun was back here, as the new owner of the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic.

The way things changed in the world really left one sighing.

Fairy Youqin clearly knew of Yi Yun’s experience at the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic. She said softly, “Young Master Yi, as a member of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, Zuoqiu Bo has been disposed of. As for Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic, Huyan Cang was in cahoots with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion from the start. Now, with the Myriad Immortal Pavilion destroyed, he has long surrendered. However, due to his grudge with you, my master was worried about him. She made him sign a slave contract and, as long as you refine the master contract, Huyan Cang will be loyal to Young Master Yi for a tenure of a hundred thousand years.”

“He will be at Young Master Yi’s disposal, and can serve the Heaven Bestowing Medicinal Clinic— Oh no, I mean serve Yun Xin Loft.”

After finished her explanation, Fairy Youqin shouted, “Huyan Cang, come out.”

The moment her voice faded, a reverential-looking Huyan Cang rushed out. He gave Yi Yun a bow and said, “Young Master Yi, greetings from this old slave, Huyan Cang.”

Typical warriors would rather die than sign a slave contract; however, Huyan Cang was no typical warrior. He was a person that preferred life to dishonor. All he cared about was riches.

It was better to be alive than dead. At least he could still be an alchemist at Yun Xin Loft. The contract was a hundred thousand years, and Huyan Cang had quite a bit of lifespan left in him. After the hundred thousand years, he could regain his freedom.

“A hundred thousand years sure is long.”

Yi Yun secretly clicked his tongue. To a warrior that had cultivated for less than a hundred years, a hundred thousand years was exceedingly long. However, to many old freaks, a punishment of a hundred thousand years wasn’t considered long. It was truly quite pressing on that old man.

Yi Yun took the master contract from Fairy Youqin and casually passed it to Ru’er. He said, “Ru’er, refine the master contract. From today, you and Xiaowan will help run Yun Xin Loft. I’ll come back from time to time to take a look.”

“Wh…What?”

Dong Xiaowan and Ru’er widened their eyes. They were already stunned from seeing Huyan Cang run over to bow at Yi Yun while calling himself old slave.

Now, with them knowing that Yi Yun had handed them a store to run—the number one store in Myriad City—with one of the grand alchemists as a slave to Ru’er, it truly shattered their worldview.

“Young Master, what’s the meaning of this!”

“That’s right. How can we do a good job with you leaving such a big store to us?”

The two girls were in somewhat of a panic.

However, Yi Yun did not mind. He said, “Just try it out. If there are any difficulties, you can seek City Lord Qin’s help. As for what happened over the past few days, Myriad Immortal Pavilion has already been obliterated. Now, there has been a power reshuffle in Myriad City. This store was actually claimed by the Guiyuan Family and the Paradise Chapter, but they have left it to me.”

Yi Yun casually informed them of the recent happenings, leaving Ru’er and Dong Xiaowan somewhat in a daze. They were not dumb, so they knew the cost of the store. For him to receive it meant that he had played an important role in destroying the Myriad Immortal Pavilion. If not, he would not have been given such remunerations.

It was completely unbelievable. Myriad Immortal Pavilion, the hegemon of the Myriad Divine Territory, was a massive behemoth to the two girls. A few months back, the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had offered great rewards for the pursuit of Yi Yun but now, it had been destroyed…

“Young Master Yi truly has great foresight to leave such a store to sisters Xiaowan and Ru’er. Sisters, you sure are lucky. If you encounter any problems while running the store, it’s not just City Lord Qin, but my Paradise Chapter would be willing to help as well,” Fairy Youqin said sincerely.

She knew that many charming women in Myriad City wanted to acquaint themselves with Yi Yun, and many of them were more excellent than Dong Xiaowan and Ru’er, yet they did not get such a chance.

The two girls were truly lucky. Although they were only helping Yi Yun run Yun Xin Loft, with most of the profits going to Yi Yun, they were still helming a high position. And with Yi Yun backing them, their statuses in Myriad City would only rise. They would become members of the upper echelons of Myriad City and could truly be depicted as sparrows turning into phoenixes.

Ru’er and Dong Xiaowan knew that Yi Yun’s ultimate goal was not in the Myriad Divine Territory. With all said and done, Ru’er began refining Huyan Cang’s master contract.

Upon seeing this scene, Huyan Cang’s face looked like a bruised eggplant. He was fine being Yi Yun’s slave. After all, Yi Yun could break through to become a Divine Lord in the future or become an alchemical sage. It wouldn’t be as shameful in that case; however, Yi Yun didn’t even want him. He casually left him to a maidservant beside him.

Upon thinking how he had to be a slave to a young lass for the next hundred thousand years, it was obvious how depressed Huyan Cang felt.

In the next two weeks, order in Myriad Divine Territory was reestablished. Yun Xin Loft was opened again and Yi Yun had casually refined a few cauldrons of pills. On the opening day, the crowd nearly busted down the doors.

Ignoring the fact that these were the quality pills refined by Yi Yun, people would fall over each other to buy even the ordinary pills. There was no reason other than because it was Yi Yun’s brand.

Ru’er and Dong Xiaowan busied themselves with the business. Simultaneously, Yi Yun was bidding farewell to City Lord Qin and Princess White Fox.

He did not plan on leaving the Myriad Divine Territory just yet, but he was planning on entering a long, seclusive retreat. During this seclusion, he planned on refining the Hollow Soul Pills to save Ling Xie’er.

Once Ling Xie’er was awoken, the Heretical God Fire Seed would have a spirit. It would greatly enhance Yi Yun’s combat strength and alchemical skills.

Now, he was in dire need for growth.

1204 - : Ample Spoils of War

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Myriad Divine Territory spanned a vast area of land. A long mountain range stretched along the northern regions of the Myriad Divine Territory, and these mountain ranges were covered with primordial forests and had no traces of human activity.

In this mountainous valley, there was an amber-like lake. The water was still, allowing one to peer all the way to its bottom. It perfectly reflected the bright moon hanging in the night sky, exuding an extraordinary beauty.

“This shall be it.”

Yi Yun looked at the surrounding landscape that was a model of a treasured land. Most importantly, it was quiet and undisturbed.

With a flick of his hand, the Thousand Snow flying sabers flew out like snowflakes as they formed a hurricane saber array that tore straight through the mountains and drilled deep down.

Yi Yun followed the Thousand Snow flying sabers and quickly came to a spot a hundred meters underground. Here, he used his pure Yang flames to open up a vast cave for himself.

Rooms were separated: a cultivation chamber, a herb garden, a bedroom, an alchemical lab, etc.

Following that, Yi Yun sealed the entrance and set up a concealment array. From afar, the entrance had vanished and even the valley could not be seen. There was only a lake with clear water. There was nothing that seemed amiss.

As a finishing touch, Yi Yun distorted the space underground. He separated the cavern into an independent pocket world. High in the sky hung a pure Yang sun, and he began planting random flowers and grass. He used his spiritual energy to cause them to instantly sprout, and soon, the underground pocket world was illuminated with the sun shining gaily. Nature was everywhere in the air and it seemed like an otherworldly paradise.

Yi Yun looked at his cavernous abode with satisfaction. Without knowing it, he was now capable of opening up a pocket world of his own. There was a time when such a feat seemed impossible to Yi Yun.

The cultivation chamber, bedroom and alchemical lab did not need any further description, but the herb garden was a special place. Yi Yun had dozens of precious herbs in his possession. They had been accumulated by the Myriad Immortal Pavilion over millions of years, so much so that the old freaks of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect would turn envious at the mere sight of these treasures.

And among the dozens of herbs, the most precious ones were inside the two jade boxes in Yi Yun’s hands.

Yi Yun first set up an array formation around the herb garden before opening a box.

“Whew!”

A white beam shot out, and a tiny white deer that was about a foot tall jumped out of the jade box and burrowed deep into the ground before vanishing.

This was a Whitejade Deer Monarch Ginseng, a supreme-grade herb. Furthermore, this herb had taken form and possessed intelligence. It made it more precious than any other precious item.

In the divine alchemist’s notes, it was written that one could use Whitejade Deer Monarch Ginseng to refine Nine-Colored Pills that were used to aid a Supremacy in breaking through. Although Yi Yun was only at the Dao Palace realm, his foundations were robust and he had the Azure Wood Divine Tree in him, so he could definitely use such pills to cultivate.

Although the Whitejade Deer Monarch Ginseng had vanished, the space they were in had been sealed shut by Yi Yun’s array. He did not need to fret about it for it had no means of escape.

The second jade box opened up to another world. In it was an aquatic realm. Like the deer, a spiritual aqua had taken form.

Using such spiritual aqua for refinement was naturally excellent, but Yi Yun had no intentions of doing so. He planned on using the spiritual aqua to nourish the herb garden and even the entire cavernous abode. It would allow his seclusion to have adequate amounts of spiritual energy so that the herbs could grow luxuriantly.

Yi Yun completed furnishing his herbal garden in half a day’s time. Following that, he meditated in his alchemical lab for three days and three nights. After he felt that he recovered to peak condition, Yi Yun took out the Soul Returning Root he had.

All the supplementary herbs were prepared. With that, Yi Yun conjured the Divine Alchemy Cauldron.

Although it had lost its core array, it was not of great importance. With Yi Yun’s present strength and the numerous supreme-grade herbs he had, refining the Hollow Soul Pills would be a sure thing.

Yi Yun took a deep breath as he looked solemnly at the herbs. He lit up the Divine Alchemy Cauldron using the Heretical God Fire Seed with one hand and threw a supplementary herb in.

In the past, using the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun could extract the medicinal essence in minutes. He had even thrown numerous herbs into a cauldron once, extracting them all together.

However, Yi Yun was especially meticulous this time. Not only did he extract each herb one at a time, he even took thirty minutes to extract every herb, ensuring that he could flawlessly extract the medicinal essence from them, without a shred of waste.

After four hours of this, Yi Yun finally began refining the main herb, the Soul Returning Root.

The Soul Returning Root that the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had found was of better quality, but the remaining half of Yi Yun’s Soul Returning Root did not go to waste. Both of the Soul Returning Roots were placed into the Divine Alchemy Cauldron and refined together.

This time, Yi Yun spent two hours refining the Soul Returning Root. Bit by bit, he painstakingly extracted each strand of essence like he was undergoing a complex surgery.

As he maintained the Heretical God Fire Seed, Yi Yun found his mental energies taxed. However, he was long prepared for this moment. He consumed a Soul Restoring Relic that he had prepared ahead of time. The spiritual aqua that had taken form had also been moved into the alchemical lab, providing him with the purest spiritual energies.

Finally, when all the medicinal essence was done extracting, Yi Yun did not rush to the completion seals. Instead, he spent an entire day carefully baking the herbal liquid using the Heretical God Fire Seed, cleansing it of all impurities.

The liquid that was about the size of a fist shrunk, becoming crystalline and resplendent, with an emerald green luster.

At this point, even if Yi Yun ended the refinement process, just the herbal liquid would be a supreme-grade liquid that could be used for restoring the soul.

But Yi Yun pressed on, and began forming his seals. Every seal was done conscientiously and meticulously. The Hollow Soul Pills needed a hundred and eight seals. With the Purple Crystal’s absolute control over energy, each seal was done perfectly.

Finally—pill completion!

At this moment, Yi Yun had already consumed his second Soul Restoring Relic. He planned to complete it in one go. Be it the opportunity or the heating required, he had to grasp it perfectly.

“Peng!”

The lid of the Divine Alchemy Cauldron flew open as a green beam shot out. Yi Yun grabbed at it as he held hot pills in his hands. When he spread out his palm, he saw a total of nine Hollow Soul Pills!

Every Hollow Soul Pill had beautiful pill engravings that were formed naturally from the worldly laws.

The maximum number of Hollow Soul Pills that could be refined in one cauldron was nine. Not a single pill was missing and each of them was perfect. It could be said that this was the most successful cauldron of pills that Yi Yun had ever refined!

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun was delighted. He breathed out and wiped away the dense beads of sweat that had formed across his forehead.

Finally, all his efforts had not been in vain. The supreme-grade herbs that were aged and in high demand, together with the Heretical God Fire Seed, Soul Restoring Relics, and the spiritual aqua that had taken form had facilitated such an outcome.

Hollow Soul Pills were extremely precious. They were, to date, the most precious pills Yi Yun had ever refined. With these nine Hollow Soul Pills in hand, he could finally treat Ling Xie’er. The remaining Hollow Soul Pills were also very useful to Yi Yun.

1205 - : Hollow Soul Pill Completed

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the tiny underground world, there was a cozily-decorated bedroom. The floor was covered with flowers that gathered around a soft bed. On that bed lay Ling Xie’er. Her tiny face was pale and her incorporeal body appeared weak.

She had been in slumber for a very long time. Despite having consumed half the Soul Returning Root, and had it nourishing her, her incorporeal body remained weak. It was as though just a tiny disturbance could scatter her into nothingness.

The way she looked only left one feeling sympathetic for her.

Yi Yun came to her side but did not take action. The Heretical God Fire Seed in his body gradually spread out, turning into wisps of azure smoke before lingering about Ling Xie’er.

After the long period of preparations, it was finally time to awaken Ling Xie’er. The Heretical God Fire Seed lingered in the form of azure smoke and seemed to be awaiting her awakening. The wisps of smoke gently caressed Ling Xie’er as though they were trying to awaken her.

Yi Yun opened a jade bottle, and immediately a medicinal aroma emanated the bedroom. Yi Yun poured out one of Hollow Soul Pills and gently opened Ling Xie’er’s mouth, letting the pill roll in.

Ling Xie’er had an incorporeal body so ordinary pills were ineffective on her. However, the moment the Hollow Soul Pill entered her body, it immediately transformed into countless light dots that dispersed throughout her body, nourishing her ethereal form.

Soon, Ling Xie’er’s body suffused a thin halo. Her body turned somewhat translucent because of the halo, as though she were an ice sculpture.

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun did not hesitate further. He took out another Hollow Soul Pill and fed it to Ling Xie’er.

After the second pill, the halo surrounding Ling Xie’er’s body turned richer. Her pale face finally took on a reddish glow after so long.

With that, Yi Yun extended his hand and a small water blob flew out from the spiritual aqua. He placed the third Hollow Soul Pill into Ling Xie’er’s mouth and downed it with a mouthful of spiritual aqua. At this moment, Yi Yun felt that the soul force in Ling Xie’er’s body was constantly surging forth like water from a spring. This amount of soul force was not much different from when Yi Yun first met Ling Xie’er.

Yi Yun was delighted as he immediately fed her the fourth Hollow Soul Pill.

Not only could Hollow Soul Pills awaken Ling Xie’er, they were also soul medicine that could invigorate her. They were very beneficial to Ling Xie’er’s body, so Yi Yun was not stingy in using them.

With that, in the hazy white light, Ling Xie’er’s body slowly floated up. Following that, she gradually opened up her eyes… as though she was coming to after a long dream. She had finally awoken.

She looked at Yi Yun, her eyes showing a look of loss.

Looking around her, she found a pleasant scene. It stood in stark contrast to the fiery lands she remembered from before she lost consciousness.

“This is…”

Ling Xie’er was taken aback. She sensed her surroundings and found that the worldly array that once trapped her no longer existed. All the scorching heat, lava, and red molten liquid had vanished. This was an independent world that seemed to be a welcoming spring. It was cozy and beautiful.

The enemies that had tortured her were no longer around. Beside her, there was only a smiling Yi Yun.

“Xie’er, you have finally awoken.”

Yi Yun sighed. His years of hard work were not in vain.

“Wasn’t I already…”

Ling Xie’er remembered what had happened before she lost consciousness. She knew that she was like a candle in the wind and, in that state, it was only natural that her soul would weaken till she slowly died. However, she could sense the surging soul force running through her body. It was stronger than when she was in the Sun Burial Sandsea.

“Brother Yi, did you save me?” Ling Xie’er blinked and looked at him. She noticed the remaining Hollow Soul Pills in Yi Yun’s hand. A simple glance was enough for her to tell that these miraculous pills contained soul force.

“Yes, and from now on, you will not be trapped by that massive array. I have someone I intend to search for and, at the same time, I want to become stronger. Xie’er, you can accompany me if you are willing.”

Yi Yun held Ling Xie’er’s hands. Although she had lived for such a long period of time, she did not seem like she could grow. She still looked like a prepubescent young girl. Her hand was much smaller than Yi Yun’s, but after having consumed a few Hollow Soul Pills her body was more corporeal. Her hands even had a hint of warmth.

Although the Heretical God Fire Seed had fused with Yi Yun, he did not want to force Ling Xie’er to follow him because of that. He would absolutely not stop her if she wanted to leave.

Ling Xie’er had fallen into the prolonged slumber because she was trying to save him.

“Yes.” Ling Xie’er nodded heavily and could not help but pounce into Yi Yun’s embrace.

She hugged him and suddenly felt a sense of unprecedented safety. She had been on the verge of death but now she was revived. Furthermore, she had finally departed the hellish Sun Burial Sandsea, abandoning the everlasting loneliness. It made Ling Xie’er feel like she was in a dream.

She could finally see what the outside world was like.

…

While Yi Yun began his seclusion, other events transpired a million miles away, on the original grounds of the Jadewave Sect.

Ever since the Jadewave Sect moved, this place had become desolate. Especially, the World Stone mine of the Jadewave Sect, it had been sealed and destroyed. It looked no different from a ruin.

However, there were many things that could not be sealed.

At that moment deep underground, in the cold ancient ruin, a figure appeared.

It had appeared suddenly, and did not seem like it was part of the existing world.

The figure was a red-haired man in black clothes. He looked extremely young.

He studied the primordial ruin and the densely arranged tombs, finding thousands of holes. The tombs looked like they had been plowed. All the coffins were open and empty.

“What exactly happened?” The red-haired man’s voice resounded in the ruin independently.

“I sensed something happening to the demonic servants, but by the time I got here I was already too late…”

The red-haired man stretched his hand out as a cold and horrifying aura emanated out immediately, covering the entire region.

However, no matter how far his aura emanated, the red-haired man did not sense an inkling of the demonic servants’ auras.

It was not yet time for these demonic servants to awaken, and even if some of them had awoken prematurely, they would be in the minority. It was impossible for them all to awaken so suddenly.

“To think that in this world, there is someone who can detect traces of the demonic servants and do such a thing… No matter who it is, this person has to die or plans will be ruined.”

Even if a typical warrior were to chance upon this ruin, there was no way they could discover the demonic servants. The cemetery had been sealed by a massive array and besides, the demonic servants were hard to discover.

“It looks like the plan has to be pushed forward.”

The red-haired man muttered to himself and took a step forward. Beneath his feet, strange distortions happen around space. In one step, he had crossed vast distances and soon, he left the primordial ruin.

And this whole scene was not witnessed by anyone.

The original lands of the Jadewave Sect remained silent and dead. It was as though it was a desolate land that no being had ever stepped into before.

1206 - : Ling Xie’er Awakens

CKtalon  CKtalon

Time passed in an unfathomable fashion. In the underground world where Yi Yun entered seclusion, the days and nights could be determined from the pure Yang sun in the sky, but there was only one season. Thanks to the rich Yuan Qi, the vegetation here was evergreen.

It was truly a paradise. Ling Xie’er felt that she could live happily for the rest of time in this pocket world, especially when she looked at the idyllic scenery and thought of how Yi Yun was with her.

The only imperfection was that she almost never saw Yi Yun take a break.

Day after day, Yi Yun was constantly busy. For example, one time he had entered the alchemical lab and stayed in there for two years with the door closed.

Ever since Ling Xie’er woke up, the Heretical God Fire Seed experienced a qualitative change. It allowed Yi Yun to have even greater control over it.

Back when Yi Yun first obtained the Heretical God Fire Seed, he could only control one wisp when refining pills. Later on, thanks to the precious herb that Dong Shaoqing had brought him, Yi Yun had refined and consumed Mental Nourishing Pills. With him gaining more skill in controlling the flame, he was able to barely control two wisps of the Heretical God Fire Seed at once.

And now, after Ling Xie’er woke up, the Heretical God Fire Seed began possessing a spirit. In addition, Ling Xie’er had immense trust and reliance on Yi Yun. This was reflected in the Heretical God Fire Seed, as the flame became completely intrinsic to Yi Yun.

Now when Yi Yun used the Heretical God Fire Seed, he felt as though he had possessed it for tens of millions of years. He could control ten wisps of the flame while refining a pill without breaking a sweat.

This made Yi Yun’s alchemical skills and Desolate Heaven technique increase rapidly. Therefore, over the two years of seclusion, Yi Yun began attempting to refine the sage-level pills that were recorded in the divine alchemist’s notes.

Due to the great variety of pills and relics, in addition to the discovery of new pill formulas, there was no grading among lower quality pills.

However, for truly top-grade pills, there were unspoken grades. People who could refine sage-level pills and relics were considered alchemist sages.

The reason for Skyfire Sacred Hands’s pride was that the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect had previously produced two alchemist sages. It was one of them that had managed to obtain the Extreme Frost-ice Flame mother flame.

These two alchemist sages determined the legacy of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect. Their work had also facilitated the exuberance of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect.

And now, with Yi Yun obtaining large quantities of treasured herbs from the destruction of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion, he had dozens of materials, all of them extremely precious.

With these materials, the enhanced Heretical God Fire Seed, and the Purple Crystal’s help, Yi Yun finally met the minimum requirement needed to attempt refining sage-level pills.

Unfortunately, he was still somewhat lacking. All he could refine were quasi-sage level pills.

This difference of a single word left Yi Yun extremely displeased. Despite having control over all sorts of favorable conditions, he could not overcome that tiny obstruction.

In fact, even in the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory, which was well-known for its alchemy, quasi-sage alchemists were already extremely honorable. They were at the level of sect masters or grand elders of a major sect.

Even Skyfire Sacred Hands himself was still far from a quasi-sage.

“Phew–”

Inside the alchemical lab, Yi Yun exhaled. He felt the pinch when he looked at the destroyed dregs in the cauldron. Although he had tried his best to avoid using the most valuable herbs for refinement, he still found it a pity when some valuable supplementary herbs were destroyed.

Some of the supplementary herbs would make Supremacies turn red with envy. Only a person as wealthy as Yi Yun could use herbs of that grade as fodder for an experiment.

“This can’t carry on. If I attempt any more, I’ll be wasting too many herbs. My cultivation has been delayed and I’m still too young. I lack the preparation, so it’s just too difficult to become an alchemical sage immediately!”

With this thought in mind, he glanced at the floating Divine Alchemy Cauldron. Suddenly, he had a thought.

The Divine Alchemy Cauldron was a supreme-grade cauldron. To a very large extent, it determined the success rate of pill refinement. Unfortunately, the Divine Alchemy Cauldron was incomplete!

Its quality had dropped drastically because of its missing core array.

“If… I can fix the Divine Alchemy Cauldron, then perhaps I’ll be able to refine sage-level pills.”

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun felt somewhat tempted.

Everything would be completely different once he became an alchemist sage. He could attempt to refine Celestial Yuan Pills, True Dragon Relics, Great Unity Luck Pills, and other sage-level pills. Then, the day of him becoming a Supremacy would not be far off.

When that time came, powers like the Myriad Immortal Pavilion would be nothing to him. There would be no need for him to borrow the strength of City Lord Qin and company. He alone could easily obliterate any foe.

Unfortunately, the Divine Alchemy Cauldron’s quality was too high. In order to mend it, he needed a refinement master and an ancient mystic array. This was easier said than done.

Another year passed, and the day arrived when Yi Yun finally came out of seclusion.

Ling Xie’er missed him terribly after not seeing him for so long.

“Brother Yi, why did you enter seclusion for so long? What did you do?” Ling Xie’er was somewhat clingy to Yi Yun. She had already run over to him and warmly held his arms.

Yi Yun smiled as he ruffled Ling Xie’er’s tiny head. He did not say anything, but instead took out a number of bottles.

All the top treasured herbs that were swept away from the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had now been transformed into pills by Yi Yun.

Among them were nearly a hundred pills at the quasi-sage grade! As for pills that were slightly lower in grade, there were more than a thousand of them.

Although Yi Yun still lacked the ability to refine sage-grade pills, it did not stop him from using them. Without saving anything, he refined all of them.

Although it was a little wasteful of the medicinal essence, it was still an acceptable trade-off. After all, treasured herbs were meant to be used. If he ran out in the future, he could always search for them again. However, if his time and potential were wasted, they could never be gotten back. Now, Yi Yun was trying to increase his strength at all costs.

“So many pills!” Ling Xie’er said in astonishment.

“Yes. Unfortunately, my alchemical skills are lacking. I wasn’t able to refine the best but I can make do with these.”

If other sects heard Yi Yun’s nonchalant reply, they would probably cry.

Such a batch of pills was worth more than the combined pill rooms of several large factions. Even if they had the same treasured herbs as Yi Yun, they would still need to plead with other refinement sects to refine the herbs for them. Even then, if they managed to hire someone to do so, the result would be at Skyfire Sacred Hands’s level. The quality of the refined pills would be far inferior to Yi Yun’s.

Yi Yun chose about a dozen soul nurturing pills from his stash, including the remaining Hollow Soul Pills, and handed them to Ling Xie’er.

“Xie’er, it’s time you began cultivating.”

“Cultivating?” Ling Xie’er was a little lost when she heard that term. Ever since she came into being, over her hundreds of millions of years of existence, she had never cultivated.

“Yes. The more you cultivate, the stronger your soul will be. Your incorporeal body will also become harder to damage. Furthermore, the spirituality of your true form, the Heretical God Fire Seed, will also become stronger. It will be easier for me to control it, allowing me to attempt even higher grade pills.”

Ling Xie’er was taken aback momentarily when she heard Yi Yun’s words. “My cultivation will help Brother Yi?”

“Yes. Xie’er, after you woke up, my ability to control the Heretical God Fire Seed had increased severalfold.”

“Alright, I’ll cultivate then.” Ling Xie’er nodded heavily. Her raven-black eyes seemed to sparkle.

1207 - : Quasi-Sage Level

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Ling Xie’er began her cultivation, Yi Yun entered another cultivation chamber.

The cultivation chamber was spartan. There was only a stone bed situated in the middle of a patch of spirit grass.

Yi Yun sat on the stone bed and spent a few days attuning himself, before finally coming out from the state of refining pills.

When his mind was completely calm, and it felt as though he was the only person left in the world, Yi Yun stretched his hand out and wiped across his interspatial ring, taking out a shiny piece of paper.

It was the remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’!

This was given to him by his master, Felicitous Rain Lord, before they separated. Felicitous Rain Lord had once said that trying to learn the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ would be more harmful than beneficial if one lacked the strength.

Now Yi Yun was at the first floor Dao Palace realm, and was capable of escaping unscathed from Supremacies. He had the Azure Wood Divine Tree and Heretical God Fire Seed inside him, so he could now safely attempt it.

The stronger the cultivation technique, the faster it would be to cultivate. It would become immensely powerful after mastering it. The same attack would have a completely different effect if it was powered by a different cultivation technique.

The ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ was a supreme-grade cultivation technique of the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Countless people would go mad to grasp even a single remnant page of it. A bloody storm would be the only result.

Yi Yun placed the remnant page in his palm and gently moved it up.

Immediately, the remnant page flew up and floated in midair. Following that, it emitted a dazzling golden light, bathing the tiny cultivation chamber with the golden light.

At the same time, formulations began surging into Yi Yun’s mind.

“The remnant page of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ is most suitable for the Fey, but I have a Heaven Devouring Wyrm bloodline. In addition, I have the three-legged Golden Crow and Nine Neonate as my totems. I can cultivate this cultivation technique!”

Yi Yun closed his eyes before suddenly opening them again.

In his eyes, there was a resplendent starry sky but it also seemed like a sun was rising.

Large amounts of Yuan Qi surged towards Yi Yun. Slowly, golden runes began to appear on Yi Yun’s body. On careful inspection, these golden runes were nomological lines.

The laws swirled around Yi Yun and appeared on his skin, as though they were fusing into his flesh and blood.

Countless golden runes gradually filled the entire cultivation chamber. As they circled Yi Yun in a profound manner, they emitted terrifying nomological fluctuations.

And in the middle of all these laws, Yi Yun sat on the stone bed with his top completely destroyed. Throughout his body, on his warm-as-jade skin, there were nomological lines everywhere. They seemed to be another layer of golden skin that was extremely glaring.

Nomological runes flashed across Yi Yun’s eyes in an indescribable manner.

While Yi Yun was enveloped by the fascinating nomological runes, time flowed away like rapids. Unknowingly, the Golden Crow and the Nine Neonate totems appeared. Even the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s phantom image appeared behind Yi Yun’s body.

The Golden Crow and Nine Neonate circled the Azure Wood Divine Tree in flight as they cried out with voices that could reach the highest heavens. The phantom image of the Tang Valley with Fusang emerged behind the Azure Wood Divine Tree as well.

A brand new world seemed to appear behind Yi Yun, and he was the absolute hegemon of all order in this world. He held the natural laws in his hands.

In his cultivation that had no inkling of time, Yi Yun seemed to enter a mystical space. He had never experienced such phenomena when cultivating any other cultivation technique.

The nomological runes imprinted themselves into his skin, flesh, and blood. All of these were clearly reflected in Yi Yun’s perception.

It felt more astonishing than being reborn into a new body.

Yi Yun immersed himself in cultivation, completely forgetting the external world.

The underground world was extremely safe. Ling Xie’er was also cultivating so there was nothing that needed his attention.

…

Myriad City.

After the tumultuous changes of a few years back, Myriad City had changed completely.

The only thing that didn’t change was that it remained the central trading area of the Myriad Divine Territory. It was still flourishing immensely.

Warriors constantly streamed in from the various areas of the Myriad Divine Territory or even other Divine Territories.

The moment they came out of the teleportation arrays, they would eagerly enter Myriad City.

“I heard of a Yun Xin Loft in Myriad City that is extremely famous for the pills it sells. I’m here this time to buy some medicine.”

“I’m not here to buy medicine. I’m only interested in taking a look to broaden my horizons. I heard that the true owner of Yun Xin Loft is Yi Yun. He was the one who led the destruction of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.”

“I know that too. That Young Master Yi is truly a legend.”

Yi Yun!

Behind this group of people, a man wearing a hood came to a sudden halt when he heard Yi Yun’s name.

He looked at the distant Myriad City’s skyline and his eyes flashed with killing intent.

The hooded man did not enter Myriad City and instead appeared on a mountain not far away.

After ensuring that there was no one around, he removed his hood.

If Yi Yun was here, he would have immediately recognized this person to be Skyfire Sacred Hands.

Back at the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet, Skyfire Sacred Hands had escaped but, after returning to his sect, he had been punished for losing the Soaring Serpent Skyfire and the loss of the Extreme Frost-ice Flame child flame of another disciple.

Even worse, he lost to a junior that had cultivated for less than a century in alchemy. Yi Yun had caused him to suffer immense ridicule. He felt that his confidence had been completely shattered by Yi Yun. With his Skyfire snatched away, his strength and alchemical skills had dropped drastically. As long as Yi Yun still drew breath, he could not eradicate the mental demons that plagued him.

Yi Yun himself was only at the Dao Palace realm. Skyfire Sacred Hands had prepared a particular item to deal with Yi Yun. He was confident that even if he unexpectedly failed to kill Yi Yun, he would be able to snatch away Yi Yun’s flame.

Yi Yun’s special flame left him with a sense of yearning.

However, when Skyfire Sacred Hands rushed back to Myriad City, Yi Yun had already entered seclusion. He had spent several years searching for him, but failed.

Although Yi Yun’s whereabouts were unknown, Skyfire Sacred Hands remained very patient. He believed that he would be able to wait until the day Yi Yun appeared.

“Yi Yun, you only managed to drive the evil spirits away and cure the plague because of that special flame! When I rob you of your flame, you will have nothing and I will further my journey towards becoming an alchemical sage!” Skyfire Sacred Hands muttered to himself with a heavy and sinister expression.

The humiliation he had suffered felt like it was about to erupt and explode. He needed to vent it. Yi Yun had become a legendary figure of Myriad City and everyone extolled him. As for him, he had become like a despised tramp.

But at that moment, a voice suddenly sounded from behind him. “A very intense sense of hatred. Why don’t you tell me in detail?”

Skyfire Sacred Hands’s body stiffened.

Who had managed to silently appear behind him without his detection?

Skyfire Sacred Hands’s figure immediately flew far away before turning around. He realized that there was a red-haired man standing in front of him only a few steps away.

The red-haired man looked at him apathetically. “I’ve been watching you for a long while. I have heard the name Yi Yun several times over the past few years. You seem to have a grudge against him? It’s best you do not act foolishly. Although I have yet to recover to my peak state, you can still be easily defeated.”

“Who… who are you!?” Skyfire Sacred Hands was overwhelmed by alarm. The person spoke strangely and his actions effused oddness!

In front of the red-haired man, Skyfire Sacred Hands felt his soul repressed. The man had followed him for several days without him noticing!?

“I will not repeat my question again. Tell me about Yi Yun!” The red-haired man spoke again.

Skyfire Sacred Hands had a feeling that if he did not answer him, the red-haired man would immediately attack.

1208 - : Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon

CKtalon  CKtalon

Against the red-haired man, Skyfire Sacred Hands felt his vibrancy clamming up. There was no room for resistance. He was a proud man, but against the red-haired man he could only submit. The pressure exuded by this man was just too great.

He told the red-haired man everything he knew.

“Oh? He’s able to easily remove the plague with a Dao Palace realm cultivation level?”

“Yes, I was unable to do a thing to the evil spirits. The way he easily removed them is inexplicable.” Skyfire Sacred Hands did not dare to even breathe more than was necessary.

The red-haired man stroked his chin and pondered. How could a Dao Palace realm warrior eliminate the demonic servants without harming the possessed?

Yi Yun appeared to have some secrets.

“What are you hiding from me?” The red-haired man’s voice suddenly changed. At the same time, Skyfire Sacred Hands felt all the blood circulating through his body freeze. He found it difficult to breathe.

“No…nothing…”

Skyfire Sacred Hands said those words with great difficulty, but then he suddenly felt his dantian rapidly freezing. If this continued on, he would be maimed of his cultivation.

“It’s… it’s a flame… He has a type of… strange flame… He must have used the flame… to burn the evil spirits…”

Skyfire Sacred Hands struggled with all his might to say those words. Finally, he was released by the red-haired man. As he held his neck, Skyfire Sacred Hands took in deep gasps. He was nearly crippled of his cultivation just a moment ago.

“Fire?”

The red-haired man fell into deep thought. He did not know of any flame that could easily burn the demonic servants without harming the dantian of the possessed.

All of this could be ascertained, but only when Yi Yun was captured.

He glanced at Skyfire Sacred Hands and said, “You are of no use to me anymore. I’ll give you two choices. Dedicate your life soul to me, or you die!”

Upon hearing the red-haired man’s words, Skyfire Sacred Hands’s face turned pale. He knew that there was no way he could escape today’s calamity.

As a genius alchemist of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect he had his own pride, so how could he easily give up his life soul?

“Do not think that you will be at a loss by submitting. In several more years, the 12 Empyrean Heavens will cease to exist, and it will instead be ruled by my race! My race’s power is not something you can imagine. If I weren’t so lacking in manpower, I wouldn’t bother to give you a chance. I do not want to continue with this nonsense. I’m giving you thirty seconds to consider. If you submit, you will obtain greater strength, allowing you to kill your enemy. Otherwise, you will die now!” The red-haired man said indifferently, causing the corners of Skyfire Sacred Hands’s mouth to twitch.

The 12 Empyrean Heavens would no longer exist? What a joke!

He looked up at the red-haired man. Although this man currently had him seized by terror, Skyfire Sacred Hands sensed that he was only at the Supremacy level. There were still Divine Lords above him, and even mightier existences beyond that. The person in front of him was definitely not capable of wiping out the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

From what he gathered from the red-haired man’s words, the race he belonged to had even more powerful existences. They had been lurking around somewhere without anyone knowing.

Where did they come from? Could it be the Sinkhole?

For some unknown reason, Skyfire Sacred Hands suddenly thought of the evil spirits Yi Yun destroyed. The sudden appearance of the evil spirits, the ancient ruins, as well as the red-haired man’s inquiry about the evil spirits, caused him to make several connections.

“Those evil spirits were reared by your race?” Skyfire Sacred Hands suddenly realized the possibility and asked.

“You are rather smart. Indeed, the demonic servants are members of our race. However, it doesn’t matter if they are destroyed. Although I’m somewhat interested in the Yi Yun you mentioned, I am not worried by him. Our might cannot be obstructed. He is only a special ant to our race.”

As the red-haired man spoke, he extended his hand. His fingers spewed black gas, as though he was about to suck away Skyfire Sacred Hands’s soul.

Skyfire Sacred Hands no longer had a choice. His intuition told him that many of the things the red-haired man said were true. If that was the case, then pledging allegiance to the red-haired man was indeed an opportunity for him to become stronger. Furthermore, with his Soaring Serpents Skyfire robbed, him suffering a drop in status in the sect, and the mental demons that still plagued him, he had no future as he was now.

“I… submit!”

Skyfire Sacred Hands said the words heavily. Each word took all his strength.

…

The days and seasons passed by quickly. Twenty years had passed since Yi Yun first began his seclusion.

The entrance to Yi Yun’s seclusion cavern had been covered in layers of sand. Vegetation grew on top of it and, even if the concealment array had been removed, nothing seemed amiss.

Twenty years was like a snap of a finger to most warriors. However, it was extremely long for Yi Yun. Before this, Yi Yun had only been in a one-time seclusion for eighteen years in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven’s trials.

Yi Yun left the Tian Yuan world in his thirties and spent twenty years with the Luo clan upon arriving in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Later on, he became a disciple of Felicitous Rain Lord and spent four years manifesting his Dao before heading to the Azure Wood Great World, witnessing the battles between the Divine Lord and the bronze giant. By the time he came to the Sun Burial Sandsea in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, Yi Yun was about sixty.

After experiencing growth in the Central State Divine Territory and the Myriad Divine Territory, Yi Yun entered seclusion once again, and his cultivation was nearing a hundred years.

During the twenty years of seclusion, Yi Yun expended most of the quasi-sage pills and relics he had. The expenditure rate was terrifying.

Even a large sect like the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect would keep quasi-sage level pills as the best pills in their treasury. They would have a scant few sage-level pills, and those would be considered a cornerstone item of the sect, guarded by the sect master or grand elders.

Under such circumstances, a core disciple of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect enjoying a few quasi-sage level pills or relics by a hundred years would be impressive. However, Yi Yun had eaten about eighty pills within twenty years.

Now, there were large amounts of medicinal essence within Yi Yun’s body that had not been refined. However, he did not mind. He ate another quasi-sage Dao Palace Manifestation Pill and began refining it.

Such a consumption rate would be seen as destroying heaven’s treasures to the disciples of other factions. If they obtained a quasi-sage level pill, they might enter seclusion for a decade or two to absorb it clean, without wasting one bit. Even if they did want to eat more, they might not even be able to completely digest them.

However, Yi Yun had the Azure Wood Divine Tree in him that needed to grow. The speed at which he expended pills was not something other geniuses could compare to.

Now, Yi Yun’s Azure Wood Divine Tree had grown to more than two hundred feet. The Azure Wood Divine Tree had already fused with the Nine-treasured Dao Palace, so the two grew together. Every hundred feet the Azure Wood Divine Tree grew, Yi Yun’s Dao Palace would increase another floor, which also meant him breaking through a subrealm of the Dao Palace. Now, Yi Yun was already at the third-floor Dao Palace and was taking his first steps towards the fourth-floor.

However, Yi Yun did not know that during his seclusion, the Myriad Divine Territory and even the entire Yang God Empyrean Heaven was facing a massive crisis.

Three years ago, City Lord Qin had begun sending out many people to secretly search for Yi Yun. However, no one knew where Yi Yun had secluded himself. The Myriad Divine Territory was huge, so searching for one person was like finding a needle in a haystack. There was no way to even begin…

1209 - : Crisis

CKtalon  CKtalon

Myriad City, Yun Xin Loft—

During Yi Yun’s twenty-plus years of seclusion, Yun Xin Loft gradually grew until it became the biggest medicinal clinic in Myriad City.

Most of the growth was obviously thanks to the Paradise Chapter, the Guiyuan family, and City Lord Qin’s guidance, but it was also partially thanks to Dong Xiaowan’s aptitude towards management.

Yi Yun had left Yun Xin Loft to the two girls—Nangong Ru’er and Dong Xiaowan. Ru’er was indifferent to fame or profit and wasn’t great at management, but Dong Xiaowan was rather talented in this aspect. Over the years, Yun Xin Loft had even opened up two branch stores, one selling weapons and another talisman charms.

Without Yi Yun, Yun Xin Loft was naturally lacking in amazing pills and medicine. But in the sale of ordinary pills, they were able to ensure quality for a reasonable price. They also had a very good reputation among customers.

This was especially true a number of years ago, when many major factions in Myriad City had jointly organized a Treasure Appraisal Meet in which the Yun Xin Loft dazzled and played a huge role. As a result, the two female bosses of Yun Xin Loft, Dong Xiaowan and Ru’er, became highly respected.

At this moment, on the second floor of Yun Xin Loft, there was a middle-aged man who wore a hat. He was guarding a door.

His name was Li Zhong, a six-floor Dao Palace realm expert. Although Dao Palace realm experts were numerous in Myriad City, high-floor Dao Palace realm experts were relatively uncommon. After all, upon becoming a Supremacy, one could become an Elder of a major faction.

However, Li Zhong was only head of the guardians in Yun Xin Loft. It was a good job, the pay was good and it gave some status. Li Zhong owed Dong Xiaowan for the position. In his youth, he had been Dong Shaoqing’s personal guard and had watched her grow up.

Now, Yun Xin Loft was about to close for the day. The noisy hall on the first floor also finally fell silent. Li Zhong was standing guard outside a suite. For a head guardian to guard a door naturally meant that the guest inside was extraordinary.

Li Zhong already knew that Paradise Chapter’s Fairy Youqin had come. She was discussing various matters with Dong Xiaowan.

There was no need to elaborate on Dong Xiaowan’s status in Yun Xin Loft. Everyone treated her with respect. As for Fairy Youqin, she was designated as the successor of the Paradise Chapter. Now, Fairy Youqin enjoyed an extremely high status which could only be matched by Fairy Wuxia.

“Xiaowan, I heard that a plague similar to the one that happened two decades ago has broken out in the neighboring North Mystic Divine Territory. Many geniuses are unable to cultivate and many of their lives are at stake.”

Fairy Youqin looked like she had many worries on her mind. She was in no mood to drink the excellent Five-colored Iceheart tea despite holding a cup of it in her hand.

“Isn’t that news from a year or two ago? Why are you mentioning it again now?” Dong Xiaowan looked up and asked.

“It is old news, but recently there is talk that the evil spirits within the possessed geniuses have finally matured. Those geniuses have died and turned into sinister beings. Not only has their strength increased severalfold, they also became cold-blooded and ruthless. They are no different from monsters.”

Fairy Youqin’s words chilled Dong Xiaowan’s heart. The thought of a genius being a vessel for the breeding of an evil spirit before turning into a monster sounded terrifying and sinister. It sent a chill down her back.

“Will this plague break out again in our Myriad Divine Territory?” Dong Xiaowan asked with a frown.

The North Mystic Divine Territory was also a large Divine Territory and had forces no weaker than the Myriad Divine Territory. However, against the strange plague, all the mighty figures of the North Mystic Divine Territory were helpless.

“I heard that people from the North Mystic Divine Territory have already learned of Young Master Yi’s capabilities from our side. They are now in search of him. Furthermore, the city lord has clearly become more nervous in the recent days. City Lord Qin has also been secretly searching for Young Master Yi but to no avail.”

When Fairy Youqin said that, Dong Xiaowan shook her head gently. “Miss Youqin, I know your intentions. I mentioned before that if Young Master were to pass me even the slightest bit of information, I will inform you immediately. However, he is in seclusion and it will be a very long one. He said as much before he left. When he comes out of seclusion he will easily cure the plague, even if it has spread to us.”

Ever since the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet of two decades ago, Yi Yun’s prestige was rooted deep in the hearts of many, Dong Xiaowan included. She was absolutely confident when it came to Yi Yun.

However, Fairy Youqin shook her head when she heard Dong Xiaowan. Her instinct told her that the plague wasn’t that simple. It seemed like a dark cloud was gradually shrouding the entire Myriad Divine Territory.

“Let’s hope Young Master Yi will come out of seclusion as soon as possible and rid us of the plague…”

Just as Fairy Youqin was mentioning her wish, she heard an explosive sound. Following that, there were crunching sounds.

Fairy Youqin was alarmed as she stood up from her seat, scanning the region outside with her perception. When she sensed it, her expression immediately changed.

Outside Yun Xin Loft, there was a hooded man floating like a night owl in midair. Beneath his feet was a shattered plaque. The Yun Xin Loft plaque that had been hanging for two decades had been smashed by this hooded figure!

“Who is it!?” Dong Xiaowan was enraged. All these years, not one person dared to make trouble in Yun Xin Loft. Yet now, someone had directly destroyed Yun Xin Loft’s plaque.

“Who doesn’t want to live any further!?”

At that moment, the guardian Li Zhong had charged out. He brought with him a group of Yun Xin Loft guardians. Their jobs were typically rather relaxed and today was the first day they were encountering trouble.

However, just as they came into contact with the hovering man, they felt like they had struck an invisible wall of air. Their bodies not only tightened, but they were also rapidly repelled.

“Bam! Bam! Bam!”

The guardians were thrown back into Yun Xin Loft like cannons, crashing through many walls and shelves. Some even shot through the entirety of Yun Xin Loft and came out the other side. Their bodies were covered in blood!

“Uncle Li!”

Dong Xiaowan rushed to Li Zhong’s side in a few steps. When she extended her hand out to test for Li Zhong’s pulse, her expression turned ugly. That one strike was enough to break nearly all of Li Zhong’s bones. Even his meridians had been mostly maimed. Although Li Zhong still had breath in him, he had suffered injuries that were equivalent to maiming half his cultivation level. In the future, his strength would only drop and would never increase. Perhaps he might not have a few hundred years to live.

“Miss, quick… quick leave. Inform City Lord… City Lord Qin.”

Li Zhong said those words with great difficulty as blood constantly spewed out of his mouth. He knew that he was nearly crippled, but at that moment his focus was on Dong Xiaowan. In the Jadewave Sect, Dong Xiaowan was the heir apparent.

At this moment, Fairy Youqin had also appeared beside Dong Xiaowan. She had immediately sent a voice transmission to the upper echelons of Paradise Chapter.

However, she was acutely aware that the black-cloaked man, with his strength, could absolutely cause irreparable damage before the upper echelons of the Paradise Chapter reached them. Fairy Youqin did not know if she could withstand him.

“Where’s Yi Yun? Tell me where he is!”

The hovering figure issued an extremely jarring voice.

1210 - : Uninvited Guest

CKtalon  CKtalon

Faced with the man’s interrogation, no one spoke a word. There were many people gathered in the vicinity of Yun Xin Loft, watching the sudden turn of events.

Ru’er was in the backyard and rushed out when she heard the commotion. However, she was held back by Dong Xiaowan. “Ru’er, go back. Don’t come out!”

In terms of strength, Ru’er was the weakest.

“So it’s the two of you. I know you. You are Dong Xiaowan, the principal herb. You are in charge of the management of Yi Yun’s store.”

“And you, you must be Fairy Youqin. You were also involved in the destruction of the Myriad Immortal Pavilion.”

The cloaked man’s voice was harsh on the ears. He clearly knew a lot about Yi Yun.

At that moment, Fairy Youqin’s gaze penetrated the shadows of the man’s hood and saw half his face.

It was an extremely pale face that suffused blood specks. The blood looked like it had oozed out beneath the man’s skin, giving him a gruesome and horrifying appearance.

Fairy Youqin’s heart tightened. The face looked somewhat familiar!

“You… You are… Skyfire Sacred Hands!?”

Although he had changed drastically, the contours of his facial features had not changed much. He was undoubtedly Skyfire Sacred Hands!

Upon hearing Fairy Youqin’s words, the man guffawed.

“To think someone still remembers me. Hahaha! It feels great being remembered!”

“You are right. It’s me!”

The man removed the hood and his pale, blood-speckled face left people tingling.

Was he really Skyfire Sacred Hands!?

There were many people present that had witnessed the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet two decades ago. Back then, Skyfire Sacred Hands looked high-spirited. Many of the major factions of Myriad City had to treat him with absolute respect. Later on, Skyfire Sacred Hands had faced failure in the form of Yi Yun and was robbed of his Skyfire. However, his status remained lofty and unreachable to ordinary people. Who could have imagined that he would have transformed into such a state after two decades?

“You… cultivated in some heretic technique? Or…”

Fairy Youqin could tell that not only had his aura and appearance changed after two decades, Skyfire Sacred Hands’s strength had also greatly increased. To increase his strength in such a short period of time to such a state was definitely not something accomplishable through orthodox means.

“Although Yi Yun did rob you of your Soaring Serpent Skyfire, you did not lose everything. To seek revenge on Yi Yun, you turned yourself into this thing that’s neither man nor ghost. Was it worth it?”

Fairy Youqin questioned him with a forceful tone. She could even sense a cadaveric aura from within Skyfire Sacred Hands’s body.

Skyfire Sacred Hands immediately laughed out loudly. “Yi Yun!? What a joke! Is he worth my actions? The only thing of worth is unlimited power!”

“I am glad I made this choice years ago. Now that I have finished my seclusion after nearly two decades, my lifespan has been extended by ten times and my strength has increased exponentially. All of this is beyond what you ants can imagine!”

“I only want to kill Yi Yun to rid myself of mental demons. That is all! By the way, the Myriad Divine Territory will be mine. From the moment I came out of seclusion, your destruction was already destined!”

As Skyfire Sacred Hands spoke, he glanced at Yun Xin Loft and a sinister smile suffused his lips. “This store is such an eyesore. I’ll start by demolishing it!”

As Skyfire Sacred Hands spoke, he swiped his hand, causing Yun Xin Loft to vibrate vigorously. It looked as though it was about to collapse.

“You!” Dong Xiaowan turned anxious. This was a medicinal clinic that Yi Yun had left her to manage. She had put twenty years of time and effort into making it flourish. It had now become the biggest medicinal clinic of Myriad City.

Although Dong Xiaowan did not mention it, deep in her heart, she always remembered what Yi Yun said before leaving. She knew that Yi Yun would return to take a look and yearned for that day to come. She wanted to show him a completely different Yun Xin Loft when he returned. Despite knowing that Yi Yun was not overly concerned with this estate of his, she wanted to do her job well, satisfying him.

But now, her twenty years of hard work was about to be destroyed by a casual strike from Skyfire Sacred Hands!

Boom!

Yun Xin Loft began collapsing as large pillars began falling, smashing into the shelves. Pill bottles crashed to the ground, shattering upon impact.

Upon seeing this scene, Dong Xiaowan felt her heart bleeding!

She knew she could not stop any of this. She looked furiously at Skyfire Sacred Hands with a stare that seemed to penetrate him!

“Lass! I sense immense killing intent from your eyes. Against my strength, you, a mere Dao Manifestation warrior, can actually produce killing intent. Good, very good!”

Skyfire Sacred Hands grinned hideously when he said that. “Since you are Yi Yun’s subordinate and Yi Yun can remove the plague, I’ll plant a new demonic servant in your body. Let’s see if Yi Yun can remove it or not!”

As Skyfire Sacred Hands spoke, he struck Dong Xiaowan with his palm!

The strike seemed to shroud the entire world. Instantly, dark clouds shrouded the sun as demonic aura surged. People could see an evil spirit howling from Skyfire Sacred Hands’s palm!

It looked like a human face that was squirming in pain as though it wanted to devour everything.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

When the demonic wind passed through her body, the Yun Xin Loft behind her exploded completely, blasting apart into endless rubble! People that were close to it were injured by the flying shrapnel. They collapsed to the ground amid cries.

Dong Xiaowan was in the middle of all of this. She received the full brunt of the howling evil spirit!

She stood still, not because she didn’t want to dodge but because she knew it was impossible for her to do so.

“Phew–”

The evil spirit entered her body as she grunted painfully. Her body retreated rapidly as the color in her face drained.

An evil spirit had entered her body before so she was very familiar with the feeling. However, the evil spirit in her body now was more than a hundred times more powerful than before!

“Evil spirit! You can control the evil spirits! As a disciple of the Nine Cauldron Alchemical Sect, you are actually willing to degenerate yourself, selling your souls to the evil spirits!?”Fairy Youqin shouted. She had sensed a familiar aura from Skyfire Sacred Hands’s body, and now she realized it was the power of the evil spirits!

“Sold my soul to the demonic servants? What a joke!” Skyfire Sacred Hands looked at Fairy Youqin. “You are very interesting. In your dantian, it seems like there are remnants of a demonic servant. Why? Was Yi Yun unable to completely remove the demonic servant in your dantian, or did he deliberately leave some of the demonic servant’s strength behind, allowing you to raise your strength by refining it?”

“Well done, very well done. Since you have such spirit to use the demonic servant as a grinding stone for your strength, let me give you a pleasant surprise!”

As Skyfire Sacred Hands spoke, he struck down at Fairy Youqin with his palm!

The strike contained the same terrifying demonic powers as before. It sealed the void and, even with Fairy Youqin’s strength, she was unable to dodge it!

Fairy Youqin grunted painfully as she took several steps back. Her brows furrowed as she felt a grinding pain in her dantian that was absolutely unbearable.

Skyfire Sacred Hands had implanted an evil spirit in her that was a lot more powerful than the one she previously had. It was completely incomparable to the one from two decades ago.

“Enjoy the feeling of being devoured by the demonic servants!”

1211 - : The Power of the Evil Spirits

CKtalon  CKtalon

The demonic servants that Skyfire Sacred Hands planted were intrinsic demonic servants he had painstakingly nurtured. Once these demonic servants entered the body, even Fairy Youqin, who had experience refining the demonic servants, would be unable to withstand it. They were like sitting ducks.

“Since Yi Yun is hiding, I’ll plant these demonic servants in you. I wonder if he will stand back and watch all of you die.”

Just as Skyfire Sacred Hands said that, his expression suddenly changed. He sensed a few mighty powers rushing towards him from three directions.

They were the experts of Myriad City!

Skyfire Sacred Hands sneered and did not panic. He stood firm in midair and waited for them to arrive.

Within moments, an azure-clothed middle-aged man had appeared in front of Skyfire Sacred Hands like a wisp of azure-colored smoke.

Upon seeing this person, Skyfire Sacred Hands suffused a smile.

“City Lord Qin, how have you been!?”

Skyfire Sacred Hands had met City Lord Qin two decades ago. Back then, he was naturally greatly lacking when compared to City Lord Qin. Today, however, he was composed and relaxed.

At his present cultivation level, he could clearly see City Lord Qin’s realm. He was, in fact, only considered to be at the quasi-Divine Lord level. He was still slightly short of the Divine Lord level, much less having obtained the Divine Lord Royal Seal.

Following closely behind City Lord Qin were Paradise Chapter’s Perfected Qianhua and the Guiyuan family’s Guiyuan Potian. Perfected Qianhua had been in seclusion, but when she received word that her disciple was in trouble, she stopped her seclusion immediately.

“Qin’er!”

Perfected Qianhua’s face turned as cold as frost when she saw Fairy Youqin’s pale expression. “It’s you!”

Skyfire Sacred Hands looked at Perfected Qianhua indifferently. “Perfected Qianhua, is it? Twenty years ago, you could lord over my life and death, forcing me to flee. Twenty years later, here we are, meeting in Myriad Divine Territory again.”

“Release Qin’er or you will lead a life worse than death!”

“Hahaha!” Skyfire Sacred Hands laughed out loud. His body gradually turned ethereal and became a blurry black shadow. He looked somewhat similar to the demonic servants’ true form!

“Life worse than death? You can try it. The demonic servants planted in them are intrinsic to me. If I were to die, things won’t look good for them! Hahahaha!”

“These two are only a warning! Every day that Yi Yun does not appear, more people will be implanted with evil spirits. Eventually, the entirety of Myriad City will cease to exist!”

Amid jarring laughter, Skyfire Sacred Hands’s black figure instantly shot into the sky and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

As for Perfected Qianhua, City Lord Qin, and the others, their expressions were frozen in an extremely ugly way.

They were alarmed by Skyfire Sacred Hands’s appearance. He was able to transform into such a form?

“This Skyfire Sacred Hands has almost become an evil spirit. He can be anywhere and possesses tremendous speed. Even if we had taken action, it is unlikely we would have been able to retain him.” City Lord Qin said with a frown.

Now that Skyfire Sacred Hands possessed such power, he had no qualms about doing anything. As for them, they moved too carefully, afraid of causing collateral damage.

Skyfire Sacred Hands had come to Myriad City to embark on an arrogant rampage but all they could do was watch helplessly as he fled.

“Qin’er!” Perfected Qianhua rushed to Fairy Youqin’s side. She enveloped her with Yuan Qi and probed her dantian.

The glint in Perfected Qianhua’s eyes darkened the moment she probed. She revealed a pained expression.

“Qin’er, don’t worry. I will not watch idly as you get devoured by the evil spirit.” Perfected Qianhua infused a bout of Yuan Qi into Fairy Youqin’s body but it was like a rock sinking to the bottom of an ocean.

Fairy Youqin’s expression was pale. She shook her head and said, “Skyfire Sacred Hands’s return is most likely connected to the plague in North Mystic Divine Territory. I thought that there was someone pulling the strings behind his back. This time, he attacked me and Miss Xiaowan in order to force Yi Yun out…”

Yi Yun was the only one that could treat the plague the other time. Fairy Youqin knew that Skyfire Sacred Hands’ aim was not only revenge, but also to wipe out the only person that could deal with the evil spirits.

Under such circumstances, how could she implicate Yi Yun for her own sake?

Dong Xiaowan felt the same, but much stronger. She had feelings for Yi Yun and would rather die than put Yi Yun in any danger.

“I…” Just as Fairy Youqin went to say something, the remaining color drained from her face and her body turned limp. With a stumble, she fainted.

“Qin’er!” Perfected Qianhua hurriedly caught Fairy Youqin in her arms. At the same time, Dong Xiaowan had collapsed too. She was being held up by Ru’er.

“This…” Perfected Qianhua looked anxious. The possession in the past would not result in unconsciousness so quickly.

“The evil spirits planted by Skyfire Sacred Hands are too overbearing. Dong Xiaowan won’t be able to withstand it. As for the evil spirit in Youqin’s body, it’s even stronger. Furthermore, she already had an evil spirit inside her, so the two stimulated each other, making it difficult for her to endure their combined effects.” City Lord Qin said after an immediate probe.

The two women had fainted. Yun Xin Loft was now a ruin and Ru’er was carrying Dong Xiaowan, nearly bursting into tears.

What were they to do? Were they going to watch Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin die?

Ru’er had followed Yi Yun for quite a period of time. She believed that this was absolutely not something Yi Yun would want to see. However, how were they to find Yi Yun?

But at this moment, City Lord Qin’s expression changed. He turned his head abruptly and looked in the direction City Lord Manor. There were dark clouds above City Lord Manor as though a fiendish god had appeared.

“No good!”

City Lord Qin’s expression changed. Ignoring Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin, he transformed into a beam of light and flew for City Lord Manor.

Perfected Qianhua clenched her teeth and followed closely behind.

The dark clouds were made of dense demonic gases, and were clearly the work of Skyfire Sacred Hands. He had not left but instead made a feint before appearing at City Lord Manor!

City Lord Manor, which had tight security, appeared uninhabited in front of Skyfire Sacred Hands. He wantonly laughed in an ear-piercing manner.

“Father! Father! Save me!”

A painful cry sounded. Following that was Skyfire Sacred Hands’s maniacal voice—

“Qin Zhengyang, is this your son? This trash that even a demonic servant couldn’t be bothered to possess!?”

Qin Zhengyang rushed there just in time. From afar, he saw the dense demonic gases transform into a thick and large demonic arm. It grabbed at a youth who was none other than his youngest son, Qin Wufeng.

In the past, Qin Wufeng had gone to Myriad Immortal Palace to gallivant and was tricked into a fighting gamble by Si Yusheng. He bet his arms and nearly had them amputated. If not for Yi Yun’s compromise, Qin Wufeng would have been maimed.

From that moment onwards, Qin Wufeng was grounded by Qin Zhengyang for a very long time and forced to reflect on his faults. However, Qin Wufeng remained prodigal. His cultivation level improved slowly as all he focused on was pleasure and women. Whenever he had the chance, he would secretly visit Heavenly Treasures Arch.

“Hahahaha, since no demonic servant is willing to possess this piece of trash, I’ll cripple him. City Lord Qin, consider it me taking out the trash for you!”

As Skyfire Sacred Hands spoke, he struck at Qin Wufeng’s dantian. Qin Wufeng cried out in pain as his body plummeted like a kite that had its string cut!

1212 - : Having no Qualms

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Wufeng!”

Qin Zhengyang was enraged. Although his son had not amounted to much, he was still his son in the end. Through his entire martial career, there was one woman he loved deeply. She had been pursued by Qin Zhengyang’s enemies, and died because of her association with him. This matter had become an everlasting point of hurt for Qin Zhengyang. The son she left him might have been a good-for-nothing, but Qin Zhengyang still loved him and accommodated him.

Back then, Yi Yun had fought Si Yusheng for the sake of this son of his. He was saved then, but now he had been crippled by Skyfire Sacred Hands!

“Hahaha! Qin Zhengyang, Lord Demonspirit has left the Myriad Divine Territory in my charge. From this day forth, I will come visit Myriad City occasionally. Wait for me!”

As Skyfire Sacred Hands spoke, his body shot up into the sky like a blazing arrow. When he got high into the sky, his body transformed into dozens of shadows before dissipating. In a blink of an eye, he had vanished.

What sort of escape art was that?

Upon seeing this scene, Perfected Qianhua and Guiyuan Potian felt helpless. Although they were at first confident in their ability to suppress Skyfire Sacred Hands, what could they do if they couldn’t even catch his shadow?

At that moment, Qin Zhengyang landed beside Qin Wufeng. As he looked at his son’s shattered dantian and blood-covered body, Qin Zhengyang felt terrible.

“Father… Save… save me…” Qin Wufeng said with great difficulty.

He extended his blood-stained hands as though he was trying to grab onto something. His eyes were filled with hope and indignation.

Qin Zhengyang shook his head. Wufeng’s future was certain now. Qin Zhengyang knew his youngest son’s character. If not for Skyfire Sacred Hands, he would have still ended up in this state sooner or later.

“In the future, live peacefully as a mortal.”

After Qin Zhengyang said that, he shot a pill into Qin Wufeng’s mouth.

“I…” Upon hearing Qin Zhengyang’s words, the hope in Qin Wufeng’s eyes turned to despair. He coughed out a mouthful of blood and, perhaps being unable to withstand the mental blow, he fainted immediately.

Qin Zhengyang sighed and fell silent.

“Uncle Qin.” Princess White Fox appeared and quietly walked to Qin Zhengyang’s side. During Skyfire Sacred Hands’s attack, she was still in seclusion while Qin Wufeng was fooling around with his maids. He was naturally the first to be attacked.

When Princess White Fox came out after hearing noises, it was already too late. Besides, she would not have been able to save Qin Wufeng either.

“Sorry…” Princess White Fox said guiltily.

“It’s not your fault. Skyfire Sacred Hands is not someone you can stop at all. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s me. If he had a portion of your strength, he might have been able to last a little longer under Skyfire Sacred Hands’s attacks, long enough for me to come to his rescue.”

Qin Zhengyang had rushed to City Lord Manor immediately but it was still too late.

“Uncle Qin, I wonder who this Demonspirit that Skyfire Sacred Hands mentioned is. If he is under Demonspirit’s orders to deal with the Myriad Divine Territory, it appears this disaster is not only limited to the plague…”

“That’s right. Perhaps the entire Yang God Empyrean Heaven might suffer a calamity. I had been hoping to find Yi Yun, but now I wish that he would not appear. Yi Yun is too young and will not be able to withstand such tumultuous waves. Call your master back. I’ll need to trouble her again…”

As Qin Wufeng spoke, he looked into the distance with his brows furrowed. The power struggle of the Myriad Divine Territory had just been settled, but after a few short years of peace, were they about to enter another bitter struggle…?

…

Cultivation knew no time. In the small world Yi Yun secluded himself in, there was still bright sunlight and lush vegetation.

Yi Yun sat cross-legged on a stone bed in a chamber. Beside him was a pot of spiritual aqua.

Over these years, the spiritual aqua had assisted Yi Yun while he made breakthroughs by providing him the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi he needed.

More than half the spiritual aqua had been absorbed by Yi Yun. What started as an immense spiritual aqua spring had now turned into a tiny stream.

At this moment, Yi Yun beckoned with his hand at the spiritual aqua. A few drops of aqua the size of beans floated up. Their essence began to condense and formed a hazy patch, allowing themselves to be swallowed by Yi Yun’s opened mouth.

When these water droplets entered Yi Yun’s meridians, they slowly infused into Yi Yun’s dantian and went deep into the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s root network.

These days, Yi Yun would refine a tiny amount of aqua directly on a daily basis. The spiritual aqua had unknowingly been transported to beneath the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s root network and become the spring that provided for the Azure Wood Divine Tree, nourishing its growth.

As for Yi Yun’s cultivation level, he had just made a breakthrough to the fourth-floor Dao Palace realm not long ago.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly heard Xie’er’s voice coming from outside the chamber—

“Brother Yi Yun, can I come in? I sense a group of people approaching.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was slightly surprised. All these years, he had chosen to seclude himself in an uninhabited place. So far, only tiny animals would approach the lake for water. It was truly rare for a group of people to come so deep into the mountains.

Yi Yun opened the door and saw Ling Xie’er standing by the entrance prettily. Her face exuded a healthy glow and the lifeblood in her was a lot more vibrant. Her body had condensed into a corporeal form and she seemed to be bursting with energy.

If he did not know that Ling Xie’er had an incorporeal body, he would definitely believe that she was a real young girl made of flesh and blood.

Speaking of which, ever since Ling Xie’er began cultivating, the power of her soul increased by leaps and bounds. Her cultivation talent was heaven-defying.

Then again, considering that she was an incorporeal body born out of the Heretical God Fire Seed, it wasn’t exactly a surprise.

As Xie’er grew in strength, her body also began to mature. She was an inch taller and she looked about twelve years old instead of ten. She remained pure and adorable but there were hints of a teenage girl’s beauty in her.

“Who are they?”

“They are warriors. They seem to be in a terrible state. A few of them are injured too.”

Now that Ling Xie’er’s strength had greatly increased, she had the capability to tour outside the pocket world spiritually. Xie’er had an active nature. As Yi Yun secluded himself for such a long period of time and she was alone, it was rather boring to spend a decade or so in a chamber.

She did not dare to venture out alone, afraid of exposing Yi Yun. Thus, she used the method of spiritual traveling to look at the valley’s scenery. There, she watched deer drink water or bunnies chew on grass.

She wanted to have some fun today but saw a group of people escaping into the woods. They had set up a concealment array and looked like they intended to rest here for a few days. Hence, she decided to inform Yi Yun.

“They are injured?”

Yi Yun pondered for a moment before saying, “Then, let’s go out and take a look.”

“Out? Really?” Ling Xie’er felt delighted. She had been trapped in the Sun Burial Sandsea in the past. It was not easy for her to escape the massive array with Yi Yun but she had been unconscious. By the time she awoke, she was accompanying Yi Yun in seclusion. All these years, she had never seen the external world with her own eyes.

“Yea. It’s about time I came out of seclusion. It’s been long enough.”

Yi Yun stretched his body and got off the stone bed. When he cultivated into a trance-like state, time passed without knowing. He himself did not know how many years had passed.

In the recent years, Yi Yun sensed that there was a clear decrease in his cultivation speed. He knew that he was beginning to come into contact with a tiny bottleneck.

Warriors could not cultivate purely via seclusion. They needed to experience the outside world and battle. At times, by sheer luck, an epiphany could occur that was equivalent to a long seclusion.

Yi Yun had received many epiphanies in the past due to the opportunities he encountered. He lacked the time to digest them all; thus, he had chosen to enter seclusion for a long period of time. He could strengthen his foundations and, now that his goal had been achieved, he could naturally end his seclusion.

“Let’s go. It’s time we leave this place.”

Yi Yun turned back to glance at the pocket world he left behind. He planned on leaving everything in there. He took all the important herbs and left the things that were not of much use to him such as cultivation jade slips, low-grade pills and relics, and weapons he had obtained.

In time to come, when his concealment array was drained of its energy, perhaps a young person would come here and find these things. It would be quite an opportunity for them.

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun felt somewhat wistful. Once upon a time, he had relied on the light providence shined on him to enter ruins left behind by the ancients and received opportunities. Yet, unknowingly, he had now become a senior that could leave ruins and opportunities to others.

1213 - : Exiting Seclusion

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the land where Yi Yun secluded himself, there was an azure-blue lake in the middle of an extended mountain range and valley. During windless days, the lake’s surface would be calm, without even a single ripple. At night, the lake would reflect the round moon, exuding great beauty.

As it was uninhabited, Ling Xie’er had taken it upon herself to become the lake’s owner. She named it Mirror Moon Lake.

At that moment, by the bank of Mirror Moon Lake, four men and two women landed with spectacular speckles of light.

The person leading the group looked like a middle-aged mortal in his fifties. He was severely lacking in lifeblood and there was a wound on his chest. It looked like it was a slash wound.

The middle-aged man looked at the surrounding terrain and said, “We have already escaped deep into the mountains but there are many desolate beasts and Fey beasts here. If we venture deeper into the woods, we might encounter danger. I’m injured and can hardly repress the poison in my body. I can’t go on further as I need to rest here to recuperate. If we were to continue and enter the woods, I’m afraid we might perish.”

As he spoke, the middle-aged man was panting. His face had several purplish patches that were obvious signs of poison.

“Senior Brother, I’ll set up a concealment array here. Let’s recuperate here,” a woman that looked to be in her thirties said.

Among this group of people, three men and two women looked rather old. There was another young man that looked about fourteen. He had a round face that was still very child-like. His raven-black eyes exuded hints of an unyielding will.

When he heard his martial uncle’s instructions, the youth began clearing the ground and setting up an area for resting. He was still young and unable to help set up any concealment array. All he could do were some miscellaneous chores.

“This lake sure is beautiful. It reminds me of our sect’s ice lake. The only difference is the scenery.”

As she looked at Mirror Moon Lake, a woman that appeared middle-aged sighed wistfully.

It snowed perennially at their sect’s ice lake but it never froze in any season. In winter, there would be pink winter plums sprouting by the lakeside, making for a picturesque scene.

Another woman in her thirties shook her head and said, “Don’t be sad. Although our sect no longer exists, we are still alive. When Ling’er grows up, we can reestablish Ice Lake Island.”

As she spoke, the woman ruffled the youth’s head. She exuded tender, loving care, for they were the only few left from Ice Lake Island.

The youth did not say a word. All he did was secretly turn firm and determined. He was in his teens but he was already carrying a heavy mission on his shoulders.

As the two women spoke, they set up the array flags. The concealment array, which was Ice Lake Island’s best concealment array, was almost done. With it successfully set up, they would be temporarily safe.

The deep mountains were rather cold and desolate but there was some spiritual energy. They could recuperate for a few days before making a decision on what their future held.

The middle-aged man that led them had already consumed some pills and began meditating to treat himself. However, the purplish patches on his face did not rescind. His chest wound also did not seem to recover, and instead flowed more incessantly. One could vaguely make out blackness in his blood.

“Martial Uncle! Are you alright!?”

The youth was the first to notice the man’s odd state. He panicked, for the middle-aged man was the pillar of support among the six of them. He was the deputy island lord of Ice Lake Island. They were only able to remain alive and come this far because he had fought so desperately.

“Senior Brother, didn’t you consume the Frost Cocooned Iceheart Pill? Why isn’t it able to curb the spread of the poison?”

The woman in her thirties panicked. She believed that things would be fine once the anti-poison pill was eaten.

At that moment, the middle-aged man suddenly struck his chest and spat out a mouthful of black blood. When it landed on the grass, it immediately withered away the green grass, robbing it of its vibrancy.

After the middle-aged man forced out the mouthful of poisoned blood, he finally managed to catch his breath.

“I won’t be dying so soon!” he said while gritting his teeth. An unusual redness flashed across his face. The poison was indeed domineering, preventing the Frost Cocooned Iceheart Pill from completely expelling it from his body. All the pill could do was repress the poison.

He did not know if he would ever get rid of the poison at its root. If he didn’t remove it, he probably would not live more than a few years.

The middle-aged man was not afraid of death. He was only afraid that his death would result in Ling’er losing his guidance and protection, and that he wouldn’t have the chance to mature.

“Senior Brother, nothing untoward should happen to you.”

Said a slightly younger man. His face was filled with worry but, just as he spoke, a rainbow-colored beam of light shot out from the lake in front of him. The light charged into the sky as immensely rich spiritual energy rushed at them.

What?

The group was alarmed. Could the scene that was unfolding before them be the birth of a mysterious treasure?

“No, it’s an array formation!”

The middle-aged leader was more knowledgeable. The moment he spoke, immense energy rushed over. The concealment array that was halfway set up was dissipated from the surge!

The array flags were launched into the sky!

That was one of their sect’s core array formations. Yet, it had been dissipated by the remnant energies of the array formation that was already located here.

At that moment, the group realized that the lake in front of them had shrunk, revealing trees by the bank. Didn’t this mean that what they had been looking at all this time was an illusion?

The group exchanged looks. Two of the women had even scooped water from the lake out of their love for cleanliness. They had used the water to wash their faces, so how could the cool and refreshing lake water be an illusion?

“It’s a concealment array formation but it’s extremely esoteric, far superior than our Ice Lake Island’s. I wonder if an expert resides here or if we have accidentally intruded onto a ruin.”

The middle-aged man wore a solemn expression. Either one of the possibilities were extremely dangerous, especially the former. Some reclusive experts had odd personalities. It was now a question of what would happen.

At that moment, they saw the space in front of them distort. A teenager that looked sixteen or seventeen appeared out of thin air with a young girl that was slightly older than a decade.

The young girl had two hair buns and her red face still had a little baby fat. She looked innocent and adorable, like a pixie that resided in the woods.

As for the youth, he looked handsome and had an extraordinary bearing. His eyes were deep like the starry sky and appeared unfathomable. His aura was converged, making him resemble a beautiful piece of jade that had been restored to its original simplicity. He made it difficult for others to describe him.

Who… were they?

The middle-aged man was dumbstruck. They had deliberately escaped into an uninhabited land but ended up encountering others. Furthermore, they were such peculiar people.

Although they looked young, the middle-aged man was certain that they were definitely no ordinary youths.

“You mentioned that your sect had been wiped out?”

At that moment, the youth spoke. He spoke in a slow tone but it seemed to ring within their hearts.

The youth was none other than Yi Yun, who had just come out of seclusion.

The middle-aged man faltered for a moment before nodding his head slowly.

He was feeling completely flabbergasted. The youth had heard their conversation but they had not even noticed the duo’s existence.

“Ice Lake Island… I have never heard of this sect. Is your sect from around here?”

“Yes, but we are only a tiny sect. Senior, it is only natural that you have never heard of it. We had escaped here and accidentally disturbed your peaceful cultivation. Please do not blame us for our ignorance.” The middle-aged man had already begun speaking politely. He guessed that the youth was probably an old monster that had eaten Youth Retention Pills. He had been secluding himself here but they had stupidly trespassed. It was truly a tragedy.

“I see…” Yi Yun nodded. His gaze flittered across the middle-aged man’s chest wound. “Tell me, how was your sect wiped out?”

If it was only a typical feud between sects that lead to their destruction, Yi Yun would not bother about it. In a warrior’s world, sects were wiped out all the time. Not only did small sects experience it, even the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had been wiped out.

There was no right and wrong in such matters, only victory and defeat. Yi Yun would not interfere in such matters.

However, Yi Yun had sensed a familiar aura from the middle-aged man’s wound.

The aura left him wary.

1214 - : Sect Wipe-out

CKtalon  CKtalon

“It’s an ancient, evil race. They started by occupying the North Mystic Divine Territory, then they began infiltrating the northern borders of the Myriad Divine Territory. My Ice Lake Island happens to be in the region and was wiped out. Only a few of us managed to escape.”

The middle-aged man replied respectfully. He suspected that the youth in front of him had been in seclusion for too long, and wasn’t informed of recent happenings.

“Ancient evil race?” Yi Yun pricked his brows up. “What’s that?”

“That’s what we call them but we have no idea what they really are. Rumors say that about two decades ago, there was a sect named the Jadewave Sect that had dug open an ancient ruin and discovered a type of evil spirit that could possess geniuses, crippling them completely.”

“From that moment forth, things got out of hand. Later on, a godly person known as Yi Yun provided a miraculous cure. He was able to easily dispel the evil spirits, but unfortunately, Young Master Yi vanished and the evil spirits spread once again.”

“In the last few years, many of the possessed geniuses were completely replaced by the evil spirits, turning into monsters. We call these monsters the ancient evil race. They have wraith-like auras and are no longer human!”

The middle-aged man’s face turned purple after saying so much in one breath. He was heavily poisoned and unable to cleanse it.

Yi Yun was alarmed when he heard that. He had guessed that the demonic servants from Jadewave Sect had only just started and that the calamity would eventually happen. After all, for a long period of time, the bronze giants had proliferated the entire 12 Empyrean Heavens and had countless servants. They could completely repress the other races.

However, the people in front of him were saying that the demonic servants had completed their possessions and completely replaced the geniuses. They had even taken control of the North Mystic Divine Territory. Yi Yun was alarmed. How could that happen so fast?

He flicked his finger and a pill shot into the middle-aged man’s mouth. Before the middle-aged man could even react, the pill had naturally melted in his mouth and turned into a warm stream that infused into his organs.

The middle-aged man faltered slightly and was immediately delighted. He sensed that the poison in his body was being greatly repressed by the pill. As long as he spent a certain amount of time digesting it, there was a chance for him to be rid of the poison!

Who was this youth? How could a pill he casually produced be so miraculous?

However, now wasn’t the moment to digest the pill. The middle-aged man could tell that the youth still had other questions to ask him.

“What about Myriad City? What happened to it?”

Yi Yun was most concerned with Myriad City, specifically City Lord Qin, Princess White Fox, Dong Xiaowan, and company.

“Myriad City? I haven’t received any news of Myriad City for half a year. I believe Myriad City is still around since there are so many experts there.”

“However, Myriad City isn’t so peaceful that nothing has happened there. A few years ago, a person named Skyfire Sacred Hands, who was apparently a mighty figure of the Candle Cauldron Divine Territory and also an alchemist, submitted to the evil fiends and had become one of the ancient evil race.”

“He seems to hate Young Master Yi to the bone. As such, he suddenly appeared in Myriad City and destroyed Young Master Yi’s Yun Xin Loft and planted the evil spirits in a few ladies. Now that I think of it, that lot are likely doomed.”

“What!?”

Yi Yun felt reverberations through his heart when he heard him. Skyfire Sacred Hands had submitted to the demonic servants!?

These demonic servants leeched onto geniuses and, once they completely possessed the host, their strength would increase exponentially. And with Skyfire Sacred Hand already at the Supremacy level, his strength would be unimaginable after he was possessed by a demonic servant. If Xiaowan and Ru’er were attacked by Skyfire Sacred Hands, could they still survive?

“How long has it been!?” Yi Yun asked unsettlingly.

“Ah?” The middle-aged man did not react in time. He never expected Yi Yun’s reaction to be so intense. “Are you asking about the ladies? I think it was four years ago… No, they were harmed by Skyfire Sacred Hands about five years ago…”

The middle-aged man did a count and from the first appearance of an evil spirit after the Jadewave Sect dug up the ancient ruin, it has been about twenty-six or twenty-seven years.

“Five years!?” Yi Yun drew a cold gasp. If evil spirits were planted in them for five years, could they now be possessed by the evil spirits?

“Do you know who were the ones harmed?”

“That… I’m not sure about that either…”

When he looked at Yi Yun’s gaze, the middle-aged man felt a little afraid. Could it be that the youth had relationships with those few ladies?

At that moment, a youth beside the middle-aged man said, “Over the years, dozens of geniuses have been harmed by Skyfire Sacred Hands, one after another. Senior, if you asking about the ladies involved with Young Master Yi, I happen to know that it was only Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin. Fairy Wuxia had outstanding strength and her master protecting her, so she is fine.”

When the youth said that, he looked curiously at Yi Yun. He idolized Yi Yun greatly, and so was well informed on matters regarding Yi Yun; therefore, he had paid attention to these stories. Thinking on how the youth had easily treated his martial uncle, and his age, while being worried about those women, he suddenly had a flash of brilliance. He asked, “Could you be Young Master Yi Yun!?”

The youth’s sudden question left the disciples of Ice Lake Island dumbstruck. Yi Yun?

More than two decades ago, Yi Yun’s name was everywhere. He was practically a legendary figure and was someone that would definitely become an alchemist sage or Divine Lord.

They had managed to encounter Yi Yun?

Yi Yun did not even bother answering. He had an ugly expression. Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin had suffered as a result of him. In doing so, Skyfire Sacred Hands was no doubt trying to lure him out. Especially when he thought of Dong Xiaowan, Yi Yun’s heart was filled with murderous intent.

It had been five years. Even if he rushed back immediately, it might be too late.

He threw a pill bottle at the youth and without saying another word, he held Ling Xie’er’s hands and flew into the sky!

In just a blink of an eye, Yi Yun and Ling Xie’er had tunneled through the void and immediately vanished.

The disciples of Ice Lake Island were stunned. What sort of techniques allowed them to tunnel into the void in mid-flight?

As for the Ice Lake Island youth, he was looking at the pill bottle in a daze. He curiously opened the bottle stopper and a fragrant medicinal aroma effused out.

These pills…

The youth swallowed mouthfuls of saliva. He did not recognize the pills but just from sensing the spiritual energy from it, he knew its value. Perhaps, even the best cornerstone pills of Ice Lake Island was not even worth a tenth of these pills.

He never expected that a casual answer would provide him such an opportunity.

That person was really Yi Yun!

Upon realizing this, the youth felt extremely excited.

“Listen, the news of us meeting Young Master Yi deep in the forest today is not to be leaked. Skyfire Sacred Hands has been searching for Young Master Yi in Myriad Divine Territory.”

The middle-aged man said worriedly. As one of the members of the Myriad Divine Territory, he was naturally worried over its fate. Although Yi Yun was strong, he was unlikely the match of so many evil fiends. He could only hope that Yi Yun would be safe and lead the Myriad Divine Territory out of its peril in the future…

1215 - : Myriad Divine Territory’s Changes

CKtalon  CKtalon

Myriad City, Guiyuan family—

Ever since the Myriad Immortal Pavilion was destroyed twenty-five years ago, the Guiyuan family thrived. So the mood at the Guiyan family should have been a joyful one. Unfortunately, over the past few days, the Guiyuan family was being enveloped by a depressive mood.

In the Guiyuan family’s backyard, there was a room that had black cloth and white lanterns hanging everywhere. In that room was a deeply unconscious youth in a bed.

The family patriarch, Guiyuan Potian looked at the youth with a heavy and silent expression.

“Elder Mo is still unwilling to do it?” Guiyuan Potian asked the woman beside him.

The woman’s eyes were red, and it was clear that she had been weeping. She shook her head and said, “I have already implored Elder Mo countless times but he remains unmoved. He won’t even agree to meet with me anymore.”

Guiyuan Potian sighed and said, “Every time Elder Mo takes action, he needs an Ice Silkworm Heart. I have scoured the canons, but can’t find any records of it. I have no idea how to obtain it. Since Elder Mo is unwilling to help, that is Li’er’s fate. At midnight, if there are no signs of improvement, let’s euthanize Li’er…”

Guiyuan Potian felt helpless when he said that.

Over the past couple of years, many people had been infected by evil spirits. They were killed before they were completely possessed by the evil spirits.

Once the evil spirits completed their possession, the vessel that hosted the evil spirit would become a puppet. Instead of a person, they would become a monster that did not recognize anyone. All it could do was kill in its bloodlust. And those that killed these evil spirits would be possessed by new evil spirits, running the risk of becoming a monster.

If this continued, Myriad City would be destroyed. Therefore, no matter who it was, as long as it was determined to be irredeemable, others would bear the pain of killing them.

Once the person died, the evil spirit would lose its protection, making them easy to vanquish.

Over the past few years, Guiyuan Potian had already given the order to kill numerous members of the Guiyuan family. However, when it came to Guiyuan Li, Guiyuan Potian could not steel his heart to do so.

Guiyuan Li was Guiyuan Potian’s great-grandson, and also one he doted on greatly. When Guiyuan Li was young, Guiyuan Potian had personally guided his martial path.

Guiyuan Potian had a second thought, and said, “Prepare the carriage. I’ll be visiting Elder Mo…”

Elder Mo was a miraculous figure who had suddenly appeared in the Myriad Divine Territory. Everything about him, such as his sudden appearance to his origins, was mysterious. His cultivation techniques and martial path were completely different from the usual found in the Myriad Divine Territory.

Three years ago, when a Paradise Chapter genius fell seriously ill, Paradise Chapter’s chapter master had prepared two ancient Fey bones but failed to get Elder Mo to take action. He was barred from entering for a second visit. Guiyuan Potian did not hold any hopes of being able to entice Elder Mo into taking action.

Furthermore, Elder Mo’s cultivation realm was unknown and his whereabouts were uncertain. Guiyuan Potian even had a feeling that Elder Mo’s strength far exceeded his.

With the carriage readied, Guiyuan Potian planned on setting off when suddenly, a voice transmission charm flared in front of him. It was a light purple halo that came from City Lord Manor’s voice transmission charm. Furthermore, it was one used personally by Qin Zhengyang.

“Oh? Qin Zhengyang has something urgent to tell me?”

Guiyuan Potian was puzzled, but when he heard the contents of the voice transmission, he felt trepidations through his entire being.

Yi Yun! He has come out of seclusion!?

This…

Guiyuan Potian was overjoyed. Yi Yun, who had vanished for twenty-five years, had appeared once again in Myriad City!

In the days with Yi Yun nowhere to be seen, Myriad City had suffered greatly. Only then did Guiyuan Potian realize how lucky Myriad City was to have encountered Yi Yun more than twenty years ago.

“Patriarch, the carriage is readied,” a steward-looking elder said.

Guiyuan Potian immediately waved his hand and said, “There’s no need!”

Guiyuan Potian did not even bother taking the carriage. His body flashed immediately as he charged into the sky!

Myriad City banned flying but, in his anxiousness, Guiyuan Potian ignored the rule. He flew straight for City Lord Manor.

…

“Yi Yun, you are finally back.”

Upon seeing Yi Yun, Qin Zhengyang heaved a sigh of relief. His sons were good-for-nothings, so other than his youngest son, Qin Wufeng, his sons did not suffer any turmoil. Yet although City Lord Manor was fine, the rest of Myriad City was in chaos. Qin Zhengyang was utterly exhausted from the work that required him over the past few days.

“City Lord Qin, I want to meet Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin. Are they still alive?”

The moment Yi Yun saw City Lord Qin, he did not bother with the niceties. He directly asked, but he knew in his heart that the odds were against the two women.

Five years was just too long for them. It was impossible for them to have waited it out.

“You even know about it?” Qin Zhengyang was taken aback. From the looks of it, Yi Yun had learned of the situation of Myriad City after coming out of seclusion. “You should be the one telling me. Their conditions are rather complicated…”

Qin Zhengyang led Yi Yun and passed through a corridor in City Lord Manor. In the backyard, there were two Dao Palace realm guards manning a large door. There was a strange lock hanging on the door.

“Yi Yun, there was an elder with the surname of Mo that came to Myriad City a few years ago. Do you know him?”

“Mo?” Yi Yun thought about it before shaking his head. “I do not know him.”

“Oh? That’s odd.” Qin Zhengyang looked surprised. “I originally thought that Elder Mo was your friend or that he had been sent by you.”

“Why do you say so?” Yi Yun was baffled.

Qin Zhengyang said, “After Elder Mo came to Myriad City, he only did one thing. It had to do with you. Back then, Miss Dong and Fairy Youqin were almost dead. Then Elder Mo suddenly appeared. Well, see it for yourself…”

Qin Zhengyang waved his hand at the two guards. Upon receiving the order, they took out a key and inserted it into the lock. With the guards twisting the key, the lock produced a hazy golden light. Runes began flashing out of the void.

The runes were ancient and mysterious. Following that, the door opened. A cold gust of wind that struck deep into the bone rushed out.

Despite cultivating in both Yin and Yang, Yi Yun, who was proficient in pure Yin laws, could not help but quiver when he felt the cold wind. What sort of cold wind was this? It was extremely crisp and extreme Yin in nature. It drilled deep into the bone marrow but it did not make one feel uncomfortable. Even if a mortal were to come here and stand amid the cold wind naked, they would not be frozen, much less a being like Yi Yun. In fact, there was a refreshing feeling for both Qi and blood.

The idea that frost Yin laws could be cultivated to such a stage left Yi Yun alarmed.

And after he entered the room, Yi Yun was even more astounded. In the tiny room, there was an isolated distorted space. Inside were two azure-blue blocks of ice.

Both blocks of ice were as tall as a human. Two women were sealed inside the ice.

They were none other than Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin.

Although they were sealed in ice, their complexion was ruddy. Their lifeblood was in abundance and it felt like that they were only sleeping.

Across the layer of ice, Yi Yun could clearly sense that they were alive. Furthermore, there were no signs of the soul fire in them weakening at all.

“This is…” Yi Yun was stunned.

“It’s the work of Elder Mo. He fed the two girls Ice Silkworm Heart. Using frost-ice laws, he then sealed them into such a state. However, I do not know what Ice Silkworm Heart is. From the moment they were sealed in ice, the evil spirits in the two girls’ ceased to grow any further. Their lives were temporarily preserved. However, my real question is why would Elder Mo only do it to the two of them?”

1216 - : Xiaowan and Youqin

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun found City Lord Qin’s explanation somewhat puzzling. He was certain he did not know a person called Elder Mo. Forgetting the name, he would have remembered a person with such formidable frost ice laws.

Regardless, he was grateful towards Elder Mo. If not for him, Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin would probably be long dead.

Yi Yun did not continue thinking over the matter. He would know why this was done when he met Elder Mo. He was more worried about Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin. He could sense that the evil spirits were still within their bodies but were a lot weaker because they had been sealed by the frost ice.

At that moment, Qin Zhengyang said, “Elder Mo said that the evil spirits within Miss Dong and Fairy Youqin are much stronger than typical evil spirits. Therefore, he could only temporarily put them in check. Now that you are back, you can use your pure Yang flames to melt the frost ice and cure them of their illnesses.”

“I understand.” Yi Yun nodded. He touched the frost ice as blue frost beams flashed across the surface of the ice.

“This ice…”

Yi Yun’s heart stirred. The ice in front of him wasn’t easy to melt.

Yi Yun could sense that the laws contained within the two blocks of ice were intricate and complex. Blindly using pure Yang flames to burn the ice would not only fail to melt them, but might also hurt the two women in the ice.

Yi Yun knew that Elder Mo definitely had the means to melt the ice, but since he had already instructed him to melt it with pure Yang laws, he was likely leaving everything to him. Could it be a way of testing him?

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun sat down solemnly. He silently sensed the laws within and rationalized each bit he encountered before using pure Yang laws to neutralize them.

This was a tedious process but by using Yin and Yang to neutralize it, Yi Yun realized he gained a lot more insight on the frost Yin Dao that Elder Mo used.

The more Yi Yun tackled the problem of melting the ice, the more astonished he became. He began to feel that Elder Mo was deliberately guiding him, allowing him to learn a lot of things from the ice-melting process.

Although Yi Yun dual cultivated in both Yin and Yang, his pure Yin laws were much weaker than the pure Yang laws. Through this short period of practice, Yi Yun gained quite a bit of insight.

What sort of person was this Elder Mo?

“City Lord Qin, is Yi Yun inside?”

Guiyuan Potian had rushed to City Lord Manor in a painfully anxious manner. However, when he learned that Yi Yun was busy melting the ice, all he could do was continue suffering from anxiety.

He was not what one would consider very familiar with Yi Yun. Since he needed a favor from Yi Yun, he naturally had to wait respectfully.

Yi Yun was a person who could casually destroy evil spirits. In the past, Yi Yun had done it so easily that large numbers of infected geniuses were brought in front of him. With a wave of a hand, he resolved their problems in batches. It caused the gratefulness towards Yi Yun to appear not as immense.

However, ever since Elder Mo came to Myriad City, he tended to be reclusive and seldom left his residence. Pleading for him to take action was an impossible task. Furthermore, he did not thoroughly save the infected. All he did was seal them in ice and let them wait for Yi Yun to finish the healing process.

Since Elder Mo rarely took action, it caused the people who came to implore him to become even more respectful.

Yi Yun was a lot more approachable when compared to Elder Mo. Therefore, Guiyuan Potian constantly reminded himself to absolutely not treat Yi Yun as a junior.

This went on late into the night before Yi Yun finally cracked the layers of frost ice left behind by Elder Mo. He saw layers of golden runes fly up into the sky from amid the frost ice before dissipating into dots of light and disappearing. At the next moment, the two ice blocks seemed to lose the intermolecular forces binding them and instantly melted.

As the cold water flowed across the ground, Yi Yun waved his hands and beckoned both Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin into his hands. Despite being sealed in ice for nearly five years, the two women’s vitalities had not decreased at all. Instead, they had been nourished by the frost ice and enjoyed greater vibrancy.

However, they remained unconscious.

And at that moment, in what seemed like an ordinary thatched cottage outside of Myriad City, an elder walked out. He was dressed in azure-colored clothes. His pupils effused a light purple color as they looked in the direction of Myriad City. A smile spread across his lips.

“Six hours to resolve the frost ice laws I left behind. You have really surprised me.”

The elder muttered to himself as he took a step forward. As his footsteps tapped across the void, he walked towards Myriad City.

…

“Although I have melted the frost ice, the frost Qi runs deep in Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin’s limbs and core. It’s still nourishing their bodies. This Elder Mo is truly an impressive figure.”

Yi Yun placed Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin flat in front of him. He probed their dantians and noticed that the evil spirits entrenched in them were a lot stronger than the ones before. Despite being weakened by the frost ice laws, they were still energetic. Now that the frost ice had disappeared, they seemed to be gathering strength to make another resurgence.

“Skyfire Sacred Hands sure is diabolical. If this were twenty years ago, dealing with these evil spirits would be tough, but it’s a lot easier now.”

The Azure Wood Divine Tree in Yi Yun’s body had grown to a towering three-hundred-foot tree. The divine tree’s veins shot out and with the room he was in as the core, the surrounding vegetation began growing vibrantly in a beautiful and splendid manner.

About thirty seconds later, the evil spirits residing within Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin’s bodies were eliminated. They dissipated completely and transformed into energy that was absorbed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

At the instant the evil spirits dissipated, more than fifty thousand kilometers away, a man with a face covered in dry and pale skin that was spotted with blood patches grunted as a trickle of black blood oozed out the corner of his mouth.

This person was none other than Skyfire Sacred Hands.

The two demonic servants he had left behind had been nourished by him using a portion of his blood essence. If the two demonic servants successfully completed the possession, they would become his loyal subordinates which he could easily command. However, if they were eliminated, he would lose that bit of blood essence. This was naturally an unpleasant outcome for Skyfire Sacred Hands.

Skyfire Sacred Hands stood up with an ashen expression. After five years, his complexion looked even more sickly.

This terrible complexion was the result of giving large amounts of his lifeblood to nourish demonic servants that were intrinsic to him. Skyfire Sacred Hands had already nurtured more than a thousand intrinsic demonic servants.

Once these intrinsic demonic servants returned to him, the lifeblood that they had devoured would be fed back into him, greatly increasing his strength.

“Yi Yun, it appears that you have come out of seclusion. Then, it’s finally time for me to rid myself of this mental demon!”

…

After Yi Yun exterminated the evil spirits, Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin woke up one after another about five minutes later.

They were somewhat lost. They had fallen unconscious for five years, and were completely unaware of anything that happened during that time.

At that moment in City Lord Manor, all the important figures that should be there were there.

Guiyuan Potian, Perfected Qianhua, Paradise Chapter’s chapter master, the Zhou family’s patriarch, every important person was gathered!

Now, despite not holding any position in Myriad City or having built up any faction, Yi Yun’s status and prestige meant that every word he said carried weight. No one could override him.

“Young Master Yi, my great-grandson, Guiyuan Li, has been brought here. I wonder if you could…” Guiyuan Potian said respectfully.

But at that moment, Yi Yun felt something and turned his head. He looked towards City Lord Manor’s door as an azure-clothed elder with light purple pupils slowly walked over.

He seemed to walk very slowly, but also seemed to come from another dimension. It made Yi Yun’s heart palpitate.

He was now a lot stronger. He could even vaguely sense the cultivation realms of some mighty figures. He could clearly sense that although the elder’s aura was converged, his strength was actually unfathomable. It gave Yi Yun the feeling that he was even stronger than his master, Felicitous Rain Lord.

1217 - : Elder Mo

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Senior, might I ask who you are?”

Yi Yun cupped his fists and asked respectfully.

“My surname is Mo, and my first name is Shen.” The elder replied with a smile.

Mo Shen…

Yi Yun naturally did not recall such a name. He said, “Thank you Senior Mo, for saving my friends. I wonder if Senior Mo has any directions for me?”

“I would not dare to claim that they are directions. It’s just that my master would like to meet you. I live in a cottage on the southern facing slope of the Heaven Bestowing Mountain west of the city. After you settle things here, you can look for me whenever you have the time. When that time comes, I’ll bring you to meet my master. As for the situation in the Myriad Divine Territory, those are matters for Young Master Yi to solve. I will not interfere.”

After Elder Mo said that, he turned and left. Yi Yun drew a cold gasp when he heard that.

Master?

Elder Mo was only an old servant?

What sort of person could make Elder Mo their servant? What level could they be at?

Behind Yi Yun, many of the upper echelons of the Myriad Divine Territory’s major factions exchanged looks. Such a figure had far exceeded their imaginations.

“Why does it feel like we are frogs in a well…” Qin Zhengyang laughed wryly as he said in a self-deprecating manner.

He had always known that the 12 Empyrean Heavens were not everything in the Universe. Far away in the Sinkhole, there were even more unfathomable existences. In addition, there were many unknown pocket worlds with mighty figures hiding in them.

However, that was only hearsay. When they truly realized that such figures were paying them attention, and even wanted to meet Yi Yun, they were astounded.

Compared to these figures, they were overly puny.

“Yi Yun, do you plan on…” Qin Zhengyang asked.

Yi Yun faltered slightly as his perception followed Elder Mo out. Only when Elder Mo exceeded Yi Yun’s range did he retract his perception. He said, “Skyfire Sacred Hands and I need to settle the score. The awakening of the demonic servants is not only limited to the Myriad Divine Territory. What I can do is also extremely limited. I plan on meeting Elder Mo’s master.”

Yi Yun was unlike City Lord Qin and company. The strongest people City Lord Qin had seen were only Divine Lords with Royal Seals.

But Yi Yun had encountered more than a handful of super experts in the Azure Wood Great World, the Purple Crystal, and the Pure Yang Sword Palace. Furthermore, among these experts, there were great differences.

It was apparent that the true experts in this world were numerous and powerful.

As Yi Yun reflected on this, he walked straight towards Guiyuan Potian’s great-grandson—Guiyuan Li. With a simple wave of his hand, he vanquished the evil spirit within Guiyuan Li’s dantian. By now, Yi Yun was proficient at doing such things.

“Thank you, Young Master Yi.” Guiyuan Potian looked as Guiyuan Li’s Yuan Qi rapidly recovered. He felt delighted but also somewhat wry.

He had suffered because of this matter for a year. He had used all sorts of means and paid an immense price. However, for Yi Yun, it was nothing worth mentioning. It was as simple as drinking a bowl of water.

“Young Master Yi, over the years of your seclusion, I happen to have gathered some herbs. There are a few good strains and they would be wasted in my hands. I wish to hand them over to Young Master Yi as I believe they will be put to good use,” the Zhou family’s Patriarch Zhou said in a somewhat embarrassed manner.

Yi Yun knew immediately that the juniors of the Zhou family had been infected and that his services were being requested.

Yi Yun did not mind the Zhou family’s patriarch. Even if he was a person that veered with the wind, he had decisively crippled Zhou Baifeng. The way he acted was rather refreshing.

“Bring them all here. I will treat them…”

As Yi Yun said this, his voice suddenly came to a halt. He looked up as his gaze penetrated City Lord Manor’s walls and went out of Myriad City.

Hundreds of miles away, on a desolate mountain, a black-cloaked man was standing on the mountaintop. His expression was pale and his face was dotted with red patches, but his facial features were still vaguely familiar.

This person was none other than Skyfire Sacred Hands.

After having not seen him for twenty-five years, Skyfire Sacred Hands had decayed into such a state.

Furthermore, Yi Yun saw that not only was Skyfire Sacred Hands looking even more hideous, his hatred for him was even more intense. Yi Yun felt that Skyfire Sacred Hands had already lost himself to his demons.

The change in his cultivation technique and aura made him appear even more sinister. He looked as though he wanted to destroy everything.

This demonic state also magnified Skyfire Sacred Hands’s hatred for Yi Yun’s acquisition of his Skyfire.

At that moment, Skyfire Sacred Hands slowly lifted his hand. His fingernails were black and sharp, resembling the claws of wild beasts. The claw was pointed at Yi Yun from a great distance as though it was clenching Yi Yun’s throat.

“Looks like I will not be able to tend to Senior Zhou’s juniors at this moment.”

“About that…” Patriarch Zhou faltered slightly before sensing something. “Skyfire Sacred Hands!?”

Patriarch Zhou immediately looked in Skyfire Sacred Hands’s direction.

“It looks like he knows of Yi Yun’s return. This demon actually dares to openly appear in Myriad City. I have long wanted to settle the vendetta of him harming Li’er.”

Guiyuan Potian was infuriated. If not for Yi Yun’s timely return, Guiyuan Li would no doubt have died.

“Brother Potian, I know you are incensed. However, we have tried this numerous times in the past. There’s no way for us to capture Skyfire Sacred Hands. He comes and goes like a ghost. He doesn’t stay put for long and is crafty. It’s nearly impossible for us to deal with him.”

Skyfire Sacred Hands’s escaping arts were embedded deep in these people’s memories. He could transform into countless evil demons and dissipate. Even an array formation could not hold him down.

At that moment, Yi Yun said, “He is here for me. Since he has informed me of his return, I’ll go to him and settle the grudge of the past twenty odd years.”

Yi Yun was the type who would never spare Skyfire Sacred Hands, unless he had no other choice.

As Yi Yun spoke, he was already on the way out of City Lord Manor.

“Yi Yun, since Skyfire Sacred Hands is so boldly coming for you, there must be something backing him. You going to him might be playing right into his hands. You might end up in his trap. Why don’t you wait in City Lord Manor? With us here, Skyfire Sacred Hands will not be able to do anything to you.”

Qin Zhengyang was worried that Yi Yun would suffer. He naturally knew that Yi Yun’s strength must have increased greatly over the years, but Skyfire Sacred Hands was not to be trifled with either. By submitting himself to the demonic way, his cultivation became unorthodox and his strength increased at an astounding rate.

Even if Yi Yun was considered a genius, he cultivated in orthodox cultivation techniques. Orthodox cultivation techniques tended to be slower.

Yi Yun said, “City Lord Qin, rest assured. Although I’m leaving the manor, I will not leave the range of your perception. All of you will be able to sense the battlefield at all times.”

“In that case… alright.”

Qin Zhengyang nodded. With so many of them around, their perception was constantly locked onto Skyfire Sacred Hands. Should anything go wrong, they could provide assistance in a timely fashion.

The crowd walked out of the city with Yi Yun leading the group. With all the upper echelons of Myriad City in the procession, it naturally attracted the attention of many. People still were unaware of what was happening.

When they came to the city gates, Qin Zhengyang and company stopped. They left Yi Yun to leap into the air as his figure transformed into a long beam of light, shooting straight at Skyfire Sacred Hands.

1218 - : Settling Scores

CKtalon  CKtalon

Outside Myriad City were endless green mountains with lush forests. There were refreshing springs and intricate rocks, with countless critters shuttling through the woods. It looked like a thriving ecosystem.

However, amid the green mountains, Skyfire Sacred Hands stood atop a desolate mountain that had no signs of life.

An azure beam flashed as Yi Yun arrived in front of the mountain. He gradually landed, coming to a stop with the tip of his foot on the mountain peak. He faced Skyfire Sacred Hands across the void.

“Yi Yun, after twenty plus years of being a cowardly turtle, you have finally dared to appear.” Skyfire Sacred Hands looked at Yi Yun as his eyes suffused mockery and killing intent.

He was forced to abandon his sect over the past twenty-five years, losing the status he once enjoyed. It was all thanks to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun looked at Skyfire Sacred Hands coldly. He could feel an extremely familiar aura from Skyfire Sacred Hands’s body. Skyfire Sacred Hands was practically half demonic servant.

“When I take you down, I’ll extract your flame seed and refine it for my use. I will resolve my mental demons and use your blood to forge my new path as a demonic emperor!” Skyfire Sacred Hands yelled as he pounced at Yi Yun.

Ever since his downfall, Skyfire Sacred Hands had been brewing with disgruntlement. He had waited for more than two decades for this chance. He would relish the experience of torturing Yi Yun, making him lead an insufferable life so as to ease his own hatred.

And if he crippled Yi Yun and handed him over to the Supreme Lord, he would definitely be handsomely rewarded.

Given the Supreme Lord’s status, he naturally didn’t stick around in the puny Myriad Divine Territory for two decades. He had left Skyfire Sacred Hands in charge of Myriad City. Other than nurturing large numbers of demonic servants in the Myriad Divine Territory, he was given the task of helping the red-haired man search for Yi Yun.

Skyfire Sacred Hands abruptly pounced over, moving like a night owl. His black figure swooped down as terrifying power enveloped Yi Yun’s surroundings from afar.

At that moment, City Lord Qin and company had arrived about five kilometers away. They happened to see Skyfire Sacred Hands turn into a black cloud that enveloped the entire mountaintop. The sky was dyed black. As for Skyfire Sacred Hands’s figure, it had fused with the black clouds. There was no sight of his actual figure.

The strange aura left people shuddering from the cold as sharp shrieks seemed to strike straight into their souls.

City Lord Qin and company had seen Skyfire Sacred Hands turn into a black shadow before, but they never expected his attacks to be so diabolical.

Even Skyfire Sacred Hands’s very figure became darkness, to the point where it could not be seen. As for Yi Yun, he was in the middle of the legion of black clouds.

Yi Yun slashed out a sword beam while facing the overwhelming black clouds, cleaving through the endless void.

Boom!

The sword hums were thunderous like an electric snake had split apart the dark clouds.

The blue sky appeared once again as Yi Yun stood hovering in mid-air. The broken sword in his hand resonated in response.

The Yuan Qi he emanated suffused a pale golden color. It was pure and ancient.

Following that, Yi Yun’s aura seemed to transform into something faintly discernible. Despite visibly standing there, it felt as though he was only a shadow.

This feeling left City Lord Qin and company astonished.

The split black clouds rapidly closed the gap as they formed a gargantuan face within them. Its facial features were that of Skyfire Sacred Hands.

“Yi Yun, you have indeed grown a lot. Everyone says that you will definitely rise to Divine Lord and above. To kill an absolute genius like you is truly a pleasant feeling!” Skyfire Sacred Hands guffawed loudly.

The black clouds were extraordinary for they were formed by an amalgamation of demonic auras. Ignoring the outcome of ordinary warriors being enveloped by the black clouds, simply touching them would drain all of one’s lifeblood. However, Yi Yun had been able to cleave them apart.

Although his first attack failed, it was only the beginning for Skyfire Sacred Hands.

“Don’t you have the means to counter the demonic servants? Shall I let you know what despair is today!?”

Skyfire Sacred Hands roared loudly, causing the desolate mountain beneath him to quake violently. Following that, shrill demonic sounds were heard. Demonic servant phantoms charged out of the mountain and straight into the sky!

This scene left everyone astonished. That’s no mountain!

They had thought that the desolate mountain seemed out of place. It was devoid of life and gave off an unsettling feeling. It seemed so obviously a trap, but Yi Yun had still gone forward. Qin Zhengyang and company turned anxious. They had planned on watching the battle by casting their perception outside the city, but they couldn’t shake their unease so they decided to follow.

Now, their suspicions were confirmed. This mountain had been specifically prepared by Skyfire Sacred Hands. He had amassed a large amount of demonic servants within the mountain and nurtured them over the past twenty-plus years.

Although Yi Yun was powerful, charging straight into his opponent’s trap was too risky. He would only suffer.

At that moment, Yi Yun saw the demonic servants flying into Skyfire Sacred Hands’s body like phoenixes flying towards the sun. Skyfire Sacred Hands’s body was rapidly burgeoning.

“Let’s attack!”

Qin Zhengyang originally believed that if he were too close, he would scare Skyfire Sacred Hands into retreating. He was unable to prevent his escape or capture him. It would have been a waste of effort but now, seeing Skyfire Sacred Hands release thousands of demonic servants, he no longer had the luxury of taking his time to weigh options. They would join forces to collectively scare Skyfire Sacred Hands into a retreat. Ensuring Yi Yun’s safety was of utmost priority!

Instantly, Qin Zhengyang, Guiyuan Potian, and Perfected Qianhua flew towards Skyfire Sacred Hands. They instantly traversed a distance of several miles!

Qin Zhengyang held his broadsword and charged ahead. A black sword beam cleaved apart the lands in an indomitable fashion!

Guiyuan Potian followed closely behind. He produced two black fists that would crush Skyfire Sacred Hands.

But at that moment, they saw that the thousands of demonic servants had gathered together, forming a massive black ball. Outside the ball, demonic flames were burning fiercely. Such immense power was approaching Yi Yun at an unbelievable speed.

Skyfire Sacred Hands was long prepared. He had laid a trap and began with a formidable strike, leaving no opportunities for Yi Yun.

He believed that even if this strike failed to kill Yi Yun, he would at least be severely injured!

However, at the instant the black energy began converging, Yi Yun forcefully stamped his foot onto the desolate mountain beneath him.

Boom!

With a loud explosion, an Azure Wood Divine Tree phantom blasted out from behind Yi Yun. The thick roots worked their way through the mountain like large azure-colored pythons. They bored straight into the soil of the desolate mountain.

Hu! Hu! Hu!

The divine tree’s roots tunneled erratically through the mountain with the main root splitting into thousands of tiny root follicles. The thicker ones were as thick as a person’s arm while the thin ones were thinner than a pinky finger. The roots quickly proliferated the entire desolate mountain.

Above the root network, there was a dense mist of billowing azure light. It was the natural phenomenon of condensation when the amount of Yuan Qi reached a maximum.

However, despite the roots appearing propitious, they were extremely terrifying. Wherever they passed, demonic servants would issue shrill screams that added to the rustling sounds of demonic servants dispersing into azure-colored smoke.

This scene resembled pouring molten metal onto snowflakes. The snowflakes would rapidly melt, without any hope of resisting.

Yi Yun had naturally noticed the trap within the desolate mountain. In that case, he decided to beat Skyfire Sacred Hands at his own game. He made the desolate mountain that was formed by the demonic servants into the soil for his divine tree to take root.

1219 - : Taking Root

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What is that?” Skyfire Sacred Hands was taken aback.

Back when Yi Yun treated the plague, Skyfire Sacred Hands did not even notice the existence of the divine tree. He believed that Yi Yun was able to eliminate the evil spirits through the use of his mysterious fire seed.

But now that he was half demonic servant, Skyfire Sacred Hands could clearly see the towering tree behind Yi Yun. The tree’s crown reached straight into the firmaments as though it was a god that stood high and mighty, looking down at him indifferently.

An immense sense of repression immediately made Skyfire Sacred Hands, who was in the form of a flaming demonic black ball, stagger. It felt as though he had fallen into a mire.

And in front of the tree’s crown, Yi Yun stood straight with the broken sword in hand. He looked coldly at Skyfire Sacred Hands.

“You thought that after becoming stronger, you would be able to harm me by using a trap. However, in the end, all you did was expose your weakness.” Yi Yun’s voice stabbed into Skyfire Sacred Hands’s mind like a sharp needle.

The divine tree had taken root in the desolate mountain as numerous demonic servants were constantly being absorbed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree amid wails. They transformed into stronger energy for the divine tree. Over the past twenty-five years, the Azure Wood Divine Tree had already grown into a lush and sturdy tree. It was why Yi Yun was so confident.

“Die!” Skyfire Sacred Hands roared. How could he be willing to suffer defeat in such a manner? He had nurtured the demonic servants for more than two decades. They should have become part of his strength, making Yi Yun face him in despair, unable to match him in any way.

Skyfire Sacred Hands suddenly let out a long howl as, beyond the massive black ball, demonic flames burned fiercely. Then, like a meteor falling from the heavens, a black bolt of lightning streaked across the void, heading straight for Yi Yun!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground, mountains, and rivers beneath were afflicted by the black lightning as they began sinking! After this battle, the geological features here would undoubtedly change. The mountains would be flattened and the rivers would dry and change directions.

Skyfire Sacred Hands was fighting desperately for his life. He did not hold back at all. Even his intrinsic demon fire was burning. The flames that were burning beyond the black ball now suffused a fiendish redness amid the black.

He wanted to burn Yi Yun alive, boiling dry the blood and Qi within his body, as well as turn the huge tree phantom behind him to ash.

“Yi Yun, die!”

Faced with Skyfire Sacred Hands’s attack, Yi Yun’s eyes began to reveal killing intent.

“Kill!”

The sword strike seemed like a dazzling and resplendent galaxy that crossed over distant space. Wherever the sword beam passed, space would shatter and mend itself. It was as though it created a river filled with black vortices.

And that river was gushing towards the flaming demonic black ball.

One strike to dictate life and death!

After Yi Yun cultivated in the Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon, he was able to fuse destruction and creation, as well as time and space, together. The might of his sword became even more devastating and its trajectory was even harder to grasp.

Different laws constantly composed themselves as they condensed into different sword beams.

Boom!

A terrifying explosion sounded that caused the distant Myriad City to quake violently.

At the moment the flaming demonic black ball clashed with the sword beam, it was as though a black sun had exploded in the sky.

In the bustling Myriad City, hundreds of miles away, millions of warriors, alchemists, mortals, and even people in a radius of thousands of miles away saw this scene.

They were momentarily stunned. What was happening over there?

They saw a mighty flame light up the sky as many warriors sensed the tumultuous Yuan Qi fluctuations. It was unknown how far away the terrifying aura was, but it still left their bodies feeling like they were being pricked by needles.

Inside Myriad City, Fairy Youqin and Dong Xiaowan had already awoken. As they were still feeling weak, they did not follow City Lord Qin and company out of the city.

In fact, they had just learned of the recent happenings from Princess White Fox, who had rushed over to take care of them.

“It was Young Master that saved me…” Dong Xiaowan whispered to herself.

“It can only be him,” Fairy Youqin added. No one but Yi Yun had such abilities.

Just as she said that, the entire City Lord Manor suddenly quaked. As the rumbling continued incessantly, Fairy Youqin felt alarmed. They quickly walked out the building and looked up. The sky appeared to be dyed by the black demonic flames. The land was constantly quaking.

Boom!

A dazzling golden beam tore through the black clouds and instantly cleansed the flaring black flames.

The golden light obstreperously emanated an ancient and mysterious aura.

“This is…” Fairy Youqin was somewhat perplexed.

“It’s Yi Yun.” Amid the powerful aura, Princess White Fox, who was closest to Yi Yun relationship-wise, was the first to sense Yi Yun’s aura.

“Yi Yun is battling Skyfire Sacred Hands. From the looks of it, he isn’t at a total disadvantage. In fact, he holds the upper hand.”

Princess White Fox had a mixed expression on her face. She believed that her strength had increased tremendously after being recruited by her master, allowing her to, at the very least, approach Yi Yun. But now, she realized that she could only watch Yi Yun from afar.

Skyfire Sacred Hands was originally a Supremacy. He later cultivated in demonic methods, becoming even stronger, but Yi Yun was able to resist him. Such cultivation techniques and sword techniques were truly terrifying.

…

At that moment, beneath the desolate mountain, the flaming demonic black ball was cracking under Yi Yun’s sword beams. It was reduced to countless black shadows.

“Yi Yun!” Amid the black shadows thundered numerous voices that belonged to Skyfire Sacred Hands. He was still planning on gathering together and burning all his demonic flames and blood essence to kill Yi Yun at the cost of his life.

Yi Yun exhaled. Although it was taxing on him, he was feeling delighted. When he cleaved apart the flaming demonic black ball with his sword beams, he could feel every insight he gained over the past twenty-five years of seclusion refining themselves into those sword beams.

Skyfire Sacred Hands was a testbed for him. Yi Yun fully understood his own strength.

If Skyfire Sacred Hands had cultivated normally to where he was, Yi Yun would not be his match. However, Skyfire Sacred Hands had taken the unorthodox path and bred thousands of demonic servants, all of which were perfectly countered by Yi Yun.

“It’s time to end it.” Yi Yun lifted the sword tip.

As the pure Yang broken sword trembled gently, the heaven and earth resonated immediately with a dull hum.

Golden beams of light surged outwards like a wave, and immediately following that, a sword beam plunged down from a high altitude like a radiant sun. It tore through the layer of clouds, space, and the black shadows that were frenetically trying to gather together.

Instantly, countless holes bored through the black shadows as huge rifts opened up in the ground.

Everyone, including Guiyuan Potian, City Lord Qin, and people from the distant Myriad City, witnessed this scene of fiery rain.

“Ahhhhh…” Skyfire Sacred Hands’s voice sounded like it escaped from hell.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The tree veins thrust out, dispersing the black figures that were riddled with holes, enveloping and absorbing them.

The Azure Wood Divine Tree had absorbed large amounts of demonic servants, emanating an even stronger Yuan Qi fluctuation. All its leaves seemed to shake like they were dancing.

“He’s dead…”

“Skyfire Sacred Hands was killed just like that. It was truly a clean death.”

City Lord Qin looked wistfully at Yi Yun. After twenty-five years of not seeing him, Yi Yun had become a lot stronger. At that moment, he could not help but feel envious of Yi Yun.

Such talent insinuated that if Yi Yun were to successfully mature, he would be able to make contact with even higher martial paths, seeking the origins of life and the universe.

At that moment, Yi Yun was looking at the black shadows that were being absorbed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree. After it absorbed all the demonic servants, it grew taller once again. Its leaves turned lusher as the root network became more developed.

However, at that moment, amid the layers of black shadows, an inconspicuous gray dot of light flew out silently. Like a ghost, it flew towards Yi Yun’s back.

The dot of light concealed all of its aura. Even a Divine Lord might not be able to detect it.

However, Yi Yun possessed the Purple Crystal. Even after killing Skyfire Sacred Hands, he remained vigilant of his surroundings.

He suddenly felt a sense of unease. Without a second thought, he flew forward.

But the gray dot of light behind him was too fast. It ignored his protective Yuan Qi and directly tunneled through it.

When the gray dot of light entered his body, Yi Yun suddenly felt an aura of biting coldness and death. It made his heart rapidly palpitate.

It was clearly a power that did not belong to Skyfire Sacred Hands.

Yi Yun’s heart leaped. Could the gray dot of light have been left behind by Skyfire Sacred Hands’s master? And did that mean it had been residing inside Skyfire Sacred Hands’s body all along!?

1220 - : End

CKtalon  CKtalon

When the gray dot of light entered Yi Yun’s body, the Yuan Qi within his dantian began to circulate violently. It instinctively tried to purge the gray dot of light; however, it remained like a maggot and rapidly tunneled into Yi Yun’s dantian.

At that instant, Yi Yun felt a strong sense of danger.

And simultaneously, the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s root network abruptly uprooted itself from the desolate mountain and rapidly swept back towards Yi Yun’s body.

The Azure Wood Divine Tree seed had previously sprouted in Yi Yun’s dantian, becoming one with him.

When it sensed the danger Yi Yun was facing, the Azure Wood Divine Tree automatically returned into Yi Yun’s body.

In just a split second, the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s leaves spread throughout Yi Yun’s meridians and finally drew inwards to his dantian, wrapping it under thick layers.

“Peng!”

Yi Yun seemed to hear a dull thud from within his body. As he looked within his dantian, he saw that the leaves had formed a cage, and the gray dot of light was slamming about within.

Yi Yun immediately circulated all his Yuan Qi to surge towards the cage. He constantly fortified it, while at the same time the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s massive vibrant strength inundated the gray dot of light, trapping it completely. The light it emitted also dimmed slightly.

The cadaveric aura finally vanished.

“What the heck is this thing?” Yi Yun sensed that the gray dot of light was only sealed and restrained. It seemed to contain a light heartbeat.

Through the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s leaves, Yi Yun perceived the gray dot of light. From it, he sensed a stranger’s aura.

The aura was extremely diabolical.

Simultaneously, Yi Yun sensed that the gray dot of light contained immense amounts of demonic aura that was of a higher grade than that of the demonic servants.

Yi Yun thought about it and came to the conclusion that the demonic aura belonged to Skyfire Sacred Hands’s master. By planting the gray dot of light within Yi Yun’s body, Skyfire Sacred Hands’s master was able to instantly strike and kill him.

From the beginning, Skyfire Sacred Hands’s master had not trusted him at all. He only saw Skyfire Sacred Hands as a tool.

However, the gray dot of light had been completely restrained by the Azure Wood Divine Tree. Not a single amount of aura leaked out. As such, the demonic aura could no longer be tracked as well. Not only was it unable to threaten his life, it also prevented Skyfire Sacred Hands’s master from sensing it.

“I’ll use the Azure Wood Divine Tree to seal it before absorbing it clean.” Yi Yun thought to himself. Yi Yun felt unease leaving such a thing in his body even if Skyfire Sacred Hands’s master could not find him. He needed to refine and digest it.

The demonic aura would provide large amounts of nutrients to the Azure Wood Divine Tree once it was absorbed. However, absorbing the demonic aura clean was not an easy task. It would probably take a period of time.

“Yi Yun, are you alright?” City Lord Qin asked after he and company flew over.

Yi Yun shook his head. “I’m fine.”

City Lord Qin and company had not seen the gray dot of light. All they saw was Yi Yun suddenly halting. He had a heavy expression and, following that, the surrounding Yuan Qi was pulled into his body. They were puzzled as to what had happened.

Now that they knew Yi Yun was fine, City Lord Qin and company heaved a sigh of relief. They chalked it up to Yi Yun being a little exhausted. After all, it had been a huge battle.

Imagining the scene of the battle that had just ended, the warriors, and even the mortals, that witnessed the scene would speak about it, remembering it deep in their hearts.

“Let’s return to Myriad City. I’ll purge the plague for those people,” said Yi Yun.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s offer, the Zhou family’s patriarch was naturally the happiest. However, City Lord Qin was taken aback. “Why the rush?”

Yi Yun had just finished a battle and needed rest. There was no need to hurry.

However, Yi Yun gave a faint smile. “It’s fine.”

Curing the plague for the others did not enervate him in any way. On the contrary, it replenished his Azure Wood Divine Tree with some energy.

Despite having restrained the gray dot of light, Yi Yun knew that he could not stay in Myriad City for long, or trouble would quickly come knocking.

…

Billions of miles away from Myriad Divine Territory, in a silent and desolate desert, a red-haired man sat quietly amid the yellow sand. Strong winds howled, blowing through his red hair as though a red flame was flickering in the sand.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes. His eyes appeared to be two patches of darkness. They effused an endless chill as though he did not have the emotions that belonged to a living being.

“Skyfire Sacred Hands is dead.”

The red-haired man was somewhat surprised. It wasn’t that he particularly cared about Skyfire Sacred Hands’s survival. However, the ancient demonic aura he had planted had entered deep into the person that killed Skyfire Sacred Hands. But in the blink of an eye, the demonic aura seemed to be lost in the endless oceans. It vanished without a trace.

The red-haired man pricked up his brows and extended his hand, writing down a name on the yellow sand in front of him.

“Yi Yun.”

Wu—!

A gust of wind blew. Despite being a name written in sand, it did not get blown away by the wind. It seemed to be engraved in the sand forever.

“Interesting.” The red-haired man muttered to himself as the corners of his lips suffused a faint smile. “What secret does this youth have? It looks like I have underestimated him…”

…

The infected geniuses of Myriad City gathered in front of City Lord Manor were filled with anticipation and excitement. And aside from the geniuses, there were warriors that rushed to Myriad City after catching wind of the news.

All of Myriad City’s streets were empty. Nearly everyone in the city had come out of the stores and houses. They swarmed towards City Lord Manor.

The turnout for such a grand occasion was even better than that of the Grand Alchemical-cum-Medical Meet years ago.

When Yi Yun’s figure appeared in front of City Lord Manor’s entrance, a cacophonous roar sounded.

“Young Master Yi! Young Master Yi!”

These geniuses and warriors gazed excitedly at Yi Yun. All of them exuded looks of immense reverence and admiration.

Yi Yun’s present status made it so that no one had even the slightest thought of comparing themselves to him. There was only idolation.

Yi Yun looked at these people and raised his hand. The Azure Wood Divine Tree phantom appeared behind him as a warm vibrant energy immediately scattered towards the crowd like rain.

Sharp screams that came from the soul cried out. Yi Yun could hear them clearly but ordinary people did not hear them at all.

The demonic servants that were hiding within the young geniuses’ dantians escaped as they scattered in mid-air, attempting to escape in every direction.

“Freeze!” Yi Yun was already prepared. He extended his finger and immediately, the space above the crowd was sealed. Golden threads formed a spatial cage.

These demonic servants were imprisoned within the space as they were helplessly absorbed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

In an instant, Yi Yun had treated all the infected geniuses.

“Young Master Yi, this is a little token to show my respect to you.” Patriarch Zhou was delighted. The few genius of the younger generation of his Zhou family had been saved. He immediately produced an interspatial ring.

He was not the only one. The factions behind the geniuses that were saved each delivered all sorts of treasures.

Today, the formidable strength that Yi Yun had demonstrated made everyone see Yi Yun’s future clearly. As long as he did not perish, his future was limitless.

They did not have lavish hopes of befriending Yi Yun. Simply being slightly acquainted with him brought immense benefits.

Yi Yun did not reject the gifts of gratitude. He entrusted City Lord Qin to collect all the gifts and left. He wanted to meet Elder Mo.

1221 - : Seal

CKtalon  CKtalon

Outside of Myriad City, on the southern facing slope of the Heaven Bestowing Mountain, there was an ordinary straw cottage. It sat behind a herbal field and looked like any ordinary house from a village of mortals.

At this moment, an azure-clothed elder was sitting on a bamboo chair in front of the house, leisurely sampling some tea made of coarse leaves.

When Yi Yun arrived in front of the straw cottage, he looked at the elder drinking tea. As he watched, he felt that the tea-drinking elder, the herb field, the straw cottage, and the world around it seemed to be an independent world, yet everything came together so naturally. Every single brick and tile seemed to contain laws to form such an atmosphere. People without a discerning eye would have found the place ordinary.

“Elder Mo, may I share a cup of your tea?” Yi Yun requested with a faint smile.

Elder Mo looked up and glanced at him. His purple pupils seemed to contain limitless power.

“Of course.” Elder Mo extended his hand out, causing the tea to fly out of the kettle and into a coarse porcelain cup, which flew towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun caught it and downed it with a tip of his head. After the warm tea flowed down his throat and into his stomach, he felt a comfortable and refreshing feeling emanate through his limbs.

“Great tea!” Yi Yun marveled carefreely.

Yi Yun was well-read thanks to the divine alchemist’s notes. He knew spirit tea was made of herbs, but despite his knowledge he could not discern the source of the tea leaves.

“What tea is this?” asked Yi Yun.

“This is one of the local products from where I’m from. It’s called Rootless Tea,” said Elder Mo.

“Rootless Tea?”

Tea without roots was an interesting concept.

When Yi Yun heard Elder Mo mention where he hailed from, he asked, “Elder Mo, might I ask who your master is? Why does your master want to meet me?”

“It is not my place to question my master’s intentions. However, rest assured that my master has no intentions of harming you in any way. You will be informed as to why my master wants to meet you when the both of you meet.” Elder Mo said with a smile.

Yi Yun nodded. He did not believe that Elder Mo’s master had any ulterior motives towards him. If that were the case, Elder Mo’s strength was sufficient to just attack him openly. There was no need to go through such great trouble.

He was curious. Why would Elder Mo’s master be interested in him?

“If I stay any longer in Myriad City, it will only invite trouble. Elder Mo, I might as well go with you to meet your master,” said Yi Yun.

“Is the trouble you mention referring to the mastermind behind Skyfire Sacred Hands?” asked Elder Mo.

“Yes,” Yi Yun replied immediately. “Does Elder Mo know who the person is?”

Yi Yun had already formed a grudge with the mastermind, so he naturally wanted any details on them that he could get.

“I know a little but it’s best you ask my master,” replied Elder Mo.

“Do you have anyone else you would like to bid farewell to?”

A few figures appeared in Yi Yun’s mind.

“There are a few.”

Elder Mo stood up and gently swiped his hand. As though he was swiping across the landscape on a portrait, the straw cottage, herb fields, chair, and the tea vanished, transforming into a forest that merged with the surrounding grass and trees.

“Let’s go!”

Yi Yun left and returned to Myriad City with Elder Mo.

Upon seeing Yi Yun and Elder Mo’s figures simultaneously appear over City Lord Manor, City Lord Qin knew that Yi Yun was leaving.

Myriad City was, after all, too small. Furthermore, Yi Yun was destined for greater heights. Myriad City could not hold him back.

Princess White Fox, Fairy Youqin, as well as Dong Xiaowan and Ru’er were in Myriad City. At that moment, Yi Yun’s voice sounded in their heads.

“I am here to bid all of you farewell.”

Yi Yun was leaving?

The girls rushed over. Dong Xiaowan looked at him in a longing manner. Ru’er could not help but tug at Yi Yun’s sleeve. “Sir…”

She deeply wished to follow Yi Yun but she was too weak. She could not help Yi Yun in any way.

Dong Xiaowan was the same. She held Ru’er’s hand and said to Yi Yun softly, “Young Master, Ru’er and I will be here. We will continue tending to Yun Xin Loft. It will forever be waiting for you.”

Perhaps Yi Yun would never return but Yun Xin Loft would silently stand in the city forever, handed down in Myriad City just like Yi Yun’s legend.

Princess White Fox came in front of Yi Yun gingerly. Her long hair blew in the gentle wind as a faint smile seemed to be contained within her star-like eyes. “Yi Yun, I hope we will have a chance to meet again in the future.”

She had obtained a fortuitous encounter before coming to Myriad City, meeting Yi Yun again. In the future, Yi Yun would head to even more lofty worlds. Princess White Fox made those worlds her goal as well.

Although she was not as talented as Yi Yun, she would always pursue him on the martial path.

Yi Yun looked into her eyes for a moment. “Alright!”

Turning back to take a glance, Yi Yun nodded and said to everyone, “I’m leaving.”

He flew into the sky where Elder Mo was waiting for him. Elder Mo extended his hand and tore through space. Immediately a gigantic spatial rift appeared. Amid the rift were starry cosmos that were constantly in flux and howling storms. It seemed to lead to another world.

People with insufficient strength would not be able to step through the spatial rift.

Elder Mo took the first step in before Yi Yun followed closely behind.

Weng!

Space trembled as the rift closed. In a blink of an eye, the blue skies were restored. It was as though Yi Yun’s body was never there.

“He’s gone…” Fairy Youqin looked at the sky and as her expression effused melancholy.

Yi Yun and she were on completely different levels. After today’s separation, perhaps, the gap would only widen…

Meanwhile, on the other end of the spatial rift.

The moment Yi Yun stepped through the spatial rift, he was embroiled in a spatial storm. A pale golden Yuan Qi suffused the surface of his body, isolating it from the terrifying powers of the storm.

Elder Mo’s figure was ahead. He was strolling ahead like he was enjoying a nice breeze.

In a blink of an eye, they appeared in an empty cosmic space.

“Let’s continue. It’s still very far,” said Elder Mo.

Elder Mo ripped with his hand, tearing open another spatial rift…

After this continued eight more times, Yi Yun’s eyes suddenly lit up.

They had arrived in a space with thin mists. They were no longer in space but in a particular world.

Even Yi Yun could not stomach the experience of crossing space eight times.

However, when he entered this world, Yi Yun felt mentally refreshed. He relaxed instantly.

“This is…” Yi Yun sensed that it was an independent space. It was a huge pocket world.

From the looks of it, this was the world that Elder Mo’s master resided in. There was no way to guess how many miles they had traversed to arrive in this world. They had long left the Yang God Empyrean Heaven.

“This is the Mirage Sea Realm,” said Elder Mo.

“Which of the 12 Empyrean Heavens are we in?” asked Yi Yun.

Elder Mo smiled faintly and looked at the endless clouds in front of him. “This is not the 12 Empyrean Heavens, but the Horizon of the Sinkhole.”

1222 - : Horizon of the Sinkhole

CKtalon  CKtalon

Horizon of the Sinkhole?

Yi Yun was taken aback. He knew that the 12 Empyrean Heavens were only a portion of the Universe. Yet he was still unsure as to what the Horizon of the Sinkhole was.

“In between the Sinkhole and the 12 Empyrean Heavens, there exists a chaotic region. If people from the 12 Empyrean Heavens want to venture into the Sinkhole, they must cross through this region of chaos. Therefore, that region is named the Horizon of the Sinkhole,” explained Elder Mo.

So that was the reason… Yi Yun nodded. The Universe was expansive and what he knew was still too limited.

There was a sea of clouds wafting in Mirage Sea Realm. Across the clouds, there were lush green islands floating above blue and calm oceans. It was like a dream or a mirage. The Mirage Sea Realm lived up to its name.

The ocean here effused sufficient spiritual energy and the vegetation on the island was luxuriant. It was very refreshing to the body and mind.

Cultivating in such a place would certainly speed up the cultivation process.

Yi Yun was even more curious about Elder Mo’s master. To possess such a world…the Mirage Sea Realm was bigger than any pocket world he had ever seen.

At that moment, figures began flying over from different islands.

These figures emanated powerful Yuan Qi fluctuations. Yi Yun realized that they were Dao Palace realm warriors when he glanced at them.

“Elder Mo.”

“Elder Mo, you are back.”

These people greeted Elder Mo.

They also looked curiously at Yi Yun for he was a fresh face.

“I’m bringing him to meet Master,” said Elder Mo.

Everyone burst into a flurry of discussion as they watched Yi Yun and Elder Mo fly far away.

“Who is he? It has been very long since someone new came to our Mirage Sea Realm.”

“He is allowed to meet our Mirage Sea Realm’s owner? Who is this person?”

The warriors present were stunned. Although they lived in Mirage Sea Realm, the person that truly taught and managed them was Elder Mo.

As for Mirage Sea Realm’s owner, they were an extremely mysterious figure, someone who they had never met.

As Yi Yun followed Elder Mo in flight, he could not help but turn back to take a glance.

“Those are citizens who live on the islands. Many of them were born in the Mirage Sea Realm. They have never gone to the outside world,” explained Elder Mo.

Yi Yun was astonished. This appeared to be another paradise in the world of warriors.

“It’s here.” Elder Mo suddenly flew downwards.

Yi Yun looked at the island in front of him and knew that it was where the owner of the Mirage Sea Realm resided.

The island had a quiet mountain valley, which Elder Mo brought Yi Yun to. They followed a serene gravel path after landing.

The valley was filled with all sorts of spiritual flowers and grass but, strangely, there was a frost Qi that permeated the valley. The frost Qi was cold but it did not deprive one of their vibrancy. It seemed to stem from the same frost Qi that had been used to seal Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin.

Inside the valley, there was an elegant bamboo lodge. It had a balcony covered in ice flowers that were crystalline and beautiful. They were like the most intricate pieces of art.

At that moment, the door to the bamboo lodge was pushed open. A blue-dressed woman slowly walked out.

She was tall and slender. Her skin was so fair that the blood vessels beneath her skin could be seen. Yi Yun was surprised to find that her body did not contain any Yuan Qi fluctuations. She appeared to be a mortal.

A mortal?

Yi Yun was stunned. Before he could react to the girl’s identity, Elder Mo, who was beside him, went forward respectfully. He bowed at her and said, “Miss, your servant has brought Young Master Yi here.”

Oh?

This was the master that Elder Mo was referring to? Was she also the owner of the Mirage Sea Realm?

Yi Yun originally assumed that Elder Mo’s master had used her extraordinary strength to establish a mystical world in the Horizon of the Sinkhole, forming the Mirage Sea Realm. And as Mirage Sea Realm and Elder Mo’s master, she would naturally be extraordinarily powerful, perhaps even stronger than a Divine Lord.

He never expected Elder Mo’s master to be a mortal.

The blue-dressed girl looked at Yi Yun. Her eyes were bright and her facial features were intricate like they were carved from beautiful jade. It made the spiritual flowers and crystalline ice around her pale in comparison.

Yi Yun had never seen a mortal girl that possessed such bearing and looks. He first suspected that she was hiding her aura, but Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal in him. It was extremely sensitive to energy so he was certain that the girl had no means of concealing her aura. She was of mortal breed through and through.

It was unknown how long the Mirage Sea Realm had existed. With Elder Mo’s cultivation, it would not be a surprise if it had existed for a million years. A mortal girl that looked about sixteen was the owner of the Mirage Sea Realm?

A mortal lived for less than a hundred years. Subtracting the childhood and elderly years, one’s youth lasted less than two decades. The prime of one’s youth left one sighing.

If the perfect girl in front of him was a warrior, her beauty could exist for extended periods of time. But if she were mortal, her beauty was ephemeral.

At that moment, the girl looked up. Using her aqueous eyes, she looked at Yi Yun. “Are you Young Master Yi?”

“I am,” Yi Yun jolted out of his daze and replied.

The girl smiled slightly and said, “My name is Huan Chenxue. It must have been tough for Young Master Yi to come from so far away. After hearing of Young Master Yi’s deeds, I troubled Elder Mo to invite you here.”

Huan Chenxue’s smile seemed to make the surroundings immediately lose their existence. Only her smile and voice remained in the valley. It was memorable, to say the least.

Yi Yun suppressed the questions on his mind and cupped his fists. He asked, “Miss Huan, might I know why you were looking for me?”

Huan Chenxue did not directly answer Yi Yun and instead asked him, “Young Master Yi, what do you think of my Mirage Sea Realm?”

Yi Yun honestly answered, “Excellent.”

The place was quiet and harmonious. There was plenty of spiritual energy and the scenery was alluring. It was naturally a very nice place.

“In that case, why don’t you stay here first? The island beside mine is empty. Young Master Yi, if you do not mind, you can stay there for as long as you like,” Huan Chenxue said.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before nodding. “I’m honored by Miss Huan’s invitation. However, I cannot be at ease until you tell me why you were looking for me.”

Although his intuition told him that Huan Chenxue had no ill intent towards him, Yi Yun could not completely trust her. He could not think of a reason why she had invited him there.

Huan Chenxue nodded gently and said, “There are many reasons why I sought you. It’s difficult to put them all into words. I was planning on inviting you to live here and discussing everything with you in detail, slowly. However, since you can’t wait, I’ll show you something right now.”

After Huan Chenxue said that, she took off an interspatial ring from her hand. She handed it to Elder Mo.

Elder Mo gently swiped the interspatial ring his hand, making a portrait appear. He then returned it to Huan Chenxue.

Just this scene confirmed Yi Yun’s guesses. Huan Chenxue was truly a mortal girl. If not, just the cultivation of a little Yuan Qi would be able to easily open an interspatial ring. Why would she need Elder Mo’s help?

Huan Chenxue gradually unfurled the portrait. It was half the height of a person and in it, a woman was drawn. She was drawn in a way remarkably true to life. It made one feel that the person in the portrait was alive.

“Young Master Yi, you should know this person, right!?”

1223 - : Portrait

CKtalon  CKtalon

The woman drawn in the portrait was dressed in a white dress. She seemed to stand aloof from the world, transcendent, as though she was a fairy from the nine heavens that landed in the mortal world.

When he first saw the woman, Yi Yun found her somewhat familiar. However, he was certain he had never seen her before.

Who was this woman? If he had ever seen such a peerless woman, she certainly would have left a lasting impression on him.

Yi Yun looked at it carefully for a long time. Although it was a portrait, the woman’s bearing and looks far exceeded peerless women like Fairy Youqin and Princess White Fox.

Suddenly, a flash of brilliance streaked across Yi Yun’s mind.

He recalled the image of a person.

Back in the Tian Yuan world, he had once seen Azure Yang Lord’s past when he entered the Great Empress mystic realm.

Azure Yang Lord had a love of his life named Bai Yueyin!

Although Yi Yun had only seen dreamy visions of Azure Yang Lord’s life, Bai Yueyin had left a deep impression on him. On careful comparison, she resembled the woman in the portrait!

Yi Yun remembered that, tens of millions of years ago, the Central State Divine Territory had an empire that united the area known as the Great Qian Dynasty!

And Azure Yang Lord was a prince of the Great Qian Dynasty. After he inherited the throne, he encountered an extremely beautiful woman—Bai Yueyin.

Bai Yueyin was exceedingly talented. She was extremely clever but she came from a tiny sect. Even so, she emitted light like the bright moon. She was a rare gem.

Her ordinary background gave her an inexplicable charm and affability. It made Azure Yang Lord fall deeply in love with her.

Later, the duo held a wedding and was supported by the Great Qian Dynasty. After having heritage and resources to make up for her disadvantages, Bai Yueyin’s cultivation improved rapidly. Before long, she was almost as strong as Azure Yang Lord. Among their peers, they were invincible!

However, they came to suffer certain tribulations. Once, Azure Yang Lord and Bai Yueyin headed to the Sinkhole on an expedition. They encountered a perilous zone. Amid the distorted space in the Sinkhole, Azure Yang Lord was trapped and his outcome unknown.

Bai Yueyin returned alone and ruled the Great Qian Dynasty in his stead, conscientiously and earnestly.

She always waited for Azure Yang Lord, believing that he would return.

With that, twenty years passed and the outcome Bai Yueyin had been wishing for finally happened. Azure Yang Lord returned. Not only did he return alive, he returned with his cultivation level increased by leaps and bounds after receiving a huge opportunity in the Sinkhole!

The Great Qian Dynasty rejoiced and the two were given the titles of Sacred Emperor and Sacred Empress. Azure Yang Lord led an unbridled life. Bai Yueyin was modest and open-minded, a motherly model for the nation.

Immediately following that, Azure Yang Lord inherited the position of Great World’s Divine Lord. He became a figure that carried weight in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. That was the peak of his life.

And after the peak was a terrifying nadir!

Not long later, a Fey race expert named Sha Hongxue came to the Central State Divine Territory and issued a challenge.

He was an arrogant person with extraordinary strength.

However, Azure Yang Lord was extremely confident regarding the battle. The entire Yang God Empyrean Heaven was stirred as they rushed to the Central State Divine Territory to witness the battle.

Before the great battle, Azure Yang Lord made another breakthrough. He gained insights into the Ethereal state and, just as his cultivation level was about to be increased, Bai Yueyin appeared like a ghost at his most critical juncture. She stabbed him in the chest!

At that moment, Azure Yang Lord could not believe what was happening before his very eyes. He grabbed the ice-cold sword’s blade and looked at Bai Yueyin. However, on her face, there was nothing but coldness.

When the sword was pulled out, it seemed to extract everything in Azure Yang Lord’s life. If he were to die, he wanted to know the reason. However, Bai Yueyin left without saying a word…

At the battle with Sha Hongxue, Azure Yang Lord suffered an abject defeat!

Later on, Azure Yang Lord became disillusioned. He lost all meaning in his life. He returned to the Sinkhole, the spot where he had been trapped for two decades. He wanted to end his life, but instead, he reached the Tian Yuan world.

There, he encountered a woman that saved his soul—the ancient Great Empress.

As for the Great Empress mystic realm that Yi Yun would enter, those events happened tens of millions of years later.

This was Azure Yang Lord’s history. It had been buried deep in Yi Yun’s heard for a long time. Coincidentally, when Yi Yun was transported to the Yang God Empyrean Heaven from the Azure Wood Great World, he had arrived in the Central State Divine Territory, where the old Great Qian Dynasty once stood.

Furthermore, Yi Yun encountered the descendants of Azure Yang Lord in the Central State Divine Territory—Jian Wufeng.

Yi Yun also saw how the Clarity Pool Sword Sect became a mere shadow of its glorious past after tens of millions of years.

All of this seemed to be destined by karma.

“I know her… Her name is Bai Yueyin.” Yi Yun looked at Huan Chenxue. “Is Miss Huan related to Seniors Bai Yueyin and Jian Qingyang?”

Huan Chenxue shook her head and said, “I do not know Jian Qingyang but I know of his story. He was a remarkable genius but he had an unlucky life. He was quite a pitiful man…”

“Oh? Because of Bai Yueyin?” Yi Yun was somewhat perplexed. Why would Huan Chenxue have Bai Yueyin’s portrait? Furthermore, how did she know that he was related to Azure Yang Lord?

Huan Chenxue rolled up the portrait and said with a sigh, “Do you know why Bai Yueyin harmed Jian Qingyang?”

Yi Yun shook his head. This was something that left him puzzled as well. He had seen Azure Yang Lord’s complete history. Before Bai Yueyin betrayed him, her relationship with Azure Yang Lord did not appear disingenuous in any way.

She had been loyal to him for centuries and had waited patiently for him for twenty years after Azure Yang Lord’s disappearance. It was indelible and seemed like a love that could never be changed.

Later on, when the both of them were conferred the titles of Sacred Emperor and Sacred Empress, they were at their lives’ peaks. Especially with Azure Yang Lord being so young, he had limitless potential. Breaking through to the realm above Divine Lord was just a matter of time. They could have soared together and traveled the cosmos.

Under such circumstances, why would she harm her husband?

Hundreds of years of loyalty were defeated by a day of betrayal. It was inexplicable!

“Do you know what Bai Yueyin took away after harming Jian Qingyang?”

Yi Yun recalled for a moment as a chill ran down his back. The item that Bai Yueyin took away was a broken sword!

To be precise, it was the pure Yang broken sword’s sword tip!

Yi Yun drew a deep breath as he realized a possibility. Standing before him, Huan Chenxue had likely already known that he possessed the other half of the pure Yang broken sword!

This was the reason why she had invited him to the Mirage Sea Realm!

Yi Yun calmed down and said, “It’s half a broken sword. Back then, Azure Yang Lord had countless treasures in his interspatial ring. There were even remnant pages of the Yang God Manual and the Nine Nether Sacred Manual. They were cultivation techniques formed naturally from the nomological Great Dao of the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Their worth was unimaginable, but Bai Yueyin did not take them away. All she took was the half of the broken sword!”

“That’s right. It’s half a broken sword. As for the remnant pages of the Yang God Manual and the Nine Nether Sacred Manual that you mentioned…” Huan Chenxue shook her head when she came to that. “They are probably not as valuable as you imagine them to be. They are not cultivation techniques naturally formed by the nomological Great Dao of the 12 Empyrean Heavens… Over the long rivers of time, many truths are buried in the ashes of history, unknown to people,” Huan Chenxue said indifferently.

Her voice was calm, matching her long breaths. There was something indescribable about it.

A mortal girl was discussing a history that spanned billions of years. Even a legend formed at the beginning of the 12 Empyrean Heavens was spoken of casually and calmly. It left Yi Yun somewhat speechless.

Was she really a mortal girl?

Yi Yun found it unimaginable. However, he also found Huan Chenxue’s claim to be very probable—the Yang God Manual and the Nine Nether Sacred Manual remnant pages were not naturally formed from the nomological Great Dao of the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

On careful thought, although Yi Yun had never cultivated in the Yang God Manual and the Nine Nether Sacred Manual in the past, he had remnant pages of the Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon that were their equal.

These pages were given to him by Felicitous Rain Lord before he left the Azure Wood Great World.

Yi Yun had secluded himself for twenty-five years and cultivated in the remnant pages of the Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon. If the cultivation technique was said to be ingenious, it was indeed the case. However, if it were to be called a supreme Great Dao, there was this nagging feeling that it wasn’t that amazing. It was on a completely different level from the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence that Yi Yun had cultivated in.

Previously, Yi Yun guessed that perhaps the Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon he had was incomplete, resulting in its lacking strength.

But upon careful thought, over all these years, there were a total of twelve mystic manuals in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. They had been obtained by numerous mighty figures, but did none of them ever receive a complete set of the mystic manual?

And yet, Yi Yun had never heard of anyone who cultivated the complete mystic manual to become a peerless figure like the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner.

There had been numerous people who had obtained the mystic manual but they were on the level of Felicitous Rain Lord or Elder Mo. If the value of the mystic manuals was inestimable, those remnant pages would have long been snatched away by figures above the Divine Lord level.

The reason why Bai Yueyin had abandoned the Yang God Manual and Nine Nether Sacred Manual remnant pages was not because she wanted to leave it for Azure Yang Lord, but because she thought nothing of them.

Yet, she had taken away the sword tip.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun’s expression turned heavy. He realized that the pure Yang broken sword’s value was far greater than he imagined!

But now, the news of him possessing the pure Yang broken sword had been leaked. The reason for the oversight was that he had underestimated the value of the pure Yang broken sword.

Originally, Yi Yun believed that even if it were the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s weapon, it was still a broken weapon. Furthermore, there was only half of it.

Yi Yun had also underestimated Bai Yueyin. He thought that she was only a heartless woman from a small sect, filled with ambition and greed. Now, from the looks of it, it was probably not that simple.

Since he had been exposed, Yi Yun could only live with fate. He knew Elder Mo’s strength. He was far stronger than him.

If the girl in front of him had any designs on the pure Yang broken sword, he had no chance of putting up a struggle. He could only hand it to her.

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the blue-dressed girl only looked at him. Her bright eyes seemed like spring water. Despite being pure and clean, it appeared unfathomable.

“Your reaction is a lot calmer than I expected.”

The girl smiled faintly. Yi Yun shook his head with a wry smile. This mortal girl had seemed to see through him. She knew what he was thinking.

“Does Miss Huan not have any interest in the broken sword?”

“I wouldn’t call it interest. The broken sword is of great importance to me. However, it’s completely different from what you are imagining.”

1224 - : Woman in the Portrait

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was surprised when he heard Huan Chenxue’s words. What was different from what he imagined? Could it be that Huan Chenxue actually wasn’t interested in the sword?

Huan Chenxue could read Yi Yun’s apprehensions. She said with a smile, “I did not call you here to get anything from you. Instead, it’s about the owner of this broken sword.”

“Are you talking about… the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner?”

Huan Chenxue nodded slightly. “That’s right. Too much time has passed. Of all the people of the present, if we are ignoring the Sinkhole, just the 12 Empyrean Heavens alone, there’s probably none who can remember the eight Godly Monarchs of ancient times.”

Eight Godly Monarchs?

Yi Yun held his breath. Huan Chenxue’s words left him in awe. He did not know what sort of figures the eight Godly Monarchs were.

“The Pure Yang Sword Palace owner you just mentioned is one of the eight Godly Monarchs. Back then, all sentient beings fought with the Ancestor Gods, and the eight Godly Monarchs fought until they were bathed in blood. Some died in battle, some were heavily injured, and there were others whose outcomes are unknown. However, that history has been wiped away due to all sorts of reasons. Now, it’s unknown to most people. It’s very normal for you not to know!”

Huan Chenxue reflected over the matter. Her gaze seemed to penetrate the endless rivers of time, and saw the stunning ancient war at the source of that river.

Yi Yun found it unbelievable that a mortal girl could possess such a gaze.

He remained silent for a long while before asking, “Miss Huan, you said that the history has been wiped away. Then, how does Bai Yueyin know the value of the sword? And why was she willing to harm her lover that she had been together with for centuries? Does she know the history of the eight Godly Monarchs?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s question, Huan Chenxue sighed. Her voice sounded somewhat pained and a little wistful. “That’s right. She obviously knew about it because she is one of the eight Godly Monarchs…”

What!?

Yi Yun widened his eyes. He never expected Huan Chenxue to give him such an answer!

In Azure Yang Lord’s memories, Bai Yueyin was a genius girl that grew up in a small sect. Now, he was being told that Bai Yueyin was a figure equal to the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner. How was it possible?

Even if Bai Yueyin was one of the eight Godly Monarchs, she could have just killed Jian Qingyang if she wanted the pure Yang broken sword. There was no need for her to stay by his side for centuries. With the standards of a Godly Monarch, Jian Qingyang would not matter highly to her even if he was excellent.

It was hard to imagine!

Huan Chenxue said, “I know what you are perplexed about. In fact, Bai Yueyin is not the complete body of a Godly Monarch. She is only one incarnation of a Godly Monarch…”

One incarnation?

Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat.

“I previously mentioned that there were eight Godly Monarchs in ancient times. After that massive war, some perished and some were heavily injured. There were others that disappeared…”

“Bai Yueyin was one that was heavily injured. As a last resort, she sealed herself in Divine Blood Crystal and slept for a hundred million years. Although this amount of time ensured her survival, it also caused her strength to recede. In order to recover to her past state, she used a mystic technique to reincarnate. She split her soul and reincarnated again and again, so as to nurture the strength of her soul and absorb Yuan Qi. All these incarnations would slowly fuse back into her body and her strength would gradually recover.

“The girl that Jian Qingyang met was one of Bai Yueyin’s incarnations. She did not have any memories as a Godly Monarch. She was herself, as plain as paper. She met Jian Qingyang and fell in love with him. She stayed by his side for centuries until one day, when she awakened. She transformed back into the true Bai Yueyin and from that moment forth, the girl of the past was dead. The person that continued living was only a soul belonging to the Godly Monarch.”

“Therefore, I said that… from the moment Jian Qingyang met that girl, he was destined to lead a life of tragedy.”

Yi Yun was enlightened by Huan Chenxue’s explanation. It was no wonder Bai Yueyin’s eyes were filled with love when she was by Jian Qingyang’s side. Back then, she was truly in love with him.

They could have toured the cosmos and been together to the end of days, but their fates were destined. With Jian Qingyang’s strength, how could he withstand a Godly Monarch of primordial times?

From this point of view, wasn’t the reincarnated Bai Yueyin also a tragic figure?

Unfortunately, Jian Qingyang did not know why his lover had betrayed him till his death. Even with the ancient Great Empress rehabilitating him, it was still regret, indignation, and endless hatred that Jian Qingyang brought with him to his death…

Yi Yun gently touched his interspatial ring and following that a faint dark gold beam flashed. The pure Yang broken sword appeared in his hand.

The golden beam was only the effect of the pure Yang Yuan Qi in Yi Yun’s body. The broken sword itself was simple and dull. It had experienced the ruthless baptism of time and was covered in rust.

It was hard to imagine that it was a sword that could stir a Godly Monarch’s heart.

“If this sword is so formidable, why would it break?”

Huan Chenxue said, “The value of this sword is not in its strength but the secret contained within it.”

“Secret? What is it?”

Huan Chenxue shook her head. “Too many things happened back in the primordial times. Even the most astounding matters have been buried by history. Furthermore, it was already a secret unknown during the primordial era. After hundreds of millions of years, there is no way anyone would know the truth…”

“Miss Huan, even you do not know?” Yi Yun was surprised. He previously felt that there was nothing Huan Chenxue did not know.

Yi Yun continued, “Miss Huan, I believe that whatever secret this sword entails, Bai Yueyin will find me regardless, isn’t that right…”

Back when Yi Yun first arrived in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, he had hidden all his treasures because he lacked the strength to protect them.

Later on, when he gained strength that exceeded ordinary Supremacies, and an extremely high amount of status and prestige, Yi Yun felt that treasures like the pure Yang broken sword and the God Advent Tower did not need to be hidden any longer. Furthermore, no one would recognize the pure Yang broken sword. But from the looks of it, he had made a mistake.

Huan Chenxue said with a smile, “You do not need to worry about that. From the last reincarnation of her soul, Bai Yueyin has been in seclusion for tens of thousands of years. She will not be coming out into this world any time soon. And none of her followers have ever experienced the war of the primordial times. Therefore… you are temporarily safe. However, that might not be the case when she awakens. You brought the pure Yang broken sword from the sealed Tian Yuan world into the 12 Empyrean Heavens so, in time to come, Bai Yueyin will find you because the broken sword you have is linked to the part she has. She will find you.”

Huan Chenxue’s words left Yi Yun appalled. He was thankful that Bai Yueyin was still in seclusion and that Huan Chenxue had found him first.

Yi Yun pondered for a moment before suddenly asking, “Miss Huan, do you understand Bai Yueyin? Is she good or bad?”

Yi Yun knew that in the primordial battle, a hundred races, including humans, had fought the bronze giants. As one of the eight Godly Monarchs who took part in that battle, Bai Yueyin must have secured great achievements for the human race.

But later, in order to obtain the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s broken sword, she ignored the feelings she had for Jian Qingyang in that life. She stabbed him in the chest, stopping at nothing in a ruthless manner.

Huan Chenxue said, “Whether she’s good or bad isn’t that easily determined. In that world battle of primordial times, who can judge the goodness or badness of both parties? Those hundred races had warred against each other without end. They only united to face a stronger enemy because they had no choice. However, who can truly determine if their hearts were aligned as one when battling the Ancestor Gods?”

“Even the eight Godly Monarchs, who fought alongside each other, were not extremely close. After hundreds of millions of years passed, it became even more complicated and confusing, with no one capable of distinguishing who did what back then. You asked me who is good or bad, that is something I cannot answer because there was never good or bad, to begin with. There was only foe and friend.”

Huan Chenxue’s voice was fluttery as she smiled and looked at Yi Yun. She countered with a teasing tone, “Do you think you are good or bad?”

Good or bad?

If one considered the number of kills, Yi Yun had killed numerous people. He fell silent for a moment and said, “Miss Huan, you are right. My battles are not fought for good but for myself. It is all for my own conscience.”

Upon saying that, Yi Yun cupped his fists. “Miss Huan, thank you for saving my life. Had you not said what you said, I might have ended up dead without even knowing why.”

1225 - : Ancient Godly Monarchs

CKtalon  CKtalon

It was not an exaggeration to say that Huan Chenxue’s reminder was saving his life.

Yi Yun knew very well that if Bai Yueyin was even willing to harm Jian Qingyang, it was absolutely impossible that she would spare him.

“I have two other matters on which I would like to consult Miss Huan.”

Yi Yun came to the Mirage Sea Realm with many questions. After going through so much difficulty to meet Huan Chenxue, he naturally wanted answers for all of them.

“Young Master Yi, please ask.” Huan Chenxue said calmly.

“I would like to know about the demonic servants that have infiltrated the Yang God Empyrean Heaven as evil spirits. What is going on with them? Is some ancient race, such as the sealed bronze giants, controlling all of this?”

Yi Yun was already aware of the origins of the demonic servants. They were likely remnant servants of an ancient era. They had battled with the hundred races in the past.

However, for the demonic servants to suddenly awaken after such a long slumber, there was definitely an instigator.

“Do you think it’s the bronze giants…” Huan Chenxue shook her head. “It’s not them. I mentioned that the human race of the time had internal conflicts. They only became stronger because a common enemy appeared and had no choice but to ally…”

“Among humans, there were always a few ambitious ones who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals. They wanted more and they lacked the strength to claim it, so they would begin taking an unorthodox path…”

“The demonic servants you mention happen to be released by humans.”

“Oh!?” Yi Yun’s heart palpitated. Although he had already vaguely guessed at something when he heard the first half of Huan Chenxue’s answer, he was still astounded when he obtained Huan Chenxue’s confirmation.

The war during ancient times had made humans suffer great losses. After so much time had passed since the war, history had been sealed under a layer of dust. People had forgotten the pain it brought to the point of awakening the slumbering demonic servants. Were they mad?

“Is no one stopping them before they can engage in such acts? Does no one consider the consequences?”

“Of course, but the people orchestrating all of this are not people of average pedigree. They work in the shadows, so how can it be easy to stop them? Furthermore, there are many complicated problems mixed into this larger problem. If we are talking about consequences, the people that released the demonic servants have definitely made more holistic considerations than you have.”

“Do you think that chaos in the world, with human lives plunging into the depths of misery and suffering, is a result of negative karma? Perhaps there are some people in this world that are happy to see such a thing happen. The world has been at peace for too long. After the struggles between major powers settle down, it becomes harder to vie for newer interests. However, if the rules are broken, it’s possible to gain even more. Many people look forward to destruction before establishment, and from that gain great benefits! More than twenty years ago, didn’t you ally with the Guiyuan family and the Paradise Chapter to destroy the Myriad Immortal Pavilion?”

Huan Chenxue countered with a question, leaving Yi Yun speechless. Indeed, his reasons for destroying the Myriad Immortal Pavilion had nothing to do with removing the ills of society. He had done so for revenge and self-preservation. He had done it to ensure that his body and mind was at ease.

“The ancient races have been destroyed. Those that open Pandora’s box naturally think they can control all the evil spirits. Taking ten thousand steps back, even if they fail to control them, the level of the calamity would not exceed that of the hundred-race war of ancient times.”

“Chaos in the world leads to the suffering of all life, but it is something some people are willing to see. Heroes are born in difficult times. There were eight Godly Monarchs in ancient times, and many other influential figures throughout history. Any one of them were horrifyingly strong, but to attain that kind of cultivation level in this age of peace is exceedingly difficult. Perhaps, some people are waiting to make breakthroughs amid the chaos.”

Huan Chenxue’s words left Yi Yun somewhat at a loss. He originally thought that the revival of the demonic servants meant that ancient races were making a return; yet, he never imagined that humans were the ones that instigated the awakening of the demonic servants.

Humans were warlike, to begin with. It was common among humans to fight unceasingly for their interests. Furthermore, there were some perverse people who wanted revenge on the world. Such people were even more dangerous. There was no limit to what they would do.

Yi Yun knew that there was evil deeply rooted in human nature. However, he was not a person who would bemoan the state of the universe and mankind, much less the kind who would question life after seeing the ugly nature of humans and eventually decide to destroy the entire world in a crazy fit. He was only Yi Yun, an ordinary person that pursued the martial path, wanting his life to escape the cycle of samsara.

His goal was clear. He distinguished clearly between kindness and hatred and he adhered to his conscience. Regardless of how common grueling battles were in this world, as long as no one provoked him, they had nothing to do with him.

“Miss Huan, do you know the master behind Skyfire Sacred Hands? He has left behind a forbidding mark on me.”

The mark that Skyfire Sacred Hands’s master left might have been entrapped by the Azure Wood Divine Tree, but to completely refine it would take time.

“Young Master Yi, compared to Bai Yueyin, that red-haired man is just a trivial figure in the grand scheme of things. If you are to face Bai Yueyin, then he will only be a grinding stone for you. By the way, he has three other partners. I hope that you can kill each and every one of them within fifteen years!”

Fifteen years!

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed. Up to today, he had cultivated nearly a hundred years. Anyone else would treat him as a junior, but Huan Chenxue thought so highly of him.

“During this fifteen years, I’ll recommend you a place. Cultivate there.” As Huan Chenxue spoke, she handed a letter to Yi Yun.

“This letter describes how you can get there. As for your pure Yang broken sword, I suggest you leave it here.”

Yi Yun did not hesitate and handed over the pure Yang broken sword with both hands.

Since the two parts of the pure Yang broken sword were connected, Yi Yun would be carrying a ticking bomb if he kept it.

“Miss Huan, do you have means to hide the sword’s aura, preventing Bai Yueyin from finding it?”

Yi Yun did not suspect that Huan Chenxue was deceiving him. If she wanted the sword, there was no need to go through all the hassle. He was only worried that the sword would end up harming Huan Chenxue.

“Indeed, I do have my means. This Mirage Sea Realm is a place even Bai Yueyin will have trouble finding.”

Huan Chenxue extended her slender arms and took Yi Yun’s sword. Following that, she returned to the bamboo lodge and brought out another sword.

The sword was about four feet long. It had an ice-blue scabbard as though it was actually formed from ice. It was crystalline and inordinately beautiful.

“Although you are leaving behind your pure Yang broken sword, you cannot be without a sword. I shall give you this, my companion sword.”

As Huan Chenxue spoke, she handed the sword to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was taken aback. Huan Chenxue’s companion sword? Before he realized the meaning behind Huan Chenxue’s words, he saw Elder Mo’s expression change.

“Miss, you are… this…”

Before he even finished speaking, the ice-blue sword was already in his hands.

“Miss, didn’t you previously say that this sword is…”

Elder Mo’s voice sounded anxious as Yi Yun looked at Elder Mo oddly. His impression of him was a person with an imperturbable mind. He had never seen Elder Mo lose his composure.

What was going on with this sword?

“Elder Mo, there’s no need to speak further. Since I’m doing this, I have naturally made my decision. This sword shall be given to Young Master Yi.”

As he looked at the sword in front of him, Yi Yun was momentarily at a loss. He did not know if he should accept it or not. From Elder Mo’s reaction, the sword seemed to mean a lot to Huan Chenxue. Did this sword also have some secret?

1226 - : Sword Bestowing

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun did not understand the meaning behind Elder Mo’s words. However, seeing as Huan Chenxue was determined to give him the sword, he accepted it.

As he slowly took hold of the sword’s hilt, he unsheathed it gently.

“Hum…”

The sword let out a clear sword hum, inundating him with a suppressive frost Qi.

Yi Yun unsheathed the sword completely. The sword’s blade was like its scabbard, ice-blue in color. There were seven runes engraved on it, each the size of a baby’s palm. They were arranged in a row from the sword’s tip to its base.

Upon seeing these runes, Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. He had seen such runes before!

Out of the seven runes, five of them were faintly lit. They sparkled with a brilliant luster while the remaining two were unlit.

Yi Yun sensed immense power from the five lit runes. However, the remaining two runes appeared like a black hole for Yuan Qi. Not only did they not emit any energy fluctuations, they sucked in any perceptive probes Yi Yun sent into them. No information could be obtained from them at all.

Yi Yun looked at the seven runes for a long time before finally recalling where he had seen them before.

He sheathed the sword and said, “Miss Huan, I have some memory of these runes. I once entered a small sect known as the Clarity Pool Sword Sect. They had a cornerstone treasure named the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword. There were seven runes on its blade as well. It was somewhat resemblant of this sword; however, the level of profoundness was far inferior.

Yi Yun had once used the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword. It possessed a sentient spirituality. Those that were not acknowledged by the sword would only feel like they were holding a hard piece of matter. But when held by one that had gained its acknowledgment, it was a peerless divine sword. It could render the skies asunder and be nearly omnipotent.

Back when Yi Yun was sparring with the sect, Jian Wufeng had lent the sword to Yi Yun. Back then, he felt that the sword had once suffered heavy damage. But even so, Yi Yun managed to activate the seven runes on the sword, displaying its formidable power.

Yi Yun had used that sword to defeat Jian Buyi, the Grand Elder of Clarity Pool Sword Sect, who had repressed his cultivation level!

Huan Chenxue seemed unsurprised as she said, “This ancient sword was once a divine weapon of the extreme Dao. In ancient times, refinement masters replicated this sword so it’s likely that the replicas were left behind in the world for others to discover.”

So that was the case. The Clarity Pool Sword Sect was Azure Yang Lord’s descendants, while Azure Yang Lord and Bai Yueyin were somewhat related. It was understandable that the Clarity Pool Sword Sect had managed to obtain a replica of that sword by chance.

However, it was a replica that had endured long periods of time and damage. Yet, it still possessed such power. That sword was way too astounding…

“Miss Huan, this sword is too precious. I cannot accept it.”

Yi Yun felt that he did not deserve the gift. This was his first time meeting Huan Chenxue, so how could he accept such a gift? Furthermore, Huan Chenxue had no reason to give him such an important gift.

At that moment, Elder Mo sighed and said, “Since she has given it to you, just accept it.”

Yi Yun looked at Elder Mo with an odd glance. Moments ago, it was Elder Mo that had turned anxious; yet, now it was the same Elder Mo who was urging him to accept the sword. What was going on?

“Follow me. I’ll bring you to your residence so you can rest.”

As Elder Mo spoke, he did not give any further explanations to Yi Yun. He turned and bade Huan Chenxue farewell and left.

As for Huan Chenxue, she smiled faintly at Yi Yun before returning to the bamboo lodge.

Yi Yun did not find it appropriate to follow Huan Chenxue into the bamboo lodge, so his only option was to follow Elder Mo.

With the divine weapon in hand, Yi Yun could not help but ask. “What meaning lies behind this sword? Might Elder Mo tell me?”

Elder Mo simply kept walking in front of him, and did not turn back or reply.

From the side, Yi Yun could see the corners of Elder Mo’s eye. It seemed to be effusing sadness.

It was as though Huan Chenxue’s bestowing of the sword had made Elder Mo recall something. The result was him having such an expression.

The duo walked quietly for a long while until Elder Mo brought Yi Yun to stop before an exquisite courtyard.

The courtyard was no different from the yard of an ordinary villager’s house. From the looks of it, it had an aged wooden door with white walls and red tiles. There was a fenced off flower garden in front of the door.

Beside the garden, a watering jug and an elegant flower hoe were placed neatly.

Yi Yun felt that he had not seen such tools, the kind that mortals used, for a very long time. Warriors seldom grew flowers, instead they typically planted herbs. Furthermore, in such plantations, they would use their powers to water the soil. There was no need to use a hoe.

“This garden was tended to by Miss in the past. Why don’t you stay here,” Elder Mo said lightly.

He discovered that Yi Yun was still looking at the sword in his hand. He shook his head and said, “Regarding the sword, Miss instructed me to bring you here to rest after she gave it to you. It means she isn’t willing to explain it to you. Since she doesn’t want to talk about it, as her old servant, I naturally can’t talk about it…”

After saying that, Elder Mo turned away, in preparation to leave. However, he could not help but turn his head after taking a few steps. He sighed and said, “Young Master Yi, Miss is a person with a hard life. That sword in your hand determines her fate. If there comes a day when you manage to unlock the seven sealed runes on the sword, my wish is that you are able to… help her… Sigh, I’m being overly talkative after all. Young Master Yi, have a good rest.”

After Elder Mo said that, he rushed away, leaving Yi Yun somewhat in a daze.

Unlock the seven seals to help Huan Chenxue?

The seven seals must have been referring to the seven runes on the sword’s body…

Five of the seven runes were already lit. Did it mean that they were already unlocked or had previously been unlocked?

Only the last two runes were not lit up!

Back when Yi Yun wielded the Clarity Pool Ancestral Sword from the Clarity Pool Sword Sect, there were seven runes as well. He gained insight into the Heart of the Sword, unlocking them all at one go!

However, that sword was only a replica. It was a day and night difference from the real deal.

Elder Mo wished for him to unlock the seven seals on the sword. Although he did not know of Huan Chenxue’s past or what she had experienced, he believed that the truth would be revealed once he unlocked the seven seals.

Yi Yun had an inexplicable feeling towards Huan Chenxue. If he could help her, he would naturally do his best to help her.

As he clenched the sword in his hand, Yi Yun realized that he had not asked the sword’s name.

Such an ancient divine weapon might have been given more than one name in its long history. However, that was unimportant. Since Huan Chenxue bestowed it upon him and refused to speak further, Yi Yun decided to name the sword himself.

“Let’s call you… Mirage Snow…”

Yi Yun unsheathed the sword once again as its blade reflected his face.

Yi Yun had named the sword for its previous owner, Huan Chenxue. It was crystalline, pure and, frosty in nature, as though it were a freshly-fallen snowflake. Just like the “Xue” character from her name. Yi Yun could also sense that eternal time was sealed in the blade in a way that resembled a jade or ice sculpture. This illusory sense of eternity made the blade a sharpened mirage, the “Huan.” Thus, it was Mirage Snow.

…

At that moment, Elder Mo had returned to Huan Chenxue’s bamboo lodge after taking Yi Yun away. He waited quietly for her instruction.

“Elder Mo… You ended up mentioning something about the past, didn’t you?”

An ethereal voice transmitted from inside the bamboo lodge. Elder Mo lowered his head and ashamedly said, “I could not help it. I only mentioned an inkling of it. Miss, I cannot believe that you have given such a sword away. Can that young man really unlock the divine seals…?”

1227 - : Mirage Snow

CKtalon  CKtalon

Unlocking the seven divine seals was easier said than done. Especially the last two seals, their difficulties far exceeded Elder Mo’s imagination.

He did not believe Yi Yun could unlock them.

At that moment, the door to the bamboo lodge opened as Huan Chenxue walked out. There was a perplexed look on her beautiful face.

“Miss, that is your family clan’s ancestral sword. To give it away, it’s too… it’s really…”

“Family clan…” Huan Chenxue shook her head gently and said, “The population of that family clan has been reduced to a bare number by my generation. Let’s not even talk about protecting the sword, there are enough problems continuing the bloodline.”

“The Fey God Sword has a sentient spirituality to it. In order to unlock it, one needs to first gain its approval. Even geniuses might not accomplish that, much less I, who has a curse on my bloodline. Despite having a divine body, I can’t cultivate and so am unable to unlock the sword’s seals. If Yi Yun were to unlock the seals, it would be his good fortune too.”

As Huan Chenxue spoke, Elder Mo frowned slightly. “Miss, if Yi Yun does unlock the divine seals, then the powers sealed within the Fey God Sword would belong to him. But you would need the powers of the Illumination flames to act as the catalyst for your rebirth. Are you…”

Elder Mo stopped speaking when he reached that point.

The sword that Huan Chenxue gave Yi Yun was named the Fey God Sword.

The sword’s exterior looked crystal clear and beautiful but in fact, sealed within the sword was one of the twelve Fey Gods—a wisp of Extreme Yang Illumination’s soul essence!

Among the twelve Fey Gods—Extreme Yang Illumination, Extreme Yin Nether Glow, Empress Earth Dao Tree, and the rest—Extreme Yang Illumination was ranked first!

It was the beginning of the twelve Fey Gods, first to be born after Chaos transformed into Yin and Yang. It was also the apex of pure Yang, and could be considered as Chaos Pure Yang!

This wisp of soul essence was sealed within a frost ice sword. This secret was something very few people outside of Huan Chenxue’s family line knew.

Using the Illumination’s flames to be reborn was the only way Huan Chenxue could escape her curse.

However, Huan Chenxue had given the sword to Yi Yun. It was the same as handing over the Extreme Yang Illumination Glow soul essence to him.

The power belonged to the person who unsealed it.

And for one to unlock the divine seal, they needed perceptivity and immense talent to resolve the bloodline curse. Although Huan Chenxue possessed an ancient divine body, she was unable to cultivate due to the bloodline curse.

This resulted in a vicious cycle.

Now, only Yi Yun could break that vicious cycle.

Huan Chenxue sighed and said, “Elder Mo, the Fey God Sword has been handed down the family for an unknown period of time. Despite a reincarnation every ten million years no one has been able to break the curse. Instead of being content with the status quo, why don’t I take a risk? The family clan has always been looking for the fated one, but perhaps the fated one was never meant to come from the family…”

Huan Chenxue’s voice was calm, leaving Elder Mo filled with mixed emotions. He had lived for millions of years and had witnessed Huan Chenxue’s growth.

He knew very well that by giving him the sword, Huan Chenxue was handing everything to Yi Yun, including the fate of the family clan itself…

“Miss, why don’t you tell Young Master Yi all of this? I have this nagging worry that even if he were to refine the Extreme Yang Illumination’s soul essence, he might not help you. Furthermore… the chance of him even obtaining that power is just too low.” Elder Mo felt worried. He now knew that when Huan Chenxue first sent him to find Yi Yun in the Myriad Divine Territory, she had already made up her mind to hand everything over to Yi Yun.

“What would happen if I did tell him? If he thinks of this as a form of grace, then I’m only adding to his burdens. If he thinks nothing of it, he will only care about the benefits this will bring him and ignore whatever I tell him. However… I believe that my read of his character is right. I’ll leave everything to fate…”

After saying this, Huan Chenxue returned to the bamboo lodge.

…

At that moment, Yi Yun had already settled down in the tiny compound Elder Mo had arranged for him. He naturally wasn’t aware of the conversation between Huan Chenxue and Elder Mo.

There were a total of four rooms in the compound. In the middle of a yard was a stone table and beside it was a White Lunar Tree. It was not a rare breed, but one that could be commonly seen in the mortal world.

There were all sorts of facilities in the rooms, and it was kept simple, tidy and elegant. From the layout of the area, it looked like… it was a house a girl used to live in?

However, overly feminine features such as silk curtains had been removed.

Could this be where Huan Chenxue used to live…?

Yi Yun could not help but have such a thought. The yard was not very far from where Huan Chenxue lived. And the only person who could have stayed there was Huan Chenxue because the people who lived in Mirage Sea Realm had never been there in all their lives. They had mentioned that they had never once seen the owner of Mirage Sea Realm.

Yi Yun did not think on it further. He sat on the bed but did not instantly bother with Mirage Snow. Instead, he took out the envelope Huan Chenxue gave him.

When he asked her for any information regarding the mastermind behind Skyfire Sacred Hands, Huan Chenxue had given him this envelope. Inside the envelope was a place Huan Chenxue recommended him for cultivation.

The red-haired man had planted a seal within Yi Yun’s body. Although it was being contained by the Azure Wood Divine Tree, it would be quite difficult to completely refine it away.

As such, he would have to face the red-haired man sooner or later.

Besides, Yi Yun had a feeling that there would come a day when he might even face Bai Yueyin. If he found dealing with the red-haired man to be excessively strenuous, how was he to face Bai Yueyin?

Yi Yun opened the envelope, finding a piece of paper and a thin jade slip inside. When he infused his perception into the jade slip, he saw that the jade slip contained a map. It indicated several spatial nodes, as well as detailed information on how to traverse these spatial nodes.

As for the piece of paper, it was a letter. On it was text that Yi Yun had never seen before.

The font was beautiful and elegant. He figured that it was possibly written by Huan Chenxue. Despite being very well read, Yi Yun had never seen such a language in books.

This was clearly not a letter for him. Perhaps he needed to hand it to someone when he reached the cultivation grounds.

This was what Yi Yun thought. The jade slip did not elaborate on the cultivation ground. He would naturally know once he went there.

There were time restrictions on the opening of the spatial nodes. The spatial nodes were closed at the moment, so Yi Yun put the letter into his interspatial ring and settled down peacefully in the house.

He meditated in cultivation every day, taking out Mirage Snow for cogitation. However, no matter how much he tried, only five seals lit up. The remaining two were still dim.

“Perhaps, it needs an impetus. It cannot be rushed.” Yi Yun gradually calmed his flustered feelings.

1228 - : Essence Soul

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun continuously cogitated over the sword or cultivated, but when a bottleneck appeared, it meant that his cultivation would stagnate and no longer advance.

Yi Yun pushed the door open and stepped outside. Following that, he admired the flowers and grass. Although they were mortal vegetation that did not exude spiritual energies, they still exuded a simplistic beauty.

Despite being surrounded by spiritual vegetation, these ordinary flowers and grass bloomed without restraint. They were splendid and colorful. This scene was like Huan Chenxue. Despite being a mortal, she was flawless and perfect.

Yi Yun walked slowly as he felt mixed emotions.

Unknowingly, he walked out of his compound and strolled on the island.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly looked up. He saw Huan Chenxue standing in front of him amid flowers. She was facing the calm blue sea and playing a jade flute.

The fine and drawn out flute tunes were sent towards the sea’s surface by the winds. As Yi Yun observed the back of Huan Chenxue’s spotless white clothes, he saw her ink-like hair and sleeves fluttering gently in the wind. Her slender fingers seemed to be dancing over the white jade flute.

He stood in his spot and felt that the scenery and music seemed to fuse with what he had been pondering over the past few days.

As his heart stirred, Yi Yun drew his sword and casually engaged in swordplay. His sword beams flashed without any rules or technique. They were just spontaneous sword flashes.

However, amid the unrestrained sword beams, Yi Yun felt contented.

Yi Yun only stopped when the flute tunes vanished. He looked over and saw that Huan Chenxue had turned around and was silently watching him.

“I thought you would be in seclusion for a few days. Since you are out, why don’t you assist me in planting some flowers?” asked Huan Chenxue.

Only then did Yi Yun notice that she had flower seeds and a tiny spade by her feet. She had come here to plant flowers. She had only stopped for a rest after becoming a little exhausted, playing the flute in the meantime.

Unknowingly, Yi Yun had been attracted by the flute tunes and brandished his sword in high spirits. In a way, he had disturbed Huan Chenxue.

“After being graced with Miss Huan’s melodious tunes, it’s only natural I help you,” replied Yi Yun.

Just as he walked over, Huan Chenxue handed a hoe to him. “These are ordinary flowers and grass, so there’s no need to use your powers. On a similar note, since you have taken up residence, it’s not appropriate for me to tend to the gardens in the house where you’re staying. Now that you’re outside, I’ll tend to them today.”

Upon saying this, Huan Chenxue stopped and had a thought before shaking her head. She said, “It’s not likely that I can finish today.”

“No worries. Miss Huan, just come to the garden tomorrow.” It was Huan Chenxue’s garden, so how could Yi Yun forbid her from tending to it? In fact, he should aid her.

As she watched Yi Yun use the hoe proficiently, Huan Chenxue asked curiously, “You know how to do such things?”

Yi Yun nodded. He had done such things back in the Cloud Wilderness.

Huan Chenxue attentively listened to Yi Yun narrate his experiences in the Tian Yuan world’s Cloud Wilderness. From time to time, she would nod and a faint smile would appear on her stunning face.

“I watched your swordplay just now. Have you attained the Heart of the Sword?”

Huan Chenxue asked this suddenly. Yi Yun was taken aback. Despite being a mortal, Huan Chenxue was able to tell that he had attained the Heart of the Sword?

He said, “About thirty years ago, I happened to attain it during a sparring session with a senior.”

“I see…” Huan Chenxue nodded. “When I was young, there was a senior who recited to me insights on Sword Dao. Although I have never cultivated, I do understand some things.”

Orally recited insights on Sword Dao?

Yi Yun was left somewhat in a daze when he heard that. Things like Sword Dao could not be orally explained. What use was there in simply talking about it? Ignoring oral recitations, even cultivating might not gain one the necessary insight. And from the looks of it, Huan Chenxue was only a child when she listened to the oral recital of the Sword Dao…

Yi Yun felt that he was sufficiently talented. When he began practicing in the way of the sword and saber, he was already in his teens. Back then, he only had a rudimentary understanding.

Yi Yun found it impossible for Huan Chenxue to have many insights, but at that moment, she began reciting them. From the Sword Intent that could be attained, to the condensing of one’s Heart of the Sword, to the forging of one’s Sword Soul, Huan Chenxue shared what she understood about them. What she spoke of was not the details regarding the sword, but the realms of the sword.

Yi Yun was astonished to realize that Huan Chenxue had an acute instinct for the sword, or even the way of martial arts as a whole.

“When you were engaging in your swordplay, the sword flashes were very beautiful but there were a few that I found imperfect… I do not know where the problem lies but I simply feel that when you produced those strikes, the aura you fused with the heaven and earth seemed to have something disharmonious about it. The instant I noticed that, the beauty was destroyed,” Huan Chenxue said while absorbed in thought.

Yi Yun felt his heart palpitate when he heard that. As he carefully recalled the process of his swordplay, especially the particular moves that Huan Chenxue mentioned, he turned more alarmed.

Indeed, in those strikes, his Heart of the Sword was unable to perfectly fuse with the laws.

If not for Huan Chenxue pointing that out, Yi Yun would not have noticed.

He found it unbelievable. A person who did not know any swordplay was able to have such keen intuition into Sword Dao!

Perhaps it was not limited to Sword Dao. For Huan Chenxue to be capable of this, she had to possess an incomparable intuition for the Heavenly Dao. She could probably see the disharmony in laws, martial way, and aura in strikes using sabers, spears, swords, halberds, and other weapons.

This was akin to someone who did not know how to play the zither or sing but possessed an astute sense for music, who could tell the minute imperfections within a musical piece.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun drew a deep gasp. Huan Chenxue was no ordinary mortal. It was impossible for a mortal to have such an intuitive feel for the Heavenly Dao. It was no longer something explainable by talent.

It appeared as though she was the manifestation of the Heavenly Dao itself. Only that would explain how she could tell with a glance when sword moves did not align with the Heavenly Dao.

Who was she? Why couldn’t she cultivate? If she could cultivate, what sort of realm would she have attained?

“Miss Huan, you have drawn my attention to those points. Let me try again. If there are any imperfections, can you inform me?”

Going astray in the martial path wasn’t terrifying. What was truly terrifying was not knowing that one had gone astray!

Be it a swordsman or bladesman, it was hard for them to find the deficiencies in their own sword or saber techniques. It was analogous to a dancer needing a mirror to correct their dancing posture. Yi Yun happened to lack that mirror.

“Of course. However, it appears that watering the flowers has to be pushed to tomorrow.”

Yi Yun said, “Miss Huan, I will definitely help you water all the flowers tomorrow. I will ensure that the soil is plowed to be loose, soft, and neat.”

“That would be great.” Huan Chenxue smiled, the corners of her lips curving up slightly. Her smile was like a flower blooming in summer.

Yi Yun brandished his sword again and again as gorgeous sword beams flashed through the world. Huan Chenxue carefully watched him. She had extremely good memory and eyesight. She could tell Yi Yun in detail which strikes were disharmonious after he finished.

Huan Chenxue only told him which strikes were inadequate, and left the task of correcting them to him. She could even find problems in sword moves that Yi Yun originally thought were fine.

This gave Yi Yun a pleasant surprise. Although Huan Chenxue was of a mortal body, she was the best teacher. Perhaps countless people, even mighty seniors, would wish to have such a teacher!

1229 - : Sword Discussion

CKtalon  CKtalon

Despite the flow of time, everything in Mirage Sea Realm maintained a sense of tranquility.

Huan Chenxue enjoyed playing the flute and she had a perfect sense of music. The music she played on the flute was not augmented by any Yuan Qi, yet it was able to calm a person’s mind in an inexplicable manner.

And whenever she played, Yi Yun would have the irresistible urge to cultivate his Sword Dao amid the music. With Huan Chenxue as his mirror, his sword arts improved rapidly.

When he wasn’t in cultivation, Huan Chenxue would frequently tend to her flowers.

Yi Yun would also help her most of the time. Plowing the land, watering the ground, planting the flower saplings…

The duo would enjoy strolls on the cloud-covered Mirage Sea Sea Cliff. They would watch the endless and calm sea. Above them were blue skies and white clouds. The scenery left Yi Yun completely calm.

Although Huan Chenxue was a mortal, she seemed aware of all that had taken place from before to now. She had a mysterious disposition and she was definitely of extraordinary birth. However, Yi Yun would also feel that she was an ordinary, if beautiful, woman when he planted flowers with her. She would let out a light laughter when he said something funny or knit her brows slightly when the flowers she planted withered.

Unknowingly, several years passed. On that tiny island in Mirage Sea Realm, Yi Yun spent most of his time cultivating in seclusion. Every day, he would take breaks to have a stroll or have a chat with Huan Chenxue. They would also plant flowers and trees, seemingly leading a life where men tilled the farm and women weaved.

The spiritual energy was abundant, allowing Yi Yun’s foundations to constantly turn more robust. His cultivation level was also increasing at a stable pace. Now, he was already beginning to aim for the fifth-floor Dao Palace realm.

In the hundred years of Yi Yun’s growth, he was either embroiled in battles or risking his life in mystic realms. When he wasn’t doing those things, he would be secluding himself in chambers, having walls as companions while experiencing long-lasting loneliness.

He did not know how long it had been since he could calm his heart down in such a manner, leading a calm and peaceful life. This was something Yi Yun had never experienced in the past.

At times, Yi Yun would also leave his residence and observe how the ordinary warriors of the Mirage Sea Realm lived. Here, people did not cut at each other’s throats and there was a more honest and unsophisticated air. It seemed like a paradise.

Yi Yun’s mind calmed down greatly in such an environment. In fact, when most warriors were in cultivation, they only spent a tiny portion of their time going out for experiential training, opportunity-seeking, and combat. They spent most of their lives leading ordinary days in their sects.

Yi Yun lacked such experiences so now, having savored it in detail, he managed to have a new comprehension of the martial way. With Huan Chenxue pointing out the imperfections in his Sword Dao, Yi Yun unknowingly seemed to touch the ethereal Sword Soul realm.

Finally, the day for the spatial nodes to open approached. That meant it was time for Yi Yun to leave.

Yi Yun found his trip to the Mirage Sea Realm reminiscent of a dream. Huan Chenxue was a woman that would only appear in dreams. She was mysterious and bizarre.

“When I gave you Mirage Snow, it was no longer in its ancient form. You can rest assured in using it that there’s no need to worry that others will recognize it. Besides, even if Mirage Snow was in its original form, the number of people that can recognize it is a bare handful.”

“As for the letter I gave you, find a person known as Old Snake when you reach Boundless Mountain and hand him the letter.”

During Yi Yun’s departure, Huan Chenxue, accompanied by Elder Mo, had come to send him off.

Old Snake?

Yi Yun was taken aback. The name was truly somewhat special.

“Miss Huan, I wonder, where does the map you gave me lead?”

“The final destination is…” Huan Chenxue exhaled lightly before speaking slowly, “You would call it the Sinkhole, but it’s not the deepest depths of the Sinkhole. You will naturally know once you are there…”

Sinkhole?

Yi Yun’s brows pricked up. Although he had his suspicions, Yi Yun still felt jolted when he heard Huan Chenxue actually say it. He was finally exploring this place that he had heard of so many a time.

Yi Yun knew that many of the 12 Empyrean Heavens’s experts were in the Sinkhole.

And the Sinkhole was mysterious and dangerous. There were many chaotic spaces and ancient ruins.

“Thank you, Miss Huan. I have benefited greatly over the past few years. You have answered many of my questions.”

When Yi Yun left that island, he felt a sense of longing. He felt a little reluctant to leave the calm lifestyle he had enjoyed for the past few years.

Elder Mo watched Yi Yun, who was about to embark on his journey. He had a complicated expression, for he knew that Yi Yun possessed extraordinary talent but there was always uncertainty in the world. It was unknown what lay ahead of the youth.

Yi Yun bade Huan Chenxue and Elder Mo farewell once again. Following that, he stepped out of the Mirage Sea Realm with determination and, with guidance from the map, he found the first spatial node. He opened it with his spatial dimension laws.

A black spatial rift opened and Yi Yun’s figure seemed to be devoured by the chaotic void as he vanished instantly.

“Yi Yun,” Huan Chenxue looked up into the sky and whispered. “I hope that everything will go smoothly for you…”

…

A sinkhole’s original definition is the bottomless nadir of the sea. Legends said that the Sinkhole was there even before the 12 Empyrean Heavens formed. The Sinkhole existed before the Empyrean Heavens.

In the records of the earliest 12 Empyrean Heavens canons: Billions of miles away from the east of the divine sea, there lay a ravine named the Sinkhole, which was as good as bottomless. Beneath the Sinkhole were spiritual lands to which everything converged…

The Sinkhole had been determined to be the endless extension of the Universe. Perhaps no one knew where the end of the Sinkhole lay.

The place Yi Yun was heading to was the boundary of the Sinkhole. The region was named the Calm Sea.

The Calm Sea was expansive and there was a continent in its middle and countless islands. They lay amid a gray sea.

The sea’s surface remained a waveless calm, like a still well, no matter what sort of storms inundated it. People marveled at its unmoving calm, and hence gave it its name.

Yi Yun took nearly half a year to go from the Mirage Sea Realm to the Sinkhole. During this period, he would traverse countless spatial nodes and experience numerous spatial storms.

If he had lacked the necessary strength, it would have been impossible for him to travel through such a vast and chaotic space.

According to the map, Yi Yun had already reached the Calm Sea. He was looking for Calm Sea’s Boundless Mountain. Logically speaking, it was supposed to be in the vicinity. However, Yi Yun failed to find any traces of the mountain.

In fact, the map that Huan Chenxue gave him was dated. Yi Yun was unsure if the local name of Boundless Mountain had changed after such a long period of time.

He reached South Village, an extremely ordinarily named place. This was engraved on a stone monument that was erected in a slanted manner in front of a desolate village.

The stone monument was rather old and had been eroded by the vestiges of time. The words had turned blurry.

When Yi Yun landed in this village, he was somewhat astonished.

He never expected the Sinkhole to have such a rundown place. The village only had a dozen or so mud houses scattered within it. The fields were barren and the malnourished soil did not seem like it could grow anything.

At that moment, Yi Yun saw a girl dressed in coarse clothing walking over from the fields.

The girl was carrying a basket as though she had returned from plucking some wild fruits. Her black hair cascaded down across her shoulders and lightly patted her hips as she walked.

She looked about seventeen, young and vibrant. She held her leggings up and had nimble and agile footsteps.

Momentarily, Yi Yun fell into a daze. The scene before him reminded him of his transmigration almost a hundred years ago. Back in the Cloud Wilderness, he had seen his elder sister, Jiang Xiaorou, walking just like that in the fields.

The girl kept to herself as she walked, as though she did not notice Yi Yun.

“Excuse me, Miss.” Yi Yun suddenly blurted out. “Would you happen to know of a place named Boundless Mountain?”

The girl halted and sized Yi Yun up with her clear aqueous eyes. She said crisply, “Are you a foreigner? This poor village is dilapidated, so have you gotten lost? I do not know of any Boundless Mountain.”

The girl’s voice was very sweet like the trickling sounds of spring water in the mountains.

“Oh?” Upon hearing this reply, Yi Yun had a strange impression of the girl. His brows moved a little as though he was deep in thought.

“Hey, Old Lad, it’s getting dark soon. Why don’t you rest your legs in the village? There are more than a few Fey beasts lurking around here.”

Having said that, the girl smiled sweetly and ignored Yi Yun. She walked towards a dilapidated wooden house.

Yi Yun did not need to rest his feet but he was curious about the place, so he followed the girl into the house.

Inside the house, there was simple furniture which all looked to be in terrible condition.

At that moment, the girl used a coarse porcelain bowl to scoop a bowl of well water from a water vat. She handed it to Yi Yun and said with a smile, “Have some water.”

The water that had just been drawn from a well seemed to suffuse a cool fragrance.

When Yi Yun took the bowl of water, it felt like sandpaper in his hands. He examined the coarse porcelain bowl in a way that made it impossible to guess what his thoughts were.

“Miss, it’s fine if you do not know about Boundless Mountain. Are there any mountains in the area? Perhaps the mountain I’m looking for has changed its name.”

“How can there be any mountain? Just go out and you will see it’s an endless desolate plain with Fey beasts scattered everywhere. Even the trees will eat people. Old Lad, I urge you to not walk outside without good reason. You might not be able to return if you venture too far out.”

The girl spoke as she stood up to start a fire in the fireplace. She dexterously added a few slabs of timber.

Soon, the flame burned fiercely. The bedroom in the house was filled with a heat that effused mortal vibes. Warriors had strong bodies so there was naturally no need to use fire to resist the cold.

“Well…” Yi Yun nodded. “Miss, what you say makes sense. Then, I’ll bid you farewell.”

Yi Yun stood up as he spoke. He placed the bowl down and turned to leave.

The girl glanced at Yi Yun oddly as her porcelain-white hand picked up a bamboo basket beside her. “Old Lad, why are you in a rush to leave? Aren’t you resting your legs here? Although my place is a little rundown, it can shelter you from the elements. I have even started a fire.”

“There’s no need. You mentioned that there are Fey beasts everywhere here. Even the trees eat people. I think it’s safer I spend the night elsewhere.”

“Heh heh heh.” The girl suddenly let out a sweet laughter. “You do not seem to be an ordinary old lad. What gave it away?”

It was still the same crisp spring-like voice, but the bamboo basket in the girl’s hands had transformed into a coiled venomous snake.

The snake was twined around the girl’s arm, sticking its tongue out at Yi Yun. As for the porcelain bowl beside Yi Yun’s hand, it had also transformed. The refreshing well water had turned into poison. There was even a tiny red snake swimming within.

1230 - : Boundless Mountain

CKtalon  CKtalon

The tiny red snake was about the length of an index finger and as thin as a willow leaf. It raised its tiny head and looked at Yi Yun from the bowl’s mouth.

Yi Yun’s hand silently pressed down on his interspatial ring. From the first moment he saw the girl, he knew that she was absolutely not a mortal. How could the energy fluctuations within her deceive Yi Yun’s senses?

Be it the bamboo basket or the bowl of water she offered, Yi Yun had noticed something amiss with them. He never expected that the seemingly dilapidated village would be home to such a sinister girl.

“Did you kill the people of this village? I’m not someone with a strong sense of justice that needs to help the weak, as it has nothing to do with me. But since you’ve provoked me today, I’ll seek revenge for the villagers in passing.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he took out a four-foot-long sword.

This was an ordinary sword he randomly took out from his interspatial ring. Although Yi Yun had obtained Mirage Snow, it was Huan Chenxue’s family heirloom. Yi Yun would not use it wantonly against any enemy.

“Heh heh heh! What an audacious tone, watch me as I eat you!”

As the girl spoke, two pale red crescent blades appeared in her hands out of thin air. From the quality of the blades, they seemed to be formed from the fangs of a particular beast.

The moment the two blades appeared, the surrounding atmosphere turned scorching. The two blades slashed over, targeting Yi Yun’s sword.

The girl had extraordinary discernment. She could tell at a glance that the sword Yi Yun had taken out was only of an ordinary grade. Against her beast fang blades, the only outcome was for it to be cleaved apart.

“Ding!”

A clear sound rang as Yi Yun’s sword was nipped by the two crescent blades as though a snake had its weak spot clasped.

The girl laughed elegantly as she exerted force in a bid to break Yi Yun’s sword.

But the moment she used her strength, the girl’s expression changed. It was as though Yi Yun’s sword was a divine weapon that could not be snapped apart. Then, she felt an immense rebounding force, causing her to nearly lose her grip on her crescent blades.

At that moment, Yi Yun shook his right hand and, with a sword hum ringing, his sword transformed into a beam of light that came straight at the girl’s chest.

“Ah!?”

The girl was alarmed as she retreated frantically. She barely dodged the strike, but the clothes on her chest had been slashed apart by the sword beam, revealing snow-white skin beneath.

The girl turned embarrassed and infuriated as she shouted sharply, “Die!”

“Peng!”

With an explosion, the porcelain bowl that was placed on the table exploded suddenly. The tiny red snake in the bowl shot at Yi Yun’s glabella like a sharp arrow.

And at the same time, the girl’s venomous snake that transformed from a bamboo basket followed closely behind, aiming for Yi Yun’s throat.

The two snakes of varying sizes leapt for Yi Yun’s vital spots simultaneously.

Yi Yun scanned them with a glance and could immediately tell that the two snakes were not actually true snakes, but nomological manifestations.

Especially the tiny red snake. It attacked with terrifying bloodlust, and when it opened its jaws it was as though blood pools from hell had descended upon the world.

Laws of Blood?

Yi Yun’s heart palpitated slightly. He had somewhat underestimated the girl. The Laws of Blood were originally quite uncommon laws. Their means of killing were strange and tended towards the unorthodox. Very few warriors were aware of them.

As for the other snake, it was refined from highly venomous objects. If it were to enter his body, it would tear through his stomach and intestines.

One side was blood while the other side was venom. With the two strange blades in the girl’s hand, anyone from the younger generation would probably succumb to her.

Unfortunately, she was facing Yi Yun.

Yi Yun put away his sword and stretched out both arms, tapping gently on the two snakes.

A gray aura blasted out, enveloping the two tiny snakes.

Destruction Dao Domain!

By releasing the Destruction Dao Domain in a tiny region, it had a similar effect as the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. However, it drained very little of Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi.

“Peng!”

“Peng!”

Two explosive blasts sounded as the two snakes shot right into the gray mist, disintegrating instantly!

The girl was dumbfounded when she saw this.

That… was her ace in the hole. Something she had arduously cultivated in. Yet it was gone… just like that?

Before she could even react, Yi Yun had appeared in front of her like a ghost.

He clenched his fist and struck suddenly at the girl’s abdomen!

“Ah!”

The girl grunted in pain as she spewed a mouthful of blood. Her entire body flew, blasting through the rundown house.

She did not stop, flying for thousands of feet, crashing through several houses in the process before collapsing heavily in the ridges.

The girl spat out fresh blood mixed with mud. She was severely injured and suffered excruciating pain.

She had encountered a tough one!

Indeed, one would eventually encounter a ghost if one always walked in the night.

The girl knew that a wise girl does not fight when the odds are against her. The malignant star was not to be offended so she was bent on hiding.

The girl had engaged in her sinister acts for years and mastered many a great escape skill. Just as she created an avatar as an attempt to slink off, she heard a murderous voice booming in her ear—

“Don’t you think of escaping through the ground. I have already locked onto you with my perception. If you make another move, your head will roll.”

The girl’s body froze as she felt a chill down her back. Instantly, she did not dare to move.

He was a true malignant star. Just as the thought of escaping came to her, she was discovered. There was no means of survival for her.

At that moment, Yi Yun had walked in front of the girl. Clenching her collar, he lifted her directly.

The girl was very light and felt like an accessory in Yi Yun’s hand.

Yi Yun naturally did not stand on ceremony by confiscating the two beast fang blades.

He sized up the girl. “I thought you were a snake but you are actually human. I never expected you to be this vicious at your age.”

The corners of Yi Yun’s mouth curved up. He smiled rather nefariously. If anyone were to see this scene, there was no way they would think of Yi Yun as a good person. They would see him as an evil bully maltreating a village girl.

The girl turned aghast when she saw Yi Yun’s sinister smile. She was afraid of what Yi Yun would do to her as she hurriedly explained, “Young Hero, don’t be agitated. I… I only wanted to commit robbery. I do not eat people. Also… also, this was an abandoned village, to begin with. The people… the people were not killed by me…”

“I’ll ask you a few questions. If you can answer them, I might spare you. If you lie, I’ll snap your neck off.”

Yi Yun naturally did not show any mercy to people that wanted to harm him.

The girl’s face was pale. She had intended to submit to Yi Yun and use her advantages as a girl, saying obsequious things such as ‘Big Brother spare me’. But when she saw Yi Yun’s fierce look, she could not help but strike those thoughts away.

“Go… ahead and ask,” The girl said helplessly.

“Do you know of Boundless Mountain?”

The girl shook her head like a rattle. “I do not know of Boundless Mountain but I’ve heard of Boundless Chapter…”

“Oh? Boundless Chapter?” Yi Yun pondered slightly. The map he had was aged so it wasn’t a surprise if the sect established on Boundless Mountain was named Boundless Chapter.

“Where is this Boundless Chapter. Do you know of a person named Old Snake from Boundless Chapter?”

“Old Snake?”

The girl blinked her large eyes without exposing her thoughts.

“Do you have a grudge against him?” probed the girl.

Yi Yun furrowed his brows. “No, why?”

“Oh… That’s good.” The girl seemed to be relieved as she said, “I know Old Snake. He was originally Boundless Chapter’s sect master.”

“Sect master?” Yi Yun was immediately relieved when he heard that. From the looks of it, he had found the right person. The Boundless Chapter in question was likely Boundless Mountain.

Since it was a place introduced by Huan Chenxue, there must have been something special in Boundless Chapter. He just never expected Old Snake to be Boundless Chapter’s sect master.

However, Yi Yun was somewhat curious. As the sect master of a powerful sect, why did he take on the name of Old Snake? It did not sound authoritative.

“Where is Boundless Chapter now? If you tell me the correct location, I’ll spare you.” Yi Yun intended to take a trip to Boundless Chapter and hand Huan Chenxue’s letter to Old Snake.

“About that…” The girl felt a little embarrassed. “Well… I can’t answer that one. The territory of Boundless Chapter had been snatched away some years ago, so there’s no longer a Boundless Chapter… Yea… It’s already gone…”

“What… what did you say? Its territory has been snatched away?” Yi Yun widened his eyes and felt a little dumbfounded.

“That right. As for the disciples of Boundless Chapter, they split the assets and escaped collectively. A number of disciples went to a powerful sect known as the Myriad God Ridge. However, as most Boundless Chapter disciples were poor in talent, the Myriad God Ridge was not interested in them. Ninety-nine percent of those who participated in Myriad God Ridge’s entrance test failed…”

“So there was no other way out after disbanding. A very small number of people passed the test, becoming part of the Myriad God Ridge. As for Old Snake, it is unknown what methods he used, but he actually managed to pass the Myriad God Ridge’s entrance test. I do not know how he managed to pass it at such an old age.”

“Of course, he naturally couldn’t be sect master anymore. He should be in Myriad God Ridge at present. Apparently, he does some miscellaneous chores…”

Upon hearing the girl’s words, Yi Yun was left stunned. Was Boundless Chapter truly the place Huan Chenxue had recommended? He originally believed that, for it to be recommended by Huan Chenxue, the place was either a reclusive immortal sect or a powerful faction that controlled millions of miles of territory. Yet it was actually in such an abject state?

1231 - : Location of Boundless Mountain

CKtalon  CKtalon

It was fine if Boundless Mountain and Boundless Chapter only had similar names. Most critically, the name of Old Snake was the same as well. In addition, the map pointed here so it was quite impossible to chalk it up as a coincidence.

Could the person Huan Chenxue wanted him to seek out be that Old Snake?

The sect’s territory had been snatched and the disciples disbanded. The Myriad God Ridge had annexed Old Snake’s sect and Old Snake had even entered it to do miscellaneous chores. That was way too ridiculous.

“How about it? I’ve told you everything I can tell. Speaking of which, what relation do you have to Old Snake?”

The girl’s eyes moved about nimbly as she probed Yi Yun with a question while watching his expression as though she was attempting to figure out if Yi Yun was lying.

“A friend of mine told me to find Old Snake,” Yi Yun answered honestly. He did not have any reason to conceal it.

As the girl meticulously ascertained the matter, she believed that Yi Yun had told the truth. She finally heaved a sigh of relief. “You gave me a fright. So we are all one big family. I’m from the Boundless Chapter. Speaking of which, I’m Old Snake’s final disciple! Haha, we are family. Family!”

As she spoke, she smacked Yi Yun on the shoulder obstreperously. However, when she finished smacking, she noticed that Yi Yun’s expression was unkind. Her smile froze on her face as she awkwardly rubbed her hands together. “About that, can you first let me go…”

Yi Yun put the girl down and asked casually, “Are you really Old Snake’s disciple?”

“Yes… Yes. Didn’t you notice that I rear snakes…”

“…”

Upon hearing the girl’s reply, Yi Yun felt like numerous mud-hoofed horses were running through his mind. “That Old Snake also rears snakes?”

“Well… not really.” The girl shrugged. “However, the things he used are adorned with snake patterns. For example, the double-handed sword he uses is engraved with two coiled snakes.”

“Alright then…”

Yi Yun sighed helplessly as he sized up the girl. Although she had employed some fascinating techniques, compared to Yi Yun’s impression of a genius from a large clan, she was greatly inferior. Was Old Snake’s final disciple only at this level?

Furthermore, when he first met her, she appeared rather heretic. But after being defeated by him, she lost all her backbone. She even appeared to be a little simple-minded. She probably acted fiercer when committing a robbery and returned to her true form when she realized she was not his match.

“Why didn’t you go to Myriad God Ridge? Is it because you failed to pass the entrance test?” asked Yi Yun.

The girl stared at him. “How could I not pass that test? If I were to go to Myriad God Ridge, I’d at least be a core disciple. I just have no intention of going. I was born here and grew up here. Why would I go to the Myriad God Ridge?”

“So you began robbing people?” Yi Yun scoffed.

The girl’s face turned red as she said, “I still need cultivation resources, don’t I… I just never knew that you were that powerful. I really overestimated myself.”

The girl hurriedly placed Yi Yun on a pedestal, hoping that he would release her as soon as possible.

“In that case, bring me to Myriad God Ridge.”

Although Old Snake sounded like an oddity, Yi Yun believed in Huan Chenxue. Since he was someone recommended by Huan Chenxue, he had to meet him no matter what.

“Ah?” The girl’s expression turned bitter. However, being inferior to him, she could only nod. “Alright then. But, Myriad God Ridge is very far. You’ll have to fly for half a year. If you want to get there faster, you need to use a teleportation array. The teleportation fee isn’t cheap either…”

As the girl spoke, she stuck her tongue out. She had lived for the past few years through robbery. She was not very wealthy.

“It’s fine. I’ll pay it. What’s your name?”

“I… I’m an orphan and without a name. When Master found me, I was amid snakes. Master said his name was Old Snake and that fate had brought us together. So he brought me up. You can call me Snake Girl. That’s what Master calls me.”

“Snake Girl…” Yi Yun nodded. He never expected the girl to have such a tragic background. “By the way, do you know of a person named Bai Yueyin?”

“Bai Yueyin?” Snake Girl came to a pause. “Are you talking about… The White Lunar Goddess Empress of the Seven Desolates?”

“Oh? Goddess Empress? It appears she’s rather famous. Tell me any stories you know about her.”

“She’s far more than famous!” Snake Girl looked at Yi Yun oddly. Her gaze looked like she had seen a wild man from the mountains. “The Seven Desolates are formed by seven ancient continents. Each continent has an area that even the Calm Sea cannot be compared with. Furthermore, there are all kinds of experts there! Tens of millions of years ago, there was chaos in the Seven Desolates. In a struggle for the Seven Desolates, seven powerful sects engaged in a mighty world war. The war continued for a thousand years intermittently. Blood flowed like rivers and countless numbers of warriors and mortals died or were injured!”

“Finally, the White Lunar Goddess Empress appeared and, with her transcendent strength and personal charm, she gathered a bunch of experts and defeated the seven mighty sects successively. In the Seven Desolates, she established a divine empire that ruled over all—White Lunar Divine Empire.”

“No one expected that outcome. The war between the seven mighty sects ended with a newly risen faction. Having won the Seven Desolates, the White Lunar Divine Empire ruled the Seven Desolates and inspired awe throughout the Sinkhole. For tens of millions of years, there were no more revolts. The White Lunar Goddess Empress is too strong and no one can beat her.”

“Compared to the White Lunar Divine Empire, the Myriad God Ridge is very tiny. It can only have a commanding presence here in the Calm Sea.” Snake Girl fell dispirited when she came to that. She seemed reluctant on leaving her personal fief but also yearned to live a grand and spectacular life like the White Lunar Goddess Empress.

White Lunar Goddess Empress… Seven Desolates Divine Empire…

Yi Yun felt mixed emotions upon hearing all of that. It had been tens of millions of years. Who would remember the Great Qian dynasty of the Central State Divine Territory of yesteryear? Ignoring the Sinkhole, even people from the Central State Divine Territory might not remember that a grand empire that inspired awe everywhere once existed on that piece of land.

Furthermore, even at the Great Qian Empire’s peak, it paled in comparison to the Seven Desolates Divine Empire.

Years ago, Azure Yang Lord was young and spirited. He had boundless enthusiasm, hoping to establish a foundation that lasted for billions of years with outstanding deeds but, eventually, Bai Yueyin’s strike burst his hopes like bubbles.

Now, Bai Yueyin had established her own White Lunar Divine Empire, writing a glorious history.

As for the Azure Yang Lord of yesteryear, there were no legends of him. He was reduced to the embers of history.

Thinking back on such a history left one sighing endlessly.

“I say, why are you asking about the White Lunar Goddess Empress? Also… it’s best you do not mention the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s name. This is the Calm Sea so it should be fine. But in the Seven Desolates, you might be executed for the crime of defiance.”

Snake Girl blinked as she saw Yi Yun’s wistful look after hearing of Bai Yueyin’s history. Why did this fellow appear in such a deranged state? What sort of person was the White Lunar Goddess Empress? How could she have any relationship with a punk like him?

“Never mind.” Yi Yun shook his head. “Let’s go. Onwards to Myriad God Ridge.”

Yi Yun did not want to be too ostentatious, as he had just arrived in the Sinkhole. He did not use special items like the God Advent Tower. All he chose was a superior-grade spirit boat.

Once the spirit boat was taken out of his interspatial ring, it grew in length upon contact with the wind. Soon, it expanded to a hundred feet.

“Come on up!” said Yi Yun.

Snake Girl blinked her eyes. She coveted the spirit boat she saw. Yi Yun was indeed rich. That was something she was right about.

1232 - : Snake Girl

CKtalon  CKtalon

Most of the Sinkhole’s Calm Sea domain was a calm sea that appeared to be boundless. It was uniform and uninteresting. Although there were some natural treasures in the sea, they were usually accompanied by the presence of danger. Since Yi Yun did not plan to explore it, the best way of traversing the great distance of the vast sea was naturally to use a teleportation array.

These long-distance teleportation arrays that could easily allow one to travel millions of kilometers were not cheap.

At that moment, Yi Yun came to a teleportation array. The person responsible for collecting the teleportation fee was a girl with Fey blood. She had malt-colored skin and was more slender than the average human. She had strong legs and a furry tail behind her back.

“The teleportation fee is ten inferior-grade Spirit Jade.”

The girl hung a standard smile as she said this sweetly.

Yi Yun was taken aback when he heard that. Spirit Jade?

He suddenly realized that he had a problem. The common currency used in the Sinkhole was clearly completely different from that of the 12 Empyrean Heavens. And most embarrassingly, he did not have this currency.

In fact, the 12 Empyrean Heavens did not have an officially recognized currency. Every region used different currencies and, most of the time, things were done through a material exchange. For example, the Myriad Divine Territory’s Myriad Runes were obtained from the exchange of goods.

Noticing how Yi Yun did not respond or take out any Spirit Jade, the corners of Snake Girl’s mouth twitched. “Bro, don’t tell me you didn’t bring any money?”

Yi Yun stroked his chin, turned to her, and said, “Indeed, I didn’t bring any. Pay for me this time.”

“…”

Snake Girl was left stunned for a moment. What a scam. In the end, she was still responsible for paying the fees?

Although she wasn’t happy about it, she had failed to rob Yi Yun. She was now at Yi Yun’s mercy, so she had no choice but to grudgingly comply.

It pained Snake Girl’s heart to take out ten inferior-grade Spirit Jade. It was clear that she lacked money in the first place. If it were her alone, there was no way she would be willing to pay to use the teleportation array.

“Okay. Might I ask where you are going?” The girl asked with a smile as she accepted the Spirit Jade.

“Myriad God Ridge,” answered Snake Girl unhappily.

As the teleportation array was activated, a beam of light flashed. Yi Yun and Snake Girl appeared millions of kilometers away.

The surroundings had changed completely. They were no longer by the seaside but a lush mountain range. Beneath the mountains was a large city that looked exuberant at a glance.

Just after Yi Yun and Snake Girl stepped out of the teleportation array, it lit up again, and someone else appeared out of the teleportation array.

“This Myriad God Ridge sure is lively.”

“That’s natural. Myriad God Ridge might be said to be a sect, but in fact, it’s not much different from a large country. It’s not just warriors; there are many mortals living here as well. It is a very large city that’s extremely lively!” Snake Girl explained with smug delight. Although Yi Yun was powerful, he was a foreigner that needed her to answer his questions.

Yi Yun remained silent and gave Snake Girl a cursory glance. He said, “Let’s go. Onward to Myriad God Ridge.”

Although they had arrived in the continent where the Myriad God Ridge was, they were still a fair distance away from the actual Myriad God Ridge. They flew for a period of time before arriving at their destination.

The continent was named after the Myriad God Ridge. Although there were tiny sects, they paled in comparison when compared to the Myriad God Ridge.

Myriad God Ridge was a truly powerful super sect. Countless subsidiaries depended on the Myriad God Ridge. Snake Girl’s description of Myriad God Ridge being a massive country was in no way hyperbole.

During Yi Yun and Snake Girl’s flight, they saw many bustling cities and towns. However, those were not the core regions of the Myriad God Ridge.

Soon, a towering and majestic mountain ridge appeared in front of them. Its peak pierced straight through the clouds and it looked extremely magnificent. And at the foot of the mountain was a huge city. Its circumference spanned nearly five hundred kilometers and the populace numbered tens of millions.

“This is the Myriad God Ridge.” Yi Yun looked at the city and found it grand and lofty. There was also fluctuations from array formations.

Flying was forbidden at high altitudes in Myriad God Ridge; therefore, Yi Yun and Snake Girl landed at the city gates.

“Two inferior-grade Spirit Jade is required for entry,” said the guardian of the gate.

Yi Yun glanced at Snake Girl, causing her to make a long face while helplessly taking out two inferior-grade Spirit Jade from her interspatial ring.

Attempting to rob Yi Yun was definitely the unluckiest move she ever made.

It only ended with her becoming penniless.

“As Old Snake’s disciple, do you have any means of finding him in the fastest way possible?” Yi Yun asked Snake Girl.

The city was huge and there were just too many people. The Myriad God Ridge was also extremely imposing and filled with countless warriors, so it was impossible for Yi Yun to search for a needle in a haystack.

Snake Girl sighed and flipped her hand. A tiny snake slithered out from her sleeves.

“Let’s use this little guy. However, this little guy can only detect the scent in a ten thousand foot range. Any further and it won’t work,” explained Snake Girl.

“Let’s give it a try first.” Yi Yun looked at Snake Girl. “Speaking of which, how do we enter this Myriad God Ridge?”

The true core of Myriad God Ridge was in the spirit mountains. Yi Yun guessed that they needed to head there to find Old Snake.

“Simply pass the entrance test. It happens every few days as there is a high demand for entering Myriad God Ridge. However, most people fail to even pass the first round.” Snake Girl said contemptibly. Clearly, she despised people who attempted to enter Myriad God Ridge because it was popular.

“Didn’t you say you could easily pass the Myriad God Ridge’s test? Then let’s give it a try.”

Yi Yun was a little baffled as to why Old Snake would spend his days in Myriad God Ridge, even going as far as doing miscellaneous chores. However, since he was introduced by Huan Chenxue, it was highly unlikely that Old Snake was useless. Perhaps the enlightened had their own ways of doing things.

As a super sect, the Myriad God Ridge would attract large numbers of people for every test. Yi Yun and Snake Girl headed for the Myriad God Ridge’s entry test registration venue and were astounded by the crowd ahead of them.

There was a lot of people!

Even with a test happening once every few days, there were still myriad people registering.

Yi Yun thought back to the people that came right behind them at the teleportation array. A number of them were probably rushing here for the Myriad God Ridge’s test.

Seeing the large number of people, it did not seem like an exaggeration when Snake Girl said that the disciples of the Boundless Chapter failed to pass the test. The Myriad God Ridge would definitely only choose a tiny portion of candidates; otherwise, its entrance would burst from the sheer number of people.

They stood and waited with the group of people. And at that moment, a middle-aged man walked out from inside.

“It’s Steward Luo.”

“Hey, quiet. It looks like Steward Luo will be helming today’s qualifying examination.”

When Yi Yun heard the discussion, it was apparent that these people were very familiar with the Myriad God Ridge. They even knew the names of a steward.

“It looks like all of you understand the Myriad God Ridge very well?” asked Yi Yun.

The group of people looked over and noticed that it was a youth with a girl about the same age as him that said that. Judging from his clothing that was obviously that of a foreigner, and how the girl dressed in a villager’s attire, they immediately understood what was going on.

They must have rushed here for the test from some remote place, so they knew nothing.

“Heh heh, you must not know. Many of the people here have participated in the test numerous times. The few of us have participated about seven times and we basically know all the examiners of Myriad God Ridge.” A scholarly-looking man dressed in an opulent garb said complacently as he flapped his fan.

Snake Girl rolled her eyes. So they were trash, but what was there to be smug about?

1233 - : Myriad God Ridge

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was rendered somewhat speechless when he heard the scholarly man flaunt himself. Why were these people who had taken the test as many as seven times qualified to do it again? It was no wonder the test was packed with so many candidates. Many people who failed the first time would come again, but wasn’t that a waste of manpower?

From Yi Yun’s point of view, the Myriad God Ridge’s test must have been very stringent. Perhaps, there might be several rounds of selection. Those that failed fell very short of the standards required so, no matter how many times they came, it was pointless.

But very quickly, Yi Yun understood why the Myriad God Ridge did not mind allowing warriors to participate in the test numerous times. Anyone who registered needed to pay a registration fee of ten Spirit Jade for a test token. As there were so many people, about seven to eight thousand of these registration tokens would be handed out. According to his calculations, that meant that every test that was held gave the Myriad God Ridge an income of seventy to eighty thousand Spirit Jade.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun was somewhat at a loss for words. It was no wonder they held tests with such great ardor. There were large amounts of Spirit Jade to earn, so why not? It was only bad for people who were far off the mark but continued dreaming of entering the Myriad God Ridge. Who else was to blame if they were unable to see the truth for themselves?

“This line sure is long…”

A line of ten thousand people moved at a turtle’s pace despite there being multiple registration points. Every person that registered needed to fill out a form with their particulars; therefore, Yi Yun estimated that it would take a day before it reached his turn.

Warriors had extremely good patience but this did not include Yi Yun. Especially considering the fact that he did not place much importance on this matter. He wasn’t truly interested in joining the Myriad God Ridge, he was only interested in looking for Old Snake.

“Hey, do you need a registration token and particulars form? It’s just a hundred Spirit Jade. There’s no need to queue.”

Amid the noisy environment, Yi Yun heard a voice. When he took a glance, a few shady people were mixed in the crowd, going around and selling the registration tokens.

When Yi Yun saw this, he was tickled. Weren’t these scalpers?

In his previous life, at the ticket-selling booths of train stations or popular concerts, there were always scalpers who would sell tickets they had obtained through various means at a high price.

It seemed this world was not an exception to that.

Should I… also buy a scalped ticket?

Just as Yi Yun was pondering over the matter, he noticed Snake Girl watching him warily. The young lass seemed a little dimwitted at times but, whenever it had anything to do with money, she was like an alert mouse. She had a natural sensitivity towards any danger her money purse might suffer.

Yi Yun coughed dryly once and was about to speak.

But at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly heard an old man shout at the top of his lungs, “Great offer for registration tokens! Only ninety-eight! Ninety-eight, folks! You’ll only suffer if you can’t buy it and you’ll be scammed if you don’t buy it. Money transaction on the spot and the token will be yours.”

When Yi Yun heard the shout, he nearly choked. Even other scalpers who was selling registration tokens were doing it covertly and privately asked examinees if they wanted one. No one was like the old man who seemed to wish he had a loudspeaker.

Yi Yun turned over to take a look and indeed, he saw a few Myriad God Ridge supervisors sporting extremely ugly expressions. Although earning Spirit Jade was a goal for holding a recruitment test, it was a more covert goal. On the surface, they were doing it as part of the process to select disciples for the Myriad God Ridge. It was an extremely solemn occasion. With the old fellow yelling like this, the atmosphere became more like a market.

Just as Yi Yun was considering whether or not to try negotiating with the scalper, or if they should spend ninety-eight Spirit Jade to buy a registration token, he noticed that Snake Girl’s expression was a little odd.

“Uh… What’s wrong?”

“That… That old man that’s shouting about the great offer for the registration token… is my master… Old Snake…” Snake Girl said in embarrassment.

She was rendered completely speechless by her master’s actions. After being separated for so many years, she never expected to meet him again in such a manner.

“He’s Old Snake?”

Yi Yun blinked his eyes. Although he had guessed that the expert would be somewhat different from others, the present situation left him a little dumbfounded.

Since he had found Old Snake, there was no need for him to participate in the Myriad God Ridge’s recruitment test. With a thought, he walked to Old Snake.

“Ninety-eight Spirit Jade! Ninety-eight Spirit Jade! Registration token fire sale!” Old Snake was shouting with all his might when he suddenly saw Yi Yun walk over. His old face immediately beamed with a wide smile. He truly resembled a pimp from the brothels.

“How about it, young lad. Do you want to buy a registration token? After buying this registration token of mine, I guarantee you that it will become a golden opportunity, allowing for your meteoric rise. You will enter the sect within a decade, become a Guardian in a century, and an Elder in a millennium!”

“About that…” Yi Yun felt a dark cloud hanging over his head when he heard that. “Senior… I’m not here to buy a registration token. I was instructed by a friend to look for you.”

“Friend? What friend?”

When the old man heard that Yi Yun wasn’t there to buy a token, he immediately wiped away the smile on his face.

“Senior, can we speak in private?” Yi Yun said as he cupped his fists.

Although the Old Snake in front of him was a little unique, he still gave him the required respect. Regardless of anything, a person introduced by Huan Chenxue must have something special about him.

“Say anything you would like to say here. Don’t mess up my business. Right here, right now is the best time to sell registration tokens. Speaking of which… Eh?”

When the old man saw Snake Girl among the crowd, he immediately stared with widened eyes. “Lass, what are you doing here!?”

As the old man spoke, he left Yi Yun behind and walked towards Snake Girl. “Lass, it’s been years since we have met. Your cultivation level has grown. How has it been? Has your robbing business been doing well over the past two years? Maybe now you have some spare cash, and you are here to give your master some alcohol money as a form of filial piety?”

Old Snake had a naturally loud voice. With him deliberately not hiding his voice, many warriors present immediately looked towards Snake Girl.

So the old man was the young girl’s master.

At that moment, Snake Girl yearned for a hole in the ground to burrow in. When she first saw the old man, she was quite delighted. After all, she had not seen the old man in years. Although he was flawed in many ways, he had brought her up and taught her many things.

However, this sense of filial affection lasted less than three seconds. Snake Girl wished she could kick the old man away and claim that she did not know him.

This was too fucking embarrassing.

Although I am in the robbery business, will you not shout about it?

It was out there for all to see that the master was a scalper that capitalized on illicit trading, while the disciple was a petty thief that robbed. The master-disciple duo sure was one of a kind!

Indeed, there were people who could not help but laugh. The gorgeously-dressed youth that had participated in the Myriad God Ridge’s test for seven times looked at Snake Girl with a teasing expression. He had planned on buying a scalped token, but now that there was an interesting development in the line, he was in no hurry. He could continue queuing in line.

“Old Man, darn you. I only have the bit of money I need for cultivation. How can I have any spare cash for you to go around squandering on vices?”

Upon mentioning that, Snake Girl turned infuriated. The old man was bent on being indecent. Although rearing a child was a tiring task, he had begun engaging in vices when she was in her teens. He did not do a single good deed.

Her cultivation all these years was arduous. She never had what she needed, and could only rely on herself to ‘earn’ it.

1234 - : Your Robbing Business is Doing Well

CKtalon  CKtalon

The old man thought nothing of Snake Girl’s tirade. His skin was thicker than the city walls and he did not seem to notice the strange looks people were casting at him.

“How can that be? As the mantra goes, a teacher that teaches you for a day should be regarded as a father for life. I taught you all the means to make a living and now that I’m old, it’s about time I enjoy my retirement. Look at me, even at this age, I’m still waking up early in the morning and going back late at night to do a little business. It’s such a tiring life.”

When the old man said that, the surrounding warriors’ eyes nearly popped out from their heads. They had seen shameless people before, but they had never seen one as shameless as this. He even managed to claim that ‘robbing’ was a means of living.

Although a warrior’s world was one in which survival of the fittest ruled and robbery wasn’t a rare occurrence, to speak of it in such a perfectly justified manner would make even bandits blush slightly.

When Yi Yun saw that the duo was about to engage in another round of banter, he hurriedly interrupted them. “Senior… if you lack money for alcohol, I have some means of my own. I can earn money for you, but first I have something I need to ask you. Senior, I wonder if you can spare me some time to speak in private.”

Yi Yun wanted to take out Huan Chenxue’s letter, but it did not seem suitable to take it out in public with so many wandering eyes.

Old Snake had originally written Yi Yun off, but when he heard that there was money to be made, his tiny pair of eyes lit up. He turned back to look at Yi Yun. “Lad, you have some brains. How about it, do you want to be my disciple? The benefits of being my disciple are nearly infinite. In Myriad God Ridge, just say my name and no one will dare bully you.”

Old Snake said this in an ‘earnest and patient’ manner, but the people around them were already bursting with laughter.

Yi Yun was a little dumbfounded. He had originally guessed that Huan Chenxue had instructed him to seek Old Snake to be his disciple. He already felt that Old Snake’s personality was somewhat unique and there should be some difficulty in being accepted as his disciple. He never expected Old Snake to throw himself forward and offer himself as a master. Wasn’t such a master worthless? Where was his dignity as an expert?

Although it sounded unreliable, Yi Yun considered the matter. Since Old Snake had already said so, he might as well go with the flow and acknowledge this master as he was. After all, there was no harm.

But just at that moment, Snake Girl rolled her eyes at the old man and grumbled, “So far, I’ve paid the fee for the teleportation array and the city entrance fee. Twelve inferior-grade Spirit Jade. I don’t even earn that much from one business transaction.”

Snake Girl was feeling displeased so she deliberately exposed Yi Yun.

When the old man heard that, he immediately looked Yi Yun in a different light. No money? If he had no money, what was he doing here acting like a wealthy young master?

He immediately coughed dryly and said, “My standards for a disciple are very high. Most people can forget about being my disciple. I would never consider it unless I received two hundred Spirit Jade as a courtesy gift.”

When the old man said that, a few wealthy young masters present flapped their fans in contempt. Two hundred Spirit Jade was considered a high standard? What an ignoramus.

The youth in gorgeous clothes said with a laugh, “Two hundred Spirit Jade. Hehe, that’s really a little expensive. It can barely pay for a meal at Heavenly Joy Tavern.”

When he said that, the laughter became even more uproarious.

They were watching the comedy show of the old man, Snake Girl, and Yi Yun. They originally thought that the old man and Snake Girl were a one of a kind master-disciple duo, but they never expected the youth to also be a clueless ignoramus. This was obviously an old trickster that scammed for food and drink, yet Yi Yun continued addressing him as senior and even tried to show him respect. One had to wonder if he was slow in the head.

At that moment, Yi Yun felt a string of curses running through his mind. He did not mind how others viewed him, what bothered him was that the old fellow was such an oddity. He even began to suspect if he had found the wrong person.

The Boundless Mountain he needed to find was no longer Boundless Mountain but Boundless Chapter. In addition, the name Old Snake wasn’t so rare. Could it be that this old scammer shared a name with the expert Yi Yun was meant to find?

At that moment, Yi Yun did not think it was wise to take out the letter. Yi Yun believed that Huan Chenxue belonged to a family clan that was reclusive. He did not know what sort of mission the family clan had but he definitely could not expose their existence to strangers.

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun secretly measured the elder’s cultivation level.

On the surface, the elder was only at the Dao Palace realm. He had an ordinary foundation and was a classic example of not having reached that level by his own strength.

However, Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal. With the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, nothing could be hidden. He activated the energy vision and looked at the elder. What he saw made him gasp.

In the energy vision, the elder’s cultivation level was still as bad as ever. However, what caught Yi Yun’s attention was a blob of hazy gray light in the elder’s body. Even with the energy vision, Yi Yun could not identify it.

The old man was extraordinary after all.

Yi Yun now believed that he had found the right person. He said with a voice transmission, “Senior, Miss Huan gave me a letter that I’m supposed to hand to you.”

Yi Yun only mentioned the surname. In that way, the possibility of exposing Huan Chenxue was greatly reduced. If he was Old Snake, he should know the name. He carefully observed Old Snake’s expression, hoping to find some minute change in it.

However, Yi Yun never expected that the old man would fail to hear it. After bantering with Snake Girl all day, he suddenly seemed to recall something. He turned and glanced at Yi Yun, saying blankly, “Lad, did you speak to me just now?”

Yi Yun was rendered speechless. The old fellow was truly impervious.

“I want to buy one of your registration tokens.”

Yi Yun had made up his mind. He was bent on following the old man and since he had already gotten to the Myriad God Ridge, all he needed to do was enter the sect.

Old Snake rolled his eyes at Yi Yun. “Do you have money?”

At that moment, Snake Girl quickly pressed down on her interspatial ring, worried that he would have thoughts on her money. She knew very well that the old man would not give Yi Yun a discount.

“I do not have Spirit Jade but what do you think of this fruit?”

Yi Yun took out a red and plump fruit. It was a supplementary herb needed for alchemy. It wasn’t an extremely expensive fruit but it was great for brewing alcohol. Because of that, it was always in great demand.

Even in the Sinkhole, such a fruit could be sold for about two to three hundred Spirit Jade.

Indeed, Old Snake’s eyes lit up when he saw the fruit.

“Red Brewing Fruit. Great item. In that case, I’ll accept it grudgingly. This token is yours.”

Old Snake threw a token over. The crowd shook their heads when they saw this. The youth was truly dumb. He had bought a token from the old trickster for more than two times the price. He was taking a huge loss.

However, Old Snake still had some integrity. He did not demand money from his disciple and gave Snake Girl a registration token for free.

With that, the rich scions behind them realized that the buzz was over. They rushed over to buy a registration token. Instantly, Old Snake’s business was surprisingly good. He did not have many tokens to begin with, so he sold them all very quickly.

Yi Yun walked to the front of the line. The registration booth was in a square up ahead. On one side was a registration booth that accepted money, and on the other was an ordinary testing ground. After obtaining a token, one had to immediately undergo a small test. This meant that before the token could even warm in their hands, they had to return it to Myriad God Ridge. It was a complete waste of money.

Yi Yun already had a token so he directly went to the testing ground.

1235 - : Impervious

CKtalon  CKtalon

The venue of Myriad God Ridge’s entry test had a stone gateway erected on the square. It had four columns and a stone door made of three slabs. Gateways such as these were typically erected in front of villages in the mortal world to honor top scholars or chaste and heroic women. The design was very rarely seen in a warrior’s world.

On the surface, the stone gateway wasn’t special in any way. It even seemed a little out of place, standing in the middle of the square. However, when Yi Yun saw the stone monument, his brows pricked up slightly. He could tell that behind the stone gateway was the path to a pocket world.

If he circled behind the stone gateway there would be nothing, but if he were to travel through the gateway’s stone door, he could step into that pocket world.

However, there was a restriction set up in front of the stone door. If one did not understand the restriction’s rules, it would be impossible to gain entry.

At that moment, a group of people, including Yi Yun, had obtained their registration tokens and were standing before the stone gateway. They were waiting for the test in a daze, unsure of what the stone gateway was for.

“Senior, if I were to be recruited by the Myriad God Ridge, would you give me the honor of treating you to some alcohol?”

Yi Yun stood in front of the stone gateway and, after gathering his thoughts, he quipped with Old Snake. The old fellow would probably not reject an offer of alcohol.

Indeed, Old Snake beamed when he heard that. “That sounds good. I’m warning you, I’m very picky about my alcohol and I do not fancy any of the ordinary stuff.”

As Old Snake spoke, he took out an alcohol gourd. He deliberately shook it and the sound of alcohol splashing emitted from it. Following that, he pulled out the stopper and took a delightful swig.

When the people around them heard their conversation, they were rendered speechless. What sort of person was this? Why did his tone sound as though the Myriad God Ridge was some tea shop that he could enter as he pleased?

Such behavior could be expected from a crazy old man, but the youth was equally dimwitted.

Yi Yun naturally ignored the people around him. As he observed the stone door, he sneered. The examinees were making a din but none noticed that three men and a woman were standing behind the stone gateway, watching them indifferently!

They were dressed in purple and the words ‘Myriad God’ were embroidered on their chests. Yi Yun could tell that despite the purple clothes appearing to be made of a soft fabric, they were, in fact, superior-grade defensive clothes. Even the ‘Myriad God’ words that were embroidered were sewn using heavy gold from the deep sea. The gold powder from such deep-sea metal was great for writing Dao patterns. Although the ‘Myriad God’ words looked like text, they were actually a Dao pattern in and of themselves. Carved within them were laws that were no trifling matter.

Without a doubt, the three men and woman must have had illustrious standing in the Myriad God Ridge.

At that moment, the four of them stood in the pocket world and, with the stone gateway’s restrictions isolating them, no one could see them. Amid their indifferent expressions were haughty looks that seemed seared into their faces.

A man with thick brows glanced at Yi Yun because he had heard Yi Yun offer to treat Old Snake to alcohol after he entered Myriad God Ridge. It incurred his displeasure.

“Senior Brother Ji, look at the kind of people that want to enter our Myriad God Ridge as disciples. Every time, we see a bunch of useless people coming to join in the buzz. Listen to what they say. He’s even more confident of entering the sect than me. They seem to think that the Myriad God Ridge will accept anyone.”

Upon hearing the thick-browed man grumble, the woman shook her head and said, “The recruitment test is held once every three days, with ten thousand entrants every time. The ones that we should recruit have mostly been recruited. So it’s natural that we are only left with the useless ones. It is only normal for these situations to occur.”

After hearing the woman’s comment, the thick-browed man asked perplexedly, “Senior Sister Jin, I have never understood this matter. Our Myriad God Ridge is one of the best major sects in the Calm Sea region, but isn’t the recruitment test being run too frequently? Are we really only doing this for the tens of thousands of Spirit Jade in recruitment fees? That is what the women from Clear Lunar Island say of us. Their strength might not be on par with our Myriad God Ridge’s but they only do a disciple recruitment every two years. Furthermore, it is an extremely stringent selection, taking in only geniuses. They mock our recruitment test as a gathering ground of mediocrity.”

The woman wanted to explain but stopped mid-sentence. At that moment, the man that had been addressed as Senior Brother Ji spoke. He said, “Junior Sister Jin, there’s no need to be apprehensive. In a few days, Junior Brother Song will become a disciple of Elder Taiqing. In a way, he will become a personal disciple as well. The matters in question are no longer secrets among personal disciples, so there’s no harm in telling him.”

“Alright then.” The woman nodded and looked at the thick-browed man. She said, “Our Myriad God Ridge has a miraculous item. Its actual origins are unknown even to the Elders of Myriad God Ridge. It seems to seal a world inside of it, and that world contains precious treasures. And this miraculous item will only recognize certain fated people. This fate is hard to determine, too. One would imagine that people with higher talent would be first in line with this fate, but it is not so. Decades ago, there was a youth whose talent was ordinary and his nomological insight was as terrible as could be. He managed to stir the object and attract something out. That something was valued greatly by the Patriarch and as a result, the youth became a core disciple.”

“P… Patriarch?” Upon hearing that word, Junior Brother Song, who had spoken, widened his eyes. The Myriad God Ridge’s Patriarch was very seldom heard of much less seen. It was frequent not to hear anything from him for hundreds of thousands of years and it was unknown if he was in seclusion or touring the world.

In the Calm Sea, the Myriad God Patriarch was feared by all. He was not born from the Calm Sea but came from the depths of the Sinkhole. He was like a godlike existence to the Myriad God Ridge.

For people like Junior Brother Song, it was rare for them to even meet the sect master, so the Patriarch was someone they couldn’t even cast their sights on.

Now that he managed to hear some information regarding the Patriarch, Junior Brother Song felt extremely excited.

“Therefore, with that precedent, and according to the instructions of the sect master, we have been searching for people of fate all these years. However, even the amount of fate that one has can vary. It’s very rare to find someone with great fate. You might think nothing of these candidates, but what if one of them is a person of fate?”

Senior Sister Jin’s explanation made Junior Brother Song’s blood boil with excitement. The Myriad God Ridge indeed had deep roots. Furthermore, he had chanced upon news of the Patriarch. As long as the Patriarch was around, the Myriad God Ridge would remain lord of the Calm Sea.

It would be great if he could become a personal disciple of the Patriarch. Such a thought flashed across Junior Brother Song’s mind but such an extravagant hope was only in his imagination.

“Alright, stop discussing such matters. You just need to do your job. Let’s begin the recruitment test.”

At that moment, a middle-aged man’s voice sounded as a middle-aged man dressed in purple robes walked out from the deep depths of the pocket world.

He was lanky in build and his body effused a blade-like aura. Behind him was a blurry haze that seemed like a void of Chaos. Even a single glance at it made one feel like their gaze was being sucked into it.

1236 - : Miraculous Item

CKtalon  CKtalon

The moment the middle-aged man appeared, the three men and the woman in the pocket world greeted him with deference.

“Martial Uncle Mo!”

“Martial Uncle Mo!”

The Myriad God Ridge’s test was held very frequently, so it was sufficient for the personal disciples to preside over it. But if the sect’s divine item was being taken out, an expert at the Elder level was needed.

When the middle-aged man appeared, Yi Yun sensed an aura as vast as the seas. He immediately withdrew his perception.

“Oh?” Mo Shanqing looked up, seemingly sensing something.

“Master Uncle, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing…” Mo Shanqing shook his head. “Maybe there’s some old fellow interested in our Myriad God Ridge’s test. It doesn’t matter. There’s no point in coveting our Myriad God Ridge’s divine item.”

Mo Shanqing didn’t bother over who was there. Although his presiding over the test involved the sect’s divine item, he could not influence the divine item at all. It was even more impossible for others.

“I’ll be staying in this pocket world and not going out. All of you can go out and continue the procedure as usual,” Mo Shanqing said indifferently.

He had no interest towards such a test. The candidates that registered were of too low a standard and it was basically a waste of his time. Trying to find someone that could stir the divine item in a test was too difficult.

“Yes, Martial Uncle Mo!”

The four acceded to the order and stepped out of the stone gateway.

The warriors on the square saw a light membrane appear out of thin air from the stone gateway. Following that, four Myriad God Ridge disciples dressed in purple stepped out of the void.

“Purple clothes and golden words. They are personal disciples of the Myriad God Ridge!”

Many of those that had come numerous times were not surprised by this scene. Only the candidates that were there for the first time were astonished.

However, be it a newcomer or an experienced candidate, all of them showed pangs of envy towards the four Myriad God Ridge personal disciples.

They were personal disciples after all. Most of these candidates, even if they managed to become Myriad God Ridge disciples, would very likely be outer sect disciples, which was a glorified way of saying they did miscellaneous chores. There was a huge gap between them and personal disciples.

The quartet was already accustomed to being the object of envy. Their purple clothes made them the highlight of wherever they were.

“Welcome, fellow warriors participating in our Myriad God Ridge’s recruitment test. Our Myriad God Ridge selects disciples primarily based on their wisdom roots! If one possesses a wisdom root, regardless of how bad their cultivation level is, they would be able to enter our Myriad God Ridge and become at least an inner sect disciple!”

“We feel sorry for those that do not have the wisdom root. But then, at least, we can consider you based on bone age and talent. However, we do not consider anyone that has not entered the Dao Manifestation realm before the age of hundred. Even if they have entered the Dao Palace realm, we would need to ascertain their nomological insights.”

The person who introduced the recruitment rules was Senior Brother Ji.

There were three aspects of the Myriad God Ridge’s recruitment test. The first aspect evaluated one’s wisdom root, the second tested their cultivation level and bone age, while the third tested one’s laws.

In fact, with so many people gathered, a large number of the candidates did not even meet the second aspect’s standards. They pinned all their hopes on the first aspect.

No one knew what the wisdom root was. Only the Myriad God Ridge paid attention to it. For many, it was their only chance to make a meteoric rise.

However, over the many years of testing, the number of people with wisdom roots were few and far between.

“Alright, without further ado, let’s begin now!”

Senior Brother Ji waved his hand as he spoke. The stone gateway’s light screen flashed as a gray mist flew out from it.

The moment the mist appeared, the atmosphere changed immediately. What was once a bustling square turned into a gray and fuzzy scene. A strong repressive feeling made people unable to speak. The warriors with weaker cultivation levels had to stop themselves from kneeling towards the gray mist.

The gray mist gradually rose into the sky, fusing with the layer of clouds. Finally, it formed a gigantic gray vortex that spun slowly. In its black core, lightning spewed out as though it was connected to another world.

“This is…”

Yi Yun squinted his eyes as he could see a bronze cauldron through the black vortex. The cauldron had three feet and two handles. The walls of the cauldron were thick and unadorned. There was a swirling black divine dragon engraved on it and, as wisps of black gases spewed out of the cauldron, the divine dragon seemed to come to life as it was immersed in the black gases.

“This is the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, which is also the cornerstone item of the Myriad God Ridge,” Senior Brother Ji said proudly. Although the cauldron was claimed to be the cornerstone item of the Myriad God Ridge, even the Patriarch could not refine and control it.

They could only conjure it, but there was no worry that someone might snatch it up. The cauldron was sentient, so no one would be able to take it.

“Now, produce a drop of your blood and cast it into the cauldron. If you can cause the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to resonate, it’s considered a pass! You will become our sect’s inner-sect disciple!”

“If you can cause the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to produce a sliver of divine light, you can become a core disciple of our Myriad God Ridge!”

“If you can stir the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, as long as you do not have atrocious talent, you can even become a personal disciple!”

Senior Brother Ji did not continue after saying that. In fact, stirring the Ascending Dragon Cauldron might even produce treasures. That was what the Patriarch was truly looking out for.

However, that was a secret of the Myriad God Ridge. Only personal disciples were allowed to know of it, so there was no need for him to announce it in public.

“Then, let’s begin now! All you need to do is to cast a drop of blood!”

“A drop of blood?”

Yi Yun frowned slightly. He did not mind if it were only his perception, but if he needed to cast his blood, which contained his lifeblood mark, he had a nagging feeling that it wasn’t safe.

Yet at that very moment, there were examinees beside Yi Yun who had already bitten their fingers and flicked a drop of their blood from their fingertips.

They naturally did not consider things as much as Yi Yun. The Myriad God Ridge’s recruitment test had been held numerous times and, every time, nearly ten thousand people cast their blood into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

They watched as their blood flew into the vortex, but most of the blood droplets were instantly dissipated by the violent Yuan Qi when they flew into the vortex. They became blood mists that eventually vanished.

Less than ten percent of the remaining blood drops reached the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

However, they directly disappeared upon contact with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as though they had been absorbed.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron did not undergo any changes. It remained floating amid the huge vortex as its massive and majestic stance repressed the heaven and earth.

Many people were unwilling to admit defeat. They continued watching the blood that had been splattered elsewhere, hoping that a miracle would happen. However, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron remained unyielding like a mountain. They had ultimately failed.

“It’s too difficult.”

Some people shook their heads. What exactly was this ‘wisdom root?’ How was it possible to stir the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?

Yi Yun watched all of this silently. After the first batch of people failed, another batch of people bit open their fingers and flicked their blood.

The cauldron was odd! Just as Yi Yun was pondering over the matter, he suddenly saw that, in a corner of the square, Old Snake also looked up at the floating Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Within his tiny eyes, there was an inadvertent glint.

Oh? This old man…

Was he interested in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?

Yi Yun’s impression of Old Snake was that of a jolly old scammer. It was rare to see him looking so serious.

Could it be…

Yi Yun suddenly realized a possibility. Perhaps the old man was spending his days in the Myriad God Ridge because of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?

Recalling the conversation between the four Myriad God Ridge personal disciples beyond the gateway, and how Old Snake was scalping tickets at the recruitment line, Yi Yun felt that it was not an impossible conclusion.

1237 - : Ascending Dragon Cauldron

CKtalon  CKtalon

Batch after batch of candidates let out their blood in a bid to stir the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. However, all of them failed. Most of the blood dissipated in the vortex storms, and there were some who resented the outcome so much that they bit at their fingertips after failing the first time, producing more blood to try again.

The four personal disciples did not stop these continued attempts. They knew that it was impossible to succeed on a second try after failing the first time.

Meanwhile, Snake Girl was hesitating as she stood beside Yi Yun. Then, she took out a dainty snake-skinned dagger from her interspatial ring.

“You want to give it a shot too?” Yi Yun looked at Snake Girl in astonishment. He originally believed that Snake Girl would not be willing to join the Myriad God Ridge.

“I’ll just give it a try. Joining the Myriad God Ridge wouldn’t be the worst thing. Since my master is here, I’m too lazy to return. Robbing isn’t a long-term plan, anyway.”

As Snake Girl spoke, she cut her index finger and a drop of blood floated out.

“Aren’t you going to try?”

Snake Girl looked at Yi Yun.

“Let me watch first. I have a nagging feeling that there’s something strange about the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.”

“Are you worried that a trap might activate when your blood touches the cauldron?” Snake Girl read Yi Yun’s mind. “We are only a bunch of lowly candidates. There’s no reason for them to scheme against us. Even if it was really a blood contract, the contract’s contents would still need to be sent to your soul. If you didn’t agree to it, they couldn’t bind you to a contract with just a drop of blood.”

As Snake Girl spoke, her drop of blood floated off.

What Snake Girl said wasn’t without reason. Warriors unintentionally lost blood during battles all the time. It would be too easy to obtain another’s blood, so it was naturally impossible to use a drop of blood to force the signing of a soul contract.

Yi Yun nodded, but he still didn’t move as he watched Snake Girl’s drop of blood.

When the blood flew into the vortex, it remained coagulated within the storms. When it approached the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, the drop of blood emitted wispy crimson beams of light.

This is…

Yi Yun pricked up his brows. At the same time, he heard the bronze cauldron hum.

“Weng–”

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron let out a sound like a heavy divine bell being struck. The black dragon carved on the cauldron seemed to be flying within the Yuan Qi wantonly as its eyes emitted a glimmer that left people apprehensive. Many of those present were being watched by the pair of dragon eyes, and they felt as though their hearts were being struck a heavy blow. Their organs churned as a result.

Even the four personal disciples felt immense pressure. They were unable to maintain their aloof expressions, for the humming noises from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron numbed their ears.

“Who… who stirred the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?”

Senior Brother Ji was astonished. There had been too many drops of blood flying in the air for him to notice. Only when the cauldron vibrated suddenly did he react.

Then, something else happened.

“Whew!”

Two dark golden beams of light shot out from the flying dragon’s eyes towards Snake Girl. They were like two swords bestowed by the heavens.

Snake Girl similarly did not expect it. She made no effort to dodge the two beams of divine light, partly because she couldn’t react in time.

“Cha!”

When the divine beam entered her body, it went straight for her dantian.

Snake Girl felt as though something was inside her dantian. Following that, her entire body began to float up. Amid the tempest, her clothes and long hair flared in the wind.

“Snake Girl’s blood stirred the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?”

Yi Yun was astonished as well. He had heard the four personal disciple’s private conversation. Stirring the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was an extremely difficult task. He never expected Snake Girl to be someone that possessed the so-called ‘wisdom root’.

The storm lasted for about two minutes before it calmed down. The people present looked at Snake Girl in astonishment.

Apart from the disbelief in his eyes, the gorgeously-dressed youth from earlier felt a deep sense of envy when he looked at Snake Girl.

A drop of her blood stirred the cauldron! She could become a core disciple, at the very least. This girl actually had such good luck? He originally thought that, by having the crazy old scammer as a master, she was likely a lowlife. However, he never expected that her single drop of blood could stir the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, allowing her to soar instantly.

“Swish!”

At that moment, a flash appeared at the stone gateway’s entrance. A middle-aged man stepped out. He was the one that the four personal disciples had addressed as Martial Uncle Mo.

In a blink of an eye, he had appeared in front of Snake Girl with fanatical delight.

He had clearly seen that two beams of divine light had been shot into Snake Girl’s dantian. According to past experiences, the two divine beams of light were actually two treasures!

The treasures were hidden in the world within Snake Girl’s body. That was what the Patriarch paid great attention to.

“You have stirred the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Great! Great! Great!”

Mo Shanqing complemented her thrice and there was a glow in the way he looked at Snake Girl.

“There’s no need for you to continue participating in the test. I’ll send you straight into the sect. From today forth, you will be a core disciple of our Myriad God Ridge!” Mo Shanqing said excitedly.

He originally thought that presiding over the test would be a waste of his time, but here he had encountered a girl that could stir the cauldron. As such, the Patriarch would likely reward him handsomely.

Snake Girl never expected such a thing to happen either. She was momentarily flustered. Although she believed that she would have no problem passing the test, she was basing her beliefs on the second and third round of the Myriad God Ridge’s entrance test.

She had never expected to become a Myriad God Ridge disciple by passing the so-called ‘wisdom root’ test.

“Thank you, Senior. I’ll follow you up the mountain in a while.”

As Snake Girl spoke, she looked at her master, Old Snake, and Yi Yun.

Old Snake did not express himself in any way. As for Yi Yun… it was unclear what he was ruminating over.

Although Snake Girl had been forcefully brought to Myriad God Ridge by Yi Yun and had spent more than ten Spirit Jade because of him, she did not have any malice towards him. Instead, she had quite a favorable opinion of him and wanted to see how his test unfolded.

In fact, apart from Yi Yun, there were a handful of people left who had not produced their blood.

“Who else hasn’t attempted. Produce your blood together now.”

After recruiting a disciple, Mo Shanqing was in great spirits. Although it was unlikely that the remaining people stood a chance, they were not to be missed.

When they heard Mo Shanqing’s words, the remaining candidates naturally bit their fingers and produced drops of blood.

They had previously been too nervous to produce their blood. They had waited all this time.

As such, only Yi Yun was the one who had yet produced his blood. At the instant the Ascending Dragon Cauldron stirred, Yi Yun had sensed an immense ruggedness when the Ascending Dragon Cauldron shot out the beams of divine light. They possessed an aura he seemed familiar with. It resembled the pure Yang broken sword that he once had!

Could the Ascending Dragon Cauldron be related to the pure Yang broken sword?

If the cauldron was truly related to the pure Yang broken sword, then Yi Yun could not miss this opportunity. Perhaps, he could take advantage of this opportunity to figure something out.

Should I produce my blood?

Yi Yun looked at Mo Shanqing, who was beside him. He hesitated for a moment.

He could not predict what the outcome would be. Under the present circumstances, it would not be a wise choice to probe the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as it would cause a huge stir.

The final candidates that produced their blood finally ended with failure. Only a few of their blood drops even reached the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, and they failed to instigate any reaction.

These people were immensely disappointed. They felt greatly set back when they compared themselves to Snake Girl, who had stirred the cauldron.

“It’s over. Then, let’s put an end to this.”

Although Mo Shanqing noticed that Yi Yun had not produced his blood, he did not mind if a person or two was left out.

“Yes, Martial Uncle.”

The four personal disciples walked over and were about to withdraw the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and disperse the crowd of people.

“Yi Yun, why aren’t you giving it a try?” Snake Girl whispered from the side.

Yi Yun exhaled and with his finger as a sword blade, he cut his finger.

A drop of blood fluttered into the sky.

Yi Yun had largely ascertained that sending his blood to the Ascending Dragon Cauldron did not pose any danger. Furthermore, the similarities between the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and the pure Yang broken sword made him want to give it a try.

Upon seeing Yi Yun produce his blood, Mo Shanqing came to a halt and looked up. Although he wasn’t pleased with the candidate’s slow reaction, he did not mind waiting a little while longer.

High in the sky, wind and thunder interleaved one another. The drop of blood appeared inconspicuous amid them.

It easily penetrated the black vortex and smacked right between the eyes of the dragon engraved on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

The drop of blood infused into the dragon eye like a blood teardrop.

Instantly, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron fell silent. Even the howling wind quietened.

Mo Shanqing’s face flashed a look of uncertainty. This is…

Roar—!

Suddenly, a bold and vigorous dragon roar emitted from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

The dragon’s roar instantly penetrated the firmament and echoed throughout the land in a deep baritone. The people present found themselves squelched. The candidates with weaker cultivation levels could not even resist the dragon’s repression as they collapsed to the ground immediately.

Even the candidates with higher cultivation levels felt their minds and hearts palpitating.

Accompanied by the dragon’s roar, a gray mist spewed out from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, as though something was peeking out from it.

Amid the wind and thunder, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron rapidly expanded to the size of a hill. The black winds made the cauldron turn blurry as a black lightning bolt as thick as a water bucket tore through the clouds.

“What’s that?” Someone exclaimed from the crowd.

The black clouds in the sky curled but there were people who could vaguely make out that within the cauldron that had expanded dozens of times in size, a humongous dragon head phantom had gradually surfaced.

Dragon!?

Was there a dragon sealed within the cauldron?

Yi Yun held his breath. The dragon head was simple but infinite. The terrifying dragon repression surged over everyone with its appearance. Its gaze seemed to penetrate the vestiges of time, and it was cast directly on him.

Instantly, Yi Yun felt the Purple Crystal within his body quiver gently. In his mind, a sound seemed to ring. It was the dragon roar that came from the clouds, and there was a language hidden within it that Yi Yun did not understand. It was ancient and profound.

But the feeling it left could only be described as ephemeral.

“This is… This is…” Mo Shanqing suddenly became agitated as he turned his head suddenly, looking at Yi Yun with disbelief.

The dragon roar and the dragon head that surfaced was a phenomenon that had never been seen before. Could this candidate that appeared slow to react be able to completely stir the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?

Although there was no apparent standard for the ‘wisdom root’ needed to stir the cauldron, Mo Shanqing was actually a little aware of what it took. He never expected that the youth in front of him would be able to satisfy the Patriarch’s conditions.

It was already fairly impressive to discover a few people that could stir the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in a year but today, one had managed to pull out treasures from the cauldron. Two, in fact. The other one was getting an even more exaggerated response. With such lucky circumstances, he was wondering how the Patriarch would reward him!

Just thinking of it made Mo Shanqing increasingly excited. It was truly an unknown what special treasure would be coming out; if they were anything short of amazing, there wouldn’t have been such an exaggerated phenomenon!

However, just as Mo Shanqing was reeling in excitement, the black dragon’s phantom gradually dissipated. The resounding dragon roar also vanished.

The wind and thunder that surged around the Ascending Dragon Cauldron gradually shrunk, and in moments, the cauldron returned to its original state. It silently floated in the middle of the vortex as though whatever had happened before was a dream that had never happened.

Mo Shanqing’s eyes widened as he stared intently at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. He anticipated a few divine beams of light to shoot out from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and into Yi Yun’s dantian. But after a long wait, nothing happened.

That was… it!?

Were there no treasures?

Mo Shanqing was stupefied. The entire process of Yi Yun’s stirring of the cauldron was more exaggerated than the girl from before. Yet, there was no reaction. How could that be?

He believed he had accomplished something big but, in a blink of an eye, he found that he had rejoiced too soon.

“Martial Uncle, what’s going on?”

The four personal disciples gathered around and looked at Mo Shanqing before sizing up Yi Yun curiously. Wasn’t this punk the one that promised to treat that old scalper to alcohol if he entered the Myriad God Ridge? This fellow is actually one that possesses a wisdom root?

“Martial Uncle, this youth has also passed the test, right?” Ji asked.

Mo Shanqing was immersed in his vicissitude of emotions and still in a daze. Only when he heard the inquiry did he return to reality with a hesitant expression.

This situation was something he had never seen before.

If the criteria was to stir the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, then Yi Yun naturally passed. However, he was puzzled by the youth’s lack of treasures despite the huge commotion.

“You… produce a drop of blood and give it another try,” Mo Shanqing said as he looked at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun frowned. Although producing a few drops of blood meant nothing, the way Mo Shanqing gave him orders displeased him.

1238 - : Stirring the Cauldron

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You were instructed to produce your blood, so why are you still in a daze?”

The thick-browed personal disciple said unhappily when he noticed that Yi Yun did not react to his instruction. Yi Yun glanced at him and knew his surname was Song. He was ranked the lowest among the four personal disciples. According to Senior Brother Ji, Song would only become an official disciple of Elder Taiqing in a couple more days.

Song was infuriated when he saw Yi Yun glance at him indifferently before ignoring him. As a personal disciple, he had always been placed on a pedestal and was accustomed to people looking at him with envy and respect. When had a candidate disciple ever shown him such contempt?

Just as he was about to teach the punk who did not know better a lesson, Senior Brother Ji stopped him. “Junior Brother Song, that’s enough.”

“With that said,” Senior Brother Ji looked at Yi Yun. “Are you not willing to produce more blood?”

Yi Yun said, “You all seem very interested in stirring the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. However, I’m here to participate in a test, not to be an experimental subject.”

Yi Yun was acutely aware of Myriad God Ridge’s goals. They were only using him as a lab rat so as to pursue their own fortunes.

As for Yi Yun, he was only joining Myriad God Ridge to come into contact with Old Snake. He did not want to attract too much attention. If he did cause a hubbub by repeatedly stirring the cauldron, his days in the Myriad God Ridge would be anything but peaceful.

Yi Yun did not mind offending the Myriad God Ridge because back when his blood stirred the cauldron, he saw from the corner of his eye that Old Snake had cast his gaze on him for a long time. As such, Yi Yun was convinced that what he produced was sufficient enough to attract Old Snake’s attention.

However, Yi Yun’s words stupefied everyone present, especially those that had been racking their brains and trying every means at their disposal to enter the Myriad God Ridge.

All of those that wanted to join the Myriad God Ridge acted with reverence and awe. They would show great respect to Myriad God Ridge disciples whenever they saw them by offering bows or other forms of salute even if they were ordinary disciples, and even more for the personal disciples. Therefore, they found it ridiculous for Yi Yun to speak to a personal disciple in such a manner.

“This fellow… is quite savage.”

A few youths in extravagant clothes were at a loss for words. Those two people that interacted with the old scammer both stirred the cauldron, and their actions only continued to get more impressive.

Not only was Yi Yun’s ‘wisdom root’ impressive, even his attitude was impressive. He didn’t show any respect to the Myriad God Ridge’s personal disciples or Elder.

“Heh, what guts. However, it’s not good for a young man to be overly arrogant. Even if you are extremely talented and the cream of the crop from where you come from, you will realize how puny you are when you walk out into the world and truly see it. There are too many geniuses in this world, many that far exceed your imagination,” Mo Shanqing said in a drawn-out manner.

He could tell that Yi Yun’s foundations were a lot more robust than typical warriors of the same realm. He was likely a genius, and that gave him his arrogance.

However, there were too many geniuses in Myriad God Ridge. Many arrogant genius disciples would soon realize that they were just ordinary after entering the Myriad God Ridge. Naturally, their pride would be ground off.

Mo Shanqing felt that these people were simply engaging in childish tantrums, and did not mind it at all.

“Produce your blood. I’m not requesting your permission but ordering you.”

Mo Shanqing’s voice turned colder. As a Myriad God Ridge Elder, how could he permit a newly-recruited disciple to challenge his authority?

How could a junior speak to him in such a tone? In Myriad God Ridge’s history, there had been a few disciples that had managed to pull out treasures from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Didn’t they always end up handing the treasures over to the Myriad God Ridge without a fuss?

Upon hearing Mo Shanqing’s demands, Yi Yun’s brows knitted even tighter. Just as he was considering how to react, a deep Yuan Qi voice transmission rang in his ears.

“Produce your blood. It’s only a few drops of blood. You might not want to stay here but I still want to! Don’t you mess this up for me.”

Oh?

Yi Yun’s heart stirred as he turned to look at Old Snake. The old man had found a wall corner to sit down in. His clothes were a little tattered, to begin with. Now, as he sat there, drinking alcohol from a dirty-looking alcohol gourd while taking in the scene, he looked no different from a beggar.

Yi Yun still chose to obey Old Snake. He trusted Huan Chenxue.

With a sword beam, he cut his finger and a few drops of blood flew out into the sky!

At the instant the blood passed through the clouds, Yi Yun sensed that a formless energy had suddenly penetrated the clouds. This strength had severed the connection he had with the few drops of blood.

“Ding Ding Ding!”

When the blood shot onto the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, the drops let out collision sounds that resembled that of metal balls striking bronze.

However, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron did not move. It was not triggered by Yi Yun’s blood.

Yi Yun felt reverberations through his heart and mind. That energy from before…

Yi Yun looked at Old Snake. Was it the old man?

Old Snake continued drinking his alcohol as though it had nothing to do with him. Yi Yun remained puzzled. How did the old fellow instantly wipe out his imprint on the blood? It felt like the blood had changed to another person’s.

“He failed?”

When Mo Shanqing saw no reaction from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, he secretly shook his head.

Was it just a coincidence? It was somewhat odd that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron did not shoot out any treasures. And now, with Yi Yun producing his blood again, it did not cause any changes to the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. It left him extremely depressed.

There went the credit he could have gotten.

Mo Shanqing was disappointed, but Junior Brother Song was extremely delighted. He was truly afraid that Yi Yun would be able to stir the Ascending Dragon Cauldron once again. If that happened, wouldn’t Yi Yun soar high above him?

“To think this punk is shameless enough to act so arrogantly. He obediently produced his blood the moment Martial Uncle Mo spoke. Unfortunately, it was useless. He’s a good-for-nothing,” Junior Brother Song derided. He finally felt vindicated after Yi Yun shamed him with his retort.

“Martial Uncle Mo, it must have been a coincidence that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was stirred a moment ago. Perhaps it even has nothing to do with him. He, therefore, does not meet the qualifications and cannot be a disciple of our Myriad God Ridge.”

Senior Brother Ji, head of the four personal disciples, spoke up.

Momentarily, Mo Shanqing was placed in a dilemma. He had never encountered such a situation before. He was unsure how to evaluate Yi Yun either.

However, the matter regarding the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was of great importance. Despite knowing that the phenomena produced by the Ascending Dragon Cauldron were likely a coincidence, Mo Shanqing did not wish to give up this opportunity. Upon having such a thought, Mo Shanqing lit up a special voice transmission charm to seek the sect master’s decision.

Yi Yun watched all of this nonchalantly. These people had made a mistake on one point. They believed that he was begging to join their Myriad God Ridge. In actuality, he had no intention of joining it. Just as he was about to turn and leave, the Yuan Qi voice transmission from before sounded again in his ear.

“Lad, don’t be so rash. The Myriad God Ridge is quite an interesting place. Why do you think I’m staying in here?”

Upon hearing the voice, Yi Yun came to a halt. He glanced at Old Snake speechlessly. The old man seemed to be able to read his mind, being able to precisely guess what he was thinking every time. This left Yi Yun very displeased. The old fellow definitely knew that he was sent by Huan Chenxue, but he continued acting indifferently towards him.

At that moment, there was a burst of flames. It was the voice transmission charm of the Myriad God Ridge’s reply.

“Martial Uncle Mo, has this fellow been eliminated?”

Junior Brother Song glanced at Yi Yun contemptibly as he spoke in a schadenfreudian manner. He especially hated disciples that entered the Myriad God Ridge based on the so-called ‘wisdom root.’ They were not geniuses but had soared because of some random criterion. What gave them that right?

He, Song Bowen, had to cultivate diligently and arduously in exchange for his present-day achievements. However, his blood had not resulted in any reaction from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Was that fair?

Who knew what sort of standards the useless Ascending Dragon Cauldron had!?

Not only was Song Bowen unable to stir the cauldron, the other three personal disciples had failed as well. As such, they were all somewhat biased against Yi Yun and Snake Girl.

However, at that moment, Mo Shanqing, who had heard the voice transmission charm’s contents, lowered his head and gave an extended sigh. Finally, he looked up and glanced at Yi Yun oddly. He said reluctantly, “Kid, you are quite lucky. You have been made a personal disciple. My Martial Uncle, the sect master, is willing… to take you in as his disciple.”

1239 - : Entering the Sect

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What!? Sect Master is willing to take him in as a disciple?”

Song Bowen was startled by Mo Shanqing’s words. The other three personal disciples were also in a state of disbelief.

The Myriad God Ridge’s sect master had not taken in any disciples for the last thousand years.

Despite them all being personal disciples, there were differences in their status.

For instance, Song Bowen’s master was Elder Taiqing, and the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master was the junior brother of Elder Taiqing’s master.

As for Mo Shanqing, Myriad God Ridge’s sect master was the senior brother of his master.

The differences between the titles of martial uncle were not generational but based on cultivation level. In Myriad God Ridge, the accomplished reigned supreme. The higher the cultivation level, the higher one’s status was. The highest was obviously the Patriarch. However, it was rare to even hear about the Patriarch, much less see him. Therefore, Myriad God Ridge’s sect master naturally became the person with the highest authority in Myriad God Ridge.

This punk was actually so lucky as to be designated the personal disciple of the sect master?

Song Bowen found it unbelievable. What quality gave him that right?

In fact, Mo Shanqing did not truly understand the matter. However, since the sect master had given the order, what else could he say?

Instantly, the atmosphere turned rowdy. The title of personal disciple was enough to stir the crowd!

These candidates were mainly from the various regions of the Calm Sea. All of them wanted to enter the Myriad God Ridge to enjoy a meteoric rising.

The entire Calm Sea spanned tens of millions of kilometers that contained innumerable countries of various sizes. And if one became a Myriad God Ridge disciple, even if they were merely an outer disciple, it was enough for them to be made nobles in their own countries. If they became inner disciples, the status would be enough to make their country’s emperor treat them with the utmost respect.

As for core disciples or personal disciples, they were completely unimaginable. If they really employed their strength, they could easily wipe out an entire dynasty.

The surroundings examinees started to voice their envy, making Mo Shanqing frown slightly. He glanced at Yi Yun and said, “It’s your good luck and fortune that the sect master thinks so highly of you. However, a word of advice. It’s useless to simply stir the Ascending Dragon Cauldron! True geniuses depend on strength, not some so-called ‘wisdom root!’”

Mo Shanqing spoke coldly. In fact, he never understood the situation. If they were only interested in the treasures sealed in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, they could just invite the candidate with the treasure into the sect and trade the treasure for some reasonable benefits. Why did they make any candidate that was able to stir the Ascending Dragon Cauldron a core or even personal disciple?

“Got it.”

Yi Yun answered Mo Shanqing’s advice tersely. He had a rather bad impression of Mo Shanqing and so didn’t bother to act cordially.

Such an attitude naturally displeased Mo Shanqing. He stole a glance at Yi Yun before retreating into the pocket world within the stone gateway.

The test continued!

With about seven to eight thousand participants, it would take about two days to finish. It was still early.

The second batch of tests had already been prepared. As the candidates anxiously participated in the test, they watched enviously as Yi Yun and Snake Girl went to a test booth to retrieve the clothes and tokens issued to new recruits.

“State your names!”

Ji bellowed at Yi Yun and Snake Girl.

Yi Yun’s mouth twitched. As an examinee, they had to engrave their names into the registration token after obtaining it. It could be clearly seen by anyone who scanned the token with their perceptions. He refused to believe that the personal disciples did not know his name. This manner of questioning was only meant to establish an imposing air.

“Snake Girl.” Snake Girl obediently reported her name.

As for Yi Yun, he lazily waved the registration token in his hand without saying a word. His intention was clear—take a look for yourself.

As he watched this happen, a few veins protruded from Song Bowen’s forehead.

“Junior Sister Jin, bring them up the mountain.”

Ji surmised that if Song Bowen was to send the duo, they might come to blows midway. Therefore, he let his Junior Sister Jin, who had a warmer temperament, to lead the way.

Yi Yun did not mind. When he was about to leave, he glanced at Old Snake and while cupping his fists, he said, “Senior, I would like to treat you to some drinks whenever you have the time.”

This was the second time Yi Yun said such a thing.

Many people had mocked him for overestimating himself back when he offered to treat Old Snake to drinks after gaining entry to the sect.

Now, as Yi Yun said the same thing a second time, they were left with more mixed emotions.

Why did the entire test appear to be a game to Yi Yun? Yet, despite his nonchalance, he really entered the Myriad God Ridge and became a personal disciple of the highest standing.

“Hehe, I’ll wait till you are settled in. I’ll be at the Myriad God Restaurant. Remember to bring more money,” Old Snake said with a chuckle. He lit up when alcohol was mentioned.

When everyone heard that, their mouths twitched. Myriad God Restaurant!

The name made it obvious that it was run by the Myriad God Ridge. It was the most luxurious restaurant around the Myriad God Ridge. The food it served was usually cooked using natural treasures that were astronomical in price. It wasn’t uncommon to pay a few thousand Spirit Jade for a single meal. If one were a little more extravagant, it would not be surprising for their bill to be one or two hundred thousand Spirit Jade.

Old Snake had immediately chosen the Myriad God Restaurant the moment he was being offered a treat. His shamelessness was truly unparalleled.

“Alright. See you at Myriad God Restaurant in five days.”

Yi Yun agreed readily as a curve suffused his lips. This old fellow was finally willing to have a proper conversation with him. Yi Yun’s mind was riddled with questions. One of them pertained to the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Yi Yun followed Junior Sister Jin and headed for the Myriad God Ridge’s main peak.

Junior Sister Jin remained silent throughout the journey and led Yi Yun across six peaks and five mountain entrances before arriving at Myriad God Ridge’s main peak.

The mountain was tens of thousands of meters tall and its peak was covered in snow. However, amid the snow, there were large swaths of array formations that had exquisite jade trees and agar flowers that vied against each other for the right to be called the most beautiful.

After walking past the restraints, Yi Yun sighed at Myriad God Ridge’s wealth. The bricks and tiles were literally lined with jade and gold. The spring water was made of spiritual liquid and there were spirit beasts darting around the valuable vegetation that was everywhere. The mist lingered, making it feel like an immortal’s paradise.

“Junior Sister Jin, are these two newly recruited disciples?”

At that moment, a male disciple dressed in purple was standing above a gigantic hawk. He landed in front of Yi Yun and Snake Girl.

“Yes… Senior Brother Cang Wu, one of them is a personal disciple recruited by Sect Master and the other will be a core disciple. I have brought this young man to pay Sect Master a visit.”

It was not easy to get a meeting with the sect master of Myriad God Ridge. However, Yi Yun was different. He was a disciple of the sect master and, according to the Myriad God Ridge’s rules, newly recruited disciples had to first visit their masters.

“What? Sect Master has taken in a disciple?” Cang Wu looked at Yi Yun in disbelief after hearing the news. “He… got recruited?”

Cang Wu pointed at Yi Yun, who smirked. He could not be bothered to deal with these people. He was only planning on entering the Myriad God Ridge to find Old Snake, but he never expected to become the sect master’s personal disciple. But so what if he was one? Why did everyone who saw him make a huge fuss about it as though they were mentally unsound?

“Yes, it’s him. Might I trouble Senior Brother Cang Wu to pass the news. I’m bringing him to meet Sect Master,” Junior Sister Jin said while looking at Yi Yun unhappily.

1240 - : Main Peak

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Alright, I’ll inform the sect master…”

A white beam of divine light flew down from the main peak the moment Cang Wu spoke. The person that came from it was a man that looked somewhat seductive.

He had long brows and a beauty that was akin to a woman’s. He was floating high in the air as he looked at Yi Yun and said, “My master, the sect master, is in seclusion. He just instructed me through a voice transmission to settle you in for now. If you encounter any cultivation problems, you can ask me too!”

My master, the sect master?

Such a salutation clearly meant that the seductive man in front of him was a personal disciple of the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master.

Most personal disciples did not address the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master in such a manner. By referring to him in such an endearing manner, it was enough to prove that his status was probably no less than that of Mo Shanqing.

“Follow me.”

With that said, the man led Yi Yun to a quiet residence. It was a three-storied tower that appeared to be absolutely exquisite. Behind the tiny tower was a simple herb garden and connected to the tower was a cultivation chamber.

In Myriad God Ridge, many buildings were made of jade but the tower Yi Yun was allocated was made of wood.

Despite it being made of wood, Yi Yun knew that the construction material was nothing even mortal jade could compare with.

He was well-versed in the divine alchemist’s notes. He immediately identified the valuable wood—Sunken Moon Wood. Such wood grew in spirit springs and was nourished by absorbing the lunar essence. It grew a foot every millennium and could not be artificially grown.

A tower built from Sunken Moon Wood could be used to nourish the soul, bringing great benefits to cultivation.

“What extravagance.”

Yi Yun sighed. The tiny tower was only the residence of a personal disciple. If it were the sect master or an elder, it would probably be even more lavish.

“Stay here for the next few days. My master will probably take another week to come out of seclusion. He will naturally come to meet you when the time comes.”

“Everything in this tower is at your disposal as long as there are no restrictions protecting it. You won’t be able to bypass the restrictions anyway. You can go in now.”

The charming man gave a brief introduction before leaving. He left behind a few sets of personal disciple clothes, a token, and a jade slip that served as a manual to the Myriad God Ridge.

The clothes worn by Myriad God Ridge personal disciples were all purple in color and on the chest were embroidered the words: Myriad God. The outfit itself was an excellent enchanted artifact.

Yi Yun flipped through the jade slip that contained the rules, and with his powerful perception, he finished reading it in seconds.

The Myriad God Ridge had many rules, but most of them were targeted towards ordinary disciples. At the level of personal disciple, all rules lacked weight. Strength was what really mattered. As long as one was strong, violating a few rules did not mean much. And correspondingly, personal disciples were given all sorts of perks and advantages. Naturally, the ordinary disciples lacked such things.

As for the personal disciple token, just producing it in the Myriad God Ridge’s territory could summon and order a king. If the king disobeyed, it would be considered an act of transgression against the Myriad God Ridge. The king could be killed instantly and a new one put in his place.

Upon reading this, Yi Yun felt mixed emotions. He began to appreciate the reason why so many people wanted to enter the Myriad God Ridge. This was the awe that power brought. An ordinary dynasty without the support of a major sect was like a mortal in front of the Myriad God Ridge. It had no means to resist.

Initially, Yi Yun joined the Myriad God Ridge because of Old Snake. However, after seeing the situation with the Myriad God Ridge, he began to feel that it wouldn’t be too bad to stay in the area for a period of time. After all, this was his first foray into the Sinkhole and he had nowhere else to go. And he did have a need of a conducive cultivation environment.

Yi Yun stored the token and jade slip before donning the purple outfit. He headed for the cultivation ground that was connected to the tower.

There, Yi Yun could sense the subtle nourishment effect that the Sunken Moon Wood had on his soul. It made his mind especially calm, and he could feel his pores breathing the surrounding Yuan Qi in and out constantly. Cultivating in such a place would make for double the results with half the effort.

When Yi Yun used his personal disciple token to open the cultivation chamber’s door, what greeted him was a simply adorned room. There were a long bookshelf and a cultivation array formation. More than a hundred Spirit Jade were placed around the cultivation array.

Yi Yun noticed that the Spirit Jade was of a much higher quality than the ones Snake Girl had produced. However, he did not know what grades they had.

As for the bookshelf, it was lined with jade slips.

Yi Yun took out a few to read. Not only did they describe cultivation techniques, but they also introduced the Sinkhole’s major factions, natural treasures, and the customs of the land. It was comprehensive!

Yi Yun slowly lost himself in reading.

Until…

Knock! Knock! Knock!

There was knocking at the door.

Yi Yun got up and opened the door. He saw a girl that looked about fifteen standing gracefully erect by the door. She had a round face that exuded a healthy glow, resembling a flower waiting to bloom.

“You are?” Yi Yun asked curiously.

The girl blushed and said slowly, “I’m Zuoyan Xiaoyu. I passed the test a few days ago and entered the Myriad God Ridge. I’m currently an outer-sect disciple…”

“An outer-sect disciple?” Yi Yun was surprised. He knew that the Myriad God Ridge had three kinds of entry tests.

Other than the first test of stirring the cauldron, one could pass the second nomological test and the third cultivation test to enter into the Myriad God Ridge. However, those who did would typically only be outer-sect disciples. To become an inner-sect or core disciple was just too difficult.

But what puzzled Yi Yun most was that his tower was located in an area where personal disciples lived. How did an outer-sect disciple enter the area?

“Why are you here?” asked Yi Yun.

“Uh…” Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s voice turned a lot softer. She said in embarrassment, “All outer-sect disciples have to do miscellaneous chores after entering the Myriad God Ridge. I have been designated as a maidservant of Sunken Moon Tower, which is the name of this residence, Young Master.”

“Eh?” Yi Yun was left in a daze as he turned to take a look. On the top of the tower he lived in was a plaque that had the words ‘Sunken Moon Tower’.

From the looks of it, the towers in the core region of the Myriad God Ridge were made of different materials and were named after the materials used to construct the tower.

Sunken Moon Tower wasn’t a bad name. As for a maidservant…

Yi Yun rubbed his nose awkwardly. Perhaps the people of Myriad God Ridge were accustomed to their high standings, a status that often had others serving them; therefore, they did not think much of it. However, Yi Yun truly was never one to be served, especially by such a delicate and sweet young lady. He found it awkward.

“About that… Don’t you feel resentment being turned into a servant despite entering the Myriad God Ridge as a disciple?” Yi Yun could not help but ask.

“Resentment?” Zuoyan Xiaoyu shook her head. “How can that be? Young Master, personal disciples like you are a lot higher in stature than outer-sect disciples like me. Besides… being a maidservant of a personal disciple’s residence is something people vie for.”

“It’s much better than tending to the spirit beasts, patrolling the mountain entrance, or supervising the mining grounds. Giving the example of the Sunken Moon Tower that you live in, one can cultivate a lot faster in here. Young Master, it’s all thanks to you that I can even come here. If no one lives in Sunken Moon Tower, I would never have even come close to this place.”

As Zuoyan Xiaoyu spoke, Yi Yun noticed that the look she gave him was one of idolation.

This made him realize that he had thought too lightly of his status as a personal disciple. As this was his first time in Calm Sea, he had not interacted with the customs of the land before becoming a Myriad God Ridge personal disciple. And since he had become one so easily, he had not fully realized how much honor there was in his status.

Although there were many experts in the Sinkhole, there were even more mortals. The worship of strength here exceeded that of the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Under such circumstances, no one believed that serving a personal disciple was a loss of status. On the contrary, they did it with pride. Besides, they could also enjoy some of the benefits of a personal disciple, so it was naturally a job one yearned for.

“Then, how did you get this job?” Yi Yun asked curiously. He noticed that other than the disciple attire Zuoyan Xiaoyu was wearing, nothing else on her was valuable. Clearly, she came from a humble background.

“I received this opportunity because my results were slightly better at the entrance test. Back then, numerous peers that entered with me were quite envious of me. Apparently, even the genius daughter of the Duanmu family, Duanmu Qingwen, had mustered all the powers of her family clan but failed to get this job.”

“The Duanmu family?” Yi Yun asked casually.

“Oh… It’s a big family clan in the country I come from. As their patriarch is at the seventh-floor Dao Palace realm, his status is even higher than that of an emperor.”

“I see…” Yi Yun nodded. To the Myriad God Ridge, a family clan with a patriarch at the seventh-floor Dao Palace realm naturally did not amount to much.

However, such family clans probably enjoyed a supernatural existence in the countries they resided in. They would probably have endless riches, and the heiress of the family clan must have led a luxurious life. To have such a rich heiress become a servant would probably be uncomfortable. It was better off having someone like Zuoyan Xiaoyu who came from a humble background.

Upon deducing the situation, Yi Yun felt mixed emotions. The martial path was truly fraught with difficulties. If one wanted wealth, it was easily attainable. However, to become an unparalleled Godly Monarch, to live for tens to hundreds of millions of years, sharing the same age as the heavens and earth, that was just too difficult.

“By the way, Miss Zuoyan, why did you come to me?”

Zuoyan Xiaoyu hurriedly answered when she heard Yi Yun’s question. “Young Master, do not call me that. I can’t accept it. Young Master, just call me Xiaoyu. I came here to tell you that it’s time to eat.”

“Eat?” Yi Yun was taken aback. Why was there a need to inform him about eating? Warriors could abstain from eating even at a very low cultivation level. Apart from satisfying their taste buds, there was no need to eat. Just absorbing the spiritual energy from the heaven and earth would do.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu said, “That’s right. The food given to Myriad God Ridge personal disciples is unlike any other. And this food is only provided once a month. You happen to be just in time.”

Zuoyan Xiaoyu gave an embarrassed smile after saying that. “That’s what I’ve heard. I’ve never seen it before.”

1241 - : Sunken Moon Tower

CKtalon  CKtalon

Zuoyan Xiaoyu had only entered the Myriad God Ridge a few days earlier than Yi Yun, but in that few days, she became quite well-versed in the Myriad God Ridge’s rules.

She was also very familiar with the layout of the personal disciple region. She led Yi Yun all the way to the mess hall for personal disciples.

The mess hall covered several kilometers and, upon entry, it looked to be a magnificent grand hall. In the middle of the hall were seventeen heavy and robust bronze artifacts. There were ones with three legs and two handles called tripods, and ones with two handles and no feet that were cauldrons.

There were a total of nine tripods and eight cauldrons that made for seventeen bronze enchanted vessels. Such a number was the highest order used in meal etiquette since ancient times.

Yi Yun could tell that the seventeen vessels were not ordinary enchanted artifacts. Due to their placement, the surrounding laws seemed to naturally form a system unto itself. From the looks of it, the seventeen bronze vessels were a complete set.

Surrounding the vessels were thirty-two tables, prepared for the personal disciples.

A table could only seat two and Yi Yun had shown up early. He sat down at a random table and Zuoyan Xiaoyu stood behind him. She studied her surroundings with an inquisitive look, for she found such a scene new and fascinating.

“Xiaoyu, you previously mentioned that this meal is only provided once a month and that it’s extraordinary. In what way is it extraordinary?”

“Young Master, I heard that the monthly meal is cooked by Myriad God Ridge’s Elder Lanqin. She has a rather rare job in the Calm Sea. She’s a cook, but you could also call her a Herbal Board Master.”

“In the Calm Sea, although there are few refinement masters, array masters, alchemists, Desolate Heaven Masters, or talisman masters, there are still many people who learn such trades. But cooks have nearly gone extinct. The people that manage to master cooking are few and far between. Elder Lanqin’s attainment in cooking is at the crest of perfection. If she used mortal ingredients, such as ordinary rice, vegetables or meat, it would still be superior-grade tonic food. Not only would it taste excellent, it would also be extremely beneficial to one’s body after consumption.”

“If the meal is cooked using supreme-grade ingredients, the effects are even more obvious. Elder Lanqin will be able to refine away the impurities contained within the ingredients during the cooking process. It results in no harm to the body no matter how much is eaten. This is something pills cannot compare with.”

As the saying goes, every medicine has its toxicity. It was inevitable for even superior-grade pills to contain a little pill toxicity. If one ate too many, the toxins would accumulate and time would be needed to purge them.

A well-cooked meal, however, would never result in such a situation. This was also the forte of a cook. However, as the effects from tonic food were less potent than pills, the number of people that studied the cooking of tonic food was even smaller.

“Young Master, take a look. The seventeen vessels placed in the middle of the hall are the enchanted artifacts that Elder Lanqin uses to cook. They are a set, and at this very moment, all the food is in them. In a while, I’ll get some for you. There will be a total of seventeen dishes—nine meat and eight vegetarian.”

Just as Zuoyan Xiaoyu was explaining the situation, people began streaming into the grand hall one after another. These people were also personal disciples and most of them had servants accompanying them. Some even had more than one servant. Yi Yun even saw a young man who was not dressed in personal disciple garb. Instead, he was wearing an embroidered robe commonly worn by rich scions. He was tended to by four women and all of them were gorgeous. Two of them were tugging onto the man from each side, allowing him to wander his hands over them. Yi Yun was a little surprised by this.

After all, this was in public. Such public displays of affection were rather preposterous.

Coincidentally, this man happened to pick the table where Yi Yun was sitting.

The man took a glance at Yi Yun and said with a laugh, “You must be the Yi Yun that stirred the cauldron!”

The man recognized all the personal disciples of Myriad God Ridge so, with the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar face, he immediately guessed at Yi Yun’s identity.

“That is me.” Yi Yun nodded.

After the man sat down, the table was filled with the pleasant chatter of women. This rendered Yi Yun somewhat speechless. Those who didn’t know might even think he was here to fool around.

The youth obviously noticed Yi Yun’s gaze as he said with a laugh. “I’m Zhou Bingfeng, and I have quite a number of maidservants and concubines. I applied for permission from the sect to have four. The other eight were brought from my family clan. The Myriad God Ridge’s rules allow personal disciples to bring in eight, and not one more.”

Yi Yun was rendered even more speechless by Zhou Bingfeng’s explanation. So he had only brought a third of them. Eight of them were left at his residence. He sure had good fortune in love.

“Junior Brother Yi, as a personal disciple in Myriad God Ridge, there’s no need to be overly restrained. It’s not a problem if you’re a little ostentatious, as long as you have sufficient strength.”

Zhou Bingfeng, whose personality screamed casanova, beckoned for two of the beauties to sit down. They sat on each side of him and joined him in drinking.

Yi Yun said to Zuoyan Xiaoyu, “You should sit down too.”

Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s face blushed as she said hurriedly, “Young Master, there’s no need. I’ll get you some food now.”

At that moment, the lids of the seventeen vessels had been removed. A rich aroma of spirit food surged outwards, whetting one’s appetite.

The fragrance that overwhelmed Yi Yun was something he had never experienced before. He could not help but be curious about Elder Lanqin’s capabilities.

The people in charge of presiding over the banquet were a few old men. They were not Elders, only stewards.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu walked to the first tripod and anxiously received the food from the old man tending to it. It was a spirit fruit the size of a bowl. The flesh of the fruit had been removed and the fragrant food was placed in its core. Zuoyan Xiaoyu carefully held it in her bosom and felt the heat coming from it. She felt sensations going through her heart for, although she was not permitted to eat any of the food, it still excited her greatly.

She glanced at Yi Yun and brought Yi Yun the spirit food like she was handing over a treasure.

But at that moment, Zuoyan Xiaoyu suddenly felt like she was being tripped as she lost her balance.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu let out a shocked cry. Although her cultivation level wasn’t high, she was skilled enough to adjust her balance in midair. But this time, just as she was about to fall, she felt the surrounding laws undergo a change. Maintaining her balance became impossible.

“Peng!”

Zuoyan Xiaoyu fell straight onto the ground. The spirit fruit in her arms dropped to the ground as the food that was once inside it spilled all over.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu sat on the ground in a daze. She looked at the food that was splattered onto the ground as tears began to brim in her eyes. She naturally knew the value of the food she was carrying. Perhaps, all the cultivation resources she had ever used throughout her life was not even as expensive as the spirit fruit. Yet, it was now splattered across the ground by her own hands.

Besides being an outer-sect disciple that worked as a maidservant, she was also one of the least powerful members of her family. As such, she learned to be extremely careful in the residences of personal disciples at all times, always afraid that trouble would befall her randomly. But now, she was in big trouble.

1242 - : Meal

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Young Master… I…”

Zuoyan Xiaoyu looked at Yi Yun with watery eyes filled with grievance. This was the first day she was serving Yi Yun but she had already made a mistake. Furthermore, it was on such an occasion.

“It’s fine.”

Yi Yun stood up and helped Zuoyan Xiaoyu up. He looked at a girl dressed in maidservant garb nearby. He knew very well that the maidservant had tripped Zuoyan Xiaoyu. It appeared unintentional but the trip managed to make Zuoyan Xiaoyu lose her balance. Following that, someone had changed the spatial dimension laws, causing Zuoyan Xiaoyu to fall to the ground.

Upon noticing Yi Yun’s gaze, the maidservant felt a little apprehensive. However, one look at her master emboldened her. She explained, “It wasn’t intentional. She was walking over and happened to slam into my foot.”

Yi Yun’s gaze fluttered to a lanky youth behind the maidservant.

He was holding a cup of wine with eyes narrowed. He appeared listless but Yi Yun knew that he was the one who used laws to prevent Zuoyan Xiaoyu from maintaining her balance.

Yi Yun looked at a few stewards in the room. All of them remained composed, as though they had not noticed everything that had just happened.

Yi Yun sneered inwardly. There were many people that let things happen if they were not personally affected. When it came to these slippery people, personal disciples were not to be offended. The best action to take was to feign ignorance.

Upon sensing Yi Yun’s gaze, the lanky youth met it, his slit-like eyes filled with derision.

“Do you have a grudge against me?”

Yi Yun asked as the lanky youth sneered. He did not answer, as though it was beneath him to even speak to Yi Yun.

At that moment, a laughter came from outside. “Hahaha, is that Junior Brother Yi? How is it? Are you accustomed to living in the Myriad God Ridge?”

Yi Yun turned around and saw four personal disciples appear at the entrance one after another. They were the ones who previously oversaw the entrance test.

And the person who spoke was the youth with thick brows, Song Bowen.

“We finally rushed here for the banquet after administering the test until sundown. It sure wasn’t easy on us.” Song Bowen stretched his arms as though he was exhausted.

Behind him, Ji and Junior Sister Jing did not speak. They only glanced at Yi Yun. They had all seen the conflict that had just happened.

The quartet took their seats as Ji sat with the last disciple out of the four. As for Junior Sister Jing, she sat beside a girl. The remaining Song Bowen sat beside the listless lanky youth.

With Song Bowen taking his seat, the lanky youth’s maidservant automatically helped Song Bowen to a plate of food.

Yi Yun realized the situation with the scene unfolding. Song Bowen and the lanky youth clearly had a great relationship. They had probably discussed this beforehand.

“Junior Brother Yi, it seems you have attracted the misfortune of staying in Sunken Moon Tower.”

Beside Yi Yun, Zhou Bingfeng chuckled through a voice transmission while hugging a charming beauty.

“Why do you say so?” Yi Yun asked indifferently. He seemed particularly unfazed, as though the food that spilled had nothing to do with him.

“Junior Brother Yi, you might not be aware that even the residences of the personal disciples are stratified. Sunken Moon Tower is one of the better places to be. By being the sect master’s disciple that stays in Sunken Moon Tower, it is only natural to be targeted.”

Oh?

Yi Yun did not know that Sunken Moon Tower was in such demand. In that case, his treatment was to be expected. In these people’s minds, he had stirred the Ascending Dragon Cauldron due to his ‘wisdom root.’ He was only lucky to become a personal disciple, he didn’t earn it by his own merit. As such, how could they be convinced of his tenure?

Adding in the conflicts he had with Song Bowen during the test, and it was easy to explain everything that was happening.

And at that moment, Song Bowen feigned surprise as he looked at the food that had splattered on the ground. “Eh? What’s going on?”

The lanky youth beside him lifted his eyelids and languidly said, “Nothing much. Some maidservant was clumsy and spilled food all over.”

“What sort of maidservant is she? Cutting off her limbs would not be enough to compensate such expensive food! This kind of servant that’s as stupid as a pig should be sent away immediately, or at least she would if I had any say. She can’t even deliver a meal properly, so why even bother practicing martial arts? What a joke!” Song Bowen said sarcastically.

As a young lady, how could Zuoyan Xiaoyu react to such nasty derision? She froze with a flushed face as tears began streaming down her cheeks. She wasn’t able to say a word.

“Xiaoyu, come back,” Yi Yun said.

He knew that Song Bowen’s words were truly directed at him, a strike at him by reviling others.

“Young Master, I… I…”

As Zuoyan Xiaoyu sobbed, she felt aggrieved but, before she could say a word, Yi Yun had sat her down.

“Just have a seat,” Yi Yun said. Although he had only been acquainted with Zuoyan Xiaoyu for less than a day, Yi Yun knew that it was not easy for a girl with a humble background like her to work diligently at climbing up the martial path. Yi Yun could not just sit idly by as she was being bullied, reprimanded, and insulted because of him.”

“Oh? So it’s Junior Brother Yi’s maidservant that spilled the food. Look at me shooting off my mouth. I should have held back. I’m sorry! However, the food in these seventeen vessels was cooked by Martial Aunt Lanqin. The seventeen dishes are a set, and the effects are greatly reduced if any dish is missed out on! Why don’t you get that clumsy maidservant of yours to pick the food up off the floor? The ground is swept perfectly clean here so the food isn’t dirty. Besides, so what if it’s a little dirty, right!?”

The personal disciples sitting near Song Bowen burst out into a rapturous roar of laughter when they heard his words. They had good relationships with him so they naturally backed him.

“Junior Brother Song, how can you say that. If you pick up food that’s spilled, wouldn’t that make it pigswill? How can Junior Brother Yi eat pigswill?”

“That’s right. Junior Brother Song, you need to mind your language.”

“All of you are right.” Against the crowd’s mockery, Yi Yun was not angered at all. Instead, he nodded calmly. “It’s true that humans shouldn’t eat pigswill.”

When Yi Yun said those words without rhyme or reason, it left people somewhat baffled. At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly waved his hand as a dazzling black beam suddenly burst out from his palm!

“Whew!”

The black beam was as fast as lightning and, instantly, it reached Song Bowen!

Song Bowen was alarmed. He never expected Yi Yun to suddenly take action. An attack at such a blazing speed left him no time to react!

He retreated hastily but at that moment, the ice-cold killing intent from the black beam seemed to shatter the surrounding space, causing it to collapse down on him like a massive mountain!

“Ha!”

Song Bowen bellowed angrily as he forcefully pushed out his palms, forming a wall of light.

At the same time, the lanky youth next to Song Bowen took action as well. Song Bowen was his junior brother, so how could he sit idle?

In a split second, he produced a curved blade from his interspatial ring and slashed down!

Boom!

With an explosion, the black beam had slammed into Song Bowen’s light barrier. A black flame burst forth as the light barrier was burned through!

The inferno did not abate as its flames coursed along Song Bowen’s Yuan Qi and reached his arms!

What sort of fire was this!?

Song Bowen’s expression was ashen. He had never encountered such a flame before. After all, it was impossible for him to recognize the Heretical God Fire Seed.

The flames burned and consumed everything. Song Bowen felt the surrounding Yuan Qi twisters howling and pressure coming from the rupturing space. It made his dantian feel like it would explode. His heart could hardly beat.

“Peng!”

The contorting flames struck Song Bowen heavily in the chest and engulfed his flesh and burning his meridians!

Song Bowen grunted as he spat out a mouthful of blood before hurtling backward!

And at that moment, the lanky youth’s curved blade came cleaving down a little too late. Song Bowen had already succumbed to heavy injuries as he flew backward. So when his blade slashed into an empty void, it left an extremely ugly expression on the lanky youth’s face.

Were there spatial dimension laws?

The lanky youth was appalled. He believed that he could save Song Bowen in time but when he struck out, the flow of time seemed to dramatically slow. Besides, he never expected that an instant, Song Bowen would be injured in such a manner!

And at that moment, Song Bowen, still flying backwards, came to a sudden halt in midair when Yi Yun tapped his finger.

Following that, Yi Yun casually waved his hand and placed it back on the table. Just this action alone caused Song Bowen to be forcefully pulled back!

As if an invisible rope connected Yi Yun’s palm to Song Bowen’s head, Song Bowen crashed heavily in the middle of the hall when Yi Yun placed his palm down.

“Peng!”

Song Bowen fell head first and his nose smashed into the ground. Oddly enough, he fell right onto the pile of food that had splattered to the ground. His face and mouth were completely filled with food. His chest and everything under was burnt to a crisp and he looked as pathetic as could be.

At that moment, Yi Yun said slowly, “I was commending you on your logic a moment ago. Humans shouldn’t eat pigswill. So why did you gorge on it without any regard? And from the looks of it, you seem to enjoy it?”

When Yi Yun said those words, silence befell the hall! From the start, Yi Yun’s intention was to beat Song Bowen soundly and throw him onto the pile of food.

From beginning to the end, Song Bowen was like a tiny chick that was helpless against him.

This was an unexpected outcome. Although Song Bowen had yet to be promoted to personal disciple, his strength was not to be doubted. Otherwise, he would not have been thought highly of by Elder Taiqing. Yet he was completely incomparable with Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had just entered the Myriad God Ridge and his entry was only because he had stirred the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. How was he so strong despite not being a proper personal disciple?

Sitting beside Yi Yun, Zhou Bingfeng could not help but clap his hands. “Impressive! Impressive! I thought Junior Brother Yi would suffer today, but I never expected you to be this strong. Is your cultivation level really only at the fourth-floor Dao Palace?”

1243 - : Humans Shouldn’t Eat Pigswill

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s cultivation level could be seen at a glance. It was also easy to see that Yi Yun had a robust foundation, but his nomological insights and the strength of his techniques were naturally less conspicuous. As for Myriad God Ridge’s personal disciples, they were proud people. The Myriad God Ridge spent large amounts of resources to nurture them, so they found it unbelievable that they would be inferior to a new disciple.

“Junior Brother Song, are you alright!?”

With a flash, the lanky youth appeared beside Song Bowen. When he inspected Song Bowen’s injuries, his expression turned ashen. Song Bowen’s dantian and meridians had suffered grievous burns. Although Song Bowen’s cultivation was unaffected, he would definitely be bedridden for a month.

“You suddenly launched a ruthless sneak attack while he wasn’t prepared. You have openly violated the sect rules! What insolence!” The lanky youth said sternly.

According to the Myriad God Ridge’s rules, disciples were not allowed to suddenly attack another. If there was any strife between them, both parties could make arrangements to fight it out at Myriad God Platform. The loser would then compensate the other party as per the arrangement.

Once fights reached the Myriad God Platform, it would be a world-shaking battle. Although the sect rules prohibited killing, no one held back as the compensation would usually be quite a substantial amount. If one did accidentally kill the other, it was something that could not be helped. After all, blades did not discriminate!

Therefore, even if there was a conflict between disciples, they would not be too quick to head for Myriad God Platform.

For Yi Yun to suddenly attack, causing severe injuries in the process, was a punishable offense.

“Hehe!” Yi Yun sneered. “It’s clear who exactly started this conflict. Don’t you try to use the sect rules on me. If you resent anything, we can always go to Myriad God Platform and agree to an amount of compensation. I’ll be glad to entertain you!”

“You…”

The lanky youth’s voice stagnated and had nothing to return verbally.

Although he said that Yi Yun had garnered victory through a sneak attack, he was acutely aware that, even if Yi Yun had attacked openly, he was much stronger than Song Bowen.

It was even highly probable that he had not used all his strength. He lacked confidence in how he stacked up to Yi Yun, so how could he risk settling the dispute at Myriad God Platform?

“Are you trying to provoke me to the Myriad God Platform? Do you think I’m afraid of you!?”

Although the lanky youth lacked the courage to follow through, his speech remained adamant. He had already been a personal disciple for two decades. His strength was far greater than Song Bowen, who was only recently promoted to personal disciple.

He silently stared at Yi Yun as though he was trying to decipher Yi Yun’s true strength.

And at that moment, Yi Yun said to Zuoyan Xiaoyu, “Xiaoyu, since the food has been spilled, go get me some more.”

Ah?

Xiaoyu suddenly jolted out of her daze when she heard Yi Yun’s words.

Yi Yun had defeated Song Bowen like a sudden clap of thunder, one that left no time to cover one’s ears. She had seen all of it and never expected that the young master she served was so powerful.

“Young Master… About the food…”

Zuoyan Xiaoyu was a little taken aback. She had already spilled the food so where was she to get another serving? A person was only allowed one serving of Elder Lanqin’s food.

Just as she was about to say something, she saw Yi Yun point at Song Bowen’s table. His finger was directed at Song Bowen’s food.

Was he… asking her to take away Song Bowen’s food?

Seeing the lanky youth sitting at the table, with such a sullen expression, Zuoyan Xiaoyu felt extremely apprehensive.

She hesitated for a moment before gritting her teeth to walk towards the table.

Although she was afraid of the lanky youth, she knew that Yi Yun’s assault was partly on her behalf.

In that case, how could she undermine Yi Yun? Compared to Yi Yun’s brutal assault, all she was doing was taking a serving of food.

When she walked in front of Song Bowen’s table, Zuoyan Xiaoyu saw the maidservant that had tripped her. She was standing behind the lanky youth and staring at her angrily.

Personal disciples had their conflicts, while maidservants shared their own strifes. Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s strength may have been lacking, but it was impossible for her to lose to the other party’s maidservant. She grabbed Song Bowen’s food.

And at that moment, Yi Yun spoke again. “Take both shares!”

What!?

The atmosphere in the mess hall completely froze the moment Yi Yun said those words!

The lanky youth’s eyes flashed coldly. He had to turn a blind eye to Song Bowen’s food being taken, but to even take his away was preposterous.

“Punk! You’re going too far!”

“So what if I am? I’m not one to suffer in silence. You previously instigated your maidservant to trip Xiaoyu, spilling my food. It’s only right and proper that I make you compensate me. Even if this reaches the Table of Elders, I will not be faulted.”

“If you want to keep that meal of yours, go ahead. If you agree to fight me at Myriad God Platform in three days, you can keep the food.”

Yi Yun said this indifferently but his words left everyone present speechless.

What was overbearing? This was it!

Although the lanky youth never took a hit from Yi Yun, his outcome was worse than being hit. Yi Yun was quickly forming a mental demon in him.

If he agreed to face Yi Yun at Myriad God Platform, he would likely be outmatched. If that time came, he would end up being severely injured and also allow Yi Yun to profit from him.

However, if he were to reject the notion and allow a mere maidservant take away his food, how was he to face others in the future?

“How dare you?”

The lanky youth looked at Zuoyan Xiaoyu as though he could kill her with his gaze.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu felt her body tighten as she was stifled by the lanky youth’s glare.

But at that moment, Zuoyan Xiaoyu felt a soft aura permeate her body. She immediately felt her body lighten and the pressure dissipated.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu turned to glance at Yi Yun. She knew that he was protecting her with his aura.

This left Zuoyan Xiaoyu with an odd sense of safety. She was of humble birth and had never experienced the feeling of having a powerful backer supporting her. She felt emboldened, even if she faced an enemy that was usually insurmountable.

Gritting her teeth, Zuoyan Xiaoyu extended her arms and took the food in front of the lanky youth!

The lanky youth’s eyes flared with killing intent while, at that moment, Yi Yun pressed down on his interspatial ring.

“Are you intending to fight me now instead of waiting for the Myriad God Platform?”

Yi Yun’s voice seemed to come from a nether abyss. It sent a chill down everyone’s backs.

In Myriad God Ridge, the so-called rules were used to restrain the weak. The stronger one was, the lesser the punishments were for violating the rules. Besides, it was the lanky youth and Song Bowen that had started the conflict. Yi Yun already stood on the side of reason. There was no doubt in people’s minds that Yi Yun would truly take action the moment the lanky youth moved.

In fact, Yi Yun ordered Zuoyan Xiaoyu to take the food because he was certain he could severely injure the lanky youth before he could even lay a hand on her.

At that moment, time seemed to come to a pause. People watched as Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s tiny hands lightly grabbed the lanky youth’s spirit fruit.

Everyone fell silent. No personal disciple stood forward. The stewards let the matter play out as it did not affect them.

The lanky youth’s expression reached an unprecedented ugliness. He wanted to strike the handmaid in front of him to death but it would not restore his reputation. He knew very well that if he truly did so, he was giving Yi Yun a reason to ruthlessly beat him up. In the end, the conflict would reach Myriad God Platform and things would only get worse.

And if he acted first, killing the maidservant in front of him, Yi Yun would not even suffer any punishments from the sect rules.

In the end, all the lanky youth could do was watch helplessly as Zuoyan Xiaoyu took away his food!

“He tolerated it… He actually tolerated it…”

“What do you know? The accomplished are always tolerance extraordinaires.”

Some people laughed with derision. Among the many personal disciples present, there were many that did not see eye to eye with the lanky youth. Some could not help but crack wise. And hearing their jeers only made the lanky youth feel like dying.

He had never been so embarrassed in his life!

1244 - : Tolerance Extraordinaire

CKtalon  CKtalon

Zuoyan Xiaoyu placed the fruit in front of Yi Yun. The first dish prepared by Elder Lanqin was made from Green Spirit Fruit. It had a naturally refreshing fragrance, and the rice that was stuffed into the fruit was jade pearl rice. Golden-threaded dates adorned it, allowing every grain of rice to suffuse a light green color. The crystalline grains, when piled together, looked like jade fragments.

Just taking in the fragrance was intoxicating, and was enough to wipe away any physical exhaustion.

“Great food, it really is appetizing!”

Yi Yun had never eaten such food before. He had participated in several banquets held by important figures, allowing him to sample all sorts of precious delicacies, but none of them could match the Green Spirit Fruit rice in front of him.

Indeed, the Sinkhole was unique. As a large sect of the Calm Sea, the Myriad God Ridge’s deep heritage was not to be doubted.

Most of the time, strength was displayed in ways other than wars or territorial disputes. Just the quality of basic necessities of life was enough to tell the difference.

Apart from the food, the Myriad God Ridge had lodging like the Sunken Moon Tower. Even the simple outfits worn by personal disciples were superior-grade enchanted clothes. Nothing could be faulted.

At that moment, Zhou Bingfeng said with a smile, “Brother Yi, just being able to eat a bit of Elder Lanqin’s food is a great blessing. There’s never enough for me. Besides, the food in these nine tripods and eight cauldrons form a natural set. They respectively nourish seventeen laws. This first rice dish is called Green Spirit Jade Fragment. It gathers rich wood-elemental Yuan Qi, and the Green Spirit Fruit’s essence has long been absorbed by the rice. Enjoy your meal.”

As Zhou Bingfeng spoke, he began wolfing down his food.

Zhou Bingfeng was clearly someone with much life experience, but his table manners were in no way elegant. He chomped down on the Green Spirit Jade Fragment, filling his mouth with rice fragrance.

Yi Yun ate two sets himself and enjoyed it all the more. Not only was the jade pearl rice gratifying, its texture was excellent. It was soft and did not lose its bounce.

In a few mouthfuls, he had finished a quarter of the rice within the fruit. However, Yi Yun noticed that Zuoyan Xiaoyu was sitting beside him with her head lowered. She looked very obedient.

With a thought, he pushed the other serving of Green Spirit Jade Fragment in front of Zuoyan Xiaoyu and said, “There’s another serving. Take it.”

“Ah?”

Zuoyan Xiaoyu hurriedly shook her head. “I couldn’t! This is food prepared especially for personal disciples. How can a maidservant like me eat it?”

Just being allowed to sit meant that a maidservant was given extremely high preferential treatment, much less eating the food in the mess hall.

“It’s fine. There are two servings anyway.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he pointed to the middle of the hall. Song Bowen had suffered such grievous injuries that he was still unconscious.

The stewards that presided over the meal began doing their jobs. They sought out people to send Song Bowen for healing and, as such, he naturally would miss his meal.

Thus, Yi Yun made it a point to not stand on ceremony by taking Song Bowen’s meal for his own.

There was no reason to refuse such delicious food that was also greatly beneficial to one’s cultivation.

“But, Young Master, I really can’t eat it.” Zuoyan Xiaoyu was adamant. She felt her lowly status did not afford her the pleasure of the expensive food.

“Then, get a small bowl and have some. If you just keep watching me eat, I’ll feel uneasy.”

Yi Yun was not accustomed to having people serving him while eating. He found it awkward if a maidservant was watching him while he had his meals.

After failing to decline the offer, Zuoyan Xiaoyu got a tiny bowl and used a ladle to scoop a portion of rice into her bowl, and absolutely refused anything else.

As she looked at the tiny bit of rice in her tiny bowl, Zuoyan Xiaoyu felt conflicted. She was acutely aware how inferior the status of outer-sect disciples was in the Myriad God Ridge. She felt blissful enough to be a maidservant of a personal disciple, but was even more happy to be able to serve Yi Yun.

Under the light, the crystalline pearl rice twinkled like perfect pieces of art. She could not bring herself to eat it and could even sense that the maidservants close by, especially the girl that had tripped her, were casting envious stares at her.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu opened her tiny mouth and carefully ate a mouthful of rice. The fragrance filled her mouth as she slowly chewed and held the food in her mouth, before swallowing it unwillingly.

But even so, the rice had already transformed into pure Yuan Qi that infused into her body while in her mouth. It nourished her dantian.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu clearly felt her cultivation level, that had recently been on a plateau, beginning to subtly increase.

The effects of such spirit food were more intense for cultivators at lower cultivation levels. If warriors with low cultivation levels consumed very enriching pills, their bodies might not be able to withstand the energy of the pills. The warrior could very well end up exploding to their deaths. However, food would not result in such a situation.

“Go get the second dish. Take two servings.” Yi Yun said after wiping his mouth. He had eaten nearly two servings of Green Spirit Jade Fragment and felt his appetite being whet!

“Yea!”

Zuoyan Xiaoyu nodded and walked to a bronze cauldron and took the second dish.

She felt a little apprehensive as she approached the steward in charge of dispensing the food, afraid of asking for two servings, but she never expected the steward to just hand over two servings without her request. There was tacit consent over the situation.

This imbued Zuoyan Xiaoyu with the realization that the Myriad God Ridge was a sect that valued strength. Here, strength was the absolute greatest rule.

“For one person to eat two servings, and even let his personal maidservant have some? What arrogance! Senior Brother Ji, are you going to watch idly?”

Among the personal disciples, someone said this to Ji Changsheng.

They were all personal disciples, but the differences in status and strength were immense as well. Ji Changsheng had been a personal disciple for more than three centuries. Song Bowen was naturally incomparable to him. This was why he could run the entrance test and help Mo Shanqing preside over the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“So what if I do? Junior Brother Song was at fault in today’s conflict. Without recognizing his strength, he wantonly provoked Yi Yun and ended up being taught a lesson. Who else is to blame but himself? However, this Yi Yun was ruthless in his retaliation. His personality is downright repugnant! Although the Myriad God Ridge values strength, there are numerous people stronger than Yi Yun. When he does encounter someone stronger, the one suffering will be him,” Ji Changsheng said indifferently as he continued eating.

Although Yi Yun could not hear Ji Changsheng’s conversation, his gaze had inadvertently swept past Ji Changsheng.

Yi Yun felt that Ji Changsheng gave others a deep and unfathomable impression.

“Xiaoyu, have more.”

When Yi Yun saw that Zuoyan Xiaoyu would only eat a tiny mouthful of each dish before refusing to eat further, he gave her a huge scoop that filled most of her bowl.

“Young Master… I…”

Zuoyan Xiaoyu was overwhelmed by the favor but with the food in her bowl, she could not decline it.

“Eat it. It’s Song Bowen’s anyway. It will be a waste if you do not eat it. Besides, I can sense that the cultivation benefits you will receive from eating this food will be much better than mine. It seems like you are about to make a breakthrough.”

…

Yi Yun enjoyed the meal, for it had been years since he had such a feast.

Previously, when he was in the Myriad Divine Territory, Yi Yun had entered seclusion for twenty-five years and practically did not eat or drink. When he went to the Mirage Sea Realm, he stayed there for a few years and led an idyllic life with Huan Chenxue. She was a woman that lived like a saint. She would often eat spirit flowers and drink morning dew. Although the diet was elegant, it was definitely not delicious from Yi Yun’s point of view. How could it compare with the delicacies prepared meticulously by a Herbal Board Master?

Yi Yun felt that he could stay in Myriad God Ridge just for the monthly feast alone.

That night, after having his fill, Yi Yun began secluded meditation. After eating the seventeen dishes, Yi Yun felt that the Yuan Qi in his body was gathering together. Although it was not intense, it seemed never-ending and he felt like he was almost about to break through.

In fact, Yi Yun had cultivated in the Mirage Sea Realm for a few years and his cultivation level was extremely close to the fifth-floor Dao Palace. Now he was on the brink of a breakthrough, but it was not solely because of the meal. Even if he had not eaten it, he would have naturally broken through a few months later. What the meal did was save him some time.

And, of course, Sunken Moon Tower was very suitable for seclusion. As such, Yi Yun entered seclusion for three days.

During this time, Zuoyan Xiaoyu stood guard in Sunken Moon Tower’s yard.

As she guarded Yi Yun, she cultivated as well. There were large amounts of Yuan Qi gathered by the arrays there, and with the Sunken Moon Wood nourishing her soul, it became a lot easier for Zuoyan Xiaoyu to cultivate.

She took two days to absorb most of the Yuan Qi given by the seventeen dishes. As she had a low cultivation level, her breakthrough came earlier than Yi Yun’s. Her cultivation level had reached the perfected Yuan Opening realm.

This cultivation level was not bad for her age. However, there was still the Heaven Ascension realm and Dao Manifestation realm separating her from Yi Yun’s Dao Palace realm.

Even so, Zuoyan Xiaoyu was very delighted.

She speculated that if she had not entered the Myriad God Ridge, it would have taken another three years for her Dao Seed to grow into a Dao Tree, allowing her to officially enter the Heaven Ascension realm.

The time she would take to enter the Heaven Ascension realm had been shortened to a few months.

She was eager for Yi Yun to come out of seclusion so that she could flaunt her cultivation results. Although Zuoyan Xiaoyu knew that her accomplishments meant nothing, she felt that simply gaining an approving nod from Yi Yun would leave her drowning in happiness.

Just as Zuoyan Xiaoyu was anticipating that moment, there was a knock on the door.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu opened the door and saw four people standing on the other side. They were dressed in Myriad God Ridge steward garb and they were expressionless. They executed their job without any personal considerations.

“Are you outer-sect disciple Zuoyan Xiaoyu?” The man leading the group asked Zuoyan Xiaoyu coldly. His voice did not exude any emotions.

“That…is me…” Zuoyan Xiaoyu was taken aback. From the person’s attire, he was likely in charge of the Myriad God Ridge’s miscellaneous chores department.

“Alright. Your job has been changed. From now on, you do not need to continue being a maidservant for Sunken Moon Tower. Follow me, we will arrange a new job for you.”

“Ah?” Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s breathing stagnated. She once believed that entering Myriad God Ridge and becoming Yi Yun’s maidservant was the luckiest and happiest thing to ever happen to her. But was this bliss only meant to last less than three days before turning into evanescent bubbles?

1245 - : Green Spirit Jade Fragment

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What are you waiting for? Quickly pack your things!”

The steward impatiently said this when he saw Zuoyan Xiaoyu in a daze.

She was an outer-sect disciple, and as such her job was determined by the Miscellaneous Chores Department. Their orders were like a royal decree to her, so how could she refuse them?

To put it into perspective, outer-sect disciples were ranked lowest on the totem pole. They were too insignificant.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu bit her lip and accepted that indeed, with her status, she was not fated to serve Yi Yun, a powerful personal disciple who treated her well.

She smiled bitterly and said, “I’ll leave with you… but when Young Master Yi started his seclusion, I stood in this spot to wait for him. At the moment, I still serve Young Master Yi in Sunken Moon Tower, so if I am to leave, I must wait for him to come out of seclusion to inform him that I’m leaving…”

The seclusion grounds in Sunken Moon Tower had its own array formation. Once it was activated, any information from outside could be transmitted in.

Unfortunately, warriors would sever their perception while in seclusion. They needed to be oblivious to everything that was happening around them, or they would not be able to focus their mind on breaking through. It was for this reason that warriors would seek expert guardians to protect them while they cultivated.

Under the current circumstances, Yi Yun would not be able to detect that Zuoyan Xiaoyu was leaving. Therefore, as his maidservant, she felt that she should not leave without a word.

However, the head steward became impatient when he heard Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s words. He snorted coldly and said, “Who do you think you are? You are only a servant that usually serves tea and massages. The best you can hope for is to catch the eye of someone and become a concubine. If not, you will be forever a maidservant. Do you really think you are that important to a personal disciple? Bidding farewell? Quick, leave with us!”

The person who spoke was a dark-skinned steward. He looked like a mortal in his forties.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu was a mere outer-sect disciple and was unable to put up any resistance. She gave the tightly-shut door to the cultivation chamber a meaningful and longing glance before leaving with the dark-skinned steward.

…

A day later, in the cultivation chamber, a gray flame whirled around in mid-air. Amid the flowing flames was a gentle seven-colored light; and within it, one could vaguely make out a sleeping girl’s face.

That girl was none other than Ling Xie’er.

Ever since she awoke, she became fused with the Heretical God Fire Seed. Now, while she slept, Yi Yun could sense that Ling Xie’er’s soul power was constantly increasing. He guessed that when Ling Xie’er’s soul power reached a certain apex, she would undergo a new metamorphosis. It was unknown what Ling Xie’er and the Heretical God Fire Seed would evolve into.

“My cultivation level has finally broken through to the fifth-floor Dao Palace realm. It’s time to leave.”

Yi Yun took a deep breath as the surrounding black flames and pure Yuan Qi rushed into his body as though he was a whale intaking water.

Yi Yun opened the array and walked out of the cultivation grounds. It was already night and there were orange-yellow lights lit in Sunken Moon Tower. There was a faint tea fragrance in the air that left Yi Yun feeling refreshed.

Yi Yun suddenly felt that a maidservant taking care of his daily tasks was quite a nice thing to have. In the past, he had been alone for too long and began to feel somewhat lonely.

Yi Yun pushed open Sunken Moon Tower’s door and walked into the room, where he saw tea already prepared on the table. There were two plates of intricate desserts sitting beside the tea.

These desserts were another thing that the Myriad God Ridge gave solely to its personal disciples. Typical disciples had no chance of enjoying such perks.

A few of the desserts had been painstakingly chosen, with different colors and shapes placed together in an elegant and harmonious arrangement.

And on the table was a bronze heating stove. Hot air effused from it, maintaining the desserts’ warmness and soft texture.

Yi Yun knew that Xiaoyu had no way of knowing exactly when he would finish his seclusion. As such, she must have freshly prepared all of this every day. She was quite thoughtful.

Just as he was thinking over the matter, he heard the maidservant room’s door open from upstairs. A girl in a red dress stood by the door with an elegant posture. She was beautiful with her white skin effusing a healthy glow, making her look very endearing.

However… she was not Zuoyan Xiaoyu.

Yi Yun was taken aback. A girl had suddenly appeared in his Sunken Moon Tower and was living in the room on the second floor. This left him a little bewildered.

“Who are you?” asked Yi Yun.

The girl gave Yi Yun a poised bow and beamed. She said, “My name is Duanmu Qingwen, an outer-sect disciple that entered the Myriad God Ridge seven days ago. I was formerly tending the herbs in the southeastern herbal gardens. Yesterday, people from the Miscellaneous Chores Department instructed me to serve you, Young Master Yi.”

“Young Master, you have been in seclusion for four days, am I right? You must be tired. I have made some Misty Flower Tea for you and have lit a stove of Sunken Water Fragrance. Young Master, I wonder if you like to drink alcohol? If you do, I’ll warm a pot. You can take a bath first, and drink while soaking in it.”

The red-dressed girl said all this as she arrived on the first floor like a gust of wind. She even pulled open the door to the bathroom on the first floor.

The bathroom in Sunken Moon Tower was extremely spacious. The bathing pool was made of superior suet jade and it was filled with water. There were flower petals of every color scattered across the water surface. Thick steam effused from it, blurring out the entire area. Just one look at it made one feel comfortable.

“I have filled the pool with Myriad God Ridge’s main peak’s ten-thousand-year-old Melted Ice Water. It has just been heated up and I have scattered petals from the Five-colored Flower. It has quite a refreshing effect. Young Master, are you satisfied with this? If you are, let me help you into the bath.”

As Duanmu Qingwen spoke, she picked up the tray of tea. The tray made of softwood could float on the water. By placing alcohol and tea on it, one could imbibe it at any time during a bath. It was extremely convenient.

Duanmu Qingwen wanted to invite Yi Yun into the bath but it was not appropriate for her to pull Yi Yun’s hand. Therefore, she stood by the bath’s entrance, watching Yi Yun earnestly and with watery eyes.

At that moment, Duanmu Qingwen appeared poised and dignified. But in fact, she was feeling somewhat nervous. Although she came from the Duanmu family and enjoyed a particular status in the Wenyue Country, she knew how low her status was in the Myriad God Ridge. Compared to personal disciples, the difference was as stark as the difference between night and day.

Back when Duanmu Qingwen missed the opportunity to serve personal disciples, she had been somewhat disappointed. But despite abandoning hope, a twist of fate suddenly offered her such an opportunity.

As such, she cherished this opportunity even more.

Although her Duanmu family wielded great power, her patriarch was aged. His lifespan was coming to an end and if she could not hold up the family, the Duanmu family’s position would be in extreme danger.

Now, she had been in Sunken Moon Tower for a day. Therefore, she was naturally meticulous and careful for there was no way she could neglect Young Master Yi—the person she needed to serve.

However, despite how much anticipation she had, she did not see any look of satisfaction on Yi Yun’s face. Instead, she was panicked to find that he was frowning.

1246 - : Newcomer

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Young Master… Young Master, are you dissatisfied with me?”

Duanmu Qingwen probed carefully.

Yi Yun did not reply to her. Instead, he closed his eyes and swept the Sunken Moon Tower’s vicinity with his perception. He did not find a single trace of Zuoyan Xiaoyu.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu was gone!

Yi Yun suddenly felt an ominous foreboding.

Yi Yun naturally remembered Duanmu Qingwen’s name. Previously, Zuoyan Xiaoyu had mentioned that Duanmu Qingwen was an outer-sect disciple that had entered Myriad God Ridge together with her.

Back then, Duanmu Qingwen wished to be a maidservant in the personal disciple division as well. She had even tried to use her family ties but, in the end, the job landed in Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s hands because of her slightly higher talent.

If there were shifts, Duanmu Qingwen still shouldn’t have been there. She was not a maidservant in the personal disciple zone at all.

Although he knew this, Yi Yun still held hopes. He asked her, “Do you maidservants also take shifts? Zuoyan Xiaoyu was serving me previously. Where is she?”

“Xiaoyu? She’s been transferred away. It was the Miscellaneous Chores Department that instructed me to replace her,” replied Duanmu Qingwen.

“She’s been transferred!?” Duanmu Qingwen’s answer sank Yi Yun’s heart. Indeed, it was as he thought!

There was no question on the reason. It must have been due to the banquet four days ago.

Yi Yun was a personal disciple and, with his powerful strength, those people would not dare touch him. However, Zuoyan Xiaoyu was different. She was only an outer-sect disciple, lacking in both strength and background. She could be easily strong-armed!

Although the Myriad God Ridge rules prohibited disciples from killing one another, there was not much punishment other than paying some Spirit Jade if a personal disciple were to kill an outer-sect disciple!

Song Bowen and that lanky youth were clearly not magnanimous people. Having suffered at Yi Yun’s hand, they knew that there was no way to turn the tables, so they vented their anger on Zuoyan Xiaoyu!

Back at the banquet, Zuoyan Xiaoyu had smacked Song Bowen and the lanky youth’s faces at Yi Yun’s request! As such, Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s outcome could very likely be terrible!

And the worst thing was…this was all a result of Yi Yun’s own actions.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun was seized with remorse. His negligence put Zuoyan Xiaoyu in trouble! If he had brought Zuoyan Xiaoyu into his seclusion chamber, such a situation would not have happened.

“Where’s Zuoyan Xiaoyu? Where did she go!?”

Yi Yun’s voice was rushed and unknowingly contained killing intent. It made Duanmu Qingwen frightened.

“I… I do not know…”

Duanmu Qingwen was truly startled by Yi Yun. She was only at the Yuan Opening realm, and being enveloped by Yi Yun’s killing intent was like a mortal standing naked in the cold wind. She trembled in fear.

“You replaced her but you do not know where she is?”

Yi Yun took a step forward and glared at Duanmu Qingwen.

Duanmu Qingwen shrunk backward but, faced with Yi Yun’s imposing stance, she was unable to endure. Unknowingly, she slumped into a chair and stared at Yi Yun with a face full of horror.

She had previously heard from sisters about Yi Yun. As a newly recruited personal disciple, Yi Yun was not only excellent in bearing, he was also very powerful and nice to servants.

When she was transferred to Sunken Moon Tower, she was the envy of many girls. She believed that being picked to serve Yi Yun was a stroke of luck that she accrued from several lifetimes. She wanted to diligently do her part. Everything she did today took her hours, and it was all done meticulously.

However, not only did she fail to obtain a compliment from Yi Yun, she was also hounded by Yi Yun with questioning that was filled with killing intent. She felt truly aggrieved at that moment.

“I… I really do not know…”

As Duanmu Qingwen spoke, she was feeling emotionally hurt. Back when she entered the sect, she did not mind losing to Zuoyan Xiaoyu. But now, having replaced Zuoyan Xiaoyu, she had done so much only to be questioned by Yi Yun in such a fierce manner about Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s whereabouts. It was impossible for Duanmu Qingwen to feel any sort of good about this.

Upon seeing Duanmu Qingwen’s reaction, Yi Yun took a step back. His remorse and anger towards Song Bowen had caused him to lose control of his emotions.

“Sorry…” Yi Yun said.

On careful thought, Duanmu Qingwen likely had nothing to do with the matter. The Duanmu family was only a small family clan with a seven-floor Dao Palace realm warrior at its head. There was no way they could have any relations with a personal disciple like Song Bowen.

Perhaps, after Song Bowen had Zuoyan Xiaoyu transferred away, the Miscellaneous Chores Department had casually selected another girl to replace her. And with Duanmu Qingwen having used her family connections previously, she was the next natural choice.

Upon thinking things through, Yi Yun held Duanmu Qingwen’s hand and helped her up from the chair.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m only feeling anxious over Zuoyan Xiaoyu. Things have happened that you are unaware of. I’m afraid Xiaoyu is in trouble. Where is the Miscellaneous Chores Department? Bring me there.”

Yi Yun repressed the pangs of fury in his heart and tried to speak calmly to Duanmu Qingwen.

He knew very well that it had been some time since Zuoyan Xiaoyu was taken away.

If Song Bowen and the lanky youth were bent on revenge, the odds were greatly against Zuoyan Xiaoyu.

Such a long period of time was enough for them to do anything to Zuoyan Xiaoyu.

Yi Yun had killed countless warriors in his many years of cultivation. However, he never harmed the innocent. He felt uneasy if a girl in her prime was destroyed because of him.

“There will only be people in the Miscellaneous Chores Department…early tomorrow.”

“Bring me there now.” Yi Yun’s tone did not leave room for doubt.

“Alright… Alright…”

Duanmu Qingwen was filling a myriad of emotions. She never expected Yi Yun to be so worried over Zuoyan Xiaoyu. As a Myriad God Ridge personal disciple, even an emperor had to treat him respectfully and fear him. Yet, he was worried over a mere maidservant that had no background. This made Duanmu Qingwen suddenly envious of Zuoyan Xiaoyu. If Yi Yun could be this nice to her, she would be willing to brave any dangers for him.

There was more than one branch of the Miscellaneous Chores Department. Every region had miscellaneous chores that needed to be done, so a Miscellaneous Chores Department was set up in every region.

Duanmu Qingwen led Yi Yun to the Miscellaneous Chores Department in charge of the personal disciples’ zone.

At that moment, the Miscellaneous Chores Department was deserted and quiet. There was only a manager on duty. He looked to be in his thirties and had his legs crossed as he sat comfortably on a lounge chair. Beside him, a girl that looked like a maidservant was kneeling on a mat, massaging him.

She was rather good-looking but she was only a mortal.

Although the Myriad God Ridge would choose virgin female outer-sect disciples with talent and excellent looks as maidservants, the selected were only used to serve personal disciples.

To put it frankly, the Myriad God Ridge had considered that some maidservants would be fancied by the personal disciples. Therefore, there was a strict requirement for the maidservants’ talent. Girls with great talent would be beneficial to the personal disciples’ cultivation level after they extracted their primordial Yin!

As for the manager, he naturally did not get such preferential treatment. The servant beside him was likely one that he bought himself.

1247 - : Duanmu Qingwen

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Use more strength. What did I buy you for!?”

The manager took another puff from his smoke pipe as he grumbled unhappily. He sensed the people entering but he paid them no mind. He had been a manager of the Miscellaneous Chores Department for centuries. It was a lucrative job and the outer-sect disciples that came to his department would always treat him respectfully. He was already accustomed to leading a life of a lord.

“Manager Song…” Qingwen spoke.

“Who’s there?” The middle-aged manager put down the smoke pipe and glanced at Duanmu Qingwen. Following that, he shot a glance at Yi Yun before lying down comfortably on his chair. He sucked a huge mouthful of smoke and languidly said, “Come back tomorrow. I’m not going to handle any matters now!”

Perhaps some outer-sect disciple was here trying to pull some social strings. Without sufficient benefits, he wouldn’t even bother speaking, much less take part in a deal.

Yi Yun looked coldly at the middle-aged man and said, “Your surname is Song? You are a family member of Song Bowen?”

Yi Yun knew very well that in the Myriad God Ridge, there were many family clans with long heritages. When some of these family clans reached a place of influence, they would tend to commit nepotism, allowing their family clan to further entrench themselves in Myriad God Ridge and gradually grow stronger.

“Who are you?” The middle-aged man gave Yi Yun a displeased look. He did not know Yi Yun but, after seeing Duanmu Qingwen, he had a vague guess.

“This is my master, Yi Yun,” explained Duanmu Qingwen.

“Ah? Young Master Yi?” He hurriedly got up with a grumble as his face scrunched into an obsequious smile. “So it’s Young Master Yi that is gracing me with his presence. You should have told me earlier. I’m Song Yuanpin. Look at me, failing to recognize a great person. Young Master Yi, have a seat please.”

Song Yuanpin bowed unctuously. His exceedingly sycophant gesture and acting irritated Yi Yun greatly. “Was it your Song family that had Zuoyan Xiaoyu transferred away?”

“Ah… Zuoyan Xiaoyu?” The middle-aged man’s eyes flitted as he said ingratiatingly, “How could that be? The transfer of maidservants is decided by the Miscellaneous Chores Department’s headquarters. How can the Song family intervene? The Miscellaneous Chores Department felt that if Zuoyan Xiaoyu could splatter food while carrying it, she was clumsy. Such a lass isn’t fit for serving Young Master Yi so, naturally, she was transferred. Now, we have assigned a new maidservant to you. Not only is she beautiful and talented, she’s also obedient. Look at how smart she looks, Young Master Yi. She’s probably ten times better than Zuoyan Xiaoyu.”

Song Yuanpin had been manning the Miscellaneous Chores Department for years and knew the proper way to deal with all sorts of people. He knew very well that most men would discard the old for something new. By giving Yi Yun such a petite lass, allowing him to indulge in sexual pleasures, it would be a great boon he could not resist. As for Zuoyan Xiaoyu, she was a mere girl, more like an ant than a woman. She would be forgotten by Yi Yun in less than two days. Therefore, Song Yuanpin thought nothing of transferring Zuoyan Xiaoyu away.

Her outcome was the least of his worries. Who did care about a lass like her? Then again, the lass was quite supple-looking. If only he didn’t lack the status, he would have kept her for himself to enjoy.

While these thoughts flashed across Song Yuanpin’s mind, he continued beaming. One did not smack a smiling person. Song Yuanpin was considered a slippery one, so even though he was facing Yi Yun, a person of much higher status than him, he was not worried. As long as he remained impervious to the questioning and pushed the blame, he could naturally dismiss Yi Yun with his smiling face.

“Oh? Your explanation seems rather reasonable.”

Yi Yun nodded. Just as his voice faded, he suddenly punched out.

“Peng!”

With a boom, Song Yuanpin cried out tragically. He flew backward like a ball as the lounge chair behind him was flattened.

The maidservant that was massaging his leg was given a fright. She nearly thought that she was dead but, despite such a violent explosion, she was not injured at all.

“I… I… Cough…”

Song Yuanpin had been struck in the dantian by Yi Yun. His mouth was covered in blood and he was in a daze. All he saw were doubles, particularly of Yi Yun.

He never expected to encounter such a malignant star. He was struck before he could finish delivering his excuses.

“I left your dantian intact with this punch. The next one will cripple you. Go ahead and test my patience.”

Yi Yun was overbearing. He knew he would offend the Song family, but so what? Everything he did at Myriad God Ridge boiled down to him finding Old Snake. And since he had accomplished that goal, he didn’t exactly need to stay in Myriad God Ridge. This was the reason why Yi Yun acted unbridled.

Since the Myriad God Ridge was an expedient measure, there was no reason for him to be bullied everywhere and suffer in silence. He might as well do as his pleased, allowing his mind to feel at ease!

“Don’t… Don’t do that. Spare… spare me.” Upon hearing Yi Yun threatening to cripple him of his dantian, Son Yuanpin’s face turned pale. He knew very well what sort of person Yi Yun was. He would definitely carry out his threat. He even dared to beat Song Bowen, much less a trivial Song family member like him. Crippling him was nothing!

Yi Yun was the sect master’s personal disciple after all. The Song family could not attack Yi Yun, for the sect master wasn’t from the Song family!

When the time came, he would sacrifice himself in the war. Who would mourn him? Even the Song family would abandon him like roadkill.

“Zuoyan Xiaoyu was taken by Song Bowen to be his servant,” Song Yuanpin said through clenched teeth. Now that he told Yi Yun, if Yi Yun caused a big hooha over the matter, the Song family would learn it was him who leaked the news. He too would suffer greatly.

“What? He sure has guts. Does he have a death wish because of a servant?” Yi Yun’s eyes flared with killing intent. “Where is Song Bowen!?”

“He… he went out on an experiential training expedition. He applied for the sect’s permission the day before yesterday. He left early this morning. By now he must have traveled through a teleportation array and is millions of miles away. I’m telling the truth, nothing but the truth.”

Song Yuanpin babbled on. He was afraid that Yi Yun would strike him again. It was not something he could withstand.

“Out on experiential training!?”

Yi Yun’s gaze turned cold.

Song Bowen and that lanky youth had applied to go on an experiential training together. Song Bowen did not even plan on staying in Myriad God Ridge to recover from his injuries because of a malignant star like Yi Yun.

They had their faces smacked rotten by Yi Yun but could only suffer in silence. In the future, they would hardly be able to lift their heads in the personal disciples’ zone. How could they stay? With all the talk and mockery from others, they could only choose to leave for an experiential training expedition!

But leaving in such a downtrodden manner was something they were unwilling to do. Since they could not deal with Yi Yun, they took their anger out on Zuoyan Xiaoyu.

From Song Bowen and the lanky youth’s point of view, the lass had acted arrogantly because of Yi Yun’s backing. It left them fuming with anger.

Now, bringing Zuoyan Xiaoyu out and ravaging her would give them a small spiritual victory.

If not, the sense of defeat Yi Yun had given them would be too immense. It was turning into a mental demon that plagued them. It could even affect their future breakthroughs. By venting their anger on Zuoyan Xiaoyu, it allowed them to redeem the situation slightly.

As for Yi Yun’s wrath, it did not worry them. Firstly, Yi Yun knew no one in Myriad God Ridge. It would be difficult for him to find news of Zuoyan Xiaoyu. Furthermore, a maidservant he only got to know for a few days was unlikely important. He would probably forget about her if he failed to find her.

Song Bowen never imagined that Yi Yun would be that violent when questioning others. Neither did he think that Song Yuanpin would be so cowardly to instantly inform Yi Yun of Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s whereabouts.

“Millions of miles…”

Yi Yun’s heart sank. How was he to pursue them when they had flown that far?

“In which direction did they go?”

“I… I do not know. I really do not know.” Song Yuanpin said in a fluster. He was only a Miscellaneous Chores Department manager, so how could he know the experiential training destination of personal disciples? In order to prevent opposing sects from harming personal disciples, such things were absolutely confidential. Typically, only the disciple’s respective masters would know.

“Good, very good!”

Yi Yun was burning with anger as he stepped on Song Yuanpin’s face. The sorry man let out a squeal like a pig in a slaughterhouse. His facial bones cracked and his facial features were rampaged into a mess.

Killing Song Yuanpin was pointless. He was only a useless figure in the Song family. The people that wanted to harm Zuoyan Xiaoyu was Song Bowen and the lanky youth. No matter how he dealt with Song Yuanpin, it would not be able to appease his anger. Instead, it would give the Song family an excuse to attack him.

“Song Bowen, I seldom get disgusted by trivial figures, but you have succeeded.”

Having practiced martial arts for decades, Yi Yun’s enemies were usually much stronger than he was. Occasionally, he would encounter an opponent of the younger generation, but he would step over them and overlook them in a lofty manner!

Song Bowen was nothing. He had been easily trampled by Yi Yun four days ago but now, he had disgusted Yi Yun greatly.

“Young Master, what do we do…” Duanmu Qingwen realized the gravity of the situation. Although she and Zuoyan Xiaoyu were competitors, they were both girls with the status of maidservants. She subconsciously treated Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s experiences as her own. To a girl, that was completely unimaginable.

Yi Yun took a deep breath. He was out of ideas at that moment, but he could not sit idly by as Zuoyan Xiaoyu was destroyed by Song Bowen. However, it was easy to infer that Song Bowen and the lanky youth would not be back any time soon. They were deliberately avoiding him, so it would be difficult to kill them!

With millions of miles separating them and without any inkling of direction, how was he to pursue them? Now, the only person that knew Song Bowen and the lanky youth’s destination was probably their master, Elder Taiqing. Unfortunately, it would be a joke to question Elder Taiqing.

1248 - : Evil Motives

CKtalon  CKtalon

Above the vast Calm Sea, the night sky was without clouds. The bright moon hung high and, as the Calm Sea lacked waves, it reflected the bright and clear moon on its surface. It looked immense and distant, with infinite silent beauty.

At that moment, a humongous spirit ship tore through the calmness of the night. It was heading straight for the deep depths of the Calm Sea.

The Sinkhole’s Calm Sea contained several islands. Having existed for hundreds of millions of years, they produced all sorts of treasures.

This spirit ship was heading for these islands in search of their treasures.

One thing that should be mentioned is that, even more than the treasures it was seeking, just the spirit ship itself was priceless!

This was a supreme-grade spirit ship that experts at the Divine Lord level might not possess. It traveled at very fast speeds and was extremely stable. There was a spatial array on the spirit ship, so it could make long distance warps without using a teleportation array.

The spirit ship was extremely expensive, yet there was little worry about it being robbed when used outside. Few people could chase up to such a spirit ship and secondly, there was a concealment array on the surface of the spirit ship. Even a person whose cultivation level had reached the late-stages of a Supremacy would hardly be able to sense the existence of the spirit ship.

If one went into the spirit ship, they would marvel at the luxurious and comfortable interior. There were spatial dimension laws engraved in its main cabin, making what was a hundred-feet long cabin bigger by more than a hundred times. It transformed into a luxurious palace.

Inside the palace’s main hall, there were two large and soft beds. Each bed was currently being enjoyed by a relaxed man. Both of them were soaking their feet in a wooden pail.

They each had a maidservant attending them, washing their feet.

If Yi Yun was here, he would have recognized these people immediately. They were none other than the lanky youth and Song Bowen.

The lanky youth’s name was Zhang Wuchen. Although he was not from the Song family, he was deeply affiliated with them. In order to rope him in, they had married off Song Bowen’s cousin to him a decade ago.

With this connection, Zhang Wuchen and Song Bowen naturally became good friends. In fact, the idea of bringing Zuoyan Xiaoyu out on experiential training was Zhang Wuchen’s idea.

“Brother-in-law, although most personal disciples wouldn’t think too much of a maidservant’s life, that Yi Yun is quite an exception. He even gave a portion of the food cooked by Elder Lanqin to that little slut. He will probably investigate this matter and, once he finds out that Zuoyan Xiaoyu was taken away by us, he will definitely not take the insult lying down.”

Song Bowen was truly worried. He was truly afraid of Yi Yun deep down. It made him lack the courage to ravage Zuoyan Xiaoyu.

“Brother Bowen, you’re thinking about this way too much. Yes, you were defeated by Yi Yun, but you have only cultivated for one hundred and eighty years. Your cultivation level is only at the third-floor Dao Palace, a floor lower than Yi Yun. Besides, that little bastard, Yi Yun, has probably cultivated for four or five centuries and deliberately represses his cultivation level to study the laws. It’s only natural that you can’t beat him!”

“I know but… the difference is too great.” Song Bowen, who was always competitive, had no choice but to admit that there was a huge gap between him and Yi Yun.

“Why are you so downtrodden!? We haven’t tested Yi Yun’s age yet. I doubt he’s as young as he looks. He might be strong but, in the future, it’s not like we won’t be able to retaliate. Besides, we still have the Song and Zhang family backing us. That little bastard has no reason to try anything against us, especially over some mere maidservant. If he brings it up to the Table of Elders, they will at most get us to pay him with a new maidservant!”

“In fact, I’m quite looking forward to how that little bastard will pursue the matter. If he truly cares for Zuoyan Xiaoyu, all the better. I want to let him know what it means to be truly disgusted. I’ll teach that bitch a good lesson and enjoy her company. I can tell that she has plenty of primordial Yin and should still be a virgin. That bastard’s unwillingness to enjoy her has benefited me! I will do this bitch so good that the orgasm she enjoys will have her craving death. I want him so infuriated that his mind is never at ease. The best would be if his anger breeds a mental demon!”

Zhang Wuchen chuckled deviantly when he said that. “Cuicui, Yan’er, have you taught that bitch a lesson? Bring her to me. It’s time I indulge in her!”

As he spoke, Zhang Wuchen took off his bathrobes, revealing the firm muscles of his upper body.

He was already bordering on impatience. The only reason he had held back this long was that Song Bowen’s second uncle had been following them. He watched over them as they passed through the Waveless Continent, a territory of an opposing sect. His second uncle had gone with them to ensure that nothing bad happened.

Now that they were above the Calm Sea, there was no one around. With the spirit ship’s safety ensured, Song Bowen’s second uncle naturally left. Now, he could do as he pleased.

“Yes, Young Master.”

The two naturally endowed maidservants brought Zuoyan Xiaoyu over as they gyrated their hips.

The maidservant named Yan’er was the one who had tripped Zuoyan Xiaoyu at the banquet.

Yan’er and Cuicui had been with Zhang Wuchen for more than a year. He favored them greatly so he had brought the two girls with him. He could enjoy them at any time.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu was brought out. Her body was covered in bruises. She had been slapped in the face several times, leaving a few shocking red palm prints.

“Little slut, I’ll dig out your eyes if you continue crying! Quick, go serve our young master!”

Yan’er yanked at Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s hair and threw her heavily to the ground. She may have looked petite and adorable but in fact, she had an extremely vicious heart. She was envious that Zuoyan Xiaoyu was able to eat the spirit food prepared by Elder Lanqin and yearned to dig out the little bitch’s eyes. Now, she finally had a chance for revenge. The death sentence had already been passed for Zuoyan Xiaoyu and it would be a gruesome end.

Previously, with the Song family’s second uncle present, Yan’er wasn’t able to accompany Zhang Wuchen. And since she had nothing better to do, she would teach Zuoyan Xiaoyu a lesson from time to time. Most of the injuries on Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s body were inflicted by her.

“Why did you do this to her. Look at her face, it’s swollen because of your slapping. How am I to be in the mood for pleasuring myself with her in a while?” said Zhang Wuchen unhappily when he saw the originally petite Zuoyan Xiaoyu in such a dire state.

“Young Master, why do you say that? I have already prepared some healing medicine that can instantly treat her wounds, making her so beautiful that even her skin can tear from a gentle breeze. Young Master, feel free to enjoy her.”

Yan’er said sweetly and deliberately lifting her garment up, revealing a large portion of her bosom before taking out a bottle of medicine.

Zhang Wuchen was sexually aroused as he watched Yan’er. This little bitch was truly unrestrained. This was the reason why he favored her so greatly. But on the other hand, a delicate flower like Zuoyan Xiaoyu was a fresh experience.

Zhang Wuchen got up from his bed and removed his legs from the wooden pail. Yan’er hurriedly took a cloth to wipe Zhang Wuchen’s feet.

However, Zhang Wuchen waved his hand, indicating that there was no need. He stretched out one leg and said to Zuoyan Xiaoyu, “Kneel down and crawl over. Lick my feet clean. If you lick them to my satisfaction, I’ll be gentle on you later. If not, I’ll be taking your primordial Yin, sucking you to the point of your cultivation level dropping! Although your cultivation level is nothing to me, I am well-versed in several bed techniques. Once I demonstrate them, it will be endless fun! Hahahaha!”

Zhang Wuchen laughed maniacally and in a somewhat perverted manner. He was greatly enjoying the feeling of freely ravaging Yi Yun’s maidservant.

He hated one thing the most in his life—his woman being screwed by others. If that woman was someone he had not placed his hands on and was even a virgin, the hatred would only deepen!

Zhang Wuchen believed that most men would never admit it, but from his point of view, the best feeling was to have his enemies’ women taken from them and ravaged. It would be even greater if the girl’s primordial Yin was still intact!

He wanted to use the most vicious method to seek revenge on Yi Yun. As such, the mental demon that Yi Yun had given him would be reduced to its nadir.

“Kill me!”

Zuoyan Xiaoyu was pressed down to the ground by Yan’er. Her pretty face was filled with unyielding anger. It was alright if she could no longer have the joy of serving Yi Yun. All she needed was do well at the new job the Miscellaneous Chores Department gave her.

However, she never expected that the Miscellaneous Chores Department had someone from the Song family. He had directly arranged for her to accompany Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen out on experiential training. This sudden, cruel twist was as though she had plummeted into hell.

“You want death? It won’t be that simple. I have sealed your cultivation powers, so there’s no way you can kill yourself by severing your own meridians. I’ll teach you well. I want you to submit to me, lying in front of me like a bitch. So you’re tenacious? Let’s see how long you can last. Yan’er…”

As Zhang Wuchen spoke, he turned towards Yan’er.

Yan’er smiled in a seductive manner. “Yes, master. I’ll teach her a good lesson…”

With that said, she pulled out a thin silver needle from her dense, long hair. The needle was a foot long and the glimmer the needlepoint effused left a chill down people’s backs.

“This is a Marrow Intrusion Needle. Just being gently pricked by it will give a person a sensual orgasm. If it’s pricked into flesh, the pain will be no less than being sliced by a thousand blades. If it’s stabbed into the bone marrow, the soul will feel a pain like it’s being torn apart. These are probably the most terrifying pains I can imagine. Enjoy it well.”

As Yan’er laughed, another maidservant grabbed Zuoyan Xiaoyu. Her needle gently aimed at the back of Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s neck…

…

At that moment, Yi Yun was still in Myriad God Ridge, millions of miles away!

He had already returned to his residence with Duanmu Qingwen. His mind was in chaos and could not calm himself.

Regardless of how he counted the time or thought of various methods, there was no way he could save Zuoyan Xiaoyu.

This left Yi Yun feeling extremely bitter.

He swore that if Zuoyan Xiaoyu was ravaged to death, he would destroy the entire Song family one day and have them accompany Zuoyan Xiaoyu in death. As for Song Bowen and that lanky youth, he would extract their souls and refine their marrows to conciliate the hatred he had!

“Young Master, I have caused trouble for Xiaoyu…”

Duanmu Qingwen was at a loss as to what to say. She was originally secretly delighted that she could replace Zuoyan Xiaoyu as Yi Yun’s maidservant, but having learned of the situation, with Zuoyan Xiaoyu likely being tormented to death, her joy was gone. Only remorse was left.

She felt that her luck had been established on the cruelty Zuoyan Xiaoyu was suffering. This matter weighed down on her conscience.

“This has nothing to do with you,” Yi Yun said coldly. He had no mood to care for Duanmu Qingwen’s feelings.

He was still too weak. If he was sufficiently strong, he could storm the Song family and grab the patriarch. With his hands gripping the patriarch’s neck, Song Bowen’s location could be immediately obtained!

But now, with him in Myriad God Ridge amid even more powerful beings, he could not destroy the rules without having sufficient strength.

Even if this matter reached the Table of Elders, it would be advantageous to the Song family. What was a maidservant’s life worth?

Then, suddenly…

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*!

There was a series of knocks on the door. Duanmu Qingwen hurriedly opened the door while Yi Yun could not be bothered with the visitor’s identity.

When the door opened, Yi Yun listlessly took a glance. Standing by the door was… Snake Girl?

Yi Yun had not seen Snake Girl in days. He was somewhat perplexed. “What are you doing here?”

Yi Yun had quite a good impression of the disciple Old Snake had randomly taken in. Although he was in a bad mood, he tried his best to repress his feelings when facing Snake Girl.

Snake Girl shrugged. “Can’t I come? Master told me to remind you to not forget the alcohol treat tomorrow at Myriad God Restaurant.”

“Alcohol?”

Yi Yun recalled that he had set up an appointment with Old Snake of five days after entering Myriad God Ridge. Tomorrow was the fifth day.

If this was a few days back, he would have looked forward to talking to Old Snake. He had many questions to ask him but now, he lacked that mood.

Yi Yun waved his hand with flagging interest and said, “Tell your master that I don’t feel like drinking at the moment. Another day perhaps.”

“Another day?” Snake Girl was taken aback as she looked oddly at Yi Yun.

“What’s wrong?”

“Master told me that you would change the date when he told me to come to you. I refused to believe him, saying that you came all the way to Myriad God Ridge to look for him, so why would you change the date? Who knew that he’d actually be right? You are really changing the date.”

“What?” Yi Yun was taken aback. Old Snake had guessed it?

“Master also said that he has a present for you. Once you see it, you won’t want to change the date, and you’ll even treat him to the best wine.”

As Snake Girl spoke, she handed him an interspatial ring.

Yi Yun was baffled. He vaguely realized a possibility as he grabbed the interspatial ring. He touched it and took out an ancient and unadorned bronze circular disk.

It was a… disk array!!

Yi Yun looked at the various runes engraved on the bronze disk array. Immediately, he understood that it was a long-distance teleportation array that had a one-time use!

Yi Yun’s master was Felicitous Rain Lord and so he had a deep understanding of spatial dimension laws. He quickly understood how to use the teleportation array.

There was only one pair of such one-time teleportation devices. If one teleportation disk array was used, one would immediately appear at the other teleportation disk array. There was no need for a fixed teleportation.

Could it be…

Yi Yun suddenly realized a possibility. His heart raced as he said, “Qingwen, take care of Snake Girl. I’ll be entering my cultivation chamber for seclusion. Do not disturb me! Also, regarding this disk array, do not tell anyone. Do you understand!?”

After Yi Yun said those words, his body vanished like a gust of wind, leaving Duanmu Qingwen and Snake Girl with widened eyes. Both of them still did not know what had just happened.

“Why would Young Master suddenly be so spirited… What is up with… that disk array?”

Duanmu Qingwen murmured curiously. She obviously could not understand the disk array.

Snake Girl was also left blindly guessing. She had followed Old Snake for years but didn’t learn much. Most of the time, she would watch Old Snake engage in the vices. As for the skills Old Snake taught her, it was only a crappy ‘Old Snake Divine Skill.’ Just the name alone rendered people speechless.

Snake Girl did not have a good background, so she kept her hopes up and practiced the Old Snake Divine Skill properly. However, the crappy cultivation technique was exceedingly average. It was useless even after being honed for a long time.

Snake Girl could not detect anything special about the disk array Old Snake had given her. She even thought that the old man had picked up some garbage on the ground. Who knew that Yi Yun would be so excited after seeing the disk array?

At that moment, Yi Yun had already entered his cultivation chamber. He immediately activated the array formation, sealing the chamber. He took a deep breath and picked up the bronze disk array. He injected his Yuan Qi in as the runes lit up one by one. A spatial door slowly opened…

1249 - : The Pleasant Surprise in the Ring

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ah!”

In the palace within the spirit ship, a girl screamed. It was a heart-wrenching cry.

“This is only the third one. I haven’t even stabbed your bone marrow but look at you, your entire body is convulsing. I should let you drink some water. Perhaps, you might end up failing to stop yourself from urinating.”

Yan’er cackled delightfully. Many times, women can be more ruthless than men. When it comes to the struggle for power and profit, many women will scheme in all sorts of ways and employ the cruelest of measures.

These situations often occurred in the royal palace’s harem, large family clans, and large sects. Such situations gave rise to women with evil thoughts.

“For you to last this long under the Marrow Intrusion Needle, could it be that you are still clinging to hopes that your little loverboy will come rescue you? We are millions of miles from Myriad God Ridge. Ignoring the fact that your loverboy doesn’t know that you are here, but even if he were to know, he won’t be able to enter this spirit ship. As for you, I’ll turn you into an obedient little bitch in an hour.”

“In fact, you might not know this, but before we brought you over, Young Master had even sent a gorgeous and petite beauty to Yi Yun. Perhaps, he’s currently enjoying the pleasures of sex with that beauty so much that he doesn’t have the mood to even think about you!”

Yan’er was still envious that Yi Yun had given the food cooked by Elder Lanqin to Zuoyan Xiaoyu and was deliberately trying to provoke her.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu obviously knew that it was impossible for Yi Yun to save her. She did not count on that happening.

She had endured so long because she knew she was definitely doomed today. But even if she was fated to lose her life, she did not want to lose the last shred of dignity she had before dying.

“Yan’er, I got you to investigate this lass’s family. Did you find anything?” Zhang Wuchen suddenly asked.

Yan’er giggled when she heard that. “Young Master, how can I forget your instructions? It only took me two days to find out a lot about her. This lass’s father died a long time ago. She used her mother’s surname and I think her name is Zuoyan Shu…”

When she suddenly heard her mother’s name, Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s body jolted vigorously. She looked up at Zhang Wuchen. The man on the bed was smiling but the smile looked as hideous to her as it could be!

Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s heart was quivering. She believed that suffering all of it alone was enough. At most, she would die with dignity, but she never expected her mother to be implicated!

She had stepped out of a mountain village and into the martial path. Finally, she entered the Myriad God Ridge. Her initial motivation was to give her mother, who brought her up arduously, a good life. But she never imagined that she would implicate her mother in the end!

“Don’t hurt my mother! No! I beg you!”

Zuoyan Xiaoyu knelt on the ground as she underwent a meltdown.

“How could I hurt your mother? You are overthinking things. Climb over here and obediently lick my feet clean. Then, lie down on my bed and beg me to enter your body. If your cries are arousing enough and you serve me well, I’ll guarantee you that your mother will live a good life,” Zhang Wuchen said smugly.

Everyone had a chink in their armor. How could Zuoyan Xiaoyu be his match?

“Haha, Brother-in-law, you are impressive. It looks like this lass will submit very soon. How about this: you can take her primordial Yin and, for the first after that, leave it to me. Let me enjoy her too,” Song Bowen said with a chuckle.

He might have been worried over Yi Yun before, but now he had thought it through. He decided to indulge in pleasure first before considering anything else. Anyway, the experiential training would last several years. When he was done, his strength would probably increase significantly.

“Of course you can.” Zhang Wuchen nodded with a smile before looking back at Zuoyan Xiaoyu.

“What are you waiting for? Aren’t you coming over to lick? Do you not care for your mother’s survival?” Upon seeing Zuoyan Xiaoyu kneeling on the ground without taking any action, Zhang Wuchen turned impatient.

Yan’er yanked Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s ear. “Did you hear the young master’s question?”

Yan’er gently held the silver needle as the other maidservant giggled. After many years of serving Zhang Wuchen and living with the machinations that filled Myriad God Ridge, her mind had turned somewhat twisted. She was eager to see a delicate girl degenerate into a nymphomaniac, just like her.

“Where should I stab next? Your ears look rather pretty. What would happen if I stab this into your ear?”

As Yan’er spoke, the needle slowly approached Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s ear.

The mere thought of the pain left people shuddering. However, Zuoyan Xiaoyu did not seem to react at all. She knelt on the ground with her heart completely overwhelmed by despair. Not only was she going to die today, she would also lose all her dignity…

“Slut! Enjoy this!”

Yan’er thrust the silver needle with all her might in an attempt to rupture Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s eardrum but at that moment, she felt her wrist turn cold as though an icy wind had blown across it. Following that, she felt her hand lose its sense of balance!

“Pa!”

The needle-wielding hand of Yan’er fell straight to the ground!

Upon seeing this scene, Yan’er was left confounded. She stared in a daze at her wrist that had been reduced to a stump as blood flowed out incessantly.

“My hand! My hand!”

Yan’er screamed sharply as she held her wrist while she broke out into a cold sweat.

“Who is it!?”

Zhang Wuchen was alarmed. He was onboard the Song family’s top spirit ship. Its defensive and concealment array formations were top notch. How could anyone infiltrate the spirit ship and cleave off Yan’er’s hand without being noticed?

Song Bowen also jumped up from his bed immediately and touched his interspatial ring. But at that moment, Song Bowen felt an intense killing intent lock onto him.

It was as though his head would fall off the moment he moved.

He saw a figure walk out from the corner of the hall’s shadows. It was as though the hall led straight to hell, and the person was stepping out of hell while accompanied by hellish infernos.

He was dressed in black and there were gray flames lingering around his body. The flames crackled lightly and seemed calm, but the highly concentrated heat wave seemed to burn through the entire void.

When the person walked into the middle of the hall, everyone held their breaths.

“Young… Young Master…” Zuoyan Xiaoyu, who had been tormented to the point of feeling groggy, saw Yi Yun’s face. She refused to believe what was happening. Was she having a dream?

“Yi Yun!?”

Upon discerning the figure, Song Bowen was frightened out of his wits.

“Impossible!”

Zhang Wuchen found it unbelievable. After seeing Yi Yun, his calm facade dropped and he became immediately flustered.

How could Yi Yun appear in this spirit ship? Before they set off, Yi Yun was still in seclusion. It should have been impossible for him to infiltrate the spirit ship. After all, the spirit ship had Song Bowen’s second uncle, Song Guangyan, protecting it.

Song Guangyan was at the Divine Lord realm, and he was the strongest person in the Song family. Even if Yi Yun had secretly snuck onto the spirit ship, it should have been impossible for him to go unnoticed by Song Guangyan’s perception.

As for chasing up to the spirit ship and infiltrating it, that was even more impossible!

They had traveled incognito and at very fast speeds. In addition, the spirit ship, Great Traversal Spirit Ship, actually belonged to Song Guangyan. It took him several years of saving to buy it. As he placed great importance on Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen’s safety, he had lent it to them for this journey.

Even if Yi Yun did possess immense ability, it was impossible for him to noiselessly come onboard.

Furthermore, the moment he appeared was too perfect. Song Guangyan had left the spirit ship an hour ago and, without any surprise, Song Guangyan had already passed through a teleportation array. He was now millions of miles away and it was impossible for him to come back and save them!

How was Yi Yun capable of this?

“Are you a ghost?” Zhang Wuchen bellowed sharply as his heart was gripped by horror.

“You don’t have to be concerned about whether I’m a ghost or not, but it’s likely you will become a ghost very soon.”

Yi Yun’s voice was fierce. He had practiced martial arts for so many years and had offended numerous people. However, few were like Zhang Wuchen. Despite not really provoking Yi Yun, his actions and how much of a scoundrel he was made Yi Yun think of squishing him to death like a fly.

Phew—

Just as Yi Yun’s voice faded, an ancient and immense aura emanated from his body. It enveloped the surroundings into a black domain.

This was Yi Yun’s destructive power. He had wrapped everyone in his destruction domain.

“What is it?”

Zhang Wuchen panicked when he saw that he was trapped in the destruction domain. He had never come into contact with such laws.

At that moment, the Heretical God Fire Seed within Yi Yun’s body spewed out, lashing out at the surroundings as the heat waves left everyone stifled!

“Don’t go thinking I’m afraid of you!” Zhang Wuchen bellowed. He was at the seventh-floor Dao Palace, two subrealms higher than Yi Yun. Furthermore, his strength exceeded Song Bowen, so although he did have some trepidation in fighting Yi Yun, he did believe that he had a chance of putting up a fight.

But just as he finished his declaration—

Whew!

Yi Yun’s figure vanished like a ghost and instantly appeared in front of Zhang Wuchen. He was too fast!

“Ha!”

Zhang Wuchen roared as he pulled out a concealed saber and thrust it straight at Yi Yun’s throat. But at that moment, the surrounding black domain transmitted indescribable powers that rapidly eroded his Yuan Qi. It instantly dissipated the strength that he had gathered!

Following that, Yi Yun forcefully punched Zhang Wuchen in the abdomen!

“Peng!”

With a loud explosion, Zhang Wuchen bent over like a shrimp.

“You…you…”

Zhang Wuchen held his abdomen as blood spewed out of his mouth. He was feeling horror and despair. He never felt so helpless before as he realized that, even though he had evaluated Yi Yun’s strength to be very high, his evaluations were a far cry from Yi Yun’s true strength!

The terrifying destruction laws prevented him from mustering any strength, nor could he gather the strength to resist at all.

Yi Yun extended his hand as his Yuan Qi materialized into a rope that bound Zhang Wuchen. He was held up with his limbs sprawled opened in front of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun looked coldly at Zhang Wuchen. “You seem to enjoy women?”

Yi Yun’s words seemed to pummel him into an ice cavern. He suddenly felt a strong sense of unease. Could it be…

“Yi Yun… wait… wait!”

Before Zhang Wuchen could even finish his words, Yi Yun had kicked right at the spot between Zhang Wuchen’s legs!

“Peng!”

With a rapturous sound that sounded like eggs being crushed by a sledgehammer, Zhang Wuchen let out a shrill scream. His family jewels had been obliterated by Yi Yun’s kick!

To men, no other pain could be more excruciating than this. However, Zhang Wuchen’s body was completely bound. Regardless of how painful his lower body was, he could not hold on to it. At that moment, Zhang Wuchen wished he could immediately die.

1250 - : Life Worse than Death

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun, you… you will…”

Zhang Wuchen wanted to finish cursing Yi Yun by saying he’d ‘die a horrible death’ but his neck was clasped by Yi Yun. His mouth was agape but could not produce a sound.

Towards his antics, Yi Yun had a cold expression. Without a word, he injected Yuan Qi through his hand and broke Zhang Wuchen’s neck!

Zhang Wuchen’s eyes glazed over, instantly losing all their luster. Yi Yun grabbed Zhang Wuchen’s interspatial ring while, at the same time, the Heretical God flames gathered together, burning Zhang Wuchen to ashes!

Upon seeing this scene, Song Bowen’s face turned pale as he stood beside Zhang Wuchen’s charred remains. He had schemed together with Zhang Wuchen, and now his outcome would likely be the same as his brother-in-law’s.

Not only would he lose his life, but he would also die extremely horribly!

“Yi Yun… Yi Yun, you can’t kill me. If you kill me, the Song family will pursue you until the end of your days! My second uncle has put a restriction on me. Once I’m killed, information about my demise will instantly be sent to the Song family, and you will be pursued by them. Also, killing me would violate the Myriad God Ridge’s rules. Not even the sect master will be able to protect you!” Song Bowen exclaimed.

Yi Yun gave Song Bowen a glance. His eyes were filled with a bloodlust that sent a chill through Song Bowen’s body.

Yi Yun showed no reaction to Song Bowen’s words. He walked towards him and said, “Are you going to castrate yourself or do you want me to do it?”

“You… You… did you not understand what I said?”

Against the pressure Yi Yun put on him, Song Bowen was close to a mental breakdown.

“It looks like you are choosing the latter.”

Yi Yun shook his head.

“Wait…Wait!”

Song Bowen yelled but at that moment, the Heretical God Fire Seed that permeated the destruction domain raged towards Song Bowen. The inferno burned through the void to the point that it was completely inescapable!

Back at the banquet, Song Bowen had no chance of defending himself against a mere wisp of the Heretical God Fire Seed, much less the large amount that presently filled the destruction domain. Song Bowen’s Yuan Qi was repressed, so how was he to face the Heretic Fire’s attack that seemed to blot out the world?

“Yi Yun, I’ll fight it out with you!”

Song Bowen yelled maniacally, but all that could be heard were a series of howling sounds. The Yuan Qi that Song Bowen had gathered had been directly burned through by the Heretic flames.

At that moment, Song Bowen’s eyes flashed with a grotesque look. He opened his mouth and spat out a round bead that flew straight for Yi Yun!

“Explode Destruction Blood Bead! Let’s die together!”

This was a life-preservation artifact that his second uncle had given him. Once the Destruction Blood Bead was triggered, it would annihilate all lifeblood in a hundred-foot radius, reducing humans into desiccated corpses.

He could have used the Destruction Blood Bead to kill enemies but, with it being necessary to activate it at a close distance, Song Bowen himself would be trapped within the explosion of the Destruction Blood Bead. His death was no question.

Song Bowen infused his remaining energy into the Destruction Blood Bead in hopes of exploding it!

But at that moment, Yi Yun made the first move. The Destruction power formed a wall that could destroy everything between Song Bowen and the Destruction Blood Bead. Song Bowen’s Yuan Qi dissipated immediately upon contact with the powers of Destruction.

Yi Yun had already used his energy vision to identify the energy fluctuations of the Destruction Blood Bead. A tiny trick such as this wouldn’t get past him.

“You are completely unaware of the gap between us. How do you expect a mere bead to be able to bridge that gap?”

Yi Yun clenched his hands into a fist as the Heretical God Fire Seed surged over in overwhelming fashion.

It burned Song Bowen’s limbs to ash, and even his crown jewels were burned to a crisp.

“You… You’re doomed… My second uncle will not spare you…”

Song Bowen endured the excruciating pain to babble his last words.

However, Yi Yun remained indifferent for he did not mind it at all. “I already said, you are completely unaware of the gap between us. A mere restriction can’t escape my Destruction domain, so how can it inform others about your death?”

As Yi Yun spoke, he punched out and struck Song Bowen’s forehead.

This punch was infused with Destruction energies. It shattered Song Bowen’s soul sea instantly and, with intense hate and indignation, Song Bowen collapsed to the ground.

With a wave of his hand, the second interspatial ring flew into Yi Yun’s hand. Along with the interspatial ring was the Destruction Blood Bead.

The bead was quite a good item, so Yi Yun naturally kept it.

After turning around, Yi Yun looked at Yan’er and Cuicui. The color in the two maidservants’ faces was completely drained by their horror. They could not comprehend that the two men who easily lorded over their fates had been killed by Yi Yun in such a manner.

He may have been a personal disciple, but Yi Yun blatantly ignored the powerful Song and Zhang family, as well as the Myriad God Ridge’s rules.

“Don’t… Don’t kill me. I can serve you. I’ll do anything you want…” Yan’er said with a trembling voice.

Unfortunately for her, Yi Yun had already flicked his finger, sending a stream of light straight into Yan’er’s soul sea. Yan’er did not even grunt before her eyes lost their luster. As for Cuicui, she had been scared out of her wits. Yi Yun walked in front of her and, without waiting for her to say a word, he directly probed into her soul!

Yi Yun had not seen Cuicui attack Zuoyan Xiaoyu, so he was unsure of her character. However, upon searching Cuicui’s soul sea, he saw more than enough dirty scenes and machinations.

“Those girls that you inflicted death upon were probably as afraid as you are now…”

As Yi Yun spoke, Yuan Qi burst out from his palm, causing Cuicui’s body to slump downward. Following that, the Heretical God Fire Seed gathered and burned the two girls into ash.

The restriction that Song Bowen had used to threaten Yi Yun was burned clean as well. After ascertaining that he had not left any evidence behind, Yi Yun undid his Destruction Dao Domain.

In a blink of an eye, Yi Yun and Zuoyan Xiaoyu were the only two left in the massive palace. The other four were dead and every trace of their existence had been wiped away. However, the palace remained intact. Even the beds were not destroyed, and in fact, maintained their original state.

“Young Master, I… I…”

Zuoyan Xiaoyu was at a loss for words. She had quickly gone from extreme despair to being snatched from the jaws of death. It left her emotions stirring in vicissitudes. She couldn’t even construct a proper sentence.

On one hand, she was feeling excited that Yi Yun had suddenly appeared to save her. On the other hand, she felt deep remorse. In order to save her, Yi Yun had killed two personal disciples. If the Myriad God Ridge were to learn of this, it would absolutely not spare Yi Yun.

Yi Yun could read Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s mind as he said, “There’s no need to worry. They won’t be able to connect it to me.”

His coming here was all thanks to the teleportation disk array that Old Snake had secretly sneaked onboard the Great Traversal Spirit Ship. The disk array was something even the owner of the ship, Song Guangyan, did not notice.

As for when Song Guangyan left the spirit ship, Old Snake was perfectly aware of the timing.

Under such circumstances, even if the Song family had reason to suspect Yi Yun, they would not be able to figure out how Yi Yun could have been the one who killed Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen. They would likely blame it on them being killed by others while they were out on an experiential training.

However, Yi Yun was truly baffled as to what Old Snake’s cultivation level was. He seemed to come and go like a divine shadow.

On careful thought, it was about fifteen hours until the appointed meeting between Yi Yun and Old Snake. Yi Yun was beginning to feel a sense of anticipation over it.

“Xiaoyu, we are going back. You won’t be able to reveal yourself for the time being,” Yi Yun said. He had to immediately return to the Myriad God Ridge. As for the Great Traversal Spirit Ship, he naturally took it. It was a priceless enchanted artifact after all.

However, Yi Yun still needed to carefully examine the Great Traversal Spirit Ship and the two interspatial rings to prevent any restrictions from exposing him.

1251 - : Destroying All Evidence

CKtalon  CKtalon

Under the bright and clear moonlight, the black Great Traversal Spirit Ship shuttled through the night sky. It continued traveling away from the Myriad God Ridge, but Yi Yun was in no rush to return. His first stop was the Great Traversal Spirit Ship’s control room.

The control room was equivalent to the Great Traversal Spirit Ship’s heart. Here, the user of the spirit ship could use a bit of their perception to easily control the spirit ship and, at the same time, do whatever they wanted.

“The core array formation is here.”

Yi Yun infused his perception into the ship, and indeed, he found a mental imprint within. Typically, owners would leave behind a tiny mental imprint on valuable enchanted artifacts like the Great Traversal Spirit Ship after successfully refining them for themselves.

This mental imprint had been repeatedly tempered and was fortified. It would not be easily removed unless the strength of the remover’s soul was much stronger than that of the enchanted treasure’s original owner.

Yi Yun inspected the imprint. Unfortunately, Yi Yun was only at the fifth-floor Dao Palace. His strength had improved, but he was cognizant of the fact that there was still a huge rift between him and Song Guangyan, especially in terms of their souls’ strength.

If he wanted to refine away the imprint’s strength, it would take a day or two of slowly grinding it away. But if he tried, Song Guangyan would notice that something was amiss and immediately return to the spirit ship.

In fact, the very instant Yi Yun took action, it would be sensed by Song Guangyan.

One had to be fast while wiping out a mental imprint! But Yi Yun alone was incapable of being that fast.

“Xie’er.”

Yi Yun gently called in his mind. At the next moment, a tiny tower flew out of Yi Yun’s dantian. Plumes of black flames billowed above the tower as an adorable girl with some baby fat appeared out of the flames.

“Brother Yi Yun, is there something you need from me?”

Ling Xie’er had been sleeping for the past few years. Ever since she awakened and left the massive worldly array that bound her, her strength had not only been increasing, but her affinity with the Heretical God Fire Seed was getting stronger.

As it was, what Ling Xie’er lacked in combat strength she made up for in her control over the Heretical God Fire Seed. In that aspect, she was much better than Yi Yun. Just this alone afforded her the ability to deal massive damage.

Besides… When it came to the strength of the soul, Ling Xie’er, who was born of a natural treasure, was someone that typical warriors could not compare with.

In the Sun Burial Sandsea, she had existed alone in an incorporeal form for hundreds of millions of years. In that time, her soul’s strength had developed much more than Yi Yun’s.

“Xie’er, are you able to burn away this mental imprint within fifteen minutes?” Yi Yun asked.

Ling Xie’er took a look at the disk array and nodded. “Sure.”

As she spoke, Ling Xie’er walked out of the flames and transformed into a fair and supple-looking girl. She moved her tiny hands and produced seals. The Heretical God flames fused into her soul, becoming a flame of the soul that could burn through all mental imprints.

“Phew–”

The flames ignited over the disk array but produced no heat. However, if a soul manifestation was there, it would have been able to sense the terrifying flames that could rend the world asunder. This was a flame that specialized in immolating souls.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

The flames in the disk array crackled violently as the phantom face of an elder appeared out of thin air. He was struggling and bellowing as the flames covered him!

He looked at Yi Yun and Ling Xie’er as his face exuded ferociousness.

“You…”

He said through clenched teeth as though he was trying to use all his strength to transmit everything he saw before he was destroyed. However, Ling Xie’er obviously stopped him from doing so. Her tiny hands moved immediately, commanding the soul flames to form a prison that completely surrounded the elder!

“Peng!”

With a loud explosion, the elder’s face burned to nothingness amid the flames!

Simultaneously, millions of miles away in a tavern—

“Boom!”

A loud explosion boomed as the entire room was blasted to smithereens.

An elder walked out of the room with disheveled hair, his face suffusing an abnormal paleness.

He was none other than Song Guangyan.

Just a moment ago, he sensed that the mental imprint he left on the Great Traversal Spirit Ship had been destroyed!

The time from the moment his mental imprint was attacked until it was completely vanquished was only about thirty seconds. Even the information about the destroyer failed to be transmitted!

This made Song Guangyan’s actual body suffer a soul injury. The mental imprint was equivalent to a piece of his soul. So losing his mental imprint was equal to him losing a portion of his very soul. Without the nourishment of heavenly herbs, it would be impossible for him to recover.

“Who was it!?”

Song Guangyan had a hideous look on his face. He had the Great Traversal Spirit Ship in his possession for tens of thousands of years. He had fortified the mental imprint several times, and yet such robustness was destroyed in less than a minute?

This proved that the other party’s soul was much stronger than his!

Song Guangyan was already a Divine Lord. That meant that the other party was likely an old monster that had lived for an unmeasurable period of time.

The person’s strength probably exceeded his greatly. As such, not only did he not know who the culprit was, but, even if he did know, he was unable to seek revenge. The spirit ship had fallen into the hands of the other person, and it was impossible to recoup it.

He long knew that the deep depths of the Calm Sea were extremely dangerous, but he never imagined that his ship would fall after less than a day of being out at sea. That was just too fast.

“Darn it! Bowen has probably succumbed to harm.”

Song Guangyan’s expression was as ugly as it could be. He was feeling the pinch over his spirit ship as well as worry for Song Bowen.

Song Bowen was the only personal disciple that the Song family had in the Myriad God Ridge. He was the only son. There was also Zhang Wuchen. The Zhang family was the Song family’s ally by marriage, and Wuchen was the only personal disciple they had.

If the two perished, the Song and Zhang family would face the delicate situation of not having a successor. They would need to nurture another excellent junior within a thousand years. If they couldn’t, their positions in the Myriad God Ridge would plummet.

At that moment, Song Guangyan was in no mood to continue staying in the tavern. He rushed towards the Myriad God Ridge overnight to immediately hold a family meeting to discuss the important matter.

…

“Xie’er, you are really awesome!”

Yi Yun was truly astonished by Ling Xie’er’s abilities.

Ling Xie’er smiled happily upon being complemented by Yi Yun. She knew that, over the past twenty-plus years, Yi Yun had spent a lot of time and effort to awaken her. To her, Yi Yun was the most important person in her life. Being able to help him naturally delighted her.

“Xie’er, I think we need to find you a mystic technique that focuses on cultivating the soul,” Yi Yun said.

He had always known that Ling Xie’er’s soul was very powerful since she was an incorporeal soul body. However, he never imagined that after she fused with the Heretical God Fire Seed, her transformation into a flame that burned at souls would only take less than a minute to burn a mental imprint left by powerful Divine Lords into ashes.

If he focused on nurturing Ling Xie’er’s capabilities, wouldn’t he be able to catch any enemy by surprise?

Soul attacks were also considered a martial path, but few people could go far using them. After all, the soul had the body protecting it. Annihilating it directly was no easy task.

However, if Ling Xie’er’s soul strength was immensely high, it would be able to overwhelm. After all, Ling Xie’er had yet to cultivate in a cultivation technique that focused on the soul! If she cultivated it, she would only become stronger.

1252 - : Unexpected Discovery

CKtalon  CKtalon

At the foot of Myriad God Ridge was the Myriad God Restaurant.

A restaurant established by the Myriad God Ridge itself, it was unmatched in both its lavishness and the flavor and quality of the food. Of course, the prices were enough to make one gasp. It was no exaggeration to say that one meal could cost the entire wealth of a Heaven Ascension warrior.

Those that could enter the Myriad God Ridge were nontrivial figures. The foot of Myriad God Ridge was a place where people of apparent standing had gathered since time immemorial. There were princes, dukes, tycoons, as well as geniuses and Elders from powerful families.

But even for these people, it was not easy to have a meal at Myriad God Restaurant.

The restaurant had a total of seven floors. One entered the first and second floor solely by being rich. However, a reservation six months ahead of time was needed.

There was no need for reservations above the third floor. Unfortunately, money alone was insufficient as a criterion for entry. One had to have status and strength. Princes, dukes, and even kings of a country found their status useless there.

Yi Yun came to Myriad God Restaurant on noon of the fifth day after he made the appointment with Old Snake.

It was when Myriad God Ridge was the most lively. Yi Yun hid Zuoyan Xiaoyu in his God Advent Tower and had long stowed away the Great Traversal Spirit Ship. No one would believe that, just hours ago, he had slain two Myriad God Ridge personal disciples millions of miles away.

“This Myriad God Restaurant is truly not bad.”

Yi Yun sized up the seven-floored building in front of him. Although it was luxurious, it did not lose its elegance. Every spot was meticulously crafted, giving one the impression of natural exuberance. Perhaps, the person that built the Myriad God Ridge was proficient in many laws for them to be able to build a building that was so harmonious and natural.

At the front of Myriad God Restaurant were four beauties that served customers. Qipaos covered their tall, excellent figures. Their long legs were emphasized by the slit that ran up the qipao. Yi Yun knew at a glance that they were more than just pretty faces. All of them had cultivation levels at the Dao Palace realm or higher.

These beauties who entertained the guests were also outer-sect disciples of the Myriad God Ridge. Although they were waiting on people here, they were revered back in their countries by the royalty and aristocrats, blessed daughters of heavens that were placed on a pedestal.

Yi Yun stood at the entrance for a while and scanned with his perception. Suddenly, he turned and saw an old man carrying an alcohol gourd while walking toward him.

“Kid, I’ve been waiting so long for you,” Old Snake said with a chuckle. However, his smile looked wretched in every possible way.

“Senior, thank you for the disk array you left me. It was a great help.” Yi Yun cupped his fists. He already knew that Old Snake was no ordinary person, but now his actions had corroborated his suspicions.

“Kid, let’s not talk about unimportant matters. Didn’t you say that you will be treating me? There’s a type of alcohol in Myriad God Restaurant known as Immortal Inebriation. It’s said that even Godly Monarchs will get intoxicated by it. I assume that you made a killing recently? Just treat me to some Immortal Inebriation today. I want to drink ten jugs of that.” Old Snake interrupted Yi Yun and rubbed his hands while smacking his lips.

He looked like he had just seen a beauty that had taken off all her clothes while lying in bed. It was truly a look that left one unable to look him straight in the eye.

Myriad God Restaurant was bustling with business as there were constant streams of people entering and exiting. And Old Snake’s voice was loud, allowing everyone to hear his words clearly. Many people looked at the pair in astonishment. Immortal Inebriation was a supreme-grade specialty alcohol of Myriad God Restaurant. Just one jug cost three hundred thousand Spirit Jade. Even Supremacies could not afford it. After all, three hundred thousand Spirit Jade a jug was way too extravagant.

However, the flavors of the Immortal Inebriation were naturally as good as could be. It was brewed from twenty-two natural treasures for more than a thousand years. Although it was an exaggeration to say that Godly Monarchs would be intoxicated, it was not entirely without reason. The premise was that one was not to use Yuan Qi to screen their mind, allowing the alcohol to flow into one’s body. Only then could one experience the sensations of a euphoric immortal.

The people around Myriad God Restaurant were the wealthiest among the wealthy. When they heard the dirty old man’s wish to drink ten jugs of Immortal Inebriation, they smirked without saying a word. They didn’t think much of his claims. He was probably babbling in his stupor after having too much to drink from his gourd.

Yi Yun did not know the price of Immortal Inebriation but from his read of Old Snake’s expression, he could guess that it was not going to be cheap. However, Old Snake had indeed helped him greatly. Even if Immortal Inebriation was expensive, he was still able to afford the treat.

“Senior, since you like this alcohol, feel free to drink as much as you want as long as I can afford it,” Yi Yun said with a smile.

At that moment, one of the four women in qipao walked in front of Yi Yun and said, “Young Master, are you really intending to have Immortal Inebriation? Such a delicacy is only provided to guests on the fifth floor and above. In other words, you can only order the alcohol if you first reach the fifth floor. Might I know who you are?”

Yi Yun’s cultivation level was only at the Dao Palace realm. His strength was naturally not high enough to gain entry. With the old trickster beside him looking like a beggar in his tattered clothes, they truly did not look like people that belonged in the Myriad God Restaurant. However, as an attendant of the Myriad God Restaurant, this girl maintained her courtesy. She knew that many of the people that came to Myriad God Restaurant had outstanding identities. And it was not always something one could tell based on external appearance.

Fools that really had no money or standing would likely go limp just from seeing the Myriad God Ridge’s plaque. Who would dare enter just to cause trouble?

Yi Yun said to the woman, “I’m a Myriad God Ridge disciple. I’m here to treat a senior…”

As Yi Yun spoke, he took out his personal disciple token.

The four beauties of Myriad God Restaurant had keen eyesight. They were astounded when they saw the personal disciple token. Naturally, they could tell that the token was real.

A personal disciple!

Although entry to the Myriad God Restaurant was difficult, most of the people that came to it for meals were fringe members of the Myriad God Ridge. The true Elders and personal disciples were in the minority. When they weren’t out on experiential training, they would spend most of their time in seclusive cultivation. How could they have the time to frequently patronize the Myriad God Restaurant?

The four beauties immediately went forward together and bowed to Yi Yun. This was a bow that outer-sect disciples had to give personal disciples.

Instantly, their originally professional smiles turned seductive and a lot more passionate. Even their eyes twinkled as they looked at Yi Yun.

The four women wanted to serve Yi Yun, but the two women in front snatched the opportunity.

“Since you are a personal disciple, you will be given the same treatment as Elders. Currently, the seventh floor’s ‘God’ and ‘Ridge’ rooms are empty. You can choose either one of them and I’ll personally escort you there.”

Myriad God Ridge’s personal disciples enjoyed great treatment.

While speaking, the two women led Yi Yun and Old Snake towards the seventh floor of Myriad God Ridge.

Old Snake was rather satisfied with the treatment he received. He glanced at the many wealthy and accomplished people by the side with a smug side-eye. He did not even look them in the face.

“I said that I was drinking ten jugs of Immortal Inebriation. It’s not a big deal at all,” said Old Snake arrogantly.

Many people choked upon hearing this. The youth was actually a personal disciple of Myriad God Ridge. But who was this old man? Why would a Myriad God Ridge personal disciple treat him?

1253 - : Meeting Old Snake

CKtalon  CKtalon

Myriad God Restaurant’s seventh floor had a total of six rooms. Yi Yun had chosen the ‘God’ room, so a young lady in qipao led Yi Yun and Old Snake through the ‘God’ room’s heavy door made of nanmu.

Upon entering the room, Yi Yun could not help but be overcome with emotion at the unique design of Myriad God Restaurant.

The God room contained a snowy pocket world that spanned several thousand feet.

Amid the snowy, pure white scenery was a tiny lake. A snow-laden, winding stone bridge extended towards the middle of the lake from the entrance of the God room. At the end of the stone bridge was a beautiful pavilion carved out of jade. The room’s table was placed in the middle of the pavilion.

The emerald water that surrounded the pavilion rippled as thousand-year-old snow lotuses bloomed in the middle of the lake. The snow lotuses were as clear as ice and as pure as jade. The contrast they formed with the plain whiteness of the snow left one easily mesmerized.

Customers who dined in the God room could enjoy a meal in the pavilion while also marveling at the sights of the snowy land. It was truly elegance par none.

Just the scene alone left Yi Yun awestruck by the Myriad God Restaurant’s designer. There was a reason why so many people flocked to Myriad God Restaurant despite it charging such exorbitant prices.

“Haha, great place.”

Old Snake was very pleased as he obstreperously walked to the pavilion in the middle of the lake before sinking his ass into a chair.

“Bring on the food and alcohol!” he urged.

Two young ladies in qipao had already arrived with a menu, which took the form of a disk array. When activated, it projected all the dishes and fine wine available. The projection was rendered so extremely realistically that it was capable of whetting one’s appetite.

“There’s no need for all this trouble. Just give us your signature dishes. Send about ten or twenty servings and then ten jugs of Immortal Inebriation!’

Old Snake waved his hand as though he was ordering meat skewers at a roadside stall without any restraint.

Yi Yun stole a glance at the prices of the food as the corners of his mouth twitched. Thankfully, his recent heist left him with all of Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen’s wealth. Otherwise, ordering dishes that cost upwards of a few thousand to above ten thousand Spirit Jade simply wouldn’t be possible.

Upon hearing Old Snake’s order for generous amounts of food, the twinkle in the two ladies’ eyes brightened as they looked at Yi Yun. They were naturally aware that the person who was really paying for the treat was the young man in front of them.

There were many people in Myriad God Ridge that were rich, but those who spent so much money on a single meal were few and far between.

This youth appeared extraordinary in both looks and demeanor, and with his eminent status as a personal disciple, such a figure was truly the man of one’s dreams.

Upon noticing the girls’ gaze, Yi Yun could not help but shake his head. Indeed, be it in his past life or the present martial world, girls always fell for the irresistible allure of living in the upper classes of society.

In his previous life, Yi Yun knew of wealthy scions who would lead charmed lives. As they spent lavishly, there would always be numerous beauties surrounding them, accompanying them in their wanton spending of their youth and money.

In Yi Yun’s past life, he was an ordinary person. He had heard a lot of stories of such lives and was, in fact, curious about it and even dreamt of it.

Later, having come to this martial world, he began from the Cloud Wilderness and forged a difficult path through the martial way, cultivating to become stronger. He fought to survive and became accustomed to seeing gory battles. After experiencing numerous encounters in which his life was on the line, Yi Yun had long learned how to show restraint and exhibit wariness.

Yet, even though he was accustomed to such behaviors, the young heart he had repressed for so long still made him find it irresistible to indulge just this once.

Now, by spending freely to enjoy a lavish feast, leading a life he had never experienced in the past, a curiosity that was always inside him was satisfied. It was a brand new experience.

“Serve one of each of your signature dishes. Don’t bother with jugs for the Immortal Inebriation. Just send an entire jar,” Yi Yun said casually.

Warriors could eat as much or as little as they wished. He was not afraid of there being any waste. Besides, from the way Old Snake looked, he was definitely a glutton. It was clearly impossible for him to not finish the food.

Since he obtained all of his Spirit Jade from robbing, Yi Yun did not feel the pinch even if all of it was spent. The windfall he had obtained was all thanks to Old Snake after all. Yi Yun didn’t think too much of using it to treat Old Snake.

“Alright, Young Master. Please wait a moment. We will immediately inform the kitchen. Also… personal disciples are given a ten percent discount. And with your generous expenditure today, you can become a distinguished customer of Myriad God Restaurant. That will give you a twenty percent discount.”

The two ladies said this happily. The more the customers they waited on spent, the more they received in commissions.

Myriad God Restaurant served its dishes rather quickly. In about fifteen minutes, all the dishes were served. The two ladies stood ready to wait on them, but Yi Yun waved his hand and said, “Since the food has been served, you can take your leave. There’s no need for you to be here.”

“That…” Upon hearing Yi Yun say those words, the two ladies were somewhat disappointed. However, they still took their leave.

Old Snake eagerly began feasting on the table full of delicacies.

Yi Yun was in no hurry. He poured a cup of Immortal Inebriation for Old Snake and set up an insulation barrier, sealing them from their surroundings.

Although Myriad God Restaurant ensured that its customers enjoyed superior privacy, Yi Yun still wanted to be certain.

“Senior, allow me to toast you.” Yi Yun raised his cup.

Old Snake tipped a wine jar directly. “There’s no need for all these formalities. Just drink directly.”

Old Snake had no sense of being a guest at all. He tipped his head and drank a huge swig of Immortal Inebriation. His face quickly took on an intoxicated look of satisfaction.

“Senior, Miss Huan has a letter for me to hand to you.”

After drinking a few cups of wine, Yi Yun produced Huan Chenxue’s letter.

Old Snake raised his eyes and took a glance. He tore the envelope open and read the letter. Old Snake’s expression turned reserved for once as he seemed to become nostalgic.

“Chenxue’s sword is with you?”

Old Snake looked seriously at Yi Yun. He seemed surprised that Huan Chenxue had given the sword to him.

“Yes, Miss Huan’s companion sword is indeed with me. Senior, I have a few questions for you.”

Old Snake put away the letter and grabbed a roasted drumstick. He took a bite of it, and then garbled through a mouth full of food.

“Senior, I would like to know more about the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.”

Yi Yun had long been curious about the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. The cauldron was clearly a divine item. Yi Yun sensed that the level of its power far exceeded the Myriad God Ridge.

“Ascending Dragon Cauldron… hehe.” Old Snake licked the oil from the corner of his lips. “It’s not like you can’t know about it. Speaking of which, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron is somewhat related to your pure Yang broken sword.”

Old Snake had clearly learned that Yi Yun possessed the other half of the pure Yang broken sword from the letter.

“Oh?” Yi Yun faltered slightly. “Why do you say that?”

“Do you know about the twelve Dao Ancestors, or should I say… the twelve Fey Gods?” asked Old Snake.

“Yes!” Yi Yun nodded. Back in the Luo clan, he had come into repeated contact with the twelve Fey Gods.

“Do you know what they are?” asked Old Snake again.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before saying, “Only the first nine are known.”

The first nine of the twelve Fey Gods were: Extreme Yang Illumination! Extreme Yin Nether Glow! Empress Earth Dao Tree! Dragon Emperor! Seven-colored Phoenix! Kun Peng! Heavenly Man! River of Forgetfulness! Solitary Nothingness!

Extreme Yang Illumination and Extreme Yin Nether Glow were born at the beginning of the universe when there was nothing but Chaos. The supreme ultimate (Taiji) generated the two opposing forces, Yin and Yang.

The Empress Earth Dao Tree was the manifestation of the three thousand Great Dao.

Dragon Emperor, Seven-colored Phoenix, Kun Peng, and Heavenly Man were the manifestations of several powerful lifeforms.

Finally, River of Forgetfulness was the river of time and Solitary Nothingness was the infinite void that represented the Great Dao of space and time.

These nine Fey Gods were known. The remaining three Fey Gods were a mystery. However, Yi Yun knew that the Purple Crystal Origins he possessed was one of the final three Fey Gods.

The twelve Fey Gods were names given by the Fey race.

As for the twelve Dao Ancestors, it was a name given by humans.

In fact, the twelve Fey Gods were in no way closer to the Fey race than humans. In short, the twelve Fey Gods represented the beginnings of the Heavenly Dao!

From this point of view, using the human’s naming convention—twelve Dao Ancestors—was apter.

“Yes… Not bad. I can only tell you that your pure Yang broken sword is in fact somewhat related to Extreme Yang Illumination!”

“As for Chenxue’s companion sword, it’s a partner of your pure Yang broken sword. It is somewhat related to Extreme Yin Nether Glow.”

“These two swords represent Yin and Yang, swords of the two opposing forces.”

“What?” Upon hearing Old Snake’s explanation, Yi Yun was astounded. He took out Mirage Snow from his interspatial ring immediately!

Mirage Snow was blue and crystalline, like a pure and clean ice crystal. It was like its owner, Huan Chenxue, and its appearance in the snow-filled pocket world made it even colder.

But this cold was not like any ordinary cold. It had a spirituality to it, a vibrant feeling that seemed to be contained within.

Yi Yun naturally recalled Huan Chenxue’s old servant. He had sealed Dong Xiaowan and Fairy Youqin, making them immune from death. When he did, he also used an aura of frost ice that was filled with such unusual vibrancy.

“This sword is related to the second Dao Ancestor, Extreme Yin Nether Glow? Besides, it’s a complete sword. Doesn’t that mean it’s even more valuable than the pure Yang broken sword?”

Yi Yun was truly astonished.

After all, just the half of the pure Yang broken sword was valued greatly by Bai Yueyin back then, let alone this complete sword!

“It’s not as you imagine,” Old Snake said with a shake of his head. He could read Yi Yun’s thoughts. “Be it the pure Yang broken sword or Huanxue’s sword, their preciousness does not come from the weapon itself but the power sealed within the weapon.”

“Although the pure Yang broken sword is broken, there was a powerful Extreme Yang Illumination soul infused in the sword tip. That was the reason why Bai Yueyin wanted it. It also means that the pure Yang sword tip she had in hand possessed immense value, much more than that of the other half you possessed, or even Mirage Snow.”

“In that case…” Yi Yun drew in a light gasp as he said, “In that case… The Ascending Dragon Cauldron is related to the fifth Dao Ancestor, Dragon Emperor?”

Since the Yin and Yang swords were related to Extreme Yang Illumination and Extreme Yin Nether Glow, Yi Yun naturally made the connection between the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and Dragon Emperor.

Old Snake nodded. “Your guess is right. And it’s because of that that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron is a divine artifact. It too contains a wisp of a dragon’s soul!”

“The Ascending Dragon Cauldron might seem to belong to the Myriad God Ridge but in fact, no one in Myriad God Ridge can properly use it. Not even the Patriarch of Myriad God Ridge. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron has chosen to stay here by itself!”

1254 - : Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s Origin

CKtalon  CKtalon

What Old Snake said opened a brand new world for Yi Yun. He learned many things that he had not known previously.

“Senior, in that case, does that mean that there is a corresponding weapon for each of the twelve Dao Ancestors?”

Old Snake nodded and replied, “Not only do each of the twelve Dao Ancestors have a corresponding weapon, they also have twelve corresponding cultivation techniques. These twelve cultivation techniques are known as Great Dao Origins.”

“However, since the existence of the last three Dao Ancestors is a mystery in and of itself, no one knows what the final three cultivation techniques and weapons are.”

Upon hearing Old Snake’s words, Yi Yun drew a cold gasp. He had learned from Huan Chenxue that the famous ‘Yang God Manual,’ ‘Nine Nether Sacred Manual,’ and other 12 Empyrean Heavens cultivation techniques were actually not created naturally by the Great Dao, but written by people.

These twelve cultivation techniques were especially valued by those at the Divine Lord level and lower, but to figures like Bai Yueyin, they were nothing!

This was why Bai Yueyin only took the pure Yang broken sword after harming Azure Yang Lord, and showed no interest in the remnant pages of the ‘Yang God Manual.’

However, according to Old Snake, the twelve Dao Ancestors’ Origins cultivation techniques were different. Once mastered, it was unknown what sort of power one would obtain.

Yi Yun could not help but think of his 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. He owed many of the victories he had won up until now to his cultivation in the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. It allowed him to gain insights into the Dao of Major Destruction. Could the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence also be a Great Dao of Origins?

“Senior, do you know where the twelve Dao Ancestors’ corresponding sacred weapons and cultivation techniques are at present?” Yi Yun could not help but ask.

With the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence having such might, wouldn’t similar cultivation techniques be just as powerful?

Old Snake shook his head and said, “The majority of them are unknown. Nearly all the Origins cultivation techniques have been lost to time. There are still some traces of the Dao Ancestor sacred weapons, but the few of them that remain in this world are not a complete set. If one were to complete and control the set, they would wield might that could tear the world asunder. Even this Myriad God Ridge could be directly flattened.”

“So they are lost…”

Yi Yun sighed with regret. If only he could take a look at those Origins cultivation techniques. How great would that be?

“I really would like to see them…”

Yi Yun felt his heart itching. The techniques he currently cultivated in were actually nothing impressive, other than the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Yi Yun’s expression was caught by Old Snake as he chuckled, “Kid, you want to take a look at the Origins cultivation techniques, don’t you?”

Yi Yun nodded as he asked hopefully, “Senior, I’m truly very curious. Do you have any knowledge regarding these twelve Origins cultivation techniques?”

“Heh! Dream on!” Old Snake swallowed a mouth of meat and picked at his teeth with a bamboo toothpick. “Do you think a mere table of food and a jug or two of Immortal Inebriation is enough to make me tell you about that?”

Upon hearing Old Snake’s words, Yi Yun was taken aback. “Senior, do you really know something?”

“I know a little but not much.” Old Snake crossed his leg.

Yi Yun poured a cup of alcohol for Old Snake and said with a smile, “Senior, what would you want in exchange for that knowledge? If it is within my means, I will definitely spare no effort.”

Yi Yun had always been curious as to why Huan Chenxue had him seek out Old Snake. If Old Snake knew of the locations of the twelve Dao Ancestors’ Origins cultivation techniques, and each of them was at the level of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, then learning from him was a matter of great importance.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Old Snake smacked his lips and finished the Immortal Inebriation that Yi Yun had poured for him. He said, “Don’t think that just because that lass Chenxue sent you to me that I’ll give you any special treatment. Over my many years, I have never lost out in my dealings. Besides, you are lacking in strength and won’t be able to help me. Being able to treat me to some alcohol is good enough.”

Upon hearing Old Snake’s words, Yi Yun choked up. The old fellow was truly impervious. Trying to obtain any help from him was truly not easy. One only needed to look at his disciple, Snake Girl, and her state of affairs to know that the old fellow was not decent.

“Senior, although I’m lacking in strength, how do you know that I’m incapable of doing something if you don’t say what it is?”

Old Snake chortled. “You sure are adamant. However, there is one bit of news that I can tell you. Didn’t you previously ask me why I’m staying in Myriad God Ridge?”

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. “Please enlighten me, Senior!”

“Myriad God Ridge’s Ascending Dragon Cauldron may or may not have a remnant soul of Dragon Emperor, but I do know that among the treasures within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron are remnant pages of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’ I do not know how the Myriad God Patriarch learned this information, but why do you think that old fellow seems to have nothing better to do? To run a recruitment drive every other day to recruit a bunch of trash? Getting them to give their blood to the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, claiming to be in search of people with a ‘wisdom root?’ In truth, what he wants more than anything is the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ sealed inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.”

“So that’s the reason.’ Yi Yun drew a deep breath of air. He suspected that the Myriad God Patriarch’s true aim was to seek the treasures from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. But he never expected that one of those treasures was the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique!’

Yi Yun had been curious. If the real goal was to obtain the treasures within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, then the people with the ‘wisdom root’ could simply give up their treasures, be compensated, and be sent away. If the Myriad God Ridge didn’t care about being ruthless, they could even permanently silence them. So why did they recruit them into the sect and make them into core disciples for nurturing?

There was probably some hidden purpose behind the matter…

“Senior, I would like to know why some people are able to trigger the Ascending Dragon Cauldron while others aren’t?” This was a question Yi Yun was most puzzled about. The ability to trigger the Ascending Dragon Cauldron did not seem to be related to talent at all.

Old Snake said, “Those that can trigger the Ascending Dragon Cauldron have a bloodline of an ancient race. And this ancient race are the descendants of the Dragon Emperor. It once had an illustrious history but eventually, due to mysterious circumstances, the ancient race vanished in the rivers of time. Even now, it’s difficult to find records of them.”

“The ancient race left behind some collateral bloodlines. And after countless generations, these bloodlines are as thin as they can be. But even so, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron is able to sense these bloodlines, and is triggered when exposed to them.”

“So that’s the reason.” Yi Yun never expected so many secrets within this matter. “From the looks of it, the Dragon Emperor’s bloodline is too thin. It is of not much use for their cultivation. What a pity…”

When Old Snake heard Yi Yun’s wistful remarks, he shook his head. “It’s not completely useless. However, the heritage of the ancient race has been severed. Even those with slightly richer Dragon Emperor bloodlines could still end up becoming average if they cannot find a method to develop their bloodlines.”

“Myriad God Patriarch should know this, but that old man refuses to give up. He wishes to nurture these people and strengthen them to awaken the bloodline that slumbers within their bodies. He hopes that, once awakened, they will trigger the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and give him a pleasant surprise. And yet, the chance of that happening is very slim.”

1255 - : Myriad God Patriarch’s Goal

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was fascinated by the mystery of why the Ascending Dragon Cauldron triggered for him. Why was he capable of triggering it? He definitely wasn’t a descendant of some ancient race. Could it be… due to the Purple Crystal?

The Purple Crystal Origins had existed in Yi Yun’s heart for about a hundred years.

Over the past century, every beat of his heart would be accompanied by an energy fluctuation from the Purple Crystal. With the innumerable beats of his heart, an immense amount of blood had flowed through the Purple Crystal. Therefore, Yi Yun’s blood was no doubt infused with the aura of the Purple Crystal.

The Purple Crystal was one of the twelve Dao Ancestors, for sure. As for the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, it was only an artifact related to the Dragon Emperor. From that perspective, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was naturally on a lower level than the Purple Crystal. It was understandable for it to be triggered by the Purple Crystal.

These thoughts flashed through Yi Yun’s mind. Suddenly, he saw Old Snake looking at him with a cheeky smile. He resembled a weasel.

“Uh… Why are you looking at me like that…” Yi Yun stroked his chin. The old man was a miserly slippery one, to begin with. So the way he looked at Yi Yun gave him a sudden realization. “Don’t tell me you that you want me to get the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ out for you?”

It was no wonder the old man had given him the information. Perhaps even from the moment he entered the sect, watching as he triggered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, Old Snake had already had such a thought in mind.

Back then, Old Snake had forcefully severed the connection between Yi Yun’s blood and the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, preventing Yi Yun’s blood from causing too great a stir. Now, although Yi Yun had become a personal disciple, he was not given much attention from the Myriad God Ridge.

Old Snake said, “I obviously hope that you can retrieve the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Your triggering of the cauldron’s dragon soul has greatly sparked my interest.”

Yi Yun wavered on this. If he could obtain the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ it would definitely be a huge opportunity for him.

However, could he pull out the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ with just the Purple Crystal? Yi Yun wasn’t so sure.

Besides, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was still in the Myriad God Ridge. Although Old Snake had said that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was not the private property of the Myriad God Ridge and had chosen to stay there of its own will, the Myriad God Ridge obviously thought otherwise.

If he was able to obtain the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ the Myriad God Ridge would definitely take it away. Not only would Yi Yun miss his chance to look at it, but he would be lucky just to leave without being permanently silenced.

There was a complex and intricate battle for interests unfolding, and it was obvious that Yi Yun could not face it alone. He needed Old Snake to back him.

Yi Yun could still negotiate certain terms with Old Snake.

Although Old Snake was much stronger than he was, Yi Yun trusted Huan Chenxue. Since she had recommended Old Snake, his character wasn’t in question. This was the premise for Yi Yun’s ability to negotiate with him.

Yi Yun said, “The Ascending Dragon Cauldron has been placed in the Myriad God Ridge and will definitely be heavily protected. If I approach it and trigger it, it will be discovered by the Myriad God Ridge Patriarch, right?”

Old Snake chuckled and said, “Being discovered is a certainty. However, the true matter is if he can react in time. When that time comes, I’ll arrange everything. It will take at most five days before I can let you make an attempt. When the time comes, all you’ll need to do is give some of your blood.”

“That fast!?” Yi Yun was astounded. He originally believed that a lot of planning would be required, allowing for the scheme to slowly play out. He never imagined that Old Snake would suggest five days.

He nodded and agreed to it. He naturally wanted to vie for such an opportunity!

“Come, let’s continue drinking.” With their business done, Old Snake lifted another jar of wine. “I say, Kid. Why don’t you be my disciple,” said Old Snake while licking his lips.

Yi Yun rolled his eyes at Old Snake. “With a master like you, I think I’ll pass. I don’t think I deserve it.”

Seeing the terrible state Snake Girl was in, one could tell that being a disciple of the old fellow wasn’t beneficial.

Everyone had their own lifestyle. Yi Yun guessed that the old fellow had lived for too long and was sick of living a lofty lifestyle. This was why he treated life like a game.

Although Old Snake appeared libertine, there was one thing he was still set upon. He still pursued the martial path.

That was the reason why Old Snake sought the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique!’

…

The meal lasted from noon to the evening. They drank two jars of Immortal Inebriation and ate more than thirty signature dishes. Even after the twenty percent discount, it still cost Yi Yun four million Spirit Jade. It also made Yi Yun instantly become the most preferred customer in Myriad God Restaurant.

When Yi Yun left, the eyes of the few girls that waited on him were filled with a wistful look. All of them wished that Yi Yun would come again. After all, even in the Myriad God Restaurant which was patronized by distinguished customers, few would spend so freely. Just the service charges earned from waiting on one table were extremely sizable.

However, Yi Yun felt that the meal was only average. Although he had eaten a lot of natural treasures, the benefits they gave to his cultivation level were greatly inferior to those of the meal cooked by Elder Lanqin.

“Phew–”

Suddenly, a flame ignited in front of Yi Yun.

It was a voice transmission charm. The Myriad God Ridge personal disciple token had a voice transmission mark that could be used for communication.

Upon hearing the content of the voice transmission, Yi Yun’s heart thumped.

The Myriad God Ridge’s sect master had come out of seclusion!

If Yi Yun was only an ordinary personal disciple, then the sect master would not mean anything special to him. However… Yi Yun was the sect master’s disciple!

Days ago, the sect master he had never met had taken him in as a disciple due to the appearance of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s dragon soul.

Although Yi Yun was not afraid of his freebie master, he still had to be careful!

Yi Yun responded and headed straight for Myriad God Ridge. Fifteen minutes later, he arrived at the sect master’s seclusion zone.

Standing outside was the seductive-looking man—Cang Wu.

“My master is waiting inside for you,” Cang Wu said as he gave Yi Yun a meaningful glance.

“Yes, Martial Uncle.”

Yi Yun bowed.

“There’s no need to call me Martial Uncle. Although our Myriad God Ridge determines seniority based on cultivation levels, you are my master’s disciple. Just call me Senior Brother Cang Wu,” Cang Wu said with a smile.

He tapped his fingers gently and behind him, a previously-restricted array formation opened up, forming a long corridor that led to the inner sanctums behind him.

As he looked at the long corridor with an unknown entity at its end, Yi Yun calmed his heart and walked in.

“This freebie master wouldn’t harm me, right…”

As Yi Yun walked, he used his mental powers to repress the Purple Crystal’s energies. He wasn’t worried that the Purple Crystal would be exposed. However, having fused with the Purple Crystal over many years, its aura had subtly infused itself into Yi Yun’s bloodline.

When facing the unfamiliar Myriad God Ridge sect master, it was best he remained vigilant. Yi Yun converged all his energy and soul power into the Purple Crystal. He also reduced the Purple Crystal aura in his bloodline to a minimum.

The corridor wasn’t that long but Yi Yun walked very slowly. After about three minutes, he came in front of a large door that seemed to lead to a palace. He pushed open the door and entered.

What entered his vision was a pale-red hall.

The tiles at his feet seemed like they had been burned by flames before. They were red hot. Yi Yun knew that the production of such tiles required the injection of Fey beast blood, giving the tiles the ability to naturally possess heat. Weaker warriors would feel intolerable pain, as though their souls were burning, while walking across these tiles.

However, a person with a powerful soul would find their soul being tempered while walking over the tiles. Staying in such an area for prolonged periods of time had various benefits.

Yi Yun stepped on the tiles and looked straight ahead. He saw an old man that looked weighed down with age. He was languidly slumped onto a long chair and was watching him without much strength.

“You have come. Have a seat.”

The elder spoke indifferently. His voice sounded extremely weak. Yi Yun could even sense a faint aura of death from him.

This was the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master?

Yi Yun was alarmed. He would not have found it odd if the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master was an elder nearing the end of his life. However, typical warriors would appear spirited from their Yuan Qi enrichment even as they approached their end.

One would have to truly be on death’s doorstep to produce such an aura of death.

Could it be that the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master was about to die?

Yi Yun did not sit. Instead, he bowed first. After all, he was the sect master’s disciple, even if only in name.

“What is it? Are you surprised to see me like this?” asked the elder in a self-deprecating tone.

Yi Yun fell silent. He was truly surprised.

“You are rather honest…” The elder smiled as he straightened his back. He asked, seemingly without any undertones, “It appears you were not in Myriad God Ridge… last night?”

The elder’s question alarmed Yi Yun.

Before he left that night, he had returned to his seclusion chamber. The chamber had a restriction that could insulate him from others’ perceptions. Even Snake Girl and Duanmu Qingwen did not know that he had left through a long-distance array.

However, the old man knew. This immediately made Yi Yun uncomfortable.

“I wasn’t,” Yi Yun replied honestly.

“You must have gone somewhere very far, right?” asked the elder faintly.

Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat but he did not reply. Logically speaking, even if the sect master knew that he had left Myriad God Ridge, he should not have known how far he had gone or to where, unless he had put a tracing mark on him.

However, Yi Yun was confident that, thanks to the Purple Crystal, it was very difficult for someone to plant anything on him without him being aware of it.

“Don’t be nervous. I realized that, after you left, you exceeded the range of my perception. I got Cang Wu to use a long-distance voice transmission charm to contact you. It has a range of five hundred thousand kilometers. If you had received it, you should know of its contents.”

So it was a voice transmission charm. Yi Yun exhaled lightly. He never expected that a simple voice transmission charm had allowed the elder to infer how far he was from the Myriad God Ridge. How could he have received the voice transmission’s contents?

“I didn’t receive it!” Yi Yun had no means of hiding. He felt like the elder’s listless eyes were like a deep lake that could see through everything.

“Yes…” The elder nodded. “It’s good for you to travel out of here. Staying in Sunken Moon Tower all the time will be boring, after all. However, you have to mind your safety. It’s extremely dangerous deep in the Calm Sea. A few days ago, your senior brothers, Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen, must have felt that cultivating was just too boring. They applied to go on an experiential training trip outside, but experienced a mishap. Even as of now, their corpses haven’t been found. They vanished into thin air just like that.”

The elder spoke calmly. His voice sounded genial, like any elder speaking to a disciple, as though he was exhorting Yi Yun to be extra careful.

1256 - : Myriad God Ridge Sect Master

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s expression sank when the elder mentioned Song Bowen at that moment.

His murder of Song Bowen yesterday was executed flawlessly. Anyone in Myriad God Ridge, no matter how imaginative they could be, would not have guessed that Song Bowen was killed by Yi Yun.

Yet, this elder that he had never met before apparently saw through everything. Just a voice transmission charm was sufficient to incur his suspicions.

“Have some tea. This is excellent Skyrain Tea. It was prepared by Lanqin.”

As the elder spoke, he tapped his finger gently. The tea set he placed on the table automatically flew up and poured Yi Yun a cup of tea.

Yi Yun silently drank the tea and waited for the elder to continue.

The elder said with a smile, “There’s no need for you to worry. I’m not going to investigate your whereabouts yesterday. I called you here to ask you something. On the day you entered the sect, during the test of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, did you feel anything special?”

As the elder spoke, his turbid eyes seemed to emit a glow. He stared at Yi Yun’s face as though he wanted it to reveal something to him.

“I did not feel anything special.”

Yi Yun truly did not have much of a sensation. If there was anything to speak of, it was that he sensed an energy fluctuation coming from the Purple Crystal. But that should have been impossible for the elder to perceive even if he could see through everything.

“Follow me.”

The elder got up and led Yi Yun into the deeper sanctums of the hall.

They passed through a dark corridor and went down a staircase. After more than a hundred feet of stairs, the room opened up to a wide stone chamber.

In the middle of the stone chamber was a bronze cauldron the size of a house!

The cauldron was engraved with a coiling dragon. When standing in front of it, one could sense the inundations of a boundless and majestic aura!

Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

Yi Yun held his breath.

“This is the second time you are seeing this cauldron. You might not know it, but this Ascending Dragon Cauldron holds the fate of infinite generations of our Myriad God Ridge.”

As the elder gazed at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, his eyes flashed with a mesmerized look.

“If you are able to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, you would be the one to render the greatest service to the Myriad God Ridge. It’s even possible that you could become the next sect master.”

The elder patted Yi Yun on the shoulder as he hung an encouraging and genial smile on his face.

However, this form of encouragement only left Yi Yun sneering secretly. Next sect master? Did he think that he was a child? Ignoring the fact that he could not become one, he didn’t want to be bothered with being one.

Yi Yun said in a deadpan manner, “Master, I’ll probably disappoint you. During the test, Martial Uncle Mo Shanqing had me make a second attempt at triggering the Ascending Dragon Cauldron but I failed.”

The elder shook his head with a smile. “You don’t have to worry about that. No matter how great a person’s wisdom root is, it pales in comparison to a god’s. And the Ascending Dragon Cauldron is a divine item. It’s already very impressive that you managed to trigger it once.”

“As your master, I naturally have means to awaken the potential in your blood. I’ll make your blood truly trigger the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!”

Just as the elder finished speaking, there was the sound of footsteps coming from the stone stairwell. Yi Yun turned to look and his heart sank slightly. He saw an old woman bringing a young girl down the stairwell. And that girl was none other than Snake Girl!

“Yi Yun, you are here too?”

Snake Girl was somewhat surprised to see Yi Yun.

Yi Yun frowned. “Master, what is this about?”

“Nothing. Light has shone down on our Myriad God Ridge for us to recruit both you and Snake Girl in the last recruitment test!”

“If the both of you can completely awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, your names will be recorded in the history books of the Myriad God Ridge, immortalizing you. Isn’t this something to be proud of and look forward to?”

The elder smiled. However, his words only left Yi Yun with a sense of disgust.

Whatever the elder said at that moment came across to Yi Yun as excuses to obtain the treasures within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. His talk of meritorious achievements sounded like a joke to Yi Yun.

No matter how powerful the old man was, he did not know of the existence of Old Snake. It was even more unlikely that he could guess that Old Snake knew more about the secrets of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron than he did, and that he had already told Yi Yun everything.

“Stretch your hand out.”

As the elder spoke, his jaundiced eyes flickered.

“What for…?”

Snake Girl asked in a daze.

“You were instructed to stretch your hand out, so do it. Why do you ask so many questions!?”

The old woman behind Snake Girl urged her impatiently.

Snake Girl had no choice but to stretch out her hand.

Yi Yun had a heavy expression. He had guessed what the old man was trying to do but he was not sure. The old man made him feel extremely uncomfortable. He was like a venomous snake that lurked in the dark.

Compared to him, the man actually named ‘Old Snake’ was like an angel.

Speaking of that old man, who knew where he was? With the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master summoning him, Old Snake should have stuck around to protect him in secret. Without his help, Yi Yun’s life was truly not his own.

Despite these thoughts running through his head, he still extended his hand.

“Cha!”

A cold beam streaked and, with a tiny bit of pain, Yi Yun’s wrist was lacerated.

Yi Yun frowned slightly. He strongly disliked having his life determined by others.

The elder that was standing in front of him was his master in name but, in fact, Yi Yun was just a valuable experimental subject to the old man.

“Fill it to the brim.”

The elder said without any expression. Out from his interspatial ring, a three-inch-tall bronze tripod flew out. It had three legs and a handle and resembled a miniaturized bronze tripod.

“And you too.”

Snake Girl’s wrist was cut open as well.

The vessel used for Snake Girl was many times bigger than Yi Yun’s. It was the size of a small basin.

“So much blood is needed?”

Snake Girl was dismayed. Yi Yun only had a cup of blood but she had to fill a small basin.

“Compared to the things you are going to do, this bit of blood is nothing!”

Although Snake Girl was unwilling to do so, she still let out her blood.

And at that moment, Yi Yun closed his eyes to focus. He converged the Purple Crystal aura within his body as much as he could. He tried his best to make the blood that flowed out of him turn into ordinary blood.

However, the elder clearly did not sense that. He was oblivious of the Purple Crystal’s aura.

He watched the blood that flowed out of Yi Yun with a blatant flash of excitement.

When the blood filled up the bronze tripod, the elder took out a jade bottle.

He opened it and poured out a drop of red liquid, which seemed to be a drop of blood.

The elder appeared to cherish the drop of blood immensely, as though the blood was a most precious treasure.

“There are only six drops left… There is one fewer drop with every drop used…”

The elder muttered to himself as he gently tapped the bronze tripod in Yi Yun’s hand. The blood immediately flew out and formed a spherical ball of blood.

The blood sphere constantly shrunk and, in moments, it reduced to the size of a drop of blood.

Yi Yun watched from the side. He knew that the elder had the concentrated all the blood essence in his blood into that drop of blood.

Moments later, the elder repeated the sequence of events for Snake Girl. He reduced the basin of her blood into a drop of blood.

Yi Yun was somewhat enlightened. The amount of blood extracted was determined by the purity of the blood according to the elder’s standards. All of this was done to refine a single drop of blood.

As such, the elder had three drops of blood to attempt an awakening of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

This was the purported method of awakening the potential in their blood.

1257 - : Meeting the Ascending Dragon Cauldron Again

CKtalon  CKtalon

Under the elder’s control, the three drops of blood finally fused into a single blood bead the size of a grape. The blood bead was crystalline, and it reflected the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master’s face.

His face had a feverish look as he gazed at the blood bead.

Upon seeing the elder’s expression, Yi Yun’s heart thumped. On careful thought, he began to wonder exactly what the drop of blood that the elder produced was. For him to place so much weight on the drop of blood, it was definitely not easily obtained.

Was it possible that the drop of blood was left behind by past disciples with ‘wisdom roots’ that had once joined the sect after triggering the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?

But where were those disciples now?

For many years, the Myriad God Ridge had recruited disciples in a clamorous fashion, so it should have accumulated quite a number of disciples with ‘wisdom roots!’ But Yi Yun had not heard of many disciples with ‘wisdom roots’ actually existing in the sect. Other than Snake Girl and himself, there weren’t many others.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun had an ominous feeling.

“Let’s begin…”

The elder focused on controlling the drop of blood, sending it flying towards the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. The elder looked on with an awed expression, as though he was witnessing the birth of a new world.

At last, the drop of blood entered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, landing right on the eyes of the black dragon sculpture.

The drop of blood gradually fused with the sculpture as the black dragon’s eyes turned increasingly bright. The silent Ascending Dragon Cauldron seemed to come alive momentarily!

“Boom!”

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron blasted out immense energy as a terrifying wave of aura flew out in every direction. Snake Girl, who had a relatively weaker cultivation level, could not withstand the blast at all as she spewed a mouthful of blood and was sent flying backward.

Yi Yun’s strength was much greater than Snake Girl’s so he was able to withstand the aura. However, to not stand out, he feigned a look of also not being able to withstand it.

And at that moment, amid the squall, the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master’s hair was disheveled and his eyes were filled with a maniacal glimmer.

“Open! Open!”

The elder cried out crazily with all his heart as the dragon vibrated violently. A flickering black dragon soul peered out of the cauldron’s mouth as though it was about to escape!

“It’s out, the Dragon Emperor’s soul!”

The elder’s eyes were filled with excitement but he wasn’t surprised. He had witnessed this very scene many times in the past. Several attempts to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron with the Dragon Emperor’s bloodline had been made, and there were times that he would trigger the dragon soul only for it to ultimately fail.

The elder held the greatest hope for this attempt, and it was also the strongest reaction up to date!

However…

The black dragon’s phantom only appeared for less than a minute and did not grow any stronger. After that, the energy produced by the Ascending Dragon Cauldron no longer increased, and instead began to gradually decrease. The black dragon phantom also turned increasingly blur as it began to shrink away.

“What!?”

Upon seeing this happen, the elder’s heart was seized with anxiety!

It had failed!?

The dragon soul weakened and disappeared eventually. The energy squall came to a rest and the Ascending Dragon Cauldron became still, standing in the middle of the hall as though nothing had happened.

The elder was battered out of his senses when he saw how things had played out. He stood silently for a long time, continuing to stare at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as though he was waiting for a miracle to happen.

However, the cauldron continued to show no sign of activity.

It had truly failed!

The elder took a few steps back. And when he turned around, he appeared to have aged even more.

A rich air of death effused from his entire being as though he was about to walk into a tomb. He had attempted about eight times, all of which ended in failure. Yet, his time was nearly up!

The elder slowly turned his head around to look at Yi Yun. This look made Yi Yun’s heart clamp up. It was an indescribable look. The look contained disappointment, disgruntlement, and ferociousness…

“Your blood…”

The elder’s voice was heavy. The effects of Yi Yun’s blood were a lot worse than he had originally expected.

He believed that Yi Yun’s appearance could very well be the chance for him to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. However, it failed yet again. He had also wasted a precious blood catalyst.

The blood catalyst consisted of blood marrow from draconic Ancient Fey, fused with the bloodline essences of multiple disciples with ‘wisdom roots,’ finally taking a new form.

The wastage of every drop of this blood catalyst pinched the elder’s heart greatly.

And the reason for such an outcome was that Yi Yun had given him inaccurate expectations.

It was a fact that Yi Yun had triggered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s soul dragon previously, but this time the quality of the bloodline was exceedingly bad. Bloodline of such quality would never be able to trigger the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s dragon soul. Was there a hidden reason behind this?

The elder watched Yi Yun intently. His deep gaze was like a keen blade that appeared to be penetrating Yi Yun. But from beginning to end, Yi Yun did not betray himself with any expressions. He wore a calm expression but he was sneering in his heart.

The failure to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was perfectly aligned with his wishes. For using him as an experimental subject and taking his blood on a whim, the old man deserved to die from anger.

“Senior Brother, what do we do?”

Seeing the attempt to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron fail, the old woman beside Snake Girl appeared extremely disappointed.

With that, she also began to hate Yi Yun and Snake Girl.

Noticing how the elder was quietly watching Yi Yun, she could not help but curse, “It’s all because of you two good-for-nothings. The Myriad God Ridge made an exception to accept the both of you and gave you such great treatment, but your ‘wisdom roots’ are so terrible. You have wasted a blood catalyst for nothing. Useless trash!”

The old woman spoke harshly. In fact, Snake Girl was under her jurisdiction.

“Grandmaster, what did I do wrong…”

Snake Girl was completely puzzled. She did not know what she could have done to be scolded in such a vicious manner.

“Forget it.” The Myriad God Ridge’s sect master waved his hand. “I probably made a mistake in my judgment. Let them take their leave.”

“Then, I’ll take my leave.”

Yi Yun bowed with a deadpan expression as he turned to leave with a baffled Snake Girl.

The old woman watched Yi Yun leave and when she saw his figure disappear, an abhorring glimmer flashed in her eyes. “That punk. I really want to kill him with a strike! That look in his eyes, that demeanor. He shows no fear or respect for the two of us. He knew that the awakening of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had failed because of his impure bloodline, and that he wasted a drop of blood catalyst. But look at him. Not only was there no hint of guilt, he nearly gloated at our misfortune!”

The Myriad God Ridge’s sect master remained silent. He looked at the door through which Yi Yun had disappeared.

“This Yi Yun is not simple. I can see through many people from the younger generation, but he makes me feel as though he is hiding certain things…”

“What things?” The old woman’s face turned cold. “The awakening of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron is of utmost importance. How can we permit this punk to do as he pleases? I’ll have him forcibly brought here for interrogation. Let’s see what secrets he can possibly have!”

“No, do not act rashly.” The elder shook his head before turning to look back at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. He recalled the process by which the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was awoken a moment ago.

“What could be the problem?” The elder muttered to himself…

1258 - : Outcome

CKtalon  CKtalon

An hour later, at Sunken Moon Tower.

Ever since Yi Yun met his so-called master, he had been plagued by a sense of unease. That old man gave off an extreme sense of danger to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was not accustomed to placing himself in a land of peril but due to the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ and with Old Snake around, he could only choose to continue staying in Myriad God Ridge.

“Young Master, the desserts are ready. Shall I serve them to you?” Duanmu Qingwen bowed and said gently.

“There’s no need. I’ll be entering seclusion in the cultivation chamber. Do not disturb me.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he walked straight into Sunken Moon Tower’s cultivation chamber.

Duanmu Qingwen could only nod. Having been in Sunken Moon Tower for a few days, she came to learn that she had no chance of serving Yi Yun in his day-to-day life. Ignoring her serving Yi Yun, even meeting him was rare. Every time she managed to catch a glimpse of him, he would be rushing into the cultivation chamber.

“Young Master sure is hard-working…”

Duanmu Qingwen had such a thought. However, she did not know that Yi Yun had an ugly expression in the cultivation chamber.

The Sunken Moon Tower’s cultivation chamber was problematic!

Logically speaking, once the cultivation chamber’s array formations were activated, the interior would be isolated from the outside world. No one should have been able to know the situation inside the cultivation chamber. However, the Myriad God Ridge sect master knew of his whereabouts. There was likely some form of backdoor within the cultivation chamber’s array formation that allowed the old man to easily monitor him.

Thankfully, upon reflection, Yi Yun knew that he had not done anything that would expose his secrets during his past few days of cultivation. If he had, the outcome would be disastrous.

“This Myriad God Ridge doesn’t even have a private space for me. I really can’t stay here much longer.”

Who would wish to be monitored daily? Yi Yun did not know if the other personal disciples dealt with such conditions, but perhaps due to his special status of having the ability to trigger the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, he had been given unique treatment.

As Yi Yun pondered over the matter, he caught a shadow in his peripheral vision standing in the room’s corner.

The shadow had appeared silently, as though it had always been there and Yi Yun had only just now noticed it. This gave Yi Yun a fright. When he focused on it, he realized that it was in the shape of an old man with a small figure. His face was wrinkled and there was a somewhat familiar grotesque smile hanging from it.

“Old Snake!”

Yi Yun was rendered speechless. The old fellow had suddenly appeared without even notifying him of his existence. He was like a ghost. If Yi Yun wasn’t mentally prepared, he would truly have been given a great fright.

“It appears that you’re being monitored.”

The elder stroked his beard as he looked around Yi Yun’s cultivation chamber.

“You still came here despite knowing that?” Yi Yun said with exasperation. However, he also knew that for Old Snake to dare do it, he must have had confidence in avoiding detection.

Although Old Snake did not appear proper in any way, his strength was not to be doubted.

“Hehe, it’s because I knew it that I appeared here. I have already taken care of the monitoring array formation for you. There’s no need to thank me. After all, you don’t want someone peeping in when you’re doing naughty things with that maidservant of yours!”

As he spoke, Old Snake clapped his hands and gave a ‘you know’ look.

Yi Yun was at a loss for words when he heard that. The old fellow was already so advanced in years, yet he spoke in such a licentious manner.

“How did you take care it? Since that old fellow went through the trouble of setting up an array formation, he clearly meant to monitor me. If he discovers that the array formation has been altered, wouldn’t that make me look suspicious?”

“Haha! How could I make such a careless mistake? That Myriad God Ridge sect master thinks highly of his skill in array formations and had set up a hidden monitoring array formation, but his array is only trivial in my hands. I installed a new array formation to override it. When the time comes that you do not want to be monitored by the old fellow, just activate my array formation. All he will see is you meditating in cultivation. You can then do whatever you want to do. That old fellow wants to compete with me? He’s way too inexperienced for that,”

Old Snake said ostentatiously, thinking absolutely nothing of the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master. Although Old Snake came off like a shameless braggart, Yi Yun knew that the old man was still someone to rely on during critical moments.

As such, Yi Yun could finally rest knowing that he was not constantly monitored. Thankfully too, as he was getting to the point where he could not stay a day longer in Sunken Moon Tower.

Yi Yun asked, “Didn’t you say we would take action soon? This Myriad God Ridge’s sect master has malicious intentions. I don’t want to continue risking my life by staying here.”

“That’s what I hoped but… Myriad God Ridge’s patriarch is returning soon. As for taking action, we will probably have to postpone it.”

“Myriad God Ridge’s patriarch?”

Yi Yun’s breathing faltered. The Myriad God Ridge sect master was enough to make him feel in danger and that he couldn’t handle the situation. As for Myriad God Ridge’s patriarch, he was even more mysterious and powerful than the sect master.

He could not help but look Old Snake suspiciously in the eye. This old fellow should be able to deal with the Myriad God Ridge’s patriarch, right?

Old Snake could tell what was on Yi Yun’s mind. He scowled disdainfully. “Why, kid? Are you doubting me? It’s only a Myriad God Ridge patriarch. With me here, you can feel at ease.”

As Old Snake spoke, he patted Yi Yun on the shoulder with a chuckle. “For that lass Chenxue to hand you over to me, I must be trustworthy, right?”

Yi Yun had a look of disbelief. His attempt to trigger the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was going to be a highly risky endeavor. He had to be wary or he might end up as cannon fodder for the old man.

As Yi Yun was pondering over the matter, his personal disciple token suddenly flashed. There was a voice transmission coming from the token.

A call to gather!

Two hours from now, all personal disciples and Elders had to head for Myriad God Ridge’s Jade Emperor Palace to await the return of Myriad God Ridge’s patriarch!

The patriarch was truly returning. Yi Yun gave Old Snake an odd glance. He called it. However, how did he know of the patriarch’s whereabouts?

Old Snake stroked his beard and said smugly, “If I put my mind to probing anyone in Myriad God Ridge, no one can hide from my eyes.”

Yi Yun was impressed by Old Snake. With such an ally, he could feel even more assured.

However, he was somewhat curious. The gathering notice did not seem reminiscent of the patriarch’s past actions.

Although he had just entered Myriad God Ridge, he had heard about the patriarch’s character from many people. The patriarch was an extremely mysterious person with his whereabouts often unknown. Many Elders and personal disciples had never even seen the patriarch before. In fact, not only had they never met him, they had heard little news concerning him.

In Myriad God Ridge, the sect master was already a lofty existence, while the patriarch was equivalent to a legend.

But today, the Myriad God Patriarch was returning. He was even gathering all personal disciples and Elders to receive him. This matter alone was abnormal. Was there a reason why he was gathering all of them?

In fact, as Yi Yun was puzzling over the issue, many other personal disciples and Elders were similarly puzzled by the news.

Of course, more of them were pleasantly surprised!

Myriad God Patriarch was a godlike existence in Myriad God Ridge. Having a chance to meet him was definitely an opportunity. If they could gain a tiny bit of favor from the Myriad God Patriarch, they would have a meteoric rise and obtain countless more opportunities.

This made many people begin to greatly anticipate the Myriad God Patriarch’s return.

1259 - : Patriarch Returns

CKtalon  CKtalon

The entire Myriad God Ridge had a few dozen personal disciples, but the number of Elders far exceeded the number of personal disciples.

In Myriad God Ridge, anyone whose cultivation level reached the mid-stages of Supremacy could become an outer-sect Elder. Nearly all personal disciples had the potential to achieve that cultivation level; therefore, in terms of status, personal disciples were equivalent to outer-sect Elders. However, they were far inferior to core Elders.

Due to the gathering notice, many of the core members of the Myriad God Ridge had arrived one after another in Jade Emperor Palace, awaiting the patriarch’s arrival.

Soon, the vast hall was filled with several hundred people. Yi Yun was naturally among the crowd.

After he arrived in Jade Emperor Palace, he sensed that someone was watching him. He looked up and saw a middle-aged man with a pale face walking toward him.

The middle-aged man’s cultivation level was probably in the mid to late-stages of Supremacy. The way he looked at Yi Yun barely masked his bloodlust.

“Are you Yi Yun?” The middle-aged man asked with a voice filled with coldness.

Yi Yun frowned slightly. He did not know this person.

“That is me!”

“Great! Let me ask you, where did you go in the past two days?”

The middle-aged was interrogating him. Such a questioning tone made Yi Yun feel extremely uncomfortable. “Who are you?”

“I’m Song Zhanchen!” The man’s voice had bold undertones. Yi Yun’s eyebrows pricked up. With that surname, he was undoubtedly from the Song family.

“So it’s Elder Song. Nice to meet you.” Yi Yun put on a polite tone but cupped his fists languidly. He did not have a good impression of the Song family at all. “Elder Song, it seems you aren’t my master. Therefore, I don’t think I need to report my whereabouts to you, right?”

“Hehe!” The middle-aged man chortled sinisterly twice. “It’s true that I’m not your master. It’s fine if you do not tell me where you were. I’ll say it for you. Yesterday, you left the Myriad God Ridge and traveled millions of miles away. Then, you returned within a day. At the same time, my son that was out for experiential training millions of miles away was murdered. Not only did you kill my son, you even killed Zhang Wuchen!”

The middle-aged man’s voice rang out loud and clear. Instantly, many people present heard him and reacted.

“What? Yi Yun killed Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen!?”

People were shocked. They previously knew that Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen had perished while out on experiential training, but they did not know that it was related to Yi Yun.

If that were truly the case, then Yi Yun was truly audacious. Assassinating a personal disciple of the sect was a heavy crime in Myriad God Ridge!

Yi Yun narrowed his eyes as he looked at Song Zhanchen. Just two hours ago, he learned that the Myriad God Ridge sect master had guessed that he was the one responsible for killing Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen.

However, to the sect master, the Song family was but one of the many family clans in Myriad God Ridge. With the sect master’s status, it was beneath him to inform the Song family of the matter. As such, he never expected the Song family to know of it almost immediately!

Was it Cang Wu?

Yi Yun recalled the seductive man that was responsible for communicating on behalf of the sect master. When he was gone, the sect master had tried contacting him through Cang Wu. In other words, Cang Wu also knew that he had traveled far away the past two days.

If Cang Wu had a good relationship with the Song family, it was very likely that he would inform the Song family!

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun scanned the hall. Instantly, he saw a man dressed in white with looks as beautiful as a woman’s standing beside a pillar. He was casually chatting with a blue-dressed woman.

He appeared oblivious to Song Zhanchen’s interrogation of Yi Yun. He also ignored the gaze Yi Yun was casting at him. He continued chatting with the blue-dressed woman, his every word and action refined and courteous, as if to showcase his modesty and gentleness.

Cang Wu…

Yi Yun took a deep breath. If Cang Wu had truly informed the Song family, then this matter must be known to the sect master.

However, Cang Wu appeared to pay no attention to it. That meant that the sect master had lost all concern for a so-called ‘disciple’ like him.

In other words, due to his failure to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, he was probably of no value to the sect master.

This was why Cang Wu felt so confident in delivering the news to the Song family. The sect master wouldn’t care, and he would be doing the Song family a favor. In those circumstances, why wouldn’t he inform them?

“Yi Yun! You killed Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen, two personal disciples! According to the sect’s rules, your cultivation will be crippled! You will be imprisoned for life!”

Song Zhanchen’s voice was filled with killing intent. Song Bowen’s death left him unsettled. Now, the murderer was finally found. However, Song Zhanchen was still puzzled as to what method Yi Yun had used to infiltrate the Great Traversal Spirit Ship.

Cripple his cultivation and give him life imprisonment?

Yi Yun sneered and said, “It’s true that I wasn’t in the sect the past two days. However, I was constantly in seclusion prior to that. How, then, was it possible for me to know where Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen went? You keep insisting that I killed the two of them. But where’s the evidence?”

“You want evidence? Then hand over your interspatial ring. Let me search it in public and I’ll find you the evidence you want!”

As Song Zhanchen spoke, he locked his perception onto Yi Yun. It seemed as though he would snatch the ring away from him at any time!

“Search my interspatial ring?”

Yi Yun’s gaze turned cold. To warriors, the only thing more important than their interspatial rings were their lives. Typically, all the wealth a warrior had was carried with them. Unless they were killed, no one would ever be allowed to freely probe one’s interspatial ring. It carried a lot of a warrior’s secrets.

Although Yi Yun could hide the Great Traversal Spirit Ship in the God Advent Tower, it was absolutely impossible for him to let others see what was in his interspatial ring.

“Elder Song, if you want to attack me, just say so directly. Why do you need to raise a request such as searching my interspatial ring!?”

“Attack you?” Song Zhanchen guffawed. “Do you think a junior like you is worth the effort of me attacking you? Yi Yun, don’t think that just because you are the sect master’s disciple I wouldn’t dare do a thing to you. You can’t escape if you violate the sect’s rules!”

Song Zhanchen threatened coldly.

And at that moment, a few people appeared behind Song Zhanchen.

“Brother Zhanchen, are you sure this punk killed my grandson?”

A woman spoke. She was from the Zhang family and, just like the Song family, Zhang Wuchen was the most outstanding person among the Zhang family’s younger generation.

The Song and Zhang family had been important members in the Myriad God Ridge for years. They had six Elders who, if they joined forces, were a mighty force that would have no trouble destroying Yi Yun.

Had Yi Yun not been the sect master’s disciple, it was very likely that these people would have already attacked.

Very quickly, the atmosphere in the hall was all set for a showdown. Many people were watching the buzz in a schadenfreudian manner. Up until now, Yi Yun had enjoyed too much special treatment, so there were many who wished ill on Yi Yun. If the crime of killing personal disciples was confirmed, even the sect master could not protect him.

The situation turned increasingly tense. The number of family members of the Song and Zhang family standing in front of Yi Yun increased, but at that moment—

A cold aura emanated through the entire hall!

The aura felt like it was blown from the deep abyss of the netherworld. It simultaneously gave people a shudder and an unfathomable feeling.

Yi Yun’s heart palpitated. Such a terrifying aura… could it be that the Myriad God Patriarch had arrived?

1260 - : Betrayal

CKtalon  CKtalon

The aura was not only sensed by Yi Yun. Many people present also shuddered because of the aura. The tense atmosphere of two parties about to jump at each other’s throats was naturally and instantly calmed.

In front of the Myriad God Patriarch, no one dared to act impetuously.

A few seconds later, the large hall that everyone was in suddenly changed. What was once a palatial hall was now transforming into a completely open world.

A huge cauldron fell from the sky. It was engraved with a black dragon and it was extremely heavy. It effused a might that seemed like it could hold down mountains and rivers.

“Ascending Dragon Cauldron?”

A personal disciple said loudly. To the members of the sect, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was the cornerstone treasure of the Myriad God Ridge. It was also a treasure that belonged to the Myriad God Patriarch.

However, Yi Yun knew that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron belonged to no one. The cauldron in front of them was not the real Ascending Dragon Cauldron, but a replica. Although it was a high-quality replica with a formidable aura that left the hearts of people palpitating, it was still quite inferior to the true Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

The real Ascending Dragon Cauldron would exude the feeling of facing the world to those who stood before it.

Above the cauldron stood a red-dressed boy. He had small eyes and his body was tiny. However, his face did not look young. There were minute wrinkles on his face that were inexplicably odd.

And standing on either side of the red-dressed boy were two people. One of them was an elder that Yi Yun recognized. He was none other than the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master!

The other person was a handsome youth. He looked like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old mortal. He was dressed in white and there were purple patterns embroidered on his sleeves. He was tall and he had nice facial features. He had an outstanding bearing.

From the way the three people stood, one could easily tell who was the Myriad God Patriarch. It was the red-dressed boy standing front and center!

“He is the Myriad God Patriarch?”

Yi Yun stared at the queer-looking red-dressed boy. Upon first glance, he looked rather normal. However, the more carefully Yi Yun looked, the more uneasy he felt. He even felt a little disgusted. It was unknown what cultivation techniques he cultivated in for him to be in the form of a boy at such an advanced age.

“Greetings, Patriarch!”

The gathered crowd wasn’t full of dumb people. Although this was the first time most of them were meeting the Myriad God Patriarch, they were able to instantly guess at his identity. Just his immense aura was confirmation enough.

The red-dressed boy languidly swept his glance at the people beneath him and said, “Dispense with the formalities. I summoned all of you here today to make a few announcements.”

The red-dressed boy’s voice was hoarse, unlike a child’s voice at all. Every sound he produced made one feel as though their ears were burrowing into their brains.

“The first matter is in regards to the successor of the sect master!”

The sect master’s successor!?

Everyone gasped. It was the major matter of the succession of the sect master. No wonder the Myriad God Patriarch was there to personally announce it!

The Myriad God Ridge’s sect master had been in power for millions of years. The people of the Myriad God Ridge had nearly forgotten the need to change sect masters. Many of the personal disciples cultivated arduously with the sole goal of becoming a core Elder. None ever entertained the thought of becoming the next sect master.

No one imagined that the candidate for the next sect master would be decided today. Many people present could not help but be excited. However, they also knew that the chance of such a great thing befalling them was too minute.

Who could it be?

People waited with bated breaths. At that moment, the red-dressed boy continued, “All these years, I have been touring the Sinkhole in search of opportunities to enhance myself. In the end, my potential has run out and the chances are too few and far between. Therefore, I turned my thoughts to finding a person to take over my mantle. While traveling the Seven Desolates, I found a truly suitable young man. I have already taken him in as my last disciple. Yunyang, greet your fellow disciples.”

When the red-dressed boy spoke, the youth behind him stepped forward. He casually cupped his fists at the crowd and said proudly, “I’m Feng Yunyang. I was lucky to be discovered by Master and, today, I come back to the Myriad God Ridge with Master. I wish for all my senior brothers and sisters, and junior brothers and sisters, to take good care of me!”

What? The patriarch had taken in a disciple!?

Everyone present was dumbfounded. They had been in the Myriad God Ridge for years but they had never heard of the patriarch taking in a disciple. They never expected him to bring a disciple back from his travels!

Who was this Feng Yunyang? How was he recruited by the patriarch to be his only disciple?

Without a doubt, the successor to the sect master was Feng Yunyang!

When they originally noticed the young man, many believed that he might be an old freak whose true age was beyond guessing. They never expected that he was really a young man and that he was the only disciple of the patriarch!

Instantly, many personal disciples were exceedingly disappointed. Although they knew they had no chance of becoming the successor to the sect master, they still felt displeased that an outsider would suddenly take that spot.

“The sect master’s successor…”

Yi Yun looked at the red-dressed boy and the high-spirited youth who was standing beside him. He felt that something was a little off. From his point of view, the red-dressed boy’s thoughts were only on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Why would he affirm the successor to the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master at this point in time?

“There’s one more thing.” The red-dressed boy spoke again. “I realize that some of you are unimpressed by Yunyang and wish to vie for the spot against him. In fact, it is an equal opportunity. I might have made Yunyang my last disciple but all of you present are similarly my disciples. If you perform excellently, my heritage and treasures can be given to you. I’m old and I don’t have many days left. The items I leave behind have to be handed down to my descendants, after all. How much you obtain will depend on your capabilities.”

“I have here a list of natural treasures. If any one of you can find the materials on this list, I’ll give you corresponding rewards.”

The red-dressed boy waved his hand and the list transformed into a stream of light that stretched out hundreds of feet, presenting itself to the people in front of him.

The words on the list were written in a large golden font. Each word was the size of an inkstone. Everyone could read it clearly.

“Oh? These materials…”

Yi Yun’s gaze zoomed in. Many of the materials were the bones and blood of Fey beasts. Herbs only made up a tiny portion of the list, and the names of the Fey beasts also caught Yi Yun’s attention…

Heaven Devouring Wyrm!

Four-track Snake!

Dragonbone Whale!

Crimson Blood Heavenly Silkworm!

Li Fire Hornless Dragon!

Nine-winged Golden Dragon!

…

These ancient Fey beasts seemed unrelated from just their names. However, Yi Yun was well-versed in the divine alchemist’s notes. He was acutely aware of every attribute of the Fey beasts written on the list. These particular Fey beasts had one thing in common: They more or less possessed the bloodline of the True Dragon.

There was no need to elaborate on the Heaven Devouring Wyrm. Back when Yi Yun was in the Luo clan, he had obtained the tailbone of a Heaven Devouring Wyrm after gaining the acknowledgment of the twelve ancient Fey columns. In terms of quality, the Heaven Devouring Wyrm tailbone was greatly inferior to the backbone that contained rich bone marrow. But even so, Yi Yun had obtained great benefits from the Heaven Devouring Wyrm tailbone.

The Four-track Snake was a gigantic python that could transform into a dragon according to legend. The reason why it was called a Four-track Snake was that its tummy could grow four legs.

The Dragonbone Whale was a manifestation of the legendary Dragon King of the seas. It was also called Dragon King Whale, a behemoth of the sea. Transforming into a dragon gave it the name whale, and transforming into a Peng gave it the name Kun.

As for the Crimson Blood Heavenly Silkworm, it was one of the legendary nine transformations of the Heavenly Silkworm. After the ninth transformation, it would become a golden dragon…

…

Yi Yun finished reading the entire list. There were a total of nineteen Ancient Fey beasts listed, all related to dragons.

There were three herbs that were also related to dragons.

Things like the Fey Blood Orchid were guarded by Ancient Fey like the Massive Desolate Grand Python. It took millions of years to grow and it grew by absorbing the breaths of the Massive Desolate Grand Python. And it so happened that the Massive Desolate Grand Python also had the bloodline of the True Dragon!

These materials were priceless. The Myriad God Patriarch had drafted all the personal disciples and Elders of the Myriad God Ridge to search for them. Many of them were from illustrious family clans but even so, it would be extremely difficult to gather all the materials!

What was this old fellow up to? By producing such a list, with every item related to the True Dragon, his goal was likely related to the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Was he trying to refine some pill?

1261 - : Myriad God Patriarch

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun knew the secret of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron; therefore, he needed to consider the Myriad God Patriarch’s every action carefully. He thought of the possible traps that might be waiting, and what ultimate goal the old fellow had.

As for the red-dressed boy’s talk of being near the end of his life and the bullshit about him seeking someone to pass his mantle to, Yi Yun would be a fool to believe it.

He was acutely aware how ambitious the old fellow was. Hints could be seen from the way he handled the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. How could such a person give his everything to pave a way for his descendants?

“This disciple he took in…”

Yi Yun looked at Feng Yunyang silently. There was likely something special about the youth.

Yi Yun had complicated thoughts, but the other Myriad God Ridge disciples did not ponder over the matter. To them, the patriarch’s offer was their greatest opportunity.

The patriarch’s heritage was something they constantly dreamed of.

“Patriarch!” A personal disciple prostrated himself. “If the items on this list can be obtained, will there be a chance to cultivate in your Myriad God Manual?”

The Myriad God Manual was famous in Myriad God Ridge. It was the supreme knowledge of the Myriad God Patriarch. Typically, Myriad God Ridge personal disciples only had the chance to cultivate in the first three volumes of the Myriad God Manual. As for the second three volumes, they could only be obtained by exchanging sect contribution points at appalling rates.

And the list that the patriarch produced was no doubt a fantastic way to contribute.

The red-dressed boy said, “The Myriad God Manual is nothing. If you gather these items, not only will you see the full Myriad God Manual, but all of my array formations, alchemical skills, and enchanted artifacts that I have tempered for millions of years can be yours!”

As the red-dressed boy said those words, everyone turned extremely excited.

They guessed that the patriarch was likely refining an extremely important pill for him to pay such a heavy price. They had to grasp the opportunity before them.

The family clans they were from had been entrenched in the Calm Sea for millions to tens of millions of years. The deep roots of these family clans naturally meant that they had a deep and complex web of connections. There was always a way to find even the rarest of items.

“Thank you, Patriarch! My wish is that the Patriarch would share the same age as the Heavens and Earth, and be as lustrous as the sun and moon!”

Everyone bowed deeply. The red-dressed boy waved his hand. “All of you are dismissed. If there is any information, simply report it to the sect master or inform Yunyang.”

Inform Feng Yunyang?

Everyone looked at Feng Yunyang with mixed emotions. At present, Feng Yunyang was only the successor to the sect master but his status was supernatural. He lorded over the personal disciples and core Elders!

Without a doubt, Feng Yunyang would become the third most important person in the Myriad God Ridge thanks to the patriarch’s backing, whether the others were agreeable to it or not.

Upon noticing the envious and disgruntled looks the crowd was giving him, Feng Yunyang stood forward and spoke loudly, “Fellow sect members!”

“It’s all thanks to Master’s nurturing that I, Feng Yunyang, can reach what I’ve attained today. I haven’t been cultivating for long and many of you here are my senior brothers or sisters. However, the martial path does not consider age. In this world, the strong are almighty! Other than cultivating in the martial path, I have some minute accomplishments in array formations! If any senior brother or sister has any thoughts to share, I’m willing to take the advice!”

Feng Yunyang’s tone sounded amiable, particularly the part about him willing to take in advice, but everyone knew that Feng Yunyang was putting on a show of force.

As the last disciple of the patriarch, he was definitely extraordinarily talented. With the patriarch’s nurturing, the resources he enjoyed were far superior to anyone else’s. In such a situation, who would dare give him any advice?

And of course, no one present spoke. The corners of Feng Yunyang’s lips curled up for he was very satisfied with the reaction from the crowd.

As an outsider, he had suddenly become the successor to the sect master. He obviously knew the people were unconvinced, but so what? It only increased the superiority complex of holding the position!

“Cang Wu, it’s Martial-nephew Yunyang’s first time in Myriad God Ridge. Help him to settle into his board and lodging.” The Myriad God Ridge’s sect master spoke. Towards this successor that would replace him, he continued beaming. But it was unknown what he was truly thinking.

“Yes, Master!” Cang Wu received the order.

The gathering came to an end and, after the patriarch left, everyone began to leave the hall.

When Yi Yun left, he could clearly sense a large amount of killing intent lock onto him. The killing intent came from the Song and Zhang family.

With the patriarch and sect master present, they didn’t dare to try anything. But that did not mean Yi Yun was off the hook.

Yi Yun ignored them and returned to Sunken Moon Tower. After entering his cultivation chamber, he activated the array formation to insulate him from the Myriad God Ridge sect master’s monitoring. Following that, he placed the Great Traversal Spirit Ship and other items in his interspatial ring into the God Advent Tower and sealed it up.

Although it was impossible for Yi Yun to hand his interspatial ring to the Zhang and Song family for investigation, it was still best to hide the suspect items away.

After he finished all of this, Yi Yun began meditating in cultivation. In Myriad God Ridge, he was facing a situation that could be described as being besieged from all sides.

Yi Yun could already tell that, thanks to his failure to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, the sect master thought nothing of him.

With the Song and Zhang family guessing that he was the one responsible for killing Zhang Wuchen and Song Bowen, he was in a dire situation.

Now, he had to grasp at every opportunity to cultivate and wait for Old Snake to take action. Then, he could employ a concerted attack with him from inside and outside.

At that moment, an array voice transmission from Qingwen came from outside the cultivation chamber. “Young Master, quickly come out. There’s someone here who wants to speak to you.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun pricked up his brows. Typically, Duanmu Qingwen would not disturb him once he entered the cultivation chamber. Could it be that the Zhang and Song family were here for him?

He deactivated the cultivation chamber’s array and stepped out. When he did, he saw men wearing steward garb outside.

The one leading the group was a mustached middle-aged man. He looked like a manager of a store with his thin mustache.

His cultivation level wasn’t high but from the way he was smiling, he did not appear to be from the Zhang or Song family.

The mustached middle-aged man bowed at Yi Yun and it was obvious that it was a perfunctory motion. He said, “Young Master Yi, I’m here to pass you a message. If it’s possible, would you move out of Sunken Moon Tower at your earliest convenience?”

“Oh?” Yi Yun frowned. “What!?”

The mustached middle-aged man wrung his hands in an embarrassed manner. “I’m only following orders. A while ago, the sect master informed Lord Cang Wu to allocate Sunken Moon Tower as Young Master Yunyang’s residence. Lord Cang Wu had mentioned that in the entire personal disciple zone, the best residence is Sunken Moon Tower and asked if Young Master Feng was willing to stay here. Young Master Feng nodded so Lord Cang Wu has arranged for this to be his residence.”

“He ordered me here and I can’t do anything about it. I can’t exactly clone another Sunken Moon Tower either. Do you think… you can make it easy for me by moving out?”

The mustached middle-aged man said the last bit with a smile. Although he was smiling humbly, Yi Yun could tell that his smile had a derisiveness to it.

From the looks of it, Cang Wu had informed him of certain things. He also knew that, although he was still the sect master’s disciple, he was no longer going to enjoy any beneficial treatment from the sect master.

1262 - : Besieged on all sides

CKtalon  CKtalon

“How about it Young Master Yi? If it is convenient for you, please move now. I have already found help for Young Master Yi. These men will help you move. I’m really sorry to make you go through all of this, Young Master Yi.” When he saw Yi Yun not moving, the thin mustached middle-aged man obsequiously pleaded with him.

Yi Yun narrowed his eyes. “Where do you want me to move to?”

“About that…” The middle-aged man looked a little troubled. “Lord Cang Wu did not instruct me to move you to a particular place. There is a severe shortage of residences in the personal disciple district at the moment, you see. Young Master Yi, why don’t you first move to the East Box Building and we can later make further arrangements for your residence?”

Upon hearing the middle-aged man’s words, Yi Yun laughed. He knew of the East Box Building. It wasn’t a residence for personal disciples, but the place where the stewards and deacons who served them stayed.

There was also the ridiculous claim that there was a shortage of residences in the personal disciple district. Just Zhang Wuchen and Song Bowen’s deaths should have opened up two spots.

This was all likely arranged by Cang Wu. He had probably received benefits from the Zhang and Song family.

“The East Box Building isn’t bad. If you want me to move there, that’s fine. Although, I have quite a bit of luggage. Get Cang Wu to help me pack!”

With that said, Yi Yun turned to leave. Although he was not particularly attached to the Sunken Moon Tower, being chased out was completely different from him simply not being able to stay there.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, the middle-aged man was stunned. He never expected Yi Yun to say such a daring thing. Get Cang Wu himself here?

What sort of person was Cang Wu? As the eldest disciple of the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master, his cultivation level was already at the Supremacy level. He held an extraordinary status. Any personal disciple that saw him would bow respectfully and greet him as Martial Uncle.

Who did Yi Yun think he was to ask Cang Wu to come personally to get him to move? Even if he hadn’t lost the favor of the sect master, he was nowhere near comparable to Cang Wu.

“Young Master Yi, what’s the point of making things difficult for me? I’m only a steward. If you are that capable, go directly to Lord Cang Wu and Young Sect Master Feng and say that!” The middle-aged man said furiously.

How could a disciple that has lost the favor of the sect master act so arrogantly? He was nothing compared to the only disciple of the patriarch, the next sect master.

Yi Yun could no longer be bothered with the steward. He closed the door to Sunken Moon Tower and shut the group out at the door.

The middle-aged man was fuming mad, but at that moment he could not do a thing. What else could he do if Yi Yun refused to move?

He stood in a daze in front of Sunken Moon Tower for a long while when he suddenly saw a group of people walking towards him from afar.

There were more than ten people. From their attire, they were mostly Elders or personal disciples of Myriad God Ridge. Walking among them was a youth. He was like the moon that drew a circle of stars around him. That person was none other than Feng Yunyang.

And walking beside Feng Yunyang was the sect master’s eldest disciple, Cang Wu.

Even Cang Wu was walking half a step behind Feng Yunyang. At that moment in Myriad God Patriarch, Feng Yunyang was like the crown prince in mortal dynasties. His status was second only to the patriarch and incumbent sect master. Many people were fawning over him.

After the announcement, many family clans had prepared gifts and written letters of visit. They all planned on scheduling a time to visit Feng Yunyang.

To these ancient family clans, Feng Yunyang, as the next sect master, was someone that they absolutely had to establish good ties with. Any smart person could tell that the current sect master was near his end. Furthermore, the patriarch had said that his days were numbered. In effect, that meant that Feng Yunyang would become the only head of the Myriad God Ridge in the future. Who would dare to offend such a person?

However, not everyone could discern the circumstances. There were a few shortsighted people that were unconvinced by Feng Yunyang.

Previously, Feng Yunyang had mentioned that he had minute accomplishments on the martial path and array formations. He welcomed every senior brother and sister to give him ‘advice.’

It was a way for Feng Yunyang to establish his authority, but there were two young and high-spirited personal disciples who believed that it was genuine. They believed that they had extraordinary talent. They thought that if they defeated Feng Yunyang they would receive the attention of the patriarch, and that they might be able to take Feng Yunyang’s place as his last disciple. In that case, they would undergo a meteoric rise, becoming the sect master’s successor.

However, dreams are beautiful but reality is very cruel. When they went to ‘give advice’ to Feng Yunyang, they were defeated by him in three strikes!

Feng Yunyang was extremely ruthless in his attacks. One of them was beaten till he was on his last breath. The other one was nearly crippled. They would be bedridden for about a year, and there was no hope of recovery without expending large amounts of treasured herbs.

Such an act left many people secretly alarmed. Feng Yunyang was definitely not as benign as he seemed!

He clearly knew that the two who challenged him were not his match, and yet he enticed them to sign a challenge contract anyway. They went on the Myriad God Platform, and so he was not to be blamed even if they were beaten to death. After all, blades do not discriminate!

People knew that Feng Yunyang could have easily gained victory without injuring the other two. However, he deliberately injured them heavily in their dantians. Only a very vicious person would have such thoughts.

It was, in fact, a violation of the sect rules, but no one raised that point. With Feng Yunyang’s status, people were eager to fawn over him, so who would be dumb enough to offend him? The only ones to blame were the two who didn’t know any better. They were too naive with their dreams of grandeur.

“Young Sect Master is truly the kind of genius that doesn’t even appear once in ten thousand years in the Calm Sea! It was truly heart-shaking to see Young Sect Master’s valiant bearing on the Myriad God Platform!”

An elder beamed from ear to ear as he lauded Feng Yunyang. The way his wrinkles pressed together was enough to squeeze a fly to death.

“Elder Sun, your mentioning of the Calm Sea is too small in scope. From the way I see it, Young Sect Master is definitely the best even in the entire Sinkhole!”

Another person flattered. It was uplifted from the Calm Sea to the Sinkhole. Their sycophantic acts were done without even blinking.

Feng Yunyang relished in how the people addressed him ‘Young Sect Master.’ Back in the Seven Desolates, when had he ever enjoyed such treatment?

The original Feng Yunyang came from a small sect. It was all because of Myriad God Patriarch’s foresight and wisdom that he discovered how exceedingly talented he actually was. He obviously leapt at the chance to leave with the Myriad God Patriarch. Later, Myriad God Patriarch obtained divine medicine at great cost to help him clean his marrow and temper his bones. He was also taught divine techniques, giving him his robust foundations and present-day achievements.

He took in the flattery while maintaining his countenance before saying nonchalantly, “The Calm Sea’s scope is indeed not big enough. Master has placed great hopes on me. I will not let him down either. In the future, I’ll lead the Myriad God Ridge to expand beyond the Calm Sea and dominate the Sinkhole!”

When Feng Yunyang said those words, the crowd echoed emphatically. No youth could be more high spirited than this.

At that moment, Cang Wu said, “Junior Brother Feng, Sunken Moon Tower is right ahead. It’s the best residence in the personal disciple district…”

“Oh, it’s actually a building made of Sunken Moon Wood? That works! Not bad!”

Feng Yunyang was very pleased.

With a smile, Cang Wu turned to introduce the Sunken Moon Tower but he noticed the mustached middle-aged man running toward him with a downtrodden look.

Cang Wu frowned slightly and asked, “What’s the matter?”

“Lord Cang Wu… Yi Yun refuses to move. He’s still inside Sunken Moon Tower at this very moment!”

1263 - : Myriad God Crown Prince

CKtalon  CKtalon

“He refuses to move?” Cang Wu’s expression sank.

“That’s right. He even claimed to have too much luggage, and… and…”

“And what!?”

“About that… Don’t be angry when I say it.” The mustached middle-aged man had a twinkle in his eye as he said in a hushed tone, “He said that he would only move if Lord Cang Wu himself helps move his luggage.”

The middle-aged man was burning with anger at the thought of being looked down upon by Yi Yun. So with this opportunity opening up for him, how could he not kick Yi Yun while he was down? He looked forward to the show that was about to begin.

“Heh!” Cang Wu took a deep breath. “Good! Very well done! Since he wants me to help him move, let’s see if he can handle it!” Cang Wu said angrily.

Not only was he the most senior disciple of the sect master, he was also one of the Elders that oversaw the personal disciple district. It had been ages since his authority had been challenged.

And now, the person that challenged his authority was Yi Yun who had already lost favor.

“This Yi Yun is simply courting death! He killed my son Song Bowen, and the Zhang family’s Zhang Wuchen. They were both personal disciples of the Myriad God Ridge. I was planning on finding evidence to implicate him but he actually still dares to be this arrogant now!” Song Zhanchen said angrily.

Having lost Song Bowen, there was a greater need for the Song family to curry favor with Feng Yunyang. So of course, Song Zhanchen was among the people who were currently gathered around Feng Yunyang.

“Oh? Not only did this person withhold due respect from Senior Brother Cang Wu, he even publicly killed other personal disciples? Yet, he isn’t being punished?”

Feng Yunyang spoke out. He had obviously never heard of Yi Yun, much less knew what Yi Yun had done. In fact, the murder of Zhang Wuchen and Song Bowen had nothing to do with him. However, as a mere disciple, Yi Yun’s arrogance was something Feng Yunyang could not tolerate.

What sort of person was this Yi Yun? Feng Yunyang needed to curb his urge to kill the two personal disciples that had challenged him. He ended it with maiming them badly, but Yi Yun took it as far as killing other personal disciples. It was ridiculous.

From Feng Yunyang’s point of view, among all the disciples in Myriad God Ridge, he was the only one with the right to ignore the sect rules.

“That’s right. Young Sect Master, please administer justice!”

Upon hearing Feng Yunyang’s question, Song Zhanchen had a bright idea. Both the patriarch and the sect master thought highly of Feng Yunyang. As long as Feng Yunyang gave the go-ahead, finishing Yi Yun was not a problem at all.

A Zhang family elder standing beside Song Zhanchen, named Zhang Tianxing, added on, “Young Sect Master, this Yi Yun clearly knows that Sunken Moon Tower was allocated to you, but he refuses to relinquish it. It’s clearly an act meant to disparage you!”

Zhang Tianxing and Song Zhanchen both greatly wished to see a conflict between Feng Yunyang and Yi Yun. The clash between the two would be like an egg striking a rock. If it happened, they could get Yi Yun killed without even dirtying their hands.

When he heard the duo’s words, Feng Yunyang smiled. “Are the both of you trying to use me as cannon fodder?”

“Ah… Definitely not! No way!” Song Zhanchen and Zhang Tianxing shook their heads frantically.

“I know what’s on your minds. However, there was truth in your words. This Yi Yun clearly knows that the Sunken Moon Tower was given to me, but he continues to stay in there. He must be sick of living.”

As Feng Yunyang spoke, a cold and sinister smile suffused the corners of his lips. This smile had appeared once before, when he heavily injured the two personal disciples that did not know better on the Myriad God Platform.

“Since this Yi Yun doesn’t want to move out, I’ll set up a Murderous Illusion Array. It will ensure that he never leaves Sunken Moon Tower.”

Common array techniques could be categorized by effect into trapping arrays, killing arrays and defensive arrays.

Feng Yunyang was most skilled at killing arrays. His arrays would project illusions that killed his enemies. If those in his arrays allowed themselves to be lost in the illusions, they would be plagued by what seemed like countless enemies before dying in the array. The thing was, death in the array meant actual death.

Feng Yunyang enjoyed the arrays that caused his enemies to die in illusions. However, it was not yet appropriate for him to kill Yi Yun. After all, he was still the sect master’s disciple, even if he had lost the sect master’s favor. Feng Yunyang would still need to answer for such an action.

“This Yi Yun has killed two personal disciples and is a sinner. However. I will not immediately kill him. It would be far more interesting to let him suffer a mental breakdown in the illusion array.”

With this thought in mind, Feng Yunyang reached out to touch his interspatial ring. Twelve array flags flew out!

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

The twelve array flags stuck around Sunken Moon Tower, like the twelve spots on a clock. They surrounded Sunken Moon Tower completely.

Feng Yunyang began producing hand seals as the twelve array flags immediately lit up. They stirred the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, causing the entire Sunken Moon Tower to become enveloped in dense Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Everything became a blur.

“What pure Yuan Qi!” A personal disciple exclaimed.

“This array formation fuses the Laws of Water and the Laws of Light. The twelve array flags are extremely intricate. Senior Brother Feng’s attainments in array techniques are truly extraordinary.” Another person echoed. It wasn’t just more exaggerated flattery, as the array formation truly was amazing.

Feng Yunyang smiled. The twelve array flags were obtained by Myriad God Patriarch in an ancient ruin. He had refined the array for many years before passing it down to Feng Yunyang. How could it not be intricate?

Of course, Feng Yunyang did not mention this. He said, “This array formation’s name is the Twelve Gates of the Illusion Dao! The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi will form a series of illusions in the array formation. Now that the array formation has been activated, Yi Yun will fall into an endless battle. He will constantly kill enemies in his illusion world until he suffers a mental breakdown. I have only activated the fourth gate out of the twelve gates, but that alone should be sufficient. It’s best you report to the sect master. Yi Yun is his disciple after all. It’s not right for me to kill him.”

“I see. Young Sect Master is truly an extraordinary genius. With such a powerful array in hand, probably no peer in the entire Sinkhole is your match.” Upon hearing Feng Yunyang’s comment, someone immediately fawned. As for reporting to the sect master, no one did. Zhang Tianxing and Song Zhanchen were watching. Who would want to offend those two?

Feng Yunyang shook his head and said, “I wouldn’t dare to say that I’m invincible among my peers in the Sinkhole. Let’s not mention the Sinkhole. Just the land I come from, the Seven Desolates ancient continent, alone has people I lack confidence in beating. One is the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s adopted son, Bai Shanhe, and the second is White Lunar Goddess Empress’s last disciple, Lin Xintong. Even I am slightly inferior to them in terms of strength!”

When Feng Yunyang suddenly mentioned the White Lunar Goddess Empress, everyone present felt their hearts palpitate.

They had been comparing him to all sorts of geniuses, but when an actual legend was mentioned—the White Lunar Goddess Empress—no one dared to joke further.

One had to know that the Seven Desolates ancient continent was made up of seven ancient continents to begin with. Every piece of land covered an area that exceeded the Calm Sea. It was filled with experts!

And the White Lunar Goddess Empress, Bai Yueyin, had carved a path out of blood on the Seven Desolates continents. She had unified the Seven Desolates’ seven mighty sects and ended the massive war that lasted for a millennium. Finally, she established the White Lunar Divine Empire and had ruled it ever since. Just the mention of the White Lunar Goddess Empress in the Calm Sea was enough to make others show reverence.

An Elder laughed dryly and said, “The resources the disciples of the White Lunar Goddess Empress enjoy cannot be compared to those of typical sects. Even the Myriad God Ridge is greatly inferior to the White Lunar Divine Empire. Young Sect Master, for you to attain accomplishments from our Myriad God Ridge that make you the match of Bai Shanhe and Lin Xintong is already something to be proud of!”

“That’s right. Young Sect Master is a genius. Yet, he remains this humble. It’s quite a rare sight.”

As the people were fawning over Feng Yunyang, the array enveloping Sunken Moon Tower suddenly quaked!

“Boom!”

Yuan Qi began to tremble as the door to Sunken Moon Tower opened. Yi Yun, dressed in purple, strode out. His brows were like a sword and his gaze was like blades. It left the hearts of people palpitating!

Yi Yun had not thought much of Feng Yunyang, but Feng Yunyang had said a name that made his heart stir. He had mentioned the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s last disciple, Lin Xintong!

“What did you just say? Who was it that you said you were inferior to in strength?”

Yi Yun’s voice was loud and clear as it tore through the Twelve Gates of the Illusion Dao, reaching the ears of everyone clearly.

Instantly, everyone present was dumbfounded. Wasn’t the Twelve Gates of the Illusion Dao already activated? Yi Yun should have already been lost in the illusion world, almost at the point of his soul sea collapsing.

Yet, not only had he walked out obstreperously, he had also heard their conversation. He had even pushed open the door to speak to the people outside the array!

“Could it be that the array didn’t activate?” A puzzled personal disciple said.

They all looked at Feng Yunyang, whose face was turning white. It looked extremely ugly.

How could this be possible? He had always prided himself on the Twelve Gates of the Illusion Dao, but it was completely ineffective against Yi Yun. It was a massive array that the Myriad God Patriarch had passed down to him. Although he could only use a tiny portion of the Twelve Gates of the Illusion Dao’s power, it was definitely not something a Dao Palace realm warrior should have been able to withstand.

“I’m asking you a question! Are you deaf!?”

Yi Yun yelled sharply. He was naturally anxious regarding news of Lin Xintong.

Feng Yunyang was a little taken aback after being lambasted. However, he quickly reacted with anger.

“It looks like I have underestimated you. You must have undergone some fortuitous encounter, so your soul is far stronger than most warriors at your realm. That’s how you managed to withstand my illusion array. That’s fine, I have only activated the first four of the twelve gates. I will now activate all twelve gates and extract your soul!”

As Feng Yunyang spoke, his arms began moving as he produced hand seals. The twelve array flags began lighting up one after another!

Yi Yun had a sullen expression. “I’m asking you one more time. Who was it that you said you were inferior to in strength? Tell me what kind of person the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s disciple is!”

Yi Yun’s voice was already filled with killing intent. But at that moment, how could Feng Yunyang bother with what he was saying? He had already gathered his Yuan Qi to a maximum.

“Twelve Gates of the Illusion Dao—Annihilation of All Life!”

Feng Yunyang leaped up and looked down from above. He had used the strongest move of the Twelve Gates of the Illusion Dao. The twelve array flags formed a wave of annihilative might in a bid to destroy Yi Yun’s soul.

At that moment, Yi Yun could no longer tolerate it any further. He extended his hand with a beckon as the sword, Mirage Snow, appeared in his palm.

Huan Chenxue had previously mentioned that Mirage Snow had undergone huge changes in state. No one could recognize its origins, so Yi Yun was free to use it.

With Mirage Snow’s appearance, the surrounding atmosphere changed completely. It became overbearingly cold!

At the same time, the blazing Heretical God Fire Seed augmented Mirage Snow. With the fusion of extreme hot and cold, coupled with Yi Yun’s comprehension of Yin and Yang laws, the two forces synergized with each other, creating an extraordinary power!

“Whew!”

The sword tip flashed with a cold beam that tore through the void, striking the Twelve Gates of the Illusion Dao.

The sharp sword beam was irrepressible. The moment it came into contact with the array, it instantly tore through it. The sword beam’s momentum did not decrease as runic patterns began shattering one after another!

Yi Yun flew out, sword in hand, from the Twelve Gates of the Illusion Dao, transforming into an azure beam that instantly appeared in front of Feng Yunyang!

“What!?”

High up in the sky, Feng Yunyang was alarmed. He retreated rapidly while wiping his interspatial ring, hoping to take out a scimitar. But Yi Yun’s sword was too fast. It far exceeded Feng Yunyang’s reaction time.

At the end of the sword beam was the Heretical God Fire Seed, fused with Extreme Yin frost ice!

With the alternating extremes of hot and cold, Feng Yunyang’s protective Yuan Qi instantly shattered as the Mirage Snow pierced straight through his body.

“Puah!”

Blood splattered as Feng Yunyang felt as though the right side of his body had become immersed in chaotic energy. Its heat was about to burn his visceral organs to ash while the cold was about to chill his bone marrow!

Feng Yunyang had no way of resisting such force. At that moment, the Mirage Snow had stabbed and pulled, slashing off one of Feng Yunyang’s arms!

As for this arm of Feng Yunyang’s, it had just grabbed the scimitar in his interspatial ring but it was instantly frozen And within the ice, the arm was burnt by flames, turning into a charred black mess!

“Ah!”

Feng Yunyang cried out tragically as he plummeted from a high altitude.

“Bam!”

Feng Yunyang fell head down and with full force. The right side of his body had his entire arm lopped off from the shoulder. His wound had been sealed in ice but beneath the ice were burnt wounds. It looked extremely wretched!

In fact, Yi Yun’s strike had contained the Extreme Yin frost Qi and the Heretical God Fire Seed. They had severely destroyed Feng Yunyang’s meridians. Without large amounts of heavenly treasures and several months of recuperation, it would be impossible for him to recover.

And this was Yi Yun showing mercy. Had he not, his strike could have killed Feng Yunyang!

He had left Feng Yunyang alive mostly to question him. Secondly, Yi Yun was not ready to lose decorum with the Myriad God Ridge. He knew that the Myriad God Patriarch had put forth great effort to nurture Feng Yunyang. Furthermore, he had held a meeting to personally confirm Feng Yunyang’s status as the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master successor. As such, Feng Yunyang was probably very important to the Myriad God Patriarch. Killing him would be the fastest way to make an enemy of the Myriad God Patriarch.

Even with Old Snake backing him, Yi Yun still lacked confidence in that fight.

“What did you just said. Who was the genius from the Seven Desolates’ White Lunar Divine Empire?”

The cold Mirage Snow was held beside Feng Yunyang’s cheek. The devastating cold bit at his skin as the hair on his skin stood straight up. His skin was being subtly sliced apart by the frost Qi as the streams of blood meandered down Mirage Snow’s blade. However, they quickly froze into red ice crystals that fell off. They did not stain the sword even once.

“You…you…”

Feng Yunyang’s voice trembled. He had yet to come to. How was he so easily defeated? Why was the youth in front of him so powerful?

Feng Yunyang believed that there was hardly anyone his age that could match him. Although he knew he was nothing much in the White Lunar Divine Empire, he was certain that he could reign supreme in the Myriad God Ridge. How was he defeated in a simple face-off? Furthermore, it was such an abject defeat!

1264 - : Sudden News

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon seeing the situation unfold, all the Elders and personal disciples present were completely confounded. They originally believed that, as the last disciple of the patriarch, Feng Yunyang would have talent that stood at the pinnacle of the Calm Sea, invincible among those at the same realm.

In the battle with the two ambitious personal disciples, Feng Yunyang had easily clinched victory. Many who witnessed it even believed that he had yet to use all his strength. But now, when facing off with Yi Yun, he was defeated in one hit?

Days ago, Yi Yun had fought Song Bowen and defeated him with one hit. Now he had also defeated Feng Yunyang in one hit! There was almost no discernible difference!

So what kind of strength did Yi Yun have? The patriarch might as well have taken Yi Yun in as his last disciple.

“Did you not hear the question I just asked?”

As Yi Yun repeated his question, Mirage Snow’s blade constantly sliced into Feng Yunyang’s cheeks. The right half of Feng Yunyang’s face was frozen and it felt as if he was being repeatedly pricked by needles.

At that moment, his heart was seized by extreme terror. Amid the biting cold, all he could muster was a stutter. “I… I said…”

“In terms of strength, I am inferior to… Bai Shanhe and… Lin Xintong…”

“Who is Lin Xintong? What background does she have?” Yi Yun asked again.

However, how could Feng Yunyang know the answer? Back in the Seven Desolates continent, he was only a disciple from a tiny sect and not a citizen of the White Lunar Divine Empire. He shook his head, still in a daze. “I… I really do not know. I only know that she is the last disciple of the White Lunar Goddess Empress.”

Upon hearing Feng Yunyang’s answer, Yi Yun frowned. He was unsatisfied with that answer.

He could not be absolutely certain that the Lin Xintong in question was his wife. However, on careful thought, Yi Yun remembered hearing from Princess White Fox that Lin Xintong had encountered fortuitous events that greatly increased her strength. He knew that Lin Xintong had also arrived in the Sinkhole.

There were as many warriors in the Sinkhole as there were grains of sand in the Ganges river. It was not rare for people to share the same name. However, she was a top genius. The amount of geniuses was drastically less and so the chance of two people sharing the same name was infinitesimal.

“Yi Yun! What are you doing? Are you not going to release Junior Brother Feng Yunyang yet!?”

Seeing how Feng Yunyang’s head was about to be completely encased in ice, Cang Wu bellowed.

Yi Yun turned around and looked at Cang Wu. It was a look that nearly made Cang Wu’s knees buckle.

Yi Yun was too strange. How was his strength so great? Feng Yunyang was already a four-storey Dao Palace warrior and he had excellent talent. If Yi Yun could so easily defeat him, didn’t it mean that he already had strength that approached that of a Supremacy?

This thought left Cang Wu alarmed. If that was the case, wouldn’t the sect master want Yi Yun as his last disciple? Could it even be possible that he would one day become the sect master of Myriad God Ridge?

Cang Wu was not the only one who had such a thought. Many who witnessed the battle shared it. Yi Yun’s brutal defeat of Feng Yunyang appeared to be a slight to the patriarch but, according to the tradition of the Myriad God Patriarch, he would end up being praised for his ability to trample over Feng Yunyang.

Once Yi Yun rose directly to a high position, what sort of fruits did those who had offended him deserve?

Zhang Tianxiang and Song Zhanchen had especially pale faces. If Yi Yun gained power, the question was no longer the kind of fruit. It was possible that their entire family clan would be wiped out from the Myriad God Ridge! At that moment, Zhang Tianxing and Song Zhanchen were no longer in the right mind to bother about Yi Yun murdering some juniors.

“Junior Brother Yi, it’s best you hand Feng Yunyang over to me. He is the patriarch’s disciple after all.”

Cang Wu knew that he could not suppress Yi Yun, so he mentioned the patriarch to pressure him.

Yi Yun’s brows moved slightly. He would not get a satisfactory answer to his question and there was no value in holding Feng Yunyang hostage. Besides, he had no idea what schemes the Myriad God Patriarch had in store. Feng Yunyang was probably of great use to him. There was no reason for Yi Yun to kill Feng Yunyang.

Yi Yun kicked Feng Yunyang, sending his body tumbling away. After a few rolls, he landed in Cang Wu’s hands.

Upon touching Feng Yunyang’s body, Cang Wu felt like he was touching a block of ice. Cang Wu took a deep breath and retrieved a pill from his interspatial ring to feed Feng Yunyang.

The people present exchanged looks. No one imagined the possibility of Feng Yunyang being instantly defeated by Yi Yun.

“Young Master Yi, please do not take any offense I may have rendered you to heart.”

“Young Master Yi has truly opened my eyes today. I thought that Feng Yunyang was a rare genius of this world, but who knew that Young Master Yi is actually a genius freak of nature that bests the Sinkhole?”

Many people said such things in great embarrassment. They were trying their best to redeem whatever impressions Yi Yun had of them.

At that moment, it felt like they had just swallowed a fly. What the heck just happened? A group of high-spirited men had come to Sunken Moon Tower to see it given over to Feng Yunyang but, in a blink of an eye, Feng Yunyang was beaten to a pulp. Now they were implicated by Feng Yunyang’s bad luck.

“Let’s go. To the sect master.”

Cang Wu was extremely glum. He was a proud person, and he had confidently connived against Yi Yun in various ways. Now, it was impossible for him to say anything good to Yi Yun. All he could do was leave as quickly as possible.

The group of people left with their tails between their legs. Yi Yun naturally continued to stay in Sunken Moon Tower, and no one dared to ask him to move out again.

…

Fifteen minutes later, in a dark hall, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, with Yuan Qi lingering around it, stood tall in the middle of the hall like a burning black flame.

A red-dressed boy was standing in front of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron facing it. His back was to the door, and behind him was a gray-shirted elder who was none other than the Myriad God Ridge’s sect master.

“Your Lordship, Feng Yunyang has been defeated by Yi Yun. Furthermore, he has had one arm chopped off. The severed arm has been sealed in frost Qi and burnt by black flames. It’s not impossible to rejoin his arm, but it would require a great deal of time and natural herbs.”

“I know about it,” The red-dressed boy said in a deep tone. His voice remained as hoarse as ever. “What an incompetent fool. All he has is passable talent, and his present strength is only a result of the large number of resources I spent on him. Yet he prides himself on that and thinks too highly of himself. His foolishness is truly unparalleled!”

Upon mentioning Feng Yunyang, the red-dressed boy revealed a look of disgust. Were it not for the huge purpose that disciple of his had, even he would have smacked him to death.

“What do we do with that Yi Yun? He’s truly arrogant. Previously, he killed Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen, two personal disciples. Now, he has severely injured Feng Yunyang, completely disparaging our Myriad God Ridge’s rules. If we do not deal with him, he will only go from bad to worse. But at the same time, his talent is the highest I’ve seen in my life. I’m at a loss for how to deal with him.”

When Yi Yun was mentioned, the red-dressed boy showed a rare frown. From his point of view, Yi Yun was like an unfathomable body of water. He did not resemble a young man at all.

“Since this Yi Yun managed to trigger the dragon soul within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, his bloodline must be relatively pure. Leave him be for now. Monitor his every move carefully. I do not want any mishaps to happen at the last moment.”

“I have already been monitoring him.” The sect master received the order. “I will definitely do my best to ensure that everything goes smoothly.”

1265 - : Lin Xintong

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Yi Yun lopped off Feng Yunyang’s arm, his situation in Myriad God Ridge instantly became delicate. Many people began to fear even walking by Sunken Moon Tower. It was a place they wouldn’t dare disturb. Against Yi Yun, many people only had bad endings.

However, with the passage of time, what people originally thought would happen did not happen. Yi Yun was not taken in by the Patriarch as a personal disciple. Instead, Yi Yun was forbidden from entering and exiting his tower. There were dedicated law enforcement teams that monitored him, limiting his freedom.

This decision baffled many people. What was the Patriarch doing? He did not punish Yi Yun nor did he promote him to be his last disciple. Instead, he grounded Yi Yun.

Feng Yunyang, meanwhile, who everyone thought was completely defeated by Yi Yun to the point of having his confidence destroyed, had his broken arm fixed after the Myriad God Ridge Sect Master spent large amounts of natural treasures. He was recuperating in bed.

Eventually, Feng Yunyang was mostly recovered after two months. He was still the Patriarch’s disciple, with no change in his status.

As for Yi Yun, he remained an ordinary personal disciple, but he was never seen by the sect master. The Myriad God Sect Master’s attitude towards Yi Yun was obvious. Yi Yun had brutally beaten up Feng Yunyang and was later grounded. Not once did he meet with Yi Yun. It was as though Yi Yun was not his disciple at all.

“It looks like Yi Yun is not trusted…”

Elders discussed in private. In terms of talent, Yi Yun naturally overshadowed everyone in the Myriad God Ridge. However, he was not considered an important disciple. Instead, he was monitored. The only explanation was that Yi Yun was not trusted by the sect master and the Myriad God Patriarch.

“I wonder why Sect Master doesn’t trust Yi Yun. Perhaps it has to do with his murderous rampage. Ignoring the fact he had killed Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen, he even brutally beat Feng Yunyang. It was a figurative smack in the Patriarch’s face. The Patriarch would naturally be displeased.”

“There’s something odd about it, though. If he’s not trusted, why don’t they just expel him from the sect? Why confine Yi Yun in Sunken Moon Tower? What’s going on?”

Some people had this thought but, the more they thought, the more perilous Yi Yun’s situation appeared to be. Could it be that since the sect master and the patriarch did not trust him, they believed that they would offend Yi Yun if they expelled him? Offending a freak of nature would lead to negative repercussions, so they might as well ground Yi Yun forever?

No one could figure out the patriarch and sect master’s thoughts so they decided to give up. However, there was one thing that was true without a doubt. There was no way Yi Yun would rise to power in the Myriad God Ridge in the near future. Those that had offended Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief. At the very least, they would not be targeted by Yi Yun for revenge.

Time passed with things being extremely calm.

Yi Yun did not mind being confined at all. He cultivated daily and solidified his fifth-storey Dao Palace’s foundations.

The Dao Palace realm needed time above all else. Many peerless geniuses would spend centuries in the Dao Palace realm, with some even deliberately repressing their cultivation level so that they had time to work on their foundations.

However, from Yi Yun’s point of view, those that repressed their cultivations did so more from lack of confidence in their nomological insight. They wanted more time to make up for it. Back in the Dao Manifestation realm, Yi Yun had condensed four nine-leaf Dao fruits. In terms of laws, he had perfected them. As long as his accumulations reached a threshold, he would automatically make a breakthrough.

“Yi Yun, I’ve no idea what the Myriad God Patriarch is doing recently. Even I’m unable to investigate him.”

One day, Old Snake suddenly appeared. It was as though he had appeared out of thin air in Yi Yun’s cultivation chamber.

“What’s wrong?”

“That undying old fart has put up an array formation to screen his residence district. My perception is unable to penetrate it. If I were to forcefully infiltrate it, he would definitely sense it.”

Old Snake revealed a rare solemn expression. Yi Yun did not respond. Since Old Snake was at a loss for a solution, it was natural that he didn’t have a solution either.

Old Snake sat on Yi Yun’s stone bed and took out an alcohol gourd. As he drank, he said, “I keep having the feeling that he’s planning something but I can’t guess it. By grounding you, it probably means that he will target you in the near future. If you continue staying in the Myriad God Ridge, there might be danger.”

Old Snake spoke honestly. He was not completely certain that he could protect Yi Yun.

Yi Yun faltered slightly. “Senior, do you think you can match the Myriad God Patriarch in a head-on fight?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s question, Old Snake shook the alcohol in his gourd. After a long while, he said with a long sigh, “My strength isn’t as you imagine. You probably think my strength is so unfathomable that I have deliberately hidden. But in fact, you are wrong. There are limitations to what I can do.”

“I was once seriously injured. The power in my body has been sealed. If I want to take action, I will have to unseal my power first. The more I unseal, the stronger I become, but it will also damage my body more and more. If I unseal sixty to seventy percent of the power within me, there is no one who can match me in the Myriad God Ridge, or even the entire Calm Sea. However, the damage to my body would be extremely serious. It might even make me fall into a deep slumber. I try not to use so much of my strength or I won’t have much left of my lifespan.”

After Old Snake drank a mouthful of his spirit, he wiped his mouth. He had experienced a long life and been through things that no one knew. He described the past casually with the words ‘once seriously injured.’ It left Yi Yun taken aback. Who could have severely injured Old Snake?

This was the first time he was hearing Old Snake recount his past in such a serious manner.

He never expected that the reason Old Snake was the way that he was was that he had suffered heavy injuries. But even so, by unsealing a portion of his strength, he could easily dominate the Calm Sea. What sort of figure was he at his peak?

When he recalled carefully, Yi Yun remembered that he was curious about the old fellow’s cultivation level when he first met him. He suspected that he was playing the sucker and thus, used the Purple Crystal Origins’s energy vision to look at Old Snake’s body.

What he found was that Old Snake’s cultivation level was as bad as it could be. The only difference was that he had a gray energy blob in his body. However, Yi Yun was unable to identify what the gray energy blob was.

From the looks of it, the gray energy blob was related to what Old Snake had previously experienced.

It seemed like his injuries were the main reason that Old Snake led a hermit life.

As he had sealed his own powers, he usually appeared like an ordinary and weak old scammer. No one would take him seriously. With Old Snake having experienced the many twists and turns of life, he was no longer affected by trivial matters. This resulted in him treating life as a game. He didn’t even care about the small sect he lost in the past when its territory was snatched by others.

Yi Yun asked, “Senior, if you can defeat Myriad God Patriarch in a short amount of time, and the price you pay is within bearable limits, why don’t you take action now, and directly kill the Myriad God Patriarch to obtain the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?”

Old Snake shook his head and said, “Don’t forget, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron doesn’t actually belong to the Myriad God Patriarch. Even if I kill the Myriad God Patriarch, I will not be able to bring the Ascending Dragon Cauldron away. Besides, that undying old fart has researched the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for a million years. He knows a lot more about it than I do. In addition, he has the entire Myriad God Ridge searching for the resources he needs. I believe that to truly awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, we will probably need that undying old fart to do it.”

“I came here to warn you. If you do not want to be caught in this quagmire, I can send you away now. After all, I don’t know what that old fool is currently plotting.”

Old Snake was sincerely advising Yi Yun.

Yi Yun fell silent for a while before shaking his head.

It would be very easy to leave but he did not wish to. He had a nagging feeling that the matter of the twelve Dao Ancestor’s divine artifacts was related to the secrets of the Heaven and Earth. If he were to leave today, he would probably miss a lot of it.

“Hehe! Kid, I figured that you would refuse to leave before I even asked,” Old Snake suddenly laughed out as he drank his alcohol.

“Senior, since you guessed it, why did you still ask me?”

“I’m just getting you mentally prepared. Should things go wrong, don’t you go blaming me for any harm that befalls you. Don’t worry. You are someone that lass Chenxue entrusted me with. Even if I have to risk unsealing fifty percent of my strength, I’ll protect you well. And if everything fails, I’ll make sure that your body is intact for a burial.”

As Old Snake continued, he turned flippant.

Yi Yun shook his head speechlessly. However, since Old Snake said he could defeat the Myriad God Patriarch in a frontal assault, it was unlikely that any serious problems would befall them.

“Kid, this mark is for you.”

As Old Snake spoke, he raised his hand and produced a mark. He sent out a stream of light that sank straight into Yi Yun’s body.

“If you encounter any danger, the mark will immediately shatter, and I’ll sense it. And so you know, I am constantly locking on to this Sunken Moon Tower of yours with my perception. Leaving a mark in your body is only an extra measure.”

As Old Snake spoke, his figure flashed, vanishing directly from the chamber.

Yi Yun looked at the stone bed where Old Snake had vanished from. He took a deep breath. The rising wind forebodes the coming storm!

He was waiting to see what the Myriad God Patriarch would do next.

1266 - : Coming Storm

CKtalon  CKtalon

Three months later, in the ‘God’ room at the top floor of the Myriad God Restaurant, a table of sumptuous delicacies was laid out. The price of the table of dishes exceeded that of what Yi Yun ate back then.

Eight female attendants, dressed in revealing attire, surrounded the table, waiting on the patrons. Some were pouring alcohol, others were offering tea. A few were serving food, while the rest massaged the patrons.

Feng Yunyang was sitting among the eight female attendants while he embraced them, fully indulging himself in their services.

And sitting in front of him were other personal disciples. Although Feng Yunyang had been brutally beaten by Yi Yun to the point of losing an arm, he remained the patriarch’s last disciple. As such, he was still someone that people fawned over and were obsequious to.

Feng Yunyang enjoyed days like this. He came all the way from a small sect to being the successor of a mighty power. It was an unimaginable leap in status. It gave him an immense sense of satisfaction.

“Young Sect Master, that Yi Yun has already been grounded for nearly half a year. From the looks of it, it will continue that way. This is clearly meant to be the patriarch’s punishment for Yi Yun, but it’s too light,” Someone said.

Everyone knew that Yi Yun was a thorn in Feng Yunyang’s side. If one wanted to be friendly with Feng Yunyang, speaking ill of Yi Yun was a must.

When he heard Yi Yun’s name, Feng Yunyang knitted his brows together. He gnashed his teeth in anger towards Yi Yun. If not for his master paying a huge price to reattach his arm, he would have been a cripple for life.

“Hmph! Master has already been searching for a large amount of natural treasures for me. In a few months, these natural treasures will be refined into a medicinal fluid that will cleanse my body. When that time comes, I’ll experience a meteoric rise in strength. That Yi Yun cleaved off my arm half a year ago but, once I attain formidable strength, I’ll sever him of all of his limbs, cut off his nose and ears, and make him into a human pole!”

Feng Yunyang had downed about half a jug of Immortal Inebriation and was already somewhat tipsy. He had an unyielding and intractable personality, to begin with, so after drinking Immortal Inebriation, he no longer minced his words.

“Oh? Young Sect Master, are you implying that the list of items that the patriarch produced half a year ago has already been collected?”

Upon hearing Feng Yunyang’s words, the people present could not help but recall the list that the patriarch had taken out back then. The ingredients listed sold for astronomical prices, so to find them, one needed large amounts of wealth as well as a bit of luck.

Even the Myriad God Patriarch himself would find it extremely difficult to gather these ingredients. That was why he offered enticing rewards to motivate the Myriad God Ridge’s hundred plus families to use their family connections.

With so many family clans, with many of them so entrenched in the Calm Sea that they had deep roots, it made the search for items a lot more efficient.

“More than half have been gathered. There are some that still haven’t been found. I believe there’s no chance of finding them anytime soon, so the patriarch has already planned on beginning to refine the medicinal fluid,” Feng Yunyang said smugly.

So what if Yi Yun was formidable? Wasn’t he still given the cold shoulder despite his strength? Wasn’t he grounded? How could he compare to Feng Yunyang? Once his body was successfully cleansed, Yi Yun’s days would be over.

Feng Yunyang was determined to kill Yi Yun. He could tell that the patriarch and sect master were not fond of Yi Yun either, in fact they even seemed to detest him.

He figured that the original intention behind grounding Yi Yun was that they were afraid that Yi Yun would one day develop his strength and seek revenge on the Myriad God Ridge. As such, even if he killed Yi Yun, he would not be blamed by the patriarch and sect master. Instead, he would resolve a worry in their hearts.

Upon thinking of this, Feng Yunyang turned even more spirited.

Killing Yi Yun could banish the mental demons that plagued him and redeem his public disgrace. What awaited him in the future were limitless prospects. The world would truly be at his command, allowing him to enjoy countless beauties and a lifespan of ten million years. Wasn’t this the pinnacle of one’s life!?

“Young Sect Master, you truly have good fortune to be thought so highly of by the patriarch. You make us extremely envious.”

The people present said such things with pangs of sour grapes. They knew that Feng Yunyang’s talent was not amazing, but it was enough to beat theirs. Compared to a freak of nature like Yi Yun, he was quite inferior. He did not seem to deserve the number of resources the patriarch was spending to nurture him. This sort of favorable treatment left others exploding with jealousy!

In fact, a few months ago, there were rumors that Feng Yunyang was the patriarch’s illegitimate son!

Even with the patriarch being in charge of the Myriad God Ridge for so many years, there had been no news of him having a son. In fact, he did not even have any women by his side.

People speculated that it was due to the strange cultivation techniques that the patriarch practiced in. He had transformed his body into that of a boy and could not engage in sex, making it very difficult for him to have children. And it was possible that as he neared the end of his life, he had used special methods to produce an illegitimate son, Feng Yunyang, with great difficulty. And this resulted in his favorable treatment. If not, there was no other adequate explanation.

If that was truly the case, no one could protest no matter what treatment Feng Yunyang received.

How could Feng Yunyang not know the thoughts of everyone? Their envious and jealous looks only made him smugger.

At that moment, Feng Yunyang’s disciple token suddenly lit up. A voice transmission from the patriarch!

After learning the contents of the voice transmission, Feng Yunyang’s expression changed. “I have something that requires my attention. I’ll be leaving first. Continue eating!”

As he spoke, Feng Yunyang flashed and vanished from the Myriad God Restaurant.

Although Feng Yunyang enjoyed indulging in pleasure, he was still aware of what mattered most. The patriarch had given him everything, so whatever the patriarch instructed him to do, he had to finish it immediately.

Fifteen minutes later, Feng Yunyang had arrived at the seclusion grounds of the Myriad God Patriarch.

“Master!”

Feng Yunyang gave a disciple’s bow. Towards the old man, Feng Yunyang showed extreme respect. But deep in his heart, he was not entirely comfortable with the fact that this person could determine his fate at any time.

“I summoned you here to plant the Soul Seed,” the red-dressed boy said in his hoarse voice.

“Another planting? It’s only been eighteen days.”

A Soul Seed was a soul cultivation method that the Myriad God Patriarch had discovered. In the past, one planting was done every eighty-one days, followed by forty-nine days, then thirty-six. Now, it had only been eighteen days since the last planting of the Soul Seed.

As of now, Feng Yunyang had already had more than thirty Soul Seeds planted in him.

After experiencing the baptism of each Soul Seed, the strength of Feng Yunyang’s soul would increase tremendously. This also gradually reduced the original doubts he had in his heart.

The planting of Soul Seeds required that Feng Yunyang not put up any resistance. It had to be completely consensual. In the beginning, Feng Yunyang had his doubts. But after thinking of his status as a junior, that there was no reason a patriarch would scheme against him, he felt at ease. Following that, the patriarch spent a large number of resources on him and had declared him as the successor to the sect master. This made him increasingly believe in the patriarch.

As the red-dressed boy formed hand seals, a gray aura shot out from his fingertip and entered Feng Yunyang’s glabella.

Feng Yunyang’s body trembled suddenly as his face turned slightly pale. Following that, there was a pain in his soul sea that lasted for a full fifteen minutes before gradually receding.

Every planting of the Soul Seed brought pain to his soul, and each attempt was more intense than the other. According to the patriarch, this was a natural reaction as one’s cultivation in the technique grew more profound.

Although Feng Yunyang had his hesitancies, he had already been cultivating in it for so long. There was no turning back, and so he had to continue down the path.

“It’s almost done,” said the red-dressed boy in a slow tone. His voice sounded like an old man that was getting nearer and nearer to a coffin.

“Tomorrow will probably be the day I cleanse your body.”

Upon hearing the patriarch’s words, Feng Yunyang was surprised and delighted. “That fast!?”

“Yes, I have the necessary ingredients needed for cleansing your body. There’s no need to carry on waiting.”

1267 - : Soul Seed

CKtalon  CKtalon

Overnight, the Myriad God Ridge’s main peak suddenly turned cold. Large snowflakes the size of down feathers fluttered across the sky and continued to fall for about ten hours. Early the next morning, when the Myriad God Ridge disciples opened their doors, they saw meter-thick snow. The feet of those who stepped through it sunk to their kneecaps, producing grinding sounds.

“What a huge snowstorm!”

Duanmu Qingwen was fascinated by the silver-coated world outside.

One had to know that with the Myriad God Ridge being on a hundred thousand foot tall mountain, it should have been extremely cold. But array formations covered the Myriad God Ridge that kept the temperature at a comfortable level. Such heavy snow was truly rare.

The Myriad God Ridge was originally covered with all sorts of spirit vegetation. The palaces were also mostly constructed from gorgeous jade. Now, they were covered in crystalline white snowflakes, with a clear frost stream flowing across them. It was truly as though flowers were in full bloom amid the towering jade buildings. Everything took on an appearance that was crystalline and enchanting.

“It was a heavy one…”

Yi Yun also came to the yard’s entrance. The morning air was at its freshest with the cool chill, and the air he inhaled truly left him feeling refreshed.

Duanmu Qingwen felt a lot happier after seeing the beautiful scenery. Although she had been grounded for the past half year because of Yi Yun, she was not bored, despite the days being filled with nothing but leisure.

“Young Master, about Zuoyan Xiaoyu…”

All this time, Duanmu Qingwen had no idea of Zuoyan Xiaoyu’s whereabouts. Although she once considered Zuoyan Xiaoyu a rival, she also felt a kinship with her and so wondered where she was.

“She’s very well. There’s no need for you to worry.”

Yi Yun had nowhere to hide Zuoyan Xiaoyu, so he could only stow her away in the God Advent Tower and give her some cultivation techniques to keep her busy. That was all he could do until he settled the situation with the Myriad God Ridge.

As Yi Yun spoke, the morning bell suddenly sounded from the Myriad God Ridge’s main peak.

Gong! Gong! Gong! Gong…

The ringing bell could be heard from all over the Myriad God Ridge’s grounds.

“Oh? This is the bell that summons all personal disciples and Elders.”

Yi Yun was taken aback. The last time the patriarch returned, he had summoned for everybody, but he had not rung the bell.

“The bell has been rung. All personal disciples have been called the Jade Emperor Palace on the mountaintop. You have to go as well!”

A few black-clothed guardians came in front of Sunken Moon Tower and informed Yi Yun with a commanding tone.

For the past half year, Yi Yun had been grounded. These black-clothed guardians would patrol the area daily. They did not even rest when it snowed the entire night.

“I have to go?” Yi Yun’s brows pricked up. Did he have to go while grounded…

He had a premonition that something was going to happen on his trip to Jade Emperor Palace. However, Old Snake had left a mark in him. If he were to encounter any danger, Old Snake would know of it immediately. Furthermore, Old Snake had mentioned that even the Myriad God Patriarch was not his match, so it did not seem like there was too much to worry about.

With this thought emboldening him, Yi Yun followed the black-clothed guardians and headed for Jade Emperor Palace.

On the way, he saw numerous personal disciples and Elders traveling in groups. Stepping on the accumulated snow, they marred the beautiful scene with their haphazard footsteps across the flat and smooth snow.

Finally, the summoned elders and disciples came to a square in front of Jade Emperor Palace. However, Yi Yun was somewhat special. He was surrounded by a few black-clothed guardians, making him stand out.

In the middle of the Jade Emperor Palace, Yi Yun saw Feng Yunyang at a glance.

Feng Yunyang was dressed in special young sect master’s attire today. It had been tailor-made and, judging by the workmanship on the materials, only the best fabrics were used. It aided both cultivation and defense and was worth eight million Spirit Jade. Many were envious of the extravagant piece of clothing.

As his status had never changed, Feng Yunyang remained the moon that was encircled by the stars. This formed a stark contrast with Yi Yun.

“Isn’t that Yi Yun? Has he actually been released? Well, that’s nice. He needs to get some air or he might suffocate in there.”

Standing beside Feng Yunyang, someone saw Yi Yun and said this in derision. It was Song Bowen’s father, Song Zhanchen.

Over the past half year, it appeared that the Myriad God Ridge was making every effort to compensate the Song and Zhang family for the deaths of their heirs. It selected two young men from the respective families with outstanding talent and made them personal disciples. This made the Song and Zhang family a lot more confident. Furthermore, they learned from Cang Wu and Feng Yunyang that Yi Yun was not valued by the patriarch in any way. Instead, the patriarch seemed to have a silent agenda of finishing off Yi Yun. This made them show no more fear towards Yi Yun.

Feng Yunyang looked back at Yi Yun. His gaze had a derisive hint to it.

He knew very well that the patriarch called this meeting today to cleanse his body. After that happened, his cultivation level would enjoy a meteoric rise and Yi Yun would no longer be his match.

“Yi Yun, long time no see. How’s it going? Are you out on probation? Why aren’t you in a prison wagon? How pitiful. So what if you defeated me half a year ago? Today, I stand with Master on this Jade Emperor Platform, while you are but a lowly prisoner. The difference in our status will never change!”

“By the way, you must be curious why my master imprisoned you. Let me tell you now. Master was giving me time, time for me to develop my strength before I defeat you. You are only a grinding stone for me!”

Feng Yunyang was not quiet in his speech. He spoke delightedly with a deliberate sense of revenge. Many people heard him.

This information was in fact confirmed yesterday by the sect master. Even as Feng Yunyang intended to make Yi Yun a human pole, he still had his reservations. Therefore, he asked the sect master for the reason behind imprisoning Yi Yun. He never expected to receive an answer that gave him such a pleasant surprise.

“What? The patriarch and the sect master imprisoned Yi Yun in order to make him a grinding stone for Young Sect Master?”

People were astonished but, on careful thought, there was indeed such a possibility. If the patriarch wanted to punish Yi Yun, there was no need to go through all the trouble to imprison him. No matter how much of a genius Yi Yun was, he was only a junior. Crippling him directly would put an end to things. Why was there a need to imprison him? So that was the reason why!

Indeed, with Feng Yunyang receiving a setback from Yi Yun, his Dao heart had been damaged. The ridicule he faced in the future would become a mental demon that plagued him. Only by defeating Yi Yun would he be free of that mental demon.

By defeating Yi Yun after having his body cleansed, his mental demon would be removed, and Feng Yunyang’s cultivation level would soar.

“So that’s the reason. I was wondering why the patriarch imprisoned Yi Yun.”

Zhang Tianxing laughed out loudly. The stone that weighed down his heart was finally lifted. As long as it was executed in such a manner, Yi Yun would definitely die.

“Patriarch sure goes to great lengths. It’s really enviable that Young Sect Master has such a master.”

“From what Young Sect Master said, wouldn’t that make Yi Yun a beast reared for training purposes?” the newly promoted personal disciple from the Song family said with a laugh.

He was thin and had slanted eyebrows. As Yi Yun was too powerful, he did not dare to make any over-the-top statements in case Yi Yun remained able. At most, he would mock him behind his back. But now, knowing of Yi Yun’s destined outcome, this kid who had only reached the first-storey Dao Palace began to assume the majesty of others.

Now, the Song and Zhang families had a clear goal. They would desperately cling on to the powerhouse known as Feng Yunyang.

When the slanted brow punk made the comment, people began roaring with laughter. “The kid from the Song family has made such a perfect analogy!”

Yi Yun remained indifferent towards the reprobation that Feng Yunyang, as well as the many Myriad God Ridge Elders and personal disciples, gave him. He remained silent.

He was already accustomed to being in a perilous situation. He was only waiting for the Myriad God Patriarch and the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

At that moment, the atmosphere of the square suddenly changed. A powerful and cold energy descended from the sky.

Yi Yun looked up. Somehow, the red-dressed boy had appeared above the square without anyone noticing.

He rested his bare feet on a gigantic cauldron. Yi Yun had seen the cauldron once before. It was a replica of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. The last time the red-dressed boy appeared, he had appeared on the cauldron as well!

“Greetings, Patriarch!”

All the Elders and personal disciples immediately bowed to the patriarch.

Yi Yun couldn’t be bothered with bowing. Since he was almost at the point of losing all decorum with the Myriad God Patriarch, he didn’t care.

The red-dressed boy did not even give the upright Yi Yun a look. It was as though Yi Yun’s very existence was of no importance to him.

He looked up as dark clouds shrouded the sky. The heavy snow from the previous night had not let up.

“Clouds, disperse!”

The patriarch nonchalantly said the two words and they manifested into reality. Two golden words flew into the sky.

Demonic chants began to flash as the dark clouds in the sky were dispersed because of the patriarch’s sentence. Sunlight scattered down and, in a blink of an eye, the sky was a lot brighter!

The red-dressed boy stood in a beam of golden sunlight with his eyes closed. As he basked in the sunlight, he took a deep breath and opened his eyes to look at everyone present.

“Let’s begin!”

“Yes!” An elder appeared from behind the red-dressed boy. He was none other than the Myriad God Sect Master.

He took out seventy-two array flags from his interspatial ring and waved his hand, scattering the array flags around the square’s periphery.

Following that, an old woman walked out of the crowd. Yi Yun had seen her before. Back when the Myriad God Sect Master failed in his attempt to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, she had been there. She was the one that had brought Snake Girl along.

When he saw the old woman, Yi Yun had a thought. Was Snake Girl also here?

He looked around for her and indeed, he saw her among the crowd.

Upon noticing Yi Yun’s gaze, Snake Girl forced a smile. Her situation was obviously not that great!

“Snake Girl is here. Old Snake probably also left a mark on her,” Yi Yun thought. Although Old Snake appeared unreliable, he would still take care of his disciple while she was in the Myriad God Ridge.

The old woman began producing seals, and together with the Myriad God Sect Master, all the array flags were quickly set up in place. Black light shimmered from the array flags which surrounded the entire Jade Emperor Palace square.

“This array formation…”

Yi Yun’s eyes twitched. Only then did he realize that Myriad God Patriarch was likely an array formation master!

One had to know that Feng Yunyang was also proud of his array formations. Back at Sunken Moon Tower, Feng Yunyang had attacked Yi Yun with array formations. His so-called ‘minute accomplishments’ in array formations were, in fact, imparted to him by the Myriad God Patriarch. He was a reed that came from a tiny sect, to begin with, so how could he have attained much skill in array formations?

However, Myriad God Patriarch had nurtured Feng Yunyang into an array formation genius in a very short amount of time. That alone was evidence of the Myriad God Patriarch’s mightiness in array formations!

When he came to this realization, Yi Yun knitted his brows tightly. He was unsure what the Myriad God Patriarch was doing.

At that moment, the Myriad God Patriarch threw a disk array out as the cauldron beneath him began to spin rapidly!

Following that, six drops of blood appeared in Myriad God Patriarch’s palm!

Upon seeing the drops of blood, Yi Yun felt palpitations through his heart. He recognized the six drops of blood. Back when the Myriad God Sect Master attempted to trigger the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, he had also used such drops of blood. However, it was heart-wrenching for him to even use a single drop.

But now, the Myriad God Patriarch had produced six drops in one go!

Yi Yun was unsure of the origins of the blood but he was certain that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron would have a great reaction to it.

“Go!”

Myriad God Patriarch flicked his finger as the six drops of blood shot into the Jade Emperor Palace!

The blood droplets were the size of peas but they had the strength of meteorites. They smashed into the Jade Emperor Palace, instantly collapsing the palace’s main hall!

“Boom!”

The main hall’s ceiling crashed down, and its columns shattered while rubble flew into the sky!

Upon seeing this scene, everyone present was confounded. That was the Jade Emperor Palace’s main hall! It was a symbol of the Myriad God Ridge’s supreme power. It had been standing there for millions of years and was treated as a sacred land by the Myriad God Ridge disciples. Why was no one doing anything as it was collapsing?

Why? Why did the patriarch destroy the Jade Emperor Palace?

Before they could think it through, a loud explosion sounded. While the Jade Emperor Palace’s main hall was collapsing, the ground beneath cracked apart. An ancient and unadorned bronze cauldron flew out from the cracks in the ground!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Much of the palace collapsed because of the gigantic cauldron’s emergence. The entire cauldron flickered with faint black light as though a black dragon was coiled within.

Upon seeing the cauldron, Yi Yun was alarmed. This was the true Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

The Myriad God Patriarch had used six drops of blood to awaken the true Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

Yi Yun suddenly had an ominous foreboding! At that moment, the Myriad God Patriarch directly crushed the disk array in his hand.

“Ka-cha!”

The disk array shattered as immense Yuan Qi dispersed outwards. Simultaneously, the Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman flicked their sleeves, throwing out large amounts of Spirit Jade!

Spirit Jade was a common currency of the Sinkhole. But its original use was to provide Yuan Qi and energy needed for cultivation or array formations. And the Spirit Jade in the Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman’s hands were at least of superior grade. There was even some supreme-grade Spirit Jade there. None could say how much worth they were throwing away. The Spirit Jade spread among the array flags and, within moments, the entire square began to quake violently!

The earth quaked as space shattered. Yi Yun could see array runes that effused blood red beams of light suffusing from beneath his feet.

At that moment, the entire square had become a massive array formation. And this array formation was lifting up the crowd slowly into the sky!

Teleportation Array!?

Yi Yun was alarmed. His attainments in array formations were naturally inferior to the Myriad God Sect Master’s, but he was extremely sensitive to spatial dimension laws. He immediately sensed that the array formation was trying to tear through the void!

Furthermore, he could tell it was a long-distance teleportation array because he could sense that the fluctuation of the spatial energies exceeded ordinary teleportation arrays by a hundred times. To require so much Spirit Jade and array flags, it was impossible that they would be teleported somewhere near!

“Oh no!”

Yi Yun’s expression changed! If he was teleported away, it could lead to unimaginable consequences! However, at that moment, he was surrounded by a large number of Myriad God Elders, the Myriad God Sect Master, and the Patriarch. With Yi Yun’s strength alone, it was impossible for him to destroy the teleportation array!

1268 - : Ensuring Success

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Boom!”

Space was utterly torn apart as the crowd was struck with a strong bout of vertigo. They felt the world spin so fast that personal disciples with weaker cultivation levels, including Snake Girl, fell to the ground and nearly vomited.

“There’s no need to panic.” Myriad God Patriarch floated above everyone as he spoke slowly. “I am in the process of executing the most important ritual in the Myriad God Ridge’s history. This ritual requires a massive array’s support, and this massive array needs all of you to provide your powers. Once it succeeds, you will all become the greatest contributors to the Myriad God Ridge. I will hand my cultivation techniques and heritage to you for practice depending on your performance! Some will even be permitted to pass my techniques down to your family clan as part of your systematic heritage!”

When the red-dressed boy said that, everyone felt reverberations through their hearts. Their family clans could pass it down?

Didn’t that mean that they could impart it to their children and grandchildren!?

Many family clans had already gotten rewards from amassing the ingredients on the list, but the number of people that truly benefited was small. Compared to the present opportunity of enriching their descendants, and fortifying their family’s heritage, the list’s rewards were far inferior.

“Patriarch, that is brilliant! Are we heading to the ritual grounds now?” An elder asked eagerly.

The crowd’s reaction was within the red-dressed boy’s expectations. He revealed a deep and meaningful smile and said slowly, “That’s right! Perhaps it’s just me getting old, but I’m always terribly suspicious. I had a nagging feeling that someone would interfere with the ritual, so in order to ensure that failure is not an option, I planned on switching to a safer place. I will bring all of you into a hidden pocket world. The Yuan Qi in there is extremely rich but the world is naturally sealed by the powers of the heaven and earth, making it extremely hard to enter. I happened to chance upon a spatial node, which is how I was able to reach it in the past. However, that spatial node has been sealed shut by me through an array formation. No one but I can enter. It’s absolutely safe.”

“For this teleportation and the upcoming ritual, I have prepared a large amount of Spirit Jade. Even the Myriad God Ridge’s Spirit Jade Repository has been emptied. Even the main peak’s array formation has been halted. Why do you think the usually warm and springlike main peak would suddenly experience a snow storm last night?”

When the red-dressed boy said that with a laugh, Yi Yun felt as though he had plummeted into an ice cavern.

This smart tortoise! He was crafty and careful. Yi Yun never imagined that he would choose a hidden pocket world as the final ritual’s location.

And most importantly, he used the six drops of blood to make the Ascending Dragon Cauldron follow them through the teleportation array.

This was something Yi Yun had never thought of. Even Old Snake would most certainly be caught by surprise.

At that moment, an elder appeared in the ruins of the Jade Emperor Palace’s main hall on Myriad God Ridge’s main peak.

In front of him, the square was long gone. The teleportation array seemed rapacious. It had teleported both the square as well as the people!

“He actually managed to move the Ascending Dragon Cauldron away. How did he do it!?”

Old Snake muttered to himself. He always believed that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron did not belong to anyone. The Myriad God Patriarch had never managed to refine and bind it to himself, and being able to move it from the Myriad God Ridge’s mountain peak to the foot of the mountain was the limit of his influence. How did he manage to bring it across the void?

And it was because the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was buried deep in the Myriad God Ridge’s main peak that Old Snake never considered the possibility of this happening.

And now, the Myriad God Patriarch’s actions had completely thrown off Old Snake’s schemes.

On careful thought, the old fellow had been guarding the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for at least several million years. With his attainments in array formations, it was not odd that he could deduce something from his research.

“I was careless! Too careless! I have to immediately find the teleportation destination!”

At that moment, Old Snake could not afford to hold back. The strength he had before he was injured far exceeded the Myriad God Patriarch’s. Besides, Old Snake had lived a long life, so his comprehension of laws also far exceeded the Myriad God Patriarch’s. Even his attainments in array formations did not lag behind the old man’s.

The impossible could become the possible through his hands!

“Kid, you have to hold on. I’ll try my best to follow the spatial trajectory of the teleportation and find the both of you!’

Old Snake was not just worried for Yi Yun, in fact, he was even more worried about Snake Girl. With a clear shout, he directly released the power that was sealed within him.

Instantly, his figure became a lot taller. His bent back also straightened. Although his aged appearance remained, his eyes were no longer turbid. Instead, they were like sparkling stars that exuded a profound glow.

Any spatial teleportation would leave behind traces. Just like a boat traveling through water left ripples, teleportation left similar rippling waves through space. As long as one followed these waves, one could find the direction and location of the teleportation’s destination.

However, this needed extremely high accomplishments in spatial dimension laws. Furthermore, traveling through and searching various spatial storms expended a great deal of energy!

Old Snake did not know if he could accomplish the feat but he had no other choice. All he could do was risk it.

…

At that moment, the massive array the red-dressed boy presided over had crossed through several layers of space!

He sat cross-legged in midair and had a calm expression. Everyone present was feeling uneasy. On one hand, they placed their hopes on the patriarch’s promises, and on the other hand, they did not know what the patriarch was up to.

What they thought to be an Elders’ meeting ended up being something of such great scale! Most critically, the Jade Emperor Palace had collapsed. Did the patriarch no longer care about Myriad God Ridge’s main center, the symbol of its power and authority?

Fifteen minutes later, the entire array formation shook violently!

Moments later, the spatial storms that enveloped the array formation calmed down. The chaos from before also turned completely bright and clear.

What was presented in front of everybody was a pale red ocean. There was a gigantic island in the middle of the ocean that was pierced by several mountain ranges. These mountain ranges were filled with rift-valleys. They struck horror to one’s mind and extended towards the land. And in the deep crevices of the rift-valleys was churning magma.

“This is a newly born world. The cracks you see are the product of the shifting continental plates. Lava flows out of them and there will come a day when the lava cools, forming new igneous rocks and land. They will crack again and solidify, with this process repeating over hundreds of millions of years. Then, this island will become a massive continent. And when the time comes, many lifeforms will appear, making this a flourishing world.”

The patriarch used a casual tone to introduce the pocket world, but his words left Yi Yun shuddering.

This word was no different from a prison. He was completely locked in.

“It’s here.”

The red-dressed boy controlled the massive array and landed in the center of the island.

Here, nine gigantic rifts enjoined. Lava spewed out of the rifts like nine inferno dragons that were holding onto a pearl.

The red-dressed boy said slowly, “This landform is known as the Nine Dragons Encircling Pearl. I have sought it for a long time, and finally, I have found it. The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi on this island gathers here through the nine gigantic rifts. This is a rich wonderland!”

1269 - : Nine Dragons Encircling Pearl

CKtalon  CKtalon

When the crowd landed on the sacred land, they immediately sensed an extremely rich fire-elemental Yuan Qi. It was where the Earth fire gathered, with flames spewing out as though they were alive!

Soon, people realized that there were array patterns engraved on the sacred land. The Patriarch had used a worldly array to isolate the land they were in.

A world that was already sealed, now further isolated by a massive array, truly made for an impermeable and unassailable realm.

This was also evidence that today’s events were of the utmost importance to the Patriarch!

“It’s finally beginning. I’ve been waiting so long for this,” the red-dressed boy said in an excited tone.

As he spoke, he took out an interspatial ring and produced a hand seal. Large numbers of natural treasures began flying out of the interspatial ring!

They were all sealed in jade boxes.

“Open all of them.”

On the patriarch’s instruction, the Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman opened the jade boxes one after another.

Only then did people realize that the treasures that the Myriad God Patriarch had kept hidden far exceeded the ones from his earlier list. In fact, a lot of them were ten or even tens of times more valuable than the ones he tasked them with searching for!

The red-dressed boy carefully held up a small jar of milky white liquid. Yi Yun’s eyelids twitched when he saw it.

“Dragon Bone Milk?”

Yi Yun knew it from the divine alchemist’s notes. The milky liquid was the result of the melting of dragon bones over hundreds of millions of years. These dragon bones were obtained from the remains of a dragon’s corpse, which was buried in a dark netherworld and corroded by the rich Yin gases present.

The liquid only took on this milky form through numerous fortuitous coincidences, so it was an extremely rare item. In addition, after obtaining the Dragon Bone Milk, one still had to be careful of the Yin poison it contained due to the long time spent in a dark netherworld that was rich with Yin gases. A typical warrior would instantly lose their vitality upon consuming the Dragon Bone Milk and would be reduced to a desiccated and cold corpse. There were special ways to remove the Yin poison but very few people knew of the method. Even the divine alchemist only knew of the method because he had chanced upon it in an ancient ruin.

Did the red-dressed boy actually know the method of handling Dragon Bolk Milk?

Yi Yun was astonished. Since he had taken out the Dragon Bone Milk, he definitely had the means to refine it. It would be foolish to hope that an old monster like him would make such a stupid mistake and poison himself to death.

No one else recognized the Dragon Bone Milk. But one knowledgeable Elder did recognize the next worldly spiritual item the red-dressed boy took out.

It was an azure-colored fruit about the size of a fist. It was crystalline and looked like it was carved out of beautiful jade. It effused an alluring fragrance.

“This is… a fruit born from the Nine Revolutions Azure Tree? Legend has it that Nine Revolutions Azure Trees can live for billions of years. Such divine trees appear at the beginning of the universe and grow extremely slowly. In the beginning, they will only be tiny seeds that take root in ordinary soil, sprout, and initially grow an inch a year. However, they can live for an extremely long period of time and can grow to become towering divine trees after ten thousand years. At a million years old, the divine trees’ crowns will resemble hundred-thousand-foot mountains. The tree trunk would be like a column that holds up the sky. After a billion years, their root networks would penetrate the planets they take root in, going deep into the planet’s core where it would extract Earth fire. Eventually, they will span entire solar systems and, when the trees’ crowns reach into the cosmos, they will even extract the essence of the celestial bodies!”

There were Elders that exclaimed such things. The azure-colored fruit was born from the Nine Revolutions Azure Tree. It was fascinating that such a gigantic tree would produce such small fruits. However, the fruit contained large amounts of highly compressed Nine Revolutions Azure Tree essence despite its small size.

In it was large amounts of vital Yuan Qi, and the greatest effect it had was to extend one’s longevity!

After all, the Nine Revolutions Azure Tree could live for billions of years!

Rumor had it that they could provide immense vitality to the consumer, allowing them to regain their youth. Even Divine Lord experts who had their life potential repeatedly catalyzed would have their lives extended by ten to twenty thousand years after consuming the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit. Its value was even higher when refined into pills!

The Nine Revolutions Azure Tree fruit’s single effect of extending one’s lifespan was enough for people to vie for it violently.

No one expected the red-dressed boy to have obtained one. If he had the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit, he should have consumed it a long time ago. Why did he hold on to it all this time? After all, the effect of extending one’s lifespan was something many old monsters dreamed of.

After the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit, the red-dressed boy took out another crystalline fruit. It was the same size as the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit and was similar in shape. However, it’s color was different. The Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit was, naturally, azure-colored but this fruit was red. The two fruits appeared to be a pair.

“The fruit of the Dragon Blood Tree!”

Another Elder recognized it. Dragon Blood Trees had slightly shorter lifespans than Nine Revolutions Azure Trees but they could also exist for more than a hundred million years. The Dragon Blood Tree’s original name was the Fey Blood Tree because it ate people and Fey beasts. They would bind Fey beasts with their veins and melt them into a pool of blood, absorbing them with their roots!

Although Fey Blood Trees were valuable, it wasn’t difficult for most Elders of the Myriad God Ridge to obtain one. Due to their long lifespans, Fey Blood Trees were powerful and could hunt wyrms. They would consume the wyrm’s blood and bear the fruit known as the Dragon Blood Fruit!

There was no need to elaborate on the price of the fruit. Since it could extend one’s lifespan and aid in marrow cleansing, it was priceless!

Following that —

Heaven Devouring Wyrm Horn! Dragonbone Whale Oil! Crimson Blood Heavenly Silkworm Silk! Nine-winged Golden Dragon Claw!

Although these were also valuable, they were of relatively lower value compared to the first three worldly divine items.

Yi Yun looked at the divine items with a heavy expression. He realized that they could all basically be categorized into two types.

One category was related to dragons!

The other category extended one’s lifespan as well as ignited one’s vital forces!

The first category was easily explained. The Myriad God Patriarch wanted to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, so he needed dragon bloodlines.

No person present had a bloodline that was sufficient in awakening the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, including Yi Yun. Although he had the Purple Crystal sealed within him, he did not believe he was able to awaken the dragon soul that slept within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Therefore, the Myriad God Patriarch needed the divine items to uplift the purity of the dragon bloodline!

As for the second category, the extension of one’s lifespan and igniting of one’s vital forces was definitely not a priority for young people. It could only be for the Myriad God Patriarch himself!

Myriad God Patriarch had lived excessively long but he did not wish to meet his end. He wanted to ignite his vital potential and make another breakthrough!

Once he broke through, he would be able to live a few million years more at the very least.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun gradually turned disheartened. There was no doubt that he was stuck in a perilous situation today.

The Myriad God Patriarch took out all the treasures he had, about forty items in total, and left them flying in midair.

Following that, he produced hand seals that resulted in loud rumbles.

The massive Ascending Dragon Cauldron crashed down, right into the center of the intersection of the nine gigantic rifts.

Wu Wu Wu Wu!

Lava boiled as Earth fire whistled!

All of the fire in the land had been gathered in the same spot. With the Ascending Dragon Cauldron suppressing it, fire columns that reached hundreds of thousands of feet high spewed out!

The fire columns burned for a long time before they gradually became shorter. However, Yi Yun could tell the fire columns shortening wasn’t a sign of them weakening, but of the flames’ essence focusing and coagulating.

When the fire columns were ten feet tall, the flames reached an inconceivable purity. The overwhelming heatwave left everyone appalled!

“It’s ready.”

The Myriad God Patriarch nodded. He had spent tens of thousands of years to prepare the massive array. Now, everything was going according to his plans.

He beckoned once again and the Ascending Dragon Cauldron replica flew out. It floated above the real Ascending Dragon Cauldron and was consumed by the world’s fire!

“M… Master…all of this… this isn’t being prepared for me, is it?”

Feng Yunyang was shocked. Even though he thought highly of himself, the scale at which everything was happening left his confidence shaken.

Could all these divine treasures really be for him? Why did it feel like that was impossible?

Upon hearing Feng Yunyang’s question, the red-dressed boy revealed a genial smile. “Of course they are for you. I chose these treasures especially for you.”

“R…really?”

Feng Yunyang found it hard to believe, but the patriarch had said so. There was no need for his master to deceive him, right?

Upon coming to this conclusion, Feng Yunyang turned excited.

With all these divine treasures cleansing his body, wouldn’t his cultivation level soar to incomprehensible heights? When that time came, what was one Yi Yun worth? Even ten or a hundred of him would be easily crushed!

“Thank you, Master! Master, your love for me is something I’ll never be able to repay!”

Feng Yunyang knelt down and kowtowed to the Myriad God Patriarch.

However, this scene left people with mixed thoughts.

Some were envious and jealous of Feng Yunyang. They had already believed that Feng Yunyang was the illegitimate son of the Myriad God Patriarch. With the patriarch’s life coming to an end, and him not being able to produce offspring, he naturally had to nurture his only begotten son.

However, there were others that were stuck on the idea that the Myriad God Patriarch had spent tens of thousands of years preparing all of this. The amount of resources, time, and effort spent was unimaginable. Even if the Myriad God Patriarch did think so highly of his descendants, was there a need to pay such an incredible price?

Just as Feng Yunyang was giving his thanks, a cold voice suddenly sounded out. “It’s truly hard on you, to continue dreaming such an unpragmatic dream. I don’t know if you are truly, hopelessly dumb or if you are still lost in your beautiful dreams. Even though you realize that it’s a dream, you refuse to awaken from it.”

The voice was filled with rich sarcasm. It made Feng Yunyang agitated.

“Who’s the one speaking nonsense!?”

Feng Yunyang leaped up like a cat that had its tail stepped on. His swept his gaze across the crowd before slowly landing it on Yi Yun!

He could tell that the voice from before was Yi Yun’s.

Yi Yun only sneered when Feng Yunyang looked at him. With the situation having unfolded this far, life and death depended on one’s bets. Since he could no longer evade things getting intense, he stopped caring about having a delicate approach.

“So it’s you, the grinding stone!” Feng Yunyang glanced hatefully at Yi Yun. “Do you think you are worthy to speak to me? After being a prisoner for half a year, haven’t you come to terms with your present situation? You are only still alive because Master wants you as a sparring beast for me. You are no different from Fey beasts that are reared so that young geniuses can slaughter them during their experiential training. When I finish cleansing my body, it will be the time for your death. I’ll chop off your head and use your blood to pave the road to becoming a Godly Monarch!”

“Godly Monarch?” Yi Yun laughed. “How pathetic! I thought you were simply lost in your dreams and unwilling to awaken. Who knew that you are truly just a plain fool? Why don’t you piss a pool of water to look at yourself in the mirror? What sort of importance do you think you have to enjoy the myriad of resources that old undying fart has provided? To think that trash like you dares to talk about becoming a Godly Monarch. I may be facing adversity right now, but to be in the situation with a fool like you is the truest disgrace!”

“You!” Feng Yunyang had been struck where it hurt. He was incensed, but what Yi Yun pointed out was something even he did not believe in. “Master…”

At that moment, all of Feng Yunyang’s hopes were placed on the red-dressed boy. Only his master’s encouragement would put him at ease. “Master, these divine treasures…”

The red-dressed boy gave a faint smile and said with a nod, “They are all prepared for you.”

Feng Yunyang heaved a sigh of relief. He had confirmed the statement twice. Only with that could he feel slightly at ease.

“However, why are there herbs that extend one’s longevity? I don’t seem… to need my longevity extended, right?” Feng Yunyang asked worriedly.

The red-dressed boy said, “The Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit is one of the four main herbs. It is indeed not being prepared for you. The Heaven Devouring Wyrm Horn, the Dragonbone Whale Oil, the Crimson Blood Heavenly Silkworm Silk, and the Nine-winged Golden Dragon Claw are for you. When the time comes, I will pour the herbs into the Concealed Dragon Cauldron and the astral fire will brew it. Then, you can enter the cauldron to cleanse your body.”

“I will… enter the cauldron to cleanse my body?” Feng Yunyang was dumbfounded. He took a glance at the burning astral flames in the core of the Nine Dragons Encircling Pearl array and barely managed a smile. “Master, will I be able to withstand that fire?”

“Of course you can.” The red-dressed boy continued smiling. “Without such intense flames, it will not be able to brew away the useless flesh from your body. Your bones and blood are needed to mix with the essences of the Heaven Devouring Wyrm Horn, the Dragonbone Whale Oil, the Crimson Blood Heavenly Silkworm Silk, and the Nine-winged Golden Dragon Claw. Together with the three main ingredients, the Nine Revolution Azure Fruit, the Dragon Bone Milk, and the Dragon Blood Fruit, they will ultimately be refined into the perfect Dragon Emperor Relic.”

The red-dressed boy had spoken at an adequate pace but Feng Yunyang felt like he had plummeted into an ice cavern when he heard that.

Instantly, the smile that was hanging across the red-dressed boy’s face turned unfamiliar and extremely creepy.

The Myriad God Patriarch was using… him… for the refinement of a pill!?

The so-called cleansing of his body was actually the ritual of him being brewed and refined with other herbal ingredients! This so-called “preparation” for him was because he was one of the four main ingredients!

“No… No… Master, stop joking. How can I be one of the herbs? I… I…”

Feng Yunyang’s face turned pale as his voice quivered. Although he was trying his best to calm himself down, he only became more and more terrified. In his eyes, the boy-like old monster in front of him seemingly transformed into the most terrifying devil in the world that was about to swallow him up!

“My dear disciple, don’t think so lowly of yourself. I have traveled to so many places across the Sinkhole and have seen innumerable people. But you, you have the purest dragon race bloodline following through your veins.”

The red-dressed boy floated over and gently patted Feng Yunyang on the shoulder. From the beginning, the Myriad God Patriarch only thought of using the blood from his disciple’s dragon bloodline to trigger the Ascending Dragon Cauldron so that he could obtain the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’

But later on, as his preparations became more and more complete, especially after he found a ruin left behind by the ancient dragon race and learned of the existence of a Dragon Emperor Relic, he was no longer satisfied with simply obtaining the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’

He wanted to refine the Dragon Emperor Relic and consume it, so that it would cleanse his marrow and swap his blood with that of a dragon’s bloodline. He could then use his own bloodline to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and become its true owner!

1270 - : Lost in Dreams

CKtalon  CKtalon

“My dear disciple, there’s no need to be afraid.” The red-dressed boy beckoned gently, causing Feng Yunyang to float in midair. He was no longer in control of his own body.

“You probably do not know that this Ascending Dragon Cauldron is a divine artifact that was born at the beginning of the universe. By feeding it your blood and bones, I’ll awaken this slumbering divine artifact. That is an honor reserved for you and you alone.”

As the red-dressed boy spoke, he flicked his finger gently.

“Clang!”

With a metallic resonance, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron replica above the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had its lid opened by the heat of the Earth fire.

The replica had been refined by the Myriad God Patriarch for five hundred thousand years and was named the Concealed Dragon Cauldron. The Myriad God Patriarch would have liked to use the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for alchemy, as it would lead to excellent results. However, since the Myriad God Patriarch had no control over the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, it was little more than a dream for him to use it for the refinement of relics.

“My dear disciple, you will be entering the cauldron in a while. You might suffer some physical pain but that cannot be helped. The refinement of the Dragon Emperor Relic requires your soul to be conscious for long periods of time. Only then can it ensure the vibrancy of your bloodline. I will control the fire’s heat, preventing it from exceeding what your body can bear. Also, rest assured, for I have been tempering your body all these years, feeding you all sorts of heavenly treasures. Many of them have allowed your body to undergo a complete renewal and metamorphosis. As such, you should be capable of enduring the burning flames for long periods of time. It shouldn’t be a problem for you to last three days and three nights.”

Three days and three nights!?

What sort of torture would it be to feel all-consuming flames scorching your body for three days and three nights? The flames were astral fire!

“No! No!” Feng Yunyang’s face turned ashen from fright. He never imagined that his master’s true nature would be that of a grotesque and terrifying old devil.

All this time, the devil had fed him numerous natural treasures, tempering his body all day and night, increasing his physique severalfold. And it was all for one goal—to ensure that he could last longer within the flames!

“Don’t you force me to act desperately! If you really are going to treat me like this, I’ll end my own life. And if I die, you can forget about your alchemical refinement!”

Feng Yunyang’s voice was trembling as his eyes turned red. Having been forced into a dire situation, this was the only way he could put up a form of resistance.

However, his resistance failed to bear fruit in front of the Myriad God Patriarch. “End your own life? No, you won’t. You are my disciple. How can you do something that’s unfavorable to me, your master? I have planted dozens of Soul Seeds in your body. You accepted these Soul Seeds through your own free will. I don’t want to waste these Soul Seeds but, if I use them, I will be able to influence your soul sea to a certain extent. With that, you will absolutely not be able to end your life.”

The Myriad God Patriarch smiled. In Feng Yunyang’s eyes, the smile appeared sinister and extremely horrifying! He was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Soul Seeds!

Under the excuse of cultivating his soul, his master convinced him to accept the Soul Seeds planted in him. In truth, he had completely sealed off the possibility of him resisting!

He knew that he was at the end of his rope and there was no chance for him to get out alive.

“My dear disciple, I have prepared so much for you. So experience it obediently. Tell me if you have any last wishes. I will grant them for you,” said Myriad God Patriarch amiably. His voice sent shudders through the hearts of Feng Yunyang, as well as the rest of the Myriad God Ridge disciples.

They had been lied to. Other than the Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman, no one knew why he had taken Feng Yunyang in as a disciple!

At that moment, a clear voice resounded throughout the pocket world—

“Can’t you see? This old bastard has never placed any importance on the Myriad God Ridge! All of you pride yourselves on being Myriad God Ridge disciples and have been working hard to establish the Myriad God Ridge as a mighty sect, but in that old bastard’s eyes, it is all a joke!”

“He doesn’t mind exposing his gruesome side to all of you. In order to make Feng Yunyang into the catalyst herb he needs, he has fooled all of you. He doesn’t care about losing the faith of his disciples because to him, the Myriad God Ridge is nothing but a tool!”

“Do you think any one of you will be able to escape after coming to this sealed world? All of you might be used as blood sacrifices or even be silenced. What are you standing there in a daze for? Let’s work together and kill that old bastard!”

When these words were suddenly shouted, everyone was stunned. They turned to look at the person who had spoken. It was none other than Yi Yun!

Yi Yun stood tall, sword in hand and Yuan Qi bursting from his body.

“This… This…”

Many people were taken aback. Never in their dreams would they think that the Elder and personal disciple meet would develop into this present situation.

The Myriad God Patriarch looked at Yi Yun as well. His gaze revealed a few hints of surprise as well as mockery.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The Myriad God Patriarch suddenly applauded. “Very well. Is this your last ditch effort to survive? By stirring up the masses, making everyone here attack me? I never imagined that you would think of such means. It’s somewhat interesting.”

“Blood sacrifice? Silencing? You sure have a vivid imagination. These people do not even have a modicum of dragon race bloodlines. What would be the point of a blood sacrifice? As for silencing them…the Myriad God Ridge is indeed a tool to me. I’ll admit that. But I have honed this tool for millions of years, so why would I so casually throw it away?”

When the red-dressed boy said those words, the thoughts of an uprising among the various Elders and personal disciples lessened slightly. Yi Yun’s words had indeed stirred their fears but even now, they did not dare to take up arms against the Myriad God Patriarch. The old fellow was just too terrifying.

The red-dressed walked slowly towards Yi Yun. “There’s no need for you to resist. You will definitely be dying today. But you sure can see through things. It seems that you had managed to guess my plans half a year ago. You guessed the general goal behind me taking in a disciple. You are a lot smarter than that dumb disciple of mine.”

As the red-dressed boy spoke, he unleashed his aura and proceeded forward, locking onto Yi Yun!

Since there was no way to evade doom, Yi Yun went for broke. He said with a chuckle, “Are you really going to just let them walk away? The Ascending Dragon Cauldron is a divine artifact formed from Dragon Emperor that ranks fourth out of the twelve Dao Ancestors. Sealed within it is the Dragon Emperor’s soul! For such an important secret, not silencing others doesn’t seem like your style!”

When Yi Yun said those words, everyone present was confounded.

Twelve Dao Ancestors!?

All of them knew of the twelve Dao Ancestors for they were ancient legends. This Ascending Dragon Cauldron was related to the twelve Dao Ancestors!?

If Yi Yun had not said so, they wouldn’t have known of the matter!

Instantly, the mood heightened. All the disciples and Elders of the Myriad God Ridge began to panic. They knew that Yi Yun had deliberately announced the secret to force the red-dressed boy to silence them.

Now that they knew the patriarch’s secret, they had no choice but to fight or die.

This punk was fucking cunning!

Although they hated Yi Yun to the death, they were more afraid of the Myriad God Patriarch. At that moment, survival was of the utmost importance.

The red-dressed boy knitted his brows as killing intent shimmered in his eyes.

He never expected Yi Yun to know of those secrets.

“Good! Well done! As a mere Dao Palace realm warrior, it’s not easy for you to cause me trouble, especially in your dire situation. Unfortunately for you, I have absolute power over this world. I have spent ten thousand years setting up an array formation in this place. Here, I’m the absolute overlord. No one can resist me!”

As the red-dressed boy spoke, his clothes fluttered despite the lack of wind. Countless Dao patterns gathered from every direction, surging into the red-dressed boy’s body. At that instant, his body seemed to be hidden within the void as though he had fused with the world.

He was like a god, with his body being the laws of nature. The powerful aura within him radiated outwards, leaving people overcome with a sense of fear and awe. It was impossible for them to muster the courage to resist him!

At that moment, someone in the crowd knelt down straight away.

The person who knelt down was none other than Cang Wu!

“Patriarch, your celestial might is invincible. You will share the same age as the Heavens and Earth, and be as lustrous as the sun and moon! Regardless if the Myriad God Ridge exists or not, I, Cang Wu, am willing to loyally follow the Patriarch to the death!”

As the sect master’s eldest disciple, he was good at judging the situation. Back when he saw Yi Yun lose favor, his attitude towards Yi Yun made an obvious shift.

Although Cang Wu knew that following the Patriarch was no different from following a carnivorous beast, why would he listen to Yi Yun instead of the Patriarch?

It was impossible for him to resist the Myriad God Patriarch. On the contrary, by wholeheartedly being the Myriad God Patriarch’s loyal dog, there was a chance of him surviving and maybe even be bestowed benefits by the patriarch. If all else failed, he was even willing to sign a soul contract.

People are like sheep that can be easily influenced. The surrender of a huge army in war simply needs one person to put their weapons down first. With Cang Wu being that person, many others began to pledge their allegiance towards the Myriad God Patriarch.

“Patriarch, your celestial might is invincible. You will share the same age as the Heavens and Earth, and be as lustrous as the sun and moon!”

More and more people submitted. The Myriad God Patriarch had been running the Myriad God Ridge for years so his authority was not easily questioned. No one dared to challenge him.

Upon seeing this scene, the red-dressed boy nodded in satisfaction. “Cang Wu, well done! After the alchemical process is finished, I will reward you!”

“Thank you, Patriarch for your kind generosity!” Cang Wu said humbly.

The red-dressed boy smiled and looked back at Yi Yun again. His eyes suffused a teasing look.

“You are only a mere catalyst herb but you actually schemed to incite my subordinates to rebel. I have really underestimated you. In fact, I once debated whether or not to kill you half a year ago. In the end, I placed too much emphasis on your bloodline and let you live. I kept having the feeling that your bloodline is far from normal! Since I have already brought you here, there is no escape for you at all. Just submit and be a good principal herb!”

When the red-dressed boy said that, he licked his lips in a rapacious manner. He looked at Yi Yun and then at Snake Girl.

Snake Girl’s face drained of its color. She knew that she was one of the catalyst herbs. It was the reason why she had been brought here as well.

“Take them all out,” said the red-dressed boy. Following that, the Myriad God Sect Master waved his hand and a spatial abode flew out of it. From the spatial abode, he grabbed a few people out!

These people were dressed in Myriad God Ridge disciple attires but all of them had their eyes tightly closed. They were pale and their vibrancy had been sealed completely.

“They… They are…”

An Elder recognized those people. They were disciples that the Myriad God Ridge had taken in after they met the standard of a ‘wisdom root!’

1271 - : Catalyst Herb

CKtalon  CKtalon

These disciples had been recruited into the Myriad God Ridge over centuries, if not more than a thousand years. Due to the long period of time, they had gone from being disciples to stewards or guardians. Then, as more time went on, they were sent away to complete missions or lead secluded lives. As they were lacking in talent and so few in numbers, the other Myriad God Ridge disciples barely paid them any attention.

No one expected that these disciples had actually had their vitality sealed in preparation to be used as ingredients for today’s alchemy!

“They’re just a few catalyst herbs with impure bloodlines. It will just increase the chance of success.” The red-dressed boy said nonchalantly. He did not seem to care too much about these new catalyst herbs.

In fact, he was more interested in Yi Yun and Snake Girl. Especially Yi Yun, a person who had once stirred the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. The red-dressed boy looked forward to how Yi Yun could give him a pleasant surprise in the modifications to the Dragon Emperor Relic.

“Do you want to enter by yourself, or do you want me to escort you in?”

The red-dressed boy looked at Yi Yun as the corners of his mouth curled.

“Fuck off, you bastard!” Yi Yun roared and suddenly attacked.

He had already been accumulating power this whole time. Even though he knew he was not the undying old fart’s match, it did not mean that he would sit idle and die. Even in death, he wanted to rip off some flesh.

“Wu Wu Wu!”

A black wheel appeared out of thin air behind Yi Yun. It spun crazily. The wheel had demonic and divine phantoms carved into it. It was none other than Yi Yun’s 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

The Major Destruction laws were the strongest laws Yi Yun knew. Likewise, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was Yi Yun’s strongest move.

“Boom!”

The Destruction laws blasted out, forming a Destruction Dao Domain that enveloped everything. The red-dressed boy was at the center of the domain, his aged but prepubescent face revealing a look of surprise.

“Such a move…”

The intriguing Destruction laws exceeded the red-dressed boy’s expectations but the gap in cultivation levels was impossible to bridge!

Yi Yun was only at the fifth-storey Dao Palace realm. Above the Dao Palace realm was Supremacy, and above Supremacy was Divine Lord. Most Divine Lords did not fuse with a divine seal. Those that fused with a divine seal, like Azure Yang Lord or Felicitous Rain Lord, were even stronger. As for the Myriad God Patriarch, he was even stronger than Felicitous Rain Lord.

Ignoring the Myriad God Patriarch, Yi Yun wasn’t even the match of experts above the mid-stage Supremacy realm. The gap was just too huge.

The red-dressed boy attacked, pushing his palm forward. It was not an eye-catching strike but after it was produced, his palm seemed to gather a surging blood-colored ocean!

Infinite energy seemed to blast out, as all the laws in the world were guided by the Myriad God Patriarch’s strike.

“Boom!”

The blood-red sea waves roared, directly engulfing Yi Yun’s Destruction Dao Domain!

Yi Yun’s Destruction Dao Domain was extremely robust and managed to hold against the blood sea. But due to the huge difference in strength, the Destruction Dao Domain was completely inundated, making it look like a lone boat in the middle of a massive ocean.

All Yi Yun could feel was a terrifying power that made it seem like the world was crashing down on him. It took all he had to barely resist.

This was the strongest opponent Yi Yun had faced in his entire life!

“You have truly surprised me. A junior at the fifth-storey Dao Palace can have such strength?” The red-dressed boy’s voice sounded in Yi Yun’s ears. The next moment, he ripped apart the void itself and appeared in front of Yi Yun!

“But as I already said, you have to die today!”

As the red-dressed boy spoke, he pressed down his palm towards Yi Yun’s chest.

“Bam!”

With a loud explosion, Yi Yun felt as though he was struck by a million pound sledgehammer in the chest. His sternum shattered as his organs were damaged. Large amounts of blood spewed out of his mouth!

Yi Yun flew backwards as blood splattered and trailed in his wake!

Upon seeing the blood, the red-dressed boy shook his head disapprovingly, “What a pity! This is all essential blood that can be used as a catalyst herb. Yet it’s wasted just like this.”

“You are the one I think the most highly of among the catalyst herbs, second only to my disciple. Why do you resist so?”

As the red-dressed spoke, he took a step forward and directly grabbed Yi Yun. His energy surged into Yi Yun’s body, sealing every one of Yi Yun’s meridians!

His energy was much stronger than Yi Yun’s and now, with the energy forming an array pattern, there was no way of breaking through it.

With that, Yi Yun could no longer use any of his Yuan Qi. He was left with no strength to resist and could not even commit suicide by terminating his meridians.

Of course, Yi Yun would absolutely not commit suicide. He would not give up his fight for survival until the very last moment.

“Could it be that the premonition I had all this while, that someone has been secretly spying on me in a bid to destroy my plans, is related to you?”

The red-dressed boy looked at Yi Yun from a high spot. What he said made Yi Yun’s heart sink. Old Snake’s soul was immensely powerful, higher than the Myriad God Patriarch. In fact, the Myriad God Patriarch could not directly discover Old Snake’s spying, but he did have means of sensing it!

This old bastard had lived for so long that his eyes could even see the back of his head. Trying to backstab him was too difficult.

“It’s fine even if you don’t tell me. Only I can enter this pocket world. Even gods will not be able to save you.”

The red-dressed boy sneered. Even if a mighty figure truly was backing Yi Yun, and had left a mark on him, he was unafraid. He had done Void Transference in order to prevent anything from going wrong.

“You will be entering the cauldron very soon. Are there any wishes you have yet to be fulfilled?” The red-dressed boy asked in a teasing manner.

“Old bastard, there will come a day when you will be crippled of your cultivation, as well as that old bastard of a Myriad God Sect Master. Both of you will be stewed in bastard turtle soup!” Yi Yun spat a mouthful of blood-stained spit. At that moment, he no longer put his hopes in Old Snake. Even if he could come, it was unknown how long in the future that would be. Furthermore, him even making it there was still a question.

He had to rely on himself.

“Hahaha!” The red-dressed boy guffawed. “Your personality actually suits me very well. Were it not for the importance you have to the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, and our relationship deteriorating to this stage, I actually would have liked to take you in as a disciple. You are a lot stronger than that stupid disciple of mine.”

As the red-dressed boy spoke, he beckoned his hand and the divine treasures flew towards him and landed in his palm.

“Do you see this? Dragon Bone Milk. I used an immeasurable amount of time to search the Sinkhole before finding a netherworld deep in the Sinkhole. I found a dragon corpse that had been decaying for hundreds of millions of years, and obtained this bit of Bone Milk. In my eyes, it’s the perfect divine item. Among all the divine items, I like the Dragon Bone Milk the most. This time, I will put the Dragon Bone Milk into the cauldron first. You will have the honor of entering the cauldron with it.”

The red-dressed boy paused, suddenly thinking of something, and said, “Might you be thinking of eating all these divine treasures to get rid of them, risking the chance of you blasting apart to your death, so that the refinement of my Dragon Emperor Relic will fail?”

All the catalyst herbs, including Feng Yunyang, needed to be thrown into the cauldron alive. Living beings could naturally cause wanton destruction while inside the cauldron.

The red-dressed boy shook his head and said, “Do you think these divine treasures can be so easily digested? Even if you were to swallow them, they will still be refined into the Dragon Emperor Relic. But even so, I will not give you that chance.”

As the red-dressed boy spoke, his palm came pressing down on Yi Yun’s head!

1272 - : Life on the Line

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Boom!”

The red-dressed boy’s palm came bearing down, striking Yi Yun like a bolt of lightning. His soul sea was raptured by excruciating pain as his body quivered.

The red-dressed boy’s strike was directed at his soul sea!

“You are only a catalyst herb. Although I do need you to be alive, there’s no need for you to remain conscious. I will seal off and sever your perception! You will be thrown into an eternal slumber and be refined within the astral fire. Although I would like to see you struggle in the inferno, I do not want to risk you messing things up, for you are too impish.”

The red-dressed boy had already sealed Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi but that was not safe enough. Only sealing off his consciousness, thereby making Yi Yun a vegetable, would he be safest.

At the same time, the red-dressed boy took Yi Yun’s interspatial ring. Even the Mirage Snow sword was taken away.

“Your weapons, treasures, and pills are too dangerous. I’ll keep them safe for you. I’m very interested in what you hide within your interspatial ring. I will check it thoroughly after refining the Dragon Emperor Relic. Perhaps I’ll be pleasantly delighted.”

The red-dressed boy held Yi Yun’s interspatial ring and slowly played with it. He casually wiped away Yi Yun’s mental mark on it and put his own mental mark on the ring to seal it. At the moment, he was focused on the alchemical refinement and did not have the time or effort to spare to investigate it.

He had the interspatial ring in hand, Yi Yun lost consciousness, and his Yuan Qi had been sealed off. How was he to cause any more trouble?

“And this sword.”

The red-dressed boy held Mirage Snow in his hand. It had an extraordinary background but it had already changed so much and no longer looked as impressive as it did in its heyday. As such, the Myriad God Patriarch failed to recognize it for the divine artifact that it was.

“Hehe, this frost Qi is oppressive. Just one look at it makes me feel like I’m getting cut. What a good sword!”

As the red-dressed boy spoke, he put away Mirage Snow.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s soul sea was constantly being inundated by the red-dressed boy’s energy. He suffered from excruciating pain but he still could sense what the red-dressed boy was doing.

His interspatial ring! And Mirage Snow as well!

An interspatial ring was a warrior’s second life. Now, it had been taken away.

As for Mirage Snow, it had been entrusted to him by Huan Chenxue. It was an important weapon that was tightly bound to Huan Chenxue’s fate and had extraordinary meaning behind it. Yet, it had landed in the red-dressed boy’s hands!

Without weapons or treasures, the chance of him escaping from the Concealed Dragon Cauldron was even lower.

As for Old Snake…

The pocket world was separated from the Myriad God Ridge by multiple layers of space and a great distance that spanned billions of miles. Ignoring the fact that the pocket world was completely sealed shut, preventing any entry or exit, simply trying to use one’s physical body to break through the layers of space to cross into an unsealed world would take several days without question.

One had to know that traversing tens of millions of miles on the flat continents of the Calm Sea would still take time.

Although Old Snake was powerful, he was still injured. Under such circumstances, searching through space in all its vastness for the sealed spatial node was like searching for a needle in a haystack. And if he failed to find the correct position, that could possibly delay him for a month. By then, Yi Yun would have been dead several hundred times over!

Yi Yun was truly reeling in despair. In that moment, he could not think of any solutions. What made things worse was that Yi Yun was feeling exhaustion creep into his soul sea. With his consciousness being sealed, he was on the verge of falling into a deep slumber.

Yi Yun tried to bite the tip of his tongue, hoping to use the pain to keep himself conscious. But he did not even have the strength to bite his tongue.

The red-dressed boy’s soul was too powerful, far exceeding what Yi Yun could compare with. Just like how his strength was completely crushed, the power of his soul was equally being crushed!

Yi Yun’s consciousness was already separated from his body and completely sealed up.

At the final moment, Yi Yun attempted to interface his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal but he was beyond his soul sea. The red-dressed boy’s seal had formed a metallic wall that insulated everything.

Was he really going to die here…

Yi Yun knew very well that the moment he fell into a slumber, death would be on the other side. However, he could not think of any other solution.

Over the hundred plus years he had lived, this was the greatest danger he had ever faced.

As his consciousness turned hazy and slow, Yi Yun felt as though the world was departing away from him. Nothing was left around him.

He felt his soul seem to float in an endless spatial maze, with him never to escape from it.

“It’s ready.”

The Myriad God Patriarch revealed a satisfied smile when he saw Yi Yun fall into a slumber.

Using living people as herbs had its tiny risks. Among these people, the Myriad God Patriarch worried the most about Yi Yun. The worry stemmed completely from his sixth sense, an intuition for danger that he could not explain.

Now, Yi Yun’s perception had been completely sealed off. He didn’t even possess any consciousness, and was basically in a vegetative state. What danger could he pose?

“You are Yi Yun’s female partner? I’ll show you mercy and let the two of you be refined together.”

The red-dressed boy looked at Snake Girl. Although she was weak and therefore unlikely to pose a threat, he did not show any carelessness. Similarly, he sealed Snake Girl’s body with his Yuan Qi.

Snake Girl only grunted before her body was completely restrained. She realized that she could not even move her fingers, much less speak of saving Yi Yun.

“Master… What should I do…”

In recent days, Snake Girl had roughly understood the matters regarding Old Snake. She knew that Old Snake was not as simple as he looked. But against the Myriad God Patriarch, she did not hold much hope in Old Snake.

“And all of you!”

The red-dressed boy looked at the other catalyst herbs. He flicked his fingers and sealed all of their Yuan Qi, including Feng Yunyang.

“My dear disciple, you must endure it. They can be unconscious and die before you, but you have to last for three days and three nights. The more in pain your soul is, the more your bloodline’s potential will be stimulated.”

The red-dressed boy guffawed. And at that moment, Feng Yunyang was completely dumbfounded from shock.

The red-dressed boy naturally ignored his fear. He beckoned his hand and threw Feng Yunyang directly into the Concealed Dragon Cauldron.

The black Concealed Dragon Cauldron seemed like the entrance to hell that devoured everything. Feng Yunyang was scared out of his wits, but this tragedy was determined the moment he became the Myriad God Patriarch’s disciple!

“Bam!”

Feng Yunyang was the first to be thrown into the Concealed Dragon Cauldron!

“It’s time to begin! I have waited for this moment for too long. I will make further breakthroughs and become the ruler of the world!”

As the red-dressed boy spoke, the Dragon Milk Bone, the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit, the Dragon Blood Fruit, the Heaven Devouring Wyrm Horn, and the rest of the treasures flew into the Concealed Dragon Cauldron.

Following that was the unconscious Yi Yun, Snake Girl, and the other six catalyst herbs. All of them flew into the Concealed Dragon Cauldron!

The refinement of the Dragon Emperor Relic was different from that of typical pills or relics. The refinement of typical pills required the alchemist to place the items one by one, extracting the medicinal essences within bit by bit.

That was because a portion of the herbs would be burnt to ash when the fire was stronger. Therefore, alchemists had no choice but to be careful.

However, the divine treasures that the Dragon Emperor Relic needed were related to the Dragon Emperor. They could withstand the burning of astral flames.

Besides, the question of whether these divine treasures could be destroyed by the flames was unimportant. What mattered was if the flames were strong enough to extract the dragon blood that they contained. Therefore, there was no order required. They could be extracted together and burned in the flames for eighty-one days, before producing the Dragon Emperor Relic!

1273 - : Slumber

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ding-Dang!”

The cauldron’s lid slammed down, completely sealing the Concealed Dragon Cauldron.

It spun with a rumble as the astral fire flared!

“Patriarch, mighty you are. Success of the divine relic is certain, invincible you will be!”

Cang Wu knelt down and proclaimed loudly.

With that, many of the Myriad God Ridge disciples and Elder echoed loudly—

“Patriarch, mighty you are. Success of the divine relic is certain, invincible you will be!”

The red-dressed boy laughed loudly. “Good! Very good! Once the refinement is a success, all of you will be handsomely rewarded!”

“Cang Wu, help preside over the grand array. The Dragon Emperor Relic needs eighty-one days of refinement. Just this world’s astral fire is insufficient. It needs the support of all your powers!”

As the red-dressed boy spoke, array patterns began lighting up beneath his feet. The array formation he had spent years setting up in the pocket world finally revealed itself.

“Each one of you should stand on a particular array pattern. Inject your energy into the grand array and, together with me, refine the Dragon Emperor Relic!”

“Yes! Patriarch!”

All the Myriad God Ridge disciples had mixed feelings, but they had no choice but to obey the Myriad God Patriarch’s orders. Forget the possibility of them being able to put up a resistance. Even if they succeeded in a rebellion, they had no means of leaving the sealed pocket world.

Everyone took their positions and acted according to the Myriad God Patriarch’s instructions. They each injected their energies into the grand array.

Instantly, the numerous Myriad God Ridge disciples’ energies fused with the might of the Nine Dragons Surround Pearl force that surged out of the gigantic rifts. The astral fire began to spew crazily!

The actual Ascending Dragon Cauldron that stood in the eye of the array showed no reaction. However, the Concealed Dragon Cauldron that floated above it began to glow red from the flames.

One could imagine how high the temperatures were within the Concealed Dragon Cauldron!

The legendary infernos of hell could not even compare with it.

The extreme temperatures enveloped the nine people within the Concealed Dragon Cauldron!

The interior of the Concealed Dragon Cauldron formed an independent space of its own. It did not look big on the outside but inside it appeared as though they were in the middle of a mountain’s belly. The nine people were scattered rather far from each other, with Feng Yunyang in the middle. The remaining eight people were cast off in eight different directions.

The terrifying astral fire permeated the gigantic space. It felt like they had fallen into the mouth of a volcano.

“It’s so hot… To think this is my grave. And my fate is to become a relic that will be consumed by others… Master… you taught me some ‘Old Snake Divine Divine Skill,’ and bragged about how powerful it is. Yet, it’s of no use at this moment.”

Snake Girl was so upset that she felt like crying, but the tears evaporated before they could even leave her eyes.

“Oh? Someone has already… died?”

Snake Girl discovered that the vital signs of one of the other catalyst herbs that had entered with them were growing increasingly weaker, to the point of completely extinguishing.

His cultivation level was even higher than Snake Girl’s but he had died before her.

Why was this happening?

Snake Girl was puzzled. She carefully sensed the area around her and realized that, although she was experiencing extreme heat, her bloodline was being stimulated by the scorching of the astral fire. Her blood seemed to be boiling within her body!

The boiling blood even effused from her pores, forming a red layer of mist that covered her body. It was as if the astral fire hit a wall when it encountered the blood mist. It could not penetrate it and because of that, she managed to barely stay alive.

Although it was excruciatingly painful, her skin had not been burnt to a crisp. Even her clothes were not ignited. That was odd because, despite being fire-resistant, it was absolutely impossible for the Myriad God Ridge disciple attire to withstand astral fire!

Was this the so-called Dragon Emperor bloodline?

Snake Girl suddenly understood that the Myriad God Patriarch was using such a method because it would steam the Dragon Emperor’s blood right out of them!

When the Dragon Emperor blood was drained from her body, that would be her death!

Upon realizing this, Snake Girl felt despair.

No wonder someone with a higher cultivation level than her had died before her. As his Yuan Qi was sealed, he could not form a Yuan Qi barrier to withstand the flames. The amount of time one could survive amid the flames had nothing to do with one’s cultivation level. Instead, it depended on one’s bloodline!

The purer and richer the Dragon Emperor’s bloodline was, the longer they could last. Feng Yunyang, who had the highest purity, was expected to last three days and three nights according to the Myriad God Patriarch.

“Thirty minutes, and a second person has died!”

Snake Girl witnessed another person die. If this went on, all of them would quickly perish.

“Yi Yun! Wake up! Quick wake up!”

Snake Girl called out to Yi Yun in her heart but she was unable to verbalize it as there was no way for her to produce any sound.

At that moment, Snake Girl could barely identify Yi Yun through the warped air and flickering astral flames.

Yi Yun was more than a hundred feet away from her and his body was floating amid the flames. His skin was flushed red but he too was not being burnt.

But something was different with Yi Yun. Snake Girl had a red layer of blood mist lingering around her that fended off the flames, but Yi Yun had no blood mist around him.

Instead, the energy from the flames was unobstructed and seemed to flow into his body, but whatever happened next left Snake Girl confused.

“This is…”

Snake Girl was taken aback. She did not know what was going on.

However, if Yi Yun were awake, the scene he would have witnessed would definitely have made him turn extremely anxious.

If he could have looked with his energy vision, he would see that his body was covered in indistinct purple light. The thing protecting his life was the Purple Crystal!

His consciousness had sunken into a deep slumber. The Purple Crystal’s instinct was to protect his body, and so it absorbed any energy that entered his body to destroy his meridians.

However, as Yi Yun was not consciously controlling it, everything the Purple Crystal did was out of instinct. It would not produce a gigantic energy vortex but it also wouldn’t stop its absorbing process. That wouldn’t matter if Yi Yun wasn’t refined for several hours, but if he lasted more than three days or even weeks, the Myriad God Patriarch would definitely discover the oddity. And when he noticed that something about Yi Yun was amiss, he would dice him up bit by bit and the secret of the Purple Crystal would be discovered!

The Purple Crystal was a divine item but it did not have a soul or sentient thought. It could not save Yi Yun because all it ever did was act out of instinct.

Time passed in a blink of an eye, and soon it was two hours later.

Out of the nine, only four people were left alive.

At that moment, Snake Girl was suffering from extreme pain. Yi Yun, on the other hand, remained unaffected.

Yi Yun’s consciousness had entered a dream that had no end.

A series of horrific things happened in Yi Yun’s dream.

First, he was in the Cloud Wilderness. He suffered from hunger and the torment of diseases. Thanks to some fortuitous opportunity, he managed to learn some martial arts but ended up being brutally murdered by Lian Chengyu. Even his sister succumbed to his vileness.

Following that, it was the Tai Ah Divine City, where he was tortured by Shentu Nantian. Not only was he maimed of his dantian, but his limbs were severed and he died from the severity of his injuries.

Then, it was the Luo clan. He was caught by You Feihua from the Fey Phantasm Sect who hated him to the bone. His soul was ripped out and sealed in a ghost summoning banner. His body was turned into a vessel for possession and sold.

Finally, the secret of the Purple Crystal was exposed. He was pursued by people to the ends of the world as he attempted to hide. Through great difficulty, he managed to reunite with Lin Xintong in the Sinkhole but, in order to fend off his pursuers, she eventually died protecting him…

Yi Yun remained clear-minded to the last moment from every single nightmare. But soon, he would enter the next nightmare as it continued ad infinitum!

Yi Yun did not know how long he was immersed in such terrifying experiences. He seemed to experience endless pain and sadness to the point of him losing the will to live.

Eventually, he came to feel that possessing consciousness itself was a form of torture. He would be ultimately saved once his consciousness fell completely silent.

Yet once his consciousness fell completely silent, it would be the eternal slumber that the red-dressed boy had mentioned!

And once he entered an eternal slumber, there would be no way of waking up again. Yi Yun managed to last this long because of his powerful soul but even so, against the Myriad God Patriarch’s powers, he had quickly reached his limits.

Just as Yi Yun’s soul sea was about to collapse from the pain, he suddenly heard a soft call in his ear—

“Brother Yi Yun! Quick wake up!”

“Who? Who is calling out to me?”

Yi Yun had fallen into a long silence while experiencing the many painful life cycles. It nearly made him forget a lot of things.

“I’m Xie’er. Don’t you remember? Your soul sea is sealed and the seal is extremely powerful. It took two hours for me to break into your soul sea. Brother Yi Yun, open your eyes and look at me. I’m Xie’er.”

“Xie’er, Xie’er… It’s you… Why are you here?” Yi Yun felt an excruciating headache. He tried his best to recall. “Soul sea? Seal… What happened to me…”

“Brother Yi Yun, an old child placed a seal on you. You are now sealed within a cauldron with burning flames. Have you forgotten?”

Ling Xie’er’s anxious voice sounded, taking Yi Yun aback.

Old child?

This oxymoronic term immediately made Yi Yun recall the terrifying red-dressed boy. Cold sweat broke out from fright.

“Soul seal! Refinement! Myriad God Patriarch!”

Yi Yun’s heart stopped beating. The red-dressed boy had lived for innumerable years, making his soul extremely powerful!

After he sealed Yi Yun’s soul sea, he left behind a soul runic seal, sending Yi Yun into an endless dream world that he could not extricate himself from.

“Dream world… Yes, it’s a dream!”

Yi Yun recalled that Feng Yunyang had once used an illusion array on him. The illusion array was no doubt something he learned from the Myriad God Patriarch.

The Myriad God Patriarch was invincible when it came to illusionary arts. The soul mark he left in his soul sea was immensely powerful. Although Yi Yun’s soul was powerful, it could not withstand it.

“Brother Yi Yun, you finally remember,” Ling Xie’er said happily.

Yi Yun tried hard to open his eyes. His soul’s vision gradually turned clear. He discovered that he was standing in the middle of an endless maze.

The soul maze only had monotone lines. Ling Xie’er, dressed in red, was the only color in it. Her bare feet were adorned with jade bangles and her rosy face was filled with a joyous smile.

She had forced her way into the soul maze and behind her was a passage that emitted a faint light. The passage led to the horizon where there was a warm light at the exit.

“Xie’er, you woke me up? You penetrated the multitude of restrictions the Myriad God Patriarch left behind?”

Yi Yun was still reeling in shock. He had nearly perished!

If not for Xie’er, there was no doubt that he would have been long dead.

“Yes, but it took me a great deal of effort just to enter your soul sea. Brother Yi Yun, quickly think of a way out of this,” Xie’er said anxiously.

Upon seeing Xie’er’s anxious face, Yi Yun suddenly felt moved. He gently hugged her. Meeting Ling Xie’er in the Sun Burial Sandsea was truly his good fortune.

He recalled that when it came to the strength of the soul, Xie’er was at the level of a monster!

Previously, Yi Yun wanted to take the Great Traversal Spirit Ship for his own, but he was helpless against the soul mark that Song Guangyan left behind. Ling Xie’er, however, wiped the soul mark away in less than a minute.

The Myriad God Patriarch had lived for tens of millions of years but Ling Xie’er had existed in the worldly array for half a billion years!

What did half a billion years result in? With Ling Xie’er being a soul body, her soul was extremely robust. And this was without her ever having practiced cultivation. With it, she would truly be like a tiger with wings.

The Myriad God Patriarch had sealed his soul to ensure that he could do nothing. However, he never imagined that there was Ling Xie’er with him, whose soul was powerful enough to break through his seals.

When he looked at the path that Ling Xie’er had split open through the soul maze, it reflected her immense power.

“Myriad God Patriarch, you took my Mirage Snow and interspatial ring away but I still have the God Advent Tower.”

Due to the Song family, Yi Yun took the God Advent Tower out of his interspatial ring.

Back then, Song Zhanchen had wanted to check his interspatial ring. Since Yi Yun had put the stolen Great Traversal Spirit Ship in there, his interspatial ring had evidence that could incriminate him.

Although Yi Yun did not give his interspatial ring to the Song family, he had hidden the Great Traversal Spirit Ship in the God Advent Tower to prevent himself from being incriminated. Then, he hid the God Advent Tower inside his body.

As for Ling Xie’er, she was sleeping within the God Advent Tower. Thus, she was able to realize that Yi Yun was enduring a harrowing experience. She wasted no time going deep into Yi Yun’s soul sea to awaken him.

“Xie’er, where’s Snake Girl!?”

Yi Yun suddenly recalled Snake Girl when Ling Xie’er mentioned that two hours had passed. The lass might appear a little dim-witted, but she was still Old Snake’s disciple. If she were burnt to ashes, it would truly be a heart-wrenching moment.

“That sister who followed you? She’s fine, but she won’t be able to last too much longer,” Ling Xie’er said.

Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief. However, the worry that weighed down his heart was not alleviated. Time was critical. He needed to think of a solution.

Outside the cauldron, there were the Myriad God Ridge’s experts, as well as the most powerful Myriad God Patriarch! Ignoring the Myriad God Patriarch, even the Myriad God Sect Master was not someone Yi Yun could match!

In his present state, even if he underwent a random exponential increase in strength, making a breakthrough to become a Supremacy in one fell swoop, he would still not be able to handle the situation outside.

Furthermore, he was only at the fifth-storey Dao Palace realm. There were four storeys and the half-step Supremacy that separated him from becoming a Supremacy. It was impossible to make such a huge breakthrough.

If he just barged his way out, death was certain!

But if he stayed in the cauldron, death was also guaranteed!

Although he would not be burnt to his death because of the astral fire, even Feng Yunyang, who had the purest bloodline, would only last three days and three nights according to the Myriad God Patriarch. If Yi Yun lived past that, the Myriad God Patriarch would definitely notice the oddity.

Dealing with the Myriad God Patriarch, a figure whose eyes could even see the back of his head, was just too difficult.

But Yi Yun had too little time left to fear him.

Now in his dire predicament, Yi Yun had no other choice. He had to take a risk!

1274 - : Warmth in the Nightmare

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Xie’er, protect Snake Girl. But keep it on the lowdown. Just reduce the damage she suffers from the heat toxins.”

“Alright!” Xie’er nodded immediately. “Brother Yi Yun, what about you? Are you going to blast through the Yuan Qi seal?”

Although Yi Yun had awoken, he still could not move at all. His meridians and dantian were completely sealed by the red-dressed boy’s Yuan Qi seal.

It would not be an easy task to remove the seal. Even if he had the means to do so, he still needed Yuan Qi and energy. However, with his Yuan Qi sealed, and him being cut off from the energy within his dantian, it resulted in a vicious cycle.

Yi Yun had limited time. If he could not move his body, he could not do a thing.

“Xie’er, do you see a red fruit floating outside in the large cauldron? That is a Dragon Blood Fruit. I can’t move now. Bring it to me and feed me!”

He first needed to gain control of his body, then he could use the powers of the Purple Crystal!

The Purple Crystal and Ling Xie’er were existences that the Myriad God Patriarch would never have anticipated.

“Alright, Brother Yi Yun. Wait a moment.”

Ling Xie’er took a look and saw the Dragon Blood Fruit. It looked like a tiny red sun as it blazed in flames. However, no matter how intense the flames were, they were unable to burn through the fruit’s skin.

“That’s it!”

Ling Xie’er was also enamored by such a beautiful fruit. She split off a wisp of the Heretical God Fire Seed to pull the fruit over.

Following that, Ling Xie’er glanced at Snake Girl who was struggling in pain. With a flick of her fingers, Ling Xie’er sent a black wisp of fire out that flew into Snake Girl’s dantian.

Snake Girl cried out in alarm. She felt that something had flown into her body but she had no idea what.

What just happened?

Snake Girl opened her eyes in pain as she looked around in a daze.

What she saw left her stunned. There was a young girl floating above Yi Yun’s body. She had beautiful facial features and did not look a year past the age of twelve. She was extremely adorable.

She was barefooted and her feet shone like lustrous pearls. However, these delicate feet were nimbly walking through the horrifying inferno without being burnt at all.

Was… she seeing things?

Snake Girl was completely dumbfounded. What was going on? Where did this young girl come from? Why did she appear like a fire pixie who completely ignored the burning astral fire?

“Little Big Sis, don’t be alarmed. My name is Ling Xie’er. I have been following Brother Yi Yun all this while. You and I just haven’t met yet. I planted a tiny wisp of fire in your body. Don’t panic. This fire wisp will make you feel a lot more comfortable,” Ling Xie’er said gleefully.

At the same time, the Heretical God Fire Seed wisp in Snake Girl’s body expanded. A comforting, warm energy coursed through Snake Girl’s meridians to her entire body.

But the most fascinating thing was that the astral fire that once boiled Snake Girl’s blood was now being consumed upon encountering the unspectacular fire wisp!

“What…”

Snake Girl was taken aback. What kind of fire was this?

It could make the burning heat that reached into her marrow vanish, so that she felt like she was sitting beside a stove to enjoy its warmth.

It felt like heaven when compared to the inferno hell she was suffering just moments ago.

This young girl was that powerful?

She mentioned that she had been following Yi Yun and had addressed him as brother. Yi Yun… actually… had such a heaven-defying sister?

“Little Big Sis, do you feel a lot better now?” Ling Xie’er smiled happily. When she noticed Snake Girl’s astonished look, together with her pangs of disbelief, she gave a bashful smile and said, “I’ve been playing with fire since I was young, so I’m a little skilled in it.”

To Ling Xie’er, playing with fire was second nature!

However, when the words ‘playing with fire’ entered Snake Girl’s ears, it rendered her completely speechless. This was far from playing with fire!

“Sorry, Little Big Sis, but I have to cut this conversation short. I still have other things to do.”

Ling Xie’er held the Dragon Blood Fruit with both hands. At that moment, Yi Yun appeared to be unconscious with his eyes tightly shut. Even though he was already awake, he was unable to control his body, so his eyes could not open.

Ling Xie’er opened Yi Yun’s mouth. The red fruit was the size of a man’s fist. Holding it in both hands, Ling Xie’er realized that the fruit could not be stuffed down Yi Yun’s throat at all.

Ling Xie’er was somewhat stumped. After some thought, she used her teeth to bite through the Dragon Blood Fruit before sending it into Yi Yun’s mouth.

The Dragon Blood Fruit was quite fascinating. Refining its essence by burning it with astral fire was an extremely slow process, but it could be torn through easily with teeth. Furthermore, the Dragon Blood Fruit’s flesh was filled with aromatic juices that melted upon reaching the mouth.

Ling Xie’er could not help but eat a tiny bit of it. It was the world’s most delicious fruit and it left a fabulous aroma in her mouth.

Of course, this was because she was Ling Xie’er. She herself was a divine item with a corporeal body condensed from the Heretical God Fire Seed. The Heretical God Fire Seed was many times more powerful than the astral fire so it was naturally no trouble for her to refine the Dragon Blood Fruit.

If a normal person were to consume the Dragon Blood Fruit, it would be no different from a poison that would make them explode to death.

The red juices of the Dragon Blood Fruit flowed into Yi Yun’s mouth, through his throat, and into his stomach.

Noticing that the juice didn’t flow that freely, Ling Xie’er decisively placed it by her mouth and took another nibble, feeding it to Yi Yun again.

Pouting her lips, Ling Xie’er licked her tongue. The fruit’s juices were truly sweet!

She could not help herself from taking tiny bites before feeding large amounts of juice to Yi Yun. The juice constantly entered Yi Yun’s body and soon, the fist-sized Dragon Blood Fruit was finished.

After feeding the last bit of fruit to Yi Yun, Ling Xie’er even sucked at her fingers wistfully.

Unfortunately, Yi Yun’s body was not able to digest the Dragon Blood Fruit. Fortunately, he had the Purple Crystal Origins within him.

Previously, the Purple Crystal Origins could only instinctively protect Yi Yun’s body passively. Now that Yi Yun had a wisp of his soul controlling it, the Purple Crystal Origins began to work its magic.

The vibrant essence of the Dragon Blood Fruit was slowly being absorbed by Yi Yun!

However, the Dragon Blood Fruit was just too extraordinary. Even with the Myriad God Patriarch’s astral fire, complemented by all the mighty figures of the Myriad God Ridge presiding over a grand array, it would still take eighty-one days for the refinement to succeed.

Since Yi Yun was short on time, he had to complete the refinement much faster than that!

Just the Purple Crystal alone was not fast enough.

Ling Xie’er noticed this and, with a thought, sent a wisp of the Heretical God Fire Seed into Yi Yun’s body, helping him refine the Dragon Blood Fruit.

The quality of the Heretical God Fire Seed far exceeded the astral fire!

It worked with the Purple Crystal, allowing the Dragon Blood Fruit in Yi Yun’s body to be rapidly digested.

And when this energy was infused into Yi Yun’s dantian, the towering azure tree that had been sleeping within Yi Yun’s dantian gradually awakened!

The divine tree stood erect, and deep beneath it was its infinite root network that enveloped the Dragon Blood Fruit’s juices and began absorbing them.

With the three entities working together, the Dragon Blood Fruit slowly melted.

The massive vibrant essence force within it fused completely into Yi Yun’s meridians.

“Peng Peng Peng!”

Many of the seals in Yi Yun’s meridians was blasted apart by the massive force!

However, the seal left behind by the Myriad God Patriarch was just too powerful. The vibrant essence forces of the Dragon Blood Fruit was eventually halted due to a lack of nomological support.

However, a few meridians were cleared of the seals, and that was sufficient for Yi Yun. He finally could grasp at a tiny bit of his power!

It was not easy to break through the seals, so Yi Yun had to use all his Yuan Qi, together with the Dragon Blood Fruit’s aid, to immediately begin producing Destruction runes!

Wo! Wo! Wo!

Tiny 10000 Demon Wheels of Existence began spinning one after another as they set off towards the depths of Yi Yun’s meridians!

Major Destruction laws could destroy everything. Yi Yun was using the Destruction laws to physically vanquish the seals in his meridians!

Hurry! Faster!

Yi Yun roared frantically in his heart!

It was completely unbelievable that a warrior at the fifth-storey Dao Palace realm could blast through the Myriad God Patriarch’s energy seals.

However, with the Dragon Blood Fruit and the Major Destruction laws, Yi Yun succeeded in doing so.

Once the last seal was broken through, Yi Yun’s joints began to emit an explosive crackling!

Finally, he had recovered to his peak state! He was actually in better shape than ever because his body’s bloodline had fused with all the essence of the Dragon Blood Fruit.

However, he would still need time to completely absorb the essence and convert it into strength for himself.

Not only did Yi Yun lack that time, even if he had the time to convert it, he was absolutely no match for the old monsters outside.

Regardless, he had finally recovered his strength!

Yi Yun looked around, his gaze like lightning. At that moment, the only one still alive other than him and Snake Girl was Feng Yunyang.

Feng Yunyang was situated in the middle of the cauldron, experiencing the brunt of the astral flames. He looked to be in excruciating pain and completely disheartened.

He was an extremely arrogant person, so for him die from being refined into a pill, one could imagine the pain and insult he felt!

Unfortunately, the Myriad God Patriarch was not someone he could stand against. All he could do was die in disgruntlement.

However, just as he had given up all hopes of living, he saw a scene that left him reeling in disbelief.

He saw Yi Yun flying towards him with an adorable young girl accompanying him.

“Uh…Uh…”

Feng Yunyang widened his eyes and attempted to speak. Unfortunately, all his meridians were sealed shut. He was unable to formulate a single word.

What!? Why can Yi Yun move!? How did he escape the restraints?

Feng Yunyang was dumbfounded.

“Brother Feng, are you having a barbecue? Please, take your time. I’ll be leaving soon, so I’ll need to tidy up some things. I won’t disturb you any longer.”

As Yi Yun spoke, a tiny spinning pagoda appeared in his palm.

Yi Yun’s interspatial ring had been taken away, so the only interspatial treasure he had was the God Advent Tower. There were many herbs within the cauldron but he had taken fifteen minutes just to absorb one Dragon Blood Fruit. Furthermore, herbal essence took time to be converted to strength.

It was impossible for him to absorb all the herbs.

Of course, it was also impossible for him to abandon all these rare treasures.

Without standing on courtesy, he beckoned with his hand. Everything, be it the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit, the Dragon Bone Milk, the Crimson Blood Heavenly Silkworm Silk, Nine-winged Golden Dragon Claw, all of it was stolen away into his God Advent Tower!

Feng Yunyang’s eyes turned red with envy as he watched Yi Yun put away the treasures.

He knew very well the price of these treasures! And most importantly, the patriarch was just outside. What was the point in taking all the treasures? Did Yi Yun find a way to escape?

“Uh… Uh… Uh…”

Feng Yunyang managed to produce hoarse sounds from his throat after giving his all. He wanted to ask if Yi Yun had any means of escaping but he failed to form the question.

In fact, he wanted to say that they were in the same boat. If they joined forces, the chances of survival would be higher. He could see that Yi Yun knew of a way to release the Yuan Qi seals and hoped that Yi Yun could help him recover his mobility. As long as succeeded in escaping, he would repay Yi Yun properly.

Despite having all that formulated in his mind, he was unable to verbalize it.

Seeing how Yi Yun was about to leave after packing away all the things, Feng Yunyang felt extremely anxious! As the only living person in the cauldron, he knew that if Yi Yun left, he would no longer have any other hope for survival. He needed to beg Yi Yun!

As he was so desperate to speak, Feng Yunyang’s eyeballs widened so much that they protruded out. He garbled with his tongue out, his saliva flowing down.

“Oh?” Yi Yun seemed to notice that Feng Yunyang was trying to speak. “Do you have something you want to say to me?”

“Hng! Hng! Hng!” Feng Yunyang widened his eyes greatly. As he grappled with anxiety, his rush to speak made his voice sound funny.

“Hng? Hung…ry? Are you hungry? Oh, I get it! The barbecue must be taking too long for you. You won’t be able to have your meal anytime soon. Should I strengthen the fire for you?”

As Yi Yun spoke, he beckoned to Ling Xie’er. “Xie’er, did you hear that? Strengthen the fire for him.”

Ling Xie’er wasn’t a fool either. With a wave of her hand, like she was beckoning chicks, she gathered all the astral fire in the vicinity.

Ling Xie’er could tell that the fellow had not been nice to her Brother Yi Yun. She naturally didn’t care for what he had done. In short, Brother Yi Yun was a good person, and anyone with a grudge against him was a baddy!

Therefore, the astral fire crackled as it surged towards Feng Yunyang!

Feng Yunyang almost felt like laughing, so outrageous was this turn of events. He desperately tried to open his mouth, but failed to even emit a tragic cry. The blood mist around him was quickly evaporated clean and he was forced to suffer in hellish silence.

“Uh… Uh… Uh…”

Feng Yunyang wailed frantically as he suffered immense pain. He finally understood that Yi Yun was screwing with him!

“Have fun with your barbecue. I’m sorry I won’t be joining you.”

Yi Yun did not have the time to tease Feng Yunyang any longer. He was preparing himself to charge out of the perilous land!

At that moment, he had put away all the herbs and began revving his Yuan Qi. At that moment, Yi Yun’s heart sank, for he felt an ice-cold perception penetrate the Concealed Dragon Cauldron!

This perception left him tingling!

Myriad God Patriarch!

…

At that moment, outside the Concealed Dragon Cauldron, the numerous Myriad God Ridge Elders and personal disciples were injecting all their powers into the grand array to maintain the astral fire’s burning.

Located in the middle of the grand array, the Myriad God Patriarch would occasionally probe the interior of the Concealed Dragon Cauldron despite having ensured success.

In fact, it was draining on the Myriad God Patriarch as he had to preside over the grand array. He was already at his limit sending his perception into the raging astral fire to do a cursory probe.

All he could probe was the life and death of the catalyst herbs, as well as the herb refinement’s degree of success. But just a while ago, he felt a baffling sense of unease.

He immediately sent his perception into the Concealed Dragon Cauldron!

1275 - : Releasing the Seal

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon seeing the situation within the Concealed Dragon Cauldron, Myriad God Patriarch’s heart pounded!

Where were the divine treasures!?

The cauldron was empty. Only Feng Yunyang was still there, being consumed by the flames in the middle of the cauldron, soon to be burnt to a crisp. As for the priceless divine treasures that he went to great trouble to amass, they had all vanished.

Was it Yi Yun!?

Myriad God Patriarch immediately thought of Yi Yun. However, he couldn’t figure out how Yi Yun could have possibly managed to escape despite having his Yuan Qi and even soul sealed off!

“Little bastard, I’ll kill you!”

Myriad God Patriarch was incensed. Although Yi Yun had escaped, there was nowhere for him to go. The patriarch was a deity in this pocket world. No one could escape from him!

Although the treasures had been taken away, they were extraordinary. They couldn’t be refined so easily. Even if Yi Yun had eaten them, it was fine. There was no way he could have digested them all. He would just have to refine Yi Yun’s body instead!

And at that moment, the astral fire within the Concealed Dragon Cauldron erupted. Just like a volcano, it shot out a column of black flame that surged like a black python.

The Heretical God Fire Seed was the source of all fires. Its stirring instigated a strong reaction from the astral fire. At that moment, the cauldron almost blew up!

For alchemists, blowing up a cauldron was not a terribly rare occurrence. It occasionally happened.

One had to know that the energy within a cauldron would be extremely tempestuous. Any tiny deviation would cause the energy to undergo a chain reaction.

Furthermore, Ling Xie’er was taking action, and she was doing her best to imbue chaos into the flames within the Concealed Dragon Cauldron.

The entire cauldron’s astral fire was provided by the gathering of the nine fire dragon rifts. So just like how a large amount of snow accumulated on a mountaintop can become an avalanche with a gentle kick, so too could the astral fire easily become dangerous.

Causing an avalanche was easy but preventing one was hard!

The extremely powerful Myriad God Patriarch was only an array formation grandmaster. When it came to alchemy, he wasn’t quite as genius.

“Ah!”

Outside the Concealed Dragon Cauldron, many Myriad God Ridge Elders were mentally connected to the Concealed Dragon Cauldron. The rousing of the cauldron immediately caused backlash on their souls. They felt great pain, and some of the personal disciples with weaker cultivation levels spewed large mouthfuls of blood. They had suffered internal injuries due to the sudden changes the Concealed Dragon Cauldron was undergoing.

And at that moment, because he was presiding over the core of the grand array, and because of the momentary shock he received from the disappearance of the divine treasures, the Myriad God Patriarch suffered backlash on his soul.

“Little bastard, you are courting death!”

Myriad God Patriarch bellowed as he flew up. Instantly, he produced hundreds of hand seals that rapidly flew into the Concealed Dragon Cauldron, stabilizing the erupting energies!

Myriad God Patriarch’s cultivation level was profound, after all. Despite facing such a chaotic scenario, he was still able to forcibly withstand the energetic backlash and stem the raging tide!

However, at that instant, the Concealed Dragon Cauldron produced a loud boom!

A tiny pagoda was rapidly expanding!

It went from the size of a palm to a towering divine column in a blink of an eye!

“Boom!”

The rapidly expanding God Advent Tower struck the Concealed Dragon Cauldron’s lid with immense force!

The Concealed Dragon Cauldron’s interior turned into a violent blob of energy that was on the verge of exploding. Upon receiving the slam from the God Advent Tower, its entire body trembled suddenly as the lid tipped open slightly!

Hu! Hu! Hu!

The fiery astral flames seeped out from the crack, like columns of fire that reached towards the sky for tens of thousands of feet!

Now was the time!

With reddened eyes, Yi Yun, accompanied by Ling Xie’er and Snake Girl, hid inside the God Advent Tower. The God Advent Tower was an abode-type treasure that had the ability to tunnel through the void. When it struck the Concealed Dragon Cauldron with all its might, it left a tiny space behind. That was all the God Advent Tower needed.

In that split second, the God Advent Tower transformed into a stream of light and rushed out through the crack amid the flames!

And at the same time, Yi Yun flew out of the God Advent Tower. His entire body was enveloped in black Heretic God flames, giving him the appearance of a celestial!

“Little bastard! You actually dared to come out!”

Myriad God Patriarch roared. At that moment, he could clearly see that Yi Yun had recovered to his peak condition. Furthermore, Yi Yun was spitting a large mouthful of blood essence while rushing at him.

Burning his blood essence!?

Myriad God Patriarch gave a sinister scoff. He did not know how Yi Yun had managed to break through the soul and Yuan Qi double seals, but he knew that even if Yi Yun burned his blood essence, and even if Yi Yun’s strength increased tenfold, he was still not his match!

“Little bastard, I’ll tear you to pieces, burn you for eighty-one days, and extract all the divine treasures you have eaten again!”

The Myriad God Patriarch roared loudly. At that moment, he was using all his strength to stabilize the Concealed Dragon Cauldron that was about to explode. But even so, he could split off a tenth of his strength and still have enough to pulverize Yi Yun. But at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly changed directions and plummeted downwards!

His body was like a black meteor that rapidly shuttled through space to the point where the nine fiery dragons gathered!

And beneath the Concealed Dragon Cauldron was the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

Yi Yun had forced out a mouthful of blood essence that contained all the quintessential aspects of his bloodline. The Myriad God Patriarch believed that Yi Yun was going to burn his blood essence to fight, but the blood essence did not really burn at all. It had been spat at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

Back at the Myriad God Ridge’s recruitment test, Yi Yun had used an ordinary drop of blood to stir the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s dragon soul!

And now, it was a large mouthful of blood essence that contained the powers of the Purple Crystal. It thoroughly smeared the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

Not only that, Yi Yun had even just eaten a Dragon Blood Fruit.

The strongest remnants of the Dragon Blood Fruit’s dragon blood were also contained within Yi Yun’s mouthful of blood essence!

Yi Yun placed all his hopes on the power of the Purple Crystal Dao Ancestor, as well as the Dragon Blood Fruit. He had entrusted everything to that mouthful of blood essence.

What!?

Myriad God Patriarch was alarmed. He had planned on vanquishing Yi Yun in a single strike but he never expected the sudden change of circumstances.

This punk wants to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron? He must be dreaming!

Myriad God Patriarch could tell at a glance what Yi Yun was planning. Ignoring Yi Yun, even a mouthful of Feng Yunyang’s blood essence would not be able to truly awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. At best, it would pull out a few treasures from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

In order to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, one needed Feng Yunyang’s blood, supplemented by all those precious divine items, so that a Dragon Emperor Relic could be refined. Only then would success be possible.

Even if Yi Yun could summon the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ out, so what!? Wouldn’t it end up in his possession?

Just as the Myriad God Patriarch was pondering over the matter—

Roar—!

A might dragon’s roar suddenly sounded as the Ascending Dragon Cauldron began to vibrate vigorously!

“Buzz!!”

The land quaked as cracks began to appear. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron expanded incessantly as the runes engraved on it began lighting up. The black dragon seemed to come completely alive.

Wu Wu Wu Wu!

The pocket world’s Heaven Earth Yuan Qi surged in from all directions to concentrate on it. Lightning flashed as storms began to stir. The black dragon was swirling in the air!

As for Yi Yun, it seemed as though the black dragon was encircling him!

Heretical God Fire Seed!

Black Dragon Lightning!

The lightning and fire mingled with one another with Yi Yun floating in its core like a celestial!

At that moment, Yi Yun deeply sensed that, due to his mouthful of blood essence, he had established an intricate bloodline connection with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

Open! Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

Yi Yun collected his thoughts and produced such a bellow.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron jolted suddenly as it gradually flew up from the ground. The space within the cauldron that had been sealed opened a tiny outlet!

Yi Yun’s eyes flashed.

“Enter!”

Yi Yun, together with the God Advent Tower, followed the space trajectory that opened and flew into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

Sou!

In just a split second, Yi Yun and the God Advent Tower were completely hidden within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Yi Yun naturally wanted to kill the Myriad God Patriarch but with his present strength, even if he had obtained the recognition of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and was able to use a portion of its strength, he did not believe that it was possible for him to kill the patriarch.

After all, no matter how powerful the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was, it was only an artifact. An artifact’s strength was greatly determined by its wielder.

The black dragon continued swirling in the sky. When the patriarch saw this, his aged but adolescent face flushed red with lividity.

Im…Impossible!

Myriad God Patriarch yelled in his heart. Yi Yun had managed to enter the Ascending Dragon Cauldron? He was acutely aware of what that meant.

He had researched the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for millions of years but had never seen its interior. As for Yi Yun, he had gained entry just like that. That had to mean that Yi Yun obtained the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s recognition!

How was it possible? How did he gain the approval of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?

The Myriad God Patriarch was completely confounded. He could not accept this outcome. He had expended so much effort, spent millions of years on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Yet, Yi Yun had taken one giant step ahead of him. Not only did Yi Yun attain the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s recognition, he had also brought all the divine treasures he stole into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“Ah!”

Myriad God Patriarch let out an angry roar of despair. His tiny body seemed to possess the power of a god.

Simultaneously, the core of the grand array that Myriad God Patriarch had set up lost his support. The astral fire that was being carefully concentrated from the nine fiery rifts became unbridled and began to erupt completely!

Boom!

The terrifying astral fire enveloped the vicinity!

The Myriad God Ridge disciples were scattered in all directions by the terrifying energy blast!

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Screams sounded as their bodies flew into the sky while they spewed large mouthfuls of blood. Some even had their meridians shattered, with others’ dantians getting seriously cracked.

The heavily injured were everywhere!

“Bam!”

A person came crashing down heavily from a high altitude. His face was already unrecognizable, with blood flowing from all his orifices. All his meridians and bones were broken and his legs were gone. His organs had been ground to a paste.

This person was Feng Yunyang.

The purest Dragon Emperor bloodline was impressive after all. The moment the cauldron exploded, Feng Yunyang’s body spewed out layers of blood mist, blocking a large portion of the astral fire’s blast. It gave Feng Yunyang a chance for a final breath, but of course, that breath did not last long.

In his present state, even a god could not save him.

“It’s Feng Yunyang…”

Some people managed to recognize Feng Yunyang from his ragged clothes.

Despite once being the final disciple of the patriarch and the successor to the Myriad God Ridge Sect Master, he ended up in such a terrible state.

1276 - : Storming out the Cauldron!

CKtalon  CKtalon

“P… Patriarch…”

Song Zhanchen spewed a large mouthful of blood. The youth behind him was the Song family junior that had been recently promoted to Myriad God Ridge personal disciple.

Previously he had been highly-spirited, but now his meridians were severed and his dantian cracked. But worst of all, he was crippled of his cultivation level.

“I…I…”

The moment the youth opened his mouth, a mouthful of black blood spewed out. He had the weakest cultivation level among the people present, so naturally, his condition was the worst!

His fellow companion was the junior from the Zhang family that had just been promoted as well. Similarly, he was one of the weakest among the personal disciples.

His situation was definitely not much better.

“Was… was that Yi Yun just now!?”

They had seen very clearly that the Concealed Dragon Cauldron had suddenly run amok, and was completely uncontrollable. Following that, Yi Yun rushed out of the Concealed Dragon Cauldron and transformed into a stream of light before spitting his blood essence on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and awakening it, thus, gaining entry into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Then, there was a massive explosion.

While the Concealed Dragon Cauldron exploded to pieces, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron beneath it remained unperturbed and motionless.

What the hell… happened?

Why was Yi Yun able to escape from certain death?

Yi Yun’s relationship with nearly all the Myriad God Ridge personal disciples and Elders was bad. When Yi Yun was thrown into the cauldron, these people felt a sense of gleeful schadenfreude as they watched Yi Yun being refined into a pill.

These people were certain that Yi Yun had been utterly subdued by the patriarch and was just meat waiting on the cutting board.

What sort of figure was the Myriad God Patriarch? Just a nonchalant glance from him was enough to ensure that no one from the Myriad God Patriarch would dare resist. No matter how powerful an Elder was, or how arrogant a personal disciple was, they would submit obediently when facing the Myriad God Patriarch, not even daring to breathe too loudly. For the patriarch to kill Yi Yun was no different from killing a chicken, an action that barely required thought.

Yet, under such circumstances, Yi Yun had managed to escape. Furthermore, he had caused the Concealed Dragon Cauldron to explode!

If one talked about those that dealt with Yi Yun previously, they were only juniors like Song Bowen or Feng Yunyang. It was understandable for them to suffer under his hand. But now, the Myriad God Patriarch had taken action personally, confiscating his interspatial ring and performing a double seal on both his soul and Yuan Qi, yet he had still managed to escape to safety? Was he still human?

The Song family and the Zhang family Elders were feeling trepid. Yi Yun was like a curse on their family clans. With both their family clans offending a person that even the patriarch could not deal with, was there any way out for them?

“Yi Yun, I’m going to skin you alive. Not only will I refine your blood and flesh for eighty-one days to refine the Dragon Emperor Relic, I will also seal your soul and torture it for thousands of years!”

The Myriad God Patriarch’s face was gruesome. Although he still looked like a child, his face was filled with protruding blood vessels. They were like thick earthworms that covered his adolescent face, making him look hideous.

“Do you think I can’t do a thing to you just because you’ve entered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron? Alright! I’ll use the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as the cauldron to refine you!”

…

And at that moment, Yi Yun was situated within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior.

The interior of the cauldron was also a gigantic space, hundreds of times bigger than the Concealed Dragon Cauldron. It was no doubt a pocket world.

“Boom!”

The God Advent Tower crashed heavily onto the ground. Yi Yun landed on the top of the God Advent Tower. His hair was disheveled as it flailed wildly. He touched the God Advent Tower and heaved a sigh of relief.

His life had been on the line!

He had overcome all odds and found the only path to survival against what seemed like certain doom.

It was exhilarating!

“Xie’er!” Yi Yun called out.

A fair girl flew out of the God Advent Tower and looked at Yi Yun with a face full of joy.

“It was all thanks to you.”

Yi Yun could not help but hug Xie’er tightly. Xie’er had played a great role in his escape.

“Hey, you should come out too!”

Yi Yun patted the God Advent Tower. A sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl was sent out. She was none other than Snake Girl.

After being consumed by the astral fire for so long, Snake Girl was also feeling extremely weak. She believed she was doomed but, after a series of quick developments, she was now safe but unsure of what had just happened.

She had been thrown into the tiny pagoda without any explanation from Yi Yun. Following that, she felt her world turn topsy-turvy. The God Advent Tower trembled violently repeatedly and after what seemed like a long while, but also like the time it took to blink, she was sent out of the pagoda. When she opened her eyes to look at her surroundings, she realized she was in an unknown place.

“Where… Where are we? What happened?”

If not for the aqueous eyes of the young girl that was still looking at her, and if not for her sensing that her nearly-burnt meridians were gradually healing, she might have believed that the experiences she had were just hallucinations caused by the intense pain of being burned.

“This is… the interior of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron,” said Yi Yun slowly. His tone was filled with wistfulness.

It had been quite a while since he first came to the Myriad God Ridge. Everything he had done, he had done for a chance to probe the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Now, he had finally succeeded.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron was different from Yi Yun’s Mirage Snow sword. Although Mirage Snow was also one of the divine artifacts of the twelve Dao Ancestors, the Extreme Yin Nether Glow soul within it had already completely disappeared. Although it was unknown why it still possessed a tiny bit of the Extreme Yang Illumination’s soul, it didn’t matter as that bit of soul was completely sealed up. To Yi Yun, the Mirage Snow sword was only an extremely sharp and redoubtable sword. It was far inferior to the Ascending Dragon Cauldron which had a portion of the Dragon Emperor’s soul sealed within it.

“What… What did you say? This is the interior of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!?”

Snake Girl was dumbfounded by shock. Previously, when she was outside, she had heard Yi Yun mention that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron might be related to the fourth Dao Ancestor, Dragon Emperor. It was a supreme divine artifact.

How did they enter the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior?

“Yi Yun, you… you awoke the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?” Snake Girl asked in disbelief.

She now understood what had just happened. Yi Yun had managed to break through the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in an instant and brought her inside it. As the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was a divine artifact itself, they were temporarily safe!

Yi Yun nodded. “Yes, but I don’t have the time to explain it all to you. Stay here. I still need to cultivate. Although we are in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, we are still not out of the woods. Only the heavens know what that old fellow will do next. Besides, we can’t stay here forever. I need to seize every second to cultivate!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he gently waved his hand, causing the God Advent Tower to light up. It sent divine treasures flying out, one after another.

Dragon Bone Milk!

Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit!

Heaven Devouring Wyrm Horn!

Crimson Blood Heavenly Silkworm Silk!

Dragonbone Whale Oil!

…

A total of thirty plus divine treasures were placed in front of Yi Yun!

Yi Yun was especially pleased with the Dragon Bone Milk and the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit. It was a tremendous opportunity to obtain just one of these treasures, even for a figure at the Myriad God Patriarch’s level. Its price was completely unimaginable!

The Myriad God Patriarch had spent millions of years to gather these items, but they were now all Yi Yun’s.

In the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, he had sufficient time to refine them all for himself!

1277 - : Escaping to Survival

CKtalon  CKtalon

In fact, Yi Yun was not happy at all. After all, his interspatial ring had been taken away by Myriad God Patriarch.

But on careful thought, he realized that his most precious item was the Purple Crystal. Next was the Azure Wood Divine Tree, God Advent Tower, the Heretical God Fire Seed, the pure Yang broken sword, and the Mirage Snow sword.

The Azure Wood Divine Tree, God Advent Tower, and Heretical God Fire Seed were still with Yi Yun, and he had left the pure Yang broken sword with Huan Chenxue for safe keeping. Although the Myriad God Patriarch currently possessed Mirage Snow, he could not do a thing with the sword.

Of the remaining items in his interspatial ring, the most precious were the remnant pages of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ that Felicitous Rain Lord had left him. But their importance was more due to being a memento. As for the rest of the items, Yi Yun did not care if Myriad God Patriarch did anything to them. How could the pills and elixirs he had stored away be comparable to the divine treasures he had in front of him?

“There is no hurry with these divine treasures. Old Snake mentioned before, that inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, there is a manual known as the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’ It is a supreme cultivation technique at the level of the Dao Ancestors.”

In fact, from the very beginning, Old Snake’s interest in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron stemmed from the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’

And Yi Yun just happened to be in desperate need of a cultivation technique right now.

Other than the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, the techniques Yi Yun cultivated in were sourced from Felicitous Rain Lord or Azure Yang Lord. It wasn’t that these cultivation techniques were bad, but they were only at the level of a Divine Lord. At Yi Yun’s present level of nomological insight, they were rather pedestrian.

Yi Yun possessed four nine-leaf Dao fruits, and he had formed a supreme Nine-treasured Dao Palace. Without the right cultivation technique, the might of his laws could hardly be expressed. Yi Yun knew that his current combat style was simple and crude. All he did was inject the power of his laws into a sword. He could not fully express his strength.

Now, Yi Yun had a faint spiritual connection with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. He knew that he had yet to completely refine the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for himself, but gaining its approval was sufficient enough.

With a sweep of his perception, Yi Yun discovered that treasures were floating in a corner of the vast space that was the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior.

Back when Yi Yun took the recruitment test, he had heard the Myriad God Ridge personal disciples mention that the Myriad God Ridge was in search of people with ‘wisdom roots.’ One of the indicators was the ability to pull out treasures sealed within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. It was said that the Myriad God Patriarch placed great emphasis on these treasures.

But in fact, be it Myriad God Patriarch or Old Snake, Yi Yun had observed that their ultimate goal was not the treasures. All Old Snake wanted was the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’ As for the Myriad God Patriarch, he was more ambitious. He wanted to refine the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and claim it as his own.

Yi Yun began inspecting the treasures that were scattered in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior. There was only a total of five items.

There weren’t many treasures in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, to begin with. Compounded by the fact that those with wisdom roots had taken away some of them over the years, five was all that was left. If Yi Yun had not joined the fray, all of the treasures within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron would have been doled out in a few more centuries.

“Oh? The auras of these treasures are very different from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron itself.”

Yi Yun beckoned with his hand as the five treasures flew towards him.

They were a spear, a soft armor, a talisman charm, a disk array, and a set of seven flying sabers.

Not only did these five items have a different aura from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, all of them were completely different from one another. They did not stem from the same source.

“These treasures probably have no relationship with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron at all. They only entered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for some unrelated, unknown reason.”

Perhaps, in ancient times, someone wielded the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as a weapon. If they did that, the cauldron would probably operate by sucking enemies into the cauldron and refining them directly.

As a result, the people who were sucked into the cauldron would have their artifacts remain in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

That peerless mighty figure, having the ability to wield the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, must’ve not thought much of these items and so left them inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as spoils of their victory.

Later on, that peerless figure might have perished or passed away. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron became ownerless once again and appeared in the Myriad God Ridge. Myriad God Patriarch sought people with wisdom roots by getting them to stimulate the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, hoping that the dragon soul within would be awakened, causing energy to spew out of the cauldron. It wasn’t too shocking, then, that the treasures that were once inside would be thrown out with the energy fluxes.

Upon figuring this out, Yi Yun inspected the five treasures. The spear and armor had some battle damage, and all of the treasures were worn by the ravages of time. Yi Yun believed that these were the first steps to confirming his guess.

As such, he finally understood the puzzle of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“This set of seven flying sabers isn’t bad. I can use it. Since there are seven sabers, I’ll call them Seven Kills.”

When Yi Yun first began his martial career, he started with sabers. Yi Yun had a deep understanding of the saber Dao as well.

Yi Yun put the five treasures into his God Advent Tower but he did not find the remnant pages of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’ It left him frowning slightly.

He spread his perception into the space within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron but failed to find it.

Could Old Snake’s information be wrong?

Yi Yun felt disappointed. If he could not find the legendary cultivation technique, his strength would be stuck in its current awkward position. His laws might be powerful, but he could not effectively convert them into offensive strength.

Yi Yun searched bit by bit, constantly combing the Ascending Dragon Cauldron but to no avail.

Just as Yi Yun guessed that Old Snake might have made a mistake, a corner of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron caught Yi Yun’s eye.

His figure flashed as he traversed the wide void in the cauldron and came to the side of the cauldron. In front of him was the same thick bronze cauldron wall but above it, Yi Yun saw blurry engravings.

Yi Yun fell into a ruminative state as he looked at the engravings. He scanned it with his perception and moments later, he stretched out his arm to touch it gently. Following that, a scene that left Yi Yun surprised happened.

Layers of gold dust fell from the engravings as though it had been weathered. As the gold dust trickled down, there were more and more engravings that become clearer and clearer.

A few seconds later, the gold dust stopped falling. The many engravings connected as one, allowing Yi Yun to see the complete picture.

The engravings depicted a group of five-clawed golden dragons on the bronze cauldron’s walls.

There were a total of nine five-clawed golden dragons of different shape and sizes. They were twirling in midair as though they were alive.

These golden dragon carvings were completely different from the black dragon outside. The black dragon’s aura was ample and majestic, making one envisage the terrifying power it possessed.

As for the nine five-clawed golden dragons, they appeared propitious and mild. Celestial bodies seemed to circle the golden dragons with infinite light augmenting them.

This is…

Yi Yun looked at the golden dragons. Their eyes appeared lifelike and every scale was extremely clear. The patterns of their scales were of different shapes and sizes that somehow kept him mesmerized even when he only took a cursory look at them.

“The patterns these scales form… are words!?”

Yi Yun took a careful look and was astounded. The scales of the five-clawed golden dragons were formed out of countless small text.

1278 - : Dragon Emperor Technique (Part 1/2)

CKtalon  CKtalon

The words appeared as small as sesame seeds but when Yi Yun immersed his soul perception into the engraving, he felt as though he was standing in a vast empty world. The tiny text transformed into massive bodies of text, with every stroke reminiscent of a billowing dragon that contained a boundless aura. The text seemed to be formed naturally from the world’s derived creation.

Yi Yun could not help but touch the text again. When his fingers made contact with the text, Yi Yun felt an overwhelming might. It resembled the Chaos aura that flowed at the beginning of the universe when it was still in its primordial state.

“The content of these words…” Yi Yun read carefully and discovered that it was a cultivation technique. “Could this be the Dragon Emperor Technique?”

Yi Yun continued reading it, and confirmed that the text comprised of the nine golden dragon scales was the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique!’

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron did have the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ within it, but it was not a book or remnant pages as Old Snake imagined. It was paragon mantras that were engraved into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior.

These mantras, as well as the nine five-clawed golden dragons, were parts of the Dragon Emperor Technique.

The golden dragon carvings contained the nomological charms of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’

“I have finally found it.”

Yi Yun was pleasantly surprised, but then he had a thought that made him sigh. The ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ had been engraved in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior, so even descendants of the dragon race with an extremely pure bloodline would not have been able to pull the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ out. The only way was for one to establish a mental connection with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, allowing them to truly enter the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior.

After finding the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ Yi Yun was in no hurry. Despite suddenly finding this supreme cultivation technique, he was not anxious.

He had just experienced a perilous encounter and was still reeling from an upheaval of emotions. Such a state of mind was not suitable for reading the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’

When important figures conducted matters of great importance, they had a ritual—burning of incense, bathing, eating vegetarian, making offerings. These were not just superstition. These actions could allow them to empty their minds, paving the way for the most effective outcomes in whatever they did.

Yi Yun sat cross-legged in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and closed his eyes to focus before he began meditating.

On one hand, he was still digesting the vital essence within the Dragon Blood Fruit, and on the other hand, he calmed his mind, allowing his concentration to reach an optimal state.

This continued for two hours before he came out from his meditation. He opened his eyes, and they appeared like a deep body of water that flickered with a light that struck the minds and hearts of people.

Now that he was prepared, Yi Yun began to seriously read the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’

The first volume of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ was also the first figure. Yi Yun spent an hour just reading it.

If Yi Yun read a book with his perception, he could finish that book in an instant. However, each text in the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ contained conceptual truths that he needed to read carefully and ponder over the meaning within.

After he finished reading the first volume of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ Yi Yun was somewhat astonished. He never expected the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ to be like this. It was completely different from any cultivation technique he had ever encountered.

Typical cultivation techniques would introduce the laws and the energy flow trajectories in the body. If not that, then they would be sword arts or saber techniques.

As for the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’, it explained how one could develop one’s vital potential.

According to the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ when its technique was cultivated to the limit, pushing one’s vital potential to the extreme, one’s body could produce a dragon.

It made a warrior’s life force match that of a True Dragon!

The first volume that Yi Yun had finished reading allowed one to adjust one’s vital potential at any time after mastering it. It allowed his combat strength to increase severalfold, providing an effect similar to the burning of blood essence.

However, the burning of blood essence posed a huge danger. The amount of blood essence decreased with every burning. To recover lost blood essence was just too difficult.

As for the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ it did not have such a negative effect. By stimulating one’s vital potential with the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ one could use it at any time. At most, it expended Yuan Qi at a greater rate. As such, the only thing one needed to do was rest to replenish themselves.

Of course, reaching that stage was not easy. One had to cultivate a powerful body first.

In one of the sections of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ it described how one could cultivate one’s body.

After Yi Yun read it, he found that the technique even mentioned the ‘Dragon Emperor Relic’ that the Myriad God Patriarch wanted so desperately to refine.

In fact, the Dragon Emperor Relic was the first divine medicine that was recorded in the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’ Furthermore, the information it had was a lot more detailed than the Myriad God Patriarch’s refinement recipe.

“So that’s what it is. Who knows how Myriad God Patriarch obtained the Dragon Emperor Relic’s recipe? And to think that the Dragon Emperor Relic actually originates from the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’ If the Myriad God Patriarch refines the Dragon Emperor Relic and consumes it, it would be equivalent to him reaching a rudimentary stage of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’

Just the rudimentary stage of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ would increase the Myriad God Patriarch’s strength greatly. Furthermore, he will have a chance of opening the Ascending Dragon Cauldron,” Yi Yun muttered to himself.

Just the body-tempering divine relic recorded in the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ would produce such miraculous effects. If one were to truly finish cultivating the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ it was unknown to what level his strength would increase.

However, cultivating in the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ required an astronomical amount of resources. The medicinal pills recorded in the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ were all divine medicine. This information left Yi Yun troubled.

In fact, the cultivation of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ did not need that many resources. The reason was that the true ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ was meant for people with pure Dragon Emperor bloodlines. As for Yi Yun, he only had a mortal body. For him, the process of cultivating in the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ would be one of completely reconstructing his body.

As Yi Yun was thinking over the matter, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron began to vibrate suddenly.

“Oh?”

Yi Yun had a thought as he released his perception and looked out of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior formed a sealed space that prevented others from probing the interior. However, Yi Yun was linked to the Ascending Dragon Cauldron by blood, allowing him to observe the ongoings of the world outside.

When he took a look, Yi Yun discovered that the Myriad God Patriarch had surrounded the Ascending Dragon Cauldron with layers of array formations.

A supermassive array had been set up, with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron trapped at its heart.

Dozens of array flags were embedded around the massive array. In addition, the Myriad God Ridge’s Elders and disciples surrounded the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in rank formation.

“Yi Yun!?”

Myriad God Patriarch had extremely sharp senses. Despite Yi Yun observing him from within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, he was still able to detect it.

“Little bastard, don’t let me catch you, or I’ll use the most vicious and painful means to torture you. I’ll make you wish you were dead!” Myriad God Patriarch said angrily. He had never suffered so badly his entire life, yet today he had been conned and humiliated by Yi Yun, a junior.

“Old bastard, don’t just keep up the empty talk. I’m right here waiting. Come get me.”

Yi Yun deliberately mocked him from inside the cauldron. He was not afraid of infuriating the Myriad God Patriarch anymore. Since he had already handed him the worst possible offense, with them reaching an irreconcilable point, he might as well make snide remarks to entertain himself.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, the Myriad God Patriarch blew his top. “Continue with your sharp tongue. The more you enjoy yourself now, the worse you will die later.”

“Old bastard, what you said really makes me a little afraid… Speaking of which, that Dragon Blood Fruit I ate just now was really not bad. It’s juicy, and it melted upon reaching my mouth. It was so sweet and fragrant. Old bastard, where did you pluck the fruit from? Tell me, pretty please? I would like to visit it and try my luck. I think I need to get a few more. That Dragon Blood Fruit just now was too small. I didn’t fully enjoy myself.”

Yi Yun’s words were meant to repulse as much as possible. Myriad God Patriarch’s expression was so ugly it was like he had eaten a kilogram of dead flies. He was so angry that he felt like blowing a gasket.

That was a Dragon Blood Fruit! Over the past million years, he was unseen or unheard off in the Myriad God Ridge. Not only did the Myriad God Ridge disciples never see him, they had not even heard tales about him. Why? It was because he needed to travel the world in search of divine treasures! He was constantly away from the sect seeking these impossible-to-find items.

He had spent an immense amount of effort to gather the three main ingredients—the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit, the Dragon Blood Fruit, the Dragon Bone Milk. Now, the Dragon Blood Fruit that he paid a huge price for was eaten by Yi Yun as though it as an ordinary piece of fruit!

1279 - : Dragon Emperor Technique (Part 2/2)

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Old bastard, are you not going to tell me? Forget it then, I wouldn’t force myself on you. Hey, this Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit looks pretty good too. Let me give it a try.”

Yi Yun got a kick from his taunting. If only he could infuriate the old undying fart to death.

“Keep refining! Refine him alive!” Myriad God Patriarch roared maniacally. His teeth were clenched so tightly that they nearly shattered!

At that moment, the Myriad God Ridge disciples and Elders were shuddering in fear around him. They found it hard to imagine that the mysterious and unfathomable Myriad God Patriarch would become that infuriated. Then again, it was inevitable given the situation. No matter how composed one could be, they would break down when they realized that all their painstaking efforts and final hopes for their future were being robbed by someone right in front of them. It was actually impressive that the Myriad God Patriarch did not vomit out blood in his rage.

And most critically, Yi Yun remained vibrant as he mocked the Myriad God Patriarch after he angered him. Such a situation was completely unimaginable.

In fact, whatever Yi Yun said at that moment, no matter how much it sounded like he was digging his own grave, tugged at the Myriad God Ridge disciples’ nerves. They were afraid that the Myriad God Patriarch would target them when he had nowhere to vent his anger.

“Let’s augment the patriarch’s array formation. That little bastard, Yi Yun doesn’t have a God Spirit body. We will definitely end up refining him clean!”

Cang Wu spoke up. He loathed Yi Yun, but not because he had offended the Myriad God Patriarch. He hated that Yi Yun had taken away so many great treasures. It made him extremely envious.

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

With the array formation augmented, the astral fire ignited once again!

The Nine Dragon Encircling Pearl that formed the worldly array was activated once again.

Myriad God Patriarch knew that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was as heavy as mountains and its walls were indestructible. It was nearly impossible to damage the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

However, that did not mean that Yi Yun was impervious while inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Although he had entered the cauldron, he had not completely refined it to be his. That meant that he was not the true owner of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Attacking the Ascending Dragon Cauldron would not hurt Yi Yun at all.

They could, however, refine the cauldron with fire.

One had to know that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron could be used as an alchemical cauldron. The bronze alchemical cauldron would naturally conduct heat, so if the astral fire continued burning, the cauldron’s interior would quickly reach unimaginable temperatures.

In fact, the Myriad God Patriarch did not know how Yi Yun had escaped the Concealed Dragon Cauldron. Regardless how rich his imagination could be, he would never have thought that Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal, which could absorb any energy around him. He also couldn’t account for Ling Xie’er, who could control all sorts of fires.

Although he was clueless as to the method Yi Yun had employed to escape the Concealed Dragon Cauldron, Myriad God Patriarch had witnessed the way Yi Yun rushed out of the Concealed Dragon Cauldron. He guessed that Yi Yun probably had a tolerance for fire that far exceeded his realm.

However, Myriad God Patriarch still had one hope, and that was the Dragon Bone Milk.

The Dragon Bone Milk was poisonous. If directly consumed, even a Divine Lord would be poisoned to death, much less Yi Yun.

As for the method to rid the Dragon Bone Milk of its poisonous elements, Myriad God Patriarch was confident that only he knew it. Such a mysterious and rare divine herb was something even the old freaks in the deepest depths of the Sinkhole would not know of. How could Yi Yun know about it?

Once he drank the Dragon Bone Milk, Yi Yun would definitely die of poison. Once he died, all problems were solved. A dead person could not withstand the astral fire after all.

When the time came, he could use the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to refine Yi Yun, along with the herbs, into the Dragon Emperor Relic. Then, he would use Feng Yunyang’s blood to stimulate the dragon soul within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, causing the Dragon Emperor Relic to be thrown out. That would be the ultimate success.

That was the solution the Myriad God Patriarch put his hopes in.

In order to carry out the plan successfully, he had stored away Feng Yunyang’s alive but wretched body. Feng Yunyang was in as terrible shape as could be. He could not die even if he wanted to. He could no longer hold on for his body was completely wrecked, yet he was forced to live on with a pill that forcefully stimulated his vital potential. However, the pill did not provide any pain relief, so he wallowed in despair from the pain. Days felt like years and all he wished for was a quick death, but who would bother to show him mercy?

“Little bastard, you seem to be quite resistant to fire. I would like to see how long you can last with this Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array set up. It has ten times the energy of the astral fire and, if eighty-one days isn’t sufficient, I’ll refine you for eight hundred and ten days! I refuse to believe you can last that long!”

The grand array from before was meant to refine the herbs after all. It was purposefully set at a certain intensity to maintain a stable amount of energy in the Concealed Dragon Cauldron, and also to ensure that Feng Yunyang could survive for three days and three nights. Therefore, Myriad God Patriarch did not push the strength of the array formation’s fire to its limit.

But this time, the astral fire array was meant to kill.

Myriad God Patriarch’s strongest fire refinement array was the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array. Under its full power, the Concealed Dragon Cauldron might explode due to the unstable energies in its interior. On the other hand, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron would not explode at all. But secretly, Myriad God Patriarch wished it could explode, blasting Yi Yun to pieces.

“Old bastard, you are sure dumb. You know I’m fire resistant and yet you still continue using fire? Oh, I understand. You can’t think of any other way. All you can employ is this same dumb idea. Then, keep up the good work. Make the fire a little stronger, I’ll treat it as though I’m soaking in a hot spring.”

Hidden in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, the ends of his mouth curved upwards. In fact, he was afraid that the Myriad God Patriarch would think of another, deadlier way to deal with him. But the employment of the refinement array proved that the Myriad God Patriarch had no other means to deal with him being in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“Let’s see how long you can remain stubborn.”

As the Myriad God Patriarch spoke, he flicked his sleeve and threw out a large amount of Spirit Jade!

These Spirit Jade were mostly superior or supreme-grade Spirit Jade.

They were the cherished collection of the Myriad God Patriarch. The Spirit Jade that was expended when he activated the long-distance teleportation array was far from comparable to these.

Hundreds of thousands of kilograms worth of Spirit Jade flew towards the various spots on the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array.

When the Spirit Jade entered the array, it experienced a burst of energy. The intensity of the astral fire immediately increased more than tenfold. As the flames billowed, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron remained motionless within the inferno. However, the black cauldron seemed to reach temperatures higher than that of the sun!

From Myriad God Patriarch’s point of view, even if Yi Yun was resistant to fire, there had to be a limit. As long as he kept increasing the intensity of the fire array, it would eventually exceed Yi Yun’s limits.

This method might not be the most efficient way to finish Yi Yun, but he wanted to give it a try for he had no other choice. With the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s unique characteristic of being an alchemical cauldron, fire refinement was the only way to damage a person hidden inside the cauldron.

The intense inferno continued for two hours, causing the pocket world’s sky to turn red. By that point, the land beneath the Myriad God Ridge disciples had already turned to flowing lava.

And this was just the beginning. The fire refinement would continue for a very long time.

As an alchemical cauldron, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had great conductance. All the astral fire was absorbed by it. It might appear black and calm but due to the extreme temperatures, it caused the laws of physics around it to bend.

Such temperatures could cause a burn just from looking at it!

And at that moment, the astral fire had turned into a mist inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s quality far exceeded the Concealed Dragon Cauldron, so its ability to contain the astral fire was not something a replica like the Concealed Dragon Cauldron could match.

1280 - : Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

The flames coalesced so tightly that they could even burn through Yuan Qi. Snake Girl shuddered but beside her, Yi Yun was feeling comfortable. It was truly as though he was relaxing in a hot spring.

“Xie’er, have some of these flames. Don’t let them go to waste.”

Although Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal, he had no use for such a large amount of energy. The main difference between astral flames and divine treasures like the Dragon Blood Fruit was that the flames were only energy and the fruit actually contained vitality. Although the Purple Crystal could absorb the flames’ energy, they did little for Yi Yun’s dantian.

In that case, it was better to let Ling Xie’er absorb them. As the corporeal body of the Heretical God Fire Seed, which was the source of all fires, the astral fire was great nourishment for her.

“Alright, Brother Yi Yun!”

Ling Xie’er said crisply and felt overjoyed when she saw all the astral fire. She was like a greedy kitten seeing a table of delicacies in front of her.

She immediately flew to the middle of the space within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. She extended her fair hands as two black fire plumes gradually expanded from her palms. They absorbed the surrounding astral fire voraciously and soon, two vortices were formed.

The vortices expanded and became more violent. From afar, Ling Xie’er’s body looked like she was being enveloped by two black tornadoes!

Upon seeing this scene, and how the astral fire that blotted out the sky was being constantly devoured, the corner of Snake Girl’s mouth twitched. The young fair-skinned girl may have looked dainty and adorable, but whenever she acted it was astounding and breathtaking. She was no different from a monster.

Snake Girl knew that if not for the fire plume that the girl had left in her body, she would probably have turned to ash long ago.

“Xie’er, split off some of the Fire Seed and send it over here. I’ll refine the herbs in this Ascending Dragon Cauldron!” Yi Yun instructed.

At that moment, he was feeling exceedingly gratified. The refinement method of the Dragon Emperor Relic was recorded in the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’ It was a lot more brilliant than the Myriad God Patriarch’s method.

Although he was lacking the Dragon Blood Fruit, it did not matter. Since he had eaten the Dragon Blood Fruit, he could extract a few drops of his blood essence and get away with using them as a replacement of the Dragon Blood Fruit.

As such, Yi Yun happily took over the work of refining the Dragon Emperor Relic that the Myriad God Patriarch had failed to refine.

Furthermore, Yi Yun would refine one that was even better.

The difficulty of refining the Dragon Emperor Relic was actually not that high. And in terms of alchemical skill, Yi Yun was better than the Myriad God Patriarch. Besides, the vessel Yi Yun was using to refine the relic was the legendary Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

“Alright.”

Ling Xie’er waved her tiny hand as the Heretical God Fire Seed surged toward Yi Yun.

Ever since Ling Xie’er had awoken, the Heretical God Fire Seed became easier to control. Controlling it was now as easy as lifting a finger.

Yi Yun lifted the Heaven Devouring Wyrm Horn, the Crimson Blood Heavenly Silkworm Silk, the Dragonbone Whale Oil, and the other divine items and threw them into the black flame!

The Heretical God Fire Seed was not something the astral fire could compare with. With Yi Yun’s alchemical skills, the Dragon Blood essence in those divine treasures was rapidly extracted.

If Myriad God Patriarch saw this scene, he would probably vomit out blood. His life’s work he had spent a million years on was not only benefiting Yi Yun, it was also being completed in a way that completely surpassed what he could accomplish.

Time passed.

In a blink of an eye, three days and three nights had passed.

In three days, the world outside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had been burnt into a molten ocean.

However, the nine fire dragon rifts were preserved. One could clearly see that the nine rifts were redder amid the molten ocean. The dragon rifts that were of higher temperature converged around the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

At that moment, all the Myriad God Ridge disciples were drained. They only managed to maintain the constant expenditure of energy through the consumption of pills and Spirit Jade. At the same time, they had to face the billowing heat waves that baked them.

Those with weaker cultivation levels could not even bear the temperatures from the molten ocean. They found it hard to imagine what the situation was like in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“What terrifying temperatures. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior must be a hellish inferno. Even I would probably be reduced to ash after staying in it for so long,” A Myriad God Ridge elder said.

“That’s right. I have some understanding of alchemy, you know. Usually, the refinement of pills needs one to carefully control the flames. Who would dare let it burn in such an unbridled fashion!? I believe that even if that little bastard Yi Yun is as extremely resistant to fire as Patriarch mentioned, he wouldn’t be able to last this long. The amount of Spirit Jade expended by this grand array every second is tremendous. But Patriarch does not seem to have any intentions of stopping. I wonder how long this will go on. It feels like using a sledgehammer on a gnat.”

The Myriad God Ridge Elders and disciples discussed in private. They were truly suffering in the heat.

Finally, Cang Wu spoke up four hours later. He could not help but say, “Patriarch, at such temperatures, that little bastard has probably been burnt to ashes, right?”

Myriad God Patriarch remained silent, but he was aware of the terrifying intensity the astral fires had reached. Even Divine Lords could not withstand it, much less a Dao Palace realm junior.

However, Myriad God Patriarch had a nagging feeling that Yi Yun had not been burnt to death.

He was still pinning his hopes on the Dragon Bone Milk.

“I wonder if the little bastard has drunk that tiny jug of Dragon Bone Milk or not. Given his greed, he will definitely not waste one of the main ingredients. If he has consumed it, all I need to do is wait for the poison to take effect.”

“Perhaps I am being overly careful. There is no way the little bastard knows of the Dragon Bone Milk’s toxicity or the methods to handle it. Under these flames that can even consume a Divine Lord, he should already be dead.”

Myriad God Patriarch muttered to himself and weakened the intensity of the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array.

After all, he was also beginning to feel the pinch of the constant burning of so much Spirit Jade.

Hu! Hu! Hu!

The flames halved in strength, as the oppressive heat turned milder. Although the molten ocean beneath their feet remained, many of the Myriad God Ridge disciples felt a lot better.

“As expected, Senior Brother Cang Wu’s words hold some weight.”

“Only he can do it. No one else dares to strike up a conversation with Patriarch.”

The personal disciples discussed privately. They were somewhat envious of him. As Cang Wu had taken the lead to pledge allegiance to the Myriad God Patriarch, he was thought highly of by the Myriad God Patriarch.

This made many personal disciples envious and jealous. Why didn’t they think to be the first to kneel down and pledge allegiance? Now with Feng Yunyang doomed, wouldn’t the successor to the sect master be Cang Wu?

The Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array constantly weakened and finally gave the Myriad God Ridge disciples a breather.

And at that moment, within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, Yi Yun was in the final stages of refining the Dragon Emperor Relic!

The Myriad God Patriarch would have taken at least eighty-one days to refine it, and with no guarantee of success.

However, Yi Yun’s refinement was done with the Heretical God Fire Seed and the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Aided by the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array, he was more than half-done after three days.

“Oh? The array has weakened?”

Yi Yun sensed that the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array had weakened tremendously.

Although Ling Xie’er looked adorable, she had a voracious appetite. The moment the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array weakened, the temperature within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron dropped by a lot. A lot of the astral fire was already absorbed by Ling Xie’er.

“Brother Yi Yun, the fire has weakened,” Ling Xie’er said.

In truth, even without the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array, Yi Yun could successfully refine the Dragon Emperor Relic with just Ling Xie’er alone. However, it would take him at least half a month.

Now that he was almost finished, with the end very much in sight, Yi Yun was naturally dissatisfied that the process would be prolonged.

He sent his perception out of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and saw that the Myriad God Ridge disciples were wiping off their sweat and resting. As for the Myriad God Patriarch, he had taken out a compass. While chanting, he held the compass in one hand and produced runic seals with the other. He appeared to be divining something.

Oh? This old fellow also knows divination techniques?

Yi Yun guessed the purpose of the compass. It was similar to the mother-child Heaven Secrets Compass he had seen in the Sun Burial Sandsea, but clearly, the quality was a lot better.

The martial path had side branches such as Feng Shui or divination. Legends said that if one mastered divination to the limit, one could predict the future. But of course, that was only a legend.

It was unknown how advanced the Myriad God Patriarch was in divination. He was likely divining Yi Yun’s situation inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun laughed.

“Hey! Old bastard, why are you chanting that garbled stuff!? I was having a nice bath when the heated water disappeared. I was wondering why the water turned cold. And it’s all because you are chanting. Old bastard, continue burning!”

“Do you need to chant if you are concerned about me? Wouldn’t verbally asking me do the trick? I’m telling you now, the water is too cold. I’m very dissatisfied with your service!”

Yi Yun imbued his Yuan Qi into his voice. His voice thundered throughout the pocket world.

The Myriad God Patriarch had been divining the situation with his eyes closed and, just as he reached a critical point, he suddenly heard Yi Yun’s shout. He nearly spewed a mouthful of blood.

“Ka-cha!”

The perfectly-good compass was crushed to pieces by the Myriad God Patriarch.

He opened his eyes abruptly and stared at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. His face turned dark purple. Why was this happening?

Was the punk still human? Despite spending hundreds of thousands of kilograms of Spirit Jade, the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array failed to do anything to him?

Also, what about that jug of Dragon Bone Milk? Didn’t he consume it? Why was he still alive?

Myriad God Patriarch felt his intestines twisting. He felt his liver, gall and even stomach ache. He wished he could bite off Yi Yun’s flesh piece by piece, but he could not even see Yi Yun’s face.

As for the Myriad God Ridge Elders and personal disciples, they were pushed to the brink of a complete meltdown.

Yi Yun was like an unmovable force. After using so much manpower and wasting so much Spirit Jade, to the point of them, the fire bearers, being baked dry, the person being consumed by the flames was still fine. Who could accept that?

“Refine! Continue refining! Refine the little bastard! It’s only an act!”

Standing beside the Myriad God Sect Master, an old woman jumped forward and shouted. She was the one that had led Snake Girl around previously.

The other Myriad God Ridge disciples were out of options. They hurriedly took their respective positions and continued the activation of the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array stirred once again as the astral fire continued spewing.

“Why is the fire weaker than before? Have you guys eaten? Use more strength!”

1281 - : Very Dissatisfied

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was one who never minced his words when it came to infuriating others. However, he was speaking the complete truth. The reignited Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array was indeed weaker. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that most of the Myriad God Ridge disciples were on the brink of a mental collapse. It was natural that the grand array was no longer as strong as it used to be.

“This little bastard is going too far!”

“Little bastard, don’t be so arrogant!”

How could the Elders tolerate Yi Yun’s scolding? They were always high and mighty figures but over the past few days, they had been verbally abused by Yi Yun hundreds, if not thousands, of times.

Due to their rage, the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array’s strength reached a new peak.

Yi Yun was finally satisfied. “That’s more like it. You bunch of old slaves are like cart-hauling donkeys. You refuse to be obedient unless you are lashed by a whip.”

Every sentence said by Yi Yun was enough to disgust the Elders for three days. Yet, despite being infuriated by his scoldings, they were out of options.

They only way they had to get back at him was to strengthen the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array, but was that even effective?

“Enough! Stop the refinement!”

Myriad God Patriarch spoke. His expression was terrifying sullen.

“Patriarch, we have already burned him for so long. Perhaps the little bastard is bluffing, and he actually cannot last any longer. Just a few more days of refinement and he will no doubt die.”

The old woman spoke. She still refused to believe that a young junior like Yi Yun could withstand the scorching flames.

“Enough!” Myriad God Patriarch said coldly. He shared the same thoughts as her originally, but now his intuition told him that Yi Yun was truly unafraid of the fire.

He was even deliberately instigating them to continue burning the cauldron. Although Myriad God Patriarch was unsure of why Yi Yun was doing that, he refused to abide by Yi Yun’s wishes.

“Little bastard. Very nice of you, but don’t you celebrate prematurely. The three main ingredients I found are not that easily refined. Be careful, you might explode to your death if you eat too much.”

Myriad God Patriarch did not know what Yi Yun was doing in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, so he deliberately taunted Yi Yun back.

Yi Yun laughed. “Old bastard, you still haven’t ended your conniving ways. By saying that, are you trying to goad me into eating the three main ingredients? Oh… the real goal is for me to drink the Dragon Bone Milk, right?”

Yi Yun continued: “That’s right. A dragon corpse that is buried in a dark netherworld would have its flesh corroded by the Yin gases, leaving behind only the bones. Over the hundreds of millions of years, the bones melt to form this milk. It’s truly rare. You must have spent hundreds of thousands of years to find this tiny jar’s worth. You are probably afraid that I do not know how great an item this Dragon Bone Milk is. You hope for me to drink it, right? For that, I’ll appreciate your act of filial piety.”

“What did you say!?”

Myriad God Patriarch felt reverberations through his heart. He was so incensed that his mouth twisted. Yi Yun had correctly described the formation process of the Dragon Bone Milk.

Yi Yun had even made a good estimate of how long it took for him to find the Dragon Bone Milk.

How!? Why was the Dragon Bone Milk something he knew as well!?

Myriad God Patriarch was baffled. Since Yi Yun knew the formation process of the Dragon Bone Milk, he definitely knew that the Dragon Bone Milk was poisonous. He naturally would not drink such a poisonous item.

“Old slave, as your young lord, I know how filial you are. You wish for me to eat this divine treasure but you are also afraid I will be poisoned. On that point, you can rest assured. I actually do know of a few ways to treat the poison in the Dragon Bone Milk. And more coincidentally, I also know a thing or two about the refinement of the Dragon Emperor Relic. So not only will I never be poisoned, I won’t waste even a minuscule amount of the Dragon Bone Milk’s medicinal essence. I guarantee you I will bring it out to its fullest and make sure it serves its proper purpose. So don’t be worried!”

“Now, my Dragon Emperor Relic is almost done. It’s just lacking a bit of fire. Old slave, it’s time to express your loyalty to its fullest. Let the burning begin!”

The kick Yi Yun got increased as he continued. However, hearing that made the Myriad God Patriarch blow his top!

Refining the Dragon Emperor Relic!?

Just lacking a bit of fire!?

It was no wonder he had a nagging feeling that Yi Yun was deliberately goading them on to activate the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array. So that was the reason!

Myriad God Patriarch could no longer withstand the flames of fury burning within him. His heart was burning to the extreme. His Yuan Qi blasted out as he let out a furious bellow!

“Boom!”

The molten ocean beneath them exploded. Myriad God Patriarch’s hair was disheveled and his eyes were blood red. There was blood seeping from the corners of his mouth. He truly looked like the devil!

“Little bastard, you are my sworn enemy!”

Myriad God Patriarch’s killing intent manifested into something corporeal. All the Myriad God Ridge disciples held their breaths as their hearts and minds trembled. The completely mad Myriad God Patriarch was truly terrifying.

Although Myriad God Patriarch was extremely terrifying, the Myriad God Ridge disciples felt some amount of pity for him. What sort of comportment did he have to be infuriated time and time again? Any ordinary person would have long blown a gasket and vomited blood to their deaths.

“The old bastard is raging.”

Inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, the corners of Yi Yun’s lips curved. This time, the anger he gave the Myriad God Patriarch had probably cut his life short by a hundred thousand years.

He was already nearing the latter half of his life. After missing this opportunity, he might lose his last chance to make a breakthrough.

“Since the array has stopped, we must make do. There is still some remnant astral fire left in this Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Xie’er, it should be enough for you to absorb them all and use it to complete the Dragon Emperor Relic,” Yi Yun instructed.

“Alright, Brother Yi Yun!”

Xie’er agreed in a straightforward manner.

At that moment, Yi Yun ignored all distractions and focused on completing the Dragon Emperor Relic.

The ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ had two unique features. First, the herbs needed for refinement were very expensive but the refining process was simple.

Second, the cultivation of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ was very demanding but the cultivation speed was extremely fast.

Yi Yun estimated that if everything went according to plan, he would gain a rudimentary understanding of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ in a few days time.

At that moment, the Heaven Devouring Wyrm Horn, Four-track Snake Fang, Dragonbone Whale Oil, Crimson Blood Heavenly Silkworm Silk, and Nine-winged Golden Dragon Claw were all done refining. The Dragon Blood essence within had long been extracted.

It suffused a dark golden luster. It was a blob of golden liquid that was the size of a pigeon’s egg, but it was as heavy a large metallic grinder.

After this, Yi Yun extended his hand and beckoned. The Dragon Bone Milk that was floating amid the flames flew over. The reason the Dragon Bone Milk was poisonous was that it had existed for a long time in the dark netherworld. The toxins produced when the dragon corpse decomposed fused with the large amounts of Yin gases before pooling into the Dragon Bone Milk.

In order to expel the poison, one had to burn off the Yin gases. Although it sounded simple, it was quite a complicated process. It required special hand seals that could accomplish the task without damaging the medicinal properties of the Dragon Bone Milk.

Yi Yun was adept at pure Yang laws and had the aid of the Heretic God fire, so whatever he did posed no difficulty.

The Dragon Bone Milk essence was therefore easily extracted by Yi Yun.

Yi Yun carefully controlled the Dragon Bone Milk’s essence and fused it into the golden liquid.

At that moment the worldly laws seemed to be drawn to the mixture, forming a dark gold vortex that gathered into the Dragon Blood essence!

Now, the pigeon-egg-sized Dragon Blood essence in Yi Yun’s hand might not be comparable to the true Dragon Emperor’s blood, but it was quite close.

The Dragon Emperor was one of the twelve Dao Ancestors that formed naturally from laws during the Universe’s birth. It was itself a manifestation of the laws.

And this bit of Dragon Blood essence also possessed this special quality. Yi Yun could clearly sense that the drop of Dragon Blood essence was gathering the surrounding nomological powers and, if it could fuse with them, the benefits would be obvious.

In fact, at that moment, the Dragon Emperor Relic was already close to completion. The only thing left to fuse with the relic was the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit.

The Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit’s main effect was prolonging one’s life. Myriad God Patriarch had sought it out to remold his aging body so that he could make another breakthrough.

Although Yi Yun did not need his lifespan extended, a guiding principle he always followed was to use resources as early as possible. Using them early allowed for an early breakthrough. It was better than lacking strength when he encountered danger. If he perished as a result of hoarding his treasures, it would be quite a shame.

The Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit’s vital essence was beneficial in stimulating Yi Yun’s vital potential. Yi Yun had planned on extracting the vital essence of the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit to fuse it into the Dragon Emperor Relic.

But just as he was about to do so, he hesitated and stopped.

The Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit was still something he was in no hurry to use. The Dragon Emperor Relic had all sorts of other herbs that made it sufficient.

After putting away the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit, Yi Yun produced hand seals with both his hands again and again. The dark golden liquid began to harden and gradually formed the Dragon Emperor Relic.

With Yi Yun’s status as the divine alchemist’s successor, the final relic formation happened without trouble.

An hour later, with a dazzling golden flash, all the golden liquid vanished. Replacing it was a lotus seed sized crystal that suffused golden light.

This was the final Dragon Emperor Relic.

Yi Yun grabbed the Dragon Emperor Relic.

It was finally formed.

At that moment, it had only been a few days since Yi Yun came to the pocket world.

Yi Yun decided to do everything in one go by cultivating the first volume of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’

Although the Dragon Emperor Relic was completed, Yi Yun at his present state was not suitable to immediately swallow the Dragon Emperor Relic. He mediated for half a day, allowing his mind to turn completely tranquil. Following that, Yi Yun did not hesitate any further and threw the Dragon Emperor Relic into his mouth.

The Dragon Emperor Relic was heavy and hot. When Yi Yun swallowed it, he felt as though he was swallowing a glowing red metal ingot.

The pain-inducing heat went from his throat to his gullet to his stomach. Finally, the Dragon Emperor Relic sank to his dantian and entered the tiny world within.

Yi Yun immediately felt a heat stream flow out of his dantian and permeate every part of his body through his meridians. It felt as though his dantian had turned into a fiery cauldron that constantly emanated terrifying heat.

At that moment, the Dragon Emperor Relic began melting and flowed as a golden liquid. Every strand of dragon blood fused into Yi Yun’s flesh and meridians. The dragon blood was molten hot and wherever it flowed to, Yi Yun felt an excruciating burning pain in his skin.

Phew! Phew! Phew!

Yi Yun began to sweat as his pores enlarged, sending streams of hot air spewing out.

Soon, Yi Yun felt that his blood was close to boiling. Pain bombarded Yi Yun’s body. Even though he remained mentally tenacious, his body could not help but tremble.

It was too painful. It had been a long while since Yi Yun had experienced the pain of tempering his body with divine medicine. From the moment he began practicing martial arts, his dantian had been honed and extremely powerful. His nomological insights and his Nine-treasured Dao Palace were the best in the world, but Yi Yun’s body was only normal.

1282 - : I’ll appreciate your act of filial piety

CKtalon  CKtalon

Back in the Luo clan, Yi Yun had attempted to temper his body. He had even consumed a Heaven Devouring Wyrm tailbone, but the Luo clan’s body-tempering techniques were ultimately limited. Using their techniques to temper his body would require large amounts of time and effort. He decided it wasn’t worth it.

However, Yi Yun now had the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’ It was completely different.

Gradually, his sweat began to mix with strands of blood. Drops of bloody sweat began evaporating on his skin, forming a blurry blood mist.

The blood mist seemed similar to, but was completely different in nature than, the blood mist that appeared over Snake Girl, Feng Yunyang, and the others back when they were being baked in the Concealed Dragon Cauldron.

The blood mist that boiled out from Yi Yun was ordinary blood. There were even impurities contained within. After being burned by the scorching dragon blood, it effused an unpleasant smell.

This was a true instance of cleansing the marrow for a blood transfusion. The dragon blood essence within the Dragon Emperor Relic was replacing Yi Yun’s ordinary blood.

“This Dragon Emperor Relic is indeed impressive.”

At that moment, Yi Yun felt his body itching and hurting. It felt like thousands of ants were crawling around his body, but this extreme discomfort did not reduce the joy Yi Yun was experiencing at all.

The ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ coupled with the Dragon Emperor Relic that was prepared by Myriad God Patriarch for him, caused his strength to undergo a tremendous improvement.

The Dragon Emperor Relic was too overwhelming. The pain continued for a full four hours, boiling off more than half of Yi Yun’s blood.

His skin was red like a steamed crab; however, his lips were dark purple in color. It made him look sickly.

“Is he really fine?” Snake Girl asked worriedly when she saw Yi Yun’s condition.

“Brother Yi Yun is fine. Our souls are connected and I can sense that his flames of vitality are surging. He’s more than ten times stronger than before,” Ling Xie’er said with a glint in her eyes.

Yi Yun was proficient when it came to laws, but his flames of vitality and lifeblood could be considered average. The Dragon Emperor Relic had fixed all his shortcomings in one go.

Just as Ling Xie’er’s voice faded, they heard snapping and popping sounds coming from Yi Yun’s body. It sounded like the rustling of frying beans. Immense amounts of energy gathered within Yi Yun’s body, causing Yi Yun’s cultivation level to rise dramatically!

The sixth-storey Dao Palace was broken at once!

Following that, the seventh-storey and the eighth-storey!

He jumped three subrealms in one go, and this was Yi Yun deliberately repressing his foundation. Had he not, he could have reached the ninth-storey Dao Palace at once.

The excess energy continued gathering in Yi Yun’s dantian. The vital potential that just had been unlocked seemed like a divine beast that was released after being prisoned for a prolonged period of time. It moved restlessly in Yi Yun’s body before roaring!

“Ha!”

Yi Yun opened his eyes. Stars appeared to be burning in his eyes and with nowhere to vent this powerful energy, he could not help but produce a long cry.

The cry sounded like a dragon’s roar that reached to the ninth heavens!

Yi Yun’s lifeblood and soul was infused in the dragon’s roar. It sounded like thunder that could penetrate the world and shake the cosmos!

Boom!

Outside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, the molten ocean exploded as a result of the sound. Lava spewed as dark red shockwaves radiated outwards!

“What’s that sound!? It’s terrifying!”

“It’s completely deafening!”

The Myriad God Ridge disciples also heard the cry. The personal disciple with weaker cultivation levels immediately felt their eardrums burst, causing blood to flow out of their ears.

They were already in bad condition, to begin with. So the shockwave from the sound caused them to plummet from the sky one by one. If not for the seniors beside them grabbing them, they would have fallen into the molten ocean.

“What’s going on? Has the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s dragon soul been awakened?”

People speculated, having hardly collected their scattered wits. Many people looked at Myriad God Patriarch. They saw a dark cloud over his face. The aura he exuded was so gloomy that it was terrifying.

At that moment, no one dared to hit the Myriad God Patriarch’s ashen nerves. If the dragon’s cry truly was an awakening of the dragon soul, that would be bad news as it was most likely a result of Yi Yun.

“What happened?” The Myriad God Sect Master asked the red-dressed boy. Although the cry was monstrous, no dragon soul phantom appeared from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“I do not know!” Myriad God Patriarch said in a deep voice.

Although he had found the refinement recipe to the Dragon Emperor Relic in an ancient dragon race ruin, the records were incomplete. It did not describe the after-effects of the successful refinement of the Dragon Emperor Relic or the consumption of the Dragon Emperor Relic.

“Could that little bastard really have refined the Dragon Emperor Relic? It has only been about five days. How can he be that fast!?”

If Yi Yun had really succeeded in refining the Dragon Emperor Relic, Myriad God Patriarch felt that he could slam his head into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to kill himself. He felt like a retard. He had spent immense effort and a million years for one goal. And yet, all the benefits were taken away by a mere catalyst herb. If time could rewind, he would have diced up Yi Yun and not even bothered trying to use him as a catalyst herb.

Myriad God Patriarch had never been so enraged before. With Yi Yun’s cultivation level and strength, he could squeeze him to death with one hand. Still, Yi Yun had managed to take everything he had right out from under him. And all he could do was watch helplessly with no way to stop it.

“What are we to do? This little bastard still isn’t coming out,” The Myriad God Ridge’s old woman asked. The way things had developed far exceeded their expectations.

“There’s no choice,” Myriad God Patriarch sighed. His prepubescent face sported wrinkles that betrayed his age. He seemed to have instantly grown older.

This failure was a huge setback for him. It was equivalent to having his life’s pillar of support destroyed.

He knew very well that if Yi Yun really did refine the Dragon Emperor Relic and consumed it, he would digest the medicinal essence within, infusing the dragon blood into his own.

When that happened, even if he captured Yi Yun and refined him as a medicine, there would be no way for him to refine a second Dragon Emperor Relic. The extent to which it could improve his body would probably be insufficient for him to reach the goal of awakening the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“Little bastard, you destroyed all my hard work. Don’t you think you’ll be living much longer! Do you think I can’t do a thing to you? All I wanted was to refine you into a divine herb. But it’s not difficult to completely destroy you!”

Myriad God Patriarch was feeling disheartened at that moment. All he wanted was revenge.

As he spoke, he suddenly waved his hand. The space surrounding the Ascending Dragon Cauldron began to distort, forming a spatial cage that restrained the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“Master, what are you doing?” asked Myriad God Sect Master.

“Since the Dragon Emperor Relic cannot be refined, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron is of no value anymore. If all my hard work has been in vain, I’d rather go for broke! I’ll throw the little bastard, as well as the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, into a black hole. I’ll let him be completely obliterated in a black hole!”

“A Black hole?”

Myriad God Sect Master was slightly taken aback. In the universe, the chaotic collapse of space-time could form mysterious celestial bodies called black holes. They were the bottomless pits of the universe. Even light could not escape them.

Rumors said that most black holes were formed out of Chaos during the beginning of the universe. Although warriors could roam the world, their strength ultimately stemmed from their insights into the worldly laws. Warriors were not a manifestation of laws but black holes were the ultimate manifestation of the worldly laws. Even mighty figures of the Sinkhole could hardly withstand them.

At that moment, Yi Yun naturally heard Myriad God Patriarch’s words from inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“Black hole!? That old bastard!”

Yi Yun’s heart sank. Back when he came to the 12 Empyrean Heavens from the Tian Yuan world, he had followed a path forged by his predecessors. After traveling through the spatial turbulences for a long time, Yi Yun encountered a black hole just as he was about to arrive in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

It was because of a black hole that Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were separated from one another.

And that was with Yi Yun detecting it ahead of time. He narrowly avoided being truly sucked into the black hole; if he had passed the black hole’s event horizon, he would never have escaped it.

Back then, Yi Yun had struck with all his strength, shattering the void just before he was sucked into the black hole. He entered the spatial turbulence and, after he exited it, he had arrived in the Luo clan.

Now, although Yi Yun was thousands of times stronger, once he passed the black hole’s event horizon, he knew that there was no way he could exit it. With his current strength, he was far from withstanding the extreme worldly laws.

“Little bastard, you must know of the horrors of a black hole. You have destroyed a million years of my hard work. But if can finally exchange it for your horrible death, that’s the only way I can console myself.”

“Weren’t you being insolent a while ago? I’ll let you choose now. Come out of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and be killed by me or enter the black hole and be doomed for all eternity!”

Myriad God Patriarch roared with laughter. His laughter sounded tragic and bitter. There was no grief worse than despair, and at that moment, Myriad God Patriarch was completely reeling in despair!

Billions of miles away from the pocket world, there was a black hole. Although there was no teleportation array, Myriad God Patriarch could, through his own sheer strength, tear through the void and reach it in about two weeks.

Myriad God Patriarch felt ridden with sadness when he made the decision. It felt like he was being sliced by a knife but he had no other choice. Since it was fated not to be his, he was definitely not going to let Yi Yun get off easy.

After using a spatial cage to restrain Yi Yun, he lifted his hand to tear the space in front of him.

“Splash!”

Under Myriad God Patriarch’s hand, large swaths of space were no different from a canvas. Space was torn apart immediately.

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

Spatial tornadoes swirled as massive amounts of spatial turbulence surged out from the spatial rift.

Myriad God Patriarch had been researching the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for years. And before Yi Yun completely refined the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for himself, he still had the capability to use spatial transference to send the Ascending Dragon Cauldron away.

…

At that moment, in the turbulent void outside the pocket world, a gray-colored figure was rapidly traveling through the tornadoes.

Every tornado was extremely terrifying, each with the capability to destroy a star. However, the gray figure was extremely agile. He shuttled through space like an extra-large mouse, easily dodging all the tornadoes.

He was none other than Old Snake.

His face was covered in wrinkles and his clothes were shabby. An alcohol gourd hung by his waist. His disheveled hair looked like a bird’s nest and he looked as wretched as could be.

1283 - : Black Hole

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Fuck, that old undying fuck actually chose a place like this. I’ve gone around this area so much that I’m getting dizzy. If I still had the strength from my past, it wouldn’t even matter that there’s no spatial node. I’d be able to tear through all the world barriers!”

Now, Old Snake was wrestling with anxiety. His disciple and Yi Yun were in the hands of the Myriad God Patriarch. Yet, he was still wandering around in the spatial turbulence and had yet to find the spatial node.

Old Snake had already determined that Yi Yun and Snake Girl were likely somewhere nearby. However, the area he was in was a gigantic natural spatial maze. Old Snake was unable to identify Yi Yun’s exact location.

The only thing that was worth celebrating was that he was certain that the both of them were alive, thanks to the mental mark he put on them.

In fact, Old Snake was baffled as to how Yi Yun and Snake Girl managed to remain alive. He was also puzzled by what the undying Myriad God Patriarch was up to.

The only way Old Snake could find Yi Yun was by spending time. He would have to search for the right spatial node by process of elimination.

This was a very time-consuming process. Old Snake guessed that he would take at least half a month before he could succeed.

But by then, it would be too late. Those that were alive now would have long been dead.

“Good people die young, but disasters leave a mark for a thousand years. That punk Yi Yun doesn’t seem like a good person. He shouldn’t die so easily, then…” Old Snake muttered to himself.

What depressed him was that while traversing the spatial turbulence, even with the most stamina-conserving method, he still had to use the energy sealed within him. It drained him of a little of his lifespan.

Old Snake treasured his lifespan greatly. Although it was unknown how long the old fellow had lived, he did not find his time so far sufficient in any way. An additional day lived was one more chance. In his own words, he was a person that was extremely passionate about life.

“Fuck, that undying son of a turtle. When I capture him, I’ll definitely dice him up!”

Old Snake cursed and grumbled. He kept using the word ‘undying’ but he seemed to have forgotten how long he had lived. It was several times longer than Myriad God Patriarch. If one had to say who was the oldest undying fart, Old Snake could claim first place in the Calm Sea and Myriad God Patriarch would not even dare claim second.

Just as Old Snake was spewing out invectives and searching for the spatial node—

Old Snake felt a spatial storm spew out a distance away.

“Oh? What happened?”

Old Snake’s heart stirred as he radiated his perception out. He was dumbfounded when he saw what greeted him.

He saw a pale-looking red-dressed boy dragging a bronze cauldron as he tunneled out of a spatial rift. The boy was proceeding forward through the spatial turbulence.

Old Snake was stunned when he took a closer look at the red-dressed boy. Isn’t that… Myriad God Patriarch!? And that huge cauldron, isn’t that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?

Upon sensing Old Snake’s perception, Myriad God Patriarch was alerted and turned his head abruptly. He locked eyes with Old Snake through the vast space in between them.

They stared at each other!

Old Snake’s eyes lit up. Isn’t this what they fucking call wearing out an iron pair shoes in a fruitless search, only to find what you’re looking for by luck? That undying old fart actually crawled out himself?

“Roar!”

Old Snake bellowed loudly, “Old Turtle, let’s see if you can run away from grandpa!”

As Old Snake shouted, he charged toward Myriad God Patriarch.

Voice could not be transmitted in the spatial turbulence but Old Snake specially broadcast his voice through a Yuan Qi transmission, straight into Myriad God Patriarch’s ears.

“Old Turtle, you are finally willing to poke your turtle head out. Watch me slaughter you to make turtle soup!”

Old Snake charged with a dominating might. Chaotic spatial flows gathered around his body. He no longer looked wretched in any way. Instead, he looked highly spirited like a god of war reborn!

“Who are you!?”

Myriad God Patriarch was alarmed. He could sense a terrifying might from the elder in front of him. The elder’s strength was even higher than his!

Previously, Myriad God Patriarch had a premonition that a mighty figure had been secretly watching him. Back then, it was a fleeting feeling and was not something he could confirm. He had spent large amounts of Spirit Jade to transport the Ascending Dragon Cauldron across the void, mainly for the pocket’s world’s massive array and the astral fire. Preventing other experts from disrupting him was only a precautionary side effect…

However, Myriad God Patriarch never expected that there was really an old monster that had been watching him all this while!

If he had not moved to the pocket world or hidden the spatial node a long time ago, that old monster would have probably come attacking. When that time came, his alchemical ritual would have been reduced to a mere joke.

“Curse the Heavens! Why are you doing this to me!?”

Myriad God Patriarch roared inwardly. The little bastard Yi Yun had already caused so much trouble and next came some old beast. It was as though the heavens did not want him to be happy!

“Ha!”

When he saw Old Snake charging at him, Myriad God Patriarch roared and struck out with his palm!

At the instant the palm struck out, it was as though a blood-colored ocean surged from Myriad God Patriarch’s palm. Even though they were amid violent spatial turbulence, the red-colored ocean moved unobstructed. It actually became thicker and more coagulated!

Against the sudden appearance of Old Snake, Myriad God Patriarch did not dare hold back. His attack could rend the world asunder!

“Nice one there. This Old Turtle sure has some skill!”

Old Snake gave a clear cry as energy blasted outwards from him. His ragged shirt also tore apart!

“Combat Sacred Body!”

Golden light fell from the heavens and enveloped Old Snake’s body. The golden light condensed and replaced his torn clothes, taking the form of dazzling golden battle armor!

The golden battle armor was not Old Snake’s treasured artifact but a manifestation of Old Snake’s Yuan Qi.

In fact, Old Snake’s Yuan Qi could not be called Yuan Qi but Battle Qi. In what Old Snake cultivated in, there was no defense or dodging. In battles with his enemies, he relied on an overwhelming offensive that could destroy everything!

“Crack!”

Old Snake roared as he swung his fist!

The winds that stirred from the punch alone could shatter the void. Like a battalion of calvary rushing forward with formidable might, the spatial turbulence shattered!

At that moment, Old Snake was truly the portrait of a golden-armored battle god. His back was no longer hunched and his eyes were no longer turbid. Even his once white and disheveled hair turned ink black. It flailed freely in the spatial turbulence.

The punch that matched a battalion collided with the Myriad God Patriarch’s blood ocean palm!

“Boom!”

The spatial maze shattered while the roaring blood ocean was split into two by Old Snake’s punch.

The punch did not lose a bit of its momentum as it came bearing down on Myriad God Patriarch’s chest!

“Peng!”

With a loud explosion, Myriad God Patriarch’s body shrank rapidly. After being struck by Old Snake’s punch, he flew backward like a portrait that was pinned in the void.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron that he was guiding also fell straight back into the pocket world, crashing heavily onto the ground.

Myriad God Patriarch felt reverberations through his heart. That offensive strength was too terrifying. It was impossible for him to directly clash with the golden stranger.

“Who are you!?”

It was unknown how long it had been since he encountered such an opponent. In the Calm Sea, there was almost no one that threatened him.

“Why do you care who I am? Just know that I’ll be the one killing you.”

Old Snake strode towards Myriad God Patriarch. With a wave of his hand, a golden spear appeared in his palm.

The spear was ancient and unadorned. Its tip suffused a faint blood-red color as though it had experienced countless battles in a primordial battlefield where it feasted on the blood of countless experts.

Myriad God Patriarch wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. A gravely serious look appeared in his eyes. He understood that the old fellow in front of him could really rob him of his life.

Not only did his attempt at refining the Dragon Emperor Relic fail, he was also facing a life-and-death crisis!

…

“Boom!”

With a bang, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron crashed back into the pocket world. The hard ground blasted open from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s fall. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron was as heavy as a mountain so it went straight underground!

This spot was no longer the molten ocean caused by the nine dragon rifts. It was thousands of kilometers from the Myriad God Ridge disciples.

“What happened!?”

In the core area of the nine dragon rifts, Myriad God Sect Master immediately noticed something amiss because his soul was connected to the red-dressed boy.

In fact, he and the old woman were slaves that were taken in by the Myriad God Patriarch millions of years ago. The two of them had signed a soul contract with the Myriad God Patriarch. This was also the reason why the Myriad God Sect Master would often address the patriarch as master. Otherwise, the Myriad God Patriarch would not trust the two of them unconditionally.

The Myriad God Patriarch only trusted the dead or soul slaves.

“Master has been intercepted!”

The old woman said in a deep voice. “It’s a terrifying existence with extraordinary power. He’s battling Master and it’s possible that Master is not his match.”

“Let’s go aid him,” Myriad God Sect Master said through a voice transmission.

Because of the soul mark, the Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman were absolutely loyal to the Myriad God Patriarch.

“Activate the Grand Sanguine Killing Array and aid Master. It will be able to increase Master’s strength severalfold!” The old woman said.

She and the Myriad God Sect Master were Divine Lords who had fused with Divine Lord Royal Seals.

In the Myriad God Ridge, although there were ten plus Elders with a Divine Lord cultivation level, few of them had fused with a Divine Lord Royal Seal.

Even in the Sinkhole, Divine Lords that possessed a Divine Lord Royal Seal were not to be underestimated.

“All Elders with Divine Lord cultivation levels, follow me!”

Myriad God Sect Master gave the order. The Grand Sanguine Killing Array required people to support it. And in the chaotic spatial turbulence, it was no longer pragmatic to get Supremacy realm experts to set up an array formation while fending off an extraordinary expert that could even threaten the Myriad God Patriarch.

To participate in the Grand Sanguine Killing Array, a Divine Lord cultivation level was the minimum requirement.

At that moment, Yi Yun was already observing the situation outside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“That old fellow has finally arrived.”

Yi Yun finally heaved a sigh of relief. The old fellow was still reliable at the final moment. Indeed, he should not have pinned his hopes on Old Snake finding the entrance to the pocket world or he would have long been cooked by Myriad God Patriarch.

Yi Yun had already begun digesting the Dragon Emperor Relic, and as the Dragon Emperor bloodline in him grew stronger, the connection he had with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron tightened.

“I’ll attempt to see if I can drive the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.”

Previously, Yi Yun had only received the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s recognition. He had yet to fully refine the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for himself.

As for trying to drive the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, it was a much more difficult task.

1284 - : Combat Sacred Body

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Xie’er, aid me!”

Yi Yun shouted from inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Not only did Yi Yun want to drive the cauldron, he wanted to use it as a weapon!

However, a divine item like the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had the Dragon Emperor’s soul sealed within it. It was capable of suppressing a world. Legends told of a mighty ancient being that ruled over nine continents with nine cauldrons. Each treasured cauldron was as heavy as a world. Yi Yun was basically using strength alone to drive a world, and his strength was not sufficient for the task.

Even when Myriad God Patriarch moved the Ascending Dragon Cauldron into the pocket world, he did not do it by driving the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Instead, he had to use spatial dimension laws to transport the space the Ascending Dragon Cauldron occupied to another spot.

“Alright, Brother Yi Yun.”

As Ling Xie’er spoke, her body transformed into a stream of light that merged into Yi Yun’s body.

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

The Heretical God Fire burned as Yi Yun punched himself in the chest, forcing out a mouthful of blood essence that he sprayed onto the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’

After Yi Yun consumed the Dragon Emperor Relic, the Dragon Emperor bloodline in him was much more potent than it was in the past. The nine golden dragon engravings absorbed Yi Yun’s blood essence and seemed to come alive. Their pupils began emitting pale golden light.

The process was extremely peaceful as Yi Yun silently sensed the connection between him and the Ascending Dragon Cauldron become increasingly stronger.

At that moment, Yi Yun felt like all his blood was boiling. His body was like a cauldron that was heated by the flames of his vitality.

Yi Yun had spat out two mouthfuls of blood essence consecutively in total. If typical warriors did so, they would be greatly weakened. However, Yi Yun felt that due to the powerful lifeblood within him, the blood essence he had spat out was already being replenished. It felt like he had only bled ordinary blood. The Dragon Emperor bloodline was truly powerful.

“Move!”

Yi Yun roared as all his Yuan Qi blasted out. His muscles immediately tightened, forming a perfect muscle definition.

Yi Yun had been practicing martial arts for years. His muscle tone was already very defined. After consuming the Dragon Emperor Relic, he did not have any obvious increase in muscle mass, but his muscles suffused a dark and faint golden luster as though he had a body of a god.

“Boom!”

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron vibrated suddenly and the ground cracked apart around it. Terrifying rifts began to spread out in every direction like a spider web. A mountain fifty kilometers away shook violently, as though a massive earthquake was sweeping through the pocket world.

“Buzz——”

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron issued a dull sound as it slowly flew up from the ground.

Five hundred kilometers away, Cang Wu and company saw the dazzling golden light emitted by the ascending dragon cauldron.

“What is going on?” Someone exclaimed.

“It’s that little bastard! He is driving the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. For some unknown reason, the Patriarch brought him back here.”

Cang Wu and company were unaware of what had happened outside the pocket world due to the layers of spatial storms that isolated them.

Although they guessed that the patriarch had encountered an incident, they could never have guessed that an expert that surpassed their patriarch would suddenly appear.

With Myriad God Patriarch’s strength, few people could match him.

“Darn it. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron has really been refined by that bastard,” Cang Wu said angrily. The refinement of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for oneself was a huge opportunity. However, the opportunity had landed in Yi Yun’s lap. As for Cang Wu, he had to shake his tail at Myriad God Patriarch pitifully, hoping that Myriad God Patriarch would spare a pittance of benefits for him.

As for Yi Yun, he had taken all of Myriad God Patriarch’s lifework and hope away!

The massive gap left Cang Wu burning with envy.

As Cang Wu was feeling the rage of a thousand suns, Yi Yun was feeling disappointed with his ride in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron was too slow. Yi Yun was injecting all his strength into it, but he could only make it move at a snail’s pace.

And to maintain this speed, Yi Yun had to constantly feed his energy into the cauldron. If he had not stimulated his Dragon Emperor bloodline, he would have found it difficult to continue.

“Others can easily avoid if I attack at this speed,” Yi Yun muttered to himself. Despite the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s robustness, it was limited by Yi Yun’s strength. Ultimately, there was a need for Yi Yun to increase his cultivation level to truly bring out the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s offensive might.

“Perhaps at the Supremacy realm, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron will be able to showcase some of its strength.”

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun shook his head. He was being greedy. He had refined the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for himself, obtained the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ and consumed the Dragon Emperor Relic. His vital potential was massively stimulated and not only did his physical strength increase exponentially, his cultivation level had risen three subrealms in one go. There was nothing to be discontented about.

In the future, with a fully-powered Ascending Dragon Cauldron, it would be equivalent to him having a powerful fortress.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron was not suitable as an abode, but if he placed the God Advent Tower into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, it would be perfect. In terms of defense, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was far superior to the God Advent Tower.

…

At that moment, chaotic twirling spatial turbulence surged outside the pocket world. Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman led sixteen Divine Lord realm experts outside the spatial node.

“What a powerful storm.”

Typical spatial storms were nothing much but, due to Old Snake and Myriad God Patriarch’s clashes, these spatial storms were more than a hundred times more violent. Even Divine Lord realm experts felt the pressure.

“Who is Patriarch fighting?”

“Heavens, who is that old man?”

Only then did the Myriad God Ridge Elders see Old Snake. He was five kilometers away with Myriad God Patriarch. One of them had a dazzling golden body and the other seemed to have blood seas raging over his body.

And what left them in disbelief was that the Myriad God Patriarch was the one being beaten.

“Snap out of it. Quickly set up the array!” said the old woman. She suddenly threw out a disk array which expanded rapidly in the spatial storms and instantly enveloped everyone.

The sixteen Divine Lord experts scattered to sixteen different spots in the disk array. The Myriad God Patriarch was an array formation grandmaster. One of the benefits of the disk arrays he created was that the people manning the array formation did not need to be well-versed in array formations. All they needed to do was inject their Yuan Qi into the array formation.

“Boom!”

The disk array established itself in the void as a blood-colored beam shot out from the middle.

Instantly, the Divine Lord experts in the array formation felt their energies being rapidly drained. Several took on alarmed expressions.

“Don’t worry. We are only borrowing a portion of your strength. It will only make you weak for a few days but it will not affect your cultivation levels or lifespans at all,” explained Myriad God Sect Master.

The Divine Lords were alarmed and suspicious at the Myriad God Sect Master’s words, but at that moment they had no other choice.

“Whew!”

The array formation shot out a sanguine beam that augmented the Myriad God Patriarch!

“Calling for reinforcements now that you can’t beat me?” derided Old Snake.

He had noticed that people had traveled through a spatial node and at the same time, Myriad God Patriarch had desperately attacked in order to hold him back, so as to give the others time to set up the array formation.

The large array formation gathered the Yuan Qi of the participants and infused all of it into Myriad God Patriarch’s body.

Myriad God Patriarch wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Bathed in the sanguine light, he looked as happy as a dried fish that had finally been returned to the ocean.

He felt extremely comfortable because the injuries he had were slowly recovering.

“Hahahaha! Old fool, don’t busy yourself mocking me. Don’t think I can’t tell that you are actually injured! Your attacks seem overwhelming and are much stronger than mine, but something rigid tends to be fragile. You can’t last long. As long as I have constant energy supporting me, I can outlast you for about thirty minutes. By then, you will lose your stamina and your old injury will rear its head. There is no doubt you will die!”

Myriad God Patriarch smiled hideously. Not only was he skilled at setting up arrays, he also knew some divination arts. This made him have a sense of premonition and sharp observational skills, even in a heated battle.

He could tell that with Old Snake’s physical condition, he would definitely be the winner if he could just hold out!

“Hehe!” Old Snake made a few sneers as his face turned gloomy.

He was well aware of the fact that, after suffering from the first clash, the Myriad God Patriarch chose not to fight him head-on. He was only aggressive against Old Snake when he needed to distract him to buy time array formation to become effective.

Old Snake’s full-frontal assault was draining his stamina. It was as Myriad God Patriarch said—Old Snake had very heavy injuries!

He usually led a frivolous life and hid his strength, yet now he was beginning to burn his lifespan while fighting Myriad God Patriarch. It left his heart aching.

Old Snake squinted his eyes and looked at the distant great array. He knew very well that Myriad God Patriarch could not last long under his attacks but the array formation kept replenishing Myriad God Patriarch’s stamina.

If he could destroy the disk array, the Myriad God Patriarch would once again be embroiled in a dire battle.

But just as Old Snake had this thought, spatial tornadoes suddenly swept over towards the vicinity of the array formation.

Unexpectedly, the massive array vanished. The sanguine beam that shot out from the array’s core seemed to extend to a spot an infinite distance away. Although it still reached Myriad God Patriarch, the source of the sanguine light could no longer be seen.

“Oh!?” Old Snake’s heart sank.

“Old fool, you want to destroy my array? How would I let you!? My Grand Sanguine Killing Array is sealed in a spatial node. As long as I hide that spatial node, it will be fool’s talk for you to find it!”

Back when Myriad God Patriarch took Yi Yun to the pocket world, he had hidden the spatial node. Old Snake had searched in vain for nearly ten days, ultimately failing to find the way into the pocket world.

Now, Old Snake knew the rough location of the spatial node but it would be too difficult for him to find the array formation while fighting Myriad God Patriarch.

“What happened to your fierce attacks? I’ll use the treasures in your ring to make up a tiny portion of my losses!” Myriad God Patriarch roared insolently.

He had already recovered about thirty percent of his stamina. For Old Snake to live for such a long period of time, Myriad God Patriarch believed that he must have some amazing treasures. Ignoring everything else, he was already very interested in the Combat Sacred Body alone.

Just as Myriad God Patriarch was about to attack, he suddenly felt a sense of unease.

Oh?

Myriad God Patriarch’s attack came to a pause as he abruptly turned his head.

“Boom!”

He heard a loud explosion and space suddenly trembled. Immediately following that, the nearby spatial tornadoes degenerated into chaos.

“What’s the matter?”

At that moment, Myriad God Sect Master and company, who were hiding in the array formation, were alarmed.

“Something is coming out of the spatial node!” the old white-haired woman cried out. Just before her voice faded, the spatial node tore apart directly.

“Join forces with me!” Myriad God Sect Master said to the old woman.

But just as he circulated his Yuan Qi, he saw a spatial node expand. A heavy and unadorned bronze cauldron appeared out of thin air!

After the spatial node was hidden in the outer world, it was naturally difficult for Old Snake to find it. However, if the spatial node was pointed out, trying to hide it would naturally be useless.

The bronze cauldron wasn’t fast. It was actually quite slow. However, it possessed an indomitable might that was like a moving mountain!

“Boom!”

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron struck right at the disk array that was beneath the feet of the numerous Divine Lords of Myriad God Ridge!

The disk array had been fixed in the spatial node so it was unable to dodge. The collision happened at full force, so how could the relatively brittle disk array be able to compare with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?

“Ka-cha!”

An explosion that sounded like metal shattering followed. The disk array was cracked and thrown apart by the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s strike.

“Damn it!”

Myriad God Sect Master was seized with anxiousness. However, when he saw the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in front of him, he felt helpless. Burning and hitting the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was useless. Even Myriad God Patriarch was at a loss for how to deal with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, so how could he do anything?

“Boom!”

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron continued its unstoppable charge as the Grand Sanguine Killing Array directly shattered to pieces!

“Whew!”

The Grand Sanguine Killing Array’s sanguine light dissipated instantly and exploded together with the concealment array formation of the spatial node.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron appeared straight out of the spatial turbulence and remained immovable despite the inundations of the storms.

“This is?”

Old Snake looked at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in shock. He had previously seen Myriad God Patriarch carrying the Ascending Dragon Cauldron while rushing out of the pocket world. He did not find it weird back then, but now the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had automatically flown out of the pocket world and shattered the Myriad God Patriarch’s disk array. It left Old Snake astonished.

Could it be…

“Little bastard! I will definitely pulverize you to dust!”

Myriad God Patriarch was on the brink of a mental collapse. Yi Yun was no doubt a malignant star to him!

Upon hearing Myriad God Patriarch’s words, Old Snake was astonished. That punk Yi Yun could control the Ascending Dragon Cauldron?

How did he do it?

Regardless of the process, Yi Yun had managed to destroy the Grand Sanguine Killing Array, greatly delighting Old Snake. As a result, he was no longer afraid of Myriad God Patriarch.

“Hahaha, Yi Yun, you have really given me a pleasant surprise. Old Turtle, let’s see if you can survive this!”

Old Snake laughed and charged toward Myriad God Patriarch as his body was enveloped by the Combat Sacred Body’s golden halo!

Myriad God Patriarch’s face sank. He knew that he was no match for his opponent. He was definitely doomed if he continued fighting. Even if did risk everything to inflict a serious injury on Old Snake, it would be meaningless.

With this thought in mind, his body flashed as he escaped into the deep depths of the spatial turbulence!

“You want to escape?”

Old Snake was boiling within and needed to vent his anger. Therefore, how could he grant Myriad God Patriarch’s wish? On a divine beam of light, he moved at a speed much faster than Myriad God Patriarch as he pursued him!

Just as Old Snake was about to catch up to him, Myriad God Patriarch tore open the void directly. As for Old Snake, he followed closely behind and also ripped the void. Both of them vanished into the spatial storms one after another.

1285 - : Driving the Cauldron

CKtalon  CKtalon

Myriad God Patriarch and Old Snake left, abandoning the group of people from the Myriad God Ridge. They were all dumbfounded. They could not move fast enough to chase up to the duo, so what could they do?

As for the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in front of them, they were helpless despite knowing that Yi Yun was within.

“Boom!”

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron emitted a dull explosion as it gently trembled and flew back to the spatial node, returning to the pocket world.

Myriad God Sect Master was practically going mad from seeing the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s plodding departure.

“This little bastard, don’t you let me catch you or I’ll pull out each and every one of your tendons!” The old woman cursed viciously. Yi Yun was right in front of them but all they could do was watch helplessly. It was an aggravating feeling.

Yi Yun couldn’t be bothered to respond. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron continued its sluggish flight before landing back in the pocket world.

The remaining Divine Lords, Myriad God Sect Master, and the old woman stared agape. They were unsure of what to do.

“Let’s return first and wait for Master. Master might be able to beat that person. Furthermore, we’re in the middle of a spatial maze. And Master has sealed off the entire world. It wouldn’t be easy for us to return to the Myriad God Ridge.”

Myriad God Sect Master had no other solution. The ten plus Divine Lords could only follow him back into the pocket world.

They met up with Cang Wu and company.

They had already left the molten sea from before and arrived in a mountain valley. Although the heat had started to fade after the cauldron left, no one wanted to be baked by the heat waves.

Although the pocket world was mostly desolate, the mountain valley was quite a breathtaking scene.

And then—

“Boom!”

With a huge explosion, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron landed in the mountain valley, causing the valley to shake.

Yi Yun seemed bent on repulsing them. He made it a point to land in the same mountain valley.

“That punk!”

The old woman’s expression was ugly. Yi Yun was like a ghost that lingered just to haunt them. No one could do a thing because of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. He was going too far but they could not even avoid him.

“There’s no need to bother with him. Let’s wait for Master. If Master returns safely, this punk is definitely dead, unless…”

Myriad God Sect Master did not continue his words. The old woman’s heart sank as well. The both of them were connected to the Myriad God Patriarch through a soul contract. The terms of their soul contract were absolute. If Myriad God Patriarch was killed, their souls would suffer heavy damage, to the point that it might even kill them.

As they remembered that their lives were in the balance, Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman felt great unease. Under such circumstances, they felt exceedingly frustrated seeing the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Of course, Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman were not the only ones who were repulsed.

Cang Wu, as well as the people from the Song and Zhang family, bore a heavy hatred towards Yi Yun.

“Martial Uncle Cang Wu, does this Ascending Dragon Cauldron no longer belong to us?”

A young man walked to Cang Wu’s side. He was lanky and had a pair of arched brows. He was the personal disciple from the Song family that had been recently promoted.

Previously, he had mocked Yi Yun for being a reared beast that was fodder for training but, in a blink of an eye, he had been severely injured because of the Concealed Dragon Cauldron. Even his dantian had been heavily damaged.

However, Arched Brows was the hope of the Song family’s younger generation. As the only personal disciple from the Song family at present, the Song family Elders treated Arched Brows with great care and concern. Song Zhanchen had even fed him a sacred recovery medicine that had been handed down by their ancestors. It slightly restored Arched Brows’s dantian and even mitigated the damage to his cultivation level, so that it did not drop that much.

After a few days of recovery, Arched Brows finally recovered a bit of his Yuan Qi. Other than having a slightly pale face, there were no symptoms of damage.

At that moment, Cang Wu was sitting near to where the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was. He was staring intently at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Cang Wu shook his head and said, “The little bastard has refined it as his own. Even Patriarch has decided to abandon it by throwing it into a black hole.”

Arched Brows rubbed the tip of his nose and walked to the side of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. There, he undid his pants. The action took Cang Wu aback.

“What are you doing?”

“Pissing!”

As Arched Brows spoke, he revealed a wretched smile. “Isn’t that little bastard hiding in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron? Even Patriarch can’t do a thing to him. We naturally can’t do a thing to him. Since the Ascending Dragon Cauldron has been refined for Yi Yun, and I have a sudden need to go, I’ll just piss right here.”

Cang Wu was taken aback for a moment. He stroked his chin. The kid was a genius.

It would absolutely disgust Yi Yun.

With his status, he was naturally not suitable for doing such acts. Letting Arched Brows do it was most appropriate.

Arched Brows’ words attracted the attention of many Myriad God Ridge Elders and disciples.

Instantly, they felt like they had discovered a brand new world. Warriors were accustomed to using strength to resolve conflicts. If strength could not resolve the problem, they could only swallow the insult. They found the suggestion proposed by Arched Brows to be fresh and remarkable despite it being an act of riffraff.

Someone laughed. “Taking a piss is being too polite. You should shit on it!”

Myriad God Ridge warriors regularly ate their fair share of spirit food, so they naturally had their bodily functions.

“That’s a good idea. Let me store it up. I’ll fly onto the cauldron’s lid and shit right on it. All of you can join me. Haha, life is good if we can use a primordial divine artifact as a shit bucket.”

By suddenly attracting the attention of so many, Arched Brows felt smug. It was a flash of brilliance he had blurted out. He never expected everyone to take to his idea so eagerly.

People have a strange desire to defile the divine. Arched Brows’s plan appealed to the crowd the same way some mortals like to piss on a mountain peak after successfully scaling the mountain.

Quite a number of people expressed their interest. The Elders had their reservations but the younger disciples did not care about such things.

Arched Brows made it more serious as he continued, “In my opinion, this Yi Yun is hiding in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and will probably never come out again. We might as well bring the Ascending Dragon Cauldron back to the Myriad God Ridge and throw it into the toilet. Isn’t there a massive shit hole in the outer-sect disciple district in East Toilet? We should place the Ascending Dragon Cauldron there and let everyone shit and piss on it. We should let that little bastard have a good time soaking up the piss.”

But then, something unexpected happened just as Arched Brows spoke!

Suddenly, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron shot out a plume of black flames that swept towards Arched Brows!

At the same time, the surrounding spatial dimension laws were compressed as a strong suction power emitted from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Arched Brow exclaimed. He lost control of his body under the mighty suction force and was swept through the ensuing storm that made him fly towards the mouth of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

Cang Wu, who was nearby, was quick to react when he saw Arched Brows about to be sucked into the cauldron. With a flash, he went to Arched Brows’s side and grabbed his arm!

After grabbing onto Arched Brows, Cang Wu naturally felt the suction force!

This suction force wasn’t very strong. With Cang Wu’s strength, he could completely defend against it. He could also forcefully escape the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s restraints with Arched Brows.

At that moment, Cang Wu had a flash of brilliance. He saw a tiny opening in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s lid. It was open to the outside world.

As long as he was willing, he could actually enter the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

1286 - : The Tempted Cang Wu

CKtalon  CKtalon

Entering the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior!?

Cang Wu had a brilliant idea. This was the only chance he had to directly confront Yi Yun!

But Yi Yun’s strength…

Cang Wu was unaware of Yi Yun’s experiences in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. He obviously knew that Yi Yun had refined the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for himself, but he was clueless as to Yi Yun’s massive growth in strength.

Before Yi Yun entered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, he was only at the fifth-storey Dao Palace. Even if he could undergo a great breakthrough in cultivation level, there was ultimately a limit. Besides, if he made too much of a breakthrough, it would result in unstable foundations. So how much could his strength increase?

“I’m a late-stage Supremacy. And my strength is heads and shoulders above people at the same realm as me! If I can kill Yi Yun, I can take everything within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. I might even find a way to refine the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for myself. Then, everything that belongs to Yi Yun will be mine!”

This thought germinated in Cang Wu’s mind in a blink of an eye, turning into an obsession!

The Myriad God Patriarch was currently being pursued by a mysterious person and the outcome was still unknown. Those that were trapped in the pocket world could only leave things up to fate. If he could hide in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, that was the best way to ensure his own safety!

Because of the huge temptation of an opportunity for himself and the safety it would bring, Cang Wu wanted to take the risk.

However, he was somewhat hesitant. He was a suspicious person and he did not dare venture into anything hastily.

At that moment, the suction force from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron weakened rapidly. The lid was closing back on itself, sealing the cauldron shut once again!

“That punk is going to seal the cauldron!”

A lost opportunity would not present itself again! Cang Wu guessed that Yi Yun had attempted to kill Arched Brows in a moment of rage, accidentally revealing a weakness. Now that Yi Yun discovered that he had caught Arched Brows, he did want to expose himself again. He was about to seal the cauldron.

Cang Wu felt that if he missed this opportunity, he would no longer have a chance of entering the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Riches were where danger laid, and those that wanted to live an ignoble existence would not cultivate martial arts. He needed to take the risk!

Cang Wu roared as his body transformed into a stream of light that flew straight for the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

“Cang Wu!?”

People were shocked by this scene. They were standing a distance away and all they saw was black light streams swirling before Cang Wu flew for the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“He’s trying to enter the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!”

Only then did people realize what Cang Wu was up to.

Before anyone could say another word, Cang Wu had flown into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron at the instant the Ascending Dragon Cauldron closed.

Arched Brows, meanwhile, was also carried in unwillingly by the suction force.

“Ding-Dang!”

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron sealed shut once again. The black flames vanished as though nothing had happened.

The people were left in a daze. A few seconds later, someone guffawed, “Hahaha! Martial Uncle Cang Wu did such an absolutely fantastic job. That little bastard Yi Yun was being a turtle that hid in his shell, but now Cang Wu has entered his turtle shell. I want to see how much more he can shrink back!”

“That little bastard is doomed. This is what they call catching a turtle in a jar!”

The Myriad God Ridge disciples present praised Cang Wu for his quick reaction. Yi Yun had wanted to kill Arched Brows, but Cang Wu instantly noticed the flaw Yi Yun had exposed. He pressed forward to smash the enemy’s lair!

However, the Myriad God Sect Master and old woman frowned slightly. Cang Wu was an ambitious person. His goal in entering the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was unknown. Regardless, it was absolutely better than just Yi Yun run rampant.

…

At that moment, Cang Wu entered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior!

The moment Cang Wu materialized, he immediately circulated his Yuan Qi to the limit in a bid to guard against any traps Yi Yun had planted in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. However, other than an inundating heat wave, he did not notice anything else.

There wasn’t a trap?

Cang Wu calmed down.

He looked at his surroundings and radiated his perception. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior was much larger than he imagined. Perhaps, it could even fit a mountain inside and still have space to spare. A person in the large cauldron appeared minute.

“Martial Uncle Cang Wu, why did you come in as well…”

Arched Brows had been pulled in by the suction force and was feeling alarmed but now, having seen Cang Wu, he immediately felt relieved. Cang Wu was like a straw he could clutch in desperation.

With Cang Wu backing him, what was there for him to be afraid of?

At that moment, Cang Wu discovered Yi Yun. He was in a corner of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s bottom. His body was covered in smoke and mist. Beside him were Snake Girl and a pagoda that was the height of a person.

“Let’s go!”

Cang Wu pulled Arched Brows and tore through the smoke. In a blink of an eye, he arrived at the bottom of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“Clang!”

Cang Wu landed on the heavy bronze ground. The bronze cauldron remained extremely hot due to remnants of the astral fire’s heat.

Cang Wu was not worried that Yi Yun would use the flames. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior was large that attempting to burn him with flames would be fruitless. He had ample space to dodge. The only way that flames could be used here was to be like Myriad God Patriarch. He had exerted external pressure that affected the interior by using a grand array to amass infinite astral fire to burn the cauldron for extended periods of time.

Upon seeing Cang Wu, Snake Girl was given a fright. She had no connection with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, after all, and did not know what was happening outside or what Yi Yun had done. So she could not help but be alarmed when Cang Wu suddenly appeared.

“It’s fine.” Yi Yun pointed to the God Advent Tower. “Go inside.”

At that moment, Snake Girl was not the only one alarmed. Arched Brows was taken aback when he saw Yi Yun. “Martial Uncle Cang Wu, could it be that you deliberately entered?”

Arched Brows panicked crazily when he was being sucked into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. The world seemed to turn topsy-turvy and he couldn’t understand his situation. Upon realizing Cang Wu’s goal, he was overjoyed.

“Hahaha! Martial Uncle Cang Wu, nice one there. This little bastard Yi Yun is only digging his own grave to suck you in as well. Now, I want to see how he dies!”

Arched Brows laughed out loudly. However, his voice turned softer as he laughed. He noticed that Yi Yun was looking at him as though he was looking at a retard.

“You… What are you looking at…” Yi Yun’s look made him panic. Although he had laughed in an unbridled fashion, he truly felt repressed by the very idea of Yi Yun. Many people had suffered under Yi Yun’s hand so Arched Brows lacked confidence in facing him.

“Just looking at a dead man,” said Yi Yun indifferently. “You sure are dumb. Be it me or Cang Wu, none of us will allow you to live on. Do you think Cang Wu is here to save you? He’s only here for the opportunities within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.”

“If he obtains anything, his first priority would be to figure out how to monopolize it. After that, he would get rid of you. Even if he kills you, he can just push the blame entirely to me. It’s a flawless plan.”

Yi Yun said this all very calmly, chilling Arched Brows’s heart.

Although he refused to believe it, he turned to look at Cang Wu and felt a calm and cold gaze. It put a chill in his heart.

“M… Martial Uncle Cang Wu.”

“Heh!” Cang Wu laughed. “Yi Yun, you sure can see through things. That explains how you were able to escape from Patriarch.”

“Martial Uncle Cang Wu, I… I…” When he noticed that Cang Wu spoke without reassuring him, Arched Brows began to break out into a cold sweat.

This feeling that his life or death had no importance made him feel like he was an ant to these people. It left Arched Brows shuddering in fear.

“It doesn’t take much to ‘see through’ such matters. Human nature is what it is. If you were not coveting the opportunities within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, why would you take such a great risk to enter the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and kill me?”

1287 - : Yi Yun and Cang Wu

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Cang Wu’s eyes flashed. Yi Yun appeared to have expected all of this to happen.

“Yi Yun, don’t tell me that my entering the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was part of your plan from the very beginning!”

Yi Yun gave an indifferent smile. He had indeed guessed that Cang Wu would take advantage of the opening to go inside. In fact, he had deliberately opened the cauldron’s lid to catch Cang Wu’s attention. Following that, he quickly attempted to seal the cauldron again so that Cang Wu would think he was afraid.

Working with such a small window, Cang Wu did not have the luxury of time to think things through. But when it came to warriors, ignoring the fact that Cang Wu was a particularly ambitious person, most people would choose to take a risk when faced with the choice of danger and opportunity. If they weren’t the daring type, they would not have embarked on the martial path to being with.

“Interesting!” Cang Wu sized Yi Yun up. “Your cultivation level seems to have reached the eighth-storey Dao Palace? If your cultivation level increases that fast, your nomological insights will not be able to keep up. That will lead to unstable foundations and bring you more harm than benefit. Do you naively think that you can kill me?”

“Won’t we know once I give it a try? I just had a sharp increase in cultivation level and there’s abundant energy overflowing in me. I’m in need of an opponent to test my strength. After shopping around, I decided on you!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he loosened his wrist. On the back of his right hand was a golden rune that flashed as though it was a golden tattoo.

“I say, person who’s about to die…”

Yi Yun looked at Arched Brows who was still seized by immense horror. Cang Wu’s aloofness towards him made him lack confidence. Although he wouldn’t admit it out loud, he had gradually come to the realization that Cang Wu would really kill him!

He never expected that his stroke of brilliance, to piss on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as a way to play to the crowd, would cost him his life.

With Yi Yun calling out to him, Arched Brows panicked. He couldn’t even bother with the phrase ‘person who’s about to die’ that Yi Yun used to address him.

“What… What is it?”

Yi Yun only gave a faint smile. Suddenly, his body shot forward like a ghost. His right hand coruscated gold as it pressed down on Arched Brows!

It was as though the massive Mt Tai was crashing down on him. It sent reverberations down Arched Brows’s heart as he rapidly retreated. Simultaneously, he conjured his protective Yuan Qi and produced a sword in his hand. He used all his strength to fend off Yi Yun’s strike.

Even though he knew he was utterly inadequate, he did not give up on putting up a desperate struggle.

“Martial Uncle Cang Wu, save me!” Arched Brows yelled in despair, but Yi Yun’s strike had already arrived.

“Peng!”

With an explosion, Arched Brow’s protective Yuan Qi was penetrated like a thin piece of paper, allowing Yi Yun to grab his arm.

“Ka-cha!”

Amid the clear sounds of a bone fracture, Arched Brows hollered tragically. His arm had been crushed by Yi Yun. Then, Yi Yun kicked him in the chest. And when his right hand lost its grip, his sword landed in Yi Yun’s hand.

“Lend me your sword!”

Yi Yun’s Mirage Snow had been taken away by Myriad God Patriarch, so he did not have a handy weapon at the moment. The reason why he had attacked Arched Brows first was for his sword.

At that moment, Arched Brows was sent flying from Yi Yun’s kick. His sternum cratered inwards and it was unknown how many ribs had been broken. His organs had already been crushed from the kick before the shattered bits of bone pierced them!

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Arched Brow spat a mouthful of blood. He was close to tears. If Yi Yun wanted his sword, he could have asked. He wouldn’t have dared to refuse him, but instead Yi Yun just attacked without a word, causing him to lose nearly half his life!

Yi Yun had the sword in hand but it had a mental imprint left behind by Arched Brows. It prevented him from using the sword immediately.

And at that moment, Cang Wu had appeared silently behind Yi Yun. He held a strange-looking weapon that resembled both a sword and a saber. Its body was windy with a sharp edge on one side and jagged teeth on the other. Its blade was black and lusterless as though it could absorb light. It thrust straight at Yi Yun’s rear!

“Weng!”

The blade vibrated and as the weapon approached, countless gray waves seemed to appear in the void. These waves resonated with the weapon’s jagged teeth so that space itself seemed to be ripped apart!

“Oh? This is?”

Upon seeing the gray waves, Yi Yun’s pupils contracted. He sensed a terrifying might coming from the gray waves.

Yi Yun retreated quickly but the blade brushed past his protective Yuan Qi.

Ka-cha!

A huge hole was torn apart in Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi. A mighty tearing force coursed through his broken protective Yuan Qi and passed into his body through his meridians. It caused wanton destruction within!

The force resembled countless leeches that chomped on Yi Yun’s body as though they were trying to tear him apart.

Yi Yun’s expression changed. This attack was truly odd.

“Hehe, that must not have felt good!”

Cang Wu licked his lips. He looked a little seductive, to begin with, and after holding his black weapon, he lost the dignified look of a sect master’s eldest disciple. He allowed himself to appear more evil and queer.

His long hair was sprawled and, coupled with the odd-looking weapon, it made him look like an evil demon.

“You did quite well. This weapon of mine is named Ghost Slayer. When typical people get hit by it, they instantly turn to dust, even if it’s just a tiny touch! But you actually managed to resist it. Very impressive. You are only at the eight-storey Dao Palace. Once you break into the Supremacy realm, even I won’t be your match. You have a limitless future ahead of you but, unfortunately, you are overly arrogant. You actually schemed to kill me. You have overestimated your strength.”

Cang Wu touched the jagged teeth on Ghost Slayer and spoke in a leisurely manner.

“Slicing… Strangulation…”

Yi Yun sensed the wanton gray energy in his body. It was a law that Cang Wu had command over. He had injected it into his weapon and opponents that fought him would have the nomological powers enter their bodies even from a slight laceration. The powers would tear their body apart from the inside.

Cang Wu had cultivated an extremely rare law. With him being a late-stage Supremacy, just his cultivation level alone would make his Slicing laws extremely powerful.

If Yi Yun had not consumed the Dragon Emperor Relic, which stimulated his vital potential and increased his physique tremendously, he would probably not have been able to withstand the Slicing laws.

“It’s just this and nothing more. Your laws might be strange but they’re no Great Dao of Supremacy. With this, becoming an ordinary Divine Lord is the limit. It’d be impossible for you to fuse with a Divine Lord Royal Seal. It’s no wonder you risked your life to obtain the opportunities within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. You probably heard the Patriarch mention the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ and had thoughts on it?” said Yi Yun sarcastically. He was deliberately making fun of Cang Wu’s weaknesses by pointing them out, striking at the core of his martial heart. Warriors that had reached the realm of Supremacy in their practice of martial arts all had their own opportunities. But even so, there were differences in opportunities. They could be greatly disparate.

Yi Yun felt that his cultivation technique was insufficient, but in fact the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ remnant pages he had was already a top cultivation technique that many coveted.

“What insolence!”

Cang Wu roared angrily but his voice came to a halt just as he spoke out. He could clearly sense that the gray nomological powers in Yi Yun’s body were quickly being destroyed.

Yi Yun’s body was like a cauldron with endless vitality. As he circulated his bloodline, the nomological powers were constantly ground away until they vanished.

This left a chill in Cang Wu’s heart. Yi Yun’s bloodline had such a unique characteristic?

“You are indeed different! Looks like your flesh and blood are treasures themselves. It’s no wonder Patriarch wanted to refine you. Today, I’ll kill you and refine your bloodline as a treasured medicine!”

Cang Wu bellowed as black waves emanated from his body. Ghost Slayer came cleaving down once again.

Yi Yun did not panic as he casually swept his hand across the sword. With a light ‘peng’ sound, the half-dead Arched Brows let out a wail from far away. The mental imprint he had left on the sword had been wiped away by Yi Yun.

“Whew!”

The sword slashed out like a divine dragon thrashing its tail.

Yi Yun’s strike did not use any laws. Instead, he stimulated his vital potential to inject powerful physical strength into his sword.

“Clang!”

The sound of metal colliding boomed. The immense black waves were shattered by Yi Yun’s strike!

However, Yi Yun also felt a strong reactive force. It left his lifeblood in chaos.

“It’s too light!”

Yi Yun knitted his brows. The sword was too light. After cultivating the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ his physical strength had unknowingly increased. It gave him the sudden desire for a heavier weapon.

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

The gray waves coalesced and surrounded Yi Yun.

“Ha!”

Yi Yun roared as he stimulated the Dragon Emperor bloodline within him. It caused his skin to produce golden patterns on its surface. They resembled the golden scales of a carp.

“Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon—Golden Carp!”

The Dragon Emperor, who was born out of the Chaos at the beginning of the Universe, appeared before all the other dragons that were his offspring.

The dragon had nine children and none of them actually resembled a dragon!

Dragon Emperor’s descendants were born from the union with other living beings. Although they had dragon blood flowing through their bodies, their forms were very different from that of a dragon.

In order to gain the ability to transform into a dragon, they had to experience tribulations and obtain enough opportunities to eventually stimulate their Dragon Emperor bloodline. Just like cultivators of the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ they would eventually be able to refine a dragon in their bodies!

A carp leaping through the dragon’s gate would be able to fly to the ends of the world!

A soaring serpent could imbibe mist and transform into a dragon after a billion years!

Be it the fish that swam through strong currents until it reached dragon’s gate and transformed, or the soaring serpent that imbibed the spiritual Qi of the world for a billion years to eventually survive through enough hardships to become a dragon, they were both exceedingly difficult processes.

Furthermore, as the number of descendants of Dragon Emperor increased, the bloodline thinned. The Dragon Emperor’s blood also went into remission, making it harder for them to transform into a dragon.

However, it was even harder for Yi Yun to transform into a dragon!

Due to the concentration of his bloodline, he was the farthest from the son of a dragon one could be. He needed to use divine items to ameliorate his bloodline. This was the process of cultivating the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’

The Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon allowed him to use his bloodline to emulate the sons of the dragon and stimulate their powers within his body.

The Golden Carp was one of the sons of the dragon.

A golden carp is but a common creature living in the pool, but it will change into a dragon upon facing a storm!

By using the Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon, Yi Yun was emulating the Golden Carp’s strength through the Dragon Emperor bloodline in him.

This was the only stance that Yi Yun had learned from the Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon.

Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon—Golden Carp!

It stimulated Yi Yun’s vital potential, allowing him to raise his offensive strength severalfold in a short period of time. Even the burning of life essence was inferior to it!

1288 - : Golden Carp

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the power of the Golden Carp, Yi Yun felt his Yuan Qi overflowing in abundance. His flames of vitality that appeared burned like a sun that emitted unlimited power. These energies were so potent that they augmented the sword in Yi Yun’s hand.

“Weng!”

The sword singed as it vibrated violently as though it could not withstand the terrifying energy imbued into it. At the same time, a black wheel appeared out of thin air behind Yi Yun. It was none other than the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. The law of Major Destruction was a supreme law when used for attacking. Coupled with the Golden Carp’s augmentation, it could decimate anything in its path.

“Ka-cha!”

Yi Yun’s sword collided with Cang Wu’s Ghost Slayer. The gray waves that lingered around Ghost Slayer were utterly disintegrated by the Major Destruction laws!

The art of Slicing was similar to the Major Destruction laws, but Destruction was a complete annihilation that erased the very existence of objects. As for the art of Slicing, all it did was strangle a person and at most dice them to pieces.

It was not that Cang Wu’s art of Slicing lacked strength, but that Yi Yun’s Major Destruction laws were one of the two supreme Great Dao in the Universe. It was completely incomparable!

“What!?”

Cang Wu was greatly startled. He never expected that his Slicing laws would disintegrate instantly upon clashing with Yi Yun’s blade.

As he saw the black wheel crashing down on him, annihilating the space around him—destroying any form of energy upon contact—he felt that it resembled the legendary black holes. They could wipe out everything!

“Poison Demon!” Cang Wu bellowed.

As he retreated rapidly, a green earthen jar flew out from his body. He smacked the jar abruptly and it released a green smoke. It was massive and resembled the smoke of the battlefield. The smoke manifested into a grotesque green face. It bared its teeth and claws as though it came from a devilish world.

This was a treasure Cang Wu had obtained from an ancient mystic realm. The jar had been sealed since a time long forgotten. It was ownerless and sealed within it was a highly poisonous smoke. Such a smoke could corrode Yuan Qi, life, and even the soul! Back when Cang Wu first obtained it, he was unsure of its characteristics and nearly died from it.

The only thing that the poisonous fumes could not corrode was the green jar. After being sealed for such a long period of time, the smoke gained a small amount of sentience. Many divine objects could gain sentience. The smoke had produced a grotesque devil that Cang Wu called Poison Demon.

Cang Wu was not the owner of Poison Demon; all he did was sign a contract with Poison Demon. He brought Poison Demon out of the ancient ruin, and every time he used Poison Demon, Cang Wu had to pay a corresponding price. Because of this, Cang Wu would not open the jar until it was absolutely necessary.

“Oh? This is…”

When Yi Yun saw the smoke baring its fangs and claws, his heart chilled. What was this thing? He could sense life from the toxic smoke. For it to produce life was a testament to its toxicity.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

As the poisonous smoke flew over, space itself was nearly corroded. Although it could be said that the space within the pocket world was not stable, Yi Yun still found it alarming that the poison was so toxic that it could corrode space. If the toxic smoke was much larger, it could even corrode an entire pocket world.

Cang Wu was overjoyed as he watched the toxic smoke slowly envelop Yi Yun.

“Die, little bastard. I’ll corrode you into a skeleton!” Cang Wu said ferociously. He clenched his right fist, causing the toxic smoke to engulf Yi Yun.

“Xie’er!”

With a thought, the Heretical God Fire Seed flew out.

Immense Heretical God flames emanated out, manifesting into a petite and adorable girl. Ling Xie’er looked at the devil that covered half the sky with its flailing claws and bared fangs. She showed no signs of panic as she immediately moved her tiny hands, gathering the black flames to her side.

Their bodies were completely disproportionate in size. The devil roared as it came biting at Ling Xie’er.

The toxic smoke was a divine item that had gained sentience but so was Ling Xie’er. She was born out of the Heretical God Fire Seed, sealed in a worldly array in the Sun Burial Sandsea for hundreds of millions of years.

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

The toxic smoke and Heretical God Fire Seed clashed. Large amounts of black flames blanketed the pocket world. When the toxic smoke was incinerated by the Heretical God Fire Seed, it let out sizzling sounds as portions of the toxic smoke were burned into nothingness. The moment the toxic smoke’s devil bit down on the Heretical God Fire Seed, it let out a tragic cry. Its entire mouth had been burned.

What sort of fire was this!?

It was alarmed. It was a manifestation of worldly laws that had existed for hundreds of millions of years. A fire seed that was in the form of a young girl should have been swallowed by it easily. However, it never expected the flames to be so horrifying. They burned right through the toxic smoke and reached its actual body.

Painful! It was too painful! The pain struck at its very soul. It felt that its powers were rapidly vanishing, making it panic. It roared, realizing it was not Ling Xie’er’s match, and tried to escape. However, Cang Wu held the jar where it could hide. It wouldn’t get far.

“What?”

Cang Wu was alarmed. He seldom conjured the toxic smoke but when he did use it, his opponents would usually be corroded to the point of flesh and blood just falling off their bones. Following that, even their bones would disintegrate. But today, Yi Yun, a Dao Palace realm junior, had conjured black flames that easily burned through the toxic smoke.

The flame was too terrifying. Cang Wu suddenly remembered that back when Yi Yun was trapped in the Nine Cosmic Grand Astral Incinerating Array by the patriarch, with the astral flames being augmented by numerous experts, Yi Yun appeared unaffected by it. He had even derided them. Could that have had something to do with the flames?

Cang Wu did not have the luxury of time to think it through, for at that moment Yi Yun had torn through the Heretical God Fire Seed and was coming for his life! Poison Demon had been defeated, paving the way for Yi Yun to clash directly with Cang Wu.

Cang Wu retreated rapidly as he took out a red blood banner from his interspatial ring and threw it out. The blood banner coruscated with sanguine light, an indication that it had been fed large quantities of fresh blood.

Warriors that cultivated in unorthodox techniques would sacrifice large numbers of innocent lives to refine a blood banner or a soul banner. Cang Wu was not one of those warriors, but he had once killed a Supremacy that cultivated in such unorthodox techniques. He later took that Supremacy’s blood banner as his own. Over the years, Cang Wu had killed numerous enemies. He used their flesh and blood as sacrifices to the blood banner.

Now that Yi Yun had torn through Poison Demon with the Heretical God Fire Seed, there was nothing to stop him. Cang Wu threw out the blood banner, and it transformed into a blood cloud that spanned ten thousand feet in a bid to block Yi Yun’s strike.

At that moment, Ling Xie’er was embroiled with Poison Demon and was unable to help Yi Yun. Moments before Yi Yun slammed into the seemingly endless blood cloud, a thunderous shriek emitted from Yi Yun’s body. It was as though a True Dragon had awoken in him.

He did not strike out with his sword, but instead took a deep breath. His chest expanded like a balloon as the power of his lifeforce gathered in his dantian. When it reached its limit, Yi Yun suddenly opened his mouth and emitted a bellow that contained all his might!

Roar—!

A dragon’s roar transmitted out of Yi Yun’s dantian and filled every corner of the pocket world!

This was the Truths of the Ascending Dragon from the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique.’ It stimulated the Dragon Emperor bloodline within the body and issued out a roar that could shake the world and shatter stars!

Back when Yi Yun digested the Dragon Emperor Relic, he had released a dragon’s roar in the Concealed Dragon Cauldron. It caused the surrounding Myriad God Ridge disciples’ blood to surge. The weaker ones like Arched Brows even spat out blood as a result. Following that, it forced open the Concealed Dragon Cauldron’s lid, caused the entire astral fire array to shatter, and cracked many of the personal disciples’ dantians!

Back then, Yi Yun’s roar had emanated in every direction without any focus. But now, his roar was concentrated with the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique,’ materializing into golden Words of Truth that blasted straight at Cang Wu!

Yi Yun felt refreshed from that bellow. In his previous battles, he would rely on his laws and sword techniques. Although they were powerful, he had never felt the ardor and zeal that came from a roar that was powered by the full stimulation of his vital potential through the use of his physical body’s strength.

Boom!

Yi Yun’s bellow dissipated the blood cloud that spanned ten thousand feet. The roar did not lose momentum as it continued on towards Cang Wu. Cang Wu felt massive reverberations run through his body as his protective Yuan Qi quaked violently like a tumbling kite in a squall. Cang Wu was alarmed. There was such an attack!?

Bouts between warriors were usually a competition of laws and moves. Yet, Yi Yun had attacked with a roar. Furthermore, his roar contained such immense power. The roar was not as simple as a sound wave that was formed from the air. No matter how strong a basic sound wave was, it could at best rupture eardrums. However, Yi Yun’s roar was a sound wave formed from Yuan Qi. Contained within was the supreme might of a dragon. The roar’s powers made Cang Wu’s lifeblood quake in a resonating fashion. His organs felt like they were about to explode!

Cang Wu retreated in panic. And at that moment, Yi Yun took another deep breath. His body expanded in a more exaggerated manner than before. His bones, flesh and fascial tissue expanded outwards, as though his entire body had increased twice in size.

“Roar—!”

As though the world was rent asunder, with the crashing of tidal waves through space, Yi Yun’s voice manifested into something corporeal. There was a faint phantom image of a divine dragon within the sound blast! The dragon was roaring, injected with Yi Yun’s surging vital potential! Yi Yun’s roar had truly produced a dragon. A divine dragon had flown out of Yi Yun’s body, and it charged straight at Cang Wu.

“Chi La!”

With an ear-piercing sound of torn cloth, the blood banner in Cang Wu’s hand failed to withstand the shout. It tore apart! The countless blood specters and ghouls that were trapped in the banner were reduced to ash by Yi Yun’s bellow. After so long, they were released from the suffering of being confined by the banner.

As he was forced into a corner by the roar, Cang Wu struck out with Ghost Slayer with all his might, causing Ghost Slayer to emanate black waves. He had never experienced such an attack before. All he could do was inject his Yuan Qi into Ghost Slayer and attempt to use his Slicing laws to resist Yi Yun’s Truths of the Ascending Dragon.

“Boom!”

The Slicing laws clashed with the Truths of the Ascending Dragon. The Yuan Qi sound wave was constantly sliced apart, dissipating most of its strength. However, the mighty True Dragon phantom image in the Truths of the Ascending Dragon continued its charge into Cang Wu’s body.

Cang Wu’s dantian quaked as he spat out a mouthful of blood. He was injured! At the same time, Yi Yun came right in front of Cang Wu with a sword in hand!

“Die!”

Yi Yun thrust out his sword, aimed straight at Cang Wu’s heart. He did not give Cang Wu any chance! Cang Wu felt reverberations through his soul when he saw Yi Yun’s strike coming at him!

Why? Why was he still able to produce such a powerful strike?

The roar from before was powered by Yi Yun’s lifeblood. It had stimulated his vital potential, and the strike he was using now was powered by laws. The two forces did not conflict and so Yi Yun was able to use all his strength for both attacks.

But Cang Wu was different. He had used his Yuan Qi to withstand the Truths of the Ascending Dragon. Having used up all his strength on that strike, he was a spent force and was a lot weaker.

Cang Wu defended with Ghost Slayer, sending gray ripples out. Cang Wu’s Slicing laws were still there but much weaker than before. And at the same time, Yi Yun conjured a 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence in the sword. Inside the black spinning wheel, countless gods and demons appeared from within! As the Slicing laws were greatly weakened by the lack of Yuan Qi, how could it defend against the Universe’s Great Dao of Supremacy that was the Major Destruction forces?

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The gray waves were crushed by the spinning 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. Even the sword in Yi Yun’s hand shook violently. The power of Major Destruction was so immense that even his own weapon could not withstand it.

Yi Yun sensed the sword’s quivering. Although Arched Brows’s sword was a treasure that the Song family spent a lot of resources on, it was still unable to withstand Yi Yun’s power.

“Hold on a little while. If you withstand the Major Destruction laws, it will be a baptism for your body as a sword. You will undergo a metamorphosis!”

Yi Yun roared as the indomitable strike came thrusting forward. The strike tore through the void, eviscerating everything in its path. Cang Wu no longer had the means to withstand Yi Yun’s strike. Powered by a force that could destroy all entities, the sword tore through the last bit of Cang Wu’s protective Yuan Qi like it was ripping through a portrait. Following that, Cang Wu’s chest was penetrated!

“Puah!”

The blade pierced his body and came out his back. Cang Wu’s body was injected with the powers of Destruction, grinding his heart into dust instantly!

With no heart to hold it in, Cang Wu’s blood sprayed out uncontrollably. Cang Wu was petrified as he looked at the sword jutting out of his chest before looking at Yi Yun again. His face was filled with disbelief. In that moment, time seemed to freeze for Cang Wu.

At death’s doorstep, countless memories flashed through Cang Wu’s mind. He was extremely ambitious and had endured his time in the Myriad God Ridge for thousands of years. He was bent on becoming a mighty figure of the Calm Sea and eventually step out of it and into the Sinkhole. He wanted to be a top expert that could influence the Sinkhole!

Just fifteen minutes ago, he had seen the Ascending Dragon Cauldron open for an instant. He believed that he was just an arm’s length away from his life’s goal, but he never expected that the decision to enter the Ascending Dragon Cauldron would result in his death.

“Is this how it ends for me…”

Through the din of the chaotic Yuan Qi storms, Cang Wu clearly heard the sound of his blood flowing out. The excruciating pain from the empty cavity in his chest where his heart should have been left him suffocated.

Yi Yun’s strike had destroyed all of Cang Wu’s ambitions with its Major Destruction laws.

Cang Wu felt indignant and pained. However, none of it had any further meaning. Yi Yun sliced up diagonally, slashing open Cang Wu’s throat and jaw, and releasing the sword from Cang Wu’s body!

The sword was stained with fresh blood. Yi Yun did not look at Cang Wu. Instead, he looked at the sword. It was already filled with cracks. Yi Yun shook his head. “You are still too ordinary.”

When Cang Wu heard that, his soul sea flinched. He knew that Yi Yun’s words were not meant for him but for the sword. Yi Yun did not even look at him as he died. That was because Yi Yun did not even treat him as a powerful opponent.

This dismissiveness made Cang Wu feel extremely depressed. He had worked hard for thousands of years and yet his death lacked any meaning. He wasn’t even shown respect by his opponent.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

At that moment, the sword in Yi Yun’s hand shattered, causing remnants of it to fall from the sky.

The sword was ultimately unable to withstand a clash between entities at the level of Supremacy. Over time, a weapon could undergo a transformation after being forged by supreme laws. This was why the weapons intrinsic to some mighty figures would be nourished by them for millions of years, eventually becoming a peerless divine weapon.

The scene of the sword shattering, sending out its scattering fragments, was the final thing Cang Wu saw in the world. Most of his organs and meridians had been destroyed by the Major Destruction laws. His flames of vitality were extinguished and what was left of his body plummeted down from the sky, with the sword fragments as companions for his final journey…

1289 - : Cang Wu’s Death

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Peng!”

Cang Wu’s lifeless body dropped listlessly to the bottom of the bronze cauldron.

Yi Yun also descended and with a beckon of his hand, Cang Wu’s interspatial ring flew to him. Yi Yun was rather interested in Cang Wu’s possessions.

Other than that, Yi Yun also saw a jar beside Cang Wu’s hand. It was blackish-green in color and looked like a piece of inferior-grade pottery made by ordinary commoners. It appeared inconspicuous.

Yi Yun held the jar in hand and found it very heavy. The small jar seemed to weigh more than fifty kilograms. There were engraved patterns on the side of the jar that resembled a swimming fish circling around an eye.

Yi Yun turned his head and saw that the Poison Demon was still in the sky.

It had bared its fangs and flashed its claws previously. Now, it was barely holding up under Ling Xie’er’s relentless assault. Cang Wu’s death had not hurt it in any way.

When it noticed that Yi Yun was looking at him and that his master was dead, coupled with the adorable little girl who was oddly as mighty as a tiger, the Poison Demon felt despair. It desperately tried to escape but the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was sealed shut. Its interior could fit a ten-thousand-meter mountain but with the jar in Yi Yun’s hand, where else could it escape to?

“Xie’er, hold on a minute,” Yi Yun said. Xie’er immediately stopped her attacks. Once the boisterous Heretical Fire retreated, the Poison Demon’s true body was revealed. It had been charred black in several spots and looked miserable.

“Come down here!” Yi Yun commanded.

Poison Demon seemed to have an idea as it roared a few times, acting as though it did not understand human speech.

“Brother Yi Yun wants you down there. Did you not hear him?” Ling Xie’er’s tiny face turned sullen as the Heretical God Fire Seed blazed in her hand and slowly crept towards Poison Demon.

Poison Demon was truly afraid as it hurriedly said, “Don’t do it! Don’t! I’m going down right now!”

As Poison Demon spoke, its body shrunk into the shape of a black tiger as it landed in front of Yi Yun.

It was many times bigger than an ordinary tiger. Although it looked ferocious, it had a crafty pair of eyes. It was a little afraid of Yi Yun, and it was secretly staring at the jar in Yi Yun’s hand.

Yi Yun played with the jar. He sensed that the earthen jar was something extraordinary. It was definitely a huge opportunity for Cang Wu to receive it.

“What is your origin?” Yi Yun asked Poison Demon.

“You could say that I do not have any origins. I’m just a jar of poison that gained sentience.”

Poison Demon gave a simple answer. Its voice was strange, bright but deep. It seemed to echo in the ears like metal colliding.

“In that case, you are useless. Xie’er, burn it!”

Yi Yun sealed the earthen jar’s lid shut and beckoned to Xie’er.

“Alright, Brother Yi Yun.” Xie’er was not vague at all. She would set anyone ablaze if it was what Yi Yun wanted.

“Wait! Wait!” Poison Demon jumped in fright as it hurriedly said, “No, you will regret it if you do something like that.”

“You are terribly weak and you do not have any spectacular origins. What’s there to regret?” Yi Yun said nonchalantly.

Poison Demon turned depressed upon hearing that. “Human, you call me weak? It’s only because that lass is too powerful! Besides, fire counters poison, to begin with. Even I was almost burnt to nothing. If it were any ordinary poisonous entity, they would have been burned to nothingness by that monstrous lass.”

Poison Demon felt disgruntled. Yi Yun smiled faintly. What he said was entirely true. Fire was strong against poison and the Heretical God Fire Seed’s origins were terrifying. Even the Empyrean Cleansing Flame had been devoured by it. For Poison Demon to last that long in a battle with Ling Xie’er was actually an impressive feat.

Yi Yun examined the earthen jar in his hand again. The eye that was surrounded by the fish captured his attention. The more he looked at it, the more terrifying it appeared. It seemed to be an infinite abyss that could suck in a human’s soul.

“A word of caution, don’t look at it for too long,” said Poison Demon suddenly. “That pattern is extremely malevolent. Look at it for too long, and your soul will be damaged. You’ll find your mind and soul getting stuck in it, losing yourself in the process.”

“Oh? So… you were not a part of this earthen jar originally?” Yi Yun looked at Poison Demon. If Poison Demon was one with the jar, it would have been under Poison Demon’s control. It wouldn’t necessitate such a warning.

“Since you are so informed, do you know the origins of this jar?” asked Yi Yun again.

Poison Demon was taken aback. It never expected that a passing comment would allow Yi Yun to infer this much. It was indeed not related to the jar. “Since it was a vessel for my esteemed self, I naturally understand it a little.”

“Did I ask you about your origins?”

Yi Yun pursued the issue. Poison Demon did not seem willing to mention the origins of the jar. It hesitated, not saying a word. Yi Yun frowned. “There is a limit to my patience.”

Poison Demon finally gave up and said, “It’s actually an urn for ashes…”

“Ashes?”

Yi Yun was surprised. He never expected that the jar was for storing ashes. Despite the extraordinary intricacies of the jar, it was used to store ashes. Yi Yun could not say who would go to that much trouble.

“Do you know its owner?”

“That I’m truly unsure of.” Poison Demon shook his head.

“Then, how did you enter the jar?” Yi Yun asked again. If the urn had been placed in a mighty figure’s grave, it would have been sealed. It wouldn’t be easy to enter the urn at all.

“I was inside it, to begin with. The mighty figure who originally owned it died in battle. The person that fought him was even more powerful and was skilled in the art of Great Poison. After the mighty figure died, he was cremated but traces of the poison were left in his ashes. After a long period of time, the poison gained sentience and I was born.”

Poison Demon explained its origins without missing a beat. It was unwilling to mention it as it seemed inglorious to be born from an urn of ashes. Back when it told Cang Wu of its origins, his account was that he was formerly a Godly Monarch.

But in front of Yi Yun, it finally decided to give an honest account. Bragging could end its life.

“To think he was poisoned to death…”

Yi Yun gasped lightly. He never expected Poison Demon to have such origins. A mighty figure that used such an urn would have an extraordinary background. An existence that could kill him would only be more terrifying.

It was hard to imagine the existence that was capable of using the art of Great Poison. After the mighty figure had been poisoned to death, he was cremated. The flames that could cremate such a mighty figure’s corpse had to be some extraordinary fire. Yet, the poison was not burned away and lived on in the ashes. It even managed to gain sentience after hundreds of millions of years.

“Do you know who the person that used the art of Great Poison was?” asked Yi Yun. He knew that poison was not limited to poison from plants or animals. The art of Great Poison was recorded in the divine alchemist’s notes. When a world, or even the universe, was on the cusp of destruction, there would be the emergence of Apocalyptic Fumes. Apocalyptic Fumes were actually a form of poison that could corrode a world.

Poison Demon shook its head and said, “I do not know. Before I gained sentience, I was always in a primordial state of chaos. I do not remember those events in detail…”

1290 - : Earthen Jar

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun did not doubt Poison Demon’s words. One would not have any consciousness before developing sentience, so it was natural that it did not know who the two combating parties were.

Yi Yun looked at Poison Demon and asked, “In that case, did you absorb the energy within the skeleton?”

In fact, although Poison Demon was born out of the art of Great Poison, it now had little to do with the supreme existence. After all, the poison had undergone the refinement of divine fire and spent hundreds of millions of years absorbing the worldly essence and the energy within the mighty figure’s skeleton. It had long undergone metamorphic changes.

Even that person that used the art of Great Poison would not have expected that the poison he used would gain sentience after hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Such an event required all sorts of fortuitous occurrences.

The black tiger nodded. With so much time having passed, the ashes in the earthen jar had dissipated completely. A portion of its energy had fused into Poison Demon, allowing its body to have an insidious, specterish aura.

“Then you truly live up the description of being insidiously poisonous.” Yi Yun smiled. He flipped his hand and put away the jar. It was definitely not some simple funeral urn. It could even be an artifact that a mighty figure used back when he was alive.

“Hey, how do you plan on dealing with me?”

After explaining his origins, the black tiger turned listless. It drooped its head and looked to be dispirited. Just Ling Xie’er alone could destroy it, much less Yi Yun.

Yi Yun stroked his chin. From the point of view of people that followed orthodox teachings, Poison Demon was no doubt a sinister entity. But Yi Yun did not mind it. He said, “If you’re willing to be used by me, I can nurture you but you have to sign a soul contract.”

Yi Yun did not intend to destroy Poison Demon. It had proved its extraordinariness by being able to gain sentience. Furthermore, for such a divine item to be born, it had to undergo hundreds of millions of years of evolution coupled with countless fortuitous opportunities. It would be quite a pity to destroy it after it had gone through such an arduous process.

“Sign a soul contract? What are the terms?” Poison Demon was very careful. Although it was afraid of death, it was unwilling to just sign a contract that handed control of its soul to another party. That would be no different from being a puppet.

“Very simple. You just cannot betray me. Serve me for ten thousand years and, after that, you’ll have the freedom to decide on what to do next.”

Poison Demon was unlike Ling Xie’er. Yi Yun trusted her completely but did not trust Poison Demon at all.

“Ten thousand years?” Poison Demon’s eyes lit up. To the long-lived Poison Demon, ten thousand years was nothing. Besides, as long as it did not betray Yi Yun, it would have freedom of its own mind and soul. The terms of the contract were also rather relaxed, so it would not be used and abused like a puppet.

Poison Demon clenched its teeth and said, “I accept.”

“Alright!”

Yi Yun immediately conjured a soul mark that landed in Poison Demon’s soul. It did not resist and willingly accepted it.

Yi Yun was adept at alchemy and the ‘Dragon Emperor Technique’ required him to seek out materials to refine pills. Perhaps Poison Demon would give him some unexpected help with that…

…

At that moment, the Myriad God Ridge disciples were still waiting for news of Myriad God Patriarch. However, the spatial node remained silent. No one had returned.

Many people were also paying close attention to the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Unfortunately, their perceptions could not penetrate the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, so none of them knew what was happening inside.

“It’s been thirty minutes. I wonder how Martial Uncle Cang Wu fared in there.”

People were curious as to why Cang Wu was spending so much time inside the cauldron. Logically speaking, he should have finished Yi Yun a while ago.

An elder from the Song family said, “Cang Wu has probably destroyed Yi Yun, and now he’s examining the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. It’s unknown what he can figure out. Although I don’t think Cang Wu can refine the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for himself, he can at least get the opportunities within. It really makes me envious.”

The elder chuckled. Although there would be no benefits left for his Song family, Yi Yun’s death was enough to alleviate the Song and Zhang families’ anger.

Just as the elder finished speaking, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron trembled gently. Something was expelled from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

People looked carefully. It was a corpse that was covered in blood. It was an unsightly mess.

“Is it that little bastard’s corpse?”

The Song family elder was delighted. However, when the corpse landed on the ground, he and the rest quickly clammed up.

Although the corpse was a mangled mess, they could clearly tell that the corpse belonged to Cang Wu from his build, attire, and severely distorted face!

“M… Martial Uncle Cang Wu!?” A personal disciple said in utter disbelief.

“Impossible… Martial Uncle Cang Wu has been killed? Did that punk do it?”

People found it unbelievable. Yi Yun was only at the fifth-storey Dao Palace realm while Cang Wu was a late-stage Supremacy!

Even if Yi Yun had obtained opportunities within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and made a breakthrough, it should’ve been impossible for him to defeat a late-stage Supremacy!

“He’s dead…”

The Myriad God Sect Master scanned Cang Wu’s corpse with his perception. Cang Wu’s heart was gone so he could not be any more dead.

This made his expression sink. The way the situation had so quickly devolved into chaos was extremely terrible. Myriad God Patriarch was being pursued by a mysterious old man while Cang Wu entered the cauldron to kill Yi Yun, only to end up being killed by Yi Yun.

“That punk has probably really refined the Dragon Emperor Relic. In addition, he has digested and absorbed it!” The old woman said. She found it unimaginable that the Dragon Emperor Relic that the Myriad God Patriarch found difficult to refine would be easily refined by a young junior like Yi Yun. Furthermore, he had consumed it in such a short period of time.

“If Cang Wu isn’t his match, then doesn’t that mean that most of us are not that punk’s match?”

Many Elders came to this realization. Even as Elders that had lived for tens of thousands of years, they were still weaker than Yi Yun. They felt a sense of defeat.

Compared to Yi Yun, they were not only weaker than him, they had a shorter life than Yi Yun. Their future prospects were worse than his and they were closer to death than him. This comparison left a bitter taste in their mouths.

“Sect Master, what should we do?” A personal disciple asked.
Yi Yun was inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, and outside there was an expert. They were suffering from both internal and external troubles. The situation was extremely dire.

Myriad God Sect Master also felt helpless. He could not think of any solutions but, just as he was about to speak, his body quivered and immediately, his expression changed drastically!

At the same time, the old woman beside him convulsed violently. She hugged her head with her hands and couldn’t even stand straight.

“Sect Master, what’s happening to the both of you?”

The people present panicked. At that moment, the old woman cried out and collapsed to the ground. The color in her face had drained and she was convulsing all over. It seemed like she was suffering from epilepsy.

The Myriad God Ridge disciples were dumbfounded from shock. In the present situation, both the Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman were their mental pillars of support. Now, the both of them had gone crazy simultaneously, with them completely unaware of the cause. Everyone was scared out of their wits.

1291 - : Poison Demon’s Origins

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Huh? What is happening to Myriad God Sect Master and that old woman?”

Inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, Yi Yun saw the old duo convulsing as though they were suffering from epilepsy. Furthermore, their vital and soul strengths were rapidly reducing.

The changes happened too suddenly. It made many of the Myriad God Ridge disciples panic.

“Senior Brother, quickly take this sacred rejuvenation medicine.”

A Myriad God Ridge Elder took out a divine pill, one that he really treasured. If this were any other time, he would not have been willing to spare it for someone else’s sake. But now they were trapped in a pocket world and sealed in by Myriad God Patriarch. He could only pin his hopes on the elderly duo.

Myriad God Sect Master swallowed the medicine with great difficulty, but it did little to improve his condition. His vitality was still dissipating.

“Senior Brother, what’s going on?”

The Elders asked anxiously. Myriad God Sect Master’s eyes were turbid and he could not speak a word.

At that moment, an elderly voice sounded from the skies—

“Don’t bother wasting your effort. It’s useless to try and treat them. The slave seals that have been planted in them have shattered. Their vitalities are beginning to wither away.”

Everyone felt a jolt as they looked up. They saw that the spatial node that was high in the sky had been ruptured, transforming into a huge black hole. A gray-shirted elder strode out of the hold and he was obviously the one who just spoke.

“Peng!”

The elder landed on the ground, drawing everyone’s gaze. He looked ravaged and his clothes were tattered. Clearly, he had just experienced an intense battle.

When the Divine Lord Elders saw the newcomer, their expressions changed drastically.

“It’s him! That mysterious person who was pursuing the Patriarch!”

These Divine Lords had accompanied Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman to aid in the battle, and as a result, saw Old Snake’s face.

They naturally shuddered in fear when faced with the person who could send the Myriad God Patriarch running in defeat.

“He… He can match the Patriarch?” Some of the personal disciples were shocked beyond words when they heard that. The old fellow in front of them did not have any Yuan Qi fluctuations emitting from his body. He actually seemed to have a very normal foundation. From the looks of it, he was an old scammer that had fallen off the martial path. It was unbelievable that he had such strength.

“He’s unfathomable. Do not be fooled by his appearance.” an Elder warned. His and the other elders’ foreheads were beginning to break out into a cold sweat.

What the old geezer had said was alarming. Myriad God Sect Master was a slave of Myriad God Patriarch. They found it unbelievable but the tragic states of the Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman were proof of his words. This meant that Myriad God Patriarch had likely died at the hands of the old geezer!

Old Snake looked at the Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman and chuckled. He wasn’t exactly a sympathetic man, so he thrived on the schadenfreude of watching the elderly duo’s suffering.

He knew that the duo was already on the brink of death. They had no means to resist at all. Even if no one did a thing to them, they would slowly die in pain. Perhaps they might survive out of sheer luck, but they would lose all their strength.

“You… you… undying old fart…”

When the dying old woman saw Old Snake, she seemed to gain enough strength for a sudden last spurt of energy as she gnashed her teeth and cursed.

But at that moment, Old Snake suddenly stepped forward. His foot, enveloped in golden light, flashed like lightning as it stepped down on the old woman’s dantian.

“Peng!”

With an explosion, the old woman’s body jolted. Her dantian had been completely shattered and her energy collapsed. Her eyes protruded out as blood filled the vessels in them. She indignantly stretched out her arm, hoping to grab at something but eventually, her arm drooped down.

Following that, Old Snake was in for a penny, in for a pound, as he stomped down onto the Myriad God Sect Master’s dantian.

“Peng!”

Another explosion boomed. Myriad God Sect Master’s body curled up like a shrimp. His body convulsed violently as a bloody foam spewed from his mouth. He died right on the spot.

The elderly duo that had wielded firm control of the Myriad God Ridge for so long died in such an offhanded manner.

The Myriad God Ridge disciples around them were shuddering in fear. However, no one dared to try and stop Old Snake. A person that could make the Myriad God Patriarch run was not someone they could fight.

“This old geezer is terrifying. I wonder how he will deal with us…”

Many people took a subconscious step back. Against the old monster in front of them, there was nowhere to run in the sealed-off pocket world.

Old Snake coughed, his face showing signs of exhaustion. He turned his head to look around before finally landing his eyes on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. “Kid, aren’t you coming out yet!?”

Just as his voice faded, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron trembled and a stream of light flew out from the cauldron’s mouth, landing stably on the ground.

When the light faded, it transformed into the figure of a youth. It was none other than Yi Yun!

At that moment, Yi Yun, who had just broken through to the eighth-storey Dao Palace and battled Cang Wu, was like a lustrous unsheathed blade. He gave off an oppressive feeling.

“Senior, you are indeed powerful. Even the Myriad God Patriarch isn’t your match!” Yi Yun said with a smile.

At the most critical moment, Old Snake had secured his safety with one battle. However, Yi Yun noticed through his Purple Crystal’s energy vision that Old Snake was greatly drained after that battle. The exhaustion he had was not feigned. He was truly in a terrible state.

“Kid, you were off refining the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for yourself while this old man did all the hard work. All the benefits have gone to you,” Old Snake said unhappily with pouted lips when he saw Yi Yun come out of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

He noticed that Yi Yun’s cultivation level had reached the eighth-storey Dao Palace and knew that Yi Yun had obtained great benefits.

Yi Yun chuckled and said, “Senior, I had no other choice. It was you who said that the Myriad God Patriarch was not your match and that you had control of the situation. Who knew that something like this would happen? If I wasn’t smart enough to create a way out of this dire situation, I would probably have been refined into medicine and eaten.”

“When the time came, I knew you wouldn’t have been able to find the pocket world’s entrance. That old bastard would have refined the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and he would be more than enough to defeat you. And all would be lost. Furthermore, when you were fighting with that old bastard, didn’t I use the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to destroy his Grand Sanguine Killing Array, which helped you greatly?”

When Yi Yun said those words, Old Snake felt embarrassed. He had truly been careless. The Myriad God Patriarch had nearly succeeded and, if that had happened, not only would he fail to get any benefits, he would also have led Yi Yun and his disciple to their deaths.

“Kid, what darn trick did you use to survive?” Old Snake asked out of curiosity.

He did not know how Yi Yun had sidestepped an old monster that was far more powerful than him in a completely sealed-off pocket world. It was indeed fascinating. If it were anyone else, they would absolutely be dead.

“I’ll tell you in a while. This is for you.” Yi Yun suddenly waved his hand. Something was thrown at Old Snake.

Old Snake caught it and looked at it. It was an azure-colored fruit.

The fruit was crystalline like jade and had a rich fragrance. It looked extremely appetizing.

“This is…” Old Snake’s eyes widened. “A Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit!?”

1292 - : Old Snake Returns

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The Nine Revolutions Azure Tree grows an inch a year. After a million years, it can grow as tall as a mountain, and after a billion years its crown will reach into the cosmos. It’s one of the rarest herbs that can extend one’s life. Kid, you actually managed to obtain this?”

Old Snake was indeed knowledgeable. He recognized the fruit at a glance.

“That old child was the one that wanted to refine it into a medicine. If I had not taken it, this fruit would probably be in his stomach now.”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Old Snake laughed. “That lass Chenxue sure has a good eye. She didn’t think wrong of you. This fruit is really something great!”

Old Snake cherished life. He did not feel like he had lived long enough so any herb that could extend his life was something he prized. Especially a divine herb like the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit, for not only could it extend his life, it could even replenish his vitality. It would even help ease the injuries he had just recently received.

Old Snake played with the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit and then threw it straight into his mouth. He effortlessly swallowed the fist-sized fruit whole.

Yi Yun was dumbfounded seeing this. “You ate it just like that? Aren’t you going to refine it into a pill?”

“Eat? How could I bear eating it like that?” Old Snake swallowed the fruit with some difficulty before muttering, “I just swallowed the fruit whole and put it into my dantian. I’ll use its vital essence to slowly nourish my dantian’s wounds. In the future, I’ll refine it gradually.”

As Old Snake spoke, he noticed Yi Yun giving him a strange look. “Kid, what are you looking at!?”

“I say… you swallowed such a large fruit whole. Don’t tell me you are really a snake…”

Yi Yun had been joking, hoping to nip at Old Snake but he never expected Old Snake to roll his eyes at him. He said leisurely, “I have some Soaring Serpent blood in me but it’s not pure. It’s the same with Snake Girl. Years ago, I noticed this helpless orphan who shared the same blood as me, and I took her in as a disciple. However, the heritage of our ancestors has long been lost. The cultivation techniques I cultivated in had nothing to do with our bloodlines. Women aren’t suitable for cultivating my Combat Sacred Body, so I didn’t teach it to her.”

Old Snake had said all of that nonchalantly with a Yuan Qi transmission.

Yi Yun was taken aback when he heard that. It was the first time he heard Old Snake talk of the past. So Old Snake really was related to snakes.

The five-elemental laws each had a corresponding divine beast. The Azure Dragon matched wood, the Vermilion Bird matched fire, the White Tiger matched metal, the Black Turtle matched water, and finally, earth was matched with the Soaring Serpent.

The Soaring Serpent had the bloodline of the Dragon Emperor. That fact was all Yi Yun needed to understand why Snake Girl’s blood was able to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. It was not a coincidence.

“Senior, it’s no wonder you want to obtain the Dragon Emperor Technique…”

Yi Yun was enlightened. Old Snake’s ancestral heritage was lost. In order to cultivate in the paramount martial path, he naturally wanted the Dragon Emperor Technique that conformed to his bloodline. It was very likely that he had a strong desire to regain the illustrious history of his lineage.

“That’s right. My bloodline made me have a special feeling towards the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. However, I have tried to interact with it in the past. My blood is unable to awaken the dragon soul within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.”

Old Snake shook his head. He was human after all. His bloodline was very far from the Dragon Emperor’s bloodline.

“How are you going to deal with these people?” Old Snake suddenly asked.

When the Myriad God Ridge disciples heard that, they immediately turned nervous.

The old geezer in front of them was unfathomable. They felt immense pressure when facing Old Snake.

Yi Yun looked at the people as his eyes flashed with a cold glint.

He did not have a good impression of the Myriad God Ridge. After all, a crooked stick will have a crooked shadow. There were few people in the Myriad God Ridge that were good. Many of the Myriad God Ridge disciples in front of him deserved death!

However, Yi Yun did not intend to kill them. There were many experts among them and if they fought desperately together, it would be quite a problem.

Yi Yun said, “I do not make it a habit to let my enemies go. If I let you off today, it’s possible that you would seek revenge on me tomorrow.”

Everyone’s hearts sank when they heard Yi Yun’s words. It was not that they didn’t want to make a desperate fight for their lives, but they did not know that Old Snake was injured. From their point of view, Old Snake was an unfathomable and fearsome existence. There was also Yi Yun, whose strength was not to be underestimated. He had the ability to slay Cang Wu and had refined the impregnable Ascending Dragon Cauldron, allowing him to attack and defend easily. They felt that there was no hope for victory.

“I want all of you to sign a soul contract to submit to us. None of you are to betray us for ten thousand years! After ten thousand years, your freedom will be restored!”

This was the best solution Yi Yun could come up with. Ten thousand years gave them a glimmer of hope. A majority of people could tolerate such conditions.

Old Snake said, “That’s quite a good solution, but only have them submit to you. Old me can’t be bothered with having these people as slaves.”

“Alright.”

Yi Yun nodded. In a way, this meant that the Myriad God Ridge was now under Yi Yun’s control. With such a large sect at his command, he now had a large group to do various things for him, such as obtaining information and searching for herbs.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s proposed conditions, all the Myriad God Ridge disciples fell silent.

Many people were agape but no words came out of their mouths. It would be fine if they submitted to Old Snake, but how could they feel okay with submitting to a junior like Yi Yun?

However, if they did not submit, it would likely cost them their lives. With the submission only lasting ten thousand years, they just needed to bear with it. They still had a long road ahead of them.

And on careful thought, Yi Yun’s talent meant that it wouldn’t take long for him to become a Divine Lord. Furthermore, he would likely be unparalleled among Divine Lords. In that case, they wouldn’t feel as aggrieved.

“I submit…”

An elder spoke.

With someone taking the lead, more people followed suit. The juniors agreed to it much faster. Although signing a soul contract was humiliating, at least they got to keep some amount of their freedom.

Meanwhile, the ones that were suffering the most anxiety were the Song and Zhang families.

The two family clans had targeted Yi Yun in various ways in the past. Now that Yi Yun was about to become the true owner of the Myriad God Ridge, they felt bitter. What would befall them in the coming days?

It was ironic when they thought about it. Just a few days ago, Feng Yunyang had become the successor to the sect master, attracting the envy of countless people.

And now, Yi Yun was the true owner of the Myriad God Ridge. It was equivalent to having the position of Myriad God Patriarch! He controlled their fates!

Back then, Myriad God Patriarch wanted to use Yi Yun as a refinement herb. But now, all that the Myriad God Patriarch had prepared was used for Yi Yun’s benefit. Even the sect had become Yi Yun’s. If Myriad God Patriarch had realized this before his death, his rage would probably split the pocket world in two.

One by one, nearly everyone chose to submit. Yi Yun planted a soul mark in their soul seas.

These soul marks were some of the mildest kinds. It was not like Myriad God Patriarch’s which would cause the slave to die when the master died.

At that moment, Yi Yun walked in front of Song Zhanchen and Zhang Tianxing. The two shuddered when Yi Yun approached them. When they saw Yi Yun condense a soul mark, the corners of their mouths twitched.

They discovered that the soul marks that Yi Yun condensed were different from the others. When their perception connected with the soul mark, they were clearly informed of the contents of the contract. Not only did they need to submit to Yi Yun, their thoughts would be controlled by him. Their life and death were also at Yi Yun’s discretion. Furthermore, the period of their enslavement was ten times longer than the rest. A hundred thousand years!

This was closer to a true slave mark. The only difference was that it was not forever.

Yi Yun looked coldly at Song Zhanchen and Zhang Tianxing. He could not be bothered with asking for their decision. He did not have the patience. If they did not submit, he could just kill them directly.

Song Zhanchen and Zhang Tianxing’s mouths twitched. They felt like their backbones had been extracted. If they were not burdened by their responsibility towards the Zhang and Song families, they could have acted in defiance. However, as things were now, their entire families could easily be erased from the Myriad God Ridge by Yi Yun.

They refused to watch their respective families, which had thrived for years in the Myriad God Ridge, be destroyed because of their mistakes. They had no other choice. They could only bow before Yi Yun and say, “I submit…”

Yi Yun remained expressionless as he flicked the soul marks out. The gray soul marks transformed into streams of light that flew into Song Zhanchen and Zhang Tianxing’s glabellas. Their bodies jolted, and when they opened their eyes again, the mortification and indignation in their eyes had vanished. They were replaced with obedience and submission.

1293 - : True Owner

CKtalon  CKtalon

When the various Myriad God Ridge disciples saw how the two Elders, Song Zhanchen and Zhang Tianxing, were being mind-controlled, they felt a creeping sense of dread. They secretly celebrated the fact that, although they were hostile towards Yi Yun, they did not go so far as to lose all decorum with him. The Song and Zhang families set an example for what would happen if they did. Song Zhanchen and Zhang Tianxing had to sacrifice themselves just to barely ensure that their family clans would not be destroyed.

For warriors, death was preferable to becoming the soul slave of another person. Even if it did not last for all eternity, a hundred thousand years still dealt a huge impact to one’s martial heart. Losing so much time would cost them any further cultivation breakthroughs in the future.

After Yi Yun was done with everything, he suddenly realized that two gray dots of light were floating from the dead Myriad God Sect Master and old woman’s corpses.

These dots of light resembled two marks. The marks had dim lusters and they were beginning to dissipate into the surroundings as though they would soon vanish.

“This is…”

Yi Yun was slightly taken aback.

“They are Divine Lord Royal Seals,” Old Snake said nonchalantly.

When Yi Yun heard that, he felt a jolt through his heart. “Divine Lord Royal Seals!? You mean to say that they are naturally formed from the worldly laws?”

Yi Yun long knew of Divine Lord Royal Seals. The difference, strength wise, between a Divine Lord with a Divine Lord Royal Seal and one without was great. In the entire Myriad God Ridge, only the Myriad God Sect Master and the old woman had Divine Lord Royal Seals.

When he heard Yi Yun’s words, Old Snake rolled his eyes and said, “How can a divine item formed from the worldly laws be so easily obtained? It’s like how you previously thought that the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon’ and the 12 Empyrean Heavens’ divine canons were formed naturally from the heaven and earth. That’s nothing but rumors!”

“Rumors?” Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat.

Old Snake shook his head and said, “There are Divine Lord Royal Seals that are condensed naturally from the worldly laws, but they are extremely few in number. They are very rare and nearly impossible to come by. So how could these two fogies have obtained one? Even if they did, they would have been snatched away by the Myriad God Patriarch.”

“The Divine Lord Royal Seals that typical Divine Lords fuse with can be categorized into two types. One is formed by the warrior over a period of time after they break through to the Divine Lord realm. The value of these Divine Lord Royal Seals depends on the strength of the person who condensed it. The weaker their nomological insights, the weaker the condensed Divine Lord Royal Seal. Many Divine Lord Royal Seals are unstable, to begin with. When their owners die, they begin dissipating. The two Divine Lord Royal Seals you currently see are examples of that.”

“As for the second type, they are condensed by ancient mighty figures. When they broke through to the Divine Lord realm, the laws within them condensed into a Divine Lord Royal Seal. These Divine Lord Royal Seals become perfectly structured thanks to the laws. As a result, even after the creators pass away, the seals can be preserved for tens of millions of years or even hundreds of millions of years! Especially a Godly Monarch’s royal seal. Many times, the competition over a Godly Monarch Royal Seal can stir up a bloody storm.”

Yi Yun was dumbstruck for a moment when he heard Old Snake’s explanation. So that was the case.

It was understandable on further thought. Divine Lord Royal Seals as he knew them were formed naturally from the worldly laws and the royal seals that belonged to ancient mighty figures could exist for a very long period of time. To typical warriors, tens or hundreds of millions of years was equivalent to eternity. Therefore, it was easy for the common warrior to have the misconception that seals were condensed from worldly laws from ancient times.

From the looks of it, Azure Yang Lord had used a royal seal left behind by an ancient mighty figure and not a royal seal that was naturally condensed from the worldly laws. Otherwise, Bai Yueyin would have long taken away his Divine Lord Royal Seal. How could she have let it be taken away by Azure Yang Lord’s enemy?

“Senior, these Divine Lord Royal Seals that ancient mighty figures condense may have perfect laws but they are ultimately someone else’s. Isn’t there a problem when fusing with one?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s inquiry, Old Snake chuckled. “I know what you are thinking, Kid. You aren’t wrong, what belongs to others is ultimately theirs. There will be all sorts of problems in trying to fuse with one. If you have the ability to condense one that matches or even exceeds the Divine Lord Royal Seals of ancient mighty figures, it will naturally be best to use your own.”

“But how many people are capable of doing that? Feel free to challenge yourself!” It was a rare instance of Old Snake commending Yi Yun. “However, even if you can produce a perfect Divine Lord Royal Seal, it would probably still be inferior to an Origins Royal Seal that is naturally condensed from the worldly laws!”

“The Origins Royal Seal is truly rare. Obtaining one is fated according to the creator! Furthermore, an Origins Royal Seal does not conflict with a Divine Lord Royal Seal you condense yourself. A warrior can have more than one Divine Lord Royal Seal and the more they fuse with, the stronger they become. Of course, you must have the ability to fuse with that many royal seals.”

As Old Snake spoke, he patted Yi Yun on the shoulder, “Kid, I think highly of you. When the time comes, get a few Origins Royal Seals and honor this old man with one. I’ll be able to share in your glory.”

Yi Yun rolled his eyes when he heard Old Snake’s words. The old fellow had just spoken a few things of importance before he began degenerating back to his flippant self.

“Don’t roll your eyes. The Sinkhole has many opportunities. There are Godly Monarch Royal Seals left behind by ancient Godly Monarchs and there are true Origins Royal Seals. These can all be found in the Sinkhole. This is also why all the true experts in the 12 Empyrean Heavens choose to enter the Sinkhole at some point.”

Old Snake’s words enlightened Yi Yun. He did know of many experts that had gone to the Sinkhole.

In the history that Azure Yang Lord left behind, each Empyrean Heaven had seventy-two Divine Lords.

But later, when Yi Yun reached the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, he noticed that there were not that many Divine Lords. Ignoring the Central State Divine Territory, even the Myriad Divine Territory which was considered the core trading center of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven did not have Divine Lords that had truly fused with a Divine Lord Royal Seal. Among the people Yi Yun had met, only Huan Chenxue’s old servant, Elder Mo, seemed to be a real Divine Lord.

If he could really obtain an Origins Royal Seal in the Sinkhole, it would be perfect.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun sighed gently. A genius like Azure Yang Lord was still limited by his realm and knowledge even back then. The ‘Yang God Manual’ and the Divine Lord Royal Seal that he treasured greatly were actually things that Bai Yueyin did not think highly of.

“I can be considered Azure Yang Lord’s successor. I shall resolve all of Azure Yang Lord’s regrets in his place.” With this thought in mind, Yi Yun’s will grew stronger.

“Senior, let’s return to the Myriad God Ridge first.”

“Alright!”

“By the way, what happened to Myriad God Patriarch’s corpse?” How many Divine Lord Royal Seals did he fuse with?”

Yi Yun recalled the Myriad God Patriarch. If he had an ancient mighty figure’s Divine Lord Royal Seal, it might be useful to sell it if he can’t use it.

Old Snake shook his head. “That old bastard was seriously injured. In my final strike, he appeared to be disintegrated. All I found were some remains of a corpse.”

“Remains of a corpse?” Yi Yun’s brows pricked up. “Are you sure that the corpse belonged to that undying old fart?”

“Probably. I can’t think of any ability of his that can survive my final strike. Besides… the two soul slaves of that undying old fart are dead too. By the way, isn’t this yours?”

Old Snake threw an interspatial ring to Yi Yun. It was a brand new interspatial ring. Yi Yun’s interspatial ring had shattered during the battle, but since the space within the interspatial ring was an alternate space, the items within were preserved even when the ring shattered.

With a thought, Yi Yun immediately sank his perception into the interspatial ring. An ice-blue sword appeared in Yi Yun’s hand the next moment.

It was Mirage Snow!

With the Mirage Snow sword in hand, Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief. “I finally have it back in my possession.”

The sword had been given to him by Huan Chenxue. It meant a lot to her and if he had lost it, he felt that he would not be able to answer to Huan Chenxue.

After putting Mirage Snow away, Yi Yun frowned slightly.

Old Snake saw this and said, “Kid, I know what you are worried about. Ignoring the fact that the old bastard wouldn’t have been able to survive my strike, even if he did slip away, he would definitely be seriously injured. His injuries would be worse than the ones I received years ago. His cultivation might even be lost completely. He would be having a hard time, to say the least!”

1294 - : Origins Royal Seal

CKtalon  CKtalon

When the Myriad God Patriarch took Yi Yun and all of the elders of the Myriad God Ridge away, the sect was leaderless. The Jade Emperor Palace had suddenly collapsed and many Myriad God Ridge disciples were unsure of what had happened.

Over the past few days, under the outer sect Elder’s leadership, the collapsed Jade Emperor Palace’s wreckage was gradually cleared. Many people were worried that the Myriad God Ridge had been attacked. With all the Myriad God Ridge’s upper echelons disappearing and the power shockwave that came from the spatial teleportation array, they guessed that the upper echelons of the Myriad God Ridge had gone to fight an intense battle with an unknown enemy.

Quite some time had passed but there was no news of that battle. Even the battlefield was unknown. It left many people uneasy.

Then, one day, energy gathered in the sky above the Myriad God Ridge. Spatial dimension laws became chaotic as a result.

“Boom!”

The sky suddenly tore apart with a massive maelstrom appearing out of nowhere. Chaotic spatial storms surged out of the vortex.

“What is happening?”

The Myriad God Ridge’s disciples had a drastic change in expression as they saw the Myriad God Ridge Elders appear from the vortex. They realized that it was a spatial passageway.

“The Elders are back!”

“Haha, they have finally returned safely. That’s wonderful.”

Many people heaved a sigh of relief. Those who had gone were the backbone of the Myriad God Ridge so if anything bad happened to them, the Myriad God Ridge would be finished. The ordinary disciples would also lose any protection they were conferred with and their good days would be over.

“I see my family head!” a junior from the Song family cried out. He heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Song Zhanchen return safely. Talk was going around that the Song family was in a precarious situation. It could not endure another loss.

At that moment, there was a loud boom. The spatial passageway that had been opened trembled as a gigantic bronze cauldron flew out. It was extremely heavy and its motions seemed to be something the spatial passageway could not withstand.

“Ascending Dragon Cauldron!” The Myriad God Ridge disciples naturally recognized the cauldron.

“Eh? Why don’t I see Sect Master?” someone asked.

People noticed that the Myriad God Sect Master was not among the entering crowd. Myriad God Patriarch had disappeared but that wasn’t a surprise. The patriarch was always mysterious in his comings and goings, but it was strange that the Myriad God Sect Master had not returned.

Furthermore, they were baffled that they could clearly see a youth stepping on the cauldron’s lid, using it as his ride.

“Isn’t that Yi Yun?” someone exclaimed.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron was the cornerstone treasure of the Myriad God Ridge. Typically, they would all pay homage to the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as though it was a god. But now, Yi Yun was stepping on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. How could they not be surprised?

However, despite him standing on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, the Elders present seemed to turn a blind eye. Instead, they circled around Yi Yun as though they were a myriad of stars surrounding the moon. It left everyone present dumbfounded.

What the hell was happening?

“Young Master Yi has returned safely too…”

In Sunken Moon Tower, Duanmu Qingwen watched the scene from afar. She heaved a sigh of relief after seeing Yi Yun finally return. She had been constantly worried that trouble would befall Yi Yun since he had been imprisoned for such a long period of time. Numerous people in Myriad God Ridge yearned to see Yi Yun suffer.

“Family Head, what’s happening?” asked Song family member. They had previously heard through the grapevine that Myriad God Patriarch had imprisoned Yi Yun and would execute him. They were looking forward to Yi Yun’s execution as a way to avenge the Song family. But now, Yi Yun appeared alive and well. He was even stepping on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“Family Head, why does that little bastard Yi Yun dare to step on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron…”

A middle-aged man from the Song family went forward and spoke to Song Zhanchen. This middle-aged man was someone that Yi Yun knew, actually. He was manager Song, in charge of the Myriad God Ridge’s core disciple district’s Miscellaneous Chores Department. Back then, he had transferred Zuoyan Xiaoyu away from the Sunken Moon Tower and arranged for her to be Zhang Wuchen and Song Bowen’s maidservant. Yi Yun had gone to the Miscellaneous Chores Department to inquire about the transfer and he played dumb. In the end, he was brutally beaten up by Yi Yun, making him disfigured. He spent a lot of herbs and half a year’s time to finally recover.

Song Yuanpin held a grudge for the humiliation of being beaten. He was waiting for an opportunity to seek revenge. He originally felt that it would happen soon, but this new, strange scene left him depressed.

Due to the odd nature of the matter, he had suppressed his voice. He did not dare to directly lash out. Only Song Zhanchen could hear him.

He originally believed his family head would tell him the reason, but he never expected that Song Zhanchen’s expression would sink the moment he heard his words!

“You darn slave with eyes at the back of your head! What nonsense are you spouting! You must have a death wish!”

As Song Zhanchen spoke, he suddenly took a step forward and slapped Song Yuanpin in the face!

“Pa!”

The crisp sound of flesh and skin colliding was heard as Song Yuanpin cried out in pain. His body flew up for Song Zhanchen’s slap was too ruthless. Song Yuanpin was spinning like a top in midair and even the flesh on one side of his face had been slapped into mush.

Before Song Yuanpin landed, Song Zhanchen took another step forward and kicked out, striking Song Yuanpin in the abdomen.

“Peng!”

Song Yuanpin cried out tragically and spewed a mouthful of blood. His body flew out tens of meters away, slamming heavily into a wall.

“Boom!”

The granite walls trembled as blood splattered on them. Song Yuanpin had been knocked dizzy by Song Zhanchen. His body slipped down from the wall and he was seeing double. He couldn’t make out anything clearly.

He could not understand what was wrong with the words he said. Why was he brutally beaten by his family head? It wasn’t even this bad back when Yi Yun brutally beat him up. He clearly sensed that his dantian had cracked from the family head’s kick. It was truly a bad beating. His pitiful self had just recovered from his injuries and now he was going to be bedridden again. This time, he would be bedridden for at least a year.

The sudden act of brutality made everyone go silent. They looked at Song Zhanchen in shock, unsure why he had suddenly beaten up someone from his own Song family.

“Listen up!” Song Zhanchen spoke. “From this day forth, Young Master Yi will be the new sect master of the Myriad God Ridge! And from this day forth, the Myriad God Ridge will only have a sect master and no patriarch. The sect master will wield the highest authority in the Myriad God Rudge! In the future, all of you are to listen to Young Master Yi’s instructions. Anyone who slights Young Master Yi will be dealt with according to the sect’s rules. Don’t ask for mercy, for this punishment is already considered light.”

Song Zhanchen had infused his voice with Yuan Qi, allowing it to reach every corner of the main peak.

When everyone heard it, they were petrified. None of them dared to believe their ears!

Yi Yun was the new sect master of the Myriad God Ridge!?

Furthermore, the Myriad God Ridge would only have a sect master and no more patriarch!?

Was Song Zhanchen mad?

The Myriad God Patriarch held an esteemed position. He held weight across the entire Calm Sea! Even if the Myriad God Patriarch had stepped down, Song Zhanchen could not just declare that the Myriad God Ridge would only have a sect master and no patriarch from that day forth!

Furthermore, why would Myriad God Patriarch hand the position to Yi Yun?

If he wanted to hand it over, he should have handed it to Feng Yunyang. Speaking of Feng Yunyang, where was he?

The people could not see any signs of Feng Yunyang. And when they noticed how the Elders present had not objected to or protested to Song Zhanchen’s words, as though they were silently admitting to what he said, the Myriad God Ridge disciples were completely dumbfounded. They felt like that they were experiencing a crazy and ridiculous dream.

“What are you standing around in a daze for? Quickly bow to our new sect master!”

Song Zhanchen urged them. However, people reacted slowly to his exhortation. They could not accept such a reality.

“Did you not hear what I said?”

Song Zhanchen suddenly went forward and struck out twice with his fists. Another two Song family members were launched like rubber balls. Those that had stayed behind in the Myriad God Ridge were weaker disciples, so how could they withstand Song Zhanchen’s attacks?

They were beaten so badly that they spewed large amounts of blood.

Seeing Song Zhanchen burning with killing intent, someone cleverly and frantically bowed. He said, “Greetings, Sect Master!”

Although they were unsure as to what had happened, things had already developed this far. If they did not bow, they would be beaten by Song Zhanchen. It was unknown why Song Zhanchen had suddenly become the loyal subordinate of Yi Yun. He did not show any mercy in his attacks.

“Greetings, Sect Master…”

Everyone began to bow.

Yi Yun felt a little speechless when he saw so many people bow before him. All he wanted was to return to the Myriad God Ridge. He never expected to see such a scene happen. He had never mentioned anything about a new sect master. It was all Song Zhanchen’s own decision.

Perhaps due to the existence of the slave mark, Song Zhanchen had completely submitted to Yi Yun. The current scene must have been a result of this. It made Yi Yun sigh. A slave mark was truly oppressive!

Yi Yun did not think much of his new position of sect master. He was not interested in any of the formalities. He said, “There’s no need for all these formalities. Do whatever you need to do. You are dismissed.”

With that said, Yi Yun flew towards Sunken Moon Tower with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron beneath his feet.

1295 - : Returning to Myriad God Ridge

CKtalon  CKtalon

Over the past half-year, Sunken Moon Tower had been in a state of lockdown. There were many guards still stationed outside Sunken Moon Tower, under Myriad God Sect Master’s orders, that previously watched Sunken Moon Tower and prevented Yi Yun from leaving.

At that moment, the guards saw Yi Yun approaching them on the cauldron, and felt stifled simply by the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s tumultuous might.

They had heard Song Zhanchen’s words too. Although they were unsure what had happened, it was clearly not the time for them to be asking questions about the matter. They immediately bowed to the approaching Yi Yun. “Greetings, Sect Master.”

At that moment, they were feeling uneasy. Over the past half-year, there was no lack of instances where they made things difficult for Yi Yun. If Yi Yun was irked by them, they were in for a world of trouble.

Yi Yun ignored them and went directly inside Sunken Moon Tower.

“Young Master…”

Duanmu Qingwen came forward the moment Yi Yun landed. She was delighted simply by Yi Yun’s return but she never expected Yi Yun to suddenly become Myriad God Ridge’s sect master. Furthermore, all the important figures in Myriad God Ridge were treating him with awe and respect.

“Boom!”

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron landed heavily in Sunken Moon Tower’s yard, filling its entirety.

Back when she was recruited, Duanmu Qingwen had attempted to awaken the Ascending Dragon Cauldron with her blood. The cauldron’s draconic aura left the sort of impression that made her want to submit to it.

“Sorry for making you suffer for half a year,” said Yi Yun as he jumped down from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. He still lacked the ability to hide the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in his body.

Yi Yun knew that Duanmu Qingwen had accompanied him in his confinement for half a year and suffered tremendous stress. After all, there were rumors that said that Yi Yun would be eventually executed.

As Yi Yun’s maidservant, Duanmu Qingwen’s outcome would likely have been tragic once something happened to him. Zuoyan Xiaoyu was a clear precedent. Some people would vent their anger on the people around Yi Yun when they failed to get revenge on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun beckoned with his hand as the God Advent Tower appeared out of thin air. Following that, a figure flew out of the pagoda, landing beside Duanmu Qingwen.

The girl was none other than Zuoyan Xiaoyu. Duanmu Qingwen was stunned when she saw Zuoyan Xiaoyu. “Xiaoyu, are you alright? Did Young Master… save you?”

Duanmu Qingwen was extremely shocked. She had previously heard that Zuoyan Xiaoyu had been taken away by the Song and Zhang families and believed that her outcome was likely grim. She never expected to see a completely fine Zuoyan Xiaoyu standing right before her.

“Yea, I killed Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen back then and saved Xiaoyu. As my killing of them couldn’t exactly be made public, I hid Xiaoyu away.”

Yi Yun explained the whole situation in a few words, causing Duanmu Qingwen’s mouth to go agape. The situation of the time was a perilous one. It seemed like it would be impossible to save Zuoyan Xiaoyu.

However, on careful thought, Yi Yun had almost instantly become the Myriad God Sect Master. If he could make such an inconceivable thing happen, then killing Song Bowen and Zhang Wuchen millions of miles away did not seem so crazy in comparison.

“From this day forth, the two of you can stay in Sunken Moon Tower together. If the both of you are interested, you can learn the Myriad God Ridge’s cultivation techniques. I will be entering seclusion for some time,” Yi Yun said simply. With Yi Yun’s present position, Duanmu Qingwen and Zuoyan Xiaoyu would no longer be bullied. It was even likely that people would rush to fawn over them and place them on pedestals.

As for the Myriad God Ridge’s cultivation techniques, Yi Yun thought nothing of them after obtaining the Dragon Emperor Technique. However, to the two girls, they were supreme cultivation techniques.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu and Duanmu Qingwen were immediately overjoyed as they said with a bow, “Thank you, Young Master, for your generosity!”

When they were recruited into the Myriad God Ridge, they were only outer-sect disciples. The perks they lacked stood in stark comparison with those of the core disciples. The cultivation techniques they cultivated in were only the more crude and trivial techniques of the Myriad God Ridge. They never expected to receive such an opportunity.

Duanmu Qingwen was extremely curious as to how Yi Yun had become Myriad God Sect Master. However, before she could ask, Yi Yun entered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in a flash.

Now that he had the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, he no longer needed a seclusion chamber.

…

At that moment, in the wide open space of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior, there was an old man sitting in a corner. He was focused on reading the nine engravings of the True Dragon.

Previously, Old Snake had ripped open space and led the crowd back to the Myriad God Ridge from the pocket world. Just traveling through the spatial turbulence took them nearly a month.

Throughout that month, Old Snake stayed inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to study the Dragon Emperor Technique.

He was already completely immersed in the Dragon Emperor Technique’s laws and was almost in a trance-like state.

He originally had the Soaring Serpent bloodline and the loss of his ancestral heritage left him unsettled. But even the Soaring Serpent’s ancestral heritage was far inferior to the Dragon Emperor Technique.

Although the Dragon Emperor Technique was profound and intricate, it was too difficult for Old Snake to cultivate in.

“What a pity…” Old Snake muttered to himself. “The Dragon Emperor Technique is partially a cultivation technique that opens up one’s vital potential. Furthermore, to refine the relic, a large number of divine treasures need to be gathered. If I were to try and cultivate it now, I will have started too late… More than half of my lifespan has been depleted and there’s little left of my vital potential. And worst of all, I was once seriously injured. This makes it even harder for me to cultivate the Dragon Emperor Technique…”

Old Snake sighed. He was engrossed in reading the Dragon Emperor Technique but the various limitations left him disappointed.

“Senior, is there no way to cultivate it at all?” Upon hearing Old Snake’s words, Yi Yun found himself pitying the old man. Old Snake had gone through so much effort for so long to obtain the Dragon Emperor Technique. He had even done all the work in the final battle with Myriad God Patriarch. He had paid quite a sizable price but, in the end, he could not cultivate in it at all. The old geezer was quite a tragic figure.

“I should be able to cultivate a little of it, but at best I can only cultivate ten to twenty percent. I wouldn’t be able to cultivate a dragon. Completing the Soaring Serpent volume and cultivating an ancient Soaring Serpent bloodline would be the most I could do.”

Old Snake shook his head. Perhaps to him, obtaining the Dragon Emperor Technique was mostly a sentimental thought.

“Senior, if you need any pills or relics, I can provide some assistance. I’m rather confident in my knowledge of alchemy,” offered Yi Yun. Yi Yun was confident he could successfully refine most of the pills required by the Dragon Emperor Technique as long as the ingredients were available.

Old Snake laughed and said, “There’s no need for that for the time being. Kid, although the Dragon Emperor Technique is good, it’s simply cultivating the physical body to stimulate one’s vital potential! Your nomological insights are extremely deep and your Heart of the Sword is very powerful. But you are lacking when it comes to your usage of Yuan Qi. You have probably never come in contact with such techniques. Didn’t you ask me previously what that lass, Chenxue, wrote in her letter to me?” Old Snake asked. Yi Yun’s ears pricked up. The letter was written in a language that Yi Yun had never seen before or recognize.

“That lass Chenxue gave me an overview of your past experiences. She had also analyzed the weaknesses in your cultivation. Having seen my best skill, she exhorted me to teach you the Combat Sacred Body.”

1296 - : Huan Chenxue’s Entrustment

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh? Combat Sacred Body?” Yi Yun’s heart stirred when he heard that. He knew that Old Snake’s Combat Sacred Body was a powerful technique. He had seen the battle between Old Snake and the Myriad God Patriarch with his own eyes. It was a dazzling scene, as though a god of war had descended.

“Hehe, Kid, I know that after you obtained the Dragon Emperor Technique, you probably feel elated with success. You won’t think highly of ordinary cultivation techniques, but this Combat Sacred Body of mine is not a cultivation technique but a mystic art!”

“This mystic art is the greatest opportunity I have chanced upon in my life. The cultivation technique I cultivated in can’t exactly be considered a good one. It’s at the level of the ‘Ten Thousand Fey Divine Canon.’ If I had something good, why would I be so eager to obtain the Dragon Emperor Technique? But when I combined this ordinary cultivation technique with Combat Sacred Body, it gave me the ability to challenge a Godly Monarch!”

“Challenge a Godly Monarch?” Yi Yun gasped deeply.

“It was all in the past.” Old Snake shook his head. He seemed somewhat wistful recalling the glorious days before he was injured.

Yi Yun remained silent. He knew how much Old Snake yearned to reach the peak of martial arts. He had suffered a serious injury and experienced a drop in cultivation realms as a result. Perhaps, he had lost all hope of seeking the peak of martial arts. It would have been understandable considering the setback Old Snake received.

Old Snake believed that the Dragon Emperor Technique would be a turning point for him. Unfortunately, the Dragon Emperor Technique demanded the cultivator to have vibrant vital potential. With Old Snake’s advanced age, it was difficult for his cultivation to bear much fruit.

Yi Yun secretly decided that if he could become a Godly Monarch, he would seek out means to help Old Snake and cure him of his injuries.

“I previously mentioned that the Combat Sacred Body is extraordinary because it augments other cultivation techniques. In the martial world, there are many kinds of cultivation techniques but there are very few mystic arts!”

“If powers exercised from a cultivation technique have a might of ten, then when augmented by my Combat Sacred Body, their might can become more than ten or even several tens! Of course, the higher grade the cultivation technique, the harder it is for Combat Sacred Body to enhance it. Perhaps it would only enhance the might by twenty to thirty percent. But for top cultivation techniques, just twenty or thirty percent is a staggering increase!” Old Snake said proudly.
Yi Yun fully understood what he was getting at. For example, if the Dragon Emperor Technique was enhanced by ten percent, just that ten percent was already more powerful than an ordinary cultivation technique that was enhanced by tens of times.

“Kid, watch carefully. How much you can comprehend depends on your perception. This Combat Sacred Body isn’t easy to learn. If you can’t pick it up, then even spending hundreds or thousands of years would be pointless. And even those who can pick it up have to go through an arduous process just to obtain a little success!”

As Old Snake spoke, golden light burst out of his body. The way to teach Combat Sacred Body was very unique. Typical cultivation techniques came with textual manuals, but Combat Sacred Body had none. It required the teacher to demonstrate it directly. This also limited the heritage of the Combat Sacred Body. Such a mystic art could easily be lost to time.

Back when Old Snake learned the Combat Sacred Body, he had entered an ancient battlefield. There, the worldly laws had naturally recorded the scenes of ancient Godly Monarchs battling. Old Snake spent a century on that ancient battlefield and through watching the battle projections, he learned the Combat Sacred Body!

…

Time passed until, in a blink of an eye, it was summer. The Myriad God Ridge’s main peak was filled with an abundance of greenery, with fields of flowers vying to be the prettiest. The array formation that had been stopped was reactivated, and Jade Emperor Palace was being rebuilt. The Myriad God Ridge appeared to be flourishing.

For the past few months, the Myriad God Ridge closed itself to outsiders to settle its internal affairs. It no longer held disciple recruitment drives.

Yi Yun also moved out of Sunken Moon Tower and into Jade Emperor Palace. The palace that symbolized the highest power and authority in Myriad God Ridge had been rebuilt with Mystic Numinous White Jade. All the Myriad God Ridge Elders had gone to great effort to ensure that Yi Yun was satisfied with the reconstruction of Jade Emperor Palace.

They carefully enshrined Yi Yun, who was the true owner. They were a lot more subservient than they were to Myriad God Patriarch, afraid that their days would be miserable the moment they displeased Yi Yun.

Yi Yun stayed in the Jade Emperor Palace for no other reason than that he needed space to control the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. The Sunken Moon Tower was too small while there was a gigantic square in front of Jade Emperor Palace. It gave enough room for the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to fly around easily.

For half a year, Yi Yun was still unable to store the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in his body. He felt helpless for he knew that the Dragon Emperor bloodline in him was not pure enough.

Although he was already the owner of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, he was still far from being able to fully control the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Just a month ago, Yi Yun had managed to barely use his will to shrink the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to a foot tall, allowing him to keep it in his interspatial ring. That was his limit.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron was not to be underestimated. Every time he stored it in his interspatial ring, Yi Yun would feel the interspatial ring tremble as though the space within could not withstand it.

“From the looks of it, my bloodline is still inadequate. I need to remedy this as fast as possible. To cultivate the Dragon Emperor Technique, I must raise the purity of my bloodline.”

Yi Yun made his plans. In fact, over the past half year, Yi Yun had been cultivating the Dragon Emperor Technique and Combat Sacred Body while also practicing his control of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

When it came to his cultivation of the Combat Sacred Body, Old Snake’s jaw nearly dropped.

Old Snake had previously mentioned that very few people could cultivate the Combat Sacred Body, that it would be useless no matter how much one worked at it if they lacked talent. Even those with talent had to cultivate for at least ten years.

But in the past half year, Yi Yun was already able to inject the golden light into his arms and produce a portion of the Combat Sacred Body’s might. Although he was still found lacking when compared to Old Snake, his achievements could be used in actual combat. This was already the ‘little success’ that Old Snake had previously mentioned.

However, Yi Yun found it normal. Old Snake’s Combat Sacred Body was masculine in nature, it aligned with Yang. Hence, it was only suitable for men. And with Yi Yun cultivating pure Yang laws and having a Nine-treasured Dao Palace, along with his high perception, he cultivated it for double the results with half the effort.

But Old Snake nearly could not accept it. The kid was great at making others feel puny. Back on the ancient battlefield, Old Snake was a high-spirited and peerless youth with excellent talent. Yet he spent a hundred years to comprehend the Combat Sacred Body. He was much slower than Yi Yun.

“From the looks of it, through my demonstrations, the Combat Sacred Body has already turned increasingly profound but easy to master. I have simplified the esoteric aspects of it! It was all because I gave such a good demonstration that you comprehended it so quickly,” Old Snake said as he held his chin while looking at the almost blindingly golden light that shimmered from Yi Yun’s arms.

Yi Yun was amused but he did not rebut him. As long as the old man was happy.

However, Yi Yun was somewhat interested in the ancient battlefield that Old Snake had previously mentioned.

He believed that if he could watch the clash between two ancient Godly Monarchs, he would definitely benefit immensely.

The Combat Sacred Body he cultivated was, in the end, derived from Old Snake’s own comprehensions. If he saw the projections in person, he would probably gain more. It would also be truer to the actual Combat Sacred Body.

However, gaining entry to that ancient battlefield was not easy and not something he should have been thinking of at present.

There were many things Yi Yun needed to do. Just the cultivation of the Dragon Emperor Technique took up a lot of Yi Yun’s time and effort.

Besides, Yi Yun also planned on heading to the Seven Desolates to confirm the news regarding Lin Xintong.

The Seven Desolates was Bai Yueyin’s territory. He did not know what Bai Yueyin’s cultivation level was, but she was definitely at a realm much higher than his. Yi Yun had a premonition that searching for Lin Xintong in the Seven Desolates would not be a simple task. In front of the massive entity known as the White Lunar Divine Empire, his strength was paltry. Every increase in his strength added a level of safety.

As Yi Yun was pondering over the matter, Duanmu Qingwen walked over. She gave a casual bow and said, “Young Master, an ambassador from Clear Lunar Island wishes to visit.”

Although Yi Yun was already sect master, Duanmu Qingwen was used to calling Yi Yun young master. Her impression of Yi Yun was just too different from that of the typical old-looking sect master.

“Oh? Clear Lunar Island…”

Yi Yun naturally knew of the Clear Lunar Island. In the Calm Seas, there were a few powerful factions. Three of them, the Myriad God Ridge, Clear Lunar Island, and the Heavenly Pivot Chapter were equal. Ranked after them was the White Rock Conservatory.

Clear Lunar Island was situated in the vast sea and was based on a single island that spanned about five hundred kilometers. Among the few powerful factions, the Clear Lunar Island had the fewest disciples, numbering a few thousand.

However, the few thousand disciples were specially selected. Any random disciple of theirs would have talent most Myriad God Ridge inner-sect disciples could not compare with.

“What is the purpose of the Clear Lunar Island’s visit?”

“That I do not know… Young Master, you are sect master so Elder Sun got me to inform you.”

Yi Yun stroked his chin. Indeed, although he had become Myriad God Ridge’s sect master, he had yet to act as one. Other than living in Jade Emperor Palace, he was usually cultivating in seclusion. Any matters pertaining to running the Myriad God Ridge were left to the various Grand Elders.

However, for a sect that was Myriad God Ridge’s equal to send ambassadors, the discussions could not be only left to the Elders. He still needed to be kept in the loop.

“Qingwen, let Elder Sun make the arrangements.”

1297 - : Clear Lunar Island

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although the Myriad God Ridge had closed itself off from the world for the past half year, Myriad God City was not affected in any way. As a gigantic city that circled around the Myriad God Ridge’s main peak, it was always a bustling place with streams of people coming in and out all the time.

Every day, people of all shapes and sizes would shuttle through the city, making Myriad God City nearly the most prosperous city in the Calm Sea.

One day, a gaily-painted barge cruised across Myriad God City in midair.

The barge was large and intricately beautiful. There was a palatial building built on top of it, and a mist lingered around it. It looked like an immortal’s boat that had floated over from an immortal’s paradise.

The barge directly bypassed the Myriad God City’s gates without being obstructed. There was a clear crescent logo imprinted on the barge.

“Oh? Who are they? They were allowed to bypass the city gates?”

Although Myriad God City did not ban flying, bypassing the city walls for any entry and exit of the city was prohibited. One had to go through the city gate and undergo an inspection from the guards. A fee would also be taken, otherwise what was the point of having a city wall?

But the barge in front of them had blatantly ignored this rule. Furthermore, the Myriad God City’s guards made no attempt to stop it.

“You are uninformed. The ambassadors of the Clear Lunar Island are here. The Clear Lunar Island is a large sect that is of equal strength to the Myriad God Ridge, so it has special permission to enter a city in the periphery of the Myriad God Ridge without being inspected by the guards.”

Clear Lunar Island’s visit to the Myriad God Ridge was not a secret. They had sent a letter of visit a few days in advance and the Myriad God Ridge had long begun preparations to welcome them. Naturally, many people knew.

“It’s said that a Deputy Island Lord and the Clear Lunar Island successor are in the visiting party!”

“Oh? The Clear Lunar Island’s successor came too?”

Upon hearing the title, many people were stirred.

Clear Lunar Island was famous in the Calm Sea. To young men, Clear Lunar Island was nothing less than a sacred land. The reason was that Clear Lunar Island only recruited female disciples. As the disciples had great talent and were charmed daughters of heaven, there were naturally no unattractive ones. This gave Clear Lunar Island a reputation as a heaven for men, something only found in dreams. If they could marry a Clear Lunar Island disciple, it would be the result of their good luck from several past lives.

If ordinary Clear Lunar Island disciples were already in such high demand, one could only imagine how the Clear Lunar Island’s successor was viewed.

The talk of the town was often that, in the recent hundreds of thousands of years, every generation’s Clear Lunar Island successor would have some vague relationship with other charmed sons of heaven during their youth. Most of these men came from outside the Calm Sea and were truly the cream of the crop. They were existences that made the Calm Sea warriors pale in comparison.

At that moment, the people of the city watched as the barge flew across Myriad God City and headed straight for the Myriad God Ridge’s main peak.

The top level of the barge had an exquisite private room. It was piled with thick Heavenly Silk carpets and the furniture was made of Divine Fragrance Wood. They were extremely intricate and had the supposed effects of soul nourishment.

On a soft lounge bed, a girl that looked to be about sixteen lay half slumped. She wore light and thin fabric, with her arms and parts of her legs revealed. Her skin was delicate and her every move exuded gracefulness. From top to bottom, she effused a languid comportment that left one mesmerized.

In front of the girl was a woman that looked to be in her thirties. She had an ample bosom and a gracefully slender figure, making her look exquisitely dainty and ravishingly beautiful.

“Martial Aunt Ping, why did you bring me along on your visit to the Myriad God Ridge? You know I do not like such matters. I’m better off spending this time cultivating,” the girl said indifferently.

Her voice sounded like the lingering tunes of a zither, exquisite and pleasant. She was none other than the successor of the Clear Lunar Island, Jing Yuesha. Forty years ago, she had been conferred the title of successor of Clear Lunar Island. She was personally taught by the Clear Lunar Island’s Grand Elder and had gone on an experiential journey two decades ago. She spent eighteen years on that journey.

She returned to Clear Lunar Island two years ago, with her cultivation level greatly improved. She was not only invincible among peers her own age, but even some outer-sect Elders from the older generation would not dare claim victory against her.

She had enjoyed success from a young age and had unparalleled talent. It gave her confidence and indeed, she had the right to be arrogant.

The woman said with a smile, “The Grand Elder suggested it. The Heavenly South Peaks Meet will have quite a number of elites gathered. You will have the opportunity to get to know them and see if anyone catches your eye.”

Upon hearing the woman joke at her expense, Jing Yuesha pouted. She had no interest in such matters. “Martial Aunt, there is no need for me to have a Dao partner, much less rely on men. If I were to take over as Island Lord, I know I would be able to make Clear Lunar Island prosper and thrive with my own strength.”

Jing Yuesha was an ambitious woman, so how could she rely on men?

The woman continued smiling but she did not say another word. Jing Yuesha was indeed outstanding. Even the Grand Elder had nothing but praise for her. Perhaps, she could really achieve her claims.

“We are about to reach the Myriad God Ridge’s peak and meet the Myriad God Sect Master. When we do, try to appear a bit more humble in front of him. Do not be too rash, for we are guests after all.”

“Got it,” Jing Yuesha said inattentively. As she spoke, she shook her lustrous feet that were as white as jade.

Jing Yuesha had no interest in meeting the Myriad God Sect Master. Her impression of the Myriad God Ridge was that it was entirely too open when it came to accepting disciples.

She had heard that the Myriad God Ridge would open itself every three days for a large-scale test as a disciple recruitment drive.

What did that three days mean? It meant they would recruit disciples more than a hundred times in a year. In comparison, the Clear Lunar Island only recruited disciples once every few years.

Despite being a powerful sect, the Myriad God Ridge recruited disciples like it was harvesting cheap napa cabbages. It was unknown how much riff-raff had been recruited. The disciples had extremely little talent as a whole, and there were many mediocre or ordinary ones. This stood in stark contrast to the Clear Lunar Island, which had less than a few thousand disciples with each disciple being meticulously selected.

It was for these reasons that Jing Yuesha thought lowly of the Myriad God Ridge. From her point of view, the Myriad God Ridge would definitely have fewer geniuses in the future if it continued on in this manner, eventually losing its position as one of the top factions in the Calm Sea.

The barge was extremely fast. As she conversed with her martial aunt, the barge had already landed in the square in front of Jade Emperor Palace.

Jing Yuesha gently floated up and landed softly on the square.

The tips of her feet did not touch the ground. All she did was hover slightly above the ground, leaving her unstained by even a speck of dust.

At that moment, there were a group of Myriad God Ridge Elders and personal disciples standing in front of Jade Emperor Palace’s door.

When the personal disciples saw Jing Yuesha, they felt their hearts jolt. Even though they were accustomed to seeing gorgeous beauties, they could not help but be attracted to Jing Yuesha. It was not only because of her physical beauty, but that she also had a stunning comportment and beauty that came from within.

“Fairy Ping, nice to meet you.”

The leading Elder was Elder Sun. For the past half year, he was one of the main Elders in charge of the Myriad God Ridge’s miscellaneous matters while Yi Yun was in seclusion.

“You must be Elder Sun. Thank you for welcoming us.” Jing Yueping replied courteously.

In fact, they did not know each other. The Clear Lunar Island and Myriad God Ridge seldom interacted, but before the meeting they had communicated through voice transmissions, so they were able to recognize each other from their Yuan Qi fluctuations.

“Fairy Ping, you are too courteous. My sect master is waiting for the both of you in Jade Emperor Palace,” Elder Sun said as he gave a welcoming gesture to lead the way.

As Jing Yueping chatted with Elder Sun, she followed him at an unhurried pace. As for Jing Yuesha, she scanned the Myriad God Ridge personal disciples present.

She had very high standards and typical geniuses hardly impressed her. She shook her head gently when she finished her scan. Indeed, due to the unbridled recruitment of disciples, the general standard of the Myriad God Ridge personal disciples was going from bad to worse. She did not even need to compare herself to them. Even a random core disciple of the Clear Lunar Island would stand atop these people.

Such a group of people naturally failed to stir her interest. She could not continue scanning and so she stopped as she had arrived outside the Jade Emperor Palace’s main hall. The hall’s doors were open but Elder Sun came to a halt when he arrived in front of them.

He gave another welcoming gesture and said, “Fairies, please enter.”

“Oh? Elder Sun, aren’t you coming in?” Jing Yueping was somewhat surprised. She believed that Elder Sun would accompany them throughout the meeting.

Upon hearing Jing Yueping’s words, Elder Sun gave an embarrassed smile. “I won’t be entering. Sect Master finds old fogies like us to be an eyesore. We tend not to disturb our sect master, so I won’t be entering to be an eyesore. Fairy, if you have anything you need to talk about, just discuss it with Sect Master directly. I’ll be waiting outside,” Elder Sun said very naturally as though he was accustomed to it.

However, when the words landed in Jing Yueping’s ears, she was astonished. The Myriad God Sect Master was truly domineering. Elder Sun held a rather esteemed position in the Myriad God Ridge and it was evident from the way the surrounding people treated him. However, Elder Sun appeared fidgety and horrified in front of the Myriad God Sect Master. It was a testament to how almighty the Myriad God Sect Master was.

1298 - : Clear Lunar Successor

CKtalon  CKtalon

The usual tradition in martial sects was that the Grand Elder and the sect’s patriarch were the people that held absolute authority. As for the sect master, he was only an executive.

This was a result of warriors having extremely long lifespans. Some sects had patriarchs that lived for years and when they entered their advanced years, they would relinquish their position as sect master and hand it down to their disciples.

Many a time, the chosen disciple would become sect master. The other disciples would become Elders. There was a difference in their statuses, but it wasn’t that great in the grand scheme of things. Few sect masters could make his fellow Elders fear him. That authority was typically reserved for the sect’s patriarch.

“This Myriad God Ridge isn’t much but its sect master sure puts on airs,” Jing Yuesha said disdainfully through a curled mouth when she saw how the group of Elders and personal disciples waited from afar. From her point of view, the only reason why the Myriad God Ridge could be ranked as Clear Lunar Island’s equal was because of its massive numbers.

Jing Yueping helplessly shook her head when she heard Jing Yuesha’s words. She knew Jing Yuesha had very high standards and was filled with confidence when it came to the Clear Lunar Island’s future. This made her think lowly of the Myriad God Ridge that was only going from bad to worse.

Jing Yueping said, “Do not underestimate the Myriad God Ridge’s heritage. This Myriad God Sect Master has an unusual authority in the Myriad God Ridge, so he naturally must be somewhat special.”

As they spoke, they went through a large door which opened automatically. They were greeted by a magnificent grand hall.

The hall was simply decorated but majestic. In the middle, there was a rectangular table made of Mystic Numinous White Jade. A person was sitting on a seat of honor on the other end of the table.

He was actually a youth.

A youth?

Jing Yuesha was momentarily taken aback. She could sense that the youth was not one of those old freaks that only had the appearance of a youth. He was definitely not old for she could sense endless and vigorous flames of vitality within him. It was as though his body contained unlimited vital potential.

Furthermore, his cultivation level was only at the Dao Palace realm. This was indication that he could not be that old.

Who was this youth who dared to sit alone in the hall? Where was the Myriad God Sect Master?

Yi Yun pointed calmly at the seats across him when he saw Jing Yuesha and Jing Yueping arrive. He said lightly, “The both of you came from quite a ways away. Please have a seat.”

Jing Yuesha felt like Yi Yun was acting as if he was the host, based on his casual attitude. He did not even stand up to welcome them or bow to greet them. This made her knit her brows slightly. Did this punk not understand that he was a junior? Who the hell did he think he was?

When Yi Yun noticed that Jing Yuesha and Jing Yueping had no reaction except to look at him, Yi Yun pricked his brows. “Ladies, is there something wrong?”

“Who are you?” Jing Yuesha asked. She was arrogant by nature and the tone she asked with sounded somewhat aloof.

Yi Yun naturally noticed the displeasure in Jing Yuesha’s tone. He changed his posture slightly and leaned back onto the chair. He still did not stand up as he looked at Jing Yuesha nonchalantly.

Yi Yun did not conceal his gaze. It was one that displeased Jing Yuesha greatly. Having been the successor of Clear Lunar Island all these years, she had always been placed on a pedestal. She was used to having people fawn over her, especially members of the opposite sex. Most of them would be ashamed of their ungainly appearances. Many men clearly admired her, but none of them dared to look into her eyes because she was too dazzling.

As for Yi Yun, not only did he size her up brazenly, his look was a scrutinizing one. This made Jing Yuesha’s expression turn cold. “We are here to meet the Myriad God Sect Master. How can a junior like you think he can boss others around? Do the Myriad God Ridge disciples not abide by rules?”

Jing Yuesha lost her patience and no longer spoke courteously.

“What do you mean by not abiding by the rules?” Yi Yun countered with a question. Although the girl’s words were offensive, he was not angered. He knew the situation with the Clear Lunar Island’s successor. As an arrogant swan, it was normal for her to have such a reaction.

“The one who came with me is my Clear Lunar Island’s Deputy Island Lord, Perfected Ping. As a Myriad God Ridge disciple, you should stand up to greet her. You should come to a halt more than ten feet away and bow, addressing her as Martial Aunt. Yet you sit there in such a wide, open stance. What sort of etiquette is that?”

Jing Yuesha was disgusted by these Myriad God Ridge disciples. They recruited disciples every three days, so it could be ignored if they recruited those of mediocre breed, not to mention low strength. But the disciples they recruited lacked even the most basic etiquette.

As for the Myriad God Sect Master, he sure was one to put on great airs. He had sent a rash youth with his nose in the air to receive them. Where was he?

Upon hearing Jing Yuesha’s words, Yi Yun nodded and said, “You are right. When disciples of large sects meet the elders of other large sects, they should bow… You are currently about ten feet away from me. It’s time for you to bow. My surname is Yi. Just call me Martial Uncle Yi.”

When Yi Yun said the first half of his sentence, Jing Yuesha’s cold expression warmed up a little. She believed that Yi Yun would stand up and bow at her martial aunt. By standing beside her, it would be as if this punk was bowing his head at her. But when she heard the second half of Yi Yun’s sentence, her beautiful eyes widened in anger.

She nearly thought she heard wrong!

This punk had not only requested that she bow, he actually wanted her to address him as Martial Uncle?

“Punk, are you still sleeping!?” At that moment, Jing Yuesha truly had the intention to attack him. She wanted to beat Yi Yun up, to make him search for his teeth that would be spewed onto the ground. In a way, she would be helping the Myriad God Ridge teach a disciple who did not understand the rules.

As for the Myriad God Sect Master, she couldn’t be bothered anymore. Since he did not treat their Clear Lunar Island with respect, why should she give him respect?

Jing Yuesha almost went forward but Jing Yueping held her shoulder. She was older after all, and although she was incensed by of Yi Yun’s lack of propriety, she suddenly realized an impossible possibility after analyzing the meaning behind Yi Yun’s words.

“Young lad, what do you mean? You told Yuesha to address you as martial uncle… Don’t tell me you are Myriad God Ridge’s sect master!?”

Jing Yuesha was taken aback when Jing Yueping said that. Only then did she understand what she could not comprehend previously.

The hall only had Yi Yun alone. Previously, Elder Sun had respectfully invited them to enter to meet the Myriad God Sect Master; yet, they did not meet the sect master, only this youth. The only possibility was that this youth was the Myriad God Sect Master!

Upon realizing this point, Jing Yuesha looked at Yi Yun in disbelief. Her tiny mouth gaped and did not close for a long period of time.

How could this be possible!?

The Myriad God Ridge was a large sect that was ranked alongside the Clear Lunar Island and the Heavenly Pivot Chapter. The position of Myriad God Sect Master was prestigious and he held immense power. He controlled the lives of those that were within a radius of several million kilometers. But he was actually such a young youth?

Jing Yuesha had outstanding talent and none of her peers could match her. She enjoyed an esteemed position in the Clear Lunar Island and wherever she went, she was the highlight. But even so, she was only the Clear Lunar Island’s successor. She was at least ten thousand years away from inheriting the position of Island Lord.

But the youth in front of her was… already the Myriad God Sect Master!?

1299 - : Rules

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Impossible. Although our Clear Lunar Island does not often interact with the Myriad God Ridge, we have heard that the Myriad God Sect Master is an elder quite advanced in age. How can that be you!?”

Jing Yuesha found it unbelievable. Although she did not make an effort to be up to date on matters regarding the Myriad God Sect Master, she had heard others describe him as an old man that was on his deathbed. His body had a cadaveric air to it, as though he was half a step in a coffin. That description stood in stark contrast with the youth in front of her.

“There was a change of personnel. Is there a need for you to ask something so obvious?”

Yi Yun no longer spoke courteously towards the arrogant girl.

“Change of personnel…” Jing Yuesha stuttered. Why did Yi Yun make it sound as simple as switching chefs at a restaurant?

“You are only at the Dao Palace realm and you can’t be more than three hundred years old, right? Even if the Myriad God Ridge wanted to replace its sect master, it shouldn’t have switched to a disciple as young as you. How can you become the Myriad God Sect Master?”

Jing Yuesha’s cultivation level was lower than Yi Yun’s but she could still easily determine his cultivation level. She could even roughly gauge a Supremacy’s cultivation level as well.

She could tell that Yi Yun was only at the eighth-storey Dao Palace. Based on the cultivation speed of Clear Lunar Island’s personal disciples, the eighth-storey Dao Palace could be attained at the age of three to four hundred. That was way too young for a sect master.

Yi Yun was frustrated by Jing Yuesha’s continuous questioning. “Did you only come to meet me to ask how I became sect master? As the Myriad God Sect Master, I’m your senior. Yet, you keep doubting your senior. Did the Clear Lunar Island not teach you etiquette or the need to respect your elders?”

“You…”

Jing Yuesha was dumbstruck by Yi Yun’s tirade. When she toured the world on experiential training, she met members of the opposite sex that were her age. They yearned to exchange a few more words with her and even if she said something nasty, they would gladly endure it. Yet, Yi Yun was directly reprimanding her. She had never experienced such nastiness from a member of the opposite sex, so she was instantly fuming and aggrieved.

Yi Yun looked up to glance at Jing Yuesha. He could tell that the girl had been smoothly sailing through her entire life. She had been placed on a pedestal and was accustomed to being aloof. Yi Yun did not necessarily dislike such girls, but he would not be controlled by one either.

“You speak to elders in such a tone immediately upon meeting them. Is this how you behave in front of your Clear Lunar Island’s Island Lord? Just a while ago, you demonstrated your understanding of etiquette by saying that my Myriad God Ridge’s disciples do not abide by the rules. So why did you not bow to me when you met me?”

Jing Yuesha was close to tears from her anger. The most frustrating thing was that he had used her own words against her. And worse, she had no way to rebut.

Upon seeing Jing Yuesha’s expression, Yi Yun suddenly felt that being the sect master of Myriad God Ridge had its perks. At the very least, he could teach others a lesson with firm reason.

Jing Yuesha’s face turned red from the short exchange with Yi Yun. She could not utter another word and she felt that, in front of Yi Yun, she would only be bullied into a frustrated punching bag.

She was now certain that Yi Yun was the Myriad God Sect Master. It would be impossible for him to pretend to be the sect master for so long. If he were a fake, the true Myriad God Sect Master would have exposed him by now. This baffled her. How did a junior become revered by the other Myriad God Ridge Elders?

The Myriad God Ridge was truly crazy to choose a young punk as sect master. At this rate, it probably wouldn’t take long for them to collapse!

“Sect Master Yi, please calm down. Don’t tease Yuesha any longer. It was impolite of her to question your identity. I apologize on her behalf,” said Jing Yueping lightly.

Her tone was naturally defensive of Jing Yuesha. There was also no need for forcing Jing Yuesha to bow to Yi Yun as she would definitely not let her own martial niece suffer such a grievance.

Yi Yun stopped pressing the issue when Jing Yueping spoke out. He asked, “Alright then, what did you come here for?”

“It had to do with the Heavenly South Peaks Meet, but now that I see the youthful and uninhibited heroic spirit of Sect Master Yi, I believe you would not be interested in joining.”

“Oh? What’s the Heavenly South Peaks Meet?” asked Yi Yun casually.

Jing Yueping was left taken aback by Yi Yun’s question. This Myriad God Sect Master did not even know of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet?

What sort of sect master was he? Although the Calm Sea factions did not typically participate in the Heavenly South Peaks Meet, it was something that he should have at least heard of.

Jing Yueping disdained Yi Yun in secret but politely explained, “The Heavenly South Peaks Meet is a grand meet held in the Heavenly South Great World. This meet has many events. Most important of all is the meeting between the Heavenly South Great World and the authority figures of the surrounding Great Worlds’ factions. There will be Dao discussions and martial sparring. Together, the profundity of the martial laws will be probed.”

“There will also be a auction. Every party will obtain what they need and help to supply each other’s needs.”

“Other than that, there is an important itinerary. The young disciples of the various large sects will spar. The ultimate winner will be given handsome rewards. This is something that all sect masters of major factions will be invited to watch. They will act as judges, as well as give some pointers to the younger generation.”

Jing Yueping finished her explanation. After listening to the itinerary of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet, Yi Yun figured out her goal in seeking him.

She had been planning to invite him to be a judge at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s martial contest. They could also participate in the auction and even give lectures on the Dao.

To the Heavenly South Great World, the Calm Sea was relatively small. Although the Clear Lunar Island was participating in the meet, it felt it was lacking when compared to the larger factions of the Great Worlds. It wanted to rope in the Myriad God Ridge, making it appear mightier. If not, be it at the auction or the Dao lectures and martial sparring, they might be overshadowed by the local sects of the Heavenly South.

But for them to come to the Jade Emperor Palace with such plans only to see the true Myriad God Sect Master, Yi Yun, they must’ve had a string of expletives running through their heads.

How could such a young fellow participate in the Heavenly South Peaks Meet? How could he be a judge? How could he lecture on the Dao or spar? Wouldn’t it only make others laugh their heads off?

It was no wonder Jing Yueping had described him as being youthful and having an uninhibited heroic spirit, giving her reason to believe that he would not be interested in joining.

When he realized this, Yi Yun noticed Jing Yueping’s solemn expression. She did not give it away, but Yi Yun knew that the old woman was probably cursing at all his ancestors. When she returned to Clear Lunar Island, just Jing Yuesha alone would probably make what had happened today a huge joke, much less Jing Yueping. The turn of events will likely be described vividly to the bevy of girls in Clear Lunar Island.

The disdain and criticism for him were inevitable. From Yi Yun’s point of view, women had a gossipy nature. It was the same even for female cultivators. Furthermore, Clear Lunar Island was a place where men did not step foot in. He could only imagine how much gossip prevailed among the women.

“I wonder how they would demonize me.”

Yi Yun found it amusing.

At that moment, Jing Yueping wished to stay there no longer. She did not wish to waste her time on a young punk, so she said, “I have long heard of the deep heritage the Myriad God Ridge has and its potency. Today has truly broadened my horizons. Sect Master Yi, you are truly an extraordinary young hero. If there’s nothing else, I’ll bid you farewell. It was truly quite a worthwhile trip to see Sect Master Yi’s fine grace.”

After Jing Yueping finished her words, she planned to leave without even staying for tea. Yi Yun naturally could tell, however, that ‘young hero’ and ‘fine grace’ were just sarcastic remarks. But did not mind that. He said, “Fairy Ping, don’t be in such a hurry to leave. Aren’t you here to invite me to join you at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet? I’m actually rather interested. Being a judge or whatnot sounds fun. When does the Heavenly South Peaks Meet begin? I would like to get in on the action.”

He could ignore the discussion of the Dao and the sparring, or the martial arts competition among the younger disciples. But Yi Yun was rather interested in the auction.

As it was an auction held by the Heavenly South Great World, it was possible that there would be all sorts of stunning divine treasures available.

Yi Yun also needed many rare materials to further his cultivation in the Dragon Emperor Technique. He was certain he could find a portion of what he needed at the auction.

1300 - : Heavenly South Peaks Meet

CKtalon  CKtalon

Being a judge sounds fun?

Fairy Ping was left speechless the moment she heard Yi Yun’s words. Had she minced words so well that he could not understand her subtext? It was important for people to know their own limitations!

Jing Yuesha also rolled her eyes in secret. She could not help but blink as an undetectable smirk crept onto the corner of her mouth. “Sect Master Yi, it wouldn’t be troublesome if you would like to go to the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. I have traveled the Heavenly South Great World before. I know a few people from the big sects that are organizing the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. Although the name list has long been decided, I can inquire on your behalf and see if it’s possible to get you qualified as a disciple in the contest.”

It would be a joke to allow Yi Yun be a judge. However, as a contesting disciple…

Jing Yuesha did not think Yi Yun was even qualified for that, to be honest.

The Heavenly South Peaks Meet hosted numerous experts, and the competition could only be described as intense!

Even the proud Jing Yuesha lacked confidence in her own abilities there.

However, with the punk being so arrogant, and having bullied her, Jing Yuesha was eager to see him suffer at the meet. She wanted to open his eyes to the experts of the Heavenly South Great World. Perhaps the experience would be so mind-blowing that his head would explode.

Fairy Ping listened on the side as she gave Jing Yuesha a reproachful look.

“This lass still has the mind of a child. She wants to make a fool of this Yi Yun with her eccentric ideas.”

“But since Yi Yun is ridiculous himself, he could use a lesson. It would aid his growth and prevent him from being so insolent while he remains a frog in a well.”

Therefore, Fairy Ping said, “Alright then. If Sect Master Yi insists on participating, I support Yuesha helping Sect Master Yi apply to compete.”

“Compete?” Instead, Yi Yun rejected the thought languidly. “It’s just a martial competition which a bunch of juniors is participating in. I’m not that interested. With my status as Myriad God Sect Master, wouldn’t I be a bully if I participated in a martial competition for junior disciples? I wouldn’t want to bully them.”

“What?” Jing Yuesha was stupefied when she heard that.

When these words were said, Fairy Ping and Jing Yuesha’s eyes went completely wide. They were at a loss for what to say. They had heard of bragging but they had never heard of someone that was so good at bragging!

What did he think was the standard of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s martial contest? Did he think it was a contest between disciples at the level of the ones he recruited every three days? Also, who did he think he was!?

He kept mentioning junior disciples and bullying… Didn’t that also include Jing Yuesha?

Jing Yuesha was amused and exasperated. She said with a voice transmission, “Martial Aunt! Look at how much a braggart he is. I feel ashamed for him.”

At that moment, Fairy Ping could no longer bear it. “Thankfully, we do not need to associate with him further. We have really broadened our horizons on our trip to the Myriad God Ridge today. Forget it, let’s go.”

“No, Martial Aunt! Since he wants to go, we must bring him to the Heavenly South Peaks Meet to open his eyes. I want to see his expression when the time comes.”

Upon thinking of how huge a setback Yi Yun would experience and his expression when he ended up being ridiculed by everyone around him, Jing Yuesha revealed a smug smile.

Yi Yun was being too arrogant. Jing Yuesha herself was a proud person, but even she knew that she had to restrain herself at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. There were just too many experts and as the saying went, there was always a higher mountain and someone always stronger.

Yet, Yi Yun considered everybody and everything beneath him. How could Jing Yuesha tolerate his treatment of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet as a game?

Fairy Ping sighed secretly. Yi Yun would only have himself to blame.

She immediately said, “The Heavenly South Peaks Meet happens half a year from now. Going to the Heavenly South Great World requires us to travel through a spatial node. It won’t be easy. Since Sect Master Yi is interested, we can travel together.”

“Since both of you want to travel with me, that will work,” Yi Yun said with a nod. Fairy Ping was rendered speechless when she heard that. Was Yi Yun implying that they were the ones clinging on to him to travel together?

Jing Yuesha was even more incensed and exasperated. Who wanted to travel with him!?

“By the way, I’m also very interested in the auction. I wonder what level the items are. Are there any priceless divine treasures? I have some divine treasures I need to acquire, so I would like to try my luck. Does the auction require any invitation letters?”

Yi Yun knew that such auctions were often done semi-privately. One had to be introduced to be let in.

He was cultivating the Dragon Emperor Technique and needed a large number of natural treasures, so he was indeed interested in the auction.

Fairy Ping rolled her eyes. The auction was an event for all sorts of old freaks to participate in. As a young punk at the eighth-storey Dao Palace, why did he care for priceless divine treasures? Even if he did manage to acquire some, they would be wasted on him.

Every word this punk said was ridiculous.

“There’s no need for an invitation letter. You can participate as long as you have sufficient wealth.”

Fairy Ping did not wish to stay a minute longer in the Myriad God Ridge. She forced herself to inform Yi Yun of the venue and time, before rushing out with Jing Yuesha.

The Myriad God Sect Master was truly absurd.

As for Jing Yuesha, the moment she stepped out the door, she turned to look at Jade Emperor Palace and waved her tiny fist.

“What senior! What Martial Uncle! Hmph!”

Yi Yun was right. As soon as Jing Yuesha returned to Clear Lunar Island, she could not stop herself from sharing the story of her outrageous experience at the Myriad God Ridge to the other girls on Clear Lunar Island.

Clear Lunar Island wasn’t large so gossip quickly spread. In less than a day, everyone in Clear Lunar Island knew Yi Yun’s name.

Yi Yun naturally did not care either way.

Time passed, and half a year passed quickly.

On the day Yi Yun had arranged to meet the Clear Lunar Island group, the venue chosen was the Kuntu mountain range in the Calm Sea. There was a spatial node there that led to the Heavenly South Great World.

The regions in the Sinkhole were situated in various complicated ways but in general, the Sinkhole was split into various worlds. They were of all sizes and were relatively independent. As such, traveling through the different worlds was not a simple task.

The Clear Lunar Island had already set up an array formation. Once it was activated, they could be transported through the void.

When Yi Yun came to the Kuntu mountain range, he only brought Zuoyan Xiaoyu as a maidservant. As for the Clear Lunar Island, they brought a bevy of young girls.

At a glance, Yi Yun could see more than a dozen people.

Most striking of all was Jing Yuesha.

Other than her, there were a few elderly women. They were naturally members of the upper echelon of Clear Lunar Island.

Upon seeing Yi Yun arrive, many girls immediately cast curious looks at him. A few of them murmured in whispers before giggling.

“Is that the Myriad God Sect Master?”

“He’s really rather young. But Senior Sister Yuesha, he doesn’t look as bad as you described. He’s rather handsome, actually.”

“Yea, yea. But did he really get you to call him Martial Uncle?”

“He wishes so!” Jing Yuesha said petulantly.

The girls spoke in whispers as they looked curiously at Yi Yun with wide eyes.

At that moment, Yi Yun walked over.

Upon seeing Yi Yun come, the girls immediately closed their mouths and furtively looked at him.

“Sect Master Yi, we meet again.”

Jing Yueping felt a headache seeing Yi Yun but since Yi Yun represented the Myriad God Ridge, the people from the Clear Lunar Island had to abide by etiquette.

1301 - : Traveling Together

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Fairy Ping.” Yi Yun nodded. Following that, he swept his gaze across the girls. They had lived on an island from a young age which made them naive and flawless. They wore all their emotions on their sleeves.

As for Jing Yuesha, she stood right behind them, as though she couldn’t be bothered to even look at Yi Yun.

“Isn’t that Martial Niece Yuesha? We meet again!” Yi Yun greeted her. Jing Yuesha clenched her teeth, secretly wishing she could scratch Yi Yun to death.

And at that moment, a beautiful woman wearing a dark purple dress glanced at Jing Yuesha and said lightly, “Yuesha, Sect Master Yi is talking to you. Do not be rude.”

The beautiful woman was Jing Yuesha’s master, the Clear Lunar Island’s Island Lord, Jing Yueyin.

Jing Yueyin appeared frail, but she was very strict when it came to rules. Even though Yi Yun spoke in a contemptible manner, he was still the genuine Myriad God Sect Master.

With her master giving the word, Jing Yuesha did not dare to disobey. She said aggrievedly, “Sect Master Yi…”

Jing Yueyin nodded. It was sufficient to address Yi Yun as sect master. As for ‘Martial Uncle,’ that was not something Yi Yun deserved.

After this short exchange, Jing Yueyin no longer bothered with Yi Yun.

He naturally knew that they were displeased by the fact that he was of equal standing as the beautiful woman, Fairy Ping, and the rest while only being at the eighth-storey Dao Palace. They would not truly respect him as they would any other sect master.

At that moment, the teleportation array lit up. A group of people dressed in proper outfits appeared from within.

Leading them was a middle-aged scholar. He was dressed in an azure-colored robe. His aura was converged and his eyes seemed like an unfathomable well. Although his every action was elegant, he exuded an infinite coldness.

Behind him was a group of young men and women. They had swords slung behind their backs and they stood tall and straight. Each of them had a tiny azure sword embroidered on the chests of their robes.

“It’s the Heavenly Pivot Chapter!” The girls from the Clear Lunar Island immediately stopped giggling. All of them wiped every emotion from their face and took on a very stern look.

Every person from the Heavenly Pivot Chapter, be they men or women, exuded a cold bearing. It made the mood chill instantly.

“The Heavenly Pivot Chapter…” Yi Yun stroked his chin. He had naturally heard of it before but he had never paid it much attention.

He never expected that the Heavenly Pivot Chapter would accompany them on the trip to the Heavenly South Great World.

Zuoyan Xiaoyu sent Yi Yun a voice transmission: “Young Master, the Heavenly Pivot Chapter was previously inferior to the Myriad God Ridge and Clear Lunar Island, but ever since the present Sect Master, Ren Yunzong, took control of the sect, it became a dark horse that brought out the full capabilities of its disciples. Its strength has almost caught up to the Myriad God Ridge, making it one of the three major factions in the Calm Sea.”

She knew her young master had been busy cultivating and had no interest in such matters. Therefore, she took it upon herself to study such information. As sect master, Yi Yun needed to know these things.

Yi Yun nodded. The Myriad God Ridge was different from the Clear Lunar Island and the Heavenly Pivot Chapter. Both of them were traditional and orthodox sects but the Myriad God Ridge was just the Myriad God Patriarch’s tool. All of Myriad God Patriarch’s efforts went towards controlling the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, so he did not care how the Myriad God Ridge developed. Under such circumstances, it was no surprise that the Heavenly Pivot Chapter managed to catch up to the Myriad God Ridge.

“Sect Master Ren.” Jing Yueyin greeted the middle-aged scholar.

Ren Yunzong cupped his fists. “Clear Lunar Island Lord, it’s been awhile since we last met. You remain as graceful as ever.”

“Sect Master Ren, judging from how your divine halo is converged, your cultivation must have improved again,” said Jing Yueyin with a faint smile.

“It’s nothing worth mentioning,” replied Ren Yunzong lightly. “This meet is a stage for these juniors. I have long heard of the Clear Lunar Island’s successor, Jing Yuesha.”

Jing Yuesha raised her head slightly and said with a moving voice, “Greetings Martial Uncle Ren, I’m Jing Yuesha.”

In front of Ren Yunzong, Jing Yuesha felt like she was facing a towering mountain or a bottomless abyss. She felt palpitations in her heart.

As for Ren Yunzong, he was known as a martial fanatic with excellent talent. Such a person left even his peers bemoaning their own adequacies.

Jing Yuesha did not dare to be impolite to such a magnificent senior.

“Yea, not bad.” Ren Yunzong swept his gaze across her and could easily pick up on her talent. His eyes could not help but betray his gasp of admiration.

Upon receiving Ren Yunzong’s affirmation, even though it was just two simple words, Jing Yuesha was slightly delighted.

“I only brought a bunch of incompetent disciples. Zijian, come over,” said Ren Yunzong.

A young man immediately stood forward from the Heavenly Pivot Chapter’s ranks. His eyes were piercing like swords and he had a cold expression. It was as though his heart, mind, and hands were all as sharp as a sword.

“Greetings Clear Lunar Island Lord, I’m Xia Zijian,” said the young man as he cupped his fists.

“Good.” Jing Yueyin nodded in satisfaction.

“By the way, Martial Aunt Jin, I heard that the Myriad God Ridge’s genius disciples will be joining us on the trip to the Heavenly South Great World. Where might they be?”

Xia Zijian was young and high-spirited. He wanted to see the geniuses from the Myriad God Ridge and compare himself to them.

Jing Yueyin looked at Yi Yun and shook her head. She said, “The Myriad God Ridge’s genius disciples won’t be coming on this trip to the Heavenly South Great World. However, the Myriad God Sect Master is here.”

“Myriad God Sect Master? I have met him once before. To greet him again today is quite the opportunity. Might I know where the sect master is?” Xia Zijian asked.

He had indeed met the sect master once before. But even so, it was only right for him to greet a senior.

When Jing Yuesha heard Xia Zijian’s reverential tone, she pointed behind him and said, harboring evil thoughts, “There he is, right behind you.”

The moment Xia Zijian heard that, he was alarmed. Right behind him? Had he actually ignored such an important figure? He even had his back to him. It was extremely impolite.

He hurriedly turned around and cupped his hands with his head bowed. He said, “Greetings Myriad God Sect Master, I’m Xia Zijian. Sorry for my impoliteness. Please forgive me!”

Just as his voice faded, Xia Zijian looked up and his expression changed instantly.

Who was this?!

Xia Zijian looked at Yi Yun in shock.

Where was the Myriad God Sect Master? Who the hell was this fellow? Was Jing Yuesha teasing him?

Yet the youth stood composed, as though he was accepting his bow?

Since he wasn’t the Myriad God Sect Master, he should have immediately made way!

But Xia Zijian never expected Yi Yun to say nonchalantly to him, “Martial Nephew Xia, dispense with the formalities. We have never met before.”

At that moment, Xia Zijian’s face sunk as though everyone owed him a hundred Spirit Jade. However, from Yi Yun’s point of view, the Heavenly Pivot Chapter’s sect master had the same demeanor as his disciples.

This was truly what it meant when they said the marrow of tradition…

However, at that moment, Xia Zijian’s face was already green. He could read Yi Yun’s cultivation level. It was only at the eighth-storey Dao Palace, yet the punk was amusing himself at his expense.

“You!?”

Xia Zijian’s voice rang out like an extremely sharp sword being drawn.

And at that moment, Clear Lunar Island Lord spoke, “Martial Nephew Xia, this is indeed the Myriad God Sect Master. Yi Yun recently became the Myriad God Sect Master, and he will be traveling with us today.”

Xia Zijian was dumbstruck when he heard that. Thinking back to the moment he greeted the youth, he felt like he just swallowed a fly.

Was the Myriad God Ridge crazy? Why was the position of sect master handed down to such a young punk?

1302 - : Heavenly Pivot

CKtalon  CKtalon

Anyone could tell how pissed Xia Zijian was. Clear Lunar Island Lord was a staid woman who wished to avoid conflict on their trip. She immediately said, “Alright! Let’s set off.”

With Clear Lunar Island Lord saying so, Xia Zijian could only let it go. He indignantly looked at Yi Yun and asked, “Are you planning on participating in the martial competition at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet on your trip to the Heavenly South Great World?”

Yi Yun was the Myriad God Sect Master after all. At the moment, he could only suffer in silence despite Yi Yun having embarrassed him so severely. However, he refused to settle for simply suffering in silence.

If Yi Yun was participating in the martial competition, he could beat Yi Yun up at the meet to get back at him.

Xia Zijian had a good idea but before Yi Yun could reply, Jing Yuesha spoke out. She mimicked Yi Yun’s tone, “Sect Master Yi has no interest in the martial competition. He doesn’t want to bully you with his status. Are you thinking of challenging Sect Master Yi by asking this? You probably do not qualify to do so because Sect Master Yi does not think anything of you.”

Jing Yuesha said this in a bid to fan the flames. She was a mischievous imp that craved to see the world plunge into chaos. When Xia Zijian heard that, a vein on his forehead bulged. Although he guessed that it wasn’t Yi Yun’s exact words, it was likely that he had said something similar in the past. This punk was too arrogant!

Xia Zijian looked at Yi Yun but saw that he was completely unfazed. He did not give any rebuttals nor smooth things over with pleasantries. It was equivalent to him silently agreeing with Jing Yuesha’s words.

In fact, Yi Yun couldn’t even be bothered to waste his breath on Xia Zijian. It was good that Jing Yuesha had been his mouthpiece. It was true he thought nothing of Xia Zijian.

“Shut up, Yuesha. It’s time we set off,” Clear Lunar Island Lord said with a frown. From her point of view, it was pointless for Jing Yuesha to get into a verbal fight with Yi Yun.

As Clear Lunar Island Lord spoke, the array formation behind her began activating, emitting a powerful light. The array formation had already been filled with Spirit Jade, and when the energy within it gathered together, it transformed into a beam of light that shot into the heavens.

“Ka-cha!”

The sky began to tear in the place where it was shot by the divine beam of light. A huge spatial hole appeared out of thin air.

“Let’s go!”

As Clear Lunar Island Lord spoke, she took out a spirit cruiser from her interspatial ring and threw it out, where it floated in midair.

The spirit cruiser was made of Mystic Numinous Treasured Jade and its surface was engraved with array formations. It was a supreme-grade defensive numinous treasure and it could easily traverse spatial storms at extremely fast speeds, like a fish in water.

At the same time, Ren Yunzong produced a spirit cruiser of his own. Compared to Clear Lunar Island’s Mystic Jade Spirit Cruiser, the Heavenly Pivot Chapter’s spirit cruiser was bigger and more dignified.

Such a large spirit cruiser was itself a top-grade Divine Lord treasure. It was not easy to control, especially on a journey like the one from the Calm Sea to the Heavenly South Great World. It was a long one that required them to cross many spatial barriers. Furthermore, the spatial storms in the Sinkhole were a lot stronger than the ones in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

“The journey from the Calm Sea to the Heavenly South is fraught with danger. An ordinary spirit cruiser will generally be ripped apart by the spatial storms. Sect Master Yi, are you going by yourself?”

Jing Yuesha smiled as she asked Yi Yun in a teasing tone. But just as she finished her sentence, Yi Yun had already casually thrown out his hand.

“Boom!”

With a loud boom, the entire land trembled. Yi Yun threw a gigantic pagoda which nearly crushed the mountains with the force of its arrival. It towered straight into the clouds.

It was naturally the God Advent Tower. It was a treasure that naturally made one feel suppressed, to begin with. It could even suppress mighty figures, indicating how heavy it was.

“Oh? This treasure?”

Clear Lunar Island Lord’s eyes lit up. She could naturally tell that the God Advent Tower was of extraordinary quality. It was a rare treasure. Not only could it be used as a transportation vessel, it could also be used as an abode. It was extremely valuable.

However, it was not easy to refine such a high-grade treasure. The task was rather demanding on the controller.

“Martial Niece Yuesha, there’s no need to worry about me. I’ll be going on my own.”

Yi Yun smiled as he held Zuoyan Xiaoyu before they transformed into a stream of light that disappeared into the God Advent Tower.

The next moment, the God Advent Tower shot up into the sky. The powerful blast tore through the land, kicking up endless amounts of rubble!

Jing Yuesha watched the massive God Advent Tower vanish through the spatial hole in a daze. It was enough to make her forget that Yi Yun had addressed her as martial niece.

“This fellow actually managed to refine such a powerful treasure for himself.”

Jing Yuesha had no choice but to admit that when compared to their Clear Lunar Island’s elegant Mystic Jade Spirit Cruiser, the pagoda was a lot more domineering.

“Let’s go too.”

Clear Lunar Island Lord said as everyone boarded the spirit cruiser. The two spirit cruisers immediately transformed into a stream of light and entered the spatial hole.

And after entering the spatial hole, space distorted once again as the hole instantly vanished, restoring the blue skies.

…

Half a month later. Heavenly South Great World—

Compared to the Calm Sea, the Heavenly South Great World was massive. Furthermore, most of the Calm Sea was covered by oceans. It was naturally not tenable for humans to stay in the ocean for prolonged periods of time. However, the Heavenly South Great World was different in that it was mostly endless land. The ocean was instead surrounded by the massive continent, being more of a gigantic saltwater lake.

With there being so much land, the population of the Heavenly South Great World was naturally much higher than that of the Calm Sea.

In addition, the distribution of the Heavenly South Great World’s factions was also somewhat different from the Calm Sea’s.

The strongest factions in the Calm Sea were sects, with the Heavenly Pivot Chapter, Clear Lunar Island, and Myriad God Ridge controlling the lives and deaths of numerous mortal countries with the power of their influence.

The most powerful factions in the Heavenly South Great World were instead countries.

Some of the divine countries with long histories had been established for more than a hundred million years. Their heritage ran unimaginably deep.

In the core region of the Heavenly South Great World, there were three powerful ancient countries. They were the Divine Empire of Thunder, Outcloud Empire, and the Nine Li Magus Empire.

Among the three countries, the Divine Empire of Thunder and the Outcloud Empire had vast territories. Many ordinary warriors would fail to go beyond the borders of the two ancient countries their entire lives.

As for the Nine Li Magus Empire, it had the smallest sovereign land, one that spanned about five thousand kilometers. However, no one dared to belittle the Nine Li Magus Empire’s might. It was a mighty and mysterious country that rumors said was more powerful than the Divine Empire of Thunder and the Outcloud Empire.

The Heavenly South Peaks Meet was organized by the Divine Empire of Thunder and the Outcloud Empire. The Nine Li Magus Empire was not attending. In fact, they almost never participated in it.

It was the Outcloud Empire’s turn to host the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. It was held at a sub-capital in the Outcloud Empire—Cloud Pool City.

Cloud Pool City was built beside mountains so the city was perennially immersed in clouds. It was a megacity that ranked within the top ten in the entirety of the Heavenly South Great World.

In the Calm Sea, Yi Yun had gone to the Myriad God City. It was also a huge bustling city.

However, the Myriad God City could not be compared to Cloud Pool City at all. It was not about the level of bustle but the people that walked through Cloud Pool City’s streets.

Myriad God City was a city of commoners that circled around the Myriad God Ridge. As for Cloud Pool City, it was a city of warriors.

While walking through the city, Yi Yun would often see young elites with robust foundations as well as martial seniors who were accomplished in their cultivation.

The stores in the city, such as the weapons or medicinal stores, were also run by warriors. The goods sold were typically expensive and extraordinary.

1303 - : Heavenly South Great World

CKtalon  CKtalon

“There are so many experts. You don’t see cities like this on Clear Lunar Island,” said one of the Clear Lunar girls wistfully.

While passing through Cloud Pool City, she was dazzled by experts and stores of all shapes and sizes.

Clear Lunar Island Lord said, “There are indeed many experts here, but there’s no need to be overly astonished. In the Calm Sea, the experts are concentrated in the sects. Most people in the cities are mortals. But here, the city itself is a territory of a sect. With the Heavenly South Peaks Meet attracting many experts, it naturally makes everything seem grander.”

Jing Yuesha nodded, “Master is right. This city is simply in a different situation than any from the Calm Sea.”

As Jing Yuesha spoke, everyone felt a rich Yuan Qi inundate them. They looked up and saw a majestic palatial building. It was constructed entirely from bricks made of Spirit Jade. The bricks were of great quality, mid-grade Spirit Jade as well as some supreme-grade Spirit Jade.

A plaque hung in front of the building with the words: Brightheart Veranda.

Spirit Jade was the common currency of the Sinkhole. It was overly extravagant to construct an entire building out of it.

“What kind of place is this?” asked Xia Zijian out of curiosity.

“Brightheart Veranda is a restaurant, one of the businesses of the Pillheart Sect. The Pillheart Sect is not to be trifled with, even though its strength is inferior to the three ancient countries of the Heavenly South Great World. However, the Pillheart Sect is not only restricted to the Heavenly South Great World, it has many branches distributed across the Sinkhole. Add all of them up, and the Pillheart Sect is a behemoth, one that is even more powerful than the Outcloud Empire,” Jing Yuesha introduced.

Years ago she had traveled the Heavenly South Great World, and so was very acquainted with its political and social situation.

“More powerful than the Outcloud Empire?”

Xia Zijian was somewhat astonished. The Sinkhole was just too massive. The deep heritages of its many major factions were unimaginable.

Jing Yuesha chuckled and continued, “This Brightheart Veranda is very famous in Cloud Pool City. The food served is not your run-of-the-mill dish. They have a specialty called the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds. Countless people come here to try it but it’s very difficult to have even a taste of it. Getting a reservation takes ages. I came here a decade ago and was lucky to receive a VIP card. I can eat at Brightheart Veranda without a reservation. Are you all interested in having a taste of the food?”

Jing Yuesha was quite pleased with herself. She thought herself as a host of sorts in the Heavenly South Great World. Back when she was out traveling, she had thrived in the Heavenly South Great World. It brought her a sense of satisfaction to be able to introduce seniors and disciples from the Clear Lunar Island and the Heavenly Pivot Chapter to an extravagant meal at an exclusive establishment.

“Alright, let’s have a try.” Xia Zijian was very interested. “By the way, Junior Sister Yuesha, how did you obtain your VIP card?”

Jing Yuesha was even happier when Xia Zijian asked. She was praising Xia Zijian in her heart: “You sure are socially adept. I was waiting for someone to ask that question!”

Jing Yuesha deliberately acted unconcerned and said, “Getting the VIP card was nothing much. It was given to me by the Brightheart Veranda. Actually, the Brightheart Veranda does not accept applications for VIP cards. Wealth is naturally one aspect they consider, but more importantly, one has to have a certain level of fame and status. Back when I was traveling the Heavenly South Great World, I fought a few geniuses from Cloud Pool City. I did quite alright, gaining me a little fame. It was then that the Brightheart Veranda sent me a VIP card, and I just accepted it.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Xia Zijian’s eyes lit up. He immediately turned excited. As a young elite, he was eager to excel over others. Also, he was very sure of himself.

Since Jing Yuesha had obtained a VIP card, it meant that he could too. When the Heavenly South Peaks Meet began, he would definitely become famous!

When the time came, he could steal the show in front of the Clear Lunar Island and win the admiration of the Clear Lunar Island beauties, as well as the commendation of the Heavenly Pivot Chapter seniors.

“Since all of you are interested, let’s go in and take a look,” Ren Yunzong said with a smile. He was obviously able to pick up on the competitive streak forming between the juniors and saw it as a good thing.

…

Brightheart Veranda only accepted reservations, but it did not seem to be the toast of the town as one might expect. Many of its individual private rooms were empty.

After the group of people entered Brightheart Veranda, a beautiful attendant came over immediately. “Might I ask if you have a reservation-”

Before the attendant could finish speaking, Jing Yuesha slammed her VIP card on the table.

It made a crisp smacking sound, after which Jing Yuesha spoke leisurely, “Get me a private room. A bigger one. I have many people with me.”

The attendant looked at the VIP card and said with a courteous smile. “I’m sorry. Brightheart Veranda does not have any vacancies left today.”

“Huh? Why?”

Jing Yuesha was a little dumbstruck. “Don’t you have some private rooms that are empty? Besides, I have a VIP card. Why are you telling me that there aren’t any vacancies?”

The attendant replied, “It’s Princess Redjoy’s birthday today. In addition, the occasion coincides with the Heavenly South Peaks Meet so Princess Redjoy used her birthday as an opportunity to host a banquet and invite all of her friends. She has reserved every private room on this floor.”

“Reserved… reserved every room?” Jing Yuesha was dumbfounded. “Aren’t rooms in Brightheart Veranda very exclusive? Doesn’t a VIP card only allow one reserved room? How can she reserve the entire floor while I can’t even reserve one room?”

“About that…” The attendant looked coyly at Jing Yuesha. “It’s because Princess Redjoy’s VIP level is very high while your VIP level is insufficient…”

When the attendant said those words, Jing Yuesha nearly choked.

Her VIP level was insufficient!

Jing Yuesha felt her face burn. She had planned to bring the group to eat at Brightheart Veranda and posture. In her imagination, she would have ordered a table of Brightheart Veranda’s specialties. The Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds would definitely be greatly acclaimed when it was served.

Yet not only was she unable to posture, she ended up looking like a retard.

Back when the Brightheart Veranda gave her a VIP card, she was quite smug about it. But on second thought, she had never asked what level the VIP card was. Could it be the lowest VIP card? If she knew earlier, she wouldn’t have wanted it!

Jing Yuesha was vexed. The reversal happened too quickly and it had caught her off guard. She had never felt so embarrassed her entire life. If it had happened only in front of the Clear Lunar Island disciples, it would have been fine. But it happened in front of the Heavenly Pivot Chapter and… Yi Yun!

Jing Yuesha was already exasperated with the fellow. She wished to make the arrogant punk realize how famous she was in Cloud Pool City but with this upset, wouldn’t Yi Yun end up laughing himself to death?

Upon thinking of this, the embarrassed Jing Yuesha could not help but shoot a furtive glance at Yi Yun. However, there wasn’t much of an expression on his face. He seemed to be smiling but she was unsure if her mind was playing tricks on her. She had a nagging feeling that Yi Yun was mocking her.

Jing Yuesha clenched her teeth and sent the beautiful attendant a voice transmission secretly. “Babe, can you make an exception? Aren’t there many private rooms upstairs? I can pay a little extra…”

The attendant who had been placed in a difficult position shook her head. There were rooms upstairs but they were not reservable at Jing Yuesha’s level. If it were any other time, she could have made the exception but this was during the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. Every room was in high demand.

“Yuesha, forget it!” Jing Yueyin said. She did not mind if she could eat at Brightheart Veranda or not. There was no reason to cause a dispute over such matters.

Just as Jing Yueyin finished her words, a group of people walked in. Leading them was a red-dressed girl. She looked to be in her twenties with almond-shaped eyes and cherry lips. She had a voluptuous figure and long slender legs.

“Is my banquet prepared?” asked the girl. Her extremely pleasant voice was clear and loud.

“Princess, you have come early. Of course, we are finished with preparations.”

A woman who looked to be in her thirties appeared suddenly and entered the conversation. With a beaming smile, she walked over to welcome the red-dressed girl.

“How can I neglect Princess Redjoy’s birthday banquet? Of course everything has been prepared to perfection.”

The woman sounded hospitable. Although the Brightheart Veranda had the Pillheart Sect backing it, it really was just another business.

Since the business was run in Cloud Pool City, it realized how friendliness was conducive to business success. The woman was the third manager of Brightheart Veranda so she naturally came out to personally welcome a distinguished guest like Princess Redjoy.

“Alright, sorry for troubling you, Auntie Su.” Princess Redjoy was very polite to the woman.

And as she spoke, Princess Redjoy noticed Jing Yuesha and company.

Upon seeing her, Princess Redjoy was stunned. “It’s you?”

Jing Yuesha had naturally seen Princess Redjoy as well. In fact, she had recognized Princess Redjoy the moment she stepped in. Her expression had turned for the worse a long time ago.

“So you are Princess Redjoy!” Jing Yuesha clenched her fists and said angrily.

Years ago, she had traveled the Heavenly South Great World and acquainted herself with many people in Cloud Pool City. Princess Redjoy was one of those people. Of course, there was some tension between the two as they got to know one another.

She never expected to bump into Princess Redjoy again on this trip to Cloud Pool City. How true was it that enemies often cross each other’s paths!

1304 - : Brightheart Veranda

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yuesha, do you two know each other?”

Clear Lunar Island Lord could almost feel the sparks flying out from the stares exchanged between her disciple and Princess Redjoy.

“I know her, alright. Back in a mystic realm, I nearly died because of her machinations,” Jing Yuesha clenched her teeth and said hatefully.

Princess Redjoy grunted coldly. “A mystic realm advocates a competition of strength with life and death on the line. All I did was steer a little danger towards you. You and I do not know each other. Did you expect me to sacrifice myself to ensure your safety? Why don’t you mention how you snatched something that should have belonged to me?”

“How shameless are you? That thing was ownerless to begin with. How dare you say that it was yours?”

Jing Yuesha and Princess Redjoy were diametrically opposed to each other. In general, it was difficult for two beauties to exist too closely to one another. What’s more, there was this feud between the two of them.

Upon seeing this scene, Brightheart Veranda’s Manager Su frowned slightly. She would naturally side with Princess Redjoy if Princess Redjoy was caught in a conflict.

One had to know that Princess Redjoy was a beloved daughter of King Yi, who was an important figure in the Outcloud Empire. Cloud Pool City was King Yi’s fief. With Brightheart Veranda built in his territory, how could they not show a little preference towards Princess Redjoy?

“What’s going on with these people?” Third Manager asked the beautiful attendant.

“Uh…” The attendant was somewhat nervous as she felt that Princess Redjoy’s unhappiness would be blamed on her. She immediately explained, “Third Manager, these people came to Brightheart Veranda for a meal but there are no available rooms for them. Their VIP level is insufficient to use the rooms upstairs so I had to decline her request. However, this lady wanted me to make an exception; hence, she hasn’t left.”

When the attendant described her in such a manner, Jing Yuesha’s face blushed red.

She tried to be discreet by sending a voice transmission to the attendant, but now the attendant had spoken it out loud. She felt immediately embarrassed.

It would have been fine if it were just the Clear Lunar Island and the Heavenly Pivot Chapter but most critically, there was Princess Redjoy as well.

Indeed, Princess Redjoy laughed seductively. “Hehehehe! So that’s the reason. You should have said so earlier. Since your VIP level isn’t sufficient and you would like a room so badly, I do not mind letting you scrounge a free meal considering that I have booked all the rooms. Auntie Su, can you add a few more small tables by the corners of the room? Serve them a few dishes.”

How could Princess Redjoy pass up an opportunity to put down her foe?

Just as Princess Redjoy finished her words, the kitchen began to serve the dishes as if to complement her words. In fact, it was already close to the time for Princess Redjoy’s banquet and the Brightheart Veranda would usually serve the dishes before inviting the guests to take their seats.

Jing Yuesha was so peeved that she began grinding her teeth. She hated Princess Redjoy to the bone.

The seniors behind her held high statuses in the Calm Sea. When had they suffered such an experience? It was all because of her, and yet she could do nothing about it.

“I’m really sorry. Regarding the reservation of a room, our Brightheart Veranda has clear rules. If your VIP level is insufficient, there’s not much we can do. Princess Redjoy’s birthday banquet is beginning very soon. If it’s possible, please take your leave. I’m really sorry…”

The woman’s tone was polite but she was ordering them to leave. The group was caught in that depressive feeling of coming to a restaurant only to be chased away.

At that moment, even Yi Yun felt sorry for Jing Yuesha’s tragedy. He couldn’t watch it pan out any further. He did not have any malicious thoughts towards Jing Yuesha, after all, only thinking of her as an overly-competitive young lady.

Besides, with their group being chased out, that included Yi Yun. Although it was not in his nature to insist on gaining the upper hand, he was also not one to silently suffer while being bullied.

Just as he was thinking of pulling a prank on Princess Redjoy, he suddenly noticed the dishes being served from Brightheart Veranda’s kitchen. Those dishes…

Yi Yun was taken aback. He stared at the dishes intently. He had made a surprising discovery regarding the Brightheart Veranda’s dishes…

Meanwhile, the other young geniuses of the Clear Lunar Island and Heavenly Pivot Chapter were infuriated. Those that were invited on this trip were elites that stood head and shoulders above the rest. When had they ever suffered such anger-inducing treatment?

“Your name is Redjoy? You must be participating in the martial competition, right?”

Xia Zijian spoke out. His voice was cold and he sounded domineering.

“Why? Do you want to challenge me? I’m afraid you will be eliminated before you even reach the point of fighting me!”

Princess Redjoy took a disdainful glance at Xia Zijian. She thought nothing of a so-called genius from the Calm Sea.

Xia Zijian held the hilt of his sword with tightly clasped fingers. He had never been discriminated against in such a manner before. “I’m the one who is afraid that you’ll be eliminated before me. Let’s do it this way: we fight now to determine who is better!”

Xia Zijian could not tolerate it any further.

“Heh heh, if it wasn’t for my birthday celebration today, I would give you a good beating. But since the dishes have already been served, especially the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds, one has to eat them in a timely manner. I won’t spoil my mood and appetite because of some bumpkins. That would be such a waste of good food.”

“I even had the good intention of inviting all of you to sit in the corner so as to broaden your horizons. Even if you couldn’t eat, just taking a whiff would be good. The Brightheart Veranda’s dishes are nutritious and allow one to retain their youth. They also nourish the soul. Such medicinal food is probably something the likes of you have never even heard of.”

Princess Redjoy gave Jing Yuesha a smug look. She had said those words to mock Jing Yuesha, knowing that she could not eat the food even though she wanted to.

As for a person like Xia Zijian, she thought nothing of him. How could she stoop so low as to fight with him?

“Redjoy! It’s just a table of food. Do you think I value it so highly!?”

Jing Yuesha clenched her fists tighter and tighter in anger. It was as though she was imagining grabbing Princess Redjoy in her hand and kneading her to a pulp.

Even though Brightheart Veranda’s dishes were famous, they were just food. If it were any other time, she would not care if she could or could not eat them. However, Princess Redjoy had used the matter to repeatedly insult her and this infuriated her.

“You don’t value it? Then why don’t you scram and disappear? It’s my birthday celebration today and I have already reserved the whole floor. Letting you stay was an act of my good will and getting you to leave is only common sense. Now, please leave quickly!” Princess Redjoy’s long and beautiful brows curved up slightly as she added a sneer.

“By the way, Auntie Su, it’s best you do not give your VIP cards to any ordinary riff-raff.”

Manager Su gave an embarrassed smile. She knew that Princess Redjoy was provoking her into taking a stance.

She did not wish to offend either party but since Jing Yuesha and company came from the Calm Sea, they would likely leave after the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. It did not matter if she offended them. Besides, Jing Yuesha’s remark had disparaged the Brightheart Veranda. It left her very displeased.

She shook her head gently, approached Jing Yuesha, and said, “Dear customer, this table of medicinal food that our Brightheart Veranda serves has been prepared for tens of thousands of years in the Heavenly South Great World. We have satisfied countless customers, but today this bit of culinary skill has failed to catch your eye. Since you think so little of our food, please return your VIP card.”

Jing Yuesha was incensed as she pulled out her VIP card and threw it on the floor. “I don’t even want it!”

Although she was infuriated, she could not begin a fight since this was the Heavenly South Great World. All she could do was bear with it.

Upon seeing Jing Yuesha throw the VIP card, Manager Su frowned. She had quite a lofty status in Cloud Pool City, one that had people from high society and the shadowy corners deferring to her. It would have been fine if Jing Yuesha had handed the VIP card back properly but she had thrown it on the ground. She too was infuriated. “Lady, our Brightheart Veranda’s VIP card is just like our Brightheart Veranda’s reputation. Those who hold such a VIP card are people with status. If they saw that the VIP card they hold is so utterly disregarded, what would they think? If you don’t want the card, you can return it nicely. Throwing it on the ground is equivalent to denouncing our reputation. Please, pick it back up.”

Manager Su extended her hand when she said that. It was a gesture for Jing Yuesha to pick the card up to hand it back to her. If Jing Yuesha was willing to do so, she could let the matter pass. If not, her Brightheart Veranda was not one to be easily bullied.

Jing Yuesha nearly blew her top. From her point of view, Manager Su was going overboard with her bullying. She was chasing them away and also taking back the VIP card. She even demanded her to yield in deference?

Jing Yuesha was also one not to take it lying down. She raised her foot and stepped on the VIP card.

“Old woman, do you think we are so easily bullied because we come from afar? You were the one who wanted the VIP card back. If you want me to pick it up, dream on!”

When Jing Yuesha said those words, Jing Yueyin and Jing Yueping were already standing behind her. Their auras were deep and unfathomable like the sea. Their bearing was domineering.

The Calm Sea was small but the Clear Lunar Island was not one to be slighted. Although the Brightheart Veranda had a stronger backer in the Cloud Pool City, the Clear Lunar Island wasn’t afraid of them.

Instantly, the mood turned deadly serious. But before anyone could make a move, a group of people appeared at the entrance.

They were dressed in luxurious clothes. Leading them was a middle-aged man dressed in a python robe. He had a deep aura and his gait was firm. Every step of his seemed to make the hearts of others beat in unison. He was an impressive expert.

When the middle-aged man saw the situation, he pricked up his thick brows and asked, “Redjoy, what’s happening?”

Princess Redjoy was delighted to see the middle-aged man. She had invited seniors to her birthday celebration and the middle-aged man was her sixth paternal uncle. He was also an influential official of the Outcloud Empire and held a high rank.

“Third Uncle, you came just in time. Someone is causing trouble here in Brightheart Veranda.”

Princess Redjoy struck first to gain the initiative. She pointed straight at Jing Yuesha. “This lass threw the Brightheart Veranda’s VIP card on the ground and even stepped on it. Furthermore, because she could not reserve a room due to my birthday celebration, she is making a scene and refuses to leave.”

Princess Redjoy’s tongue was rather vicious. Jing Yuesha yearned to rush up and rip Redjoy’s mouth apart.

“Manager Su, is this lass really causing trouble?” The middle-aged man asked the beautiful woman.

The woman bowed with a coquettish smile, “Lord Cloud, it’s not as serious as it sounds. Juniors can be quite aggressive because of their age. It was just a few sharp insults. I only wish for this lass to pick up the VIP card and apologize.”

As the woman spoke, she looked at Jing Yuesha.

At this point, the matter had escalated. Jing Yuesha was feeling aggrieved and her eyes were red. Even though the Clear Lunar Island was not afraid of the Brightheart Veranda and the sect’s elders supported her, they were there to participate in the Heavenly South Great World Meet. As the saying goes, even a mighty dragon is no match for the native serpent, it was not right for her to offend the native factions over a matter of pride, considering how the Clear Lunar Island had just arrived in Cloud Pool City.

Jing Yuesha was irrevocably committed to the matter. She began to feel a tinge of regret. She had been a little rash to stomp her foot on the card…

She did not want to give more trouble to her seniors and only wanted to bear with it. As she looked at the VIP card underneath her feet, her lips turned white from all her biting…

She almost wanted to stretch out her hand to pick it up but at that moment, a foot suddenly appeared and stepped on the VIP card!

Jing Yuesha was momentarily taken aback. The stomp was very full. Back when Jing Yuesha stepped on it, she only stomped the card’s side as she lacked the courage to fully do so. But this foot had left a huge footprint on the VIP card.

She looked up at the person who had extended his foot. It was… Yi Yun?

Yi Yun said with a smile, “Martial Niece Yuesha, if you want to step on something, step on it fully. Why stand on ceremony?”

1305 - : Why Stand on Ceremony

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s action left everyone present dumbstruck.

“You!”

Manager Su’s expression turned cold. She began exuding a stern and oppressive aura. She was able to tolerate Jing Yuesha’s act of transgression since she was the one who instigated the matter by requesting the VIP card back. The young lady was publicly embarrassed, so it was understandable if she had stepped on the card in a rash moment.

But Manager Su could not tolerate Yi Yun at all!

The matter had nothing to do with Yi Yun. Manager Su didn’t even notice him prior to this moment.

From Manager Su’s point of view, Yi Yun was an impetuous fellow that was acting out to impress Jing Yuesha. He probably didn’t even know what death meant. Such a person would not even survive a week if he went out on an expedition to perilous lands.

“You must have grown up in a small place like the Calm Sea. It has limited your worldview. You might remain unopposed in the Calm Sea and think yourself invincible. But you truly do not know how immense the world is. There are many people more powerful than you who can easily crush you to death.”

Manager Su was clearly infuriated. As she said those words, many men filled with power and strength appeared from Brightheart Veranda’s kitchen.

Although these men were dressed in waiter attire, they had powerful auras as though beasts were lurking within their bodies. They were obviously guardians of the Brightheart Veranda.

The situation escalated instantly.

The people from the Clear Lunar Island did not think much of this turn of events but Heavenly Pivot Chapter’s Ren Yunzong frowned.

He felt that Yi Yun didn’t know any better. By stepping into the limelight, he would only make trouble for himself. If things escalated to fighting, it was unknown how things would develop. It was even possible that he would be barred from participating in the Heavenly South Peaks Meet.

“By stepping on my Brightheart Veranda’s VIP card, you are effectively damaging my Brightheart Veranda’s reputation. I want you to leave your leg behind!” Manager Su spoke with an ice-cold voice that felt like a cold winter wind. “Don’t blame me for being ruthless. I’m teaching you the lesson that if you lack strength, you have to keep a low profile and bear with things!”

Yi Yun laughed. He did not take Manager Su’s threat to heart. He leisurely walked in front of an attendant and stroked his chin as he looked at the dish the attendant was carrying. The attendant was left at a loss when Yi Yun did that.

“What is Sect Master Yi doing?” Jing Yueyin knitted her brows slightly. Ignoring the fact that Yi Yun was bringing trouble on himself, his composed reaction to Manager Su’s threat was not something an ordinary junior was capable of.

Yi Yun looked for thirty seconds before saying nonchalantly, “I say, Old Woman, you claim that I’m damaging your Brightheart Veranda’s reputation but is your reputation really worth anything? From what I see, your so-called reputation is one of undeserved fame, probably due to cheating. That VIP card is worth even less. I’m afraid I dirtied my soles stepping on it.”

Manager Su’s expression changed as she angrily shouted, “Take this punk down and chop off his limbs!”

When Manager Su gave the order, the surrounding guardians charged forward! These guardians had undergone long periods of training and were adept at fighting together. The moment they charged forward, they entered formation and, with caught Yi Yun in the center, they began closing in on him.

In response, Yi Yun stretched out his hand and beckoned. The VIP card on the ground flew onto Yi Yun’s palm.

With a flick of his right wrist, the VIP card flew straight out!

Yi Yun was skilled in the saber Dao and could easily control 999 Thousand Snow flying sabers with his peerless saber techniques.

At that moment, Yi Yun was using the card as a saber. A black beam flashed past like a fiend from hell. It moved so quickly that it streaked across the void, leaving thousands of trajectories in a blink of an eye. The guardians that had rushed over were struck by the black saber beam, causing them to fly backward one after another before collapsing to the ground.

“Ah! Ah! Ah!”

Some of them let out tragic cries. Their wrists and ankles were bleeding. In that split second, the beam had brushed past their limbs, lacerating their tendons!

Yi Yun had gone easy on them. If he wanted to, he could have gone for their throats instead of their limbs, and they’d already be dead. Just thinking of that outcome left the guardians shuddering.

No matter how powerful the Brightheart Veranda was, it was impossible for it to hire Supremacies as guardians. The Brightheart Veranda’s guardians were only Dao Palace realm warriors but with their practiced formations, their strength could increase tenfold. They should have been able to easily deal with any Dao Palace realm warrior.

But in front of Yi Yun, they were tossed aside like trash. In a blink of an eye, all of them were on the ground. To add to the insult, Yi Yun had beaten them with a simple VIP card!

Their Brightheart Veranda’s VIP card became a weapon in Yi Yun’s hands, one that allowed him to easily deal with the Brightheart Veranda’s guardians.

This scene clammed up Manager Su’s expression. She did not plan on activating Cloud Pool City’s residing Elder, believing the guardians could resolve the problem. Who knew that the youth was this powerful?

A genius from the Calm Sea had such strength?

Ignoring the fact that Manager Su was astonished, even Jing Yuesha and Xia Zijian were stunned by Yi Yun’s swift performance.

In fact, they did not know the strength of the Brightheart Veranda’s guardians but the might Yi Yun showed was enough for them to get a sense of it. Even ignoring that, it was already very impressive to use a VIP card to achieve such a result.

Yi Yun was definitely one who stood atop his peers.

At that moment, Manager Su was holding onto a voice transmission charm. If she crushed it, the Pillheart Sect’s Elder backing the Brightheart Veranda would arrive.

“Manager Su, hold your horses!”

At that moment, the middle-aged man in a python robe spoke out. The severing of tendons could be treated. He did not wish for matters to fully escalate during the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. That would be bad for the Outcloud Empire’s reputation as well.

The middle-aged man looked at Yi Yun and said, “Young man, you just can’t say whatever is on your mind without consequences. Brightheart Veranda is one of the most famous restaurants in all of Cloud Pool City. You are young and, although you are quite strong, you go overboard by declaring the Brightheart Veranda as having cheated to earn undeserved fame.”

“I am not going overboard. I’m just speaking the truth.” Yi Yun threw the VIP card away casually. After severing the tendons of eight people, the VIP card remained untainted by blood, an evidence of its speed.

Manager Su bellowed angrily, “How dare you to continue your nonsense! My Brightheart Veranda has been established for tens of thousands of years. We have a good reputation among the people. The dish you were studying is the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds, a perfect dish. Not only is it delicious and fresh, it’s also an extremely rare delicacy. It gives warriors excellent nourishment and acts exactly like herbal pills, allowing one to retain their youthful looks. How dare you make a baseless claim that such an exquisite dish is used to cheat?”

“Auntie Su, don’t bother with him. This punk is only trying to be Jing Yuesha’s white knight to attract her attention. He thinks himself impressive with that bit of ability. But he’s only at the eighth-storey Dao Palace.” Princess Redjoy revealed a mocking smile. Yi Yun was indeed strong but that was nothing in Cloud Pool City. He sure was dumb.

If he had left with his tail between his legs, he would have gotten away with only embarrassment. But now, he had severed the guardian’s tendons. He was absolutely in for some suffering.

1306 - : Undeserved Fame

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You have defamed my Brightheart Veranda repeatedly. If you do not give a good explanation this instant, my Brightheart Veranda will definitely not let this matter rest!” Manager Su said coldly.

The Brightheart Veranda’s reputation had always been extremely good. The reason why it was so famous was that the dishes it served aided in rejuvenating one’s skin. In other words, its food could make people prettier and let them retain their youth.

This was very attractive to young people, especially girls.

Although warriors could use various mystic techniques to flawlessly alter their looks, the resulting appearance was ultimately not their own. Who wouldn’t want to keep their original looks younger and prettier?

And it for was this reason that Princess Redjoy was a loyal customer of the Brightheart Veranda. She had eaten at Brightheart Veranda numerous times.

Upon seeing the situation pan out, Jing Yuesha turned anxious. From her point of view, Yi Yun was standing up for her, placing himself in this predicament for her sake. She could not help but give Jing Yueyin a pleading glance.

“Don’t worry. Hear what Yi Yun has to say.”

Jing Yueyin was also irked by Princess Redjoy and the Brightheart Veranda. She believed that they had gone overboard in the way they handled things. But could the young Yi Yun really point out the flaws in Brightheart Veranda’s specialty dish?

“Excellent nourishment and acts exactly like herbal pills? If that were the case, your Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds would not be a cheat that earned you undeserved fame,” said Yi Yun.

Everyone was stunned. Princess Redjoy nearly burst out into laughter. She stared at Yi Yun. “What’s this? Punk, do you think you are pulling a fast one? Do you think we will let you off?”

“What’s the rush? It’s not like you are trying to bed someone.” Yi Yun gave Princess Redjoy a nonchalant glance.

Princess Redjoy’s face immediately flushed red. “You!”

She cultivated a special cultivation technique that made her have an alluring quality. However, she would usually suppress it and instead appeared ice-cold on the surface.

But at that moment, Yi Yun seemed to see through the coquettish disposition she had deliberately hidden and used it to mock her.

“I said what I said because your Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds is not a food dish at all. It consists of absolutely nothing but medicinal pills. And that is just one of the reasons,” said Yi Yun as he shook his head.

“What nonsense are you spouting!” Princess Redjoy frowned.

If it were made of medicinal pills, the price would still be high but it would not be as sought after. That was because food dishes were special. Just like clothes and accessories that were made of different materials, they would have the same utility as clothes made of other materials; yet, they would lack something unique and rare.

Also, it was unheard of to make food dishes with medicinal pills. They were intrinsically different.

An abnormal glint flashed in Manager Su’s eyes as she screamed, “What insolence! How dare you utter such nonsense in my Brightheart Veranda! The recipe for making this dish comes straight from my Pillheart Sect! Its heritage is unimaginably deep, more than one such as you can fathom!”

In the Heavenly South Great World, the Pillheart Sect was not to be offended. Many of the best supreme-grade pills and relics were sold by the Pillheart Sect. Even the Outcloud Empire and Divine Empire of Thunder had to be courteous to the Pillheart Sect.

At that moment, Yi Yun was standing in front of the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds. He took a whiff and said, “This is simply made up of a nourishment pill and a pill that aids in retaining one’s youth. It is then prepared with other natural herbs by a Herbal Board Master. Then, the nourishment pill and beautifying pill are infused into the food through a special technique, creating this Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds. But that’s not all… the pills used in this dish are problematic as well.

Manager Su felt her heart skip a beat. The punk described it all in vivid detail. Did he really manage to deduct all of that? Or could it be that he was not some average junior at all? Instead, was he a spy sent by a foe of the Pillheart Sect? He could have been deliberately given the information to use as a tool to strike at them.

Manager Su’s expression darkened. She felt that the latter was more possible. At Yi Yun’s cultivation level and age, he definitely did not have the capability to discern such things. He probably had someone feeding him information.

Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds was very special or it would not have become Brightheart Veranda’s specialty. The secret recipe was something only the Pillheart Sect knew. Manager Su was not knowledgeable in alchemy but she knew a little. The actual cooking of the dish was the responsibility of an alchemist.

Manager Su refused to believe that the punk in front of her could pinpoint every flaw just from receiving a tip.

“What nourishment pill and beautifying pill are you talking about? It’s all random nonsense,” said Manager Su.

Princess Redjoy added, with a sneer, “So many guests visit this place, and plenty of them are herbalists and alchemists. If this dish was truly made from melted pills, why couldn’t anyone tell except you? By making those irresponsible remarks, you incur the wrath of not only the Brightheart Veranda, but the Pillheart Sect as well.”

Jing Yuesha anxiously looked at Yi Yun. The situation was continuously escalating and she did not wish for Yi Yun to implicate himself in such a troublesome situation because of her.

“So what if a mistake is made? Can’t others rate it when you put it up for sale?” Jing Yuesha said stubbornly.

“That’s right. Our Brightheart Veranda’s dishes can certainly be appraised by others, but we prohibit slandering,” said Manager Su coldly.

“You and your white knight should bow your heads and apologize. Then scram. If so, I will plead to Auntie Su on your behalf. I believe Auntie Su would magnanimously forgive you on my account,” said Princess Redjoy with a beaming smile. She looked meaningfully at Jing Yuesha, as if to say “Are you going to bow your head today or not?”

Jing Yuesha was extremely embarrassed and furious. She decided that even if she had to bow her head today, she would slay Redjoy at the martial competition a few days later!

At that moment, they could hear a din coming from a short distance away.

Following that, a middle-aged scholar, accompanied by a few maidservants, walked in.

Upon seeing the middle-aged scholar, Manager Su’s expression changed. She immediately smiled and walked over to greet him. “Alchemist Zhang, what brings you here?”

Alchemist Zhang was Brightheart Veranda’s presiding alchemist that hailed from the Pillheart Sect. Some of the herbal food, such as the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds, was prepared by him.

Princess Redjoy also greeted him with a smile, “Greetings, Alchemist Zhang.”

Alchemist Zhang represented the Pillheart Sect, so how could Princess Redjoy slight him?

“What’s going on?” Alchemist Zhang’s gaze swept the crowd as he asked indifferently.

In fact, he was there because he had caught wind of the situation. He wanted to know who would dare question the dishes of his Brightheart Veranda.

“Oh? It’s just a white knight of some old acquaintance of mine. He says that Brightheart Veranda’s Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds is undeserving of its fame.” After Princess Redjoy said that, she sniggered. She was hoping for the situation to become worse.

Upon seeing Jing Yuesha’s livid expression, Princess Redjoy was extremely delighted. Jing Yuesha was as dumb as ever. Did she actually think she would be spared if she apologized?

Alchemist Zhang looked sternly at Yi Yun. “Do you think a young punk like yourself has the right to question me?”

However, Yi Yun sneered and suddenly extended his hand.

A gray flame crackled in his hand as it jumped straight onto the beautifully laid out dish.

The food was instantly enveloped by Yuan Qi and burned by the gray flame.

“Ah!”

The attendant that was holding the plate cried out in shock. On the other hand, Manager Su bellowed in anger, “What the hell are you doing!?”

“What’s all the hysteria for? It’s just a plate of food. I’ll compensate you if I spoil it,” said Yi Yun indifferently. “Or could it be that you are suffering from a guilty-conscience?”

Manager Su darted her eyes over to Alchemist Zhang.

He too had his brows furrowed. It appeared as though Yi Yun really did know something. Based on his actions, it appeared that he was refining a pill?

This was the sect’s secret recipe. Even if Yi Yun could tell that the dish was made from a melted pill, it was impossible for him to know the pill’s recipe. Since the pill had melted, what could he refine even if he did so with fire?

Upon thinking of this, Alchemist Zhang composed himself. He nodded at Manager Su.

With Alchemist Zhang around, Manager Su was relieved. “If you can’t prove anything today, don’t go thinking you’ll ever step out of Brightheart Veranda’s door again!”

“If I can prove it…” Yi Yun looked at Princess Redjoy and Manager Su. “You wanted me to apologize and then scram. I’ll have you do the same thing, then. Also, Old Woman, since you wanted to chop off my leg, I will chop off your arms. Think of it as a little bit of interest.”

Princess Redjoy gave Alchemist Zhang a glance and sneered. With Alchemist Zhang around, she refused to believe that Yi Yun could get the upper hand.

Meanwhile, the gray flames were blazing, melting the food they enveloped into a mist.

Minutes later, the mist began to shrink in midair, transforming into different shapes and sizes.

With the passage of time, the transformations became more obvious.

Upon seeing this scene, Manager Su felt her heart pound furiously.

Could this punk really know alchemy?

Even Princess Redjoy was frowning slightly. Why did it seem like the situation was getting worse?

That shouldn’t have been the case. She was a regular customer of Brightheart Veranda and she knew that the specialty was the Pillheart Sect’s secret recipe. Since it was secret, how could he know of it?

She looked at Alchemist Zhang and could not help but ask, “Alchemist Zhang, what is he doing?”

Alchemist Zhang had a sunken face. He had never seen Yi Yun’s methods before. As such, he could not tell that they were capable of anything special. All he saw was the food being burned with fire. How could a melted pill be produced from burning?

“He’s only deliberately trying to act mysterious.”

That was Alchemist Zhang’s evaluation.

“So that’s the case. This punk is only trying to stall for time…” Just as Princess Redjoy said that, Yi Yun stretched out his hand and beckoned. A white light flashed as the mist rapidly converged towards Yi Yun’s palm as though it was being attracted to something.

Following that, Yi Yun slowly opened his hand.

To everyone’s astonishment, two milky-white crystalline pills appeared in the middle of his palm.

The two pills had been condensed and refined from the mist!

“Since they are pills that have been melted before, all I can do is restore seventy or eighty percent of the original.” Yi Yun held the two pills and said indifferently.

Manager Su looked as though she had seen a ghost. Just a moment ago, she was certain that Yi Yun did not know the pill’s recipe. But now, he proved that he not only knew it, he was also very skilled in it!

At that moment, the color of Manager Su’s face oscillated between red and white. Her eyes were wide as she stared.

Princess Redjoy was also taken aback. “This… This…”

Even if she did not know alchemy, she could tell that Yi Yun had reconstructed the melted pills!

Furthermore, the pills in Yi Yun’s hand had a refreshing fragrance, identical in smell to the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds. This also proved that what Yi Yun said was the truth. The Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds really was the result of melting the two pills.

However, the pills were extremely rare. After being melted, they could easily be disguised in a dish. At least, Princess Redjoy had never seen these pills before.

At that moment, many of the guests for Princess Redjoy’s banquet had arrived and gathered around. These people thought they would be watching Princess Redjoy beguile her foe, but who knew that they would witness such a scene? They were extremely shocked.

Even Jing Yuesha’s beautiful eyes went wide as her mouth was agape, so wide that an apple could be stuffed in. She looked at Yi Yun as if he was an old monster.

At that moment, Princess Redjoy felt like she had just eaten a fly. However, her side still had someone backing them. She hurriedly looked at Alchemist Zhang. Maybe Yi Yun had used some despicable means that Alchemist Zhang could expose!

But when she saw Alchemist Zhang’s face, she was left stunned. The shock that Alchemist Zhang was experiencing was in no way less than hers. In fact, he was more shocked than her!

This was because only Alchemist Zhang knew the truth behind the Pillheart Sect’s recipe.

He looked at Yi Yun in disbelief as he said stiffly, “How do you know the recipe!?”

But immediately following that, Alchemist Zhang calmed himself down. Now wasn’t the time to question Yi Yun for he would only dig his hole deeper.

He said, “So what if they are melted pills? What’s wrong if the food dish itself is a pill?”

Upon hearing Alchemist Zhang’s words, people found them irreproachable. Medicine and food were different after all. Food was milder and warriors could eat a feast and enjoy life if they had the time. However, few would eat a meal of pills for no good reason.

Brightheart Veranda had become popular because of its food.

But now, they were discovering that, for all these years, they had been coming to Brightheart Veranda to eat pills. Why did that make it sound like they were sick?

“If it were only that, I wouldn’t say much but this beautifying pill—let’s call it that tentatively—is itself a failed pill!”

Yi Yun’s words were shocking. Everyone felt their hearts jolt when they heard that.

“A failed pill?”

Yi Yun shook his head gradually. In fact, he was very surprised too. This was an ancient recipe recorded in the divine alchemist’s notes. He never expected the Brightheart Veranda to have the recipe as well.

“Punk, what nonsense are you talking about?” Alchemist Zhang’s expression was livid.

Yi Yun thought nothing of it as he continued, “The recipe you used for this beautifying pill has a serious flaw. It is only effective for youngsters with relatively strong vital potentials. However, there is a side effect of damaging one’s vital potential. To put it bluntly, those who take this pill sacrifice their vital potential for a beautifying effect. However, the harm it does to the body is rather mild, and youngsters have lower cultivation realms, so they can hardly detect it. Therefore, your dish continues to be massively popular and highly appraised.”

“With that being the case, this pill is nothing but trash to me. It’s worthless!” Yi Yun’s voice boomed with bold undertones.

The crowd was stunned. Of course everyone wanted to look good, but if it was at the cost of damaging their vital potential, even the slightest amount of damage was not worth it.

1307 - : Worthless

CKtalon  CKtalon

The highest priority for warriors was the breakthrough in cultivation realms. Things like beautification and youth retention were nothing compared to the allure of reaching the Divine Lord or Godly Monarch realms.

Therefore, vital potential was what cultivators needed most for cultivation. The reason why young geniuses were so highly valued was their immense vital potential. They had endless possibilities ahead of them but once their potential dried up, their cultivation levels would stop progressing. Many old freaks were trapped in the same realm for millions of years and eventually stopped progressing altogether.

No one knew how much potential they had. Nor did they know how much further they could progress. Under these circumstances, the food from Brightheart Veranda, despite how tiny the harm it did to one’s vital potential, was intolerable to any warrior.

Instantly, Princess Redjoy’s expression was drained of its color. She had eaten Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds numerous times to satisfy her cravings. But when she heard Yi Yun’s explanation, she felt her heart turn cold.

She had already begun to believe Yi Yun back when he restored the pills from the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds. Now, if what he said was true, she had to wonder how much of her vital potential she had lost.

And it wasn’t only Princess Redjoy. Many of her friends had visited Brightheart Veranda from time to time. They broke out into chaos when they heard Yi Yun’s explanation.

“Alchemist Zhang, is this true?”

“So this Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds is actually prepared using a failed pill recipe? It has truly cheated to earn undeserved fame!”

People gave voice to their outrage, causing the situation to go out of control.

Warriors had zero tolerance for anything that could damage their future cultivation levels.

“Punk, you speak only slander!” Alchemist Zhang roared angrily. The situation had exceeded his expectations. His eyes were red as veins began protruding out of his forehead like he was a crazy beast.

He stared at Yi Yun, yearning to swallow him whole!

The pill recipe that the Pillheart Sect had obtained was indeed not worth much. However, after some repackaging by business-minded people, it became a tool to earn money for the Pillheart Sect. However, they never expected their scheme to be exposed by Yi Yun. How did the punk know of it?

He originally believed that Yi Yun was working under orders from someone or that another expert was targeting the Pillheart Sect. But after seeing Yi Yun’s alchemical techniques that even left him baffled, how could he have been working under orders?

“Slander? Hehe, why don’t you continue what you were saying? Are you thinking of a way to resort to sophistry? I can give you time. Take your time and think of something good. By the way, do you need me to make the ingredients used in the pill recipe known to the public? If I were to hand the pill recipe to other alchemists and produce a few completed pills, those alchemists could naturally provide their knowledgeable opinions!”

Yi Yun had to stifle a smile as he said this while looking the enraged Alchemist Zhang in the eye.

“You…” Alchemist Zhang had just thought of something to say before he choked on his words. Yi Yun had struck the nail on its head. If Yi Yun knew the original pill recipe and could refine the pills himself, it would be pointless to continue quibbling. After all, the evidence was still in Yi Yun’s hand. The pills were genuine and all would come to light once they were analyzed.

Alchemist Zhang fell silent. Manager Su was pale as well for she did not know what to say. She knew nothing about alchemy and was unable to interject at all.

Upon seeing Manager Su and Princess Redjoy’s expressions, Jing Yuesha gaped slightly. The situation had reversed so quickly that she suddenly felt like she was in a dream.

How did Yi Yun know so much? He even knew of an ancient, uncommon recipe. Besides, he had only taken a look and sniffed the dish; yet, he was able to determine exactly what the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds was composed of. His powers of discernment were stunning.

At that moment, Yi Yun continued, “I can actually make public one part of the recipe. Of the most interest are two ingredients that make up the composition of these pills. All of you might find them fascinating, especially Miss Redjoy.”

Yi Yun turned to look at Princess Redjoy as the corners of his mouth curled into a smile. This smile looked sinister to Princess Redjoy in every possible way.

“What mystery act are you pulling off now!?” Princess Redjoy said in disgust. Although she now hated the Brightheart Veranda to death, her impression of Yi Yun, who had just ruined the Brightheart Veranda for her, was still terrible!

“Miss Redjoy, I helped you by exposing the way the Brightheart Veranda has been scamming you. I’m even speaking so nicely to you. So why does your mouth stink? Did you just eat…” When he said that, he stopped. However, his words made the imaginations of people go wild. There was a girl from Clear Lunar Island that could not stifle her laughter. Yi Yun had spoken too crudely but they felt vindicated when he used that tone against the lofty Princess Redjoy who led a charmed life.

“Cough. I’m sorry. I should be a bit more refined in my words. Oh right. The two ingredients are Faeces Vespertilionis and Faeces Trogopterori… Might I ask how many times Miss Redjoy has eaten Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds?”

What the hell?

Princess Redjoy was baffled by Yi Yun’s question. She did not know alchemy, so how could she know what the two medicinal drugs he just mentioned were?

Princess Redjoy was not the only one. Many of the young people present had not heard of the two drugs, which was evident from their baffled expressions. However, when the middle-aged man in the python robe heard it, his mouth twitched slightly as his expression turned odd.

“Third Uncle, what’s the matter with those two drugs?” Princess Redjoy asked when she saw the change in the middle-aged man’s expression.

However, the middle-aged man only gave a silent, stern look to Alchemist Zhang. Alchemist Zhang had a livid expression and did not respond.

At that moment, Yi Yun spoke. “Miss Redjoy, you can always ask me if you do not know anything. I will describe both the Faeces Vespertilionis and Faeces Trogopterori in detail. Faeces Vespertilionis is the essence that comes from brewing an ancient Fey’s feces. The specific ancient Fey used is known as the Vespertilio Demonic Bat. Basically, it looks like a gigantic bat.”

“Ancient Fey feces is hard to come by. After all, ancient Fey tend to reside in ancient wilderness. Even a Divine Lord has to be careful when entering. If they aren’t careful, they might lose their lives. Imagine, getting a Divine Lord to risk their lives to collect ancient Fey feces. How valuable would that be!?”

“As for the Faeces Trogopterori, it is similar to the Faeces Vespertilionis. It too is the essence obtained from brewing an ancient Fey’s feces. However, the ancient Fey that shits it out is known as the Divine Trogopterpri Rat. You can tell from its name that it resembles a gigantic rat. Collecting its feces is even more difficult. Divine Trogopterpri Rat reside underground and their feces are buried deep under the wilderness and lakes. It’s impossibly difficult to find them.”

“These two items can indeed be used as medicinal drugs. After distilling them with a mystic technique, they become odorless and tasteless. It wouldn’t even be hard to make them have an alluring fragrance. But that is just a matter of personal taste. I would definitely not use such an unorthodox medicinal drug. However, Miss Redjoy, you seem to enjoy eating it more. You must have eaten quite a lot of it over the years, I suppose?”

When Yi Yun said those words, Princess Redjoy turned petrified. She looked again at the middle-aged man and Alchemist Zhang’s expressions, and her intuition told her that what Yi Yun had said was likely true!

The essence brewed from the feces of ancient Fey? Instantly, Princess Redjoy felt her stomach churn and she felt like puking!

1308 - : Special Composition

CKtalon  CKtalon

Anyone who realized that they had been eating shit would probably cuss. Furthermore, Redjoy was a lofty princess. She was germaphobic as well. Even when she ate pills, she found it impossible to tolerate any that were refined from things like feces, much less wanting it anywhere near her meals!

She only felt the disgust in her stomach grow. She subconsciously covered her mouth as her face turned pale. Her face was twisted into a grimace.

She wished she could pull out her digestive tract and wash it clean for three days and three nights.

Behind Princess Redjoy were many of her friends. They too were regular customers at Brightheart Veranda. They were all of noble birth and wealthy. Some even came from the royal family.

When it came to status, they were a step above the rest and were naturally proud people. Their patronage of Brightheart Veranda was supposed to be a fashionable and elegant luxury but now, with this revelation, they were close to going mad.

Some of the girls led charmed lives and were placed on a pedestal by others. They could no longer bear it. Some covered their mouths as they ran out to retch.

Only then did they figure out the true meaning behind Yi Yun’s playful insult—Why does your mouth stink? Did you just eat shit? It wasn’t that Yi Yun was cussing Princess Redjoy, but that he was subtly mocking her for having really eaten shit.

In the hearts of the crowd, eating shit was something that should never actually happen. Even the mentally handicapped or retards would not eat it. But now, it had happened to them. For years, they had treated eating shit like it was fashionable, something that they could brag about.

“Ah! Ah! Ah! I’ll kill you!”

Princess Redjoy burst into a rage. The series of events that had just happened struck a nerve. She was already feeling angry from her embarrassment. With the final revelation that she had been eating shit, she felt like blowing her top!

She wanted to beat Alchemist Zhang badly but, after weighing their strengths, she knew very well that she was no match for Alchemist Zhang.

She also hated the perpetrator, Yi Yun.

Although Yi Yun had revealed the truth to her, he had mocked her in public. It embarrassed her greatly. She was of royal birth, so how was she to establish herself in the Outcloud Empire in the future?

She could imagine that when people saw her in the future, they would no longer be respectful or ashamed of their own ungainly appearances. Instead, they would say behind her back—”Isn’t she that princess who ate shit?”

Just the thought of that made Princess Redjoy go berserk.

“What’s the matter? Why are you looking at me as though you want to kill me? Don’t tell me you want to fight me? I have rescued you from the abyss of shit-eating, but not only are you not grateful, you actually want to repay kindness with ingratitude?” said Yi Yun with a laugh.

He knew that many a time, people lived in their dreams. And once a person jolted them awake and away from their beautiful dreams, that person would incur the wrath of the dreamer.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Princess Redjoy turned green from anger. This darn Yi Yun kept harping on her for eating shit. It was striking a raw nerve.

She wished she could rip apart Yi Yun’s mouth but she did not dare take action. She was afraid that while fighting Yi Yun, he would constantly talk about eating shit. She would suffer a mental breakdown before she could even deliver a few blows!

She did not dare look at Yi Yun anymore. Instead, she looked at Manager Su. This woman had nearly become her godsister and had treated her kindly in a variety of ways. But now, thinking back to how she was treated, Princess Redjoy felt like vomiting. It felt no different from eating the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds.

Manager Su shuddered when she saw Princess Redjoy staring at her. She was at a loss for an explanation. At that moment, Princess Redjoy said coldly, “Third Uncle, send people to surround this Brightheart Veranda!”

Upon hearing the command, the color in Manager Su’s face drained. Thoughts jumbled in her mind but she knew very well that the reputation of Brightheart Veranda was completely destroyed after today!

The Brightheart Veranda might have had the Pillheart Sect backing it, but the moment they got into open conflict with the Cloud Pool City, ignoring who ended up suffering the most, she as the manager would be culpable. When she returned to the sect, she would definitely be punished or even exiled.

“Alchemist… Alchemist Zhang…”

Manager Su was at a loss as she pleaded with Alchemist Zhang. However, he was hardly able to save himself. The pills he had personally refined and melted had been restored by a junior. What was left of his reputation?

The situation was already out of control. Aside from Princess Redjoy, there were also her many friends from lustrous backgrounds. They wielded all kinds of power in Cloud Pool City, and the news of Brightheart Veranda feeding people shit would instantly spread and make it a target of public outrage. To the many young elites present, harming their vital potential was an intolerable offense.

There were already people who had lit voice transmission charms and spread the news. Their statuses guaranteed that they would not suffer this in silence.

“Zhang Linze, even if the Pillheart Sect is backing you, you have to answer for this matter. I do not care about the bit of Spirit Jade I’ve wasted here but I will not abide being treated like a fool.”

A young man spoke out. He was of esteemed birth for his father was the Outcloud Empire’s Imperial Preceptor. In addition, he had extraordinary talent and his standing was superior to Princess Redjoy’s. He was one of the top guests at Princess Redjoy’s birthday celebration.

Alchemist Zhang did not reply. His expression was heavy. He was the person in charge of the businesses outside the Pillheart Sect. How the Brightheart Veranda sold its dishes and how it was managed were his sole responsibility. He had decided to use the ignoble pill recipe for the dishes. That decision ended up being highly lucrative for the Brightheart Veranda and as a result, his standing in the Pillheart Sect had greatly risen. But with this sudden turn of events, he had severely damaged the Pillheart Sect’s reputation. It would definitely push the blame on him.

All of this was because of Yi Yun!

He stared at Yi Yun, yearning to rip out his soul and destroy the body, obliterating all traces of his corpse!

But Yi Yun was unfazed by Zhang Linze’s murderous glare. He stroked his chin and waved the beautifying pill in his hand and said, “I’ll bring this pill with me. Those who want this pill recipe analyzed can follow me.”

“Princess Redjoy, although you wished to keep me for your banquet, I really am not interested in the Brightheart Veranda’s ‘dishes.’ I shall not impede your birthday celebration any further. Enjoy your meal and the company. We will be leaving first.”

He beckoned for Jing Yuesha and company to leave. At that moment, Jing Yuesha had yet to completely jolt out of her daze. She never expected the situation to develop to this point. She even began to feel pity for Princess Redjoy.

Just the thought of Princess Redjoy eating shit and praising it before recommending it to her friends was something Jing Yuesha did not want to continue entertaining.

As someone removed from the matter, she felt tear-inducing embarrassment. It was obvious how the people directly involved in the matter, Princess Redjoy and the genius elites, would feel.

Thankfully, she had never used the VIP card that the Brightheart Veranda had given her. If not, she would also wish to have her stomach pumped.

“Yuesha, let’s go,” Clear Lunar Island Lord said. There was no reason to continue staying at that point in time.

After being squeezed by Princess Redjoy and then humiliated by Manager Su, then the shocking reveal, she had left Brightheart Veranda without eating a meal. Yet, there was cause to be relieved about that.

Clear Lunar Island Lord gave Yi Yun a thoughtful look. The entire reversal was unimaginable but Yi Yun had accomplished it.

How did the youth know the Brightheart Veranda’s ancient recipe? Furthermore, he could tell at a glance. That was definitely not something anyone could accomplish.

1309 - : Tear-inducing Embarrassment

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jing Yuesha was playing back the series of events in her mind as they left Brightheart Veranda. She could not curb her excitement as she asked, “Yi Yun, how did you know the pill recipe?”

She had already forgotten the many times Yi Yun had made her angry in the past. Yi Yun had just ruthlessly smacked the Brightheart Veranda and Princess Redjoy in the face, vindicating her in the process. She felt great with the way Yi Yun handled the reversal.

“Yuesha!”

Clear Lunar Island Lord glared at her.

Jing Yuesha stuck her tongue out for she knew that she had been impolite. She immediately changed her tone. “Sect Master Yi… How did you know the Pillheart Sect’s pill recipe? Will eating the Brightheart Veranda’s dishes really affect one’s vital potential? How could they be so bold as to scam so many people?”

Although the Brightheart Veranda had the Pillheart Sect backing it, there were a number of customers, such as Princess Redjoy, who had their own powerful backers. When the news spread, countless people would pressure the Brightheart Veranda for an explanation.

Yi Yun smiled. “Actually, the effect is not that serious. The damage to vital potential is very small, but that isn’t important. Just a little is enough to ensure that the Brightheart Veranda will be closed down. As for the recipe… I chanced upon it while reading books.”

Jing Yuesha immediately gave a disapproving ‘tch’ in her heart. That was the Pillheart Sect’s secret pill recipe. Even if the pill wasn’t that great, it was still a secret recipe. How could it be easily found in a random book?

Furthermore, and despite her lack of alchemy knowledge, Jing Yuesha could tell from Alchemist Zhang’s reaction that Yi Yun’s technique was exquisite. How could he have such a deep understanding of a recipe he happened to chance upon?

However, Jing Yuesha couldn’t force Yi Yun to reveal more. Her eyes began to dart around as though some ideas were running through her head. She felt that she had made a wrong evaluation of Yi Yun. From the looks of it, Yi Yun had some impressive abilities hidden up his sleeve.

“I’ll find out sooner or later,” thought Jing Yuesha.

“Young Master Yi, you have to be more careful. The Pillheart Sect has deep roots. We have to be wary now that we have offended them,” said Clear Lunar Island Lord.

“Yea.” Yi Yun nodded. He would be wary even without her advice.

“The auction will be in a few days. Young Master Yi, I believe you will be participating with me?” invited Clear Lunar Island Lord.

Although the auction’s only real requirement was sufficient wealth, those that participated in it were mighty powerhouses that helmed large sects or factions. There would even be old freaks that appeared from time to time.

Yi Yun’s cultivation level was still limited. If he wanted to trade at the auction, he needed sufficient strength. She wanted to take care of a young man like Yi Yun for he would be like a rabbit jumping into a pack of wolves.

“That couldn’t be any better.” Yi Yun smiled faintly.

Yi Yun’s main goal for coming to the Heavenly South Peaks Meet was for the auction.

He had already made a list of materials he needed. Since the Heavenly South Peaks Meet would gather so many sects, he was bound to obtain a portion of those materials.

Over the next few days, Jing Yuesha would invite Yi Yun for daily tours of the city. They pretty much visited the entire city.

Yet no matter how much Jing Yuesha probed, she failed to obtain any new information from Yi Yun. Yi Yun seemed to return to the Myriad God Sect Master who infuriated others to death with his words. No matter how Jing Yuesha looked at him, she could not tell that Yi Yun was a skilled alchemist.

During this period, the city was abuzz. People at the sect master level either arrived in the city obstreperously or they came alone with imposing airs.

Many genius sect disciples also appeared, accompanying their masters and seniors.

The curtains of the grand event known as the Heavenly South Peaks Meet gradually lifted.

Amidst the fanfare, there was a bit of trivial news. An old shop that had been established for tens of thousands of years in Cloud Pool City—Brightheart Veranda—incurred the wrath of the masses. Many people circled Brightheart Veranda in the days following the incident, until it eventually had to close for good.

There was a lot of talk regarding the matter. People heard that there were problems with the Brightheart Veranda’s dishes during Princess Redjoy’s birthday celebration, resulting in it shutting down. However, when people asked those who had participated in the birthday celebration, they gave vague explanations. They refused to mention the problem with the dishes. After all, no one wished to publicize the fact that they had eaten shit.

However, as the saying goes, two may keep counsel putting one away. People gradually learned of the reason and they also learned that the person who had exposed the Brightheart Veranda’s dish was a mysterious youth. It could even be said that the Brightheart Veranda closed down because of that person.

Brightheart Veranda was a large restaurant with a huge backer in Cloud Pool City; therefore, the person that caused it to close down was a figure people wanted to know more about.

…

“Sect Master Yi.” Clear Lunar Island Lord arrived at Yi Yun’s residence and called out to him.

Yi Yun walked out dressed in a simple white robe. His black hair was tied with a jade band that flowed behind him. He had exquisite features with his brows appearing like swords and his eyes as bright as the starry night. His cultivation level was converged so he did not resemble a warrior. Instead, he looked like a fine mortal scion.

And behind him followed Zuoyan Xiaoyu. Ever since Yi Yun decided that she would enjoy the treatment of a core disciple, she had cultivated arduously. Her cultivation had improved and her beauty slowly became more charming. Her skin was milky and she followed behind Yi Yun standing tall and graceful in an adorable and obedient manner.

Jing Yuesha was behind Clear Lunar Island Lord. She was elegant and quiet in a way that made her resemble an untainted fairy from a lunar palace. When she saw Yi Yun, she gave a big bow.

“Sect Master Yi.”

Yi Yun looked curiously at Jing Yuesha before he heard Jing Yuesha send him a voice transmission. “Master exhorted me to be more mindful of my words and actions. I had to agree not to take more than a step away from her or she would not bring me.”

So that was the reason… Yi Yun gave a silent smile. Jing Yuesha wanted to tag along and had set up an agreement with Clear Lunar Island Lord in order to attend the auction.

Jing Yuesha’s voice transmission continued sounding in Yi Yun’s ear. “I’m going so as to broaden my horizons. Yi Yun, my master said that although you know some alchemy, you have to hold back a little at the auction. It’s best to take a step back for peace in the world. This Heavenly South Great World is filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons, and they will all be waiting at the auction.”

“I got it.” Yi Yun nodded. He knew Clear Lunar Island Lord preferred to keep a low profile and was worried that they would end up suffering, so she had given such exhortations.

“Sect Master Yi, let’s set off.” Clear Lunar Island Lord said with a smile. She appeared to be unaware of the voice transmission conversation between Yi Yun and Jing Yuesha.

The Cloud Pool City was a megacity of the Heavenly South Great World so it was majestic and massive. Humans could spend a few months just walking from one end of the city to the other.

On a mountain peak north of Cloud Pool City, there was a resplendent wonder. The sky was filled with an aurora that faintly hid away immortal buildings and towers.

There was angelic music resounding in the sky as gigantic chariots pulled by spirit beasts flew over. At times, there would be spirit cruisers that had thousands of beautiful maidservants standing on them. Sitting inside the cruisers were shadows with powerful auras.

At that moment, a gigantic turtle descended from the sky as the clouds parted. It landed on a mountain peak. On the back of the turtle were exotic flowers and herbs. They effused an immortal air around as they surrounded a huge palace.

“It’s King Yi’s royal mount!”

A few figures immediately charged out from the mountain peak and went forward to welcome him.

1310 - : Auction

CKtalon  CKtalon

An empire was very different from a sect. A sect could have many family clans propping it up together. But an empire was usually helmed by the royal family.

Warriors had extremely long lifespans. Any warrior that had a lifespan of a million years could populate a massive family clan if he wished to. Therefore, the number of people in the Outcloud Empire’s royal family was staggering.

Of course, having such a large family meant cruel competition.

Any person that was conferred a title of nobility in the Outcloud Empire was not to be undermined, much less one that was conferred the title of King!

Even Cloud Pool City was a part of King Yi’s fief. As such, he was definitely an important figure of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet.

“That is King Yi,” someone exclaimed. People saw a middle-aged man step off the turtle, and behind him followed two troops of awe-inspiring golden-armored soldiers. They held halberds and looked very mighty.

“They are the Golden-armored Guard!” exclaimed someone.

The Golden-armored Guard were elites of the Outcloud Empire. They were under the direct jurisdiction of the Outcloud Empire’s Emperor but received orders from the various Kings.

An expert like King Yi naturally had no need for the Golden-armored Guard for personal safety. He made them part of his entourage as a symbol of his status.

The middle-aged man was dressed in a four-clawed dragon robe. He landed on the mountain peak with the Golden-armored Guard in tow. He had a tall built as his long hair flowed down his chest. His hands resembled a palm-leaf fan.

Following beside the middle-aged man was a woman dressed in a red palatial gown. She looked twenty and possessed a charming beauty. At that moment, she nestled in the middle-aged man’s embrace. Clearly, she was his partner.

The middle-aged man had no intention of abiding by social norms despite facing so many experts. He continued wrapping his arms around the woman’s slim waist as though no one was around.

The surrounding crowd did not mind this as they went forward to bow.

“I come from the West Sea’s Calabash Island and am the present Island Lord. Greetings, King Yi! I have long heard your famous name. I’m truly blessed to see you today!”

“Greetings, King Yi. I’m Qian Leizi. I met you once ten thousand years ago and age has not seemed to soften your edge after all these years.”

…

The crowd continued to bow and give their compliments. The middle-aged man nodded and unhurriedly allowed them to dispense with the formalities. This scene left the hearts of many juniors stirring.

King Yi was truly a person of paramount importance. Those who were greeting him were esteemed figures, in charge of their various areas. Yet, King Yi continued to hug his beauty in front of these people, accepting the bowing and praise from the crowd in a stoic manner.

Many young juniors could not help but think ‘what if I could be such a person in the future’ when they took in the bearing of this man.

“So this old man is Princess Redjoy’s father. He sure isn’t young.”

Yi Yun saw King Yi from afar and stroked his chin. Although the old man looked to be middle-aged, Yi Yun could sense an aged aura from him. The man’s vital potential had been expended, and this created a stark contrast with the young and lively girl beside him.

The old man was probably half a foot into a coffin; yet, under such circumstances, he was still able to have Princess Redjoy. As for the concubine beside him, her age was probably not very far from Princess Redjoy’s.

As Yi Yun was pondering over the matter, he saw a group of people fly down from King Yi’s royal chariot.

The man and woman that led the convoy were striking. The woman was dressed in red, and was in fact none other than Princess Redjoy.

As for the man, he was dressed in a purple python-robe. He wore a golden headdress, giving him a striking royal bearing!

“It’s Prince Boundless Heaven and Princess Redjoy!” said someone.

Prince Boundless Heaven was the great-great-grandson of the reigning Outcloud Emperor. However, the position one had in the royal family’s hierarchy was meaningless. Everything depended on talent. Only a person with immense talent could be deemed a prince. If they were weak, they would be eliminated. The children of the royal family that lacked talent would have fates more tragic than any ordinary warrior’s.

Prince Boundless Heaven was the cream of the crop among the princes. And the reigning Outcloud Emperor had yet to designate a crown prince. So although Prince Boundless Heaven was young, he was one of the contenders to be crown prince.

“I never expected Prince Boundless Heaven to arrive with King Yi’s entourage. He even came with Princess Redjoy. Previously, there were rumors that Prince Boundless Heaven would marry Princess Redjoy in the future. From the looks of it, it’s very possible.”

A few gossipy young geniuses immediately made inferences when they saw the two royals.

To contend for crown prince, the princes naturally needed to seek out allies. King Yi was no doubt a powerful ally. If he could be related to King Yi through Princess Redjoy, Prince Boundless Heaven would take a huge stride forward towards the title of crown prince.

Under such circumstances, Prince Boundless Heaven was naturally at the height of his popularity. No one wished to offend a person who would likely become crown prince.

Instantly, the crowd went forward to acquaint themselves with him or greet him.

Yi Yun was watching afar when he suddenly sensed a malicious gaze fall upon him.

He traced it and realized that Princess Redjoy had discovered him in the crowd. The smile on her face had immediately frozen.

Since they last met, Princess Redjoy was quite unhappy despite having the Brightheart Veranda close down. Everything about the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds containing essence of ancient Fey feces was still unknown to ordinary warriors. However, it was already slowly spreading among members of high society. As one of the most outspoken advocates of Brightheart Veranda’s dishes, Princess Redjoy was facing unimaginable embarrassment.

In addition, the occasional passing thought of having countless ancient Fey feces essence running through her digestive tract made her feel like retching whenever she saw spirit food. She had not eaten for many days.

It was quite obvious what Princess Redjoy was feeling when she saw Yi Yun at the auction.

“Redjoy, who are you looking at?” Prince Boundless Heaven traced her gaze and saw Yi Yun. He had caught wind of Yi Yun as well. He knew him to be a young alchemist and the description of his appearance resembled that of the youth in front of him. It immediately made Prince Boundless Heaven make the connection.

“Is he the one you were previously talking about?” asked Prince Boundless Heaven.

Princess Redjoy did not answer. That itself was a form of tacit agreement.

Prince Boundless Heaven looked at Yi Yun with shimmering eyes. He knew the sequence of events. Not only had Yi Yun exposed the Brightheart Veranda, he had also mocked Princess Redjoy in the process. He deliberately left no way for Redjoy to save face and this was something Prince Boundless Heaven could not tolerate. After all, Redjoy would one day become his woman. How could he allow his woman to be bullied by another man?

“Redjoy, you don’t have to take the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds to heart. Be it the world of mortals or warriors, there will always be some impurities that get mixed in with medicine. Don’t harp on it.”

Princess Redjoy remained silent. She naturally knew the good intentions of Prince Boundless Heaven. She actually felt neutral towards him. She had no choice but to be with him under instructions from her father.

Prince Boundless Heaven added, “Redjoy, it’s fine if you feel uncomfortable. At this auction, I plan on purchasing divine treasures that can cleanse your marrow and body. Take heart, soon all the impurities that might be inside you will vanish.”

1311 - : King Yi

CKtalon  CKtalon

Cleanse my marrow and body?

Princess Redjoy was rather interested in the offer. In a warrior’s world, there were many natural herbs that had such effects. Princess Redjoy had cultivated to the Dao Palace realm and had tempered her body. Despite not having attained the legendary Immaculate Body, her body was rather pure and clean. A divine treasure that could aid in cleansing her marrow and body was naturally going to be very expensive.

As Princess Redjoy was thinking over the matter, her expression suddenly changed. She saw a group of people dressed in purple alchemy robes fly onto the mountain peak.

These people had a gecko cinnabar pill cauldron logo embroidered on their chest.

The Pillheart Sect!

Princess Redjoy felt her stomach churn the moment she saw them. Even so, she did not dare to express her feelings in front of the people from the Pillheart Sect. After all, it was considered one of the more important sects at the upcoming auction.

“Is the person walking right in the front Master Su?”

There were murmurs in the crowd.

Yi Yun could not help but look over. He saw a silver-haired elder walking at the front of the Pillheart Sect group. He looked slightly unique as his eyebrows were two feet long and reached to his shoulder.

Although the old man was advanced in his years, he had a youthful complexion that exuded a healthy glow. He was completely opposite from King Yi. King Yi looked young but he exuded a dull and dead aura.

“Who is this Master Su?” Yi Yun asked Jing Yuesha.

Jing Yuesha replied, “Master Su is in command of the Pillheart Sect operations in the Heavenly South Great World. He is also closing in on achieving the title of alchemist sage. Countless people request his services, so his status is on par with that of King Yi.”

“Oh? Closing in on becoming an alchemist sage?”

Yi Yun remembered Skyfire Sacred Hands. He was from the most powerful alchemy sect in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. However, that sect only produced two alchemist sages in its entire existence.

“This old fellow shares the same surname as that Manager Su. Are they related?”

“That’s very common.” Jing Yuesha nodded. “The Su family is a big family clan in the Pillheart Sect. That Manager Su only has ordinary talent in cultivation and alchemy. Yet she was given control of the Brightheart Veranda, so she definitely had quite a good background to boost her to that position.”

“I see…” Yi Yun nodded. Although the other party held a lofty status, he was only approaching alchemist sage. Compared to a divine alchemist, he was nothing.

Therefore, Yi Yun was not particularly impressed by Master Su.

“Haha, I never expected Master Su to be interested in joining this auction.” Upon seeing Master Su walking towards him, King Yi greeted him first. “I have been thinking about Master Su’s Youth Regaining Pills these days. Master Su, I wonder if you have the time to refine a few cauldrons for me?” King Yi said with a chuckle.

Although he knew about the Brightheart Veranda debacle, it was a trivial matter not worth mentioning in front of Master Su.

“Since King Yi has made the request, I’ll naturally try my best to satisfy you.” Master Su said nonchalantly.

When the crowd heard the exchange between King Yi and Master Su, they turned envious and discussed fervently. Youth Regaining Pills were not some run of the mill pill. It was a pill that extended one’s longevity with a very low rate of successful refinement. For those whose lives were coming to an end, they were obviously a very precious medicine. It was no surprise that King Yi wanted to keep relations with Master Su cordial.

“Oh? There are pills that aid in extending one’s longevity?”

When he heard the crowd’s discussions, Yi Yun was taken aback. Pills with such effects were impressive. It was not that the pills themselves were difficult to refine but that there were too few natural treasures that could extend one’s life.

For example, there was the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit that Myriad God Patriarch had put so much effort into finding. Even treasures that were a few grades inferior to that were still almost impossible to find.

Yet from the discussion, it appeared as though the Pillheart Sect was able to refine Youth Regaining Pills on a constant basis. This shocked Yi Yun. After all, such pills were mostly made on request to satisfy old freaks that were in need of having their longevity extended. Only the remaining would they be put on sale.

It said something about the number the Pillheart Sect produced if King Yi was able to just buy them.

“Does this Pillheart Sect have some secret technique to nurture natural treasures that can extend one’s longevity?”

Yi Yun pondered over the matter as he watched many warriors greet Master Su. He even saw some of the powerhouses that did not react to King Yi’s appearance rush forward to chat with Master Su. After all, even if they had no need to fear King Yi, they were still warriors in need of pills.

“Let’s go in. King Yi, please enter.”

“Haha, Master Su, after you.”

After the two esteemed figures and the other important people at the auction stepped into the immortal pavilion, Prince Boundless Heaven and Princess Redjoy followed suit.

Yi Yun naturally entered as well. At that moment, Prince Boundless Heaven suddenly came to a halt and thought of something. He said to Princess Redjoy, “Hold on.”

“What’s the matter?” Princess Redjoy replied.

She was taken aback as she saw Prince Boundless Heaven walk in front of Yi Yun and say, “Are you that genius alchemist with the surname Yi? I heard that you have already defeated Alchemist Zhang despite your young age. You used a very ingenious method to restore two pills that had already melted and caused the Brightheart Veranda that was established for tens of thousands of years in Cloud Pool City to close down. You truly live up to the saying of ‘heroes coming from youngsters.’ I’m very impressed.”

Yi Yun and company had been going on without attracting the attention of anyone, but when Prince Boundless Heaven spoke, they drew the gazes of many people.

Especially with the Pillheart Sect entourage having just entered. They were standing just in front of Yi Yun so when they heard Prince Boundless Heaven’s words, they turned their heads over.

Even Master Su could not help but take a glance at Yi Yun. However, all he gave was a glance. He ignored Yi Yun shortly after and continued chatting with King Yi.

However, the other Pillheart Sect disciples reacted differently.

“That’s him? The one that restored the pills refined by Zhang Linze and put the Brightheart Veranda out of business!”

Some of the young disciples of the Pillheart Sect stared fiercely at Yi Yun. They did not hide their animosity at all.

This animosity was not only because the Brightheart Veranda was a business of their Pillheart Sect. More importantly, the Brightheart Veranda represented the Pillheart Sect’s reputation.

Yi Yun had used his alchemical skills to expose the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds, causing the Brightheart Veranda to collapse. And alchemy was a heritage that the Pillheart Sect was most proud of. How could they tolerate losing in that aspect? Many people were now mocking the Pillheart Sect, saying that they were put to task by a junior that was still wet behind the ears. To these zealous Pillheart Sect geniuses, it was an utmost insult.

“Hmph! Aunt Su was punished by the sect because of this matter. She has been imprisoned for five centuries. She had been searching for natural treasures all these years, hoping to find an opportunity to break through before her vital potential runs out so that her youth can be retained for another ten to twenty thousand years. But now, with this imprisonment, it’s impossible for Aunt Su to have a breakthrough. All that awaits her now is the slow process of aging. This punk has cost Aunt Su ten thousand years of her life and youthfulness. How infuriating!” said another Pillheart Sect disciple. He had a close relationship with Manager Su in his childhood. The punishment Manager Su suffered made him hate Yi Yun to the bone.

1312 - : Pillheart Sect

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon seeing this scene unfold, Prince Boundless Heaven beamed. This was precisely the result he wanted. The punk was arrogant and made a huge enemy out of the Pillheart Sect on his first trip to Cloud Pool City. What’s more, the prince was shocked to find that Yi Yun was not noticed by anyone in the crowd. Prince Boundless Heaven was displeased by this as it would mean that the punk would get off way too easy.

“I know your surname is Yi, and I, Su Muyan, do not fight nameless characters. State your name!” The Pillheart Sect disciple that had a close relationship with Manager Su bellowed. He wanted to redeem the shame of Brightheart Veranda closing down.

Instantly, many people stopped in their tracks. No one entered the immortal pavilion for the time being as they eagerly waited for the situation to pan out.

They were happy to see such conflict. It was very clear that Prince Boundless Heaven was extremely hostile towards Yi Yun. He had loudly announced Yi Yun’s identity and deliberately mentioned Yi Yun’s victory over the Pillheart Sect’s alchemist. It was apparent that his goal was to put Yi Yun on the spot.

At that moment, Prince Boundless Heaven continued, “I would also like to know of Young Master Yi’s name. I previously heard people address you as Sect Master Yi before I learned of your surname…” Prince Boundless Heaven said as he gave a faint smile at Jing Yuesha. When he said that, many people were taken aback.

Sect master!?

Yi Yun was just an eighth-storey Dao Palace warrior and he was a sect master?

How small was this sect to allow an eighth-storey Dao Palace warrior be its sect master? It was probably a small sect established by the punk himself just so he could call himself sect master.

“Young Master Yi, you have become sect master at such a young age. You truly have a promising future. That combined with the unparalleled alchemical skills you demonstrated previously makes me very interested in acquainting myself with you, Sect Master Yi. In the future, Sect Master Yi might become a master alchemist. If you even reach seventy or eighty percent of Master Su’s level, I would be greatly uplifted by counting on the future Master Yi.”

Prince Boundless Heaven said all this with a beaming smile. He repeated the words ‘Sect Master Yi’ but any sensible person could tell that he did so sarcastically. In the eyes of many, Yi Yun’s title of sect master was like if a bunch of farmers gathered for a revolution, and the leader called himself an emperor. It was especially laughable at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. After all, anyone that dared to call himself sect master at the meet was a legitimate hegemon of an entire area.

As for the praise Prince Boundless Heaven lavished—about Yi Yun matching Master Su’s level in the future—he was deliberately aggravating the situation for Yi Yun.

The surrounding Pillheart Sect disciples were already disgruntled that Yi Yun had taken down the Brightheart Veranda. Now, they blew their tops. Master Su was an esteemed figure in the Pillheart Sect. Countless disciples made emulating Master Su their goal but they also knew that they had little hope of reaching anywhere near his level. It was a fool’s dream to say that the punk in front of them could come close to Master Su’s achievements.

The crowd could tell that Prince Boundless Heaven was clearly trying to put Yi Yun on a pedestal only to watch him fall.

Yi Yun was unperturbed by the many gazes locked onto him. He looked at Prince Boundless Heaven and, after a heavy moment of silence, he gently fanned his nose.

No one knew what Yi Yun was doing. Some thought that Yi Yun was completely dumbfounded, having never been placed in such a hostile situation. Then, they saw Yi Yun turn to Jing Yuesha and say, “I just mentioned a while ago that I kept smelling a stench. So it’s this person in front of me. He must have eaten too much ancient Fey feces essence and doesn’t even realize that his mouth stinks. Here he is shouting loudly, spreading his mouth’s stench. He completely lacks civic-mindedness and the makings of a gentleman.”

When Yi Yun said those words, everyone was dumbfounded. The smile on Prince Boundless Heaven’s face froze up, giving him a weird constant grin. It took him a few seconds to subconsciously close his mouth. Following which, Then, his expression turned sullen and black like the bottom of a wok.

Ancient Fey feces essence!

Upon hearing these keywords, Prince Boundless Heaven nearly crushed his teeth from gritting them. Although he had targeted Yi Yun, he was doing it through sarcastic means. On the surface, he was still praising Yi Yun. He took pains to keep up the decorum expected of high society, but Yi Yun went right for a personal attack!

Prince Boundless Heaven was of high standing and naturally held Brightheart Veranda’s highest level VIP card. As he was always courting Princess Redjoy and she was an advocate of Brightheart Veranda and even held her birthday celebration there, it meant that Prince Boundless Heaven frequently ate at Brightheart Veranda with Princess Redjoy. Of course he had eaten the specialty, Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds, countless times.

It was impossible to be completely unperturbed by the issue. Who knew that Yi Yun would use this fact to mock him at the grand exchange meet in front of so many famous and important people?

“Good, very good!”

Prince Boundless Heaven felt like even his gallbladder was filled with fury but he was at a loss for a retort.

The bastard was indeed as Princess Redjoy described. He was extremely arrogant, and such a person only brought out his killing instincts.

“Pfft!”

Standing beside Yi Yun was Jing Yuesha, who laughed out loudly. She too was someone who was unafraid of anything. Prince Boundless Heaven had nothing to do with her. She was not from the Outcloud Empire after all.

“Sect Master Yi, now that you mention it, I actually do smell it.”

As she spoke, Jing Yuesha retreated a few steps back with a look of disgust, widening the gap between her and Prince Boundless Heaven.

This action no doubt tried Prince Boundless Heaven’s nerves. His face turned green. The only outcome of his targeting of Yi Yun was to remind everyone that a reigning prince, a strong contender for the title of crown prince, had eaten shit at Brightheart Veranda every meal.

Yi Yun and Jing Yuesha’s exchange not only made Prince Boundless Heaven feel like a retard, it also made the people of the Pillheart Sect uncomfortable.

The Brightheart Veranda represented the Pillheart Sect. A problem with the Brightheart Veranda’s dishes was a mark on their Pillheart Sect’s reputation.

“This punk is too arrogant. I truly can’t stand him,” said someone to Su Muyan.

Su Muyan nodded with a sullen expression. “Ignoring the feud with Aunt Su, just his sarcasm at the Pillheart Sect is something I will make him pay for. After this exchange meet, I’ll make him regret that he ever lived in this world.”

The Pillheart Sect disciples nodded in unison.

“Since this Yi fellow isn’t willing to give his name, I have no interest in knowing either. After the exchange meet, I’ll challenge him. Be it alchemy or martial arts, he is free to choose!” Su Muyan declared. He did not think lightly of Yi Yun but he was absolutely confident in himself. He wanted to redeem the Pillheart Sect.

Although his voice wasn’t loud and he had said it in private to the other Pillheart Sect disciples, everyone present was a warrior. Many people heard his claim.

Everyone immediately turned excited. They loved seeing such conflict. In a way, it could be considered as an appetizer for the Heavenly South Peaks Meet.

“Sect Master Yi, it seems that Su Muyan wants to challenge you,” said Jing Yuesha with a smile.

Yi Yun shook his head. If he accepted every challenge that came his way, especially from no-name disciples, that will only reflect badly on him.

1313 - : A lack of civic-mindedness

CKtalon  CKtalon

After the verbal altercation, both Prince Boundless Heaven and the Pillheart Sect disciples were feeling unhappy. However, no matter how unhappy they were, they could not take action during the auction. Everything had to wait till after the auction. All they could do was bear with it and enter the auction venue first.

The auction at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet was always a grand event. In fact, it was the real reason why so many old freaks were interested in the meet. Compared to watching juniors fight, an auction was naturally of greater value to them. Perhaps they might be able to find a divine treasure they wanted.

The organizers of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s auction only took an entrance fee. There were no commissions taken for the exchange. This also made the wealthy old freaks more willing to produce their most precious treasures for exchange.

Yi Yun entered the pavilion, which was an abode artifact. Its interior was a wide independent space.

There was actually not an auction platform in the middle of the space. Instead, there was a circular table that stretched twenty to thirty meters in diameter. Twelve seats surrounded the table.

As the table was huge, the seats were distributed far apart from each other.

At that moment, King Yi had already walked to his own seat of honor with Master Su. Given their status, no one had any qualms with them sitting in seats of honor.

After King Yi, there were a few mighty figures from the Heavenly South Great World and the surrounding worlds. They took their seats.

“That’s Divine Empire of Thunder’s Imperial Preceptor!”

Upon seeing a white-haired man appear, someone in the crowd exclaimed softly.

The white-haired man looked very young, perhaps in his thirties. His gaze was firm and he had a tiny lightning mark at his glabella. It was not a tattoo but the result of the special cultivation technique that the Divine Empire of Thunder cultivated in. When one mastered the cultivation technique, they could use the laws they mastered to condense the mark that looked like a lightning bolt.

The Imperial Preceptor of the Divine Empire of Thunder held a status that was in no way inferior to King Yi’s. He naturally took a seat of honor.

However, the Divine Empire of Thunder and Outcloud Empire had been opposing factions for a long time. Therefore, King Yi ignored him after exchanging the expected pleasantries.

Gradually, more mighty figures took their seats, occupying more than half the twelve seats of honor.

Surrounding the seats of honor were nearly a hundred seats that were one grade inferior. They were in the first row and Yi Yun’s group consisted of the top factions in the Calm Sea. Therefore, even though they were foreigners, they sat in the first row. Prince Boundless Heaven and Princess Redjoy also sat in the first row.

Coincidentally, the seat Yi Yun chose was slightly ten meters away from Prince Boundless Heaven.

Prince Boundless Heaven looked at Yi Yun with a sneer. He naturally heard the conversations of the Pillheart Sect disciples about how they would target him. He couldn’t wait for Yi Yun to suffer once the auction was over.

He was glad to see this outcome. He would not need to dirty his hands to see Yi Yun tortured into a tragic state. If Yi Yun did not end up reduced to a terrible state, he did not mind fanning the flames. As a prince of the Heavenly South Great World’s Outcloud Empire, he refused to believe that he could not take Yi Yun to task.

Slowly, everyone that was participating in the auction arrived and took their seats.

At that moment, an elder walked out slowly, accompanied by a voluptuous woman.

Upon seeing the elder, King Yi and the Divine Empire of Thunder’s Imperial Preceptor stood up to pay their respects. The elder chuckled and said, “Since everyone is here, let’s begin. According to past rules, I will be the one presiding over this auction.”

The elder’s master was the true founder of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. Legend said that the earliest Heavenly South Peaks Meets were organized by the elder’s master. Later, the elder inherited his master’s mantle and continued to run the Heavenly South Peaks Meet.

The elder’s surname was Mu so people addressed him Elder Mu. He did not belong to any faction of the Heavenly South Great World and was a reclusive individual.

Although Elder Mu was unaffiliated, he was very powerful. He was held in high esteem in the Heavenly South Great World and even figures like King Yi treated him with great respect.

“Dear friends, all of you come from the Heavenly South Great World or the surroundings worlds. I’m honored that all of you chose to grace this Heavenly South Peaks Meet. Although my master and I were considered the founders of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet, this meet’s growth to its present state has little to do with me when it comes to the preparations and organization.”

“Warriors of my generation spend most of our time in seclusive cultivation. This Heavenly South Peaks Meet gives us a chance to gather together and help each other obtain the things we need. We can discuss martial arts and the Dao. It is a really rare opportunity. Although I no longer organize the Heavenly South Peaks Meet, as one of the founders of it, I wish that everyone will abide by the meet’s rules. If anyone were to violate the rules, don’t blame me for losing decorum with them,” Elder Mu said with a chuckle.

His words were immediately echoed by many warriors. Many of the major factions present might be in conflict with each other but they made it a point to appear cordial on the surface.

“Then, let’s begin now. I’ll break the ice by taking out a few trinkets I chanced upon while traveling the Sinkhole in recent years. They’re not very valuable but they would prove pretty useful if they land in the hands of someone who needs them. Feel free to take a look.”

As Elder Mu spoke, a woman behind him took out three rectangular jade boxes from her interspatial ring. She opened the boxes one after another and revealed the divine treasures within. They were an emerald-green Fey pill, a jade-like crystalline fruit, and a foot-long Fey bone.

“I wouldn’t introduce the items. All of you have the ability to discern what they are, I’m sure. They aren’t anything impressive. It’s up to you if you want to to use Spirit Jade or items to exchange for them.”

Yi Yun remained silent after taking a glance at the three treasures.

“What are these items?” Jing Yuesha could not help but ask.

“The Fey pill of an Emerald-eyed Flower Snake, a fruit born of the Black Jade Flower, and a finger bone of a Ground Demon Ape. The Fey pill and the finger bone were harvested prematurely from the Emerald-eyed Flower Snake and Ground Demon Ape. As for the Black Jade Flower, the fruit was taken when it was completely ripe. It’s the most valuable among the three.”

Yi Yun very calmly informed her of the origins of the three items. This description left Clear Lunar Island Lord and Ren Yunzong stunned. They were also very knowledgeable people. They were able to identify the three items but definitely not as quickly as Yi Yun. He had even managed to date the items.

Just Yi Yun’s knowledge alone was impressive.

“Are they very precious?” asked Jing Yuesha.

“Not really!” Yi Yun shook his head. Those things were sufficiently precious to ordinary warriors but when it came to Yi Yun, who was accustomed to seeing rare treasures, he did not think too much of them.

In fact, Yi Yun knew that it was common for auctions to put the more valuable items on offer towards the end. The first items taken out were definitely inferior to the last ones taken out.

Yi Yun glanced at Elder Mu and saw the old man’s sparkling eyes and composed expression. He suddenly suspected that the old man had something big for sale later. The three items on display now were only appetizers.

1314 - : Elder Mu

CKtalon  CKtalon

However, what was unimpressive to Yi Yun was an incredible divine treasure in the eyes of other warriors, especially young geniuses.

“Isn’t that the fruit born from the Black Jade Flower?” remarked Prince Boundless Heaven. The fruit was known for its effect of marrow cleansing. It was excellent for both himself or to give to Princess Redjoy.

“Oh? You even recognize these three treasures?” said Princess Redjoy in surprise.

Prince Boundless Heaven was pleased with himself when he saw Princess Redjoy’s reaction. He nodded proudly.

As a member of the royal family, he was knowledgeable to begin with. And with an interest in natural treasures that inspired him to study them, he truly had the right to flaunt himself.

“The other Fey pill and Fey bone should come from the Emerald-eyed Flower Snake and the Ground Demon Ape, if I recall. Although it’s hard to tell their age, their value is definitely not much lower than that of the Black Jade Flower. These three are rare and priceless items. I want to buy them. I’ll give the Black Jade Flower to you, Junior Sister Redjoy, to help you cleanse your marrow. As for the other two items, I’ll use them for cultivation!”

Prince Boundless Heaven deliberately exaggerated the preciousness of the three treasures so as to make Princess Redjoy’s heart throb.

After his declaration, Prince Boundless Heaven raised his hand and said, “Senior Mu, I’m willing to pay 500,000 mid-grade Spirit Jade for them!”

To a wealthy prince, 500,000 mid-grade Spirit Jade was not a burden at all.

Prince Boundless Heaven’s bid immediately stopped many warriors who had any thoughts of bidding on the treasures in their tracks. They were eager to vie for the treasures, but when they heard the offer for 500,000, they shrunk back.

One mid-grade Spirit Jade was equivalent to a hundred inferior-grade Spirit Jade. Ordinary sects would usually only deal in inferior-grade Spirit Jade.

“600,000!”

There were other people at the auction that had need for such treasures. Soon, someone countered Prince Boundless Heaven’s bid with a higher one.

Prince Boundless Heaven sneered and casually said, “800,000!”

It appeared very easy for Prince Boundless Heaven to shout out such a price.

The person that was bidding against Prince Boundless Heaven was a man that looked a little aged. He had a dull expression and even appeared somewhat sickly. From his outfit, he likely came from a world outside the Heavenly South Great World.

Upon hearing the price of 800,000, the man clearly hesitated. He fell silent for a moment before shouting, “A million!”

Prince Boundless Heaven laughed. His opponent had hesitated at the thought of a million, yet he still wanted to compete with him?

“Two million!” Prince Boundless Heaven waved his hand and said very gallantly.

Although he appeared unaffected on the surface as though the Spirit Jade was nothing, he was starting to feel slightly burdened by two million.

Upon hearing the price, the corners of the dull-looking man’s mouth had an obvious twitch. However, he gritted his teeth and raised his hand.

“2,200,000.”

“Oh?” Prince Boundless Heaven furrowed his brows. He believed that he could overwhelm his opponent by suddenly shouting two million but he never expected that his opponent was wealthy enough to continue vying with him.

He hesitated for a moment and said, “2,600,000!”

Prince Boundless Heaven continued looking composed while he made such a stunning bid. He gave off a look that he was filthy rich but in fact, it was already beginning to distress him.

The price directly cut out his competitor. The man sighed, shook his head, and did not continue bidding higher. It was not that he was unwilling to part with it but that he did not have that much Spirit Jade.

“I wonder which small sect bumpkin was foolish enough to try competing with me,” Prince Boundless Heaven said coldly. He had spent a lot more Spirit Jade thanks to that bumpkin.

Ever since he was mocked by Yi Yun, he had a burning flame in his heart. When he saw the dejected look of the sickly man, he felt a baffling sense of joy.

But the flaw in the otherwise perfect outcome was that the person he took down was not Yi Yun. If Yi Yun had competed with him and lost, he would have been able to vent his anger.

Upon noticing Prince Boundless Heaven’s gaze, an elder sitting beside him guessed at the prince’s thoughts. He said, “Your Highness, that Yi punk probably doesn’t have enough wealth to bid at an auction of this level. He is probably only following seniors to broaden his horizons.”

An Elder from a large faction nodded and echoed, “That’s right. The treasures of the auction are brought in by figures like Elder Mu. It’s not something juniors can compete in. Among the younger generation, only elites with sizable wealth like Your Highness can compete with mighty figures.”

Prince Boundless Heaven was thrilled by the Elder’s words. It made him feel like he was slowly joining the ranks of those mighty figures.

“2.6 million mid-grade Spirit Jade. That works. That definitely works. These three trinkets are yours. What a fine young lad that demands respect.”

Elder Mu was not stingy with his praises.

“Senior, thank you for your compliments.”

Prince Boundless Heaven smiled and stood up to bow. From his point of view, Elder Mu enjoyed high prestige and commanded universal respect. It was beneficial for him to acquaint himself with Elder Mu.

“This irritating fellow sure is in the limelight now.” Sitting beside Yi Yun, Jing Yuesha was slightly depressed. She also hated Prince Boundless Heaven and could not stand seeing him so smug.

Yi Yun shook his head and said indifferently, “There are retards every year, but this year they are especially plentiful.”

“Ah?” Jing Yuesha was taken aback.

“Although the quality of these divine treasures isn’t bad, they are only worth about 800,000 mid-grade Spirit Jade to me. Not one Spirit Jade more. This auction is a good place for sellers. There are more people buying than selling. With so many important figures gathered here, those who bid a high price will steal the limelight. That old Mu fellow has profited greatly.”

Yi Yun stroked his chin as he looked at Elder Mu. Although the old man was innocently chuckling, his smile looked like a cunning grin from an old fox in Yi Yun’s eyes.

He suddenly felt that being the host of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet was a lucrative position. As the founder, the old fellow’s reputation was naturally high. Items he produced at the auction would be augmented by his reputation, making them more marketable.

The old man was clearly happy that the first three items were sold at such a price. He slowly gestured to the voluptuous woman beside him and shortly, another three jade boxes were taken out.

He said with a smile, “There are still many fellow warriors and cultivators who have yet to get a chance to buy the items from before. That’s a pity. I still have a few trinkets that I planned on leaving for my disciples. I might as well sell them now.”

As the elder spoke, the woman opened the boxes one after another.

When Prince Boundless Heaven saw the items in the boxes, he was dumbstruck. Two of the items were a crystalline fruit and a foot-long Fey bone.

Weren’t they the Black Jade Flower and the Ground Demon Ape finger bone that he had just bought?

They were identical…

Princess Redjoy blinked her eyes and could not help but ask, “Senior Brother Boundless Heaven, didn’t you say that those items are extremely rare. Why is there another set?”

“This…” Prince Boundless Heaven gaped and was at a loss for words. He long knew that he had bought the treasures at a price far above the market price but since the items were rare, he felt that it was worth it. But in a blink of an eye, Elder Mu had taken out another set. He was dumbfounded.

At that moment, Yi Yun spoke out. He looked at Prince Boundless Heaven as though he was a retard and said, “Are you dumb? The Ground Demon Ape has ten fingers so obviously it has ten finger bones. And the Black Jade Flower bears seven fruits. Since Elder Mu had obtained such a treasure, he naturally took the rest. Do you really think he would take one share of each item?”

Yi Yun’s voice wasn’t loud but the ears of warriors were exceedingly sharp. Instantly, everyone heard what he said. Prince Boundless Heaven’s face turned purple.

He gaped his mouth and was unable to utter a word. Before Elder Mu put up the item for sale, he had never mentioned how many sets of the treasure he had. Prince Boundless Heaven did not ask either and had just naturally assumed they were one-of-a-kind.

Who else could he blame?

1315 - : Are you Dumb

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the auction having taken such a turn, Jing Yuesha was full-on chortling when she saw Prince Boundless Heaven’s expression.

Her chortling made many girls that had come with their sect’s seniors snigger as well. They were not from the Outcloud Empire so they obviously didn’t care who Prince Boundless Heaven was.

The usually suave Prince Boundless Heaven that won the hearts of countless girls suddenly became the butt of the joke. Even Princess Redjoy beside him gave him a disdainful look. All of this turned Prince Boundless Heaven’s face as black as a wok’s bottom.

He truly wanted to jump forward and tear apart the table on the platform. Fuck this auction. Are you kidding me!?

However, he knew that the matter was purely a result of his own foolishness. He never thought about the Ground Demon Ape having ten fingers because whenever he encountered treasures at that level they were usually owned by someone else or purchased from a store. As such, they were stowed away for long periods of time and only one unit was displayed.

But the items the old fellow had taken out were harvested from the source. They were naturally in a set.

Having thrown out money for no reason and thus failing to win the favor of the beauty, instead receiving the mockery of others, Prince Boundless Heaven could only take a deep breath to barely compose himself. If he didn’t, he could have burst a lung from anger.

Just as he went to say a few words to Princess Redjoy to conceal his embarrassment, he heard Yi Yun say to Jing Yuesha, “When one postures to impress a girl, his failure becomes all the more foolish.”

The words that were at the tip of Prince Boundless Heaven’s tongue stuck there.

He glared angrily at Yi Yun and felt all his blood surge to his brain. He nearly shattered his teeth from gritting them.

He knew that engaging Yi Yun in a war of words would only add insult to injury. All he could do was tolerate it.

“Punk, I’ll remember this…” Prince Boundless Heaven thought to himself with a sunken expression.

…

At that moment, the second auction began.

Elder Mu looked calm and composed while he left the auctioning to the coquettish beauty.

With the first auction setting a precedence, the second auction happened very quickly. The price naturally did not rise as high as 2.6 million like before. Instead, it stopped at 950,000.

The person who bought the set of treasures at 950,000 mid-grade Spirit Jade was the sickly man from the first auction.

He seemed to be in such desperate need of the treasures that when he got them for the price of 950,000, he was extremely excited.

“Thank you, Senior Mu! Thank you!”

The man thanked Elder Mu incessantly. At the same time, he looked at Yi Yun and seemed to have a good impression of him.

Upon seeing the man’s expression, Prince Boundless Heaven was incensed. Treasures he had bought for 2.6 million had been bought for less than a million by the fellow. He felt disgusted, as though he had eaten a fly.

“There’s nothing to thank me for,” said Elder Mu with a chuckle. At that moment, everyone was looking at Elder Mu, hoping to see him produce another Ground Demon Ape’s finger bone or Black Jade Flower Fruit.

These things that did not catch Yi Yun’s eye were highly coveted by others. When they heard from Yi Yun that there were at least ten finger bones and seven fruits, all of them started hoping for the price to fall. Perhaps they could buy a set at an extremely low price! That would be quite a bargain!

However, Elder Mu did not produce the jade boxes anymore. Instead, he took out an emerald-green porcelain bottle.

From the size of the bottle, it did not seem like a vessel that contained herbs like before.

“Elder Mu, didn’t you obtain several ancient Fey bones and Black Jade Flower Fruits? Why aren’t you selling them anymore?” Someone from the crowd asked.

“Selling two sets will do. The rest can wait. I’ll sell them again in the future,” the old man replied, playing down the matter.

At that moment, the people who were waiting to buy the items were rendered speechless. They originally felt that 950,000 was a little expensive. They hoped that the price would continue dropping but Elder Mu had stopped putting the items up for purchase.

“This old fellow knows how to create artificial scarcity.”

Yi Yun stroked his chin. In his previous life, that was not something new. But in a martial world, it was a rare concept. It was no wonder the old fellow was able to use his title as founder of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet to raise the meet to such a high profile event.

From the looks of it, it was not easy to exploit the old fellow.

Just as Yi Yun was pondering over the matter, Elder Mu had poured out something from the small bottle. Everyone looked over and saw a black wrinkled seed. It was not striking in any way.

What was this?

Many people shook their heads. They had never seen such an item before. However, they knew that it was definitely something useful if it was Elder Mu taking it out.

At that moment, Master Su, who was sitting in the row closest to Elder Mu, had his eyes light up. “Elder Mu, may I take a look at this item!?”

“Of course.”

Elder Mu handed the bottle to Master Su. As Master Su held the seed in his hand, he tossed it around and occasionally revealed a look of pleasant surprise. Other times he shook his head.

Upon seeing Master Su’s expressions, everyone was baffled.

“What is that seed?” Many people present did not recognize it.

“Sect Master Yi, do you know?” Jing Yuesha asked Yi Yun casually. Unknowingly, Jing Yuesha was already treating Yi Yun as an omniscient being. Asking Yi Yun had become her subconscious response.

“It’s an Abyssal Red Lotus’s seed,” Yi Yun said lightly. He kept his voice very low, and only a few people around him heard it.

“Oh? Abyssal Red Lotus?” Jing Yuesha looked at Yi Yun in surprise. She had never heard of such a plant before. There were too many natural treasures in the world and countless specimens of divine vegetation. Ignoring Jing Yuesha, even Clear Lunar Island Lord only knew a portion of all there was in the world.

Yi Yun did not reply as his eyes shined with a strange flicker.

The Abyssal Red Lotus was very useful to him. The lotus seed was fire-elemental and he could consider using the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed as a main ingredient. By matching it with other divine treasures, he could refine a new Dragon Emperor Relic and attempt to cultivate the Fire Hornless Dragon stance from the Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon.

Back when Yi Yun ate the first Dragon Emperor Relic, he had only cultivated the Golden Carp stance of the Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon.

However, the medicinal essence contained in the lotus seed was still a little lacking in terms of the requirement needed to refine the Dragon Emperor Relic.

At that moment, Master Su shook his head and sighed. “Unfortunately, this Abyssal Red Lotus Seed must have been sealed in a land with impoverished Yuan Qi for too long. As a result, it has lost a lot of the Yuan Qi it originally contained. Otherwise, it would truly be priceless.”

As a top alchemist, Master Su was fanatical when it came to divine refinement treasures produced by the world. He found it a pity when he discovered such divine treasures that were flawed.

“Haha, it has indeed lost some of its Yuan Qi. You guessed right. It was sealed in an ancient tomb. As the energy of the ancient tomb’s array formation had long drained, it resulted in the impoverished Yuan Qi. This Abyssal Red Lotus Seed must have been sealed in there for more than a hundred million years. When I took it out, it was already in this state.”

Elder Mu did not conceal the origins of the lotus seed. He abhorred the thought of scamming anyone.

A lotus seed found in an ancient tomb would undoubtedly be tainted by some cadaveric auras. Such energy was the complete opposite of the vibrant life force within the lotus seed, and as a result, lowered its value.

“How about it? Is Master Su uninterested?” asked Elder Mu.

Master Su chuckled without a reply. No one knew what was on his mind.

“Now, if anyone is interested, they can begin bidding.”

When Elder Mu spoke, the mood turned silent instantly. No one spoke out.

When Prince Boundless Heaven saw the lotus seed, he felt a little hesitant. He dual cultivated two elemental laws. One of them was fire and so the fire-elemental Abyssal Red Lotus Seed was of interest to him.

However, he had no idea how much Spirit Jade it was worth.

“Senior Mu, do you not have a minimum starting bid for this lotus seed?” Prince Boundless Heaven could not help but ask.

Elder Mu smiled faintly and said, “I never give a minimum starting bid when selling my items. As long as the price is reasonable, I’ll naturally sell it.”

The value of many divine treasures was hard to appraise. Once a minimum bid was given, it would give people a subconscious notion that the item was roughly worth that much. It would prevent them from bidding high.

Prince Boundless Heaven said with a wry smile, “Since Senior Mu has no minimum starting bid, I’ll just shout out something random. Please do not mock a junior like me.”

As Prince Boundless Heaven said that, he extended his finger and said, “10 million mid-grade Spirit Jade!”

When he shouted such a price, Prince Boundless Heaven felt a little panicked. In fact, his bid was an estimate based on the amount of Yuan Qi contained within the item.

He appraised the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed to be worth approximately ten million but when he actually shouted such an astronomical number, he felt distraught. He was afraid he had made an overestimation that would make him suffer monetarily.

Many of the people present were only watching. The lotus seed was too rare and those that knew what it did were just too few. The number of people that had thoughts of buying it was even fewer.

With more than thirty seconds of silence passing, Prince Boundless Heaven turned even more anxious. Why was he the only one who bid? Was no one else interested? Was his evaluation wrong? The Abyssal Red Lotus Seed was actually not worth the price? Ten million mid-grade Spirit Jade was more than half his savings. It was definitely not easy to bid that much.

Now, he was feeling regret. Was he being rash for shouting such a bid?

“12 million!” Someone seated at the Pillheart Sect’s younger generation area shouted. It was none other than Su Muyan.

He was an alchemist so he was very interested in a lotus seed that was rarely recorded in canon.

Upon hearing Su Muyan’s bid, Prince Boundless Heaven finally heaved a sigh of relief. From the looks of it, there were others who were vying for it too. Also, the price was about the same as his.

This gave Prince Boundless Heaven the necessary courage to proceed.

“13 million!”

Prince Boundless Heaven raised his hand again. At such huge numbers, he could not raise the prices so quickly like before.

“14 million!” Su Muyan did not back down. He was from the Pillheart Sect. As an alchemical sect, the Pillheart Sect’s wealth far exceeded the Outcloud Empire’s. But even so, Su Muyan was clearly very serious when making a bid that involved more than ten million.

“This Su guy…”

Prince Boundless Heaven furrowed his brows. The price was already beginning to encroach into the upper limits of his wealth. At this point, adding another million each bid was a burden that would gradually weigh too heavy on him.

…

As Prince Boundless Heaven and Su Muyan were engaging in a bidding war, Jing Yuesha noticed that Yi Yun was staring intently at the lotus seed. His eyes were shimmering.

She probed, “Sect Master Yi, are you interested in the lotus seed?”

“Yes.” Yi Yun nodded his head.

Jing Yuesha felt her heart jolt. “Do you plan on spending more than ten million to purchase the lotus seed? Do… you really have a use for it?”

From Jing Yuesha’s point of view, Yi Yun was only a junior despite being a sect master. It was unlikely he was in control of that much wealth. More than ten million was not a small amount. Could Yi Yun really compete with Su Muyan who came from a large alchemical sect?

“More than ten million?”

Yi Yun smiled. He had been keeping tabs on Elder Mu’s reaction to the bids. He sat there composed and did not really move. Clearly, the bidding prices had yet to reach his reserve price.

In fact, from Yi Yun’s point of view, even a flawed Abyssal Red Lotus Seed was definitely worth more than ten million. It was not as simple as people thought. It had more specialized uses.

At that moment, the price had been raised to fifteen million by Su Muyan. The prices were increasing in bids of five hundred thousand. Prince Boundless Heaven hesitated longer and he was beginning to hold back a little.

At that moment, Yi Yun spoke out. He extended three fingers and said calmly, “30 million!”

Oh!?

Yi Yun’s bid stunned everyone present.

Instantly, all eyes were on Yi Yun.

He had raised the bid from fifteen million to thirty million at once. He had doubled it!

Furthermore, the person who had made the bid was Yi Yun!

If it was Master Su or King Yi who had bid thirty million, they would be shocked but would not find it too odd. But what was up with this youth? Was he mad?

What was he buying the lotus seed for? Besides… could he afford it?

The people were perplexed. Even Jing Yuesha was dumbfounded. She asked under her breath, “Sect Master Yi, do you have that much Spirit Jade?”

Yi Yun smiled. Before he became Myriad God Sect Master, he had been poor. But now, with the former Myriad God Sect Master and old woman having died, their interspatial rings were his. And with that, all the riches accumulated by the Myriad God Ridge over the years had been picked clean by Yi Yun.

The Myriad God Ridge was a sect that hid a lot. The Myriad God Patriarch was extremely ambitious and it was something the Calm Sea’s Clear Lunar Island and the Heavenly Pivot Chapter did not notice. In terms of cultivation level, Myriad God Patriarch was a lot higher than Jing Yueyin and Ren Yunzong.

The Myriad God Ridge’s wealth had been severely underestimated by both Jing Yueyin and Ren Yunzong.

Other than that, Yi Yun was now the lord of Myriad God Ridge. The more powerful Elders had soul marks implanted in them. None of them dared to disobey Yi Yun’s orders. The other Elders could be ignored but the Zhang and Song family had a feud with Yi Yun. After enslaving Zhang Tianxing and Song Zhanchen, Yi Yun had appropriated their wealth. As much as half their family clan’s accumulated reserves had been swiped clean by him.

Now, Yi Yun was definitely a tycoon. He had gathered all the old fellows’ riches and the entire sect’s reserves!

Thirty million mid-grade Spirit Jade was nothing to Yi Yun!

1316 - : Abyssal Red Lotus

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Thirty million mid-grade Spirit Jade?”

When Su Muyan and Prince Boundless Heaven heard the bid, they were stunned. They had been assuming that the price of fifteen million, raised slowly in increments of five hundred thousand, was already extremely close to the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed’s true value. So they never expected that someone would directly make a bid that doubled it!

“It’s that Yi punk!”

Prince Boundless Heaven just stared at Yi Yun as he could not close his agape mouth. How could the punk be that rich?

As Prince Boundless Heaven was of royal birth, and he believed that his wealth was something very few juniors could match. However, the amount Yi Yun had casually shouted far exceeded his imagination. Didn’t he come from the Calm Sea? Since when did juniors from the Calm Sea have such terrifying amounts of wealth?

Prince Boundless Heaven subconsciously gulped mouthfuls of saliva.

“Do… Do you really have that much Spirit Jade?” he asked. However, Yi Yun ignored him completely. There was no need for him to prove his wealth to Prince Boundless Heaven.

At that moment, Elder Mu finally revealed a smile. He looked at Yi Yun and asked cordially, “Dear friend, might I know your name?”

Upon seeing Elder Mu’s smile, Yi Yun was rendered speechless. The old fellow was not one to take action without a clear target. “Greetings Senior, my name is Yi Yun.”

Yi Yun!

Everyone’s eyes were concentrated on Yi Yun.

They did not know Yi Yun’s full name previously, only hearing that he was the one who caused Brightheart Veranda to be shuttered.

“So his name is Yi Yun. Everyone said that he is a sect master but I thought he had just conferred the title for himself. Who knew that he’s so rich? He bid thirty million so easily. That’s the action a sect master of a typical large sect would take.”

Many people sighed inwardly. If farmers of a few villagers gathered together and their leader conferred himself the title of emperor, it would naturally be an event that invited ridicule. However, if the combined wealth of the villages was more than a country, people would suddenly find themselves unable to laugh.

“Our young friend, Yi Yun has bid thirty million. Is anyone going to bid further?”

Elder Mu smiled as he looked around. Yi Yun had been constantly observing Elder Mu, but the old fox’s expression wasn’t doing anything to give away the price he had in mind.

After a long silence, someone finally spoke. “Thirty-five million.”

The person who spoke was surprisingly Pillheart Sect’s Master Su!

From the moment Elder Mu took out the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed, Master Su had been smiling silently. He did not join in on the bidding war between the juniors. It was only when Yi Yun made his bid that he finally spoke.

“This old bastard.”

Yi Yun looked at Master Su. These old men were very crafty. He immediately understood that Su Muyan’s competition with Prince Boundless Heaven was likely instigated by Master Su. By getting a junior to step forward, he could probe Elder Mu’s reserve price without revealing his own intentions. He never expected Yi Yun to suddenly participate in the auction, so he gave up on his careful probing.

Instantly, everyone looked at Yi Yun. They were waiting for his response. At such auctions, there was an unspoken rule that juniors would compete with juniors while seniors would compete with seniors. That was because the natural treasures required by old freaks were different from those used by juniors. Furthermore, if a junior tried to compete with a senior, not only would they face the immense pressure of having insufficient wealth, they would also be suppressed by their lack of strength and standing.

If a junior were to offend an old freak, they might suffer in the future.

Yi Yun returned to his seat. He did not speak but the auction did not stop either. The Divine Empire of Thunder’s Imperial Preceptor slowly raised his hand. “Forty million!”

Everyone was astounded. Another bigwig had joined the fray. The competition for the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed was beginning to rage like a storm!

“Forty-five million!”

Master Su responded almost immediately. He was expressing his determination to obtain the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed.

Prince Boundless Heaven was already dumbfounded by how high the price had gone. The damaged lotus seed was actually worth that much? Was his discernment that terrible? He felt that it was at most worth fifteen million.

“Heh! Master Su, for you to show such determination, it appears the Pillheart Sect’s Herb Nurturing Technique must truly be spectacular,” said Divine Empire of Thunder’s Imperial Preceptor. His words left many people stunned.

Herb Nurturing Technique?

“What’s that?” Jing Yuesha was baffled.

“It’s a special technique to handle natural treasures. By setting up a massive array through an alchemical cauldron, an incomplete, flawed, or damaged natural herb can be placed inside and nourished for hundreds of years, allowing it to be renewed. That is what it means to nurture a herb!”

“So that’s the reason. It’s no wonder they are willing to bid such a high price. They are planning to repair the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed. Sect Master Yi… you sure are knowledgeable…”

Jing Yuesha looked at Yi Yun with sparkling eyes. So far, Yi Yun had been able to answer her every question. She found it hard to believe that his age was about the same as hers.

Yi Yun chuckled. “I do know a little about Herb Nurturing Techniques.”

What people took away from that sentence was that his knowledge was very ordinary. In fact, he was being very humble.

In terms of Herb Nurturing Techniques, the records written in the divine alchemist’s notes were at a paramount level. Or it could be said that the divine alchemist had been researching Herb Nurturing Techniques in his later years.

The divine alchemist wanted to refine two legendary divine pills. They were the Elixir of Immortality and the Elixir of Resurrection.

The former made one immortal and the latter could bring one back from the dead!

Refining these two pills was easier said than done. It was impossible to refine them in one swoop. Therefore, the divine alchemist began researching Herb Nurturing Techniques.

By first refining a pill embryo, he could then make it take form using Herb Nurturing Techniques.

And after the divine alchemist’s death, the worldly array he set up in the Sun Burial Sandsea was supposed to refine the legendary Elixir of Resurrection so as to revive his daughter that had died a long time ago.

All of that resulted in Yi Yun mistaking Ling Xie’er as the divine alchemist’s daughter’s soul back when he first arrived in the worldly array.

Although the divine alchemist ultimately failed to refine the Elixir of Resurrection, the reason for his failure was because the elixir was too heaven-defying. It went against the Heavenly Dao and reversed the cycle of reincarnation. But the Herb Nurturing Techniques that the divine alchemist left behind were absolutely flawless.

“Fifty million. The Imperial Preceptor has bid fifty million. Are there any higher bids?” the coquettish woman beside Elder Mu asked. Her voice was very pleasant to the ears.

At that moment, Yi Yun raised his hand. “Eighty million!”

“Huh!?”

Everyone was stunned by that number. For him to shout eighty million in one go, it was as though he did not treat money as money. It was as though it was all a meaningless number.

“This punk is way too aggressive!”

People believed that Yi Yun had stopped bidding because he lacked the courage to compete with seniors. Not only had he not stopped vying for it, his bid had completely overwhelmed the other parties. His courage was astounding.

“He is aggressive but this also means he will be offending the Divine Empire of Thunder and the Pillheart Sect.”

People waited to watch the situation unfold. Indeed, due to Yi Yun’s bid, the expressions of Imperial Preceptor and Master Su sank. It was fine if they competed with each other, but if a junior joined their fray and even used an amount much higher than theirs to price them out, they would find it intolerable.

The Imperial Preceptor grunted and did not say another word.

Eighty million far exceeded his estimated price. Although the Divine Empire of Thunder had Herb Nurturing Techniques, the grade of the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed was too high. It was very difficult to nurture it well. At best, they could restore its medicinal properties to forty to fifty percent. And even that would require a lot of time and monetary investment.

But Master Su was more confident in this aspect. The Pillheart Sect was a lot more brilliant than the Divine Empire of Thunder when it came to Herb Nurturing Techniques.

“Junior, don’t reach for what is beyond your grasp. Do not ruin your future just because of your personal feelings.”

Master Su’s Yuan Qi voice transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ear. It contained faint killing intent.

Yi Yun sneered. He could not be bothered to respond to Master Su. Yi Yun was bent on obtaining the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed. He had other, better uses for it.

Others were thinking of nurturing the herb to restore the seed’s medicinal properties.

However, Yi Yun planned to completely awaken the slumbering vitality within the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed. He would then plant the seed, allowing it to grow into a complete Abyssal Red Lotus!

Once he succeeded, Yi Yun would profit immensely. The Abyssal Red Lotus was one of the most rare sacred herbs in all of the Sinkhole. The important Elder Mu treated the withered seed as a treasure, so one could only imagine the value of a complete Abyssal Red Lotus that was capable of producing many more lotus seeds!

This fire-elemental divine treasure was of great use to Yi Yun!

1317 - : Herb Nurturing Technique

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Is Master Su still interested at eighty million?”

Elder Mu looked at Master Su. He was pleasantly surprised for the price had far exceeded his expectations.

Yi Yun felt that victory was at hand. He did not believe Master Su would raise his bid again.

After all, it was not a perfect Abyssal Red Lotus Seed. Even if it was properly nurtured, possibly restoring thirty percent of its medicinal properties, it would only be worth approximately eighty million. And that wasn’t including the time and capital investment needed.

Most people would call the purchase unprofitable.

However, he never expected Master Su to extend a finger after a long moment of silence. He enunciated his words firmly, “I bid a hundred million!”

A hundred million!?

Upon hearing the bid, everyone was astounded, especially the Thunder Imperial Preceptor. He knew some alchemy himself so he was baffled by how a withered Abyssal Red Lotus Seed could be sold at the astronomical price of hundred million.

Yi Yun’s heart sank. Was this old bastard also adept in Herb Nurturing Techniques?

He had likely underestimated the Pillheart Sect’s heritage. Only a paragon Herb Nurturing Technique could allow the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed’s vital radiance to be energized and fully drawn out. This was the only reason why he could make such a crazy bid.

If that was the case, a hundred million was likely not the old bastard’s limit.

However, no matter how good the Pillheart Sect’s Herb Nurturing Technique was, Yi Yun refused to believe that they could regrow the Abyssal Red Lotus. That was no longer an issue of having the proper Herb Nurturing Technique, but the fire-elemental Yuan Qi that needed to be provided.

Yi Yun possessed the Heretical God Fire Seed. It was a unique quality that gave him the confidence to make such an attempt. By using the Heretical God Fire Seed to nourish the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed, he could even induce transformations he never expected!

“Kid, if you add so much as one Spirit Jade, I’ll make sure you die without a proper burial!”

Master Su’s Yuan Qi voice transmission rang in Yi Yun’s ear. This was a direct threat. For someone of Master Su’s status to make such threats, it was obvious how much he coveted the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed.

Yi Yun sneered. He did not reply Master Su with a Yuan Qi voice transmission. Instead, he said loudly, “You said that if I were to add so much as one Spirit Jade, you’ll make me die without a proper burial! Then, I won’t add Spirit Jade. I’m willing to pay one Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus to buy this Abyssal Red Lotus Seed.”

Everyone was stunned when they heard Yi Yun’s bid.

Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus!

Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli was just another form of currency. However, it was ridiculously rare. Spirit Jade was mined from mineral reefs be they high or mid-grade Spirit Jade.

However, legends said that Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli only appeared during the Sinkhole’s birth. It was coagulated worldly essence, something mineral reeds could not produce. After long periods of time, Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus mostly landed in the hands of Godly Monarchs; that was why they were termed ‘Godly Monarch’ Immortal Annulus.

Perhaps only Godly Monarchs would use Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli to purchase items. Ordinary warriors would not even see a piece in their entire lives. In that way, it was a symbol of one’s identity.

“How can this punk… have a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus…”

Prince Boundless Heaven was already stammering. A currency at the level of Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli was only owned by a few patriarchs in the Outcloud Empire. Even the national treasury’s reserves did not have one.

The bid had not only stunned the crowd, even Master Su was dumbfounded. He was already prepared to continue increasing his bid if Yi Yun did not know better and potentially add another ten or twenty million. His limit was 160 million.

But with Yi Yun directly bidding with a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus, how was he to match the bid?

The exchange rate of a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus was a hundred million mid-grade Spirit Jade to one in ancient times. But in the current age, almost no one did such exchanges. It made the exchange rate somewhat indeterminable.

But it was without a doubt that a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus was worth more than a hundred million mid-grade Spirit Jade.

Master Su had only brought Spirit Jade of various grades to the auction. Even if he bid 160 million, it would appear weak in comparison. Elder Mu was probably not going to show interest in his bid.

Master Su could see the sparkling glint in Elder Mu’s eyes after he heard the words “Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus.” He knew that the old man had made his decision.

“Alright! Look at how good you did! I’ll stop vying for it!”

Master Su stared at Yi Yun with intense killing intent. Since he knew he could not outbid Yi Yun, he did not wish to incur ridicule on himself.

Yi Yun had just repeated the contents of his voice transmission out loud and now everyone knew that Master Su had just threatened Yi Yun with a voice transmission.

It was a despicable act to threaten at an auction. Yet, Master Su had ignored his status and threatened a junior in such a manner. Just this point alone made everyone think lowly of the way he bared his fangs. More critically, he had failed to acquire the item despite baring his fangs in such an ugly manner!

It was obvious how furious Master Su was feeling.

“This punk’s madness knows no bounds. He treats Su Boyang’s threat like it’s nothing.”

“There is a price for such madness. This punk is probably finished. Su Boyang has lost face and also future profits. He will not spare the punk at all, to say nothing of the fact that he is backed by the Pillheart Sect! How is a Dao Palace realm junior the match of the Pillheart Sect?”

“Indeed, those that are overly arrogant always die the fastest. Although he has two or three Calm Sea experts accompanying him, there is no way they can protect him. They might not even want to protect him. From their conversations, they do not seem to be from the same sect.”

Yi Yun himself was already sect master, so how could the other Divine Lord experts be Yi Yun’s subordinates? Clearly, they were together because they traveled together from the Calm Sea. In that case, they did not have deep relations. Under such circumstances, who would risk endangering themselves to protect Yi Yun?

Yi Yun could not be bothered with the crowd’s comments. He took out an interspatial ring and handed it to Elder Mu.

Elder Mu received the interspatial ring and scanned it with his perception. Immediately, he beamed. “Very pure in quality. As an old man, I haven’t seen many Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli yet. Haha, it’s truly an unexpected harvest!”

Upon seeing the way the exchange was made, the crowd, especially the young juniors, was disappointed. They believed that they would catch a glimpse of the Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus and be able to brag about it in the future but Yi Yun had placed it in an interspatial ring. They didn’t have a chance to catch even a glimpse of it.

“This Abyssal Red Lotus Seed is yours.” Elder Mu handed the seed to Yi Yun. He was very satisfied with the auction and more so with Yi Yun.

The Myriad God Patriarch, hoarder that he was, had three Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli stored away. However, Yi Yun thought nothing of it. Although currency was valuable, it was only currency. Being able to use it to buy things he needed was worth it.

If he could use the remaining two Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli to buy herbs at the level of the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed, Yi Yun would probably laugh himself awake in his dreams.

However, it would be quite difficult. The herbs he encountered in the future might not be flawed. If they were intact, he might not even be able to buy them with the remaining two Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli.

“I have to find an opportunity to amass wealth.”

Yi Yun secretly made up his mind. When he put away the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed, he noticed that Master Su was still staring at him.

“I wonder what this old bastard is thinking.”

Yi Yun furrowed his brows. Being marked by the old bastard was obviously not a good feeling.

At that moment, Elder Mu also noticed Su Boyang’s gaze. He said, “I say, Master Su, don’t you have something to put up for sale?”

Elder Mu interrupted Su Boyang. He naturally favored Yi Yun after Yi Yun bought the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed from him at an astronomical price.

“Me? Hehe…” Master Su chuckled sinisterly. “I had brought a few bottles of pills and relics but there are so many impressive figures at this auction. Even a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus has shown itself. I’m afraid I’ll only attract ridicule with the items I have.”

“Look what you are saying. How would we know if you do not take them out for us to see? I’m still waiting to have my horizons broadened.” Elder Mu obviously detected the anger in Master Su’s words but it didn’t matter. He continued speaking leisurely in a non-confrontational manner.

“I think it’s better to not make a fool of myself.” Master Su shook his head and suddenly looked at Yi Yun. He said out of the blue, “Young lad, with your wealth, do you not have any items to put on sale?”

Very suddenly, Master Su redirected the request to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun frowned slightly. The old bastard was going from bad to worse. He rejected it instantly, “I have nothing to sell.”

“Heh! That might not be the case. Young lad, since you were willing to pay one Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus to buy Elder Mu’s Abyssal Red Lotus Seed, you must have an extraordinary Herb Nurturing Technique. You can put that up for sale!”

Master Su’s words were clearly meant to instigate, as many people present began to stir.

They originally felt that Yi Yun was rich to buy the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed but now, after hearing Master Su’s words, they were enlightened. If Yi Yun really had a Herb Nurturing Technique of that level, it would be priceless!

If their sects could obtain such a Herb Nurturing Technique, their pills and treasures could be nourished, considerably raising the sect’s strength!

Many of the old freaks present could not hide the glimmer in their eyes!

“Master Su, what you said makes sense. Young Brother Yi, if you have a mystic technique of such a high grade, it’s true that you can sell it. I’d be willing to pay a handsome price for it!”

King Yi stroked his beard and said with a chuckle. He looked middle-aged but he kept giving off the feeling of someone lacking vibrancy.

A handsome price?

Yi Yun sneered. As someone who probably didn’t even have a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus, could you even afford the Herb Nurturing Technique left behind by the divine alchemist?

As for the Thunder Imperial Preceptor, he did not say a word. Instead, he only looked at Yi Yun.

Instantly, the mood changed. Everyone had different thoughts and the way they looked at Yi Yun was as though they were watching a plump lamb about to be slaughtered.

At that moment, Elder Mu spoke out. He lowered his hands and emitted an invisible aura, repressing the mood.

“Everyone, have you forgotten what I said at the beginning of the auction? Those that participate in the auction must first abide by the Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s rules. The exchange has to be voluntary. That is the most basic principle. No one is to force a sale.”

Elder Mu’s voice gradually turned cold. As the founder of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet, he naturally needed to keep the Heavenly South Peaks Meet impartial. If not, who would dare auction away their items at future meets?

“Haha! Elder Mu is right! However the Heavenly South Great World has another rule. There is a rule of mandatory exchange. Elder Mu, you should know of it, right?”

“Oh? Mandatory exchange?”

Yi Yun narrowed his eyes. What the hell was that rule?

Elder Mu faltered slightly. “There is the rule of mandatory exchange but almost no one has ever used it. According to the rule, only by proving that Yi Yun’s items come from your Pillheart Sect can a mandatory exchange be held…”

“Of course!” Master Su laughed sinisterly as he continue staring at Yi Yun. “All of you have probably forgotten that a few days ago, Yi Yun saw a dish at the Brightheart Veranda. With just a glance, he could tell the pill recipe used in the dish. Furthermore, he easily restored the pill and accurately described the composition of the pills. Later on, he declared that he knew the pill recipe.”

“All of you likely know that the pill recipe used for the dish is not considered valuable, but it is absolutely confidential. It was an ancient heritage of my Pillheart Sect. It’s impossible that an outsider could obtain it!”

When Master Su said those words, everyone came to a realization. They recalled Yi Yun’s actions at the Brightheart Veranda, and they were not something a junior was capable of. Yi Yun could only have restored the pills if he knew the techniques behind it.

Instantly, everyone looked at Yi Yun. And at that moment, Yi Yun was feeling alarmed!

Could it be…

He carefully thought about the matter. The Brightheart Veranda’s beautification pill was indeed an ancient recipe recorded in the divine alchemist’s notes. As the recipe was of little worth, it did not spread. The divine alchemist had only chanced upon it and recorded it in passing. It was too much of a coincidence for the Pillheart Sect to know of it as well.

Just this coincidence alone did not make Yi Yun think too much was off. But the second coincidence happened when Elder Mu auctioned his Abyssal Red Lotus Seed.

The Pillheart Sect was also adept at Herb Nurturing Techniques!

If he had not bid a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus, the old bastard would have bought the withered lotus seed for above a hundred million!

How could a typical sect make such an unprofitable purchase?

A non-mainstream pill recipe and an outstanding Herb Nurturing Technique. Yi Yun began to suspect that the Pillheart Sect’s heritage was likely related to the divine alchemist!

Without a doubt, the divine alchemist’s main heritage had been left in the Sun Burial Sandsea, eventually obtained by Yi Yun.

However, the divine alchemist had previously been in the Sinkhole. He had stayed in there for years, so it was not strange for him to leave behind a little bit of his heritage during that long period of time!

For a powerful sect like the Pillheart Sect to develop to such a grand scale, how could it not have an ancient heritage propping it up? Perhaps, the Pillheart Sect had relied on that tiny bit of divine alchemist heritage and any other possible heritage to slowly bolster themselves.

“No wonder it was so coincidental. I should have thought of it long ago!”

Yi Yun’s expression sank. He looked at Su Boyang and noticed the corners of his mouth curve up, revealing a teasing smile. The old bastard was sharp. He had actually came to this realization before him!

Yet despite the tumultuous upheavals running through Yi Yun’s mind, he did not reveal a single emotion on his face.

Even so, Su Boyang was apparently more certain that Yi Yun had obtained a heritage similar to the Pillheart Sect.

He stroked his beard and said confidently, “I did not pursue the matter regarding the Brightheart Veranda’s pill recipe since it isn’t of great worth. But who knew that this junior would continue push his luck? He thinks that the Pillheart Sect is weak and easily bullied. He even dared to vie for the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed with me!”

“He used my Pillheart Sect’s heritage to vie for a treasure my Pillheart Sect thinks highly of. Is this even tolerable?”

1318 - : Mandatory Exchange

CKtalon  CKtalon

Su Boyang’s eloquent assertion made Yi Yun want to rip the skin off the old bastard’s face. He had never seen someone as thick-skinned as him.

“Master Su, isn’t it a little farfetched to claim that our young friend Yi Yun’s heritage comes from your Pillheart Sect just because of a pill recipe?”

Elder Mu knitted his brows as well. Su Boyang was truly shameless. He was actually making such audacious claims because of one pill recipe.

However, further thought made it obvious that the old bastard was shameless. Were he not, he would not have directly threatened Yi Yun with a voice transmission. For an old freak to threaten to a junior because he failed to outbid him at an auction was clear evidence of his character.

“There is a way to verify if I have wrongfully maligned him. I believe our young friend here has things that are related to my Pillheart Sect. In particular, an alchemical cauldron my Pillheart Sect lost… Although the cauldron was lost, we have the remnants of the cauldron’s core array. These remnant array pieces have been kept in my Pillheart Sect for tens of millions of years. In recent days, it has had a sudden reaction to something. Us Elders from the Pillheart Sect were initially unsure of what triggered the reaction but now, I have my suspicions…”

When Su Boyang said that, he squinted his eyes at Yi Yun. He was only guessing and was not certain.

Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat.

Cauldron!?

He guessed that the cauldron Su Boyang referred to was the Divine Alchemy Cauldron!

Su Boyang’s claim that they possessed the remnants of the Divine Alchemy Cauldron’s core array was obviously true. The Divine Alchemy Cauldron and the array’s remnants would definitely still have some sort of connection.

“Could it be that you suspect that Yi Yun’s interspatial ring holds your Pillheart Sect’s cauldron?” asked Elder Mu.

“That’s right. And I would like to verify it. Since it is a heritage item of my Pillheart Sect, we have to get it back. According to the Heavenly South Great World’s rule of mandatory exchange, if someone finds treasures that are proven to belong to others, the original owner can use mandatory exchange to buy back their original treasures. But in reality, few people use the rule of mandatory exchange. This is because the Heavenly South Great World reveres the strong. Usually, such encounters would be resolved through force. Of course, my Pillheart Sect prefers to follow the rules. I believe our young friend, Yi Yun has only chanced upon our Pillheart Sect’s items. As long as you take it out for exchange, I can guarantee you that the Pillheart Sect will not harp on past transgressions.”

Su Boyang did not mention the Divine Alchemy Cauldron’s price. That was because he was afraid others would be moved to nefarious thoughts by the potential wealth. Secondly, he really did not know.

In fact, the Pillheart Sect had never seen the Divine Alchemy Cauldron. They could only infer that the Divine Alchemy Cauldron was a valuable item based on the core array.

Su Boyang was unsure if Yi Yun really had the Divine Alchemy Cauldron but he was certain that Yi Yun must have obtained some impressive heritage. Otherwise, he would not have been able to produce the Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus or the eighty million mid-grade Spirit Jade, not to mention the Herb Nurturing Technique.

Su Boyang raised the so-called rationale of mandatory exchange mainly to announce at the auction that Yi Yun’s items belonged to the Pillheart Sect. By taking his items according to the rule, they were doing so in an above board manner. Other sects were not to covet his items.

Even if hungry tigers fought for food, there were rules. The figurative piece of meat, Yi Yun, belonged to the Pillheart Sect.

“Sect Master Yi, sigh. Didn’t Clear Lunar Island Lord exhort you to keep a low profile?”

Not far from Yi Yun, Ren Yunzong sent a voice transmission.

One had to be careful revealing their wealth at an auction. Despite lacking strength, Yi Yun had taken out a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus. Wasn’t that equivalent to telling others that he had stumbled on great fortuitous encounters, making him extremely rich?

Ignoring the fact that he was now being targeted by the Pillheart Sect, even if the managed to evade their attempts, many people probably now had thoughts of robbing Yi Yun.

Yi Yun replied nonchalantly, “As a junior, I naturally know that keeping a low profile is safer. But warriors such as us have to vie for opportunities when they present themselves. If we don’t, we could go our whole lives with no chance to reach the peak of martial arts. I will naturally shoulder the responsibility. Sect Master Ren, you do not need to worry about being pulled into the fray.”

Yi Yun naturally knew what Ren Yunzong was thinking. He was only afraid of being implicated. He did not think too much of Ren Yunzong’s thoughts since the Heavenly Pivot Chapter had nothing to do with him. It would be foolish to pin his hopes on them to help him resolve his problems.

“You… Hmph! I was just advising you but you didn’t recognize my kind intentions. You truly do not know better!”

Ren Yunzong’s expression turned ugly. Although he did have such thoughts, he could not maintain his composure when they were exposed by Yi Yun.

“How about it? Might I borrow your interspatial ring to take a look, Yi Yun? If there’s really a cauldron or the Herb Nurturing Technique, I will purchase it according to market rates.”

Master Su said with a sneer in an aggressive manner.

As for the talk of market price, only a fool would believe him. Be it the cauldron or the Herb Nurturing Technique, one could know with their toes how precious they were.

“Su Boyang, are you done!?” Elder Mu suddenly spoke out. His voice was cold, dropping the temperature of the area a few notches.

Oh?

Su Boyang felt his heart jolt. At that instant, he felt a tremendous aura envelop him. It tightened his heart.

He looked at Elder Mu and saw the immense aura lock on to him.

Although Elder Mu looked calm on the surface, Su Boyang felt like he had a sword pointed at his glabella. The elder in front of him seemed to transform into a dangerous primordial behemoth.

He realized that he had truly tried Elder Mu’s patience.

It was as though too much time had passed and many people had forgotten the strength within the chuckling old man.

“Mandatory exchange is a rule of the Heavenly South Great World. The Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s auction follows my rules. At this auction, all of you have to abide by my rules.”

Elder Mu enunciated each word forcefully. Every word seemed like a sword that was stabbing into Su Boyang’s soul sea.

Su Boyang felt his heart palpitate when he heard that. His aura was completely suppressed by Elder Mu.

Su Boyang clenched his teeth, cupped his fists and said, “Sorry for my rude behavior. Please forgive me for offending you, Elder Mu…”

In front of absolute strength, he could only bend over. However, it did not matter. His intention in speaking was to announce his ‘rights’ to the prey that was Yi Yun. He had achieved his goal.

“Then, let’s continue!” Elder Mu said lightly. As he spoke, his aura withdrew. The atmosphere suddenly became a lot more relaxed.

After that display, no one dared to act rashly again.

However, many people believed that Yi Yun was doomed.

Elder Mu had indeed protected Yi Yun but that was because it was at his auction. Elder Mu only needed to ensure that the auction rules were abided by. Yi Yun was not his disciple. Once the auction was finished, Elder Mu had no obligation to ensure Yi Yun’s safety.

Awaiting Yi Yun after the auction was the behemoth that was the Pillheart Sect. There were also other factions hoping to take their share of the loot by killing him in secret to seize his treasures.

Regardless of how it unfolded, Yi Yun’s outcome was clear. At that moment, everyone was watching Yi Yun. He had bid at ridiculous prices, so it was obviously impossible that they did not feel envious. Now that they saw Yi Yun in trouble, many of them gloated at his misfortune.

“Does Yi Yun not realize this at all? He is only a warrior at the Dao Palace realm. By being so arrogant at an exchange, how is he different from a lamb jumping into a pack of wolves to provoke them?”

People discussed silently. When Prince Boundless Heaven heard such discussion, he revealed a delighted smile. The opportunity for revenge came too fast. He was waiting, waiting for the moment Yi Yun was eaten clean.

1319 - : The Auction’s Rules

CKtalon  CKtalon

After the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed, nothing caught Yi Yun’s eye again. From that point on, he was only at the auction as a spectator.

Instead, there were a few items that Su Boyang produced that caught Yi Yun’s attention.

For instance, the medicinal pills known as Youth Regaining Pills.

“These pills…”

Before the auction began, Yi Yun had heard King Yi mention the Youth Regaining Pills. King Yi had even specially requested Su Boyang to put a few Youth Regaining Pills aside for him.

Su Boyang had taken out a few Youth Regaining Pills for auctioning, and a bidding war ensued between King Yi and another old freak. In the end, King Yi obtained four pills while the other old man received two. Each pill reached the price of seven million.

This price was, of course, nothing compared to Yi Yun’s Red Lotus Seed. However, it still far exceeded Yi Yun’s expectations.

“So these are the so-called Youth Regaining Pills…” Yi Yun stroked his chin and said with a hint of surprise.

“Sect Master Yi, you know of them too?” Jing Yuesha asked in amazement. Even if Yi Yun was knowledgeable, it couldn’t be such a coincidence that he knew everything, right?

Yi Yun gave a faint smile. A portion of the divine alchemist’s heritage that he inherited was shared with the Pillheart Sect, so how could he not recognize it?

The so-called Youth Regaining Pills were indeed recorded in the divine alchemist’s notes. They seemed to be some sort of fake Longevity Extending Pills.

Typical sacred medicine used to lengthen one’s longevity, such as the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit, could extend a person’s lifespan by tens of thousands of years. But that was a divine treasure that was exceedingly rare to chance upon.

However, the Youth Regaining Pills did not have such effects. They actually had a little toxicity to them. They were like a basin of cold water that doused the user’s flames of vitality.

For young geniuses, to be weakened like that would be a form of destroying one’s foundation. Taking the pills would be severing their own cultivation paths. However, the old freaks that had little life in them had already expended all their vital potential, and there was no way for them to make new breakthroughs. They were not afraid of having their flames of vitality weakened. On the contrary, the more their flames of vitality were weakened, the longer they could live for.

The concept was akin to a pile of timber. If it burned too intensely, the timber would quickly be reduced to ashes. But if it was slowly burned, it could burn for much longer.

“No wonder. I previously noticed how King Yi’s body was filled with a deadly air, as though he had half a foot in a coffin. It’s because he has eaten too many Youth Regaining Pills, causing his flames of vitality to weaken so drastically. It accentuates the cadaveric aura in his body.”

Upon coming to this realization, Yi Yun sighed. Such was the horror people had towards the thought of death.

The old fogies who were nearing their end naturally knew the side effects of the Youth Regaining Pills. They weakened their flames of vitality, destroyed their foundation, and would even cause their strength to decline. However, they could double or triple the little lifespan they had left.

They were willing to accept it because they treasured their lives.

“The divine alchemist’s notes have records of the Youth Regaining Pills. The divine alchemist had even improved some of the pill recipes, producing effects that are much better than the original Youth Regaining Pills. If I were to refine them, I could even produce some that have characteristics of Longevity Extending Pills. However… according to the divine alchemist’s notes, the Youth Regaining Pill recipe requires the main herb known as Unwithering Grass. It’s extremely rare and, although it’s not expensive, the divine alchemist had noted it as ‘seldom encountered.’ Yet, the Pillheart Sect is able to sell these Youth Regaining Pills en masse. That’s odd…”

Based on his knowledge, Yi Yun knew that it was extremely difficult to switch the main ingredient in a pill recipe. Perhaps, the Pillheart Sect had found a way to grow Unwithering Grass.

The Pillheart Sect did seem quite capable. The source of their heritage was definitely not limited to the divine alchemist. It also stemmed from other alchemy grandmasters from ancient times.

…

The auction continued for more than half a day before it finally ended. When Yi Yun left the venue, his eyes met Su Boyang’s. Su Boyang had an extremely cold expression. He pretended not to see Yi Yun and directly brushed past him.

At that instant, Yi Yun suddenly felt something odd.

A tracing mark!?

Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal in him, so he was extremely sensitive to energy fluctuations. However, he could not find evidence of any tracing mark. He did not notice anything on Jing Yueyin, who wasn’t that far from him, either.

Perhaps, it was a mystic technique of the Pillheart Sect.

If there were any tracing incense, Yi Yun would not dare claim that he could definitely identify it. The divine alchemist dedicated his life to seeking the Elixir of Immortality and Elixir of Resurrection. As such, he steered himself towards the path of longevity and was not interested in unorthodox means at all.

And given the Pillheart Sect’s varied means and Su Boyang’s cultivation level, it was quite normal that he could not detect any tracing incense.

“Brother Yi Yun, take care. Hahaha.”

Prince Boundless Heaven happened to pass by Yi Yun as he made a snarky comment.

Princess Redjoy was beside him and although she hated Yi Yun, she did not feel that he deserved death.

“It’s all your fault for being so arrogant, afraid that others might not know how rich you are. Serves you right! If it were me, I would give up all the divine treasures I obtained out of sheer luck in the ruin. Perhaps, you can hire an expert to escort you back and ignore whatever is left of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. Quickly return to that backwater Calm Sea of yours. Maybe you can still live.”

Princess Redjoy taunted Yi Yun. Although her words were vicious, her intentions were not nefarious. It was a disguised way to give Yi Yun a way out of his predicament.

“Hmph! We don’t need your concern!”

Jing Yuesha and Princess Redjoy were not people to be messed with. The moment they saw their sworn enemy, Jing Yuesha immediately gave tit for tat.

“What a waste of my good intentions. I don’t care if you people have a death wish. Just don’t blame me when you end up as ghosts.”

After Princess Redjoy was done, she flicked her hair and left.

Jing Yuesha was left behind, staring with her beautiful eyes. She was still infuriated. “Master, what do we do?”

At that moment, all Jing Yuesha could do was seek her master, Jing Yueyin’s help.

Jing Yueyin was famous in the Calm Sea. Although she was not illustrious in the Heavenly South Great World, she was still considered an expert not to be ignored.

Jing Yueyin knitted her brows slightly. She would not be afraid if it were only Su Boyang. She could protect Yi Yun completely then. But most critically, the enemy was an ancient sect that had a long heritage. Furthermore, Yi Yun’s fortuitous encounter was related to this sect. The opponent was definitely not one to be underestimated. It was a tough conundrum.

It was not that she did not want to protect Yi Yun but that she likely lacked the strength to do so.

“Master, is there nothing you can do either?”

Jing Yuesha blinked her eyes as she looked helplessly at Jing Yueyin. She was feeling anxious but Yi Yun had stirred this trouble for himself. What could she do? All she could do was look towards her master as a straw to clutch at.

Jing Yueyin fell silent for a moment as she looked at her disciple. She said, “The Pillheart Sect will require some time to muster their troops. If we forget the Heavenly South Peaks Meet and leave tonight, using some concealment techniques of mine, we can rush to the spatial node quickly and cross the void. I estimate we might have a forty to fifty percent chance of escaping safely. If we continue participating in the Heavenly South Peaks Meet, however, there is no way we can leave once the experts from the Pillheart Sect arrive.”

Forget the Heavenly South Peaks Meet?

Jing Yuesha was taken aback when she heard that.

The Heavenly South Peaks Meet was something she had been looking forward to for a long time. When she received the invitation to the Heavenly South Peaks Meet she thought of nothing but being able to flex her muscles at the meet. She believed that the chance to face elites would be a great way to temper herself, a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Now, after going to painstaking lengths to get to the Heavenly South Great World, she had to give up the Heavenly South Peaks Meet?

She was completely aware that it was impossible for her to stay behind alone to participate in the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. Once her master escorted Yi Yun away, the Pillheart Sect’s revenge was not something she could withstand alone.

Upon coming to this realization, it was impossible for Jing Yuesha to feel anything but disappointment.

She was in a daze for a moment. She began envisioning the consequences of drawing a fine line separating her from Yi Yun. That way, the Pillheart Sect would not make things difficult for her and she could participate in the Heavenly South Peaks Meet smoothly.

However, she faltered at the idea. Firstly, she felt it was beneath her. Furthermore, the choice seemed to make her feel a baffling sense of melancholy.

“Yi Yun got into this mess because he exposed the secret of the beautification pill for my sake. I cannot abandon him.”

Jing Yuesha had such a thought in mind as she gritted her teeth. Just as she wanted to say something, Ren Yunzong suddenly spoke up.

“Clear Lunar Island Lord, Sect Master Yi, Zijian previously mentioned that he would like to buy a treasured artifact. He would like to patronize a store. Shall we split up for now? If Clear Lunar Island Lord is interested as well, would you like to join me and take a look?” he said with a chuckle.

Xia Zijian was taken aback. He had never mentioned anything about a treasured artifact, right? However, he soon understood his master’s intentions.

It was an excuse for them to part and go their own ways!

Ignoring the thought of abandoning of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet, just the idea of traveling with Yi Yun to leave the Heavenly South Great World was something Ren Yunzong was unwilling to do!

They would face the pursuit of the Pillheart Sect, but since the Pillheart Sect’s target was only Yi Yun, why should they be his aegis?

Ren Yunzong had made his intentions clear. It was Yi Yun’s trouble. There was no reason for them to be implicated as a result.

Ren Yunzong had asked for Jing Yueyin’s decision. There were two choices. She could follow him to the artifact store and if Yi Yun was even slightly cognizant, he would know that he had been abandoned. He would not follow them just to end up being snubbed.

She could also choose to stay behind and protect Yi Yun. In that case, Jing Yueyin was a fool.

Jing Yueyin obviously knew the outcome of either choice. She fell silent and looked at her disciple, Jing Yuesha.

“Yuesha, do you want to look at treasured artifacts?”

When Jing Yueyin asked the question, Jing Yuesha noticed that Xia Zijian was looking hopefully at her.

The choice was on her, and her master’s stand was very clear. She would abide by her choice.

Instantly, Jing Yuesha became confused. She did not place too much thought on herself, because she was not the only person there from the Clear Lunar Island. There were also her sisters from Clear Lunar Island that would be affected by her decision.

How could she be selfish in such circumstances?

“Junior Sister Yuesha, let’s go look at treasured artifacts. The scale of the stores in Cloud Pool City far exceeds that of the Calm Sea.”

Xia Zijian noticed Jing Yuesha’s hesitation. He slowly walked over and said this with a friendly chuckle.

He then looked at Yi Yun and said, “I believe Sect Master Yi wouldn’t be interested. Sect Master Yi, why don’t you stay here and take in the scenery of Cloud Pool City? We wouldn’t be joining you.”

As Xia Zijian said that, he felt the joy of having obtained revenge. Previously, he had accidentally bowed at Yi Yun and it made him very uncomfortable.

However, Xia Zijian never expected Yi Yun to shake his head and say, “I’m actually very interested in that. But, Martial-Nephew Zijian, while shopping for treasured artifacts is nice and all, the treasured artifact store that caught your eye is just too low-class. Whether a treasured artifact store is good or not can be determined by the surrounding nomological fluctuations. I wouldn’t want to enter such a treasured artifact store. Cloud Pool City is quite a bustling city and I do plan on traveling around. I heard that in the city center, there’s a treasured artifact store named Tian Yuan Loft. They sell highly prized items and there are only about a dozen treasured artifacts for sale. Even the cheapest one starts at thirty million mid-grade Spirit Jade. However, this price is something you probably cannot…”

Yi Yun did not finish his sentence but Xia Zijian nearly choked when he heard that.

He was hoping to use the opportunity to put Yi Yun down, but he ended up being degraded by Yi Yun.

This bastard was sick!

The Pillheart Sect was already at his throat, with the bunch of old monsters grinding their knives, waiting to place him on a chopping board. Yet, here he was mentioning the prices of the treasured artifacts of the various stores? Was thirty million that impressive?

Alright… it was truly impressive. Just the thought of his own wealth made Xia Zijian shrink back. Although it was not difficult for the Heavenly Pivot Chapter to produce thirty million, it would not spend even ten million on a junior like Xia Zijian. He could not afford to look at such treasured artifacts.

Xia Zijian looked at Ren Yunzong, who had a sullen expression. Ren Yunzong was wondering if he had minced his words too much. Did the young bastard really not understand what he was implying? He felt that Yi Yun was definitely not a fool. He had reached the position of sect master at such a young age after all. How could he not understand his insinuations?

Ren Yunzong sneered and said, “Sect Master Yi, you truly are stubborn as a mule. I already warned you during the auction that there are consequences for being overly arrogant. Sect Master Yi, you don’t seem to have a good memory but whatever. There is a price needed to grow up. I shall not bother in your affairs any longer!”

When Ren Yunzong said that, he began to lead the members of the Heavenly Pivot Chapter away.

Yi Yun was also planning on leaving. He cupped his fists at Clear Lunar Island Lord and said, “Thank you, Senior for keeping me in your thoughts. I can go alone. I bid you farewell.”

With that said, Yi Yun turned to leave. Upon seeing this scene, Jing Yuesha turned anxious.

“Master, I’ll go with Sect Master Yi.”

Jing Yuesha was momentarily at a loss as to what to say. She could not make the decision for the Clear Lunar Island Lord but she could make decisions for herself. She sped up and followed Yi Yun.

Upon seeing Jing Yuesha leaving, Jing Yueyin’s gaze turned heavy as she sighed lightly.

“Are you worried about the child?” Fairy Ping’s voice transmission rang in Jing Yueyin’s ears.

“Yes…” Jing Yueyin nodded. Jing Yuesha had yet to realize it, but subconsciously, her concern for Yi Yun had far exceeded the scope that a stranger deserved.

Perhaps, it was still a favorable impression that could not be defined at present. But in the future, it could slowly sprout.

…

“You shouldn’t have followed me.”

Yi Yun strolled down Cloud Pool City’s streets and spoke softly.

Jing Yuesha followed behind him with an embarrassed expression.

She did not know why she had rashly chased up to him. Perhaps… she could not bear the sight of seeing Yi Yun depart alone?

That was an explanation Jing Yuesha gave herself. But just some thought was enough to know that it wasn’t the case. If the person who had departed alone was someone else, such as Xia Zijian, would she have followed?

Upon realizing this, Jing Yuesha felt depressed. What did it have to do with her?

She did not know what to say to Yi Yun. All she could do was follow behind him. As she looked at the youth in front of her, Jing Yuesha suddenly felt that his back looked lonely, emaciated but forceful.

Perhaps, he was never bothered by Ren Yunzong’s verbal drawing of a line…

1320 - : Ending. Killing Intent

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jing Yuesha had no idea what Yi Yun was planning. So it surprised her when Yi Yun actually began to shop in Cloud Pool City.

Yi Yun went to various stores and looked at the merchandise very carefully. Every time, Yi Yun did not find anything of interest. All he did was shake his head gently.

Jing Yuesha could not help but ask, “Sect Master Yi, what do you want to buy?”

“I’m just browsing. Also… just call me Yi Yun.” Yi Yun laughed. He was deliberately teasing Jing Yuesha in the past. Now, he felt a little sorry for his actions.

“Okay…” Jing Yuesha nodded. “Young Master Yi, Master just said that if you do not leave tonight, it will be difficult to escape when you want to…”

“I know. Thank you for speaking up for me, Miss Yuesha,” Yi Yun said solemnly as he looked at Jing Yuesha. His sudden choice of words left Jing Yuesha a little embarrassed.

“Not that it did anything. Besides… it was all because of me that you quarreled with Princess Redjoy and exposed that recipe, making you a target of the Pillheart Sect…”

Yi Yun shook his head. “It has nothing to do with the pill recipe. I was bound to reveal my wealth when participating in the auction. The Pillheart Sect was only looking for an excuse. In fact, when the auction began, I went in fully expecting such an outcome.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he suddenly felt a minute fluctuation in the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. It spread out and was gathering towards a particular direction.

Yi Yun turned to look in that direction. What he saw made him frown slightly.

He saw a gigantic cauldron flying slowly over from the horizon.

The cauldron flew very slowly but it carried an immense might. It made the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi throughout all of Cloud Pool City fluctuate slightly.

Yi Yun clearly recognized a familiar emblem carved on the cauldron. He had seen it before on Su Muyan and company’s chests.

It was the Pillheart Sect!

The cauldron was clearly a mobile abode in the form of a cauldron. And those within the cauldron were no doubt experts from the Pillheart Sect.

“How are they so fast?”

Upon seeing the cauldron, Jing Yuesha was stunned. She naturally recognized the emblem. Her master had surmised that more experts from the Pillheart Sect would rush over, but that it would take them at least a day. It was unexpected that the Pillheart Sect reacted so swiftly.

Yi Yun said, “The Heavenly South Peaks Meet is about to begin. Perhaps the members of the Pillheart Sect were already on the way here. Of course, they might have come early because of me.”

Yi Yun was very aware of the value of the divine alchemist’s heritage. To the Pillheart Sect, it was something it had to acquire at all costs.

“Boom!”

The cauldron landed on a mountain range outside the city. Its massive three feet crushed countless boulders and even the void trembled as a result.

Cloud Pool City’s warriors naturally noticed the Pillheart Sect’s cauldron. Although many large factions were participating in the Heavenly South Peaks Meet, most experts would choose to keep low profiles while entering Cloud Pool City. Few would be like Pillheart Sect, smashing down onto a mountain in plain view of Cloud Pool City with a massive cauldron.

“What an ostentatious display by the Pillheart Sect. I heard from my sect Elders that there was a fellow named Yi Yun at the auction who offended Su Boyang. That Yi Yun also has some long-lost heritage of the Pillheart Sect. Could this cauldron be here for Yi Yun?”

Warriors all around the city were discussing the matter. There were many participants at the auction so the news had long spread.

“It’s not that simple. Hehe. Look at that Yi Yun’s cultivation level. He’s not worth the Pillheart Sect’s efforts. The Pillheart Sect has raised such a rumpus not for Yi Yun but to scare all the other parties that might be eyeing Yi Yun. From the looks of it, the heritage that Yi Yun holds in hand is very important to the Pillheart Sect,” said an elder. People found what he said to make sense.

However, even if this was not known, no faction would have dared to snatch Yi Yun from the Pillheart Sect’s proverbial jaws anyway.

After all, the Pillheart Sect was a faction that went beyond the constraints of the Heavenly South Great World. It had many branches in other Great Worlds. Even the Outcloud Empire and Divine Empire of Thunder did not dare touch the Pillheart Sect.

“Young Master Yi, what can you do now?”

The Pillheart Sect was standing guard outside the city. It was now impossible for Yi Yun to exit the city. Jing Yuesha began to believe that Yi Yun was in danger even if he stayed inside Cloud Pool City. Perhaps, the Pillheart Sect would ignore Cloud Pool City’s rules and capture him once the Heavenly South Peaks Meet was over.

“Miss Yuesha, I plan on returning to the tavern. You should return and rest too,” said Yi Yun. The auction had taken up most of the day, so it was likely that Su Boyang had already called in the Pillheart Sect before it was over.

“But…”

Jing Yuesha did not finish her sentence. She was at a loss for words. It was already late into the night and since Yi Yun was planning on returning to the tavern, it was unbecoming of her to follow him.

“Alright then.” Jing Yuesha could only nod her head awkwardly.

With the Heavenly South Peaks Meet beginning, the Cloud Pool City’s taverns were mostly booked. Yi Yun and company had failed to find a tavern that could take them all in, so they found separate lodgings. Yi Yun stayed in Perilla Tavern which was a distance away from the tavern the Clear Lunar Island group stayed at.

Perilla Tavern was considered a mediocre tavern in Cloud Pool City. Typically, large factions that participated in the Heavenly South Peaks Meet would place a lot of emphasis on their reputation. They would reserve high-class inns well ahead of time and so did not need to even enter such taverns. They felt it would be undignified, but Yi Yun did not care about such things.

Yi Yun returned to Perilla Tavern alone and sat on the bed to meditate.

He spent more than forty hours meditating. More than two days and two nights had passed, and they passed by peacefully.

During these two days, Jing Yuesha would pass by Perilla Tavern, hoping to find Yi Yun. But when she came to the tavern, she learned that Yi Yun had placed a ‘do not disturb’ sign with the tavern’s owner. Jing Yuesha could only leave.

She felt it wasn’t right to knock on his door. Warriors spent most of their time meditating in cultivation. Knocking on the door suddenly would be rude. Furthermore, she would have nothing to say to Yi Yun if she did see him.

And so it was, when the sun set on the third night. The meditating Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes and pushed open the window. Like a light dove, he flew out of Perilla Tavern.

Cloud Pool City did not have curfews and the city gates were never closed. People could leave the city at night but not enter.

Yi Yun was dressed in black and he kept his aura converged. Under the night sky, he appeared to fuse with the darkness itself. He was pretty much indistinguishable.

After Yi Yun made it out of the city, he began flying towards a valley.

The night was cold, with freezing winds inundating him. Yi Yun’s clothes fluttered but he remained calm. He was fast and, from afar, he could see faint shadows a distance away. They instantly vanished, seeming to melt into the world.

1321 - : Out the City

CKtalon  CKtalon

Among the Cloud Pool City’s various mountain ranges, Netherdoor Gorge had the deepest canyon.

The canyon reached deep into a ten-thousand-meter mountain like it was the result of a mighty figure’s slice of a sword. The canyon was thousands of meters deep. In the deepest depths, the towering canyon walls cast a shroud so dark it hid even starlight and moonlight. It was pitch black.

It was truly a great place to rob and murder someone. Yi Yun had this thought when he arrived at the canyon.

“The Yin aura is quite heavy…”

As he had such a thought, he slowly turned his head. He looked towards the ends of the canyon and in the dark sky, more than ten figures slowly appeared. They were silent as they flew over like ghosts.

Just seconds later, these figures landed on the ground a little more than hundred feet away from Yi Yun.

The person leading the group was Su Boyang!

There was a middle-aged man and a woman with an excellent figure standing beside Su Boyang.

Yi Yun could sense stronger auras from the middle-aged duo. Although the way they were standing seemed to place Su Boyang as the leader, Yi Yun knew that their strength was higher than Su Boyang’s!

Yi Yun knew that not every alchemist was adept at combat. Alchemical research took up time and effort, and if the Pillheart Sect wanted to stand firm in the Sinkhole, it required martial force. Since that was the case, the Pillheart Sect would naturally have Elders that did not know alchemy but placed all their efforts into raising their combat strength. The duo in front of him was likely an example of that.

Behind the middle-aged duo were a few youths. Su Muyan was one of them.

At that moment, Su Muyan was looking at Yi Yun with a delighted smile.

“You chose this place to be your tomb? This area has heavy Yin auras, what a perfect place for eternal slumber!”

Su Muyan resented Yi Yun for causing Manager Su to be severely punished by the sect. In addition, he was completely overwhelmed by Yi Yun’s wealth at the auction. He felt like he was a clown that came forward only to be made into a fool. He already hated Yi Yun deeply and this night would be his chance for revenge.

“You mean to escape Cloud Pool City under the cover of night? How naive you are. You didn’t even realize that Master Uncle Boyang had already placed a tracing mark on you. Your every action is at our fingertips. Even if you were to leave through a teleportation array, we can tear through a spatial passage to capture you! Martial Uncle Boyang, why don’t you leave him to me? You don’t need a sledgehammer to crack a nut. All you need to do is watch over the area and prevent other factions from taking advantage of the situation.”

After Su Muyan, some of the youths looked at Yi Yun, eager to take action. They could not stand Yi Yun’s arrogant demeanor and wanted to see him crippled.

Su Boyang exhaled slightly. This operation was of great importance and if the heritage Yi Yun obtained was truly related to that person, they might even be able to use Yi Yun to find the valuable cauldron. In that case, he would be recognized for rendering great meritorious service and might even be made the next sect master of the Pillheart Sect.

Su Boyang had planned on taking action himself to ensure things went smoothly. But as he was flying, he constantly surveyed his surroundings. There was indeed no faction that was foolish enough to try and snatch Yi Yun from the Pillheart Sect.

As such, he could let the juniors kill Yi Yun. It would sate their aspirations and help them build greater confidence.

“Elder Wang, this little bastard is tricky. Keep watch. If his strength is superior to Martial Nephew Muyan’s, use the Purpledark Sand to maim one of his hands or legs. This will prevent any unforeseen circumstances.”

Su Boyang did not use a Yuan Qi voice transmission and instead said it right in front of Yi Yun.

“Of course!” The middle-aged man licked his lips. His skin was dark, and in the dark of night, all that could be seen were his two rows of teeth. “I have set up an array here, ensuring that there’s no way he can escape. It’s as simple as letting Martial Nephew Muyan catch a rat in a hole.”

As the middle-aged man spoke, he waved his hand and more than ten array flags flew out of his interspatial ring into every direction of the canyon.

The woman beside them took action as well. With a seductive laugh, she took out a black ghost banner. “Martial Nephew Muyan, don’t you harm that kid’s soul sea. It’s best you leave some breath in him. All you need to do is cripple his dantian and meridians. In a while, I plan on storing his soul in the ghost banner and slowly searching it. Searching a living soul gives more intact memories.”

The woman was gorgeous but there was a faint red ghostly pattern on her face. She was adept at the art of ghost control and soul mystic techniques. She was particularly skilled in extracting souls and refining marrows, as well as reading memories.

This was the reason why the Pillheart Sect sent her. They wanted to uncover the source of Yi Yun’s heritage. If the ruin he found the heritage in still remained, they could have experts from the sect search for it. In the eyes of the Pillheart Sect, Yi Yun was a walking treasure trove.

“Don’t worry!” Su Muyan laughed. He took out a long spear from his interspatial ring and beside him, two young Pillheart Sect junior disciples formed a triangular formation with him.

“Weng!”

At that moment, the middle-aged man threw out an array flag that emitted a dazzling golden beam. The array flags hovered in midair, and the entire canyon was sealed by the array formation, creating an isolated world.

And the middle-aged man did not stop there. He took out a black bead from his interspatial ring and took aim at Yi Yun’s calf. If it seemed like Yi Yun would injure Su Muyan, he would throw the black bead out and shatter the bones in Yi Yun’s leg.

“Hahahaha!” Su Muyan laughed maniacally as he leaped up. “Do you hate how life isn’t fair? Do you think that the likes of you are worthy of my Pillheart Sect’s heritage? Die!”

Su Muyan’s body spewed golden flames and his spear curled the flames into a swimming golden dragon that plunged straight down for Yi Yun!

But at that instant—

“Whew!”

The black bead that the dark-faced middle-aged man was holding suddenly flew out. He was astounded. He did not throw out the black bead at all!

What just happened?

He was snapped out of his daze by a series of explosive sounds. The golden array flags that were floating around the canyon were penetrated by the black bead, making them explode!

“Elder Wang, what are you doing?”

Elder Su looked at the middle-aged man with a perplexed expression. The middle-aged man was completely dumbfounded. The bead in his hand had destroyed his array flags of its own will? Ignoring how fantastical that sounded, the array he set up was an ancient array he found in ancient ruins. How could it be instantly destroyed?

Was someone secretly taking action? But even a person with a Divine Lord Royal Seal would not be capable of such feats!

Just as Elder Su and the middle-aged man were dumbstruck by the sudden turn of events, Su Muyan, who was focused on his battle, had already charged right at Yi Yun. With the sect Elders protecting him, there was nothing for him to fear. He put his all into attacking, with no thoughts of defense. He thrust it straight at Yi Yun’s face!

The golden flames surged, with the power to melt boulders into lava!

“Pa!”

With a metallic hum, a hand extended out from the golden flames and grabbed the spear’s tip firmly!

The hand appeared to be constructed of hefty divine metal that lodged the spear in place, preventing it from moving!

“Wh…What?”

Su Muyan was completely dumbfounded. He looked at the hand as the golden flames recessed, and he realized the hand belonged to Yi Yun!

The golden flames that enveloped the spear tip did not injure the hand at all. And at that moment, Su Muyan felt a tremendous amount of force coming from the spear. Yi Yun gave the spear a forceful throw, knocking Su Muyan to the ground.

“Ka-cha!”

The ground cracked as Su Muyan slammed into the ground. His mind buzzed from the crash.

“Elder Wang, I…”

Su Muyan never expected Yi Yun to grab his spear with a single hand. And most critically, Elder Wang did not take action.

“Puah!”

Su Muyan felt his chest heat up as an excruciating pain rushed up his nerves. He watched helplessly as his own golden spear suddenly penetrated his chest. It tore straight through his lung.

What stabbed through him was not the spear’s tip but the spear’s shaft!

With immense strength, a spear’s shaft was no different from a spear’s tip. In fact, as the shaft was thicker, it caused even greater damage!

The tremendous pain left Su Muyan’s face pale. His lung had been seriously injured and he could hardly breathe.

Following that, the spear gradually rose, slowly raising up Su Muyan’s broken body.

Yi Yun held the spear by its tip with a single hand as he lifted Su Muyan high into the sky.

He said unhurriedly, “I didn’t choose this canyon to be my tomb…but yours.”

All of this had happened in an instant. It happened so fast that no one could react in time. Only when Yi Yun said those words did the Pillheart Sect disciples suddenly feel a cold chill.

What had happened!?

“Who destroyed my array!?”

The middle-aged man questioned in a deep voice. An expert must have secretly taken action to accomplish such a feat.

Of course, Yi Yun’s strength had far exceeded their imaginations.

They had naturally considered the possibility that Su Muyan was not Yi Yun’s match, but they never expected the difference in strength to be so disparate.

At that moment, a short figure appeared behind Yi Yun.

The person was dressed in ordinary clothes. His hair was disheveled and there was an alcohol calabash hanging by his waist. His foundation looked normal and he did not resemble an expert at all.

Upon seeing this person appear, Su Boyang’s expression changed. He had previously probed their surroundings repeatedly but did not sense a single person. As an alchemist, Su Boyang was extremely confident in his perception, but he had completely failed to detect the elder’s presence.

Even now, he realized his perception could hardly detect the elder standing in front of him!

“Who… who are you?” Su Boyang asked in a deep tone. He was already feeling horrified to his core.

The elder ignored Su Boyang and played with the black bead in his hand before putting it away.

He turned towards Yi Yun and said languidly, “You made such an urgent request for me to come all the way from the Calm Sea, just to deal with these people of little significance?”

Yi Yun and Old Snake had their ways to stay in touch. Before the auction even began, Yi Yun had already called Old Snake.

1322 - : Canyon Tomb

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was aware of the principle that a man gets into trouble because of his wealth. There was no way he could stand independently in the Heavenly South Great World at his level of strength. If not for Old Snake, someone powerful he could rely on, Yi Yun would have rather forgone the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed than reveal his wealth.

“You called us people of little significance? Good! Very good! I want to see what gives you such courage!”

Su Boyang was enraged upon hearing Old Snake’s words. Although the old man instilled him with dread, he did not believe that the joint efforts of the three of them could not put up a fight. And this old man thought absolutely nothing of them. He was way too arrogant.

“Interesting…I, Wang Chongming, have never been shown such disregard for half my life, be it in my youth or after I became a Divine Lord. Do you think you can defeat me just because you cracked my array?”

As the middle-aged man spoke, he tore the garments from his upper body. Underneath was black, scaled armor that covered his body. With a loud roar, his muscles swelled and the black scales began to spread to his face. At the same time, the blood vessels on the surface of his body began to protrude like earthworms, making him look like a wild beast.

“Oh? It’s a half-Fey body. You fused you body with an ancient Fey bloodline?”

Old Snake was somewhat surprised by the middle-aged man’s transformation. Ancient Fey bones and blood were not only used for consumption or refinement, they could also be fused with a warrior’s body, allowing them to gain a portion of the Ancient Fey’s powers.

Such mystic techniques were ancient and rare. However, Old Snake naturally knew of them as he was a descendant of the Soaring Serpent.

Simultaneously, the gorgeous woman with the ghostly patterns on her face rapidly opened a ragged bag, from which black phantasms flew out.

They did not charge at Old Snake, instead they rushed into the woman’s body with a roar.

“Wu Wu Wu…”

A ghastly wail emanated from the woman’s body as the phantasms began to slowly merge with her. Her once-alluring expression turned ghastly pale like wax paper. At the same time, her hair began to flail as though it was growing crazily like weeds! Her fingernails began to grow long and her voice turned hoarse. In a few seconds, her entire form was that of a ferocious poltergeist.

“Eon Ghost Monarch?”

Old Snake recognized the phantasms that flew out of the broken bag. Warriors that cultivated in Ghostly Dao were rare in the martial world. The path was bound to be one of evil as the cultivation of it required constant capturing of souls and rearing of ghosts. Those that were killed by such cultivators would have their souls trapped inside the ghost banner, never to rest in peace.

And it was because of this that such warriors were generally hated. However, the cultivation of Ghostly Dao allowed one to increase their strength at an unnatural rate, especially if one could subjugate a sufficiently powerful Ghost Monarch. That would allow one’s strength to soar tremendously.

Some ancient experts might have their souls remain in lands for hundreds of millions of years due to the special conditions of the environment in which they died. If such Eon Ghost Monarchs could be captured and reared, it was possible that the Ghostly Monarch’s strength would far exceed that of the rearer by several times!

“Heheheheheh! Not bad! Undying Old Fart, you have quite a discerning eye. I have indeed reared an Eon Ghost Monarch. No matter how powerful you are, there’s no way you can fend off the combined efforts of the three of us!”

The woman laughed in an unbridled manner. It no longer sounded as charming as before. Instead, it was an ear-piercing howl.

Just as the woman, the middle-aged man, and Su Boyang formed a triangular formation and were about to attack Old Snake—

“Peng!”

A dull thud sounded from behind Old Snake. The trio was alarmed as they looked behind Old Snake.

There, Yi Yun held a spear backward like he was holding a hammer. With Su Muyan still stuck on the spear’s shaft, he smashed down on a boulder.

The boulders in the canyon naturally could not withstand Yi Yun’s strength. The slam smashed the boulders, sending rubble crumbling, and it fell on Su Muyan’s face.

Su Muyan’s mouth was filled with blood and foam as he spoke in a staccato manner—

“Martial… Martial Uncle, save… save me…”

“You! What are you doing!?”

Su Boyang widened his eyes in anger. Su Muyan was his Su family junior. He was extremely excellent in both martial and alchemical talent. If not, Su Boyang would not have brought Su Muyan along to participate in the Heavenly South Peaks Meet.

However, at that moment, the excellent genius that the Su family had spent a tremendous amount of resources nurturing was being used as a hammerhead. How could Su Boyang not be angry!?

“My hand slipped so I just smashed down. Continue your fight. Don’t mind me.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he raised Su Muyan again with his grip on the spear tip.

Su Boyang’s face turned blue from anger. “Put him down!”

Yi Yun seemed to falter as he nodded. “Oh, alright…”

With that said, Yi Yun waved his hand downwards.

“Boom!”

With another loud boom, another boulder was smashed to smithereens by Su Muyan. Su Muyan’s body was covered in blood and sweat. All he wanted at that moment was to die immediately.

“You! Well done! Well done!”

Seeing his nephew being tormented, Su Boyang’s voice trembled in anger. Yet despite his anger, there was still Old Snake standing between him and Yi Yun. He did not dare act rashly.

“To have such vicious thoughts at such a young age. You devastate a person who has lost the power to resist. How terrible you would be if you fully matured in strength!”

“Devastate?” Upon hearing Su Boyang’s words, Yi Yun laughed. “What do you mean? Are you implying that I should release him and let him recover so he can slice off my limbs and cripple my meridians, robbing me of all my wealth in the process, before finally extracting my soul and refining my marrow?”

“Perhaps only by doing so can I achieve your standard of not being vicious?”

As Yi Yun spoke, he suddenly thrust the spear in his hand.

Su Muyan felt a tremendous force inundate him as his body moved straight for Yi Yun. Yi Yun struck out with a palm and hit Su Muyan in the dantian.

“Peng!”

With an explosive sound, Su Muyan’s body convulsed as his face turned pale.

That instantaneous pain made him feel like he had plummeted to hell. He knew very clearly that his dantian had been shattered by Yi Yun!

All his martial cultivation had been maimed by Yi Yun!

Yi Yun casually threw the spear, sending the half-dead Su Muyan flying out like an arrow as it whistled towards the distant mountain cliff!

“Peng!”

The mountain rocks shattered as the spear penetrated deep into the mountain, leaving the spear tip vibrating!

As for Su Muyan, his entire person was pinned to the cliff, his fate unknown.

“Great! Little bastard, you maimed my Su family’s son, I’ll rip you to pieces!”

Su Boyang’s eyes were blood red. He could no longer tolerate it as he let out a primal roar. He leapt up and, like a gigantic eagle, dove at Yi Yun.

But at the moment he leaped, he suddenly turned. His target was not Yi Yun but Old Snake!

1323 - : My Hand Slipped

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although Su Boyang hated Yi Yun to the bone, he did not let his anger get to his head. He knew that the greatest threat came from Old Snake.

By making a feint, Yi Yun would be fish on the chopping block once he killed Old Snake. He could torment him as he wished to seek revenge for Su Muyan.

A two-handed sword appeared out of thin air in Su Boyang’s hands. It was five feet long and bathed in flames. Just as he was about to slash at Old Snake, Old Snake threw out the black bead in his hand.

The black bead was part of a concealed weapon used by the dark-faced middle-aged man—Purpledark Sand. It appeared inconspicuous but in fact, the bead was made of Purple Mystic Gold. Just a tiny piece was as heavy as a mountain. Weaker warriors could not even hold it, much less use it, for they would be crushed by its weight.

But in Old Snake’s hand, a gentle flick was enough to send the Purpledark Sand tearing through the void like a blazing star towards Su Boyang!

“Buzz——”

Before the black bead reached him, Su Boyang could already sense tremendous pressure. The blast from the Yuan Qi that struck his face was biting. It felt like he had been slapped in the face.

He was alarmed and did not dare to charge at Old Snake without caution. Instead, he used his sword to block the flying black bead!

“Ding!”

The sword clashed with the bead as Su Boyang was sent flying back by the massive force. He was unable to put up any resistance.

“Martial Uncle!”

Upon seeing Su Boyang being knocked back, the Pillheart Sect disciples turned worried. If Old Snake defeated Su Boyang, then they might perish there and then.

A young disciple took out a voice transmission charm and secretly crushed it, hoping to transmit the news to the Pillheart Sect—

“Our plans have gone awry. An old undying fart has suddenly appeared to save the bastard. We are currently in danger. Requesting for backup!”

The young disciple injected his Yuan Qi voice transmission into the charm as it instantly burned, preparing to leap across the void.

But at that moment, a cold beam suddenly appeared, tearing apart the fiery flash!

“Peng!”

The entire voice transmission charm exploded, and its fiery flash was ruptured by the Yuan Qi beam. The news naturally failed to transmit.

After the cold beam sank into the rocks, people realized that it was a flying saber.

And the person who had thrown it was Yi Yun!

“You!” The disciple that saw his voice transmission charm destroyed was angered. But he lacked the confidence to face Yi Yun. “Punk, you have guts. But don’t think you are invincible!”

There were about seven or eight Pillheart Sect disciples there. These people were inferior in standing when compared to Su Muyan. But in terms of strength, they were not necessarily inferior to him. As a few of them were relatively older, their cultivation levels were approaching the Supremacy realm. With their number advantage, they could easily join forces to accumulate a fearsome strength.

“I wouldn’t go as far as thinking myself invincible, but killing you lot will be easy enough!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he instantly vanished. And, as though he teleported, he appeared in front of the disciple that had tried to send the voice transmission.

Mirage Snow flickered with a blue light as the sword tip struck forward like a dragonfly gently making contact with water. It appeared light but it was extremely fast!

“Puah!”

Blood splattered as a bloody hole appeared out of nowhere. The throat of the disciple that had sent the voice transmission was torn through by Mirage Snow!

“Senior Brother Su Yun!”

Upon seeing Su Yun die instantly, the crowd was alarmed.

But Yi Yun did not stop there. His Mirage Snow became the instrument of a massacre!

Ever since he began cultivating in the Dragon Emperor Technique, Yi Yun’s speed had improved tremendously. With him condensing a nine-leaf space-time Dao fruit, he was like a ghost in the void. Although the group wanted to join forces to fight Yi Yun, they could not even locate where he was.

“Sou!”

Yi Yun moved to a spot behind a Pillheart Sect disciple and thrust Mirage Snow out. It bore through the back of the disciple, penetrating his heart. He did not even have time to dodge, as his protective Yuan Qi was as thin and weak as paper against Yi Yun’s strike!

The sword’s piercing through his body marked the tragic death of another Pillheart Sect disciple. It left the remaining ones enraged.

“Everyone, gather together and enter a combat formation! As long as we don’t separate, we can definitely kill that little bastard!” the disciple with the highest cultivation level shouted.

His cultivation level was already at the ninth-floor Dao Palace. He had yet to break through to the Supremacy realm all this while, but that was only because he was consolidating his foundation and deliberately repressing his cultivation level.

However, just as he finished his sentence, Death had appeared with its sickle in front of him.

Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon—Golden Carp!

“Weng!”

The sword resonated as it was imbued with the raging powers of the Dragon Emperor bloodline, tearing through the disciple’s protective Yuan Qi without any resistance.

He was slightly stronger than the others, so he had the reflexes to make a hasty retreat, hoping to fend off Yi Yun’s strike. But at that moment, a black wheel appeared out of thin air. Like a ghost, it tore through the ninth-storey Dao Palace disciple’s glabella.

“Phew–”

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence directly penetrated the Pillheart Sect disciple’s soul sea. His soul and memories were instantly pulverized by the Major Destruction laws. Instantly, his eyes glazed over and everything in the world distanced itself from him. He was dead.

“Senior Brother Su Qi!”

Upon seeing this scene, there were Pillheart Sect disciples that were on the brink of a mental breakdown. Even Senior Brother Su Qi was killed!

In less than ten seconds, Yi Yun had killed three people. And he had done so cleanly and with ease. Every attack led to death!

Even Su Qi, who was at the ninth-storey Dao Palace realm, could only manage to avoid one attack, and failed to put up any resistance to the second attack.

Yi Yun was just too terrifying.

They had seen Supremacy experts fight before but even many Supremacies did not have strength like Yi Yun’s. They wallowed in despair when facing such an enemy!

“Don’t kill me. This has nothing to do with me!”

A young disciple gave a pleaful shout when he saw Yi Yun charge right at him.

Yi Yun sneered and swiped with his sword, cleaving apart his throat, splattering his blood!

“Killers can be killed. By coming here, you made yourself a part of this!” Yi Yun showed no mercy before taking the person’s life.

He remembered that this youth had effused killing intent towards him before Old Snake arrived. He had also seen his gloating expression. With the tables turned, Yi Yun naturally wanted him to pay the price for his actions.

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!” “Little bastard, I’ll kill you!”

From afar, Su Boyang roared. His hair was already disheveled as he looked like a deranged monster. He had barely managed to block Old Snake’s Purpledark Sand and had expended a great deal of Yuan Qi.

But at that moment, he no longer had the time to be appalled by Old Snake’s strength. He was concerned about his family juniors being massacred by Yi Yun!

They were members of his Su family!

The hunting of Yi Yun was meant to win them meritorious rewards, so Su Boyang naturally brought young disciples from his clan. When he reported this matter to the upper echelons, they would receive tremendous rewards!

Su Boyang had deliberately chosen excellent members of the Su family but at that moment, almost all the Su family members were being wiped out by Yi Yun!

“Old Bastard, since you wanted to kill and rob me of my resources, I’ll let you experience the painful feeling of having your descendants die under my sword one after another today!”

Yi Yun laughed sinisterly as he continued heading for the other Su family members.

1324 - : Murder under the raven night

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Quick flee! Flee separately!”

The remaining Pillheart Sect disciples lost all their fighting spirit when they saw what Yi Yun was capable of. He was not someone they could deal with at all. And the other Pillheart Sect Elders have been pinned by the unfathomable old man. They did not place any hopes on them.

None of them expected that an operation meant to earn merit would end up with them falling into Shura hell!

“There’s no use trying to escape. All of you shall die today.”

Yi Yun naturally would not leave anyone alive, for fear of letting them inform the Pillheart Sect. He struck with the intent to kill them all.

Mirage Snow flew out as cold beams streaked across the night sky.

“Boop!”

While a Pillheart Sect disciple was fleeing, his head rolled off as his headless corpse fell forward.

It was a massacre. Anyone below the realm of Supremacy posed no challenge to Yi Yun.

“Just three more are left. Old Bastard, widen your eyes and watch this. I will not spare a single one!”

Following that, Yi Yun flew towards the remaining three Su family members. Su Boyang’s eyes went blood red as he trembled in anger!

“Wang Chongming! Gui Yunji! Why are the two of you hesitating there? Join me in killing this old fellow! Do you think if this carries on, there will be no need to continue fighting?” Su Boyang roared angrily.

The dark-faced middle-aged man and the coquettish woman did not dare make a move because they were awed by Old Snake’s powerful might. Now that all the Su family members were nearly dead, Su Boyang was incensed to the point of vomiting blood!

The middle-aged man and the woman were not members of the Su family but what Su Boyang said wasn’t wrong. They would have to fight Old Snake sooner or later. Their brief hesitation was used to determine Old Snake’s strength. To them, the number of Su family members that died did not matter when compared to their own lives.

“Attack!”

Su Boyang roared maniacally as he wielded his two-handed sword. Dozens of tiny swords flew around his body as they resonated with sword hums!

It was a sword array!

Su Boyang obviously held nothing back against Old Snake. This strike was him at his full strength!

And beside Su Boyang, the middle-aged man and woman had good teamwork too. They attacked simultaneously, catching Old Snake in a pincer formation.

The middle-aged man’s black scales had proliferated his entire body. A gigantic black python phantom appeared behind him. He also moved low to the ground like a python.

As for the beautiful woman, a rich ghostly aura emanated from her body. It overwhelmed the area with the wailing of ghosts. Her hands transformed into ghastly claws as they grabbed at Old Snake’s throat!

“A sword array, a snake and a ghost. Does your Pillheart Sect not have a uniform heritage?” Old Snake chuckled as he said with utmost composure. His tone sounded slow but it did not seem to take any time for him to say that. It felt like time itself had been split.

Old Snake attacked the next instant. His body seemed to split into three as he headed for the three Pillheart Sect Elders!

From afar, Yi Yun felt a jolt when he saw the instant Old Snake attacked! Old Snake was not really splitting into three. Instead, he had separated the space in the battleground. He struck out thrice in three different spaces. Time seemed to slow down in the face of such astounding speed. But from an outsider’s perspective, it looked like Old Snake’s three attacks struck simultaneously!

“Do you like to play with snakes? I’m your ancestor if that’s the case!”

In the first spatial dimension, Old Snake roared as his blood coursed through his body. After consuming the Nine Revolutions Azure Fruit, Old Snake’s damaged foundation had been healed to a certain extent. Against the dark-faced middle-aged man, Old Snake ignored everything else as he struck out with a fist!

“Boom!”

The punch was imbued with Old Snake’s surging lifeblood powers. One could faintly see a massive Soaring Serpent roaring.

A Soaring Serpent was a direct descendant of the Dragon Emperor. Among the four sacred beasts, it symbolized Earth of the five elements. The power of its bloodline far exceeded that of the succeeding ancient Fey.

Old Snake’s punch was not only indomitable in strength. It also carried a suppression effect that stemmed from bloodlines. At the instant fist met black scale, the python behind the middle-aged man seemed to encounter an extremely horrifying existence. Its strength was halved instantly.

“What…”

The middle-aged man was alarmed but he could no longer retreat. His strike had met Old Snake’s fist directly.

“Boom!”

With an explosion, the middle-aged man’s body jolted as the python phantom behind him dissipated.

He spewed a mouthful of black blood and flew backward. Countless ribs shattered with the sound of cracking explosions!

They were on completely different levels!

“How terrifying…”

The middle-aged man was horrified. At that moment, all he could do was hope that as he was taking the brunt of Old Snake’s strength, his partners would be able to successfully take him down.

However, he never realized that the space in the battlefield had long been separated.

At the very same moment the middle-aged man flew out, Old Snake was also facing the woman and her ghosts.

Against the ghastly aura, Old Snake roared.

His body was augmented by golden light as though a god of war had descended into the mortal world.

Combat Sacred Body!

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

Golden light radiated in every direction. Old Snake’s body shined like a sun that befell the mortal world. Wherever the light reached, all the menacing ghosts would eviscerate by its brightness, becoming instantly devastated!

“Is an Eon Ghost Monarch really that impressive? Even if you add on the time before its death, it can’t compare to how long I have lived. Explode!”

Old Snake struck out with both his fists, clashing with the two ghastly claws the beautiful woman had projected.

This clash was like two burning meteorites crashing into the earth. The ghastly claws dissipated directly while Old Snake’s fists did not lose momentum, continuing to the woman’s extended arms!

“Ka-cha!”

The woman screamed sharply as the bones in her arms shattered. Powerful Yuan Qi coursed up the meridians in her arms and into her torso. Her innards were ground apart as she spat out a mouthful of blood.

She was appalled. Just one strike had left her horrendously injured. If she had not fused with the Eon Ghost Monarch, she would have probably been killed by the two punches.

And what did the old man say? The Eon Ghost Monarch she reared had not existed as long as he had? How… how was that possible?

A series of emotional upheavals flared in her heart. If that was true, what sort of existence had they provoked?

However, she did not get much time to think about it. At that moment, in the third spatial battleground, Old Snake had already begun his attack on Su Boyang.

“You old bastard, you are actually the weakest of the three!”

Old Snake had combat powers protecting him as his golden light coruscated. It was like armor that made him invulnerable.

He grabbed at Su Boyang’s two-handed sword. At the same time, his combat powers accumulated to an extreme. He easily withstood the attacks from Su Boyang’s tiny swords!

Having lost the two-handed sword which was core to the array, the rest of the sword array’s strength decreased drastically. There was nothing to be afraid of.

“Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!”

The sound of flying swords striking his protective armor rang out, but Old Snake moved through the inundating rain of swords, rushing in front of Su Boyang.

“You…”

Su Boyang jolted in fear. He felt that Old Snake was someone he could not withstand at all. It was like a child facing a strongman. He would be repressed in every aspect!

Su Boyang was ultimately an alchemist. In fact, he seldom entered combat, much less fought someone much stronger than himself. His fighting spirit was instantly doused.

“Time to go!”

Old Snake roared as he grabbed Su Boyang’s sword tip and punched Su Boyang in the chest.

Su Boyang grunted painfully. He felt like his body had been struck by a billion-pound sledgehammer. His internal organs were ground to mush, and he felt as though his bones were about to fall off.

Old Snake directly snatched Su Boyang’s sword away and flipped it around, stabbing the blade into Su Boyang’s abdomen!

Old Snake grabbed Su Boyang’s two-handed sword and lifted Su Boyang up!

“Join your nephew then!”

Old Snake casually threw him.

“Whew!”

The two-handed sword was imbued with Old Snake’s combat strength and shot out like a meteor. At an indiscernible speed, Su Boyang and his sword flew towards a cliff!

“Ding!”

The sword collided with the mountain as the blade penetrated straight into the mountain, leaving only the sword hilt exposed!

Su Boyang was pinned to the mountain just like that!

Old Snake had deliberately put in just enough strength so that Su Boyang ended up only ten feet away from Su Muyan.

There was a loud sound from the collision with the mountain. Su Muyan, who wasn’t far away, noticed it.

Although he had been crippled by Yi Yun, he had yet to die. He opened his eyes with great difficulty and looked beside him.

What he found left him dumbfounded.

“Martial… Martial Uncle…why…why are you also…”

Su Muyan felt reverberations through his heart. While deep in despair, he saw his martial uncle…but he was not there to save him. Instead, he had been pinned there just like him.

At that moment the young and old duo were like fish being hung out to dry. They were hanging off the cliff and the scene was as wretched as it could be.

At that moment, Su Boyang no longer cared about his standing as a martial uncle. He only felt his vital strength rapidly depleting. He would not last much longer…

1325 - : Matchless

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Cough, cough!”

Su Boyang coughed out blood. His face was as pale as wax paper.

Over the hundreds of thousands of years since he became an Elder of the Pillheart Sect, Su Boyang was always treated with utmost respect by other large factions. People would be afraid that they failed to entertain him well enough. Numerous Heavenly South Great World experts, including figures like King Yi, would prepare substantial gifts for him, hoping that he would refine pills for them.

Su Boyang believed that he would live the rest of his life in such a hallowed state, experiencing the full range of wealth the martial world had to offer him, the life of a star.

He never imagined that there would come a day when he and his martial nephew would be hung on a cliff together.

It was extremely insulting!

“Martial Uncle, will…someone…from the sect save us…”

Su Muyan was suffering from a pierced lung so every word he said leaked air out of his chest. The pain he suffered was excruciating.

He could only pin his hopes on Pillheart Sect experts coming to save them. There were many experts in the Pillheart Sect, and they were now their only hope.

Before Su Muyan could finish his sentence, he stopped talking. He suddenly saw Yi Yun holding a blue sword in the night. He was standing amid corpses that were sprawled across the ground. There was blood on his sword that was dripping to the ground.

Only then did Su Muyan realize that aside from him, all the other Pillheart Sect juniors had been killed!

Su Muyan felt suffocated. He had been in a semi-conscious state and was completely unaware of Yi Yun’s actions. The corpses that were strewn across the ground appalled him.

“You…you killed seven of my Pillheart Sect geniuses at once…”

The Pillheart Sect had prevailed over the Heavenly South Great World for too long. For ten thousand years, Pillheart Sect disciples would be treated with utmost respect wherever they went. But today, Yi Yun and the old man had killed Pillheart Sect disciples like they were slaughtering animals. They did not hesitate at all. This made Su Muyan horrified. He could see his own outcome on the faces of the dead Pillheart Sect disciples.

“I just killed seven retards that thought too highly of themselves. Do you think that my taking of their lives is something I should find impressive?” Yi Yun sneered as he shook his sword. An ice-blue frost Qi emanated, freezing the blood on the sword. The red ice crystals shattered and scattered to the ground, cleansing the sword of any stains.

Old Snake had already completely taken down the dark-faced middle-aged man and the ghostly woman. He rubbed his hands and said languidly, “How do you want to deal with these people? Kill them all?”

Old Snake asked very naturally but his voice contained killing intent. It left one distraught.

“You’re welcome to try.” The beautiful woman glared viciously at Yi Yun as she threatened. “The Pillheart Sect would not let you off… You would never be able to do anything in public again as the Pillheart Sect would want you dead. There are also many instances of when death is not the most terrifying outcome.”

Her voice was chilling as though it came from the deepest abyss. It contained an aura that would leave anyone shuddering.

“Oh?” Yi Yun chortled. “Pray, do tell me. What is more terrifying than death?”

“Hmph! If you kill us, the Pillheart Sect will make you pay an extremely terrible price. Our alchemists can refine many pills that would make you wish you were dead once you consumed them! You would be tortured by the Pillheart Sect for hundreds of thousands of years. When the time comes, death will feel like an especially blissful thing to you!” the beautiful woman continued.

Yi Yun could sense a ghastly aura in the woman’s voice. Although she had been taken down by Old Snake, her voice was still imbued with an aura that attacked his soul. It easily made him feel fear, enough even to make him consider backing down.

“Torture me for hundreds of thousands of years? I’m actually rather intrigued about such methods,” said Yi Yun as he stroked his chin.

A glint flashed in the woman’s eyes. “Go ahead and think I’m only joking. Our operation that targeted you today is naturally known by the Pillheart Sect. There is no way you can escape responsibility if we perish in this canyon. You’d be challenging the entire Pillheart Sect! You will experience the most terrifying and tragic torture!”

The woman continued her threats. She was not lying. Anyone that wasn’t crazy would turn apprehensive when facing a behemoth like the Pillheart Sect.

“I’m really a little afraid of your threat,” said Yi Yun nonchalantly. He wiped his interspatial ring and a green jar appeared in his hand out of thin air.

The jar was originally an urn that contained a mighty figure’s ashes. It was obtained by Cang Wu in an ancient mystic realm. After Yi Yun killed him, the jar landed in Yi Yun’s possession.

Yi Yun patted the top of the jar.

Hum!

With a light ring, a green smoke appeared out of the jar. The smoke constantly billowed as it manifested into a grotesque face. It bared its teeth and claws as though it was a devil.

Poison Demon, who was born out of the ashes in the urn, had previously been utterly defeated by Ling Xie’er. He had no choice but to sign a soul contract with Yi Yun, one that had him completely submit to Yi Yun.

Over the past year, Yi Yun did not pay any attention to Poison Demon and had nearly forgotten him. He never expected that when he was facing the ghastly woman, Poison Demon would suddenly send out an intense soul fluctuation.

“You want to consume her?”

Thanks to the contract, Yi Yun could perceive Poison Demon’s intentions.

Poison Demon nodded his head incessantly. “Yes, Master. This vicious woman cultivates in the Ghost Dao and her body has fused with an Eon Ghost Monarch. I have a feeling that by devouring it, my strength would increase by leaps and bounds. Furthermore, I can search this vicious woman’s soul for any information of value, which I’ll naturally report to you, Master. After searching her soul, I can torture her for hundreds of thousands of years, making her wish she was dead. When the time comes, she will feel how blissful death is.”

Poison Demon chuckled as he revealed a fawning smile. He already looked grotesque so his smile only made him more horrendous.

Of course, this smile made the woman shudder when she saw it!

She never expected her own threats to be used by Poison Demon against her!

In addition, she was acutely aware that Poison Demon was not joking.

Just looking at the urn was enough to let her know that Poison Demon had quite a substantial origin. It had been born from the urn in a period of time that was probably a lot more ancient than her Eon Ghost Monarch.

Why is this happening… That old man with the ragged clothes said that he had lived for more than a hundred million years—a period that far exceeded the Pillheart Sect’s history. And the green smoke demon, that she had no idea where Yi Yun had obtained it from, was also such an ancient existence?

If her soul was truly devoured by Poison Demon, followed by hundreds of thousands of years of torture, that was truly an unimaginable pain. Unknowingly, the woman’s face had turned pale.

“Wait…Wait!”

She was completely terrified. She had planned on scaring Yi Yun but she never expected Yi Yun to be completely capable of dealing with her in the exact same way.

However, Yi Yun completely ignored her. He looked at Old Snake and asked, “Senior, do you have any desire for the Ghost Monarch…”

“Not at all. It’s all yours.” Old Snake did not think anything of these people.

Yi Yun nodded and waved his hand indifferently at Poison Demon. “Since you feel that devouring this Eon Ghost Monarch would help you evolve, go ahead…”

“Thank you, Master!”

Poison Demon roared in excitement. It immediately transformed into a massive green smoke that billowed like apocalyptic fumes before rushing towards the woman.

“Ah—! No! Wait!”

The woman yelled in despaired horror. Having cultivated in the Ghost Dao, she dreaded the thought of having her soul devoured more than other warriors because she understood the outcome far more than they ever could.

However, her wails were useless. Her entire body was enveloped by the green smoke, and it did not take long before her body was void of all signs of life. Her soul had been extracted directly. Of course, what left Poison Demon drooling was the Ghost Monarch that had fused with her soul.

“Search her soul properly. Report any information of value to me. As for the old woman’s soul, do as you please.”

Yi Yun had no pity for the woman. Warriors that cultivated in the Ghost Dao were not the most benign people. In order to advance their Ghost Dao cultivation, they killed countless people and refined many captured souls. These souls would suffer all sorts of torment before completely dissipating.

“Yes! Master.”

Poison Demon was extremely excited and Su Boyang and Su Muyan were overwhelmed with horror when they heard its voice.

They originally felt delighted hearing the woman threaten Yi Yun. They believed that the tremendous threat of the Pillheart Sect would make Yi Yun shudder in fear.

But in a blink of an eye, everything was reversed. The ones shuddering in fear were them.

They now realized that no matter what Yi Yun did next, he had the means to make them wish for instant death!

1326 - : Taste of one’s own medicine

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the dark canyon, the beautiful woman’s soul was completely enveloped by Poison Demon’s green flames. It let out a sharp, tragic wails.

Poison Demon completely refined her soul and also devoured the Eon Ghost Monarch’s soul.

Instantly, Yi Yun sensed Poison Demon’s strength rapidly increase. His body became more corporeal, as though it was becoming an actual body.

Poison Demon had been born over hundreds of millions of years ago. Yet despite existing for such a long period of time, his growth had been extremely slow. He never experienced such a jump in strength before. The absorption of the massive powers of the Eon Ghost Monarch made Poison Demon feel extremely comfortable. He could not help but revel in an intoxicated manner.

“Hahaha, what immense power!”

Poison Demon laughed out loudly. He suddenly thought that, although he had been forced to sign a soul contract, following Yi Yun was not a bad choice. If he were alone, it would have been much harder to find chances to improve his strength so greatly.

“Devour the rest too!” Yi Yun said.

At that moment, the Pillheart Sect group only had three people left. The strongest, the dark-faced middle-aged man and Su Boyang, had already had their meridians maimed by Old Snake. They were unable to put up any resistance, much less the mutilated Su Muyan.

“Thank you, Master!”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s command, Poison Demon cackled maniacally. It was no different from having a feast spread out in front of him. He immediately split its body into three and transformed into three green flames that flew towards the trio.

“Little Bastard, the Pillheart Sect will definitely skin you alive!”

Su Boyang cursed crazily but his vicious voice was quickly drowned by the annihilative green flames. It transformed into tragic cries following that.

“You…you will…die a horrible death!”

Su Boyang’s voice changed but he was still yelling.

“Old Fellow, since you are so good at shouting, I’ll let you shout a little longer,” Poison Demon said with a chuckle.

At that moment, all three souls were completely in Poison Demon’s control. He could torture them as he pleased. If these people chose to perish without a fuss, he would refine them directly.

But since Su Boyan wanted to spew such vindictive words before his death, Poison Demon decided to give him some “special attention,” letting him die in much greater pain.

And pain of the soul was much worse than the pain of being dismembered by several times.

Soon, Su Boyang suffered a mental breakdown. His consciousness was dissipated from the excruciating pain, so he could forget about shouting more threats.

“Did you find anything of use?” asked Yi Yun.

“Master, all that’s left is mainly remnant memory fragments. They are not complete. Master, if you would like to know something specific, I’ll search for it.”

The soul fragments were in disarray but they had been sealed and stored away by Poison Demon. It would take some time to search for and digest them.

“I would like to know the source of the Pillheart Sect’s heritage, the Divine Alchemy Cauldron’s array formation, and an herb called Unwithering Grass,” asked Yi Yun. These questions were what concerned him the most, especially the Unwithering Grass. Yi Yun was very interested in it.

With Yi Yun’s guidance, Poison Demon carefully searched and quickly gave Yi Yun the results. Due to the soul contract, Poison Demon could share the information with Yi Yun with a mere thought.

However, the memories obtained by searching souls were too fragmented. It was impossible to obtain the entire heritage from them. Yi Yun could only determine that the Pillheart Sect’s heritage first originated from a ruin the divine alchemist left behind in the Sinkhole years ago.

However, the Pillheart Sect did not completely rely on the divine alchemist’s heritage. In the tens of millions of years of the Pillheart Sect’s development, it obtained an increasing amount of heritage. Some of the ancient heritage was even capable of perfecting some of the flaws in the divine alchemist’s manuals.

For example, the nurturing of the Unwithering Grass!

Back then, the divine alchemist did not study Unwithering Grass in detail. He only decided that such a herb was extremely rare and difficult to grow artificially.

However, the Pillheart Sect had found a method, allowing it to refine Youth Regaining Pills on a large scale. Unfortunately, the Pillheart Sect’s pill recipe had a serious flaw, preventing its alchemists from fully utilizing the Unwithering Grass.

Apart from that, the Pillheart Sect had also sought out manuals that recorded the Divine Alchemy Cauldron’s array formation. They had even obtained fragments of the array formation. If Yi Yun obtained the manuals and fragments, he might be able to mend the Divine Alchemy Cauldron.

“This Pillheart Sect really has control over quite a number of old heritages. If I can obtain the Pillheart Sect’s heritage and complete it, my alchemical skills would improve again,” Yi Yun muttered to himself as he thoughtlessly glanced at Old Snake.

This glance left Old Snake extremely wary.

“Kid, what are you looking at me for? Don’t tell me you have your sights set on the Pillheart Sect’s stuff and wish for me to be your hatchet man? I’m warning you right now, don’t get too far fetched in your dreams. Although I killed a few Pillheart Sect Elders, who knows how many powerful old monsters the Pillheart Sect has backing it or how strong they are. Even if they can’t beat me, I do not want to help. Fighting them would definitely be a waste of my lifespan. Kid, don’t you make plans involving me.”

Old Snake quickly made sure to establish boundaries with Yi Yun. He was not one to take action without a clear target.

Yi Yun stroked his chin and said leisurely, “Didn’t you hear me ask about the Unwithering Grass? That is the main ingredient for a kind of Longevity Extending Pill. If I can obtain large amounts of Unwithering Grass, I can refine these Longevity Extending Pills on a large scale. I was planning on giving you like a hundred pills, but since you aren’t interested…”

“What? Longevity Extending Pills!?”

Old Snake stared at Yi Yun. If there was one thing that attracted Old Snake’s attention the most, it was things that could extend his lifespan and fix his foundation.

Under normal circumstances, the two aspects were the same thing to Old Snake.

“Is there really such a thing? And you could refine it on a large scale? Don’t you lie to me!”

Old Snake knew that any pill that involved extending lifespans or fixing foundations was extremely expensive. Due to the rarity of the raw materials, it made it almost impossible to refine them on a large scale.

Yi Yun said, “Large scale is a relative term. Even with Unwithering Grass, the refinement cost is still very high. Besides, such Longevity Extending Pills are only highly effective in the beginning. The effects diminish later on.”

Yi Yun spoke honestly. Any pill would have diminishing effects the more one ate but Old Snake did not consider that a problem at all.

Old Snake clapped his hands. “Kid, tell me. How do I figure in your plans?”

Upon hearing Old Snake’s words, Yi Yun rolled his eyes. This old fellow was too predictable.

“Clean up the corpses first. We can discuss it in detail after returning to the city!”

After killing so many people from the Pillheart Sect, Yi Yun did not wish to stay there for long. It would be troublesome if the Pillheart Sect sent reinforcements.

“Alright.”

Old Snake immediately released a few fireballs that burned all the corpses to ash. With a gust of wind, all the ashes scattered, leaving not even a single blood stain behind. As for the signs of battle, he wiped them clean with a few casual blasts from his fist. From the looks of it, Old Snake was very experienced in cleaning up a battle scene.

“Let’s go. Time to return to the city.”

1327 - : Soul Searching

CKtalon  CKtalon

By the time Yi Yun returned to Cloud Pool City, it was already dawn. And it was the day the Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s martial tournament was to begin.

There were already many people traveling down the streets of Cloud Pool City at daybreak. They were all shuffling towards the center of Cloud Pool City.

The tournament was an important segment of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. Many old freaks might pay more attention to the auction from the previous day, but few people had a chance of actually seeing the auction. In comparison, the tournament allowed entry to anyone in Cloud Pool City who paid an entry fee.

“Sect Master Yi, why weren’t you at your residence? We have been waiting for you for quite a while.”

Back when Yi Yun returned to the inn, the Clear Lunar Island’s entourage were already there waiting for him.

As it was the first day of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s tournament, Jing Yuesha wished to invite Yi Yun to join her but she learned from the inn’s manager that Yi Yun had left about three hours ago. Jing Yuesha was very worried when she didn’t see him return.

“Young Master Yi, the Pillheart Sect wishes to skin you alive so why were you traveling around alone at night? What would happen if Su Boyang and company decided to ambush you?” said Jing Yuesha. She never imagined that Yi Yun would actually exit Cloud Pool City.

Yi Yun laughed and said, “Su Boyang won’t ambush me. Instead, the Pillheart Sect’s grudge against me has probably gone deeper.”

Jing Yuesha frowned when she saw Yi Yun’s cheeky smile. “Young Master Yi, this is no laughing matter. Let’s go to the Heavenly South Peaks Meet first. There’s some planning for us to do. The people from the Pillheart Sect would not dare to take action at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet.”

“Let’s go, Sect Master Yi.” Jing Yueyin said as well. She noticed that Yi Yun was extraordinary, far exceeding her standing.

Therefore, she did not object to Jing Yuesha’s closeness with Yi Yun. Her only wish was that Yi Yun would survive the upcoming calamity and, if possible, grace the Clear Lunar Island in the future.

“Alright.”

Yi Yun followed the Clear Lunar Island entourage to the Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s tournament.

In the middle of Cloud Pool City was a gigantic square that spanned about five kilometers. There were already more than a hundred thousand people gathered in the square.

More than a hundred thousand people sounded like a lot but they were scattered across the huge square. It was not tight at all. Instead, people seemed scattered across the square.

Among the crowd in the square, Yi Yun saw the Heavenly Pivot Chapter!

With the tournament about to begin, Xia Zijian was dressed in clothes sewn from Heavenly Silk. He held a purplish-gold sword, and together with his clothes and rather handsome looks, he seemed somewhat high-spirited and enthusiastic.

The sword was named the Heavenly Pivot Sword and was wielded by the incumbent sect master. It was a cornerstone treasure of the Heavenly Pivot Chapter that had been handed down ever since it was established. As he was participating in such a huge tournament, Xia Zijian was given the chance to temporarily borrow it. It was so that he could obtain good results at the tournament.

Upon seeing Yi Yun appear, Xia Zijian pricked up his brows. He never expected Yi Yun to appear so free and composed with the Pillheart Sect’s forces so oppressively present.

“Sect Master Yi, are you here on a tour? You look really euphoric.” Xia Zijian said with a faint smile.

The Heavenly Pivot Chapter was not like the Clear Lunar Island. They were bound not to have much interaction with Yi Yun in the future. They only yearned to demarcate a clear line from Yi Yun, afraid that they would be implicated.

“Hey, isn’t this Martial Nephew Zijian?” Yi Yun said in a surprised manner, as if he had just happened upon Xia Zijian.

The words ‘Martial Nephew Zijian’ made Xia Zijian frown. This punk was still trying to get the better of him verbally despite death rearing down on him.

Previously, with Ren Yunzong present, Xia Zijian had no choice but treat Yi Yun respectfully. But now that Yi Yun was doomed, he no longer felt much apprehension. In terms of age and cultivation level, Yi Yun was slightly weaker than he was. Yi Yun had no right to act high and mighty as a sect master in front of him.

Xia Zijian snorted coldly as he gently brandished the sword in his hand.

“Wow, this sword of yours…” Only then did Yi Yun seem to notice the Heavenly Pivot Sword in Xia Zijian’s hand.

The corners of Xia Zijian’s mouth curved up. He thoughtlessly moved his sword so that he could present the most perfect side of the Heavenly Pivot Sword.

The sword was the Heavenly Pivot Chapter’s pride and joy. Xia Zijian was not even allowed to touch it in the past, much less use it. Now, he could finally use it, and for such a grand tournament. He was naturally excited! As for typical warriors, they would usually hide their swords in their interspatial ring but Xia Zijian was different. He couldn’t bear the thought of that and so kept holding the sword in his hand. He fully intended to show it off.

Xia Zijian was quite pleased that Yi Yun had the power of discernment to tell the extraordinariness of the sword.

Just as he was about to brag about it, Yi Yun suddenly spoke out again.

“Is this sword the one you bought from that street-side store you mentioned that day when we separated? It looks decent enough. It’s worth some Spirit Jade.”

Yi Yun stroked his chin as he studied the Heavenly Pivot Sword, as though he was extremely well-versed in appraising treasures.

“You…” Xia Zijian was incensed. A few days ago, they had separated because Ren Yunzong did not wish for Yi Yun to follow them. He had indeed used the excuse of looking at treasured artifacts so as to separate from Yi Yun.

Back then, Yi Yun had shown his disdain for the low quality of the store they had chosen. Xia Zijian could have ignored it but now, Yi Yun was insulting his sect’s cornerstone treasure. Xia Zijian could no longer tolerate it.

“People often say that one can be blind despite having eyes. I thought that for you to become sect master, you would be someone rather knowledgeable but I never expected… Hehe, so the Myriad God Ridge is this and nothing more. The sect master it chose is not only young, but he also lacks the most basic discernment,” Xia Zijian mocked.

The Heavenly Pivot Chapter disciples laughed in unison, echoing Xia Zijian’s words.

As for Xia Zijian, he began to secretly inject Yuan Qi into the Heavenly Pivot Sword.

Instantly, the Heavenly Pivot Sword flashed with a crimson beam as fiery runes lit up. The sword even began to emit a clear hum as though it was about to shoot forward.

Upon seeing the Heavenly Pivot Sword’s reaction, even Jing Yuesha was slightly alarmed. She had previously heard of the Heavenly Pivot Sword but she had never seen it before. Now, seeing the sword being powered by Yuan Qi, the runes that appeared made her have no choice but to admit that it was a good sword!

“With my strength, I can at best produce about ten to twenty percent of the Heavenly Pivot Sword’s power. But it’s enough to be considered a divine dragon among weapons, with no peer!” Xia Zijian said proudly.

He was very pleased with the reaction of the people around him, especially the slight surprise in Jing Yuesha’s eyes. He could not help but look at Yi Yun to express his pride.

This sect master is lacking in so much knowledge that he has probably never held such a good sword, right?

Upon coming to this conclusion, Xia Zijian turned even more gleeful.

Yi Yun did not speak but slowly took out a sword from his interspatial ring. The sword was azure-blue in color, and it was none other than Mirage Snow.

Huan Chenxue had once said that Mirage Snow had already undergone a change. Even Bai Yueyin herself would not recognize it; therefore, Yi Yun was not afraid of others recognizing Mirage Snow.

With Mirage Snow in hand, Yi Yun injected his Yuan Qi into it.

The sword’s frost Qi emanated as an ice-blue glimmer slowly gathered around it!

Mirage Snow was the female counterpart of the Yin and Yang swords. It was absolutely one of the best swords in the world and had unrivaled sword Qi which subjugated all swords. Furthermore, the Yuan Qi that Yi Yun injected into the sword was many times stronger than Xia Zijian’s. It was on a completely different level.

Hum!

Mirage Snow produced a long hum as powerful sword Qi radiated outwards in a suppressive manner. The Heavenly Pivot Sword was the first to be inundated by it and, due to the suppression, it began to tremble suddenly. The runic glow on the sword turned unstable before it slowly dimmed. In a short while, the Heavenly Pivot Sword’s runic glow vanished.

On the other hand, Mirage Snow’s sword Qi became even more sharp and powerful. Under its sword Qi’s suppression, the Heavenly Pivot Sword obediently hid in its sheath and did not dare produce any sword hums.

Upon seeing this scene, Xia Zijian was dumbfounded. What was going on?

He subconsciously shook the Heavenly Pivot Sword, hoping to get the runic patterns to light up again but the Heavenly Pivot Sword did not respond at all, as though it was an ordinary metal sword. Xia Zijian’s eyes widened and were fixed on the Heavenly Pivot Sword in his hand, stupefied by its nonreaction.

1328 - : Heavenly Pivot Sword

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Senior Brother, what was that about…?”

The other Heavenly Pivot Chapter disciples beside Yi Yun were stupefied. They had seen the sect’s cornerstone treasure sword’s might. It would shoot out beams of sword Qi in an indomitable fashion. But today, the Heavenly Pivot Sword seemed to lose its powers and effects.

“What sort of origin does the sword in Yi Yun’s hand have?”

The Heavenly Pivot Chapter disciples were no fools either. When they recovered from the splendor of the display, they realized it was likely because of Mirage Snow. But what sort of sword would it take to repress the Heavenly Pivot Sword, preventing it from releasing even a strand of sword Qi?

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s sword, Xia Zijian’s face turned red from embarrassment. He could ignore the fact that he was inferior to Yi Yun in alchemy, but now his greatest pride—the Heavenly Pivot Sword—was completely repressed by Yi Yun. Furthermore, it had happened in front of girls his age such as Jing Yuesha. This made the proud Xia Zijian want to immediately cleave Yi Yun apart.

“How a sword fares depends not only on the sword, but also the person using it…” Jing Yueyin said slowly from close by. Her voice wasn’t loud but everyone present heard it loud and clear.

Back when the Heavenly Pivot Chapter abandoned Yi Yun, it was considered underhanded but not faultable. However, Xia Zijian took the extra step of deliberately making sarcastic remarks in front of Yi Yun before he left. His flaunting of the Heavenly Pivot Chapter’s deep heritage spurred the usually low-profile Jing Yueyin to speak up for Yi Yun. From her point of view, Yi Yun was a weak single force who was still being pursued by the Pillheart Sect. He was naturally the underdog.

“I…” Upon hearing Jing Yueyin kick him while he was down, Xia Zijian felt aggrieved. If it were any other person saying something like that, he would have fiercely retorted. However, the person was Jing Yueyin, someone whose strength and status far exceeded his. What else could Xia Zijian say?

At that moment, a rather deep voice sounded. “Clear Lunar Island Lord, when have you ever spent the time and effort to help me discipline my sect’s juniors?”

Yi Yun glanced over and the person who spoke was Ren Yunzong.

After establishing boundaries with Yi Yun, Ren Yunzong was no longer on good terms with the Clear Lunar Island when he noticed the clear bias the Clear Lunar Island had towards Yi Yun. This made Ren Yunzong no longer care about being polite to Jing Yueyin as he did before.

Ren Yunzong did not come alone. Following him was someone Yi Yun knew, as well as a gray-shirted man.

The old acquaintance was Prince Boundless Heaven, who Yi Yun never expected to know Ren Yunzong.

As for the gray-shirted man beside Prince Boundless Heaven, he had sallow skin and he looked ordinary. With his inconspicuous attire, he was the kind of person who would be lost in a crowd. Not only that, his aura was extremely converged. If not for Yi Yun possessing the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, he would not have been able to tell him from a mortal.

However, Yi Yun was certain that the gray-shirted man’s strength wasn’t lacking. He was likely at the beginning stages of the Supremacy realm and he wasn’t old. The way he converged his aura likely stemmed from a mystic technique.

“Young Master Yi, this is someone from the Dao Calamity Tower. Be wary of them.”

Jing Yuesha’s voice transmission sounded in Yi Yun’s ears.

“Dao Calamity Tower?” Yi Yun had never heard the name before.

“This person has the Dao Calamity Tower’s emblem on his chest. The Dao Calamity Tower is a faction in the Emperor Ridge Great World. When I was traveling the Heavenly South Great World, I learned of them. They only have a weak subsidiary branch in the Heavenly South Great World but due to its main branch, it is not to be underestimated.”

“I see…” Yi Yun nodded. The Sinkhole was too big and there were all sorts of intricacies and power struggles among the great factions.

“The Dao Calamity Tower does not have a good reputation. In the past million years, it was able to set foot in the Heavenly South Great World and develop itself. Once that happened, they began annexing other small sects. There were even some who got wiped out…”

Jing Yuesha knew a lot of what happened and this information had helped Yi Yun quite well.

“Yi Yun, what a coincidence. We meet again.” The first person to speak was Prince Boundless Heaven. When he saw Yi Yun, his eyes emitted a subtle hint of disgust but he soon masked his feelings.

“It’s probably not a coincidence. Let me guess. Are you here to seek revenge on me?” Yi Yun said languidly. Warriors had strong perceptions and for Prince Boundless Heaven to come here with Ren Yunzong, only a fool would believe that it was a coincidence. It was highly likely that he was there for Yi Yun.

“Revenge?” Prince Boundless Heaven frowned. Clearly, he felt Yi Yun’s words lowered his status. “Hmph, a figure like you isn’t worth my attention!”

Prince Boundless Heaven spoke coldly. His voice was extremely haughty. “If not for Brother Pingyun’s desire to meet you, I wouldn’t even be bothered to say another word to you.”

As Prince Boundless Heaven spoke, the gray-shirted man behind him walked over. He was beaming. “Prince Boundless Heaven, don’t worry. Young Master Yi, there’s no need to continue this quarrel. I’m Chu Pingyun. I previously learned of your extraordinary skill in alchemy and that you casually produced a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus at the auction. You are truly a young hero. I’ve heard a lot about you!”

The gray-shirted man cupped his fists.

Yi Yun also returned the salute. Although he was associating with Prince Boundless Heaven, he did not instantly treat the man as an enemy. After all, one didn’t smack a smiling person.

“Brother Chu, is there any advice you have for me?”

“I wouldn’t dare call it advice. I come here to give you a chance to survive!”

“Survive?” Yi Yun pricked up his brows and looked at Chu Pingyun.

“That’s right!” Chu Pingyun nodded indifferently. “Brother Yi, it’s already known by all that you are being pursued by the Pillheart Sect. In fact, the root reason for the Pillheart Sect’s pursuit is profit. As the heritage you possess is what they truly desire, the Pillheart Sect will not do a thing to do you if the heritage is no longer with you.”

Upon hearing Chu Pingyun’s words, Yi Yun stroked his chin. “And you are telling me this because?”

“Simple. If you sell the cauldron and the ancient medical heritage to my Dao Calamity Tower, we will naturally publicize it. When the time comes, the Pillheart Sect will shift its sights on us. My Dao Calamity Tower will bear all the burden for you, Brother Yi!”

“When the Pillheart Sect fights us, it will naturally have nothing to do with you. My Dao Calamity Tower would even send a convoy of experts to escort you back to the Calm Sea and ensure that nothing untoward happens to you!”

Chu Pingyun spoke while Yi Yun remained silent. Yi Yun was chuckling inwardly. It was no wonder Chu Pingyun came to discuss something with him, and in all smiles at that. So he had such an intention. They wanted to obtain his treasures before the Pillheart Sect could make a move. They wanted to snatch food from a tiger’s mouth!

Calling it an exchange was just mincing words. As for escorting him to the Calm Sea, Yi Yun did not trust his words at all.

Yi Yun had once wondered if the other major factions had really shied away in fear of the Pillheart Sect’s obstreperous arrival. Now, from the looks of it, the Pillheart Sect was not fully capable of instilling that level of fear. Furthermore, Chu Pingyun had instantly mentioned the cauldron so they had likely noticed something. Even if they did not know that he had the divine alchemist’s heritage, they were cognizant that he possessed some sort of extraordinary heritage.

“How much Spirit Jade are you willing to offer?” asked Yi Yun with a faint smile.

Chu Pingyun raised two fingers. “Two Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli!”

The price sounded like a lot but anyone who knew better would realize that two Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli was far from the value of Yi Yun’s heritage. But this was a matter of fishing in troubled waters. No one expected there to be a fair exchange.

But at that moment, a voice suddenly sounded in Yi Yun’s heart. It came from Ling Xie’er.

“Brother Yi Yun, this person is a baddie. Although he’s smiling, he wishes to kill you.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was taken aback. Those with killing intent would usually be able to conceal it if they had a deep comportment. For example, although Yi Yun guessed that Chu Pingyun was hiding nefarious thoughts, he was unable to determine if he had generated the thought to kill. Yet, Ling Xie’er was able to clearly sense it.

“Xie’er, don’t worry. I did not plan on trusting him to begin with,” said Yi Yun calmly. From the looks of it, Chu Pingyun had no intention of paying a single Spirit Jade for the heritage. Instead, he was trying to cheat him of his items before slaying him!

If he did not guess wrong, all of this would happen right in Cloud Pool City. And it was because of this that he befriended Prince Boundless Heaven. To attack in Cloud Pool City, he needed the protection of Prince Boundless Heaven, so he would naturally give some of the spoils to Prince Boundless Heaven!

1329 - : Dao Calamity Tower

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun sneered inwardly. Prince Boundless Heaven bore a grudge against him to begin with and most certainly wished him dead. How could he miss a chance to receive benefits while also being able to kick Yi Yun while he was down? He did not want to approach Yi Yun out of the blue, so he ended up acquainting himself with Ren Yunzong. This group of people completely acted as though Yi Yun was a fat piece of juicy meat.

“Sect Master Yi, they are not benign. You have to proceed carefully,” Jing Yueyin warned him. With her rich amount of experience, she could tell what was going on. Chu Pingyun did not seem friendly beneath the surface.

“Thank you, Senior, for your warning. I know the boundaries,” Yi Yun said. Jing Yueyin nodded. She was waiting to see Yi Yun respond.

In martial cultivation, just having talent and finding opportunities was insufficient. One needed to have superior state of mind. If one was prone to being rash or overly stupid, they would usually die a tragic death.

Yi Yun’s present situation was as terrible as it could be. There was the Pillheart Sect watching Yi Yun like ravenous tigers from outside, and inside there were factions like the Dao Calamity Tower surrounding Yi Yun like a pack of wolves. If Yi Yun did not handle the matter properly, he might be eaten whole.

Jing Yueyin wanted to see if Yi Yun was capable of handling the situation on good grounds despite it being so perilous. In fact, she believed that even if it was her in Yi Yun’s shoes, she would not be able to handle the situation appropriately!

“Sect Master Yi, there are times when you need to let go of the opportunities you have received. As long as there is life, there is hope.”

Jing Yueyin gave Yi Yun her advice. She felt that with Yi Yun’s talent, he was bound to have a limitless future ahead of him if he lived on.

“Senior, I understand.”

Yi Yun smiled faintly and cupped his fists at Chu Pingyun. He said, “Brother Chu, there’s no need to say such things. I can’t accept the two Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli. Brother Chu, you are the one saving my life and I’m extremely grateful for that. How can I take your Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli?” Yi Yun said earnestly, so much that Jing Yueyin was taken aback.

What did Yi Yun mean? Did he really mean to rely on the Dao Calamity Tower to escort him out of the Heavenly South Great World?

Although she had warned Yi Yun not to remain stubborn with the opportunities, she never expected Yi Yun to just hand the Dao Calamity Tower the opportunities he received with both hands. This was akin to asking a tiger for its skin—an impossibility. Hoping to take advantage of the Dao Calamity Tower was fool’s talk.

Even Chu Pingyun was stunned. It was so easy to negotiate with Yi Yun? All he did was make an opening statement, and Yi Yun ingratiated him. Not only did he agree to his conditions, he didn’t even want the two Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli! How afraid of death was he!?

“This punk must have been spending every waking moment on edge because of the Pillheart Sect. I thought he would not know any better and try to haggle with me. I never expected him to be so useless. He agreed instantly. It’s like he wants to beg on his knees for my Dao Calamity Tower to save him.”

Chu Pingyun gave a disdainful look at Yi Yun when he saw how much of a backbone he lacked. The Dao Calamity Tower had previously investigated Yi Yun and appraised him quite highly, calling him a young hero or a possible alchemist sage in the future. Now, from the looks of it, Yi Yun was only a wimp who was mortally afraid of death.

“Prince Boundless Heaven, you have a grudge with this person?”

Chu Pingyun sent Prince Boundless Heaven a voice transmission. Although he treated Yi Yun’s action with disdain, he had no choice but to continue humoring Yi Yun politely because of the benefits at stake.

“Don’t compare him with me. All this Yi Yun did was pick up some opportunities. He himself is trash. Those treasures are useless in his hands too. He’s already so afraid of a mere Pillheart Sect. Brother Pingyun, as previously agreed upon, that cauldron is yours, while his Spirit Jade is mine. Also, I can borrow the heritage to study for half a year. Don’t you forget!”

“Of course!” Chu Pingyun nodded. “Once the items are in hand, our Dao Calamity Tower will maim Yi Yun of his dantian and send him to Your Highness’s residence. You are free to do with him as you please.”

After sending the voice transmission, Chu Pingyun looked at Yi Yun with a beaming smile. He said, “Young Master Yi, there’s no need to stand on ceremony. Since my Dao Calamity Tower has put forth the offer of two Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli, we will naturally not take advantage of you.”

Seeing Chu Pingyun interact with Yi Yun with a murderous heart under a smiling exterior, Jing Yueyin could hardly continue watching. What was Yi Yun planning to do? Did he really believe Chu Pingyun?

“Brother Chu, don’t say that. As the saying goes, treasure belongs to the capable. Although I have obtained the ancient heritage, I do not have the strength to protect it. Handing it over to the Dao Calamity Tower would ensure that it will be used to its full potential. With you helping me, I’m already looking forward to spending the remaining tens of millions of Spirit Jade I have. By the way, the items in this ring should be given to you.”

As he spoke, Yi Yun handed Chu Pingyun an interspatial ring.

The interspatial ring was old and unadorned. Chu Pingyun’s mind stirred. Yi Yun was giving his items away just like that?

Yi Yun was way too dumb!

Having lived for almost nine centuries, he had no lack of murder and robbery to his name. However, this was the first time he had encountered such a dumb prey!

Chu Pingyun calmly received the interspatial ring and scanned it with his perception. There were all sorts of scrolls in the interspatial ring and it was obvious that they were old. Many of the scrolls’ arrays were damaged. It left Chu Pingyun shocked.

Even though he was a calm person usually, he was overjoyed at that moment. Did he really obtain it just like that?

He checked the scrolls with his perception and sensed that there was an ancient but massive aura enveloping the surface of the scrolls. It was an aura that belonged to an almighty expert!

And due to this aura, Chu Pingyun was unable to completely discern the content within the scrolls. He only sensed that there was dense ancient text written in them. It seemed real but also fantastic, as though it was a mountain hidden amid clouds.

Chu Pingyun wanted to laugh out loud. He never expected that the scrolls would still retain an ancient expert’s aura despite having endured so many years. It was truly extraordinary.

He was eager to study the scrolls but of course, he still needed to kill Yi Yun first.

However, he never expected Yi Yun to hand over the items so easily. His original plan of dealing with Yi Yun went into disarray and he needed to adjust his scheme.

“Sect Master Yi, did you really just give the heritage to this Chu Pingyun?”

Upon seeing Yi Yun hand over the interspatial ring, Jing Yueyin turned flustered. She could tell that Yi Yun was not a foolhardy person, so why did he do such a thing?

“Senior, don’t worry. I know what I’m doing,” said Yi Yun with a voice transmission.

At that moment, Jing Yueyin was at a loss for words. She suddenly realized that many people were sweeping their perception over, be it intentionally or unintentionally.

Yi Yun’s words and the action of handing over the interspatial ring were noticed by many people.

There was no lack of experts at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s venue!

Jing Yueyin frowned. If Yi Yun thought that handing over the items to the Dao Calamity Tower would ensure that he would be left alone while the Pillheart Sect fought with the Dao Calamity Tower, that was overly naive.

Be it the Pillheart Sect or the Dao Calamity Tower, none of them would let Yi Yun off!

In fact, this would only benefit the Dao Calamity Tower. It was completely unafraid of the Pillheart Sect and Chu Pingyun made it clear that they were snatching food from the tiger’s mouth. This was also why Chu Pingyun was unafraid that others were watching them. Since they had decided to vie for the treasures, how could he remain lurking in the shadows?

1330 - : Surrounded by Wolves

CKtalon  CKtalon

Within moments of Yi Yun handing over the interspatial ring, Chu Pingyun had already put it away.

At that moment, Chu Pingyun, Prince Boundless Heaven, and Ren Yunzong were beaming. They looked at Yi Yun as though they were watching an idiot.

“Young Master Yi, don’t be in a hurry to leave. Why don’t we go to Prince Boundless Heaven’s residence for some tea? I can also give you the two Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli there,” Chu Pingyun offered.

He had a well thought out plan to deal with Yi Yun but now, seeing how dumb Yi Yun was, he felt that the plan he created was superfluous. All he needed to do was lure Yi Yun over and kill him there.

“On that, I do have many things I would like to chat with you about. However, the Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s tournament is about to begin. I would like to watch it and learn a little from the Heavenly South Great World’s geniuses. Why don’t I visit your residence at a later date? As for the Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli, there’s really no need. You have already helped me greatly. If not for your Dao Calamity Tower, would I even be standing here today? As for the items in the ring, it was the agreed upon remuneration. I, Yi Yun, am a trustworthy person,” said Yi Yun politely.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Chu Pingyun was taken aback. What agreed upon remuneration?

But on second thought, Yi Yun was likely referring to the agreement they had made. The Dao Calamity Tower would escort Yi Yun back to the Calm Sea and Yi Yun would hand over the heritage to the Dao Calamity Tower.

Upon realizing this, Chu Pingyun nearly laughed out loud. Yi Yun’s mind was truly quirky. Yi Yun handed the heritage to him and even said that he had received great help from him. This was no different from a fool that gave away the gold he had because it was too heavy.

Chu Pingyun said with a smile, “Sure thing! In a few days, my Dao Calamity Tower will definitely escort you back to the Calm Sea.”

When Chu Pingyun said those words, he did not notice that there were two pairs of eyes staring at him from among the crowd at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. Their eyes flashed with hatred.

“So it was the Dao Calamity Tower! That Yi Yun has actually allied himself with the Dao Calamity Tower and made an agreement with them beforehand!”

“He said that the Dao Calamity Tower has ‘saved his life’ and even mentioned ‘agreed upon remuneration.’ From the looks of it, Yi Yun had already given the Dao Calamity Tower immense payments and this is just him handing over the remaining remuneration.”

“We finally understand what happened. Yesterday, the Dao Calamity Tower took action with Yi Yun acting as bait. He went out of Cloud Pool City with Dao Calamity Tower experts following in secret. This little bastard probably long knew that there was a tracing mark on him and deliberately lured Elder Su, Elder Wang, and the others to pursue him. As for the Dao Calamity Tower, they laid an ambush, wiping out everyone from our Pillheart Sect!”

The Pillheart Sect members gnashed their teeth in hate. They originally believed that Su Boyang and two experts would be able to easily kill Yi Yun. It was impossible for something unexpected to happen but now, they realized that the Dao Calamity Tower was involved in the matter!

The Dao Calamity Tower experts that hid in the Emperor Ridge Great World were fully capable of doing such things.

“These bastards from the Dao Calamity Tower. Didn’t my Pillheart Sect warn all major factions earlier that no one is to lay their sights on Yi Yun’s items? Not only did the Dao Calamity Tower ignore our warning, they even killed so many important figures of our Pillheart Sect. Do they mean to declare war on us?” An old woman said viciously.

She had planned on participating in the operation to kill Yi Yun but missed the chance. But that morning, she learned the news of Su Boyang and company being completely wiped out. She broke out into a cold sweat. If she had gone yesterday, there was no way she would have returned alive.

“Report this to the sect master. We cannot let this matter rest or others will think our Pillheart Sect is easily bullied. How will our Pillheart Sect establish itself in the Heavenly South Great World in the future if people think we’re weak?”

The Pillheart Sect members were already certain that everything was done by the Dao Calamity Tower. Yi Yun and Chu Pingyun had definitely made a deal. Chu Pingyun was no fool either. He must have investigated the veracity of the heritage in the ring. Since he looked pleasantly surprised, the items in the ring were most likely genuine!

Yi Yun was clearly seen giving the bulk of his wealth to Chu Pingyun. So how could such a major deal be fake?

Furthermore, the Dao Calamity Tower often plundered and backstabbed. It was almost never a mistake to call them culprits. Now, all evidence pointed to the Dao Calamity Tower. They were able to wipe out Su Boyang and company cleanly, leaving no living soul behind.

“Sect Master previously said blood for blood, a tooth for a tooth. Elder Seven Kills is already on the way!” The old woman said again.

Upon hearing mention of Elder Seven Kills, the group was delighted.

Among the many Pillheart Sect Elders, Elder Seven Kills was responsible for discipline. He was famous for his strength that far exceeded Su Boyang and company’s.

Furthermore, Elder Seven Kills had a hot temper. He did not tolerate being slighted at all. With Elder Seven Kills on the scene, the Dao Calamity Tower members would definitely suffer.

…

The Pillheart Sect discussed with Yuan Qi voice transmissions. They were well hidden and did not wear Pillheart Sect attire. There were a few that had completely disguised themselves. Few people could recognize them, and they appeared inconspicuous among the crowd.

However, Yi Yun had long noticed them. It was all thanks to Ling Xie’er. With her soul becoming stronger, she was very sensitive to animosity and spying. Yi Yun was completely incomparable in that regard.

Yi Yun was already prepared to welcome the Pillheart Sect’s revenge but it wasn’t fair to Old Snake to continually rely on him. Coincidence had it that the Dao Calamity Tower came to him; thus, Yi Yun decided to meet trick with trick.

As for the interspatial ring that he gave Chu Pingyun, the scrolls within were created by Old Snake.

After killing Su Boyang and company the previous night, Old Snake began hiding in the God Advent Tower. He was constantly with Yi Yun.

Now that he had a super bodyguard in the form of Old Snake, how could Yi Yun not use him? He was laden with treasures and it was possible for him to be assassinated while out on the streets, much less if he left the city. He felt more at ease with Old Snake with him.

Back when Chu Pingyun mentioned the heritage, Yi Yun had communicated with Old Snake through a voice transmission. He had requested that Old Snake create some seemingly powerful scrolls. He did not know what Old Snake did. Old Snake actually had some legitimate old scrolls on him, which he deliberately left his mighty aura on. Even Yi Yun felt that the scrolls looked impressive, much less Chu Pingyun.

Yi Yun cupped his fists at Chu Pingyun and said, “Brother Chu, I have already squared the accounts on our deal. I have definitely found a friend in you, Brother Chu.”

As Yi Yun said those words, Chu Pingyun was sneering inwardly. Who would want to be your friend? Why don’t you piss a pool and look at yourself? Was a soon-to-be-dead person worthy of being my friend?

Of course, he continued his polite speech. “Brother Yi, your alchemical skills are truly unparalleled. There is a high chance of you becoming an alchemist sage in the future. It’s my honor to befriend you. When the day comes for you to soar, remember me!”

1331 - : Blood for Blood

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Sure thing, sure thing. When I perfect my alchemical skills, I will definitely not forget you, Brother Chu. If you have any pills you want refined, I will definitely do my best,” Yi Yun said with a hearty laugh as he patted Chu Pingyun on the shoulder, as though he was asking him to leave everything to him.

Yi Yun’s actions nearly made Chu Pingyun laugh out loud. The punk actually fell for the words of flattery, such as the talk of him becoming an alchemist sage in the future. Yet, he was unaware that he didn’t have many days left to live.

Chu Pingyun looked at Yi Yun with a smile and cupped his fists as he said, “I’m truly blessed to have met Brother Yi today. I shall bid you farewell for now. I’ll visit you again tonight!”

Chu Pingyun did not know if the contents of the interspatial ring were the complete collection of heritage Yi Yun had obtained but since he was at the venue of the Heavenly South Peaks Meet, it was impractical for him to take action. He decided to postpone his plans until the night.

The heritage was already sufficiently valuable. He needed to first return to the Dao Calamity Tower to research the contents properly.

“Alright, I’ll be waiting for you tonight!”

The scene of Yi Yun bidding Chu Pingyun farewell was seen by many people. They were sneering, scoffing at how immense a fool Yi Yun was. He did not know that he had been scammed by Chu Pingyun.

“The Dao Calamity Tower really made a killing this time.”

“It appears that the heritage Yi Yun had is extraordinary. The Dao Calamity Tower must have a certain amount of understanding of it to be willing to offend the Pillheart Sect for it.”

People discussed privately with voice transmissions but no one noticed that a few people had silently disappeared from the crowd.

The Pillheart Sect members were constantly watching Chu Pingyun.

“The heritage that little bastard Yi Yun received is now with Chu Pingyun!” A Pillheart Sect disciple said.

“Since the Dao Calamity Tower has attacked us, they must have obtained most of the heritage from that punk earlier on. What Chu Pingyun received today is only the remnants and, since they dared to take such blatant action, they must have experts hiding around Cloud Pool City. We should not act rashly or we might alert them.”

“Elder Seven Kills will arrive soon. Let’s wait patiently.”

At that moment, Chu Pingyun rushed impatiently to a particular residence with the interspatial ring in hand.

The residence was outside Cloud Pool City, a manor that belonged to Prince Boundless Heaven. It was later bought by the Dao Calamity Tower and put to use as a gathering place for the Dao Calamity Tower, with many Dao Calamity Tower experts currently staying there. Its location was a secret and the manor was heavily guarded.

Prince Boundless Heaven accompanied Chu Pingyun to the manor and entered a secret chamber. All the servants were dismissed.

There were already four black-dressed figures waiting in the chamber, and the leader was a middle-aged man. He looked odd, with a head that was a lot bigger than an ordinary person’s.

“Let me take a look!”

The large headed man extended his hand. He was excitable for he knew how valuable the heritage was.

“Martial Uncle, please take a look. My cultivation level is insufficient to check its contents in detail.” Chu Pingyun handed the interspatial ring—with some unwillingness to part with it—to the large headed man.

By the side, Prince Boundless Heaven bowed at the man and said, “Congratulations, Senior Chu. This heritage is no trifling matter. Once we kill that punk Yi Yun, everything will fall into place.”

“Prince Boundless Heaven, don’t worry. This heritage will definitely be lent to you for your perusal as previously agreed upon,” the man said indifferently.

He knew what Prince Boundless Heaven was worried about, but the Dao Calamity Tower was not planning on going back on the agreement. After all, it was only a loan and that didn’t disadvantage them much. It also had to potential to gain them some favor with the royal family. It was only a boon for the Dao Calamity Tower.

When the interspatial ring touched his hand, the man instantly felt the immense psyche the interspatial ring possessed. It was definitely an interspatial ring once held by an ancient expert!

Not only that, all the scrolls in the ring contained remnant auras of a mighty figure. The man could imagine how frequently the mighty owner must have read the scrolls in the past, always having the scrolls in hand.

That led to the current situation of the mighty figure’s laws being imprinted on the scrolls. They did not dissipate despite the vestiges of time. It only made it more apparent how powerful the ancient figure was.

The man was filled with excitement as he retrieved a scroll from the interspatial ring. He carefully dispersed the lingering ancient aura and probed deep into the scroll with his perception.

As he investigated the contents, the others waited eagerly.

However, all they saw was the man’s expression turn solemn. Slowly, he began to knit his brows.

“Elder Chu, is there a problem?” an elder could not help but ask.

Elder Chu’s expression turned grim as he placed the scroll on the table. He retrieved another three scrolls from the interspatial ring and checked them as well.

This time, the man’s expression turned more twisted. Prince Boundless Heaven was perturbed. “Senior Chu, did something go wrong?”

The powerful auras emanated by the scrolls were extremely old. That was certain.

However, Prince Boundless Heaven already sensed that something was amiss from the man’s expression.

“Whoosh!”

The man waved his hand, pouring out a large number of scrolls from the interspatial ring. He violently dispersed the ancient aura that enveloped all the scrolls and probed them with his perception. His face was ashen by the time he finished probing.

Standing beside the man, Chu Pingyun and company could not help but check the scrolls with their perception. When they saw the true contents, they all had odd expressions, especially Chu Pingyun and Prince Boundless Heaven. They felt like they had just eaten a plate of flies.

“This… This…”

Prince Boundless Heaven refused to have his beliefs shakened as he crazily read through all the scrolls. Finally, he slumped onto a chair as though he was enervated. “What happened?”

“What happened? Obviously that fucking little cunt Yi Yun scammed us! He actually used such vulgar material to tease me!” Chu Pingyun smashed the interspatial ring in his rage.

The blast from his punch instantly pulverized the interspatial ring.

But what made Chu Pingyun more incensed was that the scrolls, which were augmented by the peerless expert’s aura, were not a bit damaged. Instead, they scattered across the ground, unfurling themselves, revealing unspeakable images as well as extremely obscene text.

Even Yi Yun did not know that Old Snake had given him ancient erotic paraphernalia 1 . They were even drawn by warriors with arrays to be extremely detailed and remarkably true to life. They also had captions.

…

“Old Snake, what were those scrolls you gave me, anyway?”

At that moment, Yi Yun asked Old Snake out of curiosity at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. He had also planned on using some fake scrolls to pass off as the heritage but felt that they would be easily seen through.

He never expected Old Snake to quickly produce so many ancient scrolls when he requested his help.

“Let’s just say those guys lucked out. Those scrolls were my greatest treasures back in the day. In my youth, I would spend many a night studying them.” As Old Snake spoke, he revealed a reminiscent look as though he was recollecting his lost youth.

Yi Yun was puzzled from Old Snake’s response. It sounded as though the scrolls were filled with pretty good stuff?

“Alas, I’m old now and can no longer use them anymore. They ought to be thankful to the point of tearing up, considering how I bestowed them with it,” said Old Snake as he shook his head.

…

“I’ll slaughter that Yi Yun! No, I want to torture him for a hundred thousand years first. I want to make him regret living in this world!” The color of Chu Pingyun’s face turned livid. He had never been this humiliated his entire life!

He had already left the secret chamber. He brought back a bunch of the pornographic paraphernalia and even treated it as treasure. He was too ashamed to face the Elders from the Dao Calamity Tower.

Prince Boundless Heaven was also trembling in rage. He was a prince of the Outcloud Empire and had never been made a fool in such a blatant manner. Whenever he thought of Yi Yun’s fake thankful act, he ground his teeth in hate.

They thought Yi Yun was the fool but they did not realize that Yi Yun was the one treating them as fools, playing them like a cheap fiddle.

But taking a step back, how did Yi Yun obtain such a huge pile of ancient erotic paraphernalia? Those scrolls must have existed since time immemorial. Furthermore, why were they enveloped with an expert’s aura? Why would an ancient mighty figure specially leave his nomological auras on such paraphernalia?

“A report!”

At that moment, Chu Pingyun’s subordinate shouted from outside.

Chu Pingyun was in a rage and had no interest in hearing anything else. He directly bellowed angrily, “Don’t disturb me now! Scram!”

The subordinate clammed up and took a few steps back. However, he did not take his leave.

“Brother Boundless Heaven, as a prince of the Outcloud Empire, you should have the means to bring Yi Yun directly here, right? This is your territory after all,” said Chu Pingyun as he gnashed his teeth.

He could no longer wait to capture Yi Yun and vent his anger.

Although the Heavenly South Peaks Meet prohibited warriors from fighting publicly, rules were made to be broken.

“No one that has been targeted by our Dao Calamity Tower has ever managed to escape. I will let him know what it means to wallow in despair,” said Chu Pingyun coldly.

Prince Boundless Heaven had a cold expression too. “I will try. I want to torture him personally. I’m well versed with the torturing techniques of my Outcloud Empire. I guarantee you that it will leave a lasting impression on him.”

At that moment, the subordinate spoke up again. He carefully knelt by the entrance and bit the bullet to say, “Lord, it’s really something urgent. If not, I would never dare to disturb you.”

Following that, the subordinate sent Chu Pingyun a voice transmission.

Peng!

Chu Pingyun smacked down with his palm, blasting apart a table. “What did you say? Our Dao Calamity Tower’s South Manor Garden has experienced a bloodbath!?”

Chu Pingyun felt all his blood rush up to his face. He had never been so incensed his entire life. He felt like he would blow up from anger.

“Who did it? Are they mad!? How dare they make an enemy of my Dao Calamity Tower?” Chu Pingyun roared angrily.

South Manor Garden was the Dao Calamity Tower’s property. It wasn’t very far from them but as they were focusing on robbing Yi Yun of his heritage, the experts of South Manor Garden had been mobilized to the gathering point outside Cloud Pool City. How could they have predicted that the South Manor Garden would end up as the site of a massacre!

1332 - : Prized Collection

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Lord, I do not know. I only received a voice transmission saying that South Manor Garden has been wiped out. The message mentioned that a group of experts suddenly launched an assault on South Manor Garden. They set up a massive array formation that ensured no one could escape. Perhaps no one survived the attack.”

The subordinate answered Chu Pingyun gingerly. He was in charge of the Dao Calamity Tower’s voice transmission array.

“No one survived… doesn’t that mean my brother is dead too?” Chu Pingyun’s eyes turned blood red. His younger brother was stationed in South Manor Garden, so the odds were definitely against him.

“Lord… I really do not know.” The subordinate sweated profusely.

“If you know nothing, then what’s the point of you living?” Chu Pingyun had nowhere to vent his killing intent at that moment. He suddenly took a step forward and ruthlessly struck his subordinate with a palm strike.

“Peng!”

The subordinate cried out in pain as blood slowly meandered down his forehead. Chu Pingyun had crushed his soul seal with that single strike.

Prince Boundless Heaven watched this scene silently and with chills running down his back. He was not Chu Pingyun’s match at all and once Chu Pingyun went mad, he might even harm him. He was already regretting involving himself in this matter. He originally believed that Yi Yun would be easily squashed to death and he would receive immense benefits. But from the looks of it, the situation was not that simple!

Prince Boundless Heaven didn’t even want to take a look at the heritage anymore. He was just about to think of an excuse to take his leave when—

“Boom!”

With a loud explosion, the ground trembled. The teacups and teapots on the table smashed to the ground, and the walls began to crack.

Someone was attacking the manor!

Chu Pingyun burned with anger. He had not even come to grips with the assault on South Manor Garden but now the manor they were in, with numerous experts gathered, was also being attacked! Were they sick of living?

“You came just in time! Great! I’ll make sure none of you leave here alive!”

Chu Pingyun’s eyes were filled with killing intent. Just as he was about to charge out, a loud clap was heard once again.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Violent explosions sounded in succession as the roof of the hall he was in was ripped apart. Following that, the heavy thick walls were blown away like paper. Chu Pingyun, who was caught up in all this, felt his lifeblood in disarray as he took several steps back before finally finding his footing!

“Who is it!?”

Chu Pingyun’s expression changed. Their location was safeguarded by a massive protective array. It was jointly set up by a few core Elders of their sect and although they did not put too much effort into it, it should not have been torn apart in just two strikes.

This meant that the aggressor absolutely had the strength to face his Dao Calamity Tower experts. It was even possible that their strength exceeded his side’s!

Who are they…

Chu Pingyun looked at the outfits of the aggressors. It was the Pillheart Sect!

“Pillheart Sect! Are you crazy!?”

Chu Pingyun produced a spear from his interspatial ring. Even if the Dao Calamity tower made an enemy of the Pillheart Sect because of the heritage, it should not have resulted in them attacking the juniors of South Manor Garden. Furthermore, it was a total massacre. The only outcome of such an attack would be a blood feud that left no room for negotiation.

“It’s Old Scumbag Seven Kills!”

Chu Pingyun immediately recognized Elder Seven Kills, who was known for his fiery temper. He was prone to going on killing sprees and extremely protective of his brethren. Rumor has it that a nephew of his was out on an experiential training several years ago and was murdered by someone from a small sect who did not know whose nephew they were killing. That person ended up having his entire sect wiped from the face of the world.

“Is the Pillheart Sect declaring war on my Dao Calamity Tower? Do you really think my Dao Calamity Tower is afraid of you?” a deep voice blared.

The large headed man walked out from the secret chamber. Behind him were the Dao Calamity Tower experts.

“Cut the fucking bullshit with me. You know what you did! I just destroyed South Manor Garden as interest for your payback. Big Head Chu, you have always been an eyesore. Today is the perfect time for me to claim your life!”

Elder Seven Kills’s voice was deranged as it caused the Yuan Qi in a fifty-kilometer radius to resonate in response. The Dao Calamity Tower and Pillheart Sect were factions that crossed several Great Worlds. The Heavenly South Great World was originally the Pillheart Sect’s territory and when the Dao Calamity Tower expanded its operations there, it had already undermined the Pillheart Sect’s interests. The conflict between the two was only a matter of time.

Therefore, Elder Seven Kills was not surprised that the Dao Calamity Tower was involved in this matter, even to the point of killing three Pillheart Sect experts. If Elder Seven Kills had his way, the Dao Calamity Tower would have been wiped out when they first arrived in the Heavenly South Great World a million years ago.

However, the large headed man misunderstood Elder Seven Kills’s words. He thought he was referring to their secret contact with Yi Yun.

“All divine things belong to the capable. Who has the right to say that Yi Yun’s things are the Pillheart Sect’s? Old Scumbag Seven Kills, I finally understand why everyone in the world calls you overbearing. Since you want to fight, we will take you on!”

“Hehe!” Elder Seven Kills grinned hideously. At that moment, a few black dots appeared along the horizon. They were extremely fast and, in an instant, they appeared around Elder Seven Kills.

Upon seeing these people suddenly appear, the large headed man had a drastic change in expression.

How did the Pillheart Sect gather so many experts in such a short period of time?

He was even more alarmed when he saw the masked trio.

The three masks were white but they were adorned with winding red patterns. Such special masks could screen off any perception. And these particular masks were the mark of a famous assassination organization in the Sinkhole—God Annihilating Way!

The God Annihilating Way was extremely mysterious. No one knew where their headquarters was. They did not ally with any faction and only placed importance on money. If the price was paid, they would even dare to kill God!

“Why would they hire the God Annihilating Way…”

The large headed man was somewhat taken aback. The Pillheart Sect had taken action too quickly. It was as though they had already expected the Dao Calamity Tower would attack them. It was impossible to gather so many experts in just two hours.

“Wait! There might be a misunderstanding!”

He suddenly felt that something was amiss, as though he had fallen into the nefarious plans of someone else. However, he had yet to realize who the culprit was.

“Misunderstanding? Fuck your misunderstanding. Are you trying to stall for time so that reinforcements can come? Stop dreaming. Attack!”

At that moment, the Pillheart Sect held the absolute advantage. Elder Seven Kills had paid a handsome price to hire the God Annihilating Way in order to completely obliterate his opponents. There was no way he would entertain the large headed man’s nonsense. His attacks were always ruthless, and no one was spared.

…

At that moment, the martial tournament was about to begin at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. The various large sects had arrived and at that moment, Clear Lunar Island Lord noticed that something wasn’t right.

“Eh? Why aren’t the people from the Pillheart Sect here?”

The Pillheart Sect would obviously participate in the tournament. They had a total of six young disciples that qualified. Their leader, Su Muyan, was even a seeded contestant. Although it was impossible for him to become champion, it was possible for him to enter the top twenty. For an alchemist, such strength was already astounding.

But at that moment, none of the Pillheart Sect disciples arrived. Even the judges from the Pillheart Sect did not attend. That was odd.

“Perhaps they overslept…” Yi Yun adjusted his sleeves as he said in a totally unconcerned manner.

“…”

Clear Lunar Island Lord didn’t have an appropriate response for that.

“Pfft!”

Jing Yuesha burst out laughing. “Young Master Yi, that’s very funny of you. How can they oversleep when it’s something this important? Speaking of which, that Chu Pingyun from before didn’t seem like a good person at all. You should be wary of him.”

“I didn’t trust him.” Yi Yun answered her simply.

“That’s good.” Jing Yuesha nodded. However, she was still worried about Yi Yun and the way the Dao Calamity Tower was eyeing him. Yi Yun might be able to handle the first wave but he was unlikely to survive the second.

“Young Master Yi, did you really give Chu Pingyun a portion of the heritage?”

From Clear Lunar Island Lord’s point of view, Chu Pingyun would have immediately detected a problem if the heritage in Yi Yun’s interspatial ring was fake. However, Chu Pingyun was beaming with delight so it had to be quite some treasure.

She guessed that Yi Yun had indeed given a portion of his heritage. And only by doing so was he be able to send Chu Pingyun away.

“They were just some prized collection,” said Yi Yun nonchalantly. He did not know what Old Snake’s prized collection was either.

“Young Master Yi, I know what you are planning. However, wolves will always want meat. Giving them some bones each time can send them away but once the bones are gone, they will still attack.”

Clear Lunar Island Lord was worried for Yi Yun. The Dao Calamity Tower and Pillheart Sect were two behemoths. It was difficult for Yi Yun to survive in light of the situation.

Just as Clear Lunar Island Lord was speaking, the ground suddenly quaked. It was as though an earthquake had happened.

“What’s the matter?”

Everyone present stirred. They felt the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the surrounding environment produce intense fluctuations. And the source came from outside Cloud Pool City as though a powerful Yuan Qi explosion had happened there.

“Experts are fighting. There are people fighting outside the city.”

Clear Lunar Island Lord quickly ascertained the situation. Although she was far from the fight, she could sense the strength of the fighters through the intensity of the Yuan Qi fluctuations. It was definitely a massive battle between experts!

“Who are the ones fighting?”

Clear Lunar Island Lord sent out her perception but, due to both the distance and the rousing Yuan Qi on the battlefield, she was prevented from successfully probing.

“Look! It’s the Pillheart Sect’s cauldron!”

Someone exclaimed. People looked over and saw a large cauldron fly up. Previously, the large cauldron was seated outside Cloud Pool City. Many had seen the Pillheart Sect experts arrive on the cauldron!

People thought that the cauldron’s experts were here to kill Yi Yun but now, the Pillheart Sect seemed to be fighting with another faction.

“One of the fighting factions is the Pillheart Sect!” Clear Lunar Island Lord said out loud. It was already obvious.

It was definitely a good thing for Yi Yun if the Pillheart Sect fought another faction. She could not help but look at Yi Yun, but what she saw left her stunned.

Yi Yun was looking indifferently out the city. The intense battle outside the city did not perturb him. There was no look of pleasant surprise in his eyes, not even an iota of astonishment or curiosity. It was as though the massive battle was all within his calculations.

1333 - : Battle Royal

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, Clear Lunar Island Lord could not be bothered to probe the battle with her perception. She looked at Yi Yun in astonishment. Yi Yun’s indifference did not seem faked, despite the Pillheart Sect being a faction that could rob him of his life.

“Sect Master Yi, do you know who the Pillheart Sect is fighting?” A thought suddenly came to Clear Lunar Island Lord, so she immediately asked Yi Yun. She had a nagging feeling that Yi Yun had anticipated all that was happening.

“It’s likely the Dao Calamity Tower.” Yi Yun had no reason to conceal the matter from her.

“The Dao Calamity Tower?” Clear Lunar Island Lord was astonished. “Sect Master Yi, you gave the Dao Calamity Tower one ring and now they’re fighting because of that?”

Clear Lunar Island Lord found it unbelievable. If it were that simple, then the conflict between the Dao Calamity Tower and Pillheart Sect was too easily instigated. Two powerful factions would not go to war so easily. Once the flames of war spread, it was destined to result in an internecine outcome.

She could not help but fix Yi Yun with a more penetrating gaze. She was certain Yi Yun had done something. The way Yi Yun acted in front of Chu Pingyun was rather strange. Looking at it from the side, the whole exchange contained profound implications that she did not understand.

“Young Master Yi, now that the Pillheart Sect is fighting outside, shouldn’t you take this opportunity to leave Cloud Pool City?”

An idea suddenly came to Jing Yuesha. From her point of view, this was the most opportune moment for Yi Yun to escape Cloud Pool City.

Yi Yun smiled. It wasn’t that he did not want to leave, but Old Snake was insistent on staying. Old Snake now had his sights set on the Longevity Extending Pills.

Since Old Snake was unwilling to leave, Yi Yun was in no hurry. He was actually wondering if he could get more benefits from the Heavenly South Great World. With Old Snake around, it wasn’t difficult for him to make a full retreat if need be.

“Kid, I’ll go take a look. I want to see how fiercely the two opposing factions are engaged in battle. I might even add some fire to the flames of war.”

Old Snake sent Yi Yun a voice transmission. The old bastard was the messed-up type, the kind that craved to see the world plunge into chaos. He loved doing things such as stabbing people in the back. Having encountered such a massive battle, the first thought he had was to join in the fun.

Before Yi Yun could even answer, he sensed that Old Snake’s aura had vanished. A voice reached his ear: “I have left a mental imprint on you. If you are in danger, I’ll rush here immediately.”

After the voice transmission ceased, Old Snake flew out of Cloud Pool City.

…

At that moment, hundreds of kilometers away, the battle was already flaring like a raging fire.

The Dao Calamity Tower had suffered serious losses!

The Pillheart Sect came prepared with Elder Seven Kills, the top combat force of the Pillheart Sect, and three experts from the God Annihilating Way, so they were beating the Dao Calamity Tower into utter submission.

Three of the six Elders that were stationed at the gathering point were already killed. Countless other young disciples were either injured or killed!

“I’m Prince Boundless Heaven. I’m Outcloud Empire royalty. You can’t kill me!”

Prince Boundless Heaven was overwhelmed by terror as he witnessed Elder Seven Kills’s massacre. He was already deeply regretting his collusion with the Dao Calamity tower. If he knew this would happen, he would not have gotten involved in the messy situation no matter how good the benefits were.

“Prince Boundless Heaven?”

Elder Seven Kills sneered. If it were any other Elder, they might have cared about Prince Boundless Heaven’s identity, but Elder Seven Kills was unlike most Elders. He was still in a rage as he slammed down at Prince Boundless Heaven with a palm strike.

Prince Boundless Heaven turned pale when he saw the gigantic palm pressing down at him. At the instant between life and death, he suddenly struck his own chest, spitting out a mouthful of blood essence onto a yellow talisman charm.

The talisman went ablaze as it blocked Elder Seven Kills’s strike.

This was the greatest trump card Prince Boundless Heaven had to preserve his life. And he had no choice but to use it at that moment. Unfortunately for him, his talisman was completely decimated by Elder Seven Kills’s strike!

Prince Boundless Heaven cried out tragically as he flew backward. He felt that all his bones were fractured by Elder Seven Kills’s strike. His meridians were cracked into a mess.

Elder Seven Kills did not continue his attacks when he saw that Prince Boundless Heaven remained alive. He decided to keep him alive as a bargaining chip for negotiations with the royal family.

“Seven Kills! Someone else has you doing their bidding!” The large-headed man, now with disheveled hair, yelled out. The intense battle had caused the Dao Calamity Tower to lose three experts. The rest were heavily injured and they were on the brink of a total wipeout. The Pillheart Sect had already set up a massive array that would annihilate them all. Not one of them would be spared.

The large-headed man was burning with rage. He wished he could massacre the entire Pillheart Sect but at that moment, he needed to explain the situation clearly or he would really perish there and then without knowing why.

He did not know what had happened but his intuitions told him that all of this had something to do with Yi Yun!

“There must be some misunderstanding between us!”

“Misunderstanding? Heh, your Dao Calamity Tower killed three of my Pillheart Sect’s Elders and a bunch of genius juniors. What misunderstanding are you talking about?”

“What?”

Killed three of the Pillheart Sect’s Elders and a bunch of genius juniors!?

When did this happen!?

In order to do that, the Dao Calamity Tower would have needed to dispatch experts to partake in the operation. How could the large-headed man not have known of an operation at such a large scale?

Recalling earlier events, particularly Chu Pingyun and Yi Yun’s interactions, and the ring filled with erotic paraphernalia, the large-headed man’s mind went abuzz.

Very clearly, his Dao Calamity Tower was shouldering the blame for someone else!

“It’s that little bastard! Ahhhhh!”

The man roared crazily. Not far from him was the heavily injured Chu Pingyun hiding in the corner. When he heard the conversation between the large-headed man and Elder Seven Kills, he felt like he had been punched heavily in the head. His mind went blank.

“What… what… have I done…”

When he looked at the wretched state the Dao Calamity Tower’s gathering point was in, as well as the three Elders’ corpses in the ruins, he felt a mouthful of blood stick in his chest. He wanted to spit it out but he could not. He was incensed!

He finally understood that he had been scammed by Yi Yun!

During his interaction with Yi Yun, he had acted in a superior and bumptious manner, thinking that he had Yi Yun twirling about his fingers. He secretly mocked Yi Yun’s stupidity but in reality it was completely the opposite. He had been played like a fiddle by Yi Yun and in Yi Yun’s eyes, he was the absolute retard!

He had taken the initiative to bear the brunt for Yi Yun, causing the Dao Calamity Tower’s gathering point outside Cloud Pool City to be completely annihilated!

What was even more laughable was that he brought back pornographic paraphernalia as though he had obtained the heritage. He even gave it to the Elders hoping to be praised!

It was truly a terrible situation. Perhaps, no one in the history of the Dao Calamity Tower had been scammed in such a terrible manner!

“Puah!”

Chu Pingyun spewed out a mouthful of blood from his anger. The color in his face was drained and even his martial Dao heart wavered.

“It’s a misunderstanding! A gross misunderstanding! My Dao Calamity Tower did not kill anyone from your Pillheart Sect! It’s all because of that little bastard Yi Yun. He used a fake heritage to fool my nephew!”

As the large-headed man spoke, he shot a ferocious gaze at Chu Pingyun. “You vile spawn, why are you still in a daze? Bring over the things that the little bastard Yi Yun gave you!”

The large-headed man yearned to smack Chu Pingyun down. That fool’s mentality was so much inferior to Yi Yun’s, resulting in them experiencing this calamity.

“Yes… Yes…”

Chu Pingyun jolted awake as he hurriedly entered the ruins, finding the chamber where they were previously in.

The chamber was constructed of special materials and fortified by array formations. Although the battle was intense, it did not completely collapse.

Chu Pingyun instantly saw the scrolls strewn across the ground. They had been mostly buried by the dust and rubble from the explosions.

Although they were covered by rubble and dust, the scrolls were still capable of projecting the lifelike pornographic images due to the arrays on their surface, revealing alluring pictures.

Upon seeing this scene, Chu Pingyun was so incensed that he felt his organs ache. He felt that he never wanted to see another woman the rest of his life.

“Yi Yun, I, Chu Pingyun, swear that I’ll dice you up and extract your soul for torture!”

Chu Pingyun gritted his teeth as he blasted the dust and rubble away. He used an interspatial ring to store all the scrolls. He burned the humiliation from his memories. He had to avenge this insult!

After Chu Pingyun was done with the scrolls, he rushed out of the ruin. At the moment he reached ground level, about to charge out the chamber’s fortification array, he felt his soul sea quake. Instantly, he felt his mind go blank.

Chu Pingyun was taken aback. He did not know what had happened to his soul sea.

But immediately, he came to a realization that it had to do with the con Yi Yun had pulled on him. It left his soul sea shakened and passing through the fortification array had temporarily blanked his mind.

“Martial Uncle, I’ve brought them here.”

Chu Pingyun clenched the interspatial ring tightly. Contained in it was his shame!

“Quickly show it to Elder Seven Kills! You vile spawn, you brought back such shameful things and even drew fire upon us!”

As the large-headed man cursed, he consumed pills. He had been fighting one against three and could not even look up.

Chu Pingyun gritted his teeth and threw the interspatial ring. The tiny ring, enveloped by Yuan Qi, flew toward Elder Seven Kills like a meteor.

However, unbeknownst to Chu Pingyun, a gray-shirted elder had appeared in the chamber at that moment he left the chamber.

As the elder drank, he began shoving aged scrolls into an interspatial ring.

These scrolls were the erotic paraphernalia that Chu Pingyun should have had on him!

“Hehehe, what a waste. I gave you people such good stuff, but not only did you not tear up in gratitude, you even cursed me. You truly can’t appreciate the finer things.”

“And now you even wanted to give my prized collection to the old pervert flying in the sky. Wouldn’t he crush them to smithereens once he sees all the exquisite pictures?”

Old Snake grumbled endlessly. Meanwhile, the interspatial ring that Chu Pingyun threw had arrived in front of Elder Seven Kills, who flicked his finger, causing the interspatial ring to stop ten feet away from him.

Elder Seven Kills looked suspiciously at Big Headed Chu. He did not believe his words. Even if it was as he described, was Chu Pingyun really that much of a fool? Why couldn’t he detect an issue with the bunch of ‘shameful’ items?

He maintained a distance from the interspatial ring and carefully cast his perception into the interspatial ring. However, at that instant, Elder Seven Kills’s expression changed drastically.

No good!

Elder Seven Kills’s hair stood on end as he sensed a life-threatening horror in the interspatial ring. Without further thought, he rapidly flew backward.

“Boom!”

A violent explosion boomed as the terrifying blast radiated in every direction with the interspatial ring at its core. Elder Seven Kills was engulfed by the blast, fully experiencing the brunt of the explosion!

His protective Yuan Qi shattered as his clothes ripped. He spewed out large mouthfuls of blood!

“Ahhhh!” Elder Seven Kills was furious. “Little Bastard, you dare use a ring to trick me!? I’ll kill you!”

Elder Seven Kills was a prideful person. Although he had been sufficiently careful, stopping the interspatial ring ten feet away from him, the blast from the interspatial ring was just too great. He had failed to dodge it and the blast had marred his appearance.

Despite having lived for so long, he ended up being tricked by a junior that had lived for less than a thousand years. How could he swallow this!?

However, Chu Pingyun remained standing in the ruins as he watched the scene happen. He was completely dumbfounded.

What… the hell happened!?

Why did the ring explode!?

What sins did he commit that the heavens would punish him in such a manner!?

And at that moment, Old Snake was still in the chamber. He was picking up the erotic paraphernalia leisurely. When he heard the resonating explosion, he chuckled, “I never knew that the Annihilation Bead that hasn’t been used for several million years would still be so loud.”

He had used his perception to screen off Chu Pingyun’s mind, causing his mind to turn blank instantly. At the same time, he put the Annihilation Bead in place of the erotic paraphernalia in the ring. Old Snake had done so extremely quickly, so the anxious Chu Pingyun would have never thought that someone was capable of changing something without him detecting it.

“Thankfully, I came back to take a look or I would not have been able to rescue this prized collection of mine. I might as well leave it to Little Yun. It appears he still hasn’t found his wife. He will probably need these…”

As Old Snake spoke, he stored the scrolls away as the corner of his mouth curled into a sinister smile.

1334 - : Craving to see the world plunge into chaos

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Vile spawn, what did you do!?”

The large-headed man was on the brink of collapse. They were well aware that, at this point, they were meat laying on a chopping block. Was Chu Pingyun unhappy that he was not dying fast enough?

“Martial Uncle! I didn’t! I didn’t do anything!”

Chu Pingyun was on the brink of of insanity. He already felt that his interaction with Yi Yun was the worst act of being scammed in his life, but now he learned that there was no such thing as worst, only worse than before.

He had definitely fallen for another trap but he could not figure out how the other party had done so.

The large-headed man truly wanted to squeeze his nephew to death. But on second thought, the explosion in the ring could not have been produced by Chu Pingyun. Even if Chu Pingyun had a death wish, it was impossible that he possessed an explosive artifact that contained so much power!

Upon realizing this, the large-headed man waved his hand at Elder Seven Kills—

“Wait! There must be a misunderstanding!”

Elder Seven Kills nearly blew his top. The large-headed man claimed that the killing of the Pillheart Sect disciples by his Dao Calamity Tower was a misunderstanding. Now, he was claiming that him nearly being blown to pieces was another misunderstanding.

“Do you think I’m a retard? Fuck your misunderstanding! All of you are going to die!”

Elder Seven Kills formed hand seals, and seven black sabers flew out of his body and cleaved at the large-headed man. At the same time, the other Pillheart Sect experts launched a simultaneous attack!

They did not hold back at all!

As he watched the overwhelming attack bear down on him, the large-headed man felt a despairing misery. He struck his chest suddenly and spewed a large mouthful of blood essence. He was no longer young and had precious little vital potential left. Burning large amounts of blood essence was an irremediable loss to him; however, he had no other choice!

His blood essence burned as he used his best trump cards to resist the strike!

“Boom!”

A terrifying explosion swept through the ruined manor. Even the chamber collapsed!

Another two of the three remaining Dao Calamity Tower Elders were killed, but the Pillheart Sect people were not spared either. In the clash, one of the Dao Calamity Tower Elders knew that death was certain and chose to self-destruction, resulting in mutual destruction with a person from the Pillheart Sect!

The large-headed man’s hair was disheveled and his body was covered in blood. At that moment, his body was in a terrible state. He had less than ten percent of his Yuan Qi left.

He was certain he would die in battle but knew that if he died right then and there, the misunderstanding would never be cleared up. The Pillheart Sect would continue attacking the Dao Calamity Tower, uprooting the Dao Calamity Tower from the Heavenly South Great World completely!

He could not sit idly as this happened or he would end up being a sinner of the Dao Calamity Tower.

Since death was certain for him, the large-headed man steeled his heart and shouted, “Don’t attack! I’m willing to submit to you as my master. In that case, at least you will know the truth of this matter!”

Once a soul contract was signed, it was impossible for the slave to be disloyal to the master. Whatever he said would definitely be the truth but to an old freak like him, who had lived for tens of thousands of years, signing a soul contract was more painful than death!

“Oh? You are willing to sign a soul contract?”

This caught Elder Seven Kills by surprise. He never expected his opponent to be willing to make such a serious sacrifice.

“Yes!”

The large-headed man was the person in charge of the Dao Calamity Tower’s branch in the Heavenly South Great World. He was a decisive and vicious person so he was willing to go for broke in this perilous situation if it meant clarifying the misunderstanding.

“Alright! Since you have made this choice, open up your soul sea and let my consciousness enter. There must not be a single hint of resistance or I’ll immediately obliterate you!”

Elder Seven Kills was starting to become convinced. With the situation developing as such, there was no reason for the large-headed man to do this if the Dao Calamity Tower had truly killed Su Boyang and company.

“Alright!”

The large-headed man gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. He prostrated on the ground and set his soul sea free.

“And you too!”

Elder Seven Kills looked at Chu Pingyun.

The signing of a soul contract would not succeed if the slave was unwilling, regardless of the slave’s strength.

Chu Pingyun felt a jolt through his head. His face went pale. Once he signed a soul contract, his life would be in the hands of the other party. It was no different from ending his life!

He had only lived for about eight centuries and had a limitless future ahead of him but today, he had bumptiously approached Yi Yun in a bid to scam him of his heritage. Then the tables quickly turned and now he was going to be someone else’s slave!

“Martial Uncle, I…”

Chu Pingyun could not accept it!

“Vile spawn, this trouble is all because of your stupidity! Do you think you can be spared? What’s fool’s talk. If you were to land in the hands of the sect, you would be punished with extreme torture!”

The large-headed man really wanted to smite Chu Pingyun down with a palm. If not for his retarded nephew, he would not have fallen into such a predicament.

“I… I understand…”

Chu Pingyun felt infinitely aggrieved but he knelt down and removed any resistance from his soul sea.

“And you too…”

Elder Seven Kills looked at the last person—Prince Boundless Heaven.

At that moment, Prince Boundless Heaven was still buried among the rubble. His body was covered in blood but he had yet to lose his consciousness. He was hoping to feign death to escape this calamity. He was a prince of the Outcloud Empire, after all. As long as he took the initiative to humble himself, Elder Seven Kills might turn a blind eye and ignore him.

But he never expected Elder Seven Kills to completely ignore his status as prince. He obviously had no intentions of sparing him.

“Stop faking dead. Or do you really want to die?” Elder Seven Kills said with a sneer.

His voice sank Prince Boundless Heaven’s heart. He knew that there was no way for him to escape.

He did not want to die. He was still young and he was of lofty birth. In the future, he would at the very least become a king, having a collection of beauties and wielding power. If he died, however, he would have nothing.

But if he were to sign a soul contract that brought him into a life worse than death, he still had an inkling of hope that his mother would be able to pay the necessary price to reclaim his freedom. After all, the Pillheart Sect would not really wish to completely offend the Outcloud Empire.

As long as he lived on, there would be limitless possibilities.

“Wait…wait. I submit…”

Prince Boundless Heaven knew that even if his mother bought his freedom, this day was bound to be the greatest insult in his life. This humiliation would ensure that he had no hopes of becoming crown prince. The Outcloud Empire would never let a previously enslaved prince inherit the throne.

The trio completely set free their soul seas’ resistance. Elder Seven Kills stroked his chin. From what had happened, he began to believe that the Dao Calamity Tower had truly shouldered the blame.

Could all of this have been orchestrated by Yi Yun? Upon having this thought, Elder Seven Kills’s expression turned sullen. If that was the case, he would be a retard. He had become the vanguard of someone else without realizing it!

Now, once he enslaved the trio in front of him, the truth would be revealed. However, once bitten, twice shy. Elder Seven Kills remained extremely vigilant, afraid that the trio would use some form of self-destruction on their soul seas, damaging his soul sea.

He carefully probed with his soul. At the moment his soul entered the souls of Chu Pingyun and company, he suddenly felt a strange obstruction.

This obstruction made him jolt. What was happening? Why was there still resistance from their soul seas? Was it true that Big Headed Chu was trying to pull the wool over his eyes again?

In the instant Elder Seven Kills was hesitating, a more powerful and decisive soul power sank into the trio’s soul sea and directly formed slave imprints that entrenched in their souls!

In that twinkling of an eye, the trio’s soul seas lacked resistance so they naturally accepted the three slave imprints.

The owner of the mysterious soul power was clearly adept in such techniques. Typical people would usually take nearly a minute to complete the process of signing the soul contract but this person had taken less than a second to complete it!

Everything happened in a split second!

Chu Pingyun and company felt their minds go blank. Their eyes revealed a blank, turbid look. At that moment, they had acknowledged their master.

“Wh…What!?”

Then Elder Seven Kills jolted from his daze. Who was it!?

There was actually someone hiding beyond his perception, who snatched away his slaves at the instant he was about to bind the soul contract with an extremely honed control!

To let a deal that was in the bag escape his grasp…Elder Seven Kills’s eyes burned red!

“Ahhh! Who is it!?”

Elder Seven Kills’s energy surged, and killing intent flared as though he came from hell. He felt that ever since he arrived in Cloud Pool City, he had been falling for one scam after another—the Pillheart Sect disciples’ tragic death or his revenge against the large-headed man, to the explosion of the interspatial ring, and finally, the loss of his three slaves.

He was famous but he was being played like a fiddle! He was just about to blow a top when he noticed a gray halo envelop the trio on the ground. Following that, the gray halo transformed into a beam that tore through space and flew towards Cloud Pool City!

His array formation’s obstruction had been penetrated by the beam!

They escaped!?

Elder Seven Kills stood there petrified. He felt all his blood rush to his head as the veins on his forehead protruded out due to his rage. He felt like exploding.

There he was standing, watching the other party escape!

The mystery figure penetrated the massive array that he had meticulously set up, and had taken away all the spoils of war!

Humiliation! Today’s experience was the most humiliating experience in his entire life!

“To Cloud Pool City! Follow me to Cloud Pool City!”

Elder Seven Kills’s voice was trembling. He did not know who was the one that had swept away Chu Pingyun and company at the very end. Now, he wanted to find Yi Yun and crush him to death!

He believed that Yi Yun must have used some trick to con the Pillheart Sect. He dominated the Heavenly South Great World all these years, so when had he ever been fooled by a junior?

“We have already completed our mission. If you need more of our services, we require additional payment.”

Upon hearing Elder Seven Kills’s intention of going to Cloud Pool City, the three masked men from God Annihilating Way responded.

“You…” Elder Seven Kills nearly vomited blood. He felt he was being an absolute idiot. Not only had he been used by others, he also spent massive amounts of money to hire the God Annihilating Way. All to be a vanguard of another party.

The God Annihilating Way’s fee was just too expensive. Even the wealthy Pillheart Sect would feel the pinch.

Elder Seven Kills gritted his teeth and said, “I’ll pay you more.”

1335 - : Deal in the bag gone

CKtalon  CKtalon

Meanwhile, in Cloud Pool City, the Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s tournament had yet to begin. The number of people in the square was increasing.

“Young Master Yi, are you really not going to consider taking this opportunity to leave the city?”

Jing Yuesha could not help but suggest this once again. She could sense that the battle Yuan Qi outside the city had abated. She did not know what happened to the Pillheart Sect, whether they won or lost.

“Leave Cloud Pool City? Junior Sister Yuesha, you might be overthinking things.”

At that moment, a nonchalant voice sounded. It was none other than Xia Zijian.

The Heavenly Pivot Chapter did not have much of a grudge against Yi Yun. All they wanted to do was draw a clear line from Yi Yun, afraid that they would implicate themselves if they got too close. However, Xia Zijian had been spited by Yi Yun repeatedly, causing him to yearn for Yi Yun to suffer in the end.

“Xia Zijian, what nonsense are you speaking?” Jing Yuesha said with a frown.

Xia Zijian’s mouth curved slightly in response. “I’m just speaking the truth. Do you think the Pillheart Sect will not send people to watch Yi Yun’s every move in the city while they are fighting outside? Even if no one is watching him, do you think the numerous factions that are gathered in Cloud Pool City for the Heavenly South Peaks Meet would just let Yi Yun go?”

Xia Zijian did not mince or conceal his words. Many people present heard him.

There were quite a number of people surrounding Yi Yun and Jing Yuesha. Some of them gave deep, knowing smiles when Xia Zijian exposed their intentions.

Indeed, there was people among them who were intentionally or unintentionally paying attention to Yi Yun. Everyone already came to the realization that they had far underestimated the heritage Yi Yun possessed. The Pillheart Sect and the Dao Calamity Tower craved Yi Yun’s heritage so much that they ended up coming to blows. It showed how bent they were on obtaining what Yi Yun had!

They obviously wanted such a heritage too. Even the factions that were lacking in strength considered the chances of fishing in troubled waters.

Yi Yun was well aware of the intentions of such people. However, them being in Cloud Pool City’s Heavenly South Peaks Meet made it inconvenient for them to take action.

Yi Yun had noticed previously that a few people would occasionally sweep their perception towards him. He now looked in the direction of those people.

There was a hideous middle-aged man that was half a head shorter than Jing Yuesha, a sickly-looking old man, and an old gray-haired woman who brought a youth with her.

These three people had already been loitering for more than an hour.

“The three of you seem interested in knowing me. Don’t hold back. Come forward and introduce yourselves,” Yi Yun said with a faint smile.

The trio did not show embarrassment when they were exposed by Yi Yun. The hideous middle-aged man revealed a smile that matched his bearing. “Unlike you, Sect Master Yi, we restrain ourselves. We do not act in a high profile manner despite having immense treasures. For you to cause the Pillheart Sect to engage in such a tumultuous battle outside the city, I’m truly impressed. Impressive!”

As for the gray-haired woman, she grunted coldly. She resented how a junior like Yi Yun was mocking them. “Still trying to win a battle of tongues when death’s at your doorstep? It’s no wonder you did something as foolish as flaunting your wealth in a bustling city!”

“Might I know your esteemed name?” asked Yi Yun indifferently as he looked at her.

For some reason, the woman felt a jolt in her heart when she sensed Yi Yun’s gaze. However, she quickly sneered in reply, “Why? Are you thinking of seeking revenge against me? Pay more heed to your life. A person that’s about to die doesn’t need to know my name.”

Upon hearing her words, Yi Yun laughed. He looked at the youth standing behind the woman. He too was looking coldly at him with eyes filled with disdain.

The youth was clearly here to participate in the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. He was likely the gray-haired woman’s disciple or nephew.

“This old hag is from Tigercamel Mountain. It’s not a very strong faction.”

At that moment, Jing Yuesha informed Yi Yun covertly.

“Oh? You know that too?” Yi Yun was surprised. The other party was not wearing any sect uniforms; yet, Jing Yuesha had managed to identify them.

“I know that youth. His name is Su Yushi, a very famous genius. Tigercamel Mountain wasn’t strong at first but Su Yushi, with formidable prowess that makes him invincible against peers of his realm, made them famous. Su Yushi has probably prepared a long time for the Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s tournament. He will definitely put on a spectacular showcase.”

“I see.” Yi Yun understood. It was no wonder that the youth’s eyes were filled with disdain. He was a genius.

Yi Yun sensed Su Yushi’s realm. It was only a sixth-storey Dao Palace, two stories lower than him. From the looks of it, he wasn’t very old.

At that moment, Su Yushi spoke out. He did not use a Yuan Qi voice transmission but instead, said to Yi Yun directly, “If you participate in the tournament, I’ll let you know what a gap is. Having heaven-defying opportunities despite being useless trash is a defilement of heavenly treasures.”

Upon hearing Su Yushi’s words, Yi Yun laughed. He did not say anything for at that moment, Old Snake’s Yuan Qi voice transmission rang in his ear. “Kid, your putting the blame on the Dao Calamity Tower has been seen through by the old fogies of the Pillheart Sect. They plan to square accounts with you now! They will be in Cloud Pool City soon. Deal with them yourself for now!”

Upon hearing Old Snake’s message, Yi Yun lost interest in wasting his time bantering with Su Yushi. In fact, he knew that putting the blame on the Dao Calamity Tower would be exposed by the Pillheart Sect sooner or later. Since it had already happened, he had no plans to hide it.

“By the way, I took in a few slaves. Their cultivation levels are too low so I see no value in keeping them. I might as well give them to you. They can still help you hold out against the Pillheart Sect.”

As Old Snake spoke, a stream of light shot straight at him. It ignored the city gate and arrived straight in the square!

“Who is it?”

There were guards in the square and the sudden trespassing made them instantly turn wary.

But when the stream descended, revealing the trio enveloped within, everyone was stunned.

They looked extremely wretched. All of them were covered in blood and their clothes were tattered. They had little Yuan Qi left.

Although their faces were covered in blood and dirt, the crowd quickly recognized the two youths. One of them was the leader of the Dao Calamity Tower’s younger generation, Chu Pingyun. The other one was Prince Boundless Heaven of the Outcloud Empire!

Why was it the two of them? Why were they in such wretched states?

Before the crowd had time to ponder over the matter, older experts recognized the last person, the elder with a head much bigger than normal. “Wait… isn’t that Chu Shanhe!?”

Although Elder Chu Shanhe looked odd, he had fused with a Divine Lord Royal Seal, and was definitely a leading expert in the Heavenly South Great World. Other than the patriarchs of a few pinnacle factions, few people could beat him in a one-on-one battle.

But why was Chu Shanhe in such a tragic state?

Everyone was shocked but quickly connected it to Yi Yun. Previously, Chu Pingyun and Prince Boundless Heaven were together and had interacted with Yi Yun in that very square. They departed after teasing Yi Yun but now, they looked tragic.

“They are from the Dao Calamity Tower. Why did this happen…”

The gray-haired woman frowned slightly. The Dao Calamity Tower was a massive entity. Even though these people were only from a branch in the Heavenly South Great World, they were not anything the Tigercamel Mountain could compare with, especially Chu Shanhe. It was not an exaggeration to say that he alone could massacre the entire Tigercamel Mountain.

Just as people were puzzling over the matter, they were shocked to discover the trio walk in front of Yi Yun and kneel!

“What!?”

Everyone was astounded. They found the scene unbelievable. Among the trio, one was a prince of the Outcloud Empire, and the others were important figures of the Dao Calamity Tower that could shock the entire Heavenly South Great World. Why would they be kneeling before Yi Yun?

Xia Zijian’s mouth turned agape, as though he had seen a ghost. Su Yushi had long wiped the disdain from his eyes. Instead, his eyes widened for the scene had far exceeded his imagination.

As for members of the older generation, such as the gray-haired woman, there was no need to elaborate much. They could ignore Prince Boundless Heaven and Chu Pingyun, but Chu Shanhe, a person with dignified status, was kneeling before a junior!?

It had completely subverted all that they knew.

But a more amazing thing happened next. It was so unbelievable that they they did not instantly realize it.

“Why do I feel that the three of them have removed their soul seas’ resistance?”

“How…How could this be!?”

The crowd was extremely shocked. The removal of the soul seas’ resistance was something one willingly did in order to sign a soul contract to be enslaved. Not only were these three people of dignified status kneeling on the ground, they were even willing to be enslaved?

People found it unbelievable. And by that point, Yi Yun had already condensed the soul imprints. At the instant the trio removed their soul seas’ resistance, the soul imprints were implanted in their soul seas and completely entrenched. With Old Snake’s mental imprint screening, there was no need to worry about having the slaves snatched away.

And even then, not many people could have reacted in time.

“Yi Yun… has taken the three of them as slaves!?”

Everyone turned petrified. There were experts from many large factions in the square. They watched the scene in silence. The din became a silence in which one could hear a pin drop.

1336 - : Subverting All That is Known

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, the trio had already got up and stood beside Yi Yun. Their actions and expressions made it clear—the deed was done. However, no one knew what had happened.

All they saw was that two hours ago, Chu Pingyun and company had come to threaten Yi Yun and now, this was their outcome.

“Young Master Yi, why is this happening?” Jing Yuesha exclaimed.

Yi Yun coughed dryly. Although he had heard Old Snake’s Yuan Qi voice transmission and knew that he would be taking in three slaves, he never expected Old Snake to arrange for it to be done in such an open manner. He originally believed it would be a secret acceptance of the slaves.

Especially when…

Yi Yun looked at Prince Boundless Heaven. This was Cloud Pool City, a territory of the Outcloud Empire. It was just wrong to take their prince as his slave.

A hint of struggle appeared in Prince Boundless Heaven’s eyes when he met Yi Yun’s gaze. Although the slave imprint was overbearing, it did not completely replace a slave’s thoughts. Prince Boundless Heaven and Chu Pingyun retained their original character as well as their memories.

The two of them hated Yi Yun deeply and wished that they could tear Yi Yun apart. However, fate often made fools of people. They were now slaves of Yi Yun and it was obvious how bitter they felt about it.

Unfortunately, they could only blame themselves for attempting to scheme against Yi Yun in order to obtain his heritage. If they knew this would happen, they would not have even tried it.

Seeing them like this, even Yi Yun felt that his machinations against them had gone overboard. Therefore, Yi Yun could only pity them when he saw the struggle in their eyes. “Ahem, even I feel a little sorry for you.”

Chu Pingyun gave a wretched smile in return. Although he had a mind of his own, the restrictions enforced by the slave imprints prevented him from showing any animosity towards Yi Yun. “Master, there’s no need to say such things. We were forced into a dire situation by the Pillheart Sect and nearly became their slaves. That might have been a worse outcome than what we are presently experiencing.”

“Yi Yun! What did you do to Boundless Heaven!?”

At that moment, an elderly voice with a resounding might boomed. The person who spoke was none other than King Yi!

Prince Boundless Heaven was royalty. It was ludicrous for a prince from the royal family to become anyone’s slave, especially at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet!

The moment King Yi spoke, several streams of light shot over from the horizon. The incoming figures were extremely fast and they arrived in the square in a blink of an eye.

There was a total of fifteen people. Everyone gasped when they saw the attire and look of these people.

“True Lord Seven Kills!”

“As well as people from the God Annihilating Way!”

True Lord Seven Kills was famous in the Heavenly South Great World. He was known for being powerful and bloodthirsty. Although he was not the in charge of the Heavenly South Great World’s Pillheart Sect, he was its strongest expert, only second to the Patriarch Pillheart!

As for the Patriarch Pillheart, it was rumored that he had sealed himself in Bloodcull Jade. In order to extend his life, he entered a deep slumber and would typically not take action. Therefore, True Lord Seven Kills was, in practice, the strongest combat power in the Heavenly South Great World’s Pillheart Sect.

Even True Lord Seven Kills had appeared, clear evidence of how massive this operation was. Furthermore, they had even hired the God Annihilating Way!

“What is the Pillheart Sect doing? Nearly all its experts have appeared. They even spared nothing by hiring the God Annihilating Way. Is it all for Yi Yun?”

“Why would they need to go to so much effort for a junior?”

Everyone was alarmed. At this point, the Heavenly South Peaks Meet was no longer a simple tournament.

The occurrence of such a major event only made many hope for the situation to turn even more intense, perhaps even becoming a massive brawl. Although Cloud Pool City barred fighting, True Lord Seven Kills was different. If he went all out, there was perhaps no one who could stop him!

“Yi Yun, well done!” Elder Seven Kills stared at Yi Yun. His eyes were filled with killing intent. “You first hatched a scheme to kill my Pillheart Sect’s Su Boyang, Wang Chongming, and Gui Yunji, as well as a bunch of genius disciples. You then shifted the blame onto the Dao Calamity Tower, making my Pillheart Sect attack the Dao Calamity Tower, and reaped the rewards of an internecine struggle. Well done! Well fucking done!”

When Elder Seven Kills said that, everyone gasped. Su Boyang was dead?

At this Heavenly South Peaks Meet, Su Boyang was meant to represent the Pillheart Sect. As for Su Muyan and the other young elites, they were seeded contestants at the tournament. Although it was not likely they would end up the champions, they were bound to have stunning results. Everyone did find it odd that the Pillheart Sect was nowhere to be seen since the beginning of the meet. Now, they realized it was because they were all dead!

Furthermore, Wang Chongming and Gui Yunji were Pillheart Sect’s combat Elders that had made a name for themselves many years ago. Just the thought of Gui Yunji’s soul-refining arts left one trembling. Death under her hands was a nightmare. Warriors with lower cultivation levels dreaded her far more than True Lord Seven Kills!

Yet the ghost-refining expert that dominated the Heavenly South Great World was dead?

Instantly, the shock people felt was expounded. With so many experts perishing and Chu Shanhe becoming a slave, it was an upheaval that had not happened in the Heavenly South Great World for a millennium.

And it was all a result of Yi Yun.

“King Yi, I implore you to administer justice. This is the Heavenly South Peaks Meet that is organized by the Outcloud Empire. With things in such a state of chaos, I wish for you to join forces with my Pillheart Sect to capture this person!” said True Lord Seven Kills loudly.

Upon hearing these words, King Yi’s expression sank. Prince Boundless Heaven had been enslaved and although he had questioned Yi Yun, he had to weigh the pros and cons of actually joining forces with the Pillheart Sect to deal with Yi Yun.

For the Pillheart Sect to go through that much effort and still fail to gain so much as tiny advantage made him guess that Yi Yun had an expert protecting him in secret.

If King Yi used the forces stationed in Cloud Pool City to attack Yi Yun, he might end up doing all the dirty work for the Pillheart Sect. If there was no benefit, it was absolutely impossible for him to do it.

King Yi did not respond. The situation reached an impasse. True Lord Seven Kills looked at Yi Yun with a grim expression. He was estimating the strength of the mysterious expert who had managed to take away Chu Shanhe and company from under his nose. In order to do that, the person’s strength had to be greater than his! Furthermore, this person was lurking in the shadows. True Lord Seven Kills had already swept the square with his perception several times but failed to find anything amiss. This made True Lord Seven Kills think twice, afraid of being sneaked up on.

And at that moment, Yi Yun, who was on the crest of the wave, did not appear nervous. Although the development of the situation was somewhat troublesome, it was not difficult for him to escape unharmed.

If the other party were to attack without any regard, the three slaves he had taken in could charge forward and buy him a few seconds. In those few seconds, he could sweep the Clear Lunar Island disciples into the God Advent Tower. Then, Old Snake could tear open the void and help them depart the Heavenly South Great World. As for the Unwithering Grass that Old Snake was salivating over, they could always return for it.

At that moment, True Lord Seven Kills’s lips trembled as he sent King Yi a voice transmission. “King Yi, my Pillheart Sect has better Longevity Extending Pills. If Cloud Pool City is willing to take action, I can give a bottle to you. It can extend your life by at least eight thousand years! Other than that, there is also a Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli in it for you!”

“Huh!?”

Upon hearing True Lord Seven Kills’s words, a glint flashed in King Yi’s originally turbid eyes.

“Really?”

“I swear it!”

“Alright!” King Yi took a deep breath. Longevity Extending Pills were too attractive to him. He took out an authority flag.

During the Heavenly South Peaks Meet, the Outcloud Empire always sent its troops to guard Cloud Pool City, and these soldiers served under King Yi!

As King Yi raised the authority flag up, all the Yuan Qi in Cloud Pool City stirred. The ground quaked gently as divine patterns appeared from the ground before floating into mid-air to contain all of Cloud Pool City.

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

The resonance resembled the sound of a gigantic dragon flapping its wings. People looked up and saw that the sky was being sealed shut by nomological patterns. At that moment, Cloud Pool City was completely shut in by a massive hemisphere.

“It’s the city fortification array!”

“Cloud Pool City’s city fortification array has probably not been activated for centuries!”

People shuddered. The Outcloud Empire had ruled the Heavenly South Great World for tens of millions of years. In all that time, the Outcloud Empire had only built two major cities. One was the imperial capital and the other was Cloud Pool City. Once Cloud Pool City’s array was activated, it completely isolated the city from the outside world. No one expected that King Yi would activate the city fortification array just to capture Yi Yun.

Upon seeing this scene, True Lord Seven Kills was very pleased. He looked at Yi Yun and the corners of his mouth suffused a hideous grin. Even if Yi Yun had an expert backing him, there was no way they could deal with the city fortification array instantly!

“Celestial Vanguard!”

King Yi bellowed as rows of golden-armored soldiers marched out of the buildings around the square. They surrounded the entire square and the spears they wielded shimmered with golden light as they were augmented by the city fortification array.

At the same time, a few gigantic spirit beasts flew over. They circled around the square, and riding them were the Celestial Vanguard’s leaders. They were at the Supremacy realm.

Although one member out of the ten-thousand-strong Celestial Vanguard was insignificant, even a Divine Lord would not dare treat them lightly when they entered a battle formation!

“Yi Yun, you have violated the rules of Cloud Pool City. I am now apprehending you. If you were to surrender without a fuss, I can spare your life.”

King Yi, with the authority flag in hand, seemed like another person. The cadaveric air his body suffused had been swept away. He seemed to transform into a illustrious general that commanded troops from every corner, with no one having the courage to defy him.

“Everyone at this square today. So long as you help my Pillheart Sect and Outcloud Empire capture Yi Yun, my Pillheart Sect will remember your contribution. My Pillheart Sect is willing to offer a hundred million Spirit Jade and numerous pills as reward.”

At this critical juncture, True Lord Seven Kills spoke out. Although he was bloodthirsty, he was not rash. He knew that Yi Yun had an expert backing him. He was extremely meticulous and having offered such handsome rewards, there were bound to be people willing to take up the mantle. If he allowed others do the deed for him, he could avoid the danger of being sneaked up on by the mysterious expert.

When True Lord Seven Kills said that, many people were enticed. After all, Yi Yun was now a common target for attack. Even if they failed to get the bulk of the rewards, they were bound to get something.

1337 - : A Common Target for Attack

CKtalon  CKtalon

After True Lord Seven Kills made his announcement, all the warriors present were itching for action. They were also wary of Yi Yun, knowing he was not someone easily dealt with, but there were a lot of them and only one of him. With the Celestial Vanguard’s cooperation, Yi Yun was definitely at the end of his rope.

They were further enticed when they saw True Lord Seven Kills produce a red jade box. According to way the Pillheart Sect usually sold its pills, the red jade box likely contained Spirit Illumination Pills that could even allow Supremacies to make a subrealm breakthrough.

“I believe all of you can recognize this box. Inside are ten Spirit Illumination Pills. I will not be stingy towards anyone that helps in this effort! However, the heritage that Yi Yun carries belongs to my Pillheart Sect. We have to retrieve it. The Pillheart Sect’s heritage has been handed down for hundreds of millions of years. Due to the long span of time, it was an unfortunate circumstance that some of it was lost. Yet, it was obtained by this little bastard. Now, he not only refuses to return it, he even uses our Pillheart Sect’s heritage to deceive and beguile others, all while flaunting himself. He even schemed to murder my Pillheart Sect’s experts and pushed the blame to another party. I cannot stand to see him live a second longer!”

True Lord Seven Kills’s voice resounded through the world. Many people began having ideas when they saw the Spirit Illumination Pills.

“They are actually Spirit Illumination Pills. Granny, even I want to take action.”

Su Yushi looked at Yi Yun and made an impetuous decision. Although he was definitely no match for the expert protecting Yi Yun, he could deal with Yi Yun if the expert was held back by others.

The Tigercamel Mountain was lacking in strength due to a lack of resources. Su Yushi always believed that if he was supported by better resources, he could become the best genius in the Heavenly South Great World. The ten Spirit Illumination Pills greatly enticed him. Even for the monstrous Pillheart Sect, they were extremely valuable pills.

“Alright. Be careful. Don’t hurt yourself,” said the gray-haired woman.

“Don’t worry. I’m only going to deal with Yi Yun. There won’t be any danger.” Su Yushi stared intently at Yi Yun as though Yi Yun was his prey.

A massive battle was imminent. As long as one person took the lead, they would immediately be followed by a barrage of attacks. Many people were waiting. Xia Zijian hung a teasing smile on his face. Although he wasn’t planning on taking action, he was happy to see Yi Yun end in a terrible state.

He curled the corners of his mouth and looked at Jing Yuesha. He said derisively, “Junior Sister Jing Yuesha, why are you standing behind that punk? Do you want to accompany him in death?”

“Hmph! It’s none of your business!” Jing Yuesha was infuriated. In fact, she had already received a voice transmission from Yi Yun. He had instructed her to get closer to him and not resist. She did not know what Yi Yun was planning on doing but Yi Yun had created numerous miracles before. She chose to believe in him.

At that moment, people were already gathering Yuan Qi. Some were walking closer to Yi Yun. But just as they were about to attack, there was a strange energy fluctuation that suddenly came from afar.

Oh? This is…

The energy fluctuation seemed to come from a wispy heaven. It resonated with people’s souls in a mysterious manner.

Who is it!?

Some people looked toward the horizon and felt a jolt. They saw that, above a mountain range in the distance, a gigantic dark city was approaching!

A city was flying in mid-air?

The city was massive, casting dark shadows on the mountains. The city had many tall towers that shimmered with an ancient but simple black light. One could faintly hear the cries of ancient Fey beasts.

When the black city approached, people saw that the sides of the towers were embossed with a gigantic eye totem. In the middle of the eye were eight smaller eyes.

“Nine-eye totem. It’s the Nine Li Magus Empire!”

Nine Li Magus Empire was an extremely mysterious country in the Heavenly South Great World. Its territory only spanned about five thousand kilometers. Compared to the Heavenly South Great World, it was like a drop in the bucket. But such a tiny country was ranked as one of the three divine empires of the Heavenly South Great World, alongside the Divine Empire of Thunder and Outcloud Empire.

Although the three empires were ranked equally, both the Outcloud Empire and Divine Empire of Thunder knew that they were completely incomparable to the Nine Li Magus Empire.

The Nine Li Magus Empire’s history far exceeded both countries. Throughout history, the top factions in the Heavenly South Great World would always experience changes. At times, there would be three great factions and at other times, four. However, the Nine Li Magus Empire would always take the number one spot. Never had there been any change in that spot.

The Nine Li Magus Empire kept an extremely low profile. It did not enjoy dominance but no one dared to ignore it. History taught that any faction in the Heavenly South which fought the Nine Li Magus Empire was defeated soundly, eventually vanishing.

There were rumors that said that the people of the Nine Li Magus Empire were the descendants of an ancient mystic race. However, no one knew what the race was.

“Why is the Nine Li Magus Empire here? They seldom participate in the Heavenly South Peaks Meet. Even when they do, it’s only for the auction. But the auction has long ended and they should not be interested in the tournament at all. Why would they come today…”

King Yi was taken aback. In fact, he disliked the appearance of the Nine Li Magus Empire at any Heavenly South Peaks Meet. As the empire was too mysterious and powerful, they were not something he could control.

It was even worse now. They were just about to carve up Yi Yun’s possessions. The Nine Li Magus Empire was the last thing they wanted to see.

Elder Seven Kills frowned as well. The Nine Li Magus Empire would usually practice isolationism. Massive arrays were set up around the Nine Li Magus Empire’s territory and were forever active. It shut the country completely in and citizens of the empire seldom left its confines. Outsiders were also barred entry. In this way, both Nine Li Magus Empire and the rest of the Heavenly South Great World went about their own business. The Nine Li Magus Empire was almost forgotten by others, so why would they suddenly appear today?

Could it be that they were here to snatch food from the tiger’s jaws? If that were the case, the Pillheart Sect had no chances of winning.

“True Lord, don’t worry. The Nine Li Magus Empire does not have any alchemical heritage. This is known throughout the Heavenly South Great World. They do occasionally participate in the Heavenly South Great World’s auction in order to buy pills. However, their people are likely unskilled in alchemy. They should not be interested in Yi Yun’s heritage.” a Pillheart Sect Elder spoke out.

Beside him, Elder Seven Kills nodded. “I hope so.”

Although he said so, Elder Seven Kills could not relax when he saw the massive city’s shadow approach. The feeling of losing control of the situation felt terrible. “Watch Yi Yun closely. He should not be given a chance to escape in the chaos.”

As Elder Seven Kills spoke, the massive city was already floating above Cloud Pool City. One end of the city slowly entered the Cloud Pool City’s fortification array and the next thing that happened made everyone draw a big gasp.

The fortification array that the Outcloud Empire had spent a sizable amount of resources to construct was no different from a water surface. It allowed the tenebrous city entry, sending ripples outwards. Yet, it did not pose any real obstruction to the city.

“Why… Why…” King Yi widened his eyes. As the overlord of Cloud Pool City, he knew how powerful the fortification array was. He had invested a lot riches over the recent years to maintain the array. It was difficult to penetrate the array even if five or six Divine Lords attacked it together. How did the Nine Li Magus Empire enter?

Old Snake was also watching in secret. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the scene happen before him. “It looks like I have underestimated the Heavenly South Great World. The various worlds in the Sinkhole with long histories are not to be looked down upon…” Old Snake muttered to himself.

He did not think much of the Pillheart Sect but the Nine Li Magus Empire managed to make him look at this world in a different light.

The tenebrous city eventually came to a halt in mid-air, a thousand feet away from the square. A few shadows appeared from the bottom of the city and slowly flew over.

Leading them was an old man. He was scrawny and swarthy. His arms were thin like chicken claws. His gray hair was tied into a long pigtail that went from the back of his head to his waist.

Behind the elder were a man and woman. The man was middle-aged and he had a neutral expression. As for the woman, she was dressed in tight clothes. Her arms and ankles were revealed and were bound tightly in white cloth. She had an excellent figure but she wasn’t pretty. In fact, she was rather ugly.

The mood froze when the trio arrived. Many a time the unknown was dreaded, and that effect was made more apparent when the opposite party was powerful.

King Yi’s eyebrows twitched as he forced a smile, “I never expected that esteemed guests from the Nine Li Magus Empire would grace the Heavenly South Peaks Meet organized by the Outcloud Empire. We are greatly honored by your gracious presence!”

King Yi forcefully tolerated the gloom he felt and spoke as politely as possible.

“Nice to meet you.”

The leading elder nodded at King Yi as a response. He ignored King Yi after saying the four words. He scanned the entire square and his eyes eventually landed on Yi Yun.

The elder did not seem to know of King Yi’s identity, nor did he care about finding out who he was. This made King Yi’s smile stiffen. He had a feeling that he was being left hanging. Instantly, his face twisted a little. As the overlord of Cloud Pool City, when had he ever been given the cold shoulder in such a manner?

“Might I know what the Nine Li Magus Empire is here in Cloud Pool City for?”

Upon noticing the elder’s gaze, Elder Seven Kills’s expression turned more twisted. He was of a violent nature so even against the Nine Li Magus Empire, he did not want to mince his words. He got straight to the point.

The elder smiled and said, “I heard of a fascinating matter that happened in the Heavenly South Great World. It’s about an interesting youth so here I am…”

With that said, the elder continued looking at Yi Yun. “My young friend, I assume you are Yi Yun?”

Yi Yun stood out with so many people surrounding him. It was very easy to infer his identity.

1338 - : Tenebrous City

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yes, I am Yi Yun.”

Yi Yun cupped his fists and said in a calm voice. While the elder was observing him, he too was observing the elder. Yi Yun did not sense any animosity coming from the elder but he would not easily lower his guard. Old Snake had already sent him a voice transmission saying that the elder with the pigtail was very strong.

Old Snake’s appraisal was enough to certify how formidable the elder was.

The elder smiled as he stroked his beard. “How true it is that heroes come from the youth. I heard that when you first arrived in Cloud Pool City, you restored the Love Seeking Phoenix In Clouds created by a particular Alchemist Zhang of the Pillheart Sect. Later you spent a great deal to purchase an Abyssal Red Lotus Seed. I made this trip here to Cloud Pool City especially because I am interested in befriending you, my young friend. Let me introduce myself. I have not used my name for a long time but I do hold the title of Blackrock. Just call me Aged Blackrock.”

Upon hearing Aged Blackrock, everyone present felt their hearts jolt.

He was… Aged Blackrock!?

As the Nine Li Magus Empire had isolated itself, outsiders did not know much about the experts within the empire. However, the name Blackrock could chill a person’s heart with at its mere mention.

Over the recent tens of millions of years, the Nine Li Magus Empire had faced several major wars. Some factions suspected that the Nine Li Magus Empire’s tiny territory contained a astounding secret. And it was this secret that made the Nine Li Magus Empire fortify and stay sheltered in that tiny space for hundreds of millions of years.

They wanted to probe for the truth and perhaps obtain immense benefits as a result. They believed that if they waited long enough, the isolated Nine Li Magus Empire would lose all of its experts to the ravages of time. Therefore, they launched multiple wars against the Nine Li Magus Empire. But in several of those wars, Aged Blackrock would massacre the opposing forces, sending chills down people’s backs!

Just a mention of the name Aged Blackrock would change the expressions of many. That was not even the most pertinent point. The most spectacular thing was that it had been nearly ten million years since Aged Blackrock had last been seen showcasing his strength.

How long had the old man lived? Based on the records in various canons of large factions, Aged Blackrock didn’t look much different from how he did thirty million years ago. That meant that he had lived for at least forty to fifty million years!

Why was he still alive?

Elder Seven Kills drew a gasp. In front of the elder, he felt flustered. Back when this elder was committing massacre after massacre, his master’s master had yet to be born.

The older the elder, the weaker their vital potential would be. Their strength would also decline from that of their peak years. But there were some people who seem to exceed that limit. Their lives seemed infinite and were counted in units of ten million years. It left one despairing upon comparison!

Typically, Divine Lords that fused a Royal Seal would be addressed as True Lords. Even they could only live for a few million years. For instance, if the Patriarch Pillheart wished to live longer, he would need to seal himself in Bloodcull Jade. Through slumbering, he could survive for a longer period of time. He would not take action unless absolutely necessary. Only in this way could he live for twenty to thirty million years.

However, this was almost no different from living as an underground corpse. In comparison, Aged Blackrock was lively and could go anywhere he wanted. The difference was stark.

“Could this old man be a Godly Monarch…”

Elder Seven Kills had such a thought but immediately shrugged it away. It was impossible for him to be at the Godly Monarch realm. That was too difficult to achieve. Besides, a Godly Monarch’s lifespan was even more terrifying.

“I see, you are Senior Blackrock. It is my honor to make your acquaintance.”

Since Blackrock had shown kind intentions, Yi Yun naturally responded politely.

The elder smiled in satisfaction and added, “My young friend, Yi Yun, I came here for something your master left in my Nine Li Magus Empire.”

Your master?

Yi Yun pricked up his brows but he soon understood what the elder meant. The master the elder was referring to was the divine alchemist.

Yi Yun had obtained the complete inheritance of the divine alchemist, and now Ling Xie’er was following him. It was not wrong to call the divine alchemist Yi Yun’s master.

“I’m pretty certain you do not know what your master left behind. But in fact, it is extremely important to my Nine Li Magus Empire. If you are willing to help us complete this item, my Nine Li Magus Empire will reward you handsomely.”

Upon hearing Blackrock’s words, the people from the Pillheart Sect were stunned. Was the elder referring to the mysterious divine alchemist?

What was the thing that the divine alchemist left behind in the Nine Li Magus Empire? Whatever it was, it was something they called extremely important. They would reward him handsomely. Just the thought of it left people excited.

Furthermore, if they could just see the item the divine alchemist had left behind in the Nine Li Magus Empire, it would likely broaden their horizons, and was an opportunity in and of itself.

Not only were the members of the Pillheart Sect enticed, even Yi Yun’s interest was stirred. He asked, “Senior Blackrock, what might you be referring to? If there is truly something left behind by my master, I believe it must be quite impressive to have been preserved by your esteemed empire to this day. I am still lacking in knowledge and might not be able to complete it.”

Yi Yun was acutely aware how lacking he was when compared to the divine alchemist in terms of alchemical skills. Although he had the Purple Crystal Origins to make up for it, true mastery still needed immense amount of time and experience that could not be bridged with shortcuts.

“You will know once you come with me,” said Blackrock casually. Upon hearing this, Elder Seven Kills turned anxious.

Aged Blackrock was clearly going to take Yi Yun away. With the old bastard around, his plan to surround Yi Yun would likely go up in smoke. Not only that, he needed to stop the old bastard from bringing Yi Yun into contact with something left behind by the divine alchemist!

“Wait!” Elder Seven Kills shouted.

“Oh?” Blackrock looked at Elder Seven Kills. “Fellow Daoist, are you trying to stop me from bringing Yi Yun with me?”

Elder Seven Kills naturally did not have the guts to nod. He knew well that, since ancient times, any faction that opposed the Nine Li Magus Empire was finished. He gritted his teeth and said, “Senior Blackrock, please do not be mistaken. The Divine Alchemist is my Pillheart Sect’s Ancestral Master. And over the past tens of millions of years, my Pillheart Sect has used knowledge from myriad sources to constantly improve upon the divine alchemist’s heritage. If Senior Divine Alchemist had left anything, it should be us from the Pillheart Sect that completes it!”

Divine Alchemist?

When the crowd heard this name, everyone was stunned. Most of them did not know who Elder Seven Kills was referring to but there were others who fell into deep thought before seemingly remembering something.

The divine alchemist was once extremely famous but as in all ancient history, illustrious figures were eventually buried and became mere vestiges of the past. Now, there were very few people in the Heavenly South Great World that knew of the divine alchemist.

When the Pillheart Sect surrounded Yi Yun, they made special care to avoid mentioning the name, ‘Divine Alchemist.’ In fact, they were afraid that other large factions would investigate the matter and learn just how impressive Yi Yun’s heritage was.

Now, however, such an existence had been alluded to by the Nine Li Magus Empire. Elder Seven Kills felt there was no longer a need to conceal the matter.

“My Pillheart Sect is the true inheritor of the divine alchemist. Yi Yun only stole a tiny portion of our heritage and has used it to earn undeserved fame, deceiving and beguiling people in the process. Senior Blackrock, please investigate the matter!”

“The Nine Li Magus Empire has always stayed in its city, aloof from the matters of the world. Today, I wish for Senior Blackrock to be the judge and retrieve the heritage that belongs to my Pillheart Sect. Furthermore, Yi Yun machinated a ploy to kill my Pillheart Sect’s Elders. It is an unpardonable crime. Senior, please permit my Pillheart Sect to take him away for punishment! As for the item you want to complete, my Pillheart Sect will definitely complete it! We will guarantee your satisfaction!”

Elder Seven Kills spoke loudly with a voice filled will gusto. He had a hot temper but his tone was extremely polite. This was because he vaguely sensed that the opportunity before him was no trifling matter for the Pillheart Sect.

“Heh…”

Upon hearing True Lord Seven Kills’s words, Aged Blackrock chuckled. The smile sent a jolt into True Lord Seven Kills’s heart. He did not know what Aged Blackrock was laughing about.

“The reason you have the courage to say that is the Windsong Ruins, am I right?”

Aged Blackrock suddenly said something that did not make sense from any way of thinking. Many people present were puzzled by the question but True Lord Seven Kills’s expression changed. He widened his eyes as he looked incredulously at Aged Blackrock.

How did he know!?

Aged Blackrock added, “The origins of the Pillheart Sect stem from the Windsong Ruins, isn’t that so? Windsong was an ancient divine empire of the Heavenly South Great World. Back then, it had many correspondences with my ancient Nine Li. Its downfall is truly a pity. Ten million years ago, when its royal capital’s ruins were opened, I too visited them. I went there with the intention of paying my respects to the ancient divine empire, never to take anything from there. It was a coincidence that I saw your Pillheart Sect ancestors there. They found some items, including a few manuals left behind by Senior Divine Alchemist…”

Aged Blackrock recounted this historical tidbit casually. When True Lord Seven Kills heard that, he turned stiff like a wooden block.

Aged Blackrock had actually been to the Windsong Ruins as well? He had lived for so long that the entire history of the Pillheart Sect was probably shorter than Aged Blackrock’s lifespan. How could he not know of the Pillheart Sect’s history if he had watched it develop from its nascent roots?

As for the Windsong ancient empire, it actually had correspondence with the ancient Nine Li. So how could the Nine Li Magus Empire not know of the remnants left behind in the ruins?

At that moment, many people present could not help but murmur. True Lord Seven Kills felt his face burn, and he wished that he could instantly vanish. Both he and the Pillheart Sect had frequently bragged about their deep roots and long heritage. Just moments ago, he had claimed his sect as the successor to the divine alchemist, mocking and scolding Yi Yun as nothing more than a thief.

But now, the truth of Pillheart Sect was revealed by Aged Blackrock. By rummaging through the ruins of the Windsong Empire, it made them no different from a band of tomb raiders that eventually hit it big.

Instead, Yi Yun had been addressed as the divine alchemist’s successor by Aged Blackrock.

With such a reversal, how was the Pillheart Sect going to redeem its reputation?

Elder Seven Kills was someone who placed great importance on his reputation. This was also why he flared when he was teased previously. Now, hearing the murmurs from the crowd, the rage he felt nearly caused him to bleed internally!

And right at that moment, Aged Blackrock added leisurely, “The reason why the Windsong empire has manuals left behind by Senior Divine Alchemist was because he had once stayed in the Windsong empire for a rather long period of time. He even taught the juniors of the Windsong empire, and decided to leave a portion of his heritage there. None of it was intrinsic to his knowledge, however, so your Pillheart Sect cannot be considered the successors of Senior Divine Alchemist.”

Aged Blackrock’s explanation made Elder Seven Kills’s face turn purple. He wished to kneel down and beg Aged Blackrock to stop. Any further, and he would truly vomit out blood.

1339 - : Windsong Ruins

CKtalon  CKtalon

In fact, many large sects had rather underhanded origins. It was difficult to be rich without a windfall, after all, so if one were stuck putting all their time into honestly gathering resources and cultivating, how was one to establish a formidable sect that dominated several Great Worlds?

However, to actually flaunt heritage that had been obtained from tomb robbing as the product of the sect’s own efforts and create many historical fabrications to conceal that fact, it would be embarrassing if that were exposed by others.

At that moment, Elder Seven Kills was undoubtedly feeling extremely embarrassed.

“So that’s how your Pillheart Sect was able to thrive,” said Jing Yuesha with a sneer. She was previously stifled by Elder Seven Kills and felt extremely uncomfortable. Now, she had finally obtained a chance to strike back. “You even accused Yi Yun of stealing your heritage. How shameless. You should give your heritage to Yi Yun.”

In the quiet square, Jing Yuesha’s voice easily resounded through the area. Elder Seven Kills’s face turned as black as the bottom of a wok.

“You lass, you have no right to comment on my Pillheart Sect’s history!” Although the Pillheart Sect’s origins had been exposed, Elder Seven Kills continued gritting his teeth and said, “Senior Blackrock is right. However, who hasn’t obtained a tiny portion of ancient heritage from ruins? Didn’t Yi Yun do the same? What right does he have to say that his heritage is more legitimate?”

“Your Pillheart Sect used an array fragment to determine that the Divine Alchemy Cauldron is with Yi Yun. If you weren’t sure that Yi Yun’s heritage was extraordinary, would you have gone to such great efforts? Since you have already made the judgment, why do you ask despite knowing the answer?”

Aged Blackrock’s words left True Lord Seven Kills speechless.

He never expected that the divine alchemist had such deep ties with the Nine Li Magus Empire. With the Nine Li Magus Empire barging into the matter, it made it impossible for the Pillheart Sect to take Yi Yun away. But how could True Lord Seven Kills be willing to end up with nothing?

“Yi Yun, what’s your opinion on the matter I discussed with you earlier?” Aged Blackrock did not even care about True Lord Seven Kills. True Lord Seven Kills’s reaction towards Yi Yun’s staying or departing was not something he cared about either way.

Yi Yun smiled. He naturally would not reject such an offer. He cupped his fists and said, “Senior, I’m willing to go with you. However, the Heavenly South Peaks Meet is about to begin. My companions are participating in the Heavenly South Peaks Meet, so is it possible to wait for a few more days? After that, can I head to the Nine Li Magus Empire with my companions?”

Yi Yun was worried that if he left with Aged Blackrock, the Pillheart Sect would harm the Clear Lunar Island people.

Aged Blackrock nodded. “Definitely. It has been so long since Senior Divine Alchemist departed, so a few days will make no difference. I will have Tenebrous City stay above Cloud Pool City. If you are interested, you can enter Tenebrous City with me and watch the Heavenly South Peaks Meet’s tournament from there.”

Many people from large factions had indescribable feelings when they heard Aged Blackrock’s words. Yi Yun had truly lucked out!

They originally thought that Yi Yun was doomed but they never expected him to be invited to the Nine Li Magus Empire. Furthermore, he could step into the Nine Li Magus Empire with Aged Blackrock. Who knew how many opportunities would be made available to him!

“Senior, thank you for your invitation. I’ll just watch here from the square.”

When Yi Yun said that, Aged Blackrock nodded. Just as he was about to return to Tenebrous City, True Lord Seven Kills suddenly shouted, “Wait!”

“Oh?” Aged Blackrock looked at him.

“Senior Blackrock. I have a question. Was the item left behind by Senior Divine Alchemist in the Nine Li Magus Empire related to alchemy?”

Aged Blackrock hesitated slightly before nodding.

True Lord Seven Kills drew a gasp. A glint coruscated in his eyes. “Senior Blackrock, I will not deny that my Pillheart Sect’s heritage comes from the Windsong Ruins as you mentioned. However, you should understand that the Windsong Ruins’ heritage is only a portion of the various heritages my Pillheart Sect has!”

“My Pillheart Sect has been established for thirty-eight million years. Before we even entered the Windsong Ruins, we had already accrued a lot. After the Windsong Ruins, my Pillheart Sect similarly took in all of the ancient heritage and in the past ten million years, my Pillheart Sect has produced numerous elites. All of them have been geniuses with deep knowledge in alchemy!”

“Senior Blackrock, if you were to say that my Pillheart Sect is inferior to Senior Divine Alchemist, I would admit that!”

“But if you claim that my Pillheart Sect’s ten million years of collective experience is incomparable to a lad like Yi Yun, I refuse to believe it!”

True Lord Seven Kills’s voice was forceful. Furthermore, it was said with reason, winning him the agreement of others.

How could the famous Pillheart Sect be inferior to Yi Yun?

Aged Blackrock gave Seven Kills a nonchalant glance. “The item left behind by Senior Divine Alchemist is not something that can be mended with heritage alone. Although I have specially invited my young friend, Yi Yun, to take a look, I do not bear any hopes that he can accomplish the task. If you insist on participating, I will not stop you either.”

After Aged Blackrock said that, he turned and flew away.

In fact, he agreed with True Lord Seven Kills on something. Yi Yun was still lacking in experience. Although the divine alchemist’s heritage was impressive, what Yi Yun could have learned in his few years was limited. If the Pillheart Sect’s alchemical experts joined, they might even give Yi Yun some inspiration.

…

The intervention of the Nine Li Magus Empire at the Heavenly South Peaks Meet caught many people by surprise, especially when the matter involved mending something left behind by the divine alchemist. It left many people excited. As for the Heavenly South Peaks Meet tournament, people’s interest in it waned.

In a few days, the news about the Heavenly South Great World spread. Even neighboring Great Worlds sent alchemical sages, with them hoping to probe the secrets of the divine alchemist’s heritage.

People knew very well that the item left behind by the divine alchemist was extremely important to the Nine Li Magus Empire. They could not help but be curious over what it was.

Three days later, the results of Jing Yuesha’s participation in the Heavenly South Great World’s tournament were out. Jing Yuesha fought very seriously and her final results were rather good. She entered the finals and obtained twentieth place. She deserved to be proud for obtaining such a ranking in a genius tournament jointly organized by numerous Great Worlds.

Clear Lunar Island Lord was very pleased with her disciple’s results. With the tournament ending, it was time for Yi Yun to leave with Aged Blackrock.

And at that moment in Cloud Pool City, the number of experts from all walks of life increased instead of decreasing. It was very easy to see alchemists and their helpers on the roads. Over the past few days, all the alchemical stores in Cloud Pool City had a surge in business.

The name Divine Alchemist was just too influential. Even though he had been forgotten by ordinary warriors, he was a godlike existence in many alchemical sects with long histories. Being able to see the divine alchemist’s heritage was a long cherished goal.

Aged Blackrock only watched silently as more and more alchemists entered Cloud Pool City. He did not stop them.

In fact, the ancient Nine Li had once gathered alchemists all over the world in a bid to complete the item left behind by the divine alchemist. Back then, the situation was no way inferior to what was happening now.

However, too much time had passed and that grand event was lost to the ravages of time.

1340 - : Grand Event of the Alchemical World

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the northern desolate lands of the Heavenly South Great World was a desert that spanned half a million kilometers. It was dry and silent in a way that made it seem untraversable.

Not only were beasts few in these desolate lands, the Yuan Qi was also extremely thin. It made it difficult to produce any natural treasures; therefore, few warriors would ever go there.

However, people did know that the most mysterious Nine Li Magus Empire of the Heavenly South Great World was located in this stretch of desolate land. It took up about five thousand kilometers of it.

Over the past few days, groups of warriors and alchemists would rush over to the northern desolate lands and locate the entrance to the Nine Li Magus Empire using maps.

From afar, one could see the Nine Li Magus Empire was situated on a lofty mountain that had clouds lingering around it. The entire empire was being enveloped in an array formation, as though it was sealed in an alternate dimension.

“This is the Nine Li Magus Empire.”

“The Heavenly South Peaks Meet has ended. Yi Yun should be arriving here with Aged Blackrock. When that happens, the entrance to the empire will naturally open.”

There were more than ten thousand people gathered outside the empire’s entrance. Most of them were alchemists and many of them had come from afar. They had specially traveled there to witness the spectacle.

The red sun was gradually setting in the west as night began to fall over the vast wilderness. Aged Blackrock and company were scheduled to arrive anytime now.

At that moment, there was a faint phoenix cry. When they looked up, they saw a golden phoenix that reflected the blood sun as it flew in from the west.

The phoenix flew slowly but in moments, it had arrived outside the Nine Li Magus Empire’s entrance. It circled the land before charging back up into the sky. A white-dressed middle-aged man landed from the phoenix’s back.

He looked radiant and his skin was as tender as a baby’s. He tied his hair with a band and looked extraordinarily handsome.

People were shocked when they saw him.

“West Desolate Alchemist King—Ouming Yin!”

Someone identified the newcomer. He was not from the Pillheart Sect but an alchemist sage from the West Desolate Great World!

Before Aged Blackrock and the Pillheart Sect arrived, an alchemist sage had already arrived.

The appearance of an alchemist sage overshadowed many alchemy sects. Many of the sects had never produced an alchemist sage since their inception.

People began to truly realize the massive stir the grand event had brought to the alchemy world. It was more intense than they had expected.

The sun finally set as the bright moon appeared in the sky. At that moment, people saw the gigantic Tenebrous City floating over from another direction in the sky.

The Nine Li people were finally here!

Following the Nine Li Tenebrous City was a massive cauldron. It belonged to none other than the Pillheart Sect.

It was obvious that the item left behind by the divine alchemist was something the Pillheart Sect placed great importance on. Furthermore, the Nine Li Magus Empire was involved. The Pillheart Sect had sent its strongest delegation, with even the Pillheart Sect’s alchemist sage coming as well.

With the descent of Tenebrous City, the Nine Li Magus Empire’s entrance finally opened. It was as though the skies opened up, revealing a passage into another world.

The extremely mysterious Nine Li Magus Empire finally pulled off its veil to the world.

The Tenebrous City directly entered while the Nine Li Magus Empire did not prevent any other faction from entering. However, they had set up a passage specifically for the visitors. They could only follow the pre-established path and were not allowed to wander around.

The number of people entering the Nine Li Magus Empire continued to increase. People discovered many mighty figures that they had never noticed while waiting.

The people followed Tenebrous City. The path set up by the Nine Li Magus Empire was extremely special. It looked like a meandering riverbed with its waters long dried up. Every spot on the riverbed had lingering vestiges of time.

They followed the dried-up riverbed and walked for a very long time. With the speed warriors could travel, they estimated they had far exceeded five thousand kilometers. If they were outside the Nine Li Magus Empire, they would have long traversed the empire in its entirety. But now, it seemed impossible for them to see the end of the riverbed.

“Little Yun, this riverbed is somewhat odd…”

In Tenebrous City, Old Snake’s voice suddenly sounded in Yi Yun’s ears.

Over the past few days, Old Snake had leisurely stayed in Yi Yun’s God Advent Tower. Naturally, he came with Yi Yun to the Nine Li Magus Empire.

“What’s odd about it?”

Yi Yun also felt that the riverbed was somewhat abnormal. As they proceeded across the riverbed, it felt like they were retrospecting history. Every segment they passed seemed as though they had just experienced a completely different time in space.

“This river’s waters have already dried. I cannot be completely certain but the nomological auras left behind remind me of the River of Forgetfulness…”

Old Snake had lived for very long so he was extremely knowledgeable. His words left Yi Yun astonished.

River of Forgetfulness!?

The ancient twelve Fey Gods were Extreme Yang Illumination, Extreme Yin Nether Glow, Empress Earth Dao Tree, etc. They were all manifestations of the various laws.

They were not necessarily all in the shape of a lifeform. For example, the eighth Fey God, River of Forgetfulness, was an endless surging river. And what flowed in the river was not water, but time.

The river of time advanced forever and the direction in which it surged forward was the future. And the past was destined to be forgotten as history would eventually be buried by the vestiges of time.

Therefore the river of time was also named the River of Forgetfulness.

Both the eighth Fey God, River of Forgetfulness, and the ninth Fey God that represented the spatial dimension laws, Solitary Nothingness, represented the original space-time laws that were first formed in the universe’s chaotic state. Therefore, how could Yi Yun not be astonished when Old Snake mentioned that he could sense the aura of the River of Forgetfulness from the dried riverbed?

“Senior Old Snake, are you telling me this riverbed is what it looks like after the River of Forgetfulness withers away?”

“I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s just a distributary of the River of Forgetfulness. Perhaps the River of Forgetfulness’s waters had flowed in it at one time. Regardless, the Nine Li Magus Empire is a lot more mysterious than I originally guessed.”

While Yi Yun was conversing with Old Snake, Tenebrous City finally descended.

What appeared in front of Yi Yun was an ancient palace complex. Yi Yun saw the people living in the palaces. They were the people of the Nine Li Magus Empire but they looked no different from ordinary people.

In the middle of the palace stood a tall altar. Six massive columns, with each of them seemingly propping up the sky, maintained an ancient fortification array formation.

As for the dried riverbed, it did not end at the palace. Instead, it continued beyond the palace and stretched into the horizon with an unknown terminal point.

“We are here. I’ll bring you to meet the Magus Maiden,” said Aged Blackrock. When he said that, he walked straight into a palace.

Yi Yun silently followed. As for the others that had entered the Nine Li Magus Empire, they were still waiting outside the palace.

Yi Yun followed Aged Blackrock as he passed through numerous corridors. The Nine Li Magus Empire’s palaces were oddly quiet and there were few people in them. It was spartan, lacking the commonly seen rockery and streams of other palaces. Replacing those fixtures were ancient and mysterious totem sculptures, as well as Nine Li hex imprints everywhere.

“It’s here.”

Aged Blackrock pushed open a door that led into a hall. Yi Yun looked at the door. On both sides of it were twelve carvings. They were none other than the twelve Fey Gods. Of course, after the ninth Fey God, Solitary Nothingness, the remaining three spots were empty.

The engravings of the twelve Fey Gods contained the laws that each Fey God represented. It made anyone standing in the hall experience a strong shock.

And following that, Yi Yun saw the owner of the hall. She was a women with a black veil across her face.

The instant Yi Yun saw the woman, he felt an extremely familiar aura. He could not help but falter.

Had he seen this woman before?

His gaze could not help but land on the Nine Li Magus Maiden’s eyes. Searching through his memories, Yi Yun was astonished. The eyes resembled those of one person.

Huan Chenxue!

“You are…”

Yi Yun nearly blurted out the name Huan Chenxue but he immediately stopped himself from doing so.

He came to the realization that the Nine Li Magus Maiden in front of him was not Huan Chenxue. Although she had covered her face, he could sense minute differences between the aura effused by the Nine Li Magus Maiden and that of Huan Chenxue.

Huan Chenxue was like a lofty mountain in white snow. She reflected sunlight, pure and without blemish. Although she was cold, it made others wish to approach her.

As for the woman in front of him, her eyes were identical to Huan Chenxue’s. But they were not as clear as Huan Chenxue’s. Instead, they were like a deep, bottomless lake. And her aura was even more mysterious, like an Abyssal Red Lotus.

However, there was one aspect in which she was identical to Huan Chenxue. Yi Yun could not detect any energy fluctuations from her body.

She was only a mortal…

1341 - : River of Forgetfulness

CKtalon  CKtalon

It could’ve been a coincidence if only their eyes were similar, but the Nine Li Magus Maiden was also mortal. Her situation was identical to Huan Chenxue’s. That made a coincidence quite unlikely.

The two women must have been related somehow.

“Senior Old Snake, regarding this woman…”

Yi Yun questioned Old Snake. Since Old Snake knew Huan Chenxue, he naturally had to understand the secret behind the Magus Maiden.

However, Yi Yun never expected Old Snake to spend a while pondering before sending Yi Yun a voice transmission. “I do not know who she is either.”

“Senior, you don’t?” Upon hearing Old Snake’s words, Yi Yun was speechless. From Yi Yun’s point of view, Old Snake had lived for eons. He should’ve known a thing or two.

“What’s so strange about it? It’s not like I’m omnipotent and omniscient. That lass Chenxue’s race is even more ancient than my Soaring Serpent race. Although I have had some interaction with her, I do not fully understand the various secrets of that ancient secret race.”

…

“My young friend, Yi Yun. This is our Magus Maiden,” introduced Aged Blackrock.

At that moment, the black-dressed woman had already stood up. She walked towards Yi Yun. “Young Master Yi, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Sorry for troubling you by making you come all this way.”

Yi Yun cupped his fists and said, “Your Highness, it’s nothing. The Nine Li Magus Empire helped extricate me from a tough situation in Cloud Pool City, so how could it be a trouble?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, the Nine Li Magus Maiden gave a faint smile and said, “I heard from Senior Blackrock that although you were surrounded when he arrived, you appeared unflustered. I’m sure you would have extricated yourself from that perilous situation even without our help.”

The black-veiled woman’s voice was gentle and alluring. The way she spoke no doubt easily won a favorable impression from others.

Yi Yun smiled without a response. Instead, he asked, “Your Highness, I wonder what the Nine Li Magus Empire has invited me here for.”

The Nine Li Magus Maiden shook her head and said, “Young Master Yi, there’s no rush. My main goal in inviting you here is to acquaint myself with you. As for what must be done… I’ll bring you there to take a look. However, the matter is just too difficult. Perhaps you might not be able to complete it now, but there will come a day when it can be completed. When that happens, my Nine Li Magus Empire will definitely be eternally grateful.”

As the Nine Li Magus Maiden spoke, she stood up. Yi Yun and Aged Blackrock followed behind her as she went through a corridor and entered a massive square. There were already more than ten thousand people gathered there. These people were the alchemists and warriors from elsewhere.

The people from the Pillheart Sect were naturally there too.

“It’s Yi Yun. That little bastard is coming.”

Upon seeing Yi Yun, the Pillheart Sect members spoke in murmurs. As the saying goes, enemies see red the moment they meet. This was even more apparent when the Pillheart Sect realized that Yi Yun had received preferential treatment. He had been brought by Aged Blackrock to meet someone but they had been left waiting. They were naturally unhappy about it.

“Who is that woman?”

The Pillheart Sect crowd were baffled when they saw the Nine Li Magus Maiden. Wasn’t she a mortal?

Why would a mortal appear here? Furthermore, she seemed to be of high standing?

“Since all of you come from afar, join us in witnessing this.”

The Nine Li Magus Maiden did not mind the huge crowd in the square. She produced a tiny, exquisite dagger seemingly from nowhere and sliced her palm, causing it to drip blood.

The blood did not drip onto the ground and instead was absorbed by some energy. It flew into mid-air and the drop of blood seemed to land on an invisible water surface before disappearing. Simultaneously, the blood drop seemed to stir ripples across the water surface as beautiful ripples emanated outwards slowly.

“This is…”

At the moment the ripples appeared, people felt an ancient and vast aura inundate them. It made them feel like they had transmigrated to an ancient void where they witnessed the legends of the ancient world.

They saw an entrance appear in the middle of where the blood drop was. From the entrance, they could see the boundless edge of another massive world. That world seemed like a scene of devastation. It was filled with swaths of desert that resembled an ancient battlefield.

“Here is it. Those who want to see it, follow me.”

After the Nine Li Magus Maiden said that, she slowly walked into that world.

At that moment, the entrance had expanded to two hundred feet wide. After a slight hesitation, the crowd from the square began to shuffle in.

When they stepped into the desert, it felt like they were stepping on the vestiges of history from hundreds of millions of years ago. The crowd proceeded slowly until a dark red ancient runic pattern appeared beneath the sand. It seemed to turn the sand into blood.

It was a massive array.

Everyone was astonished. The massive array was no trifling matter. It was unknown what its purpose was.

And when Yi Yun stepped in, he felt something extremely familiar. It was…

“This world is a pocket world created by my Nine Li race. Senior Divine Alchemist had set up a massive array in this world. This array has already existed for a very, very long time. Its goal is to… nurture a pill.”

When the Nine Li Magus Maiden said those words slowly, everyone present felt a jolt.

Nurture a pill?

A massive array that filled a world was actually a Herb Nurturing Array!

There were many alchemists present. They knew how difficult it was to refine many pills. Alchemists would often choose to refine an incomplete pill before placing it in a massive array to nurture it for thousands of years before the pill would be ready.

But the massive array before them was not as simple as any ordinary Herb Nurturing Aray. Just from the numinous array patterns, they could appreciate how terrifying the massive array was.

“What pill is it that requires one to go to such great lengths?”

“It was said that Senior Divine Alchemist left something unfinished. Could it be this pill? Then, wouldn’t it mean that this array has been in operation for hundreds of millions of years?”

People realized this conundrum as they drew gasps. It would be extremely shocking to nurture a pill or herb for a hundred thousand years using typical Herb Nurturing Techniques. A million years of nurturing almost never happened. After all, Divine Lords only lived for a few million years.

What did it mean to nurture a pill for hundreds of millions of years!?

The Nine Li Magus Maiden nodded. “That’s right, this is a legacy of Senior Divine Alchemist. However, this array formation was not meant to be in operation for hundreds of millions of years. Unfortunately, Senior Divine Alchemist never returned after he left. He was unable to finish the pill within the array. And with Senior Divine Alchemist gone, no alchemist has been capable of finishing it. My Nine Li race has gathered alchemists from all over the world numerous times to study it but to no avail.”

“We have been maintaining the operation of this massive array all these years. The worldly essence that has been accumulated over hundreds of millions of years has reached an unimaginable amount. We do not know how much the pill within the array has evolved…” said the Nine Li Magus Maiden lightly. Every word she said left one astonished!

If that were the case, the value of the pill was beyond imagination!

“That is truly a huge commitment…” An alchemist who was advanced in his years said wistfully. “Only Senior Divine Alchemist could leave behind such a miracle. I will not be able to attain Senior Divine Alchemist’s level even after dedicating all my life to alchemy…”

“This array is too majestic in scale. We will probably not be able to complete it.” another alchemist said.

They had come hoping to broaden their horizons after hearing about the item the divine alchemist had left behind. They also had the wish that they might be able to complete the item left behind by the divine alchemist. If they succeeded, not only would they gain fame, they would also receive immense benefits.

But just from looking at the Herb Nurturing Array that had been in operation for hundreds of millions of years, they began bemoaning their inadequacies. How were they to complete an array of such massive scale?

Instantly, many alchemists decided to give up. All that was left was for them to broaden their horizons.

…

At that moment, an elderly voice resounded among the crowd. The person was an elder who wore a heavy cape.

“To think an unfinished Herb Nurturing Array frightens you that much. None of you even have the courage to probe the profundity of it. With such a disposition, how can you call yourselves alchemists?”

When they heard the elder’s words, the alchemists who had previously commented were enraged. Who was it that spoke so arrogantly!?

Just as they were about to retort, they instantly shut up when they saw who the caped elder was.

The elder was standing amongst the Pillheart Sect delegation. It was unknown why no one noticed him in the beginning.

And what was more shocking was that the Pillheart Sect’s True Lord Seven Kills was respectfully standing behind him.

“What…”

People knew True Lord Seven Kills’s standing in the Pillheart Sect. He was nearly equal to the sect master. There was only one person that could garner True Lord Seven Kills’s respect—Patriarch Pillheart.

“That elder is the Patriarch Pillheart!? The Patriarch Pillheart actually came here too?”

“Didn’t he seal himself in Bloodcull Jade? It has been more than a million years since he last showcased his skill.”

People were astounded. In order to extend their lifespans, patriarchs would seal themselves in Bloodcull Jade. Only when their sects experienced danger would they appear to ensure the light bestowed on the sect by providence lasted for tens of millions of years.

Old monsters that sealed themselves in Bloodcull Jade would have their lifespans greatly shortened every time they came out of it. People never expected that the Patriarch Pillheart would pay such a price to come personally for the divine alchemist’s legacy in the Nine Li Magus Empire!

1342 - : Divine Alchemist’s Legacy

CKtalon  CKtalon

Patriarch Pillheart was an illustrious figure. Legend said that he had become an alchemist sage millions of years ago. Furthermore, he was not only an alchemist sage, he was also extremely powerful. Although they had been insulted by him, the crowd present did not dare retort. All they could do was put up with his tirade.

“Since Patriarch Solitary is that confident, quickly complete this Herb Nurturing Array and broaden our horizons.”

Among the top alchemists among the ten-thousand-strong crowd, there were also other old fellows with great seniority. They did not agree with Patriarch Pillheart.

“The completion of the Herb Nurturing Array is definitely not something that can be done in a day or two. This array itself has been in operation for hundreds of millions of years. Spending a hundred years to complete would be considered too fast. If you have the patience, stay here and watch. If not, leave early,” Patriarch Pillheart said with a sneer. As death was approaching him, he became more eccentric. He did not care if he offended others.

From Patriarch Pillheart’s point of view, spending a hundred years or even a few centuries on studying the Herb Nurturing Array was a reasonable amount of time.

Many alchemists from large factions also had the same thoughts. To them, a few centuries wasn’t considered long. Furthermore, they could understand more of the divine alchemist’s Herb Nurturing Techniques from studying the array’s processes. They were bound to reap immense benefits.

Of course, to Yi Yun, a few centuries sounded ridiculous. He had only cultivated for slightly more than a hundred years to date.

Yi Yun silently observed the Herb Nurturing Array left behind by the divine alchemist. He also understood the source of that familiar aura—

This was because the Herb Nurturing Array had too many similarities with the Herb Nurturing Array in the Sun Burial Sandsea!

Yi Yun had personally entered the Sun Burial Sandsea’s Herb Nurturing Array. As he needed to help Ling Xie’er escape the array, he had conducted a detailed observation and study of the array patterns in the Sun Burial Sandsea.

Yi Yun felt that the Herb Nurturing Array in the Sun Burial Sandsea was more profound. It was a reasonable conclusion, as the Herb Nurturing Array in the Sun Burial Sandsea was the divine alchemist’s last piece of work.

Back then, the divine alchemist had left the Heretical God Fire Seed as well as the Divine Alchemy Cauldron in the Sun Burial Sandsea, in order to refine an Elixir of Resurrection. Unfortunately, he failed.

Regardless, a pill that made the divine alchemist set up a Herb Nurturing Array was destined to be extraordinary. It was understandable why it was so difficult to refine.

This left Yi Yun somewhat curious about the pill’s effects.

“Your Highness, sorry if I’m imposing. What pill is inside this Herb Nurturing Array?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s question, the Nine Li Magus Maiden sighed slightly. She did not give him a direct answer.

“I was only curious. Your Highness, it’s fine if you do not reveal it.”

The Nine Li Magus Maiden shook her head. “Actually, there is nothing much to be said. Its name is the Fate Changing Pill. One pill can change one’s fate, and reverse the effects of samsara.”

“Oh? The Fate Changing Pill?”

Upon hearing the name, Yi Yun felt a jolt through his heart. Samsara Fate sounded abstruse. It was so abstruse that one wouldn’t even know how to change it.

However, Yi Yun knew that Samsara Fate was a Great Dao law. However, there were fewer people that comprehended this Great Dao than the Chaos Dao. And those that truly grasped it was likely close to none.

Legends had it that if one grasped Samsara Fate, they would live a life similar to that of a god. One would control the samsara of all life.

At that stage, it was an unimaginable realm. No one present had any fate to be part of that.

Therefore, even though the Fate Changing Pill sounded impressive, Yi Yun did not know what it could be used for after it was successfully refined.

The Nine Li Magus Maiden seemed to read Yi Yun’s thoughts and said softly, “The Fate Changing Pill was prepared for me.”

“Oh? “What’s that?”

Yi Yun felt a jolt. Suddenly, he realized something.

“You can probably tell that I’m mortal. However, I was not born mortal. My fate has been changed by someone and now I’m cursed to undergo endless samsara, unable to cultivate or condense energy.”

When the Nine Li Magus Maiden said this, she sighed lightly. Yi Yun was astonished when he heard that.

Back when he met Huan Chenxue, he already made similar guesses but he was unable to confirm them.

“Your Highness, how are you able to live for such long periods of time if you cannot cultivate?”

The Nine Li Magus Maiden said wistfully, “Time is a terrifying force. Without being able to absorb the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, I’m no different from mortals. My lifespan is limited but my consciousness is indestructible. I can undergo samsara and be reproduced from Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, gaining new life.”

“I have no idea how many years it has been. I have repeatedly lived through samsara and even though my consciousness does not fade, I cannot escape the natal fog. Every time I’m reborn from the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, I have another portion of my memories sealed.”

“There are many things I cannot remember after all these generations. Perhaps I will recall these memories after I defy my fate…”

“I see…” Yi Yun muttered.

The Nine Li Magus Maiden definitely had an impressive origin. If not, no one would use a curse of the Heavenly Dao to deal with her. What would happen if a Fate Changing Pill could restore her?

Huan Chenxue too. What if Huan Chenxue could be restored as well?

Yi Yun wanted to ask the Nine Li Magus Maiden what her relationship with Huan Chenxue was, but he decided against it after some deliberation.

After all, he did not know the history behind the Nine Li Magus Maiden and Huan Chenxue. It would be terrible if they were enemies. It did not seem like the Mirage Sea Realm was the Nine Li Magus Empire’s match at all.

“Young Master Yi, this pill is extremely important to me. Unfortunately, the Herb Nurturing Array left behind by Senior Divine Alchemist is too complex. It will be a huge undertaking to fully understand it. I believe it will be extremely difficult for you. At least, it would be for your present self.”

“Young Master Yi, I invited you here mainly to acquaint myself with you. At the same time, I also wanted you to have some contact with this Herb Nurturing Array. I hope that, one day, you would be willing to help me when you are more accomplished in alchemy. My Nine Li Magus Empire would be eternally grateful.”

The Nine Li Magus Maiden’s words were honest and poised. She did not conceal her motives at all. She even mentioned her hopes of befriending him. Such irreproachable conduct was something Yi Yun liked.

“Your Highness, you are being courteous. I’ll do my best.”

Yi Yun was also very interested in the Fate Changing Pill. After all, Huan Chenxue probably needed it to recover as well.

However, Yi Yun also knew that replicating the divine alchemist’s Fate Changing Pill would be extremely difficult. There was, however, still some hope of him refining a weaker version of it. Together with the Mirage Snow sword that had something to do with Huan Chenxue’s curse, perhaps that was a chance he could restore Huan Chenxue to normal.

Of course, all of this depended on him being able to complete the Fate Changing Pill.

The massive array left behind by the divine alchemist was excessively grand. Completing was not going to be a simple task.

“Your Highness, if it’s convenient, I would like to enter the Herb Nurturing Array’s core to take a look before making a judgment.”

“Of course.”

The Nine Li Magus Maiden smiled and nodded. She personally accompanied Yi Yun into the deep depths of the array.

1343 - : Fate Changing

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Nine Li Magus Maiden’s mortality made it so that she lacked any form of life preservation. With so many riffraff in the crowd, it was naturally unsafe for her to walk through.

At that moment, behind the Nine Li Magus Maiden, Aged Blackrock pressed down on the air, forming an invisible wave that spread out. Anyone who came into contact with the wave was pushed back by a tremendous force. They retreated back further and further.

“What’s the matter?”

The crowd was infuriated. They were people of standing, so the sudden push made them unhappy. However, they did not dare protest because it was done by Aged Blackrock.

The wave went deep into the desolate lands, forming a path a hundred feet wide that was clear of any obstruction.

The Nine Li Magus Maiden stepped into the passage and said to the crowd, “I’m sorry. I’ve suffered from a frail body since I was very young. I can only inconvenience everyone to make way. Sorry to anyone I’ve offended.”

The Nine Li Magus Maiden’s voice was gentle, like a whistling wind in spring. It made the furious mob calm down.

“Who is this woman?”

They could tell that she enjoyed an extremely high status from the way Aged Blackrock treated her. She was definitely an important figure in the Nine Li Magus Empire.

But what really vexed them was that the path that was opened up by pushing them away was not only walked by the Nine Li Magus Maiden, but Yi Yun as well.

Yi Yun followed the Nine Li Magus Maiden and walked almost alongside her.

Everyone there was a true alchemist. Yi Yun was only a junior. What gave him the right to enjoy such preferential treatment?

People were unconvinced that Yi Yun deserved it, especially those from the Pillheart Sect. They were even more frustrated. Their Pillheart Sect had always been treated as esteemed guests no matter where they went. Yet here they were, reduced to being small players and belittled.

“Curmudgeon Solitary, you have always claimed that your Pillheart Sect is the number one alchemy sect in the Heavenly South Great World. But aren’t you still being pushed aside to make way for a junior and a mortal? It doesn’t seem that impressive to me!” said a white-dressed middle-aged man standing beside Patriarch Pillheart with a smile.

This white-dressed man was none other than Ouming Yin. Like Patriarch Pillheart, he too was an alchemist sage. Although he was generationally lower in standing than the Patriarch Pillheart, he thought highly of himself. He never showed much respect to the Patriarch Pillheart. This caused quite a rift between them.

“Isn’t it the same with you? You claim to be the number one genius in the world of alchemy but in the eyes of the Nine Li Magus Empire, you are nothing but shit,” said Patriarch Pillheart coldly.

That put an end to the verbal war with Ouming Yin, so instead the Patriarch Pillheart followed Yi Yun and the Nine Li Magus Maiden into the depths of the desolate plains.

He held back his anger for he wanted to fully comprehend the Herb Nurturing Array, smacking the Nine Li Magus Empire’s figurative face in the process. At the same time, he wanted to settle scores with Yi Yun. The Pillheart Sect’s Elders would not have died in vain.

Behind Patriarch Pillheart, many alchemists followed him into the desolate lands.

They walked rather slowly and, after an hour, they arrived in the middle of the Herb Nurturing Array.

“This is the array’s core.”

Although the alchemists that were present could not fully comprehend the Herb Nurturing Array, it was not difficult for them to identify its core.

At that moment, they saw Yi Yun begin to probe the area. He would stop in front of every array pattern for a moment to ponder over it.

When Patriarch Pillheart saw Yi Yun’s actions, his expression sank.

“This little bastard obtained the divine alchemist’s heritage out of sheer luck. Does he really think that he’s some figure of importance? There he is, deliberately acting mysterious and putting on a show.”

The Patriarch Pillheart knew that the Herb Nurturing Array was no trifling matter. If one’s cultivation level was lacking, it would be impossible to probe it. It was the same even if one knew the theory behind a tiny portion of the array patterns. Furthermore, how could the heritage left behind by the divine alchemist be so easy to fully understand?

“Blackrock!” Patriarch Pillheart spoke again. Although he was a lot younger than Aged Blackrock, he did not think himself as Aged Blackrock’s junior. He called to him directly. “The Nine Li Magus Empire has not mentioned what rewards it will offer if the pill inside this massive array is completed.”

When Patriarch Pillheart said that, everyone looked over. Instantly, the din subsided. Everyone looked at Aged Blackrock, for all of them were concerned about the question.

Aged Blackrock looked indifferently at Patriarch Pillheart and said, “Everyone has different needs. When the time comes, my Nine Li Magus Empire will naturally fulfill the needs of person who succeeds as a form of remuneration. By asking me this now, are you doubting that my Nine Li Magus Empire can afford it?”

“Hehe.” Patriarch Pillheart sneered. “How could that be? After all, we will be spending a century or two here. Isn’t it better to decide on the remuneration before we invest so much? Don’t you think so?”

“No.” Aged Blackrock disregarded him completely. “You seem to be mistaken on one point. My Nine Li Magus Empire has never invited your Pillheart Sect to study this array. It was one of your Elders named Seven Kills that kept pleading before I permitted all of you to follow. Why do you now speak as though your spending of a century or two here is sacrificing your time for the Nine Li Magus Empire? If you are unwilling to do so, just leave. If you want some remuneration, show at least some ability to complete this array before we negotiate any further.”

Aged Blackrock’s response left Patriarch Pillheart at a loss for words. He had a twisted expression on his face. There was nothing wrong in what was said. Indeed, his Pillheart Sect had tagged along voluntarily.

If this were any other time, the Patriarch Pillheart would have lost decorum. But now, he kept his calm.

Patriarch Pillheart said with a heavy expression, “You are thinking too lowly of the tens of millions of years of heritage my Pillheart Sect has. Although you are powerful, you do not know a thing about alchemy. Please do not draw wild conclusions or it will only end up incurring insult on yourself.”

“If the Pillheart Sect can complete this pill, I do not want anything from you. All I would ask is for the Nine Li Magus Empire to not interfere with the matter between the Pillheart Sect and Yi Yun!”

As the Patriarch Pillheart said that, he suddenly looked at Yi Yun with a cold glint in his eye.

Yi Yun stopped and turned to look at Patriarch Pillheart. He locked eyes with the old freak that had lived for tens of millions of years. The old freak had set his sights on him again after reeling off on his spiel.

“That can’t be done.” Aged Blackrock simply and directly rejected it.

“You…” Patriarch Pillheart burned with rage. He yearned to massacre the Nine Li Magus Empire but his strength was greatly lacking.

“If you cannot accept that, just leave. My Nine Li Magus Empire would not stop you.”

Aged Blackrock sneered inwardly. He did not care if the Pillheart Sect stayed. In the history of the Nine Li Magus Empire, they had invited alchemist sages to complete the array but all of them failed. What could a mere Pillheart Sect accomplish?

Aged Blackrock didn’t even put any hopes in Yi Yun. After all, it was too difficult to mend the array left behind by Senior Divine Alchemist. Its nurturing could produce something that could defy fate itself.

Just as the atmosphere turned tense, Yi Yun suddenly spoke out. “Senior Blackrock, thank you for speaking up for me. The Nine Li Magus Empire has already rendered a lot of help in my feud with the Pillheart Sect. I do not wish to trouble you any further.”

Yi Yun smiled and looked back at Patriarch Pillheart. He knew that the Pillheart Sect would definitely not let the matter rest since he was still carrying the divine alchemist’s heritage.

Besides, the Pillheart Sect had something Yi Yun needed. He needed the plantation methods for the Unwithering Grass so that he could make Longevity Extending Pills!

In fact, it was not only for Old Snake but for Yi Yun himself.

This plantation method involved the Pillheart Sect’s most valued divine item. It could also be considered the core foundations of the Pillheart Sect!

Yi Yun said, “Your wish that the Nine Li Magus Empire would not intervene in our feud isn’t anything at all. You want to obtain the divine alchemist’s heritage from me and I happen to want something from you…”

“What do you want?” Patriarch Pillheart frowned. Yi Yun’s indifferent expression made him extremely uncomfortable.

“Purple Numinous Herbal Soil!”

The Patriarch Pillheart’s expression changed drastically when he heard Yi Yun’s words.

The Pillheart Sect’s possession of the Purple Numinous Herbal Soil was one of its core secrets. How did Yi Yun know?

Yi Yun continued, “You wish to obtain the divine alchemist’s heritage without paying the price? Since you are that confident in your Pillheart Sect’s alchemical heritage, we can give it a try. If you can complete this array, I will personally request that the Nine Li Magus Empire not intervene in our feud. But if I succeed in doing it, I want fifty kilograms of Purple Numinous Herbal Soil from the Pillheart Sect!”

Back when Yi Yun killed Su Boyang and company, he had used Poison Demon to devour and search their souls. He knew how the Unwithering Grass was planted. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a problem with the technique but a result of the Pillheart Sect’s special herbal soil—Purple Numinous Herbal Soil.

Through the use of Purple Numinous Herbal Soil, Unwithering Grass could be constantly grown.

Purple Numinous Herbal Soil was extraordinary. It was also recorded in the divine alchemist’s manuals but even the divine alchemist had only received a tiny pot of the soil. Purple Numinous Herbal Soil was soil that had been stained with the blood of phoenixes and dragons, formed after absorbing the Heaven Earth essence for hundreds of millions of years.

Just like the Heretical God Fire Seed existed in this world, the soil also had its soil spirit that was even rarer.

If he obtained the Purple Numinous Herbal Soil, he could rear all sorts of spiritual herbs for double the results and half the effort!

1344 - : Item that must be obtained

CKtalon  CKtalon

Patriarch Pillheart narrowed his eyes as he looked at Yi Yun. He never expected that while the Pillheart Sect was trying to obtain Yi Yun’s divine alchemist heritage, Yi Yun was also plotting to obtain his Pillheart Sect’s Purple Numinous Herbal Soil.

This was akin to a lion almost catching a mouse, when the mouse suddenly and loudly proclaims that if the lion fails to catch it, the lion would have to slice off a piece of flesh for the mouse to eat.

How could Patriarch Pillheart not be angry?

“Do you really think that an ant like you who has only lucked out has the right to make a bet with my Pillheart Sect? Without the Nine Li Magus Empire protecting you, you would have long been crushed under my foot like an ant!”

As Patriarch Pillheart spoke, his aura was locked onto Yi Yun. He was like a primordial behemoth that was opening its mouth to devour Yi Yun.

But suddenly, a ice-cold chill befell the sky. It went from the back of his neck into his clothes, and all the way to the back of his feet. It left him stifled for a moment.

Then, he turned his head and saw Aged Blackrock staring coldly at him.

“Are you already turning a blind eye to my warning?” Aged Blackrock’s voice already contained killing intent. “Humans are truly forgetful. Perhaps my Nine Li Magus Empire has been silent for too long, and people have come to think that my Nine Li Magus Empire stands aloof from the world. Yet they forget which factions have been decimated by my Nine Li Magus Empire. I’ve been warning you repeatedly but you seem to completely ignore my words and instead, continue making a scene in my Nine Li Magus Empire. My patience is limited. Do you not believe that if I were to ever find out that the Pillheart Sect took action against Yi Yun, I could wipe the Pillheart Sect from the annals of history!?”

Aged Blackrock spoke slowly but every word seemed like a dagger that stabbed into Patriarch Pillheart’s heart.

Patriarch Pillheart’s heart froze up. He knew Aged Blackrock was not joking.

“You… My Pillheart Sect has a hundred thousand disciples in total. You would massacre my Pillheart Sect for a mere Yi Yun?”

His Pillheart Sect had been in existence for tens of millions of years and it had countless estates and businesses, with numerous disciples. Yet, Yi Yun had only lived for a century or two. This was akin to killing an elephant for an ant.

Aged Blackrock sneered and said, “Do you think decimating your Pillheart Sect is an impressive task? My Nine Li Magus Empire has watched hundreds of millions of years pass. Throughout this long history, too many sects have been destroyed. Your Pillheart Sect has only been in existence for thirty million years. That’s considered quite a while.”

Upon hearing Aged Blackrock’s words, Patriarch Pillheart was left reeling as though he had petrified. In his subconscious, he had indeed recognized the Nine Li Magus Empire as a supernatural existence. It would only fight with high and mighty factions and not intervene in other matters. He had forgotten that the Nine Li Magus Empire was truly a primordial behemoth. Aged Blackrock had vanquished numerous ancient factions.

Yi Yun remained silent as he stood to the side. The Nine Li Magus Empire was indeed a massive entity. They could easily destroy the Pillheart Sect on a whim.

Of course, Yi Yun knew that this was because the Nine Li Magus Empire had put high hopes on him, wishing that he could complete the heaven-defying Fate Changing Pill. Yi Yun was also determined to complete for his own reasons, no matter how difficult it was.

Patriarch Pillheart burned with anger as he looked at Yi Yun. But now, simply staring at Yi Yun left him shuddering in fear, much less cursing him. That was because the Nine Li Magus Empire was too terrifying. It could massacre an entire sect for no good reason. Who would dare try their luck against them?

“Oldie, you have some Purple Numinous Herbal Soil on you now, right? I can’t imagine that you would not have the most important wealth of the Pillheart Sect with you at all times. If you produce the Purple Numinous Herbal Soil, I can use the manuals left behind by my master to make a bet with you. Everyone here can be witness to it. I can swear on my Dao heart and will not be a sore loser.”

Yi Yun was bent on obtaining the Purple Numinous Herbal Soil. It had everything to do with his cultivation of the Dragon Emperor Technique.

As for the divine alchemist’s manuals, Yi Yun felt that he had no right to use the divine alchemist’s legacy as a bet. However, he was very confident about the Herb Nurturing Array. It was definitely not something so easily completed.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Patriarch Pillheart fell silent.

He did have twenty-five kilograms of Purple Numinous Herbal Soil on him. Although it was only a portion, the Purple Numinous Herbal Soil was extremely precious. It was what the Pillheart Sect relied on for survival. He had to ponder it seriously.

However, the divine alchemist’s heritage was just too alluring. He did not wish to abandon it for he knew very well that if he gave up the chance, he and the divine alchemist’s heritage would forever be parted. After all, the Nine Li Magus Empire had already said that they would wipe out his sect if they even tried to attack Yi Yun. Who would take that risk?

“You and I shall swear. Twenty-five kilograms of Purple Numinous Herbal Soil for all the manuals left behind by the divine alchemist. In addition, I want the Divine Alchemy Cauldron! The limit of the contest will be two hundred years! Whoever completes it first wins.”

When Yi Yun heard the two-hundred-year limit, he was stunned. That long?

Although Patriarch Pillheart had added the condition of the Divine Alchemy Cauldron and the amount of Purple Numinous Herbal Soil had been reduced to twenty-five kilograms, Yi Yun still nodded. “Deal!”

From Patriarch Pillheart and the other alchemist’s point of view, two hundred years was a very short amount of time. That amount of time was just enough to get them running.

No one expected that the situation would develop to this stage. Yi Yun, a junior, had made a bet with Patriarch Pillheart.

“This Yi Yun truly doesn’t know his place.”

“If not for the Nine Li Magus Empire, his challenge against Patriarch would be a joke.”

The Pillheart Sect disciples looked at Yi Yun as though he was a retard. In their eyes, Patriarch Pillheart was a godlike existence. He was peerless in the domain of alchemy after he became an alchemist sage a million years ago. He was the most experienced and powerful alchemist sage in the Heavenly South Great World at present.

Even the alchemist sage, Ouming Yin was Patriarch Pillheart’s junior.

Yi Yun couldn’t be bothered wasting his time with the Pillheart Sect. He turned towards the Herb Nurturing Array and began studying the array patterns meticulously.

And at that moment, Patriarch Pillheart surprisingly did not begin studying the array. People could see that Patriarch Pillheart had sealed off a portion of space, where he meditated within and breathed Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in and out. The Pillheart Sect disciples also placed long benches in the space. An unadorned incense cauldron was placed on all the benches. A fragrant incense stick was lit as they burned with spiraling smoke.

Patriarch Pillheart was preparing himself quietly in front of the incense cauldrons as though he was completely isolated from the world.

“It’s the Soul Oozing Incense. Each stick is worth more than a million middle-grade Spirit Jade. With twelve lit, it’s equivalent to burning more than twenty million Spirit Jade!”

Many alchemists present had a keen eye. They instantly recognized what incense Patriarch Pillheart was burning.

Top alchemists would follow a series of rituals before they refined any divine medicine. They would burn incense, bathe, and wash their hands. Some would even take a month to prepare themselves before they began any refinement.

This ritual was not done without reason. It was to allow one to reach the optimum state of mind.

The stage with the burning of incense was very particular. The incense burned were luxurious items made to enrich one’s soul.

The lighting of one incense stick could heal a sickly mortal and extend their lives. Its effects on alchemists were much lower but it was still expensive. And the Soul Oozing Incense was one of the best.

To alchemists, burning twenty million Spirit Jade in one shot might not be anything. However, this was only the first time. The studying of the Herb Nurturing Array would continue on for one or two centuries. The incense would continue burning in the future which meant burning immense amounts of Spirit Jade.

“The Pillheart Sect does have deep pockets. Just the simple ritual of burning incense puts many other factions in their place.”

Many a time, details meant everything. One did not need to count the number of experts a large sect had to determine its wealth. One could tell simply from the way they operated daily.

“A beard lathered is half shaved. The few days of easing one’s mind might be nothing compared to two hundred years. Just Senior Solitary’s cultivation of his mind far exceeds other alchemists!”

A black-clothed elder spoke. As he fawned over the Pillheart Sect, he looked disdainfully at Yi Yun. “Unlike others who are as anxious as a monkey. He hasn’t even taken in as many as a few breaths after arriving in the Nine Li Magus Empire before beginning to study the array. It would be ridiculous if he can figure out anything.”

From the elder’s point of view, such a profound Herb Nurturing Array needed a long period of time to comprehend. Being anxious only ran counter to one’s desires.

Yi Yun was indifferent to the discussion. At that moment, his mind was immersed in the Herb Nurturing Array, and he was completely focused…

1345 - : Soul Oozing Incense

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Patriarch Pillheart began meditating amid the incense, Ouming Yin had also begun conditioning his mind. He used a completely different method from Patriarch Pillheart. His was a special breathing technique to inhale and exhale the Heaven Earth essence.

People could see that the surrounding Heaven Earth essence automatically condensed into points of light, with him in the center of it all. The points of light gathered towards him.

After these points of light phased into Ouming Yin’s body, they naturally vanished. Slowly, Ouming Yin entered an ethereal state which followed the concept of “No Law, No Shape, No Void, No Me.”

“This is a Qi uplifting mystic technique that Ouming Yin inherited from his ancestors! The two alchemist sages are revealing their true abilities!”

The other alchemists were envious of Ouming Yin and the Pillheart Sect’s deep roots and mystic techniques. They did not possess such Qi uplifting mystic techniques and could only meditate the standard way. Although the effects were weaker, they had to make do with it.

Many alchemists had already begun studying the divine alchemist’s array. They held no illusion that they could crack the array but were only there to learn and broaden their horizons. The numerous array patterns all contained abstruse and profound alchemical knowledge. Understanding even a few of the array patterns was an opportunity in itself for them.

The Herb Nurturing Array was like a towering mountain, the peak of which they could not see. However, they had enough time to scale it just a little.

A few hours later, the meditating Ouming Yin suddenly retracted his aura. At the same time, Patriarch Pillheart opened his eyes. The Soul Oozing Incense was burnt clean!

They ended their Qi uplifting techniques simultaneously.

“Hehe, Curmudgeon Solitary, you opened your eyes the moment I retracted my aura. Why? Are you feeling anxious? Didn’t you take several days to uplift your Qi in the past? Why did you stop after only a few hours? Are you worried about losing that Purple Numinous Herbal Soil and the divine alchemist heritage? If that’s the case, wouldn’t the Soul Oozing Incense have been burnt for nothing?”

Ouming Yin looked at Patriarch Pillheart in a derisive manner.

But in response, Patriarch Pillheart only gave a sneer. Without a sound, he beckoned with his hand, producing a mark. That mark flew into the ground and, following that, an array rune lit up on that piece of ground.

The array rune was about ten feet long, and the rune on the surface coruscated as though it had come alive.

This is…

People looked at Patriarch Pillheart in astonishment. The alchemists who were ruminating over the array came to a stop without realizing it.

The array rune in front of them grew to an intense brightness, as if a tiny sun was being born!

This left them dumbfounded. Patriarch Pillheart had been meditating all this while and did not even spend any time studying the array rune. But now, the moment after he ended his meditation, his casual production of a mark was enough to trigger an array rune.

Seeing the resplendent array rune, everyone knew that it meant that Patriarch Pillheart had already understood the logic behind that particular array rune!

“How is he so fast?”

Everyone was astounded. Ouming Yin’s expression instantly darkened. In truth, accomplishing that didn’t necessarily mean much. He too could study an array rune and trigger it, but it would take time. Yet, Patriarch Pillheart had managed to do so almost instantly!

“You must have seen this array rune before,” said Ouming Yin in a deepened voice.

“Never seen it before.” Patriarch Pillheart sneered. “However, many things in this world stem from the same logic. Furthermore, I have seen a portion of the divine alchemist’s manuals, so I can naturally draw parallels and inferences. It was enough to instantly figure out the profundity behind it,” Patriarch Pillheart said proudly.

His words left people bemoaning their inadequacies before him.

The lot of them had studied for hours but had failed to make a chink in the profound array. Patriarch Pillheart had managed to see through one of the runes instantly. The difference was too massive.

“If this continues, won’t Patriarch Solitary be able to crack this Herb Nurturing Array soon?”

When an alchemist made that comment, even he found it unbelievable.

“It can’t be that fast… Patriarch Solitary already said he would take a century or two. However, there is no doubt that Patriarch Solitary is the person with the highest hopes of cracking this Herb Nurturing Array.”

Many people were convinced of that conclusion. At that moment, the Pillheart Sect disciples were extremely proud. Their patriarch was far more impressive than anyone else.

“This is how brilliant our patriarch is. I have long heard that our patriarch is peerless in alchemy. No one can match him and it’s truly my good luck that I managed to see him in action today.”

“I think even the divine alchemist was not much better than our patriarch. There might come a day when our patriarch will become the next divine alchemist.”

A few Pillheart Sect juniors discussed excitedly as if the person who cracked the array rune at a glance was them.

“What about that shortsighted Yi Yun?”

A Pillheart Sect disciple with tiny eyes suddenly recalled Yi Yun. Everyone looked up and scanned the area, and saw that Yi Yun was already deep in the desolate lands. They were baffled as to what he was up to.

“What an ambitious attempt without any sense of his pitiable limitations. His overestimation of his abilities is truly laughable,” the tiny-eyed disciple sneered.

However, just as he finished saying that, his voice came to a pause. Following that, he looked in astonishment at Yi Yun’s feet.

It was unknown when it had happened. But wherever Yi Yun walked, golden threads would appear.

The golden threads spread out like a spider web for hundreds of feet.

“What is… that?”

The tiny-eyed disciple was surprised. With him blurting out the question, many people looked in Yi Yun’s direction.

They only saw the golden threads twinkling randomly. Although the twinkling glows were not very obvious, they were increasing in number.

Gradually, the golden threads gathered together.

The dimness in the glow continued like ambers that had yet completely finished burning, suffusing the last bits of light.

“What’s so surprising about that? Patriarch cracked an array rune at a glance. This punk has been studying it for a long time. Making something happen after so long isn’t anything impressive.”

The tiny-eyed disciple kept up with his bluster but he was extremely astounded deep down. A godly person like the patriarch needed no explanation, of course he would make something happen. There was more than ten thousand people around and none of them had managed to cause a stir despite all this time. Yet, Yi Yun, someone who had yet to cultivate for two hundred years, was able to make the ground produce golden threads.

He didn’t even understand the golden threads so how could he not be jealous?

“Wait, that is…”

Someone suddenly discovered something unbelievable. He pointed towards the constantly amassing golden threads. They were already in the form of a golden blob of light and growing taller. One end had already separated from the ground.

Following that, a scene that dropped their jaws happened. The blob of light expanded in mid-air and flattened, forming a golden door of light!

The door was about ten feet tall. Its surface was shimmering like mercury. It was unknown where it led to.

And this door appeared right in front of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun looked at the door of light and gently exhaled. He turned to look at the Nine Li Magus Maiden behind him. “Let’s go in.”

“What…”

The Nine Li Magus Maiden looked at the door in shock too. She knew that Yi Yun had found the entrance to the array!

All these years, so many alchemists, even alchemist sages, had come to study the Herb Nurturing Array. Their strategy was to study the array outside in.

But Yi Yun, he was going to start taking action from within!

Nine Li Magus Maiden showed no hesitation. She glanced at Yi Yun as her eyes shimmered with a strange glint. She nodded and said, “Alright!”

Following that, Nine Li Magus Maiden followed Yi Yun and walked into the door!

Aged Blackrock was also extremely shocked. He never expected the young Yi Yun to accomplish such a feat. It was actually possible that he could complete the array one day!

He was worried for the Nine Li Magus Maiden’s safety, so he followed behind them.

At the next moment, the door vanished.

With the disappearance of the golden door, the desolate lands returned to their silent state as though none of the previous events had happened.

The ten thousand alchemists present, including Patriarch Pillheart and Ouming Yin, watched helplessly as the scene unfolded before them.

In that moment, Patriarch Pillheart’s old face was as black as a wok’s bottom.

“Patriarch, what did Yi Yun do…” The tiny-eyed disciple had yet to realize what had happened.

His question was like pouring salt on Patriarch Pillheart’s wounds.

The disciple was truly rubbing his nose into it. He stared at the Pillheart Sect disciple. Yi Yun had found the array’s entrance by himself but his Pillheart Sect’s junior did not even understand what Yi Yun had done. This comparison made Patriarch Pillheart suddenly feel like the painstaking efforts he put into the Pillheart Sect were for nothing. He had nurtured a bunch of trash!

Patriarch Pillheart did not respond. But the abhorrent look in his eyes was enough to make the tiny-eyed disciple tremble. He realized he had said something wrong, something that incurred the patriarch’s disgust.

The tiny-eyed disciple felt as though he had been punched in the head. A junior disciple like him was loathed by the patriarch?

“Yi Yun has entered the Herb Nurturing Array’s interior!”

A Pillheart Sect elder could not tolerate seeing the junior in such a state, so he sent a Yuan Qi voice transmission to alert him.

But this alert scared the disciple out of his wits. “He entered the array’s interior and will study the array from the inside?”

It was obvious what the difference between studying something from the inside and from the outside was.

The ten-thousand-strong alchemists present also understood what Yi Yun had done.

Everyone looked at each other, all at a loss for words. Previously, they thought Yi Yun was studying the array runes. But in fact, Yi Yun was only finding the array’s entrance.

The spot he stood at from the beginning had already exceeded them. This was built on the foundation of ability. Even if they wanted to study it from the inside, they could not find the entrance.

“Can we enter too?”

Many people looked at Patriarch Pillheart.

Yi Yun’s actions might have astounded them but Patriarch Pillheart had managed to figure out an array rune instantly. He was even able to trigger it. That had also far exceeded their expectations.

Perhaps Patriarch Pillheart would be able to find the entrance to the array too!

The Pillheart Sect disciples were extremely confident in their patriarch. They imagined that when their patriarch found the entrance, they could enter together. They were bound to gain more insights in the Herb Nurturing Array’s interior!

Patriarch Pillheart walked deep into the desolate lands with a sunken expression. He wanted to search for the array’s entrance.

Ouming Yin followed as well. His expression was equally ugly. Thinking back to the scene of him using the Qi uplifting technique, he realized he had done so for nothing. Compared to Yi Yun, his actions only made him look like a retard.

1346 - : Changes in the Massive Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Yi Yun entered the Herb Nurturing Array, he felt like he had stepped into an abyss. There was a dark, twinkling red light that made him feel strangely suffocated. The Herb Nurturing Array’s interior had gathered Heaven Earth Yuan Qi for hundreds of millions of years. Warriors with weaker cultivations would be unable to withstand such an environment at all.

“Be careful.”

Aged Blackrock raised a thin barrier, enveloping Nine Li Magus Maiden within.

As for Yi Yun, he did not enter the barrier. He didn’t even circulate his own Yuan Qi. Instead, he stood right in the turbulent Yuan Qi flux, fully experiencing the baptism of its energies.

“My young friend, Yi Yun. This is the array that Senior Divine Alchemist left behind. It has experienced hundreds of millions of years of constant activation. It’s hard to tell if any danger will present itself,” warned Aged Blackrock.

“It’s alright.” Yi Yun took a deep breath, inhaling the rich Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. He saw dark red lava flowing not far from him. Everything here was very familiar to him. The Herb Nurturing Array was nearly identical to the massive array in the Sun Burial Sandsea.

The only difference was that the array in the Sun Burial Sandsea had been buried underground for a long period of time. It nearly went into a hibernative state.

As for the massive array he was in now, the Nine Li Magus Empire had maintained its operations year after year. It retained its active state.

“Phew–”

The surging heat waves inundated Yi Yun. The temperature of the flames was not far from that of the astral fire Yi Yun experienced back in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

However, it was naturally nothing for Yi Yun. With the Heretical God Fire Seed, the heat waves could not affect Yi Yun at all.

Aged Blackrock was somewhat surprised seeing Yi Yun walk through the flames in such a composed manner. He never expected Yi Yun’s attainment in fire-elemental laws to be that high. He could not help but raise his evaluation of Yi Yun by several notches. The hope he placed on Yi Yun also increased.

“This fire-elemental Yuan Qi is too strong.”

Nine Li Magus Maiden peered at the stirring heat waves outside the barrier. She felt as though she was walking through Earth fire lava.

“If I didn’t guess wrong, there will be a special fire seed in the middle of this array.”

Back when Yi Yun entered the Sun Burial Sandsea, he found the Heretical God Fire Seed. It was also the core of the worldly array.

As for the Herb Nurturing Array he was in, its array formation was mostly identical to the one from before. Therefore, according to this reasoning, its core should also have a fire seed.

The only question was the level of the fire seed.

He sensed the direction in which the fire-elemental Yuan Qi was richest before heading towards it.

Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden followed behind. Following that, the flames turned stronger. But it was naturally nothing to Aged Blackrock. His Yuan Qi barrier easily withstood any heat wave.

Soon, Yi Yun arrived in front of a dark-red ocean.

The lava churned into tidal waves, as surging gases distorted space itself. To those watching from afar, it formed a picturesque but strange scene.

Yi Yun flew up and slowly floated across the lava ocean, preparing to fly into the deepest depths of it.

However, just as he came above the lava ocean, Yi Yun frowned slightly. This was an active array after all. Furthermore, he was already in the array’s interior. Trying to traverse it would not be easy. If he got lost within, trying to leave would be problematic.

Yi Yun recalled the worldly array in the Sun Burial Sandsea. Although he had entered the array himself, there were many setups within it Yi Yun needed time to ruminate over.

“Brother Yi Yun, go here.”

At that moment, Ling Xie’er’s Yuan Qi voice transmission sounded in Yi Yun’s mind. She was using her mental strength to directly point out a path for Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was delighted. “Xie’er, you know the path?”

“Yea… the core of this massive array is identical to the array I was in.”

Ling Xie’er had spent hundreds of millions of years in the massive array in the Sun Burial Sandsea. It could even be said that Ling Xie’er was a portion of the Sun Burial Sandsea’s array itself. Her knowledge of the array formation far exceeded Yi Yun’s.

However, walking into the array and fixing the array, thereby completing the Fate Changing Pill, were two very different processes.

“Alright.”

With Ling Xie’er guiding the way, Yi Yun was saved a lot of effort. Otherwise, seeking a path would have been quite a problem for Yi Yun.

“Senior Blackrock, follow me closely. Walk wherever I step.”

Every step Yi Yun took, he would leave a Yuan Qi mark behind to lead the way for Aged Blackrock.

Although Ling Xie’er was leading the way, Yi Yun still took hours to fully traverse the fiery sea.

Finally, Yi Yun felt an enshrouding mist inundate him. The heat wave suddenly vanished, and through the mist Yi Yun could see an island.

This was a fascinating island located in the middle of the lava ocean.

It spanned about a thousand feet wide and its soil was dark red. Right in the middle was an emerald green lake.

Yi Yun took a deep breath. He knew that be it the island or the lake, they were manifestations of nomological array runes. They were a part of the Herb Nurturing Array that the divine alchemist left behind.

Yi Yun came in front of the lake. It was filled with clean and pure water essence.

“It’s actually the fusion of water and fire refinement methods…” Yi Yun muttered to himself.

The refinement of pills was mainly done through fire refinement, but there were also water refinement methods. Mortals brewed their medicine with water, eventually creating a herbal concoction. Alchemists would also use such methods but they were more unorthodox. Few people used them.

The divine alchemist had actually chosen to combined the two methods to refine the Fate Changing Pill…

Yi Yun walked to the lake’s side and looked into the water.

In the emerald-green lake, Yi Yun saw the shadow of a cauldron. The cauldron had eight chains wrapped around it. It was sitting silently at the bottom of the lake.

A Herb Nurturing Array needed a cauldron as a vessel. It was the same with the worldly array back in the Sun Burial Sandsea. Furthermore, the array used back then was the divine alchemist’s Divine Alchemy Cauldron. In terms of quality, it was much better than this cauldron.

When Yi Yun shifted his gaze onto the cauldron and focused on it, he was stunned. Unbelievably, he saw a blurry figure slowly condensing above the cauldron.

The figure was affected by the water waves, constantly phasing as a result. Her facial features were beautiful and her eyes were shut. She was lying in the middle of the water, with her hands by her chest. Her legs were slightly bent.

She had a long and slim body, with fair and silky-smooth skin. Her black hair flailed behind her. She was stark naked inside the lake, as though she was a beautiful jade immersed in water.

And her skin seemed to envelop a layer of sunglow. It truly resembled the first light of dawn, like a silent jade immersed in waters.

The instant he saw the girl, Yi Yun was agape. He was momentarily embarrassed.

He never expected to see such a scene.

With his acute senses as an alchemist, he could tell at a glance that the girl was a manifestation of the Fate Changing Pill. And the girl’s figure and eyes were identical to Nine Li Magus Maiden’s. Furthermore, she looked completely like Huan Chenxue.

He was stunned for a moment before he slowly turned back and blushed, when he saw Nine Li Magus Maiden behind him.

She noticed Yi Yun’s gaze and furrowed her brows slightly. “What’s the matter?”

“I might have seen the pill. It’s a little unexpected. It’s in the form of a girl but… it’s a little inconvenient…”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Nine Li Magus Maiden seemed to realize something.

“Elder Blackrock, stay behind,” said Nine Li Magus Maiden to Aged Blackrock.

Aged Blackrock nodded and stayed in his spot. Nine Li Magus Maiden walked forward and came to Yi Yun’s side.

She looked into the lake as her eyes flashed with a look of astonishment.

“This…” Nine Li Magus Maiden stared intently at the figure for a while. She never expected that the pill Yi Yun mentioned was actually herself.

1347 - : Silent Jade Immersed in Waters

CKtalon  CKtalon

“This is the Fate Changing Pill?”

Nine Li Magus Maiden asked in disbelief.

“I guess so…” Yi Yun nodded. The figure of the girl was likely the divine pill that had been nurtured for hundreds of millions of years.

The divine pill was formed from Heaven Earth essence. A refined divine pill would usually manifest some sentience. There were even legends of divine pills manifesting as divine beasts or divine trees after they were refined, allowing them to continue the process of refinement and cultivation.

So-called Heaven Earth sentient beings were as such. Many desolate beasts or powerful Fey were born from the Heaven and Earth.

However, the Fate Changing Pill was not only in the simple shape of a girl, it also contained a portion of the Nine Li Magus Maiden’s aura.

Yi Yun looked at Nine Li Magus Maiden with a hint of embarrassment.

Although the girl was a divine pill, she was identical to Nine Li Magus Maiden. He was looking at her nude body right in front of Nine Li Magus Maiden. It felt strange no matter what the circumstances were.

He said, “The Fate Changing Pill is meant to defy the heavens and change fate itself. This one was created to change the fate of Your Highness. Senior Divine Alchemist seems to have refined a pill that conceived a wisp of Your Highness’s soul.”

Nine Li Magus Maiden nodded. She looked at the identical girl in front of her before she sighed lightly. “I have waited so long for this pill…”

Only the Nine Li Magus Empire knew how much it had invested in this pill.

Yi Yun looked at the slumbering girl in the lake as he ruminated.

He could sense that the cauldron in the middle of the lake had a fire plume inside of it.

That was one of the core aspects of the massive array. Although the fire-elemental Yuan Qi in the array was extremely rich, it was quite inferior to that of the Heretical God Fire Seed.

That wasn’t a surprise. The Heretical God Fire Seed was one of the best fire seeds in the world. Even the divine alchemist would find it difficult to possess two fire seeds on that level.

He would naturally leave the best fire seed for his daughter in hopes of refining the most heaven-defying Elixir of Resurrection. As for the fire seed that was slightly inferior, he left it with the Nine Li Magus Empire.

It was the same with the cauldron…

Upon realizing this, Yi Yun extended his hand and beckoned. “Xie’er.”

A lively girl immediately appeared beside Yi Yun.

Ling Xie’er was standing with bare feet above the lake. Instantly, the surface of the emerald-green lake was engulfed in flames. The flames immediately danced as though they were fishes playing hide and seek between Ling Xie’er’s feet.

The burning flames and the girl’s fair toes. Two things that should not have appeared together seemed to exist in peaceful harmony.

Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden were surprised by the sudden appearance of Ling Xie’er. With their powers of discernment, they could naturally grasp that she was an extraordinary being.

“This little girl sure is lively,” praised Nine Li Magus Maiden.

“I’m just curious. What are you planning to do by summoning this little girl?” asked Aged Blackrock.

“I’m going to try and see if I can switch the array’s fire.” Yi Yun looked at Ling Xie’er. In alchemy, the fire was extremely important.

If the fire was insufficient, a divine pill could end up destroyed.

If this weren’t the case, many alchemists or even divine alchemists would not go to the painstaking efforts they usually did in order to obtain an excellent fire seed.

From Yi Yun’s point of view, the fire in the Herb Nurturing Array was clearly insufficient.

He wished to use the Heretical God Fire Seed to replace the relatively inferior fire seed. However, doing so was not easy.

“Xie’er, can you do it?”

“Yes, I can.” Ling Xie’er beamed and sent Yi Yun a voice transmission. “I think I’ve seen this fire before. It will listen to me. Besides, I understand this array too.”

“Then, give it a try. Remember not to force it,” said Yi Yun gently.

Ling Xie’er immediately nodded. “Alright, Brother Yi Yun.’

She leaped up and immediately, like a fish, entered the lake and began swimming in it.

The lake was filled with the essence of water, the complete opposite of Ling Xie’er. But reality proved that when the water essence met Ling Xie’er, it was like a pet seeing its owner. It parted obediently.

Soon, Ling Xie’er arrived in front of the girl. She easily passed through the girl without any obstruction, and entered the cauldron.

Slowly, the Yuan Qi above the emerald-green lake’s surface began transforming. The essence in the lake turned greener.

But Yi Yun knew that if someone were to enter the depths of the lake, they could possibly have their souls burned away.

Immediately following that, a red fire seed flew out from the bottom of the lake. It was grasped by Yi Yun, who was already prepared.

The fire seed struggled in Yi Yun’s palm for a moment before transforming into the form of a tiny snake.

“South Li Fire.” Yi Yun identified the fire seed. The fire seed had been recorded in the divine alchemist’s notes.

The South Li Fire lacked intelligence. Its fear of Ling Xie’er was only instinctual.

But even so, it was still extremely precious.

Yi Yun planned on handing this fire seed to Ling Xie’er and allowing her to devour it. With that, he said to Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden, “Excuse me, this fire seed is of use to me. I wonder if perhaps I could keep this fire seed?”

“Of course, if I fail to refine the Fate Changing Pill, I will not remove the fire seed,” said Yi Yun.

Nine Li Magus Maiden replied, “If you do manage to refine the Fate Changing Pill, the fire seed would no longer be of use to us. Young Master Yi, if you want it, you can naturally have it.”

Yi Yun nodded. He first put away the South Li Fire.

At that moment, Ling Xie’er had completely replaced the South Li Fire, fusing with the array, becoming the new array fire for the Herb Nurturing Array.

It was not difficult for Ling Xie’er to do any of this.

However, switching the array fire was not enough.

Yi Yun still needed to switch the cauldron, but it was not a simple task.

Yi Yun needed to fully understand the Herb Nurturing Array to be able to replace the cauldron without damaging the pill.

Yi Yun understood the divine alchemist’s notes and he had Ling Xie’er helping him. No matter how abstruse the Herb Nurturing Array was, Yi Yun was pretty confident about it. However, he needed time. And to eventually complete the Herb Nurturing Array, he needed his cultivation to support the process. Yi Yun felt that his strength fell short of his ambition at the moment.

“Your Highness, Senior Blackrock, I plan on entering seclusion for a period of time. Perhaps it will take quite a while. My present cultivation level is insufficient for completing this array,” said Yi Yun.

Having seen Yi Yun switch the array fire with his own eyes, Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden, who were only hoping to give it a shot, now began to look forward to Yi Yun’s refinement of the pill.

Of course, it was an extraordinarily difficult thing to do. There were many alchemist sages in history that had offered many unique explanations but they all eventually failed.

“Not a problem.” Aged Blackrock nodded. With a thought, he added, “If our young friend Yi Yun wishes to cultivate, my clan has a mystic ground. If you were to cultivate there, you might obtain unexpected benefits.”

“Oh? A mystic cultivation ground?” Yi Yun’s heart was stirred.

“This mystic ground is the core of my clan. In fact, I was planning on bringing you there after your attempt at completing this Herb Nurturing Array was over…”

1348 - : South Li Fire

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Senior, thank you very much.” Yi Yun gratefully accepted the offer.

Yi Yun led Aged Blackrock out of the array. They did not go to the desolate lands again and instead headed straight for the Nine Li Magus Empire’s palace.

Yi Yun knew that Patriarch Pillheart and the rest were likely searching for a way to open the array’s entrance. In response, Yi Yun specifically requested Ling Xie’er to think of means to prevent them from entering.

It was not easy to enter the Herb Nurturing Array to begin with. And with Ling Xie’er now in the position of the array’s fire seed, she could easily cause trouble for them. Therefore, she would have no trouble keeping them out.

Yi Yun followed Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden to an altar. There, he saw a teleportation array.

The teleportation array was situated on the dried river bed. It effused a strange aura that seemed to lead to somewhere unknown.

The trio entered the teleportation array together.

From where they were, the riverbed continued to a distant spot where they could see the river extend into the abyss. There was an indescribable feeling one felt while standing there, because it felt like time had come to a pause.

It was unknown how long the river that seemed like the River of Forgetfulness had been dried up for. It was truly fascinating that it could still give one such a feeling.

At that moment, Aged Blackrock produced a few hand seals, activating the teleportation array immediately. The scene before Yi Yun’s eyes went into a blur as spatial fragments constantly brushed past him. He couldn’t tell how far they were traveling.

After a long while, Yi Yun finally felt his feet make contact with solid ground.

Yi Yun immediately saw that he was standing on a mountain peak that sat on a vast and ancient land.

Looking down, there were endless cliffs with no vegetation. Nor were there any biological auras. Amid the sand and gravel, there was a rich cadaveric air emanating throughout the area.

Yi Yun could not help but be alarmed when he sensed it.

Where is this?

What shocked Yi Yun even more was that he saw a riverbed that stretched across the land in a ceaseless manner.

“It’s the River of Forgetfulness…” Yi Yun never expected that the River of Forgetfulness would continue on for such a distance, even reaching where they were.

And the riverbed here was many times wider than the riverbed in the Nine Li Magus Empire. Perhaps, this was where the River of Forgetfulness’s was widest.

“You know about the River of Forgetfulness?” Aged Blackrock was somewhat astonished before he shook his head and said, “This isn’t the real River of Forgetfulness, just a distributary of the River of Forgetfulness. My Nine Li Magus Empire began from one of the River of Forgetfulness’s distributaries.”

Aged Blackrock’s words made Yi Yun’s heart skip a beat. This vast river bed was only one of the many distributaries?

“This place has existed for a very, very long time. The history here far exceeds one’s imagination.”

Nine Li Magus Maiden walked forward a step, looked into the distance, and said softly, “We will never know what this place used to be. We are currently in a place called the Ancient Ruins world. Some people say that this is what the real Sinkhole is. It is the source of the Sinkhole in ancient times.”

“My young friend Yi Yun, let’s head to the mystic ground,” said Aged Blackrock.

The teleportation array was located on a mountain range. And among the mountain range was a deep valley. When one looked up from the bottom of the valley, all they could see was a thin line of the sky. However, this sky was different from other places. It was not blue with astronomical objects dotting it. Instead, there were constantly twinkling spatial fragments.

“This entire mountain range belongs to my Nine Li Magus Empire. There is a defensive array that is perennially activated. And once you enter the mystic land, there will be even more array formations concealing and protecting you. You can be absolutely certain of your safety inside.” Aged Blackrock explained as they proceeded forward.

Yi Yun could not help but ask, “Are there any other dangers here?”

“There aren’t. However, the Ancient Ruins world is extremely expansive, with limitless profound mysteries. The most powerful factions in the Sinkhole will attempt to occupy a territory in the Ancient Ruins world, and all the Nine Li Magus Empire has accomplished is to occupy a tiny area,” explained Nine Li Magus Maiden.

Aged Blackrock wanted to elaborate but he decided not to. After all, Yi Yun was only there to enter seclusion and so shouldn’t encounter problems.

The trio walked slowly in the valley that was void of life. Yi Yun could sense that he was passing through layers of membranes that emitted a terrifying aura. Clearly, those were the defensive array formations that Aged Blackrock had mentioned.

As they proceeded deep into the valley, a riverbed appeared in front of Yi Yun. Surrounding the wide riverbed were two towering cliffs.

The topographical features here effused a primordial aura. The riverbed went under the mountain.

Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden brought Yi Yun deep inside where there was a cave entrance. “We are here.”

Yi Yun was standing in front of the cave’s entrance when his pupils instantly constricted.

In the cave, there was a small deep pool.

The deep pool was about the size of a bowl. However, the black water within appeared bottomless. Such an endless pool seemed to go deep into the netherworld.

“This water is very shallow.” Nine Li Magus Maiden walked to the side of the pool.

She extended her slim hand into it.

Instantly, the black water parted as the Nine Li Magus Maiden’s hand extended to the bottom.

Yi Yun was astonished. It was not a deep pool at all. It was like the rain water that gathered in potholes after a light drizzle.

However, the black water in front of him was not as simple as rain water.

“This is the water from the River of Forgetfulness,” said Nine Li Magus Maiden.

Water from the River of Forgetfulness?

Yi Yun gasped. The River of Forgetfulness was one of the twelve Fey Gods. Although he had come into contact with a few items related to the twelve Fey Gods over the years, he was still a great distance away from the actual twelve Fey Gods. Yi Yun never expected to encounter a tiny pool of the River of Forgetfulness!

A distributary of the River of Forgetfulness that had been dried up for hundreds of millions of years actually still had some of its water left in this cave. The Nine Li Magus Empire not only had the dried River of Forgetfulness, it also had some of its water. It was difficult to imagine how ancient its history was.

“The River of Forgetfulness’s water can only exist in the River of Forgetfulness. When it leaves the River of Forgetfulness, it will dissipate into nothingness,” said Nine Li Magus Maiden. “This water contains the power of time. Drinking it will allow one to have eternal youth, as though one’s face is no longer affected by time.”

“One will not age visibly?” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. “Can it extend one’s life?”

“No…” Nine Li Magus Maiden shook her head gently. “Although one will have eternal youth, they will not be able to escape the samsara of life. One’s end will eventually come. The day one is fated to die is the day one will die.”

“Is that so…”

The effects of eternal youth Nine Li Magus Maiden mentioned were very attractive to warriors. But compared to an actual rise in cultivation level, it paled in comparison.

Yi Yun did not believe that the River of Forgetfulness’s water only had the effect of giving one everlasting youthfulness.

Nine Li Magus Empire continued, “There is another interesting effect of drinking the River of Forgetfulness’s water. Young Master Yi, you can experience it for yourself. In fact, this pool of water from the River of Forgetfulness was meant to be given to you as remuneration after you refine the pill. But now, I shall give it to you ahead of time.”

Yi Yun had gotten Ling Xie’er to replace the original array fire, so the Nine Li Magus Empire was naturally not going to be stingy as they rewarded him ahead of time.

Besides, Yi Yun’s cultivation level was insufficient. By helping Yi Yun increase his cultivation level, they would aid in Yi Yun’s completion of the Herb Nurturing Array.

“This is too tremendous a gift.” Yi Yun felt a little embarrassed. He hadn’t really done anything at this point.

Nine Li Magus Maiden shook her head. “Young Master Yi, there’s no need to stand on ceremony. The Fate Changing Pill is many times more important to me than the water from the River of Forgetfulness. Although the water from River of Forgetfulness is precious. this mountain cave will produce a tiny amount of it every thousand years. This is the core mystic ground of my Nine Li Magus Empire.”

“In addition, Young Master Yi should have already noticed that the Ancient Ruins world is odd in many ways.This mystic land of my Nine Li Magus Empire is one of those mystical places in the Ancient Ruins world. The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and the nomological fragments are much richer here than in the outside world.

“Then I’ll thank you, Your Highness. Thank you, Senior Blackrock.” Yi Yun was not a pretentious person so he thanked them solemnly.

The Nine Li Magus Empire had provided him with a mystic land and the precious water of the River of Forgetfulness. It represented the sincere belief the Nine Li Magus Empire had in him.

Yi Yun knew that by providing the cultivation mystic land to him, the Nine Li Magus Empire was basically sacrificing resources that could have been given to its own geniuses. Yi Yun was one to square things of with others be it a grudge or kindness. By providing Yi Yun the River of Forgetfulness’s pool of water, they received Yi Yun’s heartfelt gratitude.

After bidding Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden farwell, Yi Yun went deep into the pool where he sat cross-legged.

To warriors, entering a few decades of seclusion was nothing. Cultivation knew no time.

“I wonder what special effects the water of the River of Forgetfulness will provide when I drink it.”

Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden did not elaborate. This piqued Yi Yun’s interest towards the water.

Water that contained the powers of time sounded extraordinary.

Yi Yun meditated for a moment before beckoning with an outstretched arm.

Immediately, the pool transformed into a flux of water that headed towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun opened his mouth and imbibed it like alcohol, drinking the water from the River of Forgetfulness.

As the water entered his body, Yi Yun gradually felt that his body had entered an independent space. It was quite a spectacular feeling. When he cast his gaze out, everything in that world seemed to turn evanescent as though he was watching it from the opposite side of the river of time.

Yi Yun had comprehended space-time laws. He had even condensed a nine-leaf space-time Dao fruit. His sharp senses allowed him to feel that the time passing in his body was different from that of the outside world. Or it could be said that, he and the surrounding world were in completely different spaces.

The time which flowed for him was many times faster than his surroundings. However, Yi Yun could accurately grasp every second. It was as though the water of the river of time were flowing through his fingers drop by drop, allowing him a perfect grasp of time.

This was a very miraculous state. Was this the effect of the River of Forgetfulness’s water?

Yi Yun made some inferences and believed that what he experienced as one or two years would be only a month in the outside world.

Drinking the River of Forgetfulness’s water allowed Yi Yun’s time efficiency to increase by at least twenty times!

Despite the twentyfold increase in time, he was ensured to have an absolute grasp of time.

Furthermore, Yi Yun remembered that the Nine Li Magus Maiden had said that the River of Forgetfulness’s water did not extend one’s life. The day one was fated to die was the day one would die.

Yi Yun originally thought that it was a limitation of the water’s powers but now he knew. It was a manifestation of the water’s powers.

This was equivalent to allowing Yi Yun to experience a period of time twenty times more than the actual time that passed in his life. This made his foundation turn more robust as it experienced long periods of time. Best of all, it would not expend any of Yi Yun’s vital potential!

“So this is the power of the River of Forgetfulness’s water.” Yi Yun felt like he had discovered a door to a brand new world as his eyes flickered in a different light.

1349 - : Ancient Ruins

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the solitary cave, Yi Yun began circulating the Dragon Emperor Technique. The rich surrounding Yuan Qi immediately began surging toward Yi Yun like he was a whale sucking in water.

Soon, Yi Yun’s body formed a Yuan Qi vortex.

Every breath Yi Yun took was the inhaling and exhaling of the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the ancient world.

Yi Yun’s blood surged and rumbled like a raging river, coursing through his entire body again and again.

Just as great oaks grow from little acorns, Yi Yun was honing his body. As he fortified his foundation, his cultivation level was turning purer and more intricate.

Even without the River of Forgetfulness’s water, Yi Yun could have done such a honing of his foundation. But it would have taken too much time. It might have taken decades or even more than a century.

Despite having cultivated in martial arts for so long, Yi Yun had always been rushing his cultivation. He never had the time to focus on honing his foundation as he did now.

The River of Forgetfulness’s water had fully fused with Yi Yun’s body. He sensed that the time he experienced was accelerating at a speed much faster than the time of the world around him. There was nearly a thirty times difference.

A time difference of thirty times meant that Yi Yun would experience a month while a day passed in the outside world.

At such a speed, Yi Yun could enter seclusion for two years and have sixty years’ worth of cultivation.

To Yi Yun, who had only lived for a hundred plus years, using sixty years to hone his foundation would be quite an extravagant matter. It wasn’t only Yi Yun, even other young geniuses would be unwilling to do so. It would waste the massive vital potential they had in their youth. However, Yi Yun had no such worries after imbibing the River of Forgetfulness’s water.

“I have cultivated for more than a hundred years and time has never been on my side. I have never slowed down my cultivation speed but my cultivation level already far exceeds my peers. Although I would never suffer an unstable foundation due to the nine-leaf Dao fruits that I condensed, my cultivation is still too fast. Today, I can properly fortify my cultivation. I will use all the time I earned from drinking the River of Forgetfulness’s water to accumulate my cultivation.”

Yi Yun constantly inhaled and exhaled. Every breath would discharge foul air from his body and every inhale took in pure Yuan Qi.

After an unknown period of time, a slow, thunderous rumble emitted from the valley.

In the beginning, the thunder was soft but as the days went by, the thunder grew more intense, reverberating across the valley.

It was simply the breathing sounds Yi Yun made while he took in and discharged the Yuan Qi.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s foundation had been tempered thousands of times. It was extremely well fortified.

His skin resembled beautiful jade and his bones were crystalline.

The corpses of mighty figures could remain intact after hundreds of millions of years because their bodies had been tempered into a powerful treasure.

With Yi Yun’s repeated tempering, his body was no longer of mortal breed. Ordinary weapons would be incapable of slicing through his skin. His bones were extremely tough.

At that moment, he was in his peak state. Yi Yun’s aura was rapidly rising.

This aura became stronger when a crisp chime was heard from the Nine-treasured Dao Palace in his dantian.

It was the chime of the Great Dao, a sound produced from the nomological insights Yi Yun had gained.

The chimes of the Dao Palace turned louder.

The Dragon Emperor Technique that Yi Yun cultivated in made it so that he required tremendous amounts of resources to have a breakthrough in cultivation realms. Without the River of Forgetfulness’s water, he would require quite some time to break through to the ninth-storey Dao Palace.

But now, the ninth-storey Dao Palace was in its nascent form.

Every brick and tile was formed from Yi Yun’s nomological insights.

Only with a robust foundation could he establish a truly tall building.

Yi Yun’s foundation was infinitely robust, causing his Dao Palace to be a lot more magnificent than most warriors.

Gradually, the new Dao Palace storey appeared. A nine-storied nine-treasured Dao Palace was transcendent. It formed naturally and in an extremely harmonious fashion. It was filled with a brilliant beauty, as though such a Dao Palace ought to belong in the world.

“I’m at the ninth-storey Dao Palace.”

At that moment, Yi Yun had perfected his Dao Palace realm. He had cultivated the Dao Palace realm to the extremum and be it his foundation or the final fruits of his labor, they were flawless.

However, not only did the increase of Yi Yun’s aura not cease, it continued increasing exponentially.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

His breathing sounded like thunder as it rumbled throughout the entire valley.

Yi Yun opened his mouth to inhale, drinking all the remaining water from the River of Forgetfulness into his belly.

As Yi Yun continued his breathing, his surroundings formed a space of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

He was like a black hole that constantly absorbed the massive amounts of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

All the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was so rich that it condensed into a mist, some wisps even forming pure Yuan droplets. They were all absorbed by Yi Yun again and again.

A tempestuous rumble continued sounding from his dantian.

After an unknown period of time.

Boom!

The nine-storied nine-treasured Dao Palace in Yi Yun’s dantian began cracking.

The crack was constantly expanding, going across the entire Dao Palace.

The appearance of cracks in the Dao Palace meant that it was about to collapse. This did not indicate that Yi Yun’s cultivation had turned problematic. It was a necessary step for Yi Yun before he could break through to become a Supremacy.

Once the Dao Palace completely shattered, the condensation of a nomological body would officially usher him into the Supremacy realm.

However, the whole process would require a long period of time. It was impossible to reach that in one step.

Yi Yun was in no hurry. He had plenty of time. Just a month or two would convert into three to five years under the effects of the River of Forgetfulness’s water.

He had already made the decision to break through to the Supremacy realm in the Ancient Ruins world!

Just as Yi Yun was setting his mind at rest to accumulate power, he suddenly sensed the lifeblood in him stir.

The stir felt like something had tugged at it. It left Yi Yun puzzled.

He opened his eyes and looking tens of kilometers away, he saw an astonishing scene.

He saw more than ten men and women running. Quite a number of them were injured.

There were others in this mystic land?

Yi Yun was taken aback before he came to realize why. Aged Blackrock had previously mentioned that the world he was in was the most primitive Sinkhole. Aged Blackrock called it the Ancient Ruins world.

The Ancient Ruins world was not monopolized by the Nine Li Magus Empire. Other factions or races had territories in the Ancient Ruins world.

It was rare to encounter people from other factions here but it was not something to be overly surprised about.

…

At that moment, a group of white-dressed people were chasing a beam of light tens of kilometers away.

The moved in cadence, and cooperated very well. They would form a nomological imprint wherever they stepped. These imprints formed a web that blanketed the beam they were pursuing.

Yi Yun also managed to discern the beam as a tiny seven-colored snake. At the top of the snake’s head was a sharp horn.

“Junior Brother Mo, use the Seven Severance Steps with me!”

“Junior Sister Song, flank it from the side!”

A bald man was giving instructions to his team as he moved as fast as lightning. They were closing in on the seven-colored beam.

“There’s no path up ahead anymore!”

When the group of people reached a certain point, they saw a majestic array pattern ahead of them. They had arrived in front of an array.

The array was massive in power. But the bald man was delighted instead of alarmed when he saw it. He knew that it was the fortification array formation of another faction.

It was not easy to penetrate such a fortification array at all.

“Great! It has nowhere to escape to!” The bald man said jubilantly. “Split up and flank it from both sides. Prevent it from escaping to the sides. Junior Brother Mo, join me in capturing it from the front.”

As the bald man spoke, he retrieved a black net from his interspatial ring. He aimed to use the net to capture the seven-colored snake.

And at that moment, the seven-colored snake slammed into the array.

“Peng!”

There was a loud boom as a golden barrier lit up. No matter how violently the seven-colored snake struck it, the golden barrier did not shake one bit. The seven-colored snake was confused by the sudden wall but it was also in a panic. It didn’t care which direction it was fleeing towards, only that it needed to flee. It lashed out its tail, striking the golden barrier once again.

“Peng!”

The seven-colored snake did not hold back. It used tremendous force that even injured its scales. Yet, it could not force open the array.

Instantly, the seven-colored snake’s amber eyes flashed with a look of despair.

“Haha! The Heavens are helping me. You won’t be able to escape.”

The bald man opened up his net. With his fellow disciples cooperating with him, they produced seals that locked down the space for several kilometers. The seven-colored snake was trapped and there was no way it could escape.

“Peng! Peng! Peng!”

The seven-colored snake continued its struggle by striking the golden screen. However, its strength was meaningless in front of the golden beam like it was an ant trying to shake a towering tree.

Everything it did was pointless. The black net was already tightening.

At this point, Yi Yun could not stand to watch any further. For some unknown reason, the seven-colored snake seemed to have a unfathomable connection with his lifeblood. This must have been why Yi Yun sensed the stirring of his lifeblood while he was in seclusion.

Yi Yun felt that he shared the same origins with the seven-colored snake. He empathized with the seven-colored snake’s predicament like it was the loss of his own kind.

He wanted to save the seven-colored snake!

Just as Yi Yun had this thought, the golden barrier outside the array quivered gently. The barrier began rippling like water, as a hole the size of a bowl appeared.

The seven-colored snake that was reeling in despair was surprised when it suddenly saw the hole.

The black net was about to envelop it when the seven-colored snake reacted just in time. With a flick of its tail, it flew straight into the hole.

“Boom!”

The black net struck the golden barrier as the seven-colored snake transformed into a stream of light, entering the Nine Li Magus Empire’s array.

The hole quickly closed the next moment, vanishing in a blink of an eye.

It was restored to its original state as though the hole had never existed. However, the seven-colored snake was already inside the barrier as it stared back at the men and women that were standing on the other side.

“What!?” The bald man was stunned. Success was almost at hand when the barrier suddenly opened, allowing the seven-colored snake to gain entry.

What happened!?

The bald man had a sunken expression. This failure at the cusp of success let him vexed.

“Senior Brother Wu, there’s someone inside the array!” Someone suddenly shouted. He saw Yi Yun inside the array.

1350 - : Tiny Seven-colored Snake

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Huh!?”

The bald man looked over and his eyes met Yi Yun’s.

He could see Yi Yun’s attire at a glance but Yi Yun was dressed simply. He could not identify his background from his attire.

Slowly, the bald man’s expression turned grim. “Brother, I do not know which faction you are from. But that being that entered this array is a numinous being that we have been pursuing to great pains. Please return it.”

Yi Yun did not reply. In fact, he was surprised as well. He didn’t find it surprising that the array could open since the Ancient Ruins world likely had many opportunities in it. If the array could not be opened, how was one to venture out and explore?

But Yi Yun never expected that the simple thought of wanting to save the snake would result in the array’s opening.

He didn’t know that the Nine Li Magus Empire’s array formation was that intelligent.

Noticing that Yi Yun wasn’t answering, the bald man raged with killing intent. If it was not for the punk causing trouble, they would already have succeeded. But now, he was out of options. He knew very well that any faction that could carve a territory in the Ancient Ruins world could set up an array formation that he had no chance of cracking.

If not for the array formation’s hindrance, he would have charged straight in and killed Yi Yun.

At that moment, the seven-colored snake flew towards Yi Yun and spun around Yi Yun’s head before landing lightly on his shoulder.

As he looked at the seven-colored snake, Yi Yun felt the intimate bond that his lifeblood had with the seven-colored snake. He could not help but look at the seven-colored snake’s tiny head. There was a horn there, so could it be…

Yi Yun felt a stir. Perhaps the tiny snake also had the Dragon Emperor’s bloodline!

If that was the case, he could understand why he felt a connection with it. It also made the value of the snake obvious.

The group of people outside the array were spewing fire from their eyes when they saw the snake land on Yi Yun’s shoulder.

The bald man clenched his fists. He truly wanted to shatter the array formation with one strike, and twist off Yi Yun’s neck.

“Quickly open the array formation. That being is extremely important to us. As long as you return it to us, we will definitely not mistreat you,” a woman dressed in blue said.

Her voice held no emotion and so it sounded as cold as a block of ice.

“You will not mistreat me?”

Yi Yun looked up with a faint smile. Although they were separated by the array formation, Yi Yun could already vaguely sense that the group of people did not have good intentions.

According to Aged Blackrock, the Ancient Ruins world was extremely dangerous, filled with people that had nefarious thoughts. If he were to open the array formation to let them in based on the situation he was in, he would only be inviting trouble on himself. These people might not just take the seven-colored snake away, they might even wipe clean all the treasures in the Nine Li mystic ground.

Of course, murder was a passing act while plundering.

“I wonder what benefits this not-mistreatment will bring me?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s tone, the bald man frowned slightly. He could already sense the mockery in Yi Yun’s words.

“We come from the Martial Numinous clan. Since Junior Sister Song has promised to show her heartfelt thanks, we will not go back on our word. Our Martial Numinous clan is a colony of the White Lunar Divine Empire. As for Junior Sister Song, she is someone the White Lunar Divine Empire has set their sights on. It’s best you give that numinous being back. If not, you might implicate the faction behind you. You are only a junior. You cannot afford to shoulder such responsibility!” said the bald man. In order to increase his threat factor, he even mentioned the White Lunar Divine Empire.

Yi Yun had already lost interest in the man some time ago; however, when he heard the four words, ‘White Lunar Divine Empire,’ he felt his entire being jolt.

The White Lunar Divine Empire was a extremely mighty faction in the Sinkhole. Bai Yueyin, as well as the pure Yang broken sword’s sword tip, and most important of all, Lin Xintong, were in the White Lunar Divine Empire.

It turned out that the Martial Numinous clan was a colony of the White Lunar Divine Empire. The White Lunar Divine Empire had set their sights on the woman named Song.

Upon sensing Yi Yun’s expression change, the bald man was very pleased. The White Lunar Divine Empire’s name had resounding impact in the Sinkhole. A junior disciple would usually feel apprehensive upon hearing its name.

However, he never expected Yi Yun to only experience a momentary shock before recovering to his original state of mind. “So you are only from the White Lunar Divine Empire’s colony. I thought you were more impressive.”

Yi Yun was located in an area that represented the Nine Li Magus Empire. He did not wish to bring trouble on it, but since the other party was only a colony of the White Lunar Divine Empire, that changed everything.

Furthermore, the group in front of him were only outer-sect Elders or young disciples. The person with the highest cultivation level was a late-stage Supremacy. They did not necessarily represent the entire Martial Numinous clan.

Although he would end up offending the Martial Numinous clan, it was improbable that the Martial Numinous clan would cross the distant void and engage in a massive battle with the Nine Li Magus Empire just because a group of people had something snatched from them. If he gave in so easily because of a few threats, he could only call himself dumb.

“You!” The woman’s gaze turned cold. She had an aloof nature and she had never been humiliated by a man in such a way before.

“It looks like you have a death wish.” Since Yi Yun was clearly not handing the snake over, the bald man no longer hid the killing intent in his eyes. “You dare belittle my Martial Numinous clan. Well done! To be able to carve out a territory in the Ancient Ruins world of your own might mean that the faction backing you isn’t a small one, but it doesn’t mean that your faction represents you.”

Yi Yun scoffed. The bald man’s killing intent did not affect him in any way.

The eyes of the bald man, as well as the woman’s, turned increasingly grim. The punk was relying on the array formation, making him think nothing of them. They felt indignant. They were not going to leave just like that.

At that moment, the woman suddenly focused attentively before revealing a look of glee.

She looked at Yi Yun with eyes filled with derision and coldness. “Are you thinking nothing of my Martial Numinous clan because it is a colony of the White Lunar Divine Empire? You might dare to offend my Martial Numinous clan but I wonder if you have the guts to offend the White Lunar Divine Empire.”

Just as her voice faded, dozens of figures rapidly approached from the horizon. The Martial Numinous clansmen turned around simultaneously and bowed respectfully.

Yi Yun saw that the dozens of figures streaked across the sky with impressive momentum. In the Ancient Ruins world filled with numerous factions, they all kept high-profiles.

“People from the White Lunar Divine Empire?” Based on what the woman said, these people came from the empire itself.

They were dressed in white and their robes were embroidered with a golden moon emblem. Leading them was a man with extremely narrow eyes. He had thin lips, making him look rather effeminate.

“So it’s Lord Skyfirmament. I’m from the Martial Numinous clan, Song Rainsong.” The woman had been arrogant before but she spoke in a humble tone in front of the members of the White Lunar Divine Empire.

“Were you the one that triggered the token?” The effeminate man said coldly.

“Yes, I was the one.” Song Rainsong produced a token.

As the White Lunar Divine Empire’s colony, the Martial Numinous clan possessed the White Lunar Divine Empire’s token. It could be used to request help from the White Lunar Divine Empire. This was a tiny benefit that the colonies would receive by paying tribute and bowing before the White Lunar Divine Empire every year.

And the members of the White Lunar Divine Empire just happened to be around during the Martial Numinous clan’s operation.

1351 - : Martial Numinous Clan

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Lord Skyfirmament, my Martial Numinous clansmen and I have been pursuing a numinous being. In order to catch it, we spent a year just seeking it out and setting up an array. Just as we were finally about to succeed, this punk ended up robbing of us of our success. Not only is he unwilling to return the numinous being, he even verbally mocked us. We even mentioned that we are a colony of the White Lunar Divine Empire but he completely disparaged the White Lunar Divine Empire,” the bald man said an incensed manner.

Yi Yun did not mind the way the bald man fanned the flames of discord. He was more concerned with the strange fact that this Lord Skyfirmament the bald man bowed to was only at the mid-stages of the Supremacy realm.

His cultivation level was the same as the bald man’s.

Yet despite both of them being at the mid-stages of the Supremacy realm, the bald man acted like a junior.

This made Yi Yun curious about Lord Skyfirmament’s strength.

“You took the numinous being from the Martial Numinous clan?”

Skyfirmament looked at the seven-colored snake on Yi Yun’s shoulder. He guessed that even if the bald man had deliberately reported events a certain way to incite discord between Yi Yun and him, his recollection was not far off.

Yi Yun chuckled and said, “I didn’t take it. Instead, the numinous being they were pursuing took the initiative to come onto my shoulder.”

When Yi Yun said that, the Martial Numinous clansmen turned dumbfounded. Their anger had gotten to their heads. They did not realize this pertinent point. Speaking of which, why did the numinous being land on Yi Yun’s shoulder?

Skyfirmament’s expression sank slightly. He did not wish to wrangle with Yi Yun over this matter. “Do not test my patience. Hand the numinous being over and apologize to the Martial Numinous clan and this matter can be resolved. If not, my White Lunar Divine Empire will force the faction backing you to hand you over. When that time comes, you will be maimed of your cultivation level and imprisoned for life.”

“That faction you mentioned is not backing me at all. All I did was help them and this cultivation ground is my reward.”

Yi Yun did not wish to implicate the Nine Li Magus Empire. However, he knew that it was improbable that the White Lunar Divine Empire would war against the Nine Li Magus Empire because of him. That would be making a mountain out of molehill.

“Oh?” Skyfirmament narrowed his eyes. Yi Yun was clearly described by the statement: he who is down need fear no fall. Skyfirmament was left at a loss as to how to continue. “You truly are bold. What’s your name? Do you dare tell me!?”

Yi Yun looked at Skyfirmament as though he was a retard. “Do you think my intelligence is as low as yours? Tell you my name so that you can seek revenge on me? Hey, do you guys have anything else to say? If not, I’m leaving first. I won’t entertain you guys anymore.”

With that said, Yi Yun turned to leave. He even waved his hand.

Instantly, Skyfirmament’s expression turned extremely ugly as he was left standing outside the array.

What exactly was the point of him coming there? Song Rainsong had triggered the token, requesting for his aid. He rushed over and ended up doing exactly what the Martial Numinous clan did. All he did was speak a few words and end up being mocked by the punk.

This made Skyfirmament feel like he was a joke.

“Lord Skyfirmament… we…” Song Rainsong was instantly embarrassed. She had requested for Skyfirmament’s presence but he ended up in the same situation as her—mocked and ridiculed, nothing more.

The Martial Numinous clansmen stared agape. The numinous being was lost just like that. How could they let the matter rest?

“Lord Skyfirmament, which faction controls this region? We shall head to their world and find this punk. We will make him experience a fate worse than death!”

The bald man’s rage pushed him to the brink of insanity. They had been ridiculed by Yi Yun despite the high statuses they enjoyed.

“This massive array contains spatial dimension laws. It wipes away the coordinates of their position. We will temporarily not be able to pinpoint the faction or where it is.” Skyfirmament said coldly.

The Ancient Ruins world’s space was chaotic. Traversing the Ancient Ruins world required an orientation artifact or one could get lost in the chaotic spatial mazes.

Although they had found the Nine Li Magus Empire’s array, trying to pinpoint its location in the chaotic spatial maze was not an easy task.

“Let’s return for now. I’ll get my senior brother to divine this punk’s location. I will find him and I’ll make him regret coming into this world.”

…

At that moment, Yi Yun had already returned to the cave where he secluded himself.

The short hold up did not affect his cultivation. But just as he was about to enter meditation, he suddenly heard a voice sound in his ear—

“Kid, you lucked out today!”

“Oh?”

Yi Yun was slightly taken aback as he saw a gray figure appeared out of thin air in front of him. It was none other than Old Snake.

The snake on Yi Yun’s shoulder was given a fright. It never expected an old man to suddenly appear. Furthermore, the old fellow was looking at him with a lascivious grin. This made the snake panic.

“Senior, what do you mean…”

“Hehe, if I’m not mistaken, this little guy is a Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm. It’s an Ancient Fey that can transform into a dragon!”

“Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm?”

Upon hearing Old Snake’s words, Yi Yun looked in disbelief at the tiny snake on his shoulder. The little fellow did not look anything like a silkworm.

“It’s nothing strange. The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm can transform into many forms. The eventual transformation will be that of a dragon. This Celestial Silkworm must have already transformed once or twice. It has gone from the form of a Celestial Silkworm to this tiny horned snake. Don’t misjudge it by its tiny size. It has lived for millions of years at least.”

A few million years…

The tiny snake was only about three inches long. Yi Yun was somewhat surprised. To grow to this size after millions of years was just too slow.

Old Snake read Yi Yun’s mind. He shook his head and said, “The present Sinkhole is no longer comparable to what it was in ancient times. Even the Ancient Ruins world, be it the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi or the worldly laws, are much weaker. For this Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm to grow, it needs to consume natural treasures and absorb the Heaven Earth essence. It’s not easy for a mere silkworm like this to accomplish all of that. It’s already pretty impressive that it made it to this stage.”

“I suspect that the egg that this Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm came from was left behind in ancient times. It was sealed for some reason and after a long period of time, it had the chance to hatch. If not, it’s difficult to find an Ancient Fey with such a rich bloodline in this era.”

With the passage of time, the Ancient Fey’s bloodline became thinner due to the cross-breeding with other organisms. However, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm in front of him did not have its bloodline thinned. This was the basis of Old Snake’s guess.

“Little Yun, if you have any natural treasures that aren’t of use to you, you can feed them to this fellow. It’s not easy for it to grow in its present environment.”

When Old Snake said that, the tiny snake widened its eyes. It clearly understood Old Snake’s words. It had felt wary when it saw Old Snake’s gaze but now, after hearing Old Snake mention how difficult it was to grow and that it needed to be fed natural treasures, the little fellow immediately had teary eyes. It felt like it had found a confidant who truly understood it well.

“By the way, after you feed it, you can release some of its blood. This Celestial Silkworm’s blood is very nourishing. It can help you achieve your breakthrough.”

Old Snake’s additional words gave the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm a fright. It hid behind Yi Yun as it warily watched Old Snake, creating a safe distance between them.

“That… isn’t nice…is it?” Yi Yun touched his nose.

“What’s not nice about it? The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s strongest thing is its lifeblood. Don’t treat it like it’s only three inches long. Its body contains another world in and of itself. If it really were to bleed out all of its blood, it would easily fill up a jar. As long as you don’t extract too much of its blood, there won’t be any problems. Besides, this would be after you fed it treasures, things that you gathered yourself. Even if it were to release some of its blood, it would have grown at a speed much faster than simply absorbing Heaven Earth essence.”

“This fellow really has… a jar’s worth of blood?” Yi Yun looked at the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm and felt that the blood in the little fellow was a little ridiculous. The tiny snake’s head shook like a rattle-drum in a bid to deny it.

“This little fellow is trying to put on an act in front of me. Natural treasures don’t drop from the sky. Do you think you can eat them for nothing?” Old Snake looked at Yi Yun after saying that. He continued, “Didn’t you obtain a fire seed a while ago? That fire seed is a numinous object condensed from Heaven Earth essence. It is also the most beloved food of Celestial Silkworms.”

“Even a fire seed works?” Yi Yun was somewhat surprised. The South Li Fire was the fire seed of the Nine Li Magus Empire’s Herb Nurturing Array. With Xie’er replacing it, the South Li Fire naturally became useless. Yi Yun was planning on giving it to Xie’er, but then he remembered that the divine alchemist’s Empyrean Cleansing Flame had once been devoured by the Heretical God Fire Seed. Consuming an additional South Li Fire did not seem like it would have much of an effect.

Giving the South Li Fire to the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was probably not a bad choice.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun took out the South Li Fire.

The pale golden fire plume burned silently. When the snake saw it, it immediately stood erect. Its glistening eyes widened.

It had a strong desire to devour the South Li Fire.

“Ahem.” Yi Yun coughed twice. “Little fellow, you heard everything that Senior just said, right? About that. If my strength increases, I can find more natural treasures for you in the future. You will be able to grow much faster.”

Although Yi Yun had always been thick-skinned, even he felt that negotiating with the little fellow for its blood was like taking candy from a baby.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm hesitated for a moment. It looked at the South Li Fire and then at Yi Yun. It seemed to steel its heart before nodding its head.

Without Yi Yun taking action, its body began to tremble gently. Drops of blood began to seep out from its scales. The drops of blood coalesced together, forming a ball of blood about the size of a fist. It slowly floated towards Yi Yun.

After forcing out the ball of blood, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm looked nervously at Old Snake. Its gaze seemed to inquire if that much was enough.

Old Snake pouted, clearly indicating his dissatisfaction. He said unhurriedly, “Little fellow, I know you have a jar of blood in your body. Can you show some sincerity? Don’t tell me you want me to help you extract your blood?”

Upon hearing Old Snake’s words, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm turned diffident. From its point of view, the old man was no different from a devil.

After some hesitation, it forced a few more drops of blood. It produced almost a bowl of blood.

“Uh… This should be enough.” Yi Yun did not have the heart to request for more. In fact, even without the Celestial Silkworm’s blood, he would break through to the Supremacy realm given sufficient time.

Of course, having the Celestial Silkworm’s blood was even better. It could also purify his Dragon Emperor bloodline.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, the little fellow showed relief, as though it had gotten rid of a heavy burden. It furtively stole a glance at Old Snake and did not see any disapproval from him. It finally heaved a sigh of relief and rushed towards the South Li Fire in Yi Yun’s hand.

The South Li Fire had yet to produce any sentience. It did not know how to dodge the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm so it was swallowed whole within a few mouthfuls.

After devouring the fire seed, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was satisfied.

It slowly wriggled onto Yi Yun’s shoulder and laid down. Due to the Dragon Emperor’s bloodline, it felt a close innate bond with Yi Yun. In this age, there were just too few beings with the Dragon Emperor bloodline.

Soon, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm appeared intoxicated. It turned groggy and ended up falling asleep.

It treated Yi Yun’s shoulder as a bed and slept soundly.

“The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm will digest the Heaven Earth numinous objects in its sleep. Take this opportunity to break through.” As Old Snake spoke, he transformed into a stream of light and returned to the God Advent Tower.

“Alright!” Yi Yun took a deep breath as his eyes shimmered.

1352 - : Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun looked at the Celestial Silkworm’s blood that was floating in front of him. It was crystalline, like a ruby under sunlight.

He took a deep breath and devoured the Celestial Silkworm blood.

The essence contained within the blood fused into every part of Yi Yun’s body.

The Celestial Silkworm’s blood boiled in his body but it did not cause him any pain. Neither did it experience any obstruction, instead flowing as though the blood was a part of Yi Yun’s body to begin with.

Yi Yun settled down and cultivated peacefully. The effects from the River of Forgetfulness’s water had declined from before, but he still experienced time about twenty times faster.

Cultivation knew no time. Through the tempering of Yi Yun’s foundation with time, he had reached the limit of the Dao Palace realm.

And at that moment, the number of cracks on Yi Yun’s Dao Palace increased. Finally, a fragment of the Dao Palace peeled off and instantly transformed into a golden stream of light.

As more time passed, the number of fragments that peeled off increased. Yi Yun’s Dao Palace turned brighter as infinite points of light shot out from the cracks in the Dao Palace like they were sword beams, illuminating Yi Yun’s interior.

Like a metamorphosing butterfly, even Yi Yun’s body was beginning to crumble like his Nine-treasured Dao Palace at that moment.

First it was the skin, followed by his flesh and blood, and finally, his innards. Everything crumbled but strangely, not a single drop of blood flowed out when Yi Yun’s body crumbled. All the flesh and blood that crumbled away transformed into energy streams that fused with the Yuan Qi vortex that was forming around Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s body nearly vanished but his appearance remained clear. He did not flinch in pain at all.

To become a Supremacy, one had to first shatter the Dao Palace. By doing so, the laws condensed within the Dao Palace would fully fuse into one’s body, turning his body into a manifestation of energy and completely merging with the laws.

This was an opportunity that every warrior would experience only a finite number of times. It represented a leap in the difference in life’s natural order.

However, during the crumbling of the body, one’s soul would lose its vessel. It would result in massive destabilization. During this sensitive time, one’s mental demons might rear their head at any time.

A warrior’s breakthrough would always be accompanied by the existence of mental demons. This was why many warriors would place great emphasis on having their aspirations freed and settling any grievances quickly.

If one failed to overcome their mental demons, they might suffer a deviation during the breakthrough. A light outcome would be having intelligence reduced. The more dire outcome could be the complete collapse of one’s soul, reducing it to soul fragments. One would lose their sense of self and eventually be scattered across the world.

From the beginning of the Dao Palace realm, every step in a warrior’s cultivation was to rob from the creator. The birth of any powerful being was extremely difficult to begin with. Yet, one had to take step after step to scale the Heavenly Dao to seek the universe’s Origins. The difficulty was obvious. Only by undergoing life-and-death experiences would one break out of that cocoon.

“Peng!”

With a thought from Yi Yun, his Dao Palace exploded to smithereens, turning into countless nomological fragments that were swept up into the Yuan Qi vortex.

At the same time, his body exploded, transforming into a stream of light that fused with the energetic body.

This was a true rejuvenation and rebirth!

In the Yuan Qi vortex, Yi Yun’s body was completely ground to pieces and cleansed by the Yuan Qi.

Yi Yun’s Nine-treasured Dao Palace contained extremely potent nomological powers; therefore, his Yuan Qi vortex was more than ten times larger than that of most warriors. The cleansing process naturally ended up more tumultuous!

In a sense, warriors who had deeper nomological insight would experience a more difficult process when breaking through to the Supremacy realm. Furthermore, if one did not have a robust foundation, they might be pulverized amid the Yuan Qi vortex.

This process was extremely painful for Yi Yun, but he needed to maintain a clear state of mind or he might forever lose himself to the vortex.

It was like how bacteria did not know what the first and last day of the month meant, or how mole crickets did not know the seasons. Amidst the vastness of the world, mortals would only live for less than a century, making them no different from ants. The martial path was the route to step into heaven. That path was fraught with danger, and one could easily perish if they were not careful. From the moment Yi Yun stepped onto the martial path, he had never once thought of giving up. No matter how difficult it was, he had to persist!

At that moment, Yi Yun felt like he was reliving his entire life.

As a youth from the Cloud Wilderness, he experienced many things. He slowly reached where he was today. As more time passed, his illusionary recollections were overlaid onto reality. He found it hard to extricate himself from his memories.

The pain his soul suffered did not decrease during this process. But Yi Yun able to maintain his clarity of mind. Having lived two lives, his state of mind was firm.

After an unknown period of time, there was a boom. The Yuan Qi vortex spun in a frenzy before compressing.

A blurry phantom was slowly born out of the energy that had been compressed to its limits.

It was an energy apparition which looked identical to Yi Yun, but was not his main body.

It was Yi Yun’s Supremacy Aspect!

The shattering of a Dao Palace and the condensation into a Supremacy began with the Supremacy Aspect. Yi Yun’s dantian began to be remolded.

The dantian surrounded the body’s internal world, instilling the Supremacy Aspect into it. Later, with the dantian as a foundation, Yi Yun’s meridians, bones, and organs condensed one after another. Following that was his flesh and blood, skin, and finally hair.

Yi Yun’s figure appeared as he took step after step. His vigorous vital aura constantly stirred.

And behind Yi Yun, the Supremacy phantom projected out from his dantian. He stood there high and mighty. Although it resembled Yi Yun, its facial features were filled with an indescribable might. It was like a god that overlooked the world!

When Yi Yun’s body was completely reconstructed, the figure also went from an ethereal state to a corporeal state.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A thunderous sound emitted from the world like it was resonating with the Great Dao of the world!

The resounding booms appeared to be congratulating Yi Yun. They surged like a tidal wave with multiple concentric ripples. It caused the worldly laws to resonate. The resonating hums tore through the Nine Li Magus Empire’s array and spread through the vast Ancient Ruins world.

If one watched from a high altitude, they would see humongous ripples appearing in the Ancient Ruins world.

“What’s the matter?”

At that moment, the Wulin clansmen were five hundred kilometers away. They were alarmed when they sensed the worldly nomological resonance.

A year ago, they had failed to capture the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm. They had already reported the matter but their experiential training did not come to an end. Such experiential training in the Ancient Ruins world would last a few years. They still had to continue training but today, they felt a strange nomological resonance from the world itself.

The hum was commonly seen when people broke through to a major realm.

However, the hum was on an overly large scale. According to the way the nomological resonance spread, the source was very far from them.

“Could it be the nomological resonance produced by a person’s breakthrough?”

“It’s possible… It appears like a Divine Lord’s breakthrough but it’s also somewhat different from a Divine Lord. It actually feels more like a Supremacy’s breakthrough. However, a Supremacy’s breakthrough isn’t this powerful.”

The bald man frowned. Back when he broke through to the Supremacy realm, his resonance was much weaker than this.

“Why do I feel like the faction of the man that snatched our numinous being a year ago is in that direction?” Song Rainsong said.

But the bald man shook his head. “Junior Sister Rainsong, you are overly sensitive. The Ancient Ruins world’s laws are chaotic. The direction you sense is most likely wrong.”

“Perhaps…”

Song Rainsong nodded. She continued looking curiously in the direction from which the nomological hums were coming. She fell into a daze. She refused to believe that the hums were the result of a Supremacy’s breakthrough. Perhaps it was some mind blowing treasure that had just revealed itself, or an Ancient Fey that was facing a tribulation.

1353 - : Attaining Supremacy

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Haha, congratulations Kid! With this revitalization, you can now be considered quite a figure!”

If Yi Yun’s initial attainment of the Purple Blood realm was the first step onto the long path of cultivating martial arts, then the Supremacy realm was reaching a formal milestone. It was a realm that spoke volumes.

At the Supremacy level, one could become an Elder even in mighty sects and be revered by others.

Yi Yun spent nearly a hundred and twenty years going from the eighth-storey Dao Palace realm to the Supremacy realm.

There was no need to take so long but due to Yi Yun’s fast cultivation speed in the past, he never had the chance to forge and temper his foundations. As such, he spent the first eighty years just fortifying his foundations.

In cultivation, going out into the world for different experiences and engaging in life-and-death struggles would increase one’s cultivation level quickly, but entering seclusion to fuse with the laws was not something that could be ignored.

A hundred and twenty years was long and it was nearly double Yi Yun’s present age. But in fact, due to the River of Forgetfulness’s water, Yi Yun’s true bone age had only increased by five years. It was as though time had stopped acting on Yi Yun’s body over the hundred plus years.

Such an opportunity left Old Snake extremely envious. He was already advanced in age and his vital potential had long been expended. Even if he drank the River of Forgetfulness’s water, the slowing of time would have zero effect for him. He was incomparable to Yi Yun, whose vital potential was in its greatest abundance at that moment.

Drinking the River of Forgetfulness’s water during such a period allowed Yi Yun’s vital potential to burn exuberantly for a hundred and twenty years. This left Old Snake extremely envious.

“Kid, this Nine Li Magus Empire has truly given you a great opportunity. This is much more useful than any unique pill or treasure. The effects are compounded when used on you. At your present age, this cultivation level of yours just makes an attempt at the Godly Monarch realm only a matter of time,” Old Snake said sincerely.

When he first met Yi Yun, all he did was to answer Huan Chenxue’s request of taking care of Yi Yun. But with time, and after interacting with him and seeing his growth, Old Snake began to see Yi Yun as a true junior under his care. He never had children his entire life and it was destined that no miracle would happen for his remaining lifespan. He decided to place all his hopes on Yi Yun. If he could see Yi Yun mature into a Godly Monarch, it would be quite gratifying.

“Senior, I understand. This River of Forgetfulness’s water is truly miraculous.”

“It’s more than miraculous. The effects are equivalent to giving you an additional hundred and twenty years of cultivation. If you continue drinking it, wouldn’t that be ludicrous?” Old Snake felt wistful. He was beginning to fantasize about the boon it would have given him if he obtained a few jars of water from the River of Forgetfulness back in his youth.

Yi Yun said, “Senior, the River of Forgetfulness’s water has a limit to its effectiveness. When I first drank it, I experienced time about thirty times faster but the second time I drank it, I experienced time at a slower speed. I imagine it will constantly decrease as I drink more.”

“Is that so…” Old Snake faltered for a moment before he nodded. “That makes sense. If one could keep drinking without any reduction in effect, wouldn’t finding the River of Forgetfulness mean eternal life? That would be a violation of the Heavenly Dao. Even the River of Forgetfulness, one of the twelve Fey Gods that controls time, would probably not have the ability to defy the Heavenly Dao…”

Old Snake muttered to himself. Yi Yun agreed wholeheartedly. Eternal life was also something the divine alchemist was pursuing back in his day. He wanted to use pills to achieve that but he had also failed.

There were legends that the peak of martial arts could break the shackles of eternal life. However, he had not heard of anyone that had actually achieved that state since ancient times.

“I have already broken through to the Supremacy realm. It’s about time to leave seclusion,” said Yi Yun.

He was now greatly indebted to the Nine Li Magus Empire. He naturally wanted to refine the pill for the Nine Li Magus Empire as soon as possible to repay the debt.

Old Snake returned to the God Advent Tower while Yi Yun looked around. The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was trying to coil and sleep soundly in the emptied pool but its body was too short. Even though it had tried its best to coil itself, all it did was manage three-quarters of a coil.

As though it sensed something, the Celestial Silkworm slowly opened its eyes and looked at Yi Yun.

It clearly noticed Yi Yun’s breakthrough. It opened its eyes wide happily and flew to Yi Yun. It dawdled on Yi Yun’s shoulders.

Yi Yun’s Dragon Emperor bloodline became thicker after he broke through to the Supremacy realm; therefore, the little fellow became even closer to him.

Of course, Yi Yun also did not discount the possibility that the little fellow was simply in a good mood after enjoying the South Li Fire meal.

“Follow me. Since I’ve promised you, I’ll try to seek out treasures for you,” said Yi Yun.

The Celestial Silkworm nodded and obediently coiled on Yi Yun’s shoulder. Following that, Yi Yun walked out of the valley and arrived at the teleportation array.

The moment Yi Yun walked onto the teleportation array, it automatically lit up. Following that, there was a flash as Yi Yun’s figure vanished from the array.

Nine Li Magus Empire—

Yi Yun returned to the teleportation array situated in the palace but he did not see signs of Aged Blackrock or Nine Li Magus Maiden.

“Aged Blackrock should know that I’ve returned but he did not send me a voice transmission…”

Yi Yun believed that the commotion created by the teleportation array was something Aged Blackrock would definitely sense. Since Aged Blackrock did not send him a voice transmission, Yi Yun had no way of finding him either. After all, there were many places in the Nine Li Magus Empire to which he was not permitted entry. It was not easy for him to wander around and seek out Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden.

Since that was the case, Yi Yun was in no hurry to meet them. Although he had become a Supremacy, restoring the Herb Nurturing Array was not something that could be done in a day or two. He still needed to spend plenty of time to complete the Fate Changing Pill.

Yi Yun still remembered the path towards the Herb Nurturing Array so he walked towards it with the Celestial Silkworm.

The Celestial Silkworm hid in Yi Yun’s sleeve and curiously peeked out its tiny head to study its surroundings. The Nine Li Magus Empire’s palace was silent and they did not encounter anyone at all. The hex imprints left the Celestial Silkworm apprehensive and the way it hesitantly peeked its head out amused Yi Yun.

Soon, Yi Yun came to the Herb Nurturing Array. He did not see a single person on the vast desolate lands. Odd. There were more than ten thousand alchemists gathered there before.

This took Yi Yun by surprise. Where did everyone go? It had only been five years or so. Even if the alchemists failed to figure out anything, they would not waste such an opportunity. At the very least, they would not leave so soon, not to mention the stubborn old fogies like Patriarch Pillheart and Ouming Yin. They would definitely cherish every moment to study the array.

Just as Yi Yun thought to command Ling Xie’er to open the array’s entrance, he frowned. He extended his arm and waved.

A blast of Yuan Qi struck the array as the spot beneath Yi Yun’s feet suddenly lit up. Following that, an entrance appeared out of thin air.

“What’s going on…” Yi Yun narrowed his eyes. How could the Herb Nurturing Array be that easily opened? A simple probe at the entrance made him immediately discover that there were changes made to the array.

Could it be that Patriarch Pillheart and company had tampered with the array?

However, Yi Yun immediately rejected such a possibility. The divine alchemist’s array was not so easily tampered with. Yi Yun once thought that as an alchemist sage, Patriarch Pillheart could enter the array’s interior if he spent a considerable amount of time seeking out the entrance. However, changing the array would be too difficult.

Furthermore, Yi Yun had instructed Ling Xie’er to watch over the array before he left. She should have prohibited the others were from entering…

“Xie’er!” Yi Yun strode into the Herb Nurturing Array.

Yi Yun’s expression changed slightly when he entered the Herb Nurturing Array.

The place was originally filled with rich fire-elemental laws but now, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was in chaos. The fire-elemental laws turned extremely violent and there were burning flames everywhere. Lava streams were everywhere, burning the array’s grounds red.

“What’s going on…”

Yi Yun’s brows turned increasingly knitted. “Xie’er, where are you?”

Yi Yun called out. About eight minutes later, a blurry figure appeared in front of Yi Yun.

The moment the figure appeared, it pounced into Yi Yun’s embrace, “Brother Yi Yun!”

“Xie’er!” Yi Yun immediately pulled Xie’er away and noticed that she had turned a lot weaker!

Although Xie’er looked unharmed aside from being weakened, Yi Yun felt secretly enraged. “Xie’er, what’s going on? Why are you this weak?”

Ling Xie’er lifted her head from Yi Yun’s embrace. Her eyes were filled with guilt. “I do not know either… In the beginning, I followed your instructions to keep the baddies outside. They couldn’t even figure out the entrance. But three years ago, the array suddenly became unstable for no good reason…”

“Due to the array’s instability, I had to fight to constantly maintain the array’s stability. But the longer it took, the more demanding it became. It resulted in me expending a lot of my strength…”

“Now, my control over the array is very weak so I’m in this state.”

When Ling Xie’er said this, she felt guilt-ridden. Yi Yun had left her an important task but she had failed to do it well.

Yi Yun was taken aback. He never expected any unforeseen circumstances from the array. What exactly happened?

“Xie’er, don’t be sad. You have already done very well. It was my fault for being thoughtless.” Yi Yun tenderly stroked Xie’er’s head and lamented. According to Xie’er, it had been three years. During this period, she was constantly working hard at maintaining the array’s stability. She had already expended a lot of energy and Yi Yun blamed himself for it.

Ling Xie’er shook her head. “It’s all my fault. Due to the array’s instability, those people found the entrance. In addition, I was preoccupied and couldn’t stop them. After they entered, they did not listen to my advice and even mocked me. Later on, more and more people entered…”

Yi Yun was taken aback when he heard that. He made the connection with the empty desolate plains outside. He was completely astounded. “Did everyone enter?”

Ling Xie’er nodded.

“What… How could this happen? Didn’t Aged Blackrock and Her Highness stop those people?” Yi Yun found it unbelievable. The Herb Nurturing Array was an important place. Even if the alchemists could not destroy it, Aged Blackrock would not have allowed the riffraff to enter.

Logically speaking, he would, at most, permit Ouming Yin and Patriarch Pillheart entry.

1354 - : Unforeseen Circumstances

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ling Xie’er shook her head in confusion and said, “After the array started acting funny, I focused on stabilizing the array. All I know is that there were many people entering the array, but I do not know what exactly they did.”

Upon seeing Ling Xie’er’s weakened state, Yi Yun stroked her head and said, “It’s been tough on you. Once this ordeal is over, I’ll seek out some soul nurturing items to replenish the strength of your emptied soul.”

Just as Yi Yun finished that sentence, he suddenly sensed the array shake. Yi Yun knitted his brows slightly for he sensed that the array would turn increasingly unstable if the situation continued. It could even cause a catastrophic event.

“Xie’er, take a good rest and leave everything to me. I’ll first take a look at the pill.”

Yi Yun was now most worried about the Fate Changing Pill.

It was of great importance. Not only was it important to the Nine Li Magus Maiden, it was also important to Huan Chenxue.

The more heaven-defying the pills were, the more stringent the criteria for their refinement. What’s more, an unexpected situation of such massive scale had already happened.

Yi Yun wanted to find the cause of the array’s changes. According to Ling Xie’er, Patriarch Pillheart and company had entered the array only after the anomaly happened. As such, it was likely that the reason had little to do with Patriarch Pillheart and company.

And on further inference, Yi Yun felt that the reason was most likely related to his switching of the Heretical God Fire Seed with the South Li Fire five years ago.

“From the looks of it, I have yet to fully comprehend Senior Divine Alchemist’s heritage. I nearly caused a catastrophe. Thankfully, I came out of seclusion in time.”

Now that Yi Yun had broken through to the Supremacy realm, the laws had completely fused with his flesh and blood. His nomological insights and knowledge of alchemy had been greatly enhanced. He was confident that he could restore the array and even convert the catastrophe into an opportunity to complete the Herb Nurturing Array through his control!

“Okay!” Ling Xie’er nodded. Just as she was about to fly into Yi Yun’s God Advent Tower, her expression suddenly changed as she halted.

“What’s wrong?”

Yi Yun and Ling Xie’er’s mind were connected so he could sense the changes to her psyche.

Ling Xie’er pouted as her face showed complete aggrievement. She said, “Those people… they are…”

Ling Xie’er had fused with the array. She had previously placed all her soul’s strength into maintaining the array’s stability and did not have the luxury of watching what Patriarch Pillheart and company were doing. From her point of view, with the people from the Nine Li Magus Empire present, Patriarch Pillheart wouldn’t be allowed to do anything overboard that might damage the array.

“What’s going on? Share your soul with me. Let me see what is happening!” Yi Yun said with a sullen expression.

Ling Xie’er nodded and instantly, Yi Yun’s perception traversed space and reached the core region of the array.

Here, the island was already sealed by a gigantic rainbow-colored barrier of light. And gathered outside the barrier were more than ten thousand people!

“There are so many people! They are all there!”

Yi Yun frowned. It was true that more than ten thousand people had entered the array’s interior. Furthermore, he could see people dressed in the Nine Li Magus Empire’s attire outside the barrier. That implied that all the people had entered with the Nine Li Magus Empire’s permission.

“Oh? They are in an array formation!”

Yi Yun scanned with his perception and saw a total of 10,800 people standing in formation. They were split into four layers. The outermost layer was a group of junior disciples that had cultivated for less than a century. They held array flags and injected their Yuan Qi into the flags in order to provide the array with energy.

The layer in the middle were Dao Palace realm disciples. They stood on a disk array and maintained the array’s stability.

Further in were Elders at the Supremacy realm or higher. All of them were stepping on an array rune that was a nucleus of the array’s powers.

And situated in the heart of the array were seven people. Among them, Yi Yun saw Nine Li Magus Maiden and Aged Blackrock.

Other than them, there were three alchemists. It was clear at a glance as there was a cauldron floating beneath each of the three.

They were separately Patriarch Pillheart, Ouming Yin, and another middle-aged man that Yi Yun had never seen.

Yi Yun could not help but carefully size up the man. He was dressed in a purplish-gold robe that was embroidered with a twirled golden five-clawed dragon. He was tall and his brows were like swords. His eyes sparkled and he exuded an extraordinary disposition like he was a monarch.

Another alchemist sage!

In the heart of the Herb Nurturing Array, there were now three alchemist sages. Even in the past when the Nine Li Magus Empire invited alchemists from all over the world to study the Herb Nurturing Array, there had never been anything as grand as gathering three alchemist sages at the same time.

At that moment, the middle-aged man spoke. “Your Excellency, your Nine Li Magus Empire invited me to stabilize this massive array but it is unwilling to accept my suggestions. How do you expect me to showcase my alchemical skills?”

The middle-aged man was referring to the High Priest, a white-robed elder among the seven. He had the nine-eyed emblem embroidered on his chest and his silver hair cascaded to his waist. His white brows were about half a feet long as they hung down to his cheeks, giving him a sage-like appearance.

The Nine Li Magus Empire had a High Priest, a High Elder, and a Nine Li Magus Maiden. The Nine Li Magus Maiden held the highest position in name with the High Priest second.

However, since the Nine Li Magus Maiden was only mortal, she spent most of the Nine Li Magus Empire’s long history in slumber or reincarnating. In fact, the person that truly wielded power in the Nine Li Magus Empire was the High Priest.

The High Priest had lived for very long, about ten million years longer than Aged Blackrock. Even when Aged Blackrock finally matured in strength, he was still the High Priest’s junior.

The High Priest knitted his white brows as he said slowly and unhurriedly, “I have indeed heard of your fame, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold. However, you have yet to prove the powers of your array. How can I trust you wholeheartedly?”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold laughed. “I will naturally prove the strength of my array. However, it is a little too late for you to worry about trusting me or not. Probably none of you have realized that this array has undergone changes starting a few years ago. In the beginning, it was a minute change, but it was forcibly repressed so none of you noticed it.”

“Now that the situation has developed to this state, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the array is completely in chaos. Even I will find it tough!”

“Oh?” The High Priest’s expression sank. The anomaly had begun a few years ago? He had been resting in seclusion but the tremendous changes to the array had stirred him. He never expected Alchemist Sage Purple Gold to explain that it had been repressed by someone.

“Who is repressing the changes to the massive array?”

The High Priest’s gaze was like lightning that could see through anything.

“If I didn’t guess wrong, it’s that fire seed that fused with the massive array.” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold said with a smile. He confidently continued, “According to what you said, that junior who acted absurdly used his fire seed to replace the South Li Fire and that fire seed has already become sentient. She will naturally be able to follow her owner’s will and conceal the mistakes her master made. Unfortunately, there is no concealing the truth. The changes to the array became more intense and apparent. It is not something she could prevent and obviously, it is not something that can be hidden any longer.”

The High Priest’s expression sank. So that was the reason. Not only did the youth cause the unexpected changes to the array, he had even left behind his fire seed, nearly causing a catastrophe!

“Li’er, you were too imprudent!”

The High Priest sighed as he looked at the Nine Li Magus Maiden. Every time the Nine Li Magus Maiden reincarnated, she would begin with a blank slate due to the natal fog. She needed to slowly learn and reach a certain level of intelligence before she could slowly recover her memories.

And the High Priest would personally teach the Nine Li Magus Maiden every generation while she was a girl. Over numerous generations, his feelings for the Nine Li Magus Maiden become something indescribable.

“Master, Yi Yun is the true successor of the divine alchemist. I have spent a considerable amount of the clan’s resources all these years. There have been other alchemist sages in history that came to study the Herb Nurturing Array without any results…”

“Not having results is better than making things worse!” said the High Priest in a peeved manner.

Nine Li Magus Maiden did not continue. She had witnessed Yi Yun’s abilities and believed that he could bring about a miracle. However, the sudden anomaly in the array was a fact. She had no way to retort what the High Priest said.

“Haha, Your Highness is too inexperienced after all. She is easily fooled by others. Also, there is something else. I’m different from the other alchemist sages you mentioned! Your Highness, please do not compare those alchemist sages that once came to your Nine Li Magus Empire with me!”

As the Alchemist Sage Purple Gold spoke, the corners of his mouth curled up. In fact, he might have felt disdain towards Yi Yun but he strongly desired the divine alchemist’s heritage. He said casually, “Your Excellency, if I were you, I would have long taken Yi Yun out and questioned him. According to what I know, this Yi Yun is still cultivating in your Nine Li Magus Empire’s mystic ground, enjoying your resources. Your Nine Li Magus Empire sure is forgiving.”

The High Priest could obviously hear the sarcasm in the Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s words. He said unhappily, “There is no need to tell me what to do.”

In fact, the High Priest was obviously enraged after knowing the reason for the massive array’s unexpected changes. He naturally wanted to make Yi Yun account for it but the Nine Li Magus Maiden had strongly protested against it. As Yi Yun was in a critical moment of breaking through, where his mental demons plagued him, he might have suffered a deviation if he was disturbed.

The High Priest watched the Nine Li Magus Maiden grow up. He naturally understood her stubbornness. Therefore, he temporarily let the matter go after receiving such opposition from the Nine Li Magus Maiden. Furthermore, he believed that blaming it on Yi Yun wouldn’t help the situation. The catastrophe had already happened, so what use was pushing the blame?

Upon seeing the High Priest somewhat furious, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold naturally did not dare to further enrage him. He said with a smile, “If I am able to quell the array’s situation, I do have a condition.”

“What’s your condition! Speak!”

When the High Priest invited Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, he knew that he would be gorged. However, the Nine Li Magus Empire had a deep heritage, so as long as the array could be stabilized, it was willing to pay any price.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold chuckled and said, “What I want is… the fire seed left behind in the array by that punk!”

1355 - : High Priest

CKtalon  CKtalon

The moment Alchemist Sage Purple Gold announced his demand, many people present were stunned. Ignoring the High Priest and the rest, even Ouming Yin and Patriarch Pillheart were astounded. The old bastard was even conspiring to obtain Yi Yun’s fire seed.

In fact, when they entered the array, they had encountered Ling Xie’er and knew how extraordinary she was. They were tempted to take her then, but with Nine Li Magus Maiden and Aged Blackrock being so friendly with Yi Yun, they did not dare to truly vie for her.

However, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold had offered a ridiculous demand in a bid to take the fire seed for his own. It left Ouming Yin and Patriarch Pillheart feeling jealous.

The Nine Li Magus Maiden immediately knitted her brows while Aged Blackrock’s expression turned cold.

“You want the fire seed?” High Priest said with a ruminative look.

The fire seed had been installed by Yi Yun and was likely the root cause of the array’s anomaly. The High Priest was already not fond of Ling Xie’er, not to mention her role in covering up Yi Yun’s mistake.

Although Ling Xie’er was Yi Yun’s fire seed, Yi Yun had taken away the South Li Fire after installing Ling Xie’er into the array. The two might not be of equal value but the Nine Li Magus Empire had also made up for it by giving Yi Yun the precious River of Forgetfulness water.

It was already generous of the Nine Li Magus Empire to not punish Yi Yun for his faults. Under such circumstances, the High Priest would be extremely displeased if the trouble-making lass was returned to Yi Yun before he left the Nine Li Magus Empire safely.

Upon seeing the High Priest on the verge of agreeing to it, Nine Li Magus Maiden immediately spoke out, “Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, this fire seed is not the property of our Nine Li Magus Empire. It was placed inside the array because Yi Yun was trying to help us refine the pill. It is the duty of my Nine Li Magus Empire to safeguard it. How can we agree to your request?”

Not only was the Nine Li Magus Maiden saying this to Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, she was also saying it to the High Priest.

Upon hearing what she said, the High Priest frowned slightly. The Nine Li Magus Maiden was still speaking up for Yi Yun at this juncture in time. He said exasperatedly, “The pill inside the Herb Nurturing Array is being prepared for you!”

“Haha, Your Excellency, there’s no need to be angry. It’s only because Her Highness has been fooled by vermin.” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold smiled at Nine Li Magus Maiden. “Whatever. We can revisit my terms later. If I do not prove the powers of this massive array, none of you will believe me anyway. So, let’s begin!”

The massive array was already set up. Situated in the heart of the array, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold took out an array flag and began chanting.

Every word he said manifested in an ancient hex pattern that floated out of his mouth, imprinting itself on the array flag. As the number of hex patterns increased on the array flag, the massive array seemed to come alive.

Yuan Qi surged to it like there was tremendous vitality.

“Arise, array!” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold shouted and stuck the array flag into the void.

At the same time, the cauldron under Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s feet flew out. The heavy cauldron pressed down on the heart of the array and began devouring the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi like a massive whale.

“A cauldron made from Mother of Purple Royal Copper?”

The High Priest’s eyes lit up. Any metal with the name ‘mother’ in it meant that it was one of the the first batches of metal produced during the Universe’s birth. The value was obvious.

The cauldron would not show any signs of being extraordinary when it was sitting still. But the moment it started absorbing Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, its body would suffuse natural nomological fluctuations. They were the primal laws from the beginning of the Universe that had been engraved in the Mother of Purple Royal Copper’s surface.

Boom!

A powerful surge of vitality gathered from everywhere into the array before repelling outwards like waves.

Wherever it swept through, the violent fire-elemental Yuan Qi would strike with the surge of vitality, producing potent blasts!

The fire-elemental Yuan Qi remained tempestuous and did not show any signs of stabilizing. At that moment, a seven-colored cloud flew out of the cauldron made of Mother of Purple Royal Copper.

The cloud stretched out in the sky like beautiful aurora but the terrifying power contained within it left people alarmed.

That was not a real cloud but a fire seed!

“Fire of Seven Emotions!” someone exclaimed.

As an alchemist sage, it was very common to own a fire seed. However, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s fire seed was no average seed. Many people in the world of alchemy already knew of this fire seed.

The fire was extremely special. It was not born from the world but from humans!

Life was filled with a plethora of emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, love, hatred, and desire—also known as the seven emotions. There were countless beings in the Universe where they lived for generations. Many of these beings would have their emotions drained, their aspirations released in the earthbound world. There might be a mixture of love and hate, the separation of life and death, or agony in joy.

And these seven emotions and six desires would give birth to a fire in one’s heart. The fire in one person’s heart was negligible, but if the fires from billions of beings were all fused together, that would be no trifling matter.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold followed a lineage in which the Fire of Seven Emotions was first gathered by his master’s master. By the time of his master, it was already at a height of brilliance. It became extremely famous when it reached Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s hands.

Patriarch Pillheart and Ouming Yin felt envious when they saw the Alchemist Sage Purple Gold draw out the Fire of Seven Emotions. Both of them lacked such an outstanding fire seed.

At that moment, the auspicious seven-colored cloud which Alchemist Sage Purple Gold released took on the appearance of a slender woman. She was dressed in rainbow clothes and had a voluptuous figure. Her legs looks firm and strong. Her bare feet stood on flames. She exuded an amorous bearing that left one in reverie.

The fire seed had gained sentience! This was an indication of the fire seed’s pedigree. Furthermore, the Fire of Seven Emotions was the production of the fires in people’s hearts, born from the masses. It was born with higher intelligence, so its gaining of sentience was something that would naturally follow.

The moment the lithe and graceful woman appeared, she gently stepped into the heart of the massive array. It was like the finishing touch on the massive array, increasing its might tremendously!

The moment she entered, the violent fire-elemental Yuan Qi started to become gradually repressed by the massive array.

“Oh?” The High Priest’s eyes darted around. Although it appeared to be effective, it was still too early to say with certainty.

“Fellow Daoists, aid me. If I succeed today, I will lend out the ‘Green Bag Book’ for your perusal.”

The ‘Green Bag Book’ was a medical heritage that Alchemist Sage Purple Gold relied on to attain his fame. Upon hearing Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s offer of the ‘Green Bag Book’, Patriarch Pillheart and Ouming Yin were astounded.

Although they were unwilling to aid him, they did desire to read the ‘Green Bag Book.’ Therefore, they used whatever means they had to power the array.

Instantly, the array’s energy swept in every direction like a storm. The violent fire-elemental Yuan Qi was further repressed.

“Haha!” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold gave a satisfied smile. Although he was controlling the heart of the massive array, he still had energy to spare. “Your Excellency, Your Highness, does my Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array live up to your expectations? By gathering the Yuan Qi of more than ten thousand people, transforming it into vibrant vitality, it is able to repress the already chaotic Herb Nurturing Array. In less than ten days, I will stabilize this array.”

1356 - : Fire of Seven Emotions

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Not bad.”

The High Priest nodded.

As this was going on, Yi Yun had seen it all through Ling Xie’er’s perception. Alchemist Sage Purple Gold had not studied the array patterns of the Herb Nurturing Array at all.

Most alchemist sages would try their best to understand the divine alchemist’s array techniques so as to use his methods to complete the array.

However, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold took a different approach. He used his own methods to stabilize the Herb Nurturing Array and actually managed to produce results.

Yi Yun had to admit that Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was truly capable. Yi Yun did not take offense to Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s slander of him since the anomaly in the array was indeed caused by him. It was not a false charge, but what did enrage him was that Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was plotting against Ling Xie’er.

Yi Yun was in no hurry to rush over. He wanted to see what Alchemist Sage Purple Gold would do. He refused to believe that Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was able to complete the Herb Nurturing Array.

“Your Excellency, Your Highness, High Elder, this array has been activated. In order to eliminate any disturbances, might I request that the three of you retreat into the island?” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold said with a faint smile. The island that contained the Fate Changing Pill was now sealed within a massive hemisphere of light.

The High Priest nodded. He entered the barrier with Nine Li Magus Maiden and Aged Blackrock. At that moment, they could already see the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array working but their perception had been insulated by the barrier.

Upon seeing this, the corners of Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s mouth curled up.

“Seven Emotions, you can begin. This sort of opportunity only comes once in a billion years. You must not miss it.”

“I understand.” The seven-colored muslin-clothed woman gave a sinister but charming smile. She flew high into the sky as countless iridescent clouds gathered towards her and lingered around her.

Just seconds later, Ling Xie’er suddenly gasped while standing beside Yi Yun.

Yi Yun turned his head and saw that she was trembling. Her face looked pale.

“Xie’er, what’s wrong?” asked Yi Yun immediately.

Ling Xie’er’s body scrunched up and shook. “Brother, the fire seed that man summoned is… is extracting my strength!”

“What?” Yi Yun’s expression changed. He could see the voluptuous woman standing in the heart of the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array. She winded around in midair as though she was doing a sexually bewitching dance.

Every step she took would cause quakes throughout the void. The Heretical God Fire Seed’s strength was everywhere in the array, so it was being sucked into her body with every step of her dance.

If the Herb Nurturing Array was stable and Ling Xie’er was perfectly fused with the array, she would have been unassailable. It would have been impossible to extract Ling Xie’er’s strength from the Herb Nurturing Array.

But with the anomaly, there were many flaws in the array. Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was taking advantage of these flaws to extract Ling Xie’er’s strength!

Ling Xie’er was much stronger than the voluptuous woman but all her strength was sealed within the Herb Nurturing Array. She was the core fire seed of the Herb Nurturing Array, which required her to dedicate all her strength to the array.

This was akin to Ling Xie’er using all her strength to carry a mountain. While the mountain could fall at any time, the woman was stabbing Ling Xie’er in the chest.

Ling Xie’er had no means to resist. Therefore, it was a one-sided gorging from the beginning.

The seven-colored muslin-clothed woman was on the cauldron made of Mother of Purple Royal Copper. She lifted her foot to step high into the sky, showcasing her figure as her long hair and clothes fluttered in the wind. She began to meld with the array and wherever her powers swept, Ling Xie’er’s strength would be devoured by her.

“This young girl sure is delicious.” The woman’s mouth curled up, revealing a seductive smile. She was a fire seed that was ranked very highly in this world. During her growth, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold had fed her low-grade fire seeds but most of them were limited in power. They did not enhance her strength by much.

However, Ling Xie’er was different. Just devouring a tiny portion of her was enough to improve her strength by leaps and bounds.

If she were to devour Long Xie’er whole, even she did not know how much she would evolve.

At that moment, bits of fire began condensing out of the array in Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s palm.

Upon seeing this fire, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s eyes flashed with a greedy glint as he smiled.

Although the Nine Li Magus Empire refused permission to take Ling Xie’er away, how could he drop the matter so easily? Through the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array, he could extract Ling Xie’er’s strength.

Even if he only extracted a portion, it would be enough to evolve the Fire of Seven Emotions!

And eventually, he would replace Ling Xie’er with the Fire of Seven Emotions, making it the Herb Nurturing Array’s fire seed, thus completing the Herb Nurturing Array!

He knew that even if the Nine Li Magus Empire discovered his intentions at that point in time, it no longer mattered. As long as the Herb Nurturing Array was completed, killing Ling Xie’er did not matter in any way.

Fifty kilometers away, Yi Yun saw all that had happened through Ling Xie’er. He clenched his fists, his fingernails lodging into his flesh. His chest was filled with burning rage.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold!

He never expected Alchemist Sage Purple Gold to directly attack Ling Xie’er. If he had not come out of seclusion when he did, the outcome would be too dreadful to think of!

“Xie’er, follow me!”

Yi Yun carried the weakened Ling Xie’er and flew towards Alchemist Sage Purple Gold and company!

The pangs of fury in his eyes grew more intense. Yi Yun wanted Alchemist Sage Purple Gold dead!

…

“Purple Gold, what are you doing!?”

Patriarch Pillheart and Ouming Yin, who were in the array, could fully appreciate the energy flow within it. They instantly noticed that Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was stealing the strength of Yi Yun’s fire seed.

They had long coveted the fire seed of such paragon grade. Now, seeing Alchemist Sage Purple Gold using the Fire of Seven Emotions to devour the Heretical God Fire Seed, they could no longer sit still.

“Fellow Daoists, I will not let your assistance go empty-handed. As long as you aid me, I can lend both of you the ‘Green Bag Book’ now.”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold spoke in a friendly tone, hoping to appease them. However, Patriarch Pillheart sneered and took out his fire seed. It fused into the core of the array and began devouring the Heretical God Fire Seed’s strength.

Ouming Yin naturally loathed to lag behind. He immediately conjured his fire seed as well.

Patriarch Pillheart’s fire seed manifested as a fire toad in mid-air. As for Ouming Yin’s fire seed, it manifested as a fire centipede.

Both their fire seeds were much weaker than Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s. They could barely manifest in the form of a Fey beast but they were still far from gaining sentience.

The moment the fire toad and fire centipede appeared, they flew about in mid-air and began snatching the ‘food’ from the Fire of Seven Emotions.

Upon seeing this unfold, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold knitted his brows. The two old men were not people who would sit idle. If this continued, not only would they carve away the fire’s strength that belonged to him, they would also cause the array to turn even more unstable.

After all, the fire toad and fire centipede could not replace Ling Xie’er as the array’s core.

The three alchemist sages used all means possible. Their fire seeds were like leeches sucking away Ling Xie’er’s blood!

And among them, the colorful-clothed woman sucked the fastest. She was supported by the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array, so her draining of the Heretical God Fire Seed happened more than ten times faster than the other fire seeds.

“Do you think two lowly beasts like you are qualified to compete with me?”

The colorful-clothed woman’s eyes shimmered as she began a dance of death. Every step seemed to land on a vital spot of Ling Xie’er’s life essence.

If this continued, Ling Xie’er would be sucked dry of her energies, to the point where she would disappear.

“Oh? Something isn’t right!”

Even though Aged Blackrock was outside the array and inside the barrier of light, he noticed something was amiss.

Although Aged Blackrock was far stronger than the three alchemist sages, he knew little about alchemy and array formations.

Despite not knowing alchemical refinement, however, he guessed that something had happened from his understanding of energy flows.

“What happened?” asked Nine Li Magus Maiden puzzled.

Aged Blackrock frowned. “Your Highness, let’s go out.”

Aged Blackrock was about to step out of the barrier as he said that. But at that moment, the High Priest said leisurely, “Blackrock, you do not know alchemical refinement, so it’s best you do not act presumptuously. If you do anything rash, you might destroy the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array. The Herb Nurturing Array that Senior Divine Alchemist left behind can not withstand any more mishaps.”

The High Priest’s words carried a warning tone. Since Aged Blackrock was the High Priest’s junior and there was some difference in their status, Aged Blackrock needed to acquiesce to the High Priest if there were any conflict of opinion.

Aged Blackrock said angrily, “If I’m not wrong, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold and company are extracting the strength of the Herb Nurturing Array’s fire seed.”

“So what?” The High Priest shook his head and said. “You did just reject Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s request of taking away Yi Yun’s fire seed. Now, he’s only extracting a bit of its strength to strengthen his own fire seed. If Alchemist Sage Purple Gold has the confidence to complete the Herb Nurturing Array, then strengthening his fire seed would be beneficial to his chance of success.”

“Huh!?”

Upon hearing the High Priest’s words, Aged Blackrock’s expression sank. From the looks of it, the High Priest had noticed it earlier than him but he was tacitly allowing for it to happen.

From the High Priest’s point of view, Yi Yun’s exchange of the fire seed resulted in the Herb Nurturing Array’s anomaly. He naturally disliked Ling Xie’er; therefore, he turned a blind eye towards the extraction of her strength. A truly powerful fire seed could be used to its fullest only in the hands of a person like Alchemist Sage Purple Gold.

“Master, what do you mean by that!?”

Nine Li Magus Maiden turned anxious but she lacked the strength to act. If the High Priest supported Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, she had no way to change his mind through force.

And at that moment, Nine Li Magus Maiden suddenly felt something as she looked toward the horizon.

Aged Blackrock also looked over. They saw an azure beam shooting over like a divine sword!

Upon seeing the figure in the beam of light, Aged Blackrock’s expression stirred. “Yi Yun! He’s out!”

“Yi Yun?” The High Priest’s pricked up his white brow. He squinted his eyes as he looked at the beam of light that was flying over. “So he is Yi Yun. He dares make an appearance after causing such huge trouble for my Nine Li Magus Empire?”

1357 - : Burning Rage

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh? Yi Yun!”

Patriarch Pillheart and company, who were inside the array, naturally noticed Yi Yun arrive.

“Oh? He’s Yi Yun?”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold squinted his eyes slightly. So this was the punk he was snatching the fire seed from. Before he came to the Nine Li Magus Empire, he had heard of Yi Yun’s exploits. To him, Yi Yun was practically a walking treasure trove.

Fire seed! Divine Alchemy Cauldron! And the divine alchemist’s manuals!

He coveted every item!

“Eh? His cultivation level has actually…”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was slightly taken aback. He knew Yi Yun was young, so he was surprised to discover that Yi Yun was already at the Supremacy realm when he approached!

Such a young Supremacy?

Everyone, be it Alchemist Sage Purple Gold or Patriarch Pillheart, they were all stunned. Yi Yun was only at the eighth-storey Dao Palace before he left, but now he was already a Supremacy? How did he accomplish such a feat that quickly?

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s Supremacy cultivation level, the High Priest’s expression turned sullen. He naturally knew that Yi Yun’s breakthrough was all thanks to the River of Forgetfulness’s water.

It was a known fact in the Nine Li Magus Empire that the number of young elites that could be bestowed with the River of Forgetfulness’s water was few and far between. No matter who obtained it, they would treat it as extremely precious and cherish every drop.

Now, the River of Forgetfulness’s water that were originally prepared for the Nine Li Magus Empire’s young elites had been used up by Yi Yun. It was only natural that the High Priest was displeased.

“Li’er, you gave him all the remaining River of Forgetfulness’s water from the mystic land, didn’t you!? You helped him break through to the Supremacy realm but not only did he not complete the Herb Nurturing Array, he actually made it worse. Due to this, our Nine Li clan has to pay a tremendous price to fix it. Now, he takes all the benefits and can get away scot free. Li’er you have been too imprudent.”

Since Yi Yun had appeared, the High Priest no longer stayed inside the barrier of light. He walked straight out.

“Blackrock, Li’er is young, but even you shared in her foolishness?”

The High Priest turned towards Aged Blackrock. He wore a stoic expression for he knew that there was no need for him to say a word. Since Yi Yun had appeared, everything depended on what he could do.

At that moment, Yi Yun had already come to a halt. He just stood outside the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array while Patriarch Pillheart, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, and Ouming Yin were still devouring the Heretical God Fire Seed’s strength!

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold only gave Yi Yun a nonchalant sneer. He basically disregarded Yi Yun.

He was situated inside the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array where it was impossible for Yi Yun to enter. There was nothing Yi Yun could do to him!

Instead, it was Patriarch Pillheart that acknowledged Yi Yun. Without even raising his eyelids, he said, “I haven’t seen you in years and you have actually broken through to become a Supremacy. It appears that the legend of the Nine Li Magus Empire having the River of Forgetfulness’s water is true. I never expected that the Nine Li Magus Empire would be fooled into giving you such a precious item. However… forcibly manipulating time to break through to the Supremacy realm is just that and nothing more.”

As Patriarch Pillheart spoke leisurely, he did not slow down his absorption of the Heretical God Fire Seed at all.

“Open the array!”

Yi Yun’s voice was ice-cold as it contained killing intent. Although Yi Yun had broken through to the Supremacy realm, he was still much weaker than Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, Patriarch Pillheart, and Ouming Yin.

“Heh!” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold sneered as though he had heard the funniest joke. “What did you say? I didn’t get you. Do you want me to open the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array? Interesting. I can do that but wait a month or two outside. I’ll open it once I finish absorbing this fire seed’s strength.”

When Alchemist Sage Purple Gold said that, a few youths standing close to Alchemist Sage Purple Gold roared with laughter.

These youths were Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s disciples.

One of the youths dressed in a white alchemy robe said with a scoff, “You should be honored that Master is absorbing your fire seed’s strength. You wreaked havoc on the Nine Li Magus Empire’s Herb Nurturing Array. If not for Master, this array would have been finished. You stayed in seclusion and even got your fire seed to seal off the array to hide your mistakes. Now that Master has taken the first steps to stabilize the array, you finally have the guts to appear. You even want to open the array? Do you have what it takes? You can try entering!”

“Haha, how is he to enter? Even if he can, he still has to answer to the Nine Li Magus Empire’s High Priest for his sins!”

As Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s disciples, these youths usually led lofty lives. They had a sense of superiority and in their minds, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was peerless when it came to alchemy. If he wanted to seize Yi Yun’s fire seed, there was no way he could put up any resistance.

“Xie’er, retract your strength,” Yi Yun said to the weak Ling Xie’er.

“Brother, if I were to retract it…” Ling Xie’er said weakly.

“Believe me. It will be fine,” said Yi Yun.

Although Alchemist Sage Purple Gold had set up the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array which could repress the violent Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the Herb Nurturing Array, it was a fact that he did not really understand the Herb Nurturing Array.

And Yi Yun could now understand the reason for the Herb Nurturing Array’s problem. He also knew that more anomalies were in store for the Herb Nurturing Array.

As Ling Xie’er retracted her strength, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold and company noticed it immediately.

“Oh? What’s this? Do you think you can save her by having her retract her strength?” said Alchemist Sage Purple Gold with a scoff.

He thought Yi Yun was a very capable person that would not go down without a fight. Yet, Yi Yun withdrew directly. He even handed the Herb Nurturing Array over to him.

“With me here, there’s no way she can leave this place. Seven Emotions!” shouted Alchemist Sage Purple Gold.

The Fire of Seven Emotions chortled lightly as she flew into the heart of the Herb Nurturing Array, filling the spot which Ling Xie’er had left empty. She became the Herb Nurturing Array’s new array fire.

The moment she took over the Herb Nurturing Array, she immediately took control of the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, sealing Ling Xie’er into a tiny space.

“Xie’er, all you need to do is focus on protecting yourself,” said Yi Yun calmly.

“Alright.” Ling Xie’er had already regained her freedom. Although she had lost a lot of her strength from the absorptions, she was no longer as weak as before. The Fire of Seven Emotions might have become the new array fire, but at most all she could do was seal her. Hurting her would not be easy.

Ling Xie’er stayed in a tiny space within the Herb Nurturing Array. The surrounding space might have been sealed shut but she was not being harmed in any way.

When Patriarch Pillheart and Ouming Yin saw this, they were unwilling to play second fiddle. Although their fire seeds were unable to enter the core of the array, they had them linger inside the array and refuse to leave.

They definitely wanted a piece of the pie when it came to the Herb Nurturing Array. They refused to let Alchemist Sage Purple Gold monopolize it.

“Now that the array is completely within my control, your fire seed will be devoured.” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold said with a delighted smile.

He felt that everything was going smoothly. Yi Yun was completely powerless in front of him.

“Look, the moment this Yi Yun came out of seclusion, he only thought to take back the array fire. Li’er, you really have been fooled,” said the High Priest with a cold grunt.

The Nine Li Magus Maiden did not say a word. However, Aged Blackrock gave Yi Yun an anxious glance.

Was it true that Yi Yun had no counter strategy since he had relinquished control over the Herb Nurturing Array?

1358 - : Array Seizing

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun watched Alchemist Sage Purple Gold and company with a cold, almost indifferent expression on his face. He did not speak but only counted the time silently.

These people had thought too little of Ling Xie’er’s strength and also thought too highly of themselves. If not for Ling Xie’er, the array would not have lasted three months, let alone three years.

Now that they were taking over the array, they even let themselves believe that there was a pie in the sky. However, they never realized that it was actually a meteorite that was crashing down at them.

After Alchemist Sage Purple Gold took control of the Herb Nurturing Array, he immediately began studying it. With the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array and his fire seed as the Herb Nurturing Array’s array fire, it would only be a matter of time before he finished comprehending the Herb Nurturing Array.

But at that moment, he realized that the Fire of Seven Emotions could no longer absorb the Heretical God Fire Seed’s strength.

Although the Heretical God Fire Seed was still trapped in the array, she had already shrunk into a blob with an impermeable defense. She could no longer be devoured at all.

Even so, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold remained calm. He was fully composed for he believed that as his understanding of the array grew, the Heretical God Fire Seed would eventually end up in his proverbial jaws. There was no escaping him. When the time came, he could refine the Heretical God Fire Seed completely once and for all. He could even obtain the ethereal body of Ling Xie’er!

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was very interested in Ling Xie’er’s actual body. If he were to only obtain the flame, the Heretical God Fire Seed’s grade would drastically reduce and his efforts would be quite wasted.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold could not help but look at Yi Yun. He saw Yi Yun standing in the void with an extremely calm expression.

“I want to see how long you can maintain your calm composure.” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold felt disdain for him.

At that moment, the Herb Nurturing Array had naturally sensed the changes it was going through. Such an important array definitely had unstable periods. Any unexpected changes would incur the High Priest’s displeasure. He kept having a sense of foreboding.

“Your Excellency, there’s no need to worry. Now that the Herb Nurturing Array is in my hands, I can use my fire seed as the core to the array. It will make it much easier to understand the array. Although completing the array will require a long period of time, stabilizing it isn’t difficult. When the time comes, Her Highness will also know the difference between those alchemist sages you mentioned and me,” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold said confidently. With the Fire of Seven Emotions as the core, it was equivalent to him sending his perception deep into the Herb Nurturing Array’s interior!

Fire seeds and their owners shared the same soul. The comprehension of arrays was mostly done externally. But that was akin to studying a mountain through the mist so it was naturally unclear. Now, with the fire seed as an eye, he could see the core and essence of the array. The effects were obviously different.

Actually, if not for the array’s anomaly, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold would not have had such an opportunity. He had accomplished the first step and completing the Herb Nurturing Array was only a matter of time.

“Perhaps, it might be a blessing in disguise,” The High Priest pondered.

It was common saying that establishment could happen after destruction. The alchemists that were invited in ancient times were all extremely careful. No one dared to do something drastic which might cause an anomaly in the array.

But this time, with the array in outright chaos, it actually gave alchemists more opportunities. It also gave the High Priest a glimmer of hope that the array could be completed.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Flames spewed out. At that moment, in the core of the array, Ling Xie’er’s ethereal body had returned to the Heretical God flames. She hugged her legs and curled into a dark corner. Her body lingered within a layer of black flames that formed a perfect defense.

Standing in front of Ling Xie’er was a voluptuous rainbow-colored beauty, as well as a fire centipede and fire toad.

Despite surrounding Ling Xie’er, they could not do anything to her due to the protection of her black flames.

“Hmph! Lass, don’t think I won’t be able to eat you up just because you contracted all your strength. I have the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array supporting me while you have nothing! The strength we fire seeds can produce depends on our master. You might as well get rid of that useless master of yours. Follow my master and be a young maidservant. Treat him well, that’s a safer way out.” The voluptuous woman sneered.

She temporarily ignored Ling Xie’er and turned to face the Herb Nurturing Array. She focused her strength deep into the array.

She still had a mission to accomplish, which was to use her own strength to help Alchemist Sage Purple Gold probe the array.

The voluptuous woman carefully controlled her strength as she slowly released it from the array’s core.

The first time she fused with the worldly array, she felt like she had instantly manifested as the world around her. Her vision turned infinitely expansive and her soul seemed to experience a complete sublimation. She felt like a door to a brand new world had opened.

“Oh? Did this lass experience the same thing back when she fused with this array?”

Just as the voluptuous woman was thinking that, she suddenly felt the suction power from the array increase in strength. She was the one originally controlling her strength to slowly cover the entire array but now, the situation had reversed. The array was absorbing her.

“What…”

The voluptuous woman momentarily panicked. The color in her face drained as she tried to control her strength. However, despite her best efforts at doing so, her strength was being rapidly drained away.

She felt like the array was a massive spider web and she was a fly trapped in that web. She was completely stuck in it.

Be it the voluptuous woman, the fire centipede or the fire toad, they were stuck to the array. There was no way for them to move!

“Seven Emotions, what’s happening?”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s mind was tied to the voluptuous woman. Her sudden panic left him alarmed.

He wanted to use the Fire of Seven Emotions to probe the array but not long after he did so, such an unforeseen thing happened. However, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold did not know the reason. All he knew that before Yi Yun switched the array fire, the array was using a South Li Fire.

The South Li Fire was not considered an extremely high-grade fire seed. It was very inferior to his Fire of Seven Emotions. Why was the South Li Fire able to stabilize the array but when it he put in his Fire of Seven Emotions, with two other fire seeds aiding it, everything failed?

Could it be that the laws had changed after the array’s anomaly happened? The Fire of Seven Emotions’s strength was now insufficient?

But Yi Yun’s fire seed had clearly permeated its strength throughout the array. He even retracted its strength at the final moment to consolidate a plume of fire…

Upon realizing this, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold found it unbelievable. Could it be that he had still underestimated the strength of Yi Yun’s fire seed?

However, how could that be possible? His Fire of Seven Emotions was already one of the highest ranking fire seeds in the Sinkhole. Even the top ranking fire seeds like the Empyrean Cleansing Flame and Inferno of Samsara were not that much stronger than the Fire of Seven Emotions.

What sort of fire seed was in Yi Yun’s hands?

“Master, quickly think of a solution. My strength can’t handle this much longer.”

The voluptuous woman’s panicked but she maintained a gentle voice. Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s expression changed immediately as he looked at his disciples and said, “Quickly put your fire seeds into the array!”

In the Sinkhole, fire seeds may have been rare, but they were not completely extinct. As disciples of Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, most of them had fire seeds. The only difference was that the quality was way inferior.

“Ah?”

The Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s disciples were taken aback. They were a little afraid of putting their own fire seeds into the worldly array. However, with their master giving the command, they naturally did not dare voice their doubts. They sent their fire seeds into the array.

At the same time, Patriarch Pillheart and Ouming Yin had no choice but to demand their disciples inject their fire seeds into the array.

They could sense the horror coming from the array. It was like a bottomless hole that was crazily devouring the strength of their fire seeds. Their fire seeds would soon succumb.

However, how was it possible?

Previously, Yi Yun had only placed a single fire seed into the Herb Nurturing Array. His fire seed alone could fill the entire array and even stabilized it up to a certain point. It prevented the anomalies from happening too soon.

They refused to believe it. There must be a mistake somewhere!

At that moment, the core of the Herb Nurturing Array already held nineteen fire seeds!

However, other than the Fire of Seven Emotions, the other eighteen fire seeds added together could only barely match the Fire of Seven Emotions’s strength.

It was far from enough!

“Fellow Daoists, there has been some unexpected change in the array. I request your help. Please contribute your fire seeds to fill the array!”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold asked other alchemists. They were not his disciples so he no right to order them.

However, no one responded to his request. Their fire seeds were precious to them. As alchemists, they could also sense the changes in the Herb Nurturing Array. A situation in which Alchemist Sage Purple Gold could not control had happened. Under such circumstances, which one of them would dare risk contributing their fire seeds?

Upon seeing no response from more than ten thousand people, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold frowned. Even if a tiny percent of this bunch of bastards possessed fire seeds, their contributions would definitely fill the array’s energy requirements. When that happened, the array would naturally stabilize.

“Fellow Daoists, do you not trust me? This array’s energy fluctuations may be violent but everything is under my control. This array was only controlled by the lone South Li Fire before. Now with my Fire of Seven Emotions and nearly twenty fire seeds controlling the array, it is mostly under control. By placing your fire seeds in, you are actually gaining an opportunity. You will be able to come into close contact with the profundity of the array and its array patterns. It will rapidly increase your knowledge of alchemy…”

Just as Alchemist Sage Purple Gold said that—

Boom!

An massive explosion sounded as though the world was being rendered asunder. The land in the array’s interior cracked open as rampaging flames surged into the sky as though a volcano had suddenly erupted.

Such a terrifying energy blast came without warnings. With Alchemist Sage Purple Gold right in the middle, his body suddenly jolted as the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array beneath him immediately produced violent fluctuations.

What happened!?

All the alchemists present were alarmed as they looked toward Alchemist Sage Purple Gold. They saw his contorted expression. Clearly, the sudden turn of events had caught him by surprise as well.

He took a deep breath and said, “Fellow Daoists, although a tiny problem has surfaced, I have yet to lose control of the array. Quickly inject your fire seeds into the array. Then, everything can be stabilized!”

As Alchemist Sage Purple Gold said those words, there was another abrupt boom!

The ground beneath them cracked open!

1359 - : Bottomless Hole

CKtalon  CKtalon

There was an energized ocean around the island originally, but then the anomalies started three years ago. The ocean had gradually vanished to the point that it was almost gone, and now it was being disintegrated by the two violent blasts. It became a dried seabed!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The oppressive flames spewed out from the cracked seabed, emitting energy blasts that were more than ten times stronger than before. And these energy blasts stemmed from the bottom of the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array. Flames swept through it directly!

The more than ten thousand warriors in the array experienced the violent blast all at once. Some of the juniors had cultivation levels below that of the Dao Palace realm, and they screamed as they were burned. They were thrown out of the array immediately.

“What’s the matter!?”

“Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, what are you doing!? Didn’t you say that inside of your array, our strength can be gathered together and nothing can go wrong?”

Some of the alchemists saw their juniors being swept out of the array by the energy blast. Some were even spewing large mouthfuls of blood, a clear indication of suffering internal injuries. They were obviously furious.

One of the reasons they decided to help set up the array was to study the array patterns. Secondly, the Nine Li Magus Empire had promised benefits to those who helped. Yet they stood there without benefits and they had failed to comprehend any of the array patterns. They obviously found it unacceptable that their disciples were now being seriously injured.

“You have the nerve to question me? If you had contributed your fire seeds, this wouldn’t have happened!” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold said angrily.

The brunt force of the blast that just happened went straight for him, Patriarch Pillheart, and Ouming Yin as they were situated in the heart of the array. Although they had high enough cultivation levels to withstand it, it still did not feel good.

“Contribute our fire seeds? Do you think of us as kids!? This Herb Nurturing Array has far exceeded your control. If we were to contribute our fire seeds, we would end up losing them!”

“Don’t you go around acting as though you are some expert. Your array is completely ineffective!”

As the saying goes, ‘people in the same line of work think lowly of each other.’ Although the alchemists present were inferior in alchemical skills when compared to Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, being cogs in his Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array and forced to play second fiddle were things they were unwilling to do. When the Herb Nurturing Array was completed, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold would take the bulk of the benefits while they would only obtain the scraps he left behind.

Now that the situation had descended into chaos and their disciples were injured, these alchemists naturally did not want to stand on the same side as Alchemist Sage Purple Gold.

At that moment, the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array had instantly turned dangerous. The brutal fire-elemental Yuan Qi immediately surged wantonly all over the array’s vicinity.

Many young junior alchemists had no means to withstand such violent fire-elemental Yuan Qi. They yelled and jumped around from the burning scorches. It was utter chaos.

“Purple Gold! My fire seed is still inside. This is all your fault!” Patriarch Pillheart said angrily.

The violent fire-elemental Yuan Qi had already made the array turn unstable. At that moment, Patriarch Pillheart was most concerned about his fire seed but he was unable to extract it back out!

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold obviously couldn’t be bothered with Patriarch Pillheart’s accusations. He could sense that the oppressive fire-elemental Yuan Qi was tearing apart his Fire of Seven Emotions.

The violent energies pained Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s heart.

“Seven Emotions!”

If the fire seeds in the heart of the array were feared to be in danger of the array, then the one that was affected the most was the Fire of Seven Emotions who was the array’s core fire.

The Fire of Seven Emotions had just become the array fire and absorbed copious amounts of Ling Xie’er’s strength. She felt she was riding on the crest of success when the Herb Nurturing Array suddenly started malfunctioning. As the array fire, she instantly got the full force of the horrifying Yuan Qi blast.

“Ah!” The Fire of Seven Emotions winced. “My strength is constantly being extracted by this array. I’m almost about to be torn apart. Ah!”

The Fire of Seven Emotions let out a painful scream!

However, at that moment, she saw the not too distant Ling Xie’er.

Ling Xie’er kept hugging her legs, squirming herself into a dark corner. Her entire body was enveloped in black flames. These thin black flames insulated Ling Xie’er from the violent energy blasts, keeping her safe.

Despite the short distance between them, the difference was like night and day.

This stunned the Fire of Seven Emotions. Why was Ling Xie’er able to easily withstand such a terrifying energy blast!?

“Young Sister, save me.”

In her despair, the Fire of Seven Emotions tried her best to reach out to Ling Xie’er. She wished for Ling Xie’er’s protection. She knew that it would be very easy for Ling Xie’er to accomplish that.

“You truly are shameless. I have never seen such a shameless fancy schlock in my life before.” At that moment, a cold voice sounded. It was Yi Yun’s voice, transmitted through Ling Xie’er’s perception.

She was devouring Ling Xie’er’s strength just moments ago, and now she was pleading for help. Even Yi Yun was impressed by such thick skin. As thick as city walls, even.

In fact, even without Yi Yun’s instructions, Ling Xie’er pulled away from the Fire of Seven Emotions in a timely fashion.

The meaning of ‘timely’ in this case was the exact moment the Fire of Seven Emotions would reach Ling Xie’er’s side after an arduous crawl. Ling Xie’er would stand up, take a few steps back and then hug her legs again. She would obediently hide into a corner.

Upon seeing this play out, the Fire of Seven Emotions nearly went mad. Her body was almost in pieces but Ling Xie’er was completely fine. In the end, she was being aggrieved by a young girl like Ling Xie’er!

At that moment, the situation had went into a state of madness outside the core space!

Many alchemists were taking their disciples out of the the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array. No one had any further thoughts of taking control of the array. If they continued, they might end up severely injured, let alone their weak disciples.

The array was turning more and more oppressive. It was not impossible that it would completely collapse within moments.

The High Priest’s expression had long changed drastically. The anomaly was ten times crazier than before!

“Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, what did you do!? What’s wrong!?”

The Herb Nurturing Array was extremely important but now, the Yuan Qi was surging wantonly and the laws were in complete chaos. Even the array fire failed to withstand it and was about to fade away!

Back when Ling Xie’er was the array fire, the Herb Nurturing Array might have been problematic, but at the very least it was held together. But now, with the Fire of Seven Emotions replacing her as array fire, it was as though a building was collapsing!

“Seven Emotions!”

At that moment, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold no longer cared about the Herb Nurturing Array. He had nourished his flame for generations. It was extremely precious to him.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold ignored everything else and went for broke. He wanted the Fire of Seven Emotions to escape the bindings of the array and tried to forcibly extract her. He might make the Fire of Seven Emotions suffer some damage by doing so but he had no other choice. He could replenish any loss of power in the future.

Just as Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was about to forcibly extract the Fire of Seven Emotions, he suddenly felt a bone-biting coldness.

It was lethal killing intent!

The High Priest was glaring at Alchemist Sage Purple Gold. He said coldly, “Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, are you extracting the array fire? By extracting it now, are you just going to ignore the consequences of the array’s collapse? You previously said to leave the Herb Nurturing Array to you and that you would stabilize the array. If the array ends up in an irreparable state, I will slay you here and now so that you can accompany this Herb Nurturing Array in death!”

1360 - : Loss of Control

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, the High Priest was truly infuriated. His precious Herb Nurturing Array was about to collapse but even at this critical moment, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was focused on securing his Fire of Seven Emotions!

The High Priest knew that once the array was destroyed, he would be a sinner of the Nine Li Magus Empire. The Nine Li Magus Empire’s Herb Nurturing Array had been passed down for ages, so for it to be destroyed during his reign…he would be too ashamed to face the millions of citizens of the Nine Li Magus Empire or his ancestors!

Faced with the High Priest’s killing intent, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s breathing stagnated. He did not have any doubts that the High Priest would do what he threatened.

Although he was skilled in alchemy, his real strength was only ordinary among people at his own realm. After all, alchemy had taken up too much of his time and energy. How could he be the High Priest’s match? Besides, there was also Aged Blackrock.

At that moment, he could already sense Aged Blackrock glaring at him. The stare’s coldness raised the hairs on his back.

He was truly suffering in silence now. He had shot himself in the foot. Not only was he unable to fix the Herb Nurturing Array and devour Ling Xie’er, his fire seed would also end up being sacrificed.

Yet no matter how precious the Fire of Seven Emotions was, it was not as precious as his life. He immediately produced hex seals, in a struggle to activate the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array so as to stabilize the massive array.

But by then, many alchemists had fled. The Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array was in ruins and with the Herb Nurturing Array in greater disarray, his efforts seemed doomed to end in failure.

The Fire of Seven Emotions was in agony in the heart of the array while alchemists were being swept in tongues of fiery waves. Although the stronger alchemists were alright with their Yuan Qi protective barriers, their disciples were having their asses burned. The situation was unbearable to watch!

At that moment, the High Priest’s Yuan Qi voice transmission sounded throughout the area like a clamorous bell. “Today, my Nine Li clan handed the Herb Nurturing Array over to all of you! All of you are responsible for it. Don’t think of escaping. I will order the Nine Li Magus Empire’s warriors to stand guard outside the array. If my array is to be destroyed, all of you will accompany it in death. Not one of you will be spared!”

The High Priest’s voice was injected with killing intent. It sank all the hearts of the people fleeing.

Was the Nine Li Magus Empire insane? Were they going to keep all of them in this death trap at the risk of facing universal condemnation?

But upon careful thought, they realized that the Nine Li Magus Empire was truly capable of doing so. They were just too powerful. Numerous factions had been destroyed by the Nine Li Magus Empire throughout history. However, the Nine Li Magus Empire remained steadfast. No one doubted the crazy words the High Priest delivered. The Nine Li Magus Empire did not care if it would antagonize all the alchemists in the surrounding worlds of the Heavenly South Great World. To them, what was most important was the Herb Nurturing Array.

Instantly, everyone stopped attempting to escape.

Although the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array was in shambles, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and return to their positions.

“Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, this is all your fault. You have brought us harm!”

“We’re back now. Quickly activate the array and stabilize the massive array!”

“What are you waiting for? Quickly begin or all of us are doomed!”

Although Alchemist Sage Purple Gold enjoyed a dignified status, no one cared about it at that moment in time. All the alchemists began dogging him.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was already on the brink of insanity. And now, with them pressing him, he couldn’t think straight.

He felt like he was a sexually impotent man facing a group of ravenous women. Despite their constant urging for him to get down to business, he just couldn’t perform.

“Where are the fire seeds? Didn’t you request for everyone here to contribute their fire seeds? Gather all the power from these people’s fire seeds to stabilize the array!” The High Priest bellowed with murderous rage.

Previously, some of the alchemists had declined Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s request for their fire seeds, causing him to miss the critical moment.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold had no choice but to say, “Now that the worldly array is in chaos, gathering the powers of their fire seeds would be insufficient.”

“Insufficient?” The High Priest’s heart sank. That many fire seeds were still insufficient?

Aged Blackrock, who was standing beside the High Priest, sneered and said, “After all this incessant drivel, you basically set up an array and bragged about it. In the end, however, all of your fire seeds combined are inferior to a young lady!”

When Aged Blackrock said that, the High Priest could not help but feel alarmed. He found himself looking at Yi Yun. At that moment, Yi Yun was floating outside the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array. Although the fire-elemental Yuan Qi was wreaking havoc, it did not harm him one bit.

The High Priest knew that Yi Yun’s change of the array fire resulted in the array’s anomaly. But from another perspective, Yi Yun’s replacement of the array fire lasted for three years before the anomaly reared its head. They had only discovered it after that.

As for Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, it only took minutes after he switched the array fire for it to cause the array to stir up tumultuous waves like an explosion.

The High Priest was very displeased with Ling Xie’er previously but now, he found it unbelievable as he played back the sequence of events in his head.

Was Ling Xie’er that powerful? That young lady that seemed to pose no threat actually possessed such immense strength?

Although the High Priest was extremely powerful, his Nine Li clan was not adept at alchemy at all. He did not know the root cause of the Herb Nurturing Array’s anomaly either.

Once Aged Blackrock said that, all the alchemists felt shamed. They simultaneously were astonished by Yi Yun’s fire seed. At that moment, Yi Yun’s fire seed was still huddled in a corner of the array’s core. Despite the divine inferno outside, the fire seed remained unharmed.

They came to a deep realization that they had underestimated his fire seed. The grade of that fire seed had completely exceeded the Empyrean Cleansing Flame!

Was there such a powerful fire seed in this world? If Yi Yun’s fire seed provided its strength, it might be able to stabilize the array.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold obviously realized this. However, it was impossible for him to admit that he was inferior to Yi Yun at this juncture in time. He only abhorred the fact that he did not manage to completely devour Yi Yun’s fire seed. If not, his Fire of Seven Emotions would have evolved to an unfathomable state. If that happened, couldn’t it have easily dealt with the anomalies in the Herb Nurturing Array?

“Get Yi Yun’s fire seed to join in. With all of us working together, there is a high chance of stabilizing the array.” Suddenly, an alchemist said to the High Priest.

The Nine Li Magus Empire’s proverbial cleaver was at their necks. They had to fix the array with all they had.

However, they were worried that throwing their fire seeds into the chaotic array would only result in their fire seeds being torn apart immediately. However, things would be different if Yi Yun was also pulled into the fray.

With that top-grade fire seed shielding them, it would be that top-grade fire seed that experienced the brunt of the array’s suction. Their low-grade fire seeds could just slink into the crowd.

“That’s right. Only by getting Yi Yun to contribute his fire seed would it be a success. However, his fire seed is only defending herself to ensure self-preservation,” another alchemist said.

They had no ability to order Yi Yun so they could only exert pressure on him through the Nine Li Magus Empire. As long as the Nine Li Magus Empire took forceful measures, Yi Yun had no choice but to obey.

At that moment, Yi Yun laughed. “I’ve seen shameless people in my day but I’ve never seen someone as shameless as you. For three years, she enervated all her strength to barely maintain the array’s stability. The moment all of you entered, you set up an array and began devouring her. Now, your fire seeds are controlling the array. In just seconds, the array is on the brink of destruction. Now you want me to contribute my fire seed to help you stabilize the array?”

“I’m sorry to disappoint you. My fire seed is gravely injured after your attempt to devour her. She’s probably unable to shoulder such an important responsibility. However, I believe there’s no point in you lending any more fire seeds. Tear off your faces and use those to block up the Herb Nurturing Array.”

Yi Yun showed no mercy in his sarcasm. The alchemists present, especially Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s disciples, could not bear listening to him. The ‘all of you’ that Yi Yun referred to was actually pointed at their master, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold. How could they permit their master to receive such humiliation?

“Yi Yun! Aren’t all these problems in the Herb Nurturing Array your fault to begin with? Why are you acting like you are on a high horse? If not for my master taking over, this array would have been destroyed already. Now the array is having anomalies because of the root problems from before, and it’s so bad that even my master is unable to solve it!”

“That’s right. If my master’s Fire of Seven Emotions had devoured that girl, it would have been capable of stabilizing the array!”

Just as the disciples finished their words, an aura descended from the sky as if it was coming from an abyssal hell. It was as though Death had descended down on them. The disciples trembled as they felt their blood flowing backward, while their hearts skipped a beat.

“Peng!”

With a loud thud, the few disciples gave out tragic grunts as their faces turned excessively pale.

“High… High Priest…”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s disciples were bleeding from the corner of their mouths. In that instant moments ago, a massive suppression landed on them. It directly injured their meridians, and the person who caused it was none other than the Nine Li Magus Empire’s High Priest!

At that moment, the High Priest had a sullen expression with murderous intent written all over his face. Just the bloodlust from his body left others suffocated. Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s disciples did not dare speak another world.

The High Priest looked deeply into Yi Yun’s eyes. Even though he was always an unyielding person, he also felt ashamed. He found it difficult to request Yi Yun’s contribution of his fire seed.

He took a deep breath and sent a voice transmission to Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden. “Blackrock, Li’er…”

“You wish for me to get Yi Yun’s agreement?” Before the High Priest finished his words, Aged Blackrock immediately understood his intentions. If it was possible, he did not want to lower his dignity but as the matter involved the fate of the Nine Li Magus Empire, the Herb Nurturing Array had to be secured.

“My young friend, Yi Yun, on my account, is it possible for you to help in this matter?”

Aged Blackrock’s voice was sincere. Nine Li Magus Maiden did not say a word but she looked hopefully at Yi Yun. She placed all her hopes on Yi Yun at that moment.

Yi Yun cupped his fists gently and said, “Senior Blackrock, you are being too courteous. There is one thing that is true. The Herb Nurturing Array indeed experienced an anomaly because of my exchange of the fire seed. Although the scale of the anomaly is immense and somewhat difficult to settle, I will do my best.”

“However, my fire seed has been securing this array all these years. She has been drained off a lot of her strength. Her strength was also devoured by them and she is rather weak at the moment. As for how much can be done, I do not have absolute confidence.”

Yi Yun would not forget the gratitude he had for Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden’s gift of the River of Forgetfulness’s water. He obviously wasn’t going to sit around to watch the Herb Nurturing Array be destroyed.

1361 - : The High Priest’s Killing Intent

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Young Master Yi, you are being courteous. Whether it succeeds or not is up to fate. It is at the mercy of my Nine Li Magus Empire’s destiny.”

Nine Li Magus Maiden said very indifferently.

Yi Yun nodded. In fact, he did not feel that the High Priest had done anything wrong. Anyone in his shoes would have the same thoughts after seeing Yi Yun’s actions. It was simply human nature.

Still, Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden continued to trust in him despite the circumstances. It touched Yi Yun.

As Yi Yun spoke, Ling Xie’er had already stood up within the array’s core space.

“Xie’er, let’s begin!” Yi Yun’s voice sounded in Ling Xie’er’s ears.

“Alright.”

Ling Xie’er nodded. When she stepped into the tiny space, the raging gray-fire on her body soared and swept into her surroundings.

This fire was a lot stronger than the Fire of Seven Emotions who was suffering in the heart of the array. As for Ling Xie’er, she lightly strode through the sky. With every step of her delicate feet, she caused the fire-elemental Yuan Qi in that spot to stabilize.

Upon seeing Ling Xie’er produce such tremendous strength the moment she took action, the eyes of the High Priest and Aged Blackrock lit up.

As for Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, Patriarch Pillheart, and company, their gazes turned gloomy. Alchemist Sage Purple Gold looked at Ling Xie’er indignantly.

“Young Master Yi, we’ll be depending on you. Your master is the Senior Divine Alchemist after all. Perhaps, your fire seed has the ability to stabilize the array,” said a hopeful Nine Li Magus Maiden. Now that the anomaly had happened on such a massive scale, she was no longer able to confidently say whether Yi Yun could succeed or not.

Yi Yun wore a pondering look as though he was ruminating deeply on something. Suddenly, his expression changed. The fire-elemental Yuan Qi in the spots where Ling Xie’er had stepped exploded suddenly, becoming extremely chaotic once again. It was in greater disarray than before.

Many low-ranking disciples cried out tragically. If not for the High Priest’s warning from before, many of them would have rushed out of the array when their asses were burned by the flames. Now, all of them were standing inside the array as though they were being grilled on racks. Soon, their skin and flesh split and their hair and brows was burnt to nothingness.

“Brother…” Ling Xie’er revealed a look of panic. She looked around at the violent fire-elemental Yuan Qi that was exploding everywhere. The Yuan Qi crazily swept towards her in a bid to devour her.

She constantly stamped out the fire-elemental Yuan Qi in different spots but the Herb Nurturing Array was like an erupting volcano with spouts everywhere. Lava would constantly spew from different spots. Just after Ling Xie’er stopped one spot, another spot would explode. After she rushed to that spot, the spot she just stopped would explode again.

Others saw Ling Xie’er looking flustered and the Herb Nurturing Array’s situation becoming more critical.

If this went on, the array’s complete collapse was just a matter of time.

“What’s going on?” The High Priest bellowed. All he cared about were the results. Regardless of how much the Nine Li Magus Maiden supported Yi Yun, if the Herb Nurturing Array collapsed, Yi Yun was the main culprit for switching the fire seed that caused it all to happen.

Before Yi Yun spoke a word, Patriarch Pillheart sneered and said, “What else could it be? I thought you cultivated for a long time with River of Forgetfulness’s water and would have improved a little; yet, other than bragging, you still have nothing to offer. You were willing to release your fire seed only when Elder Blackrock personally requested your help. You sure put on great airs but in the end, aren’t you just making the array worse?”

“Now, the array might completely be destroyed at any time. When that happens, all the energy contained within will explode. It will be extremely dangerous. Even the outside Nine Li Magus Empire will be hit. Your Excellency, even if we can ignore the danger, you should inform the young disciples of the Nine Li Magus Empire to retreat before they get caught up in it,” Ouming Yin said as he stroked his beard. He had his own thoughts. He wished to take on a soft stance so as to leave this dire situation as soon as possible. Although the Herb Nurturing Array was of utmost importance to the Nine Li Magus Empire, it was not its everything. If it was truly a lost cause, he believed that the Nine Li Magus Empire would not be crazy enough to let everyone die with it.

As for Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, he looked at Yi Yun with a gloating expression. Previously, Yi Yun had mocked his lack of alchemical skills and said that his array was terrible, making it impossible to stabilize the Herb Nurturing Array. But in the end? Not only did Yi Yun also fail to stabilize the Herb Nurturing Array, the first signs of a complete collapse could be glimpsed.

“Your Excellency, there is no way to redeem the situation at this juncture,” said Alchemist Sage Purple Gold.

What a pity. If he had allowed the Fire of Seven Emotions to directly devour Ling Xie’er, the Herb Nurturing Array would be completely in his grasp now.

However, with the array on the brink of complete collapse, all he wanted to do was rescue the Fire of Seven Emotions. Now, the voluptuous beauty was huddled in a corner of the heart of the array. Despite being a manifestation of a fire seed, it felt like she had fallen into a world of ice. She was trembling gently.

“Thankfully, Yi Yun’s fire seed has entered the array, helping my Fire of Seven Emotions bear some of the burden. By letting that fire seed take the most of the array’s fury, there is chance for me to take Seven Emotions out,” thought Alchemist Sage Purple Gold.

Patriarch Pillheart and Ouming Yin were having the same thoughts. With things coming to this point, they now had a chance of rescuing their fire seeds.

When Yi Yun heard their words, all he did was sneer.

How could he not have known the danger involved when he took over the messy business?

“Xie’er.” Yi Yun’s voice sounded directly in Ling Xie’er’s ears.

Ling Xie’er gave a glance in Yi Yun’s direction and nodded.

She stepped through the air and began heading towards the heart of the array.

“Little Sister, quickly come here and save me!” When the Fire of Seven Emotions saw Ling Xie’er approaching, she immediately began pleading.

The array had devoured her strength crazily and Alchemist Sage Purple Gold had already sent her a voice transmission. He would think of a way to make Ling Xie’er completely replace her as the core’s fire seed and rescue her. Now, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was just waiting for the opportunity, so when he saw Ling Xie’er walk towards the heart of the array, both he and Seven Emotions were delighted.

Energy was surging in every direction, with laws interlacing with each other in the core. As long as they forcibly pulled Ling Xie’er in and trapped her in there, they would be halfway to victory.

At that moment, Patriarch Pillheart and Ouming Yin’s fire seeds were curled into clumps by the side. They were also waiting for the opportunity, for they had come to a silent agreement with the Fire of Seven Emotions. In fact, they were in worse states than the Fire of Seven Emotions. They were almost candles in the wind.

As Ling Xie’er walked over, the surrounding fire-elemental Yuan Qi gradually calmed down. It also gave these fire seeds some breathing room. This elevated their hopes even more.

The fire toad and fire centipede were struggling with all they had, hoping that they could use this opportunity to escape the Herb Nurturing Array and go back to their owners.

But when Ling Xie’er was just a few steps away from the heart of the array, the young lady suddenly stopped. She gave the fire toad a glance and smirked, as though she was just struck with an idea.

After a while, she suddenly extended her hand and grabbed with her fingers. At that moment, infinite fire-elemental laws gathered in Ling Xie’er’s palm, and like a tornado’s sweeping, a massive suction power enveloped the fire toad!

The fire toad was alarmed as it screamed. However, it was completely unable to withstand the tearing suction. Its body began to twist and distort.

“What’s going on!?” Patriarch Pillheart’s expression changed drastically.

Peng! The fire toad suddenly transformed into a green toxic fire. Its corporeal manifestation had been destroyed, returning it to its fire seed form.

And at the same time, Ling Xie’er stretched her other hand out and beckoned. The powerful force bound the green fire and pulled it towards Ling Xie’er.

Ling Xie’er grabbed the green fire seed and deformed it into a ball of pure green energy. At the next instant, the energy began rapidly flowing into Ling Xie’er’s hands. It was… being absorbed by Ling Xie’er!

Patriarch Pillheart’s eyes seemed to crack in anger as he burst in rage. Yi Yun’s fire seed was actually devouring the fire seed that was intrinsic to him! It was something he spent so much time and effort nurturing!

He originally planned on using Ling Xie’er to replace his fire seed, allowing Ling Xie’er to suffer the devouring effects of the array but in the end, Ling Xie’er had no intention of entering the array’s core. Instead, she wanted to devour his fire seed!

“How dare you!” Patriarch Pillheart was infinitely incensed!

1362 - : Pay Someone Back in Their Own Coin

CKtalon  CKtalon

However, Yi Yun ignored Patriarch Pillheart’s rage. He was a person who would take revenge the moment he was given an opportunity. He had been bent on seeking revenge back when Ling Xie’er’s strength was being devoured. Now that that array was in disarray, Ling Xie’er was too weak to stop it because her strength had been drained. Obtaining the fire seeds of others was the best way to recover her strength.

“Yi Yun, what are you doing!?”

At that moment, the High Priest was incensed as well. The array was on the brink of collapse but Yi Yun was still engaging in a petty war by devouring Patriarch Pillheart’s fire seed.

Yi Yun said loudly, “Your Excellency, my fire seed was drained of its strength previously by these fire seeds. However, they do not know how to use this strength, making it a waste. So now, I’m getting Xie’er to retrieve her strength so that she can quell the array.”

Yi Yun’s words made the High Priest even angrier. He was already greatly disappointed by Yi Yun when the array’s loss of control continued. How was he to be convinced with Yi Yun’s present bold statements?

Meanwhile, Ling Xie’er was still absorbing Patriarch Pillheart’s fire seed’s strength. The infuriated Patriarch Pillheart ignored everything as he extended his hand and made a grabbing motion. A gigantic toxic claw manifested in midair. It came crashing down at Yi Yun with a thunderous boom!

“Kid, you are courting death!”

The toxic claw had been infused with poisonous substances by Patriarch Pillheart over a long period of time. It could directly hurt one’s dantian by spreading poison into the meridians, eventually affecting the entire body. He wanted to destroy Yi Yun’s dantian directly!

Upon seeing this scene, Aged Blackrock felt great palpitations through him. However, the High Priest beside him did not take any action. From the High Priest’s point of view, this matter was Yi Yun’s fault to begin with. For him to have the audacious thought of devouring Patriarch Pillheart’s fire seed while repairing the array was a completely lawless act.

“Stop it!”

Aged Blackrock struck out with his palm. He held back, preventing the strike from being lethal. Instead, he focused on absolute speed. After all, he was situated on the island outside the array. He was too far away from Patriarch Pillheart and Yi Yun.

Patriarch Pillheart had attacked too suddenly. He had long hated Yi Yun to the bone. Now, with all the accumulated anger exploding, his killing intent surged. His palm sealed off the surrounding void as he attempted to directly cripple Yi Yun’s cultivation!

Since Yi Yun was devouring his fire seed, crippling him of his cultivation was not something others could fault him for!

Patriarch Pillheart revealed a hideous expression. The claw had already arrived in front of Yi Yun. In response, Yi Yun rapidly retreated while facing the massive green claw.

However, Patriarch Pillheart was even faster. He clenched his palm, and the void that had been sealed became like a cage, trapping Yi Yun completely within!

“Do you want to stall for time so that Blackrock can save you? It’s too late!”

Patriarch Pillheart laughed sinisterly. His Yuan Qi voice transmission reached straight into Yi Yun’s ear. But, at that instant, an azure-blue sword appeared in Yi Yun’s hand.

His expression changed instantly, turning into one of infinite concentration. At that moment, Yi Yun seemed to be isolated from the world. He entered an ethereal state where all he saw was his sword.

Crackle!

Yi Yun’s flesh and bones crackled loudly. His body’s strength surged, as though a primordial behemoth had awakened inside of him.

“What? He wants to forcibly receive Patriarch Pillheart’s strike?”

Aged Blackrock, who had yet enter the battleground, was alarmed. Nine Li Magus Maiden could only widen her beautiful eyes. At her meager level of strength, she was completely unable to tell what was happening on the battlefield. All she could see was Yi Yun’s body burst with gold light as a primordial totem’s phantom appeared behind him.

“Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon—Golden Carp!”

Chi!

A blinding sword beam seemed to descend from the sky, tearing through space as it thrust towards the toxic claw.

At that instant, nearly everyone’s vision was filled by the tiny sword flash.

The disciples with weaker cultivation levels even felt a stabbing pain reach their eyes. They nearly turned blind from just one look. It was imaginable how keen the sword flash was.

A strike to tear the firmaments. Not only was the sword flash keen, more importantly, it also contained immense and unbeatable strength. It was as though the world was collapsing!

This strike stabbed through the toxic claw’s center. The violent collision exploded into endless energy tornadoes that swept up.

“Boom!”

With a loud boom, the toxic claw exploded in mid-air.

In that moment, no matter how blinding the sword flash was, everyone widened their eyes to see the scene. They were extremely astonished. Yi Yun actually managed to defend against Patriarch Pillheart’s strike!?

Meanwhile, the toxic claw that had dissipated transformed into toxic fumes as it dispersed. The spatial cage was still present. The toxic fumes contained nomological powers akin to Apocalyptic Fumes. They were about to infiltrate Yi Yun’s body through space.

Yi Yun put away his sword as a thunderous rumble emitted from his body suddenly. He took a deep breath as his chest rapidly swelled up. When the Dragon Emperor Technique’s circulation of his lifeblood powers reached a maximum, Yi Yun unleashed a mighty roar!

Roar—!

The heaven-reaching dragon’s roar came directly from Yi Yun’s dantian and blasted in every direction uniformly!

Truths of the Ascending Dragon!

By stimulating the Dragon Emperor bloodline in him, he roared the Truth. The moment this Truth was roared, it could shatter all the meridians of a warrior, sending them to their deaths with a simple shout!

Yi Yun’s roar blasted out like storm winds. All the toxic fumes were scattered by his roar!

Yi Yun retreated rapidly. Suddenly releasing all his vital potential and using the Dragon Emperor Technique in battle was extremely demanding on Yi Yun. His meridians could hardly tolerate such a burden.

However, knowing that he had withstood Patriarch Pillheart’s strike still made Yi Yun feel contented.

However, Patriarch Pillheart had yet to retract his palm. All he did was stand in a daze as he looked at Yi Yun. He even forgot to follow up with another attack. He was just marveling at the ludicrous scene that unfolded before him. It was as if it was a dream.

Yi Yun… actually managed to withstand his claw?

Although he had struck out without much thought while Yi Yun had used all his strength, it still left Patriarch Pillheart in disbelief. He was a Divine Lord while Yi Yun had just become a Supremacy. His foundation wasn’t even totally stable, yet he was capable of withstanding a Divine Lord’s attack with the strength of a Supremacy?

Not only was Patriarch Pillheart in shock, everyone else fell silent from the shocking turn of events. No one spoke, and all that could be heard were the erupting flares of the Yuan Qi fire.

Yi Yun had only been in seclusion for a few years. Even with the River of Forgetfulness’s water, it was impossible for him to be this strong. It completely subverted all that they knew.

And at that moment, Ling Xie’er took the opportunity to completely absorb the green fire seed in her hands. She digested it fully while within the array’s core.

Ling Xie’er’s mental strength was extremely powerful. The mental imprint left in the green fire seed was directly burnt away by Ling Xie’er’s Heretical God Fire, wiping it away completely.

“Puah!”

Patriarch Pillheart’s face suddenly turned white as he spat out a mouthful of blackened blood. He looked up, his eyes filled with shock, as well as despair and anger.

The fire seed that was intrinsic to him had been devoured!

Ling Xie’er had only taken seconds to completely devour his fire seed.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Patriarch Pillheart roared crazily as all his energy blasted outwards. His clothes tore apart. He wanted to attack Yi Yun with all his strength and get revenge!

However, he sensed a cold killing intent come from behind him at that moment.

“I said this before. If someone wants to kill Yi Yun, it means making an enemy out of me. Don’t forget that you are currently in my Nine Li Magus Empire.”

Aged Blackrock appeared behind Patriarch Pillheart like a ghost. If he had not retracted his attack, he would have severely injured Patriarch Pillheart.

“You!”

Patriarch Pillheart turned his head suddenly towards Aged Blackrock. This was bringing bullying to an extreme. It was just too much!

His fire seed had been devoured and he was bursting with anger. Yet, Aged Blackrock was still siding with Yi Yun, completely ignoring the fact that his fire seed had been devoured!

Aged Blackrock said leisurely when faced with Patriarch Pillheart’s glare, “You keep saying that Yi Yun devoured your fire seed… but you previously tried to devour Yi Yun’s fire seed. His Excellency did not stop you. Now that your fire seed is being devoured, it is only right and proper. Did you think I would administer justice for you? In fact, you took at least fifteen minutes to devour Yi Yun’s fire seed, and even then failed to finish it. As for Yi Yun, he devoured your fire seed in less than thirty seconds. Things seem fairly even to me.”

Upon hearing Aged Blackrock’s words, Patriarch Pillheart nearly blew a top.

Things were even?

When he took fifteen minutes to devour Yi Yun’s fire seed, all he did was devour a tiny portion. As for Yi Yun, the seconds he took to devour his fire seed ended with him devouring the entire fire seed. Even his soul was damaged as a result. Yet, Aged Blackrock had the gall to say those words. It was completely overbearing and shameless!

1363 - : Devouring the Fire Seed

CKtalon  CKtalon

Aged Blackrock remained unfazed despite facing the nearly insane Patriarch Pillheart. No matter how furious Patriarch Pillheart was, he was forced to repress his anger with Aged Blackrock standing right behind him. He did not dare attack Aged Blackrock.

“Yi Yun, well done! Well fucking done!” Patriarch Pillheart’s eyes shimmered with intense killing intent as he spoke through gritted teeth while looking at Yi Yun.

And at that moment, Ling Xie’er rubbed her belly inside the array. Her face showed a slight hint of dissatisfaction.

“Brother, this toxic fire’s taste is only average,” grumbled Ling Xie’er.

Patriarch Pillheart, who had just said his nasty words, nearly vomited blood. He almost shattered his teeth from clenching them as well. Not only had she devoured the fire seed that was intrinsic to him, she had even disdained it for not tasting good!

However, after devouring the fire toad, Ling Xie’er’s aura was somewhat strengthened. The energy she had expended received some small replenishment.

Following that, her energy was transmitted to various spots in the Herb Nurturing Array. The area that was about to collapse actually turned slightly calmer.

The Herb Nurturing Array had been forcibly repressed by Ling Xie’er.

With the array in chaos, even the tiniest change could trigger the complete explosion of the array. But with the Herb Nurturing Array now calming down slightly, Nine Li Magus Maiden and company saw a faint glimmer of hope.

The High Priest, who had been infuriated, also had a glint in his eyes. Although he still wouldn’t place his bets on Yi Yun being able to restore the Herb Nurturing Array to its original state, any transformation that calmed things down was good to him.

At that moment, Ling Xie’er licked her lips as her eyes found Ouming Yin’s fire centipede, as well as the Fire of Seven Emotions.

The scene of Ling Xie’er devouring the fire toad left the other two fire seeds shaking in fear. Now, with Ling Xie’er turning her gaze on them, they obviously knew what was on her mind. They immediately felt their souls depart them.

“Young Sister, good girl. I can help you. I can return all the energy I absorbed from you… Don’t you come over… Master! Save me!” The Fire of Seven Emotions was huddled in a corner as she screamed sharply for Alchemist Sage Purple Gold.

And at that moment, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was already looking at Yi Yun with murderous rage.

“Yi Yun, how dare you!”

Yi Yun actually dared place his sights on his Fire of Seven Emotions after devouring Patriarch Pillheart’s fire seed!

The grade of the Fire of Seven Emotions far exceeded that of the fire toad and fire centipede. Alchemist Sage Purple Gold and his predecessors had invested immense effort and resources into the Fire of Seven Emotions. He would absolutely not allow Yi Yun to take it.

At that moment, Aged Blackrock looked at Yi Yun in astonishment. Although he did back Yi Yun up when he devoured Patriarch Pillheart’s fire seed, he did feel that Yi Yun had gone too far. But now, Yi Yun was going from bad to worse, as he aimed to absorb the Fire of Seven Emotions.

“Kid, you are courting death!”

As Alchemist Sage Purple Gold roared those words, he had already launched an attack at Yi Yun!

As long as he apprehended Yi Yun, he could save the Fire of Seven Emotions. It was even possible to get the Fire of Seven Emotions to devour Yi Yun’s fire seed if that happened.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s strength was greater than Patriarch Pillheart’s and, unlike Patriarch Pillheart’s hasty attack, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was attacking at full strength. He even held a specially refined pill in his hand. As long as he swallowed it, he could raise his combat strength.

However, just as he was about to attack, a figure suddenly charged out from behind Yi Yun. The figure was as fast as lightning and within an instant of appearing, it was already in front of Alchemist Sage Purple Gold.

“Do you think you have what it takes to take action in front of me?” With that bellow, a gargantuan palm came crashing down at Alchemist Sage Purple Gold.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s expression changed as he hurriedly switched to a block. However, all he heard was a loud boom as his attack was completely blasted apart. Even his protective Yuan Qi barrier was compromised. It began emitting clear cracking sounds.

The next moment, his protective Yuan Qi cracked and exploded, sending him flying backward.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s lifeblood was in tumultuous chaos. He could not help but shudder in fear. At that instant, he felt like his heart was in someone else’s hands. Just a tiny squeeze could kill him.

“Who was that!?”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold had been beaten into a daze. Whose palm was it that was so horrifying!?

Following that, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold saw a wretched-looking old man standing in front of Yi Yun.

“Who is he?”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold held his breath. The elder’s attack was too terrifying. The feeling he gave off was more terrifying than even Aged Blackrock but the elder in front of him did not seem to emit any powerful Yuan Qi fluctuations. The old man looked like some riffraff that had very ordinary foundations.

Who was he?

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was filled with dread. The old man’s strength was unfathomable. Furthermore, he had appeared from Yi Yun’s mobile abode.

Such a reaction wasn’t only limited to Alchemist Sage Purple Gold. Even Aged Blackrock looked at Old Snake in astonishment.

He did not detect the existence of Old Snake until the very instant Old Snake took action. His sudden appearance made Aged Blackrock reevaluate his opinion of Yi Yun. He originally thought that Yi Yun had peerless talent but could easily be harmed by others.

Yet, Yi Yun not only had the strength to receive a claw attack from Patriarch Pillheart, he even carried a mighty expert around with him.

No one had the luxury of time to think further. With Yi Yun’s blessings, Ling Xie’er had begun devouring the Fire of Seven Emotions’s strength in the heart of the array!

As for the Fire of Seven Emotions, a large portion of her strength was presently committed to the Herb Nurturing Array. She had no means to resist Ling Xie’er so she was practically fish on a chopping board.

This situation was identical to the one Ling Xie’er had faced previously. However, Ling Xie’er was the manifestation of the Heretical God Fire Seed. She was much stronger than the Fire of Seven Emotions.

Now, with the two fire seeds exchanging roles, the Fire of Seven Emotions’s strength was being rapidly drained!

The voluptuous beauty was already pale in the face. “Master, save me!”

The woman yelled for help. Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was burning with anxiety but at that moment, he lacked the courage to attack Yi Yun with the threat of the unfathomable Old Snake and Aged Blackrock looming over him.

“Yi Yun, you are going too far in your bullying!”

“So what if I bully you?” said Yi Yun with a sneer. “Kindness is always returned tenfold but hostility is met with swift revenge. Whatever you took from me, I will naturally take it back severalfold!”

“Your Excellency!” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold turned towards the High Priest. Ouming Yin was also feeling distraught.

“We came here specially to help the Nine Li Magus Empire repair the array! Yi Yun is doing so only for his own benefit. There is no way his fire seed can restore the array. By doing this, he is ensuring that there is no future for the array!” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold bellowed.

Previously, the Nine Li Magus Empire’s High Priest had reprimanded Yi Yun. Therefore, all he could do was seek help from the High Priest.

No matter who the wretched-looking old man protecting Yi Yun was, it was impossible for him to offend the High Priest in the Nine Li Magus Empire’s territory. As long as the Nine Li Magus Empire continued to have mistrust towards Yi Yun, there would still be hope for him!

But at that critical juncture, the High Priest lowered his head and actually fell silent.

“Your Excellency!?” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s eyes were red.

The High Priest looked up and took a deep glance at Old Snake. He said slowly, “This is a personal feud between the two of you. I will not interfere in this matter.”

“You!”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold felt like a mouthful of blood was stuck in his chest and nearly spit it out. He nearly died from anger and anxiousness. By choosing to remain neutral at this moment, the High Priest was clearly helping Yi Yun!

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold knew acutely that the Nine Li Magus Empire’s High Priest was no benign entity. The moment the fire seed showed that it was able to calm down the situation, he would turn a blind eye to whatever Yi Yun did.

“Daoist Purple Gold, are we just going to watch idly?” said Ouming Yin angrily.

Since ancient times, most alchemists were not well-versed in battle. They did not need to measure themselves to know they were not the wretched elder’s match, and that was saying nothing of Aged Blackrock who also sided with Yi Yun.

“It’s best none of you move. Since this is a battle between fire seeds, why don’t you leave it to them?” said Yi Yun with a smile. He extended his hands and indicated that he would not participate in the battle between Ling Xie’er and the two fire seeds.

However, it was less of a battle and more of a one-sided absorption.

“Master, save me! Master!” The Fire of Seven Emotions desperately crawled backwards. Back then, she had eagerly took her place in the heart of the array but now, she had no way to escape even if she wanted to. She had truly shot herself in the foot.

And at that moment, powerful fire-elemental laws blasted out from Ling Xie’er’s body as they chained the Fire of Seven Emotions and the fire centipede together. No matter how much they struggled, they were unable to escape their shackles. The present Ling Xie’er was even stronger than before, so how could they be her match?

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s eyes nearly cracked from anger but with Old Snake and the High Priest, as well as Aged Blackrock ready to take action, all he could do was stand motionlessly even though he wanted to dice Yi Yun up into a million pieces!

Previously, his repeated mockery of Yi Yun had become the greatest joke in the world. What was bullying based on circumstances? This was it!

The chains bound the two fire seeds and soon, the appearances of the voluptuous beauty and the fire centipede were wiped away. The fire seeds revealed their true forms.

One was a rainbow-colored flame and the other was a black-colored flame. With a beckon from Ling Xie’er’s outstretched arm, the flames landed in her hands and were refined into pure fire-elemental energy.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold watched helplessly. He didn’t even realize that his fingernails were lodged deep into his flesh. As for his disciples, all of them were in a daze. In their eyes, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was a high and mighty existence that could do anything.

But at that moment, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold could only stand there, humiliated. He was forced to watch as his fire seed was being devoured helplessly.

“Yi Yun! You and I shall be mortal enemies!”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold roared inwardly!

Ever since he began his cultivation, countless people had knelt before him. A junior that lacked a background like Yi Yun was no different from an ant to him, an existence whose life was completely within his control.

But today, he stood helpless before Yi Yun, experiencing the greatest humiliation he had ever received. Not only was he disgraced, he was also about to lose his ancestral fire seed.

1364 - : Circumstantial Bullying

CKtalon  CKtalon

Even Aged Blackrock felt that Yi Yun’s revenge was overly ruthless when he saw Ling Xie’er devour the fire centipede. It was true that the alchemist sages had previously attempted to devour Yi Yun’s fire seed, but they did not succeed in the end. In spite of that, Yi Yun had completely erased their fire seeds, leaving nothing behind.

And at that moment, the Seven Emotions fire seed became the last to be completely devoured by Ling Xie’er. The Seven Emotions fire seed was extraordinary, so extraordinary that Ling Xie’er was unable to immediately convert it into energy. The voluptuous woman continued struggling amid the flames.

“Sister, my dear sister. Spare me! Spare me…” The woman yelled before turning to Yi Yun. “Young lad, spare me. You can even wipe away the mental imprint Alchemist Sage Purple Gold left on me. You can have me under your control. I will submit to you as my master!”

At that moment, the Fire of Seven Emotions had less than half her strength left. She was on the verge of being wiped out. At that moment, she disregarded everything in order to survive. She would even betray Alchemist Sage Purple Gold and turn towards Yi Yun if she had to.

Yi Yun was not moved at all by her actions. Instead, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold had a grotesque expression. His fire seed had publicly betrayed him just before he lost it.

“Devour her!”

Yi Yun waved his hand. He had no interest in the Fire of Seven Emotions. Furthermore, the Fire of Seven Emotions’s incorporeal body was nothing but a vicious enchantress.

“Yes, Brother Yi Yun.”

Ling Xie’er had hesitated originally but she would always take action on Yi Yun’s orders. Since Yi Yun had given the word, she naturally obeyed.

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

The Fire of Seven Emotions’s pure energies began surging into Ling Xie’er’s body. Although Ling Xie’er had lived for a very long time, she was pure like a blank piece of paper. As for the Fire of Seven Emotions, she was refined from the seven emotions and six desires of humanity. There were countless complexities within her.

“Refine them all away.”

Yi Yun did not wish for those messy emotions to taint Ling Xie’er, so he gave such an order.

“Alright.”

Ling Xie’er followed every instruction. At that moment, she was working on refining the Fire of Seven Emotions’s incorporeal body, which was the enchantress herself.

“Well done! Well fucking done!” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold suddenly turned deranged. The Fire of Seven Emotions was more important than mostly anything. Although he cherished his life more, he truly could not accept the situation if he were to go down without so much as a whimper.

“Nine Li Magus Empire, well fucking done. You got me here under the pretense of fixing the Herb Nurturing Array, only to have me end up as fish on a chopping block, to be slaughtered as you wish. In order to repair the array, you were willing to sacrifice my fire seed!”

When Alchemist Sage Purple Gold said that, he bellowed loudly and suddenly struck out with his palm, shattering the disk array beneath him.

At the same time, about eight other disk arrays surrounding Alchemist Sage Purple Gold shattered. Following that, he retrieved and put away the thousands of array flags.

He had completely destroyed the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array. At that moment, the chaotic fire-elemental Yuan Qi that had been held back by the array blasted out like flood water, surging in every direction.

The already chaotic array became even more erratic.

“Purple Gold, you!” said the High Priest angrily.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold had acted so quickly that they failed to stop him in time.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold said with a sneer, “What did I do? Is there a problem with dismantling my array formation? Your Nine Li Magus Empire can’t be thick enough to dream that I would help maintain the array like a retard after how you treated me, can you? Since all of you are acting so high-handed while allowing Yi Yun to continue his malicious ways, deal with the fire-elemental Yuan Qi yourselves!”

With the Nine Transformations Rejuvenation Array so suddenly removed, not only was large amounts of chaotic fire-elemental Yuan Qi released, it also left behind remnants of the array formation. It made the laws become even messier.

This was equivalent to kicking a person ruthlessly, despite them already being on the ground and vomiting blood.

The Herb Nurturing Arra, which was already in shambles, obviously could not withstand such a blast. Instantly, the fire-elemental Yuan Qi that Ling Xie’er repressed exploded once again.

Even the cauldron that stored the pill began to shake violently, producing resonating hums.

Even though Ling Xie’er’s massive powers swept through the entire array, she was unable to do anything about this change.

When the High Priest saw this, his expression changed drastically. “The array can’t hold on any longer!”

Nine Li Magus Maiden wore a look of mixed emotions. Although she had submitted to her fate, the feeling of having her new hopes quashed remained disheartening especially at this moment in time.

“Perhaps this is what fate has in store for me…” said Nine Li Magus Maiden softly.

The Herb Nurturing Array was set up rather casually by the divine alchemist back then. He did not truly hope that the Fate Changing Pill could be successfully refined. And over the years, the Nine Li Magus Empire had put in countless efforts only to have them all end in failure. Perhaps today was the day it came to a close. Destruction was its final fate.

At that moment, there were already many warriors, including Ouming Yin and company, who had secretly fled far away. Their thoughts were still of self-preservation despite having lost their fire seeds.

The collapse of a massive array was no joke. Just watching the violent fire-elemental Yuan Qi was sufficient to realize that. Once it completely exploded, probably every low-ranking warrior there would be burned to ashes.

Even Ouming Yin and Patriarch Pillheart would suffer if they were embroiled in such an explosion.

But at that moment, someone suddenly flew out and headed straight for the array’s core.

When people focused their eyes on the figure, they realized that the person who had headed for the array’s core was none other than Yi Yun.

“It’s that punk. Does he think the situation can be redeemed at this juncture in time? Even your fire seed won’t be able to help you!” When Alchemist Sage Purple Gold saw this, he could not help but sneer inwardly. Good for him. If Yi Yun and his fire seed suffered grievous injuries in the array’s explosion, at least that would be something he could truly rejoice about.

The High Priest felt his heart palpitate slightly. Even he had given up at that moment in time. He never expected Yi Yun to charge into the array’s core. That was just risking his life. Still, a person would not do such a thing if they did not truly have confidence.

“Does he still have a solution?” The High Priest held his breath. The array was completely cataclysmic. It was just too difficult to reverse the situation.

“Young Master Yi! There’s no need to risk your life for me. This array might be beyond the powers of mankind!” shouted Nine Li Magus Maiden.

It was just too dangerous to enter the array’s core. Although the Fate Changing Pill was extremely precious, Nine Li Magus Maiden was not someone who would sacrifice others to achieve her own goals.

Yi Yun did not speak a word in reply. He was already charging straight into the Herb Nurturing Array’s core at full speed.

Just as he approached, the surrounding fire-elemental Yuan Qi swept over violently. The terrifying flames burned through the void, consuming and destroying all the laws in the array’s core. Even a powerful, mighty figure would avoid such an inferno. If one were to truly charge in without regard, there might be nothing left after the inferno was done with their body.

“This fire…”

Many warriors held their breaths when they saw this scene. With the array on the brink of destruction, the inferno already far exceeded their imaginations. How could a person survive such an inferno?

“My young friend Yi Yun, hold on. I’ll enter with you. I’ll aid you!”

Aged Blackrock shouted loudly. Ignoring the question of whether Yi Yun was capable of stabilizing the Herb Nurturing Array, just entering its core was a tremendous challenge.

However, before his voice faded, he saw Yi Yun plunge into the inferno without even stopping.

Boom!

The terrifying flames swept over. Yi Yun’s body was immersed in the flames. At that moment, he was like a fiery demon that had stepped out of hell!

“Yi Yun!”

“Young Master Yi!”

Aged Blackrock and Nine Li Magus Maiden held their breaths as they watched helplessly. Yi Yun seemed like a blinding fireball as he shot straight towards the array’s core at an unparalleled speed.

1365 - : Going Against the Inferno

CKtalon  CKtalon

“He actually went in!”

At that moment, many people were already fleeing. However, a lot of them still witnessed that scene. Yi Yun had charged into such a terrifying inferno?

Nine Li Magus Maiden looked at Yi Yun. Inside the array’s core, he was like a tiny boat in a stormy sea. He looked like he would capsize at any time but he ultimately managed to stay afloat, fighting against the waves. With that, she held back from stopping him despite her original intentions.

Soon, Yi Yun was fully immersed in the blazing sea of fire, so that those outside could only see a faint silhouette.

“How did Yi Yun not burn to death?” commented Patriarch Pillheart with a frown.

Ouming Yin’s eyebrows twitched too. He knew that if he were the one entering the array’s core, it would definitely not be easy on him. Did Yi Yun have some sort of indestructible body that allowed him to charge straight in?

They were obviously unaware that Yi Yun had once been burned by Myriad God Patriarch for days with astral fire while he was trapped in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

That astral fire might not compare to the array’s violent fire-elemental Yuan Qi, but back then Yi Yun treated the astral fire like it was a pleasant hot spring. He did not suffer much back then. So now, it was no problem for him to tolerate the more terrifying inferno.

“Ignore him. Even if he doesn’t burn to death, he definitely cannot survive the array’s explosion. We should take this opportunity to leave as soon as possible,” said Ouming Yin.

Although the others were astonished by Yi Yun’s sudden plunge into the array, no really cared what happened to him at such a dangerous time. All they cared about was self-preservation and being able to make it out of the array alive.

“Elder Blackrock, Yi Yun is currently in peril because of the Nine Li Magus Empire. If things take a turn for a worse, you must protect Yi Yun,” said Nine Li Magus Maiden.

“I got it.” Elder Blackrock naturally agreed. Even the High Priest fell silent for a moment before nodding. In fact, the High Priest had his own priorities to consider. Although Yi Yun was the main culprit behind the Herb Nurturing Array’s destruction, the array had existed in an incomplete state for a very long period of time. With the passage of time, the chance of it ever being completed only turned slimmer.

Meanwhile, with the strength Yi Yun had been showing, he was definitely going to be someone of great importance in the future, regardless of his present shortcomings. There was even a chance that he could become an alchemist that matched the divine alchemist. If that were the case, it was possible that he could end the Nine Li Magus Maiden’s curse.

All them looked at the faint silhouette in the inferno. Amid the terrifying waves of flame, Yi Yun looked so minute.

By that moment, Yi Yun had already arrived in the array’s core. Ling Xie’er was there, barely holding on.

There were no flames in the tiny area due to Ling Xie’er’s presence.

“Brother Yi Yun…” Upon seeing Yi Yun, Ling Xie’er revealed a look of delight. But at the same time, she turned worried. Once the array exploded, the consequences would be unthinkable.

“Xie’er, you have already done a great job. Leave the rest to me.” Yi Yun stroked Ling Xie’er’s head.

The situation of the array was no longer something a fire seed like Ling Xie’er could control.

Back when the divine alchemist set up the array, he did install a fire seed as the array’s core to control everything. However, the person who set up the array was, in the end, the divine alchemist himself.

A fire seed could stabilize an array but could not alter or direct it. All of that had to be done by an actual person.

Yi Yun had now broken through to the Supremacy realm. He had already thought of many ideas while observing the array. It was now time to verify his theories.

At that moment, Yi Yun stepped into the heart of the array. Through Ling Xie’er, his perception permeated the entirety of the Herb Nurturing Array. Every minute change in the array was completely within his grasp.

The Herb Nurturing Array was indeed on the brink of collapse. The core’s energy was boiling and spilling over. Once it spewed out entirely, it would set off a chain reaction that would cause the entire Herb Nurturing Array to explode, sending out massive amounts of energy.

That energy would be enough to burn and destroy everything in the array’s core, including the alchemical cauldron and the Fate Changing Pill inside it.

“I can only make a gamble.”

Yi Yun extended his hand and swiped his interspatial ring. Immediately, an alchemical cauldron appeared.

An ancient aura immediately emanated from it. Once it appeared, the cauldron that contained the Fate Changing Pill trembled immediately in response. It was like a servant catching sight of its master and dancing in joy.

Even the surrounding laws stabilized.

The cauldron that Yi Yun took out possessed a natural control over the massive array.

Divine Alchemy Cauldron!

The cauldron was intrinsic to the divine alchemist, after all. It contained the remnant aura of the divine alchemist, and the Herb Nurturing Array was a product of the divine alchemist. Once the Divine Alchemy Cauldron appeared, it seemed to create a seamless harmony.

“Suppress!” Yi Yun sank the Divine Alchemy Cauldron down and with a loud boom, the Divine Alchemy Cauldron instantly transformed into an ancient but plain cauldron that held down the array’s core!

At the same time, the surrounding fire-elemental Yuan Qi was sucked into the cauldron as it began refining the energy.

The moment the fire-elemental Yuan Qi was absorbed by the Divine Alchemy Cauldron, the Herb Nurturing Array that was on the brink of collapse immediately became stable.

And outside the Herb Nurturing Array, Nine Li Magus Maiden and the rest watched Yi Yun intently with bated breaths. They immediately noticed the change in the array.

“Oh?” The array has greatly stabilized.” The High Priest was delighted.

But Alchemist Sage Purple Gold and Patriarch Pillheart, who were not far away, found it hard to be happy. Be it their hatred for Yi Yun or the resentment they had towards the Nine Li Magus Empire, they yearned for the array’s complete collapse.

“Don’t make hasty conclusions. The array is already rotten to the core. There’s no way the situation can be reversed. What’s happening is just a sudden spurt of calm prior to its collapse.”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold gave his judgment. And, just as his voice faded, the array turned chaotic once again.

“Haha, Brother Purple Gold, you nailed it. If this is the calm before the complete explosion, it would mean that the explosion will be more horrible than we originally imagined!” Patriarch Pillheart said with a twisted expression. He was constantly keeping tabs on the array.

He wanted to see Yi Yun die, as well as the Herb Nurturing Array’s destruction.

The High Priest revealed a look of disappointment, but he continued staring intently at the array. He was prepared to save Yi Yun if the situation became unmanageable.

The Nine Li Magus Maiden clasped her hands tightly and began praying using the Nine Li Magus Empire’s ancient language.

A strong wind swept through the entire void as terrifying heat waves constantly consumed the world around them. It seemed like the entire world was quaking as black holes were burnt out of the void, creating heat vortices.

At that moment, it was no longer the array that was about to collapse. Even the very world around them could be brought down with it, shattering in the process.

As for Yi Yun, he had already sank to the core region of the array. It was also the lake where the Fate Changing Pill was sleeping within.

The emerald green lake had turned into a burning sea of fire like it was molten lava.

Situated in the middle of the fiery lake was the Fate Changing Pill. It still took the form of the Nine Li Magus Maiden with a crystalline naked body.

However, as it was being consumed by the flames, Yi Yun sensed that the Fate Changing Pill’s spirituality was being reduced. If this continued, it would slowly perish and turn to ashes.

Yi Yun looked at the cauldron beneath the Fate Changing Pill.

The cauldron had been left behind by the divine alchemist. It was definitely poorer in quality and if he could use the Divine Alchemy Cauldron to replace it, the effects would be better. However, Yi Yun had already used the Divine Alchemy Cauldron to temporarily suppress the violent inferno. But even that did not achieve the most perfect effect.

The Divine Alchemy Cauldron had already lost its core array and it was not as powerful as it used to be. It was not necessarily usable as the vessel of the Fate Changing Pill. This was also why the array faced destruction only moments after Yi Yun calmed it with the Divine Alchemy Cauldron.

Yi Yun took a deep breath as he injected Yuan Qi into his dantian. Following that, he blasted his energy outwards as he roared. This long roar sounded like a dragon’s. It went from the array’s core straight to the horizons.

That instant, what appeared to be a True Dragon’s phantom soared into the sky from Yi Yun’s body. Instantly, it tore through the layers of heat waves.

Hum!

A heavy metallic resonance was heard as a heavy cauldron appeared out of thin air. It was none other than the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

“Oh? What happened?”

Patriarch Pillheart, Ouming Yin, and company heard the dragon’s roar. Just that was not enough to astound them, but then they could sense an ancient aura transmit from the array’s core. It was as though they were facing the entire universe.

What was this power?

They felt shaken deep down. However, even if they tried their best to look into the array’s core, all they could see was the chaotic fire-elemental Yuan Qi. They had no idea what was happening within.

Yi Yun held one arm out. The ancient Ascending Dragon Cauldron was floating above his palm. Above it, one could vaguely see a dragon’s breath lingering over it. The appearance of the cauldron seemed to change the laws of the world they were in.

Yi Yun looked at the cauldron the divine alchemist had left behind. He spoke softly to it, “You have been holding this area down for hundreds of millions of years. You must be tired. From this moment forth, let me hold down this array.”

Yi Yun produced imprints as the cauldron left behind by the divine alchemist seemed to understand what he said. It began trembling slightly beneath his feet.

There were many thick chains coiled around the cauldron. They had been asleep for very long and at that moment, when touched by Yi Yun’s imprints, these chains lit up with runes. Every rune corresponded to an imprint that Yi Yun produced.

A few seconds later, the chains began producing crisp sounds before seemingly coming alive. They swayed around like pythons as they unwrapped themselves!

Clang!

All the chains fell to the ground. The ancient cauldron trembled more and more vigorously. Finally, under Yi Yun’s control, it rose from the bottom of the lake.

The ancient cauldron finally left its spot.

Yi Yun formed imprints again. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron could seal the heavens and earth, as well as repress mountains and rivers!

Yi Yun stepped on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as he sank bit by bit.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron that was as heavy as a star sank to the lake’s bottom and took the ancient cauldron’s former position.

Following that, Yi Yun produced more imprints. He began moving the chains as they crept over. However, they did not truly wrapped around the entire Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Instead, they wrapped around the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s three feet as though they were afraid of the paragon dragon aura that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron possessed.

1366 - : Suppressing the Mountains and Rivers

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Yi Yun finished all of that, he heard a loud bang. The entire world began shaking violently as though there was a massive earthquake.

With the central lake as the core, a gray ripple radiated out. The entire Herb Nurturing Array seemed to freeze as the gray ripple passed. Following that, the fire-elemental Yuan Qi in the Herb Nurturing Array began surging towards the array’s core like it was a series of ocean waves in a maelstrom.

And the very spot where the fire-elemental Yuan Qi intended to gather was where Yi Yun was standing!

“Oh? This is?”

Upon seeing all of these changes take place, the High Priest was alarmed. Following that, all the energy in the area gathered towards the middle of the array. This change happened so suddenly that it was impossible to predict what would happen next. Such a change felt like the calm before the storm—when all the energy was concentrated at one point, the explosion would only be more violent.

Apart from the Nine Li Magus Empire’s clansmen, all the gathered alchemists were far away. But they were afraid that they were not far enough to escape.

Hum Hum Hum…

The fire-elemental Yuan Qi howled as the vortex that arose increased in size. As the energy was being absorbed, the laws vanished. It felt like the entire world was being devoured by the vortex.

About thirty seconds later, nearly all the energy gathered from the world went to the array’s core. It reached an unimaginable energy density that left everyone holding their breaths. They employed their various protective measures, all bracing for the upcoming explosion.

However, another thirty seconds passed. The expected blast did not happen. The world remained surprisingly peaceful…

The world did not continue to crumble. Nor did any black holes form. Instead, the world was slowly mending itself. Even the spewing lava came to a rest, and flowed back into the depths of the earth.

Everything returned to normalcy. In the island at the array’s core, the lake turned emerald green again. It was as though the violent Yuan Qi from before had just been a dream.

“The array has been fixed?”

The High Priest looked at the distant island and felt baffled. He sent his perception to every corner of the world and found that it was completely peaceful. Such a situation meant that there would likely be no explosion. But in that case, where did all the energy that was sucked into the array’s core go?

Could such tremendous amounts of energy really be absorbed by something?

“It really has calmed down…” Aged Blackrock was pleasantly surprised but he also spoke in disbelief. Instead, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold, Patriarch Pillheart, and Ouming Yin felt disheartened. They fell into a daze as they flew into the air.

As alchemists, their understanding of the array naturally exceeded that of the High Priest and Aged Blackrock. They were certain that the array had indeed been stabilized.

Yi Yun had actually succeeded. How did he do it?

“Darn it. Why did this happen?”

Patriarch Pillheart clenched his teeth till they nearly shattered. He was hoping to see the array destroyed and Yi Yun completely torn apart. He did not wish to see this outcome.

“What do we do? Did our fire seeds get devoured for nothing?” asked Ouming Yin.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold remained silent but his expression was as contorted as it could be. This was the biggest failure of his life. The Nine Li Magus Empire had originally requested his help and promised him handsome rewards. He even thought to profit more by taking advantage of the situation. The Nine Li Magus Empire had no choice but to agree to whatever he wanted before he agreed to lend his help.

But in the end, the Nine Li Magus Empire treated him as a fat lamb for slaughter. They allowed Yi Yun to devour his fire seed. In the end, he failed completely but Yi Yun succeeded in stabilizing the array. From beginning to end, he was treated like a complete retard.

How could Alchemist Sage Purple Gold accept it?

At that moment, nomological array patterns appeared out of nowhere in the already peaceful land. These array patterns combined together and gathered towards the array’s core.

Several minutes later, the remaining energy in the sky gathered together, forming thick Yuan Qi clouds. Light scattered through the layer of clouds, shining down on the island in the array’s core like a falling river of stars. Countless array patterns bobbed up and down within the radiance of the river of stars.

Upon seeing this scene, even laymen knew that something impressive had happened to the array. It was more perfect than before the anomaly happened.

Now, even if the Herb Nurturing Array was not completed, it had taken a step closer to completion.

When the many alchemists saw this scene, they approached the array’s core out of curiosity. However, they found that a barrier of light had appeared of nowhere, completely shielding the island within.

They could only look at the island through the barrier. The lake on the island was shimmering with light as green waves ebbed. It was difficult to imagine that such massive energies had been absorbed by the tiny island. Where did all of it go?

Meanwhile, in the island’s interior, the massive Ascending Dragon Cauldron was quietly pressing down on the lake. The original Fate Changing Pill had disappeared, leaving only a few chains coiled around the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s three feet.

Yi Yun had already entered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. The violent Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had all been sucked into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Any ordinary cauldron would have long exploded if it had sucked in such massive amounts of energy. But this was nothing to the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Yi Yun managed to stabilize the Herb Nurturing Array by using the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to absorb the excess energy in the array, as well as using Ling Xie’er’s Heretic God Fire.

At that moment, all the fiery energy within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had calmed down. It transformed into a calm red ocean. However, beneath the layer of calmness laid an infinitely terrifying power.

And in the middle of this ocean, a girl lay asleep. She was the Fate Changing Pill. She was being nourished by the energy of the red ocean.

“Brother Yi Yun, you really did stabilize the array.”

At that moment, Ling Xie’er appeared in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. When she saw the originally violent energies in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron become completely neutered by Yi Yun, she idolized him even more. She had previously attempted to stabilize the array through her own strength but the situation only turned worse. She knew very well how difficult it was.

Yi Yun shook his head and said, “You can’t consider this my ability. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron is just too powerful. It can devour everything. In addition, I’m well versed in the divine alchemist’s manuals. I understand the principle behind the Herb Nurturing Array, that’s all. I thought that I would be able to fully complete the Herb Nurturing Array after breaking through to the Supremacy realm. But from the looks of it, I was being overly optimistic.”

It had been hundreds of millions of years since the Herb Nurturing Array was set up. Completing it was not something that could be done in a day or two. Even Yi Yun, with his newfound Supremacy realm, lacked the confidence.

He needed time.

“Xie’er, stay in the Herb Nurturing Array and cultivate. The environment in here suits your growth.”

Yi Yun needed Ling Xie’er to be the Herb Nurturing Array’s core array fire. At the same time, it was also an opportunity for her to grow.

1367 - : Return to Peacefulness

CKtalon  CKtalon

With Yi Yun resetting the array to a new state, no one else could enter. Even the members of the Nine Li Magus Empire could not do so unless they completely destroyed the array. But clearly, that would not happen. It was the opposite, the Nine Li Magus Empire would actually painstakingly protect the Herb Nurturing Array.

Therefore, Yi Yun was assured that it was safe to leave the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and Ling Xie’er in the array temporarily.

“Yi Yun… actually managed to do it,” muttered the Nine Li Magus Maiden. She heaved a sigh of relief after seeing that he was fine. Although she thought nothing of worldly riches, she long wished to escape her fate of experiencing lifetime after lifetime as a mortal and suffering the constant cycle of reincarnation. Now, not only had the array been stabilized, it was even more perfect than before. She could not help but feel delighted.

Having survived repeated bouts of dire failure, the addition of just a hint of hope was very meaningful to the Nine Li Magus Maiden.

The alchemists remained inundated by shock. They looked at the array and felt like they were in a dream. If they were not actually present in the array, they would have refused to believe that the picturesque Herb Nurturing Array before their eyes was a world on the brink of destruction just moments ago.

“Dear alchemists.” At that moment, the High Priest’s voice jolted everyone from their daze.

The alchemists looked at the High Priest, who had already turned calm. He looked at everyone and said, “Everyone, my Nine Li Magus Empire will naturally not forget your contributions to the Herb Nurturing Array.”

“We have prepared pills, Spirit Jade, and various treasures. They will be dispensed to you shortly.”

The alchemists exchanged looks. Previously, the High Priest had threatened to bury all of them alive with the array if it was destroyed…

However, none of the alchemists were foolish enough to make an enemy out of the Nine Li Magus Empire. Now that everything was peaceful, they were naturally delighted to receive remuneration and get out of there.

The High Priest’s eyes flashed with a glint of satisfaction when he saw the people’s reaction. Now that the array was in good shape, the High Priest would naturally not make things difficult for the alchemists. Besides, remuneration had already been promised to these alchemists.

Upon seeing this scene, Patriarch Pillheart and company immediately became belligerent.

“What about us?”

Of the ten thousand alchemists present, the ones that suffered the most damages were obviously Patriarch Pillheart, Ouming Yin, and Alchemist Sage Purple Gold.

The High Priest gave the trio a glance but he did not speak a word.

“Your Excellency, now that the array has been restored, shouldn’t we be given our remuneration?” asked Ouming Yin.

“It shouldn’t just be remuneration,” said Patriarch Pillheart coldly. He was still bearing a grudge over the loss of his fire seed.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s expression sank too as he said, “The remuneration is of secondary importance. Since Yi Yun’s fire seed is now in the heart of your Herb Nurturing Array, the bill for Yi Yun’s devouring of our fire seeds should naturally be given to you.”

“True. For us, nurturing another fire seed will expend numerous resources, much less the time and effort spent on our previous seeds that is now wasted. No matter how great your compensation is, it is impossible to compensate us for our loss!” echoed Ouming Yin.

Patriarch Pillheart did not speak a word. All he did was nod with a cold expression. The Nine Li Magus Empire’s compensation would not alleviate the hatred he felt for Yi Yun at all. However, the Nine Li Magus Empire was a massive entity. The trio’s fire seeds might have been very precious but they were still something the Nine Li Magus Empire could afford compensation. Even if they could not pay in full, receiving some compensation was better than nothing.

As for Yi Yun… They already knew that Yi Yun was favored by the Nine Li Magus Empire now that he had stabilized the array. There was nothing they could do to Yi Yun at present.

However, it was impossible for Yi Yun to hide in the Nine Li Magus Empire forever. Apart from him, Alchemist Sage Purple Gold probably hated Yi Yun to the bone too. Ouming Yin was also one who would not suffer in silence.

“Take the compensation and remuneration first before making plans for the future,” thought Patriarch Pillheart.

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold and Ouming Yin shared his thoughts.

However, the High Priest snorted at that moment.

Patriarch Pillheart and company immediately had a sense of foreboding.

“What? Is the mighty Nine Li Magus Empire going to refuse compensation?” asked Alchemist Sage Purple Gold in disbelief.

The Nine Li Magus Empire had already been extremely unfair by allowing Yi Yun to commit his malicious actions. If they refused compensation as well, it would be taking things too far.

At that moment, Aged Blackrock said lightly. “You mention remuneration and compensation? I don’t understand what gives you the right to request that. Not only did your actions here in the Nine Li Magus Empire fail to stabilize the array, you even made the array more violent. You failed to live up to your promises. Hence, my Nine Li Magus Empire naturally does not need to adhere to our side of the deal. If not for Yi Yun, the array would have exploded. Had that happened, our Nine Li Magus Empire would have suffered an immense lose. Yet, you still have the nerve to ask for remuneration?”

“You!”

They originally believed that they could bargain with the Nine Li Magus Empire and obtain greater prizes. However, they never expected the Nine Li Magus Empire would refuse to give them even one Spirit Jade!

“The one that caused the array’s near destruction wasn’t us. As for Yi Yun, if he had not devoured our fire seeds, there was no way he could have stabilized the array!”

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold was already incensed to his tipping point. The other alchemists had received remuneration but the three of them, alchemist sages, were not receiving a single thing!

This was no longer just a matter of remuneration. This was publicly smacking them in the face.

“You say that Yi Yun devoured your fire seeds but all of you clearly tried to devour Yi Yun’s fire seed first. Later on, you were simply paid back in your own coin. That is a dispute between you and Yi Yun, it has nothing to do with my Nine Li Magus Empire. You can settle it with Yi Yun,” said Nine Li Magus Maiden. She came to a pause before she continued. “However, my Nine Li Magus Empire is indebted to Yi Yun as he is the only person that can complete my Nine Li Magus Empire’s array. He is considered a distinguished guest of my Nine Li Magus Empire, so no matter what faction it is that wants to go after Yi Yun, they should be prepared to have their factions decimated.”

Nine Li Magus Maiden’s slow speech left all the alchemists present astounded. Someone could actually think that way? The grudge was between the three alchemist sages and Yi Yun. Their Nine Li Magus Empire claimed neutrality in that. But if the three alchemist sages wanted to settle scores with Yi Yun, the Nine Li Magus Empire would take action to protect Yi Yun. That was just too high-handed!

“Please leave. We won’t be seeing you off!” Aged Blackrock directly gave the order for them to leave.

“Good! Very good! All of you and Yi Yun did very well!” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s expression was contorted. When the alchemists saw Alchemist Sage Purple Gold’s expression, they were worried that he would turn deranged from his fury.

After all, if they were in his shoes, they would probably go crazy.

“I will definitely not forget what happened here today!” said Alchemist Sage Purple Gold through gritted teeth.

Patriarch Pillheart’s expression was as black as a wok’s bottom. He abruptly turned and flew away without turning his head back. He didn’t even look at his disciples.

Patriarch Pillheart was afraid that he would die from rage if he stayed there for even an additional second.

Ouming Yin could not stand it either. He had disgraced himself sufficiently today.

In the Nine Li Magus Empire’s territory, he could not do a thing despite his indignation.

“Purple Gold, aren’t you leaving?” The corners of Aged Blackrock’s mouth revealed a sarcastic smile as he looked at Alchemist Sage Purple Gold.

The gloomy-looking Alchemist Sage Purple Gold caught Aged Blackrock’s gaze and was caught unaware by a chill.

“Let us… leave!” Alchemist Sage Purple Gold said as though he had to force each word out.

He would never forget the humiliation he had suffered that day. And it was all because of Yi Yun and the Nine Li Magus Empire!

1368 - : The Dust Settles

CKtalon  CKtalon

Alchemist Sage Purple Gold flew away together with Ouming Yin and Patriarch Pillheart. As they headed out of the array, they suddenly felt that something was amiss after traveling a short distance. The space around them seemed to clamp down on them.

“Oh?”

The three alchemist sages felt a chill as they saw a hideous looking old man appear out of nowhere. He had sealed the space around them as he leisurely approached.

“What’s the meaning of this?” questioned Ouming Yin.

“Patriarch Pillheart, are you forgetting something?” said Old Snake in an excessively slow manner.

“What?” Patriarch Pillheart suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.

“Weren’t you supposed to leave something behind after making a bet with Yi Yun?”

“What!? What nonsense are you referring to!?” Patriarch Pillheart was furious. It was true that he had made a bet with Yi Yun before they entered the array. They had bet twenty-five kilograms of Purple Numinous Herbal Soil against all the manuals the divine alchemist left behind, as well as the Divine Alchemy Cauldron. However, the bet was not about fixing the array. Back then, the array was not yet on the brink of destruction. Furthermore, there was a time limit of two hundred years. Whoever completed the Herb Nurturing Array first would be the winner.

Yi Yun may have calmed the Herb Nurturing Array, but he had yet to complete it. Furthermore, the two hundred years was not up. Yet, the old man was demanding he give up the Purple Numinous Herbal Soil.

“I haven’t lost the bet. Are you trying to rob me?”

“Heh, are you kidding me? How do I know where you will be two hundred years from now? Besides, isn’t the outcome already obvious? Yi Yun’s completion of the Herb Nurturing Array is only a matter of time. As for you, I know you are aware of the overwhelming odds against you. I advise you to leave the soil behind.”

After Old Snake spoke, he directly attacked!

He pressed down at Patriarch Pillheart with his palm, striking straight at Patriarch Pillheart’s chest.

By that moment, the Nine Li Magus Empire’s Aged Blackrock and High Priest had chased up to them. However, they did not stop the battle.

“Boom!”

The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi suddenly contracted like a cage, trapping Patriarch Pillheart within.

Ouming Yin and Alchemist Sage Purple Gold were prevented from interfering.

Instantly, Patriarch Pillheart sensed that his life was in great danger. The hideous looking old man in front of him could really rob him of his life!

As an alchemist, Patriarch Pillheart was not as strong as other warriors his level. His strength was far inferior to Old Snake’s. Furthermore, he had expended a great deal of energy previously. His fire seed had been forcibly taken away from him and he had suffered mental damage. Considering all these factors, this battle’s outcome was obvious. Noticing that Ouming Yin and Alchemist Sage Purple Gold had no intention of helping him, Patriarch Pillheart knew that there was no chance of him defeating Old Snake.

Once he was dead, everything of value that he carried would be taken by the old man, much less the twenty-five kilograms of Purple Numinous Herbal Soil.

“Peng!”

Patriarch Pillheart forced himself to withstand Old Snake’s strike but it was overly oppressive. In addition, the old man struck like a venomous snake that deliberately sought out his weakest point.

“Puah!”

Patriarch Pillheart spat out a mouthful of blood as he flew backward like a kite that had its string cut. Immediately following that, Old Snake’s palm came pressing down on Patriarch Pillheart’s head!

Once his soul sea was destroyed, everything was over. Even if Patriarch Pillheart didn’t die, he would end up being retarded for the rest of his life.

At the instant he vacillated between life and death, Patriarch Pillheart yelled, “Wait!”

Patriarch Pillheart quickly retreated as he threw an interspatial ring out. He opened a gap from Old Snake and said, “That’s the Purple Numinous Herbal Soil you want!”

Old Snake grabbed the interspatial ring and injected his perception into it. Indeed, the Purple Numinous Herbal Soil was inside.

Old Snake gave Patriarch Pillheart a sinister look. He was considering the consequences of killing him anyway.

Old Snake was naturally not conflicted by the act of killing Patriarch Pillheart. However, it was something the Nine Li Magus Empire did not wish to have happen on their land.

Previously, Yi Yun had devoured Patriarch Pillheart and company’s fire seeds. He was paying them back in their own coin, so it was reasonable. However, if he were to kill the three alchemist sages here, it would be going overboard. If that happened, people would spread the news that the Nine Li Magus Empire had hired alchemists from all over the world to aid it because of the Herb Nurturing Array’s instability. Then, they killed all the alchemist sages out of malicious intent. If that story spread, the Nine Li Magus Empire would probably be blacklisted by all alchemists. It would also stop warriors from ever coming to the Nine Li Magus Empire in the future.

Since the Nine Li Magus Empire was treating Yi Yun well, Old Snake decided to give up on the thought of killing the trio.

Although the trio hated Yi Yun and wanted him dead, Old Snake was confident that it would not be long before Yi Yun had the ability to stand up to them on his own.

As such, Patriarch Pillheart and company were allowed to leave. Old Snake left Patriarch Pillheart’s interspatial ring in the island in the array’s core.

“Kid, this is the soil you wanted. I’ll be going out to look around. Take your time studying the array.”

Old Snake vanished after saying that.

Yi Yun needed a lot of time to research the array. Old Snake did not wish to spend time in the God Advent Tower any longer as it was too boring.

In fact, Old Snake ultimately had his own goals. He wished to find a means to cure himself of his internal injuries. And in order to seek them out, he needed to enter perilous lands. There were many places that Yi Yun was still incapable of entering.

“Senior, be careful.”

Yi Yun watched Old Snake leave while inside the Herb Nurturing Array. At his present stage, it was impossible for him to help Old Snake. All he could do was remember the gratitude he had for Old Snake. He would repay him when he had the ability to in the future.

As the array turned calm, everything returned to normal.

Yi Yun took the Purple Numinous Herbal Soil and planted the Abyssal Red Lotus Seed into the soil. The Herb Nurturing Array was a land with rich fire-elemental laws. It was extremely suitable for nurturing and nourishing the Abyssal Red Lotus. With the Herb Nurturing Techniques that the divine alchemist left behind, Yi Yun was confident that he could revive the Abyssal Red Lotus.

Yi Yun was in no hurry to leave the array. He knew that the Herb Nurturing Array would require a long period of time to complete. He might as well cultivate as he studied the array.

The people from the Nine Li Magus Empire left as the array turned empty and quiet. Soon, it became empty, as if isolated from the world.

Time slowly passed as several years flew by. One day, Yi Yun switched the Ascending Dragon Cauldron with the Divine Alchemy Cauldron.

The array was set up by the divine alchemist after all. Although the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was powerful, it was not as suitable as the Divine Alchemy Cauldron in terms of compatibility.

Furthermore, the Herb Nurturing Array was now working as intended. A lot of the remaining work was now just a matter of time. Yi Yun did not wish to keep waiting inside the array.

Yi Yun’s cultivation level slowly improved as he made use of the time to cultivate. He had already stabilized the beginning stages of the Supremacy realm.

However, Yi Yun had been in seclusion for too long prior to this. Continued seclusion was no longer as effective. He felt that he needed to exit seclusion. After all, enhancing his cultivation level was of utmost importance to him.

Apart from that, Yi Yun was constantly worried about Lin Xintong. He did not know what sort of treatment Lin Xintong was receiving in the White Lunar Divine Empire.

Having come to the Nine Li Magus Empire, Yi Yun was already not very far from the White Lunar Divine Empire.

His eagerness to find Lin Xintong turned more intense as a result.

However, the White Lunar Divine Empire was a massive entity. Bai Yueyin was even more mysterious and unfathomable. Now that Yi Yun had reached the level of Supremacy, he finally felt that he had the necessary confidence to head to the White Lunar Divine Empire and search for Lin Xintong.

The Nine Li Magus Maiden would often visit the Herb Nurturing Array’s periphery.

With the alchemists’ departure, the Nine Li Magus Empire closed its doors once again. It returned to its quiet and peaceful days.

The Nine Li Magus Maiden felt calm whenever she looked at the Herb Nurturing Array.

That day, a figure suddenly charged out of the array.

Yi Yun was finally ready to leave the Herb Nurturing Array after a few years.

“Young Master Yi.” The Nine Li Magus Maiden’s eyes had a joyful glint to them. “Thank you.”

“I was merely upholding an agreement we made. Your Highness, there’s no need thank me,” said Yi Yun.

The Nine Li Magus Maiden looked at him. After a few years, Yi Yun seemed to glow with divine light. At a glance, he looked like a mortal scion with no cultivation level but his bearing was extraordinary.

“Young Master, your cultivation level seems to have improved,” said the Nine Li Magus Maiden.

Yi Yun smiled faintly before asking. “Might I ask Your Highness a question? Do you know much about the White Lunar Divine Empire?”

“The White Lunar Divine Empire? In terms of history, the White Lunar Divine Empire hasn’t been established for that long. However, the White Lunar Goddess Empress has lived for an exceedingly long time. She knows just too many secrets. The White Lunar Divine Empire she established is one of the strongest factions in the Sinkhole. I admire her greatly. I would definitely like to meet her if I had the chance. However, she has not appeared for about ten million years now. It’s rumored that she is currently experiencing a tribulation in a secret land.”

“Oh? Does Your Highness know what the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s cultivation level is?”

“She’s definitely a Godly Monarch. Aside from that, it’s unknown how long she has been one,” said Nine Li Magus Maiden emotively. The realm of Godly Monarch was something countless people yearned for. Once one became a Godly Monarch, their lifespans would be in units of hundreds of millions of years. They possessed strength that was completely unimaginable to ordinary warriors.

“Does Your Highness know how many Godly Monarchs there are in the Sinkhole?” asked Yi Yun. He had always been curious about this point in particular.

“No, I don’t.” Nine Li Magus Maiden shook her head. “If we are just looking back over the recent tens of millions of years, there has not been any talk of anyone becoming a Godly Monarch. However, the Sinkhole has such a long history. Some Godly Monarchs have lived from ancient times to this present day. The existence of such Godly Monarchs are unknown, much less seekable. As they have lived for a period longer than recorded history, their existences have already been buried in the annals of history. It’s not possible to tell if the accounts in many books are legend or truth. Some of the legendary figures written of in books might still be alive but only thought of as legends.”

Living longer than recorded history…

Yi Yun drew a gasp. It sounded shocking. Going from a Divine Lord to a Godly Monarch was a qualitative leap in terms of vitality. They were figures that had truly witnessed history. Records in books might become insubstantial or lost as long periods of time passed, but the events of history might be something a present day Godly Monarch had experienced personally.

“You asked me how many Godly Monarchs there are. Although I do not know, I can give you a vague idea. In the entire Sinkhole, the Godly Monarchs that are known—such as figures like the White Lunar Goddess Empress—number only a handful. As for the reclusive Godly Monarchs, no one can tell you. For instance, my Nine Li Magus Empire does not have a Godly Monarch. The strongest figures are Elder Blackrock and my master, the High Priest. Their lifespans do not exceed fifty or sixty million years either.”

“Thank you for telling me this, Your Highness.” Yi Yun nodded. By telling him the Nine Li Magus Empire’s actual strength, it showed that she trusted him.

1369 - : Above Divine Lords

CKtalon  CKtalon

Fifty to sixty million years was already considered a rather long time. The High Priest who had lived that long through his capabilities alone was obviously superior to Patriarch Pillheart who had to rely on medicine and slumbering in Blood Jade to barely survive ten million years. Having a long life was a symbol of strength.

It was unknown how long Old Snake had lived…

Yi Yun suddenly had that thought. However, he would find it strange if Old Snake was truly a Godly Monarch. He refused to believe it.

“Young Master Yi, why did you suddenly ask about the White Lunar Divine Empire?” asked Nine Li Magus Maiden.

“I plan on making a trip there,” said Yi Yun honestly.

Nine Li Magus Maiden was astonished when she heard that. “You want to head to the White Lunar Divine Empire?”

“Yes.”

She was just about to say something but she refrained from doing so when she saw Yi Yun’s look of firm determination.

All she could do was say, “The White Lunar Divine Empire is just too large. Other than the White Lunar Goddess Empress, it has three Imperial Preceptors, seven Desolate Monarchs, and twelve High Officials. These twenty-two people are the cream of the crop and are at the Divine Lord realm.

“My master, the High Priest, once sparred with the White Lunar Divine Empire’s Imperial Preceptor Coruscant and failed to gain the upper hand. As for Elder Blackrock’s strength, he is slightly weaker than the High Priest. Perhaps he is no match for any of the three Imperial Preceptors of the White Lunar Divine Empire.”

“I see…”

Yi Yun nodded. Thanks to the Nine Li Magus Maiden’s explanation, Yi Yun had a basic understanding of the White Lunar Divine Empire’s strength. Basically, the White Lunar Divine Empire only had Bai Yueyin as its sole Godly Monarch. The other experts were all Divine Lords.

However, there were differences among Divine Lords.

The weakest ones were the low-grade Divine Lords that did not fuse with any Divine Lord Royal Seal. These Divine Lords were forever stuck at that realm, never to improve again.

As for the Divine Lords that did fuse with Divine Lord Royal Seals, their strength would be highly disparate based on the strength and quantity of Divine Lord Royal Seals they had fused with.

For instance, Felicitous Rain Lord and Azure Yang Lord had fused with Divine Lord Royal Seals that were born naturally in the world. That was no trifling matter. As for Myriad God Patriarch, he had fused with more than one Divine Lord Royal Seal. It made him even more powerful.

Upon coming to this conclusion, Yi Yun drew in a deep breath. If he were to head to the White Lunar Divine Empire, he would be coming into contact with a world more vast and wide than he had ever experienced. He would also acquaint himself with these powerful Divine Lords.

The difference now was that Divine Lords were no longer an unreachable goal.

Now, Yi Yun had already broken through and become a Supremacy, one realm short of the Divine Lord realm. And in terms of strength, Yi Yun was already approaching the power of a Divine Lord.

Yi Yun had cultivated for less than three hundred years at present. It was an impressive feat for typical geniuses from large sects, such as Myriad God Ridge’s Cang Wu, to reach the Supremacy realm by their millennia birthday. But compared to Yi Yun, they were far inferior.

Furthermore, Yi Yun’s actual age was even younger due to his consumption of the River of Forgetfulness. He could be considered a rare genius not seen in the Sinkhole for a hundred million years. As long as he was not killed before his time, he had a high chance of becoming a Godly Monarch.

“Young Master Yi, are you determined to leave?” asked Nine Li Magus Maiden. She was a little unwilling to part with such a powerful expert as Yi Yun.

“Yes, the Herb Nurturing Array is already stabilized. I had underestimated its difficulty before I broke through to the Supremacy realm. But looking at the array again, I’m afraid without sufficient time and support of my cultivation level, it will be difficult to complete. I will return to the Nine Li Magus Empire to complete the array once I’m confident enough.”

If Yi Yun were to attempt to complete the Herb Nurturing Array now, it would require a tremendous amount of time, not to mention the delay it would impose on his cultivation. And most important of all, he was not confident that success was a given.

He planned on traveling around to raise his strength before returning to complete the array. It would be much easier at that point.

“Alright then. Might I ask if Young Master Yi is willing to meet the High Priest with me?”

Nine Li Magus Maiden felt apologetic for the High Priest’s actions, despite knowing that his intentions were only to ensure the wellbeing of her and the Nine Li Magus Empire.

“Of course. I plan on bidding Senior Blackrock and the High Priest farewell,” said Yi Yun with a nod.

Although he did not have a good impression on the High Priest, he did not have a bad one either.

He had remained in the array for years so the High Priest was definitely meeting him once he came out.

…

The Nine Li Magus Empire’s palace compound was extremely silent. The High Priest stayed in a lofty tower deep in the palace compound.

The tower had nine stories and nine sides. It was covered in ancient runes and emitted a stern and oppressive might.

Yi Yun even sensed that what could be seen of the tower was just the tip of the iceberg. There was probably a massive space within the tower with powerful array formations.

The Nine Li Magus Empire was mysterious to begin with. It was no surprise that an important structure in the palace grounds would contain hidden secrets.

“Young Master Yi, please come on in.” When they arrived in front of the tower, an elderly voice was heard.

Other than the High Priest, there were quite a number of people in the tower’s hall. They had rushed there when they heard the news.

Among these people, Yi Yun saw someone familiar—Aged Blackrock.

The rest were unfamiliar faces but for them to be there, they naturally held high positions in the Nine Li Magus Empire.

After seeing Yi Yun, these people had slight changes in expression. They had never seen Yi Yun but they had heard of his feats. They never expected him to be so young.

At that moment, the High Priest said, “My young friend Yi Yun, I thank you on behalf of my Nine Li Magus Empire for all that you have done.”

Yi Yun shook his head and said, “The Herb Nurturing Array went into disarray because of my switching of the fire seed. What I did, I did to resolve the trouble I caused in the array. I was just offsetting my faults.”

The High Priest smiled when he saw that Yi Yun did not claim credit or remain proud. “My young friend, you are overly modest. Although I’m a layperson when it comes to alchemy, even I can tell that the Herb Nurturing Array has experienced a metamorphic change. It is one step closer to completion. However, this meeting is nothing of importance. I just wanted to give you a few items.”

As the High Priest said that, he gently waved his hand. A female attendant beside him carried forward a salver with an interspatial ring sitting atop it.

Yi Yun faltered slightly. When he injected his perception into the ring, he saw a tiny jug of black liquid. The liquid seemed bottomless, like it led to another world.

Yi Yun instantly recognized the black liquid to be the River of Forgetfulness’s water. The High Priest had given him that much more of it!

Yi Yun was naturally enticed by it.

Other than the River of Forgetfulness’s water, Yi Yun also saw a tiny abode in the ring. When he probed it, he realized that it was a herbal garden.

A mobile herbal garden?

Yi Yun’s heart stirred. For alchemists, there was always the need to nurture many herbs. It made things a lot more convenient if one had a mobile herbal garden.

However, typical mobile abodes could hardly guarantee a sufficient amount of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi for spirit herbs’ growth. One needed to tune an array formation to do that. And once that was accomplished, it would become a mobile herbal garden.

1370 - : Approaching the Divine Lord Realm

CKtalon  CKtalon

As an alchemist, Yi Yun could tell that the quality of the mobile herbal garden the High Priest gave him was extremely high.

At that moment, the High Priest said, “Not only can this River of Forgetfulness’s water be used for your cultivation, it can also be used on spirit herbs to accelerate their growth. However, the River of Forgetfulness’s water is just too precious. Unless the spirit herb is direly needed, it is not to be used so casually.”

Yi Yun nodded. The Nine Li Magus Empire probably did not have much of the River of Forgetfulness’s water stored. Yet they were giving him so much. The only reason conclusion he could draw was that the Nine Li Magus Empire was prepared to pay a tremendous price for the Fate Changing Pill.

Now that the pill had yet been refined, the High Priest naturally had to show Yi Yun some good faith.

Besides, the High Priest felt that it would only bring benefits, and no harm, to the Nine Li Magus Empire if it befriended Yi Yun.

Yi Yun knew the High Priest’s intent clearly, so he did not stand on ceremony. He immediately took the interspatial ring. “Thank you, Your Excellency.”

The High Priest laughed out when he saw Yi Yun accept the gift. He followed up with a question, “My young friend, are you planning on resting after coming out of seclusion? If you intend to cultivate, this palace does have some good cultivation grounds. Heading to the Ancient Ruins world again isn’t impossible either. My Nine Li Magus Empire has always appreciated the capable.”

The High Priest’s intent of recruiting Yi Yun was obvious.

Although Yi Yun was only a Supremacy, it was not a problem for him to be made a guest Elder of the Nine Li Magus Empire.

His future were definitely not limited to that of an average Supremacy.

Yi Yun shook his head. “I appreciate your good intentions, Your Excellency. However, I plan on leaving the Nine Li Magus Empire to head for the White Lunar Divine Empire. I will naturally return to complete the pill when I am ready.”

“The White Lunar Divine Empire? It is extremely massive and it is a powerful faction…” The High Priest was about to advise against it, but one look at Yi Yun’s face and he knew there was no way he could convince him to stay.

The High Priest swiped his interspatial ring gently as a thin piece of silk appeared in his hand.

“I went to the White Lunar Divine Empire in my early years. I still have a map of the Seven Desolates. Since you have made up your mind, take this Seven Desolates map. The White Lunar Divine Empire rules over the Seven Desolates and there are some local customs and practices written on the map. It might be of some help to you,” said the High Priest.

The Seven Desolates were extensive and had a complicated power structure. Furthermore, it was the White Lunar Divine Empire’s territory, making it extremely difficult for an outsider to construct a map of the Seven Desolates. As such, Yi Yun naturally did not reject it.

“Thank you, Your Excellency,” said Yi Yun.

After he walked out of the tower, he saw Nine Li Magus Maiden standing outside.

She stood there with her graceful and tall figure, exuding a bearing that was noble and mysterious. As the gentle breeze hit her body, it felt like she would float away in the wind.

“Your Highness,” greeted Yi Yun after he went over.

“Young Master Yi, are you planning on leaving now?” asked Nine Li Magus Maiden.

She was very intelligent and could sense that Yi Yun was eager to leave.

“Yes, I am searching for someone.”

“Oh? Might the person you are looking for be a woman? I wonder what kind of woman she is. She must be very very happy,” said Nine Li Magus Maiden with a faint smile.

She had guessed it from the look in Yi Yun’s eyes. It was as if memories were flooding through them. Yi Yun was likely searching for a woman that was very close to him. With Yi Yun’s talent, she was curious what sort of woman could match up to him.

“Your Highness, I bid you farewell,” said Yi Yun as he cupped his fists.

Under the High Priest’s decree, someone specially led Yi Yun to the Nine Li Magus Empire’s teleportation array.

The Nine Li Magus Empire and the White Lunar Divine Empire stayed out of each other’s businesses but the Nine Li Magus Empire had a teleportation array that led to an area close to the Seven Desolates. It was the closest Yi Yun could get to the White Lunar Divine Empire from the Nine Li Magus Empire.

It was a super long-distance teleportation array. After Yi Yun stood on it, large amounts of Spirit Jade were expended and, with a flash of white light, the scene before Yi Yun’s eyes went into a blur. His body rapidly tore through the spatial tunnel.

After an unknown period of time, Yi Yun suddenly felt his feet plant firmly into the ground. Before he came round, he felt the wind from a strike inundate him.

“Boom!” Yi Yun struck out with his palm.

He heard a loud rumbling crash, as if something huge was hitting the ground, before he opened his eyes.

Lying a distance away was a black, ferocious tiger. It was panting in pain as it looked at Yi Yun in horror.

When it saw Yi Yun open his eyes to look at it, the tiger instantly whimpered in fear. It scrambled to climb up in a bid to escape.

“Stay behind.” Yi Yun flew up and stepped on the tiger’s back.

It whimpered and did not dare move, trembling beneath Yi Yun’s feet.

The black tiger was a massive behemoth, but it appeared to have met its match in Yi Yun.

Yi Yun looked at his surroundings, which were a desolate valley. Before he arrived here, the High Priest had informed him that the destination of the teleportation array was a very secretive area. The Nine Li Magus Empire was always an insular country and had no ties with the White Lunar Divine Empire. Therefore, although the other countries and Great Worlds had teleportation arrays that led directly into the Seven Desolates, theirs was located outside the Seven Desolates.

Yi Yun did not mind this at all. The White Lunar Divine Empire was dangerous. He did not wish to immediately bring attention to himself the moment he passed through the teleportation array. According to the High Priest, the White Lunar Divine Empire did not really welcome outsiders.

Now, from the looks of it, although there was no one here, there were beasts. The black tiger must have sensed the Yuan Qi fluctuation and came to sneak an attack on Yi Yun. However, it never expected to fail in its hunt and end up as Yi Yun’s prisoner.

“According to the map, I’m still quite a distance away from the closest Seven Desolates continent.” Yi Yun glanced at the map before stamping on the black tiger’s back. “Big guy, you are quite intelligent, so why don’t you be my steed? Let’s go.”

The black tiger was too depressed even for tears. It was the king of the valley, but now it had been reduced to being a steed.

However, it did have some intelligence. It knew where Yi Yun was headed and knew that the person on its back was not someone it could survive against.

Hence, with a grunt, the black tiger pounced forward while carrying Yi Yun on its back.

The valley was located in a mountain range that spanned half a million kilometers. However, Yi Yun stood on the black tiger’s back and leisurely took in the scenery as they went. Soon, they were approaching the Seven Desolates.

Far into the distance, Yi Yun could see that the path ahead seemed to come to a sudden break. All that was left was a cliff, and beside it was a river of stars.

On the other side of the river of stars was a floating continent. At a glance, it did not seem like it had an end. He could not tell how massive it was.

“This river of stars is called the Ruo River. Ordinary beasts and warriors are incapable of flying across it. They would be torn apart by the complicated space-time eddies. Therefore this river of stars is a natural boundary of the Seven Desolates.

Yi Yun recalled the information written on the map.

The black tiger was constantly growling deeply and fearfully when it reached that spot. It did not dare proceed any further.

Yi Yun threw a hard rock at the Ruo River which turned to smithereens the moment it entered the resplendent river of stars.

The Sinkhole was ancient and mysterious. It spanned an area that was unimaginably huge. It was filled with countless secrets. Unless one saw it with their own eyes, one would never imagine that such a gorgeous river of stars possessed such danger.

“Whine…” The black tiger was still whimpering. It had suffered tremendously while transporting Yi Yun here. It knew that if Yi Yun forced it to enter the Ruo River, it would rather choose to fight it out with the devil than jump in and commit suicide.

“Alright, you may leave.” Yi Yun looked down at the tiger speechlessly. Then, he leaped off from the tiger’s back.

When the black tiger heard Yi Yun’s pardon, it immediately roared twice in excitement. When it saw Yi Yun standing before the Ruo River, it quickly shut up and gave a fearful glance at Yi Yun. It ran away with its tail between its legs.

However, the black tiger hid behind a boulder not far away. It secretly watched Yi Yun. It had been ingrained into its memories, its very instincts, to avoid the river of stars. It wanted to know if the evil and fierce human could pass through it.

Yi Yun obviously knew that the black tiger was watching him but he did not mind. All he did was look at the river before him silently.

“Even before I became a Supremacy, a mere river of stars like this would not have been able to stop me.” Yi Yun gave a carefree smile as he strode forward and stepped into the river of stars.

The chaotic laws were flattened with every step of Yi Yun’s. There was the endless universe above him, and the boundless desolate continent behind.

With that, Yi Yun stepped through the radiant starlight as he walked towards the Seven Desolates continent…

The Seven Desolates were made up of a total of seven continents. The continent closest to the Heavenly South Great World was in the periphery.

When Yi Yun reached this continent, his facial features had changed. He went from his otherworldly looks to that of a handsome mortal scholar’s.

“Martial Numinous continent… I never expected to enter the Martial Numinous clan’s territory the moment I arrived in the White Lunar Divine Empire. It’s better if I changed my looks so that my enemies here don’t recognize me.” Yi Yun stroked his chin as this thought came to mind.

In the map’s introduction, Yi Yun knew that the White Lunar Divine Empire included the Martial Numinous continent. It was unfriendly to outsiders to begin with. In addition, Yi Yun had come into conflict with the Martial Numinous clan back in the Ancient Ruins world. The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm he ‘stole’ from them was happily staying in his God Advent Tower at present.

The White Lunar Divine Empire was just too large. After coming here, Yi Yun did not plan on recklessly searching for Lin Xintong. He planned to use the opportunity to raise his strength.

The stronger he was, the greater confidence he had.

When he planted the Abyssal Red Lotus in the medicinal soil, Yi Yun had also steeled his heart to use a few drops of the River of Forgetfulness’s water on it. Yi Yun wanted to refine a supreme-grade pill and was still short of a few herbs. And those things were likely obtainable in the vast Seven Desolates that had abundant resources.

Yi Yun got his bearings after landing. Following that, he flew up and headed into the distance.

A few days later, Yi Yun came before a humongous city.

This was the biggest city in the Martial Numinous continent. It was a bustling city with billions of people living in it. It was something unimaginable to the world of mortals.

From afar, Yi Yun could sense the vibrancy. At the same time, there was a massive array formation that drew the surrounding Yuan Qi over to the city. It worked ceaselessly as it maintained the city’s Qi flow.

1371 - : Onward to the Seven Desolates

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although Yi Yun was given some idea after seeing the map, he still let out an audible sigh when he actually saw the city. It was far bigger than in his imagination.

The city’s name was simply Martial, derived from the Martial Numinous clan’s name. In a warrior’s world, a city being named Martial City was a projection of its strength. Otherwise, it would have been something to mock.

According to the labels on the map, Martial City was split into six main districts. Yi Yun went straight for the first district because it was uniquely known for its numerous apothecaries. Yi Yun was in search of Fey bones and other herbal materials needed for the Dragon Emperor bloodline. He wanted to continue refining the pills required for the Dragon Emperor Technique.

The herbal materials Yi Yun needed were mostly priceless treasures, but with the White Lunar Divine Empire being so massive, it was not impossible to find them there at all.

Yi Yun entered the city alone. He did not stand out amongst the crowd that was entering the city. Furthermore, he had concealed his cultivation level to appear like that of a third-storey Dao Palace realm person. Even in the White Lunar Divine Empire, Supremacies were not commonly seen. And with Yi Yun being so young, he was bound to attract attention as a Supremacy. Yi Yun did not wish to be noticed while in the Martial Numinous clan’s territory.

Yi Yun was planning on shopping around to try his luck when he suddenly sensed a cold and sinister perception sweep through the street he was on. In response, a baffling sense of danger arose in Yi Yun’s heart as it left him stifled.

He was momentarily shocked as he immediately converged his energy using the Purple Crystal. Such a dangerous feeling had come so suddenly. Not just that, it was in plain view on the streets of Martial City.

Yi Yun lowered his head and quickly entered a tiny tea shop. He found a corner and sat down. He converged all his aura and did not dare release his perception.

However, Yi Yun possessed the energy vision. Even without releasing his perception, he could still survey his surroundings with the energy vision.

Nothing could hide from the energy vision. Yi Yun saw that most people on the streets were lacking in cultivation levels. None of them were worth his attention.

However, he soon found someone. His body appeared like a black hole. It silently devoured the surrounding energy and laws.

The person was extremely short, like a dwarf. He wore a heavy cloak and his entire body was wrapped within. His face was shielded by the shadows and it was impossible to discern his appearance from where Yi Yun was. He had a thin force field around him that isolated him from the world.

If not for Yi Yun’s energy vision, a perception probe alone would find it difficult to detect anything special about the person.

The person was likely a Divine Lord, and an extraordinary one at that.

Yi Yun had now broken through to become a Supremacy. He had a certain gauge of a person’s strength too. Furthermore, he sensed something familiar about the aura that was being released by this person…

Who was he?

Yi Yun scoured through his memories and there was only one person that matched the dwarf-like height who came to mind. That person made Yi Yun’s heart skip a beat.

Myriad God Patriarch!?

He was not dead after all!?

Yi Yun was inclined to believe that Myriad God Patriarch was already dead. However, there were only a handful of Divine Lords that he was familiar with. As for the dwarf-like body, Myriad God Patriarch was the only person he knew that met that criteria. Back then, Myriad God Patriarch was dressed up like a red-clothed child. However, his body was completely aged.

With this line of thought, the dwarf was very likely Myriad God Patriarch.

Back then, Myriad God Patriarch nearly robbed him of his life. Old Snake pursued Myriad God Patriarch and he entered the spatial chaos to witness the old bastard being pulverized. Yi Yun had even obtained Myriad God Patriarch’s interspatial ring but… the old bastard actually managed to escape?

Yi Yun felt a chill when he came to this realization. It was quite ridiculous how many tricks the old bastard had up his sleeve. He even managed to fool Old Snake.

Although Yi Yun was unclear about how strong Old Snake truly was, he knew that he was not inferior to the White Lunar Divine Empire’s Imperial Preceptors.

The world at large had underestimated Myriad God Ridge as well as Myriad God Patriarch.

Upon gathering his thoughts, Yi Yun felt extremely vexed. Having just arrived in the White Lunar Divine Empire, Yi Yun was unbothered by the Martial Numinous clan. After all, the clansmen he met back then were not considered strong. It was unlikely they could recognize him. However, Myriad God Patriarch was different. If he was recognized by him, he might be swallowed whole.

“Thankfully, I have used the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book to hide from the Martial Numinous clan. Besides, that old bastard would probably never guess that I would come here. He did not do a careful search or the outcome would be unimaginable.”

The Star Transference Heaven Changing Book was an extremely brilliant disguise. Even an enemy an entire realm higher than Yi Yun would find it difficult to see through its disguise. This was the reason he dared to stay in Martial City.

Yi Yun sat in the tea shop while converging his aura, as he watched Myriad God Patriarch leave through the energy vision until his aura was completely gone.

“Unfortunately, Senior Old Snake isn’t around…”

Yi Yun shook his head. He had stayed in the Nine Li Magus Empire for too long and Old Snake had already been away for several years. It was unknown where he had gone to.

Although Old Snake treated Yi Yun as though he was his junior, he could not constantly stay by Yi Yun’s side as his bodyguard. Ultimately, he needed to heal himself of his injuries. It was an obsession of his.

Yi Yun understood this and did not want to constantly trouble Old Snake anyway. He had to learn to rely on himself eventually.

“Young man, do you want some tea? Or are you here to eat something…”

While Yi Yun was still having his thoughts run wild, he suddenly heard an old voice.

Only then did Yi Yun recall that he had sat down in an obscure tea shop to evade detection. A store manager naturally came to serve him.

Yi Yun sized up the manager. The old man had white hair and had an extremely low cultivation level. He was only at the Yuan foundation realm, the beginning steps of the martial path. That was not considered a very high cultivation level even in the lower realms. In the White Lunar Divine Empire, it was practically a mortal.

Of course, any country in the Sinkhole, even the White Lunar Divine Empire, had many more mortals than warriors. Most people were unsuitable for practicing martial arts.

However, mortals were rarely made manager of a store in Martial City. The rent in the city was extremely expensive. Managers were typically at or higher than the Dao Manifestation realm. Such a weak elder astonished Yi Yun.

Furthermore, the tea shop appeared spartan. The tables and chairs were made from ordinary wood. They were not made of any treasured wood. The shop sold tea leaves and some snacks but they were lacking in spiritual energies. They were only slightly better than what mortals ate.

Yi Yun swept his surroundings with his perception and was astonished. Martial City had such a place?

Such cheap tea leaves and food could not be sold for much. Perhaps few people patronized it.

In fact, Yi Yun was the only customer in the store at the moment. He was sitting alone in the corner, as though he was melting into the shadows.

The old man noticed Yi Yun’s expression and chuckled. He said, “Young man, I can tell you aren’t here to drink tea. Did you see an enemy? Continue sitting there and have a rest.”

1372 - : Dwarf

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was slightly taken aback when he heard the elder’s voice. Although he had been nervous, he did not show it on his face. He never expected the elder to guess that he had hid in the tea shop because he had encountered an enemy. This was probably the reason why he did not come forward to welcome him right away.

Yi Yun did not reply to his question and instead said, “Old Sir, I am indeed thirsty. Please bring me some tea and food.

“Sir, it’s just ordinary, bland tea and food. I hope you will not despise it.”

With that said, the elder went to prepare a pot of tea and some dried fruits.

The tea was ordinary spirit tea but it took on a different fragrance when brewed by the elder. Yi Yun swirled the tea leaves within his bowl and drank a mouthful. He nodded and said, “Good tea.”

The elder shook his head and said, “Sir, don’t embarrass me. To someone of your status, how can this tea be enjoyable?”

Yi Yun put down the bowl of tea and looked at the elder. Although he was advanced in age, his flames of vitality were not to the point of being snuffed out yet. He still had a few more centuries left in him.

Yi Yun said, “Drinking tea is all about one’s state of mind. Taking that into account, the tea itself isn’t of great importance. Just like you, Old Sir. You are able to keep a tea shop in Martial City, where each square inch is worth its weight in gold. However, the tea and food you sell here don’t cost much. Such a business model should not be able to pay the rent. If you did not have a good state of mind, I’m afraid you would not still be in business.”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, the elder gave a wry laugh. “Sir, this tea shop is mine. I do not need to pay rent…”

Yi Yun was somewhat shocked when he heard that. There was no need to ask further. Shops in Martial City were sold for very high prices. The old man was only at the Yuan foundation realm; yet, he owned such a shop?

“My son left it for me to run.” The elder waved his hand before bringing some jerky to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun did not press further when he noticed that the elder was not willing to elaborate. He instead asked, “Old Sir, do you know where in Martial City I might be able to buy top-grade treasured herbs?”

“Top-grade treasured herbs… If you want the best, you’ll have to go into the inner city of Martial City. It’s also the sixth city district of Martial Numinous Palace. The palace covers a large area of Martial City. However, getting into the inner city requires an Entry Pass…”

“Entry Pass? How do I get one?” Yi Yun had seen special markings around the sixth district on the map. However, the map did not provide any instruction on obtaining access into the inner city.

“Martial Numinous Palace allows warriors to submit applications every year. After a period of examination, they will release Entry Passes to the qualified applicants. However, the examination’s criteria are rather strict. Besides, the most recent examination period has ended. You will probably not be able to get one.”

Yi Yun was stumped when he heard the elder’s explanation. He never expected the Martial Numinous clan to be that particular. An Entry Pass was needed just to enter the inner city. Furthermore, the distribution of the passes was such a tedious process.

The elder seemed to read Yi Yun’s mind for he said, “The Martial Numinous clan is an ancient clan. They have a special blood lineage and some excellent talent. In fact, they do not think much of outsiders. There are some outsiders that have become Martial Numinous Elders, but in general they are often ostracized and repressed. More than ninety percent of the people in the sixth district are Martial Numinous clansmen.”

The elder said this leisurely, but Yi Yun was shocked hearing this. The elder’s cultivation level was very low but he knew so many things.

He glanced at the elder’s dantian. He was not a person who had lost his cultivation after being injured. He really was just a warrior with a low cultivation level. He did not have any martial talent either.

“Old Sir, thank you for telling me this much. It looks like I can only seek out other places.”

Yi Yun did not wish to waste him time waiting for a few materials. He had considered sneaking into the inner city but there was just too much risk, considering that Myriad God Patriarch was in the city. He decided against it.

Yi Yun was planning to pay and depart when the elder said, “Sir, there’s no need for you to leave. I happen to have an Entry Pass. I have no use for it and can give it to you.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun gave the elder an odd glance. This old man even had an Entry Pass? Didn’t he just say that the the examinations for obtaining one were very stringent?

The elder said, “It was also given to me by my son. I guess you can consider him a member of the Martial Numinous clan…”

So that’s how it is…

Yi Yun nodded. He sensed that this man’s flames of vitality were a little more vigorous than a typical Yuan foundation realm elder’s. Perhaps he had eaten some pills that extended his lifespan. Such pills could very likely be a gift from his son.

The son sure was filial. He gave his father a tea shop, medicinal pills, and an Entry Pass.

“Sir, I can give it to you if you follow me home…”

As the elder said that, he prepared to close his shop.

It was just past noon, so when he saw the elder closing the doors, Yi Yun said sheepishly, “Old Sir, there’s no rush. You have only done business for half a day. I can wait till night time.”

The elder shook his head. “It’s fine. It’s not like there are any customers. My son left this tea shop to me, giving me a place to chat with a few old friends. It also lets me provide the warriors with low cultivation levels who frequently come and go from Martial City a place to rest their feet. However, business has suffered recently. There aren’t many people so it’s alright even if I shut the store…”

As the elder spoke, he slowly pulled the latch on the door.

He brought Yi Yun through a few small alleys and into a yard. The yard wasn’t large but there was a towering tree planted in the middle of it. Its lush crown sheltered the entire yard, casting cool shadows and giving off a soft fragrance.

“It’s quite a nice place to live,” thought Yi Yun sincerely. The cost of such an exquisite residence in Martial City was definitely high. From the looks of it, the elder’s son was quite capable.

With the grinding sounds of a wooden spool’s spinning, the elder pushed open the yard door. A young lady dressed in a flowery dress was washing a towel in a basin of water she had just drawn.

She looked about fifteen and was filled with a youthful, vibrant energy.

She pursed her lips when she saw the elder enter, as though she was about to say something. However, she stopped the moment she saw Yi Yun standing behind him.

“Grandfather, who is this…”

The young lady looked mentally frail and appeared delicate. However, she turned wary when she saw Yi Yun.

“He’s a guest of mine. He’s not a bad guy. Xiaoxiao, serve him a bowl of tea,” the elder said before he said to Yi Yun, “Sir, please wait in the guest hall. Let me get the Entry Pass.”

Yi Yun cupped his fists and bowed. “Thank you, Old Sir. Might I know how much the Entry Pass will be…”

“You don’t have to pay. It’s not going to any use with me. Since I have no need to enter the inner city, I might as well give it to you.”

As the elder spoke, he walked to a side room.

Yi Yun glanced at the elder’s back. From the looks of it, the elder had quite a fulfilling life. He had a filial and outstanding son who provided for him. However, he had a nagging feeling that there was something troubling the elder.

Yi Yun focused slightly. Out of curiosity, he watched the young girl enter a room. He sensed breathing, albeit very weak, coming from the room. It implied that there was someone living in there.

Yi Yun could not help but sweep with his perception. Immediately, he saw the scene within the room. He was taken aback by what greeted him.

He saw a pale-looking young man with protruded blood vessels lying on a bed. And the young girl was kneeling by his side, wringing the towel dry after she carefully wiped the young man’s body.

The man did not seem aware of it. If not for his weak breathing, Yi Yun would have thought he was already dead.

The young man was extremely sick!

“Father… quickly get up. I beg of you. If you don’t get well, what will Grandfather and I do…”

The girl wiped the man’s face as her tears could not help but stream down. Yi Yun was stunned as he watched.

Father…

The young man was the elder’s son?

He recalled the expression of the elder whenever he mentioned his son. It was not one of pride but that of a heavy heart. Yi Yun instantly understood that the elder’s son was already bedridden and unconscious.

Yi Yun could not help but scan the young man’s dantian. He was surprised to see a Dao Palace.

A second-storey Dao Palace.

In comparison to the elder’s age, the young man was definitely not more than a few centuries old. To reach the second-storey of the Dao Palace at that age made him a rare genius.

It was quite a pity that such a genius would suddenly fall unconscious and be on the brink of death.

Yi Yun felt his heart wince for no clear reason when he saw the young girl weeping as she worked hard at wiping her father’s face.

Such a young man was the pillar of support for his family. If he fell, the daughter and father he left behind would probably lead a hard life in Martial City.

Thinking back to the elder who sold low-grade spirit tea and his back when he closed the tea shop, Yi Yun felt a soft spot in his heart stir…

“Sir, here is the Entry Pass.”

The elder walked into the guest hall and held a bronze token. The words ‘Martial Numinous’ were engraved on its front.

“Xiaoxiao, why haven’t you brewed the tea?” asked the elder.

“I’m coming.”

Xiaoxiao hurriedly wiped her tears and took out some tea leaves and boiling water to bring to the guest hall.

When Yi Yun saw the girl’s red puffy eyes, he was at a loss for words. He took the tea the girl handed him and fell silent for a moment. He asked the elder, “Old Sir, can you tell me about your son?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s inquiry, the elder was stunned. He immediately guessed that Yi Yun had seen his bedridden son.

He shook his head and said, “There’s nothing much to say. Perhaps fate wasn’t on his side and gave him a short life… He had quite extraordinary talent and appeared to have obtained some opportunities. At a young age, he was roped in by the Martial Numinous clan and was simply dazzling. After he gained standing in the Martial Numinous clan, he moved me to Martial City. He even opened a tea shop for me. I could chat with old friends whenever I was bored. Later, he married a gorgeous wife and had a daughter. I thought I was blessed to have such a son but fortune is fickle. While he was out on experiential training, he was heavily injured, reducing him to his present state. In the beginning, the Martial Numinous clan was willing to treat him but two years ago, the Martial Numinous clan announced that he was incurable. I brought him back home and have been taking care of him to this day…”

1373 - : Entry Pass

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although the elder seemed to treat the matter lightly, Yi Yun could sense his sadness. His breathing was even shaking slightly.

His son was originally treated by the Martial Numinous clan, but they eventually deemed his condition untreatable and sent him home. Clearly, they had given up on him.

Upon coming to this realization, Yi Yun could not help but scan Xiaoxiao’s father again. He sensed a tinge of helplessness and pangs of reality.

The Martial Numinous clan had once favored him because of his talent. When he lost his worth, they naturally abandoned him. When that happened, his family could only carry his motionless body back home and take care of him silently. However, what could an old man and a child do? All they could do was tend to him fruitlessly and wait in despair for his death.

“Old Sir, let me see if I can help.”

Yi Yun stood up. His alchemical skills weren’t entirely suited to treating medical illnesses but it was better than nothing. He was bound to come up with some sort of solution.

The elder shook his head and said, “Sir, thank you for your good intentions. But if he truly was treatable, the Martial Numinous clan would have healed him long ago. However, the Martial Numinous clan’s doctors were helpless.”

The elder did not believe that Yi Yun had such abilities. But having spent the last couple of years suffering, he still had hope. It was the reason why he brought Yi Yun to his house.

“This is my son. His name is Wang Mu.”

The elder wiped Wang Mu’s face. The young man on the bed was frail and did not appear like he could last even a few more months.

Yi Yun noticed that Wang Mu’s veins slightly protruded along his arteries and the corners of his eyes. It seemed like he was experiencing excruciating pain even in his unconsciousness.

Yi Yun observed Wang Mu’s dantian and examined his body for a long while with his perception. Wang Mu’s meridians had eroded, and there were certain areas along his meridians that had tiny blue spots. They were hardly detectable without close scrutiny.

“Oh?”

Upon seeing the blue spots, Yi Yun’s brows knitted together.

This is…

Yi Yun thought of something. He carefully compared the spots on Wang Mu’s meridians to the records in the divine alchemist’s notes.

“Blue Shadow Grass…” muttered Yi Yun.

“What?”

“A rare herb that can be used in medicine. As it is hard to find, it is extremely expensive. Blue Shadow Grass can be ground into a liquid and mixed with Deathroot Gravel, forming a lethal poison. After consuming it, a person will be tormented for several years, slowly causing their death…”

“This kind of poison is very unpopular. Very few people would use it. Also it’s difficult to diagnose in the beginning. Only when the victim is about to die do the obvious symptoms appear. These symptoms include blue spots on the withered meridians, which is what your son is presently showing…” said Yi Yun with a heavy expression. The records of the Blue Shadow Grass in the divine alchemist’s manual mainly described the dosage and effects. It lacked a long or detailed description of its poisonous properties as it was very rarely used.

He never expected that the young man he encountered here would be inflicted with the Blue Shadow Grass and Deathroot Gravel poison.

“Poisoned… you are telling me he was poisoned…”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, the elder was instantly stunned. His son had encountered a mishap while out on experiential training, that was what he was told. Although it was possible that he had been stabbed by a weapon infused with poison, that did not appear to be the case according to Yi Yun’s description.

Yi Yun said, “This sort of poison is extremely expensive. It has two unique features. One of them is its undetectability. It’s very difficult to notice it in the early stages. The second feature is the torment… The victim will experience an unimaginable torture. Most people would not use such a poison unless it were to settle a deep vendetta. And even if it’s used, the actual act of poisoning requires time, such as using it as a perfume that is very subtle…”

Yi Yun sighed. Actually, when he discovered that the poison was a mix between Blue Shadow Grass and Deathroot Gravel, he knew immediately that the old man’s son had not been injured because of some training accident. Instead, he had succumbed to underhanded means by someone close to him.

“Subtle…”

When the old man heard that word, his heart palpitated. His son had been harmed while in the sect. Why? Why did this happen!?

He recalled the period when Wang Mu practiced martial arts arduously in his youth, striking a column until his fists were bloodied. Wang Mu would risk his life for a mere herb. As he staggered down his path, he eventually made a name for himself and entered the Martial Numinous clan. No one could have guessed that, just as his martial dream was fulfilled, he would be harmed by his fellow disciples.

Upon realizing this, the elder felt his heart wince in pain. Tears streamed down his face.

“Young Master, can… can you save my son…” the old man asked with a trembling voice. He knew that his request was overly demanding. All he could give Yi Yun was an Entry Pass.

“It’s very difficult.” Yi Yun pondered. “Although I can concoct the medicine, I’m not certain I can find the needed herbs. Besides, he has been poisoned for too long. Even if he was cured of his poison, it would be difficult for him to return to his former self.”

Wang Mu’s meridians had eroded and he had been bedridden for a long time. Restoring him would require large amounts of treasured herbs and a long recuperative period. Yi Yun did not believe that Wang Mu was able to afford that.

“I know. I was just asking on the off chance. I’m sorry I troubled you, Young Master.”

The elder sighed. That was probably fate. His son was suddenly reduced to this state after entering a large sect. But what else could he do? It was not even possible to seek redress. This was the plight of weaklings.

Yi Yun did not know what to say. But at that moment, the young girl beside the old man plopped to the ground on her knees.

“Young Master, please save my father. We just need him to wake up. There’s no need to restore him to his former self. All I want is for him to wake up and be able to take care of me. All I have is my grandfather and father. Besides, we can’t live like this any longer. This house and the tea shop are about to be repossessed. We… We…”

As the girl spoke, her eyes were filled with tears. Her voice also changed from her sniffling. “Young Master, as long as you are willing to save my dad, I’m willing to do anything to repay you.”

“Your house is going to be repossessed?” Yi Yun frowned. “Isn’t this house your father’s private property?”

The girl weeped and said, “It was… But ever since my father fell ill, they claimed that it wasn’t. They said that the Martial Numinous clan had only leased it out to Father. Besides, when my father was cultivating in the past, he had spent a lot of the clan’s resources. He had also used a sizable amount of medicine while he was ill. They said that even the house is completely insufficient to make up for what we owe them.”

“This is truly the superficiality of human relationships…”

Yi Yun shook his head. He refused to believe that the upper echelons of the Martial Numinous clan would be eyeing this house. It was impossible they would concern themselves with Wang Mu’s properties.

However, there were many thieves in the Martial Numinous clan. To them, bullying an orphan and elder was extremely easy. And without Wang Mu, the upper echelons of the Martial Numinous clan would definitely ignore their outcome.

Yi Yun sighed and helped the girl up. He asked, “I’ll attempt to awaken your father. However, I cannot guarantee anything. By the way, what happened to your mother?”

According to what the elder had said, the girl’s mother was also a disciple of the Martial Numinous clan. Why wasn’t she taking care of the two of them?

“My mother… She… seems to have… abandoned me.”

When the girl said that, she could no longer stop the flood of tears. Her body trembled as she cried silently.

“She has abandoned you?”

Yi Yun was alarmed. Could there be such a heartless mother? She didn’t even want her own daughter and even allowed her to be bullied?

“Young Master Lian, my daughter-in-law, has not appeared ever since my son fell ill. If I had to say, she’s a fine lady and still rather young. It’s only right for her to marry again. I can’t criticize her choices there. But for her to not even come and shown any concern… She has even ignored Xiaoxiao. I was originally worried that she had matters that she could not extricate herself from so I asked around. But a few months ago, people from the Martial Numinous clan came to me and demanded we give up the house. I asked them about her and was mocked. Only then did I discover that my daughter-in-law is about to have a grand wedding. Her wedding will be in about two weeks. Now that I think of it, calling her my daughter-in-law at this point is quite laughable…”

The elder’s words made one’s heart wince in pain.

“Wedding…”

Yi Yun frowned when he heard that word. She was having her wedding before Wang Mu was even dead?

From the instant the Martial Numinous clan abandoned Wang Mu, allowing the elder to bring him home, she had not visited him at all. She didn’t even care for her daughter. She allowed the duo to be bullied. It was not something even a person with a steel heart would do.

On further thought, Yi Yun thought of something that appalled him. Wang Mu’s wife slept beside him. If she had been the one who poisoned him…

However, why would Wang Mu’s wife kill her husband? If she did not like him, why did she marry him in the first place? Also, why did she bear his child after their marriage? When it came to warriors, they could seal their meridians if they did not wish to become pregnant.

Yi Yun found many aspects of the matter puzzling. Yi Yun even felt that Wang Mu’s predicament likely had something to do with the woman.

If he could awaken Wang Mu, perhaps he could obtain some explanations…

Yi Yun looked at Wang Mu and found his situation extremely challenging. It was not easy to awaken him considering the lack of herbs.

All he could do was give it a try…

1374 - : Wang Mu

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Old Sir, please take off your son’s shirt. Let me give it a try.”

When the elder heard Yi Yun’s words, his eyes welled with agitated tears. He quickly took off his son’s shirt while Xiaoxiao rushed to prepare a basin of warm water.

Just as Yi Yun was about to feel Wang Mu’s pulse in a bid to fill Wang Mu’s dantian with Yuan Qi, he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps coming from a distance. Immediately following that—

“Peng!”

The side yard’s door was kicked open. The wooden door was unable to withstand the force and was nearly sent flying off its hinges.

A middle-aged man that looked like the manager of a store strode into the yard. Standing beside him was a handsome white-dressed youth with a paper fan in hand. Behind the two of them were three strongmen.

“Old Man Wang, why the hell are you still here?”

As the middle-aged man spoke, he made his way into the room. Without a need for him to say a word, the strongman beside him kicked open the room’s door.

“You!”

The elder’s heart sank when he saw the youth suddenly barge in. He never expected that trouble would appear just as Yi Yun was about to save his son.

“Oh? This nearly dead son of yours is still alive? I told you a long time ago that this house has been left to me. I have been very kind to let you stay here this long. I don’t care if your son dies but don’t let him die in my house. It’s bad luck!”

After the middle-aged man said that, he noticed Yi Yun. He glanced at him and asked, “Who are you?”

Yi Yun put Wang Mu’s wrist down. As he looked at the slightly plump manager, he swept with his perception and saw that his cultivation level was very ordinary. He was no one of importance.

Instead, it was the youth who was following behind him that seemed to be of some worth. Of course, that was only in comparison to his peers. Next to Yi Yun, he was nothing.

However, the youth did have some unique characteristics that attracted Yi Yun’s attention. The aura in his dantian was somewhat different. There was an extremely dense aura within it that seemed to project onto the youth’s skin. It formed a tattoo that resembled elephant tusks on his chest.

“Martial Numinous…”

Yi Yun had previously read a briefing on the Martial Numinous clan that was written on the Nine Li Magus Empire’s map. The tattoo was known as Martial Numinous, a symbol of the Martial Numinous clan. The clansmen with purer bloodlines would have more mystical tattoos.

Be it the Sinkhole or the 12 Empyrean Heavens, there had been many races that spread from the ancient times. For example, Old Snake and Snake Girl belonged to a race that could trace its roots to a declined ancient mystic race.

As for the Martial Numinous clan, it was an ancient race that had been in existence for hundreds of millions of years. Their clansmen had a very strong sense of racial superiority.

Upon seeing the plump manager target Yi Yun, the elder’s heart tightened. This group of people acted overbearingly and were completely unreasonable. He was afraid that Yi Yun would be implicated so he hurriedly went forward and said, “This young master is a guest of my tea shop. I invited him here to diagnose my son.”

“What? Diagnose? Hahaha!” The plump manager roared with laughter. “Your son is already a cripple and lingering on his last breath. Yet, you still think he can be saved? Are you trying to make me die from laughing?”

The youth beside the plump manager sized up Yi Yun before looking back at Wang Mu’s father. He chuckled and said, “Are you Wang Mu’s father? You look like an elderly farmer. Wang Mu’s talent was so good but his father is a useless piece of old junk. What a pity.”

The youth’s tone was extremely biting. It was merciless mockery. In fact, he was an inner-sect disciple of the Martial Numinous clan. He had a strong background and, with his status, he thought nothing of Wang Mu’s house. The person that wanted Wang Mu’s house was the fat manager. As for the youth, he was only here to see Wang Mu in an abject state.

Back when Wang Mu entered the Martial Numinous clan, he had astounding talent and was highly appreciated by one of the clan’s Elders. He gave Wang Mu many resources, incurring the envy of the other young disciples. For that, this youth had come specially here just to see Wang Mu in his half-dead state.

“Haha, someone of low birth naturally has limited knowledge. It’s laughable that he even sought a good-for-nothing mortal-born traveler to Martial City in hopes of healing his son.”

The term ‘mortal-born’ was the way the Martial Numinous clan addressed ordinary humans. Yi Yun previously learned that Martial City’s Martial Numinous clan was xenophobic; therefore, he was not surprised by the youth’s remarks.

In response, he smiled faintly and slowly raised his hand.

“Pa!”

With a crisp sound, Yi Yun struck out as fast as lightning. The plump manager felt his vision blur before he felt an intense pain from his face. His entire body was sent flying as he spun in midair like a top.

“Peng!”

The plump manager crashed into the ground as his mouth bubbled with blood. He had even spewed out seven or eight bloodied teeth. Yi Yun’s slap had nearly destroyed half his face. He was even blinded in his right eye.

“Ah…Ah…”

The plump manager cried out in pain. He looked viciously at Yi Yun in disbelief. He never expected a mortal-blood to strike him directly in Martial City!

“Young Master, you shouldn’t do that!”

The elder turned anxious when he saw the situation play out. He never expected Yi Yun to be this rash. Although the plump manager had a low cultivation level, he was still a member of the Martial Numinous clan. The youth also looked like a genius of the Martial Numinous clan. Beating them up would lead to unimaginable circumstances. Although Yi Yun had considerable strength, it seemed impossible for him to take on the Martial Numinous clan.

“You are truly heedless of consequences.” Despite seeing him slap the plump manager to near death, the youth with the paper fan did not look at Yi Yun with anger but with pity. To him, the plump manager was only one of his many inconsequential underlings. “A mortal-born that just came to Martial City does not know who it belongs to. Do you know how you could be killed for that? Perhaps the level of misery is something you can’t even imagine…”

Just as the youth finished saying that—

“Pa!”

Another slap was delivered by Yi Yun at a speed ten times faster than the first. The youth’s look of pity had yet to change before the right side of his face was struck!

An identical attack that did not even differ in the target spot happened. The youth cried out tragically and, like the plump manager, spun more than a dozen times in midair. He crashed heavily to the ground and the right side of his face was completely covered in blood!

Yi Yun had made this blow worse than one he gave to the plump manager. Not only was the right half of the youth’s face a mangled mass of blood and flesh, even his bone could be seen. All his teeth, save for a few molars on the left side of his mouth, had fallen off.

However, this youth had some resistance after all. Although he had been beaten into such a tragic state, he remained conscious. His hair was disheveled as he nearly went mad.

“Little…bastard, how dare you hit me! Do you know who I am? Kill him! Kill him!”

The youth pointed at Yi Yun as the three strongmen behind him charged forward. They cooperated very well. One of them aimed at Yi Yun’s head, the other at Yi Yun’s heart, and the last one aimed at Yi Yun’s dantian.

The three attacked from three different directions, aiming at Yi Yun’s three major vital spots. Their attacks were striking to kill.

But following that, Yi Yun’s figure instantly vanished.

An azure-blue sword tore through the void, slicing a trajectory of death.

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

The three trajectories penetrated the trio’s chests. They found themselves unable to breathe as ice began forming on their skin, turning them into ice sculptures!

“What…”

The youth was terrified instantly. His subordinates had yet to die for they still had some vitality in them. However, none of them could move.

Furthermore, Yi Yun had done all of this in a blink of an eye. Why did this happen? Why was a random mortal-born punk he spontaneously encountered so powerful?

And at that moment, the youth felt his neck turn cold. A sword was aimed at his throat like an ice snake.

The youth’s breathing stagnated at that instant. This was the first time he was held hostage under a sword. Although he was afraid, he was not completely shocked out of his wits. His rationale told him that the mortal-born in front of him was probably not daring enough to kill him.

Yi Yun held Mirage Snow and said, “Sign a soul contract with me. If not, this day next year will be the day of your death anniversary.”

A soul contract?

Upon hearing this, the youth heaved a sigh of relief. He knew why Yi Yun wanted a soul contract signed. He was afraid of killing him and also afraid that news would leak. By signing a soul contract, the secret could be kept under wraps. However, how could he assent to Yi Yun’s wishes?

He sneered and said, “What a joke. An inferior mortal-born actually dares an attempt to enslave me. Do you know who I am!? Your strength is only a result of you cultivating longer. You probably have some mystic technique that retains your youthful looks. You are merely an ant to the Martial Numinous clan. You best release me now or I will extract your soul and let you die a tragic and painful death…”

“Is that so? I was planning on letting you live. Since you have chosen death, I’ll grant it to you.”

With that said, Yi Yun lifted his hand once again.

“You! What are you doing!?”

The youth was given a fright as he felt extreme danger. “Wait… wait…”

“It’s the choice you made.”

With that said, Yi Yun struck down heavily with his palm.

“Pa!”

There was a loud explosion as Yi Yun’s palm smacked the left side of the youth’s face. However, this strike did not mangle his face like before. Instead, his body trembled suddenly and his eyes instantly glazed over, losing all light in them. Yi Yun’s slap had shattered the youth’s soul sea!

At the same time, a mere thought from Yi Yun caused the three ice sculptures behind the youth to shatter. They felt to the ground as pools of water. The three strongmen that had been frozen were obliterated as a result.

Following that, Yi Yun casually took out a green jar from his interspatial ring.

Although Myriad God Patriarch was in the city, as long as he did not openly confront others and only caused tiny waves, Yi Yun could remain undetected as long as he left no evidence. No matter how imaginative Myriad God Patriarch was, there was no way he would link this matter to him.

1375 - : It’s the choice you made

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Young Master, why… why did you…”

The color in the elder’s face drained. He never imagined that Yi Yun would act so ruthlessly and decisively by killing everyone.

Yi Yun did not turn to face the elder but said, “There’s no need to panic. I will clean up this mess.”

Clean up?

The elder was taken aback. How could the situation be cleaned up when it was in such a dire state?

However, he wasn’t too worried about the Martial Numinous clan’s revenge. After all, his son’s days were numbered and his own life was of no importance. The only thing that truly worried him was his young granddaughter Xiaoxiao. She had limitless possibilities ahead of her. He did not wish for her to die young.

The elder was at a loss as to what to do when he saw Yi Yun suddenly smack the green jar in his hand. A green smoke flew out of the jar, manifesting into a ferocious face that had bared fangs.

“This is…”

The elder’s eyelids twitched. The green face was nothing less than a demon.

“Master, what do you need of me?”

“Search his soul,” said Yi Yun simply.

Poison Demon cried out as he pounced onto the youth. Although Yi Yun had destroyed his soul sea, scattered memories could still be dredged up before the soul completely dissipated.

And when it came to searching souls, Poison Demon was an expert. The information obtained would be a lot more detailed than if Yi Yun were to do so.

At that moment, the manager-like middle-aged man regained consciousness. When he saw the youth’s soul being searched, he was frightened out of his wits.

Yi Yun gave the plump manager a glance and was just about to finish him off when he suddenly noticed that Xiaoxiao was glaring at the plump manager with eyes filled with hate.

Yi Yun’s heart stirred. The scene in front of them was a rather bloody one. Yi Yun originally believed that a young lady of about sixteen years of age would turn pale from such a shocking scene yet she was able to take it all in.

An environment influenced a person greatly. Even a weak young lady would have her bloodthirstiness triggered by tragic enough circumstances.

Yi Yun asked Xiaoxiao, “Do you hate him?”

“Yes, they were the ones who harmed my father!”

“Have this.” Yi Yun casually swiped his interspatial ring and handed a short sword to Xiaoxiao.

It was a short sword Yi Yun obtained from Cang Wu. As a Supremacy’s short sword, it was naturally of very high quality.

“I’m giving this sword to you. You can be the one to kill him.”

Xiaoxiao received the sword. Hands trembling, she grabbed the blade, which cut her hands and left blood on the ice-cold blade.

Xiaoxiao took a deep breath as she put all her strength into plunging the sword into the plump manager’s chest.

“Puah!”

The sword penetrated his body as his eyes went wide. After convulsing a few times, he took his last breath.

Xiaoxiao drew out the sword as she panted heavily. The strike seemed to have enervated her strength.

Yi Yun gave an approving nod. In this world where strength reigned supreme, such fierceness made it easier to survive. A frail and kind girl could survive if she had a powerful background; if not, she would only end in tragedy.

At that moment, Yi Yun could not help but size up Xiaoxiao carefully. He was surprised to discover that the girl’s constitution was not bad. Furthermore, she had a unique bloodline in her.

Oh?

Yi Yun was puzzled. According to the elder’s recount, Wang Mu was of ordinary birth. The elder was also a mortal-born through and through. They did not seem to have any special bloodlines. Could the girl’s bloodline come from her mother?

What sort of person was Wang Mu’s wife?

Regardless, the girl named Xiaoxiao showed potential for practicing martial arts when it came to her talent and character. If she were to join a sect, she was bound to develop her toughness into martial strength.

“The items in this ring are yours to keep.”

Yi Yun casually produced an interspatial ring and handed it to Xiaoxiao. The items in it were some spoils of war he had received. They were of no use to him but would give a young girl that was just entering the path of martial arts tremendous help.

“Young Master, this…” Xiaoxiao looked at the interspatial ring. She had cultivated as a child with Wang Mu. She had cultivated to the most basic stage, enough to probe the items in the interspatial ring. She could sense that the items Yi Yun had given her were extremely precious.

“These are some things to help you build up your foundation. In the future, your growth will depend on yourself. Your father might not awaken, after all.”

When Yi Yun finished saying that, Poison Demon was done searching the soul and passed the information to Yi Yun.

The dead youth’s name was Li Yunfeng. In his fragmented memories, Poison Demon found quite a bit of information about the Martial Numinous clan.

“Oh? This Li Yunfeng’s father Li Jiuxiao is actually a top alchemist in the Martial Numinous clan…”

Yi Yun was quite surprised. Li Yunfeng had quite a stunning background. His father held a high post in the Martial Numinous clan and controlled a lot of the clan’s resources. That was actually why Li Yunfeng had such a cultivation level at such a young age, his father had provided him a large number of resources. Unfortunately, he had crossed Yi Yun who was on a completely different level.

The Martial Numinous clan’s alchemical methods were considered above average. The pills the clan’s alchemists produced alone were insufficient to meet the Martial Numinous clan’s demands. Therefore, the Martial Numinous clan needed to trade pills with external factions.

Internally, the Martial Numinous clan had a place known as the Heaven Refinement Pavilion. It sold all sorts of treasured herbs. According to Li Yunfeng’s memories, it housed many herbs that Yi Yun was interested in.

As such, Yi Yun decided that he had to visit the Heaven Refinement Pavilion at once.

Having thought through this, Yi Yun flicked his finger, sending a few fireballs out. He incinerated the five corpses and the ashes scattered into the wind.

Following that, a tiny pagoda appeared in Yi Yun’s hand. “Do not resist. Enter it directly. Once I settle this whole matter, I will bring you out of the city and settle you down in a safe area.”

As Yi Yun spoke, the tiny pagoda expanded rapidly. The elder and Xiaoxiao felt a suction. The elder was quite knowledgeable and immediately knew that it was an abode-type artifact. He did not resist it and was sucked into the God Advent Tower.

Following that, Yi Yun fed Wang Mu a pill that temporarily sealed his vitality. He placed Wang Mu into the God Advent Tower for he could not treat Wang Mu at this time.

After finishing all of this, Yi Yun’s appearance changed once again. His body became thinner as his appearance became more ordinary. He looked like the average man on the street and his cultivation level was once again reduced to the first-storey Dao Palace.

After that, Yi Yun transformed into a wisp of blue smoke, vanishing from the house.

Even if the Martial Numinous clan reacted quickly, it would be very difficult for them to pin the blame on him.

And at that moment, in Martial Numinous Palace, a white Life Slip cracked sharply and broke into two. The female attendants who were in charge of watching the Life Slips turned pale instantly.

1376 - : Heaven Refinement Pavilion

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What? Feng’er’s Life Slip has shattered!?”

In a picturesque garden in Martial Numinous Palace, a meditating middle-aged man suddenly opened his eyes.

His eyes looked like those of a wild beast that was about to swallow a person whole. They burned as he stared intently at the broken jade slip in the maidservant’s hands. She held her breath, afraid that the middle-aged man would direct his anger at her.

The middle-aged man extended his hand and beckoned. The broken jade slip flew into his hand. It carried a wisp of Li Yunfeng’s remnant soul, which caused the jade slip to crack the moment he died. Not only that, but the jade slip had a spiritual connection to Li Yunfeng that allowed one to sense the general location of Li Yunfeng’s death. If he was lucky and fast, the murderer might not have left the scene yet.

The middle-aged man looked at the jade slip with a contorted expression. For the Martial Numinous clan with its ancient bloodline, their ability to reproduce was poorer than mortal-borns. Even as people who could live for tens of thousands of years, they had few offspring. The purer the bloodline, the more that was true. For example, Li Yunfeng’s father Li Jiuxiao only had eight children. Li Yunfeng was his most outstanding child.

The rage Li Yunfeng’s death caused Li Jiuxiao was unimaginable.

And fifteen minutes after Yi Yun had left, Li Jiuxiao arrived in the elderly Wang’s residence. However, it was completely empty as far as he could see.

“Ah!”

Li Jiuxiao roared as the entire house was destroyed by Yuan Qi. Amid the destruction, he swept his surroundings with his perception. Yet, he failed to discover anything. It chilled Li Jiuxiao’s heart for it meant that his son might have died for nothing!

His son had been killed in Martial City but the murderer was nowhere to be found. The helpless, exasperated feeling drove him mad.

As he looked at the ruins of the house, Li Jiuxiao scanned the area with a gloomy expression. He said to the subordinates behind him, “Immediately investigate! Tell me where this is!”

“Master, there is no need to investigate. This is Wang Mu’s residence. Young Master Yunfeng had mentioned earlier that he would be making a trip here. As Wang Mu is no longer a Martial Numinous clan disciple, there were clansmen who planned on repossessing his house. And since Young Master knew Wang Mu, he came here to pay him a visit…” said a subordinate.

“Wang Mu!” Li Jiuxiao’s gaze turned cold as he raised his hand to interrupt his subordinate.

Li Jiuxiao naturally knew his son’s personality very well. It was impossible that Li Yunfeng meant to pay Wang Mu a pleasant visit. It was more likely that he had come to kick Wang Mu while he was down.

Li Jiuxiao did not care for Li Yunfeng’s reason for coming here, but for his son to die here made the matter entirely different. No matter who it was, the person who dared touch Li Yunfeng was to be skinned alive and tortured for a thousand years until death!

…

And at that moment, Li Yunfeng’s murderer, Yi Yun, was already outside Martial Numinous Palace. The palace was a city within a city. Surrounding Martial Numinous Palace was a sturdy wall that was a hundred meters tall. It penetrated the clouds with its black metal construction. The walls looked extremely thick and they were engraved with Dao patterns. After thousands of years of augmentation by the Martial Numinous clan’s array masters, the Dao patterns were already one with the city walls. The moment they were triggered, the city walls would become strongly fortified.

Martial Numinous clansmen guarded the four sides of the city wall. All of them wore uniform silver battle armor and held spears in hand. They looked spirit-like with the billowing aura of the legendary green dragon. Just the way they stood made outsiders palpitate when they arrived in front of Martial Numinous Palace.

Martial Numinous Palace prohibited flying so Yi Yun walked straight in.

“Entry Pass!”

When Yi Yun approached the city gates, two stocky Martial Numinous clansmen demanded with muffled voices.

Yi Yun showed them his Entry Pass.

“The palace’s entry fee is a hundred mid-grade Spirit Jade!”

Yi Yun’s brows pricked up. The Martial Numinous clansmen could enter the Martial Numinous Palace for free but demanded an entry fee from outsiders. However, they made it expensive, keeping out poor warriors for they had no way to afford it.

Yi Yun threw out a bag of Spirit Jade and immediately stepped into Martial Numinous Palace.

Although Martial Numinous Palace was called a palace, it was not where the Martial Numinous royalty stayed. Instead, it was where the rest of the Martial Numinous clansmen stayed. It was like a city of its own. There was a three-hundred-foot wide street that greeted any visitor. On both sides of the street were magnificent buildings. They ranged from stores to restaurants. There were many people on the streets. The restaurants also had managers and waiters. However, there were no eunuchs or palatial maids.

After searching through Li Yunfeng’s soul, Yi Yun had a general understanding of Martial Numinous Palace’s layout. He headed directly to Heaven Refinement Pavilion.

The towering Heaven Refinement Pavilion was exquisitely built, with numerous floors. The entrance had a plaque with the words ‘Heaven Refinement’ written on it. The calligraphy was written with a potent flair.

The Dao of Alchemy could lead to the heavens. At its most profound levels, one could refine pills that defy and overturn the Heavenly Dao. But that was only a legendary realm. The divine alchemist wanted to refine the Elixir of Resurrection. If he had succeeded, it would have been a first-grade Heaven Refinement pill but unfortunately, he failed.

For Heaven Refinement Pavilion to have the words ‘Heaven Refinement’ in its name showcased the great confidence of its alchemists.

Just when Yi Yun arrived in front of Heaven Refinement Pavilion, an attendant immediately came to welcome him.

The attendant was dressed in alchemical robes. He was a low-grade alchemist with a Dao Manifestation cultivation level.

Heaven Refinement Pavilion’s attendants were all low-grade alchemists, which also spoke volumes about its standards.

“Sir, is there anything I can help you with?” asked the attendant as he walked over.

“I’m here to buy some medicine,” said Yi Yun, and then he casually mentioned the few herbs he wanted.

Yi Yun wanted to refine a pill needed for the Dragon Emperor Technique. The pill recipe was the only one of its kind so he was not afraid that these alchemists could make any connection from the few strains of herbs he requested.

The attendant nodded and led Yi Yun into the shop. Following that, he said, “Sir, please wait a moment. I will inquire on your behalf.”

“Alright.”

Yi Yun began browsing through the shop. The level he was on was likely used for display purposes. He did not see any rare herbs, and most of what he saw were pills refined by Heaven Refinement Pavilion alchemists. Their grades were not that high either.

It was likely that the really good items could only be seen upstairs.

Just as Yi Yun was waiting, a group of people arrived outside.

They were dressed simply and had low cultivation levels.

The moment they arrived at the door, another attendant walked out of Heaven Refinement Pavilion and brought them to a corner inside the store. Following that, an alchemist was invited out. His alchemical achievements and cultivation level were slightly higher than the attendant’s but still failed to catch Yi Yun’s eye.

The moment the alchemist appeared, these people retrieved bags of items from their interspatial rings.

Yi Yun did not pay much attention to them after taking a glance at them. These people were likely here to deliver the herbs that they had gathered. The herbs they produced were fresh and the alchemists were responsible for evaluating them.

From the looks of it, they were herb pickers from the Heaven Refinement Pavilion. The entire process was something that happened often. Everyone remained silent and only handed their herbs over. If they were there to sell herbs, it was unlikely that they would have such expressions.

1377 - : Martial Numinous Palace

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, the attendant that greeted Yi Yun returned. Following him was another thin and tiny middle-aged alchemist dressed in black and white. He had a sullen expression.

“Sir, I have already inquired for you. Our store has three of the herbs you are looking for: Ghee Fragrance, Snakethroat Grass, and Dragon Bloodworm,” said the attendant.

Yi Yun was delighted. He never expected to be able to buy that many rare herbs at one go. He was pleasantly surprised that he could find three strains on sale.

“How much Spirit Jade for these three strains of herbs?” asked Yi Yun.

The attendant smiled and said, “Sir, our Heaven Refinement Pavilion seldom sells its herbs to external parties. Furthermore, our selling price is relatively higher than most.”

“How much is it exactly?” asked Yi Yun calmly. In fact, he was already prepared to pay more Spirit Jade when he came to the Martial Numinous clan. The person had only said those things to admonish him.

“It appears you have just come to Martial City. You do not have any labels of other Martial Numinous clan stores either. A warrior such as yourself can cooperate with the Martial Numinous clan. Our Martial Numinous clan recruits all the best elites in the world, so you can choose to sign a contract with us and work for our Heaven Refinement Pavilion. Then, you will be able to purchase herbs at a discount. Furthermore, by working with us, you do not need to leave the sect you hail from,” said the alchemist with a smile.

He stretched out his hand and beckoned as a contract appeared out of thin air in front of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s expression immediately turned cold after he swept his glance over it.

There were way too many restrictions in the contract.

He already knew that the Martial Numinous clan would be extremely stringent towards outsiders. But he never imagined that they would try to directly recruit him as a servant of the Martial Numinous clan.

He had likely noticed that Yi Yun had pretty good strength for a mortal-born and had thoughts of recruiting him.

The alchemist was a member of the Martial Numinous clan and, although he treated Yi Yun politely on the surface, he was actually very arrogant deep down.

When the attendant mentioned that they seldom sold their herbs to external parties, what he meant was that they seldom sold their herbs to mortal-born.

“I have no interest in working for you. For the sake of your business, there is no reason to reject any sales and purchases that come your way. I’m only here to buy herbs.” Yi Yun directly rejected the contract.

“In truth I was being considerate of you because it’s impossible for you to afford it.” The alchemist frowned when he was so immediately rejected. He had been rather cordial but he never expected Yi Yun to reject his his kind intentions.

How dare a mortal-born say he was uninterested when the Heaven Refinement Pavilion had taken the initiative to recruit him…

He did not know what pill Yi Yun was planning to refine with the selected herbs. However, one of the items—the Dragon Bloodworm—could be used to refine pills that aided breakthroughs. It was for this reason that the alchemist was interested in recruiting Yi Yun.

Having a first-storey Dao Palace on the brink of a breakthrough was quite a good cultivation level. Unfortunately, he wasn’t smart. He did not know that without the backing of the Martial Numinous clan, it was very difficult to survive in Martial City.

Most mortal-born that came to Martial City would be all too eager to sign a contract with the Martial Numinous clan and work for it.

“You can buy them directly too. Two Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli and these three herbs are yours.” The alchemist scoffed as he said this with a teasing tone.

Yi Yun’s expression sank immediately.

They might as well rob him if they were going to price the herbs with Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli.

Those items were at most worth about forty to fifty million mid-grade Spirit Jade, not even half a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus!

Furthermore, Yi Yun had searched Li Yunfeng’s soul. He knew that the Martial Numinous clan had purchased these herbs at a much lower price.

Just because he was mortal-born, the Martial Numinous clan’s alchemists would demand an exorbitant price. The alchemist did not believe that Yi Yun could produce two Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli. He had named that price because he was unhappy with Yi Yun’s rejection of his offer. He believed that Yi Yun could still change his mind and sign the contract.

Yi Yun’s gaze turned heavy. Were it not for him being in Martial Numinous Palace, he would have really considered robbing them of their herbs.

It was impossible for him to buy the herbs with two Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli. However, it was also impossible for him to sign a contract to work for them.

At that moment, the silence was cut by a sudden loud dispute, interrupting whatever was happening on Yi Yun’s side.

“I already said it’s worth five points!” By the corner, a low-grade alchemist said angrily.

And in front of him, a thin and frail girl said anxiously, “How can it be that little? Alchemist Wang, take a good look again. This Firemoney Grass has three hundred years to it. I went to great effort to snatch it from the mouth of the herb’s companion, the Firemoney Beast. I nearly lost my life…”

As she said that, the girl’s eyes welled up in tears.

“Heh heh, it is true that this Firemoney Grass is three hundred years old but you did not seal the spirit energy within before slowly plucking it whole. This caused its roots to be damaged and made it lose a lot of its energy. It was also not well preserved, so now it’s almost a useless herb,” said Alchemist Wang slowly.

“But…” The petite girl hung her head low as she pinched her fingers. With her cultivation level, it was already life-threatening just to pluck the Firemoney Grass. How was it possible for her to do all of that extra stuff?

Yi Yun glanced at the Firemoney Grass and noticed that it was indeed damaged. However, it was an exaggeration to call it useless. He gained a rough idea of how the Martial Numinous clan’s points worked when he searched Li Yunfeng’s soul.

Five points was equivalent to about five hundred Spirit Jade. It was lower than the price of Firemoney Grass.

“No buts! Hmph! Based on this count, the amount of herbs you have submitted today does not meet the requirements. As punishment, you will have two points deducted! Don’t forget, you are contracted to the Martial Numinous clan as a female servant. You currently have no qualifications to serve others. It’s already fortunate for you that you haven’t been forced to do sordid acts. Instead, all we ask is that you come to our Heaven Refinement Pavilion daily and deliver enough herbs!” said Alchemist Wang impatiently.

“Ah?” The petite girl looked up suddenly and widened her eyes. “Alchemist Wang, how can you do that… You even deducted two of my points. How am I to survive…”

As she said this, tears began dripping down her face.

At that moment, the watching Yi Yun’s eyes lit up.

The petite girl looked familiar but he did not believe that he had seen the girl before. He scoured through his memories and found a familiar face from Li Yunfeng’s memories.

“She is… the personal attendant of Wang Mu’s wife, Xiaoqing.”

Back when Yi Yun searched Li Yunfeng’s soul, he was informed of the internal structure of the Martial Numinous clan as well as the situation regarding Wang Mu and his wife. With that, he had identified the petite girl.

As the personal attendant of Wang Mu’s wife, why was Xiaoqing here? Furthermore, why was she now a herb-picking servant for the Heaven Refinement Pavilion?

1378 - : Female Attendant

CKtalon  CKtalon

According to Li Yunfeng’s memories, Wang Mu’s wife apparently treated her female attendants quite well. Even if Wang Mu was about to die, why were they chasing away his wife’s personal attendant?

The attitude the Heaven Refinement Pavilion showed towards her was vile. If she had a powerful backer, would she have been reduced to such an abject state?

“What are you waiting for? Shouldn’t you be leaving now!?” At that moment, Alchemist Wang noticed that there were other alchemists and customers around. He immediately lowered his voice as he berated her.

Xiaoqing knew that the words of a lowly person like her carried little weight. There was no way for her to change Alchemist Wang’s decision. All she could do was walk out of Heaven Refinement Pavilion with her head lowered.

Yi Yun felt his heart stir. He gave a cold glance at the alchemist who was dressed in black-and-white. Following that, he walked out of Heaven Refinement Pavilion as well.

Since it was plain to see that the Heaven Refinement Pavilion was gouging him, he would be foolish to continue with the trade.

When the alchemist saw Yi Yun leave without a word, he was taken aback. Following that, he said coldly, “He sure has a temper. However, he will soon learn that the Martial Numinous clan reigns supreme in Martial City.”

He was certain that Yi Yun would quickly realize that it was difficult for him to buy herbs in any of the medicinal clinics in Martial Numinous Palace.

At that moment, Yi Yun was already following Xiaoqing from a good distance away. With Xiaoqing’s cultivation level, she would not have noticed him even if he were walking right behind her.

Xiaoqing’s eyes were red as she silently focused on getting to her destination. Soon, she left the main street and walked into a small alley.

As a female servant, Xiaoqing stayed in a rather remote place. Her living conditions could not be considered good at all.

The alley crossed through many intersecting alleys. Yi Yun locked his perception on Xiaoqing’s location as he followed her without haste.

Suddenly, there was a scream coming from Xiaoqing’s direction.

Yi Yun heart stirred as he flashed. In a blink of an eye, he had appeared close to Xiaoqing.

At that moment, Xiaoqing was being surrounded by two men. However, they did not seem to be engaging in any lewd acts. They looked fierce but were only questioning Xiaoqing.

One of them bellowed coldly, “Slut, tell me quickly. Where are Wang Mu and that undying old dad of his, as well as his daughter?!”

Xiaoqing looked at the duo fearfully. Her body huddled towards the corner of the walls as she shook her head with all her might and said, “I really do not know anything… I’m no longer a servant of the Wang household. How would I know where they are…”

“You dare give excuses?” The other, a bald man, said with a scoff. “That Wang Mu is already like a dead wretch. In order to save him and keep him alive, his father and daughter have expended large amounts of Spirit Jade. It’s quite a tragedy. As for you, someone who supposedly has nothing to do with them, you have given them financial assistance every month. You’ve provided them with food and Spirit Jade. Do you think we do not know of that? Yet you dare tell us that you have nothing to do with the Wang household!?”

Xiaoqing’s expression turned pale. It turned out that the duo had already investigated all she had done.

“I… I did send them some things. That’s because Old Master Wang is advanced in his years and Miss Xiao is still young. I could not help but do something on account of our relationship as master and servant of yesteryear. However, I really do not know where they are at present… Did… did something happen to them?” asked Xiaoqing.

“Slut, it looks like you still hold out hope until you are faced with the grim reality. Wang Mu colluded with others to kill Elder Li’s beloved son, Young Master Li Yunfeng. Now, they are fleeing to escape punishment. Regardless if you do know anything or not, I’ll bring you back to Torture Tower. There, we will naturally know if you speak the truth. There are many punishments in Torture Tower that were specifically created for women. Just a taste of those punishments is a truly memorable experience…” As the bald man said this, he looked at Xiaoqing and his eyes sparkled with a warped and lascivious look.

Upon hearing the words, ‘Torture Tower,’ Xiaoqing received a jolt. Her entire body shook for she clearly knew what Torture Tower was. People who entered it seldom came out alive. Furthermore, people would receive inhumane torture in there, especially women. They would suffer endless sexual abuse.

“No…you can’t bring me to Torture Tower…” Xiaoqing retreated in despair but there was nowhere for her to retreat to.

“Hahaha, do you think you have any say in this matter? It’s best you come with us obediently. If not, we will need to give you some private punishments here. There are a few torture techniques from Torture Tower that I have long been eager to try.” The other man licked his lips and flashed her a sinister grin.

As the duo approached Xiaoqing with burning killing intent, the bald man that was walking in the back suddenly felt a chill run down his back. He suddenly turned his head and saw a young man standing behind him.

Yi Yun appeared to be a passer-by as he walked over one step at a time.

“Who are you?”

Upon seeing Yi Yun, the bald man’s heart skipped a beat. He had not noticed any other people around them. Only when the man got close did he actually realize he was there.

“Halt. We are carrying out the duties of Martial Numinous Palace. It’s none of your business so leave quickly,” said the man with the cold expression.

Xiaoqing’s face was filled with despair. Although a stranger had suddenly appeared, she knew that no one in Martial City would interfere with matters that involved the Martial Numinous clan.

However, Yi Yun did what none of them expected, he continued walking towards them slowly as though he had not heard him.

“Are you deaf?” The bald man frowned as he took out a token and lifted it up. “We are under orders from the Martial Numinous Palace’s Elder Li Jiuxiao…”

At that moment, the bald man suddenly saw a blur. Yi Yun, who was more than ten steps away, suddenly appeared in front of him. His hand stretched out as he slapped him brutally in the face.

The slap sent the bald man flying. He turned dizzy as the taste of blood filled his mouth. As for the token, it clanged to the ground.

Pa!

Yi Yun stepped on the token and shattered it instantly!

Only then did Yi Yun glance at the bald man. His expression was no difference from the one a person had when looking at trash on the streets.

The cold man was appalled. The stranger had attacked too quickly. Furthermore, the token was an artifact refined by a refining master. It was extremely solid. How could it be easily shattered with a stomp? The ground was not harder than the token. Logically speaking, the ground should have shattered instead. How did he do it?

“Bro, I don’t care who you are. You are in big trouble to attack Martial Numinous clansmen in Martial City!” The cold man retreated rapidly. As he retreated he shouted and reached his hand out to touch his interspatial ring.

But!

With a whoosh, Yi Yun’s figure appeared instantly in front of him. He kicked him straight in the chest!

“Wah!” The cold man spewed a mouthful of blood. His chest depressed from the kick as his bones shattered. His organs were reduced to mush yet he was still, unluckily, alive.

Immediately following that, Yi Yun returned to the spot in front of the bald man.

“You… you dare kill people from Martial Numinous Palace…” The bald man looked at Yi Yun in panic.

“So noisy.” Yi Yun lifted his foot and stomped down.

With a crack, the bald man’s neck broke. He stared with widened eyes as he took his last breath.

1379 - : Torture Tower

CKtalon  CKtalon

In a blink of an eye, the two Martial Numinous Palace men were dead. Xiaoqing, who was wallowing in despair just a moment ago, just watched as Yi Yun approached her. She could not believe whatever she had just seen.

“There’s no need for you to be afraid. I won’t harm you. I’m the person they mentioned who killed Li Yunfeng,” said Yi Yun as he looked at the pale Xiaoqing.

“Ah? You… you…” Xiaoqing looked at Yi Yun in astonishment. Yi Yun did not fear Xiaoqing leaking news of the murder. After all, he was planning to take her away with him.

Xiaoqing took a long while to calm herself. She obviously knew who Li Yunfeng was. A core disciple of the Martial Numinous clan had been killed by this stranger just like that?

She stood up and bowed at Yi Yun. “Young Master, thank you for saving me. Now you are implicated on my behalf. For you to kill people from the Martial Numinous Palace just like that…”

“It doesn’t help to worry about it now since they are already dead. Besides, I have already killed Li Yunfeng. They are nothing compared to him,” said Yi Yun nonchalantly.

It was certain that if Xiaoqing were to have been taken away by the duo, she would definitely have ended up in a tragic state. She might’ve even suffered a fate worse than death. In that context, finishing off the duo so quickly was going too easy on them.

“Young Master, might I ask where Old Master Wang and the rest are?” Xiaoqing probed carefully.

“They are very safe,” said Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was rather impressed with Xiaoqing. She had a hard time just earning a living but she continued providing financial assistance to her previous master. Such a faithful and affectionate girl should not be implicated because of his act of murder. Therefore, Yi Yun had not hesitated to help her.

“That’s good.” Xiaoqing patted her chest lightly and heaved a sigh of relief. For some baffling reason, she chose to believe whatever Yi Yun said. Besides, Yi Yun had easily killed the two from Martial Numinous Palace. He was definitely very powerful. There was no reason for such a powerful person to deceive her.

“Let us leave this place first. I have some questions for you,” said Yi Yun. When he killed the duo, he had already released his domain, sealing off two hundred feet around him. It guaranteed that no auras leaked out.

After the incident, there was no way Xiaoqing could return home. When she heard what Yi Yun said, she naturally nodded in agreement.

Minutes after Yi Yun departed with Xiaoqing, a group of people appeared in the remote alley.

Li Jiuxiao broke the space that had been sealed shut by the domain. His eyes gloomily took in the two corpses on the ground. With an angry bellow, a flame immediately leaped forward and enveloped the two corpses.

“Good-for-nothings!” Li Jiuxiao thought angrily.

They had failed the simple errand of capturing a lowly slave.

Worst of all, the murderer that killed Li Yunfeng dared to kill his men right under his nose!

The lowly slave named Xiaoqing was definitely no match for the duo. The only possible culprit was the one who had killed Li Yunfeng.

Li Jiuxiao felt that he would not be able to hold back his rage if the culprit was not captured quickly.

At the same time, Yi Yun had brought Xiaoqing to a remote yard in Martial City.

He used a simple trick to conceal Xiaoqing’s aura, so as to temporarily prevent the Martial Numinous Palace from tracking her.

“Young Master, can I first meet Old Master and the rest?” whispered Xiaoqing.

Yi Yun nodded. “No problem.”

He summoned the God Advent Tower and waved his stretched out hand. Xiaoqing immediately felt a suction.

She was alarmed but she knew that it was a spatial artifact. She did not resist and was sucked into the God Advent Tower.

After a while, she came out of the God Advent Tower. She had a smile on her face but she was crying too.

When she saw Yi Yun, she immediately bowed and thanked him. “Thank you, Young Master Yi. You saved Old Master’s entire family…”

“Alright, I have a few questions I would like to ask you,” said Yi Yun.

“Young Master, please go ahead,” said Xiaoqing.

“How did you end up in your present predicament? Aren’t you supposed to be serving Madam Wang? What happened? Did she chase you out as well?” Yi Yun asked directly.

Xiaoqing was taken aback before she shook her head. “No, that’s not the case. My Madam did not chase me out…”

With that said, tears began dripping down her face like falling beads.

“Madam has actually been placed under house arrest. I was chased out by the ones who did it. They have switched the female attendants that serve Madam with their people. But instead of service, it is actually more surveillance.”

What Xiaoqing said caught Yi Yun by surprise. He originally believed that it was highly probable that the poisoning of Wang Mu was his wife’s scheme. If not, why would she be preparing to marry someone else before Wang Mu was even dead?

But now, it seemed that there were some concealed truths behind the matter according to Xiaoqing.

Xiaoqing wiped her tears and continued, “Before I was chased out, Madam secretly told me that she regretted finding the ruin. Life did not have such an opportunity planned for them so the obtaining of such an opportunity would cause their deaths.”

“Ruin? What ruin?”asked Yi Yun.

If it was a huge opportunity, it was not difficult to understand Wang Mu’s misfortune. Someone had eyed his discovery and wanted it for themselves. Therefore, they secretly poisoned Wang Mu and put his wife under house arrest.

Wang Mu was a perfect example of the saying: no weal without woe.

Xiaoqing hesitated for a moment. In the beginning, she was a little hesitant to tell Yi Yun the secret of the ruin, but on further thought, the ruin had caused Wang Mu to be fatally ill and Wang Mu’s wife to enter a life worse than death. She might as well tell Yi Yun.

“From what Madam said, it’s an ancient herbal garden. Those people already know its precise location. However, opening it is rather troublesome. They have been constantly forcing Madam to do certain things…” As Xiaoqing recounted, she could not help but weep. She had been adopted by Wang Mu’s wife from a young age. Instead of calling it a master-servant relationship, it was more like a mother-daughter relationship.

“As for the exact details of the herbal garden, I do not know anything about it. Only Madam and Mister Wang know,” said Xiaoqing.

After she finished, she looked uneasily at Yi Yun.

She had learned from the God Advent Tower that Yi Yun had no relationship with the Wang family. He had killed Li Yunfeng only in passing. If Old Man Wang had not given Yi Yun an Entry Pass, he might not have received Yi Yun’s help.

And although the herbal garden was very valuable, Yi Yun might not be willing to fight the Martial Numinous Palace for it.

If Yi Yun did not wish to get involved, it would be hopeless for her mistress.

And indeed, Xiaoqing’s worry was not without reason. Yi Yun would not go through so much trouble just to save Wang Mu’s wife.

However, the herbal garden was enough to entice Yi Yun greatly.

Ancient herbal garden…

For it to be prefaced with the word ancient, it probably meant that it had existed for tens of millions of years or even more than a hundred million years.

Such a long period of time would typically imply that most of the herbs grown in the herbal garden had withered.

And if it were a withered herbal garden, there was no value to it. There had to be something unique about the herbal garden that ensured that the spirit herbs within were well preserved. What kind of herbs could they be?

If there were truly rare herbs growing in the ancient herbal garden, they would be priceless.

1380 - : Concealed Truth

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Your mistress is presently in Martial Numinous Palace?” asked Yi Yun.

Xiaoqing replied, “Madam has been placed under house arrest by those people. As for where she is exactly, even I don’t know. However, I do know that the person marrying Madam is named Li Yunshang. I have always had the suspicion that it was Li Yunshang who caused Master Wang to be in his present state.”

“Li Yunshang…”

Yi Yun nodded. The memories he obtained from searching Li Yunfeng’s soul included Li Yunshang. He originally believed that Wang Mu’s wife was a vicious woman and had abandoned her husband to seek out another man; therefore, he did not pay attention to Li Yunshang.

But things were different now. Yi Yun asked Xiaoqing a few more questions, filling the gaps in his understanding.

By the end of their conversation, the entire situation became more apparent to Yi Yun.

Li Yunshang was Li Yunfeng’s cousin. There was a huge age gap between them. Furthermore, Li Yunshang was a lot more talented than Li Yunfeng. The two of them were on completely different levels of strength. Li Yunshang was already a candidate to be the Martial Numinous clan’s Elder. He was the the most highly-regarded person in the Li family’s younger generation.

The Li family was very influential in the Martial Numinous clan. As the Li family had a very unique heritage, they produced many alchemists. The Heaven Refinement Pavilion was actually mainly run by the Li family. For both of these reasons, the Li family controlled a huge amount of resources. Few people in the Martial Numinous clan would dare offend the Li family.

“That Li Jiuxiao is indeed considered quite a figure in the Martial Numinous clan. However, his strength is nothing much. He’s only an ordinary Divine Lord. The people involved in Wang Mu’s predicament are all from the Li family. It’s very likely that the Li family is responsible for his current state.”

Yi Yun guessed that the Martial Numinous clan did not know of the Li family’s machinations against Wang Mu. It was a secret operation of the Li family’s design and only the essential people within the Li family knew of it. Even Li Yunfeng did not know. If he had, Yi Yun would have understood the entire situation when he searched his soul.

After the Li family learned that Wang Mu and his wife had obtained the location of the ancient herbal garden, they secretly disabled Wang Mu and seized his wife. It was all done to usurp the herbal garden for themselves. They did not even include the Martial Numinous clan in their plans.

“I’ll take a trip to the Li family first!”

Yi Yun quickly made the decision. He knew from his memories what Wang Mu’s wife looked like. Furthermore, the Li family was focused on alchemy, so it had few experts. As long as he was careful, they did not pose much danger.

“Thank you for helping, Young Master.”

Upon hearing what Yi Yun said, Xiaoqing’s face revealed a look of delight. From the looks of it, Yi Yun was interested in the ancient herbal garden.

If Yi Yun managed to find her mistress, there was a chance that she would be saved as well. Now that Madam Wang’s situation was still unclear, Xiaoqing was extremely worried about her.

“It’s nothing. I’m doing it for my own interests, too. I happen to need some herbs.” Yi Yun did not conceal his intentions. He was capable of heroic deeds but this particular matter was a challenging one. It could even endanger his life. It was impossible for Yi Yun to just sacrifice himself to save others, but it was different when rewards were involved.

“You cannot be found by the Martial Numinous Palace now. Why don’t you spend this time with Wang Mu’s family?” suggested Yi Yun.

“Okay, thank you very much, Young Master.” Xiaoqing was overjoyed as she immediately nodded. Following that, she was sucked into the God Advent Tower that Yi Yun summoned out.

Yi Yun put away the God Advent Tower and looked around. With a flash, he vanished from where he stood. The next instant, he appeared several kilometers away. He walked casually into the main street and joined the crowds.

Yi Yun naturally knew where the Li household was after probing Li Yunfeng’s memories. He even had a general idea of how security in the Li household was, as well as where the important members of the Li family lived.

He soon arrived at a spot a few thousand feet away from the Li household. He entered a tea shop, ordered, and slowly drank his tea. He waited until nightfall before he noiselessly crept up to the wall by the Li family’s backyard. With a flash, he directly entered the Li household.

A bright moon hung high in the night sky. It draped the ground with a faint layer of silver. However, the bright moon failed to illuminate Yi Yun’s shadow.

Yi Yun silently strolled through the Li family’s backyard like a intelligent cat. Wherever he passed, space would distort, completely concealing his presence. As such, even when Yi Yun approached the guards, they failed to notice anything.

The strongest person in the Li family was Li Yunshang’s father, Li Qijian. He was the patriarch of the Li family.

Yi Yun would dread it if he had to fight Li Qijian but according to Li Yunfeng’s memories, Li Qijian had been in seclusion for several years. A person in seclusion was fully focused on cultivation so Yi Yun was not afraid that he would be discovered by him.

Following the layout according to the memories, Yi Yun slowly approached Li Yunshang’s residence. He believed that was where he would most likely find Wang Mu’s wife.

…

At that moment in the Li household—

Li Jiuxiao’s figure landed inside a yard. He was fuming with anger as the aura he released sent quakes throughout the yard. If not for the array formation protecting it, the house might have already collapsed.

The servants in the yard kept silent.

“Uncle, don’t be angry over Yunfeng any longer. I’m sad for Yunfeng’s passing too.”

A somewhat neutral sounding voice was heard as a man in white walked into the yard.

He was none other than Li Yunshang.

He had long hair and he held a jade flute in his hand. His clothes fluttered in the wind, making him look like a distinguished scholar of the mortal world.

Li Jiuxiao sighed. “If Yunfeng had your strength, he would not have suffered such an outcome.”

Li Yunshang sighed lightly and said, “It’s truly a pity for Yunfeng, Uncle. However, don’t let the anger consume you. We still have an important matter to take care of. Once it is done, we will find some herbal treasures that will definitely improve your body. Your strength will be further enhanced. When that time comes, you might even be able to have offspring more excellent than Yunfeng. I believe he will rest in peace in the netherworld, knowing that our family is stronger.”

Upon hearing Li Yunshang’s words, Li Jiuxiao felt enlivened. Indeed, if they found the ancient herbal garden, his strength could improve once again. In comparison, the loss of a son would be something he could view as an acceptable loss. He could just have another one.

“Are you done with that woman?”

Li Yunshang nodded. “Almost done. I have already fed her a Mind Loss Gu. I can control some of her actions. In a few days, her mind will be completely under my control.”

“Alright, that’s good…”

Li Jiuxiao drew in a deep breath. His nephew had a myriad of methods at his disposal and he was very vicious. Wang Mu had succumbed to him without even knowing it.

As for Wang Mu’s wife, Li Yunshang had used another method. He did not silence her but instead aimed to slowly take control of her mind. He planned on adding her to his harem and slowly using her for dual cultivation.

Even Li Jiuxiao felt a chill down his back when he saw such relentless schemes. In the future, when Li Yunshang had fully developed his strength and became the Li family’s patriarch, it was unknown what was in store for him. Regardless, Li Jiuxiao did not wish to offend his nephew. If he made a wrong move, there might come a time when he ended up succumbing to Li Yunshang’s tricks without even knowing it.

Upon realizing this, Li Jiuxiao shook his head and said, “Yunshang, have a rest. I still have some pills to refine so that I can treat that guest…”

As Li Jiuxiao spoke, he began walking to his alchemy lab.

As for Li Yunshang, he returned to his residence. Following that, a woman with an enchanting figure and foxy eyes walked out from a tiny yard.

“Young Master Yunshang, you are finally back.”

The woman helped Li Yunshang onto a couch before she knelt down and began taking off his shoes.

Li Yunshang allowed the woman to serve him as he asked, “Any updates on the woman?”

The woman began massaging Li Yunshang’s feet with the perfect touch. Every knead was precise and even had a certain nomological charm. Clearly, the woman was an expert as well. She was definitely not a useless flower vase; yet, she was willing to act subservient to Li Yunshang.

“She’s been in a daze all day. She just sits there all day. I have no idea what’s running through her mind.”

“I see.” Li Yunshang nodded. The Mind Loss Gu’s effects were turning more apparent. In a few days, her mind would fall under his complete control, making her into a perfect sex slave he could use. When that time came, he could use her to cultivate in his ‘Pure Bliss Sutra.’

Upon thinking of this, the corners of Li Yunshang’s mouth curved up. Wang Mu’s wife had a unique bloodline. She was the perfect tool for his cultivation of the Pure Bliss Sutra. Unfortunately, Wang Mu had wasted a perfectly good treasure by taking his wife’s primordial Yin. Li Yunshang had long wanted this woman for himself.

Meanwhile, there was no one in the yard. Space began to slightly distort as Yi Yun stood silently there.

He had heard the entire conversation between Li Jiuxiao and Li Yunshang.

“Mind Loss Gu… This Li Yunshang sure is vicious.” Yi Yun looked coldly at the spot where Li Yunshang had stood.

However, he would only stir the Li family if he killed him now.

Yi Yun turned to look at where the female servant had walked out from. He would not be surprised if Wang Mu’s wife was located inside the small yard.

There were a few guards patrolling the yard’s interior. At the same time, there were a few female servants waiting by the door. And he could sense a person inside the building. It was very likely Wang Mu’s wife.

“Since I want to access the herbal garden, saving Wang Mu’s wife is only right. It’s not only for me to gain information, it also allows me to repay the favor to them.” Yi Yun had such thoughts as he infiltrated the yard without being detected.

The people in the yard did not discover Yi Yun at all. Soon, Yi Yun came to a spot outside a building. All he needed to do was put Wang Mu’s wife into the God Advent Tower and secretly sneak away.

But at that moment, something out of the ordinary happened!

Yi Yun suddenly sensed a cold aura rapidly sweep past the area above the small yard. Following that, the aura rapidly locked onto him!

Yi Yun instantly felt his limbs turn cold.

Who is it!?

Yi Yun had been especially careful in everything he did tonight. Apart from Li Qijian, Yi Yun did not believe that anyone would be capable of discovering him.

Could Li Qijian have exited seclusion?

That’s not right!

Yi Yun suddenly sensed that the cold aura was familiar. An image that left him stifled appeared in his mind.

The aura belonged to… Myriad God Patriarch!!

Yi Yun suddenly recalled that Li Jiuxiao had mentioned that he was refining pills for a guest to treat his injuries. Could the injured guest be Myriad God Patriarch?

1381 - : Mind Loss Gu

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Yi Yun! It was indeed you!” A voice filled with hatred roared angrily in Yi Yun’s ears. The voice belonged to none other than the Myriad God Patriarch!

Yi Yun’s heart tightened. He should have realized that if Myriad God Patriarch lived, he would be heavily injured by Old Snake. So no matter where he went, he would first seek out a local alchemist to treat him. It was very possible for him to encounter Myriad God Patriarch in the Li household.

However, what truly baffled Yi Yun was that he had used the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book to transform himself. It had never failed him; yet, he was still recognized by Myriad God Patriarch. How did that happen?

Concealing his body lost its meaning at that point in time. All of Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi surged as he raised his speed to the maximum and charged straight out. He was as fast as lightning, so much so that even the patrolling guards did not manage to react in time. All they felt was a gust of wind blow past them.

Boom!

Yi Yun charged right out of the Li household. Simultaneously, a tiny figure suddenly appeared above the little yard. He was covered in a cloak, with only his aged and abnormal face revealed. He frantically swept the little yard with bloodshot eyes before charging in the direction that Yi Yun had fled in.

“The Heavens have eyes after all. They have allowed me to meet you here! It’s all because of you that I have ended up in my present predicament. You think you can escape?” Myriad God Patriarch’s face was distorted. Yi Yun had snatched the Ascending Dragon Cauldron from him, the thing he had been studying for countless years. The aura of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and Yi Yun had been ingrained into his mind, two things that he would never forget.

Yi Yun had infiltrated the Li family and got just a short distance away from him. This resulted in his discovery. Myriad God Patriarch would naturally take the chance to seek revenge on Yi Yun and snatch the Ascending Dragon Cauldron back.

He immediately took off in pursuit when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. His body could not help but tremble.

As he had encountered Yi Yun again, the upheaval in emotions was just too intense that it caused his injuries to act up again.

A few figures appeared at that moment. Li Jiuxiao and Li Yunshang were there too.

Li Jiuxiao was filled with rage and surprise. He had sensed Myriad God Patriarch and at the same time, sensed an aura fly out of his Li household rapidly. Who was it that infiltrated his Li family late in the night without him discovering it?

“Fellow Daoist Myriad, what’s going on?!”

Li Jiuxiao looked at Myriad God Patriarch warily. He already had one hand placed on his interspatial ring. The elder acted mysteriously and claimed to have the surname of Myriad. Li Jiuxiao did not know his exact identity. Were it not for the high price he offered, Li Jiuxiao would definitely not have agreed to treat his injuries.

Myriad God Patriarch knitted his brows. He naturally wasn’t going to explain how he knew Yi Yun. It would only result in more people coveting the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

However, Myriad God Patriarch still needed Li Jiuxiao to help him refine pills that could treat his injuries, so he did not wish to offend him. He said, “Someone infiltrated your Li household late into the night and here you are, questioning me? How would I know? I should be the one asking you.”

As he spoke, Myriad God Patriarch’s figure flashed. He had vanished into the night as he continued his pursuit of Yi Yun!

“Infiltrated the Li household late into the night?”

Li Yunshang’s brows twitched. He looked at the tiny yard that Yi Yun had appeared in. It was his, and the person staying in the yard was Wang Mu’s wife Yuan Ling.

The Li household was large, with hundreds of buildings. It was too much of a coincidence that the infiltrator chose Yuan Ling’s room.

It had to be that the person was there for Yuan Ling!

Li Jiuxiao clearly realized this. “He was here for that woman? Could it be… that he was the one who killed Yunfeng?!”

Upon coming to this realization, Li Jiuxiao burned with immediate rage. Apart from that person, who else would want to save the woman?

This person had killed his son and his subordinates, and took the lowly slave away. Now, he was even emboldened enough to infiltrate his Li family!

If not for Myriad God Patriarch’s discovery, the woman would have been taken away without them detecting it.

“He won’t be able to escape while in my Martial Numinous clan’s territory! Chase after him!”

Soon, more than a dozen figures shot out from the Li household, heading in the direction Yi Yun had fled.

At that moment, Myriad God Patriarch was already hundreds of kilometers away. He had locked onto the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s aura. Although it was already very far, just a sliver of it was enough for him to watch it intently like a venomous snake.

“Yi Yun, you won’t be able to escape!” Myriad God Patriarch roared furiously. His voice rumbled like thunder in the sky as it penetrated Yi Yun’s ears.

The escaping Yi Yun frowned as he accelerated even more.

Every last bit of his Yuan Qi surged as he suddenly turned into a blur, like a floating light and passing shadow, making it difficult for anyone to pursue him.

“Oh?” Myriad God Patriarch sensed that the aura was rapidly creating a distance from him. He was astounded. Thinking back to Yi Yun’s aura he sensed when he detected him, Yi Yun was apparently at the first-storey Dao Palace. But now, it was far from that.

“Darn bastard. He has actually… broken through to the Supremacy realm. How… how is this possible!?”

Myriad God Patriarch found it unbelievable. It had only been a few years! How was Yi Yun making breakthroughs this fast?

A Supremacy cultivation level made one quite a figure anywhere in the Sinkhole.

Could it be because of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron? Myriad God Patriarch rejected that thought almost immediately. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron was definitely not that heaven-defying.

The moment he thought of Yi Yun obtaining the Dragon Emperor Technique, his yearning to skin Yi Yun and drink his blood turned intense. All of that should have been his!

“No matter how much you improve yourself, you are not my match. Continue fleeing. The more you flee, the more you will reel in despair when I catch you!” Myriad God Patriarch released a sanguine aura as he increased his speed too.

The sanguine aura was strange and sinister. It resembled a blood cloud in the sky as it surged towards Yi Yun.

…

“He should be heavily injured and incomparable to what he was back then…”

After his initial flustered shock, Yi Yun had gradually calmed down. The strength Myriad God Patriarch exuded was much weaker than it was back in the pocket world.

If Yi Yun had encountered the Myriad God Patriarch of that period, the outcome would have been disastrous.

Yi Yun did not know what mystic technique Myriad God Patriarch had used to fool Old Snake, but for Old Snake to think he was dead, the final strike must have been extremely powerful.

Myriad God Patriarch definitely had to pay a tremendous price to escape from death!

Furthermore, Myriad God Patriarch had already been approaching his end. Such a person’s potential had long been expended and his cultivation level was beginning to decline. Once he was heavily injured, it was very likely he could suffer a fall in cultivation realm.

After Old Snake was injured, he lived for tens of millions of years without ever managing to recover from it. Myriad God Patriarch was far inferior to Old Snake so it was impossible for him to recover his peak strength without encountering a huge opportunity.

As for himself, Yi Yun had already broken through to the Supremacy realm. He now had means to defend himself against ordinary Divine Lords.

After such careful analysis, Yi Yun thought that perhaps Myriad God Patriarch was not that terrifying anymore.

Of course, this was only Yi Yun’s analysis. Yi Yun would not dare risk his life to confirm it.

“I have the Purple Crystal to replenish my Yuan Qi and I have the Dragon Emperor Technique to stimulate my vital potential. I refuse to believe I won’t be able to escape your pursuit.”

1382 - : Enemies Often Cross Each Other’s Paths

CKtalon  CKtalon

A blood cloud was far behind Yi Yun, but still engaged in relentless pursuit. Myriad God Patriarch’s perception stuck to Yi Yun constantly like a maggot.

But then, Yi Yun suddenly tore open space and tunneled into it. He was well-versed in spatial dimension laws so traveling short distances through space posed no problems for him.

Once he entered another spatial dimension, Myriad God Patriarch’s lock on him was severed.

It would be absolutely impossible for him to find Yi Yun again in the vast sea of people that milled around the city.

Myriad God Patriarch immediately sensed Yi Yun’s disappearance. He was momentarily surprised but almost immediately, he suffused a cold smile.

Yi Yun had indeed grown in strength extremely quickly. It had caught him by surprise; however, regardless of the methods Yi Yun employed, it was impossible for Yi Yun to escape from him.

Moments later, Yi Yun tore open space and suddenly appeared above a desolate wilderness.

However, Yi Yun immediately felt a jolt in his heart. He could still sense Myriad God Patriarch’s gaze on him despite his tunneling through space and creating a huge distance between them.

“This darn bastard…” The glint in Yi Yun’s dimmed. Myriad God Patriarch had likely used a mystic technique to completely lock onto him.

Even if he were to enter another space, he would still be discovered by Myriad God Patriarch once he came out.

This made tunneling through space lose any meaning. Yi Yun flew rapidly as he headed into the distance.

After a day and night, Yi Yun had already covered an unknown distance. As for Myriad God Patriarch’s aura, it was constantly tailing him from far away.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s speed suddenly began to slow down.

“After expending so much Yuan Qi over such a long period of time, that little bastard must not have much Yuan Qi left,” thought Myriad God Patriarch.

But just as he had such a thought, his expression changed into one of shock.

Yi Yun’s speed shot up abruptly and it was still accelerating. He was even faster than he previously was.

Could it be that Yi Yun had not been giving his all this whole time? Not only that, he should have long used up his Yuan Qi. So how was he able to produce such a surge in speed?

Following that, Yi Yun continued to maintain that high speed.

Myriad God Patriarch became more and more alarmed. Such expenditure of energy would have drained an average Supremacy a long time ago; yet, Yi Yun seemed to have an endless reserve of Yuan Qi.

Slowly, Myriad God Patriarch had no choice but to admit one truth: Yi Yun was great at escaping.

Instead, the pursuit was beginning to take its toll on Myriad God Patriarch. He was about to suffer a relapse from his old injuries, the terrible ones inflicted by Old Snake.

And once he came to even a momentary stop, Yi Yun would fly far into the distance like an arrow.

“How does he do it!?” Myriad God Patriarch’s eyes were cold. Regardless of how good Yi Yun was at escaping, he was determined to not let him off.

He had already locked onto Yi Yun. No matter where Yi Yun hid, he had the means to find him.

And at that moment, in a mountain valley extremely far away, Yi Yun, who was escaping at full speed, suddenly came to a halt.

He stayed inside the valley and all the beasts in the valley prostrated themselves and trembled.

As he breathed, his abdomen sounded like rumbling thunder. His mouth and nose emitted sounds that resembled a dragon’s roar.

As he escaped, Yi Yun had used the Dragon Emperor Technique to stimulate his vital potential. Simultaneously, he had used the Purple Crystal to replenish his Yuan Qi so as to maintain an ultra-endurance. Even Myriad God Patriarch could not keep up with him.

However, Yi Yun knew that Myriad God Patriarch would never give up.

The lock Myriad God Patriarch had planted on him was not going away.

But in fact, while he was fleeing, Yi Yun had already begun searching his body using the Purple Crystal. Finally, he had discovered the method Myriad God Patriarch had used to hone in on his position.

Through a mystic technique, Myriad God Patriarch had planted a concealed mark on him.

Previously, Yi Yun did not have the luxury of time to deal with the mark while escaping. However, he finally had the time now.

Yi Yun sat down in the valley and began refining the mark away.

In the remote valley, dragon roars could be heard from time to time, and True Dragon phantoms would appear to fly in the sky.

At that moment, the recuperating Myriad God Patriarch suddenly opened his eyes. They were filled with anger.

“My mark!” He could sense that his mark was being refined away.

Pa!

The mark was completely erased as Myriad God Patriarch let out a dull grunt. At the same time, he lost track of Yi Yun’s location.

“Damn it!”

His mark had been extremely well hidden. He never expected that Yi Yun would be capable of discovering it and even have the ability to refine it away.

Once he lost track of Yi Yun’s location, it would prove difficult to find Yi Yun again.

He was afraid that Yi Yun would flee further and leave the Martial Numinous continent.

This thought infuriated Myriad God Patriarch to no end. He reached out his hand and struck. The boulder beneath him was immediately pulverized as the ground beneath him sank ten feet. All life within a five-kilometer radius was obliterated.

These living being’s souls, flesh, and blood formed a bloody mist that surged toward Myriad God Patriarch. He opened his mouth and swallowed all the bloody mist into his abdomen. His corpse-like face immediately suffused an abnormal tinge of blood red.

“Yi Yun!”

Myriad God Patriarch roared as a hideous face manifested in the sky. It opened its mouth wide and bellowed as the voice rumbled far into the distance…

…

Sou!

Just as a blood-colored worm leaped up, it was caught by Yi Yun.

He squeezed, and the blood-colored worm immediately let out a tragic cry, transforming into a bloody mist. Amid the bloody mist, Yi Yun even saw Myriad God Patriarch’s furious face.

However, with a flick of Yi Yun’s finger, the bloody mist was burnt to nothingness. The indignant face of Myriad God Patriarch was also burnt away.

Yi Yun had finally escaped Myriad God Patriarch after vanquishing the mark.

“It’s quite impossible to save Wang Mu’s wife now. Apart from Myriad God Patriarch, it’s likely that the Li family is also pursuing me,” thought Yi Yun.

However, it was also impossible for Yi Yun to simply give up the herbal garden.

Inside his God Advent Tower was Wang Mu.

“I was lacking the herbs needed previously, so all I could do was seal off Wang Mu’s vitality. Perhaps, I should seek out the missing herbs to awaken him first.”

Yi Yun muttered to himself.

He stood up and looked in the direction of Martial City.

Be it Myriad God Patriarch or the Li family, the last thing they would imagine is that Yi Yun would dare return to Martial City right after he escaped their pursuit.

Furthermore, Yi Yun was now certain that his judgment of Myriad God Patriarch’s present strength was right after his successful escape.

This also gave Yi Yun a little more confidence.

Yi Yun was in no hurry. He continued meditating in the valley for a few days before standing up when he was restored to his peak state.

He was millions of kilometers away from Martial City. He conjured a spatial mark and tore open a spatial corridor. Following that, Yi Yun’s figure flashed and vanished inside it.

After Yi Yun left, all the beasts in the valley finally dared to resume their normal activities again. It was as though a humanoid True Dragon had come to the valley over the past few days. The disruption of life’s natural order had repressed them into inaction.

1383 - : Refining the Mark

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the largest city of the Martial Numinous clan, Martial City had countless people visiting it on a daily basis. There were more than ten entrances into the city, and all of them were guarded by members of the Li family. However, it had been more than ten days since Yi Yun’s infiltration. The Li family guards no longer had a strict attitude towards their duties.

They were from the high and mighty Martial Numinous clan after all. They were above menial chores like guarding the gates. But now, guarding the gates was exactly what they were doing, and all because of an audacious mortal-born.

When they heard the news, they believed that the mortal-born was already lucky enough to escape. Under such circumstances, was there any point to them guarding of the gates?

Therefore, even when Yi Yun walked right in front of a member of the Li family, all he received was a glance and nothing more.

Martial City was large and Yi Yun had used a different entrance from the previous one he took. After he entered the city, he arrived in another city district.

Yi Yun did not know how Myriad God Patriarch had discovered him. However, after racking his brains, he believed that it was very likely the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Yi Yun sealed the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s aura with the Purple Crystal before his trip into the city. Furthermore, he had the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book. He refused to believe that Myriad God Patriarch would find him this time.

“I’ll purchase the herbs for Wang Mu first.”

The herbs that Yi Yun needed for the concoction of Wang Mu’s medicine were not expensive. However, they were extremely rare. He could only buy them from a medicinal clinic of a certain scale.

He asked on the streets and after learning of a medicinal clinic’s name, he headed for it.

“Rejuvenation Pavilion. It’s apparently quite a good medicinal clinic. It’s also a little related to the Heaven Refinement Pavilion.” Yi Yun stood by the door and took a glance before walking in.

The Rejuvenation Pavilion was a lot smaller than the Heaven Refinement Pavilion. There were only two attendants and one man that looked like a store manager behind the counter.

Yi Yun headed straight for the counter and placed a list on it. “I want to purchase these herbs.”

The manager first took a glance at the list before he slowly looked up. He was taken aback when he did so.

“It’s you?”

Yi Yun recognized the manager too. He was the thin middle-aged alchemist he had encountered back at the Heaven Refinement Pavilion.

Back then, Yi Yun’s appearance had not been seen by anyone from the Li family. Nor did the Li family know that the mortal-born that had failed to buy the herbs was really a disguised Yi Yun. Therefore, Yi Yun continued using that same disguise. But he never expected to encounter the thin alchemist again.

It was no wonder the people who told him about the Rejuvenation Pavilion said that it was related to the Heaven Refinement Pavilion. It was actually run by the thin alchemist.

He was only an ordinary alchemist in the Heaven Refinement Pavilion but was able to open another medicinal clinic in the city under the endorsement of the Heaven Refinement Pavilion and the Martial Numinous clan.

The thin alchemist gave the list in his hand an amused look before he stared back at Yi Yun. He had a derisive smile on his face.

“What did I say last time? That you would soon realize the Martial Numinous clan reigns supreme in Martial City. As long as you wish to buy herbs, anything precious will need to go through the Martial Numinous clan.”

“Hehehehe, we meet once again. How about it? Are you going to sign the contract to serve my clan or…”

The thin alchemist raised his head as though he was looking at Yi Yun through his nostrils. He naturally felt delighted that he so quickly gained an opportunity to smack Yi Yun in the face.

Yi Yun knitted his brows slightly. “I have no interest in signing a contract! I just want all the pills and herbs on this list.”

“Heh heh.” The alchemist sneered as he slowly twirled his thin mustache. “You should really be willing to sacrifice something after having refused someone’s first overture. If you want to buy the herbs, sure! The herbs you want to buy, especially the Autumn Pine, can only be found here or at the Heaven Refinement Pavilion. I won’t beat around the bush. These things will cost you a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus. Hand it over!”

With that said, the middle-aged alchemist leaned back as he smiled at Yi Yun.

From his point of view, a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus was an extremely precious item. Even Martial Numinous alchemists did not have one, let alone mortal-borns.

He did not care if he made the sale or not. All he did, he did to entertain himself with Yi Yun.

Although he could not identify the medicine Yi Yun wanted to create from the listed herbs, Autumn Pine was used to heal injuries. That meant that he needed to save a life and it was not something that could be delayed. He wanted to watch Yi Yun sweat as he faced this dilemma.

“A Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus?” Yi Yun sneered. The herbs were not even worth a tenth of a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus.

“What? Can’t you afford it? If you can’t, scram. Don’t hold me up from running my business,” said the middle-aged alchemist as he flapped his fan.

At that moment, his words came to a sudden halt as though his neck was being clasped. He was also staring with widened eyes.

A Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus had been thrown onto his counter.

The middle-aged alchemist looked at Yi Yun in astonishment. He never imagined that Yi Yun would actually produce one.

“Here’s the money. I want the herbs,” said Yi Yun coldly. There was no way he was forgetting the alchemist.

The way the middle-aged alchemist looked at Yi Yun changed. He originally believed that Yi Yun was a pauper but now, the look he gave Yi Yun was a little strange.

The punk was truly extravagant to use a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus to purchase such cheap herbs.

He did not believe that Yi Yun was a retard who would buy cheap goods at a hugely inflated price. It meant that the Autumn Pine was extremely important to Yi Yun. He really was using it to save a life.

A thought came to him and he added, “When I said one Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus, it was only the total price of the list of herbs. However, there is tax as well. We need to pay our taxes to the Martial Numinous clan for every sale made. You are also responsible for the tax. Add on another fifty million mid-grade Spirit Jade.”

The middle-aged alchemist grinned as he stretched his hand out. He was certain that Yi Yun was wealthy and in desperate need of the Autumn Pine. It would be going easy on Yi Yun if he did not fully take the chance to rip him off.

The glint in Yi Yun’s eyes dimmed. He took out five interspatial rings and placed them neatly on the counter. “Here’s the fifty million.”

Yi Yun did not want trouble while Myriad God Patriarch was inside Martial City. However, the alchemist’s actions had tried the limits of his patience.

“Hehe, you really do have it.” The middle-aged alchemist looked at Yi Yun like he was a fat lamb for the slaughter. He stroked his chin and silently sent a mental imprint to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun instantly noticed it. It was a tracing mark!

He did not react to it and feigned ignorance.

“Go, get the herbs he wants,” instructed the middle-aged alchemist.

Soon, Yi Yun was given a few bags of herbs.

After receiving the herbs, Yi Yun did not even give the alchemist a second look. He walked straight out of Rejuvenation Pavilion.

With the herbs in hand, Yi Yun left Martial City immediately and acted warily.

He quickly reached a desolate land that was five hundred kilometers away from Martial City. Yi Yun came to a sudden halt when he arrived.

He sneered and leisurely turned his head back. A few figures suddenly appeared behind him.

There were five people, with four of them having eighth or ninth-storey Dao Palaces. The last one was a half-step Supremacy.

“You sold me the herbs at ridiculously high price and now even have thoughts of robbing me. Your avarice really knows no bounds.”

The middle-aged alchemist who had fleeced Yi Yun was among the five. The others were unfamiliar faces.

The middle-aged alchemist roared with laughter. “It looks like you aren’t that dumb after all. However, you caught on too late. How dare a mortal-born like you offend me? I’ll let you know what happens to those who offend the Martial Numinous clan today!”

“You are robbing your customer in broad daylight. It’s true that the rules of Martial City only exist in name,” said Yi Yun as he shook his head.

“Rules? Those rules are meant for you mortal-borns. The death of a mortal-born means nothing here. Even if someone were to get suspicious, they would not investigate me,” said the middle-aged alchemist disdainfully.

In fact, it wasn’t often that he had such thoughts. He was only tempted because of Yi Yun’s wealth. Yi Yun was able to produce a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus and fifty million mid-grade Spirit Jade without blinking. How rich was he?

He naturally could not hold back when faced with such immense wealth.

At that moment, Yi Yun revealed a faint sinister smile. “Do you know why it took me until now to discover all of you?”

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s reaction, the middle-aged alchemist felt something amiss. Similarly, a man from the Martial Numinous clan he had brought to aid him said impatiently, “Why are we letting a person that is about to die speak so much?”

“Attack!”

Instantly, all them charged toward Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s eyes flickered with killing intent. He extended his hand and touched his interspatial ring. His voice also sounded: “It’s because I felt that this place is most suitable for killing when I passed by it.”

Chi!

A dazzling cold glint beam lit up from Yi Yun’s hand. The frost beam streaked across space and appeared suddenly before vanishing the next instant.

After the cold beam flashed, the first person that charged at Yi Yun seemed to be frozen in place.

A shallow sword mark appeared at his throat.

“Puah!”

Blood gushed out, blasting his head off.

“What!?”

The middle-aged alchemist was alarmed. The person that had just died was an eighth-storey Dao Palace warrior. Yet, he had been killed by instantly Yi Yun!?

Immediately following that, a few heads suddenly flew in different directions, splattering blood everywhere.

Puah Puah Puah!

Everyone he had brought with him had been instantly killed by Yi Yun. Even the half-step Supremacy was no exception. All he managed to do was react. He moved to block Yi Yun’s strike but before he could even complete his parry, his head and body were already separated.

Just like stepping a cockroach to death was equivalent to stepping an ant to death, killing the Dao Palaces and the Supremacy were no different to Yi Yun.

The middle-aged alchemist stood rooted to his spot. His entire body turned ice cold as he found himself among four fresh corpses.

The four people had been instantly killed by Yi Yun…

Yi Yun’s strength was even higher than an ordinary Supremacy’s.

“How… How can you!” The middle-aged man felt suffocated. He could clearly sense that Yi Yun was very young. How did he have such ridiculous strength?

“Don’t kill me… I’m an alchemist. I can refine pills for you. Besides, I’m a nephew of the Martial Numinous clan’s Elder Bai… I’ll return your Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus…” The middle-aged alchemist stuttered.

Before his voice faded, Yi Yun had suddenly appeared in front of him. He raised his hand as the sword plunged.

“Swish!”

The blade cleaved down and instantly, the middle-aged alchemist’s indignant and terrified look froze.

1384 - : Greed

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun retrieved the middle-aged alchemist’s interspatial ring as well as the interspatial rings of the others.

Inside the middle-aged alchemist’s interspatial ring was a quite sizable number of Spirit Jade, various herbs, and his Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus.

“I guess he returned my Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus and fifty million Spirit Jade to me after all. In a way, I got this Autumn Pine as a free bonus too.” The corner of Yi Yun’s mouth suffused a smile.

In fact, even if the middle-aged alchemist had not robbed him, Yi Yun had planned on settling scores with him later in the night. It was not that easy to fleece him after all.

However, the middle-aged alchemist’s avarice knew no bounds. He had actually planted a tracing mark on him and followed Yi Yun into the jaws of death. He ended up saving Yi Yun some time. What a thoughtful guy.

“With this, all the herbs have been gathered. I’ll first refine the herbs for Wang Mu,” thought Yi Yun. He gave the corpses that were strewn around a look before he flew up. In a blink of an eye, he vanished.

These people had set off to commit a sordid act of robbery. They had covered their tracks and, in an ironic twist, actually helped Yi Yun by keeping everything a secret. There was no need for Yi Yun to fret over this matter.

Yi Yun landed in a valley and set up a concealment array. Following that, he took out an alchemical cauldron and began refining the herbs.

It was not difficult to refine the cauldron of pills. Yi Yun calmed his mind and took out the herbs one after the other. He extracted the essence of each one with the Purple Crystal and placed them inside the cauldron.

When it came to alchemy, Yi Yun’s attainments had long reached that of a master. With him doing the refinement personally, the cauldron of pills was soon refined perfectly.

…

At that moment in the Martial City Li household.

The entire Li household seemed to be shrouded in a dark cloud after Yi Yun’s successful infiltration. Worst of all, he had escaped safely. All of the guards and female attendants acted cautiously, afraid that they would take the brunt of Li Jiuxiao’s wrath.

“Grand Elder, Young Master Yunshang has invited you over.” A female attendant carefully came forward and reported the matter.

“Oh? Yunshang? What’s the matter?” Li Jiuxiao’s expression was gloomy. His nephew was the only person who he had any thoughts of entertaining at the moment.

After learning of Yi Yun’s escape, Li Yunshang was still able to look totally calm and collected. Li Jiuxiao was completely unable to read the thoughts of his nephew.

Li Jiuxiao went to Li Yunshang’s yard and asked, “Yunshang, what’s the urgent matter? I cannot rest until I get some news of that mortal-born.”

“Uncle, why are you so bothered by a mere pest?” Li Yunshang gave a confident smile as he said indifferently, “Compared to that pest, don’t we have more important matters to tend to?”

Li Jiuxiao was taken aback. He originally believed that Li Yunshang had some news concerning Yi Yun but now he asked in pleasant surprise, “Yunshang, could it be…”

However, he immediately shook his head. “That’s not right. The Mind Loss Gu was only planted in that woman recently. We are still unable to fully control her mind. But will she at least cooperate?”

“It’s true that it hasn’t been long since the Mind Loss Gu was planted but I did some slight application of my other methods. I previously thought of slowly bringing her under my control to be a sex slave but after everything that has happened, it’s best I kill the golden goose to prevent any trouble that a delay might bring.”

“That’s right. That pest has Wang Mu’s family with him. Who knows what he might learn from Wang Mu,” said Li Jiuxiao with a nod.

The corner of Li Yunshang’s mouth curled up as he said, “Uncle, rest assured. Wang Mu has been poisoned for such a long period of time. Even if you, an expert alchemist, were to make something for him, there’s no way he can regain consciousness, much less that mortal-born.”

“I think it’s about time. Uncle, follow me,” said Li Yunshang.

Li Jiuxiao and Li Yunshang came to a secret chamber together. Just as they reached the entrance, they heard a woman’s cursing screams.

“Be honest! It is your honor that Young Master has something to ask of you. How dare you defy him!”

Pa!

They heard a sharp slapping sound and at the same time, there was a dull grunt from another woman.

Li Yunshang pushed open the door and entered. A demure and beautiful woman was hung on the wall and his seductive female attendant no longer looked like her usual submissive self. She was glaring fiercely at Wang Mu’s wife, Yuan Ling.

There was a clear palm print on Yuan Ling’s pale face. Blood was seeping out from the corner of her mouth as well. Her eyes looked glazed over but she continued biting down on her lips to the point of making them bleed.

“I…I…”

Li Jiuxiao swept his gaze across Yuan Ling and immediately, the corner of his eyes twitched.

A few long golden needles were stabbed into Yuan Ling’s head and temples. On the other end of the needles, the female attendant had released Yuan Qi from her fingers to connect herself to them. With every movement the female attendant made, the golden needles would prick at Yuan Ling’s soul. The pain was unimaginable.

This was the “slight application of other means” Li Yunshang had mentioned… It was truly quite a ruthless one.

“Yuan Ling, you really are asking for it. If you had cooperated with us in the first place, would this have happened?” Li Yunshang came before Yuan Ling and said calmly.

“Is she still refusing to speak?” Li Yunshang asked without turning his head.

The female attendant immediately said reverentially, “She hasn’t said anything.”

“There’s fine,” replied Li Yunshang. “Yuan Ling, your husband is already dead. I originally agreed to not touch your daughter but with you being so uncooperative, I will just have to change my mind.”

Yuan Ling’s unfocused eyes immediately widened. “You… Xiaoxiao…”

She revealed a look of disbelief. Xiaoxiao was only an ordinary child; yet, Li Yunshang had no intention of sparing her…

Also, Wang Mu had passed away…

Grief overwhelmed Yuan Ling and she could not stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks.

“With your current status, you should have long known that it’s impossible to resist my Li family.”

A sinister smile suffused Li Yunshang’s lips. A black worm suddenly crawled out of his hand. It looked hideous and it effused a strange aura.

“Your soul is already extremely weak. If I were to accelerate the Mind Loss Gu’s maturation, what do you think will happen to you? Speaking of which, here’s an interesting fact. This pair of Mind Loss Gu is a couple. They are intricately connected by love. If one of them is tortured, the other would immediately squirm around in your body. It’s just like your Wang Mu, isn’t that so? So it’s perfect. You can experience the suffering of these two Gu.”

As Li Yunshang spoke, Yuan Qi arose in his hand. The black worm immediately crawled around in his palm in pain. At the same time, it opened its mouth.

A sharp scream penetrated Yuan Ling’s ears immediately. At the same time, a similar scream sounded in Yuan Ling’s body.

Yuan Ling’s body convulsed as blood immediately spewed out from her mouth and nostrils. Her gaze turned turbid once again.

“Unfortunately, this eats away at her lifespan. Her soul has been heavily injured as well. If this goes on for long, she will even become mentally disabled,” said Li Yunshang wistfully.

Yuan Ling was a good candidate for a sex slave. However, she had already been maimed. It was still possible to treat her if a huge price was paid but there was no reason for Li Yunshang to spend so much time and effort on a mere sex slave.

Upon hearing Li Yunshang’s words, even Li Jiuxiao felt a chill down his back.

His nephew was indeed extremely vicious. He was willing to do such nasty acts even to a woman he fancied.

However, compared to the ancient herbal garden, how could Li Jiuxiao be concerned with Wang Mu and Yuan Ling’s outcome? He asked anxiously, “With this woman in this state, does it mean that it won’t take long for her to reveal the location of the ancient herbal garden?”

“Of course. The time will come soon, so we need to make the preparations to head for the ancient herbal garden.” Li Yunshang gave a faint smile.

Heading to the ancient herbal garden was an important matter to the Li family. Furthermore, it had to be kept a secret. The Martial Numinous clan was not to learn of it.

“Alright!” Li Jiuxiao smiled with his hands clasped. Compared to the ancient herbal garden, Yi Yun was nothing. As long as he obtained the herbs in the herbal garden, he could raise his strength and, when the time came, produce more offspring.

As for Yi Yun, there was no way he could escape the Li family while in the Martial Numinous continent.

…

A day later, Yi Yun’s pills were finally completed.

With the pills in hand, Yi Yun entered the God Advent Tower.

Thanks to the concealment array formation, as well as the area being a remote mountain, Yi Yun was not afraid that the God Advent Tower would be discovered.

“What? Young Master, you have already refined the pills for my son? That…” Old Man Wang could hardly express his excitement when he heard Yi Yun.

In fact, he had not placed much hope on Yi Yun’s attempt to treat Wang Mu.

He did not dare get his hopes extravagantly high considering how Yi Yun had already helped them.

So Yi Yun caught him by surprise by having finished refining the pills. It left tears welling in Old Man Wang’s eyes.

“Young Master, I will never forget your kindness! I wish there will come a day when I can repay you.” Xiaoxiao gave a kowtow and said extremely solemnly. She had already begun practicing martial arts according to the cultivation techniques Yi Yun had given her. With her excellent talent, she had already grasped the basics. She was now a true warrior.

Yi Yun got Qing’er to help her up as he said, “Xiaoxiao, there’s no need to thank me. My attempts to save your father as well as rescue your mother were all for myself.”

Yi Yun did not say anything fanciful or heroic. He did plan on saving Wang Mu but now, after encountering Myriad God Patriarch, he had to weigh the odds of the huge risks that lay ahead. He was not a saint that would sacrifice himself to save others.

“Wang Mu has been poisoned for too long. He might not regain consciousness despite consuming this pill.”

Young Master, don’t worry. My son is already on his deathbed. If there’s even a sliver of hope, it’s better than nothing. Young Master, please do whatever you need to do,” said Old Man Wang.

Yi Yun nodded before he entered Wang Mu’s room.

Wang Mu looked the same as before. He was unconscious but his breathing had gotten even weaker.

In just over ten days, his flames of vitality had weakened greatly.

If he were still lying in bed at home, it would probably take another month for him to perish.

“You encountered me and I need the herbal garden you found. I guess there is fate between us. I’ll save you this time,” said Yi Yun. He extended his arm and guided an entirely green pill that was as beautiful as jade to fly out from the alchemical cauldron. A faint fragrance immediately permeated the room.

“Go!” Yi Yun moved his fingers as the pill flew to the side of Wang Mu’s mouth. An extremely pure green stream began surging into Wang Mu’s oral cavity.

The medicinal essence instantly melted in Wang Mu’s mouth before surging through his body.

1385 - : Saving Wang Mu

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun could clearly sense the toxins in Wang Mu’s body being purged by the medicinal essence.

Wang Mu’s body began to tremble gently. His dormant meridians were reacting to the newfound vitality.

But at that moment, the medicinal essence encountered an obstruction. It caused Yi Yun to frown slightly.

Wang Mu had been inflicted with this poison for too long. His meridians were well immersed in the toxic elements. After the medicinal essence surged in, it encountered various obstacles and was prevented from entering into Wang Mu’s critical acupuncture points.

However, Yi Yun had accounted for this.

“Let me help you.”

Two wisps of Yuan Qi manifested as flames in Yi Yun’s palms. He gave Wang Mu a glance before injecting the two fire wisps into Wang Mu’s dantian.

The moment they entered Wang Mu’s dantian, they began to burn vigorously.

Wang Mu produced a subconscious grunt as his body began to convulse violently.

Having his dantian burned was excruciatingly painful. However, this burning process sped up the medicinal essence’s flow. It also eviscerated the toxins at the same time.

Although his dantian was being burned, it was unharmed thanks to the continual nourishment from the medicinal essence. Furthermore, Yi Yun’s control of the flames was extremely precise.

Wang Mu’s grunt could be heard from outside. Old Man Wang and company turned anxious. However, they could only wait since Old Man Wang remained silent. Xiaoxiao bit down on her lips and looked at the door with immense anticipation and trust in Yi Yun.

Slowly, all the toxins in Wang Mu’s body were burned out of his meridians. They were cleansed once again by the medicinal essence, causing his ghastly pale face to take on a more ruddy complexion.

This process took a day and a night. It was only the next morning when Wang Mu slowly opened his eyes.

He had been unconscious for very long. He looked at Yi Yun in a daze. “You are…”

His mind wasn’t clear after being unconscious for so long.

“It’s good that you are awake. I still have many things to ask you but they can be temporarily put aside,” said Yi Yun.

He opened the door and looked at the waiting family members.

“Go on in. He’s awake,” said Yi Yun.

“That…is great!”

Old Man Wang was burning with excitement. Xiaoxiao could not help but tear up.

Yi Yun left the room. The family definitely had much to talk about so he did not plan on disturbing them.

Xiaoxiao walked out of the room an hour later. She bowed reverently at Yi Yun and said, “Young Master, my father wishes to meet you.”

With Yi Yun successfully reviving her father, Xiaoxiao already treated him as a person she looked up more than anyone.

When Yi Yun entered the room, Wang Mu struggled to get up. “Benefactor, thank you very…”

“Dispense with the formalities. Just lie down,” said Yi Yun.

Wang Mu shook his head. He persisted as he stood weakly from the bed as he gave a solemn kowtow.

He had already learned of everything that happened from Old Man Wang and Qing’er.

“They have planted a Mind Loss Gu in your wife, but her life should not be at risk for now.” Yi Yun spoke plainly and told Wang Mu all he knew about his wife.

Wang Mu’s eyes suffused sadness and anger. “Darn the Li family! They take advantage of their power to bully others, especially us mortal-borns who have no means to resist. They treat my wife and I like ants.”

As a result, he was even more fascinated by Yi Yun. It showed in his eyes. As a victim of the Li family, he knew how powerful the Li family and the Martial Numinous clan were. Yet, Yi Yun had infiltrated the Li family and found his wife.

Although Yi Yun had failed to save his wife, Wang Mu knew that his wife was still alive at the very least.

And now, not only did the Li family fail to capture Yi Yun, Yi Yun had even managed to return to Martial City and buy herbs safely.

It was the couple’s good luck that they had encountered Yi Yun. He was destined to be a person of paramount importance in their lives.

As for what Yi Yun wanted to ask, Wang Mu had already guessed it.

“Benefactor, you saved my life. I have no problem giving the herbal garden to you. My wife and I are not fated to possess the herbal garden, but neither should the Li family benefit from it,” said Wang Mu sincerely.

“Although the location of the herbal garden is a secret, knowing its location alone isn’t enough. Perhaps that is the reason why Li Yunshang planted a Mind Loss Gu in my wife. He must know that simply knowing the location is insufficient to find the herbal garden.”

“Locating the herbal garden requires a specific time and special method. My wife and I were lucky and first entered the herbal garden out of sheer coincidence,” explained Wang Mu.

Such a coincidence would usually be considered an opportunity but they never expected it to end up being a calamity that plagued them. When Wang Mu mentioned it, he turned depressed.

“I see…” Yi Yun nodded. In that case, it was true that the Li family would not be able to find the ancient herbal garden if Wang Mu’s wife did not reveal the truth.

“Don’t worry. I will try my best to rescue your wife but I dare not give you any guarantees. I encountered an old enemy of mine in the Li household and I’m not his match. However, that enemy is just treating his injuries in the Li household. I doubt he will stay there forever. If anything untoward happens to Yuan Ling, I’ll avenge you,” promised Yi Yun.

All he could do was try his best to save Yuan Ling. If his strength increased once again and he was able to find a way to prevent Myriad God Patriarch from discovering him by concealing his aura, there was an opportunity he could take advantage of.

“Thank you, Young Master!” Wang Mu kowtowed solemnly once again.

He was incapable of fighting the Li family. Wang Mu saw hope when Yi Yun gave him his word.

“Based on my calculations, the herbal garden will open twenty days from now when both the hour and quarter-hour are Yin aligned. Young Master Yi, this matter should not be delayed. Set off immediately. As for the other details of the ancient herbal garden, I’ll tell you everything,” said Wang Mu.

“Alright!”

An hour later, a beam of light shot out from the valley and streaked rapidly into the distance. In a blink of an eye, it had vanished beyond the horizons.

The Martial Numinous continent was vast and its terrain was complex. There were lofty mountain ranges as well as gigantic plains that extended for millions of kilometers.

Sou!

A beam of light streaked across a cliff before arriving at an inland sea.

The inland sea was tumultuous, with raging winds and choppy waves. The seawater suffused a deep black color. No birds dared fly over it. One could vaguely sense the bloodlust aura in it. It was unknown if it was a land of peril or if formidable beasts lurked in the sea.

The beam descended suddenly before transforming into Yi Yun. He stood on a cliff by the inland sea. He studied it in amazement.

“The ancient herbal garden is actually here. It’s truly unexpected,” said Yi Yun wistfully.

According to Wang Mu, he and his wife had entered the inland sea by accident before they discovered the herbal garden.

If this were any other time, people would leave if they came across the inland sea. No one would stay in a place like this.

The person who left behind the ancient herbal garden was unknown. In the long rivers of history, such a figure must have been illustrious but failed to reach the pinnacle of his craft. Therefore, the figure eventually was reduced to nothingness, leaving the herbal garden ownerless.

1386 - : Ancient Herbal Garden

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The herbal garden will appear at the specified time. There’s only a short window for entry. If I miss it, I will not be able to enter the herbal garden.” Yi Yun recalled the information Wang Mu had given him.

The opening of the herbal garden would happen shortly.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s heart suddenly stirred as he looked into the distance.

He sensed a Yuan Qi fluctuation heading in his direction.

Yi Yun’s eyes glimmered as he distorted the surrounding space, causing him to vanish from his spot.

Soon, a spirit ship descended from the sky and landed by the coast of the inland sea.

A group of people alighted the ship in an orderly manner. There were more than ten people.

Leading them was a middle-aged man and a scholarly-looking youth. The middle-aged man looked at the inland sea with eyes that burned with excitement. “The herbal garden is here!”

The youth also suffused a faint smile. A look of greed flickered in his eyes. “That’s right, this place looks just as that woman said.”

The duo was none other than Li Yunshang and Li Jiuxiao.

They were accompanied by many elites from the Li family.

They had come to the herbal garden fully prepared. All they needed to do was wait for the herbal garden to open.

“No matter how stubborn that woman was, she had no choice but to tell all eventually. Yunshang, the methods at your disposal are indeed impressive,” praised Li Jiuxiao. He was indeed very awed by Li Yunshang’s methods.

Li Yunshang smiled. “I wasn’t intending to use such overly intense methods previously. If I really wanted her to speak, she would lose the right to choose. However, that woman did give me a pleasant surprise. Her soul was only somewhat damaged and she did not become mentally disabled. I can still have her as a sex slave.”

“You truly make the best use of everything,” said Li Jiuxiao with a smiling nod. Now that the herbal garden was nearly in his grasps, he did not care about Li Yunshang’s sinister character. Obtaining supreme-grade spirit herbs was of paramount importance.

Due to the appearance of the Li family, Yi Yun had silently hidden far away to keep himself concealed.

However, his soul was powerful. Furthermore, the duo had spoken without any restraint, so Yi Yun easily heard their conversation.

“To objectify a living person in such a manner, it truly shows how great the Martial Numinous clan’s sense of superiority is when it comes to mortal-borns.” Yi Yun looked coldly at them.

Although it appeared that they heavily tortured Yuan Ling, her life was not in danger at the very least. The damage to her soul could still be treated with pills.

He sat there cross-legged as he mediated silently, waiting for the opening of the herbal garden.

Li Jiuxiao, Li Yunshang, and their entourage waited by the spirit boat.

The inland sea was extremely remote. They were not worried that others would chance upon them.

Even if anyone was foolish enough to come, they could simply kill them.

Time passed.

At that moment, Li Yunshang’s eyes beamed as he looked at the inland sea. “It’s time.”

A crescent was hanging in the sky as mild moonlight scattered on the dark sea surface. It exuded quite a sinister feel.

“The hour and quarter-hour are Yin-aligned.” Yi Yun slowly opened his eyes from his meditation.

Yi Yun was curious. He didn’t know by what method the ancient senior had planted the ancient herbal garden in the inland sea.

He watched without blinking, afraid of missing even a single detail.

Moonlight flickered across the surface of the sea and, at that moment, the sea suddenly churned as though something massive was about to appear.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Amid the tumultuous waves, the sea water surged up like a fountain, as tall as a towering hill before it broke and cascaded to the sides.

A gigantic turtle appeared from the sea. To be more precise, the creature had a dragon’s head on a turtle’s body. It had large eyes and a terrifying aura.

“That’s a… Hornless Dragon Turtle!” Yi Yun recognized it. They were legendary existences. He never expected that a Hornless Dragon Turtle would live in a remote inland sea of the Martial Numinous continent.

Legend said that Hornless Dragon Turtles exuded thick Yin auras that represented death itself. It was a tradition in certain places to set up mausoleums with Hornless Dragon Turtles designs.

And the moment the hour and quarter-hour became Yin aligned was when Yin aura became thickest. The Hornless Dragon Turtle would surface from the depths of the sea to absorb the lunar essence.

At that moment, Yi Yun noticed a rock on the Hornless Dragon Turtle’s back.

As the turtle raised its head to absorb the lunar essence, the rock on its back lit up. Runic patterns began flashing on it.

“That is…” A glimmer flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes.

The rock contained spatial dimension laws, as well as an ancient aura.

According to Wang Mu, that was the entrance to the herbal garden!

The rock was a World Stone, one that sealed the spatial node leading to the herbal garden.

Perhaps, the ancient senior had placed the herbal garden here but had never expected a Hornless Dragon Turtle to appear later in time. Furthermore, the turtle might have been attracted by the herbal fragrance that the rock effused.

It was unable to enter the herbal garden but it was unwilling to give it up. Therefore, it carried the herbal garden World Stone on its back.

By a stroke of luck, the key to entering the ancient herbal garden became the moment when the turtle surfaced to absorb lunar essence. It lived in the deep sea depths perennially, so it was not something people would come across often. Furthermore, the time it took to absorb lunar essence was extremely short. So unless one chanced upon it or happened to know the exact time and location, there was no way for one to discover the herbal garden.

Meanwhile, Li Jiuxiao and Li Yunshang had also discovered the rock.

“It was no wonder that woman said that we aren’t too far from opening the herbal garden once we see the gigantic turtle,” said Li Yunshang.

Li Jiuxiao turned his head and said to the Li family elites, “Everyone, be prepared. The herbal garden is only open for a very short period of time. We must not miss it.”

“Wu Wu Wu…”

The turtle let out a strange, deep bellow. It sounded like countless people wailing. Furthermore, most of the lunar essence was being projected down by the crescent like a cascading waterfall from the skies. The turtle turned its gaping mouth to devour it.

As the turtle consumed large amounts of lunar essence, the rock on its back became brighter. Suddenly, a rift opened.

The rift that opened was the mark of a spatial node’s appearance. However, the spatial node had yet been fully opened. The rift had only just appeared and it was very unstable.

The moment the rift opened, a herbal fragrance was immediately emitted. The turtle instantly turned its head and took in deep breaths as though it was intoxicated by the fragrance.

Upon seeing this scene, Li Jiuxiao clasped his palms and said, “It’s open! Be prepared! The spatial node will quickly stabilize. Once that happens, all of us will enter together!”

The ancient herbal garden’s entrance had yet to be fully opened. Only a rift had appeared, but the rich herbal fragrance they smelled was sufficient proof that there were great things in there!

“We can finally enter this ancient herbal garden. Wang Mu really doesn’t deserve such a good place. Thankfully, we finally got it.” No matter how composed Li Yunshang normally was, he could not help but reveal his look of excited anticipation.

But at that moment, a figure charged out from a rock on the coast straight for the Hornless Dragon Turtle like a sudden clap of thunder which left no time for one to cover one’s ears!

“What!?”

“Who is it!?”

Li Jiuxiao and Li Yunshang had drastic changes in expression!

“It’s that pest!”

At that moment, there was no need for Li Yunshang to guess at the identity of the person.

There was no other person that would come to the inland sea at the same time as them other than the person that infiltrated the Li household!

He never expected that Yi Yun’s rescue of Wang Mu had really become a curse in his Li family!

Meanwhile, the spatial node still had yet to fully open.

Yi Yun slashed out with a sword, causing another dazzling lunar beam to seemingly appear in the night sky. Although the spatial node had yet to fully open, he had forced his way in.

It would be too late for him to attempt entry when the spatial node was fully open.

“How dare you!?”

Li Jiuxiao bellowed furiously as he charged forward and punched out from a distance. The winds from the punch surged at Yi Yun like lightning.

Dang!

Yi Yun turned back and parried the blast with his sword flash, causing a thunder-like explosion.

And during the explosion, Yi Yun’s laughter was heard: “I’m Yi Yun. I’ll show my respects by entering first.”

Yi Yun knew that Myriad God Patriarch had definitely told the Li people all about him. Therefore, he did not care about shouting his true name.

“He actually managed to block it!” Li Jiuxiao found it unbelievable.

He sensed that Yi Yun was only at the beginning stages of the Supremacy realm; yet, he was able to withstand his punch!

When the Yuan Qi fluctuation vanished, Yi Yun’s figure had already disappeared into the spatial node.

“Darn it!” Li Jiuxiao’s face flushed red with anger. Yi Yun had killed his son, infiltrated his Li household, and had beat him to entering the ancient herbal garden right in front of him!

Li Yunshang had a grim expression as well. He never thought much about the pest and had even guaranteed Li Jiuxiao that there was no way Yi Yun could treat the poison he had given Wang Mu. He never expected Yi Yun to actually succeed.

At that moment, the Hornless Dragon Turtle suddenly let out an infuriated bellow.

It had been alarmed by Li Jiuxiao and Yi Yun’s clashed.

It treated the ancient herbal garden as its own. It was naturally incensed when it discovered that others were coveting its possession.

Li Jiuxiao and company knew this as well. They had planned on waiting for the perfect moment to sneak in. However, their plans had been ruined by Yi Yun.

The turtle had already looked in the direction of the explosion. Its cold eyes locked onto Li Jiuxiao and company.

“Darn it!” Li Jiuxiao cursed out angrily once again. His ears were still ringing with Yi Yun’s laughter before he entered. “Yi Yun! My Li family will obliterate you and grind your bones so that you will be doomed for all eternity!”

“Uncle, let’s resolve the situation ahead of us first.” Li Yunshang said in a deep voice. How could an Ancient Fey that had been absorbing the world’s essence for numerous years be easy to deal with?

“Roar!”

The turtle suddenly roared angrily towards the sky. Its massive body moved and immediately displaced water, causing a water wall to surge up. It came crashing down at Li Jiuxiao and company.

Li Yunshang’s expression changed. He released his Yuan Qi from his palms as a gigantic Yuan Qi barrier appeared.

Simultaneously, he felt that something was suddenly amiss.

“Be careful!”

Boom!

A ghastly claw struck out from the water wall. Its massive strength instantly shattered the Yuan Qi barrier, and it continued its trajectory towards Li Yunshang and company.

Li Jiuxiao and Li Yunshang hurriedly raised their hands to block. However, Li Yunshang was too weak. With a grunt, his body was sent flying backward like a leaf in the wind while he spewed out large mouthfuls of blood.

Although Li Jiuxiao barely managed to withstand the strike, the seawater that blotted out the sky could no longer be repelled. Instantly, the water drenched Li Jiuxiao and company.

The drenched Li Yunshang had a contorted expression. They had to escape as quickly as possible!

1387 - : Hornless Dragon Turtle

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Hornless Dragon Turtle was further infuriated when it missed its strike. It released a deafening roar, causing the sea’s surface to churn chaotically in response.

It could see the greedy and coveting looks in the people’s eyes, and for that it wanted to smack all of them to death.

The turtle’s roar dealt soul damage as well. It caused the minds of anyone who heard it to buzz. To them it was as though countless ghosts were wailing.

In a blink of an eye, the Li family that came to this place feeling ambitious was retreating under the turtle’s attacks. They fought it off as they fled.

“This darn beast. It’s really mad!” Li Jiuxiao felt like vomiting blood. First it was Yi Yun, and now it was the Hornless Dragon Turtle!

It was Yi Yun who had provoked the Hornless Dragon Turtle but they were the ones being targeted by the beast’s furious and relentless assault. It felt like a great injustice.

Worst of all, the beast was ridiculously strong. It had been cultivating since time immemorial. People like Li Yunshang were no match for it at all. Only Li Jiuxiao was barely able to resist it.

And at that moment, they began to suffer casualties. A Li family member failed to dodge in time and was scraped by the sides of the turtle’s claw. Immediately, he was reduced to a blood mist, without leaving even a corpse. He didn’t even get to scream a final scream.

Upon seeing this scene, the elites from the Li family felt a chill down their back.

At that moment, the World Stone on the turtle’s back produced grinding noises as a large rift opened.

An even richer herbal fragrance spewed out from within, inundating their olfactory senses.

The herbal garden was fully opened!

Hiding in the back, Li Yunshang’s eyes flashed. He instantly shouted, “Uncle! Don’t be caught up with that beast. Think of a way to enter the herbal garden. If not, it will be too late!”

“Alright!” Li Jiuxiao looked grimly at the turtle. After a formidable strike of his palm, he quickly retreated before pulling out a whip from his interspatial ring.

The whip produced whistling sounds as Li Jiuxiao lashed it around. The surrounding space seemed to tear apart.

“This is the God Vanquish Whip. I’ll let you have a taste of it today!”

Li Jiuxiao roared as he lashed out with his whip.

The whip produced a sharp sound as it tore through the air. It ripped a terrifying rift in midair as it struck the turtle.

As for the turtle, it let out a resounding bellow in anger. It thrashed, displacing more seawater and causing all the seawater in the inland sea to twirl upwards, blocking out the entire sky. For a moment, the entire night sky seemed to be an inverted ocean before it slammed down at Li Jiuxiao and company.

With a loud boom, the whip collided with the ocean.

Just the terrifying Yuan Qi shock itself caused the Li family’s elites, including Li Yunshang, to bleed from their mouths and noses.

However, at that moment, Li Yunshang revealed a sinister expression.

Li Jiuxiao sneered as well. “A beast is a beast after all. You have been tricked.”

After the whip collided with the seawater, it instantly transformed into a bluish-purple liquid that mixed into the seawater.

“You are so dumb. How could you have imagined that the God Vanquishing Whip is not a weapon, but an extremely potent poison concocted from countless poisons by our Li family?” said Li Yunshang coldly.

Once the ‘God Vanquishing Whip’ mixed into the seawater, it immediately spread out and melded into it.

The Hornless Dragon Turtle instantly sensed the change in the seawater. At the same time, large numbers of fish and low-level beasts floated up to the surface of the sea with their bellies up.

Their bodies were rapidly being corroded, clear evidence of the poison’s potency.

The turtle was very alarmed. It could sense that it was being rapidly drained of its strength.

“Uncle, let’s take action quickly,” urged Li Yunshang.

It was impossible to kill the Hornless Dragon Turtle with just poison. No matter how potent the poison was, it would slowly lose its effects after being diluted by the seawater.

However, they had no reason to fight the turtle in a life-and-death battle either. All they wanted to do was enter the herbal garden.

As for the Hornless Dragon Turtle, as long as it remained in the inland sea, Li Yunshang was already making plans to bring the Li family back one day to dice it apart. They could use its entire body for medicinal purposes. They could eat its flesh and drink its blood!

As for Yi Yun, they would find him soon after entering. They would make sure he regretted being born into this world!

Be it Li Jiuxiao or Li Yunshang, they were filled with killing intent when they thought of Yi Yun. As members of the Martial Numinous clan, they enjoyed special privileges in Martial City. They had never been fooled by a mere mortal in such a manner.

“Let’s go!”

Li Jiuxiao roared as he blocked the Hornless Dragon Turtle’s path.

“Follow me!” Li Yunshang immediately led the charge forward.

The Li family elites followed closely behind.

“Ao!”

The Hornless Dragon Turtle let out an angry bellow once again. However, Li Jiuxiao unleashed another palm strike. Its numb body failed to dodge in time, causing its head to receive the full brunt of the heavy strike.

It immediately let out a wail.

“Beast, you can’t stop me anymore!” said Li Jiuxiao with a sneer.

With the poison entering the water, the turtle was the first to suffer the effects of the poison. It needed time to recover.

Now, all it could do was watch helplessly as the group of people entered the ancient herbal garden.

And once they entered the ancient herbal garden, the Hornless Dragon Turtle could do nothing to them.

Noticing that the World Stone was ahead of them, Li Yunshang had a look of delight as he charged straight in.

“I’m in!”

Li Yunshang and the Li family elites finally entered the herbal garden.

“This is the ancient herbal garden…”

Upon smelling the rich herbal fragrance and sensing the dense Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, Li Yunshang could not help but smile.

He had gone through painstaking effort to claim this herbal garden. And now his efforts had finally paid off.

“Oh… That is Yi Yun?”

Li Yunshang saw a figure in the distance.

The only person in the ancient herbal garden apart from them naturally had to be Yi Yun!

“Take Yi Yun down first. I have many methods at my disposal. I’ll make sure he get a good taste of all of them!” said Li Yunshang coldly.

Yi Yun had charged into the herbal garden alone in a bid to snatch food from the proverbial tiger’s jaws. Did he not know that he would end up being easy prey for them?

At that moment, Yi Yun had also sensed the fluctuations coming from the spatial passageway.

He turned his head and saw Li Yunshang and company heading towards him.

“They came in rather quickly. And here I thought they would be fighting outside for quite a while. However, this Yun-something… he looks like he got wrecked pretty badly.”

Yi Yun’s mockery reached the ears of Li Yunshang and company.

A cold glint flashed in Li Yunshang’s eyes. He snorted coldly. “You will be in utter misery in a moment. Let’s see if you can keep that sharp tongue of yours!”

He was eager to capture Yi Yun to appease the hatred in his heart.

But at that moment, a tragic cry was suddenly heard coming from the spatial passageway behind.

Li Yunshang frowned as he quickly turned his head. Immediately, his expression changed.

A Li family elite that had just teleported in only arrived with half his body. The other half of his body had been ripped to pieces by the spatial passageway.

Simultaneously, the surrounding space of the passageway produced an immense suction force. All the spatial dimension laws immediately turned extremely chaotic. Furthermore, they were constantly emanating outwards like a plague. This phenomenon rapidly spread throughout the herbal garden.

A few of the weaker Li family elites immediately revealed looks of horror. They were being torn apart by the spatial forces and, within moments, they cried out as they were ripped to shreds.

What was happening!?

Li Yunshang was appalled. He clearly sensed that even he could not withstand the spatial changes. Furthermore, the changes were turning more powerful!

“It’s the Hornless Dragon Turtle!’

On the other side, they could vaguely hear Li Jiuxiao’s voice.

“The turtle?” Li Yunshang was alarmed. But didn’t they stop the beast?

At that moment, Li Jiuxiao was even more appalled. He never expected that when the turtle saw Li Yunshang and company fly into the herbal garden, it would suddenly let out a angry but resolute bellow. Then, it suddenly turned its head and bit down at the World Stone.

“Darn it! The beast has gone mad!”

Li Jiuxiao could never predict the scene that was playing out before his eyes. His mood changed drastically as he unleashed a barrage of attacks in a bid to stop the turtle.

However, the turtle completely ignored his attacks. Even after incurring a few head injuries, it adamantly bit down.

The turtle’s strength was tremendous. After it bit the World Stone, the runes on its surface shook violently. Following that, it produced an unbearable bang under the turtle’s immense strength.

Ka Ka Ka!

Pressed between the turtle’s gaping jaws, the World Stone could hardly withstand the crushing pressure as it produced cracking sounds.

As for the runes on its surface, they began to dim.

“Come out!” Li Jiuxiao slammed his palm onto the turtle’s head.

The turtle let out a painful roar as it raised its head. However, it did not release its clenching of the World Stone.

Li Jiuxiao roared angrily as he conjured a gigantic palm that stretched into the spatial passageway to grab Li Yunshang.

And at the instant Li Yunshang was pulled out, the World Stone shattered. The spatial passageway ended up in fragments.

“Ah!” Li Yunshang cried out in pain. One of his legs had not been fully pulled out from the spatial passageway. This resulted in a portion of his calf being snapped off!

Ka! Ka!

The Hornless Dragon Turtle chewed the World Stone to pieces.

Li Yunshang was in excruciating pain. He hugged his stump of a leg while his heart quivered. His calf had been completely reduced to a meaty pulp. Even the Li family would have to pay an immense price to regrow his leg. Furthermore, it was impossible for him to restore his leg to its original level.

Li Jiuxiao had no time to tend to Li Yunshang. He stood in midair as he took in the scene. Without the World Stone, there was no way for them to find the herbal garden again despite knowing that it was in the surrounding spatial nodes.

They never expected the Hornless Dragon Turtle to have such a fierce personality. It would rather destroy the World Stone than let them enter the herbal garden.

The deal they had in the bag was gone! They had even entered the herbal garden, only to fall just short of success!

“Bastard!” Li Jiuxiao was so angry that his body was trembling.

All he managed to do was save Li Yunshang at the critical moment. After all, Li Yunshang was the focus of attention of the Li family’s younger generation. It would be a true pity if he died.

As for the other Li family elites, they were left to fend for themselves in the herbal garden. It was impossible for them to withstand the spatial storms that resulted from the World Stone’s destruction.

And that Yi Yun… he was naturally going to end up the same. His final outcome was definitely death.

At that moment, the turtle looked up and stared coldly at them before slowly sinking back into the sea.

Li Jiuxiao hesitated for a moment. He ultimately chose not to pursue it. The sea was the Hornless Dragon Turtle’s territory after all.

Although the turtle had been poisoned, it wasn’t a lethal dosage. Furthermore, it no longer had the World Stone. Chasing it had lost its meaning.

However, Li Jiuxiao felt his chest turn heavy when he thought of how the herbal garden’s entrance had been destroyed. A mouthful of blood rose up in his throat, causing him to nearly vomit it out. He had been enervated during his battle with the Hornless Dragon Turtle.

He roared a few times as he struck out at the sea a few times.

The sea surged violently but the vociferous waves did not carry away any of Li Jiuxiao’s anger. Instead, it sounded like they were mocking him.

Li Jiuxiao was already enervated, so after venting his anger, he had little Yuan Qi left. He flicked his sleeve and said through clenched teeth, “Let’s go!”

He had truly suffered a double loss. Li Jiuxiao had no intention to stay there a moment longer.

Li Yunshang’s expression was in no way better than his. He had obtained nothing on this trip. Instead, he had lost his calf. He was in a wretched state and had only barely remained alive.

Apart from from not obtaining the herbal garden, the greatest regret Li Yunshang had was that he wasn’t able to finish Yi Yun with his own hands.

Letting Yi Yun die in the spatial storms was going too easy on him!

1388 - : World Stone Shatters

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment in the ancient herbal garden, a wild spatial storm was raging. The Li family elites watched helplessly as a large hand grabbed Li Yunshang and took him to safety but ignored them in the process. The spatial passageway then rapidly collapsed.

And after that, tumultuous flames engulfed the spatial passageway. It suffused a black color. Yet despite it being fire, it was biting cold. It spread rapidly through the spatial storms.

“Elder Li! Save me! Save me! …ah!”

Many elites cried out tragically as they got swept up in the spatial storm. Immediately, their bodies were inundated with black flames. They bodies instantly froze and shattered into ice fragments when the wind blew.

The remaining Li family elites ignored everything else, as they ran for their lives deep into the herbal garden.

As they ran, these Li family elites cursed their parents for only giving them two legs. They were running too slowly!

When Yi Yun turned to look, he was shocked as well.

“The spatial node has been destroyed.” Yi Yun quickly grasped the situation.

If not, Li Jiuxiao would have entered instead of pulling Li Yunshang to safety.

He guessed that the Hornless Dragon Turtle had destroyed the World Stone. After all, it was absolutely impossible for Li Jiuxiao to do such a thing.

This truly meant trouble.

The Hornless Dragon Turtle had an extremely cold affinity. The black flames were the fire intrinsic to the turtle. It would burn endlessly in the spatial storms.

Even Yi Yun would steer clear of the black flames. Such spatial storms could shred a person to pieces.

Yi Yun pondered for a moment before retrieving the Ascending Dragon Cauldron from his interspatial ring.

He had no qualms about using the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in the ancient herbal garden.

As he did this, the Li family elites saw Yi Yun.

Their eyes nearly popped out when they saw him.

They had no idea what was going on when a massive cauldron appeared beneath Yi Yun.

The massive cauldron suffused an ancient aura. There was even a True Dragon phantom flying above it. Even more impressive, the cauldron seemed to hold back the spatial storm and black flames. They were unable to approach Yi Yun at all.

As for Yi Yun, he was sitting on the cauldron looking carefree. It was as though he was simply enjoying the scenery amidst the raging spatial storm.

They, meanwhile, were being pursued by the spatial storm. Even their asses were on fire despite all the running.

“What is that thing!?”

“I don’t know but it’s definitely a very impressive treasure!”

The Li family elites turned red with envy. Yi Yun was able to survive in the ancient herbal garden because of the treasured cauldron!

At that moment, Yi Yun heard the Li family elites yelling.

“Yi Yun! Young Master Yi! Save us! The Li family has abandoned us! We are willing to submit to you and be your subordinates!”

“That’s right, Young Master Yi! We were only following orders. We have no grudge against you.”

The Li family elites were willing to call Yi Yun young master in order to live.

They were certain that they were doomed. In their despair, they saw Yi Yun sitting on the cauldron. Even though he was their enemy, they could only attempt to grasp at this final life-saving straw as their desire to live burned.

If Yi Yun was willing to save them, they might survive.

And if they had a chance of taking the cauldron for themselves, even better!

When Yi Yun heard them shouting, he turned his head and looked at them as though he was looking at a bunch of oddities.

What did they mean by only following orders and not having a grudge against him?

These people were direct progeny of the Li family. Back when they first entered the herbal garden, they looked at him like he was a downtrodden prisoner. They were all extremely cold.

If he were to truly fall into their hands, it was unknown what sort of torture they would inflict upon him.

Now that they were the ones in trouble, all they knew was to mention the nonexistent grudge between them.

The Li family elites turned anxious when Yi Yun seemed to ignore them.

“Young Master Yi, Elder Li and the rest will not spare you. If you were to help us, we could be your spies in the Li family. We will absolutely not mention what happened today. In the future, we can even help you escape!”

“That’s right. If Elder Li and the rest learn that you are alive, and more importantly that you obtained this herbal garden, they will definitely hunt you down!”

Upon hearing these people yelling, Yi Yun revealed a faint smile.

“You guys sure are being considerate towards me.”

A Li family elite hurriedly forced a smile. As he ran, he shouted, “That’s natural…”

But at that moment, his smile froze. Yi Yun was still sitting casually on the cauldron but his speed was increasing!

They were running in frantic pursuit of the cauldron but the gap between them and Yi Yun was widening!

At that moment, a tragic scream was heard. The spatial storm had caught up to a Li family elite. He was immediately devoured.

The Li family elites looked at the distant Yi Yun with eyes full of hate. “Ahhh! Yi Yun! You will die a horrible death!”

“Ah!”

Undulating screams resounded as the spatial storm and black flames caught up one horrified Li family elite after another. They each died with a look of disgruntlement.

As for Yi Yun, he remained composed. He completely ignored the vicious glares of the Li family elites as well as their tragic screams.

Yi Yun was no saint when it came to people who wanted him dead. He would not show any meaningless mercy to them.

These people were members of the Li family. They repressed mortal-borns in every way. They truly deserved death.

The spatial storm that was brought about by the destruction of the World Stone continued sweeping through the ancient herbal garden. The black Hornless Dragon Turtle’s flames were also burning fiercely.

Yi Yun sat on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and fluttered around the spatial storm. Although it was terrifying, it was unable to tear apart the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

In the end, their vision was nearly screened by the belligerent storm. As the storm and flames grew in intensity, Yi Yun had no choice but to go from sitting on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to entering the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s interior.

During this excessively long period, Yi Yun felt the Ascending Dragon Cauldron be thrown around by the storm. After a long while, there was a thud. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron had landed onto the ground.

Yi Yun flew out of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and stood in mid-air. Immediately, his expression changed slightly.

“This is…”

Back when Yi Yun entered the herbal garden, all he saw was a swath of herbal fields. A large amount of the herbs had withered due to lack of care; however, there were still some remnants.

But now, due to the spatial storm, Yi Yun had no idea where he had been sent to while hiding inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. When he came out, what he saw was no longer herbal fields.

Instead, it looked like a village.

There were houses and yards. It was a pleasant, idyllic scene.

Apart from there being no one there, the place seemed perfect for one to seclude themselves.

Yi Yun landed onto the ground. He looked at the village a little puzzled.

Unfortunately, it was unknown how many years it had been since the ancient senior had departed. It was likely that he had been reduced to nothingness. But Yi Yun still couldn’t figure out why he would construct a village in a herbal garden.

1389 - : Black Fire Storm

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun guessed that the village was likely a place where the senior took his disciples and family to be isolated from the world. They would live in the pocket world, tending to their herbs and staying away from the complexities of the mortal world. It was their very own little paradise.

However, all things change with time.

As Yi Yun strolled through the village, he felt like he had entered a mortal village. He saw farming equipment and cutlery everywhere.

However, the herbs he had been looking forward to did not make an appearance.

Before Yi Yun entered the herbal garden, he had caught a whiff of the herbal fragrance. The herbal garden definitely had herbs in it but finding them was a different task altogether. If it were easy, Wang Mu and his wife would had taken everything away on their first visit.

Yi Yun circled the village and came to a tiny hill basin behind it. When he stepped into the inconspicuous hill basin, his expression changed. It was engraved with Dao patterns, making him sense nomological fluctuations as he walked around in it.

He guessed that a massive array had been set up in the herbal garden. Yi Yun was quite surprised that the massive array continued functioning for so long despite all this time that had passed.

As he walked into the hill basin, he was surprised to see a row of statues.

These statues were of normal human height. They must have been there for a very long period of time. There were signs of the elements wearing on them, making them look inconspicuous. They looked like the kind of ordinary rock statues that were randomly strewn throughout a mortal village’s back mountains.

There were a total of eight statues. Yi Yun took a casual glance at first but was stunned by what he saw.

He stood dazed in front of the eight statues for a very long period of time. His face was filled with shock and disbelief. Slowly, his look turned into one of reverence and astonishment!

The eight ordinary-looking statues contained a boundless ancient aura. Each statue had a corresponding name of the figure that was being immortalized.

There was no exception. All of them were Godly Monarchs!

Eight statues and eight Godly Monarchs?

Yi Yun drew a deep breath. Godly Monarchs were extremely rare in the Sinkhole, but now he was seeing eight at once. The Godly Monarchs depicted on the statues were likely ancient Godly Monarchs.

Yi Yun looked at each one of them.

Godly Monarch Still Destruction, Lord of Six Dao, Skychasm Ruler, Pure Yang Sword God…

Oh!?

Wait!

Yi Yun felt a jolt when he saw the Pure Yang Sword God. The statue was scuffed with the marks of time to the point that even the statue’s face was a little faded. However, it contained an inexplicable presence. It was as though a sword was slashing out of the statue. The sword stance was extremely insipid but it could split the celestial bodies and shatter the stars! It was as though everything was like a fleeting cloud, worthless in front of that sword.

Yi Yun deeply felt the link between his lifeblood and the aura contained within the statue. There was a strong resonance.

Pure Yang Sword Palace owner!

Yi Yun was certain that the shape of statue was that of the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner.

He never expected to see a statue of the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner. If that was the case, were the other seven figures all his equals?

Yi Yun continued down the line as he saw another Godly Monarch that left him even more astonished.

The statue was in the form of a woman. She had a graceful figure and had a beauty which could overthrow states and cities. Her name was Godly Monarch Mirage Snow!

“Godly Monarch Mirage Snow, could it be…”

Yi Yun looked at the woman’s face carefully. The sculpture’s face matched a beautiful face from his memory…

Huan Chenxue!

The statue was actually in the form of Huan Chenxue!?

Yi Yun found it unbelievable. Huan Chenxue was a Godly Monarch?

He recalled his time in the Mirage Sea Realm where he met the amiable blue-dressed woman. She had given him her most important Mirage Snow sword. Yi Yun spent several years with Huan Chenxue in the Mirage Sea Realm leading mundane but happy days.

Huan Chenxue was only a mortal woman now, so he had never thought that she was once a Godly Monarch!

There was also the Nine Li Magus Empire’s Nine Li Magus Maiden. She looked identical to Huan Chenxue. However, he did not know what their relationship was. He did not take the liberty to expose the existence of Huan Chenxue to the Nine Li Magus Maiden.

Now that he saw Godly Monarch Mirage Snow’s statue, Yi Yun was alarmed.

Both Nine Li Magus Maiden and Huan Chenxue were mortal. What was their relationship with Godly Monarch Mirage Snow? Could it be that during an ancient battle, Godly Monarch Mirage Snow was heavily injured, causing her to lose all her powers to the point of being unable to cultivate? Could she have reincarnated into Huan Chenxue and the Nine Li Magus Maiden…

As for the Nine Li Magus clan—the mysterious clan that had an extremely long history and incredibly deep heritage—could their true identity be the guardians of Godly Monarch Mirage Snow?

Upon coming up with this theory, Yi Yun was at a loss. He had yet to complete the Herb Nurturing Array that the divine alchemist had left behind. All he did was leave Ling Xie’er and the Divine Alchemy Cauldron behind in the array. If there came a day when he could complete the Herb Nurturing Array, what sort of situation would play out? Could he actually heal a Godly Monarch?

Yi Yun stared intently at Godly Monarch Mirage Snow’s statue. Although she looked identical to Huan Chenxue, there was a heroic bearing in between her brows. It made Yi Yun wonder what Godly Monarch Mirage Snow was like when she had free reign over the world back in the ancient times.

After Godly Monarch Mirage Snow was another female Godly Monarch.

Yi Yun also knew this Godly Monarch. She was Godly Monarch White Lunar—Bai Yueyin!

She was a terrifying existence that had unified the Seven Desolates, establishing the White Lunar Divine Empire. She was known by all in the Sinkhole. She had existed since ancient times. According to Huan Chenxue, Bai Yueyin was similarly severely injured in the ancient battle. It resulted in her having to frequently enter long periods of seclusion and slumber.

But even so, the power Bai Yueyin possessed was something average people could hardly imagine. Since the establishment of the White Lunar Divine Empire, Bai Yueyin had vanished. However, despite all the time that had passed, no faction was foolish enough to antagonize the White Lunar Divine Empire.

“Eight ancient Godly Monarchs and eight statues. Could it be that this herbal garden is related to the ancient Godly Monarchs? Or could it by chance be that this ancient herbal garden was left behind by one of the Godly Monarchs?”

Yi Yun had such a thought. Yi Yun had heard from Huan Chenxue the legend of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs. They were people that had fought the Ancestor God back in ancient times. During that battle, there were deaths, injuries, and disappearances among the eight Godly Monarchs.

However, Yi Yun never expected that Huan Chenxue herself was one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs.

If the herbal garden was related to the ancient Godly Monarchs, it was truly not something Wang Mu could ever hold on to. Wang Mu’s discovery of the herbal garden was not an opportunity but a disaster.

Yi Yun walked out of the hill basin as he followed the Dao patterns. Soon, he arrived in a valley.

The valley was blooming with flowers. It was an idyllic scene that resembled an otherworldly paradise.

However, Yi Yun sensed an extremely dangerous atmosphere in there.

He swept his gaze and saw twelve red stone monuments erected in the valley. They looked like they were stained by fresh blood. In the middle of the twelve stone monuments was a bed of flowers. Yi Yun noticed a special plant in the middle of the bed of flowers.

It had seven leaves, and each leaf was laced with dark golden patterns that suffused a faint glow.

“This is…” Yi Yun looked at the plant and sensed its surging vital aura. Furthermore, it emanated a rich herbal fragrance. It seemed to resemble the fragrance he detected outside the herbal garden.

Yi Yun was certain that it was a supreme-grade herb but it was a strain he had never seen before.

Yi Yun was well-versed in the divine alchemist’s notes. If it was an herb he had never seen before, the rarity had to be unimaginable.

Now, Yi Yun was certain that if the Li family knew of this herb, they would probably go all out, attacking in full force to gain entry. The Martial Numinous clan would do so too.

The mysterious herb was right in front of Yi Yun but he was in no hurry to pluck it.

He could sense a dangerous aura lingering within the valley.

1390 - : Statues

CKtalon  CKtalon

After studying the array patterns, Yi Yun determined that if he were to walk into the valley rashly, he would instantly encounter terrifying danger.

Hidden in the valley was an array formation that protected the mysterious herb.

Of course, Yi Yun wasn’t just going to abandon the herb. It was too rare and intrigued him greatly. However, he would have to carefully study the array formation before attempting entry.

Yi Yun stood in front of the valley and activated the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

Yi Yun’s heart tightened when he saw the valley with his energy vision. The valley seemed to vanish, and replacing it was a black desolate land. The twelve stone monuments erected in the valley also morphed into something extremely strange. An eye was sealed in each stone monument and they were all closed. It was as though they were in a prolonged slumber.

“This place…”

Yi Yun held his breath as he felt a stifling killing intent.

“Oh? That is…”

Yi Yun saw that there were two ancient characters engraved at the bottom of one of the stone monuments. They made out the words ‘Still Destruction!’

Still Destruction?

Yi Yun recalled that one of the eight statues he had just seen was Godly Monarch Still Destruction.

Could it be that this place once belonged to Godly Monarch Still Destruction?

Yi Yun knew that many mighty figures would open up pocket worlds. An example was the Mirage Sea Realm where Huan Chenxue lived.

Previously, Yi Yun had seen houses and herbal gardens. Perhaps, Godly Monarch Still Destruction created this place back in his day as an isolated home.

Godly Monarch Still Destruction had probably lived in this world for a period of time. But later on, he might have vanished or died in combat. He never returned again.

However, the array he set up in this pocket world was perfectly preserved.

Upon coming to this conclusion, Yi Yun felt that he knew enough. He began probing the pocket world with his perception. It was overly big, and it was perhaps only one of the many residences Godly Monarch Still Destruction left behind. But even so, this was still a great opportunity for Yi Yun.

However, there was still the array formation in front of him…

Yi Yun sighed slightly. He flipped his right hand, producing a Spirit Jade. Then, he threw it out.

“Peng!”

With a light bang, the Spirit Jade struck one of the stone monuments. At that instant, Yi Yun saw through his energy vision that the eye sealed in the stone monument suddenly opened. Then a blood-colored beam shot out from the eye!

The inferior-grade Spirit Jade vaporized upon contact with the blood beam. The blood beam did not lose a bit of momentum and shot straight at Yi Yun!

Yi Yun was already prepared for this. He was very far from the valley to begin with. The moment he saw the blood beam heading towards him, he stirred his bloodline and instantly activated the Golden Carp stance of the Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon before leaping upwards.

“Boom!”

There was a loud explosion as the spot where Yi Yun was just standing was penetrated by the blood beam. The ground that had been struck by the blood beam shared the same outcome as the inferior-grade Spirit Jade—vaporized.

“Oh? This is…” Yi Yun saw that the hole that produced by the blood beam was only about the size of a bowl but it extended all the way down into the earth. Yi Yun probed it deeply and found it nearly bottomless.

“Still Destruction…”

Yi Yun recalled Godly Monarch Still Destruction’s name. The beam shot from the stone monument was just like his two names. To destroy everything to a state of stillness, that was the nature of the Destruction laws.

Yi Yun cultivated in the Destruction laws too. However, the Destruction laws he cultivated in stemmed from the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. It was the Major Dao of Destruction.

The Universe was created out of Chaos, but after countless years, it would ultimately end in destruction! The Major Dao of Destruction was the destruction of a super-world like the Sinkhole, or even the entire Universe!

Corresponding to the Major Dao of Destruction was the Minor Dao of Destruction, the destruction of all living creatures, including the destruction of mankind, or even that of minor worlds!

If one did not encounter any special opportunities, it was impossible to gain insight into the Major Dao of Destruction. This was because, from the birth of the Universe to this day, be it the Sinkhole or the 12 Empyrean Heavens, they had been extremely stable. They were still far from destruction. In such a stable world, it was nearly impossible to gain any insights into the Major Dao of Destruction.

People could only gain insights into the Minor Dao of Destruction but even so, that was already a Great Dao that was on par with Yin-Yang and Space-time.

However, Yi Yun now realized that the Dao of Destruction that Godly Monarch Still Destruction had attained vastly exceeded the Minor Dao of Destruction. It came close to the true Major Dao of Destruction.

Although it was still a distance away from the true Major Dao of Destruction, it left Yi Yun astonished.

Yi Yun found it unimaginable that Godly Monarch Still Destruction could have gained insights to this level from nothing. It was very likely that Godly Monarch Still Destruction had chanced upon some special opportunities that allowed him to take that difficult step.

If there was nothing outstanding about him, how could Godly Monarch Still Destruction have become a Godly Monarch?

Having cultivated in the Dao of Destruction as well, Yi Yun felt a little more confident about cracking the array. After all, the array had been in existence for a very long period of time. Its energy had long been weakened and was probably only a mere vestige of its past.

Yi Yun activated his energy vision and observed the Destruction Dao patterns on the ground.

With the passage of time, Yi Yun’s understanding became clearer. He was convinced that cracking the Dao patterns was only a matter of time.

But at that moment, Yi Yun sensed the space around him tremble. It began to turn unstable.

Oh? This is…

Yi Yun’s focused and radiated his perception. He was also well-versed in spatial dimension laws. He could sense that a particular force was attempting to tear open the space he was in.

“What is that!?”

Yi Yun’s heart tightened as a strong sense of unease rose in him. Whatever was appearing might endanger him.

Hum— Hum— Hum—

The spatial trembles increased in intensity. The force was also approaching. It was passing through a spatial node and would soon break through the spatial walls.

As more time passed, Yi Yun could clearly sense the aura of the force that was tunneling through the chaotic spatial continuum.

The aura was extremely familiar to Yi Yun. It was none other than the Myriad God Patriarch!

Myriad God Patriarch? Why was he appearing here?

Yi Yun took a deep breath. That undying old fart was such a haunting presence!

On careful thought, Myriad God Patriarch should have been recuperating in the Li household. Although the old bastard had been severely injured by Old Snake, he still had many means at his disposal. He had lived for many years and seemed to have eyes on the back of his head. The Li family obviously had no idea of Myriad God Patriarch’s background. It was very possible that the Li family’s search for the herbal garden had long been known to Myriad God Patriarch.

With the methods that Myriad God Patriarch had at his disposal, tracking the Li family to the herbal garden was not difficult!

The old bastard had always been lurking in the shadows, hoping to reap the spoils without lifting a finger!

Yi Yun felt a chill run down his back when he came to this conclusion. This situation was too dangerous. He was unable to detect Myriad God Patriarch in the past too. If not for the Hornless Dragon Turtle’s crushing of the World Stone, he could have been hiding all this time and Yi Yun would have no clue.

Now that the original spatial node had vanished, Myriad God Patriarch could only attempt to open up the spatial wall by making use of every opportunity that presented itself. He could not prevent the spatial energy fluctuations which resulted in Yi Yun’s discovery of him.

“That old bastard actually managed to find an entrance even with the World Stone shattered.”

Yi Yun felt extremely gloomy. On second thought, Myriad God Patriarch seemed skilled in such things. In the past, the pocket world he chose for his refinement was a place that even Old Snake had difficulty finding. He had nearly failed to save Yi Yun, and now he wasn’t here at all.

1391 - : Still Destruction

CKtalon  CKtalon

The spatial fluctuations intensified as Yi Yun racked his brains quickly. Myriad God Patriarch would be in front of him within moments. And at his present strength, he was definitely no match for Myriad God Patriarch.

What was he to do?

If Myriad God Patriarch were to corner him in this pocket world, he would be in danger.

With the situation already developing to this point, Yi Yun actually became increasingly calm.

There was definitely no time for him to escape, nor was there anywhere for him to flee to. What he had to do now was to try his best to find a way out of this perilous situation. Although Myriad God Patriarch was terrifying, he was ultimately a person. And since he was a person, he was ultimately flawed.

…

Fifteen minutes later, a distorted rift suddenly appeared above the herbal garden, as though the sky had been forcibly ripped open. Following that, a gray figure stepped out of the rift.

Myriad God Patriarch was breathing erratically and his face was sallow. Many holes had been torn open in his cloak. He stood high in the sky and could not help but cough. He looked critically ill, as though he was about to die at any time.

In order to find Yi Yun, Myriad God Patriarch had secretly tailed the Li family and attempted to find the spatial node through force after the Hornless Dragon Turtle shattered the World Stone. He finally managed to tear through space and enter.

Although the pocket world had been in existence for hundreds of millions of years, a Godly Monarch was a Godly Monarch after all. The pocket world he opened up was no trifling matter. During the process of forcibly cracking open the spatial node, Myriad God Patriarch had expended a great deal of Yuan Qi, causing his old injuries to relapse. The effort made the old man resemble a candle in the wind.

But at that moment, Myriad God Patriarch swept his gaze across the herbal garden beneath him and revealed a relaxed expression.

“Little bastard, I know you are in this pocket world. I want to see how else you will try to run away today.” Myriad God Patriarch’s eyes flashed with grave killing intent.

There was only him and Yi Yun inside the herbal garden. After he passed through the spatial node, the pocket world was once again sealed. Any hope of running or seeking outside help, that was closed off to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had previously managed to escape from his grasp, but this time Yi Yun was trapped. He was certainly doomed.

Even though he was suffering a relapse of his injuries, Yi Yun was not his match. The strength gap between the two was just too great.

However, Yi Yun had proved himself to be cunning. During their first encounter, Myriad God Patriarch had locked Yi Yun inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as a catalyst herb but Yi Yun managed to secretly obtain control over the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, reversing the situation. Even the divine pill he wanted to refine ended up in Yi Yun’s hands.

Myriad God Patriarch was fully focused on his pursuit of Yi Yun. Once he found Yi Yun, he would absolutely not give Yi Yun a single chance.

Myriad God Patriarch flew above the garden as his perception permeated every inch of the ground beneath him.

The pocket world was not large, so Myriad God Patriarch soon arrived in the vicinity of the village. He naturally also discovered the hill basin.

Myriad God Patriarch instantly caught a whiff of an indescribable herbal fragrance effusing from the hill basin.

The mysterious herbal fragrance caught Myriad God Patriarch’s attention. His injuries were extensive and difficult to treat, so he was very interested in any supreme-grade herb that might aid him in recovering from his injuries.

Soon, Myriad God Patriarch landed in front of the valley.

“What’s that?” Myriad God Patriarch noticed the mysterious herb at a glance.

The dark golden leaves made it look extraordinary at a glance.

With Myriad God Patriarch’s level of discernment, he could tell at a glance that it was a supreme-grade herb!

It would cause a bloody massacre if it were taken out into the world.

He never expected the herbal garden to possess such a wondrous item. A look of glee flashed in Myriad God Patriarch’s eyes. It was truly a pleasant surprise.

Any warrior that saw such a supreme-grade herb would have thoughts of plucking it. Myriad God Patriarch was obviously no exception.

He immediately headed for the divine herb but the moment he came to the edge of the valley, something made him halt. He looked at the twelve blood-colored stone monuments in the valley and his expression turned sullen.

He sensed an intense killing intent from the valley. If he were to enter rashly, he might be obliterated.

“There’s actually a killing array here!”

Myriad God Patriarch knitted his brows. The killing array had been subject to the elements since time immemorial but it was still not to be underestimated!

Myriad God Patriarch was observing the killing array when he suddenly let out a sneer. A black, ghastly claw suddenly emerged from his cloak, tearing through the air with a whistling sound before striking a mountain cliff to the side.

Bam!

The cliff immediately crumbled under the ghastly claw. And amid the collapsing rubble, a figure flashed from within.

“Yi Yun!”

Upon seeing Yi Yun, Myriad God Patriarch’s eyes became as sharp as daggers.

He had a derisive smile on his face as he said to Yi Yun, “Did you think I wouldn’t notice you hiding there, with you concealing the aura you produce through the array’s natural forcefield? How naive you are!”

The light in Yi Yun’s eyes dimmed as he looked silently at Myriad God Patriarch.

He had hidden in the safest spot in the valley and used the array’s Still Destruction aura to eliminate all traces of his aura. Logically speaking, it should have been impossible for Myriad God Patriarch to discover him.

But he still managed to detect him. It left Yi Yun amazed. Perhaps Myriad God Patriarch had guessed that he was very likely to be in the vicinity and through his acute senses, speculation and intuition, managed to pinpoint him.

Meanwhile, Myriad God Patriarch began to rapidly form hex seals.

Yi Yun immediately knew things were turning for the worse. He instantly charged to the side but discovered that the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had already changed. The space around him had been sealed.

Even the Yuan Qi in his own body had been sealed. He had no way to circulate it.

Once Myriad God Patriarch smoked Yi Yun out, he immediately used a spatial array to trap Yi Yun within a tiny region.

Myriad God Patriarch’s grasp of spatial dimension laws was far stronger than Yi Yun’s, considering how he was able to forcibly tear through space to arrive in the pocket world. He was an old monster while Yi Yun had only cultivated for about two hundred years. It wasn’t even comparable to the trailing numbers of Myriad God Patriarch’s age.

“When I first began cultivation, my talent was only ordinary but I forged a path by killing many geniuses who had better backgrounds and more talent than me. In turn, the light from providence that shined on them landed on me. Slowly, I reached my present state. I even obtained a treasure like the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.”

After confining Yi Yun, rendering him unable to use his Yuan Qi, Myriad God Patriarch sneered as he slowly gave his speech.

Yi Yun, who was unable to use his Yuan Qi, was no different from a mortal warrior.

“I have encountered many enemies throughout my life. It was only when I met you that I truly suffered failure. My base, the Myriad God Ridge, was taken over by you. The herbs I painstakingly found had been used by you. Even the Ascending Dragon Cauldron ended up in your possession. I will always be plagued by this mental demon if I do not kill you. You are the worst pitfall of the latter parts of my life. As long as I flatten you, I will soar in the future. There will be no obstacle that can hinder me.”

1392 - : Yuan Qi Sealed

CKtalon  CKtalon

“I must recognize that you are also a genius, a genius that enjoys an immense light from providence, but in the end you are destined to be a set of bones under my feet.”

As Myriad God Patriarch spoke, he continued tightening the spatial array formation.

This junior was once his mental demon. To him, Yi Yun was someone he had to take very seriously. Even though Yi Yun was firmly in his grasp, he did not go easy at all.

He had heard of many geniuses like Yi Yun who were favored by providence. Enemies of such geniuses would usually be faced with various obstacles. For example, the founder of a mighty empire would encounter countless assassinations and plots against them. But anyone that thought to harm them only ended up dead.

Myriad God Patriarch believed he too was favored by providence. If he killed Yi Yun, he could take the light that shone on Yi Yun for himself. It was even possible for him to become a Godly Monarch in the future.

With a humming sound, a bone sword appeared in Myriad God Patriarch’s hand.

The bone sword was entirely white in color and its design was strange. The sharp edge was like a claw and the blade had a curvature. It suffused a rich deathly aura.

“If you were to be killed by this Bone Corrosion Sword, not only would all your flesh rot away, even your lifeblood would be fully absorbed. Your soul would be corroded by the cadaveric aura and you would finally become my slave.” Myriad God Patriarch injected his Yuan Qi into the Bone Corrosion Sword as his blade trembled in response. It let out an indescribably sinister sound that was like something from hell itself.

Following that, Myriad God Patriarch walked towards Yi Yun. The Bone Corrosion Sword emitted a cold white light as he held it high up, aiming straight at Yi Yun’s head before cleaving down.

At that moment, Yi Yun sensed an extremely strong sense of danger. It was similar or even more intense than the pressing danger he experienced back when he was being pursued by the Black-armored Demon God in the Tian Yuan World.

Back then, Yi Yun still had a chance of escaping, but now all his energy was sealed. He could not use his Yuan Qi and his body was confined spatially, preventing him from even moving. All he could do was watch helplessly as the sword came down at him.

However, Myriad God Patriarch did not see despair or horror on Yi Yun’s face. Instead, it was a look of still serenity.

Before he could even wonder why, Myriad God Patriarch suddenly sensed an extremely strong threat coming from behind him!

Myriad God Patriarch turned around suddenly and cleaved with his sword.

The sword’s might was terrifying, something that Myriad God Patriarch believed was enough to tear Yi Yun apart. Regardless of what the threat behind him was, his sword was completely capable of withstanding it.

However, Myriad God Patriarch never expected that when his sword beam struck the black light, it would be instantly engulfed upon contact. The black light continued coming at him.

Myriad God Patriarch’s protective Yuan Qi was as strong as paper against the black light. It was instantly shattered, but Myriad God Patriarch was able to prevent his vital spots from being struck. Only his shoulder had been penetrated.

A terrifying aura immediately surged wantonly through Myriad God Patriarch’s meridians. His wound bled profusely as a black mist lingered around it. It was like a mini black hole.

And at that moment, more black beams were being shot out.

It was the array formation! The valley’s killing array had been triggered!

As Myriad God Patriarch dodged the array beams, he saw a seven-colored snake blazing around the valley’s array formation like a seven-colored meteor.

“What is that!?”

Myriad God Patriarch immediately knew that it was the seven-colored snake that had triggered the array formation. And the snake was definitely related to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had hidden himself in order to lure him into the killing array. However, he had detected Yi Yun’s location ahead of time.

He had then sealed Yi Yun, severing any routes of escape for Yi Yun. Yi Yun was given no chance to pull any tricks. Little did he know that Yi Yun had left a tiny snake outside as a contingency.

To make matters worse, Myriad God Patriarch also sensed that his spatial array had been destroyed by the black beams, freeing Yi Yun.

Each one of the black beams that filled the sky possessed the ability to cause terrifying damage.

Yi Yun had instructed the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm to trigger the array formation so as to have the stone monuments open their eyes and fire their beams, but he never expected the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm to trigger so many at once.

“Come back now! Dude, I was almost made into a sieve!”

The black beams attacked without any discrimination. Under such an intense barrage of attacks, Yi Yun was also forced into an awkward predicament. Thankfully, he was skilled in the Destruction laws and was able to handle them a little better than Myriad God Patriarch. He immediately beckoned for the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s return and summoned the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Yi Yun had no chance of victory against Myriad God Patriarch. All he could do was hide in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Myriad God Patriarch’s eyes suffused redness. He never expected that despite being cautious and thorough, he would still fall for Yi Yun’s schemes!

He charged towards Yi Yun but the black beams did not cease. He was forced to turn around to parry them.

Myriad God Patriarch watched helplessly as Yi Yun entered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. As for the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, it remained unharmed despite being bombarded by the black beams!

“Little bastard!”

Myriad God Patriarch’s hate raged inside him like a tidal wave. Yi Yun was clearly a weakling who could only run from him, but still he suffered repeatedly at Yi Yun’s hands.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s voice sounded from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“Old Fellow, it’s best you take care of yourself first.”

As that was said, beads were suddenly thrown out from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron by Yi Yun. Myriad God Patriarch focused his eyes on them and noticed that they were Thunderclap Explosive Firebeads!

A Thunderclap Explosive Firebead was an array bead used to kill enemies. Its offensive strength was nothing to speak of. It was not even enough to deal with Dao Palace realm warriors. Yi Yun had obtained them from the interspatial ring of a warrior he killed. The beads were completely useless to him and he had nearly thrown them away. But now, they were being put to full use.

Dozens of Thunderclap Explosive Firebead exploded simultaneously!

Crackle!

The entire space was deluged by a sea of flames. Yi Yun did not hold any hopes that the beads would do a thing to Myriad God Patriarch. He had thrown the Thunderclap Explosive Firebeads straight at the Still Destruction Killing Array. The Thunderclap Explosive Firebead’s flames and lightning inundated the blood-colored stone monuments, activating the killing array once again!

Cha! Cha! Cha!

The twelve stone monuments began shooting out black Still Destruction beams of light crazily! The number of beams shot out was more than ten times the number caused by the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm!

As for Myriad God Patriarch, he was not at his best. He was already injured and under the assault of the black beams, he almost had a mental breakdown.

There was just too many! He could not deal with them at all!

As for Yi Yun, he was hiding in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. He could hear the clamorous clangs of the beams striking the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Even the Ascending Dragon Cauldron shook forcefully under the black beam storm.

Of course, these were already extremely satisfying to Yi Yun. He used a wisp of his perception to study the situation outside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

He saw Myriad God Patriarch dodging amid the black beams, looking pathetic.

Realizing how nasty Yi Yun was, Myriad God Patriarch felt a surge of blood flow backwards to his head.

His hair had been burnt off by a black beam. His remaining hair scattered down. He looked terrible.

What were these black beams!?

Myriad God Patriarch was appalled by the black beams. He did not know where he was, nor did he know who the person who had set up the array formation was.

The black beams were not something he could fully defend against even at his peak. Even the average Divine Lord would perish under the black beams’ assault!

How did a mere array formation possess such terrifying power?

But Myriad God Patriarch did not have the luxury of time to think it through. The overwhelming black beams brought with them grave killing intent. Myriad God Patriarch had no time to tend to his injuries. He didn’t even have time to take a breath.

“Yi Yun!” Myriad God Patriarch let out an angry bellow. His outer calf had been penetrated by a black beam. Flesh the size of a palm had vanished instantly, replaced by nothingness!

Feeling the excruciating pain in his calf, Myriad God Patriarch felt a chill down his back. The black beams contained terrifying Still Destruction laws which could destroy everything they touched!

And at that moment, Yi Yun was sitting inside the cauldron while the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm lay in front of him.

He could sense that although Myriad God Patriarch was finding it difficult to defend against the black beams, it was unlikely that he would really die.

The black beams could not continue ceaselessly. Soon, they would stop.

“This darn bastard managed to chase me here. Tomorrow, he might be able to keep chasing me to another area. I can’t feel at ease as long as he is alive. Now that he is at his weakest, I have to take this chance to kill him once and for all!”

Yi Yun’s eyes blazed with killing intent. He was bent on killing Myriad God Patriarch after being threatened twice by the old bastard!

If he were to allow Myriad God Patriarch to leave safely, Myriad God Patriarch would quickly recover from his injuries. He would only come back stronger than he was now. When that happened, he would only prove more dangerous for Yi Yun.

The best method to deal with an enemy was to ensure that he was dead!

“Little Nine, lend me some of your blood!” Yi Yun looked at the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm and asked.

Upon hearing that its blood was needed, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm immediately shrinked its head back. However, it was also reasonable. It knew that the enemy outside was very dangerous and that Yi Yun was no match for him.

After a moment of hesitation, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm steeled its mind and made its decision. It nodded its tiny head as though it was looking at death calmly in the face.

Upon seeing this, Yi Yun was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. “Are you serious? I’m just borrowing a bit of your blood and you look as though I’m taking your life. Didn’t I take some of your blood in the past? When did I not repay it?”

Previously, Yi Yun had fed the fire seed he had obtained from the Nine Li Magus Empire to the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm. Yi Yun was definitely not stingy towards such a natural treasure.

Although extracting the blood of the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm harmed the little fellow’s lifeblood, it would only have its lifeblood restored and strengthened after eating more treasures. To the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm, there were many benefits in following Yi Yun. It would definitely experience growth faster than if it were to go it alone.

Yi Yun gently squeezed the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s body and extracted its blood. It was hard to do, as the little fellow looked like it was suffering a huge grievance as it clenched its teeth and did not make a sound.

Only when Yi Yun promised it that he would feed him with even more treasured herbs did the little fellow beam.

After extracting a few drops of the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s blood, Yi Yun infused it straight into his body.

Instantly, the Dragon Emperor bloodline in him boiled.

1393 - : Turning the Situation Around

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was a spirit being that could transform into a dragon, so it had a natural resonance with the Dragon Emperor blood in Yi Yun. Back when Yi Yun broke through the Supremacy realm, he had been augmented by it’s blood.

All of Yi Yun’s lifeblood surged into his meridians as he felt like there was a roaring river churning ceaselessly in his body. It produced rumbling sounds as his strength began to soar!

Moments later, Yi Yun felt as though his visceral organs and all his meridians were burning.

With things reaching this fever pitch, Yi Yun began circulating the Dragon Emperor Technique.

With the cultivation technique’s circulation, the Dragon Emperor bloodline in Yi Yun burned even more intensely. As for Yi Yun’s body, it turned red like molten metal. It was being tempered many times over.

And to bolster this effect, Yi Yun drank the River of Forgetfulness’s water.

…

Boom!

Myriad God Patriarch’s sword beam struck the last black beam. He spewed a mouthful of fresh blood as he retreated a few steps back and stumbled to get his footing.

At that moment, Myriad God Patriarch was covered in flowing blood. His face was sallow and his breathing was spasmodic. His entire body felt like it could collapse at any time.

Myriad God Patriarch heaved vigorously as he took out a herbal bottle and poured a pill into his mouth. Following that, his face flushed with an abnormal ruddiness. His breathing also gradually stabilized.

Immediately following that, he circulated his Yuan Qi and began purging the Dao of Destruction sealed in his body. After the Dao of Destruction entered his body, it prevented him from healing his injuries and caused him to bleed incessantly. Furthermore, it was eating away at his meridians.

That was the domineering aspect of the Dao of Destruction.

Myriad God Patriarch had already realized by this point that the killing array and the herbal garden were definitely not left behind by an ordinary ancient expert. It was very likely the work of a Godly Monarch!

Yi Yun had actually used such a killing array to try and assassinate him. This infuriated Myriad God Patriarch so much that he nearly cracked his teeth from clenching them so tight.

However, the most important thing to Myriad God Patriarch at the moment was recuperating from his injuries. If he continued allowing the Dao of Destruction to wreak wanton destruction in his body, he would soon fail to even repress his old injuries from relapsing.

Myriad God Patriarch could only forcibly calm his mind and consume another pill. Such potent recovery pills left considerable side effects on a warrior but he had no other choice. Upon thinking of this, his hatred for Yi Yun deepened again.

At that moment, Myriad God Patriarch suddenly sensed a sliver of danger.

He suddenly opened his eyes as a sword flash seemed to transmit out of an ancient space. It contained an aura of extreme coldness and the burning flames of a blazing sun simultaneously. And it was cleaving down at him!

“Yi Yun!”

Myriad God Patriarch instantly saw Yi Yun standing in midair with a frost sword.

The little bastard had actually come out of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. He was trying to sneak attack him while he was recuperating!

Yi Yun’s eyes were filled with killing intent. At that moment, a black vortex appeared out of thin air behind him. The demonic flames soared into the sky as they emitted a destructive aura.

With the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s augmentation, the sword that represented time tore through the shackles of time and space as Yi Yun slashed it down at Myriad God Patriarch!

At that moment, the space between Yi Yun and Myriad God Patriarch distorted because of that strike. The surrounding vegetation instantly lived to the end of its lifespan and was then promptly returned to the earth.

As for the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, it seemed like it could devour the entire world. The gigantic vortex that had formed behind Yi Yun blotted out the sky.

“Go to hell!” Yi Yun let out an angry bellow.

Strike when a person was down! How could Yi Yun miss such an opportunity when he noticed that Myriad God Patriarch was recuperating?

Myriad God Patriarch’s eyes widened. He realized that he had underestimated Yi Yun, as he sensed that this strike allowed Yi Yun to match ordinary Divine Lords!

Back when Yi Yun had been captured by him, he did not have such a powerful aura. However, when he came out of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, his aura had clearly increased. It formed a stark contrast.

Against Yi Yun’s sword flash, Myriad God Patriarch had no choice but to prematurely end his recuperation. All his Yuan Qi stirred as he struck out with his palm to meet Yi Yun’s sword.

Boom!

Instantly, Yuan Qi collided as the two forces stirred in the valley like a storm. The terrifying commotion instantly spread throughout the entire herbal garden.

Myriad God Patriarch barely blocked the strike but after doing so, the color in his face drained. His body could not help but convulse slightly.

As he had terminated his recuperation midway, the Dao of Destruction that he had repressed instantly reared its head again. Combined with him drawing out his power to deliver the strike, it caused his injuries to worsen again!

It was all because of that darn Yi Yun!

And at that moment, Yi Yun had been sent flying backward due to the Yuan Qi collision. His lifeblood was in tumultuous chaos but after cultivating in the Dragon Emperor Technique, his body was extremely strong. He almost instantly calmed his lifeblood.

And when he saw Myriad God Patriarch in such a state, Yi Yun was delighted. He did not hesitate to strike out again.

Another slash!

Myriad God Patriarch’s eyes seemed to crack as he forcefully gathered Yuan Qi and endured the excruciating pain to strike out with his palm again.

Bam!

The sword flash tore through Myriad God Patriarch’s protective Yuan Qi as an unimaginable pain bore into his body. His eyes nearly bled as he let out a furious bellow. His lifeblood was in chaos and he had to forcefully gather his aura again.

In order to kill Yi Yun, Myriad God Patriarch could only push through his injuries. As a patriarch of a sect, it was an insult for him to be reduced to such a state. First, he had been severely injured by Old Snake, then injured by the Still Destruction array, and finally damaged by Yi Yun. Now, he was willing to be left with a permanent injury just to kill Yi Yun!

A gigantic blood-colored palm materialized in front of Myriad God Patriarch. It seemed like it could render the world asunder.

However, just as the palm struck towards Yi Yun with indomitable momentum, a scene that left Myriad God Patriarch roaring with anger happened again. He saw Yi Yun being sucked into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron without turning his head after his strike!

Yi Yun had retreated back into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron after his sneak attack!

“Boom!”

Myriad God Patriarch’s palm struck the Ascending Dragon Cauldron but only managed to make it tremble and sink into the ground. The resonating hum from the cauldron echoed throughout the pocket world.

But other than that, he had failed to leave a single injury on Yi Yun.

“What a coward! Coward!” Myriad God Patriarch’s killing intent raged as his lips trembled. He had led a life of being cunning and orchestrating great plots. But against Yi Yun, he felt like he was losing his mind to anger. Yi Yun was just too deplorable!

“Do you think I can’t do a thing to you while you are hiding in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron? How naive!”

Myriad God Patriarch cast his hateful gaze at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Indeed, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was extremely sturdy. It was very difficult to destroy. At the very least, Myriad God Patriarch did not possess that ability.

At that moment, Myriad God Patriarch extended his hand and grabbed empty space. Immediately, dozens of formless metallic chains appeared around the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, sealing it in its spot.

1394 - : Injuries Worsen

CKtalon  CKtalon

In fact, Myriad God Patriarch really had no need to trap the cauldron. Yi Yun was actually quite slow when controlling the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. However, after receiving a sneak attack by Yi Yun, Myriad God Patriarch did everything to the extreme.

“Little bastard, you have harmed me time and time again. I’d rather give up this Ascending Dragon Cauldron than let you live a second longer!” Myriad God Patriarch’s eyes suffused deep hatred.

As he spoke, Myriad God Patriarch began forming seals in all seriousness. The space around the Ascending Dragon Cauldron began to slowly distort until gradually, a black hole appeared behind the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. And the black hole was filled with chaotic spatial and temporal fragments. The turbulent air surges emitted a cadaveric aura.

The effort was very demanding on Myriad God Patriarch. His face twisted into a grimace and he had no choice but to consume another pill.

However, Myriad God Patriarch had a delighted smile after that. “I want you experience an insufferable existence to the point of you pleading for death!”

Yi Yun also sensed that something was amiss as he hid inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

When he discovered the black hole behind the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, his scalp tingled.

This was… a chaotic alternate space-time dimension!

In the 12 Empyrean Heavens, throughout the endless cosmos, there existed numerous alternate space-time dimensions. And a number of them were extremely chaotic, having no concept of time and space. It was very difficult to exit once one found themselves inside.

Back when he left the Tian Yuan world to head for the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, Yi Yun and Lin Xintong were separated due to a nearby chaotic space-time passageway. Yi Yun understood personally the terror such chaotic space-time dimensions posed.

If a mighty figure was well-versed in spatial dimension laws, they could use such an alternate space-time dimension for themselves after discovering one. It could even be used to construct a spacial cage!

Clearly, Myriad God Patriarch was planning on throwing Yi Yun as well as the cauldron into the chaotic alternate dimension. Once he was trapped inside, he would float in there for eternity. There would be nothing left for him other than to die a withering death.

“This Myriad God Patriarch has really gone crazy.” Yi Yun originally believed that Myriad God Patriarch cherished the Ascending Dragon Cauldron too greatly to endanger it. He never expected that Myriad God Patriarch would get to the point where he would give up the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in order to kill him.

From the looks of it, his constant meddling against Myriad God Patriarch had dealt enough suffering on him. It caused the Myriad God Patriarch to resort to such a desperate measure.

“I’ll be a sitting duck if I continue to remain in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron,” thought Yi Yun.

He had consumed the River of Forgetfulness’s water and absorbed the silkworm’s blood. His lifeblood had strengthened and his body had become more powerful. Therefore, he had decisively attacked when he discovered that Myriad God Patriarch was recuperating.

The sneak attacked had probably worsened Myriad God Patriarch’s injuries. At that moment, Myriad God Patriarch appeared to be the weakest he had ever been and he was at his strongest!

“Myriad God Patriarch, it’s time to end this vendetta between us.”

Yi Yun’s eyes immediately suffused a firm conviction.

Meanwhile, Myriad God Patriarch was in the final stages of forming his seals.

He looked at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron with bloodshot eyes. He had once placed hopes on it as something that would allow him to reach a higher state in the martial path, but his hopes had been destroyed by Yi Yun. Now, he wanted to personally ruin the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, along with Yi Yun within.

The feelings he experienced were truly mixed.

However, no matter what regrets he felt, they did not deter him in any way. On the contrary, he was even more focused. He wanted to finish his final seal and throw the Ascending Dragon Cauldron into the space-time passage.

But at that moment, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron suddenly trembled violently. With a bang, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s lid suddenly opened as a loud dragon’s roar was heard. A figure flew out from the cauldron.

The figure was none other than Yi Yun!

Myriad God Patriarch was immediately delighted the moment he saw Yi Yun appear.

If Yi Yun had insisted on hiding in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, he would have no choice but to throw the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as well as Yi Yun into the black hole. Now that Yi Yun had appeared, he had basically given Myriad God Patriarch an opportunity to take the cauldron for himself.

“Good, very good. Yi Yun, it helps me out quite a lot if you are willing to throw yourself at death!” said Myriad God Patriarch coldly.

Without the killing array or the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, what gave Yi Yun the confidence to fight him?

“Little bastard, you are only capable of launching sneak attacks. I will make you understand the huge, unbridgeable gap between us!” said Myriad God Patriarch.

And at that moment, Yi Yun already sensed that the space surrounding the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had undergone changes. It appeared as though the cauldron now existed in a separate spatial dimension.

Myriad God Patriarch had used spatial-dimension laws to seal the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. He would not allow Yi Yun to escape into it anymore.

“Little bastard, go to hell!”

Although Yi Yun’s cultivation was nothing in the eyes of Myriad God Patriarch, he still took the initiative to strike!

His hands formed claws as they swooped down at Yi Yun like an owl. Before he had even arrived, a ghastly wail was heard. Instantly, the surroundings were dyed in a blood-red color.

Simultaneously, the space around Yi Yun seemed sealed. The gravitational force within that space seemed to increase by more than ten times. His every action was slowed and impeded.

Just like a mighty eagle used all its strength when capturing a rabbit, Myriad God Patriarch was bent on taking Yi Yun’s life the moment he struck!

Yi Yun immediately experienced an intense threat when facing Myriad God Patriarch’s attack!

However, he was already mentally prepared to fight him when he came out.

Yi Yun’s gaze was solemn. The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence appeared behind him once again. At the same time, the Mirage Snow sword in his hand seemed to turn heavy. Both Yin and Yang laws were augmented on the sword as an unimaginably terrifying aura surged from Yi Yun.

Yi Yun did not hesitate to burn his blood essence when facing Myriad God Patriarch’s killer blow!

Instantly, there was a whistling sound coming from Yi Yun’s surrounding space. It was as though the space itself could not withstand the powers and laws that Yi Yun’s body exuded. As for the spatial dimension laws that Myriad God Patriarch had inflicted on him, they were rapidly being shattered.

Yi Yun sensed the gravitational force vanish. He escaped that hindering force as the entire region around him turned black. The color was not pure black but had countless Dao patterns circulating within. It was extremely profound.

At the next moment, Yi Yun had already charged at Myriad God Patriarch and slashed with his sword!

The strike, including the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence within, gathered all Yi Yun’s strength and laws at the sword’s tip. It formed a point, and this point lit up within the black space. It turned increasingly glaring as it expanded!

Finally, it smashed down at Myriad God Patriarch like a radiant sun!

Upon seeing this strike, Myriad God Patriarch experienced a jolt in his heart.

He never expected Yi Yun’s strength to have reached such a state!

However, no matter how talented Yi Yun was, there was a substantial gap between him and Myriad God Patriarch. Today, death was the only outcome for Yi Yun!

Myriad God Patriarch’s eyes flashed as a gigantic blood claw immediately appeared above Yi Yun’s head as it came swiping downwards.

He believed that Yi Yun could only turn around and defend. But at the moment of his defense, a second claw would arrive in front of Yi Yun. That way, Yi Yun would be heavily injured even if he survived!

1395 - : Spatial Cage

CKtalon  CKtalon

However, what caught Myriad God Patriarch by surprise was that Yi Yun appeared to be oblivious to the blood claw above his head. He continued to slash at him in an indomitable fashion.

Not only that, but suddenly, Yi Yun’s aura surged once again as he burned even more blood essence!

Roar!

A dragon’s roar suddenly emitted from Yi Yun’s body. And at that moment, like a True Dragon, he slashed at Myriad God Patriarch with unstoppable might.

Even Myriad God Patriarch’s expression could not help but change when he saw the oncoming strike!

Yi Yun had still not shown all his potential!

Boom! With a tumultuous explosion, Myriad God Patriarch’s claws and Yi Yun’s sword collided. Immediately, like an avalanche, the ground cracked into countless fissures as space itself quaked. Massive spatial turbulences appeared.

If the valley was not protected by an array formation, it would have long been flattened by the terrifying Yuan Qi collisions.

Even so, the valley seemed to be cleansed by the storms. Boulders shattered and all vegetation was wiped out. Only the divine herb remained unharmed due to the killing array’s protection.

At that moment, Yi Yun had already flown backward, slamming heavily into the cliff. His mouth and body were covered in blood and there were about eight wounds ripped through his chest. He was bleeding profusely.

This was only possible because Yi Yun had cultivated in the Dragon Emperor Technique and had a powerful body. If he were any ordinary warrior, his sternum would have collapsed, destroying all his innards.

Yi Yun coughed vigorously twice as he stood up by using the Mirage Snow snow as support.

This strike had severely injured Yi Yun!

But Myriad God Patriarch was not in any better shape!

The worst problem he faced was his original injuries. Now with the accumulation of new and old wounds, he had no idea how much total injury he suffered from. After clashing with Yi Yun, the injuries his body suffered from seemed to put him on the brink of a relapse.

Never did he imagine that he would be sent retreating several steps by a Supremacy-realm junior like Yi Yun. Furthermore, the laws contained within the unbridled sword Qi were not something he could deal with.

Yi Yun’s sword had left behind a long gaping wound in Myriad God Patriarch’s chest. Furthermore, it carried a destructive power that had encroached into his wounds. It was tearing his apart body from within.

Myriad God Patriarch grimaced but when he saw Yi Yun, he suffused a sneer.

“Yi Yun, I admit that I have underestimated you. If you were to continue maturing for centuries or a millennia, you might be my equal. But it is not so now. You clashed with me at the risk of suffering heavy injuries. Do you think the few injuries you left on me are of any significance? The person who will die today is still you!”

Myriad God Patriarch looked at Yi Yun’s pale complexion as he said this with a sneer. Yi Yun’s injuries from the clash were worse than his.

“The Ascending Dragon Cauldron is mine after all. And I will use you as an herb catalyst as I originally planned. I’ll throw you into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and refine you into the Dragon Emperor Relic so as to aid my reaching a new apex!” said Myriad God Patriarch happily. The way he looked at Yi Yun was like he was looking at a supreme-grade spirit pill.

However, Myriad God Patriarch frowned when he saw Yi Yun’s reaction. For Yi Yun’s expression remained calm. There was even a tinge of mockery in his eyes.

This gave Myriad God Patriarch’s heart a jolt. He immediately felt a sense of foreboding. Was Yi Yun up to one of his tricks once again!?

However, Myriad God Patriarch quickly swept his surroundings. He did so extremely meticulously but there were no strange phenomena around him. Nor was there any other hidden array formation that Yi Yun could make use of.

But immediately following that, Myriad God Patriarch’s expression changed. He could clearly sense that there was something in his body!

Myriad God Patriarch immediately circulated his Yuan Qi but when he drew on it, he felt an excruciating pain coming from his dantian!

The pain left Myriad God Patriarch trembling. He could not help but let out a painful growl from his throat.

He even felt like his dantian was being bitten by countless worms. The lifeblood in him was rapidly draining.

“Little bastard, you…” Myriad God Patriarch suddenly looked up at Yi Yun. He immediately knew that Yi Yun had done something to him. There was a snake inside his dantian!

Back when Yi Yun released his sword flash, a tiny snake had been hidden within. The true purpose of the strike was to deliver and protect the snake well! The snake was of extraordinary grade and it possessed the bloodline of a divine beast. As for Myriad God Patriarch who was covered in wounds, the snake had taken the opportunity to bore into his body under the sword flash’s guise.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm loved consuming natural treasures. And a Divine Lord’s body just happened to be tempered for long periods of time and had consumed countless herbal treasures. Their lifeblood and the Yuan Qi in their dantians were extremely beneficial to the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm.

At that moment, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was like a ravenous Tao Tie. It opened its mouth wide and began consuming Myriad God Patriarch’s lifeblood essence ravenously.

Not only that, it also gathered its strength in a bid to charge out of Myriad God Patriarch’s dantian.

Myriad God Patriarch let out a demented bellow as his Yuan Qi circulated to the limit. He endured the cracking pain of his dantian as he injected immense amounts of energy into it.

“Get lost!”

The thick meridians around Myriad God Patriarch’s dantian exploded. A tremendous force gathered into Myriad God Patriarch’s dantian, causing energy to well up like a volcano. Then it suddenly erupted, spewing the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm out.

This blast left the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm heavily injured as well. Its blood-covered body was sent flying out. However, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm appeared delighted despite its heavy injuries. The large amount of Yuan Qi it had consumed were more than sufficient for it to recuperate its wounds.

Upon seeing the seven-colored snake come out, Myriad God Patriarch’s eyes seemed to crack. He was just about to pursue when a black flame, one that blotted out the sky, blanketed him!

It was the Heretical God Fire!

Yi Yun had suffered heavy injuries and all his energy was infused into the Heretical God Fire, causing the terrifying flames to roar into the sky. Even though Ling Xie’er wasn’t around, the Heretical God Fire’s power had not declined much!

If this were any other time, such a flame would be insufficient to injure Myriad God Patriarch. But under repeated assaults, he ended up being burned into a wretched state.

“Yi Yun!” Myriad God Patriarch’s body convulsed as his lips trembled incessantly. A great deal of his aura had diminished. His new wounds and old wounds were completely taking their toll on him.

The flames did not retreat and there were a series of consecutive explosions. When he heard that sound, Myriad God Patriarch felt his scalp tingle. He knew very well that Yi Yun had thrown out the Thunderclap Explosive Firebeads again. The twelve blood-colored stone monuments immediately activated, sending out their black beams!

Such terrifying black beams left Myriad God Patriarch shuddering. However, he knew if he just focused on dodging again, he would end up being killed by Yi Yun!

He ignored the black beams and suddenly held his palms together. Instantly, the spatial array around the Ascending Dragon Cauldron tightened, sealing the Ascending Dragon Cauldron completely!

How could he allow Yi Yun to hide in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron once again? Similarly, he would not suffer this trick a second time.

1396 - : Internecine Outcome

CKtalon  CKtalon

Myriad God Patriarch revealed a maniacal smile when he sealed the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. “Punk, since you triggered the array, we should endure its attacks together. Let’s see who will survive!”

Once the black beams were triggered, they would shoot without discrimination. If not for the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s help, Yi Yun would have long been full of holes.

Now, Myriad God Patriarch had set up a spatial array around the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Yi Yun could forget about going back in.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

The black beams shot out from all the statues in unison. Despite the lethal black beams that rained down on them like a tempestuous storm, Myriad God Patriarch still revealed a sinister grin. He believed that the heavily injured Yi Yun would not be able to withstand the barrage of attacks. “I want to see how you die!” Myriad God Patriarch roared.

He was nearly on his last legs. He expended his remaining vitality to dodge the black beams in a fluster.

Black beams tore through his arms and thighs! However, Myriad God Patriarch summoned the last of his strength to protect the critical parts of his body.

Despite being on the borders of death, Myriad God Patriarch diverted a little of his perception to check on Yi Yun. But when he did so, he was flabbergasted.

He saw Yi Yun enveloped in a blurry black mist. The black mist effused an aura of Destruction. Inside the mist was Yi Yun moving around like a fish in water. He flashed around amid the black light. The black beams constantly brushed past his body and the black mist was constantly being abraded, even to the point of causing him injuries; however, none of the black beams managed to penetrate his body.

“How could this be?”

Myriad God Patriarch was alarmed. This was an array set up by a Godly Monarch. How was a punk at the Supremacy realm able to hold his own against it?

And at that moment, Yi Yun looked at Myriad God Patriarch. An intense killing intent flashed in his eyes suddenly. With an angry bellow, his aura rose once again suddenly. His wounds were rapidly healing as well.

The Dragon Emperor Technique was pushed to its limit as Yi Yun burned his blood essence in large quantities!

Even the Dragon Emperor Technique was unable to sustain Yi Yun’s crazy enervation of his lifeblood. But at that moment, Yi Yun had no other options!

“You have tried to kill me time and time again but you have always failed. You no longer have any chance. This day a year from now will be your death anniversary! I’ll be taking that head of yours!” Yi Yun bellowed, and instantly a gigantic black vortex appeared behind him. The sinister demonic aura seemed to be focused on Yi Yun, making the blood-soaked warrior look like a demonic god.

Yi Yun held the cold-as-ice Mirage Snow sword as he charged towards Myriad God Patriarch amid the overwhelming black beams.

“Yi Yun! Have you gone mad!?”

Myriad God Patriarch was alarmed. Delivering an attack under such circumstances was practically suicide!

“Kill!”

Yi Yun raised his sword above his head as he slashed down ruthlessly!

“You want me dead? I’ll use you as a shield!”

Myriad God Patriarch turned crazy as well. He bellowed angrily as a sanguine aura emitted from his body. The sanguine aura seemed to burn along the surface of his body. Even his cloak had been reduced to ashes.

He drew his Bone Corrosion Sword once again. The originally white bone sword was now tainted with a layer of blood-red aura. It let out sharp, ghastly wails. It could attack a person’s soul directly and make them lose their mind.

As Myriad God Patriarch pointed his sword at Yi Yun and slashed with it, what seemed like countless specters appeared. They extended their rotting arms to grab Yi Yun. They were of all ages and sexes, but they had gruesome looks and stared at Yi Yun with emptied eyes. It was as though they wanted to drag Yi Yun down and make him one of them.

However, Yi Yun’s sword did not waver despite facing all of this. He still slashed down without any regard!

Boom!

Wherever the sword flash passed, obstructions were annihilated regardless if they were an illusion or not!

Under Yi Yun’s Major Dao of Destruction, the Bone Corrosion Sword’s soul attack was parried. The ghosts wailed as they reduced to nothingness. And when all the phantoms dissipated, Yi Yun’s sword tip was already aimed at Myriad God Patriarch.

Not only had Yi Yun burned his blood essence for this strike, he had also infused it with all the nomological insights he had. This was, at present, Yi Yun’s strongest attack!

“Boom!”

Yi Yun’s strike met Myriad God Patriarch’s Bone Corrosion Sword. A dragon’s roar was accompanied by the appearance of a True Dragon phantom!

Instantly, Myriad God Patriarch felt as though he had been sealed in a spatial dimension. And in front of him, a True Dragon was flying out of the endless void. It massive body was heading straight for him!

“Scram!”

Myriad God Patriarch struck out with a claw, hitting the True Dragon’s head directly!

The powerful reverberation caused the bones in Myriad God Patriarch’s arm to nearly fracture. But the True Dragon had dissipated under Myriad God Patriarch’s strike. Yi Yun also suffered heavy injuries. His sternum depressed as all his ribs broke, stabbing into his lungs.

He spewed out large mouthfuls of blood as his eyes began to dim.

But this was a moment of life and death. Yi Yun knew that if he were to lose consciousness, all that would remain for him would be a tragic death. At that final instant, he bit the tip of his tongue and used the pain to force himself awake.

The thin black fog enveloped Yi Yun once again. The creation of the Dao of Chaos and the Major Dao of Destruction fused together. The two highest laws in the Universe protected Yi Yun’s body, causing all the lethal black beams to fly past Yi Yun’s body.

However, Myriad God Patriarch lacked such an ability. The powerful explosive blast made him lose his balance completely!

“Phuah! Phuah!”

Two black beams of light tore through Myriad God Patriarch’s body. One of them even brushed across his heart!

Although such an attack was not necessarily fatal, there was the Dao of Destruction contained in the black beam. Myriad God Patriarch’s heart began to disintegrate. Large amounts of blood spewed out.

As for the other black beam, it penetrated Myriad God Patriarch’s waist and tore through his spine!

Even someone as strong as Myriad God Patriarch would lose mobility in his lower body once his spine broke.

Myriad God Patriarch was nearly at the end of his life after suffering such grievous injuries. And, at that moment, Yi Yun used all that he had in him to strike out with the Mirage Snow sword!

“Puah!”

The Mirage Snow penetrated Myriad God Patriarch’s throat as he opened his mouth and eyes wide. His eyes began to glaze over as his tongue hung out.

Myriad God Patriarch stood in his spot with the sword still stabbed through his throat. Large amounts of blood were gushing out the hole from his throat like a leak. His body wavered as he attempted to extend his hand and pull out the Mirage Snow sword. However, he had already lost all his strength. All he could do was stare hatefully and indignantly with his fading eyes at Yi Yun.

But gradually, his vision blurred. The Yi Yun he saw seemed to become distant as he could vaguely make out Yi Yun walking towards him. As for Yi Yun’s voice, it seemed to come from another world.

“I said that I would take your head today!”

He felt an excruciating pain as Yi Yun pulled out the Mirage Snow sword. Following that, Myriad God Patriarch saw everything spinning around him and finally, he saw his own body.

Up to the moment of his death, he still refused to believe that there would come a day when he would be pushed to such a wretched state before being beheaded by a Supremacy-realm junior.

1397 - : Desperate Struggle

CKtalon  CKtalon

Only after he cleaved off Myriad God Patriarch’s head and confirmed that he could not be anymore dead did Yi Yun slump down. He felt completely enervated.

His act of turning the tables and finally killing Myriad God Patriarch was the ultimate challenge for Yi Yun. It put his mental abilities, decisiveness, and strength to the test.

If he had failed in any aspect, the outcome would have been completely reversed. More than any other thing, absolute strength was what truly gave him control over his fate. He could not just hope that his enemy would always be in a severely injured state or that he would be in an advantageous environment.

It could be said that his final victory over Myriad God Patriarch was all thanks to the array the Godly Monarch Still Destruction set up. If not for that, Yi Yun might have only been able to inflict a grievous injury on Myriad God Patriarch in his final desperate strike. It was the Still Destruction black beams that put Myriad God Patriarch in a position to be killed!

Despite Yi Yun having insights into the Major Destruction laws that matched the Godly Monarch Still Destruction’s Still Destruction, he was still heavily injured. This resulted in a black beam brushing past his shoulder at the final moment. A large piece of flesh and blood instantly vanished from his body.

Yi Yun sat down right where he was and took out a few recuperative pills to consume before meditating. He had burned too much of his blood essence and been severely injured by Myriad God Patriarch. If he did not quickly tend to his wounds, it might affect his martial foundations.

At that moment, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm flew over and coiled on Yi Yun’s shoulder.

“You did a great job.” Yi Yun smiled as he stroked the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s tiny head. Then, he fed it a pill.

In fact, even without the pill, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm would slowly recover from its injuries on its own. It had absorbed a large amount of Yuan Qi from Myriad God Patriarch’s dantian. That was enough to nourish it and allow it to rapidly grow.

However, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm delightfully sniffed taking in the medicinal fragrance of the pill. Then, it swallowed the pill whole.

Thus, the human and snake began recuperating silently.

After his injuries took a turn for the better, Yi Yun walked in front of Myriad God Patriarch’s headless corpse. With a grab into thin air, an interspatial ring flew into Yi Yun’s hand.

After he injected his perception deep into the interspatial ring, he revealed a look of disappointment. There was not much of value in Myriad God Patriarch’s interspatial ring.

In fact, most of Myriad God Patriarch’s wealth had been put into the Dragon Emperor Relic and the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. In the end, the Dragon Emperor Relic was consumed by Yi Yun and the Ascending Dragon Cauldron became his as well. Some of his remaining wealth had been discarded during Old Snake’s final attack in order to trick Old Snake into thinking that he was dead. Naturally, it was taken by Old Snake.

Of the little that was left, half was used to treat the wounds Old Snake had inflicted on him. Therefore, the remaining bits did not satisfy Yi Yun at all.

If Myriad God Patriarch could read Yi Yun’s mind, he might have been so mad that he could come back to life.

But alas, it was still better than nothing. Yi Yun stored away the pills and the two Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli within. Following that, he flicked a piece of the Heretical God Fire from his fingertip onto Myriad God Patriarch’s corpse.

As the flames roared, Myriad God Patriarch was finally decimated. Yi Yun made sure to watch as his corpse was reduced to ash.

Following that, Yi Yun walked to the edge of the killing array.

He looked at the black monuments and gave a deep, solemn bow.

“Senior Godly Monarch Still Destruction, although we have never met, the killing array you left behind helped me in slaying my enemy.”

Even without the gratitude, Yi Yun was planning on taking the herb. The bow was necessary.

The herb might have been forgotten after the Godly Monarch Still Destruction planted it. However, with the long passage of time, the herb had grown into a supreme-grade divine herb. Yi Yun was in desperate need of large amounts of rare treasured herbs in order to cultivate the Dragon Emperor Technique.

Yi Yun was in no hurry to reap the herb. He was entirely inadequate in his present condition.

He sat quietly outside the array and consumed the recuperative medicine he had been storing away, as he circulated the Dragon Emperor Technique and meditated.

The River of Forgetfulness’s water continued showing its effects but they were no longer as pronounced.

Yi Yun spent several months recuperating. The injuries Myriad God Patriarch had inflicted were just too severe. If an average warrior were to sustain such injuries, they would probably not recover even after years, notwithstanding the need to consume large amounts of treasured herbs.

Yi Yun had the Dragon Emperor Technique that tempered his lifeblood and flesh but even so, he could only barely recover. Although his injuries had turned for the better, he remained weakened.

However, Yi Yun could not wait any longer. Over the past few months, Yi Yun studied the Still Destruction array when there was time during his recuperation. He was already confident that he could crack the array.

Yi Yun sighed deeply outside the killing array for a moment before he strode in. He walked straight into the Still Destruction killing array.

From his first step, he immediately triggered the killing array. Black beams started shooting out, but instantly a black mist emerged from Yi Yun’s body. Just as the black beams were about to hit Yi Yun, they would suddenly change directions.

As Yi Yun took one step after another, the number of black beams increased. However, Yi Yun did not stop at all. He was like a petrel in the midst of a tempest. From the outside it would look like a harrowing experience but he easily passed through the storm, dodging the black beams at unbelievable angles.

Back when Yi Yun fought Myriad God Patriarch, the black beams would still manage to graze Yi Yun. But now, even before he had fully recovered, he could already walk freely amid the black beams. This was because his understanding of the Still Destruction array had elevated since that battle.

It didn’t take too long for him to arrive in front of the divine herb. When he came to a hundred feet away from the divine herb, the black beams suddenly vanished and the Still Destruction array fell silent once again.

Once the danger was gone, the mysterious herb gently swayed in front of Yi Yun, effusing its vast lifeblood powers. Even though he was still standing somewhat of a distance from the herb, Yi Yun could sense that his lifeblood was resonating with it. His blood seemed to be in a state of commotion as his heart raced. It felt like it was about to tear out from his body.

And at that moment, Yi Yun sensed something and turned his head. On his shoulder was the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm. Its eyes were lit up as it stared intently at the mysterious herb. It kept swallowing its saliva.

Yi Yun could sense the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s desire. As a worldly spirit beast, it probably had better judgment than him when it came to rare herbs.

After some thought, Yi Yun formed a blade with two fingers and gently swiped. He cut up the soil beneath the herb and extracted it whole.

When the herb landed in Yi Yun’s hands, the few leaves it had automatically fell off, revealing a red fruit within.

“Eh?”

Yi Yun was slightly alarmed. The fruit was indeed something he had never seen before. Nor did it match his recollections of the divine alchemist’s notes.

As for the leaves that had been shed, they were absolute treasures! Yi Yun handed the leaves directly to the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm.

Its eyes were following every action Yi Yun took. He could not help but find it amusing when he saw what it had done.

The moment he placed the few leaves in front of the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm, it immediately pounced to eat them. The leaves were about the same size as the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm and when it bit at the leaves, it wriggled and squirmed with all its might before swallowing the leaves down bit by bit.

Yi Yun carefully observed the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s condition during this entire process. Although the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was a worldly spirit beast, it required natural treasures to grow. It was likely able to determine what could and could not be eaten, as well as the food’s effects. And since this was a nameless herb, Yi Yun had to be very careful.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm revealed a satisfied expression after it devoured all the leaves. It’s chubby body rolled down and Yi Yun caught it in his palm. It even rolled around in pleasure.

“Uh…” Yi Yun raised the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm and shook it gently. He couldn’t help but chuckle when he discovered that it looked intoxicated. Its body was wavering and soon, it let out a rhythmic sound of breathing. It had fallen asleep.

But slowly, the breathing sounds turned louder, almost like thunderclaps. Yi Yun could even hear a vague dragon’s cry in them.

It was truly fascinating that such a loud sound could be produced by a tiny body like the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm.

Furthermore, Yi Yun sensed that the lifeblood in the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was constantly rising. Its body swelled up until it looked like it was about to explode.

Yi Yun turned somewhat anxious. However, since the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm had determined that the leaves were edible, it was unlikely they were dangerous.

At that moment, Yuan Qi began to gather from every corner of the pocket world. Gradually, a Yuan Qi cloud formed above the valley.

Following that, the Yuan Qi cloud produced a thread that wrapped around the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm.

The cloud kept producing threads, and eventually the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was wrapped up in a cocoon. Its breathing also vanished. However, Yi Yun could sense through his perception that the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was within the cocoon and undergoing a metamorphosis.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was evolving?

Yi Yun was surprised and thrilled. From the looks of it, the absorption of the Myriad God Patriarch’s blood essence and the consumption of the mysterious herb’s leaves were enough to push the amount of energy within the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm to a particular level, allowing it to evolve.

The metamorphosis might take a very long time or it could also end very quickly.

Yi Yun felt somewhat speechless seeing the calm cocoon. Although it was called a Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm, it looked more like a snake. Seeing it actually form a cocoon was a strange thing.

After carefully storing away the cocoon formed by the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm, Yi Yun looked back at the mysterious herb. Since the herb was able to facilitate the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s evolution, its medicinal essence was definitely extraordinary.

He carefully stored the fruit away and left the hill basin.

After flying in the air for a period of time, he landed in a remote valley.

There was a waterfall here and no beasts. There were some birds and critters, and it was a very idyllic scene.

Yi Yun sat on a boulder beside the waterfall and meditated for seven days.

Only when Yi Yun sensed that his mental strength had been restored to its optimum state did he take out the mysterious herb.

Holding it in hand, Yi Yun could sense the surging medicinal essence that the mysterious herb contained. Just the minute amount of medicinal essence he absorbed from making skin contact was enough to give him a sense of comfort.

1398 - : Celestial Silkworm Forms Cocoon

CKtalon  CKtalon

“I still needed to gather a few more herbs to refine the Dragon Emperor Relic but now that I have this mysterious fruit, I no longer need to.” Yi Yun’s eyes shimmered as he revealed a look of great satisfaction.

There was no fixed Dragon Emperor Relic recipe to begin with. As long as one had the appropriate amount of treasured herbs, it could be refined.

Yi Yun’s principal herb had been the Abyssal Red Lotus. As for the other rare herbs he had been seeking out, they were only meant to be auxiliary ones. However, with the mysterious herb’s fruit added into the mix, the Dragon Emperor Relic that Yi Yun refined would probably have a very different level of effectiveness.

He planned on using the mysterious herb’s fruit as the principal herb and the Abyssal Red Lotus as the auxiliary herb. With those two combined, he could refine a supreme-grade Dragon Emperor Relic.

Yi Yun had experience refining a Dragon Emperor Relic. He was even used as a catalyst herb for one; therefore, it was a simply a familiar job he could handle easily.

The world he was in was very silent. Yi Yun was not worried about any external disturbances as he stilled his mind in preparation to refine the second Dragon Emperor Relic.

Yi Yun first took out the Abyssal Red Lotus and some other herbs.

He had already processed the Abyssal Red Lotus through the Herb Nurturing Technique, making it go from a lotus seed to a fire-like lotus flower. Every petal was formed from a roaring abyssal flame.

Although it looked like a beautiful flower, one would be burned to a crisp by the abyssal flame if they tried to touch it without the necessary precautions.

Yi Yun extended his hand and guided the Abyssal Red Lotus until it was floating in front of him. He produced many hand seals, making golden lines appear around the Abyssal Red Lotus. He completely locked the Abyssal Red Lotus’s medicinal essence onto the golden lines.

Following that, Yi Yun kept flinging other herbs out, either extracting their juices, removing their root tubers, or extracting their essence.

Finally, Yi Yun took out the mysterious herb’s fruit.

The fruit had dark golden patterns on its surface. Upon closer inspection, he could see that these were infinite Dao patterns engraved by nature.

Yi Yun held the fruit and sensed the medicinal powers coming from within.

Following that, Yi Yun began forming seals with the utmost precision.

As wisps of Yuan Qi appeared in Yi Yun’s hands like a thread that wrapped around the fruit, the dark golden Dao patterns on the fruit lit up. Drops of golden liquid slowly seeped out of the fruit.

Each golden liquid drop contained tremendous amount of lifeblood. In terms of medicinal strength, it was a lot more potent than the leaves.

Finally, the fruit produced dozens of golden liquid drops. They floated in mid-air before coalescing together, forming a sphere the size of a pigeon’s egg. It was a coruscant gold that looked mesmerizing.

The sphere contained the essence of the mysterious herb.

Yi Yun had the sudden urge to immediately devour the golden sphere.

However, he repressed that thought. Refining it into a Dragon Emperor Relic would bring out its medicinal effects even more.

“Ascending Dragon Cauldron, arise!”

Yi Yun cried out softly as the Ascending Dragon Cauldron flew up. It spun in mid-air before the lid automatically opened.

Yi Yun guided with his fingers, sending the prepared herbs along with the golden sphere into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron one by one.

Following that, Yi Yun produced a flame in his palm with a whoosh.

Heretical God Fire Seed!

The Heretical God Fire flew to the bottom of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, as though it possessed intelligence, and began burning vigorously.

The lid closed and all the herbs were sealed inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, burning in the envelopment of the Heretical God Fire. The herbs’ medicinal essences began to be extracted one by one before they clashed together and fused.

As for Yi Yun, he watched intently. He constantly monitored the situation in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron with his perception as he controlled the strength of the Heretical God Fire.

Gradually, the quiet valley produced sounds that resembled an airbox. It was as though the entire valley had turned into a furnace as it burned and crackled.

This lasted an entire month.

With a clear hum, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s lid began to tremble as an indescribable medicinal fragrance emanated from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

The tiny waterfall immediately bloomed with flowers as a pleasant echo seemed to be heard from the void.

A glint appeared in Yi Yun’s eyes as a look of unconcealed excitement flashed across his exhausted face.

After a month of constant supervision and refinement, the second Dragon Emperor Relic was finally finished!

When Yi Yun opened the lid, a glow burst out from within.

Yi Yun acted with his extended hand, sealing the space around the glow. And then he grabbed it in his outstretched hand.

Amid the glow, he could see an indistinct dragon phantom that struggled within. Following that, the glow revealed its true self. It was a crystalline pill with a surface that resembled jade. But most astonishing of all, the pill was still constantly palpitating like a tiny heart. It seemed to possess true life.

When pills were refined to the most supreme-grade, they could generate a form of intelligence. If the pill escaped, it could even cultivate itself into a spiritual object, no different from the treasured herbs that had gained sentience.

In fact, pills were the fusion of treasured herbs. They were truly the essence of heaven and earth.

The Dragon Emperor Relic had already produced some intelligence, the mark of a true supreme-grade divine pill.

“I just finished refining this pill and am not in the correct condition to consume the Dragon Emperor Relic,” thought Yi Yun.

During the consumption of treasured items, some warriors would even first take a bath and burn incense, ensuring that they were completely calm before they consumed any treasured item.

Although Yi Yun did not want to go through that hassle, he still needed to regulate himself for a period of time.

With the pill refined, Yi Yun’s taut mind could finally rest. He slowly sat on the ground meditating, enjoying a rare peace for a few days.

Only when Yi Yun felt that he was fully prepared did he slowly open his eyes.

The cultivation of the Dragon Emperor Technique meant that Yi Yun had to expend large amounts of treasured herbs. And this second Dragon Emperor Relic was only enough for Yi Yun to cultivate to the second level of the Dragon Emperor Technique.

But there was a decisiveness in Yi Yun’s eyes. Regardless of how hard it would be in the future, he believed he could refine a third, fourth, and even more after refining the second Dragon Emperor Relic.

Without any delay, Yi Yun took out the second Dragon Emperor Relic and swallowed it.

Yi Yun immediately felt like he had swallowed lightning hell.

The wanton and violent strength went from Yi Yun’s throat to his stomach. Then, it exploded in his dantian, instantly sending energy to surge through Yi Yun’s entire body. It was as though it wanted to completely shatter his body.

Yi Yun’s skin instantly turned blood red and, in his nearly translucent skin, he could actually see that his meridians were coursing with blood that resembled burning lava.

Simultaneously, the immense amount of medicinal essence blasted through all of Yi Yun’s meridians as they surged.

And yet, despite being drenched in sweat, Yi Yun felt extremely comfortable.

He could feel that his strength, body, meridians, and dantian were being inundated by the medicinal essence and were rapidly transforming.

1399 - : Second Dragon Emperor Relic

CKtalon  CKtalon

Under the Dragon Emperor Technique’s guidance, the medicinal essence surged like ceaselessly like a tidal wave. Slowly, Yi Yun felt that his dantian came to resemble a huge whirlpool as all the energy surged towards his dantian.

This energy poured into Yi Yun’s dantian, nearly to the point that it threatened to explode. But with the circulation of the Dragon Emperor Technique, the energy more naturally infused into Yi Yun’s flesh and blood.

Under the impact and tempering of the potent medicinal essence, Yi Yun’s skin flushed red. Slowly, he effused a jade-like glow. His meridians turned translucent and firm, while his flesh and blood seemed to undergo immense tempering.

The injuries that remained from the battle were completely healed during this process. At the same time, even the Azure Wood Divine Tree in Yi Yun’s dantian began to grow taller and taller.

Through it all, Yi Yun felt extremely comfortable as he sensed the tumultuous energy raging in him. He suddenly opened his eyes with a flash of lightning. His aura was honed like an extremely keen blade.

Unknowingly, Yi Yun’s cultivation level had reached the mid-stages of the Supremacy realm.

To an average warrior, a small subrealm improvement during the entire process of going from the early-stages to the late-stages might take them decades, centuries, or even millennia.

However, with the River of Forgetfulness’s water and Dragon Emperor Relic’s aid, Yi Yun had managed to complete this process in an extremely short period of time. The key reason was the Dragon Emperor Technique’s potency. As long as one could gather the sufficient amount of treasured herbs to refine the Dragon Emperor Relic, one could rapidly develop one’s strength.

However, this process of seeking out treasured herbs was fraught with great difficulty. Yi Yun had offended the Pillheart Sect in the process of obtaining the Abyssal Red Lotus, putting him on a proverbial tightrope. He infiltrated the Li household only to be discovered and was forced to fight Myriad God Patriarch. A single misstep in these endeavors would have led to him perishing.

The second Dragon Emperor Relic did not come easy. Peril was at every turn and it was extremely risky.

And yet, Yi Yun still needed to seek out even more treasured herbs to bolster his growth. But at the same time, the stronger he was, the easier it became to seek them out.

“Phew!” Yi Yun finished absorbing the final wisp of medicinal essence. He stood up and raised his head to release a deep breath. His breathing contained a faint dragon’s cry.

As though stirred by Yi Yun’s cry, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm, which had been asleep all this while, seemed to awaken.

Yi Yun realized it and immediately looked over. He saw the white cocoon trembling gently like a hatching egg. The life within was about to bore out anytime soon.

Yi Yun used a fraction of his perception to monitor the cocoon’s changes. Slowly, the movements of the cocoon turned more intense and suddenly, there was a light crack.

Immediately following that, a series of chain reactions happened. The entire cocoon casing began producing crackling sounds before a boundless aura emitted from within.

A snake figure flew out together with the aura. The seven-colored snake’s figure flashed about in the sky like lightning. It let out an excited cry while circling the sky.

After it finished its joyful flight, the snake figure returned to float in front of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun revealed a look of surprise when he saw the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s new appearance.

The pair of sharp horns on the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s tiny head had turned crystalline. It suffused an aura that made one’s heart disquieted. As for its body, a pair of tiny dragon claws had grown as its hind legs.

After this evolution, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm now had the embryonic form of a dragon.

“Very good, you might one day become a True Dragon,” said Yi Yun.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm shook its head and burrowed its head endearingly in Yi Yun’s palm. It looked like a wheedling child.

While the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was undergoing its evolution, it also sensed that the strengthened Yi Yun’s dragon bloodline had turned richer and purer. This made the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm feel even closer to Yi Yun, so it showed more affection towards him.

Yi Yun smiled as he rubbed the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s tiny head. It had evolved rapidly alongside him. It might really transform into a True Dragon one day.

“We have been in this herbal garden for quite some time. It’s time we leave.” Yi Yun said as his eyes flashed with a faint coldness.

A flash of lightning streaked across the sky above a desolate land, producing a rift. Wind howled through the rift as various nomological fragments coruscated incessantly.

Following that, a figure flew out from the rift. It was none other than Yi Yun.

He had gone to great effort to find the spatial node that Myriad God Patriarch had used to enter the herbal garden. Then he forcibly opened his own spatial passageway.

If not for Myriad God Patriarch, Yi Yun would probably have taken much longer to find the way. If Myriad God Patriarch knew that he ended up helping Yi Yun, the sheer anger could’ve brought him back to life.

Yi Yun stroked his chin as he looked at the situation beneath him. He had entered the herbal garden above a sea but he came out in a desolate plain. That was not entirely strange. The herbal garden was situated in another pocket world. Therefore, the spatial passageway that Yi Yun opened could lead to anywhere.

Thankfully, he was not very far from Martial City. After Yi Yun landed and rested for a while, he rushed for Martial City once he got his bearings.

…

Everything had proceeded as per normal for Martial City during the past few months. The only difference was that more people were entering Martial City.

Yi Yun joined the crowd and entered Martial City, hoping to find a chance to infiltrate the Li family and secretly rescue Wang Mu’s wife, so as to fulfill his promise to Wang Mu.

However, when Yi Yun infiltrated the Li family manor, he realized that it was a lot quieter. Many of the Li family experts were no longer present.

“Oh? Where did they go?”

Yi Yun knitted his brows slightly. He went to Li Yunshang’s yard and discovered that it was nearly empty. Even the maidservants were gone, much less Wang Mu’s wife.

With a flash, Yi Yun left the Li household. While on the streets around the household, Yi Yun happened to hear the conversation of a few warriors who were passing by.

“It’s said that even the upper echelons of the Martial Numinous clan are planning on attending the wedding. I heard that a few core disciples of the Martial Numinous clan have already obtained approval to head to the White Lunar Divine Empire to cultivate. One of the disciples is Fairy Rain. Be it her looks or talent, they are both astounding. And Fairy Rain’s aunt happens to be the Li family head Li Qijian’s wife. Therefore, this wedding will truly be the spotlight. Many people are heading for the Li family, including Fairy Rain. The Li family is truly becoming better by the day.”

Yi Yun’s ears caught their conversation. A Li family junior’s wedding? Were they talking about… Li Yunshang who had lost his foot?

But with so much time having passed and the Li family being skilled at alchemy, it was possible that Li Yunshang had already recovered if they could find the sufficient treasured herbs. However, the replacement limb would not have experienced the tempering of Yuan Qi. It would not be any different from a mortal’s body, making it useless in combat. Just a little impact would cause the limb to shatter once again. In order to restore the restored limb to its original standard, one needed to temper it year after year. It was unknown how long that would take.

A treasured herb that could allow Li Yunshang to grow back his limb in such a short period of time was definitely priceless. The Li family was truly willing to go to great lengths.

“This Li Yunshang still thinks of getting married after having his foot ripped off. He’s truly broken in the body but firm in spirit.”

The corner of Yi Yun’s lips curled up. He had planned on saving Wang Mu’s wife directly from the Li household but now that he had heard the conversation, he came up with another plan.

“Fellow brothers, are you discussing the Li family’s Young Master Li Yunshang’s wedding?”

The warriors were dressed in gorgeous clothes and looked distinguished. None of them resembled warriors and instead were more like mortal scions. They had been having a happy conversation when a normal-looking middle-aged man with ordinary cultivation level interjected. Immediately, they frowned.

However, the warriors’ eagerness to show off was satisfied a little by Yi Yun’s curious expression.

“Did you just get to the city? This matter is known by everyone in Martial City. Is there a need to ask?” said a warrior.

“Heh heh. Brother, you saw through me. It’s true I just came to Martial City. I had been cultivating in the village and never expected to chance upon such a grand event right as I step into Martial City. Might I know when the wedding is being held, exactly?” Yi Yun asked with great anticipation as though this was the first time he was seeing the world.

Another warrior snapped his feathered fan and said, “It will be half a month from now. Why? Do you plan on watching the ceremony? Typically speaking, those without any status will not even be allowed in. However, the Li family specially plans to hold the wedding at their ancestral grounds. As long as you really wish to send your blessings, you can attend the ceremony. There’s no need for an invitation. Of course, in order to prevent riff raff from attending, those without presents and well wishes will not be allowed entry.”

“I have already prepared some gifts just to get a glimpse of Fairy Rain’s beauty.”

“Haha, me too!”

“I paid quite a heavy price for it. But it’s worth it if I can get to see Fairy Rain.”

These warriors began conversing among themselves again and ignored Yi Yun.

From their point of view, it was not worth their time or breath to chat with an ordinary middle-aged warrior.

However, Yi Yun did not mind. As he looked at the warriors’ departing backs, he shook his head. “To think that there are people who are voluntarily giving them money.”

Instead, it was the crippled Li Yunshang that was truly greedy. From Yi Yun’s point of view, the reason why there was no need for an invitation was that the Li family wanted to take gifts as an entry fee, thus earning a lot of money quickly.

And these people with lowly statuses would apparently rush to attend the wedding just for Fairy Rain. Under such circumstances, they naturally would do their best to bring great gifts to avoid wagging tongues.

Others might not know what Li Yunshang’s wedding was about but how could Yi Yun not know? Li Yunshang’s wedding was a complete farce that masked his goal of dual cultivation. If they weren’t making a killing, they would probably not hold such a huge wedding ceremony

1400 - : Dual Cultivation Matrimonial Ceremony

CKtalon  CKtalon

Half a month passed in a blink of an eye…

The Li family’s ancestral grounds were located in a mountain range five hundred kilometers away from Martial City. The construction ran intricately amid the lofty mountains and curling clouds.

With the wedding at hand, the Li family’s ancestral grounds were bustling.

Streams of light of various colors flew towards the Li family’s ancestral ground. They were all hiding warriors or spirit boats.

The wedding ceremony was a seven-day banquet that all were invited to.

But of course, the liveliest day of the wedding ceremony was the first day.

Not only was the first day the actual matrimonial ceremony, but most of the important figures of the Martial Numinous clan would be there too.

As such, the first day was when the most number of warriors attended the festivities.

Among the numerous warriors that entered the Li family’s ancestral grounds, an inconspicuous black-robed middle-aged man slowly followed the crowd and went into the ancestral ground.

The wedding was held at the peak, and below it were layers of platforms.

The more important a guest was, the closer they sat to the peak. The more ordinary the guest, the closer to the bottom.

And on the massive platform at the peak…

Li Yunshang was dressed in fiery-red matrimonial clothes. He was smiling, and sitting beside him was Li Jiuxiao.

Li Jiuxiao gave a satisfied smile as he looked down at the people that had come. “Our Li family is still thriving after all. That’s quite a lot of people who have come. Yunshang, your wedding is a lot more lively than mine. It actually makes me a little envious. Haha.”

“Uncle, don’t bother trying to console me.” Although Li Yunshang was smiling, his eyes were cold. There was a deep, gloomy look in them. “You and I both know that most of these people are here for Fairy Rain. The remaining only came because of our Li family’s reputation.”

“You are the most outstanding son of our Li family. You might be the future family head. There are no shortage of people that are here for you too,” said Li Jiuxiao.

“If this were in the past, maybe. But now…” Li Yunshang looked down at his foot and immediately a look of hatred came to his eyes. Every passing day since he lost his leg, he would recall that face and that accursed name, Yi Yun!

It was all thanks to Yi Yun that he was in his present situation!

“Your leg… After today, you will experience a complete rebirth and your talent will be even better than it was in the past. Why do you need to care about the present? As for that Yi Yun, he is definitely dead while you will soon soar as a dragon,” said Li Jiuxiao who obviously knew what was on Li Yunshang’s mind.

Li Yunshang’s expression finally turned for the better when the upcoming event was mentioned. However, he still said with a gloomy expression, “I have a nagging feeling that Yi Yun might not be dead…”

“All the life slips of those disciples have shattered. And we later sent people to guard the inland sea but they found no sign of Yi Yun. He is doomed after being trapped in that pocket world,” said Li Jiuxiao.

He too yearned for Yi Yun to be diced into pieces. Just the thought of the lost herbal garden left his heart bleeding in pain. Therefore, he was unwilling to use the words ‘herbal garden’ and instead addressed it as a pocket world.

“Uncle, what you said makes sense.” Li Yunshang nodded. There was no reason for him to constantly bear a grudge against a dead person.

“Many guests are here today. Although the truly important ones are obviously the guests from the large family clans and sects, those warriors from smaller sects and family clans, and even the itinerant warriors, are not to be slighted. They have come with gifts after all. Their goal is none other than to build rapport with our Li family. They are giving us gifts and helping in improving our Li family’s reputation a little. We can spare the effort to be nice to them superficially,” said Li Jiuxiao nonchalantly.

“I understand,” said Li Yunshang casually.

It was even more likely that the warriors from the smaller family clans and sects would bring expensive gifts in other to establish a relationship with the Li family. Although Li Yunshang was unimpressed by the people themselves, he still cared for those gifts.

To grow back his limbs, he and the family clan had expended a great deal of resources. He could use this opportunity to earn back some of it.

Of course, most importantly, this day was highly significant to him. He had experienced a drastic change in character after losing his leg. In fact, he had come to shed a few layers of his facade. He knew that many people had mocked him for losing his leg but today, he would make all those warriors witness his transformation.

“My guests, I welcome all of you here. You honor me with your presence.” Li Yunshang stood up with a beaming smile as he spoke.

His voice was infused with Yuan Qi. Even though he was standing on the platform at the peak, his voice still resounded throughout the entire mountain.

There were all sorts of responses from the various platforms on the mountain. However, they were mostly perfunctory and casual words of congratulations.

Simultaneously, maidservants began walking forward with plates in hand. On them were all sorts of priceless spirit fruits.

“Everyone, as many people have come here, and there will be important figures from the Martial Numinous clan coming to the ceremony to bear witness, I implore everyone to maintain order for my sake. After all, it’s my wedding day,” said Li Yunshang loudly.

The Li family was holding this dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony on a very large scale. There were nine entrances, with one main entrance, two side entrances, and six tiny auxiliary entrances. And every entrance had a master of ceremony to receive the gifts.

Yi Yun, who was disguised as a black-robed middle-aged man, was walking through the furthest of the nine entrances. The other entrances required letters of invitation. A person like him that lacked status and those with an invitation obviously received different treatment. It was evident simply from the entrance he had to use.

Yi Yun could not help but shake his head lightly when he saw gifts constantly being added to the pile of gifts at each of the platforms at each of the nine entrances. Furthermore, the master of ceremony would announce the respective guest’s name and gift.

It was nothing much to announce the names and gifts. It would only make the rich warriors who had brought expensive gifts look better, but it was rather dishonorable for the poor warriors.

Yi Yun saw the embarrassed looks of many of the warriors that were entering through the same side door as him. Some even clenched their teeth as they took out more gifts. Others seemed to feel that it wasn’t worth it and secretly turned around to leave.

“How grim is reality.”

Yi Yun made a offhand remark. It was very soft but, not far from him, someone heard his comment. A warrior in an opulent getup turned his head and took a glance at Yi Yun… He had not noticed Yi Yun before.

The warrior immediately found Yi Yun familiar. A warrior’s memory was very good, so he quickly recalled that he had met Yi Yun while he was discussing the Li family’s dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony with his friends in Martial City previously. Yi Yun had even approached them to ask about the ceremony.

“It’s you?”

The warrior pricked up his brows. He never expected Yi Yun to actually attend the wedding. Although it was said that anyone could attend, that was only to keep up airs. In reality, who would dare attend the ceremony if they lacked a good status and background?

The warrior still remembered that Yi Yun looked like a bumpkin. He would rather be beaten to death than believe that Yi Yun was someone of stature.

Yi Yun was also a little surprised when he saw that warrior as well as the people beside him. What a coincidence…

However, this also implied that the warrior in the opulent getup was someone of little significance. Otherwise, he would not have seen him at this particular entrance. The entrance was, after all, the most remote one out of the six auxiliary entrances.

“The Li family’s dual cultivation ceremony truly shows no discrimination. It seems anyone can come.” The man clearly was displeased that he was using the same entrance as Yi Yun. It was an insult.

Yi Yun smiled. “Likewise.”

“You…” The man stared at him. What the hell did likewise mean? “Friend, you seem quite proud. Are you that confident in the gift you prepared?”

“I guess so,” said Yi Yun. His present appearance was very ordinary. Together with his nod, he immediately gave off an honest and sincere air.

1401 - : Differentiated Treatment

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s casual reply and appearance only sparked more contempt in the opulent warrior’s eyes.

“I guess so? That means it must be pretty good. That sure makes me curious.” The warrior smiled faintly. Although he was of low status, he was still considered wealthy among those that failed to receive an invitation.

On one hand, it made him feel debased being forced to line up with these people of lowly stature. On the other hand, he could not help but feel a sense of superiority.

He believed that his gift would definitely be considered astonishing among this group of people. Perhaps he might even be invited to an elevated position just because of his gift.

It also was his turn to enter. He took out a jade box from his interspatial ring and handed it to the steward, in a somewhat dramatic fashion, with both hands.

The steward accepted it with a smile and opened it. There was a glint in his eyes as he looked up at the man with a hint of surprise.

The item was not necessarily surprising to the steward, but it was something rare to see in the hands of such an unimportant person.

The man felt very pleased when he saw the steward’s reaction. He had gone through painstaking efforts to prepare the gift. He came from a family clan that had long since declined but he believed that he was talented. He aimed to restore his family clan to its former glory and step back into Martial City’s high society.

However, it was a very difficult endeavor for a waning family to be reintegrated into high society. Therefore, he had an idea to enter the Martial Numinous clan through the Li family.

As long as he entered the Martial Numinous clan, he could obtain its resources through his own abilities. He believed that he would definitely soar then.

At that moment, the steward shouted out loudly, “Zhang State’s Young Master Luo Fei, gift of a ten-thousand-year-old Snow Fungus!”

Upon hearing the announcement, Luo Fei quickly looked towards the seats of honor for a reaction.

Unfortunately, those of truly supreme status did not pay even a hint of attention to the ongoings of the lower entrances. However, a few figures that looked like guardians looked up and over at him.

“Zhang State’s Young Master Luo? Who’s that?”

“A ten-thousand-year-old Snow Fungus is rather rare.”

“Actually, a Snow Fungus isn’t of much use. It’s typically used to brew tea. It has the effect of calming the mind, but that’s about it.”

“That may be so but a ten-thousand-year-old Snow Fungus would make for an absolutely top-grade tea. A pot of it emits a long-lasting fragrance. Even Elders of the Martial Numinous clan would enjoy such a tea.”

The guardians’ discussion made Luo Fei’s expression stiffen slightly. Following that, he gave an embarrassed smile. The ten-thousand-year-old Snow Fungus he had gone through painstaking efforts to obtain was being written off as a simple tea ingredient. It was such a waste!

However, these people had affirmed the ten-thousand-year-old Snow Fungus after all. It made Luo Fei regain some pride.

The steward who was in charge of the announcements, said smilingly, “Guardian Sun just sent a voice transmission. He invites you to sit with him when the banquet begins. Guardian Sun also enjoys the Way of Tea.”

Luo Fei was instantly overjoyed when he heard that.

It was great news. He had met someone who knew value the moment he stepped into the banquet. He had not brought the ten-thousand-year-old Snow Fungus for nothing.

Luo Fei looked over, and indeed there was a bearded middle-aged man smiling at him. It was the person that had previously affirmed him vocally.

Although Luo Fei guessed that Guardian Sun’s intent was to get more ten-thousand-year-old Snow Fungi from him because of his love for tea, he was still ecstatic. If not for the wedding, he would not even have had the chance to deliver a gift. As long as Guardian Sun endorsed him, there was a high chance he could join the Martial Numinous clan.

“Congratulations, Young Master Luo.”

“Congratulations! Congratulations!”

Luo Fei’s friends began congratulating him. However, they were a bit sour inside.

“Yes, yes. I’ll treat everyone to a round of drinks later.”

Luo Fei laughed. At that moment, he noticed Yi Yun who was just behind him. He was about to hand over his gift.

“Let me see what gift this poor punk has brought.”

Yi Yun’s gift was huge. Most people brought gifts stored in wooden boxes. However, Yi Yun’s gift was the size of a closet. When he put it down, it instantly covered more than half the table.

“What the heck is that?”

Everyone was taken aback. Ignoring what was inside, just the size was quite ridiculous.

The steward in charge of the announcement went forward to open the chest. Upon seeing the item inside, he was dumbfounded. The surrounding people fell into a daze as well.

This furry stuff…looked like a…pig?

Inside the chest that Yi Yun handed over, there was a recently slaughtered pig. It looked like a low-grade pig-type Fey beast. It was even dripping in blood and was still covered in wet fur!

“It’s freshly slaughtered. It was caught at the bottom of the mountain of the Li family’s ancestral grounds. I notice how all of you always eat fruits at a banquet. That’s just too light. This pig can be given to the kitchen. Then there can be some meat at this wedding banquet. Take it, there’s no need to stand on ceremony.”

Yi Yun had said it so nonchalantly that it immediately quieted the crowd.

Add some meat?

Among the spirit fruits being served at the banquet, just a grape might be worth more than ten pigs!

Was this fellow crazy!?

Many people looked at Yi Yun in disbelief. Everyone that came to attend the wedding ceremony had to rack their brains, afraid that they would shame themselves by giving low-class gifts. Yet this person actually slaughtered a pig and gave it as a gift? If it was a pig-type Fey beast with an ancient bloodline, that would have been fine. But it was precisely a low-grade pig, one that was even captured on the Li family’s ancestral grounds!

“You are giving a Fey beast caught on the Li family’s ancestral grounds to the Li family?” A man beside Luo Fei looked at Yi Yun as though he was a country bumpkin. Perhaps Yi Yun was worse than a country bumpkin. Even mortals in villages would not gift a dead pig at a wedding banquet!

“That’s right. Is there a problem? Although the pig was on the Li family’s ancestral grounds, I was the one who caught it. Could it be… that the pig was reared by the Li family?”

Yi Yun countered with a question, instantly leaving the person who asked choking.

Nice way of putting it!

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, many of the Li family members turned livid. Was this person here to cause trouble? Or was he just a pea-brain?

“I knew it. How can a poor person like him give anything of worth? I thought he might at the very least, gift a strand or two of low-grade spirit herbs. Who knew that his mind is so warped? He actually caught a pig and gifted it!” Luo Fei said with a sneer. He looked at Yi Yun as though he was looking at a retard.

“My friend, the Li family’s dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony is a very important occasion. The Li family ancestral grounds are a place of joy. It is not somewhere for you to cause trouble. Please leave or we will escort you out!” the steward said coldly when faced with Yi Yun’s improper behavior

Due to the many distinguished guests present, he did not let his anger get the best of him or he would have long taken action.

1402 - : Yi Yun’s Gift

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun seemed oblivious to Luo Fei’s mockery and Steward Wang’s warning. He said seriously, “I brought gifts to this wedding just like anyone else. How am I causing trouble? Are you unimpressed with the spirit pig I gifted? This spirit pig is a spirit beast. Its meat is fresh and succulent. It has the effect of nourishing warriors. It can burrow into the ground and bore through holes when it runs. It wasn’t easy for me to capture it.”

The surrounding people were rendered speechless the moment Yi Yun said those words. He was actually claiming it to be a spirit pig? And the “effect of nourishing”… The bit of Yuan Qi it carried was completely inadequate for the warriors present. It was only nourishing for low-level warriors and mortals.

As for it being difficult to capture… To be honest, no one wanted to hunt such pigs for their meat…

Luo Fei rolled his eyes at Yi Yun.

As for the steward, he frowned. If he were to forcefully chase Yi Yun away, it would appear as though the Li family kicked him out of the wedding because it did not appreciate the gift he ‘painstakingly’ prepared.

But this bloody pig, with its head still intact, was quite a sore sight for a wedding.

At that moment, a voice suddenly sounded—

“Anyone that comes from afar is a welcomed guest. This is my dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony. I previously announced that anyone can attend with or without an invitation. As for gifts, it’s the thought that counts. The specifics don’t matter. Steward Wang, accept it and display it to the side.”

Everyone traced the voice and saw Li Yunshang standing elegantly by his seat of honor. He had said so with a faint smile.

Yi Yun immediately said, “So it’s you, Young Master Li Yunshang. Congratulations! I wish you a happy marriage. I felt this pig was very suitable for the wedding when I saw it. It definitely adds to the jubilation. Young Master Li, you sure have a good eye…”

“That’s enough! That’s enough.” Steward Wang quickly cut Yi Yun off, afraid that he would continue touting the benefits of the pig. He waved his hand to get people to carry the pig away. It was such a ghastly sight, sitting out in the open.

And when Li Yunshang heard Yi Yun’s words, he smiled and returned to his seat.

“Young Master Li sure is magnanimous. He really is willing to let anyone join the banquet,” said someone.

“That’s right, that’s right.”

Li Yunshang nodded with a smile. He would usually not have bothered with such an unimportant person but the person had suddenly taken out a pig, attracting the attention of everyone. He had no choice but to step forward and make a show of his magnanimity.

However, there was a cold glint that flashed in Li Yunshang’s eyes after. He sent a voice transmission to Steward Wang: “When the banquet ends, finish that bastard.”

Li Yunshang was already filled with bloodlust after losing his leg. His act of magnanimity was completely insincere. He found Yi Yun’s honest expression irritating, especially when the country bumpkin had gifted a dead pig to congratulate him on his wedding day.

And for some baffling reason, he found the middle-aged warrior’s eyes familiar. However, he could not remember where he had met the warrior in the past. Furthermore, with the warrior’s low status, it was impossible for them to have ever crossed paths.

Li Yunshang could only sweep those thoughts aside. After all, Yi Yun was already a dead person in his mind.

“Yes, Young Master. I will make it swift and clean.” Steward Wang immediately answered as he gave Yi Yun a cold glare.

An ant-like figure like Yi Yun deserved little more than Steward Wang secretly flicking his finger, planting a tracking mark on him. With this mark, there was no way Yi Yun would leave the Li family’s ancestral ground alive.

Seeing Yi Yun sitting among the guests with an unconcerned look, Luo Fei felt truly depressed. The bastard was actually sitting beside him. Although he was praised by Guardian Sun, he had not been called to sit over there yet.

Why did he choose to arrive so close to such an oddity? Yi Yun had gifted a dead pig and received Li Yunshang’s notice. His ten-thousand-year-old Snow Fungus barely sparked a discussion.

Luo Fei noticed that Yi Yun looked to be in a good mood, as though he really believed that his gift had been acknowledged!

Luo Fei felt exasperated with such an ignorant halfwit bumpkin. He felt that his intelligence was being pulled down to the same level while sitting beside Yi Yun. He did not wish to speak another word to the retard, afraid that his mind would be infected by Yi Yun’s retardedness.

And at that moment, Yi Yun appeared to recall something. He left his seat and swaggered to a platform.

He looked at all the spirit fruits that were displayed for the wedding. They were really good ones.

From the looks of it, the Li family had went to great lengths to put on a lavish wedding banquet.

Yi Yun naturally did not stand on ceremony when it came to these spirit fruits. He began taking big bites of the fruits.

As for the tracking mark that Steward Wang had planted on him, Yi Yun noticed it instantly. He looked around and stole a glance at Li Yunshang.

Although it had been some time since they last met, Li Yunshang still appeared vicious as ever. He even wanted to harm guests who came to congratulate him. He was truly… contemptible.

Before Yi Yun infiltrated the Li family’s banquet, he thought of casually giving some gifts. That way, he would not attract attention as he snuck in. However, after some thought, Yi Yun changed his mind. He wanted to see the hypocrisy of Li Yunshang. It was quite a relieving sight seeing him act magnanimous while swallowing the insult.

Indeed, Li Yunshang, who watched as Yi Yun acted so brazenly, nearly crushed the wine cup in his hand.

Ignoring the fact that he had lost the herbal garden and a leg, he was now encountering a truly irritating fly while hosting a dual cultivation ceremony. It disgusted him.

If Li Yunshang knew that the irritating ‘fly’ was Yi Yun, swaggering up and down his wedding banquet and helping himself to the food, it was unknown what feelings he would have…

At that moment, an ethereal music was heard from afar.

The sound was initially faint and hardly noticeable. But in a blink of an eye, it began to fill the area around the mountain. A luxurious spirit boat descended from the clouds. A few figures could be seen standing on the boat as it approached.

Upon seeing the spirit boat’s appearance, many people stood up immediately. Even Li Yunshang and Li Jiuxiao stood up.

“Who just arrived?” Yi Yun asked casually as he ate a fruit.

The person beside him naturally knew Yi Yun was the one who had gifted the pig. Since it was the bumpkin, it was only natural that he did not know who was arriving.

“Have you heard of Fairy Rain? That spirit boat is a spirit artifact of the Martial Numinous clan. Without a doubt, the few people on the spirit boat are the high-ranking Elders and Fairy Rain of the Martial Numinous clan,” the person gave Yi Yun a glance as he said disdainfully.

The bumpkin probably did not know who Fairy Rain was anyway. What he said definitely went over his head.

1403 - : Hypocrisy

CKtalon  CKtalon

Meanwhile, the people on the spirit boat had already flown down.

Leading them was a middle-aged man dressed in black, as well as a veiled, red-dressed woman with an enchanting figure. A young man and woman followed behind them.

Upon seeing these four people arrive, Li Yunshang and his entourage, as well as many guests on the first platform, rushed to welcome them.

“Elder Luo, Elder Hong. It is truly an honor for the two of you to grace me with your presence!” Li Jiuxiao cupped his fists as he said with a beaming smile.

Li Yunshang’s unhappiness was swept away as he beamed. “Greetings Elders. It is truly my greatest honor that the both of you have graced my dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony.”

Although the Li family was a prominent family in the Martial Numinous clan, Li Yunshang was only a junior. His dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony was inconsequential to the Martial Numinous clan. Many people were envious that two Elders chose to attend. It gave them a deeper understanding of how excellent the Li family’s roots were.

In fact, one of Elder Luo’s most beloved consorts was a daughter of the Li family. As for Elder Hong, she had a relationship with the Li family that brought her many benefits.

But in the eyes of outsiders, this was a result of the might and standing Li Yunshang and the Li family had. Although Li Yunshang’s loss of a leg had been kept secret, the Li family’s purchase of numerous treasured herbs was a very public matter. Therefore, anyone present who had paid a little attention knew of the incident.

When warriors lost a leg, it would be detrimental to their future development even if they attached a new leg. But now, from the looks of it, the importance placed on Li Yunshang did not seem to reduce in any way. As such, many warriors naturally had to change their opinion of Li Yunshang.

And at that moment, Li Yunshang turned his sights on the man and woman behind the two Elders.

“Fairy Rain, Eldest Senior Brother Haogu.” Li Yunshang’s tone carried a tinge of reverence.

Although he was considered part of the same generation as Fairy Rain and Haogu, his standing was very inferior to theirs. He was only the successor of a family clan while the two were famous geniuses of the Martial Numinous clan. Rumor had it that they would soon head for the White Lunar Divine Empire and cultivate there. They had unlimited prospects laid out for them. Therefore, their status was elevated compared to ordinary Martial Numinous clan disciples.

As a result, Li Yunshang’s attitude towards them was naturally different.

Fairy Rain nodded her head gently and then gave Li Jiuxiao a junior’s bow. “Uncle Jiu.”

As for Haogu, he only nodded his head silently and did not say a word.

Although Fairy Rain appeared frosty, she was still very gentle towards her relatives. Instead, Haogu was the one who was truly aloof.

However, be it Li Jiuxiao or Li Yunshang, they were not slighted by Haogu in any way. Haogu’s talent was even higher than Fairy Rain’s and he too had earned the attention of the White Lunar Divine Empire.

However, it was rumored that Haogu had certain feelings for Fairy Rain; therefore, he attended Li Yunshang’s dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony with her.

“That’s Fairy Rain. She’s truly as flawless as ice and pure as jade. Not only is she talented, even her looks are excellent. If anyone manages to win her heart, they would truly have a great life.” A warrior beside Yi Yun could not help but sigh.

As for Luo Fei, he was looking at Fairy Rain as though she was a breathtaking sight. The surrounding young warriors felt a tinge of envy just looking at Fairy Rain. Such a woman that was blessed by the heavens was naturally someone everyone wanted to court.

At that moment, Luo Fei heard a familiar voice. It said in surprise, “Ah, so she is Fairy Rain…”

The person who had spoken was none other than Yi Yun.

Yi Yun could not help but stroke his chin when he saw ‘Fairy Rain.’ His eyes had an odd look in them.

Yi Yun had actually met ‘Fairy Rain’ before.

She was one of the members of the Martial Numinous clan that Yi Yun encountered in the Ancient Ruins world.

Back then, they were pursuing the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm. Yi Yun opened an array formation and allowed it to enter the Nine Li Magus Empire’s mystic cultivation ground and escape them. It made the Martial Numinous clan members nearly explode from anger.

Later on, they even invited people from the White Lunar Divine Empire to back them up but to no avail. Yi Yun ignored them likewise.

Despite the Martial Numinous clan’s threats against Yi Yun, they could not do a thing to him at all.

Yi Yun had not made any contact with any Martial Numinous clan disciples after arriving in the Martial Numinous continent. He certainly never expected to meet any at Li Yunshang’s dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony. Furthermore, they happened to be the ones he met back at the Ancient Ruins world.

However, it was not necessarily that much of a coincidence on second thought. The Nine Li Magus Empire had already mentioned that the territory each major faction had in the Ancient Ruins world was extremely precious. Not just anyone could enter the Ancient Ruins world. Thus, only peerless geniuses like Fairy Rain could win an opportunity from the Martial Numinous clan to undergo experiential training in the Ancient Ruins world.

“I seem to recall her name being Song Rainsong…” thought Yi Yun. A warrior’s memory was extremely honed. Although Yi Yun had only heard it once, he could still recall it. The scene of the Martial Numinous clan members’ conversation appeared in his mind.

The female warrior standing there had a grudge against him.

At that moment, someone interrupted Yi Yun’s memories.

Luo Fei originally did not wish to say another word to Yi Yun again but from Yi Yun’s remark, it sounded as though he had met Fairy Rain in the past?

Luo Fei looked at Yi Yun as though he was looking at a retard, “Are you dreaming? How can it be possible that you have met Fairy Rain? A figure like her is not someone the likes of you can claim to know.”

He was not the only one. The surrounding warriors refused to believe that Yi Yun had once met Fairy Rain. They believed that Yi Yun was just fantasizing after experiencing Fairy Rain’s excellent charm. Some of them also shared such fantasies but none of them said it out loud like Yi Yun.

Yi Yun swept his gaze nonchalantly at Luo Fei. He had only allowed Luo Fei to make a scene in order to enter the banquet successfully. In fact, a warrior like Luo Fei was utterly nothing to him.

For some baffling reason, Luo Fei felt a stern chill after being glared at by Yi Yun. His heart skipped a beat as he forcefully swallowed the words he was about to say.

Why did this bumpkin suddenly give him such a terrifying feeling?

Luo Fei even got the sense that he would meet a tragic end if he said another word. The horror he felt from the bottom of his heart made him instinctively shut his mouth.

He was alarmed and greatly uncertain. What was going on?

Although Fairy Rain and company had arrived at the wedding, Yi Yun remained as calm as before. He continued sitting there like an ordinary guest.

Fairy Rain and company took their seats of honor. Without any further ado, Li Yunshang stood up and announced that the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony would begin.

But at that moment, Haogu suddenly noticed that Fairy Rain was frowning. Her eyes were sweeping the platforms beneath her as though she was searching for something.

“Yuege, what are you looking at?” asked Haogu.

Song Rainsong hesitated for a moment before she stopped searching. She shook her head gently and said, “Nothing much…”

Just moments ago, she felt a familiar aura. However, she was unsure exactly what it was. When she swept her gaze, she only saw the faces of strangers.

“Is that so?” After this wedding, we will be setting off for the White Lunar Divine Empire. It’s best if you do not get distracted by other matters,” said Haogu.

Song Rainsong nodded. Her eyes dimmed somewhat. Back in the Ancient Ruins world, she had watched helplessly as the opportunity of the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was lost in front of her. As such, she also lost her chance of becoming a direct disciple of the White Lunar Divine Empire.

Upon seeing Song Rainsong’s expression, Haogu managed to read her thoughts. He too hated the despicable person that had stolen the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm from them.

“Rainsong, are you still thinking about the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm? Unfortunately, it is unlikely that the despicable fellow would appear in the White Lunar Divine Empire. If I were to encounter him, I’d definitely kill him.”

As Haogu spoke, he stole a glance at Song Rainsong’s reaction. However, her expression remained the same. She did not appear to be consoled. It left Haogu depressed. His hate for the despicable man only deepened.

Ever since the Martial Numinous clan returned from the Ancient Ruins world, Song Rainsong had been in a bad mood…

Meanwhile, the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony officially began.

Everyone was surprised when the bride did not appear next. Instead, Li Jiuxiao walked onto a stage holding a disk array. Then, he produced many complicated and abstract runes.

Following that, the runes imprinted on the disk array immediately projected a raven-black beam. It enveloped the platform, and instantly the platform lit up with runic patterns before forming an array formation.

The array formation seemed to fuse with the platforms, the entire mountain peak, and even the entire Li family ancestral grounds. Everyone sensed that the Yuan Qi within the Li family’s ancestral grounds was surging towards the mountain peak from every direction. Finally, it gathered at the array on the first level’s platform.

This left many bewildered. Was this still a wedding? Why did he activate an array formation?

Yi Yun pricked up his brows as well. He felt that the array formation was something quite unique. The techniques involved were not something he could break down at a glance despite his discerning eyes.

At that moment, a guest asked, “Might I know where the bride is?”

They were baffled by the Li family’s actions.

Li Yunshang smiled and said, “There’s no rush. I’ll soon bring my bride in so that she can meet everyone.”

Yi Yun frowned somewhat when he saw Li Yunshang’s expression. Although Li Yunshang concealed the look well, Yi Yun could still see the intense desire in his eyes…

At that moment, on the first level’s platform, loud cracking sounds were heard. The ground cracked open, forming huge rifts. Following that, a stone slab engraved with complicated array runes rose up from each rift.

Upon seeing the figures standing above the stone slabs, all the guests were instantly astonished.

They were unaware when they arrived that the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony was really a wedding between Li Yunshang and seven women…

There were seven stone slabs on the ground, and standing on each one of them was a woman dressed in a wedding dress.

1404 - : Fairy Rain

CKtalon  CKtalon

When he saw the seven women, Yi Yun’s eyes focused on one in particular.

He caught sight of Wang Mu’s wife instantly. She looked like a stately and beautiful woman but her face was a little pale. There was also a blank look in her eyes.

In fact, there was nothing odd about each of the other six women individually. But when looking at them as an entity, there was something strange. Their expressions were identical.

The guests might not have known the details but Yi Yun did. It was likely that all the women had been forcibly abducted by Li Yunshang just like with Wang Mu’s wife. Then, all of them were given a Mind Loss Gu just like her as well.

Furthermore, Yi Yun also noticed that the stone slabs the seven women were standing on were critical nodes of the array formation. The moment they appeared, the array formation seemed to come alive. Raven-black light constantly surged beneath their feet.

Matching this with Li Yunshang’s excited expression, Yi Yun could already sense that the ceremony was probably not as simple as it was made out to be…

“Everyone, I will marry these seven women for my dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony. And, after coming to a mutual agreement with them, we will complete our first cultivation with all of you here as witnesses. Of course, it can be done with an array formation according to the cultivation technique I practice in,” said Li Yunshang.

Dual cultivating in front of so many people sounded odd at first. However, everyone knew that the dual cultivation they had in mind was likely different than what was about to happen, considering the array formation. Therefore, no one protested.

As for marrying seven women at the same time, that was nothing for warriors of great standing, despite it seeming rather grandiose.

There were even a number of warriors that wore looks of envy. Luo Fei could not help but click his tongue, “He sure has good luck in love…”

However, the moment he said so, he suddenly felt a stern aura.

Luo Fei turned his head stiffly and realized that Yi Yun was staring coldly at a platform. His gaze was even more terrifying than what Luo Fei had previously felt.

“What’s up with this… bumpkin?” Luo Fei had already put aside the horror he had previously felt. He never expected to be enveloped by that aura once again, and so soon.

At first he was peeved at being made to sit beside Yi Yun, but now he just felt very uncomfortable. Furthermore, the source of the discomfort was a person he thought to be a retard. This made him even more unsettled…

“Perhaps… I made a mistake?” Luo Fei was still in a state of disbelief. It was akin to meeting a vagrant on the streets. He looks dirty from every angle, so when he suddenly emits the stately aura of an emperor, it is naturally quite unacceptable.

At that instant, an even larger stone slab rose in the middle of the platform. Li Yunshang landed on it. Immediately, a brighter array pattern appeared between the stone slabs, connecting the seven slabs to the one beneath Li Yunshang’s feet.

Li Yunshang smiled as he looked at the guests on the other platforms.

Today was the day he would make a comeback and even be uplifted to a brand new level.

The seven women, including Wang Mu’s wife, had been selected by him especially for this day. Their talent, bloodline, and strength were excellent. Although they were not comparable to Song Rainsong, they were definitely not ordinary women.

For these women, Li Yunshang had put in a lot of thought and effort.

He had originally planned on engaging in dual cultivation with each of them individually. He would then dispose of them after he had completely drained their lifeblood.

But thanks to Yi Yun, he now had to extract all the worth of the women in one go, so as to increase his strength. And he did it so publicly to show everyone that he was not some cripple.

With Li Yunshang standing on the middle stone slab, a potent raven-black light lit up beneath his and the brides’ feet. Their feet appeared to be bound by the light and, following that, their bodies trembled slightly. The raven-black light immediately twinkled with a strange, bloodlike color…

At that moment, Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat. He finally understood what the array formation was!

It was an extremely vicious array formation. The seven stone slabs were disk arrays. While the array formation was in effect, the women standing on them would have their primordial Yin, lifeblood, talent, and strength extracted and sent to Li Yunshang.

The array formation used the entire ancestral ground as its foundation and was extremely oppressive. Perhaps the seven women would have all their cultivation levels extracted forcibly!

And Li Yunshang was planning on committing such a heinous act under the guise of a dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony, under everyone’s noses.

Firstly, the women had been planted with a Mind Loss Gu which prevented them from resisting. Secondly, the truth behind the array formation was subtle. It would not instantly extract a person’s entire cultivation level. It would even appear as though both parties were benefiting from the process. But in fact, after these women spent enough time in the array formation, they would quickly wither like a flower.

After the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony ended, the women will lose all their value. When that time came, they could be thrown to the beasts as food.

Li Yunshang and Li Jiuxiao were truly callous and ruthless. Yi Yun even felt that they were mentally perverse.

The killing intent in Yi Yun’s eyes grew as he watched the situation play out. Although he had encountered many enemies, few actually disgusted Yi Yun in such a manner. Now, the Li family’s uncle and nephew pair had given him a sense of disgust he had never known.

Yi Yun suddenly heard a voice transmission. “Young Master Yi, may I… come out?”

The God Advent Tower was connected to his mind; therefore, he could hear any voices that came out of the God Advent Tower.

Before entering the Li family’s ancestral grounds, Yi Yun had informed Wang Mu about the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony. Wang Mu requested to watch the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony, and Yi Yun agreed to that.

And now, Wang Mu’s voice was filled with hatred and anger. At the same time, he was trying his best to curb it. His voice was even trembling.

Anyone would feel bitter as they watched the unbearable scene, After all, the person who had nearly taken his life and snatched his wife was now standing there orchestrating a dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony using his wife.

Furthermore, he could see all of this clearly. His wife’s dull eyes and indifferent expression seemed to imply that her soul had been sealed.

Wang Mu had the urge to charge out of the God Advent Tower but he held it back. He was not afraid of the Li family or the people—the Elders and warriors that emanated powerful auras—on the first level but that he did not want to implicate Yi Yun.

At that moment, the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony was about to begin on the platform.

Li Yunshang was in high spirits. The array was already slowly activating under his control. Everyone could feel that the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi of the Li family’s ancestral ground was stirring and gathering towards a focal point.

This was the most important step before Li Yunshang returned to his peak. It was even possible that he could be invited to the White Lunar Divine Empire like Fairy Rain and Haogu!

When that time came, he would truly soar as a dragon.

How could Li Yunshang not be excited about this?

As Yi Yun looked at the platform coldly and felt the stirring of the surrounding Yuan Qi, he had a sudden thought. The array formation…

Yi Yun did not reply to Wang Mu right away, as he was observing the array with his energy vision.

Wang Mu was feeling anxious but he did not dare disturb Yi Yun until he had a response.

As time passed, Wang Mu bit his lips tightly while inside the God Advent Tower. Blood dripped down the corner of his lips as his nails lodged deeper into his flesh.

He felt a deep sense of helplessness. Without any background, a person of ordinary birth was nothing in front of people with power even if they were a genius. The opportunities he received, his loved ones, his perfect life and future could all be destroyed by others instantly.

Yi Yun could understand Wang Mu’s feelings.

At that moment, Wang Mu truly could not take it any longer. He sent another voice transmission. “Young Master Yi, I once obtained an ancient hex talisman. This talisman can release an attack at the level of a half-step Divine Lord. Although the talisman will not be able to kill Li Yunshang while Li Jiuxiao and the other Martial Numinous clan Elders are there to protect him, we might be able to destroy the array if we attack by surprise. I have no way to thank you for what you have done for me thus far. Young Master Yi, you do not need to take action at this wedding. I’ll act alone. I cannot watch as that bastard destroys Yuan Ling. I’d rather die with her!”

Wang Mu knew very well that he was too weak and could not change everything by himself. But he did not wish to implicate Yi Yun.

His tone was filled with a deep sense of hatred as well as endless hurt emotions.

Yi Yun knew very well that Wang Mu was planning on risking his life.

Wang Mu clenched his fists tightly. Even at the risk of death, his strike might not leave a single wound on his enemy. It was truly tragic. Old Man Wang, the servant Qing’er, and the young girl, Xiaoxiao, stood closely together behind him. Yi Yun did not allow them to see what was happening but they could guess from Wang Mu’s reactions.

Xiaoxiao’s face was pale. Her beautiful eyes filled with immense hatred. But at the same time, she looked anxiously at her father.

Then, Wang Mu heard Yi Yun’s voice.

“You can come out now…”

“Thank you!” Wang Mu said resolutely.

“There’s no need for you to risk your life. All you need to do is launch one attack. Leave the rest to me,” said Yi Yun.

“This…” Wang Mu gave a puzzled look.

“With your attack, do your best to attract the attention of Li Yunshang and the rest,” explained Yi Yun.

“Young Master Yi, are you planning to take action? But the present situation…”

Wang Mu hesitated for a moment. He was afraid to drag Yi Yun into this, creating a situation he might not be able to escape from.

“Just do as I say. I have a grasp of the situation.”

1405 - : Thoughts of Throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater

CKtalon  CKtalon

Li Yunshang heard a strange sound as he stood on the platform and was instantly stunned.

Many guests turned towards the sound in shock.

They saw a sword-wielding man standing there with bloodshot eyes. He was glaring angrily at Li Yunshang!

Li Yunshang’s heart thudded when he identified the person. He gave a look of surprise. “Is that…Wang Mu?”

Everyone immediately realized that Li Yunshang knew the man. They were just unsure why the man appeared to have a vendetta against Li Yunshang.

Wang Mu spoke out at that moment with a voice full of hate. Even the sword in his hand trembled due to his agitation. “Li Yunshang!”

Wang Mu’s eyes landed on his wife, Yuan Ling.

However, Yuan Ling did not respond to her husband’s voice. This pained Wang Mu even more!

“Who is this person?”

“It seems like he is here to cause trouble?”

Many guests watched the scene play out in amusement.

No one expected the Li family’s dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony to be such a show.

Everyone watched Li Yunshang for a reaction while Wang Mu glared at him with eyes filled with hatred.

But at that moment, Li Yunshang let out a chuckle as the corner of his mouth curled up. He looked at Wang Mu with contemptuous eyes.

Wang Mu? He was nothing but an ant to Li Yunshang. His appearance would in no way threaten Li Yunshang.

But at that moment, Wang Mu’s aura suddenly surged as he shot straight at the first level’s platform like a released arrow.

Wang Mu’s body suffused a faint sanguine aura. He was all in, burning his blood essence to deliver this strike.

On the first level’s platform, there were the Martial Numinous clan Elders, Song Rainsong, Haogu, and company. However, none of them reacted to Wang Mu’s sudden attack.

Li Yunshang sneered and looked at Wang Mu as though he was a retard.

“Like a moth darting into the flames. What an overestimation of your strength.” Li Yunshang waved his hand as a blast of Yuan Qi surged at Wang Mu like a tempest. It was as though he was swatting a fly.

But at that moment, an ancient talisman suddenly appeared in Wang Mu’s hand. It looked very old and it effused a boundless and profound aura.

Li Yunshang’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the talisman.

“Oh? This is…”

But by then, it was too late. Wang Mu let out an angry bellow as he spat a mouthful of blood essence onto the talisman. Instantly, the talisman produced an intense beam of light.

Wang Mu drew upon the pain and humiliation that he suffered over the past few years, and channeled it all into this one strike.

“Go to hell!”

Boom!

There was a gigantic explosion as Wang Mu was thrown back by the blast of energy. His face looked pale and his lips had lost their color. He had given up a great deal of his lifeblood.

However, his eyes were staring intently at the center of the explosion as though he was hoping to see through the Yuan Qi storms and discern what was happening inside the array formation.

However, Wang Mu was struck by what he found. His eyes revealed a look of disappointment and sadness.

The Yuan Qi storms slowly dissipated, revealing an undamaged array formation. Even Li Yunshang was standing motionlessly in the middle of the array formation.

However, there was a screen of light that phased in and out of existence around the array formation. This screen of light was one with the array formation. The Yuan Qi that powered it came surging in from all corners of the ancestral grounds.

Although Wang Mu had used his trump card, his talisman proved useless against the protective screen of light. The entire ancestral ground’s Yuan Qi was constantly being harvested and employed by the array formation in what seemed like an endless stream. How could it be destroyed by a mere talisman?

Wang Mu gave a disheartened look when he saw the outcome.

And at that moment, Li Jiuxiao extended his hand and grabbed the faltering Wang Mu. Then, Wang Mu was thrown to the corner of the array formation where his entire body was sealed.

He was situated very close to Yuan Ling.

However, Yuan Ling, who was still being controlled by the Mind Loss Gu, did not even give him so much as a glance.

“Yuan…” Wang Mu wanted to speak but he realized that all his meridians had been sealed. He had even been robbed of his ability to speak.

All he had was a mouth that had lost its worth.

At that moment, Li Yunshang’s disdainful laughter rang out. “Wang Mu, I never expected you to come to my dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony to personally congratulate me.”

Upon hearing Li Yunshang’s words, Wang Mu nearly crushed his teeth from clenching them.

As for Li Yunshang, he wore a carefree smile. Although Wang Mu was nothing but an ant to him, he had to enjoy having one more person there to witness his success.

Especially that Yi Yun. He had attempted to save Wang Mu’s family and even tried to rescue Yuan Ling. A rush of happiness filled Li Yunshang’s heart when he noted that Yi Yun had failed. After all, Wang Mu was slumped to the ground like a wretch.

“Although you specially paid me a visit, I do not have the time to entertain you. The array formation has already been activated. Why don’t you stay there and enjoy the ceremony?” The corners of Li Yunshang’s suffused a heinous smile.

Wang Mu’s eyes turned red. He had a mouth that could not be used and his body was immobile. However, if he had even the slightest strength to move, even if it were only his mouth, he would definitely bite Li Yunshang and never let go!

And at that moment, Wang Mu looked around him.

He still remembered what Yi Yun had said to him. However, his attack against Li Yunshang had been ineffective. What could Yi Yun do against such a powerful array formation?

Wang Mu wallowed, for they were finished. He did not want Yi Yun to expose himself now. Although he and Yuan Ling would suffer a tragic fate, he did not wish to implicate Yi Yun…

Li Yunshang stood in the middle of the array formation and spread out his arms. All the Yuan Qi in the ancestral ground seemed to surge towards the array formation. It produced a whistling sound as the raven-black light transformed into a vortex that centered itself in the middle of the array.

As for Li Yunshang, he was standing in the middle of the vortex. He could sense potent energies surround him. And on the seven array nodes were the seven women he meticulously selected. Their heartbeats, lifeblood, talent—everything—was his for the taking thanks to the array formation.

As long as he clenched his fingers, all their cultivation and Yuan Qi would surge into his body, re-tempering his mortal leg. It could even uplift his talent to a brand new level, improving his cultivation level further.

Upon thinking of this, Li Yunshang could not control himself any longer. This feeling was more intoxicating than engaging in dual cultivation sex with these women. He let the feeling overwhelm him as he extended his fingers to connect to the array formation’s controlling nodes before slowly drawing at them.

He saw the guests looking at him.

“Watch, watch everyone. I will soon make a comeback and rise to an even higher level. Yi Yun, I have to thank you for being a blessing in disguise!” Li Yunshang could not help but laugh when he thought of it.

However, just as Li Yunshang was about to relax his body and mind, in preparation to welcome the energy that was as perfected as fine wine, his expression suddenly changed as he gave a look of puzzlement.

Why did the energy entering his body feel wrong?

1406 - : Life-risking Strike

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although something seemed to be off about the situation, Li Yunshang did not think too deeply about it. Besides, the array formation had the entire Li family’s ancestral grounds acting as its foundation. The array formation expended a sizable amount of treasured materials. The Li family had hired famous Elders who were well-researched in array formations to set it up.

Now, with a protective array activated, there was no reason for him to fear anything.

Under such circumstances, what could go wrong?

Furthermore, the array had already been activated. Li Yunshang would not shut off the array formation because of some fleeting feeling.

Large amounts of Spirit Jade had to be spent to activate the array formation. Just because he received a lot of prized gifts from the guests did not mean that he could squander without any regard.

Therefore, Li Yunshang continued to use the array formation. At the same time, he paid close attention to the Yuan Qi that had entered his body.

But this time, he failed to sense anything strange about the Yuan Qi.

The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi constantly surged into Li Yunshang’s body, spreading to his every corner of it. When it entered his dantian, he felt extremely comfortable as though warm energy was filling him.

Li Yunshang knew that this feeling was only an illusion. It came as a result of having his body filled with Yuan Qi. Only when he absorbed all of the seven women’s cultivation would he truly possess strength.

“It’s time.” An excited look appeared in Li Yunshang’s eyes.

Only Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had surged into his body so as to prepare his body to take in the true energies that followed.

Li Yunshang had gone to painstaking efforts to prepare the array formation. Every step was meticulously calculated so that no problems could arise.

Li Yunshang changed the way he moved his fingers slightly as the Yuan Qi in the array formation changed. It contained a sliver of evil in it. The Yuan Qi lingered beneath the seven women’s feet, causing the disk arrays to produce a buzzing sound.

Soon, the Yuan Qi that the array formation had gathered would flow into the women’s bodies and extract their cultivation before gathering within Li Yunshang. However, Li Yunshang suddenly realized that the Yuan Qi was not moving according to his commands. Instead of surging towards the seven women, it was rushing towards him.

“What happened?” Li Yunshang’s heart skipped a beat. He immediately moved to control the array formation, but realized that his commands were completely useless.

What the hell!

Li Yunshang turned flustered. He tried to dodge the Yuan Qi but felt his body suddenly stiffen.

He was actually paralyzed!

At that moment, Li Yunshang felt his soul quake vigorously. His eyes stared as though they were going to pop out. He never expected that he would end up in the same state as Wang Mu in a blink of an eye!

He watched helplessly at the surrounding crowd and they too were looking back at him. There were people with high cultivation levels around and they had realized that something was wrong. However, they did not have the time to confirm it for the changes had come too suddenly!

Boom!

The Yuan Qi formed a raven-black cloud that appeared to be made of countless flies. It swarmed straight into Li Yunshang’s body.

They were like worms boring into Li Yunshang’s pores.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Li Yunshang’s eyes protruded as he opened his mouth wide. He let out a silent scream!

The bits of Yuan Qi were like leeches. The moment they entered Li Yunshang’s body, they immediately latched onto his meridians and dantian. They sucked at his lifeblood, cultivation, and foundations crazily!

“Ah! Why did this happen!? Why!?”

Li Yunshang was appalled. Although he could not move, his mind remained extremely clear. He could clearly feel everything!

This feeling of having thousands of worms gnawing at his bones made him feel like dying right there and then.

This should have happened to the seven women. With the Mind Loss Gu embedded in them, they would not show their pain and allow the Yuan Qi to devour everything they had.

But now, all of that befell Li Yunshang. The pain he experienced was the sum of the seven women’s pain! This was because the Yuan Qi had to split among the seven women but now, it was all rushing into his body!

At that moment, Li Jiuxiao’s expression changed drastically. As for the guests looking at Li Yunshang, they began to realize that he looked a little horrifying.

Blue veins that looked like earthworms showed up beneath his skin and his eyes seemed like they would pop out.

Wang Mu widened his eyes too. He realized that nothing was happening to Yuan Ling and instead, it was Li Yunshang’s reactions that were intensifying.

Could it be…

At that moment, Li Jiuxiao no longer hesitated. He abruptly extended his arm to grab Li Yunshang.

But at that moment!

The Yuan Qi in the array formation suddenly turned chaotic. The Yuan Qi that been guided in a laminar flow suddenly turned turbulent as energies collided with each other.

“This…” The expressions of the two Martial Numinous clan Elders, as well as Fairy Rain and Haogu, changed at the same time.

Boom!

With a loud boom, the disk array beneath Li Yunshang’s feet exploded!

Li Jiuxiao had not managed to grab onto Li Yunshang yet. He watched helplessly as the energy around Li Yunshang exploded, like he himself was a bomb whose fuse had detonated.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Li Yunshang was thrown hundreds of feet away, sent tumbling across the ground like a deflated rubber ball. He finally came to a stop when he struck a guest table.

In a blink of an eye, Li Yunshang went from being on the crest of success to thrown to the floor like an unwanted wretch. He was lying on the ground covered in blood.

His limbs were crippled and his dantian had been sucked clean. As a member of the Martial Numinous clan, Li Yunshang’s lifeblood was stronger than the ordinary warrior’s. This also resulted in him still being alive despite such dire injuries.

However, Li Yunshang wished he were dead. He was now a complete cripple! He could only recover from his injuries with the help of extremely heaven-defying supreme-grade herbs.

But in order to reattach his leg and run the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony, the Li family had spent enormous amounts of resources. There would not be a second time…

His bloodshot eyes scanned at the crowd beneath. Who was it? Who was the culprit!?

As he was situated in the middle of the array formation, he bore the full brunt of the explosion. The women who stood on the remaining seven nodes remained unharmed.

The remnant blasts that surged out the were blocked by barriers mustered by Li Jiuxiao and the other two Martial Numinous clan Elders.

The two Martial Numinous clan Elders were completely fine but Li Jiuxiao was situated closest to Li Yunshang. Despite his hurry to raise a barrier, he was caught up in the remnant blasts, stirring his lifeblood into a turmoil. His face was ashen.

And after the explosion, Li Jiuxiao’s eyes widened when he saw its results. He felt blood shoot to his head.

The dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony held in the Li family’s ancestral ground had drawn the attention of many in the world; yet something bad had happened!

“Who was it!?” Li Jiuxiao swept a savage look across the crowd.

Regardless of who it was, he would absolutely not let the person leave the Li family’s ancestral ground!

The sudden turn of events left the guests shocked. Even Fairy Rain looked surprised. What just happened?

1407 - : Yuan Qi Reflux

CKtalon  CKtalon

Li Jiuxiao rushed to Li Yunshang’s side. He reached out his hand to touch Li Yunshang’s wrist only to find it was mushy like mud, and began flooding his perception into Li Yunshang’s body.

Following that, Li Jiuxiao’s eyes dimmed.

“U…Uncle, someone did something. I want him captured. I want to watch him… suffer… the world’s most excruciating pain…” Li Yunshang grabbed Li Jiuxiao’s wrist and said through gritted teeth.

“Don’t you worry!” Li Jiuxiao said solemnly.

This attack was not only Li Yunshang’s problem. It also affected the Li family’s reputation.

To elevate the scale of the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony, they had invited the masses and had even specially invited two Martial Numinous clan Elders, as well as the two stars of the younger generation, Haogu and Fairy Rain.

The ceremony was originally held to let all warriors witness the rising of their Li family’s successor, so as to uplift the prestige of the Li family.

However, such a disastrous incident happened at the critical moment of an important occasion like this. It was nothing less than pushing the Li family’s face to the ground and trampling it.

Now, everyone, including the Martial Numinous clan Elders, were watching. If the Li family did not handle the matter appropriately, this event would definitely result in irreparable damage to the Li family’s prestige. The maiming of their successor’s cultivation would also result in unimaginable consequences!

The Li family enjoyed a high status in the Martial Numinous clan, but at the same time it had many competitors. These people were watching the Li family’s every move, hoping for a misstep. The incident would give them a chance; therefore, Li Jiuxiao hated the culprit to the extreme.

Furthermore, he suspected that the incident was the work of an opposing faction in the Martial Numinous clan. As for the idea that Wang Mu orchestrated the attack, Li Jiuxiao thought nothing of it. How could Wang Mu have the capability to do so?

“Everyone, I’m truly sorry for what has happened today on our Li family’s ground. Brother Luo, Elder Hong, I have already given the order to temporarily seal the Li family’s ancestral ground. The insidious culprit will be found. This person is perverse and has not only wreaked havoc on the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony, but will likely also take this opportunity to attack all of you! He will not be allowed to escape after enacting such treacherous plans!” Li Jiuxiao said to the Martial Numinous clan’s Elder Luo and Elder Hong.

To seal the Li family’s ancestral grounds, he naturally needed to seek input from the Elders.

Elder Luo and Elder Hong had good relationships with the Li family. They naturally did not oppose the idea.

As for the remaining guests, they could not do anything about it after the two Elders gave the approval. As for Li Jiuxiao’s claim that the culprit was planning to attack the guests, it was only an excuse. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that the person who had schemed to infiltrate the ceremony was specifically targeting the Li family because of some feud.

At that moment, the Li family guards arrived at the various platforms. The mood instantly turned tense.

“Previously it was Wang Mu and now the array formation exploded. The Li family’s dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony sure is fraught with setbacks.” Fairy Rain murmured as she looked at the platforms below her.

“Perhaps the Li family has engaged in certain sordid deeds?” Haogu sneered. There was clearly something ignoble about the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony but Haogu had not paid too much attention to the Li family. However, since they had failed to nip the problem at its root, exposing themselves to ridicule, he found the Li family a disgrace.

“Senior Brother, would you be able to destroy the array formation in such a manner?” Fairy Rain looked at the disk array that had exploded. A glint flashed in her eyes suddenly as she asked with a whisper.

Haogu was slightly startled before he frowned. “No.”

To destroy the array from the outside, one had to shatter the protective barrier first. That was almost impossible. And to destroy the array from the inside, the only person controlling the array formation was Li Yunshang. He was the only one who could have destroyed the array. A method that caused an explosion without Li Yunshang’s knowledge despite him being the controller was something that eluded Haogu.

“If the person is captured, I’ll ask him how he did it.” Haogu revealed an interested look as he said casually.

At that moment, Li Jiuxiao said, “Everyone, the Li family will not impose on you but please cooperate with us so that we can find the culprit swiftly.”

The cooperation he spoke of was the verification and identification of each person.

Li Jiuxiao basically wanted to verify the identities of everyone below the third platform. These people were mostly of poor family backgrounds. Some were even trivial figures.

Li family suspected that the person that truly wanted to bring harm to the Li family was hidden among them.

And Li Jiuxiao thought nothing of offending these people of no consequence.

In fact, Li Jiuxiao disparaged them. Although the wedding made grand claims of allowing anyone to attend, Li Jiuxiao still thought of them as nothing but riffraff.

Li Jiuxiao walked towards the third platform. With a flip of his hand, a blackish-green disk array appeared. There were complicated runes engraved on it. People skilled in array formations instantly determined that the array formation embedded in the disk array had to do with the soul.

“Elder Li, this is…”

A few people on the third platform were puzzled. They knew a disk array that had to do with the soul was probably something bad.

“It doesn’t mean anything dire. I hope that everyone will humor me. This is a Soul Sharing disk array. I wish to check everyone’s situation. I suspect that the culprit that wreaked havoc in this ceremony is hidden amongst you.”

Li Jiuxiao’s words made the crowd’s expression change. “Elder Li, what’s the meaning of this?”

Soul Sharing disk array?

The item sounded like it would establish a soul connection. It was likely that it allowed Li Jiuxiao to inspect a portion of a person’s memories and, through that, determine if the person was related to the incident.

However, which warrior present would want their memories to be searched?

“Elder Li, are you suspecting us? Or do you think lowly people like us are easily bullied?” said someone unhappily. Although they had little standing in society, they refused to be pushed around.

“Everyone, you misunderstand. This isn’t targeted at you. In fact, the people on the first and second platform are allies of the Li family in the Martial Numinous clan. I know them well. I believe that the enemy of the Li family would not be acting in his personal capacity if he were to attack the Li family. Instead, he would appear in disguise. As such, he would only appear amongst you.”

“I hope everyone will cooperate. If not, I would feel bad for having this place constantly sealed!”

The latter half of Li Jiuxiao’s statement had a threatening tone. Clearly, he would not lift the seal unless the culprit was found.

“You…”

Many people were enraged. They had attended the wedding with gifts, but now they were going to be interrogated as criminals. Furthermore, it was being done through such unacceptable methods.

This was pushing it too far!

“Everyone, who shall we begin with? Or should I do the choosing?”

Li Jiuxiao narrowed his eyes. He sized up a few people that he believed were the most likely culprits.

1408 - : Interrogation

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun sensed Li Jiuxiao looking towards him with a penetrating gaze.

Yi Yun was one of the first people that Li Jiuxiao suspected. It was not because Yi Yun’s cultivation level or appearance was worth suspicion. It was only because Yi Yun had gifted a mountain pig at the beginning of the ceremony. It was just such a startling move that Li Jiuxiao had no way of forgetting him.

However, after looking at Yi Yun for about half a minute, he dispelled those thoughts. For someone to have the means to oppose the Li family, they had to be an important hegemon.

As for Yi Yun, he gave off nothing but bumpkin vibes. Even if he were there to cause trouble at the ceremony, he could not be an enemy of any importance.

“How about we begin with the few of you? Don’t worry. This Soul Sharing array formation will not cause any damage to your soul seas. Also, the information obtained will be more vague than a soul search. It won’t reveal any of your cultivation techniques.”

Li Jiuxiao smiled at the group of people, having already moved past Yi Yun.

The few people that Li Jiuxiao was targeting had ugly expressions.

Although they were of lowly status, most people do not want their secrets to be known by others. And now, the Li family wanted to search them as they pleased.

However, what could they do while they were sealed within the Li family’s ancestral mountain?

All they could do was sullenly allow Li Jiuxiao to search them.

After a fruitless search of a few suspects, Li Jiuxiao frowned. All he could do was continue on. However, these people of little consequence did not seem capable at all.

But at that moment, a figure with fluttering clothes descended.

“Ninth Uncle, let me give it a try.”

The person who spoke was none other than Fairy Rain!

People were stunned. Fairy Rain was one of the honored guests at the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony. No one expected her to request to do the soul verification. To many, this was just a mundane chore. It was fine if Li Jiuxiao did it since he came up with the idea, but it was not suitable for Fairy Rain to do so.

One had to know that many warriors carried with them memories of dual cultivating with girls and engaging in licentious acts. Some even did it with multiple women at the same time. Such matters were common among warriors! After all, warriors had strength that far exceeded mortals. They could and often did use their strength and status to their advantage. They could marry any number of wives and concubines and purchase maidservants, forming a huge harem.

The moment Fairy Rain found those acts or deplorable memories, it would no doubt be an insult towards her.

“Rain, how can you do such a job?”

Li Jiuxiao naturally was not agreeable to it but Fairy Rain insisted.

Fairy Rain walked over, as many people on the third platform suddenly had their thoughts stir. They never expected Fairy Rain to personally do the probe!

As such, they were no longer repulsed by the idea.

Some even looked forward to Fairy Rain’s search of their memories. It felt like they were taking advantage of Fairy Rain. After all, their social standing and Fairy Rain’s were separated by an immense gap. Being able to see her from far was already an honor.

“Fairy Rain, why don’t you begin with me?”

A person volunteered as he patted his chest. He exuded vibes like he was the culprit and wished to be quickly apprehended.

“Old Second Zhao! Cut the act. Who doesn’t know you? You are nothing but an idler of the Zhao family. Your identity is known by all. With the means you possess, you are probably only capable of slaughtering mountain pigs. To say that you are the one that caused trouble at the Martial Numinous clan’s wedding ceremony? Stop dreaming. Do you want Fairy Rain to know which chick you picked at Cuihong Brothel yesterday?”

Someone exposed him mercilessly, immediately inspiring jeering laughter. The mention of slaughtering mountain pigs naturally referred to Yi Yun’s gift of a mountain pig at the wedding. He had become a meme, to the point that his act was used in mocking fashion against someone else.

“Haha, at least Old Second Zhao’s pig slaughtering capabilities are stronger than the other guy’s!” another person added. Some even gave Yi Yun a derisive glance.

“Fairy Rain, you can begin with me!” Another person said with a smile. As for their secrets or opportunities, a figure at Fairy Rain’s level would naturally think nothing of them.

Despite all the people stepping forward, Song Rainsong smiled and ignored them. She cut through the crowd and stood in front of a certain ordinary-looking, middle-aged man.

He was none other than the disguised Yi Yun!

Song Rainsong gave Yi Yun a penetrating glance, “Shall I begin with you?”

Yi Yun pricked up his brows. This was going to be interesting!

In fact, since the beginning of the wedding, Yi Yun noticed that Song Rainsong had stolen a few glances at him. It was naturally not a coincidence.

On second thought, it was probably the aura of the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm that caught Song Rainsong’s attention.

Yi Yun absorbed the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s lifeblood with every recent breakthrough. As such, he could not help that his body exuded a hint of the silkworm’s aura.

Instantly, everyone looked at Yi Yun. They never expected that Song Rainsong’s person of choice would be a middle-aged man with a messy beard.

“Isn’t he… the one who gifted the mountain pig?”

“Why did Fairy Rain choose him?”

Everyone was stunned. He received such special treatment from gifting a pig? He actually managed to attract Fairy Rain’s attention? If they had known earlier, they would have given one themselves! What the heck!

Many people cast envious looks at Yi Yun. They did not know how Yi Yun had lucked out to obtain Fairy Rain’s attention.

Of course, Yi Yun did not feel honored in any way. It was not difficult for him to crack the array after he figured out the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi circulation principles of the array. The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was supposed to pass through the seven women before accumulating on Li Yunshang. However, with Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal Origins’s powers, he forcibly made the energy streams pass through Li Yunshang first, siphoning him of his lifeblood.

Yi Yun had many secrets, so the consequences of having his soul searched were naturally disastrous.

“What? Do you have a guilty conscience?”

Fairy Rain looked Yi Yun right in the eye, hoping to get a read. They were just inches away from each other.

Yi Yun stroked his chin. He was surprised to discover that he had underestimated the woman. Back in the Ancient Ruins world, his attention was focused on the people from the White Lunar Divine Empire. He did not give her much thought.

A woman’s intuition is truly sharp.

At that moment, Fairy Rain took out the disk array. Looking at Yi Yun, the corners of her lips suffused a playful smile.

Under the present circumstances, Song Rainsong was certain that Yi Yun had no way of saying no. In fact, she was doing this for her own benefit. She wanted to use this opportunity to investigate the relationship between Yi Yun and the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm.

The silkworm was just too important to her.

Yi Yun pondered for a few seconds. Although he was skilled in array formations, he did not understand much about Spiritual Soul laws. It was impossible for him to understand the underlying mechanisms of the array formation fast enough for him to turn it against Song Rainsong.

“Fairy Rain, I’m truly overwhelmed by the favor you have granted me.”

At that moment, Yi Yun said this leisurely as he placed his hand on the disk array.

At the instant he stretched out his arm, a green urn inside his interspatial ring silently opened. Following that, a black shadow crept out of the ring and into Yi Yun’s finger. It flowed through his meridians and finally injected itself into the disk array.

The black shadow was obviously Poison Demon!

Poison Demon had extraordinary origins. In ancient times, after a mighty figure who was suspected to be a Godly Monarch died from the art of Great Poison, his ashes were sealed inside a green urn. Poison Demon was then born from the poisons in the ashes.

Poison Demon had been in an urn for hundreds of millions of years. It absorbed the remnant soul fragments of the important figure and gained sentience. Although it did not inherit any of the dead Godly Monarch’s strength, it did have a talent for soul searching!

Poison Demon already saw its opponent, a radiant young girl—Song Rainsong.

It felt excited for no good reason as it could not help but laugh sinisterly inside the disk array.

At that moment, Song Rainsong’s spiritual soul strength was cast deep into the disk array. She took her position at the core of the disk array. With her spiritual soul strength being protected by the array formation, she could freely infiltrate Yi Yun’s soul.

Unfortunately, Yi Yun was not the only soul situated on the other end of the disk array. There was also Poison Demon. Song Rainsong’s first probe was intercepted by Poison Demon.

She had accidentally infiltrated Poison Demon’s psyche!

“Hehehe, what a moist, supple spiritual soul strength. It looks delicious. Awesome, truly awesome!” Poison Demon let out a strange cry. He became like an opium addict that had taken a whiff of opium after going cold turkey for days.

This made even his owner, Yi Yun, uncomfortable. This bastard was way too perverse!

At that moment, Song Rainsong saw Poison Demon’s psyche.

As an old existence, Poison Demon had been in the urn for years. Furthermore, he had devoured the souls of many. He had read the memories of the dead so its psyche world was in a mess. It was like a hell of souls.

At the instant Song Rainsong’s mental energies came into contact with Poison Demon, Song Rainsong felt all sorts of chaotic memories surge at her like a tidal wave. There were all sorts of demons and bloody acts of murder, all accompanied by a cold aura that froze the soul. It made Song Rainsong’s soul sea quake as the color in her face drained instantly.

And cast over the endless scenes of chaos was a distorted face. It had a horrendous, sinister smile. Its image was that a devil that had crawled out from hell!

“Roar!”

The face let out a strange bellow!

“Ah!”

Instantly, Song Rainsong could not help but cry out lightly. Although she was a warrior, she was a woman in the end. She grew up in the Martial Numinous clan from a young age and had never experienced such intense madness. Her nerves were unable to handle the sudden influx of such scenes.

Beads of sweat immediately appeared on Song Rainsong’s forehead.

“Rain, what’s wrong with you!?”

Haogu, who had always cared for her, turned anxious when he saw the scene. With a flash, he arrived beside her.

1409 - : Fairy Rain versus Yi Yun

CKtalon  CKtalon

Song Rainsong released the disk array and looked at Yi Yun in shock. However, she was quickly able to restore her calm due to her training as an elite of the Martial Numinous clan. Soon, she only looked at Yi Yun with a hint of wariness and suspicion.

“I…” Song Rainsong was just about to speak when she suddenly felt something was amiss.

She instantly grimaced. The evil entity she sensed had lodged itself into her mind. It did not leave even after she severed contact with the disk array.

Logically speaking, the moment she released the disk array, the spiritual connection between her and Yi Yun should have been severed. The current situation had exceeded Song Rainsong’s expectations.

She immediately wrapped her soul in layers of protection, using her mental strength to purge the evil psyche. But it proved difficult to purge because it clung tightly to her mind like a maggot. The entire time, the bloody scenes inundated her mind like a series of tidal waves.

The remaining color drained from her face. This was no ordinary psyche, but resembled a blob of evil incarnate.

Poison Demon was a soul of the purest form. Although Song Rainsong was a genius, she could not withstand Poison Demon in this sort of fight.

At that moment, Haogu noticed Song Rainsong’s trembling and her tightly knitted brows. He already knew that something was amiss.

“Junior Sister, are you alright?” Haogu asked with concern. He was somewhat confused. Why would Song Rainsong have such a reaction simply from searching the memories of a bumpkin?

Were the bumpkin’s memories that filthy?

Haogu hated Yi Yun to the bone. He was already unhappy that Song Rainsong was searching Yi Yun’s memories. However, he never expected Song Rainsong to suffer from the soul sharing process.

Upon coming to this realization, Haogu looked coldly at Yi Yun and said, “Not only do you look grotesque, even your memories are so sordid that Junior Sister Song finds them intolerable.”

And at that moment, Song Rainsong managed to catch her breath. She had used all her strength to trap Poison Demon in a region of her soul sea.

Song Rainsong was perspiring as she looked angrily at Yi Yun, “What did you plant in my soul sea?”

“What?” Haogu was stunned.

The man had actually tampered with Song Rainsong’s soul sea?

One explanation could be that Song Rainsong had likely not taken any precautions, but to be able to plant such a thorny problem in her soul without anyone realizing it, it implied that Yi Yun’s strength was clearly not what it seemed on the surface.

Haogu’s expression turned heavy as he looked at Yi Yun with eyes filled with killing intent. “I do not care what your goal is. Immediately take out the thing you planted or I guarantee you will not leave this place alive.”

He pressed down on the sword by his waist but did not draw it right away. Song Rainsong’s soul sea was under threat. If he killed Yi Yun directly, he would never know what he did to her.

The two Martial Numinous clan Elders also stood up immediately as they fixated cold gazes on Yi Yun. However, they did not take action either. Song Rainsong was about to head to the White Lunar Divine Empire soon. Her status was now no trifling matter. Even the tiniest bit of damage to Song Rainsong’s soul sea was something the Martial Numinous clan found absolutely unacceptable.

One had to know that damage to the soul was more severe than physical damage. Even treasured herbs could hardly heal that damage.

At that moment, the conversation between Yi Yun, Song Rainsong, and Haogu had astounded all the guests. The situation had developed far beyond their expectations.

The man they thought of as a bumpkin now had a much more mysterious image. He had dealt a blow to the Martial Numinous clan’s elite publicly in front of the Martial Numinous clan Elders.

“Rat, what are you waiting for!?” bellowed Elder Luo angrily.

“Do you want us to take action personally? You will be sorry if we do.” said a cold-sounding voice from the charming Elder Hong. Combined with her seductive smile, what she said left people shuddering.

Despite everyone’s attention, as well as Haogu and the Martial Numinous clan Elder’s threats and beratement, Yi Yun’s oblivious look remained.

Yi Yun knew that the situation would not end well the moment Song Rainsong began suspecting him and demanded to personally do the soul sharing.

But it did not matter. His goal here today was to mess things up.

Destroying the array formation and maiming Li Yunshang had already met his goals. Whether or not Song Rainsong was harmed meant nothing.

“You were bent on searching my soul as though it was perfectly justified. All I did was go eye for an eye, and you speak as though I have done something wrong? All of you sure are high-handed,” said Yi Yun sarcastically.

Song Rainsong frowned when she heard that. She had indeed insisted on sharing souls with Yi Yun because of her suspicion. Now, Yi Yun’s biting remark was clearly targeted at her.

However, she felt more certain of her suspicion after hearing what Yi Yun said. Although Yi Yun looked completely different from the punk she encountered in the Ancient Ruins world, there was something similar in their eyes.

But just as her cherry lips separated, she heard Yi Yun’s voice transmission: “It’s best you not say anything you don’t need to. Otherwise, I’m still certain I can turn you into a retard before the Martial Numinous clan experts rush over…”

Yi Yun obviously did not want news of the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm to spread. It was of extremely great value. Ignoring its future growth, just its blood was a renewable divine supplement. Once the news spread, he would be in trouble.

At that moment, a terrifying laughter cackled in Song Rainsong’s soul sea. “Hehehehe… Lass, are you feeling safe just because you trapped me in here? I’m your ancestor when it comes to soul strength!”

Song Rainsong’s face got even whiter. She hesitated for a moment and did not say a word. However, she looked at Yi Yun hatefully. Yi Yun was actually threatening her…

She had determined Yi Yun’s identity and naturally knew that he was a young warrior around her age. He was no middle-aged man. Song Rainsong burned with fury that she had succumbed to the tricks of a warrior her age.

Yi Yun naturally knew what Poison Demon said. He was rendered speechless by what the old pervert said but since it looked effective, Yi Yun was satisfied and did not say another word.

“To think you are resorting to sophistry. Do you think the Martial Numinous clan will spare you for what you have done?” Haogu’s voice sounded again.

Haogu turned incensed after being mocked by Yi Yun right in the face. As the eldest senior brother of the Martial Numinous clan, he enjoyed an elevated status. He had never been so infuriated in front of so many people.

Sou!

Haogu drew his ice-cold sword. But before he could deliver an attack, he suddenly turned cold and detached. His entire being seemed to shift into a different state. All the murderous intent he emitted, as well as the surrounding air, froze.

1410 - : Striking First to Gain the Initiative

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Since you continue to be so thickheaded, there is no need for me to continue speaking nicely to you. I’ll capture you and seal your mind to do a soul search directly. I’ll naturally find a way to resolve Junior Sister Song’s problem then.” Haogu’s cold voice was chilling to the bone.

Then, Haogu attacked!

A resplendent beam lit up the platform. Nearly everyone felt the sky around them turn dark suddenly. They could only see a blinding beam of light shoot out.

This was Haogu’s sword flash. When a sword moved at an extremely fast speed, it would only leave behind a resplendent sword flash. Contained within the sword flash were powerful spatial dimension laws. It left a wake of destruction and even the void was quaking.

In addition, Haogu’s figure seemed to appear simultaneously in many spots. He had slashed out more than ten times at Yi Yun, each strike containing terrifying strength that could shatter the void.

At a glance, the space surrounding Yi Yun seemed to tear. And he looked to be trapped by the inundating spatial forces.

Upon seeing the sword flash, many warriors present were alarmed. They knew that there was no way they could withstand the sword flash if they were put in Yi Yun’s shoes. Many people even felt that they would likely perish.

From the looks of it, Haogu had no plans on wasting time with Yi Yun. He struck to incapacitate Yi Yun. No matter what tricks Yi Yun had up his sleeve, there was no way he could use them.

Luo Fei had a gloating look. Yi Yun had stolen his limelight with the mountain pig and frightened him with his gaze. Now, he had foolishly offended a genius disciple of the Martial Numinous clan. He had truly asked for it.

“As expected of a disciple chosen by the White Lunar Divine Empire…” Li Jiuxiao could not help but marvel. Even he had to take it seriously when faced with such an attack. If Li Yunshang had Haogu’s strength, he would not have been maimed. But of course, if Li Yunshang had such talent, his status in the Li family would be unshakeable.

This was all happening before they found the culprit that tampered with the array formation…

Although Yi Yun dared to bite back at Song Rainsong, Li Jiuxiao did not believe that Yi Yun was the mysterious enemy.

How could the culprit be Yi Yun, considering the fact that the culprit had acted right under Haogu’s nose when he was not even Haogu’s match?

Song Rainsong watched Haogu’s sword flash with a glint in her eyes. Although she had no romantic feelings for him, she was very impressed with Haogu’s strength. And now, she abhorred Yi Yun. She wished for the sword to lop off Yi Yun’s head.

Back when Yi Yun snatched the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm, he had acted smugly behind an array formation. And all that he had to show for it were some unscrupulous tricks. Song Rainsong did not believe Yi Yun was Haogu’s match. She believed that she would have no trouble defeating Yi Yun herself.

Everyone believed that Yi Yun was doomed as the sword flash that blanketed everything struck Yi Yun’s body. However, it seemed to be devoured by a black hole and was rapidly ground to bits!

At that moment, everyone was stunned to see a gigantic gray wheel appear behind Yi Yun. Amid the wheel were countless writhing phantoms of devils and wraiths. The demonic aura was intense. Every spin of the wheel ground the sword flashes more easily.

Simultaneously, an ice-blue sword appeared in Yi Yun’s hand. The sword appeared like a mirage or dream but when he slashed with it, a terrifying aura of destruction flooded towards Haogu.

Haogu’s strike was fast but Yi Yun’s attack was even stranger and more profound.

Despite Yi Yun striking out after Haogu, his strike seemed to instantly tunnel through space and time, arriving in front of Haogu abruptly.

Haogu raised his sword to block it but when the destructive sword beam descended upon him, his protective Yuan Qi instantly shattered.

Haogu’s expression changed as the aura in his dantian surged. A lightning-like tattoo surfaced on his chest as it emitted a bright light.

Boom!

The sword beam clashed with the lightning tattoo, producing a tumultuous boom.

Haogu retreated more than ten steps back amid the boom. Every step shattered the extremely hard stone slabs on the ground. He spewed out a mouthful of blood as the lightning tattoo on his chest dimmed.

At that moment, Haogu’s pupils constricted. Yi Yun’s figure had suddenly appeared in front of him. He held a miniature 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence in his palm as he smacked it down on Haogu.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Haogu was sent flying as he crashed through dozens of tables before coming to a stop in front of a gigantic stone pillar. His sword-wielding arm was quivering as he looked at Yi Yun in disbelief.

Under the effects of the Major Destruction laws, Haogu could not recover from his injuries. He was like a weak mortal, bleeding profusely without hope of stopping it.

Not only that, Yi Yun had already chased up to him after he crashed down.

Boom!

Another palm strike!

This time, Haogu only managed to block with his arms.

Under the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, his arms immediately produced a clear cracking sound. Even the stone pillar behind him gave way.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Even Haogu did not know how many stone pillars he toppled or how many palm strikes he suffered under Yi Yun!

In the end, he was covered in blood with all his limbs fractured. His innards felt like they were no longer in their original spots, like he had gone through a storm. He was also being constantly damaged by the immense amount of Destruction energies.

Haogu’s eyes turned red as he constantly yelled inwardly.

He had been… trampled by Yi Yun!

Everyone could barely believe their eyes. They believed that Yi Yun would be defeated after the first strike, but the person defeated was Haogu?

Song Rainsong was dumbfounded as well. In her mind, Eldest Senior Brother Haogu was extremely powerful, but he was thrashed by a junior like Yi Yun?

No… Song Rainsong no longer thought of Yi Yun as a junior. She was astounded that Yi Yun could defeat Haogu so easily. It was testament to his strength. Just moments ago, Song Rainsong was of the opinion that she could defeat Yi Yun alone but now, she knew that she would only end up in an abject state if she faced him.

Recalling how Haogu was struck by such a brutal barrage of attacks, Song Rainsong’s face could not help but turn pale when she imagined those strikes landing on her…

At that moment, Yi Yun had finally stopped but the guests were still dumbstruck.

“To think a person like you wanted to take me down and search my soul.” Yi Yun’s ethereal voice sounded. It made Haogu, who was about to faint from his pain, jolt in anger.

It was the greatest humiliation he had ever suffered. He was beaten into such an abject state at the hands of a mortal he thought nothing of in front of so many people. He was like a child receiving a beating from an adult, unable to fight back at all.

“You concealed your cultivation level. You are a mid-stage Supremacy…” Haogu forced his words out.

The moment Yi Yun attacked, he had realized that Yi Yun far exceeded the Dao Palace realm warrior he sensed him to be. Everyone else naturally noticed as well.

However, Haogu was also a mid-stage Supremacy. Why was the difference between them so huge!?

Yi Yun sneered as he suddenly beckoned with his hand. A miniature pagoda coruscating with raven-black light appeared in his palm.

Following that, Yi Yun struck Haogu’s chest and sealed his cultivation!

Haogu’s eyes widened. He failed to resist in time and was lifted up by Yi Yun and thrown inside the God Advent Tower!

“Ah!”

As he was dragged into the pagoda, Haogu let out a scream. He had been imprisoned by Yi Yun. It meant that his fate was now in the hands of Yi Yun.

“Bastard, how dare you!”

Li Jiuxiao was enraged. Yi Yun had actually severely injured Haogu and captured him at his Li family’s dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony. How was he to answer to the Martial Numinous clan?

If anything were to happen to Haogu, wouldn’t his Li family have to shoulder the blame if the White Lunar Divine Empire pressed the issue? Furthermore, the Li family would end up being the laughing stock of the opposing factions in the Martial Numinous clan!

“Heh!”

Yi Yun sneered as he powered the God Advent Tower once again. With a sweeping beam, the God Advent Tower pulled in Wang Mu and his wife Yuan Ling!

When he was unleashing his attacks on Haogu, Yi Yun had secretly chosen a particular spot to end his fight. It was situated in between Wang Mu and Yuan Ling. He instantly sent a voice transmission telling Wang Mu and Yuan Ling to not resist. With lightning speed, he swept the duo away to prevent any problems in the future.

And in fact, while Yi Yun was beating Haogu, even the Li family did not realize that Yi Yun was actually here to save Yuan Ling. She was no one of importance. With Haogu abducted, they had no time to control Yuan Ling, allowing Yi Yun to succeed.

“You were the one that tampered with the array formation…” Li Jiuxiao said hatefully. Yi Yun’s saving of Yuan Ling and Wang Mu made everything evident.

Yi Yun no longer had any thoughts of hiding the truth when he took action. He calmly locked eyes with the furious Li Jiuxiao.

“Who are you?” asked Li Jiuxiao coldly.

After Yi Yun exposed his strength and saved Wang Mu and Yuan Ling, he already had a guess but he found it unbelievable.

Yi Yun gave him a derisive smile as his looks underwent a transformation. His figure turned tall as his face gradually turned young and handsome. Soon, a man with a bearing that resembled a sword appeared in front of everyone.

The unsightly black clothes he was previously wearing now gave him a sense of mystery. With Yi Yun wielding an ice-blue sword with a calm look in his eyes, many people on the platform looked at him in a different light.

“Is this his true appearance? I originally thought he was some grotesque middle-aged man. Who knew that he’s a youth with such outstanding bearing and looks?”

“That’s right. I think so too.”

Many people spoke in astonishment. There were particularly many girls that were stunned by Yi Yun’s looks. The contrast in appearance was just too stark. It had strong visual impact.

Many of the girls that spoke had nothing to do with the Martial Numinous clan. They were only guests and did not care if Yi Yun entered a conflict with the Li family. Instead, they were mesmerized by Yi Yun’s aura and strength.

Haogu, who these girls thought of as an unreachable existence, had suffered a thorough thrashing in a blink of an eye. Furthermore, the person that did so was even more handsome and graceful than Haogu. He lit up the eyes of many girls.

1411 - : Who are You

CKtalon  CKtalon

“This person’s bone age is only about a few hundred years, isn’t it? Doesn’t that make him much younger than Haogu?”

“A mid-stage Supremacy at a few hundred years old? Furthermore, his strength far exceeds Haogu’s. Where did he come from? Why have we never heard of him before?”

People were intrigued by Yi Yun’s identity but at that moment, Li Jiuxiao’s eyes burned with boundless hate. “It’s indeed you! Yi Yun, you really didn’t die!”

Thanks to Myriad God Patriarch, Li Jiuxiao knew Yi Yun’s identity very well!

Yi Yun smiled. “Of course. If I let myself die, wouldn’t I miss the chance to congratulate our Young Master Li? How was it? Are you satisfied with my congratulatory gift?”

The gift he was referring to naturally was not the mountain pig. Instead, he was referring to the destruction of the array formation and the maiming of Li Yunshang.

Li Yunshang was still hanging on by a thread, but when he heard Yi Yun’s words he was nearly pushed off the edge. His body convulsed violently as blood boiled in him. His expression turned livid.

“You… You…” He was in such a incensed stupor that he was unable to say a full sentence.

Upon seeing Li Yunshang’s reaction and Yi Yun’s huge grin, many guests gloated inwardly.

Many of the guests that attended the wedding ceremony did it to foster ties with the Li family. But when Li Jiuxiao tried to force a soul sharing with the warriors he suspected, it left quite a bitter aftertaste in their mouths.

Now, seeing Li Yunshang fuming in madness, they did not share his sentiments of animosity. Some girls even were even inclined to side with Yi Yun.

However, they were puzzled over Yi Yun’s arrogance in front of a Divine Lord. What gave him such courage?

Even if he had beaten Haogu to a pulp, he was facing the difference of a full realm against a Divine Lord. That gap was not something that could be closed with talent alone.

“Good, very good. You dare come to my Li family’s ancestral ground. This place will be where you perish!” said Li Jiuxiao with surging murderous intent.

However, Yi Yun appeared as though he did not hear Li Jiuxiao’s bawling. Instead, he looked at the two Martial Numinous clan Elders. “I taught Song Rainsong a tiny lesson in exchange for her attempt to harm me. As for Haogu, he only had himself to blame. What follows is a personal matter between me and the Li family. I wish for the both of you to not interfere. After this is over, I will naturally return Haogu to you.”

“Punk, are you threatening us?”

Elder Luo and Elder Hong’s expressions contorted. If this were any other time, they might not have listened to a junior’s blabbering. However, Haogu was indeed in his possession and, with him being an important disciple of the White Lunar Divine Empire, they could not afford to lose him.

Furthermore, Yi Yun had attacked ruthlessly but he did not appear to have used all his strength. Even if Yi Yun was not their match, they would still need to spend some time to take down Yi Yun. In that situation, Yi Yun would have plenty of time to kill Haogu. Besides, Song Rainsong appeared to be in trouble as well.

Upon seeing the two Elders remain silent, Li Jiuxiao looked at Yi Yun and laughed in anger. “Yi Yun, do you think that our Li family can’t do a thing to you? There’s no need for you to make such a request, nor is there a need for the Elders to take action. The Li family is fully capable of making you regret coming into this world!”

With that said, Li Jiuxiao’s voice turned fierce. Dozens of Li family sentries and various stewards suddenly appeared around Yi Yun.

As for Li Jiuxiao, he flew down as a weirdly-shaped calabash appeared in his hand. His bloodshot eyes were locked onto Yi Yun.

“Punk, I’ll show you the strength of a Divine Lord!” Li Jiuxiao’s voice sounded like it came from hell. It was filled with deeply-ingrained killing intent. Yi Yun had opposed his family time and time again. The hatred in him would not be eased until he tortured Yi Yun.

Yi Yun swept with his perception and knew that the Li family sentries had formed a battle formation to confine him.

This was a banquet after all. Li Jiuxiao did not wish for his fight with Yi Yun to cause any ill effects to the guests and banquet. He even allowed the Li family’s maidservants to continue serving dishes as though the battle was just a bloody performance at the banquet.

Yi Yun sneered. He knew Li Jiuxiao thought he was cornered. A battle between a Divine Lord and a Supremacy left no suspense in his eyes.

“So what if you are a Divine Lord? It’s not like I have never fought one before!” Yi Yun’s voice was ice-cold as an immense combat aura blasted out of him!

Myriad God Patriarch, who died by his machinations, was a Divine Lord. A top-level Divine Lord at that. However, Myriad God Patriarch was heavily injured during their fight. Then again, Yi Yun had experienced a new breakthrough and his strength was no longer the same as before.

As for Li Jiuxiao, although he was a Divine Lord, he spent all his time studying alchemy. He was not adept in battle, but that did not mean that he was to be underestimated.

The present situation even made Yi Yun feel zeal and ardor course through his blood. He was eager to test out his current capabilities.

“What an ostentatious claim!” Li Jiuxiao raged as the calabash in his hand produced a sharp and cold shriek. At the same time, black gases surged out of it.

And at that moment, Yi Yun made his move as well.

His body suddenly emitted a loud dragon’s roar as his sword slashed down ruthlessly at Li Jiuxiao.

“Chi!”

At that instant, it was as though the world was being split apart. The sword flash that brought with it an aura of Destruction flooded over. As for the sword-wielder, he had the appearance of a humanoid dragon. He charged at Li Jiuxiao with indomitable might.

Upon seeing this strike, the look in Elder Hong’s eyes changed slightly.

She had actually hesitated to attack back when Yi Yun threatened them. This was because she thought nothing of Yi Yun, who was a mere Supremacy.

But upon seeing it, she came to the realization that Yi Yun’s strike was very powerful!

The pupils of the guests, including Song Rainsong, constricted.

The might of the strike was several times stronger than Haogu’s.

But what truly astounded many was that amid the sword-flashes, an azure blue beam streaked. And it brought with it a peerless sharpness that could slice apart all obstructions!

It was not that Yi Yun did not use all his strength when fighting Haogu, but that there was no need for him to treat Haogu seriously.

How was he this strong!? Song Rainsong found it unbelievable. She widened her eyes, gazing upon the battle between Yi Yun and Li Jiuxiao without daring to blink.

It was now a possibility that Yi Yun could really be on par with Li Jiuxiao in combat!

“Oh?” The strike exceeded Li Jiuxiao’s expectations. He threw the calabash towards the sky as he coldly said the world, “Draw!”

Immediately, more black gases surged out of the calabash’s mouth. The surrounding space seemed to be sucked away by the calabash as tremors were felt. Many sword flashes instantly dissipated in the trembling space upon contact. The calabash absorbed the remnant aftershocks.

At the same time, Li Jiuxiao’s body jolted. A thick black fog spewed out of his body. Similarly, it was like a black cloud that blotted the sky.

1412 - : Battling Li Jiuxiao

CKtalon  CKtalon

Li Jiuxiao could not afford to go easy against Yi Yun’s strike. The moment the battle began, both parties brought their best.

The black fog swirled around Li Jiuxiao, emitting a heart-chilling hum. At the same time, there was an extremely cold and brutal aura that was constantly surging out.

“Go!” Li Jiuxiao suddenly lifted his hand and pointed.

The black fog instantly moved, sweeping towards Yi Yun.

However, just as the black fog was about to clash with the sword flash, the black fog split right down the middle, avoiding the sword flash and flooding straight at Yi Yun!

“Oh? What is this?” The look in Yi Yun’s eyes changed. The fog gave him a sense of danger, something that repelled him. At the same time, he felt something amiss.

He immediately flipped his blade and raised it in front of him to block.

Buzz——

The dense black fog struck Yi Yun’s sword as some black bits fell from the sky. Yi Yun focused on them and realized that they were black worms that had been sliced through.

It was no wonder the black fog exuded such a strange feeling. It was actually alive!

And what astounded Yi Yun the most was that after he split the worms with his sword flash, the worms’ corpses suddenly flew up again, becoming two worms. The only difference was that the aura of the new worms was extremely weak, much weaker than a whole worm.

Although Yi Yun’s sword flash had blocked the black fog, the black fog did not retreat. It swirled around Yi Yun, and he felt the surrounding Yuan Qi deplete constantly.

“Haha, how is it? Do my Yuan Siphoning Worms feel good?” Li Jiuxiao’s sneer could be heard on the other end of the black fog.

Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat. Yuan Siphoning Worms? No wonder he found it a little familiar. He had once read about them in the divine alchemist’s notes. However, the worms were extremely rare, making it impossible for him to readily identify them. He never expected that Li Jiuxiao had reared a swarm.

“They are actually Yuan Siphoning Worms! That’s an ancient, poisonous worm. They specialize in devouring Yuan Qi, including spiritual items that contain Yuan Qi. That also includes warriors like us. They will first suck dry our Yuan Qi before boring into the meridians and dantian. Finally, even your bones that have been tempered for years will be eaten through. Your soul, your weapons, all of it will be eaten clean. Literally.” A person among the guests knew about them too. He immediately explained with a pale expression.

Everyone who heard him grimaced. There were many worms that ate people but such a manner of consumption was horrendous.

Just thinking that the black fog that blotted out half the sky was comprised of such worms, many girls felt even more miserable.

“Yi Yun, once you are devoured clean by the Yuan Siphoning Worms, I want to see if that mouth of yours can still produce such a stink!” Li Jiuxiao felt a warped sense of satisfaction. It had not been easy for him to obtain the Yuan Siphoning Worms. Furthermore, they took a long time to mature. He needed to spend huge amounts of Spirit Jade and even feed them the flesh and blood of warriors to nurture them. Although he had reared them for tens of thousands of years, they had not even fully matured. The numbers were also lacking.

If he could rear a million, he could literally blot out the sky. Instantly, a city could be wiped out, terminating all life inside.

There were experts who employed such means in ancient times. Li Jiuxiao had found the Yuan Siphoning Worms’ eggs in one such expert’s tomb.

If not for his desire to ensure that Yi Yun died very tragically, Li Jiuxiao would not have released the Yuan Siphoning Worms.

“Yi Yun, you should feel honored to become food for my Yuan Siphoning Worms,” said Li Jiuxiao.

Yi Yun was completely surrounded by the black fog but Li Jiuxiao was not completely relieved. He produced another hand seal as a blood flash shot towards his calabash. Immediately the calabash’s mouth shook violently, producing a humming sound as though hell was contained in it.

Even though there was a battle array isolating them, many of the surrounding warriors felt their blood churn. They felt like their souls were leaving their bodies.

It alarmed many of the guests. They were not even the target, with less than a thousandth of its strength affecting them. If it gave them such a feeling, they could only imagine how Yi Yun felt being in the thick of the black fog.

As for Li Jiuxiao, he could already envision Yi Yun having his flesh and blood sucked out by the calabash before the Yuan Siphoning Worms bored into his body to completely devour him.

Amid the black fog, Yi Yun found himself in a tough situation. The Yuan Siphoning Worms could not be wiped out all at once despite his repeated attempts. The worms were not immune to death. After a worm was split eight times, it would lose the ability to further split and revive.

But there were at least ten thousand Yuan Siphoning Worms. The time it took to kill them would only rise exponentially with each split.

And at that moment, the calabash above him did something unexpected. Yi Yun immediately felt an immense suction envelop him as though all his blood was being sucked out.

But at that moment, Yi Yun’s body produced a dragon’s roar again. It instantly empowered Yi Yun’s lifeblood. His blood thickened. Each drop of blood was heavy and contained the aura of a True Dragon. The effect the calabash had on Yi Yun was instantly reduced as a result.

“Li Jiuxiao, do you really believe that a tiny calabash and a swarm of worms can really give me a graveless death? Compared to Myriad God Patriarch, you are far too inferior!” Yi Yun’s cold eyes penetrated the fog as he looked at Li Jiuxiao.

Yi Yun once read the description of the Yuan Siphoning Worms in the divine alchemist’s notes. He recalled that such a huge swarm should have a queen worm.

As long as the queen worm was caught, control over the swarm of Yuan Siphoning Worms would be lost.

However, the queen worm was nearly identical to the other Yuan Siphoning Worms. Furthermore, it was extremely crafty. It never came close to the enemy and was nearly impossible to identify through the sky-blotting black fog with the naked eye.

Although others were incapable of doing so, it did not mean that Yi Yun could not.

His mind locked on the black fog as he instantly activated the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

Through it, there was no way for the queen worm to hide no matter how many Yuan Siphoning Worms there were.

The only obvious difference between the queen worm and the other Yuan Siphoning Worms was the tiny difference in Yuan Qi. The minute difference was not something just anyone could pinpoint, but the Purple Crystal-possessing Yi Yun could discern the differences clearly. And this was not something Li Jiuxiao had ever expected.

Yi Yun’s swept his eyes across the black fog and finally locked onto a black worm. It hid at the back of the swarm and looked inconspicuous.

“It’s you!” Without any hesitation, Yi Yun struck out with a sword flash!

Boom!

Sword Qi containing tumultuous pure Yang flames and Major Destruction laws caused billowing flames accompanied by lightning to light up in the fog.

“What a futile struggle. The Yuan Siphoning Worms are impervious to fire.” The warrior that knew about Yuan Siphoning Worms shook his head.

Even without him explaining it, the guests did not believe Yi Yun could escape. The girls that supported Yi Yun turned pale. Such a manner of death was too terrible.

“It’s good if you die. Die quickly.” Luo Tian felt delighted as he watched the black fog eagerly. Luo Tian was horrified when he saw Yi Yun trample Haogu. He had also offended Yi Yun after all.

Song Rainsong bit her lips lightly as she stared intently at the black fog. Was that Yi Yun really going to die soon?

“Hahaha!” Li Jiuxiao roared with laughter. From his point of view, Yi Yun was at the end of his rope.

But at that moment, a shrill screech that didn’t sound human cried out from the worm swarm!

Yi Yun was obviously not using the flames against the Yuan Siphoning Worms. He was only parting the surroundings worms. He carved a path with his sword as he charged through the worm swarm.

Immediately following that, Yi Yun burned his blood essence and ignored the other worms. His eyes were focused on the queen worm as he slashed down formidably at it.

With Yi Yun’s decisive strike, by the time the queen worm attempted to dodge, it had been cleaved through by Yi Yun’s sword. Its corpse almost flew up again when it was enveloped by Yi Yun’s 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, completely grinding it to smithereens!

The moment the queen worm died, the entire Yuan Siphoning Worm swarm let out a shrill cry. Even Yi Yun felt his eardrums hurt.

However, without the queen worm, the remaining Yuan Siphoning Worms could no longer create a coherent swarm. The threat they posed greatly decreased.

And outside the black fog, Li Jiuxiao’s smiling face suddenly turned pale as he spewed a mouthful of blood.

He had reared the Yuan Siphoning Queen Worm with his own blood essence. He too suffered backlash when Yi Yun killed it.

The minor injury did not perturb him, but what left him furious and alarmed was the death of the Yuan Siphoning Queen Worm!

How was this possible!?

A coincidence? How could it be a coincidence? There were so many Yuan Siphoning Worms still alive. Why was the queen worm the only one dead? It was impossible for it to be a coincidence.

Song Rainsong was taken aback as she looked at Li Jiuxiao in disbelief.

As for the guests, they were even more astounded, especially the guest that claimed doom was soon awaiting Yi Yun. His mouth was agape.

What was going on? Yi Yun was clearly at the absolute disadvantage but, in a blink of an eye, Li Jiuxiao was the one vomiting blood?

And at that moment, a sword beam that resembled the first light of dawn pierced through the black fog. Large swaths of Yuan Siphoning Worms plummeted to the ground. Following that, a figure with lifeblood resembling a burning sun charged out of the black fog.

Behind Yi Yun spun the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. With sword in hand, his killing aura was tremendous. All his blood essence was burning as he walked out of the black fog slowly, facing Li Jiuxiao.

He looked coldly at Li Jiuxiao before raising his sword.

“Kill!”

The sword tore through the sky!

An extremely fast and sharp sword beam stabbed straight at Li Jiuxiao. It was not fancy in any way but it contained an indomitable momentum.

Upon seeing the sword beam, everyone’s hearts jolted. They only thought of one word: Destruction.

The sword beam’s power was the destructive power that was born the moment everything experienced annihilation.

“Is this… his true strength?” Song Rainsong felt an immense sensation of threat from the sword beam. She even felt a strong sense of trepidation.

As for Elder Luo and Elder Hong, their expressions changed drastically as well.

Although Yi Yun’s previous strike was impressive, it was still something they could fend against. But now, even they felt a sense of danger from the current strike.

This was truly a strike that could kill a Divine Lord!

1413 - : Yuan Siphoning Worm

CKtalon  CKtalon

Li Jiuxiao’s expression changed immediately the moment he saw the incoming strike.

Without any hesitation, he took out an ancient but elegant jade talisman that let out a resplendent beam the moment the sword flash arrived.

“Ka-cha!”

The jade talisman shattered as the flash instantly dimmed.

Li Jiuxiao did not have the luxury of time to feel the pinch as his protective Yuan Qi was torn apart by the sword flash. Following that, the sword beam cleaved into his body as it crazily slashed across him.

Li Jiuxiao was sent flying hundreds of feet backward before he barely found his footing. His body was covered in blood and even his clothes had been torn to shreds by the sword flashes. His hair was now in a disheveled state from the cutting and there was blood flowing down the corners of his mouth. He looked absolutely wretched.

“This…” Li Yunshang found it unbelievable. His uncle was actually heavily injured by the strike.

And at that moment, Yi Yun flashed right in front of Li Jiuxiao.

“Yi Yun, I admit that you are strong. Strength is the basis of everything in Martial City. Although you have repeatedly crossed my Li family, we were the ones that started the feud. Furthermore, you caused trouble at my Li family’s wedding banquet today. If you were to cease and desist immediately, I could let the matter rest. If not, even if I can’t do a thing to you, I will spend all the Li family’s contribution points to get the Martial Numinous clan to strike. They would wipe you out as easily as one stomps out an ant!” Li Jiuxiao said in a deep voice.

Li Jiuxiao said this only because he was out of options. If not for his Patriarch, Li Qijian, being in seclusion in the northern Seven Star lands, there would be no need to threaten calling in the Martial Numinous clan’s help. If his patriarch was around, there would be no way a junior like Yi Yun could act arrogantly. Unfortunately, Li Qijian was too far to provide any aid.

However, Yi Yun sneered, raised his sword, and stabbed. The sharp sword flash produced a shrill sound that resembled a dragon’s cry. Yi Yun’s strike was even stronger than the previous strike.

“Little bastard, do you think I’m afraid of you?” Li Jiuxiao stared with widened eyes as he bellowed angrily. Yi Yun’s strength had far exceeded his expectations. He did not plan on risking his life to fight Yi Yun, but he never counted on Yi Yun’s overbearing aggressiveness.

Before his voice faded, a long black whip appeared in Li Jiuxiao’s hand.

Puah!

Li Jiuxiao spat out a mouthful of blood essence onto the whip.

He fumed with hatred. At the level of a Divine Lord, even just a mouthful of blood essence would require copious amounts of treasured herbs to replenish. Even worse, he was a Divine Lord that was being forced to use his blood essence to fight a Supremacy junior.

But Li Jiuxiao knew that Yi Yun truly had what it took to pummel him into a life-and-death crisis. He had to use all his strength. However, he refused to believe that he could be defeated by Yi Yun.

“This whip was found in the same areas as the Yuan Siphoning Worms. It has absorbed the blood of countless people. Why don’t you be next!?”

Amid Li Jiuxiao’s roar, the whip absorbed the blood essence and immediately seemed to come to life. It transformed into a gigantic black snake. Its ice-cold pupils glared at Yi Yun before biting down at him with its jaws widened. Black gases that were potently corrosive emitted from its mouth. The surrounding void immediately melted into swaths of empty holes.

One would probably die instantaneously if they were bitten by the black snake.

As for the calabash, it flew above Li Jiuxiao and started to emit an even stronger suction.

A cold glint flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes when he saw the black snake lunge at him.

“Do you hope to hurt me with a long worm?”

Yi Yun’s blood essence burned vigorously as a True Dragon aura suddenly rose from his body.

Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon—Golden Carp!

Roar!

Faced with the Dragon Emperor’s roar, the black snake instantly revealed a look of apprehension.

And at that moment, Yi Yun sliced open the black snake’s head amid the ongoing dragon roar. The sword flash did not lose its momentum as it continued forth, straight into Li Jiuxiao’s chest.

Sword Qi tore through his body, shattering many of his meridians!

Li Jiuxiao appeared to not react in time. His eyes were still filled with shock and disbelief. The clash caused him to go from life to death in a thought!

“You actually…” Li Jiuxiao stared at Yi Yun intently.

Yi Yun retracted Mirage Snow from Li Jiuxiao’s chest and sneered. “Cut the crap. Go to hell.”

“Stop!” A bellow sounded from the first level’s platform. Elder Luo could not sit idly by and let Yi Yun kill Li Jiuxiao.

However, just as he circulated his energy and moved to attack, Song Rainsong suddenly let out a painful grunt. Her eyes revealed a look of pain as she held her forehead.

“Raingsong, how are you?” Elder Hong asked immediately.

This made Elder Luo hesitate. The only relation he had to the Li family was a concubine of his. Compared to Li Jiuxiao, Song Rainsong was a lot more important.

Elder Luo’s hesitation was all Yi Yun needed to deliver his final sword flash. Mirage Snow pierced straight through Li Jiuxiao’s throat, causing it to spray a bloody mist.

“Yi Yun…” Li Jiuxiao did not instantly breathe his last when his throat was stabbed. He looked at Yi Yun with eyes filled with shock. He never expected to die by Yi Yun’s hands.

At that instant, Li Jiuxiao was suddenly overtaken by regret. Back then, he had not thought anything of attacking Wang Mu. He only thought of Wang Mu as an ant and that there was no trouble in crushing it.

However, the ant Wang Mu knew a god of death in the form of Yi Yun. In front of Yi Yun, his sense of superiority as an Elder of a large family clan shattered completely. It even cost him his life.

Li Jiuxiao’s body stumbled as he gave a final look of indignation. He plopped to the ground with a thud.

The guests fell silent. They were astounded by the scene. A Divine Lord had been killed in such a manner. Furthermore, it happened at the Li family’s dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony, for all to see!

Yi Yun turned to look at Elder Hong and Elder Luo, who had attempted to stop him.

Both Elders were secretly fuming at Yi Yun’s actions. They had contorted expressions.

But when they saw Yi Yun, standing sword in hand with Li Jiuxiao’s corpse laying by his feet, they felt a little apprehensive.

They were stronger than Li Jiuxiao, but even they knew that they could not kill him so simply. However, Yi Yun had accomplished that very feat. Although Yi Yun had burned through a great deal of blood essence. he did not appear to be too weak.

Furthermore, Song Rainsong’s reaction reminded them that both she and Haogu were still in Yi Yun’s hands.

Elder Hong sighed inwardly. The Li family was likely to fall into decline after the day’s events. After all, Li Qijian’s end was near. He had secluded himself in a bid to extend his lifespan. Even so, it was unlikely he could live much longer. As for Li Yunshang and Li Jiuxiao, they were dead. There was no column of support left for the Li family.

“You have already killed Li Jiuxiao. Shouldn’t you be releasing Haogu and Rainsong now?” said Elder Luo as he glanced at Li Jiuxiao’s corpse.

“I’ll naturally let them go once I leave this place,” said Yi Yun.

Elder Luo’s expression changed instantly but he swallowed his anger forcefully. As a Divine Lord, he had to swallow insult and humiliation from a Supremacy junior.

Meanwhile, Yi Yun cast his gaze at Li Yunshang.

He was stunned by what he saw. Li Yunshang still had some life in him, but apparently the shock he received from seeing Li Jiuxiao being stabbed to death rendered his existence meaningless. All his meridians were destroyed and he had taken his last breath. His face was frozen into a look of shock.

The Li family had meticulously organized and promoted the dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony but it ended in such a way. It was quite unbelievable.

“Y-Young Master Yi! I, Luo Fei, failed to recognize a formidable person such as yourself. I even offended you. Please do not hold it against me…” A robed man suddenly rushed forward and pleaded with a panic-stricken face.

Luo Fei’s legs were trembling. He never expected Yi Yun to be such a ruthless person. Li Jiuxiao, who appeared to be an insurmountable existence, was easily dispatched by Yi Yun. And yet he had mocked Yi Yun repeatedly just moments ago.

“Slap yourself a hundred times and then scram,” said Yi Yun indifferently. Although this man spoke in a disgusting manner, he did not truly wish ill of him. Yi Yun was too lazy to even kill him.

Luo Fei obviously didn’t dare to retort. He immediately knelt down as he smacked himself, producing loud slapping sounds. After a hundred slaps, his face had swollen to be as large as a pig’s head. He even lost two teeth.

Following that, he quickly crawled up and gave Yi Yun a polite bow. Then, he hurriedly departed the area.

“You…” Song Rainsong looked at Yi Yun. Her eyes were hostile but also filled with unease.

She realized she had not correctly gauged Yi Yun. It was very likely that she was around the same age as him but the difference in strength was huge…

If Yi Yun was one of the top geniuses of the White Lunar Divine Empire, she could accept the difference, but he was an unknown…

Yi Yun glanced at her and sent a thought, “Old thing, time to leave.”

Poison Demon reluctantly left Song Rainsong’s consciousness.

She felt her soul sea lighten as the evil repressive force within her finally vanished. She knew that Yi Yun had removed whatever he had planted in her.

“I have already released Song Rainsong. Once I reach somewhere safe, I’ll release Haogu as well,” said Yi Yun.

Song Rainsong opened her mouth slightly when she saw Yi Yun turn. However, she could not manage to utter a word.

She despised Yi Yun but she was nothing to him. He did not even spare her a second glance.

1414 - : Curtains Fall on the Li family

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun left the Li family ancestral grounds in a stately and imposing manner. Immediately following that, many guests bade farewell. The moment they were out of the area, they triggered voice transmission talismans and told the story of what they saw. What happened at the Li family ancestral grounds quickly spread throughout Martial Numinous continent.

Once he was free from the Li family ancestral grounds, Yi Yun did not actually leave at full speed. Instead, he walked slowly on the main road. He knew that a psyche perception was trailing him and it felt somewhat familiar. It was likely Elder Hong’s.

If he did not release Haogu, he would definitely infuriate Elder Hong. And if he continued delaying, the upper echelons of the Martial Numinous clan would rush there. It would then be difficult for him to go anywhere.

After getting a distance away, Yi Yun flipped his palm. An unadorned miniature pagoda appeared in his hand. Following that, a figure was thrown out of the pagoda. The figure was none other than Haogu, who rolled on the ground with a cry.

Haogu was just about to say something angrily, but he soon realized he was outside Martial City. And Yi Yun was the only other person around.

If Elder Luo and Elder Hong had taken down Yi Yun, it would’ve been impossible for him to be alone with Yi Yun on a deserted road.

To be able to make a complete retreat after abducting a prized Martial Numinous clan disciple was an unimaginable humiliation for the Martial Numinous clan.

Haogu was shocked and confused. But at that moment, Yi Yun gave him a nonchalant glance and said, “Wait here. I believe someone will come to get you very soon.”

“Hold on, you…” Haogu’s cultivation had been completely sealed. All he could do was shout twice and watch as Yi Yun completely ignored him.

He kicked Haogu before entering the God Advent Tower. Then, it transformed into a stream of light and rapidly vanished into the sky.

Haogu was sent stumbling and, by the time he struggled to stand up, a few figures flew over from a distance and landed in front of Haogu.

Apart from Elder Luo and Elder Hong, Song Rainsong was there as well.

Haogu’s lips were trembling as he felt ashamed to be seen in his current state. “Martial Uncle Luo, Martial Aunt Hong, I have… disgraced the Martial Numinous clan. I was unable to put up a fight after being beaten by a peer. After I return, I will seek the forgiveness of the Clan Chief. I will cultivate in seclusion until I have to head for the White Lunar Divine Empire. I will definitely seek revenge for the disgrace I suffered,” said Haogu through gritted teeth.

“Senior Brother… At the moment, it’s not only the two of us who were humiliated…” Song Rainsong said in a downtrodden manner.

Haogu was taken aback. He failed to understand what Song Rainsong meant. Before she could explain, Elder Hong said coldly, “This matter is not just about you. He killed Li Jiuxiao and Li Yunshang right under our noses and departed the Li family ancestral ground completely unharmed. Once this is made known, not only will the Li family become a laughing stock, even our Martial Numinous clan will suffer ridicule.”

“Ah? He killed Li Jiuxiao?” Haogu found it unbelievable. Following that, his body faltered as his eyes filled with despair. He thought of cultivating and going to seek revenge on Yi Yun, but he now knew that there was no hope. It was no wonder he saw such an expression on his proud junior sister.

He always claimed to be a genius but compared to Yi Yun, the difference was like night and day. It was quite a joke to think he could get Yi Yun to stop. If Yi Yun really had stood there, killing him would have been as simple as slaughtering a pig.

“Yi Yun has already left. He is very fast and has tunneled into the void. We should return to Martial City immediately and report this matter,” said Elder Luo. He did not say that he would pursue Yi Yun with Elder Hong. Haogu looked at him in puzzlement before the truth hit him. Clearly, Elder Luo and Elder Hong lacked the confidence to face Yi Yun. Furthermore, Yi Yun had already released him. There was no reason for them to risk their lives to pursue Yi Yun.

A young warrior at the mid-stage Supremacy realm had managed to make two Divine Lords hesitate. Haogu did not dare think about the horror Yi Yun brought. If he continued to let Yi Yun haunt him, even his martial heart would waver…

While inside the God Advent Tower, Yi Yun sped along while sensing his surroundings. Only when he was millions away of kilometers did he land the God Advent Tower in a mountain valley.

After he walked out of the God Advent Tower, he let Wang Mu’s family come out as well.

At that moment, Wang Mu’s family was still reveling in excitement and joy. If not for Yi Yun, they could not even imagine how they would resist a behemoth like the Li family, much less talk about revenge. But now, Li Jiuxiao and his nephew had died at Yi Yun’s hands.

“Young Master Yi, you are a benefactor of our family. And I have nothing I can repay you with…” Wang Mu said as he prepared to kneel.

Yi Yun held him up and then walked to Wang Mu’s wife, Yuan Ling.

Although Yuan Ling had been rescued, she was still in a daze. She stood there like a woodblock and was being held up by her daughter, Xiaoxiao, and maidservant, Qing’er. That pained the hearts of the two girls.

When Xiaoxiao saw Yi Yun walk over to her mother, she seemed to realize something. Her eyes shone with a look of anticipation.

Yi Yun stretched out his hand and tapped on Yuan Ling’s wrist. Soon, a black shadow appeared on Yuan Ling’s arm. It rapidly coursed through her arm under her skin. Xiaoxiao involuntarily cried out in shock as she covered her mouth.

As for Yi Yun, he acted quickly. Using his hand as though it was a blade, his fingers quickly slashed across Yuan Ling’s arm. In a blink of an eye, a black dot landed in Yi Yun’s hand.

The black dot was a tiny worm the size of a bean. Although it was tiny, it had razor-sharp teeth and a hideous appearance.

Yi Yun squished the Gu worm to death and flicked his extended hand. A solid recovery pill that fostered one’s essence flew into Yuan Ling’s mouth.

Some time after Yuan Ling consumed the pill, the dazed look in her eyes gradually disappeared. She looked at Wang Mu and Xiaoxiao with great effort before saying hesitantly, “Xiaoxiao? Darling?”

“Madam, you have awakened!” Qing’er shouted joyfully.

Wang Mu could not help but rush over and hug Yuan Ling. He felt a surge of emotions overwhelm him. Who could imagine that they would one day reunite, alive and well?

In Wang Mu’s embrace, Yuan Ling’s tears flooded her face. Now that she had awakened, she began recalling all that had happened. The family instantly wailed and hugged.

“Thank you, Benefactor.” Yuan Ling knelt down in excitement. Wang Mu and Xiaoxiao knelt down in response too.

This time, Yi Yun did not stop them. He knew that if he did not let Wang Mu kneel, Wang Mu would only feel unease. “Your wife is already back to normal. She’s just a little weak. A short period of recuperation will be enough. By saving you, I have also obtained what I needed. Since you have knelt to thank me, there’s no need for you to keep thinking about it.”

“Young Master Yi, might I know what you plan to do next? You killed the scoundrels of the Li family and held Haogu and Fairy Rain hostage. The Martial Numinous clan will probably not let this matter rest,” asked Wang Mu worriedly.

“I will be heading to the White Lunar Divine Empire to find someone,” said Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had come to the White Lunar Divine Empire to seek out Lin Xintong. However, it was just too large, which resulted in him arriving at the periphery where the Martial Numinous clan was.

When Yuan Ling saw the longing look in Yi Yun’s eyes, she realized something. She too was a person of emotion. She knew that when men had such a look in their eyes, it was most likely because of a woman.

Could it be that a particular woman in the White Lunar Divine Empire was Young Master Yi’s lover?

1415 - : Departure

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Young Master Yi, if you would like to head to the White Lunar Divine Empire, you can do so by leaving the Martial Numinous continent first. Head to the adjacent continent, the Scarlet Yang continent. It’s relatively closer to the White Lunar Divine Empire,” suggested Wang Mu.

“Scarlet Yang continent…” Yi Yun jolted out of his reverie as he repeated his words.

“Young Master Yi, it shouldn’t be difficult for you to head to the Scarlet Yang continent. There’s a nearby city that isn’t small in size. And in the Martial Numinous continent, any large city would have a long-distance teleportation array. You can head to the Scarlet Yang continent using them,” elaborated Wang Mu.

Although heading to the Martial Numinous clan’s cities posed some danger, the situation with the Li family might not have spread to Martial City yet. Also, Wang Mu had witnessed how impressive Yi Yun’s disguise was. It was unlikely to be perilous for him.

“Okay.” Yi Yun nodded and asked, “What about you? I doubt you can keep living in the Martial Numinous continent any longer. It’s best you leave this land as soon as possible.”

Yi Yun knew that Wang Mu and his family would immediately leave the perilous land even without his advice. However, he could see the adulation in Xiaoxiao’s eyes. She even looked longingly at him. However, Yi Yun could not bring her with him.

Yuan Ling could read her daughter’s thoughts. Regardless of her daughter’s wish to be a disciple of Yi Yun’s or any other feelings she might have, there was an insurmountable gap between Yi Yun and her. Yuan Ling sighed inwardly and nodded respectfully. “Young Master Yi, thank you for your advice. The world is large so there will always be some place that will take us in. We will seek a placid spot and try to stay away from conflict.”

However, Yuan Ling knew that staying away from conflict was only a beautiful wish. If they wanted to cultivate, they needed resources. That meant interacting with others. And any place with people was bound to have conflict.

And having gone through this recent turmoil, their family gained a brand new understanding of how a lack of status and strength always meant that they were treading on thin ice no matter where they went.

“We won’t be heading to the teleportation array. We will use other means to leave this place. Young Master Yi, we will never forget our gratitude towards you.”

“Take care.” Yi Yun smiled.

Xiaoxiao hesitated for a moment. Before she could say a word, Yi Yun had already transformed into an azure beam that shot towards the nearby city.

As they looked in the direction of where Yi Yun departed, Xiaoxiao felt disheartened. She knew that it was unlikely she would ever meet Yi Yun again.

“Let’s go.” She heard Yuan Ling’s voice behind her. From that day forth, their family would lead a brand new life.

When Yi Yun landed, he changed his looks. He now looked like a scholar in his thirties. He had a scholastic air to him but he did not change his cultivation level. He still gave off the aura of a mid-stage Supremacy.

Outside of a megacity like Martial City, a mid-stage Supremacy would be considered a hegemon. It was an existence the people would fear and revere.

When Yi Yun reached the long-distance teleportation array, the surrounding warriors sensed Yi Yun’s unfathomable aura. They looked at him reverently and made way for him. The guard responsible for watching the teleportation array rushed forward and asked him politely, “Senior, where would you like to go?”

Despite the teleportation array being situated here, it was not an everyday occurrence to see a Supremacy. Furthermore, every Supremacy was not someone they could afford to offend. The guard who was only at the Dao Manifestation realm did not dare be anything but polite towards him.

Yi Yun said lightly, “I’m heading to the Scarlet Yang continent.”

“That’s easy. Senior, all you need to do is teleport to a connected city’s teleportation array and then continue the process to reach the Scarlet Yang continent,” explained the guard.

“Okay.” Yi Yun nodded and walked straight into the teleportation array. He threw a Spirit Jade to the guard as he passed by. “Activate the array.”

Yi Yun did not mind which city he would go to for the transfer. All he wanted was to reach the Scarlet Yang continent as soon as possible.

Yi Yun did not conceal his cultivation level so as to leave the Martial Numinous continent as quickly as possible. He made the right choice. Although he had obviously cut in line, none of the warriors in line dared to utter even a word of complaint. Even the guards acted like it was only right.

If Yi Yun were to really wait at the back, the warriors in front would be afraid to leave first. They would likely invite Yi Yun to leave before them.

Upon thinking of this, Yi Yun stroked his chin. Usually, he would not flaunt his strength but he was in a special situation today. Of course, he did not feel any discomfort doing it. Strength reigned supreme in a martial world after all.

After two rounds of teleportation, Yi Yun appeared above the Scarlet Yang continent. Meanwhile, news of Yi Yun spread like wildfire, making its way throughout the Martial Numinous continent…

The entire Martial Numinous clan was stirred.

The Martial Numinous clan had put up a bounty on Yi Yun’s head. As for the Li family, it spared no expense. Of course, they were already unable to find Yi Yun because he had left the Martial Numinous continent.

…

…

The Scarlet Yang continent was one of the seven continents of the White Lunar Divine Empire. It covered an area a little bigger than the Martial Numinous clan’s territory. It was scenic with extremely beautiful landscapes.

Yi Yun traveled through several teleportation arrays in the Scarlet Yang continent before arriving in the capital city of the Scarlet Yang continent.

While heading to the Scarlet Yang Capital, Yi Yun learned that it was a famous flourishing city even among the seven continents. Yi Yun went there hoping to buy some herbs to refine the next Dragon Emperor relic before he headed to the White Lunar Divine Empire.

Secondly, the Scarlet Yang continent had a Heaven Secrets Tower. It was the most mysterious intelligence agency in the White Lunar Goddess Empress. Yi Yun wished to use it to obtain news of Lin Xintong. Ever since he came to the Seven Desolates, he had been probing for news regarding Lin Xintong but he soon found that people only knew that Lin Xintong had been made White Lunar Goddess Empress’s personal disciple and that she had stunning talent, but nothing else. And clearly, that information did not satisfy Yi Yun in any way.

Scarlet Yang Capital had several large medicinal clinics. After Yi Yun entered the city, he immediately headed for them. Although Yi Yun’s cultivation improved at a tremendous speed, his expenditure of treasured herbs was equally immense. Therefore, he had to take every opportunity to seek out treasured herbs.

“Might I ask if you have a Seven Leaf Wheel, a ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit, and a Luoshengzi… even just one would do.”

Yi Yun retained his thirty-year-old scholarly looks as he provided a list of what he needed.

“Senior, I’m afraid we do not have what you need…”

The apothecary at the counter shook his head slowly after reading it carefully.

Yi Yun did not look disappointed. He was already prepared for that answer. The rarity of the herbs he needed only got worse. In fact, this was the third medicinal clinic he had visited. He had bought some of the more commonly encountered herbs from the first two stores. However, he failed to find a single strain of the herbs he needed to use as the primary herb.

“These herbs are mostly priceless. Few medicinal clinics will list them for sale. However, I do know that the Nanxuan family clan might have some. They enjoy collecting all sorts of treasured herbs but they might not offer them for purchase.”

“Oh? The Nanxuan family clan?” Yi Yun’s heart stirred.

“Yes, the old madam of the Nanxuan family clan comes here in the afternoon every ten days. She always comes to collect a prescription from our Springreturn Medicinal Clinic. Feel free to wait, since today is the day when the old madam will collect the herbs.”

The apothecary described this in detail since he noticed Yi Yun’s high cultivation level.

Yi Yun nodded. “Thanks.”

He meditated for two hours before he heard light, hurried footsteps. Yi Yun looked up and saw a blue-dressed girl walk into the medicinal clinic. Beneath a veil, her face was enveloped by a halo that prevented others from discerning her facial features.

Although Yi Yun could easily penetrate his perception into the halo, he naturally did not commit such a rude act. He continued his meditation.

But at that moment, Yi Yun opened his eyes again when he heard a sudden voice with bold undertones.

“Miss Luoyue, is Old Madam Nanxuan not coming? Please have a seat and wait a moment. We’ll bring over your pills immediately.”

The person who spoke was a middle-aged man with an extraordinary aura. He came down from Springreturn Medicinal Clinic’s upper floor. Clearly, he was here to specially welcome Miss Luoyue. After the attendant at the door greeted him as manager, he took his leave.

This made Yi Yun realize several things. Clearly, Miss Luoyue, or in a way, the Nanxuan family clan, enjoyed a very high status in Scarlet Yang Capital. This was probably why the largest Springreturn Medicinal Clinic in Scarlet Yang Capital treated the girl with such importance. And in comparison, despite having a mid-stage Supremacy cultivation level, he was only attended to by an apprentice. He just received a little more respect.

Although the blue-dressed girl wore a veil, the eyes she exposed looked like limpid waters. There was something melancholic about them that made her endearing. Her figure looked soft and ethereal in a way that had a hint of an aloof charm. However, she looked like a gust of wind could blow her away because of her delicateness.

Behind her was a maidservant as well as an elder with a thick aura. He wore a beige robe and wore a half mask. He looked like he was walking but his feet did not touch the ground. When Yi Yun observed him carefully, he realized that the man was not floating in mid-air. Instead, he looked like he was walking in an alternate dimension.

He was definitely an expert in spatial dimension laws!

“There’s no need, Alchemist Feng. I’ll just wait here. By the way, I have also brought all the herbs needed for the next batch of pills. They are all in the interspatial ring.” The blue-dressed girl’s voice sounded hollow. With a gentle nod, the maidservant handed the middle-aged man an interspatial ring.

Although many people were astounded by her bearing and beauty, they knew of her elevated status and chose not to even take a second look at her.

“Yes, the pills refined this batch are enough to last you half a month. I will fetch them for you,” said the middle-aged man with a nod.

The blue-dressed girl’s eyes casually swept the medicinal clinic as she caught a whiff of the familiar smell of medicine. In response, she gave a light sigh.

“Miss, what happened? Are you not feeling well?” The maidservant beside her immediately asked out of concern. The maidservant also had a fairly strong aura. Surprisingly, she had excellent talent as well.

The blue-dressed girl shook her head. “It’s nothing. I’m just wondering how many more times I will need to come to this place…”

As she spoke, Yi Yun turned puzzled. He already knew that the girl came from the Nanxuan family clan, so he naturally paid attention to her. He could sense that her martial talent was exceedingly high and that she had a profound cultivation level. She was likely a genius among her peers. Although her lifeblood felt softly feminine, she was in no way weak. He was also puzzled as to the reason for the Nanxuan family’s periodic return to Springreturn Medicinal Clinic for medicine.

Furthermore, Yi Yun sensed a familiar aura from the blue-dressed girl. However, he was certain that he never met her before.

She clearly noticed Yi Yun looking at her but didn’t think too much of it. She was used to people secretly sizing her up. Besides, Yi Yun looked at her without any nefarious thoughts.

Yi Yun did not approach the girl when she turned her head aside and stopped looking back at him. Although he wished to ask her if they had the herbs he needed and if they were willing to sell to him, he could tell that she was rich and in no need of money. Such rare herbs were typically kept by large family clans or sects for themselves. The exception would be when they were put on sale by a medicinal clinic or offered for sale.

And at that moment, the middle-aged man returned with two jade bottles. He handed them to the blue-dressed girl and said, “Take one Heart Nourishing Pill a day…”

“Yes, I know. Alchemist Feng, you give me the same instruction every time. I have been taking this medicine for more than a decade,” said the girl with a smile.

“It’s a habit, sheer habit,” said the middle-aged man with a smile as well.

“Oh? The person taking the medicine is the girl herself. And she’s even eating Heart Nourishing Pills. Odd…”

The divine alchemist’s notes also had records of Heart Nourishing Pills. Yi Yun was unsure if it was a pill with the same name but there was one thing Yi Yun was certain about. The pills’ medicinal essence could only last half a month after it was refined before it slowly lost its effects. Therefore, it was most effective to consume it within half a month. That also seemed to coincide with how the Nanxuan family collected the pills every ten days.

The Heart Nourishing Pill was not used to treat injuries or cultivate. Instead, it helped nourish one’s essence and stimulate one’s vital potential. Typically, warriors used it to build their foundations in the early stages of their cultivation.

Although Heart Nourishing Pills were expensive, one only needed to eat a few. That was enough to allow a warrior’s talent to fully develop, allowing them to step into the martial path quickly.

It was not odd for geniuses of a large family clan to eat Heart Nourishing Pills. But from what the girl just said, she had been eating them for more than ten years!?

Why was she eating Heart Nourishing Pills that solidified her essence and built her foundation for more than ten years?

Eating about eight pills was the limit. Any more and it would stop having an effect.

As Yi Yun was considering the problem, he saw the blue-dressed girl receive the Heart Nourishing Pills. After thanking Alchemist Feng, she left with her maidservant and the masked elder in tow.

Yi Yun stroked his chin and followed them. He still had herbs he wanted to purchase from the Nanxuan family clan.

However, just as Yi Yun took a few steps forward, the maidservant turned around the moment he crossed the Springreturn Medicinal Clinic’s door. She had long noticed that Yi Yun had been staring at her mistress. She had seen many young masters take a liking to her mistress but all of them acted reservedly. Furthermore, the man had been watching her mistress’s purchase of the pills the entire time. He did not even conceal his watchful gaze.

Now that they had stepped out, he had followed them.

“Might I ask if there is something you want?” asked the maidservant. Her eyes flickered with a faint look of displeasure.

1416 - : Nanxuan Luoyue

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had waited two hours at the medicinal clinic specially for the Nanxuan family clan. Since he was seeking their help in buying rare herbs, he did not mind the maidservant’s attitude and perspective.

“Sorry if I’m imposing. Does your esteemed family have any of these three herbs: a Seven Leaf Wheel, a ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit, or a Luoshengzi? If you do have them, I wish to purchase them from your family,” asked Yi Yun politely with a smile.

The maidservant’s look of displeasure intensified. Their Nanxuan family clan did not do business. It was truly imposing to suddenly follow them and ask such a question.

Just as she opened her mouth to reject him straight out, the blue-dressed girl stopped in her tracks and turned her head over. She looked at Yi Yun with her limpid eyes.

She had noticed Yi Yun looking at her previously but she did not share the same thoughts as the maidservant, about Yi Yun wanting to court her. She was always very keen and perceptive. She could tell that Yi Yun did not have any such thoughts from the way he looked at her.

“You wish to purchase those herbs from me?” The blue-dressed girl’s voice flitted over like a gentle breeze. It sounded ethereal and pleasant.

Yi Yun sensed something familiar about the girl.

“Strange…” Yi Yun was puzzled.

“That’s right. The herbs are very difficult to purchase and I’m in urgent need of them. I heard that your esteemed family gathers many herbs and approached you to inquire,” he said with a nod.

The blue-dressed girl revealed a faint smile. Although her face was enveloped by a halo, preventing others from seeing her true looks, it still managed to instill the feeling that her smile was definitely beautiful.

“My family does not have the Seven Leaf Wheel or the Luoshengzi, but it does have the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit…” said the blue-dressed girl.

Yi Yun immediately looked pleasantly surprised. The apothecary from Springreturn Medicinal Clinic was right. The Nanxuan family clan did have a deep heritage. It actually had such a rare herb as claimed.

The masked elder suddenly said, “Miss.”

He had a solemn expression and a reproachful look in his eyes. However, when he looked at Yi Yun, he immediately turned a lot colder. “Sorry, our family’s herbs are not for sale.”

“I will offer a reasonable price,” said Yi Yun with a frown.

He felt that the blue-dressed girl was not being perfunctory with him. It was highly likely she would sell it to him but the masked elder had rejected him directly.

“We aren’t selling. Miss, let’s go.” The masked elder said coldly as he turned to ignore Yi Yun.

The blue-dressed girl gave Yi Yun an apologetic glance but did not follow the masked elder. Instead, she said softly, “Uncle Lian, if I remember correctly, the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit has been in our family for twenty thousand years but has never been put to use. Furthermore, its effects are extremely rarely required. Very few people would need such a treasured herb. Since this person is in urgent need of it, we should sell it to him. The herb would be put to good use in the hands of someone who needs it.”

The blue-dressed girl had a meticulous mind. She had an encyclopedic knowledge and knew with a thought the year the family acquired the herb as well as its effects and application.

Yi Yun’s opinion of the blue-dressed girl increased tremendously. They were strangers but she was so considerate towards others. That was truly rare. It showed how pure and kind she was.

“Miss, it is not easy to acquire such a rare herb. Even if there is no use for it now, there might be a use for it in the future. Perhaps some accomplished figure might need it? Besides, in your current situation, you should not hand over rare herbs to others so carefreely…” The masked elder trailed off at the end, not ending his sentence. Instead, he gave Yi Yun a wary glance.

However, Yi Yun made a guess when he put together the issue with the Heart Nourishing Pills and the way the blue-dressed girl looked.

As for the blue-dressed girl, her eyes flashed a look of gloominess. However, she revealed a smile and said, “Uncle Lian, you are putting way too much thought into this. Let’s not talk about me possibly having the need for the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit. Even if I do need it in the future, with our Nanxuan family’s strength and habit of making hay while the sun shines, these rare herbs can always be slowly accumulated again.”

Having said that, she did not wait for the masked elder’s response before saying to Yi Yun, “Sir, I can sell you the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit but the price will not be cheap by any means. You can bring one Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus to Nanxuan Manor. I will arrange for it to be given to you when the time comes.”

Although the blue-dressed girl said that the price would not be cheap, Yi Yun felt that a Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus was very reasonable. If it was taken to an auction and someone needed it, it would likely be sold for an even higher price.

With that, the blue-dressed girl nodded at Yi Yun before turning around and preparing to leave. A luxurious spirit beast-drawn carriage was waiting for them.

But at that moment, Yi Yun spoke out again. “Please wait a moment.”

The blue-dressed girl stopped out of curiosity. As for the masked elder, he frowned impatiently and said, “What else do you want?”

He had failed to stop the blue-dressed girl from selling the herb but he could not show his displeasure towards her decision either. As such, he took it out on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun ignored the elder and instead looked at the blue-dressed girl. “Your aura seems somewhat unique. Might I take a look?”

A glint flashed in the blue-dressed girl’s eyes. She never expected Yi Yun to say something like that. A unique aura?

What did he mean?

The blue-dressed girl gave Yi Yun a perplexed glance. Her lifeblood and meridians were extraordinary but that was a secret of the Nanxuan family clan. It was impossible for outsiders to notice anything. What uniqueness was the man referring to?

“Sir, thank you for your kind intentions but there should not be anything special about my aura,” said the blue-dressed girl with a gentle shake of her head.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment. The reason why he had made the request was because, apart from her being willing to sell him the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit, he also felt something familiar about her aura. One thing had especially caught his notice. He wished to validate his guess.

“Sorry for my very presumptuous request. Might I borrow a drop of blood or a strand of hair from you, Miss Nanquan?”

“Oh?” The masked elder fumed the moment he heard Yi Yun’s request.

Requesting a strand of hair from a girl was a very philanderous act to begin with. When mortal couples married, there was the concept of binding one’s hair upon coming of age. And if lovers gave each other hair, it carried very extraordinary meaning. This was because ‘wispy black hair’ was a homophone to ‘love threads’ in Chinese.

How could a girl’s hair be so easily given? As for requesting a drop of blood, that was even more ridiculous.

“What nonsense are you spouting? A person’s body is all thanks to one’s parents. How can my mistress’s honorable body be used to satisfy your rude request?” The masked elder bellowed angrily. A powerful aura rose from his body. He had an early-stage Divine Lord cultivation level!

However, Yi Yun had already killed Divine Lords so he thought nothing of it. He did not react to the masked elder’s suppression at all.

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s nonreaction, the masked elder was stunned. A queer glint flashed in the blue-dressed girl’s eyes as she looked at him. Although her uncle had not fused a Divine Lord Royal Seal, the cultivation technique he cultivated in was extremely overbearing, giving him immense strength. Even half-step Divine Lords could hardly withstand his aura suppression, much less Supremacies. Yet, the man in front of them remained unperturbed.

Yi Yun completely ignored the masked elder. He was only looking at the blue-dressed girl. He deliberated his words before saying lightly, “If Miss Nanxuan refuses, I will put this matter to rest. Regardless, my gratitude for the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit is something I will take to heart.”

The blue-dressed girl was taken aback. Suddenly, she smiled and said, “Sir, you speak too seriously.” As she spoke, she looked at the masked elder and said, “Uncle Lian, it’s only a strand of hair. It’s not anything serious.”

With that said, her finger tapped her hair lightly as a long strand of hair was cut off. Then, it fluttered towards Yi Yun like it had intelligence of its own.

Yi Yun reached out to grab it.

“This…” Seeing Yi Yun receive the hair, the masked elder was at a loss of words. Most critically, the scholarly-looking man did not show any fear of his aura suppression. This only reduced him to staring angrily. In a warrior’s world, strength was everything. He could only let the matter rest.

1417 - : Wispy Black Hair

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun twirled the long, wispy black hair around his finger. It had a bounce to it and was soft. It definitely matched the description of ‘wispy.’

As the hair twisted around him, the familiar feeling immediately turned more intense. The blood in his body boiled as he felt the strand of hair he was squeezing turn into a winding dragon shadow.

The blue-dressed girl…

Yi Yun gave the girl a deep, meaningful glance. There was a hint of shock in his eyes. He had a clear feeling that the girl in front of him was… not human!

Her lifeblood and strange aura all imply that she’s likely an Ancient Fey. At least more than half her body is that of an Ancient Fey’s!

This… Yi Yun was stunned by this. The beloved daughter of the Nanxuan family clan was actually an Ancient Fey?

At that moment, the blue-dressed girl looked curiously back at Yi Yun. She could clearly sense the sudden appearance of a boundless and dense aura, one that was somewhat familiar to her.

But at that moment, the masked elder and the maidservant failed to sense the changes in Yi Yun’s aura. The masked elder was simply staring coldly at Yi Yun with more than a little impatience. Yi Yun had been holding that strand of hair for fifteen minutes.

He absolutely refused to believe that Yi Yun could figure out anything meaningful from a strand of hair.

Finally, the masked elder snorted coldly and said, “How long do you plan to keep looking at it? Stop trying to act mysterious. What did you discover from my mistress’s hair? Are you going to tell me that she has contracted some unknown illness?”

“Uncle Lian.” The blue-dressed girl held the masked elder back. Her eyes were trained silently on Yi Yun like bright stars. “Sir, if you sense any problems, just tell me straight.”

Yi Yun sighed for a moment before asking, “Might I ask why you have been eating Heart Nourishing Pills for so many years?”

“That matter is none of your business. Didn’t you want a strand of my mistress’s hair? Can’t you tell enough from that? If not, then what was the point of wanting the strand of hair?”

The masked elder’s voice was filled with sarcasm. He guessed that Yi Yun had heard the conversation between the blue-dressed girl and Alchemist Feng and believed that it gave him enough information to act on. By asking his mistress’s reason for eating the Heart Nourishing Pills, he could then give reasons such as ‘unbalanced lifeblood,’ ‘chaotic Yin and Yang’ to scam them.

If Yi Yun truly had such thoughts, he would be a joke. She did not have any problems. She only had a unique body.

He had already decided to persuade his mistress not to sell the herb to Yi Yun. He believed that she would agree once she saw Yi Yun’s true colors.

Upon hearing the masked elder’s words, Nanxuan Luoyue shook her head and said with a voice transmission, “Uncle Lian, don’t make things difficult for him. You know very well that it’s impossible to tell anything about my body from a strand of hair. No one can do it.”

At that moment, Nanxuan Luoyue’s maidservant spoke, “We are not at liberty to answer your question.”

Nanxuan Luoyue’s matter was something the Nanxuan family clan wanted to be kept confidential. The Nanxuan family clan’s head was worried that if Luoyue’s body was a special body as recorded in ancient literature but they had failed to discover the information, an opposing family clan could use it to their advantage if they learned of it.

“Yes, I understand.” Yi Yun nodded. After a short hesitation, he flipped his hand. A tiny jade bottle appeared in his palm and he handed it over to the blue-dressed girl. “Miss Luoyue, you and I are fated. I’ll be giving the thing inside this bottle to you.”

The blue-dressed girl was slightly taken aback as she reached out her slender hand and received the jade bottle. It felt extremely heavy, as though it contained dense metal. It was so heavy that warriors with weak cultivation levels would not even be able to lift it.

“If you refine it with the cultivation technique you have, you should see some benefits. With that, I bid you farewell.” Yi Yun turned and left after he gave her the jade bottle.

A strange look flashed in the blue-dressed girl’s eyes as she looked at Yi Yun’s back.

“Miss, that person’s intentions are unknown. You have to be careful with something he gave you,” said the masked elder. He too was unsure what Yi Yun was up to. However, he did not have a good impression of Yi Yun at all.

The blue-dressed girl knew that he disliked the scholar but for some reason, she did not think that he had any nefarious intentions.

She was also curious about the item Yi Yun had given her. She gently opened the jade bottle.

“Phew–”

A rush of lifeblood surged out the jade bottle like the belligerent smoke of war. When she focused her eyes on it, she realized that there was an extremely dense drop of blood contained within the jade bottle.

At that instant, what sounded like a dragon’s roar resonated in the blue-dressed girl’s mind. It even reverberated within her lifeblood.

This sound…

The blue-dressed girl was taken aback. She looked at the masked elder and maidservant beside her. Their expressions clearly indicated that they had not heard the sound. She was the only one that had heard it.

“What is it?” asked the masked elder. A complete stranger had produced a bottle of blood for his mistress to refine for herself. Was he joking?

Ignoring the wealth and the deep heritage the Nanxuan family clan had, as well as how it was a powerful faction that had encountered countless formidable foes, even in the mortal world, if an ordinary person were to meet a complete stranger who gave them a bowl of water, not many people would dare to drink it.

“Miss, give this to me. I will assess it.”

The blue-dressed girl hesitated for a moment but did not give it to him. She flipped her hand and stored the bottle of blood away.

“Miss, by doing that… don’t tell me you actually wish to refine it for yourself?” The masked elder looked at the blue-dressed girl in shock. He had watched her grow up and knew her character. She was definitely a cautious person. Why was she so trusting of a stranger now?

The blue-dressed girl did not elaborate. She could sense that the blood was extraordinary.

It had created an inexplicable sense of resonance with her own lifeblood.

Since she was born, there were many strange aspects to her. She grew at a rate much slower than other children. She barely looked like a toddler after thirty years. It took her a hundred years to look like a young girl.

Her cultivation talent was excellent. Be it her nomological insights or strength, she far exceeded her peers. But strangely, when she cultivated to the Dao Palace realm, she realized that she could not condense a stable Dao Palace. Her cultivation level would slowly deteriorate for unknown reasons.

The Nanxuan family clan repeated checked her body but found no problems. They never did find the cause of the problem.

One day, an alchemist master prescribed Heart Nourishing Pills for Nanxuan Luoyue so as to stabilize her essence, preventing her cultivation level from dissipating.

The Heart Nourishing Pills were indeed effective but the pills could not be eaten forever. It was not that the Nanxuan family clan could not afford them. It was that, in recent years, Nanxuan Luoyue realized that the effects of the Heart Nourishing Pills were no longer as strong as they were before. It was as though her body had developed a resistance to them.

1418 - : Gift

CKtalon  CKtalon

Once the Heart Nourishing Pills lost their effectiveness, she had to find other pills to stabilize her Dao Palace. As for whether such a thing existed, it was still an uncertainty.

Nanxuan Luoyue knew that although her family had sought the help of many famous physicians, none of them could tell what was so extraordinary about her body. However, the scholar had apparently noticed something or he would not have given her the drop of blood.

What left Nanxuan Luoyue even more puzzled was the scholar’s identity. Why did the blood he gave her resonate with her bloodline…

Nanxuan Luoyue even felt like chasing after Yi Yun to press for an answer but her thoughts were occupied by the drop of blood. Therefore, she said to her maidservant after a moment of hesitation, “When that kind sir comes to our manor to retrieve the medicine, make sure to inform me.”

The maidservant was at a loss but she knew that the scholar must have piqued her mistress’s interest. She was even prepared to receive him personally. That was something unprecedented.

“Miss, do you really believe him?” The masked elder had a contorted expression. Despite his repeated warnings, Nanxuan Luoyue clearly saw nothing suspicious in the man.

The blue-dressed girl smiled and said, “Uncle Lian, there’s no need to worry about me. I am able to make my own judgments.”

“Since you insist, I will not say another word. I will inform the family head without any embellishment,” said the masked elder exasperatedly.

…

Yi Yun felt very happy while walking down the streets. He never expected to find an extremely rare herb so soon in the Scarlet Yang Capital.

As for the drop of blood, it was blood he had previously harvested from the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm. He had just given her one drop. Since the girl was willing to help him and he was always a person that met gratitude with grace, he did not think too much about sparing a drop of blood.

Of course, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was clearly dissatisfied with Yi Yun’s gift of its blood. Every extraction of its blood felt like robbing it of half its life. Now, Yi Yun had even ‘donated’ a drop of its blood to someone else, making it very depressed.

Sensing the stir from the God Advent Tower, Yi Yun smiled. “Alright, that’s enough. You really are weirdly alert. You normally sleep like a dead pig but you immediately know when I use your blood.”

“Some of the herbs I bought this time are for your sake as well. In time to come, you will likely be able to evolve into your third form.”

Yi Yun took out two herb strains and threw them into the God Advent Tower. Although they were not really rare or valuable, they were sufficient to make up for a drop of blood.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm immediately stopped protesting after receiving the two herb strains. It chomped down on them and fell asleep satisfied after finishing the herbs.

As for Yi Yun, he gently heaved a sigh of relief. He was someone who already spent lots of money on resources. And now, he was rearing a glutton which only ate rare treasured herbs.

“This Nanxuan Luoyue sure is interesting. It seems she herself is unaware of her own body’s situation. She’s an Ancient Fey of the Dragon race. However, her Ancient Fey bloodline has been sealed by a particular mystic technique. Despite having an Ancient Fey’s body, she has become human. She even cultivates in human-based cultivation techniques. If I had not cultivated the Dragon Emperor Technique, allowing me to be exceptionally sensitive to dragon bloodlines, I would not have been able to sense Nanxuan Luoyue’s Ancient Fey body.”

Fey and humans had their own paths. It was naturally problematic when Ancient Fey cultivated in human cultivation techniques.

However, Yi Yun had to carefully check the girl’s body to know the actual problem. However, considering the way the masked elder looked like he would eat him up at any moment, Yi Yun knew that would be impossible. If he had raised the idea, the elder would have definitely gone mad.

Furthermore, Yi Yun had only did it as a way to thank her in passing. He would not deliberately do something that only spelled trouble.

As he pondered, Yi Yun stopped in front of a tall building. The building was the second reason he was here—Heaven Secrets Tower.

As the most famous intelligence agency in the White Lunar Divine Empire, any news that was available to the Heaven Secrets Tower could be obtained if the right price was paid.

Yi Yun stepped into the Heaven Secrets Tower and took a glance at the levels of intelligence one could obtain from the Heaven Secrets Tower. He went for the highest level and soon found that, regardless of what was asked, it required a sizable sum. Some of the more valuable news even cost several Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli.

The highest level of the Heaven Secrets Tower had a total of three rooms. Every room was isolated within an array formation. It was impossible to probe the situation within.

“What would you like to know?”

The room was empty except for a simple wooden table in the middle. Seated to the side of the table was a short and tiny old woman.

She wore a red cloak that covered her eyes.

As for Yi Yun, he wore a facecloth that contained an array formation which concealed his looks.

“I want to ask about the White Lunar Goddess Empress! As well as the empress’s disciple, Lin Xintong!” Yi Yun said slowly.

The old woman suddenly looked up when she heard his question. Under her cloak, her ancient eyes emitted a cold flash.

But slowly, she lowered her eyes again and said, “Go ahead and ask.”

Yi Yun asked, “Why did the White Lunar Goddess Empress take Lin Xintong as her disciple? What is life like for Lin Xintong in the White Lunar Divine Empire now? Where is she? If I were to become a core disciple of the White Lunar Divine Empire, would I be able to meet Lin Xintong?”

After the woman heard the questions, she faltered slightly. She appeared to be communicating with other people from the Heaven Secrets Tower with a voice transmission to confirm the information. This went on for thirty minutes before she said, “Five million mid-grade Spirit Jade.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun frowned slightly. The price was not high at all. In fact, it was too cheap. That likely meant that even the Heaven Secrets Tower did not know enough.

“The White Lunar Goddess Empress took in Lin Xintong as her disciple at least a hundred years ago. Rumors say that the White Lunar Goddess Empress was traveling the 12 Empyrean Heavens with her soul and chanced upon Lin Xintong, taking her in as a personal disciple. As for the reason, it is unknown. Perhaps it was because Lin Xintong’s talent is outstanding. After all, she managed to become famous in the Sinkhole in just over a hundred years. There is no one her age that can match her. She is one of the top geniuses in all of the Sinkhole.”

“As for meeting Lin Xintong, you might not stand a chance even if you were to become a core disciple of the White Lunar Divine Empire. This is because Lin Xintong does not cultivate with other ordinary disciples. In the past few decades, Lin Xintong has been training in the Ancient Ruins world. At the moment, she is probably cultivating in seclusion in the White Lunar Divine Empire. If you want to meet her, the only way is to become the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s personal disciple.”

Upon hearing the answer, Yi Yun shook his head and let slip a wry smile. Become a personal disciple of Bai Yueyin? Was that some sort of joke?

“Is it possible for me to make Lin Xintong realize that I have arrived in the White Lunar Divine Empire?”

Yi Yun’s question clearly implied that he shared a relationship with Lin Xintong. It was even obvious that it was no ordinary relationship. But the red-dressed woman did not mind. She answered, “A year from today is the day when the Ancient Ruins world fully opens. If you are able to leave your name on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith, then all of the White Lunar Divine Empire will know your name. Even if Lin Xintong is cultivating in seclusion, she will still know it.”

1419 - : Heaven Secrets Tower

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The complete opening of the Ancient Ruins world?”

Yi Yun was taken aback. He naturally knew of the Ancient Ruins world. He had entered it back when he was cultivating in the Nine Li Magus Empire. He had even met the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm there.

“This piece of news can be given to you for free. It’s not a secret, after all. The Ancient Ruins world is extremely mysterious. Some people say that the Ancient Ruins world is the real Sinkhole, while others claim that it is the source of the Sinkhole. Some even speculate that it was naturally formed from the Heavenly Dao laws. Then there are theories that it was created by peak Godly Monarchs or existences that exceed Godly Monarchs. The truth remains unverifiable.”

“Every sixty years, the Ancient Ruins world will open a brand new space. It is called an ancient battlefield by the Sinkhole factions. An ancient battlefield is phenomenal. Every strong faction in the Sinkhole will watch this battlefield. When the time comes, many experts, from young geniuses to old monsters, will enter the ancient battlefield. It will be a grand event. If one can leave their name on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith, they will become famous throughout the Sinkhole!”

“Oh? How does one leave their name on the World Monolith?” asked Yi Yun.

“Legends say that the World Monolith was formed from the Heavenly Dao. The Ancient Ruins world is filled with nomological marks. If you can gather these nomological marks, cast them as one, and fuse them into the World Monolith, your name will be engraved upon it. When that happens, you will also experience a baptism of the Heavenly Dao while fusing the laws. You will reap immense benefits.”

“Apart from that, the Ancient Ruins world has many natural treasures in it. Many of them are things that cannot be found in the outside world. That’s another reason why so many experts enter the Ancient Ruins world.”

The old woman gave the Ancient Ruins world a simple introduction. Yi Yun actually felt a little excited. The ancient battlefield was a grand form of experiential training. Even if he could not find Lin Xintong because of it, he still wished to experience it.

“Are there any requirements for entering the Ancient Ruins world?” asked Yi Yun.

In response, the old woman said, “The number of spots for each entry into the Ancient Ruins world is limited. Many of the spots are monopolized by the powerhouses of the White Lunar Divine Empire. When the time comes, the White Lunar Divine Empire will hand these spots to the various factions. However, the number of spots that each faction receives is few in number. If you want to enter the Ancient Ruins world, the easiest way is to join a large faction.”

Yi Yun frowned slightly when he heard that. He was naturally unwilling to join a faction just for a spot. This was because joining most factions typically required the signing of a soul contract. It would be a lot to give just for a spot. Even then, it was not a certainty that he would obtain a spot just because he joined.

“Thanks, I understand.”

Yi Yun paid her the Spirit Jade after thanking her. Although he did not obtain any truly sensitive information from his inquiry, he was already very satisfied.

The moment he stepped out of the Heaven Secrets Tower, his footsteps came to a sudden halt.

He saw a large notice board by the Heaven Secrets Tower’s entrance. On it were various pamphlets of different shapes and sizes.

One of them was a bounty notice and the target was none other than him.

It was a red color bounty with his face plastered across it. As long as legitimate clues were provided, one could obtain a reward of three Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli. If he was killed, the reward was ten times higher! If he was captured alive, not only would thirty Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli be rewarded, one would also be given a pill that could aid a Divine Lord’s rise in cultivation level.

Displayed above the bounty notice was none other than the Martial Numinous clan’s emblem!

They were truly persistent!

Yi Yun never expected that, shortly after stepping foot into the Scarlet Yang continent, the bounty notice for his head would arrive closely after him.

From the looks of it, the Martial Numinous clan was truly enraged. In addition, Li Qijian had quite some say in the Martial Numinous clan. In order to kill him, they were truly not sparing any expense.

It was even possible that Li Qijian had come to the Heaven Secrets Tower himself. He probably had asked them for information on Yi Yun, something that the Heaven Secrets Tower likely did not have.

With that, his coming to the Heaven Secrets Tower was quite a dangerous move. Thankfully, not only had he disguised himself, he had also worn a facecloth that concealed his looks. And knowing the Heaven Secrets Tower, they would not invade the privacy of their customers by probing underneath the facecloth.

“Senior, are you interested in the contents of this notice?” The person responsible for the notice board was a Dao Palace realm warrior. When he saw Yi Yun’s mid-stage Supremacy cultivation level, he believed that he had gotten a good catch. If any of the bounties on the notice board were turned in, he would receive a sizable commission.

Yi Yun pointed at his bounty notice and asked, “Isn’t the Martial Numinous clan from the Martial Numinous continent? Why do they have a bounty notice here in the Scarlet Yang continent? If I take this mission, wouldn’t I have to head to the Martial Numinous continent to complete it? It’s just the pursuit of a Supremacy, is there a need to plaster bounty notices all across the White Lunar Divine Empire? Aren’t they making a mountain out of a molehill?”

“It seems you aren’t aware.” The Dao Palace realm warrior shook his head. “This Yi Yun is here in the Scarlet Yang continent!”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was alarmed but he did not reveal any look of surprise. “How are you certain?”

“The people that posted the bounty have come to the Heaven Secrets Tower before. Although they were unable to get Yi Yun’s exact location, the person paid a huge price to get the Heaven Secrets Tower’s High Ambassador himself to divine the heavenly secrets. Yi Yun’s approximate location was divined to be in the Scarlet Yang continent.”

“Oh? Divination of the heavenly secrets?”

Only then did Yi Yun recall that there was a group of people in the martial world that had such capabilities.

Back when Yi Yun obtained the Heretical God Fire Seed from the Sun Burial Sandsea, it was all thanks to Ji Shuiyan’s help. And Ji Shuiyan’s grandfather came from a sect that divined the heavenly secrets. It was he who left behind the child part of the Heaven Secrets Compass that aided him in finding the Heretical God Fire Seed.

The reason why Heaven Secrets Tower had its name was not only because they knew the heavenly secrets, but also because they could divine them. And it was because of this that they were able to gather so much information.

“That ability sure is impressive!” said Yi Yun.

“Of course. Whether it be natural treasures, spirit grounds, or beasts, it can be divined. Although it will not be perfectly accurate, it will at least give a general location. This Yi Yun offended the Martial Numinous clan which is not supposed to be trifled with. I’m guessing he won’t live much longer. If the Martial Numinous clan is willing to pay such a price, it’s only a matter of time before he is found,” the Dao Palace realm warrior said smugly. It was unknown why he was so excited.

Yi Yun stroked his chin. He had truly underestimated the Martial Numinous clan’s strength. If this continued, it was very likely that they would find him. However, to capture him, the Martial Numinous clan would need to employ a Divine Lord that had at least fused a Royal Seal.

“That Li Qijian is likely one of those with a Divine Lord Royal Seal…” Yi Yun thought to himself.

Compared to early-stage Divine Lords, the strength of those with Divine Lord Royal Seals was far higher.

“I’ll take this notice.”

Yi Yun took away the bounty notice with maleficent thoughts. Then, he headed straight for the Nanxuan family clan. He still had a herb to collect from them.

1420 - : Bounty Notice

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, there was an elder of indeterminate age inside a Nanxuan family clan chamber. He was focusing on refining a weapon.

The elder was the Nanxuan family clan’s patriarch—Nanxuan Jue. Although the Nanxuan family clan was powerful, it was not a family clan with deep heritage. It was established by Nanxuan Jue alone.

He was a famous artifact refinement master known throughout the Scarlet Yang continent. The divine weapons he forged were extremely high in quality. Many warriors were willing to pay tremendous amounts of money for his weapons, but were often rejected.

At that moment, a masked elder came to the outside of the chamber. After a moment’s hesitation, he passed through the restrictive barrier. If this were an ordinary day, he would absolutely not disturb Nanxuan Jue while he was refining an artifact. But today’s situation was unique…

Nanxuan Jue frowned slightly when he sensed the sudden intruder. He turned his head and realized it was the Nanxuan family clan’s head steward, Lian Yong.

Lian Yong’s entire family had once been saved by Nanxuan Jue many years ago. Due to that, he gave his loyal aid to Nanxuan Jue in establishing the Nanxuan family clan. Nanxuan Jue absolutely trusted Lian Yong. Although Lian Yong had the title of steward, Nanxuan Jue treated him more like a brother. He knew that Lian Yong would not disturb him unless it was something important.

“Brother Lian, is there something wrong?” asked Nanxuan Jue.

Lian Yong instantly sent a voice transmission, rapidly explaining the encounter with Yi Yun. Nanxuan Jue felt a jolt once he heard the story. “What did you say? Luoyue fused with a drop of blood given to her by an unknown stranger? And she’s currently refining it in seclusion?”

“Yes, I have already tried persuading her to no avail. It baffles me why she would trust that person so much.”

Nanxuan Jue knitted his brows. He no longer cared about the quality of the artifact he was refining as he stopped the refinement array and walked out the chamber.

Nanxuan Luoyue built a large family clan from nothing. He had offended countless people over the years. If there was someone bent on seeking revenge, it was very likely for them to do it using Nanxuan Luoyue. Lian Yong would usually protect her which allowed him to take his mind off her. However, there was nothing Lian Yong could do if Nanxuan Luoyue acted adamantly.

To the Nanxuan family clan, Nanxuan Luoyue was a beloved daughter. Nanxuan Jue once had a rather accomplished son but he unfortunately perished. He left behind Nanxuan Luoyue, his only daughter. As for Nanxuan Luoyue’s mother, Nanxuan Jue had never even seen her.

To Nanxuan Jue’s pleasant surprise, Nanxuan Luoyue’s talent far exceeded her father’s. Therefore, the inheritance of the Nanxuan family clan landed almost squarely on Nanxuan Luoyue. They could not afford for anything to happen to her.

Nanxuan Jue took big strides towards Nanxuan Luoyue’s residence and noticed his wife and Nanxuan Luoyue’s maidservant waiting outside nervously. Neither of them had disturbed Nanxuan Luoyue.

“How long has it been?” Nanxuan Jue asked. Without waiting for the maidservant’s reply, he probed with his perception through the door and looked inside the room.

He saw Nanxuan Luoyue sitting on a bed. Her skin suffused a pale redness as hot gases spewed from her pores. It felt as though the flames of vitality in Nanxuan Luoyue had been alighted.

Hot gases billowed into the air and faintly formed the phantom of a swimming dragon.

Nanxuan Jue was alarmed. This is…

His expression was one of bewilderment. Although he was an artifact refinement master, he did not know much about pills or the human body. He only felt as though a ferocious beast had awakened in Nanxuan Luoyue’s body.

But this feeling was fleeting. Moments later, Nanxuan Luoyue stabilized and the dragon phantom dissipated.

Nanxuan Luoyue opened her eyes and breathed out a mouthful of foul air. It was as though her very life had experienced a metamorphic change. But he was unable to determine what it was despite observing her carefully.

“Yue’er!”

Nanxuan Jue pushed open the door and in response, Nanxuan Luoyue turned her head. Her forehead was covered in sweat but she had a faint smile. Her mood seemed buoyant and the lifeblood in her seemed to burn vigorously like a fiery cauldron.

“Yue’er, how do you feel?” Nanxuan Jue asked with concern.

“Grandpa, I feel great. It feels just like the supreme-grade Ancient Fey bone I absorbed years ago.”

When Nanxuan Luoyue was young, Nanxuan Jue had bought an Ancient Fey spine bone the size of a face basin from an auction. It had been refined by a famous alchemist, using dozens of supreme-grade herbs for a hundred days. It was invaluable.

After Nanxuan Luoyue absorbed the Ancient Fey bone, her cultivation level increased tremendously. Of course, the Nanxuan family clan paid a sizable sum for the Ancient Fey bone. Nanxuan Jue had used one of his works that he was particularly proud of, one that he had stored away for years, as an exchange for the Ancient Fey bone.

“It’s like the absorption of the supreme-grade Ancient Fey bone? There is actually such an effect?” Nanxuan Jue was stunned. How was it possible?

Nanxuan Jue had heard from Lian Yong that Nanxuan Luoyue had only received a drop of blood. It was just a tiny drop of blood, not even the size of a soybean; yet, the effects matched a supreme-grade Ancient Fey bone and dozens of natural treasures that were all refined by a famous alchemist?

Besides, if it were truly such a treasure, why would the man give it to Nanxuan Luoyue for free?

Nanxuan Jue originally believed that an enemy had attempted to harm their Nanxuan family clan’s best seedling. But in the end, he had truly given her an invaluable treasure. How could something so bizarre happen?

Nanxuan Jue took a step forward and grabbed Nanxuan Luoyue’s wrist. Although he did not know any medical skills, he had been practicing martial arts for years. He knew a little about the body’s channels and collaterals.

When he made his probe, he sensed that Nanxuan Luoyue’s aura had transformed into something different from what it was before. It felt like something had catalyzed in her body but as for what it was, he was unable to determine it at all.

Furthermore, Nanxuan Luoyue’s Dao Palace had experienced a fascinating change. The Dao Palace seemed to be enveloped in a rising blood mist.

It was as though Nanxuan Luoyue’s lifeblood was so powerful that it even immersed the entire Dao Palace.

This made Nanxuan Jue recall tales of warriors that tempered their bodies. The strength of those people’s lifeblood was probably around this level…

This made Nanxuan Jue wonder about Nanxuan Luoyue’s bloodline. Could her issue stem from her mother? What background did her mother have?

“Miss, do you feel discomfort in any way?” asked Lian Yong worriedly.

Nanxuan Luoyue shook her head. “No, I feel great. The effect feels more than a hundred times better than eating any Heart Nourishing Pills.”

“This… It’s good you feel great…” Lian Yong was baffled. He was certain that the scholar he had encountered had nefarious thoughts and was likely a cheat. He had probably heard that Nanxuan Luoyue had eaten Heart Nourishing Pills for more than a decade. In response, he produced a drop of blood that did not appear precious in any way and hoped to boast about it. But who knew that it had such effects?

Lian Yong was thankful that Nanxuan Luoyue had insisted on trusting her own judgment. If not, she would have missed out on such an opportunity.

“Looks like I was being silly. I could not tell that the young man is such a capable person. He probably noticed something about your body. He couldn’t have given that drop of blood to you for no reason. It must have some special property that matches your body perfectly.”

Lian Yong offered his speculations. Nanxuan Luoyue nodded. She shared the same thoughts. If there was something amiss, she would not have felt the resonance with that drop of blood.

The drop of blood felt like a catalyst that stirred changes in her body. However, it still fell short of fully stabilizing her Dao Palace. It was unknown what sort of changes her body would experience if she received another few drops of blood.

Of course, that was only Nanxuan Luoyue letting her thoughts run free. Yi Yun probably did not have that many drops of the precious blood.

She did not know how valuable the drop of blood was either. But it was obvious to her that the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit was insufficient as a trade. Thinking back to how she planned on selling it to Yi Yun at the market price, she felt a little ashamed. He had already given her such a precious drop of blood but she was actually taking money from him.

“I heard that the kind sir also requires a Seven Leaf Wheel and the Luoshengzi?” said Lian Yong suddenly.

Nanxuan Luoyue nodded. “Yes, but we do not have those two herbs in our stores. That kind sir did give me such a rare opportunity. Grandpa, is it possible for you to help him find them?”

“It’s only necessary.” Nanxuan Jue nodded. His family clan still had quite a good social network. It was mainly because he was an artifact refining master. Many people had requests for him. It was not difficult if he truly wanted something found. “If that person still has more drops of that blood, perhaps we can buy a few drops from him.”

“He probably doesn’t have any left.” Lian Yong shook his head. “This kind of blood is a rare treasure of the world. It’s likely very difficult to obtain. He must have given it to us because he was in urgent need of the herb.”

Lian Yong’s words were reasonable but he had no idea that the drop of blood had been extracted from the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s body. The little guy did not look large in size, but the vigor in its blood resembled that of a True Dragon. Extracting one drop of blood was a fairly trivial matter.

As they conversed, a spark lit up in front of Lian Yong’s eyes. It was the light of a voice transmission talisman. Lian Yong’s eyes lit up as he said, “It’s that sir that gave the blood. He has come to us to buy the herb!”

1421 - : Blood Catalyst

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Nanxuan family clan’s manor was located south of Scarlet Yang Capital. It was situated on the best spirit mountain in the southern region and spanned a large area. Its size was almost equivalent to a city.

There were tall walls erected around it, and all sorts of rare vegetation could be seen peeking out of the walls, their pleasant fragrance filling the area. In fact, with the Nanxuan family clan’s power, it would have been easy to establish a manor in the most flourishing district in the Scarlet Yang continent; however, Nanxuan Jue enjoyed peace and quiet, which was why he chose the mountain to the south.

As there was a spiritual root located under the ground, the spirit energy in the region was extremely rich. The Nanxuan family clan even planted a special herbal garden and augmented it with array formations. In it was all sorts of spiritual vegetation that contended in beauty and fascination. And elsewhere, there was an Earth fire dragon root that was used by Nanxuan Jue for his artifact refinement.

When Yi Yun arrived above the Nanxuan family manor, he swept it with his perception. He marveled at the how rich of a wonderland it was. It was extremely apt for being the base of a manor.

“Who’s there? Flying is banned within fifty kilometers of our Nanxuan family clan. Quickly descend!”

Yi Yun did not conceal his aura. His mid-stage Supremacy cultivation level was very eye-catching. From afar, a Nanxuan family clan expert noticed Yi Yun approaching and came forward. He was a slightly plump middle-aged man. Although his cultivation level had reached the Supremacy realm, his foundation appeared rather normal.

“I’m here to purchase a ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit. I have already received permission from Miss Nanxuan Luoyue.”

“So it’s you. She did mention it.”

The middle-aged man was Nanxuan Luoyue’s elder cousin, Nanxuan Changyue. He was very protective of his cousin and he was aware of the sale of the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit. Although Nanxuan Luoyue had agreed to it, but he was against the idea. Besides, he could tell that Uncle Lian did not wish to do the sale.

“I’ll escort you to the guest hall where you can wait.” Nanxuan Changyue’s voice sounded a little cold.

Yi Yun did not mind it. He followed Nanxuan Changyue into the guest hall and saw a few spirit boats parked outside as he entered. They looked luxurious, with beautiful interior design. All of them had different emblems, implying that they belonged to different factions. Furthermore, they were no ordinary factions.

When Yi Yun stepped into the guest hall, he saw four people sitting inside. One of them was a beautiful woman with a young girl beside her. Another group was a Daoist-looking middle-aged priest. He had a young Daoist priest with him. Although the young Daoist priest was dressed in plain attire like an ascetic, it did not hide his good looks. He was truly a gentlemanly and handsome youth.

“Junior Sister Caiyun, let me have the weapon that Patriarch Nanxuan is refining. I want to step into the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield next year. With a handy divine weapon, I would get double the results for half the effort. Junior Sister Caiyun, if you are willing to forfeit it, the Divine Emptiness Palace will definitely compensate you handsomely,” the middle-aged Daoist priest said with a smile.

However, the corner of the middle-aged beauty’s mouth curled upwards and revealed a look of contempt. “What handsome compensation? You want me to let you take a divine weapon refined by Senior Nanxuan on nothing but empty promises? My disciple will naturally be heading to the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield next year as well. If my disciple obtains the divine weapon refined by Senior Nanxuan, she will also undergo a quantum leap in strength. How can I hand over my disciple’s opportunity to your disciple? Senior Nanxuan has been doing less refinements in recent years. I know that it was only because Senior Nanxuan obtained a supreme-grade material that he became inspired to refine a weapon in seclusion. I am bent on having that weapon. If you want to compete, be prepared to pay the price!”

The beauty was overbearing and showed no intention of standing down.

The Daoist priest stroked his whisk and said, “In that case, we shall compete fair and square!”

Although they were Daoist priests, they were extremely rich. Besides, they had come fully prepared to contend for the divine weapon.

At that moment, the handsome young man noticed Nanxuan Changyue bring Yi Yun in. He immediately came forward beaming. “Perfected Changyue, might I know when Senior Nanxuan will come out of seclusion?”

Nanxuan Changyue said, “Patriarch has already been in seclusion for more than a month. According to his previous estimates, it shouldn’t take more than twenty days or so for him to exit seclusion.”

After Nanxuan Changyue said that, he stopped entertaining Yi Yun. There were four people in the hall, each with their own seats. There were also tea and pastry beside each seat. As for Yi Yun, Nanxuan Changyue did not even be bother with him. He did not even offer him a seat, much less tea and pastry.

Instantly, Yi Yun appeared rather out of place. The middle-aged Daoist priest took a glance at Yi Yun and said with a frown, “Perfected Changyue, is this sir here for Senior Nanxuan’s new work? We have already been in line for one of Senior Nanxuan’s works for years.”

He naturally disliked the potential of another competitor. Nanxuan Jue’s works were just too popular. Most people had to reserve them years in advance. And the reservation was only the right to purchase. One had to know the price before they knew if they could buy it.

“Patriarch’s weapon will naturally not be sold to him,” said Nanxuan Changyue nonchalantly, without any inclination to elaborate. It made everyone else in the hall heave a sigh of relief. It was good that he was not a competitor. Furthermore, judging from Nanxuan Changyue’s attitude, he clearly did not like Yi Yun. It was unknown, then, why he was there.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly asked, “I heard that you were discussing the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield. Were the spots your sects received to enter the ancient battlefield handed out by the White Lunar Divine Empire?”

Yi Yun suddenly posed this question when the original discussion was about weapon refinement. It left the quartet taken aback as the beautiful woman said, “Of course, do you think we just picked it up?”

“In that case, a spot will not be for sale even if a sufficient price is paid?” asked Yi Yun again.

The woman chuckled seductively when she heard that. “A spot is so precious, so how can it be sold to others? Besides, the spot was handed down by the White Lunar Divine Empire, who would dare sell it? Why, don’t tell me you plan on heading to the ancient battlefield?”

“I do have such plans.” Yi Yun nodded.

The woman gave Yi Yun a look with a faint smile. “For someone your age, a spot isn’t easily acquired.”

Many people entered the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield every time but in fact, the young elites held the advantage in the ancient battlefield. Based on his disguised look, Yi Yun had a mid-stage cultivation level. He looked like a mortal in his thirties, so he was unlikely to be a young genius. Even if he could head to the ancient battlefield, he seemed unlikely to attain much.

Yi Yun smiled without answering. He had only asked in passing to confirm his guesses. Speaking any further was pointless.

He looked at Nanxuan Changyue and asked, “Perfect Changyue, what’s the matter? Has my ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit not been prepared yet?”

He had only come to purchase a herb. He would leave the moment he received it. Furthermore, he was not blind, he could clearly see the reluctance plastered all over Nanxuan Changyue’s face. He did not want to sell the herb to him.

If he tried to say the herb really wasn’t for sale, Yi Yun would definitely press the issue. After all, he had given them a drop of the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s blood and had given them some form of payment. Then again, Yi Yun did not know if the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s blood would have any effect on Nanxuan Luoyue.

Upon seeing Yi Yun rush him, Nanxuan Changyue turned even more unhappy. He didn’t even want to sell it in the first place.

“What’s the rush? My Nanxuan family clan has numerous treasured herbs. The ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit was collected many years ago. It will take time for us to find it.”

Upon hearing Nanxuan Changyue words, Yi Yun pricked up his brows. Was the punk planning on using an excuse to shun him?

“I’m naturally in no rush. However, that ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit was previously arranged by Miss Luoyue to be given to me. Is there a need to take so long to find a strain of herb?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun mention Nanxuan Luoyue, Nanxuan Changyue turned even more displeased. Not only was Yi Yun being ungrateful towards his cousin’s promise, he was even using it to threaten him like it was a royal decree!

Before he said a word, the beautiful woman said, “Fellow Daoist, when you seek the help of others, you should be more polite. We have waited years to buy a weapon from Senior Nanxuan and might not even manage to buy it. You are here to buy their treasured possession but yet, you act so oppressively…”

The woman had spoken up, of course, to get into Nanxuan Changyue’s good books. In order to express her friendship towards the Nanxuan family clan, she had stepped forward to reprimand Yi Yun.

When the woman said that, a fiery flash suddenly lit up in the guest hall. It was the light from a voice transmission that was for Nanxuan Changyue.

Nanxuan Changyue’s expression changed the moment he received the voice transmission talisman.

“Oh? Patriarch?”

Nanxuan Changyue’s words stirred the hearts of everyone. Nanxuan Jue had exited seclusion? Nanxuan Changyue had just said that Nanxuan Jue would take another twenty days to exit seclusion. Why was he already out? Had he already refined the supreme-grade material into a peerless divine weapon?

The quartet were feeling puzzled when they heard a series of footsteps coming from outside. Then, they heard Nanxuan Jue’s voice with bold undertones.

“Haha, Friend, for you to come from afar, you must have waited long. I’m truly sorry for my lateness and poor hospitality!”

With that said, a white-robed elder of indeterminate age walked into the guest hall beaming. Behind him was the silver-masked elder and an extremely beautiful girl with fair skin that suffused a healthy pink glow. She was none other than Nanxuan Luoyue!

“Patriarch, Uncle Lian. Luoyue, why are you all here…” Nanxuan Changyue was stumped. He was most perplexed about Nanxuan Jue. The divine weapon was only about seventy percent done but he had already exited seclusion. That could decrease the quality of the weapon by one tier.

Nanxuan Jue nodded when he saw Nanxuan Changyue. Although Nanxuan Changyue’s talent was ordinary, he handled the miscellaneous family matters diligently.

And at that moment, the beautiful woman and the Daoist priest, as well as their disciples, immediately stood up. They never expected Nanxuan Jue to come personally. One had to know that even when a weapon was done refining, Nanxuan Jue would not necessarily appear to do the trade himself.

The beautiful woman smiled and said, “Patriarch Nanxuan, that’s very polite of you. We have not waited for long. Besides, haven’t you been refining the weapon in seclusion? It’s only normal that you can’t extend your hospitality, so how can you be blamed?”

However, the woman never expected that Nanxuan Jue’s eyes would just sweep past them. He seemed to pause for a moment of thought before recalling their identities. Then, he said with a faint smile, “Oh, are you here too?”

Uh…

The woman’s voice paused instantly. Her beaming smile that looked like a blossoming flower froze as well. She even felt her face burning. She realized that Nanxuan Jue was not talking to her.

But immediately, she continued maintaining her somewhat awkward smile and said, “That’s right. We have been waiting for the successful refinement of your divine weapon.”

As she said this, her thoughts raced. She recalled Nanxuan Jue’s gaze. He was clearly not looking at them but at the middle-aged scholar who had not been welcomed.

Back when she saw Nanxuan Jue’s passionate smile, she should have noticed something amiss. When had he ever been so affectionate towards people like them? He was clearly there for the middle-aged scholar. But from the attitude Nanxuan Changyue had, the man did not appear to be an honored guest!

The mood in the guest hall turned awkward once again. When Nanxuan Jue saw Yi Yun standing in a corner, he immediately frowned.

“Changyue, why didn’t you offer our guest a seat?”

Nanxuan Changyue was momentarily unable to react. He looked at Yi Yun in a daze and suddenly realized that Nanxuan Jue’s words upon entering the hall were meant for Yi Yun.

It was not that he was slow but that his thoughts were revolving around the question of Nanxuan Jue’s exiting of seclusion. He had missed the implications of Nanxuan Jue’s words.

Now, on second thought, since when had the patriarch been so polite to others? Those that came to seek the patriarch’s works were all polite, bringing sizable gifts. And towards these people, Nanxuan Jue would rarely be more than indifferent, much less greet them personally.

This mid-stage Supremacy had actually made Nanxuan Jue welcome him personally with such a polite greeting. It was even possible that… Nanxuan Jue had exited seclusion because of this matter!

To welcome the scholar, he was willing to let the weapon he was refining drop in grade. What was happening…

Nanxuan Changyue was flabbergasted. He even forgot that Nanxuan Jue was reprimanding him.

Noticing Nanxuan Changyue’s inaction, Nanxuan Jue’s brows knitted tighter. “What are you waiting for?”

“Ah…” Nanxuan Changyue snapped out of his daze. “Oh, okay.”

Seeing his patriarch unhappy, Nanxuan Changyue quickly prepared a seat and tea for Yi Yun. He was still feeling baffled about everything that was happening.

“Take out the Ravenjade Shangjing Tea. Why are you so muddleheaded today?” Seeing Nanxuan Changyue offer ordinary tea for guests, Nanxuan Jue said this with greater displeasure. Nanxuan Changyue would typically be able to read the situation so why did he appear so clumsy today?

“Yes, I’ll fetch it now.” Nanxuan Changyue changed the tea leaves with a bitter face. Nanxuan Jue was a tea lover. The few bags of Ravenjade Shangjing Tea were Nanxuan Jue’s prized collection for millennia. Even he rarely drank it. So why would he think to offer such precious tea? Of course, Nanxuan Changyue did not dare say those words aloud.

“Senior Nanxuan, you are too kind. The tea from before is already good enough.”

Yi Yun could tell that the ordinary tea was prepared for guests of the Nanxuan family. It was not ordinary either but Nanxuan Jue’s standards were too high.

“Haha, this grandnephew of mine lacks sense. Sorry for slighting you, my friend. Please tolerate our lack of hospitality.” Nanxuan Jue cupped his fists. Be it the Nanxuan family clan or Nanxuan Jue, Nanxuan Luoyue was was their beloved daughter. Ignoring the benefits the drop of blood had given Nanxuan Luoyue, just Yi Yun’s ability to determine her body’s condition through a strand of hair was an ability that demanded Nanxuan Jue’s respect of Yi Yun.

1422 - : Nanxuan Manor

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ravenjade Shangjing Tea of the finest quality had been served. Nanxuan Jue invited Yi Yun to join him at the seats of honor. The masked elder sat down right after Nanxuan Jue. He looked ashamed of himself as he met Yi Yun this time. He cupped his fists and said, “I had poor judgment, so please forgive me for any disrespect I might have shown you.”

Yi Yun said, “Senior, you are being too polite. If it were me, I too would feel suspicious about an unknown stranger giving me a drop of blood to refine. It’s only human.”

In fact, Yi Yun never refuted the masked man’s words of mistrust against him, nor did he feel displeased about his attitude in any way. The masked man’s reaction was only natural, for Yi Yun never gave them a reason to trust him.

However, Yi Yun believed in Nanxuan Luoyue. She would definitely sense something within the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s blood. If she did not dare trust her own judgment with such an opportunity placed before her, it was unlikely she would amount to much in the future.

Nanxuan Changyue steeped the Ravenjade Shangjing Tea personally without the help of his maidservants but he never expected that Nanxuan Jue would reject his serving of the tea. Instead, he took the teapot from Nanxuan Luoyue and slowly poured himself a cup of tea.

“Sir, I’m Luoyue. Let me toast you and might I ask what your name is?”

Nanxuan Luoyue toasted Yi Yun as a form of thanks. Since she was so sincere, Yi Yun did not wish to lie to her with a fake name. Furthermore, he would have to use his real name when he went to the ancient battlefield. If not, how was he to leave his name on the World Monolith for Lin Xintong to see?

“Miss Luoyue, for particular reasons, I cannot tell you my name for the time being. You helped me first and I repaid the favor. It was only the right thing to do. There’s no need to go all out and thank me. I came to your manor today to buy that ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit.”

Nanxuan Jue said, “Fellow Daoist, you are amusing. How can we still sell that ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit? It’s only right we give it to you.”

As Nanxuan Jue spoke, he shot a glance at Nanxuan Changyue. “What are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to retrieve the medicine now?”

“Yes.” Nanxuan Changyue felt like slapping himself in the face. He really had nothing better to do. If he knew of any of this, he would have taken out the herb earlier. His making things difficult for Yi Yun only reflected back on himself.

Nanxuan Changyue was responsible for most of the miscellaneous affairs of Nanxuan Manor. As such, he tended to the spirit herbal storeroom. He quickly brought out the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit and no longer dared to show any signs of reluctance.

Nanxuan Changyue carefully opened the unadorned jade box and placed it on a table.

Yi Yun’s face revealed a look of glee when he saw a root the size of thumb inside the jade box. It was indeed a ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit. Furthermore, its quality was excellent. Average ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit were only the size of a pinky. But this root was thicker than the average root.

Nanxuan Jue pushed the jade box to Yi Yun and said, “I’ve heard that you are in need of two other spirit herb strains. Although my Nanxuan family lacks them, we can help you find them if needed.”

“About that…”

Yi Yun paused for a moment. In fact, he believed that the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s blood that he had given Nanxuan Luoyue was precious but still far inferior to the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit.

Since Nanxuan Jue was giving him the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit for free and was willing to seek the remaining two spirit herbs for him, he had likely underestimated the effects the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm had on Nanxuan Luoyue.

“Please do not decline the offer, for I do have my own selfish intentions…”

Yi Yun had guessed Nanxuan Jue’s intentions when he seemed at a loss for words. He said, “You wish to get a few more drops of blood?”

Nanxuan Jue’s eyes lit up. “Fellow Daoist, you have more?”

“I do have more but not much more,” said Yi Yun reservedly.

“Yes, I do wish for more. In addition, I would like to know the exact problem Luoyue is facing.”

The second sentence had been said via voice transmission.

Luoyue’s body and talent were without problems but there was something very mysterious about her physique.

“I’m not entirely certain about everything myself,” said Yi Yun. “However, if it’s only a few drops of blood, I can provide you with that much. That said, please keep the blood a secret and never mention it to others.”

Yi Yun’s last sentence was also said through a voice transmission. The blood he gave had been extracted from the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm, an existence already known by the Martial Numinous clan. Although it was very unlikely that others would connect the drop of blood to the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm, Yi Yun would rather be safe than sorry.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Nanxuan Jue reeled in delight. “Of course! Aside from the other strains of herbs, is there any other request? My Nanxuan family clan will definitely spare no cost to complete it.”

Yi Yun replied, “There is indeed a matter that I might need to trouble you with. I wish to enter the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield next year. Might I know if you have any available spots?”

“This…” Nanxuan Jue was taken aback as he immediately said, “My Nanxuan family does have spots for entering the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield but the spots are bestowed by the White Lunar Divine Empire. Therefore, they cannot be transferred. If you truly wish to enter the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield, I can only trouble you to become a little related to my Nanxuan family clan. If you find it acceptable, I’m willing to make you an honorary Elder of my family. You will not be required to do much and we will not restrict your freedom. On the contrary, there will actually be a salary but I believe that much will not catch your eye. However, if you need to find any natural treasure or acquire some intelligence, you can use my family’s resources. And if there are any weapons you need, you will be given priority to purchase them. I’m not skilled in anything save for my modest abilities in artifact refinement. If there are any requests you have with respect to artifact refinement, feel free to ask.”

Nanxuan Jue’s words astounded the middle-aged beauty and the Daoist priest. Their eyes stared blankly ahead. Was there actually such a good thing in this world? He did not need to do anything despite being an honorary Elder? Furthermore, it gave him nothing but benefits. Thinking about how they had to wait years for a single weapon created by Nanxuan Jue while he would allow Yi Yun to choose any weapon he desired, it was truly a day and night difference.

The beauty cringed inwardly. She had just mentioned that it was unlikely for Yi Yun to gain a spot to the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield. But in a blink of an eye, Nanxuan Jue had offered Yi Yun exactly that. It left her speechless.

Yi Yun stroke his chin. Although he was unwilling to join any faction, the conditions Nanxuan Jue offered were just too good. This made it difficult for Yi Yun to immediately reject the offer. Besides, Yi Yun was bent on obtaining a spot in the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield.

“In that case, I accept it without further ado.”

“Alright. Then, it is decided,” said Nanxuan Jue with a smile. It was not that he thought highly of Yi Yun’s results on the martial path but that he wanted to repay Yi Yun for his gift of the blood.

Nanxuan Jue turned to look at the Daoist priest and beauty. “I have something to tend to today so the weapon refinement was temporarily paused. I already know what weapons all of you need. If I make such works the next time, I will definitely give you priority in buying them.”

The Daoist priest and the beauty could tell that Nanxuan Jue was politely requesting that they leave.

It was likely that Nanxuan Jue had something important to discuss with the scholar and did not wish for them to hear it.

Thinking back to the supreme-grade material that Nanxuan Jue had been refining in the refinement lab, the duo felt their heart wince in pain. The longer the pause, the greater the decline of the weapon’s quality. However, Nanxuan Jue completely ignored that.

“Thank you, Senior Nanxuan. We shall bade you farewell.” The middle-aged Daoist priest wanted to say something but ended up leaving Nanxuan Manor.

After they were gone, Nanxuan Jue turned to Yi Yun and asked, “Fellow Daoist, I wish to know the exact problem with Luoyue’s physical attributes.”

1423 - : Spot

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun did have an inkling about Luoyue’s physique but he had only come to that conclusion based on the aura that exuded from a strand of hair. He was not entirely certain.

As such, Yi Yun pondered for a moment before he said to Luoyue, “Miss Luoyue, I wonder if I can have your permission to check your pulse?”

Luoyue nodded and stretched her wrist forward.

The fair skin was somewhat breathtaking. When Yi Yun placed his finger on it, he acutely sensed Luoyue’s wrist tremble involuntary when they made contact.

However, Yi Yun did not have any deeper thoughts about her. His perception rapidly sank into Luoyue’s meridians as he immediately took on an extremely focused look.

Time slowly passed as Yi Yun seemed immersed in his perceptive probe. Luoyue on the other hand felt uncomfortable. This was the first time she was making such skin contact with a man. Furthermore, the contact was going on for a long period of time. She slowly felt a little embarrassed standing there motionlessly as he touched her. Even her face was beginning to burn up.

But when she saw Yi Yun’s focused expression, she remained motionless, worried that she would disturb him.

Thankfully, the rest, including her grandfather Nanxuan Jue and the masked man Lian Yong, had their eyes trained on Yi Yun, waiting for his answer.

“I’m done,” Yi Yun said as he released Luoyue’s wrist. “It must have been tough on you, Miss Luoyue.”

He then nodded at her.

Luoyue bashfully smiled before gently shaking her head.

“Fellow Daoist, did you figure anything out?” Nanxuan Jue asked impatiently. He immediately returned Yi Yun’s attention to the matter.

“Back when I met Miss Luoyue, I sensed something extraordinary about her aura. Now, I can confirm it. Miss Luoyue, please tell what is unique about the drop of blood I gave you,” asked Yi Yun.

Luoyue instantly replied, “I’m not entirely sure. That blood seems to be related to my bloodline…”

“That drop of blood contains a sliver of the True Dragon’s aura,” explained Yi Yun.

In fact, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s blood contained a portion of the True Dragon’s blood itself. Yi Yun had only said that to keep them in the dark. Although he had a good impression of the Nanxuan family clan, he would not reveal all of his secrets or endanger himself. He had to keep something close to his chest.

“A True Dragon’s aura? But what has that got to do with me?” Luoyue blinked her beautiful lashes as she asked.

“If I’m not wrong, your body should be that of an Ancient Fey, not a human. Your bloodline contains the blood of the True Dragon, making you a descendant of the True Dragon. As such, you experienced a resonance with that drop of blood,” said Yi Yun.

Once Yi Yun said that, everyone in the hall was stunned. Luoyue had left her mouth agape as her eyes widened. This was the first time someone was telling her that she was not human but an Ancient Fey that contained the bloodline of a True Dragon.

However, when such ridiculous words came out of Yi Yun’s mouth, Luoyue was not immediately thinking of doubting or retorting. After she thought it through, she realized it would explain the unique specialties of her body.

Nanxuan Jue’s reaction happened to be the calmest. In fact, he already had some speculations about the circumstances of Luoyue’s birth. He sighed and said, “So your mother is an Ancient Fey… It’s no wonder your talent is so stunning yet your Dao Palace is unstable. It’s because you are not human. Of course it’s not suitable for you to condense a Dao Palace.”

Compared to Luoyue, Nanxuan Jue found Yi Yun’s explanation reasonable from the start. He had watched her grow up and long noticed the many abnormal aspects of her body. Furthermore, Nanxuan Jue had a non-contextual understanding of Luoyue’s mother.

Yi Yun’s words fully and smoothly solved the doubts he had.

The matrimony of human and Ancient Fey had a very low chance of producing offspring. Nanxuan Jue had basically not heard of any exception other than Luoyue.

The problem they had failed to diagnose turned out to be due to her bloodline. However, the problem was worse than some of the possible problems Nanxuan Jue had thought of. Luoyue did not have any latent problems but had only taken the wrong cultivation path.

“Fellow Daoist, are there any other problems?” asked Nanxuan Jue when he noticed that Yi Yun appeared to have not finished speaking.

He sensed that the matter was not as simple as it seemed. Luoyue had an Ancient Fey body. Why did no one notice it over all these years?

Yi Yun waved his hand and said, “I can understand your emotions. However, Miss Luoyue’s bloodline and physique has, in fact, been sealed by someone.”

People with Ancient Fey bodies like Luoyue were nearly extinct and very few people could identify such physiques. In addition, Luoyue’s Ancient Fey bloodline had been sealed by someone, so no one could readily identify her true identity.

“This…” Nanxuan Jue’s heart sank. If Nanxuan Luoyue’s bloodline had truly been sealed, her condition would not improve even if she converted her cultivation technique to that of a Fey’s.

Luoyue’s lustrous eyes dimmed. In fact, she had also suspected this.

“Might I know if you can release the seal on Miss Luoyue?” Lian Yong asked at that moment with cupped fists.

The moment he spoke, Nanxuan Jue looked at Yi Yun in anticipation. Since Yi Yun could read Luoyue’s condition and was able to provide the blood, perhaps he had a way of removing the seal.

“I’m truly sorry to disappoint you. The person who sealed Miss Luoyue had an extremely high cultivation level. I’m unable to remove the seal. However, if I give another few drops of blood to Miss Luoyue, her bloodline would be stimulated and it might be possible for her to remove some of the seal herself. There might even come a day when Miss Luoyue is able to fully remove the seal on her own.” Yi Yun was merely speculating but it was the only way of giving the Nanxuan family clan and Luoyue a sliver of hope.

Yi Yun still thought highly of Luoyue’s character. He could not bear to see her in such a depressed state.

Nanxuan Jue could not hide his disappointment, but he said, “Fellow Daoist, there’s no need to apologize. Our Nanxuan family clan is already unable to thank you enough for the blood.”

“That’s right. I believe that human effort is the decisive factor. Since there’s the possibility of me removing the seal myself, it means it’s possible for me to do it.” Luoyue quickly overcame her disappointment and smiled. Instantly, it felt like flowers had bloomed. It was extremely beautiful.

Yi Yun nodded and smiled as well. When his cultivation level increased, it would be possible for him to remove Luoyue’s seal. However, he did not plan on saying that until he had absolute confidence.

“There’s still some time before the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield opens up. If you do not mind, why don’t you stay with my Nanxuan family clan?” invited Nanxuan Jue.

“Thank you for your hospitality but I do have some other things to take care of. I will come again near the advent of the ancient battlefield’s opening.” Yi Yun politely declined Nanxuan Jue’s invitation. Although the Nanxuan family’s environment was excellent, there were also many inconveniences for him there.

Before he left, Nanxuan Jue gave a voice transmission jade talisman to Yi Yun, allowing them ease of communication in the future.

After leaving the Nanxuan family clan, Yi Yun looked at the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit in his interspatial ring with satisfaction. Then, he took a step forward. It looked like a slow action but in a few steps, he had disappeared into the crowd…

…

Time passed quickly until it was more than half a year later.

During this period, Yi Yun had some interaction with the Nanxuan family clan. It did not go back on its word. They did do their best, and found the other two herbs which they gave to Yi Yun.

And as promised, Yi Yun gave them the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s blood.

That day, in a nearby town situated beside a river at the foot of a mountain in Scarlet Yang Capital, Yi Yun took up residence in a tiny compound.

He set up a concealment and defensive array formation. From the outside, it looked like any ordinary residential compound. But in fact, Yi Yun had set up his cauldron inside and was extremely busy.

With the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit in hand, Yi Yun immediately found this quiet and remote location to begin refining his third Dragon Emperor relic.

He believed that it was unlikely for the bounty hunters of the Martial Numinous clan to pursue him this far. Even if they passed by such an inconspicuous area, they would likely only sweep past it with their perception. It was impossible for them to probe it carefully enough to find him.

The herbs the Dragon Emperor relic took for refining had no exact requirement. Only treasured herbs were needed but the choice of the treasured herbs was up to the maker. The herbs Yi Yun chose every time matched his own cultivation techniques perfectly.

Among the three herbs he needed, the Seven Leaf Wheel and the Luoshengzi were particularly useful for Yi Yun. And the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit was similarly very suitable. Originally, just finding one of the three was enough for Yi Yun to refine the third Dragon Emperor relic as the main ingredient, but the effects could only be better with all three amassed.

He first cultivated silently in the compound for a period of time until a few days passed. When he sensed that his mental state was optimal, he sat in front of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

As Yi Yun placed the herbs one by one into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, the Heretical God Fire immediately enveloped the cauldron. Amid the fire’s burning, the herbs were extracted of their medicinal liquid by Yi Yun’s mental powers. The impurities were constantly being separated by Yi Yun and thrown to the side.

Gradually, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was filled with pools of pure medicinal liquid. These liquids effused pleasant herbal fragrances and looked like crystalline drops of liquid jade.

Yi Yun held up the liquid drops to be consumed by the flames with his perception while stretching out an arm to open another jade box to the side. The ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit immediately flew out and entered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

However, the extraction and purification of the ten-thousand-year-old Lunar Wood Spirit did not result in liquid. Instead, it produced a faint, mist-like silver glow. The moment it appeared, it made the house Yi Yun was in turn a little cold.

Yi Yun’s eyes were calm as he moved both his hands. “Fuse!”

Dozens of different medicinal liquids immediately moved like they had received instructions. They amalgamated into one.

Yi Yun began producing hand seals until sweat began rolling down his forehead. A clear roar sounded from the cauldron and immediately following that, a silver beam of light flew out of it. Yi Yun grabbed it.

The silver beam of light was in fact a white-colored pill with a lustrous glow. And inside the pill, there was a silver shadow that seemed to be moving. It looked like moonlight that shone from a crescent.

“It’s done.” Yi Yun looked at the herbal dregs on the ground and felt wistful. His cultivation path really expended a lot of resources. Of course, the Dragon Emperor Technique brought heaven-defying changes to his cultivation level and combat strength. It was because of the Dragon Emperor Technique that he could cultivate to the mid-stage Supremacy so quickly.

In contrast, treasured herbs were always obtainable.

1424 - : Ancient Fey Body

CKtalon  CKtalon

After successfully refining the third Dragon Emperor relic, Yi Yun rested for a while before finding the best time to consume it.

The moment it entered his mouth, Yi Yun felt a freshness flow down his throat and into his dantian. But suddenly, a terrifying heat burst out of Yi Yun’s dantian as though it were an erupting volcano. Even the blood flowing in his meridians got as hot as lava. His skin turned fiery red. If this continued, it looked like he would be vaporized from inside out.

Yi Yun remained calm. He immediately circulated the Dragon Emperor Technique and refined the medicinal essence in his body. At the same time, the surrounding Yuan Qi surged relentlessly towards his body, to the point of a Yuan Qi vortex forming beside his body.

Yi Yun’s body was like a whale’s sucking in water, crazily absorbing the Yuan Qi until the Yuan Qi vortex nearly materialized. The Yuan Qi itself condensed to form water droplets, each containing massive amounts of Yuan Qi.

But this Yuan Qi was constantly being absorbed by all of Yi Yun’s pores. The blood in his meridians raged like a river as dragon roars emitted from his body. It was like a gigantic dragon had awoken, and even the concealment array could not completely reduce the commotion.

Instantly, the entire town heard the low rumbling noise but no one was sure of where it came from. People panicked at first, but the person with the highest cultivation level in the town was a Yuan Opening realm Grand Elder that failed to find anything.

Gradually, the townsfolk got used to it. Apart from being a little noisy, it did not seem to indicate danger. The town’s warriors were also pleasantly surprised to find that the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had apparently turned richer.

Such days went by for about a half a year. When the townsfolk were completely used to the sound, a loud dragon’s roar emitted from underground. Following that, a faint dragon shadow charged into the sky and rapidly flew away.

Even though the dragon shadow left a huge impression on them, the town returned to its original silence. No one noticed the tiny compound Yi Yun lived in, nor were they aware when it had emptied once again.

After Yi Yun exited seclusion, he received the Nanxuan patriarch’s voice transmission. The Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield was about to open and they were to gather in a valley outside Scarlet Yang Capital. In fact, although Yi Yun was in seclusion, he constantly kept the matter in mind. Therefore, he rushed to the valley after receiving the voice transmission.

After absorbing the third Dragon Emperor relic, Yi Yun’s cultivation level had already reached the peak mid-stage Supremacy. He was even closing in on the late-stage Supremacy realm. The higher his cultivation level, the more advantage he would have when he entered the ancient battlefield.

If he could keep refining the Dragon Emperor relics to raise his cultivation level, Yi Yun would have spent all his time refining the fourth Dragon Emperor relic.

But firstly, he lacked the herbs and secondly, after raising his Dragon Emperor Technique through the Dragon Emperor relic, he needed actual combat and new experiences to stabilize his cultivation level. If not, he could easily find himself with an unstable foundation.

Even while heading to the valley, Yi Yun was still stabilizing his cultivation level.

Nanxuan Jue’s mentioned in the voice transmission that the opening would happen in the coming days but did not give a precise date and time. As such, Yi Yun was not in too much of a rush since he would not be too late if he was already heading there.

Misty Immortal Valley was a very scenic valley outside Scarlet Yang Capital but it was located above a precipice that was impossible for mortals to reach.

Many spirit boats, chariots, and other transportation vessels were parked in Misty Immortal Valley. Towers or pavilions constantly appeared out of thin air, all spatial-dimension artifacts.

People constantly came from different directions and landed in Misty Immortal Valley.

“Grandpa, this ancient battlefield sure is enticing.” said Luoyue as she stood on an extremely exquisite jade pavilion while looking outside.

Her aura had undergone a massive change from a year ago. She looked even more alluring and her body was enveloped in a faint golden halo.

Luoyue was already extraordinarily beautiful but now, just by standing there she attracted the attention of many people.

“That is only natural. Ignoring the various opportunities the ancient battlefield provides, just doing something of note on the ancient battlefield would garner the White Lunar Divine Empire’s attention. It is something many people dream of,” said Nanxuan Jue with a nod.

The Scarlet Yang Capital belonged to the White Lunar Divine Empire in practice. When the time came for them to enter the ancient battlefield, be it the warriors from the Scarlet Yang Capital or the other six continents, they would be representing the White Lunar Divine Empire.

“I wonder when the kind sir will arrive,” commented Luoyue.

“He should be here soon,” said Nanxuan Jue. He had already sent Yi Yun a voice transmission. As long as Yi Yun heard it, he would arrive quickly. After a year of interaction, Nanxuan Jue already knew that Yi Yun was most interested in herbs and the ancient battlefield. It was impossible that he would miss it.

At that moment, there were sudden murmurs in the crowd. Nanxuan Jue and company looked up and saw a war chariot drawn by a massive tiger hundreds of feet long arrive in mid-air. The chariot and the tiger were covered in red flames. The heat it generated was stifling even before they landed.

“It’s the young lord of Scarlet Yang, Lie Rikong.”

“I didn’t expect him to be participating in this ancient battlefield.”

“Young Lord Scarlet Yang is suitable both in age and strength. It’s only natural for him to participate.”

The moment the chariot landed, many people went to it to greet him.

Lie Rikong was the son of the Scarlet Yang King. He held an esteemed status and was very talented.

A stalwart man walked out of the chariot. His face was cut and he looked extraordinarily handsome. His eyes seemed to contain two wisps of fire. It left anyone who looked into his eyes feeling like their eyes were burning.

He was none other than Lie Rikong.

And behind him was a woman. She was Lie Jiaojiao, a younger member of his clan. She had good talent too and she was heading to the ancient battlefield as well.

After Lie Rikong arrived, he only nodded at a few despite numerous people coming to greet him. He was aloof and extremely arrogant.

“I’ve already heard how arrogant Lie Rikong is. He won’t even spare a moment’s notice on ordinary riffraff. I’ve really witnessed it for myself. There are many powerful factions and their genius disciples are waiting here in the valley. All of them plan on entering the ancient battlefield but he thinks nothing of anyone,” said Nanxuan Jue with a sigh.

Luoyue remained indifferent. She only needed to mind herself. As for what Lie Rikong did, it had nothing to do with her. However, when she saw Lie Jiaojiao, a coldness flashed in Luoyue’s eyes but she subsequently looked away.

But at that moment, Lie Jiaojiao suddenly looked towards her and said nonchalantly, “Isn’t that Nanxuan Luoyue? I heard you handed a spot over to an honorary Elder. Where is he? You should know that spots are not to be transferred, right? By giving out spots with such indifference, it might affect our Scarlet Yang continent’s ranking at the very least. But it would be quite terrible if you incur the displeasure of the lords of the White Lunar Divine Empire, wouldn’t it?”

Upon hearing Lie Jiaojiao’s words, Luoyue frowned. She had stopped paying her attention but she never expected her to take the initiative to engage in a verbal battle with her.

“Since you know that he is our honorary guest, how can you call it a transfer? Is an honorary guest not one of us?” retorted Luoyue coldly.

“Hmph! Do you think I’m a three-year-old child? The person you invited might be an honorary Elder in name but it is just a meaningless title. It’s only a cover.”

Lie Jiaojiao’s voice was clear, attracting the attention of many. A matter that involved the suspicion of rule violation was a slight to the Nanxuan family clan’s reputation when said in public.

Nanxuan Luoyue was burning with rage but had no way to retort. After all, what Lie Jiaojiao said was the truth. If someone wanted to make an issue of it, it was possible that a complaint could be lodged against them to the White Lunar Divine Empire. It would not severely affect the family clan’s foundations but it would reduce the number of spots the White Lunar Divine Empire would give the Nanxuan family clan in the future.

Nanxuan Luoyue did not wish to enter a verbal war with Lie Jiaojiao. She was not on the side of reason to begin with and Lie Jiaojiao would only be more pleased if the commotion intensified.

Nanxuan Luoyue was in a bind when she suddenly felt something. She turned to look in the direction where a figure had landed.

“Sir, you are here,” greeted Nanxuan Luoyue.

“Hey.” Yi Yun nodded. He had come silently and he had heard a little of the conversation between Nanxuan Luoyue and Lie Jiaojiao. It was very common for there to be contention between powerful factions.

Yi Yun could not help but glance at Lie Jiaojiao as the corner of her mouth suffused a contemplative smile. She gently shook her head and said, “I was overthinking things. Even if your Nanxuan family clan sends more people, it would be the same as it is now. All of you are only here to fill out the numbers, so how can you be important enough to affect the Scarlet Yang continent’s ranking?”

Luoyue said to Yi Yun apologetically, “Sorry about that. We had a grudge in the past, so…”

The contention between two powerful factions in the Scarlet Yang Capital had nothing to do with him but since Lie Jiaojiao had mocked him, bafflingly and for no reason, it now had something to do with him.

He gave Lie Jiaojiao a deep, penetrating look as he said indifferently, “A sixth-storey Seven-treasured Dao Palace, cultivating in two laws. Other than the main law, your other auxiliary law was attained through the use of treasured herbs, isn’t that so? From inference, you probably only condensed a seven-leaf Dao fruit in your Dao Manifestation realm. And the Heaven Ascension Dao Tree you formed in the Heaven Ascension realm was at best ninety decafeet.”

Yi Yun casually evaluated Lie Jiaojiao’s foundation. There was no hint of mockery in his words but the indifferent tone clearly meant that he saw it as nothing spectacular. But Yi Yun had hit the nail on the head. Nothing he said was wrong about Lie Jiaojiao’s cultivation process. Back when Lie Jiaojiao was in the Dao Manifestation realm, she had indeed condensed a seven-leaf Dao fruit through her own efforts. The other seven-leaf Dao fruit was forcibly attained through the use of treasured herbs.

It was a stain on Lie Jiaojiao that she felt embarrassed about, but most people did not know it. Now, it had been said in public as though it was a slap to her face. Yet, there was no way for her to retort.

1425 - : Misty Immortal Valley

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You itinerant cultivator, do you think just because you cling to a powerhouse like the Nanxuan family clan you have the right to…” said Lie Jiaojiao as she barely restrained her anger, peeved.

But at that moment, a cold voice interrupted Lie Jiaojiao. “Come here.”

Lie Jiaojiao instantly deflated the moment she heard the voice. She shut her mouth, threw a hateful glance at Yi Yun, and left.

She held a grudge against the man who had came to Luoyue’s rescue and embarrassed her in front of so many people.

Yi Yun thought nothing of Lie Jiaojiao but he looked pensively at the person who silenced her. And when he did, he realized that the man was also looking straight back at him.

“Jiaojiao, don’t waste your time on him. He’s only an honorary Elder of the Nanxuan family clan in name. Compared to what we’ll face in the Ancient Ruins world, the Nanxuan family clan is only a mere splash in the pool. Who you should pay attention to or try to befriend are the geniuses of the White Lunar Divine Empire.”

Lie Rikong spoke coldly. He held no interest in itinerant cultivators like Yi Yun. A warrior without resources would not amount to much in the future even if he had already cultivated to the mid-stage Supremacy realm. After all, even that could be slowly attained over time.

Only in the White Lunar Divine Empire, where the true elites were, would he find his match. Of course, a legendary figure like Lin Xintong stood too high above him that she remained unreachable to him. But he had the confidence that he would match those around Lin Xintong.

King Scarlet Yang had placed his hopes on this year’s ancient battlefield. If Lie Rikong left his name on the ancient battlefield, making a name for the Scarlet Yang continent, he would become the next King Scarlet Yang!

“The person who spoke is Lie Rikong, Lie Jiaojiao’s senior brother in the clan. He’s King Scarlet Yang’s son and is extremely talented. He could have gone to the White Lunar Divine Empire but chose to remain in the Scarlet Yang continent. He is eminent among the Scarlet Yang continent’s younger generation. He is arrogant so, sir, there’s no need to mind him,” said Luoyue apologetically.

Yi Yun smiled lightly. Although Lie Rikong considered everything beneath him, he did not know that he was nothing in Yi Yun’s eyes. As for offending Lie Rikong, Yi Yun was unfazed about it. He had already offended the Martial Numinous clan. An additional young Scarlet Yang lord meant nothing.

“All these people in the valley are heading to the ancient battlefield?” asked Yi Yun.

“Yes. What you see is mainly the participants and the factions backing them. Of course, some are only here to watch. However, we will not be heading straight to the ancient battlefield either. We will head for the White Lunar Divine Empire and, once there, we will gather with the geniuses of the other six continents before heading to the ancient battlefield.” Luoyue explained to Yi Yun in detail.

White Lunar Divine Empire! Yi Yun’s eyes seemed to burn up instantly. The Seven Desolates were just too big. He had been traveling for so long but he was finally heading for the White Lunar Divine Empire.

“Fellow Daoist, this is an identity token you’ll need when heading to the ancient battlefield.” Nanxuan Jue handed over an unadorned jade token to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun held the jade token in hand and sensed a strange energy coming from within it.

People streamed in over the next two days. As the Scarlet Yang continent was huge, those who were located farther away managed to rush there just in time after receiving the news.

By the third day, there were no new arrivals. Just as Yi Yun was wondering how the people in the valley would be traveling to the White Lunar Divine Empire, a gigantic cruiser flew over from the horizon.

The cruiser was richly ornamented and extraordinarily magnificent. On it were the words ‘Scarlet Yang.’ It suffused powerful Yuan Qi fluctuations and it was obvious that it was a top-grade flying artifact. Just powering it had to require copious amounts of Spirit Jade.

“Only those with identity tokens can board that cruiser. We can only say goodbye here,” said Nanxuan Jue.

Lie Rikong and Lie Jiaojiao, as well as ten plus Lie family disciples, were the first to board the cruiser. The remaining geniuses from the other factions also walked towards it.

Apart from Luoyue, the Nanxuan family clan also had several young men and women that were participating in the ancient battlefield. They boarded the cruiser along with Yi Yun.

Every family clan and faction was given an individual room on the cruiser. Yi Yun naturally shared a room with the Nanxuan family clan.

When everyone successfully boarded the cruiser, it began to take off.

The gigantic cruiser first flew rapidly for a distance before the surrounding space vibrated vigorously. With an accompanying boom, the cruiser instantly vanished into thin air.

“It has begun the spatial tunneling.” Yi Yun felt a little lightheaded as the cruiser reached higher speeds. And when he looked out the windows, the blue skies peppered with white clouds had already been replaced with spatial illusions and fragments that rapidly whizzed past.

To travel in such a spatial passageway at such complicated high speeds, even a Supremacy would have their bodies torn to shreds. Only such high-grade artifacts could withstand it.

But what really shocked Yi Yun was that such spatial tunneling happened several times. It was only a few days later that the cruiser suddenly appeared amid blue skies and the journey had finally come to an end.

Coming onto the cruiser’s deck, even Yi Yun was amazed by the beautiful scenery.

There were gigantic otherworldly mountains floating in midair. Their contiguous forms appeared endless. There were rock tunnels that connected the otherworldly mountains and also seemed to float in mid-air. They played hide-and-seek amid the gorgeous clouds with immortal cranes dancing around them. The Yuan Qi was bountiful and it gave off a beautiful and magnificent look. It felt like they had come to another world.

The Scarlet Yang cruiser parked beside one of the otherworldly mountains. And nearby, there were several large flying divine artifacts resembling the Scarlet Yang cruiser floating in the surroundings.

“This is… the independent world where the White Lunar Divine Empire is.” The shock in Yi Yun’s eyes vanished. He focused his eyes deep into the White Lunar Divine Empire’s interior. Lin Xintong was there, and the White Lunar Goddess Empress was there as well.

Yi Yun saw many people in the gigantic square in front of the otherworldly mountain. These people came from the seven continents of the White Lunar Divine Empire!

The White Lunar Divine Empire stood independent from the seven continents, off in its own world. And the remaining seven continents had powerful factions that were as numerous as the stars. For example, the Martial Numinous clan and King Scarlet Yang’s factions were simply considered one of the better ones among countless powerful factions.

Still, they were naturally incomparable to the White Lunar Divine Empire.

At a glance, Yi Yun counted thousands of experts from the seven continents.

Yi Yun and Nanxuan Luoyue did not cause a stir when they appeared. Even Lie Rikong, who always came across as lofty and almighty, felt as though he was drowned amid the crowd.

“There’s so many people!”

Yi Yun drew in a gasp. Not only were there many young geniuses, there were also Divine Lords and Supremacies.

Yi Yun looked at a few Divine Lords who clearly held identity tokens just like himself. It appeared as though they would be entering the ancient battlefield as well.

“Divine Lords are allowed entry as well?” asked Yi Yun.

“Of course.” Nanxuan Luoyue nodded. “There is no age restriction in the ancient battlefield. Anyone can enter, it is not just limited to young geniuses. Therefore, some factions will send Supremacies and Divine Lords in.”

“But it is unlikely that these Divine Lords will make any breakthroughs in the ancient battlefield. Their goal is mainly to seek out opportunities or treasure.”

As Nanxuan Luoyue spoke, she gave Yi Yun an odd look. It was clear what she meant. Yi Yun could not be categorized as a ‘young genius’ either but he had managed to gain a spot in the ancient battlefield. Didn’t it only make sense that warriors similar to Yi Yun, as well as those with higher cultivation levels than him, could enter as well?

“Is that so…” Yi Yun stroked his chin. “With Divine Lords around, aren’t the young geniuses in great danger?”

“There is some danger but if one faces the threat of death, they can simply crush their identity token to be transported out.”

“Besides, the ancient battlefield has unique laws that will repress a person’s cultivation level. The higher the cultivation level, the greater the effects of the suppression. For example, I would still have my original cultivation level if I were to enter the ancient battlefield. But for Supremacies and above, such as you yourself, they will be repressed to the ninth-storey Dao Palace in the ancient battlefield.”

“Therefore, although Supremacies and Divine Lords still hold some advantage in the ancient battlefield, that advantage is not something too extreme.”

Nanxuan Luoyue was simply describing the situation in the ancient battlefield when suddenly—

There was a loud boom! A powerful suppression enveloped the square as powerful Yuan Qi gathered from every direction. The clouds in the sky were blown away by the Yuan Qi, revealing a gigantic snake’s head.

And on this gigantic snake sat a man decked out in combat armor.

He had crimson hair and rippling muscles. The powerful vitality in him made him resemble an Ancient Fey.

“Lord Skyjade!”

Many people in the square were already bowing.

He was the number one divine general, Skyjade, second only to the White Lunar Divine Empire’s White Lunar Goddess Empress. He had fused three Divine Lord Royal Seals and was considered the best Divine Lord in the White Lunar Divine Empire!

Ever since the White Lunar Divine Empire was established, White Lunar Goddess Empress entered seclusion. No one had seen her and as such, the highest ranking person the leaders of major factions would encounter usually was Skyjade.

Usually, the White Lunar Divine Empire would be jointly run by Skyjade and a few Imperial Preceptors. As a result, even leaders of major factions treated the high and mighty Skyjade with profound respect and humility, much less the younger geniuses.

Many juniors felt stifled in front of Skyjade.

With Skyjade’s appearance, beams of light that streaked across the horizon like meteors appeared behind Skyjade. They were rapidly heading for the square.

“It’s the geniuses of the White Lunar Divine Empire!” someone exclaimed.

The White Lunar Divine Empire’s powers far exceeded anything the Seven Desolates continents had to offer. These people were like hidden dragons and crouching tigers, all with extraordinary talents.

Yi Yun swept his gaze and saw a few Divine Lords among the group.

A Divine Lord dressed in azure-colored robes with a sword on his back caught Yi Yun’s eye.

He was a Royal Sealed Divine Lord. His aura was converged and he looked like a sheathed sword. He gave off an unfathomable feeling.

He looked to be in his thirties on the surface but his age could not be accurately surmised. But it was certain that he had immense potential. In the future, it was likely he could improve and fuse a second Divine Lord Royal Seal to become a double-sealed Divine Lord.

“The White Lunar Divine Empire’s Divine Lords are much stronger than the Seven Desolates’ Divine Lords. This ancient battlefield is bound to be intense.”

1426 - : Skyjade

CKtalon  CKtalon

Among the White Lunar Divine Empire disciples, Yi Yun saw two familiar faces—Song Rainsong and Haogu from the Martial Numinous clan!

Both of them had officially become White Lunar Divine Empire disciples. They naturally stood above most in the Martial Numinous clan, but grouped together with the numerous disciples of the White Lunar Divine Empire they looked like the most ordinary members. They were hardly noticeable from where they stood.

Only people from the Martial Numinous clan paid them any attention.

And at that moment, a divine beam of light tore through the sky. Like a meteor, it plunged down into the square and landed beside Skyjade.

The beam faded away and everyone saw a young black-robed man with eyes resembling lightning. A tiny black snake coiled around his arm and moved so naturally that it seemed to be part of his body.

“Master, I came back a little late!”

The black-robed man bowed and Skyjade revealed a rare smile. “It’s good that you returned in time. You have done very well in recent years.”

This simple exchange of words was affirmation of the black-robed man’s results while out on experiential training.

“So he is Divine General Skyjade’s only disciple, Qing Lin!”

“I long guessed his identity. That black snake on his arm is a Sky-swallowing Snake. It is an Ancient Fey that Lord Qing Lin encountered in his youth; yet despite its rarity, it was willing to be his companion.”

To the White Lunar Divine Empire and the people of the Seven Desolates continents, Qing Lin’s name remained resounding.

For instance, Lin Xintong’s position was elevated to extreme heights due to the augmentation of the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s title. As for Qing Lin, he was someone they could feasibly look up to.

Unlike Lin Xintong who seldom appeared in public, Qing Lin had issued challenges in his youth and his combat results were stunning.

“Hasn’t Lord Qing Lin previously participated in the ancient battlefield? This is his second time?”

“That’s right. There is no restriction on the number of times one can enter the ancient battlefield. Lord Qing Lin came close to leaving his name on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith last time but fell short. His stepping into the ancient battlefield once again is probably to make up for that regret.”

“Lord Qing Lin has already broken through to the Supremacy realm. Is it possible for him to leave his name on the World Monolith?”

“Why not? Breaking through to the Supremacy realm isn’t some restriction. The main thing is bone age. Lord Qing Lin is a superb genius. His bone age is not even four hundred years old even after all his cultivation!”

An early-stage Supremacy at four hundred years old meant a top cultivation speed when compared to the entirety of the Sinkhole.

“Everyone is here, I believe.” After Qing Lin arrived, Skyjade spoke. “On this trip to the Ancient Ruins world, I will personally be leading you. There are a total of seventy-two hundred people entering the ancient battlefield. Of those, there are about six thousand people with a bone age below five hundred years!”

“Every time the ancient battlefield opens up, the younger generation will receive the greatest priority. That is because you are the ones that can leave your name on the World Monolith!”

“And in this opening of the Ancient Ruins world, all the mighty factions of the entire Sinkhole will be able to participate. People of my White Lunar Divine Empire only occupy a tiny fraction. The six thousand of you represent the White Lunar Divine Empire’s reputation!”

“The White Lunar Divine Empire is one of the strongest factions in the Sinkhole but we are only listed as such because of the White Lunar Goddess Empress. Not because of you! If we are talking about the younger generation, our White Lunar Divine Empire has Lin Xintong who is famous throughout the Sinkhole but as for all of you… none of you make the cut!”

Skyjade did not mince his words, causing many people to clench their fists. They felt very uncomfortable hearing this rhetoric.

Lin Xintong had already left her name on the World Monolith. No one disputed her strength, but many of them had grown up while being placed on high pedestals from a young age. How could they not feel disgruntled if Divine General Skyjade said that they failed to make the cut without even seeing their performance?

“Heh! It looks like you are disgruntled by what I said? To be frank, I don’t think much of you lot. And the ones that are entering together with you are people from the First Beginnings Immortal Gate, Great Cosmic State, and Magnificent Heaven. None of them are run-of-the-mill, especially the First Beginnings Immortal Gate. It has even produced a Godly Monarch successor. If any one of you can create a miracle to prove yourselves to me, I will reward you handsomely!”

When Skyjade said that, everyone drew a cold gasp.

A Godly Monarch successor!

Although many of them were arrogant, they lost their confidence when a Godly Monarch successor was mentioned. The name spoke for itself!

Even Lie Rikong, who was the definition of unbridled and arrogant, no longer spoke a word. Instead, he clenched his fists silently. If one did not reach a higher height, it was impossible to understand how broad the world was. Now, he was jumping out of the White Lunar Divine Empire and standing on the stage of the Sinkhole. He could not help but feel the pressure when compared to those monstrous existences.

Many geniuses were like Lie Rikong. They very much felt the pressure, but they also pumped themselves up, hoping to become famous from this expedition.

“Qing Lin! Di Rong! Meng Yi! My bets are on the three of you. I place great expectations on the three of you. Do not disappoint me!”

After beating down everyone, Skyjade mentioned those three names.

To have your name called out in front of all the White Lunar Divine Empire’s geniuses was no doubt an immense honor.

There was no need to further elaborate on Qing Lin’s pedigree. As for Di Rong and Meng Yi, Yi Yun traced the gazes of the crowd and saw the duo.

Di Rong was about two meters tall and he was fully decked out in combat armor. He had a blood-colored ax the height of a person slung behind him.

As for Meng Yi, she was a beautiful girl. A unique trait of hers was the pair of wings she had on her back. They looked like wings made of light, sparkling like stars. They looked like dancing pixies.

Yi Yun gave the winged girl more than a simple look. He saw something very special in her.

“Alright, it’s time to set up! All of you have a jade token in your hand. If you face a life-endangering moment, do not hesitate. Shatter the jade token to exit the ancient battlefield. Where’s there’s life there’s hope. But at times, there might not be enough time to shatter the jade token. Perhaps you might encounter people bent on killing you. They might seal the space before you can escape and, if that happens, good luck!”

As Skyjade spoke, he waved his hand. Yuan Qi gathered from every direction as a huge Yuan Qi cloud formed in the sky.

And moments later, several White Lunar Divine Empire Divine Lords appeared out of nowhere. They joined forces and imbued their Yuan Qi into the Yuan Qi cloud. Shortly after, the sky ripped apart as countless nomological runes formed a seven-colored chain between the White Lunar Divine Empire’s square and the rift in the sky. It was the passageway into the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield.

“Enter, all of you!”

By the time Skyjade said that, Qing Lin, Di Rong, and Meng Yi had already flown up. Immediately following that, the various disciples of the White Lunar Divine Empire transformed into beams of light and flew towards the spatial rift. Instantly, the spectacular scene of a swarm of people pouring into the rift presented itself.

“Let’s go as well!” Nanxuan Luoyue said to Yi Yun.

“Yes.” Yi Yun nodded. He transformed into a stream of light and flew towards the ancient battlefield’s spatial passageway.

1427 - : Entering the Ancient Battlefield

CKtalon  CKtalon

The ancient battlefield’s sky had long been torn apart. Yi Yun felt like he was floating aimlessly in Chaos for a very long time before he came out on the other side of the massive spatial rift.

Behind Yi Yun, the other White Lunar Divine Empire warriors appeared as well. Nanxuan Luoyue remained very close to Yi Yun. Since they had been teleported together, they naturally emerged near each other.

“This is the ancient battlefield…”

Yi Yun cast his sights over the land. He had appeared above a massive desert that stretched out endlessly. Vegetation was extremely sparse and it looked absolutely desolate.

And in the middle of the desolate lands stood a tall tower that extended so high it was like a heavenly column that rose above the sky.

The four sides of the tower were gray in color, as though it had stood there for countless years. At the instant Yi Yun caught sight of the tower, he felt a quake through his soul. Could it be… the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith?

Yi Yun looked over the length of it and saw a concentric city circling beneath the tower, with the tower right in the middle.

The city’s buildings looked unsophisticated. They were made of gray rock and lacked any sculpturing, effusing a simple and primitive aura.

Yi Yun clearly discerned that although the buildings were mostly empty, there were a few that had people living in them. In some buildings, there were even treasured artifacts like alchemical cauldrons or smithing cauldrons. It appeared as though people lived in the town perennially.

“People live here?” asked Yi Yun in surprise.

Nanxuan Luoyue nodded. “Yes, ordinary warriors require a teleportation jade token to enter the ancient battlefield. And to put it simply, someone has to make those jade tokens.”

“Oh? These jade tokens are actually made by people? I thought they were automatically formed from the Heaven and Earth laws.”

Yi Yun was slightly startled. Seventy-two hundred people from the entire White Lunar Divine Empire had entered, implying seventy-two hundred teleportation jade tokens. For instance, factions like the Nanxuan family clan and the Martial Numinous clan had a number of ancient battlefield entry spots that were allocated to them by the White Lunar Divine Empire. That number also indicated how many jade tokens were left to them. The value of these jade tokens was obvious!

And now, Yi Yun had learned that they were man-made. Wouldn’t that make the people with the ability to make the jade tokens godly people that major factions would do anything to have on their side? If someone started making jade tokens for sale, it would be all too easy to get rich.

“Who can make the jade tokens?” asked Yi Yun.

“Those who have left their names on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith. In fact, the World Monolith is not only limited to the one you see here. There are other, smaller World Monoliths that are scattered throughout the ancient battlefield. As long as you leave a name on the World Monolith, you will obtain the acknowledgment of this world’s Heaven and Earth laws. Then, one could connect the ancient battlefield with the exterior world and create such a teleportation jade token.”

“These people also have special privileges, such as being able to stay in the ancient battlefield’s world all the time.”

“So that’s the reason.” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. Ignoring the other benefits of leaving his name on the World Monolith, just this one perk was very alluring for Yi Yun. If he could create the jade tokens and put them up for sale, many large factions would probably make a mad rush for these jade tokens. And if that were the case, the large factions would probably dig three feet deep everywhere just to find any rare material he asked for.

“No wonder there are cities here. Then, it means that the warriors staying in them are powerful people who have left their names on the World Monolith?”

“Yes.” Nanxuan Luoyue nodded. “However, it’s very difficult for these people to stay in the ancient battlefield forever. The World Monolith makes it easier to leave your name on it the younger you are. As you get older, the requirement for leaving your name here will only rise. It causes the names of many people to be wiped away from the World Monolith.”

As Nanxuan Luoyue spoke, the people from the White Lunar Divine Empire had begun landing. They landed in the middle city of the ancient battlefield.

The moment they landed in the city, many young disciples could not help but let out exclamations. The city’s aura was simply massive, as though an Ancient Fey slumbered beneath it. Just standing on the city’s ground made them feel a powerful force of lifeblood boiling upwards at them. They could hardly get their footing under the boiling surge.

Looking up at the World Monolith, they found that it towered above the clouds, its top elusive.

As for using their perception to probe the portions of the World Monolith that were concealed by the clouds, that would be a joke. Before their perception rose tens of feet, they felt the World Monolith’s mighty suppression and it left their soul seas in pain. It was completely unbearable.

And on the World Monolith, there were clearly names engraved on it!

Despite there being quite a few names left on the World Monolith, the sizes of the engraved names were disparate in size!

Some were meters in size, like millstones, while others were inches wide like fists.

Some names were engraved high up, approaching the clouds while some were engraved in the shallow regions of the World Monolith, easily reachable by the hand.

But in general, there were very few names engraved on the World Monolith. It was mostly empty.

One had to know that the World Monolith had a square shape and was thousands of feet wide. With its indiscernible peak, the engraved names that were the size of millstones looked like tiny flies, completely inconspicuous.

“The names are of varying sizes and located at different heights. Even the engraving depth is different. Doesn’t this imply the difference in strengths of the people who left their names here?” asked Yi Yun.

“That’s right.” Nanxuan Luoyue nodded.

Yi Yun asked again, “That’s a little weird. According to what I understand, it’s harder to engrave the bigger the name. But on this World Monolith, the larger names are the majority. Instead, the smaller ones are the minority.”

Nanxuan Luoyue said, “You are correct in your thinking. The bigger and higher the names are, the harder it is to leave them here! But once it is left here, one can stay here perennially. Look at the words about the size of a fist. They will remain there for several centuries at best. But those words the size of millstones and engraved high up can stay for hundreds of thousands of years, or even millions. That will truly be leaving a name that lasts through the ages! Therefore the smaller names are fewer in number because they are the first to fade.”

Nanxuan Luoyue looked up at the names engraved high above. Her usually composed self could not help but feel a rush of emotions. It would be good if she could leave her name on it…

“Oh? Gone in a few centuries. No wonder…” Yi Yun could not help but shake his head after listening to Nanxuan Luoyue’s explanation. “It’s really too short a time. It would be pointless to leave one’s name for a few centuries or even a thousand years.”

The ancient battlefield opened once every sixty years. A few centuries meant limited entries and even if jade tokens were constantly sold, it would not earn much…

As Yi Yun pondered over the matter, he casually spoke his mind. But what he said instantly attracted the attention of many surrounding warriors. Many gazes were cast on him.

1428 - : Ancient Ruins World Monolith

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What did you just say? Did you say that it’s pointless to leave a name on the World Monolith for a few centuries? Do you think you have what it takes to leave your name for eons? Name yourself. I’ll look for your name on the World Monolith when the ancient battlefield is sealed.”

A young man looked at Yi Yun as though he was a lunatic. Those that could leave their names on the World Monolith would become famous throughout the empire even if the engraved name was only the size of a fist. No matter the size, it was a surprisingly auspicious event. Yet, the person in question found it pointless to leave a name for a few centuries. It was truly shameless boasting.

However, he saw Luoyue standing beside Yi Yun and came to a realization. Yi Yun was definitely making a bold proclamation to flaunt himself in front of the beautiful girl. Having come to this conclusion, the youth felt even more contempt for Yi Yun. It was preposterous that a person with such base thoughts could enter the ancient battlefield.

Yi Yun looked up to glance at the speaking youth. In fact, he was just casually airing his thoughts. He knew that what he said sounded a little arrogant but he was naturally displeased that the youth had immediately launched into mockery.

“There’s no need for you to worry if I’m able to leave my name for eons. But with your strength, you are definitely not going to leave your name for all eternity.”

Yi Yun spoke the truth. The person was only ranked slightly above average among the White Lunar Divine Empire’s seventy-two hundred participants. How would it be possible for him to leave his name on the World Monolith?

“Oh?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, the youth looked at Yi Yun coldly. He came from a stunning background and few people around him dared to slight him. Now, he was being mocked in public by Yi Yun.

“Who is this person?” asked the young man with a deep voice.

“He’s apparently an itinerant cultivator from the Scarlet Yang continent,” said a person beside him.

“I see,” said the youth lightly. Many people had heard the exchange. They recognized the youth to be Wan Qing from the Wan family of the Hongyu Continent. He was known to seek revenge for the slightest grievance and always held grudges. Furthermore, he loved to speak sarcastically. To put it simply, he was the type that expected the right to offend others but would never let anyone offend him.

Upon seeing Yi Yun offend Wan Qing, many people looked on with amusement. The Wan family was powerful and Wan Qing would definitely seek revenge.

“Sir, you must not say that. There are very few people that actually manage to leave their names on the World Monolith,” whispered Luoyue immediately. “For the past millennia, only six people from the White Lunar Divine Empire have left their names. Those that leave their names above the clouds are King Mountainriver and Fairy Xintong.”

“King Mountainriver?”

Yi Yun’s brows pricked up when he heard the name. Who was he?

Before Luoyue could give an answer, someone said, “Lord King Mountainriver, Bai Shanhe, left his name on the World Monolith twenty-eight hundred years ago. He has been ranked alongside Fairy Lin Xintong as the other half of the twin powerhouses. If not for the two of them, our White Lunar Divine Empire might be looked down upon by other factions.” The man who spoke clearly adored Bai Shanhe and Lin Xintong.

So it’s him…

Yi Yun’s heart stirred. He remembered back to the Myriad God Ridge. There he encountered an unlucky fool that had apparently been deemed successor to the Myriad God Patriarch, only to be used as a principal herb. That man once mentioned his name as Bai Shanhe.

That unlucky fool bragged that he came from the White Lunar Divine Empire and the best geniuses of the White Lunar Divine Empire were White Lunar Goddess Empress’s personal disciple, Lin Xintong and Bai Shanhe, the adopted son of the White Lunar Goddess Empress.

Speaking of which, why did Bai Yueyin adopt a son?

“Bai Shanhe… Lin Xintong. Their names…”

Yi Yun swept his gaze across the stone monolith. He had not paid the names too much attention when he first saw them. Now, he peered high into the clouds. As the strong winds blew, the clouds above the World Monolith gradually revealed a corner. Yi Yun then saw the faint characters in large font—Bai Shanhe.

The three characters were each written with great flair. Each stroke appeared to be formed from a supreme blade, filled with an imposing keenness.

The text… was probably twenty feet long. Each of the three characters could fill a side of the wall themselves, making them much larger than any of the other names he had seen.

Yi Yun wasn’t the only one. Many people also looked up to take in Bai Shanhe’s name. Some were even seeking Lin Xintong’s name in the clouds.

Yi Yun searched for it too, but he suddenly noticed a gaze observing him in secret.

“Oh?”

Yi Yun turned his head and saw that the person looking at him was a girl dressed in green. She was none other than the Martial Numinous clan’s Song Rainsong!

Yi Yun was taken aback. He suddenly recalled that Song Rainsong had the ability to sense the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s aura.

Yi Yun remembered that back at the Li family’s dual cultivation matrimonial ceremony, he had aroused Song Rainsong’s suspicions due to this aura. Later, her guess was validated. Now she was even more certain of that familiar feeling.

Therefore, when Yi Yun became the center of attention due to his ‘arrogant’ words, Song Rainsong noticed him.

Upon seeing Yi Yun look over, Song Rainsong did not even bother hiding her intentions. She asked him directly, “Friend, why didn’t you say your name when that person asked for it?”

Song Rainsong was already ninety-percent certain that the scholar that looked to be in his thirties was really Yi Yun!

With Song Rainsong raising the question, people who stopped paying any attention to Yi Yun cast their gazes back at him. Wan Qing, who had asked for Yi Yun’s name, also glanced at Yi Yun with a sneer. He wanted to know his name, allowing him to target him better.

From beside Yi Yun, Luoyue gave him a perplexed glance. She had known him for a year but did not know his name.

Yi Yun grinned. He was already at the point of entering the ancient battlefield. There was no longer a need to hide his name since he planned to leave it on the World Monolith.

Yi Yun was completely unconcerned with the Martial Numinous clan’s desire for revenge. This was because cultivation levels above the Supremacy realm were suppressed in the ancient battlefield. And Divine Lords suffered an even greater suppression. Under such circumstances, Yi Yun had no fear towards the Martial Numinous clan.

Yi Yun said, “My name isn’t anything special. My surname is Yi and my name is Yun.”

“Yi Yun!” Song Rainsong glared at him with a cold glint flickering in her eyes. “It’s indeed you!”

Haogu, who was standing beside Song Rainsong, instantly reacted. He looked at Yi Yun with burning eyes.

“Yi Yun, you actually dare to appear here. Good! Very good!”

A year ago, he had suffered the greatest humiliation in his life when he was taken away by Yi Yun as a hostage. Then, the Martial Numinous clan had placed a bounty on Yi Yun but with no success. He never expected he would see Yi Yun a year later in the ancient battlefield.

There were many Martial Numinous clan disciples around Haogu and Song Rainsong. They naturally knew of the grudge between Yi Yun and the Martial Numinous clan. Although many of the disciples did not personally bear a grudge with Yi Yun, the Martial Numinous clan’s bounty rewards were not limited to outsiders. Clansmen were still eligible for the rewards. Instantly, all of them looked at Yi Yun with a strange glint in their eyes.

1429 - : King Mountainriver

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Martial Numinous clan’s bounty was publicized in the Heaven Secrets Tower. Apart from the Martial Numinous clan disciples, many disciples of the other factions had seen it as well. For a large faction to offer such a high price to capture a Supremacy was truly a relatively rare sight. Instantly, even more gazes landed on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had expected such intense scrutinization so he made it a point to show no reaction. When Nanxuan Luoyue saw Yi Yun looking so composed, she could not help but warn him, “Mr. Yi, in the ancient battlefield, even fellow members of the White Lunar Divine Empire can attack one another. When it comes to the ancient battlefield, people only care about who eventually wins. The outcome of others, be it life or death, means nothing to people.”

“I know.” Yi Yun nodded. Since he had chosen to come to the ancient battlefield, he naturally understand its rules.

“Okay.” Upon seeing Yi Yun’s calm expression, Nanxuan Luoyue was unsure how much Yi Yun had really taken in. She did not believe Yi Yun to be a rash person, but there were just too many top geniuses present. Although she was not one to compare herself to others, she now felt some pressure and discomfort.

And at that moment, space suddenly tore apart in other spots. Immediately following that, large numbers of figures appeared as beams of light. They landed in another region of the city. They were participants in the ancient battlefield from other major factions. They did not choose to make contact with the people from the White Lunar Divine Empire.

The moment these figures appeared, the White Lunar Divine Empire crowd revealed looks of either fear or immense fighting spirit. The White Lunar Divine Empire was competing with these other warriors. There were geniuses as well as famous Divine Lords!

“Everyone, we are now entering the Ancient Ruins City. In a few days time, the ancient battlefield will officially open,” said a towering man with a look of righteousness.

Yi Yun glanced at him and knew he was an important figure of the White Lunar Divine Empire. Although his talent was inferior to Qing Lin, he was also a Divine Lord!

As a senior, he was naturally well respected by others. The White Lunar Divine Empire warriors followed his instructions and began finding a spot they could rest in.

Yi Yun looked at the circular city, but only when he landed in front of it did he sense the majesty and primitive simplicity coming from the city. Although the buildings were constructed in the Ancient Ruins world by later generations, they were still people with powerful cultivation levels. Yi Yun just needed to sense the thick Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to know that there was a powerful spirit gathering array somewhere there.

The region that housed the White Lunar Divine Empire was inside the Ancient Ruins City. Once there, many geniuses left their temporary quarters in eagerness.

“Senior Brother Yi, we plan on going to the bazaar. Do you want to head there?” Luoyue came to Yi Yun’s room and knocked on his door.

After Yi Yun was recognized, he restored his true looks. Luoyue was surprised by Yi Yun’s youthful appearance but also wondered if he had consumed any divine medicine like Youth Retention Pills. She was unable to tell Yi Yun’s actual age but it changed the way she addressed him to senior brother.

“Bazaar?” Yi Yun was somewhat puzzled.

“Yea. This is a very rare occasion where all the major factions in the Sinkhole gather together. Therefore, some people will take advantage of it to offer their items for sale. There are also those that stay here who might peddle the items they obtained from the area to outsiders like us. The ancient battlefield has many good items after all,” explained Luoyue.

“Then, let’s pay this bazaar a visit,” said Yi Yun immediately with a nod.

On the way, Yi Yun asked out of curiosity, “Wouldn’t those people that have stayed in the Ancient Ruins world for more than ten thousand years have found many of the good items?” There was another point he didn’t say. If these people were constantly scouring the area for more than ten thousand years, it was possible that the good items had already been taken away.

Luoyue smiled. “That’s not the case. As you heard, the ancient battlefield will open only in three days…”

Yi Yun instantly understood. Although these people did stay in the Ancient Ruins world, the ancient battlefield itself remained in a closed state most of the time. And the good items were basically all inside the ancient battlefield.

Soon, Luoyue and Yi Yun came to the bazaar. But instead of a bazaar, it was more like a yard sale. Many geniuses that had entered the Ancient Ruins world were browsing casually.

The stalls had many rare and strange objects but Yi Yun did not see anything of true value. He did not see anyone who had remained in the Ancient Ruins world. He guessed that they were cultivation fanatics and would not join in the buzz of outsiders. From the looks of it, the rumors could not be believed.

Thankfully, being the beloved daughter of the Nanxuan family clan, Luoyue knew a lot about the White Lunar Divine Empire, Ancient Ruins world, and even the Sinkhole. They had a happy conversation along the way.

At one point, there was a din coming from up ahead. Yi Yun heard exclamations, “It appears to be Young Goddess of the Nethersky Divine World.”

“It’s really her. Rumors say that she’s only about three hundred years old and she already has a cultivation level of Supremacy…”

“The other person looks like Young Master Yue Wangjian…”

Nethersky Divine World? Yi Yun had not heard of that world before. But for Young Goddess to become a Supremacy around three hundred years of age surprised Yi Yun. Such talent was truly astounding.

“Senior Brother Yi, the Nethersky Divine World is a mysterious Great World. Perhaps it might be a Godly Monarch faction. Rumors have it that Young Goddess made her public appearance about a century ago. She immediately astounded the masses. I never expected her to come to the ancient battlefield this time. As for Young Master Yue Wangjian, he is a famous genius of the First Beginnings Immortal Gate,” explained Luoyue.

A top genius of the First Beginnings Immortal Gate… Yi Yun looked over and saw a stunning beauty with a divine aura lingering around her. She was slowly walking over but her feet did not touch the ground. Instead, it was like she danced across thin air, each step seemingly following the intricacies of a law.

Luoyue was already extremely beautiful but when she saw this new beauty, she immediately felt inferior to Young Goddess.

The beauty ignored the gazes of the onlookers. Beside her was a similarly handsome man. He too had an outstanding bearing. A thin sword was slung across his back and, from time to time, he would speak to Young Goddess with a smile. She would then occasionally nod in response.

The couple’s charm left people astounded. Yi Yun could understand why so many people in the bazaar were looking at Young Goddess and Yue Wangjian. It would be nearly impossible for such an absolute beauty with her mysterious background, as well as Yue Wangjian’s poised bearing like a sword immortal, to not attract the attention of others. Furthermore, they were famous geniuses.

However, Yi Yun stopped looking after his initial glance. This was because he was more attracted to an item on a stall not far from him.

“This is…” Yi Yun arrived in front of the stall in a few steps. He picked up what looked like a plain old piece of scrap metal.

It even had rust stains on it. It looked even worse than scrap iron but Yi Yun felt his heart jolt when his eyes swept across it.

When it was in his hand, Yi Yun felt an extremely keen killing intent surge at him. It left him stifled, as though what he held was not metal but a peerless item of death. However, the feeling instantly vanished and the metal piece looked insignificant once again.

Yi Yun was pleasantly surprised as he immediately asked, “Sir, how much is this metal piece?”

The warrior that had set up the store was still gazing at Young Goddess with an astounded expression. He did not even realize Yi Yun was asking him a question. “Ah? Oh…” However, his eyes were still fixated on Young Goddess. He did not even bother with Yi Yun.

“Sir, I’m asking you how much this is.” Yi Yun felt a little speechless. If the piece of metal had not caught his interest, he would have thrown it and left. What sort of businessman was the stall owner?

The warrior’s attention finally came back onto his business. When he saw that Yi Yun had asked for the price of the metal piece, his eyes flashed with a hint of surprise. However, he calmed down and said, “That is no metal piece but a token. If you want it, hand over fifty million mid-grade Spirit Jade.”

“Fifty million mid-grade Spirit Jade?” Luoyue’s eyes widened. She almost blurted out her surprise at how ridiculous the price of a piece of scrap metal was.

Upon hearing Luoyue’s words, the warrior said impatiently, “If you want to buy it, pay for it. If not, put it down. This token is very rare. There are probably only three or four of them in the entire ancient battlefield. Not a single one can be found now and I have the only one. That which is rare is dear, much less a great treasure like this.”

Upon hearing the warrior’s words, many surrounding stall owners, and even warriors that passed by, gave a look of contempt.

The shocked expression of the warrior, as well as the looks the surrounding people had were seen by Yi Yun. He knew that the warrior was likely gorging him on the price. He immediately went to haggle, “I’ll take if for thirty million.”

“Deal.” The warrior immediately threw the metal piece to Yi Yun, as though he was afraid Yi Yun would regret on his offer.

Upon seeing the warrior’s action, it was apparent to Yi Yun that the price of thirty million was still much higher than its actual worth. However, he did not go back on the price he offered. Besides, the metal token did intrigue him.

The warrior was clearly in a good mood after making the deal with Yi Yun. He closed his shop and immediately left after storing away his items.

In fact, he knew that the people here were all geniuses of large sects from divine empires. Just a random throw of a stone into the crowd would strike a few people with powerful backgrounds. Although he had also managed to make his way to the ancient battlefield, his talent was only considered average compared to all the geniuses. He could not afford to offend the top geniuses, so he decided to leave immediately.

However, he came to a realization only after walking a distance away. If Yi Yun was a genius with a powerful background, he would likely know the origins of the token. However, the young warrior apparently knew nothing. He felt at ease and worried about it no more.

A stall owner could not help but comment, “My friend, you got swindled by that Gongyang Guang…”

When Yi Yun saw the surrounding crowd regard him with looks of pity, he immediately smiled and cupped his hands. He asked, “My friend, might I know the origins of this token?”

He had planned on asking Gongyang Guang but he never expected him to escape faster than a hare.

“From the looks of it, you do not know what the token is. However, he did not lie to you. The item is indeed rare. Furthermore, it was in great demand in the past. But now, no one wants it,” said the stall owner with a shake of his head.

Only then did Luoyue realize what had happened. She said to Yi Yun with a sullen expression, “Senior Brother Yi, I know what it is. It’s a Decimation Token from the ancient battlefield. Rumors say that it absorbs the decimation auras of the ancient battlefield. When they were first discovered, it caused quite a bloodbath as people vied for them. Later on, many geniuses spent huge amounts of money buying them to use them in the ancient battlefield. But no matter how powerful the person, no one has been able to trigger it, much less absorb the decimation aura in it…”

“What she said is right. Over time, people began to lose interest in the few Decimation Tokens. What were once treasures are now all lost. It’s unknown how Gongyang Guang managed to obtain one. I guess he just put it up for sale to try his luck,” added the stall owner.

He never expected that someone who had come to the ancient battlefield like Yi Yun would be such an ignoramus. He had already been scammed before even heading to the actual battlefield.

“That shameless Gongyang Guang…” said Luoyue peeved.

“It’s fine.” Yi Yun nodded back at the stall owner. “Thank you for enlightening me.”

He held the metal token but did not feel affected by what he heard. A useless token?

Yi Yun did not know that the token was used to gather decimation aura but he could clearly sense through the Purple Crystal that the token was absolutely extraordinary. Its value was definitely more than thirty million mid-grade Spirit Jade. And as Luoyue mentioned, it had once been something vied for by geniuses on the ancient battlefield.

Of course, Yi Yun did not believe that he would immediately figure out the token when so many geniuses had attempted and failed. However, he could slowly study it using the Purple Crystal.

“What are those people ahead looking at?” The handsome man beside Young Goddess suddenly asked a passerby.

Yue Wangjian was only asking in passing. Young Goddess had been in the Nethersky Divine World all this while and had only challenged several famous geniuses a hundred years ago. She did not know much of the world outside. He had been recounting to her interesting stories of the Ancient Ruins City and the ancient battlefield but she showed no interest. Just as he was growing bored, he saw people looking at something ahead of them, so he asked a random person casually.

The person he asked happened to be a woman. When the woman heard Yue Wangjian suddenly ask her a question, she instantly burst into a look of pleasant surprise. She immediately answered, “I heard someone bought a Decimation Token but that is something no one buys nowadays…”

Before the woman finished her sentence, Yue Wangjian gestured for her to leave. He originally believed that it would be something interesting that he could use as a conversation starter with Young Goddess. The woman lowered her head in disappointment but did not dare say another word. She quickly made way for the beautiful couple. However, she immediately walked towards her companions with a beaming smile. She recounted to them her lucky encounter with Yue Wangjian.

…

Yue Wangjian knew that Young Goddess had heard his conversation with the woman but she did not mention a word about it. Indeed, she lacked interest in it.

After Yi Yun obtained the Decimation Token, his interest in the bazaar increased greatly. However, after circling it once, he did not find anything else that caught his interest. Although some of the items were good, they were being offered at obscenely high prices. Furthermore, Yi Yun was about to enter the ancient battlefield soon. He naturally wouldn’t be foolish enough to buy tons of items from his future opponents. He could decide what he really needed after entering the ancient battlefield.

Three days passed in a blink of an eye. Soon, the moment of the ancient battlefield’s opening had arrived…

1430 - : Decimation Token

CKtalon  CKtalon

It was time. All the geniuses of the major factions in the Sinkhole were gathered together. And right in front of them was a large, desolate piece of land.

It was the true city entrance of Ancient Ruins City. When Yi Yun looked forward, he saw the horizon reach out endlessly but nothing else. The ancient battlefield was in such a place?

Suddenly, people from the other factions began moving. They constantly split up into groups comprising of hundreds or slightly more than a thousand people. The smallest group had about a hundred or two hundred people. And on the White Lunar Divine Empire’s side, the towering man who had previously instructed them to enter the city came forward once again. “The ancient battlefield is about to open soon. Form your own teams.”

People from the White Lunar Divine Empire immediately began to move around. Yi Yun soon discovered that the formation of teams was in fact the formation of teams among the seven continents. The seven continents were also competing in a way, so it was very common to form such teams.

“There are opportunities everywhere in the ancient battlefield but there are also dangers that can prove fatal everywhere. Even without that, everyone is free to engage in mindless slaughter inside the ancient battlefield. But that is not the point of it. By forming teams, you have a greater chance to traverse the distance from the ancient battlefield’s entrance to its interior…” Before the towering man could finish his sentence, he heard a dispute breaking out.

Luoyue stood beside Yi Yun with a contorted expression. She was looking coldly at the beautiful, arrogant woman. “Lie Jiaojiao, what’s the meaning of this? Yi Yun is an honorary Elder of our Nanxuan family clan. How can you forbid him from joining the team?”

And standing behind Luoyue were a few Nanxuan family clan disciples.

Lie Jiaojiao giggled. Although there was quite an indescribable young innocence about her, what she said was extremely harsh on the ear. “He’s only an itinerant cultivator. Wouldn’t his joining only hold our Scarlet Yang continent team back? I am refusing his participation in the team on behalf of everyone. Besides, the Scarlet Yang continent team is led by my Lie family. If I do not wish him in our team, is he going to be shameless enough to cling to us anyway?”

“Lie Jiaojiao, you are going too far! Do you really think my Nanxuan family clan is that easily bullied?” A formidable aura blasted out from Luoyue’s body as she glared angrily at Lie Jiaojiao.

“Hmph!” Another aura blasted out from Lie Jiaojiao. She was in no way inferior to Luoyue.

“I’m going too far? Do you not know that there’s a bounty on his head from the Martial Numinous clan? By bringing him around, we risk their pursuit. Are we going to help him ward them off? If that isn’t him holding us back, what is?”

The two beauties were at odds with each other, seemingly due to a young man beside them. This scene attracted the attention of many people. Even people from the other major factions looked over curiously.

“Lie Jiaojiao, you actually made a breakthrough.” Luoyue’s expression turned ugly. She remembered that Lie Jiaojiao’s cultivation level was originally inferior to hers but as her Dao Palace had always been unstable, she was naturally overtaken by Lie Jiaojiao. After all, it took enough effort just to ensure that her cultivation level did not regress.

“Miss…” A Nanxuan family clan disciple said, clearly in a difficult position. They could tell that Lie Jiaojiao was not planning on yielding. Furthermore, Lie Jiaojiao had Lie Rikong backing her. Although Lie Rikong did not speak a word, no one could ignore his existence.

Luoyue immediately glared at him. “What do you want to say? How can our Nanxuan family clan be people who fear the strong and bully the weak? Besides, I’m indebted to Senior Brother Yi, while Lie Jiaojiao is doing this only to spite me…”

Before Luoyue finished her sentence, Yi Yun waved his hand and said, “Luoyue, join the team without me. I’ll just continue watching.”

At that moment, many people understood that the Scarlet Yang continent team was not allowing the man named Yi Yun to join them.

And at that moment, Luoyue bit her lips and looked at the other teams of the White Lunar Divine Empire. “Which team is willing to accept my Nanxuan family clan?”

Just as her voice faded, the Nanxuan family clan disciple beside her said anxiously, “Miss, that won’t do. Our Nanxuan family clan is deeply intertwined with the Scarlet Yang continent. How can we join another team right at the start? It would make things difficult for Patriarch. After we finish, how would the Nanxuan family clan be able to continue establishing itself in the Scarlet Yang continent?”

Upon hearing this, Luoyue felt overwhelmed by helplessness. She could handle the consequences of her actions but indeed, she also implicated the Nanxuan family clan…

Yi Yun smiled and said, “Luoyue, there’s no need to worry about me.”

“Senior Brother Yi, since she forbids you from joining, we can form a team ourselves…” Luoyue gritted her teeth, apparently making up her mind. She might not be able to join the teams of the other continents but she could leave the Scarlet Yang continent’s team and fend for herself.

“That won’t do. Let’s put this matter to rest. I absolutely do not agree to you leaving your clan.” Yi Yun rejected her proposal immediately.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s declaration, Lie Jiaojiao snorted coldly as she revealed a look of disappointment. She had targeted Yi Yun naturally to teach him a lesson. At the same time, she could force Nanxuan Luoyue away. She knew Nanxuan Luoyue’s character very well after all. However, she never expected an itinerant cultivator like Yi Yun to have a spine. He was unwilling to let Nanxuan Luoyue take risks because of him.

Yi Yun looked at his surroundings. He had a vendetta with the Martial Numinous clan so it was obviously impossible for them to invite him. Instead, they were looking at him with gloating looks. The Hongyu Continent, which Wan Qing was from, would also not invite him.

Although there were people from the remaining continents that wished to speak out, they were stopped by the people beside them. Clearly, many people knew of the bounty the Martial Numinous clan had put on Yi Yun’s head. Now that he was at odds with the Scarlet Yang continent, it was natural that no one was willing to offend two continents on his account.

As for the top geniuses that had absolute authority on such matters, they were completely ignoring the debate.

Instantly, Yi Yun appeared somewhat lonely amid the crowd. However, he did not wallow in pity at all. Instead, the way he looked at the crowd felt as though they did not even share the same space-time dimension.

Yi Yun asked, “Luoyue, do you have more detailed information on the Ancient Ruins world? I wish to take a look.”

Luoyue took out a jade slip and handed it to Yi Yun. “This is the information our Nanxuan family clan has gathered over the years. It’s yours.”

Following that, she hesitated before adding, “Senior Brother Yi, I can offer some help and I believe someone will…”

“There’s no need.” Yi Yun rejected her offer once again. Following that, she smiled at her. “Thank you.”

Upon seeing Yi Yun’s smile, the depressed Luoyue also turned more cheerful.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of loud booms sounded. Sand suddenly stirred in what was formerly an empty desolate wilderness. And amid the sandstorm, an extremely majestic stone door that was so tall it seemed to prop up the sky appeared. And from within the stone door came a solemn and primordial aura. There were even series of sounds that sounded like the clash of iron and mud in a battlefield.

The ancient battlefield had opened!

“So this is how the real ancient battlefield appears.” Upon seeing the massive ancient battlefield entrance, emotions surged through Yi Yun immediately. It was time to challenge himself and see how far he could go.

1431 - : Proceeding Alone

CKtalon  CKtalon

The moment Yi Yun passed through the ancient battlefield’s entrance, he felt his cultivation level rapidly decrease. He was alarmed at the speed of it, but when his cultivation level hit the ninth-storey Dao Palace realm, it immediately stabilized.

“So this is the suppression effect of the ancient battlefield.” Yi Yun had already calmed down. Everyone who entered the ancient battlefield was put at an equal strength regardless of cultivation level. And this standard was apparently the ninth storey Dao Palace realm.

Yi Yun cast his gaze out but there was only an endless sea of sand. Even the sky took on a yellowish hue. Nothing prominent could be seen at all.

At that moment, Yi Yun went on alert as a feeling of danger appeared. At the same time, his psyche felt a prick. He immediately took out Mirage Snow and slashed forward.

A ice-cold sword flash streaked straight as blood immediately splattered in the desert. Simultaneously, he heard a sharp, tragic scream.

However, Yi Yun’s expression turned increasingly contorted. The moment he activated his Purple Crystal’s vision, he could vaguely make out gray shadows that flashed around him like lightning. Only with his energy vision could he strike them with his sword. It was impossible to detect them with his perception.

What were those things? They were astoundingly fast and were capable of psychic attacks.

Yi Yun suddenly felt a shudder run through him. Out of nowhere, countless grayish faint shadows appeared around him.

It was no wonder the geniuses made it a point to form teams when entering. It was to prevent themselves from being surrounded by the gray shadows. If that happened, one could quickly become mentally disabled by their psychic attacks. It was even possible that they would not see what had attacked them.

It was unknown what happened in the ancient battlefield that produced these gray shadows. Perhaps they were remnant souls from ancient times.

Although Yi Yun was surrounded, he did not get flustered. Although his perception was unable to detect the gray shadows, they could not escape his Purple Crystal vision.

Sou!

A gray shadow that hid amid the desert sands quickly flew towards Yi Yun and was struck down by his sword.

After the gray shadow was slain, a blurry light flew into Yi Yun’s psyche. Following that, Yi Yun felt comfort in the spot where he suffered a prick previously. It was as though it was immersed in a hot spring. It even made his psyche feel more robust.

Yi Yun was taken aback before the implication of this delighted him. The cultivation of one’s psyche was extremely difficult. He never expected that killing these gray shadows would strengthen his psyche.

With that being true, how could Yi Yun hold back when he saw all the gray shadows around him? Mirage Snow instantly streaked out resplendent sword flashes as Yi Yun charged into the gray shadow horde.

The gray shadows appeared to be taken aback. They had never seen a warrior take the initiative to charge at them. Furthermore, the warrior was alone…

Sword flashes swept the area and Yi Yun soon discovered that, although the gray shadows were odd and dangerous, they had no other means of attack apart from their psychic assaults. Although they themselves could not be detected with a psychic perception, one could see a faint psychic trajectory when they launched their attacks.

After killing more than a hundred gray shadows, Yi Yun deactivated the Purple Crystal vision.

Once he deactivated it, Yi Yun constantly felt attacks in his psyche. But after every attack, he would immediately trace the psychic trajectories back to the gray shadow that attacked and kill it.

As this went on, Yi Yun’s psyche constantly received damage before being mended.

Through such honing, his psyche became more and more robust…

The ancient battlefield was dangerous from the very start, but danger also implied benefits.

Each of the other teams in the desert gathered themselves. Many of them had a few artifacts that fended off psychic attacks. Once they were activated, everyone quickly flew away within the artifact’s area of influence.

As for the young girl, Meng Yi, who had wings of light, every flap of her wings sent countless points of light into the surroundings. Once those gray shadows touched a point of light, it would immediately reveal their locations. Meng Yi could fly even faster through such a method. The geniuses behind her also flew as fast as they could.

Di Rong struck directly forward with his fist, sending a huge blast of wind shooting out, instantly blasting the space ahead with such strength that he even ruptured space itself. Naturally, the gray shadows vanished.

As for Qing Lin, he was nowhere to be seen. He had long flown straight ahead. If the other warriors saw this scene, they would definitely be surprised because he was constantly slaying the gray shadows under the protection of a psyche defense artifact. His speed was unbelievably fast.

Be it the White Lunar Divine Empire or the other factions from the Sinkhole, all of them had means to deal with the gray shadows. Top geniuses like Qing Lin would use the gray shadows to condense their psyche and make it more robust.

Luoyue was among the Scarlet Yang continent team. Her eyes were filled with worry as she kept looking around.

Also in the team was Lie Rikong, who had a halo suffusing his head that blocked the gray shadows’ assault. Beyond the halo, nothing could be seen. However, the constant stirrings of attacks could be seen hitting the halo’s exterior.

The defensive artifact was given by King Scarlet Yang himself. It was a top-grade artifact of the continent. However, Yi Yun did not have such an artifact and he was alone…

Luoyue was somewhat worried. She knew Yi Yun was capable but wondered if he could handle a battlefield that he was completely unfamiliar with. She wanted to find Yi Yun amid the desert but the yellow sand screened off everything. She could not even see past a few meters, much less find Yi Yun.

At that moment, the area in front of them turned clear.

“We are leaving the Psyche Vanquishing Desert. Up ahead is the real ancient battlefield. However, although every team must fly through the Psyche Vanquishing Desert, they will not exit it at the same destination.” Lie Rikong’s voice sounded.

When they landed, Luoyue realized that only three teams had arrived at the same spot as them despite the numerous teams she saw go in. Furthermore, none of them were from the White Lunar Divine Empire.

These teams exchanged tense looks before immediately departing to head for the ancient battlefield. Clearly, this was not the place for a fight.

“Let’s go as well,” said Lie Rikong.

Luoyue continued looking back at the desert. At that moment, she heard Lie Jiaojiao’s sarcastic voice come from amid the group. “Despite us successfully traversing the desert, our top-grade artifact has suffered quite considerable damage. How can a person make it through the Psyche Vanquishing Desert alone? Even if a person was capable of doing so, they would have to be an astounding peerless figure, not some itinerant cultivator.”

Lie Jiaojiao had said that deliberately to provoke Luoyue. She had a grudge with her but was unable to attack her directly because of the Nanxuan family clan. However, provoking her was satisfying enough.

Luoyue gave Lie Jiaojiao a glance but did not say a word. Her eyes were fixated on the Psyche Vanquishing Desert’s interior. She silently said, “Senior Brother Yi, I hope that everything will be alright.”

She could only hope that Yi Yun had appeared at a different exit instead of perishing inside the Psyche Vanquishing Desert.

Soon, nearly all the teams had departed the Psyche Vanquishing Desert. Apart from a few warriors that received unexpected attacks, causing them to plummet from the sky and instantly vanish amid the desert sands, most people managed to pass through the Psyche Vanquishing Desert safely.

They appeared in different spots of the ancient battlefield before proceeding further.

They had already forgotten the young warrior that had entered the Psyche Vanquishing Desert alone.

And some time after all the teams departed, a figure suddenly charged out of the Psyche Vanquishing Desert.

“Oh? That’s the end of it?” The person’s eyes looked discontented, as if unsatisfied by the premature ending. Realizing that there was no longer a desert, he felt somewhat disappointed.

If anyone was still around, they would definitely be rendered extremely speechless. Every team yearned to leave the Psyche Vanquishing Desert as soon as possible but this person even appeared repulsed by the fact that the desert was not large enough.

He was none other than Yi Yun. He turned back and found the desert rather strange. Having reached where he was, he felt like he had been blocked by a natural barrier. It felt like the billowing desert’s sandstorm was a gigantic wall that reached into the skies.

Yi Yun attempted to go back into the desert but felt a formless obstruction.

“I can’t fly backwards. That means that the huge door only permits entry and not exit.” Yi Yun came to this conclusion.

If he wanted to exit, he could only do so by crushing the token he received. There was a tiny teleportation array embedded in it.

Yi Yun had reaped a huge harvest inside the Psyche Vanquishing Desert. His psyche had been fortified by more than ten percent. With a scan of his perception, he could see everything, including the motions of ants, in a fifty kilometer radius.

Yi Yun took out the jade slip that Luoyue had given him. He determined his location according to the surroundings environment he was in.

The jade slip Luoyue had given him contained information based on the accounts of geniuses who had entered the ancient battlefield, as well as information they purchased. It included a map of the ancient battlefield, with many dangerous spots or spots that offered great benefits labeled.

However, there were many blank spots or places with nothing but a crude description on the map. According to the jade slip, this was because some places would only appear randomly with each ancient battlefield’s opening. Certain places only appeared once every few centuries, while there were other places that only appeared after tens or hundreds of thousands of years. It would be up to one’s fate if they were able to enter such spots.

And to finally leave one’s name on the World Monolith, it was not about the number of enemies killed but the number of special opportunities one received in the Ancient Ruins world.

In order to obtain these things, one not only needed the light from providence to shine on them, they would also require sufficient strength.

1432 - : Entering the Ancient Ruins

CKtalon  CKtalon

The ancient battlefield was extremely vast. Many places were impervious to perception probes.

Soon, Yi Yun landed in a mountain valley.

According to the Nanxuan family clan’s jade slip, this was a herbal valley. The Nanxuan family clansman who recorded the location had once obtained a rather precious herb named the Wind Seeking Grass in the area.

Yi Yun could make use of that herb. Furthermore, the records mentioned other rare herbs in the valley. It also happened that the location recorded on the jade slip was closest to the area Yi Yun had appeared in. Therefore, he immediately rushed over when he saw it on the record.

Yi Yun was now in great need of natural treasures. He had yet to gather any materials for the fourth Dragon Emperor relic.

But Yi Yun was immediately stunned when he arrived at the herbal valley.

“Look over there.”

“Did you find anything?”

“I only found a second-grade herb.”

Scattered throughout the mountain valley were various herb valleys. There were dozens of warriors searching the herb valleys meticulously.

When the newcomer Yi Yun appeared, the warriors immediately cast their gazes over.

These people immediately recognized Yi Yun and gave looks of astonishment. “It’s you? That itinerant cultivator that no one wanted to team up with?”

They had seen Yi Yun fly into the Psyche Vanquishing Desert with their own eyes. And from their point of view, anyone that flew into the desert alone was doomed. But now, here he was unharmed in the valley with them.

Yi Yun sighed to himself when the odd gazes landed on him. From the looks of it, the discovery of the herbal valleys by the Nanxuan family clansman was not a secret. It was obvious that these people had the herbal valley marked on their own maps.

As such, this herbal valley would be swept by warriors every sixty years. Whatever made it to this point were herbs of the lowest grade. These herbs were of no use to Yi Yun. The natural treasures he needed to refine the fourth Dragon Emperor relic were only more precious than the previous ones he gathered. It was a requirement these herbs in front of him could not satisfy.

Upon careful thought, Yi Yun was not surprised. The Nanxuan family clan was quite a formidable presence in the Scarlet Yang continent but it would only be considered a small faction within the entire Sinkhole. The information in the jade slips they obtained could not be better than the truly top factions. With this thought in mind, Yi Yun wanted to leave.

“Fellow Daoist, it’s truly unbelievable that you came out of the Psyche Vanquishing Desert safely. Might i know how you did it? I believe you are here for the Thousand Illusion Lotus, right?” a pretty young girl dressed in a light yellow dress asked suddenly.

Yi Yun, who was about to leave, immediately halted when he heard the words Thousand Illusion Lotus.

It was something recorded in the divine alchemist’s notes. It was indeed a very good spirit herb and it surprised Yi Yun that the herbal valley had one. However, the herb was similarly of little use to him. It was at the same level of rarity as the Wind Seeking Grass. He would naturally pluck it if he came across it but it was not worth it if he had to spend effort searching for it.

“We have already searched the area once and failed to discover the Thousand Illusion Lotus’s location. Legends say that it hides amid illusions and those unfated would not see it even if it were right in front of them. However, if one has an extremely powerful perception or an artifact that specializes in perception, they can find clues of its location. Fellow Daoist, since you were able to cross the Psyche Vanquishing Desert alone, you must have used your perception to avoid those shadows, right? Might you have a treasured artifact that would help in this aspect?” asked the girl with earnest eyes.

“My cultivation technique is a little special,” said Yi Yun perfunctorily.

The girl immediately looked pleasantly surprised and pressed further, “Fellow Daoist, you mentioned a special cultivation technique. I believe it must be a cultivation technique that enhances your perception? Why don’t you cooperate with us and seek out the Thousand Illusion Lotus together?”

Yi Yun was rendered speechless. Couldn’t the girl tell that he showed no interest?

But at that moment, Yi Yun’s heart suddenly stirred as he turned to look into the distance. There was a rumbling sound coming from the horizon as though a behemoth was running towards him. At the same time, a primordial aura surged at him, as though it was beckoning for him, urging him to head towards it.

This is…

The girl hesitated for a moment before realizing what was happening. She exclaimed, “Some ancient forbidden ground is opening!”

Yi Yun also recalled the information recorded on the Nanxuan jade slip. The typical reason for such a phenomenon was the opening of a mysterious ground.

“These forbidden grounds are not to be missed. Judging from the commotion, it’s not an ordinary one either. I’m sorry but I have to leave first. The Thousand Illusion Lotus is of little use to me and I’m not that interested in it. I won’t be able to cooperate with you.” Yi Yun cupped his fists at the girl and before she could even say a word, he turned to fly towards the commotion.

“Hey!” The girl watched helplessly as Yi Yun departed quickly like a flash of lightning. She immediately had a look of extreme disappointment.

“Junior Sister Bluejade, that’s enough. He might have dodged the attacks of the Psyche Vanquish Shadows not by relying on some artifact, but by simple luck. He’s afraid he would expose his lack of capabilities by cooperating with you. It’s natural for him to be unwilling,” said a blue-dressed man who walked over.

He was already very displeased when he saw Bluejade invite Yi Yun. Thankfully, Yi Yun had rejected her. While feeling secretly delighted, he took the chance to console her.

“Perhaps.” Bluejade felt disappointed. The Thousand Illusion Lotus was very useful to her. In truth, the herb was not of a very high grade but it was rather rare. Furthermore, it was very difficult to search for. She had originally wanted to rely on Yi Yun’s perception cultivation technique…

“Let’s head there quickly too. That forbidden ground that suddenly appeared might hold some benefits. Such forbidden grounds typically only last for months. We should rush there as soon as possible too,” added the man, his eyes filled with excitement.

By then, Yi Yun had already flown a great distance away.

He really had no time to cooperate with the girl. As for the Thousand Illusion Lotus, he could easily find it himself if he wanted it. There was no need for him to cooperate with others if he did decide to look for it.

In addition, the primordial aura that called out to him boiled over Yi Yun’s lifeblood. His instincts told him that it was definitely something extraordinary; therefore, he immediately rushed over.

Soon, Yi Yun saw a gigantic hall. Clouds lingered around it, only allowing portions of the hall to be seen from a distance. However, what could be seen seemed to extend straight up into the firmaments. It had an extremely magnificent feel to it.

The moment he approached, the bountiful primordial aura inundated him. It even made Yi Yun feel like prostrating in front of it.

There were already many warriors gathered in front of the palatial hall. Streams of light were streaming in from every direction as well.

It was obvious that the herbal valley was not the only direction in which the beckoning effect reached. Warriors from all areas had sensed this primordial beckoning.

As the streams of light landed, there were about twenty thousand warriors who soon gathered in front of the hall.

At that moment, a few streams of light were rapidly approaching and one of them was glaringly bright. It resembled a meteor that streaked across the sky. Once it landed, it revealed a handsome red-robed man. His aura was deep and unfathomable with more than a hint of danger.

He looked at the hall and scanned through all the information he had stored in his memories. He revealed a look of shock. “The Divine Perish Hall has appeared.”

“It’s Li Fire Divine Lord!’

“Although Li Fire Divine Lord had his cultivation level lowered by the ancient battlefield, his aura still makes others feel apprehensive.”

Yi Yun took a look at Li Fire Divine Lord and immediately sensed a cold gaze stare back at him. The few streams of light that had accompanied Li Fire Divine Lord had also landed and one of them was Wan Qing.

“You actually managed to make it out alive!” Wan Qing had already long written off Yi Yun, thinking that Yi Yun was definitely doomed. He never expected to encounter Yi Yun all fine and well. It felt like a figurative slap in his face.

While feeling astounded, his hatred for Yi Yun only deepened.

“Fine, no matter what fleeing technique you used, you are still extremely lucky to be here. But your good luck will come to an end in this ancient battlefield,” said Wan Qing coldly. He retrieved a short saber from his interspatial ring.

Yi Yun held Mirage Snow without a word as a wary look flashed in his eyes. His wariness was directed at Li Fire Divine Lord for he could tell that Li Fire Divine Lord was an expert that had fused Divine Lord Royal Seal. Since he was with Wan Qing, he likely came from the Hongyu continent. Perhaps Li Fire Divine Lord shared the same surname of Wan too.

If a fight broke out, Yi Yun definitely had to be wary of Li Fire Divine Lord. But this did not mean Yi Yun was afraid.

Many people heard Wan Qing’s words. They looked at Yi Yun in astonishment for they never expected him to pass through the Psyche Vanquishing Desert alone.

However, the ‘fleeing technique’ that Wan Qing mentioned reduced the astonishment in their eyes. From their point of view, Yi Yun must have made adequate preparations ahead of time to have the courage to step into the Psyche Vanquishing Desert alone. Perhaps it really was a simple fleeing technique as Wan Qing claimed.

In that case, even if the fleeing technique was extraordinary, it was not something that was worth being astonished over.

Li Fire Divine Lord glanced at Yi Yun with a hint of interest in his eyes. However, his eyes were similar to Wan Qing’s. They held an extremely gloomy look that made Yi Yun feel uncomfortable.

“Wan Qing, there’s no hurry. The Divine Perish Hall is more important,” said Li Fire Divine Lord indifferently.

He did not forbid Wan Qing from taking action but only advised he curb his eagerness. His tone fully belittled Yi Yun.

Wan Qing felt a little disappointed but he did not say another word. He put away his short saber before sneering at Yi Yun.

At that moment, a rumbling noise sounded from underground as an unadorned stone monument rose suddenly in front of the hall.

The stone monument increased in height before stopping along with the rumbling sounds. However, its top had completely disappeared into the clouds.

And people could see that there were names inscribed on the top. Most of them had weathered with the times and the most recent ones were probably more than ten thousand years old.

“The Recognition Monument!” Everyone’s eyes lit up.

1433 - : Divine Perish Hall

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Recognition Monument was only about a hundred feet tall but it exuded a mysterious aura. The few names on it were left eons ago but remained visible. One could even sense the different experts’ auras from the strokes that made up their respective names.

“If one leaves their name on a Recognition Monument like this one, it should be very helpful in leaving a name on the World Monolith eventually,” thought Yi Yun.

But even leaving his name on the monument in front of him was absolutely not a simple task. There were fewer than ten names sparsely carved on the monument and they were the culmination of tens of thousands of years of effort.

It only made the Divine Perish Hall appear even more extraordinary.

At that moment, a stream of light rapidly approached.

“Di Rong!”

“Disciple of White Lunar Divine Empire’s Second Imperial Preceptor!”

Yi Yun glanced at Di Rong, who had come alone. He was filled with an air of bloodlust and the gigantic blood-colored ax slung on his back appeared even more sanguine. It had clearly absorbed the blood of something not long ago.

The other warriors also noticed the smell of blood on Di Rong. They immediately looked at him with apprehension. Di Rong had already killed someone just moments after entering the ancient battlefield. He was definitely one that reveled in bloodlust.

The person who Di Rong killed did not even have the time to shatter his token and be transported out. It was unknown if Di Rong had sealed off the space ahead of time or his speed was just that insanely fast. Since the person did not even have a chance of shattering their token, any explanation just showed how savage Di Rong was.

And there were other geniuses from the White Lunar Divine Empire there too. When they saw him arrive, they felt pumped up as they quickly headed to his side.

“Senior Brother Di, this is the Divine Perish Hall,” said a short White Lunar Divine Empire warrior sycophantically. The warrior came from a minor faction and he had kept silent among the crowd before Di Rong’s arrival. He only dared stepped forward after Di Rong arrived.

“Oh? Not bad. It’s indeed the Divine Perish Hall. From the looks of it, my luck is pretty good!” Di Rong’s voice sounded like a deep rumbling thunder. He looked at the Divine Perish Hall with burning eagerness.

He scanned his surroundings and, other than a few people and Li Fire Divine Lord that made him take a second look, no one caught his eye. He knew the names and reputation of every top genius from the major factions.

Although Li Fire Divine Lord was stronger than him, it was practically impossible for him to leave his name on the monument. The higher one’s cultivation level and age was, the harder it was to leave one’s name. The chances of success for someone like him were practically negligible.

Di Rong looked at the White Lunar Divine Empire geniuses that were standing close to the hall’s doorway. He said to the warriors who had reserved spots due to their early arrival, “Make way.”

The expressions of the warriors immediately turned livid. But faced with Di Rong’s raging murderous intent, none of them dared say a word. They silently shifted to the side.

Li Fire Divine Lord, Wan Qing, and company also came before the hall’s door. And the warriors that came from the same faction quickly responded by making way without need for instruction.

“Punk, it’s best you do not try to flee.” Wan Qing turned his head as he gave a sinister grin. He was warning Yi Yun not to take the opportunity to escape.

Many of the surroundings warriors cast a look of pity or schadenfreude on Yi Yun. He was an itinerant cultivator that even the White Lunar Divine Empire thought nothing of. Therefore, how could he be the match of Wan Qing, a follower of Li Divine Lord? The best course of action for him was to shatter his token and escape.

Of course, as the ancient battlefield had only just begun, leaving now only meant a wasted trip. However, it was still better than throwing away his life.

Di Rong glanced at Yi Yun and frowned. “That’s him?” After some thought, he said to the short warrior, “Go and tell him to come over.”

With so many people treating Yi Yun as a joke, he could not allow the White Lunar Divine Empire to have its reputation sullied in front of him. He would not have cared if it was happening outside his watch.

The warrior immediately acted on his request and came in front of Yi Yun, “Come with me to Senior Brother Di’s side.”

Yi Yun took a glance at the warrior and said, “There’s no need.”

Di Rong pricked up his brows but immediately understood the reason. Since Yi Yun was not planning on receiving his protection, he was likely planning on escaping. He clearly had a certain level of skill to be able to traverse the Psyche Vanquishing Desert alone, but to escape right from under Li Fire Divine Lord’s nose with that bit of skill? He might not even have time to crush the token.

Li Fire Divine Lord clearly thought the same as a sneer suffused the corner of his lips.

The short warrior was taken aback. He never expected Yi Yun to reject Di Rong’s good intentions. From the looks of it, the reason why no one from the Scarlet Yang continent wanted him was solely the result of his own actions. He really did not know what was best for him.

But almost immediately, his eyes widened as Yi Yun walked to a spot in front of the hall’s doorway with a composed look despite the many eyes on him.

Due to Di Rong and Li Fire Divine Lord’s insistence, the area in front of the doorway was mostly empty. Even so, no one squeezed ahead.

As for Yi Yun, he appeared completely unaware of the situation. He stood there extremely naturally.

Wan Qing jolted out of his senses as he stared at Yi Yun in disbelief, “How gutsy. You…”

“What? Didn’t you ask me not to flee? Yet, you are afraid when I’m not fleeing?” Yi Yun gave him a darting glance and said this with a sneer.

The corner of Wan Qing’s mouth twitched but he completely calmed down. “Good, you have guts.”

Di Rong also gave a look of surprise. His impression of Yi Yun changed. He was unlike Meng Yi or Qing Lin. He believed that warriors needed to be unyielding. Stooping to a compromise was bullshit. One had to fight even if they were no match.

However, those that lost and died were weaklings. He had no interest in weaklings.

Li Fire Divine Lord glanced at Yi Yun with an even darker look. To him, Yi Yun was already a dead man.

The surrounding warriors watched as Yi Yun stood there alone there with mixed looks. Some were impressed by him while many people believed that Yi Yun looked composed because he could just crush his token at any time. He was only a paper tiger. They could only chalk it up to his ignorance, knowing that the token would not save him if people were truly bent on killing him.

After Yi Yun stood there for some time, the Divine Perish Hall suddenly rumbled.

A mysterious and austere voice sounded from within. It was as though the entire palatial hall had woken up from its slumber.

Everyone knew that the Divine Perish Hall was opening.

After hearing the deep sound, the Divine Perish Hall’s gigantic doors gradually swung sideways, revealing an entrance filled with an ancient aura.

Yi Yun looked up at the Divine Perish Hall and felt all his lifeblood being stirred by the hall. He had an involuntary urge to enter. It was unknown how long the Divine Perish Hall had existed but it still had such a terrifying aura that secretly alarmed Yi Yun.

“The Divine Perish Hall is open. This is the first ancient forbidden ground I will be entering. I have to leave my name here as a representative of the White Lunar Divine Empire.” Di Rong stood up. He appeared very normal before standing up but when he fully stood up, a violent aura surged from his body. His eyes burned with fighting spirit.

As Di Rong walked into the hall, Li Fire Divine Lord followed. His red robes transformed into a fiery red beam of light that shot into the hall. “Let’s go.”

Yi Yun also raised his foot up the stairs to head inside the Divine Perish Hall. But at that moment, he felt a psyche perception land on him. A psyche mark had been planted on him. Yi Yun only sneered in response. Ignoring the fact that Wan Qing had no plans on sparing him, Yi Yun would not spare him even if Wan Qing did not want a fight so badly.

Warriors constantly entered the Divine Perish Hall as the door remained open. The ancient aura likewise constantly spread outwards.

The moment he stepped into the Divine Perish Hall, Yi Yun felt something strange. He felt like he was being pushed out by the Divine Perish Hall.

Yi Yun looked forward. Although Di Rong and Li Fire Divine Lord were walking slowly ahead of him, they were still proceeding forward.

The push gradually strengthened as Yi Yun felt that he was being repelled by the Divine Perish Hall. The gap between him and the first batch of people also widened. If this continued, he would eventually be completely expelled from the Divine Perish Hall.

Yi Yun did not falter under such circumstances. He calmed his mind and did not resist the expelling force. Instead, he fully immersed himself in the feeling of the powers contained in the pushing force.

Gradually, Yi Yun realized in surprise that the pushing force was a nomological force, one formed from many laws.

As long as he found the corresponding method to deal with any one law with a negative polarity, he would be able to continue forward.

Yi Yun then realized that Di Rong and company had grasped this long before he did. It was the same with Li Fire Divine Lord. Indeed, these top geniuses and Divine Lords had an advantage over itinerant cultivators like him.

This was not even the true interior of the Divine Perish Hall. It was just a passageway leading from the hall’s main entrance. Many warriors that came here were pushed out for a period of time before they continued walking inside.

Yi Yun also planned on continuing forward but he came to a halt after a few steps.

The nomological forces contained in the pushing force were extremely intriguing. If he continued walking, it would only be considered as resorting to trickery. He would not be able to fully understand the underlying essence.

Yi Yun’s resolve strengthened. He made his decision within seconds. He stopped taking steps forward, and instead stood there to silently experience the pushing force in full as he continuously inferred the mystery behind it.

1434 - : Entry

CKtalon  CKtalon

Many people saw Yi Yun studying the laws in the passageway but thought nothing of him. They passed right by him and continued walking towards the Divine Perish Hall’s interior.

In fact, they had also sensed the laws in the passageway but never thought to study them closer. The ancient battlefield had many places with such strange laws. Many predecessors had put in great effort to study these laws, but to no avail. Therefore, they didn’t bother wasting their efforts.

Most warriors entered the ancient battlefield with jade slips filled with the experiences of their predecessors. They knew which forbidden lands were of the greatest value and which places had the most opportunities. There were even some unique obstacles that the jade slips had information on, allowing the holders to pass through them by pulling a trick.

The people who entered the ancient battlefield would mostly choose to follow what was laid out in their predecessor’s guides. The advice saved them time and increased their efficiency, as well as ensured their safety.

“This Yi Yun probably does not dare to enter the hall with us. He’s deliberately loitering by the door,” Wan Qing scoffed.

He stepped through the main door of the inner sanctums of the Divine Perish Hall. The moment he did, he felt the world spin. He focused his eyes and realized that his surroundings had changed drastically. There was no longer a hall, and in its place was a luxuriant plain.

The sky looked overcast and the sun was being hidden by clouds that lingered perennially. There was violent Yuan Qi in the air, as well as a thick bloodlust.

“Lord Li Fire, what is this place?”

The world appeared extremely dangerous to Wan Qing. This was not the Divine Perish Hall he had imagined.

At that moment, a warrior’s scream was heard not far away. Wan Qing immediately looked over. The warrior had followed closely behind them and, after taking a few steps forward, his body exploded, reducing to a blood mist. And the spot he died on was completely void of anything.

“This…” Wan Qing’s pupils constricted. He had no idea how the person had died. For a person to die immediately upon entry, this place was just too creepy!

“Lord Li Fire, what do we do?” Wan Qing turned a little flustered. He never expected to suddenly step into such a dangerous environment.

“Stop quivering!” bellowed Li Fire Divine Lord coldly.

Li Fire Divine Lord was looking at the world with knitted brows. It was indeed not the Divine Perish Hall as it was recorded in canon. Either this was a place that looked identical but was in fact different, or the Divine Perish Hall had experienced some abnormal changes.

“Oh?”

Li Fire Divine Lord’s heart suddenly stirred. He swiped his interspatial ring, and an emerald green jade token appeared in his hand.

It was the teleportation token of the ancient battlefield. But at that moment, the runes on it had lost their luster. It was completely dark.

“The teleportation tokens are no longer effective,” said Li Fire Divine Lord matter-of-factly.

“What… Then…” Wan Qing’s heart tightened. In certain worlds within the confines of the ancient battlefield, they would be screened by a world layer, making teleportation tokens ineffective.

And under normal conditions, such worlds within worlds were extremely dangerous. Without the token, their fates were pretty much up to the heavens. There were records in canon stating that all warriors who entered died tragically.

“If you are worried about your safety, just leave. It should still be possible to leave since you just entered this forbidden land. But once you walk further in, it will become difficult to leave,” said Li Fire Divine Lord as he shot a glance at Wan Qing.

“I…” Wan Qing was indeed lacking in confidence. His talent was not considered heaven-defying but he did not wish to show fear in front of Li Fire Divine Lord. He gritted his teeth and said, “Lord Li Fire, I came to the ancient battlefield to challenge myself. If I were to retreat in the face of great opportunities, I will probably not amount to much in my martial career. I want to enter!”

“Then follow me!” Li Fire Divine Lord now appeared somewhat cold towards Wan Qing. Although they came from the same family, Wan Qing was not someone he needed to take particular care of, considering his position.

“I felt an intense killing intent just now. That person was destroyed by a blob of killing intent,” said Li Fire Divine Lord.

Just aura alone could kill a person? How terrifying was this killing intent!? Wan Qing was alarmed but he did not dare ask further.

He followed Li Fire Divine Lord as though he was treading on thin ice. He did not know that, outside the Divine Perish Hall, a few of the ancient names that were not deeply engraved on the ancient Recognition Monument were slowly vanishing. It appeared as though they were suffering the wrath of the elements, millions of years of weathering compressed into a few seconds.

This scene was witnessed by many people that were just arriving outside the Divine Perish Hall, as well as those that failed to enter the Divine Perish Hall in a timely fashion.

“What’s happening? The names on the monument suddenly disappeared. There are only… two names left?”

Not only were there two names left, the marks of the two names appeared to be corroded by the elements. They turned very faint and appeared to be barely etched into the surface. It would probably take a few months for them to vanish.

“Dong Xiaochen, Zi Cheze! These two names…”

Most people did not know who Zi Cheze was but Dong Xiaochen was an illustrious expert. Although he was only a double-sealed Divine Lord, one of the two Divine Lord Royal Seals he fused with was a Saint Royal Seal that had been passed down from ancient times.

With that one Saint Royal Seal, Dong Xiaochen became well-known. A few old freaks with deep cultivation levels had attempted to kill him to snatch his Royal Seal but only ended up being killed by him.

Dong Xiaochen’s reputation increased greatly from that battle alone.

“This is something. Even someone as strong as Dong Xiaochen was only able to leave behind a very faint name on this monument. The names of the others have completely vanished. It’s as though they were not qualified to leave their names on it. What is happening with this Divine Perish Hall?”

People were baffled, but knew without a doubt that something abnormal had happened to the Divine Perish Hall. Furthermore, it became even more dangerous.

If Dong Xiaochen had barely left his name on the Divine Perish Hall’s monument, then there was no point in most of them entering the hall. It was very possible for them to perish inside in the event of any mishap.

But even though they were cognizant of this, many people were unwilling to be the first to retreat. After all, danger implied greater opportunities!

“The opening of the Divine Perish Hall is different this time. It’s unknown how long this entrance can be maintained. If we give up out of fear, we might be abandoning the only chance we have to experience a metamorphic life change!”

“That’s right. Riches lie where danger lies. I find it unacceptable to see a treasure trove and not enter. I’ll risk it. At least I won’t feel regret!”

The ones who spoke were two young geniuses from Magnificent Heaven. They were young and aggressive, having extremely great ambition. Although it was a forbidden ground that the likes Dong Xiaochen barely qualified for, they still chose to step in without any hesitation!

As though spurred on by the two geniuses, many of the warriors behind them stepped into the Divine Perish Hall as well.

One still heads to the tiger infested mountain despite knowing what it is! These genius warriors had come to the ancient battlefield to search for opportunities. Warriors lived to defy the heavens. If they avoided dangers upon encountering them, what was the point in cultivating in martial arts?

Of course, there were many who did not share that thought. If they lost their lives, the pursuit of the martial path wouldn’t matter. Knowing oneself was important as well.

“Oh? This person is…”

The moment they entered the Divine Perish Hall, they did not encounter the sweeping danger they had expected. Instead, they saw a person standing by the hall’s entrance.

In the beginning, they thought that the person had noticed the abnormal changes of the Divine Perish Hall and had feared entering. But upon careful observation, the person appeared to be studying something. And from the way he stood, it looked like had been studying it for a while.

This rendered them all speechless. They had charged into the Divine Perish Hall filled with fighting spirit, with ardor and zeal coursing through their blood. Yet this person was just standing there, studying the Divine Perish Hall’s passageway?

What was so interesting about the passageway that it needed studying? It was a no brainer that the most dangerous but also most opportune places were in the inner sanctums of the Divine Perish Hall. What treasures could such an empty passageway have?

“Isn’t he that warrior from the White Lunar Divine Empire?”

A few people recognized Yi Yun. They were somewhat alarmed since Yi Yun had come alone. He did not appear to be weak but it was quite odd for him to stay there to study the laws in the passageway. It felt like he was picking up timber to burn when there was an immortal paradise full of divine peaches right in front of him.

“Ignore him. Let’s enter,” said the two Magnificent Heaven geniuses. The passageway had some repulsive laws that were no stranger to them. The jade slips from their ancestors also had information on his, so they easily withstood the repulsion with a little trick.

People continued walking into the Divine Perish Hall but Yi Yun did not even glance at them.

Yi Yun obviously had the Nanxuan family clan’s jade slip in his hand. But he did not plan on abiding by the guides that were recorded in it.

After all, the ones that left behind such experience guides were only human, not the Heavenly Dao or God.

By following the instructions as laid out in the guide, he might be able to take shortcuts but he might also miss certain unknowns that previous warriors never found. It would prevent him from going beyond what the people who came before him had attained.

This was also the reason why Yi Yun insisted on buying the Decimation Token despite knowing that it was useless.

Even now, the laws were chaotic and strange. Despite knowing that others had studied it to no avail, or that it might not be worth anything at first glance, Yi Yun still chose to spend a lot of time on it.

He remained at the Divine Perish Hall’s entrance for a long period of time. He failed to figure out the laws, but for some reason they felt like something he had encountered before. When he probed, however, that feeling of familiarity disappeared again. It was as though it was an ephemeral idea of brilliance that he failed to grasp.

Could it be that the laws are related to a cultivation technique I cultivated in the past?

Yi Yun recalled the most mysterious cultivation technique he had cultivated—10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Back when Yi Yun participated in the Luo clan’s trials in the Primordial Empyrean Heaven, he saw something in the Purple Crystal Chaos Stone that astounded him. A man with long hair wore a black suit of armor, and held a spear in hand. Yi Yun felt that this person was a good distance away from him, but the moment he saw him, Yi Yun felt his heart quiver intensely. He felt like he was facing the Universe and the primordial stars.

The person exuded intense killing intent that made the worldly laws tremble. Amid such magnificent pressure, Yi Yun felt like he was a tiny boat in a storm, one that could be swallowed up at any time.

But what alarmed Yi Yun most was that the spear-wielding man clearly had a purple-colored crystal by his chest. And it was none other than the Purple Crystal Origins!

Following that, the man threw the spear as it constantly grew in size while traveling through the universe. It kept growing until it finally reached an incredulous size. It could string up hundreds of stars! When the large spear landed beneath the man’s feet, there was land, oceans, plants, animals, and even Fey beasts and humans growing on the spear.

A spear transformed into a narrow world strip simply like that.

Yi Yun did not know what sort of concept allowed one to casually transform one’s weapon into a world, but he knew deep down that the long-haired man was the strongest person he had ever encountered in his life.

Yi Yun had never seen a Godly Monarch but he had seen the eight Godly Monarchs’ statues. He felt that even they were inferior to him.

And this person was once the owner of the Purple Crystal.

Yi Yun also figured out the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence from the runic shadows that appeared when the man created a world.

It was a mysterious cultivation technique that, despite him only understanding an inkling of it, allowed him to produce unquestionable might.

The ultimate law that Yi Yun used—Dao of Major Destruction—stemmed from the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Yi Yun recalled the legend of the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield. Someone called it the real Sinkhole and others said that it was the battlefield of ancient God Spirits. There were others who said that it was a world formed naturally by the Heavenly Dao…

The chaotic laws by the Divine Perish Hall’s entrance were like the tip of the iceberg. However, they inspired Yi Yun to make a bold guess. Could it be that the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield was created by a person that exceeded a Godly Monarch, someone like the Purple Crystal owner? Could it be similar to how he created a world with his spear?

Or could it be possible… that this ancient battlefield was the world created by his spear?

1435 - : Abnormal Changes

CKtalon  CKtalon

The sudden thought made Yi Yun draw a cold gasp of air. If he looked at it that way, the ancient times of the world he was in must have held many secrets.

In order to verify his guess, Yi Yun circulated the Dao of Major Destruction, forming a 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence in his dantian. As it spun slowly, the laws within the passageway stirred violently as though in response. Even the passageway itself began to tremble.

“Oh?”

Many warriors that were walking ahead of him paused before they stepped foot into the inner sanctums. They were stunned by the sudden quaking of the passageway.

Someone looked around, hoping to determine the cause of the problem. This person noticed that Yi Yun’s eyes were still closed. He was still standing there completely composed while studying the laws at the entrance, as if nothing had happened.

“This guy truly is a genius when it comes to being a fool!”

People were rendered speechless. They were fired up, ready to storm the Divine Perish Hall. They didn’t care if he stopped there to study a passageway that had nothing. But now, something abnormal was actually happening to the passageway. Yet he was still studying it? Wasn’t he afraid that danger might suddenly rear its head in the passageway, robbing him of his life?

“Don’t divert your attention onto others. We must hurry inside. The laws of this passageway have turned more chaotic. Who knows what unforeseen changes might occur? It might even explode. Let’s go in quickly.”

As the genius from Magnificent Heaven spoke, he put everything he had into walking towards the inner sanctum. The chaotic laws had made it more difficult to proceed.

But just as his voice faded, the entire passageway lit up with a glaring beam of light. It gathered in midair, forming a blood-colored blob of light about the size of a fist.

Such a change astonished people once again. What was happening this time!?

They watched helplessly as the blob of blood-colored light appeared. The chaotic laws in the passageway turned calm once again. They no longer found it difficult to walk. But almost immediately, something happened that almost made their eyes pop out of their heads. The blob of light few towards Yi Yun of its own accord.

Yi Yun, who had his eyes closed in ruminative meditation, grabbed the blob of light and directly placed it into his interspatial ring.

No one knew what the blob of light was. But anything that appeared in the Divine Perish Hall after after it underwent a change must be something of note. Why did the blob of light fly to Yi Yun? Could it be that he had truly gained some incredible insight?

At that moment, Yi Yun no longer had his eyes closed to ponder over the laws. The repulsive force in the hall’s entrance had vanished as well. It was as though the chaotic laws had fused themselves into the blob of blood-colored light that flew to Yi Yun.

The two geniuses from Magnificent Heaven’s jaws dropped in astonishment. What the heck!? This was only a passageway. There were so many mysterious and unfathomable opportunities that lay in wait within the Divine Perish Hall’s inner sanctums. Yet, this fellow had targeted the empty passageway. They originally thought his actions to be extremely foolish but he actually managed to gain insights and change the laws of the area. He even gained some kind of benefit!

This left them feeling like they had been screwed by some Ancient Fey.

If they had known earlier, they would have also paused to study the laws. Perhaps they might have gained certain insights as well!

“Punk, what did you get?”

A Magnificent Heaven genius could not help but ask.

Yi Yun looked up to glance at him. He sneered inwardly. How could he tell others what he had obtained?

In fact, Yi Yun did not manage to figure out the laws at the entrance. Although he discovered that the laws were indeed related to his 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, the creator of the laws was at a level far higher than his. All he managed to do was uncover the tip of the iceberg. Fully understanding the laws present was a fantasy. All he did was a make a hopeful attempt of circulating his 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. He never expected to be suddenly rewarded. Even he was surprised by what had happened.

“Stop there!”

Seeing Yi Yun ignore him completely as he walked straight towards the inner sanctums of the Divine Perish Hall, the youth from Magnificent Heaven’s expression turned cold.

“What is it? You want to attack me?”

Yi Yun turned to look at him.

A glint flashed in the youth’s eyes. He was weighing the possibility of obtaining the item Yi Yun had received by defeating him.

However, Yi Yun had a mid-stage Supremacy cultivation level even if he was an itinerant cultivator without a background. In comparison, the youth was only at the Dao Palace realm.

Everyone’s cultivation level in the ancient battlefield was set to the ninth-storey Dao Palace but there were still differences in the nomological insights of a Supremacy and a Dao Palace warrior.

The Magnificent Heaven youth was sizing up Yi Yun’s combat strength. He was a genius that was nearly peerless at his realm. If he combined forces with his partner, he could very well defeat Yi Yun.

It was worth trying.

Just as the youth was about to share his thoughts with his junior brother through a voice transmission, Yi Yun suddenly moved!

He was like a ferocious tiger descending the mountain. He instantly appeared in front of the Magnificent Heaven genius, striking out with a punch!

This punch carried boundless might. Yi Yun had tempered his body with the Dragon Emperor Technique so that, even without using Yuan Qi, his physical attacks were not something warriors of the same realm could withstand.

The Magnificent Heaven youth’s expression changed drastically as he felt the pressure of the punch seal all his bodily functions. It was impossible for him to dodge!

“Junior Brother, aid me…”

Just as he shouted, Yi Yun’s punch landed firmly on his chest. It shattered all his ribs as his innards exploded!

The Magnificent Heaven youth’s body flew backwards like a ball being struck with a bat. He slammed heavily into the stone walls along the passageway!

He spewed out a large mouthful of blood. There was a destructive wound on his chest as he looked at Yi Yun in disbelief. He never expected that the difference between his and Yi Yun’s strength was as stark as night and day. Ignoring the fact that Yi Yun was originally a mid-stage Supremacy, he was probably not Yi Yun’s match even if they were at the same cultivation level.

“You… You…”

The Magnificent Heaven youth watched in horror as Yi Yun walked towards him. He gritted his teeth and shattered his teleportation token.

A white light fell from the sky, enveloping him completely. His blood-covered body vanished instantly.

He had been transported away!

The Divine Perish Hall’s passageway had yet to bar the usage of the teleportation tokens. He made a snap decision. Knowing that he was no match for Yi Yun, he chose to leave the ancient battlefield immediately!

But this also meant that he had wasted a valuable slot and opportunity. After all, the ancient battlefield only opened once every sixty years. The younger one was, the higher the chance of one being able to leave their names behind. The chances of finding great opportunities would also be higher.

“He left just like that?”

Yi Yun pricked up his brows. In fact, he had no plans to kill the Magnificent Heaven youth. Although the youth had nefarious thoughts, he did not put out any killing intent. He probably only entertained the thought of robbing Yi Yun. Yi Yun never expected him to flee out of fear after he taught him a slight lesson.

Yi Yun turned to look at the other Magnificent Heaven genius whose face had been scared ashen. His senior brother nearly faced the full wrath of this god of death despite not having done anything. Had he tried to attack Yi Yun, what would the consequences have been?

“I… I didn’t do a thing, nor did I ask.”

The Magnificent Heaven youth quickly washed his hands of the situation. Perhaps he might be next to bear the brunt of Yi Yun’s anger. If that happened, all he could do was shatter the teleportation token to escape.

1436 - : Blood Beam

CKtalon  CKtalon

From the way the youth spoke, Yi Yun knew he came from the Magnificent Heaven. He got the general idea that the Magnificent Heaven was a Great World in the Sinkhole. And all the factions in that Great World formed an alliance known as Magnificent Heaven.

As a mighty faction that was in no way inferior to the White Lunar Divine Empire, Yi Yun knew that the genius he just chased out was backed by a Divine Lord expert. There was bound to be some trouble as a result. It was only logical. There was no way he could kill everyone he encountered in the passageway.

As such, he ignored the youth, turned around, and walked into the inner sanctum of the Divine Perish Hall.

The moment he entered, the scene changed abruptly. Yi Yun saw a luxuriant grass plain under thick clouds in the sky. They looked like dark clouds that had been coalescing for tens of thousands of years. It was so dark and heavy that the clouds were probably about to release their load.

“The smell of blood?”

Yi Yun closed his eyes to better focus on the area. Someone had died recently in the vicinity but there was no corpse to be seen. He could not determine the cause of death since there were no remains.

“The teleportation token is no longer effective.”

Yi Yun took out his teleportation token and saw that it had already dimmed, having lost its power. Yi Yun knew that the spatial laws of the world he was in was sealed off from the usage of the teleportion array.

He casually crushed the teleportation token to powder. He had no need for it anyway. Since he had come to the ancient battlefield, Yi Yun planned on leaving his name on the World Monolith. Then, he could create one himself. Destroying it would only spur him on.

Yi Yun emanated his psyche perception and realized it was being greatly suppressed. It was now less than ten percent of what it originally was.

Yi Yun did not lower his guard. Instead, he turned even more alert as he walked towards the inner sanctums of the Divine Perish Hall.

…

About tens of thousands of kilometers away, Wan Qing was following Li Fire Divine Lord as they proceeded carefully. By then, they had already encountered bouts of fatal clashes and unending peril.

Aside from Wan Qing, there were about a dozen youths from the Wan family that followed Li Fire Divine Lord. But now, they only had about half that number.

Wan Qing was deeply regretting his choice. If he knew such an outcome would befall them, he would not have followed Li Fire Divine Lord as he stormed into the Divine Perish Hall because of his indignation. He was beginning to think he should not have even come to the ancient battlefield.

The ancient battlefield was highly recommended by many because of the existence of teleportation tokens. It allowed one to go all-out for opportunities in a low-risk environment. But now, they had experienced so many encounters that pushed them to the borders of life and death, with not a single benefit to be seen in the Divine Perish Hall. They might have even been all wiped out if not for Li Fire Divine Lord. He had managed to fend off most of the danger.

“Wait! Don’t walk there!”

As Wan Qing wallowed in his regret, he suddenly heard Li Fire Divine Lord shout. Wan Qing froze in fear as he instinctively took a huge step back.

He widened his eyes and saw that just ahead of him was a mudflat. It looked like mud that resulted from a rainy day but the color was even more greenish-yellow.

Apart from Wan Qing, there was another youth walking ahead of him. He was a few steps ahead and in fact, Li Fire Divine Lord was not shouting to warn Wan Qing but the youth.

However, the youth seemed to be spellbound. He stood in front of the mudflat in a daze, motionless.

“Senior Brother Wang, are… are you alright?”

A young girl behind him asked, her voice trembling. The combination of Li Fire Divine Lord’s warning and Senior Brother Wang’s strange posture made her feel a sense of foreboding.

As though he had heard her voice, Senior Brother Wang finally moved. He tottered his body around, but his appearance drained the color from the girl’s face.

Senior Brother Wang seemed to experience millions of years the instant he turned around. His face was now covered in wrinkles and his turbid eyes were mostly covered by his shriveled eyelids. His hair had turned white and clumps were falling out. Following that, his teeth decayed and fell out. Finally, as though his spine had vanished, he slumped straight to the ground.

He had not died and was, in fact, still conscious. He looked at the girl in front of him in pain. He had feelings for her, but now…

“Senior Brother Wang, Senior Brother Wang…” The girl was appalled.

“Netherworld water…” Li Fire Divine Lord drew a gasp. The River of Forgetfulness, one of the twelve legendary Fey Gods, was the combination of two tributaries. One was the River of Forgetfulness and the other was the River of the Netherworld.

The River of Forgetfulness’s water could slow down the passage of time, allowing a person to hold on to youthfulness and life. But the River of the Netherworld was the exact opposite. It would quickly pare away a person’s life and, since destruction was all too easy, the Netherworld water’s effects far exceeded those of the River of Forgetfulness. Just a drop was enough to age a person considerably, snuffing out their vital flames.”

“He can’t be saved. The few years he has left in him will only bring pain.” Li Fire Divine Lord sighed as he shot out Sword Qi. It struck Senior Brother Wang’s glabella. His body jolted gently before his eyes lost the last bit of luster that was left in them.

Upon seeing this scene, Wan Qing’s back broke out into cold sweat. If he had taken a few more steps forward, he would have shared the same outcome!

“Let’s go.” Li Fire Divine Lord casually tossed a fireball to cremate Senior Brother Wang’s corpse. He continued forward before suddenly coming to a halt.

He saw what seemed like billowing Essence Qi Apocalyptic Fumes surging into the sky far away.

The Essence Qi Apocalyptic Fumes contained horrifying lifeblood powers. Despite the great distance, it was still able to stir all of Li Fire Divine Lord’s lifeblood.

This is…

Li Fire Divine Lord’s eyes lit up.

There was something seemingly impressive over there!

“Master, that is…”

A white-robed man beside Li Fire Divine Lord felt his heart palpitate as well. He felt that it was a possible opportunity!

“Let’s go take a look. Perhaps there’s something good!”

A glint flashed in Li Fire Divine Lord’s eyes. He was no longer young; therefore, it was difficult for him to leave his name on the World Monolith due to its rules. However, he was not barred from receiving any opportunities. And since his strength far exceeded that of the young disciples, he held a distinct advantage when vying for them.

This was also the reason why many Divine Lords went to the ancient battlefield.

Due to the dangers they had already encountered, the group proceeded carefully towards the Essence Qi Apocalyptic Fumes. The distance of fifty kilometers took them two full hours to cross.

When they circled around a mountain, they finally saw the spot where the Essence Qi Apocalyptic Fumes originated. It left them astounded.

“How could this be…”

Li Fire Divine Lord narrowed his eyes. He saw a fountain source with water spewing out of it. And the water was turbid and greenish-yellow. It effused an indescribable aura of death.

Netherworld water!

Li Fire Divine Lord could determine that the fountain’s source was a pool of Netherworld water.

And in the middle of the fountain’s source was a plot of land with black sand. Above it grew a tiny tree.

The Essence Qi Apocalyptic Fumes that resonated with his bloodline came from this tiny tree!

The Netherworld water which could quickly erode life or even rot a world was actually capable of nurturing a tiny tree that suffused such terrifying lifeblood powers?

1437 - : Essence Qi Apocalyptic Fumes

CKtalon  CKtalon

As he advanced through the Divine Perish Hall, Yi Yun suddenly felt extreme danger. Without a thought, he drew Mirage Snow.

Bang!

A ear-piercing sound boomed as Yi Yun felt that his sword flash had fended off something in mid-air.

Whatever it was, it was invisible and formless but exuded an extremely powerful killing intent. Yi Yun even felt the killing intent infiltrate his meridians. It felt like a needle had stabbed into him.

An aura of decimation?

Yi Yun’s brows pricked up. For a warrior without his keen perception and considerable strength, such a powerful decimation aura would have destroyed their weapons and sliced through their bodies, grinding them to pieces.

The killing aura’s might was just too powerful. How did it appear so suddenly?

Yi Yun was puzzled. Even if an unimaginable battle between experts happened in the ancient battlefield, that had to be something that occurred billions of years ago. No matter how powerful the killing aura was back then, it should have long dissipated by now.

The strength of the killing aura was still capable of threatening his life, as though it had never weakened despite the long passage of time.

A baffled Yi Yun pondered for a moment before he took out a bronze token that suffused red light.

The bronze token was the item he had obtained in the Divine Perish Hall.

Before Yi Yun entered the ancient battlefield, he had bought a Decimation Token from a warrior from another faction.

The Decimation Token had exchanged hands among warriors of several major factions over the years but no one ever managed to figure out its secrets.

And in the Divine Perish Hall’s passageway, Yi Yun obtained a second token. It was similar to the one he bought but there were slight differences as well.

Decimation Tokens…

Yi Yun had guessed that the killing aura that permeated the ancient battlefield was just like the one contained in the Decimation Token. It was a law of the world he was in. It existed in the way the Heavenly Dao did. If it was a law of the world, the rules would not change as long as the world remained in existence.

If this world had to do with the mysterious person that created the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, it meant that the world must be related to the Dao of Major Destruction.

And decimation is an aspect of destruction. Decimation, by definition, is the destruction of life.

As Yi Yun considered the possibilities, he sensed an intense blast of Essence Qi surging towards him. He looked up, and he vaguely made out billowing Essence Qi Apocalyptic Fumes in the horizon that soared into the sky.

Oh? What is this?

Yi Yun’s heart stirred as he flew towards it with a flash!

Yi Yun was not the only one. Many warriors in the Divine Perish Hall had sensed the existence of the Essence Qi Apocalyptic Fumes as well.

However, the fumes were located deep within the Divine Perish Hall. The dangers that lurked everywhere in the hall made many people hesitate. Seeking the Essence Qi Apocalyptic Fumes would no doubt mean getting entangled in a life-or-death struggle.

Some did not even dare head for it. Others encountered dangerous situations and perished on the way there.

Of course, there were some experts in the Divine Perish Hall that ignored the distance. Di Rong was no doubt one of them.

He was only slightly slower than Li Fire Divine Lord as he rushed to the valley where the River of the Netherworld was.

He instantly saw the tiny tree that grew amid the fountain waters, as well as Li Fire Divine Lord, his other disciples, and Wan Qing.

“Di Rong?”

Li Fire Divine Lord knitted his brows. Di Rong had arrived just minutes after he discovered the tiny tree.

More than ten White Lunar Divine Empire warriors accompanied Di Rong. They were mostly core disciples of the White Lunar Divine Empire. One of them was a middle-aged scholar dressed in an azure-colored gown. His arrival in particular pricked up Li Fire Divine Lord’s brows.

Xing Yu Divine Lord!

He knew Xing Yu Divine Lord. Di Rong alone was naturally considered weak compared to Li Fire Divine Lord due to his age. Li Fire Divine Lord showed no apprehension towards him but the arrival of Xing Yu Divine Lord made things different.

“This is!” Xing Yu Divine Lord looked at the tiny tree as a glint flashed in his eyes.

The tree was only about the height of a person. Its trunk was contorted in shape and it looked shriveled, as though it was lacking water. Its bark looked like it had been sun-dried for years. It had few branches and only a handful of leaves hanging from them.

One noteworthy aspect of the tree was that every leaf was of a different shape. And among the leaves, a fist-sized fruit grew.

The fruit looked like a heart and even throbbed gently. It seemed to have a life of its own. A powerful lifeblood force came from the fruit.

For a tiny tree to grow in such a land of death but appear to be unaffected by the passage of time meant that it either had infinite life or that it had become immune to the effects of the Netherworld water. But most astounding of all was that such a land of death could produce such a tree that contained the pure, brimming exuberance of life. It was truly unbelievable.

“This fruit must be a rare treasure of nature. It’s the cherished treasure of that tiny tree.” Di Rong could not hide his excitement.

“Hehe, Daoist Xing Yu, Di Rong, what a coincidence. I just came here to pluck this treasure and here you are. You sure were fast!” Li Fire Divine Lord said nonchalantly.

“Daoist Li Fire, weren’t you faster? Since you arrived first, what are you waiting for? This tree suffuses such billowing Essence Qi. I believe it will attract many people here. If too many people come, no one will obtain the treasure without a bloody battle.” said Xing Yu Divine Lord with a smile.

Li Fire Di Rong chuckled loudly. “I share the same sentiments. Since you are aware that many people are rushing here to take this fruit, why aren’t you doing a thing? If you vie for the treasure through the combined efforts of you and Martial-nephew Di Rong, I would not be your match either. All I could do is watch you leave with the treasure.”

“Hahahaha!” Xing Yu Divine Lord laughed boisterously. He obviously could tell that there was something wrong with the tree. Plucking the fruit recklessly would definitely spell doom.

The tree had been baptized by the River of the Netherworld but that did not mean that they could withstand the massive pool of Netherworld water. It was definitely possible that anyone who attempted an approach would be reduced to bone!

The Great Cosmic State and the White Lunar Divine Empire could only exchange biting remarks. They both knew that the other party was not foolish. Neither side would willingly volunteer to test it out for the other.

Therefore, the situation was at an impasse. Both Xing Yu Divine Lord’s and Li Fire Divine Lord’s factions chose inaction.

And with the passage of time, more and more people arrived.

“Oh? Another Divine Lord is here.”

Just as Li Fire Divine Lord turned to look at the horizon, his attention skipped over the Divine Lord and instead focused on a figure appearing on the horizon.

Unlike everyone else, the figure had come alone. When he flew over, Wan Qing’s eyes widened.

Yi Yun!

That punk had managed to come all this way!

1438 - : River of the Netherworld

The tiny tree was situated deep in the Divine Perish Hall. The road leading to it was a treacherous one, with dangers lurking at every turn.

Of all the people drawn to the tiny tree, three of them were Divine Lords. They led teams and were naturally able to withstand the dangers of the Divine Perish Hall. There were even a few teams without Divine Lords that barely managed to make it through their cooperative efforts.

However, Yi Yun was alone.

“He stormed all the way here alone?” Wan Qing’s eyes flashed a look of envy but he immediately recalled that Yi Yun had not teamed up with anyone when he first came to the ancient battlefield. He had easily passed through the Psyche Vanquishing Desert, likely because of his extraordinary perception abilities.

If his perception was that powerful, he could notice dangers such as killing aura vortices or the Netherworld water ahead of time and avoid them.

“Yi Yun, your fleeing abilities are quite noteworthy. You managed to walk out of the Psyche Vanquishing Desert alive and then make it all the way here. If you were killed by the killing aura vortices of the Psyche Vanquishing Desert, I would not have the chance to see the agonizing look on your face when you die,” said Wan Qing in a teasing tone.

“Oh, it’s you.” Yi Yun seemed to only notice him at that moment. “How did you not die when you are so weak? From the looks of it, your family clan’s protection of trash is quite noteworthy.”

Yi Yun’s words hit Wan Qing’s soft spot. He had indeed relied on Li Fire Divine Lord to safely come so far.

“Being overly arrogant often leads to the early death of young people. Watch your words carefully, for teleportation tokens are not usable in the Divine Perish Hall!”

Li Fire Divine Lord narrowed his eyes at Yi Yun. By mentioning the inability to use teleportation tokens, he was making a barely-veiled threat. The threat of a Divine Lord was not something even someone as strong as Di Rong would ignore.

Yi Yun chuckled. “That’s right. Teleportation tokens can’t be used here. You are aware of that too. However, the Divine Perish Hall has only just begun to be dangerous and no one knows what it will throw at us later. Are you confident you can bring so much trash around and keep it safe through every situation that might arise? Besides… it doesn’t appear they will benefit at all by following you? All the benefits will definitely be yours in the end. The deeper you venture, the more danger there will be. If you fail to take care of them, they will be so out of luck. Or perhaps you plan on using them as cannon fodder?” Yi Yun said teasingly.

And his words not only succeeded in getting an ugly expression from Li Fire Divine Lord. Even Li Fire Divine Lord’s disciples and Wan Qing took on the contorted face!

Yi Yun’s words were extremely nasty but they had no way of refuting them.

It was true that they would only gain tiny benefits from following Li Fire Divine Lord. Furthermore, they could not believe any claim that he would take good care of every one of them. Just the journey here had caused many disciples to perish!

“Punk, do you have a death wish? How dare you malign my master!” A personal disciple of Li Fire Divine Lord said angrily. He shared a close relationship with Li Fire Divine Lord, after all. It was not easy for his master to take care of a bunch of people but it was not a problem for him to watch over his few disciples. As his personal disciple, it was somewhat likely he would share in the treasures Li Fire Divine Lord received.

“I’m living all fine and dandy, so why would I have a death wish? I believe it is all of you that wish to die. I bet some people are already regretting coming this far.”

Yi Yun glanced at Wan Qing who couldn’t tell whether it was intentional or not. Wan Qing’s face was so gloomy that it looked as black as a wok’s bottom. He really was regretting following Li Fire Divine Lord into the Divine Perish Hall. Now that he had reached this point, he was irrevocably committed.

“You should be grateful that this is a land of treasure or you would be a corpse by now.”

Li Fire Divine Lord did not conceal his intention to kill Yi Yun. In the ancient battlefield, Li Fire Divine Lord’s cultivation level had been repressed to the equivalent of an early-stage Supremacy. As for Yi Yun, he was repressed to the ninth-storey Dao Palace. That represented a considerable difference in realm. Although it was not difficult to kill Yi Yun, with so many people surrounding the treasure, it was clearly not the most opportune time to fight Yi Yun. It was imperative that he obtain the tiny tree first.

Before Yi Yun could say a word, a tranquil laughter rang out at that moment. “So your name is Yi Yun. What you just said has offended quite a number of people!”

Yi Yun found the voice familiar. He turned his head and saw a girl in a light-yellow dress.

He had seen her before. Back in the herbal valley from the Nanxuan family clan’s records, the girl had invited Yi Yun to hunt for the Thousand Illusion Lotus together but Yi Yun had no interest in it and rejected her.

She naturally saw the appearance of the Divine Perish Hall as well and went there along with everyone else. Beside her was a Daoist nun with a whisk in hand. She had a Divine Lord cultivation level and had fused a Divine Lord Royal Seal. They had arrived just after Yi Yun.

The yellow-dressed girl appeared to share a close relationship with the Daoist nun, making it likely that they were master and disciple.

“There are many people here in situations not very different from Wan Qing’s. They ventured deep into danger with their seniors without fully understanding the situation. Your words hit a soft spot for many people. That’s fine for you to say what you like, but now Li Fire Divine Lord wants you dead. He is a famous Divine Lord and you can’t use your teleportation token. There’s no escape for you.”

The girl happily spoke of the dangers that faced Yi Yun at the moment. Her gloating expression was quite irritating.

“What’s your point?” Yi Yun asked with a frown, his tone a little cold.

“I’m trying to help you, considering the dire circumstances you are in. I was thinking I could seek Master’s help to protect you. But of course, I’ll need you to use your unique perception cultivation technique to aid me in finding the Thousand Illusion Lotus.”

The girl had beat around the bush but ultimately, her goal was still the Thousand Illusion Lotus.

Although the Thousand Illusion Lotus was not ridiculously valuable, it was extremely rare. The girl likely needed it for a special pill, which caused her to be so insistent on obtaining it.

As for the Thousand Illusion Lotus, it could create myriad illusions. It could turn into a rock, a sand, or even a speck of dust. That was how it gained its name. To seek it, one did need unique abilities in the perception department.

“Sorry, I’m not interested.” Yi Yun rejected directly.

The girl stared with widened eyes when she heard that. “You!”

“Junior Sister Bluejade, ignore her. It’s a waste of your good intentions. Just let him die here,” quipped a youth unhappily. He had always had a liking towards her; therefore he was displeased that another man would reject her in such a straightforward manner.

Just as his voice faded, they heard a ear-piercing whoosh tear through the void.

Oh!?

People looked over. Someone had taken action out of impatience!

A strange person draped in gray robes was flying towards the tiny tree.

The person had come noiselessly, so much so that no one knew when exactly he had appeared.

“Hehe, since all of you are being so cordial with each other, I won’t stand on ceremony!”

The gray figure let out the screeching hoot of an owl. People originally believed that anyone who took action to approach the tiny tree probably had a death wish. But when Li Fire Divine Lord heard the sound, his expression changed drastically.

No good!

1439 - : Unexpected Intruder

The owl-like shriek and gray cloak made Li Fire Divine Lord think of someone—Cyclops Heretic Lord.

The person was elusive and had a rather odd character. He seemed perverse enough to torture to death anyone who gave him even the tiniest of slight. He was rather infamous and because of this, he had offended numerous people. Yet, he was still well alive up to this day.

And Cyclops Heretic Lord’s strength, which he greatly relied on, stemmed from his puppet. It came from an ancient ruin that was related to a Godly Monarch. Its entire body was made of Immutable Divine Gold, an extremely resilient material. He also wore a concealment cloak that was a treasure in and of itself. It could hide all his aura. Even mighty figures a full realm higher than him would hardly detect his presence under its effects.

And at that moment, Cyclops Heretic Lord was relying on the concealment cloak to approach the River of the Netherworld silently. With a beckon of his hand, a dark golden puppet flew out and charged right at the Netherworld tree.

Divine Gold Puppet!

Li Fire Divine Lord’s heart tightened. It was impossible for a person’s body to withstand the rapid passage of time from the Netherworld water but treasures were different. Many treasures sat in ancient ruins for hundreds of millions of years while retaining their mighty power. And the puppet that Cyclops Heretic Lord had released was made of Immutable Divine Gold, a material that was virtually indestructible.

Once Cyclops Heretic Lord obtained the Netherworld tree’s fruit, he would definitely use his concealment cloak to escape. It would be near impossible for them to find him once that happened.

“Stop him!” Li Fire Divine Lord bellowed.

At that moment, Cyclops Heretic Lord had disappeared as though he vanished into thin air. As for the Divine Gold puppet, it had charged straight at the Netherworld tree. This was Cyclops Heretic Lord’s modus operandi in combat. His opponents would be unable to hit him while they were worn down by the indestructible Divine Gold puppet.

Li Fire Divine Lord anxiously sought Cyclops Heretic Lord’s location and mustered all his attention to intercept the Divine Gold puppet when it retreated.

But at that moment, he felt a chilling sensation behind him.

The instant the Divine Gold puppet made contact with the Netherworld tree, it began to crumble like an exquisite sand sculpture. Countless fine cracks appeared on its surface and spread across its entire body. The puppet was reduced to golden sand under the watchful gazes of everyone. It scattered away with a gust of wind, eventually vanishing into nothingness.

What!?

Li Fire Divine Lord felt palpitations run through him. That was Immutable Divine Gold, a material that could virtually last for eternity. Yet it could not even survive the Netherworld water and even disintegrated in such a short period of time!?

“Ah!”

At that moment, an ear-piercing voice sounded. A gray figure plummeted from the sky and crashed heavily to the ground.

The gray figure was none other than Cyclops Heretic Lord.

He struggled frantically after crashing to the ground. He was even crawling away from the Netherworld tree on all fours.

Cyclops Heretic Lord kept shouting tragically. The Immutable Divine Gold puppet was connected to his soul. The moment it was reduced to dust, his psyche suffered horrible damage, causing irreparable damage!

“How… How did this happen to you…”

For a moment, Li Fire Divine Lord saw Cyclops Heretic Lord’s face under the gray cloak. Although Cyclops Heretic Lord was not young, the impression people had of him was that he must’ve looked like a mortal in his fifties or sixties. But at that moment, Li Fire Divine Lord saw that Cyclops Heretic Lord looked like a old man. All his wrinkles were scrunched together, his eyes turbid. His hair was falling off in clumps, revealing a wrinkled bald head filled with age spots.

Cyclops Heretic Lord struggled in pain. More than ninety percent of his vitality had been drained. He did not look like he had long to live.

Li Fire Divine Lord drew a gasp. Cyclops Heretic Lord was injured by the backlash to his soul when his puppet was destroyed. It caused him to fall to a spot relatively close to the River of the Netherworld. Almost instantly, the passage of time eroded him!

Although Cyclops Heretic Lord was a Divine Lord that had yet to fuse a Divine Lord Royal Seal, he was still a Divine Lord. Even so, he was destroyed so simply without even touching the Netherworld water.

Such a terrifying set of time laws sent chills down the backs of everyone present.

As Li Fire Divine Lord was pondering over the matter, Xing Yu Divine Lord walked towards the Netherworld tree.

His actions immediately drew the gazes of everyone present. After all, with a precedent clearly established by Cyclops Heretic Lord, his attempt was a commendable act of bravery.

Xing Yu Divine Lord wiped his interspatial ring as an ancient wooden chessboard appeared in his hand.

The moment it appeared, it flew into mid-air and spun slowly.

The squarish chessboard had a few pieces on it that held fast to the board. A world seemed to be sealed within the board.

“Constellation Revolution?” exclaimed the whisk-wielding Daoist nun.

“Master, what is that?” Bluejade asked out of curiosity.

“This chessboard is a very famous spatial artifact. Space-time is a Great Dao of Supremacy. It is indeed a smart move for Xing Yu to use space to tackle time.”

The nun’s expression was heavy. She clearly believed that Xing Yu’s method might work and was afraid that he would obtain the treasure.

The black and white pieces on the wooden chessboard shimmered with dazzling beams of light. An interlocking net spread out and enveloped space itself.

The surrounding scenery vanished as everyone found themselves standing on top of the massive net with a black backdrop behind them. The pieces also became extremely large.

As for the Netherworld tree, it was also transported to the chessboard’s Tian Yuan location.

Constellation Revolution referred to the spatial transformations of space.

Xing Yu knew he had no way to withstand the River of the Netherworld’s time laws. Instead, he hoped to use spatial dimension laws to take the tree away from the river.

If he could move the tree to a spot right in front of him, the threat posed by the River of the Netherworld would naturally become nonexistent. Not only would plucking the fruit be easy, he could even take the entire tree away without any danger.

Using space to crack time was a good way to evade the crucial problem, one might even call it extremely ingenious.

Xing Yu moved his fingers as though the world was a giant chess game, because it was. Piece after pieced moved as they landed on the eight ‘stars’ around the Tian Yuan.

The eight pieces trembled, surrounding the Tian Yuan completely and sealing off space.

With that, Xing Yu made a grab as the eight pieces encroached towards the Tian Yuan spot. The very spatial laws changed as Constellation Revolution acted on the world!

But at that moment, Xing Yu’s expression changed. He watched helplessly as, in the chess network that filled the world, the spot in the Tian Yuan position turned as black as ink for a baffling reason. The blackness got even darker as it transformed into what seemed like a black hole that could swallow everything. It tugged at the entire worldly chessboard and, with that, the middle of the chessboard began disintegrating.

The Tian Yuan shattered as the spatial plane created by the chessboard began crumbling from the middle. Immediately following that, the net that filled the void began falling apart.

This…

Xing Yu was alarmed. The worldly chessboard was no simple man-made item, but something condensed from laws.

The chessboard he formed out of spatial dimension laws was disintegrating just like that?

It was naturally impossible to trigger Constellation Revolution the moment the laws powering it were destroyed. The worldly chessboard completely exploded as he retreated several steps back with a pale face and found his footing only with Di Rong’s help.

He had suffered backlash from the destruction of the laws. Fortunately, he did not directly approach the Netherworld tree, and so kept his life.

1440 - : Constellation Revolution

Xing Yu Divine Lord had failed as well. The Netherworld water could not only erode Immutable Divine Gold, it could even disintegrate spatial dimension laws.

People looked at the chessboard in Xing Yu Divine Lord’s hands. The chessboard had already lost its luster. It looked like it had lost a great deal of its power, and would probably not recover unless subjected to long periods of Yuan Qi nourishment.

Under such circumstances, there were people who were already sighing at the seemingly impossible task ahead of them. The tiny tree was probably unobtainable. Besides, they still did not even know what the tiny tree could be used for. What if they got it and failed to figure out anything about it?

“Xing Yu, from the looks of it, none of us can obtain this treasure by ourselves. But if we were to cooperate…”

Li Fire Divine Lord made a sudden proposition at that moment. Having found a huge opportunity in the Divine Perish Hall, it would be truly miserable if they returned empty-handed. He wanted to be sure they made every possible attempt.

“Do you actually have some other trick up your sleeve?” Xing Yu Divine Lord snorted. He did not wish to cooperate with Li Fire Divine Lord, considering how he had already failed with his best artifact.

“Your attempt did give me an idea. You wished to use the Constellation Revolution to move the tree away from the water. That proved too difficult. But if we do not move the tree’s position and instead use an alternate dimension to envelop the tree, even a few seconds would be enough to isolate the tree from the River of the Netherworld. Things will become a lot easier.”

“Oh?” Upon hearing Li Fire Divine Lord’s comment, Xing Yu’s interest was indeed piqued. “Even if we can isolate it, how do you plan on plucking the fruit? Don’t tell me you are leaving that to me!”

“Hahaha! Brother Xing Yu, nice joke. How can I leave such a dangerous task to you? I will obviously be the one doing it.”

As he spoke, he shook his hand as a golden whip appeared in it.

“This Li Fire Divine Whip is also an ancient weapon that has remained in existence for hundreds of millions of years. Once the tree is isolated from the time laws of the Netherworld water, I will use this whip to retrieve the fruit. Even if the time laws leak, this Li Fire Whip of mine should be able to withstand it for a moment!”

“This is indeed quite a good idea.” Xing Yu Divine Lord nodded. Although Li Fire Divine Lord was the one retrieving the fruit, it was impossible for him to leave with the fruit right in front of him.

“I’m not confident I can do this alone. I will set up a massive array and invite Daoist Xing Yu, Nun Annihilation, as well as all fellow cultivators to join us. We will definitely succeed if we join forces.”

As Li Fire Divine Lord spoke, he smiled at all the warriors present.

His words made the warriors present have nasty expressions. He was actually asking them to power his array!

It was obvious that the fruit would be split among the three Divine Lords once it was retrieved. The rest of them would not gain anything from it, so what was the point in helping?

And at that moment, Nun Annihilation nodded. “Daoist Li Fire’s idea is not bad.”

Li Fire Divine Lord smiled and added, “Fellow cultivators, there is no risk in this matter. All you need to contribute is a bit of your strength. Treat it as a valuable experience.”

With that said, Li Fire Divine Lord threw out a disk array that spun in the sky. He had already use spatial dimension laws to seal off a large region around them.

“Spatial Illusion Killing Array. This…” People felt their hearts skip a beat. The spatial seal array actually contained killing intent itself. Rashly charging out was dangerous. The use of this array was forcing them to help!

Although they could break out of the spatial seal by combining forces, none of them dared to take the lead when they were against a Divine Lord.

“This old bastard is taking bullying too far.” Some people felt displeased.

“We can only blame ourselves for being weak. Bear with it,” said another person secretly through a voice transmission.

Seeing how the other two Divine Lords were agreeable with Li Fire Divine Lord’s method and how the people they led would naturally join the formation, the smaller teams had no means to put up any resistance considering their weakness.

Dozens of array flags planted themselves around the valley as the three Divine Lords surrounded the Netherworld tree while standing in a triangular formation.

“Everyone, please stand around the array formation. I will let my disciples demonstrate first. Follow them in injecting your Yuan Qi into the array flags. That’s all,” Li Fire Divine Lord said in a deadpan manner.

These people had submitted to his demands as he had expected. He did not plan on compensating them in any way to begin with. That was completely unnecessary, after all. Survival of the fittest was a rule in the world of warriors. It was common for people to be robbed and killed, much less be used as free labor.

Everyone held back their anger and acted as Li Fire Divine Lord instructed.

“Quick, quickly inject your Yuan Qi into the array flags. Do it just like me. And don’t even think about slacking. I can tell if you aren’t using all your strength.”

Wan Qing held an array flag as he spoke indifferently to the crowd. Although he knew he would not reap much benefit either, it was better to follow Li Fire Divine Lord. He at least stood a chance of gaining some tiny benefit.

“Yi Yun, it must be hard for you to rush all the way here only to help our array.” Wan Qing looked at Yi Yun and sneered.

However, Yi Yun was standing motionlessly with his hands down while everyone was acting as Li Fire Divine Lord instructed.

Wan Qing pricked up his brows and teased, “What are you standing in a daze for? Are you deaf? Did you not hear Lord Li Fire’s instructions?”

The teleportation tokens were useless here. From Wan Qing’s point of view, Yi Yun was already a dead man.

But at that moment, Yi Yun looked up at Wan Qing. The look in his eyes was as though he had seen a worm struggling in mud.

“Scram!”

“What did you say!?” Wan Qing’s eyes widened. He never expected Yi Yun to act so arrogantly even at death’s doorstep.

“Little bastard, you are courting death!”

Just as Wan Qing’s words faded, Yi Yun suddenly took a step forward. He extended his arm as fast as lightning, smacking Wan Qing with his palm.

Yi Yun’s body had become extremely powerful after cultivating the Dragon Emperor Technique. Even a casual slap could render the world asunder. It was obviously not something Wan Qing could dodge.

“Pa!”

With a crisp slap, Yi Yun’s hand landed on Wan Qing’s face. He screamed out tragically as he spun like a top in midair. After flying to a height of seven or eight meters, he crashed heavily to the ground.

His mind was buzzing from Yi Yun’s slap. He began seeing stars as the right side of his face turned to mush. He even spat out about five teeth.

“It looks like you are deaf. I told you to scram but you didn’t hear it. All I could do was help you to understand.”

Yi Yun wiped his hands in contempt. He disparaged scheming people like Wan Qing.

Instantly, there was silence. A few warriors from the tinier factions and even itinerant cultivators looked at Yi Yun in shock when they saw him send Wan Qing flying with a slap.

None of them dared to resist with Li Fire Divine Lord giving threats. Yet, Yi Yun had beaten the daylights out of his subordinate. He was just too bold. Furthermore, many of them did not even manage to see how Yi Yun had done it.

1441 - : Taking Advantage of the Circumstances

Everyone looked at Li Fire Divine Lord. He had an ashen expression with eyes full of killing intent.

Wan Qing was still alive. Although his face had been smashed in, it was only a light injury for a warrior. Yi Yun had held back and so did not hurt Wan Qing’s soul sea. Wan Qing could completely recover after taking some recuperative medicine despite the fact that he was rolling on the ground and making a show of his pain.

“Xing Yu, this little bastard beat my disciple. Are you not going to say a word?”

Li Fire Divine Lord glanced at Xing Yu. Even though he was quite an outcast, Yi Yun was still considered a member of the White Lunar Divine Empire just like Xing Yu. Li Fire Divine Lord had to consult with him if he wanted to punish Yi Yun.

Xing Yu knitted his brows. He also wished for the spatial array to succeed so that he could have access to the Netherworld tree.

Now, everyone was helping to set up the massive array. Everyone except Yi Yun, who stood alone acting smug. From his point of view, Yi Yun was someone who lacked sense. If Yi Yun was also not from the White Lunar Divine Empire, he would have taught him a lesson personally.

He said to Li Fire Divine Lord, “The grudge between you and that punk is personal. I will naturally not intervene. However, with the array half-done, and you being the one controlling it, it’s best you finish setting up the array. You can settle your personal grudge later!”

If Li Fire Divine Lord cancelled the creation of the array to attack Yi Yun, the Yuan Qi that had already been injected would be wasted.

“Alright!” Li Fire Divine Lord sneered. He knew that if he really killed Yi Yun on the spot, it would stain Xing Yu Divine Lord’s reputation since he would be standing idly by. Once Xing Yu was gone, none of what followed would concern him.

Li Fire Divine Lord raised his hand and sent a tracing mark into Yi Yun’s body.

He made no effort to conceal the mark so that everyone knew he would punish those who slighted him.

Instantly, everyone looked at Yi Yun with looks of pity. Di Rong sighed lightly. Even Xing Yu Divine Lord had given up on protecting Yi Yun. He naturally had no reason to help Yi Yun either. All Yi Yun could do was hope for the best.

Li Fire Divine Lord’s array slowly began to activate. Only Yi Yun stood alone outside the array. From beginning to the end, he was constantly observing the River of the Netherworld.

The spatial dimension laws that Xing Yu Divine Lord had used had been corroded. Simply put, his nomological insights were insufficient. They could not withstand the passage of time. If they truly were a law of the Heavenly Dao, how could they decay so easily from the River of the Netherworld?

Yi Yun had learned a lot by watching the attempts of Xing Yu Divine Lord and Cyclops Heretic Lord.

The decay that the passage of time brought was a type of Destruction law.

Decimation was Destruction.

Aging was Destruction.

Death was Destruction.

Decaying to dust was also Destruction.

In fact, from the moment he entered the ancient battlefield, be it the World Monolith that had weathered the names engraved on it, the Psyche Vanquishing Desert, or even the River of the Netherworld that turned everything to dust, he found that all were a form of Destruction. In other words, this place was a portion of the Dao of Major Destruction.

As for the Netherworld tree…

Yi Yun felt that it was not what one would ordinarily think of as a plant. Unless a plant could transcend the shackles of eternal Samsara, it would long have rotted when immersed in the River of the Netherworld.

But the tiny tree had existed constantly for eons. Every second it lived meant it endured infinite time. But it did not seem to change. Even its few leaves did not move at all.

This was because the tree was condensed from laws. And these laws were core to the Universe’s Great Dao. Only by being an existence that transcended time would one have a chance of surviving inside the River of the Netherworld.

Treasures that were commonly understood to come from nature had their fruits or roots that could be used to refine medicine. However, the fruit the nomological tree bore was a nomological fruit.

Yi Yun activated his Purple Crystal’s energy vision and looked at the Netherworld tree. He could clearly see that each leaf seemed to contain a hideous fiendish god.

And these entities was very identical to the ones on the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence that Yi Yun cultivated in.

As for the fruit, it was even more extraordinary. Through his energy vision, Yi Yun could see that there was a pocket world inside the fruit. And in the middle of the pocket world, a meandering river was slowly flowing.

It was the River of the Netherworld.

Yi Yun took a deep breath. He wanted the tiny tree. He had figured out his 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence from the illusions carved in the Chaos Stones. It was not the most perfect Dao of Major Destruction.

At that moment, as he felt the laws gathered from the Netherworld tree and compared them to the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, Yi Yun quickly realized that there were inadequacies in his own insights into the Dao of Major Destruction.

If he could obtain the tiny tree, his Destruction laws would improve greatly!

Yi Yun’s eyes glimmered. He never expected to have a chance at studying the Dao of Major Destruction after leaving the Luo clan so many years ago. He definitely was not going to miss out on this chance.

While Yi Yun was figuring out the Destruction laws contained within the Netherworld tree. Li Fire Divine Lord’s array was done. Seventy-two array flags now formed a spatial array in order to seal the Netherworld tree in an independent space, isolating it from the River of the Netherworld.

“Weng!”

The seventy-two array flags shot out seventy-two dazzling beams of blue light. All the warriors present had their strength drained by the array flags. Instantly, the array formation was fully activated.

People could see the space above the Netherworld tree seem to rip apart. One could plainly see the endless stars through the void rift.

This was precisely the alternate space that Li Fire Divine Lord had summoned!

As the astral sky descended, it wrapped around the Netherworld tree. At that moment, Li Fire Divine Lord’s forehead was covered in sweat. He stared with widened eyes, aware of the fact that he was ten feet away from his prize. The alternate dimension he had spawned would do its job once it closed that ten-foot gap!

He already had his Li Fire Divine Whip out, ready to pluck the fruit at any moment.

However, the spatial laws contained in the River of the Netherworld were just too strong. He could clearly sense that the alternate space was constantly eroding away even as it descended!

And the closer it got to the Netherworld tree, the faster it corroded.

Even space had a lifespan. Even Great Worlds would collapse with the passage of time, much less a tiny alternate space.

“Li Fire, are you not taking action now? I can’t last much longer!”

Xing Yu Divine Lord had expended quite a lot too. Besides, he did not dare to inject all his strength into the array formation. He was acutely aware that when they got the fruit, strength would determine how it was split.

Nun Destruction shared the same thoughts. When her Yuan Qi had depleted more than forty percent, she began contributing Yuan Qi at a slower rate.

“There’s not enough energy. What do we do? We won’t get the fruit at all if you people keep slowing down your injection!”

Li Fire Divine Lord turned anxious. The current pocket world was about eight feet from the tiny tree. But those eight feet felt like an insurmountable chasm.

For every foot closer the array got, the crumbling of space quickly doubled. Therefore, completely enveloping the tiny tree was practically an impossible task.

1442 - : Decay and Destruction

"Damn it!"

Li Fire Divine Lord's expression was hideous as veins protruded from his forehead like worms coming out of the dirt. He had already used half of his Yuan Qi but he was unable to proceed further, his alternate space a tragic distance of eight feet away.

"Ka Ka Ka!"

At that moment, Li Fire Divine Lord suddenly heard the sounds of space shattering. His heart sank as he looked up to see that the space he had summoned was cracking from its center.

Oh no!

Li Fire Divine Lord's scalp tingled. He felt that the alternate space was about to crumble completely.

The alternate space he had summoned was already being worn away as it approached the tree. Now, the space was collapsing on itself entirely. Once it did so, it might even explode, causing a backlash on him since he was the one who had created it.

"Li Fire, what are you doing!?"

"It's unstable at its core. It's about to collapse!"

Xing Yu Divine Lord and Nun Annihilation obviously noticed the situation. Li Fire Divine Lord's head was covered in sweat and he could no longer keep the array formation going at a constant rate. However, he was too stubborn to give up now that they had come so close.

He could only command the alternate space to temporarily leave the Netherworld tree.

Whoosh—

The alternate space raised to a height of eighty to ninety feet away. The corrosive powers were greatly reduced at this distance. He could finally hold the space together again.

However, the cracks in the alternate space remained. A pocket world had a life of sorts. Once life began waning and approached death, trying to reverse the cycle of life to return to youthfulness was just too difficult.

The alternate space had already been heavily damaged. Not only could Xing Yu Divine Lord and Nun Annihilation tell, even people at Wan Qing's level knew.

Had he failed?

Although the alternate space did not explode, it was clearly at the end of its rope. When everyone looked at Li Fire Divine Lord again, he was covered in sweat and looked irrevocably committed to a lost cause.

Li Fire Divine Lord was feeling very depressed. He knew the wise choice was to have the alternate space calmly disintegrate. However, he had exerted so much effort and gathered so much manpower only to end up in failure. He would become nothing but a laughing stock.

Was there a way to salvage this?

Li Fire Divine Lord racked his brains but at that moment, he saw a figure charge out of the crowd from the corner of his eyes. It was heading straight for the Netherworld tree!

Oh?

Li Fire Divine Lord was alarmed. When he focused his eyes, he saw that the figure was none other than Yi Yun!

Was he mad!?

Previously, the Divine Gold puppet had been corroded by the River of the Netherworld's time powers. How was it possible for a body of flesh and blood withstand it!?

Wan Qing was dumbfounded by the sight. Did Yi Yun think that the spatial array had served its purpose and wished to steal the fruits of their labor?

But if that were the case, it would make him too foolish! But if that was not the case, what reason could he have for charging towards the tree?

"You are courting death!"

Wan Qing sneered. Regardless of what was on Yi Yun's mind, there was only one way charging forward would end. That was Yi Yun being reduced to dust. Not even his bones would be left behind.

"Master, is he about to die?"

As everyone watched with either curiosity or detachment, Bluejade alone turned anxious. There was no way to know if it had to do with her mind still being on the Thousand Illusion Lotus or if she was just too kind-hearted to watch a tragedy unfold.

However, Nun Annihilation remained unmoved. From her point of view, a person blinded by greed deserved death.

And at that moment, Yi Yun had already entered the vicinity of the Netherworld water.

The instant Yi Yun entered the River of the Netherworld's nomological world, he felt like he had entered a space-time tunnel.

The tunnel appeared spatially short and temporally brief. But if he truly walked across it and reached its endpoint, it would instantly be the end of his lifespan. Even his body would completely decay, turning to dust.

The starting point was life and the endpoint was death!

Even a Royal Sealed Divine Lord would share the same outcome if he stepped into the space-time tunnel.

However, from Yi Yun's point of view, the short tunnel was only a tiny and inconsequential portion of an even longer space-time tunnel.

And this long tunnel's beginning and ending points were not life and death, but the beginning and ending of the Universe itself.

Time was a part of the Universe's Great Dao after all. The Universe was formed first, even before there was space and time.

At the dawn of the Universe, there was Chaos. Complementing it was the Dao of Major Destruction that appeared at the end of the Universe. They were on a higher level than the Great Dao of Time.

And time was like a line that passed through both Chaos and Major Destruction.

When everything in the Universe faded, all that would remain would be ruins from the Major Destruction. The only testament to what happened would be the marks left behind in the endless flow of time. At the same time, those remnants would also give rise to the birth of a new Universe.

Yi Yun was currently walking that path but it was only a tiny, inconsequential one.

It only contained lifespans, the living years, and history. Only by standing at a higher vantage point, at a level above the Universe's Heavenly Dao, would he be able to more deeply understand the rules of time.

"My starting and ending points are not life and death but the Chaos creation and Major Destruction annihilation. If I can fully grasp the Dao of Major Destruction, then my ending point is not to die of age but to fuse with Destruction, allowing me to gain complete control over it!"

"The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence is, in fact, the black vortex that destroys the Universe during the final Major Destruction."

These insights flashed through Yi Yun's mind as he took wide strides forward. He stepped through the space-time tunnel and walked right to the end!

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence spun in his dantian as his eyes seemed to project the cosmos. When he came in front of the tiny fruit tree, he extended his hand and gently gripped the red fruit that resembled a heart.

Tightening his grip, Yi Yun easily plucked the fruit. It was as simple as plucking a wild fruit in a forest.

However, Yi Yun was not satisfied. He plucked a few leaves and put them away carefully with the fruit.

With the fruit in hand, he could keenly sense the Great Dao laws condensed within it. They were like a raging tidal wave that struck his mind.

Meanwhile, everyone else was dumbfounded by this turn of events. They all stood rooted to the ground in complete silence like statues!

Even the three Divine Lords were watching with widened eyes as though they had seen a ghost.

"How did he…" Li Fire Divine Lord's voice trembled. Back when he attempted to use the spatial array to envelop the fruit tree, he learned how terrifying the powers of time were. Yet, Yi Yun had strolled right up to the tree. Not only did his body not age and decay, he had even easily plucked the fruit.

This made them, whom had gone through arduous efforts, look like a bunch of idiots.

"Impossible! Impossible! Lord Li Fire, this little bastard must have used our array formation. Our concerted efforts isolated the space when we set up the spatial array formation, allowing him to luck out," shouted Wan Qing suddenly. The scene of Yi Yun plucking the fruit truly left him in shock. He found it unbelievable, and decided that the only possibility was that Yi Yun had taken the opportunity to enter after everyone isolated the River of the Netherworld's time laws through a collective effort. Yi Yun was truly shameless to pluck the fruit without doing any work.

1443 - : Space-time Tunnel

Upon hearing Wan Qing’s theory, everyone found it highly likely. If the alternate space had not isolated the tree from the River of the Netherworld, how could Yi Yun pluck the fruit so easily?

As for Li Fire Divine Lord, the one who presided over the array formation, he did not believe that the alternate space had succeeded. However, the River of the Netherworld’s laws were extremely strange. He could not say for sure whether the array had caused some unknown changes to the river’s laws.

Regardless, it was fact that Yi Yun had plucked the fruit unscathed. It was very likely that the River of the Netherworld’s laws had changed in some way.

They watched Yi Yun put the fruit and a few leaves into his interspatial ring. At that moment, his body elevated slightly and runic patterns coruscated beneath his feet.

It was the Dao runes of spatial teleportation!

Li Fire Divine Lord’s pupils constricted. The punk was planning on escaping using spatial teleportation!

“He’s trying to escape!”

The group of people had gone to great lengths for the fruit, but now it was being taken by an itinerant Supremacy. How could they tolerate that!?

Xing Yu Divine Lord and Nun Annihilation were gripped with anxiety as well.

“Li Fire, lower your alternate space on him. Don’t let him escape!” Xing Yu Divine Lord shouted.

Li Fire Divine Lord gritted his teeth. He instantly directed his cracking alternate space to descend upon Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was floating twenty feet above the Netherworld tree. It was impossible for the alternate space to envelop the tree but it was still possible for it reach Yi Yun who was twenty feet above.

As it descended upon him, Yi Yun showed no concern towards the alternate space. Instead, he suddenly raised his hand. In the middle of his palm, a gray flaming mark appeared. It looked like it had life and was constantly struggling. “Li Fire, is this the tracing mark you left on me…”

“What!?”

Li Fire’s expression changed drastically. Yi Yun had managed to extract the tracing mark he had planted so quickly and easily?

Just that feat alone far exceeded ordinary Supremacies.

Then, Yi Yun casually squeezed and, with a light explosive crack, the tracing mark shattered!

Li Fire Divine Lord’s face turned slightly white as he took a step back. The mark was connected to his psyche after all. Yi Yun had used the crudest method to wipe out the mark, giving him an instant and sharp pain. It was not as serious as damaging Li Fire Divine Lord’s soul sea but the pain was inevitable.

As Li Fire Divine Lord felt the pain in his soul sea, Yi Yun suddenly waved his hand.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

999 bright beams of light tore through the void like bloodthirsty specters. It was Yi Yun’s Thousand Snow flying sabers!

At Yi Yun’s present cultivation level, setting up the Thousand Snow Saber Array took only an instant. And the target of the rain of sabers was Wan Qing!

Wan Qing had already been injured and, as he was directing the numerous itinerant cultivators in setting up the array, he was rather far from Li Fire Divine Lord. It was impossible for Yi Yun to kill Li Fire Divine Lord with one strike, but he could definitely finish Wan Qing in one.

Li Fire Divine Lord never expected that Yi Yun, who had activated a spatial transference for escape, would suddenly attack. He failed to react in time!

“Lord Li Fire, save me!”

Seeing the snow-like flying sabers hurtling towards him, Wan Qing yelled out in panic. It was completely impossible for him to be saved by Li Fire Divine Lord, who was almost all the way across the River of the Netherworld. He needed at least few seconds to react.

He leaped backwards and conjured a light screen out of thin air in front of him to ward off the flying sabers.

At the same time, he opened his mouth and spat out a green talisman. It was created by a Wan family senior and was a trump card meant to preserve his life!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

A series of explosive booms rang as the Thousand Snow flying sabers relentlessly struck the light screen that Wan Qing had conjured. The light screen only lasted for a thousandth of a blink of an eye before shattering. The saber beams did not lose their momentum as they stabbed straight at Wan Qing’s vital spots.

It was all just too fast!

Wan Qing had only just spat out the talisman when the flying sabers riddled his body with countless bloody holes!

Hum!

And only then did the green talisman finally trigger. It formed a green barrier that enveloped Wan Qing. But at that moment, the Thousand Snow flying sabers had already flown back towards Yi Yun like intelligent petrels!

Inside the green barrier, Wan Qing’s body was covered in blood. He grunted heavily before slamming to the ground. The effectiveness of a talisman, even if it was made by a Divine Lord, depended on the user. Wan Qing’s strength was just too inferior to Yi Yun’s. He could not fend off Yi Yun’s assault even with a Divine Lord talisman.

The Thousand Snow flying sabers retreated the moment they did their job. However, Yi Yun was not overly concerned with Wan Qing’s outcome. He gave him a brief, nonchalant glance as though he was seeing a wretch that was almost dead.

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!”

Wan Qing suddenly let out a tragic scream as he covered his bloody abdomen with both hands. The sabers had penetrated his dantian, grinding his Dao Palace to shreds. His cultivation had been crippled by Yi Yun.

In a large family clan like the Wan family, a person that lost his cultivation was no different from trash and was bound to be abandoned. Wan Qing’s heart turned ashen as his body trembled.

Meanwhile, the cracked alternate space had completely enveloped Yi Yun. Although the space was already in shambles, it was still able to barely hold together at a height of twenty feet.

“Idiot! He could have escaped but he took the time to cripple Wan Qing. He gave up his opportunity to escape!” said a red-dressed youth beside Li Fire Divine Lord coldly. He was a favorite disciple of Li Fire Divine Lord and was already a Supremacy.

Seeing that the few benefits he could have received were taken by Yi Yun, how could he tolerate it?

“That’s right. Furthermore, that idiot used flying sabers. Now we can use their trajectories to find the spots where the River of the Netherworld’s laws are ineffective!” added someone else.

Seeing as the spatial runic patterns beneath Yi Yun’s feet were still coruscating, they could no longer wait to attack.

“Stop him!”

“Sou!”

The red-dressed man was first to move. He leapt forward, and a few people behind him also charged at Yi Yun.

They could turn a blind eye to Yi Yun’s plucking of the fruit at first, but with his flying sabers flying so freely amid the River of the Netherworld’s laws, they were certain that something must have gone wrong with the laws.

Most importantly, the alternate space had already enveloped Yi Yun. Since he was twenty feet above the Netherworld tree, the alternate space could isolate him from the River of the Netherworld’s laws which implied that there was no danger for them.

But at that moment, they saw a mocking sneer suffuse the corner of Yi Yun’s lips. The smile looked like he was smiling at the ridiculous thought of a group of wretches attacking an Ancient Fey.

“Why…”

Upon seeing the smile, the red-dressed man suddenly felt an intense sense of foreboding.

Ka! Ka! Ka!

And at that moment, the cracked alternate space around Yi Yun shattered completely. When Li Fire Divine Lord made it approach the Netherworld tree again, it buckled under the corrosive powers of the River of the Netherworld’s laws. It finally shattered!

However, the spatial explosion that Li Fire Divine Lord had expected did not happen. Instead, the alternate space seemed to be worn down by the long rivers of time. The collapsed spatial fragments harmlessly turned to dust!

Simultaneously, the River of the Netherworld’s laws were no longer obstructed. They emanated in all direction like a flood, and the red-dressed youth was the first to be struck by them!

“Ah!”

The red-dressed youth’s flight immediately came to a halt as he let out a tragic cry. It became drawn out as though it was undergoing the long vestiges of time.

His body quickly turned dessicated as though all moisture in it had been extracted. His hair grew crazily like wild grass and, as though all his vitality was being used up, it turned from black to yellow, and from yellow to white. Following that, his eye sockets recessed and his body corroded away, leaving behind nothing but a set of bones. But even those didn’t last. In a few blinks of an eye, the bones corroded away and vanished, dissipating into nothingness.

When the rest that charged at Yi Yun saw the red-dressed youth’s outcome, they were scared out of their wits. They turned away in a bid to escape but they were too late. The River of the Netherworld’s laws that had escaped the confines of the alternate space enveloped them at that moment.

They screamed tragically all the way to their deaths. Just like the red-dressed youth, they turned to dust amid the rivers of time. They truly left no remains.

Everyone who saw the strange turn of events gasped.

Dead! They were all dead!

Yi Yun floated above the Netherworld tree completely unscathed. He was even able to set up a spatial teleportation array while attacking Wan Qing with his Thousand Snow flying sabers. However, those that charged at Yi Yun had all died tragically.

The River of the Netherworld’s laws had gone unchanged. The alternate space that Li Fire Divine Lord had summoned proved completely useless. However, Yi Yun had just waltzed through the spatial dimension laws and managed to pluck the tree’s fruit easily. What was the reason!?

Everyone found it unbelievable, and by then, the spatial teleportation array beneath Yi Yun’s feet was ready. He had acted in an entirely composed manner, as though he had expected everything would unfold exactly like this. He was in complete control of the situation.

“Everyone, is anyone still hoping to attack me? If not, I’ll be leaving,” said Yi Yun with a smile.

He looked at Li Fire Divine Lord and Xing Yu Divine Lord. They were alarmed for they had lost complete control of the situation. Yi Yun’s smile made them gnash their teeth in hate. Li Fire Divine Lord never expected that the ant he had never thought anything of would smack him in the face so ruthlessly.

“Junior, it looks like I underestimated you. You hid well while in my White Lunar Divine Empire,” said Xing Yu Divine Lord with a heavy look.

Di Rong remained silent by the side, but the way he looked at Yi Yun was filled with alarm. Despite Yi Yun’s strength, he had been ostracized by the Scarlet Yang continent. Even ten Lie Rikongs were inferior to Yi Yun.

“Punk, this ancient battlefield will continue for a few more decades. So mark my words!” Li Fire Divine Lord’s voice sounded cold, like it had come from a deep chasm. His eyes were staring intently at Yi Yun, as if hoping to use his burning rage to roast Yi Yun alive.

“A few decades? That’s probably all you have left to live.”

As Yi Yun spoke, the spatial teleportation array fully activated. In a dazzling flash of a blue beam, Yi Yun vanished.

As everyone looked at the lonely tree situated in the middle of the River of the Netherworld, and the few leaves it had left on it, they all felt like that had just experienced a dream. There was complete silence. The three Divine Lords had enlisted the help of everyone but their efforts were all for naught. Yi Yun had easily stolen away with the fruit. Even after it was all over, they still had no idea how Yi Yun had succeeded in doing so.

1444 - : Is Anyone still Hoping to Attack

Due to the Essence Qi Apocalyptic Fumes that surged into the sky, about seventy to eighty warriors had gathered around the Netherworld tree over time. When they saw the Netherworld tree’s fruit taken away, they were disgruntled knowing they would leave empty-handed. But they also knew that it was meaningless to stay any longer.

In the end, Li Fire Divine Lord was the first to abandon the scene. He turned and left without a word. He had mobilized so many people to set up a spatial array only for it to end up as a joke. He also lost two disciples and Wan Qing was crippled under his nose. He did not wish to stay a second longer.

The moment Li Fire Divine Lord left, the people that had come with him followed.

“Lord… Lord Li Fire, save… save me…”

Wan Qing struggled in pain as he watched Li Fire Divine Lord and company depart. His heavily injured body dragged as he crawled on the ground with great difficulty using both hands.

His once-promising future, one where he enjoyed a long life filled with riches and comfort, was ending in this barren land. If he was abandoned, this would be his grave.

The sight of him just left one reeling in despair.

“Please save me, Lord Li Fire. Take me out of this place at least. I will trigger the token once we leave this place. The family clan will treat me of my injuries…” Wan Qing said, his voice trembling.

However, people only cast looks of pity his way when they saw his tragic state.

His dantian had been completely ground up. It was nearly impossible to treat that. Even if a huge price was paid, they could probably only restore Wan Qing to a functional cripple. And it was impossible for the Wan family to waste resources on such a thing.

Besides, he could no longer continue traversing the Divine Perish Hall in his present state. As for specially escorting Wan Qing out, that would be quite a joke.

Li Fire Divine Lord did not even slow down his steps as he continued proceeding forward. The disciples that followed him looked at Wan Qing and mourned his outcome, considering how they were in the same boat. They shook their heads. The world of warriors was just a cruel place. Sometimes, death might be better than being crippled.

“Let’s leave as well,” Nun Annihilation said. And at that moment, the pale yellowed-dressed girl standing beside her was still in a state of shock.

“Jade, why are you still standing there in a daze?”

“Oh… Yes, Master,” said Bluejade as she jolted out of her reverie. The scene of Yi Yun plucking the fruit and maiming Wan Qing left her heart uneasy. Thinking back to what she said previously about getting her master to protect Yi Yun in exchange for his help in finding the Thousand Illusion Lotus left her ambivalent.

After Nun Annihilation left, Xing Yu left as well. He had decided to immediately report the matter of Yi Yun obtaining the Netherworld fruit to the White Lunar Divine Empire the moment he left the Divine Perish Hall. Perhaps, there was still chance of him gaining at least something out of that.

That thought was not limited to Xing Yu. Many people had the same idea. Even if they could not obtain the fruit, they did not wish to see Yi Yun get away unscathed. It was best that such matters were known by as many people as possible.

At that moment, Yi Yun had already been teleported thousands of kilometers away through his spatial transference.

A teleportation of such a distance would have been child’s play for Yi Yun if he was outside the Divine Perish Hall. But inside it, that single act of teleportation drained thirty percent of his Yuan Qi. The space here was just too stable.

Yi Yun did not wish to stay where he was. He flew for another few hundred kilometers, changing directions a few times before finally arriving on a desolate mountain.

It looked like it was devoid of life, and decimation auras formed a vortex that looked as though it wanted to vanquish everything.

Yi Yun scanned with his perception and confirmed that the area was devoid of any opportunities. It was only a land of peril. Unless the Sinkhole warriors had sadomasochistic tendencies, it was unlikely that they would probe the area too deeply.

Yi Yun landed by the mountainside and immediately used Mirage Snow as a tool to open up a cave. He then entered it and sealed the entrance. Next, he set up a concealment array formation. Finally, Yi Yun continued digging a path several kilometers deep into the mountain before opening up a simple chamber in the heart of the mountain.

Yi Yun sat cross-legged inside and took out the fruit and five tree leaves he had plucked from the Netherworld tree.

The Netherworld tree was covered in treasure. Yi Yun only took the fruit and five leaves because it was a divine item borne from the Heaven and Earth laws. It took probably hundreds of millions of years to grow to that state. If he had uprooted it and taken everything, it would have been quite a pity.

“Nomological Fruit, Leaf of Dao Enlightenment…”

Yi Yun observed the fruit and leaves and sensed the primordial laws they contained. They seemed to have compressed infinite time from the beginning of the universe right in them.

Since he had obtained such an opportunity, Yi Yun wished to immediately convert the opportunity into strength for himself. He knew that the moment he left the Divine Perish Hall, he would be targeted by everyone.

Yi Yun rested for a moment with his eyes closed, restoring his condition to an optimal state before he picked up a leaf and gently placed it on his glabella.

Instantly, the leaf seemed to melt as it suffused a faint golden light. Clear leaf veins imprinted themselves on Yi Yun’s forehead…

An unknown amount of time passed as Yi Yun seemed to forget himself and everything. He immersed himself in the rivers of time that felt like a dream, bobbing up and down with its motion…

He seemed to see the birth of the leaf, from its sprouting to its growth… It stayed above the River of the Netherworld, experiencing countless eons…

When warriors took lives or destroyed an item, or even shattered a world, they could not avoid violence.

Only time could turn everything into dust in an infinitely calm manner simply by passing. It was silent from beginning to end. Time was the most unique power of destruction.

Yi Yun seemed to open a door to a brand new world after obtaining the Netherworld tree’s fruit and leaves. His comprehension of time underwent a qualitative improvement. And all of this relied on his insights in the Major Destruction laws. This allowed him to master a hundred things after mastering one. There was no need for him to start from the beginning.

An unknown amount of time passed before the leaf was reduced to dust on Yi Yun’s glabella. It dispersed with the wind and completely vanished.

Yi Yun reflected on everything for a long while before he slowly took the second leaf to place at his glabella…

Three months passed in this way.

The warriors that entered the Divine Perish Hall during this period of time numbered thousands. And more than eighty percent of them perished inside!

There were a small number of warriors that wished to leave midway after failing to find any opportunities amid the danger. However, even when they retraced their steps, they failed to find the entrance to the Divine Perish Hall.

They could enter but not exit!

This was discovered only a few months later. It left many shuddering in fear!

They could not determine if the Divine Perish Hall would forever bar exit from the place they had used as an entrance. If they needed to seek an alternate exit deep in the Divine Perish Hall, that was no doubt a path of certain doom!

Many people despaired. They stayed in the region around the Divine Perish Hall’s original entrance, afraid to proceed forward.

Regardless, compared to the countless dangers that lurked in the inner sanctums of the Divine Perish Hall, the area around the entrance was a lot safer. They could only hope that the Divine Perish Hall would only be open for a fixed length of time. When that time was over, perhaps they would be expelled from the Divine Perish Hall’s world. If not, the Divine Perish Hall would be their grave.

1445 - : Dao Enlightenment in Seclusion

During the three months of Yi Yun’s growth, the door connecting the Divine Perish Hall to the ancient battlefield vanished. Now, it was impossible to leave the Divine Perish Hall as it was completely isolated from the outside world. The warriors that entered appeared to be stranded in a deserted island amid the vast seas, unsure of their future.

And such complete isolation, with the possibility of being killed by the environment at any moment, easily triggered the darkness deep in the human psyche. Among the thousands of warriors that perished in the three months, at least a third of them died under the hands of other warriors and not from the Divine Perish Hall’s dangers.

It was easy to discover acts of murder and plundering in the Sinkhole. If the faction behind the victim pursued the matter, the perpetrator would usually be struck with swift revenge.

But in the Divine Perish Hall, information was completely isolated. After the murder was done, one just needed to burn a body to ash with a fireball. It was impossible for people outside to seek the murderer. Under such circumstances, a number of people even made murdering and plundering their main goal in the Divine Perish Hall.

“We found another Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus! Truly impressive. The benefits we have received over the past two months have exceeded what we have obtained among the two of us for a century.”

Deep in the Divine Perish Hall were two men dressed in linen clothes. They were rummaging through an interspatial ring in excitement.

They had cultivation levels of a late-stage Supremacy but of course, their cultivation level had been repressed to the ninth-floor Dao Palace in the ancient battlefield.

“That’s only obvious. Those that can come to the ancient battlefield are mostly genius disciples nurtured by major factions. It would be quite a shame if they don’t have some treasure on them. They aren’t like us brothers. We came from nothing and started out as bandits. We cultivated to this realm a step at a time. We came to the ancient battlefield to try our luck but never expected to receive such an opportunity. After so many years, we are back doing our old trade.”

“Hahaha! That’s right. Geniuses from large factions disgust me the most. They have all sorts of supreme-grade resources at hand and they are a head higher than others the moment they are born. I find it absolutely addictive killing such geniuses!”

As the men spoke, they smiled sinisterly at a few youths in front of them.

They wore snow-white attires of a sect. They were severely injured by the two men and were covered in blood.

Their Martial Uncle had been killed by the two men in a sneak attack.

“Hehehe, they have such supple skin and tender flesh. It’s obvious they are like frail flowers meticulously raised in the safety of a greenhouse. They can’t withstand any turmoil. In a while, we will feed Gu bugs to the two men and as for the two women, we can each enjoy one. Such elite girls produced by large sects are the best when fucking them. They are always placed on pedestals and think nothing of itinerant cultivators like us. Now, they will be shrieking under our bodies.”

As one of the man spoke, he let out a lascivious smile. The two women were already distraught with fear. Their cultivations had been sealed and they could not resist at all, even suicide was not an option.

“Let’s feed the Gu to enliven the mood!”

One man smiled teasingly as he took out a black Gu bug. He used a blade to open a young man’s mouth and stuffed the Gu bug into it.

The youth cried out hysterically but it sounded like music to the man’s ears.

However, at this moment—

Boom!

With a loud explosion, a desolate mountain tens of kilometers away suddenly collapsed!

“Huh!? What happened?”

The men in linen clothes jumped in fright. They were already preparing to do the deed but the sudden collapse of the desolate mountain turned their crown jewels limp. They immediately turned wary.

They were in the Divine Perish Hall after all. It was very likely that immense danger accompanied any phenomena that happened.

“It’s a person. Someone is coming out of that mountain.”

The men had sharp senses and they had already probed the situation tens of kilometers away.

“Ninth-floor Dao Palace. He’s also a Supremacy…”

The two men exchanged looks and were placed in a dilemma as to silence the person that had suddenly appeared. They could also rob him in passing. However, the person had appeared in a rather strange manner which left them hesitating.

While they were still wavering for a decision, they realized that the person was flying towards them.

Their expressions sank. In order to prevent discovery when they murdered and plundered, they had set up concealment array formations but the person had discovered them almost instantly despite the distance. It made them apprehensive.

In a blink of an eye, the person had flown right in front of them.

He was none other than Yi Yun after spending three months in seclusion.

Yi Yun had completely refined the five leaves for himself and absorbed the laws that contained within over the three months. As for the final nomological fruit, Yi Yun had only refined slightly half of it. The Dao of Destruction that contained in it were just too profound and potent that refining it posed difficult for Yi Yun despite him having cultivated in the Dao of Major Destruction.

Yi Yun had a general understanding of the situation when he scanned the area.

Killing and plundering was obviously a heinous sin but from Yi Yun’s point of view, many large factions were not much different from bandits in essence. It was quite impossible to have one’s hands untainted when embarking on the martial path. Most of the time, killing or be killed depended on one’s strength and had nothing to do with right or wrong. The survival of the fittest have always been the rules of the martial world.

“Friend, is there something we can do for you?”

Upon seeing Yi Yun, the two men held their breaths. Their perceptions were locked onto Yi Yun’s every moves.

Their victims were from the Magnificent Heaven’s Pale Snow Palace, ranked fourth in the Magnificent Heaven alliance. It was extremely powerful and if it was discovered that they had killed someone from the Pale Snow Palace and attempted to rape its female disciples, they would probably be skinned alive by the Pale Snow Palace and made into ice sculptures.

Yi Yun had already seen everything that they had done. Their only way out was to silence the person eternally.

Yi Yun smiled and asked, “I only have a question. Did anything happen in the Divine Perish Hall or the ancient battlefield in recent times?”

The situation in the ancient battlefield changed quickly. Yi Yun had been in seclusion for three months and did not know if Li Fire Divine Lord had gained any benefit in the Divine Perish Hall or if he had escaped its confines.

“Brother, in what aspect would you like to know? Before we entered the Divine Perish Hall, we heard that a Netherworld tree had been encountered but its fruit has been plucked by someone. Later, the tree vanished and even the River of the Netherworld disappeared…” said one of the men calmly. His attention seemed to be fully on Yi Yun but in fact, his Yuan Qi was already seeping slowly into the ground. Although he was afraid of Yi Yun, he was more worried about the Pale Snow Palace’s revenge.

Yi Yun sneered inwardly when he sensed the situation. He did not expose the man’s machinations as he continued inquiring for more information he wanted. “Is there anything else?”

“Of course. Later, people found a door of light deep in the Divine Perish Hall. It might be an entrance into the inner sanctums of the hall. As for Li Fire Divine Lord, Xing Yu Divine Lord, and the rest, they have already ventured into the inner hall. I heard that the energy within the door of light is massive so there should be some good stuff in there. Why? Do you plan on joining in the fun?”

1446 - : Inner Sanctum Entrance

“I do plan on doing so. What is the inner sanctum you speak of?” Ever since he obtained the Netherworld tree’s fruit, Yi Yun’s was increasingly intrigued with the Divine Perish Hall.

The two men exchanged surreptitious looks as one of them said, “Fellow Daoist, you asked the right person. The Divine Perish Hall’s existence was a secret to begin with. There is very little information on it but we brothers happened to chance upon a jade slip with lots of information. According to the slip, the Divine Perish Hall has three parts, the outer sanctum, the inner sanctum, and the secret palace. The area right beyond the entrance is the outer sanctum and further in is the inner sanctum and the secret palace. But after the Divine Perish Hall experienced an abnormality, the danger it poses has increased by ten times. The so-called inner sanctum is already completely different from what it was originally. As for the secret palace’s existence, that is still an unknown.”

The man spoke in great detail to stall for time, taking every opportunity to set up the confinement array formation.

Yi Yun did not mind at all. He knew that the information jade slip that the men had supposedly ‘chanced upon’ was likely obtained by killing a genius from a large faction. Such jade slips with detailed information could only be possessed by a major faction.

It wasn’t long before the two men were nearly done setting up the array formation. Unfortunately, at that moment, one of the girls shouted suddenly, “Senior, the people you’re speaking with are the Nether Specter Twins. They want to harm you!”

The girl had her cultivation completely sealed by the two men, and was going to be used as pleasure by them after they killed Yi Yun.

She did not know when she had extricated herself from the men’s bindings and become able to shout. She knew that it was unlikely she would survive the day and did not want someone else to fall victim to the duo. Most importantly, she hoped that Yi Yun would pass the news of their demise to the Pale Snow Palace so that they could avenge them.

Upon hearing the girl’s scream, the men’s expression twisted into grimaces. “Bitch, shut your slutty mouth!”

As one of the men spoke, a leather whip suddenly appeared in his hand. He brandished it and lashed it at the girl. If it hit her in her weakened state, she would definitely have been reduced to mush!

However, the man never expected that his whip would disintegrate without warning after it lashed out midway. The remains scattered as though it had been corroded by the passage of time, returning to the land.

What?

The man could not believe his eyes as the scene was just too strange.

What happened!?

The man looked at Yi Yun in shock. The whip couldn’t have corroded for no reason. And Yi Yun was the only one standing there besides them. However, he had no idea how Yi Yun had done it, not having even sensed any nomological fluctuations from him.

He gulped a mouthful of saliva and suddenly felt a chill down his back.

The decaying of the whip made him recall something. Just after he entered the Divine Perish Hall, he had heard others describe the scene of the Netherworld tree’s fruit being plucked. The nearby River of the Netherworld had caused everything to decay. Even the very laws surrounding them were no exception.

The way his whip corroded was identical to the description of that scene.

Could it be that the person who plucked the Netherworld tree’s fruit was the youth in front of him!? Had he already refined the Netherworld tree’s laws for himself and become able to use them freely!?

The men knew that the three strongest Divine Lords were helpless against the River of the Netherworld. And it was rumored that Yi Yun could enter the river’s vicinity without being harmed by the laws. The men would not be surprised if Yi Yun had really refined the River of the Netherworld’s laws for himself.

Upon thinking of this, the duo broke out into cold sweats. They were itinerant cultivators after all, and their strength was below average compared to most Supremacies their level.

“Brother, that slut is slandering us! All I did was teach her a lesson. But if she catches your eye, please take her with you and enjoy her. Her skin is delicate and her figure is pretty good. She looks like she’s a sixteen or seventeen-year-old mortal. She would be quite a delight,” stuttered one of the man as he threw away the half whip in his hand.

“Oh? Do you plan to give me that woman as a favor?” said Yi Yun with a faint smile.

“No, definitely not. We had a little conflict with them a while ago and just restrained them…”

Before the man finished his sentence, the girl cut him off. “Senior, don’t listen to his nonsense! They ambushed us and plotted against my Martial Uncle. Then they snatched all our treasures and even talked about doing things… to us…”

The girl’s voice trembled. To her, being raped was a horror worse than death.

She did not know if Yi Yun had good or bad thoughts but she had no other options. Even if Yi Yun was evil, it was better than falling into the hands of the brothers.

Yi Yun ignored the girl and only stomped his right foot on the ground.

“Boom!”

With a loud explosion, the array formation that the two men had set up exploded directly. Their faces turned pale as they grunted while taking several steps back. The array formation they had set up had been violently cracked by Yi Yun, causing them to suffer an intense backlash. They looked at Yi Yun with eyes full of fear. He had been able to crack the array formation that they had meticulously set up with one foot. They did not dare resist him, considering the huge gap in power between them.

“I have no vendetta with the two of you, so there’s no reason to kill you. From the looks of it, you have been robbing many people over the past few months. There should be quite a lot of things in your interspatial rings, I imagine…”

The men’s faces stiffened when they heard that. This was a robbery of robbers! They had killed many people and plundered many cultivators with their late-stage Supremacy cultivation levels. Now, it was their turn to suffer.

However, after considering the difference in strength, one of the men gritted his teeth and said, “Wait! I’ll give you my ring!”

Yi Yun never expected the brothers to be that spineless. They were willing to hand over their interspatial rings, something considered as a warrior’s second life, in order to live.

Yi Yun took the two interspatial rings, did a cursory sweep of their contents, and was pleasantly surprised.

Ignoring the items, just the number of Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli numbered more than twenty. This was accumulated over several years and recent months of robbery by the Nether Specter Twins. Yi Yun had spent most of the wealth he had obtained from Myriad God Patriarch to gather all sorts of natural treasures over the recert years. Now he became almost instantly wealthy once again.

“Friend, we have given you our rings. Can you spare us?” said the Nether Specter Twins extremely solemnly.

Yi Yun played with the two rings and said with a smile, “The both of you must hate me deeply after being forced to hand over your rings. This is an irreconcilable grudge. As a rule, I do not like to let my enemies who hold a grudge against me live or they might seek revenge on me. Perhaps there might be a day when I’m in trouble, and you would kick me while I’m down?”

“You…” The two men’s eyes turned blood red. As bandits, they would spare the lives of some weaklings occasionally. They could rob them again once their victims gathered more wealth. Yet, the person in front of them was even more cruel.

They knew Yi Yun would definitely not spare them.

“Brother, let’s fight it out with him!” roared the elder brother. He circulated his Yuan Qi which blasted apart his clothes, revealing a toned body filled with scars and ancient hexes. At the same time, a black trident appeared in his hand.

His ghastly build made him look like an Ashura from hell. He signaled his brother with his eyes to fight together with all their strength.

Tragically, the brother smacked a glowing talisman on his body. His body then transformed into a golden beam of light as he turned to escape.

He had already planned on letting his brother hold back Yi Yun while he took the opportunity to escape.

But he never expected that his younger brother would share the same thoughts and was even more shameless about them. He had burned his blood essence in exchange for extreme speed and the direction he escaped in was completely opposite from his brother’s.

Yi Yun sneered. With a thought, time that stemmed from Destruction laws gathered over from every angle. Like a vortex in the River of the Netherworld, they fell victim to its power. They screamed as their bodies decayed in the vortex and reduced to dust in moments.

Yi Yun had killed two Supremacies in a blink of an eye without even taking a step.

Although Yi Yun had yet to break through to the late-stage Supremacy realm after three months of seclusion, his strength had improved drastically. He was eager to test out this new strength.

The girl behind Yi Yun who had spoken gulped mouthfuls of saliva. She had heard that Yi Yun was only a mid-stage Supremacy when he plucked the Netherworld tree’s fruit. Was he really only at the mid-stage Supremacy realm?

“You…”

Yi Yun turned to look at the few youths from the Pale Snow Palace.

The girl’s heart tightened, unsure what Yi Yun’s intentions were or what he would do to them. All she could say was, “Senior, thank you for killing the Nether Specter Twins. My senior brothers and junior sister have been bound. They are unable to speak.”

“Which way is the entrance to the inner sanctum?” asked Yi Yun.

“There…”

The girl pointed in a particular direction.

Yi Yun nodded. He casually produced a hand seal and removed the seals on their bodies. Then, his body flashed as he flew towards the inner sanctum. In a blink of an eye, Yi Yun had vanished.

He left behind the few Pale Snow Palace disciples, who simply looked at each other. They had been saved so casually…

A group’s life and death was determined by the whim of an expert. This was the world of warriors. Those with strength could rule over the fates of themselves and of millions of other lives.

…

Nothing in the Divine Perish Hall’s outer sanctum posed a threat to Yi Yun. He traversed thousands of kilometers without any obstruction.

Then, he finally saw the entrance to the inner sanctum that the brothers mentioned. It was a gigantic door of light that floated ten thousand feet in the sky.

The door covered most of the sky as it spun slowly, seemingly sending countless bits of starlight down like thousands of threads. The majestic and beautiful sight was the entrance to an unknown world.

Yi Yun looked up at the door and felt like he was facing an entire world. Just the massive energy repression was enough to keep many warriors out. Although everyone knew that there were greater opportunities in the inner sanctum, they would only be fodder if they lacked the strength to survive it. People only had one life. There was no redoing things once they were dead.

“Sou!”

Yi Yun flew up and through the door. His figure transformed into a tiny black dot in the sky and he did not even cause a stir, like a grain of sand dropping into a huge lake.

1447 - : The Power of the River of the Netherworld

The sky remained a gray haze, as though the sun was nowhere to be seen in the ancient battlefield. The land had a deep, dark red color to it and while walking, one could feel one’s lifeblood boil in reaction to the land.

This was the inner sanctum of the Divine Perish Hall and it had a suppressive force that blanketed the area constantly. Yi Yun felt all his Yuan Qi being suppressed, to the point that it felt a little difficult to breathe.

When he looked into the distance, he saw a tiny gray light flickering near the horizon. And for some reason, the light left Yi Yun confused.

“What’s that?”

Yi Yun was puzzled as he hesitated for a moment. Then he flew towards the light.

The inner sanctums of the Divine Perish Hall were filled with vortices formed by decimation auras. And due to the existence of the suppressive force, warriors had their strength repressed on top of the repression of the ancient battlefield. The vortices posed even greater threats to them as a result.

Of course, Yi Yun thought nothing of that. He proceeded towards the gray light at a fixed speed.

As Yi Yun advanced, the gray light became larger. Four hours later, Yi Yun finally got close enough to identify the gray light as an artifact. To be precise, it was a spear!

A black spear was embedded into the land, its other end shooting up into the hazy dark clouds.

The suppressive force that permeated the Divine Perish Hall’s inner sanctum came from the spear.

Yi Yun felt that the spear was like a black dragon, one that could charge out of this world and soar into the sky at any moment.

What sort of spear was this? Just the item alone had such a terrifying might!

Yi Yun recalled the long-haired man he once saw in the Chaos. That man’s weapon of choice was a spear!

He had once transformed a spear into a gigantic world.

Yi Yun was uncertain if the black spear in front of him was the long-haired man’s weapon but even it was not the case, it likely had something to do with the long-haired man.

Yi Yun felt more alarmed the closer he was to it.

He could clearly see grayish wisps of aura lingering around the black spear.

The aura looked like the kind of wispy smoke produced by burning incense. It was very thin and light as it billowed upwards.

Yi Yun felt shaken when he saw the gray aura.

It was the nebulous Primordial Chaos!

It may have looked light but it was unimaginably heavy. One strand was as heavy as a mountain, a blob as heavy as a planet!

Back when Yi Yun manifested his Dao, he condensed four nine-leaf Dao fruits. The Dao of Major Destruction fruit was by far the hardest to condense.

For that reason, Yi Yun made a trip to the waning Azure Wood Great World. There, he came into contact with a wisp of nebulous Primordial Chaos, gaining some nomological insight into Chaos.

Chaos represented creation at the beginning of the Universe. It corresponded to the Dao of Major Destruction that marked the end of the Universe. Yi Yun fused the Chaos laws into the Dao of Major Destruction to eventually condense the nine-leaf Dao fruit.

How could Yi Yun not feel shocked now that he was staring at so much nebulous Primordial Chaos in the Divine Perish Hall’s inner sanctum? The sheer amount of it was staggering and much richer than it was in the Azure Wood Great World.

If he could refine all of it for himself, merging it with his Major Destruction laws, his strength would experience another qualitative leap.

“Oh? Someone’s there!”

About fifty kilometers away from the black spear, Yi Yun saw about eight warriors beneath him. By their attire, he identified them as young elites from Magnificent Heaven. They sat cross-legged on the dark red land, cultivating arduously while trying to overcome the massive suppression the black spear was impressing on them.

To these young elites, it was impossible to gain any insights into the Chaos laws from the black spear’s nebulous Primordial Chaos at a distance of fifty kilometers away. However, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was a hundred times richer than the outside world’s. Furthermore, the potent suppressive force could stimulate their vital potential. Being able to cultivate in such an environment was a huge opportunity.

The young elites were focusing on their cultivation and did not notice Yi Yun pass by.

Along the way, Yi Yun encountered a few cultivators from time to time. Due to the increasing strength of the suppressive force the nearer one was to the black spear, the cultivators would get the furthest they could go according to their own bodies’ limits to cultivate.

“From the looks of it, all the people in the Divine Perish Hall’s inner sanctum are gathered here.”

Yi Yun was not surprised by this. The black spear was just too eye-catching. Anyone that was not blind would find there way to it.

About a few kilometers away from the black spear, even Yi Yun felt the powerful obstruction of the spear’s suppressive force. And there were only a handful of warriors cultivating in this area.

“Oh? It’s them…”

Yi Yun noticed Nun Annihilation instantly, and not far from her was the young girl in the pale-yellow dress.

According to the girl’s cultivation level, she should not have been able to withstand the suppressive force at such a close distance. However, a closer look revealed that she was using three special talisman charms that coruscated around her body, greatly reducing the suppressive force. This allowed the girl to remain in the vicinity at that distance.

After seeing Nun Annihilation, Yi Yun also found Li Fire Divine Lord, Xing Yu Divine Lord, and Di Rong, to no surprise.

All three parties were in a ring equidistant from the black spear. A few Divine Lord personal disciples were using all sorts of means to reduce the effects of the suppressive force. Being able to employ whatever means necessary to be beside their master was evidence of a large faction’s deep heritage.

“Oh? Li Fire is actually attempting to pull in the nebulous Primordial Chaos!”

Yi Yun saw Li Fire Divine Lord’s Yuan Qi burn like a blazing sun as he sat with his eyes closed. His hands were constantly producing hand seals in the direction of the black spear, and the nearest wisp of nebulous Primordial Chaos was being tugged over as though it was being pulled off the black spear.

“This old bastard actually has some skill.”

Yi Yun stroked his chin. Li Fire Divine Lord apparently understood a little about Chaos. As a Great Dao of Supremacy of the Universe, very few people could understand it. Therefore, even the minute amount of insight that Li Fire Divine Lord apparently had was enough to surprise Yi Yun.

These Divine Lords that had been in existence for so many years were indeed not to be underestimated.

Just as the hair-like strand of nebulous Primordial Chaos was about to be extracted by Li Fire Divine Lord, he suddenly opened his eyes.

Although he was focused on his cultivation, he had branched out a bit of his psyche perception to probe his surroundings in case any possible dangers reared their heads.

He sensed Yi Yun when he approached.

The moment he saw Yi Yun, Li Fire Divine Lord’s eyes widened. Anger gripped his heart and he nearly suffered a Qi Deviation.

“Little bastard! You actually dare appear in front of me again!? You are courting death!”

Li Fire Divine Lord’s bellow jolted awake all the people cultivating in the region. They all looked at Yi Yun in alarm. They originally thought that Yi Yun would go into hiding after obtaining the Netherworld tree’s fruit, but they never expected him to so boldly appear here!

1448 - : Inner Sanctum

Of everyone present, the person who hated Yi Yun the most was naturally Li Fire Divine Lord.

But even the rest, including those that did not hold a grudge against Yi Yun, had some aspirations of taking the Netherworld tree fruit that he had plucked.

“Yi Yun, you must be quite bold to appear here. It is already known to all that you have the outer sanctum’s numinous treasure. You will likely never leave this place,” said Xing Yu Divine Lord after he stopped his cultivation and stood up.

“Oh? Are you also hoping to kill me for my treasure?” Yi Yun smiled faintly at Xing Yu Divine Lord.

Xing Yu Divine Lord knitted his brows when he heard Yi Yun’s sarcastic comment. He could not help but say, “You and I both come from the White Lunar Divine Empire, after all, so I’m just giving some advice. Yet, you show no appreciation towards me. Do you not realize that it’s impossible for you to leave safely with what you have on you, much less cross this perilous chasm ahead of you? If you were to hand over the Netherworld tree’s fruit to me now, I can guarantee that you will be heavily rewarded by the White Lunar Divine Empire. Be it cultivation techniques, pills, cultivation lands, or even a Divine Lord Royal Seal, I can get you whatever you need to cultivate quickly and become a Divine Lord!”

Yi Yun smiled in response. “How endearing you sound with your ‘you and I both come from the White Lunar Divine Empire.’ Back when I first entered the ancient battlefield, before crossing the Psyche Vanquishing Desert, not a single person was willing to form a team with me, including the people from the White Lunar Divine Empire. I was forced to traverse it alone, but now that I have a numinous treasure, you remember that we’re on the same team? That face of yours sure is thick. Perhaps a splash of the River of the Netherworld’s waters might not take some of it away. I say, you should have just used the thick skin on your face back then to pluck the Netherworld fruit. Why didn’t you try that?”

The girl in a pale-yellow dress beside Nun Annihilation could not stifle her laughter when she heard Yi Yun said that. His words were just too biting.

But at that moment, Xing Yu Divine Lord’s expression was as cold as ice. “Good! Very good! You truly do not know the meaning of death. I want to see how you end up after losing the White Lunar Divine Empire’s protection. It would be a blessing if you manage to avoid being skinned alive and having your soul extracted!”

“Hahaha!” At that moment, Li Fire Divine Lord laughed out loudly. “Xing Yu! Do you still plan on using the White Lunar Divine Empire to monopolize the Netherworld fruit with all that’s happened? Stop saying things you do not even believe in. I, Li Fire, definitely deserve a share of that fruit!”

Li Fire Divine Lord showed no mercy in exposing Xing Yu’s machinations. They were competing, after all.

As he spoke, Li Fire Divine Lord rose into the sky. He was covered in a faint, grayish flame that looked like incense smoke that lacked any heat. However, everyone knew that it was simply a manifestation of energy that was highly concentrated.

The gray flame was extremely terrifying!

Li Fire Divine Lord’s title as Li Fire naturally meant that he had reached peak expertise in the fire-elemental laws. The flames his hands released warped the surrounding space simply by burning.

This was the inner sanctum of the Divine Perish Hall, a space a hundred times more stable than the Sinkhole. Just being able to warp the space a little was an astounding feat!

“Little bastard, I’ll burn you to ashes, right down to your soul!” Li Fire Divine Lord roared.

Raging flames started spreading out from within his body. It was his Li Fire domain!

Although he was a full realm away from Yi Yun, he did not take his opponent lightly. He used the full power of his domain, surrounding Yi Yun inside his Li Fire domain. Yi Yun resembled a withering leaf in the middle of a sea of fire, doomed to be engulfed by the flames at any moment.

“What a terrifying fire. That Netherworld fruit will not end up destroyed by the fire, right?”

Upon seeing Li Fire Divine Lord deliver such a horrifying strike, all the juniors present were secretly aghast. If they were placed inside the Li Fire domain, they would not even last a second.

A person beside the commenter was Li Fire Divine Lord’s personal disciple. He said with contempt, “That Netherworld tree is a divine item from the heavens. How could its fruit be so easily destroyed? My master knows this well and so attacks without any qualms. Perhaps Yi Yun has already eaten the fruit but it’s impossible for him to refine the fruit for himself in such a short period of time. Yi Yun will definitely be reduced to ash, while the fruit will naturally…”

Before the personal disciple finished his sentence, a shrill cry came from the sea of fire!

Wu—!

With a sound that was like an Ancient Fey screaming, torrential black flames surged upwards from the middle of the sea of fire with the force of a hurricane sweeping in every direction!

The black flames seemed to burn through everything. They even burned a hole through the Li Fire domain!

“Oh? What is that!?”

The personal disciple was secretly alarmed. He had followed his master for many years. Every time his master cast the Li Fire domain, he would be astounded by its might. However, the black flames that were bursting out from the Li Fire domain were even more terrifying. It felt that a single glance at them would cause his soul to be pulled in and burned.

Was this a flame that Yi Yun controlled!?

Hu! Hu! Hu!

The black fire raged on as a potent hurricane of black flames stirred within the sea of fire. A huge hole tore apart in the Li Fire domain!

And Yi Yun was bathed in the billowing black fire looking like he was a god of war cloaked in flames.

The flame was of course Yi Yun’s Heretical God Fire Seed.

The Heretical God Fire Seed that Yi Yun had inherited from the divine alchemist was able to easily devour the Empyrean Cleansing Flame, ranked third in the Universe. How could an ordinary fire seed compare to it?

“Boom!”

The entire Li Fire domain exploded out and as the one powering the domain, Li Fire Divine Lord felt a severe backlash. He grunted heavily before taking several steps back.

Li Fire Divine Lord’s domain had been cracked open!

People reeled in disbelief. Li Fire Divine Lord was completely bested by Yi Yun in the fire-elemental laws aspect that he was known for.

“You… actually have such a fire!?”

Li Fire Divine Lord’s expression was ashen. He took a deep breath and suppressed the tumultuous lifeblood in his body.

“It’s the king of all fires according to the ancient canon. I thought it was long lost or that it was merely a legend. I never expected you to have it!”

Li Fire Divine Lord’s eyes revealed a maniacal look. As a cultivator of fire-elemental laws, the allure of the Heretical God Fire Seed affected him most of all.

“Xing Yu! Don’t you want that Netherworld fruit? Join forces with me against this little bastard. When the time comes, you can take the whole Netherworld fruit as long as I get that flame.”

People were astounded when they heard Li Fire Divine Lord say those words. Two powerful Divine Lords were joining forces to deal with a Supremacy? It would be a mockery for them if this was spread but when it came to such rare treasures, reputation was worth nothing.

“This Yi Yun is just too powerful. What Li Fire Divine Lord is doing is equivalent to admitting that he is no match for Yi Yun.”

Many geniuses looked at Yi Yun with conflicted emotions. Back when they saw Yi Yun escape after obtaining the Netherworld fruit, they only believed that he used good perceptivity and a strong psyche to chance upon a way to resolve the River of the Netherworld’s laws, allowing him to pluck the fruit.

Only now were they realizing that not only was Yi Yun’s perceptivity high, his strength was equally terrifying!

1449 - : Li Fire Domain

Xing Yu Divine Lord was taken aback when he heard Li Fire Divine Lord’s words. He never expected Yi Yun’s black flame to be so attractive to Li Fire Divine Lord that he was willing to give up the Netherworld fruit with such decisiveness.

Although his reputation would be sullied if he joined forces with Li Fire Divine Lord to attack Yi Yun, Xin Yu could bear having his reputation tarnished if it meant having the Netherworld fruit.

“Yi Yun, you entered the ancient battlefield by taking a spot reserved by my White Lunar Divine Empire. I had planned on ensuring your safety, but now you claim that I’m after your treasures. Therefore, I must deny you being a part of the White Lunar Divine Empire. And in that case, there is no reason for me to show you any further mercy. I will now be banishing you from the White Lunar Divine Empire!” Xing Yu Divine Lord took a step forward to join Li Fire Divine Lord in blocking Yi Yun from escaping.

“If you want to rob me of my treasures, just say so. To think that you are afraid others will gossip that you are joining forces with outsiders to kill a junior from your own empire. Saying that stinking pile of nonsense truly disgusts me,” said Yi Yun sarcastically.

“Haha! Very good! You are still trying to win a battle of tongues at this moment in time. In a while, we will skin you alive and extract your soul. When that happens, I want to see if you can still make such bold remarks,” said Li Fire Divine Lord with a sneer.

Realizing that the two Divine Lords were really joining forces to fight Yi Yun, everyone’s eyes were glued to the scene. Divine Lords had their strength repressed to the beginning stages of the Supremacy realm in the ancient battlefield, a realm higher than Yi Yun’s. Furthermore, they had great nomological insight and many years of combat experience. There was no way that Yi Yun would be capable of escaping when two Divine Lords were joining forces to fight a Supremacy.

“Little bastard, meet your maker!”

Xing Yu Divine Lord growled deeply as he hurled his arms forward. Immediately, black distorted rifts opened in the void. They issued sharp whistling sounds as they rapidly circled all around Yi Yun.

The black rifts alarmed the onlookers. It was a manifestation of spatial dimension laws on a superior level!

If Yi Yun touched the rifts, any part of his body that got enveloped would immediately vanish regardless of what it was.

If they were in the outside world, it would’ve been possible to use the rifts to turn a region into a perilous land of murder. People did not expect Xing Yu Divine Lord to be so much more ruthless than Li Fire Divine Lord. He immediately started with a mighty killer blow.

And after he conjured his spatial dimension laws, Xing Yu Divine Lord immediately waved his hand, producing a tiny black bell. He shook it, sending sound waves emanating outwards. The surrounding space warped as a result.

A number of warriors with weaker cultivation levels turned dizzy just from seeing the bell. And the bell’s ring created an otherworldly tune that kept them spellbound. They felt like their souls were being pulled out from the bodies. These warriors became quickly appalled as they hurriedly circulated their cultivation techniques to withstand the pulling force.

If the remnant waves left them feeling like that, what was happening to Yi Yun who was the focus of the attack?

Li Fire Divine Lord glanced at Xing Yu Divine Lord and said, “Daoist Xing Yu, I never expected you to be this skilled. The origins of that bell must be quite extraordinary, correct? You did not possess such a treasure the last time I met you.”

Xing Yu Divine Lord knew that Li Fire Divine Lord had said those words because he was taking precaution. He roared in laughter and said, “I use this Skyfiend Bell very rarely but have decided to use it on this little bastard. For him to die by my spatial blades and Skyfiend Bell, the little bastard has been granted quite a worthy death!”

In fact, Xing Yu Divine Lord had taken out the Skyfiend Bell to shock and awe Li Fire Divine Lord, as well as the onlookers such as Nun Annihilation. He was bent on obtaining the Netherworld fruit and did not wish for more complications to arise.

And when one died under the Skyfiend Bell, their soul would be imprisoned inside the bell, suffering soul annihilation from its demonic music. Eventually, the soul would be completely vanquished. Such an outcome allowed Xing Yu Divine Lord to relieve the hatred he had for Yi Yun. Never had a junior dared to snatch an item he had set his sights on. Furthermore, the junior came from his own White Lunar Divine Empire. It was not something Xing Yu Divine Lord could put up with at all.

Li Fire Divine Lord did not say another word as he triggered the gray fire surrounding him. Immediately, the Li Fire domain and Xing Yu Divine Lord’s Skyfiend Bell’s tunes and spatial blades swept towards Yi Yun.

At that moment in time, everyone viewed Yi Yun as a lone boat in a tempestuous storm. He would soon capsize in the mighty waves and be doomed for all eternity.

The girl in a pale-yellow dress could not bear to watch further. Although she had put him down previously, she felt great pity for him when she saw him being attacked by two powerful Divine Lords. She secretly cursed the two Divine Lords for their shamelessness. Not only were they bullying the weak, they even had a numbers advantage.

However, amid the terrifying Yuan Qi fluctuations, Yi Yun suddenly tore out from the storms. A black vortex appeared around him and expanded. Finally, it manifested a gigantic wheel with countless demons stirring within.

The wheel warped Xing Yu Divine Lord’s spatial blade as well as his Skyfiend Bell’s music. Any energy that entered was ground up and destroyed. Immediately following that, the Heretical God Fire Seed lit up outside the wheel, blocking Li Fire Divine Lord’s Li Fire domain.

“What’s that?” Xing Yu Divine Lord’s sneer froze. Just a mere wheel had blocked two of his greatest killer blows. How was this possible? What was this wheel?

Amid his shock, Xing Yu Divine Lord’s eyes turned covetous. Yi Yun definitely had come upon some huge secret. He was definitely a genius that had countless fortuitous encounters, and was blessed by the light from providence. But today, Yi Yun would land in his hands. And whatever light that providence shined on Yi Yun would be redirected onto him. He might even end up becoming a Godly Monarch.

“Yi Yun, so what if you are a peerless genius? I will show you the difference between you and a Royal Sealed Divine Lord,” said Xing Yu Divine Lord coldly.

Xing Yu Divine Lord’s dantian emitted a bright light as an ancient but unadorned seal flew out. It instantly expanded to the size of a mountain. There were countless nomological runes shimmering on the seal as though it was the Heavenly Dao, and it suffused a dense suppressive force.

The moment the seal appeared, the surrounding warriors with weaker cultivation levels felt their hearts palpitate. They had the all-consuming urge to prostrate themselves in front of it.

“A Divine Lord Royal Seal! That’s a Divine Lord Royal Seal!” Upon seeing the ancient seal, everyone present had a yearning look of envy. Forming a Divine Lord Royal Seal was the dreams of every warrior.

This not only represented a Royal Sealed Divine Lord’s identity, it also became their strongest killer blow. After fusing with a Royal Seal, the Royal Sealed Divine Lord would basically have a permanent Intrinsic Dharma treasure. It was impossible for ordinary Divine Lords to be the match of a Royal Sealed Divine Lord.

At the same time, a fiery ancient seal appeared in front of Li Fire Divine Lord.

Both Divine Lord Royal Seals had conjured their Royal Seals simultaneously just to kill a junior that was only at the Supremacy realm!

Everyone held their breaths. No matter how peerless a genius Yi Yun was, it was impossible for him to withstand the imposing might of two Royal Seals!

Yi Yun also felt the extreme pressure of the two Royal Seals in front of him.

The Destruction domain that his 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence manifested even began to emit cracking sounds. Fine cracks began to slowly appear along its surface. Although Yi Yun’s Destruction domain was nomologically superior, it was still limited by his cultivation level. It could hardly withstand the two terrifying forces that were pressing towards him.

1450 - : Divine Lord Royal Seal

Yi Yun stared intently at the two Royal Seals as he circulated his Yuan Qi fervently to maintain his Destruction domain.

At that moment, Yi Yun could not help but entertain a wild thought. If he could take the two Divine Lord Royal Seals, he would become a Royal Sealed Divine Lord, achieving greater heights on his martial path.

However, he rejected the thought as quickly as it came. They were only two ordinary Divine Lord Royal Seals. Refining them would only make him an ordinary Royal Sealed Divine Lord. His ambition was far greater than that.

Yi Yun looked up and was appalled to discover that the two Divine Lord Royal Seals had broken through his Destruction domain and arrived above him.

Yi Yun made a mental note of how alarmingly dangerous these seals were. This was the first time Divine Lord Royal Seals were being used against him. He never expected them to be so overwhelming. He had nearly been killed without realizing it.

And at that moment, the Divine Lord Royal Seals were crashing down at Yi Yun. Gripping Mirage Snow tightly with both hands, he created a cold beam of light instantly, sending it straight towards the Divine Lord Royal Seals.

Yi Yun’s strike fused his laws with those of the River of the Netherworld. When it streaked through the air, a blurry ancient bridge seemed to appear in front of everyone’s eyes. On one end of the bridge stood numerous living beings. Crossing the bridge was equivalent to going through their entire lives. They were babies on one end of the bridge and wizened elders at the other end.

The warriors with lacking cultivation levels felt their hearts and minds drawn in by the sword flash and, moments after, felt as though they had experienced the entirety of their lives. The girl in the pale-yellow dress was also influenced by the sword flash before she suddenly jolted awake. She immediately touched her face.

She looked at the sword-wielding Yi Yun in astonishment. Although she had extricated herself from the influence of the strike, she still felt like she aged all at once. How were the laws so powerful?

Boom!

The sword flash had already struck the two Divine Lord Royal Seals. Yi Yun’s body quaked the instant they clashed. He spat out a mouthful of blood as he was sent retreating a great distance away.

As for Xing Yu Divine Lord and Li Fire Divine Lord, they had nasty expressions too. Their Divine Lord Royal Seals seemed to fall into a quagmire amid the sword flash. Their strengths were constantly being shaved away.

This was the power of time. Amid the turbulent river of time, any force would be worn down.

Unfortunately, the combined forces of the two Divine Lords managed to shatter Yi Yun’s sword flash.

Upon seeing this, Li Fire Divine Lord’s disciples and company heaved a sigh of relief. For a junior like Yi Yun to manage to parry the attacks of two Divine Lords was already a heaven-defying feat. If he had actually managed to fully defend against Divine Lord Royal Seals, what was the point of them even practicing martial arts in light of his achievements? They might as well return to their hometowns to farm and lead a peaceful life.

“The River of the Netherworld’s laws! The little bastard has already eaten the Netherworld fruit! However, that doesn’t matter. I will brew you, all of you, including your skin and bones, to refine a pill!” Xing Yu Divine Lord cried inwardly.

But at the same time, he was astounded by Yi Yun’s talent. Although Yi Yun had just recently consumed the Netherworld fruit, he had already managed to gain insights into such powerful River of the Netherworld laws. It was simply too heaven-defying. If he knew that Yi Yun had not even digested the Netherworld fruit, he might have vomited a mouthful of blood.

“He’s injured. Li Fire, what are you waiting for? Kill him now!” Xing Yu Divine Lord said coldly. So what if he was talented? He was able to fend off the Divine Lord Royal Seals once, but it was unlikely he could do so a second time.

However, Li Fire Divine Lord did not immediately launch another assault. When Xing Yu Divine Lord turned his head, he discovered that Li Fire Divine Lord had a somewhat odd expression.

“Li Fire, what’s wrong with you?” asked Xing Yu Divine Lord.

Li Fire Divine Lord gave him a glance and said, “That little bastard appears to have done something to me. It’s not a big deal. I’ll immediately force out the mark he planted on me.”

Xing Yu Divine Lord looked at him skeptically. As for Li Fire Divine Lord, the flames around him stirred as his aura surged, as though he was really trying to force something out. However, Xing Yu Divine Lord could not see through the concealment of the flames. It was impossible for him to probe with his psyche perception either.

“It’s only a mark. There’s no need for you to force it out now. Quick power your Royal Seal and kill Yi Yun together with me!” said Xing Yu Divine Lord with a frown.

Li Fire Divine Lord was truly compelled to suffer in silence. He did hate Yi Yun to the bone, but he had already determined that Yi Yun would have only been sent retreating if he had defended against their Divine Lord Royal Seals with all his strength. Instead, he ended up injured.

The reason for his injury was that Yi Yun had hidden a nomological mark of the River of the Netherworld laws in his sword flash. It then struck straight into his Divine Lord Royal Seal!

A Divine Lord Royal Seal was nearly one with the Divine Lord himself. The River of the Netherworld’s laws immediately began affecting his body. He had witnessed the terror of the River of the Netherworld laws back when he first found the Netherworld tree. Cyclops Heretic Lord had sent his Divine Gold Puppet to pluck the Netherworld fruit only to suffer a severe backlash. Instantly, he was reduced to a dying old bag of bones.

And his present situation was not far from Cyclops Heretic Lord’s! The River of the Netherworld’s nomological mark was impressed onto his Divine Lord Royal Seal. And as the person that had fused with the Royal Seal, his strength was being constantly corroded.

When his strength was fully corroded, all that was left was his vitality.

Therefore, he did not dare conjure his Royal Seal. Wouldn’t that only expedite his own death?

The only solution he had now was to protect himself while quickly erasing the River of the Netherworld’s nomological mark from his Royal Seal. This should not have been a difficult task. If he was given a quiet and safe environment, he could finish it in about two hours.

But he was now embroiled in battle. Furthermore, Xing Yu Divine Lord was constantly pressing him to attack. Li Fire Divine Lord naturally could not explain his predicament. He could not let Xing Yu Divine Lord know of his situation or he would not gain any benefits even if Yi Yun was successfully killed.

Noticing that Xing Yu Divine Lord had started looking at him suspiciously, Li Fire Divine Lord had no choice but to temporarily use potent Yuan Qi to isolate the connection he had with his Divine Lord Royal Seal. Together with Xing Yu Divine Lord, he pursued Yi Yun.

And at that moment, Xing Yu Divine Lord suddenly noticed something. Yi Yun had been sent retreating while spewing out blood from the impact. But wasn’t the distance he had retreated a little too far?

The direction of his retreat was straight for the black spear!

“No good! He’s planning on using the black spear’s powers to escape!” Xing Yu Divine Lord immediately caught on to Yi Yun’s ploy. After all, Yi Yun had used such a trick back when he snatched the Netherworld tree’s fruit!

The others might have thought that Yi Yun had no means of approaching the black spear but Xing Yu Divine Lord and Li Fire Divine Lord did not share that opinion. Back then, they believed that it was impossible for anyone to approach the Netherworld tree, but didn’t Yi Yun manage to do it all the same!?

The laws of common sense did not apply to this junior!

“Little bastard, don’t you dare think of it!” Spatial dimension laws appeared around Yi Yun, sealing the space he was in. Xing Yu Divine Lord’s aura expanded vehemently, as he fervently powered his Skyfiend Bell. As the bell’s shrill tunes assaulted Yi Yun, he powered his Divine Lord Royal Seal as well, smashing it straight at Yi Yun’s head.

“Destruction domain!” Yi Yun remained stoic as blood continued flowing down the corner of his mouth. The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence instantly appeared behind him. The power of Major Destruction constantly stirred as it tore through the spatial lock.

Simultaneously, he slashed out dozens of times. Each strike struck one of the bell’s sound waves. The final strike collided with the Divine Lord Royal Seal once again.

Boom!

It resulted in a tempestuous energy blast. Yi Yun felt his lifeblood go into turmoil, but he took advantage of the blast from the impact to approach the black spear without hindrance. Xing Yu Divine Lord’s face turned as black as a wok when Yi Yun’s figure slipped into the nebulous Primordial Chaos.

Although Yi Yun had already suffered quite some damage, he still managed to withstand his final attack!

Furthermore, he had already guessed that Yi Yun had a special method to approach the black spear. But even so, he never expected Yi Yun to immerse himself within the nebulous Primordial Chaos.

The blob of nebulous Primordial Chaos was as dense as the stars. An ordinary person would be pressed to a pulp in there but Yi Yun had managed to situate himself in it safely!

This scene was naturally seen by all. Bluejade covered her mouth in surprise. “Yi Yun actually knows the laws of Chaos?”

1451 - : Sword of the River of the Netherworld

Only those adept in the laws of Chaos, and even then only after reaching a certain level of proficiency, could immerse themselves in the nebulous Primordial Chaos. In fact, this was a feat many three-Sealed Divine Lords were incapable of. It was a Great Dao of Supremacy of the Universe.

It was hard to imagine that Yi Yun could be that well-versed in the laws of Chaos at such a young age. One could only wonder how he managed to cultivate it.

At that moment, Xing Yu Divine Lord suddenly glared at Li Fire Divine Lord, and said grimly, “Li Fire, why didn’t you take action?”

Li Fire snorted and said, “He was able to defend against your attack so easily, so it wouldn’t have mattered if I did anything.”

Xing Yu had a look of displeasure after hearing that. It was Li Fire that made the initial offer to join forces. Yet, Li Fire had shrank back in the end. He coldly looked at the nebulous Primordial Chaos around the black spear. Yi Yun’s figure could be faintly seen in the nebulous Primordial Chaos from time to time.

This immediately delighted Xing Yu. “That little bastard can’t handle it after all. He’s about to come out!”

But just as his voiced faded, the smile on his face turned stiff. He looked with an extremely grotesque expression as Yi Yun sat cross-legged amid the nebulous Primordial Chaos. Then, he closed his eyes and actually began cultivating inside in a rather stately manner!

The others could only stand to cultivate more than five kilometers away from the black spear but Yi Yun was able to cultivate right within the nebulous Primordial Chaos beside the black spear. The difference was truly like night and day.

Gradually, Yi Yun’s figure was once again concealed by the nebulous Primordial Chaos. All that could be seen was a blurry silhouette.

Xing Yu was so peeved that he nearly crushed his teeth from clenching them. Yi Yun was already very difficult to deal with as he was. If he was allowed to continue cultivating in such a place, the consequences would be disastrous.

Upon thinking of this, Xing Yu did not hesitate any further. He immediately mustered all his Yuan Qi and tried his best to walk towards the black spear.

But he didn’t get far before the tidal wave-like suppression inundated his body and overwhelmed it. It caused all his bones to creak.

Xing Yu’s eyes flashed as a Divine Lord Royal Seal immediately flew above his head to fend off a portion of the suppression. It eased the pressure on Xing Yu, allowing him to continue proceeding forward. But after he took another hundred steps, the immense pressure from the laws of Chaos began to completely overwhelm him. It nearly bent his back.

Although the Divine Lord Royal Seal was powerful, there was no way it could withstand the pure powers of Heaven and Earth.

“Li Fire, join forces with me!” Xing Yu said through gritted teeth.

However, Li Fire completely ignored him. He walked to the side, set up a restrictive region, and sat down cross-legged. His body immediately lit up in flames.

“Li Fire!” Xing Yu cursed.

It was unknown what kind of mark Yi Yun had planted on Li Fire’s body for him to be in such a hurry to expel it.

Xing Yu Divine Lord regarded the matter as nothing worthy of serious consideration. Although Yi Yun was powerful, he had been jointly repressed by two Divine Lords. What could he do in such a situation? At best, removing any mark he planted should’ve been a trivial problem.

“In that case, any rewards I get from Yi Yun will be mine alone. Array arise!” Xing Yu threw out dozens of array flags from his interspatial ring. They embedded themselves in mid-air around him. Each array flag suffused an extraordinary aura. Clearly, they were of a high grade, and just the materials they were made of were natural treasures.

“Indeed, every Divine Lord is extraordinary, especially Royal Sealed Divine Lords from such large factions,” muttered Bluejade wistfully.

Her senior brother looked in astonishment at the array flags and said with a hint of smugness, “That Yi Yun is doomed.” He did not have any grudge with Yi Yun, but to see a genius like Yi Yun succeed made him feel extremely envious.

After the array flags were in place, Xing Yu conjured the Skyfiend Bell once again. Then, he spat a mouthful of blood on it. Immediately, the Skyfiend Bell’s tunes were amplified. All the array flags also sounded in unison, immediately forming a powerful array formation.

Under the effects of the array formation, the pressure exerted on Xing Yu became like flowing water that met a rock. It simply flowed off of him once it hit him.

Xing Yu immediately felt the pressure on him subside. He sped up and walked towards Yi Yun.

But at that moment, a heavy grunt came from Li Fire’s direction.

The surrounding people immediately turned to look over.

Li Fire appeared to have suffered a backlash as blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Then, he quickly took out a jade bottle, poured out some pills, and stuffed them into his mouth.

The moment he ate the pills, Li Fire continued circulating his Yuan Qi to purge the nomological mark of the River of the Netherworld. He still put out a powerful aura to prevent anyone from realizing that something was amiss.

However, the aura he exuded would get chaotic from time to time. Even those without overly high cultivation levels could faintly sense that his situation was turning for the worse.

Wasn’t it said that Yi Yun had only planted a tiny mark on him? Why did it appear to be such a problem for a Divine Lord?

Li Fire was repressing his anger, and he felt a tinge of horror too. He originally believed that he could purge the nomological mark in about two hours but when he truly set his mind to it, he realized that the mark was like a maggot that was nudged deep into his Divine Lord Royal Seal. It appeared to have fused with the Divine Lord Royal Seal!

Li Fire never expected that he would feel a sense of fear towards a junior. The nomological mark had far exceeded his estimates. He might not even be able to purge it given a month, much less two hours!

Suddenly, one of Li Fire Divine Lord’s disciples screamed.

“Master, your… your hair…” The disciple looked at Li Fire in disbelief.

Li Fire’s heart sank as he looked down at his beard to realize that his hair had turned white. Simultaneously, his Yuan Qi was now being devoured at a much faster speed!

With his hair turning white, he could no longer hide the terror of his situation from others. Everyone looked at the scene in alarm. What Yi Yun had done was in no way trivial. A Divine Lord’s vitality was actually being drained!

Li Fire sat cross-legged there, his Yuan Qi constantly weakening as his hair turned whiter. More wrinkles appeared on his face. His brows were knitted tightly, making it extremely clear that he was barely holding up.

As long as he purged the mark, there was still a chance of him recovering.

When Xing Yu saw Li Fire’s situation, he was immediately alarmed. It was completely different from what he imagined!

He never expected Yi Yun to deliver such a lethal strike to Li Fire. Xing Yu turned apprehensive. Thankfully, Yi Yun had chosen to attack Li Fire. If he had been the target…

Xing Yu secretly cursed Li Fire. He had clearly succumbed to Yi Yun’s blow but he had claimed that it was a trivial problem. If he knew Yi Yun was that heaven-defying, he might have reconsidered his attitude towards him.

Although Xing Yu envied the opportunities Yi Yun had, he needed to weigh the cost of obtaining them. But by this point, Xing Yu was irrevocably committed to his current path. He did not know if he should continue proceeding forward or turn and retreat.

1452 - : Irrevocably Committed

A light cracking sound came out of nowhere, as one of the array flags used by Xing Yu Divine Lord to establish the array formation suddenly shattered. It was instantly ground to dust by the terrifying pressure.

Xing Yu instantly had a change in expression as he suddenly realized that, for some unknown reason, the space around him had undergone drastic changes. More nebulous Primordial Chaos had appeared and his array formation could hardly withstand it much longer under the increasing pressure.

The flustered Xing Yu was just about to retreat in a hurry when he realized that the space he was in turned into a quagmire of sorts, making it almost impossible for him to move. Be it escape techniques or talismans, they would be of no help.

“It’s a domain!” Xing Yu’s heart sank.

At that moment, clear but slow footsteps could be heard. Yi Yun’s figure strode out of the nebulous Primordial Chaos, each step as heavy as a mountain. He left deep imprints in the land that had been compressed by the nebulous Primordial Chaos till it was as dense as gold.

With Mirage Snow in hand, Yi Yun wore a cold gaze as murdering intent boiled within him.

Major Destruction laws and the Primordial Chaos aura spread out, and it was none other than Yi Yun’s Chaos Destruction domain.

He had added the nebulous Primordial Chaos to his Destruction domain, strengthening it greatly. And this was a place thick with nebulous Primordial Chaos to begin with. Yi Yun’s casting of the Chaos Destruction domain was like putting a fish in water.

“But…your injuries!?” Xing Yu looked at Yi Yun in astonishment. At that moment, Yi Yun was burning with killing intent, looking uninjured in any sense of the word.

Yet, he never imagined that the nebulous Primordial Chaos could be used as a power of creation. Since Yi Yun was able to infuse the Chaos aura into the Destruction domain, he could naturally use the nebulous Primordial Chaos to repress his injuries.

“Xing Yu, don’t bother trying to leave after coming all the way here. Aren’t you here to kill me? Here I am.” The corners of Yi Yun’s mouth curled into a mocking smile. As for Xing Yu Divine Lord’s question, he could not be bothered to answer it.

Xing Yu revealed a wrathful look, that hint of panic long forgotten. He could not escape from the domain. If he did try, he would only make himself vulnerable. Furthermore, he was fighting a junior. If he did not have the courage to fight such a battle, what was the point of being a Divine Lord?

“Yi Yun, you are just too arrogant. I’ll demonstrate the difference between a Royal Sealed Divine Lord and you. A dead genius is no longer a genius!”

Xing Yu Divine Lord bellowed angrily as the Divine Lord Royal Seal above him immediately let out a sharp shrill and it began enveloping Yi Yun. Simultaneously, Xing Yu held the Skyfiend Bell in one hand and spat a mouthful of blood on it, but this time, he put his blood essence into it.

After he spat the blood essence, his face suffused an unnatural color. But quickly, his figure was enveloped by a wailing demonic shadow. Gigantic blood-colored demonic shadows fell over one another as they surged out from the Skyfiend Bell and launched themselves at Yi Yun.

“Ah!” Before some of the weaker warriors were able to react, they were caught up in the demonic tune. They rolled around in pain, grasping their heads tightly. Their Yuan Qi was in complete chaos. Just like a Qi deviation, if nothing was done it would quickly lead to them exploding.

However, the warriors here had come in teams. They had companions with them. But even with the aid of their companions, they still suffered from substantial injuries. They ended up looking at Xing Yu Divine Lord in horror.

Clearly, Xing Yu had produced all his strength in a bid to kill Yi Yun once and for all!

Yi Yun also finally moved against the demonic shadows that filled the sky.

He originally began with slow and steady footsteps but immediately following that, he began running. His heavy footsteps sounded like thunder across the land.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The footsteps turned louder and finally formed a continuous, formless sound that immediately distorted the demonic tune produced by the Skyfiend Bell, causing it to sound like a scream. Instantly, it was dissipated!

Although the Skyfiend Bell’s ringing was terrifying, how could it compare to the power of Chaos that accompanied the birth of the Universe? Here, Yi Yun did not need to use any treasures, all he needed to use were the terrain and situation!

Yi Yun had charged to meet the gigantic demonic shadow. It raised its huge foot to trample on Yi Yun. It suffused a rich blood aura and this alone could corrode a warrior’s body to bones.

But Yi Yun did not decrease his speed, instead brandishing Mirage Snow as it suddenly released a resplendent blue light.

The blue light was extremely beautiful, so beautiful to the point of it being intoxicating. But when the sword flash was released, it brought with it a sharpness that meant death!

Wherever the blue light passed through, the gigantic demonic shadow would disintegrate. And Yi Yun himself appeared like a sword shadow, snow that did not get stained by blood, amid the countless fragments. He charged straight in front of Xing Yu Divine Lord!

Xing Yu’s pupils suddenly constricted. Fast, it was just too fast! His attacks had been instantly nullified by Yi Yun.

Xing Yu felt a strong sense of impending danger when he saw Yi Yun appear in front of him in a blink of an eye. He roared and immediately tapped at the array flags, causing the power auras released by the Divine Lord Royal Seal and the Skyfiend Bells to create a blockade in front of him.

Yi Yun’s sword flash shot out!

Xing Yu’s vision was immediately filled by a swath of icy-blue color. The blue was pure and even felt ice-cold. It made Xing Yu feel like he had suddenly arrived in an infinite plane of ice. Even he could not help but look wistfully at the beautiful purity.

But Xing Yu managed to jolt himself awake almost immediately. It was not beautiful purity but killing intent and sword Qi in their purest form!

At that moment, the sword flash cleaved into Xing Yu’s demonic aura that enveloped him.

Ka-cha!

With a light cracking sound, like an eggshell being gently struck, the aura blasted apart completely!

Xing Yu’s demonic aura had been completely cleaved through, causing him to be sent flying backward by the sword Qi. He left blood splattering through the air!

An easy devastation! Yi Yun’s strike made the surrounding people feel like he was some indomitable figure!

Before Xing Yu landed, Yi Yun had instantly appeared in front of him.

“Kill!”

His eyes were extremely cold but the killing intent that he exuded felt more like a Shura than Xing Yu’s demonic aura!

Skyfiend Bell, blown up!

Divine Lord Royal Seal, slashed apart!

Xing Yu spat out blood repeatedly as a look of despair flashed in his eyes. He did not even have the chance to take out his other treasures before seeing Yi Yun’s sword flash cleave down at him.

In those last moments, Xing Yu had a look of utter disbelief on his face.

“I’m a Divine Lord of the White Lunar Divine Empire. If you dare…”

Whoosh!

The ice-blue sword flash streaked across the sky!

Everyone watched the scene in shock as they saw the mighty Xing Yu Divine Lord being struck by the sword flash. He plummeted while covered in blood before crashing heavily to the ground.

The next moment, terrifying nebulous Primordial Chaos pressed down on his body, meeting no resistance. Even if a Divine Lord’s body was as hard as a treasure, it remained extremely weak in the presence of the nebulous Primordial Chaos.

Amid the shuddering cracking sounds, people turned back to see the youth standing above the ground, with nebulous Primordial Chaos lingering around his body, rather Xing Yu Divine Lord, whose life was nearing its end.

Yi Yun had slain a Royal Sealed Divine Lord!

People looked at him in astonishment!

And at that moment, Yi Yun was already walking towards the crowd.

“Where do you plan on going?” sneered Yi Yun.

Only then did people realize that Li Fire was trying to secretly escape.

However, Li Fire’s present state alarmed people.

He had given up purging the nomological mark of the River of the Netherworld and immediately sensed an even stronger backlash. His entire being turned stiff like an extremely old person.

“Yi Yun, I…”

Before Li Fire could even make a sentence, he was already slain by Yi Yun!

He had already been heavily injured and had appeared defenseless in front of him.

Li Fire’s eyes widened, as though he never imagined such a thing could happen.

Having witnessed this, Li Fire’s disciples immediately revealed a sorrowful look. But be it people from elsewhere or from the Great Cosmic State, they did not dare try to stop it.

Just like no one would care what Yi Yun did before killing him. Here, strength was everything!

Having killed two Divine Lords, it could be said that he could change destiny itself.

Di Rong looked at Yi Yun with mixed emotions. He knew that after leaving the Divine Perish Hall, Yi Yun’s name would spread throughout the ancient battlefield, making it impossible for him to remain some unknown.

Yi Yun and many others went to the ancient battlefield together. Yet, Di Rong’s eyes were set on the famous geniuses. Recalling that, and given current events, his ability to discern strength was quite weak.

Di Rong sat down quietly having taken in everything. Yi Yun’s appearance made him realize that his martial path was still very long. He did not plan on wasting even one bit of time.

And those that had conflicts with Yi Yun prior to this, such as the geniuses from the Magnificent Heaven, did not dare stay near Yi Yun at the moment. They quickly left.

Bluejade’s senior brother also gave a clumsy excuse to sneak away. He felt extremely afraid facing Yi Yun given what he saw.

Bluejade did not expose his thoughts. While she despised him, she knew it was because Yi Yun was just too powerful. Even if her senior brother knew that Yi Yun did not care about him either way, of course he would still feel afraid.

Yi Yun returned to the area under the black spear and began cultivating in the nebulous Primordial Chaos.

As the nebulous Primordial Chaos enveloped Yi Yun’s body once again, the people from the Great Cosmic State quickly put away Li Fire’s corpse. As for the people from the White Lunar Divine Empire, they had planned on collecting Xing Yu Divine Lord’s corpse but there were only bones left of him. In addition, they had no way to approach the spot where he had perished. All they could do was watch helplessly as Xing Yu Divine Lord’s bones were crushed to dust.

Xing Yu had failed to skin Yi Yun alive and extract his soul. Instead, he left without a proper burial and was completely reduced to dust.

As for Yi Yun who had just returned to the nebulous Primordial Chaos, his face was pale. His aura had also turned chaotic.

He had killed Xing Yu Divine Lord in an indomitable fashion but it was naturally not as easy as it looked on the surface. The injuries that he had repressed previously were relapsing, causing the corners of his mouth to seep a strand of blood.

But even so, Yi Yun’s eyes were still filled with excitement.

He had attempted to infuse the nebulous Primordial Chaos into his Destruction domain and managed to succeed in one try. But now, his domain was quite unstable.

1453 - : Domain Evolution

ithout having any extraneous worries left, Yi Yun could finally take the opportunity to consolidate his newly-created Primordial Destruction domain.

He slowly separated a wisp of nebulous Primordial Chaos and injected it into his domain before closing his eyes. He began fusing the wisp of nebulous Primordial Chaos with his Destruction domain.

After an unknown period of time, Yi Yun realized that the region blanketed by the nebulous Primordial Chaos had already established a connection with him so he opened his eyes. Through the nebulous Primordial Chaos, he could ‘see’ that warriors were cultivating in the distance. The number of warriors had increased quite significantly, and the warriors that had just arrived were discovering the benefits of the area. As such, they took the opportunity to cultivate.

Of course, there were some that failed to take even one step forward, giving them no other choice but to leave. Staying would only be a waste of time for them. It was better for them to seek out other opportunities in the Divine Perish Hall.

Yi Yun swept his perimeter and suddenly discovered that the region with the largest amount of nebulous Primordial Chaos gathered was where the black spear was.

The reason for the rich nebulous Primordial Chaos definitely had to do with the black spear. And after Yi Yun formed a connection, he seemed to discover the reason why the black spear attracted the nebulous Primordial Chaos.

Yi Yun had already fused a few wisps of nebulous Primordial Chaos into his Destruction domain. Being overly greedy would not help. It was hard to fuse more nebulous Primordial Chaos so Yi Yun simply stood up and walked towards the black spear.

The closer he was to the black spear, the more terrifying the pressure became. Despite being able to walk leisurely previously, Yi Yun felt a horrifying force inundate him after taking nearly a hundred steps towards the black spear. It felt as though a whole continent had smashed right into him.

Yi Yun immediately heard all his bones, especially his spine and knees, produce cracking sounds that left him shuddering. They sounded like they were about to buckle immediately.

Yi Yun’s expression changed as he rushed to conjure his Primordial Destruction domain.

A hazy space immediately enveloped Yi Yun’s surroundings, creation and destruction forming chains before they constructed a protective space. The simultaneous existence of both powers gave it a harmonious feeling, like the inception of a world.

In fact, Yi Yun’s Primordial Destruction domain had already formed a nascent pocket world. If he were to engulf enemies in his Primordial Destruction domain, it would be no different from imprisoning them inside Yi Yun’s pocket world. In this world, Yi Yun was the absolute hegemon.

The pressure Yi Yun felt instantly decreased with the Primordial Destruction domain’s appearance.

But even so, it took a month for Yi Yun to get directly in front of the black spear.

And during this period, Yi Yun’s Primordial Destruction domain turned denser, asymptotically approaching the status of a real pocket world.

The ancient and unsophisticated black spear was embedded in the land, dyeing the surrounding earth a bright red. The red remained extremely bright despite all the time that had passed.

It was unknown how long the black spear had been there. No one had ever approached it so it continued to maintain its original state in every aspect. Before the black spear penetrated the ground, it clearly had experienced a horrifying battle. There were dried blood stains on the spear tip, each having different auras, clearly those of different experts. The auras had not dissipated despite the billions of years. They still contained potent strength that left Yi Yun astounded.

The owner of the black spear was clearly extremely powerful to be able to survive a battle against so many experts.

And the terrifying decimation aura effused by the black spear made Yi Yun feel like he was about to be killed simply by looking at it. Furthermore, he sensed that it was no illusion. The killing intent the black spear possessed really could kill. It made Yi Yun recall the sensation he had when he first entered the Divine Perish Hall.

Yi Yun carefully approached the black spear when he suddenly saw a figure. The figure had an extremely powerful aura that left his heart palpitating.

Yi Yun felt great palpitations through his heart when he saw the figure. He immediately drew Mirage Snow.

However, before he could launch an attack, he discovered that the figure was no living person. Instead, it was a broken set of armor.

The armor had blood stains on it and was covered in cracks. Yi Yun could not help but feel his blood boil over when he saw it, and was eager to put it on immediately and wield the black spear to rush onto the battlefield to shed blood and lay down his life.

But Yi Yun did not move. He stood there to take in the killing intent that remained extremely keen despite the eons.

Gradually, a gray wisp of air suffused the armor. It catalyzed Yi Yun’s Primordial space, as it was actually condensed out of the essence of nebulous Primordial Chaos.

And as though triggered by the gray wisp of air, a token flew out of Yi Yun’s clothes.

Oh?

Yi Yun felt his heart jolt. The token was the token he had received at the Divine Perish Hall’s passageway by the entrance. At that moment, it was slowly fusing with the wisp of nebulous Primordial Chaos.

After the nebulous Primordial Chaos essence fused with the token, it produced mystic nomological patterns. Following that, the token stirred up a gray vortex, pulling in large amounts of nebulous Primordial Chaos from the spear’s surroundings.

Hu! Hu! Hu!

The swirling nebulous Primordial Chaos formed a gigantic cloud as its core sank down like a funnel, its target being Yi Yun and the token.

Yi Yun felt in that instant like his body was about to be pulverized by the nebulous Primordial Chaos. He gritted his teeth and circulated all his strength to conjure the Primordial space that had formed a pocket world to withstand the power!

The cultivating warriors in the vicinity were also beginning to notice this strange scene. They did not know what was happening around the spear, nor could they see Yi Yun’s figure. They only knew that something major was happening.

“Master, what’s going on? Why is the nebulous Primordial Chaos experiencing such phenomena?” Bluejade muttered.

She looked at the nebulous Primordial Chaos that was forming a heavy cloud and a vortex-like funnel. She knew deep down how terrifying the vortex cloud was even if it was not more than a few kilometers across. It could ground a Great World to bits!

“I’m unsure myself. This anomaly is just too astonishing…” Nun Annihilation looked at the Primordial cloud with glimmering eyes. She felt that even the trivial bit of Primordial laws she had absorbed before was being pulled towards it.

The onlookers retreated in alarm. No one dared to continue cultivating in the region.

“Oh!? It seems there’s someone in the middle of the vortex funnel!” a person that cultivated in a special vision technique exclaimed suddenly.

Everyone was alarmed as they looked over. Seconds later, they indeed saw a blurry figure in the middle of the Primordial cloud vortex. The figure’s arms were extended out as it floated amid the void. Its long hair stood up straight due to the energies surging through them while they experienced the baptism of the Primordial energies.

Such a shocking scene made people feel like the person was a godlike existence. Some even had the urge to prostrate towards it.

“That is… Yi Yun!?” Bluejade said in disbelief.

The scene in front of her was just too astounding. Even if Yi Yun had killed two Divine Lords previously, she found it hard to imagine how Yi Yun could trigger such a terrifying phenomenon amid the nebulous Primordial Chaos.

“It can only be him. He’s the one beneath the Primordial cloud.”

Nun Annihilation drew a gasp as she said this with a conflicted look. Back in the outer sanctum, she only felt that Yi Yun was unfathomable when he plucked away the Netherworld tree’s fruit. But now, Yi Yun had managed to stir all the nebulous Primordial Chaos and perturb the very laws of the world. This completely alarmed her. Could she be witnessing the birth of a future Godly Monarch?

If that were the case, Xing Yu and Li Fire were only stepping stones on Yi Yun’s path towards being a Godly Monarch.

Hum Hum Hum…

The Primordial cloud constantly folded as the token in Yi Yun’s hand had completely disappeared. It had transformed into a nomological mark, a shimmering gray blob of light like a tiny sun, before it flew towards towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun spread his arms and allowed the nomological mark to permeate his body. Immediately, Yi Yun felt a burning sensation at his chest. He looked down and saw the rune appear on the skin across his left chest. It emitted a black glow.

“This is…” Yi Yun circulated his Yuan Qi and, as it passed through the rune, fighting spirit immediately filled Yi Yun’s head. His body suffused an intense killing intent while he stretched out a finger.

With that, all his Yuan Qi gathered towards the rune. After devouring a large amount of energy, a gray beam of light shot out from Yi Yun’s fingertip, striking the ground not far from him.

“Puah!”

The ground was penetrated by the gray light, leaving a hole as black as ink. Yi Yun probed deep into the hole but could not detect its bottom.

This was still quite a feat, as the ground around the Primordial spear had been solidified by the Primordial laws, making it as tough as divine metal!

“What power!” Yi Yun was astonished. But he quickly sensed that he had drained nearly half his Yuan Qi.

“That strike was delivered with my full strength. I can’t do that in actual combat,” thought Yi Yun.

He looked at the rune on his left chest in delighted surprise. This was a worldly nomological mark that manifested as a result of the token’s fusion with the nomological mark. Ignoring a fully formed Primordial space, just the rune alone had become a terrifyingly potent divine power.

“The token I obtained in the Divine Perish Hall passageway acted as the foundation before it formed a rune. That means there are more than one of these tokens. Does that also mean that there is more than one such nomological mark?”

This thought streaked across Yi Yun’s mind. He had long sensed that the token was extraordinary. However, for tens of millions of years, no one had been able to make use of it. Converting it to a nomological mark was easier said than done.

If the runic strength from before numbered in the hundreds or even a thousand, the overall strength left Yi Yun reeling.

Yi Yun had a vague guess that this was probably the most important benefit of the ancient battlefield.

Of course, it was already a challenge for him to obtain the one. Therefore, his wish to gather more would not be so easily fulfilled.

And after Yi Yun absorbed the nebulous Primordial Chaos, the armor immediately dissipated. The fragments rapidly reduced to dust on the ground.

Yi Yun had a wistful look. The armor had existed for hundreds of millions of years but it eventually vanished into thin air.

The nebulous Primordial Chaos in the area would gradually dissipate but that would happen far in the future.

1454 - : Primordial Chaos Cloud

Yi Yun had determined that the nebulous Primordial Chaos was the remnant aura left behind by the piece of armor. Perhaps the ancient expert that wore it had also cultivated in the laws of Primordial Chaos.

Although the armor was extraordinary, it had been damaged after all. Yi Yun did not feel the pinch seeing it dissipate. However, the black spear remained completely intact.

He coveted the black spear more than anything else in that place.

Walking to the black spear’s side, he took a deep breath before extending his hand to grab it.

Hum!

The black spear seemed to sense Yi Yun’s action as it vibrated suddenly.

Yi Yun felt extreme danger inundate him. He barely managed to summon the Primordial Destruction domain in time, encasing himself in it like it was armor. The next moment, he felt like he was being swallowed by a black rift.

Yi Yun became dizzy as his body appeared to be tearing apart. The Divine Perish Hall’s spatial forces were far greater than the outside world’s. If he were in the Sinkhole, Yi Yun’s physique would allow him to sleep in the spatial storms without any problems. But now, he felt like his body was being tempered, causing his lifeblood to go into turmoil!

As Yi Yun was being sucked into a spatial rift, there was a group of people dressed in fine golden clothes outside the Divine Perish Hall. They joined forces with a batch of White Lunar Divine Empire warriors to set up a massive array in an attempt to break open the Divine Perish Hall’s door.

The people in the golden clothes came from the Great Cosmic State.

Just ten days ago, the life slips connected to Li Fire Divine Lord and Xing Yu Divine Lord’s lives had shattered in the Great Cosmic State and White Lunar Divine Empire respectively!

Both Royal Sealed Divine Lord had perished almost simultaneously in the ancient battlefield!

Even in mighty factions like the Great Cosmic State and White Lunar Divine Empire, Royal Sealed Divine Lords enjoyed extraordinary statues. They were the forces that could prop up an empire.

Once the ancient battlefield opened, it would last for decades. Under ordinary circumstances, there was little danger. Those that perished were usually juniors from the younger generation. Royal Sealed Divine Lords seldom encountered lethal difficulties, but now two Divine Lords had died.

The Great Cosmic State and White Lunar Divine Empire commissioned people who had left their names on the World Monolith in the outside world to specially create teleportation jade slips, allowing them to send people into the ancient battlefield to assess the situation. They soon learned that Li Fire Divine Lord and Xing Yu Divine Lord had entered the Divine Perish Hall.

However, the Divine Perish Hall was in complete lockdown. People outside could not enter, while people inside could not exit. It was unknown what had happened inside the hall for it to be like that.

As the people from the Great Cosmic State and White Lunar Divine Empire were setting up the array, they attempted to force their way into the Divine Perish Hall. Yet, to their surprise, the Divine Perish Hall suddenly released grayish beams of divine light.

“Buzz——”

The massive Divine Perish Hall began to tremble violently. Above it, mystical runic marks formed in the sky. Upon seeing this happen, everyone felt a jolt through their hearts. The Divine Perish Hall had undergone another anomalous change!?

“The Heavenly Dao has been stirred. These nomological runes are no trifling matter. They seemed to be resonating with something…”

An elder stared at the void that changed unpredictably as he spoke. And at that moment, a black beam of light flew into the mark like an arrow hitting its target before vanishing.

The elder was taken aback. He had failed to identify the black beam of light, and at that moment—

“Ka-cha!”

Everyone was alarmed when they heard a cracking sound.

What happened!?

“The Recognition Monument!” shouted someone in alarm.

Everyone immediately looked towards the sound and saw the Recognition Monument that stood in front of the Divine Perish Hall suddenly develop a crack. It rapidly spread out like a spider’s web the moment it appeared. The two names on the Recognition Monument also vanished with the appearance of the crack.

In moments, the Recognition Monument completely shattered, dissipating into scattered nomological fragments.

“The Recognition Monument has vanished!?”

Everyone watched with mouths agape. What was happening? Why did the Divine Perish Hall Recognition Monument that had stood there erected for eons suddenly vanish?

What exactly was happening inside the Divine Perish Hall?

…

…

About millions of kilometers from the Divine Perish Hall, dense killing intent permeated a desolate plain that stretched out endlessly. Nearly a thousand warriors were gathered there. They formed teams of more than ten people, forcibly resisting the corrosive powers of the killing intent while forging ahead arduously.

In the distant horizon, in the deepest depths of the desolate plain, was a massive abyss. As if a god had swung his divine sword, the land had been ripped apart, leaving behind a massive fissure.

And in the abyss, dark red decimation auras surged into the sky. They resembled blazing flames that reached for the firmaments, blasting away the layer of clouds that perennially hung above the ancient battlefield.

The deep abyss was one of the more horrifying areas in the ancient battlefield! It was a perilous land of death!

It was unlike the Divine Perish Hall. The Divine Perish Hall had experienced an anomalous change this time round, making it become more dangerous. As for the abyss, it had existed since the ancient battlefield first opened. It was as dangerous as could be. Even Divine Lords would not dare enter recklessly for there was a strong chance that they would never return.

It was unknown where the rumor came from, but it was said that the abyss was the tomb of one of the twelve Fey Gods from ancient times. Although the rumor had no basis, the abyss gained its name due to it. People called it the Fey God Tomb!

As a place that supposedly held a buried Fey God, it was obvious how dangerous it was for human warriors to enter.

However, due to the rich fiendish aura in the Fey God Tomb, its periphery gave birth to excellent herbs and natural treasures.

For example, Blood Lingzhi mushrooms aged thousands of years were rare elsewhere, making them very expensive. But here, there were many to be found.

However, these Blood Lingzhi in the periphery had long been plucked away with each opening of the ancient battlefield. To chance upon the remaining older ones, one had to get closer to the Fey God Tomb.

One of the teams with dozens of people was approaching the Fey God Tomb carefully thanks to a defensive treasure they had.

“Blood Lingzhi, and it looks at least three thousand years old!” At that moment, a warrior with relatively good eyesight let out a joyous cry.

Everyone immediately looked over and saw the faint outline of a lingzhi in a thick sanguine aura a few hundred meters away.

“Judging from the density of the sanguine aura, this lingzhi is probably nearly four thousand years old!” The man holding the defensive treasure in hand revealed a look of pleasant surprise.

“Blood Lingzhi cannot be plucked directly with one’s hand. Spirit Jade must be used. If not, we will get contaminated by the sanguine aura,” said the man.

“I’ll get it!” The warrior who first discovered the Blood Lingzhi could not conceal his excitement as he volunteered.

He took out a Spirit Jade jade box and flew towards the Blood Lingzhi. But as he flew under the watchful gazes of everyone, the warrior suddenly laughed out boisterously in flight. Then, he suddenly turned his head and looked at the group of his fellow warriors.

People looked at him perplexed as the warrior hung a smile on his face and took on an eerie yearning look. It was as though he had seen a beauty he could not resist. Following that, he raised his hand and, suddenly, stabbed his five fingers deep into his head. Immediately, blood gushed out as the warrior’s corpse collapsed heavily to the ground.

This strange scene left the scalps of people tingling. They stared intently at the warrior but failed to discover how he came under the influence of the mysterious power.

Everyone knew that the Fey God Tomb was strange but this was the first time they had heard of such a situation.

“Release your psyche perception. There might be something invisible to the eye just like those entities in the Psyche Vanquishing Desert.” The man holding the defensive treasure shouted.

“Junior Brother Huang, follow me… huh? Junior Brother Yang, what are you doing!?” Before the man could finish his sentence, he saw Yang suddenly draw his sword, turn around, and stab the person beside him right in the heart.

The person had been stabbed without any warning. He looked in horror at Yang. And immediately following that, Yang withdrew his sword and sliced it across his neck.

When Yang’s corpse collapsed to the ground, people discovered in horror that there was a strange smile on his face. It looked identical to the smile of the warrior who had attempted to pluck the Blood Lingzhi.

This sent everyone into a panic. It would have been alright if they could see their enemy but under the present circumstances, they did not even know how death had crept up to them.

The people already had thoughts of retreating. No matter how good the Blood Lingzhi was, it was in no way more important than their lives.

The man with the defensive treasure looked at the corpses in anguish. Three people had died for reasons unknown before they even touched the Blood Lingzhi. He felt too indignant to give up just like that.

Suddenly, a light yellow barrier flashed across the man’s body. Immediately following that, the man felt his glabella hurt. It felt like something had tried to drill into his head but ended up failing.

He was astounded. He knew he would have been dead if the defensive treasure had not activated when it did.

He did not have time to check his own body. Huang, who he had just shouted out too, also had that strange smile as he drew his weapon.

“Junior Brother Huang, wake up!” The man shouted amid anger and anguish. Huang was his best friend there. He was unsure what to do as he saw Huang fall into the queer madness. But at that moment in time, a figure twinkling with a faint glow flew over from afar.

The figure appeared to fly slowly but it appeared in front of them in a blink of an eye.

Simultaneously, a gentle light beam shot out from the figure’s hand and headed towards Huang.

“Don’t hurt him…” The man wanted to do something but he was subtly pushed away by the gentle beam of light. Although it felt gentle, the man knew that the beam of light contained potent strength that he was no match for.

“Ah!”

A tragic cry sounded from Huang’s body but it did not come from his mouth.

After being enveloped by the beam of light, everyone watched in horror as a face without any facial features appeared behind Huang’s head. Following that, the face began melting away amid tragic cries. In a blink of an eye, it had vanished inside the beam of light.

As for Huang, he came round. The color in his face was drained and he looked like he had lost a lot of lifeblood.

Everyone, including the man holding the treasure, immediately looked at the figure that had taken action.

The figure was materializing. She was a young girl with a divine halo around her. Her feet remained off the ground and, although she veiled her face, one could tell there was peerless beauty beneath the veil.

“Thank you for saving us, Fairy Yourou!” The man looked at the peerless girl from the Nethersky Divine World with pleasant surprise. He immediately bowed.

Upon hearing the man’s words, people who did not know of the girl’s identity immediately came to a realization. The girl was Fairy Yourou, also known as the Nethersky Divine World’s Young Goddess.

Fairy Yourou said, “That was an evil spirit born out of the sanguine aura in the Fey God Tomb. They grow by devouring the lifeblood and souls of warriors. It’s very rare for one to encounter them in the Fey God Tomb’s periphery.”

Her voice sounded ethereal and pleasant. After she finished speaking, she reached out her slender fair hands and beckoned. Immediately, the Blood Lingzhi flew towards the man, breaking away from the confines of the sanguine aura.

“Take this Blood Lingzhi,” said Young Goddess.

The man felt flattered. “How can I accept it? We did not have what it takes to pluck this Blood Lingzhi at all…”

“The way you wanted to protect your junior brother shows your kind heart. That’s a very rare thing in the martial world. I’ll leave the Blood Lingzhi for you,” said Fairy Yourou.

The man did not wish to accept it and so insisted on declining it.

“Since Fairy Yourou wishes to give it to you, take it. What might seem like treasure to you is nothing to her. She really has an overly kind heart.” At that moment, another woman’s voice sounded.

She was none other than Lie Jiaojiao from the Scarlet Yang continent. And beside her was still Lie Rikong as well as another man. He was Yue Wangjian from the First Beginnings Immortal Gate.

The Lie siblings had separated from their team in a land of peril. They chanced upon Young Goddess and Yue Wangjian. Lie Jiaojiao lost her heart to Yue Wangjian at first sight and suggested forming a team with them.

Young Goddess was pure and gentle by nature so she agreed to the proposal.

She had flown over when she sensed the smell of death. The remaining three followed behind. Lie Jiaojiao was the weakest so she was panting by the time she arrived. Once there, she realized that only a bunch of inconsequential people had been saved.

She was rendered rather speechless when she discovered this. However, she spoke nicely and had a smile on her lips.

“Then… thank you very much, Young Goddess! We will be leaving now. We will go to the safer part of the periphery.” The man stored the Blood Lingzhi inside a Spirit Jade jade box as he spoke excitedly.

Even when Young Goddess and company turned to leave, the warrior and his group still had a look of fascination. They almost could not believe that the godly girl had really been in front of them.

They had originally heard that Young Goddess had peerless beauty and talent but now, they had seen her kindness. It made them revere and admire her. The girl was truly perfect.

“Perhaps only White Lunar Divine Empire’s Fairy Lin Xintong can compare to Young Goddess.”

“Young Goddess Fairy Yourou is indeed matchless. However, Fairy Lin is even more unfathomable. She left her name on the ancient battlefield six decades ago. Her looks are also impeccable.”

“Alright. The two fairies are not people the likes of us can talk about for long. Retrieve our junior brothers’ corpses. We need to leave this place as soon as possible,” said the man.

“Junior Sister Yourou, you can’t plunge headfirst into danger whenever others encounter danger. These people have naturally accepted the corresponding risk to be here. If not, how can you call this an experiential training? Besides, we came to the Fey God Tomb for more important matters.” Yue Wangjian walked to Young Goddess’s side and said with a smile.

“I only did it in passing,” said Young Goddess softly.

“That’s right, Senior Brother Yue. Young Goddess’s character is just too good. However, Senior Brother Yue, what you said makes sense. I have really benefited from being by your side.” Lie Jiaojiao said with a lovely smile as she closed the gap between her and Yue Wangjian.

Yue Wangjian smiled lightly and did not say a word.

As for Lie Rikong, he remained silent to the side.

Suddenly, they heard a loud rumbling sound far away. Simultaneously, blasts of spatial quakes spread towards them.

“Oh? What happened?” Yue Wangjian immediately turned to look in the direction of the sound. He saw that space had been torn apart. What appeared to be a tiny black beam had shot out, but when he focused his eyes, he did not seem to see anything.

“Hum!”

Gray light flashed as the laws of the world were stirred, forming countless nomological marks. But in a blink of an eye, they dissipated. Calm was restored as if nothing happened.

Upon seeing this situation, Yue Wangjian felt pleasantly surprised. Something impressive had likely appeared!

1455 - : Fey God Tomb

Boom!

Yi Yun fell out of a spatial rift, his face stricken with terror by what had just happened.

His clothing was rather torn, making him look rather pathetic.

“I should not have recklessly attempted to retrieve the black spear. Still, it was unexpected that the black spear’s killing intent is able to tear open a spatial rift,” thought Yi Yun. Thankfully, his physique was very strong and he has just obtained a Primordial Destruction domain, so he managed to escape unscathed despite the threatening turn of events.

The black spear was powerful, definitely not something Yi Yun could use with his present strength.

Yi Yun looked at his surroundings. He realized that the killing intent was still rich and there was a sanguine air permeating the area. It did not look like a good place to be, and it could even be that he was no longer in the Divine Perish Hall.

At that moment, Yi Yun saw many figures rushing towards him.

“The commotion came from here!”

“A treasure might have appeared. Quick!”

Soon after, a batch of warriors appeared.

They gave Yi Yun suspicious looks when they saw his wretched appearance.

“Were you here a while ago? Did you see anything?” asked a warrior immediately when he saw that Yi Yun was alone and not from any recognizable faction.

“I just arrived here as well. As for what you are looking for, it doesn’t exist here,” said Yi Yun indifferently.

He still felt rather stunned. He never expected the commotion of him tearing open a spatial rift would be mistaken by others as the appearance of a treasure. He had no idea where he was or why there were so many people present.

The warrior exchanged looks with his four partners before saying sharply, “Cut the crap. I bet you took the treasure!”

Even if there was no evidence of a treasure, they did not wish to leave empty-handed after rushing over. Since the fellow was alone, they could at least rob him and get something.

With that said, the five warriors attacked Yi Yun from different angles.

Yi Yun fumed with anger. He had just escaped from danger only to fall into a situation of others robbing him in broad daylight.

Just as the five warriors arrived in front of Yi Yun, they suddenly realized that he had disappeared before they could strike. Immediately following that, a gorgeous ice-blue color permeated their vision. It left them feeling intoxicated.

But right under the feeling of intoxication was terrifying killing intent.

Puah!

Blood splattered as the five warriors slammed straight into Yi Yun’s sword flash. Instantly, their bodies were penetrated by the sword flash as they slumped to the ground.

One of the warriors did not die so quickly, and he looked at Yi Yun in horror. “Sorry… Sorry Senior. I…”

He knew they had hit a brick wall. Yi Yun did not look old but had such a high cultivation level. However, there were many warriors who used techniques to fake their appearance. It was no wonder they were fooled by Yi Yun’s wretched appearance.

Sou! The sword flash landed. Any remaining words the warrior had were left stuck in his throat forever.

Yi Yun did not hold back when killing such people. They were so quick to resort to robbery that it was obvious they had harmed numerous people. Killing them was just riding the world of a scourge.

There were other warriors that came and saw Yi Yun kill the five demons that had wreaked havoc recently. While astonished, none of them dared to take any further action recklessly.

“Where is this place?” Yi Yun asked a warrior.

“This is the Fey God Tomb. The people you just killed are from the Great Cosmic State. They formed a team to rob people here. By killing them…” said the warrior.

“Fey God Tomb. So that’s where I am…” Yi Yun naturally knew of the Fey God Tomb thanks to the jade slip he received from Luoyue. It was a land labeled to be very dangerous.

As for the Great Cosmic State, Yi Yun thought nothing of it. So what if he had killed their people? He had already formed a vendetta with the Great Cosmic State, so why would he care about killing a bunch of scum?

At that moment, the gathered warriors suddenly parted of their own accord. A few streams of light rapidly flew over from afar.

Yi Yun looked at the streams of light and found two auras among them that were very powerful.

Soon, the streams of light descended in front of Yi Yun.

“Oh? Why is it you?” A familiar voice sounded, immediately causing Yi Yun to knit his brows.

Lie Jiaojiao was truly a haunting presence. He had bumped into her here of all places.

Lie Jiaojiao looked at Yi Yun in astonishment. She never expected Yi Yun to pass through the Psyche Vanquishing Desert alone. And now, he was standing among a few corpses. However, since she did not recognize the corpses, they were unlikely to be of anyone of importance. He probably bullied the weak and feared the strong. It was not strange that Yi Yun could kill them with his Supremacy cultivation level.

As for passing the Psyche Vanquishing Desert, perhaps Yi Yun had relied on some special technique but it was unlikely something impressive.

“Yi Yun, I’m surprised you came to the Fey God Tomb. Do you plan on plucking some herbs in the Fey God Tomb’s periphery to sell for cultivation resources? Being an itinerant cultivator sure isn’t easy. I doubt you even have a detailed map of this area, right?” Lie Jiaojiao said sarcastically.

“What’s this? Junior Sister Lie, do you know this friend?” asked Yue Wangjian.

Yi Yun took note of the other two people with Lie Jiaojiao and Lie Rikong. He had met them previously in the Ancient Ruins City’s bazaar and knew that one of them was the Young Goddess of the Nethersky Divine World and the other was Yue Wangjian from the First Beginnings Immortal Gate.

They were both prominent figures among the younger generation in this session of the ancient battlefield. It was unknown how Lie Jiaojiao had managed to team up with them.

“I can’t call him a friend but he is also from my Scarlet Yang continent,” said Lie Jiaojiao nonchalantly.

“So that’s the case.” Yue Wangjian cupped his hands at Yi Yun and said, “Friend, do you know anything about the spatial fluctuation that happened here moments ago?”

He naturally could tell there was conflict between Yi Yun and Lie Jiaojiao but the treasure was of greater importance.

Yi Yun saw that he was already surrounded by many people. It would become very troublesome if he did not explain; hence, he said, “I was previously somewhere else. I accidentally fell into a spatial crack and when I tore open space, I landed here.”

“What a braggart.” Lie Jiaojiao snorted coldly.

Warriors that could tear open the void in a place like the ancient battlefield had to be people with deep knowledge of spatial dimension laws. How was Yi Yun capable of doing so at his age?

Yi Yun could not be bothered to explain further. He had spoken the truth and it was not on him to compel others to believe his words.

“Friend, I never expected you to encounter such a fortuitous experience.” Yue Wangjian’s eyes flashed as he spoke. He did not really believe Yi Yun since the commotion was quite huge. It did not appear to be the simple tearing open of a spatial rift.

At that moment, a beam of light suddenly shot over from afar. Fairy Yourou grabbed it.

The beam silently exploded in her hand. It was a voice transmission talisman.

Yi Yun gave the talisman an additional look. For it to be used normally in here, without being affected by the murderous aura and sanguine air, it had to be quite extraordinary.

It was probably not for a simple reason that such a valuable voice transmission talisman was being used.

After hearing the contents of the voice transmission talisman, Fairy Yourou said, “Since there aren’t any treasures here, we should leave. Martial Uncle just sent a message summoning us immediately.”

“Fairy, this Yi Yun is clearly lying…” said Lie Jiaojiao hurriedly.

Fairy Yourou’s voice turned cold as she said, “If there are truly any impressive treasures around the Fey God Tomb, they will definitely be accompanied by extreme danger. How could anyone obtain them so easily? Besides, even if there was a treasure, it’s his if he has it in hand. There’s no need for him to share it with you. Are you thinking of mimicking those bandits, snatching treasures through murder? Or perhaps you are trying to borrow my hand to seek revenge on him because of the conflict you have with him?” Fairy Yourou had knitted her brows slightly. It ended up making her look even more beautiful. She had a melancholic air to her.

Lie Jiaojiao’s heart skipped a beat. She knew that her loathing of Yi Yun had affected her appearance in front of Fairy Yourou. Armed robbery was something that Fairy Yourou disliked the most.

“Junior Sister Yourou is right. Let’s not complicate matters. It’s time we leave.” Yue Wangjian said with a smile as he gave Yi Yun a deep, meaningful look.

1456 - : Out

“Martial Uncle even said to bring more people there in his voice transmission,” added Fairy Yourou.

“Why?” Yue Wangjian asked, perplexed.

“Martial Uncle said that, to repress the killing intent there, the more people the better. These people only need to help repress the killing intent. They will later be provided with the proper remunerations,” explained Fairy Yourou.

Yue Wangjian nodded. He naturally did not have any objections if remunerations were handed out instead of splitting the benefits received.

There happened to be many warriors gathered around them at the moment, nearly all of them there due to the commotion that Yi Yun stirred.

Fairy Yourou faced the warriors and said, “Everyone, my Martial Uncle knows of a secret passageway that leads down into the Fey God Tomb’s abyss. Would this interest any of you? If you are interested, might those with cultivation levels at the Supremacy level or above, as well as those with equivalent strength, come over here to discuss in detail?”

Her voice was soft but it reached the ears of everyone like an otherworldly tune that descended from heaven.

There were exclamations from the crowd immediately. Down into the abyss?

Everyone knew that the Fey God Tomb was extremely dangerous. It only got more horrible the closer one was to the Fey God Tomb. In addition, the abyss was a land of no return according to legend. Even Divine Lords perished in there, provided one could even enter the abyss.

It had been so long since the last person entered abyss that no one could pinpoint the period.

But even though descending the abyss was extremely dangerous, how could the abyss be devoid of treasure considering that many precious herbs were growing along the Fey God Tomb’s periphery?

Treasures were enticing. Furthermore, the one that extended the invitation to them was Fairy Yourou. It didn’t take long for eight warriors to step out of the crowd.

These warriors had cultivation levels at the Supremacy realm or above. Only one of them was originally a Dao Palace realm warrior. He hung a scimitar behind his back and looked somewhat extraordinary.

“A genius from the Magnificent Heaven, Huang Xuanyan. It’s said that his saber techniques are profound and even at the acme of perfection. He once slew an ordinary Supremacy. It’s no wonder he so confidently dares to enter such a land of peril.” There were such discussions amid the crowd.

Fairy Yourou nodded at them and said, “Fellow warriors, this secret passageway was discovered by my Martial Uncle. Once we descend into the abyss, all you need to do is go to a particular place with us to help repress the killing intent there. The remuneration will be handed out after that.”

These people did not have any objections to simply repressing the killing intent.

They naturally had the strength and courage to risk descending into the abyss.

At that moment, Yue Wangjian suddenly said with a smile, “Brother Yi, I wonder if you might be interested? Junior Sister Yourou’s martial uncle did say the more the merrier. I think you are also one of those who fulfills the conditions. Besides, you managed to kill those five scum easily, so there’s no reason to doubt your strength.”

Fairy Yourou looked at Yi Yun when she heard his words.

Her martial uncle’s voice transmission mentioned that it was best if there were more than ten people. However, her invitation had only attracted eight. It would naturally be better if Yi Yun joined them.

Yi Yun was somewhat surprised hearing Yue Wangjian invite him. He thought about it and smiled, “Since there is remuneration to be earned, why not?”

Yi Yun was also very interested in the place since Fairy Yourou was going to great lengths to get the crowd to head to it. After all, he came to the ancient battlefield in search of opportunities. Even though the Fey God Tomb was dangerous, what was the point of cultivating in the martial path if one did not take risks to pursue an opportunity that was right in front of them?

The warriors that had accepted the invitation also had the same thought.

“Since fellow Daoist Yi Yun is willing to join, let’s set off,” said Fairy Yourou.

Lie Jiaojiao had a nasty expression on her face when she saw that Yi Yun was joining their team. She felt that she had spent some considerable time with Yue Wangjian and that he should not have invited Yi Yun on account of her.

“Junior Sister Lie, I hope you can bear with it. Some personal squabble is nothing compared to important matters,” said Yue Wangjian as he walked over.

Lie Jiaojiao, who had a depressed look, immediately smiled and shook her head. “Why would I mind such things? Senior Brother Yue, there’s no need to worry about it.”

“That’s good. But what was the reason for the grudge between you and Yi Yun?” asked Yue Wangjian.

Lie Jiaojiao recounted the story between her and Yi Yun, with no lack of embellishments. Her version pushed the blame for the conflict all on Yi Yun.

Yue Wangjian nodded in surprise after being made aware that, despite being only an honorary elder of a family clan, Yi Yun had managed to traverse the Psyche Vanquishing Desert alone. He then smiled at her and said, “I understand. At the end of the day, it’s simply a conflict caused by personal feelings.”

Upon seeing Yue Wangjian turn and leave, without even considering taking her side, Lie Jiaojiao felt depressed once again.

Since he was not planning on standing up for her, why did he bother asking about it?

The Fey God Tomb was extremely vast. Just the periphery spanned fifty thousand kilometers.

Beams of light flew across the blood-colored earth of the Fey God Tomb. Then, they stopped in front of a meandering dried river bed. It vanished suddenly, for the other segment was hidden inside the abyss.

Yi Yun learned more about the Fey God Tomb from Yue Wangjian along the way. He now knew that the river bed demarcated the Fey God Tomb’s core and its periphery.

The core and periphery were originally distinguished by people but using the river bed as the final boundary was agreed upon by all. It was said that the river was formed from the blood that flowed out after the death of the Fey God.

Many people had experienced sudden accidents when they stepped into the river. As a result, the riverbed was the site of countless deaths.

Yi Yun looked in the direction of the riverbed. It was covered with blood-red sand and mud. Although it was already dried, it continued to emanate a bloody smell. Perhaps that gave rise to the flowing Fey God’s blood rumor.

However, just a simple look made Yi Yun feel that the riverbed was no safe place. It was best not to approach it casually.

The group waited there silently when a beam of light suddenly streaked across the sky like an arrow. From afar, it set off a spatial tremor, as though meteors were tearing through the sky.

When the beam of light descended, a figure appeared.

He looked to be in his twenties, handsome and dressed in linen clothes. He had a sword slung on his back and the look of a lone swordsman who traveled the world.

“Martial Uncle.” Fairy Yourou stepped forward to bow.

“Yourou, this is not the Nethersky Divine World. You can dispense with the formalities.”

“Fellow Daoists, this is my martial uncle, Nameless Sword. He has been in the ancient battlefield for the past thousand years. He has probed the Fey God Tomb numerous times in the past and is very familiar with the area. He only agreed to bring me down into the Fey God Tomb after I implored him. Martial Uncle, these are warriors that I brought to help,” said Fairy Yourou.

Fairy Yourou’s words astounded everyone. Her martial uncle was a person that had left his name on the World Monolith! That meant that he was a resident of the ancient battlefield!

Him being able to stay in the ancient battlefield was a testament to his strength.

1457 - : Nameless Sword

“So you are Senior Nameless Sword!” The Magnificent Heaven genius named Huang Xuanyan exclaimed. “You were the most illustrious genius a thousand years ago during that ancient battlefield’s opening. I never expected you to remain in the ancient battlefield to cultivate after leaving your name on the World Monolith.”

Clearly, Huang Xuanyan idolized Nameless Sword. The others also revealed looks of shock. Not only had Nameless Sword left his name on the World Monolith, his name had been carved deep in it. There was no question of it being there for tens of thousands of years. The appearance of a legendary figure before them stirred their hearts. Speaking of which, Nameless Sword was not much older than them; yet, he had accomplished so much. It left them envious.

“Thank you everyone for coming here. I believe Yourou has already explained the situation to all of you. I found a relatively safe passageway that leads into the abyss of the Fey God Tomb. However, it’s only relative. In fact, the secret passageway will change according to the situation in the Fey God Tomb. Even if you were to just walk through, leave, and then go back in, the things you encounter will be different. However, without using this secret path, the only way to enter the abyss is through the riverbed but I believe all of you are aware of the danger it poses without me elaborating,” said Nameless Sword.

“However, you do not need to worry. This secret passageway was discovered by me and I have already traversed it numerous times. I will try my best to avoid danger as I lead you in.”

Nameless Sword spoke clearly and came from the same faction as Fairy Yourou. Since these warriors had already resolved their intention to enter the abyss, they naturally did not say anything else. All of them nodded.

“Let’s set off. All of you must take care to follow closely behind me,” said Nameless Sword.

Soon, everyone was following behind him and stepped past the demarcating border, entering the core region of the Fey God Tomb.

After Nameless Sword led the group a certain distance ahead, everyone felt their vision change. There were two tall stone walls that appeared around them. Furthermore, there were all sorts of rocks and sand of different shapes and sizes by their feet.

Everyone turned nervous upon encountering such a change just moments after entering the core region.

“There’s no need for worry. This is the starting point of the secret passageway. It is a channel beside the riverbed and might have been a branch of the river at one point, but that is all speculation. It’s a lot safer here than in the actual riverbed. However, we will have to make many turns since it does not run parallel to the riverbed all the time. But eventually, it will lead us into the abyss and merge into the riverbed. All we need to do is exit when we reach that point,” explained Nameless Sword.

Yi Yun turned his head and took a glance at the area behind him. He had sensed minute spatial changes when the scene before them transformed. There was likely a spatial array formation at the entrance, one created by Nameless Sword. The goal was to connect straight to the secret passageway. For him to be able to construct such a stable spatial array formation in such a dangerous land showed how impressive his strength was.

“It’s best you follow closely behind me. There are many invisible dangers here. Also, the teleportation jade tokens you have cannot be used here due to the spatial seals. All of you are not to use overly potent energies or recklessly probe unknown places with your psyche perception or it might only attract trouble.” Nameless Sword led the way forward.

“We understand.” The group did not know the dangers of the passageway as well as he did and so could only listen to his instructions.

“Senior Nameless, have you always been here in the ancient battlefield? My name is Lie Jiaojiao, a friend of Fairy Yourou,” Lie Jiaojiao walked to Nameless Sword’s side and said with a smile.

Another handsome, young, and powerful man in the form of Nameless Sword had suddenly appeared in front of her. He was better than Yue Wangjian in every aspect, especially with their destination being discovered by Nameless Sword and him leading the way. Lie Jiaojiao naturally had immediate thoughts of becoming more intimate with Nameless Sword.

Even if she could not get him to have fond feelings for her, just being someone he found familiar would make her journey safer. She might even get more of the benefits at the end of this escapade.

“Can I follow you? It’s so quiet here. I feel a little afraid,” said Lie Jiaojiao, her face looking a little embarrassed.

Yi Yun nearly thought the space was still changing. The woman had transformed completely from her sarcastic self of before.

“Then follow me,” said Nameless Sword.

“Thank you, Senior Nameless!” Lie Jiaojiao’s eyes flashed with a look of pleasant surprise as she followed him closely.

As for Fairy Yourou and Yue Wangjian, as well as Lie Rikong and the other warriors, they silently followed behind.

Gradually, Yi Yun noticed drawings on the stone walls on each side. They looked like marks, and he originally thought that it was possibly left behind by people that had walked through the area. But soon, he rejected that thought.

The reason was that he saw alarming claw marks and blood stains. It was as though a terrifying behemoth once existed here. And the ‘drawings’ were starting to look more like they were scratched out by the behemoth.

It was unknown if the terrifying being still lurked in the region, for it was likely they could not handle the consequences of encountering it.

“You are Yi Yun, right? We are from the Great Cosmic State, the Dao Twins.” Two warriors came to Yi Yun’s side and introduced themselves.

Yi Yun glanced at the twins who had Supremacy cultivation levels. Their titles made them sound like people of importance.

“Daoist Yi, the both of us heard that you killed five people with one strike the moment you arrive in the Fey God Tomb. Those five people were also from the Great Cosmic State. In a way, our relationship goes way back!” one of the warriors of the Dao Twins said.

Yi Yun knitted his brows when he heard that. Here they were, new enemies appearing at an inconvenient time. However, it was understandable. Many factions in the Great Cosmic State had interconnected relationships.

“What, are you planning on avenging them and attacking me?” Yi Yun said indifferently.

When the two warriors saw Yi Yun’s cold response, they immediately looked displeased. Their auras also underwent minute changes as killing intent emanated out. There were even Dao patterns appearing on their faces.

They did not have much of a relationship with the five scum, truly. They only wanted to say that as an excuse to threaten Yi Yun and scam him if possible. They never expected Yi Yun to be so arrogant that he thought absolutely nothing of them.

“Oh? What are you doing? Do not fight in here.” Nameless Sword’s voice sounded.

The Dao Twins gave Yi Yun a cold glance and dissipated their killing intent and Dao patterns. Then, they walked ahead with cold snorts.

At that moment, Yi Yun noticed a shadow streak past them through the corner of his eyes.

He immediately turned vigilant. At that moment, one of the Dao Twins screamed out loud. His body suddenly melted like a lit candle under the gazes of everyone.

He let out a sharp, tragic cry as he flailed his arms in pain as though he was trying to grab a person beside him as a straw to clutch at.

However, the person closest to him was his most intimate twin. He revealed a look of horror and involuntarily took a step back.

Seeing his melting twin stumble towards him, the other twin drew his sword and said, with voice trembling, “Don’t come any nearer…”

“Don’t kill him!” Nameless Sword shouted.

But the twin could not heed Nameless Sword in his shocked state. His sword had already cleaved down at his twin.

However, the moment the sword sank into his brother’s chest, the wax-like flesh and blood splattered out onto the scared twin.

“Ah! Ahh!”

Another warrior that failed to dodge in time was splattered by the flesh and blood. Both of them let out tragic cries as their bodies rapidly melted.

Soon, they were reduced to a pool of liquid wax on the ground. If everyone had not seen it with their own eyes, they would not dare believe that the three pools of liquid wax were living people just moments ago.

“What… what just happened?” asked a warrior as cold sweat ran down his back.

“The killing intent they effused attracted something. I already said that there are invisible dangers in here. And this particular danger, one that can melt a living person, should be a bug named Melting Spirit. It’s impossible to discover them with one’s eyes or perception. They are born from corpses and use flesh and blood as sustenance. Once they finish consuming a person, they fall into a slumber. Therefore, if he had not killed that person, the Melting Spirit bug would have gone to sleep.”

“So that’s the reason. Senior Nameless is truly well-read. But that can’t prevent people from causing trouble. To engage in conflict in such a place, such people really do not know the meaning of death.”

Lie Jiaojiao looked askance at Yi Yun. If Yi Yun had not provoked contention with the two Supremacies from the Great Cosmic State, none of this would have happened.

“Enough, this has nothing to do with him!” Nameless Sword snapped coldly. He had seen the entire confrontation. “Everyone, listen up. No more conflict!”

Nameless Sword turned and continued leading the way. He even did not allow people to set fire to the three pools of wax, afraid that it would cause more trouble.

After what had just happened, everyone turned tense. They had only heard that the area was very dangerous, but now they had truly experienced it. Just a mere bug could instantly take the lives of three Supremacies. This was even considered a relatively safe passageway. The Fey God Tomb was far from dangerous, it was a true land of death. It was no wonder Divine Lords did not come out alive either.

1458 - : Drawing Fire on Oneself

“Daoist Nameless, what do you aim to do inside the Fey God Tomb?” After the terrifying encounter, a Supremacy well advanced in years suddenly felt apprehensive and asked this question. Although it was eye-opening to enter the Fey God Tomb, if the opportunities that lay ahead were not clear, it was not wise to forcibly enter and risk their lives. He had made it to this age by not being reckless.

The moment he posed the question, many people looked towards Nameless Sword.

Nameless Sword paused for a moment before saying, “I came to the ancient battlefield a thousand years ago. Back then, I had already entered the Fey God Tomb once. Although I returned with nothing, I chanced upon the discovery of a mystic land. From then on, I would probe the Fey God Tomb every sixty years, whenever the ancient battlefield opened. Over time I slowly charted out a safe path and constantly approached that mystic land.”

“Killing intent permeates that mystic land, and in the middle of it all is a buried blood bone.”

Everyone drew a gasp when they heard his words. The abyss was named Fey God Tomb. So it was rather easy to connect the idea of a blood bone to the remains of an Ancient Fey. But it also sounded like an impossibility.

Regardless, even the mere chance of a blood bone was no trifling matter. For just a moment, everyone present found themselves with a yearning anticipation for the blood bone.

“I, Nameless Sword, swear that if I can obtain this opportunity, I will share enough of the benefits that everyone will find it satisfying.”

Although remuneration was mentioned in detail during the early negotiations, Nameless Sword was now offering to split the benefits. Of course if he didn’t, just vague remuneration alone might not be able to motivate them to go into such a dangerous place.

Nameless Sword raised one hand and swore on his Dao heart. People from the Nethersky Divine World were known for cultivating both their bodies and morals. Furthermore, Nameless Sword’s reputation in the world was that of a true gentleman. Now that he was swearing on his Dao heart, everyone naturally felt relieved.

Riches were where danger laid. The Fey God Tomb was worth going into!

“Have a rest. We will be entering the Fey God Tomb soon. I believe all of you must have exhausted a good amount of Yuan Qi from plucking herbs in the Fey God Tomb’s periphery. Once we enter the Fey God Tomb, the permeating killing intent will rapidly drain your Yuan Qi. You have to ensure that you are in your most optimal state,” exhorted Nameless Sword.

Everyone nodded and began sitting down to meditate.

But at that moment, someone decided not to listen to Nameless Sword. He was focused on a nearby boulder, as though he was using his gaze to penetrate it.

“Yi Yun, Senior Nameless has advised everyone to meditate, didn’t you hear him?” Lie Jiaojiao said in a nauseating tone.

The irritating fellow always chose to act differently from others.

“Friend, what are you looking at?” Nameless Sword was rather amiable. He traced Yi Yun’s gaze and looked over. “Is there something wrong with that boulder?”

“There seems to be people there,” said Yi Yun, a little uncertain.

“People?” Nameless Sword pricked up his brows. “Are you sure they are ‘people?'”

Yi Yun nodded. His words caused everyone to be filled with doubt. They turned to look at the boulder, it looked like an ordinary, lofty, and jagged rock. Upon closer look, its surface had patterns that seemed to be made up of inauspicious drawings, and it made them feel uncomfortable.

“Heh heh! Look at him claiming that there are ‘people!’ Do you know where we are? This is a secret path that Senior Nameless found. We were only able to make it this far because of him. How could there be others? Even if there was something, they must be evil spirits that manifest as human forms. And even if there are any evil spirits, Senior Nameless should be the first person to discover them. Stop acting like a know-it-all,” scoffed Lie Jiaojiao. From her point of view, Yi Yun was only playing to the gallery by saying such words at this point in time. He was just trying way too hard to get noticed.

Since there was danger everywhere on the path, no one would dare probe a boulder so far away even if there were people there as Yi Yun claimed.

But Lie Jiaojiao never expected that Yi Yun would move just after she finished her sentence. His figure shot towards the boulder like a ghost.

“What!?”

Everyone was alarmed.

Was the guy mad?

Ignoring the question of there even being people there, so what if there was? What d oes this have to do with you? Why did you charge forward? Could people that appear in this place be so easily dealt with ?

The dangers remained fresh on people’s mind. In this strange path, they did not even dare raise their voices, much less think of releasing their Yuan Qi. Yi Yun was practically announcing his death wish.

“This Yi fellow has gone mad. Senior Nameless, he wishes to drag us all with him in suicidal death!”

Lie Jiaojiao quickly leaned towards Nameless Sword. Yi Yun’s rash actions would no doubt invite great danger. Staying close to Nameless Sword was the safest thing to do.

But at that moment, everyone heard a earth-shattering roar. The ground began to quake tumultuously.

The gigantic boulder suddenly exploded as earth-yellow vines shot out from the boulder and attempted to coil around Yi Yun like venomous snakes.

Yi Yun abruptly dodged, drawing Mirage Snow at the same time. His Sword Qi resembled frost as it spliced through the vines!

“Whew!”

Yi Yun landed tens of meters away. Looking at the direction in which Yi Yun had charged in, there was now no longer a boulder, but a strange plant!

It had more than a hundred flailing vines. Each leaf was as sharp as a blade! The vines were tucked together so compactly that it made everyone see it as a boulder. As for the strange patterns on the boulder, they were actually the vines themselves!

Such a disguise was fully capable of passing the fake for genuine. Even the many experts present had failed to see through it.

“There’s really people there?”

Huang Xuanyan looked at the strange plant’s core in alarm. In it was was a blossoming flower that looked like it was about to seep out blood. It was about ten feet wide and there were flower pistils extending out from its core. The flower pistils had four people trapped in them!

Out of the four, one of the men had already lost his life. The other man and two women were barely holding on. However, they had already lost a great amount of lifeblood and were on the verge of death.

Yi Yun drew a deep breath when he saw these people. He had already made a guess, but now he confirmed his speculation. One of the two girls was dressed in a white dress. Her face was as white as a sheet, looking like a frail flower caught up in a violent storm.

Nanxuan Luoyue!

Yi Yun found it unbelievable. His impression of Nanxuan Luoyue was that her strength was adequate, but she was far inferior compared to a Supremacy. She should not have appeared in such a concealed place regardless of the reason. In fact, she should not have been able to reach an area so close to the Fey God Tomb.

Could they be illusions formed by evil spirits to lure him over?

Yi Yun rejected the thought as quickly as it came. He was well-versed in the Destruction laws. His eyes were like the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. Average illusionary techniques would be destroyed before they even entered his eyes. What he saw was no doubt the truth.

Lie Jiaojiao and Lie Rikong clearly saw Nanxuan Luoyue as well. And they too found it baffling.

“Why is she here?” asked Lie Rikong puzzledly.

“How would I know? It’s quite amazing to come all the way here to seek death.” Lie Jiaojiao did not have a good relationship with Nanxuan Luoyue to begin with. She even felt like gloating over Nanxuan Luoyue’s misfortune.

1459 - : Fey Plant

The sudden provocation of the Fey plant stirred Nanxuan Luoyue, who was bound tightly by the flower pistil. She slowly opened her eyes, vaguely noticing the group of people a distance away from her. She naturally recognized Yi Yun, Lie Rikong, and Lie Jiaojiao.

“It’s you…” Nanxuan Luoyue was still in her weak state of reverie as she said breathlessly, “All of you… don’t come over… It can… absorb energy…”

Nanxuan Luoyue gave a warning despite being weakened.

The corner of Lie Jiaojiao’s mouth curled up.

There was no need for you to tell me that , she thought.

“Sister Luoyue, don’t worry. We will not go over…” was what she actually said.

Just as Lie Jiaojiao said that, she realized that Yi Yun was making big strides towards the Fey plant with sword in hand.

“Oh? What are you doing?”

Lie Jiaojiao’s heart skipped a beat. She yearned for Yi Yun to send himself to his death but she was afraid that provoking the Fey plant would lead to an intense battle. If that happened, it would be difficult not to emanate battle aura which would only attract even more danger.

“Senior Nameless, Yi Yun is endangering us with his reckless actions!” Lie Jiaojiao hurriedly said to Nameless Sword.

But at that moment, Yi Yun had already sped up. He charged at the Fey plant like a fiery beam of light, cleaving down mightily with Mirage Snow.

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Dozens of vines shot at Yi Yun like arrows, but at that moment Yi Yun had already activated the Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon’s Golden Carp. His speed raised sharply and, like a golden carp coursing against the river flow, he shuttled between the vines swiftly!

The vines that seemed devoid of any dead spots were dodged by Yi Yun one after the other. In a blink of an eye, he had appeared in front of Nanxuan Luoyue. He raised his arm, slashing his sword down, cleaving straight at the Fey plant’s flower pistil!

“Cha!”

When Mirage Snow struck the pistil, Yi Yun found it extremely ductile. It bent upon being struck, instantly absorbing about eighty to ninety percent of the force.

Simultaneously, dozens of vines hurtled towards Yi Yun in a bid to wrap him up and trap him inside!

Yi Yun knitted his brows as he suddenly spun Mirage Snow, causing the power of time to emanate from it.

“Chi!”

With a crisp sound, Mirage Snow’s blade flickered and sent out a gray beam. Although the pistil was ductile, everything must bow to the power of time. The spot that came into contact with Mirage Snow began to wither.

In a blink of an eye, Yi Yun sliced off a corolla.

“Ahh!”

At that moment, the Fey plant let out a ear-piercing scream!

It was extremely strange for a plant to produce such a sound.

Terrifying sound blasts surged in every direction. Even people more than a hundred meters away felt their eardrums hurting, their scalps tingling.

Yi Yun surrounded by the Fey plant’s vines, felt inundated by the sound waves, with nowhere to run to.

But at that moment, Yi Yun produced his Destruction domain. All the sound waves vanished the moment they entered the Destruction domain.

“Cha!”

Mirage Snow cleaved once again, tearing apart pistil after pistil. They leaked a startling crimson liquid that resembled blood.

At that point, the Fey plant no longer had the intention to continue battling. It retracted its roots and began its bid to escape.

However, Yi Yun had no intention of letting it escape. He stepped through the void and, like a maggot that clung closely, Mirage Snow sliced down with the powers of time, cleaving off half a pistil!

“Puah!”

The gigantic corolla slammed heavily to the ground, the Fey plant shouting tragically in the process. It retreated quickly, slinking into the darkness.

Yi Yun wanted to continue chasing, but at that moment a gigantic pair of eyes appeared in the dark environment.

The eyes were a nether purple in color, like entrances that led to hell. They left one shuddering in fear.

The aura from the intense battle had attracted an unknown biological creature!

Yi Yun focused his eyes, grabbed the Fey plant’s corolla, and retreated as quickly as possible.

The gigantic pair of eyes continued staring intently at Yi Yun. Their owner remained hidden in the darkness, unwilling to truly show itself.

Yi Yun did not know what it was but the purple eyes left him apprehensive.

“Luoyue, are you alright?”

Yi Yun cleaved apart the pistil, freeing Nanxuan Luoyue from it. The other man and woman were also saved but their situation was terrible. They had lost a great deal of lifeblood. Even their flames of vitality had weakened.

Yi Yun checked Nanxuan Luoyue’s pulse and circulated his Yuan Qi through her body once. What he discovered left him somewhat surprised.

He was certain that Nanxuan Luoyue’s future progress would be affected after having large amounts of her essential energy drained by the Fey plant.

But he never expected that, when he infused her body with Yuan Qi, he would find her severely damaged vitality to be rejuvenated, like a land of drought being nourished by rain.

Her lifeblood and essential energies were recovering on their own. Her already dried meridians had Yuan Qi flowing through them once again.

“The power of her bloodline…”

Yi Yun recalled that Nanxuan Luoyue had a unique bloodline. Back when he first saw her, she was unable to fully condense her Dao Palace, causing her to think she needed to constantly buy medicine from a medicinal clinic. The reason was likely that Nanxuan Luoyue’s mother was an Ancient Fey herself.

And it was due to this that Yi Yun got acquainted with her. It also allowed him to get the teleportation jade token from the Nanxuan family clan and enter the ancient battlefield.

Back when Yi Yun gave Nanxuan Luoyue a drop of blood, it had brought her immense benefits. Now that his Yuan Qi was being infused into her body, Nanxuan Luoyue’s potential was awakening like a drought welcoming rain.

“Eat these pills.” Yi Yun took out a bottle of pills meant to replenish lifeblood and handed it to her.

“Yi Yun, thank you…” said Nanxuan Luoyue gratefully. She consumed it, and as the medicinal effects came into play, her pale face finally suffused a hint of ruddiness. However, to fully fix her damaged meridians, she would need to meditate and rest.

“So it’s Young Master Yi. Thank you, Young Master Yi, for saving us. We were already resigned to wait for our deaths in despair after ending up in this land of peril. I never expected you of all people to see through the Fey plant’s disguise and come to our rescue.” The woman struggled to get up before bowing at Yi Yun.

Both she and the other man had rubbed off some of Nanxuan Luoyue’s luck.

At that moment, Fairy Yourou and company walked over.

They looked at Yi Yun with a tinge of amazement. They did not expect for him to not only discover the Fey plant, but also slay it by himself.

“Brother Yi, how did you detect the Fey plant?” asked Nameless Sword.

“I just have keener senses,” replied Yi Yun.

Everyone looked enlightened by his explanation. His keen senses were made evident from how he traversed the Psyche Vanquishing Desert alone.

But now, it appeared that not only were his senses keen, he was also very strong.

The area they were in was very strange. It already made the warriors that had followed become flustered with panic. Having someone with sharp senses and outstanding strength on the team could only benefit them.

1460 - : A Narrow Escape

“Luoyue, how did you come to be here?” Yi Yun asked curiously after Nanxuan Luoyue had somewhat recovered.

With her strength, it was unlikely she could travel so deep into a perilous land like Yi Yun’s group had done. It would be practically seeking death.

“Brother Yi Yun, where is ‘here?'” Unknowingly, Nanxuan Luoyue had changed the way she addressed Yi Yun.

“This is the core region of the Fey God Tomb. We aren’t far from the abyss,” said Yi Yun.

“Ah?”

The other man and woman that have been rescued revealed astounded looks immediately. Their already pale faces turned paler.

They had actually managed to enter the Fey God Tomb; furthermore, it was somewhere so close to the abyss.

Nanxuan Luoyue carefully tried to recall but felt a splitting headache. Ultimately, she shook her head and said, “I do not know how I ended up here. It seems like I can’t remember any longer.”

“What about the two of you?” Yi Yun looked at the man and woman.

The two looked lost for a moment before shaking their heads as well.

“You don’t remember?” Yi Yun was startled and felt that there was something odd about the matter.

“Alright, Brother Yi, since your friends are fine, let’s continue proceeding forward. Although I would like for them to rest longer…” Nameless Sword frowned as he looked at their surroundings before adding, “We can’t say for sure if that Fey plant and that unknown creature from before will appear again. It’s best we do not stay here for long.”

“Alright,” said Yi Yun with a nod.

Nanxuan Luoyue walked to Yi Yun’s side as the man and woman duo followed closely behind.

The remaining warriors silently clung close to Yi Yun, apart from those that walked closer to Nameless Sword.

In this land filled with danger, only being by their side was safe.

Upon seeing Yi Yun become so popular in a blink of an eye, Lie Jiaojiao felt depressed. She naturally did not cling close to Yi Yun; instead, she continued to steadfastly stay by Nameless Sword.

The group continued proceeding as Yi Yun constantly monitored their surroundings.

On the way, he discovered quite a number of corpses that were just skin and bones. They were probably ‘dregs’ that the Fey planet had spat out after draining them dry.

These corpses laid silently in the sand, so silent that it made people feel a creepy eeriness.

“Indeed, other than Nanxuan Luoyue and the two warriors, there are others that ended up here too. No one would bother looking for people that vanished in the Fey God Tomb. Even if it’s known that someone has disappeared, they would never imagine that the disappeared would eventually die in a place like this,” thought Yi Yun.

At that moment, he felt a sanguine aura surge into the sky. It even left the bloods of the rest boiling, their skin suffering from prickling pain as a result.

“That is… the abyss.” Yue Wangjian looked ahead as his gaze flashed with a strange glint.

Everyone traced his gaze. The sanguine aura rose from a deep ravine and they were standing by its entrance.

The ravine emanated a blood-colored mist. There were gray shadows lurking within it. They were bloodlust auras that could easily rob the lives of anyone that touched them.

It was unknown how many years ago it had been since the last person stepped into the abyss. They could even be the first batch of people that entered the abyss in ten thousand years. Of course, no one knew what was inside the abyss.

However, after experiencing the two dangers from before, everyone was feeling alarmed and did not dare act recklessly.

A warrior turned to look and saw that the path they had taken was now blanketed by a thick black fog. It was quite possible that going through it would now lead to a different path than the one they had used.

And there was a pair of purple eyes that suddenly flashed in the black fog.

The warrior felt a cold shudder run down his back. He knew that retracing their steps was not an option.

They carefully stepped into the abyss and, once in it, they felt they had entered a sealed-off world. The sky above could not be seen, there was only a thick sanguine aura that pressed down like a cloud.

“Look, there’s a Demon Hand Vine!” exclaimed a Supremacy suddenly.

Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing to. Indeed, they saw a vine that resembled a hand on a wall in the abyss. It was indeed the Demon Hand Vine, an extremely rare plant in the outside world.

“Am I seeing things? That looks like an Azure Bird Fey Pistil?” said another warrior in a disbelieving tone.

Even Yi Yun’s expression changed at that. Azure Bird Fey Pistil was a supreme-grade herb that could be used to treat the soul. Refined Azure Bird Fey Pistil pills could even mend shattered soul seals. It was truly a divine pill, and had the unimaginable price of one.

The warrior was quite knowledgeable to be able to recognize the Azure Bird Fey Pistil.

When the others heard the two warriors discover the divine herb, they immediately looked around.

“There’s an Immortal Skin Ovum, Skywisp Jade…”

“I also found something! There are ten-thousand-year-old Blood Lingzhis! Furthermore, it’s an entire patch, with so many of them in one place!”

“This is practically a land of divine treasures!”

The four-thousand-year-old Blood Lingzhis in the Fey God Tomb’s periphery were enough to make a group of warriors risk their lives, even making losing a few lives in the process worth it. But in this place, ten-thousand-year-old Blood Lingzhis appeared in clusters.

These warriors had entered the abyss to seek out opportunities but they never expected to encounter so much danger before they found any opportunities. Now that the opportunities had appeared, these warriors immediately turned excited.

“Be careful. There might be some sinister beast protecting the treasures,” warned Nameless Sword.

Thankfully, these warriors remain collected. Although they appeared excited, none of them recklessly approached the herbs.

Suddenly, the warrior that discovered the first herb suddenly phased away. Immediately, a puppet appeared in his spot. The puppet looked rather crude and did not even have any aura.

“Let me give it a try.”

As the warrior spoke, the puppet in front of him suddenly jumped up and flew ahead like lightning, heading straight for the Demon Hand Vine.

He was already prepared to immediately make his puppet self-destruct if anything dangerous happened.

However, no accident happened even as the puppet plucked the Demon Hand Vine.

Seeing the puppet right in front of him with the Demon Hand Vine, the warrior looked pleasantly surprised. He quickly took out a box to store away the vine.

Upon seeing the warrior pluck the herb unhindered, the remaining warriors were enticed.

It was an extremely rare opportunity.

As the warriors carefully headed for the herbs they eyed, another warrior soon plucked his herb. Upon seeing this, the man and woman from before also walked over. But Nanxuan Luoyue hesitated for a moment. She did feel tempted. No matter how valuable the herbs her family collected, they were incomparable to a hundredth of the herbs here. If she did not even make an attempt, it would be equivalent to walking past a treasure mountain without entering.

“Brother Yi Yun, should we pluck the herbs too?” Nanxuan Luoyue looked at Yi Yun. Although it did not appear dangerous, she still wished to know what he made of it.

At that moment, Yi Yun was looking ruminatively at the first warrior that had plucked the herb as well as the spot where the Demon Hand Vine was plucked from.

Everything appeared to happen smoothly but Yi Yun had a nagging feeling that things would not be that simple. He had a hunch that something was dangerous about the area. He looked at the land, using his perception to carefully observe it bit by bit.

Meanwhile, everyone was picking herbs. Even Fairy Yourou had plucked a few red lotuses. The lotus seeds in the red lotuses were about the size of pigeon eggs. They were supreme treasures that was exceedingly rare to chance upon in the outside world. Even Fairy Yourou was tempted by them.

“Oh? Planet Destruction Plant?” Fairy Yourou was taken aback. She noticed a palm-sized flower growing on an inconspicuous mound. It only had a few leaves and it looked shriveled.

Fairy Yourou was astonished seeing the plant. Wasn’t that the legendary Planet Destruction Plant? Ancient canon mentioned that it was an already-extinct demonic plant. If it successfully matured, it could produce flowers like dandelions. When the wind blew, its seeds would scatter, tearing straight through the void and into the spatial turbulence. It would then flutter around space till it landed in a world where it would take root. However, it could possibly drain the world of its vitality, turning it into a land of death. That was how it earned its name.

The seedling that clearly resembled a Planet Destruction Plant on the tiny mound was practically a divine herb that legends spoke of.

Yes, if the universe had any place that allowed for the growth of Planet Destruction Plant, it would probably be the ancient battlefield. Only such a land could withstand its growth!

Apart from Fairy Yourou, there were several other people that noticed the Planet Destruction Plant seedling. They also wished to pluck it.

But at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly said, “Don’t go near it!”

Fairy Yourou’s heart skipped a beat as she immediately stopped in her tracks.

The others also heard his warning. Some of them looked hesitant. Yi Yun had mentioned that he had sharp senses. Could he have sensed some danger?

“Ah!”

At that moment, the warrior closest to the mound let out a tragic scream. He convulsed violently and at that moment, an extremely appalling thing happened.

His body began melting from his feet up, followed by his thighs and waist. He struggled crazily, but as his body was melting from the bottom first, he turned shorter and shorter. Finally his half-body stump reached the ground as he flailed his arms madly. His eyes protruded out as though they were about to explode.

In the end, all that was left of him was a head that was slowly melting. The process looked like a body made of sugar being melted on a hot stove.

Upon seeing this happen, everyone drew a gasp.

“The ground! Was he consumed by the ground beneath him?” said Fairy Yourou alarmed.

“He should have become fertilizer.”

Yi Yun frowned. He had seen the records of the Planet Destruction Plant in the divine alchemist’s notes. Something made him feel that the whole thing was off. Was that really a Planet Destruction Plant?

As Yi Yun pondered over the matter, the scene in front of him suddenly warped. All the herbs on the ground suddenly came alive. They wavered gently despite there being no wind. The scene was extremely peculiar.

“Ah!”

Suddenly, another person let out a tragic scream. She was none other than the woman Yi Yun had previously rescued. A herbal flower that looked sacred in front of her suddenly melted into a red sticky blob of blood before enveloping her hand.

The woman let out a heart-wrenching scream but the blob of blood expanded rapidly, devouring her entire body. In a blink of an eye, she had vanished from where she stood.

1461 - : Planet Destruction Plant

After the warrior was sucked dry, the pool of sticky blood clearly expanded in size. Immediately following that, it surged towards the people beside it.

And the closest warrior happened to be the man that Yi Yun had previously rescued, as well as Lie Jiaojiao.

The man’s cultivation level was not very high and he was already heavily injured. He only had time to reveal a look of shock before his head had been wrapped within the blob of blood.

Lie Jiaojiao’s expression changed drastically as she frantically threw out a jade talisman.

However, the barrier it triggered only succeeded in being devoured rapidly at a discernible pace.

“Save me, quickly!” Lie Jiaojiao’s entire body was trembling.

Lie Rikong’s expression changed as he charged forward with weapon in hand.

Unfortunately, more than a hundred white bugs of different sizes suddenly bored out of the ground before he even reached Lie Jiaojiao. They had a carapace that resembled white bone. On their backs were more than ten pairs of eyes, and from the moment they appeared they swarmed towards Lie Rikong’s feet.

He failed to dodge in time. His left foot was bitten by more than ten bugs, being reduced to bone instantly.

“Ah!” Lie Rikong immediately let out a tragic cry.

He heaved as he slashed his saber at the bugs, sending them retreating.

However, it was only temporary. Only slight marks appeared on the bugs’ bodies after being struck. They soon returned with a vengeance, this time in numbers of more than a hundred.

Lie Rikong’s face immediately turned into one of despair.

“These are Bloodsoul Bugs. They can devour anything. Everyone, do not get too close to them!” Nameless Sword’s gaze turned turbid as he shouted.

He also flew forward, drawing the sword behind his back while in mid-air.

Chi!

Sword flashes descended like a snowstorm, instantly enveloping the region beneath.

“Wa! Wa! Wa!”

The Bloodsoul Bugs let out baby-like cries as they were enveloped by the sword flashes. They retreated like a receding tide.

Nameless Sword landed on the ground and grabbed Lie Rikong, throwing him back to the crowd. “Catch him!”

With that, Nameless Sword looked at Lie Jiaojiao. She immediately sported a look of pleasant surprise. “Senior Nameless…”

But right at that moment, the Bloodsoul Bugs let out their infantile cries once again as they moved to surround Nameless Sword. They spread their wings and lifted off the ground, dozens of pairs of red eyes emitting an otherworldly glimmer.

Nameless Sword frowned slightly for he was instantly being surrounded by the Bloodsoul Bugs.

Lie Jiaojiao’s look of pleasant surprise quickly turned into one of horror.

The blood was still maniacally corroding the barrier of light in front of her. As for the jade talisman, a loud crack was heard as it showed signs of damage.

“Fairy Yourou, Senior Brother Yue Wangjian, save me quickly!” shouted Lie Jiaojiao.

However, massive numbers of Bloodsoul Bugs had bored out of the ground at that moment.

The moment they appeared, they rapidly crawled towards Fairy Yourou and company.

Everyone immediately began engaging in battle with the Bloodsoul Bugs.

A warrior was forced close to the Planet Destruction Plant unknowingly. By the time he realized his mistake, his expression changed immediately. He did not hesitate to burn his blood essence to escape but he failed to avoid the nightmare. He began to melt.

Another warrior had the thought of escaping but just that momentary distraction gave a Bloodsoul Bug that bore out near his feet a window to bite him. His momentary pause after being bitten allowed massive numbers of Bloodsoul Bugs to swarm him. In a blink of an eye, he was sucked dry, not even bone was left.

After Yi Yun slashed at the Bloodsoul Bugs, his eyes flashed a queer look. “Use soul attacks! These bugs seem to be afraid of soul attacks!”

It was not that physical attacks were ineffective on Bloodsoul Bugs but the effects were just too mediocre. When Yi Yun struck the Bloodsoul Bug, he suddenly realized that although their carapaces were hard, their soul seas were very weak.

“Ah!” A middle-aged warrior could hardly withstand the swarm of bugs and without much thought, he smote a Bloodsoul Bug with a soul attack.

“Wa! Wa!” The Bloodsoul Bug immediately let out a cry as it retreated.

Fairy Yourou’s eyes flashed as light radiated from her body. Colorful beams of light scattered in every direction.

The Bloodsoul Bugs that made contact with the light beams immediately retreated, making it apparent that she had used a soul attack.

Yue Wangjian similarly used a soul attack to strike a few Bloodsoul Bugs.

And at that moment, Yi Yun took action.

Clang!

Mirage Snow suddenly slashed out with a gorgeous sword flash. It looked like an illusion that seemed to place people in a icy plane. Their eyes even appeared to see an endless ice plane.

Yi Yun had fused his soul attacks into his Sword Dao, and with his soul being extremely powerful, the flash beam was enough to overcome the sanguine aura that flooded the region.

Even the herbs were affected by the strike as they turned stiff and did not sway any further.

The silent sword flash landed, unleashing a bout of shrill screams.

“Wa! Wa!”

The Bloodsoul Bugs that were swept up in Yi Yun’s sword flash exploded one after another as they reduced to pools of blood.

The earth immediately absorbed the blood. Yi Yun was unsure if he was mistaken but the frail Planet Destruction Plant seemed to become more spirited.

“This…” Everyone were shocked by Yi Yun’s strike. Even Fairy Yourou could not help but steal another glance at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was too strong. Everyone had to use all their strength just to withstand the Bloodsoul Bugs but he managed to slay them all with one strike.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly slashed at Fairy Yourou.

Fairy Yourou was alarmed but she did not move.

“Wa!” A Bloodsoul Bug the size of a face basin was split apart behind Fairy Yourou.

Fairy Yourou turned around and her expression changed slightly.

It was a queen bug, clearly much more powerful than ordinary Bloodsoul Bugs. She did not even realize when it had secretly appeared by her feet. If not for Yi Yun, she might have been injured, if not killed.

And at that moment, Lie Jiaojiao’s screams turned sharper. “Quick, save me!”

The barrier in front of her was so thin that it had turned nearly transparent. As she was shouting, her jade talisman reduced to dust. The barrier shattered instantly as the blob of blood inundated Lie Jiaojiao.

Lie Jiaojiao was scared out of her wits as she turned to rush towards Yi Yun and company.

“Yi Yun, save me, quick!” She had already forgotten the way she had treated him. All she could see was Yi Yun’s mighty strength at that moment.

Yi Yun knitted his brows when he saw Lie Jiaojiao charge towards him.

He was not some goody two shoes who would take the initiative to save her.

At that moment, a gaping mouth suddenly opened beneath Lie Jiaojiao’s feet, instantly devouring her.

Gulp.

It was a Fey plant that had swallowed Lie Jiaojiao! It extended its vines and began wrapping her in layers!

This Fey plant was the one they had met in the periphery of the abyss. It had previously disguised itself as a boulder and imprisoned Nanxuan Luoyue. Yet, it had been seen through by Yi Yun who slashed off its corolla.

Yet here it was again. It was unknown how the Fey plant had recuperated as it followed them deeper into the abyss.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Lie Jiaojiao continued struggling as she let out tragic cries. The Fey plant was infuriated as it secreted mucus, hoping to digest Lie Jiaojiao.

Fairy Yourou hurriedly slashed out a beam of light that cut into the Fey plant.

However, the strike that could split apart divine metal only left a foot-deep wound on the plant’s stalk. On a stalk that thick, it was nothing.

She could not slash it apart!

Fairy Yourou frowned slightly. Although she could slice apart the stalk if she attacked it repeatedly, Lie Jiaojiao would probably be dead by then.

At that moment, Nameless Sword was fighting the entire bug horde alone, unable to extricate himself from them. That left Yi Yun as the only one strong enough. From his past performance, it would not be difficult for him to split apart the stalk with one strike.

However, Yi Yun looked like he didn’t even see Lie Jiaojiao. He was still dealing with a few Bloodsoul bugs. He was moving at a casual pace, doing so with ease.

“Save… Save me… Y… Young Master Yi!” Lie Jiaojiao struggled frantically as her cries for help turned shrill.

“Yi Yun, are you really turning a blind eye to a woman in distress?”

Lie Rikong looked angrily at Yi Yun who smiled in return. “Why aren’t you rescuing your own sister?”

“You…!”

Lie Rikong felt so stifled that he vomited blood. However, he did not have enough courage to attack the Fey plant. He was not its match at all.

But at that moment, a blinding beam shot over suddenly. It originated from Nameless Sword!

While engaging in an intense battle with the bug horde, he managed to divert his attention long enough to slash out a sword beam. It was resplendent like the stars of the highest heavens, forming a gigantic beam that swept towards the Fey plant.

“Ah!”

The Fey plant seemed to cry out as it jolted from the extremely sacred beam’s strike. It spat out Lie Jiaojiao and escaped underground using its roots.

Bam! Lie Jiaojiao’s head smacked into the ground.

Her body convulsed a few times before she slowly raised her head.

She was still alive.

“My face! My face!” Lie Jiaojiao touched her face and let out a hysteric cry.

Fairy Yourou had a melancholic look when she saw her face. The others felt their scalps tingle.

It was not an exaggeration to describe it as the face of a haunting specter. Her skin and flesh had been corroded till it was all pocky. Together with the Fey plant’s juices seeping into her flesh and blood, it would be difficult for her to recover her original looks even with treasures.

“Ahh!” Lie Jiaojiao cried out in despair, completely unable to accept such a reality.

However, no one had time to bother with her. They did not have the luxury of time or sympathy. While she screamed, a blinding sword flash seemed to vanquish everything amid the Bloodsoul Bugs’ engulfment, carving out a path from within.

Immediately following that, a figure charged out, filled with killing intent.

Beneath Nameless Sword’s feet were several Bloodsoul Bug corpses. These corpses quickly reduced to blood and were absorbed by the earth.

He had nearly sent the bug swarm scurrying with his strength alone.

What terrifying strength!

The warriors that remained alive were greatly shocked. The gap between them and Nameless Sword was just too great. In the intense battle from before, he was still able to divert his attention to rescue Lie Jiaojiao.

If not for Nameless Sword, they would probably have all died there. Even Yi Yun might not have changed that outcome.

1462 - : Tragic

“Everyone, retreat quickly!” shouted Nameless Sword the moment he ended the battle.

In fact, everyone wished to get as far as possible from the area even without his command. People immediately retreated out of the region and looked at the Planet Destruction Plant from afar.

“Brother Yi, how were you able to tell it was dangerous?” Nameless Sword asked as he walked to Yi Yun’s side.

The others looked at Yi Yun as well. He had previously discovered the disguised Fey plant, and now he had noticed the abnormality of this situation. His perceptivity was truly potent.

“Those herbs and Bloodsoul bugs, the blob of blood, and even the earth itself… they all serve to provide nutrients to the Planet Destruction Plant,” said Yi Yun.

Everyone felt a chill run through them. They were already made acutely aware of what “nutrients” meant.

Then, Yi Yun frowned again. “However, although a Planet Destruction Plant can suck a world’s vitality dry, I have never heard of it producing such monsters to consume flesh and blood.”

“I never expected you to have such a comprehensive understanding of Planet Destruction Plants,” said Fairy Yourou in astonishment.

As he had studied the divine alchemist’s notes, no one present had knowledge of the Planet Destruction Plant that surpassed Yi Yun’s. Only he could readily describe the detailed characteristics of Planet Destruction Plants. The others only knew a little about it.

Even geniuses from large factions like Fairy Yourou and Yue Wangjian had knowledge that was far inferior to Yi Yun who had inherited the divine alchemist’s heritage.

“If that isn’t a Planet Destruction Plant, what the heck is it?” asked the Dao Palace realm genius, Huang Xuanyan, from Magnificent Heaven. He came in filled with confidence, but now he was a nervous wreck.

As Huang Xuanyan’s voice faded, everyone cast their gazes back at the Fey plant.

After absorbing the flesh and blood of four warriors, the ‘Planet Destruction Plant’ appeared more spirited. And when they looked over the herbs, they immediately bobbed, as though they were beckoning for them to come over.

Everyone immediately felt a chill run down their backs. The herbs had lost all allure to them, taking on an ominous air instead.

Yi Yun stared intently at the ‘Planet Destruction Plant.’ He had a nagging feeling that something was incongruous but he was unable to pinpoint it.

However, he was certain of one thing. The ‘Planet Destruction Plant’ was similar to the Fey plant from before. They both had a common characteristic. They devoured the flesh and blood of living people.

“The situation has changed since the last time I entered. It’s a lot more dangerous. Shall we invite Brother Yi to lead the way with me?” asked Nameless Sword.

“I don’t trust him!” A hoarse, vicious voice protested. It was none other than Lie Jiaojiao, who was standing beside Lie Rikong. She was using a veil to cover her face but the skin and eyes that could still be seen looked gruesome.

Lie Jiaojiao looked hatefully at Yi Yun. “He stood idly on the side, unwilling to help me. He might betray us at any time.”

If not for Yi Yun’s inaction, she would not have suffered such an outcome. Yi Yun had made it apparent that he wished to see her get eaten. From her point of view, it was all Yi Yun’s fault that she was in her present state.

“You were the only person that he didn’t save,” said Nanxuan Luoyue coldly.

“Anyway, I only trust Senior Nameless! In this land of peril, one that ignores his companions when there is danger is a useless teammate! Seeing how he treats a weak woman like me, it’s best you do not pin your hopes on him.” Lie Jiaojiao looked at everyone but her corroded eyes only served to make them feel uneasy.

Yi Yun smiled faintly, completely uninterested in dealing with Lie Jiaojiao.

However, he also sensed that Lie Jiaojiao’s words had affected the rest. They still viewed him with awed reverence but they also slightly distanced themselves from him. Compared to Yi Yun, the powerful and righteous Nameless Sword was clearly more trustworthy.

Yi Yun did not mind this at all. He was not here to make friends with these people.

The abyss was strange and his interest in the Blood Fey Bone was piqued. He had no idea what the situation was with the Blood Fey Bone to make it produce the rich sanguine aura and intense killing intent.

At that moment, Fairy Yourou walked over and said softly, “Thank you for saving me.”

“I was only doing it in passing. Besides, even if I did not do anything, you could have resolved the matter by yourself. There’s no need to thank me,” said Yi Yun.

Fairy Yourou glanced at Yi Yun, her eyes flashing with a strange glint.

She was completely unrelated to Yi Yun but he had saved her. The others might have seen him as an aloof person but she did not think it so.

Yue Wangjian’s eyes took on a depressing look when he saw Fairy Yourou take the initiative to express her friendship towards Yi Yun.

He never expected that Yi Yun, who he had invited, would steal the limelight in the Fey God Tomb, completely overshadowing him. He had even rescued Fairy Yourou, winning her favorable impression.

“Let’s leave this area. It’s best we take care not to touch anything without thought going forward. The dangers in the abyss are things even I do not understand,” said Nameless Sword.

The crowd continued proceeding forward. This time, nearly everyone crowded close to Yi Yun and Nameless Sword.

But even so, a warrior still got silently devoured by a pile of sand which had nothing above it.

Several hours later, Yi Yun and company entered a region with even richer sanguine aura. It was so dense that it condensed into liquid that looked like rain. The smell of blood inundated their olfactory senses and there were skeletons beneath their feet.

These skeletons belonged to humans as well as Fey beasts. The smaller Fey bones were the size of houses and the bigger ones were the size of hills. White bone structures were strewn across the blood-colored land, producing a heavy air of death.

People stayed in here for too long would have their vitality slowly sapped away.

“We are here,” Nameless Sword gently sighed as he said.

He then pointed to a boulder which seemed to be immersed in blood. Its sanguine aura was extremely dense. A second look revealed that on the boulder was a Blood Fey Bone the size of a palm.

No one noticed the boulder and Blood Fey Bone prior to this. Only when Nameless Sword pointed it out to them did they strangely feel their hearts and vision suddenly become captivated by the Blood Fey Bone.

Yi Yun felt that the Blood Fey Bone seemed to have blood flowing in it. It also produced a heavy, dull sound.

Bam! Bam bam!

He also heard the sound of blood flowing from the Blood Fey Bone. “Bloop, bloop.”

At that moment, a chill suddenly surged across his body. He jolted to his senses and realized that the sounds did not come from the Blood Fey Bone but were the result of his lifeblood being stirred. Even his very heartbeat was being tugged at by the Blood Fey Bone.

If he listened to it too long, it might have been possible for him to explode to death.

The rest jolted to their senses, faces filled with shock. Among them, the heavily injured Lie Jiaojiao and Lie Rikong had the color in their faces drain.

1463 - : Blood Fey Bone

Nanxuan Luoyue looked at the Blood Fey Bone in disbelief as she uttered, “This Fey bone contains terrifying amounts of lifeblood power…”

She had an Ancient Fey bloodline, so she had an intense reaction to the Fey bone just like Yi Yun did.

And at that moment, Yi Yun sensed a nomological force around the Blood Fey Bone, clearly an array formation that had been manually set up around it.

This array was the reason why they did not discover the Fey Blood Bone prior to this.

“I found this Blood Fey Bone the last time I came but it’s too powerful. I was unable to take it with me; therefore, I set up an array formation that could aid in retrieving it. The array formation is meant to chip away at its strength, constantly draining it,” said Nameless Sword.

“But in fact, the array formation can only drain a portion of it. The abyss is filled with sanguine aura and killing intent and this Blood Fey Bone has been here receiving its nourishment for a very long time. The array formation’s effects are highly limited.”

“Then what can we do?” asked a warrior.

“Help me push the array formation as far as it can go. Even if we can only sever the connection between the Blood Fey Bone and this environment for a short period of time, I will have a chance of retrieving the Blood Fey Bone. Everyone, don’t worry. Once I succeed, I’ll definitely provide all of you with sufficient remuneration. Not only that, I’ll also split a portion of this Blood Fey Bone. The dangers we encountered on this trip into the abyss has far exceeded my expectations…” Nameless Sword said with a sigh.

“Senior Nameless, there’s no need to continue. We siblings will definitely help. I believe the rest will provide their strongest support, right?” Lie Jiaojiao stood forward to offer her help.

The warriors’ eyes lit up after Nameless Sword mentioned that he would share the Blood Fey Bone.

“I am willing to help. If not for Daoist Nameless, we would never have been able to get near the Blood Fey Bone,” said the warrior.

The remaining warriors contemplated for a moment before nodding in agreement.

Not only would they obtain some of the Blood Fey Bone if they helped Nameless Sword, they would also get rewarded. And all they needed to do was help Nameless Sword draw out the array formation’s full powers. When the time came to retrieve the Blood Fey Bone, it was still Nameless Sword who needed to do the deed. Therefore, they would not encounter any danger.

It was obvious Fairy Yourou would be part of it. Yue Wangjian also immediately said, “I have no problems either.”

As he said that, he looked at Yi Yun. “Fellow Daoist Yi Yun, what about you?”

Nameless Sword looked over as well.

Yi Yun’s eyes were fixed on the Blood Fey Bone while he observed the array formation.

He noticed that the energy flowing out of the array formation indicated that there was indeed energy being pulled out of the Blood Fey Bone and expelled by the array formation.

But the expelled energy was inconsequential compared to the Blood Fey Bone’s powerful aura. This was because the array formation was operating rather sluggishly. The laws in it were being corrupted by the surrounding sanguine aura.

From the looks of it, what Nameless Sword said was right. However, Yi Yun was in no hurry to agree immediately. Everything appeared fine on the surface but Yi Yun felt something was wrong. Back when he cracked the divine alchemist’s array formation in the Nine Li Magus Empire, Yi Yun already had his own comprehension of array formations, giving him his own school of thought.

He was currently using this self-made understanding of array formations to size up the array formation in front of him.

“Brother Yi, we are truly lacking in manpower at the moment. You have to help,” said Nameless Sword earnestly. “For your strength, I am willing to give you an additional portion of the Blood Fey Bone.”

The rest who heard that had no qualms. After all, Yi Yun’s strength was already apparent to all.

Lie Jiaojiao looked at Yi Yun, not concealing the viciousness in her eyes in any way. The person that had resulted in her being harmed actually stood to gain double the benefits…

“Daoist Yi, if you are unwilling, my Martial Uncle will not force you,” said Fairy Yourou.

Everyone looked at Yi Yun for about thirty seconds, until he finally spoke.

“In that case, I naturally have no reason to reject,” said Yi Yun.

“Thank you for helping, Brother Yi,” said Nameless Sword with a smile.

With that, he took out a few array flags and distributed them to the group. “Refine the array flags into your bodies. That way, you will form a connection with the array formation like I have. However, the array formation is ultimately mine. There are many intricacies within and a slight move may affect the whole. Therefore, listen to my instructions carefully and do not touch the array formation unless instructed.”

“What if we do?” Huang Xuanyan asked with the array flag in hand.

Nameless Sword felt a little exasperated. “Naturally it would result in us falling short of success at the final stage. We might even suffer a backlash. I advise you not to attempt doing so.”

When Huang Xuanyan noticed the rest glaring at him, he immediately said, “I was only asking. I naturally know how serious this is.”

“Please begin refining it then. We should not stay here for long. The faster we resolve the matter, the earlier we can leave,” said Nameless Sword.

Yi Yun held the array flag but that feeling of incongruity would not leave him. He had agreed to Nameless Sword’s request obviously because he wanted the Blood Fey Bone. And it was also clearly impossible for him to snatch it for himself under the current circumstances.

At that moment, the rest were done refining the array flags.

Nameless Sword swept his gaze across everyone before looking at Yi Yun. He saw Yi Yun’s hand empty, having just opened his eyes from sitting cross-legged. He immediately smiled at Yi Yun and nodded.

“Everyone, we shall begin now. Please head to your respective spots as indicated by the array flags,” said Nameless Sword as a disk array appeared in his hand.

These people had the array flags in their bodies and could sense their required positions. They headed to their spots without Nameless Sword needing to give detailed instructions.

Yi Yun was the last to move. He took seven steps left before taking two steps forward. He stopped in front of an inconspicuous rock.

Just as Yi Yun stopped, energy swirls appeared between the people. A complicated array formation immediately showed itself beneath their feet.

Upon seeing this scene, Nameless Sword nodded as he activated the disk array.

The array formation’s light bloomed as it was fully activated.

Everyone immediately felt the complete connection they had with the array formation as though they had become one with it.

The array formation immediately started extracting their Yuan Qi. Fairy Yourou appeared indifferent but the other warriors looked a little tense.

“Fellow Daoists, don’t worry. This is a stimulation array formation that gathers everyone’s strength. Please do not resist or it will affect the array formation,” said Nameless Sword as he moved his hands over the disk array.

“We have reached a critical stage. Everyone, you must cooperate with me or the Blood Fey Bone will be difficult to retrieve,” said Nameless Sword solemnly.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly took three steps forward.

That act caused the array formation to instantly go into chaos. The nomological energy fluctuated, causing everyone to feel their lifeblood descend in turmoil.

“Brother Yi, what are you doing?” Nameless Sword looked at Yi Yun in surprise.

Fairy Yourou also looked at Yi Yun filled with curiosity.

“Yi Yun, what are you doing!? Is harming me not enough? You must be thinking of harming all of us, right? You don’t want any of us to get the Blood Fey Bone, am I right? You wish to hoard it for yourself?” Lie Jiaojiao screamed sharply.

Lie Jiaojiao’s words made the originally perplexed warriors look at Yi Yun suspiciously.

1464 - : Cooperation

With the array formation about to succeed and the Blood Fey Bone almost in hand, everything came to a crashing halt when Yi Yun suddenly acted.

Not a single person there wanted to ignore the Blood Fey Bone. Therefore, they wouldn’t buy it if Yi Yun claimed he did not have any thoughts on taking it.

“Fellow Daoist Yi, that’s not a very good act of faith you’re pulling,” said Yue Wangjian in a deep voice.

“Let’s ask him why first. I believe Daoist Yi has an explanation,” said Fairy Yourou. She felt that Yi Yun was not such a person but it was true that his action didn’t seem particularly noble.

“Brother Yi, if you return right now to your original spot, we can still recover the array formation. Furthermore, everyone hasn’t had their Yuan Qi greatly drained. It wouldn’t be too much of a problem to activate the array formation again. I have already promised you two portions of the Blood Fey Bone. I believe it will be the greatest reward you can reap on this trip to the Fey God Tomb, or maybe even the entire ancient battlefield. It will be difficult for you to find a treasure better than the Blood Fey Bone,” said Nameless Sword with a frown. With his reputation of being a gentleman, he was composed and refined. Even now, he did not show his displeasure or go into a rage.

“Senior Nameless, you might be trying to persuade him with tactful words but they can’t reach someone like him,” said Lie Jiaojiao with a sarcastic tone.

Unfortunately, the rest, including Yue Wangjian, felt that Lie Jiaojiao was right. Although Yi Yun was powerful, his character and moral standing were far inferior to Nameless Sword who acted openly and aboveboard.

Yi Yun swept the crowd before revealing a faint smile.

“What are you smiling…” Yue Wangjian felt a little peeved seeing Yi Yun’s response. Just as he spoke, Yi Yun suddenly conjured his Primordial Destruction domain.

The moment the blurry space appeared, everyone felt a terrifying gravitational force. It was a nomological force that left their hearts quivering.

“He’s really trying to snatch the Blood Fey Bone! Quick, stop him!” Lie Jiaojiao let out a shrill scream.

But at that moment, everyone felt the array formation begin to tremble.

The laws that formed the array formation began shattering under the Primordial Destruction space’s pressure.

“Crack!” A crack immediately appeared in the disk array Nameless Sword’s was holding as the array formation began to collapse.

“Yi Yun, you must be mad!” Lie Jiaojiao was even more enraged than Nameless Sword should have been. In order to snatch the Blood Fey Bone, Yi Yun was fully willing to toss aside all decorum.

Nameless Sword’s expression suddenly changed. As the cracking sound ensued, the cracks in the array formation increased. Nameless Sword looked down at the disk array before looking at Yi Yun in disbelief.

“How did you do it… This is an ancient array formation. The disk array is rare and I set it up myself. How did you find the array core in such a short span of time?” Nameless Sword finally revealed an inkling of killing intent on his face.

The spot that Yi Yun had stepped on was precisely the array core. It looked like a coincidence prior to this, but now it was apparent that he had done so deliberately.

“The spatial array formation from before did not show how much of an array formation master you are,” said Yi Yun with a smile.

“Senior Nameless, why bother wasting your breath on him? Quickly finish him!” shouted Lie Jiaojiao.

And at that moment, a gray light suddenly arose from a warrior with the strength of a Supremacy.

Boom!

The gray light struck the Primordial Destruction space but it seemed to sink into a quagmire. It immediately began dissipating.

Finally, the gray light was fully gone before it could even penetrate the Primordial Destruction space.

The warrior’s expression changed. His sneak attack had been so easily nullified. How was the blurry gray space so powerful?

Yi Yun swept his gaze at the warrior and said coldly, “What utter foolishness.”

“You are the utter fool! Now that the array formation is destroyed, no one can get the Blood Fey Bone, and you are the one to blame! You will only be killed by our combined force,” said the Supremacy coldly. But at that moment, his body suddenly convulsed as large amounts of Yuan Qi was extracted from his body.

The others also immediately had the same thing happen to them.

Nameless Sword held the disk array as he constantly put seals into it.

The array formation immediately stopped crumbling and began clashing with the space created by Yi Yun’s Primordial Destruction domain.

As Nameless Sword injected the seals, the disk array constantly emanated an intense light. Everyone felt the suction force grow stronger.

“Daoist Nameless, do not be infuriated by Yi Yun.”

“Senior Nameless, we can’t withstand it if this continues.”

“Martial Uncle?”

However, Nameless Sword appeared deaf to everyone’s voices, including Fairy Yourou’s. His eyes were burning with anger as they stared intently at Yi Yun.

“Condense!”

Nameless Sword recited incantations as a more potent suction force suddenly surged.

Bam! Bam bam!

The scene before everyone’s eyes instantly turned blood-red. And amid that redness, they could hear their hearts thump loudly. All their lifeblood was being stirred to their boiling points by their very heartbeats.

In the blood-red fog, a black shadow slowly emerged.

It looked human as it silently floated over. It found the warrior that had sneaked an attack on Yi Yun.

The warrior widened his eyes but he could not move due to the array formation’s effects.

Seeing the shadow approach him, the warrior began to reveal a look of horror. The black shadow did not have any facial features but he could clearly see that it was sizing him up.

“Daoist Nameless… quickly stop–” The warrior desperately wished to shout out for help. But not only was he unable to move, he could not even produce a sound.

He could only watch helplessly as the shadow floated in front of him, to a spot not more than a palm’s distance away from his face.

“Daoist Nameless… what is this…”

At that moment, the shadow suddenly surged forward.

The warrior’s eyes suddenly opened widely like they were about to pop out. He could clearly sense that the shadow was moving as if boring through his body. At the same time, all his Yuan Qi and blood essence was being rapidly sucked away.

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!”

He widened his mouth, and a noiseless cry came out. His face was filled with utmost horror.

Gradually, his flesh and blood began vanishing. His skin shriveled and his body turned into a bag of bones. His face was that of an agape skeleton draped in a layer of skin and hair.

This scene left everyone appalled.

What was happening!?

“Is this Yi Yun’s doing?” Lie Jiaojiao directly pinned the blame on Yi Yun.

As for Fairy Yourou, she looked at Nameless Sword.

When she saw his expression, she could not help but produce a look of incredulity.

The martial uncle in front of her felt extremely unfamiliar to her. His cold eyes appeared as though he had not seen the warrior’s tragic end.

“You are truly incorrigibly foolish. At this point in time, you are still lost in the dark. With your low intelligence, you might even be helping the person who sold off you count his earnings. Do you even deserve to practice martial arts?” Yi Yun looked at Lie Jiaojiao and said disdainfully.

His words left Lie Jiaojiao taken aback. Even if she had the preconceived notion that Yi Yun was evil, even she had begun noticing that something was amiss.

She slowly turned her head to look at Nameless Sword. He exuded an extremely intense bloodlust.

Even his voice had changed. He was no longer gentle and refined but appeared to come from the deepest abyss.

“Yi Yun, you nearly spoiled my plans. Since you have seen through everything, I’ll just have to use you as the blood sacrifice first.”

As his words faded, the array formation’s laws formed chains in the array core, trapping Yi Yun as well as his Primordial Destruction space.

“I never expected you to have a trick up your sleeve using this array formation,” said Yi Yun. As he spoke, he drew Mirage Snow and cleaved at the nomological chains.

Boom!

With a loud boom, the nomological chains trembled but did not shatter.

The array formation had absorbed copious amounts of Yuan Qi, which was now constantly replenishing the nomological chain’s expenditure.

Realizing how Yi Yun could still talk and move, Nameless Sword revealed a look of shock. “You did not refine the array flag?”

“Why would I refine someone else’s array flag into my body? For what? To allow you to slaughter me?” countered Yi Yun sarcastically.

“You actually managed to find your spot without the array flag. That actually fooled me.”

Nameless Sword shook his head. “Yi Yun, your nomological insights are powerful and you are far stronger than everyone else. You have very keen senses and are adept at array formations. You are truly a genius. With a person like you here, I feel more confident.”

Upon hearing Yi Yun and Nameless Sword’s conversation, the others could not help but realize—no matter how unbelievable it was—that Nameless Sword had brought them here not to give them any treasure or remuneration but to take their lives!

Yi Yun had not taken action because he wanted to snatch the treasure. Instead, he had sensed something was amiss and had taken the preemptive measures to stop Nameless Sword.

Although Yi Yun had mocked them openly, no one found his words problematic. They had completely believed Nameless Sword and refined his array flags into their bodies. Now they were like wooden puppets, unable to resist. Weren’t they simply placing themselves onto a chopping board?

The way Fairy Yourou looked at Nameless Sword turned from disbelief to sadness.

And at that moment, Nameless Sword looked back at her. His eyes had a hint of softness. “Yourou, I watched you grow up. I’m very aware of your talent. I almost could not bring myself to lead you here, but only your bloodline can allow me to complete the final step.”

At that moment, the black shadow slowly burrowed out of the desiccated corpse.

Compared to before, it was clearly a lot more corporeal.

And clearly, Nameless Sword was referring to the shadow.

“For Luoyue and that man and woman to end up here for no apparent reason must have been your doing, am I right?” asked Yi Yun.

Nameless Sword revealed a look of surprise. “How do you know that?”

His response was equivalent to an admission.

“I began suspecting the moment I saw Luoyue.”

“With Luoyue’s strength, there is no way for her to come here on her own. And for some reason, she can’t remember what had happened prior to that. I guessed that someone must have brought her in.”

“You mentioned that only you know of the secret passageway. Yet, a person had brought Nanxuan Luoyue and company into the same secret passageway prior to our arrival. Such coincidences don’t just happen. Even if you didn’t do it, someone related to you did!”

1465 - : Sudden Turn Of Events

Nameless Sword gave Yi Yun a penetrating look but his eyes gradually turned calm once again. “What you said is exactly what happened. You are indeed not the first batch of people I have brought in here. Every time the ancient battlefield opens, I choose some people to be brought in here. I’ve already forgotten what number batch you are but I can be certain of one thing. You will be the final batch.”

Nameless Sword’s mouth twisted into a hideous smile when he said that. “But I’m quite astonished. You managed to determine all of that based on a mere Nanxuan Luoyue?”

“Naturally not.” Yi Yun’s voice remained collected. “It’s because I discovered that the secret passageway you led us through was not a true path, but an illusion array in and of itself!”

An illusion array!?

Everyone was extremely alarmed hearing Yi Yun’s claim. Was everything they encountered part of some illusion array, something fake?

“Hahahaha!” Nameless Sword suddenly laughed out maniacally. “You actually managed to see through that as well. That’s right. From the moment you entered, the blood ritual had begun! And all of you are the sacrificial items!”

Everyone was taken aback hearing Nameless Sword’s words. Since the blood ritual had begun from the very beginning, why did Nameless Sword work so hard in rescuing them?

“Was it the array flags… Martial Uncle, you put us in danger and then rescued us to win our trust, all so that we would willingly refine your array flags?” Fairy Yourou came to a realization. She could still probe her dantian, and saw that there was no longer an array flag in it. Now it was clearly a blood-colored hex seal!

The hex seal shone from her dantian, projecting itself onto her chest.

This was the thing she had just refined?

“This is…”

“Once the Blood Fey’s hex seal is planted, it’s impossible to remove. However, the conditions of planting them are very stringent. It needs to be done voluntarily. With this Blood Fey hex seal, all your blood essence, soul, and Yuan Qi will be turned into the most perfect offering! As for the trash that died in the beginning, they were only appetizers that did not catch my fancy. They were dealt with ahead of time by the illusion array. They were fertilizer, which is only slightly better than nothing.”

Nameless Sword said such extremely cold and heartless words, leaving Fairy Yourou reeling in disbelief. How could the martial uncle that, according to her memories, patiently taught her be the same person as the devil in front of her?

“This shadow is a manifestation of the Blood Fey Bone, am I right?” asked Yi Yun suddenly.

“That’s right.” Nameless Sword nodded.

Upon seeing Nameless Sword admit it so readily, Yi Yun drew a gasp. The Blood Fey Bone was a dead item and at most could suffuse cadaveric auras to influence its surroundings, maybe causing hallucinations.

Yet, the Blood Fey Bone in front of him had already manifested into a spiritual creature-like shadow. On top of that, the shadow felt like it was gradually manifesting itself as corporeal embodiment. Its sinister air left one shuddering to the bone.

“Are you cooperating with it? Taking favors from a tiger? Aren’t you afraid it will betray you?” asked Yi Yun coldly.

“I am, but how am I to gain anything if I do not take risks? It yearns to leave this area and I yearn for greater strength. I learned how weak I was after leaving my name on the Recognition Monument. I had done my best but only left my name at the bottom of the Recognition Monument. As for the top geniuses, they easily stood at the top. If I do not do anything now, won’t I forever be lining the bottom? I made the pinnacle of martial arts my goal at a very young age. How can I settle for being a person that accomplishes nothing and does not pursue that path that leads me to the extreme end? It’s worth it no matter the price I pay,” said Nameless Sword.

However, he was only casually explaining his point of view. The shadow had already completely extricated itself from the desiccated corpse while he spoke, slowly floating towards the others.

Lie Jiaojiao suddenly realized that she was the shadow’s next target!

The desiccated corpse was still standing upright in its place, making it look extremely horrifying. How could Lie Jiaojiao accept such a tragic and cruel death?

She opened her mouth to scream but realized that she could not produce a single sound.

She never expected that whatever Yi Yun had done was to stop Nameless Sword. And most laughable of all was that she had stepped forward to malign him.

Now, she watched helplessly as the shadow flew closer to her.

“Yi Yun, I’m very satisfied with your talent. If I’m not wrong, your lifeblood must be quite considerable, right? Good, very good. You will be the final big supplement before the Blood Fey Bone absorbs Yourou. With you as an ingredient, everything will become even more perfect,” said Nameless Sword.

He believed that Yi Yun had no way to escape the array formation’s suppression. No matter how strong Yi Yun was, his efforts were just mere intention. For this very moment, Nameless Sword had made too many preparations, so how could everything fail as a result of one warrior?

Everyone here would definitely become the final batch of blood nourishment for the Blood Fey Bone and once it was completely ready, the bone would become a part of Nameless Sword’s body.

After obtaining the Blood Fey Bone, Nameless Sword was confident that he would become a true expert when he left the ancient battlefield. He could even come close to the pinnacle of martial arts. To achieve that, what were a few sacrifices?

As for Fairy Yourou, due to her unique bloodline, Nameless Sword had specially waited for her to arrive. Although she was his martial niece and the Young Goddess of the Nethersky Divine World’s new generation, Nameless Sword did not hesitate to sacrifice her for his own future.

“It appears all of you wish to speak. In that case, I’ll give all of you a chance to say your last words. Sigh.” Nameless Sword sighed as he injected a rune into the disk array.

Everyone immediately felt that they could finally speak.

“Let me go, Senior Nameless. I implore you not to kill me!” Lie Jiaojiao shouted immediately.

But at that moment, the loudest person was Yue Wangjian.

His forehead was covered in a layer of cold sweat. He had an earnest look on his face as he said loudly, “Senior Nameless, hear my piece! Many of these people have factions backing them. Some have family clans and their sects. Furthermore, there were thousands of people that saw us leave and know of the matter. If we die for no good reason, wouldn’t the factions backing us investigate? Senior Nameless, I wish you would consider the matter more thoroughly.”

Lie Jiaojiao’s eyes lit up as she looked at him with anticipation. “That’s right, Senior Nameless. Senior Brother Yue Wangjian is right!”

However, Yi Yun sneered in response. Yue Wangjian was insinuating that Nameless Sword only target those without a faction backing them and the only person present that fit that description was him. Be it Yue Wangjian or Lie Jiaojiao, they were only employing desperate measures in desperate times. Nameless Sword had this in the works for ages, so how could he be afraid of a few factions?

1466 - : Illusion Array

Yi Yun wasn’t surprised to see Nameless Sword remain unmoved by what was said. “With the situation having developed this far, there’s no need to say such useless things. It’s best you make use of your remaining time to say your last words.”

“Senior Nameless! If you are the only one to leave alive, you will definitely be wanted by many factions. I believe that even you could not get away from that unbothered, right? And even if that doesn’t bother you, wouldn’t it just be easier to avoid it altogether?” Yue Wangjian said anxiously.

Nameless Sword did not even give him the courtesy of a reply. All he did was look at him with an eerily silent smile.

Yue Wangjian’s gaze turned heavy. Then he suddenly said, “I have a Blood Hex scroll! I can swear on it. If I violate my oath, my soul will be tormented in an extremely pain way for a thousand years. After that, my soul will shatter, leaving me to be doomed for all eternity!”

As Yue Wangjian spoke, he took out an ancient red scroll from his interspatial ring. He had planned on using it on someone else but never expected he would need to use it on himself. He was threatening to cast the most vicious hex on himself so as to remain alive.

“Senior Nameless, as long as you spare me, I will swear on this Blood Hex scroll. I will not mention anything that happened today. I will say that whatever happened today was an accident. I, Yue Wangjian, am someone of repute. Many people will believe whatever I say. If I testify on your behalf, you will not end up in trouble. I believe the Blood Fey Bone would not suffer from absorbing one less person, right?”

He could tell that the ones that had truly caught Nameless Sword’s eyes and were needed the most were Fairy Yourou and Yi Yun. As for the rest of them, they were only there to serve as basic ingredients.

Since he was not a necessity, it meant that it was possible to persuade Nameless Sword into letting him go.

Yue Wangjian suddenly pointed at Yi Yun and said angrily, “Yi Yun! This is all a result of your actions! Once I’m out, I will announce to the Sinkhole that you sneaked up on us to snatch the treasure! I’ll even say I was almost killed by you. You are truly, outrageously wicked.”

Everyone watched with widened eyes. Yue Wangjian appeared to be open and aboveboard but now, in order to stay alive, he was spouting nonsense in such a presumptuous manner.

Fairy Yourou’s eyes revealed a look of disappointment. She said coldly, “Yue Wangjian, you are truly shameless.”

“Junior Sister Yourou, I am doing this simply because I have no choice. I’m a core disciple of the First Beginnings Immortal Gate. I have a bright future ahead of me. I truly do not wish to die here in such a manner. I believe all of you can understand me. As for Brother Yi… Once you’re dead, I don’t think you will care about your reputation,” said Yue Wangjian earnestly.

Fairy Yourou’s eyes were cold as she ignored him. She did not even wish to speak a single word to him.

Yi Yun could not help but laugh. “I obviously do not care. But it’s more because it’s impossible for you walk out of here alive. While you can still use that mouth of yours, take this opportunity to use it.”

Yue Wangjian’s expression sank. Yi Yun was too stubborn.

Did he still think he had a chance in such a situation?

However, Nameless Sword’s eyes flashed. He said, “Yue Wangjian, what you say does make some sense. Swear upon it then.”

If he had a chance to avoid trouble, he naturally was not going to reject it.

Yue Wangjian drew a deep breath as he shattered the Blood Hex in his hand while clenching his teeth. It transformed into sanguine light that flew into his body.

Upon seeing the Blood Hex take effect, Nameless Sword nodded. “In that case, go to the array formation and inject your Yuan Qi to be of some use.”

Yue Wangjian was instantly delighted upon hearing Nameless Sword’s words. “Thank you, Senior Nameless!”

Nameless Sword casually produced a rune, and Yue Wangjian immediately realized that he had regained control over his body.

Yue Wangjian kept his excitement at bay as he looked at the motionless people around him.

These people were either looking at him hatefully or wore a look of despair.

And at that moment, Lie Jiaojiao yelled, “Senior Brother Yue, save me! Save me! I beg you! I don’t want to die yet!”

“Junior Sister Jiaojiao, I’m sorry. I only have one Blood Hex scroll. I really can’t do any more here,” Yue Wangjian shrugged as he said with a smile.

Even if he did have another Blood Hex scroll, it was impossible for him to use it on her. The woman was just too naive.

However, Nameless Sword suddenly said, “Don’t worry, you won’t be dying too soon.”

Lie Jiaojiao had a vicious look when she heard Yue Wangjian’s words but she soon turned excited when she heard Nameless Sword. “Senior Nameless, please let me go. I adore you greatly. I…”

“It’s best you do not get prematurely happy. I only said that you would not die too soon. It first needs to prepare for the final stage of fusing with me. Every step needs to be savored, and I need to imbue all the absorbed energy into myself. Only then will it be the next person’s turn,” said Nameless Sword slowly.

Lie Jiaojiao’s body froze up as her lips constantly trembled. Wasn’t Nameless Sword referring to digestion? After the Blood Fey Bone digested the first person, it would immediately devour her next!

And the time it took to digest might last thirty minutes or it could be over in the blink of an eye. And during this process, the strange shadow was still floating towards her and was in fact already in front of her!

With the black shadow’s face so close to her, Lie Jiaojiao was forced to take in its true looks. It was nearly translucent, as though it was formed from many black foggy wisps. Although it did not have any facial features, Lie Jiaojiao could sense its gaze. It was a gaze that chilled a person right down to the bone.

And at that moment, Lie Jiaojiao suddenly saw a face amid the featureless shadow. It was the warrior that had been sucked dry. He had a look of pain and his mouth was agape. He looked like he was caught in an eternal scream.

“Ah!”

Lie Jiaojiao let out a terrified scream but, with her being fixed in place, she could not even dodge. She was forced to watch the shadow inch towards her.

The warrior’s face slowly streaked across the shadow’s body before sinking into the black fog.

But soon, many faces appeared inside the shadow’s body. Those who had previously died were among them.

The shadow was not formed of black fog but by faces!

It was unknown how much essential flesh and blood was absorbed by the Blood Fey Bone for it to form this body of many faces it currently had.

And she was soon going to be one of them.

Yue Wangjian’s scalp tingled when he saw this. Following that, he began injecting his Yuan Qi into the array formation.

“Use all your strength,” said Nameless Sword nonchalantly.

The moment Nameless Sword spoke, Yue Wangjian obviously compiled. He pumped his Yuan Qi into the array formation constantly.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Yi Yun’s sword flashes intercrossed inside the array formation. When Yue Wangjian saw the sword flashes slash at him, he immediately felt a little worried as though the sword flashes were about to arrive above his head.

The warriors felt apprehensive when they saw Yi Yun attack.

If Yi Yun could crack the array, perhaps they had a chance of living.

Even Lie Jiaojiao began to pin her hopes on Yi Yun.

The sword flash cleaved into the first thin membrane in an instant.

The thin screen coruscated with faint red light. It appeared weak but was able to fully withstand the sharpness of the sword flash. There was not a single scratch on it.

Yue Wangjian felt his fear instantly vanish. Now, Yi Yun was only a tiger without any teeth.

As for the other warriors, including Lie Jiaojiao, they revealed looks of extreme disappointment.

“Yi Yun, are you going to await your death obediently or are you going to waste my strength?” Yue Wangjian mocked.

As Nameless Sword spoke, the entire array formation began to spin. Sanguine light beams tore out from the ground and the blood of light appeared to be infused with the souls that had been inflicted with the greatest pain.

Upon seeing this scene, everyone felt a shudder down their backs. These tortured spirits were likely geniuses from various factions that had come to the ancient battlefield!

Nameless Sword had spent more than a thousand years in the ancient battlefield. He had brought many geniuses into the Fey God Tomb over time.

Suddenly, the wraith forces gathered by the array formation, and looked to be swarming at none other than Yi Yun!

Nameless Sword naturally wanted to finish Yi Yun before he dealt with the rest. Yi Yun was the only hope everyone had. Once he was dead, they would be finished.

Yi Yun sighed softly when he saw the devilish powers gather together before putting away Mirage Snow.

Oh!?

Upon seeing this scene, everyone’s heart sank. Why did Yi Yun put away his sword? Even if he was inferior in strength, he shouldn’t just be giving up entirely.

“Good, you have finally submitted yourself to your fate. Then, become an offering to the Blood Fey Bone!”

Nameless Sword laughed maniacally but at that moment, a mysterious rune lit up in Yi Yun’s chest. It let out a nether gray light like it was a gray nether moon.

The ethereal runes on Yi Yun’s chest emanated wisps of grayish aura. The moment they appeared, the floating sanguine air and wraiths shrinked back. They even shattered upon coming into contact with the gray air, so much so that the space they were in began trembling violently as though it would shatter at any time.

Nebulous Primordial Chaos!

“Oh!? This is…”

Nameless Sword suddenly felt a sense of unease, but at that moment Yi Yun extended his finger. All the Yuan Qi he had gathered shot towards the Dao talisman. A terrifying blood lust burst out as a gray light shout out from Yi Yun’s finger tip.

This was the power that Yi Yun had obtained from the Divine Perish Hall. With the ancient token, he could gather massive amounts of nebulous Primordial Chaos. After forming a mark, he could engrave it by his chest, using the Nebulous Primordial Chaos as an attack!

“Sou!”

The gray right penetrated all the painful souls and smashed mightily into the thin barrier.

Upon seeing the gray light, Yue Wangjian’s heart was even more taken by fear.

As for Nameless Sword, his heart leaped when he saw the grayish light. His gaze sank as he immediately produced more seals and sent them into his disk array.

However, the gray light was too concentrated. It was about as thick as a finger but it was as though it gathered all the powers in the Universe and was completely unbending.

Boom!

A loud boom was heard as the gray light stirred up a terrifying nebulous storm.

Yue Wangjian stood in the array formation, feeling his head buzz. Following that, pain that reached to his very soul began to manifest. A large number of the souls were destroyed by the gray storms, completely disintegrated to nothingness.

As the controller of the array formation, Nameless Sword grunted and spat out mouthful of blood.

1467 - : For the Sake of Remaining Alive

Boom!

An explosive noise drew everyone’s watchful gazes. They looked on as the screen cracked, reducing to countless fragmentary points of light. Yi Yun walked out amid those fragments.

The array had been cracked!

Everyone also felt the pressure of the array weaken and disappear.

“Hold him back!” Nameless Sword roared at Yue Wangjian. He kept injecting runes into the disk array he wielded. He absolutely could not let the plans he had been working on for so long fail at the most critical moment because of Yi Yun.

Yue Wangjian was taken aback as he stared at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was filled with killing intent as he held up Mirage Snow.

Hold back Yi Yun? Was that a joke!?

He was simply fodder against Yi Yun’s strength.

But he didn’t dare disobey Nameless Sword. Besides, he was in the same boat as Nameless Sword. If Nameless Sword failed, the outcome awaiting him wouldn’t be much better.

Yue Wangjian lamented inwardly as he clenched his teeth, pushing his Yuan Qi to its limits as he slashed at Yi Yun.

The sword condensed every insight Yue Wangjian had about the Sword Dao, filling it with a resplendent radiance. The very space itself tore as it passed, forming a black spatial rift in its wake. Gravel arose beneath it as a huge ravine appeared in its wake.

And at that moment, Yue Wangjian growled, “Explode!”

Boom!

A terrifying explosive boom sounded as nomological fragments jettisoned off, instantly enveloping Yi Yun within.

Surprisingly, Yue Wangjian had decisively chosen to initiate the self-destruction of his weapon.

Yue Wangjian felt his heart bleed as he watched the explosion’s nucleus. He cultivated in the way of the sword, and although he did not reach the point of using his life to refine the sword, that sword had accompanied him for a very long period of time. It was connected to him in spirit and in mind, and was something he fostered with care.

Not only that, the sword had been tempered with all sorts of treasures. Its net worth was extraordinary. A First Beginnings Immortal Gate Elder had even embedded a specialized array formation in it, giving it almost priceless value.

But now, Yue Wangjian had chosen to destroy the sword in order to stop Yi Yun.

Despite slashing out with all his strength, Yue Wangjian did not have much confidence in it. He was a decisive person, which explained why he could destroy his own weapon without any hesitation.

As long as he held Yi Yun back for even a moment, Nameless Sword would have time to recover, allowing the both of them to combine forces. Yi Yun was then doomed.

The spot where Yi Yun had been standing was now inundated by a terrifying storm. Even his figure was obscured by the wild energy.

Everyone watched the storm nervously. Yi Yun’s success was closely tied to their fates. If they had to choose, they would rather die at Yi Yun’s hand then become fertilizer for the Blood Fey Bone.

But the storm was truly terrifying, and Yue Wangjian had surprised everyone with that decisive attack. Yi Yun was now fully embroiled in it and, even if he did not die, he would probably be gravely injured.

Meanwhile, Nameless Sword had already taken out a unique talisman. He looked at it, seemingly reluctant to use it, before he twisted it with a finger. It ignited.

The burned talisman transformed into a black beam of light that shot into the disk array. Immediately, the disk array emitted a rich cadaveric air. It infused into the array formation, rapidly stabilizing it.

Upon seeing this scene, everyone’s hearts sank once again. Yue Wangjian was delighted.

He had given Nameless Sword enough time. Yi Yun would naturally be dealt with by Nameless Sword in what followed. He had not sacrificed his sword for nothing.

Yet just as he thought that, an ice-blue sword beam thrust out from the explosion. The chaotic nomological fragments that arose from the explosion melted the moment they encountered the sword beam, like snow meeting the radiant sun.

Yi Yun’s figure followed closely behind his sword beam.

His body was emanating a gray fog. His clothes were not even torn or dirty in any way, much less his body being injured.

Yue Wangjian had a look of disbelief. Had he destroyed his sword for nothing?

He knew Yi Yun was strong but the Yi Yun before him had far exceeded his expectations.

This was not merely being powerful, it was practically heaven-defying!

Little did he know that Yi Yun was never worried about his paltry explosion because he had been cultivating in the core of the nebulous Primordial Chaos.

Yue Wangjian’s sneak attack was not even considered one despite him believing so. Yi Yun had seen through him instantaneously and knew he would stop at nothing. He was long prepared for such a deceitful move.

Yue Wangjian was not Yi Yun’s main enemy. Nameless Sword and the Blood Fey Bone were the true threat. If the mere Yue Wangjia injured him, Yi Yun could forget about dealing with Nameless Sword.

“You sure went all out just to be a good lackey. Now, it’s your turn to take a strike of mine.”

Yi Yun’s voice was right by Yue Wangjian’s ear. He immediately felt an extremely potent killing intent overwhelm him as though it was about to drown him.

An intense sense of panic arose in his heart as he produced a new sword from his interspatial ring quickly. He spat a mouthful of blood essence on it before swinging it forward.

Boom!

A sharp and indomitable sword Qi cleaved towards Yue Wangjian’s head. Yue Wangjian felt helpless against the horrifying sword Qi.

Ka-cha!

The sword in his hand shattered abruptly as the sword Qi continued straight for his head in an indomitable fashion.

“No! Senior Nameless, save me!” Yue Wangjian was scared out of his wits as he turned to run while yelling.

A genius disciple of the First Beginnings Immortal Gate turning tail and fleeing for his life was something no one present would believe were they not seeing it with their own eyes.

However, the sword Qi’s speed allowed it to quickly chase up to Yue Wangjian. It tore into his back and went right through him.

“Ah!”

Yue Wangjian cried out tragically as he collapsed straight to the ground, body covered in blood. He was not dead yet but the sword had penetrated his dantian. He was now a cripple.

Reducing him to a cripple in such a perilous land was equivalent to passing the death sentence on him. It was a more tragic death than just flat-out stabbing him.

Yue Wangjian constantly let out tragic wails. He could not accept this reality. He had gone through great efforts to obtain mercy from Nameless Sword but, in a blink of an eye, he had been crippled by Yi Yun…

After Yi Yun crippled Yue Wangjian, he could not even be bothered to take another look at the trash.

When he looked at Nameless Sword, Nameless Sword no longer looked injured despite having vomited blood earlier due to the array formation’s destruction.

The disk array in his hand emanated a rich cadaveric air, tainting his entire body with a strange grayish-black color.

“Yi Yun, you are indeed very powerful. Blood Fey Bone, you have seen his performance too. He is definitely a great supplement. Once you eat him, your strength will rise greatly, allowing you to escape the Fey God Tomb’s seal!”

Nameless Sword stared at Yi Yun as he spoke slowly.

And at that moment, the shadow turned towards Yi Yun as well.

Upon seeing this scene, Lie Jiaojiao could not help but heave a sigh of relief.

She knew that if Yi Yun died, none of them would survive.

But for the moment, she was free from the danger before her. There was a bit of joy in that.

Alas, the shadow suddenly extended its arm, penetrating deep into Lie Jiaojiao’s body.

She immediately widened her eyes as her body began convulsing violently.

She felt like her flesh and blood were constantly being drained. The feeling of being eaten alive was truly terrifying!

The shadow was about to fight Yi Yun. Consuming her was only a way to replenish some of its stamina. It was only something it did in passing, but to Lie Jiaojiao, it was terrifying death, a calamity that would end her life in the worst way.

“Save me!” Lie Jiaojiao let out a shrill cry.

1468 - : Death

Unfortunately for her, it was impossible for anyone to rescue Lie Jiaojiao. Yi Yun, the only one capable of stopping Nameless Sword, had a cold expression. He was staring intently at the shadow. Why would he open up himself to attack by taking action to rescue her at this critical juncture?

“Ah Ah Ah Ah!”

Lie Jiaojiao let out a heart-wrenching scream. Amid her cries, her body and looks were rapidly shriveling. Her voice also turned hoarse instantly, until her throat became so dry it stopped her from making any sound at all.

A few seconds later, Lie Jiaojiao sensed the shadow’s hand pull back. It had instantly vanished.

“Kill… Kill me…” Lie Jiaojiao stared with widened eyes. She saw that her hands and arms had turned wrinkled like a tangerine skin. To a woman in her prime, the sudden transformation into an old woman that appeared like a candle guttering in the wind was no doubt the worst punishment. At that moment, she wished for nothing but death to come and finish the job.

Simultaneously, Fairy Yourou suddenly exclaimed, “Yi Yun, be careful!”

The shadow was like a ghost. The instant it vanished from in front of Lie Jiaojiao, it had silently appeared behind Yi Yun. It extended its arms, grabbing avariciously at Yi Yun.

Everyone had seen the outcome of being touched by the shadow. Even Yi Yun would not be able to withstand it. After the shadow appeared, a large number of human faces surfaced inside its body, each face bearing a screaming expression. A noxious sanguine aura arose from its twisted form and separated into countless blood-red threads. They flew at Yi Yun like a spider’s web.

The trapped people sensed a terrifying heretic force from the blood-colored spider’s web. They felt like they were moths that had haplessly flown into a real spider’s web. The shadow was the massive spider that was gradually approaching its prey.

Their bodies’ lifeblood was drawn to the spider’s web, constantly being absorbed. Regardless if it was their protective Yuan Qi or the powers released from the circulation of their cultivation technique, everything inside of them was being absorbed.

If they tried to face the spider web head on, they could only watch helplessly as they were sucked dried. They were unable to put up any resistance!

In fact, Yi Yun had already sensed the shadow through his Primordial Destruction domain the moment it appeared, even without Fairy Yourou’s warning.

When the blood-colored web enveloped Yi Yun, it immediately collided with Yi Yun’s Primordial Destruction domain.

Yi Yun’s body quivered. He sensed a corrosive force coming from the blood-colored web. It tightly wound around his Primordial Destruction domain, corroding it while compressing it.

At that moment, Nameless Sword attacked as well.

He powered the disk array, immediately turning the entire array formation into a huge spinning grinder. Heavy cadaveric auras smashed down at Yi Yun.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, the cadaveric auras produced potent suction forces as though they were trying to forcibly suck out all of Yi Yun’s blood.

These forces combined were an attempt to finish off Yi Yun in one fell swoop!

Nameless Sword was in a hurry to complete his plan. For the Blood Fey Bone to escape the Fey God Tomb’s seals, it not only needed a blood sacrifice, it also had a time limit. Every time the ancient battlefield was opened, its seal only became weaker for a short period of time.

And the big problem that was Yi Yun needed to be resolved quickly.

However, what left Nameless Sword with a big frown was that Yi Yun’s Primordial Destruction domain could still continuously hold its own despite the two forces pressing down on it.

What appeared to be a weak gray space that trembled from being attacked by multiple forces did not crack.

The blood-colored spider web could absorb everything, but it could not absorb the nebulous Primordial Chaos or Major Destruction laws.

As for the array formation forces that Nameless Sword conjured, they were unable to shatter Yi Yun’s domain.

The Primordial Destruction domain was truly, extremely powerful.

Nameless Sword’s face revealed a sliver of annoyance as he continued powering the disk array.

Ka! Ka!

The ancient disk array in Nameless Sword’s hands could not even withstand a battle of such intensity. It began to emit strange sounds.

“Puah!”

He spat out three mouthfuls of blood essence onto the disk array.

It immediately produced humming sounds as it vibrated vigorously in response.

The strength of the array formation greatly increased, causing Yi Yun’s Primordial Destruction domain to instantly reduce in size from the pressure.

Everyone could tell that Yi Yun was being forced into a passive state.

If Yi Yun did not take the initiative to attack, he would soon be at the disadvantage.

However, how was he to go on the offensive under the current circumstances?

Any attack would probably have its Yuan Qi absorbed by the blood-colored web.

Even so, taking action was precisely what Yi Yun did.

A runic pattern lit up at his chest, as a gray stream with terrifying might immediately coursed down Yi Yun’s fingers before shooting out.

However, his target was neither the Blood Fey Bone nor Nameless Sword.

“It’s the array formation’s weak point!” Fairy Yourou had a look of astonishment.

Boom!

The gray stream struck a spot in the array formation, immediately resulting in a loud boom that resembled an earthquake. The entire ground even began to quake intensely.

At the same time, there was a cracking sound as the ancient disk array completely fell apart.

“Darn it!” Nameless Sword held the pieces of the shattered disk array, no longer able to maintain his composure. He could ignore the fact that Yi Yun had found the array formation’s core previously. But now, moments after he powered the array formation, Yi Yun had already found its weakness.

Clearly, Yi Yun’s attainments in array formations had far surpassed his.

The array formation completely fell apart as Fairy Yourou and company finally regained the ability to move.

However, they were all very weak after having most of their Yuan Qi absorbed.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sounds of the crumbling array formation were thunderous. When he set up the array formation, Nameless Sword had used the bone cemetery as its foundation. Now that the array formation was crumbling, the scattered Fey bones and human bones were immediately reduced to dust as though they were being weathered by the elements.

The Blood Fey Bone let out a sharp scream, and that was the moment Yi Yun’s sword moved.

The blinding sword beam slashed out of the Primordial Destruction domain, cleaving fiercely towards the Blood Fey Bone. Yi Yun had used all his strength, evidenced by how the entire sky and land was dyed blue by the sword flash. The entire region seemed to freeze over into a land of ice.

The Blood Fey Bone immediately felt the threat. It wanted to escape but the land of ice seemed to imprison it.

“You are courting death!” Nameless Sword roared angrily as he drew the sword on his back.

Chi!

Nameless Sword’s combat strength was definitely not something Yi Yun could compare with. The moment he attacked, the sword flashed immediately inundated the region, blanketing the area where Yi Yun stood.

“Yi Yun, be careful! That’s Nameless Sword’s Nethersky Sword Domain. This sword domain contains endless sword art permutations. If you cannot tear out of the sword domain, you will be subject to endless attacks that grow in strength!” Fairy Yourou immediately warned.

“Yourou, to think you are detailing our Nethersky Divine World’s Dharmic formulations to an outsider.” Nameless Sword’s voice sounded from the sword domain.

A cold glint flashed in Fairy Yourou’s beautiful eyes. “The real outsider is you. You no longer deserve to be called my martial uncle.”

“Hahahaha! Yourou, I still think of you as my dear martial niece even if you say such things. Wait a moment. Once I finish Yi Yun, we shall have a good chat. I still need your help,” said Nameless Sword.

He was not distracted in any way while he spoke with Fairy Yourou. Instead, he hid completely in his sword domain. Countless sword beams surged downwards as they unleashed a barrage of attacks that battered Yi Yun’s Primordial Destruction domain.

“Let’s take action as well. Attack Nameless Sword first!” said Fairy Yourou coldly.

At that moment, no one hesitated. Yi Yun’s death spelled their doom.

All sorts of attacks were launched at the sword domain.

“Chi!”

The blood-colored spider web expanded, blanketing them with a sinister force. Immediately, everyone but Yi Yun felt their bodies go stiff.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The attacks that had lost their strength landed on the sword domain, unable to cause so much as a stir. And their remaining energy was being absorbed by the blood-colored spider web.

A sword beam shot out from the sword domain, instantly penetrating the limbs of two people.

“Puah!”

Nanxuan Luoyue had the weakest cultivation level of everyone there. She suffered a backlash as blood seeped from the corners of her mouth.

As for Fairy Yourou, her face was pale. She emitted a divine light from her body in a bid to resist the heretical forces of the blood-colored web.

However, the web was able to absorb even her divine powers. She could hardly put up a fight as she was gradually weakened.

“Yi Yun, he…” Fairy Yourou could not help but feel despair creep up on her. Would Yi Yun be able to withstand the attacks now that they were unable to help him?

Under the relentless attacks, Yi Yun found his Primordial Destruction domain constantly quaking. A few spots had even started to crack.

“The nebulous Primordial Chaos possesses the powers of creation while the Major Destruction laws possess the powers of destruction. Two powerful laws from the birth of the Universe are actually being repressed by a mere sword domain?”

As Yi Yun spoke, all his lifeblood began to boil over.

The Primordial Destruction domain was constantly being shredded but it also continued to mend itself.

Yi Yun’s understanding of his Primordial Destruction domain also became deeper during this process.

Yi Yun had only used the nebulous Primordial Chaos for cultivation, but now its use was truly putting him through the mill.

In the sword domain, the countless sword beams were like a massive hammer that was striking a metal sword. It could turn the sword to junk but it was also possible for it to temper the blade into a truly peerless weapon.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Nameless Sword’s expression suddenly changed as he felt loud booms coming from his sword domain. It was as though a storm was brewing inside!

1469 - : Battling Nameless Sword

“God Vanquishing Myriad Swords!” Nameless Sword’s angry voice boomed as a hazy sanguine aura emanated from his body, dying the entire sword domain red.

Hum! Hum! Hum!

The sound of countless sword hums immediately came out of the sword domain. Then it spawned more than ten thousand blood-colored swords! They resonated together before tearing through the clouds with a shrill whistle as they shot towards the same target—Yi Yun!

Boom!

The tumultuous bang sounded like the world itself had raptured. The entire ground quaked vigorously as large swaths of land caved in. Deep ravines cracked open across the ground.

One poor warrior that got too close to the battle saw his protective Yuan Qi get immediately torn apart as dozens of bloody, gaping holes appeared on his body. He was sent flying backward as he tragically shouted. He immediately took out a bottle of pills and poured the whole thing into his mouth. He looked at the area that the sword domain had blanketed with an extremely pale expression.

If he had been just a bit closer, he would have been instantly killed even as a Supremacy!

The attack was just too terrifying!

Fairy Yourou’s divine light also dissipated amid the ensuing force. She let out a light grunt as blood seeped out of the corner of her mouth, dripping onto her fair skin. Her arms drooped down, showing that she had lost all of her fighting strength.

This attack had drained Nameless Sword greatly as well. He had expended a great deal of blood essence to use it, causing his skin to turn a bruised blue. There were dark blue circles under his eyes.

“Yi Yun should be dead with that!” Nameless Sword looked with a sunken gaze at the sword domain.

He had previously planned on defeating or restraining Yi Yun because he needed all of the essence in Yi Yun’s flesh and blood. It would be a waste to kill him directly.

But just moments before, he suddenly felt an immense threat. He was a ruthless person to begin with or he would not have executed such a cruel plan. Therefore, he did not hesitate to use his strongest attack.

Even if Yi Yun died without leaving even anything behind, it was better than having Yi Yun spoil his plans. At worst, he could leave and find even more geniuses with rich blood essence to absorb and make up for his present losses.

All he knew is that now, Yi Yun had to die!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Powerful sword Qi nearly tore apart the land as the sword domain enveloped an area, sending mud and rock flying. A massive crater had appeared.

Upon seeing this scene, Huang Xuanyan’s heart chilled. He still believed that he possessed the strength of a Supremacy, but now he realized the gap that separated him from true Supremacy experts.

Nanxuan Luoyue was feeling extremely worried. If she had been inside the sword domain, she would probably have been pulverized, not even leaving behind a strand of hair. Even if Yi Yun was still alive, he was likely gravely injured, right?

By the side, the Blood Fey Bone was eyeing the battle hungrily. If Yi Yun was injured, she did not even dare imagine the outcome.

Fairy Yourou stabilized her body as her bright eyes looked into the sword domain. “I never expected him to grasp that move. Just that alone makes him a top genius yet he wants even more.”

God Vanquishing Myriad Swords was the last and most powerful attack of the Nethersky Sword Domain. It was difficult to grasp with the strength of a Supremacy, but Nameless Sword had managed to do it.

This strike had far exceeded the strength of Supremacies, reaching that of the Divine Lord level.

At that moment, a loud roar was suddenly heard from within the sword Qi.

A figure charged out of the sword Qi with astounding might, like a dragon splashing into a river!

His body was circled by countless wheels that formed the Primordial Destruction domain. As he flew through the sword Qi he was stabbed, but the wheels also destroyed all sword Qi the moment it made contact.

Nameless Sword widened his eyes. Yi Yun had actually managed to tear out of his God Vanquishing Myriad Swords!?

While enveloped by Nameless Sword’s sword domain, Yi Yun experienced an epiphany that made him think of other uses for the Primordial Destruction domain. There were myriad uses and infinite permutations for every technique in martial arts. The Primordial Destruction domain had already formed a pocket world of its own and in this world, he was the absolute ruler. How difficult was it for him to make the world change according to his wishes?

“I’ve received thousands of your sword Qi. Try receiving one strike of mine! This strike’s name is Annihilation!” Yi Yun’s roar sounded like rumbling thunder as it boomed in Nameless Sword’s ears.

Boom!

Unlike thin-bladed sword Qi, Yi Yun’s strike was like a mountain that came crashing down like a meteor!

This strike even had a dragon phantom coiled within it, giving it a majestic draconic aura. It also contained the Primordial Destruction domain that fused with the draconic aura!

Slash!

Nameless Sword was only nearing the strength of a Divine Lord, and it was not like Yi Yun had never killed one of those before!

Terrifying killing intent enveloped the blue sword beam and, like a sharp flash that could penetrate anything, it tore through the barricade of sword flashes with a sharp whistle, stabbing straight at Nameless Sword!

Nameless Sword’s expression changed drastically. He immediately conjured his protective Yuan Qi and at the same time threw out several disk arrays, triggering defensive array formations in the process.

Yi Yun’s strike had arrived!

Defensive array formation, cracked!

Disk array, cracked!

Protective Yuan Qi, cracked!

“Die!”

Nameless Sword’s pupils constricted. He sensed an indescribably horrifying force strike him. All his bones produced cracking sounds as his organs took the heavy blow.

“Ah!”

Under everyone’s incredulous gazes, Yi Yun’s sword beam struck Nameless Sword, sending him flying a distance of more than a thousand feet before crashing heavily into the ground.

Boom!

A deep crater appeared where Nameless Sword had landed. He lay in the crater, his expression filled with shock. Blood seeped out of him from a gaping stomach wound.

“Cough…” Nameless Sword spewed a few mouthfuls of blood.

He could not believe that while they had both smashed open craters, the differences between them were so drastic!

Nameless Sword was considered an extremely strong Supremacy. He believed that honing himself in the ancient battlefield for a thousand years and cooperating with the Blood Fey Bone made it so that there was no one beneath the level of Divine Lord that was his match. He could even defeat an ordinary Divine Lord.

But what was with Yi Yun’s strength? Was he some kind of freak?

If Nameless Sword was not certain that Yi Yun was human, he would even believe that Yi Yun was actually an unknown biological creature from the Fey God Tomb’s depths, a terrifying monster.

If he knew ahead of time that Yi Yun had killed two Royal Sealed Divine Lords the moment he came to the ancient battlefield, he would have absolutely avoided bringing Yi Yun into the Fey God Tomb.

Nameless Sword watched Yi Yun walk towards him. He hurriedly shouted, “Blood Fey Bone, why are you still in a daze? Quick, do something!”

The Blood Fey Bone was floating in its spot, still a shadowy mass of faces. It suddenly turned and vanished into the land.

“Darn it!” Multiple blood strands appeared in Nameless Sword’s eyes, making it look like they were cracking. The Blood Fey Bone had abandoned him at such a critical juncture. If it had held back Yi Yun for even a small while, he could’ve still recovered from his injuries.

Yi Yun walked over with a sneer. He stood by the crater’s periphery and looked down, watching Nameless Sword struggle to get up. “I long told you that your cooperation with the Blood Fey Bone is like taking favors from a tiger. Of course it wouldn’t hesitate to flee at a critical juncture.”

Nameless Sword stood up, his eyes staring coldly at Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun, if you spare me, I can give you the formulations to the God Vanquishing Myriad Swords. It is a core cultivation technique of the Nethersky Divine World. I only managed to produce a hundredth of its prowess,” said Nameless Sword, unwilling to die without putting up a fight.

“Nameless Sword, you!” Fairy Yourou was infuriated. In order to live, he was actually giving away the Nethersky Divine World’s cultivation technique.

“Heh!” Yi Yun smiled faintly. He possessed the Major Destruction laws. He had zero interest in the God Vanquishing Myriad Swords whatsoever. He could not be bothered listening to Nameless Sword’s nonsense, and so slashed down!

The sword beam he produced cleaved down diagonally. With no strength to resist, Nameless Sword’s neck was instantly pierced through, causing blood to spray out of it.

Nameless Sword had an extremely resentful look. “You… you will die a horrible death…”

He let out the last bellow of his life before crashing down to the ground headfirst. Blood quickly pooled beneath him, quickly submerging his body.

Nameless Sword was dead just like that.

The remaining people found it unbelievable. Only when they circled around and saw the corpse at the bottom of the crater were they certain that Nameless Sword was truly dead.

“It has ended…”

They had mixed feelings. What should have been an opportunity ended up being a nightmare. Now, people were dead or injured. Not a single one of them could stand properly.

“Young Master Yi, thank you for saving my life.” Fairy Yourou suddenly bowed at Yi Yun.

She was even more serious than before. Not only had Yi Yun saved her life, he had also washed away the scum of the Nethersky Divine World. And as Yi Yun had not accepted Nameless Sword’s offer of the formulation, he prevented the core heritage of the Nethersky Divine World from being leaked.

The rest expressed their gratitude towards Yi Yun. Although he was not deliberately fighting to save them, they would have died tragically if not for him. Therefore, they had a great admiration for him. The misunderstandings they had of Yi Yun earlier left them embarrassed.

Yi Yun waved his hands. They immediately stopped talking, knowing that Yi Yun did not care what they thought.

Yi Yun extended his hand and swiped, taking off Nameless Sword’s ring.

He took a look at its interior and found all the disk arrays that Nameless Sword had used. All that was left beside those were some talismans and pills, as well as some jade slips and Spirit Jade. He did not see any of the remuneration that Nameless Sword had promised the warriors.

Yi Yun guessed that Nameless Sword had spent all his resources on his cultivation. He put everything into his plan, leaving him with almost nothing. As for the few jade slips he saw, they emanated special energy fluctuations. Yi Yun gave them a cursory look and knew that they were likely related to the Nethersky Divine World’s heritage. He directly threw them to Fairy Yourou.

“That’s yours.”

The cultivation technique was useless to Yi Yun. Besides, taking it might result in him being pursued by the Nethersky Divine World.

“Thank you, Young Master Yi. I will report what happened to the sect. It will definitely reward you!”

“It was all done in passing,” said Yi Yun indifferently. He then looked at the pills in Nameless Sword’s interspatial ring. They took him by surprise. Nameless Sword had entered the Fey God Tomb several times and he had harvested quite a number of valuable herbs.

These pills were refined from supreme-grade herbs. They released potent lifeblood powers, and although they were incomparable to the Dragon Emperor Relic, they would be very beneficial to Yi Yun’s cultivation.

Yi Yun had previously guessed that since there were fake herbs in the area, it also meant that there were real ones. From the looks of it, Nameless Sword had plucked them.

1470 - : Cracking the Sword Domain

No one protested Yi Yun’s claim to the ring. Regardless what it held, he deserved to take all of its possessions.

“Young Master Yi, Yue Wangjian is already dead,” said a warrior.

Yi Yun looked over and saw that Yue Wangjian, who had had his dantian crippled, failed to escape. During the intense battle between Yi Yun, Nameless Sword, and the Blood Fey Bone, Yue Wangjian had been silently killed by a stray blast. The pathetic death of a genius disciple of the First Beginnings Immortal Gate made people sigh.

“Young Master Yi.” Lie Rikong gritted his teeth and approached Yi Yun. “I came to apologize for any transgressions Jiaojiao and I committed against you.”

Yi Yun swept his gaze and saw that Lie Rikong had lost one leg. Even if he grew another one, it would greatly affect his future. He definitely had to give up on this expedition into the ancient battlefield. As for Lie Jiaojiao, she looked utterly tragic and it seemed as though her days were numbered. Not just that, but those last few days would probably be spent in suffering.

“There is no need to apologize to me but I do not wish to see either of you appear before me ever again,” said Yi Yun indifferently.

Lie Rikong walked away with his head down, picked up Lie Jiaojiao, and slowly retraced the path they had taken. As for Lie Jiaojiao, her head was drooped. She did not look at anyone, and no one could imagine much hate and regret filled her heart. They also had no idea if they could leave the place alive.

“Brother Yi, should we quickly leave this godforsaken place?” asked Nanxuan Luoyue as she approached him.

“No, I want to find the Blood Fey Bone,” said Yi Yun.

Although the Blood Fey Bone was sinister and strange, it was still an extremely rare item. Otherwise, Nameless Sword would not have went through such great lengths and effort to claim it. Yi Yun was a great supplement to it but Yi Yun viewed it likewise.

If he were to leave now, it would be equivalent to leaving empty handed after entering a treasure mountain.

“Find the Blood Fey Bone? This Fey God Tomb is huge. How are we to find it?” asked Fairy Yourou in astonishment.

The Fey God Tomb was fraught with danger. If one searched aimlessly, it would definitely end in tragedy.

However, Fairy Yourou knew Yi Yun was not an impetuous person. She was more interested to know what stratagem Yi Yun had cooked up to get the bone safely.

“If there’s anything I can do to help Young Master Yi, I will not hesitate to help,” said Fairy Yourou.

“We can help too.”

“Please feel free to tell us if we may be useful in any way.”

The others echoed. Although they only wished to leave this godforsaken place as soon as possible, the danger of trying to chart out a course alone was far greater than seeking the Blood Fey Bone with Yi Yun.

“In fact, I do need your help,” said Yi Yun.

He looked at the region, the corners of his mouth revealing a sneer. “Let’s see where you can run.”

Soon, these people stood in different spots in accordance with Yi Yun’s instruction.

These people faced each other and, after Yi Yun threw out a bunch of array flags, invisible chains appeared between them, forming an array formation that spanned five thousand feet in circumference.

Nameless Sword had used an array formation to help the Blood Fey Bone absorb the warriors’ essence but Yi Yun was using one to force it out.

Everyone stood motionless at the spots Yi Yun had specified. They looked at the empty region the array formation enveloped.

In fact, these warriors had scanned the area several times with their perception but failed to discover anything.

There were no changes to the region at all despite the passage of time. Yet Yi Yun continued injecting array seals ceaselessly.

Gradually, the warriors began having doubts in what Yi Yun was doing. They were worried they were wasting time. And in this godforsaken place, it was more likely they would encounter something deadly the longer they stayed.

A few warriors could not help but send voice transmissions to Fairy Yourou and Nanxuan Luoyue. “Fairies, should we ask Young Master Yi…”

They knew themselves. Their words bore no weight in front of Yi Yun, but Fairy Yourou and Yi Yun did not have any conflicts while Nanxuan Luoyue was apparently quite familiar with Yi Yun.

“Young Master Yi definitely has his reasons for what he’s doing,” said Fairy Yourou after some thought.

Nanxuan Luoyue spoke out frankly, “You can leave if you are unwilling. But you all did offer Brother Yi your help.”

These people smiled passively and shut up. Since Fairy Yourou and Nanxuan Luoyue thought nothing of the matter, they could only wait. They would naturally leave if Yi Yun’s actions ended up fruitless.

And after Yi Yun injected nearly twenty seals, a huge radiance emitted from the array formation, as though a burning sun was scorching the entire region.

The array formation’s might left everyone shuddering in fear. If they were not part of the array formation, just standing there would probably cook them alive.

At that moment, they suddenly heard a sharp scream as a terrifying sanguine aura surged out from underground like lava spewing out from a volcano. It instantly filled the entire array formation.

People felt the hair stand on the back of their necks. The sanguine air was filled with a heretical power. It formed a vortex in the middle of the array formation as though it was attempting to suck everyone inside.

Ka Ka Ka!

The array formation was constantly being inundated by the sanguine aura and looked like it was about to crumble instantly.

As for the warriors standing on the array formation nodes, they immediately felt immense pressure. Their lifeblood began to boil over as though it was going to cook them from the inside.

Clearly, the Blood Fey Bone had appeared and released horrifying heretical powers!

People did not have the luxury of time or mental strength to consider how Yi Yun knew that the Blood Fey Bone was located here. They only felt that although Yi Yun had trapped the Blood Fey Bone, they were definitely unable to put up a fight against it with their combined strength. Yi Yun’s array formation would have to do something more.

And at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly charged into the array formation.

Everyone was stunned. Yi Yun had given up presiding over the array formation and charged in directly?

Furthermore, he was charging straight for the sanguine vortex!?

The moment he entered the sanguine vortex, Yi Yun immediately felt all his lifeblood boil. But in immediate response, the gray Primordial Destruction domain immediately enveloped him. The instant it appeared, the effects the sanguine vortex had on him decreased drastically.

Amid the sanguine vortex, the Blood Fey Bone seemed to fuse with the surrounding lifeblood as one, until they were hardly distinguishable.

Yi Yun stood within the sanguine vortex and took in the wailing sounds that constantly sounded. Suddenly, a shadow flitted beside him.

Yi Yun abruptly turned around, cleaving with his sword. There was a sharp howl as the ghostly shadow was split into two, instantly dissipating into nothingness.

At that moment, another shadow appeared behind him. With another strike, it too was vanquished.

Ghostly shadows appeared constantly as Yi Yun slowly moved amid the vortex, his ears resounding with the sharp howls of the shadows.

And at that moment, a hand silently extended from beneath Yi Yun’s feet. At the instant Yi Yun slew a shadow, it grabbed at his ankle.

1471 - : Surrounding the Blood Bone

But at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly extended his finger. He did not attack the hand but instead attacked another spot in the ground.

“Ah!”

A sharp, tragic cry emitted from underground. The hand also instantly splattered, returning to a more liquid blood form.

A black shadow shot out from underground and charged towards the exterior.

Bam!

The shadow collided into the array formation’s border, producing a loud crash.

“Are you still trying to flee after I have forced you out?” With that, Yi Yun spoke an array incantation, causing the array formation to instantly contract. Soon, the shadow was trapped in a tiny space.

Yi Yun stabbed out with his swords. With a sharp scream, the shadow dissipated, causing the sanguine vortex to vanish.

And at the spot where the shadow vanished, a tiny blood-red bone appeared. Even then it still attempted to transform into a red beam of light and escape, but Yi Yun grabbed hold of it with a swipe of his hand. The bone was then contained within a Primordial Destruction domain.

“Blood Fey Bone…” Although the domain was encapsulating it, Yi Yun could sense the lifeblood contained within the bone. It was constantly throbbing like a mighty heart.

Yi Yun had went through quite a lot of trouble to get the the Blood Fey Bone. If not for the array formation and Primordial Destruction domain, it would truly not have been easy to capture the Blood Fey Bone.

Just as Yi Yun was about to augment the seals, he suddenly felt something tug at his psyche.

“Aren’t you planning on cooperating with me?”

Yi Yun’s mind stirred as he immediately understood that the sensation came from the Blood Fey Bone.

Since the Blood Fey Bone had cooperated with Nameless Sword, it naturally possessed intelligence.

“Oh? How do you want to cooperate with me?” asked Yi Yun with a teasing smile.

“Just as I cooperated with Nameless Sword, I can fuse my body with you and become a part of your skeleton. Your talent will experience extremely great changes as a result. You will gain immense achievements in the aspect of body tempering.” The Blood Fey Bone’s thoughts, which contained very seductive offers, were communicated to Yi Yun.

“Like Nameless Sword? His outcome wasn’t that great. So it’s best I directly refine you into a pill. Wouldn’t that be better? Then I can have peace of mind,” said Yi Yun with a sneer.

“Wait! You are also an alchemist?” said the Blood Fey Bone in astonishment. It had communicated with Nameless Sword often and knew much about martial arts. It was already rare for Yi Yun to be an array master but he also happened to be an alchemist?

If the bone were refined to a pill, its intelligence would be completely pulverized. It took eons for the Blood Fey Bone to gain intelligence, so it naturally could not accept such an outcome.

“If I were refined into a pill, the effects would be greatly diluted. Only by fusing the blood bone directly into your body will you see a complete metamorphosis.”

“The deal I had with Nameless Sword was to leave this piece of bone with him. He would help me find a body to possess. He wished to become stronger while I wanted to leave this place. He was a smart man and if I aimed to bamboozle him, would he have cooperated with me so wholeheartedly? If not for your appearance and scrambling of his plans, Nameless Sword and I would have each obtained what we wanted. Therefore, there’s no need to worry that I have any ulterior motives in cooperating with you,” said the Blood Fey Bone.

“I don’t mind if the effects are lessened. I picked this bone up, after all. Besides, I have no interest in the transaction between you and Nameless Sword. To me, you are better off as a pill,” said Yi Yun as he prepared to augment the seals.

“Wait!” said the Blood Fey Bone hurriedly. “I’m very familiar with this area. Aren’t all of you here in the Fey God Tomb to seek opportunities? I can lead the way! No one is a better guide than me in this area. I can help you avoid many dangers. It has been many years since the Fey God Tomb’s abyss was last visited. Don’t you wish to explore the area thoroughly?”

“Although I’m very interested in opportunities, I will not let you guide the way. Who knows if you will lead me into a trap?” Yi Yun shook his head and continued producing more seals. Even if what the Blood Fey Bone said was true, Yi Yun would not heed the guidance of the shady bone in this godforsaken place. He would have to have a death wish to do that.

“Wait a moment!” The Blood Fey Bone was extremely depressed. Back then, Nameless Sword had many doubts as well but he finally submitted as a result of his obsession and aspirations. Yet Yi Yun was completely impervious to his enticement and was ridiculously strong.

If the seals were completed, it would no longer have a chance of speaking again. Its mental processes would also turn turbid and it would eventually be refined into herbal dregs while stuck in its muddled state.

“What is it with all this nonsense? I’ll give you one last chance to speak,” said Yi Yun.

The Blood Fey Bone originally wished to convince Yi Yun through reason and emotion but it was completely stopped in its tracks by Yi Yun’s comment.

“You have nothing else to say? Then we shall meet again during the refinement,” said Yi Yun.

With that said, Yi Yun had produced a seal. The potency of the seal left the Blood Fey Bone trembling.

“There’s one thing I did not tell Nameless Sword.” The Blood Fey Bone seemed to steel its proverbial heart and spoke out.

Yi Yun stopped and said with a faint smile, “Oh? What is it?”

The Blood Fey Bone still held out hope until it was faced with the grim reality of death. Yi Yun never believed that the Blood Fey Bone would abandon its body and accept mere possession. Even Nameless Sword probably didn’t believe it, but he was just too tempted by the Blood Fey Bone’s offers.

The Blood Fey Bone also knew that if it did not offer a secret that was enticing enough to Yi Yun, it would be doomed.

“In fact, this piece of bone is not my entire body,” said the Blood Fey Bone.

Yi Yun was taken aback. Could it be that the Blood Fey Bone was in fact another spirit that had possessed the bone?

However, Yi Yun rejected the thought as quickly as it came. The Blood Fey Bone’s heretical aura would have devoured any spirit that attempted to possess it.

“You should already realize that this is only a portion of my main body. This piece of bone is part of a massive skeleton. Since you know the value of this Blood Fey Bone, you naturally know what a bigger skeleton would get you. Besides, the skeleton’s sanguine aura is extremely rich. It might even be the source of the sanguine aura that fills the entire Fey God Tomb,” said the Blood Fey Bone.

“If your main body is that powerful, why would you stay in this tiny piece of bone?” asked Yi Yun with a sneer.

“It’s because that skeleton has been sealed in the Fey God Tomb,” said the Blood Fey Bone helplessly. “After a long period of time, a tiny bone dropped off from the skeleton, and the seals on that tiny piece of bone were a lot more relaxed. Gradually, the bone gained sentience and that’s where I came from. But due to the seal, I have no way of entering the skeleton. I could only think of a way to leave the Fey God Tomb first and return to crack the seal after I gained strength.”

The Blood Fey Bone might not have been telling the complete truth, but Yi Yun sensed that the skeleton that the Blood Fey Bone mentioned really existed.

The source of the sanguine aura in the Fey God Tomb was probably the legendary skeleton of a Fey God!

As the name implied, legend said that the Fey God Tomb was the burial ground of a Fey God.

Regardless if the skeleton was the bones of the Fey God or not, its rarity was a unquestionable.

“You shouldn’t place your sights on the skeleton. The seal’s potency makes it very difficult for you to approach it. Even I planned on returning hundreds of thousands of years later to make an attempt. But if you agree to spare me, I can bring you to the region where the skeleton is sealed. The sanguine aura condenses into a river there, and if you were to cultivate in that place, you would benefit tremendously. The effects are ten times better than refining me. And in that blood river, you will find a special kind of Blood Spirit Jade. It’s similarly very beneficial for you.” The Blood Fey Bone began speaking enticingly once more.

Just as its voice faded, a tiny crystal appeared in Yi Yun’s hand. It resembled Spirit Jade but was blood-red in color.

Things like Blood Spirit Jade were probably only produced in places with rich sanguine auras like in the Fey God Tomb.

“It’s does indeed look good, but how do I know you will not deceive me?” asked Yi Yun nonchalantly.

“I believe that with your intelligence, you should be able to tell. As for me, how do I know if you’ll spare me if I were to lead you there?” countered the Blood Fey Bone.

“Reasonable. In that case, lead the way. But if I sense any problems in your guidance, I’ll immediately refine you,” said Yi Yun.

“Hehe, I would not do something so pointless. What danger can hide from you if you can force me out?” sneered the Blood Fey Bone.

Yi Yun did not speak. He did not trust the Blood Fey Bone but he was extremely interested in the Fey God bones that the Blood Fey Bone mentioned.

The Fey God Tomb was massive, and even if he knew the existence of the Fey God’s bones, finding them was another story. It would, however, be different with the Blood Fey Bone.

But with the Blood Fey Bone being extremely crafty, it had to be concealing some sinister goals. This point made Yi Yun more wary against it.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun suddenly produced a restrainment seal and placed it on the Blood Fey Bone.

The Blood Fey Bone immediately exclaimed, “What are you doing?”

“There’s no need to worry. It’s just a restraint used to take precautions against you. If you were to do anything untoward to me, this seal will activate,” said Yi Yun.

The Blood Fey Bone was doubtful but it seemed to sense the seal momentarily and, after confirming the restrainment seal’s usage, it said unhappily, “I’m not your match so why would I try to harm you? You are being overly suspicious.”

It stopped speaking after that.

And at that moment, the others were standing in particular spots in the array formation, watching the array formation’s center intently.

When Yi Yun charged into the sanguine vortex, everyone heaved before massive ghost shadows appeared and constantly let out shrill cries outside. And their vision was blocked by the sanguine vortex and the shadows. They could only vaguely make out Yi Yun’s figure and his sword flashes. However, they had no idea what was happening within.

Abruptly, the sanguine vortex dissipated as Yi Yun walked out unharmed.

“Brother Yi, have you caught the Blood Fey Bone?” Nanxuan Luoyue went forward and asked out of concern.

Yi Yun smiled, stretched out his hand and flipped it. There was a blood-red bone in his palm and it suffused a heretical aura. It was none other than the Blood Fey Bone.

The rest stood awkwardly to the side and remained silent. No matter the aspect, Yi Yun was on a completely different level than then.

1472 - : Blood Bone Obtained

Yi Yun looked at the people around him with a cold, indifferent expression. He knew that although these people had survived because of him, they were also selfish people, solely concerned about their survival. If they had not been the least bit obedient, Yi Yun would have long chased them away.

“Fairy Yourou, Luoyue, I’ll be handing the array flags to you. Wait for me here. With the array formation working as it is, it can conceal your auras, preventing monsters from noticing you,” said Yi Yun.

“Brother Yi, do you plan to venture deeper into the Fey God Tomb?” asked Nanxuan Luoyue in alarm.

The Fey God Tomb was so dangerous, yet Yi Yun was not planning on leaving despite having obtained the Blood Fey Bone?

“Yes, I have other matters to tend to,” said Yi Yun with a nod.

“In that case, rest assured and tend to your matters, Young Master Yi. There’s no need to consider us,” said Fairy Yourou as she took the array flags from him.

She had some guesses about what Yi Yun wanted to do, believing that it was related to the Blood Fey Bone. But since it was something personal to Yi Yun, she did not plan on probing any further.

The others were disappointed when they heard that they were still unable to leave but none of them dared to speak their feelings. They had already witnessed the potency of Yi Yun’s array formation. If Yi Yun chased them out of the array formation, it would be too late for tears.

“Maintain the array formation well and listen to Fairy Yourou and Luoyue’s instructions,” said Yi Yun as he swept his gaze coldly at them.

“Yes, yes. Rest assured Young Master Yi.”

“We will definitely work hard. We will not tire the two fairies.”

These people hastened to answer him.

Yi Yun left once he felt that everything was in place.

Everyone watched as Yi Yun vanished into the Fey God Tomb, all of them having different expressions and mixed feelings.

It had been years since anyone dared venture into the Fey God Tomb. It definitely hid opportunities but they did not have the strength to take them. All they could do was watch Yi Yun go forth to seek out more opportunities.

The Fey God Tomb had lifeblood emanating from it, and danger lurking in it. The deeper he went, the richer the lifeblood became, so rich and thick that it was utterly pitch-black.

“Wu! Wu!” Crying sounds could be heard amid the sanguine aura as well as conversations between people.

Some voices even appeared to come from behind Yi Yun.

“Save me! Fellow Daoist, save me!”

Yi Yun ignored the plea for help as he continued walking forward.

A gentle and graceful girl let out sobs as she gradually approached from behind, spreading out her frail arms in a bid to embrace Yi Yun.

“Ah!”

A gray fog immediately appeared over Yi Yun’s body. The instant the girl collided with the fog, she immediately let out a shrill shriek that resembled an owl’s. She revealed a face of bone beneath her black hair. She retreated in alarm, not daring to approach Yi Yun again.

“These are warriors who died in the Fey God Tomb. They have been contaminated by the sanguine aura, turning into vengeful spirits. Some of them were even born naturally. They have gained bewitchment abilities, and warriors who embrace them meet a tragic end. However, their tricks appear to be useless on you,'” said the Blood Fey Bone.

It gained a deeper understanding of Yi Yun’s strength as they proceeded. It was increasingly intrigued and astonished. Nameless Sword was already someone with extremely high talent but compared to Yi Yun, it was like night and day. Yi Yun’s bone age definitely did not look like it was more than a thousand years but be it his combat strength or willpower, they were extremely powerful.

“Do you wish for me to be harmed by those things? The next time we encounter such things, it’s best you warn me ahead of time instead of acting wise after the fact. If not, I’ll refine you directly,” said Yi Yun with a faint smile.

“No, you are being oversensitive. I just felt that these things would not be able to even touch you, and I was right,” said the Blood Fey Bone.

Yi Yun sneered while the Blood Fey Bone ceased its nonsense and continued guiding Yi Yun forward.

Walking in the sanguine aura made it nearly impossible to sense any temporal and spatial changes. Even Yi Yun himself failed to determine how far he had walked after some time.

If a warrior were to wander in this place, they would probably lose themselves to the endless solitude, eventually turning into a vengeful spirit in the sanguine aura.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly caught a whiff of the strong smell of blood ahead. He even felt like he had walked into a mountain of corpses or a sea of blood.

Yi Yun was alarmed as he proceeded forward a few steps before his heart leaped. He halted immediately.

He looked beneath his feet and as the sanguine air was dissipated by the Primordial Destruction domain, Yi Yun was able to clearly identify where he was.

He was on a lofty cliff, and beneath him was an extremely wide river.

The river was flowing with thick blood, and large amounts of bones were bobbing in it. They belonged to humans and Fey beasts. And despite the fact that he was standing beside the billowing river of blood, he did not hear a single sound. He felt like he was immersed in a silent world as a sense of solitude and boundlessness inundated him immediately.

Yi Yun stood there quietly, sensing something pertaining to time in the blood river.

Death was a rule of time. The blood river’s flow also followed the rules of time.

“How fascinating.” Yi Yun originally believed that the blood river would make one feel horrified but he felt a placid calm instead.

At that moment, a wave suddenly surged out of the blood river. An extremely dangerous and chilling feeling immediately swamped him.

Yi Yun instantly converged his aura as he heard a low and ancient roar. The waves in the blood river rolled, continuing far into the distance.

When the wave passed by the cliff where Yi Yun was on, he sensed a gaze lock on to him. A pair of extremely cold eyes appeared within the wave as it swept across the cliff.

Yi Yun felt his body turn ice-cold when the gaze swept past him. It was as though he had been frozen in an ice cavern. He was prepared to summon the Ascending Dragon Cauldron at any moment.

However, the gaze continued to sweep past Yi Yun before it slunk back into the blood river. Following that, the wave continued into the distance and soon, the blood river was restored to its placid state.

Only then did Yi Yun heave a sigh of relief. However, when he looked at the blood river again, his feeling of peace was gone. It was too dangerous.

“What was that?” asked Yi Yun.

“The river god of the blood river. I know no more than that,” said the Blood Fey Bone.

Yi Yun snorted coldly. He felt that the Blood Fey Bone had to know but was unwilling to tell him.

But against such a terrifying existence, he only wished they would stay out of each other’s way. Yi Yun did not plan on investigating it.

“It’s now the best opportunity to search for Blood Spirit Jade and cultivate by the blood river. The river god will not appear for another twenty hours at least,” reminded the Blood Fey Bone.

Yi Yun circled around the cliff and, after walking a distance, arrived by the blood river’s side. The blood river similarly emanated a blood-red fog. The closer one was, the more the river’s surface became indistinct, impossible to make it out.

White rocks plastered the two banks of the river. But on closer inspection, they were actually bones. Due to the waves of the river water, they had mostly been weathered, looking no different from rocks.

Yi Yun gradually approached the blood river and soon, discovered Blood Spirit Jade on the riverbanks.

The closer he was to the blood river, the more Blood Spirit Jade he found and the better their quality.

One could imagine that the entire riverbed was lined with Blood Spirit Jade.

Yi Yun constantly searched through the Blood Spirit Jade but quickly discovered that he had reached the end of the blood river. In front of him was a towering mountain. It had a massive cave on it and it was where the blood river’s source was.

Before Yi Yun arrived at the cave’s entrance, he smelled the noxious smell of blood. The sanguine aura was dozens of times thicker than the blood river.

“This mountain cave is the source of the blood river. Even I have not been in there before. If the Fey God Tomb has any opportunities, they have to be in there,” said the Blood Fey Bone.

Yi Yun sneered. The Blood Fey Bone would not be so kind as to alert him of opportunities. It was clearly plotting something, but if Yi Yun abandoned opportunities because he was afraid of the schemes of a piece of bone, his practice of martial arts would be for nothing.

Sanguine aura emanated out the cave’s entrance and had nomological fluctuations as well. It happened to be a naturally formed array formation.

If one did not know these laws, it would be impossible to enter despite coming this far. Furthermore, the naturally formed array formation was fused with its surroundings, making it very difficult to crack.

Yi Yun slowly studied the cave’s entrance.

After quite some time, Yi Yun finally figured out the laws that it followed. He began conjuring seals to crack the array and gain entry.

At that moment, he felt something ominous. He immediately stopped moving and carefully observed his surroundings.

Yi Yun’s back immediately broke out into a cold sweat from what he saw.

The natural array formation was an array within an array. The first layer was nomologically formed while the second later was condensed with lifeblood.

Once the first layer was cracked, it would trigger a killing array that would crush a person to a bloody mush, making them a part of the blood river, doomed forever more. Only the dead could pass through the natural array formation.

The blood in the blood river, as well as the bones and Blood Spirit Jade, could safely pass through the array formation but Yi Yun could not.

Thankfully, Yi Yun had noticed it at the final moment or the consequences would be unthinkable.

Yi Yun carefully studied it a few times, and only after he was certain that there were no more problems did he attempt to crack the array.

Four hours later, Yi Yun dispersed the laws and stepped into the cave.

The cave was extremely expansive, as though it was a world in and of itself. Countless stalactites hung overhead, all made of blood. They dripped blood as well.

Yi Yun followed the blood river into the cave’s depths. He would occasionally hear the sounds of blood dripping from the stalactites but apart from that, it was silent.

After walking a distance, countless massive shadows appeared ahead of him.

Yi Yun was alarmed but he soon realized that they were massive skeletons.

These skeletons were all from various Fey beasts. They were very large in size and had to have been horrifying behemoths in life. Even after being dead for eons, their skeletons continued to effuse a mighty aura that left one reeling in alarm.

It was unknown what had happened here years ago. Why would so many behemoths die in here, and be gathered in a cave after their deaths?

Yi Yun began having doubts about the legend that described the area as the burial ground of a Fey God.

1473 - : Blood River

Yi Yun could faintly hear a series of deep resonating hums, like wind was blowing through the cave.

The sound turned clearer as Yi Yun continued venturing deeper. He came to realize that it was not the sound of wind.

Badump! Badump!

It was the sound of heartbeats.

Yi Yun looked more carefully around the cavern and suddenly felt that the entire mountain seemed to be alive.

This discovery left Yi Yun shuddering. He immediately went to the mountain wall and carefully observed it.

Through the mountain’s heartbeat, Yi Yun discovered that beneath the stalactites were white things that resembled veins.

And these white veins were actually all massive bones.

Yi Yun became more alarmed the more he noticed. The entire cave was actually being held up by a set of bones. The skeleton had become a towering mountain after its death and its body’s interior was now a spacious cave.

The behemoth skeletons that scattered within were nothing worth mentioning in comparison to this discovery.

They were probably prey that the skeleton had devoured while alive. Where he was standing might have even been the skeleton’s stomach.

Although the skeleton had transformed into a mountain after its death, one could still hear the terrifying heartbeat sounds while walking inside it.

If this truly was the burial grounds of a Fey God, this skeleton was probably the Fey God’s skeleton.

Yi Yun stood in front of the mountain wall, looking up at the snow-white bones. These bones trembled gently in response to the heartbeat. For a long dead skeleton to show signs of life was truly unbelievable.

At that moment, a black shadow suddenly charged out of the Blood Fey Bone, flying towards the skeleton.

The shadow’s speed was extremely fast, nearly as fast as lightning.

And if Yi Yun had only discovered its motive now, he would have been too late to stop it.

But after the shadow dashed out a hundred feet, it suddenly let out a tragic cry like it had slammed into an invisible barrier. Instantly, its flight was stopped, its body turning more ethereal.

Simultaneously, laws began to seal the shadow’s surroundings as the shadow attempted to barge in every direction only to slam into those laws. It kept letting out tragic cries as its figure turned faded more and more.

“Yi Yun, what did you do to me?” screamed the shadow.

Yi Yun looked at it, revealing a sarcastic look. “That’s indeed your true goal. You were unable to enter the mountain so you wanted me to bring you here. You were worried that I would turn suspicious if you mentioned a cave immediately so you deliberately avoided talking about it. Instead, you brought me near to it so I would discover it on my own.”

“That’s right. I can’t enter the cave on my own. I have already done what I can. Won’t you let me off now?” asked the shadow angrily.

“You are no Blood Fey Bone. This mountain is transformed from the Blood Fey Bone. If you are the Blood Fey Bone, why can’t you enter your own corpse?” replied Yi Yun with a sneer.

“You were already that suspicious of me?” The shadow’s tone sank. It was not strange that Yi Yun could guess that the white bones inside the walls were Blood Fey Bones, but Yi Yun was still wary of the one he held. And the hidden aspect of Yi Yun’s seal was something it failed to detect. It clearly had checked it thoroughly a few times.

“But why do you say I’m not the Blood Fey Bone? The Blood Fey Bone is in your hand. Go ahead and compare it with this skeleton,” said the shadow.

“There’s no need for comparison. I’m not saying that this bone is not a part of the Blood Fey Bone, but that you are not some intelligence born from the Blood Fey Bone. Instead, you are a soul that possessed the bone. By being able to possess it, especially just this tiny bit of the Blood Fey Bone, shows how strong you are. Who are you really?” asked Yi Yun.

The shadow fell silent. Yi Yun had already guessed its origins.

Soon, the black shadow’s featureless face gradually produced features. It looked like a middle-aged man with long brows, making for an extremely sinister and ruthless face.

“You are right. I was originally a warrior, a Royal Sealed Divine Lord. I must be quite unlucky to fall into the hands of a junior like you.” The middle-aged man’s face revealed a look of hate.

After he perished in an accident in the Fey God Tomb, only his essence soul escaped. He later discovered a tiny bone which could have been washed out of the cave by the blood river after it fell off of the massive skeleton.

After discovering the tiny bone, he immediately decided to inhabit it. Thankfully, he was adept in an engulfing law, for if he wasn’t he would have been devoured the moment he attached himself to it. Even if his essence soul remained, his intelligence would have long turned murky.

After successfully attaching himself to the tiny bone, the middle-aged man sensed the location of the true Blood Fey Bone through it.

The tiny Blood Fey Bone gave him tremendous strength, opening up another cultivation path for a remnant soul like him. If he could claim the real Blood Fey Bone as his own, his future strength would very likely exceed his past Royal Sealed Divine Lord self.

This was too enticing to him. Apart from absorbing blood essence inside the Fey God Tomb to strengthen himself, all he thought of was the real Blood Fey Bone.

But with his crippled abilities, there was no way for him to enter the cave.

He had planned on using Nameless Sword to temporarily leave the Fey God Tomb. He would then return to the Fey God Tomb once he was stronger to obtain the whole Blood Fey Bone.

But now, having fallen into the hands of Yi Yun, he knew that Yi Yun would not agree to let him escape the Fey God Tomb. His only hope was to lure Yi Yun over. He did not believe that Yi Yun could truly enter the cave. When Yi Yun failed, he planned to find an opportunity to escape into the blood river but Yi Yun actually succeeded in entering.

At the instant they entered the cave, the middle-aged man’s excitement nearly exposed him. He had actually arrived inside the Blood Fey Bone effortlessly.

But his excitement did not last long before he was figuratively slapped in the face by Yi Yun. He was beaten back into harsh reality.

“You were once a Royal Sealed Divine Lord? You sure did have a tragic outcome.” Yi Yun shook his head. The person had perished in the Fey God Tomb and his corpse was left in the open. It had probably been weathered to bone somewhere.

However, the person was also strong-willed. With only an essence soul, he still managed to survive on in the form of a bone.

“Tragic? If I can obtain the Blood Fey Bone, why would I mourn the loss of my old body?” The middle-aged man let out a wretched cry. His promising future had been shattered by Yi Yun.

“This Blood Fey Bone is indeed not bad. Thank you for leading the way. I won’t stand on ceremony and will definitely accept it. As for you… it’s best you return to the land,” said Yi Yun with a smile.

With death hanging over him, the middle-aged man’s expression changed. He rushed to say, “Wait! I was from the Great Cosmic State. If you spare me, I can get the Great Cosmic State to give you treasures that would satisfy you. I also have cultivation techniques. I can tell you where my body lies…”

He tried his best to offer whatever benefits he could think of, hoping to entice Yi Yun.

Although he was feeling ashen after losing the Blood Fey Bone, it was better than being reduced to actual ashes.

“Great Cosmic State?” Upon hearing the middle-aged man’s words, Yi Yun revealed an odd look.

“That’s right! I’m from the Great Cosmic State!” the middle-aged man finally saw something that interested Yi Yun as he said immediately with a nod.

“Oh? So you know Li Fire, I suppose?” asked Yi Yun.

“Li Fire? Naturally. He’s my junior brother. Since you also know Li Fire, you should know that I’m speaking the truth. If you bring me to him, he will definitely reward you to your satisfaction.” The middle-aged man saw a glimmer of hope. Yi Yun’s expression had changed when Li Fire was raised. He was apparently very familiar with Li Fire.

Yi Yun was not from the Great Cosmic State. For him to know Li Fire implied that Li Fire had also come to the ancient battlefield. Perhaps mention of him made Yi Yun think twice or for some other reason.

If he could obtain the help of a Royal Sealed Divine Lord, Yi Yun’s chances of leaving his name on the ancient battlefield would only be greater.

“Bring you to him? Alright then.” Yi Yun’s expression turned increasingly odd. Immediately, Heretical God Fire lit up in his hand.

The middle-aged man jolted. He could sense a terrifying power coming from the tiny blob of fire. He looked at Yi Yun and felt an ominous foreboding. “Yi Yun, what’s the meaning of this?”

“Meaning? Didn’t you ask to be brought to Li Fire? That’s why I’m preparing to send you to hell,” replied Yi Yun.

“Li Fire is dead?” The middle-aged man was taken aback. Then, he looked incredulously at Yi Yun, “Don’t tell me you killed Li Fire? You… Ah!!”

Before the middle-aged man could finish his sentence, he let out a shrill scream.

His soul was being enveloped by the Heretical God Fire. Amid the terrifying flames, his soul was melting bit by bit. The pain was even worse than what the warriors who were sucked dry by him had experienced.

Gradually, the middle-aged man’s soul was completely burned to nothingness by the Heretical God Fire. He had survived an ignoble existence as a soul for years but having finally come to the Blood Fey Bone that he yearned for the most, he was burnt to nothingness by a tiny blob of fire.

After destroying the middle-aged man, the tiny Blood Fey Bone in Yi Yun’s hand immediately lost its sinister feel. It also gradually lost its luster, but when Yi Yun raised it towards the cave wall, the Blood Fey Bone gradually resonated with the gigantic Blood Fey Bone skeleton.

The Blood Fey Bone’s aura began to change before it produced a vital aura.

Yi Yun held the Blood Fey Bone and sighed. He had never seen such potent lifeblood before.

Yi Yun did not discover any evil spirits in the cave. He guessed that due to the naturally formed array formation, evil spirits were barred from entering. Therefore, there was no danger inside the cave which was also the source of the blood river.

Yi Yun walked deeper into the cave by following the vein-like bones. The further in he went, the clearer the heartbeat sounds were. Eventually, he felt that he was standing on the skeleton’s heart.

And at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly saw a milky-white pool ahead of him.

The loud heartbeat sounds were coming from the pool.

“Those are… Divine Stalactite Marrow?” Yi Yun raised his head suddenly. He saw white stalactites above him, each dripping stone marrow essence into the pool…

1474 - : Stone Marrow

Divine Stalactite Marrow was one of the many treasures recorded in the divine alchemist’s notes. It could not be used in herbs and any attempt to refine it would destroy its potency. It had to be consumed directly. A cup of Divine Stalactite Marrow was already extremely rare, but now Yi Yun was standing in front of an entire pool of it!

The outcome of someone soaking themselves in the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool was unknown, as even the divine alchemist had never amassed that much Divine Stalactite Marrow.

Upon seeing this situation, a glint flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes. How did the Divine Stalactite Marrow appear here? Why would the Fey God Tomb produce something like that?

Although he felt excited, he did not dive in recklessly. He was worried that such a divine pond had something protecting it. If any demonic entity appeared here, it would be be difficult to handle.

He fully released his perception as he approached the pool carefully, one step at a time. When he turned around a corner, he instantly stopped in his tracks.

He saw an extremely astonishing scene. In the middle of the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool, a dark red stalagmite had grown out. The diameter of the stalagmite at the surface of the pool was about the length of a person’s arm. A foot-long piece of metal was embedded into its sharp end.

It was a piece broken off from a sword, or to be precise, a sword tip!

Upon seeing this sword tip, Yi Yun found it familiar for some baffling reason.

Could it be…

Yi Yun approached it carefully while staring intently at it. He carefully directed a wisp of his psyche onto the sword tip.

Finally, Yi Yun took a deep breath. It was true, the sword tip was indeed the other half of the pure Yang broken sword.

He had used the pure Yang broken sword for a long periods of time. So even though he had never seen the pure Yang sword tip, there was no mistake. It formed a whole with the pure Yang broken sword.

However, why would the pure Yang broken sword tip that Bai Yueyin took be here?

Did Bai Yueyin lose it, or could it be that she left it here on purpose!?

Upon thinking of this possibility, Yi Yun felt his heart jolt.

Could the pool of Divine Stalactite Marrow be there to nourish the sword tip!?

He looked at the stalagmite that had grown out from the pool. It was definitely gathering all the essence in the pool to constantly provide for the sword tip.

Yi Yun remembered that Huan Chenxue had once said that the pure Yang broken sword tip contained a secret. And compared to the tip, the remaining half of the broken sword was nothing of importance. That was the reason why Bai Yueyin had only taken the sword tip away.

This also made it very possible that the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool was set up by Bai Yueyin.

Upon coming to this realization, Yi Yun felt an upheaval of emotions.

Yi Yun did not have a good impression of Bai Yueyin at all. He wished to take away all the Divine Stalactite Marrow in the pool and also destroy everything that Bai Yueyin had set up.

Speaking of which, what was Bai Yueyin up to? It had been rumored that she had not appeared in front of others for tens of millions of years. She had been in a constant seclusion, one that lasted for tens of millions of years. Yi Yun found such a number staggering.

“This woman is very powerful. Since she went through the trouble of creating such a setup, there might be some protective array formation guarding it. There’s probably no hope of destroying it but it might be possible for me to siphon away some of the Divine Stalactite Marrow…”

If he just left without trying anything, it was akin to walking out of a treasure mountain empty-handed. Yi Yun truly found that unacceptable.

Bit by bit, he carefully combed the area for the existence of any array formation traps. Simultaneously, he gently took out a spatial bottle to attempt to siphon away some of the Divine Stalactite Marrow from the periphery but at that moment—

“Hum—”

The space above the divine pool suddenly stirred. Ripples began forming across the milky-white surface of the pool. Yi Yun felt his vision turn into a blur as a figure with tattered clothes was appeared in mid-air and plummeted.

She fell directly into the pool. The instant she entered it, her tattered clothes vanished as points of light. She had fallen into the pool naked.

And at that moment, Yi Yun was completely dumbfounded. Although it was a blink of an eye, he saw an extremely slender and curvaceous body with skin that resembled snow. However, this petite body had a few frightening bloody marks on it.

Even so, they did not eclipse her beauty. Instead, the injuries actually added a tragic beauty to her.

“Splash!”

The pool splashed with milky-white waves. Her body was completely immersed in the divine pool, leaving behind her long hair that sprawled across the Divine Stalactite Marrow like a black rose!

“You—!”

The woman looked at Yi Yun and saw him holding a spatial bottle, clearly planning to siphon off some of the Divine Stalactite Marrow.

The woman’s eyes were deep like the starry cosmos. At the moment they were filled with shock for she never expected a person to appear by the side of the pool.

“How did you enter!?”

She knew that the entrance to the cave was protected by a naturally-formed array formation. It involved the use of both the Dao of Primordial Chaos and Major Destruction. It was impossible for anyone to figure out the intricacies of it, making it a naturally strong protective barrier.

Even she had to expend a great deal of strength and use her superb spatial laws to sneak in. She never expected another person to be capable of entering.

As he locked eyes with the woman, Yi Yun did not have any thoughts of admiring the beauty’s entry into the pool. Instead, his body froze!

This woman that had suddenly appeared gave Yi Yun a strong sense of unease. Could this woman… be…

Bai Yueyin!?

Yi Yun held his breath. The mysterious woman that appeared in front of him could very likely be Bai Yueyin herself!

He was done for!

Yi Yun’s heart sank. Ignoring the fact that Bai Yueyin was a ruthless person who would stop at nothing to achieve her goals, she would probably not spare him even if she was a kind woman. The instant she entered the pool, he had seen her naked body in its entirety. Even if it was just for a split second, a person that enjoyed such an elevated status would likely not accept such a thing.

And indeed, Yi Yun felt ice-cold killing intent from the woman.

Her fingertips gently swiped, forming ice crystals as the space in front of her was torn apart by the ice crystals.

“Who are you!?”

The woman asked coldly but the moment she spoke, her face turned pale. A mouthful of murky blood rose to her mouth!

“Oh?”

The woman’s brows furrowed tightly. She tried her best to force back the mouthful of blood but her physical state was terrible. A tiny stream of blood seeped out the corner of her mouth.

“She’s injured!”

Yi Yun naturally knew that the reason the woman had thrown herself into the Divine Stalactite Marrow after removing all her clothes was to soak her injury-laden body in the pool for healing.

From the looks of it, her injuries were worse than he imagined.

Was she really Bai Yueyin? If she was Bai Yueyin, one of the top Godly Monarch existences in the entire Sinkhole, what could possibly injure her?

1475 - : Completely Unexpected

Could he try to make an escape while she was injured? But the entrance to the cave had an array formation naturally formed by the Great Dao of Destruction and Primordial Chaos. Even though Yi Yun had just passed through it, he would still need to spend time to pass through it again. There was no time at all with someone attacking him.

Even if he did escape, she was a Godly Monarch. Once she recovered, she could scan an entire Great World with a mere thought. Any attempt to escape from her would be difficult!

Furthermore, he still needed to find Lin Xintong. There was no way he could avoid encountering Bai Yueyin.

So if he couldn’t escape… was he going to fight a Godly Monarch in a life-and-death battle?

Bai Yueyin looked at the silent Yi Yun, her fingernails shimmering with a frosty glow. “Since you do not wish to speak…”

Yi Yun felt a strong sense of danger. He tightly clasped Mirage Snow, stirring his Yuan Qi fully for, regardless of what he decided, he needed to first fend off the incoming blow.

But at that moment, a dull roar suddenly sounded. Following that, a huge wave appeared in the blood river nearby. A pair of cold eyes appeared amid the blood waves.

Yi Yun froze instantly when he was swept by its gaze.

The river god!

The Divine Lord spirit was indeed full of lies. He claimed that the river god would appear after at least twenty hours, but it did not take that long to return.

Yi Yun lamented his bad luck. On one side was Bai Yueyin, and on the other a similarly unfathomable river god had appeared.

In this cave, he was the weakest.

After Bai Yueyin saw the river god, her gaze changed slightly.

At that moment, the river god’s gaze finally moved away from Yi Yun and onto Bai Yueyin.

Yi Yun held his breath. The river god was apparently not targeting him?

He looked silently from the river god to Bai Yueyin, hoping to find an opportunity to escape. The best outcome for him was if the river god fought Bai Yueyin. He could then escape in the chaos.

But for some reason, Yi Yun had a vague feeling that the river god did not have any nefarious intentions against him.

“What are you doing here?” asked Bai Yueyin coldly.

Even though Bai Yueyin remained motionless in the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool, the space surrounding her was being covered in ice crystals. Countless fractures formed in the “walls” as a result of the freezing, and the way she looked at the river god was extremely cold and distant.

Yi Yun stood on the side, sensing the chill. Despite her serious injuries, her strength remained unfathomable.

The river god let out a deep roar and, after staring at Bai Yueyin for a while, slowly slunk into the blood river. After a momentary stir, the blood river returned to a state of calm.

The river god had left. Yi Yun clearly sensed that the river god held some fear towards Bai Yueyin. It had appeared to communicate with her but he was unsure of the content of their conversation.

Yi Yun looked at Bai Yueyin, who was submerged in the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool, and his back tightened. Since the river god left so quickly, didn’t that mean that Bai Yueyin would quickly turn back to kill him?

But with the situation having developed to this point, other than bracing himself for a battle and seeking the first opportunity to escape, he had no other choice.

At that moment, Bai Yueyin turned around and gave Yi Yun a deep, meaningful glance.

As Yi Yun felt an unbearable, staggering pressure, almost to the point that he wanted to go all-out and attack, all of Bai Yueyin’s killing intent vanished. She slowly closed her eyes.

Yi Yun was taken aback. Bai Yueyin was clearly about to attack but was interrupted by the river god. Now that it had left, why did she suddenly lose her killing intent? Was she not planning on killing him?

Yi Yun did not believe that a figure like Bai Yueyin would resort to scheming tricks.

Yet now, Bai Yueyin’s killing intent was gone. Furthermore, she no longer bothered with Yi Yun. She submersed herself in the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool, eyes shut. Her body emanated an ice-cold aura as clear ice crystals formed around her.

She began focusing on her recuperation.

Yi Yun gave her an odd look. He was surprised that Bai Yueyin was ignoring him.

In the beginning, Yi Yun was contemplating if he should take the opportunity to leave, but when he saw the motionless Bai Yueyin with her eyes closed and the Divine Stalactite Marrow that filled an entire pool, he fell into a dilemma.

“Screw it. If she wanted to kill me, she would have long done so. There’s no way to escape, anyway.” Yi Yun made up his mind. As the saying goes, fortune favors the bold, while those who starve are the meek. He went up to the side of the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool and sat down to begin cultivating.

In the beginning, Yi Yun was entirely focused on Bai Yueyin. But once he realized how she completely ignored him, Yi Yun only diverted a little bit of attention to her, leaving him more to focus on his cultivation.

As he absorbed the extremely pure Yuan Qi by the side of the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool, Yi Yun felt his mind and body lighten simply from cultivating for a moment.

After an unknown period of time, Yi Yun opened his eyes, giving him a wistful look.

Although the Yuan Qi beside the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool was pure, its effects diminished after cultivating for some time beside it.

If he could actually enter the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool and soak in it, the effects would definitely be outstanding. However, that was only a hopeful thought.

Yi Yun sat by the pool, hesitating for a moment. He considered that, although he was cultivating, Bai Yueyin’s reaction implied that as long as he did not disturb her, she would not care what he did. In that case, there was no need to be afraid.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun rummaged through his interspatial ring and took out a tiny cauldron. It was unknown which of the unlucky bastards he had killed over the years he obtained the cauldron from. The quality was nothing special but it made for a perfect bucket.

Yi Yun carried the cauldron to the spot furthest from Bai Yueyin. He began scooping out the liquid from the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool.

He glanced at Bai Yueyin and indeed, she paid him no mind.

This made Yi Yun relieved. After scooping a few times, he felt that the cauldron was not big enough. It contained too little Divine Stalactite Marrow, not enough for him to soak in it as he wished.

Reflecting on the way Bai Yueyin soaked herself in such a huge pool of Divine Stalactite Marrow while he could only get a tiny cauldron, the huge difference left him depressed.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron was large enough, but he could forget about taking it out in front of Bai Yueyin.

Yi Yun gave up the thought of soaking in a cauldron. He took out a knife and began digging into a spot next to the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool.

Soon, Yi Yun had dug out a tiny hole. He filled the bottom of the hole with the Blood Spirit Jade he had previously picked up. Then, he connected the hole to the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool.

Immediately, milky-white Divine Stalactite Marrow flowed into the hole Yi Yun dug.

When the hole was filled with a portion of the Divine Stalactite Marrow, Yi Yun was content with what he had. He blocked off the passage. Although Bai Yueyin ignored him, he was not going to reach out for a yard after taking an inch.

He entered the tiny pond and comfortably soaked in it. To be safe, he took another look at Bai Yueyin. Despite all the commotion he had caused, Bai Yueyin showed no reaction at all. She was focused on her recuperation.

However, Yi Yun did not think it safe enough to fully drop his guard. He could tell that it was only temporary that Bai Yueyin did not want him dead.

The woman was not only incredibly powerful, she was also hard to get a read on. Soaking openly beside her still left him on tenterhooks.

At that moment, Bai Yueyin suddenly let out a light grunt. The Divine Stalactite Marrow around her suddenly turned a light crimson color. On careful look, he saw frozen blood beads.

Yi Yun was secretly puzzled. As a Godly Monarch, Bai Yueyin was nearly without equal in the Sinkhole. Who could have injured her so gravely?

1476 - : River God

Bai Yueyin sensed Yi Yun looking at her, so she opened her eyes to shoot a cold glance at him. As her body emanated an ice-cold air, her aura gradually calmed down.

Just as Yi Yun began to believe that Bai Yueyin had successfully repressed her injuries, her charming figure quivered as a stream of blood seeped out the corner of her mouth. The blood had a strange hint of blue in it, while the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool she sat in turned a deep blue color. Along with the color came a faint, sweet fragrance that spread outwards.

This sweet fragrance was mentally refreshing, and could leave one light-headed. but when Yi Yun caught a whiff of it, his expression immediately changed. He quickly stopped breathing and sealed off all his pores as he rapidly circulated his cultivation technique.

After a while like this, Yi Yun suddenly extended his finger, shooting out a drop of blue blood from his fingertip. It landed on one of the giant skeletons not far away, and instantly the white bone seemed to be dyed a faint layer of blue.

It was poison! An extremely potent poison!

Yi Yun gained a deeper understanding of a Godly Monarch’s strength. Just the poison she emitted was so deathly potent, and from the way Bai Yueyin looked, she was clearly deeply poisoned. Yet she was able to live on despite being so afflicted.

The poison in Bai Yueyin had suddenly relapsed as she knitted her brows tightly. The Frost Qi around her grew denser and, like a ten-thousand-year-old ice sculpture, it continuously released a chilling air. It even covered her black, cascading hair with a layer of frost.

Yi Yun hurriedly acted to endure the Frost Qi, his expression extremely depressed. Although Bai Yueyin ignored him and did not seem to mind his presence while she recuperated, he was only able to dissipate a tiny portion of the Frost Qi that Bai Yueyin released while recuperating. It was still enough to make him feel like he was stuck in an extremely cold ice cavern.

Thankfully, while Yi Yun did his best to withstand the Frost Qi, he was able to more quickly absorb the Divine Stalactite Marrow’s essence. He felt that the impurities in him were constantly being purged as his meridians flowed more freely. Even the speed at which he circulated his cultivation technique had sped up greatly. It became easier for him to withstand the Frost Qi. He even recovered fully from the bit of damage the poison did to him.

The Divine Stalactite Marrow was indeed a great boon. It would probably deliver many benefits if he continuously soaked in it but he knew it was an impossible wish.

Once Bai Yueyin was done recuperating, she would definitely not tolerate his continued presence.

Upon coming to this realization, Yi Yun decided to make full use of this opportunity. He stopped repelling the Frost Qi that Bai Yueyin released and instead used it to cultivate.

With the Frost Qi of a Godly Monarch aiding him, Yi Yun absorbed the Divine Stalactite Marrow at an accelerated pace. Soon, the Divine Stalactite Marrow in his pool had decreased by ten percent.

A few days later, Bai Yueyin suddenly opened her eyes.

Although Yi Yun was cultivating, he was always paying attention to Bai Yueyin. He immediately discovered any of her changes.

Had she finished recuperating so quickly? Yi Yun was somewhat despondent. She had recovered too quickly. If only she had spent half a month, he could’ve used the opportunity to continue cultivating there.

However, the awakened Bai Yueyin seemed to have no intention of driving Yi Yun away. Instead, she looked up as a sliver of ice-cold killing intent effused from her body.

This killing intent made Yi Yun tense up but he was aware that the killing intent was not targeted at him.

At that moment, there was a sudden fluctuation in the space above the pool. Yi Yun immediately felt a strong, ominous foreboding.

Boom!

Space was suddenly torn apart as a pitch-black rift opened. It was unknown where it led to but there was complete darkness on the other side, with no light sources at all.

Suddenly, a face appeared on the boundary of the rift. It had an indifferent expression, its eyes like two black holes. Beneath the face was a body but the body did not seem to match the face. It felt like this unfathomable warrior was wearing a strange mask made of human skin.

However, Yi Yun knew that it was not a human mask the moment he saw it. Furthermore, the face was looking at them.

This is…

Yi Yun felt his heart palpitate as his face suddenly dropped into a look of astonishment.

He had seen such a face before!

Back in the Myriad Divine Territory of the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, he met a girl who had suddenly been inflicted with a strange illness. She fell unconscious for several years and her father visited all sorts of renowned doctors to save her, but none of them managed to heal his daughter.

Later, it was Yi Yun that came to the rescue. He discovered that the Azure Wood Divine Tree within him was a natural nemesis of these heretic demons.

Later on, Yi Yun headed to the spawning ground of these human-faced demons. It was an endless cemetery and they were sealed in countless blood-colored ice coffins. These human-faced creatures laid in slumber in these coffins and he had killed a countless number of them after they awakened.

In that cemetery, he encountered a mysterious and noble white-dressed female’s projection. Her name was Divine Dream and she told him that the human faces were demonic servants, servants of the bronze giants.

However, the demonic servants that Yi Yun had encountered were low-level servants. They were only responsible for building cities and mausoleums for the Ancestor Gods. In addition, they had abandoned their physical bodies, leaving only their spiritual bodies behind.

But the ‘person’ that had appeared in the spatial rift’s boundary was absolutely no low-level demonic servant. It released an extremely dangerous aura that left Yi Yun’s body involuntarily taut. He felt like he had a crisis on his hand.

This was likely a high-level demonic servant!

But if it was only one high-level demonic servant, Bai Yueyin would have likely been able to resolve it easily. Although Yi Yun was unsure of Bai Yueyin’s true strength, she was truly unfathomable compared to this high-level demonic servant.

However, when Yi Yun looked at Bai Yueyin again, he felt that something was wrong. Bai Yueyin had a grave look on her face.

Yi Yun looked at the rift as his heart began thumping in his chest.

In the second he shifted his eyes away, the spatial rift had silently filled with demonic servants. Every face had an extremely indifferent expression. They looked extremely odd.

There were more than a hundred high-level demonic servants…

These high-level demonic servants were clearly here for Bai Yueyin but they were unlikely the cause of her heavy injuries, much less could they have pursued her.

How did they enter?

Yi Yun was baffled. The cave they were in were protected by an array that was naturally formed by the Major Destruction laws. The average person had no hopes of entering. Yi Yun refused to believe that these demonic servants had such ability.

Then, who was the one that opened the spatial passageway?

At that moment, one of the high-level demonic servants let out a sharp howl. Immediately, more than a hundred demonic servants passed through the spatial rift with sharp, howling screams and entered the cave.

These demonic servants emanated dense demonic auras and swarmed Bai Yueyin like gigantic bats that had human faces on them.

Bai Yueyin instantly stood up from the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool. While she did, her body became covered in a black dress with coruscating silver points of light. She stood there like a goddess sculpture, cold and noble with an awe-inspiring killing aura.

Bai Yueyin snorted coldly. Her voice sounded like a natural law as ice instantly sealed off a space a thousand feet above her. The demonic servants did not dodge and slammed straight into the frozen space, their sharp howls crying out incessantly.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Loud rings were heard as the sharp howls formed sound waves that constantly collided with the frozen space. Yi Yun had already used his Yuan Qi to protect his meridians but even so, he felt the lifeblood in him flow in the opposite direction. It was somewhat unbearable.

The might of a Godly Monarch was not to be doubted. Even if Bai Yueyin was heavily injured and poisoned, these demonic servants would only perish if they met her head-on. They were unable to cause her any harm.

The following scene chilled Yi Yun’s heart. He saw that the demonic servants were no longer charging at Bai Yueyin and instead, swarmed towards the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool.

Their bodies exploded in mid-air, transforming into green blood that mixed into the Divine Stalactite Marrow. Soon, the pool of Divine Stalactite Marrow gradually turned green as it emanated a gag-inducing stench.

This corpse liquid clearly contained poison! They had contaminated a pool full of Divine Stalactite Marrow!

1477 - : Encountering the Demonic Servants Again

“It’s World Decay Poison!?”

Yi Yun drew a cold gasp. When she heard Yi Yun’s exclaimation, Bai Yueyin gave him a surprised glance. She clearly did not expect Yi Yun to be so knowledgeable at his young age. He was actually capable of recognizing the World Decay Poison.

In this world, poisons were a form of laws as well. The average poison could hardly damage extraordinary experts but there were always those who pushed their poison laws to the limits.

This World Decay Poison was produced during the rotting of a Great World. Nothing in the universe truly lasted forever. Great Worlds were no exception to this rule. The Azure Wood Great World that Yi Yun previously visited was a dying world, one that was on the brink of destruction with Apocalyptic Fumes erupting everywhere. And World Decay Poison could be extracted from all the rotting elements of a Great World, including the Apocalyptic Fumes. If it could even cause decay to a Great World, the potency of it on humans was obvious.

Furthermore, Yi Yun could sense that the person who had employed the World Decay Poison was extremely powerful. If not, it would have been impossible for them to injure Bai Yueyin, much less tear open a spatial passageway in the ancient battlefield’s cave.

In that case, the potency of the poison was naturally horrifying. In this circumstance, the person who had extracted the World Decay Poison had bound the poison inside the demonic servants’ bodies. Once they died, the World Decay Poison would explode out from them.

With the demonic servants swarming incessantly into the cave like a school of carps moving down a stream and the cave was beginning to fill with the World Decay Poison, the dense rotting stench of a world’s decay began filling the air. Even Yi Yun was affected by it.

He was a victim of disaster because of another person’s doing!

What better time to leave than now? Yi Yun had no intention of saving Bai Yueyin. Besides, did she need his saving considering her cultivation level?

Upon coming this conclusion, Yi Yun phased away and made plans to escape the Blood Fey Bone cave. But the moment he moved to act on his thoughts, he felt his scalp tingle. He was appalled to discover that the decaying stench that was produced after massive numbers of demonic servants died had formed a barrier that completely enveloped the cave!

It was a barrier of deadly poison!

The enemy probably meant to prevent Bai Yueyin from escaping but had trapped Yi Yun in the process.

What crappy luck!

Yi Yun was feeling extremely depressed. Bai Yueyin’s opponent was definitely someone of great origin. Such an existence would not care about the life of a trivial figure with a Supremacy cultivation level like himself. He was being destroyed in passing while Bai Yueyin was being pursued.

How down on his luck was he!? He had made a trip to the Fey bone cave, and before he managed to take much benefit from it, he encountered a battle between supernatural existences and was about to be reduced to cannon fodder.

Upon seeing that the poisonous gases were trapping them within, the airborne Bai Yueyin tapped her fingers gently.

Boom!

A spatial vortex appeared out of thin air because Bai Yueyin had forcibly split open an alternate space in the extremely stable ancient battlefield continuum.

“Gather!”

Bai Yueyin shouted sharply as the interdimensional hole produced a powerful suction storm, sucking away massive amounts of the World Decay Poison, as well as many of the demonic servants. They were sucked into the spatial storms and ground into fragments, losing their lives instantly!

“Roar! Roar! Roar!”

At that moment, all the demonic servants began convulsing vigorously. They charged at Bai Yueyin and, once they were just dozens of feet away from her, their bodies began to rapidly expand.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The large number of demonic servants self-destructed! The terrifying explosion together with the World Decay Poison permeated the surroundings. The explosion left Yi Yun’s lifeblood in chaos. He could hardly withstand the blasts from this conflict.

Furthermore, he could sense that Bai Yueyin was in a dire situation as well. Situated in the middle of the explosion, she had suffered 99% of the blast and, most critically, she was already heavily injured.

“Block that spatial passageway! If not, we will die when this becomes a battle of attrition!” Yi Yun shouted, his voice distorted by the explosive storms.

Bai Yueyin frowned, completely ignoring Yi Yun. She obviously knew that the calamity she was facing was a result of some unknown method that had been employed to trace her location. Furthermore, a spatial passageway had been opened to drain what little strength she had in a battle of attrition. To the enemy, the demonic servants were endless in number and not something to wince about no matter how many died.

But since that person had opened a spatial passageway, there was definitely an array formation protecting it. In Bai Yueyin’s present condition, she would need time to seal the spatial passageway!

However, the demonic servants were pouring in like a tidal wave. She also needed to suck away the World Decay Poison and had no time to block the entrance.

“You block the entrance! I’ll help you ward them off for a while!” shouted Yi Yun.

“You?”

Bai Yueyin finally spoke. She naturally could tell that Yi Yun’s foundation was extremely robust. He had basically proved his talent by coming this far, but unfortunately the demonic servants were just too powerful and numerous. There was also the World Decay Poison!

What could Yi Yun use to ward them off?

“Quickly make way and go block the entrance!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he rushed towards Bai Yueyin!

At this moment in time, he was going all out. He had offended an unknown existence and he was bound to be in danger in the future. But if the enemy was trying to squash ants to death, taking him down in the process, how could he not resist?

In a blink of an eye, Yi Yun had rushed to Bai Yueyin. He was just three steps away from her!

As he was so close to the divine woman known from legends, Yi Yun could clearly sense the might and sacredness from her. Even in an absolutely adverse situation, she was still Bai Yueyin!

Upon seeing Yi Yun rush in front of her, Bai Yueyin’s brows pricked up. It was unknown how many years it had been since someone dared order her around or come so close to her. She was naturally displeased with Yi Yun’s rashness.

Just as she was about to shout for Yi Yun to stop and get him to leave the area quickly, a vibrant green beam erupted from Yi Yun’s body. Instantly, a tremendous vibrant lifeform was awaken from inside Yi Yun’s body. The lifeform was unlike powerful Ancient Fey that left people in awe; instead, it was filled with an indiscriminate love and vital strength.

Azure Wood Divine Tree!

Yi Yun had obtained the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s seed from the Azure Wood Great World. Back in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, Yi Yun had slain the demonic servants by relying on the Azure Wood Divine Tree, and now he had conjured it once again!

After so many years, Yi Yun had grown a lot more stronger than he was in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. The might of the Azure Wood Divine Tree was already beyond its former self!

Instantly, the atmosphere in that region of space changed. It went from a perilous land of death with lingering poisonous gases to one of paradise.

Yi Yun stood imposingly in mid-air as the gigantic Azure Wood Divine Tree spread out its leaves behind him. The leaves fluttered in the wind as the shimmered.

“Puah Puah Puah!”

The Azure Wood Divine Tree’s leaves bore through the demonic servants that charged over! Green blood shot out like arrows!

1478 - : World Decay Poison

“Aoooo!”

As the demonic servants were torn open by the Azure Wood Divine Tree they struggled, but with it being their natural nemesis they had no means to resist. They had their vitalities ripped away by the Azure Wood Divine Tree as they rapidly withered.

Instantly, the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi began manifesting vegetation, and even tiny critters as a result of the Azure Wood Divine Tree. They shuttled around the Azure Wood Divine Tree happily as, in a blink of an eye, the scene became that of a vibrant paradise!

“What? This is…”

Upon seeing this scene, Bai Yueyin’s beautiful eyes were filled with shock.

“What are you waiting for? Quick block off the passageway. I can’t keep this up that long. It drains too much Yuan Qi!” Yi Yun said in exasperation.

And in fact, he did kill demonic servants at a speed slower than Bai Yueyin. These were high-level demonic servants, on a completely different level from the low-level demonic servants in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. Yi Yun’s Azure Wood Divine Tree was also grown from a seed and its strength was in no way comparable to the Azure Wood Great World’s true body.

Now, against so many demonic servants with abundant amounts of World Decay Poison, the Azure Wood Divine Tree did not have it easy. Its leaves only managed to restrain the demonic servants. Time was needed to drain them completely.

And while this was happening, Yi Yun, who was the medium in all of this, was having his Yuan Qi rapidly drained.

Bai Yueyin scowled. What sort of figure was she? Even Royal Sealed Divine Lords would act submissively in front of her, much less a junior. It had been ages since anyone dared speak to her in this manner!

However, she did not fuss over the matter as there were more pressing dangers. With a flash, she appeared beside the spatial passageway and began producing seals to repress it!

Even the all-powerful existence would have found it difficult to keep a spatial passageway open in the ancient battlefield across distant space.

“Seal!”

Bai Yueyin gave a light cry as the spatial passageway seemed to be squeezed by a pair of invisible hands that made it shrink constantly!

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The powerful sealing forces shattered all the nomological marks around the spatial passageway, causing it to shrink to a third of its original size!

At that moment, there was a violent tremor in the spatial passageway as a gigantic black hand reached out from within!

The moment the hand appeared, it seemed to grasp the entire world. Even Yi Yun, who was hundreds of feet away, felt his blood freeze as though the hand had grabbed hold of his heart.

The massive hand crashed down at Bai Yueyin as it attempted to snatch her!

Boom!

The five fingers closed and trapped Bai Yueyin within. Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun’s heart tightened. He was now sharing the same fate with Bai Yueyin. There was no chance of him surviving once she died.

But at that moment, light beams burst out from the middle of the hand.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

The spatial fragments condensed into a gigantic sword as it charged out of the hand with a blood beam before slashing down at the wrist!

“Cha!”

The massive hand had been severed by Bai Yueyin!

“Go!”

Bai Yueyin flicked her finger as the spatial sword transformed into a stream of light and struck the spatial passageway!

“Puah!”

A light sound was drowned out by the spatial storms as the spatial sword returned with its blade stained with blood. Bai Yueyin took the opportunity to produce another twelve seals to seal the spatial passageway’s entrance in layers.

“Suppress!”

Bai Yueyin retracted her hands as the spatial passageway closed completely.

The entrance had been sealed!

They had finally stopped the madness!

And at that moment, Yi Yun was using the Azure Wood Divine Tree to control nearly all the demonic servants.

Although many of them were still alive, it was not difficult for him to slowly wear them down.

“Puah!”

Bai Yueyin suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. It had a blue luster to it, clearly deeper than the blueness from before.

Bai Yueyin’s face was pale as she plummeted from mid-air.

She was already heavily injured and the activity of the battle only made the poison in her spread more. Her situation was more severe than before.

Bai Yueyin came to a stop above the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool, because at that moment the pond’s Divine Stalactite Marrow was fully contaminated by the World Decay Poison. It had a noxious stench and corpse fragments floating in the pool, filling it completely. It could no longer be used for recuperation.

This scene left Bai Yueyin frowning. She looked up at the space above her. The final twelve golden hexes she left continued coruscating, sealing off the space they were in.

Although the spatial passageway had been sealed shut, it was only a temporary seal. The enemy knew her location and it was only a matter of time before the seal was broken. If she did not finish recuperating before that, she was doomed.

She never expected that the massive battle she had meticulously prepared for over so many years would end in such a manner. Ultimately, she was still too weak…

Bai Yueyin had a heavy heart. It was already impossible for her to vanquish the enemy. All she wanted now was to think of a way to escape.

“Oh? You…”

Bai Yueyin suddenly saw Yi Yun enter the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool, casually submerging himself in the contaminated Divine Stalactite Marrow.

Upon seeing this scene, Bai Yueyin was alarmed. Although the World Decay Poison could not cause any lethal damage to her, it was still a poison that was no trifling matter. Even ordinary Divine Lords would be injured from touching it and die from consuming it, much less a Supremacy!

But Yi Yun just dipped deep into the pool.

She noticed that Yi Yun’s body was covered in a strange black flame. All the World Decay Poison was burnt away when it came close to the black flames, failing to seep into his body.

Could he be purging the poison?

The scene of Yi Yun battling the demonic servants had shocked Bai Yueyin. So it was not impossible to believe him capable of doing another impressive thing. However, she never imagined that he would flat-out purge the poison.

“Expert!” Yi Yun suddenly shouted. Bai Yueyin was rendered a little speechless when she heard him address her. What sort of address was this?

Yi Yun coughed dryly twice. He did not wish to expose the fact that he knew Bai Yueyin’s identity. If he did, there were many things that she would ask which were not easily explained. It would also bring him trouble. “We are now in the same boat. Although helping you is akin to helping myself, I’m weak and poor, so I’m incomparable to you in any way. On account of me braving the dangers and risking my life to help you block off those heretic demons, and with me now in the poison pool to try my best to refine away the corpse toxins at the risk of suffering the side effects of being poisoned… shouldn’t you give me some sort of reward?”

Yi Yun said this with a smile. What kind of person was Bai Yueyin? She was a Godly Monarch that had lived for hundreds of millions of years. Her wealth was completely unimaginable. Just a pinch of her reserves would be enough to refine a few cauldrons of Dragon Emperor Relics. This was not the time to put on appearances. Asking for some perks was just smart.

Bai Yueyin looked Yi Yun coldly in the eye. What did he mean by braving the dangers and risking his life? In the previous battle, the one that truly expended their vital powers was herself. As for the claim about ‘suffering the side effects of being poisoned,’ she could not tell. The punk was clearly at ease inside the poison pool.

Of course, Bai Yueyin could not be bothered to haggle with a junior. Furthermore, this junior had showcased strength that shocked her. He had also intrigued her.

“Okay. If you succeed, half of the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool is yours!”

1479 - : Paradise

Upon hearing what Bai Yueyin had to say, Yi Yun was somewhat surprised. He never expected Bai Yueyin to immediately offer him half the Divine Stalactite Marrow in the pool. It was something of immense worth.

Of course, this was predicated on the fact that the poison could be purged. If not, ignoring the question of him getting his Divine Stalactite Marrow reward, just the fact that Bai Yueyin would be unable to recover would spell his doom once the unknown existence launched another attack.

At that moment, Yi Yun had completely submerged himself in the divine pool. He powered the Azure Wood Divine Tree as its branches spread across the liquid like an octopus. The Azure Wood Divine Tree contained boundless vitality, and the contaminant of the divine pool was World Decay Poison, the decaying fumes of a Great World. They were antithesis to each other.

Since Yi Yun first obtained the Azure Wood Divine Tree, including the time under the River of Forgetfulness water’s influence, about two hundred years had passed. Back when the Azure Wood Great World was on its last legs, it still had a vibrant vitality. Its massive root network had even bound the bronze giant.

The Azure Wood Divine Tree slowly cleansed the Divine Stalactite Marrow by absorbing the World Decay Poison in it bit by bit. However, as the World Decay Poison refined by the mysterious enemy was extremely powerful, the process was slow.

At this speed, it would be difficult to cleanse the pool fully without at least seven or eight days. Bai Yueyin clearly sensed this fact. It was simply too slow. She was in urgent need of recuperation.

But Yi Yun did not panic as he shook his hand, producing a black flame wisp. It was none other than the Heretical God Fire Seed.

In the divine alchemist’s notes, there were records on the World Decay Poison that naturally included the refinement methods. As for the Heretical God Fire Seed, it was able to burn through everything. Yi Yun had relied on the Heretical God Fire Seed to protect himself when he entered the poison pool.

“Go!”

Yi Yun waved his hand as the Heretical God Fire Seed spread out, wrapping around a blob of Divine Stalactite Marrow as it slowly refined away.

With sizzling sounds, large amounts of World Decay Poison was burnt to ashes by the Heretical God Fire Seed but the Divine Stalactite Marrow was not affected at all.

The divine alchemist’s notes mentioned that the Divine Stalactite Marrow could not be refined into medicine and could only be consumed directly or be used as a bath. The reason was that fire could burn away the medicinal effects in the Divine Stalactite Marrow.

Bai Yueyin naturally knew this point. So when she saw Yi Yun use such a method to refine away the poison, she believed that he would destroy copious amounts of Divine Stalactite Marrow. However, she never expected Yi Yun’s control of the Heretical God Fire Seed to be so precise, like it was part of him. The fire seemed to possess a will of its own as it precisely enveloped the Divine Stalactite Marrow’s surroundings, and burned away the poisonous elements within without damaging the Divine Stalactite Marrow in any way.

With the passage of time, the color of this blob of Divine Stalactite Marrow slowly turned lighter as it returned to its pure milky-white color.

This punk was also an alchemist?

Bai Yueyin was slightly shocked. Only an alchemist was capable of such a feat. She never imagined that Yi Yun possessed this kind of strength, power that went far beyond his age, and was adept at the medical refinement at such a young age.

Now that the Heretical God Fire was in play, it worked simultaneously with the Azure Wood Divine Tree, greatly increasing the speed. However, he still needed about four to five days to completely refine away the poison in the pool of Divine Stalactite Marrow.

This was still a little too long.

At that moment, a green urn flew out from inside Yi Yun’s body. The moment it appeared, it released a sinister aura.

The urn was the urn of ashes that Yi Yun previously obtained. Those ashes were the remains of an ancient mighty figure.

The moment the urn appeared, it began vibrating intensely. Yi Yun could sense that Poison Demon within was extremely excited. It could not wait to be released.

“Master, I can sense that this poison will a great supplement for me!” Poison Demon had been in slumber, but when it was summoned by Yi Yun he sensed the World Decay Poison in the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool. It kept clamoring in Yi Yun’s mind as its eyes flashed green light. It was exactly what one imagined a ravenous ghost that had been starving for days would look like when it suddenly saw a feast in front of it.

Yi Yun opened the urn as Poison Demon yelled. It transformed into a green stream of light and plunged into the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool!

Poison Demon was a manifestation of poison to begin with. Since it was poison itself, it was invulnerable to poison. It did not care if the poison was World Decay Poison, it sucked on the Divine Stalactite Marrow, drawing away the poisonous elements from within.

Large amounts of World Decay Poison settled inside Poison Demon’s body but he was not damaged by it in any way. Instead, the World Decay Poison nourished Poison Demon, making it turn stronger.

As Poison Demon’s strength increased, its speed at sucking on the World Decay Poison increased.

At that speed, with the three-prong approach of the Heretical God Fire, Azure Wood Divine Tree, and Poison Demon, it would take at most two days to fully cleanse the pool of Divine Stalactite Marrow.

And in fact, Bai Yueyin could even begin cultivating once a portion of the divine pool was cleansed. It would not set her back too much.

Bai Yueyin was alarmed when she saw the poisonous pool cleansed at such a discernible rate. This Yi Yun had way too many tricks up his sleeve!

The average Supremacy would probably avoid a pool of World Decay Poison. Even a powerhouse adept in medicine would probably be helpless in such a situation; yet, Yi Yun was using three methods to purge the poison. Most impressive of all, he was using all three simultaneously. The Azure Wood Divine Tree and Poison Demon were independent, with no need for Yi Yun to split his focus.

Bai Yueyin’s eyes could not help but land on Yi Yun. At that moment, he was enveloped in the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s green halo, his black hair flailing. A spherical blob of Divine Stalactite Marrow floated in front of him as it was being burned by the Heretical God Fire. The green Poison Demon was flying around, circling Yi Yun.

It was puzzling how this young man had developed so far. In the tens of millions of years of the divine empire that Bai Yueyin established, never once had such a freak been produced in the extensive Seven Desolates continents.

Slowly, Poison Demon’s speed at purging the poison exceeded the speed of Yi Yun’s Heretical God Fire. It was even getting faster.

This was not something that only surprised Bai Yueyin. As owner of Poison Demon, Yi Yun was equally alarmed. He found that the World Decay Poison seemed to share the same source as Poison Demon, and it was for this very reason that it was so easy for Poison Demon to devour the World Decay Poison and see his strength increase so rapidly.

“Could it be…”

A brilliant thought suddenly flashed in Yi Yun’s mind. Poison Demon was born out of the ashes in the green urn. The ashes belonged to an ancient mighty figure who was poisoned to death. After his body was burnt, the poison remained in his ashes.

As for the Poison Demon that Yi Yun subdued, it was born from the poisonous elements in the ashes.

Yi Yun could not help but connect the dots. Perhaps hundreds of millions of years ago, the mighty figure that died was killed by that mysterious person. And this was why Poison Demon shared the same source as the World Decay Poison in the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool!

This revelation made Yi Yun’s expression turn serious.

1480 - : Same Source Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

CKtalon  CKtalon

Four hours later, Yi Yun was already greatly enervated from the continuous powering of the Heretical God Fire Seed. As for Poison Demon, not only was he still feeling energetic, he was becoming stronger as he absorbed large amounts of World Decay Poison. His body had expanded greatly in size and his eyes turned deeply profound as though he was connected to another world.

Yi Yun could sense that his strength had increased by more than ten times, with plenty of room to grow further.

Thankfully, Yi Yun had planted a slave mark in Poison Demon, guaranteeing his loyalty. If not, he would have cause to worry if any thoughts of betrayal surfaced in him.

Poison Demon was absorbing the World Decay Poison at a speed far greater than Yi Yun was burning it away, so Yi Yun took some time to stop powering the Heretical God Fire, consume a pill, and began meditating.

“Senior, I have something I wish to ask you about…” Yi Yun asked Bai Yueyin after recovering some of his Yuan Qi.

Bai Yueyin gave Yi Yun a glance. “I know what your question is.”

Yi Yun had no doubt been pulled into the struggle after the battle. He naturally wished to know the identity of the person behind all of this.

However, Bai Yueyin did not immediately give him an answer. Instead she looked away, far into the distance, as though her gaze was penetrating the rivers of time and falling onto an ancient era.

The rivers of time had washed away too much history, that it became a question of where to begin.

“What do you already know?” asked Bai Yueyin suddenly.

Yi Yun was taken aback. “What… do I know?”

“That tree in your body reminds me of a divine tree. Your tree should be related to it in some way. You seem to have gained the recognition of that divine tree?” Bai Yueyin speculated.

Back when Yi Yun first summoned the Azure Wood Divine Tree, Bai Yueyin was alarmed and did not immediately identify it. After all, the Azure Wood Divine Tree was holding down a Great World while Yi Yun only had a tiny sapling in him. The difference in strength was just too disparate.

But as the tree showcased its aura, Bai Yueyin began suspecting that the tiny tree in Yi Yun’s body was a manifestation of a part of the Azure Wood Divine Tree or even its seed!

The Azure Wood Divine Tree was almost equivalent to a god. If its seed had sprouted in Yi Yun’s body, it meant that it had acknowledged Yi Yun. Who was this man? How did he obtain the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s acknowledgment? Especially with Yi Yun’s bone age looking extremely young, how could Bai Yueyin not be astonished?

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before saying, “I have been to the Azure Wood Great World before and indeed saw the Azure Wood Divine Tree. Beneath it, an ancient bronze giant was suppressed by its roots. Back when I visited the Azure Wood Great World, the ancient bronze giant happened to awaken. It was eventually suppressed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree again at the cost of a large amount of Yuan Qi. I managed to barely escape with my life while the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s seed was planted in my body.”

“Later, in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven, I encountered demonic servants. They dug in like parasites in the bodies of warriors, causing their hosts to slowly lose their vitality. However, the Azure Wood Divine Tree turned out to be their natural weakness. It seems these demonic servants are related to the bronze giant?”

Bai Yueyin listened silently and did not say a word. At that moment, Yi Yun was already silently making his guesses.

According to Huan Chenxue, Bai Yueyin was one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs!

And the eight Godly Monarchs had combined forces to fight the Ancestor God back then. Some died in combat, others were heavily injured or went into reclusion! After that battle, the number of Godly Monarchs that remained were few in number.

As the person who was least injured, Bai Yueyin was able to declare herself a monarch by establishing the White Lunar Divine Empire tens of millions of years ago.

The Ancestor God did not seem to have died but was instead sealed. But over the hundreds of millions of years that passed, the seals seemed to have weakened constantly. How could Bai Yueyin and the Ancestor God live in peace harmoniously?

Was it possible that the person that fought Bai Yueyin through the spatial passageway was the Ancestor God itself!?

Upon coming to this thought, Yi Yun took a deep breath.

If that was the case, wouldn’t that mean that he was now a target of the Ancestor God!?

He was not even at the Divine Lord realm yet.

“You do not need to be overly worried. It is not able to easily leave that place… It has left an auric mark on you but I can help you wipe it away,” Bai Yueyin said nonchalantly.

Yi Yun felt a chill run down his back when he heard that. An auric mark? He did not sense it being placed or its presence in him at all.

“The demonic servants that wreaked havoc in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven seemed to have a leader. Aren’t you going to do something about that?”

Yi Yun tried getting her to talk with a seemingly vague question. Without a doubt, Bai Yueyin had a deep grudge with the Ancestor God of the ancient era.

Bai Yueyin shook her head. “There are countless demonic servants. What you encountered in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven is only the tip of the iceberg. Long before that, demonic servants have appeared several times in various worlds…”

Yi Yun nodded. It was indeed the case. Such matters did not warrant Bai Yueyin’s direct attention.

From the looks of it, over the past tens of millions of years, Bai Yueyin was not fully in seclusion. Legend had it that she had vanished after she established the White Lunar Divine Empire. She likely had important things to do.

“There are many things that you are currently incapable of doing. Perhaps you will come to learn more in the future…”

Bai Yueyin said that sentence before floating up. She landed inside the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool and began her recuperation.

She was heavily injured. Just the lethal poison in her was enough to reduce a Royal Sealed Divine Lord to bone.

Bai Yueyin flicked her finger, making twelve silver needles to appear in her palm. The silver needles pricked at her Baihui, Jiquan, and Guanyuan acupuncture points. They left one shuddering in fear since each needle was a foot long.

Soon, blue blood was purged by Bai Yueyin.

The blood had a pleasant fragrance which Poison Demon coveted but he did not dare consume it. He could sense that the woman was terrifying. It was safer for him to focus on consuming the World Decay Poison without a fuss.

And at that moment, Yi Yun had already left the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool. He was observing the divine bone sealed in the mountain walls.

Blood Fey Bone!

A gigantic skeleton was being sealed in the mountain, and the Blood Fey Bone that Yi Yun had encountered outside was only a tiny part of the massive skeleton.

Just that tiny part was enough to produce a lifeblood force that left one’s heart palpitating. What would happen if it was the entire Blood Fey Bone?

Yi Yun cultivated in the Dragon Emperor Technique. He was in great need of lifeblood. How could he not covet such a supreme-grade treasure?

However, he did not aim to take away the entire Blood Fey Bone. All he needed to do was absorb a tiny portion and it would benefit him greatly.

And Bai Yueyin probably would not mind if he only took a tiny portion of the Blood Fey Bone. Yi Yun had helped her greatly and although he did not understand her as a person, he thought it unlikely she would fuss over such trifling matters.

Yi Yun placed his hand on some exposed Blood Fey Bone and powered his Yuan Qi. He attempted to absorb the lifeblood forces in the Blood Fey Bone but when he did so, he immediately felt a repulsive force that jerked his hand back.

Yi Yun frowned as he stared at the Blood Fey Bone for a long while before extending his hand again.

But this time, Yi Yun had a tiny blob of fire in his hand.

1481 - : Questions

Under the Heretical God Fire’s illumination, the Fey bone turned transparent. There was a redness in it that seemed like flowing blood.

Instantly, Yi Yun seemed to hear thumping heartbeats that sounded like morning bells and evening drums. It made his heart palpitate!

The Blood Fey Bone that had been dead for an excessive period of time still had heartbeats and even the gurgling sound of flowing blood?

As Yi Yun listened to the heartbeats, he unknowingly seem to immerse himself in the sound. It was like he was transported to an ancient era while flowing upstream against the river of time. He saw a massive lifeform soar over a majestic world…

This is…

Yi Yun’s heart jolted suddenly. This powerful lifeform gave him a baffling sense of intrigue…

“It’s best you do not attempt it.” Bai Yueyin’s voice suddenly sounded.

Yi Yun’s heart quivered as the seemingly real mirage in front of him immediately vanished. He turned back to look at Bai Yueyin and saw that the color in her face had returned.

However, Yi Yun could tell that she had only temporarily repressed the poison within her. She had yet to fully purge it out. The poison laws the mysterious existence wielded were just too powerful. Even Bai Yueyin found it extremely difficult to defend against them.

“It lays in slumber here, what remains of its body reduced to blood. It has fused as one with the divine mountain here. Its powers are also sealed here but, with your cultivation level, it’s impossible for you to obtain that power.”

Bai Yueyin silently walked to the blood bone’s side. She looked at the traces of gigantic bone buried within the mountain as her eyes shimmered, her thoughts a mystery.

The body had fused with the divine mountain, its blood bone buried within it?

Yi Yun was slightly alarmed hearing that. In that case, the cave he was in was partially formed by the ancient divine beast itself.

“Senior, based on how you speak of it, it seems you know the origins of this Fey bone,” said Yi Yun.

Bai Yueyin nodded. “It’s the mount of a past enemy of mine.”

“Enemy?” Yi Yun’s heart stirred.

Bai Yueyin nodded slightly. “We had fought for hundreds of thousands of years but for particular reasons, we had no choice but to form a temporary alliance. Later, he perished in the ancient battlefield. His mount also died and landed here in the Fey God Tomb…”

“So that’s how it is!”

Yi Yun took a deep breath. He had heard the rumors that depicted the Fey God Tomb as the burial ground of an ancient Fey God. From the looks of it, the rumors were not complete rubbish. It was indeed the tomb of an ancient divine beast, so the name “Fey God Tomb” did had some truth to it.

“So the so-called Fey God is this massive blood bone skeleton.”

“That’s right. The ancient battlefield has existed for a very long period of time. There are numerous geniuses in history that have probed the Fey God Tomb, with most of them returning fruitless. However, there were indeed some who discovered this Fey God Bone. One of them had even fused three Divine Lord Royal Seals, he was an expert that neared the level of a Godly Monarch. However, everyone that has attempted to obtain the Blood Fey Bone’s powers has failed! Compared to the Blood Fey Bone, their strength is insufficient. Some have even resorted to using force but ended up being absorbed into the Fey bone, losing their lives. If you aren’t careful, there might be disastrous consequences.”

“Senior, have you not attempted to obtain its powers yourself?” asked Yi Yun.

“The creature had animosity towards me in life.” Bai Yueyin shook her head. “I did once think of refining this Fey bone but it still has remnant bits of consciousness. If I were to forcibly refine it, it could release its sealed powers and self-destruct. It’s not worth the risk.”

So that was the reason.

Yi Yun nodded. Someone that could be Bai Yueyin’s match was obviously powerful. Furthermore, this Fey bone was the combat partner of that person. It was definitely not something an average person could connect with.

However, back when Yi Yun saw the illusions, he had a baffling feeling. It felt like something that was at his fingertips but just barely unreachable.

Although Bai Yueyin had warned him, Yi Yun could not resist his urge to figure out what it was.

He thanked Bai Yueyin but still walked in front of the Blood Fey Bone.

Upon seeing this, Bai Yueyin frowned. She had already warned Yi Yun. Since time immemorial, geniuses, even Divine Lords that were nearing the Godly Monarch realm, had failed. But since Yi Yun remained adamant about it, she did not care. After all, life and death were decreed by fate.

She closed her eyes and continued her meditation.

Yi Yun, meanwhile, stood in front of the Blood Fey Bone. His psyche was completely immersed into the Blood Fey Bone.

According to Bai Yueyin, this was an extremely dangerous act! If he was not careful, he might very well lose his consciousness inside the Blood Fey Bone, and be consumed by the remnant consciousness of the skeleton.

However, Yi Yun still dove right in. He believed in what he felt.

Whoosh—

Yi Yun saw the scene before him suddenly turn black. He sensed a powerful suction force emit out of the Blood Fey Bone as his entire being was pulled towards the bone.

At that instant, Yi Yun’s eyes were filled with a blood-red color. He looked around but could not see anything specific. It was red throughout, including the ground beneath his feet. Even the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool and Bai Yueyin had vanished.

Yi Yun immediately realized that he had likely been sucked into the Blood Fey Bone. And at that very moment, he was very likely in the depths of the Blood Fey Bone, deep inside the mountain walls.

“Huh!?”

Bai Yueyin, who was meditating, suddenly opened her eyes. She furrowed her brows even tighter when she discovered that Yi Yun was sucked away by the Blood Fey Bone. She was a cold and distant person, and so did not care about the fates of random mortal beings. However, she suddenly recalled that Yi Yun had fused with the Azure Wood Divine Tree seed. If he could continue developing his strength, he would be a mighty combat force. It would be a pity if anything accidentally befell him.

She split off some of her psyche in a bid to infiltrate the Blood Fey Bone and pursue Yi Yun, but there was a blurry layer of blood mist on the surface of the Blood Fey Bone that prevented her psyche from going any further. She was seriously injured, and any forceful attempts to penetrate the mist would be too taxing on her soul sea.

…

At that moment, in the dark red mountain walls, Yi Yun’s consciousness had already entered another world.

He saw that extensive world once again, and the massive lifeform that soared majestically. But this time, his gaze was fixated on a person standing on the back of the massive lifeform.

He slung a sword on his back, his body standing straight up in between the Heaven and Earth like a javelin.

Yi Yun felt his heart jolt when he saw the person. A strong sense of familiarity surged into his heart. He recalled the Seven Kills Pillar and the gigantic sword scar he had seen back at the Pure Yang Sword Palace so many years ago. He recalled the powerful figure that had cleaved off the bronze giant’s head and a corner of a world.

The person riding on the massive lifeform was clearly the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner! He was also one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs!

It turned out that the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner was the ‘enemy’ that Bai Yueyin fought long ago and was also the person she had no choice but to ally with.

The Pure Yang Sword Palace owner perished on the ancient battlefield, and the corner of the world he cleaved off was likely part of the ancient battlefield!

His mount had perished here as well.

Yi Yun’s pure Yang broken sword had been obtained from the Pure Yang Sword Palace. As for the pure Yang sword tip, it had been obtained by Azure Yang Lord but later landed in Bai Yueyin’s hands…

Upon coming to this realization, Yi Yun was enlightened. It was no wonder Bai Yueyin had placed the pure Yang sword tip in the cave for nourishment. The remnant skeleton that laid in slumber in the cave was the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s mount, and Bai Yueyin had failed to obtain the ancient Fey beast’s recognition. But the pure Yang sword tip could. Being placed where it was, it could be nourished by the Blood Fey Bone and slowly regain its powers. This was also why Bai Yueyin chose this place to cultivate.

However, there was one point that continued eluding Yi Yun. Why did Bai Yueyin stay with Azure Yang Lord for so long? Azure Yang Lord was only a Royal Sealed Divine Lord. He was far weaker than figures like the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner or Bai Yueyin. All she needed to do was snatch it away from Azure Yang Lord since he was not her match. If Bai Yueyin was only interested in obtaining the pure Yang broken sword, why did she need to go through so much trouble?

1482 - : The Massive Lifeform That Lays Slumber

When Yi Yun came to this realization, the gigantic lifeform in the sky suddenly turned its head and looked right at him. This glance seemed to come from the opposite bank of the river of time, penetrating hundreds of millions of years to find him.

It was as if its amber pupils reflected the entire world.

Yi Yun held his breath as he locked eyes with the massive lifeform.

“Bam! Bam! Bam!”

Tumultuous heartbeats seemed to resonate in Yi Yun’s ears.

This exchange of looks lasted for an oddly vague period of time. It felt like a few seconds but also hundreds of years. Yi Yun felt as though he had traveled through endless space-time when, suddenly, he felt all the Yuan Qi in the space surge at him.

“You have his aura…”

An ancient voice sounded directly in Yi Yun’s mind.

Yi Yun could sense longing in the voice as he immediately realized that it came from the remnant consciousness of the Fey bone. And this “him” that he shared an aura with was the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner.

The Yuan Qi enveloped Yi Yun as he felt a sliver of psyche consciousness hidden within it. It was carefully observing him.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment but did not resist. He allowed the consciousness to take him in.

After a long while, the voice sounded again, its tone filled with wistfulness.

“I never imagined that he would have a successor in this world. Child, perhaps you coming to where my bones are buried is somehow predestined.”

Yi Yun had obtained the heritage of the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner in the Tian Yuan world, and now upon arriving in the Sinkhole’s ancient battlefield he encountered the skeletal remains of the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner’s mount.

If Yi Yun had not experienced countless dangers that threatened his life and survived these various obstacles, he could not have come so far.

“I have seen the battle between you and the demonic servants. I would never have imagined that you could possess such strength at such a young bone age. Furthermore, you have the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s seed planted in you. It’s as though you are the chosen one. If he were to know that a person like you had inherited his Sword Dao, he would likely be rather pleased…” said the Blood Fey Bone’s consciousness.

Yi Yun fell silent when he heard that. Then he asked, “Senior, I would like to know who the White Lunar Godly Monarch was fighting.”

“That person? He is the one that the eight Godly Monarchs fought years ago. In ancient times, countless people perished because of Him. Elites of that era were able to heavily injure Him. But now, He appears to have returned.”

“I do not have much time left. I have been lying slumber all this time, doing what I could to maintain a sliver of my consciousness. If you had not arrived, I would have had to await my end in another few hundred thousand years. By inheriting his will, you will eventually be pushed to the forefront of a generation. When the time comes, certain matters that you might not wish to know will present themselves to you automatically.”

Once this was said, the Yuan Qi that surrounded Yi Yun suddenly surged around him. Following that, there was a rapturous roar of a divine beast as the Yuan Qi inundated him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The forceful impact made Yi Yun feel like he was stuck in a massive ocean. And amid the Yuan Qi, there was a single drop of red blood.

The drop of blood was extremely dense. From it came the dull, thunderous sounds of heartbeats. Badump! Badump!

“This is a drop of blood essence that contains all my powers. You are his successor, and back then I aided him in conquering his dominion. Now, I shall aid you. My mission shall be ended from this moment forth.”

“Senior…”

Before Yi Yun finished his sentence, the drop of blood landed on his forehead. He immediately felt like a volcano had erupted as horrifying powers instantly bore into his body, heating it up greatly.

Instantly, all the clothes on his body was reduced to ash. His skin rapidly turned red from the heat. The blood vessels beneath his skin had blood surging in them that was as hot as lava.

“Ahhh!” Yi Yun could not help but let out a tortured cry. He had experienced extreme temperatures before, but nothing could compare with the scorching heat coursing through his body!

At that moment, Yi Yun really felt like he was going to be instantly burnt to ashes!

“No, how can I perish from being given an opportunity?” Yi Yun widened his eyes, they burned with flames and intense indignation.

He absolutely would not allow himself to die under such circumstances.

While under unimaginable pain, Yi Yun forcefully circulated the Yuan Qi in his dantian as he began powering the Dragon Emperor Technique.

The moment his Yuan Qi began flowing, the excruciating pain Yi Yun suffered increased.

His body was so hot that he was actually unable to sweat. However, drops of blood seeped out of his pores.

Soon, Yi Yun looked like a person encased in blood.

Yi Yun shut his eyes tightly as he focused his body and mind on the Dragon Emperor Technique’s circulation instead of minding the pain his body was experiencing.

As his body burned vehemently, the flames gradually turned calm. Layers of black, bloody substances encased Yi Yun’s body, eventually forming a black shell.

After an unknown period of time, the black shell crumbled, revealing Yi Yun’s flawless skin that resembled beautiful white jade. The red lava in his blood vessels flowed while illuminating Yi Yun’s extremely tenacious skeleton that had been tempered to the level of a divine beast.

Hu! Phew! Hu! Phew!

Yi Yun’s breathing was deep and forceful. He sat there cross-legged as his body emitted the terrifying aura of an ancient divine beast. It was as though he had transformed into a True Dragon, one that could soar into the sky at any moment.

Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes after an unknown period of time.

At the instant his eyes opened, a terrifying glint flashed in them.

His gaze seemed to contain both the secrets of the Universe and infinite time.

Yi Yun gently breathed out as the red lava that surged in his body lost its glow and his aura gradually converged.

He stood up, his body tall and proportionate. And within this body were the powers of an ancient divine beast.

The Blood Fey Bone’s blood essence had perfectly fused with Yi Yun’s body thanks to the Dragon Emperor Technique’s circulation. And amid the fiery heat, Yi Yun’s body had undergone complete reconstruction, as though he was exquisite metal tempered in roaring flames.

Yi Yun extended his hand and waved it as Yuan Qi automatically condensed into a white robe that sat perfectly on him.

“Senior?” Yi Yun called out but did not receive any response. Even the sound of heartbeats that echoed in his surroundings had vanished the instant he awoken.

Although Yi Yun had guessed at this outcome, he still felt a little disappointed when his voice echoed emptily.

He sighed lightly as he gave a deep bow.

Inside the divine mountain’s cave, Bai Yueyin instantly opened her eyes when the sound of heartbeats vanished. Her eyes were filled with alarm.

She suddenly turned her head. Not far away, there was a crack that looked like spider webs on the cave’s walls.

Pa! Pa! Pa!

Countless bits of dark red rubble peeled off from the wall. While they gently fluttered to the ground, a white-dressed Yi Yun gently touched his foot on the ground like a new being that had appeared out of a cocoon…

1483 - : Somehow Predestined Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You…”

Bai Yueyin looked towards Yi Yun. After he entered through the stone wall, he exuded the air of a perfect lifeform. His body was pure and flawless, without a single impurity. The Yuan Qi in and surrounding his body automatically circulated as though it was a tiny universe. The surrounding laws were subtly attracted to Yi Yun, prostrating around him like he was a overlord.

Had he actually obtained its power?

Bai Yueyin found it unbelievable. She had been cultivating in this area for tens of millions of years, so she understood the Blood Fey Bone very well. It had its own set of rules. Even if it knew that it had little time left, it continued holding its ground in the Fey God Tomb. But today, it had actually handed its powers to a junior who was only at the Supremacy realm.

And at that moment, Yi Yun had already taken a step forward and entered the divine pool. He began absorbing the Divine Stalactite Marrow freely.

Bai Yueyin knew that Yi Yun’s body was holding too much power, so much that he was unable to fully absorb it in time. He wanted to refine all of it for himself inside the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool.

When that happened, his cultivation level would naturally undergo a qualitative improvement.

The moment Yi Yun entered the divine pool, he made a tiny whirlpool form in the Divine Stalactite Marrow. Its very essence constantly flowed towards Yi Yun!

Bai Yueyin had previously promised to give Yi Yun half the Divine Stalactite Marrow pool. As such, she did not stop him from freely absorbing its essence.

If an ordinary warrior tried to absorb the Divine Stalactite Marrow at such a speed while digesting the ancient Fey’s powers, they would have long exploded. However, Yi Yun managed to withstand it.

Bai Yueyin could sense that Yi Yun cultivated in a very domineering body-tempering cultivation technique. It made his body a hundred times stronger and robust.

What she identified as a body-tempering cultivation technique was none other than the Dragon Emperor Technique.

This divine technique he had obtained from within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron required large amounts of natural treasures to fuel its cultivation. However, due to this special characteristic, the natural treasures could be consumed extremely quickly once the Dragon Emperor Technique was circulated.

Bai Yueyin silently watched Yi Yun cultivate. She could feel that his cultivation level was rapidly rising, and it would only be a matter of hours before he broke through to the late-stages of the Supremacy realm.

And then—

“Boom!”

There was a loud boom that left the space trembling violently. Bai Yueyin frowned slightly.

It was starting again!

The space’s location had already been pinpointed by that powerful existence. Of course He would stop at nothing to tear a spatial passageway open.

Yi Yun also sensed the spatial changes even as he cultivated. If the demonic servants were to swarm in, he would have to stop his cultivation. The effects on his cultivation would be nontrivial.

The space continued quaking as a black rift suddenly appeared above them. Furthermore, it began constantly expanding. Behind the rift, one could already see countless demonic servants packed tightly together. The number of demonic servants was far greater than the previous horde.

Bai Yueyin hurriedly stood up inside the divine pool. With a wave of her hand, a blinding white light immediately flew towards the rift.

Instantly, countless chunks of frost appeared around the rift. The terrifying and harsh coldness froze the spatial rift.

A dull sound they could hardly make out came from the rift. It sounded like a warning that came from ancient times.

As for Bai Yueyin, light emitted from her body as her aura was extremely austere. Her pretty face contained bloodlust as she coldly cried, “Begone!”

Boom!

The frost exploded as the ice sealed an entire area. The spatial rift was torn into countless pieces amid the frost before being completely annihilated.

He had forcibly opened a spatial passageway but Bai Yueyin closed it before it could fully open.

Immediately following that, Bai Yueyin set up a spatial array to seal off the entire space.

Yi Yun watched Bai Yueyin and found himself inwardly astounded. After Bai Yueyin got her injuries under control, the strength she released was far greater than before. He couldn’t fathom how powerful she was at her peak.

The dull sound from before likely came from the Ancestor God. It was unknown how far He was from the spatial passageway yet He was able to transmit his voice right to them.

Bai Yueyin noticed Yi Yun watching her. She gave him a glance before sitting back in the divine pool.

“You can cultivate as you wish. He cannot leave that place, nor can His true body descend in here. As for those demonic servants, they no longer pose a threat now that I’ve mostly recovered from my injuries. I believe He will not waste his strength for nothing.”

Upon hearing Bai Yueyin’s reassurance, Yi Yun closed his eyes again and fully focused on his cultivation.

Several hours later, a mystical change happened within the sealed cave. A massive Yuan Qi vortex appeared above Yi Yun’s head as it stirred the entire divine pool.

It was absorbing large amounts of Divine Stalactite Marrow from the divine pool. Following that, the Yuan Qi vortex formed a funnel that fed all of its energy to Yi Yun.

Large amounts of Yuan Qi surged into his body, constantly raising his aura.

Late-stage Supremacy!

After long periods of accumulation, Yi Yun was already just a sliver short of the late-stage Supremacy realm. His current breakthrough was only natural with these ripe conditions.

After Yi Yun broke through to the late-stages of the Supremacy realm, his eyes remained closed as he continued cultivating.

The divine mountain cave was an excellent spot for cultivation. He had both the Blood Fey Bone’s power in him as well as the Divine Stalactite Marrow helping him.

Yi Yun had decided to seclude himself here for a long period of time. He estimated that he could improve one step further once he completely digested the energy.

Cultivation knew no time. Yi Yun no longer had any sense of time’s passage.

The beginning of the ancient battlefield would last from ten plus years to thirty years. The warriors that entered would first seek out opportunities before seeking a wonderland where they could spend most of their time in cultivation. After all, there was a need to refine whatever opportunities one had found. After increasing their strength, they would have more of an advantage in the competition.

The seasons passed as years flew by one by one.

Bai Yueyin had fully recovered from her injuries but she did not leave. To a Godly Monarch that had a lifespan of hundreds of millions of years, a few decades was like the snap of a finger. A short meditation would take that long.

She quietly rested while regulating herself until one day, a light cracking sound suddenly emitted from the youth who was immersed in the Divine Stalactite Marrow. Like a baby dragon coming out of its shell and immediately soaring into the heavens, Yi Yun’s body suddenly released a terrifying primordial strength after the light crack.

The divine pool spun around Yi Yun crazily as his body seemed to be like a ferocious beast with a gaping maw. It was frenetically absorbing all the surrounding energy.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Yi Yun’s body emitted the sound of thunder as the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence and Primordial Chaos Destruction space, as well as various other phenomena, constantly appeared around Yi Yun.

When these phenomena disappeared, Yi Yun’s aura turned calm once more. He opened his extremely bright eyes which sparkled like the heavenly bodies in the sky.

Peak Supremacy!

Yi Yun took a deep breath, and the air in the cave became two vortices because of his mere exhalation.

Yi Yun stood up from the divine pool and took in his newfound power, Then, he punched forward. He did not use any of his body’s strength or power it with Yuan Qi.

It looked like a light punch.

Hum!

As Yi Yun swung his fist out, nomological Dao patterns naturally condensed on his fist, splitting space apart as he slammed it heavily into the mountain walls.

Immediately, the wall shook as the stone cracked. The extremely hard mountain was left with a deep fist imprint that would forever be there, with even time finding it difficult to wipe it off.

Only then did Yi Yun reveal a satisfied expression. His strength was not far from that of a Divine Lord. By becoming one would he dare to be confident, confident that he had many ways of preserving himself in the impending storm.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly felt the laws around him change. Bai Yueyin also sensed it, and she had a deeper understanding of it than him.

“Oh? It seems like it’s some change of the ancient battlefield. It has reached all the way here…” said Bai Yueyin.

The cave was almost fully isolated from the external world but it was still part of the ancient battlefield. Only the changes of the ancient battlefield’s laws could be transmitted inside.

But why now?

At that moment, Bai Yueyin realized that the nomological changes seemed to be circling Yi Yun.

After a clear hum, an ancient beam of light flew out of Yi Yun’s body.

“Oh? It’s the Decimation Token?” Yi Yun wore a look of shock.

Countless laws lingered around the token as it immediately transformed into a point of light that flew towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun did not dodge and allowed the point of light to land on his chest. It was very close to the runic mark from before.

The point of light gradually turned corporeal as it became a blood-red mark. It was ancient and mystical in a way that could send one into a daze just by mere sight of it.

Yi Yun circulated his Yuan Qi, and when the Yuan Qi passed through the blood-red mark it would emit resplendent light. Sensing that,Yi Yun punched out again.

This punch emitted a ear-piercing whistle as it landed on the imprint Yi Yun left just moments ago.

Boom!

The divine cave mountain seemed to explode as the extremely solid wall produced numerous fractures then, with a loud crack, was reduced to countless bits of rubble that peeled off.

Following that, the rubble gathered together again, mending the cracked spot on the wall, slowly restoring itself to how it was formerly.

This was the second mark…

Yi Yun pondered slightly. He had obtained the first mark in the Divine Perish Hall. He had used the Shura token to absorb the nebulous Primordial Chaos in the Divine Perish Hall.

As for the second mark, he had obtained it from the Fey God Tomb. It was likely related to his absorption of the Blood Fey Bone’s powers.

Bai Yueyin had witnessed all of this from the side. She noticed that Yi Yun already had another mark when he obtained the second mark.

“Is that the Shura mark…”

She sighed lightly. This youth had too many miracles happen to him. He had actually condensed two Shura marks. It was the recognition of the ancient battlefield. Over hundreds of millions of years, the number of Shura marks born from the ancient battlefield could be counted on one hand. Yet, Yi Yun had obtained two already.

However, Bai Yueyin clearly did not wish to raise the issue. Instead she said, “It has been twelve years. You are also at peak Supremacy. It’s time to leave this place. I will be leaving too. I have sealed the space here but once I leave, this space will open once more.”

1484 - : Breakthrough

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had been cultivating the entirety of the past twelve years. He had absorbed nearly forty percent of the Divine Stalactite Marrow, which did not exceed his promise with Bai Yueyin.

“Senior, how are your injuries?” asked Yi Yun.

“I’m fine,” replied Bai Yueyin simply.

Yi Yun nodded. He knew that the root cause of her injuries were not that easily resolved. She probably only meant that she had her injuries under control.

Noticing that Bai Yueyin was about to leave, Yi Yun had to ask the question that was burning inside him.

“Senior, pardon me for asking, but do you have a disciple named Lin Xintong?” Yi Yun took a deep breath as he calmed his emotions and asked this important question. After he did so, Yi Yun stared at Bai Yueyin intently, watching for any changes in expression. He felt slightly uneasy. Although he had spent twelve years in the cave with Bai Yueyin, he gained no understanding of Bai Yueyin’s character. Although she had never harmed him and had kept her promises, he couldn’t help but remember that she had heavily injured Azure Yang Lord, causing his defeat in battle that made him enter the lower realm in a downtrodden state. Yi Yun found her an enigma.

However, a person like Bai Yueyin was filled with mystery to begin with. It was impossible for him to easily see through her.

Lin Xintong had been taken back to the White Lunar Divine Empire by this unfathomable woman. He was naturally filled with speculation and questions.

Bai Yueyin gave Yi Yun a surprised glance. She guessed at his motives through his expression.

“That’s right. Xintong is my disciple. Why do you ask? Xintong has been focusing on cultivation and remains undistracted. She shows no interest in anything else.”

Bai Yueyin was uncertain about Yi Yun’s motives and could only warn him to forgo any wild thoughts.

Yi Yun remained silent. The way Bai Yueyin put it implied that Lin Xintong was very safe at the moment. Her tone also seemed to imply that she placed great importance on Lin Xintong.

Yi Yun did not plan on telling Bai Yueyin his relationship with Lin Xintong. If he did, she could very well hinder them in various ways or even act against him to ensure Lin Xintong’s carefree cultivation. That would be trouble.

“Senior, you are overthinking things. I have long heard of Fairy Lin’s fame and am only a little curious about her. Senior, I heard that Fairy Lin chanced upon you and that you brought her back to the White Lunar Divine Empire, is that true?” continued Yi Yun.

Bai Yueyin gave him a glance, her eyes emitting a look of displeasure. Clearly, she had no intention to entertain the topic further.

Yi Yun had no choice but to shut his mouth. He did not have a strong enough grasp of Bai Yueyin’s character. She was just too mysterious.

Yi Yun was puzzled over the reasoning behind Bai Yueyin taking Lin Xintong in as her disciple. Perhaps some spectacular event had happened to Lin Xintong?

But after seeing the great importance Bai Yueyin placed on Lin Xintong, Yi Yun no longer worried for Lin Xintong’s safety, at least for the time being. He could not continue asking for more, afraid that it would raise Bai Yueyin’s suspicions.

“It’s time to leave,” said Bai Yueyin.

Yi Yun stood up. He took one last, longing look at the Blood Fey Bone on the cave wall and the Divine Stalactite Marrow. He left the divine cavern together with Bai Yueyin.

The moment they left the divine mountain, Bai Yueyin said indifferently, “Your talent is extraordinary and the light from providence shines on you. I wish you the best.”

With that said, she raised her hand and shot a cold beam at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s heart leaped but he did not dodge. When the cold beam landed on his chest, he immediately felt as though a certain spot on his body had been stabbed by an ice needle. Following that, a gray light surged out of his body before Bai Yueyin snuffed it out with a frost beam.

Yi Yun looked at the gray light and knew that it was a mark left behind by the Ancestor God. He had broken through to the peak Supremacy realm and had his body nearly reconstructed but he had failed to discover the tracing mark. From the looks of it, the mark’s purpose was much more than just tracing.

Compared to that legendary existence, he was still too weak.

“Thank you, Senior…” Yi Yun looked up and thanked Bai Yueyin. But in that short time, there was no one in front of him. Bai Yueyin had already vanished.

A figure like Bai Yueyin naturally had many things and people that required her attention. It was impossible for her to stay with him any longer than she already had.

Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief now that Bai Yueyin was gone. It was time to continue his journey through the ancient battlefield alone.

The Fey God Tomb’s originally chaotic Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had calmed down greatly. The terrifying source of it—the Blood Fey Bone—had been taken away by Yi Yun. However, the dangers that surrounded the Fey God Tomb would continue for some time. It was like a furnace. Even if the firewood was removed, the remnant could still continue burning for quite a period of time.

Perhaps this place would become an ordinary but massive chasm after a few more centuries.

There were too many wonderlands, perilous lands, and mystic realms in this world. They would come into existence for different reasons and give birth to great dangers and even greater opportunities. They might cause a stir for a period of time, making people revere or fear them while flocking to see. Perhaps there were many stunning elites that once ended up perishing in there but, eventually, these perilous mystic realms would be forgotten in the long rivers of time…

Yi Yun sighed as he gave a deep bow in the direction of the Blood Fey Bone.

It had spent its mighty life waiting in this area for hundreds of millions of years alone, experiencing the endless barrage of time until it finally could rest…

From this day forth, those that knew of its existence would be few in number. The Fey God Tomb would eventually be forgotten.

“Senior, rest in peace. I will continue Senior Pure Yang’s legacy and complete it for him!”

Yi Yun bowed once more as he got up and proceeded out the Fey God Tomb!

“It’s been twelve years. I wonder how Luoyue and company are.” He never expected to spend so much time inside the Fey God Tomb.

Back then, they had come so far only by accompanying the warrior that had possessed the Blood Fey Bone. Yi Yun did not have the time to send them out and could only have them stay where they were. He never expected to encounter the Ancestor God in the Blood Fey Bone cave, which resulted in the need to seal it. Then Yi Yun received the Blood Fey Bone’s lifeblood powers and had to cultivate immediately. If he stopped midway, he would have wasted a great deal of energy for no reason.

“The danger in the Fey God Tomb should have decreased drastically after I absorbed the Blood Fey Bone’s powers. Luoyue and company should be fine. Besides, Fairy Yourou is there. She’s no ordinary person, so it shouldn’t be difficult for them to leave the Fey God Tomb!”

With this thought in mind, he went to where he separated from Luoyue and company. He scanned the area with his psyche and indeed, they were already gone.

Twelve years was too long for young warriors. Yi Yun felt a little sorry. He did not know how much danger they encountered while waiting for him.

“I think it’s best if I confirm they are safe. I hope that nothing ill has befallen them.”

Yi Yun stepped past the region and saw the dried riverbed from before. Twelve years ago, they had entered the Fey God Tomb by walking parallel to it.

“Oh? Someone’s there!”

Yi Yun’s mind stirred as he immediately hid himself. He saw a group of warriors approaching him while following the riverbed…

1485 - : Exiting Seclusion After Twelve Years

He was a Royal Sealed Divine Lord!

These psyche waves constantly swept over the region where Yi Yun was hiding, but since he had reached peak Supremacy level and had perfect control over his body’s energy with the Purple Crystal, he could completely prevent any energy fluctuations from reaching him. Even a Royal Sealed Divine Lord that focused on soul cultivation could not sense Yi Yun’s existence.

After searching for about eight minutes, the Royal Sealed Divine Lord gave up the search and shook his head.

“Is there nothing at all?” asked a youth.

The Royal Sealed Divine Lord said, “It might have been a mistake on my part. I felt an energy fluctuation from that area just moments ago but now that I’m carefully probing I sense nothing.”

The youth frowned slightly. “Martial Uncle, could that Yi Yun have been reduced to nothing? We have searched the Fey God Tomb numerous times but have not found even a single bone of his. Even if Yi Yun died in the most horrible fashion, he should have left behind at least some of the divine treasures he obtained in the Divine Perish Hall. Yet we have found nothing.”

“Hmph! That Yi Yun killed so many of our Great Cosmic State elites. He even killed my junior brother, Li Fire Divine Lord. I have no idea how he managed to escape the Divine Perish Hall ahead of time, never mind how he made it to the Fey God Tomb that’s millions of kilometers away. He was also truly arrogant. He thought that he was invincible after gaining some small benefit from the Divine Perish Hall, and went deep into the Fey God Tomb alone. Numerous elites throughout history have perished in there. His death is no matter, but for him to leave the divine treasures from the Divine Perish Hall in the Fey God Tomb, he has made us search in vain. If I find his corpse, I’ll definitely pulverize it!” the tiny Royal Sealed Divine Lord said hatefully.

Yi Yun heard all of that clearly from the side. Li Fire Divine Lord…

Having cultivated for twelve years, Yi Yun nearly forgot about the matter. He had killed two Royal Sealed Divine Lords in the Divine Perish Hall—Li Fire and Xing Yu. Many of the other Great Cosmic State experts had been killed by him as well. Back then, the Divine Perish Hall was sealed and only Yi Yun had been transported out. People from the Great Cosmic State should not have known what happened inside.

But now, from the conversation, he could clearly tell that the Divine Perish Hall’s entrance had been opened once again. As the trapped warriors left the Divine Perish Hall, news naturally spread.

The fruit of the Netherworld tree and the large amounts of nebulous Primordial Chaos in the inner sanctum had all been taken by Yi Yun, with the others got nothing. Ignoring the fact that Yi Yun had killed numerous people, just the treasures on him alone would make him to be the target of many even if he had not provoked anyone.

“Martial Uncle, we have been searching for years. Who knows if our continued search will bear fruit?” another person grumbled.

The tiny warrior snorted coldly. “The treasures of the Divine Perish Hall have attracted many people, especially the nebulous Primordial Chaos. It has even stirred the entity who gave us this order. So cut the grumbling! If we find Yi Yun, regardless if he is dead or alive, just getting the Netherworld fruit and the copious amounts of nebulous Primordial Chaos will result in rewards that would last you for millennia. It’d even possible to cultivate all the way to the Divine Lord realm. You might not be aware that the entity cultivates in the Primordial Chaos laws. If not, why would he be given the title Primordial Chaos Daolord?”

Once the short warrior said that, the minds of the others burned with excited thoughts. Being able to cultivate straight to the Divine Lord realm might border on exaggeration since it was still very difficult to cultivate to the level of Divine Lord no matter the resources, but just the idea of rewards from Primordial Chaos Daolord left them salivating. Perhaps he would bestow them with heritage manuals, allowing them to study some of the Primordial Chaos laws. It represented a Great Dao of Supremacy from when the Universe was first created. Just gaining a little enlightenment in such things was a great boon to them.

“Martial Uncle, you are right. I was being too impatient. Although there are many opportunities in the ancient battlefield, none of them are easily found. Although our strength isn’t bad, we are just average compared to all the geniuses in the ancient battlefield. It’s better to stay rooted to the ground and seek out Yi Yun’s corpse. It’s less risky and it would provide a huge opportunity once we find it.”

“That’s right. Speaking of which, the Fey God Tomb’s Heaven Earth Yuan Qi is getting more stable. About ten years ago, Daolord personally set up a massive array to fix the chaotic energies in here and shock the heretic demons. It was supposed to be temporary, but from the looks of it at present, this array formation seems to have quite heaven-defying effects. The dangers in the Fey God Tomb have been decreasingly greatly,” mused the short Divine Lord.

“Martial Uncle, what’s so odd about that? It’s the Massive Chaos Godfiend Array which fuses the Primordial Chaos laws. Even an Ancient Fey’s powers cannot resist the sapping of the Primordial Chaos laws,” a young warrior said proudly. Their lineage, if traced, led to one of Primordial Chaos Daolord’s disciples.

Massive Godfiend Array?

Yi Yun was slightly taken aback by that. He never imagined that the Primordial Chaos Daolord these people were talking about cultivated in the Primordial Chaos laws as well. From the looks of it, he definitely had obtained certain opportunities.

“It’s no wonder. I noticed that the further I came out of the Fey God Tomb, the faster its strength seemed to be reducing. Even though I absorbed the Blood Fey Bone, the Ancient Fey powers in here should still linger on for a very long period of time. It’s because someone is using a massive array to repress the area.”

Yi Yun sighed. If that massive lifeform’s consciousness remained, how could anything, even if it were a Massive Chaos Godfiend Array, be able to repress the Blood Fey Bone? But now that the Fey God Tomb had lost its power source, it naturally could not resist the massive array.

An expert like the short Divine Lord was able to sense a certain amount of these things. But the juniors were lacking in experience. They could only conclude that the Primordial Chaos Daolord was powerful; how was it possible for them to imagine the Fey God Tomb’s true powers?

Yi Yun revealed himself after the group departed a good distance away. He spread out his psyche and indeed, he saw many warriors searching around the Fey God Tomb.

These people were all looking for his corpse, hoping to obtain the Netherworld fruit and the nebulous Primordial Chaos to make a killing.

Yi Yun also saw that a huge gray barrier was enveloping the entire area an even further distance away.

The barrier emitted an energy fluctuation that Yi Yun was extremely familiar with. It was made from the Primordial Chaos laws.

This barrier had contained all the remnant Ancient Fey powers inside the Fey God Tomb!

These Ancient Fey powers would have dissipated into the world with the passage of time, but the barrier made it so that all the Ancient Fey powers had nowhere to dissipate to. They were being absorbed by the Massive Chaos Godfiend Array.

And at the array’s core was a gray crystal. It was about ten feet tall, and all the Ancient Fey powers that were coursing through the array gathered in the middle of the crystal, dyeing its bottom blood red.

The Ancient Fey powers were being converted into pure energy by the array, and every bit of it was gathered in that crystal!

1486 - : Massive Chaos Godfiend Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh, does the person who set up this massive array plan on taking the remnant Ancient Fey powers for his own?”

Yi Yun saw a young Divine Lord guarding the Massive Chaos Godfiend Array’s core where the crystal was. Apart from him, there were another eight people dressed in Great Cosmic State uniforms.

If the Blood Fey Bone’s consciousness was still there, it would not have permitted these people to act so impetuously on its land. But now that it was gone, they were able to freely absorb the Ancient Fey powers. It was a natural treasure that they coveted, after all. The Great Cosmic State juniors were very desirous of the gathered Ancient Fey powers.

“Eldest Senior Brother, the Fey God Tomb isn’t really that impressive from the looks of it. I’ve heard many stories of how dangerous the Fey God Tomb is when I first entered the ancient battlefield. The stories spoke of countless geniuses who perished in here, but now with Divine Lord personally taking action, a Massive Chaos Godfiend Array is enough to easily seal the area. Now, the array is working calmly, without so much as a stir. The Fey God Tomb is this and nothing more.”

A few Great Cosmic State youths were discussing with excitement. They were very respectful when it came to the young Divine Lord that led them.

He was dressed in blue clothes. His brows resembled swords and his aura was as sharp as a blade. He was the only personal disciple Primordial Chaos Daolord selected out of the younger generation. In the Great Cosmic State, all the members of the younger generation addressed him as eldest senior brother.

This was because of his well-grounded foundation. He had once trained in a particular perilous area in the Great Cosmic State for a century, making a huge and swift breakthrough, achieving the level of Divine Lord at a young age. Although he had not fused a Divine Lord Royal Seal, it was already a very impressive feat.

He smiled faintly and said, “That’s only natural. It’s not that the Fey God Tomb isn’t dangerous. It’s simply that Master’s cultivation level is just too high. In all of the Sinkhole, the next person that has any hopes of becoming Godly Monarch is Master!”

“No matter how powerful this Ancient Fey God was in the past, it has now been reduced to bone. How can its remnant powers escape Master’s grasp?”

“Definitely! Definitely! Hahahaha!”

Many of the young Great Cosmic State disciples immediately echoed him respectfully. They knew the Daolord would reward them for simply guarding the area. If Yi Yun’s body could not be found by the others, they would be the ones that did the most meritorious deeds. They might even be bestowed with a portion of the Ancient Fey powers that had been gathered by the crystal!

“Eldest Senior Brother, this crystal will be almost full in another half year.”

A young disciple rubbed his hands as he looked at the gray crystal that had been dyed red by the Ancient Fey powers with covetous eyes.

The young Divine Lord naturally knew what he had in mind. He chuckled and said, “Alright. It has been hard on all of you, guarding this crystal these past few years. In that case, I’ll extract a bit of the Ancient Fey powers to share with all of you!”

“Really!?”

Upon hearing the young Divine Lord’s offer, the young disciples brimmed with excitement. They had long yearned for the Ancient Fey powers that they had been watching over for years. Just a tiny sliver of the massive power would go a long way towards their cultivation.

“It’s just an Ancient Fey that has been dead for hundreds of millions of years. It’s not as impressive as the rumors say. Master won’t mind it either,” said the young Divine Lord proudly. To establish himself in the Great Cosmic State, he naturally needed to win over the masses. Giving tiny perks like these was a necessity.

He strode forward to the gray crystal and extended his hand to beckon, causing a red beam of light to shoot out from the crystal. It was none other than the Ancient Fey powers. When this power landed on the young Divine Lord’s hands, it shrank into a blob.

Although the Ancient Fey’s remnant consciousness was gone, the remnant lifeblood of a massive lifeform like it carried traces of instinct after fusing with its vital marks.

If the lifeblood was buried deep underground, it was possible for it to gain new sentience after absorbing the worldly essence after tens of millions of years.

This blob of lifeblood power constantly struggled in the young Divine Lord’s hands. It attempted to escape but he smiled hideously. As he grasped it in his palms, a gray flame immediately enveloped the blob.

“It’s Eldest Senior Brother’s Primordial Chaos Fire. Hahaha, this Ancient Fey actually has thoughts of resisting. The Primordial Chaos Fire conjured by Eldest Senior Brother can easily refine it.”

The surrounding young disciples gave their kudos.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

The Ancient Fey blood was constantly being burned as it let out a lamenting cry. Its vital mark was being rapidly refined away.

“Hmph, you are just an Ancient Fey that has been dead for hundreds of millions of years. If your true body were here, I might have to worry about you but all that’s left is a sliver of a vital mark. You can forget about resisting my flame. It’s futile.” The young Divine Lord was just about to inject greater strength to completely vanquish the vital mark when he suddenly felt as though the lifeblood blob in his hand had been ignited. It began to burn extremely vigorously.

“Oh? What happened?”

The young Divine Lord was taken aback. He saw that the Ancient Fey blood was producing a crimson red blood flash that burned fiercely. It was like a blood-red sun had risen inside it.

The situation was too unnatural!

The young Divine Lord sensed that something abnormal had happened. The Ancient Fey blood’s energies were rapidly increasing but how was that possible? He had limited the amount of Ancient Fey powers he had extracted. Had something else injected energy into it?

“Boom!”

The terrifying energy exploded out of the Ancient Fey blood. The blob of lifeblood suddenly transformed into a giant head as it bit down at the young Divine Lord’s wrist!

“You are courting death!”

The young Divine Lord smacked down with his palm! He was, after all, the strongest member of the Great Cosmic State’s younger generation. The might of just his palm was extraordinary. When he struck the blood-colored head’s glabella, he felt a huge jolt in his arm. All his lifeblood began stirring within him.

It’s that powerful?

Just as the young Divine Lord was coming to terms with the shock, he suddenly heard cracking sounds. He turned his head suddenly and his expression changed drastically!

He watched helplessly as the gray crystal in the Massive Chaos Godfiend Array’s core cracked. Fissures that resembled spider webs were spreading across the crystal.

Impossible! How could that be possible!?

The young Divine Lord turned pale from fright. The Massive Chaos Godfiend Array that his Master had personally set up was crumbling from its core!

The young disciples of the Great Cosmic State were also alarmed. They did not know what would happen next.

At that moment, no one knew that Yi Yun was standing a hundred feet above them in a warped space. He was looking down at them coldly.

“I never expected that Senior Ancient Fey passed down his powers to me but still left behind a vital mark. Now, a calamity has befallen it as it was sealed and tortured by these people. With Senior Ancient Fey departing this world, its powers live on in me. I shall hand over some of these powers to you and let you determine your own fate!”

Yi Yun gently beckoned.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The gray crystal began to shatter! The Ancient Fey powers sealed in it surged out like a flood!

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Terrifying roars filled the sky as the ground quaked. The lifeblood sealed in the crystal convalesced into a massive lifeform. It had two wings on its back and a forbidding horn on its head. It resembled an ancient divine dragon!

“What is it!?”

Against such a terrifying existence, the expressions of the Great Cosmic State disciples turned ashen!

“Work together and hold it back!”

The young Divine Lord yelled the order, but at that moment the blood-colored Ancient Fey’s massive wing had slashed down like a cleaver!

“Ka-cha!”

Space shattered as the might of that strike was enough to render the world asunder.

“Ah!”

Young disciples cried out tragically as their bodies were sliced clean through by the wing blade! Due to their impressive cultivation levels, they did not die immediately. However, their eyes were filled with despair and indignation as they watched their own bodies separate.

“Eldest Senior Brother, save me!”

They shouted loudly but the young Divine Lord had his hands tied. He had just dodged the wing blade’s lethal strike but at that moment the blood-colored Ancient Fey had opened its jaws, shooting a black beam of light at him!

The attack was too fast!

Power of Primordial Chaos!

The young Divine Lord roared as he released all his strength. A sliver of nebulous Primordial Chaos floated out of his dantian and formed a gray shield in front of him!

His master was Primordial Chaos Daolord, after all. He had once refined a sliver of the nebulous Primordial Chaos. Just that sliver was as heavy as a mountain, making it the best defense!

But compared to the nebulous Primordial Chaos that Yi Yun had cultivated, the eldest senior brother’s nebulous Primordial Chaos was like a tiny puddle of water against the roaring seas. It was completely incomparable. In terms of Primordial Chaos nomological insight, the difference between them was also like night and day.

Yi Yun had only injected a sliver of his Primordial Chaos nomological insight into the blood-colored column of light.

“Boom!”

The shield shattered!

The young Divine Lord never expected that the Primordial Chaos Shield he had always been so proud of would only last as long as it took to blink. He had just retrieved a green talisman from his interspatial ring—a life-preservation trump card his master, Primordial Chaos Daolord, had given him—when the black beam of light struck him in the chest. He didn’t have time to activate the talisman.

“Puah!”

His chest was penetrated as he looked at the bloody hole left inside him. He felt that his strength was rapidly vanishing…

He was dead… just like that?

The young Divine Lord felt as though he was in a dream. He felt that everything that had happened before him until his moment of death seemed surreal. He was a disciple of Primordial Chaos Daolord, the strongest person of the Great Cosmic State’s younger generation. He had a limitless future ahead of him but here he was, dead. He was feeling enormously proud of his success just moments ago, but now he was in the process of dying. Was the martial path truly that unpredictable?

“Eldest Senior Brother! Eldest Senior Brother!”

The young disciples of the Great Cosmic State cried out frantically. Their eldest senior brother, who they deemed a straw to clutch at, had been penetrated through the chest. He did not look like he would survive it!

If their eldest senior brother failed to put up any resistance, how could they have any hope of escape?

What was this blood-colored Ancient Fey? Could it be the powers sealed inside the Fey God Tomb?

However, the Fey God Tomb had long been sealed by Primordial Chaos Daolord with the Massive Chaos Godfiend Array. It had gone without incident for more than ten years. Why did this anomaly suddenly happen now?

At that moment, all of them were reeling in despair. They wished to escape but, at that moment, the furious blood-colored Ancient Fey was charging towards them.

“Puah Puah Puah!”

Blood splattered as the Great Cosmic State disciples were decapitated one-by-one. The blood-colored Ancient Fey had an extremely strong bloodlust. It showed no mercy to its enemies. It was a massive lifeform that that transcended mere humanity. Most life was at the level of ants to it. It coldly watched life turn to death, thinking nothing of the slaughter. To it, the meaning of life was solely that will and mission that had continued for hundreds of millions of years.

And now, its will had been inherited by Yi Yun!

1487 - : The Will That Continues

Yi Yun watched silently from within the void rift as the blood-colored Ancient Fey reigned over the Fey God Tomb like a god. Its massive body reached straight to the skies as its head peaked through the Massive Chaos Godfiend Array and completely tore it.

Roar!

The Ancient Fey let out a terrifying roar as it burst forward, sweeping through the area. Many warriors in the Ancient Fey God Tomb saw a surging blood aura bearing down on them from afar. Even the gray clouds of the ancient battlefield’s sky that remained perennially unchanged were dyed red.

“What happened? What happened to the Fey God Tomb?”

People were alarmed. They were aware that Primordial Chaos Daolord had come to the ancient battlefield. He was one of the few that left his name on the ancient battlefield’s World Monolith a hundred thousand years ago. To this day, his name could still be clearly seen. He naturally had no need for a teleportation jade slip to enter and exit the ancient battlefield. The only reason he was even there were the changes in the Divine Perish Hall. He decided to stop his seclusion just to come to the ancient battlefield. Then he set up the Massive Chaos Godfiend Array in the Fey God Tomb to repress the Ancient Fey’s aura.

They had all heard that the Fey God Tomb had become calmer over the years. It was as though the Massive Chaos Godfiend Array had been very effective, so they never expected an anomaly to happen today.

Could it be that the repressed Ancient Fey powers had suddenly gone berserk and destroyed the array as a result?

A Divine Lord probed the Fey God Tomb with his psyche from afar but only saw the tragic deaths of the Great Cosmic State disciples. The blood-colored Ancient Fey was indomitable. A casual swipe of its claws tore apart a portion of the world. Just the spatial storms that surged out of the rifts had ground the disciples from the younger generations to bits!

“Wow, the Great Cosmic State has suffered massive losses today.”

People began retreating even if they were already far away, afraid that they would attract the blood-colored Ancient Fey’s attention and be the next ones to perish.

Fifteen minutes later, after the blood-colored Ancient Fey left the Massive Chaos Godfiend Array in a wake of destruction, and nearly all the Great Cosmic State disciples were killed, its massive body began to shrink suddenly. Its form phased away into an invisible point and had completely vanished in mere seconds.

“That Ancient Fey blood figure has vanished!”

People shuddered in fear. It seemed they had underestimated the Fey God Tomb. From the looks of it, it was indeed still a perilous land. It was no wonder that Yi Yun, who had been basking in the limelight twelve years ago, had perished in there.

…

Of course, Yi Yun was alive and well, enveloped by the dense Ancient Fey powers as he flew in midair. The sanguine mist-like aura conformed to his flawless body, the product of twelve years of Marrow Cleansing. He looked like a sinister god that had been reborn after bathing in blood.

Whoosh—

All the sanguine aura vanished as Yi Yun was restored to his original looks. He had bestowed the bound Ancient Fey powers with the energy he had received from the massive lifeform’s consciousness. After it exacted its revenge, it automatically and successfully fused back into Yi Yun’s body.

The energy had not been depleted, but instead increased after fusing with the Ancient Fey powers that the Massive Chaos Godfiend Array had been absorbing for twelve years.

Now, Yi Yun felt as though he had gained a new lease on life. He had never been this strong before.

“Primordial Chaos Daolord, is it? To set up such a massive array and send parties to seek out my corpse?” thought Yi Yun. There was no corpse, of course, but he had given him a surprise. He was unsure what Primordial Chaos Daolord’s expression would be like when he saw all of this.

Meanwhile, at the Divine Perish Hall more than five hundred thousand kilometers away from the Fey God Tomb.

The Divine Perish Hall had already changed tremendously since Yi Yun entered. The hall’s exterior was covered in dense fog and the interior was dark. The Divine Perish Hall was not a place anyone could enter. Rumor has it that ever since the Divine Perish Hall was opened and the Spear of Primordial Chaos awakened, the area became a perilous land. Weaker warriors would perish just because they approached it.

But in this perilous land, there were dozens of Divine Lords, trying their best to collectively unseal a seal.

The Spear of Primordial Chaos’s awakening had attracted all these Divine Lords. They were all rather famous, with the strongest few being reclusive experts from the various divine empires. Some of them were even monarchs of their empire. There were a few who were original residents of the ancient battlefield, figures who had left their names on the ancient monolith!

When the ancient battlefield opened twelve years ago, the warriors that came learned that the original residents were cultivating here. Simply by having the qualification to stay in the ancient battlefield, these people were mysterious and formidable to the younger generation. They were elusive beings.

But now, with the Divine Perish Hall fully opened, people were finally able to see their true faces.

Their strength far exceeded the likes of Li Fire Divine Lord and company.

These people were acting to obtain the Spear of Primordial Chaos. Ordinary Divine Lords that had not fused a Divine Lord Royal Seal had to stay away.

But as these Divine Lords pursued the Spear of Primordial Chaos vehemently, it tunneled into space and left behind a spatial seal.

They never expected another space to be hidden within the Divine Perish Hall. This left everyone intrigued. It was not easy to unseal the sealed space but after the collective forces of dozens of Divine Lords was applied, about eighty percent of the seal had been destroyed.

With success at hand, a man right in the middle who was immersed in gray fog suddenly revealed an infuriated look.

“Who is it!? How dare they destroy my Massive Chaos Godfiend Array and kill my disciple!”

The man looked extremely young. His eyes had a gray color to them but it constantly flashed with wisps of red light. It was an extremely odd thing to look into.

“Oh? Fellow Daoist Primordial Chaos, why have you stopped acting on the seal?”

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s sudden halt left the other Divine Lords perplexed. One of the Divine Lords questioned him immediately.

“I have something immediate to tend to. I must make a move first,” said Primordial Chaos Daolord with a heavy voice.

Another Divine Lord immediately frowned. “Fellow Daoist Primordial Chaos, we had agreed to destroy this seal together. How can you leave just like that?”

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s gaze turned cold. “I will leave as and when I wish to leave. Fire Cloud, are you trying to stop me?”

“You…” Fire Cloud Divine Lord was exasperated. Primordial Chaos Daolord was a testy person but he was extremely strong. He was not someone to cross.

Upon seeing the mood turn stiff, a scholarly-looking Divine Lord suddenly smiled faintly. Extending out his arm, he flicked it, immediately destroying the frozen space between Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos Daolord without a trace.

“Primordial Chaos Daolord, Brother Fire Cloud had no such intention. However, we did make an agreement. If you truly must leave now, you should at least give us a reason,” said the scholarly Divine Lord with a smile.

Upon hearing the more reasonable scholarly Divine Lord’s words, Primordial Chaos Daolord’s cold expression calmed down.

“Sacred Horizon Divine Lord. I have some things to tend to. I should return in two hours,” said Primordial Chaos Daolord.

“If it’s only that short a time, go ahead and tend to your matters. I believe anything that requires your sudden attention can’t be trivial,” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord.

“It’s nothing so grave, either. I will resolve it quickly and return.” As Primordial Chaos Daolord spoke, his body instantly transformed into a stream of light as he charged into a rift ahead of him. The rift vanished instantly, along with Primordial Chaos Daolord’s body.

“He tore open space? From the looks of it, Primordial Chaos Daolord is very concerned over this matter. He did set up that massive array in the Fey God Tomb. Perhaps, it has something to do with the Fey God Tomb,” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord.

“Hmph, Sacred Horizon Daolord is right. What else can he be involved with apart from the Fey God Tomb in this ancient battlefield? Probably something serious has happened in the Fey God Tomb.”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord looked peeved seeing Primordial Chaos Daolord leave. At the same time, he was gloating over any misfortune that might have happened to him.

“Everyone knows about the Fey God Tomb and how Yi Yun, who had vanished there twelve years ago, is laden with treasure. Primordial Chaos Daolord is trying to monopolize it all for himself and has gotten the Great Cosmic State disciples to seal off the area. He acts like it’s his own back garden,” another Divine Lord sneered as he said.

When it came to this matter, the other Divine Lords were obviously unhappy. Despite being residents, they had missed out on the emergence of great treasures in the Divine Perish Hall and now, Primordial Chaos Daolord had rushed back outside. By capitalizing on his powerful strength, he had monopolized the Fey God Tomb. Who would be happy with that?

“This Primordial Chaos Daolord really thinks nothing of us. Not only does he refuse to share the Fey God Tomb with everyone, he was already ready to come to blows with us over a simple question. He doesn’t even show much respect to Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat,” said Fire Cloud Divine Lord.

Eclipse Arhat was a monk. He wielded a demon-felling pestle and his eyes were tightly closed. Even when he heard Fire Cloud Divine Lord mention him, he only raised his eyelids a little. His aura was powerful and majestic but if one did not take a careful look at him, one would not even notice his existence.

“Primordial Chaos Daolord has had a stunning cultivation level from a young age, after all. He has a high chance of becoming a Godly Monarch. Despite my cultivation level, I’m too advanced in my years. I have no hope of becoming a Godly Monarch, nor do I wish to embroil myself in this contest. It is normal for such a genius to have some arrogance. Everyone, let’s just continue breaking the seal. For this hidden space to be so concealed, no one has ever heard of it. We might very well be the first to step into it,” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord.

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord clearly had a high standing in this group. He was the sect master of the First Beginnings Immortal Gate. He had come to the ancient battlefield only because the Divine Perish Hall had fully opened. Although he sounded humble, no one would truly brush him off for being advanced in his years. His strength was unfathomable and some people guessed that he was only a step shy of reaching Godly Monarch.

With him saying that, everyone immediately nodded in agreement and continued destroying the seal.

…

At that moment in the Fey God Tomb, Yi Yun and the Ancient Fey powers had completely fused together. Just as he was about to leave, a spatial rift suddenly appeared high above the Fey God Tomb. Cold killing intent emanated out of it.

Yi Yun’s expression changed slightly. He could sense potent strength coming from the aura. The person who had torn open space was very likely the Primordial Chaos Daolord who had been previously mentioned!

He never expected Primordial Chaos Daolord to come so quickly. The spatial rift had been opened up from an extremely distant spot. Such a thing required an extremely profound grasp of spatial dimension laws.

In this situation, if Yi Yun were to immediately flee, he would immediately attract the attention of the incomer. Therefore, he immediately converged all his aura and stood motionless in his spot.

Yi Yun’s Primordial Chaos laws were very powerful at present. Just by standing there, he seemed to melt into the world, as though he were just another wisp of air in the sky. No one could notice him.

1488 - : Primordial Chaos Daolord Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Boom!

Primordial Chaos Daolord charged out of the spatial rift. The moment he appeared, he immediately swept the Fey God Tomb with his psyche.

Yi Yun sensed the psyche sweep pass over where he was hiding but it did not pause. Clearly, Primordial Chaos Daolord had failed to detect him. He continued converging his aura until Primordial Chaos Daolord was gone, then he felt he could leave with poise.

Primordial Chaos Daolord failed to find Yi Yun but he saw the massive array in shambles, his disciple’s corpse, and the corpses of Great Cosmic State disciples strewn across the ground.

He had failed to catch the culprit despite rushing over so quickly.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was fuming. He had killed anyone that had dared offend him ever since he made a name for himself. Even Divine Lords had learned not to provoke him, yet in this tiny Fey God Tomb, someone had dared overturn his plans.

He was above the disciples of the Great Cosmic State. He could tell at a glance that nothing otherworldly had happened in the Fey God Tomb. The destruction of his massive array had to be a result of human interference.

“Who’s there!? Get out here now!” Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly drew a long saber. As it produced a sharp whistle, it instantly cleaved apart space and struck the ground.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As though the world was quaking, a massive chasm split open in the land. Space was vibrating vigorously in the wake of the saber flash as it produced lethal spatial rifts.

Yi Yun was alarmed. He never expected Primordial Chaos Daolord to have such an irascible temper. Despite not seeing even a shadow, he had unleashed hellfire on his surroundings. Worst of all, one of the spatial rifts was sweeping towards the very spot where Yi Yun hid.

If Yi Yun remained motionless, he would likely be sliced up by the spatial rift.

Despite having struck out in fury, Primordial Chaos Daolord found it impossible to calm the raging fires in him. Just as he was about to cleave a second time to level the entire Fey God Tomb, his psyche suddenly noticed a figure flash by like a ghost.

“Let’s see you escape this!” Primordial Chaos Daolord immediately locked onto the figure as he roared angrily.

The person, who somehow evaded his detection, was truly audacious to hide under his nose!

The moment Yi Yun moved, he felt as though the surrounding space had turned into a quagmire. Above him came Primordial Chaos Daolord’s angry bellow.

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s psyche was astounding. Unless Yi Yun remained completely still, he would stir the surrounding Yuan Qi. Even the slightest motion made it so he couldn’t evade Primordial Chaos Daolord’s detection.

Therefore, Yi Yun did not panic when he was discovered by Primordial Chaos Daolord. He had long expected this.

Yi Yun’s build and looks instantly changed as he drew a sword.

At that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord’s second saber flash had arrived!

However, this strike was by no means intended to directly kill Yi Yun. Primordial Chaos Daolord only wanted to lop off Yi Yun’s limbs. Death was too simple for a person that had dared to foil his plans.

Yi Yun’s eyes were calm. As he watched the incoming saber flash that could cleave open the world, he suddenly retaliated.

His sword flashes were like water as they instantly enveloped the saber flashes of his enemy.

The corner of Primordial Chaos Daolord’s mouth suffused a cold smile. He could sense that the person before him was a mere Supremacy junior. To attempt to parry his attack was utter foolishness. Labeling him as courting death was an understatement.

However, he was also perplexed. How did a Supremacy destroy his massive array? Even if his concealment technique was somewhat unique, the massive array was not something that could be easily destroyed through such tricks.

Perhaps this person had nothing to do with the array but Primordial Chaos Daolord had no intention of stopping. Lopping off the person’s limbs and searching his soul was enough to get his answer.

At that moment, the sword flashes broke apart but did not dissipate. They transformed into thousands of sword raindrops, with each raindrop emitting the powers of Destruction. As the rain pelted the saber flashes, they eroded them clean.

But Yi Yun did not remain idle as he struck out again. More sword flashes instantly tore open a huge chasm in the ground as a powerful sword Qi surged at Primordial Chaos Daolord.

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s expression changed. This person was no simple Supremacy!

He blocked the sword Qi with his saber but his psyche lock on Yi Yun revealed that he was already rapidly escaping.

“You will not escape after daring to destroy my array!” Primordial Chaos Daolord’s cold voice echoed throughout the Fey God Tomb. He tore open a spatial rift with one hand and began his pursuit of Yi Yun.

How dare someone with the strength of an ordinary Divine Lord dare to flee under his nose!? He was certain that Yi Yun was the person who had destroyed the array! His attacks effused the power of an Ancient Fey and this only infuriated Primordial Chaos Daolord even more.

When Yi Yun bought himself some time with his strike, he immediately flew away at full speed.

Primordial Chaos Daolord had not used his full strength in the previous attack, which was why Yi Yun had managed to fully parry it. However, he entertained no illusions of how powerful Primordial Chaos Daolord was.

If a typical late-stage Supremacy were standing there, they would probably have been dismembered with one strike.

As for Yi Yun, he had not only fused with the Blood Fey Bone’s powers, he had also fused with the Ancient Fey powers that Primordial Chaos Daolord had been gathering for more than ten years. This allowed him to parry the saber strike unscathed.

However, this was not enough to make Yi Yun believe that he could clash with Primordial Chaos Daolord head-on. At the very least, he was still not Primordial Chaos Daolord’s match.

He hadn’t even fled more than five thousand kilometers when a spatial rift tore open behind Yi Yun suddenly. Primordial Chaos Daolord stepped out. “Where do you think you can flee to?”

However, just as Primordial Chaos Daolord finished his sentence, he saw Yi Yun’s body flare with a sanguine aura. He then transformed into a sanguine beam as he sped up greatly.

“Burning your blood essence? I want to see how long you can keep this up.” Primordial Chaos Daolord’s gray eyes flashed with a hint of blood-red as he spoke coldly.

He reached out his hand and tore open another spatial rift immediately.

Yi Yun and Primordial Chaos Daolord continued this game of flee and pursuit across the ancient battlefield. Soon, they were out of the Fey God Tomb’s confines.

As for Primordial Chaos Daolord, who believed that it would be an easy task to apprehend Yi Yun, he gradually sulked.

With their speed and Yi Yun’s burning of his blood essence, he should have long been enervated or even injured. Yet, Yi Yun’s momentum never once faltered.

What was going on?

Primordial Chaos Daolord was perplexed. He had given chase by tearing open space itself. Although he was very fast, he was still slightly lacking compared to Yi Yun who was burning his blood essence.

Primordial Chaos Daolord still needed to tend to matters at the Divine Perish Hall. He could not continue wasting time with Yi Yun; therefore, he decided to tear open space once more. The moment he stepped in, he immediately tore open another spatial rift.

Repeated tearing open of space demanded extremely high attainments in spatial dimension laws. Only someone with Primordial Chaos Daolord’s strength could do it.

Yi Yun immediately sensed the erratic spatial fluctuations behind him. Spatial rifts appeared successively, which greatly increased Primordial Chaos Daolord’s speed. If this continued, he would soon be caught.

Chi!

Primordial Chaos Daolord walked out of the final spatial rift and appeared in front of Yi Yun.

But at that moment, Yi Yun’s body emanated an even richer sanguine aura as his speed increased even more!

Burning blood essence was very damaging to ordinary warriors, but it was nothing to Yi Yun. After cultivating in the Dragon Emperor Technique, Yi Yun could burn up to thirty percent of his blood essence and still easily replenish it.

“He can still burn even more blood essence!?” Primordial Chaos Daolord’s expression sank. This person was too good at fleeing!

He also needed to expend a great deal of Yuan Qi to tear open the void. This was the ancient battlefield after all. Its space was extremely stable and was not something one could tear through so easily.

If this continued, he would truly lose sight of his target!

Upon coming to this conclusion, Primordial Chaos Daolord was hopping mad. He was actually watching helplessly as his target fled successfully.

Primordial Chaos Daolord gritted his teeth and tore open the void once more. But this time, he could sense that he had expended too much Yuan Qi. Although he could continue the pursuit, it would require him to give up on the Divine Perish Hall. The sudden appearance of the black divine spear seemed to hide an enticing secret.

Although he was bent on capturing the person who had destroyed his array, he still wanted to probe the Divine Perish Hall’s mystery. This left him apprehensive about expending all his Yuan Qi. If he used too much, he wouldn’t have enough to deal with people like Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat when the time came.

1489 - : Successfully Escaping Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

After tearing open space again, Primordial Chaos Daolord stepped through the spatial rift and found that Yi Yun’s back was covered in sanguine aura. His speed had not decreased in any way.

Was he really still burning his blood essence?

At that moment, the space suddenly trembled gently. Primordial Chaos Daolord’s expression shifted slightly as he turned to look.

He saw the clouds begin to move in the direction of the spatial quake as though a major anomaly had occured. However, that scene was fleeting. The sky quickly returned to normal.

“Oh? It’s the Divine Perish Hall!” Primordial Chaos Daolord’s heart jolted. The phenomenon moved precisely in the direction of the Divine Perish Hall. Some anomaly in the Divine Perish Hall had caused a fluctuation in the spatial dimension laws.

He angrily glanced at Yi Yun’s fleeing back as he sent his cold voice into Yi Yun’s ears. “You won’t escape!”

With that said, he ripped space apart again and stepped into the spatial rift. In a blink of an eye, he vanished along with the spatial rift.

“Oh? He isn’t chasing me anymore?” Yi Yun stopped after Primordial Chaos Daolord disappeared but was still wary.

Following that, he looked in the direction of the spatial quake he had just sensed. He did not know what had happened there to cause a quake that would reach him.

Furthermore, the fact that Primordial Chaos Daolord was willing to immediately abandon his pursuit to rush over meant that the anomaly was no trifling matter.

Yi Yun gently frowned. Should he head over to take a look?

Logically speaking, he ought to flee as soon as possible. But Yi Yun knew that the ancient battlefield was all about seeking opportunities. If he was going to be apprehensive about everything, he might as well dig a hole in the ground and hide. There was no point to being in the ancient battlefield if one wasn’t bold.

“I shall conceal my aura using the Purple Crystal. It shouldn’t be risky to just take a look. I will immediately retreat if things go awry.” Yi Yun quickly made up his mind.

With that, not only did he give up the opportunity to flee, he ended up changing directions and quickly followed Primordial Chaos Daolord.

…

“Scram!”

A stream of light shot towards two Divine Lords who were standing outside the Divine Perish Hall’s entrance and looking inside. The domineering force sent the two Divine Lords flying away as they let out painful and shocked grunts.

“You…” One of the Divine Lords widened his eyes and was about to say something.

“Shut up.” The other black-robed Divine Lord immediately stopped him.

They watched the stream of light surge into the Divine Perish Hall.

“Dao Brother, why did you stop me? I was only standing outside the hall to look. He attacked us without even saying anything…” The tall Divine Lord that had glared said in a peeved tone.

“That’s Primordial Chaos Daolord. He’s not the type to be reasonable with you. If you offend him, he will not even think about the faction that backs you. I have already heard that this place disallows most people from entering. Only important figures like Primordial Chaos Daolord, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, and Eclipse Arhat, as well as Royal Sealed Divine Lords have the right to stay in there. It’s best we leave. Even if there are great advantages in there, it’s not for the likes of us unless you’re willing to risk death,” said the other black-robed Divine Lord.

Upon hearing Primordial Chaos Daolord’s name, the tall Divine Lord’s expression changed. He was only an ordinary Divine Lord and was completely no match for him.

At that moment, another stream of light flew over from afar.

These two Divine Perish Halls watched the stream of light circle the Divine Perish Hall’s entrance a few times in shock before it silently flew in.

There was really someone who was so sick of living.

The stream of light was naturally Yi Yun. He never imagined that the anomaly would stem from the Divine Perish Hall.

Furthermore, he had learned from the two Divine Lords’ conversation that this place had long been sealed. In addition, Primordial Chaos Daolord and others had been plotting something in here all this while.

Yi Yun had visited the Divine Perish Hall once and reaped tremendous benefits from it. He had left upon claiming his prize. If not for Primordial Chaos Daolord, he would not have come here again. Could it be that the group of people inside were conspiring for that black spear?

The black spear was protected by the field of nebulous Primordial Chaos around it. Furthermore, it was in a sealed state. Even though Yi Yun had obtained the Shura mark back then, he had not been able to approach it. Instead, he had been thrown into a spatial rift and directly transported to the Fey God Tomb.

Could it be that an anomaly was affecting the black spear, enticing all these people to conspire for it?

Yi Yun would not sit idly by while Primordial Chaos Daolord obtained the black spear. He and Primordial Chaos Daolord were already in a situation where they were at each other’s throats.

Coming to this conclusion, Yi Yun concealed himself as he slowly approached the spot where the black spear was.

And in a perilous land of the Divine Perish Hall, a spatial door suddenly opened. However, the spatial storms it revealed raged wantonly, preventing one from approaching it.

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and company stood in front of the spatial door when, suddenly, a stream of light flew over and stopped. It was Primordial Chaos Daolord.

“Fellow Daoist Primordial Chaos is back.” Sacred Horizon Divine Lord nodded at Primordial Chaos Daolord.

“Fellow Daoist Primordial Chaos, did something happen at the Fey God Tomb? You have sealed that place with a massive array. Did the Ancient Fey powers sealed within rebel against you or something?” asked a Divine Lord.

Primordial Chaos Daolord replied with a livid expression. “Some punk who’s sick of living came to cause trouble. As I was in a rush to tend to the matters here, I temporarily spared his life. I will definitely kill him in good time. The sect backing him will also be annihilated. If he has a family clan, I’ll exterminate them too.”

The Divine Lords wore a mix of emotions on their faces. Primordial Chaos Daolord was always like this. The person he was chasing likely knew that the massive array was set up by Primordial Chaos Daolord but he had still dared caused trouble. They were truly curious about how anyone could have such courage.

They knew that Primordial Chaos Daolord had a Divine Lord disciple presiding over the situation. For Primordial Chaos Daolord to rush there personally, the massive array was probably in utter ruins. In such a situation, the culprit wouldn’t live for long. Even people that were connected to him would be killed by Primordial Chaos Daolord one after another.

Fire Cloud Divine Lord had a derisive look on his face. Primordial Chaos Daolord had left like he had everything under control but returned with his face ashen.

“Has the spatial node opened?” Primordial Chaos Daolord asked, clearly having no intention to discuss the Fey God Tomb.

“Only halfway. However, with you back, your spatial dimension laws will allow us to quickly enter,” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord.

“Let’s do it together,” said Primordial Chaos Daolord.

As he spoke, he immediately released his spatial dimension laws as he removed the spatial storms within the spatial door.

The others acted in accordance. Although these Divine Lords were not famously adept in spatial dimension laws, they were only slightly below Primordial Chaos Daolord.

With so many people working together, the spatial door’s storms were quickly attenuated. Immediately following that, a passageway the size of a person began to appear. Through it, one could see the extensive starry cosmos.

At that moment, a spear’s hum was heard. The Spear of Primordial Chaos flashed across the starry cosmos and, immediately following that, another gray nebulous stream flew across the starry cosmos.

“It’s… the nebulous Primordial Chaos!”

For nebulous Primordial Chaos to actually exist in the starry cosmos left everyone pleasantly surprised, especially Primordial Chaos Daolord. He could not even contain his excitement.

He had scoured the Fey God Tomb in search of Yi Yun’s corpse for nebulous Primordial Chaos. He had failed to find it all this time and even lost his massive array for it.

He never expected to discover what had evaded him in the Fey God Tomb in this spatial plane.

The starry cosmos was obviously an independent world and it was extremely extensive. Its interior exuded a nomological aura that was different from an ordinary world’s. Meditating over the nebulous Primordial Chaos in such a place would be much more effective than in the ordinary world.

More than ten Divine Lords had combined forces to open the entrance to this spatial plane. Yet even if these people were the strongest in the Sinkhole, or were elites that had left their names on the ancient battlefield, they found the potent nomological sealing forces in the spatial plane unbearable.

They had gotten just short of opening it!

Primordial Chaos Daolord was reeling with excitement. He never expected that the black spear was acting as a seal to a world!

What world was this? Why was a divine artifact used to seal it?

And at that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly felt a nomological fluctuation in the periphery of the Divine Perish Hall.

Oh!?

Primordial Chaos Daolord knitted his brows. They were gathered in the Divine Perish Hall and had set up an array formation outside. There were also disciples protecting it, but now a spatial fluctuation had suddenly happened. What just happened?

But at that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord was injecting all his Yuan Qi into the spatial node to open it. He had nothing to spare for a probe.

Just as Primordial Chaos Daolord was about to say something, a stream of light abruptly flashed across them as a figure appeared. Lifeblood burned over him as he shot straight into the spatial passageway that had just been opened slightly.

“Who is it!?” Sacred Horizon Divine Lord bellowed.

Even as he said that, Primordial Chaos Daolord was already raging mad.

“It’s you!” Primordial Chaos Daolord saw the familiar blur of burning blood essence and guessed the person’s identity.

He immediately felt blood rush to his head. This person was truly arrogant to dare follow him here and even snatch the fruits of his labor from under his nose!

But the spatial passageway had just opened and was still unstable. If they stopped, the spatial passageway would close again, preventing them from entering.

All of Primordial Chaos Daolord’s powers had to be used in maintaining the spatial passageway and so he was unable to spare anything to deal with Yi Yun. Therefore, despite his rage, he could only helplessly watch as Yi Yun charged into the spatial passageway!

“That’s fine too. By entering that sealed world, you are courting your death!” Primordial Chaos Daolord said through clenched teeth.

But at the instant Yi Yun entered the spatial passageway, he suddenly extended a finger—

Whoosh!

A black stream of light shot out from Yi Yun’s finger as it went straight for Primordial Chaos Daolord’s chest!

This was a move he had learned from the Divine Perish Hall—Shura Finger. By condensing his decimation aura and the nebulous Primordial Chaos at his fingertip, he shot out a beam that could tear through the world!

As Yi Yun had burned his blood essence more than ten times, his Yuan Qi was lacking. The shot was only at half might but that was more than enough. Primordial Chaos Daolord was completely unable to parry the attack!

“Ahhh! You are courting death!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord raged, helpless as the beam shot at him!

1490 - : Snatching Food From The Tiger’s Proverbial Jaws Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Get lost!” Primordial Chaos Daolord opened his mouth and let out an angry boom.

His booming voice formed swirling sound waves which mixed with the grayish fog before colliding with the finger beam.

Boom!

This beam had some of its strength weakened when it tore through the sound waves but it continued tearing forward before making a direct hit on Primordial Chaos Daolord’s chest.

Primordial Chaos Daolord felt like a tiny mountain had slammed into him, and when the forces of the beam surged into his body, he felt his lifeblood enter turmoil.

If Primordial Chaos Daolord had circulated his Yuan Qi in a timely fashion, diverting the decimation aura and the nebulous Primordial Chaos away, it would not have amounted to much. But he had to maintain the casting of his spatial dimension laws at that moment. He could not afford to commit to defense.

Primordial Chaos Daolord let out a heavy grunt as a wisp of blood seeped out the corner of his mouth.

The other Divine Lords were alarmed. That one strike had managed to injure Primordial Chaos Daolord!

Killing intent erupted out of Primordial Chaos Daolord’s body as he watched Yi Yun’s figure furiously, eyes shimmering with sanguine light.

This cowardly person had taken advantage of his perilous state to publicly injure him!

Yi Yun found it regretful that his strike had failed to severely damage Primordial Chaos Daolord. He believed that he had scored the perfect opportunity to sneak an attack on Primordial Chaos Daolord but he was simply too strong.

After his finger beam hit, Yi Yun’s figure vanished into the spatial passageway.

The moment Yi Yun entered the stellar world, he immediately sensed the surrounding nomological changes.

The area will filled with Primordial Chaos laws and the space was hundreds if not thousands of times heavier than the outside world.

Few could have expected that the ancient battlefield held such a mystical land within. Furthermore, it appeared to be sealed…

After Yi Yun entered the spatial passageway, Primordial Chaos Daolord immediately strengthened his casting of the spatial dimension laws. He emitted a terrifying aura that even left his fellow Divine Lords feeling threatened.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was no doubt a walking volcano, one that would erupt at any moment.

Ka Ka Ka!

The spatial passageway had finally been fully opened. Primordial Chaos Daolord said with a sunken expression, “Everyone, let’s enter.”

Everyone entered the spatial passageway and, the moment they entered, they immediately felt what Yi Yun had experienced.

“Oh? In here, my body seems to be several times its usual weight.”

The Divine Lords present were top experts. With their strength, they were unaffected by their body weight in flight or combat, to the point that they wouldn’t even sense it. But now, they felt like mortals inside the Primordial Chaos space. They had the illusion of their bodies turning heavy.

“Our flying speed has reduced.”

“It’s the Primordial Chaos laws. A tiny sliver of the nebulous Primordial Chaos is as heavy as a mountain and a wisp of it is as heavy as a star. There is quite a sizable amount of nebulous Primordial Chaos in this starry space. It’s only normal for the environment to take on such properties,” explained Sacred Horizon Divine Lord.

If an ordinary Divine Lord came here, they would be unlikely to proceed even an inch. And if it was a Supremacy, they would probably be repressed by the space, to the point of having their body and bones squashed flat. The outcome of warriors at even lower levels was obvious.

However, the stranger the space, the more anticipation the Divine Lords had. Apart from seeking the Spear of Primordial Chaos in here and absorbing the nebulous Primordial Chaos, they wished to uncover the secret of this spatial plane.

At that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly produced a few seals and threw them at the spatial passageway.

The spatial passageway began to quake violently as spatial storms appeared once again, instantly barricading the spatial passageway.

“Fellow Daoist Primordial Chaos, why are you doing that?” asked a Divine Lord immediately.

Primordial Chaos Daolord said, “There’s no need to worry. I just made a slight alteration. That punk’s concealment arts are quite impressive. He managed to sneak in because of that. I have sealed the spatial passageway, and I will naturally release it once I kill that punk. I believe none of you are in a rush to leave after finally getting in, am I right? Besides, I’ll eventually want to leave as well. You do not need to worry that I will keep us sealed in here.”

They were naturally in no rush to leave. As for Primordial Chaos Daolord’s reason, it was quite reasonable. The person in question did have very formidable concealment arts. At the very least, none of them were able to detect him.

Furthermore, although Primordial Chaos Daolord was very skilled in spatial dimension laws, it was not impossible for them to open the seal if they joined forces. Even if Primordial Chaos Daolord thought nothing about them, he wasn’t so foolish as to cross all of them.

“In that case, I wish you a quick return,” said a Divine Lord.

Primordial Chaos Daolord did not speak further. His eyes were cold as he immediately turned and charged into the stellar space.

“It’s no wonder that person dared to cross Primordial Chaos Daolord. He is truly bold and decisive but I do not sense the aura of a Divine Lord Royal Seal from him. Don’t tell me that he is an ordinary Divine Lord? Yet, his techniques are truly strange and mystical.” Fire Cloud Divine Lord felt appeased that Primordial Chaos Daolord had suffered so publicly in front of everyone.

Yet the group of people were not fully convinced by his words. How could an ordinary Divine Lord have such strength? Although his assault on Primordial Chaos Daolord happened when he was preoccupied, it was no trifling matter for him to destroy Primordial Chaos Daolord’s Massive Chaos Godfiend Array.

“Regardless of his cultivation level, he’s likely a young man. I could sense that his bone age is limited…” Sacred Horizon Divine Lord said. “However, he has completely infuriated Primordial Chaos Daolord, who is now bent on killing him first instead for seeking out the opportunities this space holds. He won’t have long to live.”

With Primordial Chaos Daolord’s strength, killing an ordinary Divine Lord in a sealed space was a given when the other party had nowhere to run.

After Yi Yun came to this stellar plane, he had carefully flown deeper. Along the way, he saw a stellar fragment and ended up sitting on it.

The stellar fragment automatically flew forward and although it was not very fast, it saved Yi Yun quite a bit of energy. Back when he escaped Primordial Chaos Daolord, he had expended quite a lot of blood essence. This was the perfect time to meditate and recover his strength while the stellar fragment carried him.

Yi Yun’s Dragon Emperor Technique seemed to provide endlessly. When other warriors expended their blood essence, they would require a long period of recuperation before they could return back to peak state.

However, Yi Yun was different. The only flaw of cultivating the Dragon Emperor Technique was that it required the expenditure of a massive number of natural treasures. As long as he had them, his body could rapidly absorb them to supplement his lifeblood forces without any side effects.

And years ago, in order to refine the Dragon Emperor Relic, Yi Yun had gathered plenty of natural treasures. He immediately took out the pills and relics in his interspatial ring to consume them. After making a few circulations, he slowly regained the blood essence he had expended.

Four hours later, Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief. He began observing the starry space he was in while sitting on the stellar fragment.

No planet could be seen in the starry space but there were plenty of fragments and dust. Certain places had chaotic turbulences that contained nebulous Primordial Chaos. With it being as heavy as a star, the interactions would result in formidable torsional forces. If anyone were to be sucked in by these forces, they would be ground to shreds.

Yi Yun sensed that this was a desolate stellar space. It appeared like a space that held a recently born world or the remnants of a destroyed world.

1491 - : Pursuit

Was this a world left behind from the birth of the Universe? Why was the Spear of Primordial Chaos sealing such a place?

Yi Yun felt that this world seemed to hide something.

As Yi Yun was pondering over such matters, a gray mist suddenly flashed across his vision.

“Oh? This nebulous Primordial Chaos seems somewhat different?”

Yi Yun did not hesitate to pursue the nebulous Primordial Chaos.

He didn’t chase it for long before he suddenly discovered several tiny sparkling crystals floating around the nebulous Primordial Chaos.

As the crystals produced mesmerizing colors, their aura was extremely magnificent. Despite being the size of beans, they contained the splendor of a world.

“These are… Chaos Gems!”

Yi Yun revealed a look of pleasant surprise. During a Great World’s birth, the primeval laws that remained inside the star would condense into a huge mineral vein, known as World Stones!

World Stones were the currency of the 12 Empyrean Heavens but the Sinkhole did not use them. It had a better replacement. At the birth of the Sinkhole, the Sinkhole World Stones that were condensed from the worldly laws were even more perfect. When mined, they had the quality of natural jade; thus, they were named Spirit Jade. Similarly, Spirit Jade was used as currency in the Sinkhole.

Spirit Jade with excellent quality were mined from the core Spirit Jade mineral vein and were deemed Jade Marrow, or were also given the name Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus. Their prices were extremely high and even a Divine Lord would typically only have dozens of them. Only Godly Monarchs would have them in excessive amounts, thus giving Godly Monarch Immortal Annulus its name.

But above Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli, there were even more precious kinds of World Stones.

Legend had it that at the birth of the entire Universe, the worldly laws fused with the nebulous Primordial Chaos, forming the most primeval World Stone. They were born together with space-time, Yin and Yang, preceding the five elements and all things.

Such World Stones were called Chaos Gems!

It was possible for World Stones to be produced again. The Universe was vast and ever-changing. Over billions of years, new Great Worlds would form all the time.

However, Chaos Gems would never form again. Unless the Universe came to an end, giving birth to a new Universe, there would be no opportunity for new Chaos Gems to form.

Chaos Gems were rare to begin with. Furthermore, since much time had passed since the ancient age, these rare Chaos Gems had been found by people and depleted. They were nearly extinct.

Prior to this, Yi Yun had only heard the legends of Chaos Gems but now, he was actually seeing real Chaos Gems!

Even if the Chaos Gems were the size of beans, they were sufficient to make Yi Yun’s heart race.

These gems were formed from the most primeval laws under the heaven and earth. They were born from the birth of the Universe and were the foundational rocks of the Universe!

He never expected the space he was in would have traces of such things. This world was clearly extremely old and had not been stepped into for hundreds of millions of years!

Yi Yun flew towards the Chaos Gems but the moment he approached one, it would shoot into the cosmos rapidly like a meteor.

“This…” Yi Yun was completely taken aback. Had these Chaos Gems gained sentience after so much time? It was hard to imagine Chaos Gems producing living spirits.

It was very fast!

Yi Yun furrowed his brows. Here, his movement was restricted by the laws present but the Chaos Gems were completely unaffected. They streaked out as resplendent beams across the sky and flew deep into the starry cosmos.

Yi Yun was obviously not going to let the Chaos Gems slip away from him. He targeted the smallest Chaos Gem and chased after it. The smaller the Chaos Gem, the slower it was, making it easier for him to grasp it.

The Chaos Gem seemed to possess a basic level of intelligence. It came to a stop after it pulled a certain distance away from Yi Yun. This time, Yi Yun powered his Dragon Emperor Technique and accelerated to maximum speed. He extended his hand to grab the Chaos Gem!

Whoosh!

The Chaos Gem reacted extremely quickly, perfectly flashing to dodge Yi Yun’s snatch.

Oh!?

Yi Yun gave a clear cry as massive amounts of Yuan Qi erupted from him. Primordial Chaos and decimation aura began condensing around Yi Yun, forming a Primordial Destruction domain!

Whoosh—

The boundless Primordial Chaos powers radiated outwards and, although Yi Yun’s movement was hindered, the Primordial Destruction domain did not seem to face any obstacles. After all, the Primordial Chaos laws were almost perfectly congruent with the world he was in.

As such, even though the Chaos Gem was escaping at full speed, it eventually became enveloped by the Primordial Destruction domain.

“Retrieve!”

Yi Yun focused his mind, instantly binding the Chaos Gem. It began slamming in every direction with terrifying strength.

Yi Yun frowned. He never expected the Chaos Gem to possess such strength. It had nearly charged out of its confines.

He controlled the Primordial Destruction domain and gradually contracted it.

The Chaos Gem was finally suppressed. Yi Yun relaxed slightly and held the Chaos Gems in his palm.

The Chaos Gem was just too small, slightly bigger than a rice grain. But even so, Yi Yun felt a nearly unbearable weight in his palm.

“How heavy!”

Holding the Chaos Gem in hand, Yi Yun felt like he was holding onto a star.

He took a few deep breaths, calming the turbulent Yuan Qi inside of him before he slowly wrapped the Chaos Gem with Primordial Chaos laws.

Just holding the grain-sized Chaos Gem was already so difficult. If it were any other Supremacy, they would have to watch helplessly and do nothing.

As the Primordial Chaos laws enveloped the Chaos Gem, the connection of the laws allowed Yi Yun to feel wisps of energy surge into his body.

His Dragon Emperor Technique automatically circulated itself to absorb the energy.

The energy was extremely abnormal. It could not be called Yuan Qi, but would be more appropriately labeled “Chaos Qi.” They were the first wisps of Qi in the heaven and earth at their birth. Back then, they did not belong to any laws; thus giving them the name of Chaos.

Yi Yun was absorbing the Qi left behind from the primeval Universe. It perfectly harmonized with the Great Dao of the heaven and earth, or it could be said that it itself was a Great Dao. Just absorbing a wisp of it was equivalent to merging with the primeval Universe’s laws. It was indeed a rare opportunity.

Yi Yun hid inside the stellar fragment with the Chaos Gem. The stellar fragment was the size of a tiny mountain and after expending a great deal of strength, Yi Yun bore open a cave in it. Hiding inside it after placing a concealment array at the entrance, Yi Yun sat cross-legged deep inside the stellar fragment. He held the Chaos Gem in hand as thin, smoky wisps of Chaos Qi constantly surged into his body.

Every wisp was something he deeply cherished.

The Dragon Emperor Technique’s circulation immediately sped up. The blood essence that Yi Yun had lost previously was completely replenished quickly as his lifeblood even seemed to turn more exuberant.

Constantly maintaining a highly concentrated Primordial Chaos domain expended a great deal of Yi Yun’s energy but the vacuum that was left behind was replenished with Chaos Qi.

If Yi Yun’s body was described as a reservoir, with energy being the water, then he was now expelling all the ordinary water that was originally in him and replacing it with Chaos water. Not only was the reservoir expanding greatly as result, the water itself was experiencing in a qualitative improvement.

With that, Yi Yun entered a trance like state for cultivation.

He did not know how much time had passed before he finally finished absorbing all the Chaos Qi inside the Chaos Gem. He had already reached the pinnacle of the Supremacy realm but he had gained a tiny sliver of improvement, coming increasingly close to the Divine Lord realm.

Ever since he stepped into the ancient battlefield, Yi Yun’s cultivation level increased rapidly. It would be easy to get an unstable foundation as a result.

“River of Forgetfulness’s water!”

Yi Yun flipped his hand and took out a tiny bottle from his interspatial ring. This was the River of Forgetfulness’s water he received from the Nine Li Magus Empire. He had a tiny amount left and although the effects were far poorer than before, they could still prove useful.

With the water, Yi Yun experienced time at a much slower speed than the outside world. It gave him plenty of time to solidify his foundation.

As the final wisp of Chaos Qi was digested by Yi Yun, he gradually felt the world in front of him seem to change.

Chains seemed to appear in the starry cosmos out of nowhere. Some were thick and others thin. These chains were interlinked, forming ordered chains that seemed to prop up the cosmos.

What seemed like messy and disorderly stellar fragments or stellar dust that drifted in the cosmos were in fact laws that resided on these chains.

These nomological chains could not be clearly seen usually but could only be vaguely sensed. People with astounding talent had a high affinity with the worldly laws, allowing them to sense the laws at a deeper level, giving them deeper insights.

There were others that would never sense the Great Dao laws their entire lives.

But now, through the Chaos Qi, Yi Yun was able to see the Great Dao laws that connected the world. They coruscated with resplendent light like a bridge across the heaven and earth.

Despite seeing the laws through the Chaos Qi, it did not mean he could necessarily figure them out. For many warriors, however, seeing it gave them hope. Of course, how much of the laws one could figure out through the Chaos Qi depended on a warrior’s talent.

The nomological chains that Yi Yun could see nearly spread across all of the cosmos. Through these laws, he seemed to be able to take in everything he saw.

On the stellar fragment, Yi Yun silently meditated over it. The Chaos Qi constantly circulated him as an ancient aura emitted from him…

1492 - : Primordial Grounds Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Deep in the starry cosmos, a figure emanating gray mist was traversing through the stellar fragments. He was none other than Primordial Chaos Daolord.

He had long recovered from the injury Yi Yun had inflicted on him, but the humiliation he suffered could only be washed clean with Yi Yun’s fresh blood.

By relying on his Primordial Chaos laws, Primordial Chaos Daolord experienced the restriction of the starry cosmos less than other Divine Lords. Although his flying speed was incomparable to what it was outside, he was in no way slow.

Primordial Chaos Daolord failed to discover any trace of Yi Yun after flying a particular distance but he had expected that. It would instead have been abnormal if Yi Yun had not hidden himself after entering the starry cosmos.

Once Yi Yun used his concealment arts, he was even harder to find in the starry cosmos.

Perhaps when Primordial Chaos Daolord sought opportunities in the future, Yi Yun might be hiding right beside him to snatch them. As long as that hidden risk was present, Primordial Chaos Daolord could not feel at ease enough to search the stellar cosmos.

Primordial Chaos Daolord stopped and coldly swept his gaze ahead of him.

Following that, a strange aura slowly emanated from his body.

This aura formed countless threads that radiated slowly out from him.

Following that, Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly extended his hand and continued producing more than ten seals.

While producing the seals, a tiny bit of sweat effused his forehead.

This art was strenuous to use even in the outside world, to say nothing of using it in the restrictive cosmos.

And as Primordial Chaos Daolord produced one seal after another, all sorts of invisible threads seemed to weave into an all-encompassing net that spread outwards while he stood right in the middle of the net.

After finishing the final seal, Primordial Chaos Daolord closed his eyes and spread out his arms. There were threads that could be faintly seen on all ten of his fingers, and as he moved his fingers, the all-encompassing net would gently vibrate.

“Search!”

Instantly, Primordial Chaos Daolord’s psyche coursed through these threads and extended out to extremely distant areas in every possible direction.

This was the Earth Visual Heaven Auditory mystic art. Primordial Chaos Daolord had paid quite a significant price to cast this mystic art.

His psyche would suffer slight damage and it would also drain a sizable amount of his Yuan Qi.

And yet, Primordial Chaos Daolord was already casting the Earth Visual Heaven Auditory for the fourth time. Every time he cast it, he needed to rest for two hours. After a slight recovery, he would switch to another spot to continue the search. All of this effort he was expending to find Yi Yun.

Every time he cast the Earth Visual Heaven Auditory mystic art, he could search an expansive region of the stellar cosmos. This time, when Primordial Chaos Daolord’s psyche swept across a stellar fragment, he sensed something slightly different about it.

Instantly, Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes opened. His gray eyes flashed ominously.

“Found you.”

In that stellar fragment, Yi Yun jolted awake from his trance-like cultivation.

At that instant, a cold and sinister aura had swept past him. It felt like a venomous snake slithering towards him.

He immediately realized that it was Primordial Chaos Daolord!

He never expected Primordial Chaos Daolord to find him in the vast stellar cosmos while he hid inside the stellar fragment.

Without any hesitation, Yi Yun charged straight out of the stellar fragment and immediately fled into the distance.

But at that moment, a beam flew towards him at a astounding speed.

Before the beam reached Yi Yun, it produced a gigantic hand phantom that seemed to instantly traverse space to come pressing down at Yi Yun.

Simultaneously, a potent binding force immediately enveloped Yi Yun.

Primordial Chaos Daolord did not even bother engaging Yi Yun in senseless banter. He wanted to cripple Yi Yun as soon as possible!

As long as the gigantic hand could restrain Yi Yun for even a few seconds, Primordial Chaos Daolord would arrive. And when that happened, Yi Yun would be meat for the slaughter.

Yi Yun’s expression changed when he faced the gigantic hand.

He sensed that as the gigantic hand came at him, the surrounding space was being deformed by it. Also, there was a strange suction force that constantly emitted from the hand.

If he was a warrior with slightly weaker strength, this incoming strike would probably have reduced him to mush immediately.

But even with Yi Yun’s present strength, withstanding the strike was absolutely not a breeze.

Yi Yun’s eyes focused as he looked at the gigantic hand. Just like how he had seen the true world through the Chaos Qi, the true form of the gigantic hand appeared in Yi Yun’s vision.

The gigantic hand’s energy, along with spatial dimension laws, were interspersed together in a bid to grind Yi Yun to death.

Meanwhile, Primordial Chaos Daolord was rapidly flying towards him.

It was at that moment Yi Yun took action.

A cold beam flashed in his hand as took out Mirage Snow.

“Slash!”

When the sword flash appeared, it looked like a crescent that coldly scattered across the starry cosmos.

And this sword flash of forlorn beauty stabbed straight towards the gigantic hand. The sword flash was highly disproportionate in size compared to the gigantic hand. It was like an infant trying to fend off a giant.

“You overestimate yourself and think too highly of your strength.” Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes were ice-cold.

But at that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord’s expression changed drastically.

The sword flash could not have destroyed the gigantic hand to begin with, but when it stabbed the hand, Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly felt that it was difficult to control the hand.

The gigantic hand froze and immediately following that, a crack appeared.

Ka Ka Ka!

Even more cracks appeared at a constant rate. Even though Primordial Chaos Daolord was frantically attempting to control the gigantic hand, it was a lost cause like a breach of flood waters!

Primordial Chaos Daolord looked at Yi Yun in disbelief. Yi Yun’s strike had managed to tear through his laws!

Unless Yi Yun’s understanding of spatial dimension laws was higher or more profound than his, this was clearly impossible.

Back when he was pursuing Yi Yun, he had constantly ripped open space and Yi Yun was only capable of burning his blood essence to flee. This implied that his attainment in spatial dimension laws was far inferior to his.

So what was going on now?

Had Yi Yun reached a stage where he no longer needed to be well-versed in laws to slice open his attack?

At that moment, Yi Yun immediately turned around after destroying the gigantic hand and flew deep into the starry cosmos.

His expression was somewhat ugly. It was not as easy slicing apart the laws as Primordial Chaos Daolord imagined.

However, his eyes were coruscating with excitement. His strike had been a product of luck but it had actually succeeded!

If he failed, he would likely have paid a terrible price and been unable to escape from danger.

But now, he had already escaped Primordial Chaos Daolord’s restraint and was fleeing at full speed.

When Primordial Chaos Daolord saw Yi Yun’s escaping figure, the astonished look on his face vanished instantly.

The look in his eyes turned heavy as his ice-cold voice penetrated the void and entered Yi Yun’s ears. “Are you still trying to flee? Unfortunately, that trick of burning your blood essence is useless in here.”

Even though Yi Yun had sliced through his spatial dimension laws, his flying speed was far inferior to his. Here, with the Primordial Chaos laws restraining them, Yi Yun’s strength was greatly reduced! Even if he burned his blood essence, it was insufficient to bridge the gap in their strength.

But at that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly saw a gray mist appear around Yi Yun’s surroundings.

Yi Yun’s finger beam from before was enough to let Primordial Chaos Daolord know that Yi Yun had some understanding of Primordial Chaos laws, since that strike contained nebulous Primordial Chaos.

But what Yi Yun was presently doing still far exceeded his expectations. Yi Yun appeared to have rather deep insight into Primordial Chaos laws!

But even so, it was useless. The difference in strength between the two of them remained stark.

Immediately following that, the gray mist around Yi Yun gradually solidified and began expanding. Finally, it seemed to form an independent space that enveloped Yi Yun.

It was a Primordial Chaos space!

It constantly expanded, becoming like a boat that moved at an increasingly easy pace through the cosmos.

By using the Primordial Chaos space to forge a path forward, it made Yi Yun nearly unaffected by the Primordial Chaos laws’ restriction.

Upon seeing this happen, Primordial Chaos Daolord was alarmed. How was this possible!?

He had been able to come into contact with Primordial Chaos laws due to a special opportunity. He once found a numinous treasure that had been left behind in ancient times. Inside the numinous treasure were sealed Primordial Chaos laws, and it was for that reason that he could stand out among so many geniuses. He was peerless at his realm, as evidenced when he left his name on the ancient battlefield’s World Monolith!

But how did this ordinary Divine Lord have such an opportunity!? And even if he had obtained one, the Primordial Chaos laws were abstruse. Gaining any insight into them was an exceedingly difficult task. Furthermore, once this path of cultivating in the Primordial Chaos laws was taken, one needed to condense a nine-leaf Dao fruit in the Dao Manifestation realm!

Back then, in order to condense a nine-leaf Dao fruit for the Primordial Chaos laws, he had waited several centuries to fortify his foundation!

Yet, this person’s Primordial Chaos laws were not inferior to his. And he did not appear old at all. This made Primordial Chaos Daolord, whose title had Primordial Chaos in it, feel disbelief and incredulity.

He instantly recalled that the person had managed to destroy the Massive Chaos Godfiend Array in the Fey God Tomb precisely because he had grasped such profound Primordial Chaos laws. And the reason why he possessed so much nebulous Primordial Chaos had to be that he had found Yi Yun’s corpse!

He was very likely a person who had cultivated in the Primordial Chaos laws to begin with. After he obtained the opportunities left behind by Yi Yun, his strength had improved by leaps and bounds.

Upon coming to this realization, Primordial Chaos Daolord fumed. This person had taken the opportunity from Yi Yun and had to be someone astonishing. If he could obtain it, becoming a Godly Monarch was only a matter of time!

It was not that Primordial Chaos Daolord could not connect the Yi Yun in front of him with the corpse he was looking for, but that he was working with information he already knew about Yi Yun. Yi Yun was only a young man at the mid-stage Supremacy level. His age was likely only three to four hundred years old.

Primordial Chaos Daolord refused to believe that a three to four hundred year old Supremacy could have the time to condense a nine-leaf Primordial Chaos Dao fruit and cultivate to the strength of a Divine Lord, becoming able to injure even him.

“Perfect. I have no need to continue searching for Yi Yun’s corpse. All I need to do is extract the nebulous Primordial Chaos from your body,” said Primordial Chaos Daolord coldly.

Even if Yi Yun was fast, how could Primordial Chaos Daolord let him go? He was now even more eager to capture Yi Yun.

The two engaged in a chase as they flew deeper into the cosmos.

1493 - : Earth Visual Heaven Auditory Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

CKtalon CKtalon

Yi Yun originally believed that Primordial Chaos Daolord would fail to catch up to him as long as used the Primordial Chaos space. He hoped that, after an extended pursuit, his opponent might give up. But he realized he had underestimated a hegemon-level figure of a major faction of the Sinkhole. His understanding of the Primordial Chaos laws weren’t poor either. Coupled with his Yuan Qi foundation, his prolonged pursuit slowly closed the gap between them!

This sank Yi Yun’s heart. Once Primordial Chaos Daolord chased up to him, he was definitely no match for him. He had to think of a solution.

…

While Yi Yun was reeling in astonishment due to Primordial Chaos Daolord’s strength, Primordial Chaos Daolord’s mind was in a state of perturbation, like the tumultuous waves of a stormy sea.

It had been three days! He had been chasing that person for three full days!

Ever since he became famous across the Sinkhole, allowing him to rule over the Great Cosmic State, there were very few people that warranted his attention, much less an opponent that caused him to expend so much strength and still fail to kill them!

When his target’s young age came to mind, Primordial Chaos Daolord’s killing intent raged even more. He had to kill this person, or their unlimited potential ensured a grudge with them would result in endless repercussions!

But now, Yi Yun was just too great at escaping. He had locked his psyche onto him, but as he was hidden in the gray mist of the space, his figure could hardly be discerned.

…

Another three days passed. Yi Yun and Primordial Chaos Daolord had flown into the deep depths of the spatial plane. The world was much bigger than they imagined and, coupled with the restrictions of the Primordial Chaos laws, they couldn’t even see its ends despite flying for so long.

At that moment, a gray cyclone suddenly and silently appeared in front of Yi Yun. It was like a behemoth’s mouth that hid within the void only to strike out and devour him.

By the time Yi Yun noticed the cyclone, he was already in front of it. A potent suction force emitted from within, instantly pulling Yi Yun into it.

Before he grounded himself after being pulled in, Yi Yun instantly felt a cold blast of wind innundate him. He quickly brandished Mirage Snow, producing a series of metallic clangs. But even so, Yi Yun’s clothes were ripped apart instantly in more than ten spots, leaving behind several bloody marks on his body.

It was only then that Yi Yun discerned what had attacked him. It was not a monster but turbulent nebulous Primordial Chaos.

What was going on?

Yi Yun frowned. Although he comprehended Primordial Chaos laws, there were still many things he did not understand about the mysterious primeval universe he was in. He was unable to fully control the laws of the environment.

He tried to sweep his psyche around, but it couldn’t even reach out. Instead, he was rewarded with a pain that felt like a needle prick.

The cyclone resembled a nebula that spun slowly in the void but its interior was filled with turbulent nebulous Primordial Chaos flows. These heavy flows tore open multiple spatial rifts that barred anyone from passing. The spatial rifts were able to rip apart a person’s body and even their soul.

If not for Yi Yun’s absorption of the Blood Fey Bone’s blood essence, and copious amounts of Ancient Fey powers, resulting in an extremely robust body of flesh, blood, and bone, he would definitely have been grievously injured.

Furthermore, the Primordial Chaos flows were increasing in amount. Even Yi Yun’s body was failing to withstand it as he desperately conjured the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. He finally heaved a sigh of relief once he was safely inside.

Through the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, Yi Yun observed the outside. He saw that there was endless Primordial Chaos turbulence all around him. There were also spatial rifts that would suddenly appear to dot the area. It could be said that danger lurked at every turn.

This place was indeed extremely treacherous. Even an ordinary Divine Lord would be in peril in this place, much less a Supremacy. It was even likely that a Royal Sealed Divine Lord would lose some skin in such a place and yet, he had been swept into such an area.

However, after Yi Yun recovered from his shock, he suddenly felt delighted. He could clearly see a few gray lights flash past the nebula cyclone. They were Chaos Gems!

During his six days of fleeing, Yi Yun had been constantly seeking any trace of Chaos Gems, but he realized that there were very few Chaos Gems in this primeval universe. Apart from the few he saw in the beginning, he did not discover any Chaos Gems.

And now, there were three Chaos Gems hidden within the cyclone. Although they were about the size of a rice grain, Yi Yun knew to be contented.

He controlled the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to fly over, hoping to scoop up the Chaos Gems into the cauldron. However, the Chaos Gems had extremely sharp senses. The moment they sensed Yi Yun’s approach, they scattered in different directions, disappearing into the Primordial Chaos turbulence, no longer to be found.

Yi Yun was in no hurry. He hid within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and did not act rashly. He knew that Primordial Chaos Daolord was soon to chase up to him.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was constantly locked onto Yi Yun with his psyche. Even if Yi Yun used his concealment tactics, it would be impossible for him to fully hide himself.

Soon, Primordial Chaos Daolord appeared in the spot where Yi Yun had vanished.

When he faced the abrupt appearance of the gray cyclone, Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly felt a suction force tugging at him. He immediately retreated with great force, mustering all his Yuan Qi in the process before breaking free of the suction.

“Primordial Chaos cyclone?” Primordial Chaos Daolord recognized the invisible cyclone.

Yi Yun’s sudden disappearance definitely had something to do with the cyclone.

With his cultivation level, it was impossible for him to last long in the Primordial Chaos cyclone. Perhaps he would be heavily injured and dying within moments.

If Yi Yun died in the Primordial Chaos cyclone, his corpse would not be discovered even if a hundred thousand years passed. It would slowly be disintegrated amid the cyclone’s force.

If that happened, Primordial Chaos Daolord naturally would fail to gain the treasures he was carrying on his body.

He hesitated for a moment and finally chose to enter the Primordial Chaos cyclone. He believed that it was not problematic for him to be in there for a short period of time, given his cultivation level.

Within the Primordial Chaos cyclone, Yi Yun was not kept waiting long before he felt an abnormal fluctuation. The surrounding Primordial Chaos turbulence also instantly began to surge violently.

He immediately knew that Primordial Chaos Daolord had chased him all the way in.

His judgment of Primordial Chaos Daolord was indeed accurate. Having pursued him for so long, how could Primordial Chaos Daolord give up after encountering a mere cyclone? Even if he knew that the cyclone’s interior was fraught with danger, Primordial Chaos Daolord was confident he could enter long enough for a probe.

The moment Primordial Chaos Daolord entered, he immediately took out a defensive artifact to withstand the Primordial Chaos turbulence. He was eager to look for Yi Yun, but he was unable to extend his psyche in here, consigning him to only use his naked eyes to seek out Yi Yun.

At that moment, a cold and sharp flash came out from the Primordial Chaos turbulence and slashed at Primordial Chaos Daolord.

Dang!

His defensive artifact immediately ruptured and, upon taking the hit, produced a tiny crack. A few streams of the Primordial Chaos turbulence gushed in, leaving a few wounds on his body.

And immediately following that, another few beams came cleaving over!

Primordial Chaos Daolord instantly realized that they were not natural attacks formed by the cyclone but were delivered by Yi Yun!

At that moment, he discovered the massive cauldron hiding amid the Primordial Chaos turbulence. It exuded a mysterious and suppressive aura. It was an absolute treasure!

This punk had tons of treasures!

However, his expression sank. By relying on the cauldron, Yi Yun was not only able to remain in the turbulence, he was also able to hide safely and peek out to sneak attacks on him.

Even knowing that, he had no choice but to parry Yi Yun’s attacks. At that moment, Yi Yun’s voice emitted out from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. “Aren’t you looking for me? Why aren’t you coming over now that I’ve appeared?”

Before he finished his sentence, gray turbulence surged out from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s lid in Primordial Chaos Daolord’s direction.

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes chilled as a long saber appeared suddenly in his hand. He brandished it, causing sharp saber beams to scatter like sunglow. It created a barricade in front of him.

Boom!

The sword flash and the gray gust slammed into the saber barricade. Simultaneously, more Primordial Chaos turbulence inundated the barricade, causing it to immediately dim and vanish after withstanding numerous strikes. However, it did manage to keep the sword flashes and gray gust at bay.

Yi Yun sighed inwardly. Primordial Chaos Daolord was indeed powerful. He had unleashed his sword techniques and the mark on his chest, but had failed to injure him.

As for Primordial Chaos Daolord, his expression was extremely grim. With Yi Yun hiding in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, all he needed to do was fend off the few forces of the Primordial Chaos cyclone that infiltrated the cauldron’s mouth. The pressure he experience was far less than his own, allowing him free reign to fish in troubled waters. How could he tolerate that?

As he fended off the Primordial Chaos turbulence, he charged towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was obviously not giving Primordial Chaos Daolord such a chance. He constantly slashed out with his sword as while casting the finger beam through his chest mark. He was using all the techniques he knew.

It as a rare opportunity for a top Divine Lord that was approaching the likes of Godly Monarch to be his punching bag, so how could Yi Yun forgo this chance? He delivered strike after strike and, whenever Primordial Chaos Daolord came close, he would immediately control the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to open up a gap, but he never left its safety.

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s fuming anger grew more intense but he was without solution. He was constantly under attack by Yi Yun, but Yi Yun was hiding in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. As long as the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was inside the Primordial Chaos cyclone, it was difficult for Primordial Chaos Daolord to do anything to Yi Yun. And if he retreated, Yi Yun’s attacks would keep coming for him.

No matter how wrathful Primordial Chaos Daolord was feeling, he subconsciously knew that this could not continue. He was at a definite disadvantage while fighting Yi Yun in such an area. Yi Yun had the cauldron, an unassailable defense, which could withstand the Primordial Chaos cyclone, while all he could rely on was himself.

The pressure Yi Yun felt was less than a tenth of what he was facing.

He cleaved apart a Primordial Chaos turbulence before slashing at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. He hoped to send Yi Yun retreating before making a temporary retreat.

Since he knew Yi Yun was not dead, he could simply wait outside the Primordial Chaos cyclone. He refused to believe that Yi Yun would remain inside forever. There was no way Yi Yun could last forever inside the Primordial Chaos cyclone even with an artifact.

Once Yi Yun was out, he would definitely rip out his soul and destroy his body, so as to appease the hatred in his heart!

However, Primordial Chaos Daolord never imagined that just as he had thoughts of retreating from the Primordial Chaos cyclone, Yi Yun would extend his finger once again.

Whoosh!

While stirring the surrounding Primordial Chaos turbulence, a gray stream of light tore through the void and headed straight for Primordial Chaos Daolord’s chest!

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s expression changed. This was the same move that Yi Yun had previously used to injure him!

Amid the cyclone, he was constantly fending off all sorts of dangers. He was extremely wary of Yi Yun’s finger beam.

“Peng!”

A saber flash cleaved down, striking Yi Yun’s finger beam. The heavy finger beam was like a flying star. The impact made Primordial Chaos Daolord’s hands hurt.

Thankfully, he had blocked Yi Yun’s attack, but at the same time, the surrounding tempestuous Primordial Chaos turbulence surged at him. It left his lifeblood stirring as he rapidly retreated.

And at this moment, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had already spun around and was flying towards Primordial Chaos Daolord. It was like a taunt.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was so angry that he was just short of literally blowing a gasket. Although he wished to smash Yi Yun into mush, he knew that Yi Yun was being sneaky. If he attacked, he would flee. If he did not do anything, Yi Yun would approach.

Primordial Chaos Daolord clenched his teeth and turned to fly to the entrance. But once he turned…

“Whoosh!”

Another sword beam pursued him from behind. Primordial Chaos Daolord turned his head and saw the Ascending Dragon Cauldron slowly chasing up to him.

This nearly made him vomit out blood. Previously, Yi Yun would not even dare turn his head during their chase, but now it was Yi Yun’s turn to chase him!

The punk was taking advantage of his invincibility inside the Primordial Chaos turbulence. Even though Yi Yun knew that his attacks could do little to Primordial Chaos Daolord, he deliberately continued to attack just to disgust him!

Being the mighty Primordial Chaos Daolord, one who was famous throughout the Sinkhole, it would probably make people laugh their heads off if news spread of him being pursued by an unknown ordinary Divine Lord.

However, once he gave into his intolerance and attacked Yi Yun, Yi Yun would immediately control the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to dodge him. As long as he had the opportunity, he would deliver another strike. In this way, he was like a martial sparring partner for Yi Yun.

Primordial Chaos Daolord felt aggrieved fleeing, but also felt the same aggrieved feelings fighting. He had never encountered something so depressing in his entire life. All he wished was to quickly leave the cyclone, afraid that he was suffer an internal injury from all the anger that plagued him.

As for Yi Yun, he did not plan on letting Primordial Chaos Daolord go. He had suffered Primordial Chaos Daolord’s pursuit outside, and once Primordial Chaos Daolord left, he would face the situation of having nowhere to flee to.

Now that the rare opportunity of being at the right place and right time presented itself, how could he not grasp the opportunity to irritate the old bastard?

“Bam!”

The Primordial Chaos cyclone’s mouth suddenly exploded as Primordial Chaos Daolord charged out of it in an extremely wretched state. His face was scarily grim.

This punk that did not know the meaning of life and death!

Primordial Chaos Daolord took a deep breath. He flipped his hand and took out some array flags from his interspatial ring. He planned to set up a massive array to isolate the Primordial Chaos cyclone before killing Yi Yun!

Although Primordial Chaos Daolord lacked the means to blunt the Primordial Chaos cyclone of unknown origin, he had discovered that while battling in it, it would make the Primordial Chaos cyclone turn more violent.

As such, as long as he set up a massive array that constantly gathered tempestuous forces, he could inject them into the Primordial Chaos cyclone, making it turn more turbulent. It would eventually reach a point when Yi Yun would no longer be able to last long in it.

If Yi Yun did not leave, he would be pulverized!

Even if Yi Yun died inside the Primordial Chaos cyclone, thanks to that mysterious cauldron, his corpse would likely be left intact. When that happened, he could retrieve all the secrets on Yi Yun’s body.

“Go!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord waved his hand as thirty-six array flags were left embedded in the void, completely enclosing the Primordial Chaos cyclone.

However, at that moment, unbeknownst to him, Yi Yun had already directed the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to fly deeper into the Primordial Chaos cyclone. In the vehement cyclone, he was unable to probe with his psyche and could only search with his naked eyes.

Finally, Yi Yun found a few shimmering gems that emitted gray light in a corner.

Chaos Gems! He had found them again!

1494 - : Primordial Chaos Cyclone

Each of the gray Chaos Gems seemed like a dense and contracted pocket world. They were likely the group of Chaos Gems that Yi Yun encountered when he first entered this spatial plane.

“Oh? This is…”

Yi Yun’s eyes narrowed, for he discovered a pure black gem the size of a finger close to the few Chaos Gems. The surrounding Chaos Gems appeared to revolve around the black Chaos Gem like planets around a sun.

This scene made Yi Yun draw a deep breath. Just like the way Spirit Jade had different grades, Chaos Gems had grades too. The finger-sized black Chaos Gem had to be of a higher grade than its surrounding Chaos Gems.

Chaos Gems which were condensed at the birth of the Universe had very different energy levels as well.

Back when Yi Yun transmigrated, the Universe in which his Earth existed began from a Big Bang. Yi Yun did not know what the birth of the universe he was in was like, but it was likely phenomenal. As such, the closer to the origin of the primordial bang, the more compressed the Chaos was. The quality of the resulting Chaos Gem would also be higher.

This was truly a gift from the heavens. Who could have imagined that the ancient battlefield was hiding such a primeval universe, one with so many Chaos Gems?

However, over the billions of years, the Chaos Gems had gained some basic sentience. If he recklessly approached them, they would scatter and flee. Yi Yun could only carefully expand his Primordial Chaos space, enveloping them completely before slowly pulling in the net.

In the extremely turbulent nebulous Primordial Chaos cyclone, expanding such a wide Primordial Chaos space was a huge challenge for Yi Yun. He felt that his Yuan Qi was being drained like an open flood gate, but he gritted his teeth and endured it.

Time slowly passed. Yi Yun spent a full thirty minutes, draining forty percent of his Yuan Qi, before pulling the Chaos Gems into a region about ten feet across. Finally, Yi Yun carefully brought over the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and directly swallowed the few Chaos Gems into it. If not for the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, Yi Yun would never have dared to do this. Draining forty percent of his Yuan Qi in such a space was just too dangerous. If Primordial Chaos had came charging in again, Yi Yun might have died terribly.

“Oh? The Primordial Chaos turbulence has intensified inside this cyclone…”

The Primordial Chaos cyclone formed a space in and of itself. Yi Yun suddenly realized that the laws of the space were turning more chaotic; furthermore, this new energy was not like the Great Dao the space originally had. Instead, it seemed to be injected by human means.

Yi Yun instantly realized that Primordial Chaos Daolord was up to his tricks. The old bastard was trying to make the Primordial Chaos cyclone turn more violent and chaotic, forcing him to leave it.

If this continued, the Primordial Chaos cyclone could even undergo successive explosions. That would be enough to give most people a tragic death.

After understanding Primordial Chaos Daolord’s motive, Yi Yun sneered. Unfortunately, the old bastard had underestimated the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. How could he have guessed that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron he was sitting in was a weapon left behind by the ancient twelve Ancestor Gods? Furthermore, it was one that was infused with the Dragon Emperor’s soul.

The typical warrior would need to expend copious amounts of Yuan Qi to control a defensive artifact, making it difficult for them to continue resisting later on. However, Yi Yun was different. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron had an absolute defense. All Yi Yun needed was to expend an extremely minute amount of Yuan Qi to keep it going. No matter how powerful the Primordial Chaos cyclone became, he was confident he could persist inside for a long time.

Yi Yun sealed the cauldron’s lid and ignored the turbulent Primordial Chaos outside. He turned his gaze on the few Chaos Gems he had brought inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

There were a total of five Chaos Gems. Four smaller ones were slowly revolving around the big Chaos Gem. The space around them was being influenced by them, making it look darker and more profound. From afar, it truly looked like a mysterious solar system floating in the universe. The blurry gray halo emitted what seemed like eternal nomological beauty.

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun hesitated momentarily. He could not bear to destroy such gorgeous Chaos Gems.

On careful thought, these Chaos Gems had traveled across the endless river of time before slowly gaining a rudimentary sentience. From a particular point of view, they could even be considered as a form of life.

This was a life born out of the Universe’s Great Dao, beings from its very beginnings. Once it was destroyed, it would not appear again until the birth of the next Universe.

In contrast, lives of flesh and blood, including humans, could continue on for generations as long as food was provided.

If he were to destroy these Chaos Gems, it would be equivalent to destroying something that took the primordial Universe billions of years to accumulate. That would be too much of a pity.

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun decided not to destroy them.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was outside and he was in desperate need of strength. He could not give up these Chaos Gems, but he could reach a compromise. He could absorb half of the Chaos Gems’ powers, leaving the rest of the energy with them. As such, he would not destroy these Chaos Gems.

After all, time had no meaning for these Chaos Gems. In this space that was filled with nebulous Primordial Chaos, these Chaos Gems would slowly absorb the essence of the Universe over lengthy periods of time to recover.

After Yi Yun had this thought, he cast his Primordial Chaos laws, imperceptibly transmitting his benevolence.

After some time, the five Chaos Gems seemed to sense his benevolence. They stopped resisting Yi Yun and no longer fled. Instead, they slowly floated over and lightly revolved around Yi Yun.

Yi Yun cultivated in Primordial Chaos laws, something that stemmed from the same origin as the Chaos Gems. The scene of the five Chaos Gems revolving around Yi Yun appeared extremely harmonious. At that instant, Yi Yun felt as though he had transformed into a Universe, perfectly fusing with this primordial Universe.

As the Chaos Gems revolved around him, the Primordial Chaos forces constantly gathered inside Yi Yun’s body. Mixed with it were the blessings of the Chaos Gems.

The Primordial Chaos energy was perfectly congruent with the energy within Yi Yun’s body. He did not encounter any obstruction while absorbing it. There was not even a need to refine it. They would automatically fuse into his body’s meridians.

If not, the process of refinement and absorption would result in a lot of wasted energy.

This discovery gave Yi Yun a pleasant surprise.

He had done so with the thought of having to miss out on half the available energy. In order to not destroy these Chaos Gems, he realized that the perfect congruency of the energy made it seem like he was getting the full benefits despite giving up half of the energy. Instead, it saved him the refinement process, allowing his absorption of the Chaos Gems to go a lot faster.

According to his current speed, all he needed was a few days to complete his cultivation.

The essence of Primordial Chaos forces that contained the blessings of the Chaos Gems rapidly accumulated in Yi Yun’s body, raising his strength at a constant pace.

Previously, Yi Yun had only taken twelve years to go from a mid-stage Supremacy to a peak Supremacy. However, due to the effects of the River of Forgetfulness’s water, this process had been actually been closer to nearly a century. But regardless, Yi Yun had cultivated in one fell swoop. There would definitely be some instabilities in his foundation.

Yet now, through the baptism of the Primordial Chaos forces, these instabilities were gradually leveled and compacted.

The nebulous Primordial Chaos was as heavy as a star. It sank into Yi Yun’s dantian, giving it the most stable foundation.

And Yi Yun was hiding inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. While he peacefully cultivated, Primordial Chaos Daolord had been using his massive array outside the Primordial Chaos cyclone for five days.

He had expended a great deal of strength over those five days.

Now that the massive array was working stably, it no longer needed Primordial Chaos Daolord to inject his Yuan Qi. As time passed, the laws in the Primordial Chaos cyclone would only turn more chaotic.

At that moment Primordial Chaos Daolord looked at the entrance to the Primordial Chaos cyclone. His psyche perception could not probe inside, nor was he aware of what was happening inside.

However, the thought of an utterly chaotic Primordial Chaos cyclone gave him the impression that the punk would ultimately fail to last long even if he had a top-grade defensive artifact.

Primordial Chaos Daolord coveted the opportunities Yi Yun had. As long as he obtained them, he could attempt the Godly Monarch realm.

“I’ll wait another ten hours. I’ll push my body and mind to their optimal state before entering to finish that punk!”

1495 - : Perfect Congruence Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

At that moment, in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, Yi Yun was constantly absorbing the nebulous Primordial Chaos inside the Chaos Gems.

During this process, Yi Yun felt as though he was slowly becoming one with the Chaos Gems.

He extended his perception out, vaguely sensing that the other Chaos Gems which were located in this Universe were a great distance away. He was feeling their presence as a Chaos Gem.

They were born together at the birth of the Universe. Then, over a prolonged period of time, they flew through the cosmos, absorbing the worldly essence, fusing with the worldly laws.

Yi Yun seemed to witness the changes of the vestiges of time from the perspective of a Chaos Gem.

These were the memories that belonged to the Chaos Gems.

He discovered that the Chaos Gems seemed to be connected. They could sense each other and, even after gaining sentience, they could transmit information among themselves.

These Chaos Gems were far more complicated than he imagined.

Yi Yun was delighted that he had not destroyed these Chaos Gems, but instead came to understand their world by coming into contact with them. Otherwise, how could he have had such an experience?

…

Time passed slowly as Primordial Chaos Daolord waited outside the cyclone. Even though it had only been ten hours, he still found it excruciatingly long.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was in a hurry to explore this primeval Universe and its secrets. He wanted to know why the space existed in the ancient battlefield and the opportunities it offered.

He had planned on seeking the opportunities after killing Yi Yun, but who knew that the seemingly-simple pursuit of Yi Yun would delay him by more than ten days?

It was unknown what Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and company had found during such a long period of time. It would be troublesome if all the good things were already snatched by Sacred Horizon Divine Lord.

“Oh?”

Just as Primordial Chaos Daolord was feeling anxious, he suddenly saw a gray beam flash by. It was very fast, but with his knowledge of Primordial Chaos laws, he had extremely sharp senses. He could still vaguely identify the gray beam of light.

It was… a Chaos Gem!?

Primordial Chaos Daolord held his breath. The ancient artifact he had obtained from the opportunity he gained years ago had a core made of a Chaos Gem. He was very familiar with Chaos Gems and would absolutely not make a mistake in identifying one.

This primeval universe actually had Chaos Gems!? Furthermore, from the looks of it, these Chaos Gems had even gained sentence. They were absolutely superior grade ones!

Primordial Chaos Daolord turned agitated instantly. He was in great need of them. He had made it a point to rush to the ancient battlefield because he had heard of the Divine Perish Hall and the existence of nebulous Primordial Chaos. Now that Yi Yun, a vessel of nebulous Primordial Chaos, was being trapped by him, his additional discovery of Chaos Gems really made the ancient battlefield a land of opportunity for him!

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s body phased away as he chased the Chaos Gem. He grabbed at one, sealing off the void in the process.

Although Primordial Chaos Daolord did not have a Primordial Chaos space, his strength was much more profound than Yi Yun’s. After some minor struggle from the Chaos Gem, Primordial Chaos Daolord caught up to it. And with that, he held it in his hand.

“Where do you hope to escape to!? Now that I have you, I will absorb you, putting you to full use.”

Primordial Chaos Daolord laughed out loud. The Chaos Gem in his hand was only the size of a sesame seed. It was pinched in between his index finger and thumb, nearly cracking in the process. He was constantly extracting the energy within.

“Hiss–”

The Chaos Gem let out a burdened sound as though it was about to shatter into dust when—

“Boom!”

Yi Yun charged out the Primordial Chaos cyclone with an explosion. He did not stop for a single moment as he slashed his sword right at Primordial Chaos Daolord!

“Oh?” Primordial Chaos Daolord never expected this to happen. In his alarmed state, he hurriedly raised his hand to block. He ended up loosening his grip on the Chaos Gem, sealing it temporarily in a space beside him.

“Chi!”

The sword flash struck the protective Yuan Qi in front of Primordial Chaos Daolord. Immediately, Yuan Qi stirred violently as a loud bang that sounded like an explosion rang out.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s figure had charged out like a fish in water. He charged straight for the Chaos Gem. Yi Yun had previously cracked Primordial Chaos Daolord’s spatial restraints. After he absorbed the Chaos Gems inside the Primordial Chaos cyclone, his nomological insights had grown deeper. The moment he attacked, he once again slashed out a strike that destroyed laws.

Boom!

Yi Yun sliced through the spacial prison with one strike. He then extended his hand to grab the Chaos Gem. Following that, Yi Yun’s figure charged towards the stellar cosmos.

“You are courting death!” Primordial Chaos Daolord erupted with killing intent, with anger that was impossible to appease. He never expected that Yi Yun would not be damaged in any way while inside the Primordial Chaos cyclone. If he did, he would not have been snuck up on and have his Chaos Gem stolen from under his nose.

After waving his hand, he stored away the array flags in a discreet location. He immediately chased at full speed.

And so it became just like the past. Yi Yun was fleeing in front, while Primordial Chaos Daolord was chasing behind him. However, Primordial Chaos Daolord was even more enraged, feeling as though blood was flowing in the opposite direction in him. Yi Yun had already snatched two precious things from him. The last time he had snatched away the Ancient Fey powers gathered in the Massive Chaos Godfiend Array. And this time, he was practically snatching the Chaos Gem right from his hands!

Primordial Chaos Daolord had already realized that he had underestimated Yi Yun’s mysterious cauldron. The cauldron had been able to withstand such violent Primordial Chaos turbulence. It could no longer be well described by extraordinary.

It was unknown what secrets this person’s body held. It wasn’t just about him finding Yi Yun’s corpse and the acquirement of Yi Yun’s opportunities, he probably had other surprise encounters.

Genius warriors could grow stronger all because of the opportunities they found. Primordial Chaos Daolord was no exception. Apart from the opportunities attained in various mystic realms, one could take the treasures from a warrior laden with treasure. Killing him and taking his treasures was also a humongous opportunity!

Primordial Chaos Daolord was bent on killing Yi Yun, filled with a rage that was never as intense in the past.

As for Yi Yun, he was flying rapidly ahead. In his hand, he held the Chaos Gem that he had grabbed from Primordial Chaos Divine Lord.

He had the intention to collect these Chaos Gems before finding somewhere to release the them. The Chaos Gems were damaged when they were absorbed by the Primordial Chaos Daolord’s explosion. However, the long rivers of time could slowly mend them.

As he had fused with the Chaos Gems’ thoughts, Yi Yun could already sense the Chaos Gems. They were the most fascinating lifeforms in the world. He could not bear to see these Chaos Gems damaged.

And at that moment, the energy within the Chaos Gem automatically exuded out and seeped into Yi Yun’s palm.

“This…” Yi Yun was taken aback before he came to a realization. The Chaos Gems had already gained sentience. They could also sense one’s kindheartedness. In order to thank him for saving it, it had volunteered to give him a wisp of nebulous Primordial Chaos.

As such, there was no need for Yi Yun to continue refining it by himself. He naturally did not need to stop. As such, he continued absorbing the nebulous Primordial Chaos in the Primordial Chaos Gems while he fled from his enemy.

1496 - : Connected Psyche Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Yi Yun and Primordial Chaos Daolord continued their high speed chase amid the cosmos, with Primordial Chaos Daolord pursuing his target with overwhelming killing intent.

Suddenly, another gray beam of light flew past them.

Yi Yun and Primordial Chaos Daolord discovered the gray beam of light simultaneously.

Another Chaos Gem!

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes lit up. This Chaos Gem was bigger than the one Yi Yun had snatched from his hand!

He immediately took action, casting a spatial seal to grab the Chaos Gem.

But at that moment, Yi Yun also took action. He released his Primordial Chaos space and sent it towards the Chaos Gem.

Primordial Chaos Daolord scoffed coldly. He had been caught unawares previously, but now that he was first to take action, how could he possibly allow Yi Yun to snatch this prize away from him?

In fact, Primordial Chaos Daolord’s judgment was not wrong. He had taken action faster than Yi Yun, and his cultivation level was higher than Yi Yun’s. The Chaos Gem was already enveloped within his space seal, so it should have been within his grasps almost immediately.

Once the Chaos Gem was in his hand, Yi Yun would have to be sick of living if he dared to turn around to snatch it from him.

However, Primordial Chaos Daolord never imagined that, at the instant the Chaos Gem was being enveloped by his seal, giving it nowhere to fly to, it would suddenly whoosh towards Yi Yun!

“What!?” Primordial Chaos Daolord watched helplessly as the Chaos Gem landed in Yi Yun’s hand. He nearly spewed a mouthful of blood from anger.

What happened!?

Primordial Chaos Daolord reigned supreme in the Sinkhole and was very knowledgeable, but he could not understand what had just happened.

This was the third time Yi Yun was snatching something away from him. The first time was done behind his back, the second time was the result of a sneak attack, but this third time was most ridiculous. The treasure had escaped him of its own accord and chose Yi Yun!

And after Yi Yun snatched the Chaos Gem, he immediately continued fleeing at full speed without even turning his head. He could imagine the look on Primordial Chaos Daolord’s face without needing to turn back.

In truth, even Yi Yun did not expect the Chaos Gem to automatically choose him.

The phenomenon had to be because of the Chaos Gems that Yi Yun had originally obtained. These Chaos Gems were connected to each other, and they could spread information among themselves. The second Chaos Gem could be said to have been summoned by the first Chaos Gem. This was something that would ultimately elude Primordial Chaos Daolord.

In addition, Yi Yun was filled with benevolence, so the Chaos Gem had chosen him on its own accord when it had nowhere to escape to.

Furthermore, it also seemed to prove that Yi Yun’s guess was right. When the Chaos Gem entered Yi Yun’s hand, it automatically released its energy for Yi Yun to absorb.

In the subsequent days, Yi Yun continued fleeing while absorbing the Chaos Gems. As for Primordial Chaos Daolord, he chased closely behind him.

Yi Yun did not dare release the Chaos Gems whose energies he had partially absorbed. They would only be snatched by Primordial Chaos Daolord, and the outcome of that was obvious. Yi Yun temporarily placed them inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron which was the safest choice.

With the passage of time, Primordial Chaos Daolord nearly went mad.

What the heck was going on!?

In the beginning, he was vying with Yi Yun for the Chaos Gems, and the Chaos Gem had chosen Yi Yun when it had nowhere to escape to.

But towards the end, these Chaos Gems appeared possessed. They would crazily fling themselves at Yi Yun without him needing to even make a move.

He kept following behind Yi Yun, and in the areas that they had yet to fly to, the Chaos Gems were being wiped clean by Yi Yun!

It was only five days later that Primordial Chaos Daolord was finally able to obtain his first Chaos Gem after deploying every mean possible.

The Chaos Gem was smaller than a sesame seed, about the size of a needle hole. If it wasn’t because the Chaos Gem was too weak and slow in its escape, Primordial Chaos Daolord could have forgotten about snatching it.

Primordial Chaos Daolord clutched the Chaos Gem and, although he had finally obtained one, he still felt like gnashing his teeth.

Since he encountered the Primordial Chaos cyclone, he had seen ten Chaos Gems, but he, the mighty Primordial Chaos Daolord, famous throughout the Sinkhole for his Primordial Chaos laws, had only obtained the smallest Chaos Gem of the lowest grade. The other nine had landed in Yi Yun’s hands!

After Primordial Chaos Daolord held the Chaos Gem in his hand, he did not hesitate to begin absorbing it immediately. After all his years of preparation and accumulation, he was nearing a breakthrough. As long as his Primordial Chaos laws became more profound, his speed would definitely increase greatly. He would then naturally be able to chase up to Yi Yun.

No matter how many Chaos Gems Yi Yun obtained, they would eventually be for nothing. Even his life would be gone. The Chaos Gems that Yi Yun obtained would only serve to benefit him.

But gradually, Primordial Chaos Daolord realized that the gap between him and Yi Yun was slowly widening.

Yi Yun was using the Primordial Chaos space as a boat, rowing through the primeval Universe. It was already less draining for him, and he constantly had Chaos Gems to replenish his energy. Not only was he not slowing down, he was accelerating!

Primordial Chaos Daolord finally realized that, as he neared a breakthrough, Yi Yun had probably also broken through!

The rate at which Yi Yun’s strength increased was far greater than his!

Although Primordial Chaos Daolord had rich accumulations, his age and cultivation level made his absorption of the Chaos Gem less effective than Yi Yun’s.

Furthermore, unbeknownst to Primordial Chaos Daolord, Yi Yun had not fully absorbed the Chaos Gems. Instead, they were providing the energies to him of their own accord. As such the boons and banes each of them experienced was stark.

Although Yi Yun’s strength was inferior to Primordial Chaos Daolord’s, he had absorbed a lot more Chaos Gems than Primordial Chaos Daolord during the pursuit. His cultivation, grasp of the Primordial Chaos laws, and insight into the Heaven and Earth laws were constantly increasing.

Every time he expended some of his energy, the Chaos Gems would provide him with the purest and most essential Primordial Chaos forces to replenish his stores. Yi Yun’s dantian was becoming wider as he was becoming stronger and stronger.

After a few more days of chasing, Primordial Chaos Daolord nearly had a mental breakdown as he saw the gap between them turn wider and wider.

Despite constantly pursuing Yi Yun, he had failed to catch up. He could also only watch helplessly as Yi Yun reaped numerous benefits, and because he could only follow Yi Yun, he did not receive any benefits. Ever since he obtained the needle hole-sized Chaos Gem, he had gotten nothing!

He absolutely could not let this continue!

He had already wasted a month following Yi Yun. This cosmic space was filled with Primordial Chaos laws and Chaos Gems. It likely hid even greater opportunities. He wished to probe them, and not let Yi Yun lead him by the nose.

If he found a greater opportunity and had a breakthrough in cultivation level, chasing Yi Yun would become much easier. After all, he had sealed off the entrance to the cosmic world. Yi Yun would not be able to escape in a short period of time.

Upon coming to this thought, he steeled his heart to stop wasting time with Yi Yun. He sinisterly looked at Yi Yun’s back before turning to leave.

But after flying a short distance away, Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly felt something amiss. He swept with his perception, and was immediately enraged.

That darn Yi Yun was following him!

“You are courting death!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord drew a long saber and cleaved at him!

But Yi Yun was long prepared. He could not parry the attack, so he immediately hid inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“Dang!”

A loud boom reverberated as the Ascending Dragon Cauldron trembled. Primordial Chaos Daolord’s saber flash exploded against the surface of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, failing to damage it in any way.

At that moment, the cauldron’s lid opened as Yi Yun took his sweet time to come out. He glanced at Primordial Chaos Daolord and said with a sneer, “Old man, weren’t you chasing me? Why are you leaving now? Why don’t you continue the chase!?”

1497 - : The Possessed Chaos Gems Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Primordial Chaos Daolord was obviously incensed by Yi Yun’s taunt. He was in control of the Great Cosmic State for many years. All disciples of the Great Cosmic State would be absolutely respectful to him whenever they met him, not even daring to take so much as a breath in his presence. Even Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and the rest would have to treat him politely. He had never encountered anyone who dared curse him as ‘old ignoramus’ right in his face.

“Punk, if you have a death wish, I’ll fulfill it for you!” Primordial Chaos Daolord pointed his saber and charged towards Yi Yun.

Although Yi Yun’s cauldron provided a great defense, it was not invincible.

In the Primordial Chaos cyclone, Primordial Chaos Daolord could hardly fend for himself, leaving him helpless against such a hit and run strategy. But outside, as long as he had a chance, he could contain the human and the cauldron together. When that happened, he could seal Yi Yun inside the cauldron and slowly refine him. Then, it would be no different from catching a rat in a hole. He could torture Yi Yun as he pleased.

But how could Yi Yun not know this? He obviously would not offer Primordial Chaos Daolord such a chance. The moment Primordial Chaos Daolord moved, Yi Yun would put away the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, activate the Primordial Chaos space, turn around, and fly off. His reflexes were faster than those of an escaping hare.

He obviously would not come to actual blows with Primordial Chaos Daolord, he just wanted to infuriate the old ignoramus.

After Primordial Chaos Daolord chased behind him angrily for a moment, he gradually realized that the continued pursuit would only result in the same situation as before. The little bastard was obviously trying to fight a battle of attrition with him. If he really continued the chase, he would only be succumbing to the little bastard’s ploy.

As Yi Yun kept fleeing, he discovered that Primordial Chaos Daolord had turned and left. Without a thought, he immediately turned back and caught up to Primordial Chaos Daolord. Primordial Chaos Daolord was unable to catch up to him, but he could easily reach Primordial Chaos Daolord.

Yi Yun had the Primordial Chaos space, allowing him to travel like a fish in water through this primeval Universe. It was impossible to get Yi Yun off his tail.

Primordial Chaos Daolord sensed Yi Yun’s return instantly, but he had made up his mind to ignore Yi Yun.

Similarly, Yi Yun discovered that Primordial Chaos Daolord was only bent on continuing his journey, ignoring him completely in the process. He immediately pricked up his brows. How meaningless was such a pursuit?

Primordial Chaos Daolord had made up his mind to treat Yi Yun as nothing but air, but at that moment, the air itself came at his back in a sharp surge.

“Old ignoramus, take this!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord quickly turned around and saw a sword beam slashing at him. He extended his arm, distorting the spatial dimension laws to form a warped barrier of light in front of him. It was as though he had erected a mirror of light in front of him.

When the sword beam struck the mirror of light, the mirror emitted a burst of light before dissipating slowly. As for the sword beam, it was completely blocked.

Primordial Chaos Daolord looked grimly at Yi Yun and was tempted to attack, but Yi Yun had already taken precautions by summoning the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Upon seeing the ancient cauldron and the beaming Yi Yun standing beside it, Primordial Chaos Daolord was so angry that his fingernails sank into his flesh.

Yi Yun waited for Primordial Chaos Daolord to take action, but Primordial Chaos Daolord only gave him a cold stare before turning to leave again.

“Old turtle, you sure are tolerant. I would love to see how long you can put up with this,” said Yi Yun without any scruples.

He clearly saw Primordial Chaos Daolord’s body pause for a moment before it continued its departure.

In the coming days, Primordial Chaos Daolord was pushed to the brink of insanity. He had heard of how mortals had to suffer the pain of mosquito bites on summer nights, but from his point of view, Yi Yun was even more irritating than a mosquito!

He kept hearing the bastard’s cries—”Old turtle, eat this!”, “Old ignoramus, have a finger!”, “Old tool, don’t think of escaping!”—behind him. They were all accompanied by a myriad of attacks. It irritated Primordial Chaos Daolord tremendously.

He felt like Yi Yun was using him as target practice!

And in fact, Yi Yun did have such intentions. Having been in the ancient battlefield for nearly two decades, Yi Yun’s cultivation level had improved by leaps and bounds. He had gone from the mid-stage Supremacy realm to its peak, and was even approaching the cusp of Divine Lord!

However, no matter how much of the River of Forgetfulness’s water he consumed, Yi Yun’s combat experience was ultimately lacking. His strength needed to be honed through battle. Of course, fighting an opponent much more powerful than himself to repeatedly test his limits was the best way to hone himself.

With Primordial Chaos Daolord in front of him, he had a golden opportunity. How could Yi Yun let it go?

At that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord was already completely incensed, but he could do nothing to Yi Yun.

Every time his patience wore out and he attacked, Yi Yun would immediately enter the large cauldron and used the Primordial Chaos laws to escape far away before his attack could hit.

Previously, Primordial Chaos Daolord coveted the Ascending Dragon Cauldron but now, the mere sight of it gave him a headache. He wished he could reduce it to scrap metal.

Apart from that, Primordial Chaos Daolord also noticed that Yi Yun was constantly enervating him of his Yuan Qi.

“Little bastard, do you think you have what it takes to fight a battle of attrition with your cultivation level?” Primordial Chaos Daolord thought hatefully.

Although he expended quite a bit of Yuan Qi to block Yi Yun’s attacks, Yi Yun expended even more by being the attacker.

If Yi Yun continued, he might end up getting caught in his own trap.

Although Primordial Chaos Daolord wished to escape Yi Yun, he was ready to go on an all-out offensive the moment Yi Yun revealed a flaw.

Playing with fire could ultimately lead to immolation!

Throughout the journey, Primordial Chaos Daolord was in front, but he did not discover any Chaos Gems. Yi Yun had no chance to replenish his Yuan Qi or Primordial Chaos forces even if he wanted to.

He thought it would have actually been better if the Chaos Gems appeared. Since he was in front, Yi Yun’s strange technique for snatching the Chaos Gems would not work. Any Chaos Gems they found would end up being his.

But after a period of time, Primordial Chaos Daolord slowly found something odd in the situation.

Yi Yun was still attacking him from behind invariably, but by his estimation Yi Yun showed no signs of exhaustion. Instead, he looked energetic and spirited. His attacks were even becoming stronger!

Primordial Chaos Daolord was perplexed. How were Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi reserves so immense when his cultivation level was lower than his?

He expanded the radius of his perception while carefully observing Yi Yun, hoping to figure out what Yi Yun had been doing.

A day later, Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly realized that a gray beam of light streaked across the confines of his perception.

A Chaos Gem!

The Chaos Gem seemed to have intelligence as it streaked in a huge curved trajectory just on the periphery of his perception, completely circling around Primordial Chaos Daolord before—landing straight in Yi Yun’s hand!

Primordial Chaos Daolord felt stifled at that moment.

No matter how hard he imagined, he would never guess that a Chaos Gem could pursue a new course!

He never expected the Chaos Gem’s intelligence to reach such a level!

Primordial Chaos Daolord had the urge to pound the ground at that moment. He could not figure out how Yi Yun was different from him despite racking his brains. Why did the Chaos Gems insist on choosing the little bastard!?

In fact, Yi Yun himself never expected things would develop to this point. Yi Yun’s Ascending Dragon Cauldron now contained dozens of Chaos Gems…

From the beginning, Yi Yun decided to only absorb about half the amount of the Chaos Gems’ energies. But now, he was only extracting about ten percent.

Those Chaos Gems that were destined to be seized by Primordial Chaos Daolord by being in his path had received early warning by Yi Yun and the other Chaos Gems inside his Ascending Dragon Cauldron, allowing them to escape such a dire fate. Therefore, they did not mind letting Yi Yun absorb ten percent of their energy as repayment. After all, time was meaningless to Chaos Gems.

As Yi Yun attacked Primordial Chaos Daolord the entire way, the Chaos Gems replenished his expenditures, so no matter how high Primordial Chaos Daolord’s cultivation level was, he was eventually left the exasperated one.

Gradually, as Primordial Chaos Daolord was greatly drained of his energies, the vibrant Yi Yun only had more attacks he could deliver to him. The frequency at which he attacked increased. It went from sudden, infrequent, attacks out of the blue to a point where he was constantly attacking, like an artillery barrage of attacks.

Yi Yun’s attacks originally felt no different than the scratch of an itch to Primordial Chaos Daolord, but as time passed, those same attacks began to give him trouble.

Although his clothes were damaged, leaving tiny wounds, it still infuriated Primordial Chaos Daolord greatly that he was injured by a mere junior.

Primordial Chaos Daolord had always acted as his heart wished, arrogant and domineering, decisive in his killing.

He had never regretted killing anyone or antagonizing any enemy, but at that moment, he was feeling a little regret over provoking Yi Yun.

He had never seen such a troublesome wretch in his entire life!

If this continued, he might not be enervated to death by Yi Yun, but he would be enervated dry!

And in comparison, Yi Yun was bursting with energy. He became braver the more he fought. Through the exchange of blows with an expert far stronger than he was, Yi Yun’s cultivation level was turning more intricate, and his usage of the laws turned more adept!

Yi Yun’s Primordial Chaos laws came from the Azure Wood Great World, so compared to his Major Destruction laws, they were a lot weaker. But now, having absorbed so many Chaos Gems, Yi Yun’s Primordial Chaos laws was catching up, no longer any weaker than his Destruction laws!

If this continued, his Primordial Chaos laws and Destruction laws would fuse perfectly, and when that happened, his strength would experience a qualitative improvement!

“Old ignoramus, take another one of these!”

Yi Yun let out a clear cry as he cleaved down with Mirage Snow. This strike contained the Great Dao of Destruction and Chaos. The single strike seemed to rend space asunder and although he was thousands of feet away, it had appeared right in front of Primordial Chaos Daolord in a blink of an eye.

“Get lost!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord roared as he cleaved out with his saber. His saber was similarly powered with the Dao of Primordial Chaos. It was extremely heavy, enough to split a planet apart!

“Boom!”

A violent explosion ensued as Primordial Chaos Daolord felt his Yuan Qi enter turmoil. The lifeblood at his chest went into disarray, for the sword strike contained both the powers of Destruction and Primordial Chaos laws. It had managed to break through his protective Yuan Qi, surging straight into his meridians to cause wanton damage.

“What!?”

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes turned cold as they emitted killing intent. He never expected Yi Yun to grow so rapidly. He clearly sensed that Yi Yun’s attacks were becoming stronger during the pursuit!

It went from only feeling like a mere itch, to damaging his clothes, and now it was already capable of tearing through his protective Yuan Qi.

He immediately circulated his energy to destroy the nomological forces in his meridians.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was already so furious that his intestines were tied up in knots. He had previously sealed the Universe they were in, hoping to corner Yi Yun like a rat in a hole, but he never expected to be the one being chased. Now, his clothes were tattered and he was in a sorry state.

1498 - Primordial Chao’s Mental Breakdown

Of course, this thought was a fleeting one, one that he immediately rejected. In this world, opportunities related to the Primordial Chaos were rare. Primordial Chaos Daolord had only encountered them a few times over many years of cultivation. Now that he had encountered such a stunning opportunity, how could he let it go?

“I have to think of a way of losing him off my tail, this darn little bastard.”

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s face hung heavy. He temporarily abandoned any hopes of killing Yi Yun. Just losing him would be good enough!

As long as he could get Yi Yun off his tail, he could also seek out opportunities in peace. He was just shy of another increase in strength. He could deal with Yi Yun once he successfully broke through. When that time came, Yi Yun would be in the bag.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was feeling extremely aggrieved. Back then, Yi Yun was slower than him even while he burned his blood essence and now, he had to put all his effort into escaping from Yi Yun’s grasp. It was practically the world’s biggest joke.

“Oh!? What’s that?”

At that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly noticed a blurry mist far away. He looked into the distance and was extremely astonished by what he saw. Beneath the mist was the edge of a landmass. From afar it looked like a wide expanse covered in mist, giving it an extremely mysterious feel.

This primeval universe actually had a landmass?

Primordial Chaos Daolord found it unbelievable. He originally believed that this universe had perfectly maintained the state in which it was born, the moment after Yin and Yang separated, with the five elements having just born. As for planets and landmasses, those were formed only after countless random evolutions in the universe.

Primordial Chaos Daolord muttered to himself slightly as he immediately changed directions, flying towards the landmass. He did not know what was waiting there, but regardless, it had to be better than his present situation. He was now being pursued by Yi Yun insufferably, and perhaps the landmass had something he could use to lose his tail.

Meanwhile, Yi Yun had naturally seen the landmass as well. His psyche was constantly in communication with the Chaos Gems, and although the Chaos Gems could not ‘speak,’ they could share with him a portion of their memories. Furthermore, these memories had tidbits of information regarding the landmass.

When Yi Yun saw these fragmentary memories, he was slightly stunned. The landmass existed before these Chaos Gems gained sentience. It was the core of this primeval universe!

The landmass appeared to be in sight, but only when one actually flew towards it did they realize how far it was!

This feeling was like flying towards a star in space. Despite being able to see the star’s twinkling light as though it was within one’s grasp, one was still separated by millions of light years with no hope of just flying over to it.

During this long flight, Yi Yun naturally did not ease up. He had not fully honed his laws, and every attack counted. Whatever Yi Yun thought of, he would use, releasing these experimental attacks one after another on Primordial Chaos Daolord.

As he engaged in such an assault, Yi Yun turned more spirited in his fighting. The more he fought, the more grounded he became. It could be said that he had never had such a good time in battle his entire life. Someone who was stronger than him was allowing him to strike him and didn’t retaliate, what sort of combat would be better than that?

Of course, Primordial Chaos Daolord suffered as a result. From having his clothes slightly damaged in the beginning, they were now tattered in multiple spots. Even his face was covered with injuries.

“Darn punk, I’ll definitely tear you apart!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord held back his anger and soon, the landmass was already close by.

The landmass was massive as it floated silently in the cosmos, emitting an ancient and extensive aura. It left one feeling solemn when they faced it.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was somewhat excited seeing the landmass. He could sense that the landmass hid something incredible. Such an opportunity was also a chance for him to lose or even trap Yi Yun.

“Punk, keep following me if you have the guts. You’ve been following me everywhere I go. It will delight me to see how you die!” said Primordial Chaos Daolord with a sneer.

Yi Yun smiled faintly. “Isn’t that nonsense? I will keep following you until I find a perfect spot for an old ignoramus like you. I’ll dig a grave, build a coffin, and help an old ignoramus like you lie in it comfortably.”

“Very good!” Primordial Chaos Daolord had a cold smile. The cold glint his eyes emitted seemed to penetrate the void as he coldly said, “You better hope you do not land in my hands or I have a million and one ways to make you wish you were dead. I will test each and every one of them on you!”

After Primordial Chaos Daolord finished his sentence, he suddenly felt something. He slowed down and quickly turned his head, only to end up dazed!

He saw about eight people standing in the void in front of the landmass. They were none other than Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, Eclipse Arhat and company.

They were clearly attracted to the landmass as well, and now, they were looking at Primordial Chaos Daolord as well as the pursuing Yi Yun in dumbfounded silence.

What the hell was the situation?

They had sensed the energy fluctuations in this area before rushing here to investigate, but they ended up finding this ridiculous scene.

They were still feeling perplexed as to why Primordial Chaos Daolord took so long to pursue a mere junior but now, they could hardly believe their eyes at what they saw.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was fleeing in front while Yi Yun was chasing from behind. Furthermore, Primordial Chaos Daolord looked exhausted and his clothes were in a sorry state. He was in tatters and his face was all scratched up!

Wasn’t Primordial Chaos Daolord pursuing that average Divine Lord? Why was it now reversed?

“Daoist Primordial Chaos, what are you…”

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord inquired across several kilometers of distance.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was flying towards Sacred Horizon Divine Lord at that moment. When he heard the inquiry, he nearly vomited blood.

At that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord felt like his heart was being trampled by ten thousand alpaca Fey with mud-stained hoofs. He was usually decisive in killing others, lofty and untouchable, and he held great power in the Great Cosmic State. For such a powerful hegemon, apart from the obsession to break through and become a Godly Monarch, the only thing that mattered was his dignity.

He never imagined a day would come where he would not only be pathetically pursued by a junior, but also allow that undying old fart, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, to see it!

When people were down on their luck, they would fall down even when standing still. Why did he bump into them in such a massive Primordial Chaos space!?

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s face turned livid, but he quickly came to a realization. He had been drawn over by the landmass, and it was clearly the same for Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and company. This resulted in them encountering each other! But it was so embarrassing!

1499 - : Falling down even when standing still

Although Yi Yun noticed Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and company, he was unfazed. Since they were still a distance from him, they posed no threat to him. Even if each of the Divine Lords present were extraordinarily strong, this was a Primordial Chaos universe. In terms of comprehension of the Primordial Chaos laws, they were likely inferior to Primordial Chaos Daolord. This made the universe they were in his home turf.

“Old ignoramus, didn’t you say you would make me wish I were dead? Don’t just shoot your mouth. Come capture me!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he slashed out once again. Mirage Snow’s stream of light contained the Primordial Chaos and Destruction Great Dao. Primordial Chaos Daolord naturally knew how powerful this strike was, and did not dare to belittle it. He turned around in a fluster, slashing out with his saber.

“Ka-cha!”

The saber beam shattered as Yi Yun’s Sword Qi remained very tricky. The fusion of Primordial Chaos and Destruction Great Dao allowed it to easily endure the explosion. It once again penetrated Primordial Chaos Daolord’s protective Yuan Qi, boring straight into his meridians.

Although Primordial Chaos Daolord had instantly wiped out Yi Yun’s laws, he was still left with lifeblood that was in turmoil.

This scene naturally did not escape the notice of the experts present.

All of them felt their hearts jolt. This person was that strong!?

It was strange, because they clearly did not feel the aura of a Divine Lord Royal Seal on him, so he was likely only an ordinary Divine Lord. Yet he had been pursuing Primordial Chaos Daolord this whole time, to the point of tearing through his protective Yuan Qi!

They immediately realized that they had underestimated Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had managed to turn the tables while being pursued by Primordial Chaos Daolord, and ended up chasing Primordial Chaos Daolord until he was reduced to a sorry state. This only made him appear unfathomable!

Especially when his bone age did not seem high. His future was likely limitless. Once they offended him, they had no choice but to kill him. If not, the repercussions would be dire.

Upon coming to this realization, all the Divine Lords felt a little apprehensive against Yi Yun. It was best not to offend such a person!

The hegemons of the few major factions of Sinkhole unanimously chose to maintain a distance from Yi Yun.

This was exactly what Yi Yun wanted to happen. He had delivered the final strike at Primordial Chaos Daolord in order to create such an effect.

Of course, Yi Yun would not take the initiative to close in towards the hegemons of these major factions. Although his pursuit left Primordial Chaos Daolord exasperated, he knew deep down that he was no match for these old fogies. If he came too close, he would be in danger once they grasped an opportunity.

It was wisest to stay far behind and act accordingly.

“It looks as if this young man is prepared to investigate this landmass together with us,” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord as he looked with Yi Yun with a ruminative look.

If this were any other time, any other person who dared snatch his treasures, he would have long smacked them to death, but now he had to admit that Yi Yun was already approaching their level. He had the qualifications to to take a share of the loot.

“Hmph. Primordial Chaos Daolord, you are an embarrassment. An ordinary Divine Lord has reduced you to this state. Do you need me to lend you a set of clothes?” quipped Fire Cloud Divine Lord. Previously, while opening the primeval universe’s entrance, he had nearly gotten into a fight with Primordial Chaos Daolord. Now that he saw Primordial Chaos Daolord in such a wretched state, he definitely did not miss the chance to mock him.

“Fire Cloud, are you sick of living? Do you really think I’m some wimp that you can push as and when you wish? If you have what it takes, chop off that junior’s head and I’ll be impressed. If you don’t have what it takes, it’s best you shut up!” Primordial Chaos Daolord said coldly.

He was deeply aware of the inexhaustible variety of means available to Yi Yun. He was certain that Fire Cloud Divine Lord would definitely not fare any better if he crossed Yi Yun. In fact, he’d be happy to see him try.

“Hahaha! Primordial Chaos, do you think your goading will be effective on me? That junior is your enemy. It’s not like I have any grudges with him. You want to use me as your vanguard? Do you think I’m a fool? If we enter this landmass and encounter some great opportunities, and this junior is foolish enough to offend me, I will show you! When that happens, you will be convinced utterly!”

As Fire Cloud Divine Lord spoke, he looked Yi Yun deeply in the eye.

He had to admit that Yi Yun was capable, but to say he was afraid of Yi Yun would be a joke. He had reigned supreme in the Sinkhole for many years, so how could he be afraid of a junior!?

He could sense that Yi Yun might keep following them and try to snag any benefits for himself. If that was the case, he would definitely make Yi Yun pay a terrible price.

“Let’s go and take a look at what this landmass has to offer. Watch out for this junior. At the critical moment, he might stab us in the back. If it’s possible, find a way to eliminate him.”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord sent Sacred Horizon Divine Lord a voice transmission. Sacred Horizon Divine Lord only smiled without a reply. It was not only Yi Yun that they had to be wary about, anyone in their group would do the same since they only appeared united but were actually divided at heart. They had to be wary of everyone.

“Let’s go!”

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord waved his hand as a group of people flew towards the landmass.

Yi Yun followed slowly behind them, keeping his feet on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

As everyone flew close to the landmass and approached the gray blurry mist, all of them drew a cold gasp. What looked like a gray mist from afar was in fact a powerful storm.

The periphery of the landmass was enveloped in a thick stormy layer. There were turbulent astral winds in that layer which resembled sharp knives. Even the void would be blown to smithereens in such a storm.

“What a powerful storm. These winds are eroding our Yuan Qi!”

The powerful Divine Lords raised their protective Yuan Qi to forge through the astral winds. However, when their protective Yuan Qi was struck by the astral winds, it was like boulders weathering endless time. They were eroded and quickly worn down to nothingness.

Their Yuan Qi was rapidly vanishing!

Everyone was alarmed. The astral winds contained the power of time!

However, these Divine Lords were hegemons of their respective dominion with deep foundations. Using their powerful Yuan Qi, they constantly replenished the barriers that were being corroded, allowing them to successfully descend.

Fire Cloud Divine Lord gave Yi Yun a glance, curious as to how Yi Yun would pass through the astral winds with his weak cultivation level. Taking a step back, even if the astral winds were nothing to Yi Yun, he could see what means and strength were available to Yi Yun from his actions. If Yi Yun could barely withstand the astral winds, he could even consider attempting a sneak attack.

However, Fire Cloud Divine Lord never imagined that Yi Yun wasn’t even bothering to raise a barrier. Instead, he jumped into the massive cauldron and plummeted through the astral winds!

No matter how unrelenting the astral wind’s power of time was, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was unperturbed. Not even a mark was left on its shiny surface.

What?

Fire Cloud Divine Lord widened his eyes. What sort of treasured cauldron was that to be so powerful?

Primordial Chaos Daolord grunted coldly. He had long expected for this to happen. He could not even be bothered to watch as he immediately tore through the storm to venture deeper.

If a bit of astral winds could stop the punk, would he be in such a sorry state?

He now anticipated something good would appear on the landmass and that Yi Yun would ultimately succumb to impatience and try to snatch the treasure. When that happened, Yi Yun would have to close in and it would be an opportunity for him to capture Yi Yun.

1500 - : Shocking Power Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

As they constantly descended, the stellar wind storm turned more intense and violent. The wind howled like the stampede of wild beasts. It even made them wonder if the stellar winds at the surface of the landmass would only be more terrifying.

The rate at which the group’s Yuan Qi was depleted also increased. The violent winds swept at them like sharp blades and, at that moment, the howling of the winds turned even louder. Terrifying typhoons appeared out of nowhere as they instantly swept the group within their blasts.

Right as his protective Yuan Qi failed to withstand the typhoon, Fire Cloud Divine Lord took out a defensive artifact. But just by being a moment too slow, the typhoon battered him and left him ruptured in several spots, causing his expression to change.

If it was a warrior with a slightly lower cultivation level, they would probably have vanished silently amid the stellar winds.

Apart from the Divine Lords with the highest cultivation levels—Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, Eclipse Arhat, and Primordial Chaos Daolord—the other Divine Lords suffered an injury in some way or another due to the abrupt appearance of the typhoon. Following that, they each used whatever means they had available to them, allowing them to continue the descent by relying on a defensive art or artifact.

However, no one had thoughts of leaving. The existence of the landmass appeared very odd in the primeval universe. Even if this was a land of peril, they would not be willing to stop until they probed it. Furthermore, the violent stellar winds were just too conveniently placed, as if they were a natural protective barrier. If that were the case, this land definitely had something rare.

Even these Divine Lords began to find it challenging when the stellar winds suddenly vanished. What seemed like a barren land appeared before the group’s eyes. Weathered gigantic rocks and mountains stood erect on this piece of land. Gusts of sandy wind swept over from time to time as the wind moaned. An extremely ancient aura seemed to envelop the landmass.

Also, the ancient aura seemed to effuse a strange and sinister feeling.

After what seemed like an endless amount of time, they might very well have been the first batch of people that had set foot on this piece of land. At the instant they landed, everyone felt a strange feeling as though a pair of eyes was watching them.

They suddenly heard a bang, giving them all a fright.

They looked in the direction of the sound and were immediately left speechless.

It was the sound of Yi Yun’s huge cauldron landing.

In such an atmosphere, how could anyone not jump out of their skins when Yi Yun let out such a large sound when his cauldron landed? After all, they had not even dared to breathe loudly when they first arrived. Yi Yun sure was calm. He had caused such a stir the moment he arrived. He truly was bold!

Yi Yun emerged from the cauldron and saw the Divine Lords looking at him from afar. However, he did not mind them at all. He was not with them, and instead of keeping a low profile, he might as well act as he wished. If he ended up attracting some danger, he still had the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to protect him. The one who would ultimately suffer was definitely not him.

When Fire Cloud Divine Lord saw Yi Yun appear completely unscathed, he frowned. Many of the Divine Lords had suffered minor injuries amid the stellar winds, but Yi Yun was completely fine. The artifact was truly powerful.

Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s eyes flashed with a strange glint as he began coveting the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“Everyone, this landmass is probably full of strange things. We have to be careful,” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord.

With that say, the group proceeded forward together.

While walking across the landmass, they saw nothing but weathered rock everywhere. It was very easy to lose one’s sense of direction. Other than just rocks and sandy wind, it did not seem like it had anything else. There were no vegetation or living creatures. They found it extremely quiet as they walked along.

Suddenly, a faint gray beam of light flew across their path.

After finally seeing something after walking for so long, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, who was in front, was quick to act. He immediately reached out to grab it.

An invisible suction force appeared as the gray beam of light was pulled back forcibly before Sacred Horizon Divine Lord grabbed it.

“Could it be a Chaos Gem?” asked a Divine Lord immediately as his eyes sparkled.

These Divine Lords had encountered Chaos Gems in the primeval universe as well, but they were not adept in Primordial Chaos laws. This caused their speed to be greatly limited and, in the vast cosmos, the Chaos Gems had given birth to some form of intelligence. They would escape the moment it saw people from afar. These Divine Lords found it difficult to grab the Chaos Gems. Up to this point in time, each person only had about four or five of them.

In fact, the Chaos Gems they had obtained could not even be considered gems. They were better described as grains since most of them were the size of sesame seeds. The largest one was probably about the size of a rice grain.

Even so, such precious Chaos Gems were still very valuable in their eyes.

If the landmass had Chaos Gems, capturing them would be a lot easier.

Therefore, it was not only that Divine Lord that had posed the question. The other Divine Lords also gave an inquisitive look of anticipation.

“It’s not a Chaos Gem,” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord with a shake of his head. “But it’s also not some ordinary rock. This is the most primeval rock formed at the beginning of this universe. After billions of years, they were formed by the contamination of the nebulous Primordial Chaos. It also has the power of Primordial Chaos laws.

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord spread his palm, revealing a gray rock the size of a pigeon’s egg. However, its weight was incomparable to the average rock. The rock was as heavy as a mountain.

The Divine Lords could not hide their disappointment when they heard that it was not a Chaos Gem. However, when they looked at the gray rock, they realized that although it was far inferior to Chaos Gems, it was also a rare treasure. Firstly, its size was a lot bigger than those Chaos Gems which were the size of sesame seeds.

By using this gray rock, they could equally absorb nebulous Primordial Chaos, and gain insight into the Primordial laws.

Perhaps it was only on this piece of land that such special rocks could be found.

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord put away the rock. After they traveled a little further, a few rocks appeared again. Immediately, several Divine Lords jumped to give chase.

One of the Divine Lords suddenly conjured a mirror when he approached a special rock. The special rock vanished strangely when it was reflected by a mirror. However, the special rock in the mirror remained.

This Divine Lord immediately smiled. He extended his hand to wipe it, causing the special stone within its mirror to appear in his hands.

“There’s such a fascinating spatial-dimension artifact?” Yi Yun marveled from the sight. These Divine Lords were all rulers of their respective dominions, implying that they had something unique about them. Just the spatial Dharma treasure was quite extraordinary.

The other Divine Lords who had tried to vie for it had ugly looks.

“West River Divine Lord, it’s not very right of you to obtain the treasure by relying on your artifact, right?” The person who spoke was a Divine Lord who had charged right ahead.

West River Divine Lord, continued smiling as he said, “The retrieval of the rock all depends on your individual skills. Having an artifact is naturally a part of one’s ability, don’t you agree?”

The other Divine Lord’s expression turned nasty as he coldly harrumphed and didn’t say another word.

Another few special rocks appeared later as well. One was obtained by Eclipse Arhat and two by Primordial Chaos Daolord. He had relied on the Primordial Chaos laws, allowing his speed to be faster than the other Divine Lords. It was difficult for the other Divine Lords to snatch them away from him.

However, eight or nine special rocks would appear suddenly at once, making all the Divine Lords scramble to snatch them.

One time, Fire Cloud Divine Lord suddenly laughed as he asked, “Fellow Daoist, why aren’t you taking action?”

He was naturally asking Yi Yun. Yi Yun had been following behind them all this while as though he was watching a show. He would watch coldly from the side as the Divine Lords used a variety of means to snatch the special rocks. As for Yi Yun, he stood there motionlessly like a mountain.

He had planned on seeking an opportunity to attack Yi Yun when Yi Yun succumbed to his impatience, but Yi Yun had not taken action. His long wait ended up being for nothing, so he lost his patience and asked.

“It’s nothing. I’m not interested in such trivial items,” said Yi Yun.

He had spoken in a very nonchalant manner which took the hegemons by surprise.

They were here to vie for items, but Yi Yun actually deemed them as trivial items? And that he was not interested?

Following that, these people laughed. They knew that the truth had to be that Yi Yun’s strength was limited and he did not dare join the fray. They got a general understanding that although Yi Yun had been pursuing Primordial Chaos Daolord previously, he did not dare to enter a head-on clash. Instead, he relied on his speed advantage to maintain a distance and constantly harass. This was because once Primordial Chaos Daolord closed the distance, it would be useless even if Yi Yun hid in the cauldron. He would be captured together with the cauldron.

However, they believed that Yi Yun refused to take it lying down since he was young and spirited, so he had said those supercilious-sounding words.

“Hahaha, you actually call these trivial items? Might I know what impressive items you have obtained?” quipped Fire Cloud Divine Lord mockingly. Although these gray rocks were far inferior in quality to Chaos Gems, they had an advantage in numbers and size. Each one of them would be snatched up by various hegemons when placed in the Sinkhole!

Yi Yun could not be bothered with Fire Cloud Divine Lord as he stopped speaking. In response, the corner of Primordial Chaos Daolord’s mouth twitched and a vein protruded out his forehead.

These people did not know what Yi Yun had obtained, but he knew very well. He was so angry that he nearly blew his top!

These special rocks obviously did not catch Yi Yun’s eye. He had already obtained an unknown number of Chaos Gems along the way!

The reason why the other Divine Lords had obtained very few Chaos Gems had to do with there being too many boats chasing too few fish. In addition, Chaos Gems flew too quickly and had intelligence, allowing them to avoid people well ahead of time. However, Yi Yun was different. The Chaos Gems would willingly go to him. Furthermore, these Chaos Gems were each bigger than the other. In Yi Yun’s hand, a Chaos Gems the size of a sesame seed was the smallest!

Therefore, a sesame seed-sized Chaos Gem might not even catch Yi Yun’s eye, much less these special rocks.

As for Primordial Chaos Daolord himself, he had seen the same number of Chaos Gems Yi Yun had seen. But in the end, all he got was a pittance. Even now, all he could vie for were these special rocks with the rest!

Yi Yun’s words was a smack in the face, so how could he not be pissed?

However, Primordial Chaos Daolord naturally was not foolish enough to tell the others that Yi Yun had a large number of Chaos Gems in hand. These Chaos Gems would eventually be his.

“Eh? Daoist Primordial Chaos, what’s wrong. You don’t look too well?” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord suddenly.

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s face twitched violently as his face turned sullen. He said coldly, “Nothing!”

He forcibly suppressed his anger. He had to treat Yi Yun as though he did not exist, otherwise the youth’s taunting would make him blow up in anger sooner or later. He needed to grasp an opportunity to deliver a fatal strike and obtain all of the boons that Yi Yun carried!

1501 - : Ancient Landmass

CKtalon  CKtalon

Apart from the stellar winds in the beginning, the group did not encounter any dangers on the landmass. This was actually unexpected since they believed that the primeval landmass might hold unimaginable dangers at every turn. But now, it appeared to be a simply primeval and desolate piece of land.

“Although there are divine rocks contaminated by nebulous Primordial Chaos, we have not found any divine treasures after searching for so long…”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord frowned. He was obviously excited at the prospect of being able to reap those divine rocks, but he was also naturally not satisfied finding just that after going through so much trouble to find this mysterious universe. He wished to discover greater opportunities.

“That person is starting to distance himself from us,” a female Divine Lord dressed in a purple dress commented. She saw that Yi Yun’s figure had shrunk into a tiny dot in the distance, as though he was hidden amid the blurry mist.

“He’s not strong enough. Following us won’t benefit him in any way. He keeps watching us gather the divine rocks, but he does not dare to vie for them. Obviously, he’s not foolish enough to follow us closely.” Fire Cloud Divine Lord narrowed his eyes to give Yi Yun a glance. He did not mind Yi Yun getting away from them. The entrance to the space had been sealed by Primordial Chaos Daolord. If Yi Yun wanted to attempt an escape, he would have to crack the seal. Primordial Chaos Daolord would naturally sense that and, when the time came, they could still capture Yi Yun.

As for Primordial Chaos Daolord, he yearned for Yi Yun to leave so that he could be out of sight and out of mind.

However, for some nagging reason, Primordial Chaos Daolord had an ominous premonition. He had suffered under Yi Yun just too much, so he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a ploy behind Yi Yun’s every action.

Although he was suspicious, Primordial Chaos Daolord did not plan to follow Yi Yun alone. He had suffered enough already. This place was desolate and creepy, and even if Yi Yun had several means at his disposal, they were unlikely to be useful here.

Yi Yun naturally did not care what these people thought about him. He proceeded further into the mist, and soon, he was completely separated from the Divine Lords.

Fire Cloud Divine Lord was right. Yi Yun would not foolishly follow them and watch them gather the divine rocks. Furthermore, he thought nothing of those divine rocks.

Yi Yun sped up his departure before taking out a Chaos Gem from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

He spread open his palm as the Chaos Gem trembled slightly in his palm as though it was somewhat excited.

In fact, it wasn’t just this Chaos Gem. The other Chaos Gems in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had similar reactions. And it was precisely because Yi Yun had sensed the abnormality of the Chaos Gems that he chose to silently separate from the Divine Lords.

The Chaos Gems possessed intelligence. There was definitely a reason for the sudden state the Chaos Gems was in.

In addition, the Chaos Gems had transmitted a faint sensation that guided him in a particular direction.

As he followed that direction, he slowly saw a short hill.

The hill was completely black in color as though it was made of metal. The hill did not have any protruding rocks so that it was very level, making it quite intriguing.

Such a tiny hill that stood perfectly-shaped appeared rather out of place on this desolate land.

And when Yi Yun approached the hill’s peak, he suddenly sensed an obstructive force that prevented him for progressing forward, and it grew stronger at a rapid rate. The surrounding air was like a thick quagmire, making it feel difficult to progress even an inch.

“Why are the Primordial Chaos laws here so strong?” Yi Yun revealed a look of surprise. Apart from the less than hundred-meter tall hill, there was nothing around him. However, this terrifying obstructive force implied that something was odd about the area.

The place that triggered the Chaos Gems had to be here.

Yi Yun only managed to continue progressing forward by releasing his Primordial Chaos space. Although it was only a few hundred meters from where he was to the foot of the hill, it took Yi Yun about an hour to traverse the distance.

When Yi Yun finally reached the hill, he felt that all his energy was being triggered by the hill’s body as though it was about spew out.

This is…

Yi Yun focused his eyes, and saw that there were black crystals buried inside the black hill.

They were… Chaos Gems!

Yi Yun held his breath. He could sense the tremendous Chaos energies emitting out of the hill’s body. Similarly, the Chaos Gems in the cauldron were reacting as though they felt it as well.

Yi Yun closed his eyes and carefully sensed the scale of the Chaos energies. Finally, his heart came to a stop for he finally determined that deep in the black hill lay a Chaos Gems mineral vein!

The powers of the world would condense to form World Stones during the birth of a world, as well as World Stone mineral veins. Back when the Sinkhole appeared, the Sinkhole’s powers of the world had also condensed Spirit Jade and Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli.

Then, the formation of a primeval universe would naturally form a Chaos Gems mineral vein where the Primordial Chaos energies were the richest!

However, this kind of mineral vein was no different from a legend. In fact, it was not even mentioned in legends. It was already a huge opportunity for one to encounter a single Chaos Gem. Therefore a Chaos Gem mineral vein was completely unimaginable!

“Could it be… that this universe’s Chaos Gems are produced from this mineral vein?”

This thought flashed across Yi Yun’s mind. This universe was filled with an excessive number of Chaos Gems. They were born from the mineral vein and scattered across the universe. They floated for eons and absorbed the universe’s essence before gaining sentience.

And this was their original birth place. This was also why the Chaos Gems in the cauldron resonated in response.

This place was a treasure in and of itself!

Although Yi Yun had encountered many natural treasures in his time, his breathing could not help but hasten. This would enhance his Primordial Chaos laws greatly!

Yi Yun knew deep down that what he was seeing was only the exterior periphery of the Chaos Gems mineral vein. It was also where the density of the Chaos energy was weakest. And deep in the mineral vein, there were definitely supreme-grade Chaos Gems just like Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli for Spirit Jade!

Yi Yun eagerly headed towards the Chaos Gems mineral vein, but at that moment, he suddenly sensed a sharp killing intent!

Oh!?

Yi Yun came to an abrupt halt. He saw an unfathomable hole dug into the ground in front of him. Pure wisps of Yuan Qi shot out of its depths like sharp Sword Qi.

The pure Yuan Qi was not pure Primordial Chaos powers but contained all sorts of nomological forces. There was Yin-Yang, the five elements, space-time, and many more!

In the history of the universe, there was first Primordial Chaos, before Yin-Yang and space-time. Finally, the five elements appeared, forming all matter.

A Chaos Gem mineral vein had sufficient energy to produce all sorts of laws.

The Chaos laws was the beginning of all laws and matter, while the Destruction laws was the ending of all laws and matter!

Yi Yun wore a heavy expression. He saw more holes like the one in front of him, and could sense that the holes were connected together, forming a massive array formation map. It was not artificial, but naturally formed by the the world’s processes.

An array formation of such a grand scale far exceeded any array master’s imagination.

Yi Yun picked up a rock and threw it over.

Peng!

The rock slammed into an invisible energy jet, and the rock was immediately sliced into countless smaller pieces amid the jet. The small fragments were then crushed to powder before completely vanishing.

The glint in Yi Yun’s eyes changed. He thought for a moment and took out a long saber that emitted a ghastly aura from his interspatial ring. He could not remember when he had obtained the saber from. It was of pretty good quality, but was useless to him. Besides, items that emitted such ghastly auras were not things he wanted to keep by his side. This was an opportune time to use it.

Dang!

The saber cleaved at the energy jet under Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi envelopment.

Yuan Qi blasted out suddenly as it struck the energy jet.

However, at the instant the saber entered the energy jet, there was a sharp howl from the saber. Following that, a wisp of black smoke billowed from it. The saber melted under Yi Yun’s watch, leaving nothing behind from either the ghostly soul or the saber.

As for the Yuan Qi, it was absorbed clean by the energy jet. It did not even cause so much as a stir.

“This…”

Yi Yun could tell that the energy jet was a worldly array formed naturally. It would be difficult to crack. Even a mighty figure would be reduced to nothingness if they tried to forcibly crack it.

He came to this conclusion. Unless he could crack the laws within, he could not enter. However, this was the most primeval Great Dao of the universe. How could it be easy to fully comprehend?

Although Yi Yun understood this, he absolutely refused to give up. Such a massive opportunity would definitely be worth it even if he had to study the array formation for centuries or even millennia!

Yi Yun sat on the ground in an attempt to comprehend the laws. At that moment, he suddenly discovered that the Chaos Gem that he had taken out but not put back into the cauldron emitted a faint glow as the Yuan Qi energy spewed once more.

Could it be…

Yi Yun connected psychically to the Chaos Gem.

Sou!

The Chaos Gem suddenly flew out of Yi Yun’s hand and towards the screen of light.

“Wait!”

Yi Yun was alarmed. Although he had a guess, seeing the Chaos Gem shoot forward tightened his heart. These Chaos Gems were intelligent. He did not wish to see them destroyed.

However, Yi Yun was able to heave a sigh of relief because he saw the Chaos Gem pass through the energy jet safely and quietly before it floated in mid-air.

As he looked at the floating Chaos Gem, Yi Yun was certain of his guess.

This was where the Chaos Gem mineral vein was. The Chaos Gems he had obtained all stemmed from this mineral vein, and since it was their birth place, the worldly array naturally wouldn’t harm them!

This was within reason.

After coming to this realization, Yi Yun immediately thought of a way to proceed.

After five minutes, Yi Yun had donned a simple armor emitted a gray aura. Upon a more careful look, one would see that the armor was made out of Chaos Gems.

Yi Yun was probably the only person who could be so extravagant as to use Chaos Gems as an armor.

These Chaos Gems released nebulous Primordial Chaos, enveloping Yi Yun within. Yi Yun then strode forward as he carefully approached the energy jet.

As he passed through the energy jet, Yi Yun held his breath. He felt the terrifying powers sweep across his body, but they did not injure him. The next moment, he had already successfully appeared on the other side of the energy jet wall.

He had succeeded. Yi Yun was delighted. With the Chaos Gems armor, he realized that not only did the energy jet fail to hurt him, even the Primordial Chaos laws that restricted his movement had been weakened greatly. He should have thought of this idea a long time ago.

1502 - : Armor of Chaos

As Yi Yun continued venturing deeper, he clearly sensed that the Yuan Qi energy that spewed out from underground was turning more horrific. It was like a mighty torrent. He could tell that the torrent would automatically divert upon approaching the Chaos armor. But even so, he still felt an immense impact acting on him. Amid the torrent, he felt like a lone boat in the middle of the massive ocean.

If he took off his Chaos armor, Yi Yun guessed that he would be instantly pulverized.

“The laws at the universe’s birth sure are fascinating. The Primordial Chaos produces such terrifying Yuan Qi jets, but it knows to automatically avoid Chaos Gems that were born here.”

As Yi Yun sighed, he had already come to a spot just mere feet away from the hill. There, the density of the Primordial Chaos energies had reached an unimaginable state. They gathered together, fusing all the laws in that space, making them indistinguishable.

This sort of pure, chaotic state was Chaos.

“Chaos… the state before the Universe was born. Primordial Chaos. Just splitting off a wisp is known as Primordial, but at its uppermost limits, it is Chaos…”

Yi Yun knew that in the Universe where Earth resided in before his transmigration, there was a similar birth process of the Universe. Scientists said that at the instant of the Big Bang, all the matter, space, and time in the world was compressed into a point. Even the four fundamental forces were unified.

And such a chaotic state was the beginning of all matter.

Yi Yun did not advance any further. He sat down cross-legged and slowly inched his perception into the Chaos Gem mineral vein.

“Hum—”

At the instant he made contact with the Chaos Gem mineral vein, the entire mineral vein trembled, as though a divine dragon that had been sleeping for billions of years was awakening.

“Huh!?”

Yi Yun was alarmed as he sensed the energies of the mineral vein turn increasingly violent. It appeared as if he had stirred a massive spirit.

Could it be that the mineral vein had also gained sentience over the billions of years?

Yi Yun held his breath. If that were the case, how powerful would such a being be!?

But ultimately, this feeling abated. The mineral vein calmed down, and no ancient spirit awoke.

But beneath the ground, the spewing energy flows became more concentrated. Soon they merged into an energy net that enveloped the entire hill!

Yi Yun felt an upheaval of emotions. When he was certain that the Chaos Gem mineral vein would no longer act abnormally, he began absorbing the nebulous Primordial Chaos to cultivate.

However, the Chaos Gem mineral vein’s quaking reached far out…

Hundreds of kilometers away, Primordial Chaos Daolord and company felt their hearts jolt.

“There’s a massive energy fluctuation over there!” Primordial Chaos Daolord had a very thorough understanding of the Primordial Chaos laws. He was the first to sense it.

“Oh?” Sacred Horizon Divine Lord’s eyes lit up as well. “Could it be the birth of some treasure?”

“Let’s take a look!” Primordial Chaos Daolord said as the group of people rapidly flew over. Even in this distant universe, a few hundred kilometers could be traversed in five minutes.

Soon, Primordial Chaos Daolord and company had rushed over from afar. They were anxious and also filled with anticipation. They had obtained nothing apart from the divine rocks. Now, they had finally discovered something promising.

Upon arrival, they immediately experienced the same feelings that Yi Yun had felt.

“The Primordial Chaos laws here are very potent!”

“This hill is far from ordinary. It probably hides some supreme treasure within!” Primordial Chaos Daolord looked at the hill with eyes full of excitement.

These Divine Lords were powerful and they used various means to safely venture deeper.

Soon, they arrived in front of the spewing energy jet.

At that moment, the energy flows had finished forming an energy net that enveloped the hill’s peak.

“Hold on,” said a Divine Lord with a frown.

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord also wore a ruminative look on his face. He gently swiped with his finger as a beam of Yuan Qi shot forward like a sword.

And when the Yuan Qi finger beam came into contact with the energy net, it exploded. Following that, the beam was instantly devoured.

“This is a natural array formation. There must be an impressive divine treasure sealed within!” Fire Cloud Divine Lord said in pleasant surprise.

The other Divine Lords turned fervent as well. A massive array formed by natural processes was either formed by the special geological features, a natural wonder land, or it was because of a birth of a treasure. Furthermore, such treasures were always extremely precious.

Apart from the worldly array, even the laws had changed. It was definitely due to the existence of a supreme treasure.

“Don’t rush to rejoice. We might not be able to enter,” Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly said coldly. He knew Primordial Chaos laws and he deeply understood how terrifying the worldly array was.

“Primordial Chaos, the treasure is right in front of us. Why are you saying such disheartening words before you even make an attempt? The path to becoming a Godly Monarch is fraught with difficulties. All we need to do is overcome them and forge ahead diligently. If this is the sum of your character, I believe you will stay a Divine Lord for the rest of your life,” said Fire Cloud Divine Lord sarcastically.

“Hehe…” Primordial Chaos Daolord sneered. “In that case, I won’t stop you. Go on in.”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord harrumphed coldly and turned to head towards the energy jets.

Naturally, he could tell that the energy net was not that easy to pass through. Such worldly array formations might be difficult to crack, but there was still chance of forcibly gaining entry.

“West River Divine Lord, why don’t you join forces with me?” asked Fire Cloud Divine Lord.

There was more certainty if two Divine Lords took action together.

“Haha, I will respectfully accept your invitation, Brother Fire Cloud,” said West River Divine Lord with a smile.

Fire Cloud Divine Lord nodded. A fire blob instantly appeared in his palm.

“Go!”

The flame flew out and exploded with a boom. Immediately, there were hot waves surging outwards as flames blotted out the sky. It was though space itself was warping from the burning heat.

If Li Fire Divine Lord were there, he would be made aware that his grasp of the fire-elemental laws was far inferior to Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s.

At that moment, West River Divine Lord had taken action as well. He conjured a spatial mirror before reaching out his hand to guide it. A beam of spatial dimension laws slashed out from the mirror. Like a sword that could split open the skies, it tore through the ground ahead of him. These energy jets came from underground, after all. The land had formed a natural array in and of itself. As long as they destroyed a corner of that array, they could step into it.

The two Divine Lord’s combined attacks was tumultuous. Even if a planet was there, it would be shattered.

But what followed left Fire Cloud Divine Lord and West River Divine Lord astounded.

Before their attacks reached the ground, they were devoured by the energy jets that filled the area. They vanished as if they had sunk into the bottomless ocean.

This was the attack of two hegemons. Even if they failed to crack open the array, they should have at least caused a boom, right? But now, their attacks did not even touch the array’s body.

Primordial Chaos Daolord sneered and said, “What an embarrassing spectacle.”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s eyes burned with anger. “Primordial Chaos, why don’t you try since you are so smug?”

Primordial Chaos Daolord ignored Fire Cloud Divine Lord. As for the other Divine Lords, they abandoned all thoughts of attempting after seeing how Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s and West River Divine Lord’s combined attack had failed to stir the light barrier one bit.

“This natural array is extremely robust. Even I might not be able to enter. Daoist Primordial Chaos, do you have a solution?” asked Sacred Horizon Divine Lord.

“I said earlier that we might not be able to enter. I’ll just try my best. This array is related to the nebulous Primordial Chaos. Perhaps using it might give me a chance,” said Primordial Chaos Daolord. It was true that he did not have confidence in his ability to crack the worldly array; if he did, he would not have said such words that only undermined himself.

“In that case, it looks like none of us will be entering any time soon.” the purple-dressed female Divine Lord from before said.

“That’s right. That is exactly the case,” said Primordial Chaos Daolord lightly.

“Perhaps all of us can do one collective attack as an attempt. If anyone makes a great contribution to the opening of the array, they can receive an additional portion of the treasures inside!” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord. But at that moment, Eclipse Arhat, who was a man of few words, suddenly exclaimed lightly.

“It appears there is the fluctuation of a vital aura over there?”

Eclipse Arhat had very sharp senses for vital auras. Even if the energy jets screened off everything, he could still faintly sense it.

Everyone felt a jolt through their hearts. The spot where Eclipse Arhat pointed at was within the energy jets. There was someone there? How was it possible?

Although they felt disbelief, they still walked in the direction of the spot. After taking a hundred steps forward and circling a tiny area of the hill, they faintly saw a figure within the energy jets. The figure was blocked by the hill’s peak previously, preventing them from seeing him.

Upon seeing the figure sitting there cross-legged, Primordial Chaos Daolord’s heart thumped. He felt an extremely ominous premonition rise up in him. He focused his Yuan Qi to his eyes as the figure immediately turned clear.

“It… It’s that little bastard!” Primordial Chaos Daolord had an ugly expression. Back then, he had a forbidding premonition that Yi Yun was up to something when he left the group. So he had discovered and arrived at this treasure land before him!

The others strengthened their eyesight and also identified the person.

Apart from themselves, the only other person in this cosmic space was Yi Yun…

And at that moment, Yi Yun was sitting amid the energy jets, allowing the surging streams to strike him. Yet, he stood there stable as a mountain, absorbing the Primordial Yuan Qi in greedy cultivation!

This scene left everyone dumbfounded. They exchanged looks. They had failed to pass through the energy jets at the periphery, but Yi Yun was sitting there safe and sound despite having a cultivation level lower than theirs?

Could it be that his comprehension of the Primordial Chaos laws had reached a level that allowed him to crack the worldly array?

“Primordial Chaos, what’s the meaning of this? Don’t you call yourself Primordial Chaos Daolord? Why is the punk sitting safe and sound inside, while we are outside feeling helpless?” Even Sacred Horizon Divine Lord could not help but question Primordial Chaos Daolord. The difference was just too great.

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s face was as black as a wok’s bottom. “Impossible! Although that punk has some capabilities, he absolutely has not reached such a level. This worldly array destroys everything. There’s no way he can withstand it with that bit of skill of his! He must have used some trick!”

As Primordial Chaos Daolord spoke, he tried his best to look at Yi Yun. “Oh? There’s a mist around his body. It looks like there’s something?”

The crowd looked carefully and indeed, they discovered that Yi Yun’s body was covered in a gray layer. It looked like crudely created armor.

The armor’s surface was very odd, as though it was formed of tiny rock particles. There were holes in between the rocks, making it look very crude in construction. It could not have any significant defensive abilities.

But the terrifying energy jet would divert itself upon encountering the crude armor. It did not harm Yi Yun in any way.

What armor was this?

Hold on! Why do those tiny rock particles appear familiar?

“Could those be Chaos Gems!?” someone finally exclaimed.

The lustrous gems that formed the armor were none other than Chaos Gems!

A Divine Lord found it unbelievable as he took out a tiny Chaos Gem out. After he made the comparison, he widened his eyes as he stared at Yi Yun’s figure. It took him some time to force his words out. “They really are Chaos Gems… But, how did he get so many Chaos Gems?”

The Divine Lord immediately felt that the Chaos Gem he had was truly the most sorry thing. He had treated the tiny Chaos Gem as a treasure, but as for Yi Yun? He was wearing them!

Not only that, each and every Chaos Gem that formed the armor was bigger and more precious than the one in his hand!

This Divine Lord felt as though he had suffered an incredible blow. He was not the only one because the other Divine Lords were feeling the same way!

They were hegemons of their dominions outside this world, extremely famous figures. They had always been lofty. When had they ever have the chance to experience such a huge disparity in wealth?

From the looks of it, Yi Yun had used the Chaos Gem armor to step into the screen of light. If not, there was no other explanation for why he could sit there peacefully. But even if they knew the solution, they needed that many Chaos Gems!

Fire Cloud Divine Lord felt that he had eaten a fly. He had previously mocked Yi Yun for being gutless as he had not vied for the gray rocks contaminated with nebulous Primordial Chaos. He thought Yi Yun’s mention of him being ‘not interested’ was just a front. Now, he realized that Yi Yun actually had that many Chaos Gems. Obviously, he would not be interested in those gray rocks. It was as though he had picked up a bunch of trash and flaunted it to a magnate who had chests of gold hidden at home.

“Primordial Chaos, how does this person have so many Chaos Gems? You fought with him for so long and had been following him all this while. Did you not see that he has so many Chaos Gems? Why didn’t you snatch them all?”

“Why do you keep spouting nonsense?” Primordial Chaos Daolord’s expression was already pitch-black. When he saw Yi Yun wearing the Chaos Gem armor and sitting in there cultivating, he already felt like vomiting blood. And at that moment, Fire Cloud was rubbing his nose in the matter.

If he had the means to snatch Yi Yun’s Chaos Gems, would he have fled from Yi Yun in such a wretched manner, so peeved that he nearly vomited blood?

Fire Cloud Divine Lord gained a general understanding from Primordial Chaos Daolord’s expression. Apart from being pursued by Yi Yun, Primordial Chaos Daolord must have suffered greatly at his hand.

These Chaos Gems could very likely be discovered by both Primordial Chaos Daolord and Yi Yun, but all of them ended up in Yi Yun’s hands!

Although Fire Cloud Divine Lord often mocked Primordial Chaos Daolord, he knew very well that Primordial Chaos Daolord was not someone to be trifled with. How did this person do it and win?

1503 - : The Differences Between People Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“Are we going to just wait here and helplessly watch the punk sit there inside?” West River Divine Lord could not help but comment.

The moment he said that, all the Divine Lords jolted to their senses. It was not the time for them to just stare wide-eyed.

It had not been easy for the group of them to tear open the entrance to this cosmic space; but now, a junior was reaping the benefits before their very noses. It was truly quite a joke.

“Since this punk used a Chaos Gem armor to enter this land of treasure, why can’t we? Why don’t a few of us stay here to watch him to make sure he doesn’t take any other action. The rest will go search for Chaos Gems,” said Fire Cloud Divine Lord.

Creating a Chaos Gem armor seemed like the only way to pass through the energy jets.

Everyone expressed agreement towards Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s suggestion. Even Primordial Chaos Daolord acquiesced.

“In that case, I’ll stay behind. I want to watch this punk properly,” said Fire Cloud Divine Lord.

Primordial Chaos Daolord shot him a cold look and said, “I’ll stay behind too.”

He felt more assured staying here personally to watch Yi Yun.

“Aqua Waters Divine Lord, why don’t you stay behind too?” Sacred Horizon Divine Lord said to the purple-dressed female Divine Lord.

Aqua Waters Divine Lord nodded. The other Divine Lords returned to space to search for Chaos Gems. It was extremely difficult to find Chaos Gems on the landmass, so the best way was to return to space.

Meanwhile, Yi Yun was still focusing on his cultivation. It seemed as though he had not discovered the group’s arrival.

Sitting beside the hill, Yi Yun’s body was like a reservoir that had large amounts of nebulous Primordial Chaos gushing into it. His chest constantly rose and fell as a blurry aura emitted from his body.

The gray fog looked ethereal, but in fact, it was as heavy as a star. A grain of sand contaminated with nebulous Primordial Chaos could become extremely dense. Not only was Yi Yun’s grasp of Primordial Chaos laws improving, even his skin and skeleton were unknowingly being forged in a crucible of nebulous Primordial Chaos.

Yi Yun’s body and mind were completely immersed in the space he was in. He naturally did not care about anything else. The arrival of the Divine Lords had not affected him in any way.

At that moment, Yi Yun, who was immersed in his cultivation, suddenly sensed a voice.

The voice sounded like it came from the nebulous Primordial Chaos, but it was fleeting.

Yi Yun was taken aback. Could this be the massive spirit that he had sensed from within the mineral vein?

Yi Yun instantly turned nervous upon coming to this conjecture. If the massive spirit were to awaken, he would be in danger simply by staying where he was.

The voice sounded once again, filled with an ancient and boundless flavor. As for Yi Yun, he did not sense any ill intent from it; instead, it appeared to feel like a soft beckoning.

The Chaos Gems on his body seemed to sense the voice’s beckoning as they began to vibrate gently, as though they were urging him to meet it.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before standing up and walking towards the hill.

These Chaos Gems had given Yi Yun quite a bit of help. He believed that they would not harm him. If this mysterious voice or these Chaos Gems really wanted him dead, he would not be able to escape his fate even if he didn’t proceed inside.

A cave entrance appeared on the rock wall of the hill, one he didn’t notice before. Peering deep into the nether-looking cave, he sensed the massive aura emitted from within. Yi Yun stopped by the entrance for a moment before taking a deep breathe to stride forward.

“Oh? What’s that little bastard up to?”

Primordial Chaos Daolord was staring at Yi Yun intently all this while, so he immediately noticed the moment Yi Yun moved.

But no matter how he enhanced his vision, all he saw was Yi Yun stand up suddenly and walk toward the hill before vanishing.

As for how Yi Yun entered, or what sort of place he had entered, he had failed to see it clearly. The Chaos was something his vision could not penetrate.

But even if he could not make out the details, Primordial Chaos Daolord knew that Yi Yun had already entered the true core region of this zone. That hill definitely had a supreme treasure contained within.

“This punk has beat us to the draw. But that doesn’t matter. With us staying guard here, there’s definitely no way for him to escape. He will cough out as much as he took. Without strength that matches the treasure’s grade, he can forget about holding onto it. He will probably lose his life as well.” Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s gaze contracted into a sliver as he sneered.

The martial world had always been this cold and ruthless since time immemorial. Just the Chaos Gem armor Yi Yun wore was enough to invite fatal trouble for him. Now that he had stepped into the treasure trove, it was equivalent to taking one step into hell.

But despite rationalizing it this way, be it Primordial Chaos Daolord or Fire Cloud Divine Lord, they ground their teeth in hate seeing Yi Yun enter the treasure trove so easily. Even if they eventually snatched away all the boons received, it was still something received second-hand through Yi Yun.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was even more perplexed. Did this Yi Yun come with a body that automatically attracts treasures? Why was he getting all the good stuff!?

Aqua Waters Divine Lord did not say a word. All she did was look at the treasure hill, her eyes flashing with a fiery-red look. She found it hard to imagine what treasure lay hidden inside the treasure hill.

Yi Yun did not care how jealous the people outside were. He stepped into the cave and saw a dark passageway ahead of him. It emitted the aura of Chaos and the surrounding walls had the stirrings of indistinguishable laws.

Yi Yun gradually walked forward. Ever since he walked in, the beckoning voice only became clearer.

As he proceeded forward in the direction of the voice, he sensed that the passageway appeared endless. As he proceeded, the passageway ahead of him suddenly became especially wide. A spacious cavern greeted his eyes.

Yi Yun revealed a look of extreme shock when he saw the cavern. He was left stunned.

He believed that this was the first time such a primeval world was being opened by others. He thought that he, Primordial Chaos Daolord, and the others were the first batch of people that came to this primeval world.

But now, Yi Yun’s belief was changed.

In the cavern in front of him, there was a tiny stone platform. Beside it was a mat.

It was unknown how long the mat had been sitting there, but it remained undamaged in any way.

Although there was no one there, Yi Yun could not help but feel like he had experienced the vicissitudes of life when he saw the stone platform and the mat.

There was a spear embedded in front of the stone platform.

The spear emitted a terrifying suppressive might. Yi Yun instantly recognized it as the Spear of Primordial Chaos! Back then in the Divine Perish Hall, the Spear of Primordial Chaos appeared like a column that held up the heavens. Here, it was shrunk to the height of a person.

Primordial Chaos Daolord and company had come to this primeval world by chasing the Spear of Primordial Chaos. He never expected the Spear of Primordial Chaos would actually be here.

“What sort of person would open up a chamber inside this mineral vein?” Yi Yun found it unbelievable.

1504 - : Entering the Mineral Vein Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun walked to the side of the stone platform. He saw many words engraved on it but the depth of the engravings were disparate. They appeared to have been written casually. However, there was a concept embedded in the engravings, one hardly describable. Even after such a long period of time, the concept appeared intact. Yi Yun could not help but engross himself in it.

What was exactly written here?

Yi Yun could be considered proficient in a few languages, among them were the ancient languages of the Sinkhole and 12 Empyrean Heavens. But no matter how hard he tried to identify the language used, he failed to figure out what was written. The text was just too esoteric.

“Oh? These are…”

Yi Yun saw that there was a side area to the chamber that held a study. In that study was a bookshelf.

It was unknown what materials the bookshelf was made of. Despite such an extended period of time, it had yet to rot. On the bookshelf were a few gray rock slabs, and a very eye-catching black jade slip.

The jade slip was much bigger than the typical jade slip. It looked extremely heavy. Its jade-like characteristics made it look crystalline, its quality unparalleled. Over all his years of martial practice, Yi Yun had seen countless beautiful jade, but none of it could compare with this black jade slip. All of them paled in comparison, putting this on a completely different level.

When Yi Yun walked towards the black jade slip, he suddenly sensed something odd. When he probed it carefully, Yi Yun was stunned. He sensed an immensely heavy force of Chaos coming from the black jade slip.

Oh!? This was not an ordinary jade slip, but a… Chaos Gem!

The black Chaos Gem was crystalline and polished, giving it the appearance of jade.

The Chaos Gems that Yi Yun had previously seen were all grayish. Some were even crude in shape. A Chaos Gem in such a shape was something Yi Yun was seeing for the first time.

A jade slip made using a Chaos Gem?

Yi Yun’s breathing turned stagnant. It was not only the black jade slip, the other gray rock slabs were also Chaos Gems. But of course, the most valuable one was still the black jade slip. The quality of this Chaos Gem had far exceeded Yi Yun’s imagination. It could even be the Chaos Jade Marrow of legend.

Be it mineral veins of Chaos Gems or Spirit Jade, they had Jade Marrow at its core. This was the essence of the entire mineral vein.

This Chaos Jade Marrow compared to ordinary Chaos Gems was like Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli compared to ordinary Spirit Jade. The quality was completely incomparable. They were the Chaos Gems of Chaos Gems!

Furthermore, Yi Yun could sense that although the Chaos Jade Marrow had been made into a jade slip, it similarly gained sentience over the long rivers of time. The other stone slips also had lives of their own.

It could even be said that the concepts engraved on the Chaos Gem slips had a different psyche nature than ordinary Chaos Gems, as though they had been enlightened before.

Could it be…

A thought came to Yi Yun. Could the thing that beckoned him be the black Chaos Jade Marrow? But when Yi Yun probed his psyche perception into it, he did not receive a response.

He could sense that the vibrant vital energy contained inside the black Chaos jade slip was in a slumber-like state…

“Don’t bother searching. The person who beckoned you here… is me…”

Suddenly, a voice resounded in Yi Yun’s ears. He was alarmed as he shouted, “Who is it!?”

The voice did not respond, but the beckoning force appeared once again. This time, Yi Yun felt it acutely. Although it felt distant and far, it was not very strong. In fact, it felt rather frail.

“Who are you?”

Yi Yun walked out the study and back into the hall of the chamber. He vaguely sensed that the entity that summoned him had an spiritual aura similar to his. It was the aura of a human, completely different from the Chaos Gems psyche that he sensed.

Could it be that the person who summoned him was a real human being?

Before coming here, he had never imagined that there would be someone in this chamber! He originally believed that the beckoning he heard stemmed from a spirit that was a manifestation of the Chaos mineral vein.

How could a human, even in a spiritual form, appear in this chamber?

This world had likely been separated from the exterior world for hundreds of millions of years. Could it be that over such a long span of time, this person had been in this chamber all this while?

After all this time, he had actually survived…

“My body… is fused… with the Chaos Gem mineral vein…” After a long moment of silence, the voice sounded again.

Body?

Yi Yun held his breath as he looked at the wall in front of him. The person who summoned him was likely inside the wall. The person had a body and was not a simple soul, but someone who was actually still alive!

“Senior? Who are you…”

“Me…? My name is something of the ancient past… Probably no one knows of it anymore. People address me as… Godly Monarch… River of Forgetfulness!”

Godly Monarch!?

Yi Yun drew a cold gasp.

There was a Godly Monarch in this chamber!

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness!

This title sent a jolt through Yi Yun’s heart. Could it be that… he was an ancient Godly Monarch!?

When looking back at the long river of history, one would find that the Godly Monarchs that had been born over hundreds of millions of years since ancient times were few in number. If one spoke specifically of the Sinkhole, there were new Godly Monarchs that came to being in the past seventy to eighty million years, but to speak of the strongest and most illustrious Godly Monarchs in history, there were still only the eight ancient Godly Monarchs!

And these eight ancient Godly Monarchs cultivated in laws that stemmed from the twelve Fey Gods, or twelve Dao Ancestors.

These twelve Fey Gods were: Extreme Yang Illumination! Extreme Yin Nether Glow! Empress Earth Dao Tree! Dragon Emperor! Seven-colored Phoenix! Kun Peng! Heavenly Man! River of Forgetfulness! Solitary Nothingness! There were also the three universe seeds that included the Purple Crystal Origins.

To have the title Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness, this man had to be one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs.

“Senior, are you… Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs?”

Yi Yun asked in shock. It caught him by surprise that one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs was inside this chamber, and had been there for such a long period of time…

The voice did not reply as though silently acknowledging the title.

“Senior, why did you summon me?” asked Yi Yun perplexed.

After a long while, the voice sounded once again. “Perhaps it’s because… we are fated. I sense the auras of five of my partners on you. It’s like you are someone chosen by the heavens…”

Oh?

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s words left Yi Yun stunned.

Someone chosen by the heavens? Five partners?

People who could be deemed companions of Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness had to be the other eight ancient Godly Monarchs.

He sensed the auras of five of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs on him? Were there that many?

Yi Yun could not comprehend it at all. He knew of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs he had come into contact with before.

They were Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner, Bai Yueyin, and Huan Chenxue.

If he was not wrong, Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner corresponded to the first Fey God, Extreme Yang Illumination, while Huan Chenxue corresponded to the second Fey God, Extreme Yin Nether Glow!

1505 - : Ancient Voice

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Yi Yun had gained the legacy of the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner, and possessed Huan Chenxue’s companion sword. As for Bai Yueyin, he had spent twelve years in the same cavern with her. Furthermore, he had shared the same Divine Stalactite Marrow pool with her, and even absorbed half of it. In that case, it was not a surprise that Yi Yun had a sliver of Bai Yueyin’s aura.

However, Yi Yun was unsure which Fey God Bai Yueyin corresponded to.

Apart from the three, he still had the auras of two other ancient Godly Monarchs?

Yi Yun verbalized his curiousness and after nearly half a minute of silence, the voice said weakly, “Your body has… a legacy left behind by Azure Wood…”

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s words left Yi Yun perturbed.

A legacy left behind by Azure Wood?

Who was Azure Wood? Could it be… the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s seed? If that was the case… was the Azure Wood Divine Tree itself one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs?

Yi Yun took a deep breath. That’s right. Who said that the eight ancient Godly Monarchs were all human? If the Azure Wood Divine Tree gained sentience, it was a sentient life of its own. It could create manifestations, and naturally become a Godly Monarch.

Its main body was that of a tree before it manifested as a humanoid being. And the laws the Azure Wood Divine Tree cultivated naturally stemmed from the third Fey God, Empress Earth Dao Tree!

Furthermore, back when Yi Yun first entered the Azure Wood Great World, he saw a bronze giant sealed beneath the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s roots. And this bronze giant was related to the Ancestor God.

Upon coming to this realization, many things that left Yi Yun perplexed were resolved.

It was reasonable that the Azure Wood Divine Tree was one of the eight Godly Monarchs.

“And apart from the Azure Wood Divine Tree?” asked Yi Yun again.

“I previously saw… you use a cauldron in this world. You should have… met the owner of this cauldron before…”

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness spoke again. It sent quakes through Yi Yun’s heart. The cauldron was none other than the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Yi Yun long knew that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron stemmed from Dragon Emperor of the twelve Fey Gods.

But who was the owner of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron? When did he ever meet him?

Could it be…

The image of a unctuous old man surfaced in his mind suddenly. It couldn’t… be him, right…

Old Snake!?

That guy is actually a Godly Monarch as well!?

Yi Yun’s expression instantly turned odd. It was impossible, right…

Upon careful thought, Old Snake… Snakes and dragons were of the same form. Snakes which survived the Heavenly Tribulations could manifest themselves as dragons!

Old Snake’s name had long hinted of his identity. Besides, he had a dragon bloodline to begin with.

The guy… was actually Godly Monarch Dragon Emperor of the eight Godly Monarchs!?

This was seriously…

Yi Yun was at a loss for words. Which one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs wasn’t famous and illustrious? They were either like the Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner, making him feel deep reverence for him, or he was like Bai Yueyin, making him apprehensive and fearful.

Even for Huan Chenxue, who had been severely injured and reduced to a mortal, she still had a bearing like a fairy from heaven and beauty that left one ashamed…

Only Old Snake was like an old scammer. He was wretched and filthy, as though he had no lack of clandestine acts to his name. He was even quite a coward. All he wanted was to seek worldly medicine to extend the pathetic amount of life he had left in him.

Yi Yun really found it difficult to connect the old man with a Godly Monarch.

But on careful thought, the person who got him to seek out Old Snake in the Sinkhole was Huan Chenxue.

Huan Chenxue was indeed one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs. Then, it was reasonable that her old friend was a Godly Monarch.

“When I received the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, I had indeed encountered a person. He gave me great help and his name is Old Snake. I’m guessing that he might be the person you speak of, Senior. However, I do not understand why this Senior Old Snake was also similarly seeking the Dragon Emperor Technique inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. If he was the owner of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, shouldn’t he have already known the Dragon Emperor Technique? Why did he need to seek it out?”

Yi Yun thought of a problem that left him baffled.

“Is that so…”

A gently sigh sounded in Yi Yun’s ears. The sigh seemed to contain the sadness accumulated over hundreds of millions of years. Yi Yun could not help but feel a hint of heaviness.

“If that’s the case, he must have had a portion of his soul destroyed in that final battle. Some of his memories were lost, so he is in need to seek out his complete self…” Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness said faintly.

His words sank Yi Yun’s heart. It was no wonder Old Snake had to seek out the Dragon Emperor Technique again if a portion of his soul had been destroyed.

A typical warrior would find it extremely difficult to mend a damaged soul, much less when a portion was lost. If it were any ordinary warrior, they would immediately be reduced to a retard.

But Old Snake led a happy-go-lucky life. He started from scratch and had cultivated his cultivation technique right from the beginning.

Thinking back to the cheerful smile which Old Snake always hung on his face, Yi Yun felt a baffling sense of bitterness.

Yi Yun knew that in the battle with the Ancestor God, the eight ancient Godly Monarchs either perished or were heavily injured. Old Snake had been heavily injured; if not, he would not have appeared so old and beat. Furthermore, he was stingy at using any strength. He had previously mentioned that every use of his strength would deplete a portion of his lifespan.

But even so, he was able to pinpoint his location across countless barriers in the form of Great Worlds despite Myriad God Patriarch’s casting of a cosmic Void Transference array. He even beat Myriad God Patriarch to a pulp. This strength was indeed not something a Divine Lord should possess.

Upon coming to this realization, Yi Yun felt a sense of warmth rise up in him. If not for Old Snake’s rescue at the cost his life, he would have long perished at Myriad God Patriarch’s hands.

In comparison, Yi Yun honored the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner whom he had never met. For Huan Chenxue, who appeared untainted by worldly conflict, Yi Yun respected her and maintained a polite distance. As for Old Snake, he thought of him as family. He was truly like a kind and lovable elder. Although he was frivolous, he did not hold back anything when it came to Yi Yun. He had even given Yi Yun the Ascending Dragon Cauldron…

If it was possible, Yi Yun wanted to find a way to extend Old Snake’s lifespan…

Yi Yun made up his mind. It was not necessarily an impossibility if he could become a Godly Monarch in the future.

“Senior, what about you? Why are you so weak? And why are you inside this chamber?”

Yi Yun asked the questions on his mind. He felt that Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness was nearly at the end of his life.

The only reason why he was in such a state had likely to do with the massive battle in ancient times. Could it be that Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness had suffered a heavy blow that threatened his life in that battle, forcing him to stay in this chamber all this time until now? Wouldn’t that be an immensely long period of time!?

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness sighed heavily. “In my battle with the Ancestor God, I suffered a lethal blow. At the final moment of my life, I chose to enter slumber in here, sealing the passage of time in my body. Although hundreds of millions of years have passed, it is like an instant to me…”

“Then, Senior…” Yi Yun’s heart tightened when he heard that. Being sealed for hundreds of millions of years sounded astounding, but in comparison, what worried Yi Yun was the implication Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness made. He had not much time left in him…

1506 - : Sealed for Hundreds of Millions of Years

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“There’s no need to worry… I still have some life left in me.” Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness thought nothing of his situation. “Compared to the sacrifice of Pure Yang, Kun Peng… I’ve considered to have lingered on for quite some time…”

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s voice was weak, like a candle in the wind.

Yi Yun sighed lightly. From what he presently knew, only Bai Yueyin was the least injured among the eight Godly Monarchs of ancient times.

“Senior, I’m really sorry for trespassing here, disturbing you from recuperating.” Yi Yun cupped his fists.

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness said, “You did not disturb me. I was the one who summoned you…”

“Then, might I know what you summoned me for?”

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness did not instantly give a reply. He fell silent for nearly a minute before saying faintly, “This world is a sealed land, but now, it’s on the brink of destruction…”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was taken aback. “I do not understand. Senior, is the world that is about to be destroyed the ancient battlefield or this primeval universe that is filled with nebulous Primordial Chaos?”

“It’s the same… The existence of the ancient battlefield relies on this primeval universe. In the battle with the Ancestor God hundreds of millions of years ago, it was also the cause of the conflict over this primeval universe. The ancient battlefield is the passage world that connects the primeval universe to the Sinkhole…”

“So that’s how it is…” Yi Yun never knew of such a secret. “Then, what secret does the primeval universe have? Senior, since you knew of the existence of this primeval universe, why did you not extract the Chaos Gem mineral vein, but instead built a stone chamber here?”

“This stone chamber… was not built by me…” Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s voice was raspy. Yi Yun’s words seemed to trigger in him endless sad memories.

“The person who created this stone chamber is someone else. His strength far exceeds the limits of one’s imagination. It has even surpassed that of the Martial Dao itself…”

“Surpassed that of the Martial Dao itself?” Yi Yun held his breath. This was an evaluation given by Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness. For a Godly Monarch to give such an evaluation, Yi Yun could not even fathom how powerful that person was. “There are experts above the eight Godly Monarchs? Is he human?”

“Yes… He comes from another world and he came seeking a woman. You are somewhat related to him too. Years ago, he planted a tiny tree and this tree eventually grew to become the Azure Wood Divine Tree…”

Azure Wood Divine Tree!

Yi Yun held his breath. The Azure Wood Divine Tree was actually planted by that person.

Furthermore, from what Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness said, the person came from a different world. For Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness to call it a different world, it was definitely not like the difference between the 12 Empyrean Heavens and the Sinkhole. It was likely referring to a completely independent universe that stood separate from the universe where the Sinkhole resided…

For instance… the universe where Earth resided.

Having come to this world after so much time, he had basically come to the belief that the universe where Earth resided in was completely different from the universe he was now in. The difference stemmed from the different laws of Physics. This world did not have the technology of Earth, while Earth did not have the Martial Dao of this world.

A peerless expert from an unknown universe had come to this universe to seek a mysterious woman!

What sort of person was he?

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness added, “This woman has extraordinary strength. She too has a little connection with you. She is Huan Chenxue’s master—Empress Sheng Mei!

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s words left Yi Yun stifled. Huan Chenxue’s master…

For some baffling reason, he recalled of two people. Back when Yi Yun learned the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, he had seen two figures in the Purple Crystal.

One was a long-hair man and the other, a black-dressed woman!

The man held a spear that could manifest into a world.

As for the black-dressed woman, she had a beautiful figure and her aura was ethereal. She looked like a goddess that came from primordial periods. In the Purple Crystal hallucination, Yi Yun saw the black-dressed woman tap her fingers a total of nine times, forming nine ripples that condensed to form nine petals. Together, they formed a Nine Transformations Red Lotus.

The 3000 Great Dao had countless laws, but the laws had different grades too. Back then, Yi Yun sensed that the red lotus contained the laws of Origins.

Due to Yi Yun’s limited realm and insights back then, he could only feel that the long-haired man and the black-dressed woman were powerful as though they exceeded life’s natural order.

Yi Yun guessed that the man and woman might have even been the previous owners of the Purple Crystal.

Later on, when Yi Yun entered the Azure Wood Great World, he encountered a waning sect. The sect had a final successor named Yue Yingsha.

Yue Yingsha could also cast the Nine Transformations Red Lotus. Although its strength was far inferior, there was definitely no mistake with the aura. Yi Yun had determined back then that the Azure Wood Manor which Yue Yingsha was from had obtained heritage related to the black-dressed woman.

As for the Azure Wood Divine Tree, it happened to be the Azure Wood Manor’s totem.

This coincidence naturally had some inkling of a connection. For instance, now that the Azure Wood Divine Tree was planted by that mysterious man, all of these seemed to make sense.

Yue Yingsha had also mentioned the origins of the Nine Transformations Red Lotus heritage. It came from the—Door to the 33 Skies.

The Door to the 33 Skies was one that led to another world to begin with. It could be the entrance from the 12 Empyrean Heavens to another world, and this entrance happened to lead to the Azure Wood Great World.

Since the Azure Wood Great World was also known as the Door to the 33 Skies, could it be that the long-haired man, or Empress Sheng Mei, came from a world named the 33 Skies?

The Azure Wood Divine Tree went into slumber after that ancient battle. It chose the Azure Wood Great World, its birthplace as its final resting ground, also as a remembrance for the person that planted it…

Yi Yun understood many things instantly.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, the mysterious man had broken through the universes’ barriers and passed through the Door to the 33 Skies in the Azure Wood Great World and into the 12 Empyrean Heavens. He planted the Azure Wood Divine Tree in order to find Empress Sheng Mei!

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness said regretfully, “When Goddess Sheng Mei as well as that person who came from a different universe come to this universe, this universe was still barren back then in many places. Martial arts had only just begun. The person chose a few disciples and left behind some heritage. Nearly all the handful of disciples later became Godly Monarchs. They established their sects and taught disciples. That person can be deemed as the Dao Ancestor of humans. Later, we honored him by calling the Dao Originator Heavenly Thearch.”

“Following Dao Originator Heavenly Thearch’s entry after Empress Sheng Mei were a young red-dressed girl and a tiny black dragon. However, due to it being such ancient history, as well as how the man did not wish to leave behind traces of his existence in this world, there are almost no records of him in the history books.”

“But in the ancient desolate period, humans were not without enemy. That is the Ancestor God. They come from another universe. The life in that universe has countless demonic servants apart from the Ancestor God… Dao Originator Heavenly Thearch defeated the Ancestor God and sealed the Ancestor God’s universe as well as that world’s passageway.”

Seal?

Once this was said, Yi Yun’s heart trembled. Could it be…

“That’s right. The primeval universe you currently stand in is where the seal is!”

1507 - : Secret of the Stone Chamber

“Sealed within this primeval universe is the passageway that leads to the Ancestor God’s universe. To the people in this universe, this passageway is no different from the entrance to hell.” Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s tone seemed to have a tinge of regret and retrospection. He was probably recollecting the massive battle of the Ancestor God’s invasion from so many years ago.

Back then, there was the Dao Originator Heavenly Thearch to hold down the fort, but now… the seemingly thriving Martial Dao was actually in decline. The number of Godly Monarchs was few in number, and the Godly Monarchs who received the Dao Originator Heavenly Thearch’s heritage were either dead or severely injured.

The opening of the passageway led to unthinkable consequences.

Yi Yun found something odd about what Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness mentioned. The look in his eyes changed as he asked, “The seal set by the Dao Originator Heavenly Thearch is likely to be extremely robust, isn’t it?”

“Definitely. The Dao Originator Heavenly Thearch has an omnipotent cultivation level. Apart from him, no one can do something as grand as he did,” said Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness reverently, but following that, he sighed.

“However, too much time has passed. Furthermore, the Ancestor God has been repeatedly attempting to open the passageway. Perhaps in the future…”

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness did not continue, but Yi Yun understood without any elaboration.

No seal in the world lasts forever. Perhaps the opening of the passageway was inevitable; it was just that no one knew when it would open.

“What about the Dao Originator Heavenly Thearch? Where is he?” asked Yi Yun.

“His Majesty has already left to another universe…”

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness sighed lightly. To the Dao Originator Heavenly Thearch, he was only a transient visitor in this world. He had come here to search for Empress Sheng Mei. Having found her, he naturally left.

“You do not need to worry too much about this. Only when you are sufficiently strong will you have the right to participate in these matters. If not, you will still be powerless even if you know everything,” said Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness.

At that moment, countless blurry points of light suddenly surfaced across the walls. The stone chamber seemed to be covered in a thin halo like it was an illusion. It made Yi Yun feel like he had plunged into an intriguing dreamscape.

In this halo, Yi Yun felt the grand aura of the Great Dao’s beginnings. Although he stood in the stone chamber, he felt like he was standing above the entire universe. He appeared to be at the birth of the universe, the beginning of everything.

“For you to have such deep ties with the eight Godly Monarchs and have such immense talent, perhaps this world will rely on you in the future. I don’t have much time left… I’ll pass you the heritage the Dao Originator Heavenly Thearch left behind in this stone chamber.”

“The black jade slip is carved from the essence of this Chaos Gem mineral vein. There is a wisp of Chaos Origins Qi in it. Chaos Origins Qi is not of any law to begin with, but it will transform into the law that suits you best. Chaos Origins Qi is extremely precious. It’s only possible to encounter it as a pinnacle opportunity. Use it well.” Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s voice turned more and more ethereal. As for Yi Yun, he slowly walked towards the black jade slip and took a deep breath. Picking it up, he felt the walls around him slowly vanish. All that was left was the boundless halo that enveloped him.

Chaos Origins Qi would transform into the most suitable law for him? What did that mean?

Yi Yun floated amid the halo, his body automatically relaxing. All his pores began to absorb and expirate the points of light.

Gradually, his body also began to emit a faint halo, as though it had fused with the Chaos Origins Qi.

His vision seemed to traverse the tiny hill, past the landmass, and into the stars together with the halo.

Yi Yun felt like he stood in the center of the starry cosmos as he quietly looked down upon the universe. Beneath his feet was a soft, gentle halo, which he himself was a part of.

At that moment, the river of time appeared in front of Yi Yun as the river’s waters flowed backward.

As time rewound, the entire history of the universe began to play before Yi Yun’s eyes.

The landmass splintered off into countless stellar fragments that scattered across the universe. These stellar fragments also cracked apart, reducing to countless stardust.

Even the stardust vanished as well, transforming into countless indistinguishable streams of light. As the cosmos shrank and sank, it finally contracted to a tiny vortex.

That was Chaos, the beginning of a universe.

Following that, Chaos suddenly exploded. In a dazzling display of light, a halo tore out of the light and spread in every direction. Where the halo eventually vanished was the boundary of the universe.

From the halo, there were all sorts of laws.

These laws permeated the new universe, as a brand new universe began taking form.

And Yi Yun watched all of this without emotion.

And during this process, the Chaos Origins Qi had slowly transformed into nebulous Primordial Chaos. This was equivalent to the nebulous Primordial Chaos of an inchoate universe.

This wisp of primeval nebulous Primordial Chaos entered Yi Yun’s body through his pores as they subtly transformed him.

In the stone chamber, Yi Yun floated in a halo like he was an unborn baby in his mother’s womb. Although the halo appeared very light and faint, the space around it was completely warped. Amid the rifts that tore open, black lightning would flash across.

The beams of light that extended from the halo connected to the surrounding mountain walls. The nebulous Primordial Chaos in the Chaos Gem mineral vein began surging towards Yi Yun by coursing along the beams of light.

Yi Yun was oblivious to all of this. He quietly absorbed everything inside the halo like how energy was slowly accumulated before a world’s birth.

…

“That punk has already entered for ten days. Why hasn’t anything happened?” Fire Cloud Divine Lord had been staring intently at the spot Yi Yun vanished all this time. He felt a little impatient that Yi Yun had not come out.

He could not help but imagine that Yi Yun had discovered something remarkable inside. In this universe, the best items were the Chaos Gems. Over the past few days, Fire Cloud Divine Lord began to have a feeling that the hill was likely a Chaos Gem mineral vein.

If that was true, the benefits the hill brought was unimaginable. If it were him, he would definitely be sleeping amid the Chaos Gems. Why would he come out?

Fire Cloud Divine Lord turned more uneasy the more he thought. He yearned to charge in to take a look.

Fire Cloud Divine Lord did not know that this place was not only a Chaos Gem mineral vein, but it also contained primeval heritage left behind by the Dao Originator Heavenly Thearch who surpassed Godly Monarchs. If not, he would truly have gone insane.

“Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and company have been searching for Chaos Gems. They have failed to gather the necessary number of Chaos Gems after such a long period of searching. Who knows how long it will take to have a Chaos Gem armor. Only then will we be able to charge in. When the time comes, we will make that punk vomit whatever he obtained!” Fire Cloud Divine Lord said in a deep voice.

Primordial Chaos Daolord gave him an irritated look and said coldly, “If you can’t bear with it, go on in. No one is stopping you.”

“Hehe!” Fire Cloud Divine Lord sneered. “Primordial Chaos, I’m guessing that the anxiety you are feeling is a hundred times worse than mine. This Primordial Chaos Great Dao is the law you focus on.”

Primordial Chaos Daolord ignored Fire Cloud Divine Lord. He looked at the Chaos Gem mineral vein, his gaze seemingly penetrating the stone walls.

1508 - : Heavenly Thearch’s Heritage Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Suddenly, the ground began to tremble as the mountains swayed.

Primordial Chaos Daolord and the other two had a change in expression. “What’s happening?”

“It seems to be coming from that treasure hill!” said Aqua Waters Divine Lord.

And at that moment, a deep peal rang out from the hill. The sound sent reverberations to their very hearts, to the point where they almost wished to prostrate before it.

If they were low-leveled warriors, they might have even failed to resist and knelt.

This was an extremely powerful nebulous Primordial Chaos, as though the entire hill had come to life. All the nebulous Primordial Chaos around them also began to flow.

“What’s happening?” Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes shimmered as his expression turned grim.

It was obvious to them that the commotion was likely caused by Yi Yun.

What was Yi Yun doing inside?

However, regardless of how they looked at it, their vision could not penetrate the surface of the hill to see its interior, much less see Yi Yun who was inside.

And at that moment, Yi Yun was also unaware of what was happening. His eyes were tightly shut. The wisps of light that connected his body to the hill’s walls were emitting extremely glaring light.

These beams of light seemed like contracted versions of meridians. Swirling within them was the purest nebulous Primordial Chaos.

The massive quake came from the Chaos Gem mineral vein itself. The mineral vein was like a divine dragon that had been dormant for hundreds of millions of years. And now, it had awakened…

At that instant, Yi Yun felt a massive aura, one as boundless as the ocean. Compared to the Chaos Gem mineral vein’s massive energy, he felt like a lone boat in the middle of the sea, trivial and insubstantial.

“Oh? The Chaos Gem mineral vein has stirred…”

Inside the stone chamber, the Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness was also astonished by this scene. He had originally summoned Yi Yun to the chamber due to his numerous connections with the eight ancient Godly Monarchs, wishing to leave him some things.

However, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s heritage was just too profound. Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness did not pin any hopes on Yi Yun comprehending much of it but now, as Yi Yun began absorbing the Chaos Origins Qi from the Chaos jade slip, he surprisingly caused the entire Chaos Gem mineral vein to stir.

The Chaos Gem mineral vein was the essence and foundation of this primeval universe. Compared to that, a single warrior’s strength was just too minute. It was impossible to extract everything in the mineral vein. Even a Godly Monarch was incapable of doing so.

“Junior! This Chaos Gem mineral vein was discovered by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch. You might have stirred the mineral vein’s essence Qi, but do not be overly greedy. Your body will not be able to withstand it if you absorb too much of it.”

If warriors were said to be thirsty travelers, then the Chaos Gem mineral vein was a massive river. Even if the river’s waters were refreshingly sweet, travelers could only drink so much. It was completely impossible for them to take the whole river away.

Now, Yi Yun was greedily absorbing the nebulous Primordial Chaos. All the Chaos Gems inside the mineral vein were releasing their essence. As for Yi Yun’s body, it conjured a visible black vortex, absorbing all the available nebulous Primordial Chaos without end!

“Oh? What’s going on…”

This scene stunned Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness. Yi Yun had absorbed just too much nebulous Primordial Chaos. In addition, the speed at which he absorbed the nebulous Primordial Chaos was accelerating. Such an absorption rate would have long caused the average person’s body to explode. Even a Godly Monarch at his peak would not be able to withstand it. Yet, Yi Yun did not seem like had any plans to stop.

“Could it be that his body is special?” Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness thought of a few rare bodies, but even ancient sacred bodies which could contain more energy than the typical cultivator were incapable of doing what Yi Yun was doing.

Despite absorbing so much nebulous Primordial Chaos, there was no indication that Yi Yun would explode to his death. He was like a bottomless hole.

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness found this unbelievable.

Unbeknown to Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness, in the core of the nebulous Primordial Chaos vortex inside Yi Yun’s body, there was a purple card-shaped crystal that was slowly spinning.

This was the Purple Crystal Origins that had been sleeping inside his body for many years. Yi Yun had once guessed that the previous owner of the Purple Crystal Origins was Empress Sheng Mei!

This was also why Yi Yun was able to see phantoms of Empress Sheng Mei and what was apparently the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch in the Purple Crystal Origins, allowing him to gain insights into the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Gradually, Yi Yun’s heartbeat began to synchronize with the Chaos Gem mineral vein’s quakes. And these quakes caused the entire hill, and even the entire landmass, to tremble.

Yi Yun’s body was being reconstructed by the nebulous Primordial Chaos Great Dao, and slowly, it began to release an aura of Great Dao.

Mortals fought against the heavens by cultivating in the Martial Dao and studying the laws, but they were forever changing externalities into something internal.

In Yi Yun’s case, his body was near to that of a Great Dao. The Purple Crystal had absorbed too much nebulous Primordial Chaos, and although the nebulous Primordial Chaos could not all be absorbed by Yi Yun’s body for the time being, it would slowly fuse into his body over time.

When that happened, Yi Yun’s body would experience another qualitative transformation.

Having laid in slumber here for such a long period of time, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s heart was already as still as water. He could handle any matter calmly, but the junior he summoned in today had left him in a state of astonishment.

He watched Yi Yun’s absorption of the nebulous Primordial Chaos, and at that moment, the black jade slip floated up and towards Yi Yun.

“Oh?” Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness was shocked once again. The black slip had been left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, but he had never explained what was inside of it.

In fact, when Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness first came to the chamber, he had studied the black jade slip. The other ancient Godly Monarchs had also studied the jade slip in various ways, but the information recorded in it was esoteric, like a mountain hidden in clouds. It was impossible to discern its true form.

Now, the black jade slip was automatically flying to Yi Yun. It was something Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness was seeing for the first time.

Although Yi Yun had connections with the eight Godly Monarchs, it was unlikely he had any connection with the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch. Why was he able to stir the Chaos jade slip that Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left behind?

The black jade slip flew above Yi Yun’s head, and at that moment, Yi Yun’s body released a destructive aura. The aura felt demonic, as though it came from an abyssal hell. Even though Yi Yun’s eyes were closed and he remained unconscious, his entire being released a stern killing aura.

A gigantic black wheel appeared beneath Yi Yun’s feet. And within the wheel were all sorts of demon gods.

Following that, the black jade slip seemed to come alive. It suddenly emitted a blooming radiance. Following that, the Chaos jade slip vanished. In its place was a blob of black light. The light seemed to contain boundless killing intent, as though it contained a sanguine world, as though it was the collection of all battlefields.

“Whoosh!”

The light from the Chaos jade slip fused with the black wheel completely!

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness found this amazing. He had never imagined that the black jade slip would undergo such a change.

What was that black wheel?

“I originally believed you to be a simple junior with a connection to us eight Godly Monarchs. But from the looks of it, I have underestimated you. I never expected that even the heritage left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch would resonate with you…”

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness muttered to himself. He was filled with admiration over the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s omnipotent cultivation level. Yet a junior was able to forge a connection with the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch despite hundreds of millions of years separating them. This young man was truly extraordinary. He was able to stir the Chaos Gem mineral vein and also awaken the black jade slip. The talent and opportunity he displayed was simply astounding.

1509 - : Connections

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“Since you have had such opportunities, I shall gift this item to you. With my present situation, other than the item maybe providing some spiritual sustenance, it is no longer of any use to me…”

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s tone had a tinge of sorrow. As he said this, an unadorned oil lamp appeared beside Yi Yun and floated silently.

The oil lamp was made of a type of rock Yi Yun couldn’t place. It was in the form of an ancient lotus, but it did not look special on a cursory glance. However, when the lamp’s wick was lit one by one, igniting one tiny azure flame after another, this process would capture one’s gaze as though time around it was coming to a stop.

“Even by the side of Buddha’s azure lamp, one can go astray while cultivating. I shall bestow this Azure Lamp of Time to you…” Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s voice gradually vanished.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The landmass started to violently tremble, as though its core contained a terrifying power that was threatening to erupt at any time.

Primordial Chaos Daolord and company, who were being shaken by the sudden quake, had the urge to charge into the Chaos Gem mineral vein to see what exactly was happening. However, without the Chaos Gem armor, all they could do was watch helplessly without any means of taking action.

At that moment, with Yi Yun’s body transforming into that of a Primordial Chaos body bit by bit, his mind was also undergoing a change.

His mind seemed to travel across the cosmos amid the river of time. it was at that moment an azure lamp appeared by his side.

“This is?” The cold calm in Yi Yun’s eyes vanished. As he looked at the lamp, he seemed to sense that the spatial laws surrounding it was changing imperceptibly.

Everything, including some flying stellar fragments, slowed down. Even the dust began to slowly float in space.

“Azure Lamp of Time…” Yi Yun looked at the flickering flame as the name suddenly appeared in his mind.

He immediately understood what it meant for it to be given by Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness. It was an artifact that had time laws in it.

The River of Forgetfulness was the river of time. Time could wash away all, leaving everything forgotten. It could reduce any history or item to dust, giving it its name.

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness grasped the laws of time, and this Azure Lamp of Time was his intrinsic artifact.

Could it be that…

This Azure Lamp of Time was the divine artifact that corresponded to the river of time!?

Each of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs seemed to have one intrinsic divine artifact that corresponded to one of their twelve respective Fey Gods.

Pure Yang Sword, Mirage Snow, Ascending Dragon Cauldron…

Some of the weapons had lost the Fey God’s soul in that ancient battle, drastically reducing their strength. However, there were weapons, such as the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, that managed to retain a portion of its Fey God’s soul, making it extremely powerful.

All these years, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had aided Yi Yun tremendously. If nothing else, Yi Yun would have been in a great deal of trouble when he encountered Primordial Chaos Daolord in this primeval universe were it not for the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Now, the Azure Lamp of Time that Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness gave him was actually a divine artifact. How could Yi Yun not be excited about this?

Speaking of the control of time laws, Yi Yun had previously consumed the River of Forgetfulness’s water, but the River of Forgetfulness held an immense amount of water. In the end, just a scoop of the River of Forgetfulness’s water was really nothing much.

The River of Forgetfulness water would also constantly decrease in effectiveness. Once one consumed too much, it would be rendered ineffective.

If Yi Yun consumed the River of Forgetfulness’s water now, its effects would be extremely limited. If not, Yi Yun would not have spent twelve years in the Fey God Tomb.

What Yi Yun lacked the most now was time. So the Azure Lamp of Time appearing now was truly a timely assistance.

“Senior, by giving me this Azure Lamp of Time, what about you… You have been in slumber here for hundreds of millions of years by sealing off time. Without the Azure Lamp of Time, will you still be able to continue your slumber?” Yi Yun said inwardly to Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness.

He knew very well that the Azure Lamp of Time was Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s intrinsic artifact. Typically, an intrinsic artifact was cultivated along with one’s life. It was not simply another item.

For Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness to be able to forcefully seal off time to extend his lifespan by hundreds of millions of years despite being severely injured likely had much to do with the Azure Lamp of Time.

“I have little time left. It doesn’t matter. Back then, when the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch came to the 12 Empyrean Heavens and the Sinkhole, he opened up the savage lands, taught disciples, and sparked the beginnings of the Martial Dao… He created a land of heritage, letting geniuses of that generation have an opportunity to end. There, they would be tested, gaining opportunities in the process. That land is now the ancient battlefield upon which you stand. The World Monolith that towers over this ancient battlefield was also refined using Chaos Gems from this primeval universe by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch…”

“So that’s how it is…” In fact, after hearing Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness mention the past, Yi Yun had a general guess that many things in the ancient battlefield, including the Divine Perish Hall, had been left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch.

“The Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left this stone chamber behind when he left. In it was the black Chaos Gem jade slip which I failed to gain any insights into. I believe that he was likely waiting for a fated someone. Unfortunately, I’m not that fated person the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch chose. I was unable to gain any insights. By waiting here, all I was doing was guarding the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s heritage. After I was severely injured in that ancient battle, I did not have much life left in me. Although I sealed off hundreds of millions of years, that time is meaningless to the sleeping me. I did not feel a thing.”

“I’m indebted to the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch for teaching me in the past. Although he never officially took me in as a disciple, I would have long turned to dust if not for His Majesty. Now that I can safely see the things Celestial Thearch left behind pass on to you, I no longer have any regrets.”

After Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness finished his sentence, there was silence. No matter how Yi Yun called out to him, there was no longer any response.

With a light sigh, Yi Yun looked at the Azure Lamp of Time that floated in front of him. He was feeling mixed emotions.

Clearly, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness revered the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch greatly. Unfortunately, the black Chaos jade slip that the Celestial Thearch left behind was related to the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

It had nothing to do with Yi Yun being extremely perceptive. Instead, Yi Yun had seen what he presumed was the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch casting the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence inside the Purple Crystal, This was how he had gained insight into its wonders.

At the end of the day, it was all because Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal Origins in possession.

Yi Yun slowly injected his Yuan Qi into the Azure Lamp of Time, and at the next moment, the lamp emitted an azure beam of light that enveloped him.

Yi Yun entered the Azure Lamp of Time’s time domain. And at that moment, a black beam arrived in between Yi Yun’s palm.

Yi Yun took a few looks at the black blob of light before raising his palm. He injected the black blob of light into his consciousness.

Boom!

Endless images and information instantly surged into Yi Yun’s mind. The immense amount of information made Yi Yun feel like his consciousness was on the brink of exploding.

While suffering an intense headache, Yi Yun tried his best to maintain his clarity of mind. Finally, the overwhelming feeling vanished, and one scene appeared before him.

A man wielding a spear was standing with his back facing Yi Yun.

And beneath his feet spun the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence seemed to contain all the devils of the world. Its forbidding demonic aura seemed to crush everything.

Dao Originator Celestial Thearch!

Although Yi Yun did not see the man’s face or hear his voice, he already knew that this man was the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch!

1510 - : Azure Lamp of Time

CKtalon  CKtalon

It had been four months since Yi Yun entered the Chaos Gem mineral vein.

Primordial Chaos Daolord and company had scoured the primeval universe for Chaos Gems during these four months.

These Chaos Gems were sentient, making them very difficult to capture. It took these Divine Lords more than two months to gather the Chaos Gems needed to make one Chaos Gem armor, but it became a problem of who was going to wear it.

None of these hegemons of the Sinkhole’s major factions trusted each other. However, only one of them would be able to wear the Chaos Gen armor and enter the mineral vein. If that person were to kill Yi Yun while hidden in the Chaos Gem mineral vein and reap all the benefits, they could easy lie and say they found nothing after exiting.

No one wished their efforts to solely benefit the others. Therefore, even though they knew that Yi Yun had caused a huge stir in the Chaos Gem mineral vein, they waited another two months to obtain a second Chaos Gem armor.

With that, two people could enter, each one keeping the other honest. It was ultimately more assuring.

They also made the two who wore the Chaos Gem armor swear upon their mental demons not to betray the others.

Warriors encountered various difficulties in their cultivation journeys. If they were to go back on their vows made upon a mental demon, it was very likely that they might suffer a deviation while cultivating, especially during a critical breakthrough moment. Therefore, warriors seldom swore on their mental demons.

With the mental demon vows and with two people supervising each other, this put the rest a little more at ease.

“Hand me the armor. I want to enter.” Primordial Chaos Daolord was the first to speak.

“Primordial Chaos Daolord, aren’t you being overly anxious?” said another Divine Lord immediately.

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s cultivation level was considered top-notch among the people here. The other Divine Lords were wary of letting him enter.

“Hmph! What’s there to be afraid of? Since I, Primordial Chaos, have made a vow, I would not go back on it. I, the almighty Primordial Chaos Daolord, despise any breaching of vows. I have a vendetta with the little bastard inside. He has to be killed, and anyone who stops me is stopping me from exacting revenge!” said Primordial Chaos Daolord coldly.

Primordial Chaos Daolord had suffered enough under Yi Yun’s hands in recent times. Now, these people thought nothing of his prestige to the point of questioning him to his face.

All of this was thanks to Yi Yun. Upon thinking of Yi Yun, Primordial Chaos Daolord felt a lump in his chest.

At that moment, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord suggested, “Alright, since Primordial Chaos Daolord has said so, we naturally will trust you as a person. Besides, with me and Eclipse Arhat here, we will naturally ensure that everything is resolved fair and square.”

Upon saying so, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord smiled at Primordial Chaos Daolord as he nodded.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was expressionless. However, he was still somewhat wary of Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat. Therefore, he did not make a scene even though he knew that Sacred Horizon Divine Lord was warning him.

Besides, unlike Eclipse Arhat, who didn’t poke his nose into the business of others, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord was an experienced and astute person. With such a huge treasure before them, it was surprising that he had no intention of entering despite the high prestige he commanded.

Primordial Chaos Daolord watched coldly from the side, unsure what Sacred Horizon Divine Lord was planning. He refused to believe that Sacred Horizon Divine Lord had selfless intentions. How could there be a saint in this cruel martial world?

Seeing that Sacred Horizon Divine Lord had stepped forward to preside over the matter, none of them uttered another word despite being unsatisfied or contentious.

“As for the second person…”

The moment Sacred Horizon Divine Lord spoke again, Fire Cloud Divine Lord could not contain himself and said, “Everyone, I’m willing to do it. Besides, I’m the best candidate.”

“Fire Cloud Divine Lord, do you think you have what it takes?” a Divine Lord asked with a frown.

“That’s simple. Primordial Chaos and I don’t see eye to eye. Since Primordial Chaos has volunteered to enter, I should be the second person to be nominated. That would leave everyone most assured. At the very least, I will absolutely not ally with Primordial Chaos and instead create a check and balance. What does everyone think about that?” Fire Cloud Divine Lord was confident as he slowly explained his reason.

The Divine Lords revealed contemplative looks.

“What Fire Cloud Divine Lord said makes sense. It’s somewhat reasonable,” said West River Divine Lord.

“Yes, I think so too.”

As a few Divine Lords expressed their agreement, the other Divine Lords had no choice but to nod even if they were reluctant to do so.

In fact, even though what Fire Cloud Divine Lord said was reasonable, there was a question that hung on the Divine Lords’ minds. If they were to fight with Primordial Chaos Daolord, they would easily be at the disadvantage. Since Fire Cloud Divine Lord was willing to keep Primordial Chaos Daolord at bay, he was naturally the best choice.

However, not being able to personally enter the treasure hill to see its interior with their own eyes still left these Divine Lords with deep regret.

“In that case, may the both of you take action now,” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord.

The two Chaos Gem armors were handed over to Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord. After they donned the armor, the way they looked at hill changed.

Primordial Chaos Daolord had killing intent in his eyes, while Fire Cloud Divine Lord had a strange look of passion.

They gingerly proceeded forward by one step. And at that moment, the energy jets rose up from beneath their feet, enveloping them instantly.

No matter how fast one’s reaction was, there was no way to dodge that!

Even though they were already mentally prepared, being so quickly enveloped by the blast of energy made Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s heart skip a beat. He was extremely nervous. Although he had seen with his own eyes Yi Yun sitting fine and dandy inside the energy jet while donning the Chaos Gem armor, he could not help but turn nervous when it was his turn to actually verify the conjecture. After all, his life would be gone if anything went awry.

However, when the energy jet flowed past Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s body, it was like a gentle breeze. It did not harm him in any way.

Fire Cloud Divine Lord immediately heaved a sigh of relief as he could not help but suffuse a smile. The energy jet was so terrifying, yet the Chaos Gem armor allowed for safe passage. It was truly a miracle.

At that moment, a sneering sound came from beside Fire Cloud Divine Lord. “What a coward.”

Primordial Chaos Daolord had walked straight through the energy jets without even the slightest change in expression.

“You! Heh heh… Caution is the parent of safety. That allows one to live longer.” Fire Cloud Divine Lord was first enraged, but he shot back a sneer of his own. He then strode past the energy jet.

Their lives were not threatened inside the energy jets while wearing the Chaos Gem armor. However, the heftiness of the armor, as well as the terrifying Primordial Chaos laws, made them travel at speeds like aged elderly, slow and retarded.

Primordial Chaos Daolord had a profound comprehension of the Primordial Chaos laws. After he familiarized himself with the laws inside, his walking speed immediately exceeded that of Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s. Although he was still very slow, he soon left Fire Cloud Divine Lord far behind.

Upon seeing this, Fire Cloud Divine Lord revealed an anxious expression. Everyone wanted to see the treasures inside first. He did not wish to let Primordial Chaos Daolord beat him to the draw, but no matter how much Yuan Qi he mustered, he was unable to speed up. All he could do was watch Primordial Chaos Daolord’s rapidly shrinking back.

“Primordial Chaos! Are you thinking of leaving me behind to gain all the treasures for yourself?” Fire Cloud Divine Lord shouted sternly.

Primordial Chaos Daolord did not respond. He stared intently at the hill’s entrance. His entire body was exuding forbidding killing intent as a cruel sneer suffused the corner of his lips.

Yi Yun had been fearless, but he probably never expected that today was the day of his death!

1511 - : Divine Lords’ Pursuit

“Oh? Someone’s coming?”

The instant Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord stepped into the energy jets, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness sensed their entry.

In fact, from the moment the Divine Lords arrived until they left three Divine Lords behind to watch Yi Yun, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness was fully aware of their presence.

He naturally knew what their goal was. It was obvious that the Divine Lord walking in front had a grudge with Yi Yun. With all the killing intent the Divine Lord effused, it was clear that he was eager to rip Yi Yun to pieces.

And at that moment, Yi Yun was sitting cross-legged on a 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. Beside him burned the Azure Lamp of Time. His eyes were closed tightly as demonic auras lingered around him. Nebulous Primordial Chaos was constantly being extracted from the wall and absorbed into Yi Yun’s body.

Regarding Yi Yun’s absorption of the nebulous Primordial Chaos, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness had gone from initial shock to being numb towards it.

He had watched Yi Yun from the very beginning. Immersed in the Azure Lamp of Time’s power, Yi Yun experienced the flow of time at an accelerated pace from the external world with a ratio of tens to one.

Although four months had passed outside, Yi Yun had actually experienced ten years because of the Azure Lamp of Time.

It was impossible to absorb the nebulous Primordial Chaos for an entire ten years, but Yi Yun would spend four to five months of each year absorbing the nebulous Primordial Chaos. The rest of the time was spent refining and absorbing it as his own, as well as cultivating the cultivation technique inside the Chaos jade slip.

The speed at which he absorbed the nebulous Primordial Chaos left Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness incredulous.

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness was very curious at how long Yi Yun could cultivate in his present condition.

In fact, the Chaos Gem mineral vein was the energy source of the world seal; however, he was not worried that the mineral vein would be drained empty. The nebulous Primordial Chaos inside the mineral vein had been accumulating since the birth of the universe they were in. No matter how much Yi Yun absorbed, he would not be able to perturb the mineral vein consequentially. Furthermore, the mineral vein was the one injecting the nebulous Primordial Chaos to Yi Yun. As time passed, the nebulous Primordial Chaos inside the mineral vein would also automatically recover.

Even with two intruders coming, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness did not wake Yi Yun up. He could sense that Yi Yun was on the verge of reaching a critical stage of his cultivation. Waking him up hastily would only disrupt his cultivation.

“This isn’t a place where you can come and go as you wish,” said Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness slowly and casually.

With him saying that, a faint beam of light flashed out of the wall. A projection of light formed into a swimming dragon as it noiselessly swam out of the hill.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was advancing when, slowly, he felt something was amiss.

He had been filled with killing intent for Yi Yun, but now that he had calmed down, he instantly noticed a problem.

He had already been walking for five minutes. No matter how slow his walking speed was, he should have closed the gap and reached the hill. However, he sensed that the distance between him and the hill had not changed at all.

That wasn’t right. There must be a problem here.

Primordial Chaos Daolord came to a stop as his brows knitted. He carefully observed his surroundings.

At that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly sensed an immense force rush at him. It struck him straight in the face. The force was very sudden, and he had no idea where it came from. He had no time to parry it at all.

“No good!” Dark light instantly flashed across Primordial Chaos Daolord’s body and a Yuan Qi barrier was raised. He could not help but hastily take more than ten steps back.

“What? Primordial Chaos, you were in such a rush just now. Now that you encounter an array formation, you retreat?” Fire Cloud Divine Lord said coldly. Primordial Chaos Daolord’s retreat had returned him to Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s side.

Primordial Chaos Daolord did not say a word as he stared coldly at the area in front of him.

That previous encounter made him feel that the place did not welcome him. It was like he had been slapped for being the one walking in front.

Fire Cloud Divine Lord narrowed his eyes as well. Although he was mocking Primordial Chaos Daolord, his expression was nasty as well. They were here to snatch treasures, so any problems that arose needed their cooperation to be resolved.

At that moment, Fire Cloud Divine Lord looked back. There was a vast desert behind him. Where were Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and company?

“Primordial Chaos, we have likely entered an array formation. You did not notice it despite taking the lead?” said Fire Cloud Divine Lord.

“I’m afraid we fell for a trap the moment we entered. If you have the spirit to spew off your sarcastic comments, why don’t you use it crack the array formation?” said Primordial Chaos Daolord coldly.

However, Fire Cloud Divine Lord remained silent. If the array had silently trapped the both of them—two Divine Lords—it could not be Yi Yun’s work. However, it also did not feel like a natural array formation that was void of any human intervention.

Perhaps, it was an array formation… left behind from ancient times!

This thought seemed ridiculous. This universe appeared to have been sealed since its birth, as if no one had stepped in here before them.

But perhaps there was a mistake in such an assumption. How could such an ancient array formation be so easily cracked?

Now that they were trapped by the array formation, they could neither proceed nor retreat.

At that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord felt their bodies turn heavy. They felt like a mountain had descended from the heavens, pressing down on them.

Previously, they could only take slow footsteps, but now just taking one step forward was a plodding impossibility. They had to release their Yuan Qi protective barriers to withstand the crushing repression.

“The Primordial Chaos laws here have strengthened, and they’re constantly being enhanced. If this goes on, our Yuan Qi will be rapidly depleted even with the Chaos Gem armor. Once we are left enervated, we will be pulverized. And Sacred Horizon and the rest will not even know what happened,” said Primordial Chaos Daolord coldly.

“Help me withstand the Primordial Chaos laws, I’ll try to crack the array!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord knew that it was not the time to clash with Primordial Chaos Daolord. His insights into the Primordial Chaos laws were inferior to Primordial Chaos Daolord’s. If the world literally crashed down on them, he would be the first to die. He was not done with life yet.

Furthermore, Fire Cloud Divine Lord was not adept at array formations either. Primordial Chaos Daolord was a top genius to begin with. He was someone with the greatest potential to become Godly Monarch. He had high attainments in array formations, so Fire Cloud Divine Lord could only listen to him.

“Primordial Chaos, you have to be quick!”

After Fire Cloud Divine Lord said that, he conjured a burning flame over his body. Powerful fire-elemental laws forcefully pushed back the Primordial Chaos laws around him, opening up a tiny space for Primordial Chaos Daolord.

At the same time, Primordial Chaos Daolord began waving his hands. A red shadow suddenly flew out of his fingers and spread out towards the array. The shadow seemed to be formed of tiny beasts. The moment they landed, they immediately bore through the ground.

“Array, arise!” Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes focused suddenly, and immediately, countless red shadows transformed into thousands of red threads. With him in the middle, he had completely covered the area with what looked like a spiderweb.

Primordial Chaos Daolord had suddenly set up another massive array within the ancient array. He wanted to crack the array with another array!

“No matter who set up this array formation, or how brilliant his cultivation level was in the past, time is a heartless master. With so much time having passed, how can I, Primordial Chaos, not be able to dispose of this dead array?”

1512 - : Ten Years Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

CKtalon  CKtalon

Time passed as Primordial Chaos Daolord entered an ethereal state. He expended his soul’s strength and used his Earth Visual Heaven Auditory mystic art once more.

Primordial Chaos Daolord had cast this mystic art back when he was searching for Yi Yun. Earth Visual Heaven Auditory dealt partial damage to his psyche, and it also drained quite a sizable amount of his Yuan Qi.

But through the Earth Visual Heaven Auditory, everything in the array formation turned extremely clear.

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s perception could reach deep into every corner of the array.

“It’s indeed a dead array…”

Primordial Chaos Daolord could vaguely sense that there was a terrifying array formation embedded within the Chaos Gem mineral vein. The array formation seemed to be endless in nature. Just a brief moment of contact with the array made Primordial Chaos Daolord feel shaken.

What was this array?

Primordial Chaos Daolord did not know, but he could guess that it had to be guarding something impressive deep within the Chaos Gem mineral vein!

The thing that was hindering his advancement was not the massive array formation, but a dead array that was set up in the outer periphery of the mineral vein.

The person who set up the dead array had extremely terrifying strength. It reached a state that even left Primordial Chaos Daolord afraid as the array still had the person’s remnant aura. Even if it was an aura that had not been accidentally left behind, it was enough to leave one stunned.

The person who had set up the array was powerful, but the array formation itself was already a spent force. It did not pose much of a threat.

Perhaps the massive array had been casually set up by the mighty figure hundreds of millions of years ago without much scrupulous attention. And with the passage of time, the array formation was in almost complete shambles.

“Such an array can’t stop me!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes glowed as beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. The mysterious identity of the expert made Primordial Chaos Daolord agitated. He guessed that the mysterious expert might have left behind something impressive within the cave!

After he activated the Earth Visual Heaven Auditory, an hour passed and Primordial Chaos Daolord had expended a great deal of strength. The Chaos Gem mineral vein’s ground was beginning to quake slightly as fine cracks appeared.

“Oh? From the looks of it, this ancient array… won’t last much longer.” Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness sighed. The array formation outside the stone chamber had indeed experienced too much time. In addition, the person who had set up the array had only done so as a temporary measure. Now, this ancient array could no longer stop Primordial Chaos Daolord.

“I never expected that this person’s Primordial Chaos laws would be at this level of attainment.”

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness had planned on using the array formation to trap them for quite some time, but he never expected Primordial Chaos Daolord’s insight into the Primordial Chaos laws to be so impressive. Therefore, the amount of time they were trapped was shorter than his expectations.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As the cracks in the ground kept increasing in number, the sound of the ground slowly tearing apart was heard.

At that moment, a fierce glint flashed in Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes. A long saber appeared in his hand as it suddenly ignited with a crackling red flame. The flame did not have any temperature, but it exuded a heretic aura.

“Kill!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord cleaved down at the ground, and immediately, a terrifying saber beam sliced deep down into the cracks.

Instantly, the ground seemed to be illuminated by red light as it suffused a faint crimson glow, as though it had been dyed with blood.

At that moment, an explosion sounded from underground. The array’s empty core had been shattered by Primordial Chaos Daolord’s strike.

“I’ve cracked it!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord was overjoyed. Following that, Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord immediately felt the pressure ease. The surroundings revealed their true nature as if an aqueous mirror had been shattered.

They realized that they had not taken more than a few steps after stepping in. They had been been hoodwinked by the array formation, and had been kept stagnant in the same spot.

After cracking the array formation, Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord did not hesitate to rush towards the hill.

Now that the ancient array had been removed, Yi Yun’s death was nigh.

At the moment the array formation was cracked, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness sighed.

“I’ve been in slumber for so long, and my injuries have only been worsening. I never imagined that I would get to a state where I can’t even take hold of such a situation.”

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s words had a tone of disappointment. As a Godly Monarch, he had once held control of vast galaxies, but now his injuries were too grave. His body was heavily damaged and even most of his soul was actually still in slumber. Only a wisp of his consciousness was awake. He had too little strength left.

If he still had the Azure Lamp of Time, he could still use some of its power, but he had already given it to Yi Yun.

“Although I’m already a waning force, I will not make it easy for the both of you to find this place,” thought Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness. He did not wish to disturb Yi Yun for his strength was increasing at a rapid pace. Every additional minute Yi Yun cultivated would enhance his strength greatly.

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness took a deep breath. His soul force slowly fused into the walls.

At present, every sliver of strength used by Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness shortened his lifespan.

“Oh? We appear to have sunken into a time vortex.”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord was extremely sensitive towards time laws. He could sense that the surrounding flow of time had been slowed down. Although they looked like they were walking normally, they were actually progressing at a snail’s pace.

“It doesn’t feel like an ancient array formation. Is someone secretly doing something to hinder us? Could it be that punk?”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord pricked up his brows, but he felt that the nomological aura was different from Yi Yun’s. The laws were ancient and distant, as though they had crossed over from the vast river of time.

“Could there be someone else here?”

Primordial Chaos Daolord suddenly took one step forward as his eyes shimmered.

“So it’s a time barrier…”

Primordial Chaos Daolord sensed that someone had trapped them using a time barrier. He immediately struck out with his palm, and winds howled as a result. However, a faint blast of light flashed across the barrier, diverting his force, preventing him from cracking it.

Primordial Chaos Daolord stared coldly at the deep and dark passageway. He knew that Yi Yun was at the end of the passageway, along with the treasure.

“Fire Cloud, attack together with me,” said Primordial Chaos Daolord as he shot a glance at Fire Cloud Divine Lord.

With the treasure right in front of him, Primordial Chaos Daolord was obviously going to avoid expending all his strength by himself.

Fire Cloud Divine Lord curbed his patience and took his partner’s side. Immediately a raging flame ignited in between his hands.

“Attack!”

The barrier that did not appear firm to Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord, and even looked like it was quickly cracking under their combined forces. But in fact, the barrier did not crack in any way.

Unknowingly, their fervent blasts had gone on for an hour. The barrier looked like it was about to crack, but remained firm and resilient.

“Hmph! Who the hell is doing this?”

Primordial Chaos Daolord lost his patience for he sensed that the person controlling the time barrier was not very strong. In fact, it could be said that he was very weak!

But strangely, he was very familiar with the worldly array that permeated the area. Using the might of the area, he had sealed both Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos Daolord.

“I don’t care who you are. Since you have a death wish, don’t blame me.”

Primordial Chaos gritted his teeth as he took out a black talisman from his interspatial ring. The talisman emanated a black mist with wraith-like auras!

“This is…”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s pupils constricted when he saw the talisman. He could sense that the talisman contained power that appeared like an abyssal hell. It seemed to contain an ancient demon within.

The talisman was clearly an important treasure. Yet, it was now being used by Primordial Chaos Daolord on this barrier.

The corners of Primordial Chaos Daolord’s mouth twitched a few times. Clearly, he was extremely unwilling to use it, but he also couldn’t afford to be reserved at this juncture in time.

“Go!”

With a clear cry, the talisman transformed into a black beam of light and shot into the barrier!

“Sou!”

The barrier was instantly penetrated by the talisman that seemed to possess life of its own. It sank into the hill’s walls like a black venomous snake filled with bloodlust!

“What? This talisman, could it be… a Demon Wraith Token!?”

Inside the walls, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s expression changed the moment he saw the black beam of light. In ancient times, the eight Godly Monarchs had fought the Ancestor God, and the Ancestor God had many demonic servants from the abyssal world.

The Ancestor God had refined the most loyal and powerful demonic servants into demon wraiths. After sealing them in runic marks, they would be used at opportune moments to kill his enemies.

Even Godly Monarchs were very careful against Demon Wraith Tokens. Any slight mishap could result in severe injuries or even death!

Primordial Chaos Daolord had actually managed to obtain one of the Demon Wraith Tokens that the Ancestor God did not use back then. Although Primordial Chaos Daolord might not have even known the origins of the Demon Wraith Token and how the Demon Wraith Token had been greatly weakened after hundreds of millions of years, it was still not something the heavily injured Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness could withstand.

He had only barely trapped Primordial Chaos Daolord by using the forces of the worldly might. He had little true strength left, and so was unable to withstand the demon wraith’s assault.

The moment the Demon Wraith entered the hill’s wall, it pounced straight for Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness!

In a way, demon wraiths and the Ancient Godly Monarchs were nemeses! If it was a talisman created by future descendants, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness might have been capable of attenuating it. However, when it came to this demon wraith, it was like a shark that smelt blood the moment it sensed an Ancient Godly Monarch’s aura. It charged straight for Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness, rendering all his concealment techniques useless.

“Puah!”

The demon wraith plunged straight into Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s body. With a grunt, the fire in his soul became like a candle in the wind, on the verge of extinguishing at any moment.

“It’s fate…” Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness revealed a bitter smile.

“The barrier’s strength has weakened!” Primordial Chaos Daolord said ferociously. He knew that the ancient talisman had been effective. He drew his saber again and, as flames of anger arose in his eyes, he cleaved down suddenly!

The saber flash was unrelenting. It slashed down at the barrier with a whistle, and after the barrier shook several times, it finally produced a cracking sound as a fracture appeared.

Upon seeing this, Primordial Chaos Daolord had a look of delight.

He glanced at Fire Cloud Divine Lord. “Are you still trying to hold back?”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord snorted as a weapon also appeared in his hand. It was a fiery red whip that was not even three feet in length. It was made of red feathers, weaved from several fire-elemental natural treasures. Fire Cloud Divine Lord called it the Fire God Whip.

Whoosh!

When he lashed out with the Fire God Whip, it felt like heavenly flames were descending. The burning flames immediately enveloped the barrier. The burning heatwave blanketed the area as a strange glint flashed in Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes. Fire Cloud Divine Lord had improved quite considerably over the years!

1513 - : Demon Wraith Token

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

In fact, it was exceedingly difficult to go through an improvement in strength at Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos Daolord’s realm. What laid beyond them was the legendary Godly Monarch realm.

Advancement in the Martial Dao required one to blaze a trail through all obstacles to begin with. Some rare geniuses could cultivate to the Divine Lord realm in a few millennia with unstoppable momentum, but later, they could spend the rest of their lives stuck. They might not even break through to become a Godly Monarch; they might not even figure out the general direction they needed to go in to become one.

Therefore, upon seeing Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s strength, Primordial Chaos Daolord had no choice but to admit that although he was of questionable character, he did have extremely high talent. Furthermore, Fire Cloud Divine Lord had concealed his strength very well. Prior to this, Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s cultivation level was definitely ranked in the top five among the Divine Lords present, but he had never revealed his true strength.

Now, he had revealed it because they were about to enter the treasure hill. He was giving Primordial Chaos Daolord a warning.

With Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord using their strongest techniques, the time barrier immediately exploded.

The explosion of the time barrier resulted in a cracking sound as a corner of the Chaos hill’s wall was blasted open. They saw a faint, old figure in that thin wall. He was draped in ragged clothes with a head of white. His flesh and bones were wrinkled and his eyes turbid. He looked like a dessicated corpse that had been exposed to the elements for millennia.

“Who is that?”

Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord were stunned.

“Was the one who attacked us before this old bastard…?”

Primordial Chaos Daolord looked at the dreary old man in disbelief. The old man was clearly on the brink of death. He did not have any signs of life in him.

How could a dying person pose such a huge obstacle to him and Fire Cloud Divine Lord?

“A man who loses position and influence may be subjected to much indignity. It’s all fated…”

The dreary old man sighed. He was a Godly Monarch, and had been sealed in the wall for hundreds of millions of years. His body had shriveled to the point where he could be described as a candle flickering in the wind!

“Who are you?” Primordial Chaos Daolord asked in a deep voice. He could not sense a specific realm from the elder, but he was sure that the elder was on his last breaths.

“There’s a stone chamber here?”

It was only then that Fire Cloud Divine Lord discovered that there was a side room, a stone table, and a bookshelf. There were a few gray stone slabs on the bookshelf.

“Good stuff!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s eyes lit up. These stone slabs were actually Chaos Gems!

They had been fighting tooth and nail for months, only to get Chaos Gems the size of rice grains. In contrast, each of the stone slabs on the bookshelf were as big as the palm of a hand!

And they could tell at a glance that these stone slabs had been used to record something.

What exactly merited Chaos Gems being used as stone slips for the recording of information? Could it be a peerless cultivation technique?

Upon coming to this realization, Fire Cloud Divine Lord laughed out loud. He beckoned, and the stone slabs were soon in his hand.

“We agreed to share it equally!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord took a few slabs, and the both of them stored them into their interspatial rings.

These stone slabs had not turned sentient, making it very easy to grab them.

“There must be good stuff in here!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes lit up like a starving predator seeing a huge chunk of meat.

“Old Fogey, tell me what’s in there. I do not care who you are, or how powerful you were in the past. Now, you are an old man on your deathbed. We are here for treasure, yet you made fools of us. If you do not wish to be tortured to death, answer my questions properly!”

“Where is this place? Where is the youth who entered previously? Tell me!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s voice was overbearing.

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness remained silent, as though he could not hear him at all.

He knew very well that he did not have much time left. He had previously used the worldly might to make the two Divine Lords spin around. Now that the might had been destroyed, and he had the demon wraith wreaking havoc inside him, he could no longer pose a threat to Primordial Chaos Daolord or Fire Cloud Divine Lord.

“Are you deaf? I can guess even if you do not tell. This must be a land of heritage left behind by a mighty expert. You must be an old servant that served that expert, right? You are watching over this place for your master.”

Only when experts were about to die would they leave behind a land of heritage. If not, how could a living person hand things as valuable as Chaos Gems to people of the future? As such, the elder must have been a guardian.

“Have you given the good stuff in here to that little bastard? Or did you hide him? I know he’s inside this mineral vein. I have already sealed off the surrounding area of this mineral vein with an array formation. It’s impossible for that punk to leave!” Fire Cloud Divine Lord closed in towards Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness, a sinister smile suffusing his lips. “Since you aren’t speaking, don’t blame me for what I might do. I believe that little bastard must be watching in secret. Then, I’ll let him see how the old fool that’s protecting him is being tormented! You are probably unafraid of death considering your wretched state, but that’s fine. I have ways to make a person wish he were dead.”

As Fire Cloud Divine Lord spoke, he took out a red mirror.

“The Eight Fires Mirror is specially used for the refinement of souls. I’ll let you experience the pain of having your soul refined.”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord shook his wrist as the Eight Fires Mirror flew out. It floated above Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s head. At that moment, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness remained calm. His eyes were slightly closed, as though everything that was happening around him had nothing to do with him.

This utter lack of acknowledgment enraged Fire Cloud Divine Lord.

“Heh! You sure are calm. I’m interested to see how long you can maintain that. Soul extraction!”

As Fire Cloud Divine Lord shouted, a sanguine beam of light blasted out of the Eight Fires Mirror. It shot straight for Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s head, but he continued sitting there calmly, like an enlightened Buddha.

However, the sanguine beam of light that was about to hit Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s head slowed down suddenly, as though an invisible hand was tugging at it.

The sanguine light slowed down and almost came to a stop three inches from Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s head. The tiny distance then became an untraversable ravine.

“Oh? A time barrier!?”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s expression changed. His Eight Fires Mirror had been stopped in place by a time barrier.

He never expected that the old man could still cast a time barrier despite being so close to death.

“That’s not right. There’s no energy fluctuations coming from him at all. This time barrier isn’t being cast by him.” Primordial Chaos Daolord had sharp senses. The moment he finished his sentence, an azure lamp appeared out of thin air. It floated above Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s head, and towered above the Eight Fires Mirror.

The ancient azure lamp sprinkled its azure glow onto the Eight Fires Mirror.

Following that, an incredible scene happened. Wherever the surface of the Eight Fires Mirror was touched by the azure light, it would lose all its luster. It even began to produce speckles of rust that began to spread and increase in number. Gradually, it spread throughout the entire mirror.

The weathering of endless time seemed to be compressed into a few seconds. The Eight Fires Mirror rotted in such a manner, losing all its numinosity, and was reduced to rusty scraps.

“Oh!? My Eight Fires Mirror!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord looked up suddenly as a figure walked out of the wall, as though an invisible door had opened inside the wall.

“Little bastard, so you were hiding here!”

1514 - : Ancient Lamp’s Azure Radiance

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, Yi Yun, who was walking out of the wall, was covered in a thick grayish aura. The gray aura was slowly flowing like a snake. It was extremely heavy, so heavy that the surrounding space was trembling from its weight.

Yi Yun walked forward one step at a time, seeming as though he was one with the world. The laws around him seemed to be resonating in response to his presence.

Yi Yun completely ignored Fire Cloud Divine Lord. Instead, he looked respectfully at Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness. “Senior River of Forgetfulness, are you alright?”

He could tell that Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness had been weakened again. If not for Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness helping him stall for time, he would not have been reduced to this state.

Yi Yun took another look at Fire Cloud Divine Lord, his eyes turning focused as a hint of anger surfaced in them.

He saw that Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos were wearing Chaos Gem armors.

Those Chaos Gems that traveled the cosmos had gained sentience over a long period of time. They were definitely unwilling subordinates of Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos; therefore, it was impossible for them to be made into Chaos Gem armors. The moment they entered the Chaos Gem mineral vein, the Chaos Gems could have easily scattered.

In order to secure control over these Chaos Gems, Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos had wiped out any trace of sentience within them!

Their Chaos Gem armors were each made of hundreds of Chaos Gems. All of these Chaos Gems were now lusterless, a swath of deadly gray!

They had killed the sentience that took form after hundreds of millions of years.

“To think all of you wiped away the sentience of so many Chaos Gems…” Yi Yun’s expression turned grim. He was bent on killing them now.

“Hahaha! Speaking of which, it’s all thanks to you. If not for you, we wouldn’t have known how to enter the Chaos Gem mineral vein. These Chaos Gems don’t know better, so we could only wipe them of their sentience. And indeed, they could then be weaved into Chaos Gem armor. What? Are you pitying them? Isn’t it all because of you that these Chaos Gems were harmed?”

Primordial Chaos Daolord sneered as he said this, his eyes flickering with a delighted glee.

“Very well…” Yi Yun’s eyes turned cold, as though his gaze could freeze the soul of others. Ever since he entered this world, the Chaos Gems had helped him greatly. If not, he would not have survived under the hands of Primordial Chaos Daolord. He never expected that Primordial Chaos Daolord would destroy so many Chaos Gems!

“Punk, you really do not know the meaning of death. That old fool risked his life to protect you, but you just walked right out while trying to parade your capabilities. I know that you have many secrets and you have gained numerous benefits. I will slowly search your soul and discover every one of those secrets!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord closed in on Yi Yun. He could sense that Yi Yun’s aura was somewhat different.

Yi Yun had spent the past few months inside the hill, and must have obtained an extraordinary opportunity. But even so, the huge gap in strength between them was not something a few months could bridge.

“Senior, enter the cauldron!”

Yi Yun beckoned his hand as the Ascending Dragon Cauldron spun in front of him.

The moment the Ascending Dragon Cauldron appeared, Primordial Chaos Daolord’s and Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s eyes lit up. As long as they killed Yi Yun, that treasure was theirs!

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness looked Yi Yun deeply in the eye. “You came out ahead of time after all. It seems you have come into contact with the Divine Lord realm…”

Through the Azure Lamp of Time, four months meant twenty years. Back when Yi Yun entered the mineral vein, he was already at the pinnacle of the Supremacy realm.

It was a huge step, going from Supremacy to Divine Lord. Even the most talented warriors had to spend centuries, if not more than a millennium, to go from the perfected Supremacy realm to the realm of Divine Lord.

But after Yi Yun entered the Chaos Gem mineral vein and obtained the heritage left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, the cultivation resources available to him, be it the heritage or the cultivation ground he was in, were probably the best in this universe!

Added to the Purple Crystal Origins and Yi Yun’s honed foundations, he had taken less than twenty years to go from being a Supremacy to touching the Divine Lord realm.

Now, Yi Yun could be considered to have one foot through the door of being a Divine Lord. He was just short by one step. If not for Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos Daolord arriving, Yi Yun could have broken through to become a Divine Lord in one fell swoop.

“What? Come into contact with the Divine Lord realm?”

Upon hearing Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s words, Primordial Chaos Daolord was stunned. Yi Yun’s aura gave one the feeling of that he was already a Divine Lord, but according to what the old fool said, the punk was still not a Divine Lord?

Did this mean that he had been made a fool of all these months by a mere Supremacy!?

Primordial Chaos Daolord found it unbelievable. Beside him, Fire Cloud Divine Lord was similarly stunned. If that was the case, this person…

Fire Cloud Divine Lord held his breath while looking at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun stood there calmly, but he sent chills down the hearts of the two. Fire Cloud Divine Lord had cultivated for so long, but he had never heard of any peerless genius who could have such strength at the Supremacy realm. Even ancient Godly Monarchs of the past paled in comparison!

“Old fool, what nonsense are you speaking?”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord refused to believe it. He too was a peerless genius, and he had encountered huge opportunities. If not, he would not have become a hegemon of the Sinkhole.

But even so, he was like trash when his former Supremacy self was compared to the present Yi Yun. How could he accept this?

However, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness ignored Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s words. He said to Yi Yun, “Since you chose to come out, go ahead and face them.”

As he spoke, he went inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

The situation today would only end in life or death. Coming out to meet them in battle was Yi Yun’s choice. Perhaps, Yi Yun could help him come out of this alive.

As for Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness himself, life and death did not matter much to him.

“Fire Cloud, let’s attack together. We can ignore our statuses!” Primordial Chaos Daolord said suddenly.

It didn’t matter if what Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness said was true, Yi Yun possessed incomparable potential. If he were to escape today, there would be no end to their troubles.

“Hehe, of course!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord laughed sinisterly. Red chains silently appeared under his feet. These chains seemed to have a life of their own. The moment they touched the ground they spread out, instantly covering the area and filling the space around them.

“Oh? These chains…”

Yi Yun’s eyes focused. He could tell that these were not real chains, but a manifestation of flames.

Flames are not corporeal, but in Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s hands, the flames turned corporeal and became chains.

A total of thirty-six fire chains spread out in every direction, sealing off the entire area!

“Punk, it’s impossible for you to flee now. As long as my God Fire Chains seal this space, even that old fool, Sacred Horizon, would not be able to easily escape. This place will become your tomb today!”

And at that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord attacked!

“Little bastard, go to hell!”

His saber brought with it a boundless and horrifying tearing force. It rendered the world asunder as it aimed straight for Yi Yun!

Before the saber beam reached him, his terrifying killing intent had already frozen the surrounding air. The gray saber beam seemed to carve an aura of despair out of a silent world. It tore through space noiselessly and came before Yi Yun.

Primordial Chaos Daolord had immediately used a killing blow the moment he took action!

He did not wish to give Yi Yun even the slightest chance, for he had really been repulsed by Yi Yun.

1515 - : Fire God Chains

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

As Primordial Chaos Daolord slashed out, the Mirage Snow-wielding Yi Yun no longer had any room for retreat. Although he had the Ascending Dragon Cauldron behind him, he was in a sealed space. If he entered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, he could end up being sealed inside it by the combined efforts of Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord. When that happened, the cauldron, with him still inside, could be taken away. It was even possible for him to be refined to nothingness while inside the cauldron.

This battle was pretty much a last stand for Yi Yun!

Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon—Reverse Scale!

Yi Yun stirred all his Yuan Qi as his lifeblood forces surged like billowing smoke. He had stimulated the Dragon Emperor bloodline within him!

“Do you think you have the time to fully stimulate your bloodline while facing my blade? You are courting death!”

The moment Yi Yun activated his Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon, time came to an instant pause. As for Primordial Chaos Daolord’s blade, it slashed straight at Yi Yun’s throat. There was no chance for Yi Yun to parry the attack!

“Die!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord roared, but at that moment, he suddenly felt something amiss. His saber should have cleaved off Yi Yun’s head in a thousandth of an instant, but he felt that an extremely long time had passed only for his saber to inch slightly forward.

Laws of Time!?

Primordial Chaos Daolord was alarmed. He looked up abruptly at Yi Yun’s head, where an azure lamp was floating. A weak azure-colored flame was slowly burning. The silent flame seemed to traverse the infinitely long river of time, having been lit since the beginning of the universe a billion years ago. No matter how much time passed and how weak it looked, it was everlasting and eternally bright!

At that moment, Primordial Chaos Daolord was astonished to realize that even his thought processes had slowed down!

He had reigned supreme in the Sinkhole for countless years as a hegemon of the Great Cosmic State. During this period, he had encountered countless warriors who were adept in the laws of time. Even Primordial Chaos Daolord himself was somewhat versed in the laws of time; however, he had never met someone whose time laws were so unassailable. Even his thought processes had been slowed to a crawl!

“Sword Dao—Destruction!”

Yi Yun struck out, producing a raven-black beam of light. It was so dark because the Dao of Major Destruction devoured all light. There were many warriors in the world who were adept at the laws of time, but Yi Yun was the only person who grasped the Dao of Major Destruction!

Primordial Chaos Daolord was a knowledgeable person. His back shuddered for he had a deep appreciation of how terrifying the aura of Yi Yun’s strike was.

What sort of attack was this!?

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s expression changed drastically. He never expected Yi Yun’s strength to increase by leaps and bounds after not seeing him for four months!

He could sense a lethal threat in Yi Yun’s strike!

“Primordial Chaos, how useless are you!”

At that moment, there was a loud roar as a red, fiery snake descended from the skies. It did not head for Yi Yun, but swept towards the Azure Lamp of Time.

The person who attacked was none other than Fire Cloud Divine Lord.

With him taking action, the surrounding Fire God Chains suddenly tightened. The surrounding spatial forces were compressed by the chains, causing an invisible restraining force to bear down on Yi Yun, making his attack slow down drastically!

“Dang!”

With a crisp resonating clang, Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s whip lashed out heavily at the Azure Lamp of Time. The ancient divine artifact was not to be dismissed, as it simply rebounded Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s whip. But this strike had caused the Azure Lamp of Time’s time warp to be nullified!

“This azure lamp!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord drew a cold gasp of air. It was another supreme treasure. Exactly how many of these treasures did Yi Yun have!?

“Primordial Chaos!” Fire Cloud Divine Lord shouted clearly.

“Got it!” Upon being freed from the restraint of the time laws, Primordial Chaos Daolord was like a tiger unleashed. Although they didn’t like one another, the two Sinkhole hegemons worked together perfectly.

“Break it for me!”

With a despair-inducing strike, he slashed down with indomitable force.

“Boom!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s saber clashed violently with Yi Yun’s Mirage Snow. His vast Yuan Qi instantly blasted out. This was the powerful strength of a Sinkhole powerhouse, and although Yi Yun was a rare genius, he was only a half-step Divine Lord. In terms of foundations and cultivation level, he was incomparable to Primordial Chaos Daolord.

“Puah!”

Yi Yun felt a searing pain at his chest as he got swept up in the energy turbulence. He spat out a mouthful of blood as he flew backward!

“It’s over!”

Upon seeing this, Fire Cloud Divine Lord was not one to miss out on an opportunity. From his initial strike at the Azure Lamp of Time to using the Fire God Chains to repress Yi Yun, he had not expended too much energy. In a way, he was simply waiting for the opportunity to deliver a fatal strike on his weary opponent!

As for Yi Yun, he had been disadvantaged in his clash with Primordial Chaos Daolord. Now that his body was sent flying back, it was the perfect opportunity to defeat him!

“Fire God Chains!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord clawed at the void as the thirty-six Fire God Chains surrounding Yi Yun were thrown into mid-air. Like dancing fire dragons, the ends of the chain manifested as sharp spear tips that suddenly thrust at Yi Yun! The Fire God Chains array could both attack and defend; it was practically a perfect item. As for the thirty-six chains, it had sealed off any direction in which Yi Yun could dodge. It stabbed down at Yi Yun from every direction, forming a spherical attack that had no blind spot!

There was no way to dodge!

Just as the battle was coming to an end, with Yi Yun about to be riddled with holes—

Whew! Whew! Whew! Whew!

An azure-colored divine tree phantom appeared behind Yi Yun. Thirty-six lush branches shot out from above the ancient tree!

These branches coruscated with a vital shimmer, like chains of the Order of Heaven and Earth. Each branch met one Fire God Chain.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The branches clashed with the Fire God Chains, twirling around the chains! They countered each other, preventing any advancement or retreat!

And then—

“Whew! Whew!”

Another two thick branches shot out from the divine tree, shooting straight at Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord!

“What!?”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s expression changed. He thought that Yi Yun was a waning force after his clash with Primordial Chaos Daolord, but he never expected Yi Yun to still have a trick up his sleeve. Not only did he fend off his Fire God Chains, he even managed to deliver a counter attack!

“Red Lotus Fire Hell!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord roared as boundless flames spewed out from his body as they surged for the divine tree’s branch. The flames had a terrifying temperature like scorching hell. Even ice that had been frozen during the Chaos era could melt! In terms of offensive strength, the Fire God Chains array was inferior to the Red Lotus Fire Hell.

Crackle!

The divine tree’s branch was enveloped as it ignited and billowed black smoke.

Even the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s branch could not remain unscathed when facing the Red Lotus Fire Hell! After all, Yi Yun’s Azure Wood Divine Tree had yet to fully grow, while Fire Cloud Divine Lord was a Sinkhole powerhouse that had been famous for years.

As for Primordial Chaos Daolord, he shouted loudly before suddenly extending his hand towards the branch that came attacking him!

His palm was enveloped in blurry, gray Primordial Chaos forces. As his vast Yuan Qi surged, he grabbed at the branch.

He was actually grabbing the branch with his naked hand!

The branch could reduce a landmass to smithereens with its unbearable force and mass, but at that moment, a restraining force appeared around the branch, causing it to instantly come to a pause.

And it was this pause that allowed Primordial Chaos Daolord to grab it. His vast Yuan Qi surged into the branch as he pulled forcibly at the branch!

Immense strength was exerted as the ground beneath Primordial Chaos Daolord sank, the remnant shockwave spreading out while cracking the land. With him as center, the ground was filled with cracks like a spiderweb that spanned hundreds of feet!

Yi Yun was still in mid-air. The tug came with a horrifying strength as Yi Yun was forcibly pulled towards Primordial Chaos Daolord.

As he plummeted down, Primordial Chaos Daolord’s blade of despair came up to meet him!

“Die!” Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes were extremely cold. His combined attacks with Fire Cloud Divine Lord was like a relentless barrage of the elements. They were bent on killing Yi Yun!

Yi Yun could dodge the first strike, but he was not letting Yi Yun survive the second!

“Ha!”

Yi Yun’s joints emitted loud sounds like the sound of stirring steel pellets. Even though he had activated the Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon, giving him strength that exceeded the average warrior, he could not withstand Primordial Chaos Daolord’s formidable yank.

This was the strength of a Sinkhole powerhouse. Furthermore, Yi Yun was not facing one, but two!

1516 - : The Last Stand

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

With the branch grabbed and the Fire God Chains sealing off his surroundings, Yi Yun no longer had any means of avoiding the impending saber slash!

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s saber not only contained the terrifying power of a Sinkhole powerhouse, it also had a devouring force which formed a devouring vortex in the void, one that pulled Yi Yun’s body straight towards it!

“Die!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord roared as his voice reverberated like heavenly thunder. Just as his saber was about to slash across Yi Yun’s head, Yi Yun extended his right index and middle finger towards the blade that was sure to do him in!

Shura Finger—Dual Shot!

Yi Yun had learned the Shura Finger from the Divine Perish Hall. Back then, even one shot would seem to drain him of nearly all his energy, but now against Primordial Chaos Daolord, Yi Yun was shooting out with both his index and middle finger!

Ka-cha!

The heavy nebulous Primordial Chaos bore down on the void. Even the force in Primordial Chaos Daolord’s hand that devoured everything like a black hole could not act fully unimpeded when facing this wisp of nebulous Primordial Chaos that was as heavy as a star.

“Whoosh!”

When the black beam shot out, Primordial Chaos Daolord felt his blade’s edge turn suddenly heavy, as though thousands of mountains were holding it down. It was difficult for him to continue slashing forward! He could see with his naked eyes the heavy nebulous Primordial Chaos binding his blade like chains! As for Yi Yun’s Shura Finger, it was still shooting straight for his eyes!

“Break it for me!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord bit the tip of his tongue and burned his blood essence at that moment. As a Sinkhole powerhouse, it had been years since he was forced into such a state. The burning of his blood essence gave him terrifying strength!

Cha! Cha! Cha!

Wisps of nebulous Primordial Chaos were shattered by Primordial Chaos Daolord one after another! His saber clashed with Yi Yun’s fingers without any gaudy display!

The Primordial Chaos forces at his fingertip had blasted out before making contact. With a crisp ping, a crack formed in Primordial Chaos Daolord’s saber!

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s expression changed drastically when he saw the crack appear and multiply. This was his intrinsic artifact, one he had been nurturing inside his body for nearly ten thousand years. Augmented by his own laws and strength, it should have been indestructible, but it was cracked by Yi Yun’s shot!?

“Puah!”

The damage to his intrinsic artifact made Primordial Chaos Daolord vomit a mouthful of blood. He looked extremely pale.

“Punk! You have exchanged your hand for my saber!”

A glint flashed in Primordial Chaos Daolord’s eyes. He could see that Yi Yun’s right index and middle finger had fractured. His palm had been sliced open by the blade. It was pretty much crippled!

Although his heart winced in pain, Yi Yun suffered even heavier losses. Against two Sinkhole powerhouses, the loss of a hand was no different from death.

“It’s truly most stupid to exchange your hand for a saber!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord laughed sinisterly. He took this opportunity to attack from the side, lashing his whip straight at Yi Yun’s throat!

“Pa!”

The whip cracked in the void as Yi Yun grunted. He flew backwards and slammed heavily into the ground!

His one hand had been left bloodied by Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s lash. It was almost completely severed from his arm!

“Oh? You sacrificed your red arm to block my whip while your life was on the line. You prevented yourself from being decapitated. Making minor sacrifices to safeguard your major interests is truly a wise choice. However, I would like to know how plan to continue dodging this whip of mine. Are you going to use your left arm? You are always welcome to try. Haha!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord smiled gleefully. He had a baffling sense of happiness knowing that a peerless genius that had an extremely high chance of becoming a Godly Monarch would die under his hand.

As Fire Cloud Divine Lord spoke, his whip ignited. The flames that sparked to life and ran down it were unlike ordinary flames. Instead, they were in the form of rainbow streams of light. Even though the flames were burning in a sealed region, no heat could be felt from them. This was because the energies had reached an extremely high concentration!

“Sou!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord delivered his second lash. The whip contained a nomological force, making it more terrifying than the first strike!

“Shura Finger!”

Against this lash, Yi Yun used his left index finger!

“You have decided to give up your left hand as well? Fine! I’ll fulfill your wishes!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord lashed out heavily with his whip!

“Pa!”

Energy blasted out as the sealed Fire God Chains array stirred chaotically. Like a hurricane sweeping through, Yi Yun’s energy blast shot out and struck the boundary of the Fire God Chains’ array!

“Puah!”

Yi Yun spat out a mouthful of blood as his organs suffered powerful convulsions. Not a single part of his body was free from the excruciating pain!

He slid down the boundary. His right hand and arm had been crippled, and his left hand was trembling slightly. However, his left index finger remained unscathed!

The reason for this was that Fire Cloud Divine Lord had seen the cracking of Primordial Chaos Daolord’s intrinsic artifact which led to severe injury. He did not wish to commit the same error; therefore, he had held back while delivering the attack.

Since Yi Yun had been maimed of one arm, and he was trapped in the array, his death was destined. There was no reason for him to enter an internecine struggle with Yi Yun.

“Oh, your hand is trembling…”

The corner of Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s mouth suffused a sinister grin. He could see that there was blood dripping down Yi Yun’s left hand. It coursed down his index finger, drop after drop, splattering onto the ground.

Although victory was at hand, Fire Cloud Divine Lord did not let down his guard. Yi Yun was not a simple person; if he was, he would not have forced Primordial Chaos Daolord into such a predicament.

“You sure are patient. I get the feeling that you are waiting for an opportunity. Are you waiting for me to reveal a weakness when I’m attacking you with all my strength? You can forget about it. I will reserve a portion of my strength while I slowly enervate you of your strength. I will not give you another chance!”

As Fire Cloud Divine Lord spoke, the whip in his hand ignited with a five-colored flame.

“Primordial Chaos! Are you watching a show?”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord looked at Primordial Chaos Daolord. Ever since his intrinsic artifact was damaged, the latter no longer did a thing.

“Hmph! I endured this little bastard’s strongest attack. I have already suffered enough losses. Aren’t you more than capable of finishing him off?” Primordial Chaos Daolord said coldly.

Although he did not plan on delivering another attack, his perception was locked onto Yi Yun. As long as Yi Yun showed any chance of turning the tide, or if he revealed a real weakness, he would grab the opportunity to smite him down!

“Hehe! In the end, it’s all because you are afraid of using up too much of your strength and that I will stab you in the back. Primordial Chaos, you are overthinking things!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord did not use any other move. With a crisp shout, he lashed out a third time. He had estimated that Yi Yun’s left hand had yet to recover. There was no way he could withstand this lash!

But just as Fire Cloud Divine Lord raised his whip, a something strange happened. The rainbow flames on his whip rapidly turned black. It turned into a shimmering black fire that spread to the end of of the whip.

“What!?”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s expression changed. What was happening!? This black flame was not his!

His whip was his intrinsic artifact, and it had been injected with his fire laws that had reached the crest of perfection. Why did a heretic fire suddenly intrude into it?

“Huh!?”

The black fire reached Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s hand and he instantly felt the searing pain of the burning flame! However, he continued to clench the whip in his hand.

He had no idea how long it would be before he no longer felt the agony of the burning flame. Ever since he had cultivated his fire laws to the peak, no one in the Sinkhole had fire laws that were comparable to his. All flames that he encountered would be like subjects meeting their king. They would only prostrate before him.

But today, he was suffering the pain of a burning black flame.

“What is this fire!? It actually managed to devour my Rainbow Plume Fire!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord suddenly looked towards Yi Yun, his eyes burning with fervent passion. “To think you have had such an opportunity. Where did you refine such a divine fire? Leaving it in your possession would be such a waste! I never expected the heavens to favor me so well. Just as I reach a bottleneck in my Martial Dao, the heavens have bestowed me with an encounter with such a flame. With it in hand, I will be able to achieve a truly dominant power. There’s even a slim possibility that I can use this divine fire to become a Godly Monarch. You are practically a gift from the heavens! Hahaha!”

1517 - : Heavily Injured

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

As Fire Cloud Divine Lord laughed maniacally, the Heretical God Fire Seed burned more intensely. All the Rainbow Plume Fire was devoured and transformed into a black flame that burned through everything.

“You need to be alive to actually own this fire!” Yi Yun wiped the blood from the corner of his lips as he sneered.

“Still trying to win a battle of words even at death’s doorstep, I see!” Fire Cloud Divine Lord grunted coldly. He ignored the scorching black flame on his right hand as he suddenly beckoned with his left hand. A fiery-red hex seal appeared in the middle of his left palm, distorting space immediately. Yi Yun even felt that his soul was about to be sucked in as he looked at the hex seal.

Could this be…

A Divine Lord Royal Seal!?

Ordinary Divine Lords could fuse with a Divine Lord Royal Seal to become a Royal Sealed Divine Lord, greatly enhancing their strength as a result.

Most Divine Lord Royal Seals directly increased a Divine Lord’s strength or nomological insight, but an extremely small number of Divine Lord Royal Seals could be directly summoned and used for combat.

These Divine Lord Royal Seals were powerful weapons to begin with. The Royal Seal in Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s hand was no doubt of this type!

“I scoured the Sinkhole in my younger days and found a place where phoenixes get reborn from the ashes. A fire phoenix had splattered its phoenix blood on the ground, and despite tens of millions of years, the blood continued burning like fire. This Divine Lord Royal Seal was condensed out of that phoenix blood! It is the origin of all fires. With it, I was able to gain unique insights and attain the pinnacle of fire-elemental laws!”

As Fire Cloud Divine Lord spoke, he flicked his finger.

“Whoosh!”

The Divine Lord Royal Seal flew straight into the Heretical God Fire Seed!

“Wu Wu Wu!”

The black fire sputtered like water entering a wok of burning hot oil. It began to bubble!

The Phoenix Royal Seal gave birth to a red vortex that constantly sucked in the black flame, completely sealing it within.

“Huh!?”

Yi Yun furrowed his brows. The Heretical God Fire Seed was indeed the strongest fire he had ever encountered, but when it came to understanding fire-elemental laws, he was inferior to Fire Cloud Divine Lord. Furthermore, Ling Xie’er was not around, which allowed his connection with the Heretical God Fire Seed to be severed by the Phoenix Royal Seal!

Although the flame that was burning the whip was only a tiny portion of the Heretical God Fire Seed’s strength, having it sealed by the Phoenix Royal Seal still meant Yi Yun losing a portion of the fire. If he used the Heretical God Fire Seed again, and it was sealed, the fire would gradually be depleted until all his Heretical God Fire Seed was taken away by Fire Cloud Divine Lord!

However, Yi Yun was not the only one in a state of alarm. Fire Cloud Divine Lord was in utter disbelief. The black flame had indeed been sealed by the Phoenix Royal Seal, but even so, the Phoenix Royal Seal could not refine it. The fire seemed to have a life of its own that was burning away at the Phoenix Royal Seal. No matter how much Yuan Qi he used to repress it, it raged on like an eternal flame that could never be extinguished!

There was such a fire in this world?

Fire Cloud Divine Lord was both alarmed and excited. The more powerful the black flame was, the greater his desire to claim it became. As long as he killed Yi Yun, the black flame would lose its owner. Then, he could definitely refine it as his own!

“Go to hell!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord flicked his finger as the Phoenix Royal Seal transformed into a red stream of light that shot towards Yi Yun’s heart!

The powerful impulse, together with the Phoenix Royal Seal’s temperature that matched the sun’s, could even tear through stars. There was definitely no way for Yi Yun’s body to withstand such a strike!

But just as the Phoenix Royal Seal was about to strike Yi Yun, a bronze cauldron appeared out of thin air, heavily plummeting downwards!

“Dang!”

The Phoenix Royal Seal collided with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, letting out a loud dragon roar!

The cauldron was sent flying away as Yi Yun charged out from behind the cauldron. His left index finger and middle finger were held together as beams came out of both fingers!

Shura Finger!

“The same move again. Are you at the end of your rope? I have already seen through this move!”

Although the Shura Finger was powerful, it could not withstand the two powerhouses who stood atop the Sinkhole. Yi Yun had used the Shura Finger numerous times. Although Fire Cloud Divine Lord would not dare claim that he was impervious to it, the threat the Shura Finger posed to him had drastically decreased!

“Eighteen Burning Hells!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s body transformed into a sea of fire. They were situated inside the Fire God Chains’ sealed space. It made the Fire God Chains array akin to a burning furnace. Even ordinary Divine Lords would be refined into pills immediately.

But at that moment, Yi Yun’s body burned with the Heretical God Fire. He was darting through the burning hell! Back when Yi Yun’s cultivation level was not even at the Supremacy realm, he had been placed inside a cauldron by Myriad God Patriarch and refined for days without being harmed.

“My flames might be ineffective against you, but your fire hell poses no threat to me. Watch this!”

Yi Yun pointed his finger straight at Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s glabella!

“Do you think I’m only good at controlling fire!? What naivety!”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord roared and, at that moment, a blue beam of light shot out of the inferno. Immediately, there was a loud and sharp phoenix cry that shot into the sky!

At that moment, a blue phoenix flew out of Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s glabella!

The phoenix’s feathers were covered in frost, but its tails were burning with blue flames!

An ice phoenix!?

Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat. An ice phoenix had flown out among such a terrifying inferno!? Could it be that Fire Cloud Divine Lord cultivated in both ice and fire!?

Yi Yun knew the principle of opposites. There were many paired laws that existed in the world—fire-ice, space-time, yin-yang, creation-destruction… They were polar opposites of each other, but none could do without the other. Without Yin, there was no Yang. If there was no creation, there was no destruction!

By cultivating in the contrasting law, one could attain an even higher realm. Yi Yun had done the same, but Fire Cloud Divine Lord, be it his name or the moves he had used until that point, made it hard to imagine that he had cultivated in both ice and fire. Furthermore, his frost-ice laws were in no way weaker than his fire-elemental laws!

He had hidden his strength well!

“Hahaha! You probably never guessed it! Back in the land where the fire phoenix rose from the ashes, it was not one, but two! Phoenixes have genders. Male phoenixes align with the ice element while female phoenixes align with the fire element!”

“Male and female phoenixes are one to begin with. They spend their entire lives together and die together. The Phoenix Royal Seal I obtained was not one, but a pair! However, the ones who learned of this secret have all died. You will not be an exception!”

When the ice phoenix screeched, a fire phoenix phantom manifested in the inferno, fusing together with the ice phoenix. It was a combined attack of ice and fire!

Yi Yun could withstand the flames, but he could not withstand the ice!

“Primordial Chaos, what are you standing there for? I have already used the full extent of my power. Are you still trying to hold back?” Fire Cloud Divine Lord roared fiercely.

He knew that Primordial Chaos Daolord was still capable of more. He just didn’t trust him and had not used his most desperate attack.

Primordial Chaos Daolord frowned. Although he had wanted to reap the spoils of an internecine outcome, he kept having a feeling of unease when facing Yi Yun for some unknown reason. Although it looked like everything was a certainty, he felt that if he did not use all his strength to kill Yi Yun, it was possible for Yi Yun to escape. That would only lead to endless repercussions!

Upon coming to this thought, he focused his mind. He wiped his palm across his saber and as his blood spurted onto the ice-cold blade, the blade’s cracks were enveloped in a sanguine mist before being restored to normal automatically!

Soon, the cracks that Yi Yun caused had vanished.

“Primordial Chaos is the power of creation. With the Primordial Chaos laws in hand, I similarly possess the ability of creation. I’ll let you witness this strike of mine! Genesis!”

Legend had it that before the ancient Chaos came into being, a primordial god cleaved apart the Chaos with a gigantic act. That was the so-called genesis of the universe.

And this primordial god was later said to be the seventh Fey God of the twelve Fey Gods—Heavenly Man.

Now, Primordial Chaos Daolord was issuing a strike that resembled Heavenly Man’s cleave of genesis!

Fire Cloud Divine Lord had fused both ice and fire while Primordial Chaos Daolord was delivering Genesis. The two Sinkhole powerhouses had used their strongest attacks.

However, Yi Yun still stubbornly shot out with his Shura Finger!

This strike was an amalgamation of all his lifeblood. He had already burned his blood essence prior to this, and now, it was burning at its greatest intensity like a cauldron of divine fire!

“Boom!”

The trio’s most powerful attacks clashed against one another without any gaudy display!

A terrifying energy blast tore apart the Fire God Chains array immediately! From afar, one could see that the array had been riddled with holes by the terrifying beams of light. The columns of light that radiated out were like countless sharp swords.

In this sealed array, even the caster of the array, Fire Cloud Divine Lord had suffered heavy injuries. He felt as though he had been struck by a mountain. His organs were not in their correct places and were damaged. His blood was flowing backwards!

As for Primordial Chaos Daolord, he was not any better. Although he had the power of creation after gaining insights into the Primordial Chaos laws, he was far from godlike. After his clash with Yi Yun, he was no longer at his peak. Now that he had forcefully cast Genesis, he had drained sixty percent of his Yuan Qi!

However, Fire Cloud Divine Lord was in the same situation, so he was not worried. Now, all he needed to ascertain was that Yi Yun was dead. Everything would be alright if that were the case.

“Oh? That little bastard is still there. He isn’t dead!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord looked at the blood-soaked Yi Yun. He had suffered numerous fractures and many of his meridians had cracked. He still wielded Mirage Snow as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

The fingers on both his hands had been maimed, yet he raised his trembling hand in an attempt to deliver another shot.

What was he doing?

Primordial Chaos Daolord was taken aback. Although Yi Yun was not dead, he was not far from it. Such a grievously injured Yi Yun was not their match.

“You should be proud that you forced both Primordial Chaos and I to this state by your powers alone. Unfortunately… You will still die. You are destined to never fully develop yourself,” said Fire Cloud Divine Lord with a sinister smile. He got the chaotic lifeblood in him under control as he strode towards Yi Yun.

He saw the Ascending Dragon Cauldron beside Yi Yun and revealed a look of enlightenment. “So that’s how it was. After you endured our combined attack, you hid in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to withstand the remnant explosive blasts, didn’t you? If not, you would have long been dead! If that’s the case, you should be happy. Now, you will lead a life worse than death.”

1518 - : Genesis

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Fire Cloud Divine Lord hated Yi Yun to the bone, not only because of the severe damage Yi Yun had inflicted on him, but also because he had obtained such an amazing divine fire at such a young age. In contrast, he had been stuck at the Divine Lord bottle neck for tens of thousands of years before he encountered such an opportunity. In fact, he had already missed the period of cultivation where one had the fastest cultivation speed and the highest vital potential.

For this, Fire Cloud Divine Lord had no intention to let Yi Yun die so easily.

“Fire Cloud, what are you up to? Don’t invite any trouble from undue delays. Kill him straight away!” shouted Primordial Chaos Daolord.

Fire Cloud Divine Lord was taken aback. “Primordial Chaos? Why are you suddenly such a coward? You should wish to torture this punk a lot more than me. He was the one who reduced you to a wretched state simply by chasing you. Now, he is in front of us, and so heavily injured. What else can he do? He is already fish on the chopping block.”

As Fire Cloud Divine Lord spoke, he turned to Yi Yun and laughed sinisterly, “I’ll first dissect your dantian and extract your divine fire!”

Just as Fire Cloud Divine Lord extended his hand, he saw Yi Yun used his fractured finger to tap out once!

Shura Finger…

Fire Cloud Divine Lord was astounded, but nothing happened.

“What are you doing? Are you demonstrating how indignant you are? That’s true. Your battle with us was truly earth-shattering and astounding, but unfortunately, no one will know of it. After Primordial Chaos and I leave this ancient battlefield, we will not spread any word about you. You are destined to die nameless. No one will know that you died under the combined forces of two Sinkhole powerhouses! If I were you, I would definitely feel disgruntled as well. Haha!”

As Fire Cloud Divine Lord spoke, his voice suddenly sank. He spotted a sneer suffuse the corner of Yi Yun’s mouth.

“Six shots…”

Yi Yun said weakly.

“What?” Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos Daolord were taken aback.

“Two fingers twice, one finger twice. I shot out a total of six times… The final shot might not have much strength, but I injected forty percent of my blood essence. Unfortunately… I was unable to fully exhibit the might of the heritage the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left for me. I could only use such a clumsy method…”

As Yi Yun spoke, he could not help but shake his head. His voice was already very weak, and as he spoke, the ground of the Chaos Gem mineral vein around him suffused black runic patterns.

These black runic patterns were initially very faint, and could not be discerned unless one was looking for them. But with the passage of time, they turned increasingly conspicuous. Eventually, it was as though hell underneath the ground had opened up, spewing out black flames from within.

One black runic pattern after another slowly formed intricate patterns that resembled portraits of Demon Gods. A gigantic disc encircled these portraits, finally turning into a wheel.

“This is!?”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos Daolord were alarmed as they looked down at the ground. They were astonished to realize that they were standing in the middle of a huge Demon God wheel.

What was going on?

“Nothing much. I risked all my strength and used the Shura Finger as a brush. Together with my lifeblood and Primordial Chaos forces as the ink, I drew out the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence—This is also the ultimate form of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. With my current strength, I was unable to conjure and deliver it as an attack. All I could do was draw it…”

As Yi Yun spoke, he took out a black Chaos jade slip from his interspatial ring and clenched it tightly…

“Senior Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, thank you for your heritage. Without it, I would have definitely perished here today.”

“Dao Originator Celestial Thearch!? Who’s that?”

Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos Daolord were baffled. Although they had never heard of the name, it was obvious that the person had extraordinary strength. It was even possible that he was the person who left behind the cave!

“Punk, do you think this can do a thing to us? Dream on!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord roared as he charged at Yi Yun with saber in hand. But at that moment, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence beneath his feet erupted, shooting out a black light that annihilated everything above it. His saber cleaved onto the black beam of light, but the powerful recoil numbed his hand!

An annihilative force coursed into his body as a result, wreaking destruction throughout his meridians.

“Oh!? What sort of laws are these?”

Primordial Chaos Daolord grunted as he circulated the minute amounts of Yuan Qi he had left to desperately contain the annihilative force before he slowly diffused it.

“This wheel…”

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s expression was grim. How did this punk grasp such a move? According to him, this wheel was likely a heritage left behind from the creator of this cave. Mastery of such a powerful heritage would definitely be an exceedingly difficult task. While they waited outside the Chaos Gem mineral vein for four months, Yi Yun had already mastered this heritage. How was that even possible!?

Even if he had that divine lamp, pushing the speed of time to its limits, turning the four months into decades, it was still impossible to master such a heritage.

Could it be that this world really had such a genius!?

Primordial Chaos Daolord found it unbelievable.

“Do you think you can trap us here for long? This wheel may be powerful, even something I can’t figure out, but it exists only because of your strength. Your powers are limited, so by combining our powers to drain you of that tiny bit of strength, we will be able to slowly disintegrate this wheel!”

Upon hearing Primordial Chaos Daolord’s words, Yi Yun laughed. “I have no intention of using my strength to trap the both of you. All I want is…”

As Yi Yun spoke, a black vortex suddenly appeared above the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence on the ground. The surrounding Chaos forces were sucked in and swept towards the vortex!

They were inside a Chaos Gem mineral vein; the amount of Primordial Chaos forces were nearly boundless!

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was hungrily absorbing the energy, at a speed a hundred times, or even a thousand times, faster than during Yi Yun’s cultivation.

“What!?”

Primordial Chaos and Fire Cloud were alarmed!

“Primordial Chaos, don’t you want the nebulous Primordial Chaos? I’m helping you gather it. It’s just that the amount is a little too much… Twelve years ago, you sent so many people of your sect to seek my corpse, hoping to retrieve it, didn’t you? I should really thank you, but unfortunately, I didn’t die. However, I feel indebted to you. In order to repay the favor, I shall take good care of your corpse…”

Yi Yun said with a sneer. Upon hearing him say those words, Primordial Chaos Daolord was stunned.

Twelve years ago? Could it be…

“You… You are that Yi Yun!?”

Before the ancient battlefield trial, Primordial Chaos Daolord did not even know Yi Yun. In a sense, Yi Yun was extremely unknown back then. Even in the White Lunar Divine Empire, few people knew of Yi Yun. Outside the White Lunar Divine Empire, he was practically unheard of.

Primordial Chaos Daolord had only heard that someone had obtained large amounts of nebulous Primordial Chaos in the Divine Perish Hall, and had obtained the Netherworld tree’s fruit before he came to pursue Yi Yun. After learning that Yi Yun might have died in the Fey God Tomb, he commanded his sect to search for Yi Yun, so as to snatch his opportunities.

However, that Yi Yun was apparently only at the mid-stages of the Supremacy realm.

He was only a mid-stage Supremacy twelve years ago, but now, he was able to match both Fire Cloud and him?

Their combined efforts had failed to kill a junior who was merely a few centuries old. How was this possible?

Primordial Chaos Daolord felt as though his entire worldview was on the brink of collapse!

“Goodbye, you two.” As Yi Yun spoke, he jumped into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and sealed the lid shut. He had already swept up all the items left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, including the bookshelf, into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

And at that moment, the Primordial Chaos forces in the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence had reached a maximum.

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was the Dao of Major Destruction, and the nebulous Primordial Chaos it absorbed was the Dao of Chaos. The two of them were polar opposites, something that could only be mixed together by a person like Yi Yun who had cultivated both creation and destruction. Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord obviously did not have such a capability.

When the two supreme Great Dao of the Universe—creation and destruction—collided with one another, the outcome was an annihilative explosion!

“Be careful!”

Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord roared frantically at the same moment. And at that moment, the Great Destruction and Great Chaos forces exploded completely in that split of an instant. The terrifying explosion swept throughout the Chaos Gem mineral vein!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Everything around was swallowed by the explosive divine light…

1519 - : Explosion

CKtalon  CKtalon

The horrifying explosion spread from inside the Chaos Gem mineral vein to the outside world. The entire Chaos Gem hill began quaking violently as a result of the explosion!

If Yi Yun had only conjured the usual 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, it would never have had such strength, but Yi Yun used his blood essence and nebulous Primordial Chaos to draw a perfect 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence deep inside the vein. In addition, the wheel had absorbed the potent energy that seeped out from this mineral vein. It was akin to throwing a fire spark into a bucket of gasoline. Such an explosion far exceeded Yi Yun’s strength by a few dozen times.

“Hum!”

Amid this terrifying explosion, the black spear in the stone chamber let out a clear cry that sounded like a dragon’s roar!

A black ripple emanated out of the spear like a wave. The sealing array formation left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch in the Chaos Gem mineral vein was stirred as well. The array that had laid in slumber for hundreds of millions of years seemed to have awakened!

Outside the Chaos Gem hill, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and company, who were waiting for some sort of progress, naturally felt the terrifying tremor. Their hearts jolted as they focused their eyes in the direction of its origin. They saw rubble rolling down the hilly range in the barrier not far from them. It was as though a huge earthquake was happening!

“What’s the matter!?”

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and company were perplexed. Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos Daolord had just entered, only for such unforeseen circumstances to happen. It was unknown if it was a sign of danger, or the phenomena of a treasure’s appearance.

“Something astounding must have happened inside the mineral vein. What do we do now?” asked the female Divine Lord. Her beautiful eyes were filled with a look of shock.

“The barrier still prevents our entry. All we can do is wait. I believe with the vow of a mental demon, Primordial Chaos and Fire Cloud would not risk giving into greed and damaging their Dao hearts. Our search for opportunities is ultimately meant to lead us to a breakthrough to become a Godly Monarch. Even with a perfect Dao heart, it is still extremely difficult to find the path that takes one to the Godly Monarch realm. If one’s Dao heart is damaged, it will only become more impossible.”

Although Sacred Horizon Divine Lord said this, he felt uneasy deep down. It was not pragmatic to seek out more Chaos Gems to make two more sets of Chaos Gem armor at this moment in time; therefore, they could only take a wait-and-see approach.

The tremors from the explosion lasted for fifteen minutes before finally calming down. Even while inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, Yi Yun acutely felt the terror of the blast. Even the internal world of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was quaking as a result of the explosion!

Yi Yun only dared to use such a strategy because of his possession of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. If not for that, he would have died along with Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord.

“Yi Yun, you truly are fated with the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch… While in here, I saw you use the black flame to overwhelm the Rainbow Plume Fire. The black flame you used was also left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch years ago…”

“Oh? Is that so!?”

Yi Yun was slightly taken aback when he heard that. So that was it. It was no wonder it was written in the divine alchemist’s notes that the Heretical God Fire Seed was able to devour even the Empyrean Cleansing Flame which was ranked one of the best flames in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

“Years ago, I was lucky to acquaint myself with the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch. I gained some understanding of his cultivation techniques. Back when he was still developing his strength in the 33 Skies, he obtained a cultivation technique known as the Heretical God Force when he embarked on his martial journey. Once he activated it, it could greatly enhance his strength. Through it, a Heretical God Seed was born within the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s body. And this Heretical God Seed was the amalgamation of the forces of thunder and fire!”

“Thunder and fire were laws that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch was extremely adept in back then. And the Heretical God Force was also the cultivation technique that he used the longest, from the beginning of his martial career until he reached the pinnacle of the Martial Dao…”

“Back when the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left the Sinkhole universe, he left behind a wisp of the Heretical God Seed’s fire essence. I never expected you to obtain it. It is truly fated.”

“So that’s how it is…” Yi Yun was enlightened. Even the name Heretical God Fire Seed had been preserved. It was obvious the fire seed had later been acquired by the divine alchemist. He then used it to refine the Elixir of Resurrection and Elixir of Immortality, but ultimately failed. It eventually came into Yi Yun’s possession.

The Heretical God Fire Seed was indeed too powerful, so powerful that it exceeded all sorts of renowned fire seeds, fire spirits that took hundreds of millions of years to come into being. It had also saved his life when he faced Myriad God Patriarch back then.

“I really have to thank Senior Dao Originator Celestial Thearch. If not for the heritage he left behind, I would never have reached where I am today.”

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness said, “There’s no need for you to take it badly. Just like you, the heritage the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch received years ago was left behind by mighty figures from the universe he came from. It was because of those heritages and opportunities that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch was able to cultivate to his present realm. Therefore, there’s no need to feel indebted. Just continue forging your martial path. All you need to do is to fortify the seal the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left behind one day in the future.”

“Senior, I understand. The explosive blast has dissipated. I shall go out first.”

“Be careful.” Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness sighed. “To save this bag of old bones, you had to risk your life and stop your cultivation before you fully broke through…”

“Senior, don’t say that. I’m indebted to you for your guidance. I naturally will not allow you to die while protecting me.”

Yi Yun cupped his hands and transformed into a stream of light that shot out of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

The stone chamber was not destroyed despite being at the center of the explosion. This left Yi Yun astonished. He had triggered the explosion of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence in the stone chamber as a desperate attempt. He had tried his best to blow away the items which the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left behind so that the other two couldn’t have them. He did not pin his hopes on preserving the stone chamber, but he was surprised to see that the stone chamber was still pretty much undamaged.

He surveyed his surroundings as his eyes eventually landed on the black spear left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch.

It stood there silently, a hum vaguely sounding from within. Yet, it was enough to stir Yi Yun’s lifeblood.

“The massive array the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left behind in his Chaos Gem mineral vein must have protected this area…” Yi Yun had a guess. If not for that, such a terrifying explosion would have destroyed the stone chamber even if the Chaos Gem mineral vein escaped unscathed.

Yi Yun had no choice but to trigger the massive explosion. If he relied on nothing but his own strength, it would have been completely impossible for him to kill two Sinkhole powerhouses at the same time.

Yi Yun walked out the stone chamber and finally saw Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord through the mineral vein’s passageway. Fire Cloud Divine Lord could not be any more dead. Pieces of his body were scattered about, his blood everywhere.

As for Primordial Chaos Daolord, he was surprisingly alive but on his last breath.

This left Yi Yun perplexed. The old bastard was able to survive the explosion of a perfected 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. Not just that, Yi Yun had ignited the explosion with them right in the middle of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Yi Yun saw some artifact fragments beside Primordial Chaos Daolord, as well as some talisman paper that had been burnt to ashes. He had likely used some life-preservation artifacts and talisman charms at the final instant of the explosion to survive.

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun was astounded. A hegemon of the Sinkhole truly had a deep heritage. They had many tricks up their sleeves. If not for the perfected 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence he mastered, the corpse lying here would be his.

But now, Primordial Chaos Daolord was in a truly wretched state. His organs were in shambles. More than half his dantian was destroyed. It was impossible for him to pose any threat to Yi Yun.

“Little bastard, you…”

Primordial Chaos Daolord opened his mouth as a mouthful of coagulated blood and organ bits spewed out. His arms were completely fractured and he could not prop up the upper half of his body. He was slumped onto the ground.

Yi Yun sneered. “Primordial Chaos Daolord, it looks like I wasn’t wrong. In the end, I will be the one taking care of your corpse. Back then, you got your subordinates to spend twelve years seeking my corpse in the Fey God Tomb. Naturally, it was for my treasures. Unfortunately, my treasures are still mine. As for your treasures, they are also mine. Just think of it as a little fee for taking care of your corpse.”

As Yi Yun spoke, the Mirage Snow in his hand sliced out, severing Primordial Chaos Daolord’s finger. The interspatial ring on that finger easily landed in Yi Yun’s hand.

“What a good ring. Although it’s said that due to rings being small, they suffer less of an impact during an explosion. Still, for it to be perfectly intact, it implies what a top-notch treasure this is. I’ll accept it. With you reigning supreme in the Great Cosmic State for so many years, you must have some pretty good stuff in here.”

Yi Yun sank his psyche into the interspatial ring and violently wiped the mental imprint away. With Primordial Chaos Daolord heavily injured, his mental strength was naturally incomparable to Yi Yun’s.

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s expression was pale as his body convulsed in anger. He never expected that he, a high and mighty hegemon, would one day die at the hands of a junior who had not even cultivated for a thousand years.

He hated his current circumstances!

“Time to send you on your way!”

Yi Yun sliced out as a cold beam slashed out from Mirage Snow. It bore right through Primordial Chaos Daolord’s throat!

He widened his eyes and stared intently at Yi Yun before finally taking his last breath. A powerhouse of the Sinkhole had perished!

Now that Primordial Chaos Daolord was confirmed dead, Yi Yun exhaled. He had barely won this battle.

The outcome of the battle saw his right hand disabled. He had little Yuan Qi left in him. His left hand was also severely injured. If his final attack had not been effective, he would have been finished.

After killing Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord, he finally had sufficient time to recuperate. Furthermore, he had received tremendous spoils of war from killing the two.

Yi Yun saw that Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s interspatial ring had been preserved as well. Although it was not entirely intact like Primordial Chaos Daolord’s, he would have no problems retrieving the items inside.

Besides…

“Oh? This is…”

Yi Yun saw that among Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s mutilated corpse, two seals emitted a faint light. One was blue and the other was red. The two seals resembled two tiny phoenixes that were flying around each other.

Divine Lord Royal Seals!

These were the Phoenix Royal Seals that Fire Cloud Divine Lord had fused with when he became a Royal Sealed Divine Lord. As a powerhouse of the Sinkhole, the value of these two Royal Seals was obvious. Even Fire Cloud Divine Lord himself had said that he had cultivated his fire and ice-elemental laws to the extreme as a result of this pair of Phoenix Royal Seals. Just one of these two would have warriors killing each other for the chance to own it!

1520 - : Heretical God Force

“Fire Cloud Divine Lord left his Divine Lord Royal Seals behind. I wonder what the situation is for Primordial Chaos Daolord.”

Yi Yun knew that these Sinkhole powerhouses were able to be hegemons largely because they were peerless geniuses in their youth. They had extremely robust foundations and encountered immense opportunities. Not just that, their Divine Lord Royal Seals exceeded those of others.

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s Divine Lord Royal Seal definitely wasn’t a low-quality item.

When Yi Yun scanned Primordial Chaos Daolord’s corpse in search of the Divine Lord Royal Seal inside his dantian, he discovered that the Royal Seal’s energy was slowly dissipating.

With Primordial Chaos Daolord dead, it did not take long for the Divine Lord Royal Seal in his dantian to lose its luster.

This left Yi Yun somewhat disappointed.

From the looks of it, Primordial Chaos Daolord had condensed his own Divine Lord Royal Seal.

Divine Lord Royal Seals had three sources.

The first type was made after a warrior broke through to become a Divine Lord. They could condense their own Divine Lord Royal Seal, which had its pros and cons. It depended on the warrior’s strength. If one had particularly profound nomological insight, the Royal Seal condensed would naturally be even more powerful. But if the creator of such a Royal Seal died, the Royal Seal would slowly dissipate due to losing its energy source.

Primordial Chaos Daolord was in such a situation.

However, if Primordial Chaos Daolord had lived to become sufficiently powerful, so powerful that he could break through to the Godly Monarch realm, then his own laws would have been akin to the Heavenly Dao. Then, the Divine Lord Royal Seal he condensed would transform. Even after death, a Godly Monarch’s Royal Seal would still remain indestructible for hundred of millions of years.

These Godly Monarch Royal Seals could be inherited, becoming the second source of Royal Seals!

Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s Phoenix Royal Seals were of this second type. The ice and fire phoenixes had strength that was in no way weaker than an ancient Godly Monarch’s. Even rarer was their paired existence. To obtain a pair of such Royal Seals was truly one of the best opportunities.

Typically speaking, the former of the two kinds of Royal Seals was considered inferior to the latter. This was because nearly no one had nomological insights that could match that of an ancient Godly Monarch. The Royal Seals they condensed were thus always lacking in quality.

However, there is nothing absolute in the world. If the owner of the condensed Royal Seal were the type of genius that appears once in a hundred million years, they could break through to become a Godly Monarch through sheer talent. It would make the Royal Seal they condensed transform into a Godly Monarch Royal Seal. In that case, the quality of such a Royal Seal would exceed the first type. This was because a Royal Seal nurtured by oneself was better than something left behind by others. Something made by you, for you was naturally more suitable!

Primordial Chaos Daolord had taken the same path, hoping to condense his own Divine Lord Royal Seal to eventually break through to the Godly Monarch realm.

“This Primordial Chaos Daolord was very ambitious. Unfortunately, he died under my hand. If not, he might have really broken through to become a Godly Monarch. If he only continued cultivating, he wouldn’t have had a problem becoming the strongest second to Godly Monarchs.”

Yi Yun knew that Primordial Chaos Daolord was considered extremely young among the Sinkhole powerhouses! He had a limitless future ahead of him; however, this was the path of the Martial Dao. Godly Monarchs of the same generation were destined to reach the pinnacle only by stepping on the corpses of countless failures. Primordial Chaos Daolord was just short by one step, but he had ended up a failure!

Primordial Chaos Daolord’s Royal Seal could not be preserved for long, so it had no value. As for Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s Royal Seals…

Yi Yun looked down at the tiny red and blue phoenixes flying in his palm. If he wanted to, he could fuse with the fire phoenix Royal Sealed Divine Lord after he broke through to the Divine Lord realm. This was an unattainable opportunity for numerous Divine Lords, but Yi Yun had no intention of doing so.

He was ambitious as well. Furthermore, his ambition was greater than Primordial Chaos Daolord’s. He wanted to condense his own Divine Lord Royal Seal and take the first path, or choose the third option, which was also the last method of obtaining a Divine Lord Royal Seal. That was the Grand Primordium Royal Seal.

Legend had it that at the creation of the Universe, Royal Seals could form out of natural processes. These Royal Seals were the Heaven and Earth Great Dao themselves. They were extremely few in number, and were pretty much legend.

The Chaos Gem slip the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left behind actually had records regarding the Grand Primordium Royal Seals. However, there was no mention of how they could be obtained.

Yi Yun did not pin his hopes on fusing a Grand Primordium Royal Seal. That was something exceedingly rare to chance upon.

Yi Yun continued searching the rest of the treasures Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord had. The two Sinkhole powerhouses left behind tremendous wealth.

“These herbal treasures…”

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. Having cultivated for so long, Yi Yun had seen his fair share of natural treasures. He had extremely high standards, but even so, the herbal treasures found in the two Divine Lord’s interspatial rings still left his heart pounding.

“These are… the fire-ice phoenix’s feathers and bones! Contained within is phoenix blood essence…”

“Oh? There’s also a Vast Emerald Blood Lotus. This must have been sprouted from land which had been soaked in phoenix blood.”

Yi Yun had found all these inside a jade box in Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s interspatial ring.

Without a doubt, back when Fire Cloud Divine Lord found the place where the fire-ice phoenixes got reborn, he had just taken the Divine Lord Royal Seals. He had also obtained the phoenix bone, feathers, as well as the blood lotus. However, he was unwilling to use it. After fusing with the Divine Lord Royal Seal, he stored those items away in his collection.

“He must have left them for breaking through to the Godly Monarch realm.”

Yi Yun knew that for Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord to cultivate to this state, the only obsession they had was to break through to become Godly Monarchs. Although it was an arduous path, they had made all sorts of preparations for that.

For that moment when they finally broke through, they had prepared all these treasured herbs to increase their chances.

“Since you weren’t willing to use these things when you were living, I’ve now lucked out. It’s no wonder Primordial Chaos Daolord died with everlasting regret.”

Yi Yun remembered Primordial Chaos Daolord’s final look. The hatred and indignation in his heart made it look like he would jolt back to life.

“These treasures they planned to use to break through to the Godly Monarch realm shall be used by me to break through to the Divine Lord realm. With these things, I do not need to seek out treasured herbs for my future cultivation of the Dragon Emperor Technique.”

Yi Yun was not one to be stingy when it came to spending resources on himself. Since it was left behind by others, he did not feel the pinch at all. He used whatever he had. As for the treasures needed for his future breakthrough to the Godly Monarch realm, he could collect them again.

Yi Yun stored away all the treasured herbs, bones and relics.

Apart from that, Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord had left behind quite a sizable number of Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli. There were dozens of them, and naturally, Yi Yun took them all.

As for cultivation technique jade slips and array formation books, Yi Yun only browsed through them casually. He had the heritage left behind by numerous seniors and even the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch. He had no need of these common techniques.

However, Yi Yun looked at the notes Primordial Chaos Daolord had regarding the Primordial Chaos laws, as well as Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s insights into the control of fire. He paid some attention to these, for they were lessons gleaned from Primordial Chaos and Fire Cloud’s life experiences. As Sinkhole powerhouses, the insights into the particular domain they were experts at was still something that could inspire Yi Yun despite him having read all sorts of top heritages.

“These notes are quite useful.”

Apart from the treasured herbs and heritages, there were all sorts of talisman charms, weapons, artifacts, etc. Items that were collected by Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord were naturally extraordinary. Yi Yun stored them all away.

He had made a killing from this battle. Indeed, killing and plundering the corpses was the best way of becoming rich.

“Senior River of Forgetfulness, do you know which of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs had obtained a Grand Primordium Royal Seal?”

Yi Yun was still interested in the matter of Divine Lord Royal Seals. With his foundation, he would not need much work to fuse a Divine Lord Royal Seal after he stepped through the gates of being a Divine Lord.

Yi Yun naturally had his sights on the Grand Primordium Royal Seal. In ancient times, there were still records of Grand Primordium Royal Seals in books, but now, they were pretty much extinct.

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness naturally guessed at what Yi Yun was thinking. He said, “Yi Yun, don’t harp on the matter of Grand Primordium Royal Seals. If you were to reach the pinnacle of the Martial Dao in the future, then the laws you cast will be equivalent to the Heavenly Dao. The Royal Seal you condense would represent the Heavenly Dao. It would then be equivalent to a Grand Primordium Royal Seal.”

“Senior, do you believe I can reach that stage?”

“Others might not be able to, but you have obtained the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s heritage. It’s not something impossible. You were able to defeat Sinkhole powerhouses while being a half-step Divine Lord. Although it’s true you took advantage of your terrain, it would still send reverberations throughout the martial world if people learned of it. Perhaps, you have that sliver of hope of following in the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s footsteps.”

“My days are numbered. If you wish to cultivate the time laws, my heritage is all inside the Azure Lamp of Time.”

Yi Yun felt a little despondent when Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness said that. Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s had little vitality left in him. It was very difficult for him to recover from injuries of that extent.

He could only let Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness continue his slumber inside the Azure Lamp of Time. He could only wait till he was stronger before he could attempt treating Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s wounds. But even so, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness would not have many years left in him.

“Senior River of Forgetfulness, I have another question to ask. Back when the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left his heritage, how many Godly Monarchs were there? How many survived after the battle with the Ancestor God?”

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness took a deep breath. His eyes seemed to penetrate hundreds of millions of years, as if he was seeing all the way back to the golden age of the Martial Dao.

He said, “That was an era of starlets; however, there were not many Godly Monarchs in the same generation. The eight ancient Godly Monarchs from the stories were only the eight who participated in the battle with the Ancestor God. However, that battle was overly perilous. Not everyone was willing to risk their lives. According to what I know, there were two Godly Monarchs who did not participate in the battle. Furthermore, both of them vanished after the battle…”

“Oh?”

Yi Yun was slightly taken aback as he made a mental note.

He knew that Godly Monarchs had extremely long lives. They were tens of times longer than Sinkhole powerhouses like Primordial Chaos Daolord. They were able to live to this day even if they existed in ancient times.

It was extremely difficult for a Godly Monarch to be produced in the Sinkhole, along with the 12 Empyrean Heavens. But once one came to birth, it was unlikely they would perish. Presently, the number of Godly Monarchs in the Sinkhole was naturally not only limited to Bai Yueyin.

“Senior River of Forgetfulness, have some rest inside the Azure Lamp of Time. I plan on entering seclusion to treat my injuries before I attempt to break through to the Divine Lord realm.”

Yi Yun guessed that Primordial Chaos Daolord and company had only obtained two Chaos Gem armor. That meant he could now seclude himself in peace inside the Chaos Gem mineral vein.

1521 - : Grand Primordium Royal Seal

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the Chaos wilderness, gray mist gathered high in the sky. One could only seen an endless expanse devoid of life, one that had been constant since time immemorial.

Two months had passed since Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord entered the Chaos mineral vein.

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord was silently meditating, having been motionless for the past couple of days. A thin layer of dust had formed on his body.

“I can’t wait any longer. I keep feeling as though something has happened! There is no reason for them to take so long. Who knows if they obtained some impressive cultivation resources in there and decided to simply cultivate inside, refusing to exit.” West River Divine Lord had lost his patience. Typically, two months was nothing to Divine Lords with extraordinary long lives. A simple meditation to gain Dao enlightenment could easily last for centuries, but when such an important opportunity was involved, West River was unable to rest easy.

“There’s a huge array condensed out of the worldly laws around the Chaos Gem mineral vein. Our perceptions are completely screened from the area, so there’s no way to know what’s happening inside. If you can’t wait any longer, go seek out more Chaos Gems to make another Chaos Gem armor and enter,” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord slowly. “However, I have a ominous feeling. I’m bringing it to your attention because it might not be that the complete silence of Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord is a result of them holing up in there with the treasure. It is also possible that they have encountered danger. Either they have been trapped, or they encountered something unexpected…”

“Oh? Are you implying that…”

Upon hearing Sacred Horizon Divine Lord’s opinion, West River felt a jolt. If that were truly the case, it was unlikely he could come out alive even if he sought out Chaos Gems to create an armor for entry. In terms of strength, either one of Primordial Chaos Daolord or Fire Cloud Divine Lord was someone he was no match against.

However, he felt disgruntled at the thought of abandoning an opportunity that had presented itself to him. After all, it was a possible resource to help boost him to a Godly Monarch.

As West River Divine Lord was caught in a dilemma, the gray mist in the sky was stirred by an unknown force. All the gray mist in a radius of more than five thousand kilometers began to spin around the Chaos Gem mineral vein.

“Oh? This is?”

West River Divine Lord’s pupils constricted slightly. He knew that the gray mist was the essence of nebulous Primordial Chaos. The weight of such nebulous Primordial Chaos was beyond imagination. What sort of power could have stirred it?

The gray mist was swirling at a slow pace, but it had a terrifying power like a ferocious gray maelstrom in the sea. Although it was slow, it was unstoppable. Gradually, the nebulous Primordial Chaos above the Chaos Gem mineral vein increased in density, forming a vortex Primordial Chaos cloud!

As the nebulous Primordial Chaos increased, the color of the Primordial Chaos cloud deepened, turning from gray to black. Finally, it was as black as ink, enough to swallow all light that fell on it. It seemed to connect to another world.

And in the middle of this black Primordial Chaos cloud was a funnel that spun slowly as it extended down towards the Chaos Gem mineral vein!

The worldly array that formed around the Chaos Gem mineral vein gave the black vortex easy passage.

“What’s happening? Is it the appearance of a rare treasure? Or has this got to do with Primordial Chaos and Fire Cloud?” West River Divine Lord’s pupils constricted. The treasure had to be extremely precious for it to result in such a phenomenon.

Eclipse Arhat gave a Buddhist proclamation as he shook his head slowly. “This phenomenon probably has nothing to do with Primordial Chaos or Fire Cloud.”

As Eclipse Arhat said so, sparkling lights appeared in the pitch-black sky without them realizing it. They twinkled like the stars in the sky, but there were far more than even the starriest of nights!

These lights were also all sorts of colors. On closer inspection, they were actually countless Dao patterns floating in the sky!

These Dao patterns were extremely abstruse and profound as they coruscated. Without exception, they contained an extremely pure Heaven Earth Spirit Qi that made them extremely beautiful.

“Oh? These are the Dao patterns of the laws. Pure Yang, Pure Yin, Time, Space… and Primordial Chaos, as well as…”

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord looked at the black patterns. The fear-invoking aura was clearly that of…

“Dao of Destruction?”

“These nomological patterns are not being condensed naturally, but appear to be the result of a person’s cultivation. Why does it feel like someone is making a breakthrough…” Sacred Horizon Divine Lord suddenly said.

His words left everyone drawing a cold gasp.

“How can this be possible!?”

West River Divine Lord refused to believe it.

“I find it quite impossible as well. However, these nomological patterns that are appearing in the sky resemble those of a peerless elite’s breakthrough. The Dao patterns condensed in their dantians rush out and fuse with the Great Dao of the world before fusing back with the body.”

When Sacred Horizon Divine Lord said that, it left everyone shuddering in their hearts. Indeed, they had all experienced a similar situation when they broke through to the Divine Lord realm. However, it was far from the spectacle before their very eyes. There was an uncountable number of nomological patterns that seemed to reach out to the ends of one’s visions.

West River Divine Lord shook his head. “Impossible! Even if a person’s cultivation level is impressive, no one has the strength to stir patterns that cover the entire sky. The strength to stir that much nebulous Primordial Chaos is something beyond even our combined efforts.”

Just as West River Divine Lord said that, the boundless nomological patterns in the sky suddenly moved as if summoned. They swept like a raging wind before surging towards the Chaos Gem mineral vein. Instantly, it was like rivers plunging into a massive ocean! Colorful nomological patterns began to twinkle resplendently like infinite shooting stars.

The gathering of the nomological patterns lasted for nearly an hour. Every second, there would be thousands of patterns entering the mineral vein as though they were all being absorbed for something.

And the scene that followed made all the Divine Lords present feel as though time had stopped. They saw a gigantic human figure appear in the middle of the black vortex. They could not make out his face, but he stood ramrod straight, emanating the might of the Great Dao. His figure was like that of a god!

As he looked down at the world beneath him, the eyes that looked like a lustrous galaxy made everyone feel like they were facing the entire universe.

This scene lasted for several seconds before the figure shattered. Unending starlight fused into the Chaos Gem hill and vanished.

West River Divine Lord wore a look of shock. “This… Don’t tell me that someone is breaking through to the Godly Monarch realm!?”

Perhaps only a Godly Monarch breakthrough would produce such a grand spectacle!

However, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord shook his head. “I have had the good luck of coming into contact with two Godly Monarchs. That phantom should be the dantian’s aspect. Although it has a powerful aura, it is not like the World of a God inside a Godly Monarch’s dantian, the sensation that makes it feel like a person creating a universe. It doesn’t resemble a Godly Monarch’s breakthrough.”

“If it’s not a Godly Monarch breakthrough, could it be a Divine Lord breakthrough?” West River Divine Lord found it ludicrous. All of them present had broken through to the Divine Lord realm in the past. They knew it was naturally impossible for the Divine Lord realm to produce such an astounding worldly force.

“I can’t be sure…” Sacred Horizon Divine Lord shook his head. Although he was sharp, just the Dantian Aspect alone was incapable of judging the person’s cultivation level.

Eclipse Arhat said, “It’s naturally impossible for this huge Primordial Chaos cloud to be a result of a single person. This is already beyond the strength of a person. But if it’s due to a breakthrough, the stirring of the Great Dao’s forces might result in the gathering of a Primordial Chaos cloud…”

The corners of West River Divine Lord’s mouth twitched when Eclipse Arhat stopped mid sentence. In fact, he had thought of one possibility, but found it unbelievable.

Perhaps, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat had come up with preposterous ideas, but they found the notions too ridiculous and kept their theories to themselves.

West River Divine Lord took a deep breath as he enunciated each word, “Old Monk, you keep talking about the Primordial Chaos cloud. Are you telling me that the person who is breaking through is that punk who entered the Chaos mineral vein!? And Sacred Horizon, you mentioned that it’s possible for Primordial Chaos and Fire Cloud to have met with harm. Don’t tell me you’re entertaining the thought that Fire Cloud and Primordial Chaos have been killed by that punk!?”

1522 - : Divine Lord Breakthrough

CKtalon  CKtalon

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord looked towards the Chaos Gem hill and said slowly, “West River, what you say sounds incredulous, but it is indeed the best explanation. This breakthrough cannot be Primordial Chaos’s or Fire Cloud’s. Then, it’s likely that person’s. The only other possibility is that there’s another person inside the mineral vein cave, but that is highly unlikely. After all, no person has stepped onto this desolate landmass for hundreds and millions of years. A person that can live that long would probably already be a Godly Monarch.”

West River Divine Lord fell silent. He still found it unbelievable. The punk’s pursuit had left Primordial Chaos Daolord wretched even before he broke though. And now, his breakthrough was causing such a stir. Had all of them lived and cultivated in vain all these years when compared to this punk?

“If that person is really the one breaking through, he is bound to cause tumultuous waves across the Sinkhole,” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, his words carrying deep implications. “However, it’s a question if this is a blessing or a tragedy for Sinkhole warriors.”

“That will depend on if he can leave here alive! Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, Eclipse Arhat, and fellow Daoists, we are the ones who found and opened this primeval universe. How can we let that punk reap all the benefits it holds? Besides, we have already offended him. We must not leave this ticking time bomb behind. Even if his breakthrough is grand in scale, he has only just broken through. If we join forces, we will definitely be able to kill him. Furthermore, we can set up a massive array ahead of time and make him step into a trap!” said West River Divine Lord.

His words was clearly instigating everyone to take action and ambush Yi Yun. It was quite an embarrassing thing for so many Sinkhole hegemons to jointly surround and attack a junior, but the idea did not bother him at this point. With Yi Yun’s unfathomable strength at present, only a collective ambush could ensure zero mishaps!

Aqua Waters Divine Lord hesitated for a moment, but ultimately, she did not speak out in protest.

“In that case, we will leave a number of people waiting here to set up the array. Another group will continue searching for Chaos Gems to weave more Chaos Gem armor. We must ensure that the punk doesn’t stay in there forever.” West River Divine Lord said with a sneer when he saw everyone acquiescing to his suggestion.

He looked at the Chaos Gem hill with eyes that were burning with undisguised flames. This was probably the biggest opportunity he had come across all his life!

“It seems that’s the only thing we can do,” said a lanky Divine Lord. “I will search for the Chaos Gems. After the last search, I have a better idea of how it should be done. It shouldn’t take me more than a month to gather enough for one set of Chaos Gem armor.”

As he spoke, the ground suddenly quaked as though the entire landmass was shaking.

West River and the other Divine Lords were taken aback. Could it be that the punk could not stay put and was already coming out!?

Regardless of what methods they used, there was no escaping their combined assault.

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord also slowly looked up in silence. Everyone waited, fully prepared. They focused intently on the Chaos Gem hill, awaiting the appearance of Yi Yun.

The tumultuous sounds reached a crescendo as the sky changed colors. It left everyone reeling in horror from the sheer power…

At that moment, two gigantic black rifts appeared in the sky. In the middle of the two rifts was a circular black hole that seemed to devour all light.

It did not resemble a spatial rift, but more like a cold and ruthless pair of eyes!

This pair of eyes looked over the land like a god, coldly gazing at whatever was happening on the ground.

West River Divine Lord and company felt their bodies turn stiff when the eyes locked onto them. They shuddered all over.

“What’s… that thing?” A Divine Lord barely managed to utter. He felt extremely uneasy in front of the eyes!

“It’s not from that punk! It’s from someone else!”

West River Divine Lord came to the sudden realization, but by then, the pair of eyes were turning increasingly clear. Even a face had appeared. It was a gigantic face that shimmered with a metallic glow. His appearance seemed to make everything turn heavy!

He reached out his gigantic hand and slowly tore apart the sky!

At that moment, inside the Chaos Gem mineral vein, the meditating Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes!

Ancestor God!?

Yi Yun’s heart skipped a beat. There was no need to guess. The Ancestor God was here for him!

However, the tracing mark that the Ancestor God had placed on him had clearly been wiped away by Bai Yueyin! Why was He still able to pursue him here? Could it be that his breakthrough had stirred an energy fluctuation so great that He could sense it across vast space?

Yi Yun felt his life was in extreme peril. Without Bai Yueyin protecting him, the present him was in no way the Ancestor God’s match!

He jumped out of the Azure Lamp of Time. At that moment, the Azure Lamp of Time had torn apart more than half the sky, revealing half of His body.

His body obstructed the gray misty sky. His cold eyes scanned the world beneath him and he soon spotted the Chaos Gem mineral vein where Yi Yun was cultivating. He saw the worldly array protecting the mineral vein, as well as the Divine Lords looking back at Him in awe.

To the Ancestor God, there was nothing in the world that was indestructible. He did not need to consider the relationship between Yi Yun and the Divine Lords. He just needed to annihilate everything before Him.

The Ancestor God began gathering energy, stirring all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in this world. Upon seeing this scene, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord’s expression changed drastically.

“Watch out!”

“Roar!”

The giant let out a tumultuous roar, one that tore the land apart!

“Ka Ka Ka!”

Countless spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the land that had stood dormant for hundreds of millions of years. The Divine Lords were the first to bear the brunt of His attack. The loud bellow contained a terrifying energy blast. It felt like a star would explode if that shout was delivered to it!

“Let’s join forces!”

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord yelled sharply. Their lives were on the line and he could sense extreme danger from the giant.

The Divine Lords present were all Sinkhole hegemons. Even if they met enemies that far exceeded them in strength, they did not turn flustered even if they were slightly afraid. They gathered all their energy together and injected it all into Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat, the two strongest ones present. Both of them threw out their hands, producing a huge shield of light from their four hands!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The loud bellow manifested itself as a visible shock wave that slammed heavily into the barrier!

“Ka Ka Ka!”

The barrier began cracking as Sacred Horizon Divine Lord’s nostrils began bleeding. He endured with great difficulty as Eclipse Arhat took action. He began producing Sanskrit tonal runes, forming a wheel filled with Buddhas. Together with Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, they pushed through even as they bled.

As for the giant in the sky, He thought nothing of them. It was as if He had no emotion in Him. All he did was look at everything in the world coldly. He raised his gigantic hand and struck down at Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and company!

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord was blanketed in the gigantic hand’s shadow. His forehead broke out in sweat as his breathing turned heavy. He knew that there was no way he could withstand that blow!

1523 - : Astounding Turn of Events

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Split up!”

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord roared loudly as all the Divine Lords scattered!

“Boom!”

The land was devastated by that strike as a huge hundred-meter deep crater appeared suddenly. This was a primeval landmass that had a sturdiness far higher than any world in the Sinkhole. But even so, it could not withstand the giant’s strike!

After the Ancestor God delivered His blow, He raised his palm again and swept it horizontally!

This strike seemed to split the sky into two. The tremendous strength coupled with speed akin to lightning made it appear indomitable.

“Ah!”

The lanky Divine Lord who had previously discussed with West River Divine Lord let out a tragic cry. His body had been crushed by the Ancestor God!

“Peng!”

Despite firing up his energies, half the lanky Divine Lord’s body exploded into a bloody mist!

“No——!”

As he continued letting out a tragic cry, his body was quickly smashed to bits by the gigantic palm. Nothing was left except a bloody mess!

He was instantly killed!

Upon seeing this scene, all the Divine Lords broke out into cold sweat. Although the lanky Divine Lord was one of the weaker ones among them, he was still a Sinkhole overlord. Yet, he had been killed so easily?

“Escape in different directions!”

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord said via voice transmission. At that moment, everyone was reeling in fear. No one had their mind still on the resources inside the Chaos Gem mineral vein. With the horrifying giant present, it would be a miracle to remain alive, much less speak of obtaining opportunities!

Furthermore, the opportunity was not ready for the picking. Yi Yun had taken a step ahead of them. They had to kill Yi Yun before they could obtain it.

But now, with the giant present, how could they even fight Yi Yun? Besides, Yi Yun was likely in peril too!

Upon coming to this thought, West River Divine Lord revealed a sinister smile.

That was good too. Although he could not obtain the opportunities inside the Chaos Gem mineral vein, Yi Yun could also forget about walking away with them. Let him die! Yi Yun’s death would just mean one less malady to plague him.

The giant in the sky did not pursue the escaping Divine Lords. He turned his sights to the Chaos Gem mineral vein where Yi Yun was!

To the Ancestor God, lives were no different from ants. If they were in the way of His murderous streak, He would kill them simply in passing. But if these ants were to escape, He would not waste his efforts pursuing them. He only appeared here to kill Yi Yun!

“Yi Yun!” Meanwhile, Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s voice sounded in Yi Yun’s ear inside the Chaos Gem mineral vein. “The existence that appeared is the Ancestor God!”

“I know. I once encountered Him together with Bai Yueyin!” As Yi Yun spoke, he felt a terrifying suppression crushing down on him. He found it difficult to even stand.

“Roar!”

The Ancestor God roared as terrifying energy manifested visibly into a blast wave that struck the Chaos Gem mineral vein heavily.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

A blinding barrier of light surfaced around the Chaos Gem mineral vein. This was a worldly array that had naturally condensed as a result of the Primordial Chaos laws after hundreds of million of years!

The array managed to withstand the Ancestor God’s roar.

But in an instant, the Ancestor God extended His hand. When His gigantic palm reached over, it gave others a baffling feeling. It felt like the palm itself was the heaven and earth.

“Hum—”

This palm reached deep into the worldly array. The Primordial Chaos jets that permeated the array did not damage the Ancestor God in any way.

“This is…”

Yi Yun held his breath. The Ancestor God’s grasp of the laws was already exceedingly close to the Heavenly Dao. Therefore, an array formed by the Heavenly Dao was unable to fend him off in any way!

“Yi Yun, leave the Azure Lamp of Time with me. I might be able to use a time barrier to hold Him off for a short period of time. If you can do it, take this opportunity to tear open the void and enter the spatial turbulence!” Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness said quickly.

Space in the primeval universe was stable and resilient, so if one wanted to tear open a spatial rift? It would be difficult!

But now, there was no other choice.

Yi Yun fell silent. He knew that Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness was planning to sacrifice himself. He was already on his deathbed. If he consumed all his vitality, he might be able to deliver a final strike, but even so, he was unlikely to fend off the Ancestor God.

Furthermore, even if he could escape into the void by forcibly tearing open space, the Ancestor God would quickly chase up to him. Considering it was the Ancestor God, who could traverse endless space and suddenly descend into the primeval universe, how could Yi Yun’s understanding of the spatial dimension laws hope to compare?

“Boom!”

At that moment, the Chaos Gem mineral vein began to vibrate violently. The Ancestor God had completely entered the world array. He raised both His hands high as a gigantic ax appeared in between them.

The moment the ax appeared, the void around the ax’s blade trembled intensely. There were even fine cracks that seemed to spread through the void!

Although these fine cracks quickly mended themselves, it sent chills through Yi Yun’s heart. This was a primeval universe’s void. He could hardly shatter it even if he used all his strength. Yet, the Ancestor God was able to crack space simply by conjuring a weapon. He had not even cleaved down with it.

If He were to cleave with the ax, perhaps the entire Chaos Gem mineral vein would split apart! If that happened, what would happen to the sealing array the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left behind!?

Yi Yun held Mirage Snow tightly. Despite the great difference in strength, he could not sit idly by. He had to risk everything!

He knew that the Ancestor God was not at His peak state. He was still injured!

And then—

“Hum—”

A long dragon’s roar suddenly emitted from inside the stone chamber. The black spear embedded in a stone platform began shaking violently.

“That spear!?”

Yi Yun jerked his head towards the spear. It was the black spear left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch! According to Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness, this black spear was embedded inside the core array of the world’s seal.

Could it be that…

“Sou!”

After a bout of violent quaking, it suddenly extracted itself and flew out of the stone platform!

At the instant the spear flew out, the stone platform exploded. Like lightning, the spear tore through the ceiling of the Chaos Gem mineral vein and shot straight for the Ancestor God!

This spear was able to attack autonomously?

Yi Yun was shocked, but he was quick to act. The spear likely still had the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s will left in it. However, it was ownerless after all. Even if it attacked autonomously, it was likely unable to heavily injure the Ancestor God.

“Use my strength!”

Yi Yun roared as he burned nearly half his blood essence, injecting all his energy into the black spear—

10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

At that instant, Demon God phantoms that signified destruction appeared around the black spear. This was all the aid Yi Yun was capable of. The black spear was an intrinsic weapon that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had left behind. The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence perfected suited its powers.

Indeed, the spear absorbed all of Yi Yun’s energies.

It transformed into what seemed like a black meteor that tore through the entire world, heading straight for the void where the Ancestor God was!

It locked onto the massive lifeform, leaving no room to dodge!

“Puah!”

The black spear tore straight through the Ancestor God’s body, causing black blood to rain down!

The Ancestor God let out a painful bellow. He was injured!

Yi Yun knew that the Ancestor God had not recovered from the injuries He received from His battle with Bai Yueyin. The injuries the eight Godly Monarchs had given Him hundreds of millions of years ago still remained. If not, how could Bai Yueyin be the Ancestor God’s match?

“Roar!”

The Ancestor God’s body stumbled in mid-air, stirring even the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the world. The black spear was already covered in the Ancestor God’s blood.

Time to leave!

Yi Yun knew very well that it was impossible for him to kill the Ancestor God. The black spear was protecting the seal array that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had left behind and not him.

He had to leave while the Ancestor God was still injured and had yet to leave a tracing mark on him.

“Oh? This blood…”

Yi Yun took a closer look at the Ancestor God’s blood as it rained down. It was heavy like a mountain as it bombarded the land. Dao patterns shimmered within the blood. They contained terrifying powers!

Yi Yun gritted his teeth and immediately summoned the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to come out out and collect all the blood!

“Open up!”

Yi Yun roared loudly as he cleaved open the void! At the moment the black spear flew out, the primeval universe’s void was on the brink of collapse. Yi Yun had also slashed out with all his strength, allowing him to tear open a huge hole in the void.

Without any further thought, Yi Yun leaped into the spatial rift, vanishing instantly into the spatial turbulence!

1524 - : Power of the Ancestor God

Time passed and without realizing it, it had been nearly fifty years since the opening of the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield.

Typically, each opening of the ancient battlefield would last about thirty years, but for some unknown reasons, it dragged on so much longer this time.

The event that symbolized the closing of the ancient battlefield was when the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith emitted a nomological glow, one that could be seen anywhere in the Ancient Ruins world. It was the charm of the Great Dao!

In time, all the warriors in the Ancient Ruins world would rush over to the World Monolith to leave their names on it.

This was an opportunity for geniuses from the various major factions to leave their names on the World Monolith. Doing so would propel them to stardom, making their name famous throughout the Sinkhole. They would become the idols of countless people, winning the hearts of countless girls. It could be said to be one’s defining moment in life!

Numerous young warriors would dream of carving their names on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith.

“That’s it… No one can leave their name on the World Monolith anymore.” In the corner of the World Monolith’s main city, Nanxuan Luoyue looked at the World Monolith. She saw people who left their names on the World Monolith hovering in front of it as they enjoyed the envy and worship of others. As long as they left their names, even if it was only the size of a palm, or extremely shallow and blurry, an entry that was so inconspicuous on the gigantic World Monolith that it would vanish in a few millennia…

People would still go forward to congratulate them.

“Young Master Wang, you are truly a utterly talented individual. For the Wind Cloud Sect to produce a genius like you, you are bound to soar in the future. Hahaha!”

“Young Master Zhou, you also succeeded in leaving your name. Congratulations as well!”

People exchanged pleasantries without concealing their beaming smiles. They were naturally feeling highly spirited after doing such a thing.

“Hahaha! However, we still have to work hard. There are some people who have carved their names at spots higher than ours. Theirs are larger as well…”

Young Master Wang looked up and saw an extremely clear word written—Yourou!

“Fairy Yourou of the Nethersky Divine World’s Young Goddess has a well-deserved reputation!”

Not just that, but when others left their names, they would shout out in joy. Yet, Fairy Yourou had silently left her name on it. She did not even stop in front of the monolith to admire her work, instead leaving instantly. It left people puzzled.

It was said that Fairy Yourou had a mild disposition, but even so, that was simply too tranquil.

And in the next moment, a white-dressed Fairy Yourou appeared beside Nanxuan Luoyue in the form of an azure smoke. She glanced at the Recognition Monument and said softly, “Young Master Yi’s name isn’t there… He probably perished in the Fey God Tomb…”

Nanxuan Luoyue bit her lips and remained silent.

She refused to believe that Yi Yun would die so simply; however, there was no sign of Yi Yun after he entered the Fey God Tomb. Later, Primordial Chaos Daolord scoured the Fey God Tomb en masse and sought him out for twelve years. Later, it was said that something happened in the Fey God Tomb which resulted in countless deaths. Later, there was still zero news of Yi Yun. After all this time, the ancient battlefield finally came to an end. Nanxuan Luoyue still held hopes that she would see Yi Yun appear in the main World Monolith city to carve his name on the Recognition Monument at the last moment.

But she was disappointed.

“Fairy Yourou, thank you for taking care of me over the years. I have been a burden on you all this time…” Nanxuan Luoyue said somewhat sheepishly.

In fact, ever since her bloodline was stimulated by Yi Yun, she had experienced a rapid growth in strength, one so fast that it left Fairy Yourou astounded. But as Nanxuan Luoyue had too weak a foundation, she did not manage to leave her name on the World Monolith.

“We have gone through thick and thin together. Years ago, Young Master Yi saved me twice. Compared to his talent, this bit of achievement of mine is nothing. What a pity…”

Fairy Yourou gave the Recognition Monument a deep, meaningful look. When the final Great Dao charm on the Recognition Monument vanished under the setting sun, she finally sighed and shook her head.

Yi Yun really wasn’t coming. If he was, how could he miss the opportunity to leave his name on the Recognition Monument? When one left their name, they would experience a baptism of the Heavenly Dao. They would experience a qualitative leap in their nomological insights.

“Sister Luoyue, let’s go. My sect is waiting outside for me. I’ll be here for the next ancient battlefield. Will you?”

“I shall!” Nanxuan Luoyue nodded solemnly. Although she refused to believe that Yi Yun was dead, chances were slim for him at present. She arranged to come to the Ancient Ruins world with Fairy Yourou again, in hope of a miracle. Perhaps, she could find Yi Yun the second time she came to the ancient battlefield…

Perhaps Fairy Yourou also had the same thoughts…

…

…

At that moment, tens of millions of miles away in the Frost Ice Sandsea of the Nethersky Divine World!

The Frost Ice Sandsea spanned millions of miles. It would not take long for warriors to cover this distance, but the Frost Ice Sandsea was a forbidden zone for life.

The Frost Qi here was extremely strange. It could freeze a warrior’s soul and internal Yuan Qi. The deeper one ventured in, the more apparent the effects. Many warriors who accidentally stumbled into the Frost Ice Sandsea would have their psyche frozen; after that, they would lose their sense of direction before freezing to death, becoming part of the icy sand in the Frost Ice Sandsea!

The reason why they were reduced to icy sand was because of the unique laws in the Frost Ice Sandsea. Strange black winds swept through it perennially. When these winds hit bodies, they would blow away flesh and blood, turning them to frozen skeletons.

When the winds struck glaciers, it would shatter them, reducing them to icy sand!

Therefore, the Frost Ice Sandsea was nothing but a desert. However, the desert was not one of sand but of countless minute ice crystal fragments!

Even though the Nethersky Divine World was home to all sorts of odd places, the Frost Ice Sandsea was definitely one of the more extraordinary sights.

However, there was a sect established nearby despite the perils of the Frost Ice Sandsea. The sect was named the Frost Sand Valley. Every year, the sect would organize a trial for its younger generation disciples inside the Frost Ice Sandsea. The trial was extremely harsh. The risk of death was there if one wasn’t strong enough.

The reason why the Frost Ice Sandsea established its sect here was not without reason. The Frost Ice Sandsea would often produce many rare natural treasures. Searching for these divine treasures annually was the source of the Frost Sand Valley’s income!

But in the recent thousand years, the natural treasures on the Frost Ice Sandsea’s periphery had been swept clean. As entering the interior was difficult, the Frost Sand Valley was already finding it harder to continue on. The present generation was beginning to suffer.

At this moment, fierce winds raged in the Sandsea. When these winds swept up the icy sand, they would hit a person’s body like blades. Many younger Frost Sand Valley disciples would gather their Yuan Qi together and produce a collective barrier to barely advance through the storms.

“We have spent twelve days searching during this expedition, but we have yet to find the Black Heart Lotus. It’s likely we might return empty-handed,” grumbled a young disciple.

“How could finding the Black Heart Lotus be easy? Be patient. We will return if another two years of searching proves fruitless,” said a middle-aged scholar dressed in azure clothes with a shake of his head.

“Eh? It seems like there’s sometime up ahead?”

The young disciple who had just spoken was feeling excited having suddenly made a discovery. Just as he was planning to get everyone to check if it was a rare treasure, the ground beneath them suddenly quaked violently!

“Oh?” The young disciple’s heart palpitated.

And at that moment, the black winds in the desert seemed to be stirred by an unknown force. They began howling fiercely.

“What’s the matter!?”

Many of the Frost Sand Valley disciples were alarmed. As they saw the black winds surge towards them, they felt like all the black winds in the Frost Ice Sandsea were being stirred. Against such a phenomenon, they deeply felt how minute their strength was.

“Our barrier won’t hold on much longer!”

A girl screamed. Her face was already pale and she was severely drained of her Yuan Qi. To come even this far, she had expended a great deal of Yuan Qi, and now, with the black winds intensifying severalfold, how could her strength withstand it!?

“Hide behind me!”

A man who resembled a middle-aged scholar took a step forward and came in front of the girl.

“Martial Uncle, you…”

The girl bit her lips, but she was out of options at present. Even if she put up a front, there was no way she could support the Yuan Qi barrier. If the barrier were to shatter on her side, the smallest breach would allow the black winds to sweep in. They would all be finished.

The middle-aged scholar bit the tip of his tongue and did not hesitate to burn his blood essence!

Using the energy gained from burning his blood essence, he took on nearly half the pressure!

“Martial Uncle!”

Many people were worried. Sinkhole warriors were not like Yi Yun who had the Dragon Emperor Technique. They could not burn their blood essence so simply, for every bit burned would be one bit gone!

“Look up in the sky! What’s that!?”

A young man suddenly looked up into the sky and was astonished to discover that a gigantic hole had torn open in the blurry Frost Qi-filled sky! The hole was spewing tumultuous spatial storms! The black winds in the Frost Ice Sandsea had been agitated by the forces that emanated from the terrifying spatial storms.

“This storm…” The middle-aged scholar’s face was as white as a sheet. “This storm is probably more than five hundred kilometers away…”

He cultivated in spatial dimension laws, and had even attempted traveling through space. There were powerful spatial storms within spatial rifts. When warriors tore through space, these spatial storms would pose the greatest threat to them. The middle-aged scholar was able to barely cross space to nearby areas on his own, but for all the spatial storms he had ever encountered, none of them compared to the one before his eyes!

The spatial storm more than five hundred kilometers away were leaks from the spatial rift; yet, it was able to stir up the Frost Ice Sandsea so violently? Heavens, what sort of space was it!?

“Hold on! All of you hold on!”

The middle-aged scholar shouted as he saw the spatial storm in front of him escalate in strength. He showed no concern for his body as he burned his blood essence again!

Upon seeing this scene, all the disciples present felt their hearts ache for him. All of them knew that their martial uncle was on the brink of a breakthrough. If he continued burning his blood essence, he might fail to break through. And at his age, if he failed to break through, he would probably be stuck at his present realm for life.

“Sou!”

At that moment, everyone was shocked to see the gigantic spatial black hole shoot out a black beam of light. It was like a flying star that traveled at an incredulous speed towards the Frost Ice Sandsea!

After a moment of silence, a blinding divine light lit up into the distance, like millions of divine swords stabbing into the sky.

1525 - : Destruction Storm

“Be careful!”

The middle-aged scholar exclaimed. He could sense the terrifying energies contained within the black star. At the instant the explosion happened, the world went silent. The mist that blanketed the Frost Ice Sandsea’s sky perennially was swept away by the terrifying energies. The skies turned clear for thousands of kilometers out!

Even the black winds that filled the Frost Ice Sandsea all year round were blown away by the terrifying energy surge!

“Everyone come near me! Don’t go far! Thousand Ice Array!” The middle-aged scholar shouted.

He expended his vital potential and, in a second, condensed infinite black ice crystals around his body, forming a huge crystal barrier in front of him! His strength increased by more than ten times!

“Ka-cha!”

The middle-aged scholar expended his strength to keep the barrier up while withstanding the blast, but it began to shatter. Infinite fine cracks began to appear on its surface!

“Puah!”

The middle-aged scholar spat out a mouthful of blood as his entire person knelt down on the ground.

He held himself up with both hands, his eyes filled with blood strands. He heaved heavily. Heavens, what sort of power was this? He was only withstanding a tiny aftershock from an explosion five hundred kilometers away. It was such a terrifying blast! It felt like the Apocalypse.

“Martial Uncle! Are you alright!? Martial Uncle!”

All the young disciples present ran over and helped him up. The eyes of a girl dressed in pale yellow clothes were welling with tears. Although she was young and had a weak cultivation level, she knew that those few seconds had damaged the middle-aged scholar greatly. If he did not encounter any huge opportunities, he would probably never make a breakthrough to the next realm.

He had given it up to protect them. If he had been alone, he would not have suffered so much.

“Martial Uncle, quickly dispel the barrier. The black winds are gone!” a young man said hurriedly.

As the black winds had been swept away by the blast, there was indeed no need for them to use the barrier. But now, they were situated very far from Frost Sand Valley. Typically, their trials were led by an Elder. Now that their Martial Uncle who was leading them was so heavily injured, how were they to return?

“What was that thing!?”

As the young man spoke, he looked into the distance with both horror and bafflement. He saw that most of the vast icy sand had melted as a result of the huge explosion. From afar, he could see a stormy sea.

The Frost Ice Sandsea which had been still for ten thousand years had turned into this?

Could it be that it was the appearance of some rare treasure? But in this present situation, were they able to seek it even if there was one?

“Return… We return to the valley! Quick! These icy sand storms have only been temporarily blown away by the blast… They will reform sooner or later… If that happens, we will not be able to escape…”

The middle-aged scholar struggled to speak. And at that moment, he could already see a blurry gray fog forming far into the horizon. The gray fog looked like a horde of locusts that was swarming towards them.

It was the Frost Ice Sandsea’s black winds making a resurgence.

“We are doomed…”

The middle-aged scholar smiled wryly. In his present situation, how was he to continue protecting these juniors?

“Martial Uncle, I’ll carry you!”

The young man carried the middle-aged scholar. The other disciples rushed over as they hurriedly raised a barrier. However, when they saw the black winds surge over, together with thunderous rumbling, the expressions on their faces changed.

The might of the black winds was far stronger than before!

The black winds prior to this had turned violent because of the injection of spatial storm’s energies. And now, the black winds had been compressed by the explosion’s blast, concentrated into a deadly force. It contained the explosion’s energy and was now releasing all the explosions energy. It was a roaring tsunami, and they were like simple boats in the line of that tsunami!

“Frost Sand Valley, Thousand Ice Array!”

Although they were in a perilous situation, the young man roared again. He expended his vital potential and barely raised up an ice crystal barrier, but at that moment, something inexplicable happened. The roaring black winds seemed to have a mind of their own, splitting up and going around them. It was as though a wall had been erected, causing the black winds to make way for the Frost Sand Valley disciples.

“What’s going on?”

The young man, who had expended his potential and planned to risk his life to use the Thousand Ice Array again, had already gathered his energy. He was about to release it, as if he had raised a giant hammer that was beyond his strength to carry. By not being able to deliver the strike, he immediately knelt down to the ground.

“Martial Uncle, this black wind…” The pale yellow-dressed girl’s beautiful eyes watched in a daze.

The middle-aged scholar was baffled, but regardless, they were saved.

“Was someone around to saved us?” the middle-aged scholar mumbled.

The black tsunami lasted for a full fifteen minutes before it slowly weakened to its normal strength. The middle-aged scholar took this opportunity to meditate and recover some of his strength. Having it gave him more certainty in preserving his life after all.

At a certain point in time, the middle-aged scholar opened his eyes after sensing something.

He could see a hazy figure gradually appear in the howling winds. It was walking towards them.

The figure was in tattered clothes and his body was covered in injuries. Many of his wounds were so deep that his bones could be seen. An average person would have succumbed to such injuries, but this person continued emanating a vibrant life force. Besides, he had an invisible and indescribable disposition about him. It left others feeling awe and reverence for him.

The middle-aged scholar quickly stood up. Although he was feeling weak, he bowed and said, “Senior, thank you for saving us!”

The black stormy winds were not dispersed by him, so the only person that could have done so was this mysterious man. However, why was he so heavily injured? Could it be that he was seeking out opportunities in the Frost Ice Sandsea, but encountered the explosion of unknown origin?

From the direction in which the person came from, it looked like he was at the center of the explosion. How powerful was this person? He could even survive that…

“Save?”

The man smiled wryly. These people did not know that if it wasn’t for of his tumbling out of the spatial rift, they would not have been thrown into the ferocious storm.

The man was none other than Yi Yun who had escaped from the primeval universe.

Back when the Ancestor God suddenly appeared, although Yi Yun had just broken through to the Divine Lord realm, he was still no match for the Ancestor God. With the Spear of Primordial Chaos, he managed to find an opportunity to escape the primeval universe through a spatial rift. Yi Yun never imagined that, despite His injuries, the Ancestor God would still able to strike within the spatial rift!

To guarantee a hit on Yi Yun, the Ancestor God had delivered a huge area-of-effect attack. Even if His attack was dispersed, it was still enough to heavily injure Yi Yun.

Thankfully, the black spear had injured the Ancestor God once again. All Yi Yun heard was a loud bellow from the Ancestor God across space but He did not continue pursuing him.

He hid inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, and used the Azure Lamp of Time to spend ten years recuperating and consolidating his realm.

These ten years were not a long time outside. Following that, Yi Yun exited the Azure Lamp of Time’s time warp, but when he found the entrance to the Sinkhole, he had a huge headache.

One had to know that the primeval universe in the Ancient Ruins world was separated by the Sinkhole by numerous layers of space. Each layer of space was extremely robust. Back when those people entered the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield, they had used special teleportation jade slips. To enter the Ancient Ruins world without one? Difficult, to say the least!

Yi Yun spent a few decades traveling through the spatial storms before finally finding an exit!

Although he had wasted quite a bit of time, Yi Yun still reaped great benefits in his few decades of distress.

In the primeval universe’s spatial storms, Yi Yun was constantly withstanding the spatial storms that were hundreds, if not thousands of times more terrifying than ordinary spaces. He was constantly injured as he used the Dragon Emperor Technique’s powerful recovery strength to heal his body.

If he really could not take it, he would hide in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and eat some pills to recover. Once he completely recovered, he would leave the cauldron and seek an exit. To get a better sense of the spatial dimension laws, he needed to exit the cauldron to seek out a spatial node.

As this continued on, Yi Yun’s foundation was constantly tempered. The terrifying spatial storms were like countless grinding stones that sharpened Yi Yun’s cultivation level.

To warriors, the best way of raising their strength was through combat. For decades, Yi Yun could be said to be constantly in battle. Every time he gained new insights, he would enter seclusion within the Azure Lamp of Time.

However, this was only possible for Yi Yun. If others fell into a spatial storm—even a mighty figure that was a step short of being a Godly Monarch—they might not be able to press on. Ignoring the fact that they lacked the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to catch their breath, just the energy expenditure was not something they could withstand. And amid the spatial storms, there was no Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to absorb.

As for Yi Yun, he had entered the Chaos Gem mineral vein. With the aid of the Purple Crystal, Yi Yun had been able to absorb vast amounts of nebulous Primordial Chaos essence. The energy he possessed seemed infinite in amount. He had also inherited a lot of natural treasures from Primordial Chaos Daolord.

Having steeled himself for decades, Yi Yun had completely fused the nebulous Primordial Chaos essence into his blood and bones. When Yi Yun exited the spatial storms, his strength had undergone a qualitative leap. This harrowing experience had benefited him in ways that exceeded his expectations.

Yi Yun was interested in knowing where in the world he was, but he could not ask directly. It was possible for these people to guess that the black star that flew out of the spatial rift was actually him. After all, this involved the secret of the primeval universe. Yi Yun did not wish to let others know of this backdoor.

Therefore, Yi Yun said, “I have been cultivating in seclusion here for decades. I never expected to undergo a tribulation today. Have the ancient battlefield trials ended? How did our geniuses do?”

“Senior, the ancient battlefield trials have ended. As for our results, Fairy Yourou left a name more than one feet across. The Nethersky Divine Hall has already organized a banquet to celebrate this feat!”

“Oh? Fairy Yourou?” Upon hearing this name, Yi Yun felt somewhat wistful. Back then, he had to abandon her and Nanxuan Luoyue in the Fey God Tomb. Who knew that he would be gone for nearly fifty years? Upon hearing that she was fine, Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief.

“So this is the Nethersky Divine World…” Yi Yun muttered to himself. Fairy Yourou came from none other than the Nethersky Divine World!

1526 - : Nethersky Divine World

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although he was in the Nethersky Divine World, Yi Yun had no intention of visiting Fairy Yourou. He just wanted to be certain that she was fine.

“Was Fairy Yourou injured during the expedition to the ancient battlefield?” Yi Yun asked casually.

The middle-aged scholar felt his heart palpitate slightly when he heard the question. He immediately came to the realization that Yi Yun might know her! Although to people like him, Fairy Yourou was a lofty existence, it was not odd that someone as powerful as Yi Yun knew her!

“Senior, Fairy Yourou returned safe and sound. Furthermore, she is about to break through to the late stages of the Supremacy realm. Now, Lord Bluefeather is planning on refining a Divine Breakage Pill for her. That is a pill that even Divine Lords who have fused a second Divine Lord Royal Seal might not have a chance to enjoy. But now, she plans on giving it to Fairy Yourou for her breakthrough to the late stages of the Supremacy realm. We disciples of the Frost Ice Sandsea are here in search of a Black Heart Lotus. The Divine Hall is currently purchasing a batch of divine medicine for refining and one of the needed items is the Black Heart Lotus…”

“So that’s how it is.”

Yi Yun nodded. He knew the herbs required for the refinement of a Divine Breakage Pill. He also had Black Heart Lotuses, for it was not considered an extremely precious herb. Yi Yun guessed that it was not true that Divine Lord Bluefeather did not have one. She was likely thinking of purchasing more and choosing the one with the best quality.

The Black Heart Lotus was really nothing spectacular. Yi Yun even had a few of the more extremely rare and precious herbs needed for the Divine Breakage Pill. Yi Yun guessed that it was unlikely for Divine Lord Bluefeather to possess those.

The reason why Yi Yun had them was because Primordial Chaos Daolord had kept them in his collection. Yi Yun was pleasantly surprised to find them.

Yi Yun did not mind providing these herbs to Divine Lord Bluefeather but, of course, he would only exchange for something he needed. After all, these herbs were practically nonexistent on the market. By being able to supply them to Divine Lord Bluefeather, he was already greatly helping her.

Yi Yun asked, “Where’s the Divine Hall? I happen to have some things that can aid in Divine Lord Bluefeather’s refinement of the Divine Breakage Pill.”

Upon hearing Yi Yun, the middle-aged scholar was taken aback. Didn’t he know Fairy Yourou?

How could he not know where the Divine Hall, where she lived, was? In the Nethersky Divine World, the Divine Hall had absolute power. It was practically known by all.

Although he was puzzled, Yi Yun was their benefactor. He naturally did not hide anything from him as he said, “Lord Bluefeather is not in the Divine Hall at the moment. Senior, if you wish to meet her, you can head to the White Lunar Divine Empire. I heard that Fairy Lin of the White Lunar Divine Empire has inherited the throne of Great Empress. Now, many factions in the Sinkhole are heading there to congratulate her. Lord Bluefeather has headed there with Fairy Yourou. She will only begin refining the Divine Breakage Pill after she returns.”

“What!?”

Yi Yun’s heart jolted when he heard the middle-aged scholar. The so-called Fairy Lin was naturally Lin Xintong. She was about to inherit the throne of Great Empress?

“The White Lunar Goddess Empress is planning to abdicate the throne to Lin Xintong?”

“Yes… yes. In truth, I heard it’s not abdicating, but supposedly…” The middle-aged scholar’s voice softened, as though it was taboo.

“Supposedly what? Just say it!” Yi Yun saw something amiss in the middle-aged scholar’s expression.

“It’s only hearsay, and not confirmed news. Rumor has it that the White Lunar Goddess Empress has already perished. Without a leader, Fairy Lin has no choice but to inherit her throne.”

“Huh!?”

Yi Yun was stunned!

Perished!?

How was that possible?!

Upon noticing Yi Yun’s nasty expression, the middle-aged scholar explained carefully, “I do not dare shoot my mouth off about such matters, but I heard that the White Lunar Divine Empire’s immortal palace suddenly fell from the nine firmaments, and crashed into the ground. It was as though it had lost all its spirituality.”

“As everyone knows, that immortal palace is the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s intrinsic treasure, the White Jade Phoenix Palace. It’s used to secure the light which providence shines on the White Lunar Divine Empire. If the White Lunar Goddess Empress had gotten into trouble, it would cause her intrinsic treasure to plummet from the sky…”

Yi Yun took a deep breath when he heard the middle-aged scholar’s words. An intrinsic treasure was tied closely to its owner in body and soul. This implied that something had really happened to Bai Yueyin!

Back when he met the White Lunar Goddess Empress, she was fighting the Ancestor God! Bai Yueyin was still heavily injured the last he saw her.

The Ancestor God was omnipotent, so it was not impossible for Him to track down and do something untoward to Bai Yueyin!

Upon coming to this realization, Yi Yun’s heart turned heavy. He had already been targeted by the Ancestor God. With Bai Yueyin holding Him back, Yi Yun was given some breathing room. Now, the situation had worsened.

Yi Yun suddenly thought of something as he infused his perception into the Purple Crystal. He did a thorough check of his entire body and only fifteen minutes later did he break out into a cold sweat. He clearly sensed, deep within his dantian, there lurked an energy that did not belong to him.

The strange and mysterious energy condensed a gigantic mark that resembled an eye totem.

Was this… the mark the Ancestor God left behind!?

Yi Yun knew that the Ancestor God had left a mark on him, but Bai Yueyin had mentioned that she removed it for him.

But in the primeval universe, the Ancestor God came after him while he was inside the Chaos Gem mineral vein. This made Yi Yun suspicious. Even if the Ancestor God was powerful, was he powerful enough to spread his perception across the entire universe?

Could it be that Bai Yueyin lacked the power to wipe away the mark left behind by the Ancestor God? Instead, perhaps she had used a particular means to mask it, disconnecting the mark from the Ancestor God.

But with Bai Yueyin falling into trouble, the seal she left behind had lost its effect. The tracing mark was naturally sensed by the Ancestor God. Therefore, the Ancestor God traveled across space and found him in the primeval universe!

How could Yi Yun not be afraid of a mark that could rob him of his life at any moment?

But upon careful thought, he remembered he had been inside the spatial turbulence for decades, but the Ancestor God did not pursue him. He had suffered grievous injuries inside the primeval universe, so he still had time. Although cultivating to the point of killing the Ancestor God was almost impossible, he was still able to sever the connection between him and the Ancestor God just like Bai Yueyin had done. After all, he had the Purple Crystal Origins with him.

Regardless, raising his strength was definitely the right thing to do.

Now, Yi Yun planned on heading right to the White Lunar Divine Empire. He was obviously not missing the coronation of Lin Xintong as Great Empress. He could also meet Divine Lord Bluefeather on the way and exchange for certain things. It would only make his cultivation path run smoother.

As Yi Yun was thinking about this, he suddenly heard a weak girl’s voice. “Se… Senior…”

Yi Yun looked over and saw a girl dressed in a pale yellow dress. She stopped mid-sentence as her face blushed red like a peach.

And beside her, the middle-aged scholar was still maintaining his reverent stance, but his forehead was dripping in cold sweat. Clearly, he was extremely weak.

“Senior!”

When the girl saw Yi Yun look over, she bit her lips and said, “Senior, I beg of you to save us. Our Martial Uncle has burned a great deal of his blood essence in order to save us juniors. Now, his lifeblood is depleted and his strength had reduced drastically. He probably will not reach his original cultivation realm again. And the murderous black winds of the Frost Ice Sandsea are everywhere. Our present situation won’t allow us to return to the Frost Sand Valley safely.”

As she spoke, the tears in her eyes shimmered. She was the picture of a weeping beauty, enough to make one feel pity over her.

She had long planned on speaking out, but did not do so right away. After all, Yi Yun had just saved them. They were greatly indebted to him. They would be going overboard if they insisted such a mighty figure send them back to the Frost Sand Valley.

She even thought of pleading for Yi Yun to help heal her martial uncle. It was unlikely to be a difficult thing for Yi Yun. But to their Frost Sand Valley, he was their lifeblood! However, this only made it harder for her to say it out loud.

After undergoing an internal struggle, the pale yellow-dressed girl knelt down to the ground and said, “Senior, might I ask you to save my martial uncle? He is the person who has the highest hope of breaking through to the Supremacy realm in our Frost Sand Valley. In the past few centuries, my Frost Sand Valley has been waning. We can’t suffer such an additional loss. Senior, if you are willing to help, I have nothing I can do to repay you, but I will do anything to thank you!”

Upon hearing the girl’s request, the Frost Sand Valley disciples turned anxious. This was practically selling herself as a slave. Yi Yun felt extremely embarrassed hearing that. These people still were unaware that his tearing out of the primeval universe was the reason for their present predicament. Even if the girl had not spoken, he would have saved them. He had been too shocked having heard about Lin Xintong and Bai Yueyin, as well as realizing that the Ancestor God’s mark was still in him; thus resulting in his neglect.

“Ling’er, what nonsense is that. If I were to lose you when out on this expedition, how am I to answer to Sect Master!?” The middle-aged scholar immediately stopped the girl. He was really afraid that Yi Yun would have thoughts on her. After all, Ling’er was beautiful and very attractive to men. And in front of Yi Yun, there was no way for him to put up a resistance. Ling’er was the sect master’s only personal disciple. His duty was to ensure her safety while bringing her out on an experiential expedition.

Yi Yun coughed dryly. He could have easily explained that there was a misunderstanding, but he could not mention the primeval universe. The spatial storms had likely been witnessed by many, so it was definitely possible for those with broad horizons to notice that something was out of the ordinary with those storms.

All he could say was, “It’s considered fate that we met. Then…”

Yi Yun took out a few pill bottles, and after some thought, took out another jade box.

“This is for you. These pills will save you some time cultivating. It shouldn’t be a problem to heal your martial uncle of his injuries. As for serving me, there’s no need to do so. Cultivate well. You still have a long road ahead. Do not give up your life so easily.”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s last sentence, the girl blushed. She bit her lips and did not say a word. She felt that Yi Yun was treating her as a hussy.

“Senior, I…”

“Take it.”

Yi Yun handed the items to the girl as she received it in a fluster. Upon seeing all the pills, she was instantly dumbfounded. In fact, she did not recognize the various pills, but when she saw the jade box that had a corner opened, she realized that it was holding the Black Heart Lotus they had been seeking for more than ten days!

“This is… a supreme-grade Black Heart Lotus which is more than ten thousand years old!?”

The girl’s martial uncle had good discernment. He immediately recognized the Black Heart Lotus’s grade. It was something that Supremacies would fight for without any regard for their lives.

As for the pills, although they were stored in jade bottles, the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was unknowingly being stirred by the pills within the bottles, forming tiny eddies. Perhaps these pills were several times more precious than the supreme-grade Black Heart Lotus!

“This is too precious. We can’t take it!” said the middle-aged scholar immediately. These could not only heal him of his injuries, they could even help him break through to the Supremacy realm. It was even enough for them to produce several Supremacies from a selected pool of excellent disciples.

“Ahem. Don’t worry about it. Since we are fated, just treat it as your good fortune. The information you provided me has helped me quite a bit.”

Since there was no other way about it, Yi Yun decided on accepting their gratitude. After all, he had no use for those pills, nor was he lacking when it came to supreme-grade Black Heart Lotus. He might as well get them to send it to the Divine Hall for more resources.

“Since you are injured and are unable to walk out of this desert, let me send you.”

As Yi Yun spoke, his perception radiated out in every direction like the sun’s rays. In seconds, he found a hidden valley in the Frost Ice Sandsea’s vicinity. Written on a stone monolith in front of the valley were the words ‘Frost Sand Valley.’

Following that, Yi Yun casually ripped open space and produced a spatial passageway.

This scene widened the eyes of all the Frost Sand Valley disciples. They felt as though Yi Yun’s simple hand wave moved like he was like ripping apart a piece of drawing, but it was enough to tear open space!

Before they could even marvel in shock, they felt a massive and irrepressible Yuan Qi sweep towards them before they were thrown into the spatial passageway!

To Yi Yun, who had traveled through the primeval universe’s spatial turbulence for decades, conjuring spatial dimension laws at this level was child’s play.

Everyone felt the world spin around them and seconds later, their eyes lit up. They were shocked, for right in front of them was the ‘Frost Sand Valley’ engraving. They looked up and realized the sect was right in front of them!

They were… back just like that!?

In just a few blinks of an eye, they had gone from the deep depths of the Frost Ice Sandsea to inside the Frost Sand Valley. It was difficult to traverse through space individually, much less teleport such a huge group of people. Furthermore, Yi Yun likely did not know where Frost Sand Valley was unless he could radiate his perception instantly and find it. Such a powerful and impressive perception was completely unheard of.

“We are back just like this…” said the yellow-dressed girl in a daze. If not for the jade bottle’s warmth which came from Yi Yun’s palm, she would have imagined that she had been dreaming.

“That’s right. We are back.” The middle-aged scholar felt mixed emotions. There was no hope for him to even dream or understand such a realm his entire life, much less talk of reaching it.

“Where’s that senior?” asked the girl subconsciously.

“He must have left. He only sent us back.”

“Oh…” The girl nodded. For some baffling reason, she fell into a despondent mood. She suddenly realized becoming the personal slave of a mighty figure like Yi Yun was perhaps the dream of numerous girls. It would have been an immense opportunity…

1527 - : Great Empress’s Throne

CKtalon  CKtalon

The White Lunar Divine Empire had always enjoyed a supernatural existence in the Sinkhole because of Bai Yueyin!

But in fact, Bai Yueyin was not the only Godly Monarch in the Sinkhole. The other factions were also connected in innumerable ways to various Godly Monarchs; however, they could at best request the help of the Godly Monarch they paid tribute to. They also needed to pay a price for that help, but the White Lunar Divine Empire was different. The overlord of the White Lunar Divine Empire was a Godly Monarch herself.

Not only that, Bai Yueyin was also one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs. She was unfathomably powerful.

Under such circumstances, the other Sinkhole factions had ultimately treated the White Lunar Divine Empire with fearful reverence. Even though Bai Yueyin had yet to appear for tens of millions of years, no one dared to provoke it.

But now, the famous Bai Yueyin had perished…

The Sinkhole went into an uproar when the news spread. Although the White Lunar Divine Empire still remained as one of the most powerful factions in the Sinkhole, Lin Xintong’s stunning talent was not enough to curb the doubts people had about her ability to rule over such a massive White Lunar Divine Empire. After all, Bai Yueyin had perished so suddenly and Lin Xintong was still very young.

Many guests came to the White Lunar Divine Empire for the coronation event, both as a way to celebrate her ascension to the throne as well as to see how impressive the young Lin Xintong was, considering how she was now in charge of the massive divine empire.

The White Lunar Divine Empire was made up of numerous floating immortal mountains. They made for excellent scenery and were rich in Yuan Qi. Many spirit beasts and avian creatures flew in between the mountains, making it look like an endearing picture.

Apart from the spirit beasts and avian creatures, there were several spirit boats floating near an immortal mountain right in the middle of the White Lunar Divine Empire. Each of these spirit boats produced a powerful Yuan Qi fluctuation and the materials they were made of were the best.

From the spirit boats’ totems or emblems, one could identify that nearly every powerful faction in the Sinkhole had sent envoys.

And apart from those spirit boats, there were also many warriors that came on board spirit boats. However, these spirit boats were moored at the periphery. They maintained a distance from the spirit boats of the powerful factions.

At that moment, a spirit boat here to witness the coronation arrived at the immortal mountain. It circled around for a while before finally finding a spot to park itself in mid-air.

“Everyone, you may disembark. A warning for all of you. Do not fly around heedlessly here. Do you see the light bands floating around the immortal mountains? Follow them down before descending the Thousand Li Cloud Staircase to enter the immortal mountain,” exhorted the boatman.

“Thousand Li Cloud Staircase? The decorations are quite grand, but I do remember several years ago that at the top of the Thousand Li Cloud Staircase were the hundred thousand pavilion palace of the White Lunar Divine Empire. Above the imperial palace complex was where the White Jade Phoenix Palace floated high above as it shone down with millions of beams of divine light. From afar, it makes one apprehensively reverent towards it. Nearly everyone would kowtow at the sight of it, but now, all I see is the hundred thousand pavilion palace at the top of the Thousand Li Cloud Staircase. That awe-inspiring White Jade Phoenix Palace has already vanished,” a warrior said suddenly.

What he said instantly stirred the interest of many. Many of them were here in the White Lunar Divine Empire for the first time. They had never witnessed the grandeur of the White Jade Phoenix Palace before.

Upon seeing the interest his story was garnering, the warrior from before began to brag about what he saw in high spirits. From time to time, he would mention what a pity it was that those beautiful scenes were no longer present.

A blue-shirted man was listening quietly in the crowd. He looked like a youth and, while in the crowd, he gave one the urge to focus their gaze on him if their eyes swept past him. But on careful inspection, he did not seem to appear special in any way.

This youthful-looking man was none other than Yi Yun, who was here to participate in Lin Xintong’s coronation event!

“White Jade Phoenix Palace… Could it be one of the twelve Fey God divine artifacts that Bai Yueyin had?”

Yi Yun previously knew that as one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs, the Fey God corresponding to Bai Yueyin was the Seven-colored Phoenix.

Just like how Old Snake possessed the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, while the Pure Yang Sword Palace owner possessed the Pure Yang broken sword, Bai Yueyin naturally had her own Fey God divine artifact. Furthermore, the White Jade Phoenix Palace had the word ‘phoenix’ in it. It definitely gave Yi Yun ideas.

Yi Yun had refused to believe that Bai Yueyin was dead, but if her intrinsic divine artifact had fallen, it likely meant that Bai Yueyin’s situation was not hopeful…

“Having not seen her for so many years, I wonder how strong Xintong is. But even if her master was Bai Yueyin, it is unlikely she was able to cultivate to a stage that allows her to rule over the entirety of the White Lunar Divine Empire. Her counterparts are all Sinkhole powerhouses…”

Yi Yun frowned. One thing had always baffled him. Why would Bai Yueyin take Lin Xintong in as her disciple? Although Lin Xintong had excellent talent, there were countless geniuses in the Sinkhole with excellent talent. Why did Bai Yueyin only choose Lin Xintong? Furthermore, even with Bai Yueyin’s fate unknown, Lin Xintong was able to successfully acquire the position as Great Empress. That meant that Lin Xintong’s status in the White Lunar Divine Empire was extremely high. Furthermore, with Bai Yueyin making the arrangements, no one dared to protest against her wishes considering her means and prestige.

Yi Yun did not know what situation Lin Xintong was presently in. He was worried for her, so he immediately phased away, transforming into a shadow as he followed straight up the Thousand Li Cloud Staircase. No one on the staircase noticed Yi Yun pass them by.

At the top of the Thousand Li Cloud Staircase was the hundred thousand pavilion palaces—

Although the White Jade Phoenix Palace had plummeted, causing a great loss in the White Lunar Divine Empire’s majesty, just the hundred thousand pavilion palaces was astounding enough.

Bai Yueyin had personally set up an array formation within these palaces in-person. There were also a few Divine Lords on the mountain that took turns manning it. It could be said to be impregnable!

At that moment, Yi Yun had arrived outside the palaces’ entrance. He stood there while being inundated by a spiritual might emanated by the immortal mountain in front of him. He even saw countless nomological chains dancing faintly. Yi Yun could sense the terrifying might of the array even without touching it.

Bai Yueyin’s intrinsic divine artifact was spiritually linked to her, so when something happened to her, the artifact was severely damaged. However, the array formation she set up remained fine.

Even with Yi Yun’s present strength, it would not be easy for him to crack the array. Besides, he was unwilling to damage what Bai Yueyin had left behind.

“Who is it? If you are a guest here to congratulate Fairy Lin on her coronation, please show your invitation letter.” A few guards were clearly shocked seeing Yi Yun’s sudden appearance. They had not sensed his arrival prior to that.

“I do not have one!”

“Sorry then, if you do not have a invitation, you are just a general member of the public. Although our White Lunar Divine Empire welcomes you nonetheless, general members of the public are not to stay in the pavilion palaces. The coronation will begin tomorrow. When the time comes, you will be able to attend the banquet in the periphery as a general member of the public.”

“I’m not a guest,” said Yi Yun slowly.

“Then who are…?”

“I’m here to find my wife.”

“Oh?” The guard was taken aback. Was he a family member of a particular female disciple of the White Lunar Divine Empire?

“Might I know who your wife is?” asked the guard baffled.

Yi Yun paused for a moment before he said—”Lin Xintong!”

“What!?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, the guards widened their eyes, believing that they had heard wrong.

1528 - : White Jade Phoenix Palace

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Who were you referring to again?”

“I was referring to your future empress. She’s my wife,” said Yi Yun very calmly. All the guards were completely flabbergasted, having never imagined that someone would dare say such words in front of their White Lunar Divine Empire’s entrance to the hundred thousand pavilion palaces. Since Lin Xintong was about to ascend to the throne, her name was something only few extremely well-respected Imperial Preceptors or generals were qualified to speak of, much less crazy talk claiming that Lin Xintong was his wife.

The guards found no humor in the amusing words. To them, Lin Xintong was pure and aboveboard, a sanctified and lofty existence. How could anyone disparage her!?

“What audacity! What nonsense are you saying!?”

“Just the foolish words you have said is enough to lock you up in our White Lunar Divine Empire’s dungeons for good!” As the guards spoke, they instantly set up a battle formation, pointing the spears in their hands at Yi Yun’s throat.

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun remained unperturbed. These guards were acting on their responsibility to protect Lin Xintong, so he had no plans of injuring them. He said, “All you need to do is report the matter! Leave it to your empress to decide on the veracity of the matter.”

Upon thinking of Lin Xintong, Yi Yun looked up at the towering palace. A glint of anticipation flashed in his eyes. Having been separated from Lin Xintong for centuries, he hadn’t had the opportunity to reunite with her despite arriving in the Sinkhole due to his limited strength. Now, he was finally equipped to do so.

The guards exchanged looks. The man before them was speaking calmly and confidently. It implied that he was either sick of living or insane.

At that moment, three figures who emanated powerful Yuan Qi suddenly appeared at the mountain entrance. Their clothes were embroidered with the emblem of the White Lunar Divine Empire.

“What happened?” a white-dressed male asked with a frown.

The coronation was about to happen, and no one in the White Lunar Divine Empire wished for any problem to occur.

“Steward,” the guards immediately bowed and said with a reverent attitude. “This mad man actually claims that… the newly-appointed empress is his wife. He insists we report the matter.”

“What?” The three men were astounded as they looked at Yi Yun as though he was a retard.

This man was not only crazy, he was insanely crazy!

“Stewards, should we report this?” asked a guard softly.

“Report? Do you want to anger our superiors?” said the white-dressed man coldly.

He looked at Yi Yun and sneered. “There’s no need to speak further with his crazy person. Take him down! Send him to the dungeons! For him to act out here in our White Lunar Divine Empire, I guess he’s sick of living…”

But at that moment, the white-dressed man’s expression changed.

He felt the scene before his very eyes turn to a blur as a terrifying might suddenly inundated him.

He mustered all his Yuan Qi immediately, but the force seemed to lightly penetrate his Yuan Qi barrier before impacting his chest.

“Puah!”

The white-robed man flew back like a sandbag before crashing into the mountain gates.

He looked at Yi Yun who remained motionless in his spot in horror. This person’s strength…

At that moment, the two other stewards raged, “What audacity!”

“Don’t…” The white-robed man attempted to stop them, but he was too late.

The two stewards attacked simultaneously as extremely sharp sword flashes cleaved down at Yi Yun.

The sword flash was enough to instantly rip a warrior to shreds.

But against the spate of sword flashes, Yi Yun did not flinch. All he did was raise his hand and gently flick it, like he was swatting a fly.

“Courting death!” One of the stewards wore a cold expression. The sword flashes followed the laws of a sword array, allowing it infinite variations. Even a Sword Dao expert would find it difficult to parry such an attack. There had been many people like Yi Yun who were overconfident only to suffer terribly when facing his strike.

But at the next moment, the barrage of sword flashes distorted under Yi Yun’s palm. Following that, he slapped them in the faces literally.

The steward still wore a sneer on his face when he felt the terrifying might strike his cheek. He acutely felt the distortion of his facial muscles as they tore, splattering blood out. He flew out involuntarily before crashing heavily into the ground.

In a blink of an eye, the white-robed steward had been smashed into the gates, while the two stewards with faces as swollen as pigs were on the ground.

Yi Yun did not really injure them seriously. All he did was let them suffer some physical pain. A warrior was able to recover in a day.

The guards were stunned. The three stewards were more than ten times stronger than they were, but in front of Yi Yun, they were no different from toddlers.

The way they looked at Yi Yun changed. They could tell very clearly that Yi Yun had only stood there and gently waved his hand to leave the three people lying on the ground.

This was only because Yi Yun had no plans to kill. If he had any murderous intent, the trio would have been dead.

The white-robed steward crushed a voice transmission talisman as he looked at Yi Yun in shock.

Yi Yun had long noticed the white-robed steward’s tiny action, but he did not stop him. If the white-robed steward was directly informing the higher echelons of the White Lunar Divine Empire, it would only save him time and effort.

It did not take long before an extremely powerful repressive force descended.

The guards looked at the whizzing flash and were instantly delighted. They immediately bowed towards the light. “Elder Tianyi.”

A lean middle-aged man’s figure appeared out of the light. He had a thin face with protruding cheek bones. His cheeks sank in and he had cold and sinister-looking eyes.

“Divine Lord Tianyi, he…” The white-robed steward struggled to get up.

“There’s no need to speak further.” Divine Lord Tianyi did not even take a glance at the three stewards for his eyes were trained straight on Yi Yun. He said coldly, “I’m the Divine Lord stationed here. Who are you? Do you have any wish to leave after causing trouble here today?”

“I had no plans on leaving ever since I came. I’m Yi Yun, Lin Xintong’s husband. Please pass the message. If not, I will have to storm my way in.” As Yi Yun spoke, his eyes flashed with killing intent.

If these people kept sending people to stop him and were not open to reasoning, he could only storm his way up. Who could stop him from meeting his wife?

The look in Divine Lord Tianyi’s eyes changed. This was the first time he encountered someone standing at the entrance of his charge speak of storming the mountain.

“He’s truly insane to say such words. How can Elder Tianyi tolerate such threats…” The white-robed steward sneered inwardly. Yi Yun should have thought about where he was before acting so arrogantly.

He was waiting for Divine Lord Tianyi to rage, but Divine Lord Tianyi was taken aback when he heard Yi Yun. He fell silent for a moment before sizing Yi Yun up. “Your name is Yi Yun?”

“Yes!”

“This name…” Divine Lord Tianyi frowned. “Are you the Yi Yun who entered the ancient battlefield from my White Lunar Divine Empire?”

“That’s right!” Yi Yun had no plans on hiding the truth.

Divine Lord Tianyi was slightly alarmed. He had once heard that a junior named Yi Yun in their White Lunar Divine Empire had received numerous benefits in the Divine Perish Hall. But ultimately, he perished in the Fey God Tomb. Many people attempted to find his corpse but failed. It was as though Yi Yun’s corpse had disappeared, making everyone believe that Yi Yun was dead.

Divine Lord Tianyi had only asked in passing since he had not linked the youth in front of him to that particular Yi Yun. Yet, it turned out to be the same person. He never expected Yi Yun to return alive.

“Wait here,” said Divine Lord Tianyi after some thought.

Yi Yun looked at Divine Lord Tianyi. He had thought of various possibilities before coming. Backed with tremendous strength, there was now no need for him to hide the secrets of his treasures. Regardless if Divine Lord Tianyi requested for backup to capture him, he thought nothing of it.

Yi Yun waited indifferently by the side as Divine Lord Tianyi phased away.

Divine Lord Tianyi’s figure appeared in front of a gigantic pavilion palace of the hundred thousand pavilion palaces. He stepped forward and said to an austere-looking guard who had suddenly appeared. “Please inform Imperial Preceptor Lingluo that Tianyi seeks an audience.”

The austere-looking guard’s eyes glazed over before he said, “Imperial Preceptor Lingluo grants you entry.”

Divine Lord Tianyi nodded and immediately entered the building.

The building had a unique fragrance wafting in it. There were incense cauldrons burning everywhere as slim and elegant girls shuttled in between the incense while holding all sorts of flowers and spirit fruits.

In the middle of a building, a beautiful woman dressed in a palace gown was leaning on a jade stone. The girls surrounded her as she enjoyed the spirit fruits they offered.

This scene was considered quite a delightful sight, but when Divine Lord Tianyi saw the woman, his eyes turned stern as his expression effused solemnity.

“Tianyi, I sensed an energy fluctuation from the mountain gates. I thought it was something trivial, but who knew you would come all the way here to me. Speak. What happened?” said Imperial Preceptor Lingluo without turning her head.

Divine Lord Tianyi immediately bowed respectfully and said, “Lord Imperial Preceptor, I’m unaware if you have heard of a junior named Yi Yun from decades ago. He received one of our White Lunar Divine Empire’s jade transmission tokens and entered the ancient battlefield…”

“Yes, I have…” Lingluo ate a grape and said nonchalantly, “It’s not a big deal when certain people without any faction backing them joins our White Lunar Divine Empire camp to enter the ancient battlefield. I heard that this junior had quite good luck and received many benefits, but he has already perished. Why? Is he not dead?”

Lingluo held the grape in her mouth without swallowing it as she ruminated over the matter. For Yi Yun to appear here with treasures on him, he must have either given the treasures to someone else or he was mad.

“Yes! Furthermore, he has appeared at our entrance and claimed that he is our new empress’s husband! Furthermore, I have once heard stories about our new empress. It’s said that back when Her Majesty first entered the White Lunar Goddess Empress, Her Majesty often had a melancholic look and rumors had it that someone was always on Her Majesty’s mind…”

“Oh!?” Upon hearing Divine Lord Tianyi said that, the woman’s eyes turned cold as she said, displeased, “What rubbish have you been listening to!?”

1529 - : Imperial Preceptor Lingluo

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Tianyi said reverently, “Rumors in the palace. I myself have never met the newly-appointed empress.”

“Since they are rumors, they should have stopped with you. Why are you raising such groundless rumors from centuries ago?”

“Ah… I apologize!” Divine Lord Tianyi said anxiously when he saw Imperial Preceptor Lingluo fuming.

“Remember to mind your words in the future. The new empress will soon be inheriting the throne. The Great Dao is endless, Her Majesty will be dedicated to pursuing the Martial Dao to eventually attain the Godly Monarch realm. Matters of the heart will only bog Her Majesty down. If Her Majesty were to be engrossed with a man, Her Majesty’s Dao heart would be affected! This shall not be tolerated.”

Lingluo’s tone left no room for doubt. Tianyi hurriedly nodded his head. “I understand.”

“Well, get this Yi Yun under control first. Do not let him leave. If he were to spread those groundless rumors, Her Majesty’s reputation will be tainted.”

“Yes!”

Tianyi said reverently as he took his leave. After he left, a tall man walked out from inside.

He was more than 1.9 meters tall and he had long hair that cascaded down his red robe. He oozed masculinity on the surface.

He laughed out loud as he said, “Lingluo, it appears that news of how matters of the heart weigh down the newly appointed empress have still spread beyond the palace. Her husband is now at our door. How do you plan on dealing with this husband of hers?”

“He cannot be allowed to leave. Let’s imprison him for now! After all, Her Majesty is about to be crowned. I do not wish for trouble to brew at this time.”

“Imprisoning him, only?” As the man spoke, a deep, meaningful smile flashed in his eyes. “I heard that this Yi Yun has massive treasures on him. During the ancient battlefield’s trials, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and company had headed there when they heard of the anomalies in the ancient battlefield that made precious treasures appear in the Divine Perish Hall.”

Upon hearing the man’s words, Lingluo fell into a silent thought.

“Why? Is there something holding you back? The cultivation technique which Her Majesty cultivates in is special. She probably has severed her ties to the mortal world and has forgotten Yi Yun. In the future, even if Her Majesty were to learn of this matter, she will likely not feel anything about it. Although this Yi Yun is said to be talented, he did not manage to leave his name on the World Monolith during his expedition to the ancient battlefield, so he’s nothing impressive. If he really were to be with Her Majesty, he would only siphon off Her Majesty’s cultivation when he dual cultivates with her. He will only be a burden on Her Majesty.”

In the martial world, progress was faster when men and women dual cultivated, but that was typically only true when both man and woman were of similar cultivation levels. If the gap was huge, one would end up siphoning from the other. The man knew that Lin Xintong was kind-hearted, so she naturally would not siphon off Yi Yun. Instead, she would work hard to raise Yi Yun’s cultivation level.

“If I’m not wrong, he must have pretended to have perished in the Fey God Tomb after obtaining the treasures of the Divine Perish Hall. In fact, he found a place to hide until the ancient battlefield ended. Now, the entire world knows that Yi Yun has treasures on him, so it will be hard for him to survive in the Sinkhole. Therefore, he must be thinking of coming here to win Her Majesty’s protection on account of their relationship from back in the mortal world,” said the man.

“What you said makes sense. But, before we are certain that Her Majesty has completely severed herself from her mortal feelings, I will not kill Yi Yun. As for the future…”

A cold glint flashed in Lingluo’s eyes as she spoke. As the Imperial Preceptor of the White Lunar Divine Empire, she had been in control of the massive White Lunar Divine Empire together with the other two Imperial Preceptors when Bai Yueyin wasn’t around. She was naturally not someone who showed mercy. She would not hesitate to kill Yi Yun for the divine empire and for the empress’s coronation.

…

After entering the White Lunar Divine Empire’s hundred thousand pavilion palaces, even the knowledgeable Yi Yun could not help but marvel at the White Lunar Divine Empire’s immense wealth. He was surprised to realize that the entire complex was refined into a massive artifact.

Although the complex was naturally incomparable to the White Jade Phoenix Palace, the White Jade Phoenix Palace was an ancient divine artifact formed naturally by the worldly laws. As for the complex, that was man-made; however, it was filled with thousands of complex array formations, both big and small. Some palaces looked small, but they contained a pocket world inside them. These countless pocket worlds had a myriad of functionalities. Some were used for cultivation, others for living. Refining such a massive artifact would probably require thousands of artifact refiners spending ten thousand years and immense riches to slowly complete it.

The White Lunar Divine Empire had been established for tens of millions of years, while the hundred thousand pavilion palaces were constantly expanded. These array formations and buildings were augmented by generations of experts, and was presently extremely formidable.

“We have arranged for you to stay here for the time being.” Tianyi led Yi Yun into a room in the corner of the complex.

The room was not bad, but Yi Yun noticed that security was tight around his room. Furthermore, he had passed through layers of protective array barriers when he entered. Some of them were trapping or killing arrays. Tianyi had used a token to gain entry, and it was obvious that Tianyi had no plans on handing him that token.

“I’m here to meet Lin Xintong,” said Yi Yun. He could sense that the White Lunar Divine Empire did not intend for him to meet Lin Xintong, and it was a possibility he was cognizant of before coming.

Tianyi said coldly, “I have already reported the matter of your arrival to Her Majesty. Her Majesty is currently preparing for the coronation, so she doesn’t have time to meet you. So just stay here for the time being.”

“Oh? Have you really reported this to your empress? Did she arrange for me to stay here temporarily?”

Yi Yun emphasized the word ‘temporarily,’ since he could sense that he was likely being placed under house arrest in here.

However, Yi Yun did not think worry too much over it. He now possessed sufficient strength, or he would not have come seeking Lin Xintong. He just did not wish to lose decorum with the White Lunar Divine Empire since it was established by Bai Yueyin and she had once saved him. Besides, Bai Yueyin was one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs that fought the Ancestor Gods hundreds of millions of years ago, thus saving the world.

Yi Yun planned on being fair before resorting to force on account of Bai Yueyin.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s tone, Tianyi sneered and said, “Young man, are you doubting me? Her Majesty is dedicated to pursuing the Great Dao and has severed herself from her mortal pining. I urge you to give up as you’ll be better off that way. If not, you will pay a terrible price. Taking ten thousand steps back, even if Her Majesty still has an impression of you, you were just her husband in the mortal world, and you should know that Her Majesty’s name was carved above the clouds on the ancient battlefield’s World Monolith. Each word was as large as a palace. If you were able to write your name beside Her Majesty’s, no matter how small it was, you might barely make the cut. Yet you failed to leave your name on the World Monolith. Do you think you deserve Her Majesty?”

After Tianyi said that, his body dissipated into streams of light and vanished.

Yi Yun’s eyes watched Tianyi disappear with coldness. From the looks of it, there was no way of making this happen in a way where everyone was happy; however, he did not plan on taking action immediately. After all, Lin Xintong’s coronation was at hand. Yi Yun guessed that Bai Yueyin might have been Lin Xintong’s benefactor, but he was unsure if Lin Xintong wished to be empress of the White Lunar Divine Empire. If she did, he did not wish to mess up the coronation.

Yi Yun planned to take action only during the coronation, but it was at that moment when Yi Yun felt a gust of wind blow at him. An azure-clothed girl appeared like a wisp of smoke inside his yard.

“Are you Young Master Yi? My master wishes to meet you. He invites you to join him at his place.”

Oh?

Yi Yun’s heart stirred. He was surprised to discover that the azure-clothed girl was young, even younger than him, but she was already at the early stages of the Supremacy realm. She was a genius among geniuses in the Sinkhole. Great pains would be spared to nurture her in any faction, but now, she was addressing someone else as her master. She was willing to be a servant?

“Who is your master?” Yi Yun’s brows pricked up. After all, once the coronation was over, he would forcibly seek out Lin Xintong. He did not mind meeting people now.

The girl covered her mouth and laughed before saying, “Young Master Yi, you will know when you get there.”

“Lead the way.”

The girl possessed a token, so when the yard’s guards saw the token, they did not stop her from taking Yi Yun away despite having nasty expressions.

The hundred thousand pavilion palaces spanned a large area and it banned flight. The girl was like an azure butterfly fluttering through the flowers as she darted forward extremely quickly with nimble footsteps.

Minutes later, she led Yi Yun to a seclusive garden. The garden was planted with various flowers; it was not large, but what astonished Yi Yun were the plants which could be seen everywhere in the mortal world. They were in different flowering phases, contending in looks and beauty. In a warrior’s world, even the smallest or poorest sects would plant some low-grade spirit vegetation. They were beautiful and could also add some Spirit Qi to the area. But this was the White Lunar Divine Empire, and the planting of such mortal vegetation in the hundred thousand pavilion palaces surprised Yi Yun.

In the middle of the garden was a clear pond which had a serpentine stone bridge built on it. The stone was of ordinary grade, but each individual stone was polished to look as beautiful as jade.

In a pavilion in the middle of the lake was a table that exuded antiquity. On it was a musical instrument known as the guqin. A long-haired man dressed in white was playing it, producing tunes that sounded like heavenly music. They lingered on in one’s ears as the flowers and grass in the garden gently swayed with the music, like they were being nourished by raindrops.

Yi Yun did not disturb the white-dressed man as he listened silently. Only when the tune was over did the man stand up and look at Yi Yun with a smile. “I’m Bai Shanhe. I’ve long heard of you, Young Master Yi.”

Bai Shanhe!

Yi Yun’s brows pricked up. Back in the Myriad God Ridge, Yi Yun had heard the unlucky personal disciple of Myriad God Patriarch mention Bai Shanhe when he talked about Lin Xintong.

He was Bai Yueyin’s adopted son!

And on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith, Yi Yun had once seen Bai Shanhe’s name. His name was similarly engraved in the clouds, each word as large as a wall.

1530 - : Lingluo

Yi Yun always found Bai Shanhe a rather mysterious person. He was, in fact, a little baffled as to why Bai Yueyin would adopt a son.

Regardless, he was definitely extraordinary in particular aspects for him to be thought of highly by Bai Yueyin. Yi Yun had no plans of underestimating him. Besides, Bai Shanhe had been cultivating for millennia. Ignoring him, just the azure-clothed girl beside him was no ordinary person.

“Young Master Bai, might I know what you summoned me for?”

Yi Yun looked at Bai Shanhe and felt like he was a pool of limpid water. His sharpness was all hidden under the water’s surface. He looked calm and warm, and his every action and sentence felt like a gentle spring breeze.

Bai Shanhe smiled. “I just like befriending people. I heard that Young Master Yi’s performance in the Divine Perish Hall was extraordinary, so I was interested in acquainting myself with you.”

Yi Yun cupped his fists. “I have also long heard of Brother Shanhe’s name. I have also witnessed your glory on the ancient battlefield’s World Monolith!”

“Haha, Young Master Yi, you flatter me. I’m simply considered someone who does miscellaneous things in the White Lunar Divine Empire. Typically, I tend to the vegetation or play music. As for stuff like the military or politics, they are handled by the three Imperial Preceptors and the generals. Of course, many of the matters will be left to your wife, Lin Xintong, in the future…”

Bai Shanhe paused when he said that and gave Yi Yun a faint smile. “I know you are here to find Junior Sister Lin, but you might find that the present Lin Xintong is somewhat different from what you remember her to be…”

“Oh?” Yi Yun frowned slightly. “Please explain.”

Bai Shanhe beckoned his hand gently as a disk array appeared in his hand. He injected it with a little energy as the phantom of a woman appeared.

Although it had to be described as a phantom, it looked lifelike. It was as though a real girl was standing in front of Yi Yun.

“This girl…”

Yi Yun was stunned when he saw this. The girl looked about sixteen years old. She was ruminating quietly by a lotus flower pond, looking elegant with a tiny, curvaceous waist. She was tall and slender, and her fair face suffused a ruddy complexion. She looked like a bright moon amid fog. Her looks neared perfection, and most attractive of all, her body effused an ethereal bearing. She looked like a blade of immortal grass that had rolling dew in the early morning, giving one the impression that she was otherworldly.

“She is…”

Yi Yun could clearly identify a shadow of Lin Xintong from the girl’s looks, but it was not completely the same. In fact, just her age felt different even without mentioning her looks. Lin Xintong was supposed to appear in her twenties, but the phantom seemed to have a faint adolescent feeling to her. She seemed to be fifteen or sixteen.

And most obvious of all was the red lotus mark with two petals at her glabella. It had a striking appearance, like a gecko cinnabar.

“This mark…” Yi Yun’s heart jolt. He naturally could not forget the mark. He had once seen it on another person—Empress Sheng Mei!

She was the woman that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch was seeking. It was because of that woman that he came to the universe where the Sinkhole was.

Why did this girl have the red lotus mark at her glabella? Could it be…

“How do you feel?”

“Xintong…” Yi Yun closed his eyes slightly as he took a deep breath before saying, “She is my wife.”

“Oh?” Bai Shanhe was clearly somewhat surprised. Although he had expected Yi Yun to guess that the girl was Lin Xintong when he produced the phantom, he found it strange that Yi Yun was able to not hesitate and say it with such certainty.

Bai Shanhe smiled. “I never expected you to be this calm. You didn’t even ask me why she would be in such a state…”

Yi Yun fell silent. Just the red lotus mark alone was enough for Yi Yun to guess what had happened.

Back when Yi Yun entered the Chaos Gem mineral vein and found the stone chamber’s heritage left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, one of the Chaos jade slips recorded the cultivation techniques of the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, as well as a recollection of his life.

From what the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left behind, Yi Yun had come to understand that the red lotus mark was in fact a symbol of a particular cultivation technique.

This cultivation technique was known as the Grand Reincarnation Technique!

The Grand Reincarnation Technique reached perfection after nine reincarnations. Every reincarnation would allow one to accumulate talent and nomological insight, as well as gain new life. The benefits of such a cultivation technique were heaven-defying.

And every completion of a reincarnation would lead to an additional petal on the red lotus mark on the cultivator’s glabella.

The Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had also cultivated in the Grand Reincarnation Technique. The greatest crisis in his life was overcome through the Grand Reincarnation Technique. He finally broke free from all his shackles and became the strongest person in the 33 Skies. It could be described as him rising from the ashes.

Could it be that Lin Xintong had inherited Empress Sheng Mei’s heritage and come to practice the Grand Reincarnation Technique!?

If that was the case, it would certainly explain why one of the strongest experts in the Sinkhole, Bai Yueyin, would choose Lin Xintong to be her personal disciple.

After all, even though Lin Xintong was considered to have excellent talent in Yi Yun’s opinion, it was not sufficient for her to be thought of so highly by Bai Yueyin.

However, if Lin Xintong was also the inheritor of Empress Sheng Mei’s heritage, things would be completely different.

Yi Yun instantly thought through many things. For Lin Xintong to have two petals at her glabella, it proved that she had reincarnated twice. This was also why Lin Xintong looked different from the age he knew her to be.

But Lin Xintong was still Lin Xintong, no matter how many times she reincarnated. Her soul and her vital source were immutable. She was ultimately the wife Yi Yun recognized.

“Young Master Yi, you are indeed different from most ordinary people,” said Bai Shanhe with a smile when he saw Yi Yun’s calm reaction.

“Brother Shanhe, I have a question I would like to know. Is Xintong a willing party in her coronation as empress?” Confirming this point was of critical importance. If not, Yi Yun planned on taking Lin Xintong away with him.

Bai Shanhe replied, “This was all arranged by Master. Junior Sister Lin naturally obeys Master’s wishes. After all, she is greatly indebted to Master.”

“I get it.” Yi Yun did not care if Lin Xintong became the White Lunar Divine Empire’s empress. Now that it was without Bai Yueyin, Yi Yun was no longer afraid of the entire White Lunar Divine Empire. If Lin Xintong was bent on becoming empress, he could very well not take her away and even live in the hundred thousand pavilion palaces. Who could do a thing about him?

“Why are you telling me all of this?” asked Yi Yun. What Bai Shanhe had informed him was indeed very helpful.

“I told you. All I want to do is acquaint myself with you, Young Master Yi. I have some idea that you have been put under house arrest. If you continue staying here, only harm will come your way, nevermind your slim chance of meeting Junior Sister Lin. If you wish to leave the White Lunar Divine Empire, I can help you. Of course, it’s impossible for me to help you take Junior Sister Lin away, but there’s no problem in letting you leave alone unscathed.”

Bai Shanhe had said the last sentence via voice transmission. Yi Yun looked at Bai Shanhe with a surprised look. He could not get a read on Bai Shanhe. Nor was there a reason why Bai Shanhe would help him.

“You do not need to be apprehensive. I do not seek fame or wealth by nature, and enjoy living a free, unshackled life. I do not like to have my life arranged for me, nor do I wish for Junior Sister Lin to have hers arranged. However, the White Lunar Divine Empire is currently in the hands of the three Imperial Preceptors…”

As Bai Shanhe said that via voice transmission, a loud laughter was heard.

“Hahaha, Young Master Shanhe, why are you in the uplifted mood to meet guests today?”

Yi Yun turned his head and saw a man and woman walk into the yard.

The man was tall and he donned a red robe. The woman was a coquettish beauty with an excellent figure.

“Ah, it’s Imperial Preceptor Kunxu and Imperial Preceptor Lingluo. I never expected both of you would come to my humble yard. What rare guests.”

Bai Shanhe spoke calmly, unsurprised by the arrival of the two Imperial Preceptors.

Yi Yun took in this scene, for he could acutely sense that Bai Shanhe did not have a harmonious relationship with the Imperial Preceptors that controlled the White Lunar Divine Empire.

Bai Shanhe’s maidservant had taken him away with a token. The guards did not dare stop her, but they had immediately informed their superiors. Clearly, the arrival of the two Imperial Preceptors was to put Bai Shanhe in his place.

“Young Master Shanhe, it’s not that Lingluo and I do not wish to visit, but that you so often recluse yourself in your yard to indulge in the arts. It’s truly difficult to meet you even once. If there’s nothing further you need from this person, why don’t I take this person away?”

The red-robed man said as he conjured a space that enveloped Yi Yun. He did not even glance at Yi Yun throughout this entire process, as though he treated Yi Yun as an object.

Bai Shanhe shook his head and did not speak further. He could tell that Yi Yun had no intention of accepting his help. He did not wish to leave and was bent on meeting Lin Xintong.

Yi Yun sneered when he was enveloped by the spatial forces. He did not resist. Currently, there were many visitors from various major factions residing in the hundred thousand pavilion palaces. It could be said to be filled with elites. Since Lin Xintong wished to inherit the throne, he did not wish to hinder her coronation. This Kunxu and Lingluo were also considered overlords. If he fought them, it would definitely cause a stir.

1531 - : Bai Shanhe

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Young Master Shanhe, I’ll visit another day.” As Imperial Preceptor Kunxu spoke, he looked at Yi Yun as the corner of his lips slightly curled up to reveal a sinister smile. He looked at Yi Yun as though he was his prey.

Kunxu had not forgotten the supreme treasures Yi Yun had received on the ancient battlefield. Such rare items prompted many Sinkhole mighty figures to head to the ancient battlefield. However, Primordial Chaos Daolord had scoured the Fey God Tomb for twelve years, to the point of losing his life without reaping a single benefit.

How could Primordial Chaos Daolord have imagined that the Yi Yun he had been searching for would come to him and that he would eventually succumb to Yi Yun?

Primordial Chaos Daolord was likely unable to rest in peace due to this infuriating revelation.

“You dare trespass in the White Lunar Divine Empire and lie, saying you’re the husband of the newly-appointed empress. You have stained her reputation. I had originally given you quite a nice residence, but rather than stay obediently in place you left without permission. From the looks of it, you were quite uncomfortable staying there. That’s fine too. The Blood Moon Sky Dungeon still has a few vacancies. Why don’t you spend your time in there!” said Kunxu before he stepped out the door of Bai Shanhe’s yard. He did not care if Bai Shanhe heard him.

In fact, he had deliberately said it loudly for Bai Shanhe to hear.

Bai Shanhe remained unperturbed. Beside Bai Shanhe, the azure-clothed girl’s expression turned a lot nastier. Death was almost certain once one entered the Blood Moon Sky Dungeon. Furthermore, Kunxu was becoming utterly audacious!

The azure-clothed girl even suspected that with the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s disappearance, a number of people inside the White Lunar Divine Empire were beginning to rouse. Back when the White Lunar Goddess Empress had designated Lin Xintong to be her successor, they had still obeyed her instructions in the first few centuries. However, how could anyone say anything about the future with certainty? After all, Lin Xintong was so young.

“Young Master, we…” Just as the azure-clothed girl was about to say something, two more people suddenly appeared by the entrance to the yard.

Leading them was a beautiful woman dressed in blue. There was a blue ice flower at her glabella, and there were fine scales by the corners of her eyes. Beneath the scales were some serpentine patterns that stretched down her sideburns and into her clothes.

And standing beside the woman was a girl with an otherworldly bearing.

Upon seeing these two, Kunxu was taken aback. The blue-dressed woman was none other than the one who helmed the Nethersky Divine World—Divine Lord Bluefeather!

As for the girl beside Divine Lord Bluefeather, it was the Young Goddess who had shown illustrious results at the ancient battlefield and left her name on the World Monolith—Fairy Yourou.

“Exalted Bluefeather? Fairy Yourou? Why are you two here…”

Kunxu smiled as he welcomed them. He was slightly apprehensive when it came to Bluefeather. Just her strength alone made her one of the top existences among Divine Lords, one far stronger than him. This was not even including the rumored master of Bluefeather, the Grand Elder of the Nethersky Divine World who had ties with a reclusive Godly Monarch!

Many Sinkhole factions would choose to acquaint themselves with a Godly Monarch. This was the hidden card in their hand, one they could play to ensure that they did not suffer the fate of having their factions wiped out.

The White Lunar Divine Empire had Bai Yueyin from the beginning, a trump card that no one could compare with. But ever since Bai Yueyin vanished, the White Lunar Divine Empire had become the weakest.

Now, the White Lunar Divine Empire was in a precarious position. Kunxu naturally felt uncertain facing Bluefeather.

“It was Young Master Shanhe who invited us here as guests. I never expected to see Imperial Preceptor Kunxu here as well,” Bluefeather said indifferently. She had sharp senses and she had clearly sensed some nomological stirrings a moment ago. The yard was likely not in a harmonious situation.

“Haha, I only came here to handle a trivial person who managed to sneak into the White Lunar Divine Empire. I’m worried he might mislead the public at the critical moment of the new empress’s coronation. I never expected to meet you here, Exalted Bluefeather. I have disturbed the both of you from a pleasant reminiscence.”

Kunxu smiled and was just about to take Yi Yun away when he was surprised to realize that beside Bluefeather, Fairy Yourou looked completely stunned. Her beautiful eyes were staring unblinkingly at someone beside him. Her gaze was one of surprise and joy.

What just happened?

Kunxu was still unsure what had happened when Fairy Yourou spoke out. “Yi Yun, it’s really you!? You are still alive?”

“Fairy Yourou, we meet again. When I exited the ancient battlefield, I found I had arrived in the Nethersky Divine World. I heard that both you and Senior Bluefeather came to participate in the Empress’s coronation, but I never expected to bump into you here of all places.” Yi Yun smiled. He had quite a good impression of Fairy Yourou.

“It’s good that you are well. Back when we were leaving our names on the World Monolith at the end of the ancient battlefield, I thought something untoward had happened to you since you didn’t show up.” As Fairy Yourou spoke, she turned to Bluefeather. “Master, this is the Yi Yun I have always been mentioning to you. He once saved my life on the ancient battlefield.”

“Greetings Senior, I am Yi Yun.” Yi Yun bowed.

Bluefeather nodded with a smile. “Rou’er has spoken of you several times and felt wistful whenever she did. It’s good that you returned alive.”

When Bluefeather said that, she noticed that the spatial dimension laws around Yi Yun had been changed. It was a spatial cage and, without a doubt, the person behind it was Kunxu.

Bluefeather turned to Kunxu and feigned bafflement. “Imperial Preceptor Kunxu, don’t tell me that the trivial figure you mentioned who sneaked into the White Lunar Divine Empire is Yi Yun?”

Kunxu was taken aback. Yi Yun knew Fairy Yourou? And from the looks of it, they had a deep relationship.

“That’s right. He speaks impertinently and has sullied the reputation of my White Lunar Divine Empire’s newly-appointed empress. I naturally have to take him down.”

“Is that so? Was there a misunderstanding in all of this?” asked Bluefeather with a faint smile. She did not believe Kunxu’s words. From her point of view, it was very likely that Kunxu was conspiring for the treasures Yi Yun carried.

It was no longer a secret that Yi Yun had obtained immense treasures in the Divine Perish Hall.

When he saw Bluefeather appearing to speak up for Yi Yun, Kunxu’s expression turned nasty. “Exalted Bluefeather, don’t tell me you plan on interfering with internal matters of my White Lunar Divine Empire?”

Kunxu emphasized the words ‘internal matters,’ but Bluefeather laughed. “According to what I know, Yi Yun is not considered someone from your White Lunar Divine Empire. Since my disciple is indebted to Yi Yun, it is only right that I should take the responsibility of clearing up this misunderstanding.”

Although Bluefeather kept her smile constant, her attitude was uncompromising. Kunxu and Bluefeather faced each other. Although they did not move, they were already clashing with the imposing might they automatically released. It was clear that Kunxu was inferior from just this alone. Kunxu was after all only one of the three Imperial Preceptors of the White Lunar Divine Empire. As for Bluefeather, she was the actual person in charge of the Nethersky Divine World.

A few seconds later, Kunxu finally said through clenched teeth, “Then, Exalted Bluefeather, I shall not disturb your get together with this person. Goodbye!”

Kunxu snorted coldly before flicking his sleeve and leaving.

He knew very well that he was weaker than her. Staying behind only added insult to injury.

Imperial Preceptor Lingluo did not say a word from beginning to end. She followed Kunxu once he left.

As Yi Yun watched the two Imperial Preceptors leave, he looked at Bai Shanhe with a deep, meaningful look. Since Divine Lord Bluefeather and Fairy Yourou had been invited by him, could it be that he had already anticipated such a situation?

Everyone knew that Yi Yun had obtained huge opportunities in the Divine Perish Hall, but few people in the ancient battlefield knew of his relationship with Fairy Yourou. Bai Shanhe was truly quite an enigma.

Of course, Yi Yun had not needed Bai Shanhe and Divine Lord Bluefeather’s help. He was only curious as to why Bai Shanhe would help him.

“Yi Yun, why don’t you stay with Master and I for the next few days? It will prevent others from doing any harm to you,” said Fairy Yourou. With Yi Yun returning safely, it was one less burden off her chest.

“Senior, thank you for helping me out of my predicament. Fairy, I will have to impose on you then.” Yi Yun naturally did not object to the suggestion. Being with Fairy Yourou would save him quite a bit of trouble.

1532 - : Divine Lord Bluefeather

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Yi Yun spent the day listening to music at Bai Shanhe’s compound with Fairy Yourou, who was proficient in music theory. The music she played was unlike Bai Shanhe’s which had carefree vibes that brought mountains and rivers to mind. Instead, hers was a little more tranquil, like an insect chirping when dusk fell or the morning tide when swished by the breeze.

Only when the sun set did Yi Yun and Fairy Yourou bid Bai Shanhe farewell. Yi Yun naturally accompanied Fairy Yourou and headed for their residence.

…

Legends said that the hundred thousand pavilion palaces were a brand new world every ten steps. It was no doubt an exaggeration, but it also symbolized the tremendous number of pocket worlds there were.

When Yi Yun stepped through the door of a palace with Fairy Yourou, the scene before his eyes seemed uplifted. Yi Yun saw a mountain more than two hundred thousand feet in front of him that spanned an area of hundreds of kilometers. It was a like a god that stood erect on the land. There was all sorts of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi lingering around the summit like an unending tidal wave surge.

At the foot of the mountain was a vast grassy plain. The variety of precious and rare plants were innumerable. There were all sorts of spirit beasts galloping across the plains. They were either gallivanting like halos or stopping to leisurely eat the immortal grass.

Yi Yun had stepped into a spot higher than the godly mountain’s peak, at a height three hundred thousand feet high. He got the full view of the land, seeing the snow-capped mountain peak, the blue skies and green grass. It was picturesque!

Such scenery really left one refreshed in spirit and in mind.

Even Yi Yun could not help but marvel at the White Lunar Divine Empire’s heritage. Just the immortal grass used to rear the spirit beasts could be used as a natural treasure for the refinement of pills in several smaller sects. But in the White Lunar Divine Empire, this immortal grass was left to grow into a grassy plain.

“You live here?” asked Yi Yun.

“Yes. This is the Lunar Maple Pavilion. All the guests who are visiting the White Lunar Divine Empire are staying here.”

Here for the coronation, the guests from the various major factions had entourages that numbered in the thousands at the very least, but they could all live in one pocket world. Furthermore, there was still plenty of space.

Yi Yun could see that there was a ward array formation on the snowy mountain. It made the place enjoy spring-like weather all year round. There were numerous immortal palaces and pavilions hidden in the fog, all hardly discernible from this distance.

The ones that were allowed to live on the snowy peak were some of the most illustrious figures that hailed from the major factions in the Sinkhole.

There was a sea of pine trees in between the palaces at the mountaintop. In the middle, there was a spirit fountain with a pavilion platform to its side. Several Sinkhole experts were gathered there. The tables were filled with priceless spirit wine and fruit.

Supremacies and Divine Lords had their own respective circles. People of different levels of strength interacted with different kinds of people. However, as the Sinkhole was too huge, these people seldom had the opportunity to gather together. Now, at the White Lunar Divine Empress’s coronation, these experts were gathered together, naturally giving them an opportunity to interact and have exchanges.

There were some Divine Lords who were stuck at particular realms. They would have Dao or martial exchanges with each other in a bid to seek out inspiration that would lead to a breakthrough. There were also those lacking in natural treasures who wanted to trade with others. After all, everyone in this residential area was wealthy. It was very likely that they had certain items that could hardly be found on the market.

The light that descended when Fairy Yourou and Divine Lord Bluefeather appeared immediately attracted the attention of many.

After all, Fairy Yourou was an illustrious figure, a new hot shot in the Sinkhole. Although she was only a Supremacy, rumors had already spread that the day she broke through to become a Divine Lord, the Grand Elder of the Nethersky Divine World would invite her old friend, who was none other than the mysterious reclusive Godly Monarch to help Fairy Yourou in cleansing her body to aid her breakthrough to the Divine Lord realm!

A Divine Lord Royal Seal had even been prepared for Fairy Yourou. That was part of the Nethersky Divine World’s treasured collection, a Godly Monarch Royal Seal which had been passed down since ancient times!

These resources truly left one envious. But the martial world was always as such. Nations would invest massive amounts of resources on one person. As long as the person’s talent was good, it was entirely possible to nurture that person to become an overlord.

Besides, Fairy Yourou was the cream of the crop when it came to the younger generation. It could be imagined that her results at the next ancient battlefield trials would only be better. Although it was basically impossible for her to match Lin Xintong’s, it was still possible that she could engrave her name above the clouds one day.

Under such circumstances, all young elites from the Sinkhole’s major factions admired her. If one lucked out greatly enough to become her Dao partner and dual cultivate with her, their cultivation level would improve by leaps and bounds.

“Fairy Yourou, try this pot of Lunar Songflower. I brewed it with Heavenly Springwater for six hours. It’s the perfect time to have a taste of it.”

A white-dressed man called out to Fairy Yourou from afar. He was the inheritor of the Bai family of the Great Cosmic State—Bai Yanzhuo. The Bai family was a family clan that had been in existence since ancient times. Their ancestor had once reached the realm of half-step Godly Monarch.

As the white-dressed man spoke, he shot a glance at the man beside Fairy Yourou, Yi Yun.

“Oh? This is…”

He knew that the entourage from the Nethersky Divine World was comprised solely of females. Why, then, would a young man suddenly appear? Furthermore, he was talking and laughing with Fairy Yourou in a rather intimate and familiar manner.

Fairy Yourou was a quiet and mild person by nature. She seldom interacted with members of the opposite sex, so what was up with this young man?

Before Fairy Yourou even replied, Bluefeather said, “Rou’er, have a look around here with Yi Yun. I’ll be heading elsewhere to meet some old friends.” After Bluefeather said that, she took off in another direction where many of the Sinkhole’s important figures were gathered. That could be considered the area where Divine Lords mingled, while the spot where Yi Yun was was where Supremacies mingled.

“This is Yi Yun, my friend.” Fairy Yourou was, in fact, not interested in such exchanges. However, she was being nurtured as someone who could one day helm the Nethersky Divine World. She needed to acquaint herself with the elites from the major factions of the Sinkhole. It was also something Bluefeather had instructed her to do.

“Yi Yun? Which Yi Yun? Don’t tell me…” A female Supremacy with excellent looks suddenly said in surprise.

“What do you mean?” Bai Yanzhuo asked with knitted brows. He had just exited seclusion recently and had not heard of Yi Yun. Could the name Yi Yun belong to some famous elite youth? It would be a problem for him if that were the case.

“Senior Brother Bai, didn’t I mention this to you a few days ago? There was an itinerant cultivator from the White Lunar Divine Empire who obtained treasures from the Divine Perish Hall at the ancient battlefield. Primordial Chaos Daolord even went to the ancient battlefield, but the person had gone missing. Everyone believed him to be dead, but from the looks of it, Young Master Yi had managed to fool the world.” The beautiful Supremacy’s voice was charming. She looked at Yi Yun with a coquettish smile, as though she was praising him with no ill intentions in what she said.

But immediately, someone struck a table. “What!? You are Yi Yun!?”

A black-dressed man with a scar across his face glared at Yi Yun like a leopard.

Yi Yun was taken aback. He did not know him at all. Who was he? Why did he look at him like he had a blood feud?

“He is Hong Feiyu, Primordial Chaos Daolord’s personal disciple. He is also an illustrious figure of the Great Cosmic State. He participated in the ancient battlefield trials 120 years ago. He even left his name on the ancient battlefield’s World Monolith after slaying Crimson Demons in the Crimson Demon Abyss mystic realm!”

Fairy Yourou informed Yi Yun while frowning slightly at the beautiful woman who had introduced Yi Yun. Her name was Fairy Butterfly who had a vicious personality. It was obvious she had ill intentions from the way she introduced Yi Yun.

“Disciple of Primordial Chaos Daolord?” Yi Yun looked enlightened. The fellow did not conceal his hatred at all.

“Why? Do you plan on doing something? Oh! I get it. I believe that old tool entered the ancient battlefield because of me. But who knows how he ended up dying inside? What a tragedy,” Yi Yun quipped.

He did not have a good impression of Primordial Chaos Daolord’s disciple.

1533 - : Lunar Maple Pavilion

CKtalon  CKtalon

“You have a death wish!” The glint in Hong Feiyu’s eyes sank as his killing intent was revealed.

“Yi Yun! What did you just call my master? How dare you insult my master!” More people stood up beside Hong Feiyu. They were still wallowing in the tragedy of Primordial Chaos Daolord’s demise, for this was terrible news for them. It was equivalent to them losing their greatest backer. They never imagined that a junior like Yi Yun would mock their deceased master.

“I called him an old tool. Didn’t you hear that clearly? I might as well repeat myself again and explain it to you as well. Tool actually describes a coffin plank, and now, come to think of it, it’s quite appropriate. Well, did you hear it clearly this time? The old tool entered the ancient battlefield, hoping to kill me and rob me of my treasures. Why? From what you are implying, I should have obediently walked over to get killed by the old tool? Only then would I really know what’s good for me. Is the reason why you are looking at me with such enmity because I’m not dead, but the old tool is dead!?”

Yi Yun poured himself a cup of Lunar Songflower. As he drank, he delivered his sarcastic remark leisurely. Such indifference left everyone stunned. Everyone knew Primordial Chaos Daolord’s motive, but in the martial world, power ruled supreme. When the strong aimed to kill the weak, the weak would either have to flee or prepare themselves to be slaughtered. This was the law of the jungle. Taking Primordial Chaos Daolord as an example, a junior had offended him a hundred years ago. With a swat of his hand, he had destroyed the entire family clan of the junior. Hundreds of people died along with him, but the main family line of the junior did not dare utter a word. Instead, they offered Primordial Chaos Daolord compensation.

No one felt that there was anything wrong with Primordial Chaos Daolord’s intention to kill Yi Yun for his treasure. If it were the average person, they would only live an ignoble life with their tails in between their legs if they were even lucky enough to escape. No one would act like Yi Yun, engaging in mockery. Even though Primordial Chaos Daolord was dead, the Great Cosmic State was still in existence. How could the Great Cosmic State with its numerous experts be something Yi Yun was able to stand against?

Besides, Yi Yun still had the treasures on him. For him to appear so ostentatiously at the exchange while blatantly inviting attention in front of so many experts, his arrogance was truly extreme.

“Cha!”

Hong Feiyu flipped his hand and immediately pulled out a black saber from his interspatial ring!

“Brother Feiyu, what are you doing? This is a peaceful exchange. Don’t tell me you plan on taking action here? Don’t forget that this is the White Lunar Divine Empire’s hundred thousand pavilion palaces. We are guests and it would be rather disrespectful to begin fighting here.”

A slightly older looking man came out to reconcile the situation.

“I will not let the matter rest even in the hundred thousand pavilion palaces! This person insulted my deceased master. He shall not be spared!”

Upon seeing Hong Feiyu’s insistent attitude, Bai Yanzhuo said to him, “Brother Feiyu, you are a person who left your name on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith. Why stoop to his level!? However, Primordial Chaos Daolord was once the person in control of the Great Cosmic State, and he does not deserve to be insulted by a junior. Why don’t we do this: I suggest that Yi Yun kowtow to Brother Bai to admit his fault and we can let this matter rest.”

Bai Yanzhuo looked at Yi Yun with a smile, his desire to watch a good show play out before him evident. A person who had encountered huge opportunities in a mystic realm was definitely a person to invoke envy from others. Furthermore, Yi Yun had such a close relationship with Fairy Yourou.

“Young friend, it’s not a bad idea to admit your mistake,” the older man who had just spoken said after some thought.

He could tell that Bai Yanzhuo was clearly bent on embarrassing Yi Yun utterly. If Yi Yun were to kowtow and admit his fault today, he would likely not be able to lift his head high among the younger generation in the future. Furthermore, he could not honestly claim that the Great Cosmic State would spare Yi Yun after his public insult of Primordial Chaos Daolord. If one moment of giving in could be exchanged for peace, it was worth it.

“Impossible! He was a deserter at the ancient battlefield, a figure no different from an ant. For him to dare insult my master, what use is his kowtowing? I can spare his life today since we are at the hundred thousand pavilion palaces, but I want his hands crippled at the very least!” Hong Feiyu said fiercely.

Being a disciple of Primordial Chaos Daolord, his character was similar to his master’s since the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. He was ruthless in his dealings, destroying anyone who offended him.

“Hong Feiyu, what did you just say? Do you really think that this is the Great Cosmic State?”

At that moment, Fairy Yourou walked in front of Yi Yun. Her aura was like a chilly wind from the deep abyss of the netherworld. Wherever she passed, the itinerant laws in the area would freeze.

Hong Feiyu narrowed his eyes. “Nethersky Goddess, do you plan on taking this person’s side? It appears your relationship with him isn’t ordinary! Be honest, if someone were to insult your master, Bluefeather, what would you do?”

Hong Feiyu was unlike the Bai Yanzhuo who admired Fairy Yourou. He did not mince his words while speaking with her.

“Hahaha! If someone were to insult Senior Bluefeather, they naturally shall be killed!” Yi Yun finished the tea in his hand and stood up. “But that old bastard, Primordial Chaos, was different from Senior Bluefeather. That old bastard wanted to extract my soul and destroy my body in the ancient battlefield. So, you believe it is only right that the old bastard wanted to wipe me out of existence and you make a huge fuss when I call him an old tool. It’s like your daddy has died. Why don’t you take my suggestion? Curse at me as many times as you like, then I’ll kill you with one strike. How about that?”

Yi Yun was in no way afraid of the Great Cosmic State. In fact, just hearing its name irritated him. When dealing with the White Lunar Divine Empire, it was not appropriate for Yi Yun to attack the White Lunar Divine Empire since Lin Xintong was about to have her coronation soon. But against the Great Cosmic State, he yearned to find a reason to teach it a lesson.

“Hahaha! Good! Good! All of you heard that! It’s not that I’m not giving this little bastard face, it’s that he is bent on courting death. It’s fine if he insults and curses me, but to insult my deceased master, I will definitely want his life! No one can stop me, no matter if it’s the White Lunar Divine Empire!”

When the crowd saw this scene, they secretly shook their heads. Yi Yun was just too arrogant. Even though everyone knew that Primordial Chaos Daolord would definitely kill Yi Yun if he found him on the ancient battlefield, Primordial Chaos Daolord was not someone a junior like him could insult. Fairy Yourou had forcefully taken Yi Yun’s side, giving Yi Yun an out. However, Yi Yun did not know better and even turned from bad to worse. He went from old tool to old bastard. If the Great Cosmic State were to tolerate this, how were they to continue establishing themselves in the Sinkhole?

Besides, Yi Yun still had treasures related to the Primordial Chaos laws. Hong Feiyu also cultivated in those laws, so he probably had his eyes on those treasures to begin with. Yi Yun had given him the perfect excuse.

“Clang!”

Hong Feiyu unsheathed his black saber!

Upon seeing the raven-black light from the black saber, Fairy Yourou’s heart leaped. Unlike the others present, she had entered deep into the Fey God Tomb with Yi Yun. She knew that Yi Yun’s strength was extraordinary, but she was still uncertain how strong Yi Yun was. Although Hong Feiyu’s talent was definitely inferior to Yi Yun’s, he had cultivated several centuries more than them.

Yi Yun looked at Hong Feiyu with a sneer. “An ant-like existence like you who has only cultivated for nearly a thousand years has no right to fight me.”

Before Yi Yun broke through to become a Divine Lord, he had already engaged in a life-and-death battle with Primordial Chaos Daolord. Now, he was not only a Divine Lord, but one who had traveled the hell-like primeval univere’s spatial rift for decades. He was already a brand new person, one that saw a stark difference in life’s natural order when compared to someone like Hong Feiyu. Even the eight ancient Godly Monarchs would pale in comparison to Yi Yun at this age!

Under such circumstances, the height Yi Yun had reached made any fights with people like Hong Feiyu an insult to his status.

However, what Yi Yun said as a matter of fact left everyone dumbfounded, much less people like Bai Yanzhuo. Even Fairy Yourou was stunned. They were elites, and were all proud people, but compared to the present Yi Yun, they appeared excessively humble.

“Hahaha!” Hong Feiyu laughed maniacally as though he had heard the funniest joke in the world. “Good! Good! I want to see how I don’t have the right to fight you!”

Hong Feiyu suddenly roared as his aura rose incessantly. At that instant, he felt like a towering mountain whose peak was indiscernible. Just looking at him would leave one stifled.

“This is the Great Cosmic State’s formidable art—Cosmic Infinite, a supreme saber art!” someone exclaimed in shock. Many people knew all the formidable arts of the various major factions in the Sinkhole as they knew the back of their hand, but few had seen them demonstrated in person.

“Not only that, it even fuses the Primordial Chaos laws taught by Primordial Chaos Daolord. I never imagined that Yi Yun, who had not left his name on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith, would force Hong Feiyu to use his full strength.”

Everyone widened their eyes, afraid to miss Hong Feiyu’s attack. This was top-level strength by a member of the younger generation.

However, Yi Yun just held his teacup at that moment, as though it had nothing to do with him.

As Yi Yun spoke, he gently flicked his finger as a green beam of light flew out of his interspatial ring. It appeared like an artifact, but no one could manage to identify it. They only saw a shadow shoot out.

The thing appeared green, about the size of a fist. It was like the kind of evil spirit that roamed cemeteries, an unsettling presence.

“What was that?”

Everyone was stunned.

The moment the evil spirit appeared, it widened its green eyes as it looked around. It was none other than Poison Demon who Yi Yun had subdued in the Myriad God Ridge!

In the Fey God Tomb, Yi Yun’s meeting with Bai Yueyin allowed him to learn of Poison Demon’s origins. Back when the demonic servants invaded, Bai Yueyin’s Divine Stalactite Marrow pool had been polluted by the World Decay Poison. It was Poison Demon who absorbed all the World Decay Poison into its body. Not only did this resolve Bai Yueyin’s problems, it also strengthened Poison Demon by more than ten times!

All these years, Poison Demon had been with Yi Yun, entering places like the Chaos Gem mineral vein and the primeval universe’s space. It benefited when Yi Yun gained benefits. With its present strength, it was already extremely formidable. It could be said that just Poison Demon alone would be an illustrious figure if placed in any faction in the Sinkhole!

Having not seen blood for decades, Poison Demon drooled when he saw Hong Feiyu’s surging aura.

“Little bastard, how dare you offend my master. Go to hell!”

As Poison Demon spoke, its tiny body expanded crazily. It had instantly went from an evil spirit the size of a fist to a huge tiger the size of a mountain! It was pitch black and it had green tiger stripes on its back which seemed to burn. Its four limbs were very thick, to the point where it would take a hundred people to wrap around it. It seemed to cause the land to collapse beneath it with its every step.

“Roar!”

Poison Demon let out a tumultuous roar as terrifying Yuan Qi manifested itself as a tornado, sweeping straight towards the pine forest and uprooting the trees, liquefying them into what appeared like green waves. The waterfalls and rivers in the forest had their flows interrupted by that roar.

“This is…!?”

Upon seeing the tiger appear, everyone’s expression changed. Hong Feiyu, who was standing right in front of this pandemonium, only felt a massive force press down on him. He nearly knelt down to the ground.

It was as though he was facing a real ancient Fey. The might he had just gathered within his saber appeared as brittle as glass in front of the tiger as it exploded into smithereens.

“Stop it!”

At that moment, a loud voice sounded from afar. It came from the Divine Lord exchange. A Divine Lord who came from the Great Cosmic State had sensed the danger Hong Feiyu was in. He let out a bellow and simultaneously phased away, flying over like a bolt of lightning.

However, the tiger ignored the Divine Lord. It swiped its claw at Hong Feiyu, a strike that seemed to crash down like a mountain, one that could flip a galaxy on its head!

“Ah!”

Hong Feiyu let out a frantic howl. With his life on the line, he slashed forward with black saber in hand, producing a saber flash that appeared like a hundred-thousand-foot tall waterfall!

Cosmic Infinite!

“Ka-cha!”

The saber beam clashed with the tiger’s claw, but instantly shattered. The extremely formidable saber beam was unable to damage the tiger in any way as the claw hurled down!

“Boom!”

The land collapsed as mountains crumbled. Hong Feiyu sank deep into the ground as he was smacked straight in by the black tiger. This heavy strike shattered his meridians and bones. His organs, including his dantian, were reduced to mush!

Puah!

Blood splattered as Hong Feiyu still clutched his black saber. However, the blade had already broken. He was half buried in the earth, his body covered in blood.

Yi Yun looked coldly at Hong Feiyu, having no tinge of pity for a person who took the lives of others wantonly. Hong Feiyu was a person who could wipe out a person’s entire family, but would not stand to be insulted at all. “I said that you have no right to fight me, but you were insistent on courting death. Then, I can only satisfy you.”

At that moment, the entire area fell silent, with only Yi Yun’s voice resounding. Everyone else stood there dumbfounded like statues.

Hong Feiyu was finished, just like that? The disciple who Primordial Chaos Daolord was proud of, an elite who had left his name on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith had been smacked to mush with one swat of the behemoth.

What the heck was that!?

Everyone looked at the tiger-shaped Poison Demon and felt extreme fear. Many of them were inferior to Hong Feiyu. There was no way they could survive the tiger’s attack.

But such a terrifying behemoth had seemed to address Yi Yun as… Master? Why? Why would Yi Yun have such a servant?

“Feiyu!”

A black-robed elder flew over like a flash of lightning. Upon seeing Hong Feiyu’s wretched state, his heart convulsed in pain.

1534 - : Power Rules Supreme

CKtalon  CKtalon

The black-robed elder was acutely aware that Hong Feiyu was finished. Although he was still alive, his fate was no longer tied with the Martial Dao no matter how many natural treasures were invested in him. It could be said that he was living a life worse than death!

The black-robed elder suddenly looked towards Yi Yun and the ferocious tiger standing behind him like a towering mountain.

Upon seeing the tiger, the elder turned apprehensive. What the heck was that? Was it really an ancient great Fey?

“Little bastard, well done. You beat Feiyu into this state just because of a few spiteful words! For you to be so ruthless now, you will only get worse in the future!”

“Just a few spiteful words?” Yi Yun laughed when he heard the black-robed elder. “Your Great Cosmic State produced an old bastard named Primordial Chaos who wanted to obliterate me, and next comes a little bastard who keeps insisting on crippling me. From your point of view, everything you do is only right, but when I fight back in self-defense, I deserve to die horribly and be skinned alive by you.”

“Since all of you believe that the strong reign supreme in this martial world, why is such a weakling like Hong Feiyu here to invite insult upon himself? Isn’t it only right he end up crippled?”

“What did you say!?”

The black-robed elder’s eyes turned deeply cold.

Yi Yun completely ignored him. With a beckon of his hand, the towering tiger rapidly shrank. Soon, it became a green shadow the size of a fist. It rested on Yi Yun’s shoulder like an obedient pet.

And by this point, people also noticed that the tiger Fey had come out from a jar. The jar effused a sinister aura that left them unsettled.

Due to the existence of the tiger, everyone looked at Yi Yun differently. They originally believed that Yi Yun was someone who did not know his place, but now, they realized Yi Yun had dared to act so arrogantly because of this trump card. As for Hong Feiyu, he had always been arrogant and domineering. People he usually met were far from his match, so he could easily crush them. Today, he ended up hitting a wall, and the outcome was him being reduced to pulp.

Although Yi Yun had likely enjoyed himself in the process, he was now a sworn enemy of the entire Great Cosmic State. Although the tiger had combat strength nearing that of a Sinkhole powerhouse, it was still somewhat weak compared to the entire Great Cosmic State.

At that moment, a few people flew over from the Great Cosmic State residence. They were of all ages, but when they saw Hong Feiyu’s tragic state, all of their expressions turned grim.

The Great Cosmic State entourage that was visiting the White Lunar Divine Empire mainly came from one family clan. And Hong Feiyu was this family clan’s most outstanding son of the younger generation. They had placed their hopes on Hong Feiyu, to the point of making plans for the future Hong Feiyu to inherit the position of helming the Great Cosmic State. For this, the family clan had invested countless resources on him, but it was all turned to naught in today’s exchange.

If it was only Yi Yun, they would have long crushed him, bone by bone, to appease their hatred for him. But now, there was this terrifying tiger. None of them dared to act wantonly.

“So you obtained such a soul slave in the ancient battlefield. It’s no wonder you are so arrogant and can’t wait to show it off,” said the black-robed elder sinisterly. Based on his impression of Yi Yun’s strength, it was impossible for him to subdue such a terrifying tiger.

It could only happen if the tiger was the soul of an Ancient Fey reared by an ancient Godly Monarch.

There were ancient mighty figures who would seal the souls of powerful lifeforms into soul gonfalons before establishing a contract. They would refine them into loyal slaves. After the mighty figure perished, these slaves would remain in existence, lying in slumber inside the soul gonfalon to wait for their next master.

If Yi Yun had inherited everything from an ancient mighty figure, it was not strange that he had received such slave!

“I see…”

Everyone was enlightened. They were previously astonished. After all, being able to subdue such a powerful slave implied one had the cultivation level of a half-step Godly Monarch. It appeared impossible for Yi Yun to have such capabilities.

If he had instead obtained the heritage of a mighty figure, it was understandable. All he would have needed to do was refine the soul contract that bound the Ancient Fey’s soul for themselves. Anyone present could control the tiger Fey given such an opportunity.

Upon coming to this thought, many people felt jealous. Why did this punk have such good luck? He had already benefited immensely at the Divine Perish Hall. Now, he had even subdued the soul of an Ancient Fey. Although it was hard to claim that Yi Yun could do anything he wished in the future, anyone who wanted to touch him had to consider the price needed to do so.

“The soul of an Ancient Fey is ultimately something external. Relying on it will make one’s cultivation level stop advancing.” Bai Yanzhuo was so jealous that his intestines were twisted together.

“Brother Yanzhuo is right. The martial path requires one to experience countless life-and-death situations before breaking through bottlenecks. What this Yi Yun possesses is not his own strength. By acting so flagrantly despite having such weak strength, he might very well be sneaked up on and killed in one strike. When that happens, he might not even be able to summon the gigantic tiger in a timely fashion.”

Numerous people were coveting the opportunity that Yi Yun had obtained, but while feeling jealous, they also despised him. In the martial world, true strength would gain the respect of others. But external strength was ultimately external.

“Let’s go!”

The people from the Great Cosmic State snorted coldly as they flicked their sleeves and departed.

They were confident they could take down the huge tiger if they joined forces, but they were in the hundred thousand pavilion palaces after all. It could be ignored if juniors fought as it was unlikely to stir up anything serious. If they were to fight the tiger, it was very possible to destroy the pocket world. With the White Lunar Divine Empire’s coronation at hand and them having just lost Primordial Chaos Daolord, their situation was in no way better than how the White Lunar Divine Empire had lost its White Lunar Goddess Empress. Taking this into account, they did not wish to be at odds with the White Lunar Divine Empire.

“Senior Brother, are we just going to let this matter rest?” someone said in disgruntlement.

A ferocious glint flashed in the black-robed elder’s eyes. He said in a deep voice, “Of course not. That little bastard’s trump card is the soul of an Ancient Fey. That green jar is the vessel that holds it! Once such an Ancient Fey soul is refined, its strength will not increase. It’s even possible for it to weaken with every use. Besides, this soul of an Ancient Fey must have been in existence for a very long time, so it might only appear strong on the surface. Wait and see. With him having so much treasure on him, someone will definitely target him. That Ancient Fey will be enervated slowly!”

“Senior Brother, what you said makes sense!”

Everyone found it reasonable. It would have been fine if Yi Yun had been arrogant because of his own strength, but it was silly for him to act so arrogantly when he was relying on an Ancient Fey’s soul.

In fact, many people at the exchange had similar thoughts as the Great Cosmic State. This was even more apparent when they saw how Yi Yun had no scruples eating and drinking at the exchange. In order to get into Fairy Yourou’s good books, Bai Yanzhuo had specially prepared Lunar Songflower tea, but Yi Yun was drinking it like plain water. He would chomp down on spirit fruits worth millions of Spirit Jade. It was as though he deliberately chose the ones that were most expensive.

The items at the exchange were prepared by the various large factions. When Bai Yanzhuo saw Yi Yun finish half the Lunar Songflower tea himself, he felt the pinch. But at that moment, he was no longer in the mood to eat or drink. He had lost his appetite after being enticed by the treasures on Yi Yun.

1535 - : Soul of an Ancient Fey

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

It was difficult for the huge commotion Yi Yun had stirred up at the guest exchange to not spread. Furthermore, they were in a pocket world within the hundred thousand pavilion palaces. It only took minutes for the news to proliferate the many areas of the hundred thousand pavilion palaces. Yi Yun’s Poison Demon also became elevated to a godlike existence. Even maidservants of the White Lunar Divine Empire were discussing what had happened at the Lunar Maple Pavilion. They talked of a powerful ancient Fey that was the size of a mountain which left the entire pocket world trembling when it struck with its tiger claws, as though everything would crumble.

And when Yi Yun became the focus of attention, a rumor began spreading: Yi Yun was the husband of the empress-designate of the White Lunar Divine Empire!

Yi Yun had come to the White Lunar Divine Empire not to congratulate the empress-designate’s ascension to the throne, but to seek his wife!

This rumor was quite explosive news!

Lin Xintong was no ordinary figure. She had managed to carve her name at the top of the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith after cultivating for mere centuries. It was something not even Fairy Yourou could compare with!

It could be said that Lin Xintong was basically a woman of god that appeared once in a hundred million years in the Sinkhole. She was a freak of nature that had a high chance of becoming a Godly Monarch! There were people who courted Fairy Yourou, but there were almost none who dared court Lin Xintong. This was because she stood at a pinnacle so high that people did not even dare entertain hopes of marrying her. Just the thought of admiring her left them apprehensive. No matter how outstanding a young elite was, he would pale in comparison when standing in front of Lin Xintong.

How could such a woman of god have a husband?

The first reaction people had was of disbelief. Later, further inquiry gave rise to the knowledge that Yi Yun had entered a conflict at the entrance of the White Lunar Divine Empire when he first came. It was because Yi Yun had claimed that Lin Xintong was his wife. Such claims had infuriated the White Lunar Divine Empire.

“So it’s that punk, Yi Yun, who said it himself. I was wondering how was it possible!”

“That’s right. That punk is way too thick-skinned. He even dares to brag about such a thing. He will only be mocked by others for being out of his league!”

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. They nearly believed that Lin Xintong really did have some complicated relationship with Yi Yun. If that was the case, Yi Yun would not only be Lin Xintong’s husband, but also someone close to Fairy Yourou. He would become the public enemy of every male elite in the Sinkhole.

Although the guests that hailed from various parts of the Sinkhole responded with skepticism, the spread of this news was something distasteful to the upper echelons of the White Lunar Divine Empire.

The guards at the White Lunar Divine Empire’s entrance had been made to keep mum and no one dared to risk their lives to speak of it. However, during Yi Yun’s fight at the entrance, certain guests had felt it. There was no lack of perceptive people among the guests, and Yi Yun had not taken steps to conceal the battle. It was no wonder that the news spread.

“This punk is disgusting. I really wish to lop his head off.”

Imperial Preceptor Kun Xu spoke in frustration to the White Lunar Divine Empire’s State Council. With the situation gaining attention, it was no longer something easily resolved. Besides, Yi Yun still had his tiger soul slave!

The White Lunar Divine Empire had also stationed maidservants and guards in the Lunar Maple Pavilion, so these people had produced the complete image of the soul slave to Lingluo and Kun Xu.

Kun Xu was quite alarmed that Poison Demon was able to reduce Hong Feiyu to pulp with just one strike.

Although Hong Feiyu was a junior, he had a cultivation level of a late-stage Supremacy after all. To leave him half-dead by one swat as though he was a young chick, Kun Xu knew that even he could not easily pull that off.

“With things having developed this far, it’s already out of our hands. We have indeed underestimated Yi Yun. I never expected that he had gained such opportunities at the ancient battlefield,” said Lingluo.

If Yi Yun caused mayhem at the coronation with the tiger, the consequences would be unthinkable. Even if they could repress Yi Yun, the White Lunar Divine Empire would only become the laughing stock of the Sinkhole.

…

“Yi Yun, so you came to the White Lunar Divine Empire to seek your wife. When I heard that your wife was Lin Xintong, it really gave me a fright.”

In the Nethersky Divine World’s residence at the Lunar Maple Pavilion, Fairy Yourou was sitting in a tiny yard with Yi Yun. The sun had set, and replacing it was a bright moon hanging high in the sky as it scattered its cold lustrous glow down.

Yi Yun chuckled and said, “That’s indeed the case. However, the White Lunar Divine Empire doesn’t wish for Xintong to meet me. Besides, Xintong seems to be willing to inherit the throne, so I will only watch as a guest tomorrow. My reunion with Xintong will have to wait until the coronation ends tomorrow.”

As Yi Yun spoke, a purple flame flashed in front of him. It was the light that came from a voice transmission talisman.

The message surprisingly came from Imperial Preceptor Lingluo.

“Oh? Imperial Preceptor Lingluo’s voice transmission says that Divine General Skyjade wishes to meet me?”

Yi Yun was taken aback. He had met Divine General Skyjade previously. Back when the ancient battlefield began, many White Lunar Divine Empire elites had been gathered together. It was Divine General Skyjade who tore apart the sky and nomologically condensed a seven-colored chain which tore open a passageway into the Ancient Ruins world.

Back then, the strength which Divine General Skyjade displayed as he tore open the passage left people marveling. It also left a deep impression on Yi Yun. Even now, with Yi Yun having broken through to the Divine Lord realm and experiencing a catharsis that spanned decades, he still felt respect for Divine General Skyjade who led him into the ancient battlefield.

“Divine General Skyjade? He actually wishes to meet you…” Fairy Yourou was somewhat worried. In terms of strength and standing, he was above the three Imperial Preceptors of the White Lunar Divine Empire. However, rumor had it that Divine General Skyjade was focused on cultivation. He seldom interfered in political matters, so most matters were left to the three Imperial Preceptors. But if Divine General Skyjade ever decided on a matter, the three Imperial Preceptors had no choice but to obey.

“It is likely because of the exchange today. I’ll pay him a visit.”

“Then… Alright. Divine General Skyjade has been famous for years. He likely won’t bring harm unto you…”

Yi Yun bade Fairy Yourou farewell. There was a White Lunar Divine Empire convoy waiting for Yi Yun outside Lunar Maple Pavilion. Leading them was a youth dressed in cotton clothes and jade headpin.

“I’m Kun Ping. Follow me!”

The cotton-robed youth gave Yi Yun a disdainful glance before turning to leave.

Yi Yun did not mind it. However, Kun Ping’s name made him form connections. The White Lunar Divine Empire had only one family with the family name Kun. That was the family clan which Imperial Preceptor Kun Xu belonged to. From the looks of it, Kun Ping was from the Kun family as well.

Kun Ping led Yi Yun into a teleportation array, and Yi Yun found himself in front of a dark valley the next instant.

A thin numinous fog hung over the valley, and in the middle of it was a palace that was dug out of the mountain itself. All the materials used in the construction were rough boulders.

At that moment, a powerful voice sounded from inside the palace—

“Is that Yi Yun? Come on in!”

Yi Yun took a deep breath and stepped into the stone palace. In the grand hall, he saw a man dressed in combat armor.

He had crimson hair and had rippling muscles. His dantian appeared deep like the sea, and the lifeblood flowing through him was vibrant. It surged out like billowing flames of war.

Just by standing there he casually made the surrounding laws gather towards him. They would sink into his body and vanish.

This person was none other than Divine General Skyjade!

1536 - : Divine General Skyjade

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

While standing in front of Divine General Skyjade, Yi Yun felt like he was facing a primordial behemoth. He took a deep breath and gave him a junior’s bow.

In fact, Divine General Skyjade’s leading of Yi Yun and company into the ancient battlefield made him a mentor-like figure to Yi Yun in a particular sense. It was just like how aspiring mortal scholars participated in imperial examinations. All the examination candidates had to address the invigilators as teachers. Even in the future, they would still greet them respectfully at various festivals.

“Dispense with the formalities. Have a seat.”

Divine General Skyjade had a vigorous-sounding voice. He also had strength that left one’s heart palpitating. Beside Divine General Skyjade were the two Imperial Preceptors, Lingluo and Kun Xu. They sat in seats lower in position both figuratively and literally. More than half the upper echelons of the White Lunar Divine Empire were sitting there. The imposing might they formed was like a vast ocean of stars. Most people would find it difficult to stand straight in front of them, but Yi Yun had no trouble strolling over to the three and taking a seat.

“Yi Yun, you are pretty good!” Divine General Skyjade looked at Yi Yun before praising him. “Fifty years ago, I opened the door to the ancient battlefield. Back then, I had wished that those good-for-nothing disciples would amount to something, but I never expected that the most illustrious one would be you. During your trip to the Divine Perish Hall, you obtained treasures that had been buried in it for hundreds of millions of years. The light that providence shines down on you is far beyond what the typical person enjoys.”

Yi Yun did not say a word. All he did was listen silently.

“With so much treasure on you, you should know that many people in the Sinkhole wish you dead! No one has really done anything to you at the hundred thousand pavilion palaces, but once you leave, there will likely be people attempting to murder you for your treasure!”

“Senior, what do you wish to say?” Yi Yun lifted his eyelids and looked toward Divine General Skyjade.

“I wish to say that if you are willing, my White Lunar Divine Empire is offering to ensure your safety!”

“Oh?” Yi Yun pricked up his brows. He knew that Divine General Skyjade had more to say beyond that.

“Yi Yun! You are a clever person. At the ancient battlefield, many Sinkhole powerhouses wished you dead, but you managed to lie low for decades. Even if you missed out on the later opportunities, you managed to leave with your life. Your safe return has caught people unawares. Although you failed to leave your name on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith, I believe you are heads and shoulders above the rest!”

While Divine General Skyjade spoke, his deep eyes looked at Yi Yun, who had a calm reaction. “Senior, you flatter me. For you to say so much, it likely has to do with my wife, right!?”

When Yi Yun said that, Imperial Preceptor Lingluo rebuked him angrily. “How impudent! Who’s your wife!? If you continue with your nonsense, you will incur the wrath of my White Lunar Divine Empire. We can vanquish you right here!”

Lingluo had always been loyal to the White Lunar Goddess Empress. She was equally loyal to the inheritor of the throne, Lin Xintong, so there was no way she would allow for Lin Xintong’s reputation to be sullied.

“It’s alright!” Divine General Skyjade cut off Lingluo. “No one can change the fact that Yi Yun and Her Majesty were husband and wife back in the mortal world.”

Since Divine General Skyjade had said so, Lingluo had no choice but to give up. All she did was give Yi Yun a warning glare. It was all because of Lin Xintong’s past with Yi Yun that, no matter how talented she was, there were ultimately some imperfections to her.

Yi Yun completely ignored Lingluo. He looked at Divine General Skyjade and waited for him to continue.

“Yi Yun, I believe you have already guessed what I am going to say. That’s right. The protection I propose comes with attached conditions. I can guarantee you that in the next ten thousand years, the White Lunar Divine Empire will ensure your safety. The opportunities you gained at the ancient battlefield will be yours to keep. No one shall have any thoughts of taking them from you. However, you will have to swear on your Dao heart to sever all ties with Lin Xintong. You are never to meet her!”

Yi Yun laughed as he shook his head. “So that’s how it is. Senior Skyjade, your meeting with me is to make me retreat in the face of difficulties. I am very eager to know how you view my wife’s marriage. Does your White Lunar Divine Empire have any rules that require the empress to be single her entire life? Or could it be that you have chosen a husband for the empress? Do you wish to ally with some particular major faction through a so-called marriage alliance?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s question, Imperial Preceptor Kun Xu sneered. “You are overthinking things. Regardless of the choices available to Her Majesty when it comes to marriage, you will not be one of the choices. How can someone who has not left his name on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith be worthy of Her Majesty?”

Kun Xu had long wished Yi Yun dead. But now, after hearing Divine General Skyjade’s intention to protect Yi Yun, Kun Xu found Yi Yun more and more of a sore sight.

“Enough!” Divine General Skyjade stopped Kun Xu. “Yi Yun, it’s not true that the White Lunar Divine Empire’s empress cannot marry. However, Her Majesty has hopes of becoming a Godly Monarch in the future. Talk of marriage will be something at least ten thousand years into the future. That someone should be someone who also has a chance of becoming a Godly Monarch in the future. If there isn’t any, she will remain single her entire life and focus on her pursuit of the Great Dao. When women cultivate martial arts to the extremum, either they maintain their primordial Yin body, or they dual cultivate with an equally outstanding Dao partner. When placed before the pursuit of the Great Dao, romance is ephemeral, something that will pass in a blink of an eye.”

“Oh? What… You said primordial Yin body?” Yi Yun was taken aback when he heard Divine General Skyjade. Lin Xintong had long been his. How could she still have a primordial Yin body?

“You shut up!”

Upon hearing Yi Yun, Lingluo fumed. She yearned to wipe Yi Yun out down to the last speck of dust.

Yi Yun rubbed his nose and seemed to understand the situation. Lin Xintong cultivated in the Grand Reincarnation Technique. By reincarnating nine times, each rebirth would be a new person, allowing her to mature again.

Although her first life’s primordial Yin was no longer existent, preventing her from perfection, the subsequent lives allowed her to accumulate her primordial Yin, allowing her body to turn extremely pure.

This was the heaven-defying aspect of the Grand Reincarnation Technique.

“Senior Skyjade. You seem to have made a mistake on one point. I do not need your protection. I can handle any assassination attempts.”

“Oh!?” Divine General Skyjade furrowed his brows. He had already exercised great restraint to sit down with a junior like Yi Yun and negotiate with him cordially. After all, Lin Xintong had married Yi Yun in the first place. Their White Lunar Divine Empire did have some guilt over separating the two. But now, Yi Yun thought nothing of his promise. One had to know that he had never gone back on his words. Apart from Godly Monarchs, the entire Sinkhole valued his promises.

“You really overestimate your abilities!” Kun Xu lost his patience. “Punk! The ability to “handle” you claim to have is thanks to that soul slave, right? Do you think that soul slave is invincible? It can at best bully a junior like Hong Feiyu!”

“Enough!” Although Divine General Skyjade felt that Yi Yun did not know how to appreciate favors, he still said patiently, “I have seen the combat scenes of that Ancient Fey soul. Your soul slave is indeed powerful, but it is still not the match of a Sinkhole overlord. It’s inferior compared to Primordial Chaos Daolord, who perished in the ancient battlefield back then. Under such a situation, you have garnered the attention of countless people. You have also offended the Great Cosmic State. If you were to leave the hundred thousand pavilion palaces, you will not live past three days.”

“Senior Skyjade, there’s no need for you to worry about it then. I can tell you very frankly that I will not sever my ties with Xintong. I appreciate the White Lunar Divine Empire’s intent of protecting me, but I have no need for it.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he stood up in preparation to leave!

1537 - : Protection

CKtalon  CKtalon

Just as Yi Yun was about to turn around, he suddenly felt the space around him rapidly tighten. He suddenly felt like he was in a cage, completely restrained.

“Oh?”

Yi Yun’s expression turned cold for this was something he had experienced previously. The person who had conjured it was none other than Imperial Preceptor Kun Xu.

“Punk, Divine General Skyjade has shown a willingness to compromise by negotiating with you. He has offered you excellent conditions, but you aren’t able to appreciate his favor. You really overestimate yourself. Do you think that by lingering around here, you will be able to be together with Her Majesty? I’m telling you very clearly that you and her are from two different worlds! The gap between the two of you will only increase with time!”

Imperial Preceptor Kun Xu mocked with an eccentric tone. Divine General Skyjade did not stop him either. He himself was irritated by Yi Yun’s attitude.

He said, “Young man, do not think of this as a simple negotiation.”

When Divine General Skyjade said that, his tone had turned cold. He released his might and it felt as though an ancient behemoth laying in slumber inside him had awoken.

“Skyjade, do you wish to retain me?” Against Divine General Skyjade’s overwhelming repression, Yi Yun turned his head. He did not wish to fight Divine General Skyjade since it would only be a couple of hours until the coronation.

“If you refuse to see the errors of your ways, you will only force me to take action. Tomorrow is the White Lunar Divine Empire’s coronation and our White Lunar Divine Empire is the organizer. Participation is naturally decided by us.”

As Divine General Skyjade spoke, he took steps forward and closed in on Yi Yun. “Yi Yun, I’ll give you two choices. The first is what I just said. Swear upon your Dao heart and immediately leave the White Lunar Divine Empire. That way, I can ensure your safety for ten thousand years. I can even offer you some of my private collection to guarantee you that you have no troubles when cultivating!”

“The second choice is I will permit you to meet Her Majesty once tomorrow!”

“Lord Skyjade…” Lingluo was alarmed when she heard Divine General Skyjade’s offer.

He waved his hand and sent a voice transmission to her, shutting her up.

“Tomorrow’s coronation is the most important ceremony for Her Majesty. I will permit you to attend the ceremony on account of you being her former husband and for the ties you shared with her. It will also help to end your obsession towards her. From that moment forth, I will not interfere with anything that befalls you, be it the Great Cosmic State or the pursuit of other factions. You will be left to your own devices. If you continue clinging to Her Majesty, don’t you blame me for executing you!”

“Apart from that, I will seal your soul slave for twenty-four hours! Don’t worry, once the twenty-fours pass, your soul slave will be restored to normal. It will not be affected in any way!”

Divine General Skyjade’s imposing attitude and tone left no room for doubt.

The sealing of the soul slave was naturally to prevent Yi Yun from causing mayhem at the coronation. If that happened, the coronation would fall into disarray.

Yi Yun had a calm expression. “Your worries of me causing mayhem at the coronation tomorrow are superfluous. My soul slave does not need to be sealed by you. Xintong is the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s disciple and she is indebted to the White Lunar Goddess Empress. Since she is willing to inherit the throne, I will naturally be a silent observer during the coronation. If it wasn’t for Xintong’s wishes, just the restraints you have placed on me time and time again would have long caused me to bring pandemonium on you. Would I be here discussing choices with you?”

“What did you say?” Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Imperial Preceptor Kun Xu laughed out loud. This was like a mouse running into a tiger’s cave to taunt the tiger: I would have long dismantled your tiger cave because of the way you treat me. Yi Yun was way over his head.

“Yi Yun, I mentioned that I have always thought highly of you and think of you as a genius. And based on the Sinkhole’s convention, I was the one who guided you into the ancient battlefield’s trials, so you are considered half a disciple of mine. I have great hopes for you to amount to something great, but now, I feel that you have gained too many opportunities too easily. It has blinded you to the reality of this world and makes you say such words. I will not waste my breath with you. I will repeat myself one last time. Choose from the two. If you choose the second one, you have to seal your soul slave!”

As Divine General Skyjade spoke, his aura locked onto Yi Yun like an aroused Ancient Fey.

Yi Yun fell silent for a long time before he said slowly, “Skyjade! Fifty years ago, it was you who opened up the path for the White Lunar Divine Empire, allowing me to enter the Ancient Ruins world’s ancient battlefield. My gaining of huge opportunities in the ancient battlefield makes me indebted to you.”

“Although you opened the path not because of me, I still owe you one. Today, I will return that debt. From this moment forth, I do not owe you. That weak connection that ties us as master and disciples shall also end!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he threw out the green jar in his hand to Divine General Skyjade.

Divine General Skyjade caught the jar and gave Yi Yun a deep, meaningful look. Although the young man in front of him spoke impetuously, his tone gave one a baffling feeling like he had everything under control.

Divine General Skyjade did not say a word as he closed up the jar under multiple layers of seals.

Yi Yun silently watched Divine General Skyjade’s actions. He had already sent a voice transmission to Poison Demon to stay put. However, he naturally would object if Divine General Skyjade showed any thoughts of harming Poison Demon.

About a minute later, Divine General Skyjade delivered the final seal on the jar. The seals were done!

From beginning to end, Poison Demon was unharmed. Only the space around the jar itself had been sealed up by Divine General Skyjade.

It appeared that Divine General Skyjade was deliberately trying to show Yi Yun that having a trump card in the form of a soul slave was nothing considering how it took him a mere minute to seal it up. In front of him, the soul slave was unable to produce so much as a stir.

“It’s done!” Divine General Skyjade threw the jar back at Yi Yun. “This is the path you chose. Don’t you regret it.”

Yi Yun did not say a word as he turned and stepped out the hall.

…

“Lord Skyjade, are you really letting him meet Her Majesty?”

Lingluo was feeling displeased inside the hall. Even though Yi Yun’s soul slave had been sealed, and he was unable to do much during the coronation, she felt peeved. She did not wish for Lin Xintong to have any more ties with that man.

“I’m only letting him give up! Since he refuses to see the error of his ways, I’ll let him meet Her Majesty. I’ll let him see that Her Majesty is no longer that naive girl from his memories.” When Divine General Skyjade said that, he snorted coldly. “Tomorrow, he will realize that he might acknowledge Her Majesty, but Her Majesty will not acknowledge him. Then, he will know how much of a joke he is.”

“Yes, Lord Skyjade…” Lingluo nodded. She had watched Lin Xintong’s growth. When she initially entered the White Lunar Divine Empire, she was a young girl who often succumbed to lovesickness, but after one reincarnation, Lin Xintong would experience a transformation. Over the centuries, she slowly severed herself from her mortal ties. She went from a girl who was prone to melancholic sentiments to a person who grew in strength. In addition, her emotional development had rapidly matured, in a way that Lingluo had never seen her entire life. It even exceeded what she thought possible.

How could such a powerful woman acknowledge a husband from the mortal world?

Lingluo believed that her past worries were unnecessary. Perhaps Lin Xintong would never have her heart stirred by a man. The only thing that could do that was the pinnacle of the Martial Dao and the Great Dao of Supremacy!

Now, with the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s vanishing, the heavy burden of the White Lunar Divine Empire was resting on Lin Xintong’s shoulders. She had never disappointed Lingluo, and instead, given her numerous pleasant surprises. This time, it was simply a test of her romantic emotions. How could Lin Xintong not be able to pass the test?

“If there’s nothing else, take your leave. We cannot afford to mess up the coronation tomorrow!”

“Yes!” Lingluo and Kun Xu bowed and took their leave.

1538 - : Conditions

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

There were as many factions in the Sinkhole, big or small, as there were grains of sand in the Ganges river. As the Sinkhole was extremely massive, these factions seldom crossed the universe and gathered together. Such a grand meeting that gathered nearly all the major factions in the Sinkhole happened less than once in a hundred thousand years.

A grand meeting of this scale was not something even the millionth or ten millionth year birthday celebrations of certain patriarchs of major factions could match. After all, Lin Xintong had an extremely unique identity. As a future Godly Monarch and someone who had broken a hundred-million-year-old record in the Ancient Ruins world, she was someone everyone in the Sinkhole knew of.

On the day of the coronation, the hundred thousand pavilion palaces’ massive array was opened up. An immortal palace that resembled a continent flew into the sky, scattering billions of silky threads that cascaded down to the land. Each thread was the amalgamation of pure Yuan Qi. Many low-ranked warriors who knew that they did not have the requirements to participate in the coronation still came despite the immense distance. They could not ascend up to the hundred thousand pavilion palaces, but just meditating beneath it in cultivation was an immense opportunity.

As for young elites who managed to break through into the Dao Palace realm before turning a thousand years old, or those who reached the cultivation level of a Supremacy, they did not require invitations. They could directly enter the pocket world where the coronation was.

This pocket world was the core of the hundred thousand pavilion palaces. It had been personally set up by Bai Yueyin herself, so the space was extremely stable.

After people entered this world, they saw a huge blue ocean. In the middle of the ocean was an island. To their surprise, they saw a white immortal palace sparkling with divine line floating in the middle of it.

“Oh? That immortal palace…”

People were astonished. Someone recognize that the immortal palace was the White Lunar Divine Empire’s cornerstone treasure. It was also Bai Yueyin’s intrinsic artifact, the White Jade Phoenix Palace.

“What’s happening? Hasn’t Bai Yueyin perished? Why has this immortal palace appeared again. Furthermore, it’s floating in midair?”

Everyone exchanged looks. It would be groundbreaking news in the Sinkhole if Bai Yueyin remained alive. Many had believed that the days of the White Lunar Divine Empire’s hegemony over all the major factions in the Sinkhole was over, but from the looks of it, that was no longer the case!

Many Sinkhole overlords did not wish for Bai Yueyin to be alive.

“You must be mistaken. Something untoward must have happened to Bai Yueyin. The White Jade Phoenix Palace was able to float high above the hundred thousand pavilion palaces in the past, with an emitted halo even brighter than this.”

A voice suddenly sounded. People turned back and saw that the person who spoke was an elder. His attire indicated that he was an Elder of the First Beginnings Immortal Gate.

“But if Bai Yueyin is dead, how does the White Jade Phoenix Palace have the power to fly again?” someone asked puzzled.

The elder took a deep breath and said slowly, “If the White Jade Phoenix Palace has a new owner, it can naturally be powered. Although it’s strength is far from what it was in the past…”

When the elder said that, everyone’s hearts jolted. Could it be…

“Lin Xintong! She must have refined the White Jade Phoenix Palace. It already has a new owner.”

“How… how is that possible? That’s a cherished treasure at the Godly Monarch level!”

People found it unbelievable. Lin Xintong was still young, and with the White Jade Phoenix Palace being Bai Yueyin’s intrinsic artifact, it definitely had her soul mark embedded in it. At Lin Xintong’s cultivation level, gaining the White Jade Phoenix Palace’s recognition was far from easy!

Owning an artifact and powering it were two different things. From the looks of it, Lin Xintong already had the ability to power the White Jade Phoenix Palace!

Was this the new empress…

Before even seeing Lin Xintong, everyone felt the pressure that Lin Xintong left on them. People originally believed that the White Lunar Divine Empire was in a predicament. Lin Xintong was young and unable to handle the pressures of empresshood, but now, it appeared that as long as Lin Xintong did not perish, there was no question that the White Lunar Divine Empire would return to peak prominence once again.

Not far off, Yi Yun was silently listening to the discussions of these people. He looked up at the White Jade Phoenix Palace feeling a sense of bafflement. After all these years of separation, Xintong had experienced a few rounds of reincarnation. What would their meeting be like…

“Yi Yun, your wife seems to stand on an entirely different plane…” Fairy Yourou said worriedly.

Although she believed Yi Yun’s take on the matter, the couple had been separated for too long. Now, their statuses stood in stark contrast. There were many major obstacles that reality brought which were difficult to surmount. She was worried that Lin Xintong had changed.

Yi Yun said, “Miss Yourou, you don’t have to worry. I know my wife.”

“Heh, know your wife? You really live in a dream.”

At that moment, a harsh voice sounded. Yi Yun turned to look over and saw a group of people walking towards him. One of them was a youth wearing colorful clothes. He had a jade hairpin on his head.

Yi Yun knew this person. Back when Yi Yun visited Divine General Skyjade, it was this person who had led the way. His name was Kun Ping, a member of the Kun family.

“The person I was talking about is this man, the one who claims that he is the new empress’s husband,” Kun Ping said to the people beside him. All of these people wore treasured clothes that were the work of refiners. The ornaments they were decked with, such as jade pendants, rings,and life-protection talismans, were all painstakingly created artifacts.

Clearly, they were the elites of various major factions who enjoyed vast amounts of resources.

As for Kun Ping, he had an extraordinary identity. He was the most outstanding youth of the Kun family’s younger generation. He had hopes of inheriting Kun Xu’s position as Imperial Preceptor.

Kun Ping also cherished the rare opportunity of the empress’s coronation to befriend the young elites of other factions. For instance, the disciple of the First Beginnings Immortal Gate’s sect master, Mu Yun, Nethersword Zhu Ningxie, Konglun, etc. All of them had esteemed statuses.

To acquaint himself with these people, Kun Ping naturally chose something interesting to share. For instance, an oddball like Yi Yun was quite a topic of conversation.

Fairy Yourou frowned when she saw the group of people. Any one of them had a status in no way inferior to hers. At most, it was just a difference in their talent.

“So you are Yi Yun. I’ve long heard about you!” Mu Yun cupped his fists. “I heard that you obtained quite a sizable amount of opportunities in the Divine Perish Hall. In a few more months, it’s my master’s birthday celebration. I wish to buy the Netherworld fruit and nebulous Primordial Chaos essence from you as gifts for my master, I will give you a fair price.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun gave a faint smile. He immediately realized that it was no coincidence that Kun Ping had brought these people here to him. These people were likely looking for him for his treasures.

“I have already refined the Netherworld fruit and the nebulous Primordial Chaos essence for myself. They were used to improve my time and Primordial Chaos laws.”

“Brother Yi, you must be joking. Such rare treasures require a thousand years to refine a tiny portion of it. How could Brother Yi have taken onlu a few decades to refine it clean? Brother Yi, you just have no intentions of selling, am I right? My First Beginnings Immortal Gate is a famous orthodox sect. If we want anything from you, we will pay the required price. If it were some unorthodox sect who had eyed your treasures, the treasures would only bring trouble to you.”

Mu Yun had a threatening tone to his words.

Yi Yun said, “A few decades? No, you are mistaken. Those few things I gained from the Divine Perish Hall were refined in a few months.”

“Heh!”

Mu Yun and company laughed without a word. Yi Yun had made a ridiculous remark that they could not be bothered to expose.

Beside Mu Yun, Konglun gave a Buddhist proclamation as he said slowly, “This Penniless Monk has heard that Young Master Yi has a green bone jar with him. In it is an evil demon who is ruthless in its ways. It managed to maim Patron Hong Feiyu in one strike. Such an inauspicious item might one day attack its owner. Young Master Yi, you should consider handing it to me. This Penniless Monk cultivates the Buddhist Dharma that can subdue the evil demon and allow it to be used by the orthodox. It would result in immense merit.”

Yi Yun flicked the dust off his sleeves and said slowly, “How can you two juniors have anything of worth? You wish to use your trash to exchange for my treasures? It’s clearly daylight robbery, yet you do so with such dignified airs. I think you are worse than the unorthodox. At least they do not try to erect monuments to celebrate their chastity.”

“You!?”

Mu Yun was enraged. Although he did plan on using his sect’s might to gain some advantage, Yi Yun would also benefit from it. He never expected Yi Yun to toss aside decorum without any heed, hinting that they were whores!

Kun Ping said coldly, “Yi Yun, you are truly gutsy. Do you know who their masters are? Young Master Mu Yun’s master is the First Beginnings Immortal Gate’s Sacred Horizon Divine Lord! As for Master Konglun, he is the eldest disciple of Eclipse Arhat. It’s your good fortune that they want your items!”

“Sacred Horizon Divine Lord? Eclipse Arhat? So the both of you are their disciples. I couldn’t care less even if it were your masters standing in front of me. To think two disciples dare flaunt themselves in front of me. None of you are worthy enough!” Yi Yun said with a scoff.

What he said stunned everyone present. Not only Mu Yun and Konglun, even Fairy Yourou was stunned.

What did Yi Yun just say? He actually said that he couldn’t care less even if the First Beginnings Immortal Gate’s Sacred Horizon Divine Lord or the Mahayana Monastery’s abbot Eclipse Arhat were here in person!?

“Yi Yun… cut it out. Both of them are Sinkhole overlords. Furthermore, they were both invited here for the new empress’s coronation to bear witness to Lin Xintong’s authority. These two seniors are my Master’s equal…”

Fairy Yourou quickly sent a voice transmission which Yi Yun seem to ignore.

“Hahaha!” Nethersword Zhu Ningxie could not help but roar with laughter. “You couldn’t care less about Sacred Horizon Divine Lord or Eclipse Arhat, then wouldn’t it mean that my master, West River Divine Lord, would share the same fate?”

“West River Divine Lord?” Yi Yun naturally remembered the name. Back in the primeval universe, West River Divine Lord had the greatest killing intent for him apart from Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord!

Now that Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord were dead, there was only West River Divine Lord left. However, the bastard had fled.

Yi Yun was someone bent on exacting revenge, but due to the Ancestor God, it was impossible for Yi Yun to pursue West River Divine Lord. It was true that enemies often crossed each other’s path.

“So you are West River Divine Lord’s disciple.”

“That’s right!” Zhu Ningxie wore a look of arrogance. West River Divine Lord had numerous disciples, but he was the most outstanding one of them all. If nothing out of the ordinary happened, he would likely inherit West River Divine Lord’s mantle in the future.

“To think a beggar who grubs for food would dare show contempt for royal aristocrats in order to flaunt himself. I find it lamentable that you lead a human’s life. Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, Eclipse Arhat, and my master will soon arrive. I’m afraid you will only end up kneeling down under their combined might!”

1539 - : Coronation

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun and Zhu Ningxie’s conflict attracted the attention of many. Yi Yun was just too famous. Ignoring the fact that he had declared himself to be the husband of the new empress who was out of his league, he was now trampling on several Sinkhole powerhouses. It was as though he was punching Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and kicking Eclipse Arhat.

“So West River Divine Lord will be coming to the coronation as well. I happen to have things to settle with him. It looks like I’ll be settling them today,” said Yi Yun leisurely as he shot a glance at Zhu Ningxie.

Yi Yun’s words left Zhu Ningxie completely dumbfounded.

Zhu Ningxie turned agape as he looked at Yi Yun like he was a mad man. He was going to settle a score with his master, West River Divine Lord? This fellow must be nuts!

Zhu Ningxie was originally mocking Yi Yun, but now, he couldn’t even be bothered. With him reaching such a level of bragging, people were now looking at Yi Yun with pity.

“Yi Yun, let’s leave!”

Fairy Yourou quickly pulled Yi Yun away. She felt her face burn when she saw the number of people gathering around them increase. Even Fairy Yourou’s few maidservants yearned to kneel down to ask Yi Yun to stop bragging. It made their Nethersky Divine World appear to be as much an oddity as Yi Yun.

“Miss, Young Master Yi is probably already mentally unstable. Let’s leave first.” A maidservant sent Fairy Yourou a voice transmission. Fairy Yourou was also very embarrassed. What was up with Yi Yun today?

At that moment, a series of otherworldly music began to play. Everyone was taken aback as they looked in the direction of the music. They saw a divine ship appear in the sea. It couldn’t be considered too big, but its body was filled with a lustrous glow. It appeared to slowly cruise over from an ancient void.

“It’s the White Lunar Divine Empire’s spirit ship!”

Everyone watched as the spirit ship lifted off from the surface of the sea and flew into the air before entering the White Jade Phoenix Palace and vanishing.

Following that, the numinous light that the White Jade Phoenix Palace emitted increased in intensity. People could feel themselves being bathed in the numinous light even dozens of kilometers away, making them feel refreshed in both body and mind.

“It’s the new empress! The new empress has probably entered the White Jade Phoenix Palace while on that ship!”

With the new empress’s arrival, it also signaled the unfolding of the coronation’s curtains!

At that moment, all the warriors began to offer their well wishes.

The White Lunar Divine Empire’s new empress’s coronation naturally required them to send gifts. These gifts were also considered diplomatic gifts. Every major faction prepared their gift with painstakingly detail. It would be embarrassing if the items they gave were too shabby.

“Yi Yun, didn’t you say that the new empress of the White Lunar Divine Empire is your Dao partner? You must have prepared some impressive gifts, right? How about it? Do you plan to give Her Majesty the Netherworld tree’s fruit or the nebulous Primordial Chaos essence?”

Mu Yun suddenly jested when the handing over of gifts began.

What he said instantly attracted the attention of many people. Yi Yun had been bragging previously, with a skin as thick as a city wall’s. No matter how they mocked him, Yi Yun appeared impenetrably thickheaded. It made them feel like rushing forward to beat him up; but now, they finally had a chance to see him make a fool of himself.

“That’s right, since it’s your Dao partner’s coronation, you must have prepared some important gifts. I wonder what you brought?”

Zhu Ningxie looked at Yi Yun with a teasing look. The Netherworld tree’s fruit or the nebulous Primordial Chaos essence were Yi Yun’s cornerstone treasures. He refused to believe that Yi Yun would be willing to hand either of them over.

“What I gift for my wife’s coronation depends on my sincerity. It has nothing to do with you,” scoffed Yi Yun. He couldn’t be bothered to deal with them.

“Even at this stage, when your face has been riddled like a bee’s honeycomb, you insist on your facade. How pitiful.”

As Mu Yun spoke, he handed over his congratulatory gift.

“First Beginnings Immortal Gate’s congratulatory gift: One block of Blood-Patterned Black Jade! One piece of Soul Nurturing Wood!”

The master of ceremonies in charge of announcing the gifts was an elder dressed in azure-colored clothes. Although he was only a master of ceremonies, he enjoyed a very high standing. He was the White Lunar Divine Empire’s best appraiser. Although his cultivation level was at the half-step Divine Lord realm, he had unparalleled eye when it came to appraising items. There were few rare treasures in the world that he hadn’t seen.

Upon hearing the azure-clothed elder’s words, everyone was secretly amazed. The gifts Mu Yun had given were at least worth a hundred Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli.

However, although these treasures were valuable, they were items that could be bought on the market. This was in line with the tradition of gifts given by major factions. It looked decent, but it was also not a core cultivation resource, making it most suitable. After all, no faction would wish to provide invaluable resources for other factions to nurture their members with.

“Amitabha. My Mahayana Monastery has always been poor. This Penniless Monk will gift a Nine Treasured Lotus on behalf of his master.”

Konglun also handed over his gift. Although he claimed to be poor, the Nine Treasure Lotus was similarly worth about a hundred Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli.

Following that, it was Zhu Ningxie. He gifted a sword forged from an ancient divine metal. It’s worth was similar to the gifts of the other two major factions. Clearly, the three factions had agreed on this in private.

“It’s your turn.”

Zhu Ningxie gave Yi Yun a glance as the corners of his mouth curled up. He refused to believe that Yi Yun would produce the Netherworld tree’s fruit.

“Yi Yun, did you not prepare some rare item? I forgot to remind you that the coronation requires congratulatory gifts. I have some treasured items here which are worth a hundred or two hundred Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli. Why don’t you…” Fairy Yourou sent Yi Yun a voice transmission.

“There’s no need.”

Yi Yun shook his head. He was only there to meet Lin Xintong, and had really forgotten to prepare a gift for the coronation. But speaking of which, even mortal couples would prepare gifts for each other during their wedding anniversaries, so how could he not prepare some gifts, considering how he had not seen his wife for centuries?

Yi Yun thought about it and took out a box from his interspatial ring and placed it in front of the azure-clothed elder.

Without saying a word, he opened the box silently.

The box appeared inconspicuous. There were two irregular-shaped ice crystals in it. They were condensed from the frost ice of Mirage Snow, and sealed within were two tiny Dao patterns.

What was this?

The azure-clothed elder was taken aback. He was very knowledgeable and knew countless treasures. Typically, all he needed was a glance to identify an object, and that also allowed him to give a detailed list of information about it. However, he failed to readily identify the two Dao pattern marks Yi Yun had given.

For it to be something even he could not recognize instantly meant it was definitely rare, even if it was not precious.

“Is it a nomological mark? Yi Yun, are you really so unwilling to produce the Netherworld tree’s fruit that you instead condensed two nomological marks for the new empress to study? Hahaha!”

Mu Yun laughed out loud. In the martial world, top mighty figures could condense Dao patterns from their own nomological insights. These Dao patterns could be given to their disciples for studying, and if the person who condensed the Dao patterns was nearing the Godly Monarch realm, the Dao patterns they condensed would be extremely rare and precious. It was equivalent to handing over a portion of their life-long heritage.

However, the Dao patterns condensed by juniors were worth nothing due to their weak nomological insights.

Zhu Ningxie quipped, “He sure made a great calculated move. He does not need to spend a single Spirit Jade by condensing a nomological mark himself. Is this considered a congratulatory gift? That’s just too stingy.”

When Mu Yun and Zhu Ningxie said this, the people around began to break out in a flurry of discussion. People looked at Yi Yun with contemptuous looks.

Even if Yi Yun was unaffiliated with any sects and was poor, and also unwilling to give up a rare treasure like the Netherworld tree’s fruit, he should have at the very least taken out something worth slightly more than ten Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli as a gift. That shouldn’t have been difficult. As an itinerant cultivator, it was enough for him to present something of that value. However, they never expected Yi Yun to be so stingy. He had bragged so proudly, but now, all he could produce was something worthless. It was likely that Yi Yun would brag about how awesome the item he gave was.

Yi Yun completely ignored the discussions of the people. All he did was look at the azure-clothed elder.

At that moment, the elder had walked close to the box. Although his eyes were wizened, they flickered and produced a glint. He stared intently at the marks that were enclosed in the nomological glow.

Although what Yi Yun had taken out was rare, the azure-clothed elder had seen numerous treasures. Even if it was something rare, he could deduce a thing or two.

“Could this be… a Royal Seal? A Divine Lord Royal Seal!?”

This thought suddenly streaked across the azure-clothed elder’s mind as he said it out loud subconsciously.

“What? This punk gave a Divine Lord Royal Seal?” Mu Yun was taken aback. It was not that Divine Lord Royal Seals were very rare, but most Divine Lord Royal Seals would dissipate a few years after their owners perished. They were only at best used to study the laws inside. He found it odd. He had seen several Divine Lord Royal Seals in the past, but they were different from the two in front of him.

“That’s right! It’s a Divine Lord Royal Seal!”

The azure-clothed elder said with certainty. His eyes were lit and indeed, all the Royal Seals he had seen in the past were different from these two!

As he observed them carefully, the azure-clothed elder turned excited. He came to a particular realization as his held his breath. He extended his trembling fingers to slowly approach the two Dao pattern marks. When his fingers touched the two ice crystals, they melted silently.

Immediately, the two Dao pattern marks emitted a dazzling divine beam! They were like the appearance of two suns. All the laws in the pocket world were stirred by the two tiny Dao patterns like a whale sucking in water!

“Buzz——”

Yuan Qi surged as the two Dao patterns formed a vortex. Everyone who was offering their gifts were stunned by this scene. They looked over in astonishment, unsure of what had just happened.

At that moment, the countless nomological patterns in the sky condensed to form two blurry phantoms. They stood high in the sky, like an Ancient Godly Monarch who stood at the pinnacle of the Martial Dao. They appeared infinitely majestic.

Some of the ones with weaker cultivations only felt an immense pressure bear down on them. They nearly couldn’t stand firm. Even Mu Yun and Zhu Ningxie, elites of the younger generation, could not help but take a few steps back because they were just too close.

“What… what’s happening!?” Mu Yun exclaimed.

At that moment, the azure-clothed elder’s face was filled with astonishment and excitement. As an appraiser, the greatest joy in his life was to see heavenly treasures.

“Godly Monarch Royal Seals! Godly Monarch Royal Seals! When Godly Monarchs perished in ancient times, they would leave behind Royal Seals. All my life, I have only seen introductions of Godly Monarch Royal Seals in books, but I never imagined to be able to see them with my very own eyes!”

When the azure-clothed elder said this, all the guests were alarmed. They widened their eyes to look at the two shimmering Royal Seals. All the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi were raging around them, but they had all turned silent.

All of them knew very clearly what a Godly Monarch Royal Seal implied!

However, how could a junior gift two Godly Monarch Royal Seals? One had to know that just one Godly Monarch Royal Seal was enough to create a Sinkhole overlord. Two combined could create a top mighty figure like Sacred Horizon Divine Lord or Eclipse Arhat!

All the riches of many top factions in the Sinkhole would amount to only three or four Godly Monarch Royal Seals. Yet, Yi Yun had casually handed out half the worth of a top Sinkhole faction.

“Im… Impossible. There must be a mistake, right?”

Mu Yun looked at Yi Yun like he had seen a ghost. Yi Yun would have to absorb a Divine Lord Royal Seal when he broke through to become a Divine Lord. If he had obtained an ancient Godly Monarch Royal Seal, it was a heavenly opportunity that could only come by luck. How could he casually hand over something he could use for himself?

1540 - : Differences Like Night and Day

Mu Yun found it unacceptable. He had been a follower of Sacred Horizon Divine Lord for ages, cultivating arduously in martial arts, never slacking off for a single day. However, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord had never offered to bestow him with a single Godly Monarch Royal Seal. Now that his breakthrough was at hand, he yearned for a Godly Monarch Royal Seal greatly, but was afraid of asking Sacred Horizon Divine Lord for one. He knew he did not deserve one.

But now, two Godly Monarch Royal Seals were right in front of him. What he felt was obvious given how Yi Yun had given them away so casually!

“Impossible, I refuse to believe that someone would give away two Godly Monarch Royal Seals. There must be a mistake somewhere,” Zhu Ningxie said.

He was in a similar situation as Mu Yun and shared the same sentiments. But at that moment, a blue and red phantom appeared in the sky. Gigantic wings suddenly appeared behind them. One was burning with roaring flames and the other had Frost Qi that instantly froze.

“Xiao—”

The high pitch of phoenixes’ cries was penetrating and deafening. Everyone felt a sense of reverence towards it as though they were facing gods.

“They are a phoenix pair…”

Everyone could tell clearly that the Godly Monarch Royal Seals condensed phantoms which were a ice-and-fire pair of phoenixes! Why would phoenix phantoms appear here?

“I understand. These must be the Godly Monarch Royal Seals left behind after an ancient Fey underwent nirvana. Ice-and-fire phoenixes. A male and female one where the male pursues the female! It’s a corresponding pair of Royal Seals!” the azure-clothed elder said with an extremely excited voice.

It was already very rare to obtain a Godly Monarch Royal Seal, much less a corresponding pair of Royal Seals!

Upon seeing this, many people fell silent. Even the ancient Fey’s phantom had appeared. There was no doubt that the two Dao patterns were Godly Monarch Royal Seals.

Zhu Ningxie and Mu Yun seemed to have lost their wits. They had worked so hard all these years for something that they dreamed of, and it had been given as a congratulatory gift. It made them feel like all the hard work they had put in was a joke.

“Yi Yun!” Fairy Yourou took one step forward and sent a voice transmission to Yi Yun. “Don’t be rash. These Godly Monarch Royal Seals are very useful for you…”

Fairy Yourou felt that it would be regretful for Yi Yun if he just gave the Royal Seals away. Even if Lin Xintong was his wife, giving such a valuable gift before knowing Lin Xintong’s inclination towards him was too risky.

What if Lin Xintong accepted the gift and disavowed Yi Yun?

After all, her master might have promised her a Godly Monarch Royal Seal, but she needed to complete five main tests before she would be awarded it. She had yet to see the Royal Seal for herself.

Furthermore, on the day of gifting her the Godly Monarch Royal Seal, Patriarch Nethersky’s bosom friend—a reclusive Godly Monarch—would have to aid her in fusing with the Royal Seal. It was to ensure a perfect fusion, so as to prevent any loss of the Godly Monarch Royal Seal’s powers.

To expend a favor of a reclusive Godly Monarch showed how much weight the Nethersky Divine World placed on the Godly Monarch Royal Seal.

Yi Yun shook his head and said nonchalantly, “It’s fine. I don’t need these.”

Back when Yi Yun killed Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord in the Chaos Gem mineral vein, he had obtained a total of four Divine Lord Royal Seals. However, the Divine Lord Royal Seals that Primordial Chaos Daolord had were condensed by himself. Before he became a Godly Monarch, the Royal Seals he condensed were nothing of value. However, Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s Royal Seals were different. He had found the place where a pair of ancient fire-ice phoenixes got reborn, and as such, obtained the fire-ice dual Godly Monarch Royal Seals.

Yi Yun was not afraid that others would recognize that he had produced the two Divine Lord Royal Seals that belonged to Fire Cloud Divine Lord. He was powerful, and he had already killed both Fire Cloud Divine Lord and Primordial Chaos Daolord, so there was no need for him to conceal the matter. Besides, every Divine Lord’s Royal Seal was their greatest secret. Within it was condensed the nomological manifestation of their life-long cultivation. If their Royal Seal were to be deciphered, the weaknesses in their attacks would be exposed, allowing them to be surgically targeted. Under such circumstances, no one knew what Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s Godly Monarch Royal Seals resembled.

“No need for Godly Monarch Royal Seals?”

Everyone looked at Yi Yun, feeling at a loss for words. Such heavenly treasures were things even a Godly Monarch’s personal disciple would require. Yet, Yi Yun though nothing of it.

Could it be that he had spares? When this thought came to mind, everyone exchanged looks. It was not impossible!

Could he spare some for others? How many opportunities did Yi Yun receive in the ancient battlefield, exactly?

They previously believed that things like the Netherworld tree’s fruit or the nebulous Primordial Chaos essence were the best treasures on him, but now, they appeared to be trivial. He had just casually given away two Godly Monarch Royal Seals.

“I wonder how wealthy this Yi Yun is! He probably emptied out the ancient battlefield!”

People looked jealously at Yi Yun, each having mixed thoughts.

“By using Godly Monarch Royal Seals as gifts, he has truly stolen the limelight, but he has also completely exposed the wealth he possesses. He had already offended the Great Cosmic State, and now with the allure of all these treasures, Yi Yun is unlikely to survive the night.”

The appearance of a Godly Monarch Royal Seal was enough to whip up a bloody storm. Taking into account the treasures that Yi Yun had yet to produce, the coronation was destined to have tempestuous undercurrents! Be it the major factions who would vie with each other or form alliances, Yi Yun, who was in the middle of the storm, would become the sacrificial item in this massive contention!

Upon coming to this realization, many people gave Yi Yun a covetous and sinister look. All the overlords of the major factions would reap the major benefits, but perhaps, they might be able to reap some of the minor benefits!

“Brother Mu Yun, why are you feeling regret? Bai Yueyin is already dead. The White Lunar Divine Empire might appear flashy, but it in a precarious situation! Just Divine General Skyjade alone can hardly prop up a tottering behemoth!” Zhu Ningxie’s eyes flashed with killing intent as he sent Mu Yun a voice transmission.

“Oh… Are you implying…” Mu Yun looked at Zhu Ningxie as an idea came to him.

“Your master and mine are in no way weaker than Divine General Skyjade. Besides, our sects still have people protecting us. The White Lunar Divine Empire is no match for us. Do you think the White Lunar Divine Empire will be able to take the Godly Monarch Royal Seals from Yi Yun and keep them all to themselves? If we were to exert collective pressure, the White Lunar Divine Empire will ultimately have to hand Yi Yun over and let us split the loot!”

“You are right!” Mu Yun’s eyes turned dark. How could the various Sinkhole factions watch as the White Lunar Divine Empire gained so many benefits? What kind of figure was Lin Xintong? If she were to fuse with the pair of Godly Monarch Royal Seals, wouldn’t she end up a tremendous threat? It might not even take a thousand years before Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and company were unable to restrain her!

“This Yi Yun took out a pair of Godly Monarch Royal Seals to attract Lin Xintong’s attention and win her heart. What a fool! Ignoring the fact that Lin Xintong might not even have a liking towards him, his actions are practically inviting trouble on both himself and the White Lunar Divine Empire!”

“Hehe, let’s send voice transmissions to our masters. My master was planning on arriving when the coronation officially began, but now, it appears that he will be making an early entrance! Perhaps, with our masters gaining some benefits here, I might really be bestowed with a Godly Monarch Royal Seal!”

When Zhu Ningxie said this, Mu Yun’s breathing hastened.

It was not impossible! The reason why they were not offered Godly Monarch Royal Seals wasn’t only because they were lacking, but also because Godly Monarch Royal Seals were too rare.

1541 - : Covetous Eyes

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Zhu Ningxie and Mu Yun quickly finished their exchange as they sent out their voice transmission talismans. There was still another two hours before the coronation began, so the elder Sinkhole overlords naturally wouldn’t be arriving so soon.

At that moment, West River Divine Lord was meditating in a pocket world in the hundred thousand pavilion palaces. As a Sinkhole overlord, he had a pocket world to himself. The other people in the pocket world were his subordinates. This also alluded to his high standing.

At that moment, a purple fiery flash lit up in front of West River Divine Lord. He suddenly opened his eyes.

“Oh!? Someone at the coronation actually gave two Godly Monarch Royal Seals as a congratulatory gift?”

West River Divine Lord was alarmed. Even he himself had only fused with one Godly Monarch Royal Seal.

Godly Monarch Royal Seals could greatly enhance a Divine Lord’s combat strength. He had relied on his talent to make up for the rest before he squeezed his way to the ranks of Sinkhole overlord. Now, having heard that someone had given two Godly Monarch Royal Seals as a gift, he was extremely astounded.

“For a junior to give two Godly Monarch Royal Seals without even blinking, Ningxie is certain that he has even more treasures in his interspatial ring. He is hinting for me to take action to vie for them.”

The intent in Zhu Ningxie’s voice transmission was obvious. Every additional Godly Monarch Royal Seal for the sect meant a higher possibility for Zhu Ningxie to receive a Godly Monarch Royal Seal himself.

“Such benefits do interest me!”

West River Divine Lord suddenly opened his eyes from his meditation as a glint flashed in his eyes. If Bai Yueyin were still around, he would not have dared to take action at her empire’s event. But now, the White Lunar Divine Empire was a declawed tiger. With a walking treasure trove of a junior there in front of them, even the First Beginnings Immortal Gate and Great Cosmic State would not turn a blind eye to the treasures, so how could he not take his share of the loot?

If this were in the past, West River Divine Lord would have scruples about targeting a junior, but now, he no longer had such thoughts.

“Forty years ago, I left the ancient battlefield empty handed. I was even heavily injured because of the sudden appearance of that terrifying giant. I managed to barely recuperate after all these years. Now, I can finally see some form of recompense.”

West River Divine Lord’s body flashed as he vanished from his cultivation.

…

Meanwhile, in the pocket world where the coronation was being held, the gifting process had seemed to come to a pause due to Yi Yun’s Godly Monarch Royal Seals.

Yi Yun obviously knew the value of Godly Monarch Royal Seals, but he was now ridiculously rich. Furthermore, he planned on condensing a Divine Lord Royal Seal himself, so his goals and viewpoint were already higher than most warriors in the Sinkhole. Under such circumstances, he never realized that two Godly Monarch Royal Seals would cause such a huge stir.

“Yi Yun, what did you just say? I seem to recall that you said that you had a debt to settle with my master?” Zhu Ningxie had already received West River Divine Lord’s response as he sneered at Yi Yun. He looked at Yi Yun as though he was looking at a corpse.

“Oh? West River is coming?” How could Yi Yun not know what Zhu Ningxie and Mu Yun were up to moments ago. For Zhu Ningxie to begin threatening him like a dog counting on its master’s backing, he knew that his master was on the way.

Yi Yun was now the focus of attention and his every action and word was under the intense scrutinization of countless people. When they heard him say that, all of them rolled their eyes. He called out West River Divine Lord’s name as though he was calling a neighbor’s name.

He had to be out of his mind for him to continue posturing even at this point in time.

“You are gutsy. I’m curious if you’ll still speak this way when you meet my master.” Zhu Ningxie was no longer envious of Yi Yun; instead, he had the pity of someone superior speaking to someone inferior.

Mu Yun also looked at Yi Yun with a teasing look. Yi Yun was now just like livestock waiting to be slaughtered.

“Yi Yun, West River Divine Lord’s reputation is terrible. Quickly return for now. This is the White Lunar Divine Empire after all. Although West River Divine Lord is overbearing, he would not truly abandon all decorum with the White Lunar Divine Empire. Besides, you have just given such a precious gift to the White Lunar Divine Empire, so they will likely protect you. I will also ask Master…” Fairy Yourou sent Yi Yun and urgent voice transmission.

“It’s fine,” said Yi Yun indifferently.

Fairy Yourou sighed. Yi Yun had not heeded a single thing she said today and she had grown accustomed to it. She was also unsure how Yi Yun remained so calm. Was it because his wife was the new White Lunar Goddess Empress? However, the inclination of his wife was still an unknown. Besides, even if the White Lunar Goddess Empress wanted to protect him, she had only just ascended to the throne. Would she really make the entire Sinkhole her enemy because of a single Yi Yun…?

At that moment, a sharp oppressive aura descended from the sky.

The aura swept across all the juniors, immediately leaving them stifled. All their flowing Yuan Qi froze!

It was a Sinkhole powerhouse!

And it was not limited to only one!

“Aw—”

There was a loud cry as everyone turned their heads in its direction. They saw nine azure-colored Qilins, each with a single horn on their heads, in the sky. They pulled a divine chariot which cruised over loudly. Wherever the chariot passed, there were nomological stirrings that formed resplendent light.

It was West River Divine Lord’s chariot.

People recognized the nine azure-colored Qilins. Although they were not real Qilin Ancient Fey, with only a tiny strand of ancient Qilin bloodline, they were still extremely rare. To have such spirit beasts pulling one’s chariot was something only a Sinkhole overlord could be capable of.

And in another direction, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord had arrived on a jade spirit boat. He sat alone at the bow, like a fishing old man. He looked carefree and relaxed.

In comparison, Eclipse Arhat’s entrance was a lot simpler. He did not use any transportation vehicle. Instead, he walked over on air, but when he descended, a Buddha phantom which produced blinding light behind him flared.

Three powerhouses had arrived!

“Oh? Great Cosmic State’s Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord! He’s Primordial Chaos Daolord’s junior brother. He’s here too!”

People did not know too much about Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord as he had a completely opposite character from Primordial Chaos Daolord. He kept an extremely low profile and was even quite an enigma. He had been focusing on cultivation in seclusion and showed no interest in the worldly affairs, but after Primordial Chaos Daolord perished in the ancient battlefield, he was forced to exit reclusion to helm the Great Cosmic State.

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord had also arrived for Lin Xintong’s coronation, but he had yet to make an appearance. He did not appear to denounce Yi Yun even when he crippled Hong Feiyu.

There was all kinds of talk about him, but there was no doubt that he had enough strength to rank him among the Sinkhole overlords.

“Hahaha! Daoist Sacred Horizon, it has been decades since we last separated. I never imagined we would meet each other so soon,” West River Divine Lord said with a loud laugh.

It was common for these Sinkhole powerhouses to meet only once every tens of thousands of years. It was indeed quite short for them to meet after only decades.

“I am lucky to be able to meet you here peacefully as well,” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord with a faint smile. Apart from the ones who experienced the destruction the giant brought about in the primeval universe, no one knew what Sacred Horizon Divine Lord was referring to.

The Sinkhole overlords had come to a tacit understanding not to profess the existence of the giant. They had a vague understanding that there was a stunning secret behind the giant.

“Welcome, Master!” Zhu Ningxie hurriedly went forward to bow.

Mu Yun and Konglun also went forward to welcome their own masters. With the few Sinkhole overlords’ arrival, everyone felt a powerful suppression. These people combined had nearly total control over the Sinkhole!

“Master, this is the punk who was disrespectful towards you.” As Zhu Ningxie spoke, he looked at Yi Yun with a sneer. “My master is here. Everyone here heard him make outlandish remarks previously that he would be settling a debt with my master. Come on, I want to see what debt you would be settling. Hahaha!”

“Master!” Mu Yun also bowed at Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and said, “This person was disrespectful to you. I approached with the intention to buy some things from him. It would have been nothing if he wasn’t willing to sell, but he even said that he couldn’t care less even if you were here yourself.”

Mu Yun rushed to fan the flames. This was naturally a legitimate reason for Sacred Horizon Divine Lord to take action.

People looked pitifully at Yi Yun. With so many Sinkhole powerhouses facing a junior, it was truly like killing a chicken with five to six butcher cleavers.

However, the scene of Yi Yun’s capture that Zhu Ningxie and Mu Yun imagined did not happen at all.

The Sinkhole overlords collectively fell silent. West River Divine Lord, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, and Eclipse Arhat looked at Yi Yun in a daze, especially West River Divine Lord. It was as though he had seen a ghost.

He never imagined that the silly junior his disciple had mentioned was this person!

He’s… actually not dead!?

West River Divine Lord had witnessed with his own eyes the descending of a giant into the primeval universe. He had strength that matched the Heaven and Earth, and with a single strike, He crushed all the Divine Lords. Thankfully, the giant’s target wasn’t them, or they would have been long smashed to pulp.

And back then, Yi Yun was trapped in the Chaos Gem mineral vein. Although West River Divine Lord always hoped that Yi Yun would die, he did not even dare turn his head to take a look. He fled frantically with his tail in between his legs. But even so, he had suffered injuries.

Yet, the punk actually… survived under such circumstances!?

West River Divine Lord found it unbelievable. Back then, the punk had been pursued by Primordial Chaos Daolord. They imagined the punk to be doomed, but later, it was Primordial Chaos who was being pursued by the punk. Later, the giant appeared; yet again he survived unscathed. Was he immortal?

“Master, what’s wrong?”

Upon seeing West River Divine Lord’s reaction, Zhu Ningxie felt a little odd. He knew his master’s temperament. If anyone dared cross him, he would definitely injure the offender heavily, or even kill the offender immediately. What’s more, Yi Yun still had immense treasures on him.

But now, West River Divine Lord seemed to be hesitant. He did not look anything like his unreasonable self because of his powerful strength. Was he taking the White Lunar Divine Empire into account?

With this in mind, Zhu Ningxie said, “Master, this punk is like an ant. For someone like him to dare offend you, the White Lunar Divine Empire would not say a thing as a host even if you were to cripple him. If you do not wish to take action yourself, give the word. I am very willing to do the honors.”

Zhu Ningxie knew that Yi Yun had a powerful soul slave, but Kun Ping had mentioned to him that the soul slave had already been sealed by Divine General Skyjade. Yi Yun had no way of using it.

1542 - : Haven’t Seen You In Decades

CKtalon  CKtalon

With his soul slave sealed, how could Yi Yun be Zhu Ningxie’s match? After all, he had left his name on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith a century ago.

If not for them being situated in the White Lunar Divine Empire, Zhu Ningxie would have long taken action. Now that there were Sinkhole overlords like West River Divine Lord, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, and Eclipse Arhat backing him, he could ignore the White Lunar Divine Empire. Who would dare punish him when he was representing the wishes of these powerhouses?

“Junior Brother Zhu, why don’t you leave Yi Yun to me? I just gained an initial mastery in my Cloud Shield Technique. I do want to have a test of its might.”

Noticing that Zhu Ningxie was about to snatch all the credit, Zhu Ningxie immediately spoke out. If he were the one to capture Yi Yun, his master would probably be too embarrassed not to split some of the received benefits with him.

The young elites of the various factions were eager to try. However, the few powerful Divine Lords appeared rooted to their spots. They showed no reaction.

“Master, why aren’t you giving the order?”

Zhu Ningxie noticed something amiss. The expression of his master, West River Divine Lord, could even be described as nasty.

West River Divine Lord’s gaze was not focused on Yi Yun. Instead, his head was raised skyward at the phantom which had mostly dispersed.

“This is the… nomological light of a Godly Monarch Royal Seal?” muttered West River Divine Lord to himself. In fact, he had already confirmed it inwardly.

“Yes, Master. They were apparently obtained by Yi Yun in the ancient battlefield. The items Yi Yun has on him are far more valuable than all of us combined. The opportunities available in the ancient battlefield are limited. If one person gets more, it reduces the number others can receive. He basically snatched those opportunities away from us.”

By putting it this way, Zhu Ningxie immediately earned the agreement of several people. Everyone kicks a man who is down, and with Yi Yun appearing to be doomed, many people began looking at Yi Yun with covetous gazes.

West River Divine Lord remained silent.

Fire phoenix! Ice phoenix!

He had seen the two Godly Monarch Royal Seals clearly and he already knew where the two Godly Monarch Royal Seals Yi Yun had gifted stemmed from. It was not something Yi Yun found from the ancient battlefield, but the very seals left behind by Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord!

He realized that the Yi Yun whom Primordial Chaos Daolord was searching for in the Fey God Tomb was actually the same junior who made a fool out of them in the primeval universe!

Upon coming to this realization, West River Divine Lord felt astounded. Although they knew the junior back in the primeval universe to be young, they never imagined him to be Yi Yun. Yi Yun did not perish in the Fey God Tomb, and instead had actually entered the primeval universe with them!

How old was Yi Yun!? He had cultivated for mere centuries. Even if he had cultivated by manipulating time, that would only amount to a cultivation period of a few millennia.

In time to come, Yi Yun would definitely become a Godly Monarch! It took hundreds of millions of years for the entire Sinkhole to produce a single Godly Monarch, but now, he was witnessing the rapid growth of a future Godly Monarch.

Upon coming to this realization, West River Divine Lord felt extremely bitter. Godly Monarch… that was the realm of his dreams!

He could not afford to offend someone like Yi Yun if he could not kill him. And unfortunately, West River Divine Lord had already offended Yi Yun. Back then, he had attempted to kill Yi Yun in the primeval universe. How could such a vendetta be resolved?

This was a tricky situation!

West River Divine Lord was feeling extremely vexed at that moment in time.

And it was precisely at this moment that Zhu Ningxie was constantly babbling on. “Master, why aren’t you giving the order? Just say the word, and I’ll…”

“Shut up!”

West River Divine Lord roared. Zhu Ningxie felt all of West River Divine Lord’s suppression suddenly erupt against him. He found it difficult to resist it as he took several steps back before he managed to barely find his footing. Zhu Ningxie was instantly dumbfounded as he looked at West River Divine Lord in a daze.

“Master, I…”

“You are to immediately return to Demon Fiery Tower to enter seclusion for fifty years. Don’t make a spectacle of yourself with that cultivation level of yours!”

West River Divine Lord could not help but be enraged when he made the comparison between Yi Yun and his disciple. Compared to Yi Yun, his disciple was utter trash.

And now, he had no intention to enter a conflict with Yi Yun.

Back in the ancient battlefield, Yi Yun was someone who had managed to escape from the hands of the giant. If the giant had failed to kill him, how could he have any confidence of retaining Yi Yun? Besides, he had witnessed Yi Yun’s breakthrough to the Divine Lord realm. His memories of how the Primordial Chaos Cloud stirred the entire primeval universe remained vivid in his mind!

Now, Yi Yun could only be described as unfathomable. For him to dare appear here, it was evident that he had what it took to do so!

Besides, Yi Yun had now given precious gifts to the White Lunar Divine Empire. He probably had unknown ties with the White Lunar Divine Empire.

Since he was unable to kill Yi Yun, the only option left was to oblige Yi Yun and improve their relationship. This was the only way to avoid Yi Yun’s seeking of revenge in the future.

With this thought in mind, West River Divine Lord’s grim expression gradually turned jovial. Finally, he revealed an awkward smile that left everyone baffled…

“What’s up with West River Divine Lord?” People discussed through voice transmissions. They were confounded by this change in expression.

Furthermore, they also noticed that Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat had calm expressions. They did not appear to have any intention to target Yi Yun.

“My dear friend, I did not discipline this disciple of mine well. I’ll apologize on his behalf for crossing you,” said West River Divine Lord as he cupped his hands at Yi Yun.

His statement nearly popped the eyes out of everyone’s sockets.

What was happening!? West River Divine Lord actually… cupped his hands at Yi Yun to apologize? Furthermore, his tone was so amiable. Had West River Divine Lord’s brain being squashed to nothingness?

“Oh? You didn’t discipline him well?” The corners of Yi Yun’s mouth curled up. He naturally knew what was on West River Divine Lord’s mind, but he was someone who bore grudges. West River Divine Lord wanted to resolve the grudge from before? How could it be that simple?

“This disciple of yours does come across as quite unlikable. Most importantly, he’s a little stupid. It’s best you take him back and educate him well. If he continues being so improper in the future, he might get smacked to death by others. Not everyone has as good a temperament as me.”

Yi Yun had said that slowly, and it nearly made Zhu Ningxie vomit blood. The crowd was nearly left picking their jaws off the ground. Motionlessly, they looked at Yi Yun agape as though they had been petrified.

This world was just too crazy. West River Divine Lord had already made a public apology. Despite his status as a Sinkhole overlord, not only had he made a public apology, but Yi Yun had not accepted it. Yi Yun had even gone from bad to worse by saying such words.

Most importantly, he’s a little stupid…

Wasn’t this equivalent of scolding the master, West River Divine Lord, as well?

There was the saying that one did not slap a smiling person, but Yi Yun had already figuratively slapped a Sinkhole overlord in such a manner; yet, he claimed that he had a good temperament?

At that moment, a huge vein popped on West River Divine Lord’s forehead. He had lost all his face in front of everyone, but he had no choice but to tolerate it. There was no other thing he could do. He was the one who had offended Yi Yun in the first place, and now, he was afraid of Yi Yun.

“My dear friend…”

“Master! What’s wrong with you!?” Zhu Ningxie was nearly out of his mind! First, he had been reprimanded by his master in front of everybody, and next, Yi Yun had ridiculed his master right to his face. Yet, his master was still addressing Yi Yun as a ‘dear friend!’

“You arrogant little bastard. Who do you think you are!? How dare you reciprocate my master’s grace in this manner? Die!” Zhu Ningxie’s eyes turned bloodshot as he suddenly threw a punch at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun sneered, but he did not make a single move despite seeing Zhu Ningxie’s punch coming for him, for at that moment—

“Bam!”

With a loud boom, West River Divine Lord had struck out with his palm. He hit Zhu Ningxie in the back, causing Zhu Ningxie to convulse before being sent flying hundreds of feet away like a kite that had its string cut. He crashed heavily into the ground.

“Cough, cough!”

Zhu Ningxie coughed violently as his throat was filled with blood. He was on the brink of a mental breakdown. Yi Yun, who had constantly ridiculed him, was fine, and the person who had heavily injured him was none other than his master, West River Divine Lord!

The development that played out before everyone’s eyes already left them speechless. Fairy Yourou found that her brain was insufficient to comprehend the scenes before her. Did Yi Yun have some background that made West River Divine Lord make such severe compromises?

“You vile disciple. I told you to enter seclusion, but you insist on embarrassing yourself!” rebuked West River Divine Lord angrily. He really wished to smack the idiot to death. If his disciple had not summoned him here, he could have privately apologized to Yi Yun. Would he need to embarrass himself in public?

“My dear friend, this disciple of mine is not very sensible. Please forgive him.”

West River Divine Lord tried his best to appear amiable while saying that. He had taken action to protect Zhu Ningxie, for if Yi Yun took action, Zhu Ningxie would be crippled if not dead.

“Your disciple is a little stupid, so I can’t be bothered to fuss over him. However, I still need to settle our old scores.”

Although West River Divine Lord had already gone to great lengths to apologize, Yi Yun had no intentions to let him pass. Their vendetta was the result of West River Divine Lord wanting him dead. Although Yi Yun eventually got away unscathed, it was not something that could be disregarded with a few apologies.

When Yi Yun said that, everyone looked at Yi Yun as though he was a supernatural existence. It was then that they recalled Yi Yun having said that he had a score to settle with West River Divine Lord. Back then, they wrote it off as Yi Yun bragging, but now, it appeared like he really had a score to settle!

“What else do you want?” West River Divine Lord had a nasty expression. He had wanted to lose decorum several times, but he had put up with it. Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord were clear precedents, and Yi Yun back then was even weaker than he was now.

“It can wait.” As Yi Yun said that, he looked towards Mu Yun with a faint smile.

Mu Yun’s expression changed drastically. To him, Yi Yun was clearly a trivial figure who had lucked out on a massive treasure trove, someone who did not leave his name on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith. But now, he faced Yi Yun like he was facing a demon king. He even began to tremble.

This Yi Yun was definitely not simple! If he did not have a background, it meant that he had something he could count on. Furthermore… he clearly knew West River Divine Lord, his master and the others!

Zhu Ningxie had turned irrational from his rage, but Mu Yun remained sharp. He knew very well that if he did not wise up, he would be following in the footsteps of Zhu Ningxie.

“Young Master Yi, I have been entertaining angels unawares. I’m truly sorry for offending you previously.” Mu Yun cupped his hands and bowed. He had surprisingly given a junior’s bow.

1543 - : This World Is Just Too Crazy

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Mu Yun had given a junior’s bow because he was completely out of choices. Having seen Zhu Ningxie reduced to such a tragic state and the way West River Divine Lord—someone who did not allow anyone to slight him—had no intention to back him to the point of even tolerating Yi Yun, what else could a junior like Mu Yun do?

When he saw Mu Yun acting so sensibly, Yi Yun could not be bothered to pay him any mind.

“My dear friend, I have failed to discipline my disciple as well. Here is a little compensation for offending you. Please accept it,” Sacred Horizon Divine Lord said while sending a jade box flying out from his interspatial ring and towards Yi Yun.

Upon seeing this scene, the surrounding crowd had turned numb with shock. A group of overlords had originally come with mighty fervor to capture Yi Yun and rob him clean of his treasures, but now, they had actually taken the initiative to gift Yi Yun items.

They felt that their worldview had been overturned.

“Senior Sacred Horizon, very polite of you.”

Yi Yun did not even take a look before storing away the item. What the item was did not matter. It represented Sacred Horizon Divine Lord’s attitude. In fact, there was no serious feud between Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Yi Yun. Although he was a partner of Primordial Chaos Daolord, he ultimately did not display too much animosity towards Yi Yun.

It was the same with Eclipse Arhat.

As for Heavenly Cosmic…

Yi Yun had noticed him. It was also his first encounter with Heavenly Cosmic. He did not show any emotion from beginning to end, as though he was not related to the world at all. Furthermore, he had a very weak presence. Although he was standing among the Great Cosmic State’s disciple like the moon being surrounded by a myriad of stars, Yi Yun felt that he seemed to be located in another alternate space-time. It was easy to miss him when he swept his gaze across him.

This person…

Yi Yun could not help but take a few more looks at Heavenly Cosmic, but he did not pay further attention after that. To the present Yi Yun, no one posed a threat to him unless they were a Godly Monarch. Backed by his tremendous power, he showed no fear to anyone at this coronation despite its turnout of powerful existences.

At this moment…

Swish! Swish!

Three beams of light flew out of the White Jade Phoenix Palace and headed for Yi Yun.

They were the two Imperial Preceptors, Kun Xu and Lingluo, as well as Divine General Skyjade!

For something as major as Yi Yun’s gift of two Godly Monarch Royal Seals, how could Skyjade, Lingluo, and Kun Xu not be informed of it?

“Greetings Divine General and Imperial Preceptors.” The azure-clothed elder, Meng Yun, who was in charge of accepting the congratulatory gifts, bowed towards the trio.

“Elder Meng, please rise.” Skyjade quickly went forward to help Meng Yun up. Meng Yun was not younger than him.

Meanwhile, Divine General Skyjade also saw the two Godly Monarch Royal Seals in Meng Yun’s hands.

After the ice layer melted, the two Godly Monarch Royal Seals had completely released their energies, creating two phantoms—a tiny red and a tiny blue phoenix. When one held them in their hands, one could clearly feel the tremendous life force in them as though it was the massive ocean.

With the two Godly Monarch Royal Seals in hand, Divine General Skyjade’s face turned pale.

Last night, he had advised Yi Yun to back off due to the overwhelming odds against him, but Yi Yun had remained thickheaded. He had been furious, thinking Yi Yun did not know how to appreciate favors, but now…

Yi Yun had given two Godly Monarch Royal Seals. If he were in Yi Yun’s shoes, there was no way he would have gifted them. Yi Yun’s resoluteness had far exceeded anyone present.

He could tell that Yi Yun was not going beyond his means to look impressive. He really had the deep pockets to back it up, and it was possible that he did not mind losing the two Godly Monarch Royal Seals at all!

For a junior to not even care about two Godly Monarch Royal Seals, what kind of person was he?

Divine General Skyjade realized that he had truly made a wrong appraisal of the situation. Yi Yun now gave him an unfathomable feeling.

“Young Master Yi, I never expected such resoluteness from you, or that you would know West River Divine Lord and Sacred Horizon Divine Lord from before. It’s no wonder you thought nothing of me…”

Divine General Skyjade had a loud and clear voice. He did not know what had happened between Yi Yun and West River Divine Lord, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, and company.

“Young Master Yi, I will be thanking you for these two Godly Monarch Royal Seals on behalf of Her Majesty, but… Her Majesty said that she plans to condense a Divine Lord Royal Seal herself. Her Majesty appreciates your kind intentions, but has decided to return the two Godly Monarch Royal Seals to you.”

Oh?

Upon hearing Divine General Skyjade’s words, Yi Yun was stunned!

Everyone else around Yi Yun was taken aback when they heard that. It was already shocking enough that Yi Yun had given two Godly Monarch Royal Seals, but the White Lunar Divine Empire actually refused it?

Lin Xintong wanted to condense a Divine Lord Royal Seal for herself? She truly had skyward ambitions!

This showed her confidence that a Divine Lord Royal Seal she condensed herself would have a quality that exceeded that of ancient Godly Monarchs!

But… didn’t Yi Yun say that Lin Xintong was his wife? Even if the gift a husband gave his wife was rejected, the wife would not have said things like ‘appreciating your kind intentions.’ It appeared too detached.

Instantly, everyone looked at Yi Yun with odd gazes.

Yi Yun remained silent as a strange glint flashed in his eyes. He had thought of such a possibility in the past. Even if Lin Xintong wished to condense a Divine Lord Royal Seal herself, as an empress of an empire, she required large amounts of resources to helm it. If not, how was she to nurture her own loyal line?

The two Godly Monarch Royal Seals were very useful for Lin Xintong as well, but she had rejected them…

Furthermore, the rejection had been delivered by Divine General Skyjade…

“Senior Skyjade, were those Xintong’s actual words?”

“Yes!” Skyjade nodded his head calmly as he looked at Yi Yun. “Young Master Yi, I have already mentioned to you that Her Majesty is focused on the Dao. She has reasons that require her to be as she is…”

As Skyjade spoke, the otherworldly music from the White Jade Phoenix Palace resounded. The White Jade Phoenix Palace flew into the sky and emitted divine radiance that pierced through the clouds!

“Oh?”

Everyone looked towards the White Jade Phoenix Palace and saw it emit immense radiance. All sorts of mystical nomological Dao patterns surfaced on the palace walls.

This scene left everyone stifled. They all knew that the White Jade Phoenix Palace was controlled by Lin Xintong. To be able to produce such might from a Godly Monarch numinous treasure, had Lin Xintong’s strength reached such a tremendous state?

“Impressive. In time to come, she will be another future Godly Monarch,” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord wistfully.

A very small number of people present had the fortune to have seen Lin Xintong in the past. According to them, Lin Xintong appeared as a girl of fifteen or sixteen. She even still looked adolescent. For her to be so terrifying at such a young age, it meant that she had unlimited potential.

“The coronation begins!”

Eclipse Arhat gave a Buddhist proclamation as he spoke leisurely. He had a vague notion that the coronation seemed to announce the coming of a new age.

Originally, people believed that Bai Yueyin’s death would invite calamity on the White Lunar Divine Empire, but now, many factions were probably disappointed. Just the mighty stance that Lin Xintong showcased made many resolved. If they failed to kill Lin Xintong, their end would come once Lin Xintong matured to her full strength.

“Guests, we invite all of you to view our White Lunar Goddess Empress’s coronation ceremony!” Skyjade said loudly as he led the way up ahead.

Everyone quickly followed behind him, but Yi Yun stayed in his spot.

Skyjade’s words were still echoing in his ear, sounding extremely harsh.

“Young Master Yi, don’t take it to heart. Perhaps…” Fairy Yourou sighed lightly and did not finish her sentence.

She had a vague premonition that Lin Xintong had likely changed.

Yi Yun did not respond to Fairy Yourou. His gaze turned a little hesitant, but he ultimately flew forward. He needed to see Lin Xintong with his own eyes.

“Hehe, this Yi Yun kept bragging that the empress was his wife previously. With the coronation at hand, he must have been embarrassed when the empress rejected his Godly Monarch Royal Seals.”

Many people smiled as they looked at Yi Yun’s back, many waiting for the good show to play out. Although it was unknown how Yi Yun had ties with the few Sinkhole hegemons which allowed him to bask in the limelight, it appeared that his declaration as Lin Xintong’s husband was completely one-sided. Lin Xintong thought nothing of him, and the weighty gifts of two Godly Monarch Royal Seals he gave had been directly rejected.

“Godly Monarch Royal Seals are impressive divine objects to us, yet the new empress thinks nothing of it…”

“It’s not that she thinks nothing of it. Who wouldn’t like Godly Monarch Royal Seals? It’s just that the new empress is a proud person. Since she doesn’t fancy Yi Yun, she naturally isn’t willing to accept the gift.”

With various thoughts in mind, people flew towards the White Jade Phoenix Palace.

Auspicious clouds had descended beneath the White Jade Phoenix Palace, forming a cloud staircase that looked like a white dragon flying out of the immortal palace!

Skyjade flew up the cloud staircase, and at the end of it was a massive square. The square’s surface had Dao patterns condensed across it. There was not a single tile or brick. And in the middle of the square was a wide red altar.

The altar was in the shape of a lotus flower with nine petals. The lotus seemed to be in full bloom around the altar, as if it was dyed bright red by blood.

And in the middle of the altar, people were stunned to see the back of a girl.

She had a slender figure, and like the descending of a fairy from the heavens, she held a sword in hand. The sword was pointed at the heavens while she prayed to the Heavenly Dao!

Boundless nomological Dao patterns gathered towards her through the altar’s nine-petals as they flowed into her body through her feet. Finally, a surge shot out from the tip of her sword and into the high heavens!

And beyond that, the nomological energies had condensed into a cloud layer in the form of a vortex, as though it was the wheel of the Heavenly Dao. It left everyone feeling endless fearful reverence.

Lin Xintong!

This girl was no doubt the new empress of the White Lunar Divine Empire. To see her in person, even just her back, was extremely astounding. This also made people realize why the massive White Lunar Divine Empire, including the three Imperial Preceptors and Divine General Skyjade, would reverently allow Lin Xintong to take up the throne and be willing to be her subordinates.

She was a peerless woman, and unless one was an elite among elites, they would only feel like a speck of dust in front of her. They could not help but feel ashamed of themselves when facing her.

Yi Yun silently looked at Lin Xintong’s back and slowly, he proceeded forward.

Upon seeing Yi Yun approach Lin Xintong, even people who were eager to see Yi Yun make a fool of himself felt deep respect.

Because when faced with such a peerless woman, they did not even have the courage to look at her straight on. They could have forgone the fact that Yi Yun had bragged about being Lin Xintong’s husband before meeting her, but now, despite having seen Lin Xintong—a peerlessly impressive woman—he still went forward.

1544 - : Lin Xintong

CKtalon  CKtalon

Millions of rays of nomological light descended down like a massive river of stars. Yi Yun stood just a hundred feet behind Lin Xintong as he trained his eyes on her. However, Lin Xintong’s head remained looking up at the sparkling Heavenly Dao.

Both of them remained silent and this scene appeared to be fixed for all eternity.

At that instant, Fairy Yourou’s heart hurt for Yi Yun for some baffling reason. This man had overcome numerous obstacles to come so far, but in exchange for a mere look at her back?

There was no need for doubt. What Divine General Skyjade had described was true—Lin Xintong’s rejection of the Godly Monarch Royal Seals was her own words.

“Xintong, I only want to ask you if you have severed all ties with your past. If you have, I will leave now, and focus my mind on pursuing the Great Dao,” said Yi Yun. Although he had come to the White Lunar Divine Empire for Lin Xintong, he did not wish to force his wishes on her.

Lin Xintong remained silent for a long while before she put away her sword. She turned around slowly and at that moment, the memories of her companionship of Yi Yun for centuries amalgamated as everything about her surfaced in Yi Yun’s mind.

Their eyes locked, and Yi Yun finally saw Lin Xintong’s appearance.

She looked like she was sixteen or seventeen. She had an adolescent look in between her brows, but her eyes appeared distant; they produced a gaze that seemed to tear through the void of the Heavenly Dao. Her teeth was a flawless pearly white, and her legs were long and slender. She stood there tall like a divine crane, appearing like a white lotus blooming on a towering snow-capped mountain. It was suffocating.

Lin Xintong looked at Yi Yun as a confused and longing look appeared in her clear eyes; however, she eventually said softly, “Yes…”

The simple word sounded extremely heartless.

Yi Yun stood rooted to his ground, speechless.

Standing behind Yi Yun, Fairy Yourou felt that Yi Yun did not deserve this. From her point of view, Yi Yun was an excellent man. Even if Lin Xintong’s halo far triumphed Yi Yun’s, his love for her was something that deserved Lin Xintong’s cherishing of him.

But all Yi Yun got in exchange was such a cold answer.

Even if there had been a change of heart, the reunion that had taken centuries to happen should not have been a mere glance and a terse answer.

“Young Master Yi, let’s go. It’s meaningless to continue staying…”

Fairy Yourou’s Yuan Qi voice transmission sounded in Yi Yun’s ears, but he did not seem to hear it. He continued standing right in the middle of the square.

“Yi Yun, you should have heard Her Majesty’s answer. Do not disturb our White Lunar Divine Empire’s coronation. We have already returned you your Godly Monarch Royal Seals. Please leave immediately, or I would have to make you leave myself.”

Lin Xintong took a deep look at Yi Yun, as though she was imprinting Yi Yun’s looks deep into her mind. Next, she slowly turned around and looked up once again at the sparkling Heavenly Dao.

“Xintong, why? Do you still have something else to say?”

When his eyes met Lin Xintong’s, Yi Yun sensed the sorrow that was contained in them. He had already planned on leaving, but the look in her eyes prompted his question.

“This Yi Yun still doesn’t want to leave. He has already been rejected, but he still insists for further clarification.”

Many of the people present were gloating when they saw this. Most of them had been repressed by Yi Yun’s illustrious might, so they were naturally pleased to see Yi Yun hit a snag.

“He seemed pretty impressive just moments ago, but now, he’s so disgraced. When I saw him acting so arrogant in front of the few Sinkhole hegemons, I thought that it was possible that his claim of being Lin Xintong’s husband was true. From the looks of it, he was only bragging.”

People discussed in private as they watched Yi Yun make a fool of himself.

“Yi Yun!” Divine General Skyjade’s voice sounded cold. “I’m giving you one more warning. This is my White Lunar Divine Empire’s coronation. Her Majesty is now praying to the Heavenly Dao, and it is the most critical aspect of the coronation. I allowed you to meet Her Majesty because of your sincerity. Now that your wish has been fulfilled, don’t you blame me for not keeping up with decorum if you do not leave!”

As Divine General Skyjade spoke, his Yuan Qi raged. His stocky build and flailing hair made him look like a god of war.

“Lord Skyjade, let’s attack. This Yi Yun is being utterly shameless. If we don’t teach him a lesson, he will not know his place.”

A young elite from the White Lunar Divine Empire spoke. In the minds of the young elites, Lin Xintong was a true goddess. She was pure and mighty. How could she be blasphemed by a man?

They had no idea what Yi Yun’s relationship with West River Divine Lord and company was, but they had long found him a sore sight.

However, Yi Yun was not fazed by Divine General Skyjade’s threat at all. All he did was look at Lin Xintong’s back and awaited her reply.

Apart from that, the surrounding sarcasm and mockery, as well as the killing intent from the Sinkhole hegemons seemed to be isolated in another space-time dimension. It was as though nothing in the world had anything to do with him.

“Xintong, I want an answer.”

Yi Yun’s voice sounded like a whisper that came from deep within his soul as it sounded in Lin Xintong’s ears.

Unknowingly, tears streamed down Lin Xintong’s cheeks as she held her back towards Yi Yun. She bit her lips as strands of blood seeped out the corners of her lips.

The sword in her hand was clenched so tightly that her joints lost their color. She looked like she was about to shatter the hilt.

She did not turn her head. Instead, she hoped to raise her sword again, but her fingers were trembling, making it impossible for her to raise it.

“Rumble!”

The White Jade Phoenix Palace suddenly quivered.

“What’s going on!?”

The White Lunar Divine Empire guards who had begun walking towards Yi Yun could hardly find their footing.

“Your Majesty?”

People were alarmed. The White Jade Phoenix Palace had been refined by Lin Xintong for herself, but it was after all a Godly Monarch’s numinous treasure. The difficulty for Lin Xintong to control it with her centuries worth of cultivation was obvious.

Could it be that Lin Xintong’s prayers towards the Heavenly Dao had enervated her too much, and that she could not hold on much longer? Everyone from the White Lunar Divine Empire looked at Lin Xintong in worry. After all, this was her coronation, an extremely important moment in her life. All of them were standing on a square in front of the White Jade Phoenix Palace. If Lin Xintong’s stamina failed to keep up, it could lead to the White Jade Phoenix Palace’s plummet. It would also mean the end of the coronation.

“Xintong!?” At that moment in time, a voice suddenly sounded in Lin Xintong’s mind. “What are you doing? Did you forget the agreement we had previously?”

Lin Xintong’s mental world was filled with dazzling golden light and crystalline water!

Here, there was a woman with a perfect figure standing stark naked. Her skin was like milky-white jade as she soaked in the crystalline waters. Her arms were bound with silver chains as abstruse purple runes landed again and again on her untainted body. In the middle of her brows was a blooming red lotus. It had eight petals and it was just short of the final petal.

“Master…”

Lin Xintong’s mind quivered. The naked woman in her soul sea was none other than her master—Bai Yueyin!

“I… didn’t forget…”

“But your Dao heart is wavering. I should have killed him back at the Fey God Tomb!”

“Master!” Lin Xintong’s heart tightened. “No!”

“Xintong! If we had another way out, I would not have chosen this method! I do not wish for you to hate me, and I can choose not to kill Yi Yun, but the Ancestor God will not. You have already witnessed His strength. It’s not only me. Even Yi Yun’s body is marked by His tracing mark! Surely you can sense that mark yourself!?”

When Bai Yueyin finished her sentence, Lin Xintong’s heart sank as the color in her face drained.

She had joined Bai Yueyin and witnessed the Ancestor God’s strength. To be precise, she had followed Bai Yueyin and saw the intense battle between her master and the Ancestor God.

Decades ago, the Ancestor God had been severely injured for an unknown reason in the primeval universe. Bai Yueyin sensed it and tore through layers of space to launch her attack on Him.

Bai Yueyin was daringly resolute. Against such a powerful godlike figure like the Ancestor God, people would have chosen to avoid Him. Only Bai Yueyin had traveled light years to enter a life-and-death battle with the weakened Ancestor God!

But even so, Bai Yueyin’s body was completely destroyed in the battle. It resulted in the Sinkhole believing that Bai Yueyin had perished.

Bai Yueyin had expected this ahead of time. She had brought Lin Xintong with her, so that Bai Yueyin could enter Lin Xintong’s soul sea in the form of a soul to recuperate if her body was destroyed.

At the same time, it was also Bai Yueyin’s final reincarnation.

The Grand Reincarnation Technique—the ninth reincarnation!

Bai Yueyin had chosen to reincarnate in Lin Xintong’s body for her ninth reincarnation. It was equivalent to fusing as one with Lin Xintong!

This was something Lin Xintong knew all along, and she had mentally prepared herself for it.

The Grand Reincarnation Technique which Empress Sheng Mei left behind were categorized into the Concept of Life and the Concept of Death. Bai Yueyin and Lin Xintong had each cultivated a portion of it. Bai Yueyin had chosen to condense the Lotus of Death, so only by fusing with Lin Xintong’s Lotus of Life would it result in perfection.

In fact, Bai Yueyin’s recruitment of Lin Xintong as her disciple had been for this very purpose!

However, Bai Yueyin had found Lin Xintong late. She had paid the price of having her body destroyed to severely injure the Ancestor God so as to gain the time needed for her ninth reincarnation.

The coronation was only to allow Lin Xintong to shock the Sinkhole with her might as the new empress, so as to prevent the various factions from encroaching on the empire. After which, Lin Xintong would enter seclusion for a century to perfect the final fusion.

Lin Xintong knew all about Bai Yueyin’s arrangements from the very beginning, but she chose to accept it.

She knew Bai Yueyin’s sacrifice for the battle and she was indebted to Bai Yueyin. She also respected her. Besides, this was the only way to defeat the Ancestor God.

Furthermore, the Ancestor God had left a tracing mark on Yi Yun. Even if Lin Xintong ignored all the lives in the universe, she could not ignore Yi Yun’s impending death.

Under such a situation, she had no other choice.

And since she had agreed to fuse as one with Bai Yueyin, it was impossible for her to continue being with Yi Yun.

For that, she cultivated in the Emotion Forgetting Art to severe her mortal ties, allowing herself to remain emotionless towards everything. However, when Yi Yun really appeared in front of her and awaited for her reply, she felt her Dao heart wavering.

Due to the backlash from the Emotion Forgetting Art, blood had seeped out of her mouth. The blessings from the Heavenly Dao was on the brink of collapse and she had almost lost control of the White Jade Phoenix Palace!

1545 - : Life-and-Death Red Lotus

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“Xintong, I wish for an answer.” Yi Yun ignored everything that was happening around him as he approached Lin Xintong one step at a time. “What happened? You can tell me. I will bear the burden together with you.”

Yi Yun’s words were firm and decisive. He spoke with great confidence, a confidence that stemmed from the strength he possessed.

“Yi Yun, you are not to treat Her Majesty with such disrespect! Since you are acting so preposterously, don’t you blame me for being heartless. Take him down!”

At that moment, Divine General Skyjade was already burning with anxiety, but Yi Yun was only causing more trouble for him. When Yi Yun gave the Godly Monarch Royal Seals, Divine General Skyjade was pretty impressed by Yi Yun despite having rejected his gift. But now, Yi Yun was not knowing his place.

“None of you move!” Lin Xintong shouted clearly. Following that, blood trickled down the corner of her mouth. Her face was pale as the sword in her hand trembled.

“Xintong! What happened?”

Yi Yun went forward and sensed the chaotic Yuan Qi in Lin Xintong’s body. Waves of energy inundated Lin Xintong’s dantian due to the lash back and at the same time, two purple lines stretched down from Lin Xintong’s cheeks to her collar.

“This is…” Although others might fail to understand Lin Xintong’s condition, the symptoms prompted Yi Yun to recall a mystic technique. It was written in the canon which the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had left behind—the Emotion Forgetting Art.

To the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, the Emotion Forgetting Art was not a profound cultivation formulation. He had only added it into his compendium in passing. Yi Yun obviously did not cultivate in it because it wasn’t anything impressive and it required the severing of emotions or he would suffer a lashback from the cultivation technique. Therefore, it was of little value to Yi Yun.

Lin Xintong’s present situation resembled the cultivation of the Emotion Forgetting Art!

Bai Yueyin had also obtained Empress Sheng Mei’s and the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s heritage, so it was not odd that she had the manual to the Emotion Forgetting Art. However, with the deep heritage Bai Yueyin had, there was no need for Lin Xintong to cultivate in such a cultivation technique. Besides, she cultivated in a top cultivation technique like the Grand Reincarnation Technique!

The only possibility was that Lin Xintong had been forced!

And the goal of cultivating the Emotion Forgetting Art was clearly to make Lin Xintong completely forget him!

Yi Yun was infuriated when he came to this realization. His bit of respect and gratitude towards Bai Yueyin were completely reduced to nothing!

Perhaps Bai Yueyin’s goal was to save all life in the universe, but she was fundamentally a coldblooded and heartless person. She would go to any length to achieve her goals.

“Xintong! Leave with me!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he took a step forward and grabbed Lin Xintong’s wrist!

“What!?”

Everyone was dumbfounded when they saw this scene. Yi Yun was actually taking away the White Lunar Divine Empire’s empress at her coronation. Furthermore, he had grabbed Lin Xintong’s arm directly. That was complete madness!

“Bastard, what audacity!”

Divine General Skyjade raged. After being stopped by Lin Xintong verbally, he had paused his arrest of Yi Yun, but he never expected Yi Yun to go from bad to worse. To think he grabbed Her Majesty’s arm directly. That was going too far!

“Clang! Clang!”

All the Elders, guards, and young elites from the White Lunar Divine Empire drew their weapons. In particular, the young elites had bloodshot eyes. Their goddess, Lin Xintong, someone who they did not even dare blaspheme in their dreams had been so easily molested by this man!

“Kill him! Cut his hand off first!” someone shouted. With Lin Xintong around, none of them dared to attack him directly for fear of harming her. After all, the empress was extremely weak for unknown reasons. Even the White Jade Phoenix Palace appeared to be on the brink of plummeting.

“Let me do it!” Imperial Preceptor Kun Xu took a step forward. “Punk, I’ve been putting up with your antics for a very long time! Her Majesty has told you to scram, but here you are being utterly shameless. You actually molested her while Her Majesty got injured during her prayer. You deserve death!”

Kun Xu held his hands together as the surrounding space around Yi Yun began to close in on him!

This was Kun Xu’s best trick. He had previously used this move to restrain Yi Yun back at Bai Shanhe’s courtyard. If not for Fairy Yourou’s arrival, he would have long thrown Yi Yun into the Blood Moon Sky Dungeon and leave him to die there. This would have saved him all the trouble.

“I’ll crush you to meat paste!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Space collapsed as everyone turned solemn. Kun Xu specialized in the spatial dimension laws. Even his name was a description of space itself.

Fairy Yourou wished for her master to stop this development, but at this moment, Imperial Preceptor Lingluo had already stopped her from doing so. With the empress’s dignity on the line, Lingluo would ignore any loss of decorum with the Nethersky Divine World.

However, Yi Yun did not seem to notice the spatial cage which was crushing everything. He continued holding Lin Xintong by the wrist.

He looked down at Lin Xintong. Her supple and smooth skin had an indescribable coldness to it. It pained his heart.

“Oh? This is…”

At the instant Yi Yun made contact with Lin Xintong’s skin, he sensed that there was the energy of another soul contained within Lin Xintong. The soul’s energy was completely concealed. If Yi Yun had not broken through to the Divine Lord realm and had possession of the Purple Crystal, he would not have noticed it at all.

This made Yi Yun’s expression change drastically!

What was going on? Why was there a strange soul energy within Lin Xintong’s body!?

Yi Yun sensed a flame burning at his chest. He should not have allowed Lin Xintong to stay in the White Lunar Divine Empire alone. What had she gone through over the centuries!?

Back then, his strength was limited. He did not have the ability to effect change, but now, everything was different!

“Leave with me. I do not know what difficulties you might have, but with me here, I’ll bear the weight even if the sky crashes down on you!”

Although it was a simple sentence, it was a promise that allowed reliance. Like a breached floodgate, the shackles in Lin Xintong’s heart were completely broken. The restraints the Emotion Forgetting Art had on Lin Xintong’s soul sea crumbled instantly.

Lin Xintong’s petite body quaked. She had been shouldering the burden of having to steel herself for centuries and the responsibility for all life in the universe. She long knew of her fate as Bai Yueyin’s ninth reincarnation and that it was the reason why Bai Yueyin had taken her in as a disciple!

However, she only obeyed for she had no choice.

“Yi Yun, I…”

Due to Yi Yun’s sentence, the frail emotions which were repressed by Lin Xintong erupted. She could no longer resist them as she threw herself into Yi Yun’s arms with tears flowing down her cheeks.

She did not wish to think of her future fate, but instead of continuing on in misery, she might as well act as her heart desired and live her days well.

She hugged Yi Yun tightly as though she wanted to fuse her body with Yi Yun’s.

“Your Majesty!?”

“Your Majesty!”

Everyone was astounded when they saw Lin Xintong throw herself into Yi Yun’s arms!

What… was going on? Her Majesty had clearly rejected Yi Yun previously. After she saw Yi Yun, all she did was give him a glance and say a single word. Everyone was certain that Yi Yun’s claim that Lin Xintong was his wife was nonsense, but now…

Lin Xintong’s eyes were welling with tears as she hugged Yi Yun tightly, as though she was afraid that she would lose him the moment she released him. This deep love left everyone stunned.

Lin Xintong was really Yi Yun’s wife? Furthermore, Yi Yun appeared to be extremely important to her!

“Impossible! How can Her Majesty love a man? Furthermore, this man did not even leave his name on Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith!”

“Her Majesty is pure and noble, a goddess in the heavens. No one deserves her!”

The young elites of the White Lunar Divine Empire found it unacceptable. In their hearts, Lin Xintong was pure and noble, an unapproachable existence. She was a fairy that had landed in the mortal world and was not to be slighted in any way. They found it unbelievable that Lin Xintong would suddenly undergo such a tremendous change. In Yi Yun’s arms, she made them feel tender and protective towards her. Her flowing emotions made her appear like an injured kitten.

How could Her Majesty have such a side to her? What’s more, she was showing it to Yi Yun!?

“You bastard! Release our empress!”

Kun Xu was truly infuriated. As Imperial Preceptor, he had guessed from the various signs. It was untenable that Lin Xintong were to suddenly give herself to Yi Yun.

Kun Xu had already taken action, but now, he was using all his strength. With a rapturous roar, his upper garments tore apart, revealing his body that appeared forged like steel. His heart was beating like a war drum as his vessels squirmed like tiny snakes. A powerful and ancient aura gradually awakened in him.

“This is an Ancient Fey bloodline!?”

People looked at Kun Xu in alarm. They never expected Kun Xu to be a descendant of an Ancient Fey. People of this lineage were blessed nomologically. Furthermore, their bodies were extremely powerful, so powerful that they matched that of an Ancient Fey’s. Once they dual cultivated in both body and spirit, they were practically invincible!

Furthermore, Kun Xu clearly cultivated in a powerful body tempering art. He was no doubt one of the powerhouses ranked top three in the White Lunar Divine Empire’s ranks!

“Little bastard, die!”

Kun Xu threw a punch at Yi Yun’s head. As the punch was delivered, the world quaked. At the same time, the spatial cage which enveloped Yi Yun tightened and lodged into Yi Yun’s flesh. It was about to crush him to smithereens!

“Scram!”

Yi Yun’s reply to Kun Xu consisted of only one word. Hugging Lin Xintong with his left hand, he struck out with his right palm!

“Ka-cha!”

The spatial cage collapse instantly. Yi Yun’s strike came with the potency which shattered the void as it slapped Kun Xu directly in the face!

“Bam!”

With a loud bang, Kun Xu flew backward like a meteor. His muscles that were like divine metal and his Yuan Qi protection were reduced to a mess as potent forces surged through him. He spewed out mouthfuls of blood as he slammed into the array formation barrier surrounding the White Jade Phoenix Palace.

“Ka-cha!”

The barrier cracked at the spot where Kun Xu made the impact.

Kun Xu’s mouth was like a blood fountain as his body slid down the barrier like a piece of paper.

Upon seeing this scene, everyone unknowingly turned agape as the entire square fell silent!

The high and mighty White Lunar Divine Empire Imperial Preceptor had been sent flying by Yi Yun with a slap like he was a flying pig!

This… This was Yi Yun’s strength?

“I am taking my wife away today. Whoever stops me shall be killed!”

Yi Yun hugged Lin Xintong with one arm as he stood up straight. His eyes were like two bolts of lightning, penetrating whatever it swept past!

His killing intent was like a burning inferno that consumed everything.

At that instant, everyone had the illusion that the person standing before them was not Yi Yun, but a peerless Godly Monarch!

1546 - : Breaking Through the Shackles

Yi Yun’s voice resounded across the White Jade Phoenix Palace. And in stark contrast was a silence akin to a cemetery’s from the various overlords and elites from the various Sinkhole factions on the coronation grounds.

Whoever stops me shall be killed!

This simple sentence was often shouted by people in a warrior’s world, but never had there been once in history where such a sentence was filled with a terrifying suppressive might like Yi Yun’s. It was as though a primordial behemoth from hundreds of millions of years ago had growled after being roused from its deep sleep!

And even more unbelievable was the fact that Yi Yun had only cultivated for mere centuries.

Ignoring the Sinkhole, even in the long rivers of martial history, never had there been such a bizarre turn of events—a junior had sent a major faction’s overlord flying with a single slap!

“This Yi Yun… is my age? No… he’s even younger than me!” Mu Yun turned disenchanted. He was an elite among the Sinkhole’s younger generation. Although he was far inferior to Lin Xintong and slightly inferior to Fairy Yourou, he still had hopes of becoming an overlord figure in the future.

He thought highly of himself and had born a grudge that Sacred Horizon Divine Lord had not offered him a Godly Monarch Royal Seal, but now, he realized he was nothing but crap when compared to Yi Yun.

He took a glance at Zhu Ningxie whose lips were twitching. His face was extremely pale and it was obvious that he had suffered a tremendous setback. Previously, he was indeed envious that Yi Yun had casually gifted the Godly Monarch Royal Seals, but opportunities were exterior to one’s body after all. In a warrior’s world, one valued one’s strength the most. They felt that they still held advantages over Yi Yun since they had left their names on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith a century ago.

But now, they realized that Yi Yun’s strength had reached a realm incomprehensible to them. And the mere achievement of leaving their names on the World Monolith became a joke in front of Yi Yun.

“Young Master Yi, how did you…”

Fairy Yourou looked at Yi Yun in a daze. She knew that Yi Yun’s strength was extraordinary, but she never imagined him to be this strong.

“Today, anyone who stops me will be my enemy. Do not blame me for being heartless!”

Yi Yun’s voice was stern. The abnormal soul energy within Lin Xintong’s soul sea was causing him to burn with fury.

“Punk, you…”

At that moment, Imperial Preceptor Kun Xu, who had been sent flying by Yi Yun, struggled to get up as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He was enraged from the embarrassment of being sent flying by a junior. It was the greatest insult in his entire life!

“Ka Ka Ka!”

Kun Xu’s lifeblood stirred as his eyes turned bloodshot. He stared at Yi Yun like a feral animal.

“Kun Xu, stand down!”

At that moment, a voice with bold overtones sounded. It was none other than Divine General Skyjade.

“Lord Skyjade, it was just carelessness on my part…” Kun Xu was exasperated. “I underestimated the punk’s strength and thought it would be an easy capture. Furthermore, I was worried about injuring Her Majesty, so I held back. But this little bastard thought nothing of it. He immediately dealt a lethal blow, allowing him to gain the upper hand. Lord Skyjade, let me continue. I will definitely not be defeated again.”

Kun Xu felt that his defeat was way too humiliating. Even if Yi Yun’s strength was terrifying and that he was unlikely to defeat Yi Yun, he wanted to show that he would not be inflicted with such terrible injuries at the very least. By attacking again, he felt that he could redeem the situation a little.

However, Divine General Skyjade denied him with a single sentence. “Stand down. Leave the battle to me!”

Skyjade walked towards Yi Yun as his battle armor resounded like an ancient dragon’s roar. At that instant, his aura changed. It felt like he was a towering god that was lofty and beyond reach!

This was a true Sacred Horizon Divine Lord powerhouse! Although Kun Xu was a Sinkhole overlord, he was still far inferior to top Sinkhole figures like Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat!

Skyjade was, in ways, Sacred Horizon Divine Lord’s equal. He had not fought in tens of thousands of years and he was definitely an enemy who would leave one apprehensive!

Skyjade stared intently at Yi Yun. “Yi Yun, I never imagined that you had such strength. I had made a wrong judgment about you. You are truly an elite that appears once in a billion years in the martial world. It will be a pity if you are slain here, but I will absolutely not allow for you to take Her Majesty away!”

Skyjade had a vague understanding of the secret regarding Bai Yueyin’s Grand Reincarnation Technique. Under such circumstances, how could he allow Yi Yun to take Lin Xintong away?

Skyjade waved his right hand as a purple spear appeared in it. The moment the spear appeared, the White Jade Phoenix Palace began to tremble and hum.

“Purple Golden Dragon Patterned Spear. An Ancient Godly Monarch numinous treasure!” someone gasped.

Skyjade was the strongest combat general of the White Lunar Divine Empire. The spear he wielded was not an item that belonged to the White Lunar Divine Empire, but an artifact which had been handed down in his family. It was rumored to be constructed from a dragon bone of an Ancient Godly Monarch. Furthermore, it had been nurtured in the dantian its entire life to create a weapon intrinsic to its owner!

“To even use his Purple Golden Dragon Patterned Spear, it shows that Divine General Skyjade is determined to retain Yi Yun. But Lin Xintong is just beside Yi Yun. Does he not care for Lin Xintong’s wishes…”

A Sinkhole powerhouse was puzzled. Previously, Lin Xintong appeared to hold an extraordinary and absolute status in the White Lunar Divine Empire. Whatever she said was supposed to be final, but now, it appeared that these old subordinates were not fully in compliance with Lin Xintong’s orders.

“Yi Yun, the ancestors of my Skyjade family served an Ancient Godly Monarch. This spear was left in my family after an Ancient Godly Monarch perished. This divine spear contains a sliver of power left behind by the Ancient Godly Monarch. Although it’s only a sliver, it’s not something you can withstand at all!

“This power is not something I would usually use that easily, but I have no other choice today. I’m giving you one last chance. Swear under your Dao heart and leave Her Majesty. If not, I will use this spear to slay you at this coronation and use you as a blood sacrifice to the heavens!”

“Skyjade!” Lin Xintong yelled out.

Although she had cultivated in the Emotion Forgetting Art and had suffered a backlash from her Yuan Qi which injured her meridians, her voice remained daunting!

“Your Majesty, nothing you say today will be of any use. Your humble subordinate can only apologize!”

The person Skyjade was truly loyal to was Bai Yueyin. As for Lin Xintong, she was just a mouthpiece of Bai Yueyin. His respect for Lin Xintong basically stemmed from his respect for Bai Yueyin!

“Yi Yun!”

Lin Xintong gripped with anxiety. The strength Yi Yun demonstrated had astounded her, but Divine General Skyjade was different. Besides, he was now using his ancestral weapon!

The power of a Godly Monarch reduced with every use. For Skyjade to pay such a price showed his determination to kill Yi Yun.

“Xintong, hide first.”

As Yi Yun spoke, a spiritual light flashed in his hand as a suction force transmitted over.

“Yi Yun, you…”

“I will definitely take you away with me today.”

Yi Yun placed Lin Xintong into the God Advent Tower.

Upon seeing this scene, everyone was alarmed. Kun Xu had previously mentioned that he had held back because of Lin Xintong’s presence since he was afraid of injuring her. Although it was just talk to redeem himself after being defeated, it was not necessarily false! If Lin Xintong had not been there, Kun Xu could have been wary of Yi Yun’s strength from the beginning and used all his strength. Although it was still possible that he was not Yi Yun’s match, he would not be utterly defeated with a single strike at the very least.

Under such circumstances, wasn’t Yi Yun courting death to let Lin Xintong hide away in his artifact?

Although it was shameless to fight while holding Lin Xintong hostage, how old was Yi Yun? He should have been proud that he could match a Sinkhole powerhouse. Yet, here he was giving an opportunity to his enemy.

“Yi Yun, I’m impressed! It’s very rare for me to be impressed by someone. The departed empress was one, and you are another one. But unfortunately, you will die today!”

As Skyjade spoke, what appeared to be a boundless cosmic background appeared behind him. In the starry background, there were nine stars in a constellation which were especially bright. The nine-starred constellation produced a mysterious arrangement as though they were drawing out an ancient totem.

This was a phenomenon unique to Divine General Skyjade. The Skyjade family clan’s heritage was special. The moment the phenomenon appeared, a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood would appear!

“Skyjade Constellation, Immortal Annihilation Spear Thrust!”

Just as Skyjade was about to attack, the boundless Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was sucked into Skyjade’s spear, leaving a vacuum behind. The Godly Monarch power that laid asleep in the Purple Golden Dragon Patterned Spear roused as it appeared to overturn the cosmos!

All the elites present, including a large number of Divine Lords, felt as though all their lifeblood was being sucked away by the spear. It was extremely uncomfortable. Although the spear was not trained at them, they still felt like they were being slain by the spear!

“Yi Yun is in trouble. How is he to withstand this strike?” Sacred Horizon Divine Lord’s expression changed. He believed that even he would be severely injured if he were to face the strike!

“Even if a Godly Monarch were here, I would still be able to cause bloodshed! As for you, you are just too weak!”

Yi Yun bellowed as a black cauldron, which was bathed in a divine light that radiated throughout the world, flew out of his dantian.

The cauldron produced a might that seemed to render the world asunder. People clearly saw a gigantic black dragon phantom appear from the cauldron as it roared!

“This is…”

Upon seeing the divine dragon’s phantom, everyone felt a jolt through their hearts. Even Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat retreated several steps back. The black dragon’s might was just too horrifying. It was no ordinary Ancient Fey; it appeared to be a legendary Ancient Fey God!

“A mere spear forged from a dragon bone wishes to compete with the Dragon Emperor? Shatter!”

Yi Yun roared out loud as the black Ascending Dragon Cauldron crashed down like it would overturn the world. And at the same time, the ground which Yi Yun’s feet were on produced the shadows of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. It was as though thousands of demons and gods had descended upon the world as they struck at Skyjade!

This strike had unimaginable might. Yi Yun had also used all his strength.

“Boom!”

The White Jade Phoenix Palace quaked as the surrounding void shattered. Endless spatial storms swept over as all the Divine Lords present had drastic changes in expressions. They quickly retreated and used their Yuan Qi barriers to protect the younger generation. Amid this terrifying spatial storms, even a Supremacy would be torn to shreds!

It was too powerful. It was as though a Godly Monarch had appeared, invincible and indomitable.

“Puah!”

Skyjade spat out a mouthful of blood. His protective Yuan Qi, along with his golden battle armor, tore apart like paper. Nearly all his ribs fractured as his organs were damaged. He was severely injured!

“Boom!”

The protective barriers around the White Jade Phoenix Palace failed to withstand the blast as they began cracking. Countless beams of light tore through the barriers as they shot towards the high heavens.

This scene left everyone alarmed. Mu Yun’s and Zhu Ningxie’s bodies were trembling. They did not dare believe what had happened before their very eyes.

Divine General Skyjade had used a sliver of the Godly Monarch powers sealed within the Godly Monarch numinous treasure, but still, he had been defeated by Yi Yun. What level of strength did this Yi Yun have!?

1547 - : Skyjade Constellation

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Lord Skyjade, are you alright!?”

Imperial Preceptor Lingluo’s voice trembled. Her body phased away as she appeared by Skyjade’s side.

At that moment, Divine General Skyjade’s armor was shattered. His hair was disheveled and his body was covered in blood. Although he had an extremely powerful physique, he had fractures and damaged meridians everywhere across his body. He was completely stripped of his ability to continue combat.

It was completely unheard of to have a strength to reduce Divine General Skyjade of his combat ability with one strike!

“Who else wishes to stop me?”

Yi Yun stood like a spear hovering in midair. He had already stimulated the Dragon Emperor bloodline in him, causing his potent lifeblood to billow out and headed straight for the firmaments. A black cauldron was slowly spinning beneath his feet as it emitted a dragon’s roar.

Although no one recognized the divine cauldron, they were certain that it was a divine artifact more valuable than a Godly Monarch numinous treasure since it was able to suppress one in a frontal assault.

No one dared to make another sound. Lingluo looked at Yi Yun with clenched teeth. This was what backed his audacity, so it was no wonder he came to the White Lunar Divine Empire alone and showed no fear.

Without Bai Yueyin, no one in the White Lunar Divine Empire could stop Yi Yun.

The shock and awe his strength displayed was exactly the effect Yi Yun wanted. Although he had only delivered one strike, he had done it with full strength. After all, there were so many Sinkhole powerhouses present. If the White Lunar Divine Empire were to promise benefits to them and numerous Divine Lords joined forces in a bid to kill him, Yi Yun would be in grave danger!

And now, the strength Yi Yun displayed for all to see left everyone apprehensive. Even if they took action, they had to consider if it was worth the price!

“He’s invincible below the Godly Monarch realm…”

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord drew a cold gasp as he said with a bitter smile. This also meant that everyone present, including him and Eclipse Arhat, were not Yi Yun’s match.

“It appears that Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord really perished under Yi Yun’s hand about four decades ago. The two Godly Monarch Royal Seals he has is no doubt from the both of them,” West River Divine Lord said with a nasty expression.

He had felt a lingering fear when he saw Yi Yun defeat Divine General Skyjade. He was extremely thankful that he had swallowed his pride to apologize to Yi Yun. Back then, he was afraid that Yi Yun had excellent escaping abilities and that if he was unable to retain him, it would ultimately lead to Yi Yun’s revenge one day. But now, he realized that Yi Yun could already finish him!

He had practically avoided death.

While West River Divine Lord was rejoicing, everyone’s expression changed when they heard him!

“Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord perished under Yi Yun’s hand decades ago!?”

This news was astounding!

Everyone had believed that Yi Yun had hidden away in a particular place until the end of the ancient battlefield trials because of Primordial Chaos Daolord’s entry into the ancient battlefield. It caught everyone by surprise that Primordial Chaos Daolord was instead killed by Yi Yun!

Even Fire Cloud Divine Lord had perished. Yi Yun had killed two Sinkhole powerhouses at one go! He had even obtained their Godly Monarch Royal Seals and given them out as a gift casually! It was now quite a ridiculous joke that they had believed Yi Yun’s luck to be good which resulted in his discovery of the Godly Monarch Royal Seals.

“This Yi Yun killed our sect master.”

People from the Great Cosmic State and Fire Cloud Sect were fuming, but none of them dared to say anything aloud. Previously, many people swore to exact vengeance once they confirmed the cause of Primordial Chaos Daolord’s and Fire Cloud Divine Lord’s deaths.

But to exact revenge on Yi Yun now? That was practically a joke.

The martial world used the law of the jungle. Back then, Primordial Chaos Daolord killed countless, but no one had dared sought revenge on the Great Cosmic State.

They knew very well that Yi Yun would definitely become a Godly Monarch in the future. It was even possible that it would not take long for a junior like him to stand at a spot which required them to look up in reverence, with a stature far exceeding Sacred Horizon Divine Lord’s and Eclipse Arhat’s.

“Yi… Yi Yun…” At that moment, the severely injured Divine General Skyjade stood up. “You can’t… take Her Majesty away…” Skyjade said with a trembling voice.

When everyone heard that, they were taken aback. Divine General Skyjade was already in such a wretched state; yet, he still dared to stop Yi Yun? What right did he have to make such a demand?

“Oh?” Yi Yun sneered. “And why should I do so?”

“A day… Give me a day, and you can take Lin Xintong away,” Divine General Skyjade said through clenched teeth. Everyone was stunned when they heard that, uncertain what was on Divine General Skyjade’s mind.

Yi Yun laughed. He knew that Divine General Skyjade was doing it for the abnormal soul energy in Lin Xintong’s body!

It was impossible for Skyjade to stop him from taking Lin Xintong away, so he was hoping to separate the soul energy from Lin Xintong’s body.

“Back then, did you not think of such a day after planting the soul fire in Xintong’s body? I will be taking Xintong away today; yet, you still want to retain the soul energy within her? You are living in dreams. It’s already very nice of me not to massacre your White Lunar Divine Empire!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he put away the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and flew up.

No one present dared to stop him. Divine General Skyjade’s expression was pale, but no matter how anxious he was, no one heeded his commands to advance. It would practically be sending themselves to their deaths.

“Miss Yourou, thank you for the help you have provided me in the past few days. This is for you!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he flicked his finger as an interspatial ring flew towards Fairy Yourou.

Fairy Yourou subconsciously caught it as she probed it. She was instantly alarmed for there were the ingredients her master had been seeking for the refinement of the Divine Breakage Pill. Furthermore, the ones Yi Yun had provided were of extremely rare and of top quality!

Yi Yun actually knew that she required the Divine Breakage Pill?

“We shall meet again if fate wishes so.”

After Yi Yun said that, he casually tore open the void and took a wide stride in!

There was a deafening silence. Everyone watched Yi Yun leave as the people from the White Lunar Divine Empire felt utterly disgraced.

The White Lunar Divine Empire’s coronation had been looked forward to by thousands. All sorts of cream of the crop were here, but in the end, the empress who was to ascend the throne had been taken away! It was a ludicrous joke!

“I never expected that we would witness the birth of a Godly Monarch… Lin Xintong is already a future Godly Monarch. As for Yi Yun, he’s only short of becoming one. In the future, who is to stop them if the couple joins forces?”

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord let out a long sigh. He had come to the realization that changes were coming to the Sinkhole.

Yi Yun’s battle today was destined to spread throughout the Sinkhole in an extremely short period of time, making his name known across the Sinkhole!

…

Meanwhile, Yi Yun had already flown with Lin Xintong for tens of millions of kilometers. He tore open the void above a mountain which stretched as far as the eyes could see before walking out of it.

Beneath Yi Yun’s feet was a primordial forest without a single person.

“Xintong!”

Lin Xintong had already walked out of the God Advent Tower. Her white clothes resembled snow and her face remained pale; however, her Yuan Qi was slowly recovering.

Lin Xintong’s cultivation foundation was robust after all. Even if she cultivated the Emotion Forgetting Art and suffered a backlash from it, her tempered meridians were still able to withstand it.

“Yi Yun, I made you suffer today. Speaking of which, how did you become so strong?”

“It’s a long story. That’s not important. Xintong, let me ask you. Who or what is the abnormal soul energy in your soul sea? Is it Bai Yueyin?”

After leaving the White Lunar Divine Empire, it was time to settle everything.

1548 - : Unstoppable

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s question, Lin Xintong was given a shock. She never expected Yi Yun to be so keen to notice Bai Yueyin’s soul in her soul sea. After all, although Bai Yueyin’s physical body was destroyed which resulted in a drastic drop in strength, her soul still had an extraordinary realm, making it difficult for others to detect her.

After some hesitation, Lin Xintong nodded slowly.

Yi Yun’s expression turned cold instantly. “Xintong, tell me. Was Bai Yueyin’s goal of recruiting you as a disciple because she wanted to possess you?”

“No.” Lin Xintong shook her head. She sighed, “It’s not possession but fusion. Master and I will fuse as one. There’s actually no choice in the matter. Master has her difficulties as well.”

“Fuse?” Yi Yun snorted. “Doesn’t fusing as one still require a main person in control? Xintong, you are too kind and weak. With Bai Yueyin’s strong personality, she would definitely be the main person in control. You will slowly lose yourself.”

Lin Xintong remained silent for a while before saying, “Master isn’t what you think she is. Besides, I agreed to the fusion of my own free will. I also have my reasons as there are no alternatives…”

When Lin Xintong said that, Yi Yun felt his heart wince for her. He knew that Lin Xintong’s reason had partially to do with him. He had been planted with a tracing mark by the Ancestor God. If the Ancestor God was not killed, he would hardly survive His pursuit.

Yi Yun sighed as he gently hugged Lin Xintong. “Regardless of what the future entails, we will face it together. As for your master, she is an empress of the Sinkhole. She was a Godly Monarch since ancient times and has lived all this while. Do you think you understand her?”

In this world, it was very difficult for kindhearted people to stand above the rest. From the battle with the Ancestor God hundreds of millions of years ago to this present day, Bai Yueyin had been engaging in battles her entire life! Later, Bai Yueyin had even established her own dominion, creating a divine empire that appeared to last for all eternity! How could such a person be seen through so easily?

Lin Xintong remained silent. Yi Yun focused his psyche forces as he penetrated straight into Lin Xintong’s glabella. “Xintong, open up your soul sea to allow my psyche entry. I wish to meet her. Besides, she is likely waiting for me as well.”

Yi Yun had many things to say at that moment. He wanted to question Bai Yueyin, which included the grudge regarding Azure Yang Lord.

Lin Xintong naturally did not resist Yi Yun’s psyche strength. The next moment, Yi Yun had entered into Lin Xintong’s mental world.

Lin Xintong’s soul sea was like a pocket world containing a clear lake with crystalline water. It was picturesque and too beautiful to be fully appreciated at once.

Amid the crystalline water was a girl with supple skin. Her raven black hair cascaded down freely into the water like a blooming black rose. She was naked, but it was impossible to make out anything from the water’s concealment.

Bai Yueyin!

She was the peerless woman that stood atop the Sinkhole. Despite only having a soul body after having her body destroyed, Yi Yun could not sense anything weak about her.

Against this woman, Yi Yun had highly conflicted emotions. She had saved him, but she had also harmed Azure Yang Lord. In order to fight for the world, she had forced Lin Xintong into a path of oblivion.

Bai Yueyin flew up and at the moment she turned around, the flowing water settled above her body as it transformed into a blue gauze robe.

She was as light as a butterfly. Her toe tapped gently on the water’s surface as she gently landed by the bank.

She turned back and looked at Yi Yun. Her eyes were filled with extremely conflicted feelings. They were like wistful thoughts or recollections of the past, as well as sadness…

The look in her eyes startled Yi Yun a little. He had planned on interrogating Bai Yueyin. Of course, he had also destroyed Bai Yueyin’s plans. He believed that she would be angry or have eyes filled with killing intent, but Yi Yun never expected to see such a reaction from her.

“I never expected you to inherit his heritage. Furthermore… you have already cultivated to this stage.”

“Oh?”

Yi Yun’s brows pricked up. He was surprised that Bai Yueyin would say something like that.

“Back when I saw you defeat Divine General Skyjade, I saw your strength. That’s Senior Lin’s 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence…”

Senior Lin?

Yi Yun was taken aback. Bai Yueyin was likely referring to the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch.

This was also the first time Yi Yun was hearing the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s surname. Back when the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch came to seek Empress Sheng Mei, he came into the universe containing the Sinkhole. He kickstarted the Martial Dao and left behind heritages. To the warriors in the Sinkhole, even for those Ancient Godly Monarchs, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch was a lofty figure. He was like a god or legend. People would usually address him as the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, but Bai Yueyin had addressed him as Senior Lin.

This gave Yi Yun a feeling that Bai Yueyin had met the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch before. That was the only explanation for the way she addressed him. And compared to other ancient mighty beings, Bai Yueyin’s relationship with the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch was likely even deeper…

“This is probably fate. Back then, Senior Lin established my foundation with his heritage. And now, you are using the same heritage to sever my Dao…”

“Sever your Dao?” Yi Yun snorted coldly. “Your Dao is to possess your disciple? Is your Dao to ignore past feelings and to harm your own husband?”

Azure Yang Lord’s death made Yi Yun harbor unpleasant feelings towards Bai Yueyin. He was greatly indebted to Azure Yang Lord, and if it was possible, he naturally wanted to avenge him.

“Kill my husband?” Bai Yueyin’s brows pricked up.

Yi Yun waved his hand, causing a tiny black pagoda to appear out of thin air as it floated above his palm. “Don’t tell me you do not recognize this pagoda…”

“The God Advent Tower… So you were referring to Jian Qingyang.” Bai Yueyin wore a cold expression. “I never expected you to know what happened tens of millions of years ago. You must have received Jian Qingyang’s heritage, right?”

“Yes. I can’t understand why you harmed Senior Azure Yang and why you married him. You were an Ancient Godly Monarch, a lofty existence. Senior Azure Yang was merely a Royal Sealed Divine Lord. If not for you, he would enjoy a illustrious life for tens of millions of years even if he ceased to improve beyond that of a Divine Lord.”

“Illustrious life for tens of millions of years? In the universe’s billions of years of history, there have been as many warriors in the world as there are sand. Just living for a few million years is only but an instant. Everything beneath Godly Monarchs are ants. And above Godly Monarchs, one has to bear the burden of shackles. No one is destined to live an illustrious life. Life and death are fated. To fall before reaching the pinnacle of the Martial Dao will only reduce one to pieces. It also means that the light shining from providence on that individual is insufficient. The Jian Qingyang you speak of… Tens of millions of years ago, my soul had been shattered by the enemy. I used the Grand Reincarnation Technique to split my soul into 18,000 fragments. They were imbued into unborn fetuses and laid dormant. When these girls grew up, my consciousness awakened. Jian Qingyang’s wife had a wisp of my consciousness. When all my consciousness awakened and finally fused, that would meant my sixth incarnation…”

“Your soul was split into 18,000 fragments? Doesn’t that mean you wiped out the consciousness of that many girls at once?” Yi Yun frowned. Although he was not a kind person, he did not like Bai Yueyin’s actions.

“I had planted my consciousness into them when they were still fetuses. They were a part of me to begin with. But if you insist that I had robbed them of their consciousness, there is nothing to be said against it.”

Bai Yueyin’s voice was cold. She thought nothing of it.

Yi Yun took a deep breath. He knew that the woman in front of him had seen countless happy and tragic life-and-death situations in the long river of history. The number of people she killed with her own hands was probably innumerable.

Such a person had long seen past everything.

There was no benevolence to the world. All entities in the world were no different from dogs. Bai Yueyin was a Godly Monarch who had lived for billions of years. She was like a god to ordinary mortals. To her, all life was equal, be they dogs or humans. They were just different forms of life.

“Yi Yun, I know what’s on your mind. The Ancestor God has left a tracing mark in you, but you have great ambitions. You believe that once you break through to the Godly Monarch realm, you will be able to fight the Ancestor God! But you probably do not have the time needed. Besides, even if you break through to the Godly Monarch realm, you will not be able to break through the shackles that bind Godly Monarchs. You will ultimately not be the Ancestor God’s match.”

“Godly Monarch shackles?” Yi Yun was taken aback. He recalled what Bai Yueyin had said. Everything beneath Godly Monarchs are ants. And above Godly Monarchs, one has to bear the burden of shackles.

Bai Yueyin sighed. “The Heavenly Dao is incomplete. Billions of years ago, the Ancestor God had chipped away at the Heavenly Dao. In ancient times, Godly Monarchs were common, but after that happened, Godly Monarchs became fewer in number. There might not even be one in a hundred million years. It has also made my cultivation face great challenges. Back then, Empress Sheng Mei independently mastered the Grand Reincarnation Technique, but I have no choice but to use Xintong’s help. This has been in the works for so long, but your appearance has destroyed my plans…”

Chipped away at the Heavenly Dao? Yi Yun was stunned for quite some time when he heard Bai Yueyin. The Heavenly Dao was ethereal; yet, the Ancestor God had managed to take a portion away from it!? This strength was astounding!

“Therefore… due to the incomplete Heavenly Dao, you are destined never to become a perfect Godly Monarch. It’s virtually impossible for you to defeat the Ancestor God. Over the billions of years since the Heavenly Dao became incomplete, there have been rare geniuses who had become Godly Monarchs. However, their Godly Monarch realms were flawed. That is the shackles they are unable to escape from.”

“After these people became Godly Monarchs, they enjoy extremely long lives. However, when they cast their Godly Monarch powers, their cultivation levels will suffer losses. Their lifespans will also be consumed. If they engage in battle frequently, they will slowly enervate themselves, causing their realms to fall while they die of age. Therefore, all the Godly Monarchs in the Sinkhole remain reclusive.”

Upon hearing Bai Yueyin’s explanation, Yi Yun felt enlightened. It was no wonder the various major factions in the Sinkhole like the First Beginnings Immortal Gate, Great Cosmic State, etc did not have a Godly Monarch presiding over them.

Apart from Bai Yueyin, no Godly Monarch appeared to create a dominion for themselves and create their own dynasties. Logically speaking, if the Sinkhole produced a Godly Monarch every hundred million years and Godly Monarchs enjoyed extremely long lives, there should not have been a lack of Godly Monarchs in the Sinkhole with time.

It was quite normal if a Godly Monarch or two liked to remain reclusive, but things were odd if all of them did the same.

“I see…”

Yi Yun understood why the major factions chose to pay homage to a Godly Monarch. By providing the Godly Monarch with valuable treasures, they exchanged for a favor from their respective Godly Monarchs who would take action for their sects at critical times.

With the Heavenly Dao being incomplete, this was indeed the best choice for the Godly Monarchs.

“It appears you aren’t burdened by the Godly Monarch shackles,” said Yi Yun. From the present circumstances, perhaps Bai Yueyin was the only Ancient Godly Monarch left to date!

Bai Yueyin was the only one among all the Sinkhole’s mighty figures to have broken through to the Godly Monarch realm before the Heavenly Dao became incomplete. This was also the reason why she managed to establish the White Lunar Divine Empire.

In fact, without any exaggeration, Bai Yueyin could rule the Sinkhole if she wished so!

Which Godly Monarch would dare fight Bai Yueyin when the Heavenly Dao was incomplete?

“Since you aren’t burdened by the Godly Monarch shackles, the removal of the Heavenly Dao by the Ancestor God should have little effect on you. The order of this world is even beneficial towards you. You are truly the strongest person in the world. But among all the Godly Monarchs, you are the only one to engage the Ancestor God in intense battle, to the point of ignoring your life. Why? To save the world? To save yourself? …”

Bai Yueyin shook her head. “It’s precisely because I’m the only one not burdened by the Heavenly Dao’s shackles that makes me the only person in the Sinkhole who can threaten the Ancestor God. So how can He spare me? If I don’t kill Him, He will kill me. There is no end to our fighting.”

“The peak of the Martial Dao is hard to reach. Countless warriors have attempted to climb that peak, but they have ultimately been reduced to dust. To escape Samsara, the only way is to reach his level. What’s the point in living an ignoble existence?”

When Bai Yueyin said that, she let out a long sigh as her beautiful eyes seemed to be pondering over something.

Yi Yun knew that Bai Yueyin was referring to the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch!

The coldblooded and heartless combat empress would always show the frail emotions of a woman when she mentioned the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch.

Bai Yueyin had mentioned before that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had established her foundation years ago. It was obvious that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch enjoyed an extraordinary spot in her heart. This spot was irreplaceable!

“Don’t tell me… you wish to find him?”

This thought suddenly came to Yi Yun. According to Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had left behind his heritage, only to leave the universe they were in after finding Empress Sheng Mei. Perhaps, he had returned to the 33 Skies or he had gone to another dimension’s universe!

This multiverse was far bigger than Yi Yun could imagine. The Sinkhole and the 33 Skies were just one of the many universes in this massive multiverse. Why wouldn’t one explore it?

Yi Yun was inclined to believe that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had gone exploring the multiverse with Empress Sheng Mei!

If that was the case, how could the ambitious Bai Yueyin be willing to stay in the Sinkhole?

Besides, she seemed to have special feelings for the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch…

This was reasonable after all. No matter how coldblooded and heartless Bai Yueyin appeared, she was still a young, impressionable girl billions of years ago. She could not help but feel a sense of admiration towards the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch who passed her his teachings and changed her life’s trajectory.

“You wish to kill the Ancestor God to prove your Dao?” asked Yi Yun suddenly.

Bai Yueyin looked at Yi Yun in surprise. “You are pretty keen. That’s right. By killing the Ancestor God, I will obtain the Heavenly Dao’s fragment. If I can refine it to become my intrinsic Royal Seal, that might be my only way of reaching the peak of the Martial Dao. However, that is too far into the future. Now, my body has been destroyed and you are taking Xintong away. It’s equivalent to severing my Dao.”

Upon hearing Bai Yueyin, Yi Yun let out a heavy sigh. He realized that Bai Yueyin’s combat engagement her entire life wasn’t because she was attempting to save the world, nor was it about the White Lunar Divine Empire or all life. To her, they were just fleeting.

She only wished to prove her Dao.

Back when she met the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, she was extremely weak in comparison. Since she was unable to reach the heights where Dao Originator Celestial Thearch and Empress Sheng Mei stood upon, she might have hidden her feelings and tiptoed around the issue.

Perhaps there would come a day when she reached a height that approached them. It was Bai Yueyin’s obsession. Perhaps, her Dao was to seek him…

1549 - : Bai Yueyin’s Dao

Bai Yueyin appeared extremely calm while facing Yi Yun who had severed her Dao. Despite ending with failure after innumerable years of combat, Bai Yueyin did not appear to find it unacceptable.

Yi Yun touched his interspatial ring where Mirage Snow was. As long as he drew it out and slashed, there was no way Bai Yueyin’s present state could withstand his blow.

However, Yi Yun was somewhat hesitant delivering that god-slaying strike at Bai Yueyin… Bai Yueyin was neither good nor evil. She deserved death, but the reason why she was severely injured had to do with her battle with the Ancestor God.

Decades ago, the Ancestor God appeared to pursue Yi Yun in the primeval universe. Although the Spear of Primordial Chaos had torn through the Ancestor God’s body, the divine spear was ownerless. Just a spear alone was unable to rob the Ancestor God of His combat strength. If Bai Yueyin had not tore through layers of space, Yi Yun was unlikely to have evaded the Ancestor God.

It was even possible that the Ancestor God would chase up to him in the spatial storms in the primeval universe, causing him to perish!

Taking a step back, even if Yi Yun escaped back then, he still had the Ancestor God’s mark on him. The Ancestor God would ultimately take his life, and if not for Bai Yueyin’s injuring of the Ancestor God, would Yi Yun have the chance of meeting Lin Xintong now?

“You are hesitating?” Bai Yueyin looked at Yi Yun and said lightly.

“How are you so unperturbed towards life and death?” returned Yi Yun with a question.

“Since time immemorial, winners are crowned and the losers vilified. My Dao has always been a path of certain death. Taking this path is as difficult as ascending the heavens. I was prepared to fail back when I embarked on this path. Now, to be defeated by your 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence means it was fated, a circulation of karma.”

Bai Yueyin’s voice was calm and carefree. It impressed Yi Yun.

“I do not like to take advantage of people. If it’s possible, I really do not wish to kill you, but there’s no way I can change your Dao which you have persisted for hundreds of millions of years. If I don’t kill you, you would still wish to fuse with Xintong’s soul. When that happens, it will be too late for me to regret.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he had already made up his mind as he slowly drew out Mirage Snow.

“Yi Yun!” At that moment, Lin Xintong’s Yuan Qi voice transmission sounded in Yi Yun’s ears. “Yi Yun, I’m indebted to Master for she saved my life. Although she wants to fuse with me, I had done so willingly. Now, the Ancestor God’s mark is still in you. With the enemy before us, all life in the universe are in peril, including you. Yet, you wish to kill the only Ancestor Godly Monarch in the Sinkhole. If you were to kill Master, there’s no way for you to defeat the Ancestor God!”

As Lin Xintong spoke, she transformed into a figure of light and appeared in her soul sea. She looked at Bai Yueyin with conflicted emotions.

If it was possible, she naturally did not wish to fuse with Bai Yueyin. But now, it was a choice she did not have. Although Yi Yun was extraordinarily talented, it was unlikely he had the time needed to grow without Bai Yueyin’s completion of the nine reincarnations.

What’s more, the path of becoming a god had been sealed off by the Ancestor God.

“Yi Yun, although the Ancestor God has been severely injured by Master, His vital force is extremely potent. He will quickly recover from His injuries. Furthermore, there isn’t only one Ancestor God!” Lin Xintong spoke again. This sentence left Yi Yun’s heart palpitating.

He had long had some ideas about the situation.

Back when Yi Yun headed to the Azure Wood Great World, there had been a bronze giant sealed under the Azure Wood Divine Tree. The giant was much weaker than the Ancestor God which Bai Yueyin had launched an assault on, but he clearly was a member of the entity known as an Ancestor God.

“What is an Ancestor God?” Yi Yun asked.

“They are a race. You can call them Celestials. And the strongest among them are called Ancestor Gods,” said Lin Xintong. She knew many secrets which Yi Yun did not know after her many years with Bai Yueyin.

“Compared to humans, Celestials are too terrifying. They have powerful bodies and astonishingly long lives. The moment they are born, their strength will constantly grow without the need to cultivate. If they cultivate, that would even be more astounding. And once they cultivate to the Ancestor God realm, there is only one special but extremely horrifying way to continue cultivating to increase their strength…”

“Oh?” Yi Yun pricked up his brows. “What is it?”

Lin Xintong took a deep breath as she enunciated her sentence, “They do so by devouring the Heavenly Dao. They devour the Heavenly Dao of different universes to enhance themselves. When that happens, they are no different from gods!”

Devouring of the Heavenly Dao!

Yi Yun felt his heart thump. It was no wonder that particular Ancestor God had chipped away a portion of the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao.

Such a terrifying race existed in this universe? Then, if they were to head to other universes, wouldn’t it be a catastrophe? Even the universe was food to them!

Lin Xintong continued, “This is something the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch told Master years ago which she then informed me… Back then, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had personally killed an extremely powerful Ancestor God, almost no different to that of a god. He was split into 33 parts and each part was suppressed with a Small World. One of his eyes is being suppressed in the Tian Yuan world.”

“So that is the origin of the Eye of Destruction inside the eternal whirlpool beneath the Tian Yuan world!”

Yi Yun naturally remembered. In that mortal world, he had entered the God Advent Tower to retrieve Azure Yang Lord’s heritage. The entrance was situated by an eternal whirlpool in the Untraversable Sea. Anyone that entered the whirlpool by mistake met with certain death.

Back then, Yi Yun had also witnessed a scene that he found unforgettable. Inside the whirlpool was a gigantic eye. Just one look at it from tens of thousands of kilometers away made one’s soul feel like shattering!

So that extremely powerful Ancestor God was suppressed by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch!

Up to this point in time, Yi Yun already knew the existence of four Celestials.

One of them had been sealed by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, and another had been heavily injured by the collective forces of the eight Godly Monarchs. It was also the one that was pursuing both Bai Yueyin and himself.

The other two were weaker. One of them had been beheaded by Pure Yang Sword Palace’s owner, and the other was suppressed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree!

This meant that in the ancient war hundreds of millions of years ago, apart from the Ancestor God which the eight Godly Monarchs attacked, they had also killed several weaker Celestials. He only knew two, but they were definitely not all of them.

“How many people belong to this race?” Yi Yun asked with a frown.

“Very few.” Bai Yueyin suddenly spoke out. “The world where the Celestials live in are mostly a variety of races. There are demonic servants, the Soul race, the Ancient Fey, and even humans… There, the Celestials reign supreme. They are like gods in that world and even the weakest Celestial enjoys a supernatural standing. I have once been to their world. All the Celestials added up do not number more than 10,000.”

“What? You actually… went to their world before?” Yi Yun was astonished.

“Senior Lin brought me there. Back then, he established my foundation, and that was my cultivation ground. I broke through to the Godly Monarch realm there…”

As Bai Yueyin spoke, she let out a light sigh.

Yi Yun understood certain things from what he heard. From the looks of it, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had done many things for Bai Yueyin. The time they spent together was relatively long. After all, for Bai Yueyin to cultivate all the way to a Godly Monarch, it probably meant tens of thousands of years!

To spend time together for tens of thousands of years, it was obvious that, with the build up of feelings, Bai Yueyin had strong feelings towards the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch.

The potency of the Celestials gave tremendous pressure to Yi Yun. But at the same time, he did not feel inferior. After all, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch was also human!

The Dao Originator Celestial Thearch could seal the strongest Ancestor God of the Celestials, and he could travel the various universes. He sealed the Sinkhole off from the Celestial’s world. Such means was practically beyond godlike.

Since humans could cultivate to that level, Yi Yun thought nothing about the natural advantages the Celestials had.

“Oh… This is…” Lin Xintong’s voice suddenly changed. “Yi Yun, something happened!”

Yi Yun’s heart palpitated. “What?”

“It’s the White Jade Phoenix Palace. I sense that something abnormal has happened to the White Jade Phoenix Palace!”

The present owner of the White Jade Phoenix Palace was Bai Yueyin, but Lin Xintong had fused her blood essence into the White Jade Phoenix Palace, so she had a special connection with it.

1550 - : Mystery of the Ancestor God

CKtalon  CKtalon

White Lunar Divine Empire’s hundred thousand pavilion palaces.

At that moment, the upper echelons of the White Lunar Divine Empire were feeling miserable. The grand coronation had ended with their empress being kidnapped. They had lost their reputation in front of so many guests from all over the Sinkhole.

In truth, losing reputation was a trivial matter. More critically, the new empress had clearly decided on being with Yi Yun. It felt as though their White Lunar Divine Empire had been suddenly robbed off its backbone. All hope was lost. Furthermore, their Divine General Skyjade had been heavily injured by Yi Yun.

It could be foreseen that the White Lunar Divine Empire was facing its greatest crisis since it was first established tens of millions of years ago. If it was not resolved, the White Lunar Divine Empire would only slowly decline.

“Guests, I’m really sorry. Please stay calm and make your way to the banquet in the divine palace. We will slowly discuss a response.” With Divine General Skyjade heavily injured, Imperial Preceptor Kun Xu had no choice but to step forward to handle the situation.

“What do you mean by response?” said Sacred Horizon Divine Lord with a deep sigh.

“Everyone, I’m not trying to be an alarmist, but this Yi Yun will likely become a mortal malady for all of you one day! He isn’t fully-fledged yet, but he already disparages all of you. In another century, his strength will increase greatly, and he will likely reign supreme over the Sinkhole. When that happens, we will likely have to live our days under the shadow he casts. If anyone were to be the slightest of a sore sight to him, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them die by his hand. It seems… a few of you have a grudge with him. Who knows when in the future he will decide to settle the grudge?”

As Kun Xu spoke, he gave a knowing look at West River Divine Lord. He had a faint inkling that West River Divine Lord had offended Yi Yun, and it was not over something minor.

West River Divine Lord’s expression changed. He naturally knew what Kun Xu was up to. He wished to instigate the entire Sinkhole to gang up on Yi Yun and kill him.

Although Yi Yun was powerful, the various Sinkhole factions had Godly Monarchs backing them. If they truly wanted Yi Yun dead, they could use the favors the Godly Monarchs granted them. It was still possible! After all, even the Godly Monarchs might not wish to see an expert that was destined to surpass them develop themselves.

But the price of doing so was too huge. Was it worth it?

West River Divine Lord was somewhat hesitant as he glanced at Sacred Horizon Divine Lord. Sacred Horizon Divine Lord said slowly, “Imperial Preceptor Kun Xu, there’s no need to continue. Yi Yun might not be our enemy.”

“Exalted Sacred Horizon, what you say is somewhat problematic. The Sinkhole’s present factions are demarcated properly and this balance is beneficial to everyone. Even our White Lunar Divine Empire can offer some benefits. However, once Yi Yun matures to his full strength, he will become the strongest being. He will definitely aim to reap the greatest benefits for himself. To do so, he will be targeting all of you. Do you wish to be at his mercy when the time comes?”

“I believe everyone knows what it means to be meat on a chopping board. I know your scruples over the matter, but don’t forget that no major faction has lasted for hundreds of millions of years in the Sinkhole’s history. There is always a change of dynasty. If we ignore Yi Yun, we might one day be replaced.”

As Kun Xu spoke, his expression changed drastically. His body began to convulse, for at the same time, a terrifying energy fluctuation erupted out of the crowd. It felt like a devil had descended into the mortal world!

“This is…”

Everyone turned around abruptly, and at that moment, the terrifying energy had blasted out. A figure burning with black flames threw out two punches. His target was none other than Sacred Horizon Divine Lord!

He attacked so suddenly that it was the perfect sneak attack!

“Ha!”

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord roared. A phantom of a bright moon along a horizon appeared behind him. Meanwhile, a blue sword appeared in his hand as he slashed it out!

However, this strike was grabbed by the burning figure’s fists that turned into claws!

“What!?”

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord’s expression changed drastically. The attacker held the advantage of the first move since it was a sneak attack. And this clash shocked him with the realization that the attacker’s strength was greater than his!

The boundless black Yuan Qi raged like a tumultuous demonic sea. It was completely unstoppable.

“Bam!”

Sacred Horizon Divine Lord was struck heavily in the chest, causing him to spit a mouthful of blood. His body was sent flying away!

The figure did not lose a bit of momentum. He pursed Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and extended his claw towards Sacred Horizon Divine Lord’s head, in a bid to kill Sacred Horizon Divine Lord!

“Vile Spawn! Stop!”

With a thundering boom, Eclipse Arhat flew up. He held a golden staff in hand as countless Sanskrit musical tones surfaced around him. A Buddhist proclamation resounded across the world.

“Sun Subduing Fiend!”

Eclipse Arhat slammed down his staff at the shadow, as Buddhist light flashed above the nine firmaments. A golden buddha descended as it slammed down at the black shadow like a plummeting meteor!

Eclipse Arhat was extremely powerful to begin with. The black shadow had targeted Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, and his attack was a spent force. Eclipse Arhat was attacking a fatigued enemy, and if the shadow continued pursuing Sacred Horizon Divine Lord, he was bound to be struck by Eclipse Arhat!

However, at the instant Eclipse Arhat struck the black shadow with his staff, the shadow scattered into fragments suddenly. These fragments transformed into countless streams of light, but their target was no longer Sacred Horizon Divine Lord. It was… Divine General Skyjade!

“Lord Skyjade!”

Lingluo’s heart tightened. She wished to interfere, but the black shadow was too fast. In just an instant, he had already appeared in front of Divine General Skyjade!

Divine General Skyjade was already severely injured, so he was unable to retaliate.

“Puah!”

The black shadow clawed at Divine General Skyjade’s chest!

“You…”

Divine General Skyjade spat out blood as he grabbed the black shadow’s demonic arm. He looked at the black shadow’s face with great difficulty as his own face revealed a look of shock and disbelief.

“Heavenly… Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord…!?”

The person who suddenly took action was Heavenly Cosmic, who had remained silent since the beginning of the coronation!

As Primordial Chaos Daolord’s fellow disciple, Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s whereabouts had always been extremely mysterious. In the recent million years, he had reclused himself, and did not see a single person. Even though Yi Yun had shocked and awed West River Divine Lord and company, he did not reveal any odd expressions.

Yi Yun had paid him greater attention in the beginning, but from beginning to end, Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord did not take any actions. As such, Yi Yun naturally ignored him.

But now, after Yi Yun left, Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord suddenly launched an attack. People were appalled to discover that he possessed such terrifying strength!

Although it was a sneak attack, for him to severely injure Sacred Horizon Divine Lord with one strike, it probably meant that he was only slightly weaker than Yi Yun who had defeated Divine General Skyjade in a frontal assault!

Why did such a terrifying person suddenly appear in this world? If he had such tremendous strength, why did he not show himself during the past million years?

“You are…”

Divine General Skyjade’s expression was pale. He could sense that his vitality was rapidly declining. He had once met Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord, but compared to the past Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord, the present person exuded a more demonic aura. His eyes had a strange purple color. His body contained surging lifeblood forces as though his body had a devil sealed inside it.

However, Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord did not answer Divine General Skyjade. He directly split out a black psyche that flew straight for the White Jade Phoenix Palace!

1551 - : Sudden Turn of Events

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What are you doing!?”

Divine General Skyjade was alarmed. For this attacker to inject his psyche into the White Jade Phoenix Palace, could it be that he was trying to snatch the White Jade Phoenix Palace for himself!?

“You are not Heavenly Cosmic! Who… are you!?”

Divine General Skyjade was certain that the Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord in front of him was completely different from the one in his memories.

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord let out a sinisterly cold laughter. “It’s naturally me. It’s just that I have now become a brand new person compared to who I was before.”

As Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord spoke, he slowly exerted force with the hand which was inside Divine General Skyjade’s chest. He grabbed his beating heart.

Divine General Skyjade let out a painful cry.

“Lord Skyjade!”

Lingluo was burning with anxiety, but no one from the White Lunar Divine Empire dared to move.

On the one hand, Divine General Skyjade was at Heavenly Cosmic’s mercy, and any action they took might result in him being harmed; and on the other hand, there were few left in the entire White Lunar Divine Empire entourage who could battle. Even Imperial Preceptor Kun Xu had been previously injured by Yi Yun. He had also suffered a sneak attack.

There was now only Imperial Preceptor Lingluo, but it was impossible that she could match Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord.

At that moment, Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord was still injecting a mental imprint into the White Jade Phoenix Palace.

“Indeed… Lord Demon Master is right. Bai Yueyin is not dead. Her mental imprint is still inside the White Jade Phoenix Palace. It’s just extremely weak. According to Lord Demon Master, Bai Yueyin’s soul has already escaped, and is hiding in the soul sea of that girl named Lin Xintong!”

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord thought inwardly as his eyes turned ferocious.

“Patron, it looks like you have been possessed by demons!” Eclipse Arhat held his staff as he slowly walked out of the crowd.

“Hehe, Bald Donkey, do you think you are my match?”

As Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord spoke, he roared out loud. A black storm erupted from his body as a large number of shadows flew out in all directions.

These shadows were humanoid in shape, but their faces were ghastly pale and dotted with bloodshot eyes. They looked like they crawled out from Shura hell.

“Oh? This is?”

Eclipse Arhat was surprised. Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord had opened up a world inside his body, and this world contained thousands of evil spirits.

“These are… demonic servants!?”

Eclipse Arhat’s heart sank. The Mahayana Monastery had been in existence for a long period of time. It also had a collection of ancient texts, and as abbot of the Mahayana Monastery, Eclipse Arhat had read each and every one of them. The numerous evil spirits which surrounded Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord were clearly the demonic servants as recorded in the texts!

Legend had it that in primordial times, numerous Godly Monarchs once fought a powerful god in a life-and-death battle, a battle that determined the fate of the Sinkhole. Although the Godly Monarchs clinched victory in the end, many of them suffered grave injuries or even death from the battle. Nearly all of them perished.

And back then, the god’s demonic army was made up of these demonic servants!

Over the hundreds of millions of years since that battle, there had been appearances of pockets of demonic servants in various places. These demonic servants were members of the demonic army which had been in existence since ancient times. They laid somewhere in slumber, and when awakened, would wreak havoc. However, they usually did not amount to much.

But this time, these demonic servants were hidden inside Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s body!

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord was a Sinkhole hegemon who was equal to Primordial Chaos Daolord. The fact that a Sinkhole hegemon was in cahoots with demonic servants gave Eclipse Arhat an ominous foreboding. Perhaps, the Sinkhole was on the cusp of a calamity.

Could it be that the god which was defeated in ancient times was making another uprising?

If that were the case, who could stop him?

There were numerous Godly Monarchs in ancient times, but now, the number of Godly Monarchs in the Sinkhole only amounted to a handful. Furthermore, nearly all of them reclused themselves!

“West River, join forces with me to take him down!”

Eclipse Arhat knew that he alone was no match for Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord. It was unknown what evil powers this Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord had been cultivating over the past million years. His strength had increased tremendously. A single sneak attack was enough to rob Sacred Horizon Divine Lord of all his combat strength. Eclipse Arhat knew he was not capable of such a feat.

“This…” West River Divine Lord had a nasty expression. He could tell that tens of thousands of demonic servants had flown out of from the pocket world in Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s body!

These demonic servants all released powerful auras like they were specters from a netherworld’s abyss. It left his scalp tingling!

They were at least at the level of Dao Palace realm, with some having reached the Supremacy realm!

West River Divine Lord was afraid. He would not care if demonic servants of this strength came in hordes of hundreds or thousands, but now, there were tens of thousands of these demonic servants gathering around Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord. They were in intricate positions and had formed a huge worldly array!

And right in the middle of the array was the White Jade Phoenix Palace!

Could it be that Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord was trying to take the White Jade Phoenix Palace!?

Speaking of which, now that Lin Xintong was gone, and she was still a fledgling, her refinement of the White Jade Phoenix Palace was not thorough. It was not impossible, if they took action now, to snatch the White Jade Phoenix Palace!

However, why would they want to snatch the White Jade Phoenix Palace?

“West River, why are you still hesitating!?” Eclipse Arhat yelled angrily.

There were few people in the Sinkhole who could fight at present. Yet, West River had not chosen to join forces with him.

“Master Eclipse, I’ll aid you!”

Exalted Bluefeather walked forward at that moment.

“Master!” Fairy Yourou’s heart tightened. She never imagined that so many unexpected turns of events would happen at a mere coronation.

“Hahaha!

At that moment, there was a maniacal laughter. A tall figure dressed in black combat armor rushed out from Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s body.

The person was 2.5 meters. His body was as stout as a metallic tower. His arms were coiled in black chains and his body was burning with demonic flames.

His body was extremely heavy. Just a step from him was able to cause the hundred thousand pavilion palaces’ ground to crack simply from his weight.

“This is…”

Eclipse Arhat’s pupils constricted. He could sense a terrifying suppressive force from the person who suddenly appeared!

He was a demonic servant! However, he was a demonic servant leader. He had a nearly humanoid body and face. If not for the rough black skin which had scaled armor on it, he could really be considered as human.

“Let me introduce myself. I’m the Divine Master’s Demonic General Perfected Hou 1 Hou A Hou is also known as a Denglong, a Chinese legendary creature said to be one of the sons of the Dragon King. The Denglong has ten characteristics that resembles animals: horns like a deer, head like a camel, ears like a cat, eyes like a shrimp, mouth like a donkey, hair like a lion, neck like a snake, belly like a Shen, scales like a koi, front paws like an eagle, and rear paws like a tiger. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denglong . My master is destined to descend upon the Sinkhole. None of you have the means to resist him. Submit early and you will be spared!”

Perfected Hou’s voice sounded like rumbling thunder. It left a ringing buzz in everyone’s ears. His tone was somewhat odd, as though it was a particular ancient language of the Sinkhole.

“Demonic General Perfected Hou, our mission is to take possession of the White Jade Phoenix Palace. Let’s not waste our time with these people,” said Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord. He had inflicted grave injuries on Sacred Horizon Divine Lord with his sneak attack only so the process would go smoother.

To the Divine Master, as long as he recovered his strength, all the people in the Sinkhole were like porcelain dolls. Destroying them took little effort.

“Got it!”

Perfected Hou laughed sinisterly. With a thought of his, the tens of thousands of demonic servants around the White Jade Phoenix Palace ignited. Stunning black beams of light emitted from their bodies!

They were offering up their Demonic Qi Origins!

Some of the weaker demonic servants even burned to ashes from the black flames!

1552 - : Perfected Hou

1553 Raging Demonic Flames Translator:CKtalon | Editor: CKtalon

“This…”

All the Sinkhole warriors present were alarmed at the sight of this scene. Just a mere command made the demonic servants sacrifice themselves without even a blink of an eye. It was completely impossible to make human warriors do so.

In comparison, the lowly demonic servants were like mindless ants, and such unquestionably loyal enemies were even more terrifying.

“Could the Divine Master he mentioned be that god from ancient times?”

Eclipse Arhat’s voice even began to tremble as he said this.

“Master Eclipse, what are you talking about?” Bluefeather Divine Lord was still unaware of what was happening.

“My Mahayana Monastery has records of an ancient god who devoured the Heavenly Dao. Back then, the Divine Lords of the Sinkhole martial world were like soldiers while Godly Monarchs were like generals. They gave their all in order to win that apocalyptic battle. I never expected that the demonic servants would make another uprising, and here of all places. As for us…”

Eclipse Arhat did not finish his sentence, but Bluefeather Divine Lord could guess what he was about to say.

If Divine Lords were soldiers while Godly Monarchs were generals, it meant that all of them would only be mere foot soldiers in that massive battle in ancient times?

This…

Bluefeather Divine Lord felt stifled. How could they put up a fight?

“You do know some history. That’s right. Hundreds of millions of years ago, those mortals had indeed fought Divine Master. But how can mortals kill a god? Divine Master was only recuperating back then. To Him, all of you are just mere ants. You can be destroyed easily. Resistance would only be met by death.”

“And perhaps, all of you are unaware that the Sinkhole universe’s Heavenly Dao is flawed. In this universe, it’s impossible for you to become a Godly Monarch. Even if you manage to barely make breakthroughs, you would face the limitations of the Heavenly Dao. You would not be able to freely use your energy and would instead end up consuming your lifespan. Only Bai Yueyin, who broke through before the Heavenly Dao was chipped away, does not suffer this limitation. But now, she has also been killed by Divine Master.”

“What!?”

All the warriors present were alarmed when they heard Perfected Hou’s words. Bai Yueyin had been killed by the Divine Master!?

Also, the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao was flawed, meaning people were destined to fail to break through to the Godly Monarch realm? Even if one went to great lengths and finally became a one-in-a-trillion Godly Monarch, they would not even be able to freely use their strength. Then, what was the point of being a Godly Monarch? Apart from having a long lifespan, there was no other benefit!

Many people found it unacceptable, but when they realized that Eclipse Arhat did not retort the claim, and how all the other Godly Monarchs except Bai Yueyin had reclused themselves, they had no choice but to believe.

From the looks of it, what Perfected Hou said was true…

Instantly, many people seemed to lose hope. Not only were they infinitely far from the realm of Godly Monarch, they realized how meaningless it was even if they made the breakthrough.

“It’s no wonder becoming a Godly Monarch is so hard in the present Sinkhole.”

Fairy Yourou gritted her teeth. She too had wishes to become a Godly Monarch. Although it was very difficult, she refused to give up that desire. But now, she had learned that the path to becoming a god had been completely barricaded away.

“However! All of you are very lucky!” Perfected Hou suddenly changed his tune. “Now that the Divine Master is descending upon this world, all of you will have the chance to break through to the Godly Monarch realm. As long as you submit yourself to Divine Master, He will bestow you with the chipped Heavenly Dao, allowing your strength to be greatly enhanced! Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord is an excellent example!”

“A fine bird selects its tree. Everyone present is an elite of the Sinkhole. You are the only ones who barely qualify to be subordinates of Divine Master. The rest of the trash do not even qualify!”

“Do you not cultivate your entire lives to travel the universe proudly and escape Samsara, so as to reign supreme over a dominion? Now, that chance is placed before you. The Sinkhole is already destined to fall. Do you want to be meaninglessly crushed like an egg struck on a rock, or do you want to submit to the superior being and gain a great enhancement in strength, allowing you a meteoric rise? It’s your choice.”

Perfected Hou was using his most enticing voice. Some of the warriors present instantly wavered.

They realized that Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord had submitted himself to the Divine Master. His strength had indeed increased tremendously, allowing him to severely injure Sacred Horizon Divine Lord with a single strike. If they submitted to the Divine Master, they could at the very least…

“Vile Spawn, you shut up!”

At that moment, Eclipse Arhat roared. It shook many people to the core, turning them bedazzled as they nearly fell to the ground.

Only then did they jolt out of their reverie as they gasped for air.

Perfected Hou had injected his psyche powers into his voice. They had nearly fallen for his enticement without realizing it.

“If you were really to sell your souls to the demonic god, all of the Heavenly Dao will be devoured when the demonic god gains possession of the Sinkhole. You will not end up any better. Perhaps you would be killed, at best left to your own devices! Now, we should unite and face this common enemy together so as to destroy them!”

As Eclipse Arhat spoke, he suddenly brandished the staff in his hand. It expanded when it met the wind. It formed a gigantic Buddha in mid-air as it came smashing down at Perfected Hou.

And at that moment, Eclipse Arhat took a step forward. He struck out with his palm across the void!

“Mahayana Wisdom Palm!”

Eclipse Arhat’s strike transformed into a huge golden hand as he attacked Perfected Hou in unison with the Buddha in the sky.

“Hmph! You overestimate yourself! Since you have a death wish, I’ll grant it to you!”

Perfected Hou took a deep breath as his body swelled up like a balloon. His muscles and skin were unimaginably tensile. It looked like he would explode from his deep breath.

“Roar!”

When his body swelled to a size ten times bigger than its usual, Perfected Hou suddenly opened his mouth and roared. His swollen body contracted abruptly. All his energy was converted into sound waves that surged out vehemently.

Instantly, the world seemed to crumble as it was rent asunder!

Wherever the sound blast passed, space itself shattered into fragments!

Heavenly Demon Perfected Roar!

With his maniacal roar, Perfected Hou released his lifeblood powers and churning demonic aura. This indomitable power contained a purely lethal force.

“Ka-cha!”

The Buddha in the sky shattered directly. Even Eclipse Arhat’s Mahayana Wisdom Palm staggered as it came to a sudden halt.

“Die!”

Perfected Hou took a step forward as a bronze giant phantom appeared behind him. The giant’s hands clenched into fists as they were thrown out like dual dragons surging out from the sea.

“Boom!”

The golden palm released by Eclipse Arhat was immediately torn through by the bronze giant. Yet, the punches did not lose momentum as they reared down at Eclipse Arhat!

He protected his body with Golden Bell!

Eclipse Arhat pressed down with his fists as he used the golden protective barrier to forcefully withstand the two punches.

“Bam!”

Eclipse Arhat retreated eight steps back as his lifeblood surged chaotically and his face turned pale.

He steeled himself so as not to collapse, but keen people could tell that Eclipse Arhat had suffered tremendously from the clash!

“That phantom is!?”

Eclipse Arhat’s gaze turned heavy. He could tell that it was not the Demonic General’s own strength. It was power bestowed on him by the ancient god!

The Demonic General’s strength might not have been that powerful. He might have even been inferior to Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord.

However, when matched with the bronze giant phantom behind him, his strength far exceeded Eclipse Arhat’s!

Furthermore, he was still commanding the tens of thousands of demonic servants.

“West River, Bluefeather, we should cooperate!”

“Alright!” Bluefeather Divine Lord’s beautiful eyes flashed a resolved look. It was possible that this was the battle she would end up perishing in!

However, West River Divine Lord did not respond. He still wore a look of hesitation.

“West River?”

Eclipse Arhat frowned. West River had no intention to offer his help from the beginning. This sank his heart for he knew that a calamity was on their hands. As the enemy was too powerful, the Sinkhole warriors might not want to flagrantly throw themselves to their deaths. People like West River and Heavenly Cosmic would first consider their own interests. They were probably not in the minority!

“Master Eclipse. The White Jade Phoenix Palace has been infiltrated by the demonic aura,” said Bluefeather suddenly.

A total of 54,000 demonic servants had burned their essence energies and transformed into a raging demonic inferno. The White Jade Phoenix Palace was enveloped in the demonic flames. The originally crystalline palace facade was already tainted by wisps of black gases.

If this continued, it would not take long for Perfected Hou to forcibly gain full control over the White Jade Phoenix Palace!

They were no match for the demons to begin with. If the White Jade Phoenix Palace was snatched away, releasing tens of thousands of demonic servants, it would no longer be a matter of them being able to stop Perfected Hou. Instead, it would be a question if they would be wiped out all at once.

“Eclipse, do not send yourself to your death so blindly. These demonic beings are no longer something Divine Lords can fend off. Let’s take the opportunity to escape. There’s still time. If we delay any further, we will not be able to leave! The best action at this moment in time is to retreat and inform the reclusive Godly Monarchs. Let them take action. Perhaps, it might shock the demons into submission.”

West River Divine Lord had his own ploys. Regardless of the Sinkhole’s fate, his survival was of utmost importance. In fact, he wished to understand what made Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord submit to the devils. He wanted to balance the pros and cons so he could make an informed decision.

“West River, you are betraying the Sinkhole!” Eclipse Arhat roared angrily. At that moment, a black flame surged out of the White Jade Phoenix Palace. Out of the 54,000 demonic servants, a third of them had consumed themselves in flames. At that instant, their mind, spirit, and body had transformed into a raging inferno. The White Jade Phoenix Palace seemed close to melting in the demonic flames.

“Haha! Wrestling away control of the White Jade Phoenix Palace is going surprisingly smoothly. From the looks of it, Bai Yueyin is already half-dead. The weak soul she has surviving is nothing of concern!” Perfected Hou’s eyes glowed. He imagined the battle would be extremely dangerous since Bai Yueyin’s condition was still an unknown.

Now, it appeared that everything would go much easier than planned.

“Heavenly Cosmic, join hands with me. We shall kill the old Bald Donkey!”

With the White Jade Phoenix Palace at hand, Perfected Hou had no wish to depart. He wished to contribute to his cause.

“This… Our mission was to snatch the White Jade Phoenix Palace. Although we have succeeded, we sacrificed 20,000 demonic servants. It’s best we retreat immediately…”

“Hmph! This old Bald Donkey has been constantly fanning the flames. He will be a stumbling block for our unification of the Sinkhole. Divine Master is currently recuperating. We should take over the Sinkhole before Divine Master’s injuries are healed! If we can kill Sacred Horizon and Eclipse in one fell swoop, we would inflict a major blow on the humans. When that happens, countless warriors will submit to us. The situation would be in place before Divine Master even awakens. He will definitely reward us handsomely! If you lack the guts, you can leave on your own,” said Perfected Hou disdainfully.

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord hesitated for a moment before he nodded. His submission to the Ancestor God naturally had to do with attaining the real Godly Monarch realm. He had already given up on the Sinkhole. He had no feelings for it simply because it was a lost cause. He had signed a pact with the Ancestor God. After the Sinkhole’s destruction, he could follow the Ancestor God to other words and continue doing battle.

And now, it was the perfect time to showcase his loyalty.

“Alright! Let’s work together to kill Eclipse and Bluefeather!”

At that instant, Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s killing intent surged! And behind Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord and Perfected Hou, the demonic servants gathered once again.

They had basically gained control of the White Jade Phoenix Palace, and more than half of them could fight alongside Perfected Hou.

Everyone had a change in expression when they saw the numerous demonic servants gather. Their numbers far exceeded the number of warriors present.

The calamity that they believed would happen in a few years was happening today. They never expected to be on the brink of destruction this very day!

“Kill!”

Perfected Hou bellowed as the demonic servants surged at the humans like locusts!

The demonic servants had just refined the White Jade Phoenix Palace, so their staminas were greatly depleted. However, it meant nothing to them. They simply hugged the human warriors and initiated self-destruction!

“Ah!”

Human warriors let out tragic cries. They never imagined they would be attacked in this way. The weaker ones were immediately blasted into a mangled mess of blood and flesh!

“Old Bald Donkey, prepare for death!”

Perfected Hou charged at Eclipse Arhat, who had a resolved look on his face. He humbly gave a Buddhist proclamation as though he was bidding farewell to Buddha.

“Vile Spawn, I will accompany you on your trip to hell!”

Eclipse Arhat brandished his staff and began fighting an intense battle with Perfected Hou!

Instantly, Buddhist light shimmered as demonic auras surged into the sky.

As for Bluefeather, she was facing Heavenly Cosmic!

As the present ruler of the Great Cosmic State, Heavenly Cosmic’s strength was already greater than Bluefeather’s. Furthermore, he had been augmented by the Ancestor God’s powers.

Bluefeather was injured almost as soon as they clashed!

The head-on assault caused her slender figure to fly backward as blood trickled down the corner of her lips.

The gap between them was too huge. After all, Heavenly Cosmic was a terrifying opponent who was able to severely injure Sacred Horizon Divine Lord with a single strike!

“Master!”

Fairy Yourou burned with anxiety. But at that moment, she was too occupied to help Bluefeather. More than twenty demonic servants had engaged her.

Although the strongest demonic servants were only at the early-stage Supremacy realm, they had no qualms about producing an internecine outcome with the warriors they faced. Fairy Yourou was forced to repeatedly retreat!

Were just mere demonic servants that powerful?

Fairy Yourou lamented inwardly. The gap in the strength between humans and the Divine Master’s army was like night and day.

She looked over and saw that the White Jade Phoenix Palace was burning amid demonic flames. The jade edifice was about to lose its last bit of luster before it was replaced by darkness. It resembled the present state of the humans—unable to put up any resistance against the repressive demonic horde.

Oh? What’s that?

As she was immersed in the chaotic battle, Fairy Yourou’s heart suddenly jolted. She saw a wisp of green light tear through the dark clouds in the sky. A tender vine drooped down from the dark clouds as it extended towards the White Jade Phoenix Palace. The burning demonic flames failed to stop the vine which remained emerald green.

The nimble leaves met with the howling demonic winds as they gently danced. They were like divine chains of order that linked the Heaven and Earth.

This is…

Fairy Yourou was not the only one. Everyone present suddenly held their breaths at the sudden turn of events. The green vine had extended deep into the White Jade Phoenix Palace!

1553 - Raging Demonic Flames Translator:CKtalon | Editor: CKtalon

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh!? Who’s the one acting all mysterious!?”

Upon seeing the green vine appear out from the clouds, Perfected Hou roared. His will was already unstoppable. It was really ‘if God was in the way, I’ll slaughter Him. If Buddha stops me, I’ll slaughter him too.”

“Burn it!”

Perfected Hou gave the order. Tens of thousands of demonic servants which surrounded the White Jade Phoenix Palace immediately surged towards the vine.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The demonic servants did not hesitate to self-destruct as the terrifying demonic flames raged up the vine!

However, the thin vine was unaffected at all. It remained unperturbed to the demonic flames’ burning.

“Oh?”

Perfected Hou was slightly taken aback. The situation had exceeded his expectations. What exactly was this vine? The thin vine was completely unfazed by the self-destruction of the demonic servants.

“Charge up into the clouds and destroy the bastard who’s trying to act all mysterious!”

Perfected Hou guessed that the green vine was some powerful artifact and the person hiding in the clouds was attacking with a potent artifact. They would be silly to waste their efforts on the artifact. It would be a meaningless sacrifice of the demonic servants.

“Roar! Roar! Roar!”

More than thirty thousand demonic servants joined the assault. The strongest was at the early-stage Supremacy realm, and the weakest at the Dao Palace realm. This was definitely a terrifying force that could leave any Sinkhole sect in horror. Even the hegemonic factions in the Sinkhole were about this strong if the strength of their upper echelons were excluded!

This was equivalent to having the core strength of a major faction turn out in full force!

No one could withstand such demonic servants that showed no fear towards death!

Upon seeing this situation, the hearts of the Sinkhole warriors tightened. The sudden appearance of the expert was their savior. If he was also defeated, the land they were standing upon was likely their grave.

“Hold back those demonic servants!”

Eclipse Arhat had sent the bronze giant phantom retreating with a palm strike as he roared out loudly. At that moment, the only outcome was death if they did not work together.

“Go with them!”

Bluefeather was already severely injured, but she continued to persist. She looked up into the sky, her clothes stained with blood as her long hair fluttered.

“Kill!”

The Sinkhole warriors charged into the sky. Against the tens of thousands of demonic servants, their numbers were far fewer. They were like raindrops beneath a swath of dark clouds.

And then—

Whew! Whew! Whew! Whew!

Hundred of vines flew out from above. These vines were emerald green and appeared menacing!

The hundreds of vines were like the whips of a god, as they lashed out freely in the sky!

Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!

Every vine’s strike tore apart space itself. The sky soon cracked from the vines’ lashings, and when the demonic servants clashed with the vines, they split apart like they were made of mud. Some were even directly penetrated!

In seconds, hundreds of demonic servants were dead!

Not only so, but the dead demonic servants also did not dissipate to nothingness. Instead, they hung on the vines and their remnant bodies were rapidly withering at a discernible pace before vanishing.

In just a few seconds, the demonic servants had been sucked dry by the vines!

“What!?” Perfected Hou’s eyes turned bloodshot. What artifact was this? How did it have such terrifying power? It was as though it was a natural nemesis of the demonic servants!

“Charge up and blast him to pieces!” Perfected Hou bellowed!

And at that moment, another few hundred spirit roots flew out from the clouds, close on the heels of the vines. These roots emitted radiant sunlight as they wantonly spread apart, tearing through large swaths of demonic servants.

The numerous demonic servants were skewered like meat sticks. The demonic servants which had been penetrated by the vines could not even self-destruct. Their energies rapidly depleted and soon, they were absorbed clean by the spirit roots.

And in contrast, the tree roots turned thicker and more robust! Roots that were just the thickness of two fingers had thickened to the size of a wrist.

“What’s the matter!?”

Perfected Hou was not the only one dumbfounded; many of the human warriors who were pursuing after the demonic servants were collectively dumbfounded as well.

What sort of power was this?

They had witnessed the prowess of the demonic servants previously. The demonic servants were unafraid of death and were difficult to handle. But when pitted against the divine tree, they were like fertilizer. They couldn’t even withstand a single strike!

“Who is it? Did a Sinkhole Godly Monarch come?”

Everyone was alarmed and elated. The might of a Godly Monarch was terrifying! Was this the power of a Godly Monarch?

“The White Jade Phoenix Palace!”

At that moment, Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord noticed that the White Jade Phoenix Palace, which had turned black, was rapidly being cleansed after that single vine penetrated deep in. The corrosive demonic flames that eroded the White Jade Phoenix Palace were being absorbed by the vine.

The vine that had probed the White Jade Phoenix Palace was growing at a rapid pace. It went from the thickness of a wrist to the size of a water bucket. Finally, it became as thick as a water vat!

Such a huge vine was like an ancient anaconda. One look at it left the hearts of people shaking!

“That’s not right. Could this be…”

This scene triggered a terrifying memory that was buried deep in Perfected Hou’s mind…

Before he could think carefully, the sky was torn apart as a gigantic tree crashed down like a giant.

The vine did not come from the clouds, but from a spatial passageway!

Someone had opened a spatial passageway, and before the perpetrator arrived, he had delivered thousands of vines and spirit roots across tens of millions of kilometers!

And just the vines along had obliterated more than ten thousand demonic servants!

“Boom!”

The divine tree which had a diameter of the combined arm length of a hundred people slammed heavily on top of the White Jade Phoenix Palace. The hundreds of thick anaconda-like spirit roots clung closely to the White Jade Phoenix Palace, and right at the top of the spirit tree’s crown was a man and woman who appeared like descending gods from the highest heavens.

The man held a tiny gray cauldron in hand. He wore black and stood erect in mid-air like a javelin.

The woman wore fluttering white clothes. She held a sword in hand, and released a snow lotus above the tree. She was as clean as ice and as pure as jade, looking completely otherworldly.

Yi Yun!

Lin Xintong!

And it wasn’t only Perfected Hou who was stunned, all the human warriors were alarmed as well. They originally believed that it was a Godly Monarch who had taken action, but they never imagined that the ones who had taken action were Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

How did Yi Yun have such terrifying strength? Wasn’t this strength already at the level of a Godly Monarch? He had not shown such terrifying strength back when he clashed with Divine General Skyjade.

“Damn it!”

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s expression sank. He had planned on tearing open the void to leave after gaining possession of the White Jade Phoenix Palace.

However, Perfected Hou was eager to perform deeds of merit. He was bent on exterminating the human elites of the Sinkhole.

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord had agreed to his wishes. He originally did not think that Yi Yun would not be of any concern even if he returned. He had fifty thousand demonic servants at hand, which made him completely unafraid of Yi Yun. He never imagined that even before Yi Yun arrived, he had sent a divine tree over across tens of millions of kilometers away, and had destroyed more than ten thousand demonic servants!

“So it’s you. Heavenly Cosmic…”

Yi Yun took a deep look at Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord. “I found you somewhat odd to begin with, but thought nothing of you. I never expected you to have submitted to the Ancestor God. If that’s the case, you can forget about leaving here alive!”

1554 - : Divine Tree

Yi Yun had verbally given a top expert who had managed to heavily injure a Sinkhole hegemon a death sentence. Instantly, all the warriors present drew a cold gasp. Yi Yun was way too domineering!

At that moment, Yi Yun’s aura, the strength he demonstrated, and the shocking presence he had rivaled that of a Godly Monarch’s even when he wasn’t one!

“You don’t want me to leave alive?” Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s expression was grotesque. “You are indeed powerful, but you are not at the level where you are powerful enough to easily slay me. The reason why you can destroy more than ten thousand demonic servants so easily is all because of that tree, isn’t it? If I am not wrong, that tree is a nemesis of the demonic servants!”

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord remained extremely calm. He had watched Yi Yun’s defeat of Divine General Skyjade carefully. He had an idea of Yi Yun’s strength, for he did not believe that Yi Yun still held back under those circumstances.

“Is that so? You can give it a try.” Yi Yun smirked. When he said the final word, the aura he emitted changed abruptly. All the energy of his mind, body, and spirit spewed out from his dantian, lending its suppressive pomp to his already impressive might!

Yi Yun was dressed in black, with a tiny cauldron in hand. All his lifeblood and nomological powers were converged in him. He looked like an unsheathed sword, and although he was known to be a sharp blade that was not to be messed with, one could not acutely sense the threat he possessed.

But the present Yi Yun had Yuan Qi brimming in him. He was like the radiant sun in the sky, preventing anyone who looked straight at him from opening their eyes.

“Boom!”

Yi Yun slammed the Ascending Dragon Cauldron out as it crashed down like a falling star right at Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord!

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord felt a jolt in his heart. Back when he watched Yi Yun’s battle with Divine General Skyjade, he had observed carefully, but he ultimately did not engage in a frontal clash with Yi Yun. Only when he faced Yi Yun’s overwhelming attack did he realize how terrifying Yi Yun was.

With such strength, was he really just a junior?

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord found it unbelievable, but at that moment in time, he did not have the luxury of time to think. He raised his arms high and at that instant, lightning surged in the sky as Yuan Qi gathered from every direction, blanketing the world with it.

And these clouds were not a gloomy black, but iridescent. The iridescent clouds spewed out golden bolts of divine lightning!

“Yi Yun! Witness my true power!”

Crackle!

The golden divine lightning weaved into a golden net that shielded the area right above Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord. The Ascending Dragon Cauldron slammed down with indomitable might and collided with the net without any gaudy display.

Pa! Pa! Pa!

The lightning net was torn through by the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as the iridescent clouds in the sky constantly surged with the powers of lightning, constantly replenishing the net with its powers.

Finally, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron lost its momentum after tearing through the fourth lightning net. It was finally stopped before it was enveloped by infinite golden lightning.

Despite the Ascending Dragon Cauldron being as heavy as a star, the golden lightning net above it prevented it from escaping!

“Is that… the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment!?”

Eclipse Arhat was alarmed. He knew that Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord cultivated in lightning laws, but he never expected him to cultivate the lightning laws to such a stage!

Legend had it that powerful Ancient Fey would experience a Heavenly Tribulation when they approached the strength of human Godly Monarchs. These powerful Ancient Fey would experience nine counts of Heavenly Tribulation before they could experience a metamorphic life change. And now, what Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord was casting was the divine lightning which Ancient Fey had to withstand for their transcendence!

Such golden lightning could reduce the powerful bodies of Ancient Fey into smithereens, much less a human’s body.

Eclipse Arhat was knowledgeable, but even so, he had never seen anyone cultivate the lightning laws to such a stage after all these years!

Could it be that…

“Hahaha! Old Bald Donkey, you are right. This is the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment! Such divine lightning only existed in ancient times that go back billions of years ago. Back then, Ancient Fey had to transcend the tribulations as a test of life and death! But ever since the Heavenly Dao became flawed, powerful Fey were no longer able to experience the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment. All they could experience was ordinary Heavenly Lightning. Without the catharsis of the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment, how are they to establish their indestructible bodies?”

When Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord said that, the hearts of everyone who heard him sank. Indeed, the disappearance of the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment was due to the missing chunk of the Heavenly Dao. Without the existence of the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment, warriors who cultivated in the lightning laws naturally had no way to gain insights into it.

But Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord was different. He had been bestowed with an opportunity of studying the missing Heavenly Dao by the Ancestor God. He possessed that strength!

This was fatalistically enticing for warriors who had reached a bottleneck like Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord. It was no wonder Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord chose to submit to the Ancestor God!

“Yi Yun, you are a genius, but you are limited by the missing Heavenly Dao. You are destined never to surpass me. This Lightning of Heavenly Punishment is what I will rely on to become a perfect Godly Monarch. Today, it’s your honor to die under the divine lightning that no longer exists in the Sinkhole.”

As Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord spoke, he pressed his hands together as the golden lightning net surged forward like a golden fountain!

At the same time, the iridescent clouds in the sky began stirring vehemently. Thousands of golden lightning, each the thickness of water buckets, smote down!

It struck Yi Yun from top to bottom, leaving him without room to dodge!

“Yi Yun!?”

Fairy Yourou’s heart skipped a beat. At that instant, Yi Yun had been struck by thousands of bolts of lightning!

“Boom!”

Yi Yun’s body was sent flying out from the powerful blast. He shattered the massive protective array that enveloped the surroundings into pieces before boring through seven mountains in the pocket world. Finally, he crashed heavily into the ground!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The earth quaked. A huge crater ten thousand meters across appeared where Yi Yun had crashed. This was the most resilient pocket world in the hundred thousand pavilion palaces, but it was as weak as paper under Yi Yun’s and Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s skirmish.

“Yi Yun!”

The Sinkhole warriors were alarmed. Yi Yun had been struck by so many bolts of golden lightning; it was possible that he was reduced to smithereens no matter how powerful he was.

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord was too powerful. He was just a mere subordinate of the Ancestor God; yet, he was already sufficiently strong to push all of them into a corner.

“Yi Yun, he…”

Fairy Yourou held her breath. She suddenly felt something as she looked up at Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong stood in mid-air with her white clothes fluttering. She was looking in the direction where Yi Yun had crashed. Although she had a pained look in her eyes, she did not appear worried at all.

Could it be that…

“Boom!”

The earth blasted apart as Yi Yun flew out of the massive crater with his feet on the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

His top was tattered, and his exposed muscles were damaged in many places. Blood was seeping out of his wounds.

Yi Yun looked at his body that was covered in wounds and said slowly, “Is this the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment? Did powerful Fey undergo such lightning in ancient times when they had to transcend the tribulations?”

As Yi Yun spoke, the wounds on his body rapidly healed at a discernible pace. The blood automatically stopped flowing as his tendons and muscles regrew. His skin was soon restored to normal.

In just a few seconds, he did not appear damaged apart from his tattered clothes and remnant blood stains.

“What!?” Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord had an appalled look.

Yi Yun wiped away the remnant blood strand from the corner of his lips as he said, “Ancient Fey relied on the Heavenly Tribulations to attain their indestructible bodies. Even when Ancient Fey perished, their bodies remain timeless for billions of years. I have the Dragon Emperor bloodline in me, but I have never had the chance to experience the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment. I had the intention of using your Lightning of Heavenly Punishment to help me temper my body, but it seems your Lightning of Heavenly Punishment is still far inferior to the true lightning tribulations of the past.”

What Yi Yun said was obvious. Although Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord had the opportunity to draw on the powers from the flawed Heavenly Dao through the Ancestor God, the Ancestor God naturally held back some of His power. What Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord received was definitely inferior to mighty figures who had gained their own independent insights from the Heavenly Dao billions of years ago.

Besides, it was just too difficult to reproduce the might of the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment through mortal means.

“This Yi Yun… was actually hoping to use the divine lightning produced by Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord to temper his body!?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun, everyone stood stunned. Yi Yun was way too arrogant. Of course, he had what it took to be arrogant. He was only superficially injured against the terrifying divine lightning.

“Well done… The ancient Lightning of Heavenly Punishment has nine stages. Same for my tribulation lightning. Do you think that was all I had?”

1555 - : Lightning of Heavenly Punishment Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord had a nasty expression. He believed that he was the only person in the entire Sinkhole to have cultivated lightning laws to the extremum, but he still felt tremendous pressure facing Yi Yun.

At that moment, due to the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s shocking presence, all the Sinkhole warriors and demonic servants had ceased fighting. The entire pocket world was very quiet as they waited for the battle to spark off!

“Oh? Nine stages of lightning tribulations? That’s something I would like to see!” Yi Yun stood there in black, facing everything without any fear.

“Something you would like to see? How arrogant. Yi Yun, you mentioned that you have the blood of an Ancient Fey running in you? Unfortunately, I know that there are many family clans in the Sinkhole who have the blood of Ancient Fey running in them. It’s nothing special!”

What Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord said was true. Just the number of people Yi Yun had met, such as Old Snake’s disciple, Snake Girl, Nanxuan Luoyue, and even Imperial Preceptor Kun Xu of the White Lunar Divine Empire had an Ancient Fey bloodline.

“Now in the Sinkhole, there are family clans who pride themselves because of the negligible bloodlines they have. It’s truly laughable. Do they not know that truly powerful ancient Fey have bodies that can rip apart the cosmos? Their bloodlines are not anything any of the ancient family clans in the Sinkhole can compare with. Today, I’ll let you know what a tragic outcome will befall you when you experience the ninth-staged Heavenly Tribulation meant for powerful ancient Fey with that dilute bloodline of yours!”

As Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord spoke, the iridescent clouds in the sky slowly dispersed. Replacing them were countless nomological beams of light.

People looked up and saw the worldly laws naturally condense into runes. The sizes of these runes ranged from the size of beans to the size of fists. They coruscated divine light and appeared infinite and boundless.

“Puah!”

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of blood essence. Upon seeing this scene, people turned appalled. Despite Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s powerful strength, burning his blood essence was still required. It made it apparent how terrifying the ninth-staged lightning tribulation was!

The ninth-staged lightning tribulation was indeed not a power which Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord would easily use. If not for him being helpless against Yi Yun, he would definitely not have paid such a tremendous price. A warrior at his age would find it extremely difficult to replenish any loss of blood essence. Burning blood essence was equivalent to burning his potential!

But Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord had the Ancestor God backing him. He knew that Yi Yun was marked by the Ancestor God for death. If he could kill Yi Yun, he would have rendered meritorious service. Burning a little blood essence was definitely worth it!

“Rumble!”

The lightning boomed as the nomological patterns in the sky automatically coalesced together, forming a dazzling divine cloud.

This was a nomological cloud formed from the Heavenly Dao!

“This is…”

Everyone shuddered. They could already sense the terrifying pressure brought about by the divine cloud simply by standing beneath it. They were not even in the vicinity of the Heavenly Tribulation’s range.

“Yi Yun! Don’t get goaded by him! The ninth-staged Lightning of Heavenly Punishment is too terrifying!” Bluefeather shouted.

She knew that Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord had belittled Yi Yun’s Ancient Fey bloodline in order to goad him into confronting the ninth-staged Heavenly Tribulation.

Yi Yun had barely survived the first one, but the Heavenly Tribulation’s might this time far exceeded the previous one! If Yi Yun tried pushing it, he would be heavily injured even if he did not perish. And under the present circumstances, any heavy injuries was equivalent to death.

It was clearly a goading strategy. Bluefeather believed that Yi Yun would not fall for it, but in her fluster, she still could not help but remind him. After all, Yi Yun was now their hope, the hope of all humanity.

“Don’t worry. Yi Yun will handle everything well. He will not act on impulse with lives at stake,” said Eclipse Arhat. Back when Yi Yun wasn’t a Divine Lord, he had caused Primordial Chaos Daolord to flee from him in a wretched state across the primeval universe. That scene had left a deep impression on Eclipse Arhat.

He had zero worries about Yi Yun’s ability to handle dangers.

“Yi Yun, I will burn that tiny bit of bloodline of yours with the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment to nothing!”

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord finally attacked—

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Thousands of lightning were directed downwards by Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord. At that instant, it felt as though the world was collapsing. The world saw an Ancient Fey Heavenly Tribulation once again!

Yi Yun was the first one to bear the brunt of the Heavenly Tribulation. His pupils constricted as his eyes burned with fighting spirit!

Power ancient Fey had to survive the ninth-staged Heavenly Tribulation before they could undergo a metamorphic life change and the subsequent soaring.

And Yi Yun did not have an ordinary bloodline of an ancient Fey, but the bloodline of the Dragon Emperor, one of the twelve Fey Gods!

“Ha!”

Yi Yun let out a roar as a black wheel appeared beneath his feet. The wheel was patterned with thousands of gods and demons. The wheel expanded rapidly the moment it appeared, and in seconds, all the Sinkhole warriors present were nearly enveloped by it. They retreated quickly and looked at the black wheel in horror.

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence spanned a diameter of nearly half a kilometer!

The tremendous destruction powers surged into Yi Yun’s body through his feet!

The sole purpose of the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment’s existence was to destroy. It destroyed the Ancient Fey who attempted to overcome the Heavenly Dao with their physical bodies!

And the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was the Dao of Major Destruction which encompassed everything!

Now, Yi Yun was using the Dao of Major Destruction and his Dragon Emperor bloodline to withstand the ninth-staged Heavenly Tribulation!

“What!?”

Eclipse Arhat widened his eyes. Yi Yun was really using his body to withstand the ninth-staged Heavenly Tribulation!?

An ordinary Heavenly Tribulation had already dealt damage to Yi Yun’s body.

He was bound to be heavily injured with a ninth-staged Heavenly Tribulation!

One had to know that other than Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord, there was still Demonic General Perfected Hou who had yet to take action! Was Yi Yun mad!?

“Ka-cha!”

Innumerable bolts of lightning struck Yi Yun’s body as his body convulsed. As his flesh and blood were being tempered by the lightning, they almost appeared transparent.

At that instant, Yi Yun’s meridians, blood vessels, and veins could be clearly seen under the lightning’s tempering.

Excruciating pain surged through his body like a tidal wave, turning Yi Yun faint. He bit the tip of his tongue in a bid to remain conscious.

Was this the power of a ninth-staged lightning tribulation!? It was indeed extremely terrifying!

“Puah Puah Puah!”

Even with the Dragon Emperor bloodline, Yi Yun’s body found it impossible to withstand the terrifying lightning catharsis. His body ruptured and exploded in various spots.

Blood splattered as his flesh was burnt into crisps.

Some of his meridians which were not resilient enough were severed from the lightning fires!

His meridians were damaged!

Yi Yun clenched his teeth. He obviously knew Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord was goading him. Even if it was unlikely he would remain undamaged if he had chosen to dodge the attack, he believed he could dodge Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s strongest strike at an acceptable price.

But that was not what Yi Yun wanted. His opponent was not Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord or Demonic General Perfected Hou, but the Ancestor God!

Now, the Ancestor God was in recuperation. Yi Yun no longer had much time.

He had to dig out all the potential in him!

After Yi Yun obtained the Chaos Gem slip which the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had left behind, his 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was closing in on perfection. However, his Dragon Emperor Technique was ultimately lacking. It was something that allowed him to possess an extremely powerful body. It was crucial!

All these years, Yi Yun had been gathering natural treasures across the universe. He had consumed all the prized collections of the two Sinkhole powerhouses, Primordial Chaos Daolord and Fire Cloud Divine Lord, divine herbs that they had prepared for their future Godly Monarch breakthroughs. However, the Dragon Emperor Technique failed to reach the strength Yi Yun had hoped for.

Now, he finally understood that he was lacking in the tempering of the ninth-staged Heavenly Tribulation of ancient times.

With the Heavenly Dao flawed, Yi Yun could no longer experience the ninth-staged Heavenly Tribulation in the Sinkhole. Then, the only way was to borrow Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s strength!

Desperate times called for desperate solutions! At that moment, Yi Yun ignored Perfected Hou for he was going to make a gamble!

“Yi Yun!”

Fairy Yourou’s heart tightened. When she saw Yi Yun’s body in a bloody mess, her heart was gripped by anxiety and pain. Why did Yi Yun forcefully take on Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s strike?

She looked up at Lin Xintong and saw that Lin Xintong was looking equally anxious. However, Lin Xintong shared the same thoughts as Yi Yun. She knew Yi Yun’s plan, but it was just too dangerous.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

Yi Yun’s body cracked as his skin ruptured to reveal his flesh. Copious amounts of blood spewed out from his body. He had already turned into a body of blood.

If it were any ordinary person, they would have been long dead after suffering such heavy injuries. Furthermore, Yi Yun was still experiencing the continued catharsis from the ninth-staged lightning tribulation.

1556 - : Ninth-Staged Lightning Tribulation Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“Yi Yun, I never expected you to be this foolish. Even if you had thoughts of escaping the ninth-staged lightning tribulation, I would still have means of dealing with you. But now, things have only been made easier!”

The corners of Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s mouth was already stained with blood. His hair was disheveled and he looked like a devil.

He had expended a great deal of his lifeblood, but when he saw Yi Yun’s tragic state, he laughed maniacally. The service he rendered would bring him a tremendous opportunity!

“Die!”

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord pressed his palms together and sealed space with the ninth-staged lightning tribulations. At that moment, Yi Yun was already completely within the confines of the Heavenly Dao’s restraints. It was impossible for him to escape even if he wanted.

“Heavenly Cosmic, that old bastard. He’s stealing credit.” Perfected Hou frowned. He led the mission of taking over the White Jade Phoenix Palace, but he had never expected Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord to steal the best credit. He naturally felt displeased.

Of course, he was not dumb enough to spoil Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s plans.

“It’s most dangerous for Ancient Fey when they attempt to transcend the tribulations. They would definitely choose an extremely obscure area or choose a companion to defend them since they will be at their weakest while transcending the tribulations. They would perish if they were to be discovered by their enemies. Yi Yun, your wishful thinking of emulating the tribulation transcendence of Ancient Fey with your dilute Ancient Fey bloodline is truly amusing. Although death is certain for you, I’ll give your end a hand. I’ll be able to gain some credit for that.”

With this thought in mind, Perfected Hou grinned sinisterly. A bronze giant phantom appeared behind him with a mere thought. Its body was burning with black auras as it charged towards the Heavenly Tribulation where Yi Yun was!

Once entry was made into the Heavenly Tribulation’s vicinity, the worldly laws would be agitated, he would then be indiscriminately attacked by the Heavenly Tribulation!

However, Perfected Hou thought nothing of it. The bronze giant behind him was bestowed by the Ancestor God. The bronze giant was a Celestial, and Celestials had bodies which were far more powerful than the Sinkhole’s Ancient Fey’s. It was unlikely to be overly damaged after being struck by a few lightning tribulations.

Since Yi Yun was heavily injured, all he needed was a single strike to kill him!

“Yi Yun!”

Fairy Yourou turned appalled when she saw the bronze giant charge towards Yi Yun. The present Yi Yun was definitely unable to survive a strike from the god’s avatar!

“Damn it!”

Bluefeather was feeling anxious and angry. She could not fathom Yi Yun’s choice. His moment of foolhardiness had placed him in a precarious situation.

She gritted her teeth and charged toward the bronze giant. She was unlikely to survive if she fought the bronze giant in her severely injured state!

“Master!” Fairy Yourou’s eyes welled with tears. She could sense that her master was prepared to sacrifice herself. Was today’s battle the day she parted with her master?

“Whoosh!”

At that moment, a white beam of light flew out like a white dragon. It wrapped around the bronze giant phantom numerous times!

Fairy Yourou focused her eyes and realized that the white beam was none other than a tapestry that came out of Lin Xintong’s hand!

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The bronze giant was stopped and its joints issued an explosive sound while he attempted to escape the tapestry!

Although the white tapestry was a Godly Monarch artifact, the beam buckled under the bronze giant’s mighty strength.

At that critical moment, Lin Xintong’s cut the tip of her index finger with her right thumb and forced out her blood essence.

She tapped her blood essence on the white tapestry and gathered boundless laws together, leaving behind nine-petaled red lotuses on the white tapestry.

The red lotus coruscated with divine light as though it was shaded by a faint blood mist. It was the most beautiful embroidery, one constructed with her blood essence as ink, and laws as needle and thread!

“Ka Ka Ka!”

The tapestry tightened, squeezing the bronze giant which had originally broken free. With the red lotus tapestry on him, the bronze giant was unable to break free quickly.

Upon seeing this scene, everyone was astonished. All of them knew that Lin Xintong was an extraordinary genius. She was a future Godly Monarch, but after witnessing how much a freak of nature Yi Yun was, they realized that Yi Yun was truly the number one freak of nature in the Sinkhole.

Yi Yun could obliterate Sinkhole hegemons and he was invincible beneath the Godly Monarch realm. This had already exceeded their imagination. As a result, they felt that Lin Xintong was much more inferior to Yi Yun no matter how much of a genius she was. Now, they realized that Lin Xintong was capable of restraining the bronze giant!

Although Lin Xintong was evidently barely holding up after burning her blood essence judging from her pale face, it was already astounding enough!

“Bluefeather, let’s attack together!”

Eclipse Arhat flew up as his robes flared. He was injured, but he could not be bothered by his injuries. He struck out with both palms while a hundred-thousand-foot tall golden Dharma Aspect suffused behind him. The Dharma Aspect looked lifelike, as though Buddha Himself had descended.

“Alright!”

Bluefeather spared no expense as well. With sword in hand, she slashed out. All her Yuan Qi was gathered into an azure-colored Peng.

The Peng spread its wings and soared into the highest heavens!

Bluefeather had a Godly Monarch Royal Seal in her body which came from a Great Peng Ancient Fey.

Boom! Boom!

The two Sinkhole hegemons attacked without holding back, their attacks inundating the bronze giant. No matter how powerful the bronze giant’s body was, he was still inflicted with heavy damage! His body cracked as he bled darkened gold blood. It was like bubbling liquid bronze.

“It seems you have forgotten that I still exist!”

At that moment, a gnarling voice sounded. Perfected Hou appeared behind the two Sinkhole hegemons like a specter!

Bluefeather and Eclipse Arhat had lost all their momentum and were at their weakest. Perfected Hou had chosen the perfect opportunity to deliver a fatal blow!

“Die!”

Perfected Hou roared as he struck out with his fists, slamming into the backs of the two Sinkhole hegemons!

“Boom!”

Space exploded as Bluefeather and Eclipse Arhat were heavily injured. The powerful demonic forces tore through their bodies as they surged all across their bodies.

The both of them spewed blood as they flew like a kite with a broken thread.

“Hahaha!

Perfected Hou let out a maniacal laughter. He, too, would gain credit by wiping out the Sinkhole experts in this intense battle.

But at that moment, Perfected Hou’s expression changed suddenly as he turned around abruptly. A thick vine shot straight at him like an arrow!

“What!?”

Perfected Hou was alarmed. He never expected that the Azure Wood Divine Tree was capable of attacking autonomously even without Yi Yun’s direction.

“Bam!”

Perfected Hou crossed his arms in front of his chest to forcefully block the strike. He was sent retreating as his arms turned numb.

“Blast it! Blast this tree apart!”

Perfected Hou roared as the remaining twenty thousand demonic servants surged towards the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s main trunk and roots like locusts as they began their crazy self-destruction sequence!

The Azure Wood Divine Tree was Yi Yun’s. It had grown in his dantian and had been nourished by the Yuan Qi there. Its strength came from Yi Yun and was one with him.

Without Yi Yun’s direction and Yuan Qi injections, the Azure Wood Divine Tree was greatly weakened as well.

At the moment the tens of thousands of demonic servants attacked the Azure Wood Divine Tree, it showed damage for the first time. Some of its vines had been blasted apart by the demonic servants!

1557 - : Blood As Ink Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“Peng!”

The vines which had the thickness of bowls plummeted as green juices flowed out of the damaged spots. It was shocking to the senses.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Batch after batch of demonic servants charged towards the Azure Wood Divine Tree without fear of death. The tree flailed its vines, tearing through large numbers of demonic servants, but there were just too many. Without Yi Yun’s energy injections and directions, the tree’s actions were much slower than before. It was unable to wipe out all the demonic servants.

“Boom!”

With a loud boom, three demonic servants at the level of human Supremacies gathered together and self-destructed. And this explosion was directed at the primary root of the Azure Wood Divine Tree!

A gigantic hole blasted open in the thick primary root. It resembled the bite from the primordial Fey beast as more than half of the root was gone!

Trapped inside the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment, Yi Yun was aware of all of this!

However, he could not divert his attention. His flesh, skin, and tendons were being tempered by the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment! The weaker meridians were directly destroyed by the burning of the heavenly lightning’s fires.

If the average person had most of his meridians destroyed, they would have their cultivation damaged, to the point of becoming a cripple. But Yi Yun was different. He had the Dragon Emperor blood in him and he cultivated the Dragon Emperor Technique. The ancient Dragon Emperor was one of the twelve Fey Gods. Those powerful Ancient Fey were completely incomparable to the Dragon Emperor!

Although Yi Yun had only inherited a wisp of its bloodline, just this was enough to revitalize him. Now, all the lifeblood powers in him were circulating according to the Dragon Emperor Technique. Each circulation was like a raging tidal wave.

The burnt meridians were constantly being reborn under these powers.

The new meridians were more resilient and crystalline than before. It was like beautifully carved jade. And this process depleted Yi Yun’s blood essence forces rapidly.

Back in the primeval universe, Yi Yun had consumed a large number of natural treasures, and in turn, they were transformed into energy that was stored inside his body. It could be said that no warrior in the entire Sinkhole had consumed as much as he did.

But even so, Yi Yun found it insufficient! One had to know that powerful Ancient Fey relied on hundreds of millions of years of preparations and the absorption of the worldly essence to have the sufficient energy required to transcend the tribulations. And Yi Yun had cultivated for too short a time.

The lifeblood and energy in him were drained so rapidly that he would soon be left dry.

Yi Yun clenched his teeth and took out all the remaining natural treasures, Spirit Pills, and elixirs in his interspatial ring to place inside his body. Without the need of him refining them, the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment would completely refine them into energy which would be absorbed by Yi Yun.

However, that wasn’t enough!

Realizing that his energy was about to be completely enervated, Yi Yun burned with anxiety.

“Oh? This is…”

Yi Yun suddenly saw that among the treasures stored within his body, there was an unadorned spatial jade bottle. It contained a large amount of blood.

Yi Yun’s mind lit up. It was the blood of the Ancestor God!

Back in the primeval universe, Yi Yun had encountered the Ancestor God and at the critical moment of life and death, the black spear which was left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had penetrated the Ancestor God’s chest, inflicting heavy damage to Him!

Large amounts of Ancestor God blood spewed out and all of that blood came from the Ancestor God’s heart!

The blood was as heavy as a mountain as they pounded the lands. Yi Yun found the blood extraordinary and had used the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to gather them all together.

Later in the primeval universe, Yi Yun discovered that the blood did not rot or damage. It was difficult for him to refine it.

But now…

Yi Yun looked up. His lifeblood reserves were empty, and by borrowing the power of the Heavenly Tribulation, he believed that it was possible to refine the blood. It was his only chance at transcending the tribulation.

With a thought from Yi Yun, the jade bottle exploded as the Ancestor God’s blood surged out like a river. The blood shimmered with Dao patterns as they contained astounding strength!

“Fuse!”

Yi Yun roared loudly as the blood immediately inundated his dantian like boiling lava. Yi Yun’s dantian was in excruciating pain as it convulsed. He felt that his body was a burning furnace that would fall apart at any time!

…

Meanwhile, the battle in the pocket world was like a raging fire!

Eclipse Arhat and Bluefeather were heavily injured. They could not even use thirty percent of their strength.

But even so, they still defended the Azure Wood Divine Tree!

All the Sinkhole warriors charged at the demonic servants, but the numbers were too disparate!

“Die, die all of you!”

All of Perfected Hou’s joints crackled as his muscles bulged. His body which resembled a metallic tower grew ten feet taller suddenly!

He charged straight into the crowd and was like a tiger in a flock of sheep. None of the Sinkhole disciples was his match!

With a wave of his hand, eight Sinkhole warriors would be sent flying out.

Just a graze dealt immense damage and a direct strike meant death!

Upon seeing this situation, Lin Xintong turned anxious. However, she was unable to divert her strength. All her powers were injected into the white tapestry in her hands. Even though she was burning her blood essence, she was unable to last long. The bronze giant’s strength was too formidable.

“Master!”

Lin Xintong called out to Bai Yueyin in her soul sea.

Bai Yueyin met her calls with silence.

“Master, I can’t last much longer. Lend me your powers…”

Bai Yueyin knew that Lin Xintong was referring to the fusion of their souls.

Lin Xintong was worried about Yi Yun’s safety, and with things on the precipice of full collapse, she could only make this choice.

But once their souls fused, it would be difficult for them to separate.

And this was what Bai Yueyin had been longing for all this time. But at that moment, she was surprised that she was hesitating. She never expected that the man would make such a choice considering the situation. He had chosen to temper his body with the Heavenly Tribulation to force out all his potential. He wanted to obtain strength that could allow him to resist the Ancestor God before the Ancestor God fully recovered.

This drive alarmed her.

Bai Yueyin had heard from Empress Sheng Mei stories of the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s martial path. He had undergone various obstacles in life and come so far after great difficulties. It was all because of his extremely firm Martial Dao heart.

And now, Bai Yueyin seemed to see the shadow of the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch hanging over Yi Yun.

“He sent me a voice transmission…” Bai Yueyin whispered. “He said that if I were to fuse with you, he would travel to the highest heavens or to the deepest depths of the netherworld to find a solution to wipe out my soul’s memories from yours…”

“What?” Lin Xintong was stunned, but at that moment—

“Roar!”

There was a resounding dragon’s roar that reverberated across the firmaments. It shook the world!

Everyone looked in shock as they saw the gigantic Ascending Dragon Cauldron spinning above Yi Yun’s head. Above the cauldron, the Dragon Emperor sculpture seemed to come alive as it emitted blinding divine light!

At that instant, people could sense a supreme suppression from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. This suppression seemed to tear through the world, leaving them stifled.

And at that moment, Yi Yun was genuflecting on the ground. His head was lowered and his body was covered in blood. He looked like he was heavily injured and on the brink of death, but people sensed an unhuman power inside his body. It was as though a god had awoken inside him!

1558 - : Blood Infused Dantian Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“Oh? What’s going on…”

Perfected Hou, who had charged into the Sinkhole disciple crowd, also sensed the changes Yi Yun was undergoing. He turned his head and looked at Yi Yun in astonishment.

The present Yi Yun had already been reduced to a nearly inhuman state. Why was he able to release such terrifying strength?

“Heavenly Cosmic! What’s happening!?” Perfected Hou roared angrily.

At that moment, Heavenly Cosmic’s hair was disheveled and his expression was pale. He, too, was suffering while attacking Yi Yun with the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment!

Casting the ninth-staged Heavenly Tribulation was very demanding on him. He needed to burn his blood essence in order to do so.

He was no longer young and burning his blood essence placed immense stress on his body. He had been persisting with his teeth clenched, adamant that Yi Yun was on his last legs and would not hold out much longer. However, he never expected Yi Yun to suddenly release such a terrifying aura. Even the powerful Ancient Fey who transcended the tribulations in ancient times were incomparable!

This suppressive might seemed divine. It made him feel fear!

“He’s transforming! I can sense a power awakening in him. We must not let him succeed!” Perfected Hou said loudly.

Heavenly Cosmic knew that Yi Yun was already at a critical life-and-death moment of his transformation. If he was given time to succeed, they would suffer an abject defeat!

“Punk, I don’t believe I can’t burn you to death! Lightning of Heavenly Punishment—Myriad Lightning Surge!”

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord roared out loudly as he struck his fist into his chest. This strike forced out the blood from his heart!

“Puah!”

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord spat out a large mouthful of blood essence that came from his heart. As he burned his blood essence, it felt like all the vitality in him had been drawn out. His face was as pale as wax paper, and the lifeblood powers in him were rapidly decreasing. His flames of vitality were like a candle in the wind.

In just that instant, Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord had sacrificed forty percent of his blood essence! By doing so, he was bound to suffer a drop in cultivation level, but he no longer had a choice!

“Boom!”

In the high heavens, infinite laws gathered together as a crack appeared in mid-air. The crack spread like a gruesome scar.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

The cracks increased in number as they spanned a wider space. The ground was trembling as though the world was on the brink of collapse.

“This… this pocket world is about to collapse!”

Eclipse Arhat was alarmed. The pocket world in the hundred thousand pavilion palaces had been in existence for tens of millions of years. It was augmented and fortified by array formations constantly. This pocket world was the main world of the hundred thousand pavilion palaces, and its creation even involved Bai Yueyin.

But now, the hundred thousand pavilion palaces’ main world was on the brink of collapse!

This world could no longer withstand the surging Yuan Qi and Heavenly Tribulation’s might!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The heavenly lightning surged towards Yi Yun like dragons! All the world’s destruction strength was trained on Yi Yun!

“Be careful!”

“Retreat!”

Everyone raised their barriers. Even if the world’s destructive powers were not targeted at them, just the fallout alone was something they could hardly defend against.

“Yi Yun, I…”

Amid the vehement storms, Lin Xintong could no longer hold on any longer. With a ripping sound, the white tapestry which was imbued with Lin Xintong’s blood essence was torn apart by the bronze giant!

A Godly Monarch numinous treasure had failed to withstand the bronze giant’s mighty strength!

“Ah!”

With a grunt, Lin Xintong was thrown backward. She was swept up in the storms, but at that moment, the bronze giant did not pursue Lin Xintong. Instead, it charged straight into the middle of the Heavenly Tribulation, throwing its fist at Yi Yun!

Killing Yi Yun was of utmost importance!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The collapse of space muted the world. The punch had stirred up terrifying energy waves; after all, the Celestial’s body was a top-grade numinous treasure to begin with. It’s fist and palm strikes were even more terrifying than a sword beam.

“Yi Yun!”

Everyone’s hearts tightened. Fairy Yourou already had her heart in her mouth. At that moment, even Perfected Hou did not dare proceed forward. Only the bronze giant’s avatar could sweep through everything with its indestructible body.

“Whoosh!”

The bronze giant charged into the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment sea. There was a split second of silence before the resonating clang of a cauldron was heard!

Out flew a hundred-thousand-foot long dragon from the black Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

The divine dragon swirled in the sky as it flew against the lightning!

“Crackle!”

All the lightning was torn through by the divine dragon. At that moment, the pocket world exploded utterly. Even the nomological clouds in the sky were swept clean!

The dragon had torn through the highest heavens!

“Roar!”

The bronze giant let out a tumultuous roar as it punched the divine dragon. However, the dragon swished its tail which seemed to pummel downwards like a galactic arm. It lashed heavily onto the bronze giant’s body.

“Bam!”

With a loud boom, the bronze giant’s body quaked. Its indestructible body began crumbling immediately as large amounts of dark golden blood sprayed out wantonly.

The divine blood tainted the sky as the dragon flew across the sky. Amid the chaotic energies, they saw a man’s figure appear above the divine cauldron with his hair disheveled. Behind him was a black wheel and above the wheel were 10,000 demons, but none of them had a bloodlust as terrifying as the man!

He was like a devil incarnate that swept through the world. This man was none other than Yi Yun who had transcended the ninth-staged Heavenly Tribulation!

At that moment, the hundred-thousand-foot long dragon’s body rapidly shrank as it transformed into a stream of light and entered his body!

Yi Yun fused with the divine dragon as his energy continued erupting like a volcano, spewing its redoubtable might out!

“Die!”

Suddenly, Yi Yun threw out a punch at the bronze giant!

This punch rent the world asunder!

“Boom!”

The bronze giant was struck heavily in the chest by Yi Yun, and compared to the bronze giant’s massive body, Yi Yun’s body appeared tiny. But it was such a punch that depressed the bronze giant’s chest.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

As though space itself was shattering, cracks began spreading from the bronze giant’s chest cavity. The giant widened its eyes while it stared at Yi Yun in disbelief.

Although it was only an avatar, it could think.

Yi Yun withdrew his fist, but the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s destructive forces had already permeated the bronze giant’s body. The cracks continued widening as the giant’s body disintegrated. It was reduced to chunks under the watchful eyes of everyone!

It was dead…

Yi Yun had killed the bronze giant with one punch!

Everyone held their breaths, especially Eclipse Arhat and Bluefeather. They had crossed swords with the bronze giant and ignoring its terrifying strength, just its body had far exceeded a Godly Monarch numinous treasure.

But such a formidable foe had been killed by Yi Yun with one punch!

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly looked up into the sky at Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord.

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s expression was pale. His aura was weak, and the casting of the ninth-staged Heavenly Tribulation had drained him of his lifeblood. Now, his strength was at a nadir.

But all his efforts had only served to benefit Yi Yun!

Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord recalled what Yi Yun had said before he took on the Heavenly Tribulation. He said that he had an Ancient Fey bloodline in his body and he wanted to temper his body with the Heavenly Tribulation. He shrugged it off, thinking Yi Yun was just engaging in fool’s talk and that he was incorrigibly deluded.

However, he never imagined that Yi Yun would rise from the ashes and attain a great increase in strength!

He had sacrificed all his cultivation to aid Yi Yun in making a breakthrough. It was truly a tragedy!

“You should die as well!”

Yi Yun instantly appeared in front of Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord like a ghost. He struck Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s forehead with his palm.

“Bam!”

With a light crack, blood splattered as Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s head was sent flying from Yi Yun’s strike. Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord’s decapitated body flew backward as well.

He had been decapitated with one palm strike!

Upon seeing this scene, everyone drew a gasp. Although they knew Yi Yun would definitely kill Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord, the speed and decisiveness he had shown in killing him left them alarmed.

Yi Yun was too terrifying. He was already the absolute overlord of the Sinkhole! Comparing him to Bai Yueyin of yesteryear, they only felt fearful reverence towards her, but even she was inferior to the present Yi Yun. After all, they had witnessed Yi Yun’s strength and decisiveness at dealing the fatal blow with their own eyes.

1559 - : True Dragon Nirvana

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“Perfected Hou!”

Yi Yun finally looked at Perfected Hou with killing intent raging in his eyes. Although Yi Yun had been transcending the tribulations, he was aware of what was happening outside. It was the existence known as Perfected Hou who had ordered the bronze giant to attack him and the demonic servants to attack the divine tree. It resulted in Lin Xintong burning her blood essence, causing her to not only deplete her lifeblood, but also nearly fuse with Bai Yueyin again.

Upon making contact with Yi Yun’s eyes, Perfected Hou was gripped with horror.

The present Yi Yun was simply too terrifying. Not only did he have the suppressive might of a god, but he was also decisive at killing. He did not give anyone a chance at pleading for mercy.

The present Perfected Hou did not dare fight Yi Yun in a head-on clash.

“Explode! All of you self-destruct!”

Perfected Hou roared as the remaining demonic servants which numbered more than ten thousand charged at Yi Yun collectively!

However, with just a mere thought from Yi Yun, Yuan Qi and laws were infused into the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Thousands of the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s vines shot out wantonly, and in terms of speed and strength, they were more than ten times stronger than before!

Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu…

With a series of light hums, countless demonic servants were being penetrated by the divine tree. Large amounts of demonic auras dissipated and were absorbed by the divine tree. Most of the demonic servants did not even self-destruct in time!

The divine tree absorbed the demonic servants’ energies and constantly grew. Its trunk thickened and its roots grew in number. Even the vines that had been blasted apart were restored by the Azure Wood Divine Tree as it continued fusing and absorbing.

Upon seeing this scene, Perfected Hou’s face turned ashen. In his despair, he roared vehemently and charged Yi Yun.

The difference in their strength was disparate. Furthermore, the Azure Wood Divine Tree was strongly effective against the demonic servants. His charge at Yi Yun was practically a suicidal move.

“Be careful! He’s going to self-destruct!” Eclipse Arhat shouted.

Perfected Hou was clearly going to engage in self-destruction. Even if an internecine outcome was unlikely, he wanted to heavily damage Yi Yun!

“Yi Yun, don’t think you will be having it good even if I die!”

Perfected Hou’s face wore a frenzied and grotesque look. He had already burned all of his demonic blood in him as the energies in him erupted. His muscles bulged and at that moment, he looked like a swollen toad. He had already gathered all the energy needed for a self-destruction!

“Yi Yun, quick dodge!”

Eclipse Arhat was appalled. Even though Yi Yun’s strength was unfathomable, Perfected Hou was still a Sinkhole hegemon expert. If he spared no expense to self-destruct, the destructive force would be more than ten times stronger!

No matter how strong Yi Yun was, it was impossible to withstand the self-destruction of a Sinkhole hegemon.

But at that moment, Yi Yun did not dodge. He watched Perfected Hou charge towards him.

“Yi Yun!”

Fairy Yourou was panic-stricken. There was no time for her to react since Perfected Hou had already arrived in front of Yi Yun.

He revealed a maniacal smile, but at that moment, his smile froze. The Yi Yun in front of him had vanished, and in his place was the huge black cauldron.

This was the divine cauldron that appeared during Yi Yun’s tribulation transcendence!?

Perfected Hou had seen the miracle the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had played during Yi Yun’s tribulation transcendence. The divine dragon that flew out had appeared from inside the cauldron. But now, Yi Yun had hidden in it, allowing Perfected Hou to self-destruct in the face of the indestructible divine cauldron!

“Your blood is too dirty. Go ahead and self-destruct!” Yi Yun’s voice transmission entered Perfected Hou’s ears.

“Ah! You are ruthless!”

Perfected Hou let out a heart-wrenching cry as he had already activated all the Yuan Qi in him. He could no longer stop the self-destruction.

“Boom!”

With a tumultuous boom, the terrifying demonic energies swept through the area in every direction like a tsunami. And at that moment, the Azure Wood Divine Tree went counter to the energy flow as it extended thousands of its vines and greedily absorbed the energy.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron only trembled violently, but remained undamaged. The explosion’s energy finally calmed down about thirty seconds later.

Yi Yun then flew out of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Other than the scuffs he had while transcending the tribulations, Perfected Hou’s self-destruction had not affected him in any way.

He could sense the indignation and hatred Perfected Hou had before his death.

Yi Yun was not into masochism. Withstanding the Heavenly Tribulation was required since the Heavenly Tribulation’s powers stemmed from the supreme nomological Heavenly Dao. Even if he had hidden in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, the Heavenly Tribulation would still be able to enter the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s pocket world.

But Perfected Hou was different. Withstanding his self-destruction was meaningless.

People were at a loss for words as they watched Yi Yun fly above the cauldron. A hegemon’s self-destruction had been so easily resolved by him.

He had killed three powerful experts one after another, while the Azure Wood Divine Tree had slain tens of thousands of demonic servants. In addition, Yi Yun had further improved himself in combat. This man was already the overlord of the Sinkhole!

But…

Ancestor God!

Eclipse Arhat had mentioned the Ancestor God. He was an existence that lived in legends, someone from a distant past. Now, He was suddenly back and making an uprising. Everyone felt lost, unsure about what the future entailed.

Just the Ancestor God’s subordinates were already this powerful. There was no doubt that the Ancestor God wouldn’t spare Yi Yun. How could he allow such a huge threat like Yi Yun continue its growth?

“Yi Yun might be in the limelight now, but he will likely be pursued by the Ancestor God…”

People discussed in private. The ancient battle which Eclipse Arhat had mentioned made a small number of people turn pessimistic about the future of humanity. After all, in a war with Godly Monarchs as generals and Divine Lords as soldiers, together with the flawed Heavenly Dao, what did humanity have to withstand the Ancestor God?

“West River!”

At that moment, Yi Yun bellowed out sharply. His eyes were trained on West River Divine Lord like a bolt of heavenly lightning.

West River Divine Lord’s heart sank as his heart skipped a beat. However, he forced a smile and asked, “Young Master Yi, is there anything I can do for you?”

“Sou!”

With a flash of his figure, Yi Yun appeared in front of West River Divine Lord.

“You are a double-sealed Divine Lord, a Sinkhole powerhouse, but I noticed that you did not even make a single move in the battle from before. You didn’t even kill a single low-leveled demonic servant. Even members of your faction had responded to the call to arms with pessimism!”

Everyone knew of West River Divine Lord’s lack of action, but Yi Yun had directly called him out on it. West River Divine Lord’s disciples nearly lost their composure. They had originally believed that Perfected Hou was bound to win. Furthermore, with West River Divine Lord’s inaction, which one of them would dare charge forward on their own accord?

West River Divine Lord continued smiling. He believed that Yi Yun would not do anything to him for his inaction in battle. Now that they had a powerful enemy at hand, humanity required experts. Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat were heavily injured, while Divine General Skyjade’s injuries were worse, so bad that he might not even survive his injuries. There were only a handful of Sinkhole powerhouses at present.

West River Divine Lord said, “Young Master Yi, you misunderstand. It’s true that I did not take action. However, there are many juniors in this pocket world. Their cultivation levels were too low, and battling with the demonic servants would be a meaningless sacrifice. They are all young geniuses, hope for humanity’s future. Since all of you charged ahead in battle, the responsibility of protecting them fell on me. There’s also the injured Sacred Horizon Divine Lord that required someone to protect, right?

“Young Master Yi, rest assured. If the Ancestor God were to really attack, I, West River, will definitely fight valiantly.”

“Shameless!” Fairy Yourou could not help but cry out. West River Divine Lord had stood with his hands down the entire time. If he had provided any protection, it was aimed at protecting his own faction’s juniors. He ignored the lives of others. “If you were willing to help, would my master and Senior Eclipse have been so heavily injured? Young Master Yi would not have been in peril and Fairy Lin would not have needed to burn her blood essence!”

“Oh?” West River Divine Lord knitted his brows. Yi Yun was a junior, but his politeness towards him was a result of his strength. Fairy Yourou was nothing in the grand scheme of things. She was just Bluefeather Divine Lord’s disciple and he thought nothing of her. Who gave the likes of a junior the right to reprimand him? Furthermore, she had accused him of being shameless in public.

“Is this how your Nethersky Divine World teaches its disciples? Do you think you have the authority to speak? How improper!” West River Divine Lord grunted coldly. He needed to maintain his authority as a Sinkhole powerhouse in front of his subordinates. If not, things would be ridiculous if the juniors came forward to ridicule him.

But the moment he said that, West River Divine Lord’s expression changed. He sensed immense killing intent surge out from Yi Yun.

In a split second, Yi Yun moved. Like a powerful dragon, he punched at West River Divine Lord’s face.

“You—!”

West River Divine Lord’s heart palpitated as he retreated quickly. However, Yi Yun’s punch was too terrifying. The punch seemed to lock the celestial bodies in space. Even the surrounding space compressed towards Yi Yun. There was no way of dodging!

In his panic, West River Divine Lord extended his hand and threw out a divine talisman. It lit up in flames and conjured a black shield. Simultaneously, West River Divine Lord opened his mouth and spat out an ancient green mirror.

With the mirror in hand, it expanded when it met the wind. But simultaneously, the black shield in front of him had shattered.

Surrounding Yi Yun’s punch was a swirling black wheel. Thousands of demons and gods roared as they charged towards West River Divine Lord.

In his fluster, West River Divine Lord released a divine beam from his ancient mirror, but it melted like snow upon contact with the black wheel. It was completely no match for the wheel!

At that instant, West River Divine Lord had a deep understanding of Yi Yun’s terrifying powers. He was like a god!

“Ka-cha!”

The final divine light shattered as Yi Yun’s punch slammed heavily into West River Divine Lord’s protective Yuan Qi.

It shattered immediately as West River Divine Lord spat out a mouthful of blood in mid-air. His body flew like a kite with a broken thread.

“Boom!”

West River Divine Lord slammed heavily into the cracked ground, shattering the area. His chest was stained with blood as he looked at Yi Yun in horror. He never expected Yi Yun to only say a single sentence before attacking him!

“You…” West River Divine Lord was alarmed. If not for the protective talisman and the bronze mirror’s defense, he would probably be laying on the ground motionless. Yi Yun was bent on killing him! “Yi Yun! Why are you injuring me with the enemy before us? How am I to participate in the calamitous battle?”

“You wish to participate in the calamitous battle with that character of yours? Are you helping humanity fight the Ancestor God or are you helping the Ancestor God kill your own kind?”

“What do you mean?” West River Divine Lord’s expression changed.

“I’m giving you two choices. Either you have a slave mark planted in you, or you… die!”

1560 - : I’m Giving You A Choice

Yi Yun’s tone was extremely domineering and left no room for doubt. Instantly, everyone was stunned by what they heard. Yi Yun was enslaving a Sinkhole hegemon!

Once a slave mark was implanted, Yi Yun could take West River Divine Lord’s life with a mere thought. Furthermore, there was no possibility of betrayal as Yi Yun would have complete control over his soul sea. This was an extremely humiliating matter for warriors; many people would rather die than have a slave mark implanted.

“Yi Yun, your bullying has no bounds!” West River Divine Lord’s voice trembled in anger. At his level of stature, he was an almighty existence no matter where he went. Yet today, he was to be enslaved. As a sect master of a powerful faction, becoming enslaved was a ridiculous joke!

“I’ll give you thirty seconds. Submit or perish!”

Yi Yun could not be bothered to waste his breath on West River Divine Lord.

“Yi Yun, you are acting overbearingly because of your strength. You show complete disregard to the other factions in the Sinkhole. That’s with you not having broken through to the Godly Monarch realm. And even a Godly Monarch doesn’t act in such a despotic manner! When you break through to the Godly Monarch realm, wouldn’t the entire Sinkhole be yours? Other factions would probably be living an ignoble existence under your oppression, to the point of not being able to breathe!”

West River Divine Lord raved angrily. He had delivered the words in a bid to pit everyone against Yi Yun.

However, be it Eclipse Arhat or Bluefeather Divine Lord, none of them echoed West River Divine Lord’s words. Bluefeather Divine Lord and Fairy Yourou even stood behind Yi Yun, expressing their support for him.

“You… All of you…” West River Divine Lord’s expression turned grim. He never expected that a Sinkhole powerhouse like him would ever end up in such a state.

Even his disciples behind him fell silent. His sect’s Elders were even looking away to avoid eye contact. Clearly, they did not plan on supporting West River Divine Lord! In fact, West River Divine Lord’s subordinates felt that they no longer had the moral high ground against the other warriors after their inaction during the fight. Furthermore, Yi Yun’s strength already made him overlord of the Sinkhole. Resisting him was nothing but a joke.

“The thirty seconds are up,” said Yi Yun nonchalantly. “It appears you have chosen death.”

“What?” West River Divine Lord was taken aback. He had taken at most ten to fifteen seconds to speak his piece. Yi Yun did not even begin his countdown but the time was already up?

“I see that you have chosen to die in glory than live in dishonor. But, I suppose you don’t deserve the word glory. It is an insult to that word. You have already been deserted by all that is close to you. Since you have no worth left, die.”

As Yi Yun spoke, his lifeblood surged like billowing flames into the heavens. Simultaneously, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s phantom appeared behind Yi Yun.

Such might stifled West River Divine Lord. Facing Yi Yun was no different from facing a god.

West River Divine Lord knew very well that Yi Yun showed no mercy. He had no way of surviving more than three attacks, so death was certain!

“Wait… Wait…” West River Divine Lord’s forehead was covered in sweat. He bit his lips till it turned ghastly pale. “I… I submit.”

Each of the last two words was enunciated by West River Divine Lord through gritted teeth. When he said that, he felt like he had been drained of all his strength.

The fact that a lord of a major Sinkhole faction had to submit to someone in the midst of a grand event filled with all the elites of the Sinkhole was an absolute humiliation!

From that moment forth, West River Divine Lord and the sect he belonged to, would forever be inferior to others in the Sinkhole. It would even be difficult to recruit in the future!

At that moment, even the West River Sect’s disciples looked at West River Divine Lord contemptuously.

Caring for nothing but saving his own skin was West River Divine Lord’s nature. He could not accept dying before enjoying his life. After all, he had gained his present strength through arduous cultivation over years, one that gave him a lifespan which spanned tens of millions of years. And it was for this reason that he chose to desert the battle. He even had plans to watch idly and submit to the Ancestor God if humanity suffered an abject defeat.

Yi Yun glanced at West River Divine Lord with contempt. With an enemy of humanity at hand, every bit of strength counted. He despised West River Divine Lord, but he still wanted to make good use of his combat strength.

He flicked his finger and shot a soul mark into West River Divine Lord’s glabella.

West River Divine Lord nearly shattered his teeth from gritting them, but he could only open up his soul sea and allow Yi Yun’s soul mark to be implanted deep within his soul sea.

“Poison Demon, he will be your subordinate in the future.”

As Yi Yun spoke, a black tiger flew out. It was none other than Poison Demon, who had been sealed by Divine General Skyjade. Naturally, releasing the seals posed no difficulty for Yi Yun.

“Hehehe!” Poison Demon let out a nasty cackle as he surrounded West River Divine Lord and observed him as though he was inspecting received goods. The look Poison Demon gave agitated West River Divine Lord. He could ignore the fact that he was now Yi Yun’s slave, but he never expected to become the subordinate of Poison Demon. Although Poison Demon wasn’t weak, he was no match for him at all.

“In the future, you shall be my slave and I’ll make do with it!”

West River Divine Lord even had thoughts of dying. Yi Yun thought nothing of him and had gotten one of his minions to watch over him. It was too humiliating.

But with the slave mark present, he had no means to resist against what Yi Yun had to say.

He knew that his status as sect master was over. How could a major faction allow their sect master to become the slave of someone else?

But even if the West River Sect were to choose another sect master, it was destined to decline. Perhaps, it would be removed from the ranks of a top faction in time to come, becoming a second-rate faction.

“Everything is settled.”

Yi Yun looked at the completely shattered pocket world and sighed. The calamity for humanity had only just begun!

This battle was only the prologue.

“Young Master Yi.”

Eclipse Arhat walked over and pressed his palms together while bowing to Yi Yun. Eclipse Arhat felt deep respect for Yi Yun. He had saved them all.

“Young Master Yi!”

Bluefeather Divine Lord also bowed at Yi Yun.

In response to the two Divine Lords’ bowing, all the disciples present automatically bowed towards Yi Yun. Many juniors bowed a juniors’ bow despite their ages being almost the same as Yi Yun’s.

Fairy Yourou also bowed towards Yi Yun. Of course, she was considered a friend of Yi Yun’s. She smiled while bowing, hardly capable of hiding the playful look in her smile.

In the martial world, strength reigned supreme. Yi Yun had already won the respect of everyone present.

At that moment, Lin Xintong had landed beside Yi Yun.

Yi Yun looked at Lin Xintong’s pale face and felt his heart ache for her. Lin Xintong had expended a great deal of blood essence in the battle. It was too difficult for her to trap a Sinkhole hegemon expert with her strength alone.

Although Lin Xintong was young, it was still very difficult to replenish her lost blood essence. She needed excellent treasures and all the treasures that Yi Yun had accumulated in the past had been expended.

1561 - : Deserted By All Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun knew that Lin Xintong had burned at least thirty percent of her blood essence from the battle. It was bound to affect her future accomplishments, and that was something Yi Yun could not tolerate.

Lin Xintong had burned her blood essence because of him. In return, he planned to seek the best divine medicine for Lin Xintong. He wanted to ensure that there were no repercussions from the burning of her blood essence and that she would be physically enhanced.

Under normal circumstances, the better a warrior’s talent and the higher their cultivation level was, the more difficult it was to replenish their blood essence. The requirement of the treasures needed was naturally even higher.

There was no need to describe Lin Xintong’s talent. She was a future Godly Monarch and she cultivated in the Grand Reincarnation Technique. She had undergone a few reincarnations and her body had metamorphosized from her multiple incarnations.

The difficulty of replenishing thirty percent of her blood essence was obvious!

“Senior Eclipse, Senior Bluefeather, I have a question. Do you have any lifeblood spirit medicine, treasured bones, or relics at the Godly Monarch level? Or do you have any relevant information about them? I wish to buy them to refine some pills.”

Eclipse Arhat had already guessed Yi Yun’s intention as he shook his head. “If we are talking about treasured medicine, I do have a strand that can be barely considered at the Godly Monarch level. Young Master Yi, you have saved so many lives and it’s only right to gift it to you instead of selling it, but… I’m ashamed to say that I have no hope of breaking through to the Godly Monarch realm at my advanced age; therefore, the treasures I collect are meant for extending my life. They are likely of little use for Fairy Lin.”

“Young Master Yi, I do have a strand of Azure Descendance Grass. You can have it if you need it,” said Bluefeather Divine Lord.

A strand of Azure Descendance Grass was an extremely precious divine medicine no matter where it was. However, in terms of grade, it was only barely at the Godly Monarch level. Most of the time, it was used to refine Godly Monarch pills that improved the chances of a breakthrough from the Divine Lord to the Godly Monarch realm.

Having read the Chaos Gem slip which was left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, Yi Yun knew that there was divine medicine that exceeded Azure Descendance Grass in the world. The problem was that he could not find them!

He cupped his fists at Bluefeather and said, “Senior Bluefeather, thank you for your good intentions. This strand of Azure Descendance Grass is of great worth both to you and Fairy Yourou. But to me, it is of little use. What I need is divine medicine that can restore lifeblood. The effects of Azure Descendance Grass are less than thirty percent in regards to this aspect.”

“Then, I do not have anything else…” Bluefeather said somewhat apologetically.

“It’s alright.”

This outcome was within Yi Yun’s expectations. He had only asked in passing, not really expecting that Eclipse Arhat and Bluefeather Divine Lord had anything he required.

Lin Xintong gently tugged Yi Yun’s sleeve and said, “Yi Yun, there’s no need to worry about me. I cultivate in the Grand Reincarnation Technique. Even if I burn thirty percent of my blood essence in this life, I’ll have it restored once I reincarnate again. It doesn’t matter too much.”

“Xintong, there’s no need to continue. I know about your Grand Reincarnation Technique. It accumulates with every incarnation. By burning thirty percent of your blood essence, it is equivalent to having one incarnation wasted. In the future, your nine reincarnations would become eight. Your cultivation technique will not be perfect.”

Eclipse Arhat said, “Young Master Yi, Godly Monarch Heavenly Buddha has some ties with the Mahayana Monastery. Back when Godly Monarch Heavenly Buddha was cultivating in martial arts, his early heritage stemmed from the Mahayana Monastery; therefore, he owes the Mahayana Monastery a favor. If Young Master Yi requires anything, I can take you to Godly Monarch Heavenly Buddha. Perhaps he can help you.”

Godly Monarch Heavenly Buddha?

This was the first time Yi Yun was hearing the name of another Godly Monarch apart from Bai Yueyin.

The price of a Godly Monarch’s favor was obvious. In fact, Yi Yun really had no other solution. It was impossible to seek out such divine medicine in a timely fashion only when there was a need for them. Furthermore, it was imperative to remedy Lin Xintong’s situation as soon as possible.

Yi Yun planned on meeting Godly Monarch Heavenly Buddha, but he was not confident that Godly Monarch Heavenly Buddha would give him any of the natural treasures. After all, efficacious medicine was definitely very helpful to Godly Monarch Heavenly Buddha. Was the favor owed to the Mahayana Monastery from a long time ago worth that much?

Yi Yun had plans on making the attempt and just as he was about to agree, a voice sounded in Yi Yun’s mind. “Yi Yun, I know Godly Monarch Heavenly Buddha. He has cultivated to the Godly Monarch realm, but due to the limitations of the Heavenly Dao, he is unable to use his strength freely. He is indignant about it, which results in him cultivating in body-tempering techniques. In his early years, he had sought out body-tempering resources that could enhance his lifeblood, but they were not very effective. He probably does not have any Godly Monarch medicine that can replenish lifeblood. Even if he had any, he would have likely consumed them.”

The voice came from Bai Yueyin.

Yi Yun’s heart sank when he heard Bai Yueyin. He did not suspect her words since there was no reason for her to lie about something related to Lin Xintong.

At the end of the day, natural treasures at the Godly Monarch grade was just too difficult to find.

Bai Yueyin read Yi Yun’s mind and said, “Yi Yun, it is very difficult for natural treasures at the Godly Monarch grade to be produced to begin with. Besides, the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao is still flawed. Under such circumstances, not only is it difficult for warriors to become Godly Monarchs, but it is also difficult for natural treasures to take form. If you really wish to restore Xintong’s lifeblood, I do know of a place…”

“Oh? Where?” Yi Yun’s eyes lit up.

“Somewhere very distant. Furthermore, it’s a place fraught with danger…” Bai Yueyin paused when she said that. “Do you still remember how I became a Godly Monarch?”

“Yes. You said that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch brought you to the universe where the Celestials originate. There, you broke through to the Godly Monarch realm. Wait, are you telling me…”

Yi Yun suddenly realized what Bai Yueyin was implying. He looked in astonishment at Bai Yueyin within Lin Xintong’s soul sea.

“That’s right. The place I’m telling you is the place where I broke through years ago! But to be precise, that isn’t a universe that belongs to the Celestials; however, it is somewhere relatively easier for Celestials to reach. That place is called the Chaos Heavens…”

“Oh? Chaos Heavens?”

Yi Yun pricked up his brows. Just the name made him feel a sense of apprehensiveness.

“The Chaos Heavens is located very far away. From the Sinkhole, we need to cross over the multiverse barrier. Back then, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch found the multiverse node along the barrier before finding a passageway. The Chaos Heavens is fraught with danger, but the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had protected me back then, making it very safe for me.

“However, you are different. You will have to rely on yourself. I remember the general direction in which the Chaos Heavens is. You will meet with danger on the path you take. Furthermore, the void between the multiverses has extremely thin Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. You will not be supplemented with any Yuan Qi. You will need to bring at least twenty years worth of supplements in the forms of pills or relics. I did not hold any hopes for you before you transcended the ninth-staged Heavenly Tribulation, but now, you have some chance of success…”

Crossing the multiverse?

Yi Yun felt a jolt through his mind and body. Although he long knew that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch came from the 33 Skies and that it was a universe that stood independent from the Sinkhole, Yi Yun never imagined that he would be able to travel the multiverse so quickly!

He would follow the path opened up by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch from years ago to seek the Chaos Heavens!

“Yi Yun, the Chaos Heavens definitely has the body-tempering spirit herbs you need, and the qualities will far exceed your expectations. However, you must be able to leave with them alive. Those that can head to the Chaos Heavens are absolute experts. Back when I accompanied the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch to the Chaos Heavens, I got a deep understanding that life-and-death battles could happen there. You have to be mentally prepared. Besides, you will also encounter Celestials there.”

Encountering Celestials?

Yi Yun felt pangs of fighting spirit surge in him when he heard that. He had long been holding back his anger against the Celestials.

It was likely common to murder and plunder in the Chaos Heavens. Then, it was truly a place where the strongest survived upon making encounters.

“Bai Yueyin, how injured is the Ancestor God. How long will He take to recover? Will He be able to pursue me across the multiverse barriers?”

1562 - : Chaos Heavens

“The Ancestor God has unfathomable means. There is almost nothing impossible to Him. I do not know how long he will need to remain in recuperation. However, the multiverse barrier’s existence blocks Him from sensing the tracing mark. In addition, I can teach you the mystic technique to seal the tracing mark. With your present strength, you should be able to barely manage it.”

Previously, Bai Yueyin had helped Yi Yun seal the Ancestor God’s tracing mark.

“Alright…” Yi Yun took a deep breath. At present, Bai Yueyin was neither friend or foe. On the one hand, Yi Yun did not fully trust her, and on the other hand, he knew he needed to cooperate with her.

It was impossible for Yi Yun to independently cultivate to a realm that allowed him to match the Ancestor God in such a short period of time.

Yi Yun bade Eclipse Arhat and company farewell as he began to make sufficient preparations for his trip. As for the calamity that was looming over the Sinkhole, he too was helpless to stop it as he was.

The Ancestor God was an absolute mighty figure even among the Celestials. Such an opponent had strength that far exceeded the comprehension of Sinkhole warriors…

Yi Yun activated the Azure Lamp of Time, created a time barrier, and placed Lin Xintong within it.

Yi Yun was already adept at time laws. With a divine artifact like the Azure Lamp of Time’s aid, time within the barrier was slowed down by five hundred times.

As such, ten years outside would only be a couple of days for Lin Xintong inside the Azure Lamp of Time.

Now, Lin Xintong was depleted of her blood essence, so her cultivation speed would naturally be lacking. Yi Yun did not wish for her to waste her talent.

Following that, Yi Yun used the next few months to prepare large amounts of Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli and spirit medicine which could replenish Yuan Qi for his journey’s expenses.

After doing all of this, Yi Yun followed Bai Yueyin’s guidance to seek out the multiverse barrier’s universe node.

Although it was something from a very distant era, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had left behind a mark back then. Yi Yun took a year to travel across the massive Sinkhole and find the Sinkhole universe’s boundary.

The Sinkhole’s layout was like a gigantic honeycomb. Each chamber was an independent world. These worlds varied in sizes. The large ones, such as the places where the White Lunar Divine Empire, Nethersky Divine World, Great Cosmic State, etc. rooted themselves, were all taken up by the major factions.

As for the smaller worlds, they were as many as the grains of sand in a river. If one’s comprehension of spatial dimension laws was insufficient, traversing the countless Small Worlds around the Sinkhole’s periphery would be extremely dangerous. If one was not careful, one might be lost in a spatial maze, never to exit it forever.

The periphery of the Sinkhole was filled with similar Small Worlds. Some of the Small Worlds only spanned fifty thousand kilometers and were devoid of life. There were only asteroids floating amid the desolate space. Yuan Qi was extremely thin and sparse as well.

Perhaps, in the billions of years since the Sinkhole was formed, these places had never seen life.

Yi Yun traversed these uninhabited worlds for half a year and flew to the deepest point in the Sinkhole. There were not even signs of asteroids here, just an empty, desolate void. If not for Bai Yueyin’s guidance, Yi Yun would have never imagined stepping into such a place.

“So this is what the periphery of the Sinkhole is like…”

The closer to the Sinkhole periphery, the smaller the worlds. Here, the worlds had been compressed to only several kilometers across. Their ends could be seen at a glance.

Bai Yueyin said, “Senior Lin once said that the number of humans in the Sinkhole’s Small Worlds far exceed the number of humans in the Sinkhole…”

Yi Yun drew a cold gasp. He knew that it was likely not an exaggeration. He had been flying for such a long period of time, traversing through countless Small Worlds, and all of that was just the tip of the Sinkhole iceberg. It was difficult to imagine that the boundless Sinkhole had worlds such as these at its periphery.

“It’s here. This is where Senior Lin left his mark,” Bai Yueyin said with certainty after carefully observing a Small World that did not span more than fifty kilometers in diameter.

“How did Senior Dao Originator find this place?” Yi Yun found it fascinating. A universe node that was located in the sextillion Small Worlds should have been incredibly difficult to find!

“Senior Lin did not find it, he actually came from it. He first arrived in the Chaos Heavens before finding the Sinkhole. Back then, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch spent a very long time seeking out Empress Sheng Mei…”

As Bai Yueyin spoke, she appeared in front of Yi Yun. She was in the form of a translucent, incorporeal body. She wore thin, white veils and looked pure and untainted.

“Use your 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence to strike this space.”

“Got it.” In fact, even without Bai Yueyin’s instructions, Yi Yun could sense the minute abnormalities of the space around him. However, without Bai Yueyin’s guidance, it would have been difficult for him to notice this amid the countless Small Worlds.

He circulated his Yuan Qi as the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence appeared in front of him. A smiting from the demons and gods!

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence stemmed from the Dao of Major Destruction. Once these demons and gods gathered together, space began to collapse!

The shattered space vanished and turned formless. It was as though a gigantic vortex was pushing forward, as it obliterated layer after layer.

This was a passageway that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch created years ago. Yi Yun’s actions could be considered more as reactivating it, but even so, it was extremely demanding on him. His Yuan Qi was quickly draining.

If not for Yi Yun’s inheritance of the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s heritage or his strength that came infinitesimally close to a Godly Monarch’s, it would have been impossible to reopen the passageway.

Time passed as the spatial destruction increased. At a particular instant in time, there was an immense suction force that appeared in the form of a spatial storm and swept up everything in an indomitable fashion.

Yi Yun knew that the multiverse’s passageway had finally been opened. This passageway was extremely long and also extremely perilous!

He did not resist the suction force. He even suspected that he was incapable of resisting it.

He felt the world spin around him as his entire person felt like a tiny leaf that was fluttering in a hurricane. He was soon swept into the massive passageway.

After Yi Yun left, the collapsed space began restoring again. It did not take long before everything vanished. There were no signs of damage anymore…

…

Meanwhile, a lofty man with skin suffusing dark golden colors was meditating inside a silent independent space billions of light years away.

This man was completely naked. He had a perfectly proportioned figure. He let down his long purple hair while his muscles appeared sculpted.

And behind this man was a massive body. The body’s abdomen and chest had two severe injuries that went deep. The flesh around the wounds was squirming as blood that resembled liquid bronze kept flowing out. It was quite a shocking sight.

The giant was none other than the Ancestor God!

The man was sitting at the Ancestor God’s glabella. Suddenly, the purple-haired man opened his eyes. The next instant, his body transformed into stellar light that fused into the Ancestor God’s glabella. The Ancestor God opened His eyes.

Those gigantic eyes were like two worlds that were slowly opening. They contained immense mysticism.

1563 - : Universe Node

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“Your Excellency! What are your instructions?”

The moment the Ancestor God opened His eyes, a man dressed in red robes appeared in front of the Ancestor God’s glabella like a ghost. He stood two meters tall and had a head of crimson-red hair. It matched his red clothes, making him look like a burning flame.

The Ancestor God did not reply to him. His massive eyes seemed to tear through the layers of space to look in a particular direction.

And that direction was where Yi Yun had just departed the Sinkhole.

He knew that Yi Yun had left this universe just moments ago. He felt his tracing mark weakening across the multiverse barriers.

He had no idea where Yi Yun had gone, but it was highly likely that Yi Yun would seek out means to completely seal off the tracing mark.

“Summon the demonic servants to capture some human warriors for me in the Sinkhole…” Ancestor God spoke in an ancient tongue, His voice resounding like an ancient bell that reverberated from billions of years ago.

“Your Excellency? Do you plan to…”

“A blood sacrifice to the Heavenly Dao!”

Upon hearing the Ancestor God’s words, the red-haired man was alarmed. The Ancestor God was continuing his devouring of the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao!

During the ancient battle, the Ancestor God had already devoured a corner of the Heavenly Dao, and now, the Ancestor God was naturally about to devour the Heavenly Dao in its entirety. His strength would then reach an unfathomable realm!

“Your Excellency, but your injuries…”

“It’s fine. The preparations required for the devouring of the Heavenly Dao should take about a century. By the time that happens, I should have recovered…”

Ancestor God was not worried about Yi Yun’s plans. Regardless of Yi Yun’s growth, it was impossible for him to match Him after He devoured the Heavenly Dao.

…

Time passed without the knowledge of seasons or even day and night.

Traveling across the multiverse was not only fraught with danger, but it was also an extremely long ordeal. It left one feeling a baffling sense of despair.

Yi Yun now understood that the primeval universe in the Sinkhole was indeed a remnant of the universe’s formation. However, ‘the universe’ in this case referred only to the universe where the Sinkhole resided in.

And these universes that neighbored the Sinkhole, they could also be known as ‘parallel universes’ in Earth terms before his transmigration.

The universe where Earth resided was extremely vast. The ‘observable universe’ seemed like an untraversable universe by human standards, but even so, scientists still suspected that there were several parallel universes that ran parallel to the universe where Earth resided. And these universes had different laws of physics.

The physical laws of Earth might therefore not be suitable for describing them.

Yi Yun had been traversing the void for nearly two decades.

During these two decades, he had encountered dangers that numbered in the hundreds. Furthermore, each ordeal was truly suspenseful.

He encountered gigantic black holes that could devour everything. Such black holes had event horizons that remained invisible. Once they entered the visible event horizon, even a Godly Monarch would forever be trapped inside. They would only be able to plummet into the black hole’s center without knowing it, only to be eventually reduced to nothingness.

Yi Yun had also encountered terrifying energy fluxes. They were ten times stronger than the spatial storms he encountered in the primeval universe. According to Bai Yueyin, they were the energy fluxes that blasted out after a universe’s final destruction. They finally swept over after countless years and crossed Yi Yun’s path.

Even with Yi Yun’s comprehension of the spatial dimension laws, he was injured after being swept up by these energy fluxes. He nearly got thrown off course.

He had also encountered massive and keen universe rifts. These rifts required immense focus to probe. To maintain such focus for as long as twenty years was practically impossible, so the only solution was to endure them head on.

Yi Yun originally used the Ascending Dragon Cauldron to withstand the rifts without much pressure. However, after years of this, Yi Yun did not dare use it again.

The reason was that powering the Ascending Dragon Cauldron drained his Yuan Qi at several times the rate he used for flying.

There was no Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in this universe, so he could only rely on spirit herbs, relics, and Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli to replenish his reserves.

And contained in these spirit herbs and relics were minute traces of medicinal toxins. Consuming too much of them would only harm his body.

Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli also shared similar problems. They were just not as pure as Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, containing mixed energy characteristics.

Yi Yun did not have the luxury of time to refine away these medicinal toxins in the vast void.

All he could do was rely on his powerful Dragon Emperor bloodline to forcefully repress the medicinal toxins and mixed energies. It allowed him to last all this while.

Now, Yi Yun’s situation was getting from bad to worse. The void in his dantian was suffering the inundations from chaotic energies, making him feel like he was a candle in the wind.

He had already tried his best to reduce his depletion of energy.

But after all these years of traveling, Yi Yun could not avoid injury. Once he was injured, his energy would rapidly drain and he would require spirit herbs. This resulted in a vicious cycle.

“How much further is the Chaos Heavens?” Yi Yun questioned Bai Yueyin through his mind.

“I can’t be certain. Perhaps a year or three, or even longer…” answered Bai Yueyin. Having entered this new passageway, Bai Yueyin felt adrift, but the person carrying her across the passageway was not the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch and she was no longer the Bai Yueyin of yesteryear.

Upon hearing Bai Yueyin’s answer, Yi Yun’s heart sank. He could probably last another year, but three years was pretty much the limits of what he could endure. Any longer would be dangerous.

If this went on, he could very possibly become a corpse that floated forever in this boundless void.

“The multiverse’s barriers are so difficult to cross. How did the Celestials and other races come to the Chaos Heavens?” asked Yi Yun again.

Bai Yueyin answered, “The Chaos Heavens was once very close to the world where the Celestials hail from. It was much easier to reach. Besides, they also have divine gems that can replenish Yuan Qi. They are called Chaos Crystals. These Chaos Crystals were harvested from the multiverse’s void. Each Chaos Crystal was obtained in exchange for the lives of many warriors. Using these Chaos Crystals to replenish Yuan Qi would not lead to the impurity problem. Furthermore, they can be used directly for cultivation.”

“Oh? There are such divine gems?”

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. When the mighty figures of the Sinkhole cultivated, Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli were only occasionally used. It wasn’t because they could not bring themselves to use them, but because of the numerous side effects. However, Chaos Crystals clearly did not possess this problem. They definitely sounded like a top-grade natural treasure.

“Back when the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch brought me to the Chaos Heavens to break through to become a Godly Monarch, I had a few Chaos Crystals remaining. Unfortunately, after the ancient battle from billions of years ago, I have already finished using them. If not, even giving you just a few Chaos Crystals would make your journey a lot easier.”

As Bai Yueyin spoke, Yi Yun suddenly felt a quake in the God Advent Tower’s space.

“Oh?”

Yi Yun’s heart stirred as he extended his hand. He saw a stream of light shoot out from the God Advent Tower and a plump worm appeared in his palm.

It was the… Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm!

Yi Yun was taken aback as his eyes revealed a look of pleasant surprise.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm had been obtained by Yi Yun in the Nine Li Magus Empire when he first entered the Ancient Ruins world. It was a descendant of the True Dragon, and its blood was very beneficial to Yi Yun’s cultivation of the Dragon Emperor Technique.

Later, Yi Yun met Nanxuan Luoyue when he went to the White Lunar Divine Empire. He had also relied on a drop of the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm to stimulate Nanxuan Luoyue’s bloodline, extricating her from the torment of consuming pills for decades.

In order to thank Yi Yun, Nanxuan Luoyue had given Yi Yun a teleportation jade slip for entry into the ancient battlefield.

During that period of time, Yi Yun had extracted quite a bit of the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s blood, and as compensation, Yi Yun gave it a lot of precious herbs. It fell into a evolutionary slumber and formed a cocoon inside the God Advent Tower.

The silkworm had been in that state for sixty over years, and with the Azure Lamp of Time’s time barrier effect, that equated to centuries.

Finally, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm had awoken.

This delighted Yi Yun greatly, especially when he was like a tourist who was starving and dying of thirst in a desert to suddenly find an oasis.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm clearly wasn’t aware of the situation. It looked at Yi Yun’s glimmering eyes and suddenly felt something amiss. Also, where were they? Why was the Yuan Qi so thin?

It shrank its neck backwards and was just about to shrink back into the God Advent Tower when Yi Yun caught it.

“Uh… Little guy, let me get some of your blood…” Yi Yun said embarrassed.

Ever since the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm decided to follow him, he had been extracting its blood. He had not been very nice to it.

The little guy blinked its eyes, looking extremely aggrieved. It had undergone an evolution, going from the second transformation to the fourth transformation after spending centuries.

Yi Yun caressed the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm and felt that its lifeblood was in a somewhat weak state. He could not bear to take more.

Finally, Yi Yun shook his head and said, “I won’t take it. Have a good rest…”

Yi Yun discovered that the little guy was extremely frail. It had probably consumed all the energies it had gathered to aid its evolution. If he were to extract its blood now, he would only damage it. And in this area with overly thin Yuan Qi and his little remaining spirit herbs, the blood lost by the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm would be be impossible to replenish.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm looked at Yi Yun with blinking eyes. After a long while, it seemed to figure out something as it lowered its head, ruminating for a very long while before it spat out a tiny bit of blood essence. After that, it shrank back into the God Advent Tower’s space.

This…

Yi Yun felt his heart wince when he felt the warm blood essence in his palm.

He knew that the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm had sensed his dilemma. After its transformation, it was in a state of extreme hunger and weakness, but not only did it not replenish its energy, it had even spat out a blob of blood essence. The damage to it must have been unimaginable.

The tiny blob of blood essence was as heavy as a mountain.

Yi Yun did not say a word as he gritted his teeth before swallowing the blob of blood essence.

He shared the same blood lineage as the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm, so its blood essence naturally fused perfectly with Yi Yun. There were no energetic incompatibilities.

The help it brought was truly timely!

“I never expected you to have such a loyal contracted beast. Furthermore, it’s a descendant of the True Dragon…” Bai Yueyin’s voice sounded in Yi Yun’s ears.

“Your contracted beast’s bloodline is extremely precious. Even when I toured the Chaos Heavens, it was rare to see a precious beast of this pedigree…”

Yi Yun fell silent. He was determined to finish the journey and arrive in the Chaos Heavens be it for himself, Lin Xintong, or anyone else!

He transformed into a stream of light as he flew towards the Chaos Heavens!

Amid the boundless expanse, Yi Yun’s body was as tiny as a grain of sand; yet, he continued forging forward bravely…

1564 - : Boundless Sea of Stars

The journey from the Sinkhole to the Chaos Heavens was long. Although the Celestial Silkworm’s blood was potent, even it was bound to deplete with the prolonged use of energy. Yi Yun had already been traveling for three years in the void, and his condition had gotten much worse.

As for the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm itself, without being supplemented with Yuan Qi or natural treasures, it had fallen back asleep after spitting out the blob of blood essence.

Yi Yun could sense that the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s vitality was gradually weakening. It worried him greatly. He would inquire Bai Yueyin about the distance left to the Chaos Heavens periodically, but she was unable to confirm their location exactly.

Too much time had passed. The universe was in constant flux and the changes billions of years brought about already made it quite an impressive feat that Bai Yueyin was able to get the general direction.

“Yi Yun, there’s an energy fluctuation right in front!” Bai Yueyin said suddenly.

In order to save Yuan Qi, Yi Yun had delegated probing their surroundings to Bai Yueyin. Yi Yun was focused on just going forward and if he encountered danger, he would resist it with his body.

Yi Yun’s heart sank. Was danger rearing its head again? His current situation did not allow for anymore misadventures.

“Oh? That looks like a… mining spirit cruiser. The words written are Taixia Ancient Mining! The words are written in human language. They are likely from a human faction.”

In the Chaos Heavens, there were a myriad of races. Humans were just one of the many races. The language they used was naturally different from the Sinkhole’s.

A mining spirit cruiser?

Yi Yun was taken aback. He never expected to encounter a spirit cruiser. For more than twenty years, he had been floating adrift in the void all alone. He saw no end to it, and he was on his last legs. Finally, he saw traces of life.

“Yi Yun, what do you plan on doing? We should be on a shipping line that border the Celestials’ world and the Chaos Heavens. If not, we would not have encountered a spirit cruiser.”

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment. In his present situation, he had little combat strength. It was not a wise decision to come into contact with strangers. However, if he were to avoid them, flying into the Chaos Heavens would be extremely dangerous in his current situation. Most importantly, Yi Yun could sense that the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s vitality was weakening and even if he could persist on, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was likely unable to.

“They are miners. Could they be mining Chaos Crystals?”

“Probably. Spirit cruisers that can travel across the multiverse’s void should be powered by Chaos Crystals. Every trip such a cruiser takes expends a great deal of wealth. If they are mining, the only thing that would ensure they gain back their capital are Chaos Crystals.

Chaos Crystals…

Yi Yun was yearning for Chaos Crystals. How nice it would be if some of the ship’s Chaos Crystals were given to him…

“They are sending people over.” Bai Yueyin warned Yi Yun. Yi Yun did not conceal his presence, so it was only a matter of time before he was discovered.

A white-haired middle-aged man and a green-robed elder flew across space toward Yi Yun.

These two of them had cultivation levels of Royal Sealed Divine Lords. Their Yuan Qi was unfathomable, especially the green-robed elder. His eyes were a ghostly green as though he could see through the souls of people.

“Who are you!?” the white-haired middle-aged man asked. Yi Yun had already learned a few of the languages spoken in the Chaos Heavens from Bai Yueyin on his journey. He naturally understood them.

“I was traveling to the Chaos Heavens with companions but our spirit cruiser was attacked on the way. My companions are either dead or lost. I was lucky to escape alive and has been adrift all this while.”

Yi Yun had already thought of an excuse. The ship lines from the Celestials’ universe to the Chaos Heavens had spirit cruisers plowing through them frequently. It was not a surprise that one would be attacked.

If he had said that he had come from the Sinkhole, it would have been too astonishing.

“You encountered space pirates?” the green-robed elder asked leisurely. When he spoke, Yi Yun felt that his eyes were like bottomless vortices which seemed to suck him right in.

He felt a jolt and knew that the elder did not believe him. He was using his psyche powers to probe his thoughts.

If Yi Yun was at his full strength, Yi Yun could have easily employed means to fool the green-robed elder’s probes. But as he was now, he no longer had that strength.

And at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly felt a pure and cold energy, like the melted waters of an ice mountain, penetrate his soul sea. With this power protecting him, his soul sea turned clear. Regardless of the green-robed elder’s psyche probes, he failed to notice anything.

“Thanks…” said Yi Yun via a voice transmission.

He knew that Bai Yueyin had just helped him. Although Bai Yueyin’s body had been destroyed, her psyche strength was still at the Godly Monarch level. It was not difficult for her to fool the green-robed elder.

After a fruitless probe, the green-robed elder nodded at the white-haired middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man looked deeply into Yi Yun’s eyes and said, “You have little Yuan Qi left in you, and you are probably on your last legs. You can count yourself lucky that you met me. My Taixia Ancient Mining does not harm the innocent, but we do not perform charity for free. I can bring you onboard, but I can’t save you at no cost. I require you to sign a contract to work a century for the Taixia Ancient Mining.”

A century?

Yi Yun felt depressed hearing that. He had come to the Chaos Heavens for cultivation. He did not have much time. If he sillily entered a faction that did mining and became a miner, how was he to cultivate? He was still in a hurry to return to the Sinkhole.

“Oh? You aren’t willing?” Upon noticing Yi Yun’s expression, the white-haired middle-aged man frowned. “My Taixia Ancient Mining is quite reputable. Many people wish to enter it, but I’m not willing to accept them. On account of your talent, I’m accepting you on the spot. I’m giving you a great opportunity. If you render meritorious services, you could win status and riches in just a hundred years. I never expected you to be so daft.”

The middle-aged man grunted coldly after finishing his piece. He did not believe that Yi Yun was from an illustrious background. If he truly was so important, he would definitely have a mighty figure escorting him on his trip to the Chaos Heavens. The spirit cruiser he took would have been a top-grade treasure. How would space pirates have been able to destroy the ship and kill off his companions? Therefore, he guessed that Yi Yun came from a small sect and had come to the Chaos Heavens for experiential training to seek out opportunities.

However, the Chaos Heavens was extremely cruel. A junior without any background would soon be exploited.

“Alright then.” Yi Yun thought about it and agreed for the time being.

Yi Yun was indeed desperately in need to hitch a ride. And most importantly, he needed Chaos Crystals. Therefore, he agreed for the time being. As for the contractual length, be it a century or a millennium, he needed to first regain his strength. Once he regained his peak strength, he could get the other party to change the contract.

“Sign it. I’ll make it clear that as you work for our Taixia Ancient Mining, you will encounter all sorts of life-threatening dangers!”

The middle-aged man tapped in the void as a contract appeared in front of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun scanned it and after seeing that there were no problems, he signed it.

As for danger, he had expected it. Mining Chaos Crystals in the multiverse’s void was a risky endeavor to begin with. However, the Chaos Heavens was a world more cruel than the Sinkhole. There were too many dangers, not just limited to mining.

1565 - : Taixia Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

The approximately eight-meter-long Taixia Ancient Mining’s cruiser appeared tiny at first glance. It resembled a toy model, but this was to reduce the dangers it would encounter to a minimum while traveling through the multiverse.

But upon stepping inside, it was equivalent to entering a pocket world. The hull had various buildings and palaces. At a glance, it was like a miniature city.

In the middle of the city was a striking nine-floored pavilion. Clearly, it was where the Taixia Ancient Mining’s upper echelons lived.

And surrounding the pavilion were twelve towers. The white-haired middle-aged man led Yi Yun to the highest level of one of the towers.

“Steward Zhou.”

At the top floor of the tower, a voluptuous woman walked over.

Her chest was ample and her waist thin. She was clothed in muslin and her excellent figure teased through the thin fabric. She bowed smilingly towards the middle-aged man. The coquettish look in between her eyebrows and her every move were filled with amorous charm.

“He will be a member of your Purple Light Hall. Purple Succubus, help treat his injuries.”

The middle-aged man was succinct in his words. After he handed the contract to Purple Succubus, he turned and left.

“Take care, Steward Zhou.”

The voluptuous woman stood up after saying that. The coquettish look on her face vanished instantly and replacing it was a picky glare as she sized up Yi Yun.

This left Yi Yun sighing inwardly. The speed at which this woman changed her attitude was truly amazing.

“A contract that lasts a century…” Purple Succubus looked at the contract as a teasing smile suffused her charming face. “Let’s hope you can live that long.”

Purple Succubus took out a wooden box from her interspatial artifact that resembled a bangle. She handed it to Yi Yun and said, “This is for you. Let me tell you ahead of time that my Purple Light Hall has no need for incompetency. If you can’t bring me the things I require, you’ll find I can be quite heartless. At the very least, your salary would be forfeit. In the Taixia Ancient Mining, death is a high possibility without a salary.”

Yi Yun did not say a word. He scanned the wooden box with his psyche and discovered that there were a few rocks in the box. There were speckles of light amid the gray texture.

This is…

Yi Yun pricked up his brows. He could sense an extremely pure Heaven Earth Yuan Qi from these rocks. They were many times purer than Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli, but they were just too few in number.

“Are these Chaos Crystals?” Yi Yun asked Bai Yueyin via voice transmission.

She replied, “This is obviously not a Chaos Crystal. They’re Chaos Ore. Chaos Crystals are extracted from such ores. In the Chaos Heavens, Chaos Crystals are extremely precious. The average warrior will not bear to use Chaos Crystals or afford to use them. In their place, they use such Chaos Ores. Ores also have their grades. The one you have is coarse ore.”

“Understood…”

Yi Yun shook his head. It was no wonder there was so little Yuan Qi between all of the rocks. He had a robust foundation and his dantian was as deep as the sea. Now that he was completely depleted of Yuan Qi, he needed copious amounts of energy to replenish his reserves. The tiny bits of Chaos Ore were completely inadequate.

Besides, Yi Yun still had a sleeping Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm inside his God Advent Tower. Although the little guy was small in size, he was quite a glutton. The bits of Chaos Ore were not enough to even stuff the gaps of its teeth.

“What? You find it too little?” Purple Succubus seemed to read Yi Yun’s mind.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment and said, “I haven’t recovered from my injuries, so is it possible to get an advance payment?”

“Oh? You wish for an advance payment before doing anything? Although your dantian is injured, the Chaos Ores I provided you are enough to replenish about eighty percent of your stamina. Can’t you be content with your lot?” Purple Succubus pricked up her brow as she scoffed.

Yi Yun frowned when he heard that. It was true that these ores were sufficient for the average junior, but to him, it was insignificant.

“Even if I get an advanced payment, it’s not like I can escape with the contract in place.”

“Hmph, this is the void of the multiverse. Where can you escape to? I’m completely unafraid of you escaping. However, entering a Chaos Crystal mineral vein carries dangers you can hardly imagine. If you’re unlucky and die the moment you enter, wouldn’t me giving you a salary make me come up empty-handed!?”

As Purple Succubus spoke, she waved her hand in impatience to signal him to leave.

Yi Yun shook his head. The Taixia Ancient Mining was unlike the ancient sects of the Sinkhole. Instead, they resembled the companies on Earth. They were enterprises that focused on mining and put profit before all else. People followed the example of their superiors, and Purple Succubus was as such.

“Yi Yun, wealth is extremely important in the Chaos Heavens. It’s not odd, the way this Purple Succubus is acting. In the Sinkhole, although Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli can be used as currency, truly precious natural treasures can only be gotten through exchange. No one would exchange them with Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli. However, the Chaos Heavens is different. The purchasing power of Chaos Crystals is extremely strong. They can be used to buy really precious treasures. Many a time, a faction’s combat strength in the Chaos Heavens is in direct proportion to their wealth. For this Taixia Ancient Mining to take their share of the Chaos Crystal mines means that they have quite an extraordinary background.”

“Got it…” Yi Yun nodded. From the looks of it, even the coarse Chaos Ores he had were worth something substantial. Amid the barriers of the multiverse, Chaos Crystals practically determined survivability.

Yi Yun opened the box, and apart from the few gray ores, there was a manual named the Taixia Manual. It introduced Chaos Crystal mineral veins as well as a general introduction to Taixia Ancient Mining.

Taixia Ancient Mining had a history of tens of millions of years. It had jurisdiction over three carrier groups. They were the combat carrier group, the mining carrier group, and the logistics carrier group.

Yi Yun was a member of the Purple Light Hall, a gear amid the mining carrier group. As for Purple Succubus, she was the deputy hall lord of the Purple Light Hall.

Yi Yun’s identity token was in there too. He was only a low-class miner.

For miners, mining for Chaos Crystals was not only a mission that needed to be completed, but it was also insurance for their survival.

If one did not receive energy replenishments from Chaos Crystals, their Yuan Qi would forever be insufficient. In the Chaos Crystal mineral veins, they would be powerless against dangers. It was also possible for them to be killed by other miners who wished to snatch the fruits of their labor.

The poorer one was, the lesser one dared to enter the Chaos Crystal mineral veins. That ended up making them poorer and weaker. With such a vicious cycle in place, many miners would die.

Placed in such rough environments, a hundred-year-long contract was not considered long, but a vast majority of miners basically failed to even live a hundred years.

This Chaos Heavens was truly cruel!

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun followed the instructions of the manual and came to the corresponding residence in Purple Light Hall. Purple Light Hall had many rooms, but most of them were empty.

Yi Yun knew from the manual that it was not because the cruiser was understaffed. On the contrary, when the mining spirit cruiser first set off, the cruiser would typically be at eighty percent capacity or more. But as the mining spirit cruiser began work in the universe, the number of people would begin to dwindle. And this mining spirit cruiser had been working in the void for more than ten years.

In about ten years, more than seventy percent of its members had perished!

Such a situation was very dismal for the present Yi Yun. He was just too weak and was in need of Chaos Crystals to replenish his Yuan Qi. Placing hopes on his meager salary was impractical. He had to think of other means to replenish his strength. Then, any problem would no longer be a problem.

“Oh? Are you new here?”

At that moment, a voice interrupted Yi Yun’s thoughts. He looked over and saw a dirty fellow walking towards him.

1566 - : Salary Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

The fellow who suddenly appeared looked like a member of the younger generation. His clothes were stained with soot, and he held a shovel over his shoulder.

Just from that getup, if Yi Yun did not know he was in the Chaos Heavens or didn’t sense a substantial Yuan Qi fluctuation from the person, he might have very well thought he was seeing a coal heaver from his previous incarnation.

“Heh! You new here?” greeted the person as he looked rather amiable. “My name is Tie Mu. Nice to meet you.”

As Tie Mu spoke, he extended a soot-covered palm.

The striking of palms was a basic form of courtesy in the Chaos Heavens, akin to the shaking of hands in Yi Yun’s previous life. Yi Yun did not mind Tie Mu’s dirty palm as he struck it with his own.

“I’m Yi Yun. Brother Tie Mu, why are you covered in soot? Isn’t the spirit cruiser enroute without any mining being done at the moment?” asked Yi Yun.

“There aren’t ores to mine, but there is extraction to be done. That is a tiresome chore too, but the benefit is you won’t die from it. Haha!”

Tie Mu chuckled and did not seem to take the immense danger of mining to heart. Perhaps, he was just used to it.

Without a doubt, the Chaos Heavens was a cruel place, far crueler than the Sinkhole. And it was precisely for this reason that it gave birth to so many experts. Without the strength or background to endure here, it was easy to die a tragic death.

“Unfortunately, the extraction of ores doesn’t pay much. We are just given half a kilogram of ores a month. After deducting the Yuan Qi expenditure, we will lose out a little.”

“Lose out?” Yi Yun was taken aback as he was baffled. “If you are making losses, why do it?”

“Haha! There’s no other choice. If you don’t do it, there’s more to lose! It’s common to encounter danger in the void. We would be roped in to power the array formations, and that only expends our Yuan Qi even faster. Although we are given some compensation for that, it’s completely insufficient. If we busy ourselves extracting ores, at the very least, we will not be assigned to power the array formations.”

“To those of us in mining, Yuan Qi is life. Once you expend too much of it and do not get enough compensation, you might die the next time you go down the mines. If you survive and deliver the sufficient ores, that would net quite a handsome reward. It’s enough for daily expenditures and even possibly leaves some for cultivation.”

“Using Chaos Ores for cultivation is a very extravagant deed. Haha, I have been in mining for so long, but I have only had the opportunity to do so a few times. That feeling is seriously… awesome!”

Tie Mu seemed intoxicated by his recollections, but that expression only lasted a second before he froze.

He saw a black-robed man walk over. The man was extremely thin and short, reaching only Tie Mu’s chest. His face was pale and seemed devoid of blood. He looked like a corpse, and because he was thin, his facial skin looked scrunched up with immense fine wrinkles.

Yi Yun could sense an aura unlike a human’s from the person’s body.

“He’s from the Soul race…” Bai Yueyin said via voice transmission.

“Oh?” Yi Yun pricked up his brows. This was the first time he was seeing another race in the Chaos Heavens. There were records of the Soul race in the notes left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch.

Years ago, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had experienced a life-and-death battle and his opponent was the strongest figure of the Soul race. The Dao Originator Celestial Thearch called him Soul Emperor.

This race bore a deep resemblance to humans, but their psyche powers were extraordinarily potent. The cultivation techniques they cultivated in were different from humans and typically followed the path of the soul.

“Leader Cang Gu.” Tie Mu squeezed out an ugly smile.

The man looked at Tie Mu with a deadpan expression.

Tie Mu gritted his teeth and took out a wooden box from his interspatial ring, and handed it over to the man. It was obvious that he could not bear to part with it.

The man swept it with his psyche before putting away the wooden box.

Yi Yun was taken aback from seeing this. He knew very well that the wooden box that Tie Mu had handed over contained Chaos Ores. It contained at least half a kilogram of material.

Why would Tie Mu hand over the Chaos Ores that he cherished as his wealth and life to the man?

“You are…”

The man turned his head to look at Yi Yun. His deep, purple pupils seemed to see through Yi Yun’s soul sea.

“His name is Cang Gu, our team leader.” Tie Mu hurriedly sent a voice transmission to Yi Yun, afraid that he would cross the man.

“Oh? Do team members need to hand over Chaos Ores to the team leaders? I didn’t see that mentioned in the Taixia Manual.”

“There’s no official rule that states it, but it’s an unspoken rule. You might be unaware as you are new. When we mine Chaos Ores, we do it in teams. The team leader is our eyes. As he’s from the Soul race, his psyche powers are extremely potent. He also has a detector-type disk array which only he can use. With that disk array, he can detect danger ahead of time and know where there’s abundant Chaos Ores. If you do not give him a little of your take, he might specially lead you into a death trap. If you go down such a deadly path, not only would you find little ore, but you’d encounter stuff that can take your life. When the time comes, you might not even leave behind an intact corpse.”

So that’s it!

Yi Yun understood that the lower-ranked warriors in the Chaos Heavens truly led difficult lives. They sought survival through all sorts of cracks in the system.

“I’m asking you a question!” Cang Gu’s cold voice sounded.

“Leader Cang Gu, he’s new. He doesn’t know a thing,” said Tie Mu anxiously.

“Oh? He’s new? Then, he should have been given his monthly allowance,” said Cang Gu leisurely.

When Yi Yun heard that, he felt like attacking him, were it not for his dire situation.

All he received was a pittance, not enough to even fill the gaps in his teeth; yet, someone was already eyeing it?

“Brother Yi, won’t you give 1.5 kilograms worth of Chaos Ores? Handing over 750 grams is considered our team’s rule. In the future, the amount to be handed over is 500 grams a month.”

He had to hand over half at once? That was truly gorging him.

The Chaos Ores in his wooden box weighed about three kilograms. It was likely because of Steward Zhou that he received an additional 1.5 kilograms to treat his dire condition. It was meant to help him recuperate.

“I do have some Chaos Ores on me, but I’m injured. I have already absorbed the Chaos Ores,” Yi Yun said.

“Absorbed?” Cang Gu sneered. “You obviously have zero Yuan Qi in you. Would you be in such a state if you had really absorbed the Chaos Ores?”

As he spoke, Cang Gu emitted a cold aura. After all, the handing over of Chaos Ores was an unspoken rule. He could not snatch it from Yi Yun openly, but he had already placed Yi Yun on a death list.

“Brother Yi, you must not offend Leader Cang Gu. If you do, you won’t even survive your first mining,” said Tie Mu anxiously when he saw Yi Yun refuse to obey.

Upon seeing Cang Gu about to leave, Tie Mu said, “Leader Cang Gu, Brother Yi is indeed heavily injured. Taking his ores is equivalent to taking his life. Why don’t you be generous and let him pay you after the upcoming mining?”

Cang Gu had already flicked his sleeves and left when Tie Mu was still mid-sentence. He could only shake his head helplessly.

1567 - : Unspoken Rules

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“Brother Yi, you are now in trouble. I can’t help you even if I wanted to. I don’t even have enough Chaos Ores for myself.”

“It’s fine. Thanks.”

Yi Yun knew the predicament Tie Mu was in, and besides, he had only just acquainted himself with Tie Mu. He was in urgent need to recover some amount of strength, no matter how little. If not, he might very well perish while mining.

“How far away are we from the next mine?” asked Yi Yun.

“Not far. It will take at most twenty days.”

“What about the Chaos Heavens?” asked Yi Yun again.

“The Chaos Heavens are far. It would take at least half a year of flight. Why? You wish to return?”

“Never mind…” answered Yi Yun tersely. Half a year was at the cruiser’s speed. If he had to fly by himself, the time taken would increase severalfold. Thankfully, he did not insist on continuing his solo flight; if he did, even if he managed to arrive in the Chaos Heavens, the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm would likely not have made it.

“I underestimated the dangers posed by the multiverse barriers,” said Bai Yueyin in Yi Yun’s soul sea. Too much time has passed and space itself was in flux. There were too many unpredictables.

Yi Yun said, “The practice of martial arts is to go against the heavens, not to mention the Ancestor God’s guillotine above my head. Death would be certain if I stayed in the Sinkhole. There would not even be a sliver of hope. But first things first, I need to restore my strength.”

Without strength, Yi Yun did not even dare make trades with others. In fact, Yi Yun had expended all his natural treasures on his venture into the Chaos Heavens. As for things that could be used to exchange for Chaos Crystals, such as the two Godly Monarch Royal Seals he once gifted Lin Xintong but were returned to him, he did not dare produce them in his present condition. It would only invite trouble.

…

Most of Purple Light Hall’s rooms were empty, so Yi Yun randomly chose one to stay in.

The room was very simple. There was a living room and a cultivation chamber.

He sat cross-legged in the cultivation chamber as he took out the wooden box from his interspatial ring.

He gently opened the box as a few coarse Chaos Ores appeared in front of him.

Yi Yun took out these Chaos Ores and crushed them casually.

“Pa!”

The Chaos Ores instantly turned to powder, and amid the dust was crystalline light. The points of light appeared like stars in the dark cultivation chamber as they slowly flew towards Yi Yun and into his dantian.

At that instant, Yi Yun gained an understanding of what Tie Mu felt. It was no wonder he had an intoxicated look when he reminisced about using Chaos Ores. The feeling was indeed comforting. It felt like all his pores had opened up to welcome a baptism.

Unfortunately, this baptism did not last long. It did not even last three seconds. He felt like a weary and dirty traveler who finally found an opportunity to shower, only to run out of water moments after beginning.

“Not even a thousandth of my Yuan Qi has been replenished.” Yi Yun looked at the grayish powder of the Chaos Ores and shook his head. He had to think of means to obtain Chaos Crystals.

“Brother Yi.” At that moment, Tie Mu’s voice sounded from outside Yi Yun’s room. “Brother Yi, why don’t you join me in extracting the ores? Although the income is nothing, it’s better than sitting around.”

Extracting ores?

Yi Yun was slightly taken aback. It was not something he was averse to. Since this was his first time in the Chaos Heavens, there were many things that eluded him, especially matters regarding Chaos Crystals. Furthermore, he had some ideas regarding ore extraction.

“Alright.” Yi Yun agreed at once.

“Alright, if it’s okay for you, let us set off now,” said Tie Mu excitedly. Such a state of mind impressed Yi Yun. Tie Mu was still able to remain so optimistic while living amid such tight cracks.

Yi Yun walked out of the room and found, besides Tie Mu, there were three others. Tie Mu introduced them one by one.

One of them was naked from the waist up, his muscles covered in black tattoos. His name was Taishan.

Another elegantly-dressed, voluptuous woman’s name was Songyue.

Finally, there was a youth that looked dispirited. He was a man of few words, and he had a single name—Chuan.

“This is Yi Yun. He will be a member of our team in the future.”

Tie Mu did the introductions. It was quite cordial as Taishan immediately greeted Yi Yun. Songyue gave Yi Yun a nonchalant glance before turning to leave.

“Haha, don’t mind her. Songyue is like this to everyone. She’s a girl after all. It’s difficult to survive in such environments and, with time, her defensive mechanisms only became stronger…” Tie Mu’s words seemed to indicate something deeper.

Yi Yun nodded. On this ore mining spirit cruiser, there were a lot more men than women. Although they were all martial artists, they had their desires as well. For a woman to be surrounded by men, only to face men who were stronger and more powerful than her, the difficulty of protecting herself was obvious.

Besides, the Chaos Heavens was a world where the law of the jungle ruled. There was not the protection of moral laws.

“Don’t underestimate Songyue. She’s not like you think. She has means to protect herself, so much so that Cang Gu doesn’t dare touch her.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun was stunned.

“Songyue has it best among us.” Tie Mu kept Yi Yun guessing.

Yi Yun was somewhat puzzled. If Songyue had extraordinary abilities, it would naturally mean that she was worth more. If that were the case, why would she join them in doing the dirty and menial job of ore extraction?

Yi Yun followed Tie Mu to an underground palace. After passing through a long tunnel, Yi Yun went through a huge door to see everything in front of him turn bright.

There was another pocket world in the underground palace, and this pocket world was even bigger than the pocket world aboveground!

The pocket world was divided into twelve zones. Each zone had rows of erected black towers that resembled bamboo shoots!

These black towers numbered in the hundreds and varied in size. The bigger ones were a few stories tall, and the smaller ones were just half the height of a person.

Tie Mu brought Yi Yun in front of a tiny black tower. Surrounding the tower was a pile of Chaos Ores which were blanketed by an array formation.

“This tower is the furnace used to refine ores?” asked Yi Yun.

“Oh? Is this your first time seeing it? It’s called a Crystal Refining Furnace. The cost of constructing every furnace is astounding. There are more than a thousand furnaces here, and when this place is at its peak, tens of thousands of people will be gathered here to extract the ores.”

Tie Mu gave Yi Yun an odd glance. He immediately guessed that it was possible that Yi Yun had come from a particular Great World to the Chaos Heavens. He knew nothing, and under normal circumstances, such people died the fastest.

“Oh?”

When Yi Yun placed his perception on the pile of Chaos Ores, he suddenly felt that the Chaos Ores were being locked on by some psyche energy.

This is…

Yi Yun looked up abruptly and saw that high above the pocket world was a immortal palace the size of a palm.

However, Yi Yun could sense a terrifying suppression from the palace. The psyche energy that had locked onto the Chaos Ores came from the palace.

Could it be… a Godly Monarch!?

Yi Yun felt his heart quake. Only Godly Monarchs could produce such might!

This pocket world actually had a Godly Monarch!

He had split his psyche energies into thousands of portions, with each portion locking onto a pile of Chaos Ores.

I see…

Yi Yun shook his head in silence. He had held hopes of secretly restoring his energy by quietly absorbing a tiny amount of Chaos Yuan Qi during the ore extraction, but he never expected Taixia Ancient Mining to have a Godly Monarch presiding over it. With a Godly Monarch’s perception, any pile of Chaos Ores which had its energy siphoned off would probably be detected instantly.

“Indeed, there’s no free lunch in this world. The Taixia Ancient Mining has been around for so many years. It naturally has gathered impressive resources. How can it have loopholes that are so easily exploited…”

Although Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal which prevented the discovery of his energy absorption, if the energy contained within the Chaos Ores were to vanish for no reason, that would still be suspicious. It was impossible to fool a Godly Monarch.

“Brother Yi, don’t look at that immortal palace. Doing that for an extended period will damage your psyche.” Tie Mu noticed Yi Yun’s gaze. “That immortal palace has our Taixia Ancient Mining’s divine-level Crystal Refinement Master. Even Steward Zhou has to be reverent when he comes before the palace.”

“Crystal Refinement Master?”

“You aren’t aware of Crystal Refinement Masters? From the looks of it, you are indeed new to the Chaos Heavens. The Chaos Ores dug out from the Chaos Heavens are mostly crude. In our line, mining for ores is difficult, but refinement of the ores is even more difficult. If a Crystal Refinement Master extracts and refines the crude ore, it turns into refined ore. Then, from refined ore to Chaos Crystal, the price would increase severalfold.”

“Putting Chaos Crystals aside, just refined ores are of much greater quality than crude ores. A genius of a real faction will not even consider crude ores. They would use refined ores for cultivation. Of course, for bumpkins like us, having crude ores is quite a luxury. The crude ores we receive as salary are the remnants of the ores which the Crystal Refinement Master didn’t finish refining.”

As Tie Mu spoke, he gestured for Yi Yun to look at Songyue.

“Remember how I mentioned that Songyue is different from us? Songyue is a beginner Crystal Refinement Master. She is able to refine refined ores! So no one dares to touch her. Her usual salary is much higher than ours. She is paid in refined ores.”

“I see…”

Yi Yun was enlightened. It was no wonder that Songyue came for the ore extraction. Her trade was that to begin with.

Yi Yun took a look at Songyue and saw her standing in front of a Crystal Refining Furnace. As for Tie Mu and company, Yi Yun originally guessed that they would be involved in the ore extraction, but it turned out they were there to run odd jobs for Songyue.

Apart from filling up the ores and pouring away the slag, they would be standing inside the Crystal Refining Furnace’s array formation, providing the Crystal Refining Furnace with their energies. Songyue’s realm was limited and she could not power the Crystal Refining Furnace’s operations independently.

“What are you idling for? Hurry up and work!”

Songyue looked at Yi Yun, her voice ice-cold.

At that moment, Tie Mu and company had already injected their Yuan Qi into the array formation. Yi Yun was the only one standing there idly.

“Senior Sister Songyue, Brother Yi is new. He’s not very familiar with the operations. Besides, he’s injured. The amount of Yuan Qi he can provide while standing inside the array formation is limited as well.”

Upon hearing Tie Mu, Songyue frowned. Clearly, she was very displeased with an errand boy like Yi Yun.

“Then stand there and watch for now. Study what Tie Mu and the rest are doing.”

1568 - : Crystal Refinement

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“Hahaha, Brother Yi, you have to watch well. Although I’m no Crystal Refinement Master, I’m an excellent errand boy. Learn how I do it. If you master it, it will be an additional skill to your repertoire. If you attain my level of expertise, together with some luck, you might catch the eye of some powerful Crystal Refinement Master and become their apprentice. You will be rich when that happens,” flaunted Tie Mu.

But beside him, Taishan called him out without a hint of mercy. He said in a low, muffled voice, “You still hope to catch the eye of some powerful Crystal Refinement Master with that standard of yours? Maybe in your next life! Do you think you are Senior Sister Songyue?”

As Taishan said that, he gave Songyue a fawning look.

Songyue said nonchalantly, “I’m still not an apprentice of Master Duanmu, just a candidate apprentice.”

“Then doesn’t it mean that it’s just a matter of time?” chuckled Taishan.

“Alright, cut the bragging and get to work!”

Songyue did not enjoy fawning drivel. Instantly, everyone fell silent. The ores were filled up, while the array formations were powered. Clearly, Songyue held a very important position in the team.

Yi Yun also began studying how Songyue refined the ores. Although he had little strength left, his psyche energies were still far higher than Songyue’s. He probed his perception deep into the Crystal Refining Furnace so that no energy fluctuation escaped his sight.

So this is crystal refining…

Yi Yun saw that Songyue first mixed her Yuan Qi with Taishan, Tie Mu, and company before gathering everything into nomological forces which condensed into marks.

Later, she inserted the marks into the Chaos Ores. Each mark was like a tiny Yuan-gathering array. The energy within the Chaos Ores was absorbed by the tiny marks that numbered more than a hundred. Meanwhile, the flames in the Chaos Ores burned away all the impurities in the ore.

This process lasted for several hours and Songyue remained fully focused on the Crystal Refining Furnace the entire time. She did not even blink.

Only when the final mark was fully satiated with energy did the ores, each the size of a fist, get reduced to a tenth of their original sizes amid the flames. The rest had been reduced to slag.

After all of that was finished, Songyue recovered all the marks.

She was perspiring profusely, her back completely wet while dense pearls of sweat appeared on her forehead.

At her realm, controlling more than a hundred marks not only drained her Yuan Qi, but it also placed a strain on her psyche. This drained away some of the color from her originally rosy cheeks.

“Senior Sister Songyue.” Tie Mu looked at her as his heart ached for her. “Refining a furnace full of ores at the same time is just too demanding…”

“Cut the drivel. Hexagon Crystal!”

“Here.” Tie Mu hurriedly passed a jade box over. Songyue took out a clear crystal from the box.

“Go!”

Songyue injected the marks into the crystal in one fell swoop. Following that, these marks began releasing their energies into the crystal, spreading out in patterns that resembled ice fractals.

When all the energy in the marks was released, the fractal patterns turned dim, but did not completely disappear. Instead, they remained in the crystal as patterns that looked extremely beautiful.

This was the entire process of crystal refinement.

Yi Yun sighed slightly. The crystal refinement process bore similarities to the way Desolate Heaven Masters refined relics, but there were many differences as well.

But at its most fundamental level, it was simply the extraction and condensing of energy. And in this aspect, Yi Yun’s possession of the Purple Crystal meant that he was at a divine level of expertise, something no one could exceed.

Of course, no matter how good Yi Yun was, it was impossible to grasp it with self-teaching and immediately become a Crystal Refinement Master.

He memorized nearly all the marks which Songyue had condensed. With his realm, the laws employed by Songyue were very simple to him. Even at that very moment, if Yi Yun had the Yuan Qi, he could produce the same set of marks.

However, Yi Yun knew that Songyue was only a Crystal Refinement Master of the lowest ranks. Her marks were very crude, and there were countless aspects she could improve in.

The reason why Bai Yueyin recommended the Chaos Heavens had to do with how there were way more mighty figures there than the Sinkhole. Yi Yun did not belittle the experts of the Chaos Heavens. If he wished to extract and refine Chaos Crystals, he had to obtain the heritage of a Crystal Refinement Master.

“Brother Yi, how was it?” Tie Mu asked, feeling a little smug, as though he was directly responsible for the refined ore.

Yi Yun stroked his chin and suddenly realized that Tie Mu was likely secretly in love with Songyue.

Indeed, with such a beauty beside him, it was only normal for him to develop feelings for her beauty, bearing and excellence. However, Tie Mu likely knew the gap between them which was why he hid his feelings deep down. All he did was watch Songyue quietly while rejoicing in her improvements.

“I think I understand a little,” said Yi Yun casually.

“Haha, don’t brag. I was just making a passing remark. What can you learn in such a short period of time? In a while, you will have to join us. You are weak, so just go through the motions. You can’t just stand there. There are people watching, so if you continue idling, they won’t hand you a salary later.”

As Tie Mu spoke, he dug out the slag from the Crystal Refining Furnace.

The slag had already turned grayish-black like coal ash.

Yi Yun looked at the slag as his mind wandered. He could clearly sense that there was about ten to twenty percent of energy left in the slag.

The nomological level of the marks which Songyue condensed were weak. She had failed to fully extract all the energy, or to put it another way, she was unable to extract the remnant energies.

“What is done to this ore slag?”

“Ore slag is of little use. However, it can be sold for some money. Some horticulturists will use ore slag as fertilizer. They usually plant spirit herbs or spirit food with the slag. Taixia isn’t greedy about this tiny bit of profit. Usually, the slag is given to Crystal Refinement Masters for handling as a form of carrots,” explained Tie Mu languidly. “Why do you ask?”

Is that so… Yi Yun felt a little disappointed

He originally guessed that high-ranked Crystal Refinement Masters would not stoop as low as to recycle the ore slag. After all, just refining the high-quality ores was already very time consuming.

As such, if low-ranked Crystal Refinement Masters were unable to process them, while high-ranked Crystal Refinement Masters found it beneath them to handle the slag, it was possible that they would be thrown out.

However, he never expected the Chaos Heavens to even use them as fertilizer. The resources here were really put to their fullest use.

Unfortunately, Yi Yun also knew very well that the Godly Monarch which presided over the pocket world would not place his attention on the slag. He could have secretly extracted the energy from the slag and restored his energies.

But now, Songyue had already put away the slag.

Songyue must have been accumulating quite a large amount of slag after all her years of crystal refinement…

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun immediately gave a self-deprecating smile.

He never expected himself to be in such a wretched state having just arrived in the Chaos Heavens. He did not even spurn ore slag, and was even having thoughts on the stock inside a woman’s interspatial ring…

“Your name is Yi Yun, right? You can stand over here. Do as Tie Mu says and inject energy into the array. You can provide less energy, but don’t just stand there idling.”

Songyue had just absorbed a crude ore and regained some Yuan Qi. Her tone remained cold when she spoke to Yi Yun. In the Chaos Heavens where the law of the jungle ruled, there were just too many people that met with tragedy. If pity was given to everyone, there would not be enough to go around. One had to constantly become stronger or be eliminated.

In fact, Songyue already knew that Yi Yun was not only injured, but that he had also offended Cang Gu. He was unlikely to live long, but she could not help him either. Over her years there, too many people had perished in Taixia Ancient Mining.

Yi Yun stood in the middle of the array, but he did not inject his energies into the array like Tie Mu. Instead, he looked at Taishan who was filling the Crystal Refining Furnace with ores. A puzzled look flashed in his eyes.

What’s up with this ore…

“Yi Yun, what’s on your mind? Why aren’t you beginning to work?” asked Tie Mu.

Yi Yun remained silent. He discovered that one of the ores was clearly problematic. There was a tiny array hidden in it, one that was not naturally formed. It appeared to have been tampered with…

Could it be that…

Yi Yun looked at Songyue who seemed completely oblivious. She was looking at Yi Yun unhappily. “What are you just standing there for? Do you want me to wait for you?” said Songyue unhappily.

Her mission today was very important. And the new errand boy was slow in everything he did.

“Your temper sure is bad. It’s no wonder you have offended others…” Yi Yun said this out of the blue.

“What did you say?” Songyue pricked up her brows and clearly, she was infuriated.

“Brother Yi, what are you saying!?” Tie Mu was given a fright. For Yi Yun to suddenly say something like that out of the blue, he was truly at a loss if Senior Sister Songyue turned angry.

This Yi Yun had not only offended Team Leader Cang Gu, but he had also offended Songyue so shortly after joining their team?

“If you refine it, the furnace will explode,” said Yi Yun lightly.

What?

Taishan and Tie Mu were dumbfounded by Yi Yun’s remark. The explosion of a furnace during refinement was a tremendous loss. Even Songyue would end up in trouble. Therefore, the word was a taboo, but Yi Yun had so casually said it out.

“Interesting! I have been refining crystals for so many years, but I never expected to be mocked by a rookie who has no idea about refinement.”

Songyue sneered. She could tell that Yi Yun was only playing to the gallery.

In fact, Songyue was not a headstrong person. On the contrary, she knew what her standing was. However, Yi Yun had even asked Tie Mu what a Crystal Refinement Master was previously. How could she believe such a person’s warning?

“If you do not wish to work, you can withdraw. Of course, you will not be given any salary for today’s crystal refinement. I have already done my best to let you watch from the side for a few hours. I never expected you to not only feel gratitude, but to even curse me with an exploding furnace,” said Songyue coldly.

She wished to become Master Duanmu’s apprentice. In recent days, she had been constantly forcing herself to make breakthroughs in the Crystal Refining Technique. She was already facing immense pressure and feeling frustrated. Now, with Yi Yun mentioning how she would explode the furnace, the rage in her heart was imaginable.

“I have already warned you. If you insist on ignoring it, there’s nothing I can do. If you want me to withdraw, I’ll withdraw. Rein it in yourself. But if there’s any time you wish for my help, my salary will not just be a few crude ores…”

1569 - : Withdrawing

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

“What did you say? Me seeking help from the likes of you?” Songyue looked at Yi Yun as though he was mad.

She had endured through immense difficulties in the cultivation of the Crystal Refinement Technique by tightening her belt to spend money on incomplete heritage. She began training from ore slag and, with perseverance and consistency, she finally accomplished her present-day achievements. And now, a guy who was new to the Chaos Heavens and knew nothing was making such a bold statement?

“If you are that impressive, I guess joining our team has really been a burden on you,” said Songyue sarcastically as she glared at Tie Mu. What sort of person did Tie Mu acquaint himself with? It was no wonder he offended Cang Gu. Such a person with grandiose aims but puny abilities would be the first batch of cannon fodder to be eliminated in the Chaos Heavens.

Tie Mu was at a loss as to what to say. What had gotten into Yi Yun’s mind? Why was he spouting words that made less and less sense?

“Get to work! Ignore him!”

Songyue gave the command. This was the second time she was beginning the crystal refining. The Crystal Refining Furnace was filled with ore, but this time only about half of what her previous attempt entailed. This was because Songyue had expended too much energy previously, so refining that much was already a challenge of her limits.

Taishan, Tie Mu, and Chuan went through the prescribed order by injecting their energies into the Crystal Refining Furnace as Songyue began forming the marks.

Although Songyue did not believe one bit of Yi Yun’s words, she was especially careful when forming the marks. Her speed at forming the marks also slowed down drastically because she could not afford to fail.

These few days were critical for her future!

Master Duanmu was recruiting apprentices, an extremely rare opportunity for her! Faced with intense competition, Songyue had little chance, so she needed to do well.

If the furnace really exploded, not only would she have to pay the high cost of compensation, but her hopes of becoming Master Duanmu’s apprentice would be nothing but a dream.

Songyue was fully focused as she entered an ethereal state. Her eyes were only filled with the ores and the Crystal Refining Furnace.

As such, Taishan, Tie Mu, and Chuan seemed to face a test. Songyue was giving her all, so they did the same.

As time passed, Taishan and Tie Mu’s bronze skin was covered in sweat. Yet, they they could not afford the time to wipe it off.

Yi Yun watched by the side idly. He could tell how focused Songyue’s attitude towards the crystal refinement was and that she was a diligent woman. Unfortunately, many a time in the martial world, the outcome of putting in immense efforts would still be failure.

Yi Yun’s perception was locked onto the piece of ore inside the Crystal Refining Furnace that had been tampered with. The ore’s array formation was very intricately designed, allowing it to perfectly hide itself inside the cauldron’s flames. It was already beginning to accumulate its energies.

The heat from the flame, the Yuan Qi from Songyue, and the energies from the Chaos Ores were seeping into the concealed array formation bit by bit. The energy it consumed was extremely minute, something that Songyue could not detect at all.

Once the concealed array formation had gathered the sufficient energy, it activated. It was not very strong and, in fact, very weak, but it was like a drop of water that dripped into a pot of boiling hot oil.

The outcome… was like the spurting of oil!

“Boom!”

The cauldron flames turned fervent as the tongues of flames began sweeping. The entire Crystal Refining Furnace began to quiver as the ores inside jumped vigorously like frying beans.

“Huh!?”

Songyue’s expression changed. What’s happening!?

At that instant, she sensed that the energies gathered in her marks were turning chaotic. The Yuan Qi in the ores were like horses that had escaped their reins, galloping freely in the Crystal Refining Furnace.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

One Chaos Ore after another began to crack!

The cracks constantly widened, and once they completely cracked, the energies would be released like a flood. Then, there was only one outcome—the explosion of the furnace!

Just the mere thought of a furnace explosion drained the color from Songyue’s face.

The next few days were critical for her future. She absolutely could not afford such a huge mistake.

However, why did the energy turn chaotic? Songyue had been very careful with every step she took in her second crystal refinement process. She believed that she did not make any mistakes, and even if the refinement failed, it would not have led to the explosion of the furnace. This was definitely abnormal.

Songyue naturally remembered what Yi Yun had said. He said that refining the ores would result in a furnace explosion.

At that moment, Songyue was high strung. She used all her energy to control the chaotic energies within the Crystal Refining Furnace, so much that she did not even dare turn her head to look at Yi Yun. All she could do was look at him through the corner of her eyes. Her face was filled with anxiety.

Tie Mu and company had also sensed something amiss. Their energies were connected to the Crystal Refining Furnace’s array formation, so they could clearly sense the chaotic energies inside.

Once it exploded, not only would it destroy the expensive Crystal Refining Furnace, but it would also injure them!

And with the next mining expedition happening shortly, any injuries now would no doubt bring them one step closer to death.

“Senior Sister Songyue, what’s happening!?” Taishan asked anxiously. If he had not been taken care of by Songyue usually, he would have abandoned the furnace and fled.

“Senior Sister Songyue!” Tie Mu said as well, while looking towards Yi Yun.

All of this had really developed as Yi Yun had said…

“Yi Yun… You… You knew that the Crystal Refining Furnace would… explode?”

Songyue managed to split a wisp of her psyche energy with great difficulty as she sent Yi Yun a voice transmission. She could not bear the consequences of an exploded Crystal Refining Furnace.

“You went through such great efforts to divert your attention and send me a voice transmission, only to say such pointless words to me?” said Yi Yun in an unhurried manner.

His sentence made Songyue choke back on the remaining words she had to say.

“You…!”

“What about me? I already warned you, but you were the one who refused to listen. And now, you are asking me something that has obviously happened? You still had about thirty seconds left, but you have less than fifteen seconds now. By the way, as you were attempting to bind the energy within the Crystal Refining Furnace, those energies were becoming increasingly accumulated. The explosion’s might will likely not be something you can withstand.”

When Yi Yun said that, Taishan and Tie Mu were dumbfounded.

They would be heavily injured from the explosion in fifteen seconds!

But if they were to flee now, the Crystal Refining Furnace would explode immediately. Songyue’s outcome was obvious!

“Brother Yi, what should we do now?”

Tie Mu burned with anxiety. Although the pocket world had a Godly Monarch Crystal Refinement Master presiding over it, he was a person of higher stature than Master Duanmu. He was in charge of making sure the rules were followed, so how was it possible for a Godly Monarch to help them?

“Yi Yun, you previously mentioned that you can help when you are required?” Songyue suddenly recalled Yi Yun’s words. Now, all she could do was seek Yi Yun’s help as a desperate attempt in a hopeless situation.

“I said that you need to pay the appropriate price.” Yi Yun answered unhurriedly.

Now, there were less than six seconds. They were on the brink of an explosion!

“I’ll agree to any price you want!”

Songyue nearly shouted that out. Her eyes were already bloodshot for she was already at her limits!

“I want all the ore slag in your interspatial ring as well as five kilograms of refined ores!”

Songyue was taken aback when she heard that. Yi Yun was gorging her!

“You are fishing in troubled waters!”

Yi Yun did not reply as Songyue was close to tears. However, she knew that this was all a result of her own choices. She had ignored Yi Yun when he warned her; now, the price for seeking Yi Yun’s help had naturally gone up. He had made it clear from the beginning.

With regards to this, Songyue could only accept the outcome of her poor choices.

Even if she risked the end of the greatest opportunity of her lifetime, she did not wish to see Taishan, Tie Mu, and Chuan implicated.

“I will compensate you in the future, but I need these now,” said Yi Yun tersely.

It was as though this sentence gave Songyue confidence. She gritted her teeth, took off her interspatial ring, and flicked it straight at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun phased away and appeared in front of the Crystal Refining Furnace. Simultaneously, he allowed the interspatial ring to enter the God Advent Tower space within him.

He grabbed the Crystal Refining Furnace with one hand!

“What are you doing? Don’t you want your hand anymore!?”

Songyue was alarmed. The temperature the Crystal Refining Furnace had was unimaginable. Even warriors would be instantly burnt from placing their hands on the furnace’s surface.

However, Yi Yun did not seem to hear Songyue as his hand pressed onto the Crystal Refining Furnace.

Immediately, his Yuan Qi surged into the Crystal Refining Furnace!

Yi Yun was extremely weak at the moment and his Yuan Qi appeared to be on a completely different level when placed on the backdrop of the Crystal Refining Furnace’s chaotic energies. It looked like a puny attempt by an ant to shake a tree. Upon seeing this, Songyue felt despair. How could they stop the explosion?

Yet, purple points of light suddenly lit up the next moment around the Crystal Refining Furnace. Each point of light was a tiny nomological mark. Before Songyue could identify the nomological marks, the marks were injected into the Crystal Refining Furnace.

At that moment, it was as though an ice-cold sea had been splashed at boiling magma. The chaotic energies suddenly cooled down and were absorbed by a formless energy…

This is…

Songyue found it unbelievable. How did Yi Yun do it? How did he calm down such chaotic energies with his weak Yuan Qi!?

“You are a… Crystal Refinement Master?”

Songyue subconsciously came to a possibility that left her astounded; however, why would he ask Tie Mu what a Crystal Refinement Master was if he was one?

“I’m not.”

“But how did you…”

“It’s simply resolving a major issue with little effort. What’s so strange about it? Someone was able to use a tiny array formation to stir the ores’ energy in the furnace to make it explode. On the contrary, I used a small and weak amount of energy to calm it down. That’s all.”

How… how was that the same?

Songyue was left completely speechless. It was possible for a tiny spark to set a prairie ablaze, but was it possible to use a single drop of water to put out a prairie fire?

Of course, there was no way for Songyue to know that Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal. His ability to control energy was unparalleled.

And at that moment, Yi Yun had already found the source of the explosion, which was also the concealed array formation that was planted by someone. Although the array formation was intricate, it did not possess much might. Yi Yun reduced it to ashes with a mere thought!

“It’s done!”

After Yi Yun completed this feat, he immediately retracted his Yuan Qi and psyche energy. After all, he had only borrowed the powers of the Purple Crystal. It was alright if he only ameliorated the explosive situation, but if he were to absorb the energies within the Crystal Refining Furnace, he would likely garner the attention of the Godly Monarch who presided over the area. He would then be in danger.

If not for his lack of Chaos Ores and low Yuan Qi, he would not have taken action at all.

1570 - : Resolving A Major Issue With Little Effort

“Brother Yi Yun, did you just say that… everything is okay now?”

Tie Mu was taken aback. The terrifying explosion that nearly left him in despair had been resolved by Yi Yun in just a simple move or two? The entire process did not even take him ten seconds. Was he dreaming?

But when he looked at Songyue, he knew deep down that Yi Yun had really resolved the problem since he saw Songyue clearly heave a sigh of relief.

If not for Songyue’s need to keep controlling the Crystal Refining Furnace, she would probably have slumped to the ground.

“Brother Yi Yun, how did you do it?” Tie Mu’s shock only kept increasing. He had seen Yi Yun arrive on this ore mining spirit cruiser in a seemingly wretched state, an existence that looked no different from cannon fodder. He never imagined that Yi Yun could be this capable.

“Are there Crystal Refinement Masters from the universe you come from?” asked Tie Mu out of curiosity.

Yi Yun shook his head. Back in the lower realms, there were Desolate Heaven Masters. In the 12 Empyrean Heavens and the Sinkhole, there were alchemists. Both lineages shared several things in common; their differences stemming only from the variations in available material between the worlds.

The name ‘Crystal Refinement Master’ was the only thing that Yi Yun was hearing about for the first time. He had never even imagined that ore refinement would become a profession.

“I don’t think so either. Only the crevices in the multiverse have Chaos Crystal ores…”

“But that’s impossible. If you don’t know the Crystal Refinement Technique, how are you…” Tie Mu appeared completely confounded.

“Alright, stop questioning him.” Songyue interrupted Tie Mu. She could tell that Yi Yun was not interesting in commenting on the subject.

But without a doubt, Yi Yun had extraordinary means. It might very well stem from a mystic art that his universe had, or even a domain which the Chaos Heavens had yet to explore.

“Huh!?”

At that moment, Yi Yun’s nerves tightened for he sensed a powerful perception sweep through him!

Although the perception was concealed, it brought with it an immense suppression. He had the feeling of having his soul sea seen through in an instant.

A Godly Monarch!

Yi Yun knew that it was from the Godly Monarch Crystal Refinement Master in the immortal palace above him. Although he did not pay close attention to the refinements done by juniors beneath him, he had ultimately sensed something amiss.

“Seal off your mind!”

Bai Yueyin’s voice resounded in Yi Yun’s mind. In fact, Yi Yun had done so without Bai Yueyin’s exhortation. Ever since he stepped into the ore refinement pocket world, he had converged his dantian and carefully concealed his Yuan Qi and psyche energy.

Yi Yun sensed that Bai Yueyin’s soul force had spread out like a web, fusing her presence with his soul sea.

Yi Yun did not resist Bai Yueyin at that critical moment. They were now in the same boat, and if anything untoward were to happen to Yi Yun, Bai Yueyin would be doomed as well.

“Phew–”

The Godly Monarch’s perception swept past Yi Yun, but failed to discover anything odd about him. Yi Yun’s cultivation level had also been concealed.

Yi Yun’s soul was powerful to begin with. In addition, there was Bai Yueyin, an ancient Godly Monarch, so even the Godly Monarch Crystal Refinement Master in the immortal palace failed to discover anything odd when the duo combined their forces.

“This little guy is quite interesting…”

Inside the immortal palace, a purple-robed elder opened his eyes while enveloped in a layer of black mist. But immediately following that, he closed his eyes again.

He had lived for so long that few things in this world could excite him.

He did not pay attention to Songyue’s crystal refinement process, but he knew that she had encountered a problem with her Crystal Refining Furnace. He had not paid any attention originally, since he did not bother with trivial matters such as furnace explosions. However, he never expected that the explosion he predicted would suddenly be stopped. The Crystal Refining Furnace had miraculously calmed down and the person who had resolved the situation seemed to be the weak Yi Yun.

This surprised the purple-robed elder, but it was only a light surprise. Throughout his long lifespan, he encountered numerous juniors with decent abilities and secrets. Gaining his attention would require a sufficient level of prowess.

In the hundreds of millions of years, only a handful of juniors had won his attention. These few of them had been recruited as his disciples, but Yi Yun was still far from reaching his required standard.

“Yi Yun, thank you. I apologize for mocking you.” Songyue was one who could go with the flow even though Yi Yun had fleeced her by raising a bold condition, taking away three years of her savings at once. She had lived frugally to save that up to aid her breakthrough to the Supremacy realm.

Even though it was a heavy price, Songyue found it much better than a furnace explosion. She had no wish to implicate Taishan and company, much less lose her chance of becoming Master Duanmu’s apprentice.

“You said that I offended someone and was plotted against?” Songyue asked Yi Yun as she recalled his words.

“That’s likely the case. One of the ores you used had been tampered with.”

“Then, I guess I know who it was…” Songyue took a deep breath as a cold glint flashed in her eyes.

She never expected that person to take action at this critical juncture of her being highly likely to become Master Duanmu’s apprentice. What a vile person.

“In that case, be careful. I wish to cultivate in seclusion. I won’t be joining you for a while.”

Yi Yun had no intention of refining ore from the start. He had come here hoping to abuse the situation by absorbing energies with his Purple Crystal to recover his strength. His plan had failed, but thanks to Songyue, he now had no need to worry about having material to absorb.

“Alright. There’s really no need for you to do such things. However… you have to be careful of Cang Gu…” warned Songyue.

“Thank you.” Yi Yun bade Songyue farewell before returning to his residence.

The moment he entered his room, Yi Yun set up restraints to prevent spying. Meanwhile, Bai Yueyin released her perception from within Yi Yun’s soul sea to help check his surroundings.

With Bai Yueyin’s Godly Monarch-level perception, there was nothing that could escape her.

“Go ahead and cultivate. There doesn’t seem to be anyone who will pay any attention to you on this ore mining cruiser. Quickly replenish Xintong’s lifeblood forces.”

“Got it.”

Yi Yun immediately entered the God Advent Tower’s space and took out Songyue’s interspatial ring. He extended his hand to swipe the ring, producing a large pile of ore slag.

There was more than fifty thousand kilograms!

To other warriors, the amount of ore slag would be quite substantial in value, but it could only be used as fertilizer. Absorbing the energy in the ore slag to cultivate was just too slow. It was not worth it.

However, such a problem naturally did not exist for Yi Yun, who had the Purple Crystal.

He sank his perception deep into the Purple Crystal as a purple energy vortex appeared in his dantian. Immediately, a storm seemed to stir in the God Advent Tower’s pocket world.

All the ore slag was reduced to smithereens by the storm, and the energy contained within was forcibly sucked up by the Purple Crystal.

Hum Hum Hum!

As the storms swirled, Yi Yun felt that his weak dantian which was akin to a dried river bed was welcoming a precious rain.

His Yuan Qi was constantly rising!

His strength had returned!

Having been weak for too long, the sudden acquirement of strength left Yi Yun intoxicated.

However, it was still insufficient!

Yi Yun’s dantian was as deep as the sea. Although a bout of rain did restore some of his strength, he was still far from his peak strength.

“And that’s all of it…”

Yi Yun was hardly contented seeing the ore slag which formed a tiny hill in front of him turn to ash.

There was just too little. He had been famished for more than ten years. The few crude ores he had absorbed felt like he had eaten a grain of rice, and now, the ore slag only felt like he had eaten a mouthful of rice.

His dantian was still very empty.

“The energy contained in ore slag can’t compare to crude ores in purity. I feel it’s slightly inferior, but I wonder what effects these refined ores will have…”

Yi Yun took out an intricate wooden box from Songyue’s interspatial ring. He opened it to reveal a neat row of hexagonal crystals.

Each hexagonal crystal had energy patterns left on them, making them look extremely pretty.

“Oh? These refined ores have labels on them?”

Yi Yun noticed that each hexagonal crystal had an emblem. They marked the date based on the Chaos Heavens’ calendar. Yi Yun guessed that the marks were written by Songyue every time she received a hexagonal crystal.

Upon seeing this, Yi Yun felt a little sorry for Songyue. For her to have such a unique habit, it likely had to do with how rare refined ores were. It resulted in her cherishing every ore she received.

“It’s not easy for Songyue to live in the Chaos Heavens. I took away all her savings in one go, so she’s likely feeling the pinch. When I recover my strength, I’ll return the favor…”

With this thought in mind, Yi Yun summoned the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was asleep and already extremely weak. Its originally plump body was now dry and shriveled. It looked like a sea cucumber that had been left drying in the sun.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was quite unhappy after being awakened, but before it could express its displeasure, its tiny nose began twitching.

Oh!?

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm widened its eyes as it stared at the refined ores in Yi Yun’s hands.

Yi Yun’s mind was linked to the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s. He could sense the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s strong desire to devour them. In fact, there was no need for sensing. The little guy’s saliva was already dribbling in plain sight.

“Don’t think about eating it all. Each of us gets half.”

Yi Yun knew that the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was a glutton. This bit of refined ores was not even enough for an appetizer.

“Wu Wu…”

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm felt a little aggrieved knowing that it had so little to eat.

“Eat. In time, I will obtain some spirit herbs that can replenish your lifeblood.”

Refined ores could only replenish energies. The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm and Lin Xintong still needed their lifeblood replenished. This required Yi Yun to seek out natural treasures.

Natural treasures in the Chaos Heavens were certainly expensive. To obtain them, Yi Yun would naturally need to acquire copious amounts of wealth.

All of this required a sound strategy.

Yi Yun temporarily put the matter aside as he sat cross-legged inside the God Advent Tower’s space. With a smack of his hand, the remaining refined ores in the wooden box shattered, transforming into wisps of pure energy that flew towards him.

In just thirty seconds, all the refined ores turned to white dust. Yi Yun absorbed the energies within, allowing his dantian to be nourished once again, as his strength grew.

“The effects of refined ores are indeed much better than crude ores.”

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. He discovered that the energy within Chaos Ores improved greatly in quality through the purification process. This was akin to how refined elixirs had better effects for warriors despite the fact that they could just directly consume natural treasures.

1571 - : Ambrosia

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s cultivation lasted three days and three nights. Due to the limited energy, he made sure to absorb every wisp of Yuan Qi completely, wasting not one bit.

It had been years since Yi Yun had to be so frugal. Back in the Sinkhole, he always used supreme-grade pills and artifacts. Spirit Pills that people prepared for their breakthrough to become Godly Monarchs were used for his Divine Lord breakthrough.

“Although my body has regained a bit of strength, my dantian feels even emptier.” The feeling of an empty dantian was similar to the way mortals felt on an empty stomach. When mortal warriors were starving, they had the feeling that they could eat an entire horse. And now, Yi Yun felt he could eat an entire Ancient Fey.

He cultivated his body, and as his Dragon Emperor bloodline had evolved as a result of transcending the Heavenly Tribulation, the hunger of his body inundated him with the recovery of his strength.

Yi Yun leaped out of the God Advent Tower’s space as he phased away, appearing outside Tie Mu’s room.

“Brother Tie Mu!”

“Brother Yi, you are done with your seclusion?” Tie Mu quickly walked out of his room when he heard Yi Yun’s voice. Ever since Yi Yun saved the day by preventing the Crystal Refining Furnace from exploding, Tie Mu thought differently of Yi Yun. He had a nagging feeling that there was something extraordinary about Yi Yun.

“Brother Yi, you seem to have recovered a little. But why does it seem like you still have insufficient Yuan Qi? Did you not use the refined ores Senior Sister Songyue gave you?”

With Tie Mu’s level of acuity, he naturally could not tell how massive Yi Yun’s dantian was or how tumultuous his lifeblood was. All he could see was the surface of things.

“Brother Yi, no offense, but we are about to enter the mines soon. The danger that mining poses is unimaginable. You should not be scrimping at such a moment in time. It’s indeed quite a waste for us to use refined ores, but isn’t life more important? After all, no ore is spent by the dead!”

From Tie Mu’s point of view, just half a refined ore was sufficient to restore a warrior of their realms to pinnacle state.

Yi Yun only asked with a smile, “How much longer before we enter the mines?”

“In a day or two. Brother Yi, you offended…” Tie Mu gestured at Cang Gu’s residence with his eyes.

“Are there any restrictions when entering the mines? What happens if someone secretly absorbs the Yuan Qi in the mines?”

“There are obviously restrictions.” Tie Mu nodded. “However, these restrictions are only targeted at supreme-grade ores. As for crude ores, no one will care how much you absorb. Inside the mining zone, life and death depends on fate. Mining is not something that happens in a day or two. You will remain inside for a prolonged period of time. Combat is not to be avoided. How you replenish your energies all depends on your capabilities. If we aren’t even allowed to absorb the Yuan Qi from crude ores, wouldn’t we be killed by other mining companies?”

“Other mining companies?” Yi Yun’s brows pricked up.

“Don’t tell me you think that the Chaos mine in this multiverse crack belongs to Taixia alone? The mining zone is stupendously large. There are many factions in the Chaos Heavens whose enterprise depends on mining. All of them will be here to take their share of the loot. Of course, one has to have a strong fist to be able to hold one’s ground. Those itinerant cultivators can forget about touching it. They would be killed before they enter the mining zone.”

“Got it.” Yi Yun nodded.

“Brother Yi Yun, you should not be unworried just because you can replenish your energies in the mining zone. Finding ores to absorb energy from in the mining zone is extremely difficult. If you aren’t strong enough, you will die before finding them.”

“Got it.” Yi Yun smiled. He never expected there to be people from other factions. From the looks of it, the strife in the Chaos mining zone was destined to be bloody.

Yi Yun bade Tie Mu farewell and meditated alone in his room for two days and two nights. That day, a clanging sound suddenly resounded through the mining cruiser.

The meditating Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes. He knew that the sound meant that they had arrived at the Chaos mining zone!

The Taixia Ancient Mining’s mining spirit cruiser would choose two or three Chaos mining zones every voyage. The target they had gone to the first time was a slightly smaller mining zone, but the second one was the biggest mining zone in the Chaos Heavens.

This mining zone was named Xuanyuan Dune!

It was also the destination of the Taixia mining spirit cruiser!

“Everyone, gather!”

A voice with bold undertones resounded amid the spirit cruiser. Yi Yun identified it as Steward Zhou’s voice.

People quickly rushed to the square of the palace in the middle. Steward Zhou stood on a muster roll platform. It exuded an ancient and mighty aura. Yi Yun could tell that it was an impressive enchanted artifact.

In fact, when the spirit cruiser passed through the first mining zone, more than half its crew had died. However, that did not matter. Most of the ones who died in the first zone were cannon fodder! The truly elite could survive, and the Xuanyuan Dune mining zone was where their results really mattered!

“I will cut things short. Everyone who is heading to the Xuanyuan Dune, come here to receive the array formation’s seal!”

The death rate in the Xuanyuan Dune was very high. Those in the spirit cruiser’s crew who were Crystal Refinement Masters did not need to head to the Xuanyuan Dune.

However, ordinary miners had to go. They had no choice.

To many people, entering the mines was a gamble for their lives.

But if they were to dig out precious ores, the Taixia Ancient Mining would reward them handsomely! These rewards included pills that could aid in breaking through to the Supremacy or Divine Lord realm, massive amounts of refined ores, and the core cultivation technique heritage of Taixia, and even Chaos Crystals!

Taixia had many people who became nouveau riche because of mining. Through the resources rewarded to them by Taixia, they became Divine Lords.

Even in the Chaos Heavens, Divine Lords were not commonplace. To many people, the Divine Lord realm remained a massive chasm that could hardly be scaled.

Among the group of people setting out, Yi Yun saw Songyue. Songyue had already changed into martial attire. A long whip wound around her waist, accentuating her perfect figure.

Upon seeing Songyue, Yi Yun was taken aback. He originally believed that Songyue would not come. After all, every Crystal Refinement Master was a precious talent to Taixia.

But Yi Yun immediately came to a realization that after he took away all of Songyue’s savings, Songyue had no choice but to risk entering the mines due to her sudden lack of resources needed for cultivation, recuperation, or Yuan Qi restoration. If not, she would enter a vicious cycle. Besides, she had an enemy in Taixia who was unlikely to let her off easily.

With this in mind, Yi Yun touched his nose embarrassingly. If he countered the time he had spent in the Azure Lamp of Time, Songyue was likely younger than him. Yi Yun felt that he gone a little overboard for putting a young lady in such a predicament.

“You are entering the Xuanyuan Dune on your first mining trip. On top of that, you offended Cang Gu. Take care of yourself.” Songyue exhorted him when she noticed his gaze.

“Thanks.”

Yi Yun nodded. At that moment, he had already walked in front of the roll muster platform.

When Yi Yun passed through it, the roll muster platform glowed brightly!

“Whoosh!”

An ancient and complicated array pattern shot out from the platform and entered Yi Yun’s dantian.

Yi Yun felt a jolt through his heart, but he did not resist it, allowing the array pattern to enter.

He knew that this was the so-called array formation restriction which Tie Mu mentioned. It was to prevent precious ores from being absorbed by miners.

1572 - : Xuanyuan Dune

CKtalon  CKtalon

“The roll muster platform beneath your feet is an ancient artifact refined out of a type of xenomorphic ore…” As Yi Yun was implanted with a mark, Bai Yueyin’s voice sounded in his soul sea. “Xenomorphic ores are entangled. This platform’s ore can note down records of other Chaos Ores you obtain. When the time comes, the Taixia Ancient Mining would go according to the records to make you produce the corresponding number of ores.”

What the Taixia Ancient Mining truly paid attention to was the extremely rare xenomorphic ores.

And ordinary crude ores were only used to maintain the Taixia Ancient Mining’s daily expenses.

The rare ores were moved up the chain of command and refined by the upper echelons of Taixia or be used to purchase rare treasures.

The upper echelons of Taixia were the soul of Taixia Ancient Mining. It was only inevitable that ordinary warriors were squeezed by them.

Taixia’s cut of the miners’ harvest was not fixed. Many a time, the rare xenomorphic ores were difficult to appraise, but when handed to Taixia, they would basically be exchanged for cultivation techniques or Divine Lord pills. Of course, Yi Yun viewed that as a highly imbalanced trade.

However, ordinary warriors often had no choice. This was because they had no means of entering the mining zone without coming under the Taixia Ancient Mining’s banner. Having no means to obtain cultivation techniques, it would be extremely difficult for them to make any progress in the cultivation of martial arts!

“A kind warning. Do not stash away any ore. The outcome would be harsh if discovered! In addition, although these xenomorphic ores are high in value, you will not be able to process them even with them in your possession. Without Crystal Refinement Masters to extract and purify them, direct absorption will lead to your body exploding. If you attempt to sell it, you might even put a target on your heads.

“If you are done with your preparations, you can set off now!”

Steward Zhou waved his hand as the cruiser’s hatch opened. Through the hatch, Yi Yun saw a massive but ancient continent covered in smoke. It was so vast that it stretched deep into the void.

“Everyone, board a spatial shuttle in your teams to reach the Xuanyuan Dune…”

The Taixia’s spirit cruiser was docked at a spot which was still quite a distance from the Xuanyuan Dune.

And on the spatial shuttle assigned to Yi Yun’s team, Yi Yun saw a person—Cang Gu.

He was dressed in black robes. His thin and short body coupled with his pale face made him resemble a corpse.

Upon sensing Yi Yun’s gaze, he chuckled as his smile suffused a sinister air.

Yi Yun ignored him and directly stepped into the spatial shuttle.

Behind Yi Yun was Taishan, Tie Mu, Songyue, and Chuan.

The spatial shuttle was huge, about ten meters long, allowing six people to stand in it while still having ample room.

“Sou!”

Cang Gu directed the spatial shuttle as he tore through the void and flew towards the Xuanyuan Dune.

The other miners on the spirit cruiser also boarded their shuttles. Although there was quite a number of people, they were comparable to dust when compared to massive Xuanyuan Dune. It was completely unnoticeable.

On the spatial shuttle, Yi Yun was constantly studying the patterns that had been injected into his body. He discovered that the patterns were a kind of tracing mark. With the mark, any miner that attempted to flee would definitely be caught. Besides, there was still their contract with the Taixia Ancient Mining.

“These patterns are not difficult for me to crack, but I’m still lacking in strength. It’s imperative I recover my strength…”

Yi Yun muttered to himself. Even Steward Zhou was just at the Divine Lord realm. His strength was on par with Eclipse Arhat’s or Sacred Horizon Divine Lord’s level. He posed zero threat to Yi Yun.

The tracing patterns that the Taixia Ancient Mining planted were sufficient to keep the average warrior in line. However, how could the Taixia Ancient Mining imagine that a freak like Yi Yun would join their mining teams out of no choice?

The Taixia Ancient Mining’s teams did not head straight for the deeper depths of the Xuanyuan Dune. Instead, they stopped along its periphery.

There was a city here!

It was not strange. Many major factions came to the Xuanyuan Dune to mine perennially. Services had to be provided to them.

The city’s scale was not huge. It was only about tens of kilometers in diameter. The buildings were nothing opulent; they even gave off an ancient and solemn feeling. Nearly all the buildings were constructed from the boulders mined from within the Xuanyuan Dune. The walls of many buildings were never sanded, revealing their jagged edges.

Most of the pedestrians on the streets were either masked or cloaked in black. In short, it made it difficult to identify them.

However, Yi Yun could tell that most of the pedestrians were not humans!

This was the Chaos Heavens, a universe filled with a hundred races!

As Yi Yun walked along the city streets, he saw many stalls. Some sold weapons or pills. There were also some that sold all kinds of ores. Yi Yun even saw an alley which sold slaves.

Huge platforms lined the stalls in the alley. The slaves on the platforms were of both sexes and of a variety of races.

Although the male slaves wore shabby clothes, many of them had great physical strength. Their prices were highly disparate according to their different cultivation levels. They could be used as miners and the seller had already planted slave marks in them. Once a new owner paid the price, these slaves would do their new master’s bidding.

As for the female slaves, many of them were used for sexual cultivation. Yi Yun saw many female Fey. Their figures were excellent and were probably forced by their sellers to reveal characteristics of their Fey heritage—cat ears, foxtails, fish scales by the corner of their eyes, etc.

The ratio of men to women in the Xuanyuan Dune was highly imbalanced, with many people possibly staying in the Xuanyuan Dune for more than a decade. As such, these female slaves were used to release any pent up desires. Their fates were obvious.

This was a bloody and dark world that had no concealed rules.

Strength was supreme, allowing one to do anything they desired!

Although the Sinkhole worked on the same principle, it was obfuscated by a layer of righteousness. However, the Chaos Heavens was completely unmarred in that respect.

“This is the trading zone. If there’s anything you need, you can buy some stuff. I will be here the entire time. The ore mining period will last a year,” a voluptuous woman with slender hips said.

She was Purple Succubus, deputy hall lord the Taixia Ancient Mining’s Purple Light Hall. Back when Yi Yun first joined the Taixia Ancient Mining, it was she who paid him his first salary. Now, Yi Yun was also under the Purple Light Hall’s jurisdiction.

The Purple Light Hall had more than twenty teams under it—Cang Gu’s team being one of them.

However, Cang Gu was from the Soul race. In terms of his mental strength or individual strength, he was abnormally powerful. Rumor had it that Cang Gu’s strength was even stronger than certain hall lords.

If not for Cang Gu’s sinister character and him being prone to mood swings, he would probably have become one of the hall lords of Taixia.

“Hehe! All of you will be joining me. Now, we shall buy some supplements.”

Cang Gu licked his lips as he said to Yi Yun and company. Without Cang Gu leading the way, the average warrior was like a headless fly since the Xuanyuan Dune was just too huge. Finding Chaos Ores was far from simple. It was even possible that Tie Mu and company would be killed before they could find any replenishment.

1573 - : Roll Muster Platform’s Restriction

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although Cang Gu talked about buying supplements, few of them had the finances to really shop. There was no need to elaborate on Taishan and Tie Mu. As for Songyue, after Yi Yun gorged her, she was penniless.

Now, only Yi Yun was rich apart from Cang Gu.

But Tie Mu never expected to see Yi Yun show no intention of buying any supplements. All Yi Yun did was glance at a few ores that were on display. There were no supreme-grade ores. Truly supreme-grade ores were probably monopolized by the major factions.

“Yi Yun, aren’t you going to buy some supplements? Talismans or disk arrays for life-preservation or escaping, or perhaps stuff like weapons…”

Tie Mu was dumbfounded to see Yi Yun standing with his hands to his back after a quick browse. He originally believed that Yi Yun had taken so much of Songyue’s wealth in order to deal with Cang Gu. Buying talismans or one-time disk arrays was the best way to raise his strength.

However, Yi Yun had no such intention in mind.

“These items are mediocre in quality.” Yi Yun shook his head nonchalantly.

Tie Mu was rendered speechless. The items actually failed to catch Yi Yun’s eyes.

…

“These two. I want them!”

Cang Gu chortled slyly as he chose two female slaves from the slave market.

One of the two female slaves was a female Fey with cat ears and the other was a human girl. They looked sixteen and had petite bodies with a pure, innocent charm.

“Haha, you have a keen eye, fellow Daoist. These two female slaves are still virgins, with their Primordial Yin still intact. They have not been taught before, so you can have that joy to yourself,” said the slave merchant attentively.

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun was rendered somewhat speechless. Were these the ‘supplements’ that Cang Gu needed?

“Scum!” Songyue cursed under her breath. “This person is extremely debauched. He is also cruel by nature. For this year at the Xuanyuan Dune, he is buying new girls again. From the looks of it, the ones he bought previously have been tortured to their deaths.”

Upon hearing Songyue, Yi Yun shook his head. The Chaos Heavens had such tragedies happening everywhere. It had already turned into a rule which he could not effect change on.

“Gather and head for the teleportation array.” Cang Gu ignored the helpless looks of despair in the two girls’ eyes. He directly stored them into his mobile cave abode.

The Xuanyuan Dune was just too massive. Entry into the mining zone inside the Xuanyuan Dune required them to pass through a teleportation array. Just flight alone would take months. Furthermore, there was no Yuan Qi to supplement them along the way and the areas that they would pass through were fraught with danger. Even Divine Lords could perish if they attempted to make the journey!

As such, there were four factions, including the Taixia Ancient Mining, that made mining their core enterprise. They set up teleportation arrays in the Xuanyuan Dune which led them directly to an ore-rich zone.

Of course, although these four factions had cooperated on this side of things, any encounters between factions in the Xuanyuan Dune made them competitors that would fight to the death!

Ignoring the conflicts of interest between the different factions, there were also the divisions between races.

While heading to the teleportation array, Yi Yun saw a giant who was a hundred feet tall looking like he was created from liquid gold. The moment he walked out of a cave abode pocket world, his body enlarged with every step. Each step quaked the grounds gently, exuding an extremely strong sense of oppression.

A Celestial!

Yi Yun’s pupils shrank. This bronze giant was a member of the Ancestor God’s race!

However, he was a lot shorter. His hundred-foot-tall height was far shorter than the Ancestor God’s.

As though he sensed Yi Yun’s gaze, the bronze giant gradually turned his head. His dark golden pupils contained an aloofness towards the world. Such a look was only something gods would possess.

Celestials were the proudest race in the universe. They reared demonic servants to serve them. And in fact, to them, humans and demonic servants were lifeforms of equal standing with no difference whatsoever.

The bronze giant’s gaze only stayed on Yi Yun for an instant before turning elsewhere. But at that moment, Yi Yun clearly sensed Tie Mu and Taishan trembling beside him. Their foreheads were covered in cold sweat.

Even Songyue was not one bit better. A Celestial expert made them sense a mighty oppression.

“A Celestial! I never expected the Xuanyuan Dune spirit tide this time would even stir the interest of the Celestials!”

The Celestials were mighty and lofty beings. They were few in number; therefore, even in the Chaos Heavens, Celestials were hardly seen. This was even more so for warriors like Taishan and Tie Mu who had low cultivation realms. The number of Celestial experts they had seen in their entire lives could be counted on one hand.

“What’s a spirit tide?” Yi Yun’s heart stirred as he looked at Tie Mu.

Tie Mu took a while to recover his senses as he said to Yi Yun, “A spirit tide is a Yuan Qi stream that is spewed out from the ore reserves deep in the Xuanyuan Dune. Every spirit tide results in an especially high amount of ore. Therefore, the Taixia Ancient Mining typically chooses the year of a spirit tide to engage in mining. The other factions more or less do the same.

“During a spirit tide, although ores are easily discoverable, the competition is more cruel due to the numerous people inside. As for Celestials, they seldom appear themselves. They tend to only direct their demonic servants and demonic generals.

“One of the four major factions in the Xuanyuan Dune is the Myriad Demon Valley. It was established by the Celestials, but the ones administering it are usually demonic servants and demonic generals. It’s odd that a Celestial expert would come in person today. Could this year’s spirit tide be different from the others?”

“I see. What are the other two factions?” asked Yi Yun.

The other two factions are the Nine Netherworld Lands established by the Ghost race and the Desolate Divine Depository established by the Fey.”

“Ghosts?” Yi Yun pricked up his brows. He did not speak out verbally as he sent a voice transmission to Bai Yueyin in his soul sea. “What sort of race is that? Are the members of that race cultivators in the ghostly Dao?”

“No.” Bai Yueyin shook her head. “They are real ghosts.”

“What!?” Yi Yun was alarmed. “Doesn’t that mean they are dead?”

“You could say that. I heard of rumors of a Ghost race universe. It is a universe with completely different set of Heavenly Dao rules from the Sinkhole. In the Sinkhole, a warrior’s spirit would dissipate after death. Unless they cultivated their souls to an extremely potent state, then they might be able to continue living. I’m an example, but the only one. A soul is ultimately a soul. They are still in their original world. Unless one uses possession or a heaven-defying cultivation technique like the Grand Reincarnation Technique, there is little that can be done.

“But in that universe, it’s completely different. There’s the netherworld, the underworld, and the nine springs! Even when a mortal dies, their souls would be retained. They would enter the underworld and into the nine springs before undergoing Samsara! The places mentioned are massive worlds. Ghosts can cultivate in cultivation techniques there to break through their realms. They can even transcend the tribulations. Ghosts that have transcended nine lightning tribulations will condensed a body of flesh and blood from their souls. They would then be Ghost Thearchs. That’s equivalent to our Godly Monarch realm.”

As Bai Yueyin spoke, Yi Yun suddenly felt a gust of biting cold air inundate him. He looked over and saw an elder dressed in black robes walking over.

It was only Yi Yun’s feeling that the person was an elder for his face was covered in a blurry gray mist. There was no way to see his face, or it was even possible that he did not have one.

And he did not take strides while walking. Instead, he floated over.

Was this what a member of the Ghost race was…

1574 - : Spirit Tide

CKtalon  CKtalon

A dense cadaveric air emanated from the black-robed elder’s body. All he did was float over but it was enough to make the temperature around him drop sharply. It was so cold that warriors with lower cultivation levels could even see their own breaths.

Upon seeing the black-robed elder, Steward Zhou’s body seemed to tightened up.

Yi Yun noticed this tiny detail, immediately allowing him to guess that Steward Zhou was very afraid of the black-robed elder.

“So it’s Ghost Lord Royalblood from the Nine Netherworld Lands. We have not met in centuries,” greeted Steward Zhou as he went forward with a smile.

Ghost Lord Royalblood only gave him a cold glance before ignoring him completely. Steward Zhou’s face darkened and he looked as though he might act up, but he ultimately kept quiet.

This scene was seen by many people.

Yi Yun was somewhat astonished. This was done in front of so many subordinates of the Taixia Ancient Mining, and Steward Zhou was someone who obviously valued face; yet, he had tolerated this faux pas.

“Ghost race warriors are very difficult to deal with. When there’s a difference in strength, one can unknowingly find themselves falling victim to a Ghost race expert’s means. Perhaps this Steward Zhou has previously experienced that. Therefore, it’s better to hold back than to embarrass himself in public,” said Bai Yueyin.

“Ghost Lord… should be equivalent to us human’s Divine Lord realm, right?” asked Yi Yun.

“You can say so.”

Yi Yun was enlightened. Steward Zhou was already a pinnacle Divine Lord; yet, he was completely repressed by Ghost Lord Royalblood in such a situation. This made Yi Yun turn wary of Ghost race warriors.

Meanwhile, Ghost Lord Royalblood suddenly took out a black ghost banner. With a casual wave of it, thousands of black shadows flew out in an instant.

Hum Hum Hum…

There was a gust of cold wind accompanied by ghastly wails. After these black shadows landed, they transformed into thousands of spectral souls.

Yi Yun had seen warriors who had cultivated in the Ghost Dao in the Sinkhole. They killed countless and captured the souls of people to refine them into ghost banners. There were ghost banners with ten thousand souls, or even ones with a hundred million souls. Such ghost banners were typically intrinsic treasures of these ghost-cultivation warriors. Sinkhole warriors viewed these techniques as unorthodox means which were greatly limited in scope.

But now, the difference between the ghost banner which Ghost Lord Royalblood produced was like night and day compared to all the other ghost banners he had previously seen.

The souls it released all had powerful auras. They were all Ghost Dao warriors!

Yi Yun could sense that these Ghost Dao warriors each cultivated in their own cultivation techniques. They were like the miners of Taixia Ancient Mining. Some of them were at the Dao Palace realm, while there were others at the Supremacy realm!

“These… these are his ghost slaves?”

“Not ghost slaves. They can be considered members of his sect. A Ghost Dao expert who has cultivated to the pinnacle Ghost Lord realm is a faction by himself. They pick the most talented spectral souls in the netherworld or the nine springs and store them in their ghost banners. These ghost warriors are taught the expert’s cultivation techniques and split the resources accrued.”

“I see.” Yi Yun nodded. If a single person was a faction by themselves, having a ghost banner with him meant he carried thousands of disciples wherever he went. The sheer combat strength was obvious. Ignoring Ghost Lord Royalblood’s individual strength, just the strength of his faction alone was enough to make Steward Zhou bow.

“Let’s enter the mines,” said Steward Zhou coldly. He was clearly in a bad mood after what had just happened. He did not say another word as he quickly urged his subordinates to enter the mines.

None of the Taixia Ancient Mining members dared to disobey him while he fumed, so all of them followed behind him.

Yi Yun also noticed that the Celestial and Ghost Lord Royalblood had each selected a teleportation array. Steward Zhou had led the Taixia Ancient Mining members to a teleportation array slightly further away.

He then handed each team a tiny teleportation token.

“The zone of the teleportation array’s destination spans about fifty thousand kilometers. You will appear randomly in the zone. A year from now, we will activate the teleportation array again. As long as you are back in the same zone, the token will send you back.”

Yi Yun looked at the token in his hand. There was an array formation carved on the token’s back, while the front had the word ‘Taixia.’

“All teams are to stand together. Prepare for the teleportation transmission,” said Purple Succubus.

Yi Yun walked to Tie Mu’s and Songyue’s side. Cang Gu came over as well.

He stood facing Yi Yun as he flashed a strange smile.

The five people, including Yi Yun, stepped into a spatial shuttle. It activated and formed an independent space, enveloping the five within.

Immediately following that, there was an intense array formation fluctuation. A bright beam of light emitted from the teleportation platform as everyone was warped away.

Bam!

Yi Yun only felt his ears buzz as immense spatial storms struck the spatial barriers formed by the spatial shuttle wantonly. Although the spatial storms were inferior to the primeval universe’s might, they were still several times stronger than a spatial storm in a Sinkhole pocket world.

Such storms were very dangerous to Tie Mu and company. But at this moment, Cang Gu was skilfully driving the spatial shuttle as it tore through the storms like a fish in water.

Just this was enough to make Tie Mu and company extremely envious. To them, Cang Gu’s strength was a mystery. His capabilities in the ore zones left one feeling a sense of dread.

“Boom!”

Space tore as the spatial shuttle rocketed out of a spatial rift. Taishan, Tie Mu, and company felt the world spin around them.

After they found their footing, they felt a hot wave surge at them. They immediately saw dark gold ore sand all around them. It resembled an endless desert. From time to time, flames would burn aboveground.

This was the depths of the Xuanyuan Dune!

Yi Yun scanned his surroundings. It was different from what he expected. The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was also very thin here! Although it was slightly better than the multiverse cracks, it was only barely enough for his daily expenditure. To engage in combat or cultivation, he would need Chaos Ores as replenishments.

“The smell of blood… is such a joyful smell…” said Cang Gu as he sniffed the air as though it was fine wine. He looked at Yi Yun while saying this, the corner of his mouth curling up slightly, revealing a grotesque arc.

“From this moment forth, I have the final say in everything. I sense that there’s a spirit tide geyser about fifty kilometers ahead of us. You, take point.”

“I’m leading the way?”

“That’s right. You!” Cang Gu smiled teasingly.

“Brother Yi, this Cang Gu wants you dead.” At that moment, Tie Mu’s Yuan Qi voice transmission sounded in Yi Yun’s ears. “This Xuanyuan Dune is a land of death. There are invisible traps and Chaos vortices that can kill anything. There are also strange ancient ore rifts that might lure such people into a land of peril. Cang Gu has a sensor disk array that allows him to avoid those. But with you in front, Cang Gu will definitely not warn you. You are doomed!”

“I see.” Yi Yun nodded as he smiled. He did not say it with a Yuan Qi voice transmission, but spoke it out loud. “After leaving Xuanyuan City and Taixia, it seems you can do as you please.”

“Hahaha!” Cang Gu laughed maniacally. “Isn’t that obvious? Here, I can do as I please. You have two choices. Either lead the way or die!”

Cang Gu’s voice was filled with killing intent. Away from the upper management of the Taixia, he was the absolute ruler.

Tie Mu was anxious while Songyue remained silent. Cang Gu was simply too infamous. No one dared to cross him. Even if Songyue’s strength rose by ten times, she was still not Cang Gu’s match.

“You must have been team leader for many years, right?” Yi Yun suddenly posed a question. It sounded baffling, causing the rest to be taken aback. They had no idea why Yi Yun was saying that out of the blue.

Cang Gu frowned and sneered. “Do you wish for that sentence to be your last words? That’s just too disappointing.”

Yi Yun continued talking as he wished. “I think you should have gathered quite a bit of stuff from being team leader after all these years. At the very least, you should be richer than Songyue…”

As Yi Yun spoke, he suddenly took a step forward and punched out!

Although it was a punch without any gaudy display, it rent the world asunder. It had the might to destroy astronomical bodies and instantly, Yi Yun, who looked to be lacking in Yuan Qi, suddenly became as powerful as a primordial dragon. The surging lifeblood billowed like the flames of war that headed straight for the firmaments.

“This…This is…”

Cang Gu did not even have the time to wipe the sinister smile off his face. It was already frozen even as the color in his face drained from shock. Before he could realize what was happening, he sensed Yi Yun’s terrifying punch lock on to him, leaving him stifled.

“What are you…”

Cang Gu nearly bit the tip of his tongue to use the intense pain to force out his potential. He forcefully broke through the restraints of Yi Yun’s punch while spitting out a black talisman. He threw it at Yi Yun, but Yi Yun’s punch was already right in front of him.

“Bam!”

His protective Yuan Qi tore apart like paper as Yi Yun’s punch landed squarely on Cang Gu’s face.

Ka-cha!

His facial bones shattered as his nose sank in. His eyeballs exploded, splattering blood everywhere!

Cang Gu cried out tragically and flew hundreds of feet away like a gunny sack before slamming heavily into the dark golden ground.

His body convulsed and his face was completely caved in. None of his facial features could be seen. It looked extremely tragic.

Behind Yi Yun, everyone else had failed to react in time. All it took was a split second and Cang Gu had flown backward and was on the brink of death!

What…just happened?

It was apparently because of… Yi Yun’s… one punch!?

They widened their eyes as they looked at Yi Yun as though he was a god. They were unable to close their agape mouths.

“What a coincidence. I can also do as I please after leaving the Taixia.” As Yi Yun spoke, he chuckled. His smile had a nasty hint to it. For decades, he had either been traveling alone through the multiverse barriers that only made him feel despair, or holding back while onboard the Taixia spirit cruiser due to his weak condition.

And now in the Xuanyuan Dune, although he was far from reaching his pinnacle strength, he felt like he was a fish back in water, an eagle soaring back into the skies. He could do as he pleased!

Although all he did was deliver a punch, it made him feel good, wiping away all the displeasures he previously experienced.

However, Yi Yun’s smile changed the expressions of Tie Mu and company. The seemingly harmless Yi Yun was even more terrifying than Cang Gu!

At that moment, Yi Yun had already walked towards Cang Gu. With a beckon, Cang Gu’s interspatial ring flew into his hand.

1575 - : Doing As One Pleases

Cang Gu’s interspatial ring felt a little heavy to the touch. This surprised Yi Yun slightly. His senses immediately told him that the ring had been constructed from Chaos Ores.

The methods and materials used to create Chaos Heavens’ spatial treasures were different from the Sinkhole’s. Thus, they were able to have even greater capacities.

“You… you will die a horrible death.”

Cang Gu’s body was bleeding profusely. His teeth had been smashed in, but his throat could still produce sound.

When he saw Yi Yun take away his interspatial ring, he felt a tug at his heart. That was all the wealth he had accumulated over the years.

But now, Yi Yun had taken it all.

How could he not be angry that the person who had pushed him to the brink of death was taking away the wealth he had gone to arduous efforts to accumulate?

There was no way he could die in peace!

“Little bastard… If you kill me, Taixia will know… Someone will seek revenge for me… They will tear you apart and torture you for thousands of years…” Cang Gu said as he gnashed his teeth. Even though there were few left in his mouth.

But as that last word escaped his lips, his voice came to a halt. Yi Yun had stomped his face with one foot.

“Ka-cha!”

Cang Gu’s already cracked skull cracked another time as he convulsed, spewing even more blood.

Yi Yun kicked Cang Gu up before punching him in the heart.

“Bam!”

Cang Gu’s heart exploded upon the powerful impact. Meanwhile, Yi Yun’s destruction energies surged into Cang Gu’s soul. As a member of the Soul race, the core of his body was his soul sea. However, his soul sea dissipated the moment Yi Yun’s energy surge hit it. Following that, his soul was wiped out of existence.

“He’s dead…”

Tie Mu and company gulped mouthfuls of saliva. Songyue’s face was ghastly pale. They could not have figured that the usually sickly-looking Yi Yun was actually that ruthless.

Songyue instantly came to the realization that Yi Yun had deliberately concealed his prowess when he came to Taixia. He managed to expertly conceal his strength, making it so no one realized how terrifying he was.

Now, with them in the Xuanyuan Dune, Yi Yun was like a tiger out of a cage. He could do as he pleased.

Upon realizing Yi Yun was looking at her, Songyue’s heart tightened. She subconsciously took a step back. The present Yi Yun could kill them with a mere thought.

Yi Yun could see the fear in Songyue’s and Tie Mu’s hearts. He said, “There’s no need to be afraid. I will not attack unless attacked. Besides, I’m indebted to Miss Songyue. Without your refined ores, I would not have defeated Cang Gu today.

“All of you can now leave, or follow me on this journey. I will seek a safe place, allowing all of you to reap a sufficient harvest and survive this year in peace.”

After Yi Yun said so, he looked at Songyue and company. They hesitated momentarily, but none of them left.

Mining ore in the Xuanyuan Dune required a guide. Now that Cang Gu was dead, they would be like headless flies if they went out and wandered randomly. It would be extremely dangerous.

And Yi Yun’s strength was far greater than Cang Gu’s. Although Yi Yun was a human and likely lacked the ability to operate Cang Gu’s seeking compass, he was, at the very least, stronger than all of them.

“Since none of you wish to leave, just wait here. I want to absorb the Chaos Ores to restore my strength.”

While saying so, Yi Yun conjured a spatial barrier and enveloped himself in it. To Tie Mu and company, it was as though he vanished into thin air.

…

Having killed and plundered, Yi Yun’s eyes lit up as he rummaged through Cang Gu’s interspatial ring.

Cang Gu was just too rich!

He had about three to four hundred kilograms of refined ores!

As for crude ores, he had more than five thousand kilograms. As for ore slag and other low-class items, Cang Gu clearly had no interest in keeping them.

Apart from that, Cang Gu also had many pills, artifacts and talismans.

These talismans were all bought by Cang Gu at high prices for the sake of preserving his life. But unfortunately, he had made Yi Yun his enemy. The difference in strength was too huge that he had no time to use them before being killed by Yi Yun.

These things naturally came under Yi Yun’s possession. Even if he would not use them, he could sell them in turn.

“This old bastard even has a mobile cave abode.”

After killing Cang Gu, the mobile abode which Cang Gu had refined into his body also separated from him automatically.

Artifacts of the cave-abode type were worth a lot. Yi Yun naturally did not stand on ceremony with it.

At that moment, the Xuanyuan Dune was not considered a safe environment. He had no time to take count of all the treasures Cang Gu had left behind. All he did was take out all of the ores within.

Instantly, Yuan Qi surged throughout the sealed space Yi Yun had conjured. The Yuan Qi was extremely pure and was of timely assistance to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had suffered tough days on his initial arrival into the Chaos Heavens. Now, he had suddenly become a nouveau riche.

Yi Yun took a deep breath as his perception connected with the Purple Crystal. All the energies within the Chaos Ores surged straight into Yi Yun’s dantian.

Yi Yun’s body had been empty for far too long. Even the replenishments he obtained from Songyue were far from sufficient. He had saved every bit he could, but now, there was finally no need to be stingy.

“Pi Pi Pa Pa!”

As copious amounts of refined ores turned to dust, Yi Yun felt that his strength was rapidly rising. His meridians also constantly expanded from the tidal surge of Yuan Qi!

“Little guy, this is yours!”

Yi Yun naturally did not forget the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm. Although the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was inside the God Advent Tower, it had already woken up when it smelled Chaos Ores.

Yi Yun had no need to hold back. He threw more than fifty kilograms of refined ores to the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm for its absorption.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was instantly overjoyed as it pounced straight into the ore pile and absorbed its energies.

An hour later, when three hundred kilograms of refined ores turned to dust, Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes.

His strength had finally returned to its peak!

Furthermore, he was even stronger than before!

In the past two to three decades, he had been flying in the multiverse cracks. He had bordered on life and death numerous times. With severely limited Yuan Qi, he had to push his vitals to its limits. In a way, that experience was a form of training for Yi Yun.

If he was described as a newly-cast sword when he broke through to the Divine Lord realm, then the past few decades of flying in the multiverse barrier was like him coming under a grinding stone. It made him even sharper.

Unknowingly, Yi Yun had already been in the Divine Lord realm for about seventy years. Counting his time in the Azure Lamp of Time, there was about three to four centuries.

The foundations of the Divine Lord realm needed time to fortify. To many geniuses, even several millennia was not considered a long period of time for that to happen.

“Yi Yun, with your strength, you are already invincible under anything below the Godly Monarch realm.”

At that moment, Bai Yueyin’s voice sounded. There was a wistful tone to her voice. In terms of talent, she was ultimately inferior to Yi Yun. If not, she probably could have followed after ‘him’ billions of years ago.

With Yi Yun’s cultivation time, his progress could be described as nothing but a miracle. However, Yi Yun did not think much of it. Being invincible under the Godly Monarch realm was far from sufficient. His opponents was the Ancestor God, a being who could suppress the numerous Godly Monarchs.

1576 - : Back to the Peak

CKtalon  CKtalon

After the barrier vanished, Tie Mu and company could clearly sense that Yi Yun had changed again. But they had no idea what about him was different.

For him to so easily kill Cang Gu, they believed that Yi Yun was a Royal Sealed Divine Lord at the very least.

A Royal Sealed Divine Lord would be an outer-sect steward in Taixia. This was a position above what Purple Succubus held.

Also, Yi Yun’s age was a mystery. Songyue previously found Yi Yun young, but her realm was limited. It was not something she could deduce if Yi Yun wanted to hide his age and deliberately make others feel that he was a junior.

“How much do you usually obtain when mining for a year?” asked Yi Yun.

“Senior, we would typically harvest a few hundred kilograms of crude ores. If we are lucky, a kilogram of refined ores.”

The refined ores that Tie Mu referred to were in fact crude ores with higher energy purity. They would be about the same quality and price as the refined ores which Songyue refined using a Crystal Refining Furnace.

That was not considered a huge harvest.

“Oh? No xenomorphic ores?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun, Tie Mu smiled bitterly. “Xenomorphic ores aren’t that easily obtained by the likes of us. Don’t put weight on the restrictions placed on us. In fact, the upper management does not have any hopes of us finding xenomorphic ores. The ores are located in both hidden and dangerous places. Sometimes, the appearance of xenomorphic ores attracts many experts to their location. That level of the combat is not something we can be a part of. Usually, there can be low-leveled disciples obtaining a xenomorphic ore or two, but that would be quite amazing if it happened once every one to two centuries.

“Taixia Ancient Mining’s xenomorphic ore are all harvested by stewards and core disciples. Aside from us, it sends a bunch of elites for the mining each time. They work independently and they target xenomorphic ores.”

“I get it.” Yi Yun nodded. Xenomorphic ores were extremely valuable. Even at a rate of once every one to two centuries, the Taixia Ancient Mining’s upper echelons would definitely not miss out on them. It would still put restraints on every miner.

“Senior Yi, you can try your hand at vying for xenomorphic ores. If you really obtain one and hand it over to the Taixia Ancient Mining, you would be rewarded handsomely. Besides, with you being so powerful, you will be made an outer-sect steward at the very least.”

Yi Yun smiled without a reply. He did not have any negative feelings toward the Taixia Ancient Mining. Although it was profit-minded and exploited the miners under it, that was a unspoken rule in the Chaos Heavens. The situation was as such, and all the major factions were trying their best to improve themselves. They had no choice but to do so. However, lacking negative feelings did not imply having positive ones. It was naturally impossible for him to hand over most of his harvest.

“Songyue, this is for you.”

Yi Yun threw out an interspatial ring.

Songyue was taken aback as she subconsciously caught it. When she swept it with her psyche, she was instantly alarmed. There was five kilograms of refined ores inside and a massive amount of crude ores. It was about the same amount of wealth that Yi Yun had taken from her previously.

“Senior Yi, this is…”

“I was injured when I first came to Taixia. I was in urgent need of Chaos Ores to replenish my empty Yuan Qi. Borrowing was impossible, so all I could do was target your holdings. Now that I have recovered most of my strength, it’s time to return the ores I took from you.”

The corners of Songyue’s mouth twitched, but she eventually accepted it. Yi Yun had taken her wealth as a form of equivalent exchange. It would have been completely acceptable for him to not return any of it. However, she was just too poor, and although she felt a little embarrassed, she bit the bullet and accepted it.

“Thank you, Senior Yi,” said Songyue with a bow.

Of course, Songyue had also guessed that the ores which Yi Yun had given her were not considered much to him.

Yi Yun did not make any unnecessary explanations regarding how they addressed him as senior. All he said was, “Follow me. I won’t be able to escort you around all the time. I’ll place you somewhere and, when the time comes, you will have to depend on yourself.”

Yi Yun had his own agenda. Bringing them around was inconvenient for him, but he did not find it right to abandon them. After all, he had killed Cang Gu. Without Cang Gu, these people could hardly survive in the Xuanyuan Dune.

“Senior Yi, Cang Gu had a disk array that’s specially used to seek Chaos Ores. As long as one is mentally powerful enough, they will be able to operate the disk array as long as they know the formulations. However, such formulations are a secret of Taixia. We do not know them…” Songyue said wistfully.

Yi Yun’s potency was undeniable, but seeking ores was not something through immense strength alone. The Xuanyuan Dune was just too huge. The Chaos Ores were scattered around it like gold in a desert. One needed special means to find them.

In the Chaos Heavens, there were specialized ore-seekers. They had all sorts of mystic arts and acquirement of these mystic arts depended on perception, experience, intuition, and mental strength. On the contrary, it had nothing to do with battle strength.

Cang Gu was only a low-leveled ore-seeker. At best, he could only find crude ores or refined ores. To find these ores with a disk array was considered neither a difficult or easy task.

The ore-seekers who could find xenomorphic ores were titled with Telluric Masters. They were people that all major factions would fight to rope in. Their standings were not lower than Crystal Refinement Masters!

“Is this it?” Yi Yun took out an unadorned disk array.

“Yes, that is Cang Gu’s disk array.” Songyue nodded when she saw it.

Yi Yun attempted using it. Usage of the disk array was not considered complicated, but it had an additional secure layer which required psyche powers to unlock. If Yi Yun tried, he could unlock it, but Yi Yun had no interest in it.

He crushed the disk array for he discovered that there was a mental imprint hidden inside the disk array. It was not Cang Gu’s and was likely left behind by Taixia.

Taixia had left a backdoor in their disk arrays. Yi Yun was planning to stay in the Chaos Heavens for at least a year. He did not wish his location to be monitored by Taixia constantly through the disk array.

Upon seeing Yi Yun destroy the disk array, Songyue felt alarmed. She had the intention to stop him, but she was too late.

But upon second thought, Yi Yun had no way of using the disk array anyway.

The disk array was quite expensive; yet, he had destroyed it so easily. Having lost their means of seeking ores, Songyue could not help but turn disheartened.

“Follow me,” said Yi Yun.

The worldly laws in the Xuanyuan Dune were abnormally potent. Warriors had their perception repressed and were unable to extend it out far. Furthermore, the terrain was very unique. Even with Yi Yun’s potent perception, all he could do was penetrate a few hundred feet.

“I wonder what means are available to those ore-seekers. Back in the Sun Burial Sandsea, I did encounter people with similar means. They were able to use the art of Feng Shui to seek out treasures…”

While Yi Yun pondered over the matter, he activated the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

Everything seemed to turn transparent as the land turned a pale gray like it was covered in mist. Only energy sources appeared abnormally clear in Yi Yun’s vision. It was like starlight in the darkness of the night.

1577 - : Ore-seekers

The Purple Crystal could sense energy in a way that was impervious to all obstructions. The Xuanyuan Dune was like a massive treasure trove to Yi Yun.

“These specks of energy points are likely Chaos Ores. However, they are too scattered and weak,” Yi Yun muttered to himself.

The Purple Crystal’s energy vision allowed him to see everything within hundreds of kilometers easily. He saw hundreds of points of light. It sounded quite a sizable number, but based on his past experience with absorbing Chaos Ores, he knew that each of the hundred points of light only meant dozens of kilograms to around fifty kilograms of crude ores.

Furthermore, many of the ores were buried thousands of feet deep. To excavate them from the Xuanyuan Dune’s firm lands would be a tiring task.

This also explained why ore-seekers enjoyed such esteemed positions in the Xuanyuan Dune. Finding Chaos Ores while randomly digging in the Xuanyuan Dune was just too improbable.

“Oh? This is…”

While surveying the surroundings with his energy vision, Yi Yun suddenly sensed something. He was stunned to realize that there were two weak wisps of energy inside the cave abode left behind by Cang Gu. One of the energies had attracted Yi Yun’s attention.

“It’s them…”

Yi Yun recalled that Cang Gu had bought two girls when he first came to the Xuanyuan Dune’s city. One of them was human, while the other was a Fey with cat ears.

Yi Yun had planned on releasing the two girls after his expedition in the Xuanyuan Dune was over. But now, he sensed something abnormal about one of the girls.

With a thought, Yi Yun released the two girls.

The two girls were somewhat flustered after being suddenly teleported out of the cave abode. They looked around in horror, seeking out Cang Gu immediately.

The old bastard had a perverted look when he bought them, one that had left them mentally stressed. However, Cang Gu had disappeared. Facing them was only Yi Yun.

“You… You…”

The human girl was like a frightened bunny. She was completely unsure as to what awaited her. As a girl who had been made into a slave in the Chaos Heavens where the strong preyed on the weak, her fate was simply tragic.

“Where… Where is that man?”

The human girl mustered her courage to ask the question. Back when Cang Gu purchased them, they had been implanted with contractual marks. Although she had a weak cultivation level, she could sense that the contractual mark had turned intangible.

“He has been killed by me,” said Yi Yun very calmly.

The human girl’s expression turned pale, but she did not respond. It was very common for murder to happen in the Chaos Heavens; however, it also meant that her fate had been placed on a different trajectory. She only had a different owner now. Her life was still subject to Yi Yun’s whims.

Yi Yun ignored the human girl and instead stared at the female Fey. She looked like a mortal of about sixteen. She had adorable and petite cat ears, as well as an intricate but furry tail.

Yi Yun’s eyes were locked onto the girl’s abdomen. This extremely invasive gaze made the female Fey’s expression freeze up while she retreated a few steps.

“What… What do you want?” the cat girl asked suspiciously.

Yi Yun smiled. “You appear to be very different…”

If not for the Purple Crystal and his resurgence of strength, he would have been fooled by the female Fey. Of course, this was also because Yi Yun had not paid attention to her prior to this.

The cat-eared girl’s expression changed instantly. She bit down at her lips in silence.

Anyone would have believed that the female Fey was a young cat-eared girl who could not fend for herself; however, Yi Yun discovered that she was just like him in his previous weakened state. Her Fey essence had been drained, and without any energy replenishments, she was like a candle in the wind. It resulted in her weak aura.

She was still able to hide her cultivation level while having a weak aura. It easily made others think nothing of her.

This girl was indeed not very old, but she was definitely no simple weakling. Her strength was likely above Cang Gu’s!

Yi Yun suspected that, if Cang Gu had brought her along with him, it was likely that he would one day succumb to her once she found an opportunity to regain her strength.

“Your Fey core’s cultivation level is not what it’s presently showing, right…” Yi Yun said softly through a Yuan Qi voice transmission.

This statement made the cat-eared girl’s expression turn even nastier. It was already meaningless to continue disguising herself. Without a doubt, Yi Yun had seen through her.

“Shouldn’t you be telling me your background?” Yi Yun pressed when he saw her remain silent. “I do not wish to have a person with secrets around me. If I did, I wouldn’t feel secure. Perhaps, you might have nefarious thoughts towards me once you regain your strength.”

Yi Yun’s tone was already cold when he said the latter half of his sentence. This was the Chaos Heavens which was highly competitive and cruel. Although that environment was not only limited to the Chaos Heavens. Yi Yun would not easily trust anyone even in the Sinkhole. He was constantly wary of others.

The cat-eared girl hesitated for a moment before she said, “I’m a maidservant from the Desolate clan…”

“Desolate clan?” Yi Yun pricked up his brows. “You mean the Desolate Divine Depository?”

The Desolate Divine Depository was one of the four major factions stationed in the Xuanyuan Dune and was established by the Fey. Cang Gu had mentioned it previously.

“The Desolate Divine Depository is only one of the mining entities of the Desolate clan. The Desolate clan is a lot more massive…”

“No matter how massive a faction is, it’s impossible for them to make you a maidservant, right?” Yi Yun guessed that her cultivation level was equivalent to a human’s Divine Lord cultivation level. This also meant that she was a Fey Lord!

Such a young Fey Lord would be a top genius in any major faction. How could such a genius be a maidservant?

“There’s nothing I can do if you don’t believe me. I’m an orphan. The Desolate clan raised me…”

Yi Yun looked at the cat-eared girl’s expression which seemed genuine. He believed her for the time being, but he did not believe that the Desolate clan was so powerful that it could relegate a genius into a maidservant. This likely meant that the maidservant served someone extraordinary!

This person was likely an extremely important figure in the Desolate clan. And as their personal maidservant, she was the closest person to that figure. She was unlikely to be just a mere maidservant.

“Continue.”

“I was sent on a mission and, just as I was about to complete it, I encountered an expert from the Ghost race. My entire team suffered terrible losses. Although the mission was barely completed, I was heavily injured. In a way, I avoided death by escaping to this place.”

“What was your mission?” asked Yi Yun.

The cat-eared girl hesitated for a moment before speaking truthfully, “It’s a map…”

“Oh? What is this map related to?” Yi Yun knew that he was asking too many questions, but he did not care. This was the Chaos Heavens. If it were Cang Gu, he would have first raped her until she passed out from exhaustion when he realized that he had such a powerful genius girl under him. He could then search her soul for the relevant information.

“It’s related to the God Confusion Valley…” When the cat-eared girl said that, Tie Mu and company exchanged looks.

“God Confusion Valley?”

“Oh, all of you know about it?” Yi Yun looked at Tie Mu, Songyue, and company.

Songyue said, “Yes… That place is in the Xuanyuan Dune. The reason for its name has to do with legends that even Godly Monarchs would lose their way in the God Confusion Valley. Although it might be exaggerated, it’s unlikely to be too far from from the truth.”

Upon realizing that Yi Yun was interested, the cat-eared girl hurriedly said, “The map isn’t on me. It was taken back to the Desolate clan by a fellow Fey expert. You won’t get it even if you kill me.”

It was precisely because of this reason that the cat-eared girl was willing to tell Yi Yun of the matter.

“What does the God Confusion Valley have? It’s best you tell me everything you know. I do not wish to ask one question at a time. My patience is limited,” said Yi Yun impatiently.

“I do not know the details either, but it has something very important to the Desolate clan. I have told you all I know. I advise you not to entertain any unrealistic fantasies about the God Confusion Valley. Without a map, you will only die inside.” As the cat-eared girl said that, a strange glint flashed in her eyes.

Yi Yun was sharp. He immediately noticed her intentions.

“Oh?” Yi Yun smiled. “Are you trying to goad me on? You wish for me to die in the God Confusion Valley?”

As he spoke, Yi Yun’s aura was already bearing down on the cat-eared girl. With her enervated body, she could hardly withstand the pressure. She retreated several steps back as she gasped for breath.

“I do not like being manipulated by others. Let me guess. Your master is likely in the God Confusion Valley, right? You wish for me to bring you there, allowing your master to save you. Perhaps, your goal is even to appear in the Xuanyuan Dune and wait for your master? However, you were simply not very careful and ended up being caught by slave merchants.”

Yi Yun instantly realized what was happening. It was even possible that the spirit tide was related to the God Confusion Valley.

Previously, many experts from the other races had appeared when the Taixia first came to the Xuanyuan Dune. Even a Celestial had come from the Myriad Demon Valley!

Perhaps, these people had come to the Xuanyuan Dune because of the God Confusion Valley. As for Taixia, it could already be one step slower!

Yi Yun felt that it was unlikely Taixia had made sufficient preparations. It was unlikely that they had obtained a map.

He shot a glance at the cat-eared girl and saw her face covered in sweat before he rescinded his aura.

He was only planning to probe for intelligence and did not plan to do anything to the cat-eared girl, but she had schemed against him and tried to manipulate him.

This naturally made him unhappy.

“In fact, I was planning on saving you in passing, but now, I have changed my mind,” said Yi Yun coldly.

The cat-eared girl’s face turned pale as she said through clenched teeth. “Either you kill me now, or you will not be spared once my Young Master knows of it.”

“Are you threatening me?” sneered Yi Yun.

“No. All I’m telling you is that my Young Master’s strength is nothing you can imagine.” The cat-eared girl seemed extremely proud when she mentioned her Young Master.

“Who is your Young Master?” Songyue could not help but ask.

“The Desolate clan’s Shaomang Xuan.” The cat-eared girl said firmly without any of the weakness she previously displayed.

“Shaomang Xuan…” Songyue drew a cold gasp when she heard the name. It immediately felt like she was bemoaning her inadequacies.

“So it’s Shaomang…” Bai Yueyin’s voice sounded in Yi Yun’s mind.

“You know him?”

“Yea…” Bai Yueyin nodded. “The Desolate clan resides in the Desolate. There are a few major surnames, each older than the other. Shaomang is one of them. Back when I was in the Chaos Heavens, Shaomang was already a famous and illustrious name. It had also produced many Fey Thearchs. For the Shaomang line to last to this day, its legacy is probably unimaginable.”

1578 - Shaomang

CKtalon  CKtalon

Actually, even without Bai Yueyin’s explanation, Yi Yun managed a guess from the expressions Songyue and company had. It was as though they did not even deserve to look up at Shaomang. To the low-leveled warriors of the Chaos Heavens, Shaomang Xuan stood at an unattainable height, one so unimaginably high.

It was within the cat-eared girl’s expectations to see the reactions of Songyue and company at the mention of Shaomang Xuan’s name. Compared to Shaomang Xuan, these people were not even considered bumpkins. They were at best ants.

She felt that the shock they experienced was only right.

“My young master has only cultivated for 1500 years, but he has already transcended the Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation, attaining an indestructible body! Not only that, my young master iis widely read in array formations, alchemy, and even ore-seeking arts! I believe all of you have heard a thing or two about him.” When the cat-eared girl said that, her face was filled with adoration and pride.

“Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation?” Yi Yun’s brows pricked up. The Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao had been severed, so he lacked an understanding of the Heavenly Tribulations. As such, he was very interested to learn more about them. He had experienced a catharsis from a Heavenly Tribulation once, and it greatly strengthened him.

“Don’t tell me you aren’t even aware of a Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation?” The cat-eared girl looked at Yi Yun as though he was someone with limited knowledge. “Although Heavenly Tribulation has little to do with humans, it being something only the Fey and Ghost race experience, you should still have heard about it at the very least. The Heavenly Tribulations of the Fey and Ghost race have many grades. Only a typical pinnacle Fey Lord deserves experiencing a Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation. By transcending it, they would become a half-step Fey Thearch.

“As for my young master, he was only a mid-stage Fey Lord when he attracted the Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation. In the future, when he becomes a Fey Thearch, he might once again attract another Heavenly Tribulation. If that happens he would end up with a Double Tribulation Divine Body!” the cat-eared girl said proudly.

Tie Mu, Songyue, and company felt wistful inside. The differences between people was just too large. As it was, they were still struggling to make a living in ore mines, but Shaomang Xuan had already transcended a Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation, making him a potential Fey Thearch!

That was equivalent to being a human Godly Monarch. Even the entire Taixia only had a handful of Godly Monarchs. Furthermore, they were experts from an older generation. Someone from the younger generation was simply too distant from being a Godly Monarch.

“I happen to be Young Master Shaomang’s personal maidservant. If I were to die here, my young master will definitely avenge me,” said the cat-eared girl.

Yi Yun sneered. “Are you threatening me?”

“I am not. If you were to send me to Young Master Shaomang’s side, he would spare no expense in rewarding you. What just happened will no longer be pursued. Young Master’s rewards will probably be unimaginably handsome for someone like you,” said the cat-eared girl.

A clan that had existed for so long that its unit of measure was in billions of years made it a respectable existence simply from the mention of its name!

The Shaomang clansmen were born with a sense of pride because the blood of the Shaomang clan flowed in them.

A corner of the cat-eared girl’s mouth curled up. She was certain that her status had changed. She went from being a slave to Yi Yun’s benefactor. How could a ore-mining warrior not feel moved when enticed with the Shaomang clan’s rewards?

Yi Yun sized up the cat-eared girl as he sneered inwardly.

The cat-eared girl did not hide any of her thoughts, as though she was certain he would submit to her request.

Shaomang clan… God Confusion Valley…

“Do you know where the God Confusion Valley is?”

Yi Yun looked back to ask Songyue and Tie Mu. They shook their heads in a daze. Its location was simply too mysterious. Usually, just mining in the periphery was fraught with danger, so why would they show any motivation to go towards the God Confusion Valley?

“Senior Yi, don’t tell me you really intend to head there?” Songyue was shocked. Even the Shaomang clan needed a map for entry. Wouldn’t Yi Yun be seeking death if he went in alone? Besides, the path to the God Confusion Valley was definitely plagued with endless dangers!

“Yes.” Yi Yun nodded as he turned to the cat-eared girl. “You should know where is it, right?”

Since the Celestial, Fey, and Ghost experts had gathered in the Xuanyuan Dune, it probably meant that something impressive was appearing in the God Confusion Valley. Yi Yun did not wish to miss it. At the very least, he wanted to know what it was.

The cat-eared girl was delighted when she heard that. Indeed, for someone like Yi Yun who only made a living by mining, he could not resist the temptations of the Shaomang’s handsome rewards. As long as she went to the God Confusion Valley, there was a high chance of her finding Shaomang Xuan.

She hurriedly said, “I naturally know the way to the God Confusion Valley. As for the dangers inside the God Confusion Valley, don’t worry. My young master will naturally protect you. The dangers in the Xuanyuan Dune are nothing to him.”

However, the moment she said that, Yi Yun suddenly conjured a seal which entered straight into the cat-eared girl’s body. In her heavily injured state, she had no means of resisting.

The cat-eared girl immediately felt a domineering and violent aura wrap her Fey core. All it took to reduce her to nothing was a single thought from Yi Yun.

“What are you doing!?” The cat-eared girl was horrified.

Yi Yun looked at her as the corners of his mouth curled into a meaningful curve.

“You are mistaken. I’m getting you to lead the way, not to find your young master, but because I want to go to the God Confusion Valley. Lead the way, for that’s the only chance you have to survive.” Yi Yun’s cold voice entered the cat-eared girl’s ears. It made her produce a look of utter disbelief.

There was actually someone who dared cross Shaomang Xuan despite hearing his name? Was he sick of living!?

Tie Mu and company never expected that Yi Yun would not only be unswayed, but would actually double down on his merciless attitude towards the cat-eared girl.

Yi Yun did not elaborate. He immediately produced Cang Gu’s spatial shuttle. Yi Yun had already claimed it for himself. Not only was it fast, but it also conserved Yuan Qi.

Tie Mu, Taishan and company were taken aback when they saw the spatial shuttle. “Senior Yi, what are you doing? Don’t tell me you plan on using the spatial shuttle to rush across the Xuanyuan Dune?”

Danger lurked at every turn in the Xuanyuan Dune. Not only was an ore-seeker needed to lead the way, but utmost care had to be taken while proceeding as well. Every segment traversed required the use of a disk array to repeatedly survey the surroundings. Certain places in the Xuanyuan Dune were naturally formed lands of peril. Even a mighty figure might not survive if they blindly entered them.

Under such circumstances, even a veteran with rich experience would not dare proceed too quickly, much less use a spatial shuttle for traveling. It was practically suicide.

“That’s right!” Yi Yun had no intention to waste time.

“This…” Tie Mu, Songyue, and company had no choice but to enter the spatial shuttle.

The cat-eared girl’s expression turned pale. A seal had already been injected into her by Yi Yun. What else could she say? All she could do was enter the spatial shuttle with Yi Yun. Deep down, she hoped Yi Yun would die on the journey, but she was also afraid that she would never meet Shaomang Xuan again.

“Senior Yi, you have to proceed slowly. I know you are extremely perceptive, but many lands of peril cannot be probed.” Songyue suggested weakly when she boarded the spatial shuttle.

“Alright.” Yi Yun responded tersely. In the next moment, the spatial shuttle had transformed into a beam of light, shooting straight forward like a released arrow!

1579 - : God Confusion Valley

“Senior Yi!”

The sudden acceleration gave Songyue a fright. She nearly lost her balance since Yi Yun was navigating the spatial shuttle at a speed far faster than Cang Gu!

Tie Mu, Taishan, and company wore pale expressions. The speed at which they flew was practically inviting death upon them. From the looks of it, Yi Yun had completely ignored Songyue’s previous warning.

“P… Perhaps Senior Yi is formidable in strength. He should likely be able to handle it.” Tie Mu spoke with a trembling voice. Clearly, he did not even believe what he was saying.

“Stop making a fuss. My young master can go at even faster speeds while driving a Crimson Flying Cloud here! This person is simply relying on is his perception, which gives him the guts to go this fast,” said the cat-eared girl proudly.

In fact, she also felt that Yi Yun was going too fast. She did not care if Yi Yun and the rest died, but there was no way she could reunite with her young master if she died.

At that moment, an even more powerful force transmitted over, causing everyone in the entire spatial shuttle to shake.

The spatial shuttle had sped up again.

Everyone felt as though their hearts were leaping out of their chests. The cat-eared girl’s expression instantly turned nasty.

This was nearly the maximum speed of the spatial shuttle!

Although the cat-eared girl mentioned that the Crimson Flying Cloud was fast, it was a superior-grade flying artifact. Ordinary warriors would not even see it, much less use it.

She was completely unimpressed with the spatial shuttle she was on. For such an ordinary craft to move at such speeds, any slight deviation could put their lives at risk.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

While everyone was feeling nervous, the spatial shuttle tore through the desert’s atmosphere like a bolt of lightning.

The short period of fifteen minutes felt like days to Songyue and company. Everyone had broken out into cold sweat.

“We’ve stopped?” At that moment, they realized that the spatial shuttle had suddenly stopped above a black desert.

Could it be that Yi Yun had finally given up such terrifying flying speeds?

That would be great.

Although the cat-eared girl did not say a word, she was secretly heaving a sigh of relief.

However, the spatial shuttle did not immediately leave after it came to a halt. Yi Yun left the spatial shuttle and while everyone watched him intently, he suddenly raised his palm and struck the ground.

Boom!

The ground cratered in with a loud boom, as a gigantic imprint was left in it.

“What is Senior Yi doing?” Tie Mu was perplexed.

At that moment, Songyue’s eyes lit up. She said in shock, “There’s a pale black glow along the periphery of the palm imprint… That’s not sand, but a Chaos Ore mineral vein!”

Tie Mu and Chuan wore looks of pleasant surprise. The Chaos Ores in the mineral vein were of extremely high quality. As a Crystal Refinement Master, Songyue naturally could identify it at a glance.

Yi Yun had managed to find such a mineral vein despite traveling at such breakneck speeds…

Songyue was not the only one; the other two shared the same thoughts.

It was no wonder Yi Yun had shattered the ore-seeking disk array. They had all seen Cang Gu use the disk array to seek ores. He did so a step at a time, and practically took half a month to a month before finding a mineral vein.

The cat-eared girl also gave Yi Yun a surprised look. She said, “I never expected you to know ore-seeking mystic arts. Although your ore-seeking capabilities are inferior to my young master’s, it’s still pretty impressive. However, this isn’t a huge mineral vein either.”

She mentioned Shaomang Xuan all the time, indicating her utmost reverence towards him.

Yi Yun could not be bothered with her as he began digging for the ores.

The mineral vein was indeed small, but when Yi Yun dug out the ore from the mineral vein, Songyue and company widened their eyes.

“That’s… refined ore!”

Natural refined ores which did not need any refinement were extremely rare. A mineral vein which contained refined ores was extremely valuable even if it was not large in size!

They never expected that Yi Yun had not only found a mineral vein, but also found a mineral vein that contained refined ores.

Although the cat-eared girl was astonished at Yi Yun’s speed and accuracy at ore-seeking, she thought nothing of the refined ore mineral vein. The Desolate clan was rich in resources, so that bit of refined ore was nothing.

“Although this mineral vein is not bad, it’s not even enough to refine half a Chaos Crystal,” said the cat-eared girl indifferently.

Songyue glanced at her without a word. The cat-eared girl had thought nothing of the refined ores because she had no idea how difficult it was for ore miners such as themselves. These refined ores were worth a lot.

Yi Yun soon took away the refined ores in the area, leaving useless material behind. He beckoned with his hand, causing a dust storm to cover his imprint before returning to his spatial shuttle.

Boom!

The spatial shuttle trembled once again as it accelerated to its top speed, blazing forward once more.

It did not take long before the spatial shuttle came to a sudden halt again.

Songyue and company widened their eyes once again when they saw Yi Yun leave the spatial shuttle.

No way…

Soon, under everyone’s intent gazes, Yi Yun lifted his palm again and smacked down.

Boom!

A pale black glow shimmered inside the palm imprint. It was another mineral vein!

While Songyue was still reeling in shock, she took a glance at the cat-eared girl. “Might I know how does Senior Yi’s ore-seeking capabilities compare to Young Master Shaomang?”

To find two mineral veins in such a short period of time was definitely at the level of a Telluric Master!

In fact, Songyue had never made contact with figures who were Telluric Masters. All she did was making speculations. With Yi Yun’s ability to seek ores, he was probably not far from making the mark of a Telluric Master.

“Would Young Master need to mine ores with his status?” said the cat-eared girl with a frown.

However, the glint in her eyes had darkened. She had to admit that Yi Yun was indeed capable. Just his abilities at seeking ores was something only an experienced Telluric Master was capable of in the Shaomang clan.

And this mineral vein contained a negligible number of refined ores!

Yi Yun similarly dug up the refined ores before concealing his palm imprint before returning to the spatial shuttle.

The spatial shuttle flew at a high speed once more.

This time, it flew for quite a long while, as though Yi Yun could no longer find mineral veins.

This made the cat-eared girl heave a sigh of relief. If Yi Yun were to really find another mineral vein, it would truly be depressing for her.

The cat-eared girl belittled humans to begin with. In the Chaos Heavens, humans had bodies inferior to the Fey. Their psyche powers were inferior to the Soul race and the Ghost race, much less comparable to the Celestials. Humans were mediocre in every aspect, with nothing to show for.

And Yi Yun was only a miner that belonged to a human faction, Taixia. Yet, he was equipped with such ability. As for Shaomang Xuan, it was only a hobby when it came to his ore-seeking mystic arts. He had not put too much effort in it, so Yi Yun’s ability at ore-seeking was really almost on par with Shaomang Xuan’s.

The cat-eared girl could not tolerate a bumpkin like Yi Yun to be comparable with Shaomang Xuan in any aspect.

Just as such a thought came to her, the spatial shuttle came to a stop once more.

When they saw Yi Yun appear outside the spatial shuttle, the cat-eared girl could no longer remain unperturbed.

This time, Yi Yun had struck out again with his palm, but what appeared was a gigantic ore crater.

It was not a tiny mineral vein, but a true ore cave.

The refined ores contained within were about equal to the first two mineral veins, but it contained a large number of crude ores!

Upon seeing the huge mineral vein, even the cat-eared girl could not help but twitch the corners of her eyes.

At that moment, Songyue and company were already numb to the fact.

Why did the difficulties they had encountered while mining in the past not seem to exist when it came to Yi Yun?

It was not only them; perhaps even Steward Zhou and company would not dare believe it even if they saw this!

At that moment, they suddenly heard Yi Yun’s voice. “All of you come down. There are some crude ores here. You can do your mining here.”

Tie Mu and company were delighted. Yi Yun had easily found a third mineral vein that due to their shock, they had forgotten that their job here was to mine.

Although Yi Yun had taken away all the refined ores and a large number of crude ores before allowing them to mine, luck was on their side for them to so easily find these crude ores.

1580 - : Ore-seeking

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Why don’t you stay here?” said Yi Yun. He felt that the mine was relatively safe. Furthermore, although Yi Yun had taken away most of the main mineral vein, the remnants, though scattered, still equaled quite a sizable amount if combined. It would take them quite a long period of mining to deplete the reserves.

As long as they stayed inside without leaving, all would be fine if they waited a year. Although they would not reap a huge harvest, it was enough for them to meet their quotas.

“Senior Yi, we won’t continue burdening you then.” Tie Mu knew his limitations very well. How could the God Confusion Valley be somewhere they could go?

“Senior Yi, do be careful.” Songyue even felt like heaving a sigh of relief.

“Let’s go!” Yi Yun left the other human slave with Songyue and company before stepping into the spatial shuttle with the cat-eared girl. The spatial shuttle transformed into a stream of light as it flew in the direction of the God Confusion Valley.

God Confusion Valley—

On the spatial shuttle, Yi Yun asked the cat-eared girl several questions about the God Confusion Valley, but when he truly arrived at the God Confusion Valley, he was still somewhat shocked.

The God Confusion Valley was like a massive passageway that was suddenly forged in the heaven and earth. It stretched across the desert.

A fog spanning fifty thousand kilometers across enshrouded the inners of the God Confusion Valley. It only left a valley entrance, as though it was a door to another world.

Yi Yun could sense unimaginable threats within the fog from a distance. It felt like there were gazes cast on him, attempting to spy on him.

“This is a natural sealing array. Perhaps only Fey Thearchs can pass through the fog,” said the cat-eared girl. Yi Yun had also learned of her name—Shan Ling. She possessed the bloodline of the ancient numinous cat.

Fey Thearchs were equivalent to Godly Monarchs. Although Yi Yun was curious what was inside the fog, he was not so conceited to believe that he was equal to a Fey Thearch.

Yi Yun flew into the valley’s entrance when he suddenly discovered that he was not the only one here.

Many flying artifacts were docked here.

“Oh?” Yi Yun pricked up his brows. Flying artifacts…

These people were like him—they flew here.

To be able to travel in the Xuanyuan Dune with flying artifacts was a proof of one’s strength!

Back in the Xuanyuan City, Yi Yun had seen a limited number of experts. There were fewer than ten, but now, the numbers clearly exceeded what he saw.

This was reasonable. Yi Yun had only been in Xuanyuan City for a short period of time. There could have been many experts who had arrived here from the Xuanyuan City’s teleportation arrays before or after him.

The moment Yi Yun arrived at the valley entrance, he immediately sensed many perceptions sweep across his spatial shuttle from the other flying artifacts.

Apart from a particular perception staying on Yi Yun for a while, the rest immediately passed over his shuttle as soon as they arrived.

“These flying artifacts are of extremely high quality.” Yi Yun compared the various flying artifacts with his, and found that his spatial shuttle was the most lacking.

Yi Yun did not recklessly fly into the valley entrance.

These flying artifacts were docked in front of the valley entrance, but none of them had entered. There had to be a reason.

He was in no hurry as well. He waited quietly by the side with these people.

It did not take long for another flying artifact to arrive from somewhere distant.

The flying artifact flashed past them and slammed into the valley entrance.

Yi Yun watched the flying artifact pass through the valley entrance before continuing forward.

Oh? That confident?

At that moment, a terrifying claw extended out of the fog and grabbed the flying artifact. Instantly, it exploded.

A warrior charged out from the explosion.

“Ha!”

He let out a bellicose cry as he tried to slip out of the claw’s grasp; however, the claw was just too fast. With a change of direction, it had instantly grabbed the warrior.

“Ah!” The claw pulled him into fog amid his tragic cries.

The moment he entered the fog, the warrior’s cries ceased.

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun’s heart could not help but palpitate. What was that gigantic claw?

However, the warrior who was onboard the flying artifact was naturally not weak. If he had been in the Chaos Heavens for some time, he should have some understanding of the God Confusion Valley. Even if he did not have a full idea of the situation, he wouldn’t have acted so rashly and charged in headfirst, right?

At that moment, a maniacal cackle sounded from afar. Immediately following that, a stocky warrior stepping on a spirit vessel arrived in front of the valley.

The warrior was muscular in build. The thickness of his limbs did not resemble that of a human. His head was as large as a drum.

He laughed unceasingly, “Haha. To think he would rather die in the fog than at my hand. Interesting! Interesting!”

So it turned out that the deceased warrior was being pursued by this big-headed warrior and was forced to his death here.

“This guy…” Shan Ling seemed to know the person.

“Who is he?” asked Yi Yun.

“Bronze Drum. He’s also from the Desolate clan, but he’s a madman,” said Shan Ling simply.

“Madman?”

“He is bloodthirsty and especially loves to kill humans.” Shan Ling gave Yi Yun a glance and said gloatingly, “He enjoys tearing people apart. Members of the Ghost race don’t have a tactile feel to them, while Celestials are not to be trifled with. Fey are of the same race, so humans are the best. However, if he meets my young master, he would not be able to act so crazily. He will have to behave himself.”

Just as Shan Ling sent Yi Yun a voice transmission, Bronze Drum happened to look over. His pair of eyes resembled those of a beast filled with bloodlust.

Upon seeing Yi Yun, the corners of Bronze Drum’s mouth curled up. He did not say a word and ignored Yi Yun.

“From the looks of it, humans don’t amount to much in the Chaos Heavens,” thought Yi Yun.

“Regardless of race, all that matters is strength. The weak will naturally be bullied,” Bai Yueyin said in Yi Yun’s mind. “Humans are considered quite average in every aspect. There’s nothing that stands out, but it is because of this that they are well-balanced, giving them immense potential!”

Yi Yun understood that point even without Bai Yueyin’s comment. Billions of years ago, who could match the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch?

“Oh? They seem to be entering!”

The aura at the valley entrance seemed to experience an unknown change. Meanwhile, Yi Yun saw that these people were putting away their flying artifacts. There were dozens of people that were of the Ghost race, Soul race, and Fey race.

There was not a single human. It was unknown if the Taixia contingent had yet to arrive or if they had entered prior.

Someone took out array flags and began setting them up an array formation. Yi Yun pricked up his brows for he could tell that it was a spatial teleportation array. The array patterns within were complicated but intricate. Even with Yi Yun’s comprehension of spatial dimension laws, he acutely felt that the teleportation array was nothing simple.

These people were planning to use the teleportation array to traverse past the fog at the entrance and arrive deep into the God Confusion Valley!

The changes at the valley entrance was likely tied to the teleportation array’s operations. That was why they were waiting.

Yi Yun naturally knew how to set up teleporation arrays. However, such teleportation arrays required a predesignated coordinate. Yi Yun had no idea of the situation inside the God Confusion Valley, so if he were to set one up himself, and randomly teleported himself in, that was practically having a death wish.

Previously, Yi Yun nearly died while traversing the multiverse’s crevice. Yi Yun had no plans to risk his life for nothing.

In just fifteen minutes, these people had set up a teleportation array. A middle-aged man from the Soul race placed a resplendent crystal which was the size of a fingernail inside the teleportation array.

That is…

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up. A Chaos Crystal!

Although this was the first time he was seeing a Chaos Crystal, there was no mistake about it. Each Chaos Crystal which was refined from refined ores were immense in value. Even genius disciples of a Great World did not cultivate with Chaos Crystals.

Yet, this teleportation array had used a single Chaos Crystal.

After the middle-aged man took out the Chaos Crystal, the members of the Ghost race and Fey race handed over an interspatial ring. It was apparently payment for the Chaos Crystal. Clearly, the teleportation array was jointly activated by the three races.

Furthermore, not all of the forty plus people would enter the teleportation array. A number of people were responsible for powering the array formation. Only twenty people were actually going to be sent in.

“Do you still think you can enter? Do you know how many lives were sacrificed to find the destination coordinate of the teleportation array? This is only the entrance. There are even more treacherous conditions further in. Or do you believe you can deal with the Ancient Fey inside the fog?” Shan Ling glanced at Yi Yun with a derisive look. To think this fellow who knew nothing about the God Confusion Valley would dare inject a seal on her and declare that she lead the way to enter the valley for treasure. It was indeed the case that the ignorant showed no fear.

“I urge you to release the seal on me. I can swear that I will not inform my young master about the things you did to me. When my young master exits, he will reward you.”

Shan Ling looked hatefully at Yi Yun. Having not met Shaomang Xuan, this was the only guarantee she could give. The rest could be determined after she met her young master.

However, Yi Yun did not seem to hear her words. He fell silent in thought for a moment before walking straight to the teleportation array.

“What are you doing?” Shan Ling was stunned.

When the teleportation array was in operation, it did not allow for any damage. Any mishap would divert the destination coordinate. Yi Yun’s approach immediately made the people powering the array formation wary.

“Who are you? Scram!” A male Fey noticed Yi Yun as he bellowed with a tone filled with killing intent.

“Hehe, this human must be sick of living. Are you here to feed my ghouls?” A male Ghost said with a sinister smile. He had already raised his black ghost banner.

They had already observed Yi Yun when he first arrived. A human that used a low-quality spatial shuttle obviously did not come from a major faction. They disregarded him completely.

Yi Yun grinned as he said, “I’m planning on using your teleportation array…”

“What!?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun, the Ghosts, Fey, and Souls stared angrily at him. Shan Ling was given a fright. Was this Yi Yun courting death? Although Bronze Drum was from the Desolate clan, she would have a tragic end if she landed in his hand!

Yi Yun gently touched his interspatial ring as he continued approaching. He glanced at the nearby teleportation array. There were a total of twenty people, each taking one of the twenty spots of the teleportation array. There was no additional spot left.

“Are any one of you willing to give up your spot?”

1581 - : Fog

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Since he was in the Chaos Heavens, Yi Yun followed the customs of the Chaos Heavens. It was prevalent to kill and plunder, and if everyone did that except Yi Yun, he would be quite at a disadvantage.

Here, any problem that could be resolved by robbery was not a problem. Therefore, Yi Yun decided to do as the Romans do.

“What did you say? You want us to give up a spot?” A Fey warrior cupped one of his ears and faced Yi Yun sidewards, in an exaggerated act of listening.

Shan Ling retreated in fear when she saw two Fey warriors, a Ghost warrior, and a Soul warrior walk toward them with a sinister smile. The activation of the valley’s teleportation array required one Chaos Crystal and in addition, the destination coordinates were a secret. Yet, Yi Yun was demanding a spot from them! It did not matter to her if Yi Yun died, but she did not wish to be implicated. Furthermore, she could not let Bronze Drum know of her identity since he had a grudge with Shaomang Xuan. The madman would definitely torture her to death.

If she were to really die here, Shaomang Xuan would not even know of it.

“I… I’m not related to him in any way. I… I’m only…” Shan Ling was burning with anxiety. She did not dare reveal her identity, but she had no idea how to fabricate her background. All she could do was try to protect herself.

“Hehe, a girl with a numinous cat bloodline. You would be great at supplementing me in bed. I’ll let you enjoy yourself in a while,” said a Fey warrior perversely.

As he spoke, his body crackled as his body began growing tall. His muscles bulged as scales appeared on his face, turning his human face into that of a beast’s. Sharp bone spikes rapidly grew out of his spine.

In a blink of an eye, he had transformed into a humanoid Ancient Fey!

Beside him, another Fey warrior’s body was similarly undergoing changes. His body was draped with a thick, spiky bone armor and he looked like a mutated turtle, having stimulated the Fey bloodline in him. This was the combat style of the Fey. Their bodies were their best weapons.

“Just a puny person like you wishes to attack us?” a Soul warrior chuckled. However, he also knew that the Chaos Heavens had unspoken rules—whoever killed another had the right to take away most of the spoils of war.

Judging from the crappy spatial shuttle the punk drove, he was unlikely to be wealthy. However, the female Fey slave behind him was not bad. He could have a fun time with her.

“Let’s attack together. Whoever kills the punk will get first dibs on that numinous cat Fey,” said the Fey warrior with the bony spikes on his back.

The turtle Fey chortled sinisterly. “Wouldn’t we be tearing his body to pieces if we attacked together? How can the weak bodies of a human warrior withstand our strikes? I should have first dibs on that girl. You are too brutal. By the time she gets to me, she wouldn’t even have her limbs intact.”

As the turtle Fey said that, Shan Ling’s face turned as white as a sheet. Although she was not a female elite, she enjoyed an extraordinary standing. She never expected to be placed in such a tragic situation.

And at that moment, the instigator, Yi Yun, did not seem to realize that trouble was brewing. He was stroking his chin while observing the Fey warriors’ transformations.

This was Yi Yun’s first time fighting pure-blooded Fey warriors in the Chaos Heavens!

He already knew that the Dragon Emperor Technique he cultivated was, in essence, a body cultivation technique that the Fey cultivated!

In the Sinkhole, the Fey were nearly extinct. Even if they possessed a thin Fey bloodline, they were almost assimilated by humans. With the path of the Heavenly Tribulation severed, Yi Yun’s cultivation of the Dragon Emperor Technique could only be done by trial and error, gaining him half the results with double the effort.

And now, there were Fey warriors for him to observe. It was quite an opportunity.

Yi Yun wished to know how real Fey fought and how they used the power of their bloodlines.

“I’ll not use any laws and just fight with the Dragon Emperor Technique. I want to see how different my Fey bloodline is from a pure-blooded Fey’s combat style. I should take the opportunity to master the Dragon Emperor Technique to perfection while in the Chaos Heavens,” Yi Yun muttered to himself. He wished to know where he stood among the Fey based on just the Dragon Emperor Technique alone.

Since he was engaging in physical combat, Mirage Snow was naturally not suitable. It was too light and he would likely kill them in a single strike. It did not meet the goal of Yi Yun’s wish to watch how the Fey fought with their bloodline.

Yi Yun recalled of a weapon he used in the lower realms as he casually took out a seal-type artifact. Such seal-type artifacts could kill with the array formations contained within its runes. However, Yi Yun did not use any of the array formations within and instead, simply used it as a brick.

This brick was unlikely to kill a Fey even after several strikes since a Fey’s body was powerful.

“Oh? You also cultivated in a body-tempering cultivation technique?” The two Fey warriors naturally sensed the rousing lifeblood in Yi Yun’s body as they jeered.

“Hahaha! A human cultivating a body-tempering cultivation technique? With that bit of lifeblood and that frail body of yours, do you have what it takes to cultivate a body-tempering cultivation technique? I’m guessing you humans use it to perform in the streets. Acts such as shattering boulders on your chests and cracking bricks on your heads?”

“Who gave you the courage to use a human body-tempering cultivation technique when in front of us?” quipped the turtle warrior. Following that, he pointed at his head. “That thing in your hand must be a prop when you perform in the streets, right? Come on. Smash it right here!”

As the turtle warrior spoke, even the Soul and Ghost warriors laughed. But at that moment—

“Whoosh!”

Yi Yun suddenly rose up. At that instant, the firm Xuanyuan Dune ground beneath Yi Yun’s feet exploded. The condensed lifeblood in him erupted like a supervolcano!

“Ang!”

A dragon’s roar sounded from within Yi Yun’s body, spearing through the clouds and shattering stone!

The turtle warrior was given a fright, but he could not react in time. All he saw was Yi Yun appear in front of him as though he had teleported.

The metallic seal in his hand came smashing down!

“Ka-cha!”

With a loud crack, immense power spewed out. The turtle warrior’s head was sent flying as it crumbled. His already short and thick neck was stretched and distorted.

The turtle warrior’s pudgy and heavy body, together with his shattered head, flew up before slamming into a mountain hundreds of feet away.

“Boom!”

The mountain quaked as the turtle warrior’s body smashed right in, sending rubble down.

The entire area fell silent instantly. The bone-spiked Fey warrior who was just about to add on was agape with a livid look.

Yi Yun was standing right beside him! The distance between them was less than a meter and they were almost shoulder to shoulder.

Yi Yun had already replaced the turtle warrior’s original spot. If one had blinked, they would not have even seen Yi Yun attack. It would be as though the turtle warrior had suddenly become Yi Yun.

And in fact, Shan Ling did not even see Yi Yun’s actions clearly. She was originally reeling in extreme fear with only thoughts of escaping. She had no intention to pay any attention to Yi Yun’s battle. But in an instant, the situation had reversed. That turtle Fey was apparently… dead!?

1582 - : When in Rome, do as the Romans do

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shan Ling gulped mouthfuls of saliva. She looked at Yi Yun in disbelief. What had just happened?

This Yi Yun was clearly a junior member of Taixia Ancient Mining. How could he have such strength? Besides that… he had used just physical strength alone!?

At that moment, Yi Yun looked frowningly at the metallic seal in his hand which was stained with red and white brain matter. The turtle had harped on and on, making him believe that he would be of a particular standard. He never expected the turtle to be so weak that his head would be smashed in with a single strike.

Although that had happened, Yi Yun was in no way happy. On the contrary, he was rather disappointed. Fey warrior bodies, which had always been placed on a pedestal, appeared to be nothing impressive. How was he to perfect his Dragon Emperor Technique?

Was it because the Dragon Emperor bloodline from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was just too powerful?

“How… How did you…” the Fey warrior with the spiky back said hoarsely, his forehead gemmed with beads of perspiration. How was this human so terrifying? “You… You killed him… You killed someone from our Desolate clan…”

The Fey warrior with the spiky back was completely shaken by how easily Yi Yun had killed his companion. If he had spoken a few more sentences previously, the person dead might not have been the turtle Fey but himself.

“Why do you keep spouting nonsense? Didn’t you hear him request for me to smash his head?” Yi Yun turned his head over slightly and looked at him. “I was planning on using the two of you to try out my moves. I wanted to know how different my body-tempering cultivation technique is from an orthodox Fey’s. I never expected him to die so quickly. I didn’t even use any moves, but whatever. You can take his place. I hope I can gain something out of you.”

I’m… meant to let you gain something out of me!?

When the Fey heard Yi Yun, his expression was as nasty as though his father had expired. The only point of his existence was to be a guinea pig for others to gain something out of him?

“I’m weak. You won’t gain anything out of me,” said the Fey warrior as he thickened his skin. His voice was even trembling.

“That wasn’t what you said previously,” sneered Yi Yun. The Chaos Heavens was bloody with all the plundering and murders. How could it stop because of a single sentence from a weakling?

If Yi Yun had yet to recover his strength, his pleas would only serve to increase the joy of the two Fey as they tormented him.

“You!”

The Fey warrior knew that his pleas were landing on deaf ears. He lunged backward, widening the distance between him and Yi Yun. Usually, what human would dare stay in melee range when fighting a Fey? They would often conjure their nomological powers from a far and deliver guerrilla-styled attacks. The battle was over if a Fey closed in on them!

But now, the situation was turned on its head. The spiky Fey was scared out of his wits as he took the initiative to pull away from Yi Yun.

The spectating Soul and Ghost warriors trembled when they saw what had happened. Was this Yi Yun really human? Was he not a beast disguised in human form?

Yi Yun looked at the spiky Fey and hesitated for a moment before putting the metallic seal away.

He felt that he had overestimated the Fey of the Chaos Heavens. Or perhaps, these two Fey were just too weak. Even with the metallic seal, the Fey warriors were unable to withstand his attacks.

In that case, it was better if he simply used his fists and legs.

Upon seeing Yi Yun put away the metallic seal, the Fey warrior’s eyes lit up.

Yi Yun was underestimating him!

Although he knew Yi Yun was terrifyingly powerful, he could not sit idly waiting for his death. He needed to grasp at every chance of survival!

Experts died from underestimating their enemies. This was his chance!

After all, Yi Yun was a human and humans had naturally weak bodies. Few humans tempered their bodies as cultivating body cultivation techniques was rather slow and ineffective.

Perhaps Yi Yun only had immense physical strength, but the hardness of his body was average.

Physical strength was the only thing needed when using a weapon. In contrast, using one’s limbs required tempering one’s body to make one’s body as terrifying as a weapon. He refused to believe that Yi Yun had cultivated his body to the level of a Fey’s.

As for himself, although his physical strength was far inferior to the human before him, his body was covered in scaled armor and bone spikes. His bone spikes were comparable to divine armaments. All he needed to do was stab into a human’s vital organs to turn the tables!

“Take this strike of mine!”

Yi Yun seemed to be afraid that his opponent would fail to achieve his goals as a test subject, so he even verbally warned him.

The Fey warrior’s lips which were hidden under his bone armor revealed a sinister grin. Continue underestimating me! Even a lion will use all its strength when hunting a rabbit. You have committed a grave mistake. Having cultivated to this realm of yours, it’s a pity you do not know that pride only destines you to failure!

“Sou!”

Yi Yun suddenly moved as the ground beneath his feet exploded!

His speed was even faster than before. Thankfully for the Fey warrior, he was already hundreds of feet away from Yi Yun, barely giving him the opportunity to react.

“Ha!”

The Fey warrior roared as he leaped up!

When body-tempered warriors clashes, it was a fight to a death. It was taboo to retreat for it only spelled lost opportunities. Once one’s fighting spirit was lost, there was no room for retreat!

Since there was no room for retreat, the Fey released all his lifeblood forces and charged at Yi Yun in a bid to withstand Yi Yun’s strike!

The Fey warrior’s arm was covered in spiked scaled armor!

With his arm strengthened as such, he met Yi Yun’s fist.

“Die!”

The Fey warrior roared hysterically. All his lifeblood forces were concentrated in his fist.

When the two fists collided, Yi Yun’s lifeblood forces seemed boundless like the sea. After his fist was injected with lifeblood, it was like a star’s collision, one with indomitable force!

“Ka-cha!”

With a crisp crack, the bones in Fey warrior’s arm shattered. His arm twisted in a bizarre manner!

The powerful force surged through his arms’ meridians and into his body. It caused his body to convulse violently as blood spewed out from his seven orifices!

This…This…

The Fey warrior convulsed uncontrollably as he looked at his crushed arm in disbelief. At the instant the two fists collided, he felt that he was not facing a human but an ancient dragon!

“Peng!”

Yi Yun took another step forward and kicked the Fey warrior in the chest.

His ribcage shattered as the powerful impact surged through all his organs. Even the bony spikes at his back bulged out as though they were about to be sent flying!

“Bam! Bam! Bam!”

The Fey warrior’s destroyed body flew across the ground, tearing through several boulders before finally slamming into a massive boulder a thousand feet away.

Boom!

The massive boulder trembled, shaking off its coat of dust. As for the Fey warrior, he was at the bottom of a pile of rocks with his flesh a mangled mess. He still had breath in him, but his body was basically crippled.

Yi Yun shook his head. At the very least, he could not see any advantage the Fey gained from their lifeblood based on these two Fey warriors.

He slowly turned his head and looked at the Soul and Ghost warriors nearby.

Although he did not release any killing intent, just the sanguine smell that lingered around him made him like a death god that had returned from Shura hell. It made the two of them go limp as their faces turned ashen.

Where did this fellow come from? Was he really human?

1583 - : Experts Die From Underestimating the Enemy

CKtalon  CKtalon

“We… We never said anything about fighting you,” said the two hurriedly in fright.

“Interesting. Since you stood forward just now, and even walked towards me, were you not doing that to kill me but to come and give me treasures?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, the Ghost warrior pricked up his brows. Clenching his teeth, he said reverently, “Yes… Yes, you are absolutely right. I’m indeed here to give you treasures.”

As the Ghost warrior spoke, he took off his interspatial ring while trembling. To offer Yi Yun treasures was no doubt an act of insanity. However, the Ghost warrior was sharp. He knew the rationale of buying peace. He was willing to offer the entirety of his wealth to secure his life.

Where’s there’s life there’s hope.

As for the Soul warrior standing beside him, he touched his interspatial ring, but ultimately could not part with it. He turned to look at the teleportation array, where there was a Soul expert from the same faction that he belonged to. Yet, his kinsman did not stand forward to help him.

That person was his senior brother. Although his senior brother was far stronger than him, it was unlikely he could easily beat this human. Besides, his relationship with his senior brother was only average; therefore, his senior brother had no intention to help him.

Upon realizing this point, the Soul warrior felt disheartened. He gritted his teeth and took off his interspatial ring.

“You guys are rather sensible.” The corner of Yi Yun’s mouth curled up as he casually beckoned.

“Sou!”

The two interspatial rings flew into Yi Yun’s hand and he knew they were without problems after a brief check.

These two came from major factions and had quite a standing in them. Ignoring their other treasures, just the amount of refined ores they had was quite sizable.

Fighting in the Xuanyuan Dune meant burning Chaos Ores. There was no reason for Yi Yun to find the amount of ores he had excessive.

Yi Yun did not stand on ceremony as he took the interspatial rings of the two other Fey warriors.

“Interesting. Very interesting!”

At that moment, a voice sounded out from the teleportation array. The person was spoke was none other than Bronze Drum.

The teleportation array had been partially activated, so there was no need for him to continue staying inside it. Instead, he walked straight out.

He looked at Yi Yun with narrowed eyes as he said slowly, “You actually transcended a lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation. For a human to do so is impressive!”

What?

Everyone who heard Bronze Drum’s words was startled. Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation!? This human had transcended a Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation!?

Shan Ling was also astounded. Even among the Fey, only the best geniuses could transcend a Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation.

For instance… Shaomang Xuan!

It could be said that Fey Lords who had the ability to experience Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulations were already a step away from that of a Fey Thearch!

With regards to this, Shan Ling found it unacceptable. Could a human really temper their body to the level of withstanding the Heavenly Tribulations?

“However, the Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation you transcended does not appear to be naturally formed by the Heavenly Dao… I can sense that your tempering is not complete…”

What Bronze Drum added sent a jolt through Yi Yun’s heart. He never expected Bronze Drum to be that keen.

“An artificial Heavenly Tribulation is nothing but unorthodox from our point of view. Of course, for a human like you to achieve that, it’s already pretty impressive.”

Upon hearing Bronze Drum’s words, Shan Ling heaved a sigh of relief. It turned out that it was not a naturally formed Heavenly Tribulation from the Heavenly Dao.

Shan Ling had also heard of artificial Heavenly Tribulations used to temper one’s body. However, it required the caster to have a thorough understanding of lightning laws. The Fey happened to be lacking when it came to laws.

“I was wondering how a human can push his body-tempering to a state equaling that of my young master…” Shan Ling shook her head.

“Don’t tell me you came out to fight me?” asked Yi Yun.

He could sense that Bronze Drum was looking at him antagonistically.

“Hehe, I’m indeed interested in you, but not now.” Bronze Drum licked his lips as he said.

Yi Yun did not know what the fellow was thinking, but he had the intention to attack. Bronze Drum looked very powerful, and perhaps seeing how the Fey circulated their lifeblood powers in combat would improve his Dragon Emperor Technique.

But at that moment, the teleportation array was about to be activated.

“I will eventually fight you in the God Confusion Valley,” said Bronze Drum.

“Exactly what I was hoping for.” Yi Yun showed no fear. At that moment, his gaze swept across remaining nineteen people standing in the teleportation array.

His gaze locked onto one of the Soul warriors who happened to be the senior brother of the Soul warrior from before.

The Soul warrior’s expression turned extremely nasty when he was targeted by Yi Yun.

“Please give up your spot…”

“You sure are ruthless.”

As the Soul warrior spoke, he sent a voice transmission to another person in the teleportation array. Following that, he transformed into a stream of light and entered another person’s body.

As such, there was naturally one more spot in the teleportation array.

“Oh? I never expected that…”

Yi Yun was taken aback momentarily, but on second thought, it was expected. The teleportation array needed energy to stabilize itself. It had to be precisely twenty people. Of course, this problem didn’t exist as long as someone stored away others inside their body.

However, unless there was trust, no one would store another person inside their bodies. It was a risky move.

“Please… bring… bring me along.” Yi Yun was just about to enter the teleportation array when Shan Ling hurriedly pleaded.

“Please, I beg you…” Shan Ling added.

She recognized the Soul warrior from before. His name was Bai Fengling, a famous figure as well. But he had faltered against Yi Yun. To have to enter the God Confusion Valley in the body of another fellow disciple in front of everyone was no doubt an insult.

However, he had tolerated it.

As such, even if Yi Yun was inferior to Shaomang Xuan, it meant that his strength was far above hers. She naturally had to be more respectful to Yi Yun.

“I can provide you with information about the God Confusion Valley. I can also tell you some secret information regarding this operation…”

Shan Ling gritted her teeth as she sent Yi Yun a voice transmission. Her Fey Qi was depleted and she was unable to use her strength. If she was left outside the God Confusion Valley, she would be like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. Anyone that passed by could capture her and torture her to death.

At the very least, following Yi Yun would prevent her from worrying about such possibilities.

Yi Yun pricked up his brows as he said coldly, “Then, tell me. If your information doesn’t satisfy me, I will immediately abandon you.”

…

A thin fog blanketed the land, cutting visibility to only about a hundred feet in radius. Legend had it that the fog had been gathered upon this land since the Xuanyuan Dune was discovered. It had been as such for billions of years.

The fog not only reduced visibility, but it also blocked out perceptions. Even Godly Monarch experts could only send out their perceptions for about five kilometers.

That was how the God Confusion Valley got its name.

At that moment, a group of people were gathered on a col in the God Confusion Valley. All of their brows were tightly furrowed.

They were humans and they came from Taixia Ancient Mining. Steward Zhou was among them.

The group also included Purple Light Hall’s Purple Succubus who was in charge of Yi Yun.

She was in charge of standing guard in Xuanyuan City, but she was sent here suddenly.

“We were too slow receiving the news. I have no idea what the people at Intelligence Hall are doing!” Steward Zhou said angrily. The Taixia Ancient Mining was most unprepared when it came to the unexpected turn of events at the Xuanyuan Dune. “Gather all disciples. Everyone that can arrive in time must head into the God Confusion Valley!”

“This…” Upon hearing Steward Zhou, Purple Succubus wore an ugly expression. “It’s too difficult to enter the God Confusion Valley. A few core disciples have been informed, but whether they can come all the way here is not a certainty. As for the other ordinary disciples, they can’t even reach the God Confusion Valley, much less enter the God Confusion Valley.”

Steward Zhou did not say a word when he heard her. He had only given the order in passing. Even if the ordinary disciples entered, they would only be cannon fodder and would be of little use.

“I have already informed the Grand Elder. He is rushing here now. He will likely arrive in time to come,” added Purple Succubus.

“Is it Elder Divineheart…”

Upon hearing Purple Succubus, Steward Zhou’s tense expression relaxed a little.

Elder Divineheart was the Godly Monarch Crystal Refinement Master that presided over the ore mining spirit cruiser!

In fact, the Taixia Ancient Mining’s ore mining spirit cruiser was Godly Monarch Divineheart’s mount. He secluded himself in the ore mining spirit cruiser perennially and even when the cruiser met space pirates, he would not take action. But this time, it was necessary for Divineheart to exit seclusion.

“With Elder Divineheart’s help, we don’t have to worry that much,” said Purple Succubus.

Steward Zhou nodded. With him around, the Taixia Ancient Mining naturally had the ability to join in the competition that followed the unexpected turn of events.

And at that moment, there was a void fluctuation about two hundred feet from them. Beams of light began to coruscate.

A teleportation array!

Everyone was surprised as Steward Zhou quickly stood up. Could it be that Elder Divineheart was here? There was no way he was that fast.

However, when the light from the teleportation array vanished, Steward Zhou’s expression sank. It was not Godly Monarch Divineheart but competition from opposing races.

There were people from the Soul race, Ghost race, and Fey race. They came from a variety of factions. Clearly, these people had formed a coalition in order to save Chaos Crystals.

“Oh? There’s a human among them.” It was unknown who said it, but it stirred Steward Zhou’s heart as he looked over. He saw a black-robed youth slowly walking out of the crowd.

Steward Zhou was completely dumbfounded when he saw the person. Even Purple Succubus stared widely.

Wasn’t this black-robed youth… Yi Yun?

Why was he among this potpourri of people!?

“Oh? That person is… Bronze Drum!? He’s from the Desolate clan!” exclaimed Purple Succubus.

The mining zone in the Xuanyuan Dune belonged to four factions. One of them was the Desolate clan and as one of the most prominent figures in the Desolate clan, Bronze Drum was naturally someone Purple Succubus knew. There was no mistake about it. She recalled that Bronze Drum was a bloodthirsty person who often treated his enemies as prey. He would often toy with them until they died.

Why was Yi Yun among this group of people? In the Chaos Heavens, there was no such thing as racial harmony. These people would form a team because of shared interests or the fear stemming from one’s strength. Yet, Yi Yun appeared quite out of place among them.

And at that moment, Yi Yun naturally saw these people from the Taixia Ancient Mining.

1584 - : Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Senior Brother, why is this person with people from the Desolate clan? Could he be a spy for the Desolate clan, one that had infiltrated our Taixia Ancient Mining?”

The person who spoke was Zhou Fang, Steward Zhou’s cousin. He was similarly an Elder of Taixia Ancient Mining.

Steward Zhou frowned. Anyone who saw such a scene would generate the same thoughts.

Purple Succubus wore a perplexed look as she asked Yi Yun, “Yi Yun, why are you here? If I recall correctly, aren’t you from Cang Gu’s team?”

“Cang Gu is dead.”

Yi Yun answered simply. His answer left the hearts of the Taixia members palpitating.

Dead?

Yi Yun was originally with Cang Gu, and now he was with the Fey. This naturally gave people ideas.

“Yi Yun, it seems the roll muster platform seal our Taixia planted on you has been removed?”

Steward Zhou was the one who planted the roll muster platform’s seal, so he naturally noticed its removal.

Yi Yun did not answer. It was a silent acknowledgment.

“This person is indeed a spy,” said Zhou Fang.

Yi Yun coldly looked at Zhou Fang and said, “Although I do not care what conflict Taixia has with the other factions, I do not wish to be mistaken for a spy.”

He was not afraid of the Taixia Ancient Mining, but a bit of explanation could avoid unnecessary trouble.

“Then, let me ask you this. How did Cang Gu die?” asked Zhou Fang.

Yi Yun looked Zhou Fang coldly in the eye. “I killed him.”

Oh!?

Steward Zhou widened his eyes as the surrounding Taixia disciples turned alarmed. Even if he had killed Cang Gu, shouldn’t he have concealed the matter? Was he thinking too little of their Taixia by so flagrantly admitting to the murder?

“Then, we have no need to continue your contract. There are always some humans who would betray their own race because their lives are threatened or for benefits. You might not know it, but the other races only consider you as a tool. You will be abandoned once your value dries up. Not only shall you end up in a tragic state, you will also bring trouble to your family clan,” Zhou Fang said slowly.

Steward Zhou did not add on. From his point of view, even if the Desolate clan had sent a spy into their Taixia Ancient Mining, he had only infiltrated one of their small teams and killed its leader. It did not mean much. He was just clueless as to what intelligence Yi Yun had gathered back on the ore mining spirit cruiser.

Steward Zhou said, “Yi Yun, let me ask you a question. Why did you enter the God Confusion Valley with them?”

“I happened to meet them outside. Seeing that they were about to teleport in, I requested that they give me a spot. However, since you’re already set on your suspicions against me, there’s nothing more for me to say,” answered Yi Yun casually.

“Give you a spot?” Zhou Fang laughed when he heard that. “Are you kidding? Since when have those other races been so obliging?”

At that moment, the warriors who had entered with Yi Yun wore interesting expressions.

They were obliging? Did Zhou not know how Yi Yun ‘requested’ they give up a spot?

Bronze Drum only watched the spectacle from the side. He only wished for misunderstandings to happen between Yi Yun and the Taixia Ancient Mining.

“These bunch of old fools seem to be waiting for someone as well…”

Bronze Drum guessed at their motives from the way they stood guard by the spatial node.

As though answering Bronze Drum’s thoughts, the surrounding space fluctuated. Zhou Fang’s eyes lit up.

For someone as powerful as Godly Monarch Divineheart, it was about time for him to arrive, considering how easy it was for him as long as he had the spatial coordinate.

“Buzz——”

Space quaked with increasing intensity. This was a long-distance spatial teleportation. The person in transit did not even arrive at the God Confusion Valley’s entrance; instead, he traversed the void to get there directly. Only a Godly Monarch was capable of such!

And it wasn’t only Zhou Fang. The other members of the Taixia Ancient Mining were delighted.

“Whoosh!”

Light coruscated as space seemed to be torn apart like a canvas. A figure dressed in a blue Daoist robe took a large stride out of the spatial rift. His eyes looked like they could contain infinite galaxies and, as he stood in midair, the area he was in seemed to form an independent world in and of itself.

Godly Monarch!

Yi Yun drew a deep breath. Such an aura no doubt belonged to a Godly Monarch. Furthermore, Yi Yun found the Godly Monarch who had torn open space somewhat familiar.

“He is that Godly Monarch Crystal Refinement Master who presides over the ore mining spirit cruiser…”

With this in mind, Yi Yun sensed the Godly Monarch’s gaze fall upon him. He had clearly noticed him.

Godly Monarchs had extraordinary memories. Back in the spirit cruiser, Yi Yun had garnered his attention, so he naturally remembered him. But that was all.

All he did was give Yi Yun a glance before turning away.

“This person has very strong psyche powers.” At that moment, Bai Yueyin’s voice sounded in Yi Yun’s mind. The appearance of a Chaos Heavens Godly Monarch awoke her from her rest. “After the ancient battle, the Sinkhole did not produce any true Godly Monarchs. None of those half-Gods in the Sinkhole can compare to this person.”

“Greetings, Grand Elder!”

The members of the Taixia Ancient Mining all bowed. Godly Monarch Divineheart held an unparalleled status in their hearts.

And at that moment, space trembled once again as another person tore through the void.

“Oh?”

Godly Monarch Divineheart’s heart stirred as he looked over. Nearby, the void shattered like a mirror as a man in golden-scaled armor who looked like a god of war strode out.

The moment he appeared, his surging lifeblood powers erupted like a flood. Everyone present felt their lifeblood being stirred by the forces, as though it would tear out of their bodies. Some of the weaker ones were sent into a constant retreat. They could not find their footing and nearly knelt to the ground.

“Pa!” A pair of golden wings spanning nearly three meters appeared behind the man. Every feather on this pair of wings were as sharp as blades as they had a cold sheen to them.

He slowly landed with his wings outspread. Only when he landed did the pressure from the lifeblood converge back into his body, allowing everyone to catch their breaths.

Another Godly Monarch was here.

“So it’s the Fey’s Golden Winged Celestial Peng,” said Divineheart lightly.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng?

Yi Yun’s heart stirred. This was a true ancient Fey. Legend had it that Golden Winged Celestial Peng was the fastest in the world and that they fed on wyrms. Their bodies were extremely powerful, so powerful that they could match True Dragons.

“Even Godly Monarchs were mobilized. The Taixia Ancient Mining and Fey had mobilized their Godly Monarchs. This matter has exceeded my original expectations,” Yi Yun pondered slightly.

He sent a voice transmission to Shan Ling who was inside him. “Let me ask you this. Exactly what has appeared in the God Confusion Valley? Why has it stirred two Godly Monarchs?”

Shan Ling was now somewhat afraid of Yi Yun, so when she heard his question, she hesitated for a long while before answering honestly, “It’s a… Chaos Royal Seal that can be fused by Godly Monarchs. My Desolate clan was one of the first to receive the news. The news has not spread, or these would not be the only Godly Monarchs here…”

1585 - : Divineheart

CKtalon  CKtalon

“A Royal Seal that can be fused by Godly Monarchs?” Yi Yun’s heart thumped when he heard Shan Ling’s description. A Chaos Royal Seal which could stir several Godly Monarchs…

The Chaos Royal Seal which Shan Ling had mentioned was likely one of the Grand Primordium Royal Seals that were spoken of in the Sinkhole!

They were formed naturally by the natural order of the world, making them equivalent to the Heavenly Dao.

The Xuanyuan Dune had such an item?

However, on careful thought, the Xuanyuan Dune was a spiritual land that could produce Chaos Crystals. It was also possible for it to be able to produce a Grand Primordium Royal Seal.

“Senior Bai, what’s your take on this?”

Bai Yueyin hesitated slightly before saying slowly, “I find this matter somewhat abnormal. Billions of years ago, I came to the Chaos Heavens to break through to the Godly Monarch realm. I naturally paid attention to the Grand Primordium Royal Seals, but according to what I learned back then, Grand Primordium Royal Seals were so few and far between even in the Chaos Heavens that they were nearly considered extinct.

“Back then, I chanced upon some news regarding Grand Primordium Royal Seals, but it was not necessarily true. Although a divine land like the Xuanyuan Dune might produce a Grand Primordium Royal Seal, it is still a seemingly impossible matter. It might very well be that ever since the Xuanyuan Dune came into existence—a period spanning billions of years—it has only been able to produce a small handful of Grand Primordium Royal Seals.”

“I understand…” Yi Yun nodded. According to Bai Yueyin, billions of years was an excruciatingly long period of time. A few Grand Primordium Royal Seals dotting the river of time was like a few gold particles scattered across a vast desert. It was just too improbable to pick up one of the gold particles.

As for the news of the Grand Primordium Royal Seal, Yi Yun was unable to verify its authenticity since it was based on Shan Ling’s word.

Shan Ling was only a maidservant. What she knew might not have been accurate, but regardless, the fact that it attracted Godly Monarchs meant that even if the reports of a Royal Seal were inauthentic, it was likely that something major had happened in the God Confusion Valley.

“Brother Divineheart, you have come indeed,” Golden Winged Celestial Peng looked at Godly Monarch Divineheart as he said smilingly. Although he was dressed in golden armor with a suppressive lifeblood aura, he wore a surprisingly genial expression.

“Likewise. I still haven’t settled the score with you from back then!”

Divineheart’s tone had subtle killing intent to it, but Golden Winged Celestial Peng thought nothing of it. He said softly, “I believe two of our old friends are here as well. They have landed nearby.”

People labeled by Golden Winged Celestial Peng as old friends were no doubt Godly Monarchs!

However, Yi Yun was not surprised. The Fey and humans already had Godly Monarchs appearing for this God Confusion Valley expedition. In addition, the Celestials had also sent one of its members.

If the other races did not send a Godly Monarch to preside over the situation, they were practically serving themselves on a platter to the humans and Fey.

As Golden Winged Celestial Peng spoke, voice transmission talismans lit up in front of the Soul and Ghost warriors. Clearly, experts from their races had arrived and were sending orders for them to gather.

“Let us not delay matters any further. We shall be setting off!” Golden Winged Celestial Peng said to the Fey disciples present.

“Yi Yun, let’s go together.” At that moment, Bronze Drum suddenly invited Yi Yun.

“Oh?” Yi Yun pricked up his brows as he looked coldly at Bronze Drum. Bronze Drum had said that to put him in a difficult situation.

The Taixia Ancient Mining were only just having suspicions of him being a spy, but with Bronze Drum giving him an invitation, he was no doubt deepening their suspicions of Yi Yun.

If not for Godly Monarch Divineheart, Yi Yun would not have minded Taixia, but the situation had been escalated with Divineheart around.

“Why? Are you planning to go alone?” Bronze Drum said with a faint smile.

Yi Yun’s expression turned gloomy. He would be a fool if he really followed Bronze Drum. He had no idea what awaited him with Golden Winged Celestial Peng around.

“Yi Yun, by secretly wiping away your mark you’ve severely violated of the rules. However, our Taixia Ancient Mining is in need of manpower. I can choose not to pursue the matter, but as for whether you are a spy, Godly Monarch Divineheart is here. He will definitely investigate thoroughly. If you are innocent, we will naturally not malign you,” Steward Zhou said coldly.

Yi Yun took a deep breath. It was also impossible for him to follow Taixia. At times, it was better to kill than be sorry. Who knew what Divineheart’s ‘investigation’ would entail. Could it be soul-searching questioning? He had too many secrets on him, so the outcome of that was evident.

“There’s no need.”

As Yi Yun said that, he took one step back.

“Oh? What are you planning?” bellowed Steward Zhou.

“I shall go alone. There’s no need to trouble any of you.”

With that said, Yi Yun retreated straight into the fog. It was best he did not linger in an area where only trouble remained.

When Divineheart saw Yi Yun retreating, he hesitated slightly, but did not stop him.

Yi Yun chose a very brilliant direction for his retreat. In between him and Taixia happened to be Golden Winged Celestial Peng.

Although the situation appeared peaceful, with the various major factions gathered, it was in truth very delicate. Once any attacks were delivered in Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s vicinity, the situation could escalate very rapidly.

“This punk has a death wish. He actually entered the fog alone,” Zhou Fang sneered when he saw Yi Yun’s figure disappear into the fog.

The God Confusion Valley was known to be an area even Godly Monarchs could not traverse. Although that was an exaggerated description, it was still close to the mark. If Godly Monarchs were to enter the God Confusion Valley alone, the chances of survival were slim.

“This Yi Yun sure is pitiful. He has been abandoned by his faction, and none of the other factions want him.”

Upon seeing Yi Yun leave alone, the disciples who had been repressed by Yi Yun previously immediately felt a lot better.

So what if he was strong? He was alone and he lacked the spatial coordinates, nor did he have the special teleportation array required to enter and exit the God Confusion Valley. If he could not even leave the valley, death was a certainty.

What they did not know was that Yi Yun had already activated the Purple Crystal’s energy vision. The God Confusion Valley was impervious to perceptions, but it could not stop the Purple Crystal.

Amid the energy vision, Yi Yun clearly saw the energy blobs that represented the members of Taixia and the Fey. They were already very far from where he was.

At that distance, even the probes of Godly Monarchs were unable to reach him.

With a thought, Yi Yun released Shan Ling.

Although Yi Yun did not have a good impression of this cat-eared girl who only yearned to meet her young master, she was all he had to rely on at that moment.

“Where… where are we?”

The moment the cat-eared girl appeared, she saw the thick fog around her. They could only see up to a few meters in front of them, and there was no one else around them.

She immediately panicked. “Where are the rest?”

“There’s only us. Cut the nonsense. Let me ask you this. Where is the general direction of the Chaos Royal Seal?”

Shan Ling had once obtained the map to the God Confusion Valley after all. Even though the map was no longer in her hands, she likely had a general idea of it.

“It should be in the inner valley, but we will soon lose our sense of direction in this fog. It will be useless even if we know the location of the inner valley.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. Draw out the map from your memories.”

Yi Yun took out a jade slip and passed it to her. Shan Ling had no choice but to draw the map according to Yi Yun’s instructions.

The God Confusion Valley which Shan Ling drew appeared like a calabash. The valley entrance was like the mouth to a calabash, and the circular outer and inner valleys were connected. Although the topography of the area looked simple, where one just needed to take a straight line path to go from the outer valley into the inner valley, Yi Yun knew very well that this path was not that simple.

1586 - : Traveling Alone

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Then… what do we do now?” Shan Ling said with a trembling voice. She already had an ominous feeling about everything. She had no idea how Yi Yun was so ostracized. The other teams had Godly Monarchs leading them, or at the very least, a half-step Godly Monarch. As for Yi Yun, he was alone. Did no faction want to take him in?

“Let’s head to the inner valley,” said Yi Yun simply.

“I know, but we do not know which direction to head in.”

“We’ll let our feelings guide us. We will head wherever there’s more Yuan Qi,” said Yi Yun casually.

“…”

Shan Ling was rendered speechless. How was it possible for them to reach the inner valley using such means? She knew she had no choice. All she could do was follow Yi Yun because she would only die faster without him.

However, she never expected Yi Yun to take out the spatial shuttle he obtained from Cang Gu.

“Come onboard,” said Yi Yun lightly.

“You… you plan on taking the spatial shuttle!?” Shan Ling widened her eyes.

“Or else?”

Yi Yun returned with a question as though it was only right. According to Shan Ling, the God Confusion Valley was an extremely extensive area. The distance it would take to get from the outer valley to the inner valley was extremely great.

And the best thing about a spatial shuttle was that it conserved energy. In the God Confusion Valley, there was no natural way to replenish energy. The amount of Chaos Ores in Yi Yun’s interspatial ring was limited, so he tried to save as much as he could.

“It’s already hard to discern one’s direction in this God Confusion Valley. People travel through it carefully, but you are planning to use a spatial shuttle to randomly traverse the lands?”

“You can stay here then,” said Yi Yun without much thought.

Shan Ling was brought to the brink of tears. She was regretting her choice of following Yi Yun into the God Confusion Valley.

She bit her lips and finally boarded the spatial shuttle. She felt like she was in a vicious cycle.

With a thought, Yi Yun sent the spatial shuttle flying forward.

The greatest danger a typical warrior faced in the God Confusion Valley was the restricted visibility.

The visibility in there was extremely poor, and one’s perception was exponentially attenuated by the fog. It was impossible to even see danger that was just feet away.

However, Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, allowing him to see every single energy fluctuation. Such a problem did not exist for him.

No danger could come without an energy source.

“Sou!”

The spatial shuttle shot out, and Yi Yun could see everything within a few hundred kilometers using the Purple Crystal’s energy vision.

Shan Ling stood behind Yi Yun without any intention to speak to him. She originally wanted to say that Bronze Drum was a madman, but no matter how mad he was, he only tormented the lives of others. As for Yi Yun’s brand of madness, it put his life at risk as well.

Shan Ling had already accepted the fact that she and Yi Yun would be reduced to nothingness just moments after the spatial shuttle entered the land of peril.

However… the spatial shuttle flew for an hour straight without them encountering any danger.

She could sense that Yi Yun was occasionally directing the spatial shuttle to switch directions. The fog was at times dense and at times thin. When the fog was heavy, one could not even see their fingers in front of them. Even at the fog’s thinnest, they could not see but a hundred plus feet at best. Driving a spatial shuttle as it flew through this was like a blind man storming through a mountain of knives. How could they remain safe and sound after all this time?

Could it be that Yi Yun had means to predict danger, allowing the spatial shuttle to switch directions to avoid threats?

This thought surfaced in Shan Ling’s mind, but she found it unbelievable. Even Telluric Masters who were adept in Feng Shui for hundreds of thousands of years lacked such abilities.

She wanted to ask Yi Yun, but thinking back to Yi Yun’s impatient attitude, she was afraid that Yi Yun would find her a bother and abandon her.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly stopped the spatial shuttle.

The spatial shuttle that had been traveling at extremely fast speeds came to a halt. This nearly sent the already frail Shan Ling flying out.

“What… What’s wrong?”

Shan Ling could hardly collect herself as she subconsciously grabbed Yi Yun’s arm to prevent herself from plummeting inside the spatial shuttle.

Yi Yun remained silent.

He discovered a huge problem!

With the Purple Crystal, he could indeed see any energy sources ahead of time. Some dangers, like evil creatures or Ancient Fey, could barely be classified as living beings. Energy sources with vital fluctuations were easily determined. All he needed to do was avoid them from afar.

But now, Yi Yun could see an energy source that was overflowing with energy through his energy vision. It was a body manifested by laws and energy.

Yi Yun could sense that the brimming energy source contained a terrifying might which left him alarmed.

However… he could not identify what the energy source was.

Was it immense danger or an opportunity?

There was naturally no danger if he circled around it, but it was also possible that he would also miss out on tremendous benefits.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before deciding to take a look. With the Ancestor God’s guillotine hanging over his head, Yi Yun could not give up any opportunity to raise his strength.

Yi Yun put away the spatial shuttle as he slowly walked towards the colorful energy source. A puzzled Shan Ling could only follow behind.

By now, she was already feeling a sliver of fearful reverence towards Yi Yun. Everything seemed possible for this young man.

Apart from her young master, she had never seen anyone who could give off such an unfathomable feeling as Yi Yun.

“Could it be that he has discovered something again?” thought Shan Ling.

At that moment, Shan Ling discovered that the surrounding fog was beginning to thin. The visibility became better, going from a hundred feet to hundreds of feet. Finally, she could see things clearly thousands of feet away.

Oh? That is…

Shan Ling immediately widened her eyes for she saw a beautiful lake thousands of feet away. The lake was as beautiful as jade and there were lush grass growing by the lakeside. All sorts of spirit flowers were in a blooming war.

With a cursory sweep, Shan Ling identified various priceless precious spirit herbs. She served Shaomang Xuan for many years, so she had an understanding of most of the pills Shaomang Xuan consumed. The spirit herbs by the lakeside were things even Shaomang Xuan would think twice before using.

However, Shan Ling was not too excited. Instead, she felt apprehensive.

She recalled a terrifying legend regarding the God Confusion Valley.

“That might be the… Herbal Garden of Confusion!” Shan Ling’s face turned slightly pale as she said awkwardly.

“Oh?” Yi Yun turned to look at Shan Ling. The main reason why he had brought Shan Ling with him was to understand the God Confusion Valley better. “Tell me more.”

“The Herbal Garden of Confusion in the God Confusion Valley has countless spirit herbs within. Many of the herbs are so aged that it’s hardly imaginable. It’s like a mirage. Despite being able to see it, there’s no way to reach it no matter how you walk towards it.

“And the process of walking towards it is a death march. Many people will lose themselves before they even get halfway. They end up walking for the rest of their lives. Instead of calling the Herbal Garden of Confusion a herbal garden, it’s better described as a tomb.”

“A mirage…”

Yi Yun sighed slightly. A mirage was nothing but an illusion formed by the refraction of light by the air. It was not something corporeal, so it was naturally unreachable.

Updated by BOXNOVEL

However, the Herbal Garden of Confusion in front of him was completely different. The eyes could deceive, but the Purple Crystal’s energy vision did not. Yi Yun could clearly see that there was a colorful energy blob nearby.

The so-called Herbal Garden of Confusion was indeed right there in front of him.

1587 - : Herbal Garden of Confusion

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Interesting.”

With this in mind, Yi Yun slowly walked towards the Herbal Garden of Confusion. He was interested to see what the so-called mirage was all about.

When Shan Ling realized that Yi Yun was not only unfazed, but that he actually looked as though he had his interest piqued, she felt at a loss for words. She was already accustomed to Yi Yun’s actions. He was a powerful man who seemed to challenge death at every turn without dying at all.

She followed far behind Yi Yun, but did not dare let him get too far. She was afraid she would lose Yi Yun, but she lacked the courage to stay close.

She watched helplessly as Yi Yun walked forward a few hundred feet.

“I’m pulling away from the location of the herbal garden.”

Yi Yun estimated the distance he walked should have put him a third of the way there, but the herbal garden looked to be just as far as when he started.

And in the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, the colorfully-dotted energies were pulling away from him.

The herbal garden really existed, but its location was in motion?

Or could it be that the herbal garden was there, but he was actually walking in circles?

If that was the case, the land he was on came equipped with an array formation which was formed naturally and the colorfully-dotted energy had to be the array’s core.

Yi Yun’s Purple Crystal vision could see the array core formed by the energy, but it could not see the array itself. Without realizing it, he had already stepped inside the array and it was already too late to retreat.

But Yi Yun had no intention to retreat. His nomological attainments were already approaching that of a Godly Monarch’s. He showed no fear to such a worldly array.

Besides, he still had the Purple Crystal’s energy vision; he could see what most Godly Monarchs were unable to see.

Under such a situation, cracking the array was also nothing difficult.

“Let me determine where the array core is first.”

This thought flashed across Yi Yun’s mind. With the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, it was not too big a problem. Just as he was about to begin, he suddenly felt an intense sense of danger.

He suddenly looked back and saw that far behind him, there was a gray energy cloud gathering.

Phew—Phew—

Wind began stirring in the God Confusion Valley and as it grew in intensity, the force of the gale dispersed some of the fog.

This wind…

Yi Yun sensed that the God Confusion Valley’s wind had the effect of corroding energy. His protective barrier trembled slightly when struck by the wind. He had no doubts that a warrior who was lacking in strength would probably be reduced to withered bone by this wind very quickly.

He lowered his head slightly and looked at the helpless Shan Ling.

She was scrunched into a bundle as she conjured a weak energy barrier. Trembling in the wind, she was like a stray kitten in a wintry night.

Shan Ling could only sense that the sinister air seemed to blow right into her bone. With her present strength, she clearly could not last long in the wind.

When she noticed Yi Yun looking at her pale face, she was already beginning to fear him as he revealed more of his strength.

Yi Yun flicked his finger as a wisp of light shot out from his fingertip and entered her body. Shan Ling’s body jolted as she immediately felt warm energy fill her body. Instantly, the biting cold was greatly reduced.

“Thank… Thank you…” said Shan Ling gratefully.

“What’s happening?” asked Yi Yun.

“It might be about to rain…” said Shan Ling simply. “The God Confusion Valley is perennially covered in fog, but when the fog reaches a certain concentration, it will rain. A raining God Confusion Valley is more terrifying than it usually is…”

“Boom!”

Before Shan Ling finished her sentence, a bolt of lightning tore through the sky as though it was tearing it apart. A huge purple rift appeared as the divine light of the purple lightning tore through layers of fog, dyeing the land purple.

“This rain… is really terrifying. I sense that… it’s going to be a storm,” said Shan Ling uncertainly.

If one really encountered the God Confusion Valley’s storm, then them and everyone with them would likely suffer from heavy losses.

“Is the storm related to the Grand Primordium Royal Seal? If the Grand Primordium Royal Seal really exists.”

Yi Yun did not think too carefully about the matter as he began focusing on cracking the array.

As time passed, the storm turned more violent. Yi Yun felt that his energy was quickly depleted as Shan Ling’s face remained pale. She no longer cared about the dangers the Herbal Garden of Confusion posed. She tried her best to stick close to Yi Yun and survive with his Yuan Qi barrier.

“Boom!”

Another bolt of lightning flashed almost right above their heads!

Following that, black rain poured down.

Each drop of water was the size of a baby’s fist. Furthermore, the water was extremely cohesive and heavy.

“Pa Da! Pa Da!”

The raindrops pattered down with tremendous force, crashing right through the ground. Not only so, the rainwater was even augmented with potent corrosive forces.

“Ka-cha!”

Yi Yun’s protective Yuan Qi was struck by the rain, leaving behind a slight crack.

But at that moment, Yi Yun’s heart and mind was placed on his cracking of the array. The amount of energy he invested in the Yuan Qi barrier was not more than ten percent.

“Ka-cha!”

More rainwater pattered and after the appearance of the first crack, the rainwater followed the trail of the crack as it corroded more of the energy barrier, emitting sizzling sounds.

The color in Shan Ling’s face drained. She watched helplessly as the black water remained atop Yi Yun’s barrier. The water droplet seemed to be penetrating the internals of the barrier!

“Boom! Boom!”

Although the number of cracks increased, Yi Yun no longer injected any new energy in to the barrier. With the barrier looking cracked like glass which had been struck by a hammer, black water droplets were already seeping inside the barrier and were about to drip down. Shan Ling reeled in despair. Why wasn’t Yi Yun repairing his barrier? No matter how powerful the black rain was, Yi Yun was definitely able to last a period of time, right?

But at the instant the black water droplet was about to drip, Shan Ling felt the world spin around her.

Sou!

The pressure that enveloped her suddenly vanished. Shan Ling nearly fell to the ground as she widened her eyes while heaving heavily. Behind her, she saw an incredulous scene.

The storm, winds and lightning had all vanished. She had arrived on a sanctuary filled with sunlight and floral fragrance!

There was streams flowing down the mountains and into lakes. In the lakes, there were lotuses. Their green leaves were like umbrellas as they appeared on the water’s surface. There were droplets of liquid on them and they appeared like crystalline pearls under the sunlight.

It was like a paradise!

Shan Ling drew a deep breath as she took in the immensely rich spiritual energy. An unbelievable thought flashed across her mind.

This is the… Herbal Garden of Confusion!?

Having gone from a terrifying storm to such a place, Shan Ling felt that she might have gone from hell to heaven. It was like a dream.

She swept her gaze and saw that Yi Yun had already walked out of a bed of flowers. He was intensely trying to identify the various spirit plants.

Shan Ling immediately realized that Yi Yun had the confidence to crack the array from the beginning. After he entered the Herbal Garden of Confusion, he could not afford to divert a large amount of energy and mental effort to sustain the barrier.

The Herbal Garden of Confusion was protected by powerful arrays and made it impossible for the black rain to infiltrate. If not, the herbs would have long been destroyed.

1588 - : Storm

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although the herbal garden was like a paradise, Shan Ling saw that there were dark clouds everywhere beyond the herbal garden. Purple lightning flashed from the dense clouds like a massive snake. Countless black rain droplets the size of a baby’s fist pattered across the ground ruthlessly, riddling it with holes.

Upon seeing this scene, Shan Ling felt an indescribable sense of comfort. It was akin to mortals being in a warm house with a lit fire pit while watching the cold rain pour outside.

At that moment, Yi Yun had no intention to bother with the black rain outside. He was in search of spiritual herbs. Ever since Yi Yun inherited the divine alchemist’s heritage, he could be considered quite a master alchemist, but there was a considerable number of herbs in front of him he knew nothing of.

The Chaos Heavens’ natural treasures were still very different from the Sinkhole’s.

But even so, Yi Yun still understood the fundamentals of herbology. According to the herbal fragrance and the type of energy it contained, he was able to gather a vague understanding of the herbs.

His gaze was locked onto a tiny tree about half the height of a person. Although the tree was short, it had many roots. Through the tree’s bark, he could faintly see veins which resembled a human’s blood vessels.

Yi Yun took notice of the tiny tree because he sensed that his lifeblood was being stirred by it.

“Senior Bai, back when you first came to the Chaos Heavens, you should have gathered some knowledge of spiritual herbs. Look at this tiny tree, does it look like a divine medicine that can replenish lifeblood?”

What Yi Yun yearned for the most was to quickly allow Lin Xintong a full recovery. He also wanted to feed the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm and allow the little guy to grow faster.

“This is likely a Raven Heartblood Tree. Legend has it that Ancient Fey in their manifestations enjoy eating the fruits of this tree. The fruits replenish their lifeblood powers and give them additional strength to transcend the Heavenly Tribulations. You guessed right. This Raven Heartblood Tree can indeed help Xintong, but unfortunately, this tree has yet to bear fruit. The time it takes for the Raven Heartblood Tree to bloom is on the order of millions of years. Once it bears fruit, it would be extremely precious.”

Yi Yun knitted his brows slightly when he heard Bai Yueyin. The Herbal Garden of Confusion had already been in existence for so long, and the Raven Heartblood Tree was quite old. Even if it took a million years to bear fruit, it should have already bore fruit after tens or hundreds of millions of years.

He said, “If its fruits do not drop when they are ripe, then the fruits might have been plucked by someone else.”

Bai Yueyin did not say a word. In fact, she shared the same thoughts.

Someone had entered the herbal garden in the past million years!

Although the Herbal Garden of Confusion looked extremely terrifying to Shan Ling and company, the Chaos Heavens had experts lurking all over. Even with Yi Yun’s energy vision and his skill in laws, he did not dare claim that his ability at cracking arrays was better than those Godly Monarchs who focused on studying array formations.

“Yi Yun, there’s no need to feel wistful about it. It’s impossible for every opportunity in this world to belong to you alone. Besides, even if someone had swept through the herbal garden in the past million years, what has been produced since then would still be quite useful to you.”

“I understand. The opportunities provided by the Chaos Heavens are definitely not limited to a mere herbal garden.”

Yi Yun took out the God Advent Tower and opened the internal space.

Not only did he pluck the spirit flowers and fruits, but he also transplanted several of the herbs that could be transplanted into the God Advent Tower. The Raven Heartblood Tree was naturally not spared.

As for those worldly spiritual plants that had very stringent requirements for environment to the point that they would wither after being transplanted, Yi Yun did not touch them. It was difficult to produce such worldly treasures, so he had no plans on cutting off the spirit roots of such divine treasures.

…

“Hu! Hu! Hu!”

The violent winds howled as, in a corner of the God Confusion Valley, a group of Soul warriors were holding up a barrier to withstand the black rain that pelted at them like meteors.

Every drop of black rain would produce fine cracks in their barrier as though it would shatter their barrier to pieces.

“Our luck sure sucks to have encountered this storm the moment we entered the God Confusion Valley.”

Leading the Soul warriors was a middle-aged man dressed in a white Taiji robe. He was bald, but his two foot-long brows drooped down. He held a refined ore in each hand as he absorbed their energy while mending the barrier. For the past two hours, he had pretty much been the one propping up the barrier as the storm raged on.

“It’s all thanks to Elder Whitebrows. We have been a burden on him,” said an ashamed Soul junior. They depended greatly on Whitebrows for he had already condensed two Soul Seals and was just short of the Godly Monarch realm.

In fact, the Soul race had made adequate preparations for this expedition to the God Confusion Valley. Godly Monarchs would lead the team while Elder Whitebrows would provide support as a Telluric Master.

But they never expected to encounter the Celestial’s bronze giant shortly after entering the God Confusion Valley. The Celestial had attacked without any warning!

Before even finding the rumored divine treasure, the Celestial had already taken action!

The Soul race’s Godly Monarch Dreamlight was ultimately weaker than the bronze giant, but he was able to barely hold back the bronze giant and buy the others time to escape.

This was also likely because the bronze giant showed no interest to the others. If it did, it was unlikely many of them would have survived.

Just recollecting the Celestial bronze giant’s brimming strength left the Soul warriors feeling a lingering fear.

The Celestial giants were just too powerful.

“Grand Elder has his means to escape. Even if he’s no match, he would be able to made a full retreat. You do not need to worry about him. Now, we should be thinking of a way to handle the situation in front of us. For some unknown reason, a series of bizarre changes is happening in the God Confusion Valley at present. The map we spent a great deal to acquire is mostly useless now.

“Furthermore, I have a feeling that the deeper into the valley we go, the more inaccurate the map will be. When that happens, if we were to blindly believe the map, we might just end up dying tragic deaths.”

The middle-aged man spoke with a heavy voice. The faces of the surrounding Soul warriors had a shade of worry. Could Godly Monarch Dreamlight really have escaped his perilous situation?

Without a Godly Monarch, it was as though their backbone was gone. It made traversing the God Confusion Valley almost impossible.

“I have no idea how long this rain will last. About three hours would be fine, but if it lasts for an entire day, even I would be left enervated.”

As the middle-aged man spoke, a young Soul disciples suddenly shouted, “Elder, look there!”

The youth extended his finger as he looked abnormally excited.

The middle-aged man looked in the pointed direction as he saw a blurry light far into the sky. On careful look, it looked like a herbal garden which had all sorts of spiritual herbs! It looked like a paradise!

To see such a herbal garden that stood separate from the world which was immersed in the apocalyptic rain felt incredible.

“Master, that herbal garden has ample sunlight. There’s no rain at all.” The youth was somewhat excited. If they could head there to seek shelter from the rain, they could even pluck all sorts of spirit herbs.

“Fool!” Elder Whitebrows grunted coldly. “That’s the Herbal Garden of Confusion. The scenery you see is actually a mirage. It doesn’t actually exist. If you walk in its direction, you will soon find that you can never reach it. Slowly, you will enter a land of death. There have been people who remained obstinate or people as foolish as you who were bent on plucking the spirit herbs. However, all of them are already dead.”

Upon hearing Elder Whitebrows’ tirade, the youth shrank his neck back as his expression turned ugly. He really had no idea about the Herbal Garden of Confusion.

“We should avoid that herbal garden.”

As Elder Whitebrow said so, a Soul disciple halted and carefully looked at the Herbal Garden of Confusion. He asked, “Elder, it seems there’re people in the herbal garden?”

“Is it weird to have people in there? They are simply part of the mirage.”

“But… But I know this person…” The speaking Soul warrior wore an incredulous look. “Back then, I entered the God Confusion Valley with him. There were a total of twenty spots and he shamelessly forced himself into one spot. His name is Yi Yun.”

“Oh? What?”

When everyone heard the name, they were stunned. Wasn’t that fellow the guy from the Taixia Ancient Mining who ended up being abandoned? He entered the God Confusion Valley alone without a map or Telluric Master guiding him, nor did he have a Godly Monarch protecting him. He was basically a dead man, so how could he be in the herbal garden?

Everyone focused their gaze in that direction. The Herbal Garden of Confusion had little fog around it to begin with, so their vision was not affected. All of them saw Yi Yun very clearly.

Furthermore, Yi Yun was… plucking herbs. He even took out a cave abode artifact in the shape of a miniature pagoda, transplanting many herbs along with their roots and fruits in!

Could the herbs in the mirage be plucked too?

Regardless of that question, this scene made the Soul warriors turn covetous.

They were barely surviving the rain and were like leaves fluttering precariously in the storm; yet, Yi Yun was inside the herbal garden and completely unaffected by the rain’s harassment. He was even gathering a large amount of natural treasures.

The disparity of the situation was just too huge.

The Soul disciple from before could not help but say, “Elder, perhaps that herbal garden is not a mirage…”

If it was truly the mirage as spoken of in legends, how could it have manifested Yi Yun?

Elder Whitebrows frowned. This was not his first entry into the God Confusion Valley. According to the books he had read, this was clearly the Herbal Garden of Confusion. If that was the case, how was it possible that Yi Yun entered it?

1589 - : The Huge Disparity of the Situation

“Elder, that’s a Emerald Dragon Root. That’s a Life Reminiscence Flower and a Nether Purple Radish! They are all priceless treasured herbs. We have so many people. We should rush into the herbal garden and kill Yi Yun and snatch away all his herbs.”

A young Soul disciple looked on with covetous eyes. According to their rules, they were to get a share of the resources gained in the Xuanyuan Dune. Just getting even a few strands of the herbs available would improve their cultivation levels further.

Upon seeing Yi Yun leisurely plucking the herbs in what seemed like a paradise while they suffered the assaults of the storm’s black rain, the disciples turned anxious.

“Elder, why are you still hesitating? Why don’t we be the vanguard?” a few disciples suggested.

Elder Whitebrows nodded. According to his analysis, the thing before them was the Herbal Garden of Confusion. However, many dangerous regions in the God Confusion Valley did not remain unchanged over the years. Since Yi Yun had entered the Herbal Garden of Confusion, perhaps the laws governing it had changed.

It was possible that the terrifying storm might have torn apart an entrance into the Herbal Garden of Confusion!

These few Soul disciples immediately took out refined ores, and as they absorbed their energies, they began walking towards the herbal garden.

With their strengths, it was not a huge problem for them to independently withstand the storm for about an hour.

“Immediately retreat if you discover anything amiss!” said Elder Whitebrows.

“Got it,” a Soul warrior replied without even turning his head.

From his point of view, Whitebrows was old. He lacked the drive and spirit of youth, which made him dislike danger regardless of the occasion. Such an attitude which preferred stability was alright when managing logistics in the rear, but one needed to take risks in mystic realms.

With this in mind, several Soul warriors turned a little rash. They did not bother conserving their refined ores as they absorbed the Yuan Qi in large quantities while proceeding forward quickly.

Of course, they had people in charge of monitoring the surroundings. Thankfully, the fog had thinned greatly, allowing them to release their perceptions much further.

The Herbal Garden of Confusion also appeared within their perceptions.

“I can sense it. It’s not a mirage!” ( Updated by BOX NOVEL.COM)

“Yes. As vanguards, we will also gain the best rewards for being the first to render meritorious services in the event of a harvest.”

A few disciples discussed as they turned more driven. Soon, they had traversed several hundred feet. Although they were willing to take risks, it did not mean that they were unafraid of death. The first several hundred feet were only a test of the waters. If problems really cropped up, they would not dare proceed further.

When they looked up at the Herbal Garden of Confusion, they felt that it seemed nearer, but at the same time, perhaps not.

This scene cooled down their hotheadedness.

Something was not right!

An older disciple already had the intention to retreat. “Junior Brothers, this herbal garden isn’t that simple.”

When he said that, he was considering asking them if they wanted to retreat. However, his heart sank when he saw the looks of his junior brothers.

They had a confounded look as they continued proceeding ahead. All they had in their eyes was the herbal garden as though they nothing else mattered. They did not even mend their soul-powered barriers as they cracked.

“Junior Brothers!?”

The older disciple extended his hand to pull them, but the moment he made contact, he felt a seemingly demonic force infiltrate his soul sea, causing him to nearly lose his reason.

“Oh no!”

He quickly retracted his hand and turned around, hoping to seek help. However, the moment he turned back, he felt as though he had plunged into an ice cavern. All he saw was endless storms behind him. Elder Whitebrows and company had vanished.

“Elder! Senior Brother Song!”

A Soul disciple shouted, but his voice which was injected with soul power did not go far in the storm as it dissipated rapidly.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

The weakest Soul disciple’s barrier was the first to shatter completely. Black rain merciless pounded his body, causing his body to emit white smoke.

Chi! Chi! Chi!

The jarring sounds continued as the Soul disciple’s body became like a mound of sugar being steeped by hot water. He slowly melted in the rain.

…

“They… vanished?”

The other Soul warriors were fully focused on the vanguard team, but the vanguard team had vanished into the shadows after walking for a period of time. It was as if they had been devoured.

“Elder!” The Soul warrior who had teleported into the valley with Yi Yun turned anxious. His name was Ten Nights. Someone from the vanguard team was his younger cousin.

Ten Nights did not believe that his cousin was Yi Yun’s match, but he only planned on having his cousin probe the area to find the entrance to the Herbal Garden of Confusion.

But now…

“They are gone.” Elder Whitebrows took a deep breath as he shook his head. “They are probably all dead. This is indeed the Herbal Garden of Confusion. Walking towards it will only lead you to a land of death. If we had all entered together, we might have been completely wiped out…”

Ten Nights was alarmed upon hearing the words ‘completely wiped out.’ How did Yi Yun enter this herbal garden which could devour people?

Previously, although he felt fear towards Yi Yun when Yi Yun snatched a spot in the teleportation array with his own strength, it was still an easily doable for Soul geniuses their age. However, Yi Yun’s present feat was something that confounded him.

At that moment, Elder Whitebrows’ heart stirred. He immediately revealed a pleasant look of surprise. “Lord Dreamlight is back!”

Everyone was immediately delighted hearing that. They turned their heads and indeed, they saw a white-robed man walking over in mid-air!

Despite the heavy downpour, the man’s clothes continued fluttering in the wind without being stained by any of the black rain. The black rain automatically avoided his clothes when they landed on what seemed like an invisible law around him.

The man gently landed on the ground. He was extremely handsome, but it was not what one would traditionally consider masculine. Instead, it was a feminine beauty. It was hard to tell what his gender was at a glance. In the middle of his glabella was a faint mark that looked like ivory. It added to his ethereal feeling.

Godly Monarch Divinelight was one of the Grand Elders of the Soul faction, Heavenly Dream Path.

“Greetings, Grand Elder!”

Whitebrows, Ten Nights and company bowed in unison.

The man swept his gaze. “Aren’t there more?”

“It was my fault.” Elder Whitebrows apologized immediately. “When we reached this spot, we saw that herbal garden. Although I determined it to be the legendary Herbal Garden of Confusion, we saw someone plucking the herbs inside to our surprise. Hoping to bet on our luck, I allowed a few to go in and…”

“It was Nine Nights and company who insisted on going,” Ten Nights helped Elder Whitebrows explain in a timely manner. This matter was indeed not Whitebrows’ fault.

“Oh? Is that so?” To a person at the level of Godly Monarch Dreamlight, losing a few disciples meant nothing. However, he was somewhat surprised to learn that someone was plucking herbs in the Herbal Garden of Confusion. He squinted his eyes and looked towards the Herbal Garden of Confusion. Indeed, he saw a youthful-looking man plucking herbs like his life depended on it.

This person…

“His name is Yi Yun. He’s suspected to be a junior of the Taixia Ancient Mining. He might also be an old monster that is hiding his actual age,” explained Ten Nights.

1590 - : Devoured Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Yi Yun had sensed it when Godly Monarch Dreamlight focused his gaze on him. He raised his head and looked in Dreamlight’s direction.

Through the dense storms, he saw an effeminate man.      ( Updated by BOX NOVEL.COM)

Their gazes locked as Yi Yun’s heart palpitated. This person had a very powerful psyche fluctuation, one that he could faintly sense even through the Herbal Garden of Confusion.

He had already guessed that the person was likely a Godly Monarch of the Soul race.

Yi Yun had also seen the Soul disciples attempt to enter previously, but he had not taken it to heart.

His possession of the Purple Crystal allowed him to easily enter the Herbal Garden of Confusion, but it was a task fraught with difficulties for mere Soul disciples.

Yet he never imagined that their Godly Monarch would arrive so soon.

“He’s no old monster that’s hiding his true age. He’s likely not old at all,” said Dreamlight in a slow, refined manner. “Interesting, very interesting.”

He had never heard of the humans producing such a genius prior to this.

“This Herbal Garden of Confusion is sealed in a worldly array. It’s not surprising that none of you can enter. But since this herbal garden has appeared, we naturally cannot permit a human junior to take all the spoils,” said Dreamlight leisurely as he took a step forward.

His single step seemed to crack through the limitations of the laws and distance. He appeared a thousand feet forward, placing him within the vicinity of the Herbal Garden of Confusion. However, Dreamlight’s every action seemed place him on sublime nodes that allowed him to slowly approach the Herbal Garden of Confusion.

Ten Nights and company watched this scene in excitement. He was no doubt Godly Monarch Dreamlight. Such an array formation appeared nominal in front of Dreamlight.

However, Dreamlight knew that things were not as simple as they seemed. The array formation did not appear powerful, but it underwent many abstruse changes. However, with his Soul Traversing Steps, the energy flows of the array formation had no means to hide from him. He could grasp a few of the patterns behind the abstruse changes.

Soon, he discovered a critical node. He extended his hand and swiped it like a gentle breeze.

Ka-cha. A light sound emitted as the array formation was forcibly torn open by Dreamlight.

At that moment, not only did Dreamlight sense the Herbal Garden of Confusion turn more corporeal, but Elder Whitebrows and company also sensed the same thing.

“It hasn’t been fully opened…” Dreamlight shook his head. The array formation was not so simple.

Dreamlight took another few steps forward as the array formation’s fluctuations grew in intensity. Whitebrows, Ten Nights and company clearly heard something shattering.

And at that moment, Yi Yun rapidly started extending his hand and sweeping things up without even taking a look. He had transferred large amounts of herbs on the ground into his interspatial ring.

“Let’s go!”

Yi Yun grabbed Shan Ling and, before Dreamlight opened the Herbal Garden of Confusion, he had already appeared at the back of the garden.

He immediately took out his spatial shuttle and drove it frantically. With his Purple Crystal energy vision, Yi Yun’s speed was beyond imagination.

Only when he determined that he was sufficiently far from the Herbal Garden of Confusion did he stop.

By the time Dreamlight entered the herbal garden, he had sensed Yi Yun’s departure. However, it took him time to open up the herbal garden’s array formation. He did not have the luxury of time to pursue Yi Yun out of it again. After a strange glint flashed in Dreamlight’s slender eyes, he finally calmed down.

“Go on in. Take whatever herbs there are,” said Dreamlight.

Ten Night and company swarmed in.

They did not see Yi Yun and only saw Dreamlight standing quietly to the side. None of them dared to ask.

On a second look, the garden which had been filled with countless treasured herbs had nearly been swept clean by Yi Yun. All that was left were immature herbs or ones that were not too precious. Thinking of their losses before obtaining this…

The Soul disciples beat their breasts and stamped their feet in deep anguish. If anything was to be blamed, it was that they were too weak. If they had the power to crack open the herbal garden’s array formation, Yi Yun could have forgotten about taking away all the perks it held!

…

Meanwhile, Yi Yun had already flown a great distance away. The downpour continued inundating him as he absorbed the energies from refined ores while traveling with a Yuan Qi barrier conjured.

Shan Ling was already accustomed to Yi Yun’s speed. She knew that at such high speeds, the blows the black rain struck on his barrier every second were a hundred times stronger than when he remained still. But even so, Yi Yun was able to handle it without flinching.

This person was truly terrifying. To think that she had belittled him back then. Thankfully, she knew of the God Confusion Valley’s secrets and was of value to him, or she might not even know how she died.

“Senior Bai, can you identify these spirit herbs?” Yi Yun had reaped a bountiful harvest from the Herbal Garden of Confusion, but he unfortunately did not recognize many of them.

“I can only give you their names at best. I do not know the herbological details.” Bai Yueyin shook her head. She was not an alchemist and she had only made one trip to the Chaos Heavens about a billion years ago. It was already quite impressive that she could recognize so many herbs.

“From the looks of it, I need to seek out an alchemical manual. Furthermore, it can’t be an ordinary one. It needs to be a heritage left behind by an alchemist master. That will be a little difficult…”

Yi Yun was highly skilled in alchemy, but he had no means to use the herbs he just collected. This left him somewhat depressed.

If he had the knowledge, just a few days of seclusion would allow him to awaken Lin Xintong from her slumber.

“Ya! Ya!”

Yi Yun suddenly heard yelps coming from none other than the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm. The little fellow had turned excited when it caught the whiff of herbal fragrance. Previously, the Chaos Ores were of use to it, but that was incomparable to natural treasures.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was also considered a Fey. It needed to devour natural herbs to nourish its lifeblood and body.

“Go ahead and eat. Your nose sure is sharp to smell these while sleeping.”

Yi Yun threw a bunch of herbs into the God Advent Tower. With Shan Ling present, he did not plan on letting the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm come out.

The herbs Yi Yun chose to give to the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm were the ones he plucked the most of. He had no plans on using up any of the different strands, or it would truly be depressing to find he was lacking any of them when he got down to the alchemical refinement.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm began chomping down on the herbs for it knew that Yi Yun might extract some of its blood during a critical moment. It would really be losing out if it did not eat more to supplement itself at that moment.

Yi Yun smiled when he saw the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s behavior and ignored it. Instead, he turned towards Shan Ling. “Do you know that androgynous person? You do, right?”

Upon hearing Yi Yun, Shan Ling jumped in fright. If not for the pressure Yi Yun placed on her, she even had the intention to cover his mouth.

“That’s the Grand Elder of the Soul race’s Heavenly Dream Path—Dreamlight! His perceptive powers are forbiddingly terrifying. Don’t discount his perception’s range just because we are in the God Confusion Valley. It’s possible for him to hear us while you are somewhere else! If he chases up to us, we are dead.”

Yi Yun chuckled and said, “He already has the intent to kill me. Do you think I will change his mind if I speak a few good words behind his back?”

Yi Yun had such a feeling back when his eyes met Dreamlight’s.

Yi Yun was a human genius and was very possibly a great future threat. Furthermore, he had swept the Herbal Garden of Confusion clean. It would be odd if Dreamlight had no intention of killing him.

However, although Dreamlight looked extremely formidable, he appeared… injured.

Yi Yun recalled their encounter. Dreamlight’s soul sea did not seem as impervious as he imagined. They had only entered the God Confusion Valley recently, so what was it that could injure a Godly Monarch?

1591 - : Dreamlight

Using his energy vision, Yi Yun continued driving the spatial shuttle towards the inner valley with Shan Ling on board.

In fact, Yi Yun believed that the outer valley actually had many places worth exploring, but Godly Monarch Dreamlight’s appearance made Yi Yun think twice. He tried his best to stay a good distance away from Dreamlight.

The journey from the God Confusion Valley’s outer valley to the inner valley was fraught with danger. The typical Divine Lord would hardly be able to reach the inner valley, much less use a flying artifact to speed into it.

A group of warriors were arduously making their way forward under the lead of a few Elders. They had set off a day earlier than the Taixia Ancient Mining contingent, but due to the unexpected changes in the God Confusion Valley, a portion of the maps became unreliable. Therefore, they had only barely reached where they were after all this time.

They had already lost quite a number of people on the way. Even one of the Elders had perished due to the storm. This only demoralized the rest.

“Keep it up. The inner valley is straight ahead. Although we can’t be considered as arriving early, we arrived earlier than factions such as the Taixia Ancient Mining which received the news late. There won’t be people chasing up to us for the time being. There will be more opportunities in the inner valley. The earlier we enter, the greater chance of us having the initiative,” said an Elder who was walking right in front while conjuring a protective Yuan Qi barrier.

“Yes!” answered the disciples behind him in unison. All their eyes lit up. They just needed to persist a little longer for the inner valley was just up ahead.

“However, the closer we are to the inner valley, the more careful we have to be. Make sure to stick close to me. If you take a wrong step, you might very well end up in a land of no return,” said the Elder.

At that moment, an intense Yuan Qi fluctuation suddenly approached them at rapid speeds from afar.

A few Elders turned their heads simultaneously as the disciples also looked up and over.

They saw a white air stream tear through the fog above them as it streaked across, before vanishing in the direction of the inner valley’s entrance…

A disciple could not help but ask, “Wasn’t that… a spatial shuttle?”

“Was it a spatial shuttle? It should be some Godly Monarch’s flying artifact, right?” said another disciple hesitantly.

“It’s quite impossible. I saw it very clearly. It’s a spatial shuttle of the lowest grade.”

The disciples looked in the direction of the inner valley’s entrance.

Someone had actually managed to drive a spatial shuttle of the lowest grade into the inner valley…

This was such a heavy blow to their precarious process of forging forward.

Yi Yun had scanned the area beneath him from the spatial shuttle. On his journey, he encountered two batches of people. However, the first batch of people had found themselves trapped in a gigantic vortex that had suddenly appeared. They instantly vanished.

As for the second batch of people, their luck and strength seemed quite good.

From the looks of it, he had been mistaken. Quite a number of teams that entered the valley did not have Godly Monarchs leading them. After all, Godly Monarchs were few in number.

Even though some factions did not have Godly Monarchs, they still wished to make an expedition to the God Confusion Valley. After all, even if they were unable to obtain the best opportunities, just the benefits the periphery offered could very well provide them with bountiful harvests.

“We have already entered the inner valley,” said Shan Ling, her tone carrying a tinge of pleasant surprise.

She was surprised to find herself safely arriving inside the inner valley by following Yi Yun.

The moment they entered the inner valley, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi inside became completely different than that of the outer valley.

There was extremely rich Yuan Qi within that nourished a countless forest of ancient and massive vegetation.

This vegetation blanketed the land and hills. The inner valley resembled a illusionary ancient forest that was intermixed with a mountain valley at a glance.

The towering trees reached a million feet in height. Their crowns blotted out the sky and there was a green hue everywhere. It left one feeling a little lost.

Yi Yun acutely sensed that under the green hue, there were more dangers that would only strike greater fear into people than anything of the outer valley.

“The inner and outer valley seem like two different worlds. It’s truly quite an amazing topography,” said Yi Yun.

He did not sense any barriers or array formations when he entered the inner valley; yet for some reason, the valleys were in such a stark contrast, like ice and fire.

With the Purple Crystal’s vision, Yi Yun scanned a few extremely powerful energy blobs. One of them gave him an apprehensive feeling.

Yi Yun directed the spatial shuttle to carefully avoid those energy blobs as he continued venturing deeper into the inner valley.

“Oh? That is?” Yi Yun suddenly saw a blob of unique light through his Purple Crystal.

It was like a fire plume that was silently flickering underground.

When he saw the fire plume, Yi Yun felt that the blood in him suddenly seem to boil over.

This was something useful to him!

The spatial shuttle flashed over and moments later, Yi Yun had arrived above a huge lake in excitement.

“What is this place?” asked Yi Yun.

“I heard that the inner valley has a mobile lake named Li Water. It’s likely this. However, this is likely just a portion of the Li Water. A large portion of the water body might be underground,” said Shan Ling after some careful thought.

In fact, she had also only heard of it since Li Water would suddenly appear and disappear. Apart from encountering it by chance, it was very difficult to find.

“I see.” Yi Yun could sense that the fire plume was under the lake’s surface.

He stopped the spatial shuttle above the lake before lowering it onto the lake’s surface.

“You wish to enter the water?” Shan Ling asked in astonishment. “I have no idea what dangers lurk within the water…”

“That’s right.” Yi Yun answered her simply with two words.

Shan Ling turned agape, but she did not say a word.

Had there been any lack of instances when Yi Yun courted death this entire journey?

Yi Yun struck down with his palm.

Boom!

The lake surface stirred and parted instantly.

Yi Yun charged straight into the newly-created rift.

Shan Ling watched anxiously from the spatial shuttle. Now that they had entered the inner valley, she would similarly die tragically without Yi Yun.

Therefore, she also wished that Yi Yun could return alive.

About half a minute passed.

Suddenly, the water body began to quake intensely as a stir that seemed to shake the earth emitted out from underwater.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s figure flew out rapidly from the rift like a fish leaping out of the water. He clasped a dazzling fire flint that was brilliantly white in color.

Yi Yun rushed into the spatial shuttle before commanding it to rapidly fly off.

Boom!

The lake’s surface rose as the water broke, revealing a pair of cold, ruthless eyes. The eyes were trained on the spatial shuttle which was flying higher before it let out a raging roar.

The lake stirred violently for quite a while before an indignant roar sounded from inside. Finally, everything returned to its original calm.

Shan Ling looked down and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Regardless of what was inside the lake, it was absolutely not something she could deal with.

She had no idea what it was that made Yi Yun take such a huge risk.

She looked at Yi Yun’s hand. The item which resembled an ice crystal appeared extremely bright. It was so dazzling that it was difficult to look at it straight.

And within the ice crystal, it appeared as though there was a scale sealed within.

“Xenomorphic ore?” said Shan Ling in surprise.

Yi Yun looked at the xenomorphic ore in his hand in satisfaction. The ore was filled with terrifying energy, but that was only a small part of its value.

Its true value was the scale sealed within.

Just holding onto the xenomorphic ore made Yi Yun feel the Dragon Emperor blood in him boil.

If Yi Yun did not guess wrong…

But at that moment, Yi Yun’s eyes suddenly narrowed as he looked at a distant spot.

“Someone is coming.”

Soon, a few figures appeared into the distance as they rapidly headed for him.

The monster in the water had caused too great a stir, so it clearly attracted the notice of these people.

It was just that Yi Yun never expected these people to come so quickly.

As these people approached, Shan Ling let out an exclamation as her body trembled and she revealed a pleasant look of surprise.

Upon seeing Shan Ling’s reaction and the man leading them, Yi Yun guessed at the man’s identity. He had a head of golden hair and he looked handsome. He was tall and his face and body coruscated with scaled armor.

Shaomang Xuan!

The number one genius of the Shaomang family clan of the Desolate clan. / boxnovel.com

Shan Ling glanced at Yi Yun but she could not help but exclaim, “Young Master!”

1592 - : Inner Valley

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ever since she was severely injured while carrying out a mission, Shan Ling had never gotten a chance to recover. She was even sold as a female slave.

Such circumstances had plunged Shan Ling into despair. She never expected that she would once again see Shaomang Xuan in the inner valley at that moment in time.

Instantly, she was caught up in emotions as tears welled in her eyes.

“Shan Ling?” Shaomang Xuan was somewhat surprised. “Why are you here?”

He could tell at a glance that Shan Ling was injured, and her wounds were not light. She had less than ten percent of her original strength left. Not only that, Shan Ling had a seal binding her body.

“Who cast the seal on you?”

Shaomang Xuan’s voice had a tinge of coldness as he looked at Yi Yun. Shan Ling was with this man, so the person who had cast the seal naturally had to be him.

Shan Ling’s expression changed slightly as she said in embarrassment, “Young Master, it was Yi Yun who brought me into the inner valley. If not, I would never have been able to meet you.”

“I’m asking you, who was it that cast the seal?” As Shaomang Xuan spoke, he extended his hand and beckoned.

“Whoosh!”

Shan Ling felt her abdomen hurt as though something was being extracted. The color in her face drained slightly as she nearly fell to the ground.

When she looked at Shaomang Xuan’s hand again, he was already holding onto a nomological mark. It was none other than the seal which Yi Yun had left in Shan Ling’s body.

“Chi!”

Shaomang Xuan crushed the nomological mark immediately.

Actually, without Shan Ling’s explanation, Shaomang Xuan could sense that the nomological mark contained an aura similar to that of Yi Yun’s.

Shan Ling did not dare lie to Shaomang Xuan and she could faintly sense that the situation was going in a bad direction.

She said, “Young Master, I previously requested Yi Yun to bring me into the inner valley to seek you out. We were strangers after all… so the seal was placed on me.”

“Heh heh!” At that moment, a larkish giggle sounded as a voluptuous woman in tight clothing slowly walked forward.

She elegantly stood behind Shaomang Xuan as her voluptuous body nearly clung to his.

“I don’t think it’s a simple restraint, right? Shan Ling, the clothes you wear might look charming and adorable, but they’re made of ordinary cloth. This is not what a warrior would wear. Instead, it looks like the clothes that slave merchants put on their slaves in Xuanyuan City.

“Your unique cat ears have also been deliberately manifested. You must have eaten a pill that deliberately stimulates your Fey bloodline, right? Why would you eat such pills when you are weak? I heard that human males with certain fetishes enjoy the cat ears or fox tails of young female Fey. If I were to guess, you were sold as a slave by a slave merchant, right? And this human bought you and cast a seal on you!”

After the voluptuous woman said so, Shaomang Xuan’s expression sank. He did not mind if his servant died, but if she was sold as a slave and even bought by a human, it was an insult regardless!

“Yao Rao, I risked my life for the Shaomang family clan and ended up seriously injured. That was how I ended up in the hands of a slave merchant. Although I was sold as a female slave, my body remains untainted. All I did was endure some humiliation in order to meet Young Master again!” Shan Ling’s petite chest heaved in anger. She could tell that Yao Rao had replaced her as Shaomang Xuan’s personal maidservant.

As such, Yao Rao naturally did not welcome her reappearance.

“Untainted?” Yao Rao laughed. “Even if you are a virgin, I have heard that slave merchants often teach newly captured female Fey certain things before selling them?”

“You…” Shan Ling’s expression turned pale. She could ignore Yao Rao, but when she saw Shaomang Xuan again, she did not see pleasant surprise in his eyes. Instead, there was a tinge of coldness.

Back when she was in trouble, regardless of how despairing her situation was, she ultimately remained loyal to Shaomang Xuan and missed him. Yet, she never expected that her reunion with Shaomang Xuan would turn out this way.

Previously, she had even promised Yi Yun that Shaomang Xuan would reward him handsomely if he brought her back. Now, from the looks of it, she had been too naive.

“Young Master, this human actually dares to enslave your former maidservant. He should be killed.”

As the voluptuous woman spoke, she took a glance at the lake behind Yi Yun.

They had sensed an intense Spirit Qi fluctuation from the legendary Li Water. Perhaps, Yi Yun had taken something impressive from it.

If Yao Rao could figure that out, Shaomang Xuan naturally had the same conclusions. When he heard Yao Rao, his eyes flashed a queer look.

“You bought my former maidservant and deserve death,” said Shaomang Xuan.

Since Yi Yun was able to bring Shan Ling into the inner valley and take out something from the Li Water, it implied his strength was extraordinary. But even so, he was only one person. Furthermore, Shaomang Xuan had a group of experts from his family clan with him.

Yi Yun immediately knew Shaomang Xuan was only providing a convenient excuse. The truth was that Shaomang Xuan was eyeing the xenomorphic ore he held.

He looked around and he picked his ears. “It seems your Shaomang family clan is working independently.”

In fact, Yi Yun had already discovered that there were many family clans with various surnames that came under the Desolate clan. Shaomang Xuan’s Shaomang family clan was likely uncordial with Bronze Drum’s family clan. If not, Shan Ling could have sought Bronze Drum’s help back then instead of fearing him.

Godly Monarch Celestial Peng was with Bronze Drum while the Shaomang family clan had likely acted independently in order to reap most of the benefits for itself.

These people were definitely strong, but Yi Yun showed no fear as long as they lacked Godly Monarchs.

“What are you getting at?” Shaomang Xuan frowned.

“I wish to tell you that you can just be frank if greed is driving you. It’s disgusting watching you lead the life of a whore and expect a monument for your chastity,” said Yi Yun with a scoff. He naturally did not mince his words because of Shaomang Xuan’s stature.

“How dare you! How dare you insult my young master…” Yao Rao widened her eyes as she screamed. She had never met anyone who dared insult Shaomang Xuan to his face.

Yi Yun’s cold gaze stabbed at Yao Rao. “Shut up! You have no right to speak here!”

Before his voice faded away, Yi Yun had already struck out at Yao Rao with his palm.

The palm appeared ordinary, but it suddenly produced a spatial rift in front of Yao Rao. Immediately following that, a terrifying palm seal bore down like it blanketed the world!

“Boom!”

A loud boom sounded as the violent Yuan Qi dissipated. Yao Rao looked at Shaomang Xuan in front of her with a pale face.

If not for Shaomang Xuan’s blocking of the strike, she would likely have been killed.

“You insult me and even attempt to murder my subordinate in front of me? You have a death wish…” said Shaomang Xuan coldly.

Yi Yun laughed. “Cut that out!”

A heavy and dull bladed sword appeared in his hand suddenly. His eyes turned cold as fighting spirit ignited in them. Ever since he came to the Chaos Heavens, Yi Yun had yet to experience a battle that delighted him.

He had long wished to seek out a Fey to test out his Dragon Emperor Technique. The Fey from before were either too weak or too strong like the Godly Monarch, Golden Winged Celestial Peng.

Right before him, Shaomang Xuan’s strength was just perfect!

1593 - : Shaomang Xuan

CKtalon  CKtalon

Shan Ling was given a fright when she saw Yi Yun initiate combat by drawing a weapon. “Yi Yun, my young master broke through to the Fey Lord realm a thousand years ago. He has also experienced the Lifeblood Lightning Tribulations which rejuvenated his body. It’s unlikely any human under the Godly Monarch realm is my young master’s match!  U.p..dated by Box novel.com

“You have the ability to fly through the God Confusion Valley at fast speeds. Quickly board your spatial shuttle and escape into the fog. They might not be able to catch up to you.”

Shan Ling had been rescued by Yi Yun after all. Furthermore, she had been used as an excuse by Shaomang Xuan to kill Yi Yun after her reunion with him. She did not wish to see Yi Yun die under Shaomang Xuan’s hand.

“Nearly invincible under the realm of Godly Monarch?” Yi Yun was taken aback. That was the same evaluation he gave himself. That was interesting.

“Shan Ling, you are communicating with that human via voice transmission?”

When Yao Rao noticed that Shan Ling was looking at Yi Yun with a look of anxiety, she immediately guessed that Shan Ling was sending voice transmissions.

“Slut, did you betray Young Master and sell intelligence to that human? Have you fallen for him? Your betrayal of Young Master deserves death!”

As Yao Rao spoke, she struck out at Shan Ling. At that moment, Shan Ling had no means to resist, so she was immediately bound by Yao Rao. Without Shaomang Xuan’s permission, Yao Rao did not dare kill her, but she was bent on making Shan Ling suffer some humiliation. Shaomang Xuan turned a blind eye to what Yao Rao was doing.

Yi Yun watched this scene coldly. He was not very familiar with Shan Ling, but he did not think she deserved such a wretched outcome. At the end of the day, she was just a maidservant of the Shaomang family clan. Her standing in it was negligible. As for Yao Rao, she happened to be the type of woman Yi Yun detested the most.

He took a glance at Yao Rao and said, “Your name is Yao Rao, right? I’ll take your life in thirty seconds.”

“What!?” Yao Rao was just about to slap Shan Ling when she heard him. She was momentarily stunned.

Shaomang Xuan broke out into laughter. Was this human ignoring his existence?

“Are humans all so dumb? To make such audacious claims when their lives are in peril?”

As Shaomang Xuan spoke, his body bulked up as his limbs grew rapidly in size. In a blink of an eye, he transformed into a muscular half-Fey, half-human biological creature. The golden hair atop his head flailed as the scales on him covered his entire body. Sharp golden spikes twinkling with cold light also grew out. A violent and ruthless aura emerged from his body as a black turbulence appeared around his head.

At that moment, his pupils constricted as the dull blade in front of him cleaved over at him.

Shaomang Xuan roared as he extended both his arms. Ten extremely sharp blasts of air sliced through the sky instantly like wind blades as they met the dull blade.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The wind blades were sliced apart by the dull blade, leaving ten terrifying marks on the distant ground where it landed. They appeared criss-crossed on the mountain.

Meanwhile, Shaomang Xuan’s figure had suddenly vanished from its original spot.

It was not teleportation, but that he was just too fast!

But at the same time, Yi Yun had begun moving.

Two blurry figures instantly clashed in mid-air, producing a world-shaking boom. It was as though lightning was surging through the heaven and earth, emitting a thunderous terror!

“Oh? A human like you has actually cultivated a body-tempering art?”

Shaomang Xuan was alarmed. Humans were always known to be good at laws, and were much slower at cultivating body-tempering arts.

Yi Yun did not respond as he cleaved down once again. The heavy sword in his hand was a weapon left behind by Primordial Chaos Daolord. To the present Yi Yun, it was no longer considered a divine weapon. However, it still contained a sliver of the Primordial Chaos laws, making the sword extremely heavy.

Yi Yun was battling with his body arts, so he needed a heavy weapon.

“Ka-cha!”

Amid the intense clash, Yi Yun slashed at the bone spikes on Shaomang Xuan’s arm, causing his arm to feel numb. But at the next moment, the corner of his mouth revealed a sinister smile. A strange red glow emitted from the bone spike, and suddenly a behemoth in the form of a lion appeared behind him. The moment it appeared, it let out a tumultuous roar.

It was a Suanni 1 !

Hidden within Shaomang Xuan’s body was an ancient Fey bloodline. It was also the source of the Shaomang family clan’s strength!

“Die!”

Shaomang Xuan roared as the sanguine light bloomed from the bone spikes that lined both his arms.

“Ka-cha!”

Yi Yun’s heavy sword cleaved down without obstruction as the terrifying lifeblood forces spewed out like an erupting volcano.

“This is what you mean by within thirty seconds? Unfortunately, not only will you fail to take my maidservant’s life, you will end up beheaded by me!” Shaomang Xuan scoffed sinisterly.

The gigantic Suanni behind him widened its jaws as it attempted to devour Yi Yun!

Yet at that moment, a huge cauldron crashed down from the sky, hitting the Suanni like a toppling mountain!

“Bam!”

The cauldron struck the Suanni’s back directly. No matter how powerful the Suanni’s body was, the flesh on its back could only be ruptured by the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s blow. It let out a tragic cry!

“You!?”

The Suanni was a manifestation of Shaomang Xuan’s lifeblood, so its injury turned his face pale. With a loud bellow, he shot out nine bone spikes at Yi Yun!

However, Yi Yun simply waved his hand to turn the space around him sticky. The nine bone spikes seemed to enter a marsh as they decelerated rapidly!

Shaomang Xuan was alarmed. Not only were the bone spikes affected, even his motions were heavily affected. It was as though the space around him had turned extremely sticky!

The power of a domain?

Shaomang Xuan immediately identified it as Yi Yun’s domain.

Back in the Divine Perish Hall and primeval universe, Yi Yun had absorbed large amounts of nebulous Primordial Chaos. He had infused the nebulous Primordial Chaos into his Destruction domain, and by fusing Primordial Chaos with Destruction, he made his domain unassailable.

“Your lifeblood is indeed powerful, allowing you to fend me off in direct combat.” Yi Yun looked at Shaomang Xuan and sneered. “However, I do not only cultivate my body. I’m a human. I had yet to use my nomological powers!”

As Yi Yun spoke, the Primordial Destruction domain rapidly contracted as the heavy space began crushing Shaomang Xuan’s body, producing disgusting cracking sounds.

Shaomang Xuan’s muscles bulged as he did his best to resist the Primordial Destruction domain. He was a peerless genius of the Fey race after all. His powerful body had transcended a Lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation, so with it, he managed to withstand the Primordial Destruction domain.

“Ka Ka Ka!”

Fine cracks appeared in the space within the domain due to Shaomang Xuan’s struggles.

But at that moment, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s lid opened and spewed forth a flood of black fire!

The black fire gushed out like the sea, burning through everything. It was none other than Yi Yun’s Heretical God Fire Seed!

Shaomang Xuan had just extricated himself from the Primordial Destruction domain only to find himself amid a sea of fire. His golden scales were being burned black by the Heretical God Fire Seed as they began rupturing!

There was no end to it!

Shaomang Xuan was infuriated, but at that moment, his face sank. He saw Yi Yun already standing behind a voluptuous woman.

This woman was none other than Yao Rao!

The sudden coldness that inundated Yao Rao made her turn pale!

She turned her head immediately, only to meet Yi Yun’s ice-cold stare!

“Ah!”

Yao Rao screamed as her body trembled. There was only terror in her eyes. However, Yi Yun’s killing intent locked onto her, preventing her from moving at all.

This human was like a devil. Only when facing his killing intent did she realize how minute she was and the horror he represented.

“Young Master, save me!”

Yao Rao never expected Yi Yun to suppress Shaomang Xuan. Against such a powerful opponent, all she felt was despair. She used all her strength just to break out of the binds of Yi Yun’s killing intent, only to let out a trembling cry. However, Shaomang Xuan was still embroiled in the sea of flames. He could not save her.

Yi Yun raised his hand.

“I said I would kill you in thirty seconds.”

“How dare you!” Shaomang Xuan charged out of the sea of flames suddenly. But at the same time, Yi Yun struck out with his fist!

“Bam!”

Yi Yun’s punch hit Yao Rao straight in the chest as her voluptuous body exploded upon contact. The remnants of her body flew out and smashed into a boulder.

“Boom!”

The boulder shattered as what was left of Yao Rao was a heap of shattered bones with blood flowing out of every orifice.

“I… I…”

Yao Rao reached out her hand, looking at Yi Yun with eyes filled with horror and indignation. She had never imagined that she would be killed by Yi Yun right in front of her young master!

1594 - : Thirty Seconds

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yao Rao’s death left everyone deadly silent!

The clansmen of the Shaomang clan and Shan Ling looked at this scene in shock.

Shan Ling’s adulation of Shaomang Xuan went deep into her being. Although she knew Yi Yun was extraordinarily powerful from her shared trip with him, she never expected Yi Yun to be able to repress Shaomang Xuan.

Shaomang Xuan looked at Yao Rao’s corpse as a voice that did not seem human emitted from his throat. It sounded like a Fey beast’s roar, “I’ll rip you apart!”

“Ka Ka Ka Ka!”

Amid a dull thunderous boom, Shaomang Xuan began to swell crazily. He had already transformed into a half-Fey like appearance, but at that moment, his body grew twice in height. His limbs became more muscular as his muscles bulged up. The veins were so tightly packed across his muscles that they seemed to contain terrifying power.

“Young Master!” Upon seeing Shaomang Xuan’s body undergo such a transformation, all the members of the Shaomang family clan were shocked. This was Shaomang Xuan’s second Fey manifestation!

Only descendants of powerful Fey with extremely pure bloodlines were capable of second Fey manifestations. It also drained the Origins power within their Fey cores.

Shaomang Xuan was truly infuriated to use such a power.

“Wu Wu Wu!”

As the muscles on Shaomang Xuan’s back squirmed and let out a dull and heavy reverberating sound, sharp bones began to bore out of his flesh. Then, they spread apart and formed two gruesome bone wings.

Not only so, Shaomang Xuan’s expression was undergoing changes as well.

His pupils turned into golden vertical slights as his gaze turned ferocious. A sharp, forked tongue grew out of his mouth as his teeth extended beyond his lips.

At that moment, Shaomang Xuan no longer looked anything like a human. His body had swelled into that of a metallic tower. He was completely an erected Fey of ferocity!

As Shaomang Xuan completed his Fey manifestation, his aura also turned extremely beastly and violent.

He ground his teeth and looked at Yi Yun with immense killing intent. “Yi Yun, I’m going to tear off your flesh piece by piece and skin you alive. You’ve cultivated in body-tempering arts so you will die slower than most human Divine Lords. That’s just perfect. Otherwise, merely killing you would be going far too easy on you!”

Yi Yun frowned and said, “After turning ugly, even your words sound unpleasant.”

The bone wings on Shaomang Xuan’s back shook before wrapping around his body. He charged straight out of the Heretical God Fire and although the surface of his wings were slightly charred, it was obvious that Shaomang Xuan thought nothing of it.

Boom!

Yi Yun struck out his palm forward to block the impending blow, and right in front of him was the huge claw of Shaomang Xuan. Spatial rifts had been torn open along the periphery of the claw but between the massive claw and Yi Yun’s palm was a blob of gray nebulous Primordial Chaos.

Primordial Chaos laws!

Shaomang Xuan’s massive head emerged out from his claws as the corners of his mouth suffused a sinister grin. His mouth which was lined with sharp fangs suddenly widened as he bit down at Yi Yun. “I’ll swallow you!”

A momentary sense of danger flashed across Yi Yun’s heart. With a twist of his body, he immediately appeared by the Li Water’s lakeside, leaving the spot he was previously standing on a void. Shaomang Xuan had bitten down on empty space.

Shaomang Xuan chewed as viscous liquid dripped out of the gaps in his teeth. The drops left corrosive marks in the air, and when they hit the ground they immediately withered a large swath of vegetation.

With a single bite, he had torn apart space like a canvas. His spit even contained lethal venom. Shaomang Xuan was indeed powerful.

Boom!

Shaomang Xuan’s terrifying body also landed with a thud, causing the entire ground to tremble. One of his hind claws stepped on a boulder and instantly crushed it to pieces instantly with a loud crack.

The Fey were not skilled when it came to laws, but they were the most potent in bloodlines and bodies.

To Shaomang Xuan, humans were weak and puny. He could could easily hold a human tight and turn them into meat paste with a single claw.

“Roar!”

With a loud roar, both his claws fiercely stomped on the ground, blasting open two deep craters in the ground. At the same time, Shaomang Xuan hurled towards Yi Yun like a small mountain!

The two giant claws extended towards Yi Yun from two directions at the same time. He was going to rip open Yi Yun from the middle!

Boom!

The giant claws struck Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi protective shield, but Shaomang Xuan did not stop at all. He continued pummeling down with both his massive claws in a barrage of attacks.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

In the blink of an eye, the Shaomang Xuan had already delivered over a hundred blows. The ground around Yi Yun was already in ruins, bestrewn by terrifying cavities which were a result of the aftershocks.

Shan Ling watched from mid-air. Compared to the terrifying and grisly build of Shaomang Xuan, Yi Yun appeared like a tiny boat in a tumultuous storm at sea. He appeared extremely weak.

Yi Yun’s eyes narrowed slightly. The Fey’s brute strength was indeed terrifying. As one of the most outstanding members of the Fey, the strength of his body had already reached an astonishing level.

In contrast, although Yi Yun cultivated in the Dragon Emperor Technique and had the Dragon Emperor bloodline, he had no way of competing with Shaomang Xuan in the aspect of bodies.

“My body-tempering is still too weak. If I had a body as powerful as this Shaomang Xuan, together with my nomological powers, I wonder what level of strength would I reach.”

Yi Yun’s expression turned cold as he heard the explosions around him.

At this moment, the tail behind Shaomang Xuan fiercely lashed out at Yi Yun. The space between Yi Yun and him emitted a sound as though it was groaning under the hardly bearable strength. Even the nebulous Primordial Chaos forming a barrier in front of Yi Yun paused!

At this moment, Yi Yun stretched out his hand and reached towards Shaomang Xuan’s tail.

A sinister smile flashed across Shaomang Xuan’s eyes. Compared to his tail, the size of Yi Yun’s palm was as small as an insect. It wasn’t even worth mentioning.

However, suddenly, Shaomang Xuan’s pupils contracted. He abruptly felt his movements slow down as he watched helplessly as Yi Yun’s hand passed through the nebulous Primordial Chaos and grabbed his tail.

Yi Yun did not seem to use much force, but a simple grab from him made Shaomang Xuan’s expression change drastically.

Cracks suddenly appeared under Yi Yun’s palm as the flesh he held began to shrivel up. Furthermore, it constantly extended up Shaomang Xuan’s tail!

What is that!?

“The power of decay? The laws of time?” Shaomang Xuan was alarmed. The laws that humans had mastered were abstruse and unpredictable. And Yi Yun’s powers were directly eating away at his body!

Even though the strength of a Fey’s body was astonishing, they would ultimately age and weaken to the point of reducing to a pool of flesh and blood, eventually turning to bones. No matter what it was, nothing could withstand the power of time.

Only then did he realize that there was a small azure lamp floating beside Yi Yun. It looked unremarkable, but it seemed ethereal and distant.

Boom!

All of the muscles in Shaomang Xuan’s body stirred and, with an angry roar, his body finally regained enough mobility to break free of the power’s restrains. After he frantically retreated a thousand feet away, he looked at his tail which had an inconspicuous palm print. However, around the palm print was withered flesh and blood. His bones could even be seen in certain spots!

1595 - : Second Fey Manifestation

“Young Master!”

Upon seeing this scene, members of the Shaoman clan burned with anxiety. The Fey cultivated their bodies, and once their bodies were injured they had to expend lifeblood to replenish those losses. Although it was only as portion of his tail, it was still quite a considerable loss for Shaomang Xuan.

Shaomang Xuan grabbed his tail, yanked it forcibly and pulled it out!

“Let’s join in to kill this person!”

Two Shaomang clan elders could no longer sit still. With loud roars, their aged bodies swelled like toads as they stimulated their Fey bloodlines.

However, before they could charge forward, they discovered that the sky had turned a hazy gray. The entire battlefield had been blanketed by Yi Yun’s Primordial Destruction space.

The heavy pressure left everyone’s motions stalled.

Yi Yun extended out both arms as he pointed with his index and middle fingers, gathering immense Primordial Destruction forces at his fingertips.

“Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!”

Twelve beams shot out at the two Shaomang clan elders from different directions.

The terrifying nomological powers contained within left the every member of the Shaomang family clan astounded.

Before they could even defend themselves in time, the twelve beams had already changed directions. The fact that they amassed towards Shaomang Xuan meant that Yi Yun’s target was still Shaomang Xuan!

This was the Shura Finger that Yi Yun had learned from the Divine Perish Hall. Back there, casting it just once was enough to make him feel enervated. But now, Yi Yun could already cast twelve beams simultaneously.

Ka-cha!

The void around Shaomang Xuan shattered as the beams formed a spatial black hole that devoured everything. Trapped within, Shaomang Xuan had no means to escape.

At that critical moment, Shaomang Xuan bit the tip of his tongue as all his skin ruptured. Gnarly bone spikes grew out like sprouting toadstools after a rain.

“Mystic Art—3600 Swords!”

Cha! Cha! Cha!

All the bone spikes on Shaomang Xuan’s body shot out at once. Powered by robust lifeblood forces, they shattered all of Yi Yun’s Shura Finger beams. The bone spikes which were augmented by potent energies continued flying in an indomitable fashion, redirecting themselves at Yi Yun.

In a blink of an eye, the situation reversed. It went from a trapped Shaomang Xuan to him aiming 3600 bone spikes at Yi Yun!

This was already Shaomang Xuan’s killer move. As the Shaomang family clan’s strongest genius, it had been years since he was forced into such a predicament. This attack was one that damaged the enemy while dealing nearly the same damage to oneself!

But at that moment, a black gigantic wheel appeared beneath Yi Yun’s feet. It was as though it was a spinning disk of fate. Thousands of Demon Gods within it struggled as they roared, causing destructive forces to surge out.

The wheel’s diameter spanned a few kilometers as it completely blanketed the surrounding space. When compared to the wheel, the 3600 bone spikes were like toothpicks in front of a palace. They were negligible!

“Puah!”

All the bone spikes were overwhelmed by the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. Once injected with the potent destructive forces, the bone spikes shattered one after another.

Shaomang Xuan’s body quaked as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Each of the 3600 bone spikes was linked to his lifeblood, but now, they had been decimated by Yi Yun!

“You!”

Shaomang Xuan’s eyes turned bloodshot as though he had gone deranged. Yet, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence did not lose its momentum as it came crashing down on him.

“Young Master!”

All the disciples of the Shaomang family clan were alarmed by this scene. They could not allow Shaomang Xuan to die here. All of them transformed into their Fey manifestations, prepared to charge into the Primordial Destruction domain to save Shaomang Xuan. But at that moment, the Azure Lamp of Time had already appeared above all their heads.

The azure lamp spun as it pulsed with a dim glow. Everyone felt time seem to slow down without end as their motions became extremely retarded.

And as this happened, Shaomang Xuan had already been devoured by the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. His body was situated in the middle of the wheel.

“Ah!”

Shaomang Xuan let out a frantic bellow, but as the wheel spun, it crushed his body like a massive grinder.

Simultaneously, a cauldron burning with black flames slammed straight at the wheel’s core with a hefty force.

“Boom!”

There was a loud boom, then the entire world seemed to turn silent in an instant. At the middle of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was Shaomang Xuan’s skeleton, broken into pieces!

“Cha!”

The cold and ruthless Mirage Snow stabbed into Shaomang Xuan’s throat at the very last moment.

With the ice-cold Mirage Snow in hand, Yi Yun looked at Shaomang Xuan. Compared to Shaomang Xuan’s colossal body, Yi Yun’s full height only reached Shaomang Xuan’s chest.

Shaomang Xuan’s face was already grotesque, and now it was also filled with pain, indignation, and hatred.

“The Shaomang family clan will ensure you… die without a proper burial…”

Just as Shaomang Xuan said that, the Mirage Snow in Yi Yun’s hand slashed across his neck.

“Puah!”

A gigantic head flew up as blood spurted tens of meters tall. Following that, the body and head were devoured by the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. All the lifeblood powers were absorbed by the Demon Gods in the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Yi Yun took a deep breath. Although it was a certainty that he defeated Shaomang Xuan, it was not easy for him. He had exhausted more than half his strength. It was a battle that he had given his all to.

Ever since he transcended the ninth-stage Lightning Tribulation, this was the first time he was combating at full strength. Shaomang Xuan did live up to the claim of being invincible under the Godly Monarch realm in a certain way.

“This human killed Young Master!”

The Shaomang clan disciples were alarmed when they saw Shaomang Xuan’s head lopped off by Yi Yun.

Shan Ling’s face turned as white as a sheet.

Never in her wildest dreams did she expect that the outcome of getting a random human youth who she encountered in the Xuanyuan Dune to bring her to the God Confusion Valley would be Shaomang Xuan’s murder!

She originally believed she had overestimated Yi Yun, but Yi Yun’s strength had far exceeded her imagination.

Yi Yun looked coldly at the Shaomang clansmen in front of him, his Mirage Snow still stained with blood.

It was the perfect time for him to silence all of them.

However, it was too difficult!

“Let’s go! Let’s report the news of Young Master’s death to the family clan,” said an elder from the Shaomang family clan. He clearly sensed Yi Yun’s intentions.

Yi Yun knitted his brows as he slashed out with Mirage Snow.

“Cha!”

A stark black sword beam which seemed like it was pulling everything in the world into darkness shot out.

At that moment, the two leading elders of the Shaomang family clan burned their blood essence.

“Boom!”

Like two erupting volcanoes, the darkness was illuminated by the boiling lifeblood as though it was melting.

“Escape in different directions! Spread the news and seek revenge for Young Master!” said the elder rapidly.

There were many clansmen from the Shaomang family clan present, with no lack of Fey Lords among them. Therefore, if they were bent on escaping, the difficulty of retaining them was a lot harder than killing Shaomang Xuan.

Furthermore, Yi Yun was no longer at peak state. He had greatly expended his lifeblood and Yuan Qi. Adding to that was the fact that there was no Heaven Earth Yuan Qi to invigorate him in the God Confusion Valley. Energy spent could only be regained with Chaos Ores.

If he were to recklessly chase after them and encounter a Godly Monarch who was answering the call for help, there was no way for Yi Yun to escape.

With this in mind, Yi Yun gave up as he watched all of them escape. He also knew that he had made the Shaomang family clan his enemy by killing Shaomang Xuan today.

1596 - : 3600 Swords

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was already mentally prepared to be the Shaomang clan’s enemy. He knew it was inevitable when Shaomang Xuan showed killing intent toward him.

In the martial world, it was only right for powerful factions to eliminate weaker factions. However, if the weaker faction were to put up a resistance, they would completely cross the powerful faction and only invite fatal trouble on themselves.

Yi Yun thought nothing of the matter. He did not mind offending the Shaomang clan.

Meanwhile, the members of the Shaomang clan had all escaped. At the final moment, no one dared attack Shan Ling. They were still uncertain of her relationship with Yi Yun and were afraid that he might seek revenge for her.

Yi Yun looked at Shan Ling. As Shaomang Xuan’s maidservant, she was actually destined to end up with a tragic fate.

“I can bring you out of here. As for your future, decide that for yourself. Of course, you can try to seek revenge against me. In that case, I can send you to accompany Shaomang Xuan.”

Upon hearing Yi Yun, Shan Ling let out a tragic laugh. Shaomang Xuan’s actions had chilled her heart. Furthermore, his death was a result of his killing intent. She naturally did not hate Yi Yun, but regardless, Shaomang Xuan was once her mental crutch. With him dead, Shan Ling felt lost.

“There will be people coming here soon. We have to leave immediately.”

Perhaps there were more treasures in the Li Water, but Yi Yun had no means to explore it. In the God Confusion Valley, there was no lack of opportunities. What truly mattered was living on to obtain and hold on to those opportunities.

As Yi Yun spoke, the God Advent Tower had already appeared in front of him. If Shan Ling continued her daze, he would decisively abandon her.

However, Shan Ling chose to silently enter the God Advent Tower.

Yi Yun’s body phased away as he vanished instantly.

In one breath, he flew nearly five hundred kilometers away. In the God Confusion Valley where one’s perception was screened, it was impossible to track anyone beyond a five hundred kilometer radius.

Yi Yun found an uninhabited valley. He set up a concealment array at its entrance and immediately entered it to begin his meditation.

He had expended a great deal during his battle with Shaomang Xuan. However, he had gained quite a lot from it.

At that moment, Yi Yun held a spatial artifact in the form of a bracelet. It was the interspatial artifact which Shaomang Xuan had carried.

Yi Yun would naturally not miss out on taking Shaomang Xuan’s collection after killing him.

“I wonder what’s inside…”

With a thought, Yi Yun wiped out the lifeblood mark on the interspatial bracelet. He then used the Purple Crystal to probe it to ensure that there was no tracing mark on it. Yi Yun then took out one item after another.

There were a total of twenty exquisite white-jade chests. He opened the first few and found that they were filled with refined ores. Combined they amounted to more than five thousand kilograms. Back on the Taixia ore-mining spirit cruiser, Songyue had only given him her prized collection—five kilograms of refined ores. All the wealth he had taken from Cang Gu did not even equal 400 kilograms. Compared to Shaomang Xuan, their collections paled in comparison.

There was a huge chest that contained bottles of pills. They held restorative medicine used by Fey, lifeblood pills, etc. Yi Yun had a Dragon Emperor bloodline while the Shaomang’s totem was a Suanni—one of the nine sons of the dragon. These pills were naturally something he could use.

“Oh? This is…”

Yi Yun saw a tiny wooden chest that resembled a woman’s makeup box in the medicinal chest. It looked unadorned and was made of an unknown material.

“It’s Stellar Moon Nanmu. This material is only available in the Chaos Heavens. It can ensure that divine medicine retains its medicinal effects even after hundreds of millions of years. Such material is extremely precious. Just this box alone is worth thousands of kilograms of refined ores.”

Bai Yueyin’s voice sounded in Yi Yun’s soul sea.

“Oh?” Yi Yun’s expression changed as he looked forward to the items within.

When he opened the box, it emitted sparkles that resembled that of gems.

It was not divine medicine, but… Chaos Crystals!

“They are extremely pure superior-grade Chaos Crystals. The quality of these Chaos Crystals are much better than the one used at the entrance of the God Confusion Valley,” added Bai Yueyin.

Over the past few days, Yi Yun also learned of the method to create Chaos Crystals.

Such superior-grade Chaos Crystals were the result of processing Chaos refined ores with special techniques. They were placed in arrays to absorb the worldly essence and after tens of thousands of years of incubation and tempering, they would be refined by Crystal Refinement Grandmasters.

In the end, only one Chaos Crystal would be produced by using 3500 kilograms of refined ores.

Together with the losses made from refinement, as well as the Crystal Refinement Grandmaster fees and the incubation time, a Chaos Crystal was worth about 5000 kilograms of refined ores.

“From the looks of it, these refined ores are Shaomang Xuan’s spare cash. The Chaos Crystals in this box make up the bulk of Shaomang Xuan’s wealth.”

Bai Yueyin said, “Chaos Crystals should be very precious to Shaomang Xuan as well. With his stature, he would mainly cultivate with refined ores. He would have to conserve his Chaos Crystals or he could not afford the expenditure.”

Yi Yun nodded. “Oh? There are still things in this box…”

Yi Yun saw a blood-colored jade slip at the bottom of the Stellar Moon Nanmu box. He injected his perception into it and saw a Suanni with its claws and fangs bared.

Upon seeing the Suanni, Yi Yun felt his lifeblood boil over. It was as though it was about to burst out because of the image on it.

This was a Contemplation Picture!?

Yi Yun instantly realized that the blood-colored jade slip could very well be the Shaomang family clan’s cultivation technique that was passed down over the generations. Shaomang Xuan carried it along with him to study it, so it naturally meant it was nothing trivial.

“This cultivation technique is not bad. It’s probably only a portion of the whole heritage, but the Shaomang family clan will definitely want it back at all costs,” said Bai Yueyin.

Such family clan cultivation techniques could be destroyed since the family clan’s Grand Elder could draw them again. However, if they were to land in the hands of others, that would be a vendetta that could not be erased.

Yi Yun said, “They would not spare me even without the Contemplation Picture. It doesn’t matter having another reason to pursue me.”

Regardless, he had made a killing from killing Shaomang Xuan.

Yi Yun put away all the treasures and only left one Chaos Crystal out of the box. It floated in front of him as he began powering his Dragon Emperor Technique. Large amounts of essence Qi surged out of the Chaos Crystal and infused Yi Yun’s lifeblood, replenishing his energy stores.

The feeling of cultivating with a Chaos Crystal was like soaking himself in a pool of ambrosia. All his pores opened up as he freely absorbed the ambrosia and enjoyed the pinnacle pleasures of life.

Yi Yun only felt that, as the Chaos Crystal energies surged into him, his lifeblood was experiencing a catharsis. The foul Qi in his muscles were expelled as he felt extreme pleasure.

Two hours later, the Chaos Crystal turned a lot dimmer. As for Yi Yun, he was bursting with energy as his eyes sparkled.

This only replenished his physical strength, but following that, the tiny black wheel which floated in his dantian began to stir up an energy vortex.

The moment the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence appeared, the energies within the Chaos Crystal were expended even faster. In just an hour, the Chaos Crystal lost all its luster and, with a light crack, it was reduced to gray dust.

That was all…

Yi Yun looked at the gray ashes in his hand and felt wistful. He had only barely recovered to his pinnacle state.

The energies contained within the Chaos Crystal were much more than thousands of kilograms of refined ores.

However, the quality of the energy was incomparable.

Yi Yun discovered that his strength had improved a little from the restorative process!

A warrior’s dantian and body were like reservoirs. Yuan Qi and lifeblood powers were the sources of water. If the water was drained, using Heaven Earth Yuan Qi or refined ores to replenish it would be akin to filling up the reservoir with water. However, Yi Yun felt that replenishing with Chaos Crystals seemed to deepen the reservoir by a little.

Although it was only a little, that was still rare. After all, Yi Yun was already at the Divine Lord realm with an especially robust foundation. Every improvement was extremely difficult!

If he were to solely use Chaos Crystals to cultivate in the future, the speed of his improvements would increase to a brand new level. Of course, the expenditure required would be an astronomical number that even a huge family clan could not afford.

“There are still fifteen Chaos Crystals. I’ll cultivate a few more times before deciding on the future.”

Since it was wealth he robbed, Yi Yun did not feel the pinch using it.

1597 - : Strength Improvement

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s cultivation lasted an entire day and night. During this period, Yi Yun activated the Azure Lamp of Time and under its effects, he cultivated for two months.

By the time Yi Yun finished cultivating, he had used nine out of the fifteen Chaos Crystals, leaving himself six.

In these two months, Yi Yun spent most of the time cultivating the Suanni Contemplative Picture. Any lifeblood expenditures were replenished with Chaos Crystals. Yi Yun’s strength would raise a little every time he experienced a full restoration.

In terms of quality, the Suanni Contemplative Picture was inferior to the Dragon Emperor Technique, but their focuses were different. The Dragon Emperor Technique was a cultivation technique used to raise one’s lifeblood powers.

However, the Suanni Contemplative Picture contained moves in it. Merely having powerful lifeblood without knowing any moves made one’s combat strength naturally limited.

While the azure lamp spun, Yi Yun took out another Chaos Crystal. Yi Yun was bent on obtaining the huge opportunities in the inner valley. However, since he had offended the Shaomang family clan, it was crucial he raise his strength. Life came first before everything else.

At this moment…

With a boom, the ground quaked violently as a terrifying energy blast erupted from afar. Yi Yun’s heart stirred as he flew out of his seclusion ground.

He saw that an energy blast had swept past an area tens of kilometers away. The land was in disarray and the might of the terrifying energy blast left him shaking.

Yi Yun focused his gaze and saw a black fog surging into the sky. There was a ghostly aura billowing as a gigantic ghost banner descended from the sky. It was as though the sky was blotted out by a black screen that enveloped everything.

But at that moment, limitless nomological light gathered together and formed a nomological sword which tore through the ghost screen completely!

This was… a battle between Godly Monarchs!? Energy blasts that could left him so astounded had to be a result of Godly Monarchs.

“These are moves from humans or ghosts,” said Bai Yueyin. Yi Yun had already guessed it without Bai Yueyin mentioning it. It was likely Taixia’s Godly Monarch Divineheart who was fighting an unknown mighty figure of the Ghost race.

For two Godly Monarchs to engage in such an intense battle, it was likely that they had discovered an incredible treasure.

“I wonder what they are fighting for.” Yi Yun was intrigued.

And at that moment, he discovered a group of human warriors being chased by a monster which was hundreds of feet long.

The monster resembled a gigantic squid. Its body was covered in eyes and each eye looked different. It was as though it could suck the souls of people into them.

“It’s a Thousand-eyed Tapir!” said Bai Yueyin. “They are ghostly beings nurtured by the Ghost race. Every time it kills a Divine Lord, it will grow an eye. The killed Divine Lords are unable to rest in peace as their souls are sealed within the eyes, to be tormented continuously until they are turned into wraiths and lose their memories. They then become used by the Thousand-eyed Tapir. Nurturing a Thousand-eyed Tapir is an extremely vile mystic art. One can nurture a Hundred-eyed Tapir to a Thousand-eyed Tapir, or even a Myriad-eyed Tapir. A Myriad-eyed Tapir has the strength of a Godly Monarch.”

“To not be able to rest in peace after being killed. The Ghost race’s mystic arts sure are ruthless.” Yi Yun placed himself in the shoes of victims. To be devoured by a Thousand-eyed Tapir was truly a life worse than death.

And at the instant he had such a thought, he saw the Thousand-eyed Tapir devour a human disciple. He let out a heart-wrenching cry but, no matter how he struggled, he was like a pebble that fell into a huge lake. It did not cause so much as a stir.

“Martial Nephew Li! Darn it!”

An azure-clothed middle-aged man held a black rule as he struck down with it in a bid to save the disciple. However, his attack was blocked off by a strange beam which emitted from the Thousand-eyed Tapir’s eyes. It failed to be of any use.

“It’s Steward Zhou.”

Yi Yun noticed that the person using the rule was none other than Steward Zhou. The human contingent which Godly Monarch Divineheart lead was naturally from the Taixia Ancient Mining. It was only natural to see Steward Zhou.

Steward Zhou was not weak, but he was facing a Thousand-eyed Tapir which was nurtured by a Godly Monarch from the Ghost race. It had eight thousand eyes and was not far from reaching ten thousand eyes.

“Ah—Ah—”

The Thousand-eyed Tapir let out shrieks as twelve wisps of black mists spewed out of its body. In a blink of an eye, the black mist transformed into black-robed Ghost warriors. Their bodies were entirely black and the only distinguishing area was at their glabellas, where there was a red eye the size of a fist.

The moment the eye appeared, it spewed out red light like a blood fountain.

“Phuah! Phuah!”

Taixia disciples were penetrated by the red beams as they let out tragic cries before falling to the ground. Their flesh and blood withered at discernible speeds.

Yi Yun saw this scene from nearby and could not help but feel his heart palpitate. The battle techniques of the Ghost race were completely different from that of humans.

Furthermore, these Ghost warriors did not have corporeal bodies. Yi Yun saw that when the human Divine Lords counterattacked, the Ghost warriors would fly back into the Thousand-eyed Tapir. The Thousand-eyed Tapir was like an invincible tank that ferried them around.

Yi Yun did not rashly charge into the fray given the situation in front of him. He felt no sense of belonging toward the Taixia. It did not treat him particularly well, so it was pointless helping them. The only thing he cared about was what kind of treasure the Taixia and the mysterious Ghost Thearch were fighting over.

“Taixia is likely about to lose!” Yi Yun judged the situation. Now, it all depended on Godly Monarch Divineheart to turn the tides of battle. However, Yi Yun had little hopes for him when he saw the ghostly auras in the sky that resembled an abyssal hell.

Bai Yueyin said, “It is hard for Ghost warriors to cultivate. The cultivation techniques they had while still alive were extremely weak. In order to cultivate Ghost race cultivation techniques, many Ghost race geniuses get married in their teens. They then commit suicide after having a child so as to convert their cultivation to a Ghost race mystic technique.

“They leave behind a descendant only to ensure the continuity of their race. And in the million or ten million years after they become a soul, they would no longer know the joy that food and sex brings, much less be able to reproduce. They naturally gain a lot from sacrificing so much. They can live longer and their combat strength is higher than human warriors at the same level.

“I know you are trying to fish in troubled waters, but it will be very difficult. Once you attempt to snatch the treasure, you will incur the fury of two Godly Monarchs. Things will quickly go south if you become their common enemy.”

Bai Yueyin exhorted Yi Yun, but at that moment, the members of the Taixia Ancient Mining also noticed Yi Yun.

They were frantically escaping when they suddenly saw Yi Yun standing nearby. All of them were alarmed.

Back when the Taixia Ancient Mining separated from Yi Yun, they had seen him enter the God Confusion Valley alone. They believed that without any faction protecting him, Yi Yun ‘s venture was doomed. They never expected to see him looking perfectly fine in the inner valley.

Furthermore, Yi Yun was still alone. Did he reach the inner valley all alone!?

“How can this punk be here!?”

The person who spoke was Zhou Fang, Steward Zhou’s cousin. Back then, it was to Zhou Fang’s credit that Yi Yun was labeled a spy. However, due to Godly Monarch Celestial Peng’s presence, it gave Yi Yun an opportunity to leave without any problems.

1598 - : Thousand-eyed Tapir

CKtalon  CKtalon

“That’s Yi Yun!”

While engaging in a fight-and-retreat pursuit, the Taixia Ancient Mining warriors exchanged voice transmissions.

“This punk has really hidden his strength. Although we already knew he was not simple, we never expected him to reach the inner valley alone!” Zhou Fang had an ugly expression. Even the Taixia Ancient Mining had lost some disciples on their journey into the inner valley. Godly Monarch Divineheart was also unable to protect everyone. Therefore, it was inevitable that some disciples perished as they reaped resources along the way.

They had a Godly Monarch protecting them, but even so, they were left in wretched states when fighting the Ghosts. Zhou Fang obviously felt pissed seeing Yi Yun standing there watching their battle like their troubles had nothing to do with him.

“I have to divert the trouble. I can’t let this punk stay comfortable. He has hidden strength, so he can share some of the pressure for us!” Zhou Fang rapidly said to a few trusted disciples.

They immediately understood his intentions and changed directions together with Zhou Fang and flew toward Yi Yun.

Behind them, there were five Ghost cyclops. All of them had Ghost Lord cultivation levels and were locked in a relentless pursuit!

“Martial Nephew Yi, well done. I never expected you to reunite with us in the inner valley so soon. Quick, receive us!” Zhou Fang shouted from afar.

Yi Yun was originally from the Taixia Ancient Mining and shared the same race. There was no need to act. Besides, Yi Yun was naturally extraordinary to have reached the inner valley alone. Perhaps, they could find an opportunity to reverse the combat situation with Yi Yun helping.

As the distance between them drew closer, the five Ghost warriors also diverted their attention onto Yi Yun because of Zhou Fang’s words.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly grinned. “Who did you say is receiving you?

“I’ll receive you right now!”

Yi Yun roared as all his lifeblood powers erupted like a volcano!

Ang!

A loud dragon’s roar shot to the highest firmaments. At that instant, a gigantic divine dragon phantom appeared behind Yi Yun. His lifeblood powers were as deep and vast as the ocean. It caused one’s blood to boil!

The tremendous lifeblood pressure made Zhou Fang’s fellow disciples feel as though they had crashed into a wall!

And at that moment, Yi Yun held the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and smashed it right at Zhou Fang!

Nine Stances of the Ascending Dragon—Reverse Scale!

With Yi Yun’s Dragon Emperor bloodline, his usage of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron as a weapon was like sending meteors to the ground. And right at the impact site was Zhou Fang!

Zhou Fang was appalled. He believed that even if Yi Yun felt aggrieved, he would keep mum and help fend off the attacks for them due to the urgency of the situation.

He never expected that as a human and a member of the Taixia Ancient Mining, Yi Yun would so blatantly attack them while Godly Monarch Divineheart was around!

“Yi Yun, you have a death wish!”

Zhou Fang was only able to say that before he faced the Ascending Dragon Cauldron’s impending blow.

With his life on the line, Zhou Fang was only able to swipe the black saber in his hand to fend it off!

“Bam!”

With a loud explosion and energetic blasts, Zhou Fang felt his arm quake violently. He nearly dislocated his arm as Yi Yun’s potent lifeblood powers together with the Dragon Emperor Technique pounded Zhou Fang’s organs. He spat out blood from his severe injuries!

“Ah!”

Zhou Fang cried out tragically as his body was sent flying away. But right behind him were the five Ghost Lords!

They had drawn energies from the Thousand-eyed Tapir and were at peak conditions. They originally believed that Yi Yun was here to reinforce the humans and were planning to attack. They also turned stupefied, having never expected the sudden turn of events.

However, they were ghosts after all. Their emotional upheavals were more subdued than humans. After just a thousandth of a second of hesitation, they attacked!

“Whew Whew Whew Whew!”

Five grisly red beams of light shot towards Zhou Fang and company.

“Puah Puah Puah!”

The red beams of light penetrated the hearts of the Taixia disciples from behind. All of the disciples around Zhou Fang died tragically.

As for Zhou Fang, he was slightly stronger. He managed to avoid having his vital spots penetrated at the critical moment, but his arm and thigh were penetrated by two beams of red light.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Zhou Fang screamed. In a blink of an eye, his injured thigh and arm began to wither and shrink. His vitality was rapidly depleting!

Ghost warrior attacks contained a corrosive force.

He clenched his teeth and slashed with his black saber, immediately severing his injured arm and thigh. Instantly, blood splattered as Zhou Fang’s dismembered limbs withered into dried pieces of meat in mid-air.

“You… You…”

The corners of Zhou Fang’s mouth was stained with blood. He did not hate the Ghost warriors; instead, he hated Yi Yun.

Having lost a limb and a leg, with no way to reattach them, his strength would greatly drop even if he survived the day!

“You dare attack me? How extremely foolish of you. Do you think you have the right to become a minion of the Ghosts?”

Ghosts had always been exclusive. Humans and Fey could still share common ties as there was only a racial difference. But between humans and ghosts, they were separated by life and death.

After hopping onto the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, Yi Yun looked at Zhou Fang and sneered, “You think too highly of yourself. I just found you a sore sight and wanted to kill you. It’s just that simple.”

As Yi Yun spoke, a blue sword appeared in his hand. He aimed its tip at Zhou Fang as killing intent bore down on him.

A look of horror immediately appeared in Zhou Fang’s eyes. He had already lost an arm and leg. Yet, Yi Yun was still bent on exterminating him?

Godly Monarch Divineheart was still around!

“Since I’ve offended you, I might as well wipe you out, right?”

As Yi Yun spoke, he slashed out with his sword.

“Cha!”

A cold beam containing destructive forces stabbed at Zhou Fang.

“You!”

Zhou Fang was alarmed. He brandished his black saber to fend off the attack, but having lost two limbs, he had lost a great deal of energy. He was unable to use even half his powers, so the difference between him and Yi Yun was just too great.

“Peng!”

The black saber in his hand was sent flying as Mirage Snow did not lose any momentum. Like a snake ejecting its tongue, it stabbed straight into Zhou Fang’s throat.

The sword paused as a rain of blood sprayed out. Zhou Fang’s head flew up hundreds of feet high, and that was the end of him!

Yi Yun reached out and grabbed Zhou Fang’s interspatial ring.

Meanwhile, Yi Yun had already sensed a killing intent lock onto him.

He turned back and saw that it was Steward Zhou!

“Yi Yun, you killed Zhou Fang!?”

Steward Zhou had just engaged in an intense battle with a Ghost Lord. He had sent his opponent retreating, but was unable to save Zhou Fang. In just a few seconds, Zhou Fang was already dead.

Zhou Fang was his cousin after all. Although the familial ties were not deep in a large family clan, it was not okay to allow Yi Yun to kill a family member.

“He wanted to harm me and I killed him. There’s nothing wrong with that,” said Yi Yun calmly.

Steward Zhou frowned, but at that moment, he did not dare fight Yi Yun. The dangers of the Ghosts were still looming while Yi Yun was unfathomable!

Yi Yun’s strength had far exceeded his expectations. He had traveled the outer valley alone and killed Zhou Fang in seconds!

Although Zhou Fang was inferior to him, he was not much stronger. It also meant that Yi Yun’s strength was definitely above his!

How was a junior like him this powerful? His future was practically unlimited!

The moment he thought about how he had belittled Yi Yun all this while and offended Yi Yun back when they first entered the God Confusion Valley, Steward Zhou felt deep regret.

This person was originally a member of their Taixia Ancient Mining. But now, he was almost an enemy.

1599 - : Diverting Trouble

CKtalon  CKtalon

Steward Zhou could be described as having irrevocably committed. He could not turn a blind eye to the death of a Taixia Ancient Mining steward. But even if he wanted to press the matter, he lacked the ability to do so.

“Yi Yun, you still have a contract with my Taixia! How dare you kill my Taixia’s steward?”

“So what?” Yi Yun thought nothing of it. “Taixia’s contract doesn’t force one to clean one’s neck and wait for death, does it? I obviously knew that Zhou Fang wanted my life and counterattacked. Is this in violation of the Taixia’s contract?”

The Taixia contract’s clauses were not considered overly oppressive. It was quite reasonable. If the clauses were too oppressive, Taixia itself would have long splintered. No one would sell themselves to the Taixia to be slaves.

Steward Zhou crossed words with Yi Yun while running. With Ghost experts behind him, Yi Yun was not foolish enough to believe that the Ghosts would treat him as one of theirs after his killing of Zhou Fang. Furthermore, Yi Yun had no intention of being an ally of the Ghosts.

Steward Zhou fumed from Yi Yun’s tone. With the outcome of Godly Monarch Divineheart’s battle with the Ghosts’ Godly Monarch still up in the air, it was impossible for him to hope to gain Divineheart’s help.

He could not just continue fleeing, either. The members of the Taixia Ancient Mining would be scattered if they continued fleeing.

Although the inner valley was not perennially covered in mist like the outer valley, the suppression effect on one’s perception was identical. If they were separated, it would be nearly impossible to reunite again.

When that happened, all the Taixia Ancient Mining would have left would likely be Godly Monarch Divineheart and a few stewards.

They would be generals without an army!

As the leader, he could not escape the blame for losing all the elites of the middle echelons in one expedition!

Steward Zhou looked at Yi Yun again and realized that Yi Yun was having an easy time escaping. Although Ghost Lords were constantly delivering attacks behind him, they were easily deflected by Yi Yun.

“This punk definitely has the strength to counterattack, but he just refuses to do so!”

With this in mind, Steward Zhou burned with furious anxiety. “Yi Yun, you are from the Taixia Ancient Mining after all. There’s still a contract in place! Not only have you not helped my Taixia, you have even slain my Taixia’s steward. Now, despite having the strength to help us fend off the Ghosts, you just watch by the sidelines. Aren’t you going overboard!?”

At that moment, Yi Yun had just fended off a red beam from a Ghost Lord. He sneered, “Steward Zhou, I do have a contract with Taixia, but you seem to be mistaken. It was not I who took the initiative to leave Taixia, but it was all of you who became certain I was a traitor and chased me away. Besides, according to the specifics of the contract I signed with the Taixia…

“The Taixia hired me as a low-ranking miner. My salary is also at the paygrade of a low-ranking miner. I can be promoted based on future performance. This contract is in effect for a century.

“Now, I’m only a low-ranking miner of the Taixia. The salary I earn from Taixia is only about five kilograms of crude ores. I have already done my duty and mined. When the time comes, I will hand over some of the ores to Taixia.

“Steward, what else do you want from me? Are you expecting to hire a warrior that can beat seven or eight Ghost Lords for just five kilograms of crude ores? And one that is willing to stay employed at that rate for a century?”

Yi Yun’s retort was clearly filled with sarcasm. Steward Zhou’s expression sank. Yi Yun was not committing himself until success was certain. He was continuing to embroil himself with the Ghosts, neither attacking or escaping. Instead, he kept following the Taixia group, obviously waiting for the highest bid!

Such an act was truly insidious!

However, Steward Zhou did not say a word. He knew that Yi Yun’s words stood on the side of reason.

His Taixia had not been good to Yi Yun either, so why would Yi Yun help them?

Furthermore, an expert who could fend off several Ghost Lords simultaneously would be an honored Elder in Taixia. And the salary given to said honored Elders was not measured with Chaos Ores.

“Nice of you!” Steward Zhou clenched his teeth and said, “What salary do you want?”

Yi Yun smiled and said, “I want Blood Essence Pills! A Blood Essence Pill that can be used by Godly Monarchs!”

“What did you say?” Steward Zhou’s heart leaped. The so-called Blood Essence Pill was a specialized pill used to replenish blood essence. Typically, high-ranking warriors would burn their blood essences under extenuating circumstances. They could then use Blood Essence Pills to replenish their blood essence.

However, it was very difficult for high-ranking human warriors to replenish their blood essences after burning through them. They needed specific precious herbs—each one priceless—that were refined with special techniques.

A Godly Monarch-ranked Blood Essence Pill basically needed a Godly Monarch Alchemist to refine it. The price was obvious.

“Don’t think so highly of yourself. So what if you easily killed Zhou Fang? You want a Godly Monarch-ranked Blood Essence Pill? What a joke! Even the salary of the few honored Elders of Taixia when they act collectively isn’t worth that much!”

If Steward Zhou was not worried that Yi Yun would not take advantage of his situation, he would have already broken out into curses. Yi Yun was really making an outrageous demand.

“Honored Elders? As long as they aren’t Godly Monarchs, they aren’t anything serious from my point of view. All I want is a Godly Monarch Blood Essence Pill. If you aren’t keen on the deal, forget it,” Yi Yun said nonchalantly.

The Godly Monarch Blood Essence Pill was naturally for Lin Xintong. It was fine even if he did not obtain it this time. He was bound to get one if he spent some time.

After saying so, Yi Yun slowly pulled away from the Taixia group. He had no intention to entertain them any further.

“How arrogant!” Steward Zhou gritted his teeth. Yi Yun’s tone implied that he disparaged Taixia’s honored Elders.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Tragic cries sounded one after another. A few more people died tragically among the escaping Taixia group.

This was the terrifying aspect of Ghosts. They were able to devour the souls of warriors from other races to strengthen their combat endurance. They did not rely on Chaos Ores as much as the others did.

If this went on, the members of the Taixia Ancient Mining was likely to be completely annihilated. It was even possible that a few stewards would perish there and then.

What use was wealth without life?

Despite knowing that Yi Yun was fishing in troubled waters, he could only give in. With this in mind, Steward Zhou clenched his teeth and said to Yi Yun, “A Nine-heart Life Rejuvenation Pill for your aid!”

Steward Zhou did not pin his hopes on Yi Yun truly fending off all the Ghosts. Just buying him time to take a breather was sufficient.

“A Nine-heart Life Rejuvenation Pill isn’t bad,” said Bai Yueyin in Yi Yun’s soul sea. There were only a handful of Godly Monarch Blood Essence Pills in the Chaos Heavens. Bai Yueyin did not expect Yi Yun to have heard of them.

“Alright!”

Yi Yun agreed immediately. He abruptly did a switch in direction as he locked onto two Ghost Lords and attacked.

The two Ghost Lords were pursuing about eight Taixia disciples. One of them had an ample bosom and a slim waist. Her clothes were a purple veil and she was Yi Yun’s superior’s superior, Purple Light Hall’s hall lord—Purple Succubus!

Back when Yi Yun first joined the Taixia, it was Purple Succubus who gave him his salary. Yi Yun chose the two Ghost Lords first also because of her. After all, they knew each other.

At that moment, Purple Succubus was nothing like her usual coquettish and alluring self. She had already witnessed the deaths of a few Taixia warriors who were hall lords just like her.

Some of them had been pierced through by the Ghost Lords’ beams and turned to desiccated flesh. Others were devoured by the Thousand-eyed Mo, having their souls trapped within to be tormented for all eternity. There were others who were swarmed by souls and eaten clean after being inflicted with severe injuries.

The way they died left her scalp tingling! Purple Succubus would rather she be completely wiped out of existence than die in such a tragic manner.

Her face was as white as a sheet and her Yuan Qi was nearly depleted. In her despair, she did not pay any notice to what was happening with Steward Zhou a few kilometers away.

A Ghost Lord had mounted a strike on her with a hundred ghosts, and just as Purple Succubus was planning to burn her blood essence to fight it out with them, a mystical cold beam flashed past her. Following that, a terrifying destructive force erupted.

“Boom!”

Space shattered as ghostly auras were swept into a destruction vortex. Haunting wails were heard as hundreds of ghosts were instantly wiped out of existence!

Furthermore, the Sword Qi did not lose its momentum as it struck the Ghost Lord’s body!

“Ah!”

The Ghost Lord let out a sharp howl. It shot out a red beam from the eye at its glabella to block the Sword Qi, but the destructive forces were artful. A wisp of destructive force traced the red beam and infiltrated its owner’s body, causing its soul body to shake violently. It seemed to suffer immense damage.

“Oh?”

The Ghost Lord’s red eyes flashed with a baleful aura as it turned its head suddenly to see Yi Yun approaching on a cauldron.

“Is shooting those ghost beams the only thing all of you are capable of? How boring.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he slashed down with Mirage Snow, and while doing so, a Dragon Emperor phantom surfaced behind him. Overwhelming lifeblood forces swept out like the ocean as they concentrated on his single strike!

The power of lifeblood hurt ghosts the most! Humans were weak in lifeblood and so were weak against ghosts. This was also why the Taixia was completely not the Ghost opponents’ matches.

“Ah!”

Two Ghost Lords raised their hands to attack Yi Yun, but as Mirage Snow slashed down, the horrifying lifeblood powers struck them ruthlessly like tidal wave. It instantly tore through their protective ghostly auras!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Yi Yun’s lifeblood force enveloped them as the two Ghost Lords seemed to burn in lava. Even with their cultivation levels, they found it impossible to resist the terrifying energies that resembled those of a burning sun.

Their souls were constantly battered and at that moment, Yi Yun had already arrived in front of them with sword in hand.

“Cha!”

With a swipe of his sword, the two heads of the Ghost Lords were lopped off!

However, Ghost warriors were dead to begin with. They were unlike humans who were dead without heads. The two Ghost Lords in front of Yi Yun still had sticky blood strands connecting the severed head to their bodies. They resembled the clinging fibers from severed lotus roots.

Through the tugging of the blood strands, their heads began to reattach.

Yi Yun sneered.

“Boom!”

Terrifying Heretical God Fire Seed blasted out as a sea of fire gathered from every direction, enveloping the two half-dead Ghost Lords.

The two Ghost Lords wailed in pain as a result of the destructive forces consuming their bodies while the Heretical God Fire Seed burned them away. In seconds, they were eviscerated into nothingness.

Yi Yun had slain two out of twelve Ghost Lords in just seconds!

Up to then, the Taixia disciples who were being pursued by the Ghost Lords were still reeling in shock. And among them, Purple Succubus was looking incredulously at the youth who had slain two Ghost Lords.

“You… You are… Yi Yun!?”

1600 - : Waiting For The Highest Bid

CKtalon  CKtalon

Purple Succubus was among the first batch of people who made contact with Yi Yun in Taixia Ancient Mining. She still remembered when he first arrived at her Purple Light Hall. The way he looked when he received crude ores was the perfect example of a rookie who knew nothing. Not only did he appear weak, but he also spoke quite servilely.

According to Purple Succubus’s experience, a disciple like Yi Yun would easily be bullied and the chances of him perishing were relatively higher.

But as she watched Yi Yun slay two Ghost Lords in one strike, he appeared completely different from before.

“Sister Purple, are you alright?”

A younger-looking woman flew toward Purple Succubus and quickly made Purple Succubus consume a bottle of pills she took out. She was Purple Succubus’s junior sister. She was already convinced that the both of them would perish here, but never expected to reunite in this life.

“He is… from your Purple Light Hall?” The woman looked at Yi Yun, but found that he did not stay for long. He had flown towards two Ghost Lords.

Purple Succubus smiled wryly. “In a sense. In the past, he was considered my subordinate, but now, his level is not something I can even touch.”

If Yi Yun continued staying in Taixia, his position could very possibly be only second to the Grand Elder.

As Purple Succubus spoke, she heard a dragon’s roar sound in the sky. Another Ghost Lord had been slashed by Yi Yun’s sword. Brimming lifeblood forces evaporated the Ghost Lord’s soul body!

How potent was the lifeblood to evaporate a Ghost Lord?

“This Yi Yun dual cultivates both in laws and body!”

Steward Zhou drew in a thick breath. To human warriors, having such powerful lifeblood forces was completely unimaginable.

Just his slaying of three Ghost Lords in a row was worth the price of a Godly Monarch Blood Essence Pill!

And in fact, the Taixia’s guest Elders at the Divine Lord level were not much stronger than the Ghost Lords they had encountered. Didn’t this mean that Yi Yun could easily kill those guest Elders like he was chopping vegetables?

Upon being suddenly assaulted by Yi Yun, these Ghost Lords also felt things were amiss.

They quickly shrank back into the Thousand-eyed Mo’s body!

In a blink of an eye, the only opponent in front of Yi Yun was the Thousand-eyed Mo.

A ghost beast with eight thousand eyes!

Although that was quite close to ten thousand eyes, it was ultimately not at that level. Once a Thousand-eyed Mo gained ten thousand eyes, it would experience a qualitative change. If that happened, the only option for Yi Yun would be to flee.

But now, Yi Yun showed no fear.

“Yi Yun, fighting against Thousand-eyed Mo is somewhat dangerous. This Thousand-eyed Mo is likely an Intrinsic Ghost Beast reared by a Ghost Thearch. Furthermore, it’s on the brink of completion. Your slaying of a few Ghost Lords can be ignored, but if you were to kill it, that Ghost Thearch would likely seek you out to the ends of the world to skin you alive and reduce you to nothingness.” Bai Yueyin’s voice sounded in Yi Yun’s mind.

Yi Yun also understood what Bai Yueyin was getting at. He looked up at the Ghost Thearch in midair. There was a ghostly fog that spread endlessly. It was unknown if Godly Monarch Divineheart was capable of withstanding it.

However, even though Godly Monarch Divineheart was no match for the Ghost Thearch, if he only thought of escaping…

Yi Yun had never fought with a Godly Monarch, nor was he knowledgeable about his limits.

And then—

“Boom!”

There was a loud boom high in the sky. The fog that spanned a few kilometers seemed to have been swept away by a sudden energy vortex. Immediately, countless golden lights shot down from the vortex!

The golden light contained brimming Yuan Qi, one that was even purer than those from Chaos Ores!

“This is?”

Yi Yun was momentarily stunned. He could tell at a glance that the golden light that radiated outwards was not a result of stray energy blasts. Instead, it represented a particular kind of item.

Treasures!

Could it be that these were what the Ghost Thearch and Divineheart were vying for? Had it shattered from their battle?

Or could it be that they decided to shatter a treasure chest?

Snatch!

This was Yi Yun’s first thought. If he did not do it then, when? Even if most of the treasure landed in the Godly Monarch’s and Ghost Thearch’s hands, he could still benefit a little. Perhaps, with good luck, he could reap huge benefits!

At the same moment Yi Yun took action, the Thousand-eyed Mo also moved!

Thousands of ghouls flew out from its body. Even the eight Ghost Lords who had retreated back into the Thousand-eyed Mo had also appeared once again as they charged toward the golden streams of light.

“What are you waiting for!? Snatch the items!”

At that moment, Godly Monarch Divineheart’s voice sounded. Yi Yun’s reaction was fast and his eyes were sharp. He could tell at a glance that it was a treasure. As for the Ghost warriors, they were telepathically connected. Only the Taixia Ancient Mining members were slighter slow to react.

And this slight delay had allowed the strongest beams of golden light from the energy blast to land in Yi Yun’s and the Ghost warriors’ hands.

“A bunch of fools!” bellowed Divineheart angrily.

The members of the Taixia Ancient Mining felt miserable. How could they have known what those golden beams of light were? They had originally believed them to be aftershocks from the clash of the two Godly Monarch-ranked existences.

“Oh? These are treasures that two Godly Monarch existences were vying for?”

Yi Yun looked at the things in his hand. When the golden light dissipated, he found a remnant bronze fragment in his palm.

The fragment was engraved with ancient and dull patterns. They looked as though they had a very long history.

Yi Yun’s fragment was only the size of a palm, but it was rather heavy in his hand. It was probably 500 kilograms.

For some reason, Yi Yun sensed a familiar aura from the bronze fragment.

“Regardless of what it is, I’ll decide what to do with it once I finish snatching!”

Yi Yun took aim at a Ghost Lord as he charged forward with sword in hand. There was no other reason for this attack except that the bronze fragment in that Ghost Lord’s hand was bigger than the one he had.

Even without considering its original use, just the pure energy contained within the bronze fragment make it quite valuable.

The Ghost Lord was obviously not Yi Yun’s match. He roared when he saw Yi Yun charging at him ferociously as he rushed towards the Thousand-eyed Mo!

“You wish to take the treasure and escape? Leave it along with your life!”

Yi Yun took a step forward as the Primordial Destruction domain surged in every direction like a tidal wave.

Boom!

The surrounding space immediately turned heavy and sticky, causing the escaping Ghost Lord to slow down drastically.

He was instantly left flustered. Yi Yun was just too powerful. The laws of humans, together with the lifeblood powers of the Fey, made it impossible for him to resist.

And at that moment, a cold bellow sounded.

“Little bastard, take one more step and I’ll obliterate your soul!”

The loud voice seemed to boom in everyone’s soul sea at the same moment. It left people’s faces pale as their heads ached.

It was Ghost language, but everyone was able to understand it.

Ghost Thearch!

The Ghost Thearch finally lost his patience after the multiple setbacks Yi Yun repeatedly delivered to his protege and gave such a warning!

In the beginning, a warrior like Yi Yun was completely unworthy of his attention. What surprised him was Yi Yun’s repeated killing of Ghost Lords. Now, Yi Yun was even snatching what was rightfully his.

The Ghost Thearch’s bellow contained a terrifying psyche blast. Yi Yun was first to be hit by it as he footsteps came to a pause. His Primordial Destruction domain also began to produce ripples!

“Ka Ka Ka!”

The domain began to crack under the energy surge.

The Ghost Lord seemed released from his burden as he took the opportunity to let out a strange laugh. He tore apart the domain and charged back into the Thousand-eyed Mo’s body.

Yi Yun’s expression sank. “Do you really think I won’t attack this monster?”

WIth a sudden roar, all his muscles swelled as his lifeblood erupted.

“Roar——”

The dragon roar reached to the skies as Yi Yun held the Mirage Snow in hand while Heretic Flames sprang to life at his feet.

Countless Demon God phantoms condensed on Yi Yun’s sword.

10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

“Cha!”

He slashed out with his sword as infinite demonic powers were drained clean by the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. He sent a thousand-feet wide 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence straight at the Thousand-eyed Mo!

“Ah! Ah! Ah!”

The Thousand-eyed Mo let out a roar as its eight thousand eyes released a beam that shot straight at Yi Yun!

However, as the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence spun, it devoured all the beams and snuffed them out like a humongous grinder!

Yi Yun went upstream against the surging blast as he directly stabbed the Thousand-eyed Mo!

“Boom!”

The Destruction Sword Dao boomed as the Thousand-eyed Mo let out a tragic cry. Its mammoth body’s back completely tore open as dozens of eyes on its surface were stabbed blind. The souls hidden within were obliterated with a tragic cry!

Yi Yun put away his sword, and soon, he had an additional bronze fragment in his hand. As for the Ghost Lord who had hidden away in the Thousand-eyed Mo’s body, it had clearly been obliterated by Yi Yun’s single strike!

Hiding inside the Thousand-eyed Mo’s body was no way to escape death!

Upon seeing this scene, everyone in the Taixia Ancient Mining drew a gasp. They were fully aware of the Thousand-eyed Mo’s horror, but in front of Yi Yun, it could still be injured with a single strike. Yi Yun’s strength seemed limitless.

“Little bastard, you are courting death!”

The Ghost Thearch raged, but at that moment, Godly Monarch Divineheart also attacked with all he had to hold back the Ghost Thearch. Yi Yun’s appearance left him pleasantly surprised.

“Ghost Ming, where are you looking at? I’m your opponent!”

It was not easy to find an expert who could protect the members of the Taixia Ancient Mining, so Godly Monarch Divineheart was naturally delighted. Although he had also sensed that Yi Yun was not very cordial with the Taixia Ancient Mining, it did not really matter.

“Punk, this is for you!”

Divineheart flicked his finger and sent an interspatial ring flying at Yi Yun!

Yi Yun took it and probed it with his psyche, only to be instantly delighted.

Contained inside the interspatial ring was only one item. It was a pill bottle and there was one Nine-heart Life Rejuvenation Pill in it. It was a Godly Monarch-ranked pill used to replenish lifeblood!

1601 - : Bronze Fragments

CKtalon  CKtalon

Godly Monarchs had sharp ears and bright eyes. Even though Divineheart was engaging in a battle, he had paid attention to Yi Yun’s conversation with Steward Zhou.

“The pill is remuneration for the work you just did. Continue and there will be more!”

Godly Monarch Divineheart’s hearty laughter resounded. He could tell that Yi Yun was a person who would not commit himself until success was certain. To get Yi Yun’s help, he had to first provide him with sufficient benefits.

Previously, Divineheart had been repressed by Ghost Ming. Apart from a difference in strength, there was the important distraction of Divineheart worrying over Taixia Ancient Mining and its disciples. They were in a perilous environment and a continued battle would result in their complete wipe out.

Now that Yi Yun had joined the fray, the combat situation had completely reversed.

The twelve Ghost Lords together with the Thousand-eyed Mo had been beaten thoroughly by Yi Yun. Now, all that was left was Ghost Ming.

Ghost Ming turned flustered. Now that Divineheart was able to focus on his battle with him, his advantage would slowly erode with time!

“Hahaha! Ghost Ming, if you have what it takes to drag this out, let’s see who suffers in the end!”

“Yi Yun, the bronze fragments that dropped are all treasures. The ones you grab are yours! You deal with the Thousand-eyed Mo and I’ll pay you with Chaos Crystals!” said Divineheart loudly as he fought Ghost Ming.

“Elder Divineheart sure is generous!”

Yi Yun roared with laughter. He did not have a good impression of the Taixia Ancient Mining members, but Divineheart’s actions matched his palate.

The Nine-heart Life Rejuvenation Pill would not only replenish Lin Xintong’s missing blood essence, but it would also push her beyond her past limits!

Previously, Yi Yun had sealed Lin Xintong in a temporal barrier. Decades would only be tens of days to Lin Xintong and would not affect her cultivation at all.

“Elder Divineheart, I can smash this Thousand-eyed Mo blind, but I need to know what these bronze fragments are for!”

“No problem!” Divineheart replied without any hesitation. Yi Yun let out a long shout as he held the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in hand and smashed it at the Thousand-eyed Mo.

His lifeblood powers were best for dealing with ghosts.

With a loud roar, Yi Yun rode on a 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence while the Ascending Dragon Cauldron slammed down like a falling star.

“Boom!”

The ground ruptured as Yi Yun’s strike delivered immense lifeblood powers into the Thousand-eyed Mo’s body. It then split into countless True Dragons and surged in every direction.

Many of the lifeblood dragons tore right out of the Thousand-eyed Mo’s eyes as they went blind one after another!

The Thousand-eyed Mo’s eyes had ghosts sealed within. When an eye went blind, the ghost within was wiped out of existence.

Ghosts wailed as the Thousand-eyed Mo struck back relentlessly. Gnarly red sanguine light shot at Yi Yun while countless haunting specters pounced onto Yi Yun to bite him!

Cha! Cha! Cha!

Yi Yun’s clothes tore as his firm muscles bled from the specters’ biting. But at that moment, a terrifying black flame blasted out from his body. Large numbers of ghouls were burnt to ashes.

“What kind of fire is that?”

The Taixia Ancient Mining members were long curious. Ordinary flames were ineffective against ghouls, but Yi Yun’s flame was able to burn right through psyche energy.

The ghouls’ encounter with the black fire was like snow meeting molten metal, where the only outcome was rapid melting.

This Yi Yun had potent lifeblood and also an extraordinary fire force. He was basically the nemesis of ghouls.

If this continued, even if the Thousand-eyed Mo was able to last till the very end with its immense strength, it would be greatly weakened by Yi Yun’s attacks. Wouldn’t Ghost Ming feel the pinch?

This was a ghost beast he had spent countless time and effort to nurture. To be beaten by Yi Yun so terribly after reaching just short of perfection, it was unknown how many living spirits it would take to restore it to its former glory.

At that moment, Ghost Ming’s killing intent towards Yi Yun had reached an extremum.

…

While Yi Yun was battling the Thousand-eyed Mo, inside the Azure Lamp of Time’s world!

This place was like vast and boundless space. The Azure Lamp of Time’s former owner—Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness—still had a remnant soul left. And this remnant soul had nearly fused with the Azure Lamp of Time.

Right in the middle of the stellar space, Lin Xintong floated silently. She was covered in a veil while a resplendent red lotus mark sat at her glabella. She looked like a lost fairy.

Bai Yueyin’s soul appeared in front of Lin Xintong. With a thought, the Nine-heart Life Rejuvenation Pill appeared in front of her and flew into Lin Xintong’s mouth. It transformed into pure energy as it spread throughout Lin Xintong’s limbs.

A Blood Essence Pill usually had mild medicinal properties. However, for warriors who had burned blood essence in large amounts and were in need of Blood Essence Pills for replenishment, their bodies would often be weak and drained dry. It was even possible that they would suffer a drop in realm.

To make such a person recover, harsh medicine naturally could not work.

Therefore, even for Godly Monarch-ranked Blood Essence Pills, their medicinal properties were mild. Lin Xintong experienced no physical burden when absorbing it.

At that moment, Bai Yueyin was protecting Lin Xintong! Although she was only a spirit, her psyche powers were potent. She had once cultivated in the Grand Reincarnation Technique with Lin Xintong and had nearly fused as one. She knew Lin Xintong’s body better than anyone, so with Bai Yueyin’s psyche energy guidance, the Nine-heart Life Rejuvenation Pill’s medicinal essence was rapidly absorbed by Lin Xintong.

Bai Yueyin could sense that Lin Xintong’s lifeblood powers were being restoring at an astounding rate.

“She’s truly… abnormally talented.”

Bai Yueyin sighed. Such a perfect Pure Yin body, together with Yi Yun’s help, allowed Lin Xintong’s attainments to easily exceed hers.

What was different was that… Bai Yueyin wished to follow in the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s footsteps back then, but failed to have her wishes fulfilled. It became an obsession of hers that plagued her for billions of years.

As for Lin Xintong, she was destined to follow Yi Yun and travel the cosmos with him as long as he remained alive.

This left Bai Yueyin feeling wistful.

“Master… These pills…”

Lin Xintong slowly opened her eyes. The temporal barrier had already been dispelled by Bai Yueyin.

“Yi Yun found it for you. Your lifeblood has mostly been restored. However, half of this Nine-heart Life Rejuvenation Pill’s medicinal effects remain. They are retained in your body, so slowly absorb them to strengthen your lifeblood.”

“Yi Yun found this for me?” Lin Xintong bit her lips. She also knew that such a pill was extraordinary. How did Yi Yun obtain one?

Bai Yueyin guessed Lin Xintong’s thoughts and said, “It’s a long story. We are no longer in the Sinkhole, but in the Chaos Heavens. Yi Yun is currently in battle. You can take a look outside and gain more experience. If you encounter danger, you can always retreat.”

With that said, Bai Yueyin vanished.

This was not the Sinkhole?

Lin Xintong probed the Azure Lamp of Time with her perception and when she saw the scene outside, she was stunned!

From Bai Yueyin’s tone, it was as though Yi Yun was engaging in a most ordinary battle. But when she gave a cursory sweep outside, Lin Xintong clearly sensed two terrifying powers suppressing them from above.

The feeling was that of Godly Monarchs!

Two Godly Monarchs were engaging in an intense battle in the sky, and one of them was releasing horrifying killing intent at Yi Yun!

This left Lin Xintong alarmed. And below, there was a terrifying beast which had eyes all over its body. Its aura far exceeded people like Sacred Horizon Divine Lord or Eclipse Arhat from before. And such a behemoth was fighting Yi Yun.

As it endured Yi Yun’s relentless attacks, it was already heavily injured and looked wretched.

Yi Yun was already this strong.

1602 - : Lin Xintong Awakens

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Boom!”

Divineheart and Ghost Ming delivered palm strikes at each other. This exchange dissipated more than half of Ghost Ming’s surrounding Yin Qi.

Of course, Divineheart suffered as well. He had expended more than half his Yuan Qi while Ghost Ming had only expended about forty percent of his Yin Qi.

Although Ghost Ming held the advantage, how could Godly Monarchs be so easily killed?

If this continued, Divineheart would still be fine, but the Thousand-eyed Mo would first be killed by Yi Yun.

Ghost Ming could not afford to lose the Thousand-eyed Mo.

Realizing that Yi Yun had roughly blinded a thousand of the Thousand-eyed Mo’s eyes, Ghost Ming’s face turned ashen. He originally looked like a handsome middle-aged man who only had a greenish tint to his face, but now, he revealed a set of fiendish protruding teeth. His eyes were bloodshot and his facial muscles were scrunched up. He looked extremely grotesque.

“Whoosh!”

Ghost Ming directly threw out a ghost banner and before reaching Divineheart, it exploded in mid-air, sending Divineheart retreating!

Upon seeing this scene, Yi Yun did not hesitate to abandon the Thousand-eyed Mo and escape immediately!

Yi Yun was very far from Ghost Ming to begin with. The moment he escaped, he increased the gap between them by tens of kilometers in a blink of an eye.

Alongside this, Yi Yun had established a temporal barrier around him. Anyone who entered it would drastically slow down. Although Ghost Ming could quickly shatter the temporal barrier, the time it would take to do so would be sufficient for Divineheart’s reinforcement to arrive.

“Well fucking done!” Ghost Ming gave Yi Yun a piercing glance and gave up the thought of wiping out Yi Yun with a single strike. His body emitted wave after wave of black auras which enveloped the Thousand-eyed Mo. One moment later, Ghost Ming and the Thousand-eyed Mo transformed into a black stream of light and instantly departed!

Ghost Ming had fled!

Divineheart let out a long sigh of relief, having no plans on pursuing them. Killing Ghost Ming would be nothing but a joke. He was already very thankful that his side had won and that they had dealt Ghost Ming a great blow.

Of course, quite a number of Taixia Ancient Mining disciples had perished. Thankfully, not many of the stronger ones perished. As for the weaker disciples, so be it. It was normal for there to be losses on their trip into the God Confusion Valley!

And this victory was all thanks to Yi Yun!

Divineheart looked at Yi Yun with a smile. This young man was completely unfathomable!

His bone age was not high, and he was shockingly young! His future achievements were limitless.

Even rarer was the fact that Yi Yun was human!

Humanity had been on a decline in recent years. Their lifebloods were inferior to the Fey, and their psyche powers were no match for the Soul race. In terms of the unpredictability and oddness of combat techniques, they were again no match for the Ghost race. As for the Celestials, strongest of all races, there was no need to elaborate on them.

If there was a strength humanity had, it was balance.

However, balance also meant mediocrity, unless one was a peerless genius. By pushing this balance to the limits, they would become an extraordinary expert without any shortcomings!

However, this was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Now, Divineheart saw a sliver of hope in Yi Yun!

With such a genius around, the Taixia Ancient Mining naturally had to attempt to rope him in. The Taixia Ancient Mining was not having it good in recent times.

“Young Brother Yi, is it alright for you to divulge how long you have been cultivating for?” asked Divineheart with a smile.

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before saying, “About seven centuries or so.”

Ever since Yi Yun ascended to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, not much time had passed. He had just spent a considerable amount of time in the temporal barriers of the Azure Lamp of Time.

Such cultivation time was astonishingly short!

However, Yi Yun had no intention to conceal it. He knew that he would only present his value by showcasing his strength now. It was beneficial for his next choice of action.

“Seven centuries!”

Divineheart’s pupils constricted a little. He could tell that Yi Yun was young, but he never expected his cultivation time to be that short!

In the Chaos Heavens, there were a few geniuses who could barely compare with Yi Yun.

For instance, the Shaomang family clan’s Shaomang Xuan was a genius among geniuses, but he had already cultivated for two millennia!

In terms of potential, Yi Yun far exceeded Shaomang Xuan.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words and seeing Divineheart’s reaction, all the Taixia disciples bemoaned their inadequacies.

Yi Yun’s talent was just too terrifying. It made it hard for them to even look at him straight.

The Taixia Divine Lords present had all cultivated for ten thousand years to hundreds of thousands of years. Of course, the ones who had cultivated for an exceedingly long period of time were destined to be stuck in the Divine Lord realm forever.

Compared to Yi Yun, their ages made them feel like they had lived in vain.

“From the looks of it, my cousin, Zhou Fang, died in vain.” Steward Zhou smiled bitterly. Ignoring Yi Yun’s talent, just the fact that he saved the lives of so many Taixia Ancient Mining disciples made his value far exceed Zhou Fang’s.

To exchange one Zhou Fang for so many lives, how was it possible that Divineheart would pursue justice for Zhou Fang’s death?

“This Yi Yun is probably unmatchable by anyone in the recent hundred million years in the Chaos Heavens,” Steward Zhou said wistfully.

At that moment, a stream of light flashed from within Yi Yun’s body suddenly. A dainty figure dressed in white veil appeared in front of Yi Yun.

The figure was naturally Lin Xintong.

Lin Xintong’s age was astonishingly young because of her cultivation of the Grand Reincarnation Technique. After she consumed the Godly Monarch-ranked Blood Essence Pill, her blood essence was brimming and there was a rosy glow to her face. It made her look thirteen or fourteen, but her long and slim legs made her look like an exceptional young girl.

At that moment, Lin Xintong was looking emotively at Yi Yun. When Yi Yun saw Lin Xintong’s rosy and adorable face with its adolescent air, he could not help but take a step forward and pull her into his embrace.

The two had been together for several tumultuous centuries. They were often more separated than together, having experiencing too much together. Now, although the enemy had not been rid of, they were finally together.

Lin Xintong missed Yi Yun too much. Although there were many people around, they did not appear to be his enemies; therefore, she could not help but appear.

“This… This girl…”

Divineheart was taken aback. He already found Yi Yun’s young age exaggerated, but this girl’s age seemed ridiculous…

He sensed her bone age and felt that it did not exceed… twenty years of age!?

Divineheart was dumbfounded himself. How could there be such a young warrior?

Furthermore, her aura was definitely not of a weakling’s. Although she was far inferior to Yi Yun, she was in no way weaker than a Taixia Ancient Mining Divine Lord!

Even Steward Zhou did not dare claim that he could beat this girl.

This was way too ridiculous!

Divineheart reeled in disbelief as he looked at Steward Zhou, only to see him smiling bitterly.

They originally believed that Yi Yun was already a genius, but another one had appeared!

It was fine if he was inferior to Yi Yun, but this young lass made him lose all his confidence. Having practiced martial arts all these years, seeing Lin Xintong made him question life.

“This Yi Yun is no trifling matter.”

Divineheart felt mixed emotions. The girl’s gaze was clearly filled with deep emotions for Yi Yun. They were obviously Dao partners!

1603 - : Reunion

CKtalon  CKtalon

Any one of the two—Yi Yun or the mysterious girl—would be heaven-defying. Yet, the two of them were Dao partners. This was probably defying the heavens until they turned topsy-turvy.

Of course, even so, Divineheart had no thoughts of harming Yi Yun. There was just too much the Chaos Heavens had to offer. Their Taixia Ancient Mining could only take a small portion of the pie. Even all of humanity only took a limited portion of it. If Yi Yun successfully developed his strength, he could lead humanity to gain even more. As such, they would possibly be able to obtain even more benefits.

Yi Yun and Lin Xintong hugged each other for several seconds before separating. They were in the God Confusion Valley and had to rein in their romantic emotions.

“Senior Divineheart, can you now tell me what these bronze fragments are?”

In fact, Yi Yun already had some guesses. He was only asking to confirm them.

Divineheart hesitated for a moment before setting up a sound-insulating barrier, isolating them from the low-ranking Taixia disciples.

Upon seeing Divineheart go to such lengths, Yi Yun also guessed that the bronze fragments were no trifling matter.

“I can tell you, but I will have to request that you and this lady beside you swear on your Dao heart. Whatever you hear today shall not be divulged.”

Yi Yun hesitated for a moment before nodding. He swore on his Dao heart with Lin Xintong.

It was pointless if one was ordinary, but it was absolutely trustworthy when peerless geniuses swore on their Dao heart. For a genius, a damaged Dao heart was an unacceptable loss.

Divineheart said, “Young Brother Yi, please pardon me. There is no other reason for it, except that even if I return empty-handed, this news must not be leaked.”

“I understand.”

“Alright, then I’ll tell you everything. The bronze fragments you possess… are the fragments left behind by a shattered ancient bell.”

“Ancient bell? That means that these fragments are just remnants of an artifact?” Yi Yun pricked up his brows. If they were only remnants of an artifact, no matter how impressive the artifact was, these fragments would not have been that valuable.

A fragmented artifact, especially one that was in so many pieces, had limited uses.

“Yes, that ancient bell is named the Chaos Bell. It’s said to be an artifact of a peerless ancient expert. The expert was very strong, so strong that even I do not know. All he left behind in the Chaos Heavens were legends about him. Furthermore, it seems that peerless expert is a human! Later, it became unknown if this peerless human expert’s title was spread or if it was given to him, but in short, he was called the Human Emperor in the Chaos Heavens.”

Divineheart delivered his speech slowly. When he said the words ‘Human Emperor,’ his heart revealed a longing. Even humans could produce such a peerless mighty figure in ancient times!

Humans having immense potential was not empty talk. However, that person had vanished. As for where he went, no one knew. If the Human Emperor had not isolated himself from worldly matters and instead led humans to dominate the Chaos Heavens, humanity would have ushered in a triumphant age billions of years ago.

When Divineheart said this, Yi Yun’s guesses had been mostly confirmed. He took a glance at Bai Yueyin in his soul sea and saw her eyes moist and silent, as though she was lost deep in thought.

“Since Senior Human Emperor is that powerful, who could have shattered the Chaos Bell? Furthermore, why are all of you eyeing the Chaos Bell’s fragments?”

Yi Yun knew that Divineheart and the departed Ghost Ming had many Chaos Bell fragments with them. The pieces they had were much bigger than the ones he had.

“If the legends are right, Human Emperor had slain the strongest Celestial back then! As for why they fought, it is still a mystery. Perhaps, Human Emperor could not stand for what the Celestials did…

“The strongest Celestial’s strength was not to be underestimated. It is likely that the Chaos Bell was shattered by him.

“Although these legends take our breaths away, they are not the reason why we have entered the God Confusion Valley to seek the Chaos Bell fragments. The real reason is… It is said that back when Human Emperor killed the strongest Celestial, he had extracted a fragment of the Heavenly Dao which the strongest Celestial had devoured and sealed it within the God Confusion Valley.”

“What!? A Heavenly Dao fragment!?”

Upon hearing Divine Emperor’s words, Yi Yun felt his heart jolt. Human Emperor was no doubt the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch!

Yi Yun was aware that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had slain an Ancestor God. The Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had also split the Ancestor God’s body in 33 segments and sealed them away. The number 33 likely had to do with the fact that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch came from the 33 Skies.

However, Yi Yun never expected that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had obtained the Heavenly Dao fragment inside the Ancestor God’s body!

Yi Yun long knew of the Ancestor God’s devouring of the Heavenly Dao. The Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao was still missing a piece. It was still a question if the Heavenly Dao which the Ancestor God devoured was the Sinkhole’s piece.

“So your goal here is to find that piece of Heavenly Dao fragment?” Yi Yun had already made the guess.

“Exactly so. Before this, we were unclear where the sealing array formation was. It was only later when people obtained the fragments of this Chaos Bell that we had an idea.”

“Although the Chaos Bell has already shattered, it still contains the Human Emperor’s nomological powers. People also speculated that gathering all the nomological powers is the key to opening the seal.

“All the Chaos Bell fragments are in the Xuanyuan Dune; therefore, the ones to discover the Chaos Bell fragments are limited to the few factions of the Taixia Ancient Mining, Nine Netherworld Lands, Desolate clan, Myriad Demon Valley, and the Heavenly Dream Path.

“These factions are not considered the strongest in the Chaos Heavens, but we enjoy the benefits of a favorable position since the Xuanyuan Dune is under our control!

“Therefore we are the only ones who came to the God Confusion Valley this time. Of course, we would not divulge this news to other factions.

“Our Taixia did not prepare well for this operation. The rest have likely obtained bigger fragments and confirmed the method of opening the array formation before we even learned of it. We were quite behind.”

“I see.”

Yi Yun was enlightened. In order to keep it a secret, information regarding the Chaos Bell fragments were only known by the upper echelons of the major factions. A maidservant like Shan Ling naturally had no idea. The God Confusion Valley treasure she mentioned was probably only a result of rumors.

For the Taixia Ancient Mining to choose to tell him such secretive information, it was mainly to rope him in!

The second reason was that the Taixia Ancient Mining likely lacked the confidence to vie for the Heavenly Dao fragment!

The Taixia Ancient Mining had rushed to set up a team. Although Godly Monarch Divineheart had led the team, they had suffered losses against Ghost Ming. Furthermore, the Myriad Demon Valley had sent a Celestial expert. There was no doubt that the Heavenly Dao fragment was attractive to Celestial experts.

Divineheart was hoping that Yi Yun could help him in snatching the Heavenly Dao fragment!

Divineheart did not conceal his motives as he said directly, “Young Brother Yi, I can annul the contract you signed with the Taixia Ancient Mining. I wonder if you are willing to be the leading guest Elder of my Taixia?”

1604 - : God Confusion Valley’s Secret

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Leading guest Elder?” Yi Yun smiled. “Senior Divineheart, you sure think highly of me.”

Yi Yun did not need to feel any gratitude towards Divineheart’s annulment of his original contract since he had already shown his strength. The contract was unable to bind him much, as all he needed to do was submit a hundred years worth of crude ores.

Although he had a good impression of Elder Divineheart, it had not been long since he had come to the Chaos Heavens. There was no real need for him to join the Taixia Ancient Mining.

Divineheart could tell that Yi Yun had no wish to join him.

Peerless geniuses had limitless potential.

As for Taixia, it was not a top faction in the Chaos Heavens to begin with. Taixia was unable to offer irresistible benefits to Yi Yun.

In contrast, once Yi Yun fully developed his strength in the future, Taixia would gain immense benefits from Yi Yun. It was already foreseeable.

“What a pity, I have made a misjudgment.”

Steward Zhou felt depressed. After seeing Yi Yun and Lin Xintong together, Steward Zhou realized what kind of opportunities he had missed.

When he first arrived, Yi Yun was clearly heavily injured. That was why he concealed his strength.

If he had offered timely assistance while Yi Yun was weak, Yi Yun would have owed him one. Perhaps, that would have prompted Yi Yun into agreeing to be a guest Elder and he would be rewarded for it.

“Young Brother Yi… I know the Taixia Ancient Mining isn’t very attractive to you.” Divineheart went straight to the point. “However… you should be interested in the Heavenly Dao fragment, right?”

The Heavenly Dao fragment was something the Taixia Ancient Mining obviously wanted. However, the probability of snatching it from a crowd of savage beasts with just Divineheart and his Taixia disciples alone was less than ten percent.

“Heavenly Dao fragment…” Yi Yun pondered. The next moment, his psyche strength entered his soul sea and appeared in front of Bai Yueyin, forming a figure of light.

“What can the Heavenly Dao fragment be used for exactly?” Yi Yun asked Bai Yueyin.

“For studying,” Bai Yueyin answered Yi Yun simply without even looking at him.

“Just for studying?” Yi Yun shook his head. Although it was impressive, just using it for study alone was of low priority. He had no lack of nomological insights at the moment.

“It’s not just that. There should be different uses that drive the different races into vying for the Heavenly Dao fragment. It’s just that I’m not completely aware of the reasons.”

Yi Yun stroked his chin and said, “The likely reason why Celestial experts would vie for the Heavenly Dao fragment is to devour it to enhance themselves, right? Can’t human warriors do the same?”

Bai Yueyin said, “Celestial experts have extremely powerful bodies, so they can forcibly fuse with a Heavenly Dao fragment. Even so, that poses immense danger for them. For humans, it’s likely their bodies would explode because it’s just too difficult for humans to fuse the Heavenly Dao with their mere flesh and blood.”

“Inside me… flows the blood of the Dragon Emperor. It’s the bloodline of one of the twelve Fey Gods…”

When Yi Yun mentioned this point, Bai Yueyin paused for a moment. She looked up at Yi Yun and said, “The Fey of the Chaos Heavens have peerless Godly Monarchs who have also inherited the bloodlines of powerful ancient Fey. They might not even be weaker than you. Their bodies are far stronger than yours.”

“But the nomological insight the Fey have is left wanting,” said Yi Yun after some thought. To fuse with a Heavenly Dao fragment, one naturally had to have be adept at nomological forces.

If a warrior’s nomological insights were comparable to the Heavenly Dao at a certain level, they were able to bend the Heavenly Dao forces to their will.

It was unlikely to completely bend to their will, but it still became possible to reduce the impact the Heavenly Dao had on their bodies by seventy to eighty percent.

Bai Yueyin was stunned again when she heard Yi Yun.

Bai Yueyin had never thought very carefully of the Celestials’ ability to fuse with Heavenly Dao fragments.

Now, from the looks of it, the Celestials were relying on both their powerful bodies and their nomological insights, making it so their bodies were innately compatible with laws.

Apart from the Celestials, all the other races had their shortcomings. Humans had weak bodies, while the Fey were poor at laws. The Soul race and Ghost race were even weaker in these aspects.

If a human was able to be simultaneously strong in both laws and body, perhaps… they could emulate the Celestials and devour a Heavenly Dao fragment?

However, Bai Yueyin still shook her head. “Up to now, it’s unlikely any human has attempted it before. Death is a possibility upon failure.”

No one had attempted it, but not just because of a general limited strength. There was a more simple reason—there were too few Heavenly Dao fragments. Apart from the peerless Celestial expert, no other person had the chance to do so.

Even Heavenly Dao fragments were a handful among Celestials.

The vying for this Heavenly Dao fragment was mainly because of it being in the Xuanyuan Dune. This news had been kept a secret by the factions in control of the Xuanyuan Dune. Otherwise, a treasure that could shake the Chaos Heavens was not something such second-rate factions could vie for.

That included the Celestial expert. His strength was not considered very powerful among Celestials. Typically speaking, he should have reported the existence of the Heavenly Dao fragment to his higher-ups. The fact that he was there alone made it evident that he was planning on taking it all for himself.

Bai Yueyin said, “Even if you plan on devouring the Heavenly Dao fragment, it’s best you do so after you reach the Godly Monarch realm. Even Celestial experts would have to reach the Godly Monarch first before they attempt to devour the fragment.”

Yi Yun smiled and said, “You are getting ahead of yourself. It will not be easy getting this Heavenly Dao fragment with my strength. Even if it was left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, I have to be able to hold onto it while remaining alive.”

Yi Yun’s combat strength was too weak when faced with the few Godly Monarchs.

However, even if he could not obtain the Heavenly Dao fragment, Yi Yun wished to probe the methods of fusing with a Heavenly Dao fragment. After all, he was destined to oppose the Celestials in the future. Even if there were very few Heavenly Dao fragments, it was still possible for him to attain one.

Yi Yun looked at Divineheart and asked, “I’m indeed interested in the Heavenly Dao fragment. Might I know what you are getting at?”

Divineheart smiled and said, “As long as you are willing to be a guest Elder of my Taixia, I can dictate that you will be able to study the Heavenly Dao fragment for a third of the time if we obtain it.”

Studying a Heavenly Dao fragment would expend the nomological forces within. The Taixia Ancient Mining had many people. There were already two Grand Elders at the Godly Monarch realm. If Yi Yun were to take a third, it was even possible that he would have more time to study the fragment than a Grand Elder. Divineheart was being sufficiently generous in making such a promise.

Of course, this was under the premise that the Heavenly Dao fragment was obtained. If not, everything was just empty talk.

Divineheart naturally knew this as he said, “Obtaining the Heavenly Dao fragment with just me alone is just too improbable. But if I have you, the probability might rise to twenty percent. If we succeed, you can choose to be my Taixia’s guest Elder. If we fail, my Taixia has little to offer that can attract you anyway. We will then annul this hundred-year contract. Young Brother Yi, you then be free to do as you wish. I just hope that we will be considered friends when we meet again in the future.”

Divineheart’s conditions were definitely sincere. They were beneficial to Yi Yun in every single way.

Yi Yun pondered for a few moments before saying, “What happens if I obtain the Heavenly Dao fragment by my strength alone?”

Divineheart looked at Yi Yun in astonishment. He never expected Yi Yun to say something like that.

As a Godly Monarch, he did not even have the confidence of obtaining the fragment. No matter how strong Yi Yun was, he was still far inferior to a Godly Monarch. Ignoring the numerous experts and Godly Monarchs of the Ghosts, Fey, and Souls, along with the Celestial expert from the Myriad Demon Valley, things could only get more terrifying.

In such a situation, it was a good outcome to merely survive. Yet, Yi Yun was planning on trying to snatch food from the tiger’s proverbial mouth?

Wasn’t he being too conceited?

Divineheart appreciated geniuses, but reaching for what was beyond one’s grasp was not ideal. By overestimating himself, Yi Yun was likely to suffer or even perish on his future martial path.

He frowned, but still managed to say, “If you obtain the Heavenly Dao fragment by your own strength, that Heavenly Dao fragment will naturally be yours to keep. It will have nothing to do with my Taixia.”

“Alright then.”

Yi Yun agreed. He was lacking in strength and had offended numerous enemies. If he were to really encounter other Godly Monarchs, he was afraid that they would immediately kill him. It was already not easy for him to approach the sealed area, much less speak of snatching the Heavenly Dao fragment.

By cooperating with Divineheart, he was able to feel more rooted at the very least.

1605 - : Conditions

Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon

Everyone else from the Taixia Ancient Mining heard Yi Yun’s conversation with Godly Monarch Divineheart. As leading guest Elder, his status was just beneath that of the two Grand Elders. Even the sect lord of the Taixia Ancient Mining had to be respectful when facing Yi Yun.

As for Steward Zhou, his standing in Taixia was about five grades lower than Yi Yun’s. There was no need to even elaborate for Purple Succubus.

“Young Brother Yi, since you have agreed to it, you will be my Taixia’s leading guest Elder from this moment forth unless you wish to depart on your own terms.”

Just as Divineheart said that, a blinding light erupted hundreds of kilometers away. Immediately following that, the sky seemed to be ripped open by something as a black combat ax fell from the sky!

The ax was burning with red sanguine light, as it emitted a suppressive baneful aura. Even from afar, it sent the lifeblood of everyone churning.

“That’s… a weapon of the Celestials!” Divineheart drew a deep gasp. “Divine General Sanguine Ax has begun taking action.”

Divine General Sanguine Ax was also the lord of Myriad Demon Valley, the only Celestial expert in this expedition to the God Confusion Valley.

Many factions had come to the Xuanyuan Dune, with Myriad Demon Valley being the strongest faction. None of the Godly Monarchs present were his match.

Accompanied by Divine General Sanguine Ax’s attack, divine light shimmered in the vicinity of five hundred kilometers. There were Godly Monarchs rushing over!

“Let’s go there as well.” Divineheart glanced at Yi Yun. “That’s where the fragment is sealed.”

Ever since the various factions in the Xuanyuan Dune first obtained the Chaos Bell fragments, they had been studying them for years. They were now capable of identifying the approximate location of the sealed area.

And through the Xuanyuan Dune’s spirit tide, the sealed land had already surfaced.

“Alright.”

Yi Yun nodded. With Divineheart present, he could head over in broad daylight. Otherwise, he would have had to furtively find his way there.

“Oh… I forgot to mention something while we were negotiating…” said Yi Yun suddenly.

“Yea?” Divineheart’s brows pricked up.

“I offended a few people on my way into the God Confusion Valley.”

Divineheart laughed. Was Yi Yun afraid he could not hold down the situation?

“We warriors have always lived in contention! We contend for resources, cultivation techniques, and even our martial path! Contention naturally leads to the offending of others. That’s nothing. You are now my Taixia’s guest Elder in name. With me supporting you, there’s no need for you to worry about any faction. I have many means at my disposal as well.”

When Divineheart said that, a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

Many Godly Monarchs had their trump cards. However, they were used only when lives were at stake. One might be willing to risk their life, but their opponent might not. Therefore, a Godly Monarch was a force to reckon with. Even Divine General Sanguine Ax would not dare to truly push a Godly Monarch to the edge.

“Senior Divineheart, I feel assured by what you said. On the way here, I encountered the Herbal Garden of Confusion. When I entered to pick its herbs, I offended members of the Soul race. Back then, their Godly Monarch was present as well…”

Divineheart was taken aback. “Godly Monarch Dreamlight?”

“Probably.”

“That’s… still alright…” Divineheart turned a little gloomy. They had already made Ghost Ming a sworn enemy. Just Ghost Ming alone was fine, but he felt the situation would be thorny when Dreamlight was added to the mix.

“That’s actually not very important. The main thing is that I later encountered the Shaomang family clan of the Desolate clan. I had a conflict with them, so I killed some of them. One of them was called Shaomang Xuan… I killed him too. I heard that Golden Winged Celestial Peng, who came to represent the Fey this time, is also from the Desolate clan…”

As Yi Yun said this, he realized that Divineheart’s face was already ashen.

Shaomang Xuan!? He was killed by you!?

Is this what you describe as forgetting to mention who you offended?

Do you know what standing Shaomang Xuan has in the Desolate clan?

Divineheart was rendered speechless. He suddenly wondered if he had done something stupid. Was it really beneficial to rope Yi Yun into the Taixia Ancient Mining as a leading guest? Was he courting disaster for himself!?

Meanwhile, Steward Zhou and company in the periphery had also naturally heard their conversation.

Steward Zhou’s mouth was agape, but he did not manage to say a word.

Shaomang Xuan was very likely the next family head of the Shaomang family clan. He was an elite among elites. Previously, a few of them had guessed that Shaomang Xuan might barely match Yi Yun. But great, he had already been killed by Yi Yun!

Although the Desolate clan was comprised of several families, they were rather cohesive when faced with a common enemy.

How could Golden Winged Celestial Peng take things lying down?

Yi Yun did not speak further. He believed his breakthrough to the Godly Monarch realm was just a matter of time. He had no need for superfluous aid, but timely aid when he was in trouble. If the Taixia Ancient Mining only wished to invest in him to gain benefits in the future, there was no reason for him to cooperate with such a faction.

If they were willing to take some risk, he did not mind helping the Taixia Ancient Mining in the future.

Divineheart hesitated for a moment before saying, “It’s not easy for us humans to produce an elite like you. If Golden Winged Celestial Peng wants your head, I can help you fend him off. However, if several Godly Monarchs want your head, even I will be in danger when the time comes. I can at best help you escape.”

“Thank you, Senior Divineheart.”

Yi Yun cupped his hands. All he needed was Divineheart’s promise. He already had a few means to protect himself, so he just needed a force to deliver shock and awe to make his enemies hesitate.

“Let’s go!”

Divineheart flew through the air as Yi Yun followed closely behind. Steward Zhou and the rest followed as well.

The appearance of the sealed land was too sudden. The Taixia Ancient Mining had made rushed preparations, so apart from Divineheart, the middle echelons were lacking in strength.

Fifty kilometers were quickly traversed. When Yi Yun landed, he drew a cold gasp at the scene which greeted him.

He saw that an area spanning five kilometers in the God Confusion Valley was dyed red with blood. In the middle, the ground had collapsed into a humongous crater. An Ancient Fey, whose head resembled a tiger with a mane on its back, was burning in flames. It was at the center of the crater on its last breath.

There were a few massive wounds on its body. Most striking of all was the massive black ax that remained embedded in its back.

“An Ancient Fey!”

Yi Yun had once obtained Ancient Fey blood. He knew very well that this heavily injured behemoth was a powerful Ancient Fey. The Sinkhole had a similar behemoth named Bi’an 1 . However, it only existed in ancient times.

However, this behemoth had been slain by Divine General Sanguine Ax.

Not only so, Divine General Sanguine Ax was pressing the behemoth down with both hands, leaning over its neck to suck at its blood! Divine General Sanguine Ax’s huge body appeared negligible beside the Ancient Fey. However, he was able to keep it down.

At that moment, Divine General Sanguine Ax’s bronze body was stained with the beast’s blood. He did not react to the crowd’s arrival. All he did was continue drinking the Bi’an’s warm blood, the smell of it seeming to intoxicate him.

The Bi’an had yet to pass away yet. Its body continued convulsing, a testament to its powerful vitality as an Ancient Fey.

Only when all the blood was sucked dry did Divine General Sanguine Ax tear the Bi’an’s flesh. Chunks of blood-infused flesh, each weighing hundreds of kilograms, were indifferently chewed by him before they were swallowed.

Divine General Sanguine Ax quickly finished his savage consumption, revealing the Bi’an’s golden bones.

Divine General Sanguine Ax’s strength was tremendous as he nonchalantly tore apart the Bi’an’s corpse. Even its bones were chewed to bits in his mouth.

This scene disgusted many people. The Celestial’s Divine General was truly cruel!

“This Ancient Fey must have been attracted by the seal. Heaven Earth Yuan Qi gathered when the seal appeared so this Ancient Fey came here to devour the worldly energies. Instead of feasting, it was feasted upon by Sanguine Ax,” Divineheart said in a heavy voice.

Sanguine Ax was just too strong. Celestials were indeed the precious offspring of the world.

“In that case, the seal will appear very soon.”

Yi Yun narrowed his eyes. Indeed, he sense a surging worldly force surge over from nearby. The God Confusion Valley’s spirit tide energies were being drawn by this piece of land.

An independent space…

Yi Yun sensed that in this independent space was the place where Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had sealed the Heavenly Dao fragment.

1606 - : Opening of the Seal

CKtalon  CKtalon

While energy surged through the sealed land, Yi Yun looked up and saw a golden beam of light tear through the world. Contained within was a mighty suppression which resembled rumbling golden lightning.

Yi Yun instantly knew that his enemy was here.

In a blink of an eye, a man with a pair of huge golden wings on his back landed in front of Yi Yun. There was the faint sound of roaring ocean waves emitting from his body. However, it was not a result of waves, but the swooshing of his blood.

This alarmed Yi Yun. How potent was his lifeblood to produce the sound of crashing waves simply from its flowing?

Following right behind the golden-winged man were members of the Desolate clan of the Fey.

Bronze Drum was also surprisingly among them.

The lucky survivors of the Shaomang family clan had also come with the Desolate clan. Without Golden Winged Celestial Peng leading them, survival was impossible.

The moment Golden Winged Celestial Peng appeared, he glared at Yi Yun. “Was it you who killed Shaomang Xuan?”

Yi Yun stood in front of Lin Xintong as he pressed his finger gently on his interspatial ring. “That’s me.”

A golden glint flashed in Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s eyes. He never expected Yi Yun to so readily admit to his deed.

“Good, very good. In that case, prepare to die!” Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s tone was extremely oppressive, but at that moment, Divineheart took a step forward and stood beside Yi Yun.

“So this is the reason for your confidence. It’s no wonder you dare appear here.”

The corners of Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s mouth suffused a teasing smile. He was not surprised that Yi Yun and Divineheart would join forces since the both of them were humans. Yi Yun’s strength was not to be underestimated, considering how he had slain Shaomang Xuan. It was only expected for them to become allies.

Bronze Drum gave Yi Yun a strange glance. He had been eager to fight Yi Yun all this while, but when he realized that Yi Yun was capable of killing Shaomang Xuan, he guessed that he was not Yi Yun’s match. He was now thankful that he did not provoke Yi Yun at the entrance to the God Confusion Valley.

At that moment, another two factions arrived. One of them emitted an overwhelming ghostly aura while the other resembled the soul of a sword. Just one look at their leader left one’s soul sea in pain.

Ghost Ming!

As well as Godly Monarch Divine Dream!

By the time the two Godly Monarchs arrived, Divine General Sanguine Ax had already finished devouring most of the Ancient Fey. He looked up at everyone present.

His fangs were stained with blood as he stood up straight, his massive body towering over everyone there. Even at full height, the huge Golden Winged Celestial Peng failed to reach his knee.

“If you want to attack, try doing it now.”

Divineheart sent Ghost Ming and Golden Winged Celestial Peng voice transmissions. The sealed land was about to be opened. With Divine General Sanguine Ax present, any internal strife would only benefit him. It didn’t matter if Divineheart could block them from getting to Yi Yun or not.

Ghost Ming snorted coldly as he stared at Yi Yun with burning killing intent.

Divine Dream also glanced at Yi Yun. He was not surprised by Yi Yun’s appearance here. However, he was quite astonished by Ghost Ming’s and Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s intent to kill Yi Yun.

This Yi Yun sure is someone who’s good at stirring trouble.

Divine Dream did not have much of a vendetta with Yi Yun. He was not bent on killing Yi Yun since all he wanted was the herbs Yi Yun had obtained from the Herbal Garden of Confusion.

When he saw that Yi Yun was backed by Divineheart, he wiped that thought from his mind.

“Yi Yun, the seal is about to be released. Now’s the time to reconsider your entry,” said Divineheart.

It was without question that Golden Winged Celestial Peng and company would enter the sealed land. Having offended them, Yi Yun could take the opportunity to leave the God Confusion Valley as a means to survive. Besides, the situation inside was still an unknown. It was possible that he would not be able to protect Yi Yun.

“There’s no need. I plan on entering,” said Yi Yun. Even if he left now, he would still be pursued by Ghost Ming and the Desolate clan eventually.

Realizing that Yi Yun had steeled his heart, Divineheart stopped trying to persuade him otherwise. “Alright, with the decline of humanity, we would only end up being crushed to death by them if we did not vie for opportunities.”

With that said, he handed a jade talisman to Yi Yun.

“Inside it is a high level voice transmission array. The situation inside is an unknown. If we were to get separated, you can use this to contact me. However, the God Confusion Valley suppresses perceptions to begin with, so I’m guessing the the nomological suppressions are even stronger inside the seal. This jade talisman can only be used once,” said Divineheart.

Yi Yun nodded as he took the jade talisman. He sensed it slightly and discovered that engraved within was an extremely complicated voice transmission array.

In the God Confusion Valley, such voice transmission jade talismans were hardly of any use. If the user’s strength was lacking, the voice transmission would be constantly attenuated during the transmission process. In the end, it might not even complete the transmission. It was a sign of Divineheart’s recognition of Yi Yun’s strength that he handed him the talisman.

At that moment, the world suddenly quaked. As though the sealed land had absorbed enough energy, a gigantic vortex surfaced abruptly in mid-air.

The vortex constantly spun as it released lustrous and gaudy colors. Weaker warriors could not help but fall into a daze when they saw it. They felt that the vortex was expanding in size while bearing down on them.

Suddenly, Yi Yun felt a gigantic suction force from the vortex. However, the suction force did not seem to be targeting him.

Sensing something, Yi Yun took out his Chaos Bell fragments.

The Chaos Bell fragments hummed as a result of the vortex’s attraction.

“Xintong, enter the tower first,” said Yi Yun.

Lin Xintong nodded gently. With a flash of her body, she entered the God Advent Tower.

With that, Yi Yun stopped resisting as he allowed the vortex’s suction force to completely bind him and the Chaos Bell fragments as he was pulled in.

The other Godly Monarchs had similar realizations. They stowed their disciples into their cave abodes before allowing the vortex to pull them in.

The moment he entered the vortex, Yi Yun immediately felt a terrifying force shredding his surroundings. However, the moment the force made contact with his Chaos Bell fragment, it would immediately turn mild. Furthermore, a familiar aura would release from the Chaos Bell fragments.

“Senior Lin…” A female voice filled with nostalgia sounded inside Yi Yun’s soul sea.

The Chaos Bell originally belonged to the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, and the seal was also set up by him. One could only enter the seal by possessing a fragment; otherwise, any forced entry into the vortex would result in them being ripped to shreds.

With the Chaos Bell fragment’s protection, Yi Yun quickly passed through the vortex safely and appeared in a vast expanse.

The space seemed to have a strange law permeating it. There were restrictions everywhere, with fog filling every inch of the area. It was like the God Confusion Valley outside. None of the celestial bodies could be seen. Indeed, it was an independent space.

Yi Yun appeared in the same area as Divineheart. However, a sneer sent Yi Yun’s heart sinking.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng and Ghost Ming appeared just hundreds of feet away from him and Divineheart. As for the other Godly Monarchs, there was no trace of them.

Back when he passed through the vortex, Yi Yun had guessed that they might appear in different spots. However, his luck was really quite terrible for Golden Winged Celestial Peng and Ghost Ming to appear in the same spot that he did.

To Golden Winged Celestial Peng and Ghost Ming, it was definitely a fortunate turn.

They did not need to worry about Sanguine Ax watching from the sides. Even Divineheart lamented inwardly when he realized the situation he was in.

“From the looks of it, the heavens want you destroyed,” said Golden Winged Celestial Peng with a sneer.

“Golden Peng, I have a grudge with him as well. Say, between us, who will be the one to determine the way he dies?” said Ghost Ming as he let out a strange laughter.

“Hmph, there’s no reason for me to discuss with a old ghost like you. May the best man succeed,” said Golden Winged Celestial Peng.

“Yi Yun, I can only help you fend off one,” said Divineheart via a voice transmission.

“Senior Divineheart, please help me fend off Golden Winged Celestial Peng then,” said Yi Yun.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s body was powerful, but more critically, he was extremely fast.

With Celestial Peng’s extreme speed, it was difficult to escape from him.

“Alright, good luck then! That Ghost Ming has sinister and crafty means. He appears in different spots unpredictably, so you have to be careful,” said Divineheart as he laughed. “Golden Peng, aren’t you ashamed that you’re attacking a junior? I’ll be your opponent!”

Ghost Ming was taken aback when he saw this development. Following that, he let out a cold, sinister laughter. “Little Bastard, do you think that you have a chance of surviving a fight with me? Or do you think that, compared to being skinned alive by Golden Winged Celestial Peng, you would rather have your soul obliterated by me?”

The moment his voice faded, Ghost Ming attacked.

He was ruthless by nature and did not care about naysayers’ critique of him attacking a Divine Lord as a Godly Monarch. He did not care even if he was criticized as delivering a sneak attack.

“Little Bastard, you made the wrong choice!”

A sinister wind whistled as Ghost Ming suddenly appeared in front of Yi Yun. His cold claws suffused an extremely terrifying ghostly aura as they reached towards Yi Yun.

Before his arrival, Yi Yun already sensed an instability in his soul. He nearly had an out-of-body experience. A numbing cold also blanketed his body, retarding his motions to the point of complete immobilization.

Yi Yun suddenly felt the threat of death descend upon him as his heart jolted. However, he showed no fear. He was already invincible against anyone inferior to Godly Monarchs. As such, it was about time for him to clash with one!

Roar!

A dragon’s roar boomed from Yi Yun’s body as a dragon phantom suddenly appeared behind him. Meanwhile, Yi Yun’s surging lifeblood blasted out intense heat like a sun.

Boom!

Nearly all of Yi Yun’s lifeblood was transformed into a corporeal flame as light bloomed from his body while his body constantly emitted the roars of a dragon.

Such potent lifeblood forces even made Golden Winged Celestial Peng involuntarily look over. With a ghostly body, Ghost Ming was weak against lifeblood forces, so his attack stalled slightly.

Taking the opportunity, Yi Yun roared angrily as he released the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and slammed it at Ghost Ming!

Boom!

Ghost Ming was caught by surprise as he was struck by Yi Yun’s surging lifeblood forces. Although he was uninjured, he took one tiny step back!

Ghost Ming was enraged for he never expected that Yi Yun could actually produce such a terrifying impulse.

His embarrassment drove him to kill Yi Yun, but Yi Yun had unhesitatingly escaped a great distance away after the successful strike. In a blink of an eye, he charged into the fog.

Divineheart was pleasantly surprised when saw that not only had Yi Yun escaped, but he had also made Ghost Ming suffer a little before escaping.

“Hahaha, Ghost Ming. Do you think you deserve being called a Godly Monarch? Hahahaha!” Divineheart laughed when he saw his enemy suffer a setback. He then threw out dozens of disk arrays before turning to escape.

1607 - : Crossing Swords

CKtalon  CKtalon

A golden glint flashed in Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s eyes but he did not pursue them.

Yi Yun was quite a tricky opponent. Furthermore, Divineheart had thrown out disk arrays before his escape. Those were enough to stop him and Ghost Ming for a while.

If they were elsewhere, they were confident of catching up to Yi Yun and kill him. But here, the laws were strange and there were unknown dangers lurking everywhere. Pursuing Yi Yun posed an immense risk.

“It’s no wonder Yi Yun was so calm. It’s because his strength is already this great. This person is not to be spared!” Golden Winged Celestial Peng said in a heavy voice.

He looked at Ghost Ming who had an ashen expression. Not only had Yi Yun taken the upper hand against him, he had even been ridiculed by Divineheart.

However, he too had the same apprehensions as Golden Winged Celestial Peng. Yi Yun was very difficult to handle. If things came to blow, he was unsure if he could easily kill Yi Yun.

Ghost Ming shot a glance at Golden Winged Celestial Peng and grunted coldly. He phased away into a dark cloud before vanishing instantly.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng stood at this spot for a moment before transforming into a golden beam of light that shot straight into the vast space.

Compared to killing Yi Yun, obtaining the Heavenly Dao fragment was of utmost priority.

…

“That Ghost Monarch isn’t likely to chase after you.” Bai Yueyin’s voice sounded in Yi Yun’s mind.

Yi Yun stopped as well as he surveyed his surroundings. “Yes. It’s just a question where the Heavenly Dao fragment is.”

The space he was in was very huge. The fog limited his perception, so his perception was useless for large distances.

However, Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal vision and that made things very different.

The moment Yi Yun activated his Purple Crystal vision, he immediately searched his surroundings. Perhaps, there was a chance of him finding the Heavenly Dao fragment.

Apart from Yi Yun, it was difficult for others to traverse the space without worry. Everyone knew that there was danger in the fog.

Yi Yun was slightly alarmed the moment he activated his energy vision. He saw that at the boundaries of the world he was in, there was a concealed brilliance that surged into the sky.

The brilliance was energy that stemmed from the pocket world and the pocket world was drawing its energies from the God Confusion Valley.

This was a worldly array that was a system in and of itself.

The array was naturally the work of the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch.

“Oh? Could that energy fluctuation be the Heavenly Dao fragment…”

A purple blob of light appeared in Yi Yun’s vision. The energy intensity it contained left him astonished.

Fifteen minutes later, Yi Yun arrived at where the purple blob of light was, thanks to the Purple Crystal’s guidance.

He sensed that there was a fervent energy sealed underground.

“It seems Senior Lin did not only leave behind a Heavenly Dao fragment back then.” Yi Yun guessed as he took out Mirage Snow. The firm ground was sliced apart by Mirage Snow like it was mud.

Soon, Yi Yun dug up a massive hole, and surprisingly, there were points of light lining the inner walls of the hole.

“They are all Chaos Ores…”

Yi Yun observed them for a moment. He suspected that the Chaos Ores were a later formation. Back when the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch opened up the pocket world, the energy within the pocket world reached an extremum. The soil drew on the energy essence and transformed into Chaos Ores.

Although these Chaos Ores were of extremely high quality, Yi Yun was not lacking in Chaos Ores. He was in no hurry to harvest them.

When Yi Yun continued digging downwards, he was surprised to see a crystal-shaped item that emitted resplendent light. It was crystalline like jade and it contained a wisp of pure energy within as though it would be released upon summoning it.

“This is… a naturally formed Chaos Crystal?”

Even Bai Yueyin’s tone had a hint of astonishment. Naturally formed Chaos Crystals were far more valuable than refined Chaos Crystals.

There was no way to remove all the impurities in a Chaos Crystals refined by artificial means; however, naturally formed Chaos Crystal were pure and flawless. Their energies were even purer and they even contained a sliver of the worldly laws.

This was not something a refined Chaos Crystal could compare with.

“It is extremely difficult for Chaos Crystals to form naturally. It’s not enough to just have rich mineral vein energies. This place likely has special worldly laws and they were produced through these nomological forces…”

As Bai Yueyin spoke, Yi Yun had discovered that a faint purple glow suffused the Chaos Crystal.

Sensing something, he began slicing apart the Chaos Crystal bit by bit.

When these resplendent Chaos Crystal layers were taken away by Yi Yun, he saw a Chaos Crystal the size of a human’s head. And sealed in the middle of the Chaos Crystal was a purple snake the length of a finger.

The tiny snake was swimming constantly, a testament of its immense vitality.

However, Yi Yun recognized it at a glance. It was not a snake, but… a bolt of lightning!

The Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had sealed a bolt of lightning in here!?

The bolt of lightning had already taken form. Perhaps the amount of lightning essence the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had sealed was not a lot, but now, after billions of years, it drew on the worldly essences and began transforming itself, turning more sentient and spiritual.

Could it be that…

Yi Yun suddenly recalled his meeting with Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness. He had told him something—

Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness had said that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had developed his strength in the 33 Skies. When he first embarked on his martial path, he obtained a cultivation technique known as the Heretical God Force.

Due to the Heretical God Force, a Heretical God Seed was born within the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s body. And this Heretical God Seed was the amalgamation of the forces of thunder and fire!

Lightning and Fire were the two laws that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch was extremely proficient in back then. The Heretical God Force was the longest cultivation technique he used in his martial journey! This cultivation technique was extremely powerful to begin with, but after it was modified by him, it became even more impressive.

The Heretical God Fire Seed, which Yi Yun obtained, was a fire essence that was derived from the Heretical God Seed and had been left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch back when he left the Sinkhole universe.

And now, this purple lightning gave Yi Yun ideas.

The Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had left behind a wisp of fire essence, so naturally, he could leave behind a wisp of lightning essence.

Yi Yun previously did not develop this line of thinking. After all, it was already very difficult for him to obtain the Heretical God Fire Seed. He never expected to also obtain the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s lightning essence.

“It’s truly fated. You already have the Heretical God Fire and now you have found the Heretical God Lightning. Just the Heretical God Fire is not very potent, but if you combine them together, their strength increases exponentially. It can be said that you have taken up all of Senior Lin’s mantle.”

When Bai Yueyin said this, she wore a conflicted look. Yi Yun’s achievements at present was almost on par with the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s back when he was young. He truly deserved the title of successor to the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch.

As Bai Yueyin spoke, she saw Yi Yun focusing on the Heretical God Lightning which was sealed inside the Chaos Crystal.

“Senior Bai, how do you think this Heretical God Lightning compares with the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment?”

Yi Yun’s sentence which was delivered without rhyme or reason left Bai Yueyin stunned. She immediately understood Yi Yun’s idea. “You plan on… using the Heretical God Lightning to temper your body!?”

1608 - : Heretical God Force

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s idea of using the Heretical God Lightning to temper his body was somewhat insane. How could the typical body withstand the power of the Heretical God Lightning?

However, Bai Yueyin knew very well of Yi Yun’s potential. She knew that he was not making an aimless choice.

But…

“It’s not impossible to use the Heretical God Lightning to temper your body, but the risk involved is considerable. This is not the Lightning of Heavenly Punishment. To use the Heretical God Lightning to temper your body is probably unprecedented. No one will know the kind of variables your plan will involve,” said Bai Yueyin.

How could Yi Yun not know of the risk Bai Yueyin mentioned?

However, Yi Yun felt his lifeblood boil when he saw the Heretical God Lightning. His True Dragon bloodline was being stirred in a subtle manner as well.

He seemed to sense a sliver of danger!

However, this kind of danger thrilled Yi Yun somewhat.

The martial path was to go against the Heavens. He did not have much time left.

Most critically, Yi Yun wished to absorb the Heavenly Dao fragment. His body was currently far from capable of doing so. However, if he tempered his body with the Heretical God Lightning, things would be different.

Yi Yun extended his hand and struck forward. Mud and rocks stirred as the hole including him was buried together in a blink of an eye.

From the outside, it was a desolate plain. Even the stirring energies were concealed by Yi Yun.

And underneath the desolate plains, no one knew that it hid a tiny world.

Even a Godly Monarch would not discover it without searching for it carefully.

However, all the Godly Monarchs were seeking the traces of the Heavenly Dao fragment, so how could they show any interest to the desolate plains?

In the underground cave, Yi Yun sat cross-legged on top of the Chaos Crystal.

“Come!”

Yi Yun shouted in a deep voice as his body immediately produced a vortex. All the surrounding Chaos Crystal energies in the cave immediately surged toward Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s body sucked at the tremendous amounts of pure energy like a bottomless black hole. It was as though it would never be filled.

As he absorbed the energy, Yi Yun’s body gradually turned as crystalline as jade. In this dark cave, he gradually emitted a blinding glow.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sound of roaring tides sounded, but they were a result of the churning lifeblood in Yi Yun’s body.

The rocks surrounding him was tainted with a jade green color. One day, they could perhaps transform into a xenomorphic ore.

Probably no Divine Lord in the entire Chaos Heavens was as extravagant as Yi Yun. These Chaos Crystals if taken outside were enough to establish a sect and support more than a thousand disciples.

However, they were all being expended by Yi Yun alone. The increase in his strength was a lot faster by cultivating with Chaos Crystals. But now, Yi Yun felt that his strength was approaching a limit.

At that moment, his skin was as fair as white jade and crystalline. A converged but terrifying aura was constantly emitted from him.

As for the Chaos Crystals that surrounded the Heretical God Lightning, they were already gone. All that was left was a tiny bit of crystal to contain it.

As though it sensed something, the Heretical God Lightning kept swimming inside the crystal, shimmering with a dangerous glow.

Yi Yun opened his eyes.

“It’s time!”

A glint flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes as he abruptly extended his hand, reaching straight into the crystal in a bid to grab the Heretical God Lightning!

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly pricked up his brows. “Oh?”

With a thought, a jade talisman immediately flew out and floated in front of Yi Yun.

“Godly Monarch Sanguine Ax has discovered the Heavenly Dao fragment!” Divineheart’s voice transmission sounded from the jade talisman.

Has the Heavenly Dao fragment already been found…

A glint flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes. The Heavenly Dao fragment was in the core regions of the array formation. As for Divine General Sanguine Ax, they were surrounding the area. It prevented Yi Yun from entering.

These people were not to be trifled with after all. They had found it so quickly.

“It looks like tempering my body with the Heretical God Lightning will be delayed temporarily,” thought Yi Yun.

Since the Heavenly Dao fragment had appeared, it probably meant that all the Godly Monarch factions would be rushing there.

Yi Yun was naturally not going to miss it.

…

Meanwhile, a magnificent palace stood above the clouds on a mountain that was in shambles.

The insides of the palace were enshrouded in an azure aura. It emitted an extremely raw and magnificent quality that reminded one of the beginnings of the universe. From time to time, celestial bodies and all myriad items in the world would flash across it. It seemed to contain an entire universe.

A glance was enough to identify what the phenomena meant.

Sealed within the palace was the Heavenly Dao fragment!

Only a Heavenly Dao fragment could conjure the scenes of a world’s creation.

The Dao of Heaven was the laws that all myriad beings in the universe followed. It was unique.

At that moment, in a gigantic square outside the palace, a giant held a bloody ax as he cleaved down heavily at the palace.

Boom!

The force of giant’s ax was redoubtable!

This strike probably could destroy the entire mountain, much less the palace.

But!

Just as the giant’s ax landed, a strong repulsive force blasted out from the palace.

Bam!

Powerful shock waves blasted out, sending the bronze giant retreating!

His eyes burned with fury as he stared at the palace coldly.

The palace remained intact, standing there as though it would last for all eternity.

“What a powerful sealed array formation! Even Godly Monarch Sanguine Ax is unable to forcibly crack it.”

On the square, Godly Monarchs Dreamlight and Divineheart, as well as Golden Winged Celestial Peng, were already present.

With them were the Soul and Fey disciples, as well as the Taixia Ancient Mining’s Steward Zhou and company.

Being the first to find where the Heavenly Dao fragment was sealed, Sanguine Ax had already launched seventeen strikes at it!

Each strike was stronger than the last.

His immense strength was something even a Godly Monarch would find difficulty in resisting!

But before such a terrifying power, the array formation was unperturbed. Instead, the repulsive force grew in in strength, forcing Sanguine Ax to retreat when it reached him!

Thankfully, Celestials had powerful bodies. If someone were in his shoes, they might not be able to escape unharmed.

With Sanguine Ax retreating, it was evident he had no plans on trying again.

“I can give it a try,” said Dreamlight.

His soul was extremely powerful, so he had an upper hand when it came to array formations.

With that said, Dreamlight flew forward. He shook his finger as a terrifying force that stabbed at people’s minds condensed into a gigantic needle.

Upon seeing the needle, disciples who had relatively weaker souls even felt as though their eyes were bleeding.

“We’ll die! Don’t look at it any longer!” Steward Zhou said softly.

He bore the mental assault with great difficulty. The needle’s target was not them, but just a remnant part of its might left their souls unstable. Legend had it that Dreamlight could cause large numbers of warriors to die before him with a mere gaze. From the looks of it, the legend was true!

“Go!” Dreamlight said lightly as the needle instantly shot out and stabbed into the array formation seal.

Boom!

A loud boom sounded as the surface of the palace produced ripples that made it like a fleeting dream and unreal object. The Soul disciples revealed looks of joy when they saw the palace’s perturbations.

However, Dreamlight’s gaze turned heavy. At that moment, a loud boom sounded from the palace as the ripples surged out like a tidal wave. It formed a spear-wielding blurry figure that appeared lofty.

Suddenly, the figure aimed its spear tip ahead and moved, heading straight for Dreamlight in an abrupt assault!

1609 - : Heavenly Dao Fragment

CKtalon  CKtalon

“This is!?”

Upon seeing the spear beam, Dreamlight felt a sense of the Great Dao of Origins within it.

This feeling resembled that of the… Heavenly Dao!

How could that be? This figure’s Great Dao insights were already closing in onto the Heavenly Dao?

Dreamlight roared as a resplendent mirror of light erected suddenly in front of him. But when the figure’s spear struck the mirror, it immediately left the world quaking.

“Ka-cha!”

The mirror of light shattered directly as Dreamlight grunted and flew backward. He only managed to find his footing after retreating hundreds of feet.

He looked at the spear-wielding figure standing in front of the palace’s entrance with a somewhat pale face. The strike he had just suffered nearly damaged his soul body!

His face was a blur as he wielded a spear. Just by standing there, he appeared like heaven and earth!

The Great Dao of Origins—Had the nomological insights this figure represented reached that of the Heavenly Dao?

The ordinary warriors present were unperturbed, but the Godly Monarchs were already extremely alarmed.

They knew that Celestial mighty figures devoured Heavenly Dao fragments was to push their laws to match the Heavenly Dao.

Upon cultivating to that stage, one was the Heaven and the Dao itself. Their lifespans would be as long as the universe itself, immortal and indestructible!

However, even the Dao which the Ancestor God had attained appeared to be inferior to the spear-wielding figure. His Dao was perfect and flawless, forming a system in and of itself. Facing this person was akin to facing an entire universe.

“He’s… Human Emperor!?”

Dreamlight exclaimed in a heavy noise. These people knew the legend of Human Emperor and knew that the Heavenly Dao fragment planted here was left behind by him.

The reason why he left the Heavenly Dao fragment behind was likely because he had no need for it!

A Heavenly Dao fragment was naturally a treasure. Even for Human Emperor, it would be an absolute treasure among treasures if his laws had yet to attain perfection.

However, Human Emperor had clearly pushed his cultivation level to the peak. He had obtained the Heavenly Dao fragment when the Dao in him had already formed a system in and of itself.

As such, the Heavenly Dao fragment was probably only useful for reference, and far better left for future generations.

Since Human Emperor left the Heavenly Dao fragment here, it meant that he left it for future generations. But now, from the looks of it, the fragment was not that easily retrieved.

“What’s this? Is he testing if we are qualified?”

Ghost Ming looked at the spear-wielding figure with an ashen expression. He had to admit that Human Emperor was indeed powerful; however, he was extremely pissed that he needed to pass Human Emperor’s test to retrieve the treasure.

He was already a mighty Ghost Thearch. Why was he treated like a junior who was here to retrieve heritage?

“It’s just remnant psyche force. It has already been weakened over billions of years. Does he think that he can prevent me from entering with just a projection?”

Ghost Ming snorted coldly.

Dreamlight nodded and said as well, “That’s right. Human Emperor’s nomological insight is heaven-defying. This remnant psyche projection has inherited the Human Emperor’s laws, but the energy within a psyche projection is limited. He might be able to use an ailing projection to test juniors, but it won’t be enough against us.”

Even in the Chaos Heavens, anyone who attained the Godly Monarch realm was a pinnacle existence. There were five Godly Monarchs present, all founding patriarchs of their factions.

“Human Emperor is too arrogant. Let us repeatedly attack and drain this psyche projection’s strength.”

As Ghost Ming spoke, he took the initiative to step forward.

Destroying Human Emperor’s projection was nothing. What mattered was to be wary of the sneak attacks of their peers. But now, if they were taking turns attacking, he would naturally hold back.

“Alright!”

Golden Winged Celestial Peng also agreed. Obtaining the Heavenly Dao fragment was only a matter of time. What mattered was the conflict among the five of them.

Ghost Ming held a ghost banner as he slowly walked towards Human Emperor’s projection.

But at that moment, the space surrounding Ghost Ming and Human Emperor’s projection suddenly seemed to experience changes. Furthermore, space did not distort, nor was there any spatial barriers. This feeling was like two people standing in different spaces.

“Spatial dimension laws?” Divineheart was taken aback before he shook his head. “That’s not right. It’s a domain… a domain equivalent to the Heavenly Dao. This domain has isolated Ghost Ming from us. However, if the barrier can’t be found, it will be difficult to crack it.”

Divineheart could also sense that the psyche projection which Human Emperor left behind was not obviously powerful. It was quite impossible that Human Emperor would leave behind much of his psyche years ago. It would have also weakened him; however, they already found the pressure exerted by his nomological realm tricky.

“So that’s the case. Domain isolation. Is this a one-on-one test?” Ghost Ming stared at Human Emperor’s projection with a grave expression. “I’m already a Ghost Thearch. To think you want to test me. In that case, I’ll shatter the psyche projection you left behind.”

When Ghost Ming finished his sentence, the corner of his lips curved up, revealing a ferocious and teasing curve. No matter how strong Human Emperor was, he had long left the Chaos Heavens. What if… he could refine the psyche projection which Human Emperor left?

He focused on ghostly powers, so if he were to inject Human Emperor’s projection into the ghost banner, the outcome would be unimaginable! Perhaps, the ghost banner’s quality will rise sharply!

“Drain his strength. He is but a projection after all.”

As Ghost Ming had this in mind, his expression changed suddenly. He felt that his strength was being rapidly drained.

“What!?”

The surrounding people also saw this scene. Ghost Ming could not stop it as he was repressed by the laws!

Was… Human Emperor that powerful?

Everyone’s expression changed—especially Ghost Ming whose energy was leaving him. The color in his face drained.

If this continued, he would be exhausted of his energy. Although he could replenish it with Chaos Crystals, who knew how long the draining would continue?

Ghost Ming turned anxious and just as he was about to gather strength to deliver a blow, the energy drainage stopped.

He discovered that the energy he had left had been drained exactly by half.

And the missing half had flown into Human Emperor’s projection.

Ghost Ming was taken aback. He attempted taking out a Chaos Crystal in a bid to replenish his energy.

However, half the Chaos Crystal’s energy was also drained by Human Emperor’s projection!

He could replenish his energy with Chaos Crystals, but both parties would share the same amount of replenishment!

What kind of means were these!?

Ghost Ming’s expression turned uglier. What level did Human Emperor cultivate to?

Now, he was not facing a projection.

Instead, he was facing Human Emperor who possessed half his energy as well as the Heavenly Dao laws!

Even Ghost Ming felt a sense of foreboding.

As a Ghost Thearch, how could he be scared by a mere projection?

“Trying to test me? I’ll refine you!”

Hum Hum Hum!

Cold winds stirred as ghosts wailed in unison!

The ghost banner released a shriek as seven massive devils manifested. They wore armor, had a single horn on their heads, and had bloodshot eyes. They all looked different, looking like Shuras that crawled out from hell.

“It’s Ghost Ming’s Seven Kills Shura! From the looks of it, Ghost Ming is planning to use all his strength!” Upon seeing the seven devils, Divineheart’s expression sank. He had previously suffered under the Seven Kills Shura.

These devils not only had limitless strength; they also affected one’s psyche powers!

As for Human Emperor’s projection, it was a psyche projection.

Meanwhile, ghostly shadows appeared in the area around Ghost Ming, turning into what appeared like the River of the Netherworld, a perilous ground.

Myriad Ghost Demon Domain!

In the Myriad Ghost Demon Domain, Ghost Ming was the absolute hegemon.

“Kill!”

The seven devils rushed at Human Emperor’s projection. As for Ghost Ming, he conjured the Myriad Ghost Demon Domain which surged outwards before slamming it down.

This strike would have instantly reduced a million-population city to a ghost city with not one living soul!

Against Ghost Ming’s attack, Human Emperor’s projection suddenly vanished. In a blink of an eye, the projection seemed to phase out of existence and with the passing of time, appeared silently inside Ghost Ming’s ghost domain.

However, Ghost Ming’s ghost domain did not react much to the infiltration of Human Emperor’s projection!

He even felt for an instant that the ghost domain seemed to be giving his opponent the advantage.

The projection was the true hegemon!

“How is this possible!?” Ghost Ming’s expression changed drastically.

Hum!

The spear swept forward!

The seven devils were instantly reduced to nothingness; yet, the spear did not lose its momentum—the spear tip was aimed straight at Ghost Ming!

Wu—!

A black ghost suddenly appeared in front of Ghost Ming as it was instantly stabbed by the spear.

“Peng!”

The black ghost exploded directly as Ghost Ming grunted and flew backward.

He looked down at his chest which had already been lacerated. He was bleeding black blood profusely. The spear strike had nearly dissipated his soul body!

If he had not experienced the tempering of Yang Lightning and condensed a body of flesh and blood, that strike would have destroyed his soul.

This test could easily take a person’s life if they were not careful.

Furthermore, he felt that he did not appear to be the projection’s match!

The projection shared energies with him. If he replenished his energy, the projection would be replenished as well. The rules were very clear: defeat Human Emperor’s projection with the same level of strength.

He had planned on using the strategy of draining his opponent originally, but now, it was impossible.

For a mighty Ghost Thearch like him to come all the way here, he had actually failed to pass a test?

Ghost Ming was wondering what he was to do when a beam of light from nearby tore through the air at that moment.

Ghost Ming did not dare look; all he did was split off a wisp of his psyche to sense the newcomer.

The person was surprisingly… Yi Yun!?

“Oh? Yi Yun!”

Golden Winged Celestial Peng turned his head as his gaze turned as sharp as a dagger! He had previously joined forces with Ghost Ming in a bid to retain Yi Yun, but Yi Yun had managed to escape.

Yet, this punk dared to return!

Yi Yun was relying on Dreamlight and Divine General Sanguine Ax’s presence, with each side curtailing the other to cause the situation to turn chaotic. Under the present circumstances, Yi Yun seemed certain that he would not dare attack him without thought.

Well done.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng sneered. It was not like he had never met someone who opposed him ever since he became a Fey Thearch, but the only junior who dared to do so was Yi Yun.

“Young Brother Yi.”

Divineheart smiled faintly. Yi Yun landed and stood beside him. The Chaos Crystals which he did not finish absorbing had all been taken away by him. As for the Heretical God Lightning, he had stored it away in his Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

On his trip to the God Confusion Valley, Yi Yun’s murdering and seeking of treasures had benefited him with massive amounts of refined ores, Chaos Crystals, and various herbs. Of course, none of these could compare to the final Heavenly Dao fragment!

1610 - : Human Emperor

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Senior Divineheart, I’ll be troubling you.”

Yi Yun cupped his fists at Divineheart. For him to make a stand here, he needed to rely on Divineheart.

Before Divineheart even said a word, Yi Yun felt his surrounding temperature plummet.

He turned his head and looked at Golden Winged Celestial Peng.

From the moment Yi Yun appeared, he had completely ignored Golden Winged Celestial Peng. That infuriated the Godly Monarch.

“Do you really think I won’t dare to attack you here?”

Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s voice was deep and powerful. His churning lifeblood forces nearly manifested as visible sound waves. The vibrations they emitted made one’s heart resonate with them as though they would explode.

The Taixia disciples present retreated with pale faces. Even Divine Lord experts like Steward Zhou found their chests feeling heavy and uncomfortable.

Dreamlight took a few steps back and watched the situation like he was watching the show and only hoping for it to be more exciting. He naturally would not involve himself in the personal grudges of the other Godly Monarchs. In fact, he yearned for the others to come to blows.

Divineheart smiled when he saw Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s raging killing intent. “Golden Peng, given the present circumstances, do you want the both of us to fight to an internecine outcome and benefit the others?”

“Haha!” Golden Peng roared with laughter. “You think too highly of yourself. Do you think you can have an internecine outcome with me? Besides, so what if I’m slightly injured. No one can get this Heavenly Dao fragment for now. I really don’t mind expending some of my lifeblood forces.”

As Golden Peng spoke, his lifeblood congealed into a blade that silently enveloped Yi Yun.

“Punk, you think too highly of yourself. Did you think I would not attack you because there are five Godly Monarchs around? You are just a mere Divine Lord. Did you come here wishing to take a share of the loot? Do you think you deserve it!? I’ll now shred you to pieces!”

While Golden Peng spoke, an explosion suddenly boomed.

Boom!

Ghost Ming was sent retreating out from Human Emperor’s domain. And before him, be it the Seven Kills Shura or the River of the Netherworld Ghosts, they were all destroyed by Human Emperor’s projection with one sweep of his spear!

His spear was the bane of everything!

“Peng!”

Ghost Ming was sent flying out of Human Emperor’s domain as his mouth spewed black blood!

Ghost Ming stood up with the help of his ragged ghost banner while his body emanated a rotting stench. He had not tempered his body thoroughly with the Lightning Tribulations. Although he had materialized flesh and blood for his body, he still had a rotting cadaveric air. Only if he experienced multiple Lightning Tribulations would his flesh and blood turn as crystalline as jade.

Upon seeing this scene, Golden Peng’s expression darkened slightly. Ghost Ming had failed!

Although he had guessed that Ghost Ming would fail, he never expected him to fail so quickly.

At that moment, Ghost Ming’s eyes were a nether green. As a Ghost Thearch, he had cultivated for hundreds of thousands of years and was the strongest entity in the Nine Netherworld Lands. Yet, he had lost terribly.

However, even Sanguine Ax was unable to crack the array formation, so although his eyes burned with anger, he could do nothing to the palace or the projection!

By this point, Ghost Ming had half his strength siphoned away by Human Emperor’s projection. He silently took out a Chaos Crystal and began to restore his strength.

He had noticed the clash between Golden Peng and Divineheart, but had no plans to involve himself in it. He yearned to see them have an internecine outcome.

Yi Yun had already drawn Mirage Snow. With Ghost Ming not participating, there was no need for him to flee if he joined forces with Divineheart to fight Golden Winged Celestial Peng.

At this moment, the suppressive might of a tumultuous tidal roar suddenly emitted from Divine General Sanguine Ax. It caused the opposing Yi Yun, Divineheart, and Golden Winged Celestial Peng to take a step in retreat.

Golden Peng looked angrily at Sanguine Ax. “Divine General, what’s the meaning of this? This punk killed a genius of my clan. Why are you stopping my killing of him!?”

Even the mighty Golden Peng felt a little fearful against Divine General Sanguine Ax.

Sanguine Ax spoke with a voice that sounded like colliding metal. “Before the Heavenly Dao fragment is in hand, no conflict is to arise!”

Sanguine Ax was originally fine with seeing the others fight to the death, but Ghost Ming’s failure changed his mind.

It was very difficult to crack the array the Human Emperor left behind!

If all five Godly Monarchs were to take turns, there was still a chance. But if there was any internal strife which frittered away their strength, the chances were only lower.

Sanguine Ax thought nothing of the survival of Yi Yun, an ant-like junior. What was of utmost priority was the Heavenly Dao fragment!

“Divine General, are you planning to use us as the vanguard?” Golden Peng sneered. “All of us wish to obtain the Heavenly Dao fragment, but you are the strongest one here. You naturally have the highest chance of obtaining it. The seal left behind by Human Emperor is still an unknown. What if only one person is allowed to pass the test for entry into the palace?

“The lot of us have no means to refine the Heavenly Dao fragment, so even if we pass the test and obtain the fragment, all we can do is study it. We are unlike you who can refine the Heavenly Dao fragment for yourself If you did succeed alone, we would be unable to vie for the fragment if you do not come out from the palace.”

When Golden Peng said this, everyone’s expression changed slightly.

Perhaps, after all the work they did, they would only end up benefiting Divine General Sanguine Ax alone.

Dreamlight said as well, “Divine General, that plan of yours sure is good.”

Instantly, the four Godly Monarchs looked at Sanguine Ax. Based on the present circumstances, Sanguine Ax clearly wanted to be the last to enter. They obviously were unwilling to be stepping stones for him.

Sanguine Ax sighed slightly. The situation they were facing was indeed complicated.

If a bunch of factions that were lacking in strength obtained a treasure that could stir the entire Chaos Heavens, he naturally wanted to monopolize it. But now, he knew it was unlikely.

In fact, with his standing among the Celestials, even getting a smidgen of a Heavenly Dao fragment would be a huge opportunity for him.

Having cultivated to this stage, Sanguine Ax had a calm temperament. Although he was greedy, he was not excessive. He knew how to relent.

He said, “Even I cannot fully refine this Heavenly Dao fragment. I will at most refine half of it! Furthermore, the array of the heritage area will likely have the heritage as the array core. Once the heritage is taken, the array will slowly weaken. There’s no way for me to hide in there perpetually.”

“I can swear on my divine heart that I’ll leave the remaining half to you! If I were to violate my oath, my heart will crumble and the heavens will wipe me out of existence!”

As Sanguine Ax spoke, he punched himself in the chest and spat out a mouthful of dark gold blood. The blob of blood manifested as an ancient totem in midair before slowly dissipating.

“A Celestial Blood Oath…”

The four Godly Monarchs were alarmed when they saw this. Such a blood oath was the highest level of oaths the Celestials made. Making one would drain a little bit of their Origins power.

They were all knowledgeable people, so they naturally could tell that Sanguine Ax had not faked his blood oath. The cost of violating the oath was just too high. It was very common for their divine heart to collapse and shatter.

From the looks of it, he truly planned on only refining half of it.

Upon realizing this, everyone’s mind whirled. They did not have much hope of actually getting the Heavenly Dao fragment to begin with, but Sanguine Ax had made his attitude clear. It was very possible that they could benefit in an adequate manner.

Even a smidgen of the Heavenly Dao fragment was tempting!

1611 - : Celestial Blood Oath

CKtalon  CKtalon

“I’m unable to enter to take on the trial again, but Human Emperor’s projection has been weakened by me. I naturally deserve a portion of the half fragment!” Ghost Ming said.

Having seen these people negotiate with the Celestial who even went as far as taking a blood oath, he was naturally afraid that he would be discriminated against. Of course he would be against it.

“That’s only natural,” said Dreamlight. He knew very well that when the Heavenly Dao fragment was split among them, there would be another round of competition for it.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng gave Yi Yun a glance. Since Divine General Sanguine Ax had spoken, it was already impossible for him to kill Yi Yun where they were.

As long as Yi Yun wasn’t foolish, he would definitely leave before the protective array formation of the Heavenly Dao fragment was cracked. When that happened, it would truly be difficult for him to kill Yi Yun.

With this in mind, Golden Peng suddenly scoffed sinisterly as he said to Divineheart, “Hand this punk’s life to me, and I can swear on my Fey core that I’ll leave you another piece of the Heavenly Dao fragment.”

Golden Peng’s words were truly diabolical!

The allure of a Heavenly Dao fragment was just too huge. He refused to believe that Divineheart would not be tempted. And even if he was not tempted, it would plant doubts in Yi Yun’s mind, allowing him to easily separate the two.

Before Divineheart said a word, Dreamlight said lightly, “This punk has no right to stand here. Let him return to where the Taixia contingent is standing.”

Dreamlight naturally did not have any good feelings towards Yi Yun either.

There were five Godly Monarchs present, only Yi Yun was a Divine Lord. He stood out like a sore thumb.

Divineheart took a deep breath, cursing at how good Yi Yun was at causing trouble. Apart from Divine General Sanguine Ax, he had offended the remaining three Godly Monarchs. Now, if not for Sanguine Ax’s need for him, things would have turned terrible.

“Go back to the Taixia contingent. I’ll be very pressured while you are here. Do not be fooled by Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s attempt to sow discord. He thinks too highly of himself to promise me benefits which he has yet to obtain.”

Yi Yun took a look at the Godly Monarchs present and nodded, retreating back to the Taixia contingent.

Since his strength was inferior, it was necessary to exercise temporary forbearance. It was best he kept a low profile while four Godly Monarchs stood opposite him. If he pressed his luck and offended Sanguine Ax as well, perhaps Divineheart would abandon him.

Yi Yun walked to Steward Zhou’s side and planned to observe the battle in the sealed world. He wanted to have a thorough understanding of the array before deciding if he could charge into Human Emperor’s domain rashly. Besides, it was possible he’d be stopped by Sanguine Ax if he tried.

At this moment, Purple Succubus walked towards him and bowed. “Elder Yi, I would like to thank you for saving my life. I was entertaining angels unawares when you first entered Taixia. Elder Yi, if I had offended you in any way, please forgive me.”

Purple Succubus’s voice was feminine and sweet, as though she had smeared it with honey. She was voluptuous and beautiful to begin with. Now with her smile, she looked coquettish. In fact, she knew very well that it was impossible for her to catch Yi Yun’s fancy. However, acting slightly charming in front of men was never a bad move. At the very least, she knew Yi Yun and if she wanted to survive in Taixia, it was necessary to curry favor with Yi Yun.

Yi Yun only nodded and did not say anything else. His focus was trained on Dreamlight.

Dreamlight had stepped into Human Emperor’s domain and he had begun fighting Human Emperor’s projection.

He was placed in the same situation as Ghost Ming. The moment he entered the domain, half of his strength was drawn away by Human Emperor’s projection.

From the looks of it, it was already impractical to fritter off the projection’s energy reserves. The only viable strategy was to fritter off the nomological powers inside the projection.

No matter how powerful Human Emperor was, the number of nomological marks he left behind was limited. It could be worn away.

As a member of the Soul race, Dreamlight’s psyche strength was the strongest among the five Godly Monarchs; therefore, he kept launching psyche attacks at the projection!

His psyche forces were impregnable, like a blade!

Human warriors paid great attention to protecting their souls and psyche strength, so no one would wantonly use their psyche strength against their enemies. Any mistake could result in them becoming retards.

However, Dreamlight had no such qualms. He even used his psyche forces as a bomb, commanding them to explode at the moment they struck the projection!

This form of explosion was practically suicide for human warriors, with a very high possibility of being wiped clean of existence.

But to Dreamlight, it was just par for the course. His soul had already been cultivated to an eternally immutable state. After his psyche forces exploded, he instantly recovered. It only expended some of his energies.

The strength of his soul left even Yi Yun envious.

After expending most of his energies, Dreamlight’s face turned pale. As for Human Emperor’s projection, he was enveloped within the confines of Dreamlight’s psyche self-explosion.

At that moment, Dreamlight’s expression was cold and filled with killing intent. “I refuse to believe that a human like you, no matter how strong you are, will have psyche strength greater than mine. Besides, this is merely a psyche remnant you left behind. Begone!”

Dreamlight roared as he manifested the surrounding psyche energies into something corporeal.

Dream Confusion Space!

Instantly, the dream realm could not be distinguished from reality. Dreamlight’s psyche forces transformed into 18,000 swords as they shot towards the projection from every angle.

“Explode!”

Dreamlight bellowed, but at that moment, a gigantic black wheel appeared behind the projection.

10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

The wheel was like an bottomless vortex which pulled all the psyche swords into it.

Pa! Pa! Pa!

The psyche swords shattered as most of Dreamlight’s psyche forces were destroyed before they managed to self-destruct.

No matter how powerful Dreamlight’s soul was, the color in Dreamlight’s face drained as the gigantic wheel bore down on him due to the massive loss of psyche energy. He had no means to defend against the projection.

“Bam!”

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence struck Dreamlight heavily, causing his body to quake excessively. The flesh on his body and face formed cracked patterns like those in porcelain.

Dreamlight grunted and flew backward for more than a thousand feet before smashing into the ground. His face was ashen.

The injuries he suffered were much worse than Ghost Ming’s!

As for Human Emperor’s projection, he stood proudly before the Heavenly Dao palace with spear in hand. His blurry facial features made one feel a baffled sense of might and oppression.

Dreamlight had also been defeated, a more dismal defeat than Ghost Ming!

People knew what was on Dreamlight’s mind. He was hoping that with his powerful psyche force, he could restrain the remnant psyche energy which Human Emperor had left behind. He did not hold back because he wished to enter the Heavenly Dao palace first to reap more benefits.

Unfortunately, he had gone for wool and come home shorn! His eternally immutable soul had suffered a sliver of damage!

Apart from disciples from the Soul race’s Heavenly Dream Path, no one bothered to worry over Dreamlight’s condition. After Dreamlight, it was Divineheart who went on next.

Having seen two Godly Monarchs defeated one after another, Divineheart knew that his hopes for victory were slim. He did not risk his life and was defeated in less than a minute. He was swept out of the domain by Human Emperor’s projection.

As such, out of the five Godly Monarchs, there were only Golden Winged Celestial Peng and Divine General Sanguine Ax left.

Sanguine Ax shot Golden Peng a silent glance. With a cold sneer, Golden Peng walked into Human Emperor’s domain.

1612 - : Setback

With the failures before him, Golden Winged Celestial Peng knew how powerful Human Emperor’s projection was. The moment he entered the domain, he stimulated his ancestral bloodline and transformed into a gigantic Celestial Peng.

The Celestial Peng’s wings spanned more than twenty meters wide and his claws were as sharp as blades. All his flesh and even his blood were covered in golden scales. For a Fey Godly Monarch, their bodies were their strongest weapons. They would not falter even if they clashed head-on with a human Godly Monarch’s weapon.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng could match that of a True Dragon. His lifeblood surged like a river as it churned violently.

Even Yi Yun felt his heart palpitate when he saw Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s true manifestation. He had a vague sense that, excluding Divine General Sanguine Ax, Golden Winged Celestial Peng was likely the strongest Godly Monarch there.

However, while Golden Peng’s lifeblood forces erupted, Human Emperor’s projection rose in strength. He absorbed the lifeblood within Golden Peng’s body and transformed it into his own strength.

Upon seeing this, Golden Peng roared with laughter. “You may be able to absorb my strength, but do you think you can emulate my body?”

The strongest aspect of him was his body!

As for Human Emperor’s projection, it was ultimately a projection.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng pounced forward as his raging lifeblood rumbled like thunder. He raised a claw and swiped it straight at Human Emperor’s projection. The claw emitted a sharp sound as it tore through the air, stabbing straight into people’s ears through the domain. It drained the color of many warriors present. They felt like their own bodies were the ones being shredded.

Even though he had half his energy drained, Golden Peng’s body remained extremely powerful.

And at that moment, the projection moved as well.

As his feet moved, the figure vanished from where he stood.

Golden Peng’s pupils constricted.

The projection’s speed was even faster than his?

Unbelievable!

Suddenly, the projection appeared behind Golden Peng, crushing his back with mighty force while he swiped his spear down with his hand!

Boom!

Golden Peng let out an angry roar.

The project stayed on his back and swept the spear towards his head!

Regardless how resilient Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s body was, he could not help but turn dizzy.

It was an utter disgrace to have someone step on his back in front of so many Godly Monarchs and juniors!

Golden Peng struggled crazily in a bid to fling the projection away; however, the projection stood firm on his back.

The ground seemed to sense Golden Peng’s rage as it quaked. And in the domain, it felt like a mighty ancient Fey was in a frenzy. Lifeblood surged with horrifying strength.

At that moment, Golden Peng’s golden feathers shot out like arrows. They homed in straight on the projection.

Golden Peng did not easily use his intrinsic golden feathers as it hurt his essence. But his wrath made him ignore that.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Three golden feather sealed every direction as each of them brought with them the force to tear through the lands and destroy mountains. Together, they bombarded Human Emperor’s projection.

Finally, the projection left Golden Peng’s back.

However, the projection appeared in front of Golden Peng the next instant. A long spear with immense force swiped towards him, showing no concern for the golden feathers.

Golden Peng was alarmed as he quickly folded his wings and guarded his front.

Bam!

With a loud boom, Golden Peng let out a painful grunt as his massive body was sent flying out. His claws hurriedly reached out to the ground, but he still flew out.

In the domain, three golden feathers flew into Human Emperor’s projection, but seemed to sink into a quagmire, turning slow and heavy.

Human Emperor’s projection reached his hand out and grabbed the three golden feathers instantly.

Ka-cha!

The golden feathers with a sharpness that made them divine artifacts were instantly shattered by the projection’s crushing. It resulted in Golden Peng grunting again.

The flesh around his wings was mangled. He was still short of three golden feathers and his head was bleeding…

He roared and charged forward once again and began another bout with the projection.

But what followed was Golden Winged Celestial Peng being utterly battered.

People were astonished to realize that Human Emperor was not only nomologically powerful, but he had also tempered his body. It was completely impossible for Golden Peng to repress Human Emperor with his body.

After a few major clashes, Golden Peng’s armor exploded, covering him in blood. He was then thrown out of the domain by the projection.

The disciples present shuddered in fear. Human Emperor’s projection was already this powerful; it was like he was invincible. How could the trial be cleared?

Golden Peng returned to his human form and took several pills to keep his injuries in check. He scoffed coldly and looked at the motionless Sanguine Ax. “Sanguine Ax! It’s your turn!”

Sanguine Ax gave him a nonchalant glance, not appearing in a hurry to take action. Instead, he said, “Human Emperor is too powerful. There is no guarantee of victory even if I entered. If I return fruitless, what would you do?”

“What’s your idea? Are we going watch helplessly? Human Emperor’s projection’s nomological powers will not be frittered away with time,” said Golden Peng with a frown.

“I do have some ideas,” said Sanguine Ax. He took out a disk array which emitted a faint sanguine aura. Its surface was mottled; testimony to its antiquity.

“An array formation?” Dreamlight said.

“That’s right. I’ll use an array formation to drain the energy of the array formation here. Once the array formation is weakened, the projection’s nomological powers will weakened, giving me absolute confidence when I enter.”

Dreamlight revealed a ruminative look.

It was indeed a solution to use an array formation to drain the array formation.

“This array formation does not have a head count limit. To achieve the best results, I have decided to include all the disciples present in the array formation’s activation,” said Sanguine Ax.

Although Divine General Sanguine Ax’s tone was overbearing and made the various Godly Monarchs read it as veiled criticism, none of them retorted, since it was to no one’s advantage if this dragged on.

At this moment, Sanguine Ax flipped his hand again, revealing a pill suffusing a faint sanguine aura. “These disciples are lacking in strength. They can use this pill to stimulate their lifeblood.”

Ghost Ming reached out his hand and pulled it towards him. The pill arrived in Ghost Ming’s hands since Sanguine Ax did not stop him.

He held it in his hands and suddenly chuckled. “Although this pill can raise one’s strength, there is a cost to the stimulating of potential. It might even affect one’s talents and future.”

Upon hearing Ghost Ming’s words, the originally unfazed disciples from the various factions immediately had drastic changes in expression.

With Ghost Ming mentioning this, Sanguine Ax remained composed. “That’s right. But since time immemorial, how many people have become Godly Monarchs? So what if a little potential is wasted? Besides, I will naturally compensate them.”

Sanguine Ax then took out another pill.

It was completely golden in color as though it was cast from golden blood. Just the sight of it made their lifebloods churn.

This is a Divine Blood Pill, unique to my race. Just this pill alone is enough to compensate them,” said Sanguine Ax.

Indeed, the expressions of many disciples turned better after Sanguine Ax finished his sentence.

Just as Sanguine Ax put it, their martial path was fraught with difficulties. For instance, people like Steward Zhou, who was already at the ends of his martial path. The Divine Blood Pill in front of them had the slim possibly of allowing one to produce divine blood according to rumors. It would then give them the strength unique to the Celestial bloodline.

Even if they were unable to get the power of the Celestial bloodline, just the tempering of their bodies was sufficient.

Steward Zhou and company were moved.

Sanguine Ax took in the reaction of everyone and sneered inwardly. How could the array formation left behind by Human Emperor that easily weakened? When the time came for the array formation to activate, it was even possible to suck dry the weaker ones.

The disk array in his hand immediately flew out as nomological forces instantly enveloped the square, producing blood-colored formation maps on the ground’ surface. Numerous points of light appeared and those spots were where the warriors were needed to stand.

“Fellow Godly Monarchs, stay with me in the array core. As for the rest, enter the array,” said Sanguine Ax.

“Yi Yun, I’ve seen this array before…” At that moment, Bai Yueyin’s voice sounded in Yi Yun’s mind. “It’s likely a Heretic Blood Array from ancient times. It can overdraw a person’s lifeblood and only Sanguine Ax can deactivate it. The other four Godly Monarchs could be unaffected by the array formation, but for the rest, they might have their martial paths severed.”

“I know.” Yi Yun spoke as he walked toward the array.

While huge groups of people were moving, Yi Yun appeared inconspicuous among them.

When he reached the boundary of the array formation, Yi Yun was in no rush to enter. Instead, he circled the array’s periphery and unknowingly, he had arrived near the palace where the Heavenly Dao fragment was.

“I instructed everyone to enter the array. Where do you think you are going?”

Sanguine Ax frowned as he looked at Yi Yun who was getting further away from the array.

And at that moment, Yi Yun suddenly transformed into a beam of light and flew towards Human Emperor’s domain!

“What are you doing?”

Sanguine Ax was instantly infuriated. He was not worried that Yi Yun would obtain the Heavenly Dao fragment, but peeved that Yi Yun had disobeyed his command.

At that moment, Ghost Ming was the closest to Human Emperor’s domain.

“Since you want to die, I will grant it to you!”

With a haunting growl, water from the River of the Netherworld immediately surged at Yi Yun, bringing with it billowing Yin Qi.

Upon hearing Ghost Ming’s voice, Yi Yun raised his speed up another notch.

Boom!

The River of the Netherworld struck Yi Yun, but did not injure him because in between Yi Yun and the River of the Netherworld was an invisible barrier.

Yi Yun had already entered the Human Emperor’s domain.

As for the River of the Netherworld and everything else, they had all been blocked outside the domain.

And Human Emperor’s domain only allowed for one person to enter at a time.

Having failed at his attack, Ghost Ming’s expression turned ashen. However, he quickly sneered. “He really has a death wish!”

If Yi Yun had entered the array without a fuss, he would not have been able to do much to him. However, it was unknown what got to Yi Yun; he had charged straight into the trial’s domain. Once he was expelled with severe injuries, death was the only way out for him!

“Does he actually believe he can pass the trial?” Golden Peng revealed a sliver of derision.

Sanguine Ax looked at Divineheart with a sunken expression. At that moment, Divineheart was lamenting inwardly. This Yi Yun had also offended Divine General Sanguine Ax!

He could ignore the fact that he had to fight four fists with his two, but how many fists was he up against now?

1613 - : Entering First

CKtalon  CKtalon

Divine General Sanguine Ax looked coldly into Human Emperor’s domain where Yi Yun was. He could tell that Yi Yun had rushed in there to fulfill his ambition!

“Do you think you can obtain the Heavenly Dao fragment? What a joke.”

Sanguine Ax had no idea why Yi Yun had a death wish. Ignoring the fact that the Godly Monarchs were powerless in the face of this trial, even if Yi Yun managed to pass it and obtain the Heavenly Dao fragment, so what? How was he to escape from the Godly Monarchs?

“Kill him when he comes out.”

Sanguine Ax announced Yi Yun’s fate in a simple manner.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng and Ghost Ming revealed gruesome smiles. They couldn’t ask for more.

“Yi Yun, I won’t be able to help you under the present circumstances. I hope you know what you are doing…” said Divineheart via voice transmission.

At that moment, Yi Yun was truly in a perilous situation where everyone was waiting for him to be thrown out.

Yi Yun did not reply Divineheart. He was only looking at Human Emperor’s figure in front of him.

He naturally knew the risk that came with his decision, but rather than entering the array formation, he preferred entering the domain to engage in a desperate fight with Human Emperor. He did not want to leave his fate in Divine General Sanguine Ax’s hands.

He would not have agreed to it even if the condition of not harming his talent was given, much less in the present situation.

“Senior Human Emperor…” Despite being a psyche mark, Yi Yun felt like he was crossing space-time to face Human Emperor when he saw the projection up close.

At that moment, the feeling of his energies been drained came. Yi Yun’s energies dropped rapidly as half of what he had was absorbed by the projection.

Finally, Yi Yun was left with half his strength. As for the projection, it also possessed half of Yi Yun’s strength.

In every trial, Human Emperor’s projection would share the energy equally with his opponent.

After the various Godly Monarchs had their energies evenly split, they faced Human Emperor at the half-step Godly Monarch realm. Among them, Golden Winged Celestial Peng was the strongest contender.

And now, the projection Yi Yun was facing only had half his energy. It was much weaker.

The level of weakness was quite considerable, which was why Yi Yun dared to charge into Human Emperor’s domain.

At the end of the day, Human Emperor was testing one’s talent.

Yi Yun knew very well that even the weakened projection was still extremely terrifying!

At that moment, the projection attacked!

Only people who truly faced the projection would realize the projection’s terrifying understanding of the Martial Dao and nomological mastery.

The projection was merely a psyche mark, but he seemed to possess a corporeal form with staggering lifeblood. Stars faintly appeared behind him.

The nine stars sparkled brightly while massive stellar forces corresponded to different critical spots on the projection before surging into it, increasing his lifeblood!

“It’s Senior Lin’s Nine Stars of the Dao Palace! It’s an ancient body-temping mystic art he obtained early in his life. He tempered his body and produced a divine body that could compare with powerful Fey!” exclaimed Bai Yueyin.

Yi Yun’s eyes shimmered… Nine Stars of the Dao Palace. Senior Human Emperor was like him, cultivating in both body and essence. However, the present projection ultimately did not have a true body. As for him, he had the Dragon Emperor Technique… If he did not even have the courage to do battle, how could he talk about defying the heavens?

At that moment, the projection swiped his spear.

Tremendous killing auras instantly enveloped Yi Yun!

If his willpower was weak, his strength would have been greatly discounted by the influence of the killing aura. It could even rob him of his determination to resist.

Roar!

A loud dragon’s roar sounded from Yi Yun’s body suddenly.

A True Dragon phantom swirled up from behind Yi Yun. It coiled in midair with a threatening side glance and was opposite the nine stars.

Yi Yun roared out as he summoned the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. With it in hand, his lifeblood churned violently like the sea. It slammed into the incoming spear of the projection in a simple and direct manner!

Boom!

In mid-air, the nine stars collided with the True Dragon phantom!

The sound of the world crumbling boomed as the projection’s spear rapidly jabbed at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. The tremors left Yi Yun’s palm numb as his lifeblood churned.

Having failed to score a hit, the projection’s spear became even more tumultuous, like a raging tidal wave. Wave after wave inundated Yi Yun as he held the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in front of him while the dragon roar in him rumbled like thunder.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

In a short instant, the projection had clashed with Yi Yun more than a hundred times. And beneath their feet were dense spiderweb-like cracks.

However, these cracks vanished completely once the array formation produced a surge.

Suddenly, the tip of the projection’s spear emitted a lightning beam as fiery snakes swirled around it. The power of Fire and Lightning undulated as the projection’s lifeblood seemed to increase exponentially!

Amid the Fire and Lightning, all sound in the world seemed as though it was muffled by an all-encompassing force.

The corners of Yi Yun’s eyes twitched as he sensed danger!

“That’s the Heretical God Force!” Bai Yueyin hurriedly introduced, “That’s the source of your Heretical God Fire Seed!”

After all these years, being able to see Human Emperor’s moves again—even if it was just a psyche mark—overwhelmed Bai Yueyin with feelings.

Whoosh!

The spear thrust forward accompanied by lightning and thunder. Like a flash of lightning, the spear tip was already pointed in between Yi Yun’s brows.

Yi Yun’s pupils constricted as he retreated rapidly while a flame washed over his body.

Heretical God Fire!

He defended against the phantom’s Fire-Lightning attack with the Heretical God Fire!

Chi! Chi! Chi!

The spear stabbed into the Heretical God Fire and produced an explosive boom!

The violent flames instantly swept through the ground. It was like the entire domain was blanketed by lightning and flames.

Yi Yun stood behind the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. His heart quivered for he was wowed by the immense power!

This power indeed shared the same origins as his Heretical God Fire.

After fending off the Fire Lightning blow, Human Emperor’s spear continued tearing through the Heretical God Fire and in a flash, appeared before Yi Yun. The spear tip shattered the void at a confounding speed.

Yi Yun’s Heretical God Fire only contained the fire aspect and not the lightning aspect; therefore, it was unable to withstand the blow. He quickly flicked his fingers and shot out twelve beams with the Shura Finger.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In a split second, Human Emperor’s projection suddenly appeared in front of Yi Yun, having already nullified all of the Shura Fingers. The tip of his spear rapidly thrust forward in the form of a sharp white beam and inundated Yi Yun.

Yi Yun rapidly retreated as he spat out a mouthful of blood. He felt that all his lifeblood had nearly dissipated from the strike!

The Godly Monarchs had only managed to withstand a few strikes. Compared to them, Yi Yun was doing very well, but Yi Yun was in a different, more perilous situation. Retreating from the domain meant death.

“Yi Yun, Senior Lin’s trial is also an opportunity. How many people will ever get the opportunity to trade blows with him?” said Bai Yueyin suddenly.

A glint flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes. Bai Yueyin was right. Human Emperor was peerless in body and essence. His achievements in the Martial Dao could be said to be unparalleled, a rare enemy since time immemorial. To exchange blows with such a figure was truly an opportunity to be treasured.

He roared and, without dodging, he faced the projection’s spear beam head on.

The spear beam’s aftershocks washed over Yi Yun, bathing him in blood, but Yi Yun entrenched himself with every step he took. At that moment, a divine tree phantom appeared behind Yi Yun. Countless branches swayed as immense vitality was injected into him, stabilizing his figure.

“Begone!”

With Mirage Snow in hand, Yi Yun slashed out. The spear beam which had already weakened with extended use finally shattered as a result of Yi Yun’s slash. The Fire Lightning powers that lingered around the spear beam also gradually dissipated.

Although Yi Yun suffered injuries from the blow, he ultimately withstood it.

The clash took its toll on Yi Yun, but he knew that using Chaos Crystals to replenish his energies was pointless. It would only allow the projection to recover his strength. He had to use a limited amount of energy to drain Human Emperor of his energy.

Human Emperor was extremely powerful, but Yi Yun was not disheartened. According to Bai Yueyin’s judgment, Human Emperor had already cultivated for millions of years before he came to the Chaos Heavens.

As for Yi Yun, he had not cultivated for long!

He had time, as well as endless possibilities ahead of him.

“Again!”

A burning glint flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes. He did not have any thoughts about snatching victory in the trial. It was thrilling to be able to battle the strongest expert in all of humanity across so many years.

At that moment, Human Emperor’s projection rose his arms and in front of him, a bright red wheel appeared. Carved on the wheel were various devils and shura phantoms. These carvings made one completely experience decimation amid the smell of blood!

Yi Yun’s heart jolted. This is… the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

The so-called 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was actually the representation of the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s Asura Heavenly Dao.

Asura was about decimation and destruction!

The pain, evil, sin, and Heavenly Punishment that happened during the 10000 incarnations of Samsara at the hands of the 10000 devils and demons were all carved on the wheel’s Dao patterns. It condensed into limitless demonlike powers. It was a set of moves that allowed for both offense and defense!

Yi Yun also had the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. He believed that the Wheel of Existence had been inherited from Human Emperor, but he never expected to see Human Emperor use the move with his own eyes.

However, at this moment, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was not cast at Human Emperor’s peak. Even so, it still effused an astounding aura!

Meanwhile, the array had already been set up on the square. The Godly Monarchs had entered the array core while the disciples had consumed the pill that stimulated their potentials. They sat at different critical nodes of the array.

“This Yi Yun sure has managed to last pretty long,” thought Divineheart.

Ghost Ming seemed to notice Divineheart’s expression as he sneered. “So what? The longer he lasts, the better. He’s helping us fritter away some of the nomological powers.”

Divineheart snorted coldly without a word. Now that Yi Yun was condemned by everyone, he could not speak up for him.

At this moment in Human Emperor’s domain, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was already crushing down at Yi Yun!

Yi Yun stared intently at the black wheel. He originally planned on using his strongest strike to clash with it head-on, but at that moment, he suddenly realized that the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was not just a move that struck the final blow. Instead…

Could it be that…

Yi Yun suddenly put away Mirage Snow and instead, used his hands to grab the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Upon seeing this scene, Divineheart was alarmed.

The other Godly Monarchs were shocked as well. This Yi Yun was actually taking on the blow with his bare hands?

“Does he not want his hands?”

“He has a death wish.”

Everyone waited for Yi Yun to be expelled. After this blow, Yi Yun would be crippled if not dead. They would not even need to exert much strength to kill him.

“Pa!”

At that moment, Yi Yun had grabbed the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

The terrifying destructive force sapped away the flesh and blood on Yi Yun’s palms. In an instant, his hands nearly turned into bone.

But it was at this moment that Yi Yun released all his energies. In his dantian, the nine-leaf Dao fruit which symbolized Destruction and Primordial Chaos appeared. The destructive forces in him kept blending with Human Emperor’s 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

By using the same cultivation technique and same destructive force, it made the two forces resonate.

Hum! Hum!

Laws trembled as a surge after another was emitted like a tidal wave or a sound wave through the world!

After that was a scene that widened the eyes of everyone. Yi Yun had grabbed the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence and pressed it straight to his dantian!

The dantians of human warriors were like their core as well as a vital spot. It was akin to the Soul race’s soul sea or the Fey’s heart. But now, Yi Yun had pulled the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence into his dantian. Was he mad?

However, the result was not what they imagined. Yi Yun did not end up crippled; instead, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence shrank slowly in Yi Yun’s dantian.

It vanished a few seconds later, transforming into pure destructive forces. A mystical nomological fragment also fused into Yi Yun’s dantian and injected into every part of his body.

This was power that belonged to Human Emperor! The true powers of the Origins!

But now, Yi Yun had injected it into his body!

While facing Human Emperor’s Asura Heavenly Dao, Yi Yun realized that instead of labeling Human Emperor’s attacks a trial, it was more like guidance. When his destructive forces resonated with Human Emperor, he felt that he could receive the energy; therefore, he firmly gave up resisting and used his body to absorb it. This required immense spirit and courage.

Of course, the most important point was that Yi Yun had once received Human Emperor’s heritage.

However, when this scene landed in the eyes of the other Godly Monarchs, they felt a baffling sense of horror. They looked in disbelief at Yi Yun’s dantian. Human Emperor’s terrifying blow had been absorbed by Yi Yun!?

How did that happen!?

“How is it possible…”

Divine General Sanguine Ax muttered to himself. Although he was not in Human Emperor’s domain, he could acutely sense the might of Human Emperor’s blow. He knew that if he were in Yi Yun’s shoes, he too would likely be defeated!

However, not only was Yi Yun unharmed, but he seemed to receive immense benefits. How did he do it?

After this blow, Human Emperor did not attack again.

All he did was look at Yi Yun, his face a blur.

Despite it being a psyche mark, Yi Yun sensed from him a belief of absolute confidence. And then his potent nomological aura slowly leaked from his body.

Human Emperor’s projection stood there as though he was slowly blending into the surroundings. He was both the Heaven and the Earth. Everything in existence seemed to bend according to his will.

This was Yi Yun’s first time seeing someone with such a bearing. He was like a manifestation of nature itself, ruling over the laws. Yi Yun could even sense a sliver of the Grand Primordium from Human Emperor’s projection!

The projection stood silently in his spot as though he was paying attention to the world he was in. Suddenly, he raised his hand and began moving them slowly.

Yi Yun’s heart stirred. Was the projection… writing?

As the projection finished one stroke after another, the entire world seemed to quake, as though it was resonating with each stroke.

An aura of the Great Dao immediately emanated over.

1614 - : A Desperate Fight

CKtalon  CKtalon

“This is…”

Yi Yun widened his eyes as he watched Human Emperor’s phantom create each stroke. He was writing in a language Yi Yun had never seen before.

Although Yi Yun did not know the language, he was aware of the Great Dao which was contained within.

Every character gave Yi Yun a completely different feeling.

An entire line of characters, when put together, made Yi Yun’s lifeblood surge. It made him wish to pick up a weapon and kill everything around him without regard for the consequences.

He seemed to see armies and horses, mountains of corpses and seas of blood!

Following that, he saw a spear-wielding man standing amid the void.

“Senior Human Emperor… is having a Dao exchange with me?”

Yi Yun drew a deep breath. His state of mind gradually calmed down as he trained both his eyes and mind completely on the characters…

He guessed that Human Emperor’s final heritage was embedded in those characters.

Yi Yun hesitantly raised his hand and began delivering strokes like Human Emperor. Two surging lifeblood powers erupted from Yi Yun’s and Human Emperor’s bodies as they intermingled in midair.

As for the text written by Yi Yun and Human Emperor, they produced nomological ripples. Both series of text seemed to be separated by billions of years and yet they resonated.

The fog in the sky was dispersed by the boundless energy as the expansive galaxy poured its stellar light down, gathering at Human Emperor’s fingertip. At that moment, the images appeared to manifest into something eternal.

Upon seeing this scene, the disciples of the various factions, including the few Godly Monarchs, were dumbstruck.

What was happening? The duo were engaging in an intense battle just moments ago. Although Yi Yun’s performance was astounding, to the point of devouring Human Emperor’s 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, it did not mean that Yi Yun had won. Yi Yun was likely to be at a greater disadvantage if the battle dragged on.

But now… the duo’s nomological powers were adding both radiance and beauty to each other, forming a phenomenon.

“What is that Yi Yun writing?”

The disciples from the various factions tried widening their eyes in a bid to see what Yi Yun and Human Emperor’s projection were writing. However, the duo seemed to be enveloped by a thin layer of fog. And their fingers had points of stellar light concentrated on them, preventing them from capturing the trajectories.

“There’s no way to see it.”

“What exactly is it…” A disciple tried his best to look, but suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his eyes. He felt faint and seemed to lose a sense of his bearings.

At that moment, an angry bellow sounded in his ears. “Stop looking!”

The disciple jolted awake and realized that he had deviated from the array node. Immediately, his heart raced, afraid that he would be punished. He hurriedly returned to his spot.

The person who had shouted was Golden Winged Celestial Peng. He was burning with a frenzy of rage.

He never expected that Yi Yun would not only absorb Human Emperor’s final strike, but also have a Dao exchange with Human Emperor.

The opportunity of having a Dao exchange with Human Emperor made him envious.

Could it be that the punk had passed Human Emperor’s trial?

Just as Golden Winged Celestial Peng had that thought, he saw the characters in front of Human Emperor transform into countless resplendent points of stellar light which surged towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun did not resist the surging stellar light. Instead, he welcomed it and allowed it to fully infuse him.

This was the nomological powers left behind by Human Emperor!

The nomological powers cleansed Yi Yun’s body while he stood silently in his spot. His entire body was bathed in the luster of laws.

A Great Dao aura similar to the universe gradually suffused from Yi Yun’s body. The disciples were astonished to discover that Yi Yun’s aura was increasingly resembling Human Emperor’s. It approached that of a Great Dao Origins as though he was a manifestation of the Great Dao itself.

At that moment, Human Emperor’s projection spread his hands and raised them, sending Lightning and Fire powers toward Yi Yun.

This was the… Heretical God Force.

Back when Yi Yun faced the Heretical God Force, what he felt was an intense threat.

But now, it was a peaceful feeling.

With a thought, Yi Yun conjured the Heretical God Fire.

Immediately, the Heretical God Force sank inside the Heretical God Fire. There was no resistance as it allowed itself to be absorbed by the Heretical God Fire.

Yi Yun sensed that the Heretical God Fire took on a different form after it absorbed the Heretical God Force. The flames jumped as a more terrifying aura emitted from within. The tiny flame turned into something akin to a volcano as though it would erupt at any time.

“Thank you, Senior Human Emperor.” Yi Yun bowed at Human Emperor’s projection.

When Ghost Ming saw Yi Yun receive the laws and fire from Human Emperor’s projection, his eyes nearly spewed from his head. Golden Winged Celestial Peng was raging.

Yi Yun had indeed passed the trial!

At that moment, the nine stars landed above the Heavenly Dao Palace. The palace’s doors also suffused nine stars which corresponded to the descending stars.

At that instant, the doors opened!

The Heavenly Dao fragment!

A magnificent and mighty Heavenly Dao aura spewed out from the door. It made the disciples in the array have the involuntary urge to bow their heads. They even wished to kowtow and submit themselves.

Only the few Godly Monarchs were able to ignore the feeling; however, the shock in their hearts was in no way inferior to that of their disciples.

The Heavenly Dao fragment was inside the palace!

And at that moment, all they could do was watch helplessly as Yi Yun entered the palace!

After giving Human Emperor’s projection a deep bow, Yi Yun looked straight ahead at the palace.

The Heavenly Dao aura made one yearn for it.

The Heavenly Dao was eternally immutable. It was the underlying nomological reason for the continued existence of the Heavenly Dao and myriad items. All things in the world followed its laws.

Any mortal being would feel tiny and powerless when facing the Heavenly Dao. However, Yi Yun felt pumped as his back straightened.

As a warrior, he started from insignificance. He worked hard to pursue the martial peak and the true meaning of life. How could he retreat in the face of the Heavenly Dao?

Yi Yun took one step after another toward the palace.

With every step, he felt an immense and terrifying force crush down on his body. Everything in front of him turned ethereal while the laws surrounding him kept changing.

Warriors who were lacking in strength could not face the Heavenly Dao fragment head on. As for Yi Yun, he took one step a time, his lifeblood churning like a sea of magma.

As Yi Yun approached the palace, he felt additional bits of energy returning to him with every step. When Yi Yun arrived at the palace’s entrance, Human Emperor’s phantom had returned all the energy it absorbed to Yi Yun.

By the time he entered, Yi Yun was already back at peak form. Not only so, he had absorbed the nomological powers of Human Emperor’s phantom as well as the Heretical God Force. His aura had an even more profound feeling. It even resembled the Heavenly Dao fragment inside the palace.

Yi Yun stepped into the hall!

Sanguine Ax watched Yi Yun enter the palace coldly before he extended his hand and tapped on a disk array.

Immediately, all the disciples felt a stronger suction.

Some of these disciples could not help but panic, for at that moment they realized that the suction was too powerful, so powerful that they could not easily leave the array nodes.

However, even if they could leave the array nodes, none of them dared to do so under Sanguine Ax’s cold gaze. Sanguine Ax had acted so intimidatingly precisely to raise the array’s might.

“Divine General Sanguine Ax, do you need to do this?” Dreamlight glanced at his Soul disciples and frowned. “Although Yi Yun has passed the trial, no one can refine the Heavenly Dao fragment other than Celestial Godly Monarchs.”

“That’s right. Yi Yun can’t absorb the Heavenly Dao fragment. All he can do is study it,” Ghost Ming said coldly. However, his fury was not lessened in any way. He was determined to extract Yi Yun’s soul and refine him into a ghost banner. He wanted Yi Yun to serve him as a slave for millions of years, while torturing him daily!

“The longer we wait, the greater the chance for unforeseen circumstances. We have to remove the array formation as soon as possible. Let’s crack the array and enter!” said Sanguine Ax.

This trivial figure he thought nothing of previously had given him too great a surprise. When he saw Yi Yun disappear into the palace’s door, he felt a sense of unease.

He was determined to get the Heavenly Dao fragment. Now that something unexpected had happened, he absolutely would not allow for more surprises.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Lifeblood was extracted from the warriors in the nodes before it gathered in the array core. Then, augmented by the Godly Monarchs, it transformed into a blood pillar that surged into the sky. It emanated the smell of blood as it constantly inundated the massive array formation that enveloped the palace.

And in the middle of the array core, Sanguine Ax’s gaze was cold as he directed it at the palace’s door.

Even with the array formation in the way, he could clearly sense the Heavenly Dao fragment’s aura.

He did not know what Yi Yun could do to the Heavenly Dao fragment, but to be safe, he wanted to attack with full force.

After Yi Yun stepped into the palace, the door shut firmly, preventing Sanguine Ax from seeing anything else.

Boom!

After the door closed, Yi Yun turned his head to take a glance before turning back.

Ever since the palace was sealed by Human Emperor, no one had ever stepped in again.

Across the vast expanse of time, only two people had stood in the palace. One was Human Emperor and the other was Yi Yun.

While looking at the empty palace, Yi Yun felt like he was looking at Human Emperor’s figure standing there across the river of time.

No, there was really a figure.

Compared to the psyche mark outside, this figure looked more illusory, but also more real.

Through a layer of blurry mist, Yi Yun sensed the figure cast his gaze on him.

“This is… Senior Lin…” Bai Yueyin’s wistful voice sounded. “This is a memory fragment which Senior Lin left behind.”

Bai Yueyin felt conflicted emotions. She once had the immense desire to follow in Human Emperor’s footsteps, but her dream ultimately burst. Now, all she could see was a memory fragment of the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch.

At that moment, Human Emperor turned around and walked into the inner sanctums of the palace.

Yi Yun looked at the projection’s back before following him.

The duo walked through the massive palace and finally entered the deep depths of the palace which had been sealed for a long time.

And the whole time, an aura of the highest level in the world was silently emanating.

Yi Yun walked into a vast hall by following Human Emperor.

In the middle of the palace, stellar light emanated as the galaxy beneath his feet spiraled.

Furthermore, Yi Yun could feel that one of his feet was really stepping into the galaxy.

The Heavenly Dao fragment’s might was already capable of forming a miniature world inside the hall.

All the stars revolved according to a particular law.

Above the stars were the birth of vegetation, mountains and water bodies, avian and ground creatures.

In time to come, perhaps the hall could form a universe. It might even get to the point where intelligent life would be born on the star.

1615 - : Dao Exchange

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Yi Yun entered the Heavenly Dao Hall, its doors closed, leaving the few Godly Monarchs outside the hall with extremely ugly expressions.

The warriors under them stared intently at the door, eager to know what Yi Yun saw inside the hall. However, the door had blocked everything from vision to perception.

To these warriors, it was like they were a group of sexually-desperate men in a mortal world attempting to search for trapped beauties. Success was just at hand when a man charged in before them and closed the door behind him.

All the others could do was wait outside.

The aggrieved feeling was obvious.

“Divineheart!”

Sanguine Ax looked at Divineheart, his gaze seemingly about to devour him.

Divineheart was helpless as well. He knew he had been implicated, but the Godly Monarchs also knew that he was only cooperating with Yi Yun. He could not be blamed for Yi Yun’s sudden surprising actions. After all, the Heavenly Dao fragment was not in his hands. Attacking him was pointless.

“I will not do a thing when Yi Yun comes out.”

In order to prevent himself from being the target of everyone, Divineheart had no choice but to recuse himself. Whatever happened, Yi Yun definitely had some means if he dared enter the Heavenly Dao palace. If not, he would simply be courting death. No one could save him if that was what Yi Yun truly wished for. There was no way he would put his life at risk in order to save Yi Yun.

“Crack the array!” Sanguine Ax ordered through clenched teeth.

However, he knew that completely cracking the array would take a lot of time. Although he could expend some of the warriors’ lifeblood, he could not go overboard while doing so. The other Godly Monarchs would be disagreeable to it as well.

…

Meanwhile, Yi Yun was looking at the ceiling of the Heavenly Dao Hall.

He saw a clump of clouds amassing in the middle of the ceiling. It constantly churned and changed as though it contained all things in the world and was in endless flux.

The Heavenly Dao fragment was contained within the clump of clouds!

Yi Yun originally thought that the Heavenly Dao was formless and textureless, that it was only a rule. But now, it appeared that the Heavenly Dao had already solidified into something corporeal. He could see a faint rainbow stream of light contained inside the cloud. Within it were endless transformations.

That was the Heavenly Dao fragment.

At this moment, Yi Yun saw Human Emperor turn his head.

An illusory pair of eyes that seemed to contain all of the universe since time immemorial cast its gaze on Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was alarmed as he looked at Human Emperor in surprise.

He had a feeling that he was truly being observed by Human Emperor…

What was left behind was only Human Emperor’s memory fragment, but the feeling of being observed felt extremely real. It left Yi Yun somewhat anxious.

Perhaps with Human Emperor’s abilities, he could truly see the present him across endless space-time.

Yi Yun seemed to realize something as he took a step forward.

This step brought him onto a star.

Instantly, the starry space transformed as Yi Yun felt change happening around him. The hall, Human Emperor—everything—vanished. And he was now immersed in a surprising cloud. Ahead of him were countless dancing rainbow beams of light that looked unreal.

“This…”

Vast auras of the Great Dao reverberated his surroundings. Yi Yun knew that he had arrived inside the Heavenly Dao fragment.

Yi Yun could faintly hear a murmur from the rainbow light, but it was not any known language. It was ethereal and indistinct, but it also seemed to constantly resound in his ear.

This was not any true speech, but the sounds produced by the Great Dao.

As he listened, Yi Yun felt that his nomological powers were responding to the sounds of the Great Dao.

The sounds of his churning lifeblood, thumping heartbeats, the circulation of his essence energies, and the sound of his grinding bones… every single sound in him gradually synchronized to the sounds of the Great Dao.

This was Yi Yun’s body talking to the Great Dao.

Yi Yun slowly sat down cross-legged. He relaxed his body and mind completely and immersed himself in this conversation.

At that moment, Bai Yueyin looked on in astonishment beside him.

While Yi Yun was resonating with the sounds of the Great Dao, Bai Yueyin had been expelled by a formless energy out of his soul sea.

She knew that this was because Yi Yun’s soul sea was completely left open while it accepted the Great Dao’s suction forces.

As an external mental force, she could not listen to the sounds of the Great Dao with him.

And expelled with Bai Yueyin was a tiny pagoda in which Lin Xintong and Shan Ling were inside.

“Master!”

Lin Xintong came out of the the pagoda and had a general understanding what was happening to Yi Yun. She was filled with worry for him.

“Watch. This is his fate.”

At that moment, the rainbow light surrounded Yi Yun. His resonance with the Great Dao formed into vast, boundless sounds.

Bai Yueyin knew that this was the sound of the universe, but she had never heard it so clearly.

The sounds grew louder until it sounded like the world itself was making an announcement.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s body suddenly emitted a stunning sound.

Some of the rainbow light seemed to find an entrance as it surged into his body.

Yi Yun’s lifeblood churned as his soul sea opened up completely. His body and soul were being inundated by the supreme Great Dao.

“He really is attempting to absorb the Heavenly Dao fragment.”

Bai Yueyin drew a deep breath. She knew Yi Yun’s ambition, but a Heavenly Dao fragment was not that easily refined.

When the Celestials devoured the Heavenly Dao, they had to use divine powers as well as their powerful bloodlines and bodies to withstand the powers of the Heavenly Dao.

But Yi Yun was not a Celestial.

“Boom!”

The powers of the Heavenly Dao surged down and inundated his body. The blast of the Great Dao caused him to lose tremendous amounts of vitality immediately.

Moments later, Yi Yun’s flesh began to age and deteriorate. His originally supple body which was akin to jade began to wrinkle. His black hair turned white as he lost energy rapidly.

“He does not have enough vitality!”

Bai Yueyin watched Yi Yun’s body wither.

A human’s body could not withstand the cleansing of the Heavenly Dao. The Heavenly Dao represented eternity, something that remained indestructible even if the celestial bodies—the moon, the sun, the stars—were to perish.

A human’s body was simply too fleeting in the face of eternity.

In the long history of river in the multiverse, countless elites had been turned to dust, with nothing left behind.

Even Yi Yun’s body began to deteriorate due to his lacking lifespan while enduring the eternal Heavenly Dao’s baptism.

However, Celestials were different. They had extremely long lifespans, which was one of the main reasons why they could refine Heavenly Dao fragments.

As his vitality gradually dried up, Yi Yun’s desiccated flesh shrank to his bones. As his skin tore, it revealed his skeleton.

Even his crystalline bones began to dim. Lin Xintong held her breath while Bai Yueyin wore a heavy expression. If this continued, Yi Yun could wither and die. Every second of the Heavenly Dao’s baptism was equal to the loss of millions of years.

And then—

“Roar!”

A dragon’s roar sounded as a True Dragon phantom surged out of Yi Yun’s body.

All of Yi Yun’s clothes had already turned to dust. His withered body grew new flesh and blood as his bones turned crystalline again.

This scene made Bai Yueyin prick her brows.

“He’s using the vitality of the Dragon Emperor to withstand the loss of vitality produced by the Heavenly Dao’s baptism?”

This was probably the first time a human warrior attempted to absorb the Heavenly Dao fragment in billions of years. She had no idea what would happen.

In terms of lifespan, Dragon Emperor’s lifespan was definitely on par with that of the strongest Celestial.

This made up for Yi Yun’s lacking vitality.

With the Dragon Emperor’s vitality nourishing him, Yi Yun’s body and soul recovered, but it was still insufficient.

After his body was restored to a certain level, the Heavenly Dao’s baptism would inundate him again, draining him of his vitality.

At this moment, thousands of green vines drooped down from above Yi Yun. The Azure Wood Divine Tree suddenly appeared as its massive phantom shrouded him. It withstood the Heavenly Dao along with him.

Yi Yun sat cross-legged silently under the Azure Wood Divine Tree as rainbow rays appeared over him. In terms of vitality, the vibrant Azure Wood Divine Tree far exceeded the Dragon Emperor!

In addition, Yi Yun swiped his interspatial ring as large numbers of Chaos Crystals appeared from within. Following that, all the Chaos Crystals shattered into pure Chaos energies which he absorbed!

Following that, herbs began appearing around Yi Yun. These were the herbs he had obtained from the Herbal Garden of Confusion. THey had not been refined, but it did not matter. All Yi Yun needed was the vitality in them.

He opened his mouth and sucked at them. Like a hungry dragon, Yi Yun absorbed all the vitality the precious herbs from the God Confusion Valley had after millions of years of nourishment.

These precious herbs rapidly withered at a discernible pace.

With all of these effects combined, the rich vitality around Yi Yun solidified into something corporeal. His body was tempered by the Heavenly Dao, repeating the process of being born and aging.

“Crackle!”

A blue lightning appeared in front of Yi Yun at this moment.

Upon seeing this happen, Bai Yueyin’s pupils constricted. This was the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s Heretical God Lightning!

“Yi Yun is planning on…” Lin Xintong’s heart nearly stopped beating. In his current situation, was Yi Yun planning on absorbing the Heretical God Lightning?

Even if his body was in perfect condition, the absorption of the Heretical God Lightning was unlikely a simple matter, much less in the present circumstances.

Bai Yueyin said, “Senior Lin’s Heretical God Lightning is not just a force of destruction. It also contains the powers of vitality. When Yi Yun had a Dao exchange with Senior Lin, he was likely made full aware of this point. Now, his body is deteriorating due to his decreasing vitality and not as the result of the Heavenly Dao’s massive energy. Perhaps, absorbing the Heretical God Lightning now would bring better effects.”

Legend had it that when the multiverse was first formed, it was lightning that smote the ancient oceans before giving birth to the first lifeform. Many worlds also independently produced life in similar situations.

Soon, the Heretical God Lightning entered Yi Yun’s body and flowed into his dantian. Inside his dantian, the Heretical God Lightning began fusing with the Heretical God Fire Seed.

Once the fusion succeeded, he would have all of the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s Heretical God Force heritage. The cultivation technique was the amalgamation of the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s essence after hundreds of thousands of years of meditation. Its strength was not necessarily much weaker than the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

“Perhaps… he might really succeed…”

Bai Yueyin took a deep breath. In terms of nomological insight, Yi Yun had enough of it. His lacking vitality had been made up for. Perhaps, Yi Yun would be the first human warrior to refine a Heavenly Dao fragment for himself in billions of years.

Slowly, Yi Yun’s body turned crystalline and flawless. It was as though it was born naturally from the heaven and earth.

His soul turned firm and tenacious as it gradually effused the aura of a Great Dao.

Hum! Hum! Hum!

The starry space suddenly quaked. Bai Yueyin saw that the remaining energies of the Heavenly Dao fragment stirred the starry space and gradually gathered towards Yi Yun. The massive auras of the stars constantly surged into Yi Yun’s body and fused with the rainbow light. They formed points of starlight within.

With the passage of time, a complete star chart began forming.

The star chart finally landed in Yi Yun’s dantian. His body’s bloodline and meridians seemed to transform into a resplendent network of lights just like the star chart.

All of Yi Yun’s energies and lifeblood flowed smoothly at that moment!

His strength rose rapidly as it increased exponentially!

He had broken through!

Bai Yueyin felt her heart quake. As a Godly Monarch, she naturally knew what was happening to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun had broken through, going from a Divine Lord to a Royal Sealed Divine Lord.

Only by doing so would all his energy achieve such unobstructed flow, resulting in a qualitative change!

However, the characteristic of a Royal Sealed Divine Lord was the formation of a Divine Lord Royal Seal inside one’s dantian.

But as for Yi Yun’s Divine Lord Royal Seal, could it be…

Bai Yueyin looked at the star chart.

The star chart was very likely Yi Yun’s Divine Lord Royal Seal!

And it…

It stemmed from the Heavenly Dao fragment!

Upon realizing this, Bai Yueyin felt astounded.

There were three types of Divine Lord Royal Seals. The first type was a Royal Seal condensed from one’s cultivation of the Dao. The second type was the inheritance of the Godly Monarch Royal Seals of other Godly Monarchs. The third was a Grand Primordium Royal Seal formed naturally by the Heavenly Dao.

Among these, the first kind of Royal Seal suited one the most. However, when warriors first became Divine Lords, their insights into the Heavenly Dao were limited. The Royal Seals they condensed often lacked strength. Unless they were extraordinary geniuses, their own Royal Seals often were incomparable to the Royal Seals left behind by ancient Godly Monarchs.

As for Godly Monarch Royal Seals, they were inferior to the legendary Grand Primordium Royal Seals.

One can’t have everything in life.

Bai Yueyin was confident that her Divine Lord Royal Seal was of the first type—a Royal Seal which belonged to her.

Of course, this was also because Bai Yueyin was unable to find a Grand Primordium Royal Seal.

In fact, Bai Yueyin had never heard of anyone obtaining a Grand Primordium Royal Seal in the Sinkhole.

However, the grade of the star chart Royal Seal in Yi Yun’s dantian seemed to even exceed that of a Grand Primordium Royal Seal. After all, it was condensed from a Heavenly Dao fragment!

And during this process, there was the infusion of Yi Yun’s own Dao and the laws left behind by Human Emperor!

This could also be described as Yi Yun’s own Royal Seal!

Bai Yueyin found this combination of the first and third kinds of Royal Seals unimaginable.

“Even Senior Lin probably never imagined that a Heavenly Dao fragment he left behind would be absorbed by Yi Yun and transformed into a Heavenly Dao Royal Seal…”

Bai Yueyin felt mixed emotions!

Without even realizing it, Yi Yun had already gone a step further than her!

As for not being a Godly Monarch… Bai Yueyin knew that not only would Yi Yun eventually become one, but that he was likely to become a supreme Godly Monarch who would leave his name for all eternity since time immemorial!

This was a level that even Bai Yueyin dreamed of reaching, but it was impossible for her to reach.

1616 - : Breakthrough

CKtalon  CKtalon

Boom!

At the instant Yi Yun condensed the Heavenly Dao Royal Seal, a loud boom rocked the square outside the palace.

The warriors looked up at the sky in astonishment.

They were horrified to discover that the winds and clouds in the sky were undergoing tumultuous changes. Thunder boomed as lightning flashed in clear, bright skies simultaneously. Rainbows tore through the sky as rain and snow fell at the same time. This phenomena extended out for tens of thousands of kilometers.

Large numbers of white air streams surged out from the various spots in the ground. These were made of energy that was buried deep underground.

But now, all the energy was surging to one spot.

The streams gathered above the palace like a gigantic maelstrom. The immense energy even left the warriors shuddering in fear.

“What is… going on?”

The Godly Monarchs looked up as well. They were the leaders of the various factions and had prolonged lifespans. All of them were knowledgeable and experienced, but even they could not identify the phenomenon happening in front of them.

Be it a Divine Lord breakthrough, the absorption of a Royal Seal to become a Royal Sealed Divine Lord, or the breakthrough to become a Godly Monarch, none of them resembled the phenomena.

However, it was without doubt that the drastic changes had to do with Yi Yun.

“What is Yi Yun doing inside!?” Ghost Ming became somewhat fidgety. For someone of Yi Yun’s strength and identity, he did not even deserve to see the Heavenly Dao fragment. And now, not only was he seeing the fragment, but he was the only one permitted to see it.

“Could it be that he has absorbed the Heavenly Dao fragment?” said a Fey disciple suddenly.

However, the moment he finished his sentence, he felt his mind quake from a sweep of Divine General Sanguine Ax’s gaze. It was as though his soul was crumbling.

“Pfft!” The Fey disciple spat out a mouthful of blood as he retreated several steps with a pale expression. Even his Fey core nearly cracked.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng did not interfere. He had only himself to blame for speaking so thoughtlessly.

“A Heavenly Dao fragment can only be refined by Celestials. How can a mere human Divine Lord dare snatch my Dao?”

Sanguine Ax’s expression was gruesome. He was under tremendous stress from carrying out this operation at the Xuanyuan Dune! He had concealed this matter from the other Celestials for his own selfish reasons. If he obtained the Heavenly Dao fragment, his status would soar among the Celestials. No one would dare comment on his actions. However, if he failed, news was bound to spread. His end would be a tragic one.

The competition among Celestials was extremely cruel!

“Yi Yun must have obtained some benefit in the Heavenly Dao palace,” said Dreamlight. “I heard that when Celestials absorb a Heavenly Dao fragment, they will cause the world to weep as all things bleed blood.”

Everyone looked at Sanguine Ax and, upon seeing his heavy gaze, they guessed that Dreamlight was saying the truth.

The various phenomena that were happening now was clearly different from what happened during the absorbing of a Heavenly Dao fragment.

“It’s very possible that Yi Yun has begun studying the Heavenly Dao fragment. He might even have reaped benefits from it already. Even if we were to enter the palace, it’s unlikely we can benefit that quickly, right?”

Dreamlight’s words made Ghost Ming and company’s expression turn even uglier.

The talent which Yi Yun had showcased truly left them afraid.

“This array is already beginning to weaken. A dead genius is nothing but a pile of rotten flesh,” said Golden Winged Celestial Peng coldly.

Ever since the phenomenon began, the amount of energy in the entire pocket world was declining.

This was understandable. The various array restrictions that Human Emperor left behind were to protect the Heavenly Dao fragment. Now that it had been taken away by Yi Yun, the array formation had lost its core. Thus, its collapse was only a matter of days.

And they planned to stand guard outside. There was no way for Yi Yun to escape even if he grew wings! Whatever Yi Yun obtained in the Heavenly Dao palace was meaningless!

…

Inside the palace, Yi Yun had opened his eyes.

His eyes seemed to contain the transitions of the celestial bodies as eons passed.

Having absorbed the Heavenly Dao Royal Seal, Yi Yun found himself in an extremely magical feeling.

It was as though he was the world itself.

He could see the worldly laws with his eyes and changing these laws seemed as easy as lifting a finger. Causing rivers to flow upstream, the inversion of sky and sea, the reversal of space-time, it all seemed possible with a mere thought.

However, Yi Yun also knew that although he had just condensed the Heavenly Dao Royal Seal, he was not in full control of the Heavenly Dao. Furthermore, he had yet to fully absorb the Heavenly Dao fragment.

Through this breakthrough, Yi Yun had finally seen what the Martial Dao’s true peak was. The ultimate warrior was one who was one with the heaven and earth. Their bodies were the Heavenly Dao as they shared the same lifespan as the multiverse.

Upon reaching this stage, they could create their own universes. They were not bound by anything in the world. They were truly carefree.

“I wonder if the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch… managed to attain it…” thought Yi Yun.

While Yi Yun had this in mind, lustrous light flashed across his body. His true essence automatically condensed a white robe. He converged his aura and stood in stellar space silently like a mortal.

If one did not look at him with their eyes, they would not even have sensed his presence. He was fully integrated with the world.

“Congratulations.”

Bai Yueyin looked at Yi Yun with a complicated look as she said softly.

Yi Yun looked at Bai Yueyin, his eyes profound and distant. It momentarily left her mind adrift.

In that moment, she felt as though she was seeing the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch… Yi Yun’s gaze resembled the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s. They were a pair of eyes that saw things as they were at their very core. They were eyes that could not be fooled by any illusion.

“Back then, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch likely stood here just like you,” said Bai Yueyin with a sigh.

Yi Yun smiled faintly.

He knew that Bai Yueyin was having such wistful feelings because her memories were being invoked by the familiar scene.

“You have never met the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, but you are the person who has inherited his heritage. You can be considered his disciple. However, he is ultimately different from you…” Bai Yueyin seemed to snap out of her thoughts as a hint of disappointment suffused her eyes.

Yi Yun looked at Bai Yueyin’s expression and said, “Back then, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch sealed the Ancestor God and now that the Ancestor God is making a comeback while I have inherited his mantle, it is time to end things.”

Bai Yueyin’s mouth gaped before she finally nodded lightly.

“Yi Yun.” The worried look in Lin Xintong’s eyes vanished completely as she looked at Yi Yun, her eyes filled with love and pride.

Her husband had accomplished something no one had completed since time immemorial. Her joy for Yi Yun’s elevation in strength far exceeded her own elevation.

“I’ve just become a Royal Sealed Divine Lord, and my Heavenly Dao Royal Seal is still unstable. I will still need to continue consolidating my realm. Xintong, there are still some resources here. You can also cultivate here,” suggested Yi Yun.

There was still a sliver of the Great Dao’s aura in the chamber. When the Heavenly Dao fragment was still intact, cultivating there would result in one being inundated by the Great Dao aura. It would drain one’s vitality.

But now that there was only a sliver of the Great Dao’s aura, it made it possible to study the Great Dao safely. It was very beneficial for cultivation.

Yi Yun knew that the array left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch would not last long. And now, with his realm unstable, he was in no hurry to leave. It was best to be in tip-top shape.

Lin Xintong thought for a moment before saying, “Yi Yun, I also plan on attempting to condense my own Divine Lord Royal Seal.”

“Good.”

With Lin Xintong’s talents, a Royal Seal she condensed by herself would definitely be as good as a Godly Monarch Royal Seal that was passed down over the ages.

Lin Xintong was feeling happy about Yi Yun’s breakthrough, but she was also feeling stressed. She did not wish to be too far behind Yi Yun.

Bai Yueyin seemed to sense Lin Xintong’s thoughts as she sighed. Back then, Empress Sheng Mei was naturally inferior to Senior Lin, but they still managed to pursue the pinnacle of the Martial Dao hand in hand.

When she thought of this, Bai Yueyin could not help but feel a sliver of envy. Once upon a time, she had wished to follow the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s footsteps, catching up to him and becoming a Dao partner who could accompany him for her entire life… Even if they could not become Dao partners, she was happy to be able to accompany him…

Yi Yun reached out his hand and beckoned. Large amounts of refined ores and Chaos Crystals flew over and surrounded Yi Yun and Lin Xintong like a tiny hill.

The Chaos Crystals’ energies instantly melted into energy fluxes.

Simultaneously, there were also the nomological charms that formed from the refinement of the Heavenly Dao fragment.

Be it energy or the laws, they were both condensed to an extremum. It was very extravagant cultivating in here. No wonderland in the Chaos Heavens could compare when it came to cultivation.

Having just become a Royal Sealed Divine Lord, Yi Yun’s body was like a parched lake. He began to rapidly absorb the surrounding energies and laws.

The speed at which he raised his strength alarmed even Bai Yueyin.

“The Heavenly Dao fragment has already widened Yi Yun’s dantian to such an extent…”

Bai Yueyin muttered to herself as her heart suddenly quivered. At that moment, she sensed the palace tremble!

Sending her perception out of the palace, Bai Yueyin saw Divine General Sanguine Ax holding a gigantic ax and cleaving down on the protective barriers of the palace. Immense might surged over, causing the array to tremble violently.

As for the other warriors, they were supplementing Sanguine Ax by grinding away the array’s core laws.

The barrier was unable to last long.

“Perhaps it can last another four days or so…”

Bai Yueyin estimated as such, but she soon came to the realization that she had underestimated Divine General Sanguine Ax.

The Celestials were indeed the beloved race of the universe. Wielding the gigantic ax, Sanguine Ax cleaved down repeatedly. The reactionary force he experienced was enough to reduce a Divine Lord to a pulp, but Sanguine Ax managed to withstand the blows using his powerful body. Even though his body was slightly damaged, he could recover with his lifeblood powers.

His body was strong and had a nomological affinity. His mental strength was powerful and his lifespan long. The talent of the Celestials made people envious.

Just two days later, the array was on the brink of complete collapse. Every strike Sanguine Ax delivered was enough to make the Heavenly Dao palace shake violently.

“It’s your turn! Take turns attacking!”

Sanguine Ax stopped attacking as he held a Chaos Crystal to begin restoring his strength. It was not because he was afraid of Yi Yun.

Instead, he was worried about the other Godly Monarchs snatching of the Heavenly Dao fragment after he finished Yi Yun.

Even a lion had to use full force when hunting a rabbit, so he had to restore himself to peak condition.

The other Godly Monarchs also held back when attacking. However, the strikes they delivered were those of Godly Monarchs’. The array which was in perilous condition finally cracked like an egg shell.

1617 - : Cracks

CKtalon  CKtalon

At this moment, the core laws of the array were already greatly weakened. Divine General Sanguine Ax had even stopped using his disk array. The disciples from each faction had deluged the area. Although their strengths were insignificant, as the saying goes—even an elephant can succumb to a legion of mosquitoes. Besides, this “elephant” had already collapsed to the ground and was gasping for its life.

“Ka-cha!”

With Dreamlight’s strike, the ancient palace’s dome shattered. The outer facade began to molt as gigantic pillars collapsed.

Divineheart stood by the side as his eyes flashed with a hint of pity.

Although he exerted as little strength as he could, Divine General Sanguine Ax was leading the assault. The array still rapidly broke down.

“Hahaha!” Ghost Ming let out a piercing laugh when he saw the array completely collapse. “The little bastard must have been shivering in fear over the past two days! All is good now. Golden Winged Celestial Peng, don’t you fight me on this. I definitely want the little bastard’s soul.”

“Ghost Thearch, you are the best when it comes to torturing souls. I’ll naturally not fight you on that. I want to rip his spine out and use it as a whip,” said Golden Winged Celestial Peng coldly.

“Heh heh heh…” Ghost Ming smiled in satisfaction.

The soul of a peerless genius was definitely extraordinarily resilient. Even if it were tormented for hundreds of thousands of years, or even millions of years, they would still have a remnant consciousness linger on. It only made things better. He wanted to make Yi Yun see himself become one of the main souls of his Thousand-eyed Mo and be under his beck and call! With Yi Yun’s soul, the Thousand-eyed Mo was bound to evolve into a Myriad-eyed Mo!

“Little bastard, get the fuck out!” Ghost Ming roared angrily. A black gas spewed out from his mouth as it transformed into a massive ghost head. It roared at the palace which no longer had any defenses.

The roar made all the non-Ghost disciples feel as though their souls were quaking. It felt like the roar were peeling their souls out of their bodies.

If Yi Yun was already feeling extremely nervous, the roar might probably have scared him out of his wits.

At that moment, a figure slowly walked out of the palace. He walked over air very slowly.

Yi Yun!?

Everyone widened their eyes. The white-robed figure was no doubt Yi Yun!

The array formation had completely shattered and Yi Yun had no intention to let the palace which Human Emperor left behind crumble completely.

At that instant, Yi Yun sensed a gaze land on him. It was as sharp as a blade and filled with killing intent.

The gaze was not from Ghost Ming but from Divine General Sanguine Ax!

“Little bastard, you are finally out!” Ghost Ming revealed a grotesque smile. He had used his powers to force Yi Yun out to meet his end.

However, it did not matter if he chose not to come out. Death was inevitable.

“This is something Senior Human Emperor left behind. Although he might not care about it, you wish to obtain his heritage, but are also destroying what he left behind. All of you deserve death for defying a master you supposedly seek wisdom from.”

Yi Yun’s voice resounded and his words left everyone dumbfounded.

Ghost Ming was taken aback for a moment before he roared with laughter. It was as though he had heard the world’s funniest joke.

“Have you gone silly from studying the Heavenly Dao fragment? You spout nothing but nonsense! I’ll first rip your soul out!” As Ghost Ming spoke, the massive ghost head tore straight for the figure in a devouring bid. The ghost head opened its mouth, revealing countless spirits struggling in pain within its jaws. They let out wailing cries.

Upon seeing the massive mouth, even the disciples beneath felt as though their souls were about to be pulled in.

“Roar!”

Amid the ghost head’s roar, the mouth blanketed Yi Yun’s figure.

But at that moment, Yi Yun raised his hand and waved it.

Yi Yun’s actions appeared completely negligible when compared to the gruesome ghost head.

But at the moment he waved his hand, the ghost head seemed to encounter an extremely terrifying force. It let out a shrill scream abruptly and exploded instantly!

Countless ghostly auras dissipated rapidly after the explosion. In a blink of an eye, there was nothing. It was as if nothing had existed at all.

The warriors were alarmed. What was happening?

“Oh!?” Ghost Ming’s expression changed. The ghost head was a sinister divine power which could bite and pull out a person’s soul directly. He had once used it against an opposing faction. In one chomp, it had devoured all the souls of the disciples of the opposing sect. Even the bodies’ essences were drained clean.

However, this divine power was so easily nullified when used on Yi Yun?

Ghost Ming looked at Yi Yun, only to see him looking composed, as though the terrifying strike from before was nothing but a casual strike.

Less than half a month had passed, but upon seeing Yi Yun again, he found him unfathomable.

What just happened!?

At that moment, Yi Yun raised his hand again and smacked it toward Ghost Ming.

“Old Ghost, try taking on this strike!”

A gigantic palm appeared in mid-air as though it was falling from the sky. It loomed down with horrifying might.

Many warriors felt a sense of helplessness when they saw the palm. Some even lost their footing in despair.

This was only possible because they were not the ones being targeted.

As for Ghost Ming who was the target of the strike, he revealed a look of utter disbelief.

He felt as though he was being bound by a powerful aura. He even felt that injuries were a definite if he took the strike head-on.

However, Yi Yun was only a Divine Lord… As a Godly Monarch, a Ghost Thearch of the Ghost race, how could he be injured by Yi Yun!?

“Little bastard, you are too arrogant!” Ghost Ming raged as his sleeves bulged. His surroundings were instantly enveloped by a domain resembling the River of the Netherworld. Beneath his feet were floating corpses and souls. The sight of death looked endless.

Ghost Ming stood on this sea of corpses as terrifying cadaveric auras amassed in him. They formed a gargantuan gnarly shadow. It held a hundred-foot-long saber which was dotted with blood stains. It was a blade that had slaughtered countless.

“Shura Ghost General, kill this man!”

Boom!

The Shura Ghost General’s blade could slay both bodies and souls!

This blade of death brought with it the corrosive powers that stemmed from the River of the Netherworld. It had a corrosive force which was a nemesis to protective Yuan Qi, divine powers, or even enchanted armaments.

A hint of a sneer flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes when he faced the Shura Ghost General. A flame suddenly blazed in his palm.

The flame looked ordinary, but when it made contact with the Shura Ghost General’s blade of death, it transformed into an inferno which instantly blanketed the blade.

The power of the River of the Netherworld and the aura of death were like a paper mache in front of the flame.

In just an instant, the flame had reached the Shura Ghost General!

The Shura Ghost General was a manifestation of the deathly exploits Ghost Ming had performed over his entire life. It was extremely powerful.

Countless warriors had perished in the face of the Shura Ghost General.

Ghost Ming had planned on capturing Yi Yun while he was embroiled in battle with the Shura Ghost General, but he never imagined that before Yi Yun even made a significant move, the Shura Ghost General would succumb!

What sort of fire was this!?

1618 - : Array Shatters

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s flame was no longer the ordinary Heretical God Fire from before.

It was the Heretical God Force!

While activating the Heretical God Force, the strength of Yi Yun’s palm had doubled. It shattered the Shura Ghost General and, without even stopping, continued its trajectory towards Ghost Ming!

Faced with the increased strength from the overwhelming strike, Ghost Ming was surprised to feel himself threatened.

At that moment, Divine General Sanguine Ax leaped up with his gigantic ax in hand.

“Are you ignoring me!?” Sanguine Ax cleaved down with his ax, his cold tone filled with rage!

A mere human actually dared ignore him. Yi Yun had acted so flagrantly the moment he came out the Heavenly Dao palace!

More importantly, Sanguine Ax sensed a sliver of the Heavenly Dao’s aura from Yi Yun!

The Heavenly Dao fragment was on Yi Yun! How could a human have the right to hold onto a Heavenly Dao fragment!?

Kill!

Ghost Ming’s eyes flashed a cold look. Yi Yun was doomed!

All he needed to wait was for Yi Yun to turn around to block Sanguine Ax’s blow, and he could take down Yi Yun in one strike!

However, what left Ghost Ming’s pupils constricting was Yi Yun’s lack of intention to turn around. He continued delivering his attack on him.

Was Yi Yun planning to die with him?

Naive!

“If you really wish for death, go ahead!” Ghost Ming’s River of the Netherworld domain around him shrank a little as the powers surged into Ghost Ming’s body. Instantly, Ghost Ming’s body was filled with a ghostly aura. His figure rapidly grew in size as his hands transformed into sepulchral claws. White bones reached out from the black gases and grabbed at Yi Yun.

If Yi Yun continued without dodging, he was bound to die under Sanguine Ax’s hand!

For this, Ghost Ming would only lose some ghostly aura. It was naturally a small price to pay.

At that moment, Sanguine Ax had arrived behind Yi Yun.

Ghost Ming had the intention of pulling back some of his ghostly aura as he rushed toward Yi Yun with a nasty smile.

But it was at that moment when a gigantic tree phantom appeared behind Yi Yun.

Branches filled with greenery swayed as immense vibrant auras blanketed him immediately.

“This is…” Sanguine Ax’s pupils constricted as he revealed a look of horror.

This tree!?

For some reason, the tree contained a force that left him extremely uneasy. It was as though it was born to be his nemesis.

Furthermore, the divine tree was towering. It emanated an intense aura of vibrancy that made him feel repelled.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

All the veins lashed at Sanguine Ax like they had a mind of their own!

“What!?”

Ghost Ming’s expression changed suddenly. He never expected Yi Yun to have such a move up his sleeve. As for Sanguine Ax, he had obviously being fended off!

Without Sanguine Ax’s pincer attack, Ghost Ming naturally did not dare clash with Yi Yun head on. However, against Yi Yun’s dominating might, Ghost Ming had no other choice.

When he saw Yi Yun’s eyes filled with killing intent, Ghost Ming roared angrily as he stirred all his ghostly aura. His sepulchral claws emitted a terrifying dark aura and the River of the Netherworld which contained lethal poison that nearly shrouded half the sky was released on Yi Yun.

“Die!”

Boom!

Yi Yun’s palm strike struck the sepulchral claws!

A loud boom ensued as all the warriors had their minds go blank. Some even had blood spewing out of their ears!

The terrifying Yuan Qi churned turbulently in mid-air. If these people were in the sky, they would probably be instantly shred to pieces.

Yi Yun was only a Divine Lord, but he was already capable of causing such a loud stir when fighting a Godly Monarch like Ghost Ming!

And Yi Yun’s figure was obstructed by the Yuan Qi. The Ghost disciples could not help but gulp a mouthful of saliva.

“He should be dead, right?”

“Even if he’s not dead, he should be heavily injured…”

In their hearts and minds, the respect they had for the Ghost Thearch was nearly instinctive.

But at that moment, there was a loud dragon’s roar as a figure charged out of the Yuan Qi flux like a burning sun!

Yi Yun’s lifeblood was boiling around him as a True Dragon phantom coiled behind him with its head up. It was staring at Ghost Ming intently with its domineering dragon eyes.

“Kill!”

Yi Yun roared again and like a meteor, blasted straight for Ghost Ming!

Ghost Ming’s expression changed drastically. Yi Yun’s might had far exceeded his expectations!

“Little bastard, do you think I’m no match for you?” Ghost Ming roared as the River of the Netherworld beneath him churned. In the meantime, Yi Yun had charged into the river along with his burning Heretical God Force.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The disciples could no longer see the battle between Ghost Ming and Yi Yun, but the terrifying energy blasts left them shuddering in fear!

They found a battle of this scale—one between a Divine Lord and a Godly Monarch—inconceivable!

Some of them were Divine Lords, but the gap between them and Yi Yun was like night and day!

Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s eyes turned cold. Just as he wanted to join the fray, he was suddenly stopped.

“Divineheart, are you planning on stopping me!?” Golden Winged Celestial Peng asked coldly.

“Heh heh, how can you say that? I’m just surprised how three of you are fighting a mere Divine Lord. Isn’t it a little disgraceful doing that in front of so many juniors?” Divineheart roared with laughter as he said calmly.

All he did was stop Golden Winged Celestial Peng without delivering any real blows. Even if Sanguine Ax were to blame him later, there was not much he could do. After all, Sanguine Ax had betrayed the Celestials and was already in trouble. From this day forth, he was probably unable to even fend for himself.

With Yi Yun showcasing his heaven-defying talent, he was bound to have a limitless future if he survived the day, even if he failed to keep the Heavenly Dao fragment.

Thus, by providing Yi Yun aid in his time of need, that would gain his friendship. It was worth it.

Of course, there was one more point. Yi Yun was human. As a human Godly Monarch, Divineheart did not wish for a human genius to die under the collective attacks of other races!

Golden Winged Celestial Peng was enraged. This darn old fox!

He glared at Dreamlight suddenly. “Dreamlight, aren’t you going to attack!?”

Dreamlight stood to the side, watching the fight between Yi Yun and Ghost Ming.

His sight was naturally superior to the Divine Lord disciples. These disciples were unable to discern the battle’s process, but he could see the details clearly.

The more he watched, the more alarmed he became.

Back in the God Confusion Valley, Yi Yun could only turn to leave upon seeing him. But just days later, Yi Yun had reached a level he could not help but marvel.

Yi Yun’s every strike combined the Heavenly Dao. Each move was delivered with powerful nomological forces. Furthermore, his body was extremely powerful. He had rich vitality as his lifeblood boiled like a radiant sun.

Instead, Ghost Ming, as a member of the Ghost race, was being placed at a disadvantage because of Yi Yun’s terrifying lifeblood!

Although the battle looked to be a draw, as a Godly Monarch, Ghost Ming was actually the clear loser!

“This child’s talent sure is terrifying…”

Dreamlight shot Golden Winged Celestial Peng a glance. The reason why Golden Winged Celestial Peng was urging him to attack was because he too could see the threat that Yi Yun had become. Furthermore, he and Ghost Ming had offended Yi Yun the most.

If they were to let Yi Yun leave, how could they feel at ease?

However, Dreamlight did not have any deep grudge with Yi Yun.

1619 - : Power of the Heavenly Dao

CKtalon  CKtalon

Golden Winged Celestial Peng burned with rage when he saw Dreamlight’s inaction.

It was clear that Dreamlight was planning to sit it out and reap the spoils later.

“Even if Yi Yun sends Ghost Ming into retreat, he’s no match for Divine General Sanguine Ax. Divineheart, once Yi Yun dies, the next person I’ll kill is you!” Golden Winged Celestial Peng shot Dreamlight a cold glance before turning to Divineheart.

“Don’t say that. I’m already so old and can’t stand hearing about death. Golden Peng, you aren’t that young either. Stop being angry all the time. It will shorten your lifespan.” Divineheart laughed indifferently, showing no intention to move away.

How could he as a Godly Monarch be threatened by a few words from Golden Winged Celestial Peng?

Dreamlight was even more unconcerned.

At that moment, there was a sharp, shrill cry as a gigantic devilish ghost phantom appear out of the chaotic energies.

Upon seeing the devilish ghost, the Ghost disciples felt their spirits raise.

“That’s a… billion life souls!”

“Lord Ghost Thearch has even summoned the Senluo Devil condensed by a billion life souls. It looks the outcome has been determined…”

The sentence only barely faded away when they saw the Senluo Devil turn around as it widened its pace.

This scene froze the expressions on the disciples’ faces… What was happening?

The Senluo Devil was… actually running?

Boom!

A large cauldron appeared behind the Senluo Devil as it smashed down heavily!

The Senluo Devil let out a strange cry as a huge hole immediately appeared.

Immediately following that, a flaming hand grabbed at the Senluo Devil’s horn. The flame instantly enveloped the Senluo Devil amid its tragic cries.

The Senluo Devil struggled and cried tragically while being consumed by the inferno.

And the most terrifying thing, the one detail of this scene that chilled the hearts of all, was the white-robed figure gently landing on the Senluo Devil’s head.

Behind Yi Yun, the towering divine tree’s phantom nearly covered half the sky. A True Dragon was coiled behind him as well. He took his place above the Senluo Devil, completely ignoring the burning body and tragic cries beneath him.

“How can this be…” The Ghost disciples were appalled.

The Senluo Devil actually wanted to escape while facing Yi Yun, and actually failed. Then… what happened to the Ghost Thearch?

At that moment, Yi Yun stomped his foot and as the Senluo Devil plummeted amid tragic cries, then suddenly charged forward and threw his fist at a ghostly phantom that suddenly appeared.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless ghostly phantoms were dissipated by Yi Yun’s barrage of attacks. The chaotic energies gradually thinned from the blasts as the actual battle situation became revealed.

The warriors were surprised to see a white-robed figure battling a figure covered in ghostly aura.

Boom!

Amid Yi Yun’s relentless assault, the ghostly phantom retreated by hundreds of feet before finding its footing.

It was none other than the Ghost Thearch!

However, Ghost Ming’s expression was livid. He was clearly at the disadvantage in the previous skirmish.

Upon seeing this scene, the warriors were dumbfounded. This… This Yi Yun was just a Divine Lord!

Ghost Ming looked coldly at Yi Yun with an intense look of shock underlying his eyes.

He never imagined that Yi Yun, someone who days ago was just a mere junior whose life he held power over, would be completely able to suppress him!

Before Ghost Ming could even catch his breath, Yi Yun’s attacks came again!

A destructive aura silently crept in front of Ghost Ming.

A ghostly shadow immediately charged out from his body and blocked his front.

“Punk, you are going too far!”

Boom!

The energy instantly exploded.

At that moment, Ghost Ming’s expression changed.

A more terrifying destructive aura shot out from the exploding energies. It instantly enveloped him!

Shura Finger!

Yi Yun’s Shura Finger was very different from what it was in the past. Its current strength was completely incomparable.

Furthermore, hidden within the Shura Finger was the Heretical God Force. It dealt even more damage to a soul body like Ghost Ming!

However, even with Yi Yun’s massive dantian, his face paled a little after using the Heretical God Force-enhanced finger.

“Die!”

Yi Yun looked coldly at the center of the blast.

Amid the world-rapturing booms, everyone was astonished.

Especially the Ghost disciples. All of them had changes in expression.

Faced with the stray energy blasts, there were some whose bodies and souls turned unstable. Some of the weakest ones cried out tragically as their bodies exploded!

The Ghost Thearch was in the middle of the explosion. Could it be…

At that moment, a furious roar sounded.

Ghost Ming’s hair was disheveled and his express was livid. He was covered in injuries and greenish-black ghostly auras emitted from his wounds. These were not ghostly auras he could replenish with his River of the Netherworld domain at any time, but ghostly auras that were core to him!

The protective ghostly shadows he stored in his body had been fully expended from the explosion.

Upon seeing Ghost Ming in such a state, even Dreamlight and company were taken aback.

As a mighty Godly Monarch, he had been beaten into such a pathetic state by a Divine Lord. It was embarrassing…

Divineheart never expected Yi Yun to defeat Ghost Ming in such a decisive manner. From the looks of it, Yi Yun’s potential was even greater than he imagined! He had made the correct bet!

“Haha, Golden Peng, I think the one who should be worrying is you. It’s just a matter of time for an unconstrained peerless genius who can defeat a Godly Monarch as a Divine Lord to become a Godly Monarch. Golden Peng, when you return, I hope you can sleep in peace.” Upon seeing Golden Peng’s expression, Divineheart’s mood improved drastically.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s expression was as ugly as if he had swallowed a fly.

When Yi Yun looked at Ghost Ming, his face took on a nonplussed look.

Godly Monarchs were indeed difficult to kill.

Ghost Ming’s body contained countless ghostly shadows and the means available to him seemed endless.

The strike from before was meant to be the final blow on Ghost Ming, but he still managed to fend it off.

“Old Ghost, don’t run. Let’s fight again.” Yi Yun sneered when he noticed Ghost Ming’s intention to retreat.

At that moment, an angry hiss sounded from behind Yi Yun.

“Punk, do you think a tree can stop me!?”

Sanguine Ax’s body emitted a faint golden halo, making him resemble a golden giant. His eyes protruded as a terrifying aura swept over him. It even distorted the surrounding space.

“Ah!”

Sanguine Ax suddenly raised his ax and a sanguine light blasted out. Ten vines that bound him were immediately diced!

The vibrant vines instantly withered and all the energies they had dissipated the moment they fell to the ground.

When the gigantic vines fell, all the warriors in the square scattered in a bid to dodge. However, their main reason was to avoid Divine General Sanguine Ax.

The mighty stance he had made their bodies numb and legs weak just by standing near him. It felt like Death was standing just before them.

1620 - : Battling Ghost Ming

CKtalon  CKtalon

Divine General Sanguine Ax stared at Yi Yun intently with his ice-cold gaze. The intense killing intent enveloped the entire square.

“Divineheart, you are right. Yi Yun is indeed very powerful. If he is given enough time to grow, Sanguine Ax might not even be his match. But now, he’s still too tender!” Golden Winged Celestial Peng looked at Sanguine Ax in midair and said.

Divineheart smiled lightly. “Golden Peng, even if Yi Yun is no match for him, escaping would not pose a problem for him. Don’t be happy too soon…”

Divineheart’s words sank Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s heart. Yes, if Yi Yun was bent on escaping, it was true that Sanguine Ax might indeed fail to stop him!

Once such a peerless genius escaped, it would only lead to endless repercussions!

“Oh? Yi Yun does not seem to have any intention of escaping.”

Golden Winged Celestial Peng saw that Yi Yun’s body was enveloped in boundless worldly powers, facing Divine General Sanguine Ax’s killing intent head on!

“Yi Yun, hand over the Heavenly Dao fragment and I’ll spare you!” said Divine General Sanguine Ax with a deep voice.

“Let’s see if you have what it takes.” Yi Yu looked at Sanguine Ax with eyes that burned with intense fighting spirit.

Yi Yun felt that his combat strength had reached an unprecedented new height thanks to his entry into the Heavenly Dao palace. Now, he looked forward to fighting Sanguine Ax to test his strength!

Sanguine Ax glared at Yi Yun. “You are courting death!”

Boom!

Sanguine Ax’s figure instantly vanished!

The next moment, sanguine light which seemed to blot out the sky descended as it cleaved down at Yi Yun’s head.

Ka Ka Ka!

Space shattered, and the ground which had lost the protection of the array formation instantly cratered.

Warriors who failed to dodge in time spat out blood at that moment. The ones who were most injured even emitted cracking sounds from their bodies. All their bones had shattered in that very moment!

Dreamlight and company released Yuan Qi barriers to envelop their disciples.

“Divine General Sanguine Ax’s battle ax is a divine armament. It is infused with the blood of the Celestials. Even I will be injured by such a cleave!” Golden Winged Celestial Peng was fully focused on the battle.

The blood of Celestials were extremely precious. It was the source of the Celestial’s strength.

In response, Yi Yun moved.

Terrifying lifeblood instantly ignited within Yi Yun’s body.

He grabbed the Ascending Dragon Cauldron with both hands and swung it straight at Sanguine Ax.

Boom!

Amid the ear-shattering boom, the mountains beneath them quaked violently. Violent Yuan Qi swept in every direction like the blast from an explosion. It instantly leveled the surrounding mountains!

Even the entire pocket world was echoing with the terrifying noise.

Ka! Ka!

Sanguine Ax’s eyes were filled with rage as he pressed down with his ax. “I’ll crush you flat!”

Heretical God Force!

Yi Yun roared as his elegant immortal-like figure suddenly emitted astounding lifeblood as his arms bulged with muscles.

He converted lightning and fire into lifeblood!

Yi Yun was not Sanguine Ax’s match with just his body alone, but after activating the Heretical God Force, his strength increased by more than ten times!

He had managed to parry it!

Yi Yun looked up at Sanguine Ax as the corners of his mouth suffused a smile. “You should not underestimate me as well!”

“What impudence!” Sanguine Ax roared as his body phased away again.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The disciples beneath only saw two figures clashing violently amid the sanguine light and explosive Yuan Qi.

And just the sounds produced by the battle felt like claps of thunders to these warriors’ ears. Their vision turned black as a result. This was despite the Yuan Qi barriers having reduced a large portion of the aftershocks.

Too powerful!

One was a mighty figure among Godly Monarchs while the other was the newly-born strongest Divine Lord!

A battle at that level had far exceeded their comprehension.

“Yi Yun can actually hold his own against Sanguine Ax!” Ghost Ming’s expression turned extremely nasty. The stronger Yi Yun was, the harder it was for him to seek revenge. It was even getting to the point where he needed to worry that Yi Yun would turn the tables and seek revenge on him!

Godly Monarchs were difficult to kill, but it did not mean they were immortal. Ghost Ming could hardly improve further. He had been stuck at this realm for hundreds of thousands of years. Otherwise, he would not have spent all his time and energy in recent years rearing his Thousand-eyed Mo.

But Yi Yun was different.

This darn Yi Yun was not even a Godly Monarch!

Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s eyes wore a look of shock.

He also wished that Sanguine Ax could slay Yi Yun.

No matter how much a genius Yi Yun was, a dead genius was ultimately a pile of rotting flesh!

With this in mind, Golden Winged Celestial Peng felt more infuriated. Divineheart was bent on stopping him while Dreamlight was a fence sitter. Having missed their opportunity to attack, it did not seem like there would be another chance.

It was true that Dreamlight had no intention to take action. He silently watched Sanguine Ax’s and Yi Yun’s intense battle and thought to himself, “Yi Yun is indeed strong, but Sanguine Ax has probably not used his trump card…”

At that moment, Sanguine Ax let out an angry bellow.

“Roar!”

The loud roar churned the lifeblood of the warriors.

At that moment, they found a blinding golden light was preventing them from opening their eyes.

Sanguine Ax’s skin looked like pure gold as it shimmered with glaring radiance.

But in fact, his muscles had bulged. The dense blood vessels within had golden divine blood surging through them while emitting burning auras.

Celestials were born as the precious offspring of the world. Their lifeblood was extremely powerful and their bodies were immensely resilient. They had a close affinity with laws and their divine blood had many uses.

At that moment, Sanguine Ax was using the powers of his divine blood!

“Ka Ka Ka Ka!”

Thunderous blasts sounded from Sanguine Ax’s body.

His massive body had grown in size once again!

“Yi Yun, no matter how powerful you are, you are still human. Do you think a mere human like you can defy the might of a god!?” Sanguine Ax’s voice echoed. He raised his ax as the massive blade shimmered with a light that was bent on tasting blood.

“Slash!”

Boom!

As the ax cleaved down, a gigantic spatial rift opened, spewing forth destructive spatial storms. The ax appeared to be cleaving apart the entire pocket world.

Yi Yun was completely locked down. There was no way he could dodge the strike!

“Yi Yun, what do you have to fend me off!?” roared Sanguine Ax.

This person had actually taken away the Heavenly Dao fragment right under his nose!

Yi Yun’s expression turned solemn when facing Sanguine Ax’s strike.

A killing blow delivered by a Godly Monarch in a rage combined with the divine powers of the Celestials…

With the ax literally tearing through space as it approached with its indomitable might, Yi Yun extended one hand.

“You want to fend me off with one hand? What a joke!” A cold glint flashed in Sanguine Ax’s eyes as all his strength surged, causing the ax to emit tremendous amounts of sanguine light again.

1621 - : Evenly Matching the Divine General

CKtalon  CKtalon

Sanguine Ax quaked the entire pocket world with his terrifying powers.

More spatial rifts appeared everywhere as the mountain began collapsing!

Yet Yi Yun appeared indifferent to Sanguine Ax’s terrifying might. His extended hand appeared indignant in the face of the cleaving ax.

But at that moment, an indescribable aura emitted from Yi Yun’s body.

All of Yi Yun’s churning lifeblood seemed to vanish at that instant.

But similarly, everything around him, including Sanguine Ax’s strike, seemed to calm down.

It was as though Yi Yun’s hand was the only thing left in everyone’s eyes. The hand slowly pressed towards the ax.

The hand looked as fair as jade and did not seem to deliver much force.

However, the moment Yi Yun touched the forbidding ax, a blurry luster flew out from Yi Yun’s dantian. It was a star chart!

Instead of describing it as a star chart, it was actually more like a multiverse shrank down multiple times and placed itself into Yi Yun’s dantian.

There was silence. At that instant, the sky vanished and turned into the boundless universe. Galactic arms of stars appeared out of thin air as the lustrous glow of a billion stars descended. The pocket world in the God Confusion Valley seemed to lead straight to an infinite universe!

What is that!?

Everyone was alarmed. And at that moment, Sanguine Ax’s ax had stopped in mid-air!

It was clearly an ordinary-looking palm, but it managed to block Sanguine Ax’s ax…

This scene left everyone shocked.

Sanguine Ax’s expression was of utter astonishment.

He looked at Yi Yun in disbelief. “You…”

Yi Yun stood in his spot as he emanated an aura of supremacy.

He stood there indifferently as though he was the center of the universe.

Dreamlight’s pupils constricted suddenly. “This is… the aura of the Heavenly Dao!”

The powers Yi Yun was releasing were none other than the powers of the Heavenly Dao!

The Heavenly Dao was supreme!

An inconceivable guess arose in Dreamlight’s mind. Could it be that… Yi Yun had absorbed the Heavenly Dao fragment!?

“The Heavenly Dao fragment! He really refined it!?” Divineheart said in disbelief. The appearance of a miniature universe, one that shone like the multiverse itself could only mean that Yi Yun had refined the Heavenly Dao for himself!

It could be said that Yi Yun was the Heavenly Dao and the Heavenly Dao was Yi Yun!

It was not easy even for Celestial experts to refine a Heavenly Dao fragment, but Yi Yun had done it despite being a human!

This talent…

All the Godly Monarchs found it unbelievable.

And at that moment, Sanguine Ax was like a deranged ancient behemoth.

This was an opportunity that belonged to him! But now, Yi Yun had taken it away!

“Human, how dare you absorb the Heavenly Dao fragment!? You deserve death! You deserve having your body smashed to pieces and your soul obliterated!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Sanguine Ax’s arm muscles bulged out. Blood vessels as thick as a child’s arm protruded to the point of explosion, spurting dark gold blood!

Immense power erupted from within Sanguine Ax’s body!

The entire world quaked as people only saw blade and sanguine flashes shroud the sky!

Divine General Sanguine Ax was completely enraged!

As for Golden Winged Celestial Peng and company, they were still reeling from the shock of seeing the star chart that flew out of Yi Yun’s dantian.

This was indeed a Great Dao aura gained from refining the Heavenly Dao fragment, but from the star chart, the few Godly Monarchs sensed the clear indication of a Divine Lord Royal Seal’s aura.

The star chart was Yi Yun’s Divine Lord Royal Seal! He had gone from a Divine Lord to a Royal Sealed Divine Lord. This was the most simple explanation for Yi Yun’s rise in strength.

Could it be that…

Yi Yun had absorbed the Heavenly Dao fragment to be his Divine Lord Royal Seal!?

Was… was this even possible? A Heavenly Dao could become a Divine Lord Royal Seal!? It was completely unheard of! No! Completely unthinkable!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The ground collapsed as the pocket world which lost the protection of the array formation trembled vigorously as though it was on the brink of utter collapse!

Sanguine Ax’s arms were spurting blood, but even so, he failed to defeat Yi Yun!

As a Celestial, Sanguine Ax was extremely proud. When he saw that a human younger than him had not only absorbed the Heavenly Dao fragment, but also withstand his strikes with a cultivation level lower than his, it felt like it was the greatest insult!

A human was an inferior being in his eyes! What right did they have to attain the Heavenly Dao!?

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

Sanguine Ax exchanged frenzied blows with Yi Yun, ignoring Yi Yun’s strikes due to his extremely resilient body.

And after using the Heavenly Dao Royal Seal, Yi Yun’s strength had also increased exponentially.

Furthermore, in his battle with Sanguine Ax, all of the nomological insight and strength enhancement Yi Yun gained from his elevation to the Heavenly Dao finally became consolidated through integration.

At that moment, Yi Yun stomped down with his feet as Mirage Snow appeared instantly in his hand. He immediately injected the sword with terrifying demonic powers.

The demonic powers burned like a divine flame as it manifested a Shura phantom. It had three heads and six arms with a pair of wings behind it. Each of the six arms wielded a different weapon. And behind it was a wheel.

Shura Heavenly Dao, 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

This was the complete inheritance of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence that Yi Yun gained after Yi Yun’s dantian devoured the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence of Human Emperor’s projection!

“Slash!”

A sword beam flashed as stellar light streaked to the horizons and stabbed at Sanguine Ax’s head.

At that instant, Sanguine Ax felt the space around him seem to turn heavy.

Primordial Chaos space!

In that fleeting moment, Sanguine Ax could only cock his head, but immediately following that, a stabbing pain inundated him. The sword tip stabbed into his shoulder as brutal energies surged into his body, expanding the wound in the process.

It was then that hundreds if not thousands of divine tree branches flew out from behind Yi Yun, boring straight into Sanguine Ax’s wound.

These branches sucked at Sanguine Ax’s blood vessels as they rapidly drew away his dark gold blood. Immediately following that, the entire divine tree swayed as the branches turned more luxuriant and sturdy at a discernible speed.

In a blink of an eye, Sanguine Ax had weakened greatly.

“Scram!” Sanguine Ax bellowed loudly as a large shadow flew out of his body. The humanoid shadow looked like a devilish spirit and was none other than a demonic servant!

Apart from the demonic servant, there was also a demonic general dressed in combat armor!

The demonic general was engulfed in black demonic flames. The moment it appeared, its demonic aura surged to the skies.

Upon seeing the demonic general, Yi Yun’s brows pricked up slightly.

He recalled the Demonic General Perfected Hou he met in the Sinkhole, but the demonic general he was facing was much stronger than Perfected Hou!

The appearance of the demonic general brought with him numerous demonic servants. They surged towards the divine tree and Yi Yun!

“Begone!” Yi Yun shouted out lightly.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Countless emerald-green vines swept towards the demonic general and demonic servants with its immense powers and ample vibrancy!

The demonic general let out an angry bellow as he was struck by an extremely thick vine!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The vine carried the demonic general with it in its trajectory before slamming him into the ground.

Just as the demonic general struggled to get up, his pupils shrank suddenly as a vine came falling from the heavens and penetrated him!

Immediately a powerful suction force reared its head as his demonic aura was crazily sucked away!

“Ahhh!” The demonic general let out an indignant and furious roar, but he failed to extricate himself from the thick vine, In a blink of an eye, he was drowned by a massive number of vines.

As for the demonic servants, they failed to put up any resistance against the Azure Wood Divine Tree!

The Azure Wood Divine Tree sourced its strength from Yi Yun after all. The stronger he was, the more terrifying the Azure Wood Divine Tree was.

If a demonic general like Perfected Hou faced the Azure Wood Divine Tree in its current form, he would not have been able to withstand even one vine.

I wonder what sort of changes the Azure Wood Divine Tree will undergo if it absorbs more divine blood… When this thought came to Yi Yun, a look of eagerness flashed in the gaze he cast at Sanguine Ax.

Sanguine Ax nearly blew a top when he saw Yi Yun looking at him in such a manner. He knew what Yi Yun had just done. Yi Yun was using his divine blood to feed the Dao Tree in his body!

He was a Godly Monarch of the Celestials, but he was being used as mere sustenance by Yi Yun!

It was an absolute insult!

“Break it for me!”

Golden blood blasted out from Sanguine Ax’s back. The blood ignited in mid-air as it burned through the void.

Fire of the Divine Blood!

It was actually no longer fire, but vital energy which was pushed to the limits. The burning divine blood burned a large number of the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s vines to crisp!

Yi Yun thought nothing of it. With a mere thought, the burnt vines broke off automatically. Then, the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s tremendous vitality flowed, growing new vines at a discernible pace.

Endless vibrancy!

Upon seeing this scene, all the Godly Monarchs were alarmed. Yi Yun was too frightening.

His physical body was comparable to a Fey Godly Monarch, his laws were equivalent to the Heavenly Dao, and his vitality was fused with a divine tree, allowing him to constantly renew himself. Did he still have any weaknesses?

At that moment, Golden Winged Celestial Peng was feeling worried. He originally believed that Yi Yun could pose a threat to him only when Yi Yun developed his strength to maturity. But now, Yi Yun had already done it!

He did not use all his strength while fighting Ghost Ming!

Yi Yun stood in mid-air with Mirage Snow in hand. A thousand-foot-tall Azure Wood Divine Tree stood behind him as Mirage Snow was covered in a slick of frozen dark gold blood..

“Pa Da! Pa Da!”

The dripping sound of the divine blood was so clear.

Suddenly, Yi Yun struck out with his palm!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The star chart in his dantian came crushing over. Containing both the powers of Primordial Chaos and Destruction, it enveloped Sanguine Ax immediately.

Primordial Chaos and Destruction were the beginning and end of a universe. In addition to the Heavenly Dao laws, Yi Yun’s miniature universe in his dantian had already reached the level of matching that of a real universe.

By using his star chart, it was equivalent to having a universe trap Sanguine Ax!

This was a true domain. It was more than a hundred times stronger than Yi Yun’s original Primordial Destruction domain!

This scene left all the Godly Monarchs astonished. If Yi Yun was said to be battling Sanguine Ax previously, now he was trapping Sanguine Ax. Could it be that… he was planning on killing Sanguine Ax!?

This was completely unimaginable!

The expressions of the Godly Monarchs changed. Regardless if Yi Yun succeeded, he already had the right to be a proud figure in the Chaos Heavens’ long river of history.

1622 - : Power of the Divine Blood

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the strength of a human, he was able to rival that of a Celestial!

Such drive was nonexistent among humans apart from Human Emperor who the Celestials did not wish to mention!

Instantly, everyone looked at Yi Yun in a different light. They were amazed and also fearful of him.

Trapped in the stellar space Dao chart, Sanguine Ax’s expression was grotesque. He glared intently at Yi Yun with an ice-cold gaze. The Dao chart put immense pressure on him.

He raised his ax high as all his divine blood boiled over. Concentrated lifeblood enveloped his entire being as extremely violent auras surged in every direction.

However, the stellar space Dao chart was condensed from the Heavenly Dao fragment. It was not that easily cracked!

“Crack! Crack as I command!” Sanguine Ax let out angry bellows as he cleaved his ax frantically in every direction, but he still failed to crack open the Dao chart!

Yi Yun’s expression turned calm. He stood in mid-air as the Mirage Snow in his hand let out a clear hum.

“Hum!”

The Azure Wood Divine Tree behind him fully spread its branches, emanating vibrancy. A divine dragon’s phantom was coiled around it as its loud roar resonated through the world.

Beneath his feet was the slowly spinning 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence with its countless devils reaching out their hands from within, struggling and wailing.

The sword in Yi Yun’s hand grew in might. Just seeing Yi Yun’s figure made the warriors feel like they were seeing a massive sword in between the heaven and earth which was slashing down at them.

Some of the warriors with weaker minds even activated their protective Yuan Qi involuntarily. They instinctively felt that it was irresistible as their eyes revealed looks of despair. It was as though the sword would cleave down on them the next instant.

“It’s still… not enough!” Yi Yun bellowed softly as he stomped down with his foot!

Immediately, boundless strength and the nomological Heavenly Dao surged from the star chart to Yi Yun.

At that instant, Yi Yun became the middle of the Azure Wood Divine Tree, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, and the star chart.

All the powers were surging towards him incessantly before condensing on Mirage Snow.

Ignoring the lesser warriors, even Golden Winged Celestial Peng and company felt threatened!

Ghost Ming’s expression was even worse. He could sense a power that could slay him from the sword. If he were made to face the sword, it was very possible that he would perish!

“How dare a mere human think of slaying me!” Sanguine Ax let out an angry bellow as a frenetic look coruscated in his eyes. He was a Godly Monarch of the Celestials; yet, he was being crushed by a human!

“Ah!” Sanguine Ax let out a loud roar as he released all his strength. The gigantic ax in his hand produced a frightening sanguine light and alarming aura.

At that moment, Yi Yun slashed down with his sword!

With the sword’s might gathered at the tip, everything seemed to be released at that very instant.

Sword of Heavenly Punishment!

Boom!

The sword flash clashed with the ax as an unimaginable loud boom sounded. The entire pocket world’s ground instantly produced countless cracks as black spatial rifts filled the sky. Tornadoes instantly swept through the region without any regard.

This scene looked like a world cataclysm!

Everyone looked on in astonishment at the battle. Many of them even felt their scalps tingle.

They were like ants in such a battle. It felt like they would be pulverized in an instant.

Who was the victorious one?

At that moment, they heard a sound.

Pa-ta! Pa-ta!

Sounds akin to drum sticks striking the ground boomed. People saw drops of golden divine blood drip to the ground.

Each drop was the size of a fist.

“That is…”

Everyone watched in shock as an additional object appeared in the sky—golden blood in the shape of a heart.

The golden blood was beating constantly, emitting intense might from within.

“The Celestial race’s Divine Blood Origins!” The look in Dreamlight’s eyes changed slightly.

Divine Blood Origins was equivalent to blood essence for the Celestials.

Losing that much Divine Blood Origins dealt a huge blow to Sanguine Ax.

Human warriors used treasured medicine like Godly Monarch Blood Essence Pills if they wanted to replenish blood essence.

But if Celestials wanted to replenish their Divine Blood Origins?

That was practically impossible. The stronger a lifeforce, the harder it was for them to replenish their blood essence.

This meant that Sanguine Ax might forever lose that portion of Divine Blood Origins.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng and company twitched their eyes. Sanguine Ax had burned his Divine Blood Origins?

From the looks of it, he had really gone all out!

Yi Yun could definitely be proud to force Sanguine Ax into such a state.

But now, due to the existence of the Heavenly Dao domain, they could not see the outcome of Yi Yun’s strike, nor could they see where Yi Yun and Divine General Sanguine Ax were.

And at that moment, a figure covered in blood let out an indignant roar and charged out the star chart’s seal. It plunged deep into a spatial rift and instantly vanished.

Wait!

Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s pupils constricted suddenly as he revealed a look of disbelief.

That figure was Sanguine Ax…

Sanguine Ax had escaped?

The warriors had also seen this scene; all of them were completely dumbfounded.

A mighty Godly Monarch had been forced by a Divine Lord to burn his Divine Blood Origins and escape with serious injuries…

“Despite burning his Divine Blood Origins to gain immense strength, Sanguine Ax was still unable to defeat Yi Yun before fleeing? Why?” Ghost Ming said in indignation. Even a heavy blow on Yi Yun would have been good enough for him.

Dreamlight looked at Ghost Ming and said, “The Divine Blood Origins was not burned by Sanguine Ax voluntarily. Yi Yun’s slash injured his core and that core was ripped out of him. As such, Sanguine Ax had to burn his divine blood, but even so, the Divine Blood Origins had been trapped by the Heavenly Dao domain. It’s equivalent to Yi Yun having seized treasure from him.”

“But Yi Yun’s strike had drawn away a large amount of the Heavenly Dao domain’s strength. Sanguine Ax then took the opportunity to tear open the domain to flee.”

As a member of the Soul race, Dreamlight’s psyche powers were the strongest. Only he was able to to barely penetrate the Heavenly Dao domain and probe the details of the battle.

When he said those words, the crowd was at a loss for words. Yi Yun had seized Sanguine Ax’s Divine Blood Origins!

Despite having his Divine Blood Origins seized, a Celestial as prideful as Sanguine Ax had not only risked his life fighting Yi Yun, but he had also fled pathetically.

This meant that he had determined that he was not Yi Yun’s match. Taking the opportunity to flee might even be considered a wise choice. If not, letting Yi Yun regain his strength and reactivate the Heavenly Dao domain would probably make him pay an even worse price.

With this in mind, cold sweat seeped out of Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s palms.

Yi Yun likely already possessed the ability to kill weaker Godly Monarchs!

It would not take long for him to be able to kill him!

“One strike to vanquish a Celestial. A Celestial is this and nothing more!” Dreamlight said wistfully. Yi Yun’s strength and his future left him envious.

At that moment, Yi Yun beckoned his hand, causing the shimmering Divine Blood Origins to land in his hand as it transformed into a golden sphere of light.

As he looked in the direction in which Sanguine Ax had fled, a hint of regret flashed in his eyes. The strike he delivered had used the star chart’s strength. It naturally resulted in the weakening of the star chart’s powers; thus, giving Sanguine Ax a chance to flee.

But if he had not done so, it would have been impossible for him to draw out Sanguine Ax’s Divine Blood Origins with one strike. As for killing Sanguine Ax, that was more impossible.

If he ended up sharing an internecine outcome with Sanguine Ax, once Ghost Ming, Golden Winged Celestial Peng, or Dreamlight charged up to him, he was bound to perish.

Yi Yun tapped the blob of Divine Blood Origins gently and bits of golden light were absorbed by Yi Yun.

This power nourished Yi Yun’s enervated body as he began restoring his strength.

Divine Blood Origins was indeed good stuff.

The blob of blood contained the secret to the Celestial race’s might!

Upon seeing the blob of Divine Blood Origins, Golden Winged Celestial Peng and Ghost Ming had a look of greed in their eyes.

Celestials were few in number to begin with. With them being powerful and having mysterious whereabouts, it was extremely difficult to obtain Divine Blood Origins!

Even if the occasional Celestial expert was killed, much of the Divine Blood Origins would have been destroyed by the Celestial before his death.

Although they knew that Yi Yun was enervated or even injured, just the thought of Yi Yun’s strike from before snuffed any intention from Golden Winged Celestial Peng and Ghost Ming to attack him.

Yi Yun stood there silently and absorbed the essence of the Divine Blood Origins as his aura kept recovering.

Meanwhile, he sent a portion of the Divine Blood Origins to the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

The Azure Wood Divine Tree stretched out a few branches and bore into the Divine Blood Origins and like a whale sucking at water, began absorbing it greedily.

The Azure Wood Divine Tree had only absorbed some ordinary blood from Sanguine Ax previously and had been nourished. Now that it was absorbing Divine Blood Origins, the world resounded with the rustling of the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s leaves.

The massive tree’s shadow blotted out the sky as Yi Yun’s body became taller and more majestic. The towering tree seemed to hold up the sky and gradually stabilized the collapsing pocket world.

The pocket world had been a keeper of Human Emperor’s heritage. Although the heritage had been taken away by Yi Yun, he did not wish for Human Emperor’s heritage to completely disappear.

The Azure Wood Divine Tree released intense vibrancy which also immersed Yi Yun. It continued nourishing Yi Yun’s body while he also absorbed energies from Chaos Crystals to restore his essence powers.

As he recalled the battle from before, all the laws and insights he gained from his elevation in cultivation turned complete at that instant.

Everyone saw Yi Yun dressed in an untainted white robe with Mirage Snow in hand. He stood in mid-air with a supreme divine tree and divine dragon phantom behind him. He looked no different from an immortal.

And Yi Yun’s body emitted a more mystical and ethereal aura of the Great Dao. He gave others the feeling that he had completely merged with the world.

At that moment, Yi Yun suddenly opened his eyes. “Oh? Senior Ghost Ming, where do you plan on going?”

The dragged out voice resounded throughout the world as Ghost Ming’s body froze; his expression turning extremely nasty.

1623 - : Severing Origins

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ghost Ming was already afraid when he saw Yi Yun using the Divine Blood Origins to restore his strength. He had planned on casting a mystic art to leave silently, but he never expected Yi Yun to notice it.

“Senior Ghost Ming, you were already injured previously, but you refused to leave. Were you trying to stay behind to pick up the spoils? Now that there are no spoils to pick, are you planning on leaving?”

Yi Yun converged his aura as he stored away the blob of Divine Blood Origins.

Yi Yun’s addressing of Ghost Ming as senior made Ghost Ming feel like his face was smacked swollen. He had indeed stayed in hopes of picking up the spoils while observing the situation.

He could only blame Divine General Sanguine Ax for being defeated too quickly and escaping without any warning. It prevented him from reacting in a timely manner. If not, he would have long fled when he felt that the situation was against him. He would not have waited until Yi Yun called him out.

Ghost Ming shot Golden Winged Celestial Peng a glance openly.

Yi Yun laughed. “Are the two of you discussing a route of escape?”

His sentence immediately exposed what was on their minds.

The surrounding warriors were rendered speechless by this turn of events. What was happening? Two Godly Monarchs were secretly discussing fleeing over a voice transmission in front of a Divine Lord?

Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s expression sank instantly “Yi Yun, do you think you can really prevent us from leaving? Don’t think too highly of yourself!”

Golden Peng’s extreme speed was not insubstantial bragging. Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s speed at tearing through the void was even higher than Divine General Sanguine Ax’s!

Besides, Yi Yun was not in peak condition. Even at his peak, Yi Yun was unable to stop him if he was determined to escape.

Although Ghost Ming’s situation was worse, with him heavily injured, he could pay a tiny price to get Golden Winged Celestial Peng to take him along. Besides, he had his Ghost race mystic arts. Escaping was not a problem.

In fact, Ghost Ming’s Yuan Qi voice transmission was precisely on this matter. Yi Yun was not wrong that they were making plans for fleeing.

“Seniors, as mighty Godly Monarchs, why are you clamoring in front of a junior? And your clamoring involves you escaping while I’m unable to stop you? Yes, it’s true I might not be able to keep you…”

The moment Yi Yun said that, Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s and Ghost Ming’s face darkened. In fact, they had already come to subconsciously view Yi Yun as a mighty figure their equal, but he was now suddenly mentioning the differences in their seniority. It left them extremely depressed.

None of the Fey or Ghost warriors dared to say a word. As for the Taixia side, Purple Succubus was almost bursting out in laughter. When did it become such a tragedy to be Godly Monarchs? They were using the fact that they could escape as a taunt.

“Punk, it’s meaningless winning a war of words. In the martial world, strength is supreme. We will admit that you are strong today. You already have the Heavenly Dao fragment; what else do you want?”

“Hahaha!” Yi Yun laughed. “The both of you wish to kill me and I managed to survive through my own capabilities. Why are you asking me what I want? It’s true I can’t stop you from escaping today. But one day in the future, I’ll storm the Nine Netherworld Lands and Desolate clan, making sure that you will pay terribly for crossing me.”

“You!” Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s expression turned nasty. “Fine! You are arrogant enough! You have already offended the Celestials. Do you also plan on making the Ghosts and Fey your enemies as well? You sure are capable, but you should know the saying—the wind always harms the single outstanding tree in a forest. You should not invite more enemies for Taixia. Do you think you can bear the consequences of a war between three races?”

Yi Yun thought nothing of Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s threat. “I’m not from Taixia. I only owe Godly Monarch Divineheart a favor. I am me, free and unshackled. So what if I offend the Ghosts and Fey? Whoever attacks me, I’ll take them on. Whoever kills me shall be slain!”

“As for a racial war? When Human Emperor was reigning supreme over the Chaos Heavens, why didn’t you launch a war against the humans?”

Yi Yun’s words could be said to be extremely arrogant, but no one viewed them that way. He had the full rights to be that way!

“What… do you want?” Golden Winged Celestial Peng was enraged. However, he was not the only Godly Monarch of the Desolate clan. If Yi Yun truly developed his strength to a certain level, the Desolate clan might very well sever all ties with him to prevent any implications.

After all, Yi Yun was only a Royal Sealed Divine Lord. As long as he did not perish, he was bound to become a Godly Monarch. How strong would he be when that happened?

He could even be following the footsteps of Human Emperor and eventually catch up to him!

At that level, the weakness of humans or whatever enemies one faced were verbal trivialities. Yi Yun did not even need to take action. Just his name was enough to serve as a deterrent.

Although he knew this deep down, Golden Winged Celestial Peng did not reveal any signs of fear. “Our Desolate clan has Patriarch Desolate. Even Divine General Sanguine Ax is not Patriarch’s match. Do you think you are invincible in the Chaos Heavens? Godly Monarchs can vary in strength too. I may not be considered very powerful, and we came to vie for the Heavenly Dao fragment in order to have a first mover’s advantage. Do you think no one can kill you? There are already many capable of doing so among the Celestials!”

Yi Yun naturally knew that. The Celestials had people stronger than Sanguine Ax. They even had the Ancestor God.

However, Yi Yun thought nothing of Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s threat. Since he had already offended them, so be it. He did not believe that speaking nicely to Golden Winged Celestial Peng and company would change anything.

“From the looks of it, you have no intention of negotiating. When I finish my cultivation to the point of being able to wipe out your Patriarch Desolate, I’ll storm your territories. Either way, your Desolate clan and Nine Netherworld Lands will not be able to escape,” said Yi Yun.

Ghost Ming’s and Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s expressions turned white from raged. Yi Yun was being completely impervious to reason. He was insistent on taking advantage of them today.

The Chaos Heavens Godly Monarchs all had factions behind them. When they fought among each other, they had to take into consideration the other party’s faction. However, Yi Yun was fearless since he had nothing to lose.

If he truly caused a stir before going into hiding, no one could do anything to him.

“What do you want!?” Golden Winged Celestial Peng asked through clenched teeth.

“I don’t wish to kill you. Leave something that catches my eye and I’ll let bygones be bygones.” Yi Yun knew that his possession of a Heavenly Dao fragment would quickly spread throughout the Chaos Heavens. When that happened, he would be targeted by powerful old freaks. He did not wish to make enemies everywhere for himself either. He felt that Golden Winged Celestial Peng and Ghost Ming were lucking out from his decision.

However, his words left the crowd speechless. A Divine Lord was openly extorting two Godly Monarchs!

“Don’t try to fool me with some crap. If you understand my past, you will know how I deal with enemies of yesteryear. Then, you will realize how lucky you are that I’m willing to revoke all scores with you today.”

When Yi Yun said those words, Golden Winged Celestial Peng and Ghost Ming nearly emitted steam from their rage. He was so shameless even while extorting them, but they were forced to consider his proposal. They could not afford to offend such a ruthless person.

Ghost Ming wondered what item he could use to stave off Yi Yun.

But at that moment, Divineheart said leisurely, “If I recall correctly, fellow Daoist Ghost Ming has a particular trinket that’s very interesting.”

1624 - : Threat

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon hearing Divineheart, Ghost Ming immediately had a sense of foreboding.

“Oh? Might I know what it is?” Yi Yun revealed a look of interest.

Divineheart looked at Ghost Ming’s nasty expression as he could not help but curl his lips into a mocking smile. “I heard that fellow Daoist Ghost Ming has an extremely special mask known as the Thousand Illusion Ghost Mask. It was an ancient artifact that a Ghost mighty figure retrieved from the Netherworld. It doesn’t have much use, but when worn, it can perfectly hide one’s aura and change one’s appearance. Even a person much stronger than the wearer will not be able to identify them…”

Upon hearing Divineheart’s suggestion, Yi Yun was moved.

He was now the target of many, and his possession of the Heavenly Dao fragment would soon become known to all. He naturally had use for a powerful concealment artifact.

If Divineheart had not mentioned it, he would not have known that Ghost Ming had something as good as this. With his strength, no one would recognize him if he wore the mask.

Ghost Ming’s expression sank deeper with every word Divineheart said.

Trinket? Doesn’t have much use? An artifact that could perfectly conceal one’s aura and change one’s look was worth more than supreme-grade Godly Monarch weapons! There was a chance of obtaining supreme-grade weapons, but such unique artifacts were not purchasable anywhere.

The old asshole, Divineheart, was offering favors at his expense!

And at that moment, Yi Yun was already looking at him with a burning gaze. “Senior Ghost Ming, are you feeling the pinch? Could it be that Senior Ghost Ming wishes to wear the mask to live for the rest of his life?”

Ghost Ming yearned to bite off Yi Yun’s flesh when he said that. Yi Yun was threatening him—if he did not give him the mask, he would be forced to rely on the Thousand Illusion Ghost Mask’s concealment to hide from Yi Yun’s pursuit for the rest of his life.

Ghost Ming had an ugly expression. After much consideration, he gritted his teeth, took out a black mask from his interspatial ring and threw it toward Yi Yun.

Yi Yun caught the black mask in hand.

The black mask emitted a strange aura when it landed in his hand. There were no facial features on the mask, but a careful look made one feel like staring at it constantly, as though one had been pulled into a vortex.

An item from the Netherworld… The Thousand Illusion Ghost Mask was indeed extraordinary.

Yi Yun was very pleased with the Thousand Illusion Ghost Mask. As for Ghost Ming, he did not wish to stay another second after handing over the Thousand Illusion Ghost Mask. It was his bad luck for offending Yi Yun!

Ghost Ming directly reached out his hand and ripped open the void. His body phased away into the spatial rift.

The remaining Ghost warriors exchanged looks. Was the Ghost Thearch abandoning them?

However, they also knew that the Ghost Thearch probably did not wish to see anyone…

The Ghost warriors hurriedly departed for there was no point staying behind. It would be tragic if they accidentally provoked the malignant star known as Yi Yun—someone who even made their Ghost Thearch flee.

Yi Yun ignored the departing Ghost Ming and company. He turned his gaze toward Golden Winged Celestial Peng.

At that moment, Divineheart spoke out leisurely again, “Godly Monarch Golden Peng, I recall that you recently shed a few of your golden feathers. They are excellent material for alchemical refinement…”

“Shed?” Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s nose nearly warped from his fuming grunts. How could his golden feathers shed for no reason?

This old asshole was way too despicable by offering favors at the expense of others twice!

However, the moment Divineheart said so, Yi Yun looked at Golden Winged Celestial Peng with brightened eyes. Every body part of a powerful Fey was a treasure, even more so for a Godly Monarch like Golden Winged Celestial Peng.

The most precious items on him were his Fey core and golden feathers. It was absolutely impossible to take his Fey core for that would push him to fight with his life.

However, the golden feathers were just his feathers. The loss of one feather just meant the lost of some blood when they were plucked. The impact it had on his strength could be recovered.

“I see feathers all over you. I want six feathers,” said Yi Yun.

“Six?” Golden Winged Celestial Peng nearly raged. Every single one of his golden feathers were precious. Once he lost them, he needed a century to grow them back. Furthermore, he needed all sorts of natural treasures to replenish them.

If Ghost Ming had not handed over the Thousand Illusion Ghost Mask and instead chose to remain, Golden Winged Celestial Peng would not choose to give his feathers. But now, Yi Yun and Divineheart had completely sealed off his route of retreat.

“Two golden feathers!” Golden Winged Celestial Peng pulled out two golden feathers. The shimmering feathers looked like they were cast from pure gold. They were very heavy and extremely sharp.

Such a golden feather could be used as a supreme-grade weapon. A Godly Monarch-level Fey indeed had a body of treasure.

“Yi Yun, we shall meet again!” said Golden Winged Celestial Peng coldly.

“These feathers of yours are really useful. I also look forward to the day I meet you again,” said Yi Yun with a sneer.

Golden Winged Celestial Peng’s figure suddenly vanished from his spot.

“My dear friend, what you did was ingenious. Golden Winged Celestial Peng and Ghost Ming have suffered an incredible insult. They will likely not provoke you any time soon,” said Dreamlight suddenly.

Yi Yun put away the golden feathers and looked at Dreamlight.

He found it difficult to read Dreamlight’s mind.

“I’m not your enemy. After today, I actually intend to befriend you. You are welcomed at my Heavenly Dream Path at anytime,” said Dreamlight with a smile.

“Alright,” said Yi Yun.

Regardless of his intentions, as long as he did not fight him, Yi Yun naturally would not smack a smiling face.

“In that case, till we meet again,” said Dreamlight.

After he bade farewell and left, he turned back to give Yi Yun a glance.

“I never imagined that the humans would produce another figure like Human Emperor… of course that’s if he doesn’t perish.”

The only ones left on the square were Yi Yun, Divineheart, and the Taixia Ancient Mining members.

Yi Yun extended his hand and waved, immediately restoring the damaged square.

The portions of the Heavenly Dao palace that collapsed were mended and restored to new.

It was as though the battle from before had not happened at all.

“Yi Yun, congratulations on the breakthrough!” Divineheart said with a laugh.

Yi Yun also smiled. “Thank you, Senior Divineheart.”

Yi Yun had taken note that Divineheart had helped him stop Golden Winged Celestial Peng as well as aided him in ripping off Ghost Ming and Golden Winged Celestial Peng.

“That’s nothing. It’s only a custom of us humans. We should help one another. Besides, I haven’t been able to stand the sight of those two bastards since a long while ago. To be able to see them make expressions as if they had eaten a fly has gladdened me greatly!” Divineheart said with a joyous laugh.

Yi Yun nodded. Although he knew that Divineheart had gone to great lengths to rope him in only because of his strength, Divineheart’s actions had indeed helped him greatly.

“I think I’ll resign as a guest Elder of the Taixia Ancient Mining. I worry that I’ll invite trouble to the Taixia Ancient Mining,” said Yi Yun.

1625 - : Thousand Illusion Ghost Mask

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Alright then.” Divineheart nodded. Although he wished to keep Yi Yun on his side, Yi Yun was in the limelight at the moment. He was probably the target of everyone in the Chaos Heavens. It was indeed unsuitable for him to have any official ties with the Taixia Ancient Mining.

Upon hearing this, the Taixia Ancient Mining warriors could not help but find it a pity. If such a peerless expert were to join the Taixia Ancient Mining, they could also thrive along with him. The female disciples in particular showed obvious looks of disappointment.

Purple Succubus noticed this and could only shake her head. These female disciples were also considered elites of Taixia, but it was wishful thinking on their part if they hoped to become associated with Yi Yun.

“I wonder what your future plans are?” Divineheart asked Yi Yun.

“There is somewhere I might have to make a trip to…” Yi Yun deliberated for a moment before saying vaguely.

“Haha, okay. I have a dedicated voice transmission mark here. All you need to do is inject your Yuan Qi and it will be able to contact me no matter how far you are as long as you’re within the Chaos Heavens.”

Divineheart did not ask where Yi Yun was going. Likewise, the voice transmission mark he gave was one-way. Only Yi Yun could contact Divineheart, while Divineheart was unable to initiate contact with him.

This was also to prevent Yi Yun from having any suspicions, or Yi Yun would worry that his whereabouts were exposed.

Yi Yun naturally did not reject such a thoughtful arrangement.

Ignoring Divineheart’s strength and talent, just his handling of social relationships was flawless.

Yi Yun put away the mark and cupped his hands. “Thank you.”

Yi Yun did not say anything else. He just took note of the kindness Divineheart had shown him.

“Then, let’s part!” said Divineheart.

“Alright.”

With a casual step, Yi Yun had penetrated into the void…

…

Three days later, in a void hundreds of thousands of kilometers from the God Confusion Valley.

A flying vessel tore through space rapidly like a meteor.

Yi Yun sat cross-legged within as his body was enveloped in a mystical aura.

Even if someone stood in front of the flying vessel, they would not sense the presence of Yi Yun inside.

Yi Yun opened his eyes.

His eyes seemed to sparkle with thousands of stars before he converged them. It turned like the endless night, looking extremely profound.

“Indeed… The body I have honed is still not perfect enough.” Yi Yun exhaled lightly.

After fusing with the Heavenly Dao Royal Seal, Yi Yun’s nomological insight and comprehension had reached a brand new level. His strength similarly raised by leaps and bounds.

In addition, while Yi Yun was battling Human Emperor’s projection, he also saw the trajectory Human Emperor had taken. It included the body arts which Human Emperor had cultivated.

The present Yi Yun was already immersed in Human Emperor’s heritage. He could view his Martial Dao from an even higher height.

His body might have appeared powerful, but there was a weakness at its core. He cultivated in too many randomly connected arts.

Yi Yun’s first contact with body cultivation was because of the Dragon Emperor Technique. He inherited the bloodline of the Fey God, Dragon Emperor. Later, he kept cultivating the Dragon Emperor Technique and consumed innumerable natural treasures. Finally, on the day of Lin Xintong’s ascension to the throne, he used a ‘Heavenly Tribulation’ to temper his body.

During the transcendence over the Heavenly Tribulation, Yi Yun had absorbed all of the Ancestor God’s blood!

That was the heart blood that bled when the Ancestor God was stabbed in the chest by Human Emperor’s spear. Although heart blood was inferior to blood essence, the Ancestor God was far stronger than Divine General Sanguine Ax; therefore, the quality of the blood was similar.

As such, Yi Yun’s present body was filled with the Celestial’s divine blood, the Dragon Emperor’s bloodline, and the human’s bloodline!

These three bloodlines formed a system!

Such an opportunity left others envious. However, after Yi Yun’s fusion with the Heavenly Dao fragment, he began realizing that his body’s tolerance was still insufficient.

The Heavenly Dao fragment’s leaking of Heavenly Dao energies nearly drained Yi Yun of his vitality. If not for the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s injection of vitality into him, he would probably have died of age inside the Heavenly Dao palace.

Having an insufficiently powerful body was a latent trouble for his attempt to reach the pinnacle of the Martial Dao!

“Back in the Sinkhole, although I tempered my body with a Heavenly Tribulation, the Heavenly Tribulation I experienced was a fake Heavenly Tribulation cast by Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord! It was ultimately insufficient…” Yi Yun muttered to himself.

First, he needed to fuse the three powers!

With this in mind, Yi Yun reached out and swiped his interspatial ring.

A blob of golden blood immediately floated in front of Yi Yun. Although the blob of blood had been separated from its owner, it still emanated an intense might. It was beating constantly like a heart.

The Celestial’s Divine Blood Origins!

Yi Yun also took out two of Celestial Peng’s golden feathers.

“In Human Emperor’s heritage, there is a type of pill. It’s named the Myriad Forms Shura Pill, which provides the domineering effect of body cultivation. Back then, Senior Human Emperor had also embarked on the path of herb-seeking and alchemy to slowly attain his supreme divine body…”

Yi Yun recalled the information left by Human Emperor’s projection.

The pill actually did not have a fixed prescription, only the laws governing the concoction of it.

In fact, in the final stages of body cultivation, it was nearly equivalent to the Heavenly Dao. As the saying goes, all paths lead to the same point. Warriors who cultivated their bodies could similarly embark on a path to the pinnacle Martial Dao.

After figuring out the Great Dao laws of body cultivation, and using the records from Human Emperor’s heritage, Yi Yun could use the many rare materials in his possession to refine a Myriad Form Shura Pill meant for himself.

Yi Yun prepared to use materials related to Man, Celestial, and Fey.

So-called “Man” referred to the natural treasures used by humanity. These types of natural treasures were most common. Yi Yun had obtained a sizable number of them from the Herbal Garden of Confusion, but it was insufficient.

“Celestial” was Divine General Sanguine Ax’s Divine Blood Origins. It was naturally better if he could obtain even more precious divine blood.

As for “Fey,” Yi Yun already had Celestial Peng’s golden feathers. He also had the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm to provide him with some blood, but none of these things were essential to Fey. It would be best if he could obtain the Fey core of a mighty ancient Fey.

Now that mighty ancient Fey had mostly perished, the Fey cores that passed down were probably few and far between.

“Senior Bai, the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was something from a billion years ago. I wonder if it has already declined by now.”

When Yi Yun mentioned his wish to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pill, Bai Yueyin suggested Yi Yun to head to the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins. Perhaps, he could find some supreme treasures that would be of help to refining the pill.

The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was not a mystic land, but a powerful faction, a faction that belonged to the Fey!

Bai Yueyin said, “Back when I came to the Chaos Heavens, the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was already the hegemonizing body of the Fey. The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins has Fey Patriarchs! Although Fey Patriarchs are at the Godly Monarch realm as well, they are considered peak Godly Monarchs. They are not someone the likes of Golden Winged Celestial Peng can compare with. In terms of heritage, the Desolate clan is far inferior to the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins. It would not be surprising to see such a powerful faction last for billions of years.”

The Fey had long lifespans to begin with, let alone when one cultivated to the Fey Patriarch realm. Just a Fey Patriarch alone could live for billions of years and at that realm, it was almost impossible for him to perish. Such a powerful faction would hardly be destroyed with the Fey Patriarch backing it.

1626 - : Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon hearing Bai Yueyin’s words, Yi Yun nodded.

As Bai Yueyin returned into Yi Yun’s soul sea, Yi Yun waved his outstretched hand as a figure flew out from the God Advent Tower and landed inside the flying vessel.

“Young Master Yi…” Shan Ling looked at Yi Yun and drew a deep breath as she went forward to bow.

Ever since Yi Yun killed Shaomang Xuan, Shan Ling had been hiding in Yi Yun’s God Advent Tower. As for Yi Yun’s entry into the Heavenly Dao palace under the noses of the various Godly Monarchs and his defeat of Ghost Ming and Sanguine Ax, she had a vague idea of it.

Although she did not see the details with her own eyes, just the outcome was enough to leave Shan Ling in shock.

Back then, she even believed that Shaomang Xuan was the best genius in the Chaos Heavens. But now, having seen Yi Yun, she realized how myopic she had been. The difference between Shaomang Xuan and Yi Yun was as stark as night and day.

Originally, Shan Ling imagined that Yi Yun was the disguise of some old freak, but in the God Advent Tower, Shan Ling met Lin Xintong. She learned from her that Yi Yun was indeed very young. In fact, he was about the same age as her.

This left Shan Ling completely speechless. She could only marvel at how vast the world was to give rise to such an elite…

“Shan Ling, we have already left the God Confusion Valley. You may leave,” said Yi Yun.

Shan Ling raised her head suddenly. After biting her lips, she bowed and said, “I have nowhere to go as of now. I was hoping Young Master Yi could take me in. I’m willing to be your maidservant.”

She could not disavow herself from Shaomang Xuan’s death, so it was impossible for her to return to the Shaomang clan. Besides, the Desolate clan was likely to pursue her.

Yi Yun hesitated for a while.

In truth, he had no need for maidservants. However, Shan Ling was a Divine Lord after all. By keeping her around, she could take care of Lin Xintong’s daily needs.

“You can be my maidservant…”

The moment Yi Yun said that, Shan Ling revealed a look of pleasant surprise. Just as she wanted to bow down, she was stopped by Yi Yun.

“You will need to sign a contract with me to ensure your loyalty. If you are unwilling, you can leave freely,” said Yi Yun lightly.

The signing of a contract was different from the mark Yi Yun left on her Fey core previously. It was a life-and-death contract.

Yi Yun did not go on when he saw Shan Ling bite down on her lips slightly.

It was already good enough that he did not implant a slave imprint in Shan Ling. If Shan Ling was unwilling to sign a contract, he naturally had no intentions of keeping her.

At that moment, Shan Ling said, “I’m willing to sign the contract.”

To be able to be a follower of a figure like Yi Yun was something even the former Shan Ling could not imagine. Now, although she needed to sign a contract, it was only right for her to do so considering her status.

She reached out her sharp cat claws and lacerated her glabella, forcing out a drop of blood essence. Then, she used the drop of blood to draw an extremely complicated hex seal in mid-air.

Yi Yun allowed the hex seal to fly towards him and fuse with him.

Immediately, Yi Yun sensed that he had a special connection with Shan Ling. Unless he chose to sever the connection, he would immediately be made aware of any negative thoughts Shan Ling had against him, even if it was just a passing thought.

After signing the contract, Shan Ling immediately bowed towards Yi Yun. “Greetings, Young Master.”

“Get up.” Yi Yun said as he took out a Fey cultivation manual from his interspatial ring. “For you to be able to cultivate to the Divine Lord realm within the Shaomang clan, it means you have remarkable talent. This is for you. Perhaps it will be of some use.”

Shan Ling took the manual and immediately revealed a look of surprise when she saw it. “This is the Shaomang clan’s top cultivation technique…”

“That’s right. I found it in Shaomang Xuan’s interspatial ring,” said Yi Yun. The Fey cultivation manual was useless to him. He had scanned it before throwing aside. He figured he might as well pass it to her.

Shan Ling held the manual and went into a momentary daze. With her talent, although she cultivated some decent cultivation techniques in her time with the Shaomang clan, she was unable to come close to cultivating top cultivation techniques that only important disciples such as Shaomang Xuan were exposed to.

She never expected to be able to obtain it now.

“Also, here’s some refined ores. Take them and restore yourself.” Yi Yun took out some refined ores and handed them to her.

“Thank you, Young Master,” said Shan Ling gratefully.

“By the way, do you know where the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins is?” asked Yi Yun again.

“Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins? That is the strongest faction among the Fey. I’ve been there once with Shaomang Xuan. The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins is two stellar domains away from our present location. If we fly at full speed, we should be able to arrive in a month,” said Shaomang Xuan reverently.

“Then I’ll leave controlling the flying vessel to you. Let’s head for the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins,” said Yi Yun.

The Chaos Heavens was expansive. Flying for a month meant nothing. To warriors, that bit of time was just a blink of an eye.

During this period, Yi Yun returned to the God Advent Tower to cultivate with Lin Xintong. Although he did not slack off, it was quite a relaxing and comfortable period for him since he had was usually cultivating under pressure.

As for Shan Ling, she was a Divine Lord, so she only needed to divert a little attention to steer the flying vessel. She used every second available to her to cultivate and quickly recover her strength…

A month later.

In the stellar domain where the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was.

The Chaos Heavens’s stellar domains had many scattered cities.

Most of these cities slowly became occupied thanks to long-distance teleportation arrays.

One of these cities was at a scale not inferior to a major faction’s main city. There were countless mortals and numerous warriors.

Anbei City was one such city.

At this moment in the most luxurious restaurant in Anbei City, two warriors were chatting amid drinks.

“Did you hear of a human Godly Monarch that recently appeared? He obtained an impressive treasure and offended three factions. He’s currently being pursued by everyone,” one of the warriors asked.

“I just came out of seclusion, so I’m not aware of it. Tell me what happened in detail,” requested the other warrior.

At that moment, a scoff sounded from a neighboring table. “What do you mean human Godly Monarch and him being pursued? This rumor is getting ridiculous.”

The two warriors looked over and saw that it was a Soul warrior. From his getup and the servants beside him, it was apparent he enjoyed a lofty status.

“Fellow Daoist, does that mean you know what happened?”

“Naturally. This happened in the God Confusion Valley. And the person responsible for this was not a Godly Monarch, but a Divine Lord. This human Divine Lord managed to defeat a Ghost Thearch and the Celestial’s Godly Monarch Sanguine Ax by his strength alone. Even the Fey’s Godly Monarch Golden Winged Celestial Peng had to concede. Finally, he took away a Heavenly Dao fragment with his own strength,” said the Soul warrior lightly.

…

When the warriors inside the restaurant heard the Soul warrior’s words, many people revealed looks of disbelief.

“A Divine Lord defeated three Godly Monarchs? And one of them is the Celestials’ Godly Monarch Sanguine Ax?”

They shook their heads, finding it ludicrous.

However, there were some who had heard rumors. This seemed to be true!

“I was there in the God Confusion Valley and saw it with my own eyes. That human Divine Lord was young and handsome. Although he’s not a member of my race, that valiant bearing is something I yearn for as well,” the Soul warrior took note of everyone’s expression and said with a sneer.

“Many warriors saw it happen with their own eyes. If you don’t believe it, it’s because you are ignorant. Back then, the humans had Human Emperor with extraordinary strength. He was equally astounding.”

“I wonder what this human Divine Lord’s name and title are?” asked the person.

“This Divine Lord’s name is Yi Yun. His title is Heavenly Dao Divine Lord,” said the Soul warrior.

At that moment, there was a sound of a woman’s giggle in a corner table.

However, when the Soul warrior turned to look, he found the corner table empty without a person.

“Did I hear wrong? Or was a mighty figure present?” The Soul warrior thought of the second possibility as he could not help but feel alarmed. Ignoring the questions about the Heavenly Dao Divine Lord, he hurriedly left.

If a mighty figure were to capture him to ask about the Heavenly Dao fragment’s location, wouldn’t he be in trouble? He originally found the conversing warriors to be low in strength, so he made a comment out of interest. In fact, he had never been to the God Confusion Valley. He had only heard it from seniors…

Three figures appeared outside the restaurant out of thin air.

At one look, it was a somber young scion with a beautiful maidservant beside him. There was another young girl wearing a face veil, but her figure was filled with a natural grace.

Shan Ling still wore a smile on her face. “I never expected people to give Young Master a title. This is already the third title I’ve heard over the past few days. However, Heavenly Dao Divine Lord sounds much better than a Myriad Demon Divine Lord or Shura Divine Lord.”

The somber scion shot her a glance. “This matter has spread far faster than I expected. Thanks to this Thousand Illusion Ghost Mask, I’ve saved myself quite a bit of trouble.”

The somber scion was none other than Yi Yun. After he put on the Thousand Illusion Ghost Mask, his aura and looks changed completely and gave him an extremely natural and flawless disguise. Even Ghost Ming, Sanguine Ax, and company who fought him before would probably not guess that he was the now-famous Yi Yun.

As for Shan Ling and Lin Xintong, few people knew of them. In addition, Yi Yun used the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book to change their auras. This was a disguise mystic technique he obtained back in the God Advent Tower. When Yi Yun’s cultivation was still low, it had played an important role. However, it was still inferior to the Thousand Illusion Ghost Mask.

Unless there was a Godly Monarch stronger than Yi Yun present, there was no way to notice any abnormalities of the two women. And if such a mighty figure really came close, Yi Yun would have long sensed it.

…

Over the past few days, Yi Yun had already passed through several teleportation arrays. News of him obtaining the Heavenly Dao fragment and his defeat of Godly Monarchs had already spread throughout the Chaos Heavens.

Even though some people were not kept abreast with the news, such as the warriors from before, they would quickly learn from others.

These ordinary warriors naturally would not bring trouble. However, when old freaks at the Godly Monarch level learned of the news, it was likely they would have thoughts arise in them. When it came to old freaks like these, it was possible that Yi Yun was no match for them.

After passing through a few teleportation arrays, the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ main city, Heaven Fey City, was right in front of their eyes.

1627 - : Heavenly Dao Divine Lord

CKtalon  CKtalon

Legend had it that the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was a Fey dynasty established by the combined efforts of a few peerless Fey Patriarchs billions of years ago when the Fey thrived at their peak.

There were also legends that it was a grave of powerful ancient Fey. Their remains—bones and Fey souls—were buried in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins where they slumbered for eternity.

The legends were from a time too long ago, with no way to verify them. However, there was one thing that remained without doubt—the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was the strongest Fey faction in the Chaos Heavens.

Even Yi Yun took on a careful stance when stepping into this land. If he were to encounter peerless Fey Thearchs in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, it would be extremely dangerous for him.

“It’s been so many years, but this city has not changed…”

Yi Yun and Bai Yueyin flew in mid-air as they looked at the massive Fey city hundreds of kilometers away. Despite the distance, they could see the unending city walls reaching to the ends of the horizon like a black dragon.

As for the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the surrounding half a million kilometers, they were all sucked toward the Fey city. It was a massive array formation by itself. The Yuan Qi inside was ten times richer than the outside. Cultivating in the city made for double the results with half the effort.

This also made Heaven Fey City a sacred land of cultivation! Many warriors, especially Fey warriors, swarmed there, hoping to take up residence.

Heaven Fey City had many natural treasures on sale, ones that were considered priceless elsewhere. One could eat excellent delicacies as well as procure many pieces of top secret information about the Chaos Heavens in Heaven Fey City.

This was the core of the Chaos Heavens’s Fey race.

Heaven Fey City had a curfew. If one did not have a residence, they were to be cleared off the streets at night. They were forced to leave the city, and every entry into the city required an entrance fee. This made having a piece of property in Heaven Fey City a dream for many warriors.

Heaven Fey City’s property prices were staggeringly expensive. Just a random house was only affordable to Divine Lords. As for more expensive mansions, they were typically owned by Royal Sealed Divine Lords.

If one owned several properties in Heaven Fey City, the rent they obtained was quite sizable. It allowed them to reliably secure resources for their cultivation.

As Yi Yun flew toward Heaven Fey City, he saw buildings of all sizes in its periphery. There were stores in municipals. Many of the owners made their livings through Heaven Fey City, but were unable to buy property in Heaven Fey City. They then lived in these buildings and, to put it plainly, these were the “poor slums” around Heaven Fey City.

However, even among the slums, Yi Yun saw a number of Supremacies. It was evident how prosperous the city was when even Supremacies could hardly establish themselves in it.

“Young Master, Heaven Fey City forbids flying. It’s a privilege only Godly Monarchs have,” said Shan Ling. Yi Yun had brought Shan Ling around mainly because she was familiar with the Chaos Heavens and Fey. Having a guide saved him trouble.

Yi Yun landed and appeared on the street leading into the city. The street was ten kilometers wide, its road paved with Yang Gold bricks which were extremely resilient. Not only could it bear the weight of numerous horses, even ancient Fey beasts could easily walk over it.

Yi Yun discovered that the people entering Heaven Fey City were not only limited to the Fey. Ghosts, Souls, and even a few humans were also entering the city.

These minority races when added made up about twenty to thirty percent of the crowd.

“How does Heaven Fey City treat minorities?” asked Yi Yun out of curiosity.

Shan Ling shook her head. “Prices are twenty percent more expensive for minorities in Heaven Fey City. Furthermore, minorities are always ostracized in invisible ways, so there are few non Fey residents in Heaven Fey City and most are unable to climb up the social ranks in the Heaven Fey City.”

“I see.” Yi Yun nodded. It was normal. Racism was common.

However, Heaven Fey City truly had many experts!

In just moments, Yi Yun had already seen two to three Royal Sealed Divine Lords. If this were the Sinkhole, just randomly picking one of them could made them a patriarch of a mid-ranged faction.

The Heaven Fey City’s city gate was a thousand feet tall. By the sides of the gate were two Ancient Fey statues!

These two Ancient Fey had terrifying auras. Furthermore, they seemed to contain mighty lifeblood powers in them. It was as though they were alive.

“The entrance fee is half a kilogram of refined ores!”

The guards had cultivation levels equivalent to human Supremacies. Half a kilogram of refined ores did not sound a lot, because Yi Yun was presently wealthy. If he was a poor warrior like the Taixia Ancient Mining’s lowly miners, there was no way they would spend half a kilogram of refined ores just to enter the city. They usually only used crude ores for cultivation.

Yi Yun paid the entrance fee and walked into the city. “What is the store with the best business in Heaven Fey City?”

Yi Yun asked Shan Ling. Since he was in Heaven Fey City, he had to go to the most flourishing place. He was not afraid of the price, just afraid that they lacked what he wanted.

“It has to be Treasure Fey Pagoda,” said Shan Ling.

“Alright, let’s go to Treasure Fey Pagoda!”

Yi Yun asked for directions and headed straight for it.

The Heaven Fey City’s four sectors spanned about a hundred and fifty kilometers. They were divided into the outer city, the inner city, and the most central Ancient Ruins Palace.

The level of bustle increased from outside in. And the central Ancient Ruins Palace was a forbidden ground. Trespassers were killed without question.

Treasure Fey Pagoda sounded like a pagoda building, but it was actually a conglomerate. It was located just twenty-five kilometers in front of the Ancient Fey Palace, and was the biggest conglomerate in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins.

About half the stores on the street belonged to Treasure Fey Pagoda. The property prices of the inner city were unimaginably expensive. Therefore, for Treasure Fey Pagoda to be able to occupy half the streets was a testimony to its vast reserves.

The core of Treasure Fey Pagoda was the Six Treasures Fey Pagoda. It was a place that sold all sorts of treasures. Only Divine Lords or VIP customers of the Treasure Fey Pagoda were permitted entry.

Although Yi Yun, who was now a single-sealed Divine Lord, could enter the Six Treasures Fey Pagoda, no one came to specially greet him. Only an attendant at the Supremacy realm brought Yi Yun around to look at some random treasures.

“This is a Crescent Moon Pill. Both humans and Fey can consume it. It just costs half a thousand kilograms of refined ores.”

The attendant introduced the various items on sale as she brought him around. Yi Yun did not appear to have a very high cultivation level, did not appear rich, and was human. But even so, the attendant did not dare slight him. All she did was treat him politely.

Yi Yun scanned the surrounding items with his perception but did not see anything that caught his fancy. He raised his foot to head for the second floor.

“Sir, the second floor is…” The attendant stopped mid sentence.

“What is it?” Yi Yun asked.

“Nothing. The second floor contains various precious treasures that aid a Divine Lord’s attempt to break through to the Godly Monarch realm. However, you may take a look if you wish.”

The attendant also knew about the cultivation systems of humans. A single-sealed Divine Lord was still a great distance from becoming a Godly Monarch. Many human warriors were stuck at being a double-sealed Divine Lord their entire lives; therefore, it was unlikely Yi Yun would need those pills any time soon.

However, she would naturally be delighted as long as Yi Yun had enough refined ores and was willing to buy those treasures.

“It’s fine. I’m just looking.” Yi Yun had his interest piqued. Six Treasures Fey Pagoda had six floors. If the second floor had treasures meant for the breakthrough to the Godly Monarch realm, logic implied that the items were better further up. Perhaps, there were things he needed after all.

1628 - : Six Treasures Fey Pagoda

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Sir, this is a supreme-grade flying artifact that Divine Lords can power. This is considered the best flying artifact in all of Heaven Fey City.”

The attendant pointed to a spirit cruiser the size of a palm. It had been shrunk and when refined, could transform into a cruiser a thousand feet long.

Although Yi Yun did not understand the artifact refinement means available to the Chaos Heavens, he had already fused with the Heavenly Dao fragment. As the saying goes—all things are linked—he simply needed to take a glance to gain an appreciation of the intricacies involved in the spirit cruiser. He even noticed a few blemishes in the array formation’s construction.

The spirit cruiser was indeed considered a supreme-grade item to a Divine Lord, but there were many items worth more on the second floor. The attendant did not introduce them to him, probably believing that it was pointless.

In fact, describing the second floor of the Six Treasures Fey Pagoda as one that aided a Divine Lord’s breakthrough to the Godly Monarch realm was an exaggeration.

These things were prepared for peak Divine Lord experts like Primordial Chaos Daolord or Sacred Horizon Divine Lord. These were people who had condensed two or more Divine Lord Royal Seals, but they were still quite a distance away from being a Godly Monarch!

By inference, the third floor was probably the one that provided items for quasi-Godly Monarchs.

With this in mind, Yi Yun asked, “In that case… are the items sold on the fourth floor for Godly Monarchs?”

The attendant was taken aback. She believed that this was Yi Yun’s first time in the Six Treasures Fey Pagoda, but she never expected him to guess the treasure hierarchy of the Six Treasures Fey Pagoda.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Alright, please bring me to the fifth level,” said Yi Yun plainly.

The attendant widened her eyes. What kind of leap of logic was this? This customer disdained the first floor, stayed in the second floor for a while, asked about the fourth level, and wished to head to the fifth level…

“Sir, I have to apologize. The fifth floor is only accessible to VIP members.”

“What requirements do you have of VIP members?” Yi Yun frowned.

“Quasi-Godly Monarchs! Quasi-Fey Thearchs! Or customers who have spent a accumulated total of five Chaos Crystals in Treasure Fey Pagoda,” the attendant with a disenchanted tone. The customer’s cultivation level did not seem particularly high, but he was quite demanding.

Even in the Heaven Fey City, quasi-Godly Monarchs and quasi-Fey Thearchs were VVIP. As for real Godly Monarchs and Fey Thearchs, they would be warmly received if they came to Treasure Fey Pagoda.

Although there were many Fey Thearchs in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, people from Heaven Fey City did not see them often. Even though Treasure Fey Pagoda was rich, it had to show utmost respect to a Godly Monarch.

“Spending five Chaos Crystals isn’t a problem. It’s just that… there’s nothing that catches my fancy yet. If there’s something on the fifth floor I want, I’ll easily reach the five Chaos Crystals requirement.” Yi Yun did not mind that he failed to meet the requirements. He still had a sizable amount left from his killing of Shaomang Xuan and the extraction of resources in the God Confusion Valley and the Herbal Garden of Confusion despite having depleted more than half during his breakthrough.

“This…” The attendant was placed in a difficult position. She had no say in such matters.

Without saying a word, Yi Yun waved his hand as ten Chaos Crystals lined in front of him, appearing right in front of the attendant.

Her eyes lit up, her slim face flashing a look of surprise. It was not like she had never seen such immense wealth while working at Six Treasures Fey Pagoda, but for a human Divine Lord with one condensed Royal Seal to have such wealth surprised her.

At that moment, a middle-aged man dressed in gray robes walked down from the third floor. He waved at her and said, “Ling’er, you may take your leave. I’ll attend to this guest.”

“Yes.” The attendant bowed and took her leave. Yi Yun sized up the gray-robed middle-aged man. He looked like a store manager. He was tall in build and had rich lifeblood powers, with a sharp horn on his forehead. Some Fey would leave some Fey beast characteristics visible. It was a manifestation of their bloodline.

“Sir, how might I address you? You look rather young. I surmise you are around a thousand years old?” the middle-aged man asked. His words left the attendant who was still taking her leave jolt. She looked up at Yi Yun in astonishment. Her cultivation level was limited and was unable to sense Yi Yun’s bone age. She never imagined him to be that young.

A Royal Sealed Divine Lord who was less than a thousand years old was an absolute genius in Heaven Fey City. Furthermore, he had casually produced ten Chaos Crystals which likely meant that he had a solid background! Although Heaven Fey City thought lowly of humans, the major human factions were not something a mere attendant like her could comment on. Thankfully, she had not expressed her impatience previously.

“Greetings, you may call me by my surname, Lin. I’m here to buy some precious treasures. As for bone age, that isn’t important, is it?” Yi Yun said.

The surname of Lin was in reference to both Lin Xintong’s surname as well as the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s surname. Yi Yun had chosen to use this surname for his current change of identity.

“Haha! Indeed. Sorry if I’m imposing, but Young Master Lin, which mighty figure are you representing as you view and buy treasures from our fifth floor?”

“Oh?” Yi Yun’s brows pricked up when he heard the store manager’s words. The question had crossed the line.

Typical merchants just needed to focus on their business. To probe their customers’ usage of the merchandise was a violation of privacy. If not done well, it could even cross the customer.

This middle-aged store manager was being too nosy.

“Young Master Lin, please do not misunderstand. To be honest, resources that Godly Monarchs can use are extremely rare in all of the Chaos Heavens. Although my Treasure Fey Pagoda puts them on sale, we naturally wish to befriend the true purchaser of these items if possible. Don’t you think that wise, Young Master?”

Yi Yun was enlightened when the middle-aged store manager said so. They were trying to establish ties. Even a human Godly Monarch might be of some help to them. There were always benefits to knowing more Godly Monarchs.

“I do not have any Godly Monarchs backing me. Furthermore… I do not belong to any sect or faction,” said Yi Yun.

“In that case…” The middle-aged store man was taken aback. He did not doubt it completely since there were many opportunities in the Chaos Heavens. It was possible for extremely small numbers of young geniuses to reach Yi Yun’s achievements even without the support of a sect.

Going down that line of thought, a warrior like Yi Yun typically had the light from providence shine on them. In addition to his excellent talent, he was likely to achieve considerably in the future.

With this in mind, the middle-aged store manager revealed an amiable smile. “Young Master Lin, do you plan on establishing yourself in Heaven Fey City? Are you interested in meeting the Pagoda Elder of my Treasure Fey Pagoda?”

Upon hearing that, Yi Yun was stunned. What was up with the Treasure Fey Pagoda? Were they trying to rope him in by making him meet the Pagoda Elder? It was fine trying to establish ties with Godly Monarchs, but he was just a young junior and human at that. For them to have such intentions made them appear way too thirsty for talents.

Yi Yun was puzzled but he did not immediately reject the offer. Although he was not interested in the Treasure Fey Pagoda, he would save quite a bit of trouble with its help since he needed to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pill.

Ignoring everything else, some of the high-class auctions in Heaven Fey City were private affairs limited to people with significant stature. Commoners were unable to glean any news of them, much less enter. Even if he could enter, he was merely a Royal Sealed Divine Lord. If he did not have the backing of a faction, winning an auction for a Godly Monarch item would gain him too much attention. It would probably not take long before he was targeted by others.

With this in mind, Yi Yun said, “Why don’t you get straight to the point. What do you wish from me? I’m only here to buy things and I do not think I can be of any aid to you.”

The store managed smiled. “Young Master Lin, you are a clever man. It’s nothing really. Our Treasure Fey Pagoda is a little related to Princess Soft Clouds. She’s young but has abnormal talent. She recently established a mountain manor and has been recruiting. I’m only trying to provide Her Highness with some candidates. If Young Master Lin is interested, why don’t you take a look…”

Princess Soft Clouds?

Yi Yun was stunned. The sentence implied many things!

“Shan Ling, do you know of Princess Soft Clouds?” asked Yi Yun softly.

“I’ve heard of her. During my time at Shaomang Xuan’s side, I learned a little of our race’s geniuses. Fairy Soft Clouds made a name for herself in the past few centuries. Her claim to fame was her battle in the Frost Sea. She rendered quite a meritorious service.

“Young Master, you have to consider carefully. The person ruling over the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins is known as the Ruins Emperor! Although there are various Imperial Uncles and Imperial Patriarchs, they do not really handle matters anymore; therefore, the Ruins Emperor has a lot of power! The princes and princesses of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins are likely trying to vie for the position as crown prince or crown princess.

“The Fey have long lifespans to begin with. When a family clan becomes massive, it has just too many princes and princesses. The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins has very stringent requirements of its princes and princesses. They breed them like Gu from a young age, constantly training and eliminating them. Those who are eliminated lose their titles and are given trivial allowances. Some are even thrown into a mystic realm’s battlefield where only the best emerge alive.

“For Princess Soft Clouds to develop her own faction, it naturally shows how excellent she is. But she is not among the strongest princes and princesses in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins. It hasn’t been long since she made a name for herself, so there’s still much for her to do before she can vie for the title of crown princess.”

Shan Ling knew a lot about the Fey. Her description immediately informed Yi Yun of the circumstances.

The struggle for the throne had always been swathed in blood since time immemorial. The subordinates of the princes and princesses might end up implicated if things went wrong.

Yi Yun naturally did not care about the implications. He was concerned if his freedom would be restricted by coming under Princess Soft Clouds.

If she could help him gather the materials for the Myriad Form Shura Pill, he could help her a little. However, those materials were not so easily obtainable…

“In that case, if I do not become a guest of Princess Soft Clouds, I will not be able to visit the fifth floor of the Six Treasures Fey Pagoda?”

The store manager said, “If the price is right, you can! But that will not work for the sixth floor. To enter the sixth floor, you need to be at least a quasi-Godly Monarch or quasi-Fey Thearch! Besides, our Treasure Fey Pagoda will be holding an auction in a few days. We will be sending out invitations and those without one will not be able to enter. And even if they do…”

The store manager paused before saying, “The treasures sold at the auction are all cream of the crop. Although ten Chaos Crystals is quite a sizable wealth, it will not even meet the starting prices of these top-grade treasures.”

The store manager said that with the obvious hint of putting Yi Yun down. He could tell that Yi Yun had a baffling sense of confidence. Such a thing was necessary for a young genius, but it was not so good in excess.

1629 - : Princess Soft Clouds

CKtalon  CKtalon

“This old man is looking down on you!” At that moment, Bai Yueyin’s voice sounded in Yi Yun’s mind.

Yi Yun thought nothing of it as he said, “It’s normal. He’s a store manager of the Six Treasures Fey Pagoda. His strength is about that of Primordial Chaos Daolord’s. Although I have presented myself as a genius, he probably thinks of me as a lucky junior who simply chanced upon some opportunities. Besides…”

Yi Yun paused. “It’s true that I’m lacking in wealth. About seventy percent of Shaomang Xuan’s savings and the harvest I reaped from the God Confusion Valley were used when I broke through to become a Royal Sealed Divine Lord. Now I’m only using the ten Chaos Crystals as a display of prowess, but this old man thinks nothing of it. If not for his wish to rope me in, he likely would not tend to me personally.”

Yi Yun also knew that the Fey cores of ancient mighty Fey and other excellent natural treasures he wished to buy were used by conglomerates as their stores’ highlight. His wealth was still insufficient and he could not even enter a top-class auction.

“Then what do you plan to do? Join Princess Soft Clouds?” asked Bai Yueyin.

“I’ll take things one step at a time. I don’t know a thing since this is my first time in Heaven Fey City.” Yi Yun was in no rush either.

The store manager could tell that Yi Yun was on the fence. He said, “In three days, a few princes and princesses will be battling on stage. If you are interested, you can take a look…”

After saying that, the store manager stood up. It was clear he was requesting Yi Yun leave.

Yi Yun thought nothing of that either. Since he could not view the sixth floor, his trip to the Six Treasures Fey Pagoda had been fruitless.

He directly walked out the Six Treasures Fey Pagoda.

“Obtaining riches is of paramount importance.” Yi Yun thought, and had some interest in the competition between the princes and princesses.

There was no harm in watching!

…

As Shan Ling mentioned, the grooming of princes and princesses by the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was public knowledge. To fight for the throne was something bloody to begin with. In this aspect, the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins had no intention to hide the truth from the masses.

The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins paid great importance to a person’s strength. The battles between princes and princesses were done openly with commoners as witnesses. The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins believed that only a Ruins Emperor who had gone through such trials could gain the support of the commoners.

Apart from the princes and princesses, the other officials and children of kings could participate in the competition. Their strength and talent were determined from the results.

The competition was held in a huge square in front of Ancient Ruins palace. The square spanned fifteen kilometers and was equivalent to a tiny city.

Warriors were already gathered in the square with more than ninety percent of them being humans! Yi Yun made a rough estimate that there were about tens of thousands of spectators.

That few?

Yi Yun was somewhat surprised. He believed that the competition among royalty would gain the attention of the Heaven Fey City’s citizens, and there were more than ten million warriors residing in Heaven Fey City! Ignoring having the entire city show up, it would not be ridiculous if there were two to three hundred thousand people. The square was large enough to accommodate millions.

Before Yi Yun arrived, he heard rowdy shouts that sounded like tumultuous tidal waves. The voices contained potent lifeblood powers. For hundreds of kilometers in the sky, all the clouds had been blown away! Weak warriors would probably have their organs ruptured from the roars.

This made Yi Yun understand why there were so few people. Perhaps people at the Dao Palace realm and below would be vomiting blood after a short while.

However, the powerful Fey were immersed in the magnificent lifeblood powers and seemed to enjoy it.

Yi Yun also saw humans and Ghost warriors among the crowd. These warriors had lacking bodies, so they could only conjure barriers to withstand the lifeblood surges. This naturally earned the disdain of the Fey.

Although Yi Yun thought nothing of the lifeblood surges, he did not wish to invite attention on himself. He conjured a thin barrier and walked into the square.

There were just too many people so without taking a look, Yi Yun used his perception to learn of the situation in the center of the square.

He saw a massive Fey beast!

The Fey beast was a thousand feet tall and he had a pair of wings on his back. He looked like the legendary Qiongqi in the Sinkhole. The princes and princesses of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins were to battle this Fey beast!

The Qiongqi’s strength was at peak Divine Lord strength. The princes and princesses battling it were not its match. Many of them were defeated after taking a few strikes.

And by the side of the ring, there were warriors who recorded the time every prince and princess lasted!

Yi Yun watched a few, and the longest one lasted not more than ninety seconds!

“The princes and princesses of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins are indeed powerful!” Lin Xintong said. She could sense that they were young. In the Sinkhole, they would be top geniuses.

Yi Yun nodded. At that moment, he heard a tidal-like roar—

“Her Highness Soft Clouds! Her Highness Soft Clouds!”

Oh? It’s Princess Soft Clouds’s turn?

Yi Yun’s heart stirred. He was curious to know what sort of elite Princess Soft Clouds was.

At that moment, a red figure streaked through the sky. A petite woman in tight clothing who wielded a saber the length of a person flew up!

The woman had a forbidding stance, but she had exquisite facial features, making her look both tough and demure. She was tall and slender and her lifeblood powers raged like a river. Apart from the saber in her hand and a dagger tied to her thigh, the bearing she exuded did not resemble a princess’s, but that of a warrior.

But when Yi Yun saw her face, his body jolted…

He widened his eyes as his breathing stagnated.

How… could this be possible!?

He almost thought that he was seeing things. He carefully sensed the woman’s aura. With the passage of time, the aura had changed a little, but the soul mark that was carved deep into her Origins was immutable.

This woman was Yi Yun’s elder sister, his only kin in the Cloud Wilderness—Jiang Xiaorou!

“Is the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins royalty’s surname Jiang?” Yi Yun asked Shan Ling.

“Yes…”

Shan Ling nodded as Yi Yun exhaled.

Indeed, Princess Soft Clouds. Previously, the store manager had mentioned that Sis Xiaorou had established a mountain manor. Could it be… Soft Clouds Mountain Manor?

Yi Yun recalled the past. Soft Clouds Mountain Manor had existed since his time in the Tai Ah Divine Kingdom. Back then, Yi Yun was conferred the title of Kingdom Knight. He was bestowed with a fief where he built a manor. He had named it Soft Clouds (Rou Yun) Mountain Manor.

The word ‘rou’ came from Jiang Xiaorou’s name and ‘yun’ came from Yi Yun’s name.

Yi Yun never imagined that the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor of yesteryear would appear in the Chaos Heavens, in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins!

How did Sis Xiaorou come to the Chaos Heavens?

Yi Yun was baffled, but he knew that Jiang Xiaorou was no human.

In the lower realm, she was a member of the Desolate race!

Desolate implied the desolate plains. The Tian Yuan world had desolate beasts which were in essence Fey beasts. The Tian Yuan world’s Desolate Heaven Masters would refine desolate beasts into desolate beast relics.

Therefore, it was right to say that Jiang Xiaorou was a Fey.

1630 - : Immutable Soul Mark

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun knew that Jiang Xiaorou’s mother was of the fox race.

He had previously seen Jiang Xiaorou’s coronation as Desolate Queen on the altar. Back then, her mother, who was also the former Desolate Queen, once told him the story of Jiang Xiaorou’s father.

Her father was already heavily injured when he came to the Tian Yuan world’s vast wilderness.

According to Jiang Xiaorou’s mother, Jiang Xiaorou’s father was a member of the Ancient Fey race from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven; however, from the looks of it, that was not the case.

Jiang Xiaorou’s father might have actually come from the Chaos Heavens, while the Tian Yuan world was just one of the many worlds in the 12 Empyrean Heavens. Her father might have first ended up in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven and stayed there for a period of time before heading to the Tian Yuan world.

As for why he went to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven and how he later ended up in the Tian Yuan world, Yi Yun had no idea.

He only knew that Jiang Xiaorou’s father had stayed in the Tian Yuan world for an extended period of time, so long that he had thoughts of staying in the Tian Yuan world forever.

As for what exactly happened back then, perhaps he could only learn it from Jiang Xiaorou.

And Jiang Xiaorou’s mother likely did not fully understand her partner’s true identity. The Chaos Heavens was just too incomprehensible to her.

As Yi Yun thought through these many things, Jiang Xiaorou had already begun battling the Fey beast which was equivalent to a peak human Divine Lord.

While Yi Yun paid attention to Jiang Xiaorou’s battle, he saw a purple totem in the form of a hexagram arise behind her!

There was an ancient Fey beast shadow on each corner of the hexagram. Two of them had already lit up.

“Heaven Fey Totem! A symbol of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ royalty!”

When the totem lit up, the citizens of Heaven Fey City turned clearly excited. They cheered for Princess Soft Clouds and the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins royal family.

Fey were very territorial!

This was because they valued bloodline a lot.

Even collateral members of an ancient bloodline would be proud of their ancestors because of the blood that flowed in them.

It was not something humans could compare with.

Fey had surnames and clans. The two were different.

Surnames represented one’s family, while clans represented one’s bloodline.

The Desolate clan which Yi Yun encountered in the God Confusion Valley had the Shaomang family that Shaomang Xuan was a part of. It also included the Bronze clan which Bronze Drum was a part of. There were also other families of different surname and clans.

It was the same with Heaven Fey City. The royalty had the surname of Jiang, but remained subordinate to the Heaven Fey clan.

Most citizens of present-day Heaven Fey City were members of the Heaven Fey clan, but the Jiang family acted as leader.

The Jiang family members had an extremely pure bloodline. They were able to easily awaken their ancestors’ bloodline. And the symbol of an awakening was the stimulation of the Heaven Fey totem.

“Oh? There are six blurry figures on the hexagram…”

Yi Yun’s eyes focused and he realized that the top and bottom part of the hexagram were respectfully a black circular disk and a white halo.

They symbolized the two sacred opposites—Extreme Yang Illumination! Extreme Yin Nether Glow!

And the four surrounding blurry figures were the azure dragon, vermilion bird, white tiger, and black turtle.

They were the four spirits of heaven that represented the Four Directions!

The two which Jiang Xiaorou had lit were respectively the vermilion bird and white tiger!

Two sacred opposites and the four spirits of heaven… The Heaven Fey City’s totem is quite terrifying. The Fey royalty is indeed not something the Desolate clan bloodline could compare with.

Yi Yun watched attentively while also making connections to the Sinkhole and 12 Empyrean Heavens’ twelve Fey Gods. Among the twelve Fey Gods were the Extreme Yang Illumination and Extreme Yin Nether Glow! As for the other ten Fey Gods, their ranks included the Dragon Emperor and the Seven-colored Phoenix which were rather related to the azure dragon and vermilion bird.

Was there some connection?

As Yi Yun pondered over this, Jiang Xiaorou had already engaged the ancient Fey beast!

Jiang Xiaorou’s body appeared frail, but her weak and frail body contained terrifying explosive powers. She delivered punch after punch, each punch rendering the world asunder!

Despite being a Fey beast that had a peak human Divine Lord strength, its scale armored shattered from her strikes while blood splattered!

“Your Highness Soft Clouds! Your Highness Soft Clouds!”

The Heaven Fey City’s citizens roared fanatically. As citizens of the Heaven Fey clan, they were proud about the experts it produced.

Jiang Xiaorou turned more valiant the longer she did combat as blood splattered across the sky!

She seemed to be trouncing the Fey beast, but Yi Yun could tell that it was impossible for Jiang Xiaorou to truly defeat it.

She was unable to maintain her strength for long. The two divine beast figures that lit up on the totem were beginning to dim.

As for the Divine Lord Fey beast, its massive body afforded it extreme stamina. Although Jiang Xiaorou made it bleed, its vitality remained potent. It did not seem to care about these injuries.

Finally, it roared angrily. Its blade-like wings struck Jiang Xiaorou’s body, shattering her protective lifeblood. With a sweep of its tail, it sent Jiang Xiaorou flying!

The Fey beast was incensed as it attempted to chase up and continue chomping down on Jiang Xiaorou, but it was pressed down by a Fey expert!

“Soft Clouds, well done!” said the elder via voice transmission. He had a pleased smile.

In this trial for the prince and princesses, the other prince and princesses could hardly bear the Fey beast’s attacks. Only Princess Soft Clouds fought the Fey beast and did not even seem to lose harshly. That was already something enviable!

As for killing a Fey beast with peak Divine Lord strength, it was something impossible for Princess Soft Clouds to do considering she had cultivated for less than a thousand years.

Not only was it impossible for Princess Soft Clouds, there was no such genius in all of the Chaos Heavens.

Fighting as long as she did was already something to be proud of.

At that moment, the applause and cheers swept over the square like an incessant tide!

Tens of thousands of warriors cheered, manifesting lifeblood surges.

“Heaven Fey Dynasty! Forever and ever!”

Upon hearing the resounding shouts, Yi Yun could not help but sign inwardly. The Fey were truly a terrifying race. The cohesiveness they enjoyed from their bloodline made them almost impossible to eradicate.

Of course, there was a premise that the bloodline would not be thinned to the point of extinction. If not, the existence of the Fey would become like unrooted duckweed.

Jiang Xiaorou retreated and restored her lifeblood. The Fey beast was also removed as the battle between the princes and princesses came to an end. However, the crowd gathered in the square remained present.

Many people were brimming with excitement.

“I never expected Sis Xiaorou’s lifeblood powers to be this strong. From the looks of it, her father was no ordinary person. In the Cloud Wilderness, Sis Xiaorou failed to showcase any martial talent. It was likely because her blood lineage made her unsuitable for the cultivation of human manuals.”

After Yi Yun had this thought, he came to an enlightenment. No matter how talented the Fey disciples were, there was no benefit to them cultivating human cultivation techniques.

It was only after Jiang Xiaorou joined the vast wilderness and inherited the position as Desolate Queen that her strength increased significantly.

“Yi Yun…”

At that moment, Lin Xintong’s voice sounded. She clearly recognized Jiang Xiaorou, but she knew even less of Jiang Xiaorou’s father. She could not figure out why Jiang Xiaorou was appearing in the Chaos Heavens.

Yi Yun said, “There are many peculiarities that confuse me too. Let us meet Sis Xiaorou today and ask her everything.”

“Alright.”

1631 - : Heaven Fey Totem

CKtalon  CKtalon

After Yi Yun left the Ancient Ruins Palace square, he went straight for the Six Treasures Fey Pagoda.

“Oh? Young Master Lin, are you willing to come under the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor?” The middle-aged store manager was somewhat surprised seeing Yi Yun return.

But he immediately realized why. “Young Master Lin, did you watch the intense battle between Her Highness Soft Clouds and the Qiongqi?”

Yi Yun nodded. “Yes!”

The store manager laughed as a look of pride flashed across his face. Although he felt that Yi Yun was a genius, he also found him too arrogant. He was not very fond of Yi Yun.

He had suggested Yi Yun watch the competition among the princes and princesses, hoping to deal him a blow. He wanted Yi Yun to know that there was always someone better!

Her Highness Soft Clouds was a rare talent. He believed that anyone who saw her capabilities would be convinced.

Furthermore, Yi Yun was still a zealous young human. An elite like Her Highness Soft Clouds would definitely be very attractive to a youth like Yi Yun.

Many young geniuses probably became guest mercenaries of Soft Clouds Mountain Manor due to their adulation towards her. If not, why would they not choose the few princes and princesses with stronger backgrounds?

Although it was a little shameless using such underhanded means, the situation now was dire. The store manager could not harp on such trivialities since Her Highness Soft Clouds would not learn of his schemes in the end.

Indeed, Yi Yun had been impressed by her.

With everything in his grasp, the store manager was very pleased. “I’m Yuchi Huo. Years ago, Treasure Fey Pagoda was indebted to Senior Blood King…” the store manager introduced briefly.

Blood King…

Yi Yun guessed that Blood King was likely Jiang Xiaorou’s father.

How strong was Blood King?

To have a huge conglomerate like the Treasure Fey Pagoda be indebted to him, he was at least in the Fey Thearch realm, right?

However, Fey Thearchs differed in strength!

“So it’s Senior Yuchi. I wonder if it’s possible to meet Her Highness Soft Clouds?”

Yi Yun’s request was within Yuchi Huo’s expectations. He smiled and said, “I can give you a recommendation to allow you entry, but whether you gain Her Highness’s favor will depend on your strength and performance. You have to understand that the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor under Her Highness is filled with experts. Young Master Lin, you might be strong, but you might not be able to stand out. In Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, the guest mercenaries under Her Highness do their best to showcase themselves. Young Master Lin, you must not appear inadequate,” Yuchi Huo said with a faint smile.

It was advice and a warning to Yi Yun, mainly to make a show of strength. He wanted Yi Yun to understand that he was nothing special. He was not to act so arrogantly in Soft Clouds Mountain Manor.

Yi Yun smiled without a reply. He only wanted to meet Jiang Xiaorou.

Yuchi Huo took care of things very quickly. He burned a voice transmission talisman and reported the matter.

With Yi Yun’s status, as a Royal Sealed Divine Lord who was less than a thousand years old, he obviously had the qualifications to meet Her Highness Soft Clouds. If such a person was a Fey, they could very likely be bestowed with a sizable piece of property.

“You are lucky. Her Highness Soft Clouds is currently resting after her battle. You can head over. If it was any other day, she might have been in seclusive cultivation and you’d have had to wait.”

“Alright!”

Yi Yun nodded as he could not help but drift off. Centuries had passed in a blink of an eye.

To meet his sister he had not seen in so many years, he felt a little uneasy.

Yuchi Huo led Yi Yun out the Six Treasures Fey Pagoda as a chariot covered in flames flew over. It was pulled by four Fey beasts and the carriage was thirty feet wide, enough to seat ten people in a row. It was rather spacious!

“Let’s go!”

Yuchi Huo invited Yi Yun up the carriage. The driver shook the ropes as they flew through the streets.

…

At that moment in the Ancient Ruins Palace!

The competition between the princes and princesses had just ended. Jiang Xiaorou had spent many days preparing for it and although she was heavily injured, it was nothing much for a Fey with potent restorative lifeblood forces.

“Your Highness.”

In front of Jiang Xiaorou stood a female Fey.

She had a natural allure and she wore breezy clothes. However, her expression was somber while the lifeblood she emitted was extremely powerful. She was clearly not to be underestimated.

Many people in Heaven Fey City knew of this woman!

She was Rain Numinous, a follower of the Blood King in the past. She was now the supervisor of Soft Clouds Mountain Manor and had the strength of a quasi-Fey Thearch.

However, the gap between a quasi-Fey Thearch and a Fey Thearch remained huge. Many people remained stuck in the Fey Lord realm, never to break through.

“Aunt Rain.” Jiang Xiaorou stood up from her couch. She was very respectful towards Rain Numinous.

“Your Highness, you did very well for this competition. However, Blood King has sent word that His Majesty, the Ruins Emperor, has intentions to enter seclusion. He will likely choose the final crown designate in the next three years!” said Rain Numinous.

Jiang Xiaorou instantly widened her eyes.

Three years?

Jiang Xiaorou frowned slightly.

Jiang Xiaorou was extremely talented. Given time, she was bound to have more illustrious results, but her faction was still in a nascent state. Three years was too much of a rush.

“Blood King has said that it’s likely because Prince Tianluo’s father, Frost King, gave a rare treasure to His Majesty. With that treasure, he has higher confidence in the seclusion. This seclusion might last centuries,” said Rain Numinous with a heavy expression.

Prince Tianluo had build up the strongest faction and he was strong himself. However, in terms of talent, he was not necessarily better than Jiang Xiaorou.

“He has always been targeting me. It looks like he has invested a lot,” said Jiang Xiaorou.

At that moment, a voice transmission talisman flew in and was caught by Rain Numinous.

“What is it?” asked Jiang Xiaorou.

“Pagoda Elder Yuchi of the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor wishes to seek an audience. He said that a human Royal Sealed Divine Lord wishes to join the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. Your Highness, if you are not in the mood, I’ll appear on your behalf,” offered Rain Numinous.

Jiang Xiaorou deliberated for a moment before saying, “Aunt Rain, inform him of the present situation.”

To join the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor at such a critical juncture was not necessarily a good thing. Once she failed in a her bid for the throne, she had her father protecting her and would be fine. However, the mercenaries under her might be implicated.

“Your Highness?” said Rain Numinous hurriedly. Although the person was a human Divine Lord, Pagoda Elder Yuchi was leading him personally. It obviously meant that there was something extraordinary about him.

“Tell him,” said Jiang Xiaorou.

She closed her eyes again as vibrant lifeblood forces erupted in her.

In fact, she was not good at recruiting mercenary guests. From her point of view, her own strength was most important…

If she successfully broke through to become a Fey Thearch, she did not need to mind such matters at all.

Rain Numinous gave Jiang Xiaorou a glance, nodded slightly, and left.

A few minutes later, Rain Numinous returned. “Your Highness, he still wishes to meet you. He’s already waiting in the guest room.”

Jiang Xiaorou opened her eyes and nodded. “Alright.”

She stood up and casually draped a luxurious royal gown on herself while she walked to the guest room.

In the middle of the guest room was a young man.

His aura was somber and he had ordinary looks. There was nothing seemingly special about him, but the man gave Jiang Xiaorou a baffling sense of wonder which she could not place her thumb on.

Yi Yun looked at Jiang Xiaorou.

At the instant their gazes locked, Yi Yun felt as though time had frozen.

At that instant, all his memories inundated his mind.

Unknowingly, he felt like he had returned to the point when he first came to this universe. He had been so weak that even the wind could topple him. It was this girl who used her frail shoulders to carry him home…

A bowl of porridge and some salted vegetables. As the family had no healthy men, they were not able to eat their fill, much less speak of practicing martial arts.

Having thought of this, Yi Yun felt his eyes welling with tears.

As for Jiang Xiaorou, she turned more hesitant as she looked at him.

He was clearly someone she did not know, but…

At that moment, Yuchi Huo bowed at Jiang Xiaorou and said, “Your Highness Soft Clouds, this is a human genius I found. His surname is Lin and he is less than a thousand years old. He’s at present a single-sealed Divine Lord… He intends to join the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor and become a guest mercenary under Your Highness…”

“Young Master Lin, why aren’t you bowing to Her Highness?” Yuchi Huo was somewhat depressed. Do I even need to teach you this? Ignoring the fact that you are a single-sealed Divine Lord, even if you have two or cultivated to become a peak Divine Lord, you will still have to bow before Her Highness.

But at that moment, Yi Yun was standing there in a daze. Even geniuses who idolized Her Highness Soft Clouds would not act in such an unbecoming manner on their first meeting. How could a genius act this way?

Yuchi Huo was even beginning to feel that roping the punk into Soft Clouds Mountain Manor might be a mistake.

Yuchi Huo was just about to berate Yi Yun when he surprisingly discovered that Jiang Xiaorou’s expression was adrift. It was as though she was not listening to him.

A voice transmission had already sounded by her ears. It was a very familiar voice to her. “Sis Xiaorou… It’s me, Yun’er…”

Jiang Xiaorou’s body jolted.

Yun’er… Yi Yun!?

Jiang Xiaorou found it unbelievable, but the voice and the spiritual fluctuation could not be wrong.

Why would Yun’er be here!?

Instantly, all the matters of the past inundated Jiang Xiaorou’s heart. Countless scenes flashed past her mind…

It was as though whatever she had been fighting for all this while turned unimportant that very instant…

Once upon a time, he was her everything.

Unknowingly, a crystalline tear drop rolled down Jiang Xiaorou’s beautiful cheek.

This scene was noticed by Yuchi Huo and Rain Numinous. They were astounded as they produced alarmed looks.

Yuchi Huo was just about to say something when he watched in disbelief as Jiang Xiaorou’s body flashed. At that instant, she had jumped into the arms of the human!

Yuchi Huo instantly widened his eyes. This was…!?

“Yun-er!”

Jiang Xiaorou did not make a sound, but her psyche fluctuations sounded in Yi Yun’s mind.

Her reason told her that the way Yi Yun had come to her with a different look and name, while sending her voice transmissions, meant that she was not to rashly acknowledge him. However, the upheaval of emotions she was undergoing made her unable to control her feelings.

“Sis Xiaorou…”

Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou hugged each other. At that moment, it seemed like every sound in the universe had vanished, leaving only the two of them in the universe.

All these years, Yi Yun had killed countless while walking on the tightrope of death. However, back when he was extremely weak, he experienced familial love and warmth in the Cloud Wilderness. That was the final bastion of pureness in his heart…

1632 - : Meeting

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon seeing this scene, Rain Numinous and Yuchi Huo were shocked.

What… What was going on? Fairy Soft Clouds knows this human genius, and they might even be… lovers!?

Yuchi Huo had a spectacular expression when this idea came to him. But at that moment a barrier appeared like a water mirror, isolating Jiang Xiaorou and Yi Yun inside.

Yuchi Huo fell into a daze. “Housekeeper Rain…”

Rain Numinous’s pupils shrank slightly as her expression instantly turned calm. She said in a cold tone, “What happened just now…”

“Housekeeper Rain, rest assured that I did not see a thing,” Yuchi Huo cupped his hands and said.

He had worked in Treasure Fey Pagoda for years and was an extremely crafty person. He knew very well what he could say and not say.

Regardless of how shocked he was or how curious the kind of person Yi Yun was, he had no plans on asking further.

“The two of them are unlike what you think. They have some familial ties.”

Rain Numinous had already obtained some confirmation from Jiang Xiaorou. If they were truly romantic partners, Jiang Xiaorou’s actions would have been too outrageous.

How could the elite Fey of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins be with a human?

If such a thing were to spread, Her Highness Soft Clouds would be punished and people like Yuchi Huo would not serve her with dedication.

“Then, I shall be taking my leave.”

After Yuchi Huo left, Rain Numinous looked at the water mirror in front of her with a hesitant look. Why did Her Highness’s younger brother from the lower realm appear now of all times?

Rain Numinous frowned. The next three years were of utmost importance to Jiang Xiaorou. She was afraid that Yi Yun’s appearance would waver Jiang Xiaorou’s dedication to cultivation.

She sighed before vanishing from the room.

After Yi Yun casually conjured the water mirror, he had pulled Jiang Xiaorou tightly into his embrace.

After all these years, the familiar smell when he hugged her once again left him nostalgic.

After a long while, Jiang Xiaorou slowly looked up while in Yi Yun’s arms.

“Yun’er, it’s really you…” Jiang Xiaorou still found it unbelievable.

They had separated after he left the Tian Yuan world, but were surprisingly able to meet again in the Chaos Heavens’s Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins.

“I once believed that only by inheriting the throne of the Ruins Emperor would I be able to seek you out in the vast cosmos…” said Jiang Xiaorou.

She clasped Yi Yun’s hand tightly as though Yi Yun would not leave her by doing so.

“By the way, she is…” Jiang Xiaorou looked at Lin Xintong.

“Sister Rou, it’s me. Xintong,” Xintong smiled and answered.

After experiencing a few reincarnations, she looked like a fifteen-year-old girl. Jiang Xiaorou naturally found it hard to recognize her.

Jiang Xiaorou was taken aback, but she quickly sensed a familiar aura from Lin Xintong.

“It’s been so many years; yet, the both of you are still together. It puts my heart at rest,” Jiang Xiaorou said very happily. Couples staying together since their mortal world times was truly not easy!

“Actually… Xintong only returned to my side just recently. Many things happened in between. I’ll slowly recount it all later. Sis Xiaorou, tell me first, how did you come to the Chaos Heavens?” asked Yi Yun.

Jiang Xiaorou sighed and appeared to be evoking memories of her past. She recounted from the time Yi Yun left the Tian Yuan world.

Back then, Yi Yun had become a legend in the Tian Yuan world. As for Jiang Xiaorou, she had inherited the throne of Desolate Queen in the Divine Wilderness.

She constantly focused on cultivation, hoping she could one day tear through the void and follow in Yi Yun’s footsteps.

Yi Yun listened silently, finding even the most mundane cultivation days interesting.

After being separated from Jiang Xiaorou for so long, he was eager to know what experiences she had while he was away.

“It’s unfortunate that cultivation is slow in the Divine Wilderness. Later, my father came to the Tian Yuan world. He brought me and my mother to the Chaos Heavens.”

“Sis Xiaorou, is your father the Blood King?” asked Yi Yun.

Having a slow cultivation was not Jiang Xiaorou’s fault. Her talent was not to be doubted. Back when the Black-armored Demon God wreaked havoc in the Tian Yuan world, Yi Yun had gathered nearly all the elites of the Desolate race and humans to battle him. The Desolate race refused to retreat in battle because Jiang Xiaorou’s bloodline talent had caught Black-armored Demon God’s eye. He left a psyche mark in her, hoping to possess her body.

Jiang Xiaorou was unable to cultivate rapidly only because the cultivation techniques of humans and the Desolate race were not suited for her.

Jiang Xiaorou nodded.

“How did the Blood King find himself in the Tian Yuan world?” asked Yi Yun.

Jiang Xiaorou explained, “The competition among Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins royalty is extremely bloody. Back then, my father’s talent was ordinary so he was quickly eliminated from the competition for the crown.

“Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins princes with ordinary talent either strive for a title and be left to their own devices, or get sent to mystic realm battlefields. My father chose the mystic realm battlefields.

“With my father’s blood lineage, cultivating normally to the Fey Lord realm was already difficult. He refused a life of mediocrity and chose a path almost no one in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins took—the Blood Demon Dao. This is also the reason for my father’s title as Fey Thearch.

“In the mystic realm battlefield, my father was pushed to the brink of death numerous times. He honed his Dao heart and kept engaging in slaughter! He slaughtered for thousands of years, taking so many lives that he lost count himself. Miraculously, he survived. However, the Blood Demon Dao is difficult to attain. My father still failed despite turning himself into a Shura Heretic Demon through all of his massacres!

“Back then, he was already very powerful, but his Dao Heart had been tainted with evil. It turned into an obsession and the situation became more dangerous. If he continued, he could very well have experienced a deviation and turned into a walking corpse.

“And back then, my father found an opportunity in the mystic realm battlefield—an opportunity related to his bloodline!”

“Oh?” Yi Yun pricked up his brows. “The Heaven Fey totem?”

“That’s right!” Jiang Xiaorou nodded. “The Heaven Fey totem. Father had slaughtered for millennia, but the Heaven Fey totem was only a blurry shadow, much less him being able to light up the six corners. However, Father learned of a huge secret in the mystic realm. That is… my Heaven Fey ancestors had gone to the 12 Empyrean Heavens back then!”

Yi Yun drew a gasp. Indeed, the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was very related to the 12 Fey Gods of the Sinkhole and the 12 Empyrean Heavens!

“Yun’er, you know about it too?”

Yi Yun nodded. “I managed to guess some of it.”

“Yes. My Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was very powerful in primordial times. We were the originators of the Fey! But later, there was still some decline. The main reason has to be that with time, no matter how hard we try to preserve and groom, our bloodline will slowly thin.

“My father found a place where my ancestor bloodline might exist and it was located in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven!

“Later, Father followed the path forged by our ancestors and headed to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven!

“In the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, my father obtained the opportunities our ancestors left behind. He finally managed to activate the Heaven Fey totem and light up a few corners. He was just short of stepping into the Fey Thearch realm!

“But unfortunately, Father did not know that the energy blasts that resulted from his opening of the path to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven had attracted others despite him trying to conceal his tracks. Five Chaos Heavens Fey had entered the passageway and found him while he was in seclusion.

“It was an intense battle!

“Father’s bloodline powers were unstable and he nearly suffered a deviation. However, he managed to kill three of them. Still, he was on his last legs by then. He used his remaining strength and opened a spatial passageway, escaping into the lower realm of the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

“He flew past many planets, but was drawn to the Tian Yuan world which had a unique attractive force.

“When Father came to the Tian Yuan world, he had already damaged his bloodline Origins. Even his Fey core had shattered. As time passed, his strength not only failed to increase, it even began to sap away.

“In a few short years, his realm fell drastically. His martial path was practically severed. It was also then that he met my mother…

“My father had been in battle his entire life and never had a Dao partner. In fact, my father had a miserable life. His mother, who is my grandmother, died as a result of schemes. The enemy was in the Ancient Ruins Palace but as Father was too weak, he was unable to exact revenge. With him unwilling to accept that, he took the path of the Blood Demon Dao. So how could he have the capacity to attempt love?

“But it was different in the Tian Yuan world. Back then, all his hopes were dashed. He began leading a peaceful life. Remarkably, despite his powers decreasing, his state of mind was elevated during those days. The Blood Demon Dao, which had become an obsession, something that threatened his soul, was completely resolved. It fused into his body, allowing him to master his Blood Demon Dao!

“Father’s strength slowly recovered. And during that time, he also sought the thing in the Tian Yuan world that had attracted him in the first place. It was—the strongest human in history—Human Emperor’s sealing of one of the Celestial’s mighty figure’s eyes. This was probably an outcome of fate. Although my father lacked talent, providence shone immense light on him.

“He obtained some of the Blood of the Ancestor God which Senior Human Emperor left behind!

“After which, he recovered his strength fully! It was also at that time when I was born. My father chose to leave when I was one. He had his grudge and obsessions he needed to resolve. He wanted to become a Fey Thearch!”

By the time Jiang Xiaorou finished, Yi Yun had a rough idea of the rest. Back when he met Jiang Xiaorou’s mother, she had mentioned to him what happened.

The Blood King had promised before leaving that he would come back for Jiang Xiaorou and the Desolate Queen once he was done resolving his obsession. And indeed, he had done so.

He just never expected that in the short few years he was gone, the Jiang family would end up experiencing a calamity.

Ultimately, everything was resolved.

When the Blood King and the Desolate Queen conceived Jiang Xiaorou, he had already obtained his ancestor’s bloodline. Jiang Xiaorou naturally inherited the blood lineage.

In the Chaos Heavens, Jiang Xiaorou’s talent finally manifested itself.

“Father felt that he owed me and mother. He provided me with massive amounts of resources. Even the son of the Ruins Emperor do not receive such treatment. It is also because of this that people are jealous of me,” added Jiang Xiaorou.

1633 - : Blood King

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun felt a little relieved after hearing Jiang Xiaorou’s recount. The grooming of Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins royalty was rather harsh, but Jiang Xiaorou was different. She was the daughter of a Fey Thearch and from the way she described it, the Blood King was not the ordinary Fey Thearch.

It was not easy for Fey with powerful bloodlines to have offspring. The other princes and princesses of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins were mostly grandchildren or great grandchildren of Fey Thearchs. As for Jiang Xiaorou, she was the daughter of a Fey Thearch.

That made things different!

Other royal offspring had to vie for resources, but Jiang Xiaorou had the Blood King providing her with whatever she needed. This was also why Jiang Xiaorou was able to vie for the spot of crown designate in a short few centuries.

“Sis Xiaorou, do you really want to win the spot?” asked Yi Yun.

“Yes.” Jiang Xiaorou nodded. The martial path meant competition. As he was weak, her father was thrown into a mystic realm battlefield. Her mother failed to protect her in the lower realm, with the Jiang family nearly wiped out by the Shentu family clan, causing her to end up in the Cloud Wilderness. There, she and Yi Yun depended on each other and nearly starved to death.

It was because she was weak that she was implanted with a spiritual mark in the Tian Yuan world by the Black-armored Demon God. He wanted to possess her body, causing Yi Yun and the Desolate race to bring the fight to him in a life-and-death battle! Even though the Black-armored Demon God was later slain by Yi Yun, Jiang Xiaorou was unable to follow Yi Yun to the 12 Empyrean Heavens because of a lack of strength. It forced their separation.

“All these years, I have been cultivating arduously. I want to vie for it! Only with strength can one control one’s fate. I wanted to seek you out, Yun’er, but in this vast sea of stars, I won’t be able to leave the Chaos Heavens if I lack the strength!

“Besides, Father spent numerous resources to groom me, putting me in a position of criticism! My mother is a Fey from the lower realm with a terrible bloodline! In the words of my enemies, I’m ‘of inferior birth,’ and have the ‘life of an ant.’ Although Father tries his best to protect my mother, she is in an awkward and perilous position!

“In the Blood King’s harem, the favor shown to my mother has caused dissatisfaction. Compounded with the envy people have of me, my mother has been treading on thin ice for years. She is blissful, but also worried! I can only be her pillar of support if I have sufficient strength.”

When Jiang Xiaorou said this, Yi Yun was taken aback. “Your father has other concubines?”

“Yes…” Jiang Xiaorou nodded slowly. “He did not have any after returning to the Chaos Heavens, but after bringing Mother back, he still married a few concubines.”

“The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins is the leader of all Fey. According to our ancestors’ rules, every Fey Thearch needs to have marriage alliances with other clans. In addition, it’s difficult for royal blood to have children. It’s considered a basic rule that a Fey Thearch has a few hundred in his harem; my father is already considered to have very few.”

Yi Yun nodded. This was not Earth. Even Jiang Xiaorou and her mother did not entertain the concept of one husband one wife. Jiang Xiaorou’s mother naturally did not have any qualms about the Blood King having concubines.

If a Fey Thearch did not marry more wives to produce more offspring, would that not be a waste of his bloodline?

If the Blood King really insisted on marrying Xiaorou’s mother alone, that would result in greater pressure on her. Perhaps, she would even be criticized for being jealous.

“My father’s concubines are mostly daughters of major clans. Their bloodline is precious, so who would be willing to be ranked under Mother? Besides, they have failed to produce offspring for Father after centuries. This is likely because Father did not leave them much of his bloodline essence.

“Which of these women would be willing to play second fiddle?

“My mother feels that her background is insufficient to be a Thearch’s empress. She has brought the suggestion to Father that she give up her spot as empress and become a concubine. The pressure would be lessened if she’s a concubine, but it aches my heart hearing that.”

Jiang Xiaorou sighed. “In fact, as long as she receives enough love from Father and as long as Father spares no expense to groom me, it’s impossible for Mother to not be the target of jealousy. This can only be prevented if I cultivate to become a Fey Thearch or even ascend to the throne as Ruins Empress!

“Father has not had another child and probably also wishes to groom me. Father has done a lot for Mother, so I can’t just depend on him. What will happen if he loses his feelings for Mother?

“By becoming crown designate, the cultivation resources would be better. I naturally have to vie for it. I wish for Mother to live the rest of her life in peace. I wish to fight for my future and wanted to find you, Yun’er.

“But now… you actually found me first. I’m really… very happy!”

Jiang Xiaorou’s eyes were wet when she said that. All these years in the Chaos Heavens, although she was an elite, the apple of the Blood King’s eye, and enjoyed extremely high status, it all put immense pressure on her!

She could not show her weak side to her father or confide her troubles in her mother, afraid that it would only add to her mother’s burden, making her compunctious.

She could only share these words with Yi Yun.

“I get it, Sis Xiaorou.” Yi Yun understood her. “Sis Xiaorou, since I’m back, I’ll help you. You do not need to shoulder the burden anymore.”

“Yun’er, I’m already very happy that you have such thoughts,” said Jiang Xiaorou with a smile. “However, the situation in Heaven Fey City is complicated. I have too many enemies here. Countless people wish for me to topple from my pedestal and reduce to nothingness. Besides, these people all have powerful background. I do not wish for you to be implicated…

“Yun’er, if you really wish to help me, cultivate hard. I can see that you are already a Royal Sealed Divine Lord and you have limitless potential ahead of you. When you become a Godly Monarch, you can help me with that power. I look forward to the day you become Godly Monarch!”

Jiang Xiaorou smiled happily when she finished her sentence. She still remembered Yi Yun’s becoming of a Jing Long Wei in the Cloud Wilderness, of him wearing the attire of a Kingdom Knight during his return. Back then, there was uncertainty about her fate, so it was an unforgettable scene to her.

“By the way, I heard that you went to Treasure Fey Pagoda to seek treasures at the Godly Monarch level?” asked Jiang Xiaorou.

Rain Numinous had mentioned Yi Yun’s background, including the fake name he used and his goal at Treasure Fey Pagoda when she reported the situation to Jiang Xiaorou.

Jiang Xiaorou naturally needed to know everything about a guest mercenary of Soft Clouds Mountain Manor.

“That’s right. I do need some precious material.” Yi Yun did not hide anything from Jiang Xiaorou. He immediately mentioned the materials needed for the Myriad Form Shura Pill.

“That many natural treasures and Fey cores of ancient Fey… are indeed difficult to find, especially Celestial blood… These things…” Jiang Xiaorou paused.

“Celestial blood is taboo in the Chaos Heavens. It will infuriate the Celestials, but my Father might still have some Celestial blood left. It just might be very difficult for me to get it.”

Yi Yun said, “Don’t worry about Senior Blood King’s Celestial blood. Sis Xiaorou, I actually want to use these items to refine a pill named the Myriad Form Shura Pill. It’s a body-tempering pill that will be very useful to me. However, I won’t need the entire cauldron of pills when refined. The remaining can also be helpful for the condensation of your ancestral bloodline.”

1634 - : Thin Ice

“Oh? There’s such a pill?” Jiang Xiaorou was taken aback.

How could any ordinary pill have any effects on the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins bloodline? Even if there were any that could enhance the bloodline, making them required the most secret techniques possible. Furthermore, there was a need to expend large amounts of resources, and even so, the effects would be insignificant.

Jiang Xiaorou guessed that Yi Yun’s pills were impressive, but they were mainly effective for humans. It was difficult to say how effective they were on the Heaven Fey royalty.

However, Jiang Xiaorou thought nothing of it. She thought for a moment before saying, “I will inform the Treasure Fey Pagoda to take note of the items. I’ll get them to use private means to spread the news.”

“Alright.” Yi Yun nodded.

With Jiang Xiaorou being Princess Soft Clouds, he would naturally be able to find the materials faster than doing it alone.

“Yun’er, Xintong, stay in Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. I still have so many things to say to you.” Jiang Xiaorou held Yi Yun’s hands as her eyes shimmered with delight.

Yi Yun smiled. “Don’t worry, Sis Xiaorou. We wouldn’t leave even if you wanted to chase us away. I’m just afraid that you will find me irritating whenever you see me.”

“Look at you making fun of me now,” said Jiang Xiaorou with a giggle.

They conversed for a little longer and while Jiang Xiaorou was preparing to get someone to settle in Yi Yun and company, she sent out a few voice transmission talismans. She made Treasure Fey Pagoda spread the news and pay attention to any information regarding the herbs and Fey cores.

After this was done, Jiang Xiaorou ate lunch with Yi Yun. The siblings seldom had a reunion meal, so they enjoyed it thoroughly.

After lunch, Jiang Xiaorou planned on sending Yi Yun to Soft Clouds Mountain Manor when she saw Rain Numinous standing by the hall’s entrance.

“Aunt Rain.”

“Young Master Lin is your younger brother?”

“Yes…” Jiang Xiaorou noticed that Rain Numinous did not appear to be happy.

“Does the news regarding the herbs you spread through Treasure Fey Pagoda have anything to do with your brother?”

Jiang Xiaorou turned embarrassed when Rain Numinous phrased her sentence that way.

“Do you know that your present status is very delicate in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins? Do you know how many eyes are staring at you?”

Jiang Xiaorou fell silent. She knew that it was impossible for Rain Numinous to like Yi Yun. If Yi Yun was a descendant of a family with a pure Fey bloodline, she would have definitely been happy, believing that they had an additional helping hand. However, Yi Yun was human.

Fey ostracized humans to begin with. And Jiang Xiaorou’s identity was special. Her mother was of lowly birth and she was pampered by the Blood King. She was already under criticism, but now, there was the addition of a human brother.

Not only so, Jiang Xiaorou was even using the Treasure Fey Pagoda’s resources to seek herbs for her brother.

“Leave Young Master Lin’s arrangements to me. Treasure Fey Pagoda is still lacking a red-shirt store manager. He can be assigned there. It’s best he does not stay in Soft Clouds Mountain Manor before you become a Fey Thearch. It’s also best you do not meet often. As for the resources you wish to provide Young Master Lin, it’s not impossible. However, it cannot affect your cultivation. Do you know how valuable those treasures you seek are?”

Rain Numinous’s tone had become infuriated by the time she finished her sentence. She had been a follower of the Blood King for years. Her cultivation level was approaching that of a Fey Thearch’s, so her standing in the Blood King Palace was higher than even the concubines. She was also considered Jiang Xiaorou’s senior.

Usually, Rain Numinous was very polite to Jiang Xiaorou, but when she encountered anything she did not approve of, she would not hesitate to reprimand her.

“I have no idea how long it will take to become a Fey Thearch.” Jiang Xiaorou frowned. She understood Rain Numinous’s intentions. She did not want her to acknowledge Yi Yun before she became a Fey Thearch.

Being crown designate was a very sensitive matter. If a future Ruins Empress were to openly announce her siblinghood with a human—one that was so close—the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins would not feel at ease handing the throne of Ruins Empress to her. Perhaps, they might suspect, she would end up giving away all the resources of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins.

“Your Highness, you do know that the path to becoming a Fey Thearch is long and arduous. Only by becoming a mighty figure like the Blood King will Your Highness have the ability to protect those around you. Your Highness and Her Majesty are both protected by the Blood King.”

“Aunt Rain, I understand what you are getting at. In fact, the pills my brother wishes to refine are also beneficial to my bloodline. Besides… you do not know my brother. He will not become a burden on me. Back in the lower realm, I was protected by him. Without him, I wouldn’t even be standing here alive. He headed to the 12 Empyrean Heavens alone and, without a bloodline or family clan’s support, he has attained this much. And now, he found me before I could find him! Aunt Rain, do you think I’ll become a Fey Thearch first? Actually, it’s more likely that Yun’er will become a Godly Monarch faster than me.”

Jiang Xiaorou trusted Yi Yun wholeheartedly, but Rain Numinous shook her head.

Ignoring the fact that it was very difficult to produce a Godly Monarch—even if Yi Yun’s talent was unparalleled, making it easy for him to become a Godly Monarch—Jiang Xiaorou was a royalty elite to begin with. For an elite royal to have the thought of being inferior to a human genius and even rely on them was unacceptable.

Rain Numinous felt that Jiang Xiaorou wished to groom Yi Yun into a Godly Monarch. That way, Jiang Xiaorou would indeed have a stabler future, but how could a future Ruins Empress rely on others?

Perhaps… Xiaorou was ultimately too soft in character. Although she had been fighting for the throne over the years, it was still too difficult to take it with her character.

“I’ll arrange for Young Master Lin to live in Soft Clouds Mountain Manor… Also, I will report this to the Blood King.”

Rain Numinous did not continue since Jiang Xiaorou was unamenable to advice. She decided to leave everything to the Blood King.

…

Soft Clouds Mountain Manor was located in the city district behind Heaven Fey City. It was considered outside the city. There were all sorts of manors that housed the different members of royalty nearby.

The mountain manor occupied a vast amount of land. Although it was described as a mountain manor, it was actually no different from a tiny city.

Picturesque scenes and rare beasts could be seen everywhere. It was like an immortal’s paradise.

Rain Numinous was silent the entire way while Yi Yun and Lin Xintong followed her in tow. In fact, Yi Yun had guessed what was on Rain Numinous’s mind.

His appearance had brought immense pressure on Jiang Xiaorou.

Furthermore, the resources he was seeking were priceless treasures.

Unfortunately, he had expended too much of what he obtained in the God Confusion Valley. If not, he would not have put Sis Xiaorou into a difficult position.

“Tell me if there’s anything you need during your stay here in the mountain manor,” When Rain Numinous said this, she gave Yi Yun a deep, meaningful look. “It’s a critical period for Her Highness; she needs large amounts of resources to nourish her bloodline. In two years, she will be vying for a spot for the Fey Altar, something that will determine her future! Her Highness cannot afford to fail!”

Vying for a spot for the Fey Altar?

Yi Yun’s heart stirred, but he did not ask further.

Rain Numinous continued, “Everyone in the mountain manor is conserving resources. The Blood King has also provided Her Highness with large amounts of resources; so please be magnanimous if you encounter any poor hospitality from us.”

Rain Numinous’s attitude was cold, but her words remained polite.

How could Yi Yun not understand what she was getting at? He had changed his looks because of the Heavenly Dao fragment, but he felt that he could not keep a low profile anymore. Sis Xiaorou was already in a terrible state, so if he continued keeping a low profile, it was unlikely she could persist on. Furthermore, it would make refining the Myriad Form Shura Pill impossible.

“Senior Rain, it seems you are mistaken about me. I did have some intent of getting Sis Xiaorou’s help to find the herbs, but those herbs when refined into pills would be very helpful to Sis Xiaorou as well.”

Despite Yi Yun saying so, all Rain Numinous did was look at him indifferently. She did not even bother raising any doubts. How could a human understand the Heaven Fey bloodline that was highly confidential in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins? Even Fey Thearchs were unaware of those mystic techniques that enhanced one’s bloodline.

“Senior Rain, there’s nothing I can do if you choose not to believe me. However, I heard that Soft Clouds Mountain Manor has recruited many guest mercenaries. Then, please instruct me on the missions available. I’m still rather confident about my strength. Since I’m staying here, I have to pay my dues. As long as it’s any chores below that of a Godly Monarch’s attention, I can resolve them.”

Rain Numinous was stunned when Yi Yun said so. She immediately became enraged.

Everything below a Godly Monarch was a chore?

This Yi Yun sure was arrogant!

Even Rain Numinous herself was not at the Fey Thearch realm!

“Fairy Rain, is this human the newly recruited mercenary? What arrogance. Did he just imply that all us are only here to do chores?”

At that moment, more than ten Fey warriors walked over. Most of them were at the Fey Lord realm and they were dressed differently.

They were mercenaries of the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor.

Yi Yun gave them a nonchalant glance. In fact, he had long noticed their impending arrival. How could they not greet Rain Numinous, a powerful housekeeper of Blood King Palace?

Despite noticing them, Yi Yun still threw out his sentence. He had no plans on keeping a low profile.

Upon seeing this scene, Rain Numinous fell silent. From her point of view, Yi Yun was only a mercenary, one who was especially difficult to handle. The mercenaries of the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor were all capable people. They were naturally proud people and were not impressed by anyone. Conflict between them was common and they resolved it among themselves. She was happy that Yi Yun had embroiled himself in the conflict for she could use the opportunity to take him down a notch.

Seeing Rain Numinous silent, Yi Yun understood her intentions. He roared with laughter. “What did Senior Rain say previously? Soft Clouds Mountain Manor is conserving resources for Her Highness Soft Clouds’s cultivation?”

“I was finding it odd. Would Soft Clouds Mountain Manor be that short of resources? Now I understand that Soft Clouds Mountain Manor has been feeding a motley crew. These people do not do a thing despite consuming resources. Can the position of crown designate be won just by their eating? What a joke! If this continues, it would be better for Her Highness Soft Clouds to give up early. If these resources were saved up and I was the one put in charge of them, I can guarantee that these limited resources would be employed where they are needed most. Her Highness Soft Clouds would improve further!” Yi Yun said without a care.

He was a human and stuck out too much among a group of Fey. If he were to continue keeping a low profile, there was no need to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pill. Even if Sis Xiaorou wanted to help him, how could she freely use the Treasure Fey Pagoda’s resources as a junior?

Even if he gleaned information of the whereabouts of the herbs, it was pointless if he could not buy them!

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor mercenaries were infuriated. Even Rain Numinous felt displeased. Yi Yun was being too arrogant.

“Alright! Interesting!” The mercenaries present had been provoked by Yi Yun. A Fey Lord had produced an indistinct Heaven Fey totem behind him. He was from the Heaven Fey clan, but he was not of royal blood; therefore, his bloodline powers were limited.

But even so, he was considered the cream of the crop among Heaven Fey. He said, “Senior Rain, we should not keep such arrogant fools in Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. A person like him will cause more harm than good. I’ll cripple him and thrown him out today!”

The Fey Lord leaped up as all his lifeblood powers erupted. Like an uncaged beast, he charged at Yi Yun.

“Boom!”

He punched out with explosive lifeblood powers!

Yi Yun did not even move, for the silent Lin Xintong had stepped out from beside him and approached the Fey Lord like a ghost.

“Whoosh!”

She unsheathed her long sword, producing snow-like sword flashes. In an instant, the Fey Lord found his raging lifeblood freezing as though it had met the coldness of the deepest chasm. His blood frosted up and he could only watch helplessly as the sword stabbed at his chest.

“Puah!”

Blood splattered as ice formed in mid-air!

The other Fey Lords who had good relationships with him realized that the situation was amiss. Someone charged forward, but Lin Xintong’s hands moved as fast as the wind. Her sword was thrust as a second person was sent flying by Lin Xintong.

“This woman is that strong?”

Everyone was astonished. The Fey were incensed that they were being repressed by a female human. A mercenary converged his aura in a bid to sneak an attack on Lin Xintong, but at that moment, another figure flew out from the God Advent Tower which Yi Yun brought around.

The figure was also a woman and she was none other than Shan Ling!

Shan Ling had a Fey Lord cultivation level. Previously, she had been seriously injured in the Xuanyuan Dune and did not have Chaos Ores to replenish her lifeblood, causing her to be devoid of strength. She had been like Yi Yun when he first arrived in the Chaos Heavens, and just like he was after the God Confusion Valley her lifeblood powers had long been replenished. Yi Yun had also given her the core cultivation technique of the Shaomang family clan. Her strength had even increased past her peak state.

Although she was not necessarily stronger than the Fey Lord mercenaries, it was no problem for her to withstand their blows.

“Boom!”

The sneaky Fey Lord’s two fists were blocked by Shan Ling’s single palm. Meanwhile, Lin Xintong had also slashed out with her sword as it headed straight for the his throat!

Sneaking an attack was a contemptible action, so Lin Xintong did not hold back either.

The sword flashes were incredulously fast as space was torn apart, revealing black rifts!

Upon seeing the sword flash surging towards him, the Fey Lord felt that his entire body was fixed in place by the sword’s might. The sword’s glimmer made the immobile him know that there was no question about where his brains would be in the next instant.

“Ah!”

With his life on the line, the Fey Lord yelled in horror.

“Enough!”

At that moment, Yi Yun lightly spoke out. Despite his voice being slow, he was able to finished the word in a composed manner in that split second.

“Cha!”

Lin Xintong’s sword came to a sudden halt, right inside the Fey Lord’s flesh.

A quarter of his neck had already been sliced opened!

The sword’s blade did not fully penetrate him, but blood flowed down Lin Xintong’s cold blade. The bodily defenses that the Fey were always proud of was nothing but paper mache to Lin Xintong’s sword.

If Yi Yun had not shouted for her to stop, the Fey Lord would have been beheaded by Lin Xintong.

Instantly, there was silence. The Fey Lord who had his neck sliced open by Lin Xintong trembled, but he did not dare move.

“As I said, it’s nothing but a motley crew. You can’t even beat my woman and maidservant, and here you are scrounging for free food. If I were you, I would have committed suicide out of shame long ago.” As Yi Yun spoke, he gave Rain Numinous a nonchalant look. He had done all of this because of the problematic woman.

“What? Maidservant?” The mercenaries looked at Shan Ling immediately. She was the weakest of them, so the so-called maidservant could only be her.

1635 - : Soft Clouds Mountain Manor

Shan Ling fell silent after she stopped her attacks.

Although the Desolate clan was inferior to the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, Shaomang Xuan’s standing in the Desolate clan was extraordinary. He was already halfway considered a member of the Desolate clan’s upper echelons.

This was in no way inferior to the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins candidates who were vying to be crown designate. Back when Yi Yun met Shan Ling, he was extremely surprised that she was just a mere maidservant despite her talent.

It was fine if it was Shaomang Xuan having Shan Ling as a maidservant, that was considered normal.

However, Yi Yun was human!

At this moment, Shan Ling was already using the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book to change her looks. The present crowd did not know where Shan Ling came from. They found it baffling that a genius female Fey who had become a Fey Lord at such a young age would be willing to be a human Divine Lord’s maidservant.

There was also Lin Xintong. Her bone age was frightening small, yet she had freakish combat strength. She had just fought four alone; if not for Yi Yun’s instruction to halt the fight, she would have already slain one of them. Such talent made everyone present extremely embarrassed.

They were too useless. Compared to this human girl, it was like they had lived their lives in vain.

And for a human like Yi Yun, a female Fey Lord was willing to submit to him while a peerless genius was willing to be his woman. How could he be weak?

“Senior Rain, I will not be a freeloader in Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. I do need Her Highness Soft Clouds to provide me with some resources, but when used by me, they would be much more meaningful than rearing this motley crew.”

Yi Yun spoke without any qualms. It was practically smacking them in the face, but no one dared to retort him. The human girl’s sword was still at the Fey Lord’s neck and had yet been retracted!

The Fey Lord did not even dare move.

“Hahahaha! I was wondering who it was to be this arrogant!” At that moment, there was a long laughter.

Everyone looked over and saw a man dressed in a python robe. His eyes were sharp and he had the air of a king.

Upon seeing this man, everyone was delighted.

“Marquis Bi Lin!”

“It’s Marquis Bi Lin!”

Marquis Bi Lin?

Yi Yun looked at the man and was unsure what his identity was. However, he was definitely someone of importance in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins considering how he was conferred the title of marquis.

“Peak Fey Lord…”

Yi Yun sensed the man’s cultivation level. Fey Lord cultivation levels naturally had its own power that matched human Divine Lords.

Humans were categorized by the number of Divine Lord Royal Seals they condensed.

As for Fey Lords, they were categorized by the number of times their Fey cores were tempered. Tempered Fey core, double-tempered Fey core, and triple-tempered Fey core corresponded to the Royal Sealed Divine Lord, double-sealed Divine Lord, and triple-sealed Divine Lords.

In fact, the number of temperings did not fully represent one’s strength. Some Fey’s single tempering of their Fey core was equivalent to the triple-tempering of others’ Fey cores.

It was the same principle with Divine Lord Royal Seals. For instance, Yi Yun’s Divine Lord Royal Seal alone was worth more than ten seals of others. The Heavenly Dao Royal Seal was just too terrifying. It was almost impossible for Yi Yun to fuse with another Heavenly Dao Royal Seal, much less three.

Under such a situation, being a double-sealed Divine Lord was Yi Yun’s limit.

However, with the degree of tempering impossible to determine while identifying the number of tempering a Fey core had, it became the standard to determine a Fey Lord’s strength.

At this moment, Marquis Bi Lin was deliberately showcasing his strength—it was none other than a triple-tempered Fey core!

This was a clear show of force. Typical Fey Lords would not flaunt the level of tempering of their Fey cores. Many would even deliberately keep it a secret.

“Is this an opening gambit?” Yi Yun chuckled. It was obviously meant for him.

However, a question puzzled him. He originally believed that the people who lived in Soft Clouds Mountain Manor were all her guest mercenaries. However, why was a marquis among them?

This person appeared to have a very unique standing.

Yi Yun noticed that Rain Numinous looked at Marquis Bi Lin with a hint of barely perceptible displeasure.

Rain Numinous actually does not like Marquis Bi Lin? As such, Yi Yun was even more certain that Marquis Bi Lin was not Jiang Xiaorou’s guest mercenary. At the very least, he was not one under the same framework as others.

But under such circumstances, the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor’s mercenaries seemed to respect him and even honor him. That seemed interesting.

“Why don’t you give a self-introduction?” asked Yi Yun nonchalantly.

Marquis Bi Lin did not say a word, but his subordinate beside him said proudly, “My master is a Heaven Fey marquis. His elder sister, Madam Bi Yun, was married into the Blood King Palace and was given the title of Imperial Noble Consort! Marquis’s noble title was conferred by the reigning Ruins Emperor!”

A few words from the subordinate made Yi Yun understand. So this fellow was the Blood King’s brother-in-law. For the Blood King to add a concubine to his harem, it was nothing odd choosing a junior who was a few thousand years old. It was likely that Madam Bi Yun was young.

Interesting. The Blood King’s queen was Xiaorou’s mother. The Imperial Noble Consort was likely second to the queen.

Since Bi Yun could become Imperial Noble Consort while Bi Lin was conferred marquis, it likely meant that the Bi family was extremely terrifying. Perhaps a large part of the pressure Xiaorou’s mother was facing came from the Bi family!

Marquis Bi Lin was not much older than Shaomang Xuan. With the aggression that came with his young age and his good background, how could a genius that viewed himself as superior be only willing to be marquis?

He probably wanted to cause stirs during court sessions with the emperor! Therefore, he temporarily lived in Soft Clouds Mountain Manor and built ties with Jiang Xiaorou’s mercenaries. In name, he was helping Jiang Xiaorou fight for the title of crown designate, but who knew what he was really up to?

Now that Blood King only had Jiang Xiaorou as a child, if Madam Bi Yun were to bear a child, what would Marquis Bi Lin do?

This was likely why Rain Numinous did not like Marquis Bi Lin.

In just a simple introduction, Yi Yun had guessed almost everything about Marquis Bi Lin. The relationships among the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins royalty sure was complicated!

“I heard that my niece recently acknowledged a younger brother?” Marquis Bi Lin said languidly.

Yi Yun was momentarily taken aback before he jolted to his senses. Marquis Bi Lin was referring to Jiang Xiaorou as his niece. However, what kind of status did Jiang Xiaorou have? He was being too casual calling her his niece.

Furthermore, Jiang Xiaorou had only reunited with him for less than half a day. Yet, he had already learned of the news. It was obvious that he kept Jiang Xiaorou under close scrutiny.

“I heard that the out-of-the-blue brother’s surname is Lin. Could it be you… Young Master Lin? Hahaha!” Marquis Bi Lin laughed out rapturously. “In terms of familial seniority, you should call me uncle. This Soft Clouds Mountain Manor has fallen under my direction in recent times. The resources are also handled by me. Why, are you questioning my management of Soft Clouds Mountain Manor?”

The second half of Marquis Bi Lin’s sentence turned stern!

He had a triple-tempered Fey core and was already standing at the peak of Fey Lords. No matter how much of a genius Lin Xintong was, how could he mind it? How could he permit Yi Yun to wreak havoc in a territory he ruled over?

“So you are the useless housekeeper of Soft Clouds Mountain Manor!” Yi Yun roared with laughter. “It’s no wonder the motley crew looked like they were licking boots the moment you appeared. So you are the one who has been handing out the resources? Are you using Her Highness Soft Clouds’s resources to develop your own faction? When Madam Bi Yun produces offspring, you can use these connections to pull over these good-for-nothings and come under a new master, right? Hahaha!”

It could be said that Yi Yun spoke without any fear!

When he said that, Marquis Bi Lin’s expression turned livid. Everyone around had a change in expression, including Rain Numinous. Her eyes focused on Yi Yun!

Yi Yun’s words had offended many! Such things were understood, but never spoken.

This was because Madam Bi Yun’s background was too powerful. She was unable to be queen when she married the Blood King, so she could only be Imperial Noble Consort. With most of Blood King Palace’s resources provided to Jiang Xiaorou, allowing Marquis Bi Lin to handle finance was actually a form of compensation.

This was a silent undertaking everyone knew, but Yi Yun had ruthlessly exposed it.

“I must say that your sister’s name sure is inauspicious. Madam Bi Yun sounds like Madam Contraception 1 . Yet she probably will not have offspring the rest of her life.” The second half of Yi Yun’s sentence was said with a voice transmission. He was not afraid of Madam Contraception, but stirring trouble with her implicated the Blood King. It was not wise to say it in public.

“You have a death wish!” Yi Yun’s words infuriated Marquis Bi Lin. He never expected Yi Yun to be that arrogant! It was not a mere provocation anymore, for it was reason for him to kill Yi Yun.

“Ah!” At that moment, Marquis Bi Lin’s body emitted a roar. His lifeblood powers boiled as azure lifeblood manifested and an azure wyrm phantom behind him!

The azure wyrm gyrated as it stirred the clouds and rain! The entire sky above the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor was covered with black clouds in a tempestuous manner.

“One with an ant’s strength dares fight a True Dragon?” Yi Yun suddenly smacked down when he saw Marquis Bi Lin erupt his strength.

The palm brought with it the power of the Heavenly Dao, making it as though the heavens were collapsing!

“Ka-cha!”

The gathered clouds obviously could not withstand the smiting blow as they disintegrated apart! Even the wyrm behind Marquis Bi Lin that flailed its claws had vanished suddenly. It was as though it had experienced the greatest horror and was immediately sent into hiding!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The protective lifeblood defenses that protected Marquis Bi Lin appeared like shards of glass. They exploded and suppressed Marquis Bi Lin to the ground.

“You!”

The corners of Marquis Bi Lin’s mouth seeped blood. His face was filled with horror for he never expected Yi Yun to be so powerful.

“Ah!” Marquis Bi Lin roared out as strange blood patterns surfaced over his body. It appeared like a particular family clan mystic art, but Yi Yun thought nothing of it. He continued exerting strength with his palm as Marquis Bi Lin’s blood patterns exploded with cracking sounds!

From the side, Rain Numinous watched in horror. The Bi family’s wyrm mystic art involved their distant ancestors’ bloodlines. Although Marquis Bi Lin was only able to revealed limited strength, it should not have been so easily cracked by Yi Yun. Yi Yun’s strength was just too terrifying.

He was probably approaching that of a quasi-Godly Monarch!

“As I mentioned before, Soft Clouds Mountain Manor’s housekeeper should be changed. Look at you, not only do you cause a mess in Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. All of you are nothing but trash to begin with, but you had the nerve to use your middling bloodline powers to fight me?”

“You made me think of you as an expert when you showcased your triple-tempered Fey core. From the looks of it, your triple-tempered Fey core is only for show; it has no bark.

Yi Yun kept shaking his head as Marquis Bi Lin struggled desperately. However, he remained held to the ground. His flesh and blood was beginning to disintegrate, but he was unable to stand up while slumped on the ground. It was an utter humiliation!

The corners of Yi Yun’s mouth curled up as he said to Lin Xintong, “Xintong, shatter his Fey core.”

“Alright.” Lin Xintong drew her sword. She could not be bothered with Marquis Bi Lin’s identity. Yi Yun was her husband, and so only listen to him alone.

Upon seeing Lin Xintong’s cold gaze while showing no hesitation to deliver the blow, Marquis Bi Lin’s expression changed. Once a Fey core was destroyed, it was basically gone!

“Shut up!” The person who had spoken was Rain Numinous. “You can’t touch him.”

Marquis Bi Lin had a powerful background. Crippling him only meant immense trouble.

Yi Yun smiled. “Since Senior Rain is pleading on his behalf, I can spare him. However… this person is too much of a good-for-nothing. I don’t think he’s suitable to be housekeeper of Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. Why don’t you give the position to me?”

Yi Yun said those words openly, causing the surroundings warriors to break out into cold sweat.

This Yi Yun was too domineering!

They originally saw Rain Numinous bring a human Divine Lord over and believed they could bully him. Humans among Fey were like lambs encountering a pack of wolves. However, they never expected that Yi Yun was akin to a ferocious Ancient Fey!

All of them added up, together with Marquis Bi Lin, who was both powerful and a strong background, had been suppressed by Yi Yun!

Rain Numinous gave Yi Yun a glance as she fell silent.

She really did not like Yi Yun, finding him too arrogant. It was obvious that he had immense ambition and, with Xiaorou’s unconditional trust in him, Rain Numinous was worried, afraid that he would fool Xiaorou. Was Xiaorou able to control such a brother?

Of course, Rain Numinous also disliked Marquis Bi Lin. His savage ambition was basically obvious!

Although Yi Yun might fool Jiang Xiaorou, he ultimately could still be genuine towards Xiaorou.

As for the Marquis Bi Lin, it was already a given fact. Weighing the pros and cons, it was better if Yi Yun became a housekeeper.

If he was made to give up his position because of his inferiority, Madam Bi Yun would not be able to say a word.

Therefore, Rain Numinous chose not to say anything.

Marquis Bi Lin insisted, “I’m a son of the Bi clan. If you dare maim me, the Bi clan will absolutely not spare you!”

“Oh? That frightens me.” Yi Yun scoffed as he gave Lin Xintong a glance. “Satisfy him.”

Without a word, Lin Xintong attacked immediately.

The sword flashes were like three-feet white silk as they stabbed straight into Marquis Bi Lin’s Fey core!

“Ah!”

Marquis Bi Lin let out a bellow, but at that moment, Lin Xintong’s sword had penetrated out his body. There was no hesitation in her attack!

“Ding!”

The sword had torn right through his flesh, stopping when the tip touched the Fey core.

I was not because Lin Xintong had held back, but it was because Rain Numinous was holding down Lin Xintong’s sword.

Rain Numinous was alarmed as well. This girl actually dared attack! If she had not intercepted the blow, Marquis Bi Lin would have been crippled!

At that moment, Marquis Bi Lin was covered in sweat. At his position, being crippled was worse than death. Even if it was possible to exact revenge on Yi Yun, being crippled meant being crippled. There was no return.

“You… You…” Marquis Bi Lin’s lips trembled.

“From this day forth, the position of Soft Clouds Mountain Manor’s housekeeper shall be left to Young Master Lin,” Rain Numinous gave Yi Yun a deep, meaningful look as she said.

Immediately, she sent a voice transmission into Yi Yun’s ear. “I know you are ambitious, but Xiaorou trusts you greatly. If you cheat her, I’ll absolutely not spare you!”

“Ambitious?” Yi Yun smiled. “I believe you are mistaken, Senior Rain. My ambition doesn’t lie with the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins. I wanted the position of housekeeper because I believe it makes things more convenient!”

1636 - : Marquis Bi Lin

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What did you say?” Yi Yun’s words stunned Rain Numinous. This punk had such an arrogant tone. He was actually saying that his ambition did not lie in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins?

What did this mean? Was he saying that the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was too tiny, that he wasn’t impressed by it?

His sister could become crown designate; thus, Jiang Xiaorou might possibly become Ruins Empress one day. That would make her one of the most honored persons in the Chaos Heavens. Above the Ruins Emperor, there were only figures like the Fey Patriarchs or Soul Patriarchs. Many of those patriarchs had lived for hundreds of millions of years to billions of years.

With such a sister, anyone would wish to use her as leverage to advance themselves, riding that advantage as high as they could. If they were talented, it was possible for them to receive the bloodline transplantation of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins to become a postnatal Fey.

Although the Fey were not fond of postnatal Fey, since the idea had the sense of abandoning their own roots, thriving in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was impossible to do as a human. So what if one became a postnatal Fey in order to thrive?

Furthermore, Jiang Xiaorou’s trust in and feelings for Yi Yun would definitely result in her transplanting him with the best royal bloodline. That would have been a huge opportunity for Yi Yun.

Despite having such a promising future to look forward to, Yi Yun seemed to think nothing of it. This left Rain Numinous feeling displeased. She felt that not only was Yi Yun ambitious, but that he was ridiculously ambitious.

If he did not think the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was good enough, was he thinking of becoming Ruins Emperor or the Fey Patriarch?

Yi Yun guessed at what Rain Numinous was thinking and said, “Senior Rain, I do not think much of this position as housekeeper, nor do I intend to use it to soar. My stay here is firstly to refine pills and secondly to help my sister!

“I wish to refine a special kind of pill. This pill will be very beneficial to Sis Xiaorou. I need the authority for the allocation of resources.”

If this was fifteen minutes before, Yi Yun’s words would have caused him to be thrown out by Rain Numinous. But it was different now. A person’s strength gave him the right to speak. Even if a person’s strength was uncorrelated with their ability to refine pills.

Rain Numinous said, “I previously mentioned that there will be a Competition of the Fey Altar Spot in two years. It will influence Xiaorou’s future. Although the Blood King has given a sizable amount of resources, using them would burn a hole in our pocket. If you want to buy the things you want, it’s unknown how expensive it will be!”

Yi Yun laughed. “The enhancement of bloodline cannot be bought for any price. Limited resources should be employed where they are needed most. So what if you have many guest mercenaries? All they do is some chores or allow for a show of force by publicly announcing that you have three thousand guest mercenaries. It’s all pointless. If one has redoubtable strength, why would one need to hire guest mercenaries? Just one’s title would make the populace submit to them. When the time comes, there will be people racking their brains, hoping to become Sis Xiaorou’s servant.”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Rain Numinous was at a loss for words and was enraged.

Wasn’t this obvious? Who didn’t know that being strong was the best? You might as well talk about breaking through to the Godly Monarch realm tomorrow. What’s the point in saying any of this?

If one’s strength was unable to stand out among all the royal candidates, they could only compete using the power and size of the faction they could amass. The stronger the faction, the more evident of a candidate’s prestige and ability. And being Ruins Emperor required the ability to rally the masses.

Rain Numinous did not wish to be bothered with Yi Yun any further, and Yi Yun didn’t care either. He continued asking, “What is the Competition of the Fey Altar Spot?”

Rain Numinous could not be bothered to explain, but since it was not a secret in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, she said, “In two years, the few top royalty clans in the Chaos Heavens will jointly hold a trial for the members of the royalty that tests them on every aspect! At the end of the trial, not only will one’s reputation be affected, the results will also influence the allocation of a mystic realm spots.

“All the Heaven Fey candidates for crown designate will be participating! The disciples who obtain first place would receive handsome rewards, and one of them being… the entry into the Fey Altar!

“The Fey Altar is an altar that worships the heavens in one of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ forbidden grounds. Over the billions of years, the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins has had many powerful Fey choose to die in there before their natural death. The lifeblood powers that release upon their death continue lingering in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ forbidden ground. If one used a mystic technique to stir the powers, especially if it was a peerless genius, they could call upon the Heavenly Tribulation on the altar!

“That Heavenly Tribulation can reach up the twelfth stage. It is the most supreme Heavenly Tribulation that can temper one’s body!

“This is a dream every prince or princess yearns for. However, the Heavenly Tribulation is too intense. If they aren’t careful, they can end up completely annihilated.

“Xiaorou has cultivated for too short a time. She is in need of such supreme Heavenly Tribulation body tempering. This is also fundamental to the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins.”

Yi Yun’s eyes lit up when Rain Numinous mentioned that.

The supreme twelve Heavenly Tribulations. He never expected such a prize!

Indeed. Heavenly Tribulations were something the Fey had to experience. It was not strange that there was such a reward.

The peerless Fey geniuses would undergo a lifeblood Heavenly Tribulation to temper their body and obtain tremendous opportunities before they cultivated to become Fey Thearchs.

Human Divine Lords could condense Divine Lord Royal Seals to enhance their strengths. But for Fey Lords, they similarly had to temper their Fey cores. The number of temperings corresponded to the number of Divine Lord Royal Seals condensed. It was difficult to tell which was better.

And under such circumstances, peerless Fey geniuses had an additional aspect of Heavenly Tribulation. It was something humans lacked!

This was also why, among the top races in the Chaos Heavens, humans were especially repressed by the Fey.

Yi Yun’s body tempering was in dire need of a Heavenly Tribulation. His Dragon Emperor bloodline had only experienced a Heavenly Tribulation once in the Sinkhole, but it was only a quasi-Heavenly Tribulation. It was artificial and was far weaker than the Heavenly Dao’s Heavenly Tribulation.

If he were to experience the twelve Heavenly Tribulations, the benefits were obvious.

However, it was impossible for the Fey to allow humans to enter their Fey altar.

Regardless, he had to help Jiang Xiaorou win that spot first. If not, there was no chance at all.

Rain Numinous said,” Young Master Lin, you are Soft Clouds Mountain Manor’s housekeeper. There are many of the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor resources which you can allocate, but the things you need will not be affordable even if you bankrupt it. As for the rest, you could apply for them from the Blood King.”

Yi Yun smiled. “Senior Rain, I did not say that all the resources are to be paid for by Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. I will also be earning large amounts of wealth in the coming days. Perhaps when the time comes, Soft Clouds Mountain Manor might not need to come up with much of it.”

Upon hearing that, Rain Numinous was left speechless. To buy that much precious items, anything less than a thousand or two thousand Chaos Crystals was insufficient. What did Yi Yun have that could allow him to earn that much?

Rain Numinous could not be bothered wasting her breath on him when she saw how confident he was.

If one was able to earn that much wealth in a short period of time, even the various Fey Thearchs in Heaven Fey City would be far inferior to them. Even the Blood King was inferior to that.

“I’ll leave you to your own devices.”

Rain Numinous walked off and left the numerous mercenaries looking at Yi Yun in apprehension.

“Take me to the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor’s storehouse,” said Yi Yun. Being in charge of the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor’s resources was a manifestation of his power as housekeeper.

“Soft Clouds Mountain Manor’s storehouse is on Marquis Bi Lin’s hand. That ring with swirling clouds…” said a mercenary.

The storehouse was brought around by the housekeeper, but an inventory check had to be made every day. Every item that entered and taken out was recorded.

Yi Yun beckoned his hand, causing the ring in Marquis Bi Lin’s hand to fly into his hand. Marquis Bi Lin was filled with hatred, but he did not dare resist. Instead, he took the initiative to wipe off the mental imprint in the ring. If Yi Yun were to wipe it off by force, it would damage his psyche severely.

“Audit the accounts!”

Yi Yun went straight to the auditing room. He knew that Marquis Bi Lin’s accounts were definitely faked! It would not surprise him if Marquis Bi Lin had siphoned off many resources while he was housekeeper of Soft Clouds Mountain Manor.

However, this was likely something Rain Numinous knew very well. It was just unknown how much he had siphoned off.

Yi Yun did not plan on using this to put Marquis Bi Lin to death since his appointment as housekeeper was a form of compensation to Consort Bi Yun.

It was not necessary to audit the accounts. All Yi Yun wanted to do was ensure that the accounts were square, that they matched the records.

The Soft Clouds Mountain Manor’s reserves were nothing impressive. All the various treasures within when converted to Chaos Crystal amounted to about fifty.

It was identical to the records. Even though Marquis Bi Lin had faked the accounts, he did not siphon off things that were clearly recorded in the books.

“Fifty Chaos Crystals. It can be used to buy a few treasured herbs, but it would not be enough to buy Fey cores of powerful Fey or Celestial Blood.”

“And to earn that many resources in a short period of time, even an Alchemy Thearch or a Godly Monarch-ranked Crystal Refinement Grandmaster would find it difficult.”

Yi Yun was pondering over the matter when a voice transmission talisman lit up in front of him.

It was sent by Jiang Xiaorou. She had informed the Treasure Fey Pagoda to spread the news that a Fey Thearch was purchasing some treasures. An ancient Fey clan had produced one of them—Golden Feather Immortal Pistil.

Yi Yun was delighted. Only he knew that to receive news this fast was probably not as simple as Jiang Xiaorou had depicted.

The Golden Feather Immortal Pistil was offered for twelve Chaos Crystals. According to Yi Yun’s understanding of market prices, it was considered cheap. Perhaps the ancient Fey clan had the intention to befriend the Blood King.

In the following days, Yi Yun took up residence in Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. In the backyard of Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, there was an even smaller yard.

When Yi Yun first entered that yard, he was hit by countless memories. The yard was identical to the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor in the Tian Yuan world.

He knew very well that this tiny area was probably Jiang Xiaorou’s final bastion of peace. When she was exhausted both in body and mind from her battles in the Chaos Heavens, she would come here to calm her mind and rest.

“Behind this is Her Highness’s residence. Her Highness had specially left such a place when Soft Clouds Mountain Manor was built. It was renovated into such a garden.”

A Fey maidservant explained as she guided Yi Yun. Being new here, although many people did not like him because of his overbearing and violent nature, they had to show him fear and respect. Now, all the maidservants in Soft Clouds Mountain Manor shuddered in fear when they saw him.

In the coming days, Jiang Xiaorou also frequently came to the yard.

In her spare time, she would have tea, play chess, and chat with Yi Yun and Lin Xintong. They led warm and calm days like mortals. It was a happy time.

“Yun’er, Xintong, try this. This tea is brewed using Fey Spirit Fruits and ten-thousand-year-old spring water from the deepest lakes and boiled with a thousand-year fire plume. It has a very unique taste.” Jiang Xiaorou personally poured the tea for Yi Yun and Lin Xintong.

Although the maidservant pretended to ignore this scene, she felt mixed emotions. Her Highness Soft Clouds had deep feelings for this brother of hers. She had been serving the manor for more than a century, but she had never seen Jiang Xiaorou appear so close to anyone. Of course, if the Blood King came, Jiang Xiaorou would naturally show respect and love, but she would not look as relaxed.

“I definitely have to taste what Sis Xiaorou extols so much,” said Yi Yun with a smile.

At this moment, a voice transmission talisman suddenly flew to Jiang Xiaorou’s side. She hesitated for a moment before her expression changed slightly.

“What is it, Sis Xiaorou?”

“I had arranged the Treasure Fey Pagoda to purchase the herbs, but the Luyuan clan which had agreed to sell us the Golden Feather Immortal Pistil has gone back on their word! They plan on participating in an auction which sells their clan’s treasures. The Golden Feather Immortal Pistil will be one of the highlights of the auction.”

“Oh?” Yi Yun pricked up his brows. “An auction?”

Over the past few days, Yi Yun gained some understanding of the Luyuan clan because of the Golden Feather Immortal Pistil. It was not a huge clan, but at its level, it was completely inadequate to privately hold an auction.

“Where’s the auction venue?” asked Yi Yun.

“Nine Tribulations Veranda,” said Jiang Xiaorou. She had a general idea what Yi Yun was suspecting. She added, “Nine Tribulations Veranda is a faction under the Luo King. The Luo King’s grandson, Jiang Yuchan, is the sixteenth prince.”

In the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, only acknowledged princes and princesses were ranked according to age. The others were not even qualified to be given a ranking.

The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins had so many princes and princesses, but there were fewer than forty who actually ranked.

With Jiang Xiaorou ranked nineteenth, Jiang Yuchan had the advantage over Jiang Xiaorou in the competition of being crown designate.

The main reason was that the Luo King had greater qualifications than the Blood King!

Although the Blood King was powerful, he had returned to the Chaos Heavens for less than a thousand years. However, the Luo King had been in power for a million years!

He had three main estates under him: The Nine Tribulations Veranda, Fey Blood Plains, and a large manor garden north of the city.

Among the three, the Fey Blood Plains had the highest income.

Jiang Xiaorou said, “The Nine Tribulations Veranda auction will be held about three days from now. I’m planning on letting Store Manager Yuchi to attend…”

“Forget it. Don’t bother going!” Yi Yun said.

Since he was Soft Clouds Mountain Manor’s housekeeper, he had a general understanding of the resources her competitors had. Jiang Yuchan’s grandfather, the Luo King, was not on good terms with the Blood King. It could even be said that they had a grudge.

Back when the Blood King’s talent was nothing to brag about, his mother had died from a scheming plot. Due to his lacking strength, he could only tolerate it. Later, he became a Fey Thearch and returned for revenge. Most of the people who participated in the plot to kill his mother were killed! And among them was the Luo King’s mother, who had some involvement in the plot. However, there was insufficient evidence and the Luo King’s mother had a significant background, so the matter was left at that.

As such, it was obvious how intense the competition between Jiang Xiaorou and Jiang Yuchan was.

There was a vendetta from both generations!

Under such circumstances, wouldn’t Jiang Yuchan get someone to bid up the prices on anything Jiang Xiaorou wanted to purchase? Especially the Golden Feather Immortal Pistil. It was also very useful to him, so it would not be a loss if he managed to purchase it.

Yi Yun said, “Since the Nine Tribulations Veranda is Jiang Yuchan’s territory, it will cost us at least thirty Chaos Crystals even if we win the bidding war.”

1637 - : Jiang Yuchan

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jiang Xiaorou had guessed at what Yi Yun had to say too.

The biggest conglomerate in the Heaven Fey City was the Treasure Fey Pagoda and the Nine Tribulations Veranda only barely ranked in the top five. But in terms of auctions, the Nine Tribulations Veranda was the Treasure Fey Pagoda’s equal.

The Treasure Fey Pagoda typically only auctioned their own treasures. They sold large quantities, but the average price was slightly lower.

As for the Nine Tribulations Veranda, they only auctioned top treasures!

“But Yun’er, this Golden Feather Immortal Pistil is rare to begin with. If we were to miss it this time…”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s just a Golden Feather Immortal Pistil. Even if Jiang Yuchan didn’t came knocking on my door, I would have gone to him. I never expected him to be the one who initiated it. Sis Xiaorou, don’t worry. In less than five days, I will make Jiang Yuchan hand over the Golden Feather Immortal Pistil to me obediently, and even compensate me with some resources!”

Jiang Xiaorou was taken aback when she heard Yi Yun. If she did not know Yi Yun so well, she would have believed that he was bragging.

“Yun’er, what do you plan on doing? Are you planning on trouncing Jiang Yuchan directly and snatching the Golden Feather Immortal Pistil from him? You are a human after all. I won’t be able to protect you if you were to storm the Luo King Palace…”

Yi Yun chuckled and said, “Sis Xiaorou, don’t worry. How could I incriminate myself? My strength is still lacking, so I’ll have to abide by the rules of Heaven Fey City as I act! The Blood King has a vendetta with the Luo King, so as long as I abide by the rules, they can do nothing about me!”

Jiang Xiaorou nodded. On this matter, her father was definitely standing on Yi Yun’s side.

…

While Jiang Xiaorou was discussing with Yi Yun, Rain Numinous had already recorded all that Yi Yun had done the past few days into a voice transmission talisman before sending it to the Blood King.

The Blood King paid a lot of attention to Jiang Xiaorou. Rain Numinous would report Jiang Xiaorou’s performance to him at fixed intervals. And this time, with the sudden appearance of Yi Yun, she naturally had to report everything about her human brother in detail.

Of course, Rain Numinous was not fond of Yi Yun. Her report was filled with veiled criticism, but of course, the so-called criticisms were facts.

For example, Yi Yun’s request for Jiang Xiaorou to help him obtain resources, buying him massive amounts of herbs to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pill.

Another example was despite Yi Yun being powerful, he was arrogant. He acted in a domineering manner, and had repressed numerous mercenaries the moment he arrived at Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. His tone was condescending and he had trounced Marquis Bi Lin, snatching his position as housekeeper.

After doing all of that and snatching the position of housekeeper, he had claimed that his ambition laid beyond the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, that it was too small for his development.

Yet, Jiang Xiaorou thought very highly of Yi Yun. It made Rain Numinous worried that Yi Yun’s status as a human would give others a reason to attack and scheme against Jiang Xiaorou.

When the voice transmission flare extinguished, a towering figure who sat on a Fey bone throne was pondering over something.

Other than what Rain Numinous had to say, he even knew that Yi Yun had insulted Lady Bi Yun by calling her infertile. Marquis Bi Lin had already complained about this to his sister, and it was obvious how angry Lady Bi Yun was.

How could the Blood King not know of that?

Even though he appreciated Yi Yun’s talent, his disrespect to Lady Bi Yun made the Blood King slightly unhappy despite him being aware of the Lady Bi Yun’s cheap tricks. Regardless of what she plotted, she was still Yi Yun’s senior.

Blood King was also worried that Yi Yun was exploiting Jiang Xiaorou.

With this in mind, the man flicked a voice transmission talisman. Purple flames tore through the void and flew towards Soft Clouds Mountain Manor.

Jiang Xiaorou was still discussing the matter about Jiang Yuchan when she received the shimmering purple voice transmission talisman. Jiang Xiaorou’s heart palpitated.

“Yun’er, my father wishes to meet you!”

“Alright!” Yi Yun answered immediately; clearly, this turn of events was within his expectations!

…

The Blood King Palace was situated in the middle of Heaven Fey City. It spanned five kilometers and was extremely opulent.

However, the Blood King seldom stayed in the Blood King Palace. His cultivation grounds were on a spirit mountain north of the city.

This spirit mountain stood straight like a sword, stabbing straight into the clouds. The peak was perennially covered in snow, and it was surrounded by steep cliffs hundreds of thousands of feet, making it seem untraversable!

At the peak of the mountain, there was a tiny lake that never froze. Seated cross-legged in the lake’s pavilion was a black-robed man. In front of him was a zither.

The snowy mountains, the shimmering lake, the pavilion, the clear, blue skies, seemed like a picturesque scene. However, despite the vista, the black-robed man was playing a tune filled with murderous vibes. It left one’s blood boiling!

Yi Yun stood in front of the Blood King and faced the murderous tones.

At that instant, Yi Yun felt as though he was inside a mystic realm’s desert. He was facing countless heretic demons who were brandishing their swords!

This was the… Blood King’s Dao!?

Yi Yun came to a realization. Back when the Blood King left the Heaven Fey royalty, he had joined the battle in the mystic realm battlefield alone. He went through many life and death situations, slaughtering enemies for thousands of years, almost to the point of having a deviation!

This forged his indestructible killing Dao!

Of course, if the Blood King had not entered the Tian Yuan world later and led a peaceful life with Jiang Xiaorou’s mother that slowly quenched his zealous killing intent, he was bound to proceed further down the path of killing, until he was controlled by it, losing himself in the process.

It was also for this reason that despite Jiang Xiaorou’s mother being of ordinary birth, she was his only love.

Now, the Blood King’s zither tunes were filled with his killing Dao. Ordinary warriors would probably lose themselves if they listened too intently to the zither tunes and got immersed.

“Zheng! Zheng! Zheng! Zheng!”

The zither tunes attacked Yi Yun like swords. Although they could be described as remnant blasts previously, they were now aimed at Yi Yun!

At that instant, Yi Yun felt that he was facing a Shura hell!

The zither music also inundated Yi Yun like a roaring sea of blood!

At that instant, countless figures emerged from the blood of sea—Fey dragons that spread their wings in flight, roaring lions and tigers, and countless blood refined soldiers who brandished their spears or swords of blood. All of them rushed at Yi Yun like an entire battalion of soldiers!

The surging force was enough to make one confused and lose themselves.

“The Blood King is indeed strong, much stronger than Golden Winged Celestial Peng!”

For the Blood King to go from having mediocre talent to forging a killing Dao without losing himself before returning to the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins as a Fey Thearch, he was definitely someone not to be messed with!

However, Yi Yun’s experiences were equally extraordinary!

Although he was young, he had experienced countless dangers over the years. The situations he had been placed in had far exceeded many Godly Monarchs. He had refined a Heavenly Dao fragment to become his Divine Lord Royal Seal. Even while inside the Blood King’s killing Dao, he was able to easily extricate himself.

“Ha!”

Yi Yun’s eyes widened suddenly as his gaze gathered the Heavenly Dao, manifesting it into something material before releasing it like thousands of arrows!

The blood mist shadows were penetrated by Yi Yun’s gaze again and again!

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

The blood mist dissipated as Yi Yun’s eyes shone with a crystalline shimmer. The Blood King’s zither tunes came to a sudden halt.

“Greetings Blood King, I’m Yi Yun.” Yi Yun took a step forward and bowed at the Blood King!

The Blood King opened his eyes suddenly and looked at Yi Yun.

Yi Yun continued maintaining his bow. The Blood King was Jiang Xiaorou’s birth father and was a man who wore his heart on his sleeve. He had kept his promise, so Yi Yun was very respectful towards the Blood King.

The Blood King stood up as his hawk-like eyes sized up Yi Yun several times before saying…

“A young person’s abilities must be respected!”

The Blood King’s loud voice resounded through the mountain peak.

After learning of what Yi Yun had done, the Blood King wanted to test him. If he was that arrogant without ability, the Blood King planned on teaching him a good lesson.

With the killing tune, the Blood King did not use all his strength since he was afraid of injuring Yi Yun, but it was definitely not something an ordinary young junior could withstand. He had done so with the plan to take him down a peg, but he never imagined Yi Yun to withstand it in such a composed manner.

This impressed the Blood King. The young man was both horrifying in state of mind and strength.

He found it hard to imagine that his daughter would know of a brother in a mortal world who could come this far.

He was definitely not some run of the mill warrior. He had cultivated for less than a thousand years and his future achievements could only go higher. He had the right to be arrogant.

1638 - : Meeting the Fey Thearch

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Father, this is my younger brother, Yun’er. He has cultivated for less than a thousand years,” Jiang Xiaorou hurriedly informed the Blood King. Having seen the Blood King testing Yi Yun, she was worried that Yi Yun had been injured. She quickly tried to protect him.

The Blood King looked at Jiang Xiaorou in exasperation as he said with a little jealousy, “Rou’er, does he need your protection? Why don’t you take a look at those mercenaries of yours at Soft Clouds Mountain Manor? All of them have been repressed by him. Even Marquis Bi Lin has returned to hide in the Bi family to be away from his hostile edge. Even against me, he easily resolved my attempt to take him down a peg. Do you think he has suffered at all?”

Upon hearing the Blood King’s words, Jiang Xiaorou laughed happily. Yi Yun had done so naturally because of his powerful abilities. She was obviously happy about him being strong.

“Senior Blood King.” Yi Yun cupped his fists. “I would like to borrow some resources to purchase some precious herbs to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pill! This pill will also be of great help to Sis Xiaorou. However, these herbs are overly rare. They can only be purchased under the Treasure Fey Pagoda’s name, but even that influence is limited. Only a Golden Feather Immortal Pistil has been found to date.

“Senior Blood King, allow me to be so presumptuous as to seek your permission of releasing a Fey Thearch decree, listing out the treasured herbs that require purchasing across the entire Fey race.”

After Yi Yun said that, he bowed again. Just the Treasure Fey Pagoda’s name alone was insufficient. Many big family clans did not heed it. Although the Treasure Fey Pagoda was the biggest conglomerate, there was always the second and third biggest conglomerate behind it. All the Treasure Fey Pagoda did was take up twenty percent of the market transactions volume.

Furthermore, Heaven Fey City still had the biggest martial colosseum, the biggest intelligence organization, the biggest bank, the biggest beast colosseum, biggest security company, and biggest Crystal Refinement Master Association, etc!

Every faction that led a particular domain was independently not weaker than the Treasure Fey Pagoda. Furthermore, the Crystal Refinement Master Association had greater influence than the Treasure Fey Pagoda.

The Treasure Fey Pagoda itself was not enough to make everyone heed their requests. However, the result would be different if it was done in the Blood King’s name.

Even in all of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, the Blood King was one of the strongest Fey Thearchs.

“You are even pulling me into your plans.” The Blood King looked at Yi Yun, his eyes flashing with a glint. This punk sure is arrogant. Typically, even young juniors who had very good relationships with Jiang Xiaorou would be shuddering in fear while standing before him. Yet, Yi Yun was daring enough to make such a direct request.

Furthermore, the things Yi Yun wanted were practically priceless. After the Blood King announced a Fey Thearch decree, the family clans would produce the items to gain his favor. As such, the Blood King would be indebted to them.

“You previously mentioned to Rain Numinous that you will earn the Chaos Crystals needed by yourself?” The Blood King looked at Yi Yun.

“Yi Yun said, “I’ll probably only be able to earn a thousand or two Chaos Crystals. I do not dare guarantee earning more than that.”

“A thousand or two Chaos Crystals?” The Blood King laughed. “I believe I don’t have to be Blood King any further. I should just give you my title. Earning a thousand or two Chaos Crystals in such a short span of time… Do you know that the entire Treasure Fey Pagoda’s annual profits only amounts to a thousand Chaos Crystals? And I only take a forty percent cut.”

The Treasure Fey Pagoda did not fully belong to the Blood King. It was simply placed under his control. He also had other estates aside from the Treasure Fey Pagoda.

Furthermore, the expenses incurred by the Blood King’s subordinates, together with what he required for cultivation, resulted in great expenditures. He was only getting a stable income at the moment.

Yi Yun said, “The materials needed for the Myriad Form Shura Pill are just too precious. My imploring of you to announce a Fey Thearch decree is already an unreasonable demand. I have to prove my strength after all. In addition, I might clash with the Luo King’s son, Jiang Yuchan. I hope you would be able to hold down the situation for me.”

“The Luo King!?” A cold glint flashed in the Blood King’s eyes. “Don’t worry and go ahead with it. As long as it’s within the rules of the Heaven Fey City, I guarantee you that no one will try anything against you.”

“Alright!” Yi Yun nodded. “With your promise, I’ll be able to carry out my plans with an easy heart.”

There was not much idle talk when warriors met. After Yi Yun achieved his goals, he led Jiang Xiaorou away immediately.

The first place he came to after his departure was the Fey Blood Plains!

The Fey Blood Plains was a faction under the Luo King’s control. The Luo King had three main estates under his name—Nine Tribulations Veranda, Fey Blood Plains, and City North Manor. Among the three estates, the Fey Blood Plains was the most important one.

The annual income of the Fey Blood Plains was Treasure Fey Pagoda’s equal or more.

The Fey Blood Plains was also the biggest beast colosseum in Heaven Fey City!

The Fey were bellicose and good at battle. Every viewing of an intense battle made ardor and zeal course through their blood.

Therefore, the biggest beast colosseum had countless visitors every day. Just the entrance tickets were a huge form of income.

“It’s here, the Fey Blood Plains!”

The Fey Blood Plains was a kilometer wide. The spectator stands were built a thousand feet tall. It easily accommodated millions of audiences.

Just Yi Yun’s arrival at the Fey Blood Plains made him hear resounding beast roars. It left his lifeblood churning.

“This Fey Blood Plains is like the ancient Roman Colosseum of my previous life, but the battling opponent is a powerful Fey beast.”

With this in mind, Yi Yun paid the entrance fee with Jiang Xiaorou and entered the Fey Blood Plains.

Every battle in the Fey Blood Plains would allow for betting on the battle’s outcome. This was the Fey Blood Plains’s biggest source of annual income.

“Yun’er, are you planning on betting that you would win, so as to bankrupt Jiang Yuchan?” Jiang Xiaorou asked.

Yi Yun shook his head. “The Fey Blood Plains isn’t dumb. That method won’t work.”

The Fey Blood Plains limited a person’s bet. It could not exceed ten Chaos Crystals. Furthermore, the Fey Blood Plains would calculate neutral pay offs according to the betting situation. No matter which side won, the Fey Blood Plains would earn without losing anything.

It was completely impractical to try and win boatloads of money.

Yi Yun found the seats of honor right in front before sitting down with a wide, open stance.

At that moment, a Fey Lord was battling a red Hou.

The red Hou was a thousand feet tall. Its body was covered in fur that seemed to be in flames. Its fangs were a hundred feet long, easily capable of tearing through dozens of people.

As for the Fey Lord, he was not the typical run-of-the-mill warrior. His Fey core had been tempered once, with the second tempering more than half done. But even so, he was not the red Hou’s match at all. He was sent retreating.

Warriors would typically lose to the Fey beast in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ beast colosseum. Of course, the Fey beast’s payoff was even lower. Sometimes, even if one won, the return was about ten or twenty percent.

With the Fey Lord being forced into a retreat, the red Hou suddenly released a blob of bloody mist. It arrived in front of the warrior like a flash of lightning. It sent him flying as its sharp fangs penetrated the Fey Lord’s body.

“Puah!”

The Fey Lord spat out a large mouthful of blood as he flew out. He was heavily injured!

Entering the Fey Blood Plains’ arena was very risky, but of course, the income was good.

“The Fey beast wins!”

The referee announced the outcome as the Fey Lord was taken away.

A large number of people were cheering in the audience, while a number of people tore apart their betting tickets in anger.

“Why didn’t it bite him to death? That trash!”

“He’s only fit to be the Fey beast’s feed.”

Some people cursed him in the audience stands for they had just lost money.

“Yun’er, what are your plans?”

“Simple, mess things up directly!” Yi Yun said as he leaped into the arena!

His act of revenge against Jiang Yuchan was extremely direct and brutal!

“Oh? What are you doing? Are you a contestant?”

The referee was somewhat stunned to have someone suddenly jump out. The Fey Blood Plains contestants needed to register, fill in their particulars, indicating their name, race, and realm before entering the arena.

However, Yi Yun had stepped into the arena directly!

In fact, this was quite commonplace. After all, Fey warriors were a bellicose bunch of people. Stirred as spectators, they would charge straight up into the arena to fight.

And such people were mostly rasher ones. They typically lost terribly when the fight began.

“I’m a contestant now,” said Yi Yun simply. “I won’t take the gladiator fee. Let’s fight immediately.”

“You don’t want the gladiator fee?” The referee was taken aback. With the odds in the Fey beast’s favor, the Fey Blood Plains would offer quite a sizable gladiator fee to have more contestants participate. It started off with fifteen hundred refined ores for Fey Lords and above.

And yet, this person did not even want the gladiator fee. That was something good for them. Clearly, the fellow was rash.

Yi Yun revealed his cultivation level. It was also a rule of the Fey Blood Plains.

“He’s a Royal Sealed Divine Lord!”

“Oh? He’s actually human!”

“A human that has only condensed a single Divine Lord Royal Seal dares join our Fey beast colosseum? He has a death wish.”

“I bet a thousand kilograms of refined ores that he will lose!”

The Fey ostracized humans quite significantly.

Immediately, many people threw out the refined ores in their interspatial rings, betting that Yi Yun would lose.

There were even some Fey warriors who bet that he would die.

The Fey Blood Plains allowed for one to bet on death. Those who were too weak could end up being killed by the Fey beast before even throwing the towel. It was all very common.

The payoffs constantly changed as people placed their bets on the Fey beast. The payoff for Yi Yun also began rising.

Yi Yun held his hands to his back as he watched this scene with a faint smile.

He noticed that Jiang Xiaorou had already sent a voice transmission. She had probably arranged for a few people to bet on Yi Yun’s victory. Yi Yun thought nothing of it as the income would only lead to a few Chaos Crystals.

In fact, when Jiang Xiaorou’s ean entered the betting fray, Yi Yun’s payoff rapidly fell due to the injection of massive amounts of Chaos Crystals on his victory.

Jiang Xiaorou had bet a total of fifty Chaos Crystals! A Chaos Crystal was about five thousand kilograms of refined ores. To most Divine Lords, the usual currency was only limited to refined ores. Chaos Crystals were very rare.

Back when Yi Yun robbed Shaomang Xuan, he had only found about ten plus Chaos Crystals from his ring.

“Yun’er, you shouldn’t show off your edge at the beginning. Make it seem like you are barely winning. That way, the payoffs won’t drop that fast. If our luck is good, we can earn another bet or two.” At that moment, Jiang Xiaorou’s voice transmission sounded in Yi Yun’s years.

“There’s no need.” Yi Yun shook his head. “Someone has already noticed me.”

Yi Yun sensed that the Fey Blood Plains’ staff had secretly sent out voice transmission talismans after carefully observing him.

Injecting large amounts of Chaos Crystals to bet on his victory would naturally win the attention of the Fey Blood Plains.

The speed at which they reacted was faster than Yi Yun had imagined. From the looks of it, betting on the outcome could only be done once. It did not allow for him to earn much.

“Jiang Yuchan’s intelligence gathering is pretty good. From the moment I entered Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, reports of me were likely in his hands.”

1639 - : Fey Blood Plains

CKtalon  CKtalon

At that moment, in Yuchan Manor north of the city a few hundred kilometers away, a group of young men and women were sitting around a long table. Placed on the table were Ambrosia Jade Dew, Spirit Tea, and Immortal Fruits.

Sitting at the seat of honor was a man in a colorful attire. It was weaved by countless feathers.

He was none other than Jiang Yuchan, descendant of the Luo King.

At the banquet Jiang Yuchan hosted, the attendants were all princes and princesses who lacked sufficient strength, resulting in them having to depend on Jiang Yuchan. There were also capable people from all walks of life, top geniuses, and quasi-Godly Monarch senior experts.

These people shared common interests with Yuchan Manor, so they had the intention of aiding Jiang Yuchan in attaining the spot of crown prince.

At that moment, a flame lit up in front of Jiang Yuchan.

“Oh?”

Jiang Xiaorou pricked up his brows as a strange glint flashed in his eyes. “Jiang Xiaorou actually appeared in the Fey Blood Plains.”

Jiang Yuchan’s words immediately made many people cast their gazes over.

“What is she doing in the Fey Blood Plains? Did she bring along that brother of hers?” a middle-aged man asked. He was dressed in white robes which were embroidered with stars. It looked like the pattern contained some mystical law and he was a guest elder of the Luo King, Jiang Yuebai.

Jiang Yuebai was also of royal blood, but his lineage was very far from the direct line. It was extremely hard for him to make a name for himself with his birthright, but he had both talent and opportunities, allowing him to cultivate into a quasi-Fey Thearch.

Jiang Yuchan chuckled and said, “Teacher, how wise of you. It is indeed the case!”

As Jiang Yuchan had received Jiang Yuebai’s guidance in his younger days, he addressed him as teacher.

“Jiang Xiaorou’s brother seems to be named Lin Yun. He probably went to the Fey Blood Plains as a show of force. It’s likely because of the Golden Feather Immortal Pistil.”

Jiang Yuchan sipped the wine in his cup as he stood up. A derisive smile curved across the corners of his lips.

A guest beneath him echoed, “I heard that this Lin Yun made the Treasure Fey Pagoda gather a bunch of treasured herbs on his behalf. They are staggeringly valuable herbs. How can Her Highness Soft Clouds be able to buy so much for him? He’s probably feeling anxious and hopes to win some Chaos Crystal at Your Highness Yuchan’s Fey Blood Plains.”

“He wishes to win at my Fey Blood Plains?” Jiang Yuchan shook his head with a laugh. Gambling was a losing enterprise. As the house, how could he lose when the Fey Blood Plains could dynamically control the payoff rates?

“If he wishes to win some funds by betting on himself, then the scale he is working at is way too disappointing. If I just let him earn large amounts of Chaos Crystals at the Fey Blood Plains, I can forget about my title!”

“Let’s go. I am curious to see what act my beloved sister is putting up.”

Jiang Yuchan got up and walked towards Heaven Fey City.

Everyone present were experts. Even without flying, just a casual stroll would allow them to traverse space quickly. Hundreds of kilometers was nothing.

…

Meanwhile, in the Fey Blood Plains arena, Yi Yun stood with his arms behind his back. In front of him was a flaming red Hou.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

Shouts reverberated from the surrounding stands. They were filled with gusto.

Many a time, the weaker Fey with thinner bloodlines showed more contempt and racism towards humans. From their point of view, the beast colosseum was a battlefield for Fey. It was a contest of bodies and the powers of lifeblood. Human warriors were not qualified to do battle here.

“Rip him up! Tear!” A Fey warrior shouted at the top of his lungs.

“It would be such a pity if this punk with smooth skin and tender meat were to die. He might as well be eaten by me.”

The Fey warriors said all sorts of things like this, but all Yi Yun paid attention to was the betting situation. The payoff rates no longer moved, indicating that whoever wanted to bet had bet.

Earning a few dozen Chaos Crystals was better than not earning anything.

“Jiang Yuchan must have received the news and is likely rushing here.” Jiang Xiaorou sent Yi Yun a voice transmission.

Yi Yun thought nothing of it. He looked at the Red Hou in front of him and grinned. “I’ll use you as my opening gambit.”

The red Hou let out a prolonged roar. In order to allow the spectators to place their bets, it had been restrained for a full fifteen minutes. It was now fully enraged!

At that moment, the restraints on the red Hou’s Yuan Qi were released!

“Roar——!”

The red Hou leaped up into the sky, blotting out the sun like a tiny mountain. Its churning lifeblood forces surged down at Yi Yun like a spate of molten steel. The ground even melted as a result of the lifeblood’s pressure!

Lifeblood transmuted into fire?

The Fey were not completely incapable of comprehending laws. Just as how humans would not completely abandon body-tempering, this red Hou was an ancient Fey with fire affinity. Its lifeblood had transmuted into a flaming cage that enveloped Yi Yun.

At that instant, Yi Yun flipped his hand as the gigantic black Ascending Dragon Cauldron floated above his hand. He held it with one hand as he took a step forward. The space beneath his feet turned chaotic as Yi Yun’s figure seemed to distort.

“Boom!”

The lifeblood flames smashed down, burning through Yi Yun who seemed to be just standing there. However, he subsequently vanished.

An after image!

Simultaneously, Yi Yun had appeared behind the red Hou like a ghost!

He held the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and smashed it downwards like a heavy star.

At that instant, all of Yi Yun’s lifeblood boiled over as the Dragon Emperor’s phantom surfaced behind him. The churning and violent powers surged downwards maniacally.

“Ka-cha!”

A loud crack resounded throughout the Fey Blood Plains. It sounded like thunder, but it was the sound of… cracking bones!

Everyone watched with their own eyes as the gigantic red Hou’s back curved into a strange depression. Blood splattered as the Ascending Dragon Cauldron in Yi Yun’s hand had been dyed a deep red by the Fey blood!

The red Hou’s spine had been broken by Yi Yun’s smash!

Everyone widened their eyes. The lifeblood powers that erupted from Yi Yun left their hearts palpitating. All the hundreds of thousands of spectators around whose cultivation level was below that of Fey Lord felt that their lifeblood were being stirred, as though it would tear out of their bodies. Even their heart beats were resonating with Yi Yun’s lifeblood.

This human had actually cultivated his body? Furthermore, it had reached such a state!?

As they reeled in shock, they saw Yi Yun shake his hand, pulling out a golden chain from his interspatial ring. The chain was covered in complicated array patterns.

This was a Fey chaining lock?

Before anyone could react to Yi Yun’s taking out of the chain, they saw him wrap the Fey chaining lock around the red Hou’s neck. The array patterns were activated!

The red Hou struggled frantically, but it could not rid itself of the shackles!

If this were any other time, just a Fey chaining lock would naturally not be enough to hold down the red Hou. But at that moment, its spine had been broken by Yi Yun. Not only so, Yi Yun had released his potent Dragon Emperor bloodline which suppressed it into a shuddering state.

It knew deep down that the terrifying human had strength far above itself. He could even easily determine its life and death.

“Retrieve!”

Just as the red Hou was showing apprehension in battle, Yi Yun took out a Fey beast bag and threw the red Hou in!

The Fey beast bag was a treasure used by the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins to capture Fey beasts. Yi Yun had prepared several bags before coming to the Fey Blood Plains. Each bag was of excellent quality.

After the Fey beast bag sealed the Hou, Yi Yun immediately conjured array patterns to seal it, preventing any escape from the Fey beast bag. In a few seconds, the Fey beast bag shrank to the size of a palm.

Immediately following that, Yi Yun’s fingers tapped gently, tearing apart the void. A spatial passageway appeared as Yi Yun threw the Fey beast bag in, sending it off!

It was gone!

Upon seeing this situation play out, the hundreds of thousands of spectators were dumbfounded.

What was going on!?

The human punk had made a gigantic red Hou vanish in a blink of an eye!

No! To be precise, it had been captured!

Furthermore, he had sent the captured Fey beast away…

In the Fey Blood Plains’ arena, the battle between the warriors and Fey beasts could lead to death. All of them had to sign a liability waiver prior to the battle. No one had was responsible regardless of any deaths.

However, they never expected the human to do something as unexpected as he did. Yi Yun did not kill the Fey beast, but instead captured it on his first trip to the Fey Blood Plains.

He was actually using the Fey Blood Plains as a venue to capture Fey beasts.

Once one entered the Fey Blood Plains’ arena, life and death depended on their own abilities. As long as one could win, any method could be used. No one had made the rule that a live capture was disallowed. Wasn’t a live capture also considered a win?

“Why… Why did he capture the red Hou?” Many Fey warriors felt as though they had eaten a fly. A live capture was much harder than killing!

They originally believed that the human was courting death, but they never expected his strength to reach such a remarkable realm.

However, why did he go through all that effort? It was clear that he could easily win.

“Is he flaunting his strength?” Many people were rendered speechless. The human punk was too arrogant. But… he did have the right to be arrogant.

Jiang Xiaorou laughed inwardly when she heard the discussions of the people around her. Flaunting his strength was just a figment of their imagination.

His live capture of the Fey beast was obviously to sell it off.

A live Fey beast was worth several times a dead one.

Yi Yun was outright snatching from the Fey Blood Plains. However, he had signed a waiver, so the snatching could not be considered theft. After all, it was the Fey Blood Plains’ fault for enforcing the rule of a liability waiver before fighting in the arena. Instead of straight-up killing, it was better captured alive.

1640 - : Outright Snatching

CKtalon  CKtalon

And at that moment, Jiang Yuchan was walking with more than twenty people towards the Fey Blood Plains from the north of Heaven Fey City.

Jiang Yuebai and Jiang Yuchan walked right in front, while his guest mercenaries were reeling in excitement behind.

“Your Highness! Although our Fey Blood Plains is a beast colosseum, letting two warriors fight in the arena is not a violation of the rules, right? I really wish to face that Lin Yun in battle and see what he amounts to,” said a stocky man.

Jiang Yuchan glanced at the Fey Lord and said, “Combat between warriors is the business of a martial colosseum. That’s Third Brother’s business, so it’s best we do not overstep our boundaries.”

“What a pity. However, just using Fey beasts against that punk would be sufficient. Who knows, he might have already been ripped to pieces. Hahaha,” said the stocky man.

However, Jiang Yuchan shook his head. “Lin Yun is very powerful. I won’t be surprised if Lin Yun wins the first round.”

“Is that so…” The stocky man looked at Jiang Yuchan in surprise. He never expected Jiang Yuchan to think so highly of Yi Yun.

“Lin Yun is no fool. According to the intelligence gathered, he is indeed very powerful. The moment he arrived at Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, he snatched the position of housekeeper. He’s not someone to be messed with. However, he’s overly arrogant and is eager to make his mark. He wishes to make an example out of my Fey Blood Plains so as to flaunt his strength to the Blood King, all so he can win more resources to refine his pill. Unfortunately, he has underestimated my Fey Blood Plains.”

Jiang Yuchan scoffed when he finished his sentence. The Fey Blood Plains had been in operation for years. The amount of wealth and experience it had accumulated was unimaginable. If a human junior could mess up the Fey Blood Plains, it truly deserved to have its business ruined.

“Let him win. It doesn’t matter if he wins two or three rounds. I will cripple him afterwards, making him regret taking me as his opponent.” When Jiang Yuchan said that, he laughed sinisterly. “That sister of mine is overly naive. If I were her, I would have long drawn a line from Lin Yun. How can the Ruins Emperor feel assured making her his crown designate when Soft Clouds Mountain Manor thinks so highly of her brother from a lower realm, and what’s more, a human one.”

Jiang Yuchan never treated Jiang Xiaorou as a competitor for the throne. From his point of view, she was just too weak. Apart from having the Blood King backing her, she was nothing.

Just as Jiang Yuchan was speaking, a voice transmission suddenly lit up in front of him.

Upon hearing the contents of the voice transmission talisman, Jiang Yuchan was stunned. He knitted his brows tightly.

“What happened?” The surrounding guest mercenaries were somewhat puzzled.

“Lin Yun won indeed…” Jiang Yuchan said with an odd expression.

The mercenaries around him were not surprised; after all, Jiang Yuchan had already expected it.

A mercenary said in admiration, “Your Highness truly has a prophetic eye. This Lin Yun just joined Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, and Your Highness has already fully understood his circumstances. Furthermore, Your Highness does not belittle him just because he’s human. To be able to treat every enemy seriously is a quality of a wise ruler. Your Highness, you are far-sighted and great things can be expected from you.”

A mercenary immediately took the chance to suck up. As the saying went, flattery will always get you anywhere. But at that moment, the flattery failed. All Jiang Yuchan did was look coldly at the speaking mercenary.

The mercenary shrunk his neck back. Had he said something wrong and his flattery had suffered a miss?

Jiang Yuchan did not say a word. Instead, he sped up towards the Fey Blood Plains.

Everyone quickly followed. Moments later, they entered the Fey Blood Plains. Then…

They saw an astounding scene. In the arena, a Long Gui was slumped to the ground. Its tortoise shell had been smashed to smithereens. Two if its extremely thick legs that could ferry a continent were broken!

Due to the intensity of the battle, even the arena that was augmented by special array formations had been completely destroyed. Yi Yun was standing in the middle of the ruins.

Following that, he unhurriedly took out the Fey chaining lock and Fey beast bag before imposingly capturing the Long Gui.

Following that, he flicked his finger and opened a spatial passageway. The Fey beast bag was gone! It was unknown where it went either.

Apart from Jiang Yuchan, the rest were dumbfounded in shock. What was happening!?

“He… He captured Baxia alive!?”

The mercenary who spoke gulped. The Long Gui was a Ancient Fey named Baxia. Its tortoise shell was thick and hard, giving it powerful defenses. Furthermore, it had immense strength.

But the moment they entered, they saw the Baxia’s robust tortoise shell smashed through with their own eyes! He had given the Baixia a crushing defeat before capturing it!

Lin Yun’s strength was way too horrifying. Back when they heard that Jiang Xiaorou’s brother was a human, none of them thought much of it. They never expected him to be that ferocious.

According to Jiang Yuchan, this was already the second Fey beast! It also meant that the first Fey beast had likely been taken away by Yi Yun!

It had to be known that every Fey beast in the Fey Blood Plains brought tremendous amounts of wealth!

These Fey beasts were powerful and rare to begin with. Capturing one alive was easier said than done.

The usual expenses such as feed and treatment a Fey beast required was a huger sum of resources. They were usually very carefully selected for battle.

Usually, warriors and Fey beasts of the same realm fought. Since a Fey beast had potent vitalities, they usually held the advantage when facing a genius their level!

Although death and injury was rife in the beast colosseum, most of the ones who perished were the challenging warriors. How could Fey beasts die so easily?

But now, they had already lost two.

“Is this punk capturing our Fey beasts to sell?” a mercenary came to a realization as he said in disbelief. That was actually possible?

Typically, few warriors were able to kill the Fey beasts in battle, much less one capture alive. They never imagined that this was possible.

However, the moment he said that, he was given a cold glare by Jiang Yuchan. He immediately jumped in fright and quickly shut his mouth.

He recalled that back in Yuchan Manor, Jiang Yuchan had mocked Yi Yun’s stupidity of coming to the Fey Blood Plains to bet on him winning, but the scale at which he thought was too small. Now, he realized that Yi Yun was here to capture Fey beasts for sale. Wasn’t this a smack in Jiang Yuchan’s face?

“Next battle, have a quasi-Fey Thearch Fey beast join the battle! Kill him!” Jiang Yuchan said coldly.

Everyone was alarmed when they heard him. A quasi-Thearch Fey beast was already the strongest Fey beast of their Fey Blood Plains.

As for real Fey Thearch level Fey beasts, they had transcended nine tribulations, so their strength was equal or far superior to the Luo King. How was it possible for the Fey Blood Plains to have the means to nurture them?

Furthermore, nurturing a Fey Thearch level Fey beast was pointless. This was because the Fey Thearchs of Heaven Fey City would not come to the Fey Blood Plains to begin with. Heaven Fey City only had about twenty Fey Thearchs in total!

These Fey Thearchs each held power over a faction. They held each other in balance as their sects competed. Taking the Blood King as an example, although he had a vendetta with the Luo King, it would be inelegant for the mighty Blood King to mess things up at a faction belonging to the Luo King. It was akin to a grudge between adults where one of the adults went to hit the child of the other.

Even if the Blood King thought nothing of his reputation and wreaked havoc in the Fey Blood Plains, the Luo King would not sit idle either. He would appear immediately. And it was quite impossible for the Blood King to fight the Luo King.

However, Yi Yun was different. He was a junior, a child in his own right. For a child to fight another child, it was only right and natural.

After Jiang Yuchan finished his sentence, he sensed Yi Yun look over. Clearly, Yi Yun had recognized Jiang Yuchan!

But Yi Yun’s gaze made Jiang Yuchan feel extremely uncomfortable!

Arrogance! Contempt!

All these years, Jiang Yuchan had met many geniuses. Many of them were his opponents, but despite that, with his background and strength, he would greet them politely and courteously.

Even the highly arrogant Second Prince and Fourth Prince, who had a grudge with Jiang Yuchan, had to wear fake smiles while making small talk, even if they were hypocritical or honey-tongued. Appearances had to be upkept.

Only Yi Yun treated him like thin air.

That feeling was as though he never thought of him as an opponent.

“Let the Sea Serpent devour him! Use the mystic medicine to stimulate the Sea Serpent’s ancestral bloodline.”

Jiang Yuchan’s voice turned increasingly cold. The Fey Blood Plains had specially concocted Explosive Blood Fey Pills which could temporarily raise a Fey beast’s strength. Of course, there was also very severe side effects. After a Fey beast ate too much of it, their realm would even drop.

The Explosive Blood Fey Pills were prepared for especially powerful opponents like Yi Yun. Jiang Yuchan had long yearned to kill him.

In response to Jiang Yuchan’s order, someone immediately moved to see it done.

Yi Yun continued standing in the arena with his arms to his back after capturing two Fey beasts. The second Baxia was worth at least eighty Chaos Crystals!

With the income from the Red Hou and the opening battle, he had more than two hundred Chaos Crystals. He had gathered an eighth of the wealth needed for the Myriad Form Shura Pill.

Indeed, robbing was the fastest way to extreme wealth.

Most critical of all, the robbery was completely in line with the Heaven Fey City’s rules.

Being powerful was the reason. Now, Yi Yun was using the Blood King’s title. It was not because he was far inferior to the Blood King in strength, but that he needed to borrow the Blood King’s might.

If Yi Yun had come alone to the Fey Blood Plains to stir trouble, he could have been threatened and suppressed by the Fey Blood Plains. If things went from bad to worse, perhaps the entire Heaven Fey City was not his match. As a human, it was not pragmatic to stir up the Heaven Fey City.

But now, things were different with Yi Yun having the Blood King backing him. The other factions in Heaven Fey City would not take action for this was a conflict between the Blood King and the Luo King.

If the Luo King appeared, the Blood King would appear as well. Furthermore, the Blood King was probably eager for the situation to blow out of proportion so as to find a reason to attack.

At this moment, the Fey Blood Plains staff were busy preparing for the third battle. They planned on dealing Yi Yun a fatal blow.

As for the numerous spectators at the Fey Blood Plains…

They were already completely silent. Prior to this, numerous people were clamoring for Yi Yun to be killed as though they were the owners of the Fey Blood Plains. But with Baxia being captured by Yi Yun alive, all of them shriveled up.

The Fey worshiped the strong. Now that a human which they typically held in contempt could easily trounce them. What else could they say?

The number of spectators gradually increased. News of Yi Yun’s continuous capturing of two Fey beasts from the Fey Blood Plains had spread. Many could not help but come take a look.

Human spectators came as well. Usually, human warriors did not come to the Fey Blood Plains since many of them led abject lives in Heaven Fey City. Most of them survived by doing business and they were lacking in strength to begin with; therefore, they were inviting humiliation if they appeared at highly public events.

1641 - : Messing Things Up

CKtalon  CKtalon

While Yi Yun was waiting in the arena, the audience in the spectator stands in the Fey Blood Plains had reached nearly 800,000 people. With so many warriors together, the power of their lifeblood amalgamated into incessant raging tidal waves.

The betting for the next battle was naturally ongoing in full swing.

The Fey Blood Plains had already announced the third Fey beast—Sea Serpent!

It was an open secret that the Fey Blood Plains had a black Sea Serpent. It was the cornerstone treasure of the Fey Blood Plains and probably had not done battle in a decade.

The black Sea Serpent was intelligent. If not for it being captured by the Luo King years ago, it would absolutely not appear in such a beast colosseum.

This time, it was being brought out for battle because of Yi Yun. A quasi-Thearch Fey beast naturally stirred the audience into a frenzy.

The black Sea Serpent was famous. Once, a thousand years ago, it had devoured a quasi-Godly Monarch expert on the Fey Blood Plains. The expert was from the Ghost race.

Everyone made their bets. On one side was Yi Yun who had easily won the first two rounds, while on the other was the terrifying black Sea Serpent!

With the audience being mostly Fey, many of them bet on the black Sea Serpent.

And the humans who were a minority bet on Yi Yun.

This was within reason. Back on Earth, when China was encroached by the West, any time there was a fighting match between a Chinese martial artist and a foreigner, most would bet on their own respective countries.

Now, the Fey warriors were aggrieved. They were in desperate need for a victory to save their sense of superiority as Fey. They saw hope when the black Sea Serpent joined the lineup.

As for the human warriors, it was their first time seeing a member of their own race stand in the Fey Blood Plains’ arena, forcing the Fey to keep their heads low. They naturally supported him to the greatest extent.

This made Yi Yun’s betting odds reach 3:1.

And the amount bet had reached an astounding 8000 Chaos Crystals.

In this process, just the subordinates dispatched by Jiang Xiaorou alone had reached about two to three hundred Chaos Crystals. They had bet it all.

If they won, they would win approximately 700 Chaos Crystals.

This income had already exceeded Yi Yun’s expectations. He originally believed that it was unlikely he could earn much from betting.

“Yun’er, you have to be careful. Since Jiang Yuchan is here, he will not easily let you win,” said Jiang Xiaorou with a voice transmission. But even so, she had not hesitated to bet everything on Yi Yun.

Compared to the outcome of the battle, she was more concerned with Yi Yun’s safety.

“Jiang Yuchan is a vicious person. Yun’er, you have to be careful,” said Jiang Xiaorou.

Yi Yun nodded.

Since he had the courage to stir up trouble in the Fey Blood Plains, he naturally did not think too much of him.

Boom!

Accompanied by intense cheers, black clouds suddenly blotted out the sky above the Fey Blood Plains.

As rumbling thunder boomed, lightning streaked across the sky. It was as though the world had been immersed in the might of heavenly lightning.

At that moment, a gigantic black dragon head peeked out of the clouds. The dragon’s potent might immediately bore down on the gathered crowd. A pair of cold dragon eyes shimmered with a cold bloodthirsty glint as they instantly locked onto Yi Yun.

“Roar!” Amid a loud dragon roar, violent killing intent surged from the black Sea Serpent’s body which instantly enveloped the entirety of the Fey Blood Plains.

The black Sea Serpent’s massive body appeared from the dark clouds. Its massive dragon claws cracked the ground in front of Yi Yun. Compared to the black Sea Serpent, the size of Yi Yun’s figure was like a negligible speck of dust!

Amid the black Sea Serpent’s horrifying killing intent, the spectator stands in the Fey Blood Plains broke out into tumultuous cheers.

The Fey warriors were extremely excited as they shouted for the black Sea Serpent to rip apart Yi Yun!

Flatten him! Swallow him!

“This is our Fey’s Fey Blood Plains! Humans have no right to wreak havoc here!”

“Black Sea Serpent, rip apart that human!”

As for the human warriors, the dragon’s might and killing intent only affected them more. Like a mountain pressing down on them, their roars were completely blanketed by the Fey!

In fact, when they saw this scene, their hearts were drumming.

The black Sea Serpent was a lot stronger than they imagined!

Jiang Xiaorou’s expression changed slightly.

The black Sea Serpent was a lot stronger than what her intelligence had indicated!

It’s bloodline powers seemed to be completely evoked. At that moment, its strength had already reached close to that of a Fey Thearch!

“It’s the Explosive Blood Fey Pills! I never expected that in order to deal with you, Jiang Yuchan would make the black Sea Serpent consume an Explosive Blood Fey Pill!” said Jiang Xiaorou with a frown.

“Explosive Blood Fey Pill?”

“It’s a specially refined pill in the Fey Blood Plains. It is very seldomly used. I’ve only just heard of it. This Explosive Blood Fey Pill is used to stimulate the Fey beast’s bloodline. It invisibly fuses into the bloodline, but does certain damage to the Fey beast,” said Jiang Xiaorou quickly.

He was willing to use such a pill? Jiang Yuchan was indeed vicious.

At that moment, an array formation’s light flashed, enveloping the black Sea Serpent and Yi Yun within.

“A battle against the black Sea Serpent level will be intense. In order to prevent stray blasts from hurting the audience, we have specially activated a protective array formation.”

A female stewardess’ voice sounded across the Fey Blood Plains.

At that moment, the black Sea Serpent moved!

Its terrifying dragon might instantly came crashing down on Yi Yun as it swiped its claws down. Under the Explosive Blood Fey Pill’s influence, the Sea Serpent turned more violent. It only wanted to flatten Yi Yun!

Its mighty strength and the boundless lifeblood powers left the scalps of the warriors present tingling despite being separated by a defensive array formation.

This situation made Jiang Xiaorou hold her breath. She was unsure what Yi Yun’s limits were. Although she knew he was unfathomable, the opponent was a quasi-Fey Thearch who had consumed an Explosive Blood Fey Pill.

“Boom!”

Yi Yun held the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and smashed it at the Sea Serpent, causing the world to tremble before it. Yet, the Sea Serpent’s claws slammed heavily into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

The physical toughness of both human and dragon were akin to celestial objects. As they exchanged more than a hundred frenzied blows in seconds, the intense collisions caused the arena below them to fracture.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s muscles on his right arm bulged as his blood vessels seemed to explode. The Fey beast’s physical strength was indeed indomitable. Despite having reached the strength of a Godly Monarch, Yi Yun’s physical body was at a disadvantage in the intense clash.

But even so, it was sufficiently astounding! After all, humans cultivated in laws.

Meanwhile, many of the mercenaries beside Jiang Yuchan were appalled. The human’s body was way too powerful; furthermore, he had yet to use his nomological powers. It was quite impossible for a human to not cultivate in laws.

The Sea Serpent had consumed an Explosive Blood Fey Pill. Yet, it could not rip apart the human?

“There’s no need to worry. He will last about half a minute at most before being defeated,” said Jiang Yuchan at that moment with utmost confidence.

The battle situation was still not clear. Despite Yi Yun appearing to still have more to offer, Jiang Yuchan was daring enough to make such a firm assertion.

They did not know how Jiang Yuchan was so certain, but he had extremely high prestige. Since he had already said so, it was definitely not without reason.

“Your Highness, since you have already said so, there will naturally not be any problem with it,” someone immediately said obsequiously. Meanwhile, these people widened their eyes to pay attention to the battle, afraid that they would miss any detail.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yuchan’s right hand had suddenly produced a charm. He clenched it in the middle of his palm without anyone noticing it.

Jiang Yuchan looked at Yi Yun as a sinister smile suffused the corner of his lips.

“Puah!”

The charm was crushed by Jiang Yuchan!

Following that, there was a sudden change to the protective array formation in the arena. A majestic might surged over as it gathered towards Yi Yun like a cage.

Yi Yun, who was flying in the sky, suddenly slowed down as though he had entered a quagmire.

Oh?

A glint flashed in Yi Yun’s eyes. So that’s what it is. The Fey Blood Plains’s arena array has been tampered with. The might injected…

Is it the will of a Fey Thearch?

1642 - : Sea Serpent

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Luo King was considered a veteran Fey Thearch in Heaven Fey City. He was not as illustrious as the Blood King, but as he had been Fey Thearch for so long, he had a deep heritage built up.

Yi Yun immediately knew that the Luo King had severed his psyche forces and fused them within the Fey Blood Plains’ array. The key to triggering those psyche forces had been given to Jiang Yuchan.

Doing so damaged the Luo King’s cultivation level to a certain extent. He needed time to replenish the loss, but he thought nothing of it.

Every expert had a limit to their Martial Dao. Before they reached their limits, their cultivation levels rose sharply. But once they reached their limits, they found their progress hardly advancing even after hundreds of thousands of years. As for the Luo King, he had long reached his limit. He was already considered one in a quadrillion to be able to cultivate into a Fey Thearch. It was reasonable that he was stuck at that limit.

Under such a situation, the Luo King had already written off thoughts of further improving. Therefore, severing some of his psyche forces to protect the estates under him was within reason.

The loss of psyche forces could be replenished given time.

Now, Jiang Yuchan was using the psyche forces of the Luo King on Yi Yun.

“From the looks of it, I have crossed Jiang Yuchan’s bottom line. He is insistent on killing me.”

Yi Yun knew that the psyche forces severed by the Luo King were extremely valuable. Jiang Yuchan had spared no expense—not only had he used the quasi-Fey Thearch Sea Serpent, he had also fed it an Explosive Blood Fey Pill, as well as used the Fey Thearch psyche forces. It was all to guarantee a kill.

Unfortunately, Yi Yun had never used his full strength at all. Even Jiang Xiaorou or the Blood King did not know how powerful Yi Yun was.

Ignoring the Luo King’s psyche forces, even if he was there in person, victory was up in the air if he fought Yi Yun.

Unless absolutely necessary, Yi Yun had no plans on revealing his full strength that matched Fey Thearchs. If that happened, he was bound to attract the attention of the entire Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins. Secondly, it was equivalent to telling the Chaos Heavens that the Heavenly Dao fragment was on him.

After all, he was the only one in the entire universe to have the strength of a Fey Thearch at such a young age! When that happened, any form of disguise or transformation of aura was just to fool himself.

Once the Heavenly Dao fragment was exposed, it was bound to attract the attention of numerous old freaks. Yi Yun was not prepared to face all of them.

Therefore, capturing the red Hou and Baxia from before was nothing. But if he were to capture the Sea Serpent alive, it would be ridiculous.

He did not even need to capture it alive; after all, with the effects of the Fey Thearch’s pressure and the Explosive Blood Fey Pill, Yi Yun would prove sufficiently astounding if he killed the black Sea Serpent!

He could not do so unless necessary.

“Hum!”

The Sea Serpent’s black tail swept over with its violent lifeblood powers. The entire sky was dyed red as though a red sun had exploded in the sky.

Meanwhile, the Fey Thearch’s suppression blanketed the area, causing the void around Yi Yun to collapse!

Yi Yun was immediately placed in a perilous situation.

The spectators immediately yelled in excitement. All of them had made heavy bets on the battle.

“Despicable!” Jiang Xiaorou said hatefully. She was the Blood King’s daughter and had been with him for a long period of time. She naturally could tell that the array formation contained the might of a Fey Thearch.

The knowledgeable ones present also noticed it. Although it was despicable to tamper with the arena’s array formation, this was the Fey Blood Plains. The rules were determined by those who ruled it.

On the life-and-death waiver, the Fey Blood Plains had never made mention that it was a fair battle that would not be affected by any external influences.

It only said that battling in the arena placed one’s life on the line!

To put it simply, if you came to wreak havoc in the Fey Blood Plains, you had to withstand the overt and covert assaults of the Fey Blood Plains.

“This Jiang Yuchan sure is ruthless. He’s only dealing with a human junior. Is there a need to combine the Explosive Blood Fey Pill, the Fey Thearch’s psyche forces, and the black Sea Serpent?” There were quasi-Fey Thearch experts in the colosseum and it was clear to them.

They also knew that Jiang Yuchan was trying to make a statement. A few years ago, the Luo King had handed the Fey Blood Plains to Jiang Yuchan to manage. In a way, he had just taken charge, so what should he do if someone tried to mess things up? He had to strike swiftly and destroy!

If a mighty person like Yi Yun were to perish under him, others would naturally think twice.

“Ka-cha!”

The Sea Serpent’s tail finally lashed onto Yi Yun’s body, stirring up stellar winds and producing the sound of striking metal. Yi Yun had cultivated in both laws and body, after all. However, he withstood the heavy blow since his protective Yuan Qi barrier was extremely powerful.

Although it appeared as though Yi Yun was barely holding up, the Sea Serpent, who was battling Yi Yun, knew better. The human was stronger than it.

The potent forces contained in his moves were condensed into a seamless state. Only the Sea Serpent could sense it. None of the audience, including Jiang Yuchan, knew of it!

Yi Yun was just too powerful. Since he had the intention to conceal his powers, no one present would be able to tell unless a Fey Thearch was present.

The spectators only believed that Yi Yun was in an onerous situation, but in fact, he was more than equal to the task.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The battle continued as the Ascending Dragon Cauldron swept through the sky and smashed down incessantly. Meanwhile, Yi Yun also seemed to be withstanding the Fey Thearch’s psyche suppression with great difficulty; however, only the Sea Serpent knew that his moves contained highly concentrated powers. The Fey Thearch’s suppression was probably not something Yi Yun had taken to heart.

For a Fey beast to cultivate to a quasi-Fey Thearch level, it already had its own intelligence. Against such an opponent, it knew very well that it was probably not his match.

It had received orders to kill Yi Yun. But if this continued, it would probably be killed by Yi Yun, much less it killing Yi Yun.

Even if Yi Yun did not kill it, it would be punished by the Fey Blood Plains after suffering a defeat!

“Are you afraid?”

At that moment, Yi Yun’s Yuan Qi voice transmission sounded in the Sea Serpent’s ears.

“Roar!”

The Sea Serpent let out an angry bellow as it ripped across space with its black claws, as though it wanted to rip apart Yi Yun.

“Dang!”

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron floated in front of Yi Yun as it completely withstood the blow.

“You are a Fey beast at the quasi-Fey Thearch level; yet, you do Jiang Yuchan’s bidding like you are dog he rears. You bite whoever he wants you to bite. Furthermore, he fed you the Explosive Blood Fey Pill that does tremendous harm to your body; yet, you still ate it and listened to his orders.”

Yi Yun’s voice was unhurried, but when it landed in the Sea Serpent’s ears, it made its eyes turn red. Its was infuriated as though a volcano had erupted within it.

This was because Yi Yun’s words had hit it where it hurt.

“You were captured by the Luo King, right? He planted a seal in you!” Yi Yun added.

With the Sea Serpent’s strength, the Luo King was the only who could have captured it. Although the Fey were similar to Fey beasts, they were not of the same kind. Fey and Fey beasts were descendants of ancient powerful Fey, but the Fey were the descendants of the Ancient Fey Gods and other intelligence races. As for Fey beasts, they were the descendants of Ancient Fey Gods and feral beasts.

The Fey treated Fey beasts as slaves or livestock. They were not much different from humans.

While the Sea Serpent continued attacking Yi Yun in a frenzy, Yi Yun sent voice transmissions—

“What if I told you that I can remove the seal in you?”

Yi Yun’s words quaked the black Sea Serpent’s entire being!

Remove the Luo King’s seal?

This human junior wished to remove the seal planted by a Fey Thearch?

Ever since it was subdued by the Luo King, the black Sea Serpent had lost all of its pride. It had guarded the Fey Blood Plains and become the strongest Fey beast, but Yi Yun was right. It was nothing but a fierce dog reared to watch the house.

But what was it to do when there was the Luo King’s seal in it?

The Luo King had promised to make it a Fey beast at the Fey Thearch level, but how was it possible? Even the Luo King himself had barely become a Fey Thearch; he had only become one all thanks to a fortuitous encounter.

The seal planted by the Luo King was permanent. The black Sea Serpent felt that its life was destined to be filled with gloom, so how could it not be excited when he heard Yi Yun’s proposal?

“Roar!”

The black Sea Serpent let out a frenetic roar as it widened its jaws and bit at Yi Yun. However, it was only for show.

After Yi Yun dodged, the corners of his mouth curled up. He knew that the Sea Serpent was enticed.

How could it not be? As long as Yi Yun accomplished it, it would be equivalent to unlocking its eternal shackles.

However, it did not fully trust Yi Yun. This was because the Luo King’s heritage was immense and it felt an innate fear towards him, so it was worried that firstly, Yi Yun was incapable of removing the seal, and secondly, even if Yi Yun could do so, it would still land back in the Luo King’s hands. That outcome would only be worse.

“If I didn’t guess wrong, this isn’t the first time you have consumed an Explosive Blood Fey Pill. Jiang Yuchan has been riding over your head and acting tyrannically. Are you willing to be summoned around like a dog?”

As Yi Yun spoke, he shot out a bolt of purple lightning from his hand.

It entered the Sea Serpent’s body like a ghost. On the surface, it did not seem like much, but the Sea Serpent felt its entire body jolt!

It’s here again!

The strike which contained immense power remained undetected by others due to the highly compressed energies. Only the black Sea Serpent knew.

This strike was a show of force, one that Yi Yun delivered to express his strength.

Not only so, the Sea Serpent clearly felt the bolt land on the Luo King’s seal. The seal which was in the form of a lock tempered from divine metal was struck by the lightning bolt!

Boom!

The lock trembled, almost to the point of shattering.

The Sea Serpent was astounded. Yi Yun truly did have the ability to overpower the Luo King!

With that level of strength, Yi Yun could have easily killed him. That was the case even with the blanketing of the Luo King’s psyche forces.

“My own strength far exceeds your imagination. Not only so, I have the Blood King backing me. I can protect you.

“If you are willing, I can sign a contract with you. As long as you serve me for ten years, you will be given freedom!”

At Yi Yun’s level, he no longer needed the black Sea Serpent to aid him in battle. To put it frankly, the Sea Serpent was too weak!

However, having the Sea Serpent in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins saved him a lot of trouble. It was enough to shock and awe others! After all, even Rain Numinous’s realm was only a quasi-Fey Thearch.

To subdue a quasi-Fey Thearch as his bodyguard, he could also smack Jiang Yuchan and the Luo King’s face. This was very helpful for Jiang Xiaorou’s fight for the throne.

The Sea Serpent growled softly. Its will was contained within the growl as it reached into Yi Yun’s ears.

He knew that the Sea Serpent had agreed.

Yi Yun smiled. The enticement of freedom was not something the Sea Serpent could refuse.

He flicked his finger as an even more blinding bolt of Heretical God Lightning flew into the Sea Serpent’s body.

This lightning contained the Heavenly Dao laws!

Although he could violently destroy the Luo King’s seal inside the Sea Serpent’s body, he did not do so. Instead, he abided by the laws and slowly unlocked it!

As such, it would not make Yi Yun appear too much of a freak.

A few seconds later, the seal within the Sea Serpent was completely removed!

To remove the seal using such means only proved that Yi Yun knew of a particular mystic technique and not that he possessed strength that matched a Fey Thearch. This was equivalent to how array grandmasters might be invincible when it came to arrays, but their actual combat strength was nothing much.

Even so, the Sea Serpent was completely astounded. He never expected Yi Yun to remove it as he said. A shackle that had bound it for hundreds of thousands of years had been removed just like that!

It was too excited. All it needed to do after this was be loyal to Yi Yun for ten years and it was free!

It still had a very long lifespan. Given time, it could even improve and become a Fey Thearch!

“You’ll recognize me as master for ten years from today! You are to do whatever I tell you to do, but don’t worry. I will definitely not send you to your death.”

“Roar!” the Sea Serpent roared, expressing its acknowledgment.

And at that moment in time, they were still fighting, but they were acting after all. No matter how good their acting was, it was different from a real battle.

The surrounding experts soon noticed it.

“Darn it, what is that swine doing?” Jiang Yuchan raged. The Luo King’s suppression had already been pushed to its limits. Yi Yun was clearly affected and the Sea Serpent should have released all of its lifeblood powers to crush Yi Yun. Yet, it did not do so. The battle appeared to be carried out perfunctorily, so how could Jiang Yuchan not be angry?

“Swine! If you do not heavily injure Lin Yun in the thirty seconds, I’ll lock you up with the Dragon Lock for three years after this battle! Then, I’ll extract your heart’s blood to refine as medicine!” Jiang Yuchan warned. Three years under the Dragon Lock would definitely weaken the Sea Serpent. Extracting its heart’s blood would only injure it even more greatly.

Upon hearing Jiang Yuchan’s voice transmission, the Sea Serpent turned its head suddenly and looked at Jiang Yuchan. Its eyes flashed with hatred!

“Oh? You swine! What do you think you are doing?” Jiang Yuchan glared angrily, his eyes filled with coldness.

At the same time, Yi Yun’s voice sounded in the Sea Serpent’s ears. “Join hands with me and charge out the arena’s array formation!”

Yi Yun alone was enough to crack the array!

However, there was the Fey Thearch’s suppression and he did not wish to appear too startling. Joining hands with the Sea Serpent would be interesting enough.

“Attack!”

Yi Yun gave the order as the Sea Serpent let out an enraged roar. It instantly ignited all the lifeblood powers that erupted from consuming the Explosive Blood Fey Pill.

“Boom!”

The Sea Serpent crashed into the arena’s array like a plummeting star, causing the entire arena to quake. The array cracked, producing cracks that resembled a spider’s web!

And Yi Yun followed closely behind and slashed out with Mirage Snow. All his energy was gathered at one point as he struck the spot where the Sea Serpent had collided.

He cracked the entirety with one point!

Besides, the entirety of the array had already been shattered by the Sea Serpent to begin with!

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

The entire array shattered like glass being struck by a hammer. The Sea Serpent and Yi Yun charged out of the confines!

1643 - : Reversal

CKtalon  CKtalon

“What!?”

Everyone present was alarmed. They never expected such a turn of events.

Yi Yun had actually charged out of the arena together with the black Sea Serpent! Why was this happening!? And the direction in which they were charging was actually… Jiang Yuchan’s direction!

Jiang Yuchan was considered half an owner of the Fey Blood Plains. As a Fey beast reared by the Fey Blood Plains, how could the black Sea Serpent attack its master!?

“Courting death!” Jiang Yuchan’s heart turned anxious with rage. He had no idea what had happened, but he was certain that it was all because of Yi Yun.

Beside him, Jiang Yuebai had already taken a step forward to shield Jiang Yuchan. As a trusted aide of the Luo King, he naturally had to protect the young successor.

“The black Sea Serpent’s seal has been removed!”

Jiang Yuebai also had the right to trigger the seal, but when he activated the seal, he realized that it was already gone from the Sea Serpent’s body.

Was it removed by Lin Yun?

Jiang Yuebai did not have the luxury of time to think. The Sea Serpent had already roared and reached out its dragon claws to swipe at Jiang Yuebai.

In terms of grade, Jiang Yuebai was also at the quasi-Fey Thearch cultivation level. He was the strongest expert on Jiang Yuchan’s lineup, making him equal to the Sea Serpent!

And now, the Explosive Blood Fey Pill’s powers in the black Sea Serpent’s body had yet been fully consumed. Its combat powers were still at their peak!

Jiang Yuebai roared as well, causing his star-patterned robe to blast apart. His muscles bulged as a Heaven Fey totem phantom appeared behind him!

The Heaven Fey totem was a heptagon, and the six corners were separately Extreme Yang Illumination, Extreme Yin Nether Glow, as well as the azure dragon, vermilion bird, white tiger, and black turtle.

Jiang Yuebai only lit up the white tiger’s corner!

Even so, the moment the Heaven Fey totem appeared, it augmented Jiang Yuebai with immense strength.

“Boom!”

Jiang Yuebai threw out a punch at the Sea Serpent’s claw, sweeping up a potent blast that caused the surrounding mercenaries to retreat.

Jiang Yuebai had managed to withstand the black Sea Serpent’s blow alone! Furthermore, the Sea Serpent was burning its lifeblood powers!

But the black Sea Serpent had Yi Yun on its side!

Yi Yun had already appeared in front of Jiang Yuebai like Death!

He held Mirage Snow and the sword was crackling and burning with lightning and fire!

“Protect the Successor!”

The mercenaries shouted as they lunged towards Jiang Yuchan, but at that instant, Yi Yun had activated his domain!

“Scram!”

Yi Yun berated them as powerful Primordial Chaos and Destructive powers poured out like a flood breaching its banks. The ten plus mercenaries had their protective lifebloods completely explode. Even their weapons cracked from the shock.

At that instance, they felt as though they had stepped into a Shura sea of blood. Their lifeblood seemed to be drawn away without them being able to do a thing.

“Bam! Bam! Bam!” The ten plus mercenaries failed to withstand the might as they knelt down right there and then. The weaker ones had their kneecaps crushed as they spat out blood!

The mercenaries were instantly washed away as Yi Yun’s sword went straight for Jiang Yuchan’s chest!

Jiang Yuchan was astounded. He never expected Yi Yun to be that bold. Was he planning on assassinating him? Was he sick of living?

“Do you really think you are invincible!?” Jiang Yuchan roared angrily as he bit the tip of his tongue and spewed out a mouthful of blood essence.

He knew Yi Yun was powerful, so he immediately burned his blood essence!

At the same time, a Heaven Fey totem appeared behind Jiang Yuchan!

The potent lifeblood forces interwove to form a protective net to withstand Yi Yun’s strike. At the same time, he opened his mouth, spitting out a green talisman charm.

The green talisman charm was naturally created through a great deal of effort by the Luo King. It was meant to protect his life.

He knew very well that by stalling for time, the Luo King would arrive and Yi Yun would have to pay a terrible price for his transgression.

However, before the talisman charm could be activated, Yi Yun’s sword had already stabbed into his protective lifeblood. The lifeblood powers he had always been proud of were penetrated by Mirage Snow as though they were paper!

In his alarm, Jiang Yuchan retreated rapidly! But at that moment, the ice-cold sword tip had proceeded straight for him. The lightning and fire on the sword tip formed a tiny purple and black sword that stabbed right into Jiang Yuchan’s chest.

“Bam!”

Jiang Yuchan was thrown out as the color in his face drained. The two tiny swords had stabbed two holes in him!

At that moment, the talisman he had spat out had only just flown out. Before it could even ignite, it was beckoned by Yi Yun and snatched.

The next moment, Yi Yun appeared in front of Jiang Yuchan and stepped on his chest.

“Puah!”

Jiang Yuchan spat out a mouthful of blood as he flew out like a ball, slamming into the spectator stands and shattering them in the process.

Boom!

Rubble collapsed as Jiang Yuchan stood up among the debris. His face was covered in blood and his heart was filled with horror.

He did not realize how terrifying Yi Yun was until he fought him. Only in that clash did he realize how big a gap there was between him and Yi Yun!

He could not even withstand a single strike!

In his anxiety, he was afraid that he could not last until the Luo King arrived to kill Yi Yun!

Furthermore, he could sense that the energies of the two fire and lightning swords had flown into his chest and remained lurking in his body. Although the two energies were not causing him any damage, their potential for damage was worrying.

The spectators exclaimed inwardly as they saw Jiang Yuchan being brutally beaten up by Yi Yun. They never expected the match to end up like that.

They could forget the fact that Yi Yun had captured the past two Fey beasts alive, but even the strongest quasi-Fey Thearch Fey beast had been incited to defect by him.

“Yun-er!”

Jiang Xiaorou flew from her seat and towards Yi Yun.

At that moment, a powerful suppression fell from the sky. A cold voice resounded above the Fey Blood Plains.

“Nice! Very nice indeed! Am I, Jiang Luo, old already? Just with that bit of talent, you wish to wreak havoc in my Fey Blood Plains?”

The moment the suppression arrived, the spectators immediately felt all their lifeblood repressed. Even their hearts did not seem to be beating.

Although they could hear his voice, they could not see his body.

However, they knew that the Luo King had come!

The Luo King was here!

Jiang Yuchan was immediately delighted. “Grandfather, save me!”

Yi Yun remained stoic as he waved his hand. A Fey beast bag appeared as he stored away the black Sea Serpent.

The Sea Serpent did not resist either. It was extremely afraid with the Luo King present. It was a good feeling having freedom, but once it let its guard down, it could be captured by the Luo King again. It did not dare imagine the consequences of that scenario.

“So it’s Senior Luo King.”

Yi Yun smiled as he cupped his hands into the air.

The Luo King did not show himself. He had only projected his aura to stun the entire area. As for Yi Yun, he had immediately found the Luo King’s location!

The direction in which he cupped his hands was where the Luo King was.

At that moment, the void that Yi Yun was facing warped a little. A middle-aged man in a purple-golden dragon robe appeared out of thin air.

He was tall in build with deep facial features. His eyes were especially long and his nose especially high. His nose tip was curved, covering nearly the entirety of his philtrum. This made him look extremely odd and gave one an everlasting impression.

“Interesting. You actually managed to spot my location.”

The Luo King said it calmly, but his heart was somewhat alarmed. The young man’s nomological attainments were truly terrifying.

1644 - : Brutal Beating

CKtalon  CKtalon

No one expected that Yi Yun would stir the Luo King into action after engaging in merely three rounds of combat. A figure like the Luo King was given high recognition even before the Ruins Emperor.

Against the Luo King, everyone felt a sense of trepidation. They looked at Yi Yun, but realized that he did not appear flustered at all. Even if he was putting on a front, it was already quite impressive.

“To battle in the beast colosseum, you must sign the life-and-death waiver. You must abide by the rules no matter how many Fey beasts you kill, but why did you attack my grandson?”

The Luo King’s voice was aggressive.

Yi Yun sneered and said, “Your grandson wished for my death in my battle with the beast, but you don’t permit me to counterattack? As a high and mighty Fey Thearch, you have even tampered with the protective array formation, going as far as to sever your psyche force to inject it into the array. When you encounter undefeatable opponents, you trigger the severed psyche force to harm the gladiator. This sure is a brilliant plan!”

Yi Yun’s words shocked everyone!

Many people were watching the fight as entertainment, but they had no idea of the exact details. Now that Yi Yun had made an exposé, they learned that the Luo King had severed a portion of his psyche force to harm geniuses in battle.

Although the Fey Blood Plains’ battle rules were self-determined and never claimed to avoid such acts, it was still quite a loathsome piece of news. What was the meaning of this? In order to ensure his interests in the Fey Blood Plains, the Fey Thearch would personally enter the battle with his psyche force to harm the battling genius?

This was way too sensational. Furthermore, it was obvious that anyone who was targeted in such a manner was killed to ensure the confidentiality of the matter. The spectators would only believe that the gladiator had died due to their ineptitude, but they had no idea that it was a result of the Luo King’s severed psyche force.

Instantly, the spectators present were enraged. They were so interested in the battle colosseum mainly because a number of them had participated in it before.

Now, it appeared that their survival was not because they were too powerful, but it was the complete opposite—they were too weak and unqualified.

The Luo King narrowed his eyes as he glared at Yi Yun. Ever since Yi Yun escaped despite Jiang Yuchan’s triggering of his severed psyche force, the situation had already gone out of control.

Yi Yun was completely disparaging him due to his backing from the Blood King.

At the end of the day, it was because Yi Yun had removed the seal in the black Sea Serpent’s body, allowing for it to mutiny.

The Luo King was stumped. The seal he had planted involved ancient mystic arts. The restraints the mystic art provided was something even the Blood King could not remove. How did Yi Yun manage to do it?

“Blood King, since you are here, there’s no need to hide. Come on out!”

The Luo King suddenly spoke. He had appeared only to protect Jiang Yuchan. After all, he was forced to do so since Yi Yun’s attack had nearly killed Jiang Yuchan.

As for suppressing Yi Yun, that was impossible. This was because the moment he appeared, the Blood King, who had a vendetta against him, would definitely appear.

This resulted in a stalemate between the two Fey Thearchs. The ones to truly determine victory were the juniors.

But against a freak of nature like Yi Yun, which junior was his match?

“Hahaha! Luo King, how have you been?”

A dragged out laughter was heard as the space behind Yi Yun warped. A man dressed in blood-colored robes appeared out of thin air. His hair flared in the air and his eyes were deep like the abyss. It was as though he could suck the souls of others into them.

Just looking at the Blood King made others feel like they had arrived in a bloody pool in hell. There were the appalling sounds of slaughtering all around and they seemed to see countless roaring Fey beasts. There was bodies of people engaging in massacres with blood-stained weapons as far as the eyes could see!

Blood King!

Everyone held their breaths for he was a lot mightier when it came to his stance.

The Luo King was stable and distant, like a lofty mountain.

As for the Blood King, he was filled with a decimation aura. Facing him felt like one was facing devils from an abyss. It left people stifled.

Two Fey Thearchs!

In the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, these Fey Thearchs stood high above others. Commoners seldom saw them, but there were two appearing at one go!

“Luo King, what’s the matter? The juniors are just sparring, but it actually pushed you into action. Is your grandson that useless? He has a quasi-Fey Thearch, Jiang Yuebai, to protect him, as well as a quasi-Fey Thearch Fey beast to summon. He even has a severed psyche force you left him and an intrinsic talisman charm. For him to be reduced to such a pathetic state by Lin Yun despite having so many good things that you needed to rush here to save his life must have been hard on you.”

The Blood King did not hold back on his sarcasm. This was how the Fey handled things. For humans, even when important figures faced each other, their words would be somewhat measured, but the Blood King did not have such scruples. He was verbally smacking faces!

And he said whatever dealt the maximum impact.

He had a grudge with the Luo King to begin with. Now, Yi Yun had disgraced the Luo King so thoroughly that it was equivalent to tearing his face off and trampling it on the ground. He was in such a good mood that he yearned to cheer on Yi Yun.

Upon hearing the Blood King’s words, Jiang Yuchan was so depressed that he wanted to die.

The result of the situation today was all because he had lost to Yi Yun. Furthermore, he had lost terribly; thus causing the Luo King to be in such a passive predicament.

The Luo King looked at the Blood King, but he did not retort. Anything he said would appear pointless and weak. He said, “Blood King, I heard that you have always wished to battle me?”

The Luo King’s words stunned everyone present.

A battle among Fey Thearchs!?

In the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, battles between Fey Thearchs were very rare. However, they still occurred. After all, the Fey were a combative race. Any disagreements that could not be resolved, ones that the Ruins Emperor could not mediate, would result in a battle among Fey Thearchs!

The typical Fey Thearch cherished their lives, so they did not easily engage in battle. After all, winning the battle required them to pay quite a considerable price. And any loss would be worse. Not only would they lose their reputation, they would also lose actual interests.

The Luo King had no intention to fight the Blood King originally, but he had been disgraced today. If he did not counterattack, he would become the laughing stock of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins.

A battle among Fey Thearchs was sufficient to divert the attention of the entire city.

Besides, the Blood King was a newly ascended Fey Thearch. He was at his prime and his strength improved rapidly. He also was at odds against him in every aspect. If he could heavily damage the Blood King during this period of growth, he could curtail his momentum and completely solidify his advantage.

Instantly, the Blood King and Luo King sent their lifeblood churning. They faced each other in a stalemate as the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the Fey Blood Plains split into two because of their appearance! If one went from the region where the Blood King was standing in to the Luo King’s region, they would have the sensation of walking from one world to another.

This was the power of a Fey Thearch. Once they released their auras, they could form a world in and of itself.

The battle that was about to erupt between two Fey Thearchs stirred the zeal and ardor in everyone. This was a rare scene that left them thrilled. They no longer even cared that they had lost huge amounts of Chaos Crystal because of Yi Yun’s victory.

1645 - : Fey Thearchs’ Staredown

CKtalon  CKtalon

With nothing to lose, the crowd watched with anticipation as the two Fey Thearchs prepared to do battle.

At that moment, be it Jiang Xiaorou or Jiang Yuchan, their breathing had stagnated as they turned nervous. This battle was of paramount importance!

Defeat would mean the loss of certain interests. For example, the Blood King might end up losing the Treasure Fey Pagoda.

The Luo King could lose the Fey Blood Plains or the Nine Tribulations Veranda.

Yi Yun narrowed his eyes. In terms of strength, the Blood King was likely the Luo King’s superior; after all, he cultivated in the Indestructible Killing Dao. There was nearly no genius in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins who chose this path, much less cultivated it to perfection.

However, under the circumstances that their strength was nearly equal during a bout between Fey Thearchs, it did not necessarily mean that the stronger side would win. Certain ancient disk arrays, artifacts, talisman charms, and pills could reverse the situation.

The Luo King who had been a Fey Thearch a lot longer exceeded the Blood King in these aspects. Furthermore, the Luo King had a wide net of friends. If they really prepared for battle, the Luo King could definitely buy even more heaven-defying tools.

But at this moment, high above the Fey Blood Plains, a jadeite cruiser slowly floated in. A graceful figure slowly fleeted from it.

The figure was dressed in feathered clothes and her body was immersed in a blurry blue halo, making it impossible to discern her face.

But even so, the hundreds of thousands of warriors present tried their best to widen their eyes, hoping to identify her. In fact, they had already guessed who she was since the jadeite cruiser had already hinted at her identity—

Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ Princess Chang, the younger sister of the ruling Ruins Emperor!

She was deemed as the number one beauty in all of Heaven Fey City.

However, few people had ever seen her face. As the cultivation technique she cultivated in was unique, her entire body was immersed in blue light. Even a Fey Thearch found it very difficult to see through the blue halo. This was also why everyone was trying their best to see through the blue halo for a glimpse of her actual looks in the flesh.

However, when they stared for too long, their eyes felt a stabbing pain as they nearly lost their minds.

“Even Her Highness Princess Chang has been stirred!”

People were alarmed, but it was within reason. The Luo King and Blood King had appeared in person after all. Besides, both of them had a vendetta with one another. Once the situation escalated, the two would have a fight that could reduce the Heaven Fey City to ruins.

“Luo King, Blood King, this is a result of the younger generation. It pertains to the contest for title of crown designate, so it’s best you do not involve yourselves in it!” Princess Chang said in an indescribably pleasant tone, her voice clear and distant.

The Fey never had any scruples about mentioning the imperial power struggles since the throne of the Ruins Emperor was won through bloodshed.

The Luo King gave Princess Chang a glance. Many of the time, the Ruins Emperor did not make an appearance. Princess Chang would appear on his behalf, indicating his stance on the matter. After all, although there were many princes and princesses in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, few of them were true siblings.

Princess Chang and the Ruins Emperor shared the same father but different mothers. Therefore, they were naturally close with one another.

With Princess Chang having affirmed her stance, the Luo King did not say anything further.

Besides, victory was not certain for him. He had mentioned battling the Blood King only to save his reputation.

“A battle between juniors can simply be left to juniors…”

As Princess Chang was speaking—

“Puah!”

Jiang Yuchan spewed out a mouthful of blood as he tumbled down the spectator stands.

“Oh?”

The Luo King was astounded as he quickly teleported over. He grabbed Jiang Yuchan and was shaken when he probed his body.

Inside Jiang Yuchan’s body, interspersed within his meridians, flesh, and blood were fine threads. These threads were like nets that were embedded deep in his flesh and bones. Apart from that, there were tiny beads which hung on the lightning threads like cherries. Every bead contained potent forces that would blast Jiang Yuchan’s body to smithereens the moment it exploded.

“This is… Lightning and Fire?”

The Luo King’s brows twitched. The threads were lightning threads while the cherry-like objects were Fire pearls!

When he turned his gaze to Jiang Yuchan’s Fey core, he drew a gasp.

The surface of Jiang Yuchan’s Fey core was also covered in a layer of purple lightning threads. A portion of these lightning threads had even entered deep into Jiang Yuchan’s Fey core!

He attempted to strip the lightning threads, but any motion caused the color in Jiang Yuchan’s face to drain and his body to tremble. Even his Fey core appeared to be on the brink of cracking together with the lightning threads.

The Luo King turned his head at Yi Yun. “You!?”

The lightning net and fire pearls was clearly Yi Yun’s work. Yi Yun was the only one who had attacked Jiang Yuchan.

Lightning could be used in a myriad of ways. Warriors who were skilled in lightning laws could even weave lightning threads into cloths and wear them.

And after Yi Yun gained the Heavenly Dao fragment and mastered the Heavenly Dao laws, his means were already completely incomparable to the typical warrior’s.

This lightning net combined with fire pearls had Jiang Yuchan’s life in its grasp!

Back when Yi Yun stabbed Jiang Yuchan, he did not cause any substantial damage to him since his real intention was to plant the lightning net and fire pearls in him.

Upon seeing the Luo King looking at him angrily, Yi Yun said calmly, “Jiang Yuchan wanted to use a Godly Monarch’s psyche force to kill me. I naturally had to counterattack with full force. This Lightning Fire Sword is my killer move. Now that there’s some remnant fire and lightning in Jiang Yuchan’s body, I will need to pay a tremendous price if I’m to treat him. I think it’s best left to you, Luo King. Such a trivial matter should be nothing to you.”

After saying so, Yi Yun threw up his hands, completely ignoring the look on Luo King’s face.

The surrounding crowd shuddered when they saw this. Yi Yun was completely offending the Luo King!

Even with the Blood King supporting him, offending a Fey Thearch was never a wise choice. The Blood King could not protect him all the time. Wouldn’t the Luo King spare no cost to kill Yi Yun when the opportunity arose?

“Fine, well done!”

The Luo King fumed. He pressed one hand on Jiang Yuchan’s head as his lifeblood powers surged into Jiang Yuchan’s body.

Then, he extracted the lightning and fire bit by bit.

But at that moment, Jiang Yuchan let out a tragic cry like a pig about to be slaughtered.

His body convulsed as blood flowed out of his seven orifices. His expression was as pale as a sheet.

“Grand… Grandpa…”

Jiang Yuchan was in extreme pain. He was a highly refined person to begin with. As such, he would never show such a pathetic side to him in public unless he he absolutely could not handle the pain.

What Yi Yun had left in him was too vicious!

The lightning threads reached deep into his intrinsic bloodline and right into his bone marrow. With the Luo King extracting them, he felt as though his bone marrow was being extracted. The pain was obvious!

Seeing Jiang Yuchan struggling continuously, the Luo King’s expression turned nasty.

He realized that he had no way of removing the lightning threads and fire beads.

It had nothing to do with how powerful the lightning threads and fire beads were; they were just too intertwined with Jiang Yuchan like viruses or germs that had invaded one’s body. Although those could be killed with boiling water, doing so would kill the patient as well. Therefore, many illnesses were incurable once one was inflicted with them.

The present Jiang Yuchan was in such a situation.

Even with all his powers, the Luo King was helpless!

The Luo King stood up and looked at Yi Yun once again. His gaze made him look like an ancient Fey beast that was about to devour Yi Yun.

However, Yi Yun thought nothing of it. He was still having a merry chat with Jiang Xiaorou while ignoring the Luo King completely.

“Luo King.” Jiang Yuebai was somewhat worried. “His Highness…”

At that moment, Jiang Yuchan was still in pain. What Yi Yun had planted in him was not immediately fatal, but it tormented him. Jiang Yuebai had watched Jiang Yuchan grow up, so his heart pained for him.

At that moment, everyone could tell that the Luo King did not have the means to extricate Jiang Yuchan from his pain. If he did, he would have done so a long time ago.

This left everyone alarmed. Yi Yun actually had such means!?

They recalled that the seal which the Luo King had planted in the black Sea Serpent was also removed by Yi Yun.

As such, the talent Yi Yun had in the aspect of planting and removing seals was above the Luo King’s!

“Do you think you can act this fearlessly because the Blood King is protecting you?” The Luo King’s Yuan Qi voice transmission sounded in Yi Yun’s ears.

Yi Yun looked at the Luo King and said with a smile, “Senior Luo King, what are you saying? As a junior, I can’t seem to understand you.”

Yi Yun had directly voiced out the Luo King’s sending of a voice transmission.

The Luo King had not said it publicly for fear of affecting his reputation, but Yi Yun had deliberately smacked him right in the face.

Luo King was raging mad. He had appeared today in the hope of taking back the black Sea Serpent, but he never expected to not only fail, but even see Jiang Yuchan at Yi Yun’s mercy!

“Luo King, don’t tell me you wish for me to treat Jiang Yuchan? I did mention that I attacked him because he wanted me dead. All I could do was counterattack. As for his injuries, I will require a tremendous price to save him. So it’s best you do it yourself.”

Yi Yun repeated his words, but when they landed in the Luo King’s ears, they were filled with sarcasm.

High in the sky, Princess Chang frowned as well. She had appeared to stop the fight between the Blood King and the Luo King. She had given sufficient reason for them to do so—conflict between juniors naturally had to be resolved among themselves. It was only right.

However, she never expected Yi Yun to be so insidious. He had taken the black Sea Serpent and ignoring the figurative smack in the face, he had trounced Jiang Yuchan. Not only that, he had even left contingencies in his body.

He had really gone too far. Even if Jiang Yuchan had been in the wrong, he did not deserve to be put in such a tragic state!

Therefore, without the Luo King making a request, Princess Chang looked at the Blood King. Her intentions were obvious; she wanted the Blood King to get Yi Yun to save Jiang Yuchan.

However, the Blood Jade feigned ignorance by completely ignoring Princess Chang. He was a ruthless person to begin with and one that was protective of his brethren. He did not care about reputation as well. Jiang Yuchan had intended to kill Yi Yun, so how was it possible for him to get Yi Yun to help him?

Princess Chang was exasperated. What was Yi Yun planning to do? Didn’t he know anything about making compromises after gaining an advantage? Did he really want to kill Jiang Yuchan?

Although Princess Chang was already biased towards Jiang Yuchan, her stature did not permit her to make the request.

She moved lightly towards Jiang Yuchan, grudgingly thinking to herself how useless the Luo King was. All he did was focus on cultivating his lifeblood and dabbled little in the mystic arts. If not, would he have failed to resolve a mere junior’s seal?

1646 - : Princess Chang

CKtalon  CKtalon

In fact, most Fey warriors focused on cultivating their lifeblood. Just like Heaven Earth Yuan Qi were related to laws, lifeblood powers were related to the body. Lifeblood could both nourish a body and be released as an attack.

The Fey cultivated in their lifeblood and had the advantage of their bloodlines. This was not something humans could compare with. Furthermore, the Fey also endorsed tough combat styles.

Most Fey warriors were unwilling to cultivate in mystic arts or array formations. It was the same with the Luo King.

He was a genius when it came to the aspect of bloodline in his youth, so his lifeblood powers left others in the dust. But his mystic arts were much inferior to others.

This was also the reason why Princess Chang was unhappy with Luo King.

Although Princess Chang did not say it out loud, Luo King could sense her attitude and guess at what she was thinking.

At that moment, he did not say a word. All he did was take a step back and give her his spot.

Princess Chang waved her hand gently as a faint blue halo enveloped Jiang Yuchan.

Princess Chang’s senses quickly probed Jiang Yuchan’s body through the blue halo. Then, her expression somewhat stiffened. Of course, no one could tell since her body was covered in a halo.

She was surprised to discover that there was an extremely complex power contained within the lightning and fire that Yi Yun had released. It seemed to possess an undying strength that made the lightning and fire constantly renew itself. That prevented it from being frittered away.

Also present was a terrifying Major Destruction force. Just simple contact with it would trigger an explosion that would destroy Jiang Yuchan’s body!

To extract the lightning and fire, brute strength was nearly impossible unless one could resolve the laws governing the fire and lightning.

“Your Highness, are you also at a loss?” the Luo King said with a voice transmission.

He was truly astounded at the moment. He had always been lacking when it came to the mystic arts, but Princess Chang was one of the better ones among the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ Fey Thearchs. She was about equal to some human Godly Monarchs.

If Princess Chang was helpless, that would imply that Yi Yun was terrifying.

“I’d like to help, but I’m unable to do so.” Princess Chang felt depressed as well. She had disdained the Luo King just moments ago, but now she realized she was not any better.

She looked up and stared deeply at Yi Yun. She realized she had underestimated the young man!

Not only was he strong, his nomological insight was peerless. In time to come, he would likely become a peerless Godly Monarch.

She could not treat such a person as an ordinary junior.

“Is your name Lin Yun?” asked Princess Chang.

“Yes. Greetings, Princess Chang.” Yi Yun cupped his hands.

“I mentioned that conflict between juniors should be resolved by them. Jiang Yuchan had offended you, so he deserves being reduced to this state. However, he is still a prince. Are you really planning on killing him?” said Princess Chang coldly.

Yi Yun said, “Your Highness, you are too harsh on your words. I only attacked in self-defense. I even stopped in a timely fashion because the Luo King arrived. As for Young Master Jiang Yuchan… I never expected Senior Luo King to be unable to save him. In that case, I will naturally have to do it, but to purge the poison of lightning and fire, I will need a special pill to protect the victim’s lifeblood and soul. And the cost of this pill is nothing to scoff at. With my present wealth, I’m unable to refine it and I’m lacking in a lot of materials…”

“Oh?” Princess Chang pricked up her brows. “Don’t tell me that the materials needed to refine this pills are the ones Treasure Fey Pagoda tried to purchase?”

The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ Ruins Emperor spent most of his time in seclusion recently; therefore, many political issues were handled by Princess Chang. To put it more simply, she mostly managed the numerous Fey Thearchs in Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins. The other trivial matters were left to the other ministers.

Princess Chang knew of the Treasure Fey Pagoda’s mass purchase of materials. All of them were rare and expensive!

Even the Luo King would feel the pinch to pay for that.

“Not everything, just a portion of it,” said Yi Yun with a smile.

At that moment, even the slowest person understood what was happening. Wasn’t he fishing in troubled waters?

Yi Yun had repeatedly emphasized that a tremendous price had to be paid if he helped personally. It was to build up his case for his final extortion.

Many of the warriors present also knew of the Treasure Fey Pagoda’s list of materials. The rarity of the materials left people faltering. Furthermore, the more informed ones knew that Yi Yun had fought Jiang Yuchan because Jiang Yuchan had interfered with one of the items Yi Yun wanted to purchase—the Golden Feather Immortal Pistil.

Perhaps, back when Yi Yun left contingencies in Jiang Yuchan’s body, he already had the intention of extorting the Luo King! Furthermore, he had expected the Luo King to appear.

The Luo King’s appearance should have been a show of force. Logically speaking, Yi Yun was meant to be the one suffering.

But the opposite happened. The Luo King had appeared only to have his face figuratively smacked!

A junior had plotted against a Fey Thearch and had even succeeded. The seal which the Luo King had left behind had been easily removed by him. Yet, the seal he left behind was something even Princess Chang was powerless against.

This meant that Yi Yun’s achievements in mystic arts and laws were completely incomprehensible!

“Senior Luo King, this is the list.”

Yi Yun flicked his finger and shot out what appeared to be a purple piece of silk. It, along with the text on it, were a manifestation of lightning threads.

The Luo King narrowed his eyes without receiving the so-called list. All he did was stare at Yi Yun. People who knew the Luo King well knew that it was a manifestation of his anger. He was bent on killing Yi Yun.

He had disgraced himself completely and was now being extorted by Yi Yun. He would become the laughing stock of Heaven Fey City in the future!

“Senior Luo King, I shall bid you farewell for now. If you have any questions, you can always contact me.”

Yi Yun cupped his hands as he spoke.

Now that no out for the Luo King was provided, hoping for him to agree on the spot was impossible. However, Yi Yun thought nothing of it. He was determined; if he was not out to fleece the Luo King, he would not have bothered with Jiang Yuchan.

At that moment, the Blood King laughed out loud. “Luo King, I’ll shall take my leave as well. Thank you for your hospitality today. In addition, I heard that Xiaorou won a few hundred Chaos Crystals at your Fey Blood Plains. Why don’t you cash it out to her now!”

Before the Blood King left, he did not forget to rub salt in the Luo King’s wound.

Yi Yun clicked his tongue when he heard that. The Blood King sure wasn’t a magnanimous person. People who offended him did not have good days ahead of them.

With her father backing her, Jiang Xiaorou decisively went to redeem the Chaos Crystals. Yi Yun’s final battle with the black Sea Serpent ended with him bringing it under his control. It was naturally considered a win.

Having won three consecutive rounds, the dozens of Chaos Crystals which Jiang Xiaorou had brought had rose to seven hundred.

This was quite a huge sum too.

Her brother was truly impressive. They had been bullied by Jiang Yuchan in the beginning, but not only had Yi Yun won a huge sum of Chaos Crystals, it was even possible for him to earn priceless materials. It had even gratified the Blood King. It was really quite a earth-shaking move.

“Punk, when we return to the Blood King Palace, let’s have a drink! I have an excellent thousand-year brew that I’ve been stashing away for an occasion like this,” said the Blood King happily.

Yi Yun naturally agreed.

Beside them, Jiang Xiaorou could tell very clearly that her father completely acknowledged Yun’er after today’s turn of events. Furthermore, it was an act of appreciation and partiality. If not, he would not have invited Yi Yun to drinks.

1647 - : Tremendous Price

CKtalon  CKtalon

The location of the Blood King’s drinking grounds was still in the spirit mountain north of the city. It was a mountain as sharp as a sword, one that tore through the blue skies. Not only did it appear mighty, it was also a bountiful land of resources.

Originally, the spirit mountain belonged to a patriarch of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins. Many Fey Thearchs had their eyes set on it, but it was eventually bestowed to the Blood King.

Now, the spirit mountain had been named Snow King Peak, since “snow” was a homophone to “blood.” After all, Snow King Peak was perennially covered in snow. Amid the snow, there was a clear pool that never froze. It was a beautiful vista to behold and had nothing to do with blood.

At that moment, Yi Yun and the Blood King were sitting in a pavilion in the middle of the lake having drinks. They were surrounded by immortal fruits and spirit food and served by nine fairy-like maidservants.

Jiang Xiaorou and Lin Xintong joined in the drinking as well.

The wine was a thousand-year-old vintage wine made from snow lotuses that were sourced from Snow King Peak. It was brewed together with ten-thousand-year-old melted ice water, which gave the wine a tiny bitter taste, but it was pure and refreshing. It left one highly spirited and refreshed after downing it.

It was the first time Yi Yun was tasting such excellent wine. Typically, wine left one groggy after drinking, but the wine made him more energetic as he drank it. It had the wondrous effect of nurturing his soul.

Yi Yun knew that such wine that could nourish his mind was priceless.

“Punk, you are siblings with Xiaorou, and since Xiaorou is my daughter, you are family to me. I heard from Xiaorou that your refinement of the Myriad Form Shura Pill requires the blood of the Ancestor Gods…”

The Blood King went straight to the topic. Yi Yun’s mind stirred for he planned on fusing his bloodlines with the refined Myriad Form Shura Pills.

Now, Yi Yun had the Ancestor God bloodline, Dragon Emperor bloodline, as well as a human bloodline that resulted from his body-tempering cultivation.

The pills required materials in these three aspects to fuse them together.

Among these, the blood of the Ancestor God was rarer than a mighty Fey’s Fey core. After all, the rulers-in-name of the Chaos Heavens were the Celestials. An attempt to purchase the blood of the Ancestor God would be equivalent to declaring war on the Celestials. The Celestials would not to tolerate it.

Therefore, the Treasure Fey Pagoda had left out the blood of the Ancestor God on the list of treasures it was purchasing.

Over the billions of years, the only one that showed open contempt to the Celestials and managed to kill an Ancestor God was the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch.

After he killed the Ancestor God, he sealed a portion of the Ancestor God’s body in the Tian Yuan world. Later, the Blood King entered the Tian Yuan world and obtained the essence blood of the Ancestor God’s body.

Now, he still had a little left of the Ancestor God’s blood.

The Blood King took out a red jade bottle which was a spatial artifact. Contained in it was the blood of the Ancestor God.

He said, “I’m an ancient Heaven Fey after all. My bloodline is sufficiently powerful, so the all the Ancestor God’s blood did was stimulate my bloodline and not remould my body. After I absorbed more than half of the Ancestor God’s blood, there were already diminishing effects. I had kept it, planning to give it to Xiaorou after she transcends the Heavenly Tribulation and became capable of withstanding the potency of the Celestial blood. Since you need it now, I can give it to you.”

The tiny jade bottle was handed to Yi Yun in such a simple manner.

Yi Yun took a deep breath and did not reject it. He was indeed in need of it.

“Senior, don’t worry. The Myriad Form Shura Pills I’m refining will definitely be of great help to Sis Xiaorou. The effects will exceed that of directly absorbing the Ancestor God’s blood. It can even be taken before transcending the Heavenly Tribulations!”

Yi Yun made a promise. He knew that his performance had won the Blood King’s trust.

But even so, it was still something he had to be immensely grateful for. It was truly of timely assistance.

He planned on working hard to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pills, so as to return his gratitude.

…

Time passed, and yet Yi Yun did not receive any response from the Luo King regarding his extorting list. He did not capitulate for it was impossible for him to submit to a junior.

Yi Yun thought nothing of it. He enjoyed the wine in Blood King Palace with the Blood King. During this period, Yi Yun also paid a visit to Jiang Xiaorou’s mother—the Desolate Queen.

Back in the lower realm, the Desolate Queen had provided Yi Yun with a lot of care. Therefore, it was only right that he paid her a visit.

After so many centuries, the Desolate Queen appeared more gentle and virtuous. However, Yi Yun could also sense that she was under considerable pressure. Faced with the competition from the Blood King’s harem, she could only rely on Jiang Xiaorou.

This also strengthened Yi Yun’s resolve in refining the Myriad Form Shura Pills.

Now, as Fey Thearch, the Blood King had decreed the Fey to gather the materials for the Myriad Form Shura Pills.

Yi Yun did not sit idle during this period. Since the Luo King had no plans on getting him to rescue Jiang Yuchan, Yi Yun would pay the Fey Blood Plains a visit whenever he had the time.

Every time he visited, he would capture a Fey beast.

With Yi Yun already wiping the floor with the Fey Blood Plains’ most powerful black Sea Serpent, how could there be another Fey beast that was his match?

And as Yi Yun’s combat results were astounding, everyone would place their bets on him the moment he appeared.

Later, the Fey Blood Plains barred Yi Yun from entering. But how could they stop him? The numerous Fey Lords they assigned to the task were useless.

They had no idea what means Yi Yun had used to so easily enter the Fey Blood Plains. He would appear in the arena when they least expected it.

The moment he appeared, a black Sea Serpent would swim around the periphery of the arena, flashing its fangs and flailing its claws!

The black Sea Serpent also hated the Fey Blood Plains to the core. Having been placed in an advantageous position, it did its best to flaunt its prowess and worked hard to exact its revenge.

Therefore, the situation got out of hand. A black Sea Serpent with Yi Yun was a force that even Jiang Yuebai was no match for. In addition, countless spectators would place their bets on Yi Yun’s victory with their Chaos Crystals. Chasing him out the arena would not only be a loss of reputation for them, but it would also incite public rage.

The Fey Blood Plains still depended on the audience to make a profit. Those that could pay the entrance fees to the Fey Blood Plains and still have the spare money to gamble were definitely of considerable status and strength.

As such, the Fey Blood Plains nearly went out of business due to Yi Yun’s exploits.

Yet, seeking the Luo King’s help was useless. Princess Chang had made it clear that matters of the juniors were to be resolved by juniors. Whatever Yi Yun had done was in line with the rules. There was no excuse the upper echelons could provide to intervene.

Furthermore, the Blood King did not sit idly by. He showcased his usefulness by participating in various events where the upper echelons of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins attended, guaranteeing Yi Yun’s safety.

Therefore, not only had the Fey Blood Plains lost its support from the upper echelons, its owner, Jiang Yuchan, was in a dire situation himself. As such, it was left in a tragic state.

After a few arduous days, the Fey Blood Plains was temporarily closed!

And when that happened, Yi Yun decided to appear and sell off all the Fey beasts he captured, except for the Sea Serpent.

Originally, the Fey Blood Plains was the only de facto beast colosseum of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins. The others did not amount to anything, but after Yi Yun caused it to close down, the other factions began to stir.

A beast colosseum was a huge piece of pie. It was once the Luo King’s and no one dared vie against his interests. But now that the Blood King was opposing the Luo King, they had to take a bite out of the pie to gain the Blood King’s support!

In fact, the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins had many businesses that thrived through such means. They found a Fey Thearch to support them before setting up a business and expanding it!

Therefore, people had entered the Blood King Palace the past few days to make business negotiations.

Some of them offered excellent conditions. However, the Blood King did not accept them. Although what Yi Yun had done had made the Luo King suffer, it did not hurt him deep down. It was practically impossible to use these new businesses to completely rob the Luo King of his beast colosseum business.

The segregation of interests in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was based on the strengths and qualifications of all the Fey Thearchs. It was not something that could be easily changed.

This continued until one day, the Blood King received news that his Fey Thearch decree had results.

Someone had offered an extremely rare material—Flying Clouds Flowing Flower!

Among all the materials Yi Yun was seeking, the Ancestor God’s blood was the most difficult one; but thankfully, the Blood King had some of it.

Fey cores of powerful Fey were also rare.

As for the other treasured herbs, the rarest was the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower.

With it in hand, it made everything easier.

Back when Yi Yun extorted the Luo King, he did not include the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower. There was no point in going overboard in his extortion or it would only ensure that he did not receive a thing.

However, the person who had brought the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower surprised Yi Yun and the Blood King.

The person was from the Ghost race. His name was not important, to the point of people forgetting his name. People only remembered his title—Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor.

He had made a name for himself a long time ago. He was good in various killing techniques and excelled in medicine.

With a flip of a hand, he could send a person to hell; and with another flip of his hand, he could rescue a person from hell, reviving them in the process.

People that offended the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor were brewed into human puppets. He used his excellent medical skills to prolong their lives and used various means to torture them. They would only die after more than ten thousand years of torture.

This was probably the most painful way of dying.

And it was because of this that the mention of Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor changed the expressions of people in the Chaos Heavens.

Unless necessary, no one wished to have any dealings with the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor. Even if they were severely injured, they would not seek his medical services.

Getting the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor to treat any medical condition was like making a trade with the devil. He had too many means that could leave a person in a living hell.

The Blood King never expected the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor to come to him. He did not care about Fey Thearch decrees and was unmoved by anyone.

“The Flying Clouds Flowing Flower is a kind of sacred medicine meant for treating injuries. It’s not odd that the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor can produce it. According to the descriptions of the voice transmission talisman, the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower is already a million years old, a top strain among supreme-grade ones. Other than the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor, perhaps no one in all of the Chaos Heavens can produce it,” said the Blood King.

Yi Yun was moved by it. A million-year-old Flying Clouds Flowing Flower!

Yi Yun’s purchase of these treasured herbs were done with the lowest of expectations. It was good enough having them, so he had not placed any demands on quality.

His original request was one that had bloomed.

Typically, it took 90,000 years for a Flying Clouds Flowing Flower to go from a bud to a blooming flower. But even so, it was extremely difficult to find one!

A million-year-old Flying Clouds Flowing Flower was like a flying cloud, so fleeting that it was practically impossible to find one.

Its worth was hard to place; it was unknown times more valuable than the standard Flying Clouds Flowing Flower that Yi Yun had asked for.

If he used such a Flying Clouds Flowing Flower to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pills, not only would there be more pills, the quality of the pills would also elevate to a whole new state.

“According to Senior Blood King’s description, Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor probably is not lacking in Chaos Crystals. He probably has other motives for seeking us out.”

It was obvious to Yi Yun that the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower in the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor’s hands was definitely not so easily attainable.

1648 - : Flying Clouds Flowing Flower

CKtalon  CKtalon

The information passed by the Blood King’s subordinates only mentioned that the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor had a Flying Clouds Flowing Flower and that he was willing to make a trade; however, there was no mention of when it would take place, or what the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor wanted.

According to the prices of the Chaos Heavens, a recently bloomed Flying Clouds Flowing Flower could fetch five to six hundred Chaos Crystals. Yi Yun was completely capable of accepting such a price.

However, a million-year-old Flying Clouds Flowing Flower had a price of at least five to six thousand Chaos Crystals.

This was a huge sum of money that even the Blood King might have trouble producing, much less Yi Yun.

The Blood King had already provided the Ancestor God’s blood, so Yi Yun did not feel that it was right to make him give up a large sum of Chaos Crystals as well.

Since there was no immediate news, Yi Yun decided to enter seclusive cultivation.

And it was during this time that Lin Xintong began attempting to condense her Divine Lord Royal Seal.

She cultivated in the Grand Reincarnation Technique, so the Divine Lord Royal Seal’s condensation was extremely complicated. It was a very long process, but Lin Xintong was in no hurry. She did it a step at a time as she slowly figured out what it entailed.

Three days passed, and one morning, the Blood King finally received news from Treasure Fey Pagoda—the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor had arrived in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins and was living in the Yin Fountain Valley.

The Yin Fountain Valley was located west of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins where venomous bugs, snakes, and scorpions thrived. Typically, few Fey went to that godforsaken place, but to the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor, the Yin Fountain Valley was a lot better than Heaven Fey City.

Ghosts typically did not enjoy staying with Fey as the Fey had potent lifeblood powers. To a Ghost, these Fey warriors were like burning cauldrons. Although the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was strong, he did not enjoy seeing countless cauldrons flaring into the sky while in Heaven Fey City. It just left him uncomfortable.

Over the past few days, news of the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor’s visit to the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins also spread to Heaven Fey City. Although the ordinary populace remained unaware, the intelligence organizations in Heaven Fey City had already received the news and had in turn, sold the info. Although Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was someone people stayed away far from, he was still extremely adept in many magical mystic arts. There were still people who paid him attention, with some even planning on paying him a visit.

While these people were still making their decisions, Yi Yun and company had already arrived at the entrance to the Yin Fountain Valley.

This entourage included the Blood King!

The Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor had a terrible reputation, so the Blood King was worried Yi Yun would get into trouble if he were to go alone.

Not only did the Blood King come, even Rain Numinous had followed. The Blood King Palace’s strongest combat forces were all present.

Other than that, there was Jiang Xiaorou, Lin Xintong, and Yi Yun’s maidservant, Shan Ling.

The final person was the Treasure Fey Pagoda’s Yuchi Huo. His strength was still considerable and he was the one who had previously liaised with the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor. He had personally appraised the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower and with his keen eye, there was definitely no mistake about it.

The Yin Fountain Valley was subject to cold winds. There were numerous venomous bugs around, but with the Blood King present, his aura of decimation was enough to prevent the bugs from approaching.

“The Indestructible Killing Dao lives up to its name.” At that moment, a deep and sinister voice sounded from above like an owl.

Yi Yun looked up and saw a short elder draped in a black cloak. He was sitting on a nearby withered tree which was more than a dozen meters tall. The tree’s old roots which were twisted and contorted seemed to meld with the elder who was casually sitting on them.

They had noticed the withered tree previously, but they had not seen the figure sitting there. His sudden appearance made it seem as though he had always been there.

Yi Yun naturally knew that the person before him was the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor.

This was because his cultivation level had reached that of a Ghost Thearch!

The Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor slowly lifted his head. Beneath his black cloak was a face as pale as a corpse’s.

Beneath the Ghost Thearch realm, Ghost warriors only had a soul body.

Only by cultivating to the Ghost Thearch realm would one’s soul experience the catharsis of the Ghost Dao Heavenly Tribulations which produced flesh and blood for them, allowing them to coagulate a body of flesh and blood once more.

But even so, the bodies they coagulated were like corpses which were filled with an air of death. Their skin was grayish-white and they had odd looks. Their voices were hoarse and jarring.

But legend had it that a rare peerless genius could be produced from the Ghost race every billion years or so. They could coagulate a perfect body which was no different from living flesh. Such Ghosts were not called Ghost Thearchs but Ghost Divinities.

“Heretic Hands, what do you plan on exchanging the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower for?” Blood King went straight to the point.

“Haha, Blood King, you really are impatient. Fine, let’s jump straight into the trade negotiations.” Heretic Hands’ laughter was like grinding sandpaper against a wall. It was indescribably jarring to the ears.

“I heard that back when you decided on the Indestructible Killing Dao, you obtained one thing, didn’t you?” Heretic Hands asked in a cold, sinister manner.

It left the Blood King shocked!

This was an extremely secretive matter to the Blood King. He had no idea how the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor learned of it.

Indeed, although the Blood King’s talent back than was average, he had good luck. He had once obtained a Ravenjade Bodhi in a mystic realm.

The Ravenjade Bodhi was an extremely rare treasure for soul-nourishing!

And it was with the Ravenjade Bodhi that the Blood King dared choose the Indestructible Killing Dao. If not, no matter how firm and determined he was, or how indignant he was, choosing the Indestructible Killing Dao destined him for madness and the eventual loss of his life.

It was with the Ravenjade Bodhi that the Blood King managed to persist in the Indestructible Killing Dao for so long. But even so, he nearly fell into madness.

It was only when he reached the Tian Yuan world—after he had suffered a drop in realm, concealed his murderous intent, distanced himself from battle, and spent mortal-like days with Jiang Xiaorou’s mother—that he finally succeeded.

In truth, the Ravenjade Bodhi was no longer of much use to the Blood King at present. After all, the Blood King’s Indestructible Killing Dao was completed. The Ravenjade Bodhi’s soul nourishing effects were much less effective on the Blood King who focused on cultivating his lifeblood.

However, the Ravenjade Bodhi became a symbol of the Blood King’s memories. Back when he was in his life’s deepest nadir, he had relied on the Ravenjade Bodhi to get back on his feet.

It was very important to the Blood King.

The Blood King was a person who cherished the past. His dedication to Jiang Xiaorou’s mother was evidence of that.

“How did you know of that item of mine?” asked the Blood King coldly.

Heretic Hands smiled and said, “Your Majesty, your cultivation process is no secret. One can always infer from the breadcrumbs. That item’s soul-nourishing effects is no longer of use to you, Your Majesty, but to me, it’s immensely beneficial.”

Ghosts focused on cultivating their souls. Any treasure that nourished their souls was priceless.

A Ravenjade Bodhi, if used well and coupled with soul-nourishing treasures, could aid the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor into transcending the second Ghost Dao Heavenly Tribulation, allowing him to coagulate a more perfect body of flesh and blood!

It was no wonder that the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was willing to exchange the extremely precious Flying Clouds Flowing Flower. He was after the Ravenjade Bodhi!

Indeed, the Ravenjade Bodhi’s value to Heretic Hands was far greater than the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower’s.

The Blood King drew a deep breath as he momentarily wore a conflicted expression.

Yi Yun saw it clearly. He was someone who could understand the Blood King’s feelings the most. Placed in his shoes, if anyone were to ask for his Purple Crystal Origins, would he be agreeable to it?

Of course, the Blood King’s Ravenjade Bodhi’s value was far inferior to the Purple Crystal Origin’s.

The difference was just too great.

“Senior Blood King, let’s forgo this trade. If we had known that this was the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor’s plans, we wouldn’t even have come.”

Yi Yun initiated a suggestion. There was no need for him to use such a good strain of Flying Clouds Flowing Flower. He found ones that had just bloomed acceptable as well.

At that moment, Heretic Hands took out a jade box and a tiny interspatial ring.

The jade box opened to reveal a disk array which was in an activated state. The energy formed a hemisphere barrier that sealed a flower which looked like a flowing cloud inside.

The flower was in fact not considered a flower. The average person would even find it difficult to discern its shape. They would find it constantly changing, such that it made its actual state impossible to grasp.

This was none other than the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower. In terms of quality, it was practically the best.

“There are three thousand Chaos Crystals in the ring and three Fey Thearch level Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills!” Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor said. “Your Majesty, you should know the value of the Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills. It is extremely beneficial to your cultivation! The Ravenjade Bodhi is already of little use to you, while the Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills can even enhance your bloodline further. If you are willing to make the exchange, these are all yours!”

Heretic Hands was right. If they made the exchange, the Blood King was definitely not on the losing end. He might even come out as the winner.

Therefore, it was likely that Heretic Hands was about to experience his second lightning tribulation. But from the color of his skin, it was clear that his first lightning tribulation was not a success. The body he coagulated still had a rich cadaveric aura. Therefore, he probably wished to completely transform himself through a second lightning tribulation.

“Your Majesty, I have already produced the most generous conditions. Are you still disagreeable to it?”

With that said, Heretic Hands appeared to be losing his patience.

The Blood King let out a long sigh. “Whatever. I’ll do the exchange!”

Although it was a item that held his memories, it was an item after all and not a person.

To the Blood King, his most important memories was with his wife who he met in the Tian Yuan world.

Back when he suddenly had to leave to end his obsession and resolve the burden that plagued his heart, he had inevitably caused his wife to suffer in the lower realm. This guilted him terribly.

Now, Jiang Xiaorou was his wife’s obsession. If Yi Yun’s pills could enhance Jiang Xiaorou’s bloodline once more, the Blood King was willing to give up certain things.

Upon hearing the Blood King, Jiang Xiaorou bit her lips. As a daughter, there was no need for words to tell her that her father loved her deeply.

“Alright!” Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor threw out the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower and the interspatial ring.

The Blood Jade took out a pure black bodhi coruscating with a raven jade luster. As he caressed it fondly one last time, he wrapped it in lifeblood powers before sending it toward Heretic Hands.

The Flying Clouds Flowing Flower and interspatial ring were in hand!

Yuchi Huo was the first to receive it. When he scanned it with his perception, he determined that there was nothing wrong with it.

He handed the items over to the Blood King who did a brief examination before handing the flower to Yi Yun.

“Your Majesty, till we meet again!”

After Heretic Hands finished his sentence, his body phased away, transforming into a wisp of black smoke and vanished.

The Flying Clouds Flowing Flower was now in Yi Yun’s hand. After scrutinizing it, he stored away the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower, but immediately after, he hesitated for a moment and took it out again.

“Oh? What happened?” Lin Xintong was most sensitive to Yi Yun’s feelings.

1649 - : Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun remained silent for a long while. Back when both parties made the trade, Yi Yun had repeatedly probed the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower with his perception. He had even activated the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, but he found nothing wrong with it.

But now…

“What is it, Yun’er?” Jiang Xiaorou walked over. “Could this Flying Clouds Flowing Flower be fake?”

Jiang Xiaorou held her breath silently. The Flying Clouds Flowing Flower had been seen by so many people. Furthermore, Yuchi Huo, who had seen numerous treasures as Treasure Fey Pagoda’s store manager, had an excellent eye for authenticity. There was definitely no mistake in something he acknowledged in his appraisal.

“Young Master Lin, back when I liaised with Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor the first time, I had checked it thrice. It should be real, and the age of a million years could only be more, not less.”

Yuchi Huo was still very confident in his eye for detail.

“This Flying Clouds Flowing Flower is definitely real,” said Yi Yun. Through the Purple Crystal’s energy vision, he could see the resplendent colors contained in the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower. It was extremely rich in energy.

However, when Yi Yun stored away the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower, he had placed it in the God Advent Tower. As such, it allowed the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm to make contact with the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower.

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was a divine beast that ate all sorts of treasured herbs to grow, so its sensitivity towards treasures herbs was a hundred or a thousand times higher than a human’s!

Yi Yun was originally worried that the little guy would crave it, so he warned it.

But to his surprise, not only was the little guy not salivating, it was even warning him.

This left Yi Yun astounded!

“This Flying Clouds Flowing Flower has been tampered with. If I’m not wrong, it might be poisoned!”

When that was said, everyone present was stunned.

Poisoned!?

In fact, when warriors cultivated to their realm, their resistance toward poison was extremely high regardless of their race.

When human warriors discovered poison in their bodies, all they needed was to stir their Yuan Qi and burn the poison clean. The Fey had potent lifeblood, so they could directly rely on their lifeblood to refine away the poison. They could be described as being immune to all poisons.

Under such situations, very few experts considered the possibility of having their food or herbs poisoned.

Therefore, back when Yuchi Huo examined the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower, he did not even test it for poison.

However… there were still top lethal poisons in this world.

The difficulty of refining these poisons was a hundred times more difficult than refining a pill of the same grade. Furthermore, few people placed efforts into studying these.

However, Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was one of those minorities. He was adept in poison refinement arts!

With this in mind, the Blood King was enraged. “That old bastard! He wanted to harm us? Why did he poison the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower when he already has the Ravenjade Bodhi!?”

Yi Yun pondered for a moment before saying, “Senior Blood King, have you ever crossed the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor before?”

“Not at all. I didn’t even know him before today!” The Blood King’s expression was nasty.

“In that case, it was probably a task given by someone else. This is truly a move I never anticipated. I really believed his excuse because of the Ravenjade Bodhi. Heretic Hands was aware of the Ravenjade Bodhi and it happened to be of great use to him. It was a flawless plan. We only believed that Heretic Hands was after the Ravenjade Bodhi which resulted in him producing the precious Flying Clouds Flowing Flower, but we never expected him to have an ulterior motive!”

Yi Yun was secretly alarmed. This was a very ruthless move!

“Are you implying that it’s the… Luo King!?” the Blood King said coldly. Someone who they had crossed and was capable of getting Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor to take action could only be the Luo King!

Asking a favor of a figure like Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was too difficult, and since the Blood King did not know that the Luo King knew Heretic Hands, he had not gone out of his way to show precaution.

However, the Luo King had been a Fey Thearch for too long. He hid his hand well and whatever heritage or relationships he had was not something the Blood King was fully aware of. If the Luo King knew what Heretic Hands required and was able to satisfy him, requesting him to take action was a possibility!

“It’s ninety percent him!” Yi Yun said. It was no wonder there was no contact from the Luo King after so many days. He had been secretly holding back because he had sought the help of Heretic Hands.

Furthermore, Heretic Hands had benefited greatly from the exchange. He had obtained the Ravenjade Bodhi as well as benefits from the Luo King!

“So that’s the reason. I was wondering why Heretic Hands would know of my Ravenjade Bodhi. Only my enemies would pay such close attention to me to infer my trump card through my various exploits. It’s no wonder if the Luo King knows about my Ravenjade Bodhi!” The Blood King’s train of thought turned increasingly clear.

The Luo King was truly ruthless.

After all, if it was administered by the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor, the poison was definitely extraordinary!

If the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower was truly used to refine the pills, the outcome would be unimaginable!

Even if Yi Yun could barely survive it, Jiang Xiaorou would be doomed. Furthermore, the Blood King would believe that it was Yi Yun who harmed Jiang Xiaorou. There would be a falling out!

With this in mind, Yi Yun revealed a look of killing intent. “Luo King and Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor, I’ll remember this!”

“Young Master Lin, how did you determine if this Flying Clouds Flowing Flower is poisoned? Also, look at the other items. Are the three Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills also poisoned as well?” Yuchi Huo said. The Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills were meant for the Blood King, and since he was the pillar of support for the Treasure Fey Pagoda, it would be terrible if anything happened to him.

At that moment, the Blood King took out the Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills and the three thousand Chaos Crystals as well.

In fact, the Blood King was also curious how Yi Yun had discovered the poison. Although they had not specially paid attention to the aspect of poison, they had a certain level of perceptivity towards poison. Now, even after Yi Yun’s raising of the issue, they still did not detect anything after carefully scrutinizing it.

Indeed, Heretic Hands had formidable means. His poison was colorless, odorless, formless, and textureless!

Yet, it had been discovered by Yi Yun.

Yi Yun placed the three Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills on his hand and observed them for a moment. Then, he stored them away before making them appear back on his hand.

Of course, Yi Yun’s study of it was only an act. He was completely relying on the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm to determine if it was poisonous.

However, Yi Yun did not wish for outsiders to learn of the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s existence, afraid that it would be targeted by old powerful freaks.

Among the people present, he naturally trusted the Blood King, Jiang Xiaorou, and Lin Xintong, but he did not trust Yuchi Huo or Rain Numinous since they were still strangers to him.

“The Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills have been poisoned as well. Furthermore, it’s a slow poison. With the potency of this poison, if Senior Blood King were to eat it, he might not die, but it would definitely harm his core.

Even Heretic Hands was unable to refine a poison that could poison a Fey Thearch to death. That would be too heaven defying. However, to be harmed at his core would already be a terrible situation for the Blood King!

It would not be a surprise if the Luo King spared no expense to challenge the Blood King when that happened!

Even with Princess Chang intervening, she was unable to stop the Luo King if he truly insisted.

During the ensuing battle, the Luo King was bound to deliver a killing blow!

Even if he failed to kill the Blood King, he would gravely injure him, causing his realm to drop, never to rise again!

Furthermore, having gained insight into the Indestructible Killing Dao, the younger Blood King had a promising future ahead of him!

But if everything were to go according to the Luo King’s plan, the future Blood King would no longer be a threat to the Luo King. With a drop in strength and increased difficulty in improving, while losing a great deal of interests after his defeat, the resources at his disposal would be reduced. Under such circumstances, how was the Blood King to fight the Luo King?

“Nice, nice of you Jiang Luo! I never expected that while in his silence, the old bastard had initiated such a diabolical scheme against me. I nearly suffered an irreversible failure!”

The Blood King had been killing his entire life before attaining his ambitions. After he became a Fey Thearch, he forcefully embedded himself in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins and bit off a huge chunk of the pie with his strength. During this period, it was inevitable for him to have offended others.

Once he lost power, the outcome would be unthinkable. He had no idea how many people would kick him while he was down. The higher one climbed, the harder they fell!

“Punk, I owe you one,” said the Blood King.

Yi Yun said, “Senior Blood King, I’m already indebted to you. I haven’t had the chance to repay you for that, so don’t talk about you owing me. Besides, I was the one who offended the Luo King first. I was also the one who wanted to refine the pills. If not, there would not have been a chance for Heretic Hands to harm you.”

The Blood King waved his hand and said, “The Luo King and I have been sworn enemies since a long time ago. Since he knows Heretic Hands, it would have only been a matter of time before he took action. I’ll still remember what you have done for me.”

Blood King spoke very decisively. At that moment, Yuchi Huo was still in a dilemma. After hesitating for a long while, he could not help but ask, “Young Master Lin, how did you determine that these pills and the flower are poisonous?”

He was not truly curious, but was feeling a little incredulous. As the store manager of the Treasure Fey Pagoda, he knew a thing or two about poison. Furthermore, the Blood King was unable to tell that the items were poisoned despite being a Fey Thearch, so why was Yi Yun so certain?

If Yi Yun made a mistake and this mistake instigated a war against the Luo King, it would be terrible.

Yi Yun naturally knew what was on Yuchi Huo’s mind. He extracted a trivial amount of the medicinal essence from the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower and flicked it.

“Whoosh!”

The medicinal essence streaked across the air and entered a venomous python in the distance.

In a few seconds, the python lost all its vibrancy and turned into what seemed like a zombie snake.

Yuchi Huo had his perception locked onto the python’s body from beginning to end, so he saw everything clearly. He immediately drew a cold gasp. The poison was completely overbearing!

It was not a poison that destroyed the body; instead, it robbed one of their vibrancy!

The venomous python was extremely resistant to poison due to its nature, but against a poison that robbed one’s vibrancy, its poison resistance was meaningless.

“Young Master Lin’s perception is astounding. I’m ashamed that I failed to discover anything despite examining the herb so many times. I nearly harmed His Majesty,” Yuchi Huo said wistfully. In front of Yi Yun, he felt utterly useless.

Moments later, he realized that if both the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower and Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills were poisoned, they had suffered immense losses!

He was a merchant after all. He was very sensitive when it came to money. For these items, the Blood King had even thrown in the Ravenjade Bodhi; yet, all he got was for naught.

Yi Yun could read Yuchi Huo’s mind as he said, “This poison might not be unremovable…”

“Oh? You are even skilled in poison?” The Blood King was taken aback as well. Poison as a mystic art was just too rare. Across the entire Chaos Heavens, few warriors studied poison. And for a freak like Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor to reach such pinnacle attainments, he was truly one of a kind.

Under such circumstances, it should have been too difficult for Yi Yun to remove Heretic Hands’ poison.

1650 - : Diabolical

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Punk, what sort of preparations do you need to neutralize the poison?” Blood King asked. He was also astonished that Yi Yun had attained such a high level in laws and body-tempering at such a young age. He was the match of a quasi-Godly Monarch despite being a single-sealed Divine Lord. Not only did he know all sorts of sealing mystic arts, he even knew something as rare as poison theory. He was just too heaven-defying.

“There’s no need for all that. All I need is a quiet place.”

“Alright, let’s return first. I’ll definitely not let the Luo King’s machinations against me go unanswered!” Blood King said coldly.

In the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, Fey Thearchs were not to engage in fratricidal conflict. Although he knew it was the Luo King that had machinated all of this, it would be difficult to deal with the Luo King without actual evidence.

“Senior Blood King, pretend that you are unaware of this matter. I have my plans. Also, this matter must not be divulged by any one of us here. If it’s possible, please swear on the Heavenly Dao.”

Yi Yun’s words were, in fact, directed at Yuchi Huo and Rain Numinous.

Yuchi Huo also understood his intentions. He immediately said, “I was the one who liaised with Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor. I nearly harmed His Majesty and Her Highness Soft Clouds. I deserve death. If this news were to leak, no matter how trivial, I’ll be worse than a swine and deserve having my soul extracted and marrow refined. My Fey core will shatter and I’ll be left with no descendants, never to rise up again.”

In order to avoid suspicion, Yuchi Huo’s swear was sufficiently vicious on himself.

Rain Numinous naturally made the vow as well. In consideration of the duo’s feelings, Lin Xintong, Jiang Xiaorou, and Shan Ling made the vow as well.

“When we return to Heaven Fey City, act oblivious to what has just happened. Senior Blood King, make sure not to express any animosity toward the Luo King. If my guess is right, Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor will not be leaving Heaven Fey City for an extended period of time. We will still have an opportunity.”

“Oh?” Blood King was taken aback. If he read between the lines, Yi Yun’s intent was to exact vengeance on the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor!

Heretic Hands was a Ghost Thearch. Dealing with him was easier said than done. Furthermore, he was in cahoots with the Luo King.

“Young Master Lin, why are you certain that Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor will not leave Heaven Fey City?” Yuchi Huo asked.

“Because of Jiang Yuchan!” Yi Yun said confidently. “Jiang Yuchan is severely injured and in need of medical attention. The Luo King has likely paid a huge price to seek the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor’s help. He will naturally be treating Jiang Yuchan. What the Luo King has done will not only save Jiang Yuchan, it will also destroy me and Sis Xiaorou, and even cause Senior Blood King to sink into oblivion through the Fey Thearch battle. It’s truly killing three birds with one stone.”

“I really have to thank you, Young Master Lin,” said Rain Numinous softly. “However, Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor will leave Heaven Fey City once he heals Jiang Yuchan, right?”

Yi Yun shook his head. “I left those injuries on Jiang Yuchan myself. It won’t be that easily treated.”

“Oh?” Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Rain Numinous was taken aback. He was that confident?

Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was a medical genius in the Chaos Heavens. Yet, Yi Yun had made his claim with utmost certainty.

Yi Yun could resolve the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor’s poison, but the injuries left by Yi Yun in Jiang Yuchan’s body were not that easily treated by Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor?

As a Ghost Thearch, Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor had spent his entire life researching his field. Yet, he would lose to Yi Yun in his domain of expertise?

It sounded unbelievable.

The Blood King gave Yi Yun a deep look. Rou’er’s brother was truly astonishing. He seemed to have endless means available to him. Every time one felt that they had overestimated him, he would shock them in a brand new way.

“It’s truly Rou’er’s blessing to have you as a younger brother,” said the Blood King in a heartfelt manner. “Let’s return to Heaven Fey City first.”

The Blood King took out a mobile cave abode from his interspatial ring as everyone entered.

The mobile abode had flight capabilities, allowing it to fly back to Heaven Fey City.

At that moment, in an independent space of the cave abode, Yi Yun took out the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower and the three Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills!

Yi Yun was indeed not skilled in poison theory. However, he had some experience when it came to removing poisons. Back in the Fey God Tomb in the ancient battlefield, Yi Yun had met Bai Yueyin for the first time. She had been attacked by the demonic servants!

Those demonic servants used an apocalyptic poison to taint the stone marrow liquid which Bai Yueyin soaked herself in. Yi Yun was a Supremacy back then, and with various means, he helped Bai Yueyin treat the poison.

Even an apocalyptic poison left by Demon Gods could be treated by Yi Yun.

Therefore, Yi Yun was confident that he could do the same with the poison left by Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor!

“Poison Demon, come out! It’s time for work!”

Yi Yun held a green jar and threw Poison Demon out.

The old fellow’s cultivation level was becoming more profound, and all of this was because of its submission to Yi Yun.

Being with the correct owner was very important.

Before Poison Demon appeared, it already knew what it had to do. It looked at the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower and three pills in front of it in a supercilious manner.

“There is no poison in this world that I can’t deal with!”

Poison Demon was a manifestation of a supreme poison. In a particular sense, it represented the laws of poison.

Furthermore, treating poison and removing poison from pills were two different things.

Treating poison required decomposing the poison into its components to slowly understand their effects, so as to concoct a corresponding antidote. It was several times harder than concocting poison!

Many people would naturally believe that such a method was needed to treat the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor’s formless poison.

However, how could Yi Yun do something so tiresome?

His method was simple and brutal. Suck out the poison directly!

Even if the average person knew of such a simple method, it was completely impossible for them to accomplish it. There was no way to determine which were the poisonous components that the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor had left behind, much less isolate and extract them.

But to Poison Demon, that was not a problem at all.

It was born out of poison.

When Yi Yun placed the poisoned Flying Clouds Flowing Flower in front of it, Poison Demon took a deep breath and revealed an intoxicated look.

Although Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor’s poison was formless and ordorless, that was only to the average person. To Poison Demon, its odor was extremely rich. It was like a cat catching a whiff of fish, or flies with shit.

“Good! Good stuff!”

Poison Demon nearly salivated. It looked like a drug addict that had been on cold turkey for days, to the point of their eyes turning green, only to suddenly see half a kilogram of its “deliverance” appear before it. The feeling was uplifting.

Without Yi Yun’s instructions, it began sucking at the poison in the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower.

But a few seconds later, Poison Demon’s expression changed. “This poison is formidable!”

After sucking a small portion of the poison into its body, Poison Demon suddenly felt that its vitality was being devoured. That alarmed it. It was born from poison, so how could any poison harm it?

“Cadaveric aura… This poison comes with a cadaveric aura. It’s a power that can corrode life itself. I can be considered to have life, so if I were to consume this poison, I’ll likely have my vitality snuffed out and die.”

Poison Demon originally found the poison unchallenging. However, when it began absorbing the poison, it realized how multifaceted the poison Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor had planted was. It was extremely terrifying.

1651 - : Ghost Doctor’s Poison

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Cadaveric aura… that’s quite expected!” Yi Yun was not surprised. “The Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor is a Ghost, a Ghost Thearch at that. It’s true that you can’t withstand the potency of the vitality corrosion powers embedded in his poison. However, that doesn’t matter.”

Yi Yun condensed his Yuan Qi forces and a few seconds later, the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s phantom appeared behind him.

As an inheritor of the twelve Fey Gods, the moment the Azure Wood Divine Tree appeared, the pocket world was immediately affected. A rich vibrancy spread out with Yi Yun as center. Vegetation grew as spirit flowers bloomed. Instantly, the pocket world seemed to turn into an immortal’s paradise!

The Azure Wood Divine Tree possessed the strongest vital powers. Yi Yun placed the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower in his hand as massive amounts of vital powers surged into the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower to neutralize the deathly powers within.

The Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was indeed powerful. Even with the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s help, it took extremely long to get rid of the cadaveric aura within the flower.

However, no matter how powerful the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was, it was impossible for his poison to be constantly renewing. Every bit frittered away meant one bit less!

As time passed, the cadaveric aura in the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower was slowly neutralized by the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

Following that, Poison Demon began devouring the remaining poisonous elements in the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower.

Without the corrosive properties of the cadaveric aura, Poison Demon was completely unaffected by the lethal poison. The poisons even strengthened it.

After more than a day, Poison Demon completely devoured all the lethal poison in the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower.

Not only was Poison Demon unexhausted, it looked highly energetic.

Having removed the lethal poison in the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower, the remaining Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills were naturally not a problem!

…

Meanwhile, while Yi Yun was removing the poison, in Yuchan Manor north of the city.

Half a month had passed since Yi Yun’s battle in the Fey Blood Plains.

In that period, Jiang Yuchan would experience a tormenting pain from time to time!

The lightning threads and fire seeds Yi Yun left in his body were too terrifying. They constantly wrecked his body.

Jiang Yuchan’s flesh and blood was constantly decimated, but his potent Heaven Fey bloodline constantly restored his body. Most terrifying of all, the lightning and fire left behind by Yi Yun seemed to constantly renew itself. They could absorb Jiang Yuchan’s powers and lifeblood to strengthen themselves. They were like the world’s most terrifying diseases that strengthened while inside Jiang Yuchan’s body.

During this period, the Luo King had sought many people in an attempt to treat Jiang Yuchan. However, none of the treatments worked. Instead, with the passage of time, the lightning and fire forces in Jiang Yuchan’s body turned more potent as his situation turned for the worse.

Jiang Yuchan was also considered a strong-willed person, but after the prolonged torment of such excruciating pain, his vitality was constantly shaved off. He was on the brink of a collapse to the point of hoping to plead for Yi Yun’s mercy. However, the Luo King refused to bow.

This day, the Luo King brought the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor.

This was a person who brought way more despair than hope. He was a doctor of death that killed more than he saved.

But at that moment, he was the only straw Jiang Yuchan could reach for.

The Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor caught a glance of Jiang Yuchan from afar, but he was able to tell that Jiang Yuchan’s soul had greatly dissipated from the torment.

The Fey focused on their lifeblood. Their psyche and soul cultivations were nothing impressive. On this point, the Ghosts who focused on soul cultivation viewed the Fey in contempt.

“A Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins genius is just this and nothing more. To be left in such a pathetic state after such a minor injury. Furthermore, none of you Fey can treat him despite the fact that the injuries were inflicted by a human junior.”

Heretic Hands let out a hoarse chuckle that left the Luo King’s expression ugly.

The Fey belittled humans to begin with. This time, the injuries Yi Yun had left in Jiang Yuchan’s body had smacked too many Fey mighty figures in the face. It left the Luo King extremely peeved. Now, he was even mocked by this old man. How could he be happy about that?

Heretic Hands had an odd personality and he was easily disliked. Of course, now that the Luo King had a request for him, all he could do was put up with it.

Heretic Hands walked to Jiang Yuchan’s side and turned to the Luo King. “Luo King, don’t forget the Heavy Star Sand and the Soul Entrenchment Rock you promised.”

“Naturally!”

“Hehe.” Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor reached out his narrow palm that was as thin as a chicken’s claw and grabbed Jiang Yuchan’s arm.

Jiang Yuchan grunted as his arm was lacerated, causing blood to ooze out.

Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor stretched out his long tongue and sinisterly licked his black fingernails which were stained with blood.

Moments later, his face gradually froze.

“Oh?”

His blade-like fingernails repeatedly streaked across Jiang Yuchan’s body and soon, Jiang Yuchan’s skin was lacerated with countless wounds. Even his face was contorted from the pain.

As large amounts of blood flowed out, Heretic Hands gradually wore a serious expression.

This was a injury caused by the nomological Great Dao!

Such injuries… were not easily healed!

Typically, damage to the body would incur harm on one’s vitality. Even damage to the soul or one’s vital essence was something the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor could handle.

Only Great Dao injuries were tough problems. To treat them, one had to crack the nomological shackles.

This was similar to treating poison. One had to break down the poison’s components and slowly find a solution to each.

However, Heretic Hands could tell that the nomological attainments in the Great Dao injuries left by the human junior were extremely horrifying.

“This person’s Dao of Lightning and Fire has reached an extremum. Fascinating.” Heretic Hands recalled Yi Yun. As a ghost doctor, he could tell a person’s bone age at a glance. Yi Yun was definitely less than a thousand years old.

Such a genius was quite terrifying.

In terms of Lightning and Fire laws, Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor, who had transcended the Ghost Dao Heavenly Tribulation, was quite skilled in lightning laws. However, his attainments in fire-elemental laws were lacking. It was limited to the understanding of fire poison.

To use such means to crack Yi Yun’s Dao was very difficult!

However, Heretic Hands was not the typical doctor. He was very familiar with life. He had taken billions of lives—humans, Fey, Ghosts, Fey beasts, almost every race!

He personally dissected every inch of their body and split apart every meridian to familiarize and taste the fresh flesh and blood as well as their souls.

He had many crazy ideas he wished to actualize.

Great Dao injuries were the kind of injuries he was worse at treating. However, he had other shortcuts!

“How is it? Can my grandson be saved?” Luo King asked.

Heretic Hands did not answer directly; instead, he remarked, “Interesting, very interesting!”

Having met with such a tough problem, not only did Heretic Hands shrink back, he even turned excited.

Such a reaction made the Luo King frown.

What does he mean by interesting? Is he planning on using my grandson as a guinea pig?

Although he had such a thought, the Luo King did not dare voice his opinion. He was a cold person. Even if it involved his grandson’s life, he was unwilling to lower his dignity as a Fey Thearch by compromising.

“That Lin Yun has to be killed!”

The Luo King affirmed his decision to destroy Yi Yun. Since Yi Yun had means to leave Heretic Hands not entirely confident of treatment, it meant that his nomological insight was too terrifying. Adverse consequences were inevitable if he were allowed to develop his strength further!

1652 - : Jiang Yuchan’s Injuries

CKtalon  CKtalon

After removing the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower’s poison, Yi Yun also removed the poison from the three Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills in the same manner.

After completing the process, Yi Yun did a test by extracting a tiny portion of the medicinal essence and giving it to a lowly Fey beast. Not only was the Fey beast fine, it even had its lifeblood enhanced by its absorption of the tiny amount of medicinal essence.

In regards to this, Blood King was filled with mixed emotions. Yi Yun was not only nomologically powerful and physically strong, his understanding and removing of poisons were incredible.

Despite the difficulty of removing poisons being of the highest level, Yi Yun had managed to do so in just a few short days.

It was a pity that he was not his son.

Blood King even had the thought of acknowledging Yi Yun as an adopted son. If this were any other person, becoming the adopted son of a Fey Thearch would be like having something fall into their lap. Many people would yearn for that to happen.

However, he knew that an elite like Yi Yun had no need to rely on a Fey Thearch like him.

Yi Yun only stayed with them firstly to refine the pills, and second for Jiang Xiaorou.

Blood King’s relationship with Yi Yun was maintained through Jiang Xiaorou.

“Senior Blood King, the Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills should be fine. Senior Blood King, if there’s no other matter, you should enter seclusion and refine them. Such matters should not be delayed.”

“Alright!” Blood King nodded. “Punk, I’m in your debt. I’ll be leaving Xiaorou’s wellbeing in your hands!”

Blood King threw out an interspatial ring.

When Yi Yun checked it, it was filled with Chaos Crystals!

Initially, Yi Yun’s requirements for the Myriad Form Shura Pill’s ingredients were of the lowest standards, but after obtaining a million-year-old Flying Clouds Flowing Flower, his requirements were no longer the same. To prevent wasting the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower’s medicinal essence, the other materials needed to be of higher quality as well.

The budget needed immediately raised about eight times!

Yi Yun had previously promised to earn about one to two thousand Chaos Crystals. Through the betting and the sale of the captured Fey beasts, that could have been sufficient. Unfortunately, his fleecing of the Luo King failed. If not, it would not have been a problem gathering those ingredients.

Due to the rise in budget, Yi Yun sold the two Godly Monarch Royal Seals he had used as a congratulatory gift at Lin Xintong’s coronation. Instantly, he gained another two thousand Chaos Crystals.

Even in the Chaos Heavens where there were numerous Godly Monarchs, a Godly Monarch Royal Seal was still of great worth. If he had sold them in the Sinkhole, the price would have been greater.

With three thousand Chaos Crystals, the shortfall was covered by the Blood King.

The Blood King was not stingy either. He instantly provided all his savings.

“Punk, I haven’t been a Fey Thearch for long, so my wealth is still nothing to speak of. Thankfully, Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor gave another three thousands Chaos Crystals in order to win my trust. They are all in there. You must refine the pills to the best of standards. If there’s anything you lack, have the Treasure Fey Pagoda go to the Heaven Fey Bank to get a loan.”

In fact, the Blood King did not mention that the wealth he produced had three thousand Chaos Crystals from a loan.

However, the Treasure Fey Pagoda was a huge enterprise. By mortgaging a portion of its business, it was not a problem to borrow a few thousand Chaos Crystals.

Finally, Yi Yun had a total of 21,000 Chaos Crystals in his hand. It was equivalent to to 210,000,000 Chaos Ores!

This was a staggering amount of wealth. One had to know that the typical genius prince in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins only had about dozens of Chaos Crystals as their liquid wealth.

As for the other princes, even Shaomang Xuan, who Yi Yun had killed, had less than twenty Chaos Crystals.

“Thank you, Senior Blood King. These should be sufficient!”

Yi Yun’s original budget was about two thousand plus Chaos Crystals. Now that he had about nine times more, it left him delighted.

With the Blood King in seclusion, the acquiring of ingredients was completely left to the Treasure Fey Pagoda.

But this placed Yuchi Huo in a dilemma.

Even with immense wealth in hand, a lot of the materials were not that easily gathered.

“Young Master Lin, many of the ingredients are too rare. They have a price, but there’s no one to supply them,” said Yuchi Huo with a rueful expression. With the increase in budget, Yi Yun’s requirements for the ingredients had increased in tow. It was already difficult previously, but it was now only harder.

The search went on for days before two acceptable strains were found. The Golden Feather Immortal Pistil was one of them.

Yi Yun said, “Senior Yuchi, don’t fret. If I’m judging it right, the speed at which we will gather the ingredients will only speed up.”

“Oh?” Yuchi Huo seemed to realize something when Yi Yun said that. “Young Master Lin, do you mean…”

“The Luo King will help us.”

Back in the Fey Blood Plains’ battle, Yi Yun had figuratively smacked the Luo King in the face. For this, the Luo King had sought the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor. Since he had spent a great price and put in so much effort, how could he allow Yi Yun to not refine the pill because of a lack of ingredients?

In fact, a figure at the level of the Luo King definitely had his patience. It would not have been a problem if he waited a few years. But most critically, the Luo King had also poisoned the Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills which the Blood King was consuming!

Although it was an extremely brilliant slow-acting poison, the Blood King was bound to discover it if things dragged on. From that, he could infer that the Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills had been poisoned!

If that happened, no matter how stupid Yi Yun was, he would realize that the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower was problematic as well.

To the Luo King, it was imperative he eradicated Blood King, a mortal malady of his. But when it came to Yi Yun, the Luo King did not think lightly of him either. With Yi Yun’s talent, he would only become more difficult to deal with than the Blood King.

Therefore, the Luo King had to time it perfectly such that both poisons acted at the same time.

Yi Yun said, “The Luo King has deeper connections than the Blood King. He is already aware of the items on my list. If he is not confident that he can gather them for me in a short period of time, he would not have poisoned both items.”

Yuchi Huo said, “Young Master Lin, what you say makes sense. It’s no wonder you told His Majesty that his seclusion could not be delayed. Then, should we spread the news that the Blood King has entered seclusion?”

Yi Yun said, “The Luo King is likely aware of it. It was never a secret anyway.”

The Blood King Palace was huge. It was impossible for it to be devoid of the Luo King’s spies.

And the facts proved that Yi Yun’s guess was right. The search for the ingredients became easier.

Many rare materials were purchased by Yuchi Huo subsequently.

This made Yuchi Huo feel a sense of lingering fear. The Luo King’s deep connections were indeed terrifying. A portion of the ingredients were bought from secret markets. The buyers and sellers there used mystical masks to hide their identity. That could be written off, but there was another portion of ingredients which were sold to Treasure Fey Pagoda by various major factions.

This was obviously motivated by the Luo King.

The Luo King had been in power for so many years, so he had wide-reaching resources that involved many family clans. These family clans either had shared interests with the Luo King or the Luo King Palace had good relationships with a particular important figure in the family clan. At times, they could bribe the partners in bed of particular important figures into making insinuations. There were all sorts of means available, and this resulted in the Blood King Palace taking a few short months to acquire a vast majority of the ingredients!

Yi Yun’s way of beating the Luo King at his own game was truly brilliant.

“The Luo King sure is terrifying. Yet, such a terrifying person thinks so highly of Young Master Lin. He spent such a huge price in order to doom Young Master Lin…” said Yuchi Huo wistfully.

He came to the Blood King’s seclusion chamber and updated him on the ingredient purchase process.

The Blood King’s seclusion was only to refine a pill, so he did not require freedom from disturbances.

“Got it. For Xiaorou to have such a brother as an aide sure is her blessing.”

This was the second time the Blood King was feeling impressed. The Luo King probably never dreamed that all he had done was to suffer a double loss and benefit Yi Yun for nothing.

If not, how could Yi Yun’s refinement of the pills go that smoothly?

“What other ingredients are missing? Prepare them for him at any cost,” said the Blood King.

Yuchi Huo reverently answered, “He’s short of a Fey core. However, I have already received news that a Fey Thearch Fey core will soon be auctioned in the capital. For this auction, I have gotten the Treasure Fey Pagoda to borrow 8000 Chaos Crystals from the Heaven Fey Bank. We will definitely get it!’

“Alright, take your leave.”

Yi Yun’s original requirement for the refinement of the Myriad Form Shura Pills was that of a quasi-Fey Thearch’s Fey core.

Yi Yun even felt that he was going a little crazy after having that many Chaos Crystals. He was even buying a Fey beast’s Fey core at the Fey Thearch level.

The Fey beast’s Fey core at the Fey Thearch level was a lot more valuable than a Godly Monarch Royal Seal.

Fey Thearch level Fey beasts were even rarer. All of these Fey beasts grew up in the wilderness independently, experiencing countless difficulties and the Nine Heavenly Tribulations before becoming a Fey Thearch Fey beast.

To kill them? It was just too difficult!

Furthermore, many Fey beasts would prepare a graveyard for themselves. These graveyards were extremely hidden, so finding their corpses was extremely difficult.

Every Fey core at the Fey Thearch level was something that could only come by luck, but not by searching for it!

Godly Monarch Royal Seals were the condensed laws of others. Many geniuses did not even wish to refine one they found for themselves, and preferred condensing their own Godly Monarch Royal Seals.

However, Fey Thearch Fey cores did not share the same situation. They were top treasures that could be used for pill refinement.

Be it humans, the Fey or the Celestials, all of them needed Fey cores.

Yi Yun went with Yuchi Huo to the auction to purchase it himself.

This was the more exclusive auction house in Heaven Fey City. It was not held by any conglomerate but hosted by the imperial household. Many people came for its reputation, but as Yi Yun was willing to pay an obscene amount of money, he eventually defeated his opponents. He spent 22,000 Chaos Crystals to win the Fey Thearch Fey core!

Yi Yun was thrilled with the Fey Thearch Fey core in hand.

Although the trading price of 22,000 Chaos Crystals was exaggerated, it was still acceptable. If they had met someone who wished to spite them, it would not be strange to have the price reach 30,000 Chaos Crystals.

Finally, Yi Yun went up the stage under the watchful eyes of everyone to do the exchange for Chaos Crystals and the Fey Thearch Fey core.

The feeling of handing over such immense wealth was actually quite exhilarating.

Of course, this was what Yi Yun felt. The audience below only felt it was not worthwhile for the Blood King.

They had obviously heard of news that Yi Yun was trying to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pills and had also seen the list that the Treasure Fey Pagoda had provided.

The list was already exaggerated enough, but it was even more ridiculous at that moment. All the qualities of the ingredients were elevated. The Blood King was probably mad to put the Treasure Fey Pagoda into tremendous debt so as to invest so heavily in Yi Yun.

Although Yi Yun had won fame from a single battle at the Fey Blood Plains, people only believed that he was personally strong. Someone strong could still be a cheat. As a junior, why would his refining of pills need such immense wealth? How was it possible? It was even unheard of for divine alchemists when they refined pills.

1653 - : Materials Gathered

CKtalon  CKtalon

With the Fey Thearch Fey core in hand, Yi Yun had finally received the last of the ingredients he needed!

Yi Yun’s refinement of the pills involved—

Fey Thearch Fey core! Million-year-old Flying Clouds Flowing Flower! Blood of the Ancestor God!

Just gathering these three was astounding enough. In comparison, the million-year-old Flying Clouds Flowing Flower was the cheapest.

And the most valuable of all was the Ancestor God’s blood, something even the Luo King could not obtain.

With everything ready, Yi Yun picked an auspicious day to begin his refinement!

And the place Yi Yun chose was the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda.

Although the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda had the words ‘pagoda’ in it, it was actually a major faction. To put it simply, the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda was the alchemist association of the Heaven Fey City. It nearly monopolized all the alchemists in the Heaven Fey City and was considered a top faction.

The Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s Pagoda Lord was also a Fey Thearch. He was also the only Alchemist Monarch of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins.

In fact, the alchemy practiced in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was more akin to what was practiced by Tian Yuan world’s Desolate Heaven Masters. They seldom used spiritual plants and instead used the bones, flesh and blood, and Fey cores of Fey beasts!

The Fey’s alchemical arts took a different path from that of humans.

In terms of influence and monetary strength, the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda was far above that of the Treasure Fey Pagoda. The latter was merely a merchant organization that earned its profits through the bid-ask spreads, while the former controlled the refinement of pills. Having pills was equivalent to having many Fey warriors at their throats.

Yi Yun reserved the most luxurious alchemy room in the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda, with a rental cost of three hundred Chaos Crystals!

This price was equivalent to the entire wealth of two or three extremely wealthy Fey Lords!

Apart from that, the rental also required a hundred merit points from the Blood King.

Using the entire wealth of two to three extremely wealthy Fey Lords and a hundred merit points of the Blood King to rent an alchemy room? This sounded like madness.

However, the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s alchemy rooms were worth every crystal!

This was because it was one of the nine major array cores of the Heaven Fey City’s Heaven and Earth massive array.

A city like the Heaven Fey City had been situated in the Chaos Heavens for billions of years. In the long river of history, the Heaven Fey City had produced geniuses, so the accumulations it amassed was staggering!

In addition, the Heaven Fey City was a spot where numerous underground spirit veins gathered, making it a wonderland.

The Heaven Fey set up a Heaven and Earth massive array in the Heaven Fey City and sealed the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi there, making the city rich in Yuan Qi. It was more than ten times what could be found in the surrounding regions.

This was also the reason why Heaven Fey City’s property prices were worth their weight in gold!

However, although the Heaven Fey City had rich Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, it was restricted by the Heaven and Earth massive array since it was a shared resource. Absorbing it was no problem, but once one absorbed a certain level of Yuan Qi, it would be restricted by the massive array.

Under such circumstances, the typical expert’s breakthrough was silent, without causing so much as a stir.

But in the Heaven Fey City, there were a handful of nine array cores which did not share the restrictions of the massive array.

Of these nine array cores, three were in the Ruins Emperor Palace—two were occupied by a patriarch each, and the Ruins Emperor had one!

The remaining six were scattered outside the palace.

Under normal circumstances, the nine array cores were left unused. In order to gather Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, they were only used when absolutely necessary.

For instance, when a Fey Thearch was about to break through, they would apply for an array core for their seclusion.

Or if they were refining divine pills or divine armaments. They would apply to use the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda or the array core at the Artisan Divine Pagoda.

The usage of the array core was not free. Using it expended a lot of things. Typically, the various Fey Thearchs would not be that extravagant for their seclusions.

However, Yi Yun was just that extravagant!

His pill refinement could only be described as extremely high profile!

There were already many people watching Yi Yun. He was refining a pill no one had heard of before, so who knew if he would succeed or fail?

However, due to his rental of the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s pill refinement array core, he immediately caused a commotion.

What a prodigal! An utter prodigal!

Furthermore, what right did a human junior have to use their Heaven Fey City’s array core?

Not only was the average Fey warrior unable to use the locations of the array cores, but they almost never even had a chance to see them!

Even the Ruins Emperor’s usage of the array cores every year was limited. Now, the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda was renting it to Yi Yun.

Although three hundred Chaos Crystals and a hundred Fey Thearch merit points were costly, it still left many Fey unhappy.

What right did he have!? Why should a sacred land of them, the Heaven Fey, be left to a human to use?

“Don’t be envious. Although it’s blasphemous that the lowlife, Lin Yun, can step into the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s array core, perhaps it’s the Pagoda Lord himself who is secretly overjoyed.”

When someone raised this point, everyone was stunned before they realized what was happening.

The Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s array core was charged by the day and not the usage process!

The array core was usually left unused to accumulate Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Every array core had to be used at specific points in time. If the amassed Yuan Qi was sucked dry by the rentee, it would be a terrible loss.

On the contrary, if the rentee had a “limited appetite,” capable of only absorbing minute amounts despite renting for half a month, the pagoda would make a killing.

“So that’s the reason. Haha, so that’s what the Pagoda Lord has in mind.”

“Three hundred Chaos Crystals aren’t cheap to begin with. It’s even rarer with the Fey Thearch merit points. Most important of all, the array core cannot be used after a long period of time. When the Yuan Qi is at its richest, it can be used by the Pagoda Lord. Perhaps, the Pagoda Lord has plans on refining a special pill.”

People discussed and came to a realization.

It was no wonder that the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda did not reject Yi Yun’s entry into the array core.

A fool and his money are soon parted, and the fool was none other than Yi Yun.

However, Yi Yun was not necessarily a fool. He could be having nefarious ideas, since he was not the one paying for it.

Many people were guessing at the means Yi Yun used to win the Blood King’s trust to the point of him investing so much in him.

For items like a Fey Thearch Fey core, even if an alchemist grandmaster were to refine one, they would do so very carefully, afraid that they were unable to bring out the medicinal essence of the Fey core. After all, the energy contained within was overly terrifying.

As for Yi Yun, he had everything go smoothly for him. Not only was he using a Fey Thearch Fey core for his cauldron of pills, he was even using all kinds of treasured herbs, The amount of energy combined together far exceeded the Fey Thearch Fey core!

How was it possible to infuse so much energy into the pill? It would definitely result in a lot of waste. It was even possible that the excessive energies would cause the cauldron to blow up.

That would all be alright if it was the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s Pagoda Lord who did the refinement, but how old was Yi Yun?

People guessed that Yi Yun would use up or transfer away the large amount of resources in the chamber!

When the time came, he could make an explosion and claim that the pill refinement had failed.

However, he had caused such a huge stir and the ingredients he used were of top grade. He had even rented the array core of the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda. Could he simply write off everything by claiming failure?

1654 - : Array Core

CKtalon  CKtalon

Would the Blood King spare Yi Yun after he caused such a big hooha and put on an entire farce of extravagantly wasting resources?

The outcome was difficult to tell. After all, everyone acknowledged Yi Yun’s strength.

The Blood King had become Fey Thearch only recently. He was only beginning to build up his faction and had a weak foundation. Even if he encountered a larcenous person like Yi Yun, he still needed to rely on them if they were a genius.

At noon, the alchemical process began!

Yi Yun stayed in a chamber to refine his pills, so it was silent. No one could observe him.

But even so, thousands of people gathered around Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda. Even if they could not see a thing, they could not help but look toward the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda.

This could very likely become a huge joke.

If that were the case, the person to bear the brunt of the jokes would not be Yi Yun, but the Blood King.

In the years following Blood King’s breakthrough to Fey Thearch, he had affected the interests of many old Fey Thearchs. Many people were waiting to see the Blood King suffer a setback.

…

When Yi Yun began the refinement process, an azure-clothed man sat on a high platform above the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda. In between his brows was a purple mark that looked like a faint constellation.

As for his clothes, they were not adorned with any accessories. He looked as simple as could be. However, his body exuded a faint air that was not necessarily that of a supreme being’s. Instead, it was like a distant galaxy, ethereal and indistinct, visible but not reachable.

He was none other than the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s Pagoda Lord. He was also the Alchemist Monarch of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins—Jiang Lichen.

The Fey Thearchs of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins might show respect to the Ruins Emperor openly, but oppose him in private. But all of them had to be on good terms with Jiang Lichen.

There was no other choice. No matter how intractable the Fey Thearchs of Heaven Fey City were, they often needed to seek Jiang Lichen’s help.

At that moment, Jiang Lichen was having a game of chess with someone. Sitting across him was the Luo King, Jiang Luo!

The game had been ongoing for a full day. Jiang Lichen held the advantage, and without a surprise upset, the Luo King would find it difficult to make a comeback.

However, Jiang Lichen continued playing, laying his pieces in an unhurried manner.

Many a time, he was not considering the game, but enjoying the sense of calm while playing.

“Is Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor still at your place?” Jiang Lichen suddenly asked.

Few people knew that the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was acquainted with the Luo King, but Jiang Lichen knew. He was one of the older Fey Thearchs of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, having attained the realm of Fey Thearch long before the Luo King.

“Yes. Heretic Hands is treating Yuchan.”

“The treatment has taken that long?” Jiang Lichen asked.

“Heretic Hands isn’t nomologically skilled. Furthermore, that human bastard has done lots of research in the laws; hence, it has taken so long. However… it’s close to success.”

“I see…” Jiang Lichen nodded. “According to the Heaven Fey City rules, Fey Thearchs are not to have any fratricidal infighting. If you were to fight Blood King, it would require the destruction of a foundation, the bottom line of a Fey Thearch conflict.”

The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins cherished every Fey Thearch. They were just too rare and what the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins used as the pillars of their society.

However, what if it was only an injury instead of the destruction of a foundation?

The Luo King knew that there were many gray areas.

“My revenge is mainly directed at that human bastard. It should be fine just dealing with him, right!?”

“That’s fine. You can do anything you want to Lin Yun,” said Jiang Lichen indifferently.

The division between “us” and “them” was irreconcilable!

The Fey’s attitude towards human was that of contempt, but also that they could be controlled.

Simultaneously, they had to be careful against them!

For humans that became Godly Monarchs, they would not easily offend them, but they would be very happy to see human Godly Monarchs perish.

Besides, the Blood King had so many enemies in the Heaven Fey City that even he did not know the exact number. How could they be willing to see Yi Yun develop his strength?

Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou shared a very close relation. This was already sufficient to be a point of attack on Jiang Xiaorou and the Blood King.

“Good! Brother Lichen, I’m assured having heard you say that. Unfortunately, that punk will be wasting so many resources before his death,” said the Luo King wistfully.

“Those things are all excellent pill refinement ingredients. Brother Lichen, the Nine Cycles Heavenly Tribulation Pills that you have been preparing for decades are probably inferior when it comes to preciousness, right?”

Jiang Lichen’s refinement of the Nine Cycles Heavenly Tribulation Pills was known by many Fey Thearchs in the Heaven Fey City.

The pills’ name was self-explanatory. They were used after nine cycles of Heavenly Tribulations, enhancing the body-tempering effects of the Heavenly Tribulation by twenty percent.

Transcending the Heavenly Tribulations was a necessary process for Fey Thearchs.

The fact that the Nine Cycles Heavenly Tribulation Pills could enhance the body-tempering effects of a Heavenly Tribulation made their value obvious!

Many Fey Thearchs, including Fey Thearchs outside the Heaven Fey City, coveted those pills.

Over the years, many non-Jiang Fey Thearchs visited Jiang Lichen after learning of the news. They were aware that it was not pragmatic to hope to obtain a Nine Cycles Heavenly Tribulation Pill from Jiang Lichen directly, but there were bound to be opportunities if they made his acquaintance.

The Fey Thearchs who visited Jiang Lichen were all famous figures. If he rejected their request, Jiang Lichen might feel his conscience being pricked.

As such, if he were to make another cauldron of pills in the future, there was a chance of them purchasing a pill.

“Yes, the price of the ingredients used for the Nine Cycles Heavenly Tribulation Pills are not that ludicrous. However, as long as it expends a sliver of my Origins of Lightning Tribulation, I will not refine any more. Alchemy is not simply about using expensive materials. Even an Alchemy Monarch would find it difficult to control the vast energies. No matter how many treasured herbs are used, all of that will be wasted.”

Jiang Lichen did not continue on.

He planned on waiting three years after Yi Yun was done with his pill refinement before refining the Nine Cycles Heavenly Tribulation Pills!

In fact, Jiang Lichen had been monitoring the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi gathered within the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda for the past twenty years.

All of that was for his goal of refining the Nine Cycles Heavenly Tribulation Pills!

Now, the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi inside the array core had only amassed to a certain level. According to the rules, every array core had to be used after a specific period of time.

Equal sharing of resources was a rule of the Heaven Fey City. Which Fey Thearch wouldn’t need resources? What right did Jiang Lichen have to keep an array core closed to accumulate Heaven Earth Yuan Qi?

Jiang Lichen’s reputation was sufficiently high that the other Fey Thearchs did not dare pick a bone with him.

But with the passage of time, the Yuan Qi within the array core increased. It was no longer within control.

It was normal for people to covet it, such as the Blood King! Jiang Lichen’s relationship with the Blood King was only ordinary!

Thankfully, Yi Yun had served himself right to his doorstep while the Blood King was in seclusion. It effectively prevented him bringing trouble onto himself.

Since Yi Yun had entered the array core, Jiang Lichen would then have an aboveboard reason to reject all other Fey Thearchs from entering for the next three years, with the Blood King having even less priority.

After Yi Yun entered, another three years would ensure that the array core was filled with Heaven Earth Yuan Qi!

Back when Yi Yun decided to rent the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s array core, he had only done so because he wanted to freely absorb Heaven Earth Yuan Qi and not be restricted by the Heaven Fey City’s massive array.

He never imagined that the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s array core held such monetary value.

Yi Yun saw a spirit fountain inside.

As the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was so rich, a liquid spirit fountain had been condensed!

According to the array core’s rental agreement, the spirit fountain could not be taken away. Absorption had to be done inside.

“Oh? There’s an array formation obstruction?”

When Yi Yun approached the spirit fountain, he was slightly taken aback. The spirit fountain’s surroundings were sealed with a mystical array. Cracking it was not easy.

It also meant that although the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda had immense treasures left inside the array core, they were under lock and key.

If the average person came and did the appropriate absorptions, how much could they absorb?

However, this was not a problem for Yi Yun at all.

With the Purple Crystal Origins in hand, the array formation could not stop him at all.

Yi Yun’s refinement would expend an astounding amount of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. The spirit fountain was truly of timely assistance, allowing the Myriad Form Shura Pill’s quality to be enhanced further.

“I made the right choice in coming to the Heaven Fey City. The Myriad Form Shura Pill is supposed to be very difficult to refine, but it took me such a short period of time to make the preparations. Furthermore, the quality of the ingredients have far exceeded my expectations.”

“The Heaven Fey City is just too nice. First, it was the Luo King who pulled the strings and logistics to aid me in preparing the materials. Now, the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda has aided me in preparing the best alchemical grounds. Even I’m feeling a little guilt-ridden.”

Yi Yun was very thrilled.

The pill refinement was no trifling matter. No one in the world except himself could complete it.

The refinement of the Myriad Form Shura Pills needed the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence laws. And this was something only Yi Yun was equipped with.

Apart from that, the pills needed massive amounts of precious materials. The amount of energy involved was too massive that even Fey Thearch alchemists would find it uncontrollable.

However, Yi Yun had the Purple Crystal Origins. He could easily control all the energy in the treasured herbs, while still having the capacity to extract the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi from the spirit fountain to provide for the refinement.

Yi Yun took a deep breath as his mind stirred. All sorts of previous materials appeared in his hand.

He opened the cauldron!

The cauldron he was using was the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

In terms of cauldron quality, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was the best. Furthermore, it had the Dragon Emperor bloodline in it. It was most suitable to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pills.

As for the fire needed for the refinement, Yi Yun was using the Heretical God Fire.

The Heretical God Fire was the strongest flame in the universe.

“It’s time. The stars have aligned. If I’m unable to refine the cauldron of pills to perfection under these conditions, I’m no different from trash.”

Yi Yun never thought of the possibility of him failing. What he wanted was absolute perfection!

Yi Yun first took out the hundred-thousand-year-old Golden Feather Immortal Pistil.

“Energy extraction.”

Yi Yun interfaced his spiritual energy with the Purple Crystal and extracted the medicinal energies from the Golden Feather Immortal Pistil at an extremely fast speed.

If this scene were to be witnessed by other alchemists, they would probably be left astounded.

No matter how brilliant an alchemist was, they would be very careful with energy extraction. Any tiny mistake could destroy the herb. Even with excellent technique, it was very difficult to completely extract all the medicinal energies.

However, this process was the easiest to Yi Yun.

Instead, it was the refinement process with the Heretical God Fire that Yi Yun needed to take slowly…

1655 - : Jiang Lichen

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun immersed himself in the pill refinement for three consecutive days. It was as though he was in an ethereal state, fully focused on the Heretical God Fire, ingredients, and the nascent Myriad Form Shura Pills.

And surrounding the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda, the spectators that came to watch the farce did not have that much patience.

They only came on the day Yi Yun began his pill refinement, but when they realized that Yi Yun had sealed himself in the chamber to refine the pills, they slowly left.

All they cared about was the outcome which they would use as a topic of conversation over meals.

However… five days after Yi Yun began his pill refinement, a wind stirred up in the city.

Winds stirring in Heaven Fey City was nothing odd, but this wind was a result of Yuan Qi.

At that moment, the rich Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in Heaven Fey City were being triggered by a force. With the Yuan Qi wind’s blowing, countless tiny blobs of light appeared in the sky. They were of all colors and bobbed up and down in what seemed like an unending sea.

Some people could not help but reach out their hands to grab the tiny blobs of light in an attempt to absorb the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, but their expressions changed immediately once they did. The pure energies within the blobs of light were bound by mystical laws. Not only was it impossible to direct them, they even felt like their internal energies were about to tear out of them to go with the blobs of light.

From afar, people watched the gorgeous vista that was in actuality filled with danger. They were all very alarmed.

“What’s going on?”

People found it incredulous. This was because the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was restrained by the arrays in Heaven Fey City. No one could easily direct the powers. Even a Fey Thearch had no means to violate the rule.

However, the Yuan Qi light blobs that covered the area were way too formidable. It was obvious that the surrounding Heaven Earth Yuan Qi had been directed over.

Could it be…

Everyone suddenly had a thought. Only the nine array cores of the Heaven Fey City were unrestricted by the array formations, allowing them to use all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the city.

In fact, such Heaven Earth Yuan Qi phenomena occasionally occurred in the Heaven Fey City.

An example was… when a Fey Thearch broke through!

To go from a Fey Lord to a Fey Thearch, the phenomena that arose out of it was more spectacular than the one before them. However, such scenes were very rare, so may Fey warriors had never witnessed one before.

It resulted in these people feeling astounded by the phenomenological scene before them since this phenomena was different from a Fey Thearch’s breakthrough.

But regardless, it was likely triggered by one of the array cores. Such a scene was only possible if something incredible happened in the array core.

As for the nearby array core…

People looked around and emanated their perceptions. Not all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the city was being directed. The effect only extended to about a fifth of the city.

And two array cores were situated inside this region.

One was on the periphery, while the other happened to be right smack in the middle.

And this array core was none other than the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda!

Could it be that…

The sudden thought left everyone appalled. They looked toward the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda and saw dense clouds blotting out the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda. Lightning flashed about like purple swimming dragons.

Without a surprise, the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s array core was the heart of the phenomena!

But now, who was inside the pagoda’s array core?

Everyone knew that Yi Yun had entered the pagoda’s array core a few days ago. However, no one knew what he was up to.

“Could it be… Lin Yun?” someone said in disbelief.

“What makes you think Lin Yun has the ability to cause such a phenomena? Perhaps Lin Yun has already come out and a Fey Thearch has already entered the pagoda.”

People found it unacceptable that a junior could trigger such a incredible phenomena. It sounded too shocking that they only wished to believe what they chose to believe.

However, there were people in the know who rejected this premise. “Impossible. Pagoda Lord Jiang Lichen has use for the pagoda’s array core. If Lin Yun is out, the array core will not be used any time soon.”

These words turned the faces of many Fey warriors nasty. They refused to believe that the phenomena was a result of Yi Yun.

Yi Yun was younger than 99% of them.

One with a human bloodline and who was way younger than them was able to trigger such a phenomena. Could it get any more depressing?

“Lin Yun… could he have broken through?”

The first thing that came to everyone’s mind was Yi Yun’s breakthrough. He had obtained many top-grade treasured herbs previously, so it was possible for him to make a breakthrough.

However, it was impossible for a human Divine Lord’s breakthrough to stir up all the Yuan Qi in Heaven Fey City. It was impossible even with an array core for that would be on the level of a Godly Monarch.

However, there was an elder in an alchemical attire among the crowd. He was looking in the direction of the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda as he shook his head with a mixed expression. He said sadly, “This is not a Divine Lord’s breakthrough…”

“What?”

“Not… Not a breakthrough…”

The elder appeared to be delirious as he repeated his words. Finally, he suddenly thought of something and rushed towards the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda!

When he came close to it, he even felt a faint spiritual suppression. It was naturally emitted by the alchemical chamber where Yi Yun was.

And then—

“Boom!”

A huge explosion sounded as heavenly lightning smote down.

Thick purple-colored heavenly lightning looked like fractured heavenly columns. It was as if the sky was collapsing!

The elder’s heart leaped when the lightning struck. With the fastest possible speed, he went to the Pagoda Lord’s residence and saw Jiang Lichen!

This man who stood at the pinnacle of the Heaven Fey City’s alchemical progress had an extremely ugly expression.

At the moment the phenomena occurred, he had already thought of an unbelievable possibility—

Yi Yun’s had succeeded in refining his pills!

Not only was it a success, the refinement was too astounding. It resulted in such phenomena and even caused Heavenly Tribulations the instant the pills were produced.

The instant when the Heavenly Lightning smote was likely when Yi Yun opened the cauldron.

At that moment, Jiang Lichen no longer cared that the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi that he had been accumulating for two decades had been used by Yi Yun.

He only felt that he was struck with a heavy blow.

He knew very well what materials Yi Yun had used—those materials gathered together produced such strong energy that even a Fey Thearch alchemist could not control it, much less refine it into pills.

Jiang Lichen believed that perhaps only such unrefinable pills could result in a phenomena of such scale in Heaven Fey City.

And all of this was all thanks to a human junior?

This was no longer amazement, but Yi Yun was completely incomprehensible. He could not understand how Yi Yun had done it.

Jiang Lichen had been researching alchemy for years; yet, a human junior was already capable of making him bemoan his inadequacy.

This even made Jiang Lichen generate suspicion about his own alchemical skills.

Such a blow was more terrifying than the loss of some Yuan Qi in the array core.

Meanwhile, in the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s alchemical chamber, Yi Yun was looking at the Myriad Form Shura Pills inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Even after experiencing all sorts of turmoil, he was feeling exhilarated at that moment. This was the most perfect cauldron of pills he had refined. A total of twelve perfect pills.

Each one of them were lustrous and they condensed the purest energies and laws!

In a certain sense, these twelve Myriad Form Shura Pills were equivalent to the Heavenly Dao. Yi Yun knew that even he could not refine such a cauldron of pills again for a long time to come.

The moment he had this thought, six of the Myriad Form Shura Pills landed in his hand.

He planned to eat them directly!

The nine array cores of the Heaven Fey City were excellent grounds for cultivation. Now that he was in one, the spirit fountain which had accumulated previously only had half of its energies left.

As for Yi Yun’s interspatial ring, there was a thousand Chaos Crystals remaining.

With such conditions, Yi Yun naturally wanted to take advantage of the moment when the Heaven and Earth laws were condensed together thanks to the nascent formation of the Myriad Form Shura Pills and directly refine them into pills.

Yi Yun consumed all six of the Myriad Form Shura Pills!

To him, the medicinal effects of the six Myriad Form Shura Pills were more than enough to fuse all his bloodline as one.

He had other plans for the remaining six pills.

After Yi Yun swallowed the pills, he jumped into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“Whoosh!”

The remaining spirit fountain in the array core was instantly sucked into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, allowing Yi Yun to instantly be soaking in it.

Following that, Yi Yun threw out the thousand Chaos Crystals. Extending his hand to swat them, all of them shattered and the energy within exploded!

Next, the Dragon Emperor bloodline that had been slumbering in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron for billions of years was stirred alive.

“Ang!”

With a dragon’s roar, a divine dragon phantom condensed out of lifeblood surged out, tearing through the pagoda and into the clouds.

This was the power of the Dragon Emperor’s bloodline.

Everyone in Heaven Fey City saw this scene.

They were completely confounded. What was happening?

The lifeblood powers emitted by the Dragon Emperor phantom in the sky was like gushing stars that far exceeded their imaginations!

People originally believed that this series of phenomena was a result of Yi Yun’s breakthrough. However, as a human, how was he able to manifest such potent lifeblood?

Even the members of the royal family who had awoken their Heaven Fey bloodlines could not match a tenth of this amount of lifeblood power even if they summoned their Heaven Fey totems!

However, this was still not the end. After the Dragon Emperor’s phantom, people saw an incorporeal godlike figure in the sky.

The godlike figure had long limbs and a blurred face. It contained an extremely strong aura that left people unable suppressed. Many did not dare look straight at it.

Shortly after the godlike figure appeared, it fused with the Dragon Emperor phantom. Many people did not know that the godlike phantom was actually the power of the Ancestor God!

The fusion of the Ancestor God’s powers with the Dragon Emperor’s bloodline was the goal of Yi Yun’s refinement of the Myriad Form Shura Pills.

And following that—

The entire Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda emitted a bright light. The surrounding sky and the countless energy spheres formed out of Yuan Qi surged towards the pagoda!

Hum Hum Hum…

A strong wind howled as blinding light bloomed!

All the spherical blobs of light were absorbed by the fusion of the Dragon Emperor and the godlike body. The blob of light rapidly expanded to about half a kilometer.

The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi cloud was also devoured by the massive blob of light. Countless bolts of purple lightning struck down onto the blob of light.

The Heaven and Earth laws instantly condensed into something corporeal as they rained down and infused into the gigantic sphere of light!

1656 - : Pill Refinement Finished

CKtalon  CKtalon

Meanwhile, in the Luo King Palace—

With Luo King’s standing, he naturally had no right to possess an array core in his palace. However, the Luo King had used large numbers of Chaos Crystals to construct a massive array in an underground chamber right in the middle of the Luo King Palace.

This array usually amassed Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. When it was used, the array would be triggered to burn fifty Chaos Crystals at a time, so as to release rich Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

Although it was much weaker than the Heaven Fey City’s nine array cores in terms of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi quality, it was still a rare cultivation ground!

The activation price of fifty Chaos Crystals for such a large array was not cheap. Even Jiang Yuchan had little chance of using it.

But over the past few days, Jiang Yuchan had been receiving treatment in the core chamber.

He was also accompanied by the Luo King and the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor!

Compared to a month ago, Jiang Yuchan’s condition was a lot better.

Jiang Yuchan had been suffering a tormenting pain every moment back then. With the Luo King and other mighty Fey being powerless, he was left in despair.

This changed when the Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor appeared.

Indeed, Heretic Hands lived up to his name. After a long period of treatment, he had slowly repressed the Dao injuries in Jiang Yuchan’s body.

Now, although Jiang Yuchan had yet to recover his strength, his body was no longer in pain. However, he still did not dare use his lifeblood powers.

Heretic Hands had implanted more than a hundred blood charms in his body. They restrained the powers of Lightning and Fire and, over time, the powers of Lightning and Fire would be devoured by the blood charms.

“Thank you, Daoist Heretic Hands.”

The Luo King placed great importance on his grandson. He was the most outstanding one among his grandchildren. Over these days, he had spent a considerable price treating Jiang Yuchan and had even accompanied him personally.

Thankfully, everything was going according to Heretic Hands’s plan. The Lightning and Fire powers inside Jiang Yuchan’s body were weakening and had been completely sealed.

“Luo King, it will take at most half a year before he makes a complete recovery,” Heretic Hands investigated Jiang Yuchan’s body and said hoarsely.

Upon hearing that, Jiang Yuchan felt like he had received life anew.

It was not easy!

After making a trip to the gates of hell, he cherished his life even more.

As for Yi Yun—the culprit who caused him to be in his present state—he vowed to rip him into pieces!

“Grandfather, I want revenge!”

“I know. Heaven Fey City will not interfere to seek revenge for you. But with the time that has passed, the poison which Daoist Heretic Hands left in the Flying Clouds Flowing Flower should be about to trigger.

At that moment, the Luo King was filled with confidence.

Even the stumbling block, the Blood King, that stood in the way of killing Yi Yun would be finished by him.

“Alright, I’ll maim him personally after he’s heavily injured!” A cold glint flashed in Jiang Yuchan’s eyes.

Luo King nodded. Yi Yun was fast becoming a mental demon for Jiang Yuchan. It was best if Jiang Yuchan resolved it with his own hands. It was definitely possible for Jiang Yuchan to deal with a poisoned Yi Yun.

And at that moment—

“Phew–”

A blue light emitted from the array formation as it flashed in front of the Luo King.

It signified that someone outside was seeking an audience.

The Luo King frowned. The Heaven Earth Yuan Qi inside the chamber was highly compressed. Every communication with the outside world would lead to sizable losses. He did not wish to be disturbed.

“Come in!”

With a thought, the array formation opened. The person who entered was none other than the Luo King’s confidant and Jiang Yuchan’s teacher—Jiang Yuebai!

“What’s the matter?”

Upon seeing Jiang Yuebai’s expression, the Luo King’s heart palpitated. Did something happen?

“Your Lordship, the Heaven Fey City has produced a phenomena caused by Heaven Earth Yuan Qi…”

“Oh?” The Luo King pricked up his brows. He naturally knew that a phenomena which was a result of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in Heaven Fey City typically had to do with an array core.

“Which array core?”

“The Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda! Lin Yun’s alchemical ground!” Jiang Yuebai took a deep breath before saying.

The Luo King, Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor, and Jiang Yuchan felt that hearts skip a beat. What was the meaning of this?

“I just received news from the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda. This phenomena is likely a result of Lin Yun’s success. And the grade of those pills…”

Jiang Yuebai did not finish his sentence. The three people present were all knowledgeable people. They knew very well what the statement meant.

When a pill was formed, it could cause phenomena, but that was more common in lowly worlds.

In lowly worlds, the Heavenly Dao laws were extremely low in grade. It was easy to cause nomological resonances.

But what sort of place was the Chaos Heavens?

In the known universe, the Chaos Heavens represented the supreme laws!

And the Heaven Fey City was one of the core regions of the Chaos Heavens!

Any pill that could cause phenomena in Heaven Fey City meant the stirring of the Heavenly Dao. It had never happened as far as the Luo King could remember.

No Alchemy Monarch or Alchemist Sage was capable of doing that in history!

But from what Jiang Yuebai had mentioned, Yi Yun had managed to do it?

Most of the ingredients which Yi Yun used to refine were sought out with the help of Luo King Palace. The Luo King knew how precious those ingredients were.

Such a pill could actually be successfully refined!?

This was preposterous!

The Luo King was taken aback for quite a while, feeling as though time itself was moving slowly.

He shot a glance at Heretic Hands. At that moment, even the arrogant and cold Heretic Hands wore a look a shock that was worse than the Luo King’s.

Heretic Hands was not an alchemist, but he would occasionally refine various pills, mystical pills and poison pills mostly. His understanding of alchemy was deeper than that of the Luo King’s. Therefore, the shock he suffered was worse.

“How can Lin Yun refine such a pill? He is way too terrifying!”

The Luo King wore a worried look. If Yi Yun was so skilled in alchemy, his influence would rise again. But of all things, he had completely offended Yi Yun.

“Daoist Heretic Hands, could your poison…”

That was what the Luo King was most worried about.

“The poison I implanted is colorless, odorless, formless, and textureless! Besides, this poison is a unique mystical formula known only to me. No matter how developed Lin Yun’s alchemical skills are, there’s no way for him to see through my poison.”

Heretic Hands was very confident about his poison arts. Different professions are like different worlds. Alchemy was completely different from poison arts.

Heretic Hands refused to believe that a human genius would waste his precious cultivation time to study poison.

“But… I’m worried that with his alchemical skills being so high and his repeated creation of miracles, he might not be poisoned to death even if he ate your poison.”

“How can that be possible?” Heretic Hands nodded. “I did underestimate the punk, but Luo King, do not deify him. His alchemical skills might have some trickery involved. If not, I absolutely can’t believe that he can reach such a level of attainment with less than a thousand years of study. If that’s the case, all the Alchemy Monarchs and Alchemist Sages in the Chaos Heavens have lived in vain!” Heretic Hands said firmly.

In fact, his inference was very logical.

“Daoist Heretic Hands, what you said makes sense. Sorry for my loss of composure. This fellow must have taken a shortcut, but even so, it’s terrifying.

“We have already delivered the poison. It’s naturally a joy if he dies from it. If he doesn’t, then he will know that we tampered with it. He will definitely hate us. To be hated by someone like this…”

The Luo King did not finish his sentence, afraid he would annoy Heretic Hands.

After all, he was the one that dragged Heretic Hands into this.

However, Heretic Hands did not seem angry. Instead, he licked his lips as a covetous killing intent flashed in his eyes.

He wished to know what trickery Yi Yun had used in his alchemy.

He guessed that it involved a huge secret of Yi Yun’s. If he were to obtain it, the aid it would give him would be unfathomable!

Since he was already a sworn enemy of Yi Yun, he might as well bet it all before Yi Yun fully developed his strength!

“Luo King! If Yi Yun has really eaten my secret poison, he will weaken in the next ten days. It will be the best time for us to attack!”

Since he had decided on taking action, Heretic Hands did not pin his hopes on his secret poison. Regardless what Yi Yun did, he would give his all!

1657 - : Jiang Yuchan Recovers

CKtalon  CKtalon

The phenomena in Heaven Fey City continued, slowly spreading from the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s vicinity to half of Heaven Fey City!

All people could see was numerous light and nomological spheres tens of thousands of feet high into the sky. They kept condensing like sprouting buds before flying towards the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda.

At that moment, the pagoda was like a resplendent sun. The massive energy contained within it left one shuddering in fear!

Blood King watched all of this from afar.

With his level of insight, he knew that not only had Yi Yun successfully refined the Myriad Form Shura Pills, he had also consumed them right inside the pagoda!

However, Blood King could not estimate the cultivation level that Yi Yun had attained.

Everyone had their individual paths.

Fey warriors cultivated in different bloodlines; human warriors cultivated in different laws; and Ghost warriors had souls that were different intrinsically.

There were no two individuals in the Universe that took identical paths, but most people took similar paths. When placed before an expert like Blood King, he was still able to figure out certain things.

Clearly, “most people” did not include Yi Yun. His path was something that Blood King had never seen before.

“I wonder what sight will await me when he becomes a Godly Monarch…” Blood King thought wistfully.

Meanwhile in the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda, Yi Yun had absorbed too much of the Heavenly Dao laws that his second Divine Lord Royal Seal began to slowly condense.

This was something even Yi Yun did not expect.

A second Divine Lord Royal Seal?

Before he ate the Myriad Form Shura Pills, he had never thought that the pills would aid him in condensing a Divine Lord Royal Seal.

He had originally imagined that he would begin condensing a Divine Lord Royal Seal after being sufficiently prepared.

“I never expected the energy in your body has reached such a state…” Bai Yueyin’s voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

When one’s energy and laws reached extreme potency, a Divine Lord Royal Seal would be automatically formed. It was only natural when faced with the ripest of conditions.

In fact, Yi Yun was too powerful, so powerful that he could not even repress his own cultivation level.

Of course, Yi Yun never thought of repressing his cultivation level. He even yearned to become a Godly Monarch right away.

Although the second Divine Lord Royal Seal had formed, it was only in a nascent state.

It was still a distance away from completion.

However, from the nascent state, one could tell many things.

Yi Yun’s first Divine Lord Royal Seal was a result of the Heavenly Dao fragment, which symbolized the Heavenly Dao laws. If Yi Yun summoned it out, its surface would look like that of a miniaturized universe that contained countless galaxies.

As for the second Divine Lord Royal Seal, it was not a nomological one but of vitality.

The nascent Royal Seal was condensed out of three vitalities—Human, Celestial, and Fey.

This was the fusion of Yi Yun’s three lifeblood powers.

The Divine Lord Royal Seals formed in ordinary human warriors were a manifestation of Heaven and Earth laws.

As for Yi Yun’s Divine Lord Royal Seals, the first was a manifestation of Heavenly Dao laws while the second was formed by lifeblood and vitality.

Compared to other human warriors, he was already taking a completely different path.

As his Divine Lord Royal Seal became more corporeal, Yi Yun’s lifeblood powers and vitality surged towards the second Divine Lord Royal Seal like a tidal wave.

With the Divine Lord Royal Seal taking center stage, a blood-colored vortex formed inside Yi Yun’s body. Even though his vitality and lifeblood powers were extremely potent, it still left him extremely weak to have them instantly drawn away.

The nascent Divine Lord Royal Seal had a huge appetite as though it was sucking Yi Yun’s body dry.

His flesh and blood vessels dried up slightly. Thankfully, the energy around him was too rich. As Yi Yun’s lifeblood was emptied by the Divine Lord Royal Seal, new energy took their place.

At that moment, Yi Yun’s body was like a reservoir that was drained of water while the surrounding energies were like condensed raindrops.

As the raindrops entered the reservoir, they were absorbed without end!

If not for condensing a second Divine Lord Royal Seal, Yi Yun would not have been able to absorb that much energy. Perhaps a lot of it would have been wasted, a true waste of such heavenly treasures.

Soon, Yi Yun felt that more than half his vitality had been absorbed by the second Divine Lord Royal Seal!

However, when his vitality was transplanted, instead of feeling weakened, he felt that his vitality was more cohesive. Yi Yun’s vitality could be described as a roaring flame in the past. Although it was powerful, it was not concentrated.

But now, the Divine Lord Royal Seal which had condensed his vitality was like a scorching red blade that was completely indestructible.

Now, Yi Yun felt that he had infinite energy in his body. Even he did not know how strong he actually was.

This made him yearn for a delightful battle to test his strength.

Yi Yun had consumed six of the twelve Myriad Form Shura Pills, with six remaining.

Among the six, two was left for Jiang Xiaorou, and two for the Blood King. Yi Yun had plans for the other two.

As for Lin Xintong…

As Lin Xintong focused on laws and Yuan Qi, Myriad Form Shura Pills which were meant for body-tempering was of little use.

At that moment, the phenomena that enveloped half of Heaven Fey City had come to a pause. However, the clouds that covered the sky lingering on and began raining.

Each drop of rain contained remarkable Yuan Qi. Warriors did not think much of the Yuan Qi, but the weaker ones could not help but collect the rain.

Some people even used buckets and basins. If they could really collect a bucket of it and extract the Yuan Qi from within, it was equivalent to a Chaos Ore.

Yi Yun thought nothing of that. He opened the alchemy chamber’s door and strode out.

And at that moment, there were a considerable number of people gathered outside the chamber.

A number of these people were from the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda while another group of people were from the various factions of Heaven Fey City.

Everyone was looking at Yi Yun.

At that moment, Yi Yun had become the focus of attention in Heaven Fey City!

The reason was naturally because of Yi Yun’s refinement of his pills. Everyone was curious over the pills he refined.

“Young Master Lin. I’m Purple-robed Elder of Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda. The Pagoda Lord wishes to meet you,” said an elder in purple alchemical robes.

“Young Master Lin, might I know what pills you refined? My master wishes to purchase them.”

Compared to the purple-robed elder who had minced his words, there were others that cut to the chase.

For the pills to cause phenomena at such massive scales meant that it was no trifling matter. Many important figures in Heaven Fey City had been paying close attention to the situation over the past few days.

“Sorry, I do not plan on selling this cauldron of pills for the time being.” Yi Yun directly rejected the offer.

1658 - : Breakthrough in Strength

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Oh?”

Everyone was taken aback. Although they had guessed that it would be difficult to obtain the pills Yi Yun refined, such a straightforward rejection without any chance of negotiation left many pissed.

“Young Master Lin, the Yuan Qi that has been accumulated for twenty years in my Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s core array has been mostly expended by you. My Pagoda Lord has not said a thing about the loss, but you aren’t even agreeing to meet him?”

The purple-robed elder was somewhat peeved. Of course, he did not dare offend Yi Yun without knowing the effects of the impressive pills Yi Yun had just refined.

Just Yi Yun’s name was still quite threatening.

If Yi Yun truly grasped the refinement methods of a particular divine pill, that would be highly remarkable.

Yi Yun naturally knew what was on these people’s minds. They now saw value in him and wished to know what kind of pills he had refined.

Yi Yun said, “I do have matters to tend to. I’ll bid you farewell for now.”

After saying that, Yi Yun headed out.

Everyone felt infuriated, but none of them said a word.

They were hoping to think of means to figure out what kind of pills that Yi Yun had refined.

They were not like Blood King who knew ahead of time what Yi Yun was refining, what his cultivation process was, and what the phenomena caused by the pills entailed.

These people only saw endless phenomena happening.

Yi Yun’s production of the pills had caused too great a stir.

However, the effects of a pill could not be fully determined from the stir it produced.

This was like how a Fey beast could be extremely powerful, but it was not necessarily tamable.

Bringing it back might result in one being devoured by it.

Immediately, many people sent voice transmissions to report to their masters.

From their point of view, Yi Yun was too arrogant. For him to act so superciliously to all the major factions because of mere pills which had unknown effects, wasn’t he afraid of incurring public outrage?

His sister, Jiang Xiaorou was still vying for the throne. If too many people were offended, how could one vie for the throne?

Many people had already made up their minds. They planned on badmouthing Yi Yun once they left Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda so as to create enemies for him.

Due to the pills, none of them dared to offend Yi Yun in public. However, it was still possible to do it behind his back.

Yi Yun was unconcerned with their thoughts. He was least afraid of offending people.

Having increased his realm drastically, he had the Blood King backing him on paper, but in truth, he relied on his own power.

To put it bluntly, it was already nice of him not to provoke others, so how could he be afraid of being provoked?

Previously, he had held back sufficiently while facing the Luo King in Heaven Fey City.

Yi Yun was not one to enjoy holding back. Only when his strength was insufficient did he have to act weak. When he had the strength, he could naturally slaughter whatever was in his way, demon or god.

“Yun-er!”

After Yi Yun walked out the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda, he heard a sweet voice. Jiang Xiaorou had already been waiting for him.

There was also Blood King and Rain Numinous.

“Senior Blood King, Sis Xiaorou.”

Upon seeing these people, Yi Yun felt relieved. He took out two pill boxes and said, “Thankfully, I didn’t let you down.”

Blood King received the pills with great solemnity. Others might not be certain, but Blood King knew very well that Yi Yun had a cultivation breakthrough all thanks to the pills!

The potent lifeblood powers they contained left Blood King alarmed.

Yi Yun said, “These Myriad Form Shura Pills are no trifling matter. After refining them, sealing their medicinal essences required quite a bit of work. I can only seal the medicinal essence of one pill. These do not have any, so both of you should consume them as soon as possible.”

“Besides, my rental of the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s array core is not yet done. There’s still rich Yuan Qi inside. Also, there are still Heavenly Dao nomological fragments left in there thanks to my breakthrough. I have already reached a limit and can’t absorb any further. It’s the perfect time to cultivate in there now.”

“Nomological fragments?”

Blood King was stunned. He was a Fey who cultivated in body-tempering laws and lifeblood powers. Nomological fragments which were very useful to humans were of little use to Blood King and Jiang Xiaorou.

Despite that, Blood King did according to Yi Yun’s instructions.

Ignoring everything else, the remnant Yuan Qi inside the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s array core was indeed rich. It would be a waste not using it.

When everyone saw this scene, their expressions twitched.

They naturally heard what Yi Yun had to say. What was he implying? One could eat the pills immediately after they were refined?

Isn’t that too soon?

Everyone was planning on letting their masters use the powers available to them to see the effects of Yi Yun’s pills, but there was no need to do any probes. They could see it for themselves.

“To refine pills using that many top-grade materials, it likely makes an extremely violent product. Not testing the pill and consuming it directly might be fine for the Blood King, but Jiang Xiaorou’s foundations are weak. Can she withstand it?”

This Yi Yun was too confident!

As they watched Blood King and Jiang Xiaorou enter the array core, the faces of the members of the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda twitched.

This was an outright wipe out; they were not leaving one bit left.

Yi Yun had wiped out a portion of the Yuan Qi that had been accumulated for twenty years, and now, the remaining was to be used completely by the Blood King and Jiang Xiaorou.

Of course, Pagoda Lord Jiang Lichen no longer cared about the Yuan Qi.

What he cared was about his alchemical skills.

If Yi Yun could refine pills that far exceeded his alchemical skills at such a young age, it would deal a terrible blow to him.

…

At that moment, inside the array core, the Blood King and Jiang Xiaorou had already begun internalizing the pills.

The Blood King had originally believed that the nomological fragments that Yi Yun had left behind were of little use to him, but he realized he was wrong when he began internalizing the pills.

Despite not cultivating in laws, the remnant nomological fragments remarkably still gathered towards them the moment they began internalizing the Myriad Form Shura Pills.

Although it was not as spectacular as Yi Yun’s cultivation process, they still naturally fused into their flesh and blood, stirring up their bloodline powers.

Why was this happening?

Blood King was astounded. Although he did not cultivate in laws, he could sense that the quality of the Great Dao laws Yi Yun had left behind was extremely high. Such mystical objects could not be understood or grasped and used without years of arduous cultivation.

Blood King was right. Due to the remnant laws in the array core which stemmed from the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence’s Dao of Major Destruction stemmed from the same source as the Myriad Form Shura Pill.

Laws of the same origin did not need the Blood King’s control. These fragments sensed the internalizing of the Myriad Form Shura Pills and gathered automatically.

If not for Yi Yun’s breakthrough ahead of Jiang Xiaorou and Blood King, their internalizing of the Myriad Form Shura Pills would not have gone that smoothly.

1659 - : Laws of the Same Origins

CKtalon  CKtalon

As the Blood King constantly internalized the Myriad Form Shura Pills’ medicinal essence, surging lifeblood powers spread through his entire body.

The feeling was just too comfortable!

It should be pointed out that the Blood King had obtained the Ancestor God’s blood while in the Tian Yuan world. By absorbing the blood, he stimulated his ancient bloodline and managed to become a Fey Thearch.

Such a fortuitous encounter would probably leave many so envious that they could vomit blood. Blood King was also thankful for his experiences, but…

If he truly recounted the days he spent absorbing the Ancestor God’s blood, the tormenting pain definitely left a deep impression on him!

The Celestial blood burned his flesh, blood, and meridians. It was like bubbling bronze liquid that was pumped into his blood vessels. As the blood flowed through his body, inch by inch, it scorched his body. The pain was obvious.

After learning that Yi Yun had successfully refined the pills, he was mentally prepared to suffer the pain of the pill’s body-tempering. He wasn’t afraid for himself, but was more worried that Xiaorou would be unable to withstand it.

But now, he never expected that the Myriad Form Shura Pill’s medicinal essence had fully dispersed. Not only was there no pain, it even felt like he was bathing in ambrosia, as his flesh and blood strove hard to absorb the energies and laws in the area. His very life seemed to be undergoing another evolution.

He even sensed that the Myriad Form Shura Pill’s powers stemmed from the same source as his bloodline powers!

“Ha!”

Potent powers surged within Blood King’s body as he could not help but involuntarily roar!

Behind him, a huge heptagon totem appeared out of thin air.

It was the Blood King’s Heaven Fey totem!

Meanwhile, countless points of light gathered behind Jiang Xiaorou. They similarly condensed into a Heaven Fey totem.

The two totem phantoms were like suns, one small one large, as they shimmered right above the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda!

“That’s… the Heaven Fey totem!”

The people had yet to disperse. After the astounding phenomena Yi Yun stirred, they had yet to catch their breaths when they felt the wanton surging of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi again. Furthermore, less than an hour had passed before they saw the gigantic Heaven Fey totems appear.

“That blood-colored totem… is the Blood King’s!”

The Blood King cultivated in the Indestructible Killing Dao. His Heaven Fey totem also seemed to be dyed red, making it extremely recognizable.

But at that moment, there was no need to determine based on the color. Everyone knew that the Blood King and Jiang Xiaorou had walked into the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s array core.

They were internalizing the pills that Yi Yun had just refined.

They could instantly see the results of Yi Yun’s pills!

The large Heaven Fey totem was the Blood King’s, while the smaller one was naturally Jiang Xiaorou’s.

Above the totem, on each of the six corners of the heptagon, at the twelve o’ clock position was the Extreme Yang Illumination, while the six o’ clock position had the Extreme Yin Nether Glow!

The other four corners were the azure dragon, vermilion bird, white tiger, and black turtle!

The two sacred opposites and the four spirits of heaven!

The Heaven Fey ancient Fey’s bloodline was a class of bloodline that powerful Fey beasts of ancient times possessed. And it was because of this that Heaven Fey had stronger bloodlines than the ordinary Fey. Fey who became royalty had lived in Heaven Fey City since time immemorial. They relied on their everlasting bloodline’s powers to remain in power for billions of years!

Yi Yun had naturally not left. All he did was watch the two totems appear in the sky.

At that moment, he knew that his assumptions were right. The Heaven Fey totem was very related to the twelve Fey Gods of the 12 Empyrean Heavens and the Sinkhole.

Based on this, the twelve Fey Gods were not only limited to the 12 Empyrean Heavens and the Sinkhole, but reached throughout the multiverse.

Yi Yun’s Myriad Form Shura Pills came from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Due to this aspect, the Myriad Form Shura Pills was also related to the twelve Fey Gods. This was also why the Blood King felt that the medicinal essence stemmed from the same source as his bloodline.

As Yi Yun pondered over it, his eyes lit up suddenly.

He clearly saw that another mark on Jiang Xiaorou’s Heaven Fey totem was lighting up!

The superiority of a Heaven Fey’s bloodline depended on the number of Ancient Fey marks which lit up on the six corners of the Heaven Fey totem.

The Blood King had lit up four!

And Jiang Xiaorou had lit up two!

Young juniors were considered talented geniuses if they were capable of lighting one mark!

Many of the Heaven Fey Ancient Fey clansmen were unable to manifest a Heaven Fey totem to begin with, much less light up the marks.

As for juniors who were below a thousand years of age, only a handful were capable of lighting two marks across the entire imperial city.

And these people were all promising competitors for the throne of the Ruins Emperor!

…

Apart from Yi Yun, others naturally saw this scene.

When the third mark on Jiang Xiaorou’s Heaven Fey totem slowly lit up, everyone was astonished.

Yi Yun was human after all. In fact, he did not have a deep understanding of the Heaven Fey ancient Fey’s bloodlines or their Heaven Fey totems. But the people present were different. As Heaven Fey, the concept of bloodlines had long been embedded in their hearts.

Many would be willing to lose half their lives to improve their bloodlines further.

Heaven Fey had very strict demands for their descendants. Good-for-nothings had no right to enjoy any resources and were abandoned.

However, there had been many cases of good-for-nothings in history that obtained a huge opportunity after being abandoned, allowing them to light up many totem marks and have a monumental rise!

As long as one’s bloodline was powerful, their return would not only be filled with the joy of smacking the faces of those who belittled them previously both literally and figuratively, they would also obtain immense riches and lofty positions.

They could even form their own family clans and become a candidate for the throne!

Under such circumstances, Jiang Xiaorou, who was already a genius, was still able to light up another mark. This was shocking!

“Isn’t Princess Soft Clouds just several centuries old?”

It was unknown who said it, but when they did the math, they ended up at a loss for words.

The famous Ninth Prince only lit up a tiny bit of the third mark when he was three thousand years old.

It was only a thousand years later when he completely lit up the third mark.

But even so, the Ninth Prince’s bloodline was already considered leap and bounds above the rest.

Most of the other eight princes who were born before the Ninth Prince only lit up two marks.

Jiang Xiaorou’s single step was too exaggerated.

In contrast, people like Jiang Yuchan were like stars before a moon when compared to Jiang Xiaorou. They immediately paled in comparison!

With Jiang Xiaorou’s third mark turning brighter, it was just a matter of time before it was fully lit. What kind of opportunity was this?

And this opportunity…

People recalled that Jiang Xiaorou had entered the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s array core to consume the pills.

It also meant that the changes she had undergone were a result of internalizing the pills which Yi Yun refined?

Pills that could make a top genius like Jiang Xiaorou achieve such huge improvements in her bloodline in less than an hour, such that she was capable of lighting additional totem marks, indicated just how astounding their effects were!

Just based on this, Yi Yun was in absolutely hot demand in the Heaven Fey City!

With this in mind, people looked at Yi Yun in a different light.

Some felt envious, others fearful and respectful. There were others considering if they could benefit themselves through Yi Yun.

Regardless, one thing was certain: The present Yi Yun was not to be messed with.

1660 - : Totem Mark

CKtalon  CKtalon

While most warriors in Heaven Fey City were casting their attention on Jiang Xiaorou, the truly important figures were paying attention to Blood King!

Heaven Fey City could be considered as home to many Fey Thearchs. Every one of them was someone who stood at the pinnacle of the Chaos Heavens. And at the Fey Thearch realm, any attempt to make further breakthroughs in bloodline was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Under such circumstances, any rise in strength was extremely alluring to every Fey Thearch!

Although Jiang Xiaorou was a genius, she was a junior in the end. If Yi Yun’s pills could raise a junior’s strength, making it priceless, it was still nothing extremely astounding.

However, a pill that could augment a Fey Thearch would be heaven-defying.

Now, nearly all the Fey Thearchs in Heaven Fey City were paying attention to the Blood King’s Heaven Fey totem!

That group included even the reigning Ruins Emperor—Jiang Jiuzhu!

In all of the Heaven Fey City, apart from the two patriarchs, even the Ruins Emperor, Jiang Jiuzhu, had only lit up four Fey beast marks, identical to the Blood King.

This difference was something Jiang Jiuzhu wished to mend even in his dreams. If that happened, he could even become the third patriarch of Heaven Fey City one day!

Yet, Jiang Jiuzhu had not seen any hopes of taking that step.

Now, the Heaven Fey City was about to designate the crown apparent since Jiang Jiuzhu had been Ruins Emperor for too long.

As the superficial lord of Heaven Fey City, Ruins Emperor could enjoy resources far greater than the other Fey Thearchs!

For instance, the Ruins Emperor had one of the nine array cores all to himself.

Most people believed that Heaven Fey City’s Ruins Emperor existed to manage Heaven Fey City and be its policy maker. In fact, Jiang Jiuzhu knew very well that the position of Ruins Emperor was in actual fact the candidacy to be one of the patriarchs of the Heaven Fey ancient Fey.

He had occupied the spot as Ruins Emperor for too long and had yet to make any significant progress. As such, both patriarchs did not hold much hope for him.

In fact, before Jiang Jiuzhu, most Ruins Emperors failed to become a Fey Patriarch during their reign.

The two patriarchs were able to look on the bright side of things. If one didn’t work, they just needed to switch to someone else and nurture them. After all, Heaven Fey City had been established for billions of years. There was plenty of time.

The search for a crown designate was, in fact, a signal by the two patriarchs. It was letting Jiang Jiuzhu know that it was time he abdicate the throne and not be a dog in the manger. Leave opportunities to the next generation.

With regards to this, Jiang Jiuzhu was obviously unwilling to accept it!

At that moment, he was staring intently at the Blood King totem high in the sky.

Compared to Jiang Xiaorou, the Blood King’s totem was undergoing slower changes!

But it was indeed changing. Every change was extremely difficult, as though it was through the expending of an immense amount of time.

Yi Yun’s pills ultimately did not help the Blood King light up his fifth Ancient Fey mark, but it created a faint connection between the four Ancient Fey marks that did light up.

Originally, the Blood King’s Heaven Fey totem was nearly empty in the center, but now, there were blood wisps that resembled bloodlines across it.

These blood wisps formed a blurry pattern that resembled a crude Fey demon.

Of course, that was only Jiang Jiuzhu’s feeling towards it.

If he had seen Yi Yun’s 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, he would discover that structure of the patterns was somewhat similar to the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Of course, the patterns themselves were very different from the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

In fact, the Heaven Fey Ancient Fey’s Heaven Fey totem was different to begin with.

For instance, the Blood King had embarked on the Indestructible Killing Dao; his totem was red like fresh blood.

The state and patterns on the Heaven Fey totem resembled its owner’s Martial Dao to a certain extent.

However, just the consumption of some pills had caused an abnormal change to the Heaven Fey totem. It was truly incredible!

Jiang Jiuzhu could sense that the additional patterns in the middle of Blood King’s Heaven Fey totem were no embellishment. They contained mysterious powers.

Yi Yun’s Myriad Form Shura Pill was indeed insufficient at lighting up the Blood King’s fifth Fey beast mark, but it had put in place conditions for the lighting of his fifth Fey beast mark.

The Fey Thearchs could tell that not only had the Blood King’s Heaven Fey totem changed abnormally, it was truly becoming stronger.

Pills that could be effective on Fey Thearchs were just too valuable.

“Send out a decree, I wish to meet Lin Yun!” the Ruins Emperor said to his aide.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” His aide bowed and left.

…

The phenomena above Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda continued for more than half a day after Yi Yun made his pills.

At evening, when the sun was setting in the west, the night sky resembled blood. All the Yuan Qi above Heaven Fey City had been swept clean after being absorbed thoroughly.

And at that moment, golden light radiated out from the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s array core before laughter sounded into the firmaments.

“Hahahah! This feels great! Great!”

Blood King soared into the sky with a two-handed saber on his back, appearing right above the array core.

His lifeblood surged, turning redder than the sky painted by the setting sun.

“What a great pill. A Myriad Form Shura Pill is able to cast one’s foundation!”

Blood King’s voice was filled with arrogance as the flowing of his blood sounded like a tumultuous river. It could be heard even from miles away.

Yi Yun was nearby, waiting. He had watched the scene of the Blood King and Jiang Xiaorou internalizing the pills as a guardian. It was to prevent the Luo King from pulling any crazy schemes while the duo was having a breakthrough.

When the Blood King came out of his seclusion, his lifeblood surged into the sky, releasing tremendous might.

At that moment, one could sense his rise in strength even if they were not a Fey Thearch.

This only made many wish to see the true nature of the pills that Yi Yun had refined.

If they could obtain one pill for their respective masters, it would be a most meritorious task.

Many people were considering how they should interact with Yi Yun from then on.

At that moment, a rumbling sound was heard. A flaming chariot streaked across the sky and appeared in front of the Blood King.

The chariot was pulled by nine dragon horses. Standing on the chariot was a warrior in golden armor.

He had astounding lifeblood and sharp eyes. Everyone knew that he was of the Ruins Emperor’s Golden Armored Guard. Their ranks numbered less than a hundred people and they were close aides of the Ruins Emperor. It was also the elite company of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ military.

The company was formed of powerful Fey Lords, but due to their skill at combining forces, their collective strength was able to repress even Fey Thearchs!

“By order of the imperial decree! Lin Yun is to enter the palace for a meeting with His Majesty!”

The Ruins Emperor’s imperial decree was simple.

But this sentence alone was enough to win the attention of many Fey Thearchs.

Emperors of mortal worlds had to attend morning court sessions every day, meeting all sorts of people. However, the Heaven Fey City’s emperor was different. Even the princes and princesses of the Heaven Fey City seldom met him. His summoning of Yi Yun implied how highly he thought of him!

As the Luo King watched this from afar, his expression turned nasty. Now that the Ruins Emperor had intervened, it meant that Yi Yun’s standing had been elevated. Any schemes against Yi Yun would only become harder!

1661 - : Ruins Emperor

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ruins Emperor Palace was a sacred land of the Heaven Fey City. Not only did the Ruins Emperor himself cultivate in the Ruins Emperor Palace, the other two Heaven Fey patriarchs would also seclude themselves perennially in there.

Legend had it that before Heaven Fey City was established, this piece of land was once a land of peril!

The Chaos Heavens had many lands of peril where death was deemed certain upon entry. But in fact, many of them had a limit to their danger. That limit was at the Divine Lord realm and below.

However, the land of peril upon which Heaven Fey City stood was one that could perish Fey Thearchs or Godly Monarchs!

The Fey deemed this restricted zone No Return For Thearches.

Even across the Chaos Heavens, it was a terrifying land of peril.

People naturally avoided such a land of peril.

But typically speaking, the more dangerous some place was, the more hidden opportunities there were.

The No Return For Thearches was one such example.

Yet, under such circumstances, the Fey produced a peerless Fey Patriarch billions of years ago. With his astounding strength, he entered the forbidden zone for centuries and fully explored the area. It could be said that he fully conquered it!

He obtained countless opportunities and also reversed the situation in No Return For Thearches. With his stunning means, he locked down the nine divine veins buried underground.

From then on, the danger in No Return For Thearches became less drastic. Eventually, it did not even pose a threat to Fey Lords.

Therefore, the peerless Fey established a city in No Return For Thearches, which was none other than Heaven Fey City.

The Heaven Fey City of back then was far grander than it was now. It was a golden age for the ancient Heaven Fey.

However, billions of years passed by and, as all things change with time, be it the ancient Heaven Fey or Heaven Fey City, neither of them were restored to their former glory.

The nine divine veins under Heaven Fey City also weakened drastically.

But even so, when Yi Yun entered the Ruins Emperor Palace, he felt a formidable strength transmitting from underground. The stirrings made it feel like the ground was breathing.

Even the tiles beneath Yi Yun’s feet were made of the beast blood of powerful ancient Fey mixed with Purple Gold Divine Mud. Through a unique flame, together with special means, the mixture was cast into the tiles.

Walking through the corridors of the palace felt like walking through a powerful Fey beast’s body. It felt like the ground was alive, made of flesh and blood.

Such potent lifeblood powers boiled upwards. If a human warrior who was physically weak and had a low cultivation level was there, they probably would not even be able to stand straight. As for Ghost warriors, it was possible they would evaporate.

“Just the tiles of this palace are priceless. This entire Ruins Emperor Palace is basically piled from Chaos Crystals.”

Yi Yun reflected over the ancient Heaven Fey’s heritage. Billions of years of accumulation truly led to unimaginable wealth.

“His Majesty summoned Young Master Lin. Blood King, please halt.”

Outside the Ruins Emperor Palace’s main hall, a young man dressed in a colorful robes with python embroidery walked out. He actually stopped the Blood King!

As he was worried about Yi Yun’s entry into the palace alone, the Blood King had accompanied him. However, he was stopped at the door.

The young man’s identity was no trifling matter. He was the Sixth Prince, the only crown candidate who was directly related to the Ruins Emperor.

He was the Ruins Emperor’s great-grandson!

Although Ruins Emperor was unwilling to abdicate, he would rather leave the throne to his great grandson if forced to abdicate since that was slightly better.

And it was because of this relationship that the Sixth Prince had a high chance of inheriting the throne.

Blood King frowned slightly, but at that moment, Yi Yun said, “It’s fine. Senior Blood King, you can just wait for me here. I’ll meet the Ruins Emperor alone.”

The python-robed youth looked at Yi Yun in surprise upon hearing that. His eyes effused an indescribable look.

It was partially the admiration of Yi Yun’s guts, and partially mockery.

“Be careful then. Immediately shatter the voice transmission jade slip if anything happens,” Blood King exhorted.

Yi Yun’s present identity had turned supernatural after his refinement of the Myriad Form Shura Pill. But simultaneously, his situation became extremely precarious.

He had no idea what the Ruins Emperor had in mind.

Elephants were hunted for their precious tusks. Rhinoceroses shared a tragic fate because of their horns. Yi Yun’s Myriad Form Shura Pills were too important. Without a matching strength, he would be coveted by others.

Blood King was afraid that he could not protect Yi Yun if it came to a critical moment. Perhaps, Yi Yun would be imprisoned and forced to refine pills.

This was also the reason for the Sixth Prince’s look of mockery.

After all, Yi Yun was only a human. To the upper echelons of the ancient Heaven Fey, it was impossible his interests were aligned with the Fey regardless of his relationship with Jiang Xiaorou.

…

Inside the hall, Yi Yun met Ruins Emperor.

This middle-aged man who ruled over the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins on the surface was dressed in a purple cloak. Embroidered on his chest and sleeves were the ancient Heaven Fey totems.

He faintly emitted a blurry red glow. Yi Yun could tell that this glow was not a deliberate display. Instead, it naturally condensed as a result of his formidable lifeblood.

The Ruins Emperor was indeed stronger than the Blood King!

Yi Yun cupped his hands and bowed. “Greetings Your Majesty, I’m Lin Yun.”

Yi Yun bowed a junior’s bow instead of a bow towards royalty.

All Ruins Emperor did was prick up his brows towards such an action. He thought nothing of it.

“Did you injure the Luo King’s grandson, Jiang Yuchan?” Ruins Emperor asked. His voice came across as unperturbed, like he was a god or buddha. Yi Yun knew that this was a bearing that resulted from prolonged enjoyment of a high status, one that oversaw all life. His every action and word gave one the feeling that he was not to be slighted.

However, Yi Yun did not share such a feeling. A person’s state of mind was determined by their strength. Yi Yun had the strength to prop himself up.

“That was me!”

“You nearly took his life.” Ruins Emperor’s voice sounded cold.

Even so, Yi Yun knew that the Ruins Emperor was unconcerned with Jiang Yuchan’s outcome. His direct descendant was the Sixth Prince. Jiang Yuchan was a competitor to the Sixth Prince, so to put it bluntly, the Ruins Emperor probably yearned for Jiang Yuchan to suffer a tragic fate.

However, he was Ruins Emperor after all. In name, he had to watch over his people. Therefore, it was his duty to interrogate Yi Yun sternly for his injuring of Jiang Yuchan.

But actually, instead of calling it an interrogation, it was more to take Yi Yun down a notch due to his ulterior motives.

Yi Yun knew that the Ruins Emperor had raised Jiang Yuchan’s condition only to begin the conversation.

“Indeed!” said Yi Yun lightly.

Ruins Emperor was taken aback. He had raised the issue of Yi Yun nearly taking Jiang Yuchan’s life; yet, Yi Yun had given the same answer.

Since Yi Yun’s actions were justified, the typical person would defend themselves with those justifications if they were in his shoes, but Yi Yun’s reaction was completely impervious.

To say something like “are you aware of your wrongdoings” would only place the Ruins Emperor at the disadvantage, so he decided to end the topic and said, “The materials you needed to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pills were not only limited to the ones you purchased, right?”

Yi Yun’s heart palpitated when he heard that. He raised his head and looked at the Ruins Emperor once again.

It was not surprising that the Ruins Emperor already knew the Myriad Form Shura Pills’ name since Yi Yun had mentioned it a few times.

What left Yi Yun slightly astounded was the implication of the Ruins Emperor’s words. He was referring to the blood of the Ancestor God!

1662 - : Standoff with Ruins Emperor (Part 1/2)

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Blood King’s possession of the Ancestor God’s blood was his secret to begin with.

Yi Yun came from the Tian Yuan world and having heard Jiang Xiaorou’s description of the Blood King’s growth, he surmised that the Blood King might possess the Ancestor God’s blood.

It was unlikely the Ruins Emperor knew of the secret.

However, when Yi Yun’s pills were formed, the phenomena which resulted included a scene of Human, Fey, and Celestial fusion despite it lasting only for a few seconds.

However, it was likely that the Ruins Emperor had noticed something from the auras of the phenomena. He had likely seen the Ancestor God’s blood before and because of that, he could sense the Ancestor God’s aura from the phenomena!

If the Ruins Emperor could tell, it was likely the other two patriarchs did as well!

Using the Ancestor God’s blood for the refinement of pills was intolerable to the Celestials. The Celestials regarded the Ancestor God as a superior the way the Fey saw the Heaven Fey Patriarchs.

If Yi Yun were to use the Fey cores of the two patriarchs of Ruins Emperor Palace, would the ancient Heaven Fey let the matter rest if they learned of it?

Just the exposure of this matter would lead to the full-blown assault of the Celestials against Yi Yun!

And even the Blood King was unable to protect Yi Yun in that scenario.

This was the Ruins Emperor’s play. Jiang Yuchan had only been mentioned in passing, but this issue was truly his trump card.

Yi Yun knew very well that at the end of the day, the Ruins Emperor wanted the Myriad Form Shura Pills’ recipe!

It was naturally best if the recipe to pills that benefited the Fey tremendously was in his own hands!

The Ruins Emperor was looking straight into Yi Yun’s eyes.

The Celestials were the true overlords of the Chaos Heavens. In addition, the Ruins Emperor and the two patriarchs he represented were the overlords of the Fey. If Yi Yun were to decline sharing the recipe, it was equivalent to offending two major factions in the Chaos Heavens simultaneously!

Such courage was not something even a Fey Thearch or Godly Monarch would have.

When faced with similar situations, the typical junior would probably be flustered with nervousness and be amenable to endless demands even if they could appear calm on the surface.

However, Yi Yun was different.

He remained calm and the Ruins Emperor could sense that his calmness was not faked.

Yi Yun said, “The recipe to the Myriad Form Shura Pills does include the Ancestor God’s blood. If Your Majesty were to leak this news, it will be impossible for the Fey to obtain the Myriad Form Shura Pills as well. This recipe would be declared taboo by the Celestials.”

“Anything will be better than not having it. Besides, you are a human.” The Ruins Emperor’s words had a threatening hint to them. “Anyway, if you are willing to hand it over, I will give you whatever you want. I will provide you with astounding amounts of resources, allowing you cultivate smoothly! If your recipe were to be a big boon for the Fey, your request of letting Jiang Xiaorou inherit the throne would also be negotiable.”

Yi Yun was not furious with the Ruins Emperor’s threat. It was completely opposite. He felt that the Ruins Emperor was being rather polite.

He originally believed that the Fey were closer in temperament to beasts, and that the upper echelons of the Fey were like ancient Fey beasts that would not let any benefit slip past them, Yi Yun’s interaction with them made him feel that the conditions provided by the Ruins Emperor was considered pretty good.

In a warrior’s world, strength was supreme. Without sufficient strength, one should be grateful if transactions were done by force alone. It was ultimately better than completing the transaction by death.

The typical junior would probably happily accept the conditions given the double threat of the two massive factions of the Celestials and Fey as well as the stunning benefits that were offered.

However, Yi Yun was naturally not the typical junior.

He said indifferently, “It’s not that I do not wish to give you the recipe… it’s just that even if I were to give it to you, you will not be able to understand it.”

“Oh!?” The Ruins Emperor’s eyes flashed coldly!

Yi Yun had said those words with a casual and indifferent tone. But at that moment, his tone could hardly be distinguished from a supercilious one.

The Ruins Emperor was unsure if Yi Yun was deliberately looking down on the Fey. His expression was perfect, making it impossible for his true thoughts to be identified.

However, if Yi Yun’s words had changed to: “It’s not that I’m not imparting you my knowledge. It’s just that even I were to give it to you, you will not understand if because all of you are illiterates.”

That would result in zero cordiality.

Just as Yi Yun said those words, he suddenly felt a massive lifeblood force emit from the grand hall. The lifeblood powers surged like a tsunami!

In fact, Yi Yun had noticed prior to these turns of event that there was an additional person in the room. He just feigned ignorance.

And now, the concealed person was clearly peeved by Yi Yun’s accusation, and he finally stopped hiding.

Yi Yun turned his head back and saw a person walk out from the darkness. Yi Yun had already guessed at his identity.

He was the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s Pagoda Lord—Jiang Lichen.

Jiang Lichen had become Fey Thearch earlier than the Luo King. He was a Fey elite of the same generation as Ruins Emperor, Jiang Jiuzhu. He had also witnessed Jiang Jiuzhu’s ascension to the throne.

As Jiang Lichen focused on alchemy, he had no intention of vying for the throne. Therefore, Jiang Lichen was one of the few Fey Thearchs who had a decent relationship with Jiang Jiuzhu.

The Ruins Emperor did not know alchemy, so he allowed Jiang Lichen to listen in to see if Yi Yun was up to any tricks.

He never expected that Yi Yun would not resort to any tricks. Instead, he made arrogant remarks that generally, he was not acting against the Fey but that the Fey race’s pills and poisons were all garbage.

This was equivalent to a slap in the face of Jiang Lichen.

Jiang Lichen represented the highest alchemical standards among the ancient Heaven Fey, but Yi Yun did not give an excuse that it was unlikely they could master the pills, but that none of them could understand a thing!

How could Jiang Lichen put up with that?

“So it’s Pagoda Lord.” Yi Yun still gave a junior’s bow, but such an etiquette only looked like mockery to Jiang Lichen.

Jiang Lichen looked at Yi Yun with burning eyes. “I’ve always heard of people who act in undue confidence, but I’ve never seen one so arrogant as you. Young man, being overly arrogant can lead to death out of the blue.”

Jiang Lichen’s words had a faint killing intent to them.

Yi Yun laughed, “Pagoda Lord, there are all sorts of specializations. It’s not that I’m looking down on the Fey’s pill refining techniques, but when it’s a recipe that involves some secret arts of mine, the Fey’s alchemists might not have a solution to it. Pagoda Lord, if you are unconvinced, you can give it a try.”

Jiang Lichen’s eyes narrowed when he heard that.

This was equivalent to Yi Yun’s announcement of war!

He planned to compete with Jiang Lichen over pill refining arts!

As for Jiang Lichen, he represented the ancient Heaven Fey. That also involved the reputation of the entire Fey’s alchemical skills.

If they were to lose…

Ruins Emperor looked at Jiang Lichen. “Lichen, don’t be goaded.”

Rationally speaking, it was impossible for Yi Yun to defeat Jiang Lichen. No matter how much of a genius he was, he was limited by his age. The Ruins Emperor guessed that Yi Yun’s refinement of Myriad Form Shura Pill was done by some trickery.

However, through this trickery, Yi Yun had refined the Myriad Form Shura Pill and stirred up a phenomena. This was under the circumstances of everyone waiting to watch the farce.

Such a person was naturally no idiot. Since he dared raise a challenge, it was likely that he had some skill to depend on!

If one truly treated him as the typical junior, the only one to suffer was themselves! The Luo King was quite a famous Fey Thearch. He had no lack of strength or means. Yet, didn’t he still suffer under the punk?

1663 - : Standoff with Ruins Emperor (Part 2/2)

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Your Majesty, if I show fear towards this human junior, that’s the end of my alchemical achievements.”

However, as an Alchemy Monarch, he represented Heaven Fey City. Now that he was being mocked by a junior, how could he admit to it?

It would be like if someone threw a pile of shit at you, and not only did you catch it, you even licked it.

Jiang Lichen could not afford to lose face in such a manner.

“Alright…” Ruins Emperor nodded and did not continue.

“How do you want to compete? Where and when? What happens if you win or lose?”

Although Jiang Lichen was highly spirited, he knew that Yi Yun was not someone simple. It was best to figure out what tricks Yi Yun had up his sleeve.

If it was a domain he wasn’t skilled in, he would absolutely not act stubbornly. That would cause him to fail miserably at an easy task.

Yi Yun cupped his hands and said, “Pagoda Lord, you are being too harsh in your words. I do not want this competition to harm any feelings. I made the suggestion only to prove what I just said and not prove that my alchemical skills are better than the Heaven Fey City’s. I just wish to tell His Majesty that the recipe to refining the Myriad Form Shura Pills is useless even if I give it to others.

“Besides, of the ingredients needed for the Myriad Form Shura Pills, the Ancestor God’s blood is particularly difficult. As for the other valuable ingredients, they are naturally not difficult for the Heaven Fey City to gather with its heritage. However, the Ancestor God’s blood is nowhere to be found.”

As Yi Yun said that, he noticed that the Ruins Emperor was silent. This left him slightly taken aback. Could it be that… the ancient Heaven Fey actually had the Ancestor God’s blood?

The Ancestor God’s blood was not obtainable from any random Celestial expert. That would not make it rare.

It had to be from a patriarch of the Celestials!

After the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch vanished, the Ancestor God was the strongest in this universe!

Yi Yun and Blood King had obtained some Ancestor God blood thanks to their opportunities.

Could it be that the ancient Heaven Fey also had some?

On careful thought, the peerless Fey patriarch who established the Heaven Fey City was an astounding figure. In the billions of years that followed, the ancient Heaven Fey had incredible accumulations. It was not impossible for them to possess some Ancestor God blood.

Upon coming to this realization, Yi Yun did not speak further. Instead, he took out a jade box.

“Inside this jade box are two Myriad Form Shura Pills!”

The moment Yi Yun said that, Jiang Lichen’s and Ruins Emperor’s eyes lit up!

Just a few of the precious pills was enough to move Fey Thearchs, without even the need to mention the heaven-defying price of the ingredients used in the recipe.

“Your Majesty, I’m just competing with the Pagoda Lord. If the Pagoda Lord is able to completely refine the medicinal essence and energy out of these two Myriad Form Shura Pills and restore them to their original states, I’ll admit defeat. I’ll hand over the recipe and also offer the two Myriad Form Shura Pills to you, Your Majesty!”

The competition Yi Yun suggested was, in fact, very simple.

If it was a one-on-one alchemical competition, it would be pointless if he were to publicly smack Jiang Lichen in the face.

Furthermore, Yi Yun’s alchemical skills mostly came from the Sinkhole, and compared to the Chaos Heavens, it was unlikely he had an advantage.

Even if he were able to prove his alchemical superiority, he would only end up offending the ancient Heaven Fey, bringing him no benefits.

Yi Yun wished for a transaction which was beneficial to him. This was the reason why he left two Myriad Form Shura Pills.

“Extraction and restoring the medicinal essence?”

Jiang Lichen pondered for a moment. To put it plainly, pills were simply a vessel for medicinal essence and energy.

There were three major steps in alchemy. First, the extraction of medicinal essence from the various materials. Second was to refine the medicinal essence with alchemical fire. The third step was to fuse the medicinal essences into one, forming a pill!

Now that Yi Yun challenged Jiang Lichen to extract the medicinal essence from the Myriad Form Shura Pills without destroying them, it was equivalent to going backwards from the third step.

In fact, the third step of pill refinement was the relatively easier step.

An experienced alchemist could tell the technique and process used by the alchemist who refined the pill from studying it.

If he was unable to reverse the third easiest step, then it meant that it was basically impossible for him to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pills. It was not even possible to understand the recipe.

“Hand me the pills,” said Jiang Lichen with a deep voice. He remained careful even though the challenge appeared simple.

“Pagoda Lord, there’s no need to rush. What if you fail to figure it out?

“What will you do?”

Yi Yun looked at the Ruins Emperor when he finished his sentence. “Your Majesty, if Pagoda Lord Jiang fails to restore the Myriad Form Shura Pills, then these two Myriad Form Shura Pills will be offered to you, but… I wish to borrow the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ Fey Altar!”

The moment that was said, Ruins Emperor’s and Jiang Lichen’s eyes narrowed slightly.

This Yi Yun was really ambitious!

Back when Yi Yun planned on helping Jiang Xiaorou clinch the throne, he had kept the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ Fey Altar in mind.

Back then, Rain Numinous had said that the royalty of the top few clans of the Chaos Heavens would jointly hold a trial for the members of the royalty which tested them on every aspect!

The person who got first would win handsome rewards, including entry into the Fey Altar!

The so-called Fey Altar was an altar that worshipped the heavens in one of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ forbidden grounds. Over the billions of years, the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins had many powerful Fey choose to die in there before their natural death. The lifeblood powers that released upon their death continued lingering in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ forbidden ground. If one used a mystic technique to stir the powers, especially if it was a peerless genius, they could call upon the Heavenly Tribulation on the altar!

It was the most supreme Heavenly Tribulation in the Chaos Heavens!

The three bloodlines in Yi Yun’s body had fused together after his consumption of the Myriad Form Shura Pills, but ultimately, it was a fusion which lacked tempering!

In addition, Yi Yun’s cultivation time was rather short. Before he broke through to become a Godly Monarch, he needed the Heavenly Tribulation’s tempering.

And previously, Yi Yun’s experience of the Heavenly Tribulation in the Sinkhole was too weak. Compared to his body that was in need of tempering, that was nothing worth mentioning.

Yi Yun eagerly wanted to enter the Fey Altar!

Besides, even if Jiang Xiaorou won first in the competition between the royal candidates and even became crown designate, she would be the only one to enter the Fey Altar.

As a human, it was impossible for Yi Yun to enter with Jiang Xiaorou.

Therefore, when Yi Yun refined the Myriad Form Shura Pills, he had an idea.

He allowed Blood King to publicly internalize the pills and made everyone in Heaven Fey City see his advancement.

Pills that could enhance a Fey Thearch were worthy of a spot at the Fey Altar.

Ruins Emperor looked at Yi Yun and realized his goal.

The Fey Altar’s Lightning Tribulation had the risk of death even for princes who had stimulated their ancestors’ bloodline, much less humans.

This human had cultivated in both laws and body. His progress was enough to leave many Fey embarrassed.

Was there really no danger to allow such a person to develop his strength?

Ruins Emperor was hesitant.

Yi Yun could tell what was on Ruins Emperor’s mind as he said, “Your Majesty, don’t worry. Although I’m human, my sister, Jiang Xiaorou is an ancient Heaven Fey. I will not destroy my sister’s foundations and I can swear that upon my Dao heart. In the future, as long as the Fey do not cross me, I will not be at odds with the Fey’s interests.”

1664 - : Fey Altar

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun was ultimately not from the Chaos Heavens. The future fate of the humans and Fey in the Chaos Heavens was not something he needed to concern himself with.

Under the Heavenly Dao’s evolution, the various races had to fight for their own survival.

Therefore, swearing on his Dao heart to not be at odds with the Fey’s interests was nothing.

From Yi Yun’s point of view, the greatest danger was the Ancestor God.

He had no idea when the Ancestor God would recover and he had little time to strengthen himself. He needed the opportunity to transcend the Fey Altar’s Heavenly Tribulation.

It was naturally against the rules for humans to enter the Fey Altar.

However… the allure of becoming Fey Patriarch was too great.

The Ruins Emperor was no longer young. If he could not attain his goal in the years to come, there would be no more hope left for him.

The two patriarchs had already decided on making him abdicate—once the crown designate became a Fey Thearch.

The Fey ran things differently from mortal kingdoms. When mortal emperors abdicated, they could become an Emperor Emeritus.

As for a Fey emperor, they could only abdicate in an ignoble manner, leaving them with titles such as former Ruins Emperor.

That was their end.

Being accustomed to a life of glory, it was understandable how one found the drawing of curtains unacceptable. The Ruins Emperor still wished to fight back against his eventual outcome and he saw hope in the Myriad Form Shura Pills.

“Alright, if you can swear upon your Dao heart, I can permit your entry into the Fey Altar.”

Rules were set by people. Compared to his own breakthrough, breaking them was nothing.

“Lichen, test the pills!”

Ruins Emperor looked at Jiang Lichen. Without his instructions, Jiang Lichen had already begun examining the pills that Yi Yun had given him.

The last step of a restoration was neither considered difficult nor easy.

However, Yi Yun’s pill was very different.

He had never seen the patterns and laws on the pills ever.

Originally, Jiang Lichen had done some research on the alchemical techniques of the humans, Ghosts, and Souls. That gave him a healthy amount of confidence.

However, the pills in front of him did not appear to be a result of any alchemical system in the Chaos Heavens.

It was mystical and complex, completely indescribable.

This was akin to the story of a gifted scholar of the mortal world.

This scholar memorized all the important books, was proficient in poetry and the analects. He was great at writing essays, and even well-versed in the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, as well as archery and horse-riding.

The scholar was practically flawless!

Being top scholar was a sure bet, and it was even possible for him to be a double top scholar in both civil and military examinations.

However… when he went to take the test, what he faced was… the modern-day National College Entrance Examination.

The examination involved mathematics and combined sciences of physics, chemistry and biology. It would appear like Greek.

The English examination script would look like scribbles.

The only thoughts this promising scholar would have was: are these examination questions? What are these? What does this symbol do? Also, he would not even have seen multiple-choice questions before.

At that moment, Jiang Lichen’s feelings were akin to the poor scholar’s.

Yi Yun’s refinement of the Myriad Form Shura Pills used the Heretical God Fire as its flame. The laws stemmed from the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s Dao of Major Destruction and Major Creation. His alchemical techniques stemmed from the Sinkhole’s divine alchemist’s heritage.

Every aspect left Jiang Lichen at a loss.

He did not even need to consider how to solve the problem posed to him, because he couldn’t even understand the problem statement.

He could already determine that it was impossible for him to restore the pills. It was not a matter of time, but a futile attempt akin to a tiger’s attempt to devour the heavens. There was no incisive point of attack.

And worst of all, the pill that he had no idea how it was refined effused a potent medicinal essence; it even had a spiritual quality to it. Jiang Lichen had no doubts to its effects.

On second thought, what Yi Yun said about how they would not comprehend the recipe even if it was given to them was really not empty talk.

He was not mocking them, but simply illustrating a fact.

Sadly, he felt humiliated and became afire with righteous indignation, hoping to prove the alchemical arts of Heaven Fey City.

Seriously… that was embarrassing.

Jiang Lichen wore a bitter look. He never expected the pills to be so unorthodox.

When he noticed that the Ruins Emperor had cast him an askance look, Jiang Lichen widened his mouth. He originally planned on acting to consider a little longer. After all, it was embarrassing if he admitted defeat after taking a few looks.

However, with the realization that Yi Yun had already guessed that he could not understand it at all, any further acting would make him appear like a monkey putting on a show for him. That would be even more awkward.

Forget it…

Jiang Lichen handed the pills back to Yi Yun and bit the bullet. “Pardon my ineptness, I’m unable to figure it out.”

Jiang Lichen’s straightforward statement stunned the Ruins Emperor. That fast?

He did not even take a minute. Although the Ruins Emperor did not know alchemy, he knew what that implied.

The study of alchemy was not something that could be accomplished in a day. If Jiang Lichen could not even understand it, asking him to refine the pill would be an impossible task.

Without surprise, there was perhaps no second person in the Chaos Heavens who could refine those pills.

Obtaining the recipe would be pointless.

After understanding this, the Ruins Emperor looked at Yi Yun differently. He was amazed that the Myriad Form Shura Pills could only be refined by this one person…

And worst of all, these pills were of paramount importance to the Fey. Handling the situation became quite challenging.

Unfortunately, Yi Yun was not a clansmen of the ancient Heaven Fey…

Many thoughts went through the Ruins Emperor’s mind. He was very tempted to keep Yi Yun with the Fey, but he did not dare use any forceful means.

After all, Yi Yun’s development appeared to be boundless from the looks of it. He was only able to make Yi Yun act according to his will for now, but once he offended him and allowed Yi Yun to leave, the situation would only deteriorate.

The Ruins Emperor hesitated for quite some time before deciding to maintain a friendly relationship with Yi Yun. After all, Jiang Xiaorou was his sister and, from the looks of it, their relationship was pretty good. If Jiang Xiaorou helmed the Fey, would Yi Yun’s Myriad Form Shura Pills not be given to her?

He said, “Alright! I can permit your usage of the Fey Altar! However, there is an additional condition. After you transcend the lightning tribulations, I still need you to refine another cauldron of pills. The ingredients will be provided by us Fey. You can take ten percent of the resulting pills!”

The ancient Heaven Fey had the ingredients ready and the main reason why the Ruins Emperor promised Yi Yun ten percent of the pills was because he feared that Yi Yun would not put in full effort.

Of course, for such rare pills, ten percent was too little.

Yi Yun found it acceptable. After all, the ingredients were unpurchasable with his present monetary situation. Furthermore, the Fey Altar was promised.

“Alright!”

Yi Yun agreed to it and set in place the contract.

The situation was not a trifling matter; it even involved the entire ancient Heaven Fey’s interests.

The Ruins Emperor could not make the decision himself, so once Yi Yun left, he reported the situation to the two patriarchs.

With that, Yi Yun’s entry into the Fey Altar was immediately permitted.

The Fey did things swiftly, so Yi Yun’s entry into the Fey Altar was set for three days later.

The opening of the Fey Altar was of immense importance. It was impossible to hide the opening of the array from the Heaven Fey City’s Fey.

Instantly, there was an uproar among the Fey!

Yi Yun, a human, was not only entering their array core, but he was also entering the Fey Altar!?

If it was just the Heaven Fey City’s array core, the powerful Fey geniuses could still have a chance of enjoying that luxury, but the Fey Altar was practically reserved only for royalty.

Even the princes and princesses needed to be conferred titles first. And there were only a few dozen of them in Heaven Fey City. And titled princes and princesses needed to make massive contributions or have excellent results in experiential tests with other races, winning glory for the Fey, before they had a chance at entering the Fey Altar.

Among all the princes, only the Ninth Prince and Sixth Prince had ever entered the Fey Altar.

The Ninth Prince had lit up the third mark of the Heaven Fey totem.

As for the Sixth Prince, he was the direct great-grandson of the Ruins Emperor. With the Ruins Emperor’s merit points, he barely earned a chance at entering the Fey Altar.

Now, faced with Yi Yun’s entry into the Fey Altar, how could the reaction among the Fey warriors not be intense?

“Grandfather, I can’t accept it. Why!?”

Among all the princes, the one who found it least acceptable was Jiang Yuchan!

He had been injured by Yi Yun and tormented by the lightning and fire forces. He nearly lost all his will to live and only through the Ghost Doctor’s help did he barely last to this day. However, it would still take him half a year to completely recover.

Under such circumstances, his reputation was almost in the dumps!

The Fey did not pity failures.

Jiang Yuchan’s battle with Yi Yun was witnessed by countless warriors in Heaven Fey City. He failed miserably!

A tenet of Fey warriors was that failure was a disgrace to the race, so he deserved death. Furthermore, Jiang Yuchan was defeated by a human. It was even more embarrassing!

In fact, after losing to Yi Yun, Jiang Yuchan’s chances at clinching the throne had dropped drastically. Unless he had fortuitous encounters in the future or made great meritorious contributions to redeem himself, the Heaven Fey would not tolerate a failure like Jiang Yuchan inheriting the throne.

To stand up again, Jiang Yuchan had to first crush Yi Yun beneath his feet.

But now, Yi Yun had not only refined the Myriad Form Shura Pills, he had even won the favor of the Ruins Emperor. He had entered the Ruins Emperor Palace and wad even permitted entry into the Fey Altar!

That was the Fey Altar!

A forbidden land of the ancient Heaven Fey. All he could do was dream about it, without any chance of entering it his entire life.

What right did a human like Yi Yun have to do so?

Compared to Yi Yun, their standings were like night and day!

“Grandfather, I can’t accept it! All he did was rely on pills to become a core figure among the Fey?

“With those pills, he convinced His Majesty and the two Patriarchs? Grandfather, didn’t you say that Ghost Doctor poisoned the ingredients? Does he look poisoned in any way?”

Jiang Yuchan fully believed Ghost Doctor’s words in the beginning, but now, Yi Yun was basically frolicking around!

Yi Yun’s craftiness appeared to be above that of the Ghost Doctor’s. That old fogey had been fooled!

If that were the case, weren’t they acting like idiots previously, being fooled without realizing it?

They had used their family clan’s resources to gather all the materials for Yi Yun.

When Yi Yun failed to find the materials, they helped!

When Yi Yun’s finances were lacking, they even reduced the price a little!

This was not just as ridiculous as helping someone count the money used to purchase themselves, but more like sending themselves up to the gallows and helping the executioner grind the blade!

What Jiang Yuchan said was something the Luo King naturally knew as well.

He believed that he was in power in the Heaven Fey City all these years. And even if he did not have perfect strategies, he was someone with a myriad of means. Yet, his actions the past few months were humiliating.

“Young Master Yuchan, are you blaming me?”

At that moment, a sinister voice suddenly sounded. Jiang Yuchan’s neck shrank when he heard that.

Ghost Doctor!

He had naturally received the news regarding Yi Yun’s entry into the Fey Altar.

1665 - : Pill Testing

CKtalon  CKtalon

Jiang Yuchan naturally did not dare act impetuously in front of Ghost Doctor. He had yet to recover from his injuries, so he still relied on Ghost Doctor.

“The poison in Lin Yun’s pills appears to be ineffective. From the looks of it, the Nine Orifices Essence Yang Pills consumed by the Blood King have also been cleansed of their poison,” Luo King said to Ghost Doctor.

He found his own words incredulous. Using poison as a solution was just too rare!

As a Ghost Thearch who studied poison, probably no one could match Ghost Doctor in all of the Chaos Heavens. How did Yi Yun actually resolve the poison?

Ghost Doctor said, “For him to have the ability to refine such phenomenological pills in the Heaven Fey City, it’s not impossible for him to resolve my poison.

“He definitely uses some trick! Be it pill refinement or the removing of poison, all of his astounding acts must have been accomplished using some unknown secret.

“And this secret is very useful to us. When the time comes, I can share the secret with you.”

Luo King felt the allure.

He had already offended Yi Yun; now that Ghost Doctor was willing to aid him, it was indeed the best time to deal with Yi Yun.

“Alright, I will find an opportunity,” Luo King said to Ghost Doctor.

After Ghost Doctor left, Jiang Yuchan said gloomily, “Grandfather, you might have promised Ghost Doctor, but how are you to deal with Lin Yun? He just entered Ruins Emperor Palace and is now someone the Ruins Emperor is relying on. If we were to touch him, wouldn’t we anger the Ruins Emperor?”

Jiang Yuchan had fallen into despair after learning this news. He felt that it was impossible for him to exceed Yi Yun’s standing for the rest of his life.

If his standing and strength were both inferior to Yi Yun’s, how was he to seek revenge?

“Do you really think that the Ruins Emperor wishes to protect him?” Luo King said lightly.

Jiang Yuchan was taken aback. “Why do you ask?”

“Leadership is rendered ineffective by subordinates that grow in power. Lin Yun’s talent is heaven-defying. He has yet to become a Godly Monarch, but he is already capable of stirring up a storm in Heaven Fey City. Wouldn’t it be worse when he becomes a Godly Monarch? When the time comes, perhaps Jiang Jiuzhu will not be his match either!

“Do you think Jiang Jiuzhu will trust a person like him that cannot be controlled, especially when he’s human? That he will like him?

“Furthermore, with Lin Yun’s close relationship with Jiang Xiaorou and Blood King, what if he insists that Jiang Xiaorou is made crown designate with the Myriad Form Shura Pills as condition? Then, the ancient Heaven Fey might one day lose its independence. Do you believe that Jiang Jiuzhu would be willing to risk such threats?”

“Grandfather, so you are implying that?” Jiang Yuchan’s heart stirred. He never thought too deeply about it.

“Lin Yun’s Myriad Form Shura Pills might stimulate the ancient Heaven Fey’s bloodline. They can allow young geniuses to enjoy an enhancement to their bloodline and can be useful to Fey Thearchs. This gives Jiang Jiuzhu no choice but to rely on Lin Yun.

“Lin Yun is like a fruit tree with thorns. Although the fruits are extremely sweet, one can injure themselves if they aren’t careful when plucking the fruits! Furthermore, the more he develops his strength, the sharper his thorns become!

“If we pluck off all the thorns on this fruit tree and allow it to only bear fruit without pricking anyone, Jiang Jiuzhu would probably be filled with gratitude towards us.”

“Grandfather, what you said makes sense!” Jiang Yuchan’s eyes lit up. He was unaware of the Ruins Emperor’s thought processes without being in his position, so when he heard the Luo King’s explanation, he immediately felt enlightened. “Then, when do we take action?”

Jiang Yuchan felt somewhat eager.

“This Lin Yun has a death wish. He even has the wish to use the Fey Altar to transcend the Heavenly Tribulations at such a critical point in time. The Fey Altar is a sacred land of our ancient Heaven Fey, so how can a human be allowed entry? Jiang Jiuzhu was forced to agree to Lin Yun’s conditions, so he’s definitely unhappy about it. If we mess up Lin Yun’s Heavenly Tribulation and make him suffer failure, his body will crumble and that will be the end of his martial path. He might even drop in realm, never to rise again!

“And if such a thing should happen, Jiang Jiuzhu will appear infuriated on the surface, but actually feel delighted deep down!

“That old fox, Jiang Jiuzhu, wishes to have his piece of the cake without taking any risks. By taking action for him, we are helping him shoulder the blame.”

The Luo King knew the Ruins Emperor for too long. He knew Jiang Jiuzhu’s character—suspicious and one who did not take risks. He enjoyed instigating his opponents against each other as he sat out to reap the future spoils.

“Then, are we going to be Jiang Jiuzhu’s vanguard just like that?”

“How can that be possible?” Luo King’s eyes flashed coldly. “Didn’t Ghost Doctor say that Lin Yun has a secret? Since Jiang Jiuzhu isn’t one who takes risks, he would not dare attack Lin Yun when things remain unclear. Such a person only wants to reap the spoils without taking the risks. He can win petty gains, but he will never accomplish anything major!

“All we need to do is snatch the secret that Lin Yun has and we will be in control of everything.”

“Grandfather, what you said makes sense!” Jiang Jiuzhu’s heart raced. If everything went smoothly, the crown as Ruins Emperor was even possible for him!

…

When news of Yi Yun’s entry into the Fey Altar spread, many people came to pay him a visit even if many Fey were envious. After all, just the standing which Yi Yun had demonstrated made him an important figure in Heaven Fey City.

For the next two days, Soft Clouds Mountain Manor bustled like a city. Many people sent congratulatory gifts, but Yi Yun left all these matters and guests to Jiang Xiaorou to handle.

The relationships in Heaven Fey City were complicated and he naturally had no interest in involving himself in the intrigue.

He quietly waited for the third day to arrive.

The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ Fey Altar was similar to the Heaven Fey City’s array cores.

Every time the Fey Altar opened, it would greatly drain the accumulated lifeblood powers. However, there were nine array cores in Heaven Fey City, but only one Fey Altar. It made the rarity of entry evident.

“Punk, it’s extremely dangerous to transcend the Heavenly Tribulations in the Fey Altar. Even Fey geniuses can have their bodies collapse and turn to dust. You have to be careful in transcending the tribulation. I have prepared some treasured herbs for you. They can fortify your body at critical moments.”

Blood King took out an interspatial ring and handed it to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun received it and scanned it with his perception. The treasures inside… had probably wiped clean everything in Treasure Fey Pagoda.

Among the many Fey Thearchs, the Blood King was not considered rich. The refinement of the Myriad Form Shura Pills previously had placed him in debt. The treasures in the interspatial ring were probably worth ten to twenty thousand Chaos Crystals. It was unknown what the Blood King pledged to obtain this round of resources.

After all of this, the Blood King would probably take a few centuries to recover.

“Thank you, Senior Blood King. After this Heavenly Tribulation, the Ruins Emperor has made me agree to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pills again. I will obtain ten percent, and when the time comes, I’ll definitely repay you.”

Without the Blood King, it was impossible for Yi Yun to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pills so smoothly.

“Senior Blood King, I have a request that you help guard my tribulation transcendence,” added Yi Yun.

“I’d have gone even if you didn’t mention it.”

Blood King nodded. It was impossible to predict what was on people’s minds. It was not that he could not predict that the Luo King would attack Yi Yun, but that Yi Yun would be relatively weaker and in his most dangerous state when transcending the tribulations.

With the principle that precaution averted peril, the Blood King would definitely do his best to guard Yi Yun while he transcended the tribulations.

An uneventful night passed. Early the next morning, Yi Yun opened his eyes after a night of meditation. Today was the day he transcended the tribulations. He had made immense amounts of preparation for this day!

1666 - : Hidden Killing Intent

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’s Fey Altar was not inside Heaven Fey City, but in a mountain valley west of the city. It was the bedrock of the Heaven Fey City’s establishment.

Legend had it that billions of years ago, the Fey Altar was the core of the forbidden zone known as the No Return for Thearchs. After it was leveled by a peerless Fey Patriarch, he established the Fey Altar at the core. While suppressing the forbidden zone, he also focused the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi of the nine dragon veins beneath it.

Since time immemorial, this zone had an unparalleled allure to the Fey. It attracted countless powerful Fey to experience Nirvana here.

When Yi Yun stepped into this land, he sensed the rich vital powers that emanated the area.

The soil was solid and dark red. It felt like he was stepping on thick flesh. According to the Blood King, it was not only a place for Fey beasts to undergo Nirvana in their waning years, but also where war broke out. This place was also a battlefield.

The dead Fey beasts were of various levels, including Fey Thearch-level Fey beasts, as well as powerful ancient Fey that possessed the bloodlines of divine beasts.

Although billions of years had passed, Yi Yun was still inundated by a thick smell of blood that covered the land. He even felt as though he had been stuck in a sea of blood.

“Step into the Fey Altar and experience the nine stages of Heavenly Tribulations. Life or death, it’s up to you. Even among the Fey, there have been many geniuses who failed to transcend the tribulations throughout history. Their bodies collapsed, putting an end to their martial paths. Have you thought it through?”

When Yi Yun stepped into the mountain valley, a black-dressed woman appeared out of thin air and said those words.

Even the Blood King turned respectful when facing the black-dressed woman.

She was a Guardian Elder of the Fey Altar, and was of extremely high standing. Even the Ruins Emperors was her junior long ago.

“Yes.”

Yi Yun looked the black-dressed woman deeply into the eye. She gave him a feeling that she was different from ordinary Fey. She had extremely rich Fey beast blood, as though she was half Fey.

The woman was not only a Fey, but likely a descendant of a Fey beast.

Some Fey beasts could take on a human form after cultivating to a certain realm. They could copulate with Fey to produce offspring, but such situations were rare. However, once a child was born from this union, they would usually have extremely potent bloodlines.

“Then, go on!” the black-dressed woman said lightly before turning to leave.

If the Fey’s genius disciples were to transcend the tribulations, the black-dressed woman might stand guard outside, but as a human, Yi Yun did not enjoy such treatment.

Yi Yun’s entry into the Fey Altar was already the most the Fey could permit. It was naturally impossible to hope that the Fey could protect him.

The Blood King was the only person who agreed to protect Yi Yun.

He sat cross-legged at the entrance to the valley as he closed his eyes in meditation.

Yi Yun walked deep into the valley and saw a reddish-brown stone altar. It was about a hundred feet across and it was simple and mottled. Having experienced the elements for ages, it did not look anything special. If the typical Fey Lord came and was unaware of the Fey Altar’s origins, they would probably imagine it to be an ordinary stone platform.

However, Yi Yun possessed the Purple Crystal, and through its vision he saw that the stone altar was enveloped by a faint reddish glow. It was not made up purely of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. Within it lingered countless of fragmented souls of dead Fey beasts, the powers of shattered Fey cores, and the bloodline powers of divine beasts…

After billions of years, these energies had fused into one, and they contained the mystical secrets of life.

Yi Yun walked to the Fey Altar and looked up into the sky.

It was noon, the point when the Sun was brightest, and the Yang Qi thickest.

However, when Yi Yun cast his gaze out, he saw that the sky looked gloomy. It looked like it was being warped by a bottomless abyss that enveloped him and the Fey Altar.

The area above the Fey Altar had formed a world in and of itself…

…

At that moment, many people were looking at the Fey Altar from afar.

Yi Yun’s transcendence of the tribulations could be said to be the focus of attention!

And it wasn’t only the ancient Heaven Fey, even the members of clans which had good relationships with the ancient Heaven Fey came.

In the entire history of the ancient Heaven Fey, this matter could be considered quite a wonder. In the recent billion years, the Fey Altar had not been opened to any other race.

Due to the Myriad Form Shura Pills, Yi Yun’s fame had already turned widespread. Everyone knew that this person could refine divine pills that defied the heavens and changed fate itself.

However, no matter how brilliant one’s alchemical skills were, it did not mean that they had powerful bodies. Transcending the tribulations at the Fey Altar was extremely difficult. For Fey geniuses to transcend the tribulations, they needed at least a century or two of preparation. Just triggering a Heavenly Tribulation was not easy.

As people talked about it, the sky suddenly darkened. Following that, violent Heaven Earth Yuan Qi stirred and formed a thick tribulation cloud.

Purple bolts of lightning tore through the tribulation cloud.

“It’s starting…”

There were many people gathered and watching from afar. They looked at the thick tribulation cloud and waited for the Heavenly Tribulation to descend.

“From the looks of this tribulation cloud, it’s at least a sixth-stage Heavenly Tribulation.”

A sixth-stage Heavenly Tribulation was actually nothing much.

However, Yi Yun was human and for him to trigger a Heavenly Tribulation without any preparation was already remarkable. Many of the Fey Lords among them had not even attempted to transcend a Heavenly Tribulation their entire lives.

The tribulation cloud became heavier as if it was about to crush the sky; the ground quaked in response. The dark cloud blanketed the entire Heaven Fey City, looming over the city as if it was about to destroy it!

“Oh? Something isn’t right.”

There were people whose cultivation level was close to that of Fey Thearchs that suddenly sensed the abnormality of the tribulation clouds.

“This tribulation cloud feels like it was triggered from high in the sky. It doesn’t seem related to the Fey Altar…”

As people puzzled over the matter, a gust of cold wind howled from the tribulation cloud. Gradually, people saw a massive ghost face appear within the tribulation cloud. It had hideous fangs and a dominating cadaveric aura.

Around the ghost face was raging sanguine light. It reached out in every direction with its thick and heavy aura. It made the rich smell of blood linger even up to 5000 kilometers out.

The air seemed to turn sticky as thick blood permeated the blood clouds and dyed the sky.

“What’s happening!?”

People exclaimed. The six-stage Heavenly Tribulation had already made people feel that something was amiss, but now, it was even more ridiculous.

The ghost face had appeared out of the blue. It was impossible for a ghost face to appear from a sixth-stage Heavenly Tribulation, and such a phenomenon was unprecedented.

“This ghost face and sanguine light, as well as the rich cadaveric aura are clearly features of a Ghost Heavenly Tribulation.”

“That’s right. It’s a sixth-stage Ghost Tribulation! It was a sixth-stage Fey Tribulation in the beginning, which would be normal since Yi Yun has a Fey beast bloodline in him. But why did a sixth-stage Ghost Tribulation follow?”

As everyone felt something amiss, many of the mighty figures with Fey Thearch cultivation levels had already come to a realization.

The sixth-stage Fey Tribulation and the sixth-stage Ghost Tribulation were separately triggered. But as they happened at the same spot, they were stacked and compounded together!

Some sharp Fey Thearchs had already released their perception to probe the tribulation cloud. The results shocked them to the core!

It was unknown when a hidden space had been opened up high in the sky, but something was sealing the objects that could trigger Heavenly Tribulations within.

Then, they looked at the Fey Altar where Yi Yun was, still emitting a divine glow, remaining silent. It was highly likely that the triggered Heavenly Tribulations had nothing to do with the Fey Altar!

“This is a Heavenly Tribulation not triggered by Lin Yun!” said an expert. “Lin Yun is likely still in preparation and has yet to begin! Someone has perturbed the Heavenly Tribulation…”

“Perturbed the Heavenly Tribulation!?” people exclaimed.

Warriors were at their weakest when transcending the Heavenly Tribulations, so they were most vulnerable to others fishing in troubled waters. But to actually interfere in the Heavenly Tribulation was not that easy.

This was because anyone who entered the Heavenly Tribulation’s range would suffer the indiscriminate attacks of the Heavenly Tribulation!

Yi Yun was in an important land of the ancient Heaven Fey after all. It would be inexcusable if a Fey Thearch were to storm in to kill Yi Yun.

Therefore, the Luo King had employed a different method.

He helmed the Fey Blood Plains, which had no lack of high-staged Fey beasts. He captured two of them and made Ghost Doctor do whatever he could to stimulate the Fey beasts’ vital potential, regardless of the consequences to the beasts. It made the powers within them reach an extremum in a short period of time, one that was sufficient to trigger a tribulation.

These two Fey beasts naturally wouldn’t survive the process.

Due to the Ghost Doctor’s means, the Heavenly Tribulation they triggered was of a motley variety. However, it didn’t matter since that was exactly what the Luo King wanted.

Such a chaotic Heavenly Tribulation would merge with the Heavenly Tribulation that Yi Yun triggered. It would eventually generate a terrifying destructive force.

At that moment, the soul and flesh of the transcendent candidate would suffer the bombardment of the Heavenly Tribulation.

“Punk! It’s Jiang Luo! He has taken action!”

Blood King’s Yuan Qi voice transmission tore through the storm and sounded in Yi Yun’s ears.

He was in charge of protecting Yi Yun. If the Luo King were to attack, he would definitely fend him off. However, the Luo King had not done anything but perturb the Heavenly Tribulation.

That made the Blood King’s protection of Yi Yun useless.

The guardian could not enter the Heavenly Tribulation’s range or dare approach the transcendent candidate, much less help them transcend the tribulation.

If he did, not only would the Blood King suffer the assault of the Heavenly Tribulation, it would even make the Heavenly Tribulation turn more chaotic and transform into a storm that destroyed everything.

“Senior Blood King, my lifeblood has already been infused into the Fey Altar. The Heavenly Tribulation that belongs to me has already begun triggering. As long as I experience the tempering of the Heavenly Tribulation, those powers will return to me. If I were to halt midway, I will lose all those powers and my transcending of the tribulations will fail completely…”

Yi Yun remained seated in the middle of the Fey Altar. He looked up into the sky as the cloud loomed maniacally over him. A Ghost beast and a Fey beast had gradually fused as one.

“Ka-cha!”

A bolt of heavenly lightning smote down, but it did not strike Yi Yun and instead hit the void elsewhere. Two wails sounded as blood rain splattered down.

The Fey beasts that were hidden in the sky had consumed their vitality after having their powers raised with complete disregard of the consequences; therefore, they had no means of surviving the Heavenly Tribulation. They were smote to smithereens by the heavenly lightning.

Large amounts of Fey beast blood burned in the sky as their two Fey cores exploded.

Violent energies nourished the heavenly lightning, causing the Lightning Tribulation to turn even more terrifying.

“It’s already a ninth-stage Heavenly Tribulation.”

Everyone held their breaths. The two Fey beasts had nominal strength, but combined together, they triggered a ninth-stage Heavenly Tribulation, and one that was mutated!

Although the typical Heavenly Tribulation was dangerous, most of its energy was used to temper and nourish the flesh.

But such a mutated, violent ninth-stage Heavenly Tribulation contained even purer destructive energies. These energies were not beneficial to the flesh, making it even harder for them to be used to temper the body.

“This Lin Yun will likely perish here today. He kept too high a profile and offended too many people. He deserves it,” a Fey warrior said.

They were in no way worried that the Myriad Form Shura Pills would be lost to the ancient Heaven Fey if Yi Yun perished; instead, they relished his misfortune.

For the past few days, Yi Yun had benefited greatly, making many of them red with envy. They rejoiced now that Yi Yun was in a perilous state.

“Don’t worry, His Majesty will not let Lin Yun die. He will definitely help at the final moment. The ones who want Lin Yun dead should be Jiang Luo and Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor!”

The only people capable of attacking in such a manner at such a grand setting could only be Jiang Luo and Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor. Since it was by their hand, Yi Yun had no right to blame it on the Ruins Emperor. The ancient Heaven Fey did not owe him anything and had no duty to protect him.

The Luo King and Jiang Yuchan watched this scene from afar, and Jiang Yuchan did not hide the mocking smirk he had plastered across his face.

“This lowlife human bastard sure is greedy. He still doesn’t want to stop the tribulation at this point in time. If he were to escape now, he might still be able to live. Of course, we will not let him continue living,” Jiang Yuchan said with clenched teeth.

“Yuchan, you are right. Sometimes, one needs the courage to make sacrifices, but unfortunately, not everyone can be that decisive,” the Luo King said staidly.

No matter how powerful a ninth-stage Heavenly Tribulation was, it was triggered by two powerful Fey beasts. Furthermore, it was not targeted at Yi Yun. He was only within the Heavenly Tribulation’s range and suffered its assaults. Escaping would have been safe for him.

However, Yi Yun did not seem willing to leave.

“Oh? This is…”

As the Luo King said that, he suddenly saw the divine light above the Fey Altar intensify. It was as though a sun had been born out of the land.

The dazzling divine light added radiance and beauty to the ninth-stage Lightning Tribulation in the sky above. It made it look like an apocalyptic scene.

“What? This Lin Yun is still injecting his lifeblood and lifeforce into the Fey Altar?”

Everyone was dumbfounded from shock when they saw what was happening before their eyes.

Was he so eager to die?

The wiser choice was to sever the connection with the Fey Altar and escape as quickly as possible.

Putting that aside, the very least one could do was terminate the eruption of lifeblood powers and make the Heavenly Tribulation weaker if possible.

But now, Yi Yun appeared to wish for the Heavenly Tribulation to become stronger and more perfect. It was madness.

“Whew!”

At that moment, a glaring beam of light shot out from the Fey Altar and pierced through the tribulation cloud and into the sky like a sword of light.

Energy surged as divine light blasted outwards in a blinding dazzle!

Following that, immense suppressive forces surged from every direction. The appearance of the suppression many everyone feel like their hearts had heavy chains attached to them, making it almost impossible for them to keep beating.

The weaker warriors could hardly breathe and even weaker ones felt faint before they collapsed to the ground.

Their backs and the back of their hands were all covered in cold sweat.

Ka Ka Ka!

The sky beneath the tribulation cloud began to warp.

The space kept producing shattering sounds as though it could no longer bear the burden. Massive amounts of spatial fragments rained down as though the sky was collapsing.

“What… What exactly is happening?” someone said with a trembling voice.

The ninth-stage Heavenly Tribulation triggered by the two powerful Fey beasts was already shocking enough.

But now, a power more terrifying than before had appeared, the former paling in comparison.

“This is a Heavenly Tribulation, a real Heavenly Tribulation. Could it be…”

A Fey Thearch widened his eyes as he looked toward the Fey Altar.

This Heavenly Tribulation was triggered by this human youth!?

1667 - : Day of Tribulation Transcendence

CKtalon  CKtalon

A Fey Thearch widened his eyes as he looked toward the Fey Altar.

This Heavenly Tribulation was triggered by this human youth!?

“A Heavenly Tribulation at this level is a… Chaos Heavenly Tribulation!”

At that moment, the numerous Fey Thearchs in Heaven Fey City felt mixed emotions. They walked out of their seclusion chambers and looked in shock at the wanton Chaos energies that surged in the sky.

A fear reared its head from deep in their souls and washed over them. What level did this human junior cultivate to?

This was way too terrifying!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The Chaos tribulation cloud expanded and right beneath it, the grotesque ghost face was enveloped by the Chaos tribulation cloud and slowly devoured.

The ninth-stage Heavenly Tribulation triggered by the combined forces of two powerful Fey beasts merged with the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation bit by bit.

This was like an avalanche that could wipe out thousands of kilometers of farms and kill thousands, but if it swept into the sea, it would only be like a splash in a pond, incapable of changing the sea at all.

At that moment, if the ninth-stage tribulation cloud was an avalanche, then Yi Yun’s Chaos Heavenly Tribulation was the sea!

The scene of the devourment of the ninth-stage tribulation cloud widened everyone’s eyes.

The original idea was that Luo King’s attack was a fundamental solution. Even if it didn’t kill Yi Yun, it could destroy his martial path. But to everyone’s surprise, the Heavenly Tribulation that Luo King triggered at great cost couldn’t unleash its fury before it was devoured by Yi Yun’s Heavenly Tribulation!

Hu! Hu! Hu!

A strong wind howled as millions watched the Heavenly Tribulation. All of them resembled statues, seemingly having forgotten how to speak.

It was unknown who was the first to retreat out of fear. In just moments, millions of warriors had unknowingly distanced themselves from the Fey Altar. They were afraid that the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation’s range would become so huge that it would embroil them as well!

“Whoosh!”

At that moment, a golden beam of light shot out from the Fey Altar. Yi Yun shot into the sky with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron beneath him!

High in the sky, the rain of blood from the two Fey beasts continued burning and splattering down.

Yi Yun breathed in the thick and sticky air that was filled with the smell of blood. He smiled at the distant Luo King. “Luo King, thank you for sacrificing two Fey beasts that can transcend the tribulations for my Heavenly Tribulation. It must have cost you a limb, I suppose? You really shouldn’t have…”

Luo King wore a nasty expression as he said, “You have yet to transcend your Heavenly Tribulation; do you really think it’s so easy to transcend a Chaos Heavenly Tribulation?”

“That’s an unknown, but your grandson might not be able to survive the calamity that’s going to befall him.” As Yi Yun spoke, he suddenly looked at Jiang Yuchan. “You haven’t recovered, so be careful that your injuries don’tget triggered by the Heavenly Tribulation…”

Once Yi Yun said those words, Jiang Yuchan, who was dozens of kilometers away from Yi Yun suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest!

It was an excruciating pain that seemed to tear his very soul apart. The poison of lightning and fire which Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor had used a mystic technique to repress suddenly tore through its shackles and erupted fully.

“Ah!”

Jiang Yuchan let out a tragic scream as a mouthful of blood spewed out from his mouth!

He felt like countless blades were slicing at him, dismembering him from the inside.

Not just that, it felt like venomous worms were burrowing in his flesh after biting through his skin and were squirming through his meridians.

Jiang Yuchan convulsed as he fell to the ground. Blood spewed out from his seven orifices.

“Huh!?”

The Luo King looked at Jiang Yuchan immediately as his face turned as black as the tribulation cloud above.

He naturally did not believe what Yi Yun had said—that the Heavenly Tribulation had triggered Jiang Yuchan’s injuries. It had to be Yi Yun’s doing.

However, Jiang Yuchan had already been poisoned by Yi Yun for quite an extended period of time. Jiang Yuchan had resisted it himself, along with having the Ghost Doctor’s help in removing it. Now that the power of lightning and fire had been restrained, how was it possible that Yi Yun could trigger it again with a mere thought?

“Grandfather, save me…”

Jiang Yuchan’s eyes were filled with indignation. He struggled to extend his hand to grab at the Luo King, but blood kept spewing out of his mouth. There was speckles of black and purple lusters to his blood, manifestations of the poison of the Heretical God Fire and Heretical God Lightning!

Ghost Doctor grabbed Jiang Yuchan’s wrist and, after probing it, his expression changed.

He had no idea what method Yi Yun had used to rejuvenate the poison of lightning and fire remotely with a mere thought. But the forces were violently erupting like an unending stream!

And Jiang Yuchan’s vitality was depleting at a discernible pace.

It was impossible to save him.

Ghost Doctor naturally could not rescue him. He watched helplessly as Jiang Yuchan struggled in pain before dying.

A prince died just like that.

And Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor’s medical and poison skills were completely trounced by Yi Yun!

He looked up and glared at Yi Yun with bloodshot eyes.

Yi Yun chuckled. “What are you looking at me for? I was planning to treat Jiang Yuchan, but to save face, you refused my help. You were bent on hiring some quack, and didn’t care if he couldn’t treat the injuries. If he just stayed at home and rested, he could have lived for two more years. Didn’t I say? Don’t bring a patient to watch a Heavenly Tribulation. Since he was so bent on dying, why blame me?”

Yi Yun’s words were heard by millions of warriors present.

They were dumbfounded by what they heard. Yi Yun was not only taking a strong stance while transcending a Heavenly Tribulation, he was even openly killing Jiang Yuchan!

He thought nothing of enraging the Luo King and also wiping his hands clean of the murder of Jiang Yuchan.

Yi Yun’s words were reasonable. He was truly willing to treat Jiang Yuchan, but the Luo King had rejected his offer. Now that Jiang Yuchan was dead, no one could tell how Yi Yun had delivered the lethal blow.

Could the blame actually be pinned on Yi Yun? If anyone were to be blamed, it was all because of how incompetent Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was. He was completely trounced by Yi Yun in every aspect.

The pangs of fury in Luo King’s heart reached an extremum.

He silently pressed his interspatial ring, making his intentions clear. Yi Yun, who had smacked his face in public, was someone he wanted dead.

But he was hesitant about the consequences if he attacked Yi Yun at the Fey Altar.

And then—

Boom!

Above the heavens, the Chaos Lightning Tribulation finally began!

Terrifying waves like tsunami swept over and radiated for thousands of kilometers. The entirety of Heaven Fey City was blanketed by this mighty suppression!

Yi Yun looked at Luo King and sneered. “If you wish to attack me, give it a try.”

As Yi Yun spoke, the lightning in the sky finally appeared!

Chaos Heavenly Lightning was zapping through the clouds!

The lightning was black, seemingly devoid of light. It devoured everything as though it was not a bolt of lightning, but a deep, bottomless spatial rift! Just seeing the lightning made one feel like their irises were being ripped apart.

“Puah!”

Even from dozens of kilometers away, Fey warriors spewed out blood from their mouths. They had never transcended a Heavenly Tribulation before and their lifeblood had yet to be tempered. The Chaos Heavenly Lightning caused their lifeblood to erupt!

With such terrifying Heavenly Lightning present, would Luo King dare to attack Yi Yun?

Once he entered the Lightning Tribulation’s range, he would also suffer the indiscriminate attacks of the Heavenly Lightning!

Furthermore, Luo King was a Fey Thearch. Once he entered, the interference of his potent powers might result in him suffering the brunt of the attacks!

Luo King’s expression changed rapidly, but ultimately, he chose not to do a thing.

He could choose to attack when Yi Yun was at his weakest after transcending the tribulations.

1668 - : Hard to Escape

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Ghost Doctor, once the Heavenly Tribulation ends, we shall attack together. You hold back the Blood King while I deal with Lin Yun,” the Luo King sent a voice transmission to Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor.

Ghost Doctor wore a look of hesitation. They were near the Fey Altar forbidden zone. As a Ghost, he had to consider the consequences of launching an attack in such a venue.

“Many of the people who came to watch are well acquainted with me. If we can take clear control of the combat situation, they will also help us. There’s no danger of anything going wrong. As for the Ruins Emperor, he will not stop us. All he cares about is the Myriad Form Shura Pills.”

As Luo King spoke, the thunder in the sky had transformed into rolling sound blasts. They spread out like tsunamis and the sound waves could even be seen by the naked eye.

The powerful impact shook the heaven and earth! Many of the Fey beasts lurking within a five hundred kilometer range were stirred by the thunder as they quivered in fear.

“Is a Chaos Lightning Tribulation that terrifying?” People kept retreating as the power of Chaos infused into the Chaos Lightning, making it equal to the Heavenly Dao. They had only seen such a thing written in books, but had never seen it with their own eyes. How was this something flesh and blood could withstand?

At that moment, the lightning in the sky had turned into a sea of lightning. Countless black bolts of lightning pulverized space itself.

Finally, the lightning gathered together and manifested into a singular bolt of lightning that resembled a divine dragon before smiting down!

The boundless sky was split in two by this bolt of lightning!

Its rapturous killing intent made one’s soul shatter from simply taking a glance at it.

And at that moment, a black figure appeared in the sky.

The figure was charging towards the highest heavens, right in the face of the lightning!

“It’s Lin Yun!”

People widened their eyes. Placed against the backdrop of the heavenly lightning, Lin Yun’s figure appeared too small.

His bone age was limited, after all. His cultivation level was only at that of a Divine Lord. To withstand the powers of the Heaven and Earth with such strength was a futile attempt.

“Perhaps he will be disintegrated by the Chaos Lightning Tribulation, then there’s no need for me to take action.”

Luo King looked at Yi Yun’s figure with killing intent.

There was the grudge of his grandson’s death, an act committed right in front of him, right under the eyes of so many that it was blatantly showing him utter disrespect and contempt.

How could he keep his foothold in the Heaven Fey City if he did not exact vengeance? It was likely he would become the laughing stock of the ancient Heaven Fey.

“Boom!”

Yi Yun charged into the Chaos heavenly lightning!

The lightning cleansed his body!

Instantly, Yi Yun felt the destructive powers bear down on him. His body nearly exploded from their might.

“I’ve refined the Heretical God Lightning and wield the power of Destruction, no matter how powerful the Chaos Heretical God Force is, they stem from the same source as me!”

Yi Yun roared inwardly as his clothes blasted apart. His bloodline erupted as it withstood the catharsis of the Chaos heavenly lightning!

In an instant, he was covered in blood.

Every inch of his lifeblood, meridians, bones, and vessels were being tempered and burned by the lightning.

The potent powers seemed bent on destroying him down to his very core!

Yi Yun felt shaken.

The Chaos Heavenly Tribulation’s lightning even exceeded the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s Heretical God Lightning!

It was the highest level of lightning laws he had ever seen.

Yi Yun clenched his teeth tightly as he sent his thoughts into the Purple Crystal Origins and used it to cleanse the rampant energies that were constantly damaging his body.

Simultaneously, he conjured the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, which was also the Shura Heavenly Dao that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch cultivated.

At that instant, a gigantic black wheel appeared behind Yi Yun. Shadows appeared on the wheel—countless Demon Gods!

“I have already cultivated in the Shura Heavenly Dao and have grasped a Primordial Destruction domain. From that moment forth, I became both Chaos and Destruction! I have already refined the Heavenly Dao fragment for myself and am an equal to the heavens. I refuse to believe I can’t transcend this Chaos tribulation!”

Yi Yun roared as the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence behind him produced illusory figures of the Dragon Emperor, Azure Wood Divine Tree, and the ancient Ancestor God. These illusory figures were cast onto the black wheel!

Following that, countless bolts of black lightning engorged it, filling every pattern of the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence. He had already threw himself right into the Chaos tribulation cloud!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The black lightning within the tribulation cloud gathered toward Yi Yun!

Yi Yun’s flesh began disintegrating bit by bit, turning into pure energy as each speck fused into the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Following that, a huge vortex appeared in the tribulation cloud. It ground the space open, like a massive spatial passageway that led to an unknown universe…

This Heavenly Tribulation had even cracked open the Chaos Heavens’ boundaries!

All the Fey warriors looked up. The sky had already torn apart completely. Boundless Chaos heavenly lightning continued surging to the core. It was already unimaginable what situation the core was undergoing.

“Yun-er…”

Beside the Blood King, Jiang Xiaorou held her breath. Even though she believed that Yi Yun could create miracles every time, she was still extremely worried at that moment.

The Chaos Heavenly Tribulation simply looked too terrifying. She was unsure if Yi Yun could withstand it.

The Chaos Lightning Tribulation blocked everyone’s perception. Even Fey Thearchs were unable to probe inside to gauge Yi Yun’s situation.

Time passed as the lightning remained like a massive sea.

Two hours, four hours…

The Chaos Lightning Tribulation lasted very long, weakening slowly after six hours.

At that moment, it was already evening. However, the Lightning Tribulation seemingly overturned the concept of day and night.

All people could see was that the sky above Heaven Fey City had vanished. It was replaced by a gigantic black hole. Through it was the infinite cosmos, with the massive galaxy as a backdrop…

Moments later, the tribulation clouds dispersed as the ravaging Heaven Earth Yuan Qi gradually calmed down.

The suppression that blanketed the area vanished as well.

Many Fey warriors could not bear the suppressive force before, but none of them wanted to cower in fear. After holding out for hours, their faces were pale and they were completely exhausted.

Despite seeing everything calm down, they had no means to determine what had happened.

“Where’s Lin Yun? Has he been pulverized? Or did he get swept into an alternate dimension?”

People were reeling in bewilderment. They originally believed they would see the scene of Yi Yun being repeatedly devastated by the Lightning Tribulation and watch as his body disintegrated and blood scattered across the sky.

They even believed they would see his dantian shatter as the source of his vitality collapsed.

If that happened, it would be a delightful sight. If blame needed to be pinned, it was because a human warrior had triggered a Chaos Heavenly Tribulation, figuratively slapping all the Fey warriors in the face.

Due to their envy, none of them wished Yi Yun well.

Unfortunately, they did not see a thing. Apart from seeing Yi Yun covered in blood at the very beginning, they did not see any of the tragic states they imagined after he was devoured by the infinite Chaos Lightning Tribulation that shielded him from their perception.

This made many disappointed.

“It’s impossible that Lin Yun could have escaped such a Lightning Tribulation unscathed. Perhaps he’s still alive, but has been sucked into the multiverse. If that’s the case, it’s unlikely he can live.”

The space between the multiverse was an absolute land of quiescence. There was no Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, only endless dangers.

Previously, despite making sufficient preparations, Yi Yun nearly perished while traversing the multiverse. In the end, he only survived thanks to the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm’s blood essence and the Taixia Ancient Mining’s rescue midway.

If he was heavily injured and found himself lost in the borders of the multiverse, he was basically doomed.

The Luo King ignored everyone’s discussion.

All he did was stare at the massive spatial crack in the sky.

He refused to believe that Yi Yun would die that easily. The human punk had many means at his disposal.

Even if he were heavily injured and found himself lost in the multiverse’s borders, Luo King believed that it was still possible for Yi Yun to return.

And at that moment, as long as Yi Yun lay dormant and cultivated for a few centuries, his strength would reach a terrifying state which would make him harder to deal with.

The Luo King had already decided that if Yi Yun did not appear any time soon, he would fly into the multiverse rift with Ghost Hands!

Even if he had to take unknown risks, he was bent on hunting Yi Yun down.

Nearly an hour passed as the multiverse rift in the sky gradually mended itself with spatial forces.

For a stable universe like the Chaos Heavens, the appearance of a spatial rift would result in automatic mending. It was a law of the universe.

The Luo King could no longer hold back as he began his plans to search for Yi Yun. Of course, if he delayed any further, the multiverse rift would close and he would have to find his way back to the Chaos Heavens. That would be risky.

Blood King looked at the Luo King as his eyes flashed with fighting spirit. Without a doubt, the Blood King would take action the moment the Luo King moved.

Once they entered the multiverse borders, the Ruins Emperor would ignore their battles.

It was very possible that both Fey Thearchs would engage in an intense battle in the multiverse borders, but without Yuan Qi to replenish them and the possibility of getting lost, the risk was immense.

“Blood King, are you really planning on joining me? I have Ghost Doctor with me. Do you plan on fighting the two of us alone? You really aren’t afraid of death.”

“You can give it a try. Perhaps I might not survive, but if I’m at the end of my rope, I’ll still be able to drag you down with me. Do you really think that an old heretic like Ghost Doctor will risk his life for you?”

Blood King’s voice was ice-cold, but at that moment, he suddenly looked up.

He saw a raven-black flash that tore over from the deepest depths of the multiverse rift.

“Huh!?”

Luo King widened his eyes as well as he stared intently at the raven-black light.

The blob of light was fast, and soon it tore through the surface of the spatial rift and entered the universe where the Chaos Heavens was.

Only then did everyone discern it.

It was a huge cauldron!

The cauldron had black dragon patterns on it and gathered within them were raging lifeblood powers. They did not appear like carvings, but more like a living thing.

This cauldron…

Luo King’s heart skipped a beat. He naturally recognized it as Yi Yun’s cauldron!

“Boom!”

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron crashed heavily into the ground, leveling a mountain. Countless pieces of rubble collapsed as the ground quaked!

However, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was surging with lifeblood, preventing the collapsing boulders from burying it. People clearly saw that the cauldron rested on the peak of the collapsed mountain.

Yet, Yi Yun did not appear with the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

“Could that punk be inside the cauldron?”

This thought flashed through Luo King’s mind.

At that moment, the spatial rift in the sky was closing. If Yi Yun was heavily injured, he would not dare to continue hiding in the multiverse borders. Chances of his successful return would be slim.

All he could do was hide his heavily injured body inside the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and take the risk to return!

1669 - : Tearing Open the Multiverse

CKtalon  CKtalon

If Yi Yun was recuperating in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, it was naturally the best opportunity to rid of him!

With this in mind, the Luo King attacked, disregarding any possible repercussions!

He took a sudden step forward while behind him, a Heaven Fey totem appeared.

It had six corners, four of which had been lit. They were none other than the four divine beasts—the azure dragon, vermilion bird, white tiger, and black turtle.

Every Heaven Fey’s Heaven Fey totem was different. The Luo King’s Heaven Fey totem was like a completely different world with its four completed corners.

This Heaven Fey totem bore down on Yi Yun’s Ascending Dragon Cauldron in a bid to crush him alive!

Blood King took action at the same moment the Luo King did.

The aura in the world changed the moment the Blood King moved. People felt as though they were thrown into Shura hell as a boundless sea of blood surrounded them. The sticky red air around them stifled them.

And Blood King appeared like Death walking out of hell. Just one look at him made others feel like they were losing their minds.

This was the Indestructible Killing Dao that he was known for!

At that instant, all of the Blood King’s lifeblood powers spewed out. They condensed into a massive red phantom behind him.

The phantom was massive and had long limbs. It held a gigantic red sickle which he cleaved down at the Luo King!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The world trembled, almost collapsing under the might of the two Fey experts. Massive energies swept the area as the Luo King’s body quaked before he flew out in retreat.

However, the Blood King did not have it better. The Death’s sickle he condensed shattered from that one strike.

Although he recondensed it again, its color was paler. The suppressive force it emitted was not as intense.

The Luo King’s and Blood King’s strikes were dealt with full force. In a combat between two Fey Thearchs, both had equal strength they threw against each other, resulting in injuries to both!

The outcome of this bout sent reverberations through the hearts of everyone.

After all, the Luo King had been a Fey Thearch for a very long time. He was nearly of the same generation as the reigning Ruins Emperor.

As for the Blood King, he was a new Fey Thearch. Yet despite the relatively short time since his breakthrough, he could already match the Luo King.

How could they not be shocked?

As for the Fey Thearchs present, what they saw went deeper. At the instant the Blood King attacked, they had observed the Heaven Fey totem behind him.

The cultivation technique which Blood King cultivated in was unique. He directly infused the Heaven Fey totem into the Death’s sickle and utilized the Heaven Fey totem through the Indestructible Killing Dao.

The Fey Thearchs could tell that after the Blood King consumed the Myriad Form Shura Pills, his Heaven Fey totem had indeed strengthened!

The strengthening effects weren’t obvious, but at the level of a Fey Thearch, any quick growth was already extremely astonishing.

The Myriad Form Shura Pills were something the ancient Heaven Fey were bent on obtaining!

How could knowledge of the creation of such important pills be in the possession of a human junior?

The Ruins Emperor was definitely watching this battle from the sidelines. He would ensure that Yi Yun did not die, but he would also subdue him completely. Or perhaps, he would obtain the secrets to how Yi Yun refined the Myriad Form Shura Pills.

“This Lin Yun is dangerous. Perhaps His Majesty will intervene at the critical moment!”

People discussed in private. They could even sense the oddity of the prevailing mood. Many eyes in Heaven Fey City were watching this battle!

“The Blood King has likely infuriated the Ruins Emperor, as well as the Patriarchs.”

A Fey Thearch spoke. Looming behind the Ruins Emperor were the ancient Heaven Fey’s Patriarchs. The matter regarding the Myriad Form Shura Pills barely earned some importance in these Patriarchs’ hearts. They must have acquiesced to the Ruins Emperor’s decisions.

The Blood King was naturally foolish to stand up for a human and put himself at odds with the Ruins Emperor at such a moment.

This was practically making enemies out of all the ancient Heaven Fey!

After this battle, the Blood King might be estranged from the Heaven Fey. As for Jiang Xiaorou’s claim to the throne, it was already a distant dream.

As people watched the commotion—

“Wu Wu Wu Wu!”

A cold wind raged as the black clouds that had already dispersed amalgamated once again. A huge ghost face appeared in the black cloud!

People looked up and saw that the ghost face was formed from countless wraiths.

Without a doubt, this was a move from a Ghost race expert. Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor had taken action!

Blood King and Luo King had just clashed. Having not recovered from their clash, Blood King had no means to stop Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor’s attack.

Roar!

The gigantic ghost head bore down and soon, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was in its mouth!

Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor glided through the void as he grabbed the Ascending Dragon Cauldron with one hand and lifted it up!

He had Yi Yun in his grasp!

If it was the Luo King, he would not care about killing Yi Yun right away. However, Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was different. He wanted to know Yi Yun’s secret.

Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor’s heart stirred as his body turned into an incorporeal smoke. He wished to grab Yi Yun and escape with him using a Ghost mystic technique.

But at that moment, a terrifying lifeblood forced surged into the sky from the Ruins Emperor Palace.

This lifeblood force held Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor in place.

Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor frowned. The lifeblood force was indeed potent. The owner of this force had strength above the Luo King and Blood King, and obviously himself as well.

The person was naturally… Ruins Emperor!

This old bastard had been watching by the sidelines, but once Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor attacked in a bid to devour Yi Yun’s secret, the Ruins Emperor finally took action!

Under such circumstances, Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor knew that it was impossible for him to take Yi Yun’s secret for his own.

He was in Heaven Fey City after all. He had no means to resist the ancient Heaven Fey.

However, Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was not a trivial figure. He had long made plans.

He wanted to take a bite of the pie at this event, a huge bite.

By capturing Yi Yun, he had the initiative and advantage.

“All of you might be using me as a vanguard, but this vanguard is poisoned.”

Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor let out a sinister smile as a green beam flashed from his palm. It looked inconspicuous, but it emitted a heart-chilling aura.

“Whoosh!”

The green beam launched for the Ascending Dragon Cauldron like a spirit snake!

And at that moment, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron was still in the jaws of the gigantic ghost head. The green beam of light flew straight into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron!

No one knew what that green beam of light was.

People immediately understood that Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor was trying to get the initial advantage by taking first grasp of Yi Yun.

He had unfathomable means. Ignoring the fact that the green beam could decide Yi Yun’s fate, people would not be surprised if it could also control one’s thoughts.

However, an azure radiance instantly bloomed from the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and shot at the ghost head’s mouth.

A towering divine tree surged out of the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. Its countless vines were like countless azure dragons that bore through the ghost head!

The ghost head let out wails as large numbers of wraiths were decimated by the divine tree!

What!?

Everyone was alarmed. What was this divine tree that suddenly appeared?

Could it be related to Yi Yun?

Yi Yun had just transcended a Chaos Heavenly Tribulation, a tribulation that was like the apocalypse.

No matter how much a genius Yi Yun was, it would be impressive if he was only severely injured after surviving the Chaos tribulation.

How could he still have any combat strength left to fend off a Ghost Thearch’s attack?

1670 - : Surrounded by Wolves

CKtalon  CKtalon

The difference between a Ghost Thearch and a Divine Lord was like an unbridgeable chasm.

Yi Yun was at the Divine Lord cultivation level, so regardless if he transcended the Heavenly Tribulation, he was still a Divine Lord. The gathered warriors could only guess that the sudden appearance of the divine tree was perhaps an independent Fey plant?

Powerful Fey plants were far fewer than Fey beasts. There were even fewer of them that reached the Fey Thearch or Godly Monarch realm.

Where did Yi Yun acquaint himself with such a powerful Fey plant? It actually hid inside his cauldron and at a critical moment, fending off Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor.

In that case, even if Ghost Doctor and Luo King joined forces, they might not necessarily be Yi Yun’s match.

Suddenly, the situation turned intricate.

Everyone kicks a man who is down. If Yi Yun had suffered complete defeat in front of the Luo King, the Ruins Emperor would naturally appear. Yi Yun would then completely come under the control of the ancient Heaven Fey.

But now, the situation was a little sticky.

The Luo King and Blood King matched each other, and Ghost Doctor’s independent attack on Yi Yun had failed to be fruitful.

Yi Yun had too many trump cards. No one expected him to withstand a Ghost Thearch.

At that moment, Ghost Doctor wore an extremely nasty expression. He had attacked Yi Yun, but failed. He was irrevocably committed to a lost cause.

“This Fey plant…”

Ghost Doctor narrowed his eyes at the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

Deep in his heart was anger and greed.

Why was Yi Yun’s luck so good? Yi Yun had a secret he had yet discovered; and now, there was the addition of this Fey plant.

Such a Fey plant was a lot more precious than any Fey beast. With such a Fey plant nurtured, he could constantly extract its leaves, fruits, and all sorts of essences. To an alchemist, it was of immense allure.

He was eager to kill Yi Yun and take all the benefits Yi Yun had.

Of course, he knew it was impossible.

He had determined that he could do nothing to the Fey plant in a short period of time. Even if he were to win, he would have to pay a certain price.

As such, Ghost Doctor even had the thought of retreating. Since he could not foresee any benefits, he had no intention to serve as the vanguard of others.

But at that moment, the Ascending Dragon Cauldron his claw held suddenly spewed out potent lifeblood powers. Like a raging inferno, it swept through the world.

“Chi! Chi! Chi!”

The gigantic ghost head that had yet to die despite being bored through by the Azure Wood Divine Tree was immediately consumed by flames. Countless wraiths wailed as they dissipated!

Hum! Hum! Hum!

The cosmos quaked! High in the sky, the multiverse rift which had yet to completely close up was triggered by this terrifying power. It began resonating with it and the closing stopped.

With winds and lightning that grew to a crescendo, they reached through the entire Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins. Even the factions that were on good terms with the ancient Heaven Fey sensed this terrifying power and the suppressive might that wantonly extended.

“What… is going on!?”

Everyone felt alarmed. The suppressive might of the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation was already nearly intolerable. They had suffered for hours, and now, a suppressive might appeared once again, one that was not much weaker than the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation’s.

People sensed a terrifying power brewing within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, one that was about to spew out!

The cauldron’s lid had already been opened and the lifeblood powers were turning richer. Endless Heaven and Earth laws gathered over as sparkling specks of Dao patterns formed everywhere in the sky. They swarmed towards the Ascending Dragon Cauldron like birds paying homage to the phoenix.

This feeling was just too terrifying. It felt like the entire world was about to be devoured.

“Whoosh!”

At that moment in Heaven Fey City, a thick column of light surged into the sky, right into the firmaments.

People looked in astonishment at the columnar light’s direction and surprisingly, it went… in the direction of one of the nine array cores in Heaven Fey City.

The Heaven Fey City’s array core… had been triggered?

After the first array core was triggered, a second one followed right on the heels of the first! And a third!

Like a chain reaction, beam after beam of light charged through the clouds. Soon, all nine array cores in the Heaven Fey City were triggered!

All the power within the nine array cores drew towards the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

Everyone’s expression changed. Ruins Emperor could no longer sit still as he flew out of Ruins Emperor Palace.

He looked at the floating Ascending Dragon Cauldron with an astounded look.

How could the Heaven Fey City’s array formation be triggered? Could it be that the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation had destroyed this universe’s laws?

This affected even the ancient arrays of the Heaven Fey City?

He clearly sensed that the nine veins buried under Heaven Fey City were being triggered.

The brewing power within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron had likely drained most of its previous accumulations after undergoing the catharsis of the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation.

It was too hungry, so it began to gather the energy within the nine spirit veins of Heaven Fey City to replenish itself!

What is this…

Could it be… Lin Yun!?

An inexplicable thought flashed through the Ruins Emperor’s mind.

What cultivation level did Yi Yun have? Even if he survived the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation, it should have been impossible for him to possess such immense power.

As the Ruins Emperor’s expression changed, two ancient and mighty powers rose up from behind him, deep within Ruins Emperor Palace.

Heaven Fey Patriarchs!

The two Fey Patriarchs who presided over the Ruins Emperor Palace had not meddled in worldly affairs for many years. All they did was cultivate in seclusion. If it had nothing to do with the coronation of a new emperor for the ancient Heaven Fey or any major cataclysm that endangered the ancient Heaven Fey, they typically never appeared.

However, this power had shocked them into action!

All the ancient Heaven Fey warriors sensed the suppressive might emitted by the Fey Patriarchs’ lifeblood. Compounded with the power emitted by the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, they could not longer stand firm. Some even slumped straight to the ground.

Fey Thearchs flew out of Heaven Fey City one after another. Regardless if they were in seclusion or refining artifacts, all of them flew into the sky to watch this strange phenomenon from afar.

At that moment, Ghost Doctor and Luo King were already wearing livid expressions. They already sensed a familiar aura within the energy storm that embroiled the entire land.

This aura originated from… Yi Yun!

Boom!

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron revealed the power that lurked within. A dragon’s roar reached straight into the skies and even surged into the multiverse rift. Even without any Yuan Qi medium there, the void still resonated endlessly.

Following that, a human figure cloaked in light and tens of thousands of feet tall appeared!

The figure seemed made of light, was covered in flames and lightning, with dazzling sanguine and golden light.

His body was stalwart, but as his body was condensed of infinite laws, no one could discern his looks.

The giant emitted an extremely suppressive might that exceeded all the Fey Thearchs present.

The giant’s gaze swept indifferently, sending anyone whose eyes met his gaze feel their hearts and souls quake. Their heartbeats even stopped as a result.

Those beneath the Fey Lord realm had long collapsed to the ground. Even the Fey Lords found it difficult to resist the suppressive might. They were circulating all their powers to barely stand.

“Hahahaha!”

The giant raised his head and laughed suddenly. The sky and land began trembling, resonating along with Heaven Fey City.

The feeling of having power and the control of the world was just too brilliant.

When manifested as a giant, he was like the heaven and earth itself. With just a mere thought, he could make mountains crumble and bring the sky down.

After a long laugh, the figure suddenly transformed into a rain of light which entered the Ascending Dragon Cauldron once again.

Everyone felt their bodies lighten. The suppression from before had vanished. Even the rumblings of the multiverse rift had stopped.

Many people were unaccustomed to the sudden disappearance of the suppression. They felt their chests turn heavy as their lifeblood churned.

When they looked at the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, they were alarmed.

All they saw was a black-robed youth above the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. They had no idea when he appeared.

His feet were on the divine cauldron as countless Azure Wood Divine Tree vines were flailing around him. As if they were his subjects, they gathered beneath his feet and seemed to be paying homage to him.

Upon seeing the youth, everyone felt that they had lost their souls.

The youth was none other than Yi Yun!

He seemed to be a little taller than before he transcended the tribulation. His looks had changed a little, making him look sharper.

However, people could still recognize him at a glance—he was Yi Yun!

The Chaos Heavenly Tribulation was a complete rebirth for Yi Yun!

He had consumed the Myriad Form Shura Pills previously, fusing the three lifebloods of human, Fey, Celestial together. They condensed into a Lifeblood Royal Seal, allowing him to take a huge step in his martial path.

But just this step was not as comprehensive as the step he took after experiencing the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation!

The Chaos Heavenly Tribulation had completely rejuvenated Yi Yun. Not only did his human, Fey, and Celestial lifeblood fuse together. Even the Heavenly Dao laws he cultivated in were completely infused into every inch of his flesh and blood. It could be said to be a fusion of body, essence, and soul.

And Yi Yun’s cultivation had increased by leaps and bounds. After his wanton absorption of the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the nine spirit veins, the amount of energy was sufficient for an ordinary Fey Lord to attempt to break through to a Fey Thearch.

However, Yi Yun’s foundation was too robust. The energy he needed for a Godly Monarch breakthrough far exceeded that of the ordinary Divine Lord. His cultivation level had reached the peak of the Divine Lord realm. He was nearly one step into the Godly Monarch realm.

It wasn’t wrong to describe Yi Yun has being a half-step Godly Monarch.

Not only so, due to his physical metamorphosis, the present Yi Yun probably did not need to move to have the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi pass through his pores and infuse his body, nourishing his lifeblood and meridians. He had a perfect Seamless Body.

“You… You…”

Ghost Doctor was most sensitive to a human’s body. The other Fey Thearchs might not be able to understand the physical metamorphosis Yi Yun had undergone, but he knew most clearly.

Just every breath Yi Yun took would strengthen him. Such a body invited so much envy that it could make one vomit blood.

After he transcended the Ghost tribulation, Ghost Doctor had transformed from a soul body to an imperfect body. To put it bluntly, it was a body akin to a zombie’s.

Compared to Yi Yun, the difference was like night and day.

And with Yi Yun’s potential and the secrets he held, Yi Yun had left him in the dust.

As for strength, just the suppressive might that Yi Yun produced was enough to stun everyone. How could such a suppressive might be a mere show?

Could it be that Yi Yun already had a strength far greater than a Fey Thearch?

Was it possible for a peak Divine Lord to defeat a Fey Thearch?

Just as Ghost Doctor had this thought flash in his mind, he suddenly felt a killing intent lock onto him.

Yi Yun was looking coldly at him.

From the moment Ghost Doctor poisoned the items, Yi Yun was already bent on killing him.

Not just defeating him, but killing!

He was to kill a Ghost Thearch with a half-step Godly Monarch cultivation level!

1671 - : Lifeblood As One, Complete Mastery

CKtalon  CKtalon

Upon sensing Yi Yun’s killing intent, Ghost Doctor wore a hideous expression. He was unlike the other Fey Thearchs. As a Ghost, he stood alone without ally in Heaven Fey City.

However, Ghost Doctor thought nothing of it. Having been a Ghost Thearch for so many years, he had numerous means—all sorts of unfathomable Ghost mystic techniques—under his disposal.

Even a Fey Thearch at the level of the Luo King would not be able to defeat Ghost Doctor easily.

And to kill Ghost Doctor, it needed the joint forces of at least three Fey Thearchs.

Defeating and killing were two completely different concepts.

Even if Yi Yun was a freak of nature, giving him strength that matched a Fey Thearch after his transcending of the Chaos tribulation, that was nothing.

Ghost Doctor felt that he was far from adequate dealing with Yi Yun.

“Lin Yun, do you think you are invincible after transcending the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation?”

As Ghost Doctor spoke, his aura suddenly changed while his corpse-like body began to swell.

After Ghosts became Fey Thearchs, they gained a body of flesh after transcending the Ghost tribulation. This body possessed potent combat strength.

The Ghosts also knew how to transform, but it was completely different from the Fey.

The transformations of the Fey were typically accompanied by bulging muscles, sharp teeth and bone spikes, and exaggerated wings.

Although ferocious, their transformations fully exuded the beauty of strength.

However, Ghost Doctor’s transformation left one’s scalp tingle.

His body swelled, but it was not a bulging of muscles. Instead, it was like a bloating corpse that swelled and turned waxy white.

He had little hair to begin with, but with his transformation, what little hair he had turned wet thanks to a sticky liquid that seemed to cover his head.

His eyes were recessed deep, his eyeballs vanishing. In its place were too balls of fire that burned with an eerie green glow.

His nose had rotten away, leaving behind two empty nostrils. Beneath his “nose” was a mouth filled with two rows of sharp teeth. They were a glittering green, obvious that they contained terrifying corpse venom.

In a few seconds, Ghost Doctor had unfettered his body. He grew to five meters tall and his body was swollen. His head was nearly a skull, one that looked utterly sinister. It was repulsive.

“So that’s what you look like.” Yi Yun shook his head. Other than the freaks of nature that appeared in the Ghost race every billion years or more, coagulating a perfect body was easier said than done.

As for Ghost Doctor, he had cultivated in various poison arts and sinister Gu before he became a Ghost Thearch. He immersed his soul in poison and even though he could resist the poisonous elements, the corrosive effects they had on his body and soul could not be stopped. It resulted in his terrifying appearance.

His former appearance was just a disguise using a mystic art.

Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor cackled sinisterly. “Eating your perfect body will replenish my lifeblood. When the time comes, my body will be like a Ghost Patriarch’s, a perfect zombie body.”

As Ghost Doctor spoke, he extended his long tongue which was covered in green cadaveric liquid. It reached straight to his chest.

“Roar!”

Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor let out a roar as the surrounding space suddenly turned into one of austere gloominess.

Countless wraiths and demons flew out of nowhere, letting out their hysterical wails.

“Netherworld River Domain!”

All the powerful Fey present understood everything that was happening clearly. This was one of the most supreme techniques of the Ghost race. It was also a secret technique that belonged to Sunset Netherworld River, the faction behind Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor!

Ten thousand years ago, the Netherworld River Lord of the Sunset Netherworld River battled a mighty Soul expert and had cast the Netherworld River Domain.

At the final moment of the battle, the Netherworld River Domain unleashed its powers, inundating the world with its cadaveric aura, causing all life in a million kilometers to be reduced to bone!

That battle was fought on an independent world.

After the battle, the world turned into a land of death. Due to the presence of the countless ghouls, the world turned into a forbidden area to this very day.

In years to come, the forbidden ground would produce natural treasures. Warriors below the Divine Lord realm would risk their lives, heading there to seek out opportunities.

The Netherworld River Lord had basically used a single move, the Netherworld River Domain, to create a forbidden zone!

Such a move was the acme of perfection!

Of course, using the Netherworld River Domain delivered an immense burden on one’s soul. Even a Ghost Thearch wouldn’t use it without good reason.

Ghost Doctor had actually put in his all when fighting Yi Yun!

Even though he knew Yi Yun was a Divine Lord, he did not belittle him. It was incredulous that a Ghost Thearch would employ a move that harmed his own soul while battling a half-step Godly Monarch.

“All of you are to be prepared. Stop the Netherworld River Domain from spreading its cadaveric aura.”

Ruins Emperor sent a voice transmission to all the Fey Thearchs present.

This was Heaven Fey City, the most prosperous land of the Fey. It mattered little if all life on a mid-level world was annihilated, but to permit a slaughter of Heaven Fey City was absolutely unacceptable to the Fey.

Now, with so many Fey Thearchs present, as well as the Ruins Emperor and the Fey Patriarchs, there was little to worry.

Furthermore, with Ghost Doctor’s strength, as long as he did not lose control of the situation in battle, he likely had the ability to flood Yi Yun with all the cadaveric aura, letting him bear the brunt of it all.

“Punk, this is the Netherworld River Domain. You have to be careful!”

At the moment the Netherworld River Domain appeared, Blood King had already informed Yi Yun of all he knew with a Yuan Qi voice transmission.

“A move that can wipe out all life of an independent world. What a sinister move.”

The corners of Yi Yun’s mouth produced a sinister smile. He was no goody two-shoes, but to view countless lives as nothing but dust disgusted him.

He silently extended his right hand where specks of stellar light appeared, circling an invisible center.

This scene appeared insignificant in the energy storms that raged in a region thousands of kilometers across, but the numerous Fey Thearchs present felt an indescribable aura from the stellar light in Yi Yun’s palm. It felt like the aura of the Heavenly Dao, as though he held the Heavenly Dao in his hand.

What move was this?

Just as people held this thought in their minds, Yi Yun moved. He charged straight into the Netherworld River Domain.

He made the first move while fighting a Ghost Thearch!

Everyone held their breaths, afraid that they would miss any scene from this cataclysmic battle.

At that moment, no one thought little of Yi Yun. However, it was still a battle between a Divine Lord and a Ghost Thearch. There was a massive ravine that separated the two realms.

Yi Yun slowly clenched his fist and, at that moment, the sky vanished.

The dark clouds and the storms vanished. When people looked up, all they saw was the cosmos.

Galaxies interspersed one another as endless starlight scattered.

The scattering starlight landed on Yi Yun and at that moment, it appeared as though he was a god of the universe who held control over everything!

Ever since he refined the Heavenly Dao fragment, everything he did and said was as natural as the law. Yet, he was only a single-sealed Divine Lord at that time.

Now, Yi Yun had already condensed his second Divine Lord Royal Seal and his cultivation level was closing in on the Godly Monarch realm. Having fused with the Heavenly Dao, his body, essence, and soul was one. It wasn’t an exaggeration to describe him as a god!

“You will be the first Thearch-level expert that dies at my hand. I shall offer your blood for my supreme Great Dao!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he struck down with his palm!

This strike was like the falling of the skies!

“Ka Ka Ka!”

With a series of cracking sounds, Ghost Doctor’s Netherworld River Domain was shattered!

Ghost Doctor’s expression changed drastically. He had guessed that Yi Yun was possibly strong, but he never imagined that Yi Yun’s strength would reach such a level. A simple pressing down of his palm made him feel as though he was facing an entire universe.

“Roar!”

Ghost Doctor let out a roar as he opened his mouth and spat out a glistening green sphere.

Upon seeing the sphere, everyone felt their hearts and minds reverberate.

A Ghost pearl!

This was the Ghost Doctor’s Ghost pearl, similar to a Fey core. They were the condensation of all the Ghost warrior’s cultivation. Once damaged, the consequences were unimaginable.

It was simply because Yi Yun’s strike was too terrifying. Ghost Doctor, who was pushed into a corner, had no choice but to summon his Ghost pearl and risk it all!

The Ghost pearl could even self-destruct; its self-destruction potency at the Ghost Thearch level was unimaginable. Even a Fey Thearch level Fey beast with the strongest body would be blasted to smithereens if they experienced the self-destruction of such a Ghost pearl.

The Ghost pearl shot straight at Yi Yun!

In a blink of an eye, Yi Yun’s fist that controlled the Heavenly Dao released. He extended his fingers and grabbed the Ghost pearl!

All the Fey Thearchs had the color in their faces drain when they saw Yi Yun grab the terrifying Ghost pearl in hand. If any one of them were in his shoes, they would not have the guts to do so.

Upon seeing this scene, Ghost Doctor was enraged. Yi Yun was completely disparaging him!

He did not dare initiate the self-destruction of the Ghost pearl, but he could release all the Ghost aura he had accumulated in it for hundreds of thousands of years. He wanted to rob Yi Yun’s life at the cost of damaging his cultivation level.

But when Ghost Doctor willed it to happen, his expression changed drastically!

He was appalled to discover that his connection with the Ghost pearl had been severed!

The profound Heavenly Dao laws had formed a Heavenly Dao wall that insulated the pearl from Ghost Doctor’s perception.

All Ghost Doctor felt was a quaking heart and mind. The Ghost pearl was a product of his cultivation, and logically speaking, it was impossible for Yi Yun to sever his connection to it.

But…

Yi Yun had really done it.

Ghost Doctor felt that his Ghost pearl had been thrown into a different timeline and obstructed by time itself. Today was just the continuation of yesterday, making their connection intrinsically tied together. However, regardless what one did today, it did nothing to influence yesterday.

His connection with the Ghost pearl was identical to such a situation.

Yi Yun’s Heavenly Dao had severed all his karmic connections with the Ghost pearl.

“This is yours.”

Yi Yun threw out Ghost Doctor’s Ghost pearl as a green shadow appeared out of thin air. It widened its gaping mouth and devoured the Ghost pearl!

The green shadow was none other than Poison Demon!

Yi Yun had thrown Ghost Doctor’s Ghost pearl to Poison Demon!

Poison Demon was ecstatic for he sensed the terrifying powers contained within the Ghost pearl. As long as it devoured the pearl, its strength would rise exponentially!

“I said that your blood will be sacrificed to my Dao!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he struck down with his fist!

Having already condensed the ultimate Heavenly Dao laws which gathered from every corner of the world, they began condensing on Ghost Doctor’s body.

A terrifying power erupted as the world raptured into a complete destruction!

“Ah, ah, ah!”

Ghost Doctor let out a crazy scream, but at that moment, his connection to the Ghost pearl had been nomologically severed by Yi Yun. He had weakened drastically and as things developed, the gap between his strength and Yi Yun’s just widened!

1672 - : Netherworld River Domain

CKtalon  CKtalon

When Yi Yun only had a single Divine Lord Royal Seal, he was able to defeat Ghost Ming who was also a Ghost Thearch.

And now that Yi Yun’s cultivation level was that of a half-step Godly Monarch, he was completely different from the past!

In fact, after Yi Yun refined the Myriad Form Shura Pills, he already had the means to defeat the Luo King and Ghost Doctor. However, he was in Heaven Fey City after all. There was Ruins Emperor and the two Fey Patriarchs to consider.

The shock and awe rendered by the two Fey Patriarchs made Yi Yun hold back.

By appearing weaker than he was, he could deal a fatal blow at the critical moment.

Previously, apart from Lin Xintong and Shan Ling, no one, even Blood King and Jiang Xiaorou, knew of Yi Yun’s true strength.

This also caused Ruins Emperor to make a horrendous judgment error. He thought he could use the hand of the Luo King to maim Yi Yun during his weakness from transcending the Heavenly Tribulation.

Unbeknown to him, Yi Yun was already unafraid of the threat of the Luo King and Ghost Doctor when he transcended the tribulations.

Now that he had transcended the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation, Yi Yun was absolutely fearless!

“Peng!”

Under the terrifying nomological blow, Ghost Doctor’s body began rapturing.

His flesh, blood and bones fragmented and scattered!

Even Ghost Doctor’s head was cleaved off. Two soul fires flickered as his long tongue hung out. He was in deep pain.

“Die!”

With a tap, Yi Yun directly reached Ghost Doctor’s glabella.

This strike contained the Dao of Destruction that directly anihilated Ghost Doctor’s soul mark. The two soul fires at his eyes gradually extinguished.

Upon seeing this happen, everyone in Heaven Fey City was astounded.

They widened their eyes as their throats twitched. They were left at a loss for words.

Yi Yun had killed a Ghost Thearch straight up!

The entire battle did not take more than a minute!

For a half-step Godly Monarch to slay a Ghost Thearch and even snatch away his Ghost pearl, Ghost Doctor was completely within Yi Yun’s control from beginning to the end.

All his resistance was futile!

The difference in strength was massive!

Not a single Fey Thearch present had such strength. The strongest among them could at best defeat Ghost Doctor. Killing him would be a fool’s dream.

And the weaker ones were unlikely to have much of an advantage over Ghost Doctor.

That meant that Yi Yun had the ability to kill any one of them!

At that moment, even the Ruins Emperor felt his head buzz.

Yi Yun had concealed his strength too well!

He had been completely fooled.

Even if Yi Yun’s strength increased exponentially because of his transcendence of the Heavenly Tribulation, it was impossible to reach this stage.

By inference, it was likely that after he consumed the Myriad Form Shura Pills, or even at the moment he arrived at the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins, he already possessed the strength to deal with Fey Thearchs!

This was way too terrifying!

Who would have imagined that a human junior would possess such terrifying strength?

The present Yi Yun had already developed into a powerhouse. Ruins Emperor believed that he was no match for Yi Yun. Even the Patriarchs might not be able to suppress Yi Yun!

It could be said that Yi Yun had already elevated himself to the top echelons of the Chaos Heavens in terms of combat strength.

Even if the entire Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins was placed in front of him, he could face it as an equal. It was fool’s talk to force Yi Yun to do anything. Any deals would have to depend on Yi Yun’s mood.

And this was only just the beginning.

In time to come, if Yi Yun continued developing his strength, it would be…

Ruins Emperor did not dare think further.

The strongest expert in the Chaos Heavens!

Yi Yun would develop himself to become the strongest expert in the Chaos Heavens in the future!?

That was such a promising future. The thought that he tried to scheme against such a terrifying figure previously left Ruins Emperor feeling a lingering fear.

Thankfully, Ruins Emperor was careful by nature. He did not try to personally deal with Yi Yun and had simply left Luo King to his machinations by acquiescence.

It was unreasonable to wish for the Ruins Emperor to go out and protect Yi Yun. Therefore, it still appeared that decorum was upheld.

At that moment, Yi Yun extended his hand and grabbed Ghost Doctor’s soul body. With his mental imprint destroyed, the soul body had lost its strength. Yi Yun shattered the soul body and infused the soul fragments into his body.

Following that, Poison Demon appeared and widened his jaws. He devoured Ghost Doctor’s remnant corpse and soul whole!

All that was left was the Ghost Thearch’s interspatial ring which landed in Yi Yun’s hand.

Poison Demon was exhilarated!

Together with the Ghost pearl it just devoured, it was equivalent to Poison Demon having swallowed a complete Ghost Thearch!

The entire body of a Fey Thearch level Fey beast or Fey plant was a treasure, and naturally, so was a Ghost Thearch’s!

However, humans and Ghosts were different. A Ghost Thearch’s corpse was of little use to a human warrior, but to Poison Demon, it was a supreme treasure among supreme treasures.

Furthermore, Ghost Doctor cultivated in the poison arts. From the time he embarked on his ghost cultivation, he had researched countless poisons and medicines. All of these had subtly fused into his flesh and blood, and had been refined for tens of millions of years.

It could be said that Ghost Doctor’s body was a supreme-grade container of poison.

And these poisons were now the possession of Poison Demon!

Poison Demon was Yi Yun’s contract beast. A portion of its strength came from Yi Yun.

Originally, after Yi Yun transcended the Chaos Heavenly Tribulation, Poison Demon had already experienced a drastic increase in strength. Now, with Ghost Doctor’s fresh corpse, its strength soared!

“Master, thank you for giving me new life! Hahahaha!”

Poison Demon laughed maniacally. It began digesting Ghost Doctor’s powers. The Ghost pearl had now become core to Poison Demon.

Inside Poison Demon’s body, countless green threads stabbed into the Ghost pearl as they constantly drew its powers.

The metamorphosing Poison Demon emitted a terrifying suppressive might.

Its looks were originally nothing much to speak of, but at that moment, it was floating in midair, emanating an aura that could suppress that of Ghost Thearch. It was as though he had transformed into a peerless Demon God!

Upon seeing Poison Demon flaunting his strength, everyone felt despair.

Ignoring the fact that Yi Yun was ridiculously strong, even his contract beast was this powerful?

As Fey Thearchs, they might not even be the ugly Poison Demon’s match, much less be capable of dealing with Yi Yun!

Furthermore, Yi Yun had previously summoned the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

The tree likely had the strength to match a Fey Thearch as well.

For a person to have two Fey Thearch beings under his control, what sort of concept was this?

The Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins’ patriarchs were powerful, capable of calling upon nearly twenty Fey Thearchs, but they were only their subordinates. They listened to them in name, but in fact, feigned compliance while acting in opposition.

But Yi Yun was different. Yi Yun had contracted beasts who had full allegiance to him!

These were only the trump cards that Yi Yun had shown. Who knew what his true means were?

“Rou’er, your brother…”

Blood King looked at Yi Yun, his expression extremely complicated.

Back when he summoned Yi Yun, it was because he was impressed by him. Who knew that Yi Yun was such a freak?

He had planned on helping Yi Yun because of Jiang Xiaorou, but now, from the looks of it, Yi Yun had no need for his help.

For him to help Yi Yun refine the Myriad Form Shura Pills, it was giving him aid in his time of need before he developed his strength.

In a way, he had left Yi Yun indebted to him.

“Father, I never imagined Yun’er to be this powerful. I thought that with you finding me, my growth has been without setbacks for the past few centuries as my strength grew by leaps and bounds. I thought that none of my peers could match me, but compared to Yun’er, I’m still far inferior.”

Upon hearing Jiang Xiaorou’s words, Blood King chuckled ruefully. “Don’t bring it up. I thought that I was your biggest backer originally. But now from the looks of it, your brother is a stronger backer than me.”

After cultivating for so many years, paying an immeasurable price for cultivating in the Indestructible Killing Dao, and his astounding opportunities in the Tian Yuan world, he had already reached the limits of a warrior. However, he could only lament his inadequacies when compared to Yi Yun.

“In time to come, when your brother fully develops his strength, it will be nothing even if you can’t be Ruins Empress,” said the Blood King wistfully.

Years ago, Blood King did not become Ruins Emperor and was far from the mark. By being Ruins Emperor, one gained better cultivation resources. It was obviously an alluring proposition.

But the Ruins Emperor was after all the spokesperson of the two Fey Patriarchs. If the Fey Patriarchs felt that any nurturing was lost on the Ruins Emperor, they would switch the ruler.

How could this be comparable to being Yi Yun’s elder sister?

Yi Yun’s future was possibly that of the strongest person in the Chaos Heavens!

This status was completely incomparable in honor.

…

Poison Demon emitted his suppressive might for nearly an hour. The phenomenon that appeared could only be said to outdo a Fey Thearch’s breakthrough.

“Hahahaha!”

With the drastic increase in strength, Poison Demon seemed to grow dizzy with success. It was a demon that became delirious with joy to begin with. Now that it felt its strength increase, it was eager to let it all out.

“Master, are there some old entrails that need killing here? There’s no need to trouble yourself with killing them. Let me cripple him!”

Poison Demon stared at Luo King intently as it revealed a cruel smile.

It wished to engage in a massive battle and revel in the delight of delivering its mighty blows. It was also a way to express its loyalty to Yi Yun.

Although there was the soul contract in place, making Poison Demon completely loyal to Yi Yun in body and mind, as a servant, Poison Demon had to demonstrate his value. If not, what right did it have to be bestowed with so many goodies?

Upon hearing Poison Demon issue the challenge, Luo King’s expression turned as black as a wok’s bottom.

He saw Ghost Doctor’s death very clearly. Since Yi Yun could kill Ghost Doctor, he naturally could kill him as well.

He never imagined that his life would one day be in the hands of a junior.

Of course, the Luo King was different from Ghost Doctor.

He was an ancient Heaven Fey after all. Yi Yun was unlikely to kill him in Heaven Fey City.

“I know who you are…” Luo King took a deep breath as his eyes shimmered. “There was a rumor previously that a Heavenly Dao fragment appeared in the Xuanyuan Dune. A few miners that are in the Chaos Crystal business fooled the entire Chaos Heavens to vie for the Heavenly Dao fragment. Eventually, the Heavenly Dao fragment was snatched by a human…”

“I originally thought that the rumor was not to be believed. Now, I have to believe it. That human was you, right?”

When Luo King said that, everyone was alarmed.

Snatched the Heavenly Dao fragment!?

When they thought back to how Yi Yun had defeated Ghost Doctor, it was as though he was in full control of the Heavenly Dao. It was not impossible that Yi Yun had refined the Heavenly Dao fragment!

However… the Heavenly Dao fragment was something only the peerless Celestial experts could refine. Apart from them, the Fey, Ghost, and Soul experts could only watch powerless. How did Yi Yun, a human whose cultivation level was merely at the Divine Lord level, manage to refine the Heavenly Dao fragment?

That was simply unbelievable.

“If you think so…” Yi Yun looked at Luo King as the corner of his mouth suffused rich killing intent. Very well, he never imagined that Luo King would bite back at him just before his death!

1673 - : Blood of a Ghost Thearch

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun had killed Ghost Doctor without any scruples, but against the Luo King, he needed to take into consideration the ancient Heaven Fey. But now, the Luo King had countered before he even took action!

The Heavenly Dao fragment was of great importance!

It possessed immense enticement to the Celestials!

The Luo King obviously knew this; he was deliberately involving the Celestials.

In the Chaos Heavens, the Celestials were supernatural existences. They were much stronger than the Fey; therefore, Yi Yun would end up plagued by the Celestials’ pursuit.

With good luck, Yi Yun might even be eliminated by the Celestials, an extremely possible outcome for a human.

Yi Yun looked at the Luo King and grinned. This grin sent a baffling chill down the Luo King’s back.

“What are you laughing at?”

“I’m laughing at how you might not have necessarily died. Although it was a ‘might,’ since you’ve courted death I will grant it.”

Yi Yun said those words indifferently, leaving everyone stunned, both in body and mind.

This was Heaven Fey City. Yi Yun was planning to kill a Fey Thearch in front of so many experts!?

Such arrogant words were madness.

The Luo King was taken aback before he roared with laughter.

His face was flushed red as he laughed maniacally.

A Fey Thearch like the Luo King placed great emphasis to his status and reputation. However, once decorum was lost, he didn’t care to keep up pretenses.

Since he had already offended Yi Yun to an irreconcilable state, there was no way to change Yi Yun’s intent to kill regardless of his attitude.

“Do you think you are invincible because you killed Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor? This is Heaven Fey City. With the two Fey Patriarchs here, you can forget about acting so audaciously!”

The two Fey Patriarchs in Ruins Emperor Palace were the anchors of the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins. With them around, the Luo King would be fine.

At worst, he would not leave Heaven Fey City in the future, holing himself in his residence. There was nothing Yi Yun could do.

Just as this thought flashed in Luo King’s mind, he suddenly saw Yi Yun release horrifying killing intent!

Oh!?

The Luo King felt reverberations through his heart. Was Yi Yun mad? Did he really dare attack!?

Jiang Luo was not a pushover either. Even if he was not Yi Yun’s match, all he needed to do was survive Yi Yun’s attacks for a period of time before the two Fey Patriarchs took action. That wasn’t too difficult.

No matter how powerful Yi Yun was, it was impossible for him to fend off the two Fey Patriarchs. It would be inviting trouble on himself!

Although he knew that, the Luo King did not divert any attention. He roared maniacally, his lifeblood boiling and his muscles bulging!

A gigantic Heaven Fey totem appeared behind the Luo King. The four divine beast marks—the azure dragon, vermilion bird, white tiger, and black turtle—emitted an immense radiance!

The Heaven Fey totem formed a world in and of itself which enveloped the Luo King completely!

The Luo King knew Yi Yun’s strength; therefore, he did not plan on counterattacking. All he needed to do was put his all into defending against Yi Yun’s attack.

“Primordial totem, Lifeblood As One!”

Luo King’s body crackled repeatedly as he stimulated the Heaven Fey bloodline in his body. He directly transformed into an ancient Fey!

His muscles tore through his clothes as he grew to thirty feet. His firm muscles matched the might of a Godly Monarch-level weapon.

Such a body had obvious defenses.

But at the same time, the Luo King lit up a purple mark at his glabella. This was a spiritual numinous treasure he had refined into his soul sea. It protected his soul.

The Fey’s weaknesses were their lacking spiritual powers and weak laws.

However, with this artifact that protected his soul, Luo King had fixed this one flaw.

Now, it could be said that he was invulnerable!

He refused to believe that Yi Yun could tear through his defense.

In fact, at the moment Yi Yun took action, the Luo King had sensed the lifeblood powers of the two Fey Patriarchs spewing forth.

How could the two patriarchs allow any Fey Thearch to be killed in front of all the citizens of Heaven Fey City?

It was best if they lost decorum with Yi Yun. With them joining forces, they could cripple Yi Yun!

In fact, it was not difficult for all the Fey Thearchs, including the Ruins Emperor and Fey Patriarchs, to set up an array to trap Yi Yun in Heaven Fey City.

The Luo King had such thoughts flash past his mind rapidly, but…

The maelstrom-like blow he imagined did not appear. Instead, he was blanketed by an indescribable force.

A nomological force!

The Luo King frowned. He hated nomological forces the most. After Yi Yun refined the Heavenly Dao fragment, he was in control of the Heavenly Dao. In terms of laws, ten thousand Luo Kings were not Yi Yun’s match.

Now, the Luo King had made his Heaven Fey totem a world in and of itself. Although he had the intention to attack and resist Yi Yun’s laws, he focused 99% of his strength on defense. He had no more capacity for anything else.

“Stop it!”

At that moment, an ancient, angry roar sounded from the Heaven Fey City’s Ruins Emperor Palace.

Following that, a glaring Heaven Fey totem that shone like the sun appeared out of thin air. Unlike the Fey Thearch totems, this Heaven Fey totem had five marks lit up. Even the sixth mark emitted a faint glow.

A five-mark Heaven Fey totem was a chasm many Fey Thearchs in Heaven Fey City could not cross their entire lives.

The two Fey Patriarchs were the only ones that possessed five-mark Heaven Fey totems in Heaven Fey City.

At that moment, the Fey Patriarchs had finally taken action!

This action rendered the world asunder. All the Fey warriors held their breaths and protected their lifebloods. They were afraid that their bodies would be crushed to paste when the Fey Patriarchs attacked with their peerless might.

“Junior! Let go of the grudge between you and Jiang Luo, and we, the ancient Heaven Fey can still befriend you. If not, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”

The Fey Patriarch had his reservations against Yi Yun as well. He had the intent to retain Yi Yun, but was also afraid Yi Yun would escape. Once that failed, the grudge would be set in stone.

However, he didn’t care now that Yi Yun was the one who made the first move.

The Fey Patriarch’s strike was infused with all his strength. He meant to take Yi Yun down a notch with an opening gambit!

However… just as the Fey Patriarch’s strike was about to hit Yi Yun, Yi Yun vanished!

At that instant, the Fey Patriarch felt the worldly laws amass, as though a blob of Chaos was before him.

Then, Yi Yun vanished.

The Fey Patriarch looked up into the sky abruptly—

The multiverse rift!

The multiverse rift in the sky had not disappeared yet. Yi Yun had used his astounding power to transport himself there!

It didn’t matter if that was all he did. It would only signify that Yi Yun had escaped.

However, he actually… brought Jiang Luo with him!

In order to resist Yi Yun’s attack, Jiang Luo had converged all his strength into his body, spreading it through his bones, flesh, blood, and soul.

It was to resist Yi Yun’s blow and hold out till the Fey Patriarch rescued him.

However, Yi Yun had decided to meet trick with trick. He had teleported Jiang Luo, including the space around him, away.

Jiang Luo, who had focused on defense, had no way of resisting Yi Yun’s move, nor did he expect it.

It was just like a turtle who had retracted its head and limbs. It would be difficult cracking its shell, but moving it was a lot easier.

With a momentary daze, the Luo King felt massive forces sweep over. He attempted to resist it, but he felt like a leaf in a stormy hurricane. He was completely helpless!

By the time he tore out of Yi Yun’s nomological restraints, he realized that he was already within the multiverse rift.

Surrounding him was nothing but the void. He could not even sense an inkling of the Chaos Heavens.

He stood alone in space, facing one person—Yi Yun.

All of this took seconds. In the first second, he was still taunting Yi Yun, but the next second, he found himself standing in empty space facing Yi Yun.

The vicissitudes of the development made the Luo King’s expression extremely interesting.

Now, he looked as though his parents had just died.

Especially when he swept his perception around him. He could not sense even a shadow of the two Fey Patriarchs’ lifeblood powers.

Yi Yun’s laws were outstanding to begin with. In the multiverse rift where laws were in disarray, it was simple for him to conceal their location.

With this in mind, the Luo King began to break out into cold sweat.

Yi Yun smiled at the Luo King and said, “What were you saying just now? I didn’t catch you. Why don’t you repeat it?”

Luo King: “…”

—–

Meanwhile in the Heaven Fey Ancient Ruins of the Chaos Heavens!

Everyone looked up agape at the multiverse rift in the sky.

Heaven Fey City’s two Fey Patriarch were named Grand Primordium and Grand Supremum.

The one who had attacked was Fey Patriarch Grand Primordium. However, before his strike connected, Yi Yun had openly left the Chaos Heavens, snagging a Fey Thearch in passing with him!

Despite the appearance of the two Fey Patriarchs, they had failed to ensure the safety of a Fey Thearch. If this spread, it would make the other races laugh their heads off.

High above the sky, Grand Primordium wore a nasty expression.

He had lived for eons and once had nature at his beck and call. And in the recent tens of millions of years, he had not taken action personally.

After tens of millions of years of silence, he had finally take action; yet, under the watchful eyes of the countless residents of Heaven Fey City, he ended up being tricked by a human.

It was extremely insulting!

He phased away and appeared at the multiverse rift. With another flash, he flew in.

However, the moment he entered the multiverse rift, he found it devoid of anything. He spread out his perception in search of Yi Yun and the Luo King, but was like searching a needle in a haystack. He found nothing.

He had already expected such a situation.

With Yi Yun’s strength and nomological insight, it was easy for him to conceal two people in the massive multiverse rift.

Furthermore, it was possible that Yi Yun was billions of miles away with the Luo King.

Grand Primordium flew back into the Chaos Heavens with a gloomy expression.

At that moment, all the Fey warriors looked at him unblinkingly, waiting for him to say something.

Being the focus of attention made Grand Primordium so depressed that he nearly vomited blood.

He had been the focus of attention countless times throughout his entire life. He was already sick of such adoration and focus and had decided to take a step back to allow the Ruins Emperor to handle matters.

Who knew that after all these years of reclusion, he would be the focus of attention again in such a manner?

He was completely embarrassed.

In fact, Yi Yun was hiding with Jiang Luo. Searching was harder than hiding to begin with, so it was nothing odd even if Grand Primordium failed to find them.

However, his people did not think so. All they could see was that Grand Primordium had been outmatched by Yi Yun.

The strongest Fey had lost to a human junior…

The blow to the Fey’s confidence was obvious.

If this matter spread around, the ancient Heaven Fey would probably become a laughing stock.

1674 - : Courting Death

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Bam!”

In the multiverse rift, a divine beam flashed. The terrifying Yuan Qi blast swept in every direction like a tsunami, but as there was not a shred of Yuan Qi in the space between the multiverse, the terrifying Yuan Qi fluctuation quickly vanished!

If this were the Chaos Heavens, such a Yuan Qi blast could have extended out for tens of thousands of kilometers, or even more.

But here, the Yuan Qi blast was like a tsunami that had met large swaths of sponges that rapidly absorbed the shock wave.

After traveling just dozens of kilometers, the Yuan Qi blast was fully attenuated.

The space between the multiverse was absolutely still. No matter how much of a stir one caused, it did not lead to anything. Even a Fey Thearch would feel despair when trapped in such a world.

At that moment, the Luo King was covered in injuries all thanks to Yi Yun.

He was slightly better than Heretic Hands Ghost Doctor since he had an ancient Heaven Fey body and had the Heaven Fey totem protecting him.

In terms of defense, he was practically flawless. Unfortunately, he was facing Yi Yun.

Having formidable defenses only meant that he was resistant to being beaten. That placed him in a situation worse than Ghost Doctor.

His flesh ruptured from the barrage of attacks Yi Yun dealt him. His bones fractured and his severed meridians were a mess.

Originally, with the Luo King’s powerful body, he could heal from those wounds in five minutes.

However, why would Yi Yun give him that opportunity?

What was healed slightly ended up being broken more thoroughly.

With that, the Luo King was already reeling in despair. He knew that there was no way he could escape the calamity that had befallen him that day!

He never expected that he would one day be finished by a human junior despite having reigned supreme his entire life and having supernatural standing and power thanks to his conferment as king.

Furthermore, he would be dying in such an aggrieved manner.

“Poison Demon, I’ll leave the rest to you.” Yi Yun opened the green urn and Poison Demon’s claws shot out from it.

The moment Poison Demon appeared, it smiled sinisterly at the Luo King.

In fact, devouring the Luo King had little effect on Poison Demon. After all, the Luo King cultivated in orthodox Fey martial techniques that had little appeal to Poison Demon.

Only the Luo King’s Fey core provided any significant sustenance.

And this Fey core was also of little use to Yi Yun. He wished for Poison Demon to devour the Luo King only to deliver a more painful death to him.

He naturally showed no mercy to someone who repeatedly attempted to kill him.

At that moment, the Luo King felt his scalp tingle. He had seen the scene of Ghost Doctor being devoured very clearly.

To be devoured by such a heretic creature despite his standing was ten times more horrifying than death.

“Dream on!”

The Luo King roared as he charged straight for Poison Demon.

He did not charge towards Yi Yun; instead, he went for Poison Demon.

At that instant, Yi Yun knew that he was about to self-destruct.

It was impossible for him to kill Yi Yun with a self-destruction, but it was a lot easier killing Poison Demon.

His blast would likely wipe out Poison Demon.

Poison Demon was alarmed. It thought it could put on a good show after Yi Yun summoned it out, but there was nothing it could do when the other party was suicidal.

Its life was still of great worth, and it wished to continue on and enjoy the luxuries of life, while staying loyal to Yi Yun.

“Master…”

Poison Demon could not desert, so all it could do was plead for Yi Yun’s help.

Yi Yun was not flustered with regards to Luo King’s suicidal strike. With a thought, Yuan Qi stirred through his body.

“Explode!”

Yi Yun roared as the flying Luo King’s body quaked!

Instantly, he felt countless blasts of wanton energy erupt from his body.

It was the power of lightning and fire!

Following that, the Luo King’s already wretched meridians, flesh and blood, suffered damage and destruction once more!

He immediately felt a chill. He knew this situation very well because his grandson had been experiencing it for weeks.

Back then, Jiang Yuchan had been in the same situation. And now, Yi Yun’s strength had risen significantly. He could use the same means on the Luo King now.

The instantaneous eruption of lightning and fire interrupted the flow of the Luo King’s lifeblood powers.

Simultaneously, Yi Yun appeared instantly in front of the Luo King like a ghost before throwing a punch!

“Bam!”

The Luo King’s body quaked as his organs were shattered by Yi Yun!

As for Poison Demon, it had already opened its gaping mouth…

At that moment, Jiang Luo felt despair and indignation, but there was no turning back. His life of glory had eventually led to such a tragic drawing of curtains…

The Luo King was dead…

Yi Yun watched the blood splatter in space as he took a deep breath. From today on, he already had the peak strength needed to control a world!

…

Meanwhile in Heaven Fey City, the crowd had not dispersed. People were waiting to see how the two patriarchs dealt with the face-smacking turn of events.

The situation was extremely awkward.

The two Fey Patriarchs, as well as the Ruins Emperor, were in irrevocably committed situations.

Who knew that the transcending of a Heavenly Tribulation by a human junior would develop into such a situation.

“Blood King! If anything were to happen to the Luo King, the responsibility is all yours! You colluded with a human to eliminate your opponent!”

A Fey Thearch spoke out.

As a newly-advanced Fey Thearch, Blood King’s return meant that he had received a share of the pie which others used to enjoy. That caused him to offend quite a number of people.

As an old Fey Thearch, the Luo King had a much wider circle of acquaintances. Now, there were naturally Fey Thearchs who spoke in favor of the Luo King.

Due to Yi Yun’s actions, the Blood King and Jiang Xiaorou were placed front and center.

However, the Blood King thought nothing of it.

His only worry at present was Jiang Xiaorou, but Yi Yun could provide her with enough care in the future.

As for himself, he was a Fey Thearch. There was no one he needed to fear.

Every Fey Thearch was fundamental to Heaven Fey City.

The two patriarchs had tried their best to protect Luo King, but failed. It was their own fault, so how could they vent their frustrations on the Blood King?

How would that be possible?

Just as a few Fey Thearchs were denouncing the Blood King, there was a surge of wind high in the sky.

The multiverse rift quaked open once again.

A black figure appeared out of thin air the next moment.

The person was none other than Yi Yun!

Yi Yun… still dared to return!?

All the Fey Thearchs who had denounced the Blood King instantly shut up. They did not dare say a word.

The Luo King was a message to those who would cross Yi Yun. Considering how Heaven Fey City failed to save the life of a Fey Thearch, who dared offend Yi Yun? It would only mean that one was sick of living.

“Where’s Jiang Luo?” Elder Grand Primordium asked coldly.

“He’s dead,” Yi Yun replied calmly. He had returned because he had matters to deal with.

“Good… very good!”

Elder Grand Primordium raged inwardly. Yi Yun was showing no fear towards him!

He was certain that Heaven Fey City could do nothing to him!

And worst of all, it was true that Heaven Fey City could no longer stop him.

Ignoring Yi Yun’s combat strength, just his ability to leave was unstoppable. He had been able to take a Fey Thearch with him previously, much less himself alone.

Therefore, Yi Yun dared to return.

He still returned despite having killed a Fey Thearch!

Seeing such a development, the warriors in Heaven Fey City lamented their inadequacies.

Yi Yun was just too strong.

This was the outcome one yearned for in cultivation.

To kill two powerful Fey Thearchs in a day, ignoring the two patriarchs of Heaven Fey City, all done at such a young age was truly the pinnacle of one’s life!

1675 - : Luo King’s Death

CKtalon  CKtalon

“Patriarchs, I do not have any intention of making the ancient Heaven Fey my enemy. The Luo King and I had a private grudge and returning eye for eye is perfectly justified, isn’t that so?” Yi Yun said with a smile.

The two patriarchs, Grand Supremum and Grand Primordium, remained silent. They didn’t wish to say a word either. Their faces have been figuratively smacked so badly that they could not afford to mar their reputation further.

As the spokesperson of the two patriarchs, Ruins Emperor Jiang Jiuzhu had no choice but to fly out of the Ruins Emperor Palace and face Yi Yun.

Upon seeing this human junior, Jiang Jiuzhu felt conflicted.

Just days ago, he had looked down upon Yi Yun from a domineering position.

Back then, he even believed that Yi Yun was being too sensational by bringing attention to himself. It was like a child carrying gold in a busy city. Without sufficient strength, he had showcased the Myriad Form Shura Pills and even attempted to negotiate with the ancient Heaven Fey. It was utterly foolish.

But now, he had to look up to Yi Yun. Even he was no match for Yi Yun.

This was still with Yi Yun not being a Godly Monarch. He would only be more terrifying if he broke through!

“What do you want?” Jiang Jiuzhu knew that for Yi Yun to return after killing Jiang Luo, he naturally had matters to discuss.

“Your Majesty, I’m still interested in the Myriad Form Shura Pills you mentioned.”

Back when Jiang Jiuzhu summoned Yi Yun, he had offered to provide the materials for Yi Yun to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pills.

After the pills were formed, they would be split proportionately.

This suggestion could be said to be win-win.

Yi Yun originally did not have much need for Myriad Form Shura Pills after his first consumption, but now, Yi Yun’s cultivation level had reached the half-step Godly Monarch realm. His body had undergone the catharsis of the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Tribulation and he was in need of large amounts of energy to consolidate his foundation.

If he could consume enough Myriad Form Shura Pills, he would greatly shorten the process.

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Ruins Emperor wore an ugly expression.

Yi Yun had just killed Luo King, but he was completely ignoring the matter and instead, negotiated with the ancient Heaven Fey so openly and brazenly.

Sadly, the Ruins Emperor did have the intention to keep Yi Yun behind to refine the pills. If that happened, he had the slim chance of becoming the third patriarch of the ancient Heaven Fey.

The Luo King’s death only served to embarrass the ancient Heaven Fey.

To make the Ruins Emperor really hate Yi Yun to the death would be a joke. He did not have any deep ties with the Luo King. His death meant little to him.

Yi Yun had naturally pinpointed this. He said via a voice transmission, “I can keep the pill refinement a secret. The warriors of Heaven Fey City will not know of it, nor will it embarrass you. Your Majesty and Patriarchs, what say you?”

Yi Yun would appear to leave the ancient Heaven Fey on the surface, or at the very least, vanish from everyone’s sights to prevent the ancient Heaven Fey from being put in a difficult position.

The Ruins Emperor remained silent for a long while before asking with a voice transmission, “What percentage of the pills do you want?”

“Thirty percent! It isn’t much. After my breakthrough, the quality of the refined pills would far exceed the previous batch.”

“Thirty percent won’t do! You just killed Jiang Luo. Do you think we, the ancient Heaven Fey, are pushovers? Do you think there’s no price to pay for killing Jiang Luo?” Ruins Emperor said coldly. Yi Yun had originally negotiated for ten percent early on, but now, he was adding another twenty percent.

“I will not compromise on thirty percent, or we can forget about it. I’m not adamant on having the Myriad Form Shura Pills.” Yi Yun was firm. “Jiang Luo exposed my identity, hoping for the Celestials to pursue me. My killing of him is only right. Do you really believe that I should swallow insult before your ancient Heaven Fey and allow myself to be schemed against?”

Yi Yun’s words stunned Jiang Jiuzhu.

Yi Yun was right. As the ancient Heaven Fey was too powerful, they were already accustomed to being in command. They were used to other factions yielding and compromising.

Once one showed any intention to disobey, they would be met with the swift retribution and repression from the ancient Heaven Fey.

But Yi Yun alone was able to stand equal to the ancient Heaven Fey!

His future was without limit. Why should such a terrifying powerhouse yield to the ancient Heaven Fey?

To put it bluntly, why did he need to apologize when he had smacked faces through his own capabilities?

Jiang Jiuzhu did not say a word. He looked squarely at Yi Yun who represented a terrifying power, a human that the ancient Heaven Fey could not afford to offend.

He even dared to be at odds with the Celestials, much less the ancient Heaven Fey.

Just as the Ruins Emperor was about to say something, Patriarch Grand Supremum’s voice sounded in his ear. “If it’s thirty percent, so be it. However, he needs to swear on the Heavenly Dao that he must not be at odds with the Fey if we do not cross him. If he’s agreeable to it, I’m agreeable to letting Jiang Xiaorou become Crown Princess.”

Upon hearing Patriarch Grand Supremum’s words, Ruins Emperor sighed inwardly. He was destined to abdicate the throne.

As for Jiang Xiaorou, just her status as Yi Yun’s elder sister made her the next Ruins Empress designate. This sounded incredulous, but Yi Yun was worth that much. The two patriarchs thought highly of Yi Yun and even if he had the Celestials as his enemy, they believed that he had a high chance of developing his strength.

By the time Yi Yun became a Godly Monarch, it would be difficult to deepen their ties with Yi Yun.

Yi Yun could very well become a powerful being just like Human Emperor Lin Ming from ancient times.

In contrast, the death of a single Luo King was nothing.

Ruins Emperor frankly passed on the two patriarch’s conditions to which Yi Yun agreed easily. “Deal!”

Signing a contract with the Fey was something that had been agreed upon previously.

Regardless, Jiang Xiaorou’s roots were with the Fey. Yi Yun naturally did not wish to make them his enemy.

As for the two Fey Patriarch’s agreement to make Jiang Xiaorou Ruins Empress, it was with the intent to make Yi Yun help the Fey in the future.

It was considered a strategy placed in open daylight, one that Yi Yun was happy to see take place.

“I’ll refine the pills three days later!”

Yi Yun flew off after transmitting his sentence via a Yuan Qi voice transmission.

He was not suited to appear in public in Heaven Fey City or the Heaven Fey City’s imperial household would be utterly shamed.

Many warriors remained silent in shock even when Yi Yun vanished into the horizon.

In fifteen minutes, he had killed a Ghost Thearch and a Fey Thearch. It was just too terrifying.

It could be imagined that in days, Yi Yun’s name would spread throughout the Chaos Heavens through various channels!

Together with the matter of him refining a Heavenly Dao fragment in the Xuanyuan Dune, Yi Yun would be pushed to the forefront of the Chaos Heavens.

Of course, being at the cusp of the news would mean that numerous factions, especially the Celestial faction would target him.

…

The news proliferated like a storm.

Many factions in the Chaos Heavens focused on intelligence. They had created several long-distance array formations which were specially used for the transmission of information.

Although the Chaos Heavens was immensely extensive, in just half a day, the various top factions learned that Yi Yun had the stunning accolade of slaying two Godly Monarch-leveled figures.

And a day later, the smaller factions learned of it.

Following that, ordinary warriors began to learn of it bit by bit.

In time, news of Yi Yun was scoured by the various intelligence factions. They even knew that Yi Yun’s first appearance was in the Taixia Ancient Mining.

Back then, he was heavily injured and his strength was far inferior to what it was now.

However, the growth of his strength was astonishing.

1676 - : Smacking Faces Through His Capabilities

CKtalon  CKtalon

Qinyue Nation was an ancient human country situated in the Chaos Heavens. It had tens of millions of years of history and its territory spanned tens of millions of kilometers. It was considered a stable, if average, faction.

In the Chaos Heavens, factions like the Qinyue Nation were innumerable. Typically, few intelligence organizations would pay notice to this nation.

Northwest of the Qinyue Nation was a mountain range that extended for tens of thousands of kilometers. It was filled with primordial forests in which lived venomous worms, places that were devoid of human life.

This day, a man and three women flew to a spot above the nameless forest. Sweeping the area with his perception, the man checked the surrounding situation. “This shall be it.”

The person who spoke was none other than Yi Yun.

The women with him were Lin Xintong, Jiang Xiaorou, and Shan Ling.

After leaving the ancient Heaven Fey, Yi Yun had been searching for a land for his seclusion, firstly to continue refining Myriad Form Shura Pills and secondly, to cultivation in seclusion.

The Heaven Fey City would be good, but Yi Yun was facing the possible pursuit of the Celestials. To further use the Ancestor God’s blood to refine pills in Heaven Fey City would only be outright provocation against the Celestials.

The ancient Heaven Fey would not be able to withstand the wrath of the Celestials.

The mountain range he chose was far inferior to the Heaven Fey City’s array core in terms of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi.

However, the lack of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi did not concern Yi Yun. The ancient Heaven Fey had provided him with sufficient Chaos Crystals and array formations to make up for that.

“This shall be it.”

Jiang Xiaorou nodded. Yi Yun had brought her along with him when he left the ancient Heaven Fey.

Regardless, his strength was the key to everything.

To put it bluntly, the contest for the crown was merely a contest for resources. And now, the Myriad Form Shura Pills that Yi Yun was about to refine were the best kind of resource.

In a relatively long period of time in the near future, Yi Yun would choose to enter seclusion. Jiang Xiaorou naturally had to use this time to enter seclusion with him, so as to evolve her bloodline.

Yi Yun took out a disk array and casually set up a massive array. Instantly, hundreds of kilometers of the mountain range was enveloped within the array. With Yi Yun’s present nomological insight, even a Godly Monarch would fail to notice anything off about the forest even if they were standing right there.

Yi Yun selected an inconspicuous mountain and dug open a cave abode that was well-facilitated within its belly.

The cave abode had dozens of chambers of varying sizes. The biggest one was made Yi Yun’s alchemy lab.

Connected to the alchemy lab was Yi Yun’s and Lin Xintong’s master bedroom.

Beside the master bedroom was Shan Ling’s room. Yi Yun’s seclusion wouldn’t be that short, so Shan Ling’s presence would help tend to Yi Yun’s and Lin Xintong’s daily life and deal with some miscellaneous matters.

Yi Yun took out the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and placed it right in the middle of the alchemy lab.

Ever since he left the ancient Heaven Fey, Yi Yun had taken with him all the materials needed to refine the Myriad Form Shura Pills.

Since he had sworn on the Heavenly Dao, the ancient Heaven Fey were not afraid that Yi Yun would misappropriate the pills.

The price of going against his oath was just too much for a warrior like Yi Yun who had an unlimited future ahead of him. It was not worth it just to take the remaining percentage of the pills.

When he placed the alchemical materials in front of him, Yi Yun sighed at how deep the ancient Heaven Fey’s heritage went.

A super faction that had existed for billions of years had reserves that were stunning.

Just the Fey cores of a powerful Fey numbered six. Each one had a quality that far exceeded the one Yi Yun bought at the auction.

As for the valuable herbs such as Flying Clouds Flowing Flower, them being a million years old was just the beginning. With these materials, the quality of the cauldron of pills would be greatly enhanced.

But now, Yi Yun was not in a hurry to begin the pill refinement. Instead, he took out two interspatial rings.

They were the rings left behind by Luo King and Ghost Doctor after their deaths.

The heritage of two Godly Monarch level figures!

This was of timely assistance to the presently poor Yi Yun.

His perception delved deep into the Luo King’s interspatial ring and took out the items one by one.

The Luo King was an old Fey Thearch among the ancient Heaven Fey. He had accumulated his wealth for years, so it was immense. Inside the interspatial ring, just the Chaos Crystals alone numbered thirty thousand.

Back when Yi Yun refined the first cauldron of Myriad Form Shura Pills, he had sought the Blood King’s help. All the Blood King could do was produce a few thousand Chaos Crystals. The rest was obtained from a mortgage of the Treasure Fey Pagoda.

Apart from the Chaos Crystals, there were all sorts of Fey cultivation manuals that numbered more than a hundred.

Yi Yun had no use for them and handed them to Jiang Xiaorou.

The Luo King’s cultivation manuals mostly came from the ancient Heaven Fey. Although Jiang Xiaorou had read them previously, the Luo King had left behind his annotations and thoughts in the manuals.

These notes was considered secrets that no Fey Thearch would impart easily.

Jiang Xiaorou already had the Blood King as her teacher, and now, she had the addition of the Luo King. As she studied the insights of the two Fey Thearchs, Jiang Xiaorou resolved some of the questions that plagued her in the past.

Shan Ling, who was also a Fey, enjoyed the benefits as well. Just a sampling of the manuals benefited her greatly.

After the manuals were all sorts of pills, natural treasures, as well as artifacts.

Yi Yun found several Fey bones, Fey cores, and Fey blood in one of the Luo King’s chest.

The Luo King also had a Fey Thearch level Fey core!

Yi Yun was about to enter seclusion; therefore, these items were of great use.

As for Ghost Doctor, he was a lot poorer than the Luo King. As a Ghost Doctor, he earned a lot, but his expenditure was great due to his research of all kinds of mystical medicines.

Ghost Doctor’s interspatial ring only had 8000 Chaos Crystals.

However, Yi Yun found many exclusive mystic medicines, and a large number of books on alchemy and medicine.

Just the notebooks which Ghost Doctor wrote personally numbered more than ten.

These things were even more detailed and comprehensive than the divine alchemist’s notebook that Yi Yun had received previously.

With Yi Yun’s foundation, all he needed to do was spend some time reading the material, and his alchemical skills would quickly improve.

In Yi Yun’s eyes, the items left behind by the Ghost Doctor were even more valuable than what the Luo King had.

After tidying up everything, Yi Yun began his pill refinement in seclusion.

For this pill refinement, the ancient Heaven Fey provided 15,000 Chaos Crystals and a Spirit Gathering Array.

Now, Yi Yun shattered all the 15,000 Chaos Crystals and created an array core environment in the middle of the Spirit Gathering Array.

Heaven Earth Yuan Qi appeared and instantly condensed into a spirit fountain within Yi Yun’s alchemy lab.

This was quite an extravagant act.

With everything in place, Yi Yun’s pill refinement process was extremely smooth. In half a year, he refined six cauldrons of Myriad Form Shura Pills.

Every cauldron created phenomena that was more alarming than the one back in Heaven Fey City. However, it was all suppressed by Yi Yun using an array formation.

The six cauldrons of pills made for a total of 72 pills. According to the agreement, Yi Yun took 22 of them.

Out of the 22, Jiang Xiaorou received 4 and the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm received 2.

The remaining 16 were used by Yi Yun to consolidate his lifeblood, in preparation for him to make his breakthrough to the Godly Monarch realm.

Yi Yun looked forward to the Godly Monarch realm. He had no idea how strong he would be once he attained it.

1677 - : A Fey Thearch’s Wealth

CKtalon  CKtalon

Spring passed, summer went by, and autumn came. At Yi Yun’s realm, it was nothing odd for him to seclude himself in cultivation for centuries. For the two patriarchs of Heaven Fey City, it was quite common for their seclusions to use units of ten thousand years.

Yi Yun was undergoing one of the longest seclusions of his life.

He did not keep track of time, only being aware that the moist mud walls of the cave he was in had turned dry with time. Later on, due to the nourishing of the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, the sand gradually turned into Chaos Ores.

Yi Yun’s cave abode had already turned crystalline and would soon turn into a tiny mineral vein.

In the future, Yi Yun would leave behind some array formations and incomplete manuals here when he left. Then, far into the future, this cave abode would turn into a land of opportunity.

Perhaps tens of thousands of years later, someone would find this place by chance and inherit Yi Yun’s heritage. Although the items he left would be trivial to him, it was enough to improve the conditions of some poor geniuses.

Years ago, Yi Yun had developed his strength bit by bit in the same way.

During the seclusion, Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou naturally did not undergo much change. However, Lin Xintong was different. As she cultivated in the Grand Reincarnation Technique, her originally fifteen-year-old appearance had matured into that of a tall, elegant lady.

After continuous cultivation, Yi Yun internalized all sixteen Myriad Form Shura Pills. The energies in him reached a peak state as his foundation and laws turned completely robust.

However, he was still at the half-step Godly Monarch realm.

It was not easy, even for Yi Yun, to break the shackles that prevented a human from attaining godhood.

“Yi Yun, you have spent about a hundred years in seclusion.”

Bai Yueyin’s voice suddenly sounded in Yi Yun’s soul sea.

“Has it been a hundred years… Time sure passes quickly.”

Yi Yun took a deep breath as he stood up from a meditative position.

After Yi Yun made the Heavenly Dao a part of him, his understanding of the Heavenly Dao had been enhanced. He had fully blocked the tracing mark the Ancestor God had left in him. For now, he was still safe.

As such, Yi Yun did not wish to exit seclusion for the time being. If he left, he had to face the pursuit of the Chaos Heavens’ Celestials.

“Sis Xiaorou, the deadline of my agreement with the ancient Heaven Fey is approaching. You will have to go and take the Myriad Form Shura Pills back with you,” Yi Yun said to Jiang Xiaorou.

“Alright, Yun’er.” Jiang Xiaorou nodded. Having been in seclusion for so long, her strength had long improved. Now, it was not a given that an expert from the older generation like Rain Numinous could defeat her easily.

Jiang Xiaorou stored away the fifty Myriad Form Shura Pills and just as she was about to leave the cave abode, Yi Yun’s heart palpitated. He looked up and over, sending his senses through the cave abode when he saw a group of human warriors flying through his array formation.

The group of people wore luxurious but damaged clothes. They were injured and they looked rather pathetic.

Their cultivation levels weren’t high and they were even fleeing without any direction in mind. Naturally, they had no way to detect the array formation which Yi Yun had set up.

“Imperial Uncle, how’s your injury? We can’t keep escaping. Why don’t we hide here? If we set up a convergence array and fool them, we can go west and escape into the Great West Nation,” a youth wearing a robe embroidered with a python said. He wore a crown and although he wasn’t old, he already had an air of supremacy.

The person he was speaking to was a long-faced middle-aged man. His face was darkened and his aura weak. Apparently, his body was plagued by demonic auras.

“Imperial Uncle?”

Yi Yun was taken aback. This fleeing group was from the royal family?

On careful thought, when Yi Yun chose the nameless mountain range to build his cave abode, he had a vague idea that it was part of the Taiyue Nation’s territory.

He swept with his perception and indeed, he found a dark golden token on the youth’s waist. On it were the words “Taiyue.”

Could these people be the Taiyue Nation’s royal family?

As he looked at the crown on the youth’s head, even if he wasn’t a king, he was likely a crown prince.

Although the Taiyue Nation wasn’t a strong nation, it definitely had the immense heritage to establish itself in the Chaos Heavens. Typically, such a dynasty could last tens to hundreds of thousands of years without a problem.

Now, from the looks of it, the crown prince and imperial uncle were being pursued like wretches. It was likely that the Taiyue Nation was on the brink of collapsing.

What happened to this faction that should have continued on for a long period of time?

Yi Yun was intrigued, but he wasn’t planning on being a busybody.

The changing of dynasties was extremely normal.

There was nothing right or wrong, just a conflict between interests.

However… when Yi Yun continued radiating his perception outwards, he was astounded.

He saw… demonic servants!

Large numbers of demonic servants were flying over from afar like locusts. It was an uncountable number!

The Celestial’s demonic servants?

Yi Yun was taken aback. The Celestials had a low population and although they reigned supreme in the Chaos Heavens, it was rare to actually see a Celestial.

Typically, the Celestials would send demonic servants to complete anything they wanted.

The number of Celestial demonic servants was terrifying. It was something no race could compare with.

Although the demonic servants were powerful, the Taiyue Nation was a human kingdom. Why would they destroy a human kingdom?

Yi Yun knitted his brows slightly.

The Celestials had power over the Chaos Heavens, but they did not take the initiative to annihilate other races. In fact, although there was animosity among the various races in the Chaos Heavens, all of them avoided battle for no one could bear the consequences of war.

No matter how powerful the Celestials were, they would be in for a tragedy if they infuriated everyone else and caused the other races to join forces against them.

Yi Yun would not have found it odd if the Taiyue Nation had been wiped out by a human faction. However, there was something amiss about the situation if they were being pursued by demonic servants.

With this suspicion in mind, Yi Yun spread out his perception further.

From the direction the demonic servants came from, Yi Yun saw numerous destroyed cities. The demonic servants had left a path of destruction in their wake…

Had the Celestials declared war on the humans?

At that moment, the people from the Taiyue Nation also sensed that the demonic servants were chasing right behind them.

The middle-aged man, who was addressed as Imperial Uncle, wore a rueful expression as he said, “I can’t last much longer. Leave first. I’ll stay behind. Perhaps, I can still stall for some time.”

“Imperial Uncle, you mustn’t do so. Even if we need to stall for time, I should be the one doing it. I’m our country’s crown prince. I’m already a good-for-nothing who has failed to protect my people. I should be the one stepping forward at this time…” said the crown prince seriously.

“No, you still have many citizens stored within your body’s world. They as well as you are the seeds of our Taiyue Nation. You have to escape.”

The middle-aged man’s face suddenly had an abnormal ruddiness to it as his aura suddenly rose. He obviously planned on making an internecine sacrifice.

The crown prince and company wore looks of anguish. They had already sacrificed too much to escape this far.

And at that moment, they could see a large swath of black clouds far into the distance that nearly blotted out half the sky.

It was no cloud, but demonic servants!

Upon seeing so many demonic servants, the hearts of the Taiyue Nation royal family sank.

Even if the middle-aged man rushed over and self-destructed, it would be nothing more than a spark. It would not be of any help…

The middle-aged man said with a look of grief. “I suppose our Taiyue Nation will be completely destroyed today…”

At that moment, the suddenly felt the space around them warp.

An array formation?

Following that, they saw a huge green demon appear in the air!

Their expressions changed drastically as the behemoth’s aura was terrifying. When did their Taiyue Nation ever have such a demonic behemoth?

It did not seem to be associated with the demonic servants due to its completely different aura.

They never expected that their blind escape would end up with them entering a demon’s array formation.

“Whatever. Rather than die at the hands of demonic servants, I’d rather feed this demon…” the middle-aged man said with a sigh.

But immediately, they realized that the demon did not even spare them a glance when it appeared. Instead, it turned towards the demonic servants in excitement.

“Hahahaha! Let me have a face off with all of you!”

Poison Demon bared its fangs and swiped its claws as it charged towards the demonic servants!

Dense power blasted out from Poison Demon as it widened its mouth and devoured a huge swath of demonic servants.

In front of it, the demonic servants were unable to put up any resistance.

Poison Demon was excited. During the battle between Yi Yun and the Luo King, it had failed to contribute much. For that, Poison Demon brooded and was eager to find an opportunity to prove itself.

Now, although it was facing demonic servants of low caliber, the numbers were terrifying. To wipe them all out was not a simple task. Of course, only something of difficulty accentuated its value.

At that moment, Poison Demon widened its mouth as an aura that resembled hell emanated and enveloped the demonic servants in layers.

It was already an independent world that no demonic servant was capable of escaping.

“Eat! Eat! Eat!”

Poison Demon’s body rapidly swelled like a huge toad that jumped into a pit of worms. The ferocious demonic servants had no means of resisting.

Outside Poison Demon’s barrier, the Taiyue Nation warriors were in a daze. What sort of monster was the fellow who suddenly appeared? It was too powerful.

They knew that among the demonic servants, a number of them were demonic generals, which even Royal Sealed Divine Lords did not have an advantage over.

And at that moment, all they felt was a sudden change in scenery. The lush primordial forest and mountains vanished. Even the carnage between the demon and the demonic servants was gone.

For some baffling reason, they had been sent into a spacious cave.

It was dark and quiet, a place rich in Heaven Earth Yuan Qi. The surrounding stone pillars were lined with Chaos Ores, but they had no idea where they were.

At that moment, a black-robed youth appeared in front of the crowd. They failed to sense any Yuan Qi fluctuations from him, as though he was a mortal. But for some reason, they felt like they were facing the expansive cosmos when facing him. He was so enigmatic that he left people fearful and reverent.

The black-robed youth was none other than Yi Yun.

He did not mind exposing his cave abode. After all, with so many demonic servants dead, he could no longer stay in the Taiyue Nation.

The middle-aged man was enlightened as he immediately bowed down. “Senior, thank you for saving my life. I’m Tai Yuankun.”

“There’s no need.” Yi Yun waved his hand indifferently. “Tell me what happened. Why did the Celestials invade your Taiyue Nation? It did nothing to deserve the Celestials’ action against it, right?”

1678 - : A Hundred Years

“Senior, you are absolutely right. To the Celestials, my Taiyue Nation is nothing.” Tai Yuankun remained prostrated. Behind him were the Taiyue Nation’s crown prince and subjects who also prostrated themselves. “The ones who destroyed my Taiyue Nation are the demonic servants, not the Celestials. In fact, having lived all these years, I have yet to seen a Celestial.”

“Actually, it’s nothing new for demonic servants to destroy human nations. The earliest instant was three decades ago. A human nation stronger than my Taiyue Nation named the South Court Dynasty was annihilated overnight. The cities were reduced to ruins and the death toll innumerable. Back then, the lord of the South Court Dynasty had a half-step Godly Monarch cultivation level, but he failed to cause so much as a stir in the cataclysm his dynasty faced. He died instantly and did not even leave behind a corpse.”

Thinking back to the South Court Dynasty’s final fate, the middle-aged man empathized with them for they were now in the same boat.

“In the two to three decades after the South Court Dynasty, there were several human factions of ordinary sizes that were massacred. Later on, the calamity of the demonic servants broke out in my Taiyue Nation. The old king died in battle and, with what I had left in my old life, I lived an abject existence. I risked death to take the crown prince and a few young princes and princesses away to escape the royal capital. We have no intention to reestablish our nation, only to leave behind some survivors of our Taiyue Nation’s royalty…”

When the middle-aged man said that, he wore a painful expression. Although it was a deep-seated grudge, exacting revenge was just too difficult.

Yi Yun frowned slightly when he heard that. “Have the Celestials declared war against the humans?”

“No…” The middle-aged man shook his head.

“Since war isn’t being waged, why are the demonic servants under the Celestials acting so wantonly by invading human territory? Are the human experts going to watch this happen without batting an eyelid?”

“I’m of inferior standing, so I do not know the full picture. All I’ve heard are rumors… It’s said that the Celestial have control over the Godly Monarch level mighty figures of various races. It’s not only limited to us humans. The numbers controlled are massive as though they are plotting something.”

“Godly Monarchs are being controlled!?” Yi Yun was alarmed. Regardless of the race, Godly Monarchs were pinnacle existences. How could they be that easily controlled?

It wasn’t a surprise if the Celestials controlled a few Godly Monarch figures, but to have many controlled was odd.

How could the experts of other races sit passively awaiting their end?

If the Celestials were overly domineering, it was very likely for all the races in the Chaos Heavens to revolt together.

“Do you know what means the Celestials are using to control the Godly Monarchs of other races?” Yi Yun asked.

The middle-aged man shook his head. “I’m unaware. It’s said that the Celestials have produced a peerless expert. He is just too powerful, so powerful that no one dares to resist him…”

“Oh?”

Yi Yun’s heart chilled when he heard that. The birth of a peerless expert?

A peerless expert that could become the strongest in the Chaos Heavens was not something that could happen overnight. Either a particular patriarch of the Celestials had broken through, pushing his cultivation level to a brand new level… or…

Yi Yun recalled the Ancestor God.

The Sinkhole’s Ancestor God was the strongest person of the Celestials years ago. He was inflicted with such heavy injuries in the ancient war that took him billions of years to recuperate.

According to what Bai Yueyin said, the Ancestor God was about to recover from his injuries a century ago. Not only so, he had continued devouring the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao.

The moment Yi Yun left, no one in the Sinkhole could resist the Ancestor God. Now, more than a hundred years had passed.

Perhaps, the Ancestor God had already completely fused with the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao.

In that case, the Ancestor God’s strength would naturally reach an incomprehensible state. Even if the various races combined forces, they were hardly a threat to him.

“What is this peerless expert of the Celestials planning?”

Yi Yun asked again, but the middle-aged man shook his head. He was only a trivial figure and knew little.

Yi Yun fell silent. From the looks of it, the situation outside was beyond terrible.

“Does this mean that the demonic servants have been attacking other races as well?”

The middle-aged man nodded. “The Fey have had many smaller factions destroyed by the demonic servants too. However, we humans suffered the most destruction. After the demonic servants annihilated our human nations, they took hold of our lands and made the fallen nations their nests. They began pursuing the hidden and fleeing humans. Now, everyone in the Chaos Heavens are on tenterhooks.”

“I understand.”

Yi Yun took a deep breath and turned towards Lin Xintong and company. “I believe it’s time we leave…”

“Leave? But Yun’er, if the Sinkhole’s Ancestor God has really come to the Chaos Heavens, the present you is definitely not his match. You have already repressed his tracing mark, giving you the perfect opportunity to cultivate. If you focus on cultivation and reach the Godly Monarch level, that would be the most sound strategy despite it taking some time.

“When the time comes, you might be able to fight the Ancestor God in a frontal assault! Why are you risking your life leaving seclusion at this time?”

Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou felt that it was just too dangerous to leave.

Yi Yun said, “In a short span of a hundred years, such unforeseen circumstances have happened outside. The Ancestor God isn’t that easily dealt with and I have a nagging feeling that the Ancestor God is plotting something grand. And it is of utmost importance!

“If not, he would not risk losing decorum with the other races of the Chaos Heavens by attacking so many Godly Monarch level figures and unleashing the demonic servants to wreak havoc.

“If nothing is done, and we allow the Ancestor God to complete his plan, the situation might turn worse. Xintong, Sis Xiaorou, you might have absolute confidence in me, believing that I can fight the Ancestor God once I become a Godly Monarch, but in fact, that might not be true! Over the billions of years, only the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch has truly slain the Ancestor God. If I were to allow the Ancestor God to set his plans into full motion, perhaps the day I fight him would be fraught with grim possibilities!”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou exchanged looks. Indeed, Yi Yun’s repeated creation of miracles had given them undue confidence, as though he was capable of accomplishing anything.

But this time, the opponent was too powerful. Nothing in the past was comparable.

“Let’s exit seclusion and return to the ancient Heaven Fey first. All of you will hide in the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and are not to expose a sliver of your aura.”

Due to his oath on the Heavenly Dao, Yi Yun could not violate his agreement with the ancient Heaven Fey. But at that moment, it was likely that the ancient Heaven Fey had been infiltrated by the Celestials.

Returning to the ancient Heaven Fey was naturally dangerous.

“Alright. Yun-er, you have to be careful!”

As Lin Xintong and Jiang Xiaorou gave their warnings, they flew into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron.

With the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book and Ghost Ming’s disguise techniques, Yi Yun changed his looks and aura completely. With his present strength, perhaps only the Ancestor God in person could tell that something was amiss. No one else was capable of identifying him.

“All of you shall stay in this cave abode. You won’t be able to leave for now.”

Yi Yun opened up a pocket world and sealed his abandoned cave abode. Having slaughtered large numbers of demonic servants, he did not wish for the people of the Taiyue Nation to be discovered for it could easily expose his whereabouts.

The array formation would trap them for at least ten years. The crude ores in the walls could be considered compensation.

1679 - : Unforeseen Circumstances

A hundred years was sufficient to incur numerous changes to mortal cities, but to the Heaven Fey City, it was like a finger snap—even the city walls remained untainted despite all this time.

Everything looked identical to the moment before Yi Yun entered seclusion.

However, having cultivated to his present stage, Yi Yun was just too strong. His nomological insights were equal to the Heavenly Dao and he could acutely sense every change in the city.

Yi Yun noticed that the nomological patterns engraved in the city were different from a century ago.

The Heaven Fey City’s worldly array had been modified!

The Heaven Fey City had been established for billions of years. Its worldly array had existed equally long. For such an ancient and powerful array formation, any minor change had to be a result of something of great importance.

“If I didn’t guess wrong, the Ancestor God has already come to Heaven Fey City. He left something in the Heaven Fey City’s main array…” Yi Yun said to Bai Yueyin in his soul sea.

The people in control of Heaven Fey City’s main array were the two Fey Patriarchs, and this control was symbol as having the highest authority in Heaven Fey City.

And for the Ancestor God to enter Heaven Fey City, the most direct method was to leave a mark of his own in the array. That way, the Heaven Fey City’s array formation would be under his command.

“The Ancestor God’s strength has already become this strong? To make the two Fey Patriarchs endure this in silence…” Bai Yueyin’s heart turned heavy.

Yi Yun said, “The Heaven Fey City is important to the ancient Heaven Fey, but if… the Ancestor God clearly threatens the survival of the entire ancient Heaven Fey race, the two Fey Patriarchs can only bow.”

If the Ancestor God was powerful enough to easily kill the two Fey Patriarchs and kill a Fey Thearch with a mere thought, what would happen to the ancient Heaven Fey?

In a very short period of time, the Ancestor God would be able to wipe out all the upper echelons of the ancient Heaven Fey. Heaven Fey City would then come under Celestial control without any leadership. They would be akin to a piece of meat to the Celestials, one that could be eaten at any time.

And once the Celestials was sick with it, draining the ancient Heaven Fey dry, they could abandon them without thought. The remaining factions in the Chaos Heavens would then split the ancient Heaven Fey like hyenas. Having lost their race’s upper echelons, the ancient Heaven Fey would be completely vulnerable.

There was only one outcome left for them—annihilation.

Compared to being annihilated, handing over some control of Heaven Fey City to the Ancestor God was nothing.

Therefore, strength was supreme in the Chaos Heavens. One could do anything with strength.

“Yi Yun, if the Heaven Fey City is under Celestial control, there’s likely a trap awaiting you,” Bai Yueyin said via a voice transmission.

Yi Yun also guessed of this possibility. However, he had sworn on the Heavenly Dao through a contract with the ancient Heaven Fey. He had to deliver the Myriad Form Shura Pills to the ancient Heaven Fey, or he would suffer damage to his Dao heart.

But this matter did not daunt Yi Yun. He still had many means of delivering the Myriad Form Shura Pills to the ancient Heaven Fey. For instance, he could disguise himself, enter the biggest security company, and commission them to deliver it into the Ruins Emperor Palace at high cost. No matter how resourceful and powerful the Celestials were, there was no way they could find him.

As Yi Yun was considering his options, he chanced upon a notice on the Heaven Fey City’s walls.

The notice looked somewhat aged and its content roughly depicted an incident—

As the ancient Heaven Fey’s Blood King had betrayed the race, Punishment of Extreme Hell had been meted out on him. He is currently serving his punishment.

The notice was dated fifteen years ago.

For a notice to be left there for fifteen years, it was obvious that it was displayed for others to see, or in other words, for Yi Yun.

Punishment of Extreme Hell!

What kind of punishment was that?

Yi Yun’s heart sank. His relationship with the Blood King wasn’t considered close, but he was Jiang Xiaorou’s father and also one of the most important people in Jiang Xiaorou’s life.

As for Jiang Xiaorou, she was one of the most important people to Yi Yun.

If Jiang Xiaorou were to learn that the Blood King was suffering the Punishment of Extreme Hell, how would she feel?

Ignorance is bliss, but now that Yi Yun learned of the news, he could no longer sit idle, nor could he keep it from Jiang Xiaorou.

When Yi Yun sent a voice transmission into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, Jiang Xiaorou’s face turned pale upon learning the news.

The outcome of the Punishment of Extreme Hell was uncertain.

If one was punished for months, it would just be a painful torture.

But if the punishment lasted years, or more than a decade, it would be one of the worst death punishments. It was one of the most extreme punishments of the ancient Heaven Fey.

And now, this notice was from fifteen years ago. Didn’t it mean that the Blood King’s Punishment of Extreme Hell had begun fifteen years ago?

Fifteen years!

The notice had vaguely mentioned the Punishment of Extreme Hell without any mention of time. However, Jiang Xiaorou knew that the Punishment of Extreme Hell would last until her father’s vitality was completely worn out!

Ever since the Heaven Fey City was established, the Punishment of Extreme Hell was very seldomly used on their own Fey Thearchs. But because of her, her father had suffered this punishment.

What about her mother? What happened to her mother?

Instantly, Jiang Xiaorou’s heart palpitated. Her father was a Fey Thearch and capable of withstanding torture. However, her mother lacked the strength to suffer any heavy punishments.

Jiang Xiaorou was griped by anxiety, but she did not say what was on her mind. She also understood that all of this was caused by Yi Yun, but with his present strength, he was no match for the Ancestor God. To make Yi Yun rescue her parents would be akin to pushing him to the edge of a cliff.

“Sis Xiaorou, don’t worry. This matter might not be as bad as you imagine…”

Yi Yun projected an avatar into the Ascending Dragon Cauldron and appeared before Jiang Xiaorou.

“Yun’er, I do not know what to do” Jiang Xiaorou did not wish for Yi Yun to worry, but she could not stop her tears from flowing. She hated herself for being too weak. There was nothing she could do.

Yi Yun said, “Although I haven’t had much interactions with the Ancestor God, I can sense that he’s a cold person who thinks little of life. He wishes to have the universe in his grasp and is very ambitious. Such a person does deserve being called god.

“With the Ancestor God’s status and strength, I find it hard to believe that he will torture and imprison someone who’s not very related to me to force my appearance. As he stands at such a lofty position, you can say that he disdains pulling such petty tricks. You can also say that he projects his coldness onto others. Regardless, do you think that if someone was enjoying the same status as I am, would they care about the Blood King?”

“Yun’er, do you mean…” Jiang Xiaorou was slightly taken aback. On careful thought, Yi Yun’s position was indeed sufficiently high. To others, Fey Thearchs were impressive figures, but they were not necessarily so to Yi Yun.

At Yi Yun’s level—ignoring the Ancestor God—even the two patriarchs of Heaven Fey City would not be easily threatened by one or two lives. What’s more, these lives did not have much of a relationship with them.

Yi Yun said, “I feel that the person who targeted Blood King is someone else!”

Previously, the Taiyue Nation’s royalty had mentioned that the Ancestor God was plotting something major. Under such circumstances, would he have the time or effort to handle such trivialities?

1680 - : Punishment of Extreme Hell

Clouds hung low in the crimson sky as though it would unload its burgeoning load at any time. The land was covered with jagged boulders which were covered with layers of gray powder.

The powder was a result of years of weathering after the crumbling of bones.

In the middle of this world was a marsh. Instead of mud, the marsh was filled with sticky liquid that resembled flesh and blood.

This was where the Punishment of Extreme Hell was. It was filled with the aura of evil, decay, savagery, and death.

In ancient times, before the Heaven Fey City was established, the land where it was located was a terrifying forbidden zone, known as the No Return For Thearchs. This was because even Fey Thearchs would perish upon entering.

And such a forbidden zone had been conquered by a peerless Fey expert, resulting in the establishment of Heaven Fey City.

But no matter how powerful the peerless expert was, he failed to completely purify the evil and dark entities in the forbidden zone. He finally cast a powerful divine power, carved out an independent space beneath Heaven Fey City, and sealed all of them inside.

This was the underground Extreme Hell.

After billions of years, the various evil powers in the Extreme Hell was weakened, but they still existed.

The Punishment of Extreme Hell was to seal the punishee within the blood prison and use their lifeblood as a sacrifice to the evil demons within.

Typically, warriors beneath the level of a Fey Lord were only qualified to be sealed in the periphery of the Extreme Hell.

Only Fey Thearchs were sealed in the middle where the marsh of blood and flesh was.

At that moment, there was a man situated in the middle of the marsh. More than half his body, all the way to his chest was buried beneath the marsh.

He was none other than the Blood King.

Compared to the day when Yi Yun transcended the tribulations, Blood King looked a lot more haggard. He was nothing but skin and bones, and his body was covered in wounds. The sinister objects within the Extreme Hell marsh were like maggots which formed countless threads that bonded to Blood King’s wounds and sucked at his lifeblood powers.

Such pain went deep into the body and soul, making it a pain more intensive than that of being dismembered.

However, Blood King kept his eyes tightly shut. He slept in the marsh and showed no reaction.

He was still alive and despite the torture, the lifeblood in him remained potent and exuberant.

It was truly incredible that he was still in such a state despite enduring for fifteen years.

“As expected of someone who cultivates in the Indestructible Killing Dao. Apparently, he suits this place well.”

At that moment, three additional figures suddenly appeared in the blood prison.

The person in the middle was tens of feet tall and appeared like a tower. His body suffused a bronze glow and he carried a gigantic black battle ax on his back which burned with a red sanguine glow. The banal aura was domineering!

He was a Celestial expert!

If Yi Yun was here, he would have recognized him immediately. The Celestial expert was Divine General Sanguine Ax whom he had met in the Xuanyuan Dune!

Back when Yi Yun fought Sanguine Ax in the Xuanyuan Dune, he had completely repressed him and siphoned off a portion of his Divine Blood Origins.

The Divine Blood Origins of Celestials were extremely valuable, to which replenishment was just too difficult. To Sanguine Ax, it was definitely an irreconcilable grudge.

However, knowing that he was not Yi Yun’s match, Sanguine Ax had tolerated it back then.

Not only so, he had even torn open space to escape!

Having had his Divine Blood Origins siphoned, all he could do was flee. This was utterly insulting to Sanguine Ax.

Furthermore, Yi Yun had snatched his opportunity from him in the Xuanyuan Dune. If a ranking of living people who hated Yi Yun the most was tabulated, the person that came up on top was definitely Divine General Sanguine Ax.

Sanguine Ax’s attempt to monopolize the Heavenly Dao fragment for himself was a grave sin, but as he had some familial relationship with the Ancestor God, he was pardoned.

Not only so, he had even replenished the Divine Blood Origins which Yi Yun had siphoned off. His cultivation level and bloodline improved and it could be said that he had soared into prominence.

Having returned, the Ancestor God was focused on executing his plans. Sanguine Ax was servile to him and specially did “chores” for the Ancestor God.

Of course, these so-called “chores” were astounding matters to the ordinary person.

For instance, annihilating more than a hundred factions of different races—one that included the Taiyue Nation.

Another “chore” was to deal with the Blood King!

A large part of the reason why Sanguine Ax had done so was to breed demonic servants.

The Ancestor God’s plan needed many demonic servants. As for the dissociation and growth of demonic servants, they all needed sustenance. The stronger the warrior, the greater sustenance they provided.

Previously, when factions like the Taiyue Nation fell, most of its citizens were devoured by demonic servants.

Such matters naturally incurred the displeasure of various races.

Fey Thearchs had resisted, but their outcomes… were tragic without exception.

The Blood King was one of them.

Back then, one of the Fey tribes under the Blood King was vanquished by the demonic servants—the tribesmen were all eaten.

The Blood King took action and killed large numbers of demonic servants and this infuriated the Celestials.

The Blood King was not worthy enough for the Ancestor God to take action. What truly repressed the Blood King was a Ancestor God Token!

The Ancestor God had created twelve Ancestor God Tokens. Each token had one of his lifeblood avatars sealed within.

These Ancestor God Tokens were distributed to loyal subordinates. And someone like Divine General Sanguine Ax helmed control over an Ancestor God Token.

Blood King was completely no match for the Ancestor God’s lifeblood avatar. After an intense battle, Blood King was crushed and suffered an abject defeat.

He fell into the hands of Sanguine Ax and as Sanguine Ax’s hared for Yi Yun went deep, he was eager to torture anyone related to Yi Yun.

Therefore, Blood King was banished into the Extreme Hell and suffered the daily turmoil of having his soul devoured and his bones ground.

Sanguine Ax wished to see how long Blood King could last. When the time came, he would feed his remains and lifeblood to demonic generals.

Meanwhile, the notice regarding the Blood King’s Punishment of Extreme Hell was plastered on the city walls by Sanguine Ax. In the event the retarded Yi Yun had the foolish idea of trying to rescue Blood King, he would have rendered a great service to the Ancestor God.

“He who understands the times is a wise man. The Blood King deserves such a state for being impenetrably thickheaded.”

Of the two people by Sanguine Ax’s side, one was a demonic general, while the other was a Fey Thearch from the ancient Heaven Fey. He was none other than the Heaven Fey Relic Pagoda’s Pagoda Lord, Jiang Lichen.

Jiang Lichen was the best alchemist in Heaven Fey City, and as such, always wished to obtain Yi Yun’s secret to alchemy. However, Yi Yun was just too powerful and he was not his match at all. Therefore, he could only rein in his ambitions.

Later, the Ancestor God appeared, showcasing strength tens of times or even a hundred times stronger than Yi Yun’s.

Worst of all, the Ancestor God knew of a tracing mark that could be planted with a mere thought of his. There was no way of escaping the mark.

Later on, regardless of where one were, the Ancestor God would be able to find them.

If one had thoughts of rebellion, the Ancestor God could easily destroy them, for there was nowhere to run.

Jiang Lichen had such a tracing mark planted in him; therefore, he had no choice but to submit to the Ancestor God. He decided that he might as well pledge absolute allegiance to the Ancestor God because perhaps by doing so, he could obtain Yi Yun’s alchemical secrets before he was annihilated by the Ancestor God.

1681 - : Soul-devouring Bone Grinding

CKtalon  CKtalon

Unbeknown to the conversing Jiang Lichen and Sanguine Ax, a perception had already projected into this independent world.

With Yi Yun’s present realm and nomological insight, there was no independent space he could not find.

Yi Yun naturally saw the Blood King and even into the inside of his body, where he was surprised to sense an inchoate demonic servant.

The inchoate demonic servant was still in gestation while it siphoned the Blood King’s powers.

The demonic servant’s bloodline was extremely powerful. If it devoured the Blood King before completing its gestation, it would probably possess strength at the Fey Thearch level.

Had the Celestials become that overbearing? To use a Godly Monarch level figure of another race to gestate a demonic servant?

“Yi Yun, the Blood King has been sealed within the array formation. Furthermore, there are restraints on him. The moment you touch the Blood King, you will immediately trigger the array formation. Furthermore, the Ancestor God will be informed.”

The Blood King was a trap which Sanguine Ax had set up in wait for Yi Yun.

However, Yi Yun thought nothing of it as he said, “No, the only person that I’m afraid of in the Chaos Heavens is the Ancestor God. This array formation was not set up by the Ancestor God after all. The person who is really torturing the Blood King is Sanguine Ax and this array formation is likely a product of the Celestial heritage.

Yi Yun’s guess was right. The array formation in the Extreme Hell was indeed an ancient demon suppression array Sanguine Ax had taken from the Celestials.

From Sanguine Ax’s point of view, this array was extremely impressive. The land of Celestial heritage was only an enhanced version of the same demon suppression array.

Even if the demon suppression array was unable to suppress Yi Yun, it had to be able to trap him for a moment. That was enough time for him to inform the Ancestor God of Yi Yun’s appearance.

Yi Yun silently probed the demon suppression array in the Extreme Hell.

As he stood at the height of the Heavenly Dao, nothing could hide from him. Slowly, Yi Yun could see through everything within the array formation.

The corners of his lips suffused a sliver of killing intent. “I’m increasingly certain of my previous guess. The Ancestor God is plotting something. As for the other upper echelons of the Celestials… They believe me to be prey, but I’m actually the hunter!”

As Yi Yun spoke, he gently waved his hand. The surrounding nomological space instantly changed. He tore open a brand new space out of the Extreme Hell.

At that moment, Sanguine Ax was still conversing with Jiang Lichen when they suddenly felt the scene around them change. It left them alarmed!

The flesh-and-blood marsh vanished, as well as the boulders covered in thick bone powdered. They were standing in a pitch dark space and standing before them was a single person!

Even Sanguine Ax and Jiang Lichen were unable to react in time towards such a sudden unexpected change. With their strength, how could they be transported by someone else without them realizing it?

“You… You are Yi Yun!?”

Sanguine Ax widened his eyes as his heart palpitated.

How was it possible? There was a trap laid in the Extreme Hell; yet, Yi Yun had abducted both them both as though it was an unguarded space. Had the demon suppressing array lost its effect?

Sanguine Ax believed that he already had a high estimate of Yi Yun, but he never expected him to reach such a powerful state. It was completely unreasonable.

With a thought, a token appeared in his hand.

This was the Ancestor God Token, and sealed within was one of the Ancestor God’s spiritual avatars.

As long as the spiritual avatar was activated, the Ancestor God would immediately sense the area. When that happened, Yi Yun was doomed.

However, the moment the Ancestor God Token was taken out, Sanguine Ax suddenly felt a crushing pressure extend towards him. Purple lightning and black flames were conjured out of thin air and bore into Sanguine Ax’s body like venomous snakes.

The lightning and flames permeated every inch of his flesh and went deep into his meridians.

“Pa! Pa! Pa!”

Sanguine Ax’s body resisted vehemently, but the strength of the lightning and fire was just too potent. It instantly obliterated the divine strength within Sanguine Ax’s body.

At that moment, he felt that just a slight motion would cause the terrifying powers within his body to explode and turn him to ash.

Instantly, Sanguine Ax broke out into cold sweat.

He had planned on using the demon suppression array to stall Yi Yun while he activated the Ancestor God Token, but in fact, the demon suppression array was completely useless as it was instantly taken down.

Despite being a high and mighty divine general, he wasn’t even able to trigger the Ancestor God Token in time.

The difference in strength left him in despair.

“Sanguine Ax, you were not my match a hundred years ago in the Xuanyuan Dune, much less now…”

As Yi Yun spoke, he walked towards Sanguine Ax and under his intense gaze, casually took away the Ancestor God Token.

And standing beside Sanguine Ax, Jiang Lichen’s hands were clammy with sweat. Logically speaking, Yi Yun’s strength should have reached a bottleneck if he did not break through to the Godly Monarch realm. Although his strength might be slightly higher than a hundred years ago, it wouldn’t be that obvious.

But now, Yi Yun’s strength was a lot higher than back when he slew the Luo King.

The root of the problem was that Yi Yun’s cultivation level had risen too quickly previously. It did not have the time to consolidate.

After a hundred years, Yi Yun spared no cost to expend all the resources the Luo King and Ghost Doctor had left behind. Together with the Myriad Form Shura Pills, it made his foundation extremely robust. He was then able to fully express his nomological insights and lifeblood powers.

With the Ancestor God Token in hand, Yi Yun sensed the terrifying aura contained within it without any probing.

If Sanguine Ax had triggered the token, things would have been troublesome.

He casually produced a seal and sealed the Ancestor God Token.

Immediately following that, Yi Yun suddenly appeared in front of Sanguine Ax and threw out a punch.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Yi Yun’s fists rained down on Sanguine Ax’s body, and each punch shattered his bones as his body ruptured with sprays of blood.

In just an instant, Sanguine Ax was covered in blood. The core divine patterns in his body had been brutally destroyed by Yi Yun.

Sanguine Ax spat out large mouthfuls of dark golden blood as his massive body flew backward and crashed heavily into the ground.

At that instant, Sanguine Ax was ashen. He knew that his divine body had been crippled by Yi Yun.

“You managed to escape back in the Xuanyuan Dune. You would have been fine if you had stayed hidden. Yet, you had to court death by returning. In that case, let me gather some information regarding the Ancestor God from you.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he pressed down at Sanguine Ax’s glabella with one hand as mental powers surged into his head like a tide.

Sanguine Ax’s body quivered as his soul sea felt excruciating pain.

His soul was being searched by Yi Yun.

If he were a human or Fey warrior, such a violent way of soul searching would have scattered his soul. However, the Celestials were abnormally talented, allowing him to withstand the soul search.

As such, Yi Yun was able to easily read all his memories regarding the Ancestor God.

1682 - : Soul Search

CKtalon  CKtalon

After searching Sanguine Ax’s soul, Yi Yun obtained a lot of information regarding the Ancestor God’s recent actions. With that, along with his own conjectures, he finally guessed at the ploy the Ancestor God was planning.

This was something that shook Yi Yun both in body and mind.

If he did not guess wrong, the Ancestor God’s final goal was to devour the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao!

The rank of the Chaos Heavens was much higher than the Sinkhole’s!

As such, the Heavenly Dao forces in the Chaos Heavens far exceeded the Sinkhole’s.

If it were the former Ancestor God, he would be completely powerless when faced with the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao, but now, having refined the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao for himself, he now possessed the strength to do so!

Once he refined the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao for himself, what kind of cultivation level would the Ancestor God attain?

It was completely unimaginable!

No matter how much of a genius Yi Yun was, what could he do against an Ancestor God who mastered the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao?

If the Chaos Heavens itself was under the Ancestor God’s control, how was Yi Yun to defeat him in it? Was it even possible?

It could be said that when that happened, the entire Chaos Heavens would be the Ancestor God’s territory.

The Ancestor God could fuse with the Chaos Heavens and with a flip of his hand summon the elements. He would be heaven and person combined, completely unassailable!

As for Yi Yun, obtaining even a sliver of strength from the Chaos Heavens would become impossibly difficult. Not only would he have to face the Ancestor God, he would be facing the rejection of the entire Chaos Heavens.

Under such circumstances, Yi Yun might even be instantly killed!

Bai Yueyin said, “Yi Yun, if your guess is right, the Ancestor God has gone through destruction to reestablish himself. It’s like gaining a new lease on life. His strength is already completely incomparable to what it was in that ancient battle a billion years ago. Back then, it hadn’t been easy for him to devour the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao which gave us the opportunity to attack him.

“From the looks of it, the Ancestor God did not spend much effort hunting for you because of his more important goal. He now has enough strength to make the various factions in the Chaos Heavens submit to him. No one can stop him, which is why you aren’t within the Ancestor God’s sights.”

Yi Yun nodded. He was indeed somewhat lacking when stacked against the Ancestor God’s supreme goal.

“We can talk about this later. I’ll first rescue the Blood King.”

Yi Yun flew up and instantly, he appeared in the middle of the Extreme Hell.

At that moment, the Blood King’s eyes were tightly shut as his body was buried deep inside the blood marsh. Even his breathing had come to a halt.

If not for his still potent lifeblood powers, he would look no different from a corpse.

“Senior Blood King, I’m here to save you.”

With a beckon, Yi Yun pulled the Blood King out of the marsh.

As for the array formation, Yi Yun had long cracked it.

With a flick of his finger, a pill flew into the Blood King’s mouth. It was none other than a Myriad Form Shura Pill!

Yi Yun still had several Myriad Form Shura Pills left. Due to his Heavenly Dao oath, he could not touch the Myriad Form Shura Pills reserved for the ancient Heaven Fey, but he still had a few reserved for the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm.

Yi Yun could temporarily use these few pills to help the Blood King.

The moment the Myriad Form Shura Pill entered his body, their essence immediately fused into his Heaven Fey bloodline.

Simultaneously, with a thought, the Azure Wood Divine Tree appeared behind Yi Yun. Emerald-green vines flew into the Blood King’s body as they burrowed deep into his meridians.

At that moment, a tragic scream suddenly sounded from within Blood King’s body. It was akin to the wail of evil demons being tortured.

Moments later, the Azure Wood Divine Tree retracted all the vines from the Blood King’s body. At the end of the vines were blobs of black flesh and blood.

“Zhi! Zhi! Zhi!”

The black flesh and blood struggled and squirmed in an extremely ferocious manner. It was the demonic general embryo that had been planted inside the Blood King’s body.

This embryo was considered royalty among the demonic servants; otherwise, it would not have the right or strength to devour a Fey Thearch’s lifeblood.

It sensed the danger as its black flesh squirmed. Hidden in it was a mouth lined with two rows of sharp teeth.

It roared at Yi Yun who simply sneered and said indifferently, “Eat it!”

“Puah!”

The flesh and blood was instantly torn apart by the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s numerous vines. Black blood scattered and was completely absorbed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree, leaving not one bit left.

With that, the demonic general embryo perished and became nutrients for the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

After obtaining the nourishment of such a high-ranking demonic general embryo, the Azure Wood Divine Tree enjoyed a rise in strength.

“I’m…” Following that, a frail voice sounded as Blood King opened his eyes. The medicinal essence of the Myriad Form Shura Pill in him had melted, igniting his lifeblood and turning him into a burning cauldron.

His strength was slowly recovering.

“Father!” Jiang Xiaorou jumped into the Blood King’s embrace. Filled with worry, she asked, “Where’s Mother?”

“Your mother is in my mobile abode.”

Jiang Xiaorou heaved a long-awaited sigh of relief. Her heart had shrank when she saw only her father. She was afraid to hear that her mother was gone.

By storing her mother in his mobile abode, it was apparent that the Blood King was prepared to die with her. To his surprise, Yi Yun had rescued them from such a perilous situation.

This was something that left him greatly indebted.

“Young Brother Yi, no words can adequately express my gratitude for your help. In the future, this life of mine is yours.”

“Senior, don’t say that. Besides, your suffering of the Punishment of Extreme Hell is partially because of me. Furthermore, it’s not time to talk about these…”

As Yi Yun spoke, he recounted the experience of the soul search…

“Devour the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao!?”

Blood King was alarmed upon hearing that. “Even the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao can be devoured?”

Yi Yun said, “That’s likely the case. According to Sanguine Ax’s memories, the patriarchs of various major factions have been found and planted with tracking marks by the Ancestor God. Now, all of them are setting up a massive array of immense proportions. It’s likely the final preparation before the Ancestor God devours the Heavenly Dao. He had set it up decades ago…”

Bai Yueyin said, “This situation is identical to the one a billion years ago. Back then, the Ancestor God had set up a massive array in the Sinkhole. If the present situation is similar to that of the past, the Ancestor God himself is presiding in the middle of the array to watch over everything.

“With the Ancestor God presiding and guarding the array himself, it will be nearly impossible for us to destroy it.”

Yi Yun nodded. “Even so, there are benefits to having the Ancestor God preside over the array formation himself. That way, he will not be able to divert strength elsewhere. It would result in our actions in the Chaos Heavens going unnoticed for a while…”

“Oh? You have a plan?” The Blood King was taken aback. With his inconsequential strength, it was already difficult to ensure self-preservation, much less threaten the Ancestor God.

Yi Yun shook his head. “All I can say is we take a step at a time. Our situation isn’t that terrible yet. Although the difference in strength appears stark, the Ancestor God’s strength hasn’t been consolidated. He forcefully made the various Chaos Heavens factions submit to him and made Godly Monarch level figures serve him, and even fed large numbers of clansmen to the demonic servants. Such actions will definitely incur the displeasure of various major factions.”

“The Ancestor God has several cooperating factors that he is exploiting, but he lacks the cooperation of the people. We might be able to use this…”

As Yi Yun spoke, he clenched his fists lightly. With the situation developing to this point, he could only take a risk.

1683 - : The Ancestor God’s Ploy

CKtalon  CKtalon

Situated inside a huge floating palace were golden mats. Each mat was five meters in diameter, as large as a wrestling ring.

These were mats that were typically used by Celestials.

But now, sitting on these mats were experts from different races.

There were both men and woman, and they came from the Soul race, the Fey race, and the human race. Gathered together, the energy fluctuations they emitted even caused the laws to quake.

These people were all Godly Monarch level experts. And among these Godly Monarchs, many of them were peak existences. A few of them were already at the patriarch level.

The two patriarchs of the Fey race were also among them.

Having this group of people gathered together could be described as having the strongest powers of the Chaos Heavens concentrated here. Any decision they made could determine the fate of the Chaos Heavens.

But now… all of them had heavy hearts as a dark cloud hung over their heads.

Every one of them was planted with the Ancestor God’s tracing mark.

Many of them didn’t even know when the Ancestor God had planted the mark in them. As for these marks, they were unable to do anything about them.

Decades ago, the Ancestor God had appeared in front of all of them. Back then, he already possessed the power of the Heavenly Dao. It prevented people from having any thoughts of resistance.

However, when the Ancestor God revealed his ambition—to rule over the entire Chaos Heavens—there were people who stood forward to resist him.

It was not only the Blood King. There were many from other races, but it was because of their resistance that threw the others into despair. With a mere thought, the Ancestor God subdued the resistance.

The Godly Monarchs who resisted were all made into vessels to nurture demonic servants. Now, all of them were living lives worse than death.

In a way, the Chaos Heavens had turned into a land of wailing and despair.

The strength of the Ancestor God had clearly exceeded the peerless Fey Ancestor from billions of years ago. Only Human Emperor who appeared later could beat him.

People felt grateful to the Human Emperor when contrasting him to the Ancestor God. If the Human Emperor had ruled by oppression, Godly Monarchs of that era would have to live their lives with their tails between their legs. They would be no different from slaves.

The greatest fear in a martial world was the appearance of an expert that tipped the balance. In front of such people, all rules became invalid. If the expert turned extremely ambitious, the entire Chaos Heavens would end up in peril.

“Another ten years have passed… We finally completed it in the time given…” a male human said with a sigh.

He was a human patriarch—Polar Thearch. The return of the Ancestor God spelled trouble for the various patriarchs immediately.

“According to the Ancestor God’s instructions, we have set up the first two levels of the array formation. Every level takes ten years. Now, it’s time we obtain the equipment needed for the third level’s array formation, such as array flags and disk arrays…” Patriarch Grand Primordium from the Fey race said.

His voice sounded helpless. They had gathered here in the Celestial Palace to report on the completion of their mission and to receive a new one.

They did various things for the Ancestor God, but every mission they completed felt like they were only digging their own graves.

“What do you think the purpose of such a large-scaled worldly array is?” a female Soul Patriarch suddenly asked.

She was Wind Empress.

Her question caused everyone’s hearts to palpitate.

The Ancestor God had set up the array for more than twenty years. They had naturally investigated the ultimate goal the Ancestor God had.

Everyone present was knowledgeable. With the passage of time, many people had some guesses.

However, this guess was just too astonishing. They did not even wish to consider the problem and even subconsciously tried to avoid it.

Now that the array was beginning its third stage, they could no longer ignore the question when Wind Empress raised it.

“At the Ancestor God’s level, nothing matters to him. What he wants is likely the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao, right?”

This was said via voice transmission by Polar Thearch. They were in a Celestial palace after all.

“After the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao is devoured by the Ancestor God, our strength will likely decline sharply…”

“It will be weakened by at least thirty percent. The power of the Heavenly Dao would no longer be usable by us. When that happens, the Chaos Heavens will become the private domain of the Ancestor God. Resistance would be even more impossible…

“Furthermore, in time to come, it will become even harder to break through to the Godly Monarch realm in the Chaos Heavens. Perhaps, many geniuses will be stuck at the Godly Monarch bottleneck, never to improve. Even if they were lucky to break through to the Godly Monarch realm, they would not be as strong as the Godly Monarchs of the past. Furthermore, every time they take action, they would have to pay a non-negligible price for not being able to borrow the powers of the Heavenly Dao.”

The person who spoke was War Excellency Sky Punishment, another human patriarch. He had described the situation that the Sinkhole was presently experiencing.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao was chipped. It caused the Godly Monarchs to become rare occurrences in the Sinkhole. Even if they broke through, the cost of taking action was just too high. As such, many Godly Monarchs chose to recluse themselves.

The martial path of the Sinkhole had basically been castrated by the Ancestor God.

Now, the Chaos Heavens was on the same path, and this was an outcome no Godly Monarch wished to see.

If that happened, the Chaos Heavens would slowly decline, never to return to its former glory.

Polar Thearch interlocked his fingers and held it to his forehead. He said with a heavy voice, “We cannot let this continue. When the array is completed, we would become sinners in the history of the Chaos Heavens.”

Everyone fell silent before Wind Empress shook her head. “Polar, it’s easier said than done. How can we fight back? You should know that the Ancestor God can set up the array even without us. It will just take him more time and effort. Do you think we can really stop him?”

“Besides, if we were to resist, we could all be wiped out by the Ancestor God. When that happens, the demonic servant seeds he planted in our bodies would gestate into a bunch of high-ranking demonic generals. These things would be more obedient than us and fully capable of setting up the array for the Ancestor God…”

Wind Empress sighed as she spoke. It was a long sigh and what she said made everyone feel despair.

Resistance was futile. Their continued survival was only granted by the Ancestor God. Such a life was an abject existence. What was the point of reaching their present heights from all that cultivation?

“How would we know failure is certain if we don’t try? If we can also find an ancient array formation, we can combine all the strength of the Godly Monarch level experts in the Chaos Heavens as one, and we might be able to deal a severe blow on the Ancestor God.” Polar Thearch insisted, but he knew very well that having all the Godly Monarch level figures in the Chaos Heavens join forces was easier said than done.

The number of Godly Monarch level figures who were planted with tracing marks were the minority. Many of them did not wish to be embroiled in the maelstrom.

With so many Godly Monarch level figures, it was difficult for there to be an unity. Besides, the most critical point was that any one of them could betray them to exchange for opportunities bestowed by the Ancestor God.

As long as there was a single betrayer, they were doomed.

The Godly Monarchs were discussing over voice transmissions when an indescribable oppression dawned on them. It left them stifled as they looked up. They saw an extensive red flame that appeared out of thin air and gradually, it manifested into the form of a gigantic man…

1684 - : Ignoring The Rules

CKtalon  CKtalon

Ancestor God!

Everyone’s hearts skipped a beat when they saw the man appear out of thin air. They felt a shudder down their backs.

This was actually not the Ancestor God in person, only a mental projection. He had the ability to project his mental form anywhere that had his tracing mark.

Everyone stood up and faced the Ancestor God’s mental projection. They felt a suppression on a spiritual level.

Silence…

Although the Ancestor God did not speak, everyone felt immense pressure. It felt as though the air had solidified due to the pressure, making it difficult to breathe.

Everyone was feeling uneasy due to the fact that they were just discussing resisting the Ancestor God via voice transmission.

The silence that could drive people crazy lasted for a full fifteen minutes until… the Ancestor God spoke. His voice was deep and full as it went straight into the soul.

“The third stage of the array needs to be completed in ten years!”

As he spoke, his gaze locked onto Polar Thearch.

Polar Thearch felt his heart quake when their gaze met. His soul sea trembled for the Ancestor God’s gaze seemed to penetrate his soul sea defenses and go straight into the core of his soul!

“I’ll be borrowing a few of your disciples,” said Ancestor God slowly.

“What!?” Polar’s heart tightened. He immediately wished to refuse, but at that moment, a powerful nomological force swept over the entire space and closed in around him. He found his body instantly restrained and following that, he felt a spatial attack. Two young Godly Monarchs from his faction who stood behind him were instantly devoured by space!

In just an instant, two young Godly Monarchs had vanished from Polar’s perception.

Polar felt his heart gripped tightly as he could only feel stifled.

The two young Godly Monarchs were juniors Polar thought most highly of. If not for the Ancestor God’s planting of a tracing mark in them, he would never have let them participate in the setup of the array.

Now that they had been sealed in an alternate space-time dimension by the Ancestor God, their outcome was a mystery…

This was a warning and a threat from the Ancestor God!

Although the Ancestor God was unable to listen in on the Yuan Qi voice transmissions among the Godly Monarchs, he could delve deep into their souls and sense the hatred they had.

He was soon finishing his seclusion to complete the final stage of the array. At this moment, he would be somewhat spread thin, so he could not allow for any mishaps to happen to the array.

If these Godly Monarchs began a mutiny and destroyed his array, he could kill them all, but venting his anger would be meaningless. All his time and effort would be wasted. He would have to regather the array materials wasted, and this was easier said than done.

The Ancestor God left, leaving behind a spatial bracer.

All the materials needed for the array, and the jade slips which contained the array setup instructions were stored in the spatial bracer.

Polar picked up the spatial bracer with an extremely mixed expression.

He had no idea if his two disciples would be able to keep their lives, but it was a possibility if he diligently finished the third stage of the array within ten years.

But when that happened, the Ancestor God would devour the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao.

It was a bitter pill…

Many people had such a feeling and felt that they needed to do something.

“Say, what stage do you think Yi Yun will cultivate to? Will he be able to match the Human Emperor of the past?” War Excellency Sky Punishment suddenly commented.

Everyone was taken aback hearing that.

Yi Yun… This name had already vanished for a hundred years. To the Chaos Heavens, a hundred years was like a fingersnap.

But in these hundred years, too many things had happened. It made people feel as if Yi Yun had vanished for a long time.

“Sky Punishment, don’t tell me you are counting on Yi Yun to fight off the Ancestor God?” Polar shook his head. Back when the Ancestor God suddenly appeared, many people did have such a thought, especially the humans. They treated Yi Yun as their hope.

However, when the Ancestor God’s motives were made known, everyone felt a little despair.

If the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao wasn’t devoured by the Ancestor God, Yi Yun might really be able to compare with the Human Emperor from the past. Unfortunately, the Ancestor God could not give Yi Yun the chance to develop his strength.

After the Ancestor God fused with the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao, even Yi Yun’s breakthrough to the Godly Monarch realm would be obstructed. Although he might be able to eventually break through, he wouldn’t be able to demonstrate the strength of a Godly Monarch in the Chaos Heavens.

As for the Ancestor God, his strength would become unassailable. For Yi Yun to attempt matching the Ancestor God, it was no different from pitting an egg against a stone.

“What a pity. If Yi Yun had been born ten thousand years earlier, perhaps the Ancestor God would not be his match now.”

Polar sighed and did not think about it further. He had heard that Yi Yun was not a local of the Chaos Heavens and it was likely he would ultimately leave the Chaos Heavens and return to his original world. However… he still needed to deal with the pursuit of the Ancestor God.

“Let’s set up the array.”

Polar waved his hand and took the spatial bracer. He distributed the materials according to the information contained in the jade slip.

After which, Polar and Sky Punishment left together.

They came from the same human faction, a faction known as the Heavenly Courts.

It was also the leader of all the human factions.

In fact, in the Chaos Heavens, many races had an absolutely powerful faction leading them. These factions gathered the strongest experts of the race.

These super factions would take the initiative to absorb these top experts into them by providing very generous conditions. Because only by doing so would they be able to find their place in the Chaos Heavens. It allowed all the top experts to be cohesive so as to achieve balance with the other races.

The headquarters of the Heavenly Courts were situated in the Heavenly Palace. Like Heaven Fey City, the Heavenly Palace held down a wide distribution of spirit veins and the Heavenly Palace was situated in the middle of the spirit veins.

The richness of the Yuan Qi there was in no way inferior to that of Heaven Fey City.

Polar Thearch and War Excellency Sky Punishment returned to Heaven Fey City with ashen expressions. They had brought more than ten disciples along with them to the Ancestor God’s palace, but returned with two missing. It was embarrassing that they could not even protect their own disciples.

“Patriarch is back.”

The moment Polar and Sky Punishment entered the Heavenly Palace, many human experts came to receive them. In recent years, the humans had fallen completely under the control of the Celestials. To have so many people head to the Ancestor God’s palace left humanity on tenterhooks, afraid that something would happen.

“Sigh…” Polar sighed when he saw the welcoming crowd.

When the crowd saw the duo’s expression, they felt something amiss, as if…

“Patriarch… Where’s… Where’s my father? Why isn’t he with you?”

A weak girl’s voice sounded. It was a girl who looked sixteen. She was dressed in an aqua-green dress and looked pure and adorable.

Her pretty raven-black eyes were seeking her father’s figure among the crowd, but she failed to find him…

Furthermore, she could not sense her father’s aura at all.

Connecting it to Polar’s ashen expression, the girl already found it ominous…

Upon seeing the girl, Polar felt ambivalent. This was his disciple’s only daughter, a princess who was beloved by the Heavenly Courts. Even Polar himself liked her a lot.

All he could do was to speak the truth. “Your father… was made to stay in the Ancestor God’s palace. He won’t be coming back for now…”

1685 - : Heavenly Courts

CKtalon  CKtalon

The girl felt a jolt through her after hearing Polar’s words. She entered a state of shock. Father… isn’t returning?

Although Polar had said that it would only be temporary, the girl knew that things were not that simple.

“Patriarch… I…”

“Ling’er, cultivate well and don’t be too sad. Perhaps, your father will return safe and sound ten years from now…”

Polar could not bear the pain and the only thing he could do was console the girl. Even though he knew very well that with the Ancestor God’s temperament, he would very likely make Ling’er’s father into a vessel to nurture demonic servants.

Ancestor God was cruel and ruthless, or it could be said that he showed no concern for life. To the Ancestor God, all the lives he met were no different from rocks or dust. Would an alchemist care if ores felt pain when throwing them into a refinement cauldron?

Ancestor God viewed life in the same way.

“Even Martial Uncle isn’t back…” someone in the crowd commented.

The Heavenly Courts had lost two of their youngest, most promising Godly Monarchs on this trip to the Ancestor God’s palace.

Instantly, the atmosphere in the Heavenly Courts turned silent. The two patriarchs did not say a word and simply walked off and flew towards their personal palaces.

“Senior Brother, do you really want to tamper with the array?”

War Excellency Sky Punishment suddenly asked while flying. Previously in the Ancestor God’s palace, Polar had suggested that everyone joined forces to resist the Ancestor God. Now that they were back in the Heavenly Courts, Polar had steeled his resolve after seeing the looks of Ling’er and his young disciples.

Polar and Sky Punishment had known each other for too long. Although Polar did not say it out loud, Sky Punishment had sensed it.

However, tampering with the Ancestor God’s array was extremely dangerous. Even if they succeeded, death was certain. And what Polar wanted to do could only delay the Ancestor God’s devouring of the Heavenly Dao instead of stopping him.

“Junior Brother, I’ve already lived to a ripe old age. I think it’s enough. I do not wish to live such an abject life and personally destroy the future of martial arts in the Chaos Heavens…” Polar sighed and shook his head. “I’m afraid my two disciples will never return…”

“Senior Brother, do you know that the entire Heavenly Courts might be embroiled in this if we were to destroy the Ancestor God’s plans. It will be destroyed by the Ancestor God’s anger! We humans might end up extinct! Without the Heavenly Courts, humanity will lose its standing in the Chaos Heavens. Even annihilation of our race is possible.

“Besides, are you really confident you can destroy the Ancestor God’s array?”

Polar fell silent when he heard Sky Punishment. The Ancestor God had naturally left behind certain contingencies by spending that much effort and resources to set up the Chaos Heavens array. Destroying it was obviously not going to be easy.

Perhaps, his plan might be discovered by the Ancestor God midway, and eventually fall short of success.

Polar considered for quite some time as he opened the isolation array in a chamber. Then, he took out an ancient interspatial ring and said with a voice transmission, “Junior Brother… with things developing to this point, there are certain things I need to tell you. Back when Human Emperor Senior Lin Ming came to the Chaos Heavens, I got to acquaint myself with him. I helped him do certain things and received his kindness. Senior Lin was human after all. Although he did not interfere in matters regarding the Chaos Heavens, he still left with me an item that could secure the light that shines on humanity from providence before leaving. All these years, I have yet to use it, but perhaps, it’s time to use it…”

“Oh?” Sky Punishment was taken aback. “Something Human Emperor Senior Lin left behind!?”

Human Emperor had long left the Chaos Heavens by the time Sky Punishment was born. All he knew was legends regarding the Human Emperor and he was acutely aware how powerful the Human Emperor was.

The value of something that he left behind to secure humanity’s fate was obvious.

It was something that allowed the Heavenly Courts to secure its standing.

“Senior Brother, can the item you mention be used against the Ancestor God?”

“It would be hard, but there’s hope…” Polar said as his heart palpitated. He flipped his hand and the ring vanished.

He had sensed the aura of a stranger.

The aura was still very far from the Heavenly Courts, but it was abnormally powerful.

Polar released his perception outwards to sweep over the newcomer, but he failed to find the person.

This tightened Polar’s heart. Who could it be?

A few seconds later, a faint figure appeared in Polar’s and Sky Punishment’s chamber like a ghost.

It was a black-robed youth with brows as sharp as swords. His aura was converged, and although they knew his strength was already unfathomable, they were still unable to tell just how powerful he was.

Yi Yun!

Polar immediately knew the identity of the man without even needing to think.

Such a young human with such immense strength could not be anyone but Yi Yun.

However, Polar never expected Yi Yun to infiltrate their chamber without anyone realizing it. After all, the chamber was isolated by an array!

For him to achieve that, how deep did his nomological insight go?

Yi Yun seemed to know what Polar was alarmed about. He smiled and said, “You must be Senior Polar, am I right? Senior, I happened to encounter the array you set up in the past. Although it has been modified, it’s fundamentally the same.”

Yi Yun had read records of Polar’s array formation in the notes left behind by Human Emperor. Back then, Human Emperor had left behind some of his heritage in the Heavenly Courts, so Polar was considered half a disciple of Human Emperor.

“This…” Polar was taken aback. From the looks of it, Yi Yun had deep ties with the Human Emperor as well.

“I apologize, Senior Polar. Although I’ve heard how righteous and noble you are, when faced with the dangers posed by the Ancestor God, numerous Godly Monarchs in the Chaos Heavens have submitted to him. I naturally wouldn’t dare show myself in front of Godly Monarchs, so I have been hiding in the Heavenly Courts to secretly observe. However, when you took out the ring…”

Yi Yun had been in the Heavenly Courts for a few days, and he had witnessed the entire conversation between Polar and Sky Punishment.

Although they were using Yuan Qi to communicate, he could tell from their expressions. Furthermore, Polar had taken out the ring allowing Yi Yun to tell that the both of them were truly determined to resist the Ancestor God. At the very least, they had not become the Ancestor God’s minions.

And although Yi Yun wasn’t aware of the ring’s origins, he could sense the aura contained within it.

It was the Human Emperor’s aura with unprecedented intensity.

And it was because of this item that Yi Yun had chosen to show himself.

He alone was unable to resist the Ancestor God. He needed to gather all the forces that could be gathered.

Upon hearing Yi Yun mention the ring, Polar’s heart tightened. It was essential to the Heavenly Courts, fundamental to all humanity!

Now that it had caught the interest of someone stronger than him, he could not help but turn nervous.

“Senior, do you still have scruples towards my allegiance in the matter? I’ll be the last person the Ancestor God will ever pardon. That’s because he ultimately views me as a threat.”

Yi Yun spoke very frankly. Anyone in the Chaos Heavens could be used as a double agent to spy on an anti-Ancestor God alliance except Yi Yun.

Polar took a deep breath and took out the simple ring again. “The ring is here. What do you have in mind?”

1686 - : Ring

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun took the ring and sank his perception into it. Without needing Polar to introduce the ring to him, Yi Yun already knew it was left behind by Human Emperor.

The array formation which Ancestor God wanted set up took ten years for each stage, and ten years allowed for many things to happen.

“Perfected Yi, the Ancestor God should be in seclusion to make his final preparations. He’s thinned out at the moment which is why he deliberately took two of my disciples as a warning. This is the best time to take action if you’re ready to lead. What do you want us to do?”

Polar was decisive as well. Since he had planned to ally with Yi Yun, he no longer had any scruples.

“I need all the information on the array formation the Ancestor God is setting up. Also, I will be replacing one of the Godly Monarch of your Heavenly Courts to join in the setting up of the array formation… I have ten years to study the Ancestor God’s array formation, and perhaps I’ll be able to find an incisive point to tamper with it…”

The Ancestor God’s array formation covered the entire Chaos Heavens.

The reason why he amassed so many Godly Monarch level figures was that he needed to assure he had more than a hundred spirit vein cores in the Chaos Heavens.

It included the spirit veins of Heaven Fey City and the Heavenly Courts. All of them were within the envelopment of the Ancestor God’s array.

Yi Yun’s plan to infiltrate a tiny part of such a massive array hinged on his comprehension of the Heavenly Dao allowing him to avoid the Ancestor God’s perception while he figured out certain things.

“Replace a Godly Monarch? However, all the Godly Monarchs involved in setting up the array have tracing marks planted by the Ancestor God. The Ancestor God will discover the replacement.”

“I’m able to crack the tracing mark.”

The person who was first planted with a tracing mark was Yi Yun himself.

It took him quite a considerable amount of time to wipe it away, having needed to internalize the Heavenly Dao and reach the half-step Godly Monarch realm to do so.

“You can crack it?” Polar was overjoyed. He never expected Yi Yun’s nomological insight to reach a level capable of resisting the Ancestor God.

He had been studying the tracing mark of the Ancestor God for decades without any progress. Furthermore, the more he studied it, the more he realized how great the gap between him and the Ancestor God was.

“Cracking it is very troublesome. Even when I’m doing it, it takes a few months time, but once it’s cracked, the Ancestor God will immediately learn of it. Therefore, I won’t be able to crack the mark for the Chaos Heavens’ Godly Monarchs.”

“I understand.” Sky Punishment nodded. If a large number of Godly Monarchs had their implanted marks removed in succession, the Ancestor God would probably exit seclusion immediately.

“All I’ll be doing is transferring the mark of a Heavenly Courts disciple onto myself. After that, I would disguise myself as him both in identity and aura, completely replacing him in his participation in the array setup.”

Yi Yun had obtained a cardinal disguise treasure from the Ghost race and the Star Transference Heaven Changing Book. With both in effect, it was very easy for him to disguise himself as a Godly Monarch.

As long as he didn’t face the Ancestor God in person, he would not be discovered.

“Alright!”

Polar directly agreed. In fact, he was betting the fate of the Heavenly Courts on Yi Yun. If Yi Yun failed, the Heavenly Courts would definitely be implicated and the outcome obvious.

…

Time passed as the years went by. The Ancestor God chose twelve excellent spirit veins in the Chaos Heavens and seventy-two sub-first grade spirit vein sources for the array.

Each one of the twelve excellent spirit veins was famous in the Chaos Heavens. For example, there was the humanity’s Heavenly Courts spirit vein, the Fey’s Heaven Fey City spirit vein, and the Ghosts’ Sky River of the Netherworld, etc!

The top races of the Chaos Heavens, excluding the Celestials, each had one such spot. Possessing one was enough for them to reign supreme!

The top races occupied seven excellent spirit veins in the Chaos Heavens, two joint occupations, and one which was occupied by the ancient divine beasts. The final two spots were located in forbidden zones which Godly Monarchs could not enter; therefore, they could not be used.

However, after the Ancestor God appeared, nothing proved to be a problem. The twelve excellent spirit veins were all taken under his control. Hence, it could be said that the Ancestor God wielded control over the entire Chaos Heavens!

As for the remaining seventy-two sub-first grade spirit veins, although they were described as “sub,” they were highly coveted by various major sects. Occupying even one made them a top faction in the Chaos Heavens.

Of course, all the spirit veins were now under the Ancestor God’s command. He had set up a huge array formation that was akin to a giant spider web. It reached deep into every corner of the Chaos Heavens as it constantly drained its powers, as though it was about to suck the Chaos Heavens dry.

Over the years, the various major factions could clearly sense that weakening of the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi contained within the spirit veins. To put it at a broader perspective, the entire Chaos Heavens’ Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was slowly thinning.

The Chaos Heavens was at present a supreme universe in the known-multiverse. To have that status in question due to having its rich Yuan Qi sucked by an array formation was testimony to how terrifying the Ancestor God and the array formation were.

The unease many people felt increased. They could even foresee that martial arts in the Chaos Heavens was embarking on a slow death. The Ancestor God appeared to bent on sucking the Chaos Heavens dry of everything.

The deadline of ten years gradually approached.

The people involved in setting up the Ancestor God’s array involved more than a hundred Godly Monarch level experts. Every one of them were illustrious among the Godly Monarchs in the Chaos Heavens.

At that moment, in a valley, more than ten Godly Monarchs were gathered. They were clearly from the various races of the Chaos Heavens. And leading them was the Heavenly Courts’ patriarch, Polar.

“Senior Polar, didn’t you say that there’s some problems with the array formation here? Why don’t I detect any problems?” a Soul Thearch asked.

They originally believed that they were gathered here to help in setting up the array formation. It was a situation that commonly happened. After all, the scale of the Ancestor God’s array formation was so huge that a single Godly Monarch was unable to complete it on their own most of the time.

As the Soul Thearch spoke, the entire valley’s atmosphere suddenly changed. An indescribable law enveloped the entire valley and formed a domain that isolated the valley from the outside world.

“Oh? Polar, what’s the meaning of this!?”

The hearts of the Godly Monarchs present jolted as they were immediately placed on high alert.

“Nothing. Everyone, do you still remember the suggestion I raised ten years ago?” Polar said unhurriedly.

Back then, Polar had suggested for all the Godly Monarchs to join forces to resist the Ancestor God.

“Polar, you’re mad. Although none of us wish for the Ancestor God to rule over the Chaos Heavens, all of us combined fighting the Ancestor God is like smashing eggs against a rock. Even if we aren’t afraid of death, we do not wish to die in vain.”

“Quickly dispel this domain and let us leave. We will pretend as if this never happened. We will keep mum about it and not snitch on you. If we take action, we’d be doomed the moment the Celestials notice it.”

The Godly Monarchs spoke one after another. They had a total of eleven people, so they were not afraid of Polar.

Polar said, “I won’t be able to dispel this domain even if I wish to because it’s not set up by me. If you think what I said doesn’t hold enough weight, what if someone else were to say it?”

As Polar spoke, a black-robed youth slowly walked out of the valley. There was no Yuan Qi fluctuation from his body, but he seemed to be center of the world. It was a reverent existence.

“You are…”

“Yi Yun!?”

Someone recognized Yi Yun. In fact, after the battle at Heaven Fey City, Yi Yun’s portrait had been spread throughout the Chaos Heavens.

Now, Yi Yun was undisguised and his looks were his own. Everyone naturally recognized him.

1687 - : Opening of the Array

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s appearance plunged everyone into silence.

Just Polar alone was insufficient, but Yi Yun was different. It hadn’t been long since Yi Yun appeared in the Chaos Heavens, but he was the most promising and illustrious figure that had appeared in the Chaos Heavens over the past billion years apart from the Ancestor God.

Be it Yi Yun’s friends or enemies, all of them admitted that Yi Yun was the only peerless human who had any chance of attaining the same achievements as Human Emperor.

But…

Even so, the present Yi Yun was no match for the Ancestor God at all.

Even with Yi Yun leading them, it was still highly possible that they would be wiped out when resisting the Ancestor God.

“So it’s Young Master Yi. I’ve heard so much about you. I know that you are arch enemies with the Ancestor God, but even if you ally with us, we won’t be able to provide you with much help,” a female elderly Ghost said.

Her skin was sallow and looked as though it was slathered with a layer of resin oil.

Yi Yun said, “Everyone, do you believe that I’ve been forced into a corner by the Ancestor God? That I want to pull all of you down with me to be my cannon fodder so that I have a chance of survival?”

“Not at all, but…” the female elderly Ghost said again, but she was interrupted by Yi Yun. “I have already cracked the Ancestor God’s tracing mark inside of me. I can swear on my Dao heart that this is the truth and nothing but the truth.”

“What!?”

Upon hearing that, everyone appeared moved. Yi Yun had actually found a way to dispel the Ancestor God’s tracing mark?

All of them had spent great effort in trying to understand the tracing mark, but they eventually discovered that unless their nomological insight or psyche powers reached that of the Ancestor God, there was no way of removing it.

“Then, Young Master Yi, would it be possible for you to…” The female elderly Ghost could hardly speak out of embarrassment. However, with the tracing mark on her, it was like a nightmare. She could not rest easy and felt that the Ancestor God could rob her of her life at any time.

The pressure was just too great. The removal of the mark was something they yearned for even in their dreams.

“I’m sorry. It’s not possible for now. Even for myself, removing the tracing mark was not simple, nor do I have that much time. It will also alert the Ancestor God. The reason why I’m telling you this is to let you know that I have a route of retreat. Instead, the one who doesn’t is you, the Chaos Heavens.”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, everyone fell silent. Indeed, if Yi Yun did not have a tracing mark, he could leave the Chaos Heavens and hide in a pocket world. The Ancestor God might not be able to find him. Although he would have to live in anxiety, the chances of survival were still huge.

They were different. After the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao was devoured by the Ancestor God, the only outcome left for them was to be loyal dogs of the Ancestor God. They would live abject existences and could be abandoned at anytime. It was even possible for them to be used as vessels to breed demonic servants.

Yi Yun added, “I also revealed this to you all to tell you that I am somewhat confident in entering into direct conflict with the Ancestor God. If we were to wait till he devours the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao, his Dao will be fortified forever. After that, I would likely not be able to do anything. This is the final chance. To me, it’s a chance to fortify my Dao, but for you, it’s a chance for survival.

Yi Yun’s words moved the hearts of everyone. Someone asked, “Young Master Yi, what are your chances of success?”

“Fifty-fifty. Man proposes god disposes. In order to avoid the Ancestor God’s detection, I have been contacting all of you through Senior Polar in batches. Each batch has about ten plus people. You are not the first batch.”

“Oh? Young Master Yi has contacted that many people? Aren’t you afraid that someone will snitch?”

“I am. That’s why I will take a wisp of your intrinsic soul. I will swear upon my Dao heart to not cause any damage to your intrinsic soul. After everything is done, I would immediately return your intrinsic soul to you. Not only will it not damage your martial fundamentals, it will also provide you with opportunity in the future! If I were to violate this agreement, the foundations of my martial Dao will crumple and I will fall from my present spot.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he beckoned gently. Bits of stellar light flashed from his palm. All these stellar light were the intrinsic souls of Godly Monarch level figures which were left with Yi Yun.

Upon seeing this, everyone knew that Yi Yun wasn’t lying. There was no reason for him to lie either. Under the present circumstances, it was necessary he kept contingency plans. If not, even they would not risk their lives with Yi Yun. They wouldn’t know better if they were walking into a trap.

Many people were moved. Although Yi Yun claimed to only have a fifty percent chance of success, there was still hope if they tried. If they didn’t, it would only be a slow death.

After thinking about it deeply, people chose to sign contacts with Yi Yun.

After the first one, a second one stepped forward. As the number of people who signed contracts with Yi Yun increased, those who were on the fence finally made up their minds.

Everyone eventually chose to ally with Yi Yun.

Regardless of their true inclinations, Yi Yun thought nothing of it. He had their intrinsic souls in hand and the Ancestor God’s actions were indeed against the Chaos Heavens and not something that won the hearts of people. Yi Yun refused to believe that someone would forgo their lives for a master who had not won the hearts of people.

…

Time slowly passed as the mood in the Chaos Heavens grew increasingly suppressed. It was the calm before the storm.

Everyone knew that the setup of the array was coming to an end. A shadow hung over every faction and it felt stifling.

On this day, in a particular spot in the Chaos Heavens, a divine beam of light soared into the sky like a heavenly column that penetrated the firmaments. Everyone within half a million kilometers saw the column of light tear through the land and penetrate the universe.

People could tell that the column of light stemmed from Ethereal Lake.

It got its name because it was an extremely mysterious lake. As it was unpredictable and ethereal, the typical warrior found it difficult to pinpoint its ever-changing location.

Legend had it that people who bathed and drank with the water in the Ethereal Lake would have their cultivation levels increase greatly. They could break through several realms and become an overlord of a dominion.

Many warriors of lowly cultivation levels were attracted to the legend of Ethereal Lake. They even set out, wishing to find it with good luck.

But no one expected that someone had fixed the Ethereal Lake in place with a gigantic array flag three decades ago. The lake stopped drifting erratically and later, all its waters were slowly drained by the array flag.

At the same time, array formations were set up around Ethereal Lake, preventing anyone from approaching.

Now, the column of light which stemmed from Ethereal Lake had spewed out all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi accumulated within this mystical land. As such, Ethereal Lake was destroyed.

From then on, Ethereal Lake was no more in the Chaos Heavens!

As for Ethereal Lake, it was simply one of the seventy-two sub-first grade spirit veins sources which the Ancestor God had chosen in the Chaos Heavens.

Beyond Ethereal Lake, there were seventy-one divine beams shooting out from different lands. If one viewed from far away in the universe, it would appear as if the Chaos Heavens had beacon fires lit up everywhere. It was splendid and mysterious.

Everyone knew that the array formation that the Ancestor God had set up was finally activated.

1688 - : Chaos Heavens Beacon Fires

CKtalon  CKtalon

The seventy-two beacon fires burned for days!

All the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi within the Chaos Heavens spewed forth!

Over the past few decades, the Yuan Qi density in the Chaos Heavens had been weakening by the day, but from the moment the beacon fires were lit, the Chaos Heavens’ Yuan Qi density reached an unprecedented peak, one not seen for billions of years!

Now, sects and factions saw their territories being so dense in Yuan Qi that Yuan Qi fog and Yuan Qi clouds condensed as they rained Yuan Qi!

With the Yuan Qi downpour, cultivating in the rain for a month was equivalent to a normal year. This was a perfect opportunity to cultivate, but most warriors had no mood to do so.

None of the major factions in the Chaos Heavens took action. All of them remained silent…

It was like the calm before a huge storm, a sign of the final apocalypse.

The calmer it was, the more repressed people felt!

Many warriors knew that the ignition of the seventy-two beacon fires was just a prelude.

In the following days, the twelve main beacon fires would be ignited in succession!

When the twelve main beacon fires were ignited, all the Yuan Qi in the Chaos Heavens would erupt. When that happened, the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao would be devoured by the Ancestor God!

When that happened, what were the people of Chaos Heavens to do?

From the Chaos Heavens’ birth as a martial civilization, it had not met such a cataclysm for billions of years!

Ordinary warriors felt lost.

Divine Lords and Godly Monarchs seemed to roam in despair.

Only the cream of the Godly Monarch crop, those patriarchs and members of the upper echelons of the major factions knew that a massive battle that would determine their fate would happen in the coming days.

They felt uneasiness and even an ominous horror that was a distant emotion to them.

All of them were all-powerful figures that ruled over the Chaos Heavens. Once upon a time, they stood apart from the secular world, reclusing themselves and caring nothing for worldly affairs. Under such circumstances, few things mattered to them. They never left their seclusion unless it was something major, so they never encountered a situation that left them in horror…

But now, with the apocalypse at hand, even the patriarchs of the various races were like lost birds in a thunderstorm. Without any means to protect themselves, all they could do was wait passively.

They hoped to see Yi Yun create a miracle, but the chances of this miracle happening were extremely slim.

The two patriarchs of Heaven Fey City, Grand Supremum and Grand Primordium, shared this feeling. They bore such a burden as the days passed.

As they had participated in setting up the array, they roughly knew that the twelve main beacon fires would ignite within the next two days.

Success or failure were days away!

“Pa!”

A chess piece landed on a chessboard. In front of Grand Supremum was a chessboard and opposite him was Grand Primordium.

The duo had been having the chess game for ten days.

At times, they would not place a piece for as long as an hour. Grand Supremum had thought for quite a while before he finally landed his move, but it was not considered a brilliant one. It exposed his weakness and it was a move that could lead to his defeat.

“Senior Brother… You…” Grand Primordium raised his head and looked at Grand Supremum in surprise.

“Junior Brother… We might not be able to continue our game for there’s no piece to land, unless…”

Grand Supremum trembled as he said those words. At that moment, Grand Primordium’s expression changed as he felt an overwhelming aura surge over.

He stood up and looked into the distance. Tiny black dots had appeared along the horizon.

In a few blinks of an eye, the black dots enlarged. They were bronze giants!

Celestials!

The Celestials were always mysterious and few in number. Yet, there were a total of a hundred Celestials in Heaven Fey City!

Nearly all these Celestials had combat strength at the Godly Monarch level.

They were clearly the best warriors of the Celestials.

All across the Chaos Heavens, a Celestial could fend off the combined forces of three pinnacle existences of the other races!

Now, a hundred Celestials had appeared in Heaven Fey City. It could be said that the entire horde was here!

The ten plus Fey Thearchs in Heaven Fey City could no longer sit still as they rose into the air, seemingly prepared to face the enemy.

However, compared to the Celestials, they were just too weak.

About ten of them had to fight a hundred Celestials. Furthermore, most of them were not the Celestials’ match in a one-on-one skirmish.

The situation wouldn’t turn for the better even if all the Fey Thearchs of the Fey race was gathered, much less when there were only the Fey Thearchs of Heaven Fey City.

The bronze giant that led the celestials was thousands of feet tall. When he stood outside Heaven Fey City, the towering city walls did not even reach his knee!

Even the majestic Heaven Fey City appeared as minute as a sandcastle at the beach.

Divine Emperor!

Someone recognized the leading bronze giant to be the reigning Divine Emperor of the Celestials!

The reigning Divine Emperor was not the Ancestor God, but he the current ruler of the Chaos Heavens’ Celestials.

The Ancestor God came from the Sinkhole and was the former Divine Emperor.

In ancient times, the Ancestor God had passed the throne of Divine Emperor to the present Divine Emperor when he left the Chaos Heavens.

Now that the Ancestor God was back in a bid to devour the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao, his status could be said to be the patriarch of the Celestials.

As for the Divine Emperor, he remained the Divine Emperor.

Although the Divine Emperor’s strength was inferior to the Ancestor God’s, he far exceeded the patriarchs of the various races. The combined forces of Grand Supremum and Grand Primordium were not necessarily the match of the Divine Emperor.

The Divine Emperor had arrived with many Celestial experts. Behind them was a dense horde of demonic servants which resembled locusts.

These demonic servants seemed to blanket the world when gathered together. It looked like a massive dark cloud.

The number was in the millions!

And there were many powerful beings among the demonic servants!

The leaders were the eight demon marshals, and all of them had combat strength at the Godly Monarch level.

Behind them were hundreds of demonic generals, each of them having the strength of demon lords!

This was another horrifying force. In addition, there were countless Supremacies and Daolords behind them… The demonic servant army, together with more than a hundred Celestial experts, meant that Heaven Fey City could be flattened with a mere thought!

Grand Supremum and Grand Primordium were floating in midair as they experienced the immense pressure.

Was the Heaven Fey City which had a heritage of billions of years about to be annihilated today?

The demonic servant army grew in size and at this point, numbers lost their meaning. It was comprised of demonic servants that had been amassed by the Celestials for billions of years.

Most of the time, the Celestials’ demonic servants were in a slumber. Only when needed were they awakened.

Many demonic servants had been asleep for more than a hundred million years. Furthermore, the Celestials had been feeding and nurturing them in recent years.

Just the demonic servant army was enough to leave one in despair.

The city appeared to be crumbling under the mass of dark clouds!

Numerous Fey warriors walked out of their houses in Heaven Fey City and looked at the terrifying arm that could wipe them out.

The strong trembled, the weak wept.

“Oh? It’s you?”

Grand Supremum creased his brows. He saw that quite a number of Godly Monarchs from the Ghost and Soul race were with the demonic servant army.

There were a few whom Grand Supremum knew. They had signed a contract with Yi Yun a few months back.

At this moment, these people were following the demonic servant army and wearing disconsolate expressions. Grand Supremum’s heart sank involuntarily. The ominous premonition he’d had come true…

1689 - : Divine Emperor

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Godly Monarchs of the Soul and Ghost races appeared ashamed when they met the two Fey patriarchs.

Against the army horde of the Celestials, with the Ancestor God as their backer, the peak races of the Chaos Heavens became nothing but jokes. The difference in strength was just too great.

The Ghosts had barely resisted the Celestials before they submitted. The Souls quickly capitulated when that happened.

Not everyone had the courage to face the threat of having their race annihilated.

The Ghost patriarch was among the army, standing out because he was different from the typical Ghost Thearch. They often had a corpse-like body after they condensed one, one that was sallow or pale, without any signs of life.

However, this Ghost patriarch had fair and supple skin like he was made of porcelain. He looked extremely young, only with turbid eyes.

His Ghost body was near perfection.

To achieve this, the Ghost patriarch had spent more than a hundred million year transcending numerous Ghost tribulations. Of course, once the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao was devoured, his body would never attain perfection.

“Grand Supremum, Grand Primordium, Ancestor God is aware of Yi Yun’s alliance with the Godly Monarchs of the different races.”

The Ghost patriarch sent a voice transmission to them.

Grand Supremum’s heart sank. “How did the Ancestor God learn of it? Who betrayed us?”

“It might not be a betrayal…” The Ghost patriarch sighed. “Perhaps the Ancestor God had left some contingencies or he is truly so powerful that it is beyond our comprehension. In short, we have failed. The Celestial army attacked and threatened the annihilation of my race. I’m ashamed to say that I couldn’t fight them and had to submit.”

Compared to having his race annihilated, the inability to attain a perfect body was trivial.

There was hope as long as he survived.

Perhaps the Ancestor God would only rule the Chaos Heavens for hundreds of millions of years, but he would not rule it forever.

This was because after he devoured the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao, the Chaos Heavens would slowly lose its value to the Ancestor God. Therefore, it was possible that he would leave when he was done.

Legend had it that beyond the universe were other universes. Human Emperor Lin Ming had left this universe with Empress Sheng Mei.

Perhaps there would come a day when the Ancestor God would leave as well.

An existence like the Ancestor God would have transcended Samsara and any mortal bindings. It was unlikely he would rigidly stick to this universe.

And once he left, everything could be redone once again.

Experts could be nurtured again after the death of others. Martial heritage could be mended even if they were severed. Even if the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao was devoured, time would eventually allow the Chaos Heavens to restore itself.

As long as they waited billions of years, the lost Yuan Qi would slowly return.

However, if their entire race was annihilated, it would be over. When that happened, there was no way to make a resurgence once the Ancestor God was gone.

It was not worth it to be spiteful.

“All of you still have a wisp of your intrinsic souls with Yi Yun. You can choose to submit to the Ancestor God, but what’s the price of rebelling against Yi Yun? Can you pay that price?” Grand Primordium asked in return.

“Yi Yun isn’t as ruthless as the Ancestor God. He might crush our intrinsic souls, but it would be meaningless for him. Besides… even if he does crush our souls, it would only be us who perish. It’s better than having our entire races annihilated…”

Upon hearing the Ghost patriarch’s words, Grand Supremum and Grand Primordium found it bitingly ironic. The reason for their betrayal was simply because Yi Yun was likely kinder.

This was probably the prime example of the saying ‘the kind gets bullied.’

Even more ironic of all was that both Grand Supremum and Grand Primordium lacked the courage to resist the Ancestor God despite understanding this principle.

It was fine if they died, but to have the entire Heaven Fey City perish with them?

“Grand Supremum! Grand Primordium!”

At that moment, the reigning Divine Emperor spoke.

“In the Ancestor God’s name, I will be hunting down Yi Yun! Now, I’ll be using your Fey army. Are you agreeable to it?”

The Divine Emperor’s voice resounded through Heaven Fey City.

The words sounded like the most saddening dirge in Grand Supremum’s and Grand Primordium’s ears.

The entire Chaos Heavens was being slowly destroyed by the Ancestor God and the only one who put up a resistance was Yi Yun, but because of his resistance, he was to be hunted across the entire Chaos Heavens!

“Are you defying me with your silence?” asked the Divine Emperor.

Grand Supremum and Grand Primordium remained silent.

The Divine Emperor’s gaze turned cold as a sliver of murderous intent burned. “I’ll give you a minute to consider! The Ancestor God will leave the matter of your betrayal for now, but not again! If there’s another time, your entire race will be annihilated!”

“As for Yi Yun… he naively believes that he has wiped away the Ancestor God’s mark on him. In fact, from the moment the Ancestor God began interacting with the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao, nothing in the Chaos Heavens could be kept from him. Yi Yun’s location is already known to the Ancestor God. There is no way he’s escaping! I’ll ask you once more. Are the Fey planning to die with Yi Yun? If that’s the case, I’ll fulfill your wishes!”

The Divine Emperor’s voice was overbearing. Grand Supremum closed his eyes in pain as he felt as though his backbone was being pulled out. He bit down on his lips, and despite being completely unwilling to do so, he said, “The Fey obeys the order…”

Grand Supremum felt that he had used all his strength to deliver those words. He felt that the hundreds of millions of years of cultivation had been for nothing!

At that moment, he was not betraying Yi Yun but himself.

“Very good!”

Divine Emperor gave a satisfied smile. “Grand Supremum, hear my orders! The Fey will send twenty Fey Thearchs and a hundred thousand warriors to follow my Celestial army to annihilate the rebel!”

As the Divine Emperor spoke, he led his huge demonic servant army into the territory.

The point of getting the peak races to provide personnel was simply to make them submit. Everyone knew that the peak races would lose their core members, making it impossible for them to resist the Ancestor God again.

Three days later, the Celestial army swept through the Chaos Heavens. Countless warriors saw this astounding scene from afar.

While the Celestial army traveled, demonic servants from every land gathered to meet them.

It went from ten to twenty million to nearly a hundred million!

Such a huge demonic servant army blotted out the sky!

Other than that, the allied army of the various peak races numbered hundreds of thousands. Although the numbers were small, they were not lacking in strength. It was still a terrifying force to be reckoned with.

Having so many people gathered was, in fact, not to wipe out Yi Yun. Instead, it was to guarantee the absolute success of the Ancestor God’s devouring the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao.

Otherwise, once these peak races of the Chaos Heavens took action, even if they were moths hurtling towards a flame, it was still possible for them to interfere in the Ancestor God’s devouring of the Heavenly Dao.

The Ancestor God could not allow any problems to arise as it would lead to imperfection. It would prevent his strength from reaching a peak, and pulverizing the rebels would not remedy the situation at all.

Another day later, the massive army that comprised of the Chaos Heavens’ peak combat forces charged into the Heavenly Courts!

The Heavenly Courts was the core force of humanity.

The grandeur of the scene attracted many warriors in the Chaos Heavens. Although they were afraid, they tailed the army to witness the turn of events that had not happened in a billion years.

1690 - : Enemies All Over the Universe

Faced with the Ancestor God’s might, humanity was the only one among the peak races that did not instantly submit.

Tens of millions of demonic servants, a hundred Godly Monarchs, and an army of hundreds of thousands comprised from various races stood outside the Heavenly Courts.

The Heavenly Courts naturally had no means to resist. As the Celestial army arrived, the Heavenly Courts did not set up any array defenses. Even the entrance arrays were not activated.

In fact, activating the array was meaningless. An army of this scale would blast apart the array with one combined blow. It was even possible that the palace complex of the Heavenly Courts would be leveled along with the array.

At that moment, in the middle of a square in the Heavenly Courts, the two patriarchs, Polar and Sky Punishment, were sitting on seats of honor. And beneath them were the Godly Monarchs of the Heavenly Courts.

Apart from them, the other Godly Monarchs from other human factions had arrived here one after another.

With humanity, or perhaps it should be said the Chaos Heavens, facing a life-and-death crisis, it was praiseworthy that more than half the Godly Monarchs of humanity came despite knowing that it was a fatal endeavor. In fact, even for those Godly Monarchs who did not come, it was simply because the factions behind them wished to leave seeds for the continuation of their martial lineage.

Humanity, including the two patriarchs, had a total of thirty-two Godly Monarchs present.

Among them was the Taixia Ancient Mining’s Godly Monarch—Divineheart.

Godly Monarch Divineheart once met Yi Yun at the Xuanyuan Dune and established some ties. With his strength, he was considered relatively weak among the thirty-two Godly Monarchs. In the tumultuous turmoil, his strength did not even cause a stir.

Upon seeing the army that blotted out the sun above the Heavenly Courts, Divineheart felt wistful. Once upon a time, becoming a Godly Monarch was his greatest goal in life. He was already satisfied, but now, from the looks of it, he was nothing more than a tiny splash in the massive ocean.

“Polar, I’m here to slay Yi Yun in the name of the Ancestor God.”

The Divine Emperor towered over the humans in mid-air like a massive mountain. The Heavenly Courts’ palace appeared like toy houses made of wood beneath his feet.

Polar sat there silent, as though he did not hear him.

“Hand over Yi Yun!” the Divine Emperor said again. His words left everyone taken aback.

Was Yi Yun in the Heavenly Courts!?

Previously, the Divine Emperor had said that even if Yi Yun wiped the tracing mark from himself, Yi Yun’s location could be found by the Ancestor God ever since he interacted with the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao.

Everyone believed that Yi Yun might have found a secret place to hide or even escape the Chaos Heavens. But to their surprise, Yi Yun was actually inside the Heavenly Courts.

The Celestials’ pursuit of Yi Yun would naturally pass by the Heavenly Courts, so it became one of the most dangerous spots.

At that moment, there was no such thing as the most dangerous place being the safest place.

Polar still did not offer a response. He stood up slowly and floated into the sky. This continued until he reached a height equal to the Divine Emperor’s eye level.

“Do you not plan on handing him over?” Divine Emperor’s bronze face revealed a sarcastic smile. “Yi Yun seems to have maleficent thoughts. Despite knowing he’s about to die, he still uses your Heavenly Courts as a shield. If not, why would he choose his final hiding ground to be the Heavenly Courts? The Heavenly Courts is considered the core of humanity. By choosing this spot, is he planning on embroiling the Heavenly Courts and bringing about its destruction?”

As he spoke, Divine Emperor slowly extended his hand. In the middle of his palm, a gigantic axe appeared out of thin air.

The gigantic axe was made of metal and suffused a dark golden luster. No one doubted that the land would be split apart if the axe came cleaving down.

The Divine Emperor looked at Polar as if he was looking at a dead man.

Although the Ancestor God did not pursue the faults of the Ghost, Soul, and Fey patriarchs, it did not mean that he had turned a blind eye to the rebellious plot against him.

There was a price to betrayal. Apart from Yi Yun, someone had to be punished to assert his authority.

And this someone was undoubtedly Polar. For the past ten plus years, Polar’s rebellious intention had been clear. Even before Yi Yun appeared, Polar had incited others to rebel.

“From the looks of it, you plan on resisting?”

Other than Polar, none of the other patriarchs of the other races dared to fly to a height equal to the Divine Emperor. All of them looked up to him except Polar.

“You make it sound like you would intend to spare us.” Polar sneered. He was unafraid of death. Decades ago, back when he had attempted to ally the various Godly Monarchs from the Chaos Heavens together, he was already aware of the possibility of being killed in action.

“It’s fine if you die, but do you plan on having the entire Heavenly Courts accompany you in death?” Divine Emperor’s voice came with rich killing intent. If Polar went on his knees and allowed himself to be executed, he did not mind pardoning the Heavenly Courts.

However, if Polar intended to rebel, then the Divine Emperor would show no mercy. With an army numbering tens of millions, how could it not shed blood?

And the Heavenly Courts was the best sacrificial object.

The moment the Divine Emperor said that, the Ghost, Soul, and Fey Godly Monarchs lamented inwardly. The races behind them were their soft spot. They could not ignore them.

Was Polar mad? Was he unconcerned with the death of humanity?

Polar looked straight at the Divine Emperor. Despite facing the threat, he still did not show any signs of fear. All he did was let out a long sigh, looking somewhat doleful.

“We warriors have been cultivating our entire lives. What was it for? It’s not to enjoy riches or sex. Nor is it about being placed on a pedestal while enslaving those beneath us! We cultivate to fight against our fate! We do not wish to to let Samsara run its course, so we cultivate for years! Our martial heritage has been passed down for millions of years, billions of years, and will be so for trillions of years! It’s not for us to kneel down to beg for mercy after gaining mastery. With the backbone broken, there’s no way one can straighten one’s back. Since the Celestials wish to destroy my Heavenly Courts, my Heavenly Courts will be facing you in a battle of blood.”

Upon hearing Polar’s words, Divine Emperor was truly taken aback. He fell into a trance for a moment before he roared with laughter.

“Hahaha! One can still live with their backbone broken. In time, it’s still possible to recover with treasures. But the annihilation of a race would end with nothing. Polar, I never expected that all your disciples and grand-disciples, along with the Heavenly Courts, would have to accompany you in death because of a moment’s joy. If you wish so, I’ll make it happen!”

As the Divine Emperor spoke, the millions of demonic servants surrounded the Heavenly Courts.

They were setting up an array!

Once the array formation was set up, all they would need to destroy the Heavenly Courts would be a mere thought!

Upon seeing this situation, the Godly Monarchs from the Fey, Soul, and Ghost races were extremely unwilling, but they had no choice but to participate in this annihilative battle of targeting the Heavenly Courts.

They could could go through the motions, but they could not avoid the battle. Otherwise, the Ancestor God would be settling scores with them after annihilating humanity.

Just as the demonic servant army was setting up its array formation, the world suddenly began to tremble slightly. Thunderous sounds came out from deep underground like the angry bellow of an ancient divine beast.

The stir spread in every direction at an astonishing speed. If one pursued the shock wave with one’s perception, they would discover that the stirrings were not weakening as they spread. Instead, they were drawing on the powers of the Heaven and Earth, turning stronger and faster as they proceeded.

It appeared to be sweeping through the entire Chaos Heavens!

The numerous warriors of the Chaos Heavens were alarmed by this stir.

Just days ago, the Ancestor God’s activation of the massive array had already sent a stir in the Chaos Heavens. Was this the result of the Ancestor God again?

Ordinary warriors might have been baffled, but the Celestial’s Divine Emperor knew very well that this stirring had nothing to do with the Ancestor God!

1691 - The Peak of the Heavenly Courts

CKtalon  CKtalon

If this phenomenon that swept through the entire Chaos Heavens was unrelated to the Ancestor God, could it be related to Yi Yun!?

The Divine Emperor immediately rejected the possibility after some thought. The might and the influence of the phenomenon was just too terrifying. He refused to believe that anyone apart from the Ancestor God was capable of this.

Ignoring the fact that Yi Yun had not broken through to the Godly Monarch realm, it was still impossible even if he had already broken through.

But what was exactly going on? Could it be that the Ancestor God had set up an array and his forceful extraction of the Chaos Heavens’ Yuan Qi had resulted in the resistance of the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao? Was this some unexpected outcome?

With this in mind, the Divine Emperor felt a little worried. And at that moment, in the direction of the epicenter, three faint figures had appeared high in the sky.

The figures were neither human nor beast, but three basic shapes.

They were in the shapes of a cube, a sphere, and a flat card.

What were these three figures?

The Divine Emperor was not the only one stunned; everyone was.

Even Patriarch Polar was not entirely sure what was happening. He only had some guesses in his mind.

These three items, especially the cube and the sphere was likely left behind by the Human Emperor.

Patriarch Polar had naturally seen what Human Emperor had left behind in the ring. Although Human Emperor had mentioned before that the items in the ring might one day save humanity, Patriarch Polar was unable to use these two items because he didn’t gain their recognition.

At a most critical juncture, Patriarch Polar had taken out the ring which Human Emperor had left behind, hoping to trigger Human Emperor’s powers within. He hoped that with the Human Emperor’s powers, the Ancestor God could be fought off.

Polar did not hold much hope for a positive outcome.

However, he never expected that Yi Yun had apparently obtained the Human Emperor’s recognition. Not only so, he had taken out a third heavenly treasure. Although Polar had no idea what it was, it shared the same aura as the other two heavenly treasures. They were the aura of the supreme Great Dao.

All of this was only known to Yi Yun himself.

Not only did he know what heavenly treasures the Human Emperor had left behind, he even knew what the Purple Crystal Origins was.

Back then, Yi Yun had learned of the twelve ancient Fey Gods while in the Sinkhole.

The twelve Fey Gods were actually manifestations of the Great Dao laws of the Universe. They were not only limited to the Sinkhole, but represented the Great Dao laws of the Multiverse.

For instance, the Chaos Heavens’ Fey’s Heaven Fey totem also had shadows of the twelve Fey Gods.

The first nine Fey Gods of the twelve were no secret. They were the Extreme Yang Illumination, Extreme Yin Nether Glow, Empress Earth Dao Tree, Dragon Emperor, Seven-colored Phoenix, Kun Peng, Heavenly Man, the manifestation of time—River of Forgetfulness, and the manifestation of space—Solitary Nothingness.

But the final three were a mystery to the rest of the martial world.

However, Yi Yun knew that the Purple Crystal Origins he possessed was one of the final three Fey Gods!

Yet, never did Yi Yun imagine that the items left in the Human Emperor’s ring were the remaining two Fey Gods.

Calling them Fey Gods was not accurate. They were actually just an amalgamation of the Universe’s Great Dao laws.

Human Emperor had left behind his heritage mark on these two items. Only a person who had obtained Human Emperor’s heritage could receive the recognition of the mark.

Back when Yi Yun obtained the recognition, not only did he obtain the two items, he even saw some of the past of the Human Emperor.

Inside the cube were some of Human Emperor’s memory fragments!

Human Emperor was also known as the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch in the Sinkhole and his name was Lin Ming. Back when Lin Ming first embarked on his martial career, he had obtained the cube.

Lin Ming had called it the Magic Cube, but it did not have a real name.

The Magic Cube had helped Lin Ming greatly in the beginning. If not for it, Lin Ming would never have become Human Emperor later.

Fundamentally, the Magic Cube was a heavenly treasure condensed from Soul laws.

As for the sphere, it was the condensation of the body cultivation laws. Human Emperor had called it the Grandmist Spirit Bead.

Finally, the Purple Crystal, which was possessed by Yi Yun, was the condensation of Energy laws.

Soul, Energy, Body corresponded to three tenets of Spirit, Qi, and Soul in reverse order.

The three major laws were fundamental to people.

It was fundamental to life.

It was fundamental to the Universe.

Similarly, the Multiverse had Spirit, Qi, and Soul!

Spirit represented all objects in the Universe. The myriad objects were the flesh of the Universe.

Qi represented all the energies in the Universe. The myriad objects were born amid the Heaven and Earth energies. That was the Qi of the Universe.

As for Soul, they were the Heavenly Dao laws of the Universe. This was the Soul of the Universe, just as how the myriad objects had a soul!

Therefore, the three heavenly treasures condensed out of the three laws were no longer treasures. Combined together, they were the seeds of the Multiverse!

Three heavenly treasures concentrated the Origins of the Universe!

If the Multiverse were to be destroyed and the three heavenly treasures were to absorb the remnants of the Universe and its emitted energies, they would slowly accumulate enough energy to explode at a particular moment. It would spew out all the mass, energy, and Heavenly Dao laws it stored within itself and form a new Universe. This would then be a Big Bang for a new Universe.

After creation would be destruction.

But destruction implied new life.

This was also the fundamentals of the Martial Dao which Human Emperor cultivated in!

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence represented Major Destruction, while the Primordial Chaos Heavenly Dao represented Major Creation. Both were present within these three Universe Seeds.

As for Yi Yun, he had already cultivated the Dao of Major Destruction and Dao of Major Creation. When he finally gained insight into all of this, the three heavenly treasures flew straight into Yi Yun’s body!

The Magic Cube condensed from Soul laws fused with Yi Yun’s soul.

The Purple Crystal condensed from Energy laws fused with Yi Yun’s dantian.

The Spirit Bead condensed from Body Cultivation laws had fused with Yi Yun’s flesh and lifeblood.

All of these raised Yi Yun’s strength rapidly!

Not only was it an increase in strength, it was a sublimation of life’s natural order!

The shackles that had held back Yi Yun all this while were destroyed immediately!

Yi Yun had entered the Godly Monarch realm in one step!

At that moment, Yi Yun had fused Spirit, Qi, and Soul as one. He had become one with the Heaven and Earth, as well as the Multiverse!

He even sensed that the entire Chaos Heavens had become a part of him. He could sense the throbbing of the lands of the Chaos Heavens. He did not need to open his eyes, for with a mere thought, he could sense everything that was happening in the Chaos Heavens. Even a tiny bug could not escape Yi Yun’s detection.

Even more so, his perception could spread beyond the Chaos Heavens if Yi Yun so wished.

Although Yi Yun was powerful in the past, he was only mortal when it came to life’s natural order. But now, he’s standing in life’s natural order was that of a god.

Having stepped into the Godly Monarch realm, he had truly gone from mortal to God. He was completely different from any Godly Monarch in the Chaos Heavens.

This was also why Yi Yun had caused the entire Chaos Heavens to resonate with him when he broke through to the Godly Monarch realm!

1692 - : Sublimation of Life

CKtalon  CKtalon

The projections of the three heavenly treasures vanished one after another as they fused with Yi Yun.

However, at the moment Yi Yun broke through to the Godly Monarch realm, he knew very well that the three heavenly treasures did not truly belong to him despite having fused with him.

At the end of the day, they were Universe Seeds of this Multiverse, an inchoate form that led to the birth of the next Multiverse.

He could borrow their powers, but he was unable to really take them away.

This was also why the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had left them behind when he left the Multiverse. They had to stay behind to give birth to the next Universe after infinite time.

But when that happened, with Yi Yun reaching a new realm, he would no longer needed the three Universe seeds.

He would ultimately leave the the Multiverse like the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch to head to a brand new world, to probe infinite unknowns.

Of course, the three Universe seeds were the absolute source of Yi Yun’s strength.

Boom!

The world trembled as Yi Yun appeared in the sky like a god. He stood equal to the heavens and all the warriors in the world had a feeling that they could not look straight at him. It was as though this world was being compressed by his mere appearance.

“Is that really Yi Yun? Were the phenomena from before because of him? Has he broken through?”

The Divine Emperor was alarmed. Although he had such a guess moments ago, he rejected it for its ludicrosity. But from the looks of it, the terrifying energy blast had clearly come from Yi Yun.

He had broken through to the Godly Monarch realm?

But why were there such phenomena when breaking through to the Godly Monarch realm?

Despite their race being called Celestials, they were still mortal beings. Now, he felt that he was facing a god when facing Yi Yun.

At that moment, all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi swept backwards and formed a gigantic Yuan Qi vortex and surged towards Yi Yun. The Yuan Qi and laws gestated from the worldly phenomena were returning to Yi Yun.

Divine Emperor’s expression changed slightly as he bellowed, “Set up the Godfiend Array, destroy the Heavenly Courts, obliterate humanity, and kill Yi Yun!”

He was feeling an intense sense of unease. He needed to seize the moment before Yi Yun consolidated his cultivation level to severely injure him.

The array set up by tens of millions of demonic servants was something no Godly Monarch in the Chaos Heavens could defend against. Even the Divine Emperor himself couldn’t do so.

Furthermore, he would be presiding over the Godfiend Array personally to ensure Yi Yun’s death.

After the Divine Emperor issued his order, tens of millions of demonic servants began gathering around the array formation. A terrifying annihilative force swept through the Heavenly Courts.

In just an instant, the Heavenly Courts’ array began to crumble! All the palaces were enveloped by sanguine and dark clouds. It was as if hell had descended upon them.

Patriarch Polar stood forward as he drew his sword. “Heavenly Courts disciples, we shall fight to the last man, never to retreat one step!”

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

Yi Yun’s breakthrough filled all the human Godly Monarchs with fighting spirit. They flew out from various spots in the Heavenly Courts and charged at the demonic servant array!

Even though they knew that they were too weak against the Celestial’s army, they could not allow the array formation to successfully take form while Yi Yun was still consolidating his cultivation.

When it was an array that comprised of tens of millions of demonic servants, it was not that simple to activate.

“Kill the Heavenly Courts’ Godly Monarch first!”

Divine Emperor ordered the Godly Monarch Celestials. His order was similarly directed to the Godly Monarchs of the Ghosts, Souls, and Fey.

At this moment, the Godly Monarchs of the other races were wavering on their decision.

The Celestials’ might was redoubtable, but with Yi Yun’s strength alone, he had shook the Chaos Heavens and seemingly was meeting the Celestials as equals.

At this moment, their hearts and minds were involuntarily aligned with Yi Yun.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

At that moment, the land ruptured as rocks and soil flew into the air. Black dragons flew out of the collapsing soil and swept the demonic servant array!

Any demonic servant struck by the dragons was annihilated instantly.

Even the many demonic generals equivalent to human Divine Lords suffered the same fate.

“What!?”

Everyone felt a jolt through their hearts. When they focused their eyes, they saw that the countless black dragons were actually thick tree roots.

And behind Yi Yun, a towering tree had extended its lush foliage to block out the firmaments!

Just the tree’s height alone far exceeded the Divine Emperor.

Meanwhile, people heard a sharp shriek from the tree’s crown. A gigantic green demon pounced down from the tree like a tiger. It charged into the demonic servant army and, like a tiger in a herd of sheep, engaged in a massacre!

The green demon looked even more sinister than the demonic servants. Its body was covered in green fog that was lethally poisonous. Being tainted by just a tiny bit of it was enough to corrode one’s body to bone!

Its gaping mouth could devour a palace and there were few rows of sharp teeth lining its mouth. Just one bite from this green demon was enough to be devour large numbers of demonic servants.

Upon seeing this scene, the Divine Emperor was enraged, but he did not fluster. There were tens of millions of demonic servants. Even if the towering tree and the green demon were imposing, there was no way they could kill all.

“Set up the formation!” the Divine Emperor roared.

He wanted to activate the array formation as Poison Demon and the Azure Wood Divine Tree engaged in their slaughter.

As energy rose exponentially, the human Godly Monarchs were instantly placed at the disadvantage when facing the Celestial’s obstruction.

The Divine Emperor knew very well that only by activating the demonic servant array formation would there be a chance to destroy Yi Yun. Otherwise, once Yi Yun’s foundations were fully consolidated, there was no way he could fight him.

Tens of millions of demonic servants paid the price to buy time. Just as the array formation was about to be finished, all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi were isolated from the area.

Space was sealed and the laws changed, forming an alternate dimension.

At that moment, only Poison Demon was engaging in the slaughter. The Azure Wood Divine Tree roots which had been delivering immense damage to the demonic servants had vanished.

However, the Divine Emperor did not relax his guard. It appeared like the calm before the storm.

Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou…

At that moment, one divine root after another tore out from the ground. Each divine root was a twisted mass of dozens of tree roots, making them as thick as a heavenly column!

There were a total of twelve divine roots which resembled twelve nails. They completely impaled the demonic servants’ array.

The Divine Emperor’s heart palpitated. The twelve divine roots had impaled exactly where the twelve array cores were.

The Godfiend Array was mighty and mystical, and it was obviously something Yi Yun could not see.

However, while Yi Yun was consolidating his breakthrough in cultivation, he could instantly tell the lifeline of the Godfiend Array.

The twelve divine roots held down the twelve array cores. Although the Divine Emperor could break the divine roots one after another, there was no longer any time for him to continue activating the array.

This was because the Divine Emperor could tell that high in the sky, Yi Yun had already completely absorbed the Yuan Qi and laws. His cultivation level had already consolidated.

At that moment, the aura in the world changed. What was a sleeping dragon had finally awakened.

1693 - : Godly Monarch Realm

CKtalon  CKtalon

After completing the breakthrough, Yi Yun had fused Spirit, Qi, and Soul as one. All the Celestial warriors present, even the demonic servants with low intelligence, faced Yi Yun feeling horried. This was a suppression from the difference in life’s natural order. It was like a rabbit facing a mighty hawk.

“Ancestor God, inform the Ancestor God quickly!” a Celestial divine general said immediately.

With the way things were developing, informing the Ancestor God was the most correct way of handling the situation. No matter how strong Yi Yun was, he would not be able to defeat the Ancestor God.

Among the crowd, a seventy-foot-tall Celestial divine general immediately took out a voice transmission token. Its range covered the entire Chaos Heavens.

However, the instant the divine general took out the token, he felt his energy drain rapidly. What seemed like a gentle wind was blowing across him, causing all his actions, including his vitality, to be sealed completely. Despite being a mighty divine general, he was not even capable of activating the voice transmission token.

A stunning scene happened immediately after that. The divine general’s body began to rapidly lose its luster. Its originally bronze skin turned grayish-yellow as it began to dry and age. His golden hair also turned like yellow withered grass as it began falling out.

The divine general was rapidly losing his vitality!

In just a few blinks of an eye, all of the divine general’s flesh and blood withered, leaving behind a body of skin wrapping around golden bones before he plummeted from the sky.

Boom!

The withered bone crashed to the ground and crumbled.

A Celestial divine general died so simply. Even at his point of death, his rotten and dry eyes were filled with horror and disbelief.

The Godly Monarchs present were all knowledgeable people. They obviously knew that Yi Yun had used the laws of time to kill the divine general.

Time had been accelerated, draining him of his vitality and causing him to rot.

Such means were usable in the hands of others, but it could only be used against weaklings when the difference in strength was humongous.

To use the laws of time to kill a Godly Monarch was nearly impossible. After all, a Godly Monarch’s lifespan was extraordinarily long. To use the laws of time to siphon off all their vitality was an inconceivable act.

“Everyone, join forces to kill Yi Yun!” ordered the Divine Emperor angrily.

“Where’s the Ancestor God?” Some of the Celestial divine generals were already panicking.

“Ancestor God is in seclusion… He is in his final stage of fusing with the Heavenly Dao. The twelve array cores are about to be activated…”

Divine Emperor’s expression turned immensely heavy. They had gathered so many divine generals and demonic servants, to the point of allying with the other peak races to get them to provide an army. In name, it was said to annihilate Yi Yun, but in fact, it was to serve as a shock-and-awe measure for the Chaos Heavens. It was to ensure that everything would go smoothly at the final moment when the Ancestor God fused with the Heavenly Dao.

But who would have imagined that this redoubtable Celestial army would be on the brink of defeat while facing Yi Yun!

To extraordinarily powerful figures, numbers were of little meaning. This was also why the peak races had no choice but to submit to the Ancestor God.

The Celestials had more than a hundred Godly Monarchs. Still, unless they set up an array, they were nothing but fleeting clouds in front of Yi Yun.

“Set up the array. Celestial Dao of the Nine Firmaments!” the Divine Emperor ordered via a voice transmission. However, the instant his sentence finished, another Celestial divine general rapidly rotted away under everyone’s shocked gaze into a dessicated corpse!

“No matter how powerful he is, the speed at which he can kill is limited. Let’s join forces to vanquish Yi Yun!” Divine Emperor roared loudly.

At that moment, not only were the hundred plus Celestial divine generals setting up an a array, even the tens of millions of demonic servants were beginning to enter their own formation.

With both things happening at the same time, Yi Yun could only deal with one and not the other.

Once any of the arrays were set up, Yi Yun could very well be inflicted with immense damage.

And at this critical juncture, Polar flew high into the sky!

“Fellow Daoists!”

Polar’s voice was infused with Yuan Qi as it resounded for 5000 kilometers.

“We who cultivate do so to defy the heavens and change fate, to escape the cycle of Samsara! Today, the Chaos Heavens is facing an unprecedented crisis. Yi Yun has already broken through to the Godly Monarch realm and is equal to the Ancestor God. Are you still willing to be slaves!?”

Polar’s shout sounded like thunder.

The dozens of Godly Monarchs from humanity, Souls, and Fey had their hearts burn with fighting spirit. Their fighting spirit did not stem from Godly Monarch Polar’s words, but from desire for freedom and life of the race behind them.

They had indeed been repressed for far too long.

From the day the Ancestor God appeared, all they could do was put up with it, again and again. Even though their Godly Monarch peers were killed, all they could do was act oblivious.

And today, all of this repression finally boiled to a reaction.

“Fight! Fight! Fight!”

The patriarchs of the few major races shouted in unison, causing dozens of Godly Monarchs from various races to charge towards the Celestial divine general’s formation!

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

Energy which could render the world asunder caused large swaths of palaces in the Heavenly Courts to collapse. Even the void was penetrated.

The battle royale between nearly two hundred Godly Monarchs caused energy surges that could tear through the Chaos Heavens itself.

And in fact, that did happen. A huge hole had opened in the Chaos Heavens as a rift in the Multiverse was forcefully opened up.

However, no one fled towards the Multiverse rift. Be they the Celestials or the Godly Monarchs from the peak races, none of them feared this battle!

At that moment, the Divine Emperor’s eyes looked like they were cracking.

The division between “us” and “them” was irreconcilable. If not for the Ancestor God’s need to devour the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao that required the help of these Godly Monarchs, he would have long exterminated them all. He would do it even if it would incite a war with the major Chaos Heavens races.

And now, the Divine Emperor was pushed into a corner with no means of retreat. The Azure Wood Divine Tree and the green demon were wreaking destruction among the demonic servants. The army from the peak races numbering hundreds of thousands had also entered battle with the demonic servant army. Although they could not pose any threat to the demonic servant army, it made it impossible to take up a formation in such a situation.

“Where are your eyes looking? Your opponent is me!”

Suddenly, a voice that sounded like Death sounded in the Divine Emperor’s ears. His heart shrank as he looked up immediately and saw Yi Yun floating above him in black. His eyes were filled with killing intent.

“I’ll use your blood as a sacrifice to my path towards matching the Human Emperor!” Yi Yun raised his hand slightly as a black 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was conjured behind him. It absorbed all destruction forces.

The Demon Gods on the wheel represented destruction.

Back then, although Human Emperor had rescued all life, destruction was the Human Emperor’s totem.

Yi Yun knew very well that even if he had fused the three Universe Seeds together, there was still a huge gap between him and the Human Emperor. However, that didn’t matter. The Human Emperor had been cultivating for billions of years while Yi Yun had only cultivated for about a thousand years.

He had the time to study the Heavenly Dao to escape the cycle of Samsara and wield power over the world!

“Die!”

Having accumulated immense destructive forces, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence surged downwards. The Divine Emperor let out a roar as he bulged his muscles and burned his divine blood. Blinding golden light emitted his body!

At that moment, Divine Emperor did not hesitate to burn his Divine Blood Origins.

Behind the Divine Emperor, his boiling divine blood conjured a gigantic Demon God. It had three faces and three thousand arms. Every hand wielded a weapon.

This was the strongest Martial Dao that the Divine Emperor cultivated in.

Only by burning his Divine Blood Origins could he use it. No Godly Monarch in the Chaos Heavens, including each race’s patriarch, could put up a resistance against the three-thousand-arm Demon God.

In this battlefield, even though there were more than a hundred Godly Monarchs embroiled in a battle, they were all suppressed by the Divine Emperor’s three-thousand-arm Demon God! Everyone looked at this astonishing scene.

The might of such a move would appear in the annals of history!

However… it was a pity that the Divine Emperor’s opponent was Yi Yun.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence pressed down mightily as all the weapons in the three-thousand-arms of the Demon God shattered within seconds.

The Demon God flew towards the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, but the force of Major Destruction was impossible to defend against. The Demon God’s numerous arms began to explode one after another.

Boom!

The three-thousand-armed Demon God was completely devoured by the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence as the black 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence looked like a grinder that could destroy everything. People even heard the Demon God’s cry while being ground.

“Puah!”

The Divine Emperor spat out a mouthful of blood. He clenched his teeth and planned to burn the last of his Divine Blood Origins to ignite an explosion of the Demon God inside the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence.

Even if he failed to blast Yi Yun to death, it would blast apart his divine power.

But at that moment, a pair of cold eyes appeared before the Divine Emperor.

Through those eyes, the Divine Emperor seemed to see countless Universes, and they were undergoing birth and destruction.

They were Yi Yun’s eyes.

“Cha!”

Laws condensed to form a gigantic god-slaying sword that cleaved from heaven to earth!

The Divine Emperor’s bronze body which was thousands of feet tall was split into two by Yi Yun’s strike!

Following that, the blade slashed horizontally as the Divine Emperor’s body was split into four.

“Cha! Cha! Cha!”

Sword beams flew in every direction, each as blinding as the sun. The Divine Emperor’s corpse was diced up by Yi Yun, and even at the moment of his death, the Divine Emperor’s eyes still had a trace of shock and indignation.

He had attempted to self-destruct his corpse with the last of his consciousness, but Yi Yun’s successive blows had split up his body, severing all his major meridians. It made self-destruction impossible.

Divine blood splattered down like rain!

When everyone saw this scene, the battle that was happening like a raging fire slowed down.

The Divine Emperor was dead!

A Divine Emperor of a generation had been slain by Yi Yun!

And this process took less than a minute.

With the death of the Divine Emperor, the Celestials had lost their leadership. Regardless of how courageous they were, they lost their morale. On the contrary, the allied forces of the peak races had their morales raised.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

Millions of people roared, causing a resonance from the land. Rich lifeblood powers raged like the flames of war, tearing through the Multiverse rift!

The huge Celestial army was left in shambles by a million people!

Of course, the main reason for this was Yi Yun!

Yi Yun could vanquish Godly Monarchs with a mere raise of his hand.

With a mere thought, he could obliterate tens of thousands of demonic servants!

Apart from that, the Azure Wood Divine Tree and Poison Demon were causing wanton destruction. These two slaughterers fed upon the very powers of the demonic servants.

A large amount of the Divine Emperor’s blood that had splattered was absorbed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree and Poison Demon. They became stronger as they fought!

Against such an enemy, the huge Celestial army lost the courage to do battle. Instantly, the battle became a one-sided slaughter.

Finally, some Celestial mighty figures could not hold out any longer and escaped towards the Multiverse rift.

With the first, there was the second and third.

With more than a hundred Godly Monarchs and tens of millions of demonic servants, it was impossible to kill them all. Even Yi Yun wasn’t capable of doing so.

As they scattered, some of them burrowed into the Chaos Heavens while others flew into the Multiverse rift. All of them were in a fluster!

At this moment, the once-formidable Celestial allied army suffered an abject defeat!

1694 - : Divine Emperor Vanquished

CKtalon  CKtalon

In the past few decades, the grudge between the peak races and the Celestials accumulated and deepened. Now that the Celestial army was in shambles and attempting escape, how could these races miss the chance to seek revenge?

“Kill!”

The peak races of the Chaos Heavens let out deafening war cries, as all the warriors began a relentless pursuit. Many people were even pursued into the Multiverse rift.

If one was powerful enough, diving into the Multiverse rift for a short distance posed no danger.

In the sky, large numbers of demonic servants had been vanquished. That, however, paled in comparison to the loss of Celestial divine generals.

These divine generals had always enjoyed lofty existences, ones that far exceeded the Godly Monarchs of the other major races. But now, under Yi Yun’s pursuit, they were unable to join forces to face off the common enemy. One by one, they perished.

During the chaotic retreat, Yi Yun slew more than ten of the hundred plus divine generals that were fleeing!

In a battle that determined the survival of races, there could only be blood.

When everything gradually calmed down, the entire sky, stretching out for thousands of kilometers, was enveloped by the demonic aura dissipated by the death of the demonic servants. There were stormy aura blasts and spatial rifts everywhere.

Patriarch Polar was covered in blood, but he wore a delighted look on his face.

This battle was worth it!

Even if Yi Yun were to really be defeated by the Ancestor God, he felt that the number of kills he racked up was worth it.

After the Divine Emperor was vanquished, Patriarch Polar himself had killed a Celestial divine general alone!

In addition, Patriarch Sky Punishment also killed one, while the other Heavenly Courts Godly Monarchs joined forces to kill two. Humanity as a race had subdued four.

Such a battle outcome was of noteworthy proportions. To the Celestials of the past, there might not have been a single divine general death for more than a hundred million years.

As the Celestials had always been placed on a high pedestal, which other-race Godly Monarch would dare to offend them? Whenever a Celestial divine general and an other-race Godly Monarch ventured into a mystic realm together, the Celestial would always reap the highest benefit while all the other Godly Monarchs could do was exercise forbearance bit by bit.

If they were to come to blows because of their interests, it was easy to incur the wrath of the Celestials, which might ultimately doom them. No one could ensure the safety of a person the Celestial had earmarked for death.

And the exaggerated outcome of the battle was all thanks to Yi Yun!

At that moment, the various patriarchs and Godly Monarchs were looking at the black-robed figure in the sky.

Yi Yun stood there with a seemingly ordinary aura. He resembled a mortal that didn’t expose any terrifying auras. However, his body was dyed in dark gold blood.

Around him were bodies of bronze giants.

Divine generals and the Divine Emperor were among the bodies!

These corpses effused a surging baneful aura, but all the energies instantly dissipated when they approached Yi Yun.

The battle today was all thanks to Yi Yun. Even without his killing of the Divine Emperor, his achievements had exceeded all the combined forces of the Godly Monarchs from the various peak races.

The Celestial divine generals had more than twenty perish!

The number of demonic servants deaths was innumerable.

Apart from the humans, the other Ghost, Soul, and Fey patriarchs looked at Yi Yun as they held back their words. They felt guilty and ashamed facing Yi Yun.

Previously, they had all betrayed Yi Yun.

At that moment, the Fey patriarch stood forward. He had some ties with Yi Yun and could probably exchange a few words.

“Young Master Yi, I have to apologize sincerely for going back on our contract. My soul is in your hands, and I have nothing to say about how you punish me. However, our betrayal was our personal decision and had nothing to do with the Fey race as a whole. Young Master Yi, I hope that you will allow the Fey to continue their bloodline in the future…”

Yi Yun and the Ancestor God were at irreconcilable odds. Although Yi Yun’s chances of victory seemed low, he was bound to reign supreme if he were to win by chance. In that case, all the lives of the different races would be in his hands.

The fates of these races would all depend on Yi Yun’s mood.

When that happened, Yi Yun would be the absolute ruler of the Chaos Heavens!

Yi Yun gave a nonchalant glance to the Fey’s Patriarch Grand Supremum who bowed his head in silence.

Behind Patriarch Grand Supremum, the other Fey Godly Monarchs felt their hearts palpitate when they sensed Yi Yun’s gaze on them. It was as though they had been seen through completely.

The repressive might that Yi Yun gave off was just too potent. The huge difference in strength and the decision of their future fates made them feel like they were subjects before a king when facing Yi Yun.

Yi Yun did not speak. All he did was give the Godly Monarchs a glance before ignoring them.

At this moment in time, he was no longer concerned over such matters. The various peak races had given him help in this battle after all. At the very least, they had held back the Celestial divine generals and prevented them or the tens of millions of demonic servants from forming an array.

Even if both parties had managed to set up an array formation, Yi Yun still had means to deal with them. It was just that Yi Yun would have to pay quite a nontrivial price to do so.

At that moment, Yi Yun did not wish to waste a single bit of his Yuan Qi.

Because… his true opponent was not the Divine Emperor.

This was only the prelude to the huge battle ahead of him.

Yi Yun waited silently and at that moment, hundreds of thousands of warriors from every race, including the Heavenly Courts’ disciples, dozens of Godly Monarchs and patriarchs were silent. None of them knew what Yi Yun was waiting for.

“It’s about time…”

Yi Yun suddenly said out of the blue, but no one understood what he was talking about. It was at that moment when the land suddenly quaked. The tremors were thousands of times, if not millions of times, more terrifying than any earthquake in the past!

The earthquake was not localized but was happening throughout the Chaos Heavens!

If one were to view the Chaos Heavens from the Multiverse rift, one could clearly sense that the entire Chaos Heavens was trembling.

Even the Multiverse membrane was quivering as though it would shatter at any moment!

And if the Multiverse membrane were to shatter, the Chaos Heavens would be cease to be the Chaos Heavens. It would become a part of the Multiverse rift and when that happened, all the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in the Chaos Heavens would seep into the Multiverse rift until all Yuan Qi was gone!

When that happened, the Chaos Heavens would be in the same situation as the Xuanyuan Dune!

Mining could be done in the Chaos Heavens, but it would no longer be a suitable place for cultivation or even just living.

Everyone noticed this phenomena—the Multiverse membrane was shaking!

“This…This is…”

The Godly Monarchs had drastic changes in expression. This sudden turn of events chilled their hearts. Once the Multiverse membrane shattered, the outcome would be disastrous!

“Is it the Ancestor God?”

Everyone’s hearts palpitated. Such a cataclysmic turn of events could only be a result of the Ancestor God!

“Array core… the twelve array cores have been activated…”

Patriarch Grand Supremum suddenly realized what was happening. Before he finished his sentence, a blinding beam of light blasted out from the Heavenly Courts’ back mountains, thrusting into the sky like a sword of god.

Countless palaces fell within the radius of the beam and were obliterated, instantly vanishing from existence!

Back when the Ancestor God chose to set up the Chaos Heavens array, he had chosen twelve spots with rich Heaven Earth Yuan Qi as the array core, and another seventy-two sub-first grade spirit vein sources as key array nodes.

These twelve array cores were where the main veins of the Chaos Heavens were. It included the Fey’s core Heaven Fey City, the humans’ Heavenly Courts, the Ghosts’ Sky River of the Netherworld among its ranks!

About two weeks ago, the seventy-two sub-first grade array nodes had been activated.

Now, it was time for the twelve main array cores!

The patriarchs present emanated their perceptions and indeed, they saw divine beams surging into the sky from their own territories!

It was the same with Heaven Fey City and Sky River of the Netherworld!

The divine beam spewed out Yuan Qi that had been accumulated in these lands for billions of years.

Now, it was gushing out like water. It was like the draining of a pond to catch fish, so how could they not feel the pinch?

As the various patriarchs felt the pain, they knew without a doubt that the Ancestor God had begun devouring the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao!

The array could no longer be stopped.

The earthquake that embroiled the entire Chaos Heavens would only turn more terrifying. Ghastly cracks appeared out of thin air as huge ravines formed at astonishing speeds. All of them spread out for millions of kilometers and went hundreds of thousands if not millions of feet deep!

This was the steepest of precipitous ridges!

And as these cracks deepened, a terrifying aura seeped out from the bottom of these ravines. It seemed to freeze the souls of everyone present as if these ravines led to the netherworld.

“This is… the force of world annihilation…”

As Godly Monarchs of the Chaos Heavens, everyone present was knowledgeable. They had often visited Great Worlds on the brink of destruction. This included Yi Yun who had been to the Azure Wood Great World which was on the brink of collapse. From there, he had learned the laws of Major Destruction.

Back then, the Azure Wood Great World was filled with corrosive Apocalyptic Fumes.

And now, although the auras suffusing the Chaos Heavens ravines were far less corrosive than the Apocalyptic Fumes, they showed some resemblance!

This meant that the Chaos Heavens was beginning to wane!

Of course, for such a huge universe, for it to totally decline, the process would probably take a billion years or more!

Even so, this phenomena of going from waxing to waning left the warriors of the Chaos Heavens feeling despondent and in despair.

Their territories were about to be fall, and the Chaos Heavens was beginning to wane. Where were they to go?

1695 - : From Waxing to Waning

CKtalon  CKtalon

Although this battle with the Celestial army left them delighted, it was likely that the allied forces would be the Ancestor God’s target for revenge.

The situation was irredeemable. If Yi Yun were to be defeated by the Ancestor God, they would most likely be killed.

“Young Master Yi, the Chaos Heavens’ Origins has been siphoned by the Ancestor God, dooming the Chaos Heavens to wane in the future. Do you have any plans on leaving the Chaos Heavens?” Patriarch Polar asked.

His question immediately gave the present Godly Monarchs ideas.

Before Yi Yun broke through to the Godly Monarch realm, he had apparently been capable of tampering with his tracing mark. Although Yi Yun didn’t manage a thorough removal back then, he had now broken through, so it was likely that he could completely remove the tracing marks.

As long as he removed the tracing marks, they could leave the Chaos Heavens and head for the billions of worlds out there in the Multiverse. With the Multiverse so huge, it was impossible for the Ancestor God to pursue them.

If that were the case, all their lives would be saved.

As for the trillions of people that shared their race, losses were inevitable for this calamity.

However, they could take advantage of the moment to select the most outstanding and talented members of their race which had the highest potential to amount to something and take them away.

As for the rest that remained in the Chaos Heavens, their fates were in the air. However, the Celestials were a small race. To rule over the Chaos Heavens, they needed slaves. It was unlikely they killed so many people.

When the distant future came, the core members of their race would have produced more offspring and could one day return to the Chaos Heavens.

With this in mind, many Godly Monarchs were tempted.

It was extremely difficult to cultivate to their present state, so as long as they had a chance to live, no one wanted to die.

Of course, all of this depended on Yi Yun. Without him, they could not even wipe away the tracing marks. Death was still a certainty no matter where they fled to.

The Ghost patriarch said immediately, “Young Master Yi, if you are leaving the Chaos Heavens, us Ghosts are willing to follow you and honor you as lord!”

“Us Souls are agreeable as well. We can open up a Great World and create a brand new world. When that happens, Young Master Yi will be supreme lord of this new world.” the Soul patriarch added as well.

Yi Yun sneered. “New world?”

With the Ancestor God present, any new world that reached a certain scale would bound to be discovered by the Celestials. Unless he and the bunch of Godly Monarchs chose to live like hiding rats, there was no way to hide themselves.

Yi Yun took a deep breath as the Yuan Qi in him spun like a tornado. At his fingertip, a Heavenly Dao Royal Seal slowly suffused. It was like an infinite starry sky that had been compressed to a point.

Yi Yun lightly touched the void in front of him and, at that moment, what seemed like a calm water surface rippled out as a spatial fluctuation.

The ripples grew in size and formed a spatial wave that ultimately developed into an overwhelming tsunami!

The spatial dimension laws grew more violent until space was torn apart with Yi Yun’s fingertip at its center.

A huge spatial rift appeared in the sky. It was as though the entire Chaos Heavens had shattered because of this rift.

“This is…”

A spatial passageway that leads to the Multiverse rift?

That was the first idea on everyone’s mind, but all of them had seen Multiverse rifts. The other end of the spatial rift did not look like the typical dead and silent Multiverse rift.

Where did the passageway lead to?

Could it be that Yi Yun had opened up a passageway that led directly to another Multiverse from the Chaos Heavens?

With this in mind, everyone felt fascinated.

“Young Master Yi, this is…” the Soul patriarch could not help but ask.

And at that moment, a terrifying destructive aura spread out from the other end of the spatial rift. Through the crack, people saw countless black holes and turbulent flows, as well as destructive streams that burgeoned rapidly.

“That is…”

“Apocalyptic Fumes!”

The Godly Monarchs had drastic changes in expression. Amid the Apocalyptic Fumes were auras that belonged to the Chaos Heavens. Could it be…

“This isn’t a passageway that leads to the Multiverse. It’s…”

“It heads straight to the core of the Chaos Heavens, and also the passageway that leads to the Ancestor God’s array core,” Yi Yun said softly.

The Godly Monarchs turned pale. They were worrying about the Ancestor God’s pursuit, but Yi Yun had directly opened up a spatial rift that led straight to the Ancestor God’s array core!

The Ancestor God’s array core was surrounded by numerous array formations. How did Yi Yun tear through space to create a passageway that lead straight in?

“You plan on fighting the Ancestor God?” the Soul patriarch said in disbelief. Was Yi Yun mad? Even if he had vanquished the Divine Emperor, he was no match for the Ancestor God.

Just as he finished his sentence, he watched helplessly as Yi Yun took a step forward and entered the spatial rift!

Yi Yun floated forward alone, having taken the initiative to seek out the Ancestor God before the Ancestor God came looking for him.

What sort of madness was this!?

And in fact, it was indeed difficult for the present Yi Yun to fight the Ancestor God!

However, Yi Yun had participated in the setup of the Ancestor God’s array formation. During this ten years, he had gained an understanding of the Ancestor God’s array formation, and precisely because of this, he had pinpointed the location of the Ancestor God’s array core and was able to gain access.

He was certain that the Ancestor God was devouring the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao at the moment. It was a crucial period for the Ancestor God; if not, he wouldn’t have mobilized tens of millions of demonic servants and about a hundred Celestial Godly Monarchs to awe the Chaos Heavens.

This was Yi Yun’s only chance!

If he were to sit idle and watch the Ancestor God devour the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao, it would be the end. The entire Chaos Heavens would be reduced to a burning hell.

Every step Yi Yun took caused the chaotic space to regain their calm under his feet. Black holes vanished as the turbulent flows were attenuated.

All this was natural and harmonious. The Ancestor God brought destruction on the Chaos Heavens while Yi Yun brought new life to this space.

Gradually, Yi Yun fused with the core of the Chaos Heavens, making it impossible to distinguish the two apart.

As for the Heavenly Dao Royal Seal inside his body, it began to surface and fuse with the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao.

“This is…”

Upon seeing this scene, Polar’s heart quaked. Yi Yun was not directly challenging the Ancestor God to battle. Instead, he was fusing with the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao. Could it be that…

“He’s trying to snatch the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao from the Ancestor God?”

It was not only Polar. The Fey, Soul, and Ghost patriarchs all came to the same conclusion at the same time.

Although Yi Yun appeared to casually walk into the core of the Chaos Heavens, he had in fact summoned all the laws he cultivated in. These laws were beginning to fuse with the Chaos Heavens.

The Ancestor God had made the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao to surface through his massive array which was powered by 84 wonderlands.

Although the Ancestor God wished to devour the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao, Yi Yun could also refine the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao for himself by entering its core!

He had the strength needed to do so.

He was snatching food from the tiger’s proverbial mouth!

No one expected that this was Yi Yun’s plan.

He was going to use the Ancestor God’s array to empower himself!

To put it in another way, ever since Yi Yun participated in the setup of the Ancestor God’s array formation, he already had this plan in mind. Everything was just to set his plan into motion.

Now, Yi Yun had summoned out all the laws in his body. It was a bet he staked everything on!

1696 - : Chaos Heavens Heavenly Dao

CKtalon  CKtalon

Yi Yun’s figure vanished to the array’s core amid the widened gazes of everyone. All of them tried to make out the subsequent scene, but the rift closed quickly, isolating them from the array’s core completely.

“What… do we do now?” The Godly Monarchs exchanged looks.

The Ghost patriarch had a look of hesitation. Without Yi Yun, they had no way of removing the tracing mark on them, which meant that they could not leave the Chaos Heavens. As such, all they could do was wait for the outcome of the battle.

No one expected Yi Yun to be crazy enough to vie for the Heavenly Dao with the Ancestor God.

The Ancestor God had set up the array for decades and logically speaking, victory was a certainty. Yet, Yi Yun had created too many impossible miracles.

Of course, the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao would be gone if it was devoured. However, it was better in the hands of Yi Yun than the Ancestor God. At the very least, Yi Yun wouldn’t want their lives or sever their heritage.

…

The world was a gray blur as far as the eyes could see. Yi Yun had already arrived in the core of the array. In this space, his perception was infinitely compressed, nearly impossible to release it outwards. However, after Yi Yun’s laws fused with the surrounding space he was in, he could detect everything around him.

He knew very well that the gray substance around him was the nebulous Primordial Chaos.

For a world to prosper, it needed constant flesh blood to provide for renewal. The river of time was bound to rot all things, and the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi was bound to slowly dissipate. Spiritual lands would slowly drain and the life they produced would slowly go extinct…

If the universe was unable to mend itself, it would slowly go down the route of decline.

And the material resource for a universe to heal itself came from the nebulous Primordial Chaos that gave birth to all things. It was like the stem cells of a person. The human body has countless cells dying each day, and the cells can develop into bone marrow, blood, muscles, organs, and other body parts to make up for any damage to the human body.

But unfortunately, the number of stem cells in a body will slowly reduce with the passage of time. As such, the human body will naturally ail. It could be said that the fundamental reason to aging is the lost of stem cells.

A universe’s path to destruction was no different to the human body.

However, not only was there a shortage of nebulous Primordial Chaos. Amid the nebulous Primordial Chaos, there was also infinite Origins energy. Combined together, they could produce the Chaos that gave birth to everything.

This was fundamental to the Chaos Heavens and also a guarantee to the prosperity of the Chaos Heavens. The Chaos Heavens originally possessed enough to maintain the prosperity for hundreds of billions of years, but the appearance of the Ancestor God snuffed out all of that. By devouring the Origins, it was equivalent to robbing the Chaos Heavens of its longevity and the light that shines upon it from providence.

After the Ancestor God finished the devouring, the Chaos Heavens would rapidly ail, and he would be able to digest the universe’s Origins and obtain infinite power, giving him a lifespan equal to the universe.

The Ancestor God’s boundless ambition was so huge that it destined the death of countless lives and martial civilizations. He might even vanquish several peak races and various Great Worlds.

Now, the devouring had begun.

Yi Yun could sense that deep in the core of this space, there was a vortex that devoured everything. To this space, the vortex was nothing, but even a solid dyke can collapse because of an ant hole in it. As the vortex devoured the Chaos powers, it slowly expanded and accelerated its devouring speed.

This vortex was formed by the Ancestor God.

In order to devour the Chaos Heavens’ Origins, the Ancestor God’s body had already manifested a nomological form.

Once his devouring began, he could not be interrupted.

Yi Yun took steps towards the vortex and at that moment in time, he suddenly felt the surrounding space freeze.

A terrifying suppression emitted from the vortex’s core and enveloped Yi Yun.

Even Yi Yun felt his bloodline stifled. It was as though all his Yuan Qi flowed slower in his body.

This suppression stemmed from the rage of the Ancestor God.

“Human! How dare you enter this area?”

A deep voice that sounded like clanking metal sounded from everywhere. It was as though the world itself was speaking.

Indeed, the Ancestor God did not expect Yi Yun to find the core of the array and be able to infiltrate it. Just this alone implied that Yi Yun’s nomological insights were already close to his.

“My being here is all thanks to you.” Yi Yun laughed. “Without your array, I wouldn’t have been able to find the entrance. It was you who found where the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao is, and all I did was follow in your footsteps.”

The first person who forged the path faced the greatest difficulties. In order to set up the array, the Ancestor God had drained immense amounts of Yuan Qi from the various wonderlands. Even he had expended a great deal of effort to do so.

From this point of view, Yi Yun had benefited quite immensely.

Of course, it was impossible for Yi Yun to deal with the Ancestor God now.

As for the Ancestor God, it would be difficult for him to immediately annihilate Yi Yun for his devouring had begun. His body was in a nomological form meant for devouring, and Yi Yun wasn’t an easy opponent. To kill Yi Yun, he needed to restore to his original form.

And once he restored to his original form, his devouring of the Heavenly Dao would come to an end. Everything would then be for naught.

“Human, do you think you have what it takes to snatch the Heavenly Dao from me?” The Ancestor God’s voice reverberated through space as he could already tell Yi Yun’s intentions.

The Celestials could devour the Heavenly Dao to begin with, and the Ancestor God was the strongest Celestial. In terms of devouring the Heavenly Dao, no one could compare to him.

Furthermore, the array was set up by him. He was absolutely confident in his ability to devour the Heavenly Dao.

Furthermore, this worldly array was nothing to scoff at.

The Ancestor God knew very well that he could not manifest his true body when devouring the Heavenly Dao. Even though he was confident that the array’s core would not have anyone gain entry, he had taken precautions and left contingencies in the array.

At that moment, killing intent surfaced in the array.

“You have developed your strength too quickly. I’m very astonished and I know that you carry secrets. I’m very interested for these secrets will be mine!”

As the Ancestor God spoke, golden tokens appeared around Yi Yun.

They were Ancestor God Tokens!

The Ancestor God Token was a manifestation of his mental soul and possessed a portion of his strength. The Ancestor God was occupied, but these soul avatars didn’t suffer from his limitations.

The nine mental soul avatars could produce twice their combat strength under the array’s augmentation.

Under the present circumstances, the Ancestor God’s efforts were all placed on devouring the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao. He wouldn’t hesitate to let his nine avatars self-destruct to achieve his goal.

Such a setup was enough to heavily injure or even kill Yi Yun!

Upon seeing this scene, the corners of Yi Yun’s mouth arced. “The contingency you left behind sure isn’t bad. It would have been a little troublesome for me to deal with them, but unfortunately… the speed at which you devour the Heavenly Dao is just too slow…”

Just as Yi Yun finished his sentence, three streams of light flew out of Yi Yun’s body and surrounded Yi Yun in a triangular formation.

These three streams of light were the three Universe seeds. They were the amalgamation of Spirit, Qi, and Soul of the next Multiverse.

And although the Chaos Heavens was a huge universe, it was only a portion of the Multiverse. It was just the biggest branch in the Multiverse’s crown of branches.

The Chaos Heavens similarly possessed Spirit, Qi, and Soul!

In the core regions of the Chaos Heavens, there was the nebulous Primordial Chaos that made up everything. That was the Chaos Heavens’ Spirit. The Origins energy that filled the area was the Chaos Heavens’ Qi. And finally, the Heavenly Dao that governed this universe was the Chaos Heavens’ Soul!

Yi Yun had in control the Universe seeds formed from Spirit, Qi, and Soul, and before the three Universe seeds, the Chaos Heavens’ Spirit, Qi, and Soul was instantly stirred!

Momentarily, Origins energy surged around Yi Yun like tumultuous tsunamis! The nebulous Primordial Chaos gathered over from every direction like the assaulting storm! And the Heavenly Dao laws that filled the space were almost completely fused with Yi Yun.

This combination made him more than ten times faster than the Ancestor God!

When the Ancestor God transformed into a devourment law, all he did was stir up a vortex. But around Yi Yun was a black hole!

The three Universe seeds resonated with the Chaos Heavens’ Spirit, Qi, and Soul as they surged constantly towards Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s strength was rising rapidly!

At this moment in time, Yi Yun was no longer experiencing a simple rise in cultivation level, but a sublimation of life’s natural order!

Upon seeing this unforeseen circumstance, the Ancestor God was alarmed. Having lived for billions of years, few things could perturb him in this world. However, Yi Yun’s speed at devouring the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao far exceeded his level of understanding!

“What’s exactly happening…”

The Ancestor God looked at the three Universe seeds beside Yi Yun. He couldn’t tell what they were despite being extremely knowledgeable for he had never seen the Universe seeds before.

At this moment, the three Universe seeds had fused with Yi Yun’s life. They were filled with Yi Yun’s aura and looked akin to Yi Yun’s Divine Lord Royal Seals.

Could this be the Divine Lord Royal Seals that Yi Yun cultivated?

The Ancestor God found it ludicrous. He knew very well that such a powerful treasure could not even compare to the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao. How could it be condensed out of life itself?

1697 - : Ancestor God Token

CKtalon  CKtalon

Amid this ravaging energy storm, the array formation that the Ancestor God had set up began to totter. Although his nine avatars were present, they were unable to gain the augmentation of the array.

Ancestor God was reeling in panic. He could sense that the three heavenly treasures that were floating before Yi Yun were condensed from the Spirit, Qi, and Soul of the Multiverse. And the core of the Chaos Heavens was its Spirit, Qi, and Soul. This resulted in Yi Yun’s ability to vie for the Heavenly Dao to be far superior.

It would be too late if he didn’t disrupt Yi Yun.

Even though his avatars could not be augmented by the array, the Ancestor God still activated them. They let out staggering roars as they charged at the core of the black hole where Yi Yun was.

The nine avatars looked identical to the Ancestor God. Although they weren’t as huge as he was, they were more than a thousand feet tall. Their eyes were vacant and cold, but their bodies emitted different auras. There was Deathly Silence, Destruction, Baneful Aura, Dao that the Ancestor God cultivated in.

He had already decided on abandoning his nine avatars. He planned on self-destructing them the moment the nine avatars closed in on Yi Yun.

No matter how strong Yi Yun was, it was impossible for him to remain unharmed with the nine avatars’ self-destruction. He would have to abandon the devourment of the Heavenly Dao to withstand the attack of the nine avatars. And when that happened, it was unlikely Yi Yun had the ability to continue resisting him even if he remained alive.

The nine avatars instantly tore through space and appeared by the black hole’s boundary.

Following that, an abyssal aura suffused their bodies.

This aura was as though they would vanquish everything.

“Die.” Ancestor God transmitted his cold voice into the black hole which spun continuously. The nine avatars exploded simultaneously as a blinding radiance instantly swept through space. Terrifying energies instantly blanketed the black hole.

At that moment, everyone in the Chaos Heavens sensed an energy fluctuation. The awaiting Godly Monarchs in the Heavenly Man saw a flash of white light along the horizon.

And at that moment, an even more potent tremor was felt.

Ancestor God’s cold voice had an additional hint of shock. “What?”

He felt that the destruction and devourment energies emitted from the black hole was slowly grinding and absorbing the self-destructive energies of the nine avatars!

Following that, he saw spinning wheels appear slowly from the black hole. There were illusory scenes of demons struggling as the entire wheel effused an aura of annihilation.

It was these wheels that were absorbing the terrifying energies of the self-destruction!

10000 Demon Wheel of Existence!

In fact, Yi Yun was barely holding up at that moment.

The self-destruction of the Ancestor God’s avatars was just too powerful. Just using the Heavenly Dao-fused 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence was not enough for Yi Yun to completely neutralize its strength.

Yi Yun’s body had experienced the fusion of Human, Fey, and Celestial bloodlines, and had been reconstructed by the Myriad Form Shura Pill and the Heavenly Dao. It was already flawless. Apart from the Ancestor God, even the Divine Emperor’s body was not as strong as Yi Yun’s.

But even so, Yi Yun’s organs, limbs, and meridians were constantly lacerating and exploding amid the nine avatars’ self-destructive explosion!

Yi Yun clenched his teeth, knowing to secure his soul sea. He attempted to use the powers of Primordial Chaos to restore his body, but the speed of restoration could not match the speed of destruction.

With the black hole about to completely lose control, Yi Yun’s Primordial Chaos Demon Bead in front of him emitted a blurry light. This light was like a rain after a drought that nourished Yi Yun’s flesh and body.

His ruptured meridians constantly healed as his innards healed.

The intense pain overwhelmed Yi Yun’s soul sea ended up making him think even clearer.

The Primordial Chaos Demon Bead was the manifestation of Spirit among the Spirit, Qi, and Soul. So-called Spirit referred to the flesh.

The Primordial Chaos Demon Bead had immense bloodline powers stored in it. A portion of it had been left behind by the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch.

However, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch was unable to take this Universe seed of a Multiverse to other universes; therefore, he had left it behind.

And now, the remaining energies in the Primordial Chaos Demon Bead prevented Yi Yun from grievous injuries.

The explosion of the nine avatars were for naught!

The Ancestor God also suffered a backlash from his avatars’ explosion. His Origins lifeblood suffered a tremor.

At that moment, the Ancestor God no longer had any means to attack Yi Yun.

He could only compete with Yi Yun at devouring the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao, but with the three Universe seeds present, Yi Yun’s speed was just too terrifying.

The nebulous Primordial Chaos, the Origins energy, the world’s laws!

Seeing these constantly fusing with Yi Yun, the Ancestor God reeled in anxiety and anger.

He could no longer permit Yi Yun to continue the devourment or the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao would be under Yi Yun’s possession in its entirety.

Upon realizing this, the Ancestor God felt extreme despair!

After all, he had expended immense time and effort to devour the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao. To set up the array, he had spent treasures he had accumulation for hundreds of millions of years!

For this, he had even drained the 84 Spirit Qi wonderlands in the Chaos Heavens. Their recovery would take far more than a few hundred million years.

Once his devourment of the Heavenly Dao failed, the Ancestor God would suffer an incredible loss.

Yet, the Ancestor God had no choice but to give up.

He could not let his efforts empower Yi Yun.

With a deep breath, the Ancestor God roared angrily. He stopped his devourment of the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao!

This was equivalent to him giving up, and all his hard work and preparations were for nothing!

This was his way of cutting losses!

“Human, I’ll dice you up and torture your soul!”

The Ancestor God let out a rapturous roar as the terrifying sound waves emitted out of the array’s core and sounded throughout the Chaos Heavens!

The Godly Monarchs, who were waiting anxiously outside, had drastic changes in expression when they heard the roar. They were unsure of what was happening inside the array’s core.

Boom!

The void quaked as people retreated. They had all sensed that this battle of epic proportions which determined the fates of everyone was about to begin!

At that moment, in the core of the array, the vortex that the Ancestor God manifested slowly came to a stop as it phased into the Ancestor God’s dark gold body.

First was his head, followed by his torso and limbs.

He gave up the devourment of the Heavenly Dao to manifest his true body and his goal was to destroy Yi Yun.

At that moment, he had paid a terrible price.

Finally, the Ancestor God’s full body manifested. He was a dark golden giant nearly ten thousand feet tall. He had cut facial features and his eyes shone like the sun.

He extended his arm and grabbed out at the void, pulling out a battle ax the size of a mountain from a spatial rift.

This battle ax emitted wanton frosty beams that seemed to condense the wailings of countless souls. Over the hundred of millions of years, the number of deaths at the Ancestor God’s hands were innumerable. The vitalities of the deceased lingered around the battle ax, making it the most terrifying murder weapon in the world!

1698 - : Terrible Price

CKtalon  CKtalon

The battle ax cleaved down as immense divine might surged through the nine firmaments, tearing apart the Chaos Heavens’ membrane and rushing into the void of the universe. The massive divine strength was like a boundless, raging tidal wave!

At that instant, even the distant stars began to quake. The Chaos Heavens was shaking constantly.

Outside the core of the array, the other Godly Monarchs saw the phantom of a gigantic divine ax. When it came cleaving down, a huge rift tore into the ground out of nowhere. It was thousands of kilometers deep and seemed to tear through the lands of the Chaos Heavens!

Everyone was quivering both in body and mind. The might was at such an unfathomable level that it could split open the Chaos Heavens with one strike. Such a battle was taking place in the Chaos Heavens, but it was not something the Chaos Heavens could withstand. If this continued, it was even possible that the Chaos Heavens would be reduced to smithereens!

Without a doubt, the gigantic ax phantom was the Ancestor God’s attack, and withstanding such an attack seemed unimaginable.

“Where’s Yi Yun?”

Polar’s voice quivered. From his point of view, the original array’s core had begun cracking because of the Ancestor God’s strike. The array appeared to be on the brink of shattering.

But even so, their perception was still unable to probe deep into the array.

At the core of the array were turbulent blasts of energy that formed a gigantic vortex. It constantly tore the surroundings apart. Even the space around the array was collapsing. Mountains and rivers were all swept into the vortex.

And within the vortex, a black hole could barely be seen, one that suffused Yi Yun’s aura. However, there was a huge crack running through the black hole.

That was the mark left behind by the Ancestor God’s ax!

The Ancestor God’s ax had cleaved right onto the devourment laws Yi Yun had manifested!

As the cracks constantly widened, the black hole shrank in size.

At that moment, the black hole suddenly exploded and was reduced to countless fragments. In a blink of an eye, it vanished within the raging array core.

The Ancestor God’s cold eyes observed the core of the array. He could not see Yi Yun, and Yi Yun’s aura dissipated with the explosion of the black hole.

Even in the face of death, Yi Yun had not given up his devourment of the Heavenly Dao. In the end, he was vanquished, both in body and laws, with one strike.

However… was Yi Yun really dead?

Ancestor God held his battle ax tight as he surveyed his surroundings. He would absolutely not spare Yi Yun a chance even if Yi Yun only had a sliver of his soul left.

This strike had expended a great deal of the Ancestor God’s energy. When he saw the array core in ruins, he could not help but let out an angry bellow.

Although Yi Yun had likely been reduced to dust, all his efforts had been for nothing!

The Ancestor God clenched his fists as he struck the array core repeatedly.

The array core which was already riddled in holes was further destroyed.

The Godly Monarchs outside the array core felt their bodies and minds tremble when they heard the Ancestor God’s angry roar.

They watched helplessly as the array core became a spatial ruin formed from wanton forces. It was as though a huge wound had been torn open in the Chaos Heavens’ sky.

As the wound constantly worsened, the entire Chaos Heavens would be devoured by its damaged depths.

And beside the massive wound was a giant that slowly stood up.

“Ancestor God…”

The Godly Monarchs outside the array looked at the giant in a daze.

The Ancestor God was still alive, and clearly, no life could exist in that terrifying wound.

Was Yi Yun dead?

At that moment, everyone’s hearts plunged into despair.

And it was at that moment that the giant’s pair of cold eyes swept towards these trivial lowlifes.

When being swept by this gaze, everyone’s hearts stopped beating. Their alarmed souls found it difficult to breathe.

The Ancestor God’s gaze had locked onto their souls.

This level of suppression was just too terrifying. Furthermore, they had all openly betrayed the Ancestor God by this point in time.

Under the scrutiny of the Ancestor God, these Godly Monarchs felt a baffling sense of coldness.

If the Ancestor God suddenly attacked, they might very well perish there and then. Even more depressing was that even if they succeeded in fleeing, they were unable to escape the Ancestor God’s tracing mark. They would ultimately suffer a worse death.

The air seemed to freeze at that moment as the atmosphere turned as heavy as the Chaos itself. All the Godly Monarchs could only suffer the Ancestor God’s suppression in silence.

The Ancestor God stood in midair while holding his gigantic ax. No one knew what he was planning to do.

This suppression that nearly drove people to the brink of madness lasted for quite a while until the Ancestor God finally put away his battle ax.

The Ancestor God looked coldly at everyone. His heart did not suffer any upheavals for he only saw these people as nothing but tools.

He did not directly attack them for he had not completely given up on the Chaos Heavens.

In fact, the Ancestor God’s worldly array had enervated most of the Heavenly Dao in the Chaos Heavens’ core, but he had ultimately failed to devour it.

Now, after the core’s Heavenly Dao was shattered, the Chaos Heavens had been damaged fundamentally even though a portion of the Heavenly Dao had returned to the Chaos Heavens. Its decline could no longer be curbed.

Even if the Ancestor God spent more time and paid a massive price to devour the Heavenly Dao again, the benefits he stood to receive would be far less than what they were previously.

This left him in a dilemma. The Chaos Heavens became useless and bland, but abandoning it would be regretful.

Yet, the Chaos Heavens was a supreme universe in the Multiverse. If he were to abandon the Chaos Heavens, which Heavenly Dao could he devour?

The Ancestor God sat down cross-legged and began slowly recovering his energy.

Meanwhile, a massive divine force came bearing down and enveloping all the Godly Monarchs.

This was the Ancestor God’s domain which imprisoned all the Godly Monarchs like a cage.

In fact, the Ancestor God wasn’t in the best of states. After his intense battle with Yi Yun, as well as having Yi Yun disrupt his devourment of the Heavenly Dao, the Ancestor God was already injured. The domain he released could naturally be cracked if the Godly Monarchs joined forces.

But at that moment, the Godly Monarchs knew that any attempt at escaping the Ancestor God’s domain would incur the Ancestor God’s retaliation.

These mighty figures that ruled over the Chaos Heavens knew their fates were in the hands of the Ancestor God.

Of course, not everyone chose to sit idle. Some Godly Monarchs, including Polar, were engaging in voice transmissions in a bid to put up a struggle.

In fact, they also knew that even if they ignited all their blood essence, the threat they posed to the Ancestor God was negligible. However, they still wanted to take the gamble. It wasn’t for their dignity as experts, but simply because they had turned weary after all these years. To be made to work akin to slaves, they would rather die in a glorious battle than await a slow death.

Just as the Godly Monarchs were communicating among themselves, someone suddenly discovered that the terrifying wound was changing.

The crack was only full of wanton energy blasts in the beginning, but now, without anyone realizing it, the chaotic flows had turned regular. They amassed towards the center as though something was summoning them.

Rumbling sounds emitted from the crack as a unique sound boomed in the Chaos Heavens.

It was vast and ethereal, the heaviness of history and time in their entirety.

After the Chaos Heavens’ response, the rumbling crack grew in intensity and, in a blink of an eye, a black hole appeared in the crack.

The Ancestor God instantly stood up. He could sense a familiar yet alien aura from the crack.

It’s Yi Yun? He’s still not dead!?

1699 - : Strength of the Ancestor God

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Ancestor God revealed a look of shock. He had clearly destroyed the laws Yi Yun had manifested! Even though he had considered the possibility of Yi Yun surviving, he had never expected Yi Yun to release such potent auras. It was as though he was never injured.

No one could remain unharmed after receiving his full-force strike in a frontal assault.

Ancestor God found it incredulous. And at that moment, all the energies, laws, and nebulous Primordial Chaos gathered at a particular spot in the sky. They formed countless tiny points of light, and like birds flocking to a phoenix, they gradually formed a human figure, condensing every inch of his blood, flesh, skin, hair, and even clothes.

This figure was undoubtedly Yi Yun.

Upon seeing this scene, the Ancestor God was astonished. The feeling he had was that Yi Yun’s entire body was formed with Origins energy, laws of Origins, and nebulous Primordial Chaos.

It was a body completely formed of energy and laws, with the Primordial Chaos as his body, laws as his soul, and Origins energy as his dantian’s Yuan Qi!

As such, Yi Yun’s body was a Great Dao in and of itself!

This was a metamorphosis of life.

It wasn’t that the Ancestor God’s strike had missed Yi Yun or that Yi Yun was unfazed by his attack; instead, when the gigantic ax struck the black hole, Yi Yun’s body, including his soul, had shattered into countess tiny nomological and energy bodies. As such, Ancestor God’s damage was minimized.

Not only so, the Ancestor God sensed that there was still an overwhelming energy and nebulous Primordial Chaos emanating out from deep in the rift of the array’s core that was gathering towards Yi Yun.

Upon seeing this scene, the Ancestor God’s heart sank. He knew very well that with the passage of time, Yi Yun’s strength would still increase. His fusion with the Heavenly Dao would continue!

It could be said that every second that passed for the present Yi Yun was equivalent to a thousand years of arduous cultivation for mortal warriors.

The speed of such a terrifying growth chilled his heart.

“So your body has already completely turned into a nomological entity. You are indeed terrifying to force me into such a predicament. However, I will not give you another chance to grow again.”

As the Ancestor God spoke, he slammed the ax into his chest. With a reverberating hum that sounded like thunder, the Ancestor God spat out a mouthful of dark gold blood.

This was the Ancestor God’s Divine Blood Origins!

Such divine blood was a lot more powerful than the divine blood Yi Yun had used when refining the Myriad Form Shura Pills since it contained the massive vital forces of the Ancestor God.

The Ancestor God’s fresh blood burned in midair! Just one drop of this blood was enough to vanquish a mighty figure.

Now, a blob of blood gathered together and collapsed the void.

“I’ll use my divine blood as a prison to seal your laws. Let me see how you will nullify this.”

The Ancestor God waved his hand as a blob of divine blood transformed into a boundless mist of blood that enveloped Yi Yun. This was the absolute domain of the divine blood. Even if Yi Yun transformed himself into the laws of Origins or nebulous Primordial Chaos, he would remain imprisoned within mist of blood.

The Ancestor God raised his battle ax again!

Billions of wraiths wailed from within the ax with an earth-shattering cry. Even the hundred plus Godly Monarchs around felt like a demonic tune had entered their ears when they heard that. Even their blood flow slowed as they felt an indescribable repression!

As the Ancestor God’s previous strike was in the array’s core, no one had seen it personally. All they saw were the remnant blasts.

But now, this strike was happening right in front of their eyes!

“Retreat! Everyone, retreat!”

A Godly Monarch yelled loudly. Just one look at the Ancestor God’s strike made one feel like their soul was being imprisoned. They knew very well that the strike would annihilate everything.

Even if they were Godly Monarchs, they would be swept into the terrifying ax beam if they didn’t keep a safe distance. They might even be completely obliterated!

All the Godly Monarchs opened up a gap from the epicenter. Even the patriarchs of the various races were shuddering in fear.

How was such a terrifying attack defensible?

Apart from the Godly Monarchs, the other warriors, be they Heavenly Courts disciples or armies from the other races that rushed over, all of them were stored away by their patriarchs into their mobile abodes or their bodies’ internal worlds. A battle at this level would reduce one to ashes immediately if a remnant blast were to brush past them!

The Godly Monarchs had retreated more than fifty kilometers away as they raised their barriers to withstand the explosive energy storms.

Even at this distance, they could still see the Ancestor God’s massive body clearly.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The black ax which was enveloped with countless wraiths cleaved down!

At that moment, the world seemed to lose its color. Even the celestial bodies far away was swept up by this strike. Compared to the Ancestor God’s overwhelming strike, Yi Yun’s body looked like a speck of dust.

It was a battle of disproportion! Yi Yun didn’t even draw a weapon as he faced the Ancestor God’s attack empty-handed.

Although they were fifty kilometers away, the Godly Monarchs present had excellent eyesight. They were able to see Yi Yun’s every move clearly. Even the most minute changes in his expression and energy flow could be detected.

Indeed, a barehanded Yi Yun began taking action. Against the Ancestor God’s attack, all he did was raise his hand slightly. But it was this simple motion that left an unforgettable impression on all the Godly Monarchs present.

Beneath Yi Yun’s feet, the Chaos Heavens’ lands were his foundation. A blackish-red dragon spanning half a million kilometers appeared silently. More than half of its body was buried within the Chaos Heavens’ lands, and just its massive dragon head was five thousand kilometers long.

The Godly Monarchs were astounded. With their perception which could extend for five million kilometers, they clearly sensed that Yi Yun’s raising of his hand caused the entire Chaos Heavens to stir.

Even the Ancestor God appeared as trivial as a firefly in front of this massive figure.

“This is…”

“This is the Chaos Heavens’ dragon veins! The entire Chaos Heavens’ soul!”

Universes had life as well. After its birth, it would thrive and wane before being destroyed, just like the stages of human life—birth, aging, illness, and sickness. However, their lives were especially long. With the Chaos Heavens as an example, a lifespan of a hundred billion years was nothing.

Compared to them, humans, Souls, Fey, and all the other thousands of lifeforms were trivial in comparison. No matter what these lifeforms did, it was impossible to garner a reaction from the Universe.

But now, Yi Yun had extracted the Chaos Heavens’ soul.

With the Chaos Heavens as a foundation, he had withstood the Ancestor God’s strike!

“Boom!”

When the Ancestor God’s ax cleaved the humongous dragon soul, the soul paused slightly before hurling straight for the Ancestor God.

The ax beam shattered as the Chaos Heavens trembled violently, creating countless cracks in the lands. Following that, overwhelming aura spewed out from the rifts and gathered towards Yi Yun.

“Begone!”

Yi Yun used his body as a sword as it manifested into a blazing star and slammed heavily into the Ancestor God’s chest!

The Ancestor God’s impregnable body collapsed after being struck by Yi Yun. His ribcage exploded as blood splattered!

The Ancestor God grunted. He had no idea how many years it had been since he was inflicted with such grievous wounds.

Yi Yun’s body flew backwards. At that moment, he did not need to actively absorb the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao and Origins energy because they would automatically fuse with him. All the liquefied Yuan Qi essence that spewed out from the massive rifts gathered towards Yi Yun as well.

Just standing there allowed Yi Yun to fuse with the Chaos Heavens.

All the energies in the Chaos Heavens were available for Yi Yun’s use. The Chaos Heavens’ laws were Yi Yun’s laws. The Chaos Heavens’ lands were Yi Yun’s body.

If the Ancestor God wanted to attack Yi Yun, it was equivalent to attacking the entire Chaos Heavens. To kill Yi Yun, he needed to destroy the Chaos Heavens in its entity. This was literally heaven and man as one!

“You have already fused with the… Chaos Heavens Heavenly Dao?” The heavily injured Ancestor God turned gloomy.

Yi Yun gently raised his hand as countless laws of Origins gathered towards him. A nomological sword coruscating with divine light condensed in his hand.

“The Heavenly Dao’s evolution is unending. Creation and Destruction are interchangeable, forming a complete circle. Be it life or a universe, they have formation, existence, disintegration, and emptiness; birth, aging, illness, and death. You wanted to devour the Heavenly Dao, robbing and changing the fate of the universe. You wanted to empower yourself by initiating the deaths of millions; hence, you were destined to be abandoned by the Heavenly Dao.

“It wasn’t me who fused with the Chaos Heavens, but it is the Chaos Heavens that chose me.”

The reason why Yi Yun could borrow the Chaos Heavens’ stellar soul powers to so quickly fuse with the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao was not solely because of the three Universe seeds. On the contrary, it was the Ancestor God’s excessive extraction that made the declining Chaos Heavens choose Yi Yun.

The energy that had been robbed by the Ancestor God were injected into Yi Yun’s body without any reservation.

As a result of this turn of events, Yi Yun’s battle with the Ancestor God experienced a complete reversal!

The present Yi Yun had broken through to the Godly Monarch realm and had fused with the three Universe seeds. Having gathered the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao, he was the ultimate lifeform.

Even if the Ancestor God had successfully devoured the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao, it was absolutely impossible for him to have such a perfect, complete fusion like Yi Yun.

“The Chaos Heavens… chose you…” The Ancestor God’s expression turned solemn. He never expected that the situation would develop this far.

The Great Dao was heartless, but the Heavenly Dao had made its own choice.

“You perverse acts shall incur the Heavenly Dao’s slaying, with me executing you!” Yi Yun’s voice echoed throughout the entire Chaos Heavens. At that instant, all the Chaos Heavens’ energies were amassed in the nomological sword in Yi Yun’s hand.

The entire world seemed to be the manifestation of the sword, leaving the Ancestor God with nowhere to hide.

The Ancestor God let out an angry bellow as golden light bloomed from his body as he faced the nomological sword that came slashing down.

The Godly Monarchs and patriarchs could not help but hold their breaths. Their breathing froze as they witnessed this battle of epic proportions.

Boom!

An astounding boom affected the blood and heartbeats of everyone as they resonated in response. The world seemed to let out a wrought up roar and it was none other than the Chaos Heavens’ voice.

Yi Yun’s nomological sword radiated divine light. What was a four-foot-long sword extended to dozens of kilometers as it reached straight into the firmaments.

This strike slashed down ruthlessly from Yi Yun’s hand.

The Ancestor God roared angrily as he raised the ax to defend!

“Dang!”

In this intense clash, on one side was Yi Yun who had fused with the worldly Great Dao and on the other side was the Ancestor God who was defending with his body.

Even with a Celestial’s heaven-defying body, such a stark difference in strength was unbridgeable!

1700 - : Soul

CKtalon  CKtalon

The repeated collisions happened faster and faster as they grew in intensity. Yi Yun’s battle with the Ancestor God rent the world asunder.

The Ancestor God’s battle ax began showing signs of cracking. Even such a divine armament was unable to withstand Yi Yun’s nomological sword.

And as the density of cracks increased, a loud boom was heard as if something within the black ax had been slashed apart. The seal shattered as millions of souls surged out like a tidal wave.

These were the wraiths that Ancestor God had killed and sealed within his battle ax over hundreds of millions of years.

He had used potent forces to bind these wraiths and use their powers for his own. But at that moment in time, with the sealing powers shattered, all the wraiths escaped and charged in one direction—right at the Ancestor God. They gnawed at him, venting all their grievances that had been building up for hundreds of millions of years!

The powers of ghouls stemmed from their grievances, and at this moment, the backlash of billions of souls and their self-destructive rage struck at a critical juncture, right when the Ancestor God was being suppressed by Yi Yun. Even if they failed to injure him, their assault still affected his judgment.

“A murderer will be murdered, a world annihilator will suffer the wrath of the Heavenly Dao. Ancestor God, I will obliterate you today!”

Yi Yun let out a long cry and a massive wheel appeared behind him.

There were all kinds of demon gods on the wheel. It looked like the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence, but it was completely different. It was more like a galactic vortex that had just been born.

Yi Yun’s Dao of Major Destruction came from the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch. The demon gods in the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence symbolized destruction, while a considerable portion of Yi Yun’s Dao of Creation came from his own insights.

Creation and destruction was the tempo of the universe.

After Yi Yun combined the two together, the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence he produced would be more aptly called the Wheel of Creation and Destruction. It was equivalent to the universe itself.

The moment the black wheel appeared, it attracted countless bolt of lightning. Each bolt of lightning extended for millions of kilometers as they illuminated the Multiverse rift. Each bolt of lightning was sufficient to blow up stars!

“This is a… Heavenly Tribulation?”

“Did the potency of his strength trigger a punishment from the heavens?”

People were astonished. The Heavenly Tribulation was attracted by Yi Yun’s Martial Dao. The scale of a Heavenly Tribulation was no longer limited to the Chaos Heavens, but swept through the massive Multiverse rift.

Compared to a Heavenly Tribulation of this scale, the Fey tribulations and Ghost tribulations that Fey Thearchs or Ghost Thearchs experienced were starkly different and completely trivial. If they were to attempt to transcend such a tribulation, they would be instantly pulverized without leaving anything behind.

“Boom!”

The lightning from the Heavenly Tribulation smote down as the Chaos Heavens trembled in return.

When everyone felt that the Heavenly Tribulation would attack indiscriminately, another shocking scene happened. All the lightning of the Heavenly lightning gathered within Yi Yun’s Wheel of Creation and Destruction!

Yi Yun’s Martial Dao had triggered the Heavenly Tribulation, but the Heavenly Tribulation was completely at Yi Yun’s beck and call.

The Wheel of Creation and Destruction struck down as the Ancestor God with his flailing golden hair charged up with battle ax in hand.

“Ka-cha!”

Divine blood splattered as everyone widened their eyes. This scene shocked everyone down to their very soul.

The Ancestor God’s arm had been cleaved off!

The thousand-foot-long dark-golden arm was as heavy as a mountain. The Ancestor God’s body could be said to be the most resilient object in the universe, but now, it had been sliced off by Yi Yun’s nomological forces!

His arm fell to the ground, the impact cratering the land. This scene was like red-hot metal branding a piece of ice. The ground could not bear the weight of the Ancestor God’s arm as it began to melt away.

As immense amount of mud and stone melted, the energies stored within the land began surging towards the Ancestor God’s arm.

The Ancestor God grinned nefariously despite having an arm lopped off.

“You are truly impressive to be able to slice off my arm, but that doesn’t do a thing to me. The Chaos Heavens cannot withstand the power of my arm. Unless you completely destroy that arm, it will sink deep into the Chaos Heavens’ core and independently absorb energy till it develops its strength, to the point of becoming another avatar that can fuse with me! When that happens, I’ll have all my powers restored. I would even have my strength enhanced!”

As the Ancestor God spoke, he held the battle ax horizontally across his chest with one arm.

Clearly, if Yi Yun attempted to destroy the Ancestor God’s arm, the Ancestor God would launch an attack and not give Yi Yun the chance.

All the Godly Monarchs drew a gasp when they saw this scene. The Ancestor God was just too powerful. How terrifying was Yi Yun’s strike that it could slice off the Ancestor God’s arm? But even after doing this impressive feat, it did not deal much damage to the Ancestor God.

This defensive and regenerative ability left them in despair.

However, Yi Yun wasn’t surprised.

The Ancestor God had cultivated to an extremely high realm. If one were to use astronomical bodies as an analogy, the Ancestor God was like a black hole. He could devour the other astronomical bodies that came close to it. Even a mere arm of his would absorb the Chaos Heavens’ nomological powers if it landed in the Chaos Heavens.

Although the Chaos Heavens was massive, its energy was too diluted and unfocused. Only an expert like Yi Yun could bring out the full powers of the Chaos Heavens.

“Your arm is indeed powerful, but it is not your main body after all. Once it left your body, it is no longer as unassailable as before.”

With nomological sword in hand, Yi Yun did not take any action. However, his expression was one of utmost confidence.

The Ancestor God sneered and just as he was about to mock Yi Yun, his expression changed.

He lowered his head suddenly and at his feet, the arm which had sank into the ground seemed to enter a boggy marsh and stopped sinking.

The pale golden luster of the arm gradually weakened as its powers rapidly drained!

Following that, from the middle of the arm, around where the elbow was, a black circular halo spread out. Due to the halo, the energy lusters of the arm completed faded away and the arm began to slowly rot.

This scene was as if the passing of billions of years was compressed into an instant. The Ancestor God’s arm which had been cultivated to an extremum was rotting!

“How could this be!?”

The Ancestor God felt astounded. His lifespan was already almost equivalent to the more supreme of Great Worlds. Even after his death, his body would remained preserved for all eternity.

But now, there was no more eternity!

In just seconds, the Ancestor God’s arm completely rotted away. And at this moment, a dark red bead flew out of his arm, deep red like a leech bloated with his blood.

As one of the three Universe seeds, the Primordial Chaos Demon Bead was the amalgamation of Spirit in the three major laws of Spirit, Qi, and Soul!

So-called “Spirit” referred to flesh and blood. It comprised everything, be it the universe or life’s flesh and blood.

When Yi Yun slashed down with his sword, he had embedded the Primordial Chaos Spirit Bead in the Ancestor God’s arm. And after the Ancestor God’s arm was separated from his main body, it was basically an ownerless object. Just an arm alone was unable to withstand the combined assault of Yi Yun’s laws and the Primordial Chaos Demon Bead.

Therefore, the arm had been devoured by the Primordial Chaos Demon Bead!

The essence within had been robbed by the Primordial Chaos Demon Bead and the remaining laws, Origins energy, and remnant lifeblood powers scattered and fused with the Chaos Heavens.

Instantly, the rotting arm rapidly burgeoned in size.

This was because the arm contained too much power. Even if the Primordial Chaos Demon Bead had siphoned off more than 90% of its powers, there was still a lot left.

Without any nomological restraints, the energy was no longer compressed as it naturally spread.

Soon, it reached a length of a thousand feet, increasing in orders of magnitudes without any cessation.

After the arm lost its luster, it turned into the color of dirt. Looking from afar, the Ancestor God’s arm had become a huge mountain range!

It was hundreds of thousands of feet tall and hundreds of thousands of kilometers long. This massive mountain range was filled with rich Spirit Qi and was an absolute wonderland!

Such a wonderland would attract countless sects to station themselves here and use such a wonderland to nurture disciples. Not only so, with time, the wonderland would produce many natural treasures and rare beasts. It could even become a marvelous mystic realm.

Hundreds of millions of years later, illustrious Martial Dao heritage could appear here, giving birth to many powerful mighty figures!

Having anticipated this scene, Yi Yun felt wistful. “The Heavenly Dao’s evolution is about formation, existence, disintegration, and emptiness. What you took away ultimately needs to be returned. All of this is fated. You… will not be able to destroy the Heavenly Dao!”

Yi Yun finally understood why the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had not taken away the three Universe seeds when he left the Multiverse he was in. It was not only because of the nomological restraints, since it was possible that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch could defy the laws and forcefully take away the Universe seeds. Yet, he didn’t do so… probably because he understood the reason that the key elements of a Multiverse ultimately belonged to the Multiverse.

A warrior cultivated in martial arts their entire life, living a heaven-defying trajectory as they escaped Samsara. However, they could not bring about the destruction of the world itself or betray their ancestral heritage. The three Universe seeds did not belong to the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch, nor did they belong to Yi Yun. It was no one’s, because they were meant to give rise to a brand new Universe. It was a key component of a Universe’s Samsara.

A warrior ultimately had to rely on himself. Today, Yi Yun was only borrowing the powers of the three Universe seeds, but ultimately, he needed to rely on himself to reach the limits of his power.

This was the Martial Dao peak in its truest and purest meaning. And Dao Originator Celestial Thearch Lin Ming had already taken that path.

Having realized all of this, Yi Yun felt as though he had broken a kind of shackle. His Spirit, Qi, and Soul bound even more tightly with the three Universe seeds. Not only that, the energy absorbed by the Primordial Chaos Demon Bead was delivered to Yi Yun!

His strength was still rising!

His aura was like the massive Universe. Facing Yi Yun was akin to facing the Multiverse. All the Godly Monarchs felt how minute they were before him.

He has the nomological sword in hand, and the three Universe seeds floating behind him. Against the Ancestor God, Yi Yun’s final strike slashed down!

With this slash, the world’s colors inverted. Deep into the Chaos Heavens, a loud dragon roar resounded through the cosmos as the Chaos Heavens’ dragon soul fused into Yi Yun’s sword!

And at the same time, the Universe’s void tore apart as the laws bellowed. Apart from the Chaos Heavens’ dragon soul, the souls of many tiny worlds tore open space and arrived in the Chaos Heavens across vast distances!

These world souls were of myriad forms—white tigers, divine trees, phoenixes, boulders, mountains, or rivers.

The large ones extended for hundreds of thousands of kilometers and the small ones were the size of a mountain.

These were the souls of countless worlds, seemingly responding to Yi Yun’s call to arms.

This was no longer a strike delivered by Yi Yun himself, but a supreme strike of the Heavenly Dao that represented the Multiverse!

At that moment, the entire Multiverse’s powers were gathered onto Yi Yun. Silence prevailed as the Godly Monarchs felt their minds go blank. They even felt like prostrating themselves in front of such immense power.

As for the Ancestor God, his face that had been cold and expressionless for hundreds of millions of years turned into a frenzied warp. And beneath this facade of madness was true fear!

In his long life, no force ever reached such immensity!

He let out a crazy roar as he cleaved his battle ax at Yi Yun!

However, all Yi Yun did was gently turn his blade.

“Ka-cha!”

The Ancestor God’s ax shattered instantly!

This divine armament that had been forged for hundreds of millions of years and nourished with the blood of countless lives had shattered completely!

The Ancestor God was connected to the battle ax’s soul, so this setback jolted his body as he spewed a mouthful of blood!

Meanwhile, Yi Yun’s strike came striking down!

This strike seemed to devour the world!

This world fell silent as the entire Multiverse became quiet!

All the energy erupted from under Yi Yun’s blade!

Only the Ancestor God alone let out the world’s final sound—a disgruntled roar.

The three Universe seeds sealed the Ancestor God’s body, soul, and energy. Afterwhich, all of this was destroyed and devoured by Yi Yun with that single strike of his!

The Heavenly Dao, Origins energy, and lifeblood the Ancestor God had absorbed and devoured, as well as the countless wraiths he imprisoned, returned to the universe.

Dust to dust, ash to ash!

Infinite divine light blinded the universe for about five minutes before it condensed into a single beam, the nomological sword in Yi Yun’s hand.

Yi Yun’s strike had torn through the Multiverse, slashing out for billions of kilometers!

And behind Yi Yun, the Ancestor God’s body remained. However, it had lost all of its luster. The light in the Ancestor God’s eyes had dimmed completely for his life had been completely snuffed out!

“Boom!”

The Ancestor God’s massive body collapsed!

Following which, the same scene of his arm rotting repeated itself.

The Ancestor God’s massive body fused into the Chaos Heavens and sank without end. All that remained was absorbed by the Chaos Heavens.

“Rumble!”

The lands began to crack as the countless rifts that appeared from the intense battle between Yi Yun and the Ancestor God began healing.

Following that, huge mountain ranges rose up from flat land.

Amid these mountain ranges, a huge river was forged out of thin air!

These majestic mountain ranges and river stemmed from the remnant powers of the Ancestor God.

The mountain range consisted of spirit mountains and the river flow stemmed from spirit fountains.

This area was destined to become a holy ground of the Chaos Heavens in the future.

And the Heavenly Courts was most lucky for the final battle to happen on its premises. It would become the core of this holy ground.

In time, a truly powerful sect would be situated amid the mountains and river.

As for the legend belonging to Yi Yun, it would begin spreading.

This battle was destined to be recorded in history for all eternity.

Sect disciples would also know that their sect was situated on a land formed from the Ancestor God’s body. Thinking back to that universe-shaking battle, they would be amazed in shock…

Legends were typically like this. They would not be eclipsed with the passage of time, but instead, they became histories that one tried to live up to.

1701 - : Martial Dao Peak

CKtalon  CKtalon

All the Godly Monarchs present witnessed the scene of the Ancestor God turning into the natural landscape. They were still immersed in shock for they found all that had happened unbelievable.

Be it Yi Yun’s terrifying strike, or the shock of the souls of millions of worlds being summoned, it easily left them absorbed in recollecting the process, almost impossible to extricate themselves from it.

What felt even more surreal was that the seemingly invincible Ancestor God had been killed by Yi Yun.

His might and his terror had oppressed the Godly Monarchs, leaving them unable to breathe.

No one dared to resist because the Ancestor God was too strong, so strong that it left them in despair.

But it was this unbelievably powerful Ancestor God that Yi Yun had slain. Yi Yun’s strength had undoubtedly reached a realm incomprehensible to them.

“Yi… Perfected Yi…”

After a long silence, Polar was the first to speak. His voice quivered slightly due to his excitement that stemmed from his utmost reverence for Yi Yun’s might.

He didn’t even know how he should address Yi Yun. Even addressing him as “young master” sounded too imprudent and impolite. The present Yi Yun was standing on a different level from them.

However, Yi Yun did not reply, nor did he look at the landscape formed by the Ancestor God. Instead, he looked up slightly at the sky. Yi Yun’s strike had been directed there…

The world had already been sliced apart from the strike, and through the rift, one could see stars…

And this scene did not last for long. The spatial rift gradually restored as the starry sky beyond it turned into a blur. It was like the flickering of fire in a misty rain, beautiful but vague…

The numerous Godly Monarchs were also astounded upon seeing this scene. The spatial rift was about two hundred feet in length. Compared to Yi Yun’s astounding strike, such a spatial rift was just too small.

According to their understanding, Yi Yun’s strike was more than enough to split apart a universe. No spatial barrier could withstand Yi Yun’s strike.

But this tiny rift was only two hundred feet by three feet. In addition, it was closing at a discernible pace. It soon did not allow a person to pass through.

There was such a firm barrier in this world?

And strangely, beyond the Chaos Heavens, it should have been a void with no Heaven Earth Yuan Qi, a Multiverse rift that spanned billions of light years. This was the Universe’s void that had nothing in it, just dead silence. But what they saw clearly were stars in that space beyond the rift. What exactly was that?

“Perfected Yi, the space that the spatial rift leads to is…” Polar could not help but ask.

“A new world…” Yi Yun exhaled lightly.

“What?” Polar was taken aback, seemingly unable to understand what Yi Yun meant. Or it could be said that he realized what it was but was unable to immediately believe it.

“It’s another Multiverse… Or should I say, a Parallel Universe. The Multiverse isn’t just limited to the one we are in. The Chaos Heavens is only one of the supreme universes in the Multiverse we live in. Beyond that, there are many lands more prosperous and magnificent than the Chaos Heavens.

“It’s unknown how many Multiverses there are. And each one of them has their own order of excitement…”

Yi Yun felt awashed with emotion. Billions of years ago, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch Lin Ming had likely tore apart the Multiverse membrane and headed to a brand new Multiverse together with Sheng Mei. There, they could travel all kinds of worlds and experience unfamiliar sights and live exciting lives.

Compared to the innumerable Parallel Universes, even a figure like the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch felt minute.

As for the Ancestor God, he was even more tenuous. So what if he had devoured the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao? Compared to the immense world out there, it was nothing.

Yi Yun himself came from a blue planet and it likely belonged to another completely different Parallel Universe.

Due to the different laws, there was modern technology there, things that the universe he was in didn’t have. There was the laws of physics there which did not apply here.

According to that world’s physical point of view, the universe was expanding and humanity was forever trapped in the cage of the observable universe. Even at the speed of light, it was impossible for them to escape the constantly expanding universe. And the observable universe was only a tiny part of the universe which humanity belonged to.

Only further out might there be Parallel Universes. And just the observable universe was already staggeringly magnificent, much less the world beyond that…

No one knew how big this world actually was. Even the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch was unable to give an answer.

Realizing that the entrance to the Parallel Universe was about to seal completely, Polar felt gripped by anxiety. “Then, Perfected Yi, are you…”

Yi Yun shook his head. “Let it be. I still have things that I haven’t completed in this Multiverse. There is karma I need to repay and debts I still owe. Besides… although I had opened up a Parallel Universe passageway with one strike, it was not by my own strength. Once I’ve fully stabilized my strength and am able to open such a passageway by myself, I shall leave…”

To pursue the Martial Dao peak, it was best not to be tainted with karma. Even if Yi Yun was about to leave this Multiverse, he needed to settle all his current matters.

As for traveling the Multiverse, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had his own obsession, and so did Yi Yun.

He wished to find the Multiverse where Earth was and visit it again.

Previously, he did not have the strength to do so; even now, in this innumerable Parallel Universes, finding Earth was a more arduous task than searching for a needle in a haystack. But even so, he still hoped to find it.

He would do so with Lin Xintong, and perhaps with his sister, Jiang Xiaorou…

But now, Yi Yun wished to return to the Sinkhole.

Even in the Sinkhole, Yi Yun had many matters he had not finished. It was simply because of the threat of the Ancestor God that he had no choice but to leave hurriedly.

Now, it was finally time to return.

Yi Yun turned his head to look at Polar and the other Godly Monarchs.

Many Godly Monarchs held their breaths and turned entirely reverent when locking eyes with Yi Yun.

It was especially so for the Godly Monarchs of the Ghosts, Fey, and Souls. They even felt fear.

After all, they had previously betrayed Yi Yun. Even though they were forced by their circumstances, it was still treachery. If Yi Yun pursued the matter, they would all be in trouble.

Furthermore, Yi Yun was human after all. The Chaos Heavens had the different races battling it out all these years. If Yi Yun put his foot down for humanity and forcibly suppressed the other races, they had no choice but to submit.

“Perfected Yi, we were at fault.”

With the Fey patriarch’s lead, the various Godly Monarchs asked for Yi Yun’s forgiveness.

Yi Yun shook his head. “Life, from lifeforms as large as towering trees to bugs as small as ants, the reason for all they do is for the continuation of their bloodline. None of you did wrong, so I will not do anything to you. Although I am human and the wars in the Chaos Heavens have gone on for an extended period of time, I will not interfere in your wars. The wars between races is ultimately a portion of the Chaos Heavens’ martial history. Its history should be written by you…”

Back when Yi Yun first arrived in the Chaos Heavens, he knew that the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had once been to the Chaos Heavens. Back then, he had some thoughts. Since the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had come and he was human, why didn’t he help humanity billions of years ago?

With the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s help, even the Celestials would have to bow.

However, the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left without interfering with any racial wars in the Chaos Heavens. This led to people not knowing the true strength of the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch later on.

Now, with Yi Yun approaching the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch’s past realm, he also came to better understand his thought processes.

Everything in the Chaos Heavens was fated and did not need his interference.

The only actions he would take would be to payback the debts he had and sever any karmic connections.

“Senior Blood King…”

As Yi Yun spoke, a man in a red robe appeared across the horizon. He was none other than Jiang Xiaorou’s father, Blood King.

Blood King was the vanguard when it came to revolting against the Ancestor God. He was able to survive only because the Ancestor God was focused on devouring the Chaos Heavens’ Heavenly Dao in seclusion.

A trivial figure like the Blood King was no different from an ant to the Ancestor God. The Ancestor God had never paid any attention to the Blood King; otherwise, he would have long been dead.

Blood King also witnessed some of the final scenes of Yi Yun’s battle with the Ancestor God. The battle of epic proportions naturally astounded him for it completely exceeded his level of understanding.

Beside him was a red-dressed girl—Jiang Xiaorou.

Upon seeing Jiang Xiaorou, Yi Yun revealed a gentle smile. “Sis Xiaorou…”

Having first met in the Cloud Wilderness to his journey all the way to the Chaos Heavens, he went from torturous days without food to the point of wielding the powers of the universe, becoming a deity of the Multiverse. Jiang Xiaorou was in the true sense of the word, someone who had accompanied him from the beginning. Yi Yun felt greatly fettered and concerned for Jiang Xiaorou.

“Yun-er!”

Having seen Yi Yun slay the Ancestor God, Jiang Xiaorou’s eyes were already welling with tears. To her, the most important point of this outcome was that… Yi Yun had survived.

“Senior Blood King, I’ll be touring the Multiverse in the future. I might bring Sis Xiaorou with me if she’s agreeable. Of course, Sis Xiaorou will not leave forever. She would still return. As for the kindness you have shown me, this is something for you…”

As Yi Yun spoke, an energy blob condensed in his hand. It contained large amounts of laws of Origins, Origins energy, and nebulous Primordial Chaos.

He had also included some of his nomological insight into it.

This was an especially valuable Martial Dao heritage that adhered closely to the world’s Origins.

Mastering it made one close to the world’s Origins.

Apart from Yi Yun, no one in the Chaos Heavens could produce something like this.

All the Godly Monarchs were knowledgeable people. Upon seeing the blob of light, their hearts were burned with envy. Just this item alone was able to forge the Blood King into a Fey patriarch!

With just a raise of his hand, he was able to create a patriarch-level figure. Yi Yun’s standing was completely indescribable. Indeed, with a thought, he could canonize someone as a god!

“This…” Blood King hurriedly shook his head. “This is too valuable. I can’t have it. Besides, you have already repaid the kindness I showed you with the Myriad Form Shura Pills.”

“A drop of water given in need shall be returned with a burst of spring. Senior Blood King, please do not refuse it. To tour the Multiverse, I’ll need to sever karma. You have to take this blob of Origins energy.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he looked at Polar Thearch.

“Senior Polar! I’m indebted to the Heavenly Courts. The wonderland left behind after the Ancestor God’s death shall be the Heavenly Courts’! The core region spanning half a million kilometers shall all belong to the Heavenly Courts!”

The Ancestor God wonderland would no doubt be vied for by numerous major factions. It could be imagined that blood would flow like rivers in the battles between the factions for this land billions of years later.

But now, with just one word from Yi Yun, he had determined the split. No one dared to go against his word. Even if he had given it to a beggar, no one would dare oppose it. Instead, people would even offer the beggar help.

“Senior Divineheart, I was indebted to you back during the expedition into the Xuanyuan Dune. A hundred thousand kilometers south of the Heavenly Courts’ territory will belong to the Taixia Ancient Mining. You will have full authority over the distribution.”

Yi Yun looked at Godly Monarch Divineheart who was taken aback. He never expected to gain something out of this.

Yi Yun’s indebtedness towards him wasn’t huge. All he did was support Yi Yun a few times back when they were mining Chaos Ores in the Xuanyuan Dune, as well as protect Yi Yun, allowing him to enter the core regions.

He never imagined that this help would gain him a wonderland spanning a hundred thousand kilometers. This wonderland could be passed down for hundreds of millions of years, allowing him to build institutions that could remain for eternity!

His Taixia Ancient Mining was an unimpressive faction in the Chaos Heavens. There was no way he deserved any piece of the pie, but with just one word from Yi Yun, the Taixia Ancient Mining had received a portion of the split that was larger than Heaven Fey City’s.

Although the other peak factions could accept this outcome, they felt bitter within. Indeed, Yi Yun had not punished them for their betrayal, but he had given large portions of the benefits to those he was indebted to. That was the greatest punishment.

Of course, they had no say in this matter. They had to thank their lucky stars that they were not punished, so there was no reason for them to hope that Yi Yun would reward them.

“Everyone, take care. I’ll be leaving for a period of time. I’ll be in seclusion to figure out the Martial Dao. Till we meet again.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he casually tore open the void and reached his hand towards Jiang Xiaorou. “Sis Xiaorou, follow me. We have to return to the Tian Yuan World. I wonder if Soft Clouds Mountain Manor is still around…”

Upon hearing Yi Yun’s words, tears rolled down Jiang Xiaorou’s cheeks.

1702 - : Karma Severance

CKtalon  CKtalon

The Ancestor God’s devouring of the Heavenly Dao had, in fact, siphoned off a universe’s Origins energy and laws of Origins. After that loss, that universe would embark on a path of decline.

In that ancient battle hundreds of millions of years ago in the Sinkhole, the Sinkhole had begun waning. Even in the Sinkhole, there were already individual worlds that were dying. For instance, the Azure Wood Great World, where Yi Yun originally obtained the Azure Wood Divine Tree from, was a world on the brink of death. In just a few thousand years, it would face complete destruction.

It wasn’t only the Azure Wood Great World. Even the entire Sinkhole could only last another two to three billion years. After that, the Sinkhole would slowly have its life snuff out.

It would gradually lose its Heaven Earth Yuan Qi as the lands turned barren and the seas turned dry while Apocalyptic Fumes permeated beneath the lands. When that happened, cultivation in the Sinkhole would be a pointless endeavor since just survival alone was difficult.

Two or three billion years would be considered rather long; at the very least, the warriors of the present Sinkhole generation would not live that long. With the loss of the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao, it was simply a severance of their path to become a Godly Monarch. As for the future destruction of the Sinkhole, it had nothing to do with them.

Unfortunately, the Ancestor God had awoken a few centuries ago and began devouring the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao once again. This time, he had devoured it even more completely!

99% of the Sinkhole’s Origins energy and laws of Origins were siphoned away by the Ancestor God. It could no longer be described as a killing of the golden goose for it was like the having the Sinkhole’s backbone pulled away from it. The basic foundation of this universe had been placed on the route to destruction!

Over the past century, the Sinkhole’s decline happened at a discernible pace, with every year bringing forth a new sight.

It began with the Small Worlds; their destruction began decades ago. These countless Small Worlds were like the cells that formed the Sinkhole universe, and bit by bit, these cells died and the scourge slowly spread.

The Sinkhole warriors who lived in that era were no doubt in pain and despair!

Before they even had the chance to develop their strength to maturity or enjoy exciting lives, they had to face a waning world. The greatest sorrow for a warrior was not the inability to break through due to a bottleneck at a particular realm, but to have even their martial paths severed.

Even more sorrowful was the fact that the Sinkhole warriors were unable to leave the Sinkhole.

The Sinkhole was located in a rather remote place from the other universes. Even the Sinkhole’s Godly Monarchs, other than Bai Yueyin, were not full-fledged Godly Monarchs. They were even weaker than Godly Monarch Divineheart.

Under such circumstances, trying to cross the Multiverse rift was just too difficult.

Back then, even when Yi Yun left the Sinkhole for the Chaos Heavens, he nearly perished midway. If he had not joined the Taixia Ancient Mining, he might have died.

Therefore, the entire Sinkhole, from Godly Monarch to mortals were like prisoners trapped in a prison of despair. They had nowhere to go, and what’s more, this prison was sinking in a swamp.

However, even amid the despair, there were always people striving hard. But no matter how much effort they put in, it was them dragging out an abject existence.

The entire Sinkhole’s Yuan Qi was depleting. In the beginning, the Sinkhole warriors set up massive arrays to protect these Small Worlds, sealing the Heaven Earth Yuan Qi in place, allowing these Small Worlds to possess a complete set of laws, allowing for the younger generation to cultivate.

As long as such Small Worlds were provided with a constant stream of Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli, their prosperity could be maintained for millions of years.

Such places were called Lands of Hope by people.

The entire Sinkhole, including the 12 Empyrean Heavens, established many Lands of Hope, and there were sixteen main ones.

These sixteen Lands of Hopes belonged to the various super factions such as major sects and divine nations. The Lands of Hope had in place all kinds of Martial Dao heritage, with mighty figures passing on their teachings. There were also lands of trials which honed young warriors, giving them indescribable benefits while cultivating there.

However, the more it was this way, the harder it was to enter these Lands of Hope for cultivation. There were limited spots which were taken up by the various major factions. For other warriors to find a way in was a nearly impossible task.

Without entering these Lands of Hope, a genius, no matter how talented, would be destined to a life of mediocrity.

However, when the powers that be seal off every path, they would leave behind a sliver of hope for mortal warriors.

One of the sixteen Lands of Hope was prepared for mortal warriors.

That was the Mirage Sea Realm.

This Land of Hope was established by Huan Chenxue. What left people in disbelief was that Huan Chenxue was apparently mortal who never cultivated in any martial arts her entire life.

Yet, it was such a mortal who had immense prestige in the martial world. Even the powerhouses of the various major factions treated her with respect.

The establishment of the Mirage Sea Realm had the help of reclusive Godly Monarchs. Apart from that, the White Lunar Divine Empire and a mysterious clan in the Sinkhole—the Nine Li Magus Clan—had participated in its establishment.

Although many factions and important figures paid a tremendous price in establishing the Mirage Sea Realm’s Land of Hope, the owner at the end of the day was still Huan Chenxue.

Huan Chenxue had no scruples, showing no partiality when recruiting disciples. Every three years, the Mirage Sea Realm would organize a grand entrance examination.

The qualifications to entering the Mirage Sea Realm only depended on talent! If one’s talent was insufficient, entry was forbidden—it did not matter if one was an elite of a major faction or a member of a nation’s royalty.

Therefore, the entrance examinations that happened once every three years was a gathering of countless elites. The sheer numbers were impossible to describe.

At this moment, it was time for the entrance examinations to the Mirage Sea Realm.

The Mirage Sea Realm was located in the periphery of the Sinkhole and the examination wasn’t located in the Mirage Sea Realm, but in an independent world that neighbored the Mirage Sea Realm.

This world was also developed by a reclusive Godly Monarch. In order to fairly assess so many elites, the independent world had a large number of array formations set up.

Nearing the exam, spirit vessels tore through the void and arrived in this independent world.

These spirit vessels also belonged to Huan Chenxue. They were sent out across the Sinkhole, even to the 12 Empyrean Heavens to recruit elites, giving every warrior a fair chance.

“The entrance examination is finally here. It wasn’t easy obtaining this cruiser ticket…”

On a spirit vessel, there were three youngster—two men and one woman. Through the spirit vessel’s window, they looked out into the cosmos and saw a piece of land that was immersed in fog. That was the place of their final examination.

These three youngsters came from a mid-grade world in the Sinkhole and they were the best geniuses of that world.

One of them was wearing azure-colored clothes and looked older. He was the senior brother of the trio.

The other man and woman were siblings. The younger brother was only sixteen years old by bone age. Even among the commoner warriors, the siblings wore rather plainly. They didn’t carry any enchanted armaments and their clothes were the most ordinary linen clothes woven by mortals.”

“Senior Brother… Senior Brother Qin, did we really get selected?”

Upon seeing the large number of spirit cruisers docked above the independent world, the youth in linen clothing asked weakly.

They had no idea how big the universe was before coming to the Mirage Sea Realm.

As far as the eyes could see, there were more than a thousand spirit cruisers!

1703 - : Ending (1) – Lands of Hope

CKtalon  CKtalon

With more than a thousand spirit cruisers, each containing more than ten thousand geniuses, it implied a combined total of more than ten million geniuses!

For the linen-clothed youth to come this far as a commoner, he was already extremely impressive. In the world he came from, even peers his age who came from relatively larger sects were not his match.

But even so, when the youth saw the more than thousand spirit cruisers, he felt uneasy. It was already difficult enough to get a ticket for this cruiser.

In the various worlds, one had to undergo numerous selection tests before boarding the cruiser. Although the youth had passed those tests, it was not an easy ordeal.

Now, just the number of geniuses who had earned a ticket numbered above ten million, notwithstanding the spirit cruisers that had yet to arrive.

The competition was too intense.

The Sinkhole was huge, so with the Mirage Sea Realm allowing commoner warriors, the competition was imaginable.

“We are here to participate in the test, mainly to gain experience and build our foundations for the future. The Mirage Sea Realm’s test has a total of five stages. It’s good enough if we can pass the first three stages. As for what the fourth stage looks like, I’ve never seen it…”

Among the three, the white-dressed youth who was oldest spoke.

This was his third time taking the test. In the world where the linen-clothed youth came from, the white-dressed youth was truly the cream of the crop.

“Senior Brother, even you have not seen what the fourth stage is?”

The linen-clothed youth drew a deep breath. Indeed, it would be very difficult.

But no matter how hard it was, he had to forge forward. After all, the only place in the entire Sinkhole that allowed commoner warriors to interact with supreme martial arts was the Mirage Sea Realm.

He needed to enter the Mirage Sea Realm. He was still young and people in the Sinkhole had already claimed that martial arts in the Sinkhole was destined to come to an end; however, he was unwilling to take it lying down.

“Let’s go!” the elder youth said.

The moment the hatch opened, the trio came to a gigantic square at the entrance of the Mirage Sea Realm.

Here, there were more than ten gigantic sculptures.

Each of sculptures was a thousand feet tall, each forged from ancient granite. They would remain immutable despite the elements.

“These are sculptures of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs. Behind them are the few reclusive Godly Monarchs of the Sinkhole, including Senior Yi…”

“Senior Yi…”

The linen-clothed youth drew a deep breath. To the younger generation of the Sinkhole, Yi Yun was definitely a legend. He was of common stock, but he managed to reach the pinnacle of the Martial Dao. Especially at the White Lunar Divine Empire’s coronation, Yi Yun’s name had been spread throughout the Sinkhole!

Back then, Yi Yun was deemed number one beneath all Godly Monarchs. Many people guessed that with the rate of his growth, he was probably stronger than the typical Godly Monarch now.

Of course, that was under the premise that Yi Yun was still alive…

There were rumors that Yi Yun had escaped to another universe because of the Ancestor God’s pursuit. The Ancestor God’s might left one trembling in fear right down to the soul’s core. It was hard to imagine anyone escaping from the Ancestor God’s clutches.

This left people regretful. If Yi Yun could have developed his strength in the Sinkhole; he could perhaps have brought a miracle to it.

“I wasn’t even born when Senior Yi left the Sinkhole. By the time we were born, even the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao had been destroyed. Sigh…”

The older youth sighed. Yi Yun’s legend involved him defeating many mighty figures in the Sinkhole with just one sword alone. Even the tens of millions of demonic servants, a demonic general, and a Sinkhole overlord who had pledged allegiance to the Ancestor God to earn a breakthrough were all defeated by Yi Yun.

Later, he even openly took away the newly-coronated White Lunar Goddess Empress at the White Lunar Divine Empire’s coronation.

Back then, Lin Xintong was considered the most illustrious of all women. She was the dream girl of numerous men in the Sinkhole; yet, she was entirely devoted to Yi Yun.

Yi Yun’s legend was one people tried to live up to, and his standing in the martial world was extremely high.

One had to know that the twelve sculptures on the square didn’t even include the famous Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat among their ranks. They were the people in charge of the few top factions in the Sinkhole, both possessing their own Lands of Hope.

But even so, they had been ranked beneath Yi Yun.

The twelve sculptures on the square attracted the admiration and adoration of the numerous geniuses.

Most people gathered in front of Yi Yun’s sculpture. After all, compared to the rest, he was a lot more famous.

At that moment, a jade-white spirit cruiser tore through the void. As white swirls lingered around it, it floated high above the square.

The spirit cruiser’s hatch opened the next moment as a white-dressed girl about seventeen years old stepped out. She was tall and elegant, her eyes as bright as the moon, with flawless, fair skin that looked extremely supple. However, this girl held a spear in hand, while her body emitted vibrant energy and nomological auras.

Upon seeing this lady, everyone was stunned. Who was she?

Be it her bearing, looks, or nomological aura, they were all flawless. She was definitely a favored daughter of the heavens; furthermore, the spirit cruiser she was on definitely wasn’t built cheap. She was definitely from a wealthy background.

A lady from a huge faction was also participating in the Mirage Sea Realm’s test?

The lady directly landed in front of Yi Yun’s sculpture and looked up with spear in hand. It was unknown what was on her mind.

“I know who she is. She’s the new heir to the White Lunar Divine Empire’s Overlord, Divine General Tianxuan’s grandaughter, Tianxuan Mengyao. The spear she wields is the Tianxuan family’s ancestral weapon, the Purple Golden Dragon Patterned Spear!”

“She’s the new heir of the White Lunar Divine Empire’s Overlord?”

Everyone felt astounded hearing that. This girl actually had such a huge background?

In fact, back at Lin Xintong’s coronation and after Yi Yun left the White Lunar Divine Empire, the White Lunar Divine Empire had began to decline.

That day, Divine General Tianxuan suffered a heavy blow! Lin Xintong had been taken away by Yi Yun and Bai Yueyin had been reduced to only a soul, and all of them had left with Yi Yun.

The massive White Lunar Divine Empire had its top experts disappear en masse. So regardless of how deep the White Lunar Divine Empire’s heritage was, it couldn’t withstand such a huge setback. It began waning in an irreversible manner.

However, Lin Xintong and Yi Yun were just too famous. Even though people knew that they might die under the Ancestor God’s hands, no one touched the White Lunar Divine Empire. Therefore, although it was waning, it managed to hold on to its territory. It even managed to establish a Land of Hope that it solely owned.

However, among the sixteen Lands of Hope, the White Lunar Divine Empire’s was relatively lower in quality.

The White Lunar Divine Empire no longer had an Empress, and the ruler’s title was changed to Overlord.

The new candidate for Overlord was still female, and Tianxuan Mengyao was most outstanding among the White Lunar Divine Empire’s younger generation; therefore, she was naturally designated successor.

“I never expected her to be Tianxuan Mengyao. But why would she come to the Mirage Sea Realm? Her White Lunar Divine Empire has a Land of Hope after all.” People were perplexed. Tianxuan Mengyao had come with quite an entourage, with Divine Lord Elders in the lineup.

“Tianxuan Mengyao is extremely ambitious and has extraordinary talent. She likely wishes to prove herself. People rumor that Huan Chenxue and Nine Li Magus Maiden have some special connection to Yi Yun. This Mirage Sea Realm has also deep ties with Yi Yun. For Tianxuan Mengyao to come here, it likely has to do with that. After all, back at the Empress coronation, Yi Yun had delivered serious injuries to her grandfather in just one blow.”

Speaking of Divine General Tianxuan, he was once the strongest expert in the White Lunar Goddess Empress apart from Empress Bai Yueyin. His strength was in no way inferior to powerhouses like Sacred Horizon Divine Lord or Eclipse Arhat.

Back when Yi Yun took Lin Xintong away, the White Lunar Divine Empire’s officials came to stop him. The Imperial Preceptor was first, but was sent flying by Yi Yun. At that moment, Divine General Tianxuan had no choice but to take action. He even took out the the Purple Golden Dragon Patterned Spear, an ancient artifact which had been handed down in his family. Yet, he had his meridians severed by just one strike of Yi Yun’s!

Later, due to his serious injuries, he suffered a sneak attack from the betrayer of humanity, Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord. Divine General Tianxuan’s realm fell and failed to regain its former glory.

To the extremely ambitious Tianxuan Mengyao, Yi Yun was not an enemy, but a mountain that stood in her path.

It was impossible for her to beat Yi Yun. All she could do was come to the Mirage Sea Realm, a place deeply related to Yi Yun. She planned on using the most intense entrance test in the Sinkhole to prove herself and affirm her Dao.

1704 - : Ending (2) – Young Female Overlord

CKtalon  CKtalon

Tianxuan Mengyao’s appearance in front of Yi Yun’s statue attracted the attention of many.

Everyone saw how eminent Tianxuan Mengyao appeared to be, and some even praised her for having some of impressive characteristics which Lin Xintong had years ago.

However, in the eyes of many experts, Tianxuan Mengyao left many sighing.

They knew that Tianxuan Mengyao was far from the illustrious and dazzling existence that others thought her to be.

“It’s a scar left behind by the Great Dao… This young lady is ambitious, but unfortunately, the Great Dao is heartless. The Empress’s cultivation technique has such a high requirement that it’s unlikely she can succeed.”

They could tell that a scar had been left in Tianxuan Mengyao’s dantian.

Back when Bai Yueyin left the White Lunar Divine Empire, she had left behind small amounts of heritage. The heritage was incomplete, but their origins were nothing simple. They came from Empress Sheng Mei.

Although they were not the core cultivation techniques of Sheng Mei, it was still extremely difficult cultivating it. If they were still in ancient times when the Sinkhole Heavenly Dao was still intact, it was possible for some talented people to find a way out. But in present times, cultivating ancient cultivation techniques with the shattered Heavenly Dao laws was treacherous.

At the end of the day, in the sunset of martial arts, so-called geniuses were out of paths.

To attain success was just too difficult.

At that moment, above the Mirage Sea Realm’s square, Heaven Earth Yuan Qi stirred as a screen of light appeared out of thin air as the void kept trembling.

Following that, the screen of light slowly revealed a huge door—the entrance to the Mirage Sea Realm.

This screen of light was the main body of the Mirage Sea Realm’s array.

After the door opened, people saw a passageway that led into the depths of the Mirage Sea Realm. It was paved with nomological fragments, and standing at the entrance was an elder.

The thin, white-haired elder was dressed in rags, but his face hung a cynical smile.

He was the guardian of the array. If Yi Yun was present, he would have recognized him to be Old Snake.

In the sixteen Lands of Hope, each array required a few guardians to maintain their stability.

These guardians needed to refine the ancient laws to maintain the stability of the array formation’s nomological forces in this era with the Heavenly Dao missing.

As an ancient Godly Monarch, Old Snake was naturally more than suitable for doing this. It was also for this reason that the Mirage Sea Realm’s Land of Hope was of excellent quality among the sixteen Lands of Hope.

In the ancient battle, Old Snake was not only heavily injured, he had even lost a large portion of his memories. Even now, his recovery was still left wanting.

Upon seeing these youngsters, Old Snake chuckled. He waved his hand and opened the last barrier.

The young geniuses walked through the passageway and, when the linen-clothed youth passed through the passageway, he took a glance at the elder, having an indescribable feeling when he did so.

He could sense that the nomological forces in the elder’s body was slowly moving against the array’s flow.

Although these arrays were powered by Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli, that was only on an energetic level of things. For nomological forces, it required a guardian to maintain it.

It was said that Lands of Hope could be maintained for millions of years, which also meant that these guardians had to stay there guarding the array for millions of years. The long periods of guardianship would lead to the slow drainage of a person’s nomological powers as it decreased…

Therefore, Lands of Hope were not eternal. They were bound to wither away in the future.

The older generation of experts exchanged their vitality for cultivation time for the younger generation.

They stayed guard here, losing their freedom and experienced loneliness.

But even so, all they could do was exchange it for a few million years. How far could this allow the younger generation to cultivate to?

Among these people, who was able to change the fate of the Sinkhole? No one could give an answer. Although Lands of Hope were given such names, everyone knew that there was extremely little hope.

Warriors practiced martial arts to defy the heavens and change their destinies. Faced with the waning Heavenly Dao, people often resisted. As such, even if they failed, they would not leave with any regret at the end of their lives.

After passing through the passageway, the linen-clothed youth turned to look at the elder’s back.

He did not know the elder, nor was he familiar with him. He didn’t even know his name.

Yes, it wasn’t only restricted to this linen-clothed youth. All the other young geniuses who passed through the passageway, including the disciples who had already entered the Mirage Sea Realm, did not know that this elder who appeared to have experienced the hardships of life was one of the eight statues that was erected on the square outside.

This was Old Snake’s own intention.

In his words, he had already forgotten that battle of the past.

The Dragon King of the eight Godly Monarchs was akin to a previous incarnation.

And if that were the case, there was no need to let the world know about it.

He wanted to leave the world with a powerful and perfect image of the Dragon King for all eternity, and not the image of a hero who was past his prime.

Therefore, whenever the Mirage Sea Realm disciples passed through the passageway, they would forever see the grinning Old Snake.

…

After passing the passageway, people saw a gigantic palace. On a tall platform of the palace, people saw a group of people in armor. They had ferocious looks and were about three meters tall. Wound around their bodies were black chains and their bodies were covered in flaming scaled armor.

These people were not Mirage Sea Realm disciples, but demonic servants of the Ancestor God!

They were the strongest existences among the demonic servants and the demonic servant leading them was the Demonic Marshall who had originally assessed the Sinkhole.

Back when the Ancestor God could finally devour the Heavenly Dao, he had made demonic servants scour the world for spiritual items so that he could set up the final array. Even Bai Yueyin’s intrinsic artifact—the White Jade Phoenix Palace—had been eyed by the demonic servants.

Bai Yueyin was heavily injured and the White Jade Phoenix Palace fell, causing the demonic servants to head for the White Lunar Divine Empire to snatch it.

That was during Lin Xintong’s ascension. This resulted in Yi Yun’s battle with the Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord and Demonic General Perfected Hou. In the end, both of them were killed by Yi Yun.

However, this did not stop anything. The Ancestor God still managed to succeed in devouring the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao.

Later, the Ancestor God left the Sinkhole and returned to the Chaos Heavens. He did not take a small number of demonic generals with him and these demonic generals stayed behind in the Sinkhole to become its rulers.

The Demonic Marshall was strong to begin with. Furthermore, he possessed a token that augmented his strength with the Ancestor God’s powers. In the Sinkhole, no one could resist or even dare resist him.

This was because people in the Sinkhole only managed to survive because the Ancestor God did not destroy the Sinkhole. To put it plainly, after the Ancestor God devoured the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao, this universe was nothing but trash in his eyes. He couldn’t even be bothered to destroy it.

However, if the Ancestor God was enraged, all he needed was one thought to wipe out the countless lives in the Sinkhole.

After the Ancestor God left, the Demonic Marshall stayed behind since there were still resources to be mined. Although the Ancestor God thought nothing of it, the Demonic Marshall didn’t spurn it. He could exploit it thoroughly.

And the spot he chose to station himself was the Mirage Sea Realm’s Land of Hope.

In the Sinkhole, the Mirage Sea Realm’s Land of Hope was the richest in Spirit Qi, allowing the easiest cultivation.

Human seniors had dedicated their lives to maintain the array, but these demonic servants had become the final beneficiaries of this. They even seized the best cultivation resources in the Land of Hope.

And worst of all, the warriors in the Land of Hope had no choice but to put up with it.

1705 - : Ending (3) – Guardian

CKtalon  CKtalon

“He is the Demonic Marshall!?”

When the human disciples saw this hideous three-meter-tall devil, they all held their breaths.

They hated the Demonic Marshall and the Ancestor God to the bone!

The Sinkhole had waned because of them. Not only so, the number of lives that had been plunged into misery over all these years was uncountable. There were even relatives and elders of these very youths had died during that purge.

The line-clothed youth clenched his fist as his eyes flashed with deep hints of hatred and indignation. However, he knew that none of that mattered at his stage. The Demonic Marshall was just too powerful.

Ignoring the Demonic Marshall, his subordinates back then included Demonic General Perfected Hou, who was sufficient to reign supreme over all Sinkhole experts beneath the Godly Monarch realm.

Back when Demonic General Perfected Hou and Heavenly Cosmic Divine Lord joined forces at the White Lunar Goddess Empress’s coronation ceremony, they could have been considered invincible. If not for Yi Yun’s appearance and killing of the duo, the Sinkhole experts who had attended the coronation would probably have been dead by now.

If Demonic General Perfected Hou was already this strong, there was no need to mention the Demonic Marshall’s strength. There was no doubt that he had reached the Godly Monarch realm. And even among Godly Monarchs, the Demonic Marshall was relatively powerful.

In contrast with the few Godly Monarchs of the Sinkhole, their realm was not fully realized due to the incomplete Heavenly Dao. Use of Heaven Earth Yuan Qi would drain their lifespans.

They were no match for the Demonic Marshall even if they joined forces to fight him!

If the Sinkhole Godly Monarchs were only capable of such, the other warriors who were not even at the Godly Monarch realm would truly be akin to ants in front of the Demonic Marshall.

At that moment, the Demonic Marshall’s appearance allowed for his soaring demonic flames to emanate, leaving one stifled. Many geniuses whose cultivation levels were lacking even found standing difficult.

They wished to stand strong, but against the absolute might, they were unable to put up any resistance. After lasting a few seconds, a few even knelt to the ground, trembling as their faces turned pale.

A humiliation!

These geniuses had all practiced martial arts from a very young age, and were absolute geniuses among their peers, but today, in front of their enemy, all they could only muster was a few seconds before kneeling to the suppression. After practicing martial arts for so long, to kneel at the enemy’s feet was an incredible humiliation!

The linen-clothed youth’s cultivation level wasn’t very high. He was young after all. At that moment, he felt as though a mountain was pressing down on him. His body was ice-cold as his heart nearly stalled from beating. However, he did not know where he found the force in him to endure the suppression and remain standing.

Large beads of sweat covered his forehead and he could no longer see a thing. Nor could his ears hear a thing. Everything around him appeared to be isolated from him. But with a belief of unknown origins, he stood with his teeth clenched.

Although he knew that forcefully standing firm was meaningless for it did not bring any harm to the Demonic Marshal, since all he was did was fend off a tiny fraction of the suppression the Demonic Marshall had released, he did not wish to retreat again. Humanity had made too many retreats.

“Enough!”

At that moment, a clear berating voice sounded. It appeared negligible amid the Demonic Marshall’s chaotic aura.

However, this voice made the Demonic Marshall pause slightly as he turned his head.

An otherworldly fairy appeared on the square. She had excellent beauty and sublime bearing. It made one feel a sense of closeness at a glance. More shocking of all was the lack of energy fluctuations form her body. She was only mortal.

Huan Chenxue!

It was truly unbelievable that a mere mortal could remain unaffected by the Demonic Marshall’s suppression.

“As expected of an reincarnated ancient Godly Monarch. You are still so outstanding even after losing your powers.”

The Demonic Marshall’s suppression came from the difference in life’s natural order. And although Huan Chenxue had lost her strength, her level on life’s natural order retained its former glory. Otherwise, she would have long died from living for such a long period of time.

After all, she was an ancient Godly Monarch. And back then, the eight Godly Monarchs were disciples of Human Emperor. Their strength far exceeded the Godly Monarchs of that era and far exceeded that of the Demonic Marshall.

It was naturally impossible for the Demonic Marshall to suppress Huan Chenxue simply by using life’s natural order.

“Shilong, you devoured copious amounts of nomological powers in the Land of Hope back then. Today is the day my Mirage Sea Realm will be selecting disciples. What are you up to!?”

“Hahahaha! I’m just helping you eliminate the trash that don’t meet a basic standard. You should thank me.” Demonic Marshall broke into a rapturous laughter. As he guffawed maniacally, some of the young disciple-candidates who could not withstand his suppression began spewing out mouthfuls of blood as their meridians shattered.

“Weak! Too weak!” Demonic Marshall shook his head. “My Heaven Devouring Fiend Art has reached a bottleneck. I wished to devour some of the Myriad Origins Dao from human geniuses, but against trash like yourselves, I don’t even have the mood to do so.”

As Demonic Marshall said that, his gaze swept through the human disciples. His gaze was like that of a beast that was about to devour them. It left many shuddering in fear.

Huan Chenxue’s expression changed. “Shilong, you wish to devour my Mirage Sea Realm disciples!?”

“So what if I do? It’s just a bunch of ant-like lives,” Demonic Marshall said condescendingly.

Huan Chenxue’s brows pricked up. Her face turned cold as she yearned to dice up Demonic Marshall. All these years, due to the Demonic Marshall’s existence, large amounts of Heaven Earth powers of the Mirage Sea Realm had been devoured by him. Old Snake had his lifespan lowered drastically because of this.

Yet, he went from bad to worse, and was even planning on devouring the Mirage Sea Realm disciples today so as to cultivate their laws.

“Huan Chenxue, is that killing intent from you? Hahaha!” It was as though Demonic Marshall had heard the most laughable joke in the world. “Huan Chenxue, have you forgotten an important thing? All of you can drag out your abject existences only thanks to my kindness. So what if I were to devour a few thousand of your disciples? You can try resisting me.”

Demonic Marshall spoke with contempt. He took a look at the candidates once again when suddenly, a youth caught his attention.

“Oh? A Connate Fire Spirit Dao Embryo? It’s no wonder he can withstand my suppression for so long despite having that low cultivation level. To find a treasure amid a bunch of trash is indeed rare…”

The person who Demonic Marshall had targeted was none other than the linen-clothed youth. He licked his lips as he felt his interest greatly piqued.

Eating such a Connate Dao Embryo was extremely beneficial for him.

However, at that moment, the linen-clothed youth was already in a dazed state due to the suppression. All he felt was a sudden reduction of the suppression on him. His body failed to react to the sudden change as boiling blood in him surged and broke his meridians.

His body jolted and before he even realized it, he was already flying into the sky. A massive force was pulling him towards Demonic Marshall.

“Hehehe! You have truly been buried under a pile of trash. You are indeed a Connate Fire Spirit Dao Embryo. If you were to cultivate a few more years, you would be delicious. Unfortunately, I can’t wait any longer. I’ll just eat you now!”

Demonic Marshall grinned as he exposed his two rows of sharp and densely packed teeth.

“Come, Child. Be part of me. As repayment, I shall remember your name. What is it?”

Demonic Marshall glared at the youth. Although he had retracted the suppression, the suppression from the difference in life’s natural order was even more evident due to the close distance.

This was just like a weak animal facing a primordial beast. Even though there was no killing intent, it still brought about immense fear and pressure.

All the young disciples present found it unimaginable. Demonic Marshall was already this powerful, so how much stronger was the Ancestor God who had devoured the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao?

At that moment, the youth already understood his fate.

He was not afraid of death, but he never imagined that his death would be so meaningless, with him ending up devoured by the devil.

He had practiced martial arts from a very young age and had gone to the borders of life and death repeatedly. He had risked his life only to come this far. And now, with the martial path ahead of him sealed, he could only come to the Mirage Sea Realm to seek a sliver of chance.

He had a laughable dream. He wished to forge a path unique to himself that led to the peak in this waning Sinkhole. He even hoped to mend the Sinkhole’s missing Heavenly Dao in the distant future.

He had never mentioned this dream to anyone because it was impractical.

Now, from the looks of it, it was all fool’s talk indeed. Just after coming to the Mirage Sea Realm, he had become nothing but feed for the devil before even participating in the test!

Was there anything more tragic than this?

Being toyed with by fate, a weakling’s resistance was all so powerless.

“What’s your name?”

At that moment, this voice sounded again by the linen-clothed youth’s ear.

He wanted to laugh, but before he could speak, he suddenly paused in shock.

This voice… isn’t from the Demonic Marshall?

“What’s your name?”

The voice sounded in his ears once again. It was unlike the Demonic Marshall’s voice which was evil and sinister. Instead, it had an indescribable sense of amiability.

And at that moment, Demonic Marshall, who had failed to receive a response from the youth, had clearly lost his patience. He opened his gaping mouth and planned on swallowing him whole right on the spot.

“My… My name is Luo Yan.”

“Luo Yan? Indeed…”

The voice seemed like it was reflecting on something, but before the youth could understand what those words implied, the two rows of Demonic Marshall’s teeth was already at his head.

But at that moment… time suddenly came to a pause.

The sudden stillness of time made it seem as though the Demonic Marshall had been petrified. He was completely motionless.

And at the next moment, a black-robed man walked out of the void. It was as simple as taking a step through a door, but no one knew that this step involved the traversing of billions of light years across the Multiverse rift.

“Luo Yan… are you from the Luo clan? Did anything happen to the Luo clan?”

After the black-robed man appeared, he took a glance at the youth. Although his voice was calm, there was a hint of worry.

As for the ferocious and seemingly invincible Demonic Marshall, he was completely ignored by the black-robed man.

At that moment in time, everyone was taken aback!

Such a sudden change of events left them unable to react.

As for Demonic Marshall, his expression changed drastically. He looked at the black-robed man as though he was seeing the devil.

Although the space-time he was placed in made time move extremely slow, his thought processes were still capable of just barely moving.

This man, he… he looks like… Yi Yun!?

As one of Ancestor God’s lackeys, Demonic Marshall naturally knew Yi Yun. He found it unbelievable that Yi Yun would suddenly possess such potent strength.

With just one thought!

In just one thought, he was completely bounded. He could not move an inch and he felt as though his soul had been sealed.

Against this massive power, he felt like an ant that was grabbed by a colossal dragon’s claw.

And at that moment, Yi Yun turned his head to look at Demonic Marshall.

All he did was tap gently as a nomological sword not more than a foot long appeared out of thin air. The blade was pointed at his glabella as it slowly drifted over.

This tiny, fluttering sword overwhelmed Demonic Marshall with terror!

However, his body had been sealed. Even though he struggled to resist, it was of no use. His soul roared in indignation, but not a sound came out from him.

“M… Master…”

Demonic Marshall’s lips twitched slightly as his mouth took on the shape needed to say that word.

Yi Yun shook his head. “Your master is waiting for you in the netherworld. If you wish to find him, let me send you there.”

Wh…What!?

Demonic Marshall’s eyes were filled with alarm and incredulity. And the next moment, the nomological sword had already stabbed into his glabella.

At that instant, Demonic Marshall felt an indescribable pain. He did not immediately die, and instead, he felt as though he had fallen to the eighteenth level of hell and suffered all sorts of torment.

“The Sword of Samsara Fate. This sword is a result of your karma. Take your time experiencing it.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he removed the time restrains as Demonic Marshall convulsed as he plummeted from the sky.

Boom!

Demonic Marshall’s heavy body smashed into the ground, spasming again and again. Only about half a minute later did he lose all his vitality.

Although it was only a short period of time, Demonic Marshall experienced a pain of a hundred generations. His facial features were contorted and all of his tendons and bones were twisted until their broke.

Demonic Marshall was dead!

Yi Yun took another look at the remaining powerful demonic servants. These demonic servants were Demonic Marshall’s direct subordinates, so their strength was on par with Demonic General Perfected Hou of yesteryear.

But against Yi Yun, all of them lost their wits.

Before they could even react, Yi Yun shot his gaze over, and like sharp swords, tore through their soul seas.

The luster in all their eyes vanished. Like rotten meat, they fell from the sky, having died instantaneously.

The linen-clothed youth looked at Yi Yun in a daze. The scene before him felt like a dream.

He found it hard to believe that an existence as powerful as the Demonic Martial, a super expert who could repress the combined forces of several reclusive Godly Monarchs of the Sinkhole, would be killed so casually as though he was a chicken being slaughtered.

As for the other half-step Godly Monarch demonic servants, they were all killed with a mere thought. No action was even required…

What kind of terrifying strength was this?

It wasn’t only the linen-clothed youth. Everyone present was astounded. The huge square full of millions of disciples was silent.

Everyone looked at Yi Yun as some began to recall something as they looked towards the gigantic statue in the square.

The black-robed man looked somewhat similar to Yi Yun’s statue, but it was not completely identical.

Is he really… Yi Yun?

However, Yi Yun had not been away from the Sinkhole for long. Furthermore, he had left due to the Ancestor God’s pursuit, yet in these short few years, how was he capable of possessing such terrifying strength?

Furthermore he had said the words—”Your master is waiting for you in the netherworld. If you wish to find him, let me send you there.”

Did the meaning of that sentence mean that Yi Yun had already killed the Ancestor God?

This thought surfaced in many people’s minds, but they found it unbelievable.

It was as that moment when a loud roar of laughter broke the silence.

“Hahahaha! Kid, I knew you wouldn’t die that easily. You finally came back. If you didn’t, I’d have been sucked dry.”

Upon hearing this excited voice, everyone turned their heads in puzzlement. They saw that the person speaking was the guardian of the Mirage Sea Realm array—Old Snake.

1706 - : Ending (4) – Return

CKtalon  CKtalon

Since the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao was lost up until this moment, Old Snake had suffered too much. Although he remained his usual flippant self when he met Yi Yun, Yi Yun could tell that Old Snake’s physical condition was now worse.

Back when the array was first set up, a great deal of Old Snake’s Godly Monarch Origins had been drained. Coupled with over a hundred years of labor, Old Snake was now even older.

His back was more hunched and, although he still wore a cynical smile, the wrinkles that formed from the smile were even deeper.

“Teacher, it’s been hard on you for all these years.”

Yi Yun sighed deep down. In this Sinkhole that was filled with despair, a bunch of seniors were forging ahead bearing the burdens, so as to hold up the sky for the young.

Although these seniors had their backs hunched from the pressures of time, to the point of not being able to bear the weight any further, that was already sufficient, no matter how tiny that piece of sky they held up was.

They had already done everything they could have done.

“Kid, what did you address me as?” At that moment, Old Snake stared at Yi Yun with his tiny eyes which resembled a pair of green peas in astonishment. His impression of Yi Yun was a slippery kid who only did things if they benefited himself. He would be thanking his lucky stars if Yi Yun called him ‘Old Scammer,’ so what the heck was ‘Teacher?’

“Ahem. Kid, I think it’s best you act more normally. Your sudden change is making me a little uncomfortable.”

Upon seeing Old Snake behaving this way, Yi Yun laughed. Even in this world of despair, Old Snake was still his usual self.

A former Godly Monarch of a generation, a figure who stood at the pinnacle of the Sinkhole had fallen from his throne, suffering damage to his soul; yet, he was able to find pleasure in life and live an exciting life. He would even seek out Heaven Earth spirit herbs to extend his lifespan from time to time.

To have such an attitude in life was indeed not something everyone would have.

“Old Man, this is what the Sinkhole owes you, as well as what I owe you.”

Yi Yun gently raised his right hand, and in the middle of his palm, points of stellar light gathered. At that instant, Yi Yun’s palm seemed to connect to the world itself as it reached out to the entire Sinkhole that spanned millions of light years.

More and more stellar light gathered as the experts present were astonished. Yi Yun was gathering Heavenly Dao laws in his palm.

At that moment, a sphere of light floated above Yi Yun’s palm. It seemed to contain endless galaxies in it. It was the Dao that Yi Yun had extracted from the Ancestor God when he killed him.

Through the Ancestor God’s long lifespan, he had devoured countless Heavenly Dao so as to cultivate his own Ancestor God Dao.

A portion of it was left in the Chaos Heavens, returned to the world in the form of the Ancestor God’s corpse.

And the other portion had been taken away by Yi Yun.

After defeating the Ancestor God, Yi Yun had gained enlightenment. He realized what ought to happen. Years ago, when the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch left this Multiverse, he had not taken away the three Universe seeds; therefore, Yi Yun ought to also restore the Heavenly Dao to its original state.

In fact, Yi Yun had already been enlightened from the Heavenly Dao which the Ancestor God had devoured. He took it all in before restoring everything to its original state.

Only by doing so would his Martial Dao go further. Only then could he truly rely on his own strength; otherwise, he would end up down an unorthodox path like the Ancestor God—never being able to make contact with the true peak of the Martial Dao.

“Old Man, this Ascending Dragon Cauldron is also yours. I’m also returning it to you now.”

As Yi Yun spoke, a tiny black cauldron flew out of his body. The miniature cauldron spun above his palm.

The Ascending Dragon Cauldron was the intrinsic artifact of the Dragon King. It was simply because Old Snake had lost too much of his soul shards that he had forgotten the Dragon Emperor Technique. Back then, Old Snake’s life was on a decline, and he knew that the Ascending Dragon Cauldron would go to waste if kept in his possession which was why he handed it to Yi Yun.

And now, with Yi Yun’s realm, he had no longer any need for the Ascending Dragon Cauldron. He was naturally returning it to Old Snake. Within the Ascending Dragon Cauldron, there was the blood of the Dragon Emperor which would serve to be extremely beneficial to restoring Old Snake’s vitality.

“Kid, what are you…”

Old Snake was taken aback. Before he could say anything, Yi Yun had already injected the Heavenly Dao nomological fragment from the Ancestor God and the Ascending Dragon Cauldron into Old Snake’s dantian.

Old Snake’s body quaked as his aged body burst out with blinding nomological beams.

Immediately following that, everyone sensed an inexplicable scene happen. Under this divine light, Old Snake’s body slowly transformed. His white hair turned black as his wrinkles vanished. His facial features turned sublime as his eyes turned profound and bright.

His body also grew taller as his back turned straight. Muscles began to ripple and fill up.

His youth was restored!

This change was not only limited to his body, but also on life’s natural order. People could clearly sense that the lifeblood powers in Old Snake were like a burning flame, strongly intense and exuberant.

“This…This is…”

Old Snake looked at his body in shock.

Immediately following that, Yi Yun flicked his finger as a tiny black cube appeared above his fingertip. It was the Magic Cube which the Dao Originator Celestial Thearch had left behind.

The Magic Cube was the Seed of Soul, and condensed within it was the nomological forces of the Soul.

The Magic Cube spun as infinite light of Souls gathered, restoring Old Snake’s damaged soul.

In just moments, Old Snake’s lost memories returned to him.

But at that moment, Old Snake was surprisingly calm. From that ancient battle, he had been accustomed to his identity as Old Snake over all those years. He had found joy in touring the world for hundreds of millions of years, having relinquished everything from the past.

To Old Snake, the former Dragon King was like his previous incarnation. Even after regaining his memories, he still felt the same.

Snakes and dragons were of the same form, and snakes could turn into dragons by transcending the Heavenly Tribulation.

Even though Old Snake had regained his former strength as the Dragon King, he was still Old Snake.

At that moment, everyone present, be they experts from all across the Sinkhole or the young elites, all of them could sense an extremely powerful vitality from Old Snake’s body. It was even far greater than that of the Demonic Marshall Shilong from before!

This is…

People found it unbelievable. What seemed like a old man in his final days had been recreated into an expert so casually.

He had his youth restored and his looks…

People found Old Snake’s looks very familiar.

“Doesn’t he look identical to that statue in the square?”

Everyone was stunned. The statues at the entrance of the Mirage Sea Realm not only carved the looks of the eight Godly Monarchs, it also included their unique characteristics.

Looks could be the same by chance, but those characteristics couldn’t be replicated. Furthermore, the vitality which Old Snake effused was something only an ancient Godly Monarch could attain.

Dragon King, one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs, had been this elder in front of them!?

He had his vitality snuffed out in that ancient battle and he had remained heavily injured until this day?

Old Snake’s identity as one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs shocked everyone, but even more shocking was that Yi Yun was able to restore a Godly Monarch who was close to death to his original form!

Anyone with some knowledge of the Martial Dao knew how difficult this was!

1707 - : Ending (5) – Reigniting the Flames of Vitality

CKtalon  CKtalon

Aging was something that couldn’t be reversed. One’s flames of vitality could wane, and to replenish it was extremely difficult.

Although there were few natural treasures in the world which could rekindle the flames of vitality, they were either priceless or only capable of restoring the vitality of low-level warriors.

As for peerless experts, there was nearly no way of restoring their vitality even for Supremacies, much less Divine Lords and Godly Monarchs.

And Old Snake was no ordinary Godly Monarch. As one of the eight ancient Godly Monarchs, his powers had been lost for hundreds of millions of years; yet, he was capable of being restored?

Such a heaven-defying change of fate, the reversal of life’s natural order, was indescribable.

If that were the case, what kind of realm had Yi Yun’s strength reached?

Everyone felt a shock from deep within their souls. To cultivate to such a realm, that one could control all the laws and have command over the Heavenly Dao, was something they found incomprehensible.

Yi Yun did not give the crowd time to think as he looked at Huan Chenxue. “Miss Huan, back then at the Nine Li Magus Empire, I saw that the divine alchemist had refined for you the Fate Changing Pill. Back then, although I had obtained his heritage and was invited by the Nine Li Magus Empire to perfect their array, my cultivation level was unfortunately limited, preventing me from completing the Fate Changing Pill. I left behind my Fire Spirit in the Nine Li Magus Empire to maintain the array’s operations, and quite some time has passed since then.

Yi Yun felt mixed emotions. As a Fire Spirit that was born out of the Heretical God Fire Seed, Ling Xie’er had always been very dependent on him. Back when Yi Yun rescued Ling Xie’er out of the Sun Burial Sandsea, the young girl had wanted to stay with him forever, but Yi Yun had no choice but to leave her behind because the Nine Li Magus Empire had encountered something he couldn’t handle.

Yi Yun felt guilt for leaving her alone in that array for such long periods of time.

“Let me retrieve the Fate Changing Pill, as a way to complete the job Senior Divine Alchemist didn’t manage to accomplish.”

As Yi Yun spoke, he casually tore open space and vanished.

Everyone was stunned. Did Yi Yun say that he was heading to the Nine Li Magus Empire?

It was situated extremely far from the Mirage Sea Realm, but Yi Yun’s casual tearing of space allowed him to go there directly…

But thinking of the means available to him, compared to the restoration of an ancient Godly Monarch’s vitality, that was nothing.

As they were still pondering over the matter, space was torn apart again as Yi Yun walked out. In his hand was a pill suffusing shimmering rainbow light. This pill seemed to condense the infinite essence of the Heaven and Earth.

And sitting on Yi Yun’s shoulder was a young girl with a ruddy complexion.

The girl looked like she was about nine or ten and she had two buns on her head. Her face was round and chubby like a carved piece of pink jade and was the epitome of what a young beauty was.

At that moment, the young girl wore a look of pleasant surprise as her eyes seemed to well with tears.

“Brother Yi Yun!”

The young girl hugged Yi Yun’s neck, overjoyed and aggrieved.

“Xie’er, I’ve made you wait for so long. From this day forth, we won’t be separating. I’ve also found you a pet. Do you find it cute?”

As Yi Yun spoke, he took out the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm. The poor Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm was originally sleeping, so it was already a little unhappy about being awoken. When it heard that it had become a pet for some baffling reason, it turned even more depressed as it cried out a few times as a form of protest.

But at that moment, Ling Xie’er’s was completely attached to the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm. She hugged the plump little guy in delight.

“Wow, it’s really cute. What’s your name?”

The Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm wore a look of befuddlement, but allowed Ling Xie’er to hug it.

“Xie’er, go to the God Advent Tower first. I still have things to deal with. Once everything is done, I’ll bring you to a brand new world.”

“Alright.”

Ling Xie’er nodded obediently. She could also tell that Yi Yun was the center of attention.

Her petite body flashed as she entered the God Advent Tower with the Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm. At that moment, everyone looked at the pill in Yi Yun’s hand.

Fate Changing Pill!

Few people knew of Huan Chenxue’s origins, but they had guesses. It was because everyone in the Sinkhole knew that Huan Chenxue was merely mortal, but what mortal could live that long, establish a Land of Hope, and be its owner?

And from what Yi Yun had said, it could be inferred that Huan Chenxue was also an ancient peerless figure who had lost her powers due to her heavy injuries.

Huan Chenxue looked at the Fate Changing Pill in Yi Yun’s hand and drew a deep breath. She never expected that the divine pill would so suddenly appear in Yi Yun’s hand and be completed in such a short period of time. It was something that even the divine alchemist had failed to complete, something that did not take form despite requiring the Nine Li Magus Empire to maintain a Herb Nurturing Array for hundreds of millions of years, expending infinite amounts of Heaven Earth essence.

“What realm has your cultivation level reached?” asked Huan Chenxue.

Yi Yun shook his head. “I’m not sure either. I guess it’s in between the state of figuring out the Heavenly Dao laws to the creation of one’s own Heavenly Dao laws…”

Creation of one’s own Heavenly Dao laws?

Huan Chenxue was taken aback. It was a realm she didn’t even come close.

Was that above a Godly Monarch?

Yi Yun flicked his finger and the Fate Changing Pill in his hand flew into Huan Chenxue’s hand. “This pill is condensed from the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao laws. It also contains remnant powers of the Ancestor God, as well as the nomological forces left behind by Senior Divine Alchemist.”

Although Yi Yun had the ability to restore Huan Chenxue like he did for Old Snake, fusing her with the lost Heavenly Dao, he did not do so. Instead, he saw the uncompleted wishes of the divine alchemist to their promised end. After all, he had once inherited the divine alchemist’s heritage. As such, he was finally ending the karmic connection.

After consuming this heaven-defying pill, Huan Chenxue would fuse with the Nine Li Magus Maiden. They were originally one, and by doing so, she would reclaim all of her original powers.

The eight ancient Godly Monarchs of the past had sacrificed too much for the Sinkhole. Now, he was returning everything they gave up.

“Thank you, Yi Yun. I never imagined that you would come this far back when I invited you to the Mirage Sea Realm.” Huan Chenxue felt a flurry of emotions. Yi Yun had developed his strength too rapidly. That bit of time was completely nothing to people like her, but when this time was given to Yi Yun, it resulted in an astonishing miracle.

“You previously mentioned that you slew the Ancestor God?” Huan Chenxue asked again.

Yi Yun nodded. “I have taken the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao back. I will return it to the Sinkhole in the coming years.”

Yi Yun’s voice wasn’t loud, but it reached every corner of the Mirage Sea Realm. Everyone heard him clearly.

All the geniuses were shocked.

They nearly failed to react to what he had said, or it could be said that they were in disbelief even when they realized what he had said.

It was like a dream.

The Sinkhole was already dead, and it was like a gloomy cloud that hung over all the heads of the Sinkhole warriors. It was the greatest tragedy for the warriors of this age.

And now, Yi Yun was able to kill the Ancestor God and return the Sinkhole’s Heavenly Dao!

To cultivate to Yi Yun’s realm, helming control over the world and fate, being capable of restoring former ancient Godly Monarchs with a lift of his hand and mending a Universe’s Heavenly Dao with the lowering of his hand.

This was truly the epitome of life.

1708 - : Ending (6) – Meeting Ling Xie’er Again

CKtalon  CKtalon

Mending the Heavenly Dao was not something that could be accomplished in a day. Furthermore, although Yi Yun planned on returning the Heavenly Dao and pursue his own Martial Dao, he still needed time to study and master the Heavenly Dao.

Now, Yi Yun was most concerned with the Luo clan.

Although the Luo clan was nothing compared to the major factions in the Sinkhole, it was still a powerful family clan in the 12 Empyrean Heavens.

Luo Yan possessed a Connate Fire Spirit Dao Embryo and was naturally a genius of the Luo clan. The Luo clan should have spared no effort in grooming Luo Yan, but from his ordinary dressing, he was apparently a commoner warrior.

Therefore, it seemed to imply that the Luo clan wasn’t in the best of conditions.

“Luo Yan, how’s the Luo clan now?” Yi Yun looked at the linen-clothed youth.

The youth appeared nervous to be suddenly win Yi Yun’s attention. The person standing before him represented the most supreme figure in the Sinkhole. Furthermore, Yi Yun had already reached an incomprehensible realm to any of the Sinkhole experts.

“Senior… Senior Yi… you know of the Luo clan?”

The Luo clan was tiny compared to the entirety of the Sinkhole. Therefore, to a figure at Yi Yun’s realm, the Luo clan would seem trivial.

The linen-clothed youth never expected Yi Yun to know of the Luo clan.

“The Luo clan and I go way back. Is Luo Huo’er still okay?”

At that moment, Yi Yun asked in a calm manner, but his heart gripped with anxiety. The calamity of the Ancestor God had swept through the Sinkhole, and in this turbulent storm, Luo Huo’er would be like a tiny flame, one that could easily end up being extinguished.

He was very afraid that something bad had happened to Luo Huo’er.

The youth looked at Yi Yun in astonishment. He never expected that not only did Yi Yun know of the Luo clan, but he also knew Luo Huo’er. Furthermore, he had a history with the Luo clan that went way back. It was truly fascinating.

He hesitated for a moment and said, “Sister Huo’er is fine…”

Yi Yun heaved a sigh of relief. This was the best news he had heard.

“Where is she?”

“Uh…” The youth began to stammer as he didn’t answer Yi Yun immediately.

Yi Yun pricked his brows up. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just that Sister Huo’er hasn’t met anyone in a long time. But if it’s Senior Yi, I believe Sister Huo’er will still be willing to meet you…”

“Take me to her,” said Yi Yun. He still had karma he needed to repay in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. It wasn’t just the Luo clan; Felicitous Rain Lord was also in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven. It was his master that had guided him.

The Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven had likely suffered from this Sinkhole calamity. Likewise, Yi Yun did not know what had happened to Felicitous Rain Lord.

He wanted to head to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven to repay the karma.

…

In the hundred years since he left the Sinkhole for the Chaos Heavens, the Sinkhole had experienced numerous changes.

After Yi Yun healed Old Snake and Huan Chenxue, he also treated Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness. Similarly, he fused him with a portion of the Ancestor God’s remnant Dao.

Three ancient figures that had lived for hundreds of millions of years gathered in the Mirage Sea Realm and they felt a flood of emotions going through their minds.

At this point of time, the Lands of Hope were no longer necessary. The Sinkhole was finally back on its original trajectory and in the result of tiding through the calamity was renewed life.

Before his departure, it was the new overlord of the White Lunar Divine Empire—Tianxuan Mengyao—who looked at Yi Yun with mixed feelings. Once upon a time, she had the intention of using the Mirage Sea Realm to prove her Dao heart. But now, having really met Yi Yun, she realized that he was standing at a height far beyond her. She could not help but feel reverent towards him.

Just moments ago, Lin Xintong had officially handed the White Lunar Divine Empire to Tianxuan Mengyao.

Lin Xintong was ultimately leaving this Multiverse with Yi Yun, and the White Lunar Divine Empire was where she had grown up for multiple lives. She naturally did not wish that the White Lunar Divine Empire would end in an abject state.

As for Bai Yueyin, she ultimately did not meet with Huan Chenxue and the other ancient Godly Monarchs.

She didn’t even ask Yi Yun to reconstruct her body.

She only remained in Yi Yun’s soul sea and watched through Yi Yun’s eyes the reunion of Huan Chenxue and company as a mere phantom.

Seeing Dragon King Old Snake’s joy and carefreeness, Huan Chenxue’s otherworldliness, and Godly Monarch River of Forgetfulness’s staid bearing, Bai Yueyin felt that she ultimately didn’t belong among them.

In that case, it was best she didn’t meet them.

Over the past hundreds of millions of years, she only had one obsession—leave the Sinkhole Multiverse and head to a new world. Perhaps, she might be able to follow in Human Emperor’s footsteps.

Years ago, she was only a naive young girl, but now, she had experienced the vicissitudes of life…

She planned on leaving the Sinkhole together with Yi Yun.

—————

Back when Yi Yun ascended to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, the first place he came to was the Luo clan in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.

In the Sinkhole Multiverse, humans were the majority, but the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven was an exception. The majority was made up of Fey; however, as the Sinkhole Fey had been in the Sinkhole for countless generations, their bloodlines were closer to the humans than the Chaos Heavens Fey.

The Luo clan also had a Fey bloodline.

Now, Yi Yun had returned to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven’s Luo clan with Luo Yan. However, Yi Yun never expected that it wasn’t where Luo Huo’er was. Even after arriving, the youth continued leading Yi Yun to a secluded spatial passageway.

The spatial passageway was very long, but with Yi Yun’s strength, he only took seconds to pass through it.

When Yi Yun stepped through the exit of the spatial passageway, he saw a calm and tranquil world.

Although the world’s Heavenly Dao was extremely weak and the Yuan Qi was thin, making it unsuitable for cultivation, the chirping of the birds and the floral scents of the vistas laid before him looked like a paradise.

At that moment, Yi Yun did not know why he had the urge to tear.

He knew that this was the Tian Yuan world…

He had returned.

Before going to the 12 Empyrean Heavens, he had started his martial path as a mortal in the Tian Yuan world. He met his sister, Jiang Xiaorou, in the Cloud Wilderness, Luo Huo’er in the Tai Ah Divine City. It was also here where he met Lin Xintong.

Everything had begun here.

He never expected that he would return to the Tian Yuan world when his strength had reached the peak of the Multiverse where the Sinkhole was, that he would return to the place where he first embarked on his journey.

“Is Luo Huo’er here…”

At that moment, there was no need for Luo Yan to say a word. Yi Yun just needed to close his eyes slightly to instantly envelop the entire Tian Yuan world. Moments later, he found Luo Huo’er…

The place she lived in was his former residence—Soft Clouds Mountain Manor.

“Sis Xiaorou…”

Yi Yun felt overwhelmed by his emotions as he gently beckoned Jiang Xiaorou out from the God Advent Tower.

Jiang Xiaorou had followed Yi Yun when he left the Chaos Heavens.

A red figure appeared beside Yi Yun.

Jiang Xiaorou looked at Soft Clouds Mountain Manor and without realizing it, her vision blurred…

It had been a thousand years, and the Soft Clouds Mountain Manor remained in its original state. However, Jiang Xiaorou knew that many of the buildings in it had been rebuilt. The vegetation here had undergone generations of replacements and the pond had dried countless times, only to be refilled again.

With that, Soft Clouds Mountain Manor was still as it was in her memories…

This mountain manor was the first time Yi Yun felt that his fate was grasped in his own hands after they escaped from hunger and poverty.

Looking at Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, Yi Yun and Jiang Xiaorou felt an imperceptible calling towards it. It was as if they saw themselves moving in, and despite there many servants to handle matters, Jiang Xiaorou always insisted on doing it herself…

Now, Soft Clouds Mountain Manor remained Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. The tiny mountain manor had not changed, but this world had experienced the ravages of time.

Of course, if there was one change to Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, it was its owner. It was now Luo Huo’er…

Yi Yun saw that in the garden of Soft Clouds Mountain Manor, Luo Huo’er was dressed in blue. Her long hair was simply tied up and she was picking tea leaves with a white-dressed woman.

The white-dressed woman was someone Yi Yun knew as well. Years ago in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, in the White Fox clan which was the Luo clan’s equal, he had met this white-dressed woman who was none other than Princess White Fox.

Yi Yun had once been in competition with Princess White Fox in the Luo clan’s land of trials. Later, he chanced upon her in the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. The duo had quite a bit of history as well.

Yi Yun never expected that as the Ancestor God’s calamity swept through the Sinkhole, with demonic servants wreaking havoc due to the power imbalance in the 12 Empyrean Heavens, Luo Huo’er and Princess White Fox had actually abandoned their own clans to come to the Tian Yuan world to live a life separate and aloof from the world.

Although they could not cultivate here and the Tian Yuan world was destined to one day be destroyed due to the waning of the Sinkhole which it was ultimately a part of, so what?

Mortals live a busy life of about a hundred years, going through birth, death, illness and old age, experiencing the joys and sorrows of life. Although their lives look more miserable than warriors in their seemingly ephemeral states, there were still highlights to a mortal’s life.

Life might be differentiated according to life’s natural order, but the emotions of people—joy and sorrow—were not differentiated because of a difference in life’s natural order.

To every person, their joy was the same. Likewise for their pain and suffering.

A scholar candidate’s greatest joy is to succeed in the imperial examinations, and the greatest joy for farmers are a bountiful harvest. This was of equal value to the joy that came from a warrior’s breakthrough to the Supremacy or Divine Lord realm.

If one were to abandon all pursuits of the Martial Dao and be a completely ordinary mortal, was there anything wrong with that?

“Xue’er, smell this. This year’s tea is really fragrant.” Luo Huo’er plucked a fresh bud and handed it to Princess White Fox.

Princess White Fox lowered her head slightly and sniffed at it carefully before smiling faintly. She nodded. “Yes, it smells great.”

At that moment, they seemed to sense something as they looked over.

Amid the lush greenery of the tea garden, a youth in a black robe and a red-dressed woman were slowly walking towards them.

They had been separated by an immense period of time, and during which, immense changes and upheavals had happened.

But now, the few of them were reuniting in Soft Clouds Mountain Manor. Yi Yun took one step at a time, as though he was wading upstream against the river of time spanning a thousand years…

This continued until he returned to his starting point.

At that moment, everything was as before.

He still looked youthful and Luo Huo’er could still see the youth who had stumbled into her cultivation back at the Tai Ah Divine City.

And Yi Yun seemed to see that slightly narcissistic, playful red-dressed girl back in the Tai Ah Divine City.

The crests and troughs of life are all but ephemeral mists. How nice if reunion and separation were fixed in place of that first meeting. A thousand years pass and happiness a certainty, but how much was sadness in exchange?

The End.

Author’s Note: There will still be one or two chapters as an epilogue.

1709 - : Ending (7) – Starting Point

CKtalon  CKtalon

Time passed quickly, and soon, ten thousand years had passed.

For many peerless experts, ten thousand years was a very short period of time. Typically, no significant change would happen in the Sinkhole during that brief a period.

But in the past ten thousand years, many things had changed.

Upon Yi Yun’s return, he made the restoration of the Heavenly Dao his goal. The three ancient Godly Monarchs—Dragon King, Mirage Snow Queen, and the River of Forgetfulness King—recovered their strength, becoming peerless Sinkhole experts again.

Following that, several new Godly Monarchs were born.

To put it into perspective, the birth of a new Godly Monarch in the Sinkhole was typically something that wouldn’t happen in a hundred million years.

The Sinkhole’s Martial Dao was thriving.

However, a warrior’s ambition and farsightedness determined their achievements to a very large extent. The Sinkhole was, after all, only one of the many universes in the Multiverse. If one was satisfied with the goal of being strongest in the Sinkhole, it was difficult for them to amount to much.

Under such a situation, Yi Yun tore open a passageway leading from the Sinkhole to the Chaos Heavens.

Sinkhole geniuses could head to the Chaos Heavens for training!

Be it the Sinkhole or the Chaos Heavens, they followed Yi Yun’s lead. Whatever he arranged would naturally be implemented smoothly.

Hence, every three centuries, the Sinkhole would organize a test for the younger generation which was used to choose a new batch of geniuses for grooming.

The most outstanding ones could even have a chance of being guided by Yi Yun.

This was a huge honor and also a humongous opportunity!

Sinkhole geniuses, no matter their background, would flock towards such an event.

If commoner warriors were to achieve good results, they were bound to enjoy a momentous rise and obtain sufficient resources for their growth!

It could be said that it was the best of times for the present Sinkhole. As long as one was talented, they could achieve anything by their own hands. It wasn’t anything like in the past—even with immense talent, one could fail to obtain a heritage that suited them. Also, there were the restraints brought about by the incomplete Heavenly Dao.

Today, a new round of Number One Martial Dao Trials started once again. Elites from all walks of life were long pumped for battle, awash with eagerness.

The venue of the martial tournament was located in the Mirage Sea Realm!

After Huan Chenxue regained her strength, people finally understood why she was able to live for hundreds of millions of years as a mortal despite losing all her strength in ancient times. It was simply because Mirage Snow Queen was just too powerful.

Mirage Snow Queen cultivated in Mirage and Snow laws. After recovering her strength, she created a massive illusory soul world.

This was actually considered an independent Soul Universe, and its entrance was located in the Mirage Sea Realm.

Every genius who participated in the trial would do so in this Soul Universe.

At this moment, there was a spirit cruiser floating beyond the Mirage Sea Realm. About eight youngsters were gathered together, each of them having extremely powerful auras. They had robust foundations and were all heads and shoulders above their peers!

“I’ve finally waited for this day. Nanxuan Yu, I fell for your trap gambling with you the last time, but this time, I’ll make sure to set it right. Let’s set a goal this time. Whoever fails to pass the fifth trial loses.”

The person who spoke was a handsome man wearing a jade headdress. He truly could be described as a gentleman. He was one of the core disciples of the First Beginnings Immortal Gate and the granddisciple of Sacred Horizon Divine Lord—Qi Mingjian. His background could be said to be illustrious!

As for Nanxuan Luoyue, he came from the Nanxuan family clan. Originally, the Nanxuan family clan was just a tiny family clan in the White Lunar Divine Empire. It was originally involved in the herbal trade, but back when Yi Yun arrived in the White Lunar Divine Empire’s Martial Numinous continent, he acquainted himself with Nanxuan Luoyue. With her help, Yi Yun entered the ancient battlefield and Yi Yun naturally didn’t forget this. With his strength and status, repaying the kindness she showed him could be done with a single sentence.

As a result, the Nanxuan family clan received special privileges in the White Lunar Divine Empire. Later, due to its family head’s good management, it slowly became one of the few major family clans in the White Lunar Divine Empire.

As such, Nanxuan Yu’s background was only slightly inferior to Qi Mingjian’s, and the gap wasn’t huge.

“Pass the fifth trial? You sure are confident. Do you know who the invigilator is this time? It’s Felicitous Rain Lord! The trials he gives are well known for being difficult. From my point of view, passing the fourth trial will put you in the top ten, and only two to three people have any chance of passing the fifth trial.”

Nanxuan Yu’s calm description left some of the promising youths present taken aback when they heard that Felicitous Rain Lord was acting as invigilator.

In the recent ten thousand years, there were three mighty figures who broke through to the Godly Monarch realm. Two of them were Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat who had been stuck at the Divine Lord realm for too long due to the lack of the Heavenly Dao.

As for the third person, he was Felicitous Rain Lord who had come from the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven.

Compared to the Sinkhole, the 12 Empyrean Heavens’ cultivation environment was much more inferior. The Sinkhole had an incomplete Heavenly Dao to begin with, so the 12 Empyrean Heavens could only have it worse. However, Felicitous Rain Lord was an extraordinary genius. As a commoner, he used his own perceptivity and nomological insight to become a Royal Sealed Divine Lord. Furthermore, he was considered one of the best among Divine Lords. He was also young.

If not for the restrictions of heritage, resources, and the incomplete Heavenly Dao, Felicitous Rain Lord could have been completely been capable of reaching the Godly Monarch realm by himself.

Only after Yi Yun returned did all these restrictions get lifted. After being repressed after all these years, Felicitous Rain Lord finally experienced his momentous rise!

People had also learned that Felicitous Rain Lord was once Yi Yun’s master.

Back when Yi Yun was in the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven, he had been greatly indebted to Felicitous Rain Lord.

Yi Yun’s time laws came from him. Apart from that, and also something extremely important to Yi Yun, he had gained insight into the Primordial Chaos laws which he used to perfect his Major Destruction laws all thanks to Felicitous Rain Lord’s help.

Felicitous Rain Lord had brought him to the Azure Wood Great World.

And in there, Felicitous Rain Lord had protected Yi Yun’s life when the Celestials’ bronze giant appeared. He even set off the series of events that allowed Yi Yun to obtain the Azure Wood Divine Tree.

With him being a master and someone who had saved his life, Yi Yun naturally had to return the favor severalfold.

After Yi Yun found Luo Huo’er, he went to the Ten Thousand Fey Empyrean Heaven to find Felicitous Rain Lord and gifted him a Heavenly Dao nomological fragment.

And with that, Felicitous Rain Lord, who had been meant for greatness, no longer experienced any restrictions! His nomological insights improved tremendously and he broke through the Godly Monarch bottleneck in one shot!

Although Felicitous Rain Lord broke through after Sacred Horizon Divine Lord and Eclipse Arhat, it was acknowledged that Felicitous Rain Lord was the strongest Godly Monarch aside from the three ancient Godly Monarchs—Mirage Snow Queen, Dragon King, and River of Forgetfulness King!

Of course, Yi Yun was not among those ranks for people subconsciously treated him as someone at a realm above the Godly Monarch realm.

Similarly, Lin Xintong’s strength was also a mystery.

There were rumors that mentioned how Lin Xintong had finished mastering a powerful cultivation level a thousand years ago, completing her ninth reincarnation. She experienced a complete transformation, and with her flawless body and birth as a sacred Dao fetus, she had far exceeded the comprehension of many.

As an invigilator, Felicitous Rain Lord’s trials were truly difficult. But from another point of view, if one was truly a peerless genius who could figure out the trial Felicitous Rain Lord placed before them, they would typically be able to learn a lot from it.

Unfortunately, those with such abilities were truly rare.

“So Felicitous Rain Lord will be the invigilator… Felicitous Rain Lord was once Senior Yi’s teacher. If one is to gain the acknowledgment of Felicitous Rain Lord, there’s the tiny possibility of obtaining Senior Yi’s guidance.”

To be guided by Yi Yun was a truly rare opportunity!

Not only would it be an excellent opportunity to further their nomological insight, Yi Yun would also typically bestow them with treasures. The value of anything given by Yi Yun was obvious!

According to the rules of the Number One Martial Dao Trials, only the pinnacle geniuses among the warriors could receive Yi Yun’s guidance.

And in fact, it would take more than ten Number One Martial Dao Trials before someone would be determined to be a pinnacle genius.

Over the past ten thousand years, Yi Yun had personally given guidance to five people.

The first person was the Nethersky Divine World’s Young Goddess, Fairy Yourou. She came in first at the Number One Martial Dao Trials with results far surpassing second place.

Not only that, Fairy Yourou was a friend of Yi Yun to begin with.

She had acquainted herself with Yi Yun during the ancient battlefield trials and they helped each other. Later, Fairy Yourou left her name on the Ancient Ruins world’s World Monolith, but Yi Yun lost the chance to do so because of his battle with Primordial Chaos Daolord and company. He went missing for sixty years as a result.

Time passed and Yi Yun met Fairy Yourou at Lin Xintong’s coronation. When he was faced with enemies everywhere, only the Nethersky Divine World supported him because of Fairy Yourou.

Later, Fairy Yourou became the absolute champion of the Number One Martial Dao Trials. Yi Yun met her and personally taught her for a year, bestowing her with a portion of the Ancestor God’s nomological fragment. She was left to study it herself.

Although it was a trivial fragment, it was a gift hundreds of times more valuable than a Godly Monarch Royal Seal.

In the past, Fairy Yourou’s goal was merely to fuse with a Godly Monarch Royal Seal and become an expert just like her master. But now, with the fragment, coupled with Yi Yun’s guidance and her talent, it was already a certainty that she would become a Godly Monarch.

Rumor had it that Fairy Yourou’s breakthrough occurred in recent years.

Apart from Fairy Yourou, there was the youth from the Luo clan, Luo Yan. He too had gained Yi Yun’s guidance and could even be considered an in-name disciple of Yi Yun.

The other three were the young monk, Wuji, from Mahayana Monastery, a commoner swordsman, Fan Chen, and finally, Felicitous Rain Lord’s final disciple, Yu Ling’er.

Yu Ling’er was the champion of the previous Martial Dao Trials.

She was very impressive. Before she participated in the Martial Dao Trials, she was the cream of the crop. She was admired by countless young men.

Although Yu Ling’er was Felicitous Rain Lord’s disciple, she did not wish to use their ties to her advantage. She participated anonymously, won first place with results far surpassing second place.

Later, she obtained Yi Yun’s guidance and, with her astonishing perceptivity, she became half an in-name disciple of Yi Yun. She even came into contact with Primordial Chaos and Destruction laws.

Yu Ling’er was abnormally talented and hardworking. The diligence she displayed left many of her genius peers feeling embarrassed.

Many people guessed that Yu Ling’er would become a Godly Monarch in five thousand years!

At that moment, the numerous elites on the spirit cruiser were discussing the five geniuses whom Yi Yun had guided in the past. When they mentioned Yu Ling’er, all of them sighed.

Even proud people like Nanxuan Yu and Qi Mingjian lamented their inadequacies when stacked up to such mighty figures. Rumors said that even Yi Yun had personally praised Yu Ling’er previously.

And for them, they still needed to worry about taking Felicitous Rain Lord’s fifth trials. They were on a completely different level.

“Everyone from the major factions know each other well, so it’s unlikely anyone will stand out during this Martial Dao Trials and be noticed by Senior Yi. It will all depend on any dark horses from the commoner warriors.”

Qi Mingjian felt emotive. And at that moment, the Mirage Sea Realm Soul Universe’s entrance slowly opened.

The Divine Lord experts who were responsible for maintaining order in the trial had already appeared at the entrance, directing everyone into the soul universe.

Qi Mingjian, Nanxuan Yu, and company entered with feelings of reverence and anxiety…

No one knew that five kilometers away from the entrance, there was a formless void. Standing in it was a black-robed man who was watching all of this in silence.

The man was none other than Yi Yun.

Beside Yi Yun stood an illusory white-dressed female. She was Bai Yueyin.

“Have you made up your mind?” Bai Yueyin said softly.

“Yes… I never expected to find the method of opening the spatial wall so quickly. It’s all thanks to Senior Huan Chenxue. I studied her Soul Universe and sensed that the set of laws came from one person… And this person was someone I previously met in the demonic servant cemetery. She’s someone who is deeply related to Senior Lin. She told me that her name was Divine Dream… Divine Dream is probably the person with the highest attainment in soul laws I know. She’s probably in no way inferior to Senior Lin.

“Over these years, I’ve returned to that cemetery. With my study of Huan Chenxue’s Soul Universe cultivation, I’ve finally managed to vaguely sense Divine Dream through the soul laws. However, this detection is too weak when a Multiverse wall stands between us…

“This weak detection has has only pointed me in a direction. I plan to use Senior Divine Dream as a marker to first head to the 33 Skies. That is also the Multiverse where Senior Lin developed his strength. Although he’s no longer there, I still plan on paying a visit.”

After hearing Yi Yun’s words, Bai Yueyin felt mixed emotions.

33 Skies… It was once her obsession. Just as Yi Yun had said, Lin Ming was no longer there, but she also wished to pay it a visit.

Bai Yueyin sighed and said, “I can’t remember how many years it has been, but I’m finally leaving the Sinkhole universe. Now that this day has come, I can’t describe my feelings. Besides… Yu Ling’er. Did you not notice that young lady?”

Bai Yueyin’s words startled Yi Yun slightly. He glanced at her, but did not say a word.

“You taught her for about two centuries, right? In fact, I can see in her a shadow of myself from the past. The way she treats you is the same as how I treated Senior Lin.

“It was you who taught her, imparting to her a true Martial Dao.

“She has worked very hard, and suffered a lot as a result. She endured extraordinary setbacks to obtain her present-day achievements. Yes… I was the same too. On careful thought, the reason why I worked so hard back then was probably just to win his praise…”

Bai Yueyin said those words calmly as Yi Yun listened to her in silence. After a long while, he said, “Hundreds of millions of years ago, the Sinkhole’s Martial Dao was desolate. Senior Lin guided eight disciples, resulting in them becoming the eight ancient Godly Monarchs. Now, I have guided five disciples… Perhaps in the far future, these five will also do something astounding. Perhaps, Yu Ling’er will feel an urge to seek me just as you did…

“Everything in this world is fated. Let them choose their own paths. The Sinkhole is host to their life trajectories and eventual outcomes, for good or for worse. I am but a passing cloud.”

1710 - : Epilogue: Every Ending Is Also A Beginning